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60,364,110 |
2019 Boston Marathon
| 1,168,631,009 |
2019 running of the Boston Marathon
|
[
"2019 in American sports",
"2019 in Boston",
"2019 in sports in Massachusetts",
"2019 marathons",
"April 2019 sports events in the United States",
"Boston Marathon"
] |
The 2019 Boston Marathon was the 123rd running of the annual marathon race held in Boston, Massachusetts. It took place on April 15, 2019. The elite men's race came down to a sprint finish, which Lawrence Cherono won in 2:07:57. The elite women's race was won by Worknesh Degefa, who took an early lead and built up a large gap between herself and the other runners, in 2:23:31. The men's and women's wheelchair races were won by Daniel Romanchuk in 1:21:36 and Manuela Schär in 1:34:19, respectively.
## Course
The marathon distance is officially 42.195 kilometres (26.219 mi), as sanctioned by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), now known as World Athletics. The start is in the town of Hopkinton and the first 6 miles (9.7 km) are downhill through Ashland and into the city of Framingham. Leaving Framingham, the runners enter the town of Natick, before passing through the "Scream Tunnel" at mile 12. This area is lined by young women from the nearby Wellesley College who request kisses from runners, a tradition that has been in place for more than 100 years. At mile 15, there is a large downhill section, followed by a 0.75-mile (1.21 km) climb at mile 16 crossing the Yankee Division Highway. The runners take a right turn onto Commonwealth Avenue in Newton before starting the first of the four Newton Hills.
The first hill is a steep 1,200-yard (1,100 m) climb, the second about 0.25 miles (0.40 km), the third a steep 800 yards (730 m) before the runners start the infamous "Heartbreak Hill" at just after mile 20. At half a mile long and with a 3.3% percent incline, it is not especially difficult, but due to the hill being 20 miles (32 km) into the race, it is still feared as the runners' legs are usually tired at this point. The course is mostly downhill to the end, and passes through Boston College before entering Cleveland Circle and Kenmore Square, where there are many spectators. The final mile has a slight incline, before it flattens off to finish on Boylston Street.
## Field
The 2019 edition of the marathon included nine previous winners of the race. The elite women's race included the 2018 winner Des Linden, who had the ninth-fastest personal best in the field. Sally Kipyego, runner-up in the 2016 New York City Marathon and the 10,000 metres at the 2012 Summer Olympics also competed. The fastest woman in the field was Aselefech Mergia, who ran 2:19:31 to win the 2012 Dubai Marathon. Mergia raced alongside three other sub-2:20 runners; Edna Kiplagat, Mare Dibaba, and Worknesh Degefa. Jordan Hasay, who had been dealing with injury and had pulled out of the previous year's race the day before, returned to race. Also running were 2015 winner Caroline Rotich and 2012 winner Sharon Cherop. The field included 11 sub-2:23 runners.
The elite men's race featured 2018 winner Yuki Kawauchi. The Boston Herald listed "five men to watch": Geoffrey Kirui, winner in 2017 and whose personal best was 2:06:27, Soloman Deksisa (personal best of 2:04:40), Lawrence Cherono (personal best of 2:04:06), Lelisa Desisa, winner in 2015 and whose personal best was 2:04:45, and Hiroto Inoue (personal best of 2:06:54) who was debuting in Boston. Others who had run sub-2:05 were Sisay Lemma (best of 2:04:08) and Lemi Berhanu (best of 2:04:33). The men's wheelchair race featured four-time winner Marcel Hug and ten-time winner Ernst van Dyk, whilst the women's featured Manuela Schär, the first woman to record a sub-1:30 in Boston. Also racing were Sandra Graf, and Americans Amanda McGrory, Susannah Scaroni, and Tatyana McFadden.
The day before the race, the winners of the previous year's race spoke to a crowd in Copley Square about subjects such as their diet and the mental challenges in marathons.
## Race summary
In the early morning, rain had made the conditions wet but by the start there was only some light rain which cleared away later in the day. The race began with a flyover of General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcons from the 104th Fighter Squadron. In the men's race, Inoue and Kawauchi went to the front of the lead pack early on and, following a series of sub-5 minute miles, the group of 25 passed 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) in 30:20. The lead pack didn't "get really serious about hard racing" until they had passed through Wellesley. By Heartbreak Hill the pack still contained eight runners but, at 21 miles (34 km), Kiriu increased the pace, decreasing the size of the group to just five runners. The group had further reduced to three by mile 24; Cherono, Desisa, and Kenneth Kipkemoi. With 1 mile (1.6 km) to go, Kipkemoi increased the pace. Then with 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) left, Desisa made a surge before Cherono was able to catch up and the two sprinted down Boyleston Street. Desisa was unable to hold Cherono's pace and he dropped behind, meaning Cherono won in 2:07:57, two seconds ahead of Desisa. Kipkemoi finished third in 2:08:07, later stating that he had wanted to get away from the other runners, but they had managed to stay with him. The gap between the top two runners was the closest since the 1988 edition.
In the women's race, Sara Hall took control early on, passing 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) in a "slow" time of 17:34, but Degefa overtook her about not long after. She had built up a small gap on the pack by 4 miles (6.4 km) with Cherop and Dibaba attempting to stay close. However, by 10 kilometres (6.2 mi), Degefa was 14 seconds ahead of the two and 29 seconds ahead of the chasing group. Degefa passed through halfway in 1:10:40 and had managed to extend her lead to nearly three minutes by 30 kilometres (19 mi). The chasing group comprised 12 runners through the halfway point, but the group began to break up in the following hills. With 10 miles (16 km) left, Kiplagat made a move from the chasing group and in the 22nd mile, moved into second place and began to catch Degefa. However, despite running the fastest 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) split in the race (16:08 between the 35th and 40th kilometres), Kiplagat was too far from Degefa and she won in 2:23:31. Kiplagat finished second, 42 seconds back in 2:24:13 and Hasay in third, a further 67 seconds back in 2:25:20.
In the men's wheelchair race, Daniel Romanchuk passed Masazumi Soejima at mile 16 and won in 1:21:36, an American record. At 20 years old, he was the youngest winner in the history of the race and the first American since Jim Knaub won in 1993. Soejima finished second in 1:24:30 and Hug took third in 1:24:42. Romanchuk called the victory an "amazing thing to happen". In the women's race, Schär took the lead. McFadden was in sight of the leaders when she slipped on a railroad track around mile six, causing her wheelchair to flip. Schär "cruised to victory" in 1:34:19 while McFadden was able to recover lost ground, finishing in 1:41:35 to take second place, one second ahead of Madison de Rozario. The Boston Herald described Schär as "dominant" and "increasing her lead at every checkpoint".
## Results
Results reported by NBC Sports and the Boston Athletic Association.
|
19,622,349 |
Martinique macaw
| 1,147,429,801 |
Extinct species of bird
|
[
"Ara (genus)",
"Bird extinctions since 1500",
"Birds described in 1905",
"Birds of Martinique",
"Controversial parrot taxa",
"Endemic fauna of Martinique",
"Extinct birds of the Caribbean",
"Hypothetical extinct species",
"Macaws"
] |
The Martinique macaw or orange-bellied macaw (Ara martinicus) is a hypothetical extinct species of macaw which may have been endemic to the Lesser Antillean island of Martinique, in the eastern Caribbean Sea. It was scientifically named by Walter Rothschild in 1905, based on a 1630s description of "blue and orange-yellow" macaws by Jacques Bouton. No other evidence of its existence is known, but it may have been identified in contemporary artwork. Some writers have suggested that the birds observed were actually blue-and-yellow macaws (Ara ararauna). The "red-tailed blue-and-yellow macaw" (Ara erythrura), another species named by Rothschild in 1907 based on a 1658 account, is thought to be identical to the Martinique macaw, if either one ever existed.
The Martinique macaw is one of 13 extinct macaw species that have been proposed to have lived in the Caribbean islands. Many of these species are now considered dubious because only three are known from physical remains, and there are no extant endemic macaws on the islands today. Macaws were frequently transported between the Caribbean islands and the South American mainland in both prehistoric and historic times, so it is impossible to know whether contemporaneous reports refer to imported or native species.
## Taxonomy
The Martinique macaw was scientifically described by the British zoologist Walter Rothschild in 1905, as a new species of the macaw genus Anodorhynchus; A. martinicus. The taxon was solely based on a 1630s account by the French priest Jacques Bouton of blue and orange-yellow macaws from the Lesser Antillean island of Martinique. Rothschild reclassified the species as Ara martinicus in his 1907 book, Extinct Birds, which also contained a restoration of the bird by the Dutch artist John Gerrard Keulemans. The reassignment led to confusion as recently as 2001, when the American ornithologists Matthew Williams and David Steadman assumed the two names were meant to refer to separate birds. The Martinique amazon (Amazona martinicana) of the same island, was also based solely on a contemporary description.
What Bouton described is likely to remain a mystery, but various theories have been proposed. In 1906, the Italian zoologist Tommaso Salvadori noted that the Martinique macaw seemed similar to the blue-and-yellow macaw (Ara ararauna) of mainland South America, and may have been the same bird. The American ornithologist James Greenway suggested Bouton's description could have been based on a captive bird. Edwards' Dodo, a 1626 painting by the Dutch artist Roelant Savery, shows several birds including a blue and yellow macaw, which is different from the mainland bird in having yellow undertail covert feathers instead of blue, but the origin of this macaw is unknown. Another macaw in the painting may be the also extinct Lesser Antillean macaw (Ara guadeloupensis). Another Savery painting from about the same time shows a similar blue and yellow macaw, as does a mid-1700s illustration by the English naturalist Eleazar Albin. In 1936, the Cuban scientist Mario Sánchez Roig claimed to have found a stuffed Martinique macaw specimen, which was supposed to have been collected in 1845. After examination the same year, the American ornithologist John T. Zimmer showed it to be a hoax, combining a burrowing parakeet (Cyanoliseus patagonus byroni) with the tail of a dove.
In the article that named the Martinique macaw, Rothschild also listed an "Anodorhynchus coeruleus", supposedly from Jamaica. Salvadori also questioned this in 1906, as he was unsure what Rothschild was referring to. In his Extinct Birds, Rothschild clarified that his first description was erroneous, as he had misread an old description. He renamed it Ara erythrura, based on a 1658 description by the French pastor Charles de Rochefort, and conceded that its provenance was unknown. This supposed species subsequently received common names such as "red-tailed blue-and-yellow macaw" and "satin macaw" in the ornithological literature. Greenway suggested Rochefort's description was dubious, as he had never visited Jamaica, and appeared to have based his account on one by the French friar Jean-Baptiste Du Tertre. If either bird ever existed, Ara erythrura is likely to have been identical to the Martinique macaw, according to the British ornithologists Julian P. Hume and Michael Walters. Other similar blue and yellow macaws, such as the "great macaw" ("Psittacus maximus cyanocroceus") were also reported from Jamaica. Birdlife International does not have an entry for the Martinique macaw, but it was mentioned in that of the Lesser Antillean macaw (which is considered Not Recognized) as possibly identical.
### Extinct Caribbean relatives
Macaws are known to have been transported between the Caribbean islands and from mainland South America both in historic times by Europeans and natives, and prehistoric times by Paleoamericans. Parrots were important in the culture of native Caribbeans, were traded between islands, and were among the gifts offered to Christopher Columbus when he reached the Bahamas in 1492. It is therefore difficult to determine whether the numerous historical records of macaws on these islands refer to distinct, endemic species, since they could have been based on escaped individuals or feral populations of foreign macaws of known species that had been transported there. As many as 13 extinct macaws have been suggested to have lived on the islands until recently. Only three endemic Caribbean macaw species are known from physical remains; the Cuban macaw (Ara tricolor) is known from 19 museum skins and subfossils, the Saint Croix macaw (Ara autochthones) is only known from subfossils, and the Lesser Antillean macaw is known from subfossils and reports. No endemic Caribbean macaws remain today; they were likely driven to extinction by humans in historic and prehistoric times.
Many hypothetical extinct macaws were based only on contemporaneous accounts, but these species are considered dubious today. Several of them were named in the early 20th century by Rothschild, who had a tendency to name species based on little tangible evidence. Among others, the red-headed macaw (Ara erythrocephala) and the Jamaican red macaw (Ara gossei) were named for accounts of macaws on Jamaica, and the Dominican green-and-yellow macaw (Ara atwoodi) was supposedly from Dominica island. The violet macaw (Anodorhynchus purpurascens), which was named for accounts of blue parrots supposedly from Guadeloupe, is now thought to have been based on references to the Guadeloupe amazon (Amazona violacea).
Other species of macaw have also been mentioned, but many never received binomials, or are considered junior synonyms of other species. Williams and Steadman defended the validity of most named Caribbean macaw species, and wrote that each Greater and Lesser Antillean island probably had its own endemic species. The ornithologists Storrs Olson and Edgar Maíz López doubted the validity of the hypothetical macaws in 2008, and that all Antillean islands once had endemic species, but wrote that the island of Hispaniola would be the most likely place for another macaw species to have existed because of the large land area, though no descriptions or remains of such are known. They wrote that such a species could have been driven to extinction before the arrival of Europeans. The identity and distribution of indigenous macaws in the Caribbean is only likely to be further resolved through palaeontological discoveries and examination of contemporary reports and artwork.
## Contemporary descriptions
Bouton's 1630s description of the Martinique macaw is reproduced below, translated from French:
> The macaws are two or three times as large as the other parrots, [and] have a plumage much different in colour: those that I have seen have their plumage blue and orange-yellow (saffron). They also learn to talk and have a good body.
A translation of the 1658 French description of "Ara erythrura" by de Rochefort follows below:
> Among them are some which have the head, the upper side of the neck, and the back of a satiny sky blue; the underside of the neck, the belly, and undersurface of the wings, yellow, and the tail entirely red.
In spite of the fact that the tail of "Ara erythrura" was described as entirely red, the plate in Rothschild's Extinct Birds showed a blue tip, which the American ornithologist Charles Wallace Richmond complained about in his review of the book.
|
33,074,346 |
Syndicate (2012 video game)
| 1,171,969,252 |
2012 first-person shooter video game
|
[
"2012 video games",
"Augmented reality in fiction",
"Cooperative video games",
"Cyberpunk video games",
"Dystopian video games",
"Electronic Arts games",
"Fiction about corporate warfare",
"Fiction about mind control",
"Fiction about suicide",
"Fiction set in 2069",
"Fiction set in the 2060s",
"First-person shooters",
"Hacking video games",
"Multiplayer and single-player video games",
"PlayStation 3 games",
"Prosthetics in fiction",
"Science fiction shooter video games",
"Science fiction video games",
"Starbreeze Studios games",
"Transhumanism in video games",
"Video game reboots",
"Video games about artificial intelligence",
"Video games about cyborgs",
"Video games developed in Sweden",
"Video games scored by Gustaf Grefberg",
"Video games set in Argentina",
"Video games set in China",
"Video games set in Colorado",
"Video games set in Europe",
"Video games set in Los Angeles",
"Video games set in Mozambique",
"Video games set in New England",
"Video games set in New York City",
"Video games set in Northern Europe",
"Video games set in the 2060s",
"Windows games",
"Xbox 360 games"
] |
Syndicate is a 2012 cyberpunk first-person shooter video game developed by Starbreeze Studios and published by Electronic Arts. It is a reboot of the Syndicate series of real-time tactics games developed by Bullfrog Productions. The game was released in February 2012 worldwide. Set in the year 2069, the narrative revolves around Miles Kilo, a EuroCorp agent who must eliminate important personnel from rival corporations; in the process, he discovers the evil, secret practice used by EuroCorp to recruit agents. The game features a large variety of weapons; from standard pistols to the futuristic guns. Kilo is implanted with a computer chip that allows him to access the dataverse and can use hacking to defeat enemies and solve environmental puzzles.
Pre-production of the game began in 2007. Electronic Arts approached Starbreeze Studios to revive the franchise because it was impressed with the quality of Starbreeze Studios' previous games and believed they could add "style" to the series. The game was returned to the drawing board after a year of development, and the co-operative multiplayer mode was added to the main game. The development team hoped the game would appeal to both newcomers and players of the original game; they maintained the theme of the original and drastically changed the gameplay. Richard K. Morgan was hired to write the story for the game.
Announced in September 2011, the game was released in February 2012 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The game received generally positive reviews from critics upon release. Critics praised the gameplay, style, graphics, art direction, artificial intelligence and the co-operative mode, but the game's story was criticized. The game's budget was smaller than the typical AAA video game, and was considered as a commercial failure for the publisher. The game's excessive violence led to the game being banned in Australia.
## Gameplay
Unlike the original series of games, Syndicate is a first-person shooter set in 2069. Players assume control of Miles Kilo, an augmented agent working for EuroCorp in a corrupted, deceitful world in which corporations compete with each other for power. Players can run, jump, slide, hide behind covers, and carry two weapons and grenades to defeat enemies and bosses, who each have unique abilities. The game features 19 weapons, ranging from assault rifles, rocket launchers and machine pistols, to futuristic weapons such as laser rifles, Gauss Guns with bullets that can track enemies automatically, and Riotlance Dark Shooters that can paralyze enemies for a short time. Weapons can be customized and upgraded with 87 attachments and 25 upgrade options. These upgrades may alter the nature of these weapons, transforming standard ammunition to cover-penetrating ammunition. The game also features an "execution" mechanic, allowing players to perform melee takedowns.
Miles has a "DART-6" chip that grants him hacking and "breaching" abilities. Some enemies also have this type of chip, and Miles can interact with them. With the chips, objects, collectibles and enemies are automatically tagged and highlighted via augmented reality of the heads-up display. Players can use the "breaching" abilities to hack into enemies' minds and control their actions. They have access to three options; "Backfire" that causes enemies' weapons to malfunction and backfire, stunning them; "Suicide" that causes enemies to kill themselves; and "Persuade" that leads enemies to defect to the player's side before committing suicide. The game also allows players to locate enemies behind cover with the use of "Dart Overlay" and slow down time temporarily, which increases the damages dealt by players and their health regeneration rate. Abilities and skills implanted in the chip can be enhanced by collecting and extracting the chips of fallen enemies. The upgrades can boost players' damages and increases their recovery speed. Players are tasked with using the breaching abilities to interact with objects, solve environmental puzzles, strip the special armor of enemies and disarm explosives. The breaching mechanic has a time limit and must be recharged before another activation.
The game does not have a competitive multiplayer mode, but it has a cooperative multiplayer mode that pits four players together to complete a nine-mission campaign based on the campaign of the original Syndicate games. Players face enemies that become increasingly difficult to deal with as the game progresses. They can choose from four character classes: Medic, Spec Ops, Assault and Generic, each with different abilities. The breaching mechanic is also present in the mode for defensive and offensive purposes. For instance, they can hack into a turret to disable its armor or heal team-mates using this mechanic. Players receive points as they progress through the game's levels; these points can be used to research new weapons.
## Synopsis
### Setting
In 2017, the mega-corporation EuroCorp is created by a merger between the world's largest corporations. In 2025, EuroCorp releases the DART chip, a neural implant that allows users to access the dataverse, making most electronic devices obsolete. As a result of the DART chip, the world is no longer ruled by national governments but by corporate republics known as "Syndicates". However, only half of the world's population embrace the chip; the "unchipped" are abandoned and denied the benefits afforded by their chipped counterparts. Corporate espionage and corporate warfare for dominance between syndicates becomes the norm, resulting in the creation of "agents"—bio-engineered enforcers augmented by a militarized version of the chip who protect the interests of their corporate masters.
### Plot
In 2069, Agent Miles Kilo, EuroCorp's latest agent, is equipped with the new prototype DART 6 chip created by EuroCorp scientist Lily Drawl (voiced by Rosario Dawson). After a successful test run of the chip's abilities, EuroCorp CEO Jack Denham (voiced by Brian Cox) assigns him to kill Lily's counterpart, Chang, at the rival syndicate Aspari. Accompanied by his mentor Agent Jules Merit (voiced by Michael Wincott), Kilo attacks the Los Angeles branch of Aspari and corners Chang, who shoots himself. Kilo retrieves Chang's chip and learns from an encrypted conversation that Lily has been sharing information about the DART 6 chip with him.
Although shocked by Lily's betrayal, Denham decides to have Kilo and Merit keep Lily under surveillance because she is too valuable to eliminate. As they observe her in her apartment, Lily has an argument with a person named Kris before she is suddenly kidnapped by the syndicate Cayman-Global. Kilo fights off the Cayman-Global forces and follows Lily's abductors to their floating base in the Atlantic Ocean. Kilo kills a major Cayman-Global agent and rescues Lily, and they learn the syndicate is preparing a war against EuroCorp.
In New York, Kilo and Lily land in the Downzone where the unchipped, lower-class population lives. After they split up and head towards EuroCorp HQ, Kilo is betrayed by Lily and is sent into a trap with EMP mines, injuring him and disabling his chips. After his chips regain function, Kilo is given orders to either capture or kill Lily. After fighting off subverters, Kilo learns their leader Kris—Lily's ex-boyfriend and colleague—is responsible for instigating a war between the syndicates. Kris reveals he started the war so he could hack into the dataverse and kill the syndicates and their chipped populations as punishment for abandoning the unchipped. Lily, who wants to find a peaceful solution and make the syndicates care about the unchipped, opposes the idea. Kilo fights Kris, who attempts to suicide bomb him but kills himself instead. Kilo apprehends Lily; he can either kill her or release her. Lily is captured and a barely-alive Kilo is retrieved.
At EuroCorp New York HQ, Denham and Merit believe Kilo is brain-dead and send him to be rebooted while they plan to retrieve Lily's chip and recover useful information on DART 6. Kilo begins to remember his secret past: he learns that Denham led a EuroCorp team to kill his parents and abduct him as a baby because he has genes ideal for becoming an agent. Kilo escapes from his restraints and rescues Lily, who tells Kilo that like him, all of EuroCorp's agents were abducted as children and their memories were modified so they would remain loyal to EuroCorp. Lily created the DART 6 chip, hoping to use it to make the syndicates retain their humanity and care about both chipped and un-chipped civilians, but she realizes she was naïve to think that way.
As Cayman-Global attacks EuroCorp's New York HQ, Kilo and Lily head towards Denham's office to prevent him from activating the kill switch on their DART chips. Kilo has to fight off both EuroCorp and Cayman-Global forces, as well as several EuroCorp agents. At the top of the tower, he is forced to fight Merit and two other agents, who are under Denham's orders to kill him. Kilo defeats the agents, and overpowers and kills Merit. Kilo then heads towards Denham's office but finds Denham has activated his kill switch, which starts to affect Kilo's movements. Weakened, Kilo confronts Denham, who justifies abducting him as a child. Kilo manages to fight against the kill-switch order and corners Denham, who lets himself fall over a ledge to his death. As the game ends, EuroCorp lies in ruins and Lily gives Kilo a pistol, telling him that he is free from anyone's control.
## Development
The original version of Syndicate is a tactical shooter developed by Bullfrog Productions and produced by Peter Molyneux in 1993. Electronic Arts had wanted to make a new Syndicate game for several years but had not found an opportunity to do so. They hoped to bring new elements and drastically altered gameplay concepts that would suit the franchise's universe. They eventually partnered with Starbreeze, which they recognized as an excellent studio for making first-person video games with distinctive styling. Pre-production of the game began in 2007; it was carried out by a small team of staff members after the studio completed work on The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena. However, mid way through the game's development, there were also many creative differences between the developer and the publisher, and the two companies suffered from an inharmonious relationship.
During the first stage of development, the game had no co-operative multiplayer mode; it focused on the story instead of the cyberpunk element. A year after development began, the game was sent for reworking because the studio thought they had not captured the essence of the Syndicate series. The team had little experience in making a co-operative games due to technological restraints, but decided to experiment with it. The internal reception of the co-op prototype was positive; testers said it fit with the canonical fiction of the franchise. The team had once worked on a competitive multiplayer mode for the game, but thought it was not original enough for inclusion. As the game lacked a cooperative multiplayer element, the developers abandoned the use of an online pass, unlike most EA games at that time.
The development team hoped the new title would appeal to both newcomers and fans of the series, be accessible and introduce the franchise to a broader audience. They assumed most players would not have played the original Syndicate games. The team also considered that because of the change in audience tastes and the introduction of new video game platforms, altering the game's perspective to first-person was a correct decision. Turning it into a first-person game was the first design choice made by the team, who hoped allowing players to view from the agent's perspective directly would make the game more immersive for players.
The team aimed to replicate the playing experience and difficulty of the extant Syndicate. Starbreeze considered the difficulty of the first game to be part of the franchise's legacy and was worth preserving; they hoped the new game would be challenging enough for players without being frustrating. They introduced a rarely scripted artificial intelligence (AI) into the game. The AI reacts to players' actions and was programmed to relocate itself after being attacked. The new game has less gore than the older one; players still can kill innocent civilians but the team minimized these scenarios, which they thought were part of the game's environment rather than gameplay elements.
The game was designed to have a sense of unpredictability so it can be played without confining the player to rules. To achieve this, the company added the breaching system, which adds more varieties of combat and gives players more choices when dealing with the artificial intelligence. The breaching system, which originated as a mini-game, was designed to be simple so it would not interrupt the flow of gameplay. Instead of being purely a first-person shooter, the game features action-adventure elements that allow players to choose their progression and tasks them with solving environmental puzzles.
Because the new game is set within a well-established franchise, Starbreeze tried to retain the essence of the world and rebuild these elements. The game's story was written by British science-fiction writer Richard K Morgan, whom the team approached after they read his book Altered Carbon. Syndicate was Morgan's second video-game script after 2011's Crysis 2; he used the original game for reference and included elements that those who had played it would immediately recognize. He preserved the original's dystopian setting and theme, and hoped to use these elements to build a powerful story. Morgan traveled to Sweden to meet Starbreeze's game designers to ensure the game's story would not contradict its overall design.
The team's goal was to make the game different from contemporaneous first-person shooters. The team ensured the game had its own style that would differentiate itself from other games. This was achieved by using a "split-world aspect", which divided the game's into two areas, each with a different artstyle. The team added details and aesthetics to the game's three syndicates in the upper zone so they would easily be recognized and be different from each another. "The Downzone", where non-implanted poor people live, has a different design from the three syndicates. The team took ideas for this area from Mirror's Edge. Both sides were inspired by futuristic films such as Blade Runner, Minority Report and Gattaca. In addition, the split-world concept applies to the gameplay. The Downzone enemies tend to be more aggressive and anti-agents, and some gameplay segments such as the breaching system are inapplicable in such areas.
Syndicate uses Starbreeze's in-house game engine, which had been modified for the creation of the game. The team used Beast to achieve global illumination and a realistic lighting system, and a new physics solver to deliver more physical interactions. The team aimed to maintain a consistent visual quality on all the platforms on which the game was released, even though the PC version had the advantage of higher resolution and frame rate. The engine allowed the inclusion of post-process-effects previously used in Assault on Dark Athena, such as motion blur and depth of field. Their artstyle was changed to suit the game's overall style.
### Marketing
In 2008, Electronic Arts announced that Starbreeze Studios was working with EA on two projects; one was a new project set in one of EA's older franchises under the name Project Redlime. The name "Syndicate" was trademarked multiple times by Starbreeze and EA, and a small portion of the game's script was accidentally leaked before the game's official revelation. EA officially revealed the game on 12 September 2011, and announced that it is a reboot for the franchise. A demo of the game, which only included the co-op mode and the "Western Europe" map, was released for the Xbox Live Marketplace and PlayStation Network on 31 January 2012. The game was announced and shipped in under six months; it was released worldwide on 21 February 2012.
## Reception
### Critical reception
Syndicate received generally positive reviews from critics. The game's story received mixed responses. The reviewer from GameTrailers called the plot predictable and considered several of the game's plot points boring. He praised the game's dialogue for its flow and the backstory presented. The reviewer said the campaign lacked scale but was nevertheless enjoyable and worthwhile playing. He also said the celebrity-led voice cast had successfully brought "believability" to the game. This was echoed by Jeff Gerstmann from Giant Bomb. In contrast, Martin Gaston from VideoGamer.com said he was disappointed with the campaign and considered it one of the game's biggest flaws. He said the world deserves more exploration than it had in Syndicate, and that the development team did not seem to understand the creative vision of the first version of the game. He also said the emphasis on morals did not excel because it does not fit the game's overall style. He disliked the game's protagonist, who he thought was bland, making him difficult for players to relate to. Xav De Matos from Joystiq said the story is filled with promises but the overall product failed to differentiate itself from other shooters with similar themes. Dan Whitehead from Eurogamer compared it unfavourably to its predecessors and called it unambitious and uninspiring.
The overall gameplay received praise. Gaston described the shooting as "clever" and said the DART-6 breaching abilities have encouraged players to experiment. He said the combination of the breaching system and gunfights made Syndicate better than some other contemporaneous first-person shooters. GameTrailers' reviewer said the DART-6 system provides players with choice and the recharge time of the breaching abilities tasks players with managing a "micro-economy" that encourages and rewards skills. Both Gaston and GameTrailers said the game missed out opportunities for limiting the use of some of Kilo's powers, which are only shown in cutscenes. Gerstmann liked the game's gameplay and said the control was fun, and that he appreciated the ability to shoot while running. He also admired the breaching abilities and found them satisfying to use. Whitehead shared similar thoughts, saying the breaching abilities tasks players with deploying strategy and make the game deeper than typical run-and-gun video games.
The game's AI received praise. GameTrailers' reviewer said enemies "know how to die in style" and that the boss fights are memorable, even though they can be repetitive. Gaston considered it "missed opportunities". De Matos appreciated the boss fights and said it was fun and interesting, and tasks players with learning the pattern of these boss fights and using the correct skill to defeat them.
Reviewers praised the game's graphical quality. Gerstmann said the use of lighting added a unique style to the game. He also liked the depiction of the two major areas of the game, and the game's sounds, which he said suited the tone of the game. Alexandra Hall from GamesRadar said "Starbreeze really coaxed some beautiful sights out of aging hardware". She added that some players may not be pleased with the game's bloom effects. David Houghton of the same publication said the game is "a decent shooter" but that its lightbloom effects were "nonsensically over-the-top". Peter Eykemans from IGN echoed similar thoughts, declaring that the motion bloom and blinding light a problem. However, he admitted that the game "constantly looks great", and that its simple design has made the game to look very polished.
The four-player, co-operative, multiplayer mode received acclaim. Gaston said it was a "watered down version of Left 4 Dead", but it was nonetheless a fun and pleasant experience for most players. De Matos said the game had encouraged players to work together to defeat enemies and to plan before attacking, which he said had turned the mode to a "gratifying" experience. He criticized the game's difficulty, which he said does not scale well, and the scripted enemies, which made the game less dynamic. Whitehead highly recommended the co-operative mode, which he thought should have been the game's main focus. He added that it provided more freedom to the players than the campaign.
Critics had mixed feelings about the game. Gerstmann said he had an "outstanding time" with it, and that it had offered an excellent twist to the genre. De Matos said it had successfully branched out the franchise to a new direction, even though it may not be what players of the original Syndicate would expect. However, he said the spirit of the franchise is still maintained and preserved. Gaston said Starbreeze was not able to capture the franchise's vision and that the game was not well-executed overall. Whitehead described the game as "fun", even though he thought Syndicate was a forgettable experience that will live under the shadow of rival shooters.
Syndicate Wars producer and lead programmer Mike Diskett criticized the game stating that it was "nothing like the original games." This encouraged him to make a spiritual successor to Syndicate Wars called Satellite Reign, which was a Kickstarter success.
### Sales
In an interview with Computer and Video Games, Frank Gibeau of EA said the Syndicate revival had not been as successful as had been hoped, saying, "Syndicate was something that we took a risk on. It didn't pay off—it didn't work." In a 2012 interview with Edge, Mikael Nermark, CEO of Starbreeze Studios, said the game sold around 150,000 copies worldwide. According to Nermark, the budget for creating this game was less than those of other triple-A video games; he also said that despite the poor commercial performance, the team was still proud of the final product.
### Australian censorship
On 20 December 2011, it was reported that Syndicate has been refused classification by the Australian Classification Board. The board was especially critical of what it considered to be the game's excessive violence: explicit depictions of dismemberment, decapitation, exposed flesh and bone from injuries; and copious blood spray. EA Australia said they would not appeal the decision or change the game to address the Board's concerns. EA also complained about Australia's "archaic censorship on games" and said Syndicate would be released on schedule and uncut with an adults-only rating in New Zealand. The game was also not released in Germany for similar reasons.
|
24,189,575 |
Quinn Fabray
| 1,171,417,579 |
Glee: Fictional Character
|
[
"American female characters in television",
"Fictional Yale University people",
"Fictional bullies",
"Fictional characters from Ohio",
"Fictional cheerleaders",
"Fictional singers",
"Fictional teenage parents",
"Glee (TV series) characters",
"Teenage characters in television",
"Television characters introduced in 2009"
] |
Quinn Fabray is a fictional character from the TV series Glee. The character is portrayed by actress Dianna Agron, and has appeared in Glee from its pilot episode, first broadcast on May 19, 2009. She is the cheerleading captain at the fictional William McKinley High School in Lima, Ohio, as well as a member of the school's glee club. In the first episode, Quinn is introduced as an antagonistic queen bee stock character. She joins the school glee club to spy on her boyfriend Finn Hudson (Cory Monteith) and becomes a spy for cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch); she remains part of the club after she is removed from the cheerleading team, the "Cheerios", due to her pregnancy. Over the course of the first season, her character matures and builds friendships with the other outcasts who make up the glee club. Quinn gives birth at the end of the first season to a baby girl, Beth, whom she gives up for adoption. Quinn was 16 years old when she had her baby.
In the second season, she forms a bond with newcomer Sam Evans (Chord Overstreet), and later romances her first boyfriend Finn, reigniting her animosity with club co-captain Rachel Berry (Lea Michele). In the third season, Quinn intends to get full custody of her daughter, Beth, and attempts to prove that Shelby Corcoran (Idina Menzel) — the adoptive mother of Beth — is an unfit parent; eventually, she realizes that Beth is better off with Shelby. Quinn subsequently receives a college acceptance letter from Yale, and while driving to Finn and Rachel's wedding, her car is struck by a truck and she suffers a spinal injury that requires her to use a wheelchair for many weeks. She is eventually able to walk again.
Quinn was developed by Glee creators Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan. The last character to be cast, initial responses to her were positive, though they soured during season one as the pregnancy storyline continued. Songs performed by Agron as Quinn have been released as singles, available for download, and also feature on the show's soundtrack albums. The role saw Agron nominated for the Teen Choice Award for "Breakout Female Star" in 2009, and a Screen Actors Guild award that same year. She was initially described by Agron as Rachel's enemy, and "terrible, the meanest girl".
## Storylines
### Season 1
Quinn is introduced as the captain of the cheerleading squad (The Cheerios) at William McKinley High School, coached by Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch). She comes from a conservative Christian family, and is president of the celibacy club. When her boyfriend Finn Hudson (Cory Monteith) joins the glee club, New Directions, Quinn worries about his interaction with the group's star, Rachel Berry (Lea Michele), and joins New Directions herself along with her fellow Cheerios Santana Lopez (Naya Rivera) and Brittany Pierce (Heather Morris). Sue then enlists the three of them to help her destroy the glee club from the inside.
Upon discovering that she is pregnant, Quinn convinces Finn that he is the father, despite the fact that they never actually had sex. Quinn claims that Finn had prematurely ejaculated into her while they were making out in a hot tub. The real father is Finn's best friend Noah "Puck" Puckerman (Mark Salling); he offers to support Quinn and the baby, but she rejects him, saying he is too irresponsible to care for a child. Quinn decides to put the baby up for adoption, and agrees to give it to Terri Schuester (Jessalyn Gilsig), the wife of glee club director Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison), who is faking a pregnancy. When news of her pregnancy is revealed to the school, Quinn is cut from the cheerleading squad and her popularity declines. Her parents kick her out of their house, and she moves in with Finn and his mother. She begins to reconsider giving up the baby, and gives Puck a chance to prove himself, but he is not reliable so she returns to her plan of giving the baby to Terri. Quinn blackmails Sue into letting her rejoin the Cheerios, but ultimately decides against it, preferring to remain with the glee club, where she feels accepted.
Finn learns the truth about the baby's paternity from Rachel, and breaks up with Quinn. Puck again offers to support her, but she turns him down and tells him that she wants to handle the pregnancy by herself. She moves in with Puck's family, but after forming a friendship with fellow New Directions member Mercedes Jones (Amber Riley), Quinn lives with her family instead. She gives birth to a daughter, named Beth by Puck, who is adopted by Shelby Corcoran (Idina Menzel), coach of rival glee club Vocal Adrenaline and Rachel's biological mother.
Having a main character on a popular show with a teen pregnancy storyline turned the phenomenon into a trend in 2010, with other programs and products following.
### Season 2
At the beginning of the new school year, Quinn is reinstated as head cheerleader. She begins dating new glee club member Sam Evans (Chord Overstreet), and later accepts a promise ring from him. When Sue forces Quinn, Santana and Brittany to choose between cheerleading and the glee club, all three initially go with the Cheerios to retain their popularity, but are later convinced by Finn to defect to New Directions. Quinn cheats on Sam with Finn, and Sam dumps Quinn after she lies to him about her time with Finn. She and Finn reunite, and Quinn starts campaigning for junior prom king and queen elections. Lauren Zizes (Ashley Fink), Puck's new girlfriend and one of Quinn's rivals for prom queen, discovers that before transferring to McKinley High, Quinn was known by her first name, Lucy. She was overweight and unpopular, and after slimming down and having rhinoplasty, reinvented herself as Quinn, using her middle name. At prom, Finn is thrown out for fighting with Rachel's date Jesse St. James (Jonathan Groff). Quinn is not named prom queen, and blames Rachel for her loss. She slaps her, but immediately regrets it and apologizes. Finn later breaks up with Quinn when he realizes he has a deeper connection with Rachel.
### Season 3
At the start of her senior year, Quinn has completely reinvented herself and refuses to rejoin either the Cheerios or New Directions, although when New Directions performs "You Can't Stop The Beat" in the auditorium Quinn can be seen watching them with a conflicted look on her face. Shelby lets Puck see Beth, but rejects Quinn's desire to do likewise due to Quinn's bad-girl attitude, appearance and behavior. After seeing a picture of a happy Beth and Puck, Quinn resumes her normal appearance, and Will and the New Directions welcome her back into the club, but Quinn reveals to Puck she is only pretending to behave in order to take Beth back from Shelby, and intends to pursue full custody. After Puck tells Shelby of Quinn's true intentions, Shelby informs Quinn that she does not want her in Beth's life. Quinn later reveals a desire to have a second baby with Puck. Puck refuses, and tries to comfort her; he offers to share an important secret if she promises not to tell anyone, which ultimately results in Quinn planning to get Shelby fired for sleeping with a student, Puck. Quinn decides not to reveal Shelby's secret for Beth's sake.
Quinn advises Rachel to refuse Finn's marriage proposal and leave her past behind. Quinn has done so, and she has been accepted at Yale. Quinn asks Sue to allow her to rejoin the Cheerios, but Sue refuses. However, following Regionals, she changes her mind. Quinn also changes her mind about Finn and Rachel's marriage and supports it. Rachel is reluctant to start the subsequent wedding without Quinn, and texts Quinn. Quinn is responding to Rachel's text when a truck crashes into the driver's side of her car.
Quinn's car accident has left her in a wheelchair, suffering from a severely compressed spine. By "Prom-asaurus" she is able to stand and to walk a few steps in the sessions. When Quinn is nominated for prom queen, Finn agrees to campaign with her, but is outraged when he discovers that she has been hiding the fact that she can now stand for the sympathy vote. When Quinn and Santana count the votes, they discover that Finn has won and so has Quinn. Quinn realizes that the victory means nothing. She and Santana falsely report the prom queen results as a write-in victory for Rachel. Her recovery is rapid enough to allow her to dance in the "Nationals" competition episode, which New Directions wins. Quinn helps Puck study for the test he needs to pass in order to graduate. She tells him that with all they went through, they are bonded for life, and she kisses him. Emboldened, Puck passes his test. Later, Quinn returns her cheerleading uniform to Sue, and the two have a tearful farewell.
### Season 4
Quinn returns to Lima for Thanksgiving in the eighth episode of the season, and helps to mentor the new members of New Directions as they prepare for Sectionals competition. Quinn is partnered with Kitty Wilde (Becca Tobin). Kitty convinces Quinn, whom she idolizes, that Jake Puckerman (Jacob Artist), Puck's half brother, is pressuring Marley into having sex with him. Quinn becomes hostile towards Jake, Santana confronts Quinn about having discovered that Kitty has given Marley laxatives in order to further Marley's bulimia. Quinn, who is dating one of her teachers at Yale, accuses Santana of being jealous of her and projecting her hostility in their surrogates, leading to a fight before Quinn storms out of the choir room. Quinn travels to New York to give Rachel helpful advice over whether or not to do a nude scene in a short film in "Naked". Quinn returns to Lima for Will and Emma's wedding in "I Do", and evidently single again, vents her frustrations about men. She and Santana get drunk at the wedding reception and sleep together, which they agree was a fun one-time, and then two time, experimentation for Quinn.
### Season 5
Quinn returns to Lima with a new boyfriend, Biff, for the special 100th episode. Puck is jealous of their relationship, because he still loves her. Quinn is lying to him because she does not want him to know about her past yet. Puck convinces her to tell Biff the truth, which she does. Biff insults her, which causes a fight between Puck and Biff. They later break-up. Puck and Quinn talk about Finn and their relationship, and she realises that she still loves him. They later start a relationship again, which is later confirmed in the next episode after Quinn and Puck perform a duet of Pink and Nate Ruess's Just Give Me a Reason to the glee club.
### Season 6
Quinn along with the New Directions alumni return in the episode "Homecoming" to help Rachel and Kurt rebuild the New Directions. Quinn, Santana, and Brittany attempt to recruit new members by performing in Cheerios Alumni outfits, but only recruit twins Mason and Madison when former Glee new member, Kitty, who was the only member not to be transferred as Sue saw her as a star player, announced she wouldn't return because of the way Artie treated her and everyone else when he left. Puck is still her boyfriend. She appears in "Jagged Little Tapestry" along with Tina to help Becky convince her new boyfriend that she is in every club of the school. Quinn, Tina, Sue, and Coach Roz get a huge surprise when they find out that Becky's boyfriend, Darrell, does not have Down syndrome like Becky does. They all get a big lesson when they confront him and realize that a person with Down syndrome should be treated like everyone else. Despite being Santana and Brittany's best friend, she is notably absent during their wedding in "A Wedding". She returns in the last minutes of the series finale "Dreams Come True" performing backing vocals for "I Lived" with the rest of the Glee Cast for the re-dedication of the Auditorium.
## Development
### Casting and creation
Quinn is portrayed by actress Dianna Agron. In casting Glee, series creator Ryan Murphy sought out actors who could identify with the rush of starring in theatrical roles. Instead of using traditional network casting calls, he spent three months on Broadway looking for unknown actors. Agron was the last primary actor to be cast, having won the role only days before the pilot began filming. Agron auditioned for Glee coming from a background in dancing and acting. She has been taking dance classes since the age of three, appeared in many music theatre productions and has appeared in television roles for Skidmarks, CSI: NY, and Heroes. Agron said in a 2009 interview pertaining to her casting session: "I nearly bailed on my audition for the show. I was so nervous". With her wholesome good looks, Agron certainly looked the part, but the producers wondered if she appeared too innocent. Agron said in an interview: "They told me to come back with straight hair and to dress sexier. Later that week, I started work." Agron auditioned with Frank Sinatra's "Fly Me to the Moon". The Glee producers said "we really lucked out in finding Agron to play Quinn".
In December 2010, Ryan Murphy announced that the cast of Glee would be replaced at the end of the third season to coincide with their graduation. Murphy said: "Every year we're going to populate a new group. There's nothing more depressing than a high schooler with a bald spot." He also revealed that some of the original cast will leave as early as 2012: "I think you have to be true to the fact that here is a group of people who come and go in these teachers' lives." Although four graduating seniors were confirmed in January 2012 as returning in the fourth season—Rachel, Finn, Kurt and Santana—there had been no announcement regarding Quinn or any other seniors as of the end of February 2012. As of May 2012, Murphy stated that all graduating seniors will come back for season 4 but, not all will be doing "all 22 episodes".
### Characterization
Quinn is described by Agron as Rachel Berry's (Lea Michele) enemy, and "terrible, the meanest girl". Agron said that her favorite part of Quinn is that "she's smart. But she's also human, and through her tough exterior, she's often a little girl lost." Interviewmagazine.com's Lauren Waterman has described her as being "lovable, but occasionally a manipulative deposed queen bee." Agron commented: "Yes, there is a stereotype with these characters and it wouldn't be fair if [those stereotypes] didn't exist a little bit. But [co-creator] Ryan Murphy has a way of taking everything and turning it upside down. That's the great thing about this show and these characters: nobody is one note, which is amazing." Quinn was originally conceived as the antagonistic queen bee head cheerleader, a departure from Agron's actual high school experience. Agron said in an interview with HitFix: "I definitely wasn't cool in high school. I really wasn't. I did belong to many of the clubs and was in leadership on yearbook and did the musical theater route, so I had friends in all areas, but I certainly did not know what to wear, did not know how to do my hair, all those things." She added: "I think that it shows that regardless of who you are and what group you belong to, that there are so many emotions behind each person in high school. Sometimes with teens, writers or directors, anybody, short-changes them and makes them be simple, simple individuals, you're either the jock or the popular kid or the nerd. They don't show those shades. Everybody has those shades to them. This show, it really expands upon vulnerability and excitement and anger all the experiences that you probably actually go through in high school."
Quinn's role as head cheerleader is central to understanding her character. Agron said that she had never had any prior cheer experience before the Pilot. "If I had been [a cheerleader], I would've ended up on crutches," she told Emmy magazine. In an interview with HitFix she said, "I have new respect for the craft, because I slightly hurt myself during the pilot, coming down from one of the stunts. It's better now. I didn't tear something in my knee, but I strained it. Knees are very sensitive, I've learned. It's crazy, because I've been dancing since I was three on my toes and all these things. And you should never say this, but I've never injured myself ever. I'd seen gnarly injuries with dance and all these things. You shouldn't say that, though, because every day is an opportunity to fall, hurt yourself, so that was my experience."
## Reception
### Critical response
Quinn has received positive reviews from critics. The role saw Agron nominated for the Teen Choice Award for "Female Breakout Star" in 2009. She and the other cast members were awarded the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series in 2010, and nominated in the same category the following year.
The character's accidental pregnancy storyline received mixed reviews from critics. Tim Stack for Entertainment Weekly deemed it "a good dramatic twist", but hoped that it would not be a long-lasting storyline. Reviews of her storyline became increasingly negative, though Agron was praised for her dramatic acting during the confrontation scene with Quinn's parents in "Ballad". Gerrick D. Kennedy, writing for the Los Angeles Times, was critical of the ongoing pregnancy plot in the episode "Hairography", and noted that he cringed whenever Quinn appeared on screen. Conversely, Bobby Hankinson of the Houston Chronicle enjoyed Quinn in the episode, and wrote: "I love that she can keep her Mean Girls edge while being heartbreakingly sad or as joyful as she was singing "Papa Don't Preach". Reviewing the episode "Journey to Regionals", Entertainment Weekly's Darren Franich called Quinn's birthing scenes—interspersed with Vocal Adrenaline performing Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody"—both "brilliant" and "terrible". He wrote, "If nothing else, it was definitely the most visually arresting way to represent the birthing process I've ever seen outside of The Miracle of Life. But I kind of liked it. Somewhere, Freddie Mercury is nodding proudly, and saying, 'World, I forgive you for We Will Rock You.'"
Brett Berk, writing for Vanity Fair, was positive about the scripting of the Quinn character in the second-season premiere, now that the pregnancy storyline was over, and was happy to see the return of "evil Quinn". Joel Kelly of TV Squad criticized the decision to pair Quinn with Finn again in the Valentine's Day oriented episode. He saw it as a regression of the characters, and commented: "Yes, it feels like Glee Classic, because the series started with the two of them together. But both of them have changed—Quinn more so than Finn—and having them dating again seems like they're going back to the days when Quinn was the icy lead Cheerio and Finn was the nice but dumb star quarterback."
Quinn's season three reinvention attracted mixed reviews. Lesley Goldberg of The Hollywood Reporter listed her change as a highlight of the episode, and hoped to see more of her new attitude. The Atlantic's Kevin Fallon called it "the most interesting thing Quinn has done since giving birth to a baby to the soundtrack of 'Bohemian Rhapsody'", but VanDerWerff suggested the development hinged on the fact the producers no longer knew how to utilize Agron.
She was ranked number 13 in AfterEllen's Top 50 Favorite Female TV Characters.
### Musical performances
Several songs performed by Agron as Quinn have been released as singles, available for digital download, also featured on the show's soundtrack albums. Agron made her musical debut at the end of the episode "Showmance" where she performed Dionne Warwick's "I Say a Little Prayer". Quinn's next solo was in the episode "Throwdown", where she performed The Supremes' "You Keep Me Hangin' On". The song was released on Glee: The Music, Volume 1. Flandez deemed the cover of "Keep Holding On", the ensemble performance on the episode, an "emotionally satisfying showstopper", however was critical of Quinn's cover of "You Keep Me Hangin' On", which he called "thin and jarring". Aly Semigran of MTV observed that Quinn spontaneously bursting into song brought Glee "dangerously close to High School Musical territory". Agron later performed a solo in the episode "Hairography" singing Madonna's "Papa Don't Preach" after her father learns she is pregnant. This performance by Agron was released as a single. She performed a rendition of James Brown's "It's a Man's Man's Man's World" in the episode "Funk". CNN's Lisa Respers France was "slightly disturbed" by Quinn's "weird" performance of "It's a Man's Man's Man's World" using pregnant teenagers as backing dancers.
In season two, Quinn performs "Lucky" with Sam Evans in the episode "Duets", which was named by some critics as "the most impressive number of the evening"; others called it "absolutely fantastic" with particular praise for Agron, who was said to be often overlooked. "Lucky" debuted at number twenty-seven on the Billboard Hot 100; it was at number seventeen on the Billboard Canadian Hot 100. Quinn's duet performance with Rachel Berry (Lea Michele) of the mash-up "I Feel Pretty / Unpretty" was the highest charted single featured in the episode "Born This Way", debuting at number twenty-two on the Billboard Hot 100. It also peaked at number thirteen on the Digital 100 charts and sold 112,000 digital downloads in the United States in its first week of release. It was the highest charting Glee single on the Billboard charts since "Loser like Me", which debuted at number six on the Billboard Hot 100 and sold over 210,000 downloads in its first week.
In season three, Quinn sings her first solo number since the first season, "Never Can Say Goodbye" by The Jackson 5, which received mostly positive reviews. Jen Chaney of The Washington Post gave the song a "B−", and said it "worked much better than every track that preceded it" because it adapted the song to the show "instead of trying to out-Jackson Jackson". Entertainment Weekly's Joseph Brannigan Lynch called it "a nice summation of her character's journey, but not vocally impressive enough to justify listening to outside of the episode" and gave it a "B". Crystal Bell of HuffPost TV described it as a "blah performance", but Kate Stanhope of TV Guide said it was "sweet and reflective". Erica Futterman of Rolling Stone wrote that it was "a tune well-suited for Quinn's sultry voice and the flipped meaning she gives the lyrics", and TVLine's Michael Slezak had a similar take: he gave it an "A" and called it a "remarkably lovely fit" for her voice.
#### Charting singles
## See also
- List of Glee characters
- List of Dianna Agron performances
|
13,018,888 |
HM Prison Shepton Mallet
| 1,167,477,302 |
Former prison in Shepton Mallet, UK
|
[
"1625 establishments in England",
"2013 disestablishments in England",
"Defunct prisons in England",
"Execution sites in England",
"Grade II* listed buildings in Mendip District",
"Military prisons",
"Prisons in Somerset",
"Shepton Mallet"
] |
HMP Shepton Mallet, sometimes known as Cornhill, is a former prison located in Shepton Mallet, Somerset, England. When it closed in 2013, it was the United Kingdom's oldest operating prison, and had been since the closure of HMP Lancaster Castle in 2011. Before closure Shepton Mallet was a category C lifer prison holding 189 prisoners. The prison building is grade II\* listed, while the former gatehouse and perimeter walls are grade II.
The prison was opened before 1625 but was already in poor repair by the end of the First English Civil War in 1646. It was expanded in 1790 but conditions were again criticised in a report of 1822 and further building work was undertaken in the 1820s and 1830s. This included the installation of a treadwheel for those sentenced to hard labour. In 1843 the number of cells was increased by adding a second storey to each wing. The prison was damaged during a fire in 1904. In 1930 the number of inmates had fallen and the prison was closed.
Following the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 the prison was reopened as a military prison. It was initially used by the British Army and later by American forces who constructed a new execution block to hang condemned prisoners. It was also used for the storage of important historical documents from the Public Record Office in London, including Domesday Book. Following the war the prison continued as a military "glasshouse" until it was returned to civilian use in 1966.
The prison was decommissioned in 2013 and now serves as a tourist attraction, with guided tours and other activities.
## History prior to the Second World War
### 17th and 18th centuries
The prison was established as a house of correction in 1625 to comply with the 1610 Bridewell Act of King James I requiring that every county have such a house. The building and surrounding land of 1 acre (0.40 ha) was bought from the Reverend Edward Barnard for £160. In the 17th century Shepton Mallet was not the only place of imprisonment in Somerset: the County Gaol was in Ilchester; there was another house of correction at Ilchester; and one at Taunton.
At the time all prisoners – men, women and children – were held together in reportedly dreadful conditions. The gaoler was not paid, instead making an income from fees from his prisoners; for example, for providing them with liquor. By the end of the First English Civil War in 1646 the house of correction was described as being in poor repair. During the Bloody Assizes following the Monmouth Rebellion at least 12 local men were held at the gaol before being hanged, drawn and quartered at the Market Cross.
In 1773, a commissioner appointed by Parliament to inspect prisons around the country reported that sanitation at Shepton Mallet House of Correction was extremely poor. He said:
> Many who went in healthy are in a few months changed to emaciated, dejected objects. Some are seen pining under diseases, expiring on the floors, in loathsome cells, of pestilential fevers, and the confluent smallpox. Victims, I will not say to cruelty, but I must say to the inattention of the Sheriffs, and Gentlemen in the commission of peace. The cause of this distress is, that many prisons are scantily supplied, and some almost totally unprovided with the necessaries of life.
In 1790 additional land was purchased to extend the prison, and around this time men and women began to be held in separate areas. Further extensions were carried out from 1817 to 1822, with the prison holding about 200 prisoners.
### 19th century
A report into the state of prisons in Somerset by Sir John Hippisley of Ston Easton Park in 1822 criticised the conditions in which prisoners were held. He proposed a five-year plan to expand the prison at a cost of £5,000.
In 1823, a large treadwheel, designed by William Cubitt and built by Stotherts of Bath, later Stothert & Pitt, was installed within the prison, in the 1840s Stotherts were contracted as engineers to build the new Bath City Gaol in Twerton, and later went on to build the treadwheel at that prison. The building for the treadwheel and other new buildings were designed by George Allen Underwood. Men who had been sentenced to hard labour would serve their punishment on this. 40 men would tread the wheel for many hours at a time, a punishment which was recorded as causing hernias in some convicts. The wheel was used to power a grain mill situated outside the prison wall. The wheel remained in use until 1890. Other prisoners were engaged in breaking stones which were used for roadbuilding, oakum picking (unpicking old ropes) and other tasks.
Further building work to designs by Richard Carver, the county surveyor, was undertaken in the 1830s and 1840s. This included the rebuilding of the front range and the addition of the gatehouse. The chapel was built in 1840. The wings were adapted and a second storey added to each one. Additional building work completed the enclosure of the quadrangle or exercise yard.
In 1842 inspectors appointed by the government reported that Shepton Mallet prison was:
> in greatest want of new cells for the purpose of dividing the prisoners from each other ... In number 11 of Ward 8, no less than eight men have slept in the same room in company from January to September, 1841, although in this very room there are only six bedsteads. Boards are brought in and placed on the floor when the bedsteads are not sufficiently numerous.
Ilchester Gaol closed in 1843, with the inmates being transferred to Shepton Mallet and Taunton. In 1845 the prison was recorded as holding 270 prisoners. By 1897 the population was only 61, overseen by a governor, three warders, six assistant warders and a night watchman. Other staff included a chaplain and assistant chaplain, a surgeon, a matron and a school master. In 1884 it was designated as the county gaol for Somerset under the Prison Act 1877.
### 1904 fire
At 10:15 pm on Saturday 2 July 1904 a fire, believed to have been started by a prisoner about half an hour earlier, was discovered in C block. The alarm was raised by the ringing of the prison bell and the prisoners were evacuated to the prison chapel. Within ten minutes the town fire brigade, which was provided by the Anglo-Bavarian Brewery, was in attendance. They were joined at about midnight by the Wells brigade and at about 3:00 am by the Frome and Glastonbury brigades. The fire had spread quickly within C block and was fought by prisoners, warders and firemen working together; prisoners helped to man the hoses and worked the fire engine pumps in shifts.
Despite the opportunity offered by the disruption, no prisoner attempted to escape. There were no fatalities as a result of the fire, and no major injuries. Whilst contemporary photographs show that the roof of C block was substantially destroyed, the building itself, being constructed of stone and concrete, remained nearly intact. Consequently it was not necessary to transfer any prisoners to other jails.
### Closure in 1930
In 1930 the Prisoner Commissioners recommended to the Government that Shepton Mallet Prison should be closed because it was under-used, having an average population in previous years of only 51 inmates. The prison closed in September of that year, with the prisoners and some of the staff transferring to other jails in neighbouring counties. The prison itself remained empty except for a caretaker until the outbreak of the Second World War.
### Civilian executions
The total number of executions at Shepton Mallet in its early years is unknown. Seven judicial executions took place within the prison walls between 1889 and 1926:
- Samuel Rylands (or Reylands), aged 23, was hanged on 13 March 1889. He was convicted at the Assize Courts in Taunton, Somerset on 20 February 1889 for battering to death 10-year-old Emma Jane Davies at Yeabridge, Somerset on 2 January 1889.
- Henry (Harry) Dainton, aged 35, was hanged on 15 December 1891 by hangman James Billington. He was convicted for drowning his wife in the River Avon.
- Charles Squires, aged 28, was hanged on 10 August 1893 by James Billington. He was convicted at the Assize Courts in Wells, Somerset for smothering to death his wife's two-year-old illegitimate son.
- Henry Quartly (or Quartley), aged 55, was hanged on 10 November 1914 by hangmen Thomas Pierrepoint and George Brown. He was convicted at the Assize Courts in Taunton, Somerset on 20 October 1914 for fatally shooting 59-year-old Henry Pugsley at Parson Street, Porlock, Somerset on 3 June 1914.
- Verney Asser, a 30-year-old Australian soldier of the 2nd Training Battalion, was hanged on 5 March 1918 by John Ellis and William Willis. He was convicted at the Assize Courts in Devizes, Wiltshire on 16 January 1918 for fatally shooting his roommate 24-year-old Corporal Joseph Harold Durkin at Sutton Veny Camp on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire on 27 November 1917.
- William Grover Bignell, aged 32, was hanged on 24 February 1925 by Thomas Pierrepoint and Robert Baxter. He was convicted at the Assize Courts in Devizes, Wiltshire on 20 January 1925 for fatally cutting the throat of his 37-year-old girlfriend Margaret Legg in a field near Tetbury, Gloucestershire on 25 October 1924.
- John Lincoln ( Ignatius Emanuel Napthali Trebich Lincoln), aged 23, was hanged on 2 March 1926 by Thomas Pierrepoint and Lionel Mann. He was convicted at the Assize Courts in Devizes, Wiltshire on 21 January 1926 for fatally shooting 25-year-old Edward Richards at Victoria Avenue, Trowbridge, Wiltshire on 24 December 1925.
Their remains were buried in unmarked graves within the walls of the prison, as was customary following British executions.
## Use during the Second World War
The prison was reopened for British military use in October 1939. It soon housed 300 men from all three armed services, with some having to live in huts in the prison yard.
In November 1940 three British soldiers, who were incarcerated in room 142 close to the B1 landing died of asphyxiation/carbon monoxide poisoning. Another soldier, also held in the same room survived. The names of the soldiers who died were Frank Girvan (of Fife), Glen Roy Williams (Bridgend) and Harold Smith (Manchester)..
### Public Records storage
With the outbreak of war the prison also took into protective storage many important historical documents from the Public Record Office in London, including Domesday Book, the logbooks of HMS Victory, the Olive Branch Petition (1775), and dispatches from the Battle of Waterloo. In all about 300 tons of records were transported to Shepton Mallet. Some documents, but not Domesday Book, were moved out of Shepton Mallet on 5 July 1942 due to concern at the concentration of important items being held in one place, especially with German bombs falling on nearby Bath and Bristol. During their time at Shepton Mallet the archives were still able to be accessed. The archives were returned to London after the end of the war, between 10 July 1945 and 1 February 1946.
### American military use
Between mid-1942 and September 1945 the prison was used by the American military as the "6833rd Guardhouse Overhead Detachment", later "The Headquarters 2912th Disciplinary Training Center – APO 508 United States Army". The prison was entirely staffed by American military personnel during this period. The first commandant was Lieutenant Colonel James P. Smith of the 707th Military Police Battalion.
At times during its use by the Americans Shepton Mallet held many more men than it had before. At the end of 1944 there were 768 soldiers imprisoned, guarded by 12 officers and 82 enlisted men.
### American military executions
Under the provisions of the United States of America (Visiting Forces) Act 1942, 18 American servicemen were executed at the prison: sixteen were hanged in the execution block and two were shot by a firing squad in the prison yard. Three of the hangings were double executions, i.e. two condemned prisoners stood together on the gallows and were executed simultaneously when the trap-door opened.
Of the 18 men executed, eight were convicted of murder, six of rape (which had not been a capital offence in the United Kingdom since 1841), and four of both crimes. A Channel 4 film claimed that a disproportionate number of black soldiers were executed. Although the U.S. military was 90% white, 10 of the 18 men executed there were black and three were Hispanic.
The Americans constructed a small, two-storey building containing a gallows (of identical design to those used in British prisons) adjoining one of the prison wings. The flat-roofed execution block has a single window, approximately one metre above the trap-door. There is an external wooden door on the ground floor which gives access to the area underneath the trapdoor. It was through this door that the bodies of executed prisoners were removed. The barred steel mortuary door, located below C wing, directly faces the external wooden door to the execution block. The execution block is sandwiched tightly between two much larger buildings, close to the rear of the prison. Visually, it clashes with the other architecture because it is made of red brick, whereas the rest of the prison is constructed from stone.
The executioner at most of the hangings was Thomas William Pierrepoint, assisted mainly by his more-famous nephew Albert Pierrepoint, though some other assistant executioners were used, e.g. Alex Riley and Herbert Morris. Executions by hanging took place after midnight, at around 1:00 am. Albert Pierrepoint is known to have disapproved of the Americans' practice of reading out to the condemned man as he stood on the trap-door the details of his offence and sentence, then allowing him to make a final statement. He said:
> The part of the routine which I found it hardest to acclimatise myself to was the, to me, sickening interval between my introduction to the prisoner and his death. Under British custom I was working to the sort of timing where the drop fell between eight and twenty seconds after I had entered the condemned's cell. Under the American system, after I had pinioned the prisoner, he had to stand on the drop for perhaps six minutes while his charge sheet was read out, sentence spelt out, and he was asked if he had anything to say, and after that I was instructed to get on with the job.
The names and dates of American military executions are as follows:
- Private David Cobb, a 21-year-old soldier from Dothan, Alabama, was hanged on 12 March 1943 by Thomas Pierrepoint and Albert Pierrepoint. He was convicted by a general court martial at Cambridge for fatally shooting Second Lieutenant Robert J. Cobnor at the 827th Engineer Battalion ordnance depot, Desborough, in Northamptonshire, on 27 December 1942.
- Private Harold A. Smith, a native of Troup County, Georgia, was hanged on 25 June 1943 by Thomas Pierrepoint and Albert Pierrepoint. He was convicted by a court martial at Bristol for fatally shooting Private Henry Jenkins of the 116th Infantry at Chisledon Camp, near Swindon in Wiltshire on 9 January 1943.
- Private Lee A. Davis, an 18-year old soldier, was hanged on 14 December 1943 by Thomas Pierrepoint and Alex Riley. He was convicted by a court martial at Marlborough, Wiltshire for fatally shooting 19-year-old Cynthia June Lay and raping Muriel Fawden near Savernake Hospital, Marlborough on 28 September 1943.
- Private John H. Waters, a 38-year-old soldier from Perth Amboy, New Jersey, was hanged on 10 February 1944 by Thomas Pierrepoint and Alex Riley. He was convicted by a court martial at Watford in Hertfordshire for fatally shooting his 35-year-old girlfriend Doris Staples at 11A Greys Road, Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire on 14 July 1943.
- Private John C. Leatherberry, a 21-year old soldier, serving with the 356th Engineer General Service Regiment, was hanged on 16 March 1944 by Thomas Pierrepoint and Albert Pierrepoint. He was convicted by a court martial at Ipswich in Suffolk for strangling and battering to death 28-year-old taxi-driver Henry Claude Hailstone in a country lane south west of Colchester in Essex on 8 December 1943. Leatherberry's accomplice, Private George Fowler, was sentenced to life imprisonment.
- Private Wiley Harris Jr, a 26-year old soldier, serving with the 626th Ordnance Ammunition Corp, was hanged on 26 May 1944 by Thomas Pierrepoint and Alex Riley. He was convicted by a court martial for stabbing to death Harry Coogan, a pimp, at Earl Street in Belfast, Northern Ireland on 6 March 1944.
- Private Alex F. Miranda, a 20-year old soldier, was executed on 30 May 1944 by a 10-man firing squad. He was convicted by a court martial for fatally shooting First Sergeant Thomas Evison of the 42nd Field Artillery Battalion, 4th Division, at Broomhill Camp in Devon on 5 March 1944. Initially buried in Plot E, Oise-Aisne American Cemetery and Memorial (see below), his body was returned to the U.S. in 1990.
- Private Eliga Brinson and Private Willie Smith, both of the 4090th Quartermaster Service Company, were hanged on 11 August 1944 by Thomas Pierrepoint and Albert Pierrepoint. They were convicted by a court martial at Cheltenham in Gloucestershire for raping Dorothy Holmes in a field near Bishop's Cleeve in Gloucestershire on 4 March 1944.
- Private Madison Thomas, a 23-year old soldier, was hanged on 12 October 1944 by Thomas Pierrepoint and Albert Pierrepoint. He was convicted by a court martial at Plymouth in Devon for raping Beatrice Maud Reynolds in a field at Albaston, near Gunnislake in Cornwall on 26 July 1944.
- Private Benjamin Pyegate from Dillon, South Carolina, was executed on 28 November 1944 by a firing squad. He was convicted by a court martial at Tidworth in Wiltshire for stabbing to death Private First Class James E. Alexander, from Arkansas, at the Drill Hall Camp, Westbury, Wiltshire on 17 June 1944.
- Corporal Ernest Lee Clarke (aged 23) and Private Augustine M. Guerra (aged 20), both airmen of the 306th Fighter Control Squadron, were hanged on 8 January 1945 by Thomas Pierrepoint and Albert Pierrepoint. They were convicted by a court martial at Ashford, Kent for raping and strangling to death 15-year-old Elizabeth Green at Ashford on 22 August 1944.
- Corporal Robert L. Pearson and Private Parson Jones, both soldiers of the 1698th Engineers, were hanged on 17 March 1945 by Thomas Pierrepoint and Herbert Morris. They were convicted by a court martial at Chard, Somerset for raping heavily pregnant Joyce Brown at Bonfire Orchard in Chard on 3 December 1944.
- Private William Harrison, a 22-year old soldier of the United States Army Air Forces, was hanged on 7 April 1945 by Thomas Pierrepoint and Herbert Morris. Based at USAAF Station 238 in Ardboe, he was tried by a court martial at Cookstown Courthouse on 18 November 1944, accused of sexually assaulting and strangling to death 7-year-old Patricia Wylie in a hayfield at Killycolpy, near Stewartstown, County Tyrone in Northern Ireland on 25 September 1944. He admitted to murdering the child and was convicted.
- Private George Edward Smith, a 28-year-old airman of the 784th Bombardment Squadron, was hanged on 8 May 1945 (i.e. VE day) by Thomas Pierrepoint and Herbert Morris. He was convicted by a court martial at RAF Attlebridge in Norfolk for fatally shooting 60-year-old Sir Eric Teichman in woods near Honingham Hall, Honingham in Norfolk on 3 December 1944.
- Private Aniceto Martinez, a 24-year-old soldier, was hanged on 15 June 1945 by Thomas Pierrepoint and Albert Pierrepoint. He was convicted by a court martial at Lichfield in Staffordshire for raping 75-year-old Agnes Cope in her home at 15 Sandy Lane, Rugeley in Staffordshire on 6 August 1944. He was the last person to be hanged in the United Kingdom for the crime of rape.
Initially, the remains of American prisoners executed at Shepton Mallet were interred in unmarked graves at "Plot X" in Brookwood Cemetery, Surrey. Plot X was located in a distant corner of the cemetery, away from the other plots and adjacent to tool sheds and a compost heap. Executed prisoners interred there were not given coffins, but were put into cotton mattress covers and buried in individual graves under numbered markers. Plot X had room for one hundred graves and was the first effort to segregate executed Army prisoners from those who had been killed in combat.
In 1949, all eighteen bodies were exhumed. The remains of David Cobb were repatriated to his home of Dothan, Alabama. The remaining 17 were reburied in Plot E at Oise-Aisne American Cemetery and Memorial in France. Plot E is a private section intended for the "dishonoured dead" which is situated across the road from the main cemetery. Visits to Plot E are not encouraged. Public access is difficult because the area is concealed, surrounded by bushes, and is closed to visitors. In any case, all the grave markers in Plot E bear only numbers (not names), which makes identification of individual soldiers impossible without the key. The US government published a list identifying the occupants of each grave in 2009.
### British military use
In September 1945 the prison was once again taken over by the British Army and became a British military prison ("glasshouse") for service personnel. It was used for soldiers who were going to be discharged after serving their sentence, provided that sentences were less than two years. (If more than two years, the sentence was served in a civilian prison.)
Amongst the soldiers held here were the Kray twins who, while serving out their national service in the gaol after absconding, met Charlie Richardson. Discipline was very strict and the punishments meted out to prisoners were reportedly extremely severe. On 10 March 1959 a riot (officially termed a mutiny) began in the dining hall. Thirteen soldiers were subsequently tried by court martial, and five were sentenced to three years' imprisonment; the remainder were acquitted.
## Postwar use
The prison was returned to civilian use in 1966. It was initially used to house prisoners who, for their own protection, could not be housed with 'run-of-the-mill' prisoners, and also for well-behaved first offenders.
The gallows in the execution block was removed in 1967 and the room became the prison library. A new kitchen, boiler room, chapel and education block was added.
In 1973, Shepton Mallet became a training prison for men serving sentences of less than four years. The aim was to provide the inmates with the education and skills necessary for them to become productive members of society after their release. There were now about 260 prisoners who worked in a range of workshops, including plastic moulding, tailoring and scrap metal recovery. Some also worked outside the prison (some unsupervised), for example in the local park or churchyard, on local farms or at the Babycham cider mill.
In the 1980s the prison held prisoners who had been in prison several times before and had not reformed. Around this time the population continued to be 260 living in accommodation designed for 169. In 1991, Shepton Mallet took its first category 'C' life prisoners – those nearing the end of their sentences. The maximum number of prisoners to be held in the prison was fixed at 211.
In 1992, the Chief Inspector of Prisons, Judge Stephen Tumim, issued a report which said:
> We doubt that Shepton Mallet Prison has a future in its present role and are aware that the total population could be absorbed into vacancies at other category 'C' establishments in the area. If the prison is to continue it requires a clear function or set of functions which match the physical resources.
Shepton Mallet became the first category 'C' second-stage solely-lifer prison on 1 August 2001. It had an official capacity of 165, but in June 2010 was holding 188 prisoners, with arriving prisoners having to share cells for up to a year. It was divided into four wings:
- A wing – 37 spaces
- B wing – 94 spaces
- C wing – 43 spaces
- D wing – 15 spaces
An inspection report on the prison was issued following a full announced visit by inspectors from HM Chief Inspector of Prisons carried out in June 2010. The introduction to the report states:
> This very positive report ... is testament to the benefits that can flow from having a small-scale niche prison with a settled population. Despite its ageing physical environment, the prison was a very safe place, with positive staff-prisoner relationships, a reasonable amount of activities, and a strong focus on addressing the serious risks posed by the population.
The report commented in particular on the very good relations between prisoners and prison officers, and the low levels of self-harm, bullying, violence or drug use. Whilst the inspectors said that the accommodation was "old and tired", they felt that it was adequate for the current number of prisoners. The inspectors were concerned by proposals to increase the population by 70 prisoners.
### Closure
On 10 January 2013, Justice Secretary Chris Grayling announced that Shepton Mallet Prison was one of seven prisons in England to close. HMP Shepton Mallet closed on 28 March 2013. The closure ceremony was attended by officers and staff, past and present, the Bishop of Bath and Wells, veterans and serving personnel of MTC Colchester, representatives of the US Armed Forces and family and friends. The final act was the handover of the union flag to the last governor. The event was also marked by a fly past of a Royal Naval Lynx helicopter from RNAS Yeovilton and an hour and a half peal from the local church bells. The staff, who marched to parade just inside the main gates, accompanied by the RNAS Yeovilton Volunteer Band, were then dismissed.
## Sale and tourist attraction
After closure, the prison was put up for sale by the Ministry of Justice. The original deadline to declare a preferred bidder for the site was the end of March 2014 but this was put back until mid-August. Proposals for the site included converting it into prison heritage centre with hotel, bar and restaurants as well as housing, or converting the complex into a museum, gym, a hotel and ghost and horror tours. The proposals were rejected in October.
In December 2014, it was agreed Shepton Mallet Prison–along with Dorchester Prison, Gloucester Prison and Kingston Prison–would be sold to City and Country. It is now open to the public as a historical tourism destination, offering guided tours, ghost tours and a variety of other activities. In 2021, plans were approved to turn part of the prison into accommodation.
## Former inmates
- Ben Gunn, blogger and prison reform campaigner
- The Kray Twins, London Gangsters, held in Shepton Mallet in the early 1950s after deserting the British Army.
### Escapes and attempted escapes
Escapes, successful and attempted, from Shepton Mallet Prison include:
- November 1765 – prisoner Jeffreys, imprisoned for sheep-stealing. Recaptured after 12 days at Lyme Regis.
- 5 July 1776 – Mary Harris, aged about 30, broke out. She was still free on 6 March 1777 by which time the reward for her capture had risen to 20 guineas.
- 2 October 1819 – James Thompson escaped. He was caught in Bath on 23 March 1820.
- December 1835 – four prisoners, John Fowler, William Sage, Henry Mitchell and Thomas Ryan attempted to escape from the prison chapel, but were prevented from doing so.
- c. 1860 – prisoner Judge escaped through the 2-foot-wide (0.61 m) tunnel which carried the prison treadwheel shaft to the mill on the outside of the prison wall. He was later captured at Shaftesbury.
- 23 February 1866 – Daniel James escaped through the roof and over the wall. He was recaptured by midday near Upton Noble.
- 12 January 1878 – Samuel Glover Fudge, age 27, escaped. He was recaptured and, at the assize held in Taunton on 28 March 1878, was sentenced to an additional three weeks of hard labour.
- during the prison's Second World War use as a British military prison:
- Brian Houghton escaped and remained free until voluntarily surrendering himself; he was court-martialled for his escape.
- prisoner Maddison escaped.
- prisoner Gutheridge escaped but was recaptured in Shepton Mallet.
- prisoner George M, a professional safe-cracker, was found to be missing at morning roll call.
- July 1945 – during the prison's use as an American military prison, seven American soldiers stacked railway sleepers against a wall to escape, possibly with assistance from outside. Three remained at large for almost two months.
- 17 August 1966 – a convict, in prison for larceny and burglary, escaped whilst engaged in repairing prison staff accommodation. He was found later the same day having a drink in the King William Inn in the town.
- 30 July 1968 – two prisoners in an outside working party, again repairing staff accommodation, made off.
- May 1970 – once again a prisoner in an outside working party escaped his escorts. He was apprehended in the town centre a little over two hours later.
- 1976 – three inmates escaped through the barred toilet window of their dormitory, made it to the roof and then escaped over a lower roof.
- Summer 1977 – three men made their escape through the window of the plastics moulding workshop. A fourth attempted to escape but was prevented. One of the successful escapees was caught fairly quickly. The second was finally apprehended in Bridgwater after hijacking a police car and forcing the officer, at knife-point, to drive him away. The third remained at large until his arrest three months later for burglary.
- 1981 – the lock on a cell door was found to have been sawn off but no one escaped from the prison.
- 24 July 1981 – two prisoners escaped from an outside working party. They were found in Bristol six hours later that same day.
- February 1985 – a prisoner who set fire to his bedding in the hospital wing and pretended to be unconscious was taken to the Royal United Hospital, Bath. When there he changed his mind and decided not to escape. In court he pleaded guilty to a charge of criminal damage.
- 7 May 1985 – a prisoner left an outside working party but was recaptured five hours later 2 miles (3.2 km) north of the town.
- July 1985 – another prisoner absconded from work at the Town Council offices and stole some items from the parish church. He was found later in the day and, following trial, sentenced to an additional two months.
- 29 January 1987 – an inmate clearing snow in Collett Park made off, but was later arrested.
- 28 February 1987 – a prisoner stole and made off in a prison officer's car.
- 7 May 1987 – three men sawed through their cell window's bars, climbed onto the roof and escaped over the wall using a rope of knotted sheets.
- November 1990 – three prisoners broke through the ceiling of their cell, accessed the roof and descended the wall using knotted sheets.
- later in November 1990 – another prisoner escaped.
- 25 February 1991 – two prisoners managed to squeeze through a narrow hole in the ventilation shaft of the prison's plastics workshop. They were apprehended within a few hours, having been seen by a member of the public hiding from police.
- March 1991 – not technically an escape from the prison, but a Shepton Mallet prisoner who had tricked officers into taking him to the Royal United Hospital, Bath, by telling them that he had swallowed razor blades and glass escaped from his escorts through a toilet window. He was arrested in Cardiff four days later.
- June 1991 – a prisoner on an organised trip into Shepton Mallet to buy food for the prison kitchen made off.
- June 1991 – another inmate, part of a party making repairs to the prison wall, escaped.
- July 1991 – a prisoner in an outside working party escaped after asking to use the toilet.
## In the media
HM Prison Shepton Mallet was featured as a haunted location on the American paranormal television series Paranormal Lockdown which first aired on 25 December 2018 on Destination America. It later aired in the United Kingdom on 30 January 2020 on Quest Red.
The interior scenes at the fictional Portobello Prison in Paddington 2 were filmed at Shepton Mallet.
In September 2020, Shepton Mallet Prison featured in the ITV three-part mini drama, Des, based on the 1983 arrest and trial of Scottish serial killer Dennis Nilsen, starring David Tennant and Daniel Mays.
The prison featured extensively in series 6 of the ITV crime/mystery drama Grantchester.
|
9,433,614 |
Hurricane Debby (1982)
| 1,167,710,213 |
Category 4 Atlantic hurricane in 1982
|
[
"1982 Atlantic hurricane season",
"Category 4 Atlantic hurricanes",
"Hurricanes in Bermuda",
"Hurricanes in Puerto Rico",
"Tropical cyclones in 1982"
] |
Hurricane Debby was the strongest tropical cyclone of the 1982 Atlantic hurricane season, with winds peaking at 130 mph (210 km/h). The fourth named storm, second hurricane, and the only major hurricane of the season, Debby developed near the north coast of Hispaniola from a westward moving tropical wave on September 13, 1982. Forming as a tropical depression, it headed northwestward, and eventually strengthened into Tropical Storm Debby the following day. Thereafter, Debby rapidly intensified into a hurricane early on September 15. The hurricane then curved northeastward and grazed Bermuda as a Category 2 hurricane on September 16. It continued to strengthen, and by September 18, Debby briefly peaked as a Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson Hurricane Scale, with winds at 130 mph (210 km/h) and a minimum pressure of 950 mbar (hPa; 28.05 inHg).
After reaching peak intensity, Debby slowly weakened, and was between Category 2 and 1 when it passed south of Newfoundland early on September 19. Thereafter, the storm accelerated and was moving at roughly 60 mph (97 km/h) towards the east. Debby was rapidly approaching the British Isles on September 20, shortly before it transitioned into an extratropical cyclone. Overall, impact was minor in the Lesser Antilles, with only light to moderate rainfall in Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands. On Bermuda, high winds caused some power outages and knocked over trees, though damage on the island was minimal. In addition, Debby dropped rainfall and produced moderately strong winds on Newfoundland.
## Meteorological history
A weather system moved off the coast of Africa on September 3. The disturbance was small and became unidentifiable within 24 hours of formation. Satellite imagery indicated that the disturbance may have acquired a circulation on September 7, but the circulation was gone by the next day. The remaining tropical wave moved into the Lesser Antilles on September 11 and a reconnaissance aircraft was deployed. The aircraft found circulation; however, by the next day, only a strong wave was detected. Atmospheric conditions became more favorable for development, yielding lower wind shear near Hispaniola for several days. The system moved into this area as the latest Reconnaissance aircraft was deployed, declaring it a tropical depression on September 13 near the Dominican Republic.
The next Reconnaissance aircraft that investigated the system discovered a minimal pressure of 1005 mbar (28.67 inHg) and winds of 45 mph (72 km/h) in the depression's center, prompting an upgrade to Tropical Storm Debby on the morning of September 14. Uncertainty arose as to whether Debby would interact with an approaching trough or enter the influence of a ridge over the southeastern United States. The storm was later picked up by the trough, moving away from land and moved to the north. Debby strengthened further, becoming a minimal hurricane late on September 14. The hurricane deepened further, reaching maximum winds of 110 mph (180 km/h), a Category 2 storm. Debby approached Bermuda in this time, and on September 16, Debby passed 80 miles (130 km) west of the island and continued north.
Debby began to slow down to 5 mph (8.0 km/h) early on September 17 as another trough in the westerlies arrived and the system entered it. As the hurricane entered the trough, its forward speed picked up from 5 to 30 mph (8.0 to 48.3 km/h). During this time, Debby reached Category 4 strength, reaching a peak intensity of 130 mph (210 km/h) and a minimal pressure of 950 millibars (28 inHg). Early on September 19, Debby passed just south of Cape Race, Newfoundland and started accelerating to the east at 60 mph (97 km/h) on the following day. Debby remained a tropical cyclone while crossing the North Atlantic Ocean and weakened to a tropical storm at 0600 UTC September 20. Debby was rapidly approaching the British Isles on September 20 shortly before it transitioned into an extratropical cyclone.
The remains of Debby maintained plenty of intensity over northern Europe, and on September 21 it struck northern parts of Finland (where it was named storm Mauri) as one of the most powerful windstorms in the country's recorded history. Winds over 90 mph (140 km/h) felled millions of cubic metres of forest, and a storm surge severely damaged the cities of Kemi and Tornio, claiming two lives.
Starting in the 1982 season (with Debby), the Hurricane Hunter Aircraft (also known as P-3s) began running a new mission for NOAA's Hurricane Research Division. The mission was to drop dropwindsondes that deployed very-low Omega frequency signals. These signals were to estimate the sonde's motion compared to the aircraft in certain areas in a storm.
## Preparations and impact
Rainfalls from Debby in Puerto Rico ranged between 3 inches (76 mm) around the northern end of the island to 10 inches (250 mm) in the southern ridge of the island. Rains on the island peaked at 12.86 inches (327 mm) in Penuelas. The U.S. Virgin Islands reported rain of about 3 inches (76 mm), while about 5 inches (130 mm) of precipitation fell in Dominican Republic. The United States Navy removed its 700 personnel on Bermuda's Air Force Base, placing them in a gymnasium nearby. Thousands of tourists took last-minute flights out of Bermuda on September 16 as Debby drew near. Some of the airlines had pulled back the number of flights going in and out of the island. Eastern Airlines dropped from five flights to two, with them going to only New York City, Newark, New Jersey and Boston, Massachusetts.
The storm had sustained winds of 110 mph (180 km/h) winds, and forecasters were predicting that the hurricane's eye would be over the island the next day. Airlines canceled flights, buildings boarded up, and cruise liners were hurried out of their harbors in the time before Debby arrived. Rescue teams evacuated workers from Mobil oil rigs in Debby's path as it neared. Bermuda experienced heavy gusts of wind, which caused minor damage with no injuries or fatalities. Power outages were reported on the island, though electricity was quickly restored. Numerous trees were knocked down on the island due to high winds. As the storm was approaching Canada, some oil rigs offshore of Newfoundland were evacuated and a science expedition off Grand Banks was discontinued. Onshore, Debby produced light rainfall in the southeastern portions of Newfoundland, with precipitation peaking at approximately 3.5 inches (89 mm). In addition, a few areas experienced tropical storm forces winds, though damage was minimal.
## See also
- Other storms of the same name
- List of Bermuda hurricanes
|
15,997,450 |
2002 Gator Bowl
| 1,171,360,832 | null |
[
"2001–02 NCAA football bowl games",
"2002 in sports in Florida",
"21st century in Jacksonville, Florida",
"Florida State Seminoles football bowl games",
"Gator Bowl",
"January 2002 sports events in the United States",
"Virginia Tech Hokies football bowl games"
] |
The 2002 Gator Bowl was a post-season American college football bowl game between the Florida State Seminoles and the Virginia Tech Hokies, The 57th edition of the Gator Bowl, it was played at Alltel Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida, on January 1, 2002. The game was the final contest of the 2001 NCAA Division I-A football season for both teams, and ended in a 30–17 victory for Florida State.
Virginia Tech was selected to play in the 2002 Gator Bowl with an 8–3 regular-season record despite having just played in Jacksonville at the end of the previous year. The selection of Virginia Tech over the Syracuse Orangemen (now just the "Orange") despite losing head-to-head and Syracuse having better conference and overall records was controversial. Florida State, who had failed to win at least a share of the Atlantic Coast Conference title for the first time since joining the league in 1992, and who had played in all three BCS National Championship games held to that point, was selected as the opponent.
The 2002 Gator Bowl kicked off on January 1, 2002 at Alltel Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida, exactly one year since the Hokies had last played in the game. The game's early going seemed promising for the defense-minded Hokies. In the first quarter, Tech held Florida State scoreless despite only managing a single field goal on offense. In the second quarter, however, Florida State began to find gaps in the Hokie defense and scored 10 points. At halftime, Florida State held a 10–3 lead.
In the third quarter, Tech struck back. The Hokies scored 14 points in the quarter, while Florida State managed just a field goal. The Hokies' All-American tailback Lee Suggs had suffered a season-ending injury in the first game of the season, but freshman Kevin Jones had carried the offense for the season, and continued to perform well in the post-season Gator Bowl game. With a 5-yard run from Jones and a 55-yard pass from Grant Noel to André Davis, Tech took a 17–13 lead going into the fourth quarter. But the lead quickly evaporated on a 77-yard catch and run from Chris Rix to Javon Walker.
Florida State added ten more points after the long touchdown pass, and the Seminoles went on to win the game, 30–17.
## Team selection
At the start of the 2001 college football season, the Gator Bowl Committee held contracts with the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big East Conference, and Notre Dame, allowing the committee to select either Notre Dame or a team from each of the conferences to fill the two available slots. According to contract, the committee had the first selection of teams from each of the two conferences after the conferences' champions were given automatic bids to a Bowl Championship Series game.
According to contract, the Gator Bowl was allowed to select any bowl-eligible Big East team as long as it was within two wins of the second-place team in the conference. This clause generated controversy when Virginia Tech (8–3 record) received the Big East's Gator Bowl spot instead of Syracuse (9–2 record). Syracuse fans, coaches, and players protested the selection of the third-place Hokies ahead of second-place Syracuse. Representing the Atlantic Coast conference was Florida State, which finished second in its conference with a record of 7–4.
### Florida State
Florida State entered the 2001 college football season after a 13–2 loss to Oklahoma in the national championship game. The loss was just the second for the Seminoles that season, and they finished with an 11–2 record. Despite their appearance in the previous year's national championship game, the Seminoles were ranked as the No. 5 team in the country in the USA Today college football preseason poll. Florida State, which had a 70–2 record in Atlantic Coast Conference games since joining the conference, was again favored to win the ACC, but the Seminoles faced challenges replacing Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Chris Weinke and 14 other starters from the previous year's team. Adding to the Seminoles' challenges in the 2001 season was the loss of two starting wide receivers: Robert Morgan and Anquan Boldin, both of whom suffered season-ending injuries before the first game of the season.
The bad omens of the preseason were discarded in the Seminoles' first two games of the season: a 55–13 win against Duke and a 29–7 victory over Alabama-Birmingham. In their third game of the season, however, Florida State suffered what was then the worst defeat in its history of play as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference, a 41–9 loss to North Carolina. Florida State recovered from the loss by beating Wake Forest, 48–24, but lost to No. 2 Miami in the following week, 49–27.
Three wins followed the loss to Miami, but two losses followed the brief winning streak: to Atlantic Coast Conference rival NC State, 34–28, and in-state rival Florida, 37–13. The loss to NC State was the Seminoles' first home defeat at the hands of an ACC opponent and dropped the Seminoles out of contention for the ACC championship. Following the loss to Florida, the Seminoles accepted a bid to the Gator Bowl. Florida State's final game, a win against ACC opponent Georgia Tech, had no effect other than to improve Florida State's regular-season record, and the Seminoles began to prepare for the Gator Bowl.
### Virginia Tech
The Virginia Tech Hokies began the 2001 season having gone 11–1 the previous season, ending with a 41–20 victory in the 2001 Gator Bowl against Clemson. Fans' hopes for the new season were not as high as the previous year, however. Star quarterback Michael Vick was selected with the first pick in the 2001 NFL Draft, and there were questions about how well the team would cope with the loss of Vick and several other important players. Despite those fears, the Hokies began the 2001 season ranked No. 9 in the coaches' poll and were picked in the annual poll of media covering the Big East to finish second in that conference.
In the opening game of the season, Virginia Tech defeated Connecticut, 52–10, but lost starting running back Lee Suggs, who tore his anterior cruciate ligament during the game. Suggs' absence did not affect the Hokies in their next game, as they defeated Western Michigan, 31–0. The Hokies continued their winning streak through the first Virginia Tech games of the season, heading into a conference contest against Syracuse with a 6–0 record and ranked No. 5 in the country. On October 27, however, Syracuse ended Tech's 16-game home winning streak by defeating the Hokies, 22–14, in Lane Stadium.
The loss to Syracuse was followed by another to Pittsburgh in the following week. The twin losses effectively knocked Tech out of contention for the Big East championship, as the Hokies were then two games behind first-place Miami. Tech won its next two games of the season, but because Miami remained undefeated, the matchup between No. 1 Miami and No. 14 Virginia Tech was played without conference title implications. Before the Miami game, Virginia Tech accepted a bid to the Gator Bowl, which had the first pick of Big East teams after the Bowl Championship Series gave an automatic bid to the Big East champion. Miami defeated Tech in the final regular-season game for both teams, 26–24, and the Hokies began preparations for the Gator Bowl.
### Controversy
Virginia Tech's selection for the Gator Bowl was not without controversy. The Hokies' three Big East losses pushed them to third place in the conference, behind Miami (which earned an automatic bid to the national championship game) and Syracuse, which lost only one Big East Conference game. Instead of attending the Gator Bowl, Syracuse earned a bid to the 2002 Insight Bowl, considered to be a less prestigious game due to its lesser payout and shorter history. Syracuse fans, coaches, and players were offended that Virginia Tech was awarded a bid to the Gator Bowl despite Syracuse's better record due to Tech's reputation for bringing large numbers of fans to bowl games. In the wake of Tech's selection, Syracuse athletic director Jake Crouthamel vowed to lobby for changes in the way the Gator Bowl's Big East selection was made.
## Pregame buildup
The Florida State/Virginia Tech matchup was the 31st game between the two teams since they first met in 1955. At the time, Florida State held the advantage in wins, with a 19–10–1 record against Virginia Tech. Heading into the 2002 Gator Bowl, however, spread bettors predicted a reversal of that trend as Virginia Tech was favored to win by two points on Dec. 10. This was reflective of an overall feeling of pessimism toward the Seminoles, who hadn't finished out of first place in the ACC since joining the league in 1992, and would not participate in the national championship game for the first time in four years. Because of this decline in stature, the fact that the game was a rematch of the 2000 national championship game received less coverage than it would have otherwise.
Ticket sales for the game were relatively rapid. By Dec. 7, Virginia Tech had sold almost its entire initial allotment of 12,500 tickets, Florida State fans had purchased approximately 6,800 tickets, and total ticket sales neared the 50,000 mark. Tech's sales increased to more than 13,000 by Dec. 14, and Virginia Tech officials requested an initial allotment from the Gator Bowl. Four days later, more than 60,000 tickets had been sold, and there were expectations that the game would be a sellout. The growing demand for tickets was demonstrated by an incident in which nearly 200 all-access passes to the game were stolen in transit from the printer and resold, causing a police search for the culprits.
### Florida State offense
At the conclusion of the regular season, Florida State was ranked No. 26 in total offense, averaging 426.09 yards per game. The Seminoles' rushing offense was ranked No. 55 (159.64 yards per game), but their passing offense was No. 26 (266.45 ypg) and their scoring offense was No. 21, averaging 33.91 points per game on average.
On the field, the Seminoles' offense was led by quarterback Chris Rix, whose passer rating of 150.76 was the seventh-highest in the country. Rix completed 165 of his 286 pass attempts for 2,734 yards and 24 touchdowns, setting an Atlantic Coast Conference record for total offense by a freshman. In recognition of the achievement, he was named the ACC Freshman of the Year. Rix's preferred passing target was wide receiver Javon Walker, who led the team by catching 45 passes for 944 yards and seven touchdowns. Fellow wide receiver Talman Gardner outpaced Walker in touchdowns, catching 11 during the season, enough for No. 5 in Florida State history to that point.
The Seminoles' ground offense was led by running back Greg Jones, who finished the regular season with 713 yards and six rushing touchdowns. Florida State's rushing game also was assisted by the mobility of Chris Rix, who gained 389 yards during the regular season, enough for No. 3 on the team in rushing yards. The Seminoles' kicking game was run by placekicker Xavier Beitia, who successfully kicked 13 of 14 field goals and 44 of 48 extra points during the season for a total of 83 points.
### Virginia Tech offense
Virginia Tech's offense was slightly worse than the national average during the regular season. The Hokies were ranked No. 64 in total offense, averaging 374.09 yards per game. In particular, Tech's passing offense was lacking. That segment of the offense was ranked No. 86, averaging 179.36 yards. This figure was somewhat balanced by the Hokies' rushing attack, which was ranked No. 55 (194.73 ypg). Despite the worse-than-average yardage totals, Tech was ranked No. 25 in scoring offense, or 32.64 points per game. Prior to the Gator Bowl, it was announced that Virginia Tech offensive coordinator Rickey Bustle would be leaving the team to take the same position at the Louisiana-Lafayette. Despite the move, he confirmed he would coach the Hokies during the bowl game in his last act as a Virginia Tech coach.
On the field, the Hokies were led by quarterback Grant Noel, who completed 146 of his 254 pass attempts for 1,826 passing yards, 16 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions. Noel's favorite passing target was André Davis, who caught 39 passes for 623 yards and seven touchdowns. In recognition of his success, Davis was named a first-team all-Big East selection. Fullback Jarrett Ferguson also set three single-season receiving records by catching 25 passes for 256 yards and three touchdowns, all of which were school records for a fullback. Despite those numbers, most of Virginia Tech's offense was gained on the ground. At the beginning of the season, running back Lee Suggs was the leader of the Hokies' rushing offense. He set Virginia Tech records for career rushing touchdowns and career touchdowns before suffering a season-ending injury in the Hokies' game against Connecticut. Following Suggs' injury, his role was taken up by freshman running back Kevin Jones, who set a Tech freshman running record by accumulating 957 yards. That figure also was the fifth most in Division I-A, and he was named Big East rookie of the year and an All-American by The Sporting News.
### Florida State defense
Florida State's defense was ranked No. 43 in the country at the conclusion of the regular season. The Seminoles allowed 356.36 yards per game, on average. State's rushing defense was ranked No. 32 (126 ypg), while its passing defense was ranked No. 76 (230.36 ypg). The Seminoles' defensive squad was led by middle linebacker Bradley Jennings, who had 121 tackles during the regular season—the most on the team. Defensive tackle Darnell Dockett also was a standout performer statistically for the Seminoles, leading the team in tackles for loss and setting the single-season and single-game Florida State records in that category.
### Virginia Tech defense
During the 2001 regular season, the Hokies' defense was the second-best in the country, allowing 237.91 yards per game. In no defensive statistical category were the Hokies worse than No. 10, and that ranking came in punt return defense, where Tech allowed 13.33 yards per return. The Hokies were No. 2 in rushing defense (71.64 ypg) and No. 8 in passing defense (166.27 ypg). Defensively, the Hokies were led by linebacker Ben Taylor, who had 121 tackles (the most on the team) and was named a semifinalist for the Butkus Award, given annually to the best linebacker in the country. Free safety Willie Pile was the team's No. 2 tackler, accumulating 94 tackles, four interceptions, and two fumble recoveries. Unexpectedly, linebacker Chad Cooper was diagnosed with Guillain–Barré syndrome and had to be hospitalized prior to the game.
## Game summary
The 2002 Gator Bowl kicked off at 12:30 p.m. EST on January 1, 2002, at Alltel Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida. The in-person attendance was announced as 72,202, and the television broadcast earned a Nielsen rating of 6.9. The Gator Bowl was the only New Year's Day bowl game in 2002 to see a ratings increase over the previous year. The broadcast was provided by NBC, and Tom Hammond, Pat Haden, and Chris Wragge were the sportscasters. Country music artist Lee Greenwood performed his song "God Bless the USA" prior to the game, and sang the traditional pre-game national anthem.
At kickoff, the weather was sunny with variable winds at 5 miles per hour (8.0 km/h). The temperature was 46 °F (8 °C), and the humidity was 42 percent. David Witvoet was the referee. In exchange for playing in the game, the two teams split a payout of \$3,212,364. Virginia Tech won the traditional pre-game coin toss to determine first possession and elected to kick off to Florida State to begin the state.
### First quarter
The kickoff was fielded near the Florida State six-yard line and returned 16 yards to the State 22-yard line. The first play of the game was a long pass by quarterback Chris Rix, but the throw was not caught. On the second play, Rix was sacked for a loss of nine yards. A third-down pass was incomplete, and Florida State punted. Virginia Tech returned the kick into Florida State territory, and the Hokies' offense began Tech's first possession of the game at the State 48-yard line. The Hokies' first play was an 18-yard pass from quarterback Grant Noel to tight end Bob Slowikowski, long enough for a first down at the Florida State 29-yard line. From there, running back Kevin Jones gained 12 yards and a first down on a run up the middle of the field. Jones gained three yards on the next play, then Noel was sacked by the Seminoles for a loss of nine yards. On third down, Jones regained some of the lost yardage but was unable to pick up a first down. Facing fourth down, Tech sent in kicker Carter Warley to attempt a 36-yard field goal. The kick was successful, and with 10:56 remaining in the first quarter, Virginia Tech took a 3–0 lead.
Virginia Tech's post-score kickoff was downed in the end zone for a touchback, and Florida State's second possession of the game began at its 20-yard line. On first down, running back Greg Jones gained four yards. A second-down pass from Rix to Gardner gained 11 yards and the Seminoles' first first down of the game. They were unable to gain another first down, however, and punted for the second time in the game. During the return, Florida State was penalized five yards for violating the halo rule that required two yards between the player catching the ball and the nearest defender. The rule has since been rescinded.
Virginia Tech's second drive of the game started at its 28-yard line after the penalty. Jones was stopped for little or no gain on the first two plays of the drive, then Noel completed a long pass to wide receiver Andre Davis, who dodged defenders and advanced the ball to the Florida State 17-yard line, a gain of 55 yards and a first down. Two running plays after the long play gained little yardage, then Tech appeared to gain a touchdown on a passing play from Noel to wide receiver Ernst Wilford. During the play, however, a Tech offensive lineman committed a holding penalty that negated the score. After a 10-yard penalty, Noel fumbled the ball. The loose ball was recovered by Florida State at the State 45-yard line, and Tech was denied a chance to score.
On State's first play after the turnover, Rix was sacked for a four-yard loss. On the next play, Virginia Tech defender Eric Green jumped in front of an errant Rix pass and intercepted it. Green returned the ball to the State 44-yard line, and the Hokies' offense started a drive inside Florida State territory. On the first play of the drive, Tech attempted a reverse pass, but the ball fell incomplete. Two subsequent plays were stopped for no gain, and Tech punted for the first time in the game.
The kick was stopped at the State five-yard line, and with 3:56 remaining in the first quarter, State was pinned deep in its half of the field. After a running play gained four yards, State earned a first down at the 11-yard line with a seven-yard pass. After the first down, Rix fumbled the ball, recovered it, and was sacked by the Tech defense at the State nine-yard line. Two long rushing plays made up the lost yardage, and State earned a first down at their 27-yard line. From there, Rix completed a 44-yard pass to Javon Walker for a first down at the Tech 29-yard line. In the final seconds of the quarter, Rix attempted a touchdown pass, but the ball fell incomplete. With one quarter elapsed, Virginia Tech led, 3–0.
### Second quarter
The second quarter of the Gator Bowl began with the Seminoles facing third down and 12 from the Virginia Tech 30-yard line. The first play of the quarter resulted in the third Virginia Tech sack of the game as Nathaniel Adibi tackled Rix for a long loss. The sack pushed Florida State out of field goal range, and the Seminoles punted. The ball bounced out of bounds at the Tech 11-yard line, and the Hokies began their first possession of the second quarter. After a running play that was stopped for no gain, Noel completed a 20-yard pass to Slowikowski for a first down at their 31-yard line. Tech fumbled on the first play after the first down, Noel threw an incomplete pass, were pushed back five yards by a false start penalty, then had a first-down run negated by a 10-yard holding penalty. Tech was unable to gain a first down after the penalties, and punted.
With 11:23 remaining in the first half, Florida State returned the kick to its 18-yard line and began its first full possession of the second quarter. After a running play was stopped for no gain, Florida State gained a first down on a short pass and a short run. After a 10-yard holding penalty against the Seminoles, Rix scrambled for eight yards and completed a 19-yard pass for a first down at the 50-yard line. After Rix gained five yards on another scramble, he threw two incomplete passes and the Seminoles punted. The ball rolled into the end zone, and Tech's offense began a drive at its 20-yard line with 7:43 remaining in the first quarter.
Two incomplete passes and a one-yard run later, Tech prepared to punt the ball away. During the kick, Florida State's defense broke through the Virginia Tech offensive line and blocked the kick. The ball rolled inside the one-yard line, where Florida State's offense took over. On the first play after the block, Rix leaped across the goal line for the game's first touchdown. The extra point attempt was a success, and with 6:32 remaining in the first half, Florida State took a 7–3 lead.
The post-score kickoff was returned to the Tech 34-yard line, and the Hokies began another drive. Two rushing plays resulted in a first down for the Hokies at their 49-yard line. The Hokies were unable to enter Florida State's half of the field, however, as two incomplete passes and a running play resulted in a loss of yardage. Florida State's offense returned to the game at their 30-yard line following the kick with 4:17 remaining in the first half.
On the first play of the drive, Rix completed a 42-yard pass to Craphonso Thorpe. On the next play, the Seminoles advanced the ball 11 more yards on a running play. From the Tech 18-yard line, the Seminoles were stopped for no gain, endured a sack of Rix, then committed a five-yard false start penalty. After being pushed back to the Tech 34-yard line, the Seminoles were unable to get a first down and elected to try a long field goal kick. Florida State placekicker Xavier Beitia entered the game to attempt a 50-yard kick. The kick was successful, and with 1:27 remaining in the first half, Florida State extended its lead to 10–3.
After Virginia Tech went three-and-out, the Hokies punted to Florida State, who proceeded to run out the remaining seconds on the clock. The first half ended with Florida State leading, 10–3.
### Third quarter
Because Florida State received the ball to begin the game, Virginia Tech received the ball to begin the second half. Florida State's kickoff was returned to their 29-yard line, and Virginia Tech's offense had the first possession of the second half. Jones rushed for six yards, then Noel completed a first-down pass to Andre Davis at the Florida State 45-yard line. The Seminoles sacked Noel, but Noel regained the lost yardage and earned a first down with a completed pass to the 20-yard line. Three Tech rushes advanced the ball to the nine-yard line and earned a first down. Two plays later, Jones dashed across the goal line for the first Tech touchdown of the game. The extra point kick was good, and Tech tied the score, 10–10, with 10:02 remaining in the third quarter.
Florida State received the Tech kickoff and returned it to their 23-yard line. After an incomplete pass from Rix, Virginia Tech's defense was caught offsides, resulting in a five-yard gain for Florida State. A short run after the penalty gained a first down, but on the first play after the first down, the Seminoles fumbled the ball. The loose ball was recovered by Virginia Tech's defense, and the Hokies began their second possession of the second half at the State 31-yard line. Tech was unable to capitalize on the field position, however. Noel threw an incomplete pass, was sacked, then threw a pass for a loss of yardage. Tech punted the ball, which was downed at the Florida State 12-yard line.
The Seminoles' second possession of the second half began with more success than their first possession. State gained a first down on two running plays, then Rix completed a 14-yard pass for another first down. Now at their 36-yard line, the Seminoles advanced the ball for short ground gains on the next two plays, then Rix completed a 30-yard pass to Bell. Following the pass and first down, the Seminoles were at the Tech 34-yard line. Two short gains and an incomplete pass failed to gain another first down, so State head coach Bobby Bowden ordered kicker Beitia into the game to attempt a 47-yard field goal. The kick attempt was successful, and Beitia gave Florida State a 13–10 lead with 1:42 remaining in the quarter.
Following Florida State's kickoff and a 38-yard return, Virginia Tech's offense began work at its 45-yard line. On the second play of the drive, Noel completed a 55-yard pass to Andre Davis, who ran into the end zone for Virginia Tech's second touchdown of the game. The extra point kick was good, and Virginia Tech regained the lead, 17–13, with 40 seconds remaining in the quarter.
Virginia Tech kicked the ball off, and Florida State returned the kick 12 yards to its 18-yard line. The Seminoles gained five yards on two rushing plays before time ran out on the quarter, which ended with Virginia Tech leading, 17–13.
### Fourth quarter
The fourth quarter began with Florida State in possession of the ball and facing a third down and five yards. On the first play of the quarter, Rix was hit by a Virginia Tech defender, but not before he released a 77-yard pass to Walker, who ran into the end zone for a touchdown. The extra point try was good, and Florida State regained the lead, 20–17, with 14:48 remaining in the game.
Florida State's post-score kickoff sailed through the end zone for a touchback, and Tech's offense began its first drive of the quarter from its 20-yard line. Tech's first play of the quarter was a 15-yard completed pass by Noel for a first down. That was followed by an 11-yard run by Jones for another first down. After an incomplete pass, Noel ran for a first down at the State 41-yard line. Inside Florida State territory, gaining ground became much more difficult. The next three plays netted Tech only nine yards, setting up a critical fourth-and-one play. With Virginia Tech outside field goal range and trailing, the Hokies needed another first down to move within potential scoring range. But on fourth down, Jones was stopped for no gain on a running play, and the Hokies turned the ball over on downs. The play later was cited as the game's turning point.
After the turnover, Florida State received the ball at its 32-yard line with a 20–17 lead and 12:08 remaining in the game. On the first play after the turnover, Rix completed a 51-yard pass to Walker for a first down at the Tech 18-yard line. The three plays that followed netted only three yards, and Beitia was sent into the game to attempt a 35-yard field goal. The kick ricocheted off one of the uprights but through the goal posts, extending the Seminoles' lead to 23–17 with 10:13 remaining in the game.
Florida State's kickoff was fielded inside the Virginia Tech five-yard line and returned to the Tech eight-yard line. Tech gained five yards on two running plays, then Noel completed a 15-yard pass to Davis for a first down at the Tech 28-yard line. Noel and Jones each carried the ball, together gaining enough for a first down at the Tech 39-yard line. A completed pass and a short run by Jones resulted in another first down, this time at the 50-yard line. Florida State committed a five-yard offsides penalty, but the Hokies were unable to gain a first down on the Seminoles' side of the field. Rather than attempt to convert another fourth down, the Hokies punted the ball.
The kick was downed by Virginia Tech at the State 22-yard line with 5:22 remaining in the game. On the first play of the drive, Jones gained 13 yards and a first down at the 45-yard line of Florida State. This was followed by a 22-yard run and a first down by Jones at the Tech 33-yard line. Three more runs by Jones gained another nine yards, but rather than attempt a field goal, Bowden ordered his offense to attempt to convert the first down. A quarterback sneak resulted in just enough of a gain for a first down, and State's drive continued. On the first play after the conversion, Rix completed a 23-yard pass to Walker for a touchdown. The score and subsequent extra point gave State a 30–17 lead with 2:14 remaining in the game.
Virginia Tech returned Florida State's kickoff to their 23-yard line. After an incomplete pass, the Hokies gained a first down at their 33-yard line with a short pass. After the first down, Noel was sacked on successive plays. During the second sack, Florida State lineman Darnell Dockett collided with Noel's helmet, twisting Dockett's knee. Following the injury, Tech sent in backup quarterback Bryan Randall to attempt a long pass. The pass was intercepted by Florida State with 19 seconds remaining in the game. Following the interception, the Seminoles ran out the clock and secured a 30–17 win.
## Statistical summary
In recognition of their performances during the game, Florida Statewide receiver Javon Walker was named the most valuable player of the winning team, and Virginia Tech wide receiver André Davis was named the most valuable player of the losing team. Walker finished the game with 195 receiving yards on just four receptions, an average of almost 50 yards—half the field—per reception. On the opposite side of the ball, Davis caught five passes for 158 yards, an average of more than 31 yards per catch.
The two teams' quarterbacks benefited from their receivers' success in eluding the opposing defenses. Florida State quarterback Chris Rix completed 12 of his 25 pass attempts for two touchdowns, 269 yards, and one interception. Rix also ran the ball 12 times during the game. Although he lost a total of 19 yards, one of his positive rushes resulted in a rushing touchdown. Despite that score, the game marked the first time all season that Rix had been held to negative rushing yardage. For Virginia Tech, quarterback Grant Noel completed 15 of 27 pass attempts for 269 yards and a touchdown. Backup quarterback Bryan Randall threw an interception on his only pass attempt of the game, and wide receiver Richard Johnson's trick pass attempt fell incomplete.
On the ground, Florida State running back Greg Jones led all players with 23 carries for 120 yards. Virginia Tech running back Kevin Jones was second in overall rushing, having carried the ball 23 times for 55 yards and a touchdown. Defensively, Florida State had 12 tackles for loss, causing the Hokies negating 66 yards of offense. Virginia Tech had eight tackles for loss, encompassing 48 yards of loss. Five of Virginia Tech's tackles for loss were sacks, while four of Florida State's tackles for loss were sacks.
Beitia's three successful field goals tied a Gator Bowl record. Rix's 326 passing yards were the sixth-most recorded in Gator Bowl history to that point, and Javon Walker's 195 receiving yards were the second-most ever recorded in a Gator Bowl. The 77-yard pass from Rix to Walker was the third-longest in Gator Bowl history. On the opposite side of the ball, Davis' 158 receiving yards were the ninth-most recorded in Gator Bowl history, and his 55-yard reception from Noel was the ninth-longest in Gator Bowl history. The two receivers' totals also were Virginia Tech bowl-game records: in one case, for receiving yards gained by a single player, in the other, for receiving yards allowed by a single player.
## Postgame effects
Florida State's victory raised it to a final record of 8–4, and Virginia Tech's loss brought it also to a final record of 8–4. Following the loss, the Hokies had a 5–10 record in bowl games, including 1–3 in the Gator Bowl and 4–5 in bowl games under head coach Frank Beamer. Florida State's victory gave Seminoles head coach Bobby Bowden the 322nd win of his career, tying him for second in the overall Division I career wins list with Bear Bryant.
### 2002 NFL Draft
Because of their strong performance in college and during the 2002 Gator Bowl, several players from each team were selected to play in the National Football League during the 2002 NFL Draft. Florida State had three players selected, led by wide receiver Javon Walker, who was picked in the first round (20th overall) by the Green Bay Packers. Following Walker were defensive back Chris Hope (94th) and Milford Brown, who was taken in the supplemental draft by the expansion Houston Texans. In addition to the Seminoles who were drafted, Florida State running back Eric Shelton transferred from the team because of a lack of playing time. Virginia Tech had eight players selected in the 2002 draft. The first of these was wide receiver Andre Davis, who was selected in the second round (47th overall), by the Cleveland Browns. Following Davis were linebacker Ben Taylor (111th), defensive back Kevin McAdam (148th), David Pugh (182nd), Bob Slowikowski (211th), Chad Beasley (218th), Derrius Monroe (224th), and Jarrett Ferguson (251st).
### Coaching changes
Following the Gator Bowl loss, Virginia Tech offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Rickey Bustle became the head coach at Louisiana-Lafayette as had been announced prior to the game. His position offensive coordinator was filled by then-offensive line coach Bryan Stinespring. To fill the quarterbacks coach position vacated by Bustle, Tech hired former Notre Dame offensive coordinator Kevin Rogers.
|
434,178 |
Guy de Beauchamp, 10th Earl of Warwick
| 1,158,221,309 |
Mediaeval English noble
|
[
"1270s births",
"1315 deaths",
"13th-century English nobility",
"14th-century English nobility",
"Beauchamp family",
"Earls of Warwick (1088 creation)",
"High Sheriffs of Worcestershire"
] |
Guy de Beauchamp, 10th Earl of Warwick ( 1272 – 12 August 1315) was an English magnate, and one of the principal opponents of King Edward II and his favourite, Piers Gaveston. Guy was the son of William de Beauchamp, the first Beauchamp earl of Warwick, and succeeded his father in 1298. He distinguished himself at the Battle of Falkirk and subsequently, as a capable servant of the crown under King Edward I. After the succession of Edward II in 1307, however, he soon fell out with the new king and the king's favourite, Piers Gaveston. Warwick was one of the main architects behind the Ordinances of 1311, that limited the powers of the king and banished Gaveston into exile.
When Gaveston returned to England in 1312—contrary to the rulings of the Ordinances—he was taken into custody by Aymer de Valence, 2nd Earl of Pembroke. Warwick abducted Gaveston and, together with Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster, had him executed. The act garnered sympathy and support for the king, but Warwick and Lancaster nevertheless managed to negotiate a royal pardon for their actions. After the disastrous defeat at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314, King Edward's authority was once more weakened, and the rebellious barons took over control of government. For Warwick the triumph was brief; he died the next year.
Guy de Beauchamp is today remembered primarily for his part in the killing of Gaveston, but by his contemporaries he was considered a man of exceptionally good judgement and learning. He owned what was for his time a large collection of books, and his advice was often sought by many of the other earls. Next to Lancaster, he was the wealthiest peer in the nation, and after his death his lands and title were inherited by his son, Thomas de Beauchamp, 11th Earl of Warwick.
## Family background
Guy de Beauchamp was the first son and heir of William de Beauchamp, 9th Earl of Warwick (c. 1238 – 1298). His mother was Maud FitzJohn, daughter of John Fitzgeoffrey, who was Justiciar of Ireland and a member of the council of fifteen that imposed the Provisions of Oxford on King Henry III. William was the nephew of William Maudit, 8th Earl of Warwick, and when his uncle died without issue in 1268, he became the first Beauchamp earl of Warwick. In 1271 or 1272 his first son was born, and in reference to the new family title, William named his son after the legendary hero Guy of Warwick. William de Beauchamp was a capable military commander, who played an important part in the Welsh and Scottish wars of King Edward I.
A marriage between Guy and Isabel de Clare, daughter of Gilbert de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford, was contemplated, or possibly even took place and then annulled. It was not until early 1309 that Guy married Alice de Toeni, a wealthy Hertfordshire heiress. By this time Guy had already succeeded as Earl of Warwick, after his father's death in 1298.
By his wife, Alice, Guy had two daughters and two sons—Thomas, his heir and successor, and John de Beauchamp, Lord Beauchamp KG (1315 – 2 December 1360), who carried the royal standard at the Battle of Crécy.
- Maud de Beauchamp (died 1366), married before Easter term 1332 Geoffrey de Say, 2nd Lord Say, by whom she had issue. The Barons Saye and Sele are their descendants.
- Elizabeth de Beauchamp (c. 1316 – 1359), married before Easter term 1332 Thomas Astley, 3rd Lord Astley, by whom she had two sons, William Astley, 4th Lord Astley and Sir Thomas Astley, ancestor of the Astleys of Patshull and of Everley.
By an unknown mistress (or mistresses), Earl Guy also had three daughters:
- Isabel de Beauchamp; married John de Clinton.
- Emma de Beauchamp; married Roland de Oddingseles.
- Lucia de Beauchamp (also known as Lucy); married Robert de Napton, Knt., the son of Sir Adam Napton. Lucia and Sir Robert had a son Adam Napton, who married Margaret Helier.
## Service to Edward I
Edward I knighted Guy de Beauchamp at Easter 1296. Warwick's career of public service started with the Falkirk campaign in 1298. Here he distinguished himself, and received a reward of Scottish lands worth 1,000 marks a year. At this point his father was already dead, but it was not until 5 September that Guy did homage to the king for his lands, and became Earl of Warwick and hereditary High Sheriff of Worcestershire for life. He continued in the king's service in Scotland and elsewhere. In 1299 he was present at the king's wedding to Margaret of France at Canterbury, and in 1300 he took part in the Siege of Caerlaverock Castle. The next year he was a signatory to a letter to the Pope, rejecting Rome's authority over the Scottish question, and also participated in negotiations with the French over the release of the Scottish king John Balliol. He was present at the Siege of Stirling in 1304, serving under Edward, the Prince of Wales. In March 1307 he made preparations to accompany Prince Edward to France, but this journey never took place.
Early in 1307, Edward I made his last grant to Warwick, when he gave him John Balliol's forfeited lordship of Barnard Castle in County Durham. On 7 July that year, near Burgh by Sands in Cumberland, Warwick was present when King Edward died. Together with Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, and Henry de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, he carried the ceremonial swords at the coronation of King Edward II on 25 February 1308.
## Conflict with Edward II
Before his death, the old king had exiled Prince Edward's favourite Piers Gaveston, and Warwick was among those charged with preventing Gaveston's return. The new king, however, not only recalled his favourite, but soon also gave him the title of earl of Cornwall. Warwick was the only one of the leading earls who did not seal the charter, and from the start took on an antagonistic attitude to Edward II. Gaveston was a relative upstart in the English aristocracy, and made himself unpopular among the established nobility by his arrogance and his undue influence on the king. He gave mocking nicknames to the leading men of the realm, and called Warwick the "Black Dog of Arden".
Gaveston was once more forced into exile, but Edward recalled him in less than a year. The king had spent the intervening time gathering support, and at the time, the only one to resist the return of Gaveston was Warwick. With time, however, opposition to the king grew. Another source of contention was Edward abandoning his father's Scottish campaigns, a policy that opened the Border region up to devastating raids from the Scots. This affected Warwick greatly, with his extensive landed interest in the north. Tensions grew to the point where the king in 1310 had to ban Warwick and others from arriving at parliament in arms. They still did, and at the parliament of March 1310, the king was forced to accept the appointment of a commission to draft a set of ordinances towards reform of the royal government.
The leaders of these so-called Lords Ordainers were Robert Winchelsey, Archbishop of Canterbury, on the side of the clergy, and Warwick, Lincoln and Lancaster among the earls. Henry de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, was the most experienced of the earls, and took on a modifying role in the group. Thomas of Lancaster, who was Lincoln's son-in-law and heir, was the king's cousin and the wealthiest nobleman in the realm, but at this point he took a less active part in the reform movement. Warwick is described by some sources as the leader of the Ordainers; he was certainly the most aggressive. The set of Ordinances they drafted put heavy restrictions on the king's financial freedom, and his right to appoint his own ministers. It also—once more—ordered Gaveston to be exiled, to return only at the risk of excommunication.
## Gaveston's death
Gaveston's third and final exile was of even shorter duration, and after two months, he was reunited with King Edward II in England. Archbishop Winchelsey responded by excommunicating Gaveston, as the Ordinances had stipulated. Lancaster, who had by this time succeeded his father-in-law Lincoln, had taken over leadership of the baronial opposition. While the King departed for York, a number of the barons set out in pursuit of Gaveston. Gaveston ensconced himself at Scarborough Castle, and on 19 May 1312, agreed on a surrender to Aymer de Valence, Earl of Pembroke, as long as his security would be guaranteed.
Pembroke lodged his prisoner in Deddington in Oxfordshire. On 10 June, while Pembroke was away, Warwick forcibly carried away Gaveston to Warwick Castle. Here, in the presence of Warwick, Lancaster and other magnates, Gaveston was sentenced to death at an improvised court. On 19 June he was taken to a place called Blacklow Hill—on Lancaster's lands—and decapitated. According to the Annales Londonienses chronicle, four shoemakers brought the corpse back to Warwick, but he refused to accept it, and ordered them to take it back to where they found it. Gaveston's body was eventually taken to Oxford by some Dominican friars, and in 1315, King Edward finally had it buried at Kings Langley.
The brutality and questionable legality of the earls' actions helped win political sympathy for the king. Pembroke was particularly offended, as he had been made to break his promise of safety to Gaveston, and his chivalric honour had been damaged. From this point on Pembroke sided firmly with King Edward in the political conflict. The king himself swore vengeance on his enemies, but found himself unable to move against them immediately, partly because they were in possession of a number of highly valuable royal jewels taken from Gaveston. A settlement was reached in October, whereby the rebellious barons and their retainers received a pardon. The king nevertheless emerged strengthened from the events, while Warwick and Lancaster were largely marginalised. This all changed in 1314, when the king decided to stage his first major campaign against the Scots. Warwick and Lancaster refused to participate and the campaign ended in a humiliating English defeat at the Battle of Bannockburn on 24 June. This led to another political reversal and Edward was forced to reconfirm the Ordinances, and submit to the leadership of the rebellious barons.
## Death and historical assessment
In mid-July Warwick had to withdraw from government to his estates on account of illness. When he died on 12 August 1315, political leadership was soon left almost entirely to Lancaster. The chronicler Thomas Walsingham reported rumours that the king had had Warwick poisoned. He was buried at Bordesley Abbey in Worcestershire, an establishment to which his family had been benefactors. In value, his possessions were second only to those of the earl of Lancaster among the nobility of England. His lands, though primarily centred on Warwickshire and Worcestershire, were spread over nineteen counties as well as Scotland and the Welsh Marches. His heir was his eldest son, whom he had named Thomas after the earl of Lancaster. Thomas, born probably on 14 February 1314, did not succeed to his father's title until 1326, as Thomas de Beauchamp, 11th Earl of Warwick. In the meanwhile Warwick's possessions went into the hands of the king, who donated Warwick's hunting dogs to the earl of Pembroke. A younger son, named John, also became a peer, as John de Beauchamp, 1st Baron Beauchamp. Like his elder brother, he distinguished himself in the French wars, and was a founding member of the Order of the Garter.
Guy de Beauchamp is probably best remembered for his opposition to King Edward II, and for his part in the death of Gaveston. To contemporaries, however, he was considered a man of considerable learning and wisdom. His library, of which he donated 42 books to Bordesley Abbey during his lifetime, was extensive. It contained several saints' lives as well as romances about Alexander and King Arthur. As mentioned, Edward I entrusted the supervision of his son to Warwick. Likewise, when the earl of Lincoln died in 1311, he supposedly instructed his son-in-law Thomas of Lancaster to heed the advice of Warwick, "the wisest of the peers". Chronicles also praised Warwick's wisdom; the Vita Edwardi Secundi says that "Other earls did many things only after taking his opinion: in wisdom and council he had no peer". Later historians have reflected this view; in the 19th century, William Stubbs called Warwick "a discriminating and highly literate man, the wisdom of whom shone forth through the whole kingdom". He was politically and economically well connected by traditional ties of kinship and marriage.
Warwick's death came at an inconvenient time and Thomas of Lancaster proved unequal to the task of governing the nation, so that further years of conflict and instability followed. Nevertheless, the problems of Edward II's reign were deep, and in the words of Michael Hicks: "one must doubt whether even Warwick could have brought unity as one chronicler supposed".
|
50,689,876 |
Pharah
| 1,173,514,394 | null |
[
"Comics characters introduced in 2016",
"Female characters in comics",
"Female characters in video games",
"Female soldier and warrior characters in video games",
"Fictional Egyptian people",
"Fictional Indigenous peoples in Canada",
"Fictional characters introduced in 2014",
"Fictional female gunfighters",
"Fictional female lieutenants",
"Fictional lesbians",
"Fictional military captains",
"Fictional private military members",
"LGBT characters in comics",
"LGBT characters in video games",
"Overwatch characters",
"Race-related controversies in video games",
"Video game characters introduced in 2016"
] |
Pharah is the call sign of Fareeha Amari, a character who first appears in the 2016 video game Overwatch, a Blizzard Entertainment–developed first-person shooter, later appearing in related literary media and the game's sequel, Overwatch 2. An Egyptian woman trying to follow in her mother's footsteps, she enlists in a military unit and helps defend her local community, later joining the restored peace-keeping force Overwatch alongside her mother and childhood friend. In a 2023 short story by Blizzard, the character was revealed to be a lesbian.
She was one of the first characters added to Overwatch during its development, after complications arose when trying to implement a different character. Conceived by Geoff Goodman as a male character with a rocket launcher and a Jetpack, the character was originally named "Rocket Dude" and went through multiple iterations and names during development, before Blizzard decided to make the character female instead, utilizing a design by Justin Thavirat as a guide to develop her look.
Video game media and academic writers have mixed feelings on Pharah's characterization, with the portrayal of her various ethnic backgrounds and representation of women being considerably discussed. Depicted as half-Egyptian and half-Indigenous Canadian, some have viewed Pharah's portrayal through a white voice actress and Indigenous-themed skins in-game as unfavorable. Blizzard's lack of development in the way of Pharah's official narrative elements has also been lamented, while many fan-generated depictions of the character have meanwhile emerged and been discussed by various media outlets.
## Conception and development
One of the original characters made for Overwatch' earliest version, Overwatch project lead Geoff Goodman started with a gameplay concept of a character with a jetpack and a rocket launcher. At this point in development, the overall tone for the game and its characters were not fully defined. According to Overwatch game director Jeff Kaplan in the earliest versions of Overwatch the character was originally named "Mercy". However playtesters were confused when told to switch to Mercy, instead selecting the angel-themed character "Angelica". To fix this issue, Angelica was renamed Mercy, while the other character's name was changed to "Rocket Dude". Originally the character was not included in the earliest builds, and the character Reinhardt was focused on instead. However after running into difficulties with Reinhardt's melee-centric gameplay, Goodman offered his character, which at this point was just a male character model armed with a rocket launcher and a jetpack. The developers however found Rocket Dude incredibly fun to play, and development on them progressed.
While early on they defined a playstyle and Egyptian heritage as integral to the character, multitude of concepts were considered ranging from armored dragons, heavy armored mech suits, and stylized male fighter pilots. In particular the developers noted that the fighter pilots did not capture the "fantasy" the team was trying to display in Overwatch, while the heavy armor felt too "tank-like". Artist Justin Thavirat submitted a design consisting of black armor suit with a large mag fed rocket launcher that was well received by the development team, and even included in the original pitch meeting for the game. However Art Director Arnold Tsang felt the design was "a little too high concept" and they started over with the concept of a man with a rocket jetpack. Thavirat's design was later revisited however, and slowly congealed into the finalized look for her character.
Upon the decision to make the character female, their name was changed to "Rocket Queen", in reference to the Guns & Roses song of the same name. Rocket Queen persisted as her internal codename during development, even after her name was changed to Pharah, which itself was another much-earlier name for the game's angel-themed character. The character's personality also went through several concepts, before settling on her being altruistic with the developers joking that she has a "'Captain America' kind of vibe where she is all about justice and order and trying to make the world a better place and just kinda bring order to the chaos." Working on her Pharah assisted the development team with establishing the game's visual style, as well as providing a guide to the overall look for its future playable characters.
### Design
Standing approximately 1.8m (5' 11") tall, Pharah is an Egyptian woman of color with black hair extending to her neck with gold beaded braids in the front, and an Eye of Horus tattoo under her right eye. She wears a full body blue and black combat suit with gold highlights dubbed the "Raptora Mark VI", that features independently posable wings with thrusters that allow for short-term flight. Her design also features a blue removable helmet that features grey decorative wings extending from the sides and a transparent, beak-like visor extending the front that overlays over the top of her face. Her primary weapon is a blunderbuss-esque black rocket launcher fed through a top loaded magazine, while additional rockets can be fired from her lower arms and shoulder compartments. For Overwatch 2, Pharah's visual look underwent subtle changes, including the lower half of her armor being made to include white in addition to its already-present blue color, and increased transparency for her visor.
Like other Overwatch characters, Pharah received skins, unlockable cosmetic items to change her in-game appearance. Various skins like "Mechaqueen" and "Mechatron" lean into a mecha anime aesthetic and emphasize a mecha appearance for her combat suit. Two notable skins include "Thunderbird" and "Raindancer", which are based on Indigenous imagery, specifically the art motifs of Pacific Northwest cultures. When asked about these skins in an interview with Kotaku, Kaplan stated the development team was impressed upon seeing the concept art for the skins and after some internal questioning they opted to implement them into the game. While Kaplan stated the development team was open to removing the skin if fans felt a line was crossed, the skin ultimately remained in the game and Pharah was confirmed to be half-Indigenous Canadian through her father.
## Appearances
Fareeha Amari is an Egyptian woman introduced in the 2016 first-person shooter Overwatch, voiced by Jen Cohn. Her mother, Ana, was a member of the global peace-keeping force "Overwatch", before vanishing. Aspiring to follow in her footsteps, she enlisted in and rose up through the officer ranks of the Egyptian army. Before being able to join Overwatch, the organization disbanded, and she instead become an officer at a private security firm. Under the call sign "Pharah", she is tasked with defending an artificial intelligence research facility. She later returns in the game's sequel, Overwatch 2.
Her story is further fleshed out in the digital comic book series, first appearing in Pharah: Mission Statement, the fifth issue of the 2016 Overwatch tie-in comic book series. In it, an aggressive artificial intelligence called "Anubis" at the facility breaches containment, and proceeds to take control of surrounding robots to attack everyone including Pharah and her team. When her team captain is killed in the attack, she rallies the remaining members to attack and destroy Anubis, and through its use of a hive mind traps it in a feedback loop. Afterwards, the team promotes her to their new captain. Later she appears in the second issue of Overwatch's New Blood comic miniseries, protecting a community from the terrorist group Talon, when she is approached by her childhood friend Cassidy and later her estranged mother. Though they asks her to join a restored Overwatch group, she declines stating that she is needed in her home more. After Talon attacks again, they work together to fight them off, and while Pharah decides to remain where she is she is willing to revisit the idea of joining them at a later date. In issue 5 of New Blood, Pharah is shown to have joined the group between chapters, helping to defend the city of Busan from attack.
As part of the 2023 Pride event for Overwatch 2 Blizzard released several short stories which included As You Are, a story featuring Pharah. In it when asked if she has any romantic interest in Cassidy, she laughs and responds no, stating that she is a lesbian.
### Gameplay
In Overwatch, Pharah is classified as a "Damage" class character, designed to provide a more offensive role in team compositions. Her short term flight ability makes her one of most mobile characters in the game, able to reach any point on a map and far more height. By holding the jump button, she can utilize her passive "Hover Jets" ability to gain upward momentum slowly until the button is released. Pharah's main form of attack, her rocket launcher, fires a long range projectile that will explode in splash damage hitting enemies caught in the radius but can also damage her, with a direct hit doing significantly more damage. Additionally in Overwatch 2, Pharah gains a short term boost to her reload and movement speed after killing an enemy, due to a new passive ability given to all "Damage" class characters. In a Reddit "ask me anything" thread with the Overwatch developers, Geoff Goodman compared Pharah's gameplay to that of another first-person shooter, Tribes.
Pharah also has several abilities that require activation, though the first two have a "cooldown" period after use and are unable to be used again during that duration. "Jump Jet" gives a burst of upward acceleration, at a much higher pace than "Hover Jets" and can enable her to reach vertical areas more quickly. Alternatively Pharah's "Concussive Blast" fires a projectile that pushes away any characters caught in its blast radius, including Pharah, but will not damage her allowing it to be used for mobility. Lastly her 'ultimate' ability, called "Barrage", requires to be charged either over time or through damage dealt to the enemy team. Once the charge is full it can be spent to activate the ability and fire a stream of rockets for a short duration, however she is unable to move during this time. During development, they considered adding a giant transparent eagle head appearing behind her as a visual component of the ability. However the felt this did not fit her character or level of technology, and chose instead to simplify the move visually.
## Promotion and reception
To promote Overwatch and the character, she was one of twelve heroes showcased in a playable build of the game at the 2014 BlizzCon convention, and later featured among a series of life-size boxed "action figures" to promote the game's release, with Pharah's showcased in Busan, South Korea. Additional material included a cosplay guide, and promotional images themed around holidays. The Good Smile Company released a Figma-line figurine of Pharah in December 2018, while Hasbro released a figure of their own packaged with fellow character Mercy in 2019. In 2023 for Pride Month, they released a series of cosmetics for the character to celebrate her as a part of the LGBT community.
Known for her considerable damage output, Pharah is a popular choice among players who opt for DPS (damage per second) characters. Sources such as Kotaku and the book The Costumes of Burlesque have noted her as a frequent subject of cosplay, with particularly elaborate results. Early in the first two years of Overwatch's release, players would often select her alongside another player utilizing Mercy, due to their shared flight abilities meshing well. Community reaction to this cohesion led to the pairing being dubbed "PharMercy" by players and media outlets, with a large amount fan art and fan fiction demonstrating them being romantically involved with each other following suit. However, some such as Joseph Knoop of The Daily Dot lamented how little Pharah was developed in the story itself, stating Blizzard did "surprisingly little" with her as a character. He further added that while supplemental material to the games tried to provide her portrayal with some emotional payoff, "just like Pharah's sky-high leaps, it seems like she'll always be out of reach."
Biologist and Paleontologist Rodrigo B. Salvador cited Pharah's design as heavily influenced by her nationality in a paper for The Journal of Geek Studies, noting that her armor and tattoo took heavy inspiration from the Egyptian god Horus and the significance of those elements in her design, specifically the lancer falcon which he felt was implied both by the suit's name but it's bird-shaped helmet. He further conflated her role and character in Overwatch to that of a pharaoh whose duty is to uphold "truth, harmony, morality and justice" due to her name, personality and portrayal. He was however critical of the comic's statement that her tattoo was intended to represent her desire to protect others when it's connotation was meant to protect the wearer, but felt that was a minor slipup in her backstory. He closed by praising her design as a whole and how well it tied to her heritage, making her one of his favorite characters in the title.
Pharah's representation as a woman and an Egyptian in the series have been heavily discussed, as the character is noted as one of only two playable females in Overwatch that "do not have expressively supportive functions as part of their skillset", though her flying from a distance was seen as an example of the "smaller, weaker, and faster" archetype for female characters in video games. The book Gender and the Super Hero Narrative noted that Pharah was positive representation as a female heroine, her design focusing less on physical attractiveness as a defining trait and more on "skill sets and abilities typically reserved for male hero counterparts." However the book Cooperative Gaming: Diversity in the Games Industry and How to Cultivate Inclusion drew issue with her character being portrayed by a white voice actress, citing it as an example of digital blackface they felt negated the impact of her representation within the series. Amr Al-Aaser of Waypoint was particularly critical of her design, feeling that the use of Egyptian imagery "the existence of an entire people to easily recognizable images", while also denouncing the choice of a white voice actress for her character. Alya Arthur of The Daily Dot also criticized her design, stating that while on the surface she looked impressive it followed a trend of giving female video game characters "swimsuit-esque body morph suits" to emphasize their bodies instead of visible muscle and bulk.
Pharah's "Thunderbird" and "Raindancer" skins drew criticism from fans online, who argued the skins were culturally appropriating Indigenous imagery. Fans also questioned why the skins were based on Indigenous imagery, when Pharah had long been detailed as of Egyptian origin. Shahryar Rizvi of Kill Screen commented that despite the skins being designed with Pacific Northwest Coastal cultures in mind, that the "face paint is most likely influenced by the Mohawk people in Ontario, Quebec, and upstate New York". After the Reflections issue, featuring Pharah having dinner with her Indigenous father, Cecilia D'Anastasio of Kotaku reflected on the controversy about her outfit, asking "was Pharah's somewhat obtuse lore added to quell players' accusations of cultural appropriation? It's hard to say," while citing a "strongly-worded Medium post by a Dia Lacina, a Native woman," that "questioned whether Pharah's father is the 'Convenient Indian.'" Lacina also opined that "corporate interests and fandom demands aligned so they can make those skins 'acceptable' while getting bonus points for finally having a Native in Overwatch's lore." Al-Aaser, in his previous critique of the character, viewed Blizzard's response harshly, stating it would have been better to have simply apologized and by using canon from outside the game to justify their response, it "felt like Blizzard had personally spat" at him.
## See also
- List of video games with LGBT characters: 2010s
|
12,241,513 |
HMS Unrivalled
| 1,092,639,710 |
British submarine
|
[
"1942 ships",
"British U-class submarines",
"Ships built in Barrow-in-Furness",
"World War II submarines of the United Kingdom"
] |
HMS Unrivalled (P45) was a U-class submarine built for the Royal Navy during World War II. The boat has been the only ship of the Royal Navy to ever bear the name Unrivalled. Completed in 1942, the boat spent most of the war in the Mediterranean. She sank a number of small merchant ships and naval auxiliaries, but major success eluded her during the war. Too small and slow for the post-war environment, Unrivalled was scrapped in 1946.
## Design and description
HMS Unrivalled was one of the second group of U-class submarines ordered on 23 August 1940. These submarines differed from their predecessors in that they were lengthened by 5 feet (1.5 m) "to give a more streamlined shape aft and to improve the flow of water over the propellers."
The submarine was 195 feet 6 inches (59.6 m) long and 15 feet 9 inches (4.80 m) abeam. Unrivalled had a single hull with internal ballast tanks and had a draft of 15 feet 19 inches (5.05 m) when surfaced. She displaced 735 long tons (747 t) while submerged, but only 648 long tons (658 t) on the surface. The submarine was equipped with two diesel engines and twin General Electric electric motors—for surfaced and submerged running, respectively. They were coupled together with a diesel-electric transmission. Unrivalled had a surface speed of up to 11.25 knots (20.84 km/h; 12.95 mph) and could go as fast as 9 knots (17 km/h; 10 mph) while underwater. The boat could carry up to 55 long tons (56 t) of diesel fuel, giving her a range of 5,000 nautical miles (9,300 km; 5,800 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). Her electric motors and batteries provided a range of 120 nautical miles (220 km; 140 mi) at 2 knots (3.7 km/h; 2.3 mph) while submerged.
HMS Unrivalled was equipped with four 21-inch (533 mm) bow torpedo tubes and could carry eight torpedoes. The submarine was also armed with a 3-inch (76 mm) QF Mk I gun deck gun. She had a crew of 33 men.
## Career
HMS Unrivalled was ordered on 23 August 1940 as part of the 1940 naval construction programme from Vickers-Armstrong at Barrow-in-Furness. She was laid down on 12 May 1941, launched on 16 February 1942 and commissioned on 3 May 1942.
Apart from a work-up patrol in the Norwegian Sea, she spent the bulk of the war in the Mediterranean. While working up, Unrivalled fired a torpedo at what was thought to be a submerged enemy submarine. Only the periscope was sighted, and the torpedo was fired in the direction detected by the hydrophones, but no German submarine was in the area. Whilst in service in the Mediterranean, she sank a number of small merchantmen and small naval auxiliary vessels with both torpedoes and gunfire. These included the Italian auxiliary submarine chaser O 97 / Margherita, the Italian merchants Maddalena, Mostaganem and Pasubio, the Italian tugs Genova and Iseo, the Italian sailing vessels Triglav, Albina, Margherita, Sparviero and Ardito, the German auxiliary submarine chasers UJ 2201/Bois Rose and UJ 2204/Boréal, the Italian tanker Bivona, the small Italian merchant Santa Mariana Salina, the Italian auxiliary minesweeper R 172 / Impero and the small Italian vessel San Francisco di Paola A.
Unrivalled also damaged the Italian torpedo boat Antonio Mosto on 3 December 1942, but neither sank or damaged any Axis ships after 28 July 1943. During Operation Husky in July 1943, she was stationed offshore to mark the landing beaches for the 1st Canadian Infantry Division. The boat survived the war, but was too slow for requirements and was not retained after the war. She was scrapped at Briton Ferry, Wales, beginning on 22 January 1946.
|
53,343,812 |
Sceriman family
| 1,168,541,546 |
Wealthy Safavid merchant family of Armenian ethnicity
|
[
"17th-century Iranian people",
"18th-century Iranian businesspeople",
"19th-century Iranian businesspeople",
"Armenian families",
"People from Austria-Hungary",
"Persian Armenians",
"Sceriman family"
] |
The Sceriman family, also referred to as the Shahremanian, Shahremanean, Shahrimanian, Shehrimanian, Shariman, or Seriman family, were a wealthy Safavid merchant family of Armenian ethnicity. A Catholic family, they had their roots in early 17th-century New Julfa (the Armenian quarter of Isfahan, Iran), and relatively quickly came to preside over branches all over the world, stretching from Italy (mostly Venice) in the west, to Pegu (Burma) in the east. Apart from being renowned as a trader's family, some Scerimans were high-ranking individuals in the Safavid state, including in its military, religious, and bureaucratic systems. Later, similar positions were obtained abroad, such as in the various Italian city-states and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. They especially became renowned in the Republic of Venice, where they were well integrated into its ruling class. Nevertheless, until their decline in the late 1790s and eventual inactivity in the 19th century, they remained bound to their original base in Iran.
Despite their success, the Scerimans helped create a rift in the Armenian community of Iran. Due to their prominent position in society, their support of the Catholic faith created a strong sense of hostility between the majority Gregorian Armenians and minority Catholic Armenians.
## History
### Early years
The ancestors of the Scerimans were from the Armenian-populated territories of the Safavid Empire, specifically from the town of Jugha ("Old Julfa"), and were amongst those that were deported during Shah Abbas I's (r. 1588–1629) mass relocation of his empire's ethnic Armenian inhabitants in 1604. Historian Sebouh Aslanian [de] says that some Armenian sources from the post-deportation period claim a noble status for the family, stating that the family belonged to an ancient clan of nobles (nakharars), with possible roots in the historical Armenian city of Ani. After they were settled in the early 17th century in the new Armenian quarter of New Julfa within the boundaries of the city of Isfahan in central Iran, they started to be a pivotal factor in the internal and external commerce of the Safavid Empire. They accomplished this by making extensive use of their contacts both inside and outside the Safavid realm.
The Scerimans were reputedly both the most influential and the richest amongst all Catholic Armenian families in New Julfa. The first patriarch of the family, Agha Morad, was from Jugha. Nothing is known about his life in Old Julfa, or about his career in New Julfa. One of his sons, Shahriman, carried on the line. The family is named after him. It was in the mid-17th century under Shahriman's son, Khvajeh Sarhat, that the family's wealth, prestige, and influence grew. Unlike other Armenian merchants from Julfa, the Scerimans by origin and specialisation focused primarily on diamonds and gems, whereas most other Armenians from Julfa specialized in the silk trade with Europe. As a family firm, the Scerimans followed the principle of the oldest man being in charge of the business and ventures, as well as having "patriarchial and managerial authority" over his siblings and their own families. In 1646, Sarhat, who functioned as the main patriarch of the family, abjured from the Armenian Apostolic Church (i.e. Gregorianism) and converted to Catholicism. Other members would formally follow later. Over the years, the Scerimans played an important role in the creation of a rift in the Armenian community of Iran. Due to their prominent position in society, they, as heralds of the Catholic faith, created a strong sense of hostility between the majority Gregorian Armenians and minority Catholic Armenians.
### Consolidation
The eldest son of Sarhat, Zachariah, functioned as a royal merchant on behalf of Shah Suleiman I (r. 1666–1694) and grand vizier Shaykh Ali Khan Zanganeh (1669–1689). Zachariah played a pivotal role in the ratification of Tsar Alexis's (r. 1645–1676) decree which granted merchants from New Julfa special trade privileges for using the Russian route for the Safavid silk export to Europe. In the same period, the Scerimans started to search for ways to expand their influence. As early as 1613, the Scerimans owned property (a house) in Venice. They used it for their family members and agents whenever needed. After the 1650s, other sons of Sarhat increased the family's holdings in Italy. In the 1650s and 1660s, Sarhat's fourth son, Gaspar, spent long periods of time in various Italian cities, including Venice, Livorno, and Rome. In the 1690s, Nazar and Shahriman, sons of Morad di Sceriman, invested roughly 720,000 ducats into various banks in Venice. The deed was done by establishing numerous "interest-bearing accounts" and by offering "substantial" loans to the Venetian Republic, which needed them for its wars against the Ottoman Empire. These investments would yield a significant profit later on. At about the same time, a certain "cultural component" is noted as well in the Scerimans' fixation on the Italian city-states.
In 1684, an additional eleven members of the family in New Julfa converted to Catholicism. Following this, the Scerimans became heralds of the Catholic faith in New Julfa, and were known as "great supporters" of the Vatican. Conversion was certainly not without interests; as the Vatican profited from the Scerimans in the course of the 1680s (with the family still stationed in New Julfa), a papal bull was issued in 1696 which granted the Scerimans full Roman citizenship and trade-related privileges in numerous Italian cities, including Rome. Shortly after 1684, then grand vizier Shaykh Ali Khan Zanganeh employed a son of Zachariah as his own private merchant. In 1691, a chapel that had been built by the Jesuits in Isfahan in 1662 was enlarged with financial assistance from the Sceriman family.
### Further success
Further success came with the turn of the 18th century. In 1699, on the recommendation of the Papacy, Leopold I (r. 1658–1705), then ruler of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, granted the Scerimans titles of Counts in Hungary. In the same year, based on a report sent to the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith (Propaganda Fide) in Rome, it was evident that the Scerimans had some 50 servants and up to a 100 agents in the royal capital of Isfahan alone. Around the same time, as a result of the loan given several years earlier, the Scerimans were given numerous privileges by the Senate of the Republic of Venice. A climactic point was reached in the mid-18th century, as members of the family were raised to the class of nobility in numerous Italian city-states. Even though their efforts to join the Venetian Patriciate, which they had started in the early 18th century, did not succeed, they were well integrated in the ruling class of the Venetian Republic via marriage alliances with several noble Venetian families. Their prestige as foreigners in the Venetian state was also increased by being well-integrated into the hierarchy of the Catholic Church. For example, Basilio, son of Gaspar Sceriman, was, according to D. Maxwell White, given the position of a monsignor and later even became governor of several administrative regions. Another family member, Domenico Sceriman, became a bishop after being elected. Around that time, family member David Sceriman was likely the richest Armenian in Livorno. In the 1760s, another Sceriman in Venice, Zaccaria di Sceriman [it] (whose mother was a Venetian noblewoman), would become a renowned writer and satirist.
### Decline, inactivity and assessment
The Sceriman headquarters continued to function until the late 1790s in Venice and Livorno. Subsequently, their business fortunes diminished. In the first few years after moving the headquarters to Venice, the office was often in contact with its branch in New Julfa, as the latter was an integral part of the family's ventures.
Even though the Scerimans enjoyed success abroad, it came at a costly price. Their close alignment with the Catholics had alienated the family from the Armenian Church hierarchy at New Julfa. Catholic Armenians were considered outsiders by Gregorian Armenians, and were dubbed Frangs (i.e. "Franks"). Continued spending on matters related to the Catholic faith raised doubts among Safavid officials about the loyalty of the Armenian Catholics in the empire. At the same time, the Gregorian Armenians lobbied inside and outside the court to incite measures against the Catholic Armenians. In 1694, when anti-Catholic sentiments in New Julfa were at a high point, fueled by Shah Sultan Husayn (r. 1694–1722), the family received most of the impact. In 1698, burdened by fellow Armenians and increasing taxes, Khvajeh Gaspar and his family decided to settle in Venice. His older brother, Khvajeh Marcara, followed shortly after with his family. Nevertheless, the Scerimans maintained a continuous presence in their ancestral New Julfa, as other Sceriman branches continued to live there. The headquarters, however, were moved to Venice and Livorno, where several Sceriman members had settled.
Even though the Scerimans are mostly known for their tight relations with the Safavids and later the Italian city-states and Austro-Hungary, they were also represented (especially through junior members), when needed, in Russia, India, the Netherlands, Burma, Spain, and Malacca.
Sebouh Aslanian cites two reasons why maintaining the Julfa branch following the relocation was of extreme importance to the family. The first reason was that, traditionally, the most lucrative capital-generating markets for the family were in Southeastern Asia and India. Hence, a well-located regional office in New Julfa was pivotal in connecting the Mediterranean ventures of the family with those of the gem market around the Indian Ocean. The second reason was that, even though the Scerimans were eager to integrate and assimilate in Italy, they still were Julfan Armenians by origin, "at least as far as their trading habits were concerned". The Scerimans were a calculating and strategizing group of individuals, who not only thought about their future enterprises, but were equally concerned about their situation in foreign lands. Even though they travelled far and wide, they remained bound to their original home in New Julfa through "language, personal relationships, or otherwise".
## See also
- List of Iranian Armenians
- Armenians in Italy
- Palazzo Contarini-Sceriman, Venice
- Villa Widmann-Rezzonico-Foscari
- Safavid–Venetian relations
|
33,863,240 |
Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012
| 1,151,075,374 | null |
[
"2012 in Greek television",
"Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012",
"Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest"
] |
Greece participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012, held in Baku, Azerbaijan. Their selected song "Aphrodisiac" was written by Dimitri Stassos, Mikaela Stenström and Dajana Lööf, and was performed by Eleftheria Eleftheriou, who had previously attempted to represent Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010. The entry was selected through the televised national final Ellinikós Telikós, organised by the country's public broadcasting service Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) and held on 12 March 2012 at the River West shopping mall in Athens. Due to the debt crisis facing Greece at the time, the record label of the entry was expected to take on the costs of recording and producing the candidate songs. Universal Music Greece was the only label to accept these terms and put forth four competing acts for consideration. The winning act was selected using a combination of jury and televoting. Following the national final, Eleftheriou embarked on a promotional campaign visiting Turkey and the Netherlands.
Greece was drawn to appear third in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2012, which was held on 22 May. There, the nation placed fourth with 116 points and qualified for the grand final, held four days later. Greece was randomly selected the 16th position at the grand final allocation draw, performing after and before . The entry received 64 points at the grand final from a combined jury and televote, finishing in 17th place.
## Background
Prior to the 2012 contest, Greece had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 32 times since their first entry in . To this point, the nation won the contest once, in 2005 with the song "My Number One" performed by Helena Paparizou, and placed third three times: in 2001 with the song "Die for You" performed by the duo Antique; in 2004 with "Shake It" performed by Sakis Rouvas; and in 2008 with "Secret Combination" performed by Kalomira. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004 contest, Greece qualified for the grand final each year. Their least successful result was in when they placed 20th with the song "Mia krifi evaisthisia" by Thalassa, receiving only 12 points in total, all from Cyprus.
Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT), broadcasts the event within Greece and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. In late November 2011, ERT's deputy public relations spokesperson Areti Kalesaki confirmed the country's participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 citing the contest's popularity. She also stated that their budget for the event would be lowered significantly compared to previous years.
## Before Eurovision
### Ellinikós Telikós 2012
On 30 January 2012, the Greek national broadcaster ERT revealed that the national final Ellinikós Telikós 2012 (Greek: Ελληνικός Τελικός 2012) would select the Greek entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2012. ERT reaffirmed Greece would be participating in the contest at the most minimal possible cost due to the Greek government-debt crisis affecting the country. To achieve this, the broadcaster took a different approach compared to previous years, seeking to share a majority of the costs of participation with a large record label that had international experience. Among the costs ERT sought for the label to cover were those of recording and production of the candidate songs, promotion including the production of the winner's promotional CD, wages for creative and artistic professionals and covering the trip and accommodations in Baku. The only label to accept the terms was Universal Music Greece, leading to an agreement between the broadcaster and the label to organize the selection process. The four competed songs competed in playback, with the winner decided by a 50/50 combination of public and jury voting. The jury consisted of Marina Lahana (radio producer and Head of ERA2), Andreas Pilarinos (conductor), Foteini Giannolatou (Head of Public Relations for ERT), Mihalis Tsaousopoulos (radio producer) and Tasos Trifonos (radio producer). Public voting was conducted through telephone or SMS, with 10,385 telephone votes and 14,172 SMS votes being cast during the show. All proceeds from the voting went to the charity organisations Kivotos Tou Kosmou (Arc of the world), Paidika Horia SOS (Children's villages SOS) and To Hamogelo Tou Paidiou (The smile of a child).
#### Competing entries
On 23 February 2012, ERT announced that four candidate entries would compete in Ellinikós Telikós 2012. Five days later, the competing songs, without revealing their performers and songwriters, were released through the ERT website and official Facebook and Twitter pages; the songs then began playing on Hellenic Radio stations on 1 March 2012. The running order draw for the competing entries took place on 4 March during a media event hosted by ERT and Universal Music Greece. The next day, preview videos of each song revealing their performers aired on ERT. The names of the four acts, all signed to Universal, were released on 5 March; they included Cassiopeia, Dora, Eleftheria Eleftheriou and Velvet Fire.
Dora's "Baby I'm Yours" was written by the duo Hush Hush, which consisted of Franc, and Ilias Pantazopoulos, with lyrics by Nektarios Tyrakis. Tyrakis is best known for writing lyrics for Greece's 2004 entry "Shake It", as well as Belarus's 2005 entry "Love Me Tonight". Dora had previously tried to represent Greece in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2006 at age 14, but placed fourth in the national final. The band Cassiopeia's song "Killer Bee" was composed by Christos Dantis with lyrics by Leonidas Chatzaras. Dantis was best known for writing Greece's winning entry "My Number One" in 2005, as well as his participation in the 2007 Greek national final. Cassiopeia was formed shortly before the national final, and consisted of three women named Elena, Naya and Maria. The third entry Velvet Fire's song "No Parking" was written by George Samuelson and Leonidas Chantzaras. Velvet Fire was formed a few months prior to Ellinikós Telikós 2012 and consisted of George Alex and May Sokolai. The fourth and final competing entry, Eleftheriou's song "Aphrodisiac", was written by Dimitri Stassos, Mikaela Stenström and Dajana Lööf. Stassos had previously written Spain's 2009 Eurovision entry "La noche es para mí", while Eleftheriou had taken part in the second season of Greek talent show The X Factor. She had also tried to represent Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010, but a week before song presentations her song was leaked, thus disqualifying her from the national final.
#### Final
Ellinikós Telikós 2012 took place on 12 March at the River West shopping mall in Athens, hosted by Maria Kozakou and Giorgos Frantzeskakis. The show was televised on both ET1 and ERT World as well as online on both the ERT and official Eurovision Song Contest websites. At the end of voting, Eleftheriou with "Aphrodisiac" was selected as the Greek entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2012, having won both the public and jury vote. The show received a market share of 10.8% according to ABG Nielsen Hellas, and \#EurovisionGR was a worldwide trending topic on Twitter during its airing. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, the interval acts featured guest performances by Eurovision Song Contest 2012 entrants Sofi Marinova of , Ivi Adamou of and Anggun of . Singers Giorgos Sabanis, Christos P. and Greece's 2011 participant Loukas Yorkas were also present at the show.
#### Reception
Reactions to the national final were mostly negative, with many media personalities and viewers criticizing the choice of venue, poor production, lack of vision, poor hosts and use of playback vocals instead of live vocals. Many also complained that Eleftheriou's song and performance were reminiscent of past entrants Paparizou and Kalomoira. Despite the many complaints, others applauded the broadcaster's efforts to take part in the contest with a limited budget and its clever choice of using a shopping mall's natural setting as a backdrop as opposed to a dark studio as was the case the previous year for Ellinikós Telikós 2011. Former entrant Sakis Rouvas also commended the broadcaster for continuing on a tight budget and commented that the result of production should have been expected as it was "a sign of the times", referring to the Greek government-debt crisis.
### Promotion
To promote the entry, Eleftheriou made several appearances across Europe, including a stop in Turkey, as well as in the Netherlands, where she participated in Eurovision in Concert at club Melkweg in Amsterdam on 21 April 2012.
## At Eurovision
The Eurovision Song Contest 2012 took place at the Baku Crystal Hall in Baku, Azerbaijan. It consisted of two semi-finals held on 22 and 24 May, respectively, and the grand final on 26 May 2012. According to the Eurovision rules, all participating countries, except the host nation and the "Big Five", consisting of , , , and the , were required to qualify from one of the two semi-finals to compete for the grand final; the top 10 countries from the respective semi-finals would proceed to the final.
On 25 January 2012, an allocation draw was held at the Buta Palace in Baku that placed each country into one of the two semi-finals; Greece was placed into the first half of the first semi-final, to be held on 22 May. Once all the competing songs for the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by another draw, which was held on 20 March. The nation was assigned to perform at position three, following and preceding .
### Performances
Eleftheriou performed "Aphrodisiac" in the first semi-final on 22 May 2012, appearing third out of the 18 countries. The choreography used during the performance was different from the entry's initial performance at Ellinikós Telikós 2012. The two male back-up dancers were replaced by two women and more emphasis was placed on her movements when she sung the lyric "maniac". The performance saw Eleftheriou, her backing vocalists and dancers dressed casually, with the stage's LED screens set to light and dark blue tones with golden structures, including a large golden shell. The choreography for the performance was organized by Konstantinos Rigos, who also served in that role for Greece the previous year. At the end of voting, Greece placed fourth with 116 points, thus qualifying for the grand final. The public awarded Greece fifth place with 110 points and the jury awarded the nation third place with 103 points.
During the winners press conference for the first semi-final qualifiers, Greece was drawn to compete 16th in the grand final. This placed the nation after the performance of and before that of . In the final, held on 26 May 2012, Greece placed 17th out of the 26 participants, scoring 64 points. The public awarded Greece ninth place with 89 points and the jury awarded the nation 18th place with 60 points.
### Voting
Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Greece in the first semi-final and final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2012, as well as by the country in the semi-final and final, respectively.
#### Points awarded to Greece
#### Points awarded by Greece
|
62,559,623 |
Me tana
| 1,146,375,516 |
2019 single by Elvana Gjata
|
[
"2019 singles",
"2019 songs",
"Albanian-language songs",
"Dance-pop songs",
"Elvana Gjata songs",
"Festivali i Këngës songs",
"Pop songs",
"Songs written by Elvana Gjata"
] |
"Me tana" (; transl. With all or With everything) is a song by Albanian singer and songwriter Elvana Gjata released as a single on 10 December 2019 by East Music Matters (EMM). The song was written and composed by Gjata herself and produced by German-Greek producer UNIK. Musically, "Me tana" was described as an Albanian-language ethnic dance-pop song, which lyrically explores the theme of unconditional and hopeless love. Music critics and reviewers applauded the song upon its release, with praise concentrated on the song's composition, lyrics and Gjata's vocal delivery.
In December 2019, Gjata participated in the 58th edition of Festivali i Këngës to represent Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. She finished in the second place despite being the favourite to win the competition. During her red and black-themed show of the song, she was accompanied by six backing dancers, while the background LED screens displayed different folklore-inspired images. An accompanying black and white lyric video was premiered to the official YouTube channel of Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (RTSH) on the same date and trended in numerous countries throughout Europe.
## Background and composition
"Me tana" was released on digital platforms and to streaming services as a single on 10 December 2019 through East Music Matters (EMM). The Albanian-language song, which runs three minutes and forty seconds, was produced by German-Greek producer UNIK and composed and written by Elvana Gjata herself, approximately a year prior to her participation at Festivali i Këngës. Musically, "Me tana" draws influence from the musical genres of dance-pop intertwined with ethnic elements. It lyrically focuses on Gjata's unconditional and hopeless love in which, according to a music reviewer, the singer "burst with emotions letting them out through the song". The song's title translated into English, "With all" or "With everything", is an expression for giving up everything of yourself, and giving it to the other person you love.
## Reception
"Me tana" received universal acclaim from music critics upon its release and was further considered a favourite to win Festivali i Këngës in December 2019. Robyn Gallagher of Wiwibloggs commended the song an "examination of deep feelings of love" and praised the song's lyrics which, according to her, reflect on "emotions" and "sensual delights". An editor of SoundsEuropean! was generally positive towards the song's nature calling it a "fresh blend of pop" with "ethnic touches". German Eurovision.de writer Irving Wolther compared the song with "Fuego" (2018) by Eleni Foureira. Several prominent figures, such as Aurela Gaçe, Besa Kokëdhima, Capital T, Ledri Vula and Eleni Foureira, came out in support of the song through their social media accounts. Premiered by Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (RTSH), the official lyric video of "Me tana" appeared on the YouTube trending charts in several countries, including in Albania, Germany, Greece, North Macedonia, Switzerland and Turkey, resulting as the most-viewed entry in Festivali i Këngës.
## Festivali i Këngës
The national broadcaster of Albania, Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (RTSH), organised the 58th edition of Festivali i Këngës in order to select the country's representative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The competition consisted of two semi-finals and the final held in December 2019 as well as 20 songs out of which the winner was determined by the votes from a jury panel. It opened a submission period for artists and composers between 28 May and 15 September 2019, while out of all received submissions, a jury panel internally selected 20 songs to participate in the competition's semi-finals. After being selected to compete, Elvana Gjata performed the song in the first semi-final on 19 December and qualified for the grand final on 21 December 2019. Despite being the favourite to win, the song eventually reached the second place in a field of 12 participants in the grand final. The three members of the international jury, consisting of Christer Björkman, Dimitris Kontopoulos and Felix Bergsson, ranked the song first, whereas the two Albanian jury members ranked it lower.
## Credits and personnel
Credits adapted from Tidal.
- Elvana Gjata – composing, songwriting, vocals
- UNIK – producing
## Track listing
- Digital download and streaming
1. "Me tana" – 3:40
## Release history
|
610,029 |
Dunnottar Castle
| 1,171,388,129 |
Ruined castle in Scotland
|
[
"13th-century establishments in Scotland",
"African presence at the Scottish royal court",
"Castles in Aberdeenshire",
"Headlands of Scotland",
"Landforms of Aberdeenshire",
"Listed castles in Scotland",
"Promontory forts in Scotland",
"Romanesque architecture in Scotland",
"Ruined castles in Aberdeenshire",
"Scheduled Ancient Monuments in Aberdeenshire",
"Stonehaven"
] |
Dunnottar Castle (Scottish Gaelic: Dùn Fhoithear, "fort on the shelving slope") is a ruined medieval fortress located upon a rocky headland on the north-eastern coast of Scotland, about 2 miles (3 kilometres) south of Stonehaven. The surviving buildings are largely of the 15th and 16th centuries, but the site is believed to have been fortified in the Early Middle Ages. Dunnottar has played a prominent role in the history of Scotland through to the 18th-century Jacobite risings because of its strategic location and defensive strength.
Dunnottar is best known as the place where the Honours of Scotland, the Scottish crown jewels, were hidden from Oliver Cromwell's invading army in the 17th century. The property of the Keiths from the 14th century, and the seat of the Earl Marischal, Dunnottar declined after the last Earl forfeited his titles by taking part in the Jacobite rebellion of 1715. The castle was restored in the 20th century and is now open to the public.
The ruins of the castle are spread over 1.4 hectares (3+1⁄2 acres), surrounded by steep cliffs that drop to the North Sea, 160 feet (50 metres) below. A narrow strip of land joins the headland to the mainland, along which a steep path leads up to the gatehouse. The various buildings within the castle include the 14th-century tower house as well as the 16th-century palace. Dunnottar Castle is a scheduled monument, and twelve structures on the site were listed buildings.
## History
### Early Middle Ages
A chapel at Dunnottar is said to have been founded by St Ninian in the 5th century, although it is not clear when the site was first fortified, but in any case the legend is late and highly implausible. Possibly the earliest written reference to the site is found in the Annals of Ulster which record two sieges of 'Dún Foither' in 681 and 694. The earlier event has been interpreted as an attack by Brude, the Pictish king of Fortriu, to extend his power over the north-east coast of Scotland. The Chronicle of the Kings of Alba records that King Donald II of Scotland, the first ruler to be called rí Alban (King of Alba), was killed at Dunnottar during an attack by Vikings in 900. The English king Æthelstan led a force into Scotland in 934, and raided as far north as Dunnottar according to the account of Symeon of Durham.
W. D. Simpson speculated that a motte might lie under the present castle, but excavations in the 1980s failed to uncover substantive evidence of early medieval fortification. The discovery of a group of Pictish stones at Dunnicaer, a nearby sea stack, has prompted speculation that Dún Foither was actually located on the adjacent headland of Bowduns, 3 miles (0 kilometres) to the north.
### Later Middle Ages
During the reign of King William the Lion (ruled 1165–1214) Dunnottar was a centre of local administration for The Mearns. The castle is named in the Roman de Fergus, an early 13th-century Arthurian romance, in which the hero Fergus must travel to Dunnottar to retrieve a magic shield. In May 1276 a church on the site was consecrated by William Wishart, Bishop of St Andrews. The poet Blind Harry relates that William Wallace captured Dunnottar from the English in 1297, during the Wars of Scottish Independence. He is said to have imprisoned 4,000 defeated English soldiers in the church and burned them alive.
In 1336 Edward III of England ordered William Sinclair, 8th Baron of Roslin, to sail eight ships to the partially ruined Dunnottar for the purpose of rebuilding and fortifying the site as a forward resupply base for his northern campaign. Sinclair took with him 160 soldiers, horses, and a corps of masons and carpenters. Edward himself visited in July, but the English efforts were undone before the end of the year when the Scottish Regent Sir Andrew Murray led a force that captured and again destroyed the defences of Dunnottar.
In the 14th century, Dunnottar was granted to William de Moravia, 5th Earl of Sutherland (d.1370), and in 1346 a licence to crenellate was issued by David II. Around 1359 William Keith, Marischal of Scotland, married Margaret Fraser, niece of Robert the Bruce, and was granted the barony of Dunnottar at this time. Keith then gave the lands of Dunnottar to his daughter Christian and son-in-law William Lindsay of Byres, but in 1392 an excambion (exchange) was agreed whereby Keith regained Dunnottar and Lindsay took lands in Fife. William Keith completed construction of the tower house at Dunnottar, but was excommunicated for building on the consecrated ground associated with the parish church. Keith had provided a new parish church closer to Stonehaven, but was forced to write to the Pope, Benedict XIII, who issued a bull in 1395 lifting the excommunication. William Keith's descendants were made Earls Marischal in the mid 15th century, and they held Dunottar until the 18th century.
### 16th century rebuilding
James IV came to Dunnotar on 15 October 1504. A child played a musical instrument called a monochord for him, and he gave money to poor people. The king had brought his Italian minstrels and an African drummer, known as the "More taubronar".
Through the 16th century, the Keiths improved and expanded their principal seats: at Dunnottar and also at Keith Marischal in East Lothian. James IV visited Dunnottar in 1504, and in 1531 James V exempted the Earl's men from military service on the grounds that Dunnottar was one of the "principall strenthis of our realme". Mary, Queen of Scots, visited in 1562 after the Battle of Corrichie, and returned in 1564. James VI stayed for 10 days in 1580, as part of his progress through Fife and Angus, during which a meeting of the Privy Council was convened at Dunnottar. King James came again on 17 April 1589 and spent the night at Cowie watching for the Catholic rebel earls of Huntly and Erroll. During the rebellion of Catholic nobles in 1592, Dunnottar was captured by Captain Carr on behalf of the Earl of Huntly, but was restored to Lord Marischal just a few weeks later.
In 1581 George Keith succeeded as 5th Earl Marischal, and began a large-scale reconstruction that saw the medieval fortress converted into a more comfortable home. As the founder of Marischal College in Aberdeen, the 5th Earl valued Dunnottar as much for its dramatic situation as for its security. A "palace" comprising a series of ranges around a quadrangle was built on the north-eastern cliffs, creating luxurious living quarters with sea views. The 13th-century chapel was restored and incorporated into the quadrangle. An impressive stone gatehouse was constructed, now known as Benholm's Lodging, featuring numerous gun ports facing the approach. Although impressive, these are likely to have been fashionable embellishments rather than genuine defensive features. The earl had a suite of 'Samson' tapestries which may have represented his religious outlook.
### Civil wars
In 1639 William Keith, 7th Earl Marischal, came out in support of the Covenanters, a Presbyterian movement who opposed the established Episcopal Church and the changes which Charles I was attempting to impose. With James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose, he marched against the Catholic James Gordon, 2nd Viscount Aboyne, Earl of Huntly, and defeated an attempt by the Royalists to seize Stonehaven. However, when Montrose changed sides to the Royalists and marched north, Marischal remained in Dunnottar, even when given command of the area by Parliament, and even when Montrose burned Stonehaven.
Marischal then joined with the Engager faction, who had made a deal with the king, and led a troop of horse to the Battle of Preston (1648) in support of the royalists. Following the execution of Charles I in 1649, the Engagers gave their allegiance to his son and heir. Charles II was proclaimed king, arriving in Scotland in June 1650. He visited Dunnottar in July 1650, but his presence in Scotland prompted Oliver Cromwell to lead a force into Scotland, defeating the Scots at Dunbar in September 1650.
### Honours of Scotland
Charles II was crowned at Scone Palace on 1 January 1651, at which the Honours of Scotland (the regalia of crown, sword and sceptre) were used. However, with Cromwell's troops in Lothian, the honours could not be returned to Edinburgh. The Earl Marischal, as Marischal of Scotland, had formal responsibility for the honours, and in June the Privy Council duly decided to place them at Dunnottar. They were brought to the castle by Katherine Drummond, hidden in sacks of wool. Sir George Ogilvie (or Ogilvy) of Barras was appointed lieutenant-governor of the castle, and given responsibility for its defence.
In November 1651, Cromwell's troops called on Ogilvie to surrender, but he refused. During the subsequent blockade of the castle, the removal of the Honours of Scotland was planned by Elizabeth Douglas, wife of Sir George Ogilvie, and Christian Fletcher, wife of James Granger, minister of Kinneff Parish Church. The king's papers were first removed from the castle by Anne Lindsay, a kinswoman of Elizabeth Douglas, who walked through the besieging force with the papers sewn into her clothes. Two stories exist regarding the removal of the honours themselves. Fletcher stated in 1664 that over the course of three visits to the castle in February and March 1652, she carried away the crown, sceptre, sword and sword case hidden amongst sacks of goods. Another account, given in the 18th century by a tutor to the Earl Marischal, records that the honours were lowered from the castle onto the beach, where they were collected by Fletcher's servant and carried off in a creel (basket) of seaweed. Having smuggled the honours from the castle, Fletcher and her husband buried them under the floor of the Old Kirk at Kinneff.
Meanwhile, by May 1652 the commander of the blockade, Colonel Thomas Morgan, had taken delivery of the artillery necessary for the reduction of Dunnottar. Ogilvie surrendered on 24 May, on condition that the garrison could go free. Finding the honours gone, the Cromwellians imprisoned Ogilvie and his wife in the castle until the following year, when a false story was put about suggesting that the honours had been taken overseas. Much of the castle property was removed, including twenty-one brass cannons, and Marischal was required to sell further lands and possessions to pay fines imposed by Cromwell's government.
At the Restoration of Charles II in 1660, the honours were removed from Kinneff Church and returned to the king. Ogilvie quarrelled with Marischal's mother over who would take credit for saving the honours, though he was eventually rewarded with a baronetcy. Fletcher was awarded 2,000 merks by Parliament but the sum was never paid.
### Whigs and Jacobites
Religious and political conflicts continued to be played out at Dunnottar through the 17th and early 18th centuries. In 1685, during the rebellion of the Earl of Argyll against the new king James VII, 167 Covenanters were seized and held in a cellar at Dunnottar. The prisoners included 122 men and 45 women associated with the Whigs, an anti-Royalist group within the Covenanter movement, and had refused to take an oath of allegiance to the new king. The Whigs were imprisoned from May 24 until late July. A group of 25 escaped, although two of these were killed in a fall from the cliffs, and another 15 were recaptured. Five prisoners died in the vault, and 37 of the Whigs were released after taking the oath of allegiance. The remaining prisoners were transported to Perth Amboy, New Jersey, as part of a colonisation scheme devised by George Scot of Pitlochie. Many, like Scot himself, died on the voyage. The cellar, located beneath the "King's Bedroom" in the 16th-century castle buildings, has since become known as the "Whigs' Vault".
Both the Jacobites (supporters of the exiled Stuarts) and the Hanoverians (supporters of George I and his descendants) used Dunnottar Castle. In 1689 during Viscount Dundee's campaign in support of the deposed James VII, the castle was garrisoned for William III and Mary II with Lord Marischal appointed captain. Seventeen suspected Jacobites from Aberdeen were seized and held in the fortress for around three weeks, including George Liddell, professor of mathematics at Marischal College. In the Jacobite Rising of 1715 George Keith, 10th Earl Marischal, took an active role with the rebels, leading cavalry at the Battle of Sheriffmuir. After the subsequent abandonment of the rising Lord Marischal fled to the Continent, eventually becoming French ambassador for Frederick the Great of Prussia. Meanwhile, in 1716, his titles and estates including Dunnottar were declared forfeit to the crown.
### Later history
The seized estates of the Earl Marischal were purchased in 1720 for £41,172, by the York Buildings Company who dismantled much of the castle. In 1761 the Earl briefly returned to Scotland and bought back Dunnottar only to sell it five years later to Alexander Keith (1736–1819), an Edinburgh lawyer who served as Knight Marischal of Scotland. Dunnottar was held by Alexander Keith and then his son, Sir Alexander Keith (1768–1832) before being inherited in 1852 by Sir Patrick Keith-Murray of Ochtertyre, who in turn sold it in July 1873 to Major Alexander Innes of Cowie and Raemoir for about £80,000. It was purchased by Weetman Pearson, 1st Viscount Cowdray, in 1925, after which his wife embarked on a programme of repairs. Since that time the castle has remained in the family, and has been open to the public, attracting 52,500 visitors in 2009, and over 135,000 visitors in 2019.
Dunnottar Castle, and the headland on which is stands, was designated as a Scheduled monument in 1970. In 1972 twelve of the structures at Dunnottar were listed. Three buildings were listed at category A as being of "national importance": the keep; the entrance gateway; and Benholm's Lodging. The remaining listings were at category B as being of "regional importance". However, in 2018 the listed status for those buildings was removed as part of Historic Environment Scotland's "Dual Designation 2A Project".
The Hon. Charles Anthony Pearson, the younger son of the 3rd Viscount Cowdray, currently owns and runs Dunnottar Castle which is part of the 210-square-kilometre (81 sq mi) Dunecht Estates. Portions of the 1990 film Hamlet, starring Mel Gibson and Glenn Close, were shot there. In the Disney movie Brave, Dunnottar Castle was chosen for Merida's home.
## Description
Dunnottar's strategic location allowed its owners to control the coastal terrace between the North Sea cliffs and the hills of the Mounth, 2+1⁄4 miles (3.6 km) inland, which enabled access to and from the north-east of Scotland. The site is accessed via a steep, 2,600-foot (790 m) footpath (with modern staircases) from a car park on the coastal road, or via a 3-kilometre (2 mi) cliff-top path from Stonehaven.
Dunnottar's several buildings, put up between the 13th and 17th centuries, are arranged across a headland covering around 1.4 hectares (3+1⁄2 acres). The dominant building, viewed from the land approach, is the 14th-century keep or tower house. The other principal buildings are the gatehouse; the chapel; and the 16th-century "palace" which incorporates the "Whigs' Vault".
### Defences
The approach to the castle is overlooked by outworks on the "Fiddle Head", a promontory on the western side of the headland. The entrance is through the well-defended main gate, set in a curtain wall which entirely blocks a cleft in the rocky cliffs. The gate has a portcullis and has been partly blocked up. Alongside the main gate is the 16th-century Benholm's Lodging, a five-storey building cut into the rock, which incorporated a prison with apartments above. Three tiers of gun ports face outwards from the lower floors of Benholm's Lodging, while inside the main gate, a group of four gun ports face the entrance. The entrance passage then turns sharply to the left, running underground through two tunnels to emerge near the tower house.
Simpson contends that these defences are "without exception the strongest in Scotland", although later writers have doubted the effectiveness of the gun ports. Cruden notes that the alignment of the gun ports in Benholm's Lodging, facing across the approach rather than along, means that they are of limited efficiency. The practicality of the gun ports facing the entrance has also been questioned, though an inventory of 1612 records that four brass cannons were placed here.
A second access to the castle leads up from a rocky cove, the aperture to a marine cave on the northern side of the Dunnottar cliffs into which a small boat could be brought. From here a steep path leads to the well-fortified postern gate on the cliff-top, which in turn offers access to the castle via the Water Gate in the palace. Artillery defences, taking the form of earthworks, surround the north-west corner of the castle, facing inland, and the south-east, facing seaward. A small sentry box or guard house stands by the eastern battery, overlooking the coast.
### Tower house and surrounding buildings
The late 14th-century tower house has a stone-vaulted basement, and originally had three further storeys and a garret above. Measuring 40 by 36 feet (12 by 11 m), the tower house stood 50 feet (15 m) high to its gable. The principal rooms included a great hall and a private chamber for the lord, with bedrooms upstairs. Beside the tower house is a storehouse, and a blacksmith's forge with a large chimney. A stable block is ranged along the southern edge of the headland. Nearby is Waterton's Lodging, also known as the Priest's House, built around 1574, possibly for the use of William Keith (died 1580), son of the 4th Earl Marischal. This small self-contained house includes a hall and kitchen at ground level, with private chambers above, and has a projecting spiral stair on the north side. It is named for Thomas Forbes of Waterton, an attendant of the 7th Earl.
### Palace
The palace, to the north-east of the headland, was built in the late 16th century and early to mid-17th century. It comprises three main wings set out around a quadrangle, and for the most part is probably the work of the 5th Earl Marischal who succeeded in 1581. It provided extensive and comfortable accommodation to replace the rooms in the tower house. In its long, low design it has been compared to contemporary English buildings, in contrast to the Scottish tradition of taller towers still prevalent in the 16th century.
Seven identical lodgings are arranged along the west range, each opening onto the quadrangle and including windows and fireplaces. Above the lodgings of the west range comprised a 120-foot (37 m) gallery. Now roofless, the gallery originally had an elaborate oak ceiling, and on display was a Roman tablet taken from the Antonine Wall. At the north end of the gallery was a drawing room linked to the north range. The gallery could also be accessed from the Silver House to the south, which incorporated a broad stairway with a treasury above.
The basement of the north range incorporates kitchens and stores, with a dining room and great chamber above. At ground floor level is the Water Gate, between the north and west ranges, which gives access to the postern on the northern cliffs. The east and north ranges are linked via a rectangular stair. The east range has a larder, brewhouse and bakery at ground level, with a suite of apartments for the countess above. A north-east wing contains the Earl's apartments, and includes the "King's Bedroom" in which Charles II stayed. In this room is a carved stone inscribed with the arms of the 7th Earl and his wife, and the date 1645. Below these rooms is the Whigs' Vault, a cellar measuring 52 by 15 ft (15.8 by 4.6 m). This cellar, in which the Covenanters were held in 1685, has a large eastern window, as well as a lower vault accessed via a trapdoor in the floor. Of the chambers in the palace, only the dining room and the Silver House remain roofed, having been restored in the 1920s.
The central area contains a circular cistern or fish pond, 50 ft (15 m) across and 25 ft (7.6 m) deep, and a bowling green is located to the west. At the south-east corner of the quadrangle is the chapel, consecrated in 1276 and largely rebuilt in the 16th century. Medieval walling and two 13th-century windows remain, and there is a graveyard to the south.
## See also
- Dunnottar Parish Church
|
29,084,491 |
Hurricane Otto (2010)
| 1,171,667,216 |
Category 1 Atlantic hurricane in 2010
|
[
"2010 Atlantic hurricane season",
"2010 in Puerto Rico",
"2010 in Saint Kitts and Nevis",
"2010 in Saint Lucia",
"2010 in Sint Maarten",
"2010 in the British Virgin Islands",
"2010 in the United States Virgin Islands",
"2010 natural disasters",
"Category 1 Atlantic hurricanes",
"Hurricanes in Puerto Rico",
"Hurricanes in the British Virgin Islands",
"Hurricanes in the Leeward Islands",
"Hurricanes in the United States Virgin Islands",
"Tropical cyclones in 2010"
] |
Hurricane Otto produced days of torrential rain over much of the northeastern Caribbean in October 2010. Otto originated as a subtropical cyclone lingering north of Puerto Rico on October 6, and transitioned into a tropical storm the next day, the fifteenth of the 2010 hurricane season. Accelerating toward the northeast, Otto strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson scale on October 8, attaining peak winds of 85 mph (140 km/h). The storm began weakening due to incompatible surroundings and became extratropical west of the Azores on October 10. Otto was the first Atlantic tropical cyclone on record to transition from a subtropical storm since Tropical Storm Laura in 2008.
Drifting near the northeastern Caribbean for several days, Otto and its precursor disturbance brought prolonged rainfall to the Leeward Islands, the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico, triggering widespread flooding and numerous mudslides. Damage from the storm—in particular to roads, property and infrastructure—exceeded \$22.5 million (2010 USD), but there were no fatalities. After recurving toward the northeast, Otto proceeded across the open Atlantic without affecting any other landmasses.
## Meteorological history
In late September, a large area of disturbed weather associated with two tropical waves formed just east of the Lesser Antilles. The disturbance drifted very slowly west-northwestward, inhibited by strong wind shear that eventually caused the westernmost wave to dissipate. Albeit weak, an elongated remnant trough, or area of low pressure, persisted for several days, stalling over the extreme eastern Caribbean Sea as a nearby upper-level cyclonic vortex retrograded to its north. By October 5, the trough had drifted northward into a more favorable atmospheric environment over the Virgin Islands, which allowed the lowest pressures to extend to the surface. The low became well defined, interacting with the adjacent upper vortex to produce a wide convective band—a concentrated region in which strong showers and thunderstorms can form—over the northeastern Caribbean. Over the next day, the system continued to acquire a prominent subtropical structure, developing a markedly larger wind radius than typically seen in pure tropical cyclones. Satellite observations also revealed that although the lower wind circulation was distinct, it had become intertwined with the cyclonic vortex aloft to its southwest, confirming the hybrid nature of the system. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) thus classified the system as a subtropical depression at 06:00 UTC on October 6, when it was 265 mi (425 km) north-northwest of San Juan, Puerto Rico.
The depression slid slowly northwestward between the contiguous upper vortex and a large high-pressure region over the central Atlantic. A region of lighter wind shear ahead, as well as an anticipated weakening of the upper cyclone, prompted the NHC to introduce the possibility of a tropical transition. Later, satellite observations showed a rapid improvement in the depression's structure; convective banding wrapped completely around the broad inner wind field, which produced gusts to 65 mph (105 km/h). Accordingly, the NHC upgraded the depression to Subtropical Storm Otto at 21:00 UTC on October 6, about 215 mi (345 km) northeast of Grand Turk. Although satellite images continued to display a classical subtropical cyclone, with Otto's center and the vortex aloft nearly collocated, data from a Hurricane Hunters aircraft indicated a weak warm convective core was developing within the mid levels of the circulation—a feature normally present at the upper levels of tropical cyclones. Moreover, a contraction of the large wind field reaffirmed that Otto was entering the final stages of its tropical transition. Although convective activity briefly weakened overnight, weakening shear and considerably warmer sea surface temperatures permitted small patches of thunderstorms to refire on the morning of October 7. As Otto meandered northward, temperature contrasts from forecast models indicated that the warm core within the circulation had ascended to the upper levels of the cyclone. In consequence, a burst of deep, tropical convection with extreme cloud top temperatures of approximately −112 °F (−80 °C) occurred over the center. Having shed the last of its subtropical characteristics, Otto became a warm-core system and was operationally declared tropical at 1200 UTC that day.
Over the course of October 8, Otto began to accelerate to the northeast under the increasing influence of a vertically deep trough off the US East Coast. Conditions aloft remained conducive, and the storm's convection deepened symmetrically over the center to form a large, well-defined central dense overcast. By 1200 UTC, Otto's winds had reached 75 mph (120 km/h) while a mid-level eyewall began to form, prompting the NHC to upgrade the storm to a Category 1 hurricane south of Bermuda. Further strengthening ensued as the newly formed hurricane proceeded over the warm waters of the central Atlantic; microwave imagery revealed the eye, though obscured, was vertically well established, marking Otto's peak strength with estimated winds of 85 mph (140 km/h).
Upon peaking in intensity, Otto had become fully embedded within the deep-layered flow to its southwest. Racing northeastward, the hurricane entered an area of progressively cooler waters and adverse upper atmospheric conditions, which eroded its cloud pattern and disrupted the circulation. With maximum winds dropping below 70 mph (110 km/h), Otto was reduced to a tropical storm late on October 9. Convective activity came to a near halt due to relentless wind shear and a lack of tropical moisture, leading specialists to conclude the storm was entering an extratropical transition. The next day, the cool dry air infiltrated the weak warm core, and Otto began to develop frontal banding features. With these characteristics, Otto became an extratropical cyclone on October 10, and the NHC discontinued advisories on the storm. The post-tropical cyclone decelerated near the Azores over the next week, where it eventually degenerated into a remnant low that recurved sharply southeastward, before completely dissipating west of Morocco on October 18.
## Preparations and impact
Otto and its precursor disturbance produced days of prolonged rainfall and gusty winds across the northern Leeward Islands, the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico. Localized flooding and rough sea conditions caused extensive road damage, infrastructure failures, and some beach erosion along coastlines. During the passage of the storm, numerous residents were left without water and power, and a state of emergency was declared for several Caribbean nations. Schools, businesses and some government offices across all of the Virgin Islands and Saint Kitts and Nevis were closed until storm conditions abated. The weather system ultimately accounted for substantial monetary losses throughout these areas, pinned at over \$22.5 million (2010 USD). In addition, Otto was widely regarded as one of the wettest storms in the history of the northeastern Caribbean, repeatedly shattering various rainfall records.
### Leeward Islands
In Saint Lucia, downpours triggered torrential flooding along the island's easternmost coast from October 5 through October 6. In Dennery Quarter, flash floods affected about 500 households; among them, 400 had their houses flooded or severely damaged. Several residences had to be evacuated, and some people were trapped in their homes. Residents also suffered from the absence of drinking water, lack of electricity, and the inability to prepare meals due to the loss of kitchen equipment and other utensils. In response, the area was declared a disaster zone; a total of EC\$500,000 (\$185,185 USD) was approved to assist flood victims, as well as an additional US\$44,194 allocated from the Disaster Relief Emergency Fund of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
Intermittent torrents battered Saint Kitts and Nevis for at least four days; a total of up to 10.99 inches (279 mm) of precipitation was recorded during that time. Several homeowners reported significant flooding, and a number of persons had to be rescued from their homes. Gusty winds generated rough sea conditions along coastal regions, resulting in some beach erosion and the collapse of a sidewalk section. Rains and associated floods topped a number of culverts and bridges, washed out the sides of some roadways, and damage to some utility lines, followed by significant disruptions to electricity services. The exact amount of damage to the territory remains unknown, however.
In the U.S. Virgin Islands, heavy rainfall associated with Otto shattered numerous records for October across the US Virgin Islands, with a maximum total of 21.52 in (547 mm) reported in Red Hook, Saint Tomas. The rain flooded roads and prompted officials opened shelters on all three islands on October 6. In Saint Croix, a roadway section leading into Enfield Green collapsed, temporarily cutting the neighborhood off to traffic until a makeshift roadway was created the next day. In La Vallée, on the island's north shore, floods and landslides affected low-lying areas. Traffic on Saint Thomas and Saint John initially remained unhindered; however, as the rain continued for several days, flooding, rockslides and asphalt erosion forced authorities to close several roads and highways. Damage estimates from the storm reached \$2 million across the islands.
In the British Virgin Islands, a flash flood warning was in effect during the presence of Otto from October 6 to 8. Torrential floods across the islands overturned several cars, and caused extensive damage to utility lines and drainage pipes; dozens of people in Tortola—specifically in Road Town—were temporarily left without power and water. In total, an estimated 24.98 inches (634 mm) of rain was recorded, and the government declared a state of emergency for the entire territory. Floods from the storm were regarded as the worst in the history of the British Virgin Islands. In total, damage across the islands was estimated at US\$10.5 million, considerably higher than losses ensured by major Hurricane Earl earlier in the year.
Widespread flooding from Otto was responsible for substantial increases in damage to the road network across Sint Maartin initially wrought by Earl, amounting to NAƒ1.5 million (\$838,000 USD). On the French side of the island nation, torrents and associated floods in Saint Martin were accountable for similar property infrastructural damage; monetary losses there totaled €800,000 (\$1.12 million USD).
### Puerto Rico
Rain began to pour across several parts of Puerto Rico on October 5, persisting for up to five days in some areas. The greatest amount of rainfall during the six-day period of October 3 to 8 was registered at Rio Portugues in Ponce, with 17.86 inches (454 mm) recorded. Due to the rainfall, the Government of Puerto Rico issued the closure of more than 40 roads, and an additional 19 streets were partially secured. Subsequent widespread flooding affected at least 295 roads, 14 of which suffered significant damage. In all, damage to road infrastructure was preliminarily estimated at US\$6.5 million. In addition, the municipality of Ponce reported copious losses in agriculture, later estimated at US\$1.5 million.
Following the overflow of the Arecibo River on October 7, a neighborhood in Utuado was cut off from surrounding communities after gushing waters severely damaged its main road. Shortly thereafter, a landslide lugged a utility pole along the road, making it impossible for larger vehicles—including ambulances—to access the site. Landslides trapped fourteen families in the municipality of Ponce; a residence alongside a road suffered significant damage and had to be evacuated. In Cayey, a district was isolated from neighboring areas due to the collapse of a bridge. In the area, burst riverbanks triggered floods across local streets, which trapped dozens of families in their homes. Severe flooding contaminated water supplies, leaving an estimated 45,000 people without drinking water in the wake of the storm. In response, the government declared a state of emergency for the entire island. Authorities opened 120 shelters, and several flood victims had to be rescued.
## See also
- List of Category 1 Atlantic hurricanes
- Hurricane Rafael (2012)
|
46,517,545 |
How to Save a Life (Grey's Anatomy)
| 1,168,541,615 | null |
[
"2015 American television episodes",
"Grey's Anatomy (season 11) episodes"
] |
"How to Save a Life" is the twenty-first episode of the eleventh season of the American television medical drama Grey's Anatomy, and is the 241st episode overall. It aired on April 23, 2015 on ABC in the United States. The episode was written by showrunner Shonda Rhimes and directed by Rob Hardy, making it the first episode Rhimes has written since the season 8 finale "Flight". The installment marked the death of the series’ male lead character, Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey), who had starred on the series since its inception.
In this episode, Shepherd is involved in an accident while attempting to help the victims of a car accident. He is later pronounced brain dead, in part due to the surgeons not providing him with a timely CT scan. Only 6 regular cast membersEllen Pompeo, Patrick Dempsey, Chandra Wilson, Kevin McKidd, Sarah Drew and Caterina Scorsone appear in the episode. "How to Save a Life" also marks the first appearance of Dr. Penelope Blake (Samantha Sloyan).
The episode's original broadcast was watched by 9.55 million viewers and registered the show as the week's highest-rated drama and third-highest rated scripted series in the 18–49 demographic. It received mixed reviews from critics upon release, who were divided on the show's handling of Shepherd's death. However, they were largely laudatory of Pompeo, with critic Rick Porter deeming it the best performance of her career.
## Plot
The episode opens with a flashback of a five-year-old Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) lost in a park. In the present, Dr. Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey), is on his way to Washington to resign from the President's brain mapping project. He witnesses a road accident and pulls over to help the victims. He rescues a young girl named Winnie (Savannah Paige Rae) and helps her mother, who has a dislocated leg. With assistance from Winnie, he rescues another couple involved in the accident.
Paramedics arrive at the scene and transport the victims to a nearby medical facility at Dillard. Just as Derek is about to drive away, he is hit by a semi-truck, and is rushed to the ER at the closest hospital. He is unable to speak as the doctors examine him, with him subconsciously telling the doctors to order a head CT. However, Shepherd is rushed into surgery. One of the surgical residents, Dr. Penelope Blake (Samantha Sloyan), who wants to perform a CT is dismissed by her attending and by the time the doctors discover his blown pupil, Shepherd realizes that he will die. He is eventually declared brain-dead after the neurosurgeon arrives too late.
Grey is brought to the hospital by the police authorities and is informed by the surgeons that Shepherd is brain dead; she immediately points out that they should have ordered a head CT, much to Blake's dismay. She reviews all of her options with the doctor in-charge of Shepherd's case, before signing the papers to authorize the removal of his life support. Blake tearfully apologizes to a forbearing Grey, who then returns to Shepherd's room to say a final goodbye. This is accompanied by a montage of the heyday from their relationship.
## Production
"How to Save a Life" was written by showrunner Shonda Rhimes and directed by Rob Hardy. It was the first episode that Rhimes had written since the show's season eight finale "Flight". Filming took place both at the studio in Los Angeles and outdoor locations over a span of three weeks. Samantha Sloyan, Larry Cedar, Mike McColl, Allie Grant, and Savannah Paige Rae made guest appearances in the episode; Sloyan reprised her role in the show's 250th episode "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" and was subsequently promoted to a recurring character for the twelfth season. The soundtrack for "How to Save a Life" featured covers, recorded by Sleeping at Last, of such previously used tracks as "Today Has Been OK", originally by Emilíana Torrini and "Chasing Cars", originally by Snow Patrol, and the originals "Sedona" by Houndmouth, "Gulls" by David Gray, and "Into the Fire" by Erin McCarley.
Speculation about Dempsey's exit from Grey's Anatomy began in November, 2014, when Dempsey casually mentioned during an interview that he might be leaving the series very soon. Despite signing on for two more years at the end of the tenth season of the show, he disclosed that he would make his final appearance in the eleventh season. The official statement was released on April 23, 2015, just a few hours before the airing of "How to Save a Life". Dempsey went on to share further details on his character being written out of the show, saying that it happened very quickly and in an organic way. The developments leading up to the impending exit, he said, had begun in February, 2015.
Amidst speculation of a rift between Dempsey and Pompeo, and the showrunner Rhimes, Dempsey maintained his stance of leaving in a "very good" place with his co-star of ten years. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Dempsey explained that if his exit had been a result of a conflict with the production team, it would have had happened at the end of the tenth season, when his previous contract had expired. He added that though the death of the character might be viewed as a surprising decision, he "[liked] the way it has all played out." On his relationships with Pompeo, he said: "it’s beautiful. We’re like a married couple [it has been] 10 years, and it was magic from the beginning” Rhimes asserted on the importance of Dempsey's character in the statement she released at his departure:
> "Derek Shepherd is and will always be an incredibly important character—for Meredith, for me and for the fans. I absolutely never imagined saying goodbye to our ‘McDreamy.’ Patrick Dempsey’s performance shaped Derek in a way that I know we both hope became a meaningful example—happy, sad, romantic, painful and always true—of what young women should demand from modern love [but] as Ellis Grey would say: the carousel never stops turning.”Rhimes to Lynette Rice, on Dempsey's exit
Pompeo posted on Twitter to react to the death of Shepherd, writing that she was honored and excited to tell Meredith's story "in the face of what feels like the impossible". She encouraged fans to continue watching the series, saying, "I hope you will all join me on her journey.” It was the first time that Pompeo spoke publicly about Dempsey's much publicised exit.
## Reception
### Broadcast
"How to Save a Life" was originally broadcast on April 23, 2015 in the United States on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC). The episode was watched by a total of 9.55 million, up 23 percent from its last years telecast airing around the same time. In the key 18-49 demographic, the episode scored a 2.8 in Nielsen ratings, up 22 percent from last year, scoring the best ratings since the eleventh-season premiere. It was the second best TV show in the 8.00 pm slot, beating Bones, The Vampire Diaries and a rerun on The Blacklist, but was beaten by The Big Bang Theory.
The 9.55 million people tuned into the episode marked a 24 percent increase from the previous episode (7.60), in addition to the installment's 2.8 Nielsen rating in the target 18–49 demographic marked a 33 percent increase from the previous episode (2.1). The Nielsen score additionally registered the show as the week's highest rated drama and third-highest rated scripted series in the 18–49 demographic, only behind CBS's The Big Bang Theory (3.6) and ABC's Modern Family (3.0).
### Critical reception
The episode received mixed reviews by critics who had polarizing views on the writing and handling of Shepherd's death.
Ashley Bissette Sumerel of TV Fanatic gave the episode the highest praise in a 5 out of 5 star review highlighting the "interesting possibilities" that the death would offer for the show. However, she stated, "I'm beyond heartbroken. [...] We've seen tragic deaths and lost beloved characters, but never quite like this. I don't think I'll ever get over it." She also acknowledged the show's emotional connect with its audience and its courage to attempt the "inconceivable". Ariana Bacle of Entertainment Weekly took the opportunity to reminisce the early years of the show saying that it is the compelling characters that have made committing to Grey's "irresistible". She added that despite some "weak moments" that the series suffers from, characters like "Meredith or Derek or Webber will have a moment that reminds me why I keep watching, why I never stopped— so watching one of those characters die hurts. It really, really hurts." In a mixed review for the episode, a Spoiler TV writer criticized the plot calling it a "self-indulgent episode", contrasted it with "well crafted departure of Mark Sloan, or by Lexie Grey". Also criticizing the absence of the series' major cast from the episode the review said, "The presence of so many inconsequential and uninteresting characters was continually in danger of swamping the dreaminess of Derek." However, appreciative of Pompeo's character, the reviewer remarked, "the writing of Meredith was completely on point. She was clinical, as we would expect her to be."
Pompeo garnered widespread acclaim from television critics for her performance in the episode; Rick Porter of Zap2it was largely laudatory of Pompeo's performance which he thought "made all the difference in the episode". He wrote highly of her role in the arc saying, "Without Meredith, and without one of Pompeo's strongest performances in her long time on the show, "How to Save a Life" would have run the risk of coming across as a baldly manipulative death episode". He noted that although it might not be the "ideal Emmy-submission episode" for Pompeo, because of the amount of time that she spent on screen, it was among the best work she's ever done on the show." Robert Bianco of USA Today thought of the episode as "a showcase for Pompeo", agreeing that although she didn't play a prominent part until the later half of the episode, but some memorable and well-played scenes: "from her angry response to the doctor who tries to tell her what her choices are, to her resignation when she realizes she has to comfort and motivate the young doctor whose mistakes cost Derek his life." Alexandria Ingham Guardian Liberty Voice was also impressed with Pompeo’s "range of emotions", which she described similarly, as going through many stages, including anger, resignation, and compassion.
Shepherd's death came as a shock to the audience and was a major topic of discussion among critics, who gave polarising views on the character's exit. Janalen Samson, a contributing Writer for BuddyTV noted the episodes generation of shock in the times of the omnipresent media saying, "Genuine surprise is a rare occurrence in television viewing these days", and added, "Imagine my amazement, then, when I sat down to watch [...] "How to Save a Life"". Calling the death a "lightning bolt" David Hinckley of New York Daily News wrote, "In one of the most stunning moments from a high-mortality television season, "Grey's Anatomy" [...] killed off Patrick Dempsey's Dr. Derek Shepherd". Also talking about the shock value Shepherd's death in her New York Post review Lindsay Putnam wrote, "“Grey’s Anatomy” did the unthinkable, killing off one of the few remaining original cast members", additionally putting up the question of the future of the series asking, "with Derek out of the picture, what will become of the rest of the Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital family? Is there still a future for Grey’s Anatomy?" The sentiment was echoed by Slate writer Aisha Harris who weighed heavily upon importance of the death and its impact saying that despite the show’s ensemble cast, "Meredith has always remained the central figure of Grey’s, so this death marks a very important turning point in the show". Optimistic of the prospects for the show, she added, "if anyone can come out of this tragedy as a tougher, better character than ever, it’s Meredith Grey."
|
28,703,250 |
I Hate Boys
| 1,171,870,302 | null |
[
"2010 singles",
"2010 songs",
"American rock songs",
"Christina Aguilera songs",
"Glam rock songs",
"RCA Records singles",
"Song recordings produced by Polow da Don",
"Songs with feminist themes",
"Songs written by Christina Aguilera",
"Songs written by Ester Dean",
"Songs written by Polow da Don",
"Sony Music singles"
] |
"I Hate Boys" is a song recorded by American recording artist Christina Aguilera for her sixth studio album, Bionic (2010). The song was written by Aguilera, Ester Dean, William Tyler, Bill Wellings, J. J. Hunter and Jamal Jones, who also handled the production of the track. "I Hate Boys" is a glam rock, pop and electropop song, containing elements of urban pop and synth-pop. Lyrically, it is a hate-driven song about ridiculing all boys.
"I Hate Boys" was released as the second and final single from Bionic in New Zealand and Australia. It was serviced to Australian radio on June 28, 2010, and released as a digital single in Australia and New Zealand on September 3. The song divided music critics; while some called it fun and a "girl anthem", others felt its lyrics were too juvenile and regarded it as filler. Upon the release of Bionic, "I Hate Boys" debuted at number 51 on the Gaon International Singles Chart during the week of June 6, 2010.
## Background
Initially, "I Hate Boys" was supposed to be produced by Le Tigre. Group member Johanna Fateman wrote about working with Aguilera on their official website:
> "... While the giant sound of her stacked vocals and the pop sheen she lends to the tracks might seem at odds with Le Tigre's aesthetic roots, it really works. The songs have a lot of elements we're known for, like a garage guitar sound, schoolyard chants, new wave-y synths, electro beats, and somehow it all sounds crazily right with Christina's unbelievable voice."
However, it was later revealed that the song was produced by Polow da Don and that Le Tigre only produced the song "My Girls". Polow da Don talked about working with Aguilera in a Billboard interview, stating: "There's two things you need to know about Christina Aguilera: The first is that, as far as her singing goes, she's a professionally trained animal. And the other is that she knows exactly, absolutely what she wants."
After "Not Myself Tonight", the song was released as the second single of the album in Australia and New Zealand. A digital single was released on the iTunes Store on September 3, 2010.
## Composition
"I Hate Boys" was written by Aguilera, Jamal Jones, Ester Dean, William Tyler, Bill Wellings and J. J. Hunter, while production was handled by William Tyler & Polow da Don. Don has worked with Aguilera on the previous singles "Not Myself Tonight" and "Woohoo". "I Hate Boys" contains a sample from the 1973 track "Jungle Juice", by UK electronic act Elektrik Cokernut from their album Go Moog!. It is an uptempo glam rock, pop and electropop song with elements of synth-pop and urban pop, featuring gang chants in the background. Lyrically, "I Hate Boys" is a hate-driven song about ridiculing and insulting all bad boys. It begins with a drum beat similar to Katy Perry's "I Kissed a Girl" (2008), according to Idolator's Becky Bain, who also wrote that "it sounds almost directly inspired by the trash-talk obnoxiousness found in Avril Lavigne's "Girlfriend."
## Critical reception
"I Hate Boys" received mixed reviews from music critics. In a positive review, Leslie Simon of MTV Buzzworthy wrote that the track is "a fun, highly synth-pop gum-smacking, girls-night-out rally anthem." Melinda Newman of HitFix called it a "pure pop infectious silliness." Mesfin Fekadu from The Boston Globe praised the song, writing, "The male-bashing 'I Hate Boys' has the right mix of energy and sass that Aguilera somewhat lacks throughout the album." The Scotsman wrote that the song is an "electro glam" that has "throwaway fun." Allison Stewart from The Washington Post referred to it as a "tame, hand-clappy pop song" and compared the track to Gwen Stefani's songs.
TJ of Neon Limelight gave a mixed review, calling it "sassy" but "would work better for an artist at least a decade younger than Aguilera", with its "painfully adolescent lyrics". Becky Bain of Idolator wrote, "It's one of those pandering songs that will no doubt have young girls singing along, particularly the chorus, but it's a lazy one that leaves rubs us the wrong way." Bradley Stern from MuuMuse named it a "filler, including the noisy, childish chant." Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune commented that "it's the kind of trite glitter-disco might've dispensed", while comparing it to Spice Girls' songs. Eric Henderson gave to the song a negative review, writing, "Considering 'I Hate Boys' is closer than I ever thought Christina would ever come to recording a Daphne Aguilera track, it's ironically also one of many tracks on Bionic that sound tailor-made to accompany the opening credits of Johnny Weir's forthcoming reality show."
In his retrospective commentary on Bionic, Daniel Megarry of the Gay Times called "I Hate Boys" a tongue-in-cheek post-breakup anthem—a "cult favourite moment" on the album. Idolator's 2020 evaluation of the long play noted that the song "would have been a smash hit at any other time in Aguilera’s career".
## Track listing
Digital download
1. "I Hate Boys" – 2:24
2. "Not Myself Tonight" (Laidback Luke Radio Edit) – 3:39
## Credits and personnel
Recording locations
- Recording – No Excuses, Los Angeles, California
- Vocal recording – The Red Lips Room, Beverly Hills, California
Personnel
- Songwriting – Christina Aguilera, Jamal Jones, Ester Dean, William Tyler, Bill Wellings, J. J. Hunter
- Production – Polow da Don
- Mixing – Jaycen Joshua
Source:
## Charts
## Release history
|
32,052,132 |
Today Is Your Day
| 1,154,570,208 | null |
[
"2011 singles",
"2011 songs",
"Country ballads",
"Mercury Nashville singles",
"Mercury Records singles",
"Shania Twain songs",
"Song recordings produced by David Foster",
"Song recordings produced by Nathan Chapman (record producer)",
"Songs written by Shania Twain"
] |
"Today Is Your Day" is a song by the Canadian singer-songwriter Shania Twain. It was self-penned by Twain and co-produced by David Foster and Nathan Chapman. The song was released on June 12, 2011 by Mercury Nashville Records, as a single to accompany the documentary television series Why Not? with Shania Twain (2011). The song marked Twain's first song release in over six years and actually even the only song release of her own within a timespan of twelve years. Twain wrote the track for self-inspiration, during the development of Why Not? with Shania Twain. To her, "Today Is Your Day" became the theme song for the series, expressing the purpose behind it via music. Despite feeling apprehensive, Twain decided to record the track, which induced her to create her forthcoming fifth studio album. The track is a midtempo ballad in the country pop genre. Lyrically, "Today Is Your Day" regards personal upliftment. "Today Is Your Day" is Twain's first track to have had no involvement from her now ex-husband Robert John "Mutt" Lange in 18 years. It is also only her second self-penned song, the first being "Leaving Is The Only Way Out" from her second studio album The Woman In Me (1995). Twain performed the song on her Rock This Country Tour and in an acoustic version for the Still the One residency.
"Today Is Your Day" has received mixed reviews from music critics and mild commercial performance in Canada and the United States. On the Canadian Hot 100, the song peaked at number 16, while, on the US Billboard Hot 100, it peaked at number 66. It became Twain's first effort to enter the main-genre chart since "Party for Two" (2004). Despite not receiving an official music video, a promotional music video was gathered from footage from Why Not? with Shania Twain.
## Background
In 1993, Twain released her self-titled debut album, which caught the attention of record producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange. The two collaborated on songwriting via phone calls for six months, and later established a romantic relationship. They wedded in December 1993 and Twain's second studio album, which they co-wrote together, The Woman in Me (1995) established her as a worldwide commercial success, selling over 12 million copies in the United States and over 20 million worldwide. Twain and Lange continued to collaborate on her subsequent albums Come On Over (1997) and Up! (2002); the prior went on to sell over 40 million copies worldwide and became the best-selling album by a female artist. After selling over 75 million records worldwide, making her the top-selling female artist in country music history, and releasing a Greatest Hits (2004) album, Twain decided to take a musical hiatus in 2005. In 2008, it was announced that after 14 years of marriage, Twain and Lange were in the process of divorcing. The singer discovered her husband had an affair with her friend and confidant, Marie Anne Thiebaud, which Lange and Thiebaud never admitted to. The divorce was finalized on June 9, 2010.
According to Twain, she became depressed and lost her desire to live after the divorce. As a distraction, she began to write a memoir, titled From This Moment On after the 1998 song of the same name. She then re-evaluated her life and noted a pattern of withholding emotions, which affected her voice for both speaking and singing. She explained the loss of her voice resulted from the cumulative stress of experiencing domestic violence in her childhood, the death of her parents, stress from her musical career, and the divorce. As a result, the singer developed dysphonia, an impairment in the ability to produce sound because of tightened muscles enveloping her voice box. In order to recover, Twain embarked on a documented journey with the series Why Not? with Shania Twain. Twain wanted to go outside her comfort zone and perform once again, while inspiring viewers to be proactive about their own problems.
## Writing and recording
After repeating to herself, 'Today is your day! You can do it!', Twain decided to compose a song for self-inspiration. Twain described the decision to write the song as crucial because it was her first songwriting effort since her separation from Lange. She had to "find [herself] as a songwriter" and become independent again. "I was petrified of writing a new song without Mutt. A whole new world for me. It had been many, many years since I had written by myself so that was new and scary", Twain said. Twain found writing the music quite simple, as it only occupied two lines of sheet music. The lyrics then flowed as Why Not? with Shania Twain progressed. "Today Is Your Day" inspirited her; hence, she considered sharing it with the series. The concept frightened her: "Sharing that song with other people, exposing, and basically allowing myself to be vulnerable and judged, it scared the heck out of me." She believed it became a natural theme song for the series. She explained, "From the inception of documenting the journey, the song was also created at that moment. And it has evolved with it all along the way."
As part of Why Not? with Shania Twain, she arranged a session with music producer David Foster, hoping to collaborate on "Today Is Your Day". Although she felt skeptical, Twain visited vocal coach Eric Vetro to prepare for her session with Foster. Twain and Vetro executed vocal exercises to loosen up the tension and tightness in her vocal chords. "The goal is to free up, to let go. She has to take all of that tension and tightness that she's been feeling for so long, and transform it to free herself from it. And to start singing from her heart again, the way she did when she was a little girl, when she started," Vetro stated. He also opined that Twain was ready to return to her music career. Twain learned beneficial vocal techniques and appreciated Vetro's understanding of her psyche.
Nevertheless, Twain remained frightened that Foster would dislike the song or her voice. To qualm her fears, Twain approached the session as if she were introducing "Today Is Your Day" as a songwriter, rather than a singer. Twain and Foster recorded the demo of "Today Is Your Day" at Foster's home studio in Los Angeles, California. They created the musical arrangement as the session progressed. Background vocals were provided by Twain and her sister, Carrie Ann Twain, using a handheld microphone. Foster then suggested for Twain to record lead vocals in his home's vocal booth. After agreeing, Twain nervously approached the recording session. Once immersed in the process, she began to enjoy it. The singer considered her session with Foster a "landmark moment in [her] journey" through Why Not? with Shania Twain and described it as second nature, as if she never put her musical career to a halt. Twain later recorded the studio version of "Today Is Your Day" and co-produced it alongside Foster and Nathan Chapman. The song made Twain feel comfortable recording music again, thus she began to work on her forthcoming fifth studio album, Now (2017).
## Release
The song premiered on OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network on June 12, 2011, immediately after the broadcast premiere of Why Not? with Shania Twain's final episode, "Endless Love" at 11 P.M. EST. Subsequently, on the same night, "Today Was Your Day" was released to country radio and digital retailers in Canada and the United States, with an international release the next day. It became her first song release since "Shoes" (2005) from the Desperate Housewives soundtrack, and her first self-penned song released since "Leaving Is the Only Way Out" from The Woman in Me (1995); the two are her only self-penned tracks released. An official music video for "Today Is Your Day" was not filmed; instead, the song was given a promotional music video compiled from highlights from Why Not? with Shania Twain. It premiered on Vevo on June 23, 2011, and was released to the iTunes Store on June 28, 2011. It remains one of only five (the other four being "When", "Ka-Ching!, "She's Not Just a Pretty Face" and "It Only Hurts when I'm Breathing) Shania Twain music videos to remain commercially unavailable.
## Composition
"Today Is Your Day" is a song with a length of 3 minutes and 12 seconds. The song is a slow mid-tempo ballad of the country pop genre. Nonetheless, several critics, such as Nicholas Köhler and Ken MacQueen Maclean's, have described the track to be a piece of pop music, rather than country music. It commences with a sole piano accompanying Twain's voice, and later progresses to an assortment of banjo, string instruments and other instrumentation. However, the production is maintained as sparse, leaving Twain's vocals at center. The lyrics are written in second person and discuss optimism and personal upliftment. In the bridge she sings, "Brush yourself off no regrets / This is as good as it gets / Don’t expect more or less / Just go out and give it your best", meaning one must be able to disregard dreaming for a better day because "today is all you’ve got". Melinda Newman of HitFix presumed, considering Twain's back story, that Twain wrote "Today Is Your Day" as a message for herself.
## Critical reception
The song received mixed reviews from music critics. Melinda Newman of HitFix said it was "a bit snoozy", however complemented Twain's reasonably strong vocals. Newman added, "She’s not pushing or belting in any way, but she’s upfront and center. However, her delivery is hardly the peppy rallying call that the lyrics call for and if a song ever demanded to be uptempo, this would be it." Sean Daly of the St. Petersburg Times called the song "a shocking stinkeroo every which way." Daly criticized Twain's vocal delivery, noting she sounded as though she sang through the side of her mouth much like James Cagney, and said the track reinforced the skeptics who insisted Lange was the reason for Twain's success. He concluded, "If 'Today Is Your Day' is a sign of things to come, you might want to hold your breath on that comeback." Jenna Hally Rubenstein of MTV was disappointed with "Today Is Your Day", but said she would "take it" following the singer's long absence from music. Rubenstein commented that the song was undoubtedly saccharine, yet Twain's lush and rich voice prevailed.
## Chart performance
On the week ending July 2, 2011, "Today Is Your Day" debuted at number 14 on the Canadian Hot 100. The following week, it descended to number 45. Since, the song has spent six weeks on the Canadian Hot 100. On the week ending July 2, 2011, "Today Is Your Day" also entered on the US Billboard Hot 100, at number 66 with 46,000 digital downloads (its sole week on the chart). This marked Twain's first entry on the Billboard Hot 100 chart since "Party for Two" (2004) spent its last week on the chart in February 2005. On the same week, "Today Is Your Day" entered at number 40 on the US Hot Country Songs chart, ranking Twain's fourth-highest debut. Two weeks later, on the week ending July 16, 2011, the track reached its peak at number 36, and spent a total of six weeks on the chart.
## Track listing
- Digital Download
1. "Today Is Your Day" – 3:14
## Charts
|
23,229,753 |
Coconut crab
| 1,173,313,140 |
Species of crustacean
|
[
"Christmas Island cuisine",
"Crustaceans described in 1767",
"Edible crustaceans",
"Hermit crabs",
"Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus",
"Terrestrial crustaceans"
] |
The coconut crab (Birgus latro) is a species of very large terrestrial hermit crab, and is also known as the robber crab or palm thief. It is the largest terrestrial arthropod known, with a weight of up to 4.1 kg (9 lb). The distance from the tip of one leg to the tip of another can be as wide as 1 m (3 ft 3 in). It is found on islands across the Indian and Pacific Oceans, as far east as the Gambier Islands, Pitcairn Islands and Caroline Island and as far south as Zanzibar. While its range broadly shadows the distribution of the coconut palm, the coconut crab has been extirpated from most areas with a significant human population such as mainland Australia and Madagascar.
The coconut crab is the only species of the genus Birgus, and is related to the other terrestrial hermit crabs of the genus Coenobita. It shows a number of adaptations to life on land. Juvenile coconut crabs use empty gastropod shells for protection like other hermit crabs, but the adults develop a tough exoskeleton on their abdomens and stop carrying a shell. Coconut crabs have organs known as branchiostegal lungs, which they use for breathing instead of their vestigial gills. After the juvenile stage, they will drown if immersed in water for too long. They have an acute sense of smell which they use to find potential food sources, and which has developed convergently with that of insects.
Adult coconut crabs feed primarily on fleshy fruits, nuts, seeds, and the pith of fallen trees, but they will eat carrion and other organic matter opportunistically. Anything left unattended on the ground is a potential source of food, which they will investigate and may carry away – thereby getting the alternative name of "robber crab". The species is popularly associated with the coconut palm, yet coconuts are not a significant part of its diet. Although it lives in a burrow, the crab has been filmed climbing coconut and pandanus trees. No film shows a crab selectively picking coconut fruit, though they might dislodge ripe fruit that otherwise would fall naturally. Climbing is an immediate escape route (if too far from the burrow) to avoid predation by large sea birds (when young) or by humans, or cannibalism (at any age) by bigger, older crabs.
Mating occurs on dry land, but the females return to the edge of the sea to release their fertilized eggs, and then retreat up the beach. The larvae that hatch are planktonic for 3–4 weeks, before settling to the sea floor, entering a gastropod shell and returning to dry land. Sexual maturity is reached after about 5 years, and the total lifespan may be over 60 years. In the 3–4 weeks that the larvae remain at sea, their chances of reaching another suitable location is enhanced if a floating life support system avails itself to them. Examples of the systems that provide such opportunities include floating logs and rafts of marine or terrestrial vegetation. Similarly, floating coconuts can be a very significant part of the crab's dispersal options. Fossils of this crab date back to the Miocene.
## Taxonomy
The coconut crab has been known to western scientists since the voyages of Francis Drake around 1580 and William Dampier around 1688. Based on an account by Georg Eberhard Rumphius (1705), who had called the animal "Cancer crumenatus", Carl Linnaeus (1767) named the species Cancer latro, from the Latin latro, meaning "robber". The genus Birgus was erected in 1816 by William Elford Leach, containing only Linnaeus' Cancer latro, which was thus renamed Birgus latro.
Birgus is classified in the family Coenobitidae, alongside one other genus, Coenobita, which contains terrestrial hermit crabs.
Common names for the species include coconut crab, robber crab, and palm thief, which mirrors the animal's name in other European languages (e.g. German: Palmendieb). In Japan (where the species lives on some of the country's southerly island chains), the species is typically referred to as yashigani (ヤシガニ), meaning 'palm crab'.
## Description
B. latro is both the largest terrestrial arthropod and the largest terrestrial invertebrate known to exist. Reports of its size vary, but most sources give a body length up to 40 cm (16 in), a weight up to 4.1 kg (9 lb), and a leg span more than 0.91 m (3 ft), with males generally being larger than females. The carapace may reach a length of 78 mm (3+1⁄16 in), and a width up to 200 mm (8 in).
The body of the coconut crab is, like those of all decapods, divided into a front section (cephalothorax) with 10 legs, and an abdomen. The front-most pair of legs has large chelae (claws) with the left being larger than the right. The next two pairs of legs, as with other hermit crabs, are large, powerful walking legs with pointed tips that allow coconut crabs to climb vertical or even overhanging surfaces. The fourth pair of legs is smaller, with tweezer-like chelae at the end allowing young coconut crabs to grip the inside of the shell or coconut husks that juvenile's habitually carry for protection. Adults use this pair for walking and climbing. The last pair of legs is very small and is used by females to tend their eggs and by the males in mating. This last pair of legs is usually held in the cavity containing the breathing organs, inside the carapace. Some difference in color occurs between individuals found on different islands, ranging from orange-red to purplish blue, In most regions, blue is the predominant color, but in some places such as the Seychelles most individuals are red.
Although B. latro is a derived type of hermit crab, only juveniles use salvaged snail shells to protect their soft abdomens while adolescents sometimes use broken coconut shells for the same purpose. Unlike other hermit crabs the adult coconut crabs do not carry shells but instead harden their abdominal terga by depositing chitin and calcium carbonate. Absent the physical constraint of living within another creature's shell B. latro grows much larger than its relatives in the family Coenobitidae. Despite being the product of carcinization, like most true crabs B. latro bends its tail beneath its body for protection.
The hardened abdomen protects the coconut crab and reduces water loss on land, but must be periodically moulted. Adults moult annually, digging a burrow up to 1 m (3 ft 3 in) long in which to hide while their soft shell hardens. Depending on the size of the individual 1–3 weeks are needed for the exoskeleton to harden. The animals remain in this burrow for 3–16 weeks, again depending on size.
### Respiration
Except as larvae, coconut crabs cannot swim, and they drown if left in water for more than an hour. They use a special organ called a branchiostegal lung to breathe. This organ can be interpreted as a developmental stage between gills and lungs, and is one of the most significant adaptations of the coconut crab to its habitat. The branchiostegal lung contains a tissue similar to that found in gills, but suited to the absorption of oxygen from air, rather than water. This organ is expanded laterally and is evaginated to increase the surface area; located in the cephalothorax, it is optimally placed to reduce both the blood/gas diffusion distance and the return distance of oxygenated blood to the pericardium.
Coconut crabs use their hindmost, smallest pair of legs to clean these breathing organs and to moisten them with water. The organs require water to properly function, and the coconut crab provides this by stroking its wet legs over the spongy tissues nearby. Coconut crabs may drink water from small puddles by transferring it from their chelipeds to their maxillipeds.
In addition to the branchiostegal lung, the coconut crab has an additional rudimentary set of gills. Although these gills are comparable in number to aquatic species from the families Paguridae and Diogenidae, they are reduced in size and have comparatively less surface area.
### Sense of smell
The coconut crab has a well-developed sense of smell, which it uses to locate its food. The process of smelling works very differently depending on whether the smelled molecules are hydrophilic molecules in water or hydrophobic molecules in air. Crabs that live in water have specialized organs called aesthetascs on their antennae to determine both the intensity and the direction of a scent. Coconut crabs live on the land, so the aesthetascs on their antennae are shorter and blunter than those of other crabs and are more similar to those of insects.
While insects and the coconut crab originate from different paths, the same need to track smells in the air led to the development of remarkably similar organs. Coconut crabs flick their antennae as insects do to enhance their reception. Their sense of smell can detect interesting odors over large distances. The smells of rotting meat, bananas, and coconuts, all potential food sources, catch their attention especially. The olfactory system in the coconut crab's brain is well-developed compared to other areas of the brain.
## Life cycle
Coconut crabs mate frequently and quickly on dry land in the period from May to September, especially between early June and late August. Males have spermatophores and deposit a mass of spermatophores on the abdomens of females; the oviducts opens at the base of the third pereiopods, and fertilisation is thought to occur on the external surface of the abdomen, as the eggs pass through the spermatophore mass.
The extrusion of eggs occurs on land in crevices or burrows near the shore. The female lays her eggs shortly after mating and glues them to the underside of her abdomen, carrying the fertilised eggs underneath her body for a few months. At the time of hatching, the female coconut crab migrates to the seashore and releases the larvae into the ocean. The coconut crab takes a large risk while laying the eggs, because coconut crabs cannot swim: If a coconut crab falls into the water or is swept away, its weight makes it difficult, or impossible, for it to swim back to dry land. The egg laying usually takes place on rocky shores at dusk, especially when this coincides with high tide. The empty egg cases remain on the female's body after the larvae have been released, and the female eats the egg cases within a few days.
The larvae float in the pelagic zone of the ocean with other plankton for 3–4 weeks, during which a large number of them are eaten by predators. The larvae pass through three to five zoea stages before moulting into the postlarval glaucothoe stage; this process takes from 25 to 33 days.
Upon reaching the glaucothoe stage of development, they settle to the bottom, find and wear a suitably sized gastropod shell, and migrate to the shoreline with other terrestrial hermit crabs. At that time, they sometimes visit dry land. Afterwards, they leave the ocean permanently and lose the ability to breathe in water. As with all hermit crabs, they change their shells as they grow. Young coconut crabs that cannot find a seashell of the right size often use broken coconut pieces. When they outgrow their shells, they develop a hardened abdomen. The coconut crab reaches sexual maturity around 5 years after hatching. They reach their maximum size only after 40–60 years. They grow remarkably slowly, and may take up to 120 years to reach full size, as posited by ecologist Michelle Drew of the Max Planck Institute.
## Distribution
Coconut crabs live in the Indian Ocean and the central Pacific Ocean, with a distribution that closely matches that of the coconut palm. The western limit of the range of B. latro is Zanzibar, off the coast of Tanzania, while the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn mark the northern and southern limits, respectively, with very few populations in the subtropics, such as the Ryukyu Islands. Some evidence indicates the coconut crab once lived on the mainland of Australia, Madagascar, Rodrigues, Easter Island, Tokelau, the Marquesas islands, and possibly India, but is now extirpated in those areas. As they cannot swim as adults, coconut crabs must have colonised the islands as planktonic larvae.
Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean has the largest and densest population of coconut crabs in the world, although it is outnumbered there by more than 50 times by the Christmas Island red crab (Gecarcoidea natalis). Other Indian Ocean populations exist on the Seychelles, including Aldabra and Cosmoledo, but the coconut crab is extinct on the central islands. Coconut crabs occur on several of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal. They occur on most of the islands, and the northern atolls, of the Chagos Archipelago.
In the Pacific, the coconut crab's range became known gradually. Charles Darwin believed it was only found on "a single coral island north of the Society group". The coconut crab is far more widespread, though it is not abundant on every Pacific island it inhabits. Large populations exist on the Cook Islands, especially Pukapuka, Suwarrow, Mangaia, Takutea, Mauke, Atiu, and Palmerston Island. These are close to the eastern limit of its range, as are the Line Islands of Kiribati, where the coconut crab is especially frequent on Teraina (Washington Island), with its abundant coconut palm forest. The Gambier Islands mark the species' eastern limit.
## Ecology
### Diet
The diet of coconut crabs consists primarily of fleshy fruits (particularly Ochrosia ackeringae, Arenga listeri, Pandanus elatus, P. christmatensis); nuts (Aleurites moluccanus), drupes (Cocos nucifera) and seeds (Annona reticulata); and the pith of fallen trees. However, as they are omnivores, they will consume other organic materials such as tortoise hatchlings and dead animals. They have been observed to prey upon crabs such as Gecarcoidea natalis and Discoplax hirtipes, as well as scavenge on the carcasses of other coconut crabs. During a tagging experiment, one coconut crab was observed killing and eating a Polynesian rat (Rattus exulans). In 2016, a large coconut crab was observed climbing a tree to disable and consume a red-footed booby on the Chagos Archipelago.
The coconut crab can take a coconut from the ground and cut it to a husk nut, take it with its claw, climb up a tree 10 m (33 ft) high and drop the husk nut, to access the coconut flesh inside. They often descend from the trees by falling, and can survive a fall of at least 4.5 m (15 ft) unhurt. Coconut crabs cut holes into coconuts with their strong claws and eat the contents, although it can take several days before the coconut is opened.
Thomas Hale Streets discussed the behaviour in 1877, doubting that the animal would climb trees to get at the coconuts. As late as the 1970s there were doubts about the crab's ability to open coconuts. In the 1980s, Holger Rumpf was able to confirm Streets' report, observing and studying how they open coconuts in the wild. The animal has developed a special technique to do so; if the coconut is still covered with husk, it will use its claws to rip off strips, always starting from the side with the three germination pores, the group of three small circles found on the outside of the coconut. Once the pores are visible, the coconut crab bangs its pincers on one of them until it breaks. Afterwards, it turns around and uses the smaller pincers on its other legs to pull out the white flesh of the coconut. Using their strong claws, larger individuals can even break the hard coconut into smaller pieces for easier consumption.
### Habitat
Coconut crabs are considered one of the most terrestrial-adapted of the decapods, with most aspects of its life oriented to, and centered around such an existence; they will actually drown in sea water in less than a day. Coconut crabs live alone in burrows and rock crevices, depending on the local terrain. They dig their own burrows in sand or loose soil. During the day, the animal stays hidden to reduce water loss from heat. The coconut crabs' burrows contain very fine yet strong fibres of the coconut husk which the animal uses as bedding. While resting in its burrow, the coconut crab closes the entrances with one of its claws to create the moist microclimate within the burrow, which is necessary for the functioning of its breathing organs. In areas with a large coconut crab population, some may come out during the day, perhaps to gain an advantage in the search for food. Other times, they emerge if it is moist or raining, since these conditions allow them to breathe more easily. They live almost exclusively on land, returning to the sea only to release their eggs; on Christmas Island, for instance, B. latro is abundant 6 km (3+1⁄2 mi) from the sea.
## Relationship with humans
Adult coconut crabs have no known predators apart from other coconut crabs and humans. Its large size and the quality of its meat means that the coconut crab is extensively hunted and is very rare on islands with a human population. The coconut crab is eaten as a delicacy – and regarded as an aphrodisiac – on various islands, and intensive hunting has threatened the species' survival in some areas.
While the coconut crab itself is not innately poisonous, it may become so depending on its diet, and cases of coconut crab poisoning have occurred. For instance, consumption of the sea mango, Cerbera manghas, by the coconut crab may make the coconut crab toxic due to the presence of cardiac cardenolides.
The pincers of the coconut crab are powerful enough to cause noticeable pain to a human; furthermore, the coconut crab often keeps its hold for extended periods of time. Thomas Hale Streets reports a trick used by Micronesians of the Line Islands to get a coconut crab to loosen its grip: "It may be interesting to know that in such a dilemma a gentle titillation of the under soft parts of the body with any light material will cause the crab to loosen its hold."
In the Cook Islands, the coconut crab is known as unga or kaveu, and in the Mariana Islands it is called ayuyu, and is sometimes associated with taotaomo'na because of the traditional belief that ancestral spirits can return in the form of animals such as the coconut crab.
A popular conspiracy theory and internet meme suggests that Amelia Earhart crash-landed on Nikumaroro and her remains were rapidly consumed by coconut crabs on the island. However, as no evidence of Earhart's plane has been found on or near Nikumaroro, this theory is generally discredited by historians.
## Conservation
Coconut crab populations in several areas have declined or become locally extinct due to both habitat loss and human predation. In 1981, it was listed on the IUCN Red List as a vulnerable species, but a lack of biological data caused its assessment to be amended to "data deficient" in 1996. In 2018, IUCN updated its assessment to "vulnerable".
Conservation management strategies have been put in place in some regions, such as minimum legal size limit restrictions in Guam and Vanuatu, and a ban on the capture of egg-bearing females in Guam and the Federated States of Micronesia. In the Northern Mariana Islands, hunting of non-egg-bearing adults above a carapace length of 76 mm (3 in) may take place in September, October, and November, and only under license. The bag limit is five coconut crabs on any given day, and 15 across the whole season.
In Tuvalu, coconut crabs live on the motu (islets) in the Funafuti Conservation Area, a marine conservation area covering 33 km<sup>2</sup> (12.74 mi<sup>2</sup>) of reef, lagoon and motu on the western side of Funafuti atoll.
|
3,127,300 |
Yoga as therapy
| 1,166,975,115 |
Yoga in the use of physical and mental therapy
|
[
"Alternative medicine",
"Energy therapies",
"Yoga as therapy",
"Yoga styles"
] |
Yoga as therapy is the use of yoga as exercise, consisting mainly of postures called asanas, as a gentle form of exercise and relaxation applied specifically with the intention of improving health. This form of yoga is widely practised in classes, and may involve meditation, imagery, breath work (pranayama) and calming music as well as postural yoga.
At least three types of health claims have been made for yoga: magical claims for medieval haṭha yoga, including the power of healing; unsupported claims of benefits to organ systems from the practice of asanas; and more or less well supported claims of specific medical and psychological benefits from studies of differing sizes using a wide variety of methodologies.
Systematic reviews have found beneficial effects of yoga on low back pain and depression, but despite much investigation, little or no evidence for benefit for specific medical conditions. The study of trauma-sensitive yoga has been hampered by weak methodology.
## Context
Yoga classes used as therapy usually consist of asanas (postures used for stretching), pranayama (breathing exercises), and relaxation in savasana (lying down). The physical asanas of modern yoga are related to medieval haṭha yoga tradition, but they were not widely practiced in India before the early 20th century.
The number of schools and styles of yoga in the Western world has grown rapidly from the late 20th century. By 2012, there were at least 19 widespread styles from Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga to Viniyoga. These emphasise different aspects including aerobic exercise, precision in the asanas, and spirituality in the haṭha yoga tradition. These aspects can be illustrated by schools with distinctive styles. Bikram Yoga has an aerobic exercise style with rooms heated to 105 °F (41 °C) and a fixed sequence of 2 breathing exercises and 26 asanas performed in every session. Iyengar Yoga emphasises correct alignment in the postures, working slowly, if necessary with props, and ending with relaxation. Sivananda Yoga focuses more on spiritual practice, with 12 basic poses, chanting in Sanskrit, pranayama breathing exercises, meditation, and relaxation in each class, and importance is placed on a vegetarian diet.
## Types of claims
At least three different types of claims of therapeutic benefit have been made for yoga from medieval times onwards, not counting the more general claims of good health made throughout this period: magical powers, biomedical claims for marketing purposes, and specific medical claims. Neither of the first two are supported by reliable evidence. The medical claims are supported by evidence of varying quality, from case studies to controlled trials and ultimately systematic review of multiple trials.
### Magical powers
Medieval authors asserted that Haṭha yoga brought physical (as well as spiritual) benefits, and provided magical powers including of healing. The Hatha Yoga Pradipika (HYP) states that asanas in general, described as the first auxiliary of haṭha yoga, give "steadiness, good health, and lightness of limb." (HYP 1.17) Specific asanas, it claims, bring additional benefits; for example, Matsyendrasana awakens Kundalini and helps to prevent semen from being shed involuntarily; (HYP 1.27) Paschimottanasana "stokes up the digestive fire, slims the belly and gives good health"; (HYP 1.29) Shavasana "takes away fatigue and relaxes the mind"; (HYP 1.32) while Padmasana "destroys all diseases" (HYP 1.47). These claims lie within a tradition across all forms of yoga that practitioners can gain supernatural powers. Hemachandra's Yogashastra (1.8–9) lists the magical powers, which include healing and the destruction of poisons.
### Biomedical claims for marketing purposes
Twentieth century advocates of some schools of yoga, such as B. K. S. Iyengar, have for various reasons made claims for the effects of yoga on specific organs, without citing any evidence. The yoga scholar Suzanne Newcombe argues that this was one of several visions of yoga as in some sense therapeutic, ranging from medical to a more popular offer of health and well-being. The yoga scholar Andrea Jain describes these claims of Iyengar's in terms of "elaborating and fortifying his yoga brand" and "mass-marketing", calling Iyengar's 1966 book Light on Yoga "arguably the most significant event in the process of elaborating the brand". The yoga teacher Bernie Gourley notes that the book neither describes contraindications systematically, nor provides evidence for the claimed benefits. Jain suggests that "Its biomedical dialect was attractive to many." For example, in the book, Iyengar claims that the asanas of the Eka Pada Sirsasana cycle
> ...tone up the muscular, nervous and circulatory systems of the entire body. The spine receives a rich supply of blood, which increases the nervous energy in the chakras (the various nerve plexuses situated in the spine), the flywheels in the human body machine. These poses develop the chest and make the breathing fuller and the body firmer; they stop nervous trembling of the body and prevent the diseases which cause it; they also help to eliminate toxins by supplying pure blood to every part of the body and bringing the congested blood back to the heart and lungs for purification.
The history of such claims was reviewed by William J. Broad in his 2012 book The Science of Yoga. Broad argues that while the health claims for yoga began as Hindu nationalist posturing, it turns out that there is ironically "a wealth of real benefits".
### Evidence-based medical claims
Researchers have studied the medical and psychological effects of yoga as exercise in a wide range of trials and observational studies, sometimes with careful controls, providing evidence of differing quality about yoga's possible benefits. The physician and yoga therapist Timothy McCall has assembled an extensive list of studies, grouped by condition, providing evidence of varying quality for "117 Health Conditions Helped by Yoga"; he notes the "irony" that "in yoga therapy, we don't treat medical conditions per se. We treat individuals." The various types of claims, and the evidence for them, are discussed below.
## Types of activity
### Remedial yoga
The International Association of Yoga Therapists offers a definition of yoga therapy that can encompass a wide range of activities and practices, calling it "the process of empowering individuals to progress toward improved health and well-being through the application of the teachings and practices of Yoga".
The history of remedial yoga goes back to the pioneers of modern yoga, Krishnamacharya and Iyengar. Iyengar was sickly as a child, and yoga with his brother-in-law Krishnamacharya improved his health; it had also helped his daughter Geeta, so his response to his students' health issues, in Newcombe's view, "was an intense and personal one." In effect Iyengar was treating "remedial yoga" as analogous to Henrik Ling's medical gymnastics. As early as 1940, Iyengar was using yoga as a therapy for common conditions such as sinus problems, backache, and fatigue. Iyengar was willing to push people through pain "to [show] them new possibilities." In the 1960s, he trained a few people such as Diana Clifton and Silva Mehta to deliver this remedial yoga; particular asanas were used for different conditions, and non-remedial Iyengar Yoga teachers were taught to tell students that ordinary classes were not suitable for "serious health issues". Mehta taught a remedial yoga class in the Iyengar Yoga Institute in Maida Vale from its opening in 1984; she contributed "Remedial Programs" for conditions such as arthritis, backache, knee cartilage problems, pregnancy, sciatica, scoliosis and varicose veins in the Mehtas' 1990 book Yoga the Iyengar Way. However, Iyengar was deferential to Western medicine and its assessments, so in Newcombe's view Iyengar Yoga is "positioned as complementary to standard medical treatment rather than as an alternative".
Newcombe argues that in Britain, yoga "largely avoided overt conflict with the medical profession by simultaneously professionalising with educational qualifications and deferring to medical expertise." After Richard Hittleman's Yoga for Health series on ITV from 1971 to 1974, the series producer Howard Kent founded a charity, the Yoga for Health Foundation, to "Research into the therapeutic benefits to be obtained by the practice of yoga"; residential courses began in 1978 at Ickwell Bury in Bedfordshire. The Foundation stated that yoga was not a therapy or cure but had "therapeutic benefits", whether physical, mental, or emotional, and it worked especially with "the physically handicapped". Newcombe notes that a third organisation, the Yoga Biomedical Trust, was founded in Cambridge in 1983 by a biologist, Robin Monro, to research complementary therapies. He found it hard to obtain research funding, and in the 1990s moved to London, focusing on training yoga teachers in yoga as therapy and providing yoga as individualised therapy, using pranayama, relaxation and asanas.
### Sports medicine
From the point of view of sports medicine, asanas function as active stretches, helping to protect muscles from injury; these need to be performed equally on both sides, the stronger side first if used for physical rehabilitation.
## Research
### Methodology
Much of the research on the therapeutic use of yoga has been in the form of preliminary studies or clinical trials of low methodological quality, including small sample sizes, inadequate control and blinding, lack of randomization, and high risk of bias. Further research is needed to quantify the benefits and to clarify the mechanisms involved.
For example, a 2010 literature review on the use of yoga for depression stated, "although the results from these trials are encouraging, they should be viewed as very preliminary because the trials, as a group, suffered from substantial methodological limitations." A 2015 systematic review on the effect of yoga on mood and the brain recommended that future clinical trials should apply more methodological rigour.
### Mechanisms
The practice of asanas has been claimed to improve flexibility, strength, and balance; to alleviate stress and anxiety, and to reduce the symptoms of lower back pain, without necessarily demonstrating the precise mechanisms involved. A review of five studies noted that three psychological mechanisms (positive affect, mindfulness, self-compassion) and four biological mechanisms (posterior hypothalamus, interleukin-6, C-reactive protein and cortisol) that might act on stress had been examined empirically, whereas many other potential mechanisms remained to be studied; four of the mechanisms (positive affect, self-compassion, inhibition of the posterior hypothalamus and salivary cortisol) were found to mediate yoga's effect on stress.
### Low back pain
Back pain is one reason people take up yoga, and since at least the 1960s some practitioners have claimed that it relieved their symptoms.
A 2013 systematic review on the use of yoga for low back pain found strong evidence for short- and long-term effects on pain, and moderate evidence for long-term benefit in back-specific disability, with no serious adverse events. Ten randomised controlled trials were analysed, of which eight had a low risk of bias. The outcomes measured included improvements in "pain, back-specific disability, generic disability, health-related quality of life, and global improvement". The review stated that yoga can be recommended as an additional therapy to chronic low back pain patients. A 2022 Cochrane systematic review of yoga for chronic non-specific low back pain included 21 randomised controlled trials and found that yoga produced clinically unimportant improvements in pain and back-specific function; improvements in back-specific function were similar to those obtained from other forms of therapeutic exercise, such as physical therapy.
### Mental disorders
Trauma-sensitive yoga has been developed by David Emerson and others of the Trauma Center at the Justice Resource Institute in Brookline, Massachusetts. The center uses yoga alongside other treatments to support recovery from traumatic episodes and to enable healing from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Workers including Bessel van der Kolk and Richard Miller have studied how clients can "regain comfort in their bodies, counteract rumination, and improve self-regulation through yoga."
Systematic reviews indicate that yoga offers moderate benefit in the treatment of PTSD. A 2017 systematic review of PTSD in post-9/11 veterans showed that participants in studies who had received mindfulness training, mind-body therapy, and yoga "reported significant improvements in PTSD symptoms". Another systematic review on veterans the same year also found improvement in PTSD symptoms. Other systematic reviews postulate that designing the style and instructions to the needs of the veterans leads to better results and a larger impact on PTSD symptoms.
A 2013 systematic review on the use of yoga for depression found moderate evidence of short-term benefit over "usual care" and limited evidence compared to relaxation and aerobic exercise. Only 3 of 12 randomised controlled trials had a low risk of bias. The diversity of the studies precluded analysis of long-term effects. A 2015 systematic review on the effect of yoga on mood and the brain concluded that "yoga is associated with better regulation of the sympathetic nervous system and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal system, as well as a decrease in depressive and anxious symptoms in a range of populations." A systematic review in 2017 found some evidence of benefit in major depressive disorder, examining outcomes primarily of improvements in remission rates and severity of depression (and secondarily of anxiety and adverse events), but considered that better randomised controlled trials were required.
### Cardiovascular health
A 2012 survey of yoga in Australia notes that there is "good evidence" that yoga and its associated healthy lifestyle—often vegetarian, usually non-smoking, preferring organic food, drinking less or no alcohol–are beneficial for cardiovascular health, but that there was "little apparent uptake of yoga to address [existing] cardiovascular conditions and risk factors". Yoga was cited by respondents as a cause of these lifestyle changes; the survey notes that the relative importance of the various factors had not been assessed.
### Other conditions
There is little reliable evidence that yoga is beneficial for specific medical conditions, and an increasing amount of evidence that it is not.
## Safety
Although relatively safe, yoga is not a risk-free form of exercise. Sensible precautions can usefully be taken, such as avoiding advanced moves by beginners, not combining practice with psychoactive drug use, and avoiding competitiveness.
A small percentage of yoga practitioners each year suffer physical injuries analogous to sports injuries. The practice of yoga has been cited as a cause of hyperextension or rotation of the neck, which may be a precipitating factor in cervical artery dissection.
## See also
- Exercise is Medicine
- Neurobiological effects of physical exercise
- Yoga foot drop
|
385,117 |
Just So Stories
| 1,158,064,645 |
Short story collection by Rudyard Kipling
|
[
"1902 children's books",
"1902 short story collections",
"20th-century British children's literature",
"Animal tales",
"British children's books",
"Children's short story collections",
"Jinn in popular culture",
"Macmillan Publishers books",
"Short stories by Rudyard Kipling",
"Short story collections by Rudyard Kipling"
] |
Just So Stories for Little Children is a 1902 collection of origin stories by the British author Rudyard Kipling. Considered a classic of children's literature, the book is among Kipling's best known works.
Kipling began working on the book by telling the first three chapters as bedtime stories to his daughter Josephine. These had to be told "just so" (exactly in the words she was used to) or she would complain. The stories illustrate how animals acquired their distinctive features, such as how the leopard got his spots. For the book, Kipling illustrated the stories himself.
The stories have appeared in a variety of adaptations including a musical and animated films. Evolutionary biologists have noted that what Kipling did in fiction in a Lamarckian way, they have done in reality, providing Darwinian explanations for the evolutionary development of animal features.
## Context
The stories, first published in 1902, are origin stories, fantastic accounts of how various features of animals came to be. A forerunner of these stories is Kipling's "How Fear Came", in The Second Jungle Book (1895). In it, Mowgli hears the story of how the tiger got his stripes.
## Book
### Approach
The Just So Stories began as bedtime stories told by Kipling to his daughter "Effie" (Josephine, Kipling's firstborn); when the first three were published in a children's magazine, a year before her death, Kipling explained: "in the evening there were stories meant to put Effie to sleep, and you were not allowed to alter those by one single little word. They had to be told just so; or Effie would wake up and put back the missing sentence. So at last they came to be like charms, all three of them – the whale tale, the camel tale, and the rhinoceros tale."
(The name Effie does not appear in the text of the stories, where the narrator now and again says O my Best Beloved to his listening child instead.)
Nine of the thirteen Just So Stories tell how particular animals were modified from their original forms to their current forms by the acts of human beings or magical beings. For example, the Whale has a tiny throat because he swallowed a mariner, who tied a raft inside to block the whale from swallowing other men. The Camel has a hump given to him by a djinn as punishment for the camel's refusing to work (the hump allows the camel to work longer between times of eating). The Leopard's spots were painted by an Ethiopian (after the Ethiopian painted himself black). The Kangaroo gets its powerful hind legs, long tail and hopping gait after being chased all day by a dingo, sent by a minor god responding to the Kangaroo's request to be made different from all other animals.
### Contents
1. How the Whale Got His Throat – why the larger whales eat only small prey.
2. How the Camel Got His Hump – how the idle camel was punished and given a hump.
3. How the Rhinoceros Got His Skin – why rhinos have folds in their skin and bad tempers.
4. How the Leopard Got His Spots – why leopards have spots.
5. The Elephant's Child/How the Elephant Got His Trunk – how the elephant's trunk became long.
6. The Sing-Song of Old Man Kangaroo – how the kangaroo assumed long legs and tail.
7. The Beginning of the Armadillos – how a hedgehog and tortoise transformed into the first armadillos.
8. How the First Letter Was Written – introduces the only characters who appear in more than one story: a family of cave-people, called Tegumai Bopsulai (the father), Teshumai Tewindrow (the mother), and Taffimai Metallumai, shortened to Taffy, (the daughter), and explains how Taffy delivered a picture message to her mother.
9. How the Alphabet Was Made – tells how Taffy and her father invent an alphabet.
10. The Crab that Played with the Sea – explains the ebb and flow of the tides, as well as how the crab changed from a huge animal into a small one.
11. The Cat that Walked by Himself – explains how man domesticated all the wild animals, even the cat, which insisted on greater independence.
12. The Butterfly that Stamped – how Solomon saved the pride of a butterfly, and the Queen of Sheba used this to prevent his wives scolding him.
13. The Tabu Tale – how Taffy learnt all the taboos. (Missing from most British editions; first appeared in the Scribner edition in the U.S. in 1903).
### Illustrations
Kipling illustrated the original editions of the Just So Stories. Later illustrators of the book include Joseph M. Gleeson.
### Editions
As well as appearing in a collection, the individual stories have also been published as separate books: often in large-format, illustrated editions for younger children.
## Adaptations
Adaptations of Just So Stories have been made in forms such as cartoons, including several in the Soviet Union in the 1930s, and musicals, including one in 1984 by Anthony Drewe and George Stiles.
## Reception
### Contemporary
H. W. Boynton, writing in The Atlantic in 1903, commented that only a century earlier children had had to be content with the Bible, Pilgrim's Progress, Paradise Lost, and Foxe's Book of Martyrs. But in his day "A much pleasanter bill of fare is being provided for them". Boynton argued that with Just So Stories, Kipling did for "very little children" what The Jungle Book had done for older ones. He described the book as "artfully artless, in its themes, in its repetitions, in its habitual limitation, and occasional abeyance, of adult humor. It strikes a child as the kind of yarn his father or uncle might have spun if he had just happened to think of it; and it has, like all good fairy-business, a sound core of philosophy".
### Modern
John Lee described the book as a classic work of children's literature. Sue Walsh observed in 2007 that critics have rigidly categorised Just So Stories as "Children's Literature", and have in consequence given it scant literary attention. In her view, if critics mention the book at all, they talk about what kind of reading is good for children and what they are capable of understanding. The stories are discussed, she argues, by critics such as Elliott Gose "in terms of ideas about the child’s pleasure (conceived of in sensual terms divorced of intellectual understanding) in the oral aspects of the text which are said to prompt an ‘active Participation’ which seems largely to be understood in terms of the ‘oral savouring’ of repetition".
### Evolutionary developmental biology
The molecular biologist Walter M. Fitch remarked in 2012 (published posthumously) that the stories, while "delightful", are "very Lamarckian", giving the example of the stretching of the elephant's snout in a tug-of-war, as the acquired trait (a long trunk) is inherited by all the elephant's descendants. Lewis I. Held's 2014 account of evolutionary developmental biology ("evo-devo"), How the Snake Lost its Legs: Curious Tales from the Frontier of Evo-Devo, noted that while Kipling's Just So Stories "offered fabulous tales about how the leopard got its spots, how the elephant got its trunk, and so forth [and] remains one of the most popular children's books of all time", fables "are poor substitutes for real understanding." Held aimed "to blend Darwin's rigor with Kipling's whimsy", naming the many "Curious Tales" such as "How the Duck Got its Bill" in his book in the style of Just So Stories, and observing that truth could be stranger than fiction. Sean B. Carroll's 2005 book Endless Forms Most Beautiful has been called a new Just So Stories, one that explains the "spots, stripes, and bumps" that had attracted Kipling's attention in his children's stories. A reviewer in BioScience suggested that "Kipling would be riveted."
## See also
- Just So Songs
- Just-so story
- The Jungle Book
|
14,172,229 |
Hadspen, Tasmania
| 1,168,524,566 | null |
[
"1866 establishments in Australia",
"Localities of Meander Valley Council"
] |
Hadspen is a town on the South Esk River in the north of Tasmania, Australia, 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) south west of Launceston. Hadspen has few commercial establishments and is primarily a residential suburb of nearby Launceston. Most of the town's buildings are residential, and relatively recent. The town's population of just over 2000 has grown rapidly from only a few hundred in the 1960s, and there are development plans that call for its doubling.
Settlement began in the early 19th century as a cluster of houses on the Launceston side of the river, near a frequently-flooded ford. Over time various bridges were built, largely on the same site, across the river. Though it had been settled for some time Hadspen was only officially declared in 1866. Hadspen was originally on the main road from Launceston to Devonport but the town's centre was bypassed in the late 20th century. There have been schools, both secular and religious, in its history, though there remain none.
The town has heritage-listed properties and some others from colonial times. The town's historic centrepiece is Entally House, built in 1819 as a wealthy settler's colonial estate. It was the former family home of Thomas Reibey, Premier of Tasmania from 1876 to 1877. The Red Feather Inn was built in the 1840s and remains in use as a restaurant and for accommodation. A gaol from the same time reflects Tasmania's convict past. The Uniting Church building dates back over 150 years, originally as a Wesleyan chapel, and the Anglican Church of the Good Shepherd is known for taking over ninety years to complete.
## Geography
Hadspen lies approximately 142 metres (466 ft) above sea level, 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) Southwest of Launceston, Tasmania. It is on the southern side of the South Esk River, near the confluence of the South Esk and Meander Rivers. The town is set in a rural landscape; Surrounding countryside contains valleys, river flood plains, remnant uncleared bush and undulating pastures. The majority of the town lies between the South Esk, and a low section of land east of the town called Beams Hollow, which is named after Thomas Beams, owner of a 50 acres (20 ha) lot through which the road from Launceston first ran.
## History
As of 1831 there was a settlement named Hadspen near a ford of the South Esk River. A road was proposed from Launceston, crossing the river at this ford near Thomas Haydock Reibey's property of Entally. The name may have been given by surveyor George Frankland after Hadspen house and garden, an estate in Somerset, England. By the 1840s Hadspen was a small cluster of houses near "Reibey's ford", and the river crossing was now on the main road from Launceston. Hadspen Post Office opened on 1 November 1849, though the town was not declared in the government gazette until January 1866. A bridge was constructed in the early 1840s replacing the often impassable ford, and during the next century the bridge was often repaired and sometimes replaced.
> Hadspen.-This rural township, long marked out on the maps, is fast assuming the appearance of a village. It is situated close to and on this side of Reibey's Bridge. Mr. Sprunt lately obtained a licence to open an inn, which is a large and commodious brick building. Several cottages are erected, and a blacksmith's forge for the convenience of surrounding settlers will soon be at work. Abundance of excellent stone is found within a few yards of the spot, and we observe one gentleman has built a remarkably neat cottage, fronting the main street, of this material. The distance from Launceston is about eight miles, and if the road were slightly repaired the drive in this direction would be the most pleasant in the neighbourhood
In early years there were two Hotels: Cricket Club Hotel near the river, which was partly destroyed by flood in the 1870s and subsequently demolished, and Hadspen Hotel, a convict-built sandstone structure. By 1881 both had closed and there were no hotels in the town. An application to re-licence a building opposite the Wesleyan church was unsuccessful. The Hadspen Hotel was a private home in the early 20th century and remains as part of the town's heritage. None of these hotels are open in the 21st century, the Rutherglen complex on the town's west is the only licensed premises. There was a brewery in the town for a time, though it has long closed. The postal service from Hadspen originally was handled by a licensee operating from a shop, and subsequently from one of hotels. By 1966 the post office was in a separate building on the site of the former blacksmith's shop.
There was an early reference to churches in 1844 when the Examiner noted that Bishop Nixon "laid the foundation stone of a new church at Hadspen, Reibey's ford" though it is not stated which church. This church is likely to have been a small wooden one that was the first used by the Church of England. The then Reverend Thomas Reibey had a small stone chapel built at Entally in 1850. Though it was intended for the employees of the estate it was used by some in the town. From the 1870s Reibey himself conducted some of the services in this chapel. The Uniting Church building in Hadspen's main street is a small, weatherboard colonial church. There was a Wesleyan chapel in the town by at least 1852 as well as another small church. In July 1874 the current Uniting church building was completed as a Wesleyan Chapel, that by 1924 was part of the Methodist church. The grounds the church is on were owned by the Wesleyans as early as 1865.
## Schools
In 1845, local members of the Church of England, as part of a petition calling for funding, stated that they had established a new school. By 1848 there was also a Wesleyan Sunday School with 20 students. By 1867 there was a secular state school in the town, though funding was inconstant and the school was closed for at least the next two years. This school never grew large; as of 1903 it had an average attendance of 20 students.
The school was still operating in 1937, though a public request had been made for regular transport to take children to the Hagley District School, in consequence of the Hadspen school's impending closure. Children from the town began attending the Hagley school in March 1938. By the middle of the same year a tender was approved by the Minister of Education for regular school transport. The transport was also for students from nearby Carrick., whose school closed in the 1930s. The school building was finally removed; a tender in 1944 called for it to be removed and re-erected at Falmouth. Schools have also been run in other town buildings, including a hall near the Anglican church, that was used for worship before the church's completion, in what is now the Uniting Church and also in another building that later became a private home. In the 21st century there are no schools remaining in Hadspen.
## Demographics
Hadspen was a small town for most of its early life; its population in 1966 was 311. It grew quickly from the 1970s to the 1990s after subdivisions were developed in South Esk Drive and Roebourne Avenue. Over this period the population doubled. In the , 29% of the town's population was under 14—one of the highest proportions in Tasmania—and future forecast growth means that the town is expected to require a primary school. The population grew from 1,334 in 1991, to 1,848 in 2001, 1,926 in 2006, and 2,063 in the last census results in 2011. Within the town's current footprint its population is expected to reach 2,155 by 2016. The Meander Valley Council, in a March 2011 development plan, forecast Hadspen's population doubling over the subsequent two decades.
The town's population is almost entirely Australian-born; over 90% as of 2011 compared to the average for all Australia of less than 69%. In almost all (96.9%) of homes only English is spoken, again a contrast to the Australian average of 76.8%. Median income is slightly higher than the country's average and the unemployment rate is slightly lower.
## Transport
Hadspen was an important stop on the coach route from Launceston to Deloraine from at least the 1840s. The coach service declined from when rail transport started in Tasmania in the late 1860s. The State Government began operating a school bus from town, to Hagley, in the 1930s. Meander Valley Highway, formerly known as Bass Highway, passes through the edge of the town bypassing the old main street. Bass Highway, which connects Launceston, Burnie and Devonport, branches off from this east of the town at Travellers Rest and passes south of Hadspen.
In the 21st century the town has three bus services: Redline Coaches runs a daily school bus service that passes through Hadspen to many of the Schools in and around Launceston; Westbus, another private company, takes students to Hagley Farm School and onwards to Westbury Primary School; Metro Tasmania's public bus service connects Hadspen and the Rutherglen Holiday Village to the centre of Launceston.
## Sport
Cricket has been played in Hadspen, at Entally and grounds nearer the town's centre, since at least the 1860s. The cricket oval at Entally was one of the first in Australia and was hosting matches before Melbourne's foundation. During his side's 1874 tour of Australia the great English cricketer W. G. Grace played on the ground. Aside from cricket Entally's grounds were often open for picnics and grand annual events. The Hadspen Chieftains cricket club was formed in the 1987–88 season and plays as part of the Northern Tasmania Cricket Association. They won the association's A grade premiership in the 1991–92 and 1993–94 seasons, and the Charltons Cup Premiership—a combined competition with the North East Cricket Association—in the 1993–94 and 1994–95 seasons.
Entally house has been associated with horse racing though the activities of Thomas Riebey. For a while there was horse racing at Entally Park itself, and ninety horses were raced from Entally's stable. Two of these won wide acclaim: Stockwell was second in the Melbourne Cup and won the Carrick plate in 1881; Malua, stated by the Sydney Bulletin to be the "greatest horse of all time", won the Melbourne cup in 1884, though this was after his time at Entally.
## Heritage properties
Hadspen has buildings that are largely intact from colonial times, some of which date from the early parts of the 19th century. The Red Feather inn, an adjacent convict-era gaol and four cottages form a cluster of heritage buildings in the midst of the town. The gaol is a sandstone structure that was used to overnight convicts. The inn, gaol and watchmans's cottage, St Andrew's church and Entally House are all listed on the Tasmanian Heritage Register, a recognition of their "historic cultural heritage significance to the whole of Tasmania".
### Entally House
Entally house is a heritage listed property on the western bank of the South Esk River. It, and the buildings of Rutherglen Holiday Village, are the only part of the town on this side. Entally is set on 85 acres (34 ha) of grounds, and contains a large colonial house, stables, a chapel, other outbuildings and several hectares of vineyards. The buildings are filled with indicative furniture and art of their time, including carriages and coaches in the coach house.
Thomas Reibey had been in service with the East India Company when he met his wife Mary Haydock. He formed a trading company in Sydney and named its building "Entally House" after a suburb of Calcutta, India. Trading also brought his sons, Thomas Haydock and James, to Tasmania in the early 19th century. By 1816 James owned land near Hadspen and he purchased more in the 1820s. Thomas Haydock and Mary, his mother, purchased 2,630 acres (1,064 ha) in 1818 in the then District of Cornwall, encompassing the present day site of Entally, and Thomas Haydock built the initial house in 1819. The original building was apparently a single storey structure, its two square towers arrayed with defensive musket slots. It has been significantly extended and surrounded by outbuildings since. When Thomas Haydock Reibey died in October 1842 his son, Thomas Reibey, inherited it along with 4,000 acres (1,620 ha) of land and "The Oaks", a property at nearby Carrick that now hosts the agricultural field days known as Agfest.
This latter Reibey was a leading figure in the Anglican Church in the area, and became later Premier of Tasmania. He built a private chapel at Entally, with wooden furnishings and an organ. He is remembered as having a great interest in horse racing and hunting; deer and horses were bred at Entally. At least 90 horses were raced from Entally's stables over time including the famous "Stockwell" and Malua. By 1883, the library was reported as the most extensive in the colony. Entally's lawn was used often for picnics and cricket matches. In the 1930s Rutherglen, now on the opposite side of the Meander Valley Highway, was part of Entally estate. It was home to some 300, ninety-year-old hazelnut trees that were under investigation regarding the prospect of growing Hazelnuts in Australia for Cadbury chocolate production.
On Reibey's death in February 1912 the property passed to his Nephew—Thomas Reibey Arthur—as Reibey had no children, and by 1929 the property was no longer in family hands. In December 1948, after two years of negotiation, the land and buildings were acquired by the Scenery Preservation Board. The property was reserved as a "historic site", more for its heritage value as a colonial home than its association with Reibey. Since then the house has been restored and filled with furniture, though not to original form, but rather as a facsimile of a wealthy 19th-century colonial settler's estate. Management of the site moved to the National Parks and Wildlife Service at its formation in Nov 1971. The State Government took over management in 2004, due to the expense of upkeep and concern over the property's condition. Timber company Gunns was by 2005 looking at managing the property and planting 5–6 hectares of premium wine grapes. They leased it from 2005 partly to showcase wine, though the property remained open for visitors. In late 2010 Gunns handed management and control of the property back to the State Government and from then it was maintained by volunteers. Youth Futures, an employment training organisation, was given the task of managing the now established vineyard.
### Church of the Good Shepherd
An Anglican church was planned for Hadspen in the late 1850s. Thomas Reibey had William Gilbee Habershon and Edward Habershon of London draw up plans in 1857. The building's design was based on St Mary's Church, Lutterworth, England. It was designed in an early English style with blue ironstone walls, and freestone dressing and reliefs. The nave was 37.5 feet (11.4 m) long, the chancel 17 x 15 feet and the entrance was through a 40-foot (12 m) tower with a 24-foot (7 m) spire. The foundation stone of "The new Episcopalian Church" or "The Reibey Church" was laid on 23 December 1868. Construction, estimated to cost 1000 pounds, began with locally sourced stonework by Robert Sleightholm, whom Reibey met on a ship from England.
Reibey was funding all of the construction costs. When the structure was mostly complete a scandal erupted around him. He was alleged to have indecently dealt with a married woman. Her husband raised the issue with the bishop, then in 1870 with no action by the Church again with the Church of England Synod in England. Reibey subsequently took libel action but his complaint was dismissed and the Jury largely held that the allegations against him were true. Apart from these allegations, Reibey's wife's health had been declining, his property had been declining in value, and he wrote that he had been considering relinquishing the Archdeaconship for a while. After only a few years the lack of funds provided left only one person working on the site. All work ceased in 1870, by which time the walls were unfinished and the building still lacked a roof. Though the church was incomplete both Reibey and his wife Catherine were buried in a graveyard at the building's rear.
The church remained incomplete for over ninety years. By 1957 Anglican services were being held in St Stephen's, a wooden church next to the apparent ruin. Around this time some in the church showed interest in completion of the old structure, partly due to the approaching centenary of construction beginning. In April of that year a gathering of people from the Parish of Carrick was held in the unfinished building, and a prayer held to bless its completion. The gathering, and associated committee, were led and chaired by William Rothwell Barrett, assistant bishop of Tasmania.
The original architects' plans had been preserved—though they were close to disintegration—and were largely followed in the subsequent construction work. A Launceston builder was contracted for the work, though much, including flooring, was performed by volunteers. Work was completed at an approximate cost of 8000 pounds, and the church was finally completed on 20 May 1961, with the first service held the following day. Some furnishings in the church came from Entally's Chapel including the altar and coverings, a wooden cross, symbolic paintings and a bell now hung in the church's porch. The bell, formerly in St Stephen's in Smithton, carries the inscription "Kains 1817" and probably comes from the whaler Kains which was wrecked in 1835. A stained glass window at the rear of the church originated in Entally's chapel, and spent time installed in another nearby church. It shows the crucifixion of Jesus and the Good Shepherd. The church is a Gothic Revival design and somewhat scaled down from the original plans, the nave was built 10 feet (3.0 m) shorter, with some changed elements such as the entrance being built in stone on the west side rather than wood on the south. The church was consecrated in February 1973.
### Red Feather Inn
The Red Feather Inn is a heritage listed building in Hadspen's main street. It was built as a coaching inn and in the 21st century has been used for a restaurant and accommodation. The building's frontage is a substantial sandstone single-storey building. Land falls away sharply from the street and the building's rear has two-storeys. Rising affluence in the 1840s had enabled growth of the coach transport industry. When built the Red Feather Inn was the first horse-change point on the road from Launceston, 8 miles (13 km) away, to Deloraine, and it was one of the colony's earliest coaching inns. It was built, starting in 1842, for local police magistrate Charles Arthur. It was built by John Sprunt, also builder of Macquarie House in Launceston's civic square, using convict hewn sandstone blocks.
The inn was first licensed in 1844 and was at first successful. In only a few decades its fortunes declined when a rail line was built from Launceston, reaching nearby Carrick in 1869. The economy of rail transport took goods and passengers away, forcing wagons from the road. This reduced the demand for coaching inns, and led to a general decline in traffic through and business in the town. As of 2004 it was run as a restaurant and, after a 2008 refurbishment, has been used for accommodation and a cooking school.
## Bridges
Flooding of the South Esk River and the need for a river crossing have constrained transport in the town for much of its history. The South Esk, now crossed by a bridge on the Meander Valley Highway, separates the town from settlements further west and unusually high floods can cut the highway on the town's east, when it is submerged at Beams Hollow. The river was first crossed by a ford known as "Reibey's Ford" near Entally House. Due to the variability in its flow this ford was frequently impassable requiring traffic to make significant detours. Thomas Haydock Reibey installed a punt at the crossing in 1828. By a specially passed Government act he was allowed to charge a toll for its use.
Tenders were called for in 1836 for design and construction of a bridge at the village of Hadspen. Five years later the colony's government passed "Reibey's ford act" to facilitate construction of a bridge. The act specified that of the £1500 cost for the bridge, £500 was to be paid by the government, and the remainder by Thomas Haydock Reibey. To recover the costs Reibey was allowed to charge a toll, assisted by a toll house and by turnpikes at the bridge's ends. On construction the toll was mandated as 1d per person, 1s per wagon or carriage, 4d per unladen beast and 1/2d per calf, sheep, pig or lamb. The elder Reibey died before the bridge was completed and his son and executor Thomas Reibey acquired his father's rights, collecting the tolls after the bridge was completed. The toll was to run for the lesser of 30 years, or whatever time it took to pay for the original bridge construction costs plus an annual 15% interest. The wooden bridge was completed by November 1843, and within a little over a year the tolls had raised 453 pounds. It was known as "Reibey's Bridge" and was narrow—fitting only a single wagon—with a single chain each side for safety, a fact that caused the loss of at least one valuable horse.
The bridge became noted for its insecure state, the lack of rails a particular issue, and it was referred to as "dangerous and unsightly". A new bridge, 3 feet (1 m) higher than the one it replaced, was under construction in 1878. This new structure was 350 feet (107 m) long, had a wooden frame and deck standing on stone piers. Floods continued to overflow Hadspen's only bridge, floods in 1893 may have been 8 feet (2.4 m) above the bridge's approach road's level; both the bridge and approach roads were extensively damaged and 250 feet (76 m) of guard rails were carried away.
By 1911 the river was crossed, on the same site, with a steel bridge. This new structure had concrete buttresses and a wooden roadway. In March of that year floods over-topped it by approximately 10 feet (3.0 m) and five of the bridge's seven spans went down, girders were broken, piers sheared through, and some swept into the river. The bridge was repaired later in the year and stood for another half century. Over time, particularly after floods, there were calls for the bridge to be raised, though the expense of the work—and the only occasional nature of flooding—was cited in defence of the bridge's adequacy. When the river flooded the bridge, it also often flooded Beams Ford on the other side of Hadspen, temporarily cutting off all road access to the town.
The Minister for Land and Works had approved work on raising it in 1939, but this was postponed indefinitely due to World War II. Raising or renewal of the bridge was again being investigated in 1946. The river again flooded over the bridge in July 1952, the first time since the mid-1940s, and the timber deck was still being repaired into 1953. The last and latest bridge was constructed as part of a bypass of the centre of Hadspen. By 1978, the Bass Highway crossed the river further upstream and the old main road was no longer a through road. This bridge is a 240 metres (790 ft) long two-lane single-carriageway concrete structure.
## Today's town
Hadspen is a small town that functions as a "dormitory suburb", an extension of the Launceston metropolitan area. Entally House lies on the Town's west, across the river. The town has a small shopping centre with a post office and service station, adjacent to a large caravan and cabin park. Development has been almost entirely residential and mostly on the northern side of Meander Valley Highway. Over 13 hectares (32 acres) of land was already zoned for development within the town boundary as of 2005, and the council plans to allow further expansion on the Highway's south. A 1978 study looked at various areas around Hadspen for development, the only area to date where this has happened is the small expansion of the town south of the Highway on the river's east bank.
The town is in the Meander Valley Council local government area, both the federal and state electoral Division of Bass, and the Tasmanian Legislative Council electoral division of Western Tiers.
Hadspen has grown without any area set aside for small commercial operations, a fact that has led to just a single shopping complex. There was another service station, in the main street, but it closed in 2008 after operating for approximately forty years. Rutherglen is a holiday village, conference and event centre, and retirement village on the town's west. It is the only premises in Hadspen with a general liquor licence. Rutherglen, or a similarly named premises at the same location, has been used for accommodation since at least 1923. The town has access to reticulated water and sewerage. The town's sewerage has been, since the mid-1970s, processed at a plant near Carrick that also serves that town. Treated waste-water from there is discharged into a tributary of the Liffey River.
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6,112,766 |
Shadows (The X-Files)
| 1,116,236,684 | null |
[
"1993 American television episodes",
"Television episodes about ghosts",
"Television episodes set in Nebraska",
"Television episodes set in Philadelphia",
"The X-Files (season 1) episodes"
] |
"Shadows" is the sixth episode of the first season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files, premiering on the Fox network on October 22, 1993. It was written by Glen Morgan and James Wong, directed by Michael Katleman, and featured guest appearances by Barry Primus and Lisa Waltz. The episode is a "Monster-of-the-Week" story, unconnected to the series' wider mythology. "Shadows" earned a Nielsen household rating of 5.9, being watched by 5.6 million households in its initial broadcast. The episode was not well-received by the production staff and received mixed reviews from critics.
The show centers on FBI agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) who work on cases linked to the paranormal, called X-Files. In this episode, Mulder and Scully investigate the death of two muggers and encounter an office worker who may be haunted by the spirit of her dead boss, who is using her to uncover his murderer; and discover covert arms deals made with Middle Eastern radicals.
This episode, inspired by the 1982 horror film The Entity, was written due to insistence that the creators write more episodes where Mulder and Scully help people. This allowed the writers some space to create other episodes they had in mind.
## Plot
Two muggers are found dead in a back alley of Philadelphia after robbing a woman, Lauren Kyte, at an automated teller machine. FBI agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) investigate the case when called in by a pair of agents from an unknown agency. The bodies are found to have an electrical charge and their throats have been crushed from the inside. Meanwhile, Lauren sees her boss, Robert Dorlund, and resigns due to her grief over the death of Dorlund's partner, Howard Graves, who supposedly committed suicide weeks before.
Mulder and Scully determine that one of the dead muggers belonged to an Islamic terrorist group, the Isfahan, and using the ATM video are able to track down Lauren. A screenshot of the video reveals a blurry figure who appears to be Howard Graves. When the agents meet with Lauren at her home, she reluctantly admits to the incident but knows nothing about the murders. Upon leaving, the agents find their car going out of control on its own, leading it to crash into another car. At a repair shop, the car is found to have no evidence of tampering, but an electrical charge is detected within it.
Upon visiting Graves' headstone, the agents learn of his purported suicide and the death of his daughter at a young age, who would have been Lauren's age were she still alive. Scully suspects that Graves faked his death, but on consulting the pathologist who examined his body and testing the organs he donated to others, it is proved that he is really dead. Meanwhile, Lauren witnesses a vision at night, including blood appearing in the bathtub, that leads her to believe that Graves was murdered. At her going-away party, Lauren is threatened by Dorlund, who believes she has knowledge of confidential information that could implicate him. Lauren calls the agents to her home, but before they can get there two assassins hired by Dorlund arrive to kill her. An invisible force kills both of them just as Mulder and Scully arrive (with Mulder witnessing the body of one assassin floating in midair).
Lauren is interrogated by Mulder, Scully, and the two unknown agents, who believe Graves and Dorlund's company sold technology to the Isfahan. Lauren admits to Mulder and Scully that the sales did indeed take place and that she believes Dorlund had Graves killed. After hearing Lauren recount the eerie circumstances that she believes are being caused by Graves' spirit, Scully—the usually reserved skeptic—readily accepts her story. Mulder is confused but, after Lauren leaves, Scully admits she was just humoring her. The agents search the company's premises, but are unable to find any evidence. When Dorlund attacks Lauren with a letter opener, Graves' spirit takes it and cuts open the wallpaper, revealing a disc with evidence. Weeks later, Lauren starts her new job, but it is implied that Graves' spirit may have followed her there.
## Production
This episode was created on the Fox network's insistence that the creators write more episodes where Mulder and Scully help people. This episode was written to accomplish that, and to allow the writers some space to create other episodes they had in mind. Co-writer Glen Morgan claims the episode was inspired by the movie The Entity. The name Tom Braidwood, the show's assistant director who later played Lone Gunmen member Melvin Frohike, is used in the scene where a parking lot attendant paints over the name of Howard Graves. The episode featured guest appearances by Barry Primus, Lisa Waltz, Lorena Gale and Veena Sood.
Fox emphasized the horror aspect of "Shadows" by using the tagline "Don't watch it alone" when advertising the episode. During the episode, Mulder jokes that Elvis was the only man ever to have successfully faked his own death. The joke would eventually become the first of many similar Elvis jokes littered throughout most of the series. When Mulder wonders whether or not it could have been a poltergeist, Scully mocks him by replying "they're here", a tagline and famous quote from the film Poltergeist (1982).
## Broadcast and reception
"Shadows" premiered on Fox on October 22, 1993, and was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on October 24, 1994. The episode earned a Nielsen household rating of 5.9 with an 11 share—meaning that in the US, 5.9 percent of television-equipped households, and 11 percent of all households actively watching television, were watching the program. It was viewed by 5.6 million households.
In a retrospective of the first season in Entertainment Weekly, "Shadows" was rated a C+, with the episode being called "exceedingly awkward", while the political context was seen as a weak point. Keith Phipps, writing for The A.V. Club, had mixed feeling about the episode, rating it a C+. He felt that the episode's plot worked well, though the supernatural elements seemed "a little corny". Matt Haigh, writing for Den of Geek, was more positive about the episode, calling it "fun viewing" and feeling that "with characters we could care about and a far more rounded plot, this proved one of the better episodes so far. I still wouldn’t call it a particularly brilliant one, though, either".
Co-writer James Wong felt that the changes he was asked to make to the script led to "Shadows" turning out to be "an average episode", although he felt "the director did a good job with it". His partner Glen Morgan had a similar opinion, calling it "a little too ordinary, like you have seen it before, which is exactly what the network wanted at the time. Chris Carter had a more positive view of the episode, calling it "very well done, really great effects, and more of a meat-and-potatoes kind of story. An FBI sting and a good mystery that Mulder and Scully investigate. Overall, a really solid episode." The plot for "Shadows" was also adapted as a novel for young adults in 2000 by Ellen Steiber, under the title Haunted.
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478,556 |
United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 1999
| 1,170,866,390 | null |
[
"1999 in British music",
"1999 in British television",
"Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 1999",
"United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest"
] |
The United Kingdom competed in the Eurovision Song Contest 1999, held on 29 May 1999 at the International Convention Center in Jerusalem, Israel. The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) organised a public selection process to determine its entry for the contest, The Great British Song Contest 1999. Eight songs competed over two rounds, with four songs selected through a radio-broadcast semi-final to advance to the televised final round, held on 7 March 1999, where viewers selected the winning entry through televoting. Girl group Precious received the most votes and were selected to represent the nation in the contest with the song "Say It Again".
Precious performed fifth at the international contest, and at the close of the voting process the UK finished in 12th place, receiving 38 points from 10 countries. At the time this result was the UK's second-worst placing in its competitive history, and was the nation's first finish outside of the top 10 countries in 12 years. "Say It Again" charted in several singles charts in Europe following the contest, and following further limited commercial success as a group Precious subsequently disbanded in 2001.
## Background
Prior to the 1999 contest, the United Kingdom had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 41 times since their first entry in 1957 and had competed in all but two editions of the contest. Before this year's event, the UK had won the contest five times: in 1967 with the song "Puppet on a String" performed by Sandie Shaw, in 1969 with the song "Boom Bang-a-Bang" performed by Lulu, in 1976 with the song "Save Your Kisses for Me" performed by Brotherhood of Man, in 1981 with the song "Making Your Mind Up" performed by Bucks Fizz, and in 1997 with the song "Love Shine a Light" performed by Katrina and the Waves. The nation had also finished in second place on fifteen occasions, more than any other country. At the previous year's contest, the UK finished in second place out of twenty-five competing entries with the song "Where Are You?" performed by Imaani amassing a total of 166 points.
Per the rules of the 1999 contest, as the UK featured among the 17 countries with the highest average scores over the past five editions, they were permitted to enter the upcoming contest, and the BBC were subsequently included on the European Broadcasting Union's (EBU) list of the 23 countries that had signed up to partake in the contest. The BBC opted to select its chosen entry for the contest through a national final, The Great British Song Contest 1999.
## Before Eurovision
### The Great British Song Contest 1999
The BBC organised a public selection process to determine its entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 1999. The Great British Song Contest was organised for the fourth time, and a similar format to that used for previous contests was implemented: following a public submission process, eight songs were selected to compete in a semi-final broadcast on BBC Radio 2, where listeners would choose four entries via televoting to progress to a televised final on BBC One, where a second round of public voting would determine the winning song that would represent the UK at Eurovision. More than 840 songs were submitted to the competition; a 40-song shortlist of these entries was presented to a panel of music professionals representing the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors, which reduced the number of potential entries to 20, and BBC contest organisers then selected the eight semi-finalists from this shortlist on 21 January 1999.
#### Semi-final
The eight semi-finalists were featured on the Radio 2 shows Wake Up to Wogan and The Ken Bruce Show between 1 and 4 February 1999, with two songs being played each day on both programmes. The semi-final was then held on 5 February, hosted by Terry Wogan and Ken Bruce. Once all songs had been played, listeners were invited to vote for their favourites through televoting. More than 21,000 votes were cast during the one-hour voting window, and the result was announced at the end of the programme, with the qualifying songs being announced in alphabetical order by title.
#### Final
A free promotional CD featuring extracts of the four finalists was released and made available in high street record shops. Ahead of the final each of the four participating acts performed their competing entries on Top of the Pops on BBC One, with one act appearing each week over four editions: Precious appeared on the 12 February 1999 edition; Sister Sway on 19 February 1999; Alberta on 26 February 1999; and Jay on 5 March 1999.
The final was held on 7 March 1999, hosted by Ulrika Jonsson and broadcast on BBC One. Jonsson provided live links between the pre-recorded performances, with short introductions by the songwriters of each song preceding a repeat airing of each act's performance from Top of the Pops. Other segments of the broadcast included clips from the 1998 contest in Birmingham, an interview with last year's Great British Song Contest winner Imaani, footage of the upcoming Eurovision host city Jerusalem and the contest venue, and a repeat during the end credits of ABBA's winning performance of "Waterloo" from the to mark 25 years since the Swedish group won the contest in Brighton. Televoting lines opened following the performance of the final act, with a one-hour voting window provided in which viewers were able to vote; the results were subsequently announced by Jonsson on 12 March 1999 during Top of the Pops on BBC Two, with the top three acts announced in reverse order along with the number of votes received. 3.14 million viewers watched the Great British Song Contest final on BBC One, and the Top of the Pops results show attracted an audience of 3.04 million.
### Promotion
Ahead of the contest, Precious made several appearances on UK television programmes to promote their entry to the British public. The group made appearances on ITV's breakfast TV show GMTV, the BBC's children's TV show Fully Booked, took part in a live phone-in interview from Jerusalem on the BBC's Blue Peter, and made a further performance on Top of the Pops, broadcast on 28 May 1999, the day before the contest. A BBC documentary, Precious: A Band for Britain, was broadcast on BBC One on 24 May 1999 which followed the members of the group from their first performances to being selected to represent the UK at Eurovision. "Say It Again" was released as an enhanced CD single on 17 May 1999, which featured additional mixes and a music video of the song.
## At Eurovision
The Eurovision Song Contest 1999 took place at the International Convention Center in Jerusalem, Israel, on 29 May 1999. According to the Eurovision rules, the 23-country participant list for the contest was composed of: the winning country from the previous year's contest; the 17 countries, other than the previous year's winner, which had obtained the highest average number of points over the last five contests; and any countries which had not participated in the previous year's content. The UK was one of the 17 countries with the highest average scores, and thus were permitted to participate. The running order for the contest was decided by a draw held on 17 November 1998; the UK was assigned position five, following and preceding .
Precious took part in technical rehearsals at the venue on 24 and 26 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 28 and 29 May. Ahead of the contest the UK were considered one of the favourites to win among bookmakers, alongside the entries from , and . The contest was broadcast in the UK on television and radio, with Terry Wogan providing commentary for BBC One and Ken Bruce on BBC Radio 2. Wogan also made an appearance during the contest's opening segment, when the contest hosts Dafna Dekel, Yigal Ravid and Sigal Shachmon held a brief conversation with him on his experience as the host of the previous year's contest.
At the end of the contest, the UK placed equal 12th, with , receiving a total of 38 points. This marked the UK's second-poorest placing in the contest at that time, and was the UK's first finish outside of the top 10 countries since . The contest was watched by a total of 8.91 million viewers in the UK.
### Voting
The same voting system in use since 1975 was again implemented for this event, with each country providing 1–8, 10 and 12 points to the ten highest-ranking songs as determined by a selected jury or the viewing public through televoting, with countries not allowed to vote for themselves. This was the second contest to feature widespread public voting, and the UK opted to implement this method to determine which countries would receive their points, with an 8-member back-up jury assembled in case technical failures rendered the telephone votes invalid. Around 323,000 valid votes were registered in the UK in total during the five-minute voting window, which determined the UK's points. Colin Berry was appointed the spokesperson and announced the results of the UK vote during the broadcast.
## After Eurovision
Following the contest, "Say It Again" reached a peak of number 6 on the UK Singles Chart and also featured in Sweden's Sverigetopplistan and Belgium's Ultratop. Precious continued to release new music, having some limited success in the singles chart and releasing a self-titled album in 2000. The group eventually disbanded in 2001: later that year Jenny Frost became a member of British girl group Atomic Kitten; Sophie McDonnell went on to host several television programmes, including the BBC's children's shows 50/50 and The Saturday Show; Louise Rose moved into acting, appearing in several roles in TV and film; Kalli Clark-Sternberg found work as a session singer; and Anya Lahiri returned to modelling and acting and subsequently became a fitness instructor.
Ahead of the a new rule was introduced which provided the UK with a permanent spot in the contest. As one of the highest-paying EBU member broadcasters, which provided the largest contributions to the Eurovision Song Contest, the UK, along with France, Spain and Germany, became one of the "Big Four" countries that would automatically qualify to each year's event, irrespective of the average number of points received in past contests.
|
294,229 |
DragonFly BSD
| 1,168,856,546 |
Free and open-source Unix-like operating system
|
[
"2004 software",
"Berkeley Software Distribution",
"DragonFly BSD",
"Free software operating systems",
"Operating system distributions bootable from read-only media",
"Software forks",
"Software using the BSD license",
"Unix variants",
"X86-64 operating systems"
] |
DragonFly BSD is a free and open-source Unix-like operating system forked from FreeBSD 4.8. Matthew Dillon, an Amiga developer in the late 1980s and early 1990s and FreeBSD developer between 1994 and 2003, began working on DragonFly BSD in June 2003 and announced it on the FreeBSD mailing lists on 16 July 2003.
Dillon started DragonFly in the belief that the techniques adopted for threading and symmetric multiprocessing in FreeBSD 5 would lead to poor performance and maintenance problems. He sought to correct these anticipated problems within the FreeBSD project. Due to conflicts with other FreeBSD developers over the implementation of his ideas, his ability to directly change the codebase was eventually revoked. Despite this, the DragonFly BSD and FreeBSD projects still work together, sharing bug fixes, driver updates, and other improvements.
Intended as the logical continuation of the FreeBSD 4.x series, DragonFly has diverged significantly from FreeBSD, implementing lightweight kernel threads (LWKT), an in-kernel message passing system, and the HAMMER file system. Many design concepts were influenced by AmigaOS.
## System design
### Kernel
The kernel messaging subsystem being developed is similar to those found in microkernels such as Mach, though it is less complex by design. DragonFly's messaging subsystem has the ability to act in either a synchronous or asynchronous fashion, and attempts to use this capability to achieve the best performance possible in any given situation.
According to developer Matthew Dillon, progress is being made to provide both device input/output (I/O) and virtual file system (VFS) messaging capabilities that will enable the remainder of the project goals to be met. The new infrastructure will allow many parts of the kernel to be migrated out into userspace; here they will be more easily debugged as they will be smaller, isolated programs, instead of being small parts entwined in a larger chunk of code. Additionally, the migration of select kernel code into userspace has the benefit of making the system more robust; if a userspace driver crashes, it will not crash the kernel.
System calls are being split into userland and kernel versions and being encapsulated into messages. This will help reduce the size and complexity of the kernel by moving variants of standard system calls into a userland compatibility layer, and help maintain forwards and backwards compatibility between DragonFly versions. Linux and other Unix-like OS compatibility code is being migrated out similarly.
#### Threading
As support for multiple instruction set architectures complicates symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) support, DragonFly BSD now limits its support to the x86-64 platform. DragonFly originally ran on the x86 architecture, however as of version 4.0 it is no longer supported. Since version 1.10, DragonFly supports 1:1 userland threading (one kernel thread per userland thread), which is regarded as a relatively simple solution that is also easy to maintain. Inherited from FreeBSD, DragonFly also supports multi-threading.
In DragonFly, each CPU has its own thread scheduler. Upon creation, threads are assigned to processors and are never preemptively switched from one processor to another; they are only migrated by the passing of an inter-processor interrupt (IPI) message between the CPUs involved. Inter-processor thread scheduling is also accomplished by sending asynchronous IPI messages. One advantage to this clean compartmentalization of the threading subsystem is that the processors' on-board caches in symmetric multiprocessor systems do not contain duplicated data, allowing for higher performance by giving each processor in the system the ability to use its own cache to store different things to work on.
The LWKT subsystem is being employed to partition work among multiple kernel threads (for example in the networking code there is one thread per protocol per processor), reducing competition by removing the need to share certain resources among various kernel tasks.
#### Shared resources protection
In order to run safely on multiprocessor machines, access to shared resources (like files, data structures) must be serialized so that threads or processes do not attempt to modify the same resource at the same time. In order to prevent multiple threads from accessing or modifying a shared resource simultaneously, DragonFly employs critical sections, and serializing tokens to prevent concurrent access. While both Linux and FreeBSD 5 employ fine-grained mutex models to achieve higher performance on multiprocessor systems, DragonFly does not. Until recently, DragonFly also employed spls, but these were replaced with critical sections.
Much of the system's core, including the LWKT subsystem, the IPI messaging subsystem and the new kernel memory allocator, are lockless, meaning that they work without using mutexes, with each process operating on a single CPU. Critical sections are used to protect against local interrupts, individually for each CPU, guaranteeing that a thread currently being executed will not be preempted.
Serializing tokens are used to prevent concurrent accesses from other CPUs and may be held simultaneously by multiple threads, ensuring that only one of those threads is running at any given time. Blocked or sleeping threads therefore do not prevent other threads from accessing the shared resource unlike a thread that is holding a mutex. Among other things, the use of serializing tokens prevents many of the situations that could result in deadlocks and priority inversions when using mutexes, as well as greatly simplifying the design and implementation of a many-step procedure that would require a resource to be shared among multiple threads. The serializing token code is evolving into something quite similar to the "Read-copy-update" feature now available in Linux. Unlike Linux's current RCU implementation, DragonFly's is being implemented such that only processors competing for the same token are affected rather than all processors in the computer.
DragonFly switched to multiprocessor safe slab allocator, which requires neither mutexes nor blocking operations for memory assignment tasks. It was eventually ported into standard C library in the userland, where it replaced FreeBSD's malloc implementation.
#### Virtual kernel
Since release 1.8 DragonFly has a virtualization mechanism similar to User-mode Linux, allowing a user to run another kernel in the userland. The virtual kernel (vkernel) is run in completely isolated environment with emulated network and storage interfaces, thus simplifying testing kernel subsystems and clustering features.
The vkernel has two important differences from the real kernel: it lacks many routines for dealing with the low-level hardware management and it uses C standard library (libc) functions in place of in-kernel implementations wherever possible. As both real and virtual kernel are compiled from the same code base, this effectively means that platform-dependent routines and re-implementations of libc functions are clearly separated in a source tree.
The vkernel runs on top of hardware abstractions provided by the real kernel. These include the kqueue-based timer, the console (mapped to the virtual terminal where vkernel is executed), the disk image and virtual kernel Ethernet device (VKE), tunneling all packets to the host's tap interface.
### Package management
Third-party software is available on DragonFly as binary packages via `pkgng` or from a native ports collection – DPorts.
DragonFly originally used the FreeBSD Ports collection as its official package management system, but starting with the 1.4 release switched to NetBSD's pkgsrc system, which was perceived as a way of lessening the amount of work needed for third-party software availability. Eventually, maintaining compatibility with `pkgsrc` proved to require more effort than was initially anticipated, so the project created DPorts, an overlay on top of the FreeBSD Ports collection.
### CARP support
The initial implementation of Common Address Redundancy Protocol (commonly referred to as CARP) was finished in March 2007. As of 2011, CARP support is integrated into DragonFly BSD.
### HAMMER file systems
Alongside the Unix File System, which is typically the default file system on BSDs, DragonFly BSD supports the HAMMER and HAMMER2 file systems. HAMMER2 is the default file system as of version 5.2.0.
HAMMER was developed specifically for DragonFly BSD to provide a feature-rich yet better designed analogue of the increasingly popular ZFS. HAMMER supports configurable file system history, snapshots, checksumming, data deduplication and other features typical for file systems of its kind.
HAMMER2, the successor of the HAMMER file system, is now considered stable, used by default, and the focus of further development. Plans for its development were initially shared in 2012. In 2017, Dillon announced that the next DragonFly BSD version (5.0.0) would include a usable, though still experimental, version of HAMMER2, and described features of the design. With the release after 5.0.0, version 5.2.0, HAMMER2 became the new default file system.
### devfs
In 2007 DragonFly BSD received a new device file system (devfs), which dynamically adds and removes device nodes, allows accessing devices by connection paths, recognises drives by serial numbers and removes the need for pre-populated `/dev` file system hierarchy. It was implemented as a Google Summer of Code 2009 project.
### Application snapshots
DragonFly BSD supports Amiga-style resident applications feature: it takes a snapshot of a large, dynamically linked program's virtual memory space after loading, allowing future instances of the program to start much more quickly than it otherwise would have. This replaces the prelinking capability that was being worked on earlier in the project's history, as the resident support is much more efficient. Large programs like those found in KDE Software Compilation with many shared libraries will benefit the most from this support.
## Development and distribution
As with FreeBSD and OpenBSD, the developers of DragonFly BSD are slowly replacing pre-function prototype-style C code with more modern, ANSI equivalents. Similar to other operating systems, DragonFly's version of the GNU Compiler Collection has an enhancement called the Stack-Smashing Protector (ProPolice) enabled by default, providing some additional protection against buffer overflow based attacks. , the kernel is no longer built with this protection by default.
Being a derivative of FreeBSD, DragonFly has inherited an easy-to-use integrated build system that can rebuild the entire base system from source with only a few commands. The DragonFly developers use the Git version control system to manage changes to the DragonFly source code. Unlike its parent FreeBSD, DragonFly has both stable and unstable releases in a single source tree, due to a smaller developer base.
Like the other BSD kernels (and those of most modern operating systems), DragonFly employs a built-in kernel debugger to help the developers find kernel bugs. Furthermore, as of October 2004, a debug kernel, which makes bug reports more useful for tracking down kernel-related problems, is installed by default, at the expense of a relatively small quantity of disk space. When a new kernel is installed, the backup copy of the previous kernel and its modules are stripped of their debugging symbols to further minimize disk space usage.
### Distribution media
The operating system is distributed as a Live CD and Live USB that boots into a complete DragonFly system. It includes the base system and a complete set of manual pages, and may include source code and useful packages in future versions. The advantage of this is that with a single CD users can install the software onto a computer, use a full set of tools to repair a damaged installation, or demonstrate the capabilities of the system without installing it. Daily snapshots are available from the master site for those who want to install the most recent versions of DragonFly without building from source.
Like the other free and open-source BSDs, DragonFly is distributed under the terms of the modern version of the BSD license.
### Release history
## See also
- Comparison of BSD operating systems
- Comparison of open-source operating systems
- Comparison of operating system kernels
- Lumina (desktop environment)
|
27,882,984 |
Tracing in English law
| 1,126,813,636 |
Procedure to identify property taken from a claimant
|
[
"English property law",
"English trusts law",
"Equity (law)",
"Judicial remedies",
"Restitution"
] |
Tracing is a procedure in English law used to identify property (such as money) which has been taken from the claimant involuntarily or which the claimant wishes to recover. It is not in itself a way to recover the property, but rather to identify it so that the courts can decide what remedy to apply. The procedure is used in several situations, broadly demarcated by whether the property has been transferred because of theft, breach of trust, or mistake.
Tracing is divided into two forms, common law tracing and equitable tracing. Common law tracing relies on the claimant having legal ownership of the property, and will fail if the property has been mixed with other property, the legal title has been transferred to the defendant, or the legal title has been transferred by the defendant to any further recipient of the property. Equitable tracing, on the other hand, relies on the claimant having an equitable interest in the property, and can succeed where the property has been mixed with other property.
Defences to tracing are possible, particularly if returning the property would harm an innocent defendant, where the claimant has made false representations that the defendant relied on to his detriment, or where the property has been transferred to an innocent third party without anything given to the defendant in return that the claimant could recover in lieu.
## Definition
Tracing is a process that allows for the recovery of original property (such as land or money) by the owner if it is taken involuntarily, and the owner has not consented to the transfer of title. This can be through theft, breach of trust, or mistake. Tracing also shows any proceeds of sale or property purchased using trust property in the hands of the trustee or third parties. Owners can recover their property and perhaps also any profits made from it, or in situations where the property cannot be recovered (as it has been mixed in with other property, or cannot be found), substitute property. If goods sold commercially have not been paid for and the contract of sale included a retention of title clause, tracing by the seller may be required. The process has two steps, following and tracing. In Foskett v McKeown, Lord Millett defined them by saying that "[Following and tracing] are both exercises in locating assets which may or may be taken to represent an asset belonging to the [claimants] and to which they assert ownership. The process of following and tracing are, however, distinct. Following is the process of following the same asset as it moves from hand to hand. Tracing is the process of identifying a new asset as the substitute for the old". Following, therefore, is simply establishing who the original owner of property is, where that property is, and returning it to the original owner. Tracing arises when the property cannot be returned and the court is asked to recognise an interest in new property, such as whatever the defendant received in exchange for the claimant's original property. Tracing can occur at both the common law and equity. It is not a remedy for breach of trust; tracing is merely the process of identifying the property. It is then up to the courts to decide what will happen to it.
## Tracing in common law
Common law tracing is where the claimant seeks to identify property that belongs to him at common law. This is where physical possession of the property passes, but not legal ownership. The problem with common law tracing is that the property must be identifiable; if it has been mixed with other property, such as money paid into an account with other money from a different source, it cannot be successfully recovered. In FC Jones & Sons v Jones there as no mixing of property (In a bank account or otherwise) with any other property, so the property was reclaimed. It is also essential that the involuntary transfer did not also transfer the legal title, nor any succeeding transfer. If this has happened, the property is also not recoverable under the common law. Someone with an equitable interest in the property but no legal title, as in MCC Proceeds v Lehman Brothers, cannot recover the money under common law. Due to these limitations, "many leading academics and judges" have suggested that common law tracing should be completely merged with equitable tracing.
## Tracing in equity
Equitable tracing is based not on legal ownership but on the claimant's possession of an equitable interest. There are several advantages to equitable tracing; first, it can trace property now mixed with other property. In Boscawen v Bajwa, Millett justified this by saying that "equity's power to charge a mixed fund with the repayment of trust moneys enables the claimant to follow the money, not because it is his, but because it is derived from a fund which is treated as if it were subject to a charge in his favour". A limitation is that where the property has been put into a bank account that no longer contains enough money to repay it, it cannot be traced.
For equitable tracing to be valid, several things must be demonstrated. First, the equitable title must exist; it can be brought into existence by the courts, such as in Constructive trusts. Secondly, there must be some kind of fiduciary relationship between the claimant and the defendant. If the property was transferred through breach of trust, it will not be necessary to establish such a relationship, because it already exists. In addition, property transferred through breach of trust may be traced to any third party (other than a purchaser in good faith), even if they did not previously have a fiduciary relationship with the claimant. Historically, the courts have been willing to be "generous in finding that the necessary fiduciary relationship existed", even going so far as to recognise relationships that did not exist at the time of the transfer.
### Mixture of trust funds with trustee's funds
Equitable tracing's greatest strength is its ability to trace into mixtures of money. Different rules apply in different situations; where the money has been mixed with the money of a trustee, where a trust fund has been mixed with another trust fund (or money belonging to an innocent volunteer), and where money has been transferred by mistake rather than malicious intent. Where the money has been mixed with the money of a trustee, the court's decision depends on the motive of the trustee. Because a trustee is expected to invest trust property and behave honestly, the courts may choose to find that the trustee transferred the money to further the goal of the trust. Since the trustee is assumed to behave honestly, any profits made may be assumed (by this "convenient fiction") to be made by the trust money, and any losses from the trustee's personal funds.
The alternate approach taken is the "beneficiary election" approach. This is that where trust funds are wrongly mixed with the trustee's personal funds, used for an investment, and the money is thus not recoverable, the beneficiaries are allowed to "elect" whether the investment is to be held as a security for the amounts owed to them, or whether to take the unauthorised investment as part of the trust fund. This is considered the exception, rather than the rule; in Foskett v McKeown, Millett said that "The primary rule in regard to a mixed fund, therefore, is that gains and losses are borne by the contributors rateably. The beneficiary's right to elect instead to enforce a lien to obtain repayment is an exception to the primary rule, exercisable where the fund is deficient and the claim is made against the wrongdoer and those claiming through him".
### Innocent parties and mistake
Where funds are mixed with those of another trust, or mixed with the funds of an "innocent volunteer", certain general principles apply. As laid out in Re Diplock, the principle applied is that the claimant's entitlement ranks pari passu to that of the volunteer; each has an equal claim to their funds. Whether the fund decreases or increases in value, each party can claim a percentage equal to their contribution. The problem here comes if the mixed funds are used in unequal chunks to acquire other property. The long-standing rule is that established in Clayton's Case; that the money deposited first is deemed to be spent on the first property purchased. The problem with this is that if the first property becomes less valuable than the second property purchased, the first claimant loses some of their money while the second claimant is able to claim their money in its entirety. The alternate approach is the previously mentioned pari passu idea; whatever the total property is worth, the claimants get a share proportionate to their input, without assuming that the first claimant's money is tied to the first property purchased and the second claimant's money to the second property. In Barlow Clowes International v Vaughan, the Court of Appeal applied a similar set of principles, holding that the size of the contribution and the amount of time the money was part of the mixed fund were the factors to be considered.
Where payments have been made by mistake claimants may or may not be able to recoup their losses. The leading case is Westdeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale v Islington LBC, where Lord Browne-Wilkinson declared that a constructive trust would be created when the recipient of the funds became aware of the mistaken transfer. As such, ignorance of the mistake would not create a fiduciary relationship, therefore not a trust, and the property would be untraceable.
## Loss of the right to trace and defences
The right to trace may be lost if the property cannot be found, or no longer exists. Defences to tracing are possible. The "change of position" defence is where the defendant has received property and giving it back would change his personal circumstances. This was concisely defined by Lord Goff in Lipkin Gorman v Karpnale as "Where an innocent defendant's position is so changed that he will suffer an injustice if called upon to repay or to repay in full, the injustice of requiring him so to repay outweighs the injustice of denying the plaintiff restitution". Such a defence is closely linked with unjust enrichment, and has limitations. Any bad faith on the part of the defendant will invalidate the defence, such as if the recipient of the property has encouraged the payer to transfer it or has received it by mistake and then used it without making enquiries. The defence is also not available to people who act illegally, as in Barros Mattos v MacDaniels Ltd. Activity which constitutes a "change of position" can be broadly defined as taking steps which would not otherwise have been taken, or not taking steps which otherwise would have been taken, as a result of receiving the property.
Another defence is that of "estoppel by representation". This is similar to "change of position", and comes about when the defendant can show that the claimant made some false representation to him, which he acted upon to his detriment. Traditionally, the entire property would be the defendant's if the defence was successful. In National Westminster Bank plc v Somer International, however, the Court of Appeal decided that the defendant was only allowed to retain property equal to his losses due to the claimant's representation. Another defence similar to "change of position" is that of passing on, where the defendant has passed the property on to a third person without any benefit for the defendant; it is thus impossible to trace the property as the defendant has neither the property nor any proceeds from transferring it.
## Barriers to tracing
Tracing can be barred in three types of situations. One is where property is in the hands of a bona fide purchaser for value without notice. This is when someone buys trust property with good faith not knowing that it is trust property, and provides value for it, then it cannot be traced into their hands. Another is where the property has been dissipated or destroyed, for example when money has all been spent on living expenses. Lastly, if the money has been used to improve the land; in that case, it is inequitable to trace, and the beneficiaries cannot assert any property claim. In Re Diplock, a large amount of money was thought to be held on charitable trust. That charitable trust was invalid, but by the time that was established, a lot of money had been given to charities. The Court of Appeal looked at how much of that money could be traced into the hands of the charities that received it as innocent volunteers. It was held that any charity that had used the money that it received to improve their land, the tracing claim failed
Backwards tracing
Backwards tracing applies where the asset was acquired before the breach of trust, and trust money is used to pay off a loan used to buy the asset. It is only allowed if there is 'co-ordination' between the acquisition of the asset and the breach of trust. The trustee must have borrowed the money with the intention, at the time, of using trust money to discharge it. In Federal Republic of Brazil v Durant International Corporation it was held that backwards tracing is not allowed where the trustee uses the money to pay off a loan, and thereby acquires unencumbered title to whatever was bought with the loan. You cannot backwards trace an asset which was acquired before the breach of trust unless there is co-ordination between the acquisition of asset and the breach of trust.
|
25,214,754 |
I See You (Theme from Avatar)
| 1,166,423,509 | null |
[
"2000s ballads",
"2009 songs",
"Avatar (2009 film)",
"Avatar (franchise) music",
"Leona Lewis songs",
"Music videos directed by Jake Nava",
"Pop ballads",
"Science fiction music",
"Songs written by James Horner",
"Songs written for films"
] |
"I See You (Theme from Avatar)" (also referred to as "I See You") is the official theme song recorded by British singer Leona Lewis for the 2009 film Avatar, directed by James Cameron, and its accompanying soundtrack (2009). It was written by James Horner and Kuk Harrell, with production done by Simon Franglen. A pop inspired ballad, the lyrics, which reflect the story line of the film, are about love, emotion and power. The song received multiple comparisons to Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On", which is the official theme song written by Horner for another film directed by Cameron, Titanic (1997). Lewis has performed the song on So You Think You Can Dance and Today, and it was included on the set list of her debut concert tour, The Labyrinth (2010). It peaked at number 47 on the Irish Singles Chart and number 24 on the US Adult Contemporary chart.
## Background
"I See You" was written by James Horner and Kuk Harrell and produced by Simon Franglen as the official theme song to James Cameron's 2009 film, Avatar. It is the second time that Horner and Franglen have collaborated on a theme song for a film directed by Cameron, the first being "My Heart Will Go On", performed by Celine Dion and used for his 1997 film Titanic. In an interview with Rick Edwards for 4Music called Under the Skin of Leona Lewis, Lewis explained how she became involved with Avatar and recording the theme tune. The singer said that she had known about the project for some period of time as she is very interested in film in general, and that she was approached by Cameron to record Avatar's official theme song. She continued to say that she was very excited about seeing the film, even before her involvement with the film came to be. Cameron invited Lewis to listen to what they had in mind for the song, and upon hearing it, she "immediately wanted to be on board." One of the reasons Lewis gave as to why she accepted the proposal was that a lot of her second studio album, Echo (2009), was inspired by various films, and she thought it would be a great opportunity to appear on a soundtrack.
She described being personally shown how the film was being made by Cameron as one of the highlights of being involved with the film. "I See You" plays during the closing credits of the film. Cameron had intended to have "I See You" released as single, as he thought it was capable of matching the success of Dion's "My Heart Will Go On", however Lewis expressed her reluctancy in the choice as she had only released the lead single from Echo, "Happy", the month before.
## Composition and critical reception
"I See You" is a pop ballad, which lasts for a duration of four minutes and 20 seconds. It was composed in the key of A# minor using common time and a slow groove at 72 beats per minute, with a melody based on the main Na'vi leitmotif from the film's score. Lewis' vocal range spans two octaves, from the low note of F<sub>3</sub> to the high note of F<sub>5</sub>, on the song. Ben Child for The Guardian likened the lyrics "I offer my life as a sacrifice and live through your love" to those performed by Dion in "My Heart Will Go On". The lyrics are about encouraging a person to open their eyes and envisage a new and different world, and develop a new way of thinking. According to Lewis, the inspiration behind the song was all of the emotion, love and strength that is displayed by the characters in the film. "I See You" garnered a mixed response from music critics. Brian Linder for IGN praised Horner for asking Lewis to perform "I See You", describing her as a "vocal powerhouse," but was unsure if the song would manage to achieve the same success as Dion's "My Heart Will Go On". J. Hoberman for The Village Voice wrote that the closing credits features Lewis as a "Celine Dion clone singing in Na'vi."
## Accolades
## Promotion
The music video for "I See You" was directed by Jake Nava and premiered on Myspace on 15 December 2009. Nava stated that it was important to him to create a world for Lewis to perform in for the video, which he described as "sexy and modern" but also complementary to the film. He continued to say that it need to be "futuristic" but retain the naturalness of what is featured in Avatar. The inspiration for the ultra-violet forest and the light piercing through the canopies of the trees in the video came from the film itself, which were re-created in a controlled studio environment. Nava went to visit Cameron in his studio to choose clips from the film which would be included intercut with Lewis in the video.
Lewis performed "I See You" for the first time on the season six series finale of So You Think You Can Dance in the United States on 16 December 2009. On 14 January 2010, she performed the song on Today and gave an interview about how she became involved with the project. It was included as the second song on the set list of her debut concert tour, called The Labyrinth (2010). It was later included on the DVD release of the tour, called The Labyrinth Tour: Live from the O2. Lewis performed "I See You" in the second section of the set list, along with "Can't Breathe", "Forgive Me" and "Happy". Lewis wore "an amazing peacock blue ballgown on a sparkling stage." The singer performed "I See You" and "Bleeding Love" at China's 2013 New Year Gala.
## Track listing
Avatar: Music from the Motion Picture
14. "I See You (Theme from Avatar)" [Album only] –
The Labyrinth Tour: Live from the O2
6. "I See You" (Live from the O2) –
Remixes
1. "I See You" (Cosmic Gate Club Mix) –
## Credits and personnel
- Lead vocals - Leona Lewis
- Songwriting – James Horner, Kuk Harrell
- Production – Simon Franglen
- Mixing – Dave Pensado
Credits adapted from The Guardian.
## Charts
In Ireland, "I See You" debuted at number 47 for the week of 15 January 2010. Two weeks later on 28 January 2010, the song re-entered the chart at number 48. In the United States, the song peaked at number 24 on the US Adult Contemporary chart.
|
2,401,884 |
Marsden Rock
| 1,157,157,966 |
Rock formation in Tyne and Wear, United Kingdom
|
[
"Collapsed arches",
"Landforms of Tyne and Wear",
"Metropolitan Borough of South Tyneside",
"Natural arches of England",
"Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Tyne and Wear",
"South Shields",
"Stacks of England",
"Tidal islands of England",
"Water towers in the United Kingdom"
] |
Marsden Rock is a rock in Tyne and Wear, North East England, situated in Marsden, South Shields. It is overlooked by the Marsden Grotto. The rock is a 90 feet (27 m) sea stack of Magnesian Limestone which lies approximately 300 feet (91 m) off the main cliff face. It was formerly known for its naturally-formed arch. The arch collapsed in 1996 following a winter of storms creating two separate stacks. The smaller of the two was demolished in 1997 due to safety concerns. The remaining stack is reachable on foot during low tide but is completely surrounded by water at high tide. The cliffs surrounding Marsden Rock are an important breeding ground for seabirds and colonies can often be seen on top of the rock itself, including kittiwakes, herring gulls, and razorbills.
## Geology
### Creation
During the Carboniferous Period, the Marsden coast was part of a continent and tropical swampland which stretched across the equator. Over time, the peat, sand and mud hardened to form the coal measures and the land drifted north of the equator. This land became a desert and subsequently lay below sea level, flooded around 260 million years ago by the Zechstein Sea which periodically rose and fell. The Permian Magnesian rocks found on Marsden coast were formed around 250 million years ago. The land continued to drift northwards over the next 250 million years until it reached its current position. The ice age which occurred around 15,000 years ago was largely responsible for shaping the current landscape of the Marsden coastline and surrounding area.
### Erosion
The Magnesian Limestone coast along Tyne and Wear is variable; some sections are firm and compact whilst other sections are brittle and easily disintegrated by the sea and weather. Marsden Rock was formed by erosion of less-resistant stone along the joints of the cliffs of Marsden Bay, resulting in an isolated stack of compacted limestone. A channel was carved through the rock by waves which formed a natural arch. By the 1800s, the arch had become large enough for sailing boats to pass through at high tide. Small caves have been carved into the rock overtime which can be observed at low tide. Resistant beds, jutting out from the cliff and covered in vegetation, and promontories have also developed around the rock. The surrounding beach is composed of sand and gravel generated by shoreward drifting of sediment.
Marsden Rock has eroded and had various collapses throughout its history. In 1865, part of the rock gave way and five tons of rock fell through a building below. In early 1996 following a winter of storms, the top of the natural arch collapsed. This caused the rock to split into two separate stacks. The smaller of these two stacks, standing at 33 metres (108 ft), was inspected and deemed unstable and in danger of collapsing. It was demolished by the National Trust in 1997 in the interest of public safety. The remaining stack stands at 90 feet (27 m) high.
In 2018, it was reported that the materials forming the cliffs near Marsden Rock were weak and highly prone to fragmentation, with continued evidence of weathering. In 2020, the Rock itself was reported as "broadly stable", but local collapses of cave formations were still possible.
## Wildlife
The limestone cliffs which surround Marsden Rock are among the most important breeding colonies for seabirds in the north east of England. In the summer, the cliffs by Marsden Rock are home to fulmars, cormorants, kittiwakes, herring gulls, and razorbills. The rock itself is an important habitat for cormorants, which have been there since 1960 but have never been seen to breed. Puffin and guillemot fly past the area regularly and terns feed offshore. In the late autumn, migrant terns, skuas, and gannets can be seen on the rock. Peregrine falcons can occasionally be found in the winter along with Lapland bunting and snow bunting. In 1998, it was reported that Marsden Rock was the site of the only recorded breeding ground for Manx shearwater on the east coast on mainland Britain.
## Historical and cultural significance
Marsden Rock has long been a local tourist attraction and significant landmark due to its appearance and history. It it believed to have once been a location for smuggling brandy and tobacco, the surrounding high cliff-faces providing cover for the moor boats. The rock is also famous for its eccentric inhabitants: Jack the Blaster was a smuggler, poacher and miner who inhabited Marsden Bay in the 18th century with his wife. It was reported that Jack moved to Marsden Bay in 1780 when he was almost 80 years old after refusing to pay rent at his house in Allenheads. A subsequent inhabitant, Peter Allan, was a local eccentric tavern-owner and builder who carved a home out of the rocks in Marsden Bay. In 1828, he moved in with his wife and family. By the late 19th century, the top of Marsden Rock was accessible by ladders and stairs which had been constructed by Peter Allan and his family. The excavations and access to picturesque views attracted the attention of holiday-makers. By 1887, it was reported that thousands of people had scaled the rock thanks to Allan's stairs. In 1903, a choir climbed onto the rock to perform a choral service. A contemporary news report recorded the event as "most inspiring to the listeners as they stood on the high cliffs of the mainland, and heard the great swell of choral praise floating over the wide waters and ascending to heaven."
The significance of Marsden Rock as a local landmark is evident in its various pictorial and artistic depictions. The rock has been featured on many postcards, photographs and paintings of the area. It is pictured on the Marsden Lodge Banner which represents the pitmen who worked in Whitburn Colliery alongside the phrase "Firm as a rock we stand". It has also appeared as a backdrop in the North-East drama Catherine Cookson.
There have been a number of songs and poems written about Marsden Rock. The Legend of Marsden Rock; or the life and adventures of Little Spottee, the hermit of the rock, is a four-part poem and ghost story written by John Young in 1800. A song about Marsden Rock, to the tune of Jockey to the Fair, was sung in the 19th century. John Lodge included a poem entitled Ode the Marsden Rock in his 1842 poetry collection – The Bard, and minor poems – dedicated to Prince Albert. The poem marvels in the physical qualities and surroundings of Marsden Rock.
> > Hail, giant rock! hail, fortress of the deep! Grim fortress of this stern and rock-bound shore, Around thy base a thousand billows sweep, Around thy head a thousand tempests roar, And still thou dost maintain thy sway for evermore.
|
8,703,135 |
Bhakta Prahlada (1967 film)
| 1,149,733,044 |
1967 film by Chitrapu Narayana Rao
|
[
"1960s Telugu-language films",
"1967 films",
"AVM Productions films",
"Films about Hinduism",
"Films about Prahlada",
"Films based on the Bhagavata Purana",
"Films directed by Chitrapu Narayana Rao",
"Films scored by S. Rajeswara Rao",
"Hindu mythological films"
] |
Bhakta Prahlada () is a 1967 Indian Telugu-language Hindu mythological film directed by Chitrapu Narayana Rao based on a script by D. V. Narasa Raju. It stars S. V. Ranga Rao and Anjali Devi. Roja Ramani, in her film debut, plays the title character. Bhakta Prahlada is produced on the AVM Productions banner by A. V. Meiyappan and his sons, M. Murugan, M. Kumaran and M. Saravanan. The film is based on the legend of Prahlada, a character in Bhagavata Purana known for his devotion to the Hindu god Vishnu.
Bhakta Prahlada is the third Telugu film based on Prahlada, after the 1932 and 1942 films of the same name. Unlike the earlier two, which were filmed in black-and-white, this version was shot in Eastman Color Negative film. Its script was completed by May 1965. Since Bhakta Prahlada and Ave Kallu were simultaneously produced by AVM Productions, principal photography and post-production were delayed and lasted for one-and-a-half years.
Bhakta Prahlada, released on 12 January 1967, was a commercial success and completed a hundred-day run in theatres. It received the Nandi Award for Third Best Feature Film. The film was dubbed into Tamil with the same title and into Hindi (as Bhakt Prahlad) that year, with small changes in the cast.
## Plot
The Four Kumaras visit Vaikuntha, the abode of Vishnu. Jaya-Vijaya, the demigod gatekeepers of Vaikuntha, fail to recognise them and deny them entry. The Kumaras curse the pair, saying that they would have to give up divinity, be born and live as mortal beings on Earth. Vishnu fails to remove the curse, and offers two solutions: be Vishnu's devotees in seven human lives, or his enemies in three demonic lives. Jaya-Vijaya cannot bear separation from Vishnu for so long, and choose the latter.
In their first demonic lives, Jaya-Vijaya are born as Hiranyakashipu and Hiranyaksha to the sage Kashyapa and Earth goddess Diti at sunset during an inauspicious time. Hiranyaksha, in an attempt to win over the deities, torments the Earth and its inhabitants. Bhudevi, the Earth goddess, goes to Vaikuntha and seeks Vishnu's help. Vishnu arrives as Varaha, a wild boar-faced avatar, kills Hiranyaksha and saves the Earth. Seeking revenge for his brother's death, Hiranyakashipu prays to Brahma for immortality. He becomes immune to being killed by various factors, including by man or beast.
Indra, king of the deities, tries to kill Hiranyakashipu's wife Leelavathi and her unborn child. The sage Narada intervenes and brings Leelavathi to his hermitage, where she gives birth to a boy named Prahlada. Hiranyakashipu invades Vaikuntha, but cannot find Vishnu. Proclaiming himself king of all the celestial worlds, he returns to Earth. The deities approach Vishnu, who promises to kill Hiranyakashipu at the appropriate time.
Five years later, Prahlada is sent to the hermitage of Chanda-Amarka (the children of Hiranyakashipu's master) for his education. After returning from the hermitage, Hiranyakashipu learns that Prahlada has become a staunch devotee of Vishnu and calls the deity Srihari. Hiranyakashipu explains to Prahlada that Srihari was responsible for Hiranyaksha's death (and is their enemy), and asks him to stop worshipping Srihari. Prahlada politely declines.
Hiranyakashipu then makes several attempts to kill his son, hoping that the fear of death would make Prahlada stop praying to Srihari. Prahlada is starved, and imprisoned in a dark room. When he refuses to relent, Hiranyakashipu orders his soldiers to force elephants to trample Prahlada; when that fails, they throw the boy off a steep cliff. Srihari rescues Prahlada; the soldiers then summon a group of snake charmers and ask them to harm Prahlada with snakes. The boy prays to Srihari, and the snakes become garlands of roses. Shocked, the snake charmers beg Prahlada to bring the snakes back; he prays to Srihari, who restores the snakes. The snake charmers declare Prahlada their leader, further angering Hiranyakashipu.
He then orders his soldiers to tie Prahlada's hands and feet and throw him into the sea. Convinced that the boy is dead, Hiranyakashipu laments killing his son to avenge his brother's death and the fact that the child had more love for Srihari than for him. Prahlada is rescued by Srihari, who sends him back home. Initially happy to see the boy alive, Hiranyakashipu is angry that his son still worships Srihari. Narada confirms to Hiranyakashipu that Srihari is saving Prahlada, adding that he resides in the boy, whose death would defeat him.
In a final attempt, Hiranyakashipu orders Prahlada to drink poisoned milk in front of him. The boy drinks it and survives, making Hiranyakashipu believe that his death has arrived in the form of his son. When Hiranyakashipu asks Prahlada about Srihari's abode, the boy replies that he is omnipresent. Hiranyakashipu then breaks a pillar with his mace, summoning Srihari out of it. Srihari arrives as Narasimha (another avatar of Vishnu with a man's torso and a lion's face), and kills Hiranyakashipu. Narasimha's anger is cooled by Prahlada and the deities, who praise him in song and ask him to re-appear as Srihari. Vishnu appears, crowns Prahlada as king of the demons, and advises him to lead a virtuous life as a ruler.
## Cast
Male cast
- S. V. Ranga Rao as Hiranyakashipu
- M. Balamuralikrishna as Narada
- Relangi as Chanda
- Padmanabham as Amarka
- Haranath as Vishnu
- Dhulipala Seetarama Sastry as Indra
- Ramana Reddy as a snake charmer
- V. Sivaram as Kashyapa
- V. Nagayya as Shukracharya (cameo appearance)
- Vijayakumar as one of the Four Kumaras
- T. S. Balaiah and A. Karunanidhi as Prahlad's mentors (Tamil version)
- Rajendra Nath and Dhumal (Hindi version)
Female cast
- Anjali Devi as Leelavathi
- Jayanthi as Diti
- T. Kanakam as a snake charmer
- Baby Roja Ramani as Prahlada
- L. Vijayalakshmi as a dancer in Hiranyakashipu's court
- Gitanjali as Menaka
- Vijaya Lalitha as Urvashi
- Vennira Aadai Nirmala as Tilottama
- Shanta as Rambha
## Production
### Development
A fan of stories based on children, AVM Productions founder A. V. Meiyappan wanted to produce a film based on the legend of Prahlada (a character in Bhagavata Purana known for his devotion to the Hindu god Vishnu) with his sons M. Kumaran, M. Saravanan and M. Murugan. Encouraged by the success of Naadi Aada Janme (1965), the Telugu remake of his Tamil production Naanum Oru Penn (1963), Meiyappan decided to produce Bhaktha Prahlada in Telugu. According to Kumaran, Meiyappan believed that mythological films were more appreciated by the Telugu audience than they were by the Tamil diaspora.
D. V. Narasa Raju wrote the film's story and screenplay, since Meiyappan wanted a more contemporary and dramatic approach. Unlike the 1932 and 1942 Telugu films of the same name which were filmed in black-and-white, Meiyappan wanted this version to be filmed in colour. Chitrapu Narayana Rao, who directed the 1942 film, approached Meiyappan in May 1965 and asked to direct a film. Meiyappan signed him as director for Bhaktha Prahlada, since Narayana Rao was in financial straits due to the failure of his Krishna Kuchela (1961). S. Rajeswara Rao composed the film's soundtrack and background score. A. Vincent handled the cinematography, R. Vittal edited the film and A. K. Sekhar was its art director.
### Casting
S. V. Ranga Rao and Anjali Devi were cast as the demon king Hiranyakashipu and his wife, Leelavathi (Kayadhu in Bhagavata Purana). The producers held an audition for the role of Prahlada, inviting many children in and around Madras (now Chennai) to AVM Studios. Roja Ramani was cast as Prahlada after a screen test and a song rehearsal in which she held a live snake. She was recommended to Meiyappan by her father Satyam's employer, an editor of the now-defunct magazine Cinema Rangam in Madras. Since Ramani was pale and thin, the producers approached a nutritionist to help her meet the role's requirements.
Singer M. Balamuralikrishna was cast as the sage Narada, making his acting debut in film. When his choice was criticised (because of Balamuralikrishna's height), Meiyappan retorted that the casting was apt since the role would be used for comic effect. Haranath played the role of Vishnu. Relangi and Padmanabham were cast as Prahlada's teachers, Chanda and Amarka. Ramana Reddy and T. Kanakam were signed as snake charmers for a key scene. L. Vijayalakshmi played the royal dancer in Hiranyakashipu's court; Shanta, Vijaya Lalitha, Gitanjali, and Vennira Aadai Nirmala were cast as the apsaras (celestial dancers) Rambha, Urvashi, Menaka and Tilottama, respectively.
### Filming
Bhaktha Prahlada was shot in Eastman Color Negative film, and was AVM's second colour film, after Anbe Vaa (1966). Although the script was completed by May 1965, the principal photography and post-production phases lasted for one-and-a-half years. Meiyappan produced another Telugu film, Ave Kallu (a remake of his 1967 Tamil production Athey Kangal), simultaneously with Bhaktha Prahlada. His sons were more interested in Ave Kallu than Bhaktha Prahlada, uncertain of the latter's commercial viability. When Sekhar showed the set designs to Meiyappan and his sons before building them, they rejected them in favour of Ave Kallu. Filming was delayed, and the cast and crew became impatient and frustrated towards the end of production.
During filming, Ramani was trained by "Rangoon" Ramarao (who played Amarka in the 1942 film) in dialogue diction. In the scene where the snake charmers place a snake on Prahlada's shoulders, a trained wheat-coloured snake was used during rehearsals and a black cobra was chosen for the filming. For the scene where elephants are forced to trample Prahlada, a child stunt artiste from the Great Oriental Circus was initially engaged as Ramani's double. The child was dismissed when Ramani began crying, however, and she performed the scene herself. Balamuralikrishna remembered filming a scene as Narada: "I had to stand on a stool without proper balancing, and I go up (into the "sky") as someone raises it up on a jack. I precariously stand there with a fear that I'd fall off the stool but I should not show it in my face – I should instead sing with a smiling face!"
Narayana Rao was reluctant to direct the film's climactic scene, since he could not forget Hiranyakashipu's death scene in a stage play in where the actor playing Narasimha was emotionally involved. Murugan directed the scene according to Meiyappan's wishes, and a double was engaged for Ranga Rao for the climactic scene. Meiyappan, dissatisfied with the overall result, took close-up shots of Ranga Rao to make the scene look authentic. Gopalakrishnan and K. S. Reddy choreographed the film's dance scenes. According to cinematographer A. Vincent, to achieve the "pillar split effect" in the scene where Narasimha emerges from a pillar and kills Hiranyakashipu "we marked each frame increasing the markings step by step". Vincent described it as the "one-turn work", and the scene was shot with a Mitchell camera. The film's final cut was 5,078 metres (16,660 ft) in length.
## Soundtrack
S. Rajeswara Rao composed the film's soundtrack and background score, assisted by Rajagopal and Krishnan. Bhaktha Prahlada's soundtrack consisted of 23 songs, and poems from Andhra Maha Bhagavatham (the Telugu translation of Bhagavatha Purana by the 15th-century poet Pothana. Samudrala Sr., Samudrala Jr., Kosaraju Raghavaiah, Palagummi Padmaraju, Daasarathi Krishnamacharyulu and Aarudhra wrote the song lyrics. "Varamosage Vanamali" was composed using Bihag raga and sung by Balamuralikrishna. "Kanulaku Veluguvu Neeve" was based on the Mohana and Abheri ragas.
The soundtrack, released by HMV Records, was critically praised. "Jeevamu Neeve Kadha", "Raara Priya Sundara", "Janani Varadayini Trilochani" and "Sirisiri Laali Chinnari Laali" became popular after the film's release. Among the poems, the renditions of "Kaladambodhi" and "Indhugaladu Andhuledanu" were praised by critics.
The Tamil version of the soundtrack has lyrics by Thiruchi Thiyagarajan, Vaali, Ku. Ma. Balasubramaniam, V. Seetharaman and Alangudi Somu.
## Release and reception
Bhaktha Prahlada was released on 12 January 1967. The film was distributed in the Andhra Pradesh, Madras and Nizam regions by Navayuga Films. The first copy was screened for President Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, who praised the performances of its cast (particularly Ramani's). A reviewer writing for Andhra Prabha on 22 January 1967, compared the film with the earlier two films of the same name and opined the 1967 film was a better made version. They stated that in addition to better technology, the stellar performances of Ranga Rao, Anjali and Ramani set it apart. Reviewing the Tamil version, Kalki praised it for the colour sequences, photography and Ramani's performance. Bhaktha Prahlada was a commercial success, completing a 100-day theatrical run. It received the Nandi Award for Third Best Feature Film in 1967.
## Other versions
The film was dubbed into Tamil with the same title and into Hindi as Bhakt Prahlad, with scenes related to Chanda-Amarka re-shot with different actors. A. Karunanidhi and T. S. Balaiah played Chanda-Amarka in the Tamil version, and were replaced by Rajendra Nath and Dumal in the Hindi version. The Tamil version had dialogues by Aaroor Dass, and was distributed by AVM themselves. The Tamil and Hindi versions were released on 24 March and 2 November 1967, respectively. The Kannada version, also entitled Bhakta Prahlada, was released by AVM on 26 March 1974.
|
49,575,695 |
7/27
| 1,166,128,807 |
2016 studio album by Fifth Harmony
|
[
"2016 albums",
"Contemporary R&B albums by American artists",
"Epic Records albums",
"Fifth Harmony albums",
"House music albums by American artists",
"Tropical house albums"
] |
7/27 is the second studio album by American girl group Fifth Harmony, released by Syco Music and Epic Records on May 27, 2016. The record is the follow-up to the group's debut studio album Reflection (2015). Its lyrics discuss themes of female empowerment and love. It features guest appearances by American R&B and hip hop artists Ty Dolla Sign, Fetty Wap and Missy Elliott, and collaborations with producers Jack Antonoff, Kygo and Norwegian duo Stargate. 7/27 is primarily a pop, tropical house and R&B record that includes elements of reggae, funk, electronic dance music, hip hop and trap. Unlike the genres explored on Reflection, 7/27's songs incorporate new genres like tropical house. This is the final Fifth Harmony album to feature Camila Cabello before she left the group in December 2016 to pursue a solo career.
The album debuted at number four on the US Billboard 200, becoming the group's highest-charting album in the US to date, and selling 74,000 equivalent album units. 7/27 earned the group its first top-five entry in the United Kingdom, where it peaked at number three, and a top-five entry in Canada where it peaked at number three. Elsewhere, it peaked in the top fives of sixteen other countries, reaching number one in Spain and Brazil. To further promote the album, Fifth Harmony embarked on its second headlining concert tour, The 7/27 Tour, which visited North and South America, Europe and Asia. 7/27 received generally positive reviews from contemporary music critics.
"Work from Home" featuring Ty Dolla Sign, the album's lead single, was released on February 26, 2016. It peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the group's highest-charting single in the United States and the first top-five entry from an all-female group to chart in ten years since "Buttons" by The Pussycat Dolls. Since its release, the song has charted in the top five of twenty-two countries. The second single, "All in My Head (Flex)" featuring Fetty Wap, charted in the top 25 of the US Billboard Hot 100 and sixteen other countries. Two promotional singles, "The Life" and "Write on Me", were made available before the album's release. The third single from the album, "That's My Girl", was sent to contemporary hit radio on September 27, 2016.
## Background and production
Fifth Harmony's full-length debut album Reflection, which was released in January 2015 through Epic Records and Syco Music, introduced the group into the music industry and gave them credibility and popularity. The tracks "Boss", "Sledgehammer" and "Worth It" were released as singles, the latter being the most successful, reaching number 12 on US Billboard Hot 100 chart. The album was also supported by the group's first headlining concert tour called The Reflection Tour, with various live performances in the North America, Europe and Asia. In 2015, the group was awarded "Group of the Year" at the Billboard Women in Music event.
Due to Fifth Harmony's positive commercial performance and accomplishments that year, Epic Records decided to develop the group's career, managing new recording sessions for its second album in September 2015, for which a release date of December 2015 was announced. The date was abandoned so the group could spend more time recording and organizing material. In conversation with Brennan Carley from Spin, Lauren Jauregui said the album would be released in "early 2016" and they were "putting final touches on it". Epic announced a release date of May 20, 2016, but this was later postponed by one week to May 27 to keep with the theme of 27. The following day, digital music platform iTunes updated the track list with two tracks under the explicit label, making this Fifth Harmony's first release to contain explicit lyrics. Each track was announced hourly through the group's Instagram page on April 28, 2016.
## Recording
In an interview with Billboard on September 21, 2015, Cabello said Fifth Harmony was about to start the recording the album, that they had received some demos and the members were "super excited" about some of them. After finishing the second leg of its summer tour in October 2015, the group entered a studio in Los Angeles to start recording the second project. The group's initial sessions were at Max Martin's writing camp, where they worked with several music producers, including Martin, Lukas Loules, Dr. Luke, Mitch Allan and Jason Evigan. In a studio with Martin, they recorded four to five songs a day to experiment with sounds and vocal techniques. Jauregui said Martin was in "great spirit the whole time", creating a "good vibe for recording". As of November 2015, the group had finished six tracks but these were not included in the final tracklist. Only two songs created at MXM Studios—"That's My Girl" and "The Life", both of which were written by Tinashe and Alexander Kronlund, and produced by Lukas Loules—were included on the final cut.
Searching for a more "soulful" and "emotional" project, the group wanted to focus its energy on songs about heartbreak and romance. Fifth Harmony worked with Tor Erik Hermansen and Mikkel Storleer Eriksen, known collectively as Stargate, who had produced "Worth It". They recorded a considerable number of tracks produced by Stargate at Westlake Recording Studios in Los Angeles, two of which were finished by Norwegian DJ Kygo, who added his characteristic beat to "Squeeze" and "Write on Me". During the sessions at Westlake Studios, the group had more involvement with co-writing "All In My Head (Flex)". Priscilla Renea, Simon Wilcox, Benny Blanco, Julia Michaels, Brian Garcia and Nolan Lambroza were included in the production team that helped structure the album. American singer-songwriter Victoria Monét produced the vocal performances for more than half of the songs in the album.
American producers Ammo and DallasK created the lead single "Work from Home" with Jude Demorest, Alexander Izquierdo, and Brian Lee. The song came to the group after its A&R Joey Arbagey played it during a meeting to discuss the album direction; the members responded positively to the song, mostly for its "laid-back" and "chill" atmosphere that featured "a kind of urban pocket". They immediately recorded the track at Windmark Recording Studios. "Not That Kinda Girl" was written by Aaron Pearce and Jared Cotter. After finishing the track, the group felt it was "incomplete" and suggested the presence of a rapper would fit the production; the group members contacted Missy Elliot, who accepted their invitation to write and record a verse for the song. The production team for the album was The Monsters and the Strangerz ("I Lied"), BloodPop ("Scared of Happy"), Jack Antonoff (who wrote "Dope" with Julia Michaels and Justin Tranter) and Tommy Brown ("No Way").
## Title and artwork
The album's title 7/27 refers to July 27, 2012, the date on which Fifth Harmony was formed on The American X Factor. It was based on the members' identification with the music of the album, which they felt is more mature and personal than their previous release and selected a title to represent their growth as a group. Dinah Jane told Spin; "It's a side of Fifth Harmony that no one's really seen. In the beginning, we were super happy. Our first album was very jumpy. This time, we're showing who Fifth Harmony really is behind closed doors." The album's artwork and promotional pictures were photographed by Sasha Samsonova in a Californian desert; stylist Zoe Costello designed the costumes, the group's hair was styled by Clyde Haygood and Randy Stodghill, and makeup was done by Mylah Morales and Clarissa Luna. Samsonova said; "I love being on an all-girl set as it feels like a little family. When girls come together on set with an urge to create something great, there's nothing that can stop them."
The artwork shows the group on a desert road with a black car against a backdrop of mountains and a blue sky. In an interview with Music Choice, Cabello said the group was "really excited" about the album cover and proud of the visuals on the photoshoot because it represents the members' individuals aesthetics, describing the image as "kind of like a super glam fashion shot" that shows every member's style harmonizing with the others. The album's booklet contains photographs of each member posing in front of a gray t-top car. The title and the cover of the album were unveiled on February 25, 2016, on the group's official Instagram account with the caption; "We know there has been a lot of talk, but we wanted you to hear this from us ... Our new album 7/27 is coming May 20th".
## Composition
### Music and lyrics
In conversation with Billboard, Epic Records' chairman and CEO L.A. Reid said 7/27 reflected the music that was predominating and growing into the mainstream in 2015 and early 2016, describing the album as a "modern" pop project. He affirmed that the group adapted their music to the current sound of radio at the moment, exemplifying the album Purpose (2016) by Justin Bieber and the music of DJs Calvin Harris, Skrillex and Diplo. 7/27's production can be considered more commercially viable than that of Fifth Harmony's previous album Reflection. Representing an extension of the band's musical catalog, much of the album consists of Electronic dance music (EDM) and tropical house, and like Reflection, this album incorporates urban contemporary music genres like R&B, hip hop and trap music. The album also has a funk-inspired track. Gerrick D. Kennedy from Los Angeles Times commented that the group explored more "radio trends on the bulk of the album"; while, The Atlantic's Spencer Kornhaber said the sound on the album was becoming "very familiar to the average radio listener".
Reflection was constructed from a feminist perspective using hip-hop and R&B as a support for its empowered content; 7/27, however, veers into a softer side with mid-tempo ballads driven by acoustic guitar chords and minimalist elements. According to Matt Collar from AllMusic, the album has the same "slick, contemporary R&B sound accented by a confident, feminist-informed attitude" as Reflection. The most tropical songs are crafted using elements from Caribbean music genres such as reggae, dancehall, soca music and ska in its beats and instrumentation. Rolling Stone's writer Christopher R. Weingarten said the beats of the record are "mostly booming or bouncy" and the "swagger is all over the place". The album has 15 tracks; its standard edition has 10 tracks while the deluxe edition has 12.
### Songs and lyrical content
7/27's album opener track "That's My Girl" delivers a message of female empowerment. Its instrumentation includes "brassy horns, heavy bass, and an electronic drumroll". Gerrick D. Kennedy called the song a "horn driven bombast". The second track and lead single "Work from Home" incorporates elements of trap music with tropical beats. The song conveys a sexual tone using "work" as a euphemism for sexual seduction with synthesized hand-claps and heavy bassline. It contains a guest appearance by Ty Dolla \$ign, who complemented the song's lyrical content using several sexual references. "The Life" has been described as a "danceable production, with a tropically-tinged drop building to a purely-pop chorus". According to Peter Meister from Sputnikmusic, it contains "eurodance-inspired beachhead synths that zoom across the bustling bass whilst they're singing of how far they've come". Its lyrics celebrates self-love and lifestyle with Fifth Harmony singing about "getting down on a beach in Dubai".
"Write On Me" is a tropical house song that has a characteristic soft production that blends acoustic guitar chords, pan flute synths, finger-snaps and tambourines. Lyrically, the song uses the human body as a metaphor to tell a lover to write their strengths, flaws and truths, exposing their true selves to the narrator. The fifth track "I Lied" is an upbeat trap song that makes use of heavy kick drums, finger-snaps and a minimalist piano during the pre-chorus and bridge. Lewis Corner of Digital Spy noted that the song "centres around high-pitched squiggles Diplo and Skrillex like to use". "All In My Head (Flex)" features hip hop recording artist Fetty Wap and contains an interpolation of the 1992 song "Flex" recorded by Mad Cobra. Fifth Harmony cowrote the song, which was initially developed by Priscilla Renea, Simon Wilcox, Benny Blanco, Julia Michaels, Brian Garcia and Nolan Lambroza. In contrast to the tropical sound of the album, "All In My Head (Flex)" blends reggae and pop music with elements of trap music. Additional instrumentation on the song includes a plucky guitar, synths and industrialized percussion.
Another tropical house song, "Squeeze" is built on a rousing kickbeat and features the group harmonizing over pulsating piano notes and auto-tuned vocal samples. It has been described as "a breezy, generic foot-stomper". "Gonna Get Better" is a remake of Vybz Kartel's song "Gon' Get Better" that contains a pulsating dancehall beat backed by acoustic guitar, synths and snaps. The song serves as a female representation of Kartel's version in which the protagonist says she will not leave her lover for another person. These interpretations are shown mainly in the chorus; "I won't leave you for a money man/No matter what we go through". According to Spencer Kornhaber of The Atlantic, the lyrics of "Gonna Get Better" find Fifth Harmony singing about sticking with a guy even when he can't pay for nice things". Matt Collar from AllMusic wrote that songs like "Squeeze", "I Lied" and "Write On Me" have a pleasant, mid-tempo, adult contemporary vibe. "Scared of Happy" has an uptempo beat that draws from soca and house genres; Lewis Corner described it as "vibrant house-pop fizz". The track's lyrics express vulnerability; the group sings about being scared of a response to a real love.
The tenth track "Not That Kinda Girl" featuring rapper Missy Elliot is a funk-inspired song with 1980s synths that string together with clinking clapping bass. Its retro sound received comparisons with works by singers Prince and Janet Jackson that have similar aesthetics and throwback "funky" sounds. The lyrics express an empowered feminist attitude and the group asserts they are not "that kind of girls" and warn men not to incorrectly classify them based on their attractiveness. The verses from Elliot support the message; "See, I'm not the kinda girl you can freak on the first date/I'm straight, that's right, I'll make ya wait". The slow jam "Dope" features Jauregui singing "I don't know what else to say but you're pretty fuckin' dope/just so you know" with contradicting emotions, culminating in spacial [sic] harmonies that surround and abide with the pulsating synths. The deluxe edition of the album concludes with "No Way", in which the group sings over a tumbling beat and light electronic effects; the track is downbeat compared with the rest of the album.
## Release and promotion
After announcing the album artwork for 7/27, Fifth Harmony released the lead single "Work from Home", which was performed for the first time at the annual post-Oscars show and broadcast by Live! with Kelly and Michael. Recreating the set of the music video and wearing the same costumes, the group performed the song on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on March 24, 2016. They also promoted the song on several television programs including The Ellen DeGeneres Show and 2016 Billboard Music Awards alongside Ty Dolla Sign on May 22, 2016. Following the event, they debuted "All In My Head (Flex)" during an encore performance on Xfinity.
On May 20, 2016, the group announced its second headlining tour, confirming 33 show dates in North America. To commemorate the album's release, Twitter added an exclusive, original emoji that appeared when users hashtagged "#5H727". The group also hosted an event at which the members gave fans virtual autographs; fans would tweet a photograph of the album using the tag \#SignMe to win a physical copy signed by the members. Fans who pre-ordered copies of the album via FYE received a wristband that gave them access to signing events on May 30, May 31 and June 3 in Los Angeles, San Francisco and London.
Fifth Harmony's second worldwide tour, The 7/27 Tour, started on June 22, 2016, in Lima, Peru; its South American leg visited five cities in Brazil, Argentina and Chile. During the tour, the group appeared on some talk shows and performed "Work from Home" and "All In My Head (Flex)". In July 2016, they visited Tokyo, Japan, to perform at the Line Music Express event following the last show in Brazil. The North American leg began on July 27, 2016, in Manchester, New Hampshire, the date referencing the album's title and the fourth anniversary of the group's formation. On June 21, 2016, the group announced the European leg of the tour with 23 dates starting in Dublin, Ireland, on October 4 and finishing on October 29, 2016, in Antwerp, Belgium. Following Camila Cabello's departure from the group, Fifth Harmony announced a new Asian leg for the tour.
## Singles
The album's lead single, "Work from Home" was released on February 26, 2016, along with the album's pre-order. It was written by Joshua Coleman, Jude Demorest, Dallas Koehlke, Ty Dolla Sign, Alexander Izquierdo and Brian Lee. The song's music video was directed by Director X. It features the vocals of and appearance by American recording artist Ty Dolla Sign. The song debuted at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and reached number 4 in its 13th week, making it the group's highest-charting single in the United States. Internationally, the song peaked within the top fives of thirty-five countries and become the group's highest-charting single in the Netherlands, Germany, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
The second single "All in My Head (Flex)" featuring rapper Fetty Wap was serviced to radio stations on May 31, 2016. The music video was released on June 23, 2016. The song debuted at number 78 on the Billboard Hot 100 and peaked at 24. Since its release, the song charted within the top tens of Hungary and New Zealand, peaking in the top twenty of Australia and reaching the top forties of Canada, Ireland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. In the United States, the single was certified platinum for selling combined sales and streaming of one million equivalent units. It was also certified platinum in Australia and Canada, and silver in the United Kingdom.
The third and final single "That's My Girl" was serviced to contemporary hit radio on September 27, 2016. The song peaked at 73 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified platinum for selling combined sales and streaming of 1,500,000 equivalent units. The music video was released on September 19, 2016. An alternate music video that features scenes from the web series DC Super Hero Girls and the movie DC Super Hero Girls: Hero of the Year was released on September 28, 2016.
### Promotional singles
"The Life" was released as the first promotional single on March 24, 2016. It made its chart debut in the United Kingdom. The song peaked at number one on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart. "Write On Me" was released as the second promotional single on May 5, 2016. A music video for the song was released the following day on the group's Vevo channel and features all five members singing under spotlights while sitting on stools in a black-and-white setting.
## Critical reception
At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 70, which indicates "generally favorable reviews", based on 7 reviews. Matt Collar of AllMusic was positive, calling it a "sophisticated production that finds the all-female outfit nicely transitioning from the brash ingenues who finished third on the second season of The X Factor into reliably mature pop divas". He noted that while 7/27 "isn't quite as loose or as fun as one might hope", Fifth Harmony prove they can balance "youthful swagger with grown-up sophistication". Praising the mature environment, Nolan Feeney of Entertainment Weekly named it "deep, vulnerable, personal--these were some of the quintet's stated goals for 7/27. It's not a bad look by any means."
Maura Johnston of The Boston Globe stated that "the group's power has always come from its Spice Girls-like ability to form a massive unit of self-actualization, and the peppy 7/27 has no shortage of that, both lyrically and musically". According to Lewis Corner of Digital Spy, "while the debut album Reflection was a mixed bag in terms of styles, 7/27 is a cleverly structured collection. The uptempo numbers pop off with confidence, while the slower tracks barely detract from the overall energy of the record. There's sass, there's vulnerability, there's sexiness; it draws upon all the emotions a great pop album craves." Christopher R. Weingarten of Rolling Stone said the album "isn't a massive step forward, but with a constant bombardment of hooks, high energy and incredible harmony there's not much time to catch your breath to compare". While reviewing the album along with Ariana Grande's Dangerous Woman (2016), Spencer Kornhaber of The Atlantic discussed the tendency to portray one gender's goodness and badness as being tied to promiscuity and material desperation present in pop music, and wrote that "Not That Kinda Girl" is a "rare finger-wagging formulation of a viewpoint otherwise contained in affirmations".
In a mixed review, Christoper Bohlsen of Renowned for Sound disliked the tropical house genre on the record, saying this musical style "doesn't suit" Fifth Harmony because they sound "anonymous" singing over "Kygo-styled beats". Despite that, Bohlsen called 7/27 a "solid pop album that manages to stand out from the crowd, with catchy singles, and a sense of confidence that can’t be found anywhere else". Writing for Spin, Brian Josephs referred to "I Lied" as the point where the album "regresses into blandness". He also comments on the way the group faced a "personality crisis" on Reflection that was not resolved in this record. Pitchfork editor Katherine St. Asaph shared similar sentiments, commenting that several songs "suffer from brutally protracted lyrical metaphors that function as near-parodies of pop song form" and that the group establishes neither a "sonic identity, nor a lyrical identity beyond vague empowerment". She notes how the album "dutifully triangulates every trend and radio format of the past couple years" and praised the group for their distribution of vocals.
Billboard ranked "Work From Home" at number 14 on its list of 100 Greatest Girl Group Songs of All Time: Critics' Picks.
## Commercial performance
In the United States, 7/27 debuted at number 4 on the Billboard 200, earning 74,000 equivalent album units (49,000 in traditional album sales) in its first week and becoming the group's highest-charting album to date. As of August 2017, according to Nielsen SoundScan the album had sold over 200,000 copies in the US.
In Europe, 7/27 debuted at number 3 on the United Kingdom's Official Charts Company, marking the group's first top-five debut, and has since been certified Silver by the British Phonographic Industry. The album also reached number one in both Spain and Brazil, becoming the group's first album to top both charts. It spent twenty weeks on the former chart and was certified three times platinum by Pro-Música Brasil. The album charted in the top ten of 13 other countries, including Norway, Portugal, and Sweden. It also entered the top five of Scotland and Ireland. Despite only peaking at number seven on the Dutch charts, it spent 29 weeks on the aforementioned chart.
The album debuted at number 20 in Japan on the Oricon Albums Chart, making it the group's first album to chart in Japan. In other Asian regions, the album entered the Taiwanese Albums chart at number three. So far, according to Billboard, it has accumulated 1.6 million equivalent album units worldwide as of November 2016.
## Track listing
### Sample credits
- "All in My Head (Flex)" contains a portion of the composition "Flex", written by Ewart Brown, Clifton Dillon, Richard Foulks, Herbert Harris, LeRoy Romans, Lowell Dunbar, Brian Thompson and Handel Tucker.
## Personnel
Credits adapted from the liner notes of the Japanese deluxe edition of 7/27.
Locations
- Mixed at Callanwolde Fine Arts Center, Atlanta, California
- Mixed at MixStar Studios, Virginia Beach, Virginia
- Mastered at The Mastering Place, New York City
Personnel
- Ally Brooke – lead vocals, background vocals (all tracks)
- Normani Kordei – lead vocals, background vocals (all tracks)
- Dinah Jane – lead vocals, background vocals (all tracks)
- Lauren Jauregui – lead vocals, background vocals (all tracks)
- Camila Cabello – lead vocals, background vocals (all tracks)
- Ty Dolla Sign – featured artist (track 2)
- Fetty Wap – featured artist (track 6)
- Missy Elliott – featured artist (track 10)
- Lukas "Lulou" Loules – production (tracks 1, 3)
- Alex Purple – production (track 1)
- Ammo – production (track 2)
- DallasK – production (track 2)
- Stargate – production (tracks 3, 6-9)
- Kygo – production (tracks 4, 7)
- The Monsters & Strangerz – production (track 5)
- Oliver "German" Peterhof – production (track 5)
- James "Gladius" Wong – production (track 5)
- Brian Garcia – production (track 6)
- BloodPop – production (track 9)
- Aaron Pearce – production (track 10)
- Jack Antonoff – production (track 11)
- Tommy Brown – production (track 12)
- Emanuel Kiriakou – production (track 13)
- Andrew Goldstein – production (track 13)
- Royal Z – production (track 14)
- Tryna Loules – vocal production (tracks 1, 3)
- Victoria Monét – vocal production (tracks 6, 9, 12)
- Priscilla Renea – vocal production (track 7)
- Tommy Parker – vocal production (track 10)
- Julia Michaels – vocal production (track 11)
- Justin Tranter – vocal production (track 11)
- Tayla Parx – vocal production (track 11)
- Sir Nolan – additional production (track 6)
- Phil Tan – mixing
- Miles Walker – engineer, mixing
- Serban Ghenea – mixing
- Ryan Jumper – assistant engineer, mixing assistant
- John Hanes – mix engineering
- Dave Kutch – mastering
- Anita Marisa Boriboon – art direction, creative director, design
- Sasha Samsonova – photography
## Charts
### Weekly charts
### Year-end charts
## Certifications and sales
|
10,471,629 |
Eu cred
| 1,171,478,732 |
1998 song performed by Mălina Olinescu
|
[
"1998 songs",
"Eurovision songs of 1998",
"Eurovision songs of Romania",
"Romanian songs"
] |
"Eu cred" (English: "I believe") is a song recorded by Romanian singer Mălina Olinescu. It was recorded at the TVR Music Studio in Bucharest, and was released as a CD single in 1998 by Mega Music in Romania. The release also contained "You Live", the English-language version of the song. "Eu cred" was written by Liliana Ștefan, while production was handled by Adrian Romcescu [ro].
The track represented in the Eurovision Song Contest 1998 in Birmingham, United Kingdom after winning the pre-selection show Selecția Națională. In Birmingham, Romania automatically qualified to the final due to their relegation in the previous year and finished in 22nd place with six points. This remains one of Romania's worst results ever in the contest. Commercially, "Eu cred" failed to impact any national chart.
## Background and release
"Eu cred" was written by Liliana Ștefan, while production was handled by Adrian Romcescu. It was recorded by Mălina Olinescu at the TVR Music Studio in Bucharest, Romania, and engineered by Dani Constantin. Olinescu had previously risen to significant fame in Romania after competing in native TV music show Școala Vedetelor [ro] in 1996. A CD single of "Eu cred" was released in 1998 by Mega Music in Romania, containing "You Live", the English-language version of the track, on its B-side. The CD came with a booklet featuring lyrics to both versions. Adrian Ștefănescu was credited for artists and repertoire (A&R) services.
## At Eurovision
On 14 March 1998, the Selecția Națională was held in order to select the Romanian entrant for the Eurovision Song Contest 1998. Subsequently, "Eu cred" was chosen after the votes of four regional jury panels, an expert jury panel and televoting results were combined; Olinescu had come second with the televotes. The Eurovision Song Contest 1998 took place at the Arena Birmingham in Birmingham, United Kingdom and consisted of the final on 9 May 1998. According to the then-Eurovision rules, selected countries were picked to participate in the final, including the host country. In 1998, Romania automatically qualified to the final due to their relegation in the previous year; Olinescu performed in 15th place, preceded by and followed by the . Her show used orchestral accompaniment conducted by maestro Romcescu. Romania eventually came in 22nd position with six points awarded by Israel, which remains one of the country's lowest placements ever in the contest. The Romanian jury awarded its 12 points to the .
### Voting
## Track listing
- Romanian CD single
1. "Eu cred" – 3:03
2. "You Live" – 3:00
## Credits and personnel
Credits adapted from the liner notes of the CD single.
Management
- Published by Mega Music
- Recorded at Studioul muzical al TVR (Bucharest, Romania)
Personnel
- Mălina Olinescu – lead vocals
- Dani Constantin – engineer
- Adrian Romcescu – producer
- Liliana Ștefan – composer
- Adrian Ștefănescu – artists and repertoire (A&R)
## Release history
|
2,928,924 |
Bob Ferguson (infielder)
| 1,171,762,346 |
American baseball player, manager, umpire, and executive (1845–1894)
|
[
"1845 births",
"1894 deaths",
"19th-century baseball players",
"19th-century baseball umpires",
"Baseball coaches from New York (state)",
"Baseball executives",
"Baseball players from Brooklyn",
"Brooklyn Atlantics (NABBP) players",
"Brooklyn Atlantics managers",
"Brooklyn Atlantics players",
"Brooklyn Enterprise players",
"Burials at Cypress Hills Cemetery",
"Chicago White Stockings (original) managers",
"Chicago White Stockings players",
"Hartford Dark Blues players",
"Major League Baseball infielders",
"Major League Baseball player-managers",
"Major League Baseball umpires",
"Minor league baseball managers",
"New York Metropolitans managers",
"New York Mutuals managers",
"New York Mutuals players",
"Philadelphia Quakers managers",
"Philadelphia Quakers players",
"Pittsburgh Alleghenys managers",
"Pittsburgh Alleghenys players",
"Springfield (minor league baseball) players",
"Troy Trojans players"
] |
Robert Vavasour Ferguson (January 31, 1845 – May 3, 1894) was an American infielder, league official, manager and umpire in the early days of baseball, playing both before and after baseball became a professional sport. In addition to playing and managing, he served as president of the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players from 1872 through 1875, the sport's first entirely professional league. His character and unquestioned honesty were highly regarded during a period in baseball history where the game's reputation was badly damaged by gamblers and rowdy behavior by players and fans. However, his bad temper and stubbornness were traits that created trouble for him at times during his career, and caused him to be disliked by many. His nickname, "Death to Flying Things", was derived from his greatness as a defensive player.
## Early career
A native of Brooklyn, Ferguson played for two of New York's earliest semi-professional clubs in the late 1860s and early 1870s, the Atlantics and Mutuals. On June 14, 1870, Ferguson (who played catcher that game) provided the hit that created the tying run and he later scored the winning run in a match against the famous Cincinnati Red Stockings, the first team that was composed entirely of professional players. This win brought to an end the Red Stockings' 81 consecutive game winning streak. He is credited with being the first player to bat from both sides of home plate, known as switch-hitting, but the practice was not popular at first. Among the explanations for this, it is claimed that, due to his personality, players did not want to emulate him. Managers, however, recognized the practice's importance soon after, and began to play their players according to the opposing pitcher that day, known today as platooning, and the advantages that switch-hitting posed would later become accepted strategic baseball philosophy, and many players began to experiment with the idea.
## National Association
In 1871, Ferguson took over the Mutual team as the player-manager. In 33 games, he batted .241, while the team finished with a 16–17 record, which put them in fifth place at the season's end. As manager, Ferguson insisted upon implicit obedience from his men, but was forced to leave following the season due to heavy rumors of gambling surrounding the team. For the 1872 season, Ferguson re-joined his Atlantics team, which was now a member of the National Association as well, and he would stay there through the 1874 season. In 1872, he was elected by the players to be the president of the National Association, an office he held through the 1875 season, the last season of the Association.
On September 1, 1872, Ferguson arranged a benefit game for Al Thake, a 22-year-old left fielder for the Atlantics, who drowned during a fishing trip off Fort Hamilton, in New York Harbor. The old Brooklyn Atlantics and Members of the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings played against each other in the benefit game.
While serving as a substitute umpire during a game between the Baltimore Canaries and Mutuals on July 24, 1873, Ferguson received continuous, loud, verbal abuse from Mutuals catcher Nat Hicks. Ferguson and Hicks got into an altercation at the conclusion of the game, which Ferguson ended by hitting Hicks in the left arm with a bat, breaking his arm in two places. Ferguson required a police escort to leave the playing field, and Hicks refused to press charges and the two reconciled afterwards. During the final season of the Association, he played and managed the Hartford Dark Blues.
## National League
When the Association dissolved, his Hartford team was accepted into the National League for its inaugural season in 1876, and Ferguson became a League Director. As a league official, he was involved in a landmark decision that season. The case involved Jim Devlin, pitcher for the Louisville Grays. Devlin wanted to be released from his contract, claiming that Louisville had failed to fulfill the terms of his contract. Surrounding Devlin were rumors that he took money from gamblers to throw games, known in the day as "hippodroming". Ferguson, along with fellow league directors, ruled in favor of the Grays' Vice-President Charles Chase, and Devlin was ordered to remain with the Grays. The following season, Devlin and three other teammates, SS/2B Bill Craver, OF George Hall and 3B Al Nichols would receive life suspensions for throwing games. Devlin attempted to gain reinstatement for a number of years, but this was never granted.
The Dark Blues had turned to Ferguson to play for and manage the team because of his reputation as the most authoritarian captain in the game. He was an honest and upstanding citizen in a time when not many ballplayers could say the same. However, he was also a domineering, dictatorial captain with a violent streak. Team discipline did improve in his first season, but his overbearing ways proved divisive, causing the team to bicker amongst themselves. Ferguson's temper would flare up often, even when the team was winning. The Chicago Tribune reported that if anyone on the Hartford nine committed an error, "Ferguson [would] swear until everything looks blue." He was particularly rough on second baseman Jack Burdock, who on more than one occasion heard his captain publicly threaten "to ram his fist down Burdock's throat." Some players tolerated his behavior; others, however, refused to comply. Shortstop Tom Carey and center fielder Jack Remsen did not hesitate to yell back, while Burdock and pitcher Candy Cummings, on the other hand, often sulked. The situation in Hartford came to a head after a tough loss to the Red Stockings, a game in which Ferguson had committed several errors. Hartford's main pitcher, Tommy Bond, suggested that Ferguson was "crooked". Ferguson denied the charge, and Bond quickly retracted his statement, claiming that he said it in anger. Bond then requested that he be able to leave the team because he could not play for Ferguson, a request that was granted by league president Morgan Bulkeley, a former owner of the Dark Blues.
Hartford finished third in both of its two seasons in the National League, and when the team folded, Ferguson became the new Chicago White Stockings player-manager. It would be his only season in Chicago. Al Spalding had hired Ferguson to captain his Chicago team because of his reputation, openly saying that he admired Ferguson's style and leadership that made the Hartford teams successful. Ferguson personally had his most successful season as a player that season, as he batted .351, which was third in the league, led the league in on-base percentage, tied for fourth in runs batted in, and ranked fourth in hits. Unfortunately, the White Stockings finished at .500, and in Spalding's memoirs he called Ferguson "tactless" and hopelessly lacking any knowledge "of the subtle science of handling men by strategy rather than by force." Cap Anson would eventually take over that role in 1879.
Ferguson again moved on, this time accepting the player-manager role with the new Troy Trojans team who began their time in the National League in 1879, and would stay in that role until the team folded after the 1882 season. In 1883, he became the first manager in the history of the Philadelphia Phillies franchise, which was known at the time as the Quakers, but was relieved of command when the team won only four of its first 17 games. On August 21 of that season, his Quakers traveled to Providence, Rhode Island to play the Grays. To increase ticket sales, he gave the day's pitching duty to Rhode Island native Art Hagan in hopes that Hagan's appearance would attract more locals to come watch the game. The strategy worked, but Hagen surrendered 28 runs and the Quakers made 20 errors behind him and did not score a run. Financially sound decision as it was, a bad decision for public relations as Ferguson was labeled a sadist for not relieving Hagen.
## American Association
Ferguson's last two managerial positions were in the American Association. He was player-manager for the Pittsburgh Alleghenys, who later became the Pittsburgh Pirates, in 1884 and later took over the managerial role for parts of two seasons with the New York Metropolitans. As manager in baseball for 933 games, his teams won 417 games and lost 516, for a winning percentage of .447, and never finished higher than the third-place finishes his Trojans achieved. The totals reflect his time in the National Association as well as the National League and American Association. Ferguson is just one of two 19th century managers to have managed for sixteen seasons, but he holds the distinction of having the most seasons managed to neither win 1,000 games nor manage for 1,000.
## Umpiring career
Ferguson had, on numerous occasions during his playing and managerial career, served as a substitute umpire, but did not start doing it full-time until after his departure from Philadelphia. In 1888, he became a full-time professional umpire, working in the American Association, and later in the Players' League in 1890. By the end of the 1890 season he had passed Kick Kelly to take over the record for career games as an umpire with 650; John Gaffney surpassed his final total of 786 in 1893. Ferguson officially umpired 804 games if his National Association games are taken into account, and his career came to a close after the 1891 season. On his umpiring philosophy, he once stated "Umpiring always came as easy to me", he said, "as sleeping on a featherbed. Never change a decision, never stop to talk to a man. Make 'em play ball and keep their mouths shut, and never fear but the people will be on your side and you'll be called the king of umpires."
## Post-career
Ferguson died in Brooklyn of apoplexy at the age of 49. Initially buried in the Cemetery of the Evergreens in Brooklyn, he was later reinterred in Cypress Hills Cemetery, also in the borough of Brooklyn. Despite his career that was filled with incidents of turmoil between him and his players and other baseball people, his funeral, which was held at his home, was quickly crowded, as was the front stoop. Eventually, they had to turn people away.
## See also
- List of Major League Baseball player–managers
|
62,533,379 |
Nidin-Bel
| 1,173,856,804 |
Possible King of Babylon from 336 to 335 BC
|
[
"Kings of Babylon",
"Rebellions against the Achaemenid Empire"
] |
Nidin-Bel (Babylonian cuneiform: Nidin-Bêl) might have been a rebel king of Babylon who in the autumn of 336 BC and/or the winter of 336–335 BC attempted to restore Babylonia as an independent kingdom and end the rule of the Persian Achaemenid Empire in the region. The only known surviving reference which points to there being a ruler by this name in Babylon is the Uruk King List, which records rulers of Babylon from the 7th to 3rd centuries BC. In this list, the rule of Darius III (r. 336–330 BC), the last Achaemenid king, is immediately preceded by a fragmentary reference to Nidin-Bel.
Scholars are divided in how the reference is best interpreted. Several researchers do consider it possible that Nidin-Bel was a historical Babylonian rebel, revolting against Darius III in the chaotic aftermath of Artaxerxes IV's (Darius III's predecessor) fall from power and assassination. If he was a real king, the Uruk King List indicates that Nidin-Bel was a regnal name, possibly assumed by the king to honour the preceding Nebuchadnezzar III, a Babylonian rebel who revolted against the Persians in the 6th century BC. Before assuming the regnal name Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar III's original name was Nidintu-Bêl. The lack of references to Nidin-Bel outside of the Uruk King List might be due to his revolt being defeated quickly by Darius III.
Some researchers dispute the existence of a Babylonian rebel in the 4th century BC. It has been suggested that Nidin-Bel was the regnal name of Artaxerxes IV in Babylonia but this seems unlikely as no other Mesopotamian documents refer to Artaxerxes by that name and due to the name being similar to Nidintu-Bêl, the name of a rebel and pretender. It is also possible that the name is a scribal error, intended to refer to Nebuchadnezzar III but misplaced in the chronology of kings by the scribes that made the list. It is possible that another tablet, the Alexander Chronicle, also references Nidin-Bel, but the relevant line of text is badly damaged.
## Background
The Neo-Babylonian Empire, the last great Mesopotamian empire to be ruled by monarchs native to Mesopotamia itself and the final and most spectacular era in Babylonian history, was ended through the conquest of Babylon by the Persian Achaemenid Empire under Cyrus the Great in 539 BC. After its conquest, Babylon would never again rise to become the single capital of an independent kingdom, much less a great empire. The city, owing to its prestigious and ancient history, continued to be an important site, however, with a large population, defensible walls and a functioning local cult for centuries. Though the city did become one of the Achaemenid Empire's capitals (alongside Pasargadae, Ecbatana and Susa), retaining some importance through not being relegated to just a provincial city, the Persian conquest introduced a ruling class which was not absorbed by the native Babylonian culture, instead maintaining their own additional political centers outside of Mesopotamia. Since the new rulers did not rely on Babylon's significance for their continued rule, the city's prestige had been irreversibly diminished.
Throughout the period of Persian rule over Babylonia, the Babylonians came to resent their new overlords. The Persian kings had capitals elsewhere in their empire, rarely partook in Babylon's traditional rituals (meaning that these rituals could not be celebrated in their traditional form since the presence of the king was typically required) and rarely performed their traditional duties to the Babylonian cults through the construction of temples and giving of cultic gifts to the city's gods. As such, the Babylonians might have interpreted them as failing in their duties as kings and thus not having the necessary divine endorsement to be considered true kings of Babylon. In response to this, Babylon revolted several time against Persian rule in an attempt to regain its independence, though known revolts (with the possible exception of Nidin-Bel's revolt) are restricted to the early Persian period. The Persian king Darius I (r. 522–486 BC) faced the rebellions of Nebuchadnezzar III (522 BC) and Nebuchadnezzar IV (521 BC), both of whom claimed to be sons of Nabonidus, Babylon's last independent king. Darius I's son and successor, Xerxes I (r. 486–465 BC), also faced two Babylonian revolts, two contemporary uprisings in 484 BC led by the rebels Bel-shimanni and Shamash-eriba. The revolts against Xerxes in particular led the Persians to incur retribution on the Babylonians. Notably, Xerxes divided the previously large Babylonian satrapy (before accounting for most of the Neo-Babylonian Empire's territory) into smaller sub-units***and enacted some form of targeted revenge on Babylonia's most prominent families, whose preserved archival records all end in 484 BC. According to ancient writers such as the Greek historian Herodotus, Xerxes destroyed Babylon's fortifications and damaged the temples in the city.***
## Historical evidence
In ancient Mesopotamia, king lists were used to recount the sequences of kings and record how long each king ruled. Structure and the level of detail (some lists, for instance, provided genealogical information) varied from list to list and purposes were often not only historiographical, but also political. For instance, Assyrian king lists typically recorded the genealogy of the Assyrian kings in great detail as connection to the royal bloodline granted the Assyrian ruler their legitimacy. Though considerably rarer than during previous periods, there are surviving examples of Mesopotamian king lists written in the centuries after the fall of the Neo-Babylonian Empire. The foremost example of a list in regards to the Persian period is the Uruk King List (IM 65066, also known as King List 5), which records rulers of Babylon from Shamash-shum-ukin (r. 668–648 BC) to the Seleucid king Seleucus II Callinicus (r. 246–225 BC). The tablet containing the list is fragmentary; only recording the first three Persian rulers (Cyrus, Cambyses and Darius I) before breaking off, with surviving fragments not resuming until the line that records Darius III (r. 336–330 BC). Darius III's line is immediately preceded by a damaged line of text which can be read as "[... ša M]U šá-nu-ú <sup>m</sup>Ni-din-<sup>d</sup>E[N]", restored and translated as "[royal name] [whose] second name (is) Nidin-<sup>d</sup>Bêl". The damaged line in the Uruk King List is the only known surviving reference to a king by the name Nidin-Bel.
The tablet BCHP 1 (alternatively BM 36304 or ABC 8, known as the Alexander Chronicle) was written in Babylon during the Hellenistic period (after Alexander the Great's conquest of the Persian Empire) and records events from the reigns of Darius III and Alexander. The tablet is badly damaged, but the fragmentary line 14 (the meaning of which is unclear on account of it being incomplete) ends with "[...]-Bêl, his son, to the office of satrap". Jona Lendering believes that this figure, whose name ended with "-Bêl" might be Nidin-Bel. Names ending in "-Bêl" were not rare in Babylonia, however, with several hundred individuals with the suffix being recorded from the preceding Neo-Babylonian period alone.
## Interpretation and speculation
Darius III's predecessor as Persian ruler was Artaxerxes IV (also known as Arses, r. 338–336 BC). Johannes J.A. van Dijk suggested in 1962 that Nidin-Bêl was the regnal name used by Artaxerxes IV in Babylonia, but this hypothesis cannot be substantiated since no other sources in Akkadian refer to him by that name. Several researchers, including A. Leo Oppenheim, Matthew Stolper and Yazdan Safaee have concluded that Nidin-Bêl being the Babylonian regnal name of Artaxerxes is unlikely. Oppenheim noted that it is made especially unlikely since the name closely resembles Nidintu-Bêl, the original name of the 6th-century anti-Persian Babylonian rebel Nebuchadnezzar III.
If Nidin-Bel was not Artaxerxes IV, it is thus possible that he was a native Babylonian rebel. Oppenheim considered it to be "quite possible" that the line in the Uruk King List was "evidence for another Babylonian usurper of Achaemenian rule whose short reign preceded that of Darius III". A. B. Bosworth, author of a 1988 history of the reign of Alexander the Great, wrote that Nidin-Bel being a Babylonian rebel king revolting against Darius III was a "strong possibility". Stolper noted in that it was possible that Nidin-Bel might have been "an otherwise unrecorded local usurper who claimed power in Babylon during the unstable period of the assassinations that brought Darius III to the throne" but also noted that it was possible that Nidin-Bel was the same person as Nebuchadnezzar III, misplaced in the chronology of kings by later scribes. Amélie Kuhrt wrote in 2007 that there was no evidence to support the existence of Nidin-Bel as a rebel during the reign of Darius III and that a scribal error might be a more likely explanation. The rebels from the reign of Darius I, Nebuchadnezzar III and Nebuchadnezzar IV, are conspicuously absent in the Uruk King List; Kuhrt considered it plausible that the name Nidin-Bêl might thus simply have been associated with the wrong Darius by the scribes who made the list. Safaee did not consider this conclusion satisfactory, noting that the lack of evidence of Nidin-Bel beyond the Uruk King List could be attributed to the unstable political situation at the time and that Darius III might have quickly crushed the rebel soon after consolidating his rule, so that no traces of the revolt were left in other sources.
Artaxerxes IV was assassinated in 336 BC, which caused the empire to undergo a period of chaos. This tumultuous transition of power from Artaxerxes IV to Darius III does leave sufficient room for a short-lived Babylonian revolt and there were more well-recorded contemporary uprisings in the Persian Empire; notably, Egypt was in open revolt under Pharaoh Khabash. Darius III himself was originally the satrap of Armenia, gaining the throne after having been in open revolt against Artaxerxes IV. Nidin-Bel's potential rule of Babylon can be dated by the information in the king list. The king lists accords Darius III a reign of five years, which must refer to 335/334–331/330 BC. As Darius III was in control of the city in 335 BC, Nidin-Bel's revolt and brief rule over Babylon, if historical, must have taken place in the autumn of 336 BC and/or in the subsequent winter of 336/335 BC.
As the text of the king list indicates ("whose second name is..."), Nidin-Bêl appears to have been a assumed regnal name and it may be a corrupted or colloquial form of Nidintu-Bêl. If Nidin-Bel was a real Babylonian rebel, he might have assumed the name in honour of Nebuchadnezzar III's anti-Persian rebellion nearly two hundred years prior. Safaee interpreted the name choice as the rebel indicating that he intended to finish the work of his ancient predecessor in overthrowing Persian rule of Babylonia. If this is the case, Nidin-Bel followed in his predecessor's footsteps through choosing a name with historical significance (the original Nidintu-Bêl having chosen the regnal name Nebuchadnezzar).
|
3,691,344 |
Zoo Station (song)
| 1,153,085,266 |
1991 song by U2
|
[
"1991 songs",
"Song recordings produced by Daniel Lanois",
"Songs about Berlin",
"Songs written by Adam Clayton",
"Songs written by Bono",
"Songs written by Larry Mullen Jr.",
"Songs written by the Edge",
"U2 songs"
] |
"Zoo Station" is a song by Irish rock band U2. It is the opening track from their 1991 album Achtung Baby, a record on which the group reinvented themselves musically by incorporating influences from alternative rock, industrial, and electronic dance music. As the album's opening track, "Zoo Station" introduces the band's new sound, delivering industrial-influenced percussion and several layers of distorted guitars and vocals. Similarly, the lyrics suggest the group's new intents and anticipations. The introduction, featuring an "explosion" of percussion and a descending glissando for a guitar hook, was meant to make the listener think the album was mistakenly not U2's latest record or that their music player was broken.
The song's lyrics were inspired by a surrealistic story about Berlin from World War II that lead vocalist Bono heard, when overnight bombing damaged the zoo and allowed animals to escape and wander around the city's rubble. Bono was also inspired by the city's Berlin Zoologischer Garten railway station and used it as a metaphor for a reuniting Germany. "Zoo Station" was performed as the opening song at every concert on U2's Zoo TV Tour. The song received positive reviews from critics, many of whom analysed the song as a representation of the band's reinvention.
## Writing and recording
Following difficult recording sessions at Hansa Studios in Berlin in late 1990, U2 undertook the second phase of the recording sessions for Achtung Baby in Dublin. They struggled with the song "Lady With the Spinning Head" (later released as a B-side), but three separate tracks, "Zoo Station", "Ultraviolet (Light My Way)" and "The Fly", were derived from it. The band ultimately decided to take "Zoo Station" in a more industrial direction than "Lady With the Spinning Head".
"Zoo Station" came together near the end of the recording sessions when audio engineer Flood was mixing the song and introduced distortion to the drums. The song's direction was largely influenced by the production team of Daniel Lanois, Brian Eno, and Flood. Lead vocalist Bono had been disappointed with his vocals from early recording sessions for the album and told the production team, "Let's just try something that's gonna put me in a completely different place". After they distorted his voice to make it sound as if it were coming from a megaphone, Bono was inspired to sing in a persona, as the effect gave his vocals a different "emotional feel". Flood mixed the final track with the assistance of Shannon Strong. Along with Robbie Adams, Strong also assisted Flood with engineering. Lanois provided additional guitar during recording.
With Achtung Baby, the group sought to recover some of the Dadaist characters and stage antics they had dabbled with in the late 1970s as teenagers. U2 had abandoned these ideas for more literal themes in the 1980s. However, for the new album, the band was interested in no longer making obvious sense. Accordingly, the lyrics for "Zoo Station" were inspired by the surrealism of a story about Berlin during World War II that Bono heard. Animals escaped the city's zoo after it was damaged in overnight bombing, and as a result, rhinoceroses, pelicans and flamingoes wandered around the next morning while people were sifting through the rubble. Bono was also inspired by Berlin Zoologischer Garten railway station, also known as "Zoo station", previously the main railway station in West Berlin. The station was notorious as a haunt for drug dealers, prostitutes and pimps, pick-pockets and transients, particularly prior to German reunification, when it was run by the East German railway. He compared the song to the station, saying "it was written as an opening track, the beasts breaking out of their cages", and was interested in using the zoo as a metaphor and he took further inspiration from the subway station representing Europe at a crossroads.
During recording, Eno created several prototype mixes of the song. The Edge recalled how these different mixes assisted the band in creating the final version of the track. One of these early versions was later released under the title "Bottoms (Watashitachi No Ookina Yume)" as a bonus track on the UK and Japanese promotional releases of the experimental 1995 album Original Soundtracks 1 by Passengers, a side project by U2 and Eno, as well as a B-side on some versions of the "Miss Sarajevo" single. "Bottoms (Watashitachi No Ookina Yume)" is an instrumental track and was described by The Edge as a "crazy" mix. He added "'Bottoms' was done in Japan, and we just built on that mix. Sometimes you can end up with something completely distinctive."
Although "Zoo Station" was not released as a single, it was included on a 12-inch promotional recording to promote U2's Zoo TV Tour in North America, along with studio and remix versions of "Lady with the Spinning Head".
## Composition
As the first track on an album that was a major reinvention for the band, "Zoo Station" was an introduction to U2's new sound. The song features layers of distorted guitar and vocals, and industrial-influenced percussion. Irish rock journalist Bill Graham cites David Bowie's album Low as a major influence on "Zoo Station", which he called a "new brand of glam rock" with "Spartan rhythms and sudden flurries of melody".
The song is played at a tempo of 130 beats per minute in a 4/4 time signature, but only one element of the song's introduction, a marimba-like texture, is played in common time. This sound, which has been compared to that of a clock ticking, was achieved by picking the guitar's D string behind the bridge and the stopbar. On the second half of the third beat, the song's signature guitar riff, a distorted descending glissando, enters. The glissando descends past the octave it begins in by a major second before returning to it. After the second time it is played, an "explosion" of percussion is heard, playing on beat four of every second measure on two occasions. This percussion sound, played by Flood, enters early the third time, being played on beat two. The drums then enter, before stopping and starting again. Much like the song's guitar sounds, the drums' timbre is noticeably different from previous U2 songs as it exhibits a "cold, processed sound, something like beating on a tin can". Amidst layers of various guitar sounds, the bass enters, the part played in the introduction and verses consisting of repeating G and A notes, mimicking the ascending portion of the guitar riff after the glissando overshoots the octave. After the bass begins, the song's regular groove is established. At 0:45, the chord progression changes. Fifteen seconds later, the song returns to the previous chord progression and the introduction ends.
Guitarist The Edge explained that some of the sounds in the introduction that resemble keyboards were actually created by him on guitar. Of the song's introduction, bassist Adam Clayton says, "When people put on the record, we wanted their first reaction to be either 'this record is broken' or 'this can't be the new U2 record, there's been a mistake.' So there is quite a dramatic extended intro where you just don't know what you are listening to." Author Albin Zak, in his book The Poetics of Rock, says of the introduction, "Before any words are sung, the sounds alone alert the listener that the band has moved into new expressive territory."
After the introduction, the song follows a conventional verse-chorus form. The first verse begins one minute into the song, with Bono announcing, "I'm ready, I'm ready for the laughing gas". During the verses, he sings primarily in a medium-to-low range and his vocals are treated with heavy processing, which takes out the bottom of the sound and "emasculate[s]" his voice. The processing also introduces a wavering quality to his vocals. The guitar glissando continues to be played during the verses. The first chorus begins at 1:44, and the music mirrors the change in chord progression from the introduction's last 15 seconds. During the chorus, the bassline becomes more dynamic, playing descending quarter notes of G–F–D–C–D–C–A–G–A, before resuming the previous G and A pattern. Bono's vocals also become more dynamic in the chorus, featuring layers of both "open-throated" singing and monotone lyric recitation, as well as both processed and unprocessed vocals.
Along with introducing the band's new sound, the song opens the album as a statement of intent. Lyrically, new anticipations and appetites are suggested ("I'm ready for what's next"), as is a willingness to throw caution to the wind and take risks ("I'm ready to let go of the steering wheel"). Some of the lyrics, particularly those in the bridge before the final chorus, use the eponymous subway station as a metaphor for time: "Time is a train / Makes the future the past / Leaves you standing in the station / Your face pressed up against the glass". Bono cites the enjoyment of his first child born in 1989 as a major influence on Achtung Baby, as was his wife's second pregnancy during the album's 1991 recording. Bono says babies influenced the lines from the first verse, "I'm ready to say I'm glad to be alive / I'm ready, I'm ready for the push".
## Reception and legacy
Upon the release of Achtung Baby, "Zoo Station" was praised by many critics. Steve Morse of The Boston Globe said the song was one on which "sonic assaults are teamed with dreamily processed vocals that recall Beatles psychedelia". The Orlando Sentinel called it "blistering" and praised the low mixing of Bono's vocals, which allowed The Edge's "new versatility" on guitar to draw more attention. BBC Music enjoyed "The Edge's guitar squall and electronics" creating a "dense sound [that] is irresistible", noting that "Zoo Station" was one track where the strategy "creates moods rather than hummable tunes". Jon Pareles of The New York Times stated that the song "announces a change, starting with a metallic clank, a buzzing guitar slide and a repeated electronic crunch—nothing ethereal". He also noted that Bono's voice was "electronically masked and the band's old style traded for a pushy bassline and a percussive stomp, although U2 can't resist some sweeter interludes".
Rolling Stone was complimentary of The Edge, comparing his style of guitar playing on the song to using a rhythm instrument by "repeating a dark, buzzing phrase that drives the beat". Allmusic reviewed the track favourably, saying "there are layers to Bono's lyrics" and that by the end of the track, the song and the band are "soaring". Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune likened the song's introduction to "trying to out-demolish Ministry" with "grating metal-on-metal percussion and a belching guitar". He commented that the "rude awakening" that the song provides on the album as the opening track could only compare with the "fingernails-on-chalkboard guitar scuzz" of Neil Young's "Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)" from Rust Never Sleeps. The song subsequently appeared as one of seven U2 songs in the 2006 music reference book 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time and the Artists, Stories, and Secrets.
"Zoo Station" is featured in the 2002 British comedy-drama film About a Boy. In one scene, the main character, Will (Hugh Grant), turns up the volume of the song as a "childless effort" to ignore Marcus (Nicholas Hoult), a boy ringing Will's doorbell, prompting Marcus to ring it in unison with the beat of the song.
The song was covered by American industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails on the 2011 cover album AHK-toong BAY-bi Covered.
## Live performances
"Zoo Station" made its live debut on the opening night of the Zoo TV Tour on 29 February 1992 in Lakeland, Florida, and was performed as the opening song at each of the 156 Zoo TV concerts. During performances of "Zoo Station", Bono appeared on-stage silhouetted against a giant screen of blue and white video noise, making his entrance as his leather-clad stage persona "The Fly", often goose-stepping his way onto the stage. The Edge described the visual imagery displayed for the song in the context of Zoo TV's "sensory overload" that was intended as a commentary on mass media: "'Zoo Station' is four minutes of a television that's not tuned in to any station, but giving you interference and 'shash' and almost a TV picture."
"Zoo Station" was not played during the subsequent PopMart and Elevation Tours, but it returned to the group's set lists on the Vertigo Tour. The song was most often performed during the first encore, along with other Achtung Baby/Zoo TV-era songs, as part of a mini-Zoo TV set paying homage to the band's 1990s era. It made its last appearance in November 2006 and was not played live again until the September 24, 2015 concert on the Innocence + Experience Tour. The song returned to the band's setlists during the Experience + Innocence Tour in 2018, and was played nineteen times.
Live performances of the song appear on the video releases Zoo TV: Live from Sydney and Vertigo 2005: Live from Chicago. A live version of "Zoo Station" from the Vertigo Tour also appears as a B-side on the maxi single for "Window in the Skies".
|
27,527,338 |
2011 Heritage Classic
| 1,172,916,313 |
Outdoor National Hockey League game
|
[
"2010s in Calgary",
"2010–11 NHL season",
"Calgary Flames games",
"February 2011 sports events in Canada",
"Ice hockey competitions in Calgary",
"Montreal Canadiens games",
"NHL Heritage Classic"
] |
The 2011 Heritage Classic was a regular season outdoor National Hockey League (NHL) game between the Montreal Canadiens and the Calgary Flames. The game was played at McMahon Stadium in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, on February 20, 2011. The Flames defeated the Canadiens by a score of 4–0 before a crowd of 41,022 spectators. It was just the second time in six NHL outdoor games that the home team won.
It was the second Heritage Classic game, held seven seasons after the original. It was also the first time the NHL held two outdoor games in one season, as it followed the 2011 NHL Winter Classic in Pittsburgh. In spite of criticism that playing two such games in a season would lessen the spectacle, the Heritage Classic eclipsed all previous NHL outdoor games in sponsorship. The game's title sponsor was Tim Hortons.
Calgary goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff was named the game's first star after making 39 saves to record the first shutout in an NHL outdoor game. His teammates Rene Bourque and Alex Tanguay were the second and third stars respectively. Weather conditions were a major story during the game, as the wind chill made the temperature feel like −25 °C (−13 °F) on the ice, and forced the arena staff to manually flood the ice between periods to avoid damaging the ice surface.
The weekend featured numerous other games, which the Flames branded as the "Faceoff in the Foothills." It began on Friday, February 18 with an American Hockey League (AHL) matchup that saw Calgary's top minor league affiliate, the Abbotsford Heat, lose to the Oklahoma City Barons 3–1 at the Scotiabank Saddledome. An alumni game was held on the Saturday between a team composed mostly of players on Calgary's 1989 Stanley Cup-winning team against alumni of the Canadiens. It ended on Family Day Monday when the Regina Pats defeated the Calgary Hitmen in a Western Hockey League (WHL) game at McMahon that set a junior world attendance record of 20,888.
## Second outdoor game
The Heritage Classic was played two months after the 2011 Winter Classic. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman stated the Winter Classic is designed for American television and to promote the game in the United States, but that the league sought to hold another game for its Canadian partners. He said the league delayed on hosting a second outdoor game until it felt it was capable of holding three significant events in a two-month span, including the All-Star Game.
Corporate support for the Heritage Classic exceeded expectations; Chief Operating Officer John Collins announced that the league had gained more sponsorship revenue for Calgary's game than it had the Winter Classic. While the league would not commit to holding a third Heritage Classic, Collins admitted that nearly every team had expressed interest in holding their own game and that title sponsor Tim Hortons had signed a multi-year deal with the league.
The league's decision to play two outdoor games in one season was met with criticism from Scott Burnside of ESPN, who argued the NHL risks diluting the unique nature of the outdoor events. He also argued that the Heritage Classic was the league's attempt to appease Canadian fans and media who were upset that all previous Winter Classics featured only American teams. Commissioner Gary Bettman dismissed both arguments as "absurd," but agreed that the two games are intended for different markets.
## Teams and venue
The Flames lobbied the NHL for the opportunity to host an outdoor game for some time. Team president Ken King said the fans consistently asked for such a game in Calgary, and the team quietly pressed the NHL for several years. They unsuccessfully sought to host a second outdoor game as part of a January 1 doubleheader with the 2010 NHL Winter Classic in Boston.
When the league finally approved Calgary for 2011, the team considered where to host the game. They thought about building temporary stadiums west of the city limits or in Lake Louise and hosting the game at the foot of the Canadian Rockies. The team dismissed the latter idea as impractical, and settled on McMahon Stadium. The usual home of the Calgary Stampeders and the University of Calgary Dinos football teams, McMahon has a standard capacity of 35,650 but additional seating added in the north end zone pushed the capacity for this game over 41,000.
It was the first outdoor game for the Flames in their franchise history but marked the second time the Canadiens participated in an NHL outdoor game. Montreal defeated the Edmonton Oilers in the original Heritage Classic, held in Edmonton in 2003.
The Flames were inundated with complaints from season ticket holders upset by their seat assignments and the cost of tickets. King responded to the concerns by noting that the league had purchased the game from the Flames, and the team was given a limited allotment of seats for its ticket holders. He also noted that it was possible that the event would lose money, even at ticket prices ranging between \$49 and \$249, but that the team brought the Heritage Classic to Calgary because the fans wanted the game to return to Canada. The Pittsburgh Penguins and Buffalo Sabres encountered similar issues allocating tickets for the Winter Classic.
## Uniforms
As with other outdoor games, special jerseys were worn for the event. The Flames' uniform was maroon with burnt yellow stripes and tan pants that were inspired by the uniforms worn by the Calgary Tigers of the 1920s. The Flames wore the uniform to pay homage to the first professional hockey team in the city's history. As members of the Western Canada Hockey League of the 1920s, the Tigers won the league championship in 1924 before losing that year's Stanley Cup Finals to the Canadiens. Montreal wore a classic version of their usual road sweater, the difference was the blue block numbering with the red outline, what the team wore prior to 1997.
The Flames uniform received mixed reviews. Detractors compared the uniform to the outfit Ronald McDonald wears. They proved popular with fans, however; the league revealed a few days before the game that 16,000 Flames jerseys had been sold, compared to about 6,000 Montreal jerseys. Cheaper, unlicensed copies were widely available online and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police worked to stem the sale of counterfeit merchandise that was misrepresented as being authentic.
## Broadcasters
The Heritage Classic was telecast throughout North America. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) aired the game in English on Hockey Night in Canada, while Reseau des sports (RDS) carried the French-language broadcast in Canada. Versus aired the game in the United States. The game was offered on 3D television in both countries: by CBC in Canada as its second 3D game of the season, and on Xfinity 3D in the U.S. The game was the first event broadcast by Comcast's new 3D channel.
Though the game involved two Canadian teams, the NHL hoped that the event would prove a successful draw in the U.S. To that end, the league scheduled the Heritage Classic as the only game in prime time, while NBC debuted its Hockey Day in America with a pair of regional doubleheaders that led into the telecast; throughout NBC's telecast, commercials advised viewers to change to Versus for the Heritage Classic once the American games finished. University of Alberta sports economist Brad Humphreys questioned the league's ambitions, arguing that a game without an American team would not appeal. He stated that the game was being held to placate the Canadian audience, but noted that it was important for the NHL to keep the league's Canadian audience happy.
Nonetheless, the game drew strong ratings on both sides of the border. In Canada, the CBC averaged 2.1 million viewers with a peak of 2.9 million while RDS peaked at 1.6 million. In the United States, Versus averaged 608,000 viewers, and peaked above 700,000. For Versus, it represented the fourth-most watched regular season game in the network's history, and was the highest rated all-Canadian NHL game on an American cable channel since Nielsen began tracking such ratings.
## Entertainment
In spite of the wind chill, fans arrived at McMahon several hours before the game to experience an 88,000 square feet (8,200 m<sup>2</sup>) fan zone, and stood in line ups 100 people deep to buy Heritage Classic merchandise. The crowd maintained a party atmosphere throughout the game, with many fans describing the Classic as a "once in a lifetime show". A cover band provided entertainment out front of McMahon while fans played air hockey, enjoyed free coffee from title sponsor Tim Hortons and tried their hockey skills in interactive booths.
Several musical acts performed throughout the game. Five for Fighting performed his song "Chances" during the opening ceremonies. Canadian indie rock acts Tokyo Police Club and Metric performed during the first and second intermissions, respectively. Country duo Thompson Square performed the American national anthem and Calgary native Paul Brandt performed the Canadian national anthem. The Montreal Canadiens organization was unhappy with Brandt's rendition, filing a complaint with the NHL over the fact that he sang the English version of "O Canada" rather than the bilingual version. The league acknowledged the complaint, but took no action.
## Game play
The cold weather and ice conditions reduced the game to a slower speed than usual, with little physical play. Both teams struggled to deal with bouncing pucks, while arena staff were called out to fix patches of the ice on numerous occasions. Flames' defenceman Steve Staios stated that Calgary's strategy revolved around "keeping it simple and trying to play the game in straight lines". Montreal's James Wisniewski admitted after the game that the Canadiens struggled to adapt to the conditions.
The Flames dominated the first period of play, outshooting Montreal 19–8. Canadiens' goaltender Carey Price made several difficult saves early in the game, stopping a Rene Bourque one-timer from the top of the crease followed immediately by a save on Alex Tanguay, who tried to stuff the rebound into the net. Calgary was given an early two-man advantage after P. K. Subban and Hal Gill both took tripping penalties in the seventh minute of play. The Flames capitalized on the power play, as Tanguay slid a pass in front of the Montreal net that was deflected in by Bourque to give Calgary a 1–0 advantage.
The score remained unchanged until the second period. Montreal held the advantage in play for much of the frame, taking 21 shots on Miikka Kiprusoff. They earned their only power play opportunity of the game midway through the frame when Jay Bouwmeester was penalized for interference. The Flames had the better chances despite being shorthanded; Curtis Glencross was unable to deflect a pass into the net while rushing towards the Montreal goal, but fought to retrieve the puck and sent it back out front of the net, where Anton Babchuk snapped it behind Price to extend Calgary's lead to 2–0. Bourque made the score 3–0 with five minutes left in the period when he cut in front of Price from the left side of the ice and put the puck in before being sent airborne over the fallen goaltender's pads. The goal was the 100th of Bourque's career.
The third period was relatively even. Montreal outshot Calgary 10–7 for the period, and 39–37 for the game. Roman Hamrlik sent the Flames to their fourth power play at 8:58 of the period, and the Flames capitalized a minute later when Jarome Iginla sent a pass over a sprawling Montreal defender to Tanguay, who was standing on top of the crease and tapped the puck into the net. Kiprusoff held Montreal off the scoreboard for the remainder of the game to record his fourth shutout of the season, and the first in the NHL's outdoor history. With the win, the Flames became only the second home team to win an NHL outdoor game, following the Boston Bruins, who won the 2010 Winter Classic at Fenway Park.
### Weather
Calgary's unpredictable weather patterns impacted the game, as long term forecasts that called for relatively warm temperatures failed to materialize. An arctic front descended over the city in the week leading up to the game resulting in overnight temperatures as low as −20 °C (−4 °F), however the forecast called for daytime highs of −6 °C (21 °F) in time for the game's playing. The actual temperature was slightly colder, sitting at −8.6 °C (16.5 °F) at the game's start, but as the sun set and temperatures dropped, it felt as cold as −21 °C (−6 °F) with wind chill factored in. The temperature during the game was only slightly colder than Calgary's averages of 1 °C (34 °F) and −11 °C (12 °F) for the highs and lows.
The changing temperatures forced the ice crews to abandon the use of ice resurfacers for fear of damaging the playing surface. Instead, they manually flooded the ice between periods using a high-pressure hose and shovels. The players admitted that they were challenged by the condition of the ice, but praised the efforts of Dan Craig and his ice crew at quickly fixing areas of the surface that required patching. Flames defenceman Cory Sarich noted that while he had difficulty handling the puck, he was not concerned about the safety of the ice surface.
## Game summary
Number in parenthesis represents the player's total in goals or assists to that point of the season
## Team rosters
Several players on both teams had previously appeared in an outdoor game. For Calgary's David Moss, it was his third appearance outdoors. He previously played in the 2001 Cold War game as a member of the University of Michigan Wolverines, and again at the opening game of the 2010 IIHF World Championship, in which he played for Team USA. Teammate Steve Staios was a member of the Oilers at the first Heritage Classic, when the defenceman led both teams with three points (one goal, two assists). For the Canadiens, Michael Cammalleri was a teammate of Moss at the Cold war game, while defenceman James Wisniewski was a member of the Chicago Blackhawks when they hosted the 2009 NHL Winter Classic at Wrigley Field.
Scratches – Did not play
- Montreal Canadiens: Alexandre Picard, Tom Pyatt
- Calgary Flames: Brendan Mikkelson
Officials
- Referees — Brad Meier, Mike Leggo
- Linesmen — Mike Cvik, Mark Wheler
## "Face-off in the Foothills"
As part of the weekend festivities, the Flames organized several games during the Family Day long weekend that celebrated both the past and future of the Flames organization and of the city's hockey history. The team branded the events as the "Face-off in the Foothills".
### Abbotsford Heat vs. Oklahoma City Barons
The weekend began on Friday, February 18, with an American Hockey League (AHL) game between the Flames' affiliate, the Abbotsford Heat, and the affiliate of the Edmonton Oilers, the Oklahoma City Barons, at the Scotiabank Saddledome. The game, featuring the top prospects for both NHL organizations, drew 8,407 fans to what ended in a 3–1 Barons victory.
The game marked the first return to the Saddledome for Oklahoma City forward Brad Moran. An original member of the Calgary Hitmen in 1995, Moran remains the junior team's all-time leader in numerous categories, including goals, assists and points, and is the only player in Hitmen history to have his jersey retired.
### Alumni game
Led by Jim Peplinski, an alumni game was organized for Saturday, February 19, at McMahon. The game featured 14 members of the Flames' 1989 Stanley Cup championship team, including Lanny McDonald, Al MacInnis, Joel Otto, Theoren Fleury and Joe Nieuwendyk. For Nieuwendyk, at the time the General Manager of the Dallas Stars, the chance to participate in the game was important enough that he chose to overlook the chronic pain in his back when he is on skates. Immensely popular forward Craig Conroy, who retired only a few weeks before the game, also took part for Calgary.
Among the players representing the Canadiens were Mike Keane, Brian Skrudland, Russ Courtnall and Martin Gelinas. The game was played with only two continuous time periods, and was won by the Canadiens, 5–3. Over 10,000 fans turned out for the game on what ended up as the coldest night of the weekend.
### Calgary Hitmen vs. Regina Pats
The weekend ended with a Western Hockey League (WHL) game on February 21 outdoors at McMahon Stadium. The game featured the defending champion Hitmen against the Regina Pats, Canada's oldest major-junior hockey team. The WHL game offered a parallel to the NHL match-up, as the Hitmen are owned by the Flames while the Pats were once an affiliate of the Canadiens. As with the NHL game, the WHL teams wore retro inspired jerseys. The Hitmen wore uniforms similar to those of the city's only Memorial Cup champion, the 1924 Calgary Canadians, while the Pats donned jerseys similar to those they wore in the 1950s. The game was announced as the first outdoor game in WHL history, but the Spokane Chiefs subsequently revealed they would host the Kootenay Ice outdoors on January 15, 2011.
The game was played in much warmer conditions than the Flames-Canadiens game the night previous, as the temperature hovered around the freezing mark. It was a considerably more physical game than the NHL contest, and was won by the Pats, 3–2, on a last-minute goal by Chandler Stephenson. Played before 20,888 fans, the game set new Western and Canadian Hockey League attendance records and set the world record for highest attended junior game.
## See also
- 2010–11 Calgary Flames season
- 2010–11 Montreal Canadiens season
- 2011 NHL Winter Classic
- List of outdoor ice hockey games
- List of ice hockey games with highest attendance
|
8,935,089 |
Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti
| 1,171,285,283 |
Nigerian activist
|
[
"1900 births",
"1978 deaths",
"20th-century Nigerian educators",
"20th-century Nigerian politicians",
"20th-century Nigerian women",
"20th-century Nigerian women politicians",
"20th-century women educators",
"Deaths by defenestration",
"Founders of Nigerian schools and colleges",
"History of Abeokuta",
"History of women in Nigeria",
"Members of the Order of the Niger",
"Nigerian Christian socialists",
"Nigerian feminists",
"Nigerian royalty",
"Nigerian schoolteachers",
"Nigerian suffragists",
"Nigerian women activists",
"Nigerian women educators",
"Nigerian women's rights activists",
"People educated at Abeokuta Grammar School",
"People from colonial Nigeria",
"Politicians from Abeokuta",
"Ransome-Kuti family",
"Recipients of the Lenin Peace Prize",
"Saro people",
"Socialist feminists",
"Violence against women in Nigeria",
"Yoruba royalty",
"Yoruba women activists",
"Yoruba women educators",
"Yoruba women in politics"
] |
Chief Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, MON ( /ˌfʊnmiˈlaɪjoʊ ˈrænsəm ˈkuːti/; born Frances Abigail Olufunmilayo Olufela Folorunso Thomas; 25 October 1900 – 13 April 1978), also known as Funmilayo Aníkúlápó-Kuti and Chief Funmi, was a Nigerian educator, political campaigner, suffragist, and women's rights activist.
Fumilayo Ransome Kuti was born in Abeokuta in what is now in Ogun State, and was the first female student to attend the Abeokuta Grammar School. As a young adult, she worked as a teacher, organizing some of the first preschool classes in the country and arranging literacy classes for lower-income women.
During the 1940s, Ransome-Kuti established the Abeokuta Women’s Union and advocated for women’s rights, demanding better representation of women in local governing bodies and an end to unfair taxes on market women. Described by media as the "Lioness of Lisabi", she led marches and protests of up to 10,000 women, forcing the ruling Alake to temporarily abdicate in 1949. As Ransome-Kuti’s political influence grew, she took part in the Nigerian independence movement, attending conferences and joining overseas delegations to discuss proposed national constitutions. Spearheading the creation of the Nigerian Women’s Union and the Federation of Nigerian Women’s Societies, she advocated for Nigerian women’s right to vote and became a noted member of international peace and women's rights movements.
Ransome-Kuti received the Lenin Peace Prize and was awarded membership in the Order of the Niger for her work. In her later years, she supported her sons' criticism of Nigeria's military governments. She died at the age of 77 after being wounded in a military raid on family property. Ransome-Kuti's children included the musician Fela Kuti (born Olufela Ransome-Kuti), doctor and activist Beko Ransome-Kuti, and health minister Olikoye Ransome-Kuti.
## Early life and education
Frances Abigail Olufunmilayo Olufela Folorunso Thomas was born on 25 October 1900 in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria, which at the time was apart of the Southern Nigeria Protectorate, a Protectorate of the British Empire. She was born to Chief Daniel Olumeyuwa Thomas (1869–1954), a member of the aristocratic Jibolu-Taiwo family, and Lucretia Phyllis Omoyeni Adeosolu (1874–1956). Her father farmed and traded palm produce, and her mother worked as a dressmaker.
Frances' father was born to Ebenezer Sobowale Thomas, who was himself born in Freetown, Sierra Leone, and Abigail Fakemi, who was born in the Yoruba town of Ilesa. Frances' oldest known paternal ancestor was her paternal great-grandmother, Sarah Taiwo (mother of Ebenezer Sobowale Thomas), a Yoruba woman who had been captured by slave traders in the early 19th century before eventually returning home to her family in Abeokuta. Sarah's first husband was Sobowale Thomas. Sarah's descendants through Thomas and her other two husbands - the Jibolu-Taiwos - became some of the first Christians in the area, and had a large influence on the growth of Christianity in Abeokuta.
Frances' mother was born to Isaac Adeosolu, who was from Abeokuta, and Harriet, the daughter of Adeboye, who was from the ancient Yoruba town of Ile-Ife. Her parents married in 1897, and they had two children who died in infancy before Frances was born.
Although it was uncommon at the time for Nigerian families to invest in much education for girls, Frances' parents believed in the importance of education for both boys and girls. She attended Abeokuta Grammar School for her secondary education. The school had initially been open only to male students, but it admitted its first female students in 1914, and Frances was first among the six girls registered for study that year. From 1919 to 1922, she went abroad and attended a finishing school for girls in Cheshire, England, where she learned elocution, music, dressmaking, French, and various domestic skills. It was there that she made the permanent decision to use her shortened Yoruba name, Funmilayo, instead of her Christian name Frances, likely in response to personal experiences of racism in England. Afterwards, she returned to Abeokuta and worked as a teacher.
On 20 January 1925, Funmilayo married Reverend Israel Oludotun Ransome-Kuti, a member of the Ransome-Kuti family. Israel had studied at the Abeokuta Grammar School several years ahead of Funmilayo, and while she was still in school the two had developed a friendship followed by a courtship. Israel found work as a school principal, and he strongly believed in bringing people together and overcoming ethnic and regional divisions. He later became a co-founder of both the Nigeria Union of Teachers and of the Nigerian Union of Students. His marriage with Funmilayo would last 30 years – until Israel's death – and was marked by a sense of equality and deep mutual respect between the couple.
After marriage, Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti had quit her old job as a teacher, but she soon found other projects. In 1928 she established one of the first preschool classes in Nigeria. Around the same time, she started a club for young women of elite families to encourage their "self-improvement", while also organizing classes for illiterate women. Between 1935 and 1936, the couple arranged to purchase a secondhand car and had it shipped to them from England. Ransome-Kuti was the first woman in Abeokuta to drive a car.
Ransome-Kuti and her husband had four children: a daughter named Dolupo (1926) and sons Olikoye "Koye" (1927), Olufela "Fela" (1938), and Bekololari "Beko" (1940).
## Activism
### Abeokuta Women's Union
In 1932, Ransome-Kuti had helped establish the Abeokuta Ladies Club. The club focused on charity work, sewing, catering and adult education classes, and its early members were mostly Christian, Western-educated women from the middle class. By the 1940s, however, the club was moving in a more political direction. Inspired by an illiterate friend who asked her for help learning how to read, Ransome-Kuti began organizing literacy workshops for market women through the club, and she subsequently gained a greater understanding of social and political inequalities faced by many Nigerian women. Writing about the freedoms granted by her own more privileged background, Ransome-Kuti noted that "the true position of Nigerian women had to be judged from the women who carried babies on their backs and farmed from sunrise to sunset ... not women who used tea, sugar, and flour for breakfast". In 1944 she developed a successful campaign to stop local authorities seizing rice from market women under false pretenses.
In 1946 the club was formally renamed the Abeokuta Women's Union (AWU), now open to all women in Abeokuta. The organisation now turned its focus to fighting unfair price controls and taxes imposed on market women, with Ransome-Kuti as the AWU's president. She had founded the union along with Grace Eniola Soyinka (her husband's niece and the mother of Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka), and the AWU gradually grew to represent 20,000 official members, with up to 100,000 additional supporters. In an effort to unify women and avoid class conflict, Ransome-Kuti and other formally educated members spoke Yoruba and wore traditional Yoruba clothing to union meetings and events.
Ransome-Kuti's first well-known political activity came when she led the AWU in a protest against a tax on women. In Abeokuta, alongside regular taxes for income and water usage, market women were also forced to pay a special tax that went directly to market supervisors or "parakoyis". The Alake Ademola II, a local traditional ruler of Abeokuta who now became part of the colonial administration via indirect rule, had imposed taxes on women after the Egba Native Administration had been established in 1914. After a failed appeal to British authorities to remove the current Alake from power and halt the tax, Ransome-Kuti and the AWU began contacting newspapers and circulating petitions. Aiming to put more pressure on authorities, AWU members publicly refused to pay their taxes, staged long vigils outside the Alake's palace, and arranged an audit of the Sole Native Authority System (SNA) finance records. Along with their objective of ending the tax on women, they demanded representation for women on the SNA's executive council.
By late 1947, Abeokuta authorities began forbidding women from organizing parades or demonstrations, denying them the necessary permits. Undeterred, Ransome-Kuti and her fellow organisers declared that they were planning "picnics" and "festivals" instead, drawing up to 10,000 participants to their demonstrations – some of which involved altercations with police. Ransome-Kuti trained women in how to deal with the tear gas canisters sometimes thrown at them, and the AWU used its membership dues to fund legal representation for arrested members. According to one story, when a British district officer shouted at Ransome-Kuti to shut her women up, she responded "You may have been born, but you were not bred! Would you speak to your mother like that?" The West African Pilot described her as the "Lioness of Lisabi".
Tensions between AWU protesters and authorities came to a head in February 1948 when the Alake compared AWU women to "vipers that could not be tamed" and banned Ransome-Kuti from entering the palace for political meetings. Immediately afterwards, AWU members blocked the palace entrance and refused to let the visiting British district officer leave. The incident concluded with a scuffle when Ransome-Kuti grabbed hold of the steering wheel of the district officer's car and refused to let go "until he pried her hand loose". Public sympathy grew in support of the women. Throughout early 1948, AWU members continued to protest the tax, fighting with petitions, press conferences, letters to newspapers, and demonstrations. After more demonstrations in late April of that year, the Alake finally responded to the women's demands, suspending the tax on women and appointing a special committee to look into the AWU's complaints.
In early 1949, the AWU's efforts led to the temporary abdication of the Alake. Newspapers across Nigeria published stories about the event, and Ransome-Kuti's work with the AWU became widely publicised.
### National work
In 1947, the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons party (NCNC) sent a delegation to London, England, to protest a proposed Nigerian constitution. Ransome-Kuti was the sole woman in the delegation. While in London, Ransome-Kuti gave speeches about Nigerian women's issues at the London Women's Parliamentary Committee, the National Federation of Women's Institutes, and other organizations. She also caused a stir after writing an article for the Daily Worker that argued colonial rule had "severely marginalized" Nigerian women both politically and economically. When a Western Provinces conference was held in Nigeria in 1949 to discuss a new national constitution, Ransome-Kuti represented Abeokuta and was once again the only woman involved in the discussions. She made strong arguments for the inclusion of women's enfranchisement and against the creation of an indirect electoral system.
In May 1949, Ransome-Kuti proposed the creation of the Nigerian Women's Union (NWU) in order to better support women's rights and enfranchisement across the country. The AWU supported her proposal, and the organisation subsequently became the Abeokuta branch of the NWU. Over the next several years, Ransome-Kuti travelled widely to help set up NWU branches in towns and cities all over Nigeria. She served as president of both the NWU and her hometown union in Abeokuta. The NWU pursued goals of achieving women's suffrage, dismantling electoral colleges, and supporting a more balanced representation of women in politics.
Ransome-Kuti was a founding member of the NCNC party, and in 1951 she ran as an NCNC candidate for the regional assembly but was unsuccessful, in part because a special tax requirement for voters meant that many of her supporters – particularly women – were disqualified from participating. She acted as treasurer for the NCNC Western Working Committee and later President of the NCNC Women's Organization in the Western Region.
In 1953, Ransome-Kuti organized a conference in Abeokuta to discuss women's suffrage and political representation, and 400 women delegates attended the two-day event. The participants subsequently formed the Federation of Nigerian Women's Societies (FNWS). The FNWS campaigned for women's political inclusion, improved educational opportunities, and the creation of new social services and healthcare.
During the early 1950s, Ransome-Kuti was appointed to the Western House of Chiefs and granted the chieftaincy title of Oloye of the Yoruba people. She was the first woman appointed to the Western House and one of the few women to have a position in any Nigerian House of Chiefs at the time. She also served as a board member for the Nigerian Union of Teachers.
### Travel bans and independence
On 6 April 1955, Israel Ransome-Kuti died from prostate cancer after an extended period of illness. Funmilayo was hit hard by the loss of her husband, having struggled over the past several years with the question of whether to abandon her political work in order to spend more time with him. Over the next two decades, alongside her political work, Ransome-Kuti began investing time and money to establish new schools throughout Abeokuta – a project that arose from the deep belief in the importance of education and literacy that both she and her husband had shared.
Ransome-Kuti continued to travel widely. On the African continent, she developed strong ties with Algerian, Egyptian, and Ghanaian women's organisations, and her visits further abroad included trips to England, China, the Soviet Union, Switzerland, Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Poland.
On a visit to China in 1956, Ransome-Kuti gave public lectures on Nigerian women and culture and met Mao Zedong. Ransome-Kuti believed in a number of socialist ideals, defining herself as an "African Socialist"; although she did not consider herself a communist, she was "not frightened or repelled by communism either". Because she had visited China with the financial assistance of the Women's International Democratic Federation (WIDF), however, Ransome-Kuti attracted the attention of British authorities who feared the WIDF had recruited her to spread communist ideologies. Her passport renewal was denied the following year. In 1958, when Ransome-Kuti was invited to attend a women's rights conference in the United States, she was denied an American visa because authorities felt "she had too many Communist connections". Although Ransome-Kuti received support from high-profile friends and wrote letters of protest to government officials, even holding a press conference to declare that she was not a communist, her protests were ignored. It was not until Nigeria became independent in 1960 that Ransome-Kuti's passport was renewed.
In 1959, when Ransome-Kuti was denied a second chance to run as an NCNC candidate, she ran as an independent candidate instead, but her campaign split the vote and helped an opponent of the NCNC win the seat. Afterwards, the party revoked Ransome-Kuti's membership. She went on to found a political party, the Commoners' People's Party, but the party failed to gain momentum, dissolving after only a year. Around this time, Ransome-Kuti's political rivals created the National Council of Women's Societies in an attempt to replace the FNWS.
After independence in 1960, Nigeria introduced universal adult suffrage for both men and women through its new constitution. The Northern Region of Nigeria, which was a primarily Muslim region, did not immediately implement voting rights for women (although women's suffrage in the region was later granted by military decree in 1976).
Nigeria's early years of independence became mired in political disagreements between leaders and representatives. When a 1966 military coup brought a change of power, Ransome-Kuti felt that this was a positive and necessary step forward for the country, but she condemned the violence that followed after the counter-coup that same year. She was actively involved with the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), being president for the organization's Nigerian branch since 1963.
In 1965, Ransome-Kuti received the national honour of membership in the Order of the Niger. The University of Ibadan bestowed an honorary doctorate of laws upon her in 1968, and she received the Lenin Peace Prize in 1970.
In 1969, Ransome-Kuti was appointed chairman of the Advisory Board of Education by the western Nigeria state government, and she served as a consultant to the Federal Ministry of Education on recruitment of teachers from other countries.
Inspired by her son Fela, who had altered his surname to reflect a discarding of colonial European influences, Ransome-Kuti informally changed her surname to "Anikulapo-Kuti" during the early 1970s. The name "Anikulapo" is a Yoruba word and can be translated to mean "hunter who carries death in a pouch" or "warrior who carries strong protection".
## Death
In the later years of Anikulapo-Kuti's life, her son Fela, a musician and activist, became known for his vocal criticisms of Nigerian military governments. Fela had been arrested and briefly imprisoned during the early 1970s, and authorities had raided his home and properties several times. To show his disdain for the Federation of Nigeria's authority, he named his home property "the Kalakuta Republic" and transformed it into a commune where friends and supporters could gather and spend time without fear of the military authorities. In November 1974, Nigerian police raided his nightclub in town with axes and tear gas, leaving Fela with injuries. In 1976, Fela released an album called Zombie, in which he compared the army to mindless machines, and many believe that this album acted as a final straw in the conflict between Fela and the government.
Anikulapo-Kuti often visited her son at his compound, and she was there on 18 February 1977 when close to 1,000 armed soldiers surrounded and stormed the property. As soon as the soldiers broke inside they began destroying property and assaulting the residents. Fela and Bekolari were beaten and severely injured. Anikulapo-Kuti was thrown from a second-floor window. Following the attack, she was hospitalized and eventually lapsed into a coma. She died on 13 April 1978 as a result of her injuries.
Anikulapo-Kuti's remains were interred in Abeokuta in the same vault as her husband. Her funeral services were attended by thousands, and many market women and traders shut down shops and markets across the city to mark her death. Major Nigerian news outlets published eulogies, naming the activist "a progressive revolutionary" and "a Pan-African visionary".
On the one-year anniversary of Anikulapo-Kuti's death, Fela took a coffin and travelled nearly 20 kilometres to Dodan Barracks in Lagos (then Nigeria's Supreme Military Headquarters), leaving the coffin at the gate in an attempt to shame the government. The invasion, her death, and the movement of the coffin is detailed in his song "Coffin for Head of State".
## Legacy
Biographer Cheryl Johnson-Odim notes that Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti's name remains well known throughout Nigeria and that "no other Nigerian woman of her time ranked as such a national figure or had [such] international exposure and connections". Nigerian activist Hajiya Gambo and politician Margaret Ekpo both named Ransome-Kuti as a strong influence on their work, and Nigerian-British feminist writer Amina Mama has cited Ransome-Kuti's activism as having shaped her personal beliefs and perspectives. Ghanaian politician Kwame Nkrumah (later the first Prime Minister of Ghana) was heavily inspired by Ransome-Kuti in his early organizing of the Ghana Women's Association.
In 2012, the Nigerian government proposed the inclusion of Ransome-Kuti's image on the new N5000 currency note. In August of that year, Ransome-Kuti's grandson, musician Seun Kuti, stated to media that he found the proposal "ludicrous to say the least", in light of the government's role in his grandmother's death. Kuti said that his family had never received an apology for the assault on their compound, with official government statements declaring that Ransome-Kuti had been attacked by "1000 unknown soldiers".
Ransome-Kuti was portrayed in the 2014 film October 1 by actress Deola Sagoe. On 25 October 2019, Ransome-Kuti was posthumously honored with a Google Doodle created by Nigerian-Italian illustrator Diana Ejaita.
## See also
- List of suffragists and suffragettes
|
32,545,505 |
Bill Cosby in advertising
| 1,153,191,871 |
None
|
[
"Advertising in the United States",
"Bill Cosby",
"Television advertising"
] |
American comedian and actor Bill Cosby was a popular spokesperson for advertising from the 1960s – before his first starring television role – until the early 2000s. He started with White Owl cigars, and later endorsed the Jell-O frosty ice pop treats Pudding Pop, gelatin, Del Monte, Ford Motor Company, Coca-Cola (including New Coke), American Red Cross, Texas Instruments, E. F. Hutton & Co., Kodak, and the 1990 United States Census. As of 2002, Cosby held the record for being the longest-serving celebrity spokesperson for a product, through his work with Jell-O. In 2011, he won the President's Award for Contributions to Advertising from the Advertising Hall of Fame.
Cosby was one of the first black people to appear in the United States as an advertising spokesperson. He was known for his appeal to white consumers in the second half of the 20th century, in an industry seen as slow to accept diversity. In spite of making contradictory soft drink pitches and endorsing a disgraced financial company, he continued to be considered effective and believable. In the 1980s, studies found Cosby the "most familiar" and "most persuasive" spokesperson, to the point where Cosby attributed his wealth to these contracts, as opposed to his television series.
## Personality
Anthony Tortorici, director of public relations at Coca-Cola, told Black Enterprise magazine in 1981 that the "three most believable personalities are God, Walter Cronkite, and Bill Cosby." At the peak of his advertising career in the mid-1980s, Cosby had a Q Score of 70, meaning that 70 percent of those responding to a survey of 1,000 United States residents thought highly of him, thus deeming him the most familiar and persuasive endorser. In 2003, industry publication Advertising Age said that "during [Cosby's] 14-year reign over the ad industry's public approval index [he had only been surpassed by] the Pope. In 2012, the separate Celebrity DBI index listed Cosby as second most-trusted celebrity on a list of celebrities people pay attention to on television, behind Morgan Freeman.
Professionally, Coca-Cola advertising director John Bergin considered Cosby the company's "greatest weapon", stating that "magic happens when the camera starts." Bergin also noted, however, that he found Cosby to be "inconceivably arrogant", and mentioned "blow-ups" on the set.
Cosby biographer Linda Etkin said that Cosby "comes across as a father figure, a teacher, and a friend" in his advertisements. William Turner, in 1982 the marketing manager for Texas Instruments' consumer products group, said that Cosby "represents comfort, and people trust him". In 2014, one educator asked for comment said he remembered Cosby as a "black male authority figure, one of those people who folks that don't live on the edges of the country think of as a good black guy; they trust that guy". In 1988, a representative for Kodak said Cosby had become "synonymous with quality products and quality services". Ebony agreed, saying Cosby has the advantage of being able to be selective. Cosby said his belief in their product is an attribute, stating, "if I presented a Bill Cosby who didn't care, their sales would stop right there on the screen. Obviously, I could never do that. Once I believe in the product I aim to sell it, and that's what I think I do better than anybody".
An article in Black Enterprise said part of Cosby's mystique is "that he can endorse a number of products and still retain credibility in each individual sell". Shortly after being signed by Coca-Cola, Cosby appeared at a bottlers' convention. He refused to drink the bottle of Coke he carried on stage, saying, "I'm waiting for all the Jell-O pudding I ate to settle". Cosby said that in childhood, he experienced "periods of addiction" to Coca-Cola, consuming fifteen bottles by 2 pm.
## Career in advertising
### 1960s
The American advertising industry was initially reluctant to use black spokespeople for fear of angering white customers. The Nat King Cole Show (1956-1957), the first nationally syndicated U.S. television series to be hosted by an African American, never found a national sponsor; after its cancellation Cole said, "Madison Avenue is afraid of the dark".
Cosby's first advertisement was for White Owl cigars. His agent approached them in 1965, before the debut of I Spy, but after several appearances on the late-night talk program The Tonight Show, a signifier of success in American comedy. He told agent Norman Brokaw of William Morris Agency that he liked their tagline, "We're going to get you." Cosby later said there were no commercials "with a black person holding something, buying a product, so the absence of pictures, in retrospect, said a lot". Despite the stigma among advertisers around using a black spokesperson, sales of the product rose. According to an entry in Ad Age Encyclopedia, the public acceptance of Cosby and Robert Culp appearing as equals on I Spy made it possible for advertisers to show black people and white people together in their commercials.
The Bill Cosby Radio Program, which debuted in 1968, was sponsored by The Coca-Cola Company. The series was syndicated to over 200 radio stations by McCann Erickson, Coca-Cola's advertising agency.
### 1970s
In 1974, Cosby began promoting Jell-O pudding for General Foods. Cosby said comedian Jack Benny, whose program the brand sponsored, was the only previous spokesman for Jell-O, but Kate Smith, Lucille Ball, and Andy Griffith have also pitched the brand. In previous campaigns since the brand's launch in 1902, it was targeted towards parents rather than to children, a practice from which the company departed in 2001. Cosby's early commercials were created at the Young & Rubicam advertising agency by Curvin O'Reilly. Cosby's Jell-O Pudding commercials were not permitted to be used in child directed television because celebrity endorsements were prohibited in advertising to children. Sales immediately responded to the Cosby advertising with growth after what had been a long decline.
Del Monte signed Cosby to narrate a series of commercials, in 1974, aired in 76 markets. A spokesperson for the company commented that Cosby "can communicate with kids as well as adults, one of those rare performers who can (do that) on both levels."
Cosby began appearing in ads for Ford Motor Company. To choose him, the company had 600 members of the public look at photos of possible spokespeople. They gauged recognition, "sincerity ascribed to the star," and feelings about the presenters. Ford worried about the reaction to Cosby by white customers in southern states, but he was approved of by residents of the two cities polled. Once the commercials were filmed or designed, they were tested on audiences, before airing on television and in print. At least two of the 1977 commercials were filmed at the Lima Engine Plant. One ad in the campaign saw Cosby's narration note that "the camshaft makes the valves open and close... exactly when they're supposed to." Another claimed that the engines were "tough," or "it don't get to go into a Ford car." The Federal Trade Commission decided these ads, and others, were "patently untrue," citing nearly 2 million defective cars made over five years, due to a premature wear in the engines and improper lubrication of the camshaft.
In 1979, General Foods introduced Pudding Pops, the company's first frozen dessert product. With Cosby as spokesperson, it sold US\$100 million its first year. After introducing Gelatin Pops and frozen Fruit Bars, the company's frozen desserts sales reached \$300 million. Cosby was engaged to promote the flagging Jell-O gelatin product line in the mid-1980s, when General Foods introduced a holdable Jell-O product called "Jigglers". Sales increased seven percent during the first year of the promotion.
Cosby appeared in commercials for Coca-Cola's 1979 campaign, "Have a Coke and a Smile," and made a guest appearance at the Great Get-Together, a major bottlers' convention held that year. This campaign continued into 1981.
His work in this decade was well received. Advertising Age named Cosby the top advertising personality of 1978. In 1999, Advertising Age magazine named Cosby's 1975 Jell-O commercials, which they called "Bill Cosby with kids", the 92nd best advertising campaign of all time.
In 1979, Cosby began appearing in a series of print ads for the American Red Cross, promoting blood donation. They ran until at least 1986. In 1980, Cosby also appeared in an ad for CPR training.
### 1980s
Black Enterprise magazine found that Cosby was one of only a very few African Americans who could command among the highest fees paid for advertising spokespeople. The 1981 feature also highlighted how rare it was for African Americans to be hired for a complete campaign, as opposed to a single advertisement, despite an overall increase in opportunities. Cosby's agents told the magazine he had earned at least \$3 million in current advertising contracts – about one-fifth of his income – the rest of which he earned from live performances.
Cosby returned as Coca-Cola's spokesperson in its 1982 "Coke Is It" campaign, a series of commercials mocking the Pepsi Challenge. One advertisement in this series showed a Pepsi vending machine to mock the brand, which author Mark Pendergrast called "unthinkable". Another said Pepsi Challenge commercials were misleading because they never showed anyone choosing Coke. John Bergin, who directed the series of commercials, personally disliked Cosby but said his presence in Coca-Cola advertising ended the first Pepsi Challenge campaign in 1983.
In mid-1982, Cosby was hired by Texas Instruments to appear in television advertisements for the company's TI-99/4A home computer. He was to be paid \$1 million a year for the campaign.
`The company touted Cosby's education and rapport with adults and children. The campaign was aimed at parents, rather than children, as was the campaign for the Commodore 64. Cosby was the face of a mystery rebate program, offering reimbursements of between $3 and $1,000; one Boston Globe writer dubbed it "the Bill Cosby rebate model." J. Fred Bucy, who was head of Texas Instruments' home computer operation in 1983, scrapped Cosby's advertisements to focus on the product's educational value. Radio Shack vice-president of marketing David Beckerman said, "A celebrity draws attention to the product. Even if we had President Reagan on our ads, we wouldn't sell any more computers. A product sells itself. A celebrity causes indirect sales." Cosby, along with entrepreneur James Bruce Llewellyn, bought stock in a Philadelphia Coca-Cola bottler in 1983 as part of the company's push to increase African American participation in the company. This was, in part, a response to pressure by Jesse Jackson's PUSH campaign.`
At the height of the Cola Wars, marketer Sergio Zyman persuaded Coca-Cola executives to create and air commercials with Cosby praising Coke for being less sweet than Pepsi, which was aired only in areas where sales of Pepsi were dominant. One commercial from the series features Cosby "rubberfacing an icky frown" and describing Pepsi as "gooey". These advertisements were broadcast from October 1984; Coca-Cola's independently owned bottlers demanded the commercials were run in their markets as well. Zyman said despite the upcoming contradiction, the ads were the first boost to Coke's image in years. Coca-Cola was simultaneously testing possible new variations of its soft drink and decided it would sell more product if it used a sweeter formula. Once New Coke was launched, Pepsi prepared its public response to the change; among its talking points for journalists writing about New Coke was to "Ask them about those Bill Cosby ads". One of a new series of Coke advertisements showed Cosby dressed in a toga; this campaign was described as unconvincing. Coca-Cola faced a widespread public backlash, internal dissent, and ultimately the original drink recipe returned as "Coca-Cola Classic". In the days following the reversal, an editorial cartoon featured Cosby pouring a can of Pepsi into a can of Coke. Marcio Moreira, a McCann Erickson creative executive behind the New Coke introduction, said in 2011 that the decision to hire Cosby was not made until other commercials were being edited.
The Cosby Show debuted in 1984, becoming "TV's biggest hit in the 1980s" and reviving both the sitcom genre and NBC. Before the series premiere, Cosby told reporters his income from commercials for Coke and Ford, as well as his Las Vegas shows, had made him financially secure. At some point before 1985, Cosby featured in advertisements for Bird's Eye frozen foods.
In 1986, Cosby's only contract was with Jell-O, but by the end of the year he had added two more endorsements. By August, Cosby began promoting E. F. Hutton & Co. with a series of print and television advertisements, and comedy concerts. The company had been accused of fraud and needed a spokesperson who was well-liked. Soon after Cosby's commercials aired, the company merged with Morgan Stanley Smith Barney. In late December, he added J. Walter Thompson agency account Kodak Colorwatch System photographic processing system to his list. The estimated \$10 million contract included commercials featuring Cosby to run in print, on television, as point of sale, and in promotional programs.
Coca-Cola purchased Columbia Pictures in 1982. In 1987, Columbia decided revenues from its spy comedy Leonard Part 6 (1987) would offset its losses on Ishtar (1987). Leading up to release, Columbia announced it would spend \$12 million on "synergies" with the film, taking into account the success of Cosby's television series and record sales for his parenting book, Fatherhood. Promotions included posters, spy cameras, point of sale standees of Cosby, and a contest to win Porsche cars. Cosby, who acted in and produced the film, was initially supportive of it, but close to the release date he publicly distanced himself from it. The film failed, with a net loss of \$33 million.
In the 1980s, Cosby also appeared in public service announcements. To increase black participation in the 1990 United States Census, the bureau recruited Cosby, Magic Johnson, Alfre Woodard, and Miss America Debbye Turner as spokespeople.
### 1990s to 2010s
Cosby continued to be a Jell-O spokesman through the 1990s. He was present for the lighting of the brand's first billboard in New York's Times Square in 1998. In 1999, Cosby's 25th year as spokesman for Jell-O, was also the final year he appeared in its advertising. The company distributed 120,000 copies of his picture book series, Little Bill, into American public libraries. Despite the transitions of advertising agencies and despite the 1989 merger of General Foods into Kraft, the then-newly merged company Kraft General Foods let Cosby remained with Jell-O as their spokesperson. He appeared at the Utah State Senate in 2001 to designate Jell-O the official state snack, and made a promotional visit to the Jell-O Gallery in 2004. In 2010, Cosby returned to Jell-O as executive producer for the company's "Hello Jell-O" campaign. In return, the brand sponsored his weekly web show OBKB, a children's interview series similar to Kids Say the Darndest Things. As of 2002, Cosby's time with Jell-O was considered the longest-standing celebrity endorsement in American advertising history.
In 1991, Willy T. Ribbs became the first African-American driver to compete in the Indianapolis 500. As Ribbs found it difficult to attract sponsorship, Cosby offered to appear in ads for his friend's sponsor. Boston agency Ingalls, Quinn & Johnson was believed to spend \$14 million on Ribbs' team over three years, with Cosby appearing in team ads.
Service Merchandise expanded this agreement in August 1993, to their actual store. He was to appear in television, radio, and print spots, catalogues, flyers, and in-store displays. An Associated Press television columnist found it hard to believe the premise that Cosby would be shopping at the store. The ads "fell flat", according to The Wall Street Journal, which noted a \$30 million price tag to the deal.
As of the early 1990s, Cosby's promotional agency was William Morris.
At the Advertising Hall of Fame induction ceremonies on March 30, 2011, Cosby was the first winner of the American Advertising Federation's President's Award for Contributions to Advertising, for special achievements in the field.
## Criticism
In 1973, The Village Voice writer Terry Guerin said Cosby was past his prime. Among the reasons, "making spokesman commercials for such established heels as White Owl cigars and Pan American airlines. He has evolved into a kind of self-parodying sap, the kind of flagrant, perpetual parader Sammy Davis has always been". "The Noble Cos," a 1986 satirical editorial by Edward Sorel for The Nation, was written in Cosby's imagined voice. It echoed the comments of other authors that Cosby had become out-of-touch with lower-class African Americans. In response to this sentiment, Cosby said in 1997, "So this buddy says, 'I didn't mind your commercials for Jello, Del Monte, Ford cars ... Ideal Toys, or Coca-Cola, although Coke does do business in South Africa ... But, Bill, why do commercials for those crooks at E. F. Hutton?' My buddy didn't understand my commercials improve race relations. Y'see, by showing that a black man can be just as money-hungry as a white man ... I'm proving that all men are brothers."
In 1981, Cosby told Black Enterprise magazine:
> In this business, many of us are well paid but we are not all that wealthy. You may read 'X-number of dollar goes to so and so,' but remember, everybody takes a cut – the lawyer, the agent, the publicist. If a company comes along and says 'We'd like you to talk about how much you enjoy wearing this warm-up suit,' and the money is right, I'm going to do it. Jell-O was a dessert in my house when I was a kid. My mom served Del Monte fruit cocktail when I was growing up. They want to pay me to say I eat these products, well, I eat them. I came out of a lower economic area, and this is money. This is a business ... show business. A great deal of our careers depends on keeping ourselves in the public eye. I think performers should take advantage of commercial offers if they're satisfied with the product.
### Sexual assault and rape allegations
In October 2014, a stand-up comedy routine by Hannibal Buress, addressing allegations of rape against Cosby, went viral on YouTube. On November 10, Cosby posted a message requesting meme images, using a hashtag of \#CosbyMeme, on his Twitter feed. Many of the images posted in response related to the allegations, which were fresh in the respondents' minds. After numerous women came forward as victims of Cosby's alleged actions, a television special and a series in development were cancelled. Cosby refused to address the situation; his lawyer said such actions would dignify "decade-old, discredited" allegations. Many media outlets commented on the way such actions clashed with his image as "America's Dad". One of the accusers felt nobody would believe her claims at the time of the alleged incident, given Cosby's status in advertising. Joan Tarshis told the media that Cosby was "Mr America; Mr Jello, as I called him".
The publicity surrounding the allegations had a drastic effect on Cosby's reputation, as seen in the following drop in his ratings. In March 2013, Cosby had a 76.3 rating on the Davie-Brown Index, a rating of the public perceptions of roughly 3500 personalities published by Omnicom Group company The Marketing Arm, placing him as the third most-trusted celebrity, behind Morgan Freeman and Dr. Mehmet Oz. By November 19, this had fallen to 57.1, placing him at either the 2,626th spot or 2615th, depending on the source. The same company's separate rating on who consumers view as an "effective product spokesperson" saw Cosby drop to 2,746th spot; at one point, he had been 5th. Awareness of Cosby increased from 63rd to 51st. The Marketing Arm warns about misinterpreting the ratings fall; it said 900 celebrities were within the margin of error for Cosby's rating. At the time of the accusations, E-Poll Market Research had not updated its scores; a Q Score for Cosby was not expected until 2015. The executive vice-president of Q Scores Co. said polling in the midst of a scandal would likely overstate the score's longterm effects. All three companies' scores are updated at different intervals, meaning they are not directly comparable. Jell-O was relatively unaffected on social media by allegations against Cosby. The brand was mentioned in one percent of posts about Cosby, which was considered low. Still, negative connections continued, including by rapper Eminem in a freestyle rap, and an article by Food Drink and Franchise magazine pointed out moments in commercials that were awkward in retrospect.
The numerous accusations of rape, drug facilitated sexual assault, sexual battery, child sexual abuse, and sexual misconduct spanned from 1965 to 2008 across ten U.S. states and one Canadian province. On September 25, 2018, Cosby was sentenced to 3 to 10 years in state prison for sexual assault for an assault against Andrea Constand.
After release, a PR strategist and crisis manager told Variety that "There’s no 'Cosby' reunion. There will be no Vegas residency and there will be no new Jell-O endorsement for Mr. Cosby."
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Music of Barbados
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Music and musical traditions of Barbados
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"Barbadian music"
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The music of Barbados includes distinctive national styles of folk and popular music, including elements of Western classical and religious music. The culture of Barbados is a syncretic mix of African and British elements, and the island's music reflects this mix through song types and styles, instrumentation, dances, and aesthetic principles.
Barbadian folk traditions include the Landship movement, which is a satirical, informal organization based on the Royal Navy, tea meetings, tuk bands and numerous traditional songs and dances. In modern Barbados, popular styles include calypso, spouge, contemporary folk and world music. Barbados is, along with Guadeloupe, Martinique, Trinidad, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands, one of the few centres for Caribbean jazz.
## Characteristics and musical identity
Bajan culture is syncretic, and the island's musical culture is perceived as a mixture of African and British musics, with certain unique elements that may derive from indigenous sources. Tension between African and British culture has long been a major element of Barbadian history, and has included the banning of certain African-derived practices and black Barbadian parodies of British traditions. Simple entertainment is the basis for most Barbadians' participation in music and dance activities, though religious and other functional musics also occur. Barbadian folk culture declined in importance in the 20th century, but then rekindled in the 1970s, when many Barbadians became interested in their national culture and history. This change was heralded by the arrival of spouge, a popular national genre that reflects Barbadian heritage and African origins; spouge helped kindle a resurgence in national pride, and became viewed as Barbados' answer to the popular Caribbean genres reggae and calypso from Jamaica and Trinidad, respectively.
The religious music of the Barbadian Christian churches plays an important role in Barbadian musical identity, especially in urban areas. Many distinctive Barbadian musical and other cultural traditions derive from parodies of Anglican church hymns and British military drills. The British military performed exhibition drills to both provide security for the island's population, as well as intimidate slaves. Modern Barbadian tea meetings, tuk bands, the Landship tradition and many folk songs come from slaves parodying the practices of white authorities. British-Barbadians used music for cultural and intellectual enrichment and to feel a sense of kinship and connection with the British Isles through the maintenance of British musical forms. Plantation houses featured music as entertainment at balls, dances and other gatherings. For Afro-Barbadians, drum, vocal and dance music was an integral part of everyday life, and songs and performance practices were created for normal, everyday events, as well as special celebrations including Whitsuntide, Christmas, Easter, Landship and Crop Over. These songs remain a part of Barbadian culture and form a rich folk repertoire.
Western classical music is the most socially accepted form of musical expression for Barbadians in Bridgetown, including a variety of vocal music, chamber and orchestral music, and piano and violin. Along with hymns, oratorios, cantatas and other religious music, chamber music of the Western tradition remains an important part of Barbadian music through an integral role in the services of the Anglican church.
## History
Though inhabited prior to the 16th century, little is known about Barbadian music before the arrival of the Portuguese in 1536 and then the English in 1627. The Portuguese left little influence, but English culture and music helped shape the island's heritage. Irish and Scottish settlers emigrated in the 17th century, working in the tobacco industry, bringing still more new music to the island. The middle of the 17th century saw the decline of the tobacco industry and the rise of sugarcane, as well as the introduction of large numbers of African slaves. Brazilian exiles however, along with sugarcane introduced Samba to the island which featured a mixture of Latin music with African influences which soon developed into Soca-Samba which is indigenous to Barbados. Modern Barbadian music is thus largely a combination of English and African elements, with Irish, Scottish, and modern American and Caribbean (especially Jamaican) influences as well.
By the 19th century, the Barbadian colonialists grew to fear slave revolts, and specifically, the use of music as a tool of communication and planning for revolution. As a result, the government passed laws to restrict musical activities among slaves. At the same time, American and other forms of imported music were brought to Barbados, while many important elements of modern Barbadian music, such as tuk bands, also emerged. In the 20th century, many new styles were imported to Barbados, most influentially including jazz, ska, reggae, calypso and soca. Barbados became home to many performers of these new genres, especially soca and calypso, while the island also produced an indigenous style called spouge, which became an important symbol of Barbadian identity.
## Folk music
Barbadian culture and music are mixtures of European and African elements, with minimal influence from the indigenous peoples of the island, about whom little is known. Significant numbers of Asian, specifically Chinese and Japanese, people have moved to Barbados, but their music is unstudied and has had little impact on Barbadian music.
The earliest reference to Afro-Barbadian music may come from a description of a slave rebellion, in which the rebels were inspired to fight by music played on skin drums, conch trumpets and animal horns. Slavery continued, however, and the colonial and slaveowning authorities eventually outlawed musical instruments among slaves. By the end of the 17th century, a distinctly Barbadian folk culture developed, based around influences and instruments from Africa, Britain and other Caribbean islands.
Early Barbadian folk music, despite legal restrictions, was a major part of life among the island's slave population. For the slaves, music was "essential for recreation and dancing and as a part of the life cycle for communication and religious meaning". African musicians also provided the music for the white landowners' private parties, while the slaves developed their own party music, culminating in the crop over festival, which began in 1688. The earliest crop over festivals featured dancing and call-and-response singing accompanied by shak-shak, banjo, bones and bottles containing varying amounts of water.
### Folk song
Barbadian traditional folk songs are heavily influenced by the music of England. Many traditional songs concern events current at the time of their composition, such as the emancipation of the slaves of Barbados, and the coronations of Victoria, George V, and Elizabeth II; this song tradition dates back to 1650. The most influential Barbadian folk songs are associated with the island's lower-class labourers, who have held on to their folk heritage.
Some Barbadian songs and stories made their way back to England, most famously "Inckle the English Sailor" and "Yarico the Indian Maid", which became English plays and an opera by George Coleman with music by Samuel Arnold, and first performed in London in 1787.
Contemporary Barbadian folk songs, especially through the pioneering albums of author and singer-songwriter Anthony Kellman, show a bold fusion of indigenous rhythms such as tuk and calypso with African, Latin, jazz, pop, and East Indian influences. Kellman's songs such as "Mountain" (from 2000 album Wings of A Stranger); "King Jaja" and "My Dog, Your Dog" (from 2005 album Limestone); and "If You See My Girl" and "Tuk, Tabla, and Fedounoum" (from 2009 album Blood Mates), exemplify his eclectic style. More than any of his contemporaries, Kellman, through his songs, poems and novels, demonstrates what it means to be Barbadian through a hybrid mix of African and European cultural elements.
### Dance
Barbadian folk dances include a wide variety of styles, performed at Landship, holidays and other occasions. Dancers and other performers at the crop over festivals, for example, are popular and an iconic part of Barbadian culture, known for dancing in the costumes of sugarcane-cutters. The Landship movement features song and dance meant to imitate the passage of a Royal Navy ship through rough seas; Landship and other occasions also feature African-derived improvised and complexly-rhythmic dances, and British hornpipes, jigs, maypole dances and Marches.
The "Jean and Johnnie" dance was an important part of Barbadian culture until it was banned in the 19th century. This was a popular fertility dance performed outdoors at plantation fairs and other festivals, and was functional in that it allowed women to show off to men and, more rarely, vice versa. The dance was eventually banned because it was associated with non-Christian African traditions.
### Instrumentation
The Barbadian folk tradition is home to a great variety of musical instruments, imported from Africa, Great Britain or other Caribbean islands. The most central instrument group in Barbadian culture is the percussion instruments. These include numerous drums, among them the pump and the tum tum, made from a hollowed-out tree trunk, the side snare drum and a double-headed bass drum of tuk bands. Folk musicians also use gongs made from tree trunks, bones, rook jaw, triangle, cymbals, bottles filled with water, and xylophones. Rattles are also widespread, and include the pan-Antillean shak-shak and the calabash, de shot and rattle. More recently imported folk percussion instruments include the conga and bongo from Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and Cuba, and the tambourine.
String and wind instruments play an important role in Barbadian folk culture, especially the bow-fiddle, banjo and acoustic guitar; more modern groups also use an electric and bass guitar. The shukster is a distinctive instrument, made by stretching a guitar string between two sides of a house. Traditional Barbadian wind instruments are largely metal, but in their folk origins, were made out of locally found materials. Barbadian villagers burned fingerholes, for example, on bamboo tubes, made trumpets out of conch shells and pipes from pumpkin vines. Many modern groups use harmonica, accordion, alto and tenor saxophone, trumpet and trombone.
### Religious music
Though Western classical and other musics play an important role in Anglican church services on Barbados, religion and folk music are closely intertwined in the everyday lives of most Barbadians. The basis for religious folk music is the Anglican hymn, a kind of praise song mostly sung on Sundays, a day when Christian Barbadians come together with family members to sing and praise God to ask for strength for the next week's work.
Pentecostal music has become a part of Barbadian religious and musical traditions since the 1920s. Music plays a role in Pentecostal ceremonies, and is provided by emotional and improvised performances accompanied tambourines. In addition to the Anglican and Pentecostal traditions, Rastafarian music has spread to the island in more recent years, along with African-American musical forms, especially gospel, and the Spiritual Baptist religion, which derives from the Trinidadian Shango cult that spread to Barbados in the 1960s. One of the more Internationally known religious music groups from Barbados are The Silvertones of Barbados.
### Holidays, festivals and other celebrations
A number of holidays, festivals and other celebrations play an integral role in Barbadian folk, and popular, music. Whitsuntide, Christmas, and Easter are important, each associated with their own musical traditions, as are distinctly Barbadian festivities like the crop over festival and the Landship movement.
The original crop over festival celebrated the end of the sugarcane harvest. These festivals were held in the great house of the plantations, and included both slaves and plantation managers. Celebrations included drinking competitions, feasting, song and dance, and climbing a greased pole. Musical accompaniment was provided by triangle, fiddle, drums and a guitar, played by slave entertainers. Crop over festivals continue to play a part of Barbadian culture, and always feature music by performers in sugarcane-cutting costumes, even though many modern performers are not themselves sugarcane-cutters.
The Barbadian Landship movement is an informal entertainment organization which mocks, through mimicry and satire, the Royal Navy. Landship began in 1837, founded by an individual known variously as Moses Ward and Moses Wood, in Britton's Hall in Seamen's Village. The structure of the Landship organization mirrors the structure of the Royal Navy, with a "ship" which is connected to a "dock" (a wooden house similar to a chattel house), and leaders known as Lord High Admiral, Captain, Boatswain and other navy ranks. Each unit is named like a typical navy ship and may include actual names of British ships or places. Landship performances symbolize and reflect the passage of ships through rough seas. Parades, jigs, hornpipes, maypole dances and other music and dance types are a part of the Landship Society's celebrations. The Council of the Barbados Landship Association regulates the movement.
Barbadian Christmas music is mostly based on church and concert hall performances, where typical North American Christmas carols are performed, such as "White Christmas" and "Silver Bells", alongside works by English composers including William Byrd, Henry Walford Davies and Thomas Tallis. In more recent years, calypso, reggae and other new elements have become a part of local Christmas traditions. As recently as the 1960s, Barbados was home to a distinctive practice, in which scrubbers travelled from house to house singing hymns and receiving rewards from households.
### Tuk bands and tea meetings
Tuk bands are Barbadian musical ensembles, consisting of a bow-fiddle or pennywhistle flute, kittle triangle and a snare and double-headed bass drum. The kittle and bass drum provide the rhythm, while the flute gives the melody. The drums are light-weight so they can be carried easily, and are made by both rural villagers and drummers using cured sheepskin and goatskin. Tuk bands are based on the British military's regimental bands, which played for many years for special occasions, such as visiting royalty and coronations. The tuk sound has evolved over the years, as has the instrumentation, with the bow-fiddle used before being most commonly replaced by the pennywhistle flute. Tuk bands are now most common in Landship events, but are still sometimes independent. On their own, tuk bands are generally accompanied by a range of iconic Barbadian characters, including "shaggy bears", "mother sally", "the steel donkey" and "green monkeys". The upbeat modern sound of tuk ensembles are a distinctly Barbadian blend of African and British musics.
Tea meetings are celebrations held in society lodges or school halls, and feature both solo and group performance, theatrical rhetoric and oratory, and other activities. After declining following World War I, tea meetings have recently been revived and have regained their widespread popularity. They are held at nighttime, beginning at 9:00 pm and continuing until midnight, when there is a two-hour break for food and drink before the tea meeting is resumed.
## Popular music
Barbados has produced few internationally popular musicians, with worldwide pop superstar Rihanna being the most famous. It has, however, created a well-developed local scene playing imported styles such as American jazz and calypso, as well as the indigenous spouge style. Calypso was the first popular music in Barbados, and dates back to the 1930s. Barbadian calypso is a comedic song form, accompanied by guitar and banjo. More recent styles of calypso have also kept a local scene alive, and produced a number of famous calypsonians. Spouge is a mixture of calypso and other styles, especially ska, and became very popular in the 1960s, around the same time as the Barbadian jazz scene grew in stature and became home to a number of famous performers. Modern Barbadian popular music is largely based around reggae, ragga and soca, and includes some elements of indigenous styles. Artists like Terencia Coward have used modern popular music with instrumentation borrowed from folk tuk bands. Two of the more popular bands of Barbadian popular music are Krosfyah and Square One [now defunct]. Artists such as Shirley Stewart, the lead singer of the band The Escorts International has gone on to produce hit songs such as the classic "Walk Away From Love", which is one of the most-played songs on the party scene in Barbados and through the world. "Walk Away From Love" remained at number one on the charts for months both in Barbados and throughout the Caribbean. The new wave of singers, largely soca, include Rupee, Lil' Rick and Jabae with lead vocalist Bruce and Barry Chandler, all recent winners at crop over. A more experimental artist such as poet and fiction writer Anthony Kellman writes thoughtful poetic lyrics delivered in a musical style deeply rooted in Barbadian indigenous folk music with strong elements of African and Latin influences. His albums Wings of a Stranger, Limestone, and Blood Mates have been described as groundbreaking due to his highly original style.
## Calypso
Prior to the 1930s, Barbadian calypso was called banja, and was performed by labourers in village-tenantry areas. Itinerant minstrels such as Mighty Jerry, Shilling Agard and Slammer were well-known forerunners of modern Barbadian calypso. Their song tradition embraced sentimentality, humour, and opinionated lyrics that continued to the 1960s, often by then accompanied by guitar or banjo.
The mid-20th century brought new forms of music from Trinidad, Brazil, the United States, Cuba and the Dominican Republic to Barbados, and the Barbadian calypso style came to be viewed as lowbrow or inferior. Promoters such as Lord Silvers and Mighty Dragon, however, kept the popular tradition alive through shows at the Globe Theatre, featuring pioneers Mighty Romeo, Sir Don Marshall, Lord Radio and the Bimshire Boys and Mike Wilkinson. These performers set the stage for the development of popular Barbadian calypso in the 1960s.
In the early 1960s, Barbadian calypso grew in popularity and stature, led by Viper, Mighty Gabby and The Merrymen. The first calypso competitions were held in 1960, and they quickly grew larger and more prominent. The Merrymen became the island's most prominent contribution to calypso by the 1970s and into the 1980s. Their style, known as blue beat, incorporated Barbadian folk songs and ballads, as well as American blues, country music, and a distinctive sound created by harmonica, guitar and banjo.
By the beginning of the 1980s, kaiso, a form of stage-presented calypso pioneered in Trinidad, was widespread at crop over and other celebrations. The foundation of the National Cultural Foundation in 1984 helped to promote and administer calypso festivals, which attracted tourists, stimulating the calypso industry. As a result, calypso has become a very visible and iconic part of Barbadian culture, and some calypsonians have become internationally renowned, including Mighty Gabby and Red Plastic Bag.
### Spouge
Spouge is a style of Barbadian popular music created by Jackie Opel in the 1960s. It is primarily a fusion of Jamaican ska with Trinidadian calypso, but is also influenced by a wide variety of musics from the British Isles and United States, include sea shanties, hymns and spirituals. Spouge instrumentation originally consisted of cowbell, bass guitar, trap set and various other electronic and percussion instruments, later augmented by saxophone, trombone and trumpets. Of these, the cowbell and the guitar are widely seen as the most integral part of the instrumentation, and are said to reflect the African origin of much of Barbadian music.
Two different kinds of spouge were popular in the 1960s, raw spouge (Draytons Two style) and dragon spouge (Cassius Clay style). The spouge industry grew immensely by the end of the 1970s, and produced popular stars including The Escorts International, Blue Rhythm Combo, the Draytons Two and The Troubadours. Recent years has seen a resurgence of interest in spouge among some quarters, with Desmond Weekes of the Draytons Two being among people indicating that spouge should be encouraged because it is a national form that can reach international audiences and inspire the nation's pride in their cultural heritage.
### Jazz
Jazz is a genre of music from the United States that reached Barbados by the end of the 1920s. The first major performer from the island was Lionel Gittens, who was followed by Percy Green, Maggie Goodridge and Clevie Gittens. These bandleaders played a variety of music, including swing, a kind of pop-jazz, Barbadian calypso and waltzes. With little recorded music on the island, radio broadcasts such as Willis Conover's Voice of America had a major influence. In 1937, riots over poverty and disenfranchisement occurred, and people such as Clement Payne had risen to fame advocating reform. In that year, Payne was deported and riots broke out in Bridgetown, spreading throughout the island. The following year, the Barbados Labour Party was formed by C. A. Braithwaite and Grantley Adams.
As political awareness among the black majority on the island spread, so did bebop, a kind of jazz which was associated, in the United States, with social activism and Afrocentrism. The first Barbadian bebop musician from the island was Keith Campbell, a pianist who had learned to play many styles while living in Trinidad during a time when American soldiers were stationed there, providing a ready market for bands that could play American music. Other musicians of this period included Ernie Small, a trumpeter and pianist, and bandleader St. Clare Jackman.
In the 1950s, R&B and rock and roll became popular on the island, and many jazz bands found themselves pushed aside. A wave of Guyanese musicians also appeared on the island, including Colin Dyall, a saxophonist who later joined the Police Band, and the Ebe Gilkes Quartet. Though mainstream audiences were still listening to R&B and rock, modern jazz retained a small core of followers into the 1960s. The foundation of the Belair Jazz Club in Bridgetown in 1961 helped to keep this scene alive. With independence in 1966 came a focus on black Barbadian culture, and music like calypso, reggae and spouge, rather than the preoccupation with British standards of musical development. Calypso jazz arose during this period, pioneered by groups like the Schofield Pilgrim. The genre had developed by 1965, when original works such as "Jouvert Morning" and "Calypso Lament" were composed. Artists including the pianist Adrian Clarke became popular during the '60s as well.
In the early 1970s, jazz fan and critic Carl Moore launched a project to keep jazz alive on the island, while Zanda Alexander's performance in Bridgetown in 1972 is said to be the first Caribbean jazz festival. Oscar Peterson's 1976 performance in Trinidad also inspired Barbadian musicians, as did the radio programme Jazz Jam, which was broadcast starting in the mid-'70s on the Caribbean Broadcast Corporation. In 1983, however, the Belair Jazz Club closed, and was not replaced by any long-term clubs. Later in the 1980s, jazz declined greatly in popularity, though The National Cultural foundation organized the International Barbados/Caribbean Jazz Festival, which after a brief hiatus due to lack of sponsorship was resurrected by Gilbert Rowe of GMR international tours. Other performances were organized by a group called the Friends of Jazz. More jazz calypso fusion musicians appeared on the scene during this period, including Arturo Tappin, Nicholas Brancker, Andre Woodvine and Raf Robertson.
### Rock
Rock music is alive and well in Barbados, there have been several bands through the years that perform alternative, rock and even metal music. Most recently the Alt/Rock/Metal band Standing Penance formed in 2009. The band continues to operate in present-day and is the only act of this genre to be signed to an American record label.
## Education and musicology
Academic study of Barbadian music remains limited. Some song collections and other activities have been conducted, but there remain significant holes in scholarship, such as the musics of recent immigrants from China and India, who presumably have brought with them styles of Indian and Chinese musics. Due to a lack of archaeological and historical records, the island's indigenous music is unknown. Since the 1970s, an increase in general interest in Barbadian culture has spurred greater study of music, and given an incentive to radio and television stations to create and maintain archives of cultural practices.
On modern Barbados, oral transmission remains the primary mode of music education, and there are few opportunities for most people to become formally educated in music of any kind. The elders of the island, who are the most educated in oral traditions, are held in high esteem due to their knowledge of folk culture. Modern Barbados is home to several institutions of musical education. There are dedicated schools for ballet: Dance Place and the Liz Mahon Dancers. A number of schools sponsor orchestras, steelbands and tuk bands, including the St. Lucy Secondary School Steel Orchestra. Music is a part of the curriculum for early childhood as well as primary and secondary education. The Barbados Community College has an associate degree programme in music. However, the University of the West Indies, though it has a campus on Barbados, does not offer degree programmes in music. As a matter of fact, only recently has the university started offering students the opportunity to pursue a minor in music.
## Music institutions and festivals
The main music festival in Barbados is Crop Over, which is celebrated with song, dance, calypso tent competitions and parades, especially leading up to the first Monday in August, Kadooment Day. The crop over festival celebrates the end of the sugarcane harvest, and is inaugurated by the ritual delivery of the last of the harvest on a cart pulled by mules. The champion sugarcane workers are crowned King and Queen for the event. In addition to crop over, music plays an important role in many other Barbadian holidays and festivals. The Easter Oistins Fish Festival, for example features a street party with music to celebrate the signing of the Charter of Barbados and the fishing industry of the island, and the Holetown Festival, which commemorates the arrival of the first settlers in 1627.
The annual December Classical/Pops Festival comprises an all-star orchestra accompanied by pop and rock stars, Broadway performers, opera singers, and film composers as featured guests. Opera, cabaret and sports are a major part of the Easter Holders Season. On 30 November, the Barbadian Independence Day, military bands in parades play marches, calypsos and other popular songs. This is preceded for several weeks by the National Independence Festival of Creative Arts. The National Independence Festival of Creative Arts and Crop Over are two of the festivals sponsored by the National Cultural Foundation (NCF); the other is Congaline, a recently organized street party that begins in April and ends on May Day. NCF also assists with the Holers Opera Season, Oistins Fish Festival, Holetown Festival and the Barbados Jazz Festival.
Other major musical institutions in Barbados include the Barbados Chamber Orchestra and the Cavite Choral. There are also dance and ballet groups known as Dance National Afrique, Barbados Dance Theatre Company, Dance Strides, The Dance Place and Dancing Africa. The island's music industry is home to several recording studios, the largest being Blue Wave, a 48-track system, and Paradise Alley, a 24-track system. Others include Chambers' Studio, Gray Lizard Productions and Ocean Lab Studios.
## References and notes
### General references
|
2,594,373 |
Old Money (The Simpsons)
| 1,166,437,576 | null |
[
"1991 American television episodes",
"The Simpsons (season 2) episodes"
] |
"Old Money" is the seventeenth episode of the second season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on March 28, 1991.
The episode was written by Jay Kogen and Wallace Wolodarsky and directed by David Silverman. Professor Frink makes his debut in this episode. Audrey Meadows, star of the 1950s TV comedy The Honeymooners, guest stars as Beatrice "Bea" Simmons, Grampa's girlfriend. It features cultural references to films such as Tom Jones and If I Had a Million, and the Star Wars and Batman film franchises.
Since airing, the episode has received mixed reviews from television critics. It acquired a Nielsen rating of 12.3 and was the highest-rated show on Fox for the week.
## Plot
Grampa falls in love with Beatrice "Bea" Simmons, a new resident at the Springfield Retirement Castle. Homer insists Grampa join the rest of the Simpsons at a cheap lion safari for their "fun day with Grampa" and ignores Grampa's protests that he's getting ready for Bea's birthday, dismissing her as a figment of Grampa's imagination. The safari trip goes wrong when Homer goes onto an unauthorized pathway that leaves the family surrounded by lions and trapped overnight until a warden rescues them. When he finally returns to the home, Jasper tells him that Bea has died of a burst ventricle, though a devastated Grampa believes she died of a broken heart. Deeply distressed by her death, Grampa attends her funeral, where he furiously tells a despondent Homer that it is his fault that he missed his last chance to be with Bea and disowns him, much to Homer's heartbreaking grief and his family's horror.
Grampa inherits \$106,000 from Bea's estate and initially plans to spend it on himself, making sure to call Homer and tell him that he is not getting any of the inheritance. After Bea's ghost visits him on an amusement park roller coaster, he instead decides to give the money to people in need, and while he heeds Bea's plea to forgive Homer he also tells Homer he still won't get the money. Several of the townspeople visit Grampa with frivolous, greedy, and destructive proposals, disgusting him so much that he goes for a walk to clear his mind. Seeing the plight of Springfield's homeless residents during his walk, he realizes he does not have enough money to solve the city's problems.
Grampa goes on a gambling junket at Jasper's suggestion, hoping to win so much money that he can help everybody. Homer finds him on a winning streak at a casino's roulette tables and pleads for him to stop while he is ahead. The two struggle over the bet, and Homer manages to drag Grampa's chips off the table just before the wheel stops on a number he had not covered. After Grampa thanks Homer for saving him from losing the inheritance, they finally have a sincere reconciliation. Grampa uses the money to renovate the retirement home and has the dining room renamed in Bea's honor.
## Production
The episode was written by Jay Kogen and Wallace Wolodarsky and directed by David Silverman. The safari was based on the drive-through Lion Country Safari, located in Loxahatchee, Palm Beach County, Florida, which Kogen used to visit when he was younger. "Old Money" was the first episode to feature Grampa's full name, Abraham Simpson. Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons, named the main characters after his own family members (except for Bart, an anagram of brat, which he substituted for his own name), but refused to name Grampa after his grandfather, Abram Groening. He left it to the writers to choose a name and they chose "Abraham".
The now recurring character Professor Frink makes his first appearance on the show in this episode. Frink was originally written as a mad scientist, but when cast member Hank Azaria ad-libbed a voice for Frink, he did an impression of Jerry Lewis's The Nutty Professor character, and the writing staff started making Frink more of a parody of Lewis. Frink was named after The Simpsons writer John Frink; however, that was before he became a writer for the show. The episode features a guest appearance from American actress Audrey Meadows as Bea. Al Jean, a writer on the show, said Meadows was perfect for the role because she was very sweet, and the staff had a lot of fun during the recording sessions with her. This is the only episode to date where the end credits actually states which character(s) each actor voices.
## Cultural references
The scene with Grampa and Bea eating their pills seductively is a reference to the 1963 film Tom Jones. Two of the people waiting in line to ask for Grampa's money are Darth Vader and the Joker. When the family is suggesting places they could go, Homer suggests the Springfield Mystery Spot, a reference to the Mystery Spot in California—although Lisa says the Springfield Spot is simply a puddle of mud. They eventually decide to go to the Discount Lion Safari, however. The Diz-Nee-Land amusement park Grampa visits with Bea's money has a sign that reads "Diz-Nee-Land—Not affiliated with Disneyland, Walt Disney World, or anything else from the Walt Disney Company". The shot of Grampa sitting at a diner resembles the 1942 American painting Nighthawks. Before Grampa attempts to bet all his money on Roulette he quotes the poem "If—" by Rudyard Kipling. The climax scenes, where Grampa uses the money to fix up the Springfield Retirement Castle, is a reference to the ending of the 1932 film If I Had a Million. Dr. Marvin Monroe's 'Monroe Box' is meant to be a spoof of B. F. Skinner's Skinner Box.
## Reception
In its original American broadcast, "Old Money" finished thirty-sixth in the ratings for the week of March 25–31, 1991, with a Nielsen Rating of 12.4. It was the highest-rated show on Fox that week. The episode was released in video collection on May 4, 1994, called The Simpsons Collection, together with the episode "Dancin' Homer".
Since airing, the episode has received mixed reviews from television critics. The authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, wrote: "a wonderful episode, very sad but ultimately uplifting, with great one-liners (particularly from Grampa)". Colin Jacobson of DVD Movie Guide was not as positive. He said, "With 'Old Money', we find easily the crummiest episode of season two. Actually, I'd call this clunker the only bad show of the year." He went on to say, "I guess 'Old Money' wasn't a truly terrible episode, as it included a few funny moments. However, it seemed like one of the sappiest Simpsons episodes ever. The program became inundated with sentiment, and it did little to leaven that tide. In a generally strong season, 'Old Money' stands out as the only real clunker."
|
48,616,353 |
Edge of the Ocean
| 1,122,633,959 |
2001 single by Ivy
|
[
"2000 songs",
"2001 singles",
"Ivy (band) songs",
"Nettwerk Records singles",
"Songs written by Adam Schlesinger",
"Songs written by Andy Chase",
"Songs written by Dominique Durand",
"Trip hop songs"
] |
"Edge of the Ocean" is a song by the American band Ivy for their third studio album, Long Distance (2000). Lead singer Dominique Durand wrote the song with band members Adam Schlesinger and Andy Chase, who both produced it. It was released as the album's lead single in the United States in June 2001, through Nettwerk. Various physical singles were distributed throughout the following year, in addition to an adult alternative airplay release in the US. The song is an electronic-inspired trip hop pop ballad with minimal and simplistic lyrics. Durand's vocals were described as childlike and compared to those of Karen Carpenter. American musician Michael Hampton, a member of Durand and Chase's other band Paco, contributes to the track's instrumentation.
"Edge of the Ocean" has received generally positive reviews from music critics, who called it a highlight from Long Distance. Following Schlesinger's death in 2020, the song was revisited by critics and frequently labeled as one of his finest works. It became Ivy's only single to chart in the United Kingdom, reaching number 160 on the UK Singles Chart. An accompanying music video for "Edge of the Ocean" was released in 2001 and directed by Schlesinger. It features Ivy relaxing at the beach and singing along to the song. "Edge of the Ocean" was featured in various television advertising campaigns, including for Holland America in 2002 and American Airlines in 2011, and has since been referred to as Ivy's signature song.
## Background and release
Following the release of their second studio album, Apartment Life, in 1997, Ivy was dropped from their record label Atlantic, and signed to 550 Music. Around the same time, the band's New York City recording studio burned down and was replaced with a new one, founded by Schlesinger and other member Andy Chase. After reissuing Apartment Life, member Adam Schlesinger released his second studio album with American band Fountains of Wayne, Utopia Parkway (1999). The album commercially underperformed, resulting in a second release from Atlantic and Schlesinger resuming work with Ivy.
"Edge of the Ocean" first appeared on Long Distance, as the album's third track, which was initially released in Japan on November 8, 2000. It also appears on a Nettwerk-sponsored sampler album that was handed out during Coldplay's Parachutes Tour concert series in 2001. The song was written by Schlesinger, Chase, and Durand, while the production was handled by the latter two artists. Ivy recorded the song at Stratosphere Sound in New York City while mastering occurred at nearby Sony Music Studios and was handled by Vlado Meller. Schlesinger and Chase both are credited as mixers on the song and, additionally, Chase engineered the track with assistance from Geoff Sanoff.
Chosen as the album's lead single in the United States, "Edge of the Ocean" was released in various formats as a single. In June 2001, when Ivy's cover of the Blow Monkeys' "Digging Your Scene" was sent to US modern rock radio stations as a single, "Edge of the Ocean" and Long Distance track "Disappointed" were distributed to adult alternative radio stations in the US for airplay. The US then received a limited edition, individually numbered 10" vinyl release, which occurred on July 10, 2001. It features an alternate version of "Hideaway" as the B-side and their previously unreleased cover of Steely Dan's "Only a Fool Would Say That" (1972). An extended play for "Edge of the Ocean" was distributed in the United Kingdom and released by Nettwerk. The promotional version was released in 2001, while the commercial versions were released on May 27, 2002 on 12" vinyl and compact discs; it features the Alpha's 'On the Beach' Mix, DuoTone Mix, Analog Bronca Mix, and album versions of "Edge of the Ocean" in two different orders, depending on the release. Also in 2002, the Filterheadz Dub Mix of the song was released as a 12" promotional single in the UK. Nettwerk digitally released the EP and Filterheadz Dub Mix to music retailers on July 19, 2011.
## Composition and lyrics
Musically, "Edge of the Ocean" is a "shimmering [and] contemporary" electronic-inspired trip hop pop ballad. In a 2011 interview with Magnet, Chase explained that the song balances "between the uplifting music and the bittersweet lyric," which he stated was also his preferred musical style. He continued, saying that while writing the song, they tried "to go 100 percent" with creating a lyrical balance that "[came] from a specific place and yet remain[ed] general, even vague, enough that they can apply to anyone". In his weekly musical column, Bradford Brady from Star-News called Durand's vocals "haunting" and compared them to American singer Karen Carpenter. Chuck Campbell, writing for the same publication, called the chorus shimmering and described Durand's vocals as childlike. Tom Topkoff from Hybrid magazine referred to "Edge of the Ocean" as a "captivating and escapist tune" that sets the album's tone.
According to its sheet music, "Edge of the Ocean" is set in the time signature of common time, and has a moderate tempo of 96 beats per minute. The song is composed in the key of D-flat major and it follows the setup of an instrumental intro, followed by two verses, each succeeded by a chorus and another intro. The first verse begins using the chord progressions of G♭–E♭m–D♭–G♭, which are replicated during the other verses and choruses; during the pre-chorus and bridge, the progressions transition to a E♭m–D♭–G♭–G♭ structure. American musicians Jeremy Freeman and fellow Paco member Michael Hampton are credited with providing additional loops and sounds to the song. The lyrics to "Edge of the Ocean" are rather simple, and were described as romantic. Durand opens the song explaining: "There's a place I dream about / Where the sun never goes out"; the chorus contains more minimalistic lyrics, with Durand harmonizing to "sha la la la la la la" repeatedly.
## Reception and promotion
"Edge of the Ocean" has received generally favorable reviews from music critics. Noel Dix from Exclaim liked it and album tracks "Worry About You" and "While We're in Love" for "com[ing] across as genuine rather than a pop band trying to cross over to the electronic scene". A reviewer from Resonance magazine provided a positive review of the song, calling it "a cool summer song", while a critic from The Boston Globe labeled it as a gem on Long Distance. In 2014, Mashable featured "Edge of the Ocean" on a list of "21 Songs to Help You Keep Calm". An AllMusic critic awarded the song 2.5 out of 5 stars in 2001. In a negative review, a critic from Alternative Press grouped "Edge of the Ocean" with the tracks that are "improbably edgeless, all love-me-do/love-me-don't plaints that evaporate on impact" on Long Distance. Following Schlesinger's death in 2020, several critics re-analyzed his discography retrospectively. Rob Tannenbaum from The New York Times compiled a list of his 30 most essential songs; "Edge of the Ocean" was Schlesinger's only Ivy song to appear on the list, and Tannenbaum described it as a highlight on Long Distance.
Following the song's release in the United Kingdom in 2002, "Edge of the Ocean" became the group's first and only single to reach the Official Chart Company's UK Singles Chart. For the issue dated June 15, 2002, the song entered the chart at number 160 and fell off the following week. According to Nettwerk, the song is Ivy's most commercially successful single, and they consider it to be their signature song. Variety's Charlie Amter noted that it was the group's most streamed song on Spotify and had been prominently used in several film and television appearances. According to John C. Hughes from Pop Dose claimed that because of how many media appearances the song had made, "chances are [most have] heard it and didn’t even know it". Ivy appeared as themselves on the American scripted television series Roswell to perform the Duotone Mix of "Edge of the Ocean" on the season 3 episode "To Have and to Hold" (2001). It later appeared on the series' official soundtrack, which was announced on December 13, 2001, and released on February 26, 2002. Additionally, "Edge of the Ocean" has been notably featured on Grey's Anatomy, and in 2011 it was used in American Airlines' television advertisement campaign. Ivy also lent the song to Holland America in 2002 for their then-upcoming ad campaign, in a move that Chase thought would be beneficial to the band. He explained: "At our level, this commercial can mean the difference between making our next album or not. Now, maybe there's people who look at us and that as a sellout. But I pose the question, would you rather hear another Ivy record or never hear another record again but we won't do any commercials?"
An accompanying music video for "Edge of the Ocean" was filmed and directed by Schlesinger. It was released in 2001 and was the second video developed for Long Distance, after the release of "Lucy Doesn't Love You" in 2000. The "Edge of the Ocean" clip features the usage of the shorter Duotone Mix, as opposed to the album version. The video begins with Durand casually walking around a sandy beach and occasionally lip syncing to the song. Location shots of nearby boats, cliffs and landscape are interwoven with scenes of Durand, Schlesinger, and Chase adventuring oceanside.
## Track listings and formats
- 10" single
1. "Edge of the Ocean" – 4:25
2. "Hideaway" (Alternate Version) – 4:09
3. "Only a Fool Would Say That" (Alternate Version) – 3:01
- 12" single/promotional 12" single – EP (version 1)
1. "Edge of the Ocean" (Alpha's 'On the Beach' Mix) – 4:58
2. "Edge of the Ocean" (Duotone Mix) – 4:08
3. "Edge of the Ocean" (Analog Bronca Mix) – 4:41
4. "Edge of the Ocean" – 4:25
- CD single/digital download/streaming – EP (version 2)
1. "Edge of the Ocean" (Duotone Mix) – 4:12
2. "Edge of the Ocean" (Alpha's 'On the Beach' Mix) – 5:02
3. "Edge of the Ocean" (Analog Bronca Mix) – 4:45
4. "Edge of the Ocean" – 4:25
- Digital download/promotional 12" single/streaming – Filterheadz Dub Mix
1. "Edge of the Ocean" (Filterheadz Dub Mix) – 5:13
## Credits and personnel
Credits adapted from the liner notes of Long Distance and Tidal.
- Adam Schlesinger – writer, producer, mixer
- Andy Chase – writer, producer, mixer, engineer
- Dominique Durand – writer
- Geoff Sanoff – assistant engineer
- Vlado Meller – mastering
- Jeremy Freeman – additional loops, additional sounds
- Michael Hampton – additional loops, additional sounds
## Charts
## Release history
|
34,753,397 |
Glencora Ralph
| 1,160,723,764 |
Australian water polo player
|
[
"1988 births",
"21st-century Australian women",
"Australian female water polo players",
"Curtin University alumni",
"Living people",
"Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics",
"Olympic bronze medalists for Australia in water polo",
"Sportspeople from Geraldton",
"Sportswomen from Western Australia",
"Water polo players at the 2012 Summer Olympics",
"Water polo players at the 2016 Summer Olympics",
"Western Australian Institute of Sport alumni",
"World Aquatics Championships medalists in water polo"
] |
Glencora McGhie (née Ralph) (born 8 August 1988) is an Australian water polo centre back/driver. She attended the Curtin University of Technology and is a dental therapist. She competes for the Fremantle Marlins in the National Water Polo League, and was on sides that won the league championship in 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2007. She has been a member of the Australia women's national water polo team on the junior and senior level. She has won gold medals at the 2011 Canada Cup and at the 2007 FINA Junior World Championships. She won silver medals at the 2010 FINA World League Super Finals and at the 2010 FINA Women's Water Polo World Cup. She won a bronze medal at the 2009 FINA World League Super Finals. She was part of the Australian water polo team that won bronze at the 2012 Summer Olympics.
## Personal life
Ralph was born on 8 August 1988 in Geraldton, Western Australia. She has three siblings, one of whom, Mercedes Ralph, has represented Australia on an international tour. She is 176 cm (5 ft 9 in) tall, weighs 67 kilograms (148 lb) and is right handed. In addition to water polo, she has also participated in competitive swimming but made the commitment to water polo because she found swimming boring. She has an associate degree in School Dental Therapy from the Curtin University of Technology and works as a dental therapist. She took time off from competing in water polo internationally in 2007 to complete her studies.
## Water polo
Ralph took up water polo at the age of thirteen, with her first competition being the Melville Flippaball Competition. She has a water polo scholarship from the Western Australian Institute of Sport. She plays in the centre back/driver positions and prefers to wear cap number eight. As a young player, she would get up at 4 am to get to the pool to train.
### Club water polo
Ralph's water polo club is Melville Water Polo Club and she plays water polo for the Longmont Fremantle Marlins in the National Water Polo League. Her team won the National Water Polo League championship in 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2007. She was with the team in 2007 as an eighteen-year-old. During 2010, she was coached by Wendy Arancini, the mother of fellow senior national team member Zoe Arancini. In 2010, in the finals tournament, she was named to the league final's All Star team. Her team finished third, beating the Cronulla team 11–9 in the bronze medal match. She currently plays for the team with her sister Mercedes.
### Junior national team
Ralph has represented Australia on the junior national level. She was a member of the junior national side at the 2007 FINA U20 World Championships in Porto, Portugal that won a gold medal. She was one of only two Western Australians on the team.
### Senior national team
Ralph is a member of the Australia women's national water polo team. She made her senior side debut in China in 2006 during the preliminary rounds of the FINA World League. She competed in another tournament for the senior side in 2006 because Melissa Rippon and Taniele Gofers were injured. She was a member of the 2009 team that finished third at the FINA World League Super Finals in Kirishi, Russia and sixth at the FINA World Championships in Rome, Italy. In 2010, she was a member of the national team that competed in the preliminary rounds of the FINA World League in Japan from 21 to 23 May and in China from 26 to 28 May. Australia finished second in the tournament. In 2010, she was a member of the Stingers squad that competed at the FINA World Cup in Christchurch, New Zealand and earned a silver medal.
She played in the game where Australia beat Greece by a score of 11–7. She scored twice for the team during the third period. She competed Australia's 10–8 defeat of Russia. In the third quarter of the match, she scored two goals. At the 2011 Canada Cup, she scored s goal in the first period in the gold medal match against China that the Australian team ended up winning. She was named a member of the All Star team for the 2011 Canada Cup. In July 2011, she was a member of the Australian Stingers that competed in the 2011 FINA World Championships in Shanghai as a field player. In preparation for this tournament, she attended a team training camp in Perth, Western Australia. She competed in the Pan Pacific Championships in January 2012 for the Australian Stingers.
In February 2012, she was named to the final training squad for the 2012 Summer Olympics. She attended training camp that started on 20 February 2012 at the Australian Institute of Sport, and was part of the Stingers squad that competed in a five-game test against Great Britain at the AIS in late February 2012. This was the team's first matches against Great Britain's national team in six years. She was part of the Stingers team that competed at the 2012 London Olympics, winning bronze. She was part of the team again at the 2016 Rio Olympics, where they came sixth.
## See also
- List of Olympic medalists in water polo (women)
- List of World Aquatics Championships medalists in water polo
|
406,607 |
Interstate 705
| 1,146,675,297 |
Interstate highway in Tacoma, Washington
|
[
"Auxiliary Interstate Highways",
"Interstate 5",
"Interstate Highways in Washington (state)",
"Transportation in Pierce County, Washington",
"Transportation in Tacoma, Washington"
] |
Interstate 705 (I-705), also known as the Tacoma Spur, is a short Interstate Highway in Tacoma, Washington, United States. It is a spur route of I-5 that connects the freeway to Downtown Tacoma, Tacoma's waterfront, North Tacoma, and the Tacoma Dome. I-705 was completed in 1988 and is one of the newest portions of the Interstate Highway System in Washington.
## Route description
I-705 is the shortest Interstate Highway in Washington, at 1.5 miles (2.4 km) in length, and primarily serves as a connector between I-5 and Downtown Tacoma. It begins as a continuation of SR 7 at an interchange with I-5 south of downtown Tacoma, near the Tacoma Dome and America's Car Museum. The freeway passes under I-5, following a gulch south until it terminates at South 38th Street; SR 7 continues beyond Tacoma on Pacific Avenue towards Spanaway and Mount Rainier National Park.
The freeway travels north with an exit to South 26th Street serving the Tacoma Dome and the adjacent Tacoma Dome Station transit complex. I-705 passes over the T Line streetcar near South 25th Street station and continues north to a single-point urban interchange with SR 509 at South 21st Street, which provides access to the University of Washington Tacoma campus and Port of Tacoma. Following a freight railroad, the freeway passes the Washington State History Museum and Union Station near the Bridge of Glass, a pedestrian overpass that crosses I-705 and links the Museum of Glass on the Thea Foss Waterway shore to downtown Tacoma.
The northbound lanes separate near the Bridge of Glass, with one splitting into offramps serving South 15th Street and A Street, the latter of which is also served by a southbound onramp. I-705 then crosses under South 11th Street near the Murray Morgan Bridge and terminates at an onramp from South 9th Street adjacent to Fireman's Park, which cantilevers over the southbound lanes. The freeway continues northwest onto Schuster Parkway, with a separate set of flyover ramps that end at an at-grade intersection with Stadium Way near the Old City Hall.
As a component of the Interstate Highway System, the entirety of I-705 is listed as part of the National Highway System, a national network of roads identified as important to the national economy, defense, and mobility; it is also part of the state government's Highway of Statewide Significance program, recognizing its connection to major communities. The freeway is maintained by the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT), which conducts an annual survey of traffic volume that is expressed in terms of average annual daily traffic. Average traffic volumes on the highway in 2020 ranged from a minimum of 26,000 vehicles at its southern terminus to a maximum of 62,000 vehicles between I-5 and SR 509.
## History
The opening of I-5 and the Tacoma Mall in 1965 caused a reduction in the number of retailers in Downtown Tacoma, which was only accessible via local streets from the freeway. The lost business, combined with worsening congestion in Downtown Tacoma, prompted downtown retailers to ask the state government for an improved connection to I-5. The state Department of Highways began studying a freeway connection between the Pacific Avenue Interchange (where SR 7 terminates) and Downtown Tacoma in 1955, recommending a temporary one-way couplet that became part of SR 509 and an eventual freeway link. In 1968, the Department of Highways adopted the routing of a freeway into Downtown Tacoma along the western side of the City Waterway, to be constructed over railroad right of way. The project, then part of a new freeway corridor for State Route 509 through the Port of Tacoma, was approved by the Tacoma City Council in 1971, but further planning was suspended at the time due to funding issues.
In 1978, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) approved the designation of the Tacoma Spur as I-705. The Federal Highway Administration had tentatively numbered the route as "Interstate 105", but the Washington State Department of Transportation had requested the use of "705" as it would not conflict with existing state highways. The Washington State Legislature approved the addition of I-705 into the state highway system in April 1979.
While funding was identified in the 1970s, construction on the freeway was not completed until the next decade because of federal budget cuts. An offramp connecting southbound I-5 to East 26th Street was dedicated on April 21, 1983, a day before the Tacoma Dome opened to the public. Construction on the rest of I-705 began in 1983 and the freeway was dedicated on October 17, 1988, with a parade and ribbon-cutting; the freeway cost \$102.3 million to construct and was the last new Interstate to be completed in the state of Washington. The Tacoma City Council in 1992 proposed to name the freeway Martin Luther King Way, however that name was finally applied to nearby K Street. Work on the single-point urban interchange, costing \$29.4 million (equivalent to \$ million in ), was completed in 1993 to accommodate the changes that were made to SR 509 through Tacoma.
## Exit list
## See also
|
23,492,260 |
George Nicol (baseball)
| 1,153,724,740 |
American baseball player (1870–1924)
|
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"1924 deaths",
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"Detroit Tigers (Western League) players",
"Erie Blackbirds players",
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"Indianapolis Indians players",
"Los Angeles Angels (minor league) players",
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"Major League Baseball outfielders",
"Major League Baseball pitchers",
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"St. Louis Browns (AA) players",
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] |
George Edward Nicol (October 17, 1870 – August 4, 1924) was an American baseball pitcher and outfielder who played three seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the St. Louis Browns, Chicago Colts, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Louisville Colonels from 1890 to 1894. Possessing the rare combination of batting right-handed and throwing left-handed, he served primarily as a right fielder when he did not pitch.
Signed by the Browns without having previously played any minor league baseball, Nicol made his debut on September 23, 1890, and pitched—what was then considered to be—a no-hitter. The following season, he joined the Chicago Colts in July after starting in the minor leagues. After a two-year sojourn away from the major leagues, he signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1894. In August of the same season, he was traded to the Louisville Colonels, with whom he played his final major league game on September 29, 1894.
## Personal life
Nicol was born on October 17, 1870, in Barry, Illinois. His father, Matthew Nicol, immigrated to the United States from Scotland in 1852, while his mother, Eliza, was born in America. As a youngster, he played baseball for a semi-professional club in nearby Mount Sterling. There, he rose to fame as a left-handed pitcher—probably due to rarity and valuableness of southpaws—and eventually got the opportunity to play in the major leagues before he turned 20.
After his professional baseball career ended, Nicol moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In 1896, he married his wife Lilian. Together, they had one son, George Jr., who was born in 1908. In order to support his new family, he became a machinist. During this time, he continued to play baseball—albeit amateur baseball—with the Milwaukee City League.
On the night of August 3, 1924, Nicol died in his sleep at the age of 53. His death was treated as suspicious, as a post-mortem examination found him to have four broken ribs that led to his death. He was interred at the Union Cemetery in Milwaukee.
## Professional baseball career
### St. Louis Browns (1890)
Nicol was signed by the St. Louis Browns near the end of the 1890 season, even though he had no prior experience in minor league baseball. The team were in desperate need for players; their situation was a microcosm of the American Association (AA) that already had few players with major league experience to begin with. The league's precarious situation was not helped by the fact that they had to compete with both the well-established National League (NL) and the newly formed yet highly popular Players' League. Although the latter league lasted just one season, they were able to outdraw both the AA and NL in terms of attendance. This put a dent in the fortunes of the American Association, whose teams consequently struggled to pay the players' salaries and thus, had to utilize amateur, semi-professional, or minor league players.
Nicol made his major league debut for the Browns on September 23, 1890, starting the game against the Philadelphia Athletics that resulted in a 21–2 win. He did not allow a single hit to the Athletics through seven innings, after which the game was called off due to darkness. Although the game was previously considered a no-hitter, a rule change made by the MLB's Committee on Statistical Accuracy in 1991 redefined the definition of a no-hitter; a no-hit game now had to span a minimum of nine innings. As a result, Nicol's debut was one of fifty no-hitters deleted from the official record books.
Three days after his debut, Nicol faced the Athletics again in his second major league start. He followed up his dazzling debut with another solid performance, giving up just one hit—a single—in a 7–3 win that ended after five innings. His subsequent starts were disappointing, most notably a 10–3 loss against the Toledo Maumees, where his inability to hold baserunners was first exposed. He finished the season with a win–loss record of 2–1, a 4.76 earned run average (ERA), and had 16 strikeouts but walked 19 in three games started. After his contract expired at the end of the season, no major league team signed Nicol, so he began the 1891 season with the Davenport Pilgrims, a minor league baseball team that competed in the Illinois–Iowa League.
### Chicago Colts (1891)
Nicol's tenure with the Pilgrims was successful, albeit brief. He compiled a 15–8 record with a 1.36 ERA in 23 games started and threw five shutouts. He soon demonstrated himself as the best pitcher in the league by holding opposing teams to three hits or less in four separate games. His pitching performances caught the eye of Chicago Colts manager Cap Anson, who offered him a \$225 a month contract. Nicol originally agreed to the deal, but subsequently wanted to renege, citing "a change of heart." However, he was eventually forced to accept the offer when the Colts threatened to blacklist him. The Pilgrims, who were already struggling financially, received just \$300 from the Colts for their ace and folded soon after he left the team.
Nicol arrived in Chicago on July 20 and was penciled in to start on consecutive days against Charles Radbourn and Cy Young. Though he performed poorly in both games, the Colts still managed to win. He was shelled in the third inning by the Cincinnati Reds, and on the next day, he gave up seven runs to the Cleveland Spiders in only two innings. Because of these starts, he did not appear in another game until August 14, when he was used in relief to face the Brooklyn Dodgers. His control issues flared up, and he had trouble holding the Dodgers' baserunners. He was released one week later, having walked 10 batters in the 11 innings he pitched for the Colts. He ended the season playing for Marinette of the Wisconsin State League.
### Minor league sojourn
After 1891, Nicol went back to the Illinois–Iowa League and joined the Rockford Hustlers. He pitched well throughout the 1892 season—though his record was 16–16, he had a 1.47 ERA, 230 strikeouts in 288 innings pitched, and pitched five shutouts. He limited his opponents to two hits in five different complete games and threw a one-hitter. The league, however, was struggling financially, and after the end of the league's postseason, his request for release was granted.
At the start of 1893, Nicol signed with the Los Angeles Angels of the California League. A new rule was introduced stipulating that the pitcher's mound be 60 feet 6 inches (18.44 m) away from home plate. This increase of five feet in distance gave batters a greater advantage. Despite this, Nicol was noted for his ability to adapt to the new rule better than other pitchers in the league. This was evident as he was able to garner a 15–8 record and 0.86 ERA in 1881⁄3 innings pitched. His control suffered, however, as he struck out just 64 batters and walked 125, thus contributing to his 1.66 WHIP that season. In early June, there was speculation that players would have their salaries cut in order to sustain the league, which was allegedly on the verge of collapsing. Several weeks after two of his teammates departed, Nicol himself left the team, joining the two in the Eastern League with the Erie Blackbirds. He continued his stellar pitching performances with a 13–9 record and a 1.80 ERA in 200 innings, while reducing the number of walks issued to 89.
### Pittsburgh Pirates and Louisville Colonels (1894)
Nicol signed for the Pittsburgh Pirates at the start of the 1894 season. His stint with the team was dismal, as he posted a 3–4 record with a 6.22 ERA, while his control and strikeout ability continued to diminish, evident with his 39 walks issued against a mere 13 strikeouts in 9 games pitched. On August 13, he was traded to the Louisville Colonels in exchange for Jock Menefee and \$1000.
In his first game for the Colonels, Nicol was battered by the opposing team, giving up 19 hits and 15 earned runs in a complete game. He made just one more start for the team and finished with a 13.76 ERA over 17 innings pitched. Because of his pitching struggles, he changed positions and played 26 games in the outfield during his time with the organization, making 43 putouts, 2 assists, and committed 9 errors, resulting in a .791 fielding percentage. His overall statistics for the year were mixed. His pitching record was 3–5 with an 8.24 ERA, 17 strikeouts, and 55 walks issued over 631⁄3 innings pitched. However, his offensive numbers were impressive, as he posted a batting average of .351 and amassed 47 hits, 7 doubles, 4 triples, 22 runs batted in, and a .463 slugging percentage in 141 plate appearances, while striking out just 5 times. At the conclusion of the season, he was released by the Colonels.
### Back to the minors
Nicol returned to minor league baseball, joining the Indianapolis Hoosiers of the Western League. After spending just one month with the team, he moved within the league to the Milwaukee Brewers, where he played for five seasons and was utilized exclusively as an outfielder from 1896 onwards. In 1896, he was at the center of controversy when the Philadelphia Phillies drafted him and promised the Brewers that they would return him should they not be in need of his services. However, he was instantly outrighted to the Detroit Tigers, with the Phillies' president acknowledging that they were assisting and collaborating with the Tigers, who had requested the transaction. The case went to an arbitral tribunal, which ruled in favor of the Brewers.
In 1900, Nicol joined the Wilkes-Barre Coal Barons of the Atlantic League. The league disbanded in June of that year, whereupon he joined the Detroit Tigers, who were now part of the American League. He was released at the end of the season, having batted .258 in 73 games. He returned to the now-expanded Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League in 1904 and played there for two seasons. His career after 1906 is unclear, although the Society for American Baseball Research writes that he signed with a Wisconsin State League team based in Freeport, Illinois, and played for them for the remainder of the year before retiring from professional baseball.
|
9,402,762 |
André Schembri
| 1,167,432,951 |
Association football player (born 1986)
|
[
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"Primeira Liga players",
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André Schembri (born 27 May 1986) is a Maltese former professional footballer who played as a forward, and is currently a director of football of Apollon Limassol.
Schembri started his professional career with local clubs Hibernians and Marsaxlokk, leading the latter to their first league title in the 2006–07 season. Between the summers of 2007 and 2009 he spent season-long loans with German lower-tier clubs Eintracht Braunschweig and Carl Zeiss Jena. After a blighted six months with Austria Kärnten, he joined Hungarian side Ferencváros where he established himself as first choice ending the season as the club's top scorer with 17 goals in all competitions.
In the summer of 2011, Schembri joined Olympiacos Volou however after a few games the club was demoted to the fourth-tier of Greek football following a match-fixing scandal. As a result, Schembri joined Panionios. After completing the 2011–12 season, Schembri was signed by Cypriot club Omonia. With them he slowly established himself in the forward line finishing his second season as the league's second highest goalscorer with 17 goals. After a short stint with German club FSV Frankfurt, he returned to Omonia in December 2014.
With interest from foreign clubs, Portuguese side Boavista signed Schembri. Although initially making the first eleven, the arrival of a new manager midway through the season led to him being dropped to a substitute role. With lack of opportunities, Schembri returned to Cyprus, joining Apollon Limassol in the summer of 2017. He quickly became a prominent figure, scoring four goals in six qualifying matches as he helped the club make it through to the group stages of the UEFA Europa League. In this same competition he also became the first Maltese to score in the proper rounds of a UEFA competition. In August 2017, he won his first trophy outside his home country as Apollon Limassol triumphed in the Cypriot Super Cup, with Schembri also scoring the winning goal.
At the international level, he represented Malta at youth levels, before making his senior debut on 4 June 2006 against Japan. His first goals came in the historic 2–1 win over Hungary, scoring twice as Malta won their first competitive game in 13 years. Regarded as one of the best Maltese football exports, he amassed 94 appearances for the national team, the eighth-highest number of appearances at the time of his retirement in October 2018.
## Club career
### Early career
Schembri started out as a trainee with Hibernians making his first team debut in the 2002–03 season. The following season, he scored his first goal in the 2–1 win over Balzan Youths on 31 August 2003. He made his debut in a European competition on 19 June 2004, in the Intertoto Cup first round match against Slaven Belupo. Hibernians won the match 2–1 with Schembri scoring the winner. Midway through the 2004–05 season, there were disagreements between Schembri and the club, and with a possible transfer in sight Sliema Wanderers and Marsaxlokk became interested in his acquisition. In the end, Marsaxlokk finalised the transfer and Schembri joined the club on 29 January 2005. His first goal came in the 2–1 win over Msida Saint-Joseph played on 5 February. His first full season at the club ended with 11 goals to his name, a feat he repeated in the 2006–07 season as Marsaxlokk were crowned league champions for the first time. During the league-winning campaign, Schembri formed an attacking partnership with Daniel Bogdanović who between them scored 42 out of Marsaxlokk's 74 goals.
### German stint
In the summer of 2007, with interest from foreign clubs including OFI Crete, Schembri joined Eintracht Braunschweig on a season-long loan. Playing in the Regionalliga Nord, the third-tier in German football, Schembri made his debut on 31 July in the 2–3 defeat against VfL Wolfsburg II, coming on as a second-half substitute for Lars Fuchs. His first goals came on the tenth matchday, scoring a hat-trick against Energie Cottbus II on 21 September in a 5–0 win. For the final league game of the season, Schembri was suspended by the club for selecting to play in a friendly match for the Maltese national team instead of the promotion decider against Borussia Dortmund II. He finished the season with nine goals, the last being against VfB Lübeck, ending as the club's third top-scorer for the season as Eintracht Braunschweig qualified to the newly-formed 3. Liga.
Schembri's stay in Germany was extended to a further year as in June 2008 he joined 3. Liga side Carl Zeiss Jena on another loan. His first game was on 26 July, when he came in as an 84th-minute substitute for Salvatore Amirante during a 2–2 draw against Jahn Regensburg in a league match. His first goal at the club arrived in the first round of the DFB-Pokal, scoring the opener in the 2–1 win over 1. FC Kaiserslautern. He found the net again in the round of 16 tie against Bundesliga side Schalke which ended in a 1–4 defeat. He finished the season by scoring two goals in the last two matchdays, including the equaliser against Sandhausen, which guaranteed Carl Zeiss Jena's stay in the 3. Liga.
After his contract expired with Marsaxlokk, Schembri joined Austria Kärnten on a two-year deal on 19 June 2009. Amid the club's financial problems and a disappointing start to the season which saw them sitting at the bottom of the table, Schembri was one of few players who was allowed to be released in January 2010. His only goal for the Austrian club came in a 2–3 defeat against Kapfenberger SV on 26 July.
### Ferencváros
Ferencváros signed Schembri in February 2010, teaming up with compatriot Justin Haber who joined the Hungarian club from Sheffield United. He made his debut on 12 March in the 0–0 draw against Nyíregyháza Spartacus. He quickly became a key figure in Ferencváros' attack and was rewarded with a new contract at the end of the season. With the arrival of new manager László Prukner, Schembri was moved as the main forward for Fradi and rose to prominence during the 2010–11 season, scoring his first goal on 1 September in a 3–0 win over Győr. He scored his first hat-trick against Vasas in a 3–1 win, becoming the first Maltese footballer to score a hat-trick in a foreign top-tier league. Two months later, on 20 November, he netted another hat-trick against Lombard Pápa in the 5–0 away win. He added to his tally braces against MTK Budapest and Zalaegerszegi, to finish off the season as the club's highest goalscorer, and the league's second highest, with 16 goals. Ferencváros finished third as they qualified to the first qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League, making a return to European football after a six-year absence.
### Olympiakos Volou
Schembri's contract with Ferencváros ended at the end of the 2010–11 season, and despite concrete interest from Serie A side Chievo, he joined Olympiacos Volou on 7 July 2011. He made his debut a week later, on 14 July, as a last-minute substitute against Rad in the second qualifying round of the Europa League, scoring his first goal for the club in the third qualifying round match played on 28 July, a 3–0 win over Differdange. On the same day, the Greek Super League's disciplinary committee announced the demotion of Olympiakos Volou and Kavala to the Beta Ethniki, the second tier in Greek football, for their involvement in a match-fixing scandal. As the club failed to obtain a license, they were relegated to the Delta Ethniki, the fourth tier in Greek football, as well as being excluded from the current Europa League campaign and given a three-year ban from any European competition by UEFA. As a result of this, the Greek Federation allowed the rescinding of players' contracts and to join other clubs outside of the transfer window.
### Panionios
Following the rescinding of his contract with Olympiakos Volou and his preference to stay in Greece, Schembri joined Panionios, signing a one-year contract on 30 September 2011. He made his debut in the sixth league matchday on 16 October, in the 0–0 draw against PAS Giannina, scoring his first goal in the 1–2 defeat against Atromitos on 29 October. In the match against Aris on 27 November, he scored once and assisted on the winning goal in the 2–1 win, being praised by the media for his performance. At the end of the season, which he concluded with five goals to his name, Panionios and Schembri failed to reach an agreement on his salary and the contract was not renewed.
### Omonia
On 20 August 2012, Cypriot club Omonia signed Schembri on a two-year deal. Before signing for Omonia there was interest from Sampdoria which were ready to make a deal had they not won promotion to Serie A. The first game played was the home win over Ayia Napa on 2 September, scoring on his first start for the club against Enosis on 27 October in a 2–0 win. He ended the season scoring eight goals as Omonia finished third and gained access to the UEFA Europa League second qualifying round. The following season, despite the early exit from the UEFA competition, Schembri further solidified his place and scored his first goal of the season and assisted the third goal in the 4–0 win over Enosis on 14 September 2013. He wrapped up the first round of the championship with 11 goals, including braces against Doxa and Anorthosis Famagusta, as Omonia qualified to the Championship round. With six additional goals in this round, Schembri took his season tally to 17 goals, ending as the league's second highest goalscorer.
During the summer of 2014, with the chance of joining a higher-level league, Schembri joined 2. Bundesliga side FSV Frankfurt. His return in Germany and teaming up with Benno Möhlmann, his former head coach at Eintracht Braunschweig, proved to be a disappointing one as it lasted only six months. With lack of space in the first eleven and a single goal against Hoffenheim in the DFB-Pokal, Schembri rescinded his contract in December. In the same month he agreed to re-join Omonia on an 18-month contract.
In the first game back with Omonia he scored a goal in the 2–0 win over Ethnikos Achna on 10 January 2015. He was instrumental in leading Omonia to the semi-finals of the Cypriot Cup, scoring six goals in six appearances including a hat-trick against Karmiotissa. Omonia qualified to compete in the UEFA Europa League first qualifying round and on 9 July, Schembri scored the winner against Dinamo Batumi which gave Omonia access to the successive round. His goals contribution alongside that of striker Cillian Sheridan helped Omonia push to the top of the table, with Schembri being employed most of the time as the only forward. He finished the league season with 15 goals, although Omonia lost the Cypriot Cup final against Apollon Limassol.
### Boavista
With Schembri's contract coming up at the end of the season, talks between the two parties for an extension were held mid-season amid interest from other Cypriot and Asian clubs. In the end, on 16 June 2016, Primeira Liga club Boavista officially announced Schembri's transfer. In an interview with newspaper Record, Schembri described how he refused other offers with higher salaries in order to fulfill his desire to move to a better league. He made his debut in the opening day of the 2016–17 season in the 2–0 win over Arouca, before being replaced by Diogo Caldas. Schembri scored his first goal, the opener, in the 2–2 draw against Chaves played on 28 August. During the first half of the season he was a mainstay in Boavista's starting eleven under both Erwin Sánchez and his replacement Miguel Leal, even scoring the third goal in a 3–3 draw against Benfica in a match where Boavista were 3–0 up after 25 minutes. With the arrival of Peruvian striker Iván Bulos during the January transfer window he lost his place in the starting eleven, mostly being introduced in the games from the substitutes' bench. In the last game of the season played at home against champions-elect Benfica, Schembri scored the momentary 2–0 goal as Benfica relayed back to level the game in injury time. With lack of space in the first team by the end of the season and with possibly not figuring in manager Miguel Leal's plans for the following season, Schembri and Boavista came to a mutual agreement to rescind his contract ending his stay at the Porto-based club.
### Apollon Limassol
On 13 June 2017, Schembri signed with Apollon Limassol, returning to Cyprus after his earlier stint with Omonia. In his first game played on 13 July, he scored the first in a 3–0 win over Zaria Bălți in the UEFA Europa League second qualifying round. He scored his second goal in as many games in the second leg match played the following week, as Apollon made it through to the third qualifying round. Schembri's form in the Europa League resumed as in the following rounds he struck important goals against Aberdeen (in a 3–2 aggregate win) and Midtjylland (in a 4–3 aggregate win) with Apollon qualifying to the group stage. He ended the qualifying round scoring four goals in six matches and became the second Maltese player to feature in the UEFA Europa League after Luke Dimech. In the Cypriot Super Cup final against APOEL on 9 August, Schembri was introduced as a second-half replacement for Antonio Jakoliš and three minutes from time he scored the winning goal in a 2–1 win for Apollon, their fourth trophy in history. In the group stage match against Atalanta played on 19 October, Schembri scored the temporary equaliser in an eventual 1–3 defeat, although he did not celebrate due to that the death of Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. With this goal he became the first Maltese player to score in the proper rounds of a UEFA competition. His first season back in Cyprus ended with him scoring 14 goals, including a goal in the Cypriot Cup final defeat against AEK Larnaca.
Near the end of the 2018–19 season, Schembri announced that he would leave Apollon at the end of the league campaign. His last game was the 1–2 defeat against Nea Salamis played on 22 May, in which he scored Apollon's only goal.
### Chennaiyin
On 27 August 2019, Schembri signed a one-year contract with Indian Super League (ISL) side Chennaiyin, becoming the first Maltese player to play in India. He made his debut in the first league game of the season, starting in a 3–0 defeat against Goa. His first goal came on 25 November 2019, scoring the opener after coming off the bench in a 2–1 win over Hyderabad, to mark Chennaiyin's first league win of the season. In the same game, he also assisted Nerijus Valskis for the winner in the final minutes of the match. With four additional goals, he helped Chennaiyin finish fourth and qualifying for the Indian Super League playoffs. On 9 March 2020, Schembri announced his retirement from professional football, with his last game being the ISL final against ATK on 14 March.
## International career
Schembri was capped at various youth levels for Malta, starting from the under-14s up to the under-21s. His first game in a UEFA competition was on 5 March 2002 against Armenia, a qualifier for the 2002 UEFA Under-17 Championship, won 1–0.
On 4 June 2006, Schembri made his debut with the Maltese national team in a friendly against Japan, which ended in a 1–0 defeat. His first goals arrived in his fifth cap, in a UEFA Euro qualifier match against Hungary played at Ta' Qali's National Stadium on 11 October 2006. Schembri gave Malta the lead after 14 minutes when following Michael Mifsud's shot which hit the crossbar, he slotted the ball in the net. Hungary equalised five minutes later from a Sándor Torghelle header, however Malta retook the lead six minutes in the second half when Gilbert Agius played a through-ball to Schembri who rounded Gábor Király and slid the ball in an empty net. The match ended in a 2–1 win, with this marking Malta's first competitive win in 13 years, their first win in a UEFA European Championship match in 24 years and their first home win in a competitive match in 31 years. Schembri became a regular figure in Malta's starting eleven and in the same qualifier competition he scored his third international goal, against Turkey, in the fixture played on 8 September 2007. After both teams finished the first half at 1–1, Schembri received a ball from Mifsud and put it past goalkeeper Hakan Arıkan. Turkey equalised a couple of minutes later from Servet Çetin, as the match ended in a 2–2 scoreline.
Schembri captained Malta for the first time on 25 March 2015, in a friendly against Georgia; he ultimately served as captain 16 times. After a 2–0 defeat in the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier against England, played on 8 October 2016, Schembri criticised the Malta Football Association (MFA), the governing body of football in Malta, for the lack of progress done in Maltese football and the lack of initiative in the youth football setups. His stance was supported by many, with the association's president acknowledging the disappointing results in the last 20 years, although he asserted that the MFA had been working in sending Maltese youth to trials abroad. For the following match against Lithuania on 11 October, Schembri was removed as captain and replaced by Michael Mifsud, with the insistence that the decision was a tactical one. In October 2018, he reiterated his stance on the stagnation of Maltese football and the lack of concrete ideas by the governing body to improve it, although he praised the MFA's initiative in assisting youth footballers to foreign leagues.
On 13 November 2018, Schembri announced that he would be retiring from international football following the end of the UEFA Nations League campaign, citing his wish to prolong his club career and to give an opportunity to the younger generation. His last match was on 20 November in the 1–1 draw against the Faroe Islands, finishing off with his 94th appearance.
## Post-playing career
Following his retirement, in June 2020, Schembri was hired as a youth coach for Apollon Limassol, coaching the under-15 team. A year later, he was appointed as football director of the club.
He is a graduate with a sports science degree from the University of Hull, as well as a UEFA B license holder.
## Style of play
Schembri's versatility in forward roles saw him deployed in numerous positions, including an attacking midfielder, a second striker or even a pure striker, as well as playing on the wings.
## Personal life
Schembri is the son of Eric Schembri and grandson of Salvinu Schembri, both former footballers and Maltese internationals. He married Clarissa Ellul, a television presenter, on 3 June 2016 at St. Paul's Church in Rabat. In June 2018, he published an autobiographical book, André Schembri – 10 snin nilgħab fl-Ewropa (André Schembri – 10 years playing in Europe), the first one by a Maltese footballer, detailing his struggles and successes during his career. Since 2017, Schembri and Apollon Limassol have been supporting Dr. Klown, a Maltese non-governmental organisation which provide clown doctor services.
## Career statistics
### Club
Notes
### International
Scores and results list Malta's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Schembri goal.
## Honours
Marsaxlokk
- Maltese Premier League: 2006–07
Apollon Limassol
- Cypriot Super Cup: 2017
Individual
- Malta's Sportsman of the Year: 2010
|
31,063,648 |
U.S. Route 161
| 1,157,968,960 |
Highway in Iowa
|
[
"Former U.S. Highways",
"U.S. Highways in Iowa",
"U.S. Route 61",
"United States Numbered Highway System"
] |
U.S. Highway 161 (US 161) was a U.S. Highway in Iowa that ran from Keokuk to Dubuque by way of Cedar Rapids. It was designated in 1925 and signed in 1926 along two primary highways. The route began at the Mississippi River with US 61 southwest of Keokuk ran north through Mount Pleasant and Iowa City to Cedar Rapids. There, it turned to the northeast through Anamosa and Monticello towards Dubuque. The route ended at US 61 in Key West, a few miles west of Dubuque.
The route changed very little while it was in service. It was paved from end to end by the summer of 1932. In January 1938, it was removed from the US Highway System. From Keokuk to Cedar Rapids, it was replaced by US 218, which was extended southward. From Cedar Rapids to Key West it was replaced by US 151, which was extended westward.
## Route description
US 161 began on the US 61 bridge over the Des Moines River, which represents the border between Missouri and Iowa. The two routes ran concurrently within one-half mile (800 m) of the Mississippi River until they reached Keokuk, where the two routes turned to the northeast and turned away from the river. As the highway curved to the north, it passed the now-unincorporated towns of Mooar and Summitville. Southwest of Montrose, US 61 split off to the northeast to run along the banks of the Mississippi.
After the US 61 split, US 161 continued northeast towards Donnellson along Main Street where it met Iowa Highway 3 (Iowa 3). North of Donnellson, the highway diverted away from the Keokuk and Northwestern Railroad, which the highway had theretofore closely paralleled the railway. As the highway headed due north towards Mount Pleasant, it passed many small communities, but did not enter any of them. West of West Point, it intersected Iowa 103, which served as a shortcut to Fort Madison until 2003. Iowa 16 intersected the highway in northern Lee County.
Shortly after it entered Henry County, US 161 intersected Iowa 125, a short spur highway that connected Salem to the primary highway system. The road headed due north, jogging to the east only slightly to cross the Skunk River. In Mount Pleasant, it intersected US 34 and Iowa 133. Further north, it briefly overlapped Iowa 78 near Olds.
In Washington County, US 161 only intersected two primary highways: Iowa 2 near Ainsworth and Iowa 22 near Riverside. In Johnson County, the highway entered the Iowa City area from the south. Iowa 1 joined US 161 from the southwest and the two routes briefly headed north together. At the banks of the Iowa River, they were joined by US 6, and all three routes crossed the river. US 6 split away from the two routes near the University of Iowa Pentacrest. A few blocks north of campus, Iowa 1 split away to the east. A few more blocks north was the southern end of Iowa 261. North of Iowa City, the highway crossed back over the Iowa River and headed to the northwest towards North Liberty, where it intersected Iowa 153.
US 161 continued to the northwest before turning north at its last Iowa River crossing. It passed through Shueyville and entered Linn County. It entered the Cedar Rapids area from the southwest side, where it intersected US 30 and Iowa 64. The three highways headed to the northeast towards and crossed the Cedar River before entering downtown. East of downtown, US 30 split away to the east near the intersection with Iowa 11. US 161 and Iowa 64 continued northeast towards Marion, where they met Iowa 94 near its downtown. Outside of Marion, they intersected Iowa 13.
Southwest of Anamosa, the two routes met the northern end of Iowa 261. Closer to Anamosa, they crossed the Wapsipinicon River before Iowa 64 split away to the east. Now heading northeast, US 161 traversed the farmland of Jones County. In Monticello, it met the ends of Iowa 38 and Iowa 113. It crossed the South Fork Maquoketa River and headed towards Cascade, where it crossed the north fork of the river. At Cascade, US 161 met the ends of Iowa 136 and Iowa 188. Now in Dubuque County, the highway continued northeast past the New Melleray Abbey. The route ended at an intersection with US 61 in Key West, a few miles west of Dubuque.
## History
US 161 was an original U.S. Highway; it and the rest of the system were designated in 1925 and were signed by the summer of 1926. US 161 replaced parts of two primary roads in eastern Iowa – Primary Road No. 40, which was known as the Red Ball Route, from Keokuk to Cedar Rapids, and Primary Road No. 28, parts of which were known as the Red X Route. The northernmost forty miles (64 km) of US 161 were a part of a territorial and military road from Dubuque to Iowa City. This road, authorized by President Martin Van Buren in 1839, was known as Dillon's Furrow, named after the Dubuque merchant Lyman Dillon who surveyed the route and marked it with a furrow.
Upon designation, only a small portion of US 161 was paved, all of which was located in and around Cedar Rapids. A short section in Keokuk and the remainder of the route north of Cedar Rapids was graveled, but not paved. A \$100 million bond bill (\$ in dollars) passed and approved by a plebiscite in 1928 allowed paving to commence in earnest. The entire routing of US 161 was to be completed within six years. Paving work progressed faster in some counties than it did in others. By 1930, a hard-surfaced road existed from the Missouri state line to Olds in Henry County (55 mi or 89 km) and from Iowa City to northeast of Cascade in Dubuque County (75 mi or 121 km). All 185 miles (298 km) of the route were paved by June 1932.
In January 1938, US 161 was removed from the U.S. Highway System. From Keokuk to Cedar Rapids, it was replaced by US 218, which had previously ended at US 30 south of Vinton. US 218 was extended eastward along US 30 and then southward towards Keokuk. From Cedar Rapids to Key West, it was replaced by US 151, which had previously only existed in Wisconsin. US 151 was routed westward from Madison along US 18 to Dodgeville, then along US 118 to Dickeyville, then along US 61 into Iowa to Key West, and then along US 161 to Cedar Rapids.
## Major intersections
|
4,003,395 |
Loose Fur
| 1,161,499,575 |
American rock supergroup
|
[
"Alternative rock groups from Chicago",
"American post-rock groups",
"Drag City (record label) artists",
"Indie rock musical groups from Illinois",
"Musical groups disestablished in 2006",
"Musical groups established in 2000",
"Wilco"
] |
Loose Fur was an American rock supergroup comprising Wilco members Jeff Tweedy and Glenn Kotche, along with Wilco collaborator and Sonic Youth's multi-instrumentalist Jim O'Rourke. The trio first convened in May 2000 in preparation for a Tweedy performance at a festival in Chicago. Tweedy was offered the opportunity to collaborate with an artist of his choosing, and he decided to work with O'Rourke. O'Rourke brought Kotche to a rehearsal session, and the trio recorded an album's worth of songs. The trio have since released two albums, 2003's Loose Fur and 2006's Born Again in the USA, for Drag City. The band has only toured once.
The band is noted for its influence on Wilco's fourth album, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Tweedy was unhappy with how music from the initial recording sessions for the album was sounding, resulting in a lineup change for the band. Both O'Rourke and Kotche replaced members of Wilco during the recording sessions for the album, and both contributed to the band's recordings through 2007's Sky Blue Sky. Kotche remains a member of Wilco as of 2023.
## Formation
In the winter of 1999, Wilco lead singer Jeff Tweedy acquired a copy of Jim O'Rourke's 1997 album Bad Timing. The album featured four instrumental tracks that juxtaposed guitar parts with orchestration. Tweedy liked how O'Rourke's music was varied and "not easily categorized". According to Tweedy:
> [Bad Timing] ended up blowing my mind more than just about any album I'd heard in the last five years
Tweedy was invited to perform with a collaborator of his choice for the 2000 Noise Pop Festival in Chicago. The festival promoter offered to pair him with members of the Mekons, but Tweedy decided to collaborate with O'Rourke. The pair met at O'Rourke's apartment a few days before the festival. They listened to gramophone records by T. Rex, Phil Niblock, and Roy Harper; later that night they wrote material for the concert and agreed to meet the next day at the Wilco loft in Chicago. O'Rourke invited Glenn Kotche, a drummer who played in a similar musical style, to the practice session. Tweedy found lyrical inspiration from word exercises; for example, he picked out random words from a copy of TV Guide and formed abstract lines such as "you boil hearts and discuss birds". He also sought to improve as a guitarist, taking influence from free jazz artists such as James "Blood" Ulmer.
On May 14, 2000, Jeff Tweedy played the Noise Pop Festival at Double Door in a concert that polarized Wilco fans. Natalie Merchant joined the band onstage, but left after Tweedy requested that she perform Utah Phillips' murder ballad "Rock Salt and Nails". Among the new material performed at the concert was "Laminated Cat", a reworked version of a Wilco demo entitled "Not for the Season"—Tweedy was unhappy with the straightforwardness of Wilco's version. The trio decided to name their band Loose Fur and recorded a six-song album in the summer of 2000. The band also made an uncredited appearance on O'Rourke's 2001 solo album Insignificance. The Loose Fur album was not released at the time because Tweedy was busy recording Wilco's fourth album, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.
## Influence on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
By winter 2000, Wilco had completed enough material for an album release. However, Tweedy was dissatisfied with the "emotional center" of the recordings. He wanted the release to sound more like the music he had recorded with Loose Fur, although he "couldn't put his finger on why." Tweedy wanted the album to advance the sound of Wilco in a similar fashion as Being There and Summerteeth. He became irritated by Wilco drummer Ken Coomer because Coomer disliked playing consistent drum patterns each time that the band played a song. Wilco guitarist Jay Bennett also soured on Coomer because of the drummer's lack of patience and consistency. Although he briefly considered adding Kotche as a secondary percussionist, Tweedy decided to replace Coomer with his Loose Fur bandmate:
> Playing solo shows, playing with Glenn, playing in Loose Fur made me realize how important it was to have Wilco feel like those experiences. I played this whole show in December with a drummer who theoretically didn't know any of the material, and it felt more fluid and exciting than 90 percent of the shows I'd done in the last three or four years. That was too much information to ignore. I became certain that this is how music is supposed to feel, and I got braver about doing something about it.
Kotche re-wrote the drum parts for the album almost immediately upon his acceptance into the band. In one instance, he reworked "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart" by adding parts played on hubcaps, crotales, and floor tiles. Although some members were unsure about the decision to replace Coomer with Kotche, the band unanimously supported the decision after hearing Kotche's new percussion parts. According to Bennett:
> Glenn made the songs happen. He could do what was asked of him and brought good ideas to the table. He's an extramusical drummer—not more or less talented than Ken, but certainly different in the kinds of things he was able to bring to the songs. After that, no one could curse Jeff for sponsoring this great musician into the band. It was the right decision.
Coomer wasn't the only band member that struck a nerve with Tweedy during the recording sessions. Tweedy was unhappy with the way that Bennett mixed parts of the album, particularly the sequences between songs. Tweedy felt that Bennett was "burning out" while mixing the album, and invited Jim O'Rourke to remix "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart". Although Bennett conceded that O'Rourke did a better job of mixing the song, animosity arose between the two engineers. O'Rourke continued to remix more songs, and attempted to increase the drama of the album by reducing the contributions by the backing members of Wilco. He removed so many parts on some songs that only music by Tweedy, Kotche, and himself—the three members of Loose Fur—appeared on those pieces.
## Recording career
On January 28, 2003, Loose Fur released the six-track album that they recorded at the Wilco loft in 2000. Unlike Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Loose Fur featured only one overdub per song. The band played two shows in Brooklyn, NY in support of the album, playing their first live show as "Loose Fur" on December 6, 2002.
In October 2005, Tweedy announced that the band was nearly finished recording their second Loose Fur album. The album, Born Again in the USA, was the first album to consist mostly of O'Rourke lyrics since Insignificance. Unlike their first album, Loose Fur did not tour to support the album. In contrast to their eponymous debut, Born Again in the USA was heavier with more harmonized guitar parts. Both of their albums were received favorably by critics. Tweedy performed "The Ruling Class" and "Laminated Cat" on a solo performance DVD in 2005. Glenn Kotche is still the drummer for Wilco, and Jim O'Rourke is a regular collaborator with the band; both performed on A Ghost Is Born and Sky Blue Sky. In a 2016 interview, Jeff Tweedy confirmed that the band has already recorded a followup to Born Again In The USA, but that the recordings had not yet undergone post-production.
## Discography
|
1,670,819 |
Maryland Route 2
| 1,169,881,914 |
State highway in Maryland, US
|
[
"Roads in Anne Arundel County, Maryland",
"Roads in Baltimore",
"Roads in Calvert County, Maryland",
"State highways in Maryland"
] |
Maryland Route 2 (MD 2) is the longest state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. The 79.24-mile (127.52 km) route runs from Solomons Island in Calvert County north to an intersection with U.S. Route 1 (US 1)/US 40 Truck (North Avenue) in Baltimore. The route runs concurrent with MD 4 through much of Calvert County along a four-lane divided highway known as Solomons Island Road, passing through rural areas as well as the communities of Lusby, Port Republic, Prince Frederick, and Huntingtown. In Sunderland, MD 2 splits from MD 4 and continues north as two-lane undivided Solomons Island Road into Anne Arundel County, still passing through rural areas. Upon reaching Annapolis, the route runs concurrent with US 50/US 301 to the north of the city. Between Annapolis and Baltimore, MD 2 runs along the Governor Ritchie Highway (also known as the Ritchie Highway), a multilane divided highway that heads through suburban areas, passing through Arnold, Severna Park, Pasadena, Glen Burnie, and Brooklyn Park. In Baltimore, the route heads north on city streets and passes through the downtown area of the city.
What became part of MD 2 was originally planned as two different state roads in 1909. The portion between Solomons and Annapolis was built as a gravel road called Solomons Island Road between 1910 and 1915. The portion of road between Annapolis and Glen Burnie was built as part of the Baltimore–Annapolis Boulevard, a road authorized in 1910 to connect Baltimore and Annapolis and was completed in 1924 with the construction of a bridge over the Severn River leading to Annapolis. A state road between Glen Burnie and Baltimore was completed in 1911. MD 2 was designated in 1927 between Solomons and Baltimore, using Solomons Island Road, streets through Annapolis, the Baltimore–Annapolis Boulevard, and the state road between Glen Burnie and Baltimore. MD 2 was marked up to US 1 in Baltimore in 1939. In the 1930s, MD 2 was realigned onto the four-lane Governor Ritchie Highway between Annapolis and Baltimore; the former routing along Baltimore–Annapolis Boulevard became MD 648. Ritchie Highway became a divided highway in 1950. Between the 1930s and the 1950s, several upgrades and realignments occurred to the portion of MD 2 between Solomons and Annapolis. MD 2 was realigned to bypass Annapolis on the US 50 freeway in 1955, with MD 450 replacing the route through Annapolis. The route between Solomons and Sunderland became concurrent with MD 416 in 1960, which was renumbered to MD 4 in 1965. Between the 1960s and the 1980s, MD 2/MD 4 between Solomons and Sunderland was widened into a divided highway, with the bypassed former alignments becoming multiple sections of MD 765. The Ritchie Highway portion of the route was originally the main route between Annapolis and Baltimore until Interstate 97 (I-97) was completed in the 1990s.
## Route description
MD 2 serves as a north–south route located a short distance to the west of the Chesapeake Bay in Calvert and Anne Arundel counties and in the city of Baltimore in Maryland. In Calvert County, the route runs through mostly rural areas, passing through the communities of Solomons Island, Lusby, Port Republic, Prince Frederick, Huntingtown, Sunderland, and Owings. Between Solomons Island and Sunderland, the route runs concurrent with MD 4. In Anne Arundel County, MD 2 runs through rural areas of the southern part of the county before reaching the Annapolis area, where it shares a concurrency with US 50/US 301 on the John Hanson Highway. From Annapolis, the route heads through suburban areas in the northern part of Anne Arundel County as the Ritchie Highway, passing through Arnold, Severna Park, Pasadena, Glen Burnie, and Brooklyn Park. It continues north into Baltimore, where it heads toward its terminus north of the downtown area. At 79.24 mi (127.52 km), it is the longest state highway in Maryland.
### Calvert County
MD 2 heads north on Solomons Island Road, a two-lane undivided road in Solomons Island, Calvert County, from an intersection with Lore Road and an off-ramp from northbound MD 4 known as MD 2G. A short distance later, a portion of MD 765 called MD 765R continues north along Solomons Island Road, while MD 2 merges onto MD 4 at an interchange to form a concurrency with that route on a four-lane divided highway a short distance north of where MD 4 crosses the Patuxent River over the Governor Thomas Johnson Bridge. Upon merging with MD 4, the road continues north as Solomons Island Road, passing commercial areas to the east and a U.S. Navy Recreation Center to the west. It continues north-northeast into wooded areas, with MD 765 running a short distance to the east of the road. This portion of the road, also known as the Louis L. Goldstein Highway in honor of Louis L. Goldstein, a former Comptroller of Maryland, intersects with MD 760 (Rousby Hall Road). MD 2/MD 4 heads north to an intersection with MD 497 (Cove Point Road) and turns north-northwest, passing near Calvert Cliffs State Park.
MD 765 eventually crosses the route in Lusby and runs to the west of it as Pardoe Road, where it is officially called MD 765Q. MD 765 ends at the road a short distance to the north and emerges to the east of the road again as Nursery Road a short distance later. Solomons Island Road intersects MD 2N (Calvert Cliffs Parkway), which provides access to the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant and another segment of MD 765 which runs to the west of the route on Saw Mill Road. MD 2/MD 4 turns to the west, intersecting MD 765 before turning north-northwest again with MD 765 running to the east of the route as St. Leonard Road through the community of St. Leonard. At the intersection with Ball Road/Calvert Beach Road in St. Leonard, the road passes east of a park and ride lot serving MTA Maryland commuter buses. MD 2/MD 4 continues through woodland with some residences and businesses, before turning west at a junction with the western terminus of MD 509 (Governor Run Road) into a mix of farmland and woodland, intersecting MD 264 (Broomes Island Road) and MD 765 again in Port Republic.
Past this intersection, the road continues west through a mix of farms, woods with some residences and businesses. MD 2/MD 4 turns north as it intersects MD 506 (Sixes Road) and a different segment of MD 765 known as MD 765A branches off to the east of MD 2/MD 4 onto Main Street as the road approaches Prince Frederick. The road passes woodland before heading northwest into commercial areas of Prince Frederick. Here, MD 2/MD 4 widens to six lanes before it crosses MD 231. Beyond this intersection, the road passes more businesses, turning north and intersecting MD 765 (Main Street) again. A short distance past MD 765, Solomons Island Road intersects MD 402 (Dares Beach Road). MD 2/MD 4 narrows back to four lanes as it passes more businesses as well as the Calvert Health Medical Center east of the road before heading into areas of farms, woods, and residences. It intersects the western terminus of MD 263 (Plum Point Road), then continues to Huntingtown, where MD 524 loops west of the route into Huntingtown as Old Town Road. A park and ride lot is located southwest of the intersection with the southern terminus of MD 524. Along this stretch, the roadway passes west of Huntingtown High School. Past Huntingtown, the road continues through more rural areas of woodland and farmland with residential areas before MD 2 splits from MD 4 in Sunderland.
At the split, MD 4 heads northwest on four-lane divided Southern Maryland Boulevard while MD 2 heads northeast on two-lane undivided Solomons Island Road. Shortly after splitting from MD 4, the route intersects the eastern terminus of MD 262 (Lower Marlboro Road) before passing east of a park and ride lot serving MTA Maryland commuter buses and heading into woodland with areas of residences and businesses. Another section of MD 765 called Wayside Drive loops to the west of MD 2 for a distance before MD 765 loops again to the east on Mt. Harmony Lane. MD 765 returns to MD 2 past this intersection and MD 778 then loops to the east of the route on Old Solomons Island Road. The route continues north to an intersection with MD 260 (Chesapeake Beach Road) near Owings.
In Calvert County, the daily traffic counts on MD 2 range from a high of 47,681 vehicles at the intersection with MD 402 along the MD 4 concurrency in Prince Frederick to a low of 6,051 vehicles at the southern terminus in Solomons Island in 2007.
### Anne Arundel County
Just past the MD 260 intersection, MD 2 crosses into Anne Arundel County where it continues through a mix of farmland and woodland. It intersects Friendship Road/Sansbury Road at a roundabout, which connects to MD 261, before intersecting MD 778 again. The route junctions with MD 423 (Fairhaven Road). The road proceeds through rural areas with some residences, coming to an intersection with MD 256 (Deale Road). A short distance later, MD 2 crosses MD 258 (Bay Front Road) and passes east of a park and ride lot as it continues north, with former alignments of the road designated as suffixed segments of MD 778. The road reaches Lothian, where it intersects MD 408 (Mount Zion-Marlboro Road) and MD 422 (Bayard Road) at a roundabout.
At the roundabout, MD 2 makes a turn to the northeast, passing through agricultural areas with some homes. The road intersects MD 255 (Owensville Road) before it curves northwest and passes through the community of Harwood, where it turns northeast and heads east of Southern High School. The route continues through rural land and passes through the community of Birdsville. The road heads northeast, with residential development increasing as the road approaches its intersection with MD 214 (Central Avenue). Here, MD 2 widens into a four-lane divided highway and heads through commercial areas, intersecting MD 253 (Mayo Road) adjacent to Lee Airport. Past this intersection, the road traverses residential areas before it crosses over the South River. The former alignments of MD 2 around the bridge are designated as MD 553. Upon crossing the river, MD 2 continues past residential neighborhoods and widens to six lanes. It comes to an interchange with MD 665 (Aris T. Allen Boulevard). Past the MD 665 interchange, the route heads into commercial areas on the outskirts of Annapolis, with MD 393 (Old Solomons Island Road) branching off from the route and paralleling it to the east. MD 2 crosses MD 450 (West Street) before the route merges onto US 50/US 301 and unsigned I-595 (John Hanson Highway).
At the point MD 2 merges onto the John Hanson Highway, the road is eight lanes wide. The road heads through wooded areas, narrowing to six lanes, before coming to an interchange with MD 70 (Rowe Boulevard). At this interchange, the unsigned I-595 designation ends, while US 50/US 301/MD 2 continue northeast on the John Hanson Highway. The route passes under MD 436 (Ridgely Avenue) and runs near residential neighborhoods before crossing over the Severn River on the Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge. After crossing the Severn River, the road comes to an interchange with the Governor Ritchie Highway. Here, MD 2 leaves US 50/US 301 by heading north on the Governor Ritchie Highway while MD 450 continues south into Annapolis on that road.
MD 2 heads north on the Ritchie Highway, a four-lane divided highway, passing through wooded residential areas of Arnold. The route intersects the north end of a segment of MD 648 (Baltimore Annapolis Boulevard), which branches off and runs west of the route a short distance later. It passes the campus of Anne Arundel Community College and intersects College Drive. The road continues through wooded neighborhoods with some businesses, eventually reaching Severna Park. Here, the route heads through commercial areas, intersecting McKinsey Road near the Severna Park Marketplace (formerly the Severna Park Mall). A short distance later, MD 2 intersects MD 648 (Baltimore-Annapolis Road), forming a brief concurrency with that route before MD 648 heads to the east of it again. The road continues past residences before reaching Pasadena. Shortly after, MD 2 intersects the southern end of MD 10 (Arundel Expressway). Past MD 10, the route heads into commercial areas as a six-lane road before coming to an interchange with MD 100.
Immediately past this interchange, the route intersects MD 177 (Mountain Road) and continues north past more businesses and the Marley Station Mall. MD 2 narrows to four lanes again and continues through residential neighborhoods in Glen Burnie. Before the intersection with Fitzallen Road/Aquahart Road, the route passes Harundale Plaza, which was originally the Harundale Mall, the first enclosed mall on the East Coast, built in 1958. The road passes more residences and then businesses before again crossing over MD 648. Past MD 648, the route continues through commercial areas consisting of numerous businesses and runs a short distance to the east of MD 3 Bus. (Crain Highway). It intersects MD 270 (Furnace Branch Road) before MD 3 Bus. merges into MD 2. The route continues north as a six-lane highway and intersects MD 710 (Ordnance Road). It passes more businesses before coming to an exit and southbound entrance with a spur of I-895 (I-895B) that provides access to and from I-97, westbound I-695, and I-895. A short distance later, MD 2 interchanges with I-695 (Baltimore Beltway) at a partial interchange. At this interchange, MD 711 (Arundel Corporation Road) provides the access from eastbound I-695 to MD 2. Past I-695, MD 2 continues north as a four-lane divided highway that runs through residential and commercial areas of Arundel Gardens, intersecting the western terminus of MD 171 (Church Street). Past MD 171, the route passes through more commercial areas in Brooklyn Park before coming to an intersection with MD 170 (Belle Grove Road) at the boundary of Baltimore city.
In Anne Arundel County, the daily traffic counts on MD 2 range from a high of 121,851 vehicles at the west end of the concurrency with the John Hanson Highway in Annapolis to a low of 14,192 vehicles at the intersection with MD 258 in the southern part of the county in 2007.
### Baltimore City
MD 2 enters Baltimore, where it becomes Potee Street and is maintained by the Baltimore Department of Transportation. The route heads through urban residential and commercial areas in the Brooklyn neighborhood, intersecting MD 173 (Patapsco Avenue). A short distance later, it comes to an interchange with I-895 (Harbor Tunnel Thruway) a short distance later that has access from northbound MD 2 to northbound I-895 and from southbound I-895 to southbound MD 2. The route passes under the Curtis Bay Branch of CSX's Baltimore Terminal Subdivision railroad line and splits into a one-way pair consisting of four lanes in each direction, with the northbound direction of MD 2 following Hanover Street and the southbound direction of MD 2 following Potee Street. The route crosses over the Patapsco River and continues into the Cherry Hill neighborhood, running to the west of the Middle Branch of the Patapsco River with Hanover Street passing by Harbor Hospital. Past the Waterview Avenue intersection, MD 2 becomes two-way Hanover Street, a five-lane street. It crosses over the Middle Branch on the Hanover Street Bridge and continues north through industrial areas. MD 2 Truck heads east from the route on McComas Street prior to the interchange with I-95. Past the I-95 interchange, MD 2 heads through the Federal Hill neighborhood through areas of rowhouses as a two-lane street.
At the intersection with Montgomery Street, MD 2 splits into another one-way pair with the northbound direction running east on Montgomery Street and then turning north on Light Street, intersecting MD 2 Truck (Key Highway) and passing by the Maryland Science Center, and the southbound direction following Hughes Street to Hanover Street. Along this one-way pair, the route carries one lane in each direction with the exception of Light Street, where the northbound direction has four lanes. Both directions of MD 2 join again along eight-lane divided Light Street and the route heads toward the Inner Harbor. Near Harborplace, the route splits into another one-way pair with northbound MD 2 running along three-lane Calvert Street and southbound MD 2 running along four-lane St. Paul Street. The route crosses many streets in downtown Baltimore, including Pratt Street, Lombard Street, Baltimore Street, Fayette Street, and Saratoga Street. The one-way pair passes by Mercy Medical Center before coming to US 40. Calvert Street passes under US 40 (the Orleans Street Viaduct) while St. Paul Street splits into two roadways between Lexington Street and Centre Street, with the left roadway passing under US 40 and the right roadway intersecting US 40 as it follows the one-way pair of Franklin Street westbound and Mulberry Street eastbound.
Past US 40, the route heads away from the downtown area and passes more rowhouses. It comes to a partial interchange with I-83 (Jones Falls Expressway), consisting of a ramp from southbound I-83 to southbound MD 2, and crosses over Amtrak's Northeast Corridor railroad line adjacent to Penn Station serving Amtrak and MARC's Penn Line. Past the train station, MD 2 intersects the southern terminus of MD 25, which follows a one-way pair along eastbound Lanvale Street (carrying the southbound direction) and westbound Lafayette Avenue (carrying the northbound direction), before it comes to its northern terminus at US 1 and US 40 Truck (North Avenue).
In Baltimore, the daily traffic counts on MD 2 range from a high of 58,375 vehicles along Light Street near the Inner Harbor to a low of 6,075 vehicles along Hanover Street in the Federal Hill neighborhood in 2005.
## History
### Construction of state highways
Solomons Island Road was one of the original state roads marked for improvement to form a statewide system by the Maryland State Roads Commission in 1909. The highway was graded and surfaced as an improved dirt road from Owings south to Hunting Creek in 1910 and 1911 and from there to Prince Frederick between 1911 and 1913. Solomons Island Road from Prince Frederick south to Solomons was graded and surfaced as a dirt road in 1913 except for two segments: a 14-foot (4.3 m) wide shell road was built through Solomons and a 14-foot (4.3 m) wide gravel road was built for 3.6 miles (5.8 km) through Lusby. This highway was improved to a gravel road for its whole length and several dangerous curves were modified by 1919. Solomons Island Road from Lothian to Edgewater was built as a 14-foot (4.3 m) wide gravel road in 1915. The state road between Edgewater and Annapolis was also finished by 1915.
In 1910, the Maryland General Assembly authorized funding for the construction of a boulevard between Annapolis and Baltimore. This boulevard, which would have a minimum road width of 16 feet (4.9 m), would begin in Annapolis, cross the Severn River, head northwest to Glen Burnie, and continue through Anne Arundel and Baltimore counties to the tracks of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in South Baltimore. The newly formed Maryland State Roads Commission was placed in charge of constructing the new Baltimore–Annapolis Boulevard. The boulevard was constructed as a 16-foot (4.9 m) wide macadam road from the Severn River north to Arnold and from Severna Park to Pasadena in 1910 and 1911. The sections between Arnold and Severna Park and from Pasadena to Glen Burnie were completed in 1912. The boulevard followed much of what is today MD 648, with the major difference being in Pasadena, where instead of following Waterford Road north to MD 177, the boulevard headed northwest along what are discontinuous segments of MD 915 to Lipins Corner.
Unrelated to the Baltimore–Annapolis Boulevard, the commission constructed a 14-to-18-foot (4.3 to 5.5 m) wide macadam road from Glen Burnie to Brooklyn, which was then in Anne Arundel County, in 1915. In Brooklyn, the new highway connected with the south end of the Light Street Bridge that crossed the Patapsco River into Baltimore. With a road completed from Annapolis to Baltimore, the roads commission suggested that it should not be required to complete a road between Glen Burnie and South Baltimore. The commission asked the Maryland General Assembly to pass a bill releasing the commission from the responsibility of completing the highway from Glen Burnie to South Baltimore. However, the Maryland General Assembly disagreed with the Maryland State Roads Commission and passed a bill in 1914 requiring the commission to finish the boulevard between Glen Burnie and South Baltimore. The Baltimore–Annapolis Boulevard north from Glen Burnie to Baltimore was finished in 1916. The final gap in the Baltimore–Annapolis Boulevard was filled when the first modern Severn River Bridge was completed in 1924. This 1,850-foot-long (560 m) concrete bridge, which had a roadway width of 22 feet (6.7 m) and a steel bascule draw with a horizontal clearance of 75 feet (23 m), replaced a narrow one-lane bridge. The entire length of the Baltimore–Annapolis Boulevard was widened to 22 feet (6.7 m) with a pair of 3-foot (0.91 m) wide concrete shoulders by 1927. The highway's bridge over Marley Creek was rebuilt from a width of 16 feet (4.9 m) to 36 feet (11 m) in 1926.
When Maryland assigned state route numbers in 1927, MD 2 was designated between Solomons and Baltimore. The route followed Solomons Island Road from Solomons to west of Annapolis, where it ran concurrent with US 50 into the city on West Street. MD 2 passed through downtown Annapolis on College Avenue and King George Street before it left the city on the Severn River Bridge and continued north along Baltimore–Annapolis Boulevard to Glen Burnie. From Glen Burnie, MD 3 continued along Baltimore–Annapolis Boulevard while MD 2 headed north to Baltimore and connected to Potee Street. MD 2 was designated in Baltimore in 1939 to follow Hanover Street north to US 1.
### Improvements
In 1930, a concrete cut-off was built in Glen Burnie that allowed MD 2 traffic to bypass the community's central intersection to the northeast. In 1934, the Maryland State Roads Commission recommended expanding Baltimore–Annapolis Boulevard to at least 30 feet (9.1 m) in width for its entire length, with a width of 40-foot (12 m) urged from MD 177 to MD 3 and on MD 2 from the center of Glen Burnie to Furnace Branch. The first portion of Governor Ritchie Highway was completed as a four-lane divided upgrade to existing MD 2 from the Baltimore city limit in Brooklyn Park to Furnace Branch in 1934 and 1935. Construction on the remainder of Governor Ritchie Highway began in 1936 and was completed south from Furnace Branch to the Severn River in 1938. All old segments of MD 2 were redesignated MD 648 by 1939, with MD 2 designated on the Governor Ritchie Highway. This highway was named for former Maryland Governor Albert C. Ritchie. The Governor Ritchie Highway portion of MD 2 was upgraded to a divided highway in 1950. Throughout the mid 20th-century, a commercial district developed along MD 2 in Glen Burnie, which included several car dealerships and the Harundale Mall. In 1953, the freeway to the north of Annapolis was completed. A divided highway connector between Solomons Island Road and this freeway was built in 1955, and MD 2 was rerouted to bypass Annapolis along with US 50 on this freeway. The former alignment of US 50 and MD 2 in Annapolis was designated as MD 450.
By 1934, the Maryland State Roads Commission proposed Solomons Island Road be widened from 16 to 18 feet (4.9 to 5.5 m) to 20 feet (6.1 m) from Owings to MD 509. The first upgrades to MD 2 between Solomons and Prince Frederick occurred in 1937, when the highway was widened and resurfaced with bituminous stabilized gravel from Prince Frederick south to Port Republic. The highway was upgraded from Port Republic south through St. Leonard to beyond Quaker Swamp, with several relocations including a relocation at that creek, in 1939 and 1940.
`The MD 2 reconstruction continued south a few miles to the northern end of Lusby in 1942, a stretch widened to 22 feet (6.7 m) and resurfaced with bituminous stabilized gravel. The highway through Lusby was relocated, reconstructed, and surfaced with bituminous stabilized gravel in 1944. The gravel portions of MD 2 from Port Republic to Lusby were bituminous stabilized in 1946. The reconstruction of MD 2 from Prince Frederick to Solomons concluded in 1949 when the highway from Solomons north to the southern end of Lusby was relocated, resurfaced, and surfaced with bituminous stabilized gravel.`
MD 2 originally followed Armory Road through the northern part of Prince Frederick. By 1946, the highway had been relocated to its modern alignment and paved north of Armory Road to Sunderland. The bypassed portion of Armory Road was marked as MD 750 by 1950 but may have been removed from the state highway system by 1952. MD 2 was widened to 27 feet (8.2 m) and resurfaced with bituminous concrete through Prince Frederick in 1950. This improvement occurred contemporaneously with or shortly before the construction of the Prince Frederick bypass; MD 2 moved to the new 24-foot (7.3 m) wide bituminous stabilized gravel highway in the autumn of 1951. The bypass was resurfaced with bituminous concrete in 1954 and 1955. By 1956, the old road through the county seat was marked as the first section of MD 765.
The route was paved between Owings and Edgewater by 1946. MD 2 from Owings to Edgewater starting receiving its first major upgrades in the 1950s, including several relocations of the highway. The bypassed portions of MD 2 became segments of MD 778, with the letter suffix on the highway designation corresponding to the order the sections were bypassed. The highway from Edgewater south to Harwood (then known as Butlers) was widened and resurfaced with bituminous stabilized gravel in 1950 and 1951. MD 2 from Harwood south to Lothian was widened and resurfaced with bituminous stabilized gravel in 1952 and 1953. Old Solomons Island Road between Harwood Road and Polling House Road in Harwood remained part of the state highway system until 1987.
In 1960, MD 416 was designated concurrent with MD 2 between Solomons and Sunderland. In 1965, the MD 416 concurrency was replaced by an overlap with MD 4. Also, MD 2 was shifted to a new alignment between Sunderland and Owings, with the former route becoming MD 765. MD 2/MD 4 was widened to a divided highway between Huntingtown and the split in Sunderland in 1967. The divided highway was extended to south of Huntingtown in 1969, bypassing Huntingtown to the east. The former alignment through the community became MD 524. In 1970, MD 2/MD 4 became a divided highway between Prince Frederick and south of Huntingtown. In January 1978, MD 4 was rerouted north of Solomons onto the Governor Thomas Johnson Bridge over the Patuxent River. In 1979, the divided highway was extended south from Prince Frederick to Port Republic. MD 2/MD 4 was shifted west to a new divided highway between south of St. Leonard to Port Republic in 1981, with the former two-lane routing designated part of MD 765. In 1987, MD 2/MD 4 between Solomons and south of St. Leonard was shifted to a new divided highway. The bypassed alignment through Lusby and Solomons became another part of MD 765.
The Ritchie Highway was originally the main route between Baltimore and Annapolis prior to the completion of I-97 in 1995. Originally, MD 10 was intended to provide a limited-access route between Baltimore and Annapolis, but this route was not completed south of Pasadena after it was deemed that an alternative freeway along the MD 3 corridor (present-day I-97), which required less destruction of residences and businesses, should be built.
In 2010, construction took place to improve the intersection of MD 2/MD 4 and MD 231 in Prince Frederick, widening the road to six lanes in the vicinity of the intersection. This project was the first phase of a larger project to expand MD 2/MD 4 to six lanes between MD 765 south of Prince Frederick and Stoakley Road north of Prince Frederick. In 2018, construction began on the second phase of widening between north of the MD 231 intersection and Fox Run Boulevard. The widening of this section was completed on November 23, 2020.
## Junction list
## Related routes
### Maryland Route 2 Truck
Maryland Route 2 Truck is a truck bypass of the Federal Hill neighborhood south of downtown Baltimore, Maryland, United States. The route runs east from MD 2 (Hanover Street) on McComas Street, paralleling I-95. From McComas Street, at exit 55 of I-95 just west of the Fort McHenry Tunnel, the route continues onto Key Highway and heads north and west to MD 2 (Light Street), mostly paralleling the Northwest Harbor and serving the piers on the harbor.
The road was laid out to a width of 160 feet (50 m) from Light Street to Locust Point in the early 1910s, providing better access to the new city-owned piers in preparation for increased trade via the Panama Canal and existing steamship lines to Europe. It was named Key Highway because it was originally planned to extend to Fort McHenry, near where Francis Scott Key wrote "The Star-Spangled Banner." However, the extension of the road to the fort was never built. A rail line ran the length of Key Highway, connecting to the tracks in Pratt Street via Light Street. A two-lane extension of the highway and rail line was built in 1930, branching off the old route east of Ludlow Street and running south under Fort Avenue to McComas Street. The short portion of the old road east of the extension is now East Key Highway; the rail tracks have been removed.
### Auxiliary routes
- MD 2A runs along an unnamed road from a dead end north to an intersection with MD 2/MD 4 in Lusby, Calvert County, where it continues as MD 765. The route is 0.13 mi (0.21 km) long.
- MD 2AB runs along an unnamed road from MD 778N east to MD 2 in Anne Arundel County. The route is 0.04 mi (0.064 km) long.
- MD 2AC runs along Monticello Drive from MD 2/MD 4 north to a cul-de-sac in Lusby, Calvert County. The route is 0.39 mi (0.63 km) long.
- MD 2AD runs along Solomons Island Road from the interchange with I-595/US 50/US 301/MD 2, where the road heads south as part of MD 2, north to Jennifer Road, where the road becomes Medical Parkway, in Annapolis, Anne Arundel County. The route is 0.20 mi (0.32 km) long.
- MD 2AE runs along Coster Mill Bridge Road from MD 2T/MD 2Z east to MD 2/MD 4 in Lusby, Calvert County. The route is 0.03 mi (0.048 km) long.
- MD 2AF runs along Nursery Road from MD 2/MD 4 east to MD 765P in Lusby, Calvert County. The route is 0.04 mi (0.064 km) long.
- MD 2AG runs along an unnamed road from MD 4, heading south before curving east under the Governor Thomas Johnson Bridge before ending at Solomons Island Road south in Solomons, Calvert County. The route is 0.20 mi (0.32 km) long.
- MD 2B runs along an unnamed road that parallels MD 2/MD 4 to the west, coming to dead ends on both ends and intersecting MD 2H along the way, in Lusby, Calvert County. The route is 0.29 mi (0.47 km) long.
- MD 2C runs along Henry Court from MD 2K north to a dead end in St. Leonard, Calvert County. The route is 0.14 mi (0.23 km) long.
- MD 2D runs along David Gray Road and Kingsberry Drive from a dead end north to a private driveway in St. Leonard, Calvert County, intersecting MD 2O. The route is 0.14 mi (0.23 km) long.
- MD 2E runs along an unnamed road that parallels MD 2/MD 4 to the west, coming to dead ends on both ends and intersecting MD 2I along the way, in St. Leonard, Calvert County. The route is 0.25 mi (0.40 km) long.
- MD 2F runs along an unnamed road from a dead end north to MD 765S in St. Leonard, Calvert County. The route is 0.14 mi (0.23 km) long.
- MD 2G runs along an unnamed road from MD 4 east to the southern terminus of MD 2 in Solomons, Calvert County, where it continues as Lore Road. The route is 0.03 mi (0.048 km) long.
- MD 2H runs along an unnamed road from MD 2B east to MD 2/MD 4 in Lusby, Calvert County. The route is 0.03 mi (0.048 km) long.
- MD 2I runs along an unnamed road from MD 2E, where it continues west as West End Boulevard, east to MD 2/MD 4, where it continues east as MD 2J, in St. Leonard, Calvert County. The route is 0.03 mi (0.048 km) long.
- MD 2J runs along Western Shores Boulevard from MD 2/MD 4, where it continues west as MD 2I, east to MD 765 in St. Leonard, Calvert County. The route is 0.13 mi (0.21 km) long.
- MD 2K runs along Lancaster Drive from MD 2C east to MD 2/MD 4 in St. Leonard, Calvert County. The route is 0.03 mi (0.048 km) long.
- MD 2L runs along Parran Road from a bridge over Leonard Creek northeast to MD 2/MD 4 in St. Leonard, Calvert County. The route is 0.11 mi (0.18 km) long.
- MD 2M runs along an unnamed road from a dead end north to MD 2/MD 4 in Lusby, Calvert County. The route is 0.10 mi (0.16 km) long.
- MD 2N runs along Calvert Cliffs Parkway from MD 2/MD 4 east to the entrance of the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant in Lusby, Calvert County. The route is 0.11 mi (0.18 km) long.
- MD 2O runs along David Gray Road from MD 2D east to MD 2/MD 4 in St. Leonard, Calvert County. The route is 0.04 mi (0.064 km) long.
- MD 2P runs along White Sands Drive from Heron Lane east to MD 2/MD 4 in Lusby, Calvert County. The route is 0.14 mi (0.23 km) long.
- MD 2Q runs along an unnamed road from MD 2/MD 4 east to MD 765Q in Lusby, Calvert County. The route is 0.06 mi (0.097 km) long.
- MD 2S parallels MD 2/MD 4 to the west, running from two dead ends and intersecting MD 2Y, in Lusby, Calvert County. The route is 0.15 mi (0.24 km) long.
- MD 2T runs along Coster Road from the beginning of state maintenance north to MD 2AE/MD 2Z in Lusby, Calvert County. The route is 0.28 mi (0.45 km) long.
- MD 2V runs along Dowell Road from MD 765Q/MD 765R northwest to MD 2/MD 4 in Solomons, Calvert County. The route is 0.03 mi (0.048 km) long.
- MD 2W runs along Creston Lane from MD 765X east to MD 2/MD 4 in Solomons, Calvert County. The route is 0.03 mi (0.048 km) long.
- MD 2X runs along Newtown Road from MD 765R east to Schooner Loop in Solomons, Calvert County. The route is 0.03 mi (0.048 km) long.
- MD 2Y runs along Mystic Lane from MD 2/MD 4 northwest to MD 2S in Lusby, Calvert County. The route is 0.02 mi (0.032 km) long.
- MD 2Z runs along Mill Bridge Road from MD 2AE/MD 2T north to the end of state maintenance in Lusby, Calvert County. The route is 0.11 mi (0.18 km) long.
## See also
- List of state highways in Maryland
|
835,151 |
Jimmie Rodgers
| 1,173,132,522 |
American country singer (1897–1933)
|
[
"1897 births",
"1933 deaths",
"20th-century American guitarists",
"20th-century American male musicians",
"20th-century American singers",
"20th-century deaths from tuberculosis",
"American Freemasons",
"American acoustic guitarists",
"American country guitarists",
"American country singer-songwriters",
"American male guitarists",
"American male singer-songwriters",
"Bluebird Records artists",
"Burials in Mississippi",
"Country Music Hall of Fame inductees",
"Country musicians from Alabama",
"Country musicians from Mississippi",
"Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners",
"Guitarists from Alabama",
"Guitarists from Mississippi",
"Members of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks",
"Mississippi Blues Trail",
"Musicians from Meridian, Mississippi",
"People from Kerrville, Texas",
"People from Sumter County, Alabama",
"RCA Victor artists",
"Singer-songwriters from Alabama",
"Singer-songwriters from Mississippi",
"Singer-songwriters from Texas",
"Tuberculosis deaths in New York (state)",
"Yodelers"
] |
James Charles Rodgers ((1897-09-08)September 8, 1897 – (1933-05-26)May 26, 1933) was an American singer-songwriter and musician who rose to popularity in the late 1920s. Widely regarded as "the Father of Country Music", he is best known for his distinctive yodeling. Rodgers was known as "The Singing Brakeman" and "America's Blue Yodeler". He has been cited as an inspiration by many artists, and he has been inducted into multiple halls of fame.
Originally from Meridian, Mississippi, Rodgers was the son of a railroad worker. During his early childhood, the family moved according to the needs of his father's employment, or Rodgers' own poor health. As a teenager, he was musically influenced by the diverse vaudeville shows that he often attended. At the age of 13, Rodgers won a local singing contest, and then traveled through the Southern United States with a medicine show. After his father took him back home to Meridian, Rodgers dropped out of school and joined the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, starting as a waterboy. He eventually became a brakeman, among performing other functions. During his time working with different railroad companies, the singer further developed his musical style; he was influenced by the gandy dancers and their impromptu blues performances. Rodgers was diagnosed with tuberculosis in 1924. By 1927, he stopped working for the railroad as a result of his health and decided to focus on his music career.
In 1927, Rodgers joined the Tenneva Ramblers band, who at the time were working at a radio station. After the band was fired from their spot, they worked in different resorts in the Blue Ridge Mountains. There, Rodgers became aware of the field recordings that Victor Talking Machine Company's engineer Ralph Peer was to undertake in Bristol, Tennessee. During what later became known as the Bristol sessions, Rodgers recorded solo, as he was deserted by his band after a disagreement. A second session with Rodgers was later arranged in Camden, New Jersey, at the singer's own insistence; that session produced "Blue Yodel No. 1 (T for Texas)". The song became a success, propelling Rodgers to national fame and beginning his recording career with the label, during which he produced over 100 songs.
## Early life
The Rodgers family migrated to the United States from Ireland before the American revolution. They settled around the Appalachian Mountains, and later moved to the Southern and Western United States. Both of Jimmie Rodgers' grandfathers served in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. After the war, his maternal grandfather settled in Meridian, Mississippi, while his paternal grandfather settled around Geiger, Alabama. Rodgers' father, Aaron, worked for the Mobile and Ohio Railroad. He eventually became a foreman, and, in 1884, he married Eliza Bozeman. The couple lived in the railroad work camps as Aaron Rodgers moved through different locations along the line. The Rodgers family then temporarily settled in the community of Pine Springs, north of Meridian.
Charles James "Jimmie" Rodgers was born on September 8, 1897. His place of birth is disputed: Meridianwhich Rodgers often called his home townis most often listed in records, while Rodgers would later sign a document that named Geiger, Alabama. Incapable of living in the unsanitary conditions of the camps, Rodgers' mother decided to stay in Pine Springs while her husband worked long stays and returned home. After two miscarriages, her health began to fail. She became sick and Aaron Rodgers quit his job at the Mobile and Ohio Railroad and started to farm to be closer to his wife. She died in 1903. Then-six-year-old Jimmie Rodgers was deeply affected by his mother's death. Rodgers was sent, along with his brother Talmage, to live with relatives of his father in Scooba, Mississippi, and later to Geiger. Rodgers attended school irregularly during his early childhood; he did not attend at all for a time following the death of his mother. After the family moved to Lowndes County, Mississippi, he and his brother went to school in the town of Artesia. Rodgers and his brother often arrived late to or missed school altogether as a result of road conditions and other distractions. Rodgers often missed classes during the winter due to his tendency to suffer from respiratory issues.
His father remarried and the family moved to Meridian, where Rodgers was enrolled at the local high school. He and his siblings had issues with their new step-mother. When his father returned to work for the railroad, Rodgers again rarely went to school. Instead, he and his brother Jake went to the local theaters to see vaudeville shows and watch movies. As a result, Rodgers became interested in the entertainment industry. To support his expenditures, he sold newspapers and molasses, or he panhandled. In 1906, he was sent to live with his older brother Talmage and their aunt Dora Bozeman in Pine Springs, while his brother Jake was sent to other relatives. The routine of the Bozeman household grounded Rodgers with chores and he spent most of his free time outdoors. He started to attend school regularly and he was further assisted by his teacher, who rented a room at his aunt's boarding house. Rodgers received most of his schooling while he lived there until he went back to Meridian in 1911.
Upon his return to Meridian, he went back to the streets. He frequented the barbershop of his uncle Tom Bozeman and he often slept during the daytime in the upstairs apartment. He organized a neighborhood carnival that played the nearby towns. Rodgers' appearances made enough money to pay for the sheets he used as a tent. He then organized a second show, which he financed with his father's money, unbeknownst to him. Rodgers then won a contest at the local Elite Theater for his performance of the songs "Steamboat Bill" and "I Wonder Why Bill Bailey Don't Come Home". Following his success, Rodgers started to perform with a medicine show. He quit the show some weeks later as they reached Birmingham, Alabama, because he had constant issues with the director. At the age of thirteen, he started working for a tailor in West Blocton, Alabama, until, months later, his father took him back to Meridian with the intention of enrolling him at a new school. Soon after, his step-mother died. Instead of attending school, Rodgers followed his father to learn his profession with the working crews of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad.
Rodgers started working for the railroad as a waterboy for the black gandy dancer crews, who introduced him to their jargon and blues music. Eventually, he became a baggage handler and then a brakeman. He moved often while working on the lines from Mississippi to Texas. In January 1917, he was introduced by a friend to Stella Kelly in Durant, Mississippi. At the time, he was moving between Jackson and New Orleans without a stable location. He maintained the lines, checked baggage and at times worked as a dishwasher at a local restaurant in Durant. He and Kelly married on April 6, 1917. The newlyweds left Durant after Rodgers failed a mechanic apprenticeship and moved to Louisville, Mississippi, where he again worked as a brakeman. After his marriage failed, Rodgers started working for the New Orleans and Northeastern Railroad (NO&NE). He spent time in both Meridian and New Orleans. Rodgers was fired from the NO&NE in 1920 and he worked odd jobs. In the early 1920s, he returned to work stints on the railway lines where he had previously worked, as well as on the Vicksburg, Shreveport and Pacific Railway. He worked mainly as a brakeman, but he also performed other functions, including flagman.
## Music career
In 1924, Rodgers was diagnosed with tuberculosis at the age of 27. The disease affected his ability to perform his work and he chose to move with his wife and children to Arizona, following the medical advice of the time, which suggested high and dry places to ease the symptoms. Then, Rodgers moved to Asheville, North Carolina. As he worked less on the railroads and his foreman complained of his extended absences, he returned to performing music. Rodgers formed a jazz-style band that performed pop standards with the inclusion of horns and the piano accompaniment of his new wife Carrie McWilliams' sister, Elsie McWilliams. The group played on the road in tents, on city streets and in various other small locations without any commercial success. In 1927, Rodgers left his work on the railroad. In Asheville, he met the Grant Brothers, who led the mountain music string band the Tenneva Ramblers. Rodgers convinced the group to join him as the Jimmie Rodgers Entertainers, with him as the lead singer for a recurrent, unpaid spot he managed to obtain at WWNC. The band was composed of Rodgers (vocals and guitar), Claude Grant (vocals and guitar), Jack Grant (mandolin), Jack Pierce (fiddle) and, at times, Claude Sagle (banjo).
After the group was fired from the radio show, they found a job performing at a resort in the Blue Ridge Mountains. There, Rodgers heard of the upcoming field recordings that engineer Ralph Peer of the Victor Talking Machine Company was to undertake in Bristol, Tennessee, in search of local talent. Rodgers made an appointment for the band to record with Peer on August 4, 1927. Before the scheduled recording, the band had a dispute with the singer regarding the name to be used on the label of the recording. The Tenneva Ramblers then deserted Rodgers, who convinced Peer to record him alone with his guitar. Peer later commented that he considered Rodgers an individualist, who, due to his blues-leaning style, was incompatible with the sound of the Tenneva Ramblers band, which based its music around the use of fiddles. By the end of Rodgers' session, Peer felt that although he liked the singer, he could not sign him to the label as he was performing pop music that belonged to New York publishers, instead of the original tunes that Peer was scouting for. The session produced "The Soldier's Sweetheart", an adaptation of an old vaudeville tune with new lyrics by Rodgers, and a version of the showtune "Sleep, Baby, Sleep".
After the session, Peer told Rodgers that he would contact him at a later date to hear new original material. Rodgers then moved with his family to Washington, D.C., and the record sold some copies. After a month of not hearing back from Peer, Rodgers decided to travel to New York City, where he checked into the Manger Hotel and called the producer to let him know that he was ready to undertake his next recording session. Impressed by Rodgers' boldness, Peer set an appointment for November 30, 1927, at Studio 1 of the Victor Talking Machine Company in Camden, New Jersey. The first few numbers that Rodgers tried did not appeal to Peer, as they were once again not original material. Rodgers then attempted a number he had been working on using yodeling, which Peer called "Blue Yodel".
When "The Soldier's Sweetheart" / "Sleep, Baby, Sleep" record started to sell well, Victor decided to advance the release of "Blue Yodel". In Washington, D.C., Rodgers worked a stint for the station WTTF with the backing of the "Jimmie Rodgers' Southeners", while he continued to make records for the label. He used the band for his recordings of "In the Jailhouse Now" and "The Brakeman's Blues", among others.
As 1928 progressed, "Blue Yodel" became a major success. The song marked the first of a series of blue yodels. The unknown origin of Rodgers' yodel has been attributed to several sources, including traditional alpine songs, its use by gandy dancers and its use in vaudeville and minstrel shows. The yodels presented a main character who often exaggerated his qualities as a lover, faced the threat of other men taking his woman and then used violence against them when they did. The yodeler also boasted of promiscuity with the use of double entendres. With the release of further songs of the series,"Blue Yodel" was later renamed on the catalogs to "Blue Yodel No. 1 (T for Texas)". "Blue Yodel No. 1" became the singer's most successful recording, with over a million copies sold during his lifetime. Soon, Rodgers' show billed him as "America's Blue Yodeler".
Following the release of "If Brother Jack Were Here", Victor was threatened with a lawsuit by Joseph W. Stern & Co. for copyright infringement of their original composition "Mother Was a Lady". As a result, the label renamed the record and Peer began to carefully assess the material brought by Rodgers. The singer often arrived to the recording sessions short of material and he resorted to passing off old vaudeville and minstrel show songs as his own. After Peer rejected several songs, Rodgers contacted his sister-in-law, Elsie McWilliams, to help him with the composition of new material. Few of the songs credited to Rodgers were authored by himself; McWilliams wrote most of his Blue Yodels and Rodgers also hired amateur composers to write other songs. With McWilliams' help, he would also write compositions of his own, which she remarked Rodgers would not stop working on until they "sounded just right". With the sales of his records still improving after the release of "In the Jailhouse Now", Rodgers embarked on a tour of the United States: he appeared on the Southern Time circuit of Loews Theaters and the East Coast circuit of Publix Theaters. The pairing of "Blue Yodel No. 4 (California Blues)" / "Waiting for a Train" became popular due to the success of the flipside record. The recording would eventually become Rodgers' second best seller of his career, with a total of 365,000 copies sold during his lifetime.
In February 1929, Rodgers' health worsened. Against his doctor's consistent recommendations to rest, Rodgers proceeded with his tour. During a stop in Meridian, he suffered a fever. Rodgers intended to perform the show, but he collapsed on the dressing room floor shortly before its start. His doctor ordered an x-rayan uncommon procedure at the timeand determined that the singer was suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis, which affected his lungs. Cavities were found on the top of both lungs, while the bottom of his right lung showed pleurisy. As they traveled through Texas performing, Jimmie and Carrie Rodgers stopped in Kerrville. The town offered the dry air and mild weather that the medical authorities of the time considered necessary for the treatment of tuberculosis. Kerrville was home to multiple sanatoriums and a Veterans Hospital, which specialized in pulmonary disease. As Rodgers was badly affected by the weather in Washington, D.C., Meridian and Asheville, he decided to settle in Kerrville. The construction of his new home began in April 1929. With a total cost of approximately \$20,000 (), he named it "Blue Yodeler's Paradise". With his move to Texas, Rodgers' on-stage attire changed. He had previously worn brakeman's working clothes, which he replaced with regular clothes and a cowboy hat. On June 14, 1929, he performed at the inaugural event of San Antonio's Majestic Theatre.
At the height of this career, in 1929, Rodgers made approximately \$75,000 () in royalties. After the Wall Street Crash that year, while his records continued to sell, his royalties dropped to approximately \$60,000 (). "Waiting for a Train" continued to be popular, as the themes depicted in the song became commonplace in the lives of unemployed Americans during the Great Depression. Through a number of field recording sessionsmade as his schedule and tour allowed itRodgers increased his catalog. By November 1929, he had filmed The Singing Brakeman at the Victor Talking Machine Studios in Camden. Continuing his tour, in late February 1930, Rodgers collapsed again during a stop in Carthage, Mississippi. After he suffered a hemorrhage, Rodgers followed his doctor's advice and canceled his third appearance at the local movie house. Despite his condition, Rodgers then joined a four-month tour with daily appearances on Swain's Hollywood Follies. Rodgers and his musical troupe performed a total of 70 shows. With few of his recordings left to be released, Rodgers headed to Los Angeles to produce new material in June–July 1930. The sessions produced, among other numbers, "Blue Yodel no. 8, Mule Skinner Blues" and "Blue Yodel No. 9 (Standin' on the Corner)" featuring Louis Armstrong. Rodgers commissioned Ray Hall, at the time a prisoner at the Texas State Penitentiary, to help him write the song "T.B. Blues" after McWilliams refused to help. Rodgers recorded and released the composition in 1931.
In the summer of 1931, Rodgers recorded two sides with the Carter Family. That year, his health quickly deteriorated and his sales fell to an average of 30,000 copies per record as the Great Depression progressed. Meanwhile, his excessive expenditures forced him to sell his Kerrville home. "Rodgers' Puzzle Record", a compilation containing three recordings of the singer on one side, was released in England, India, and Australia in 1931. The same year, the singer accepted an offer to make appearances, when available, on San Antonio radio station KMAC's Tuesday show. When he was on tour, The Jimmie Rodgers Show played his Victor recordings. In April 1932, he renegotiated his contract with the label: Rodgers was to receive \$25,000 () for 24 sides to be released monthly, with the singer receiving \$250 () in advance payment per side.
### Declining health and death
As his health condition worsened, Rodgers reduced his appearances on tour schedules from five days to one per venue; he also camped in a tent, which allowed for better air circulation. A number of concerts were cut short because of his condition, while others were cancelled. Until 1932, Peer took trips for field sessions to record Rodgers in Atlanta, New Orleans and Dallas. After Victor ended his field sessions, Rodgers traveled to Camden, to record at the company's studios. Rodgers managed to produce ten sides, with regular rest between takes. Realizing the state of health of the singer, Peer arranged a follow-up session to create a backlog for the Rodgers catalog. Rodgers then returned to San Antonio, where he spent most of his time in bed until, in October of that year, he resumed his appearances on the local radio station. In the early winter of 1932, he made appearances throughout East Texas until he collapsed during a show in Lufkin and was placed in an oxygen tent. He then stopped performing at KMAC and stayed at home while he arranged a new recording session with Peer for May.
Rodgers and his personal nurse, Cora Bedell, traveled to New York City on the SS Mohawk and arrived on May 14, 1933. Peer left the singer to rest at his usual lodging, the Taft Hotel (earlier The Manger), for a few days before the session. Meanwhile, he assigned Rodgers a driver, known as Castro. The recording session, with Fred Maisch engineering, began on May 17 at Victor's New York studios at 153 E 24th Street. During the first two days, Rodgers recorded six numbers. The singer sat on an easy chair and was propped up by pillows to reach the microphone; the sessions were often paused as a result of his health. A new session was scheduled for May 24, 1933. Rodgers produced four songs and lay on a cot between takes. At the end of the day, he was helped into a cab and returned to his hotel. The next day, he recovered and then visited Coney Island with his driver. When returning, Rodgers decided to walk the last few blocks to the hotel, but he needed help to return to his room. He then suffered an intense cough, which eventually stopped. At midnight, he resumed coughing and began to hemorrhage. The hotel's doctor could not be found and Castro, who was out on an errand, returned too late to take him to a hospital. Rodgers fell in a coma and he died soon after.
Rodgers' pearl-gray casket was placed on a raised platform covered in lilies in a baggage car and taken back to Meridian by the Southern Railway on a trip operated by former workmates of Rodgers. On May 29, 1933, his body lay in state at the local Scottish Rite Cathedral. That afternoon, escorted by members of the Scottish Rite, the Hamasa Shrine Temple and the Knights of Pythias, his body was buried at Oak Grove Cemetery. During his lifetime, Rodgers reinvigorated the deflated sales record market for the Victor Talking Machine Company, and, despite the drop of sales during the depression, his records continued to sell well. At the time of his death, his sales represented 10% of the total for the label.
## Style and image
Rodgers recalled his earliest memories of playing the guitar upon returning from picking cotton during his childhood. Although he performed with the instrument for many years, he only knew a few chords, which he complemented with a flatpicking technique. As he worked on the railroads through the late 1910s and the 1920s, he developed his style of music and singing. His material was based on classic anglo-celtic storytelling and ballad singing and black blues heavily influenced him. Ethnomusicologist Norm Cohen defined five categories for the 112 recordings that make up Rodgers' catalog: "19th century sentimental ballads", vaudevillian novelty songs, blues songs, traditional folk songs and "contemporary hillbilly songs". Rodgers' releases included collaborations with artists ranging from jazz performers to Hawaiian musicians.
Instead of the 3/4 time present in traditional alpine folk music, Rodgers' yodel featured a 4/4 time. Rodgers developed his yodel through his early music career; he was likely influenced by several vaudevillian performers or by the recordings and live performances of Emmett Miller. From the gandy dancers, Rodgers learned to elongate or shorten words to fit the metric of a song. He also carried a banjo or a guitar with him as he worked on the railroads. His live performances and recordings included the use of spoken remarks between verses to encourage his musicians, or exclamations when he played alone. Additionally, Rodgers developed a train whistle noise, which he made with the back of his throat through a mixture of a yodel and a whistle.
During his early appearances, Rodgers donned a bowler hat with a suit and a tie in the style of vaudevillian performers. When he was later billed as "The Singing Brakeman", Rodgers added railroad worker attire to his stage wardrobe. After he moved to Texas, he started to wear cowboy hats and western clothes, similar to the singing cowboys which were becoming popular in Western films. Rodgers would ultimately decide which clothes he would wear for a performance according to the audience he was expecting.
## Personal life
Rodgers married Stella Kelly on May 1, 1917, when they were both 19 years old. They separated soon after due to what Kelly later described as Rodgers' tendency to procrastinate and drink, and his lack of ambition. She believed that Rodgers spent too much money and that by playing music he "fool away his time and money". After two years of living apart, their divorce became final in November 1919. Rodgers then married Carrie Williamson on April 7, 1920. Their first daughter, Anita, was born in January 1921. June, their second child, was born in 1923, but she died in December of that year. To return in time for her funeral and Christmas, Rodgers had to pawn his banjo. Both of his wives complained of Rodgers' excessive expenditures, and later his lavish lifestyle. Rodgers resorted to drinking to ease the pain caused by his tuberculosis.
On June 9, 1932, Rodgers lost a paternity lawsuit to his former wife Stella. She alleged that Rodgers was the father of her daughter, Kathryn Rodgers, who was born in February 1918. Although there was no conclusive evidence that Rodgers had slept with Kelly at the time of the child's conception, judge Edgar Vaught held that she was conceived in legal wedlock. Rodgers was ordered to pay \$50 in child support monthly until Kathryn reached 18 years of age. After Rodgers' death, the monthly support from his estate stopped when she married. Kathryn Rodgers died soon after, in 1938.
Rodgers was a Freemason. He was inducted to the order in Meridian on August 9, 1920. In 1930, he joined the Elks lodge. In 1931, he reached the rank of Master Mason in Meridian. That year, he was moved to the San Antonio Scottish Rite Cathedral and received the local degree. He was also associated with the Alzafar Temple. In 1931, Rodgers was invited to Austin, Texas and named an honorary Texas Ranger. To commemorate the occasion, the singer would later release the song "The Yodeling Ranger".
## Legacy
### Influence
Rodgers is considered the Father of Country Music. The Country Music Hall of Fame inducted Rodgers among the inaugural class of 1961. According to the Hall of Fame, Rodgers "brought to the emerging genre of 'hillbilly music' a distinctive, colorful personality and a rousing vocal style" that "created and defined the role of the singing star in country music". The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted Rodgers as an early influence with the class of 1986. Rodgers was inducted by Jerry Wexler, as the Hall of Fame determined that the genre "owes an immeasurable debt" to the singer, and that, despite being a country music singer, "his fusion of blues, Appalachian ballads and spirituals was an early framework for rock and roll" that influenced "everyone from Bob Dylan to Lynyrd Skynyrd". The Blues Hall of Fame wrote about Rodgers induction: "His reworkings of the blues not only helped popularize the music with white audiences but were also performed by many singers from the African American community that produced the blues that inspired Rodgers in the first place". Rodgers was the first artist inducted to the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970 for his influence in artists of "every genre" through music that "fused hillbilly, gospel, blues, jazz, pop and mountain folk music into timeless American standards". That same year, he was inducted to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. The entry on Rodgers remarked on his "undying" influence on multiple generations of musicians. He was also inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame and the Blue Ridge Music Hall of Fame in 1993 and 2018 respectively.
For Encyclopædia Britannica, Rodgers' legacy made him "one of the principal figures in the emergence of the country and western style of popular music". Rolling Stone magazine placed Rodgers at number 11 on the 100 Greatest Country Artists of All Time list, and at number 88 on their 200 Greatest Singers of All Time list. Allmusic has described Rodgers as "the first nationally known star of country music", noted his influence on later musicians and declared that the singer "affected the history of country music by making it a viable, commercially popular medium".
Country singers Gene Autry and Jimmie Davis, as well as western swing singer Tommy Duncan, were heavily influenced by Rodgers. Autry, Davis and Duncan recorded multiple songs of his repertoire, including yodeling tracks, until they changed their styles to avoid being deemed imitators. As a teenager, Hank Snow heard Rodgers' "Blue Moon and Skies" on the radio. Snow started to imitate Rodgers' guitar playing and singing style, and he would later credit him as his one major influence. Ernest Tubb also considered Rodgers to be his greatest influence. Early in his career, Tubb kept a picture of Rodgers, which at one point became worn out. He then decided to call Rodgers' widow to obtain a new copy. Carrie Rodgers invited him and his family to her home. Eventually, she decided to help Tubb with his career: they recorded a duet of the tribute song "We Miss Him When the Evening Shadows Fall" and Carrie presented Tubb with Rodgers' guitar as a gift. Robert Johnson's step-sister, Annye, remembered Rodgers as their favorite country singer. Johnson played "Waiting for a Train" and imitated Rodgers' yodel. Other artists that have been influenced by Rodgers include Lefty Frizzell, Roy Rogers, Eddy Arnold, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Lynyrd Skynyrd, John Fahey, and Alison Krauss. Rodgers' appearance on The Singing Brakeman is considered one of the first music videos.
In South Africa, Rodgers' records were distributed by Regal Zonophone Records. In his autobiography, Down Second Avenue, writer Es'kia Mphahlele described about his memories of young men bringing gramophones and Rodgers' records from Pretoria, and how his music could be heard on Christmas day throughout his village. Rodgers' records sold particularly well in Durban, a city mostly populated by the Zulu. In 1930, singers Griffiths Motsieloa and Ignatius Monare recorded their version of a blue yodel in Zulu language, entitled "Aubuti Nkikho", in London. In 1932, William Mseleku recorded "Eku Hambeni" and "Sifikile Tina". The songs were inspired by Rodgers' style and recorded in Zulu. Rodgers influenced several Zimbabwean acoustic guitarists of the 1940s, who had heard records imported from South Africa, including Chinemberi, Mattaka, Jacob Mhungu and Jeremiah Kainga. Local artists developed a two-finger playing style that used the thumb and first finger to emulate the sound of the singer and they frequently used yodels. Recordings of Rodgers were taken to the Great Rift Valley of Kenya by English missionaries who lived among the Kipsigis people. The tribe sang about Rodgers in a traditional song recorded in 1950 by ethnomusicologist Hugh Tracey who later named it "Chemirocha III".
### Tributes
In January 1935, Grand Ole Opry artists the Delmore Brothers and Uncle Dave Macon stopped on their way to New Orleans to visit Rodgers' brother Talmage and his wife in Meridian to play a tribute song called "Blue Railroad Train". That same year, Rodgers' widow published a biographical book: My Husband, Jimmie Rodgers. On May 16, 1953, the first Jimmie Rodgers Memorial Festival was held in Meridian. The festival featured appearances by country music singers and other entertainers who were influenced by Rodgers, as well as his family members. The festival was celebrated in an intermittent fashion until it became a recurring event starting in 1972. Attendees at the first event included Carrie Rodgers, Elsie McWilliams, Ralph Peer, Hugh L. White, Frank G. Clement, railroad representatives, Mary Jones (the wife of engineer Casey Jones) and Lillie Williams (Hank Williams' mother). Several performers who were influenced by Rodgers were present, including 25 Grand Ole Opry artists led by Ernest Tubb and Hank Snow. The show attracted a crowd of 30,000. A granite monument to Rodgers was unveiled, as well as a static locomotive as a memorial to the deceased railroad workers of Meridian.
On May 24, 1978, the United States Postal Service issued a 13-cent commemorative stamp honoring Rodgers, the first in its long-running Performing Arts Series. The stamp was designed by Jim Sharpe and depicted Rodgers with brakeman's outfit and guitar, standing in front of a locomotive giving his famous "two thumbs up" gesture. The 1982 film Honkytonk Man, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood, was loosely based on Rodgers' life. In 1997, Bob Dylan put together a tribute compilation of major artists covering Rodgers' songs, The Songs of Jimmie Rodgers, A Tribute. The artists included Bono, Alison Krauss & Union Station, Jerry Garcia, Dickey Betts, Dwight Yoakam, Aaron Neville, John Mellencamp, Willie Nelson and others. In 2004, Steve Forbert's tribute album Any Old Time was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album. In 2007, Rodgers was honored with a marker on the Mississippi Blues Trail in his hometown of Meridian, the first outside of the Mississippi Delta. In May 2010, a marker on the Mississippi Country Music Trail was erected near Rodgers' grave site. The Elton John and Leon Russell 2010 collaboration The Union featured the tribute "Jimmie Rodgers' Dream". In 2013, a North Carolina historical marker was dedicated on Haywood Street in Asheville.
## See also
- Jimmie Rodgers discography
|
31,830,292 |
White Aethiopians
| 1,149,958,438 |
Roman exonym
|
[
"Ancient peoples",
"Berber history",
"Greco-Roman ethnography"
] |
White Aethiopians (Λευκαιθίοπες ; Leucæthiopes) is a term found in ancient Greco-Roman literature, which may have referred to various light-complexioned populations inhabiting the Aethiopia region of antiquity. The exonym is used by Pliny the Elder, and is also mentioned by Pomponius Mela, Ptolemy and Orosius. These authorities do not, however, agree on the geographical location of the White Aethiopians.
Medieval geographers, including Ibn Hawqal and Leo Africanus, similarly noted the existence of various "white" or "olive" groups and individuals in territories and kingdoms south of the Sahara. However, the fate of these inhabitants is uncertain.
## Classical origins
Pliny the Elder wrote in section 5.8 of his Natural History that:
> If we pass through the interior of Africa in a southerly direction, beyond the Gætuli, after having traversed the intervening deserts, we shall find, first of all the Liby-Egyptians, and then the country where the Leucæthiopians dwell.
Oric Bates notes that Ptolemy wrote of the White Aethiopians and the Melanogaetulians, and compares this to the mention by Orosius of the Libyoaethopians. Bates places the White Aethiopians in Morocco and the Melanogaetulians just to the east of them, claiming Ptolemy's authority for this, and arguing that "These descriptives are good evidence of the ancient opposition of whites and blacks in the Sahara, and of their fusion." Bates further compares these claims with what he argues is the "marked xanthochroid element of foreign (Nordic) origin" in Morocco, i.e. a mixing of light-skinned people from Northern Europe.
Pomponius Mela wrote, in Frank E. Romer's translation, that "On those shores washed by the Libyan Sea, however, are found the Libyan Aegyptians, the White Aethiopians, and, a populous and numerous nation, the Gaetuli. Then a region, uninhabitable in its entire length, covers a broad and vacant expanse."
Both Herodotus and Strabo "speak of two Ethiopias, one eastern, the other western". Strabo also said that the ancient Greeks "designated as Ethiopia the whole of the southern countries towards the ocean", not just a region near Egypt. Ephorus asserted that the White Ethiopians came from the Far East. Philostratus claimed that "The Indians are the wisest of mankind. The Ethiopians are a colony of them".
## Medieval geography
According to Richard Smith, Ibn Hawqal, a 10th-century traveller from Baghdad, divides the Berber clans into "the pure Sanhaja and the Banu Tanamak", the latter being "originally Sudan (i.e. black) whose skin and complexion became white because they live close to the North". Smith reports Ibn Hawqal as listing 22 named kinds of Banu Tanamak, but without saying whether they were "political, cultural, geographic, social, or linguistic in nature". Smith suggests that the most likely scenario is that these ancient Ethiopian tribes, as represented today by the Haratin, were absorbed into Berber communities. Thus, he posits that Ibn Hawqal's "strange report of the Banu Tanamak", who changed from black to white, may have echoed "a real event, the absorption of tribes". Robert Brown likewise argues that "the "white" Berbers referred to may be only survivals of the original stock now reduced to duskiness by the infusion of Arab and Sudanic blood".
The 16th century explorer Leo Africanus described the existence of various "white" or "olive" groups and individuals inhabiting territories and kingdoms south of the Sahara. Besides the "white, tawney Moores" of the former Africa Proconsulare, he indicates that such light-complexioned peoples were concentrated in the Horn of Africa, comprising much of the Adal Sultanate's native populace and a significant portion of the denizens of the Mogadishu Sultanate. Outside of these areas, Leo Africanus writes that most of the inhabitants were Cafri. He further asserts that pockets of other "white" or "olive"-skinned residents could nonetheless also be found on two small islands north of Socotra ("the two sisters"), in parts of the Zanguebar coast (the Kingdom of Melinde and on the island of Quiloa), and among descendants of Chinese settlers on the island of Saint Laurence (Madagascar).
## Modern interpretations
Speaking of the difference between modern thought and ancient times, Richard Smith warns that even apparently well-defined categories "like 'race' can be confusing". According to him, Ptolemy placed two peoples, the Leukaethiopes and Melanogaetulians ('Black Gaetulians'), in the far west of North Africa; namely, in southern Morocco. Smith suggests that the Leukaethiopes, "literally, 'white Ethiopians'", could also be described as "white black men" since in ancient times "the term 'Ethiopian' referred to skin color". He further asserts that Pliny the Elder places the Leukaethiopes south of the (Sahara) desert, between the white Gaetulians and the black Nigritae; the closest neighbours would then have been the Libyaegyptians, "literally the 'Egyptian Libyans', another oxymoron". However, Smith indicates that Pliny does not mention any black Gaetulians.
Louis Vivien de Saint-Martin posits that the Leucaethiopes were early Berbers, who had penetrated southward into the desert.
Edmund Dene Morel, writing in 1902, confirms that both Ptolemy and Pliny speak of the Leucaethiopes, but believes that Ptolemy places them "in the neighbourhood of the Gambia", whereas Pliny places them "a couple of degrees farther north". Morel then speculates on who those "light-complexioned 'Africans'" could have been. He believes they could not have been Arabs or Bantus, but argues that the Berbers were well-known to Pliny's source people, the Carthaginians, so they would have recognized Berbers if they had met them. Morel concludes that the Leucaethiopes may have been early Fulani since the first record on West Africa (ca. 300 AD) describes an Empire governed by "white" rulers, which was established by a king whose name contains a Fulfulde affix. According to Morel, this Fulani connection was first made in 1799 by Major Rennel in his Travels in the Interior of Africa, a notebook on Mungo Park's travels.
Richard Smith, writing in 2003, reports that "historians often assume" that both Leukaethiopes and Melanogaetulians "were of mixed race", or perhaps of some combination of race and culture. On this supposition, he suggests that the Leukaethiopes "were whites who lived in an Ethiopian-style culture", where the "Ethiopians" in question would have been the ancestors of the modern Haratin. Smith concludes that the only safe conclusion is that "the ethnic map was very complex and thus very confusing", even to Ptolemy. According to Smith, the next assumption, is that there was "some kind of awful ancient race war" in which white tribes like the Leukaethiopes "expelled or exterminated" the black tribes, but he argues that there is no evidence for this.
Haegap Jeoung, writing in 2003 of the attitude of Homer and the ancient Greeks, suggests that "the Ethiopians take their place as the other of the [ancient] Greeks, regardless of their skin color. Remarkably, there are white Ethiopians. Not because the Ethiopians are black, but because they are the other, they become a matter of a discourse."
## See also
- Aethiopian Sea
- Andromeda (mythology)
- Curse of Ham
- Sigelwara Land
- Skin whitening
- Washing the Ethiopian White
|
23,139,753 |
Elrond
| 1,169,107,741 |
Fictional elf from Tolkien's legendarium
|
[
"Characters in The Hobbit",
"Characters in The Silmarillion",
"Fictional twins",
"Literary characters introduced in 1937",
"Middle-earth Half-elven",
"Middle-earth rulers",
"Ring-bearers",
"The Lord of the Rings characters"
] |
Elrond Half-elven is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. Both of his parents, Eärendil and Elwing, were half-elven, having both Men and Elves as ancestors. He is the bearer of the elven-ring Vilya, the Ring of Air, and master of Rivendell, where he has lived for thousands of years through the Second and Third Ages of Middle-earth. He was the Elf-king Gil-galad's herald at the end of the Second Age, saw Gil-galad and king Elendil fight the dark lord Sauron for the One Ring, and Elendil's son Isildur take it rather than destroy it.
He is introduced in The Hobbit, where he plays a supporting role, as he does in The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion. Scholars have commented on Elrond's archaic style of speech, noting that this uses genuinely archaic grammar, not just a sprinkling of old words. The effect is to make his speech distinctive, befitting his age and status, while remaining clear, and avoiding quaintness. He has been called a guide or wisdom figure, a wise person able to provide useful counsel to the protagonists. It has been noted that just as Elrond prevented his daughter Arwen from marrying until conditions were met, so Tolkien's guardian, Father Francis Xavier Morgan, prevented Tolkien from becoming engaged or marrying until he came of age.
## Fictional biography
### First Age
Elrond was born in the First Age at the refuge of the Mouths of Sirion in Beleriand, the son of the half-elven mariner Eärendil and Elwing his wife, and a great-grandson of Beren and Lúthien. Not long afterwards, the havens were destroyed by the sons of Fëanor, who captured Elrond and his brother Elros. Their parents feared that they would be killed; instead, they were befriended by Fëanor's sons Maedhros and Maglor. Like his parents but unlike his brother, Elrond chose to be counted among the Elves when the choice of kindreds was given to him. When Beleriand was destroyed at the end of the First Age, Elrond went to Lindon with the household of Gil-galad, the last High King of the Noldor.
### Second Age
During the War of the Elves and the dark lord Sauron in the Second Age, the king Gil-galad sent Elrond to the defence of Eregion against the Dark Lord. Sauron destroyed Eregion and surrounded Elrond's army, but the dwarf-king Durin and the elf-king of Lórien, Amroth, attacked Sauron's rearguard. Sauron turned to fight them, and drove them back to Moria. Elrond was able to retreat north to a secluded valley, where he established the refuge of Imladris, later called Rivendell; he lived there through the Second and Third Ages.
Near the end of the Second Age, the Last Alliance of Elves and Men was formed, and the army departed from Imladris to Mordor, led by Elendil and Gil-galad. Sauron killed both of them at the end of the siege of Barad-dûr. Elrond saw Elendil's son Isildur destroy Sauron's physical body and take the One Ring for himself; Elrond and Cirdan urged Isildur to destroy it, but he refused. Elrond served as Gil-galad's herald, and he and Círdan were entrusted with the two Elven Rings that Gil-galad held. Elrond and Círdan were the only ones to stand with Gil-galad when he fell.
### Third Age
Elrond married Celebrían, daughter of Celeborn and Galadriel, early in the Third Age. The place and date of Celebrían's birth are not specified. In the version of their history that describes Galadriel and Celeborn as rulers of Eregion in the Second Age, Galadriel and Celebrían left Eregion for Lórinand as Sauron's influence over Eregion grew. According to one account, Celebrían and her parents later lived for many years in Rivendell (Imladris). Celebrían and Elrond had three children: the twins Elladan and Elrohir, and Arwen Undómiel (Evenstar).
On a trip from Rivendell to Lórien, Celebrían was waylaid by Orcs in the Redhorn Pass on Caradhras in the Misty Mountains. She was captured and tormented and received a poisoned wound. She was rescued by her sons and healed by Elrond, but "after fear and torment" she could no longer find joy in Middle-earth, so she passed to the Grey Havens and over the Sea to Valinor in the following year.
Elrond was an ally of the North-Kingdom of Arnor. Following its fall, Elrond harboured the Chieftains of the Dúnedain (the descendants of the Kings of Arnor) and the Sceptre of Annúminas, Arnor's symbol of royal authority. When Aragorn's father Arathorn was killed a few years after Aragorn's birth, Elrond raised Aragorn in his own household and became a surrogate father to him. Aware of his daughter Arwen's feelings for Aragorn, Elrond would permit their marriage only if Aragorn could unite Arnor and Gondor as High King.
In The Hobbit, Elrond gave shelter to Thorin Oakenshield and his company during their quest to retake Erebor from the Dragon Smaug. Elrond befriended the Hobbit Bilbo Baggins, the company's "burglar", and received him as a permanent guest some 60 years later.
Elrond headed the Council of Elrond, at which it was decided that the One Ring should be destroyed where it was forged, in Mount Doom in Mordor. He agreed that Frodo Baggins, Bilbo's nephew and heir, should bear the Ring during the journey, aided by eight others, reasoning that a company of nine in the service of Middle-earth would counteract the nine Nazgûl, Sauron's most fearsome servants, who sought to help their master conquer it.
When Arwen chose mortality in order to be with Aragorn, Elrond reluctantly accepted her decision as the greater good, as she would help to renew the declining lineage of the Dúnedain. When the Fellowship found Aragorn and the Rohirrim during their journey to Gondor, Elrond's son Elrohir told Aragorn, "I bring word to you from my father: The days are short. If thou art in haste, remember the Paths of the Dead." Aragorn took Elrond's advice, using the Paths of the Dead to reach Gondor in time to come to its aid.
Elrond remained in Rivendell until the destruction of both the Ring and Sauron in the War of the Ring. He then travelled to Minas Tirith for the marriage of Arwen and Aragorn, now King of the Reunited Kingdom of Arnor and Gondor. Three years later, at the approximate age of 6,520, Elrond left Middle-earth to go over the Sea with Gandalf, Galadriel, Frodo, and Bilbo, never to return. Tolkien said that "after the destruction of the Ruling Ring the Three Rings of the Eldar lost their virtue. Then Elrond prepared at last to depart from Middle-earth and follow Celebrían." Elrond and Celebrían were thus finally reunited, but separated forever from their daughter Arwen.
## Analysis
### Role and responsibility
The Tolkien scholar Richard C. West writes that there is a familiar trope in stories for a harsh, disapproving father to set difficult and possibly fatal obstacles in the path of his daughter's unwelcome suitors. He gives as example King Thingol's demand that the hero Beren must bring a Silmaril from the iron crown of the Dark Lord Morgoth. But, he writes, Elrond is a caring father with no trace of cruelty. The demand that Arwen "shall not be the bride of any Man less than the King of both Gondor and Arnor" is in his view just "giving his foster son incentive to achieve what it is his hereditary duty to attempt anyway", as well as doing the best for his daughter: "Elrond loves them both".
The humanities scholar Brian Rosebury writes that Tolkien contrasts Elrond's paternal love for Arwen with the distant, painful relationship of Denethor, the despairing and ultimately suicidal Steward of Gondor, and his son Faramir. He notes that this was a major theme in Tolkien's legendarium, with father-son pairs like Húrin and Túrin, or the Dark Elf Eöl betrayed by his power-hungry son, Maeglin. Rosebury comments that Elrond's forbidding Arwen to marry has an analogue with Tolkien's own youth, when his guardian Father Francis Morgan took responsibility for Tolkien's moral wellbeing after his mother Mabel's death, blocking his relationship with Edith Bratt, whom he eventually married.
Charles W. Nelson, writing in Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts, describes Elrond as a guide or wisdom figure, a wise person able to provide useful counsel to the protagonists. He is seen in The Hobbit as one with knowledge of the ancient runes and the ability to read moon letters, as well as giving advice on the best route. In The Lord of the Rings, he is seen to have extensive knowledge of the history of Middle-earth, including of the One Ring, and provides wise assistance on planning the necessary action to destroy the Ring. That said, he also shows that he knows the limits of his knowledge, as the capabilities of Hobbits, in his words "the Shire-folk", are outside his experience. Such, Nelson concludes, is the function of a guide, and Elrond fulfils it "admirably" and to the best of his ability, just as in their different ways do Aragorn, Galadriel, Faramir, and Tom Bombadil.
Christine Larsen, in the Journal of Tolkien Research, analysed why Tolkien wrote "Master" Elrond, only once calling him "Lord of Rivendell" and never writing "Lord Elrond", in contrast for instance to "Lady Galadriel", "Lord Celeborn", and "the Elven-king Gil-galad". She notes that Elrond is certainly important, being "the thread that ties together all three of the great tales of the legendarium: Beren and Lúthien, The Fall of Gondolin, and The Children of Húrin." She notes too that the usage was clearly intentional, and that Tolkien was "excruciating[ly]" careful on such matters. She notes that he called Tom Bombadil "Master of wood, water, and hill", but denied that the term implied ownership. Further, "master" is used as a term of respect, as by Barliman Butterbur to the hobbits in Bree. Finally, she writes, mastery implies the skill of an authority or revered artist: the Dwarves are described as "masters of stone", as the Rohirrim are "masters of horses" and the Wizard Radagast is a "master of shapes and changes of hue". Applied to Elrond, he is a "master of healing", but more centrally he is the "greatest of lore-masters", a master of ancient wisdom and knowledge. She notes that among the Elves, the lore-masters were the Noldor: indeed that was the meaning of their name.
### Style of speech
Thomas Kullmann, in the Nordic Journal of English Studies, describes Elrond's language as "archaic and stilted", marked out by formal speeches with the tripartite structure of rhetoric: "proposition, argumentation, and conclusion". Elrond, he writes, uses archaic conjunctions like "save" (meaning "except"), and literary phrases like "to wield at will", along with old-fashioned inversions of word order, like "That we now know too well". He notes however that Elrond uses simple short sentences, like "We cannot use the Ruling Ring."
The Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey writes that Tolkien, professionally interested in words and language, reveals character through styles of speech. Elrond is seen to use an archaic but clear style in the Council of Elrond. Shippey states that his use of grammatical inversions is now rare, but still colloquial, as in common phrases like "Down came the rain. Up went the umbrellas." He writes that the old rule was that the verb had to come second in the sentence, so if something other than a noun phrase began a sentence, then the noun had to go after the verb. In this way, Shippey writes, Tolkien gives Elrond a consistently archaic style, using not just old words "(the first resort of the amateur medievalist)" but more importantly through grammar. The effect is to make his speech distinctive, suiting his immense age, while remaining clear, and never merely quaint. Importantly, his way of speaking links him with Isildur, who becomes a key figure later in the chapter.
## Adaptations
Cyril Ritchard voiced Elrond in the 1977 Rankin/Bass animated film adaptation of The Hobbit. In Ralph Bakshi's 1978 animated adaptation of The Lord of the Rings, Elrond was voiced by André Morell. When Rankin/Bass attempted to finish the story (left incomplete by Bakshi and his financial backers) with The Return of the King in 1980, actor Paul Frees voiced Elrond, Ritchard having died shortly after voicing the character in the previous film.
Carl Hague portrayed Elrond in National Public Radio's 1979 radio production of The Lord of the Rings. Hugh Dickson portrayed Elrond in BBC Radio's 1981 serialisation of The Lord of the Rings. In the 1993 Finnish television miniseries Hobitit, Elrond is played by Leif Wager. In the 2006 Toronto musical adaptation of The Lord of the Rings, Elrond was portrayed by Victor A. Young.
In The Lord of the Rings film trilogy and The Hobbit trilogy directed by Peter Jackson, Elrond is portrayed by Hugo Weaving. In The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Elrond holds Men in lesser regard after witnessing Isildur's failure to destroy the One Ring. Unlike in the book, he is skeptical of Aragorn both in terms of his ability to lead the Men of the West and the courtship of his daughter. As shown in the flashback scene in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, he forces Aragorn to end his engagement to Arwen so that she can leave to the Undying Lands, although she eventually makes the decision to stay with Aragorn in Middle-Earth. Later, he sends a "surprisingly well-drilled army" to the Battle of Helm's Deep, an act the Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey writes was made to fit a 21st century view of political and military expectations.
In the 2022 television series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, a younger Elrond is played by Robert Aramayo.
Weaving reprised his role as both Elrond and the narrator in video games The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II (2006) and The Lord of the Rings: Conquest (2009).
In the 2002 video game adaptation of The Fellowship of the Ring Elrond is voiced by Jim Piddock, who later reprised the role for The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest (2010) and The Lord of the Rings: War in the North (2011). Elrond is one of the major characters in The Lord of the Rings Online (2007).
## Genealogy
|
11,862,690 |
Juno (film)
| 1,173,858,529 |
2007 American film by Jason Reitman
|
[
"2000s American films",
"2000s English-language films",
"2000s coming-of-age comedy-drama films",
"2000s pregnancy films",
"2000s teen comedy-drama films",
"2007 comedy-drama films",
"2007 films",
"2007 independent films",
"American coming-of-age comedy-drama films",
"American independent films",
"American pregnancy films",
"American teen comedy-drama films",
"BAFTA winners (films)",
"English-language Canadian films",
"Films about abortion",
"Films about adoption",
"Films about proms",
"Films about teenagers",
"Films directed by Jason Reitman",
"Films produced by Mason Novick",
"Films set in Minnesota",
"Films shot in Vancouver",
"Films whose writer won the Best Original Screenplay Academy Award",
"Films whose writer won the Best Original Screenplay BAFTA Award",
"Films with screenplays by Diablo Cody",
"Fox Searchlight Pictures films",
"Independent Spirit Award for Best Film winners",
"Mandate Pictures films",
"Mr. Mudd films",
"Teenage pregnancy in film"
] |
Juno is a 2007 American coming-of-age comedy-drama film directed by Jason Reitman and written by Diablo Cody. Elliot Page stars as the title character, an independent-minded teenager confronting her unplanned pregnancy and the subsequent events that put pressures of adult life onto her. Michael Cera, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman, Allison Janney and J. K. Simmons also star. Filming spanned from early February to March 2007 in Vancouver, British Columbia. It premiered on September 8 at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival, receiving a standing ovation.
Juno won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay and earned three other Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Director for Reitman, and Best Actress for 20-year old Page (who was presenting as female at the time, and is the sixth-youngest nominee in the category). The film's soundtrack, featuring several songs performed by Kimya Dawson in various guises, was the first chart-topping soundtrack since Dreamgirls and Fox Searchlight's first number-one soundtrack. Juno earned back its initial budget of \$6.5 million in twenty days, the first nineteen of which were when the film was in limited release. It went on to earn \$231 million worldwide. Juno received acclaim from critics, many of whom placed the film on their top-ten lists for the year. It has received criticism and praise from members of both the anti-abortion and abortion rights communities regarding its treatment of abortion.
## Plot
In Elk River, Minnesota, sixteen year old high-schooler Juno MacGuff discovers she is pregnant by her friend and longtime admirer Paulie Bleeker. She initially considers an abortion. Going to a local clinic run by a women's group, she encounters a schoolmate outside who is holding a one-person anti-abortion vigil. Once inside, Juno decides to give the baby up for adoption instead. With the help of her friend Leah, Juno searches the ads in the Pennysaver and finds a childless married couple she feels will provide a suitable home. She tells her father Mac and stepmother Bren, who offer their support. With Mac, Juno meets the couple, Mark and Vanessa Loring, in their expensive Saint Cloud home, and agrees to a closed adoption.
Juno visits Mark a few times, and finds they share tastes in punk rock and horror films. Mark, who has set aside his rock band youth (now confined to memorabilia displayed in the one room of the house that Vanessa has designated for Mark's personal belongings), works at home composing commercial jingles. Juno and Leah happen to see Vanessa in a shopping mall being completely at ease with a child, and Juno encourages Vanessa to talk to the baby in Juno's womb, which kicks for Vanessa.
As the pregnancy progresses, Juno struggles with the emotions she feels for the baby's father Paulie. Juno maintains an outwardly indifferent attitude toward Paulie, but when she learns Paulie has asked another girl to the upcoming prom, she confronts him in a jealous rage. Paulie reminds Juno that it is at her request they remain distant and tells her she broke his heart.
Not long before her baby is due, Juno is again visiting Mark when their interaction becomes emotional. Mark then tells her he will be leaving Vanessa to figure his life out. Juno is horrified by this revelation, with Mark asking Juno, "How do you think of me?", revealing he is starting to develop feelings for her. Vanessa arrives home, and Mark tells Vanessa he does not feel ready to be a father. Juno drives away and breaks down in tears by the side of the road. Returning to the Lorings' house, Juno leaves a note and disappears as the Lorings answer the door.
After a heartfelt discussion with her father, Juno accepts that she loves Paulie. Juno then tells Paulie she loves him, and Paulie's actions make it clear her feelings are very much reciprocated. Not long after, Juno goes into labor and is rushed to the hospital, where she gives birth to a baby boy. She had deliberately not told Paulie because of his track meet. Seeing her missing from the stands, Paulie rushes to the hospital, finds Juno has given birth to their son, and comforts Juno as she cries.
Vanessa comes to the hospital, where she joyfully claims the newborn boy as a single adoptive mother. On the wall in the baby's new nursery, Vanessa has framed Juno's note, which reads: "Vanessa: If you're still in, I'm still in. —Juno." The film ends in the summertime with Juno and Paulie playing guitar and singing together, in a happy relationship.
## Cast
- Elliot Page as Juno MacGuff, the birth mother, Paulie's girlfriend
- Michael Cera as Paulie Bleeker, the father of Juno's child, and Juno's boyfriend
- Jennifer Garner as Vanessa Loring, Mark's wife and the prospective adoptive mother of Juno's child
- Jason Bateman as Mark Loring, Vanessa's husband and the prospective adoptive father of Juno's child
- Allison Janney as Bren MacGuff, Juno's stepmother
- J. K. Simmons as Mac MacGuff, Juno's father
- Olivia Thirlby as Leah, Juno's friend
- Rainn Wilson as Rollo, convenience store clerk
- Valerie Tian as Su-Chin, anti-abortion protester
- Emily Perkins as punk abortion clinic receptionist
## Themes
Along with Knocked Up and Waitress, two other 2007 films about women facing unplanned pregnancies, Juno was interpreted by some critics as having an anti-abortion theme. Ann Hulbert of Slate magazine believed that Juno "[undercut] both pro-life and pro-choice purism." Jeff Dawson of The Sunday Times believed that the film was inevitably placed in the "unwanted pregnancy subgenre" with Knocked Up and Waitress due to its subject matter but thought that its interpretation as an anti-abortion film only "muddied the waters". Hadley Freeman of The Guardian criticized Juno for "complet[ing] a hat-trick of American comedies in the past 12 months that present abortion as unreasonable, or even unthinkable—a telling social sign", though she noted, "I don't believe any of these films is consciously designed to be anti-abortion propaganda." A. O. Scott, writing for The New York Times, agreed that Juno has "an underlying theme, a message that is not anti-abortion but rather pro-adulthood." Page commented, "What I get most frustrated at is when people call it a pro-life movie, which is just absurd ... The most important thing is the choice is there, and the film completely demonstrates that." Cody and Page have openly stated that they are in favor of abortion rights; Reitman thought that it was "fantastic" that anti-abortion and abortion rights groups were embracing the film. He said that "Juno seems to be a mirror, and people [on both sides] see themselves in it."
Other critics labeled Juno as feminist because of its portrayal of Juno as a confident and intelligent teenage girl. Wesley Morris of The Boston Globe concluded "Juno serves cool, intelligent girls something they rarely see in a movie: themselves." Cody said about writing the film, "Women are clever, women are funny, women are sharp, and I wanted to show that these girls were human and not the stereotypical teenage girls that we often see in the media" and "There was a lack of authentic teen girl characters ... I saw writing this screenplay as an opportunity to create an iconic female." Page praised the film for its positive depiction of teenage girls, describing Juno's character as "really refreshing and allow[ing] for new possibilities in what young women can be" and "honest but original, completely devoid of stereotype", while also highlighting that "Girls haven't had that sort of character before. We don't have our Catcher in the Rye." Page criticized the media perception of the Juno character as a "strong woman", arguing that if Juno were a male character, the "strength" of the character would not be considered remarkable. Reitman was interested in the personal/political conflict for Vanessa's character: "Feminism has paved the way for Vanessa's career, but ultimately Vanessa wants to be a full time mother."
## Production
### Development
Diablo Cody was first approached to write a screenplay by film producer Mason Novick, who had previously landed her a book deal for her memoir, Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper, after discovering her blog about stripping. He persuaded her to adapt the book for the screen, but suggested that she first write a screenwriting sample to show studios; that sample became Juno. After deciding on an adoption storyline, Cody collected the stories of adoptees, birth parents and adoptive parents, including that of her then-husband, an adoptee who reunited with his birth parents after she wrote the film. She also found inspiration in the story of a close friend who had become pregnant in high school and used some details from her friend's experience in the film, such as mistreatment from an ultrasound technician. Much of Juno, however, was based on Cody's own high school experiences: She dated a tic-tac-loving boy similar to Paulie, she was best friends with a cheerleader like Leah, and she used a hamburger phone identical to the one that appears in the film. After writing the screenplay over seven weeks in the Starbucks section of a Target store in Crystal, Minnesota, Cody compared writing to breathing, seeing Juno as an extension of herself.
Novick sent Cody's screenplay to his friend Jason Reitman; by the time Reitman had read halfway through the script, he felt that if he did not direct the film, he would regret it for the rest of his life. Initially, Reitman found it difficult to acquire the script, because his first film, Thank You for Smoking, had not been released yet, so he did not have any feature film credits. Other directors, including Jon Poll, were considered, but Reitman was chosen and he interrupted work on his own spec script in order to direct Juno. Cody says she had a cynical attitude when writing Juno ("I didn't ever think this film would be produced") and, indeed, the film was delayed by financial problems. After its controversial nature scared off a number of major studios, John Malkovich's production company, Mr. Mudd, took on the project. It was later brought to production company Mandate Pictures by co-producer Jim Miller.
The funding originated from the United States.
### Casting
Having admired his performance in Hard Candy, Reitman cast Page in the lead role, saying that when he read the screenplay for the first time he pictured Page as Juno. Reitman visited Page on the set of a film on which he was working to offer him the role. He also handed the script to J.K. Simmons, who had featured in his previous film, Thank You for Smoking, not telling him that he intended Simmons to play Mac. Simmons says that, after reading the script, he would have been happy to play even the high school teacher who has no speaking lines. Other cast members Reitman had "in mind right from the start" were Olivia Thirlby—who had originally unsuccessfully auditioned for the role of Juno—and Michael Cera. He took them with Page and Simmons to a Panavision stage in California and shot 45 pages of the script on 35mm film against a black backdrop. He presented this footage to Fox Searchlight as the initial cast. Reitman highlighted the importance of doing a screen test instead of individual auditions, saying: "This is a movie that's all about relationships and the idea of auditioning people outside of each other, one-on-one with the casting director, didn't make sense."
Jennifer Garner, who accepted a lower salary than usual to prevent the film from exceeding its budget, was confirmed by Reitman to have signed onto the project in January 2007. After working with Jason Bateman on The Kingdom, Garner recommended him to Reitman when they first met; Bateman was cast as Mark, the last cast member to be signed. Lucas McFadden, better known as Cut Chemist, a DJ and record producer, makes a cameo appearance as Juno and Paulie's chemistry teacher. McFadden was doing scoring work for Reitman when he received the Juno screenplay and asked McFadden to appear in the film; Reitman thought that it was "perfect irony" for the chemistry teacher to be played by Cut Chemist.
Michael Cera stated that the film had "a lot of Canadian influence" due to the fact that he and Page were Canadian and that a lot of the other actors originated from Vancouver. Cera's comment was a response to a statement from Peter Howell of the Toronto Star: "I thought Juno was a very Canadian movie, even though it was set in the U.S."
### Filming
Shooting on a budget of US\$6.5 million, Juno was filmed in and around Vancouver, British Columbia, standing in for Minnesota, where production was originally intended to take place. Although films commonly use a Canada-as-America location shift for budgetary reasons, Reitman insists the choice of filming location was instead at his request. Filming locations included a house in nearby White Rock as Mark and Vanessa's home, Eric Hamber Secondary School as Dancing Elk High School, and South Surrey's Athletic Park track as Dancing Elk High School's athletics track.
After minimal rehearsal, filming took place in February and March 2007 on a six-week schedule, of which 30 days were designated to filming. The crew was planning to import snow for the film's winter events, but it snowed on location, and they were able to reschedule filming to shoot the winter scenes during snowfall, which second assistant director Josy Capkun says resulted in much wider snow shots than originally planned. Although the film was shot out of sequence, the final scene was scheduled for the final day and, after a long period of rain, the crew was intending to shut down production and resume months later to shoot the scene, set in summer, but the rain stopped and they were able to shoot the scene in the sun. That final scene depicted Juno and Paulie singing The Moldy Peaches' "Anyone Else but You", and band member Kimya Dawson visited the set to speak to Page and Cera while they were practicing the song.
### Music
The movie features several songs performed by Kimya Dawson as well as her bands Antsy Pants and The Moldy Peaches. According to director Jason Reitman, Page suggested The Moldy Peaches’ work as fitting for Juno's character. Reitman recounts:
> [He] went on my computer, played the songs, and I fell in love with it. Diablo and I discussed putting a Moldy Peaches song in it where the characters would sing to each other. I got in touch with Kimya Dawson of The Moldy Peaches and she started sending me her work, which was beautiful, and that became a lot of the soundtrack.
Reitman contacted Dawson, and, after reading the film's screenplay, she agreed for her songs to be used in the film, sending him a packet of CDs containing about 120 songs. The songs were almost entirely self-published by Dawson, who says she wrote nothing specifically for Juno and that all the songs had been performed and recorded before she was contacted to work on the film. Reitman asked her to additionally re-record instrumentals, which included humming over the lyrics of some of her songs. He also contacted composer Mateo Messina, with whom he had previously worked on Thank You for Smoking, to compose the film's incidental score. He gave Messina a collection of Dawson's songs and asked him to create "the sound of the film" through an instrumental score that replicated the recording quality, tone, feel and innocence of her music. Messina decided to implement an "acoustic guitar feel that was jangled and was really loose, like Juno." Experimenting with different guitars, he ended up using "Stella," a second-hand guitar belonging to guitarist Billy Katz that he described as "kind of tinny, not perfectly in tune, but [it] has all kinds of character." Katz was hired to perform acoustic and classical guitar for the movie's score, using "Stella" extensively throughout.
Page also suggested Cat Power's cover of the song "Sea of Love", which Reitman was hesitant to include as it had already been featured in the 1989 film Sea of Love; however, he decided that its inclusion would mark a "new take" on the film's cinematic references. Initially, Reitman had conceived of Juno being a fan of glam rock, but rejected it as too inauthentic, and he said he wanted to construct Juno to be "into music very real and authentic", making her a fan of punk rock, including The Runaways, Patti Smith and Iggy Pop and the Stooges. He felt that the Sonic Youth cover of "Superstar" defined Juno and Mark's relationship—Juno preferring the classic 1971 version by The Carpenters while Mark preferred Sonic Youth's 1994 cover. "A Well Respected Man" by The Kinks was a song Reitman had associated with a character from another of his screenplays and says it was "heart-breaking" when he decided to include the song as an introduction for Paulie instead, despite feeling it suited the scene perfectly. He found children's songwriter Barry Louis Polisar's "All I Want Is You" after "surfing iTunes for hours on end" using different words and names as search terms and thought that the handmade quality was perfect for the opening titles, which were afterwards made to correspond to the song. The "Brunch Bowlz" jingle, Mark writes in the film, was composed by advertisement writer Chris Corley, with whom Reitman had previously worked on a set of commercials for Wal-Mart.
### Design
The film was set out in a sequence of the year's seasons, which, Reitman said, "really resonated with me when I read it, because they mirror the three trimesters of Juno's pregnancy." Because filming took place over only 30 days, fake flora was used to give the impression of different seasons while other flora was edited in post-production. Brown leaves were composited onto a fake tree outside Juno's house and cherry blossom trees outside Leah's house were touched up in a lighter shade of pink to depict autumn; a fan was used to blow leaves around in some scenes as if the leaves were falling from trees. Fake flowers were used in front of Paulie's house at the end of the film to give the impression of summer. Reitman used different colors to inform character, such as the burgundy and gold Dancing Elk High School track uniforms and an early scene with Juno in a red hooded jacket "walking through a world of somber greens and browns."
Cody was impressed with the production design team's creation of the set from only a few sentences in her script, calling Juno's bedroom "a very emotional set for [me] because it reminded me so much of my own little habitat when I was a teenager." The walls of Juno's room are covered with posters of bands, while Leah's room includes a mural of older men she finds attractive and Paulie's room is overly childlike to indicate his innocence. Production designer Steve Saklad designed Mark and Vanessa's house with the assumption that "Vanessa has probably read every home magazine and tried to copy what's in them as best she could." Costume designer Monique Prudhomme was nominated for a Costume Designers Guild Award in the "Excellence in Contemporary Costume Design for Film" category. She dressed Vanessa in clothes that were "simple and very tasteful" but with an "anal-retentive quality" and Mark in conservative clothing to complement Vanessa's taste. It was Page's suggestion that Juno wear flannel shirts and sweater-vests. Page also had to wear two sizes of prosthetic belly fitted like a corset in the back, a third "real" belly that is seen when Juno has an ultrasound, and a variety of sizes of fake breasts. The footage displayed on Juno's ultrasound monitor is of supervising sound designer Scott Sanders's son Matthew and was embedded into the scene in post-production.
### Opening title sequence
Juno's opening title sequence, depicting a rotoscoped Juno walking through her town while drinking a bottle of SunnyD orange drink, was put together over 7–8 months by a small design studio, Shadowplay Studio, based in Los Angeles. Reitman had met the studio's co-founder Gareth Smith in Japan on the short film festival circuit where they each had shorts screening. Shadowplay created the opening title sequence for Reitman's previous film, Thank You for Smoking, and he contacted them again when he found out he was going to direct Juno. With vintage 1970s punk-rock posters as inspiration, Smith and artist Jenny Lee decided to create a sequence that "had texture and a little bit of edge, but also imparted the warmth and heart of the screenplay". In the last days of filming in Vancouver, Page was photographed with a high speed camera from a number of angles walking on a treadmill and drinking SunnyD. 900 still images of a walking and drinking Page were printed out and repeatedly run through a Xerox machine to degrade their quality until the pictures appeared hand-drawn. The pictures were cut out and scanned back onto the computer, then layered onto the background drawn by Lee with compositing software to create a stop motion animation sequence that corresponded to "All I Want Is You" by Barry Louis Polisar, the song Reitman had chosen. Shadowplay also designed the titlecards for each of the seasons for the film, hand-made a custom typeface for the opening title sequence and the closing credits, and collaborated on the design of the soundtrack and the DVD.
## Distribution
### Theatrical release
With a well-received preview first screened on September 1, 2007, at the Telluride Film Festival, Juno premiered on September 8 at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival and received a standing ovation, which prompted film critic Roger Ebert to say "I don't know when I've heard a standing ovation so long, loud and warm." It went on to feature at the Austin Film Festival, Rome Film Festival, London Film Festival, Bahamas International Film Festival, St. Louis International Film Festival, Stockholm International Film Festival, International Thessaloniki Film Festival, Gijón International Film Festival, Palm Springs International Film Festival and the International Film Festival Rotterdam, earning awards and nominations at several.
Although Juno was originally intended to open in theaters on December 15, 2007, the opening date was moved forward to take advantage of the positive reviews preceding its release, and opened in limited release on December 5, playing in only seven theaters in Los Angeles and New York City. The film opened in an additional thirteen cities and around 25 theaters on December 14, expanding further on December 21 before entering wide release on December 25.
### Promotion
Anthony Breznican of USA Today said in a 2008 article that Juno is one of three films that were "orchestrated to start off as word-of-mouth favorites among devoted moviegoers." Following Juno's release, Fox Searchlight sent hamburger phones styled similarly to that used by Juno in the film to journalists and critics to entice them to review the film. Though the phones were originally distributed in small numbers to viewers at promotional events, companies not affiliated with Fox Searchlight began to produce and sell the phones on eBay and other online stores. In the month after the film's release, sales of the phone on eBay increased by 759 percent and it was named one of the "10 Cool Gifts for Film Buffs" by Entertainment Weekly.
### Home media
The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray disc on April 15, 2008, by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. It is available in a single disc DVD edition, which includes the movie along with an audio commentary by director Reitman and writer Cody, eleven deleted scenes, a gag reel, a 'gag take' (including a profanity laden blow-up by Rainn Wilson), a "Cast & Crew Jam", and screen tests. The two-disc DVD edition includes the same extra content and four additional featurettes ("Way Beyond 'Our' Maturity Level: Juno – Leah – Bleeker", "Diablo Cody Is Totally Boss", "Jason Reitman For Shizz", and "Honest To Blog! Creating Juno"), while the second disc is a DRM-encrypted version of the film for portable players. The Blu-ray version includes all the two-disc DVD edition extras and two additional featurettes: "Fox Movie Channel Presents: Juno World Premiere" and "Fox Movie Channel Presents: Casting Session".
## Reception
### Box office performance
In limited release and playing in only seven theaters in Los Angeles and New York City, Juno grossed \$420,113 over its debut weekend, averaging \$60,016 per screen. When Juno became Fox Searchlight's first film to surpass \$100 million at the box office, the company's president Peter Rice issued the statement: "This is an astonishing feat for us and the film has surpassed all our expectations. We knew this film had crossover potential and it has resonated with audiences all across the country." The film has grossed \$143,495,265 in the United States and \$88,877,416 in other territories for a total worldwide gross of \$232,372,681. It was also the highest-grossing of the five Best Picture nominees for the 80th Academy Awards.
### Critical reaction
Juno received highly positive reviews from critics. On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 94% approval rating from critics based on 217 reviews, with an average rating of 8.10/10. The site's consensus states, "One of the brightest, funniest comedies of the year, Juno's smart script and direction are matched by assured performances in a coming of age story with a 21st century twist." making it the best reviewed comedy film on the website in 2007. On Metacritic, the film had an average score of 81 out of 100, based on 38 reviews. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film four stars and called it "just about the best movie of the year. ... Has there been a better performance this year than [Elliot] Page's creation of Juno? I don't think so." Ebert placed Juno at number one on his annual "best of" list. The film also ranks at number 463 in Empire magazine's 2008 list of The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time. Juno MacGuff also ranked number 56 on Empire's list of The 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time. Paste Magazine named it one of the 50 Best Movies of the Decade (2000–2009), ranking it at number 15. In June 2010, Entertainment Weekly named Juno one of the 100 Greatest Characters of the Last 20 Years.
However, not all critics share the positive view towards Juno. David Edelstein of New York magazine felt that the film was desperate to be "a movie that confers hipness on teens, that makes kids want to use the same slang and snap up the soundtrack". Music reviewer Jim DeRogatis criticized the film's stylized dialogue and what he saw as a casual take on abortion and Juno's naïveté in becoming pregnant, claiming: "As an unapologetically old-school feminist, the father of a soon-to-be-teenage daughter, a reporter who regularly talks to actual teens as part of his beat and a plain old moviegoer, I hated, hated, hated this movie."
#### "The Juno Effect"
In 2008, after 17 students under sixteen years of age at a Gloucester, Massachusetts, high school became pregnant, Time magazine called it the "Juno Effect". Time stated that some adults dismissed the statistic as an outlier while others accused films such as Juno and Knocked Up for glamorizing teenage pregnancy. Kristelle Miller, an Adolescent Psychology Professor at University of Minnesota-Duluth stated that "[t]he 'Juno effect' is how media glamorizes pregnancy and how [...] pregnancy is also redemptive of any past problems".
After Senator John McCain named Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate on the Republican presidential ticket, it was revealed in September 2008 that Gov. Palin's daughter, Bristol, age 17, was pregnant with the child of another teenager. News reports and editorials termed Bristol Palin's pregnancy as the latest episode in the debate over teen pregnancy of which Juno was a part, while conservative commentators made comparisons between Bristol Palin's pregnancy and the film. Noted New Republic literary editor Leon Wieseltier, "The Republicans wanted a new conversation, and they got one. Juno in Juneau!" Fox News' Roger Friedman wondered, "Juno at once violated and vindicated conservative values. The question is, will the public rally 'round Bristol Palin the way it did Juno? Or will it reject her for getting in this situation in the first place?"
Juno actor Jason Bateman defended the film. "Unfortunately," he said, "we've had these instances where guys kill people because of what they hear in rock 'n roll lyrics or some garbage like that. Look, if you're going to blame a movie or song for your actions, whether they be good or bad, I think you're looking at the wrong things to influence your life. I think people should look to other areas of their life for lessons and guidance, mainly parents, or teachers, or friends, or whomever. That should probably be where you should point your eyes and ears."
Amy Benfer of Salon.com wrote in 2010 that, according to figures released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, pregnancy rates for all teenagers dropped 2 percent between 2007 and 2008, meaning that "the slight uptick in teen pregnancy rates between 2005 and 2006 were probably just an anomaly and not some heinous trend brought about by pop culture", and that if there had been such a thing as a "Juno effect", it would have caused pregnancies to go down, not up. She criticized proponents of the theory, stating that they believed that teenagers "somehow lose all ability to evaluate any nuance or context in that woman's particular situation, and instead make some sort of primitive cause-and-effect connection" and that "by talking about pregnant girls, and most of all, by daring to portray some of them as ordinary, even likable, we'd get way more babies having babies." She concluded that "depicting teen parents may not glamorize them, so much as humanize them. You know, that thing that happens when one person recognizes that someone else is a person too? So, now that we can firmly state that realistically depicting the lives of the tiny percentage of girls who do become pregnant won't necessarily contaminate the rest of them, it's time to stop worrying and ask what we can do to help."
In light of Georgia's anti-abortion law, Diablo Cody said in 2019 she would not have written Juno now that people perceive it as an "anti-choice" film. In 2022, she said, "Back in 2008, I got a letter from some administrator at my Catholic high school thanking me for writing a movie that was in line with the school’s values. And I was like: 'What have I done?' My objective as an artist is to be a traitor to that culture, not to uplift it," but also, "I have no regrets about writing the movie. I do think it’s important that I continue to clarify my feelings about it because the last thing I would ever want is for someone to interpret the movie as anti-choice. That is a huge paranoia of mine. I’ve never really thought about revisiting the film — it kind of feels like something that should stay preserved in amber. But I would rather have this account be out there than [my] silence being misinterpreted" (square brackets in original).
### Top ten lists
The film appeared on critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2007:
- 1st – Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
- 1st – Paste magazine staff
- 2nd – USCCB Office for Film and Broadcasting (tied with Bella)
- 3rd – David Germain, Associated Press
- 3rd – Moviefone staff
- 4th – James Berardinelli, ReelViews
- 4th – Lou Lumenick, New York Post
- 4th – Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times
- 6th – Claudia Puig, USA Today
- 6th – Desson Thomson, The Washington Post
- 6th – Joe Morgenstern, The Wall Street Journal
- 6th – Liam Lacey and Rick Groen, The Globe and Mail
- 6th – Marc Savlov, The Austin Chronicle
- 7th – Corina Chocano, Los Angeles Times
- 7th – Carrie Rickey, The Philadelphia Inquirer
- 10th – A. O. Scott, The New York Times (tied with Knocked Up and Superbad)
- 10th – Peter Travers, Rolling Stone (tied with Knocked Up)
- 10th – Stephen Holden, The New York Times
### Accolades
Reitman expressed disappointment that Juno was ruled ineligible for the Genie Award nominations:
> It's a Canadian director, Canadian stars, Canadian cast, Canadian crew, shot in Canada—how are we not eligible for a Genie when David Cronenberg's film [Eastern Promises] about Russians living in London shot in England with a British crew and British cast is eligible? I'm sorry, but somebody is going to have to explain that to me.
Sara Morton, the head of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, issued a statement explaining that the film had never been submitted for Genie Award consideration by its studio. The Hollywood Reporter explained that Genie rules define Canadian films as financed at least in part by Canadian sources, and because American companies Mandate Pictures and Fox Searchlight were the sole funders, Juno was ineligible. Nonetheless, Genie spokesman Chris McDowall said that while the film was not evaluated for eligibility since it was not submitted, "Financing is one of the criteria, but it's not everything." Despite this, the film was eligible for the 2008 Canadian Comedy Awards, receiving two wins from three nominations.
## Soundtrack
Juno's soundtrack, Music from the Motion Picture Juno, was released December 11, 2007, features nineteen songs from Barry Louis Polisar, Belle & Sebastian, Buddy Holly, Cat Power, The Kinks, Mott the Hoople, Sonic Youth and The Velvet Underground, and most prominently Kimya Dawson and her former bands The Moldy Peaches and Antsy Pants. Under the Rhino Entertainment record label, it became the first number one soundtrack since the Dreamgirls soundtrack, 20th Century Fox's first number one soundtrack since the Titanic soundtrack, and Rhino's first number one album, topping the American Billboard 200 music charts in its fourth week of release.
Rhino announced in March 2008 that Juno B-Sides: Almost Adopted Songs would be available through digital-only release, a second volume of songs that were considered for but not included in the film. The fifteen tracks include songs by previously featured artists Kimya Dawson, Barry Louis Polisar, Belle & Sebastian and Buddy Holly, as well as Astrud Gilberto, The Bristols, Jr. James & The Late Guitar, Trio Los Panchos, Yo La Tengo and Page singing "Zub Zub", written by Diablo Cody as part of the script in a deleted scene. Rhino also released a Deluxe Edition, on November 25, 2008, containing both the original soundtrack as well as B-Sides in a two-disc set, along with storyboards from the film and additional liner notes from Reitman.
Although uncredited not featured on the soundtrack, Page and Bateman's characters perform an acoustic version of Hole's "Doll Parts" in the film.
### Track listing
1. "All I Want is You" – Barry Louis Polisar
2. "My Rollercoaster" – Kimya Dawson
3. "A Well Respected Man" – The Kinks
4. "Dearest" – Buddy Holly
5. "Up the Spout" – Mateo Messina
6. "Tire Swing" – Kimya Dawson
7. "Piazza, New York Catcher" – Belle and Sebastian
8. "Loose Lips" – Kimya Dawson
9. "Superstar" – Sonic Youth
10. "Sleep" – Kimya Dawson
11. "Expectations" – Belle and Sebastian
12. "All the Young Dudes" – Mott the Hoople
13. "So Nice So Smart" – Kimya Dawson
14. "Sea of Love" – Cat Power
15. "Tree Hugger" – Kimya Dawson and Antsy Pants
16. "I'm Sticking with You" – The Velvet Underground
17. "Anyone Else But You" – The Moldy Peaches
18. "Vampire" – Antsy Pants
19. "Anyone Else But You" – Michael Cera and Elliot Page
|
61,294,086 |
Martha Watts
| 1,167,796,988 |
American Methodist missionary in Brazil
|
[
"1848 births",
"1909 deaths",
"19th-century American educators",
"19th-century American women educators",
"20th-century American educators",
"20th-century American women educators",
"American Methodist missionaries",
"Burials at Cave Hill Cemetery",
"Educators from Kentucky",
"Female Christian missionaries",
"Kentucky women in education",
"Members of the Methodist Episcopal Church",
"Methodist missionaries in Brazil",
"Missionary educators",
"People from Bardstown, Kentucky"
] |
Martha Watts (February 13, 1848 – December 30, 1909) was an American missionary and school teacher who established four educational facilities in Brazil. Educated in Kentucky at the Louisville Normal School, she was in the first graduating class in the early 1870s and became a teacher, working in the public schools. After joining the Broadway Methodist Church in 1874, Watts joined a youth missionary society and founded a Sunday school class. In 1881, after applying to the Women's Board of Foreign Missions, she was accepted as the second woman from the United States to act as a foreign missionary and was the first woman to be sent to Brazil.
Arriving in the state of São Paulo in 1881, Watts' mission was to establish a school in Piracicaba. Within months, though she only had one student, Watts had opened the Colégio Piracicabano and began by recruiting a French teacher, Marie Rennotte, in 1882. At the time, most educational materials had been translated into French, as it was the universal language of education. The two women worked together to design an innovative co-educational learning environment, which offered courses in languages, literature, mathematics, philosophy, and the natural and physical sciences. Though criticized by conservative sectors of society and the Catholic Church, Watts gained powerful supporters, including prominent progressive politicians, lawyers, masons, and abolitionists. By the 1890s, the school method and curricula had gained wide support, the student body had grown substantially, and their methods were being implemented throughout the state.
Watts remained at the Colégio Piracicabano for 14 years and then established three other schools in the states of Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro. Failing health led to her retirement in 1909 and a return to Louisville, Kentucky, where she died at the end of that year. She is remembered in Brazil as the pioneer in bringing Methodist education to the country. An annex of the Colégio Piracicabano is named in her honor, as is the cultural center of Piracicaba, one of several facilities which bear her name or pay homage to her role in the development of a modern educational system.
## Early life
Martha Hite Watts was born on February 13, 1848, in Bardstown, Kentucky, to Elizabeth Curtis/Curtiss (née Pixley/Paxley) and Elijah Searcy Watts. The ninth of 12 children, she received her early education from her older siblings. Around the age of nine, she enrolled in the Bardstown Female Institute of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Her father was a well-known attorney and soon moved the family to Louisville, where Watts became engaged. Her fiancé was killed in the Civil War and when the war ended she continued her studies at the Louisville Normal School. The school opened in 1871 and Watts was in the first graduating class.
## Career
### Early career
Watts immediately began teaching in the public school system. In 1874, she joined the Methodist Church in Louisville and began regularly attending Sunday school. By 1877, she had established a youth missionary society at the Broadway Methodist Church. When asked by Mary Helm if she would be interested in missionary work in Brazil, Watts submitted an application to the Women's Board of Foreign Missions and was accepted in 1881, becoming the first woman to be sent to Brazil by the Women's Board and the second woman, after Lochie Rankin, who served in China from 1878, to be employed by the Women's Board. In May 1881, Watts arrived in Rio de Janeiro in the company of James L. Kennedy, James W. Koger and his wife Frances (née Smith), and John James Ransom. Her mission was to establish a school in Piracicaba in the state of São Paulo. While Koger and his wife were to found a church there, Kennedy and Ransom were to establish a church in Rio de Janeiro. By July, Watts had founded a Sunday school and the church was organized by September 11. Founding the school proved more difficult as Watts, who was not fluent in Portuguese, had to convince her neighbors to send their children to school. She also struggled to find a suitable property to rent.
### Colégio Piracicabano
On September 13, 1881, Watts opened the Colégio Piracicabano, having rented a space capable of serving 18 students. Only one pupil, Maria Escobar, was in attendance, as parents were reluctant to move their children in the last quarter of the year. She was criticized for her haste in trying to open the school so quickly with three teachers for the sole student, but pressure to succeed when two previous attempts to establish a Methodist mission school had failed, caused Watts to forge ahead. Watts did not speak French and neither teacher Mary Newman, nor Francis Joseph Christopher Schneider, who taught Portuguese, were prepared to teach classes in the French language, considered the universal language at that time. For students to study the classics in Brazil, they had to use French translations. This made securing a teacher who spoke French essential for the success of the school. Watts and Rev. Ransom, wrote several letters to the Women's Board asking them to secure an American teacher who spoke French, without success. On February 23, 1882, Ransom reported to the Board that he had found a "French woman" with teaching degrees who had accepted an offer of employment. Though the school term had already begun with 13 students, Marie Rennotte, a Belgian teacher, did not join the staff until early March.
Rennotte and Watts worked together to establish the educational vision of the school. Primarily Watts administrated the institution and Rennotte directed creation of the curricula and enhancing the reputation of the Colégio Piracicabano, becoming its spokeswoman owing to Watts' limited ability with Portuguese. Watts' approach to education was founded on Methodist ideology, which promoted a separation of church and state, individual and religious freedom, exploration of science and technology and democratic reforms aimed at producing faithful Christian servants to the nation. Rennotte's method was based upon the European philosophy and pedagogical theories of scholars like Fröbel and Pestalozzi. Together, they sought to implement innovative principles for women's education. The typical education available at the time prepared girls for domestic and social spheres and indoctrinated them into Catholicism. Providing a boarding school for girls, championing co-education and gender equality, Colégio Piracicabano offered a well-rounded curriculum, including courses in languages, literature, mathematics, philosophy, and natural and physical sciences. Classes were also open to boys, as lawyer Manuel de Moraes Barros [pt] sent four of his children there and encouraged others to do so.
Though their curricula was approved of by progressive factions of society, the conservative elements, and specifically the Catholic Church, were harsh critics of Watts and the education provided by Colégio Piracicabano. Nonetheless, by 1883, the enrollment had reached 30 students with the support of abolitionists, masons, and progressive politicians like Prudente Morais Barros (brother of Manuel), who would become governor of São Paulo and President of Brazil. He would later attempt to use the methods adopted for the Colégio Piracicabano as the model for the state's educational system and as governor, offered Watts a position as Minister of Education, to assist in founding a normal school in the state and reform education, though she declined. With growing enrollment, Watts embarked on the construction of a new school building, which was opened in 1884. Wanting the building ready for the start of the new school year, both she and Rennotte were closely involved in the building project to ensure both functionality and hygienic conditions as a basis for a good learning environment.
Taking a leave of absence as was typical for missionaries every five years, Watts spent much of the year 1886 in the United States. In her absence, the school was run by Mary Bruce, as Rennotte was also abroad gathering textbooks and class materials in Europe. Seizing the opportunity, in 1887 the Literary Inspector of Education, Abílio Vianna, filed a report that the school's co-education and its failure to instruct on the Catholic religion were in violation of the Education Laws of 1851 and 1869, and demanded that boys over age 10 be removed from admittance and that a teacher be hired for Catholic instruction. Reaction was swift, with prominent local newspapers and the press in Rio de Janeiro, publishing denouncements of the inspector's actions. When Bruce was subpoenaed, she responded that she would not comply and would not reject students on the basis of their religion or sex. In the end, the state legislature called for Vianna's resignation, allowing the school to continue with their programs. Watts returned after her year at home and resumed her post as director.
### Other schools in Brazil
After 14 years at the Colégio Piracicabano, in 1895, Watts was transferred to Petrópolis with instructions to build a new boarding school there. In effect, it meant starting her career over, building the Colégio Americano (American College) from scratch. The girls' boarding school began with three students and rapidly the enrollment expanded to 50 from some of the most prominent families in the area. As the school was somewhat remote and in the mountains, it gave relief from the heat and epidemics that often occurred in Rio de Janeiro at the time, allowing diplomats and officials in the nearby capital to send their daughters there for safety.
Watts remained at the school until 1900 and the following year took her pentennial leave, returning to the United States. Back in Brazil in 1902, she was assigned to Colégio Mineiro (Miner's College) in Juiz de Fora. She remained at the temporary location for two years while a building was secured for a new Methodist school in Belo Horizonte. In 1904, she inaugurated the Colégio Izabela Hendrix [pt] (Izabela Hendrix College) in the capital city of Minas Gerais with five students, but had over 60 enroll for the following year. In 1905, Blanche Howell was hired as Watts' assistant and the two worked together on the school's establishment. In 1907, Watts returned to Colégio Piracicabano for the dedication of an annex to the school which was named in her honor. Though the cornerstone was laid in 1907, the Martha Watts Annex was not completed until 1912. Suffering from ill-health, Watts returned to the United States in early 1909.
## Death and legacy
Watts fell when stepping out of a carriage in Greenville, Kentucky, in the spring of 1909 and never recovered from the complications of breaking her hip. She died on December 30, 1909, at her brother W. O. Watts' home and was buried at Cave Hill Cemetery on January 2, 1910. A memorial service for her life and work was hosted by the Methodist Missionary Society on January 5, 1910, in Louisville. Watts is recognized as the pioneer who brought Methodist education to Brazil and for her role in the development of a modern educational system in the country.
In 1947, the Escola Normal Livre Miss Martha Watts (Miss Martha Watts Free Normal School) was established next door to the Colégio Piracicabano. It operated until 1970, when the government abolished normal school training. The Colégio Piracicabano was eventually transformed into the Methodist University of Piracicaba in 1975, after having expanded its curricula to offer tertiary courses in 1964. There is a bronze bust of Watts in the hall of the Colégio Izabela Hendrix, recognizing her role in founding the school. The Centro Cultural 'Martha Watts' (Martha Watts Cultural Center) located on Rua Boa Morte in Piracicaba was established in 2003 and pays homage to her "ações que visavam transformar as pessoas, seus costumes, seus hábitos, suas crenças levando-as ao desenvolvimento, tanto intelectual como espiritual" (actions aimed at transforming people, their customs, their habits, their beliefs—leading them to both intellectual and spiritual development).
## See also
|
55,926,529 |
2002 Scottish Masters
| 1,159,314,443 | null |
[
"2002 in Scottish sport",
"2002 in snooker",
"Scottish Masters"
] |
The 2002 Scottish Masters (known as the 2002 Regal Scottish Masters for sponsorship reasons) was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament which took place at the Thistle Hotel in Glasgow, Scotland, from 24 to 29 September. It was the final edition of the tournament, as it later lost its sponsorship by the cigarette brand Regal. It was the first of two invitational World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) competitions in the 2002–03 season. The host broadcaster was BBC Scotland.
Ronnie O'Sullivan, a former world champion, won the tournament, defeating the defending champion John Higgins 9–4 in the final. It was the third time that O'Sullivan had won the Scottish Masters in his career, and he was awarded £65,000 from a prize fund pool of £205,000. In the semi-finals O'Sullivan defeated world number six Stephen Hendry 6–3 and Higgins beat Stephen Lee 6–4; Lee made the tournament's highest break of 139 in his loss.
## Overview
The Scottish Masters was an invitational professional snooker tournament first contested in 1981. The 2002 competition was the first of two World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) invitational events of the 2002–03 season, the other being the 2003 Masters. It was held at the Thistle Hotel in Glasgow, Scotland, from 24 to 29 September and featured a 12-player main draw. Sponsored by the cigarette brand Regal, it had a prize fund of £205,000; the host broadcaster was BBC Scotland. The 2002 competition was the last due to the loss of tobacco sponsorship.
The world top eight players were invited to the main draw and were seeded according to their final positions in the world rankings. The tournament's defending champion John Higgins was the first seed. Four competitors were given wild cards to enter the tournament: they were the 2002 Masters and Welsh Open champion Paul Hunter, Mark King, Jimmy White, and the champion of the 16-player Scottish Masters qualifying tournament and world number 22 Drew Henry. The maximum number of in a match increased from nine in the first round to eleven in the quarter and semi-finals; the final was played to the best-of-17 frames.
Before the tournament, Higgins stated that his four-month break from competing would assist his ardour and interest in the game: "I've moved house twice, got married and become a dad for the first time, so it's been hectic. But now things are almost back to normal. Winning the Masters was a monkey off my back because I'd lost four or five finals in Scotland. So I can't wait to get started and hopefully kick off the season with a win."
## Tournament summary
### Round 1
The first round was played from 24 to 25 September and entailed best-of-nine-frame matches. Stephen Lee, the 2002 Snooker Writers' Association Player of the Year and provisional world number one, made a of 76, a 72 and runs of 41, 40, 36 and 30 in defeating Scotland's Drew Henry 5–1. Henry won the fourth frame 60–37 but losing a 58–0 lead in the fifth due to a on a . Lee said he was pleased with the result after heavy practise over the interval. World number ten and the tournament's oldest player White won 5–4 over former world champion Ken Doherty. Trailing 2–1, Doherty compiled a century break of 112 to tie the match in frame four. He took the lead with breaks of 44 and 39 for scores of 3–2 and 4–3. White compiled breaks of 36 and 38 to force a final frame, which he won 67–40.
World number nine Hunter won 5–3 against the 1999 Scottish Masters champion Matthew Stevens. Hunter led 3–0 with breaks of 101, 72 and 64 before Stevens made reply breaks of 66 and 77. The match was tied after six frames before Hunter won the next two to secure a quarter-final berth. Hunter stated that he shook "like a leaf" for much of the game and Stevens said "things didn't go too well for me in this game." Breaks of 84, 82, 58, 47 and 39 allowed the world number six Stephen Hendry to whitewash King 5–0 in 90 minutes. Afterwards he said: "The first three or four frames were pretty good. It was a bit scrappy towards the end but getting the result was the main thing." He said he would not think of his next match against world champion Peter Ebdon as seeking revenge for his loss to him in the final of the 2002 world championship.
### Quarter-finals
The four quarter-finals took place from 26 to 27 September as the best-of-11 frames. Ronnie O'Sullivan, a former world champion, defeated Hunter 6–3 to qualify for the semi-finals. He made two breaks of 58 and 59 to lead 3–0 before Hunter compiled reply breaks of 68 and 51 to make it 3–2. Hunter was later 4–3 behind until he failed to pot several red balls and O'Sullivan won the match. After the match, O'Sullivan criticised Hendry and his manager Ian Doyle as wanting to take control of snooker's commercial rights from the WPBSA to benefit themselves, something Doyle denied. John Higgins overcame a challenge from White to win 6–4. He started with a 2–0 lead only to trail 4–2 after White made breaks of 81, 74 and 46. Higgins compiled a 133 clearance in the seventh frame and finished the match with breaks of 55 and 95. He called it "a topsy-turvy game" and said he had thought he would be unchallenged after White's poor early performance.
Lee took 103 minutes to whitewash Mark Williams 6–0 with breaks of 43, 46, 70, 122, 51 and 73; he accumulated more aggregate points than his opponent, 519–99. It was Williams' first career whitewash since he lost 5–0 to Doherty at the 1999 tournament. Lee had won against Williams for the first time in his three years playing in the tournament. Williams said he had "made it too easy" for Lee because he had left balls near the . Hendry avenged his loss to Ebdon by defeating his opponent 6–4 in the last quarter-final match. He produced a 136 to hold a 4–2 lead and later compiled a break of 87 to win the match. After the game, Hendry said that neither he nor Ebdon were at their best form because there were a large number of errors during the match.
### Semi-finals
Both semi-finals were held to the best-of-11 frames on 28 September. Higgins defeated Lee 6–4 with breaks of 89, 77, 72, 60 and 50 to earn the first berth in the final. Ahead 5–3, Higgins lost the ninth frame to Lee before he won the match after Lee potted a red and the simultaneously with a break of 51. Lee had compiled the tournament's highest break of 139 to overtake Hendry's 136 from the previous day.
The other semi-final saw Hendry and O'Sullivan play each other. O'Sullivan took a 2–0 lead from breaks of 75 and 73 within 1⁄4 hour. After Hendry missed a red while on a break of 65, O'Sullivan made a 69 clearance to further increase his lead by one frame. Hendry claimed three successive frames to tie the match before O'Sullivan made breaks of 76, 136 and 62 to win 6–3 and the second berth in the final.
### Final
The final between Higgins and O'Sullivan on 29 September was contested over two as a best-of-17 frames match. O'Sullivan led 5–1 by compiling breaks of 51, 79, 52, 65 and 43 with the solitary reply from Higgins being a 100 break in frame four. Higgins reduced his deficit to 5–4 with breaks of 48, 49 and 59. O'Sullivan then produced breaks of 43, 112, 52 and 91 to claim four frames in a row within 43 minutes and win the tournament with a 9–4 victory. It was O'Sullivan's third Scottish Masters tournament win after his victories in 1998 and 2000, and equalled a record Hendry had held. He had won his eighth competition in Scotland, his 26th from 34 finals; he earned £65,000 in prize money. Higgins was runner-up for the 15th time in his career from 39 finals, and earned £32,000. Lee won £5,000 for producing the tournament's highest break of 139 in the semi-finals.
O'Sullivan said he had been focused on improving his form by using the golfer Tiger Woods as an example. "He's shown the way to be professional and how hard work pays off." He had gone into the tournament feeling confident because he had accumulated high breaks against his fellow players in practice. He stated he wanted to win approximately 50 to 60 championships to keep him motivated before his retirement and knew that reaching the level of Steve Davis and Hendry would be difficult. Higgins commented that O'Sullivan deserved to win the tournament, and admitted to have not taken advantage of his opportunities: "Even when I got back to 5–4 I couldn't put any pressure on him. I did well in these invitation events last season and not in the ranking tournaments so it would be nice if I can change that around."
## Main draw
Numbers given to the left of players' names show the seedings for the top eight players in the tournament. Players in bold denote match winners.
## Qualifying Event
Qualifying for the tournament took place amongst 16 players at Spencer's Leisure, Stirling from 27 August to 1 September. The 16-player tournament included the likes of Graeme Dott, the 2001 British Open runner-up, and the 1995 world championship runner-up Nigel Bond. Drew Henry won the tournament and earned the final wild card spot for the Scottish Masters by defeating Dominic Dale, Robin Hull, Joe Swail and Ali Carter over four rounds. All matches were played to the best-of-nine frames and players in bold indicate match winners.
## Century breaks
### Qualifying stage centuries
Two century breaks were made by two different players during the qualifying tournament.
- 141 – Ali Carter
- 109 – Nigel Bond
### Televised stage centuries
The main stage of the 2002 Scottish Masters yielded eight century breaks by six different players. The highest was a 139 by Stephen Lee in his semi-final match against John Higgins, which earned him £5,000.
- 139, 122 – Stephen Lee
- 136, 112 – Ronnie O'Sullivan
- 136 – Stephen Hendry
- 133, 100 – John Higgins
- 112 – Ken Doherty
- 101 – Paul Hunter
|
67,702,927 |
Will Speck and Josh Gordon
| 1,171,898,962 |
American director and producer duo
|
[
"1969 births",
"American film directors",
"American male screenwriters",
"American male television writers",
"American television directors",
"American television producers",
"Comedy film directors",
"Fantasy film directors",
"Filmmakers from New York (state)",
"Filmmaking duos",
"Living people",
"Screenwriting duos",
"Tisch School of the Arts alumni"
] |
Will Speck (born December 31, 1969) and Josh Gordon are an American filmmaker duo who generally work in the comedy genre. They have directed six feature films together. Their accolades include an Academy Award nomination.
Speck and Gordon met while attending the New York University Tisch School of the Arts. Their short film Culture (1997) was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film. They directed their first feature film, Blades of Glory, in 2007. Their works include the movies The Switch (2010), The Power Inside (2013), Office Christmas Party (2016), and Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile (2022), and the television shows Cavemen (2007) and Hit-Monkey (2021). They have one upcoming film, Distant.
## Career
Will Speck and Josh Gordon met when they were paired for a group assignment at the New York University Tisch School of the Arts. They became friends, and wrote screenplays together in Los Angeles in 1994. Gordon joined the writing staff of the sitcom Mad About You and Speck worked with Fox 2000 Pictures as a creative executive. They wrote and directed the short films Angry Boys and Culture in 1997. Culture starred Philip Seymour Hoffman and earned Best Narrative Short Film at the Chicago International Film Festival and an Academy Award nomination for Best Live Action Short Film. Gordon said the two shorts were "the first times we expressed our sensibility on film."
Speck and Gordon made their feature directorial debut in 2007 with the comedy Blades of Glory, starring Will Ferrell, Jon Heder, Will Arnett, and Amy Poehler. It was both a critical and commercial success, earning over \$145 million at the box office. Also in 2007, they worked on the sitcom Cavemen as writers, directors, and executive producers. The distributor ABC struggled to promote the series, and it received mixed reviews; the Chicago Tribune called it one of the worst television shows ever made. In 2010, Speck and Gordon directed Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman in the romantic comedy film The Switch; it was met with mixed reviews, particularly for its screenplay. In 2013, they directed the interactive social film The Power Inside, which was nominated for the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding New Approaches in a Drama Series.
Speck and Gordon also directed hundreds of commercials. Their most notable ones are the GEICO Cavemen campaign ("So easy, a caveman could it do") that inspired the show Cavemen, a "Make Homosexuals Marry" commercial with Justin Long and Mike White, and an advertisement promoting organ donation, titled "World's Biggest Asshole", starring Thomas Jane and the voice of Arnett. Forbes magazine listed "World's Biggest Asshole" as one of the best advertisements of 2016. At the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, the commercial's sponsor was awarded ten Golden Lions (three golds, two silvers, and five bronzes). In 2016, Speck and Gordon directed two episodes of the series Flaked, starring Arnett, and the movie Office Christmas Party, starring Aniston and Bateman. In 2021, their animated television series Hit-Monkey, based on the Marvel Comics character, was released on Hulu. Their next work, the musical film Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile based on the children's book and starring Shawn Mendes, was released in 2022. They directed a science fiction movie called Distant.
## Future and unrealized projects
Speck and Gordon were reported to direct many movies which were either canceled or in development hell. They include the movies I Want to \_\_ Your Sister (announced in 2008; abandoned by 2019), The Pool (announced in 2011), Parents Weekend (announced in 2015), The Travelers (announced in 2017), and War Driver (announced in 2020). As of May 2021, Variety Insight reports The Pool, The Travelers, and War Driver have been canceled.
In October 2022, it was announced they would direct and produce a musical adaptation of the video game The Oregon Trail.
## Filmography
Short film
Feature film
### Television
|
28,687,447 |
2011 Bahrain Grand Prix
| 1,135,400,410 |
Cancelled round of the 2011 Formula One season
|
[
"2011 Formula One races",
"2011 in Bahraini sport",
"Bahrain Grand Prix",
"Bahraini uprising of 2011",
"Cancelled motorsport events",
"Formula One controversies",
"Politics and sports"
] |
The 2011 Bahrain Grand Prix (officially the 2011 Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix) was scheduled to be the opening round of the 2011 Formula One World Championship. Planned to be held on 13 March 2011 at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain, it was postponed on 21 February 2011 due to civil unrest. On 3 June, it was announced that the race would be held on 30 October, which would have made it the 17th of 20 Grands Prix held during 2011. Following controversy over the reinstatement of the race, organisers of the Grand Prix abandoned their bid to host a race in 2011.
## Postponement
On 14 February 2011 (later to be known as the Day of Rage), civil unrest broke out in Bahrain as part of a series of protests across North Africa and the Middle East. As a result of the unrest, medical staff due to attend the practice session for that weekend's Bahrain GP2 Asia Series race were redeployed to hospitals in Manama, forcing the cancellation of the Thursday practice session. Later that day, it was announced that the whole weekend would be cancelled at the request of the local motoring federation.
Chief executive of the Bahrain International Circuit Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, who was also the crown prince of Bahrain, stated that "[his] focus ... is on delivering another successful event in the form of the Bahrain Grand Prix." Bernie Ecclestone, CEO of Formula One Management and Formula One Administration, stated that he hoped that talks with Al Khalifa would ease his fears that the event might be cancelled. Vice President of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, Nabeel Rajab said that it would be hard to bring a quick end to the protests. Ecclestone stated that "If its [the protests] not quietened down by Wednesday [23 February], I think we will have to cancel probably." Protesters were quoted stating that "the only reason" the Crown Prince was willing to talk with the protestors was for the sake of holding the race.
On 21 February 2011, Prince Salman postponed the race due to the ongoing protests. A pre-season test scheduled at the Bahrain International Circuit from 3–6 March was also delayed and moved to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, in Spain. The organisers were later given until 1 May to decide whether they want to proceed with the race at a later date.
## Provisional reinstatement and cancellation
In April 2011, the race organisers released a statement stating that "normal life has returned to Bahrain" and that they were hopeful that they could host the race later in the year. On 2 May 2011, Bernie Ecclestone extended the deadline on rescheduling the race to 3 June.
At a meeting of the World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) on 3 June, FIA members unanimously voted to reinstate the Bahrain Grand Prix to the calendar on the planned date of 30 October, with the Indian Grand Prix moved from that date to 11 December. The decision was controversial, with Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn stating that a December finale was unacceptable, while human rights interest groups and activists criticised the FIA for the reinstatement in light of the ongoing political upheaval in the country. Red Bull Racing driver Mark Webber expressed his concerns over the human rights conditions and stated that he would have hoped for the sport to have taken a firmer stance on the affair. Several other drivers expressed a willingness to race on the condition that their safety could be guaranteed amid reports that widespread protests were being planned for the day of the race.
A petition to boycott the race received 300,000 signatories. In response to this, FIA president Jean Todt promised that the sport's governing body would monitor the situation in Bahrain carefully, leaving open the possibility of a cancellation should the country deteriorate ahead of the race, while commercial rights holder Bernie Ecclestone called for a second vote to take place, restoring the Indian Grand Prix to its original October date and moving the Bahrain Grand Prix back to the season finale in December. According to former FIA president Max Mosley, the rescheduling of the race would require the unanimous agreement of the teams. It had been reported that the Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) was opposed to rescheduling the race to 30 October on logistical grounds, but were willing to discuss an end-of-season berth for the race instead.
On 8 June, Ecclestone stated that he felt the race would not go ahead because the FIA had overlooked article 66 of the Sporting Code, which states that "no amendments can be made to the arrangements for a championship after entries open without the agreement of all competitors." The FIA later asked Ecclestone to submit a new calendar proposal after they were informed by FOTA that holding the Bahrain Grand Prix on 30 October was "impractical". On 9 June, organisers for the Bahrain Grand Prix officially abandoned their bid to return to the calendar.
## See also
- 2012 Bahrain Grand Prix protests
- Background of the 2011 Bahraini uprising
- Bahrain Grand Prix
- Politics and sports
- Timeline of the 2011 Bahraini uprising
|
5,240,327 |
Dvorak technique
| 1,127,660,687 |
Subjective technique to estimate tropical cyclone intensity
|
[
"Satellite interpretation",
"Tropical cyclone meteorology"
] |
The Dvorak technique (developed between 1969 and 1984 by Vernon Dvorak) is a widely used system to estimate tropical cyclone intensity (which includes tropical depression, tropical storm, and hurricane/typhoon/intense tropical cyclone intensities) based solely on visible and infrared satellite images. Within the Dvorak satellite strength estimate for tropical cyclones, there are several visual patterns that a cyclone may take on which define the upper and lower bounds on its intensity. The primary patterns used are curved band pattern (T1.0-T4.5), shear pattern (T1.5–T3.5), central dense overcast (CDO) pattern (T2.5–T5.0), central cold cover (CCC) pattern, banding eye pattern (T4.0–T4.5), and eye pattern (T4.5–T8.0).
Both the central dense overcast and embedded eye pattern use the size of the CDO. The CDO pattern intensities start at T2.5, equivalent to minimal tropical storm intensity (40 mph, 65 km/h). The shape of the central dense overcast is also considered. The eye pattern utilizes the coldness of the cloud tops within the surrounding mass of thunderstorms and contrasts it with the temperature within the eye itself. The larger the temperature difference is, the stronger the tropical cyclone. Once a pattern is identified, the storm features (such as length and curvature of banding features) are further analyzed to arrive at a particular T-number. The CCC pattern indicates little development is occurring, despite the cold cloud tops associated with the quickly evolving feature.
Several agencies issue Dvorak intensity numbers for tropical cyclones and their precursors, including the National Hurricane Center's Tropical Analysis and Forecast Branch (TAFB), the NOAA/NESDIS Satellite Analysis Branch (SAB), and the Joint Typhoon Warning Center at the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
## Evolution of the method
The initial development of this technique occurred in 1969 by Vernon Dvorak, using satellite pictures of tropical cyclones within the northwest Pacific Ocean. The system as it was initially conceived involved pattern matching of cloud features with a development and decay model. As the technique matured through the 1970s and 1980s, measurement of cloud features became dominant in defining tropical cyclone intensity and central pressure of the tropical cyclone's low-pressure area. Use of infrared satellite imagery led to a more objective assessment of the strength of tropical cyclones with eyes, using the cloud top temperatures within the eyewall and contrasting them with the warm temperatures within the eye itself. Constraints on short term intensity change are used less frequently than they were back in the 1970s and 1980s. The central pressures assigned to tropical cyclones have required modification, as the original estimates were 5–10 hPa (0.15–0.29 inHg) too low in the Atlantic and up to 20 hPa (0.59 inHg) too high in the northwest Pacific. This led to the development of a separate wind-pressure relationship for the northwest Pacific, devised by Atkinson and Holliday in 1975, then modified in 1977.
As human analysts using the technique lead to subjective biases, efforts have been made to make more objective estimates using computer programs, which have been aided by higher-resolution satellite imagery and more powerful computers. Since tropical cyclone satellite patterns can fluctuate over time, automated techniques use a six-hour averaging period to lead to more reliable intensity estimates. Development of the objective Dvorak technique began in 1998, which performed best with tropical cyclones that had eyes (of hurricane or typhoon strength). It still required a manual center placement, keeping some subjectivity within the process. By 2004, an advanced objective Dvorak technique was developed which utilized banding features for systems below hurricane intensity and to objectively determine the tropical cyclone's center. A central pressure bias was uncovered in 2004 relating to the slope of the tropopause and cloud top temperatures which change with latitude that helped improve central pressure estimates within the objective technique.
## Details of the method
In a developing cyclone, the technique takes advantage of the fact that cyclones of similar intensity tend to have certain characteristic features, and as they strengthen, they tend to change in appearance in a predictable manner. The structure and organization of the tropical cyclone are tracked over 24 hours to determine if the storm has weakened, maintained its intensity, or strengthened. Various central cloud and banding features are compared with templates that show typical storm patterns and their associated intensity. If infrared satellite imagery is available for a cyclone with a visible eye pattern, then the technique utilizes the difference between the temperature of the warm eye and the surrounding cold cloud tops to determine intensity (colder cloud tops generally indicate a more intense storm). In each case a "T-number" (an abbreviation for Tropical Number) and a Current Intensity (CI) value are assigned to the storm. These measurements range between 1 (minimum intensity) and 8 (maximum intensity). The T-number and CI value are the same except for weakening storms, in which case the CI is higher. For weakening systems, the CI is held as the tropical cyclone intensity for 12 hours, though research from the National Hurricane Center indicates that six hours is more reasonable. The table at right shows the approximate surface wind speed and sea level pressure that corresponds to a given T-number. The amount a tropical cyclone can change in strength per 24-hour period is limited to 2.5 T-numbers per day.
### Pattern types
Within the Dvorak satellite strength estimate for tropical cyclones, there are several visual patterns that a cyclone may take on which define the upper and lower bounds on its intensity. The primary patterns used are curved band pattern (T1.0-T4.5), shear pattern (T1.5-T3.5), central dense overcast (CDO) pattern (T2.5-T5.0), banding eye pattern (T4.0-T4.5), eye pattern (T4.5 – T8.0), and central cold cover (CCC) pattern. Both the central dense overcast and embedded eye pattern utilize the size of the CDO. The CDO pattern intensities start at T2.5, equivalent to minimal tropical storm intensity (40 miles per hour (64 km/h)). The shape of the central dense overcast is also considered. The farther the center is tucked into the CDO, the stronger it is deemed. Tropical cyclones with maximum sustained winds between 65 miles per hour (105 km/h) and 100 miles per hour (160 km/h) can have their center of circulations obscured by cloudiness of the central dense overcast within visible and infrared satellite imagery, which makes diagnosis of their intensity a challenge.
The CCC pattern, with its large and quickly developing mass of thick cirrus clouds spreading out from an area of convection near a tropical cyclone center within a short time frame, indicates little development. When it develops, rainbands and cloud lines around the tropical cyclone weaken and the thick cloud shield obscures the circulation center. While it resembles a CDO pattern, it is rarely seen.
The eye pattern utilizes the coldness of the cloud tops within the surrounding mass of thunderstorms and contrasts it with the temperature within the eye itself. The larger the temperature difference is, the stronger the tropical cyclone. Winds within tropical cyclones can also be estimated by tracking features within the CDO using rapid scan geostationary satellite imagery, whose pictures are taken minutes apart rather than every half-hour.
Once a pattern is identified, the storm features (such as length and curvature of banding features) are further analyzed to arrive at a particular T-number.
## Usage
Several agencies issue Dvorak intensity numbers for tropical cyclones and their precursors. These include the National Hurricane Center's Tropical Analysis and Forecast Branch (TAFB), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Satellite Analysis Branch (SAB), and the Joint Typhoon Warning Center at the Naval Pacific Meteorology and Oceanography Center in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
The National Hurricane Center will often quote Dvorak T-numbers in their tropical cyclone products. The following example is from discussion number 3 of Tropical Depression 24 (eventually Hurricane Wilma) of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season:
BOTH TAFB AND SAB CAME IN WITH A DVORAK SATELLITE INTENSITY ESTIMATE OF T2.5/35 KT. HOWEVER ...OFTENTIMES THE SURFACE WIND FIELD OF LARGE DEVELOPING LOW PRESSURE SYSTEMS LIKE THIS ONE WILL LAG ABOUT 12 HOURS BEHIND THE SATELLITE SIGNATURE. THEREFORE... THE INITIAL INTENSITY HAS ONLY BEEN INCREASED TO 30 KT.
Note that in this case the Dvorak T-number (in this case T2.5) was simply used as a guide but other factors determined how the NHC decided to set the system's intensity.
The Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) at the University of Wisconsin–Madison has developed the Objective Dvorak Technique (ODT). This is a modified version of the Dvorak technique which uses computer algorithms rather than subjective human interpretation to arrive at a CI number. This is generally not implemented for tropical depressions or weak tropical storms. The China Meteorological Agency (CMA) is expected to start using the standard 1984 version of Dvorak in the near future. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) prefers using visible satellite imagery over infrared imagery due to a perceived high bias in estimates derived from infrared imagery during the early morning hours of convective maximum. The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) uses the infrared version of Dvorak over the visible imagery version. Hong Kong Observatory and JMA continue to utilize Dvorak after tropical cyclone landfall. Various centers hold on to the maximum current intensity for 6–12 hours, though this rule is broken when rapid weakening is obvious.
Citizen science site Cyclone Center uses a modified version of the Dvorak technique to categorize post-1970 tropical weather.
## Benefits and disadvantages
The most significant benefit of the use of the technique is that it has provided a more complete history of tropical cyclone intensity in areas where aircraft reconnaissance is neither possible nor routinely available. Intensity estimates of maximum sustained wind are currently within 5 miles per hour (8.0 km/h) of what aircraft are able to measure half of the time, though the assignment of intensity of systems with strengths between moderate tropical-storm force (60 miles per hour (97 km/h)) and weak hurricane- or typhoon-force (100 miles per hour (160 km/h)) is the least certain. Its overall precision has not always been true, as refinements in the technique led to intensity changes between 1972 and 1977 of up to 20 miles per hour (32 km/h). The method is internally consistent in that it constrains rapid increases or decreases in tropical cyclone intensity. Some tropical cyclones fluctuate in strength more than the 2.5 T numbers per day limit allowed by the rule, which can work to the technique's disadvantage and has led to occasional abandonment of the constraints since the 1980s. Systems with small eyes near the limb, or edge, of a satellite image can be biased too weakly using the technique, which can be resolved through use of polar-orbiting satellite imagery. Subtropical cyclone intensity cannot be determined using Dvorak, which led to the development of the Hebert-Poteat technique in 1975. Cyclones undergoing extratropical transition, losing their thunderstorm activity, see their intensities underestimated using the Dvorak technique. This led to the development of the Miller and Lander extratropical transition technique which can be used under these circumstances.
## See also
Other tools used to determine tropical cyclone intensity:
- Quikscat
- TRMM
|
614,877 |
Coffin birth
| 1,131,046,098 |
Expulsion of fetus from the body of a deceased pregnant woman due to intra-abdominal gas pressure
|
[
"Childbirth",
"Forensic phenomena",
"Medical aspects of death",
"Obstetrics",
"Pregnancy with abortive outcome",
"Signs of death"
] |
Coffin birth, also known as postmortem fetal extrusion, is the expulsion of a nonviable fetus through the vaginal opening of the decomposing body of a deceased pregnant woman due to increasing pressure from intra-abdominal gases. This kind of postmortem delivery occurs very rarely during the decomposition of a body. The practice of chemical preservation, whereby chemical preservatives and disinfectant solutions are pumped into a body to replace natural body fluids (and the bacteria that reside therein), have made the occurrence of "coffin birth" so rare that the topic is rarely mentioned in international medical discourse.
Typically during the decomposition of a human body, naturally occurring bacteria in the organs of the abdominal cavity (such as the stomach and intestines) generate gases as by-products of metabolism, which causes the body to swell. In some cases, the confined pressure of the gases can squeeze the uterus (the womb), even forcing it downward, and it may turn inside-out and be forced out of the body through the vaginal opening (a process called prolapse). If a fetus is contained within the uterus, it could therefore be expelled from the mother's body through the vaginal opening when the uterus turns inside-out, in a process that, to outward appearances, mimics childbirth. The main differences lie in the state of the mother and fetus and the mechanism of delivery: in the event of natural, live childbirth, the mother's contractions thin and shorten the cervix to expel the infant from the womb; in a case of coffin birth, built-up gas pressure within the putrefied body of a pregnant woman pushes the dead fetus from the body of the mother.
Cases have been recorded by medical authorities since the 16th century, though some archaeological cases provide evidence for its occurrence in many periods of human history. While cases of postmortem fetal expulsion have always been rare, the phenomenon has been recorded under disparate circumstances and is occasionally seen in a modern forensic context when the body of a pregnant woman lies undisturbed and undiscovered for some time following death. There are also cases whereby a fetus may become separated from the body of the pregnant woman about the time of death or during decomposition, though because those cases are not consistent with the processes described here, they are not considered true cases of postmortem fetal extrusion.
## Causes
The cause of postmortem fetal extrusion is not completely understood, as the event is neither predictable nor replicable under experimental conditions. Evidence has accumulated opportunistically and direct observation is serendipitous. While it is possible that more than one cause can produce the same result, there is an accepted hypothesis, based on established research in the fields of biochemistry and forensic taphonomy, and further supported by observational research, that accounts for the taphonomic mechanisms that would result in the most often encountered cases of postmortem extrusion of a non-viable fetus.
Typically, as a dead body decomposes, body tissues become depleted of oxygen and the body begins to putrefy; anaerobic bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract proliferate and as a result of increased metabolic activity, release gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, and hydrogen sulfide. These bacteria secrete exoenzymes to break down body cells and proteins for ingestion which thus weakens organ tissues. Increasing pressure forces the diffusion of excessive gases into the weakened tissues where they enter the circulatory system and spread to other parts of the body, causing both torso and limbs to become bloated. These decompositional processes weaken the structural integrity of organs by separating necrotizing tissue layers. Bloating usually begins from two to five days after death, depending on external temperature, humidity, and other environmental conditions. As the volume of gas increases, the pressure begins to force various body fluids to exude from all natural orifices. It is at this point during the decomposition of a pregnant body that amniotic membranes become stretched and separated, and intra-abdominal gas pressure may force the eversion and prolapse of the uterus, which would result in the expulsion of the fetus through the vaginal canal. It has been observed that the bodies of multiparous women are more likely to spontaneously expel the fetus during decomposition than those who died during their first pregnancy, because of the more elastic nature of the cervix.
## History
Numerous documented cases of postmortem fetal extrusion were described in the medical compendium Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine, first published in 1896. The earliest presented case occurred in 1551 when a pregnant woman was tried and hanged by the courts of the Spanish Inquisition. Four hours after her death, and while the body still hung by the neck, two dead infants were seen to fall free of the body. This is unusual for the short amount of time elapsed between death and the postmortem delivery. As no information is given regarding other ambient circumstances, it is unclear whether the onset of putrefaction was accelerated, or if other causal factors were at work. In the city of Brussels, in 1633, a woman died in convulsions and three days later a fetus was spontaneously expelled. In Weissenfels, in 1861, postmortem fetal extrusion was observed sixty hours after the death of a pregnant woman. Other cases are described, though only a few describe the unexpected discovery of fetal remains following exhumation. Most cases occurred before burial; in some of these, the body was in the casket while in other cases the body was still on its deathbed or on a bier.
During the late 19th century, modern embalming techniques were developed, whereby preservative and disinfectant chemical compounds (such as formaldehyde) are pumped into a body, flushing out the body's natural fluids, and with them the bacteria that flourish during putrefaction and generate the gases that comprise the active force behind the expulsion of the fetus. However, the phenomenon was still recognized by medical science and in 1904, John Whitridge Williams wrote a textbook on obstetric medicine that included a section on "coffin birth". Although the text has remained an important reference in obstetrics, the subject, whether called "coffin birth" or "postmortem fetal extrusion", was excluded by its 13th edition in 1966, and was not mentioned in the edition published in 2009. The subject was discussed in German medical literature during the 20th century, though more detailed case reports in the forensic literature have been published recently.
In 2005, the body of a 34-year-old woman, eight months pregnant, was discovered in her apartment in Hamburg, Germany. The body was bloated and discolored, and upon initial examination, it was found that the head of the fetus had made its appearance in the vaginal opening. At autopsy, medical examiners found that both the head and shoulders of the fetus had emerged, and concluded that it was a case of postmortem fetal extrusion in progress. The woman, who had given birth twice before, had died of a heroin overdose. The case was unusual and serendipitous, as it was the first modern case in which medical practitioners were able to document a case of postmortem fetal extrusion in progress.
In 2008, the body of a 38-year-old woman, seven months pregnant, was discovered in an open field four days after she had disappeared from her residence in Panama. A plastic bag had been left over her head, and she had been gagged; the case was ruled a homicide. The body had suffered from the tropical heat and high humidity, and was bloated and highly discolored. At autopsy, the remains of the fetus were discovered in the woman's undergarments. Although the fetus was in a similar state of decomposition, the umbilical cord was intact and still attached to the placenta inside the uterus. This was the first forensic case in which it could be concluded that coffin birth had occurred based on the position of the bodies and the clear attachment of the umbilical cord to the un-expelled placenta.
In 2019, the autopsy reports in the case of the Watts family homicides in August 2018 revealed that Shanann Watts (who had been 15 weeks pregnant at the time of her murder) had been found in a shallow grave and that the fetus had been expelled from her body, along with the placenta and umbilical cord.
### Bioarchaeology
Postmortem fetal extrusion can be very difficult to recognize once a body has undergone complete skeletonization, and bioarchaeologists are often very cautious about asserting the presence of this phenomenon. There are numerous cultural reasons why a mother and an infant might be interred together, so the joint presence of neonatal remains and an adult female is not taken as conclusive evidence of postmortem fetal extrusion; however, there have been excavated burials where the position of a set of fetal remains relative to those of an adult female supported this hypothesis. There are a few general guidelines when an archaeologist is assessing the placement of the fetus and the adult:
1. If the fetal remains are found in a fetal position and are wholly within the pelvic cavity of the adult, the fetus died and was interred before delivery. The pregnant woman may therefore have died due to labor complications.
2. If the infant is found alongside the adult, with the head oriented in the same direction as the adult, then the infant was delivered, whether naturally or by caesarian incision, around the time of death, and thereafter interred.
1. Delivered infants have also been interred between or alongside the tibiae (shins), but the infant is still oriented in the same direction as the adult.
2. If the majority of the fetal remains are in the pelvic cavity of the adult, yet the legs are extended and/or the cranium lies among the ribs, then the infant may have been delivered and then placed on top of the mother's torso before burial. As both bodies skeletonized, the infant's bones would have settled among the mother's ribs and vertebrae.
3. If the fetal remains are complete and in a position inferior to and in-line with the pelvic outlet, with the head oriented opposite to that of the mother (toward the foot of the coffin or grave), then there is the possibility of coffin birth.
1. Evidence for postmortem fetal extrusion may be less ambiguous when the fetal remains are found to lie within the pelvic outlet of the adult, thus indicating that partial extrusion had occurred during decomposition.
In 1975, it was reported that during the excavation of a medieval cemetery in Kings Worthy, England, fetal remains appeared to lie within the birth canal of the skeleton of a young woman, with the fetal cranium external to the pelvic outlet and between the two femora (thigh bones) and the fetal leg bones clearly within the pelvic cavity. Other cases of coffin birth at archaeological sites have been described, such as in 1978 at a Neolithic site in Germany, at a medieval site in Denmark in 1982, and in 2009 at an Early Christian period site at Fingal, Ireland. A coffin birth was also described in a 2011 episode of the BBC show History Cold Case, featuring the Roman era remains of a woman and three neonates discovered near Baldock, Hertfordshire. Another was identified in 2006 in a 14th-century Black Death cemetery in Genoa, Italy.
## Applicability of diagnosis
Because postmortem fetal extrusion is so rare, and occurs under highly idiosyncratic conditions regarding the individual and the ambient environment, this phenomenon has not been studied for possible applications to forensic investigation. Even if the study of postmortem fetal extrusion could lead to improved investigative methods, experimental research would be highly problematic. At present, forensic scientists have at their disposal an array of established techniques and procedures for a death investigation at the stages of decomposition when postmortem fetal extrusion typically occurs.
In archaeology, the study of mortuary context, that is, the interpretation of the postmortem treatment of the dead, whether an individual or as pertains to patterns within a group, has led to the development of hypotheses on social status and/or hierarchy regarding many cultures, ancient and extant. In addition, the determination of whether or not delivery actually occurred before death has a bearing on analyses of the mother's population, as the concentration of trace elements differ markedly between the skeletons of prepartum adult women (before giving birth) and women who are lactating; the identification of coffin birth would lead to more accurate analyses of the number of lactating women in a population or the rate of maternal mortality. It is therefore necessary for investigators to be able to recognize postmortem fetal extrusion when encountered in an excavated burial.
## Comparable phenomena
There are also many cases where the remains of the fetus are found separate from the body of the mother, but expulsion was not through the birth canal, and separation of the two bodies may have been influenced by external environmental factors. The process of separation is so unusual that a specific term for the phenomenon may not have been proposed to the scientific community. These cases may have comparable results, but they are not cases of postmortem fetal extrusion.
In April 2003, the body of Laci Peterson washed up on a shore near San Francisco Bay; she had been pregnant when she disappeared four months earlier, and the fetus she had been carrying was discovered on a separate beach. When questioned by the media, medical authorities initially speculated that a "coffin birth" might have occurred. However, at autopsy the cervix was found to be in a prepartum condition. Medical examiners later concluded that while Peterson's body was in the bay, the skin over the abdominal cavity had ruptured due to natural decompositional processes. Seawater entered the abdominal cavity and washed out most of the internal organs, along with the fetus.
In 2007, a 23-year-old woman in India, over eight months pregnant, hanged herself after contractions had begun. A viable infant was spontaneously delivered unassisted from the woman's body, which was suspended by the neck. The healthy infant was found on the floor, still tethered to the body of the mother by the umbilical cord. The primary cause of the delivery was the otherwise normal contractions, which had begun before death, and was therefore not related to processes of decomposition. While this is not postmortem fetal extrusion, it may be referred to as a case of postmortem delivery, a term which is applied to a broad range of techniques and phenomena with a resultant delivery of a live infant.
In 2008, in Germany, a 23-year-old woman in her third trimester was involved in a motor vehicle accident and died; the non-viable fetus was found between her feet. The vehicle caught fire following initial impact. The woman died of blunt trauma, and her body burned in the car. Investigators came to the conclusion that the extreme heat of the fire burned away epidermal and subcutaneous tissue around the abdominal cavity, after which the anterior aspect of the uterus ruptured, causing the fetus to spill out of the uterine cavity and land on the floor between the woman's feet. The umbilical cord was still intact and connected the fetus to the placenta through the ruptured wall of the uterus. Unlike the woman, who suffered fourth-degree burns over her entire body, the body of the fetus was relatively undamaged. Because the primary cause of separation from the mother's body was thermally induced traumatic rupture of the abdominal and uterine cavities; traumatic separation was not related to normal decompositional processes; and expulsion of the fetus did not involve passage through the birth canal, this is not considered a case of postmortem fetal extrusion.
## In animals
Whales can be subject to postmortem fetal extrusion. Many species float when dead, due to the gases of putrefaction. Drift whales that wash up on shore, and the carcasses of hunted whales, if not flensed (stripped of blubber) and processed in a timely manner, posed a risk. Tim Flannery wrote that "A rotting whale could fill with gas to bursting, ejecting a fetus the size of a motor vehicle with sufficient force to kill a man."
## See also
- Childbirth
- Osteology
- Posthumous birth
- Stillbirth
|
19,187,131 |
Cynicism (philosophy)
| 1,173,860,079 |
Ancient school of philosophy
|
[
"Asceticism",
"Cynicism"
] |
Cynicism (Ancient Greek: κυνισμός) is a school of thought in ancient Greek philosophy, originating in the Classical period and extending into the Hellenistic and Roman Imperial periods. According to Cynicism, people are reasoning animals and the purpose of life and the way to gain happiness is to achieve virtue, in agreement with nature, following one's natural sense of reason by living ascetically and shamelessly free from social constraints. The Cynics (Ancient Greek: Κυνικοί, Latin: Cynici) rejected all conventional desires for wealth, fame, power, and worldly possessions and even flouted such conventions openly and derisively in public.
The first philosopher to outline these themes was Antisthenes, who had been a pupil of Socrates in the late 400s BC. He was followed by Diogenes, who lived in a ceramic jar on the streets of Athens. Diogenes took Cynicism to its logical extremes, and came to be seen as the archetypal Cynic philosopher. He was followed by Crates of Thebes, who gave away a large fortune so he could live a life of Cynic poverty in Athens.
Cynicism gradually declined in importance after the 3rd century BC, but it experienced a revival with the rise of the Roman Empire in the 1st century. Cynics could be found begging and preaching throughout the cities of the empire, and similar ascetic and rhetorical ideas appeared in early Christianity. By the 19th century, emphasis on the negative aspects of Cynic philosophy led to the modern understanding of cynicism to mean a disposition of disbelief in the sincerity or goodness of human motives and actions.
## Origin of the Cynic name
The term cynic derives (genitive: kynos). One explanation offered in ancient times for why the Cynics were called "dogs" was because the first Cynic, Antisthenes, taught in the Cynosarges gymnasium at Athens. The word cynosarges means the "place of the white dog". It seems certain, however, that the word dog was also thrown at the first Cynics as an insult for their shameless rejection of conventional manners, and their decision to live on the streets. Diogenes, in particular, was referred to as the "Dog", a distinction he seems to have revelled in, stating that "other dogs bite their enemies, I bite my friends to save them." Later Cynics also sought to turn the word to their advantage, as a later commentator explained:
> There are four reasons why the Cynics are so named. First because of the indifference of their way of life, for they make a cult of indifference and, like dogs, eat and make love in public, go barefoot, and sleep in tubs and at crossroads. The second reason is that the dog is a shameless animal, and they make a cult of shamelessness, not as being beneath modesty, but as superior to it. The third reason is that the dog is a good guard, and they guard the tenets of their philosophy. The fourth reason is that the dog is a discriminating animal which can distinguish between its friends and enemies. So do they recognize as friends those who are suited to philosophy, and receive them kindly, while those unfitted they drive away, like dogs, by barking at them.
## Philosophy
Cynicism is one of the most striking of all the Hellenistic philosophies. It claimed to offer people the possibility of happiness and freedom from suffering in an age of uncertainty. Although there was never an official Cynic doctrine, the fundamental principles of Cynicism can be summarized as follows:
- The goal of life is eudaimonia and mental clarity or lucidity (ἁτυφια)—literally "freedom from smoke (τύφος)" which signified false belief, mindlessness, folly, and conceit.
- Eudaimonia is achieved by living in accord with Nature as understood by human reason.
- Arrogance (τύφος) is caused by false judgments of value, which cause negative emotions, unnatural desires, and a vicious character.
- Eudaimonia, or human flourishing, depends on self-sufficiency (αὐτάρκεια), equanimity, arete, love of humanity, parrhesia, and indifference to the vicissitudes of life (adiaphora ἁδιαφορία).
- One progresses towards flourishing and clarity through ascetic practices (ἄσκησις) which help one become free from influences such as wealth, fame, and power that have no value in Nature. Instead they promoted living a life of ponos. For the Cynics, this did not seem to mean actual physical work. Diogenes of Sinope, for example, lived by begging, not by doing manual labor. Rather, it means deliberately choosing a hard life—for instance, wearing only a thin cloak and going barefoot in winter.
- A Cynic practices shamelessness or impudence (Αναιδεια) and defaces the nomos of society: the laws, customs, and social conventions that people take for granted.
Thus a Cynic has no property and rejects all conventional values of money, fame, power and reputation. A life lived according to nature requires only the bare necessities required for existence, and one can become free by unshackling oneself from any needs which are the result of convention. The Cynics adopted Heracles as their hero, as epitomizing the ideal Cynic. Heracles "was he who brought Cerberus, the hound of Hades, from the underworld, a point of special appeal to the dog-man, Diogenes." According to Lucian, "Cerberus and Cynic are surely related through the dog."
The Cynic way of life required continuous training, not just in exercising judgments and mental impressions, but a physical training as well:
> [Diogenes] used to say, that there were two kinds of exercise: that, namely, of the mind and that of the body; and that the latter of these created in the mind such quick and agile impressions at the time of its performance, as very much facilitated the practice of virtue; but that one was imperfect without the other, since the health and vigour necessary for the practice of what is good, depend equally on both mind and body.
None of this meant that a Cynic would retreat from society. Cynics were in fact to live in the full glare of the public's gaze and be quite indifferent in the face of any insults which might result from their unconventional behaviour. The Cynics are said to have invented the idea of cosmopolitanism: when he was asked where he came from, Diogenes replied that he was "a citizen of the world, (kosmopolitês)."
The ideal Cynic would evangelise; as the watchdog of humanity, they thought it was their duty to hound people about the error of their ways. The example of the Cynic's life (and the use of the Cynic's biting satire) would dig up and expose the pretensions which lay at the root of everyday conventions.
Although Cynicism concentrated primarily on ethics, some Cynics, such as Monimus, addressed epistemology with regard to tuphos (τῦφος) expressing skeptical views.
Cynic philosophy had a major impact on the Hellenistic world, ultimately becoming an important influence for Stoicism. The Stoic Apollodorus, writing in the 2nd century BC, stated that "Cynicism is the short path to virtue."
## History of Cynicism
The classical Greek and Roman Cynics regarded virtue as the only necessity for happiness, and saw virtue as entirely sufficient for attaining it. Classical Cynics followed this philosophy to the extent of neglecting everything not furthering their perfection of virtue and attainment of happiness, thus, the title of Cynic, derived from the Greek word κύων (meaning "dog") because they allegedly neglected society, hygiene, family, money, etc., in a manner reminiscent of dogs. They sought to free themselves from conventions; become self-sufficient; and live only in accordance with nature. They rejected any conventional notions of happiness involving money, power, and fame, to lead entirely virtuous, and thus happy, lives.
The ancient Cynics rejected conventional social values, and would criticise the types of behaviours, such as greed, which they viewed as causing suffering. Emphasis on this aspect of their teachings led, in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, to the modern understanding of cynicism as "an attitude of scornful or jaded negativity, especially a general distrust of the integrity or professed motives of others." This modern definition of cynicism is in marked contrast to the ancient philosophy, which emphasized "virtue and moral freedom in liberation from desire."
### Influences
Various philosophers, such as the Pythagoreans, had advocated simple living in the centuries preceding the Cynics. In the early 6th century BC, Anacharsis, a Scythian sage, had combined plain living together with criticisms of Greek customs in a manner which would become standard among the Cynics. Perhaps of importance were tales of Indian philosophers, known as gymnosophists, who had adopted a strict asceticism. By the 5th century BC, the sophists had begun a process of questioning many aspects of Greek society such as religion, law and ethics. However, the most immediate influence for the Cynic school was Socrates. Although he was not an ascetic, he did profess a love of virtue and an indifference to wealth, together with a disdain for general opinion. These aspects of Socrates' thought, which formed only a minor part of Plato's philosophy, became the central inspiration for another of Socrates' pupils, Antisthenes.
### Symbolisms
Cynics were often recognized in the ancient world by their apparel—an old cloak and a staff. The cloak came as an allusion to Socrates and his manner of dress, while the staff was to the club of Heracles. These items became so symbolic of the Cynic vocation that ancient writers accosted those who thought that donning the Cynic garb would make them suited to the philosophy.
In the social evolution from the archaic age to the classical, the public ceased carrying weapons into the poleis. Originally it was expected that one carried a sword while in the city. However, a transition to spears and then to staffs occurred until wearing any weapon in the city became a foolish old custom. Thus, the very act of carrying a staff was slightly taboo itself. According to modern theorists, the symbol of the staff was one which both functions as a tool to signal the user's dissociation from physical labour, that is, as a display of conspicuous leisure, and at the same time it also has an association with sport and typically plays a part in hunting and sports clothing. Thus, it displays active and warlike qualities, rather than being a symbol of a weak man's need to support himself. The staff itself became a message of how the Cynic was free through its possible interpretation as an item of leisure, but, just as equivalent, was its message of strength—a virtue held in abundance by the Cynic philosopher.
### Antisthenes
The story of Cynicism traditionally begins with Antisthenes (c. 445–365 BC), who was an older contemporary of Plato and a pupil of Socrates. About 25 years his junior, Antisthenes was one of the most important of Socrates' disciples. Although later classical authors had little doubt about labelling him as the founder of Cynicism, his philosophical views seem to be more complex than the later simplicities of pure Cynicism. In the list of works ascribed to Antisthenes by Diogenes Laërtius, writings on language, dialogue and literature far outnumber those on ethics or politics, although they may reflect how his philosophical interests changed with time. It is certainly true that Antisthenes preached a life of poverty:
> I have enough to eat till my hunger is stayed, to drink till my thirst is sated; to clothe myself as well; and out of doors not [even] Callias there, with all his riches, is more safe than I from shivering; and when I find myself indoors, what warmer shirting do I need than my bare walls?
### Diogenes of Sinope
Diogenes (c. 412–323 BC) dominates the story of Cynicism like no other figure. He originally went to Athens, fleeing his home city, after he and his father, who was in charge of the mint at Sinope, got into trouble for falsifying the coinage. (The phrase "defacing the currency" later became proverbial in describing Diogenes' rejection of conventional values.) Later tradition claimed that Diogenes became the disciple of Antisthenes, but it is by no means certain that they ever met. Diogenes did however adopt Antisthenes' teachings and the ascetic way of life, pursuing a life of self-sufficiency (autarkeia), austerity (askēsis), and shamelessness (anaideia). There are many anecdotes about his extreme asceticism (sleeping in a tub), his shameless behaviour (eating raw meat), and his criticism of conventional society ("bad people obey their lusts as servants obey their masters"), and although it is impossible to tell which of these stories are true, they do illustrate the broad character of the man, including an ethical seriousness.
### Crates of Thebes
Crates of Thebes (c. 365–c. 285 BC) is the third figure who dominates Cynic history. He is notable because he renounced a large fortune to live a life of Cynic poverty in Athens. He is said to have been a pupil of Diogenes, but again this is uncertain. Crates married Hipparchia of Maroneia after she had fallen in love with him and together they lived like beggars on the streets of Athens, where Crates was treated with respect. Crates' later fame (apart from his unconventional lifestyle) lies in the fact that he became the teacher of Zeno of Citium, the founder of Stoicism. The Cynic strain to be found in early Stoicism (such as Zeno's own radical views on sexual equality spelled out in his Republic) can be ascribed to Crates' influence.
### Other Cynics
There were many other Cynics in the 4th and 3rd centuries BC, including Onesicritus (who sailed with Alexander the Great to India), the skeptic Monimus, the moral satirist Bion of Borysthenes, the legislator Cercidas of Megalopolis, the diatribist Teles and Menippus of Gadara. However, with the rise of Stoicism in the 3rd century BC, Cynicism as a serious philosophical activity underwent a decline, and it is not until the Roman era that Cynicism underwent a revival in the first century AD.
## Cynicism in the Roman world
There is little record of Cynicism in the 2nd or 1st centuries BC; Cicero (c. 50 BC), who was much interested in Greek philosophy, had little to say about Cynicism, except that "it is to be shunned; for it is opposed to modesty, without which there can be neither right nor honor." However, by the 1st century CE, Cynicism reappeared with full force. The rise of Imperial Rome, like the Greek loss of independence under Philip and Alexander three centuries earlier, may have led to a sense of powerlessness and frustration among many people, which allowed a philosophy which emphasized self-sufficiency and inner-happiness to flourish once again. Cynics could be found throughout the empire, standing on street corners, preaching about virtue. Lucian complained that "every city is filled with such upstarts, particularly with those who enter the names of Diogenes, Antisthenes, and Crates as their patrons and enlist in the Army of the Dog," and Aelius Aristides observed that "they frequent the doorways, talking more to the doorkeepers than to the masters, making up for their lowly condition by using impudence." The most notable representative of Cynicism in the 1st century CE was Demetrius, whom Seneca praised as "a man of consummate wisdom, though he himself denied it, constant to the principles which he professed, of an eloquence worthy to deal with the mightiest subjects." Cynicism in Rome was both the butt of the satirist and the ideal of the thinker. In the 2nd century CE, Lucian, whilst pouring scorn on the Cynic philosopher Peregrinus Proteus, nevertheless praised his own Cynic teacher, Demonax, in a dialogue.
Cynicism came to be seen as an idealised form of Stoicism, a view which led Epictetus to eulogise the ideal Cynic in a lengthy discourse. According to Epictetus, the ideal Cynic "must know that he is sent as a messenger from Zeus to people concerning good and bad things, to show them that they have wandered." Unfortunately for Epictetus, many Cynics of the era did not live up to the ideal: "consider the present Cynics who are dogs that wait at tables, and in no respect imitate the Cynics of old except perchance in breaking wind."
Unlike Stoicism, which declined as an independent philosophy after the 2nd century CE, Cynicism seems to have thrived into the 4th century. The emperor Julian (ruled 361–363), like Epictetus, praised the ideal Cynic and complained about the actual practitioners of Cynicism. The final Cynic noted in classical history is Sallustius of Emesa in the late 5th century. A student of the Neoplatonic philosopher Isidore of Alexandria, he devoted himself to living a life of Cynic asceticism.
## Cynicism and Christianity
### Jesus as a Jewish Cynic
Some historians have noted the similarities between the teachings of Jesus and those of the Cynics. Some scholars have argued that the Q document, a hypothetical common source for the gospels of Matthew and Luke, has strong similarities to the teachings of the Cynics. Scholars on the quest for the historical Jesus, such as Burton L. Mack and John Dominic Crossan of the Jesus Seminar, have argued that 1st-century AD Galilee was a world in which Hellenistic ideas collided with Jewish thought and traditions. The city of Gadara, only a day's walk from Nazareth, was particularly notable as a centre of Cynic philosophy, and Mack has described Jesus as a "rather normal Cynic-type figure." For Crossan, Jesus was more like a Cynic sage from a Hellenistic Jewish tradition than either a Christ who would die as a substitute for sinners or a messiah who wanted to establish an independent Jewish state of Israel. Other scholars doubt that Jesus was deeply influenced by the Cynics and see the Jewish prophetic tradition as of much greater importance.
### Cynic influences on early Christianity
Many of the ascetic practices of Cynicism may have been adopted by early Christians, and Christians often employed the same rhetorical methods as the Cynics. Some Cynics were martyred for speaking out against the authorities. One Cynic, Peregrinus Proteus, lived for a time as a Christian before converting to Cynicism, whereas in the 4th century, Maximus of Alexandria, although a Christian, was also called a Cynic because of his ascetic lifestyle. Christian writers would often praise Cynic poverty, although they scorned Cynic shamelessness, Augustine stating that they had, "in violation of the modest instincts of men, boastfully proclaimed their unclean and shameless opinion, worthy indeed of dogs." The ascetic orders of Christianity (such as the Desert Fathers) also had direct connection with the Cynics, as can be seen in the wandering mendicant monks of the early church, who in outward appearance and in many of their practices differed little from the Cynics of an earlier age. Emmanuel College scholar Leif E. Vaage compared the commonalities between the Q document and Cynic texts, such as the Cynic epistles. The epistles contain the wisdom and (often polemical) ethics preached by Cynics along with their sense of purity and ascetic practices.
During the 2nd century, Justin Martyr clashed with Crescens the Cynic, who is recorded as claiming the Christians were atheotatous (“the most without a god”), in reference to their rejection of the pagan gods and their absence of temples, statues, or sacrifices. This was a popular criticism of the Christians and it continued on into the 4th century.
## See also
- Anticonformism
- Asceticism
- Cynic epistles
- Encratites
- Foolishness for Christ
- List of ancient Greek philosophers
- List of Cynic philosophers
- Natural law
- Stoicism
- Kotzker Rebbe (a chasidic "Cynic" in the ancient sense of the word)
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Asteroids (video game)
| 1,173,243,371 |
1979 video game
|
[
"1979 video games",
"Arcade video games",
"Atari 2600 games",
"Atari 7800 games",
"Atari 8-bit family games",
"Atari Lynx games",
"Atari arcade games",
"Cancelled Atari 5200 games",
"Cancelled Atari Jaguar games",
"Ed Logg games",
"Fiction about asteroids",
"Game Boy Color games",
"Game Boy games",
"Multidirectional shooters",
"Multiplayer and single-player video games",
"Science fiction video games",
"Sega arcade games",
"Taito arcade games",
"Vector arcade video games",
"Video games developed in the United States",
"Xbox 360 Live Arcade games",
"Xbox 360 games"
] |
Asteroids is a space-themed multidirectional shooter arcade video game designed by Lyle Rains and Ed Logg released in November 1979 by Atari, Inc. The player controls a single spaceship in an asteroid field which is periodically traversed by flying saucers. The object of the game is to shoot and destroy the asteroids and saucers, while not colliding with either, or being hit by the saucers' counter-fire. The game becomes harder as the number of asteroids increases.
Asteroids was conceived during a meeting between Logg and Rains, who decided to use hardware developed by Howard Delman previously used for Lunar Lander. Asteroids was based on an unfinished game titled Cosmos; its physics model, control scheme, and gameplay elements were derived from Spacewar!, Computer Space, and Space Invaders and refined through trial and error. The game is rendered on a vector display in a two-dimensional view that wraps around both screen axes.
Asteroids was one of the first major hits of the golden age of arcade games; the game sold 47,840 upright cabinets and 8,725 cocktail cabinets arcade cabinets and proved both popular with players and influential with developers. In the 1980s it was ported to Atari's home systems, and the Atari VCS version sold over three million copies. The game was widely imitated, and it directly influenced Defender, Gravitar, and many other video games.
## Gameplay
The objective of Asteroids is to destroy asteroids and saucers. The player controls a triangular ship that can rotate left and right, fire shots straight forward, and thrust forward. Once the ship begins moving in a direction, it will continue in that direction for a time without player intervention unless the player applies thrust in a different direction. The ship eventually comes to a stop when not thrusting. The player can also send the ship into hyperspace, causing it to disappear and reappear in a random location on the screen, at the risk of self-destructing or appearing on top of an asteroid.
Each level starts with a few large asteroids drifting in various directions on the screen. Objects wrap around screen edges – for instance, an asteroid that drifts off the top edge of the screen reappears at the bottom and continues moving in the same direction. As the player shoots asteroids, they break into smaller asteroids that move faster and are more difficult to hit. Smaller asteroids are also worth more points. Two flying saucers appear periodically on the screen; the "big saucer" shoots randomly and poorly, while the "small saucer" fires frequently at the ship. After reaching a score of 40,000, only the small saucer appears. As the player's score increases, the angle range of the shots from the small saucer diminishes until the saucer fires extremely accurately. Once the screen has been cleared of all asteroids and flying saucers, a new set of large asteroids appears, thus starting the next level. The game gets harder as the number of asteroids increases until after the score reaches a range between 40,000 and 60,000. The player starts with 3–5 lives upon game start and gains an extra life per 10,000 points. Play continues to the last ship lost, which ends the game. The machine "turns over" at 99,990 points, which is the maximum high score that can be achieved.
### Lurking exploit
In the original game design, saucers were supposed to begin shooting as soon as they appeared, but this was changed. Additionally, saucers can only aim at the player's ship on-screen; they are not capable of aiming across a screen boundary. These behaviors allow a "lurking" strategy, in which the player stays near the edge of the screen opposite the saucer. By keeping just one or two rocks in play, a player can shoot across the boundary and destroy saucers to accumulate points indefinitely with little risk of being destroyed. Arcade operators began to complain about losing revenue due to this exploit. In response, Atari issued a patched EPROM and, due to the impact of this exploit, Atari (and other companies) changed their development and testing policies to try to prevent future games from having such exploits.
## Development
### Concept
Asteroids was conceived by Lyle Rains and programmed by Ed Logg with collaborations from other Atari staff. Logg was impressed with the Atari Video Computer System (later called the Atari 2600), and he joined Atari's coin-op division to work on Dirt Bike, which was never released due to an unsuccessful field test. Paul Mancuso joined the development team as Asteroids' technician and engineer Howard Delman contributed to the hardware. During a meeting in April 1979, Rains discussed Planet Grab, a multiplayer arcade game later renamed to Cosmos. Logg did not know the name of the game, thinking Computer Space as "the inspiration for the two-dimensional approach". Rains conceived of Asteroids as a mixture of Computer Space and Space Invaders, combining the two-dimensional approach of Computer Space with Space Invaders' addictive gameplay of "completion" and "eliminate all threats". The unfinished game featured a giant, indestructible asteroid, so Rains asked Logg: "Well, why don’t we have a game where you shoot the rocks and blow them up?" In response, Logg described a similar concept where the player selectively shoots at rocks that break into smaller pieces. Both agreed on the concept.
### Hardware
Asteroids was implemented on hardware developed by Delman and is a vector game, in which the graphics are composed of lines drawn on a vector monitor. Rains initially wanted the game done in raster graphics, but Logg, experienced in vector graphics, suggested an XY monitor because the high image quality would permit precise aiming. The hardware is chiefly a MOS 6502 executing the game program, and QuadraScan, a high-resolution vector graphics processor developed by Atari and referred to as an "XY display system" and the "Digital Vector Generator (DVG)".
The original design concepts for QuadraScan came out of Cyan Engineering, Atari's off-campus research lab in Grass Valley, California, in 1978. Cyan gave it to Delman, who finished the design and first used it for Lunar Lander. Logg received Delman's modified board with five buttons, 13 sound effects, and additional RAM, and he used it to develop Asteroids. The size of the board was 4 by 4 inches, and it was "linked up" to a monitor.
### Implementation
Logg modeled the player's ship, the five-button control scheme, and the game physics after Spacewar!, which he had played as a student at the University of California, Berkeley, but made several changes to improve playability. The ship was programmed into the hardware and rendered by the monitor, and it was configured to move with thrust and inertia. The hyperspace button was not placed near Logg's right thumb, which he was dissatisfied with, as he had a problem "tak[ing] his hand off the thrust button". Drawings of asteroids in various shapes were incorporated into the game. Logg copied the idea of a high score table with initials from Exidy's Star Fire.
The two saucers were formulated to be different from each other. A steadily decreasing timer shortens intervals between saucer attacks to keep the player from not shooting asteroids and saucers. A "heartbeat" soundtrack quickens as the game progresses. The game does not have a sound chip. Delman created a hardware circuit for 13 sound effects by hand which was wired onto the board.
A prototype of Asteroids was well received by several Atari staff and engineers, who "wander[ed] between labs, passing comment and stopping to play as they went". Logg was often asked when he would be leaving by employees eager to play the prototype, so he created a second prototype for staff to play. Atari tested the game in arcades in Sacramento, California, and also observed players during focus group sessions at Atari. Players used to Spacewar! struggled to maintain grip on the thrust button and requested a joystick; players accustomed to Space Invaders noted they get no break in the game. Logg and other engineers observed proceedings and documented comments in four pages.
Asteroids slows down as the player gains 50–100 lives, because there is no limit to the number of lives displayed. The player can "lose" the game after more than 250 lives are collected.
## Ports
Asteroids was released for the Atari VCS (later renamed the Atari 2600) and Atari 8-bit family in 1981, then the Atari 7800 in 1986. A port for the Atari 5200, identical to the Atari 8-bit computer version, was in development in 1982, but was not published. The Atari 7800 version was a launch title and includes cooperative play; the asteroids have colorful textures and the "heartbeat" sound effect remains intact.
Programmers Brad Stewart and Bob Smith were unable to fit the Atari VCS port into a 4 KB cartridge. It became the first game for the console to use bank switching, a technique that increases ROM size from 4 KB to 8 KB.
## Reception
Asteroids was immediately successful upon release. It displaced Space Invaders by popularity in the United States and became Atari's best selling arcade game of all time, with over 70,000 units sold. Atari earned an estimated \$150 million in sales from the game, and arcade operators earned a further \$500 million from coin drops. Atari had been in the process of manufacturing another vector game, Lunar Lander, but demand for Asteroids was so high "that several hundred Asteroids games were shipped in Lunar Lander cabinets". Asteroids was so popular that some video arcade operators had to install large boxes to hold the number of coins spent by players. It replaced Space Invaders at the top of the US RePlay amusement arcade charts in April 1980, though Space Invaders remained the top game at street locations. Asteroids went on to become the highest-grossing arcade video game of 1980 in the United States, dethroning Space Invaders. It shipped 70,000 arcade units worldwide in 1980, including over 60,000 sold in the United States that year, and grossed about \$700 million worldwide (\$billion adjusted for inflation) by 1980. The game remained at the top of the US RePlay charts through March 1981. However, the game did not perform as well overseas in Europe and Asia. It sold 30,000 arcade units overseas, for a total of 100,000 arcade units sold worldwide. Atari manufactured 76,312 units from its US and Ireland plants, including 21,394 Asteroids Deluxe units. It was a commercial failure in Japan when it released there in 1980, partly due to its complex controls and partly due to the Japanese market beginning to lose interest in space shoot 'em ups at the time.
Asteroids received positive reviews from video game critics and has been regarded as Logg's magnum opus. Richard A. Edwards reviewed the 1981 Asteroids home cartridge in The Space Gamer No. 46. Edwards commented that "this home cartridge is a virtual duplicate of the ever-popular Atari arcade game. [...] If blasting asteroids is the thing you want to do then this is the game, but at this price I can't wholeheartedly recommend it". Video Games Player magazine reviewed the Atari VCS version, rating the graphics and sound a B, while giving the game an overall B+ rating. Electronic Fun with Computers & Games magazine gave the Atari VCS version an A rating.
William Cassidy, writing for GameSpy's "Classic Gaming", noticed its innovations, including being one of the first video games to track initials and allow players to enter their initials for appearing in the top 10 high scores, and commented, "the vector graphics fit the futuristic outer space theme very well". In 1995, Flux magazine ranked the arcade version 11th on their "Top 100 Video Games." In 1996, Next Generation listed it as number 39 on their "Top 100 Games of All Time", particularly lauding the control dynamics which require "the constant juggling of speed, positioning, and direction". In 1999, Next Generation listed Asteroids as number 29 on their "Top 50 Games of All Time", commenting that "Asteroids was a classic the day it was released, and it has never lost any of its appeal". Asteroids was ranked fourth on Retro Gamer's list of "Top 25 Arcade Games"; the Retro Gamer staff cited its simplicity and the lack of a proper ending as allowances of revisiting the game. In 2012, Asteroids was listed on Time's All-Time 100 greatest video games list. Entertainment Weekly named Asteroids one of the top ten games for the Atari 2600 in 2013. It was added to the Museum of Modern Art's collection of video games. In 2021, The Guardian listed Asteroids as the second greatest video game of the 1970s, just below Galaxian (1979). By contrast, in March 1983 the Atari 8-bit port of Asteroids won sixth place in Softline's Dog of the Year awards "for badness in computer games", Atari division, based on reader submissions.
Usage of the names of Saturday Night Live characters "Mr. Bill" and "Sluggo" to refer to the saucers in an Esquire article about the game led to Logg receiving a cease and desist letter from a lawyer with the "Mr. Bill Trademark".
## Legacy
### Arcade sequels
Released in 1981, Asteroids Deluxe was the first sequel to Asteroids. Dave Shepperd edited the code and made enhancements to the game without Logg's involvement. The onscreen objects are tinted blue, and hyperspace is replaced by a shield that depletes when used. The asteroids rotate, and new "killer satellite" enemies break into smaller ships that home in on the player's position. The arcade machine's monitor displays vector graphics overlaying a holographic backdrop. The game is more difficult than the original and enables saucers to shoot across the screen boundary, eliminating the lurking strategy for high scores in the original.
Space Duel, released in arcades in 1982, replaces the rocks with colorful geometric shapes and adds cooperative two-player gameplay.
1987's Blasteroids includes "power-ups, ship morphing, branching levels, bosses, and the ability to dock your ships in multiplayer for added firepower". Blasteroids uses raster graphics instead of vectors.
### Re-releases
The game is half of the Atari Lynx pairing Super Asteroids & Missile Command, and included in the 1993 Microsoft Arcade compilation.
Activision published an enhanced version of Asteroids for the PlayStation (1998), Nintendo 64 (1999), Microsoft Windows (1998), Game Boy Color (1999), and Mac (2000). The Atari Flashback series of dedicated video game consoles have included both the 2600 and the arcade versions of Asteroids.
Published by Crave Entertainment on December 14, 1999, Asteroids Hyper 64 made the ship and asteroids 3D and added new weapons and a multiplayer mode.
A technical demo of Asteroids was developed by iThink for the Atari Jaguar but was never released. Unofficially referred to as Asteroids 2000, it was demonstrated at E-JagFest 2000.
In 2001, Infogrames released Atari Anniversary Edition for the Dreamcast, PlayStation, and Microsoft Windows. Developed by Digital Eclipse, it includes emulated versions of Asteroids and other games. The arcade and Atari 2600 versions of Asteroids were included in Atari Anthology for both Xbox and PlayStation 2.
Released on November 28, 2007, the Xbox Live Arcade port of Asteroids has revamped HD graphics along with an added intense "throttle monkey" mode. The arcade and 2600 versions were made available through Microsoft's Game Room service in 2010. Glu Mobile released an enhanced mobile phone port.
Asteroids is included on Atari Greatest Hits Volume 1 for the Nintendo DS.
An updated version of the game was announced in 2018 for the Intellivision Amico.
Both the Atari 2600 and Atari 7800 versions of the game was included on Atari Collection 1 and 2 in 2020 for the Evercade.
### Clones
Quality Software's Asteroids in Space (1980) was one of the best selling games for the Apple II and voted one of the most popular software titles of 1978-80 by Softalk magazine. In December 1981, Byte reviewed eight Asteroids clones for home computers. Three clones for the Apple II were reviewed together in the 1982 Creative Computing Software Buyers Guide: The Asteroid Field, Asteron, and Apple-Oids. In the last of these, the asteroids are in the shape of apples. Two independent clones, Asteroid for the Apple II and Fasteroids for TRS-80, were renamed to Planetoids and sold by Adventure International. Others clones include Acornsoft's Meteors, Moons of Jupiter for the VIC-20, MineStorm for the Vectrex, and Quicksilva's Meteor Storm for the ZX Spectrum which uses speech synthesis. A poorly implemented Asteroids clone for the VIC-20, published by Bug-Byte, motivated Jeff Minter to found Llamasoft.
The Intellivision game Meteor! was cancelled to avoid a lawsuit for being too similar to Asteroids and was reworked as Astrosmash. The game borrows elements from Asteroids and Space Invaders.
### Proposed film adaptation
On July 2, 2009, Universal Pictures offered Emmerich the option to direct the film adaptation of Asteroids, with Matt Lopez writing the script and Lorenzo di Bonaventura will produce the film adaptation. On June 8, 2011, Universal offered Roland Emmerich the option to direct the film adaptation with Lopez and di Bonaventura still attached to write and produce the film adaptation, respectively, which Emmerich passed on directing, while Evan Spiliotopoulos and F. Scott Frazier were hired to rewrite the screenplay.
## World records
On February 6, 1982, Leo Daniels of Carolina Beach, North Carolina, set a world record score of 40,101,910 points. On November 13 of the same year, 15-year-old Scott Safran of Cherry Hill, New Jersey, set a new record at 41,336,440 points. In 1998, to congratulate Safran on his accomplishment, the Twin Galaxies Intergalactic Scoreboard searched for him for four years until 2002, when it was discovered that he had died in an accident in 1989. In a ceremony in Philadelphia on April 27, 2002, Walter Day of Twin Galaxies presented an award to the surviving members of Safran's family, commemorating his achievement. On April 5, 2010, John McAllister broke Safran's record with a high score of 41,838,740 in a 58-hour Internet livestream.
|
59,407,495 |
Russ Bogda
| 1,168,090,594 |
American automotive executive and president of the Green Bay Packers
|
[
"1911 births",
"1958 deaths",
"20th-century American businesspeople",
"Businesspeople from Wisconsin",
"Deaths from lung cancer in Wisconsin",
"Green Bay Packers presidents",
"Marquette University alumni",
"National Football League team presidents",
"People from Burnett, Wisconsin",
"People from Green Bay, Wisconsin"
] |
Russell W. Bogda (October 15, 1911 – February 22, 1958) was an American automotive executive and president of the Green Bay Packers. From 1953 to 1957, he served as the sixth president of Green Bay Packers, Inc., the non-profit organization that owns the Packers. During his presidency, the Packers secured funding and built New City Stadium, which would be renamed in 1965 to Lambeau Field. Although the Packers during Bogda's tenure saw little on-field success, he helped the organization stay financially successful and the construction of a new stadium during his tenure kept the Packers in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Bogda died at the age of 46 on February 22, 1958, of lung cancer.
## Early life
Russ Bogda was born on October 15, 1911, in Burnett, Wisconsin, although his family moved to Green Bay, Wisconsin, in 1925. He graduated from Marquette University.
## Automotive business
Bogda was a Green Bay businessman who served in various roles, including as president, for the Bogda Motor Company. He also served for two years on the national planning council of the Chevrolet division of General Motors and was the former president of the Chevrolet Dealers Association of Wisconsin.
## Green Bay Packers
Bogda was elected to the Packers board of directors in 1946. He was then elected as the team's sixth president in 1953 after Emil Fischer retired to become chairman of the board. He served as president for five years from 1953 to 1957. The Packers had little on-field success during Bogda's tenure, with 1955 being the only season the team did not have a losing record. During his tenure, Bogda oversaw a reorganization of the team's administration with the hiring of a general manager and led the team to greater financial success. However, Bogda's primary contribution during his tenure as president was leading the development and construction of a new stadium for the team.
The Packers had been playing at City Stadium since 1925, but by the 1950s the facility was considered by the National Football League (NFL) to be inadequate. There were discussions from league officials about forcing the Packers to move to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where a stadium was already available, or to another city. However, Bogda and other civic leaders advocated for a public referendum on a city-led bond issuance to finance a 32,000 seat facility named New City Stadium. The bond issuance would go on to cost about \$1,000,000. New City Stadium, which was renamed to Lambeau Field in 1965, was the first facility designed and built solely for an NFL franchise. The stadium was opened in 1957 with Bogda in attendance for the dedication ceremonies. After being reelected in March, Bogda attempted to resign his position in December 1957 due to poor health. The Board initially declined to accept his resignation, but finally agreed to his request after naming Dominic Olejniczak as acting president. Olejniczak was ultimately elected as the next president of the Packers. As of 2023, the Packers still play at Lambeau Field, although it has been expanded at least eight times to increase the stadium's capacity to over 81,000 seats. Even though the Packers saw little success on the field during his tenure as president, Bogda was recognized by the team's board of directors for his hard work and support of the team.
## Personal life
Bogda was married once and had two children: Russell Jr. and Julie Lynn. He was diagnosed with lung cancer and died at the age of 46 on February 22, 1958.
|
302,327 |
Castle Wolfenstein
| 1,170,844,543 |
1981 video game
|
[
"1981 video games",
"Action-adventure games",
"Apple II games",
"Atari 8-bit family games",
"Commodore 64 games",
"DOS games",
"Muse Software games",
"Single-player video games",
"Stealth video games",
"Top-down video games",
"Video games about Nazi Germany",
"Video games developed in the United States",
"Video games set in castles",
"Video games using procedural generation",
"Wolfenstein",
"World War II video games"
] |
Castle Wolfenstein is a 1981 action-adventure game that was developed by Muse Software for the Apple II home computer. It is one of the earliest games to be based on stealth mechanics. An Atari 8-bit family port was released in 1982 and was followed by versions for Commodore 64 (1983) and MS-DOS (1984).
The game takes place during World War II. The player takes the role of an Allied prisoner of war who is held captive in the fictional Castle Wolfenstein. After escaping from the cell, the player's objective is to find the Nazis' secret war plans and escape from the castle. Nazi soldier enemies can be dealt with by impersonating, sneaking, or killing them.
The game was received positively amongst critics and became one of the best-selling games of the early 1980s. It is considered to have had a direct influence on modern stealth games. The game was praised for its graphics, and gameplay, but criticized for its long waiting times when opening chests.
## Gameplay
Castle Wolfenstein is a two-dimensional action-adventure game that is played from a top-down perspective using a keyboard, joystick, or paddles. It has also been described as a maze game. There are eight difficulty levels in the game that are determined by the player's rank. The player takes the role of an Allied spy that has been captured by Nazis and imprisoned in a dungeon within Castle Wolfenstein for interrogation by the SS Stormtroopers. While the spy is waiting for interrogation, a dying prisoner emerges from a hiding place and hands the player a fully loaded pistol with 10 rounds, and three grenades before passing away. The objective is to escape from the castle and if the player finds the battle plans before escaping, they will be promoted and the complexity of the subsequent run will be increased, while the castle's layout changes and the game starts again.
The game takes place in a procedurally-generated castle of approximately 60 rooms that house standard Nazi guards and SS Stormtroopers identified by their bulletproof vests marked with the SS insignia. Standard guards can be eliminated with a pistol and have a chance to surrender if the player points a pistol at them even if they have no ammunition, and SS Stormtroopers with grenades because they usually wear body armor. Enemies can be looted once surrendered or after they've been eliminated and can possess ammunition, grenades, and keys which can be used on doors and chests. Doors and chests can be opened more quickly by shooting at them but will attract the guards in the room, and if the chest contains ammunition and grenades, they will explode resulting in immediate death. Chests may contain bulletproof vests, uniforms, and secret documents, or sauerkraut, sausages, and schnapps that do not affect the gameplay. Uniforms allow the player character to pass guards unnoticed, but they are ineffective against SS Stormtroopers. If the player dies from enemy gunfire, the game restarts with the castle's layout preserved and the same chests and guards. If they are killed by their own grenade, the game restarts in a newly generated castle.
## Development and release
Castle Wolfenstein was developed by Silas Warner at Muse Software and the game's cover art was drawn by John Benson.
The game was initially conceptualized as a game set in the mid-1980s in what Warner describes as "a guy running around rooms" and did not know how to develop the game further. He was uninterested in using space as a setting due to his belief that there were so many of them on the market. The concept changed after Warner watched the 1961 British-American war film The Guns of Navarone and was amazed by the Allied commandos who broke into a German fortress to destroy the German artillery battery. Within the same day, he played Berzerk, a multi-directional shooter arcade game in which the player navigates through a maze with laser-shooting robots. He decided to use the same concept but with Nazi soldiers instead of robots. His idea was to take the basic common concept of an arcade shoot 'em up, where players dodge enemies with the intent of killing them, and change the objective to escape the enemy guards and their castle with shooting guards simply a means to an end and not an end in itself.
Warner implemented procedural level generation to the game, which took 35 to 60 seconds to complete before the gameplay of the original Apple version started; as a result, the game produced a new set of 60 rooms, the arrangement of which was nearly always different. He designed the game's architecture using three programs, each of which was on separate floppy disks and later integrated into a single floppy disk. The first one initialized the graphics and shuffled 64 interchangeable floor plans. The second disk governed the behavior of the castle's guards, while the third disk handled the player character's behavior. According to Warner, a lot of work went into synchronizing the programs, and he was satisfied with the result. For the soundtrack, he implemented his own voice for the German guards, using Apple II software called The Voice (also published by Muse Software). He used German phrases such as Achtung, Schweinhund, Halt, and five other German phrases.
Muse Software released Castle Wolfenstein in September 1981 for the Apple II and the game was ported to other platforms. It was first ported to the Atari 8-bit family six months after the Apple release, then to the Commodore 64 in 1983 and to MS-DOS in 1984. Following the game's release, a software developed by Moxie, The Great Escape Utility, was marketed in 1983, promising bug fixes to speed up the opening of chests and the startup time of the game. It also allowed players to choose their starting location and gain an unlimited amount of items. The software is regarded as the first commercial trainer in video gaming.
## Reception
According to Harvey Bernstein of Antic, after its release, Castle Wolfenstein "quickly shot to the top of the charts" and became "one of the most popular games for any microcomputer". In the October 1982 issue of Computer Gaming World, associate publisher and game merchandiser Dana Lombardy released an incomplete list of top-selling games as of 30 June 1982, where the game landed in 13th place with 20,000 copies sold. The game ultimately sold about 50,000 copies by 1983.
Creative Computing Video and Arcade Games's Andrew Brill complained about the Apple version's slow gameplay, which according to Brill is mainly due to the time taken to open chests that contain "completely useless" items, which Brill regarded as the game's "most frustrating feature", but added "thrill of the escape" is "worth the wait". Richard Herring of Ahoy!, reviewing the game's Commodore 64 port, also complained about Castle Wolfenstein's slow gameplay, especially the long time it took to open the chests. He also stated that each room must be loaded from the floppy disk, causing a lag when each room is entered. Herring also mentioned a bug, in which if the player character bumps into a wall, the screen "goes into hysterics for a few seconds". Herring added that playing the game with a keyboard is "inconvenient" as the player does not have time to perform game actions quickly enough but concluded by stating Castle Wolfenstein has "simple but effective graphics" and called the game "addicting". In a 1991 Computer Gaming World survey of strategy and war games, M. Evan Brooks called the game an "arcade classic" stated despite the outdated graphics, it had remained in his "fond memories". In 1996, the same magazine listed Castle Wolfenstein as the 116th best game of all time.
## Sequels and follow-ups
In 1984, Muse Software released a sequel to Castle Wolfenstein titled Beyond Castle Wolfenstein, which has similar graphics and gameplay to its predecessor and contains a number of updates such as the use of a knife, the ability to bribe guards, and a pass system in which guards periodically summon the player character and ask him or her to show the correct pass. Castle Wolfenstein directly influenced the game Wolfenstein 3D, which was developed by id Software. John Romero stated the original idea was to create a 3D Castle Wolfenstein but did not have the rights to the game during development. Many options for the game's title were proposed and rejected and, eventually, id Software bought the rights to use Wolfenstein from Silas Warner. The original concept of Wolfenstein 3D changed significantly because the developers decided the core of the gameplay would be fast and simple so features such as the ability to drag and loot fallen enemy soldiers were withdrawn.
Further development by other studios led to the emergence of one of the longest-living video series; as of 2021, there are 13 Wolfenstein games, the most recent of which, Wolfenstein: Youngblood and Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot, are spin-offs that were released in 2019.
## Legacy
Multiple media outlets considered Castle Wolfenstein to be significant in the shaping of the stealth games genre. Though no more Wolfenstein games were released by Muse Entertainment after Beyond Castle Wolfenstein, Metal Gear series and several other video games took elements and inspiration from the two original games. Casey Alkaisy, marketing manager at DICE, in his review of stealth games on Gamasutra, said the first foundations of the stealth genre were laid down in Pac-Man but its game mechanics only took shape with the advent of Castle Wolfenstein, after which other games using the same ideas began to appear. In its review of the series, Xbox Wire called Castle Wolfenstein a "proto-stealth game" that contains "innovations that would go on to become standards in the stealth genre". When speaking with Retro Gamer, Wolfenstein 3D co-creator John Romero, credited Castle Wolfenstein as the "original stealth shooter". Castle Smurfenstein, a modified version of the game replacing assets and text with references to The Smurfs, is considered one of the first game mods.
Silas Warner died in 2004 after a long illness.
|
597,280 |
Robert J. Cenker
| 1,147,284,259 |
Aerospace engineer and RCA shuttle astronaut
|
[
"1948 births",
"Aerospace engineers",
"American astronauts",
"Engineers from New Jersey",
"Engineers from Pennsylvania",
"General Electric employees",
"Living people",
"Lockheed Martin people",
"Martin Marietta people",
"NASA sponsored astronauts",
"Penn State College of Engineering alumni",
"People from Uniontown, Pennsylvania",
"RCA people",
"Rutgers University alumni",
"Senior Members of the IEEE",
"Space Shuttle program astronauts"
] |
Robert Joseph "Bob" Cenker (born November 5, 1948) is an American aerospace and electrical engineer, aerospace systems consultant, and former astronaut. Cenker worked for 18 years at RCA Astro-Electronics, and its successor company GE Astro Space, on a variety of spacecraft projects. He spent most of his career working on commercial communications satellites, including the Satcom, Spacenet and GStar programs.
In January 1986, Cenker was a crew member on the twenty-fourth mission of NASA's Space Shuttle program, the seventh flight of Space Shuttle Columbia, designated as mission STS-61-C. Cenker served as a Payload Specialist, representing RCA Astro-Electronics. This mission was the final flight before the Challenger disaster, which caused the Space Shuttle program to be suspended until 1988, and impacted NASA's Payload Specialist program for even longer. As a result, Cenker's mission was called "The End of Innocence" for the Shuttle program. Following the completion of his Shuttle mission, Cenker returned to work in the commercial aerospace field. Since his flight, he has made numerous public appearances representing NASA and the Shuttle program, in the United States, as well as internationally.
## Early life and education
Cenker was born on November 5, 1948, and raised in Menallen Township, Pennsylvania. He started his education at St. Fidelis College Seminary in Herman, Pennsylvania, leaving in 1962. In 1970 Cenker enrolled at Penn State University where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in aerospace engineering. He continued his studies at Penn State and earned a Master of Science degree in 1973, also in aerospace engineering. Cenker earned a second Master of Science degree in electrical engineering from Rutgers University in 1977.
## Pre-spaceflight career
Cenker worked for 18 years at RCA Astro-Electronics and its successor company GE Astro Space. Cenker worked on hardware design and systems design concerning satellite attitude control. He also worked on in-orbit operations, as well as spacecraft assembly, test, and pre-launch operations. He spent two years on the Navy navigation satellite program, but spent most of his career working on commercial communications satellites.
Cenker's positions included integration and test manager for the Satcom D and E spacecraft, where he was responsible for all launch site activities. He also served as spacecraft bus manager on the Spacenet/GStar programs. He was responsible for ensuring the spacecraft could interface with multiple rockets, including the Delta, Space Shuttle, and Ariane launch vehicles.
## Spaceflight experience
As an incentive for a spacecraft owner to contract with NASA to use a Shuttle launch instead of an unmanned, commercial launch system, NASA permitted contracting companies to apply for a payload specialist seat on the same mission. When RCA contracted with NASA to launch Satcom Ku-1, RCA Astro-Electronics' manager of systems engineering for the Satcom-K program Bob Cenker, and his co-worker Gerard Magilton, were selected to train as payload specialists so that one of the pair could accompany Satcom Ku-1 into space. Cenker and Magilton trained with career astronauts as well as other payload and mission specialists, including those scheduled for the next scheduled flight, that of the Challenger mission, STS-51-L.
This flight of Columbia was originally scheduled to occur in August 1985, but the timeline slipped. In July 1985 the payload was finalized to include the RCA satellite, and Cenker was assigned to the mission, now designated as STS-61-C. Magilton was assigned as the back-up.
Prior to its successful launch, Columbia had several aborted launch attempts, including one on January 6 which was "one of the most hazardous in the Shuttle’s operational history" to that point. As documented in Crewmember Bill Nelson's book "Mission: An American Congressman's Voyage to Space", and as reported in Spaceflight Insider, "The launch attempt on Jan. 6, 1986 was halted at T-31 seconds. The weather was perfect for the scheduled launch at dawn, but a failure of a liquid oxygen drain valve prevented it to close properly. The valve was then closed manually, but not quickly enough to prevent a low temperature in one fuel line." However, Nelson says that what really happened was that "the valve did not close because it was not commanded to close", and that it was later determined that the Rogers Commission, investigating the series of mistakes that forced this second scrub, recognized that the problems were personnel-related, caused by fatigue from overwork: One potentially catastrophic human error occurred 4 minutes 55 seconds before the scheduled launch of mission 61-C on January 6, 1986. According to a Lockheed Space Operations Company incident report, 18,000 pounds of liquid oxygen were inadvertently drained from the Shuttle external fuel tank due to operator error. Fortunately, the liquid oxygen flow dropped the main engine inlet temperature below the acceptable limit causing a launch hold, but only 31 seconds before lift-off. As the report states, "Had the mission not been scrubbed, the ability of the orbiter to reach a defined orbit may have been significantly impacted.
There was another near-catastrophic launch abort three days later. Referring to the January 9 abort, pilot Charlie Bolden later stated that it "...would have been catastrophic, because the engine would have exploded had we launched. In all, it took a record eight attempts to get Columbia off the ground. Columbia finally launched and achieved orbit on January 12, 1986, with a full crew of seven. Along with Cenker, the crew included Robert L. "Hoot" Gibson, future NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden, George D. Nelson, Steven A. Hawley, Franklin R. Chang-Diaz, and US Representative Bill Nelson. Cenker and his crewmates traveled over 2.5 million miles in 98 orbits aboard Columbia and logged over 146 hours in space. During the six-day mission, January 12–18, Cenker performed a variety of physiological tests, operated a primary experiment – an infrared imaging camera – and assisted with the deployment of RCA Americom's Satcom Ku-1 satellite, the primary mission objective. Satcom Ku-1 was deployed nearly 10 hours into the mission, and Satcom later reached its designated geostationary orbital position at 85 degrees West longitude where it remained operational until April 1997, the last major commercial satellite deployed by the Space Shuttle program. In a 2014 video of the "Tell Me a Story" series titled "Close My Eyes & Drift Away", posted to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex YouTube channel, Cenker tells a humorous story regarding a zero-g sleeping problem he faced on his mission.
The next Shuttle launch, ten days after the return of Columbia, resulted in the destruction of the Challenger with the loss of all aboard, including Cenker's counterpart from Hughes Aircraft, civilian crew member and Payload Specialist Greg Jarvis. Accordingly, commander Gibson later called the STS-61-C mission "The End of Innocence" for the Shuttle program.
Following the Challenger disaster, the Shuttle fleet was grounded until 1988. Even after Shuttle missions resumed, civilian payload specialists like Cenker were excluded until the payload specialist program was reinstated on December 2, 1990, when Samuel T. Durrance, an Applied Physics Laboratory astrophysicist and Ronald A. Parise, a Computer Sciences Corporation astronomer, flew aboard STS-35. By that time, RCA had been purchased by General Electric, and RCA Astro-Electronics became part of GE. Following two additional ownership transitions, the facility was closed in 1998. As a result, Cenker was the only RCA Astro-Electronics employee, and only employee in the history of the facility under all of its subsequent names, to ever fly in space.
NASA's Payload Specialist program has been criticized for giving limited Shuttle flight positions to civilian aerospace engineers such as Cenker and Greg Jarvis (killed aboard Challenger), politicians such as Bill Nelson, and other civilians such as Teacher in Space Christa McAuliffe (also killed aboard Challenger). Even the flight of former Mercury astronaut and US Senator John Glenn was questioned. The concern was that these people had replaced career astronauts in very limited flight opportunities, and some may have flown without fully understanding the level of danger involved in a Shuttle mission.
## Post-spaceflight
Following the completion of his Shuttle mission, Cenker returned to work in the civilian aerospace field. Cenker's last two years with RCA Astro-Electronics and its successor GE Astro Space were spent as Manager of Payload Accommodations on an EOS spacecraft program. After leaving GE, Cenker served as a consultant for various aerospace companies regarding micro-gravity research, and spacecraft design, assembly and flight operations. Cenker supported systems engineering and systems architecture studies for various spacecraft projects, including smallsats, military communications satellites, and large, assembled-in-orbit platforms. His contributions included launch vehicle evaluation and systems engineering support for Motorola on Iridium, and launch readiness for the Globalstar constellation. Other efforts include systems engineering and operations support for INTELSAT on Intelsat K and Intelsat VIII, for AT&T on Telstar 401 and 402, for Fairchild-Matra on SPAS III, for Martin Marietta on Astra 1B, BS-3N, ACTS, and for the Lockheed Martin Series 7000 communications satellites.
In 2017, Cenker's STS-61C crewmate former US Senator Bill Nelson spoke at a session of the US House of Representatives. In an address, titled "Mission to Mars and Space Shuttle Flight 30th Anniversary", he read into the Congressional Record the details of the mission of STS-61C, as well as the names and function of each crew member including Cenker.
In June 2017, Cenker traveled to Scotland where he and astronaut Doug Wheelock gave a series of talks to children in Fife schools as part of the Scottish Space School.
Cenker continues to make periodic public appearances representing NASA and the astronaut program, including at the Kennedy Space Center in March 2017 and January 2023.
### Apollo 11 commemoration activities
Leading up to the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission, Cenker participated in several public events with other former NASA astronauts.
During an interview to discuss his scheduled appearance at The New Jersey Governor's School of Engineering & Technology at Rutgers University in July 2019, Cenker talked about his education at Rutgers, his work at RCA, his shuttle mission, his connection to the Challenger crew, his thoughts on the importance of the Apollo 11 mission, and of space travel in general. He concluded:
> I want students interested in a space career to find something that they love to study, and there may come a time when NASA needs that expertise. I love engineering and even if I didn’t make it into space, I would still be doing what I loved. You can’t push yourself to study something you don’t love and do it as well as someone who does. What I want students to ask themselves is “how can I do what I love and how can that benefit spaceflight?”
The Cradle of Aviation in Garden City, New York invited Cenker to participate in its "Moon Fest" planned for July 20, 2019, exactly fifty years after the Apollo 11 landing. It was announced that Cenker would join two fellow shuttle astronauts from New York, Bill Shepherd and Charlie Camarda, at the celebration.
## Personal life and beliefs
Bob Cenker is married to Barbara Ann Cenker; they have two sons and a daughter.
In a July 2019 interview discussing the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11, Cenker commented that he believes that humans have an innate desire to explore, saying "It’s not learned... It’s in your genes". Discussing his religious beliefs, Cenker said "I'm a good, practicing Catholic. One of the guys I flew with was an agnostic. I think going into space reinforces what you believe when you went... [The agnostic astronaut] couldn’t grasp how one being could create all this. I came back thinking ‘God, you have to be there’".
## Professional societies
- Associate Fellow in the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA)
- Life Member of the Penn State Alumni Association
- Life Member of the Association of Space Explorers
- Registered Professional Engineer in the state of New Jersey
- Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
- Sigma Gamma Tau
- Tau Beta Pi
## See also
- 1986 in spaceflight
- List of human spaceflights
- List of Space Shuttle missions
- List of Space Shuttle crews
- List of Shuttle payload specialists
## Photo gallery
|
64,319,748 |
City bonds robbery
| 1,151,177,849 |
1990 heist in London
|
[
"1990 crimes in the United Kingdom",
"1990 in London",
"1990s crimes in London",
"History of the City of London",
"May 1990 events in the United Kingdom",
"Organised crime in London",
"Robberies in England"
] |
The City bonds robbery of 1990 was a heist in which £291.9 million (equivalent to £ million in ) was stolen in London, England. The carefully planned operation made it seem at first as if a courier had been mugged on 2 May, yet the City of London Police soon realised that it was a sophisticated global venture which ended up involving participants such as the New York mafia, the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), and Colombian drug barons. The robbery was one of the largest in world history.
The robbery took advantage of the existence of couriers who moved vast sums of money around the City of London in order to ensure liquidity in the UK financial system. The money was in the form of certificates of deposit and HM Treasury bills. These bearer bonds were recovered in different places including Glasgow, New York, Miami (on their way to Peru), and Zürich. In a wide-ranging investigation, the police eventually recovered all but two of the 301 certificates, with some of those arrested allegedly turning informant, such as Mark Osborne, who was later found murdered.
Patrick Thomas, who allegedly carried out the original theft, was also shot dead. Keith Cheeseman, an extravagant fraudster, was arrested in the UK but skipped bail to Tenerife, claiming his life was in danger. He was briefly thought to have been the Bolney Torso and then was located and arrested in Spain. Cheeseman was extradited to the US to stand charges of money laundering and received a six and a half year sentence. John Traynor was arrested for a mortgage fraud using the stolen bonds as collateral; he was sentenced to seven years for handling stolen goods. A year and a half later he absconded from prison; he was arrested in the Netherlands in 2010 and extradited back to the UK to serve the rest of his sentence.
## Planning
The idea for the robbery was generated by media reports in January 1990 that a courier had accidentally dropped £4 million (equivalent to £ million in ) worth of bearer bonds on their way to the Bank of England. A 23-year-old surveyor had picked up the four certificates of deposit on Throgmorton Street outside the Stock Exchange, after they had fallen out of the briefcase of a courier working for Rowe & Pitman, a subsidiary of S. G. Warburg & Co. When he gave them back, he was rewarded with a magnum of Laurent-Perrier champagne.
Upon hearing this story, an organised crime syndicate realised that if a courier was mugged, they could reap a massive haul, since bearer bonds entitle whoever is carrying them to the money denoted on them. The certificates were issued every week by the Bank of England as a means to manage short term spending needs, ensuring that there was always liquidity in the financial system. The bills matured after one to six months and were freely traded, until the process became electronic in the mid-2000s. Care was taken to make the theft appear to be an opportunistic mugging, since the bonds would be cancelled if it was suspected to have been a heist ordered by an organised crime group. The syndicate planned to launder the bonds as quickly as possible in Zürich.
## Robbery
On the morning of 2 May 1990, 58-year-old John Goddard, an employee of financial brokers Sheppards (a subsidiary of Cater Allen) was walking along Nicholas Lane, an alleyway in the City of London. He was carrying 301 certificates worth £291.9 million (equivalent to £ million in ) in bearer bonds in a briefcase, of which £121.9 million were certificates of deposit and £170 million were HM Treasury bills. Suddenly a young man in his twenties appeared and mugged Goddard at knifepoint; the robber is widely believed to have been Patrick Thomas.
At first, it seemed the operation had gone according to plan, despite The Times reporting the next day that the heist had gathered a "worthless haul" and that "the perpetrator stands to make not a penny from the crime"; the Bank of England was supplying false information to the media on purpose; whilst it had informed financial institutions worldwide of the serial numbers, the bonds could still be cashed. The Swiss connection which was supposed to launder the money did not work out, therefore the syndicate was forced to seek other options in the criminal underworld. The New York mafia became interested, since they were already involved in a scheme to launder US bonds in London.
The contact man in the UK was Keith Cheeseman, who had previously made false loan applications to support a lavish lifestyle which included becoming chairperson of Dunstable Town FC. Back in 1975, he had been charged with extorting £287,000 and remanded for a week, after arriving at court in a silver chauffeur-driven Rolls-Royce; he later received a six-year sentence for conspiracy to defraud the Beneficial Finance and Loan Society with 318 fictitious loan applications.
Told about the heist, Cheeseman went to work, liaising with associates such as Raymond Ketteridge. He sent some of the stolen bonds to Mark Osborne in the US, who then met up with mafioso Tony Dipiono in a New York bar and delivered ten bonds, each worth £1 million. However, Dipiono was an FBI agent and Osborne was arrested, subsequently deciding to betray his associates. The FBI allegedly recorded the conversations between Osborne and Cheeseman until Osborne disappeared in August 1990 and was later found murdered.
## Recovery
The syndicate in London came to realise that it was also infiltrated by an informer, since the City of London police swiftly began to recover the bonds. The police had initially hoped the mugging was no more than an accident and the certificates would be found discarded, yet the evidence built up that it was a sophisticated plan and thus Operation Starling was set up. Soon they had reports of a bond turning up in Northern Ireland and someone tried to deposit a bond at a Natwest bank in Glasgow.
In summer 1990, 80 certificates worth £77 million were recovered during an allegedly routine check at Heathrow Airport on a flight arriving from Dublin. Three Irish men were arrested and customs stated "We did not know the bonds were coming in. We found them by pure chance". In fact the men had been under surveillance, since one of them was Thomas Coyle, a known fence. Coyle had quickly acquired 80 of the stolen bonds and realising their enormous value had recruited John Gilligan and Jim "Danger" Beirne to help sell them. Not being able to shift them in Ireland, they devised a plan to sell them to mafia connections in the US via John Francis Conlon, who had connections to various security agencies and arms dealers such as Monzer al-Kassar and Oliver North. The plan was sabotaged at the first stage when Coyle, Anthony Rooney and Edward Dunne were all arrested at Heathrow. The bonds were discovered in Rooney's luggage and all three men maintained their innocence. When the case came to trial at Knightsbridge Crown Court, all three were released on technicalities. Coyle later bought a racehorse which he named 77 Mill.
Operation Starling retrieved £80 million worth of bonds in Cyprus and other raids occurred in the Netherlands, Scotland, Singapore and West Germany. A link to the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) was revealed in September 1990, when a man left a package at the Aeroperú offices in Miami to be delivered to Lima in Peru. A search by US Customs revealed that the package contained £71 million in stolen bonds, which the IRA was attempting to trade with Colombian drug barons in exchange for money and narcotics. The smugglers had hidden the bonds in two Miami phonebooks.
Raymond Ketteridge was arrested with another man and charged with handling £70 million in stolen bonds, only to see his prosecution dropped in London in July 1991. He later won his battle against extradition from Cyprus to the US in 1994. He had been facing charges of money laundering based on the heist. The police also foiled a mortgage scam which aimed to use stolen bonds as collateral, arresting John Traynor in 1990.
## Death of Patrick Thomas
Thomas lived on the Turnham Road council estate in Brockley, south London, with his step-sister and her family. He presented himself as merely being an ordinary person on the estate, whilst being involved in criminal enterprises such as drug-dealing and robbery. When he and David Summerville were caught red-handed cutting up a kilo (2 lb) of cocaine in March 1991, they were remanded to Belmarsh Prison, then he managed to convince the jury that his co-defendant was responsible for the £30,000 haul of cocaine and thus was acquitted, whilst Summerville received a seven-year sentence.
Career criminal Jimmy Tippett Junior writes in his autobiography Born Gangster that Patrick Thomas showed him the bonds in a toilet cubicle soon after robbing Goddard. Tippett was arrested in relation to the robbery and had his charges dropped before court. According to Tippett, he had been drinking with Thomas earlier in the evening of 28 December and then became separated from him when Thomas refused to be searched by a bouncer because he was carrying a gun. In the early morning of 29 December 1991, after hearing a scuffle and a bang at the front door Thomas' step-sister found him lying on the ground with a gunshot wound to the head. He died from his injuries as she called for an ambulance. At first, police believed that Thomas had been killed by friends of Summerville, but it soon became clear that Thomas was involved in other crimes since he had assorted building society accounts with over £150,000 in them and he was eventually connected to the bonds robbery as the suspected mugger.
## Arrest of Keith Cheeseman
Keith Cheeseman was arrested in the UK after an investigation by City of London police and the FBI. He was sentenced to six and a half year term but had managed to flee the country whilst on bail. The Today newspaper ran a story 26 October 1991 entitled "£290m clue to headless corpse" which stated Cheeseman had been found decapitated in Bolney, Sussex. However, the Bolney Torso was not Cheeseman, who was actually on the run in Tenerife. A man who stopped to urinate on his way home found the body in a wooded area, wrapped up in a carpet with neither head nor hands. The body was laid to rest in 1994, then dug up again in 2009 for extended forensic testing, which suggested the man was from Bavaria in Germany and had spent about a year in the UK before his murder. A German fraudster was identified as living nearby in Haywards Heath at the time, but police investigations have never linked him to the crime in any way. As of 2020 the corpse is still unidentified.
After his arrest in Spain, Cheeseman was extradited to the US, where he faced charges related to a conspiracy to launder £392 million in stolen bonds, including the £292 million obtained in London. Cheeseman claimed he had skipped bail in fear for his life and pled guilty, admitting he had processed £16 million in bonds. Judge Robert W. Sweet sentenced him to the maximum available term of six and a half years because he had attempted to evade justice and because of his criminal past. Cheeseman had also been involved in another fraud scheme, in which he had seduced a supervisor at a financial services company. He rented her a luxury apartment and they conspired to transfer £8 million into an offshore account, before the two were arrested by the City Fraud Squad.
## Arrest of John Traynor
John Traynor escaped a dispute with criminal associate Martin Cahill in Ireland by moving to England in the late 1980s. He then reacquainted himself with old friend James "Danger" Beirne who was involved in various fraudulent schemes. The two men joined with John Francis Conlon to set up a new venture in which they would attempt to use some of the stolen bonds as collateral investment for a mortgage from a Swiss bank. Conlon had connections to Miami and presented plans for a fictitious £100 million holiday resort on a Caribbean island.
Using bonds with altered numbers, they managed to gain a £200,000 advance in Geneva, although the bank sent warnings to City of London police and the Serious Fraud Office. When the courier returned to pick up the rest of the mortgage, the bank told him to wait so he called Traynor, who was sitting on a street near Bayswater Road in London. As they spoke, police swooped in both England and Switzerland, and they were both arrested. Traynor was charged with handling stolen goods and received a seven-year sentence.
Traynor went to jail in July 1990 and quickly began planning his escape. As a reward for good behaviour he was transferred from HM Prison Wandsworth to HM Prison Highpoint in Suffolk. He then requested a temporary home leave to see his family and when that was granted in November 1992, he immediately took a flight to Dublin and escaped, secure in the knowledge that his offence would not lead to extradition from Ireland. However, Traynor was eventually arrested in the Netherlands in 2010, as part of a combined operation by British and Dutch police investigating organised crime across borders. He was then extradited back to the UK to serve the rest of his sentence.
## Legacy
The City bonds robbery is seen as one of the largest heists in history in terms of the amount taken, dwarfing other UK crimes such as the Brink's-Mat robbery, the Great Train Robbery, the Knightsbridge Security Deposit robbery, the Northern Bank robbery and the Securitas depot robbery. Globally, it is eclipsed by the 2003 robbery of almost \$1 billion (equivalent to \$ billion in ) from the Central Bank of Iraq by Qusay Hussein, son of Saddam Hussein. The police ultimately recovered all but two of the 301 certificates that were stolen in the City bonds robbery. The Bank of England continues to use the bonds system to protect financial liquidity, but the last paper bills were produced in September 2003, when the entire process became electronic.
## See also
- List of heists in the United Kingdom
|
2,301,553 |
Crazy for You (Madonna song)
| 1,173,650,955 |
1985 single by Madonna
|
[
"1980s ballads",
"1984 songs",
"1985 singles",
"Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles",
"CBS Records singles",
"Geffen Records singles",
"Madonna songs",
"Number-one singles in Australia",
"Pop ballads",
"RPM Top Singles number-one singles",
"Sire Records singles",
"Song recordings produced by John Benitez",
"Songs with lyrics by John Bettis",
"Songs written by Jon Lind",
"Songs written for films",
"Split singles",
"Warner Records singles"
] |
"Crazy for You" is a song recorded by American singer Madonna for the film Vision Quest (1985). It was released on March 2, 1985 by Geffen Records as the lead single from the film's soundtrack album. Film producers Jon Peters and Peter Guber, along with music director Phil Ramone, decided to use Madonna after listening to her previous recordings, employing John Bettis and Jon Lind to write the song. After reading the script of the film, Bettis and Lind wrote the song about the situation in which the lead characters meet at a nightclub. Initial recording sessions did not impress Bettis and Lind, and they felt that "Crazy for You" would be dropped from the soundtrack. However, a new version was recorded to their liking.
John "Jellybean" Benitez was the record producer of "Crazy for You", and it was a challenge for him, as previously he was associated with recording dance-pop songs only. Initially Warner Bros. Records did not want the song to be released as a single, since they believed that it would take away the attention from Madonna's second studio album Like a Virgin (1984). In the end, Peters and Guber convinced Warner officials to greenlight its release. "Crazy for You" ushered a new musical direction for Madonna, as she had not previously released a ballad as a single. The track features instrumentation from snare drums, harp, bass synthesizer and electric guitar. Lyrically, the song speaks of sexual desire between two lovers and consists of innuendos.
"Crazy for You" received positive response from music critics and earned Madonna her first Grammy Award nomination in the Best Female Pop Vocal Performance category. The song became Madonna's second number-one single on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, and reached the top of the charts of Australia and Canada. It also peaked at number two in Ireland, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, where it was released twice, in 1985 and 1991. Madonna has performed "Crazy for You" during the Virgin Tour in 1985, Re-Invention World Tour in 2004 and in some dates of Rebel Heart Tour in 2016. The performance from The Virgin Tour was included in the home video release on VHS and LaserDisc. "Crazy for You" appears on the compilation albums The Immaculate Collection (1990), Something to Remember (1995) and Celebration (2009). "Crazy for You" has also been covered by a number of artists.
## Background
"Crazy for You" was written by John Bettis and Jon Lind. The ballad was released as the first single from the soundtrack of the 1985 film Vision Quest, a coming of age drama about a high school wrestler, played by Matthew Modine. Film producers Jon Peters and Peter Guber and music director Phil Ramone were aware of the then unknown Madonna, who was just signed to Sire Records. Ramone took her for dinner at his house in Carolwood Records, where she played some of her music videos. Ramone and the other Warner executives present there, were impressed by Madonna's self-possession and fishnet-crucifix style, and they decided to test her voice in a New York studio. Peters assigned Joel Sill, an executive in charge of music at Warner Bros. Pictures, to handle the recording of the two songs for the film. Sill sent the script of the film to Bettis and Lind. After reading through the script, Bettis wanted to write a song about the situation where the main characters – a young boy and a girl boarding at a house – dance together at a nightclub. He elaborated:
> "We were noodling around and 'Crazy for You' was something that Jon was singing over that section of the song. It was really descriptive of the scene in the film. [...] After that, I was out on vacation out in the desert and [Sill] called and said Phil Ramone was in love with the song and wanted to cut it on Madonna. [Laughing] 'Borderline' was out at that time and I said, 'Excuse me? This is for Madonna? Really? Can she sing a song like this?' Jon and I were surprised at the choice of artist at the time, if you want to know the truth."
## Recording
After Sill let Bettis and Lind know that Madonna was singing the song, some time elapsed before either of them heard anything from Warner Bros. Records. In between, they went to one of the recording sessions and were not impressed with the process of recording the song. Bettis commented, "We went to one of the sessions, and to be honest, that particular session did not go all that well. [...] Jon and I were depressed about the way the song had come out. We heard nothing else about it and we were a little nervous that the song was going to be dropped from the picture." Bettis went to England to work on the 1985 fantasy film Legend with music producer Jerry Goldsmith. It was there he received a call from Lind, who informed Bettis that a new version of "Crazy for You" was recorded and was made ready for a single release. Bettis was surprised and went over to Lind's house, where he warmly received the new recorded version of the song. It had a different arrangement from the demo version, and the arrangement was done by composer Rob Mounsey who rearranged the original track and added the background vocals. Bettis said: "We owe a big debt of gratitude to [Mounsey]. He really made a hit record out of [the song]." Mounsey was introduced in the project by record producer John "Jellybean" Benitez who was producing "Crazy for You". Benitez was previously associated with producing dance-pop themed songs and it was the first time that he produced a ballad. In Fred Bronson's The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits, Benitez commented,
> "The song was recorded live. It was the first time that I produced a live session, as opposed to having synthesizers and drum machines do everything. [...] I was tense because I had never done a record like this. [...] Everything I did was totally on instinct. I tried to make the song stand on its own, but at the same time work in the two scenes in which it was used in the movie."
Benitez also noted that "Crazy for You" was an important recording for Madonna, as the song being a ballad, was openly accepted at adult contemporary radios. She had already charted with her singles "Like a Virgin" and "Material Girl", hence Madonna wanted to prove that she can sing in a different genre of music. However, Warner initially did not want the song to be released as a single, since the release of Vision Quest coincided with the release of Madonna's second studio album Like a Virgin and releasing "Crazy for You" would have distracted attention from the album. Warner Bros. Records chief Mo Ostin went to Robert A. Daly, chairman of Warner, and requested him to pull out the Madonna tracks from the Vision Quest soundtrack. Daly summoned Peters and Guber to his office and informed them that they had to let-go of the Madonna tracks. Peters protested and shouted at Daly, resulting him escaping in fright and Warner allowing "Crazy for You" to be released as a single.
## Composition
"Crazy for You" was a new musical direction for Madonna, as she had not recorded ballad songs before. According to author Rikky Rooksby, the song is sophisticated compared to her previous singles. The introduction features a melody by a woodwind instrument and an electric guitar chord, sliding from one motif to the other. It has a snare drum on the last beat of the bar, leading to the spacey quality to most of the verses. Other instrumentation comes from a harp, a bass synthesizer and a chattering single note guitar lick. The fuller rhythm of the song does not start, until the chorus is reached. The turn of the melody allows Madonna's voice to stretch further on the higher notes.
According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by Alfred Publishing, "Crazy for You" is set in the time signature of common time, with a medium tempo of 104 beats per minute. It is set in the key of E major with Madonna's voice spanning between the high note of C<sub>5</sub> to the low note of G<sub>3</sub>. The song has a basic sequence of E–A–B–A as its chord progression. Unlike her previous singles, the chord sequence does not repeat itself and the chorus slowly unravels to the climax of the song. Lyrically, the song talks about extreme love for one another. It contains innuendos similar to the Crystals' 1963 song "Then He Kissed Me". According to scholar Dave Marsh, the lyrics talk about frank sexual desire among two teenagers. He believed that the line "I'm crazy for you, Touch me once and you'll know it's true" was not ambiguous and it helped Madonna to capitalize on such disambiguation.
## Critical reception
Keith Caulfield of Billboard said that "Crazy for You" is "perhaps the ultimate slow-dance song." Cash Box said that "though less infectiously danceable than her other two current singles 'Like a Virgin' and 'Material Girl'], 'Crazy For You' displays Madonna's voice in a different context, one that is more mature and ultimately marketable." Rikky Rooksby, author of The Complete Guide to the Music of Madonna, called the song sophisticated. Alex Henderson of Allmusic felt that the other Madonna song on the Vision Quest soundtrack, "Gambler", should have been the more successful single. Biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli characterized the song as "sassy" and commented that the song provided proof that Madonna was vocally capable of delivering a serious ballad. Author Andrew Morton believed that the song cemented Madonna as a talented and serious singer which "had been missing from her past recordings." Allen Metz and Carol Benson, authors of The Madonna Companion: Two Decades of Commentary, said that the song sounded like a "remake of sweet-sixteen Connie Francis tune, dripping with old-fashioned, hand-held romance" especially in the line "It's so brand new; I'm really crazy for you." Edna Gundersen from USA Today felt that the song is "touching and beautifully arranged."
Dave Marsh, author of The Heart of Rock & Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made, felt that with the coda of the song, Madonna transformed her record into an adult love song. William McKeen, author of Rock and Roll is Here to Stay: An Anthology, said that the song "offered an aggressive sexuality for women". Maria Raha, author of Cinderella's Big Score: Women of the Punk and Indie Underground, said that with the song, "Madonna brought a trunk full of trite lyrics on the long-standing tradition of pop music, love."
"Crazy for You" was nominated for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at 1986 Grammy Awards, but lost to Whitney Houston's "Saving All My Love for You". The song was ranked number 38 on VH1's "100 Greatest Love Songs", and during the special it was revealed that "Crazy for You" was recorded in one take. In 2003, Madonna fans were asked to vote for their Top 20 Madonna singles of all time by Q; "Crazy for You" was allocated the eleventh spot.
## Chart performance
In the United States, "Crazy for You" became Madonna's second number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100. The song debuted on the chart at number 55 on the issue dated March 2, 1985. After 11 weeks, the song reached the top of the chart, replacing "We Are the World" by USA for Africa. "Crazy for You" was the second number-one song for Bettis as a songwriter, after "Top of the World" by the Carpenters (1973). With "Crazy for You", Bettis was in doubt whether the song would reach the top, after it was stuck at number two for three weeks, behind "We Are the World". Both he and Lind commented, "If you gotta lose to something, it might as well be 'We Are the World'. Luckily enough, the final week of the upsurge of the record, we topped 'We Are the World', which lets you know how hot the song and how hot the artist [Madonna] was."
"Crazy for You" was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on July 16, 1985, for shipment of one million copies of the single across United States—the requirement for a gold single prior to 1989. The song reached number two on the Adult Contemporary Singles (behind "Rhythm of the Night" by DeBarge), and 80 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. It placed at nine on the year-end chart for 1985, with Madonna becoming the top pop artist for the year. In Canada, the song debuted at number 70 on the RPM issue dated March 16, 1985. On its eleventh week on the chart, the song reached the top position. It was present on the chart for a total of 25 weeks and was ranked seventh on the RPM Year-end chart for 1985. A music video was released, featuring Madonna singing the song in a night-club. The video was included in Celebration: The Video Collection, released in 2009.
"Crazy for You" reached number one in Australia and displaced another Madonna release, "Angel"/"Into the Groove", from the top spot on the Kent Music Report chart, making Madonna one of the few acts in Australian chart history to replace themselves at the number-one spot. After the song was released in the United Kingdom on June 8, 1985, it debuted at number 25 and peaked at number two. On February 18, 1991, the QSound version of the song (as remixed by Shep Pettibone for The Immaculate Collection) was released and debuted in the peak position of number two in the Official UK Singles chart. It would equal the chart position of the 1985 original, as it was kept off the number-one slot by another record from the 1980s, namely "Should I Stay or Should I Go" by the Clash. "Crazy for You" was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for shipment of 500,000 copies across United Kingdom. "Crazy For You" was 16th-best-selling single of 1985 in United Kingdom. Such was Madonna's popularity that when Vision Quest was released on home video in the UK it was renamed as Crazy for You, to cash in on her success. According to the Official Charts Company, the song had sold 782,000 copies there as of August 2017. "Crazy for You" was also a number-two hit in Ireland and New Zealand. The song reached the top 20 in Belgium, Europe, Japan, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland and top 40 in Austria, France and Germany.
## Live performances
Madonna first performed "Crazy for You" on the Virgin Tour in 1985. She wore a black top and long black skirt with her hair in knots and a crucifix attached. After an energetic performance of "Lucky Star", Madonna sat on some steps and sang "Crazy for You". Paul Grein, music editor of Billboard, commented that "She was at her best on 'Crazy for You', making good use of a deeper, huskier vocal quality that mirrors the song's deeper lyrical approach. The performance was included in the VHS release Madonna Live: The Virgin Tour recorded in Detroit, Michigan.
In the Re-Invention World Tour of 2004, Madonna performed the song in the last segment of the show, the Scottish segment. During that segment, she wore a Scottish kilt and a t-shirt which had different captions in different venues; usually it had the caption "Kabbalists Do It Better", however she also had "Brits Do It Better" and "Irish Do It Better" on the British and Irish stops of the tour, respectively. Generally after finishing the performance of "Papa Don't Preach", Madonna would dedicate the next song to the fans of twenty years, and start singing "Crazy for You" on top of a rising platform. At the end of the performance, she would usually throw her t-shirt to the audience. The performance was excluded from the album of the documentary on the tour titled I'm Going to Tell You a Secret, which was released in 2006.
On February 25, 2016, Madonna performed "Crazy for You" during the Manila stop of her Rebel Heart Tour as a tribute to the 30th anniversary of the 1986 EDSA Revolution. Before the performance she said; "I believe 30 years ago you fought for your freedom, am I correct? It's called People Power Freedom [sic], did I say that right? Up with democracy and freedom! That is the revolution of love. And that's what a rebel heart fights for. So on this very special occasion, I want to sing this song".
## Cover versions and media appearances
Philippine acoustic band MYMP recorded a cover version and released it their album New Horizon (2006). In 2007, Groove Armada recorded a cover with Alan Donohoe of art rock band the Rakes on vocals for the compilation Radio 1 Established 1967. New Found Glory recorded a pop punk cover of the song with Max Bemis for their 2007 album From the Screen to Your Stereo Part II. A cover of the song by Lion of Panjshir was included on the 2007 Madonna tribute compilation Through the Wilderness. Madonna impersonator Melissa Totten did a Hi-NRG cover for her 2008 dance album, Forever Madonna. An instrumental version was played in the Full House episode 13 Candles when Kimmy dares D.J. to kiss Kevin at her party. The original Madonna recording was also featured in the 2004 film 13 Going on 30, starring Jennifer Garner. At the end of the film, the song is played again, but to signify Jenna Rink's life staying on the "good path" 17 years later, and a bigger, modern rock/string orchestration by the film's composer Theodore Shapiro is added. Kelly Clarkson covered the song during her 2012 Stronger Tour per fan request in Bossier City, Louisiana. "Crazy for You" was also featured in the 2016 web film The Do-Over with vocals by Adam Sandler and David Spade.
## Track listing and formats
- US 7" single
1. "Crazy for You" – 4:08
2. "No More Words" (Berlin) – 3:54
- US 7" promo single
1. "Crazy for You" – 4:08
2. "Gambler" – 3:54
- Dutch 12" single
1. "Crazy for You" – 4:08
2. "I'll Fall in Love Again" (Sammy Hagar) – 4:11
3. "Only the Young" (Journey) – 4:01
- UK 7" single (1985)
1. "Crazy for You" – 4:00
2. "I'll Fall in Love Again" (Sammy Hagar) – 4:11
- UK 7" single/cassette single (1991)
1. "Crazy for You" (Remix) – 3:45
2. "Keep It Together" (Shep Pettibone Single Remix) – 4:30
- UK 12" single/CD maxi-single (1991)
1. "Crazy for You" (Remix) – 3:45
2. "Keep It Together" (Shep Pettibone Remix) – 7:45
3. "Into the Groove" (Shep Pettibone Remix) – 8:06
## Credits and personnel
- Madonna – lead vocals, background vocals
- John Bettis – writer
- Jon Lind – writer
- John "Jellybean" Benitez – record producer
- Rob Mounsey – music arrangement
- Greg Fulginiti – mastering
Credits adapted from the soundtrack's liner notes.
## Charts
### Weekly charts
### Year-end charts
### Decade-end charts
### All-time charts
## Certifications and sales
\|- !scope="col" colspan="3"\| Digital \|-
## See also
- List of top 25 singles for 1985 in Australia
- List of Hot 100 number-one singles of 1985 (U.S.)
- List of RPM number-one singles of 1985
- List of number-one singles in Australia during the 1980s
- List of UK top-ten singles in 1985
|
9,309,457 |
U.S. Route 6 in Iowa
| 1,170,583,003 |
Section of U.S. Highway in Iowa
|
[
"Transportation in Adair County, Iowa",
"Transportation in Cass County, Iowa",
"Transportation in Cedar County, Iowa",
"Transportation in Dallas County, Iowa",
"Transportation in Iowa County, Iowa",
"Transportation in Jasper County, Iowa",
"Transportation in Johnson County, Iowa",
"Transportation in Madison County, Iowa",
"Transportation in Muscatine County, Iowa",
"Transportation in Polk County, Iowa",
"Transportation in Pottawattamie County, Iowa",
"Transportation in Poweshiek County, Iowa",
"Transportation in Scott County, Iowa",
"U.S. Highways in Iowa",
"U.S. Route 6"
] |
U.S. Highway 6 (US 6) is an east–west United States Numbered Highway which runs 322 miles (518 km) across the U.S. state of Iowa. The route is signed in places as the Grand Army of the Republic Highway. Like all state highways in Iowa, it is maintained by the Iowa Department of Transportation (Iowa DOT). The route begins at the Missouri River crossing at Council Bluffs. From there, it travels east through Oakland and Atlantic. North of Atlantic, the highway overlaps Interstate 80 (I-80) until De Soto. Between De Soto and Adel, the highway overlaps US 169 before splitting off to the east toward Des Moines. Through the Des Moines area, the highway runs about one mile (1.6 km) north or south of the I-35/I-80 corridor.
At Altoona, the route again overlaps I-80 until Newton, where it splits away from I-80. The highway passes near or through the cities of Kellogg, Grinnell, Victor, Marengo, the Amana Colonies, and Tiffin before entering the Iowa City metropolitan area. Through Coralville and Iowa City, US 6 has no direct access to I-80, I-380, or US 218; other routes like Iowa Highway 1 (Iowa 1) and Iowa 965 provide direct access. From Iowa City, the highway heads to the east-southeast through West Liberty and Atalissa. Near Wilton, the route heads north to I-80 where it again overlaps to Davenport. At Davenport, US 6 then follows I-280 and US 61 before entering the city. On the eastern side of Davenport, it joins I-74 and enters Bettendorf before leaving Iowa for Illinois.
Dating back to 1910, the route US 6 follows was originally the Great White Way and River-to-River Road. Both were auto trails which connected Council Bluffs and Davenport. When the U.S. Numbered Highway System was created in 1926, the highway was designated U.S. Highway 32 (US 32). US 32 was renumbered in 1931 as US 6 was extended to the west coast. As the Interstate Highway System expanded in the 1950–1970s, US 6's importance as a cross-state route was diminished by I-80. As a result, the least-traveled sections of the route were moved onto I-80 and control of the vacated sections of highway was given to local jurisdictions.
## Route description
US 6 is a cross-state route that connects Council Bluffs and Davenport by way of Des Moines and Iowa City. The route parallels I-80 for most of its length; however, nearly one-third of the route overlaps the Interstate Highway. While the route is away from I-80, US 6 is a two-lane highway with a rural speed limit of 55 miles per hour (90 km/h). However, between Adel and Waukee, the roadway is a four-lane divided highway that has a speed limit of 65 mph (105 km/h).
### Western Iowa
US 6 crosses the Missouri River via the Grenville Dodge Memorial Bridge, named after the Union Army general during the U.S. Civil War, into Council Bluffs with I-480. Just three-quarters mile (1,200 m) into the state, I-480 ends at an interchange with I-29. US 6 heads east along I-29 south on the western side of Council Bluffs, then it overlaps I-80 and continues due east. On the east side of Council Bluffs, I-80 and US 6 split. Near Oakland, the highway follows the north–south US 59 for two miles (3.2 km). Near Lewis, the road turns to the north-northeast until it reaches Atlantic. In Atlantic, the route turns back to the east and heads toward downtown where it meets Iowa 83. US 6 / Iowa 83 travel together to the eastern side of Atlantic where they meet US 71. The three routes run together for four miles (6.4 km), when US 6 / US 71 split away from Iowa 83 and continue north to I-80. At I-80, US 6 leaves US 71 and joins I-80. At this point, US 6 begins the first of three instances when its traffic is routed along I-80. In the eastern part of Cass County, the two routes meet the northern end of Iowa 148.
As I-80 and US 6 approach Adair, the highways curve slightly to the south to bypass the community. There are two interchanges in Adair; both of the intersecting roads, at one time or another, carried US 6. County Road G30 (CR G30), the White Pole Road, was the original alignment of US 6, while CR N54 has not carried US 6 since 1980. Further east is an interchange with Iowa 25. About one mile (1.6 km) south of the interchange is Freedom Rock. Each year for Memorial Day, the rock is repainted with a patriotic scene by local artist Ray "Bubba" Sorenson II. Near Dexter, I-80 and US 6 graze the northwestern corner of Madison County. After two miles (3.2 km), the routes enter Dallas County and meet CR F60, another former alignment of US 6. Near the CR F90 / CR P58 interchange, they start heading northeast toward Des Moines. At De Soto, US 6 splits away from I-80 at the interchange with US 169.
### Central Iowa
At De Soto, US 6 turns to the north, overlapping US 169 for five miles (8.0 km) to Adel. East of Adel, US 6 is a four-lane divided highway for 14 miles (23 km), during which it passes through Waukee, Clive, and Urbandale along Hickman Road and intersects I-35 / I-80. Over the next two miles (3.2 km), it serves as the border between Urbandale and Windsor Heights. At 63rd Street in Des Moines, US 6 intersects Iowa 28. For one-half mile (800 m), US 6 / Iowa 28 run together on Hickman Road. Turning north, they run together for another mile (1.6 km) along Merle Hay Road, named after the first Iowa service member in World War I. At Douglas Avenue, US 6 splits away from Iowa 28 and continues east, becoming Euclid Avenue just west of the Des Moines River. In north-central Des Moines, it intersects US 69 and I-235. In northeast Des Moines, it turns to the northeast along Hubbell Avenue, which takes US 6 to Altoona. West of Altoona, it intersects US 65 and continues northeast passing the Adventureland theme park and Prairie Meadows casino. In northwest Altoona, US 6 intersects I-80 and US 65. Here, US 6 rejoins I-80 for the second time. After a third exit for Altoona, the Interstate resumes its 70 mph (115 km/h) rural limit. Near Colfax, the highways cross the South Skunk River. After an interchange with Iowa 117, the highway is forced to the north to avoid crossing the river multiple times. As the roadway returns south to its original line, it meets CR F48, which was another former alignment of US 6.
At Newton, US 6 splits away from I-80 at the Iowa 14 interchange. US 6 overlaps Iowa 14 for one-third mile (540 m). It turns off of Iowa 14 and enters the western side of Newton where it passes the Jasper County courthouse located in the downtown area. Between Newton and Grinnell, the route has more hills and curves. The highway crosses the North Skunk River near Kellogg. At Grinnell, it intersects Iowa 146 southwest of the Grinnell College campus. East of Grinnell, the route straightens out and is overlapped by US 63 for two miles (3.2 km) and by Iowa 21 for four miles (6.4 km). Near Victor, US 6 takes a northeasterly course through Ladora toward Marengo. At Marengo, it intersects the eastern end of Iowa 212. Five miles (8.0 km) east of Marengo is the western end of Iowa 20. Here, US 6 forms the southern leg of the Amana Colonies Trail. Three miles (4.8 km) later, it is joined by US 151 for two miles (3.2 km). US 6 heads to the southeast toward Tiffin and passes underneath I-380 but does not have direct access.
### Eastern Iowa
At Coralville, US 6 passes underneath I-80, but one-half mile (800 m) to the east, Coral Ridge Avenue provides direct access to I-80. Entering Iowa City, the highway passes the campus of the University of Iowa, its main hospital, and VA Hospital. US 6 curves to the south to be adjacent to the Iowa River, where it meets and overlaps Iowa 1 for one-half mile (800 m). US 6 and Iowa 1 go in separate directions at a signal controlled intersection, where, less than one-quarter mile (400 m) away, US 6 crosses the Iowa River. From Iowa City, it heads in an east-southeast direction toward West Liberty. The highway enters West Liberty from the northwest corner and curves southward. At the northern end of Iowa 70, it turns to the east again toward Atalissa and Wilton. The road crosses the Cedar River 10 miles (16 km) southwest of Wilton. Three miles (4.8 km) south of Wilton, the highway overlaps Iowa 38, and the two routes head toward I-80. At the Wilton interchange along I-80, Iowa 38 turns west and US 6 turns east onto the Interstate, respectively.
As I-80 and US 6 approach the Quad Cities metropolitan area, the speed limit drops again to 65 mph (105 km/h). Just within the city limits of Davenport is the I-280 interchange. US 6 exits to the south to join I-280. US 61 also joins I-280 at this interchange but from the opposite direction. US 6 only overlaps I-280 / US 61 for four-fifths mile (1,300 m) before exiting onto Kimberly Road. Heading southeast into Davenport, US 6 is a two-lane highway for three miles (4.8 km). At Fairmount Street, it becomes a four-lane divided highway and straightens out to head due east. Near NorthPark Mall, it intersects Northwest Boulevard, which becomes Iowa 130 at I-80, and both one-way legs, Welcome Way southbound and Brady Street northbound, of US 61 Business, which, prior to 2010, was US 61. US 6 briefly dips to the southeast and straightens out again toward I-74. The highway joins I-74 and heads to the south toward Moline, Illinois. For about one mile (1.6 km), I-74 / US 6 forms the boundary of Davenport and Bettendorf. The two routes completely enter Bettendorf and descend into the Mississippi River valley, where they meet US 67 at a complex series of exit and entrance ramps. They then ascend the Iowa–Illinois Memorial Bridge, known locally as the I-74 Bridge, and cross the Mississippi River into Illinois.
## History
Before the U.S. Numbered Highway System came into being in 1926, roads in Iowa were maintained and promoted by local organizations which sought to drive traffic into their communities. Two such organizations created virtually parallel routes connecting Council Bluffs and Davenport via Des Moines. The routes, the southern Great White Way and northern River-to-River Road, eventually merged into the Whiteway-7-Highway. The new route followed the Great White Way from Council Bluffs to Des Moines and the River-to-River Road from Des Moines to Davenport. In 1926, the Whiteway-7-Highway became US 32, which itself became US 6 in 1931. For a time, US 6 was the busiest highway in the state. After I-80 was built near US 6, portions of the U.S. Highway were moved onto the Interstate Highway. Interest in the original US 6 corridor has grown in the 21st century by people who seek to drive traffic back into their communities.
### Great White Way/White Pole Road
The Great White Way was formed in 1910 by the White Pole Auto Club. The route was built along the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad between Council Bluffs and Des Moines. Members of the auto club painted poles along the route white, which lead the route to be known as the White Pole Road. The Great White Way passed through Oakland, Atlantic, Adair, De Soto, and Valley Junction. In late 1912, the Great White Way was extended east to Davenport, passing through Pella, Oskaloosa, Washington, and Muscatine. In 1913, when the Iowa State Highway Commission began registering named trails longer than 25 miles (40 km), the Great White Way Association paid the \$5.00 fee (equivalent to \$ in ) to become the first official registered highway route on July 30, 1914. When the primary highway system was created, the Great White Way was assigned Primary Road No. 2.
In 2002, a group of residents from Adair, Casey, Menlo, Stuart, and Dexter formed a new group to promote the White Pole Road. Their intention was to bring visitors to their towns by diverting some traffic from the nearby I-80 / US 6 corridor to the south and onto the historic road. Poles were painted white up to nine feet (2.7 m) high line along the 26-mile (42 km) drive. White Pole Road logo signs in each town give a short history of the town and their founders.
### River-to-River Road
The River-to-River Road (RRR) was also created in 1910 and also connected Council Bluffs and Davenport via Des Moines. This route, however, traveled a more northern route than the Great White Way. The route passed through Neola, Elk Horn, Guthrie Center, Adel, Des Moines, Newton, Marengo, Iowa City, and Wilton. The route's origins trace back to the 1909–1910 winter season which brought, on average, 11 inches (28 cm) of snow more than the previous year, which was followed by an unusually dry spring. Coupled with the advent of the Ford Model T, many Iowans complained about the lack of good roads in the state. Governor Beryl F. Carroll convened a Good Roads convention on March 8–9, 1910, to discuss the condition of roads in his state. It was then that the route of the RRR was decided among the convention delegates. Further influencing the RRR corridor was an announcement from the American Automobile Association that the annual Glidden Tour would pass through Iowa. Governor Carroll arranged for farmers who lived along the route to drag all 380 miles (610 km) of the road on the Saturday prior to the tour's arrival at precisely 9:00 am. Work was finished in one hour.
When the highway commission started accepting registered routes, the RRR association planned to register their route as soon as possible. But miscommunication between association members and with the highway commission delayed the actual registration for years. The route became official on April 16, 1918. When the primary highway system was created, the RRR was assigned Primary Road No. 7.
### Whiteway-7-Highway
The Whiteway-7-Highway was registered by the Whiteway-7-Highway Association filing an application in 1922 with the Iowa State Highway Commission. The commission was concerned with the Whiteway-7-Highway's similarity to the Great White Way's name and route markings. The Great White Way was marked with a six-foot-wide (1.8 m) stripe, while the Whiteway-7-Highway would be marked with a four-foot (1.2 m) stripe with a black circle containing a white seven. Another concern with the new route was since its name contained the number seven, the route would be assigned along Primary Road Nos. 2 and 7. On September 25, 1922, the highway commission gave the Great White Way from Des Moines to Council Bluffs, which would become part of the Whiteway-7-Highway, the number 7 and gave the RRR's western half number 2. Eight months later, the Iowa State Highway Commission reversed course and restored Primary Road Nos. 2 and 7 to their original roadways. Although disappointed, the Whiteway-7-Highway Association responded by removing the number from their name. On November 27, 1925, the route officially became the Whiteway Highway.
### U.S. Numbered Highways
On November 11, 1926, members of the American Association of State Highway Officials approved the plan to create a system of interstate highways across the country. Iowa's Whiteway Highway would take on the designation of US 32. For four-and-a-half years, US 32 spanned from Chicago to Council Bluffs. Meanwhile, Roosevelt Highway Association was pushing to have US 6 extended westward. On June 8, 1931, all of the Iowa portion of US 32 was absorbed into a newly extended US 6, which had previously connected Erie, Pennsylvania, and Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The new US 6 also replaced US 38 in Nebraska and Colorado. By the end of 1937, US 6 extended from coast to coast. At the time, it and US 30 were the only cross country highways to bear a single route number across the country.
When the last segment of highway between Adel and Des Moines was paved in 1931, US 6 became the fourth paved road to cross the state. In the early 1940s, US 6 was the most heavily traveled route in the state. The state highway commission recorded that, on average, over 1,900 vehicles used the road per day at any rural point. That compares to nearly 3,000 vehicles using US 6 daily in 2012.
On April 29, 1947, the Iowa General Assembly approved an act designating US 6 as the Grand Army of the Republic Highway, a distinction the route shares in other states. Governor Robert D. Blue dedicated the Grand Army of the Republic Highway at the Iowa Old Capitol Building on September 28, 1947. In attendance were the last two surviving Iowa veterans of the U.S. Civil War. In the 1950s, the Iowa State Highway Commission began to straighten the route. A section of the highway between Grinnell and Ladora was straightened, which resulted in Brooklyn and Victor being bypassed. Between Dexter and West Des Moines, US 6 swapped alignments with Iowa 90 in 1958. In 1961, US 6 was routed onto the new I-80 from the Iowa 90 interchange to the Baxter exit, currently exit 159. Iowa 90 was extended onto the old US 6 alignment. However, in 1967, those changes were reversed and US 6 was taken off I-80 and put back on the road which had been Iowa 90. Iowa 90 was assigned the section of US 6 between what's now exit 106 along I-80 and exit 69 along I-35.
### Abandoned sections
Since the 1970s, portions of US 6 have been moved permanently onto I-80. The first section, between US 71 and Adair, was rerouted in 1972. The abandoned section became an extended Iowa 83 and CR G30 in Adair County. In 1980, three lengthy sections were moved onto the Interstate: 26 miles (42 km) in western Iowa between Adair and Dexter, 25 miles (40 km) in central Iowa between Altoona and Newton, and 20 miles (32 km) in eastern Iowa between Wilton and Davenport. All three sections were originally kept as state highways, but, in 1991, when Iowa DOT first showed the new state highways' designations on the state highway map, the central section already had been turned over to Polk and Jasper counties. The western segment was numbered Iowa 925 and the eastern segment Iowa 927.
On July 1, 2003, 15 miles (24 km) between Dexter and Adel were turned over to Dallas County. US 6, which had previously split away from I-80 at the Dexter exit, was continued along I-80 to the US 169 interchange at De Soto, and then along US 169 to Adel. The former segments, Iowa 925 and Iowa 927, were turned over to their respective counties as well.
## Major intersections
|
48,967,214 |
German destroyer Z37
| 1,122,272,722 |
Type 1936A (Mob) destroyer
|
[
"1942 ships",
"Maritime incidents in August 1944",
"Scuttled vessels of Germany",
"Ships built in Kiel",
"Type 1936A-class destroyers"
] |
Z37 was a Type 1936A (Mob) destroyer built for the Kriegsmarine during World War II. Completed in 1942, the ship spent most of her brief career deployed in France. She participated in the Battle of the Bay of Biscay at the end of 1943 before she was accidentally rammed by the destroyer Z32 in early 1944. Towed back to port, the Kriegsmarine (German Navy) decided that Z37 was too badly damaged to repair and disarmed her hulk. Decommissioned later that year, she was scuttled by her crew before being scrapped by the French in 1949.
## Design and description
The Type 1936A (Mob) destroyers were slightly larger than the preceding Type 1936A class and had a heavier armament. They had an overall length of 127 meters (416 ft 8 in) and were 121.9 meters (399 ft 11 in) long at the waterline. The ships had a beam of 12 meters (39 ft 4 in) and a maximum draft of 4.62 meters (15 ft 2 in). They displaced 2,657 long tons (2,700 t) at standard load and 3,691 long tons (3,750 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 water-tube boilers. The ships had a design speed of 36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph), but their maximum was 35.5 knots (65.7 km/h; 40.9 mph). The Type 1936A (Mob)-class destroyers carried enough fuel oil to give a range of 2,239 nautical miles (4,147 km; 2,577 mi) at a speed of 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph). The crew of the ships numbered 11–15 officers and 305–21 enlisted men, plus an additional 4 officers and 19 enlisted men if serving as a flotilla flagship.
The Type 1936A (Mob) ships were armed with five 15-centimeter (5.9 in) TbtsK C/36 guns in a twin-gun turret forward and three single mounts with gun shields aft of the main superstructure. Their anti-aircraft armament varied and Z37's consisted of four 3.7-centimeter (1.5 in) Flak M42 guns in a pair of twin mounts abreast the rear funnel and seven 2-centimeter (0.79 in) C/38 guns in one quadruple and three single mounts. The ships carried eight 53.3-centimeter (21 in) torpedo tubes in two power-operated mounts. A pair of reload torpedoes was provided for each mount. They had four depth charge launchers and mine rails could be fitted on the rear deck that had a maximum capacity of 60 mines. A system of passive hydrophones designated as 'GHG' (Gruppenhorchgerät) was fitted to detect submarines. A S-Gerät sonar was also probably fitted. Z37 was equipped with a FuMO 21 or FuMO 24 radar set above the bridge.
### Modifications
Another quadruple 2 cm mount replaced the forward single 2 cm gun sometime after early 1943. The ship was fitted with a FuMB Metox radar detector after commissioning.
## Service history
Z37 was first ordered from Oderwerke Stettin as a Type 1938B destroyer on 26 June 1939, but the German Navy cancelled the order in September 1939, re-ordering the ship as yard number G627 from Germaniawerft as a Type 1936A (Mob) destroyer on 19 September 1939. The ship was laid down at Germaniawerft's Kiel shipyard on 2 January 1940 and launched on 24 February 1941. Construction was slowed by shortage of manpower and materials and Z37 was not commissioned until 16 July 1942.
On 23 January 1943 Z37 set out as part of the escort for the battleship Scharnhorst and heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen from the Baltic sea to Norway, but the operation was cancelled when the force was spotted by British aircraft. On 5 March 1943, the 8th Destroyer Flotilla (Z23, Z24, Z32 and Z37) was transferred via the English channel to the French Atlantic coast in Operation Karin. Despite attacks by British coastal artillery and motor torpedo boats, the Flotilla managed to pass through the Straits of Dover unscathed, but Z37 ran aground at Le Havre on 6 March, damaging her starboard propeller, and was under repair until 18 March.
On 28 March, Z37 was one of four destroyers that formed the distant escort for the Italian blockade runner Himalaya setting out from Bordeaux for the Far East, with 9 torpedo boats providing a close escort, but the force turned back when spotted by British air reconnaissance. On 30 March, Z37, together with the destroyers Z23, Z24 and Z32, set out to meet the incoming blockade runner Pietro Orseolo. Heavy British air attacks were repelled, but Pietro Orseolo was damaged by a torpedo from the American submarine Shad before reaching safety in the Gironde estuary on 2 April. On 9 April, Z37 set out on another attempt to cover the break out of Himalaya, but again this was foiled by British air attacks.
On 24 December 1943, six destroyers of the 8th Destroyer Flotilla (Z37, Z23, Z24, Z27 and ZH1) and the 4th Torpedo Boat Flotilla (of six torpedo boats) set out to meet the blockade runner Osorno, meeting her on 25 December. They managed to escort Osorno to the Gironde despite heavy air attack, but Orsono struck a submerged wreck and had to be beached to save her cargo. On 26 December, the 8th Destroyer Flotilla, again including Z37 (but without ZH1) and the 4th Torpedo Boat Flotilla set out again to meet another inbound blockade runner, Alsterufer. Unbeknownst to the Germans, Alsterufer was attacked and set on fire by a B-24 Liberator bomber of No. 311 (Czechoslovak) Squadron RAF on 27 December and was abandoned by her crew. At about midday on 28 December, the British cruisers Glasgow and Enterprise, on patrol in the Bay of Biscay to intercept blockade runners, encountered the German destroyers and torpedo boats, resulting in the Battle of the Bay of Biscay. Heavy seas prevented the German force from using its theoretical advantages in speed and firepower, with the destroyer Z27 and the torpedo boats T25 and T27 sunk. Z37 fired six torpedoes against the British cruisers, all of which missed.
On 30 January 1944, Z37 was carrying out exercises in the south of the Bay of Biscay with Z23 and Z32 when she collided with Z32. One of Z37's torpedoes exploded, starting a fire which set off some of her anti-aircraft ammunition and caused extensive flooding. She was towed back to Bordeaux, but the damage was considered too severe for repair, and her guns were removed to strengthen the shore defences of the Gironde estuary, with her crew being deployed as ground troops. She was decommissioned on 24 August and then scuttled. Her wreck was broken up in 1949.
## Books
|
13,666,756 |
French cruiser Gloire (1900)
| 1,136,842,922 |
French Navy's Gloire-class armored cruiser
|
[
"1900 ships",
"Gloire-class cruisers"
] |
The French cruiser Gloire was one of five Gloire-class armored cruisers built for the French Navy (Marine Nationale) in the first decade of the 20th century. Fitted with a mixed armament of 194-millimeter (7.6 in) and 164.7-millimeter (6.5 in) guns, the ships were designed for service with the fleet. Completed in 1904, Gloire joined her sister ships in the Northern Squadron (Escadre du Nord), usually serving as a flagship. She participated in the French bombardment of Casablanca, Morocco, in 1907, and was briefly assigned to the Mediterranean Squadron (Escadre de la Méditeranée) in 1910–1911. Gloire became a training ship in late 1913.
When World War I began in August 1914, she was assigned to patrol the English Channel to enforce the blockade of Germany and remained on that duty into 1916. The cruiser was briefly deployed to French West Africa to search for German commerce raiders later that year before she was transferred to the French West Indies for several months. Increased commerce raiding activity in early 1917 prompted a permanent deployment to the West Indies to escort convoys as part of the Atlantic Division (Division de l'Atlantique). Gloire remained there for at least a year after the war ended in November 1918 before she returned home to be placed in reserve. The ship was stricken in 1922 and sold for scrap the following year.
## Design and description
The Gloire-class ships were designed by Emile Bertin as enlarged and improved versions of the preceding Gueydon class. The ships measured 139.78 meters (458 ft 7 in) overall, with a beam of 20.2 meters (66 ft 3 in) and a draft of 7.55 meters (24 ft 9 in). They displaced 9,996 metric tons (9,838 long tons). Their crew numbered 25 officers and 590 enlisted men.
The sisters' propulsion machinery consisted of three vertical triple-expansion steam engines, each driving a single propeller shaft, using steam provided by water-tube boilers, but the types of machinery differed between them. Gloire had three-cylinder engines fed by 28 Niclausse boilers that were designed to produce a total of 20,500 metric horsepower (15,100 kW) intended to give her a maximum speed of 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph). During her sea trials on 19 January 1904, the ship reached 21.27 knots (39.39 km/h; 24.48 mph) from 21,334 metric horsepower (15,691 kW). The cruisers carried enough coal to give them a range of 6,500 nautical miles (12,000 km; 7,500 mi) at a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).
### Armament and armor
The main battery of the Gloire class consisted of two quick-firing (QF) 194 mm Modèle 1893–1896 guns mounted in single-gun turrets fore and aft of the superstructure. Their secondary armament comprised eight QF 164.7 mm Modèle 1893–1896 guns and six QF Canon de 100 mm (3.9 in) Modèle de 1893 guns. Half of the 164.7 mm guns were in two singe-gun wing turrets on each broadside and all of the remaining guns were on single mounts in casemates in the hull. For defense against torpedo boats, they carried eighteen 47-millimeter (1.9 in) and four 37-millimeter (1.5 in) Hotchkiss guns, all of which were in single mounts. The sisters were also armed with five 450-millimeter (17.7 in) torpedo tubes, of which two were submerged and three above water. Two of these were on each broadside and the fifth tube was in the stern. All of the above-water tubes were on pivot mounts. The ships varied in the number of naval mines that they could carry and Gloire was fitted with storage for 12.
The Gloire class were the first French armored cruisers to have their waterline armored belt made from Harvey face-hardened armor plates. The belt ranged in thickness from 70 to 150 millimeters (2.8 to 5.9 in). Because of manufacturing limitations, the thinner end plates were nickel steel. Behind the belt was a cofferdam, backed by a longitudinal watertight bulkhead. The upper armored deck met the top of the belt and had a total thickness of 34 millimeters (1.3 in) while the lower armored deck curved down to meet the bottom of the belt and had a uniform thickness of 45 millimeters (1.8 in).
The main-gun turrets were protected by 161 millimeters (6.3 in) of Harvey armor, but their barbettes used 174-millimeter (6.9 in) plates of ordinary steel. The face and sides of the secondary turrets were 92 millimeters (3.6 in) thick and the plates protecting their barbettes were 102 millimeters (4 in) thick. The casemates protecting the 100-millimeter guns also had a thickness of 102 millimeters. The face and sides of the conning tower were 174 millimeters thick.
## Construction and career
Gloire, named after Glory, was authorized in the 1896 Naval Program and was ordered from the Arsenal de Lorient on 17 September 1898. The ship was laid down on 5 September 1899, launched on 27 June 1900, and completed on 28 April 1904. The cost of her construction was 22,081,725 francs. The ship was assigned as the flagship of Rear Admiral (Contre-amiral) Joseph Bugard, commander of the 1st Cruiser Division (1<sup>re</sup> Division de croiseurs) of the Northern Squadron. Gloire had been relieved as flagship by 4 August 1905. Together with her sisters Condé and Amiral Aube, Gloire escorted the remains of John Paul Jones from France to Annapolis, Maryland, in April 1906 and then went on to visit New York City. The 2nd Cruiser Division had been formed by January 1907 and Gloire was the division's flagship. On 7–8 August the ship participated in the bombardment of Casablanca, the first step in the French conquest of Morocco. By October 1907 she was the flagship of Rear Admiral Joseph-Alphonse Philibert.
After a reorganization that saw the Mediterranean Squadron redesignated as the 1st Squadron (1<sup>re</sup> Escadre), Gloire and her sisters Condé and Marseillaise were assigned to the 2nd Light Division (2<sup>e</sup> Division légère (DL)) of the 1st Squadron by June 1910. As more modern armored cruisers entered service, they were concentrated in the Mediterranean and Gloire (now the divisional flagship), Amiral Aube and Condé were reunited by January 1911 in the Cruiser Division of the 2nd Squadron, as the Northern Squadron had been redesignated. In March the sisters visited New York City. When the Danton-class battleships began entering service in August, the French Navy reorganized yet again with the 2nd Squadron renumbered as the 3rd and the Cruiser Division was renamed as the 3rd DL by 4 September. Gloire was now the flagship of Rear Admiral Charles-Eugène Favereau. The ship participated in the fleet review by the President of France, Armand Fallières, off Toulon that day. While conducting gunnery training on 20 September, a propellant charge exploded prematurely in one of her 194 mm gun turrets that killed nine and badly wounded another five crewmen. A memorial for the dead was conducted aboard the cruiser five days later. After the Agadir Crisis of 1911, the French and British governments agreed in 1912 that the Royal Navy would defend the northern French coast and the French would concentrate their fleet in the Mediterranean and defend British interests there. The French forces left in the north were consolidated into the 2nd Light Squadron with the 3rd DL redesignated as the 1st Cruiser Squadron. The ship was reassigned to the Atlantic Training Division (Division d'instruction de l'Atlantique) by 10 November 1913 where she served as the flagship of Rear Admiral Auguste-Georges Bouxin.
### World War I
As tensions rose during the July Crisis of 1914, Gloire and the other training cruisers were reactivated and assigned to the 2nd Light Division of the 2nd Light Squadron (Escadre 2<sup>e</sup> légère) which was tasked to defend the English Channel in conjunction with the British. The 2nd DL was on station in the western end of the Channel by 4 August, where they were tasked to intercept German shipping and provide distant cover to the smaller ships escorting the transports conveying the British Expeditionary Force to France. On 27 October the French patrols in the Channel were reorganized with Rear Admiral François le Canellier aboard Gloire in control of the smaller cruisers now conducting the patrols.
The successes of German merchant raiders like Möwe in 1916 caused the Allies to transfer cruisers to the Atlantic to protect their shipping. Gloire, was temporarily assigned to the 3rd DL when she was sent to Dakar, French West Africa, in February, but returned two months later. After another reorganization in May, Gloire and all of her sisters were assigned to the 3rd DL which was tasked with patrolling the West Indies in search of German commerce raiders. Together with Amiral Aube, Gloire departed Brest on 20 May, bound for Fort-de-France in the colony of Martinique to rendezvous with Marseillaise and Condé which were already there. The armored cruisers were relieved by the 4th DL in September. Möwe and two other raiders began cruises in late 1916. Gloire left Brest in an unsuccessful attempt to intercept Möwe in late December off Halifax and returned on 17 January 1917. Not long afterwards she returned to the West Indies. The 3rd DL was disbanded on 18 May and the remaining cruisers in the West Indies were assigned to the 4th DL which was redesignated as the Atlantic and Antilles Division (Division de l'Atlantique et des Antilles) on 1 June with Gloire as its flagship.
The division was tasked with escorting convoys bound for Europe from Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands beginning on 15 February 1918. In May the cruiser collided with the American ocean liner SS City of Athens and was sent back to France for repairs. Gloire returned to the West Indies and became flagship again when the division was renamed the Atlantic Division on 25 June. The convoy escort responsibilities were reorganized on 7 July with the French covering convoys from New York City to the Bay of Biscay. She was still assigned to the division when the war ended on 11 November and she escorted the ocean liner SS Leviathan bringing General John Pershing back to the United States on 1 September 1919. The ship was subsequently placed in reserve before she was stricken from the naval register on 7 July 1922 and was sold for scrap in 1923.
|
39,766,285 |
Geography of Scotland in the early modern era
| 1,094,883,753 | null |
[
"Early Modern Scotland",
"Geographic history of Scotland"
] |
The geography of Scotland in the early modern era covers all aspects of the land in Scotland, including physical and human, between the sixteenth century and the beginnings of the Agricultural Revolution and industrialisation in the eighteenth century. The defining factor in the geography of Scotland is the distinction between the Highlands and Islands in the north and west and the Lowlands in the south and east. The Highlands were subdivided by the Great Glen and the Lowlands into the fertile Central Lowlands and the Southern Uplands. The Uplands and Highlands had a relatively short growing season, exacerbated by the Little Ice Age, which peaked towards the end of the seventeenth century.
A network of roads developed in the Lowlands in this period. Drover's roads, between the Highlands and north-east England, had become established by the end of the seventeenth century and a series of military roads were built and maintained as a response to the Jacobite risings in the eighteenth century. At the beginning of the period, most farming was based on the Lowland fermtoun or Highland baile, but a system of land ownership based on large estates emerged. This was the beginning of a process that would create a landscape of rectangular fields and carefully located farm complexes with interconnecting roads. There was an attempt improve agriculture, resulting in new crops, techniques and enclosures began to displace the run rig system and free pasture.
There are almost no reliable sources with which to track the population of Scotland before the late seventeenth century. It probably grew for most of the period, reaching 1,234,575 by 1691 and 1,265,380 by the first census in 1751. Compared with the situation after the redistribution of population as a result of the clearances and the industrial revolution that began in the eighteenth century, these numbers were more evenly spread over the kingdom, with roughly half north of the River Tay. Most were housed in small hamlets and isolated dwellings. The Little Ice Age saw the abandonment of marginal land, but new settlements were created as a result of the opening up of hunting reserves like Ettrick Forest and less desirable low-lying land was also settled. As the population expanded, some settlements were sub-divided to create new hamlets. Perhaps ten per cent of the population lived in one of the many burghs that had grown up in the later Medieval period, mainly in the east and south of the country. By 1750, with its suburbs, Edinburgh had reached a population of 57,000.
By the early modern era Gaelic had been in geographical decline for three centuries and had begun to be a second class language, confined to the Highlands and Islands. It was gradually being replaced by Middle Scots. From the mid sixteenth century, written Scots was increasingly influenced by the developing Standard English of Southern England, which came to dominate elite discourse. After the Union in 1707 the use of Gaelic and Scots were discouraged by many in authority and education, as was the notion of Scottishness itself. The extent and borders of the kingdom had been fixed in their modern form by the beginning of the sixteenth century, with the exception of the debatable lands, settled by a French led commission in 1552. The accession of James VI to the English throne made the borders less significant in military terms, becoming, in his phrase the "middle shires" of Great Britain, but it remained a jurisdictional and tariff boundary until the Act of Union in 1707. Edinburgh had emerged as the capital in the fifteenth century and continued to be a major administrative centre. From the seventeenth century the responsibilities of shires expanded from judicial functions into wider local administration. The parish also became an important unit of local government. By the mid-seventeenth century this system had largely been rolled out across the Lowlands, but was limited in the Highlands. There was much greater awareness of geography and political boundaries in this period and Scotland was extensively mapped for the first time.
## Physical
The defining factor in the geography of Scotland is the distinction between the Highlands and Islands in the north and west and the Lowlands in the south and east. The Highlands are further divided into the Northwest Highlands and the Grampian Mountains by the fault line of the Great Glen. The Lowlands are divided into the fertile belt of the Central Lowlands and the higher terrain of the Southern Uplands, which included the Cheviot hills, over which, as now, the border with England runs. The Central Lowland belt averages about 50 miles in width and, because it contains most of the good quality agricultural land and has easier communications, could support most of the urbanisation and elements of conventional government. However, the Southern Uplands, and particularly the Highlands, were economically less productive and much more difficult to govern. The Uplands and Highlands had a relatively short growing season and, in the extreme case of the upper Grampians, this was an ice free season of four months or less and for much of the Highlands and Uplands of seven months or less. The early modern era also saw the impact of the Little Ice Age, of worldwide colder and wetter weather, which peaked towards the end of the seventeenth century. In 1564 there were thirty-three days of continual frost, and rivers and lochs froze. The 1690s marked its lowest point, leading to the Seven ill years of famine.
Most roads in the Lowlands were maintained by justices from a monetary levy on landholders and work levy on tenants. The development of national grain prices indicates the network had improved considerably by the early eighteenth century. By the end of the seventeenth century, the drover's roads, stretching down from the Highlands through south-west Scotland to north-east England and used for the transport of Highland Cattle for the English meat market, had become firmly established. In the Highlands and Galloway in the early eighteenth century, a series of military roads were built and maintained by the central government, with the aim of facilitating the movement of troops in the event of rebellion.
At the beginning of the period, most farming was based on the Lowland fermtoun or Highland baile, settlements of a handful of families that jointly farmed an area notionally suitable for two or three plough teams, allocated in run rigs, of "runs" (furrows) and "rigs" (ridges), to tenant farmers. They usually ran downhill so that they included both wet and dry land, helping to offset the problems of extreme weather conditions. In this era, a system of land ownership based on large estates emerged as the dominant form as Scottish society was largely divided between a few large estate holders and a large number of workers. This had a major impact on the landscape as feudal systems of ownership were abandoned and land holdings reorganised. This process also facilitated the Scottish Agricultural Revolution that further changed the Scottish landscape from the first half of the eighteenth century. This was the beginning of a process that would create a landscape of rectangular fields, carefully located farm complexes with interconnecting roads.
Increasing contacts with England after the Union of 1707 led to a conscious attempt to improve agriculture among the gentry and nobility. The Society of Improvers was founded in 1723, including in its 300 members dukes, earls, lairds and landlords. Haymaking was introduced along with the English plough and foreign grasses, the sowing of rye grass and clover. Turnips and cabbages were introduced, lands enclosed and marshes drained, lime was put down, roads built and woods planted. Drilling and sowing and crop rotation were introduced. The introduction of the potato to Scotland in 1739 greatly improved the diet of the peasantry. Enclosures began to displace the run rig system and free pasture. New farm buildings, often based on designs in patterns books, replaced the fermtoun and regional diversity was replaced with a standardisation of building forms. Smaller farms retained the linear outline of the longhouse, with dwelling house, barn and byre in a row, but in larger farms a three- or four-sided layout became common, separating the dwelling house from barns and servants quarters. There was increasing regional specialisation. The Lothians became a major centre of grain, Ayrshire of cattle breading and the Borders of sheep. However, although some estate holders improved the quality of life of their displaced workers, enclosures led to unemployment and forced migrations to the burghs or abroad.
## Settlement and demography
There are almost no reliable sources with which to track the population of Scotland before the late seventeenth century. Estimates based on English records suggest that by the end of the Middle Ages the Black Death and subsequent recurring outbreaks of the plague may have caused the population of Scotland to fall as low as half a million people. Price inflation, which generally reflects growing demand for food, suggests that this probably expanded in the first half of the sixteenth century, levelling off after the famine of 1595, as prices were relatively stable in the early seventeenth century. Calculations based on Hearth Tax returns for 1691 indicate a population of 1,234,575. This level may have been seriously effected by the famines of the 1690s. The first reliable information available on national population is from the census conducted by the Reverend Alexander Webster in 1755, which showed the inhabitants of Scotland as 1,265,380 persons.
Compared with the situation after the redistribution of population as a result of the clearances and the industrial revolution that began in the eighteenth century, the population was evenly spread over the kingdom, with roughly half living north of the Tay. Most of the early modern population, in both the Lowlands and Highlands, was housed in small hamlets and isolated dwellings. One result of the Little Ice Age was the abandonment of marginal land in the early part of the period, as it became impossible to sustain agriculture in some regions, particularly in the uplands, but new settlements were created as a result of the opening up of hunting reserves like Ettrick Forest and less desirable low-lying land was also settled, often incorporating features into their names such as bog, marsh and muir.
As the population expanded, some of these settlements were sub-divided to create new hamlets and more marginal land was again settled, with sheilings (clusters of huts occupied while summer pasture was being used for grazing) becoming permanent settlements. Perhaps ten per cent of the population lived in one of the burghs that had grown up in the later Medieval period, mainly in the east and south of the country. They may have had a mean population of about 2,000, and the largest, Edinburgh, probably had a population of over 10,000 at the beginning of the era, but many were much smaller than 1,000. During the seventeenth century, the number of people living in the capital grew rapidly. It also expanded beyond the city walls in suburbs at Cowgate, Bristo and Westport and by 1750, with its suburbs, it had reached a population of 57,000. The only other towns above 10,000 by the end of the period were Glasgow with 32,000, Aberdeen with around 16,000 and Dundee with 12,000.
## Language
By the early modern era Gaelic had been in geographical decline for three centuries and had begun to be a second class language, confined to the Highlands and Islands. It was gradually being replaced by Middle Scots, which became the language of both the nobility and the majority population. Scots was derived substantially from Old English, with Gaelic and French influences. It was called Inglyshe in the fifteenth century and was very close to the language spoken in northern England, but by the sixteenth century, it had established orthographic and literary norms largely independent of those developing in England. From the mid sixteenth century, written Scots was increasingly influenced by the developing Standard English of Southern England due to developments in royal and political interactions with England. With the increasing influence and availability of books printed in England, most writing in Scotland came to be done in the English fashion. Unlike many of his predecessors, James VI generally despised Gaelic culture. Having extolled the virtues of Scots "poesie", after his accession to the English throne, he increasingly favoured the language of southern England. In 1611 the Kirk adopted the Authorized King James Version of the Bible. In 1617 interpreters were declared no longer necessary in the port of London because Scots and Englishmen were now "not so far different bot ane understandeth ane uther". Jenny Wormald, describes James as creating a "three-tier system, with Gaelic at the bottom and English at the top".
After the Union in 1707 and the shift of political power to England, the use of Gaelic and Scots were discouraged by many in authority and education. The Scottish Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SSPCK), established in 1709, aimed to teach English language and end the attachment to Roman Catholicism associated with rebellious Jacobitism. It was partly cultural, intending to "wear out" Gaelic and "learn the people the English tongue". Although SSPCK schools eventually taught in Gaelic, the overall effect contributed to the erosion of Highland culture. Many leading Scots of the period, such as David Hume, considered themselves Northern British rather than Scottish. They attempted to rid themselves of their Scots in a bid to establish Standard English as the official language of the newly formed Union. Many well-off Scots took to learning English through the activities of those such as Thomas Sheridan, who in 1761 gave a series of lectures on English elocution. Charging a guinea at a time (about £ in today's money) they were attended by over 300 men, and he was made a freeman of the City of Edinburgh. Following this, some of the city's intellectuals formed the Select Society for Promoting the Reading and Speaking of the English Language in Scotland. Nevertheless, Scots remained the vernacular of many rural communities and the growing number of urban working-class Scots.
## Political
The extent and borders of the kingdom had been fixed in their modern form by the beginning of the sixteenth century. The exception, the debatable lands at the western end of the border with England, were settled by a French led commission in 1552 and the Scots' Dike built to mark the boundary. The Scottish administration of the Borders was divided into three marches: East, West and Middle. The accession of James VI to the English throne made the border less significant in military terms, becoming, in his phrase, the "middle shires" of Great Britain. In 1605, he established a single commission of ten men drawn from equally Scotland and England to bring law and order to the region, but lawlessness continued and it remained a jurisdictional and tariff boundary until the Act of Union in 1707.
Edinburgh had emerged as the capital in the fifteenth century. It was the wealthiest and largest city in the kingdom and held the central law courts, parliament and royal residence at Holyrood Palace. After James VI left for London at the Union of Crowns in 1603, it continued to be the centre of government. Even after the Acts of Union in 1707 removed the parliament, it retained the exchequer and law courts.
From the seventeenth century the responsibilities of shires expanded from judicial functions into wider local administration. In 1667, Commissioners of Supply were appointed in each sheriffdom or shire to collect the cess land tax. The parish also became an important unit of local government after three major pieces of legislation, in 1574, 1579 and 1592, established what would become known as "the Old Poor Law". Pressured by Justices, the parish became responsible for taking care of the destitute in periods of famine, to prevent the impoverished from taking to the roads and causing general disorder. By the mid-seventeenth century the system had largely been rolled out across the Lowlands, but was limited in the Highlands.
There was a growing awareness of geography and political boundaries in this period. Scotland was extensively mapped for the first time. In the last quarter of the sixteenth century, Timothy Pont created a series of sketch maps of Scotland and recorded the names and details of 20,000 places he visited or noted. His work became the basis for the set of maps of Scotland published the following century by Willem and Johannes Blaeu. In the eighteenth century, there was a "militarisation of cartography", by which the armed forces took over the business of mapping. One response to the Jacobite risings in 1715 and 1745 was the Ordnance Survey, from which over 800 military plans survive for Scotland. The new generation of cartographers were engineers and military surveyors.
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28,003,297 |
Sean Couturier
| 1,149,981,190 |
Canadian ice hockey player
|
[
"1992 births",
"Adirondack Phantoms players",
"American men's ice hockey centers",
"Canadian ice hockey centres",
"Drummondville Voltigeurs players",
"Frank Selke Trophy winners",
"Ice hockey people from Arizona",
"Ice hockey people from New Brunswick",
"Living people",
"National Hockey League first-round draft picks",
"People from Bathurst, New Brunswick",
"Philadelphia Flyers draft picks",
"Philadelphia Flyers players",
"Sportspeople from Phoenix, Arizona"
] |
Sean Gerald Couturier (/kuːˈtʊərieɪ/ koo-TOO-ree-ay; born December 7, 1992) is an American-born Canadian professional ice hockey player and alternate captain for the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League (NHL). The Flyers selected him in the first round, eighth overall, in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft.
Couturier was born in Phoenix, Arizona, where his father was playing hockey at the time, but moved to Bathurst, New Brunswick after his father's retirement. He played minor ice hockey there for several years, but spent a year in the Saskatchewan AAA league after a failed tryout for the Quebec AAA roster. After he won a league championship with Saskatchewan, Couturier was drafted second overall by the Drummondville Voltigeurs of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). Following a modest rookie season, Couturier scored 96 points as a 17-year-old in the 2009–10 season. Despite a battle with mononucleosis, he repeated that point number again in the 2010–11 season. During his junior ice hockey career, Couturier also began representing Canada at a number of international tournaments, including the World U-17 Hockey Challenge, the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament, and the IIHF World Junior Championship.
After signing with the Flyers in 2011, Couturier joined the team for the 2011–12 NHL season. His contract stipulated that Couturier would play with the Flyers for a 10-game "trial period", during which he impressed enough to remain on the roster for the entire season. He struggled offensively during his first few seasons in the NHL, but found his rhythm in 2013, when he was placed on an offensive line alongside Steve Downie. Seeing consistent production from Couturier on a defensively-minded line in the 2013–14 and 2014–15 seasons, the Flyers signed him to a six-year contract extension in July 2015. He continued to skate for Canada at international tournaments even after joining the Flyers, with three appearances at the Ice Hockey World Championships, as well as a showing at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.
Couturier's next few NHL seasons were hindered by injury. During the 2015–16 season, he lost time first to a concussion, then to a lower body injury, and finally to a shoulder injury. In November 2016, he sprained the medial collateral ligament (MCL) in his left knee during a game against the Florida Panthers, and missed over a month of the season. MCL injuries would continue to affect Couturier, who tore the ligament during the 2018 Stanley Cup playoffs and injured it again shortly before the 2018–19 season. Despite his injuries, Couturier steadily improved as a two-way player: he won his first Gene Hart Memorial Award in 2018, his first Bobby Clarke Trophy in 2019, and he was the 2020 recipient of the Frank J. Selke Trophy, given to the top defensive forward in the NHL.
## Early life
Couturier was born on December 7, 1992, in Phoenix, Arizona. His family was Canadian, but lived in the area at the time because his father, Sylvain Couturier, was playing in the now-defunct International Hockey League for the Phoenix Roadrunners. When Sylvain retired from professional hockey in 2001, the Couturiers relocated to Bathurst, New Brunswick, where Sean attended both French and English-language schools. Because his father was often busy, serving as a hockey coach and later as the general manager for the Acadie-Bathurst Titan, Couturier grew close with his paternal grandmother, Denise, who moved in with the family after the death of her husband.
When Couturier was 10 years old, an administrative mistake assigned him to the adolescent "Peewee" minor ice hockey team, rather than the "Atom" team made for players of his age. Couturier received permission to remain in the Peewee league, and he went on to lead his team in scoring for the year. Although he also played baseball and basketball in high school at École Secondaire Népisiguit, hockey remained the primary object of Couturier's attention. When he failed to break into the Quebec midget AAA hockey team, Couturier spent a year with the Notre Dame Hounds of the Saskatchewan Male U18 AAA Hockey League instead. Playing alongside future National Hockey League (NHL) standouts Jaden Schwartz and Brandon Gormley, Couturier helped lead the hounds to a league championship in 2008.
## Playing career
### Amateur
After his time with the Hounds, the Drummondville Voltigeurs of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) selected Couturier second overall in the 2008 QMJHL Entry Draft, and he began playing junior ice hockey for Drummondville at the age of 15. He received limited ice time as a rookie in the 2008–09 season, often playing on the lower offensive lines, and coach Guy Boucher told Couturier that, if he wanted to become an elite player, he would need to focus on his defensive abilities as much as his offence and become a two-way player. In 58 rookie games, Couturier scored nine goals and 22 assists, for a total of 31 points. Drummondville, meanwhile, finished the regular season at the top of the QMJHL, with 112 points. They captured their first ever President's Cup, awarded to the champions of the QMJHL tournament, in 2009, and earned an automatic advancement to the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) Memorial Cup. Drummondville was left short-handed during the Memorial Cup when a bout of influenza spread through the team, and were ultimately eliminated in the semifinals with a 3–2 overtime loss to the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL).
The 2009–10 QMJHL season proved to be a break-out for Couturier, who scored 41 goals and 55 assists in 68 games with Drummondville. It was the first time that a 17-year-old led the league in scoring since Sidney Crosby put up 168 points in 62 games for the Rimouski Océanic during the 2004–05 season. Couturier was honoured for his performance with the Jean Béliveau Trophy, given annually to the top scorer in the QMJHL. He was also named a second-team QMJHL All-Star. Meanwhile, Drummondville advanced to the semifinal round of the 2010 President's Cup, but was eliminated by the Moncton Wildcats in the best-of-seven series.
Couturier missed 10 games at the start of the 2010–11 season after contracting mononucleosis. Even after he returned to the ice, Couturier continued to experience bouts of fatigue that carried throughout the season and into the beginning of his NHL career. He ultimately pushed through his delayed season start, putting up 20 goals in the final 21 regular-season games to tie his previous-season points number. Drummondville went on to sweep the Chicoutimi Sagueneens in the first round of the 2011 President's Cup playoffs, with Couturier scoring three goals and eight points in the series. Although the Gatineau Olympiques took the second round in six games, Couturier scored an additional three goals in that series. His six total playoff goals were the highest on the team, and he was tied for first in playoff points with 11. At the end of the season, the QMJHL awarded Couturier with both the Michael Bossy Trophy, given to the top prospect in the league, and the Michel Brière Memorial Trophy, given to the league's MVP. He was also named a QMJHL First-Team All-Star.
### Philadelphia Flyers
#### 2011–14
Going into the 2011 NHL Entry Draft, the NHL Central Scouting Bureau ranked Couturier the sixth-highest prospect among all eligible North American skaters. The Philadelphia Flyers ultimately selected him eighth overall in the draft, using an extra pick that they had gained in a deal with the Columbus Blue Jackets. That September, Couturier signed a three-year, entry-level contract with the Flyers, with a cap hit of \$1.375 million per season. As part of the rules of his contract, Couturier was allowed to play for the first 10 games of the Flyers season, after which the team would need to either move another player off of the 50-man roster or send Couturier back down to junior hockey. Due to his age, he was not eligible to play in the American Hockey League (AHL). Couturier impressed the Flyers at training camp, and after the Montreal Canadiens claimed Blair Betts off of waivers, a position opened on the 50-man roster in case they wanted to keep him through the end of the season.
Couturier made his NHL debut on October 6, 2011, alongside fellow rookie Matt Read, in a 2–1 defeat of the Boston Bruins. He scored his first goal with the Flyers on October 19, in the final five minutes of a 7–2 victory over the Ottawa Senators. Couturier's skill on the defensive end emerged during his first few games, with a particular strength on the penalty kill, and he remained on the team even after the 10-game "trial period". That January, Couturier played in the NHL All-Star Game, where he participated in a breakaway challenge during the skills competition. During the 2012 Stanley Cup playoffs, Couturier was primarily tasked with slowing down Evgeni Malkin in the Flyers' series against the Pittsburgh Penguins. On April 13, 2012, during the second game of the Flyers–Penguins series, Couturier and Claude Giroux both scored hat tricks to take the Flyers to an 8–5 win. Couturier, 19 years old at the time, was the first teenage skater to score a hat trick in the NHL playoffs since Ted Kennedy in 1945. The Flyers ultimately fell to the New Jersey Devils in the Eastern Conference Semifinals after Giroux was suspended for an illegal headshot. Couturier finished his rookie season with 27 points in 77 regular-season games, and an additional four playoff points.
Couturier's second season with the Flyers was delayed due to the 2012–13 NHL lockout, as owners and the NHL Players' Association disputed over a new collective bargaining agreement. Despite the NHL lockout, the AHL started its 2012–13 season on time, and both Couturier and fellow 2011–12 rookie Brayden Schenn spent time playing for the Adirondack Phantoms, the Flyers' AHL affiliate, as they waited for the NHL to resume play. In 31 games with the Phantoms, Couturier scored 10 goals and 18 assists. The NHL season, when it resumed, was shortened to 48 regular-season games. The Flyers stumbled out of the gate, going 2–6 in their first eight matches of the year. They did not recover as the season went on, finishing with a 23–22–3 record and missing the playoffs. Many of the team's struggles were attributed to offseason roster moves, with the loss of free agents Jaromir Jagr and Matt Carle, as well as the absence of a dependable backup goaltender for Ilya Bryzgalov. Couturier, however, experienced a sophomore slump, dropping from third among the team in goals scored to ninth and winning only 43.5 per cent of his face-offs. He dropped to four goals and 15 points in 46 games of the lockout-shortened season.
On July 20, 2013, the Flyers signed Couturier to a two-year, \$3.5 million contract extension. The Flyers' head coach, Peter Laviolette, was abruptly fired three games into the 2013–14 NHL season. ESPN speculated that part of the decision behind the firing was a concern that Couturier and Schenn, who were supporting rising star centre Giroux, were not developing as anticipated. Laviolette's replacement, Craig Berube, pushed Giroux and Couturier's ice time throughout the season, telling reporters, "I like to keep the forwards to less than 20 minutes in a game as a rule, but I've always made exceptions for Giroux and Couturier." When the Flyers acquired Steve Downie from the Colorado Avalanche in the fall, he was placed on the third line to wing Couturier and Read. Couturier saw an almost immediate improvement after being paired with Downie; the line scored a combined 25 points in a 10-game span, and Couturier told The Philadelphia Inquirer that Downie was "a big part of the success of our line". By the end of the season, Couturier had reached a career-high 39 points, including 13 goals. The Flyers appeared in the 2014 Stanley Cup playoffs, but were eliminated by the New York Rangers in the first round.
#### 2014–18
For the 2014–15 season, Couturier centered a checking line, with Read and R. J. Umberger on the wings. Although the line started strong defensively, their offensive production was limited at the start of the season. Couturier, frustrated with his reputation as a primarily defensive player, broke a 10-game goalless streak in December with a stretch of three goals and seven points in a span of six games. He played in all 82 games for the Flyers that season, building his iron man streak to 198 consecutive games, and finished the season with a career-high 15 goals and 22 assists, for a total of 37 points. On July 28, 2015, one year before Couturier was set to become a restricted free agent, the Flyers signed him to a six-year, \$26 million contract extension. Still only 22 years old at the time of the extension, Couturier was considered a central piece of the Flyers' rebuilding plan, complementing new captain Giroux.
On October 21, 2015, shortly into the 2015–16 season, Couturier took a hit off of ex-teammate Zac Rinaldo during a game against the Bruins. He was diagnosed with a concussion, missing a stretch of games into early November, and blamed himself for the Flyers' losing streak during his absence. He rejoined the line-up on November 5, and continued to put up defensive skill for the Flyers, but struggled to produce offensively. In his first seven games after returning from concussion protocols, Couturier did not register a single point. He recovered by mid-December, scoring six goals and eight assists between December 15 and January 21, before his season was derailed again due to a lower body injury. Injuries continued to plague Couturier through the end of the season. After leaving a game against the Nashville Predators on February 4, general manager Ron Hextall told reporters that Couturier was still suffering from the lower-body injury, and would need to miss four weeks to recover. In Game 1 of a 2016 Stanley Cup playoffs series against the Washington Capitals, Couturier took a hit from Alex Ovechkin and left the game early. He was later diagnosed with a sprained acromioclavicular joint that would bench him for two weeks, through the remainder of the Capitals playoff series. The Capitals ultimately took the series in six games. Despite missing 19 games in the 2015–16 season, Couturier continued to improve his scoring, jumping to 11 goals and 28 assists in the 63 games that he did play.
Couturier suffered another major injury towards the beginning of the 2016–17 season. On November 22, 2016, during a game against the Florida Panthers, Couturier became entangled with Vincent Trocheck, and suffered a sprained medial collateral ligament (MCL) in his left knee. He began skating again in December, but could not rejoin the line-up until after the Flyers' Christmas break. When he did return, Couturier believed that he was not performing as capably, and was frustrated with underproduction both defensively and offensively. He found his stride on a line with Schenn and Dale Weise, putting up five goals and 12 assists between March 4 and April 9, and leading the NHL with a +18 plus–minus rating in the last month of the season. He finished the year with 14 goals and 20 assists in 66 games, and, although the Flyers did not make the playoffs in 2017, head coach Dave Hakstol was impressed with the Couturier—Schenn—Weise line, and intended to keep the trio together the following year.
Going into the 2017–18 season, however, Hakstol placed Couturier on the top line with Jakub Voráček and Giroux, the latter of whom was moved to the wing after a disappointing output the previous year. The new line helped Couturier find the offensive ability that had eluded him in previous seasons. In his first 19 games of the year, he scored 11 goals and 10 assists while playing with Giroux and Voráček. On March 20, 2018, while playing against the Detroit Red Wings, Couturier scored his 100th career NHL goal, becoming the seventh skater in the 2011 draft class to reach that milestone. At the end of the regular season, Couturier received three Flyers organizational awards: the Pelle Lindbergh Memorial Trophy for most improved player, the Yanick Dupre Class Guy Memorial Award for "character, dignity and respect for the sport both on and off the ice", and the Gene Hart Memorial Award, given to the "player who demonstrate[s] the most 'Heart'". He played in all 82 regular-season games for the Flyers, doubling his previous career-high point total with 31, and scoring a total of 76 points. Couturier's season performance made him a finalist for the 2018 Frank J. Selke Trophy, given to the best defensive forward in the NHL. He was the first Flyer to be named as a Selke finalist since Mike Richards in 2009. The award ultimately went to Anže Kopitar of the Los Angeles Kings.
During a team practice before Game 4 of the 2018 Stanley Cup playoffs, Couturier collided with his teammate Radko Gudas and needed to be aided off the ice. After missing Game 4, Couturier scored the game-winning goal in the last two minutes of Game 5, keeping the Flyers from elimination by the Penguins. He scored his second career hat trick in Game 6, but the Penguins took the game 8–5, buoyed by their own hat trick from Jake Guentzel, and the Flyers were eliminated from the playoffs. Couturier revealed, after the elimination game, that the collision with Gudas had torn the MCL in his right knee, and that, if the injury had occurred during the regular season, he would have been sidelined for four weeks. However, he chose to play through the injury to finish out the playoff series.
#### 2018–22
After sustaining a knee injury at a charity tournament that August, unrelated to the MCL injury that he had suffered earlier in the year, Couturier needed to miss a portion of the Flyers' 2018 training camp and preseason, but he was expected to return in time for the beginning of the regular season. On October 9, 2018, the Flyers announced that Couturier would serve as alternate captain for all home games during the 2018–19 season. He took over the role from Valtteri Filppula, who joined the New York Islanders during the offseason. Couturier had a slow start to the season, putting up only three goals in his first nine games. By late October, Couturier had found his stride, and returned to a line with Giroux and Konecny. After Hakstol was abruptly fired, however, interim coach Scott Gordon pushed Giroux back to center, pairing Couturier with Voráček and rotating the third member of their line. On January 16, 2019, in a 4–3 victory over the Bruins, Couturier scored his first regular season hat trick. Coming the game after a similar effort from James van Riemsdyk, it was the first time that the Flyers had posted hat tricks in consecutive games since 2003. Couturier's steady production carried through the remainder of the season; by late March, he had passed 30 goals and 40 assists for the second season in a row. He finished the season with 33 goals and 43 assists in 80 games, and, at the end of the season, he took home the Bobby Clarke Trophy for the Flyers' most valuable player, as voted by sportswriters and sportscasters. He also won the Gene Hart Memorial Award for the second consecutive year.
Couturier began the 2019–20 season as one of three alternate captains for the Flyers, serving alongside Voráček, who took over the job in February 2019 after Wayne Simmonds was traded, and offseason acquisition Kevin Hayes. After noticing that pairing struggling players on a line with Couturier resulted in their improvement, new Flyers head coach Alain Vigneault began referring to the skater as "Dr. Coots". By the time that the NHL season was suspended indefinitely on March 12, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Couturier had scored 22 goals and 59 points. He led the team with a +21 rating, and led the entire NHL with a 59.6 face-off percentage. When the NHL resumed for the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs in Toronto, Couturier was one of 31 Flyers selected to play in the "bubble". He went scoreless in the first 10 playoff games, first against the Canadiens and then against the New York Islanders, before scoring against Semyon Varlamov in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. The Flyers could not hold onto their 3–0 lead, however, and Couturier assisted Philippe Myers for the overtime-winning goal. Couturier missed Game 6 after spraining his MCL during a collision with Mathew Barzal, but returned for the Flyers' Game 7 shutout loss and playoff elimination.
Despite the playoff loss, Couturier won the Frank J. Selke Trophy on September 11, 2020, scoring 1424 points in the Professional Hockey Writers' Association ranked-choice vote. Patrice Bergeron, the runner-up, received only 884 points. Couturier was only the third Flyer in franchise history to receive the award, following Bobby Clarke in 1983 and Dave Poulin in 1987. He also took home the Bobby Clarke Trophy for the second year in a row.
Couturier was named as the Flyers' permanent alternate captain for the 2020–21 NHL season, with Ivan Provorov, Kevin Hayes, and Jakub Voráček serving as rotating alternates. On January 15, Couturier exited the second game of the pandemic-delayed season after only 45 seconds on the ice. It was revealed later that he had suffered a costochondral separation, in which one of his ribs tore away from the attached cartilage. He returned to the line-up on February 7, scoring two goals and one assist in the third period of a 7–4 win against the Capitals. Shortly after returning from his injury, Couturier was asked to push the Flyers forward when six of their forwards were placed on COVID-19 protocols. One player placed on protocols was Scott Laughton, and Couturier took his place on the line, centering James van Riemsdyk and Joel Farabee. Together, the trio put together five goals and 11 points in a span of three games. He missed another stretch of games in March due to a lower-body injury, which an MRI ultimately revealed was caused by a prior injury to Couturier's hip. Couturier ultimately played in 45 out of the 56 games in the shortened season, putting up 18 goals and 41 points. At the end of the season, he received the Bobby Clarke Trophy for the third year in a row, becoming the first player to do so since Eric Lindros in 1996.
On August 26, 2021, Couturier and the Flyers agreed to an eight-year, \$62 million contract extension, which would go into effect during the 2022–23 season. Couturier incurred a number of minor injuries through the first half of the season: he was hit in the face with a puck on December 5 while the Flyers faced the Tampa Bay Lightning, and five days later, he required stitches on his wrist after being cut with a skate blade during a game against the Vegas Golden Knights. On December 31, general manager Chuck Fletcher moved Couturier to the injured reserve with an upper-body injury. On February 11, 2022, the Flyers announced that Couturier had undergone back surgery and that he would miss the remainder of the 2021–22 season. Fletcher told reporters that Couturier's back had started to bother him towards the beginning of the season and that nonsurgical options had not resolved the issue. At the time of the announcement, Couturier had scored six goals and 17 points in 29 games for Philadelphia.
Couturier sat out the entire 2022–23 season as a result of his back surgery.
## International play
Couturier's international hockey career began with back-to-back appearances for Canada Atlantic at the World U-17 Hockey Challenge in 2008 and 2009. His team finished eighth and ninth in the tournaments, respectively. In 2009, he also participated in the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament, helping to capture a gold medal for Canada. In 2011, he became the only player under the age of 18 to be named to Team Canada at the World Junior Ice Hockey Championships. Although he had a solid performance, scoring three points in seven games, Couturier was largely overshadowed in the tournament by fellow prospects Brayden Schenn and Ryan Johansen. Canada won silver at the WJC, losing to Russia in the finals.
Couturier received his first Ice Hockey World Championships selection in 2015, where he posted three goals and four assists in 10 tournament games and helped take Canada to a gold medal. The following year, while still rehabilitating the shoulder injury that he had sustained during the Stanley Cup playoffs, Couturier represented Team North America at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. Although Team North America did not advance to the semifinals, Couturier and his teammates were remembered for their speed and aggression during the tournament.
Couturier was one of five Flyers named to Team Canada for the 2017 IIHF World Championship, alongside Giroux, Simmonds, Schenn, and Konecny. There, Couturier played a critical role in Canada's semifinal comeback victory over Russia. Down 2–0 going into the third period, Mark Scheifele and Nathan McKinnon scored on power plays before Ryan O'Reilly scored the go-ahead goal, with Couturier capping off the 4–2 win. Canada took silver in the tournament, following a shoot out loss to Sweden in the gold-medal match.
Both Couturier and his Flyers teammate Carter Hart first met their new head coach, Alain Vigneault, when he coached Team Canada at the 2019 IIHF World Championship. He scored one goal and three assists while serving on the defensively-minded second line, centreing Anthony Cirelli of the Tampa Bay Lightning and Sam Reinhart of the Buffalo Sabres. Couturier was also an alternate captain for Team Canada that year, assisting captain Kyle Turris alongside Las Vegas Knights forward Mark Stone. Canada took home the silver medal, after losing 3–1 to Finland in the gold medal match.
## Player profile
In the first part of his NHL career, Couturier was valued by the Flyers more for his defensive capabilities than for his point production. His reputation as a defensive forward began as a rookie in the 2012 playoffs, when his primary focus was to deflect Evgeni Malkin. Couturier's offensive ability only truly broke out in the 2017–18 season, when he was placed on the top line alongside Claude Giroux and Jakub Voráček. Since then, he has been a consistent point scorer for the Flyers, particularly on even-strength plays, and he has led all Flyers forwards in average minutes of play per game since 2017. Couturier's average time on ice dropped below 20 minutes in the 2019–20 season, as new head coach Alain Vigneault emphasized not overextending the Flyers' top scorers, but he continued to register above 2 points per 60 minutes of play.
## Personal life
Sean Couturier was named after Sean Whyte, his father's first professional hockey roommate. He was given the middle name "Gerald" after his grandfather Gerald Couturier, a Quebec police officer who died several years before Couturier was born. Because he was born in the United States to Canadian parents, Couturier holds dual citizenship between the US and Canada.
Couturier married his wife, Laurence Dionne, in June 2019. In 2020, the pair purchased a house in Haddonfield, New Jersey, for when Couturier's wife successfully acquires her green card. Their first child, Ella, was born on July 23, 2020.
The street outside of the K. C. Irving Regional Centre, the home arena for the Acadie-Bathurst Titan, was renamed "Sean Couturier Avenue" in 2016. Couturier's father has been general manager for the Titan since 2005, and Couturier became a minority owner of the team in 2013.
## Career statistics
### Regular season and playoffs
### International
## Awards and honours
|
5,550,232 |
1998 Comfrey–St. Peter tornado outbreak
| 1,149,121,703 |
None
|
[
"1998 in Minnesota",
"1998 natural disasters in the United States",
"F4 tornadoes by date",
"F4 tornadoes by location",
"March 1998 events in the United States",
"Tornadoes in Minnesota",
"Tornadoes of 1998"
] |
The 1998 Comfrey–St. Peter tornado outbreak was an unseasonably-strong tornado outbreak which affected the Upper Midwest region of the United States on March 29, 1998. A strong area of low pressure combined with a warm front and favorable upper-level dynamics to produce 16 tornadoes across the region—14 in Minnesota and two in Wisconsin. Thirteen of the tornadoes in Minnesota were spawned by a single supercell thunderstorm. This supercell remained intact for approximately 150 miles (240 km) as it moved across the southern part of the state during the late-afternoon hours.
Over \$235 million in damage (1998 US\$) was recorded from the tornadoes, two people were killed, and 21 others were injured. Most of the damage was caused by three tornadoes—one rated F4 on the Fujita scale that hit the town of Comfrey, Minnesota, an F3 that hit St. Peter, Minnesota, and an F2 that hit Le Center, Minnesota. Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter was especially hard-hit, with several buildings damaged or destroyed, 2,000 trees lost, and nearly 80% of the windows on the campus shattered. In Comfrey, 75% of the structures in the town were damaged or destroyed, including the local K–12 school. Seven counties in southern Minnesota were later declared federal disaster areas.
The outbreak broke many early-season tornado records for the state of Minnesota. The 14 total tornadoes in the state were the most to ever touch down on a single day in March. The F4 tornado was the strongest ever recorded in the state in March, and its 67-mile (108 km) path the longest tornado path ever recorded in Minnesota. In December 1998, the United States Department of Commerce awarded a bronze medal to the Twin Cities office of the National Weather Service (NWS) for providing excellent service to the public during the outbreak event.
## Meteorological synopsis
The driving force behind this tornado outbreak was a strong surface-based low-pressure area stationed over the western high plains. On the morning of March 29, the low was centered over eastern Wyoming, with a warm front stretching eastward across Nebraska and Iowa. An upper-level trough of low pressure was centered over the southwestern United States, which caused an upper-level jet stream with winds of 100 kn (120 mph; 190 km/h) to push towards Minnesota from the southwest. A low-level jet from the south with winds of 50 knots (60 mph; 90 km/h) transported a plume of warm, humid air into the region, helping to push temperatures above 70 °F (21 °C) and dew points into the middle 60s °F (around 20 °C). Winds on the surface were from the southeast, which created low-level wind shear; enhancing the potential for tornadoes.
By early afternoon, the low-pressure area had moved east into Nebraska, while the warm front had moved northward into southern Minnesota. The atmosphere to the south of the warm front was strongly capped, meaning that the best chance of thunderstorm development was in areas along and slightly north of the front. By the time the thunderstorms started developing, CAPE values were 2000 J/kg, indicating moderate atmospheric instability. Also present were low-level and deep-layer wind shear values of 44 and 87 knots (51 and 100 mph; 81 and 161 km/h), respectively. All of these factors combined to create very favorable conditions for the development of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes.
The thunderstorms that would eventually spawn the tornadoes began forming in southeastern South Dakota around 2:00 pm. The first severe weather report of the outbreak was of 3⁄4 inch (19 mm) diameter hail 2 miles (3 km) south of Brandon, South Dakota. Shortly thereafter the thunderstorms moved east across the border into Minnesota. After several more reports of severe hail with the growing thunderstorms, the first tornado of the day—rated F2 on the Fujita scale—touched down at 3:23 pm 2 miles (3 km) north of Lismore. It was on the ground for less than 1 mile (2 km) and caused minor damage. Five more tornadoes (all rated F2 or lower) briefly touched down during the next hour in the same general area; none of which inflicted major damage. All of these tornadoes were spawned by the same supercell thunderstorm. During the remainder of the afternoon hours, this supercell would proceed to track east-northeast across southern Minnesota for 150 miles (240 km), tracking slightly north of the warm front.
## Forecasts
Weather forecasters first began to notice the severity of the impending weather situation after the 6:00 pm CST (0000 UTC) computer model runs on the night of Friday, March 27. On Saturday, March 28 at 11:30 am the Storm Prediction Center issued a Day 2 moderate risk of severe weather for southeast Minnesota, northeast Iowa, northwest Illinois and much of Wisconsin. Later model runs on March 28 only increased forecasters' confidence that a major severe-weather event would occur the following day.
In the early-morning hours of Sunday March 29, forecasters at the Twin Cities NWS noticed that due to the model's prediction of strong wind shear and instability, the tornado risk was quite high for their region. Area forecast discussions during this period mentioned the possibility of F3-strength tornadoes later in the day. Also on the morning of March 29, the Storm Prediction Center issued a Day 1 moderate risk of severe weather. This moderate risk area was more narrow than the previous day's outlook, encompassing only southwest Wisconsin, northern Iowa and the southern third of Minnesota.
As the day moved on, the Twin Cities, Sioux Falls and La Crosse NWS forecast offices all saw the potential for "strong to violent" tornadoes, and used such verbiage in their forecasts. The Twin Cities NWS noted in their 12:26 pm forecast discussion that "thunderstorms located south of a Redwood Falls to Minneapolis to Rice Lake line could be particularly strong with the potential of tornadic thunderstorms". Just before 12:00 pm, the Storm Prediction Center issued a mesoscale discussion stating that "[g]iven strength of vertical shear profiles, CAPE on the order of 2000 J/kg will support increasing potential for tornadic supercells during the afternoon hours, especially along an axis roughly from Yankton through Sioux Falls into Redwood Falls and Minneapolis/Rochester areas. We will continue to monitor. Present indications are WW (Weather Watch) will be necessary within the next 2 to 3 hours." At 1:35 pm the Storm Prediction Center issued tornado watch No. 132 with a particularly dangerous situation designation. The watch area encompassed most of southern Minnesota and northern Iowa, along with small parts of northeast Nebraska, southeast South Dakota, southwest Wisconsin, and was made in effect from 2:00 pm to 8:00 pm.
## Confirmed tornadoes
### March 29 event
### Comfrey, Minnesota
At 3:50 pm a tornado touched down 7 miles (11 km) east of Avoca, Minnesota, in eastern Murray County. As the tornado moved through Cottonwood County, it grew to a width of 900 yards (823 m) and obtained F3 strength. It destroyed numerous farms, farm equipment, trees, power lines and poles, vehicles, and other structures in its path. A total of 20 people outside a church near Jeffers were able to get inside the church just before the tornado hit, and as a result nobody suffered serious injuries.
At approximately 4:30 pm the twister, which witnesses described as a "mass of blowing dust" or "rolling fog bank" entered Comfrey, a town of 550 people located in both Cottonwood and Brown Counties. Comfrey's fire chief saw the tornado while storm spotting and ordered the town's sirens activated. The tornado moved through the center of Comfrey one minute after the sirens went off, and destroyed a grain elevator, the town hall, three of the town's four churches, the grocery store, and most of the main street businesses downtown. The town's firehouse collapsed, and the school was heavily damaged. Of the 200 houses in the town, all but 15 suffered damage. Fifty of those homes were destroyed and as a result 100 people were left homeless. Approximately 75% of the buildings in Comfrey were damaged or destroyed.
As the tornado continued to move through Brown County it achieved F4 strength and grew to 1.25 miles (2 km) wide. Approximately 15% of the 1000 farms in Brown County sustained damage from the tornado, and 500 dairy cattle were lost. Northwest of Hanska a man was killed when the tornado caused his house to collapse. The tornado went on to cause additional damage in Blue Earth and Watonwan Counties. After traveling across six counties for 1 hour and 25 minutes and causing \$75 million in damage, the twister lifted back into the clouds at 5:15 pm 4 miles (6 km) southeast of Courtland. In addition to the one fatality,19 people were injured by this tornado.
### St. Peter, Minnesota
At 5:18 pm, the same supercell produced another large tornado 2 miles (3 km) to the east of Nicollet. As the tornado moved to the east, a six-year-old boy was killed when the vehicle his family was riding in was overtaken by the tornado. At 5:30 pm the F3 tornado hit St. Peter, a town of about 10,000 people located in eastern Nicollet County, and inflicted severe damage on much of the town. Gustavus Adolphus College, which sits on top of a hill on the west side of St. Peter, sustained heavy damage after taking a direct hit from the twister. About 80% percent of the windows on the campus were shattered, and most of the major buildings on campus sustained damage.
`The chapel spire—a campus landmark—was snapped in half. The admissions office was destroyed, as was Johnson Hall, a small dormitory. The Lund Center for Physical Education and Health lost part of its roof, as did the tennis center. The football press box was blown from the top of the stadium bleachers, and the baseball dugouts were damaged. The tornado also uprooted more than 1000 trees, almost completely denuding the campus. Gustavus was on spring break at the time the tornado hit, so the campus was virtually vacant of students and there were no serious injuries or fatalities reported.`
As the tornado continued through St. Peter it caused more damage and destruction. St. Peter's Catholic Church and St. Peter Evangelical Lutheran Church were destroyed, as was the Arts and Heritage Center. The hospital was severely damaged and the library was hit, resulting in a loss of 25% of its books. Officials estimated 500 homes in St. Peter were destroyed, 1700 more were damaged and over 17,000 trees were lost. Many of the homes and trees that were destroyed in St. Peter were more than a century old. Debris from St. Peter that was sucked into the tornado fell back down to earth as far as Rice Lake, Wisconsin, over 130 miles (209 km) away. In addition to the damage in St. Peter, the tornado also damaged or destroyed 60 homes and caused \$6.5 million in damage in rural areas. All together this tornado was on the ground for 18 miles (29 km) and inflicted \$120 million in damage.
### Le Center, Minnesota
Shortly after the St. Peter tornado dissipated, a new tornado formed at 5:48 pm 2 miles (3 km) north of Cleveland, Minnesota. The half-mile (.8 km) wide tornado damaged several farms before hitting Le Center at F2 strength. The tornado damaged many businesses on the southern side of town and caused heavy damage at the Le Sueur County fairgrounds. Over 100 farm buildings were destroyed as well. The Sunny Terrace mobile home park in Le Center took a direct hit from the tornado. Fifteen mobile homes were destroyed and another 26 were heavily damaged. The manager of the mobile home park was able to alert residents to the oncoming tornado, allowing most of them to take cover in a storm shelter before the storm hit. There were no fatalities from this tornado, though two people sustained injures. After traveling for 17 miles (27 km) and causing \$20 million in damage, the tornado lifted from the ground 1 mile (2 km) west of the town of Montgomery.
### Other tornadoes
Over the next hour, the supercell continued to track across southern Minnesota, dropping four more tornadoes in Rice and Dakota Counties. One of these tornadoes hit the town of Lonsdale at F2 strength, damaging four homes and six business in the town, and then 20 farms to the east of town. This tornado had a path of 5 miles (8 km) and caused \$20 million in damage. The last of the 13 tornadoes spawned by this supercell was a brief F0 that touched down 5 miles (8 km) southwest of Hastings, and the supercell dissipated a few minutes later as it moved into Wisconsin.
Four additional tornadoes touched down this day. A tornado that was associated with the main supercell touched down briefly near Fulda, Minnesota, at 3:55 pm, while the Comfrey tornado was also on the ground. It was rated as an F1 and caused minor damage. Three other tornadoes that were all unrelated to the main supercell were confirmed as well; one in southeast Minnesota near Wabasha and two in Wisconsin. All three were rated F0 on the Fujita Scale and produced only minor damage.
## Aftermath
On April 1, 1998, seven counties in Minnesota were declared federal disaster areas: Brown, Le Sueur, Nicollet, Rice, Cottonwood, Blue Earth and Nobles. The money allotted from the federal government allowed the affected towns to clean up the damage and begin the rebuilding process. In addition to the federal dollars, the state of Minnesota contributed \$27.6 million to the cleanup and rebuilding effort, with \$1.35 million designated specifically for the preservation of the historical buildings in St. Peter. Most of St. Peter's buildings that were on the National Historic Register were damaged, but only one—a French Second Empire school building built in 1871 (St. Peter Central School)—had to be demolished. Three years after the tornado, the City of St. Peter reported that its population had grown by 2%; an unusual feat for a town that had so recently endured a natural disaster.
Damage to the Gustavus campus was estimated at nearly \$60 million. Despite 33 of the 78 of the classrooms not being ready for use, the college re-opened three weeks after the tornado. Following the storm, a major concern for the college was that the student base would be eroded. To prevent that from happening, every returning and graduating student was given a \$3,000 check by the college. In addition, the school sent out letters and made phone calls to all 2,000 applicants within 10 days of the disaster. The 735 new students who reported to Gustavus the following fall comprised the largest incoming class in the school's history. After a summer of repairs, the symbolic end to the rebuilding process on campus occurred on October 22, 1998, when a new 175-foot (53 m) spire was placed atop the chapel.
Following the tornado in Comfrey, residents were forced to temporarily evacuate the town due to several gas leaks, and the Minnesota National Guard was called in to help secure the area. Because the town's K–12 school was destroyed, students resumed classes two weeks later 20 miles (32 km) to the north in Sanborn. Since many Comfrey residents were displaced to nearby towns, school buses from Comfrey drove to each town to provide children transportation to the school in Sanborn. To help stock their classrooms, the school used equipment and supplies that had been salvaged from the damage as well as items that had been donated.
Immediately following the tornado in Comfrey there was uncertainty about the town's long-term survival. Then in the week following the tornado the town decided to rebuild the school, and as a result most of Comfrey's businesses decided to follow suit. Ground was broken on the new school early the next year, and it opened to students on October 4, 1999. The population of Comfrey is down to 367 from the 425 it was when the tornado hit.
Official U.S. government totals gathered in the months following the disaster state that the tornadoes caused \$235 million in damage, however later estimates put the total much higher, including over \$300 million in St. Peter alone. Additionally, over \$800,000 in hail and downburst damage was reported over South Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
For the 13 tornadoes that touched down from the parent supercell in southern Minnesota, the Twin Cities and Sioux Falls NWS offices issued tornado warnings an average of 15 minutes before the warned areas were hit. Because of above-average lead time for the warnings, and for excellence in forecasting the entire event, a bronze medal was issued to the Twin Cities NWS office the following December by the United States Department of Commerce.
## Historical perspective
Tornadoes during the month of March are an unusual occurrence in Minnesota when compared to the rest of the spring and summer months. Before this event there had been only six tornadoes ever recorded in the state during March, and since this event there has been only six. This outbreak also marks the first time in Minnesota history that two tornadoes were recorded on the same day in March, as well as the first time since 1921 that there have been multiple tornado fatalities on the same March day. Despite the historical significance of the outbreak, this was not the earliest calendar-year tornado to touch down in Minnesota; that record is held by three tornadoes that touched on March 6, 2017.
With a path of 67 miles (108 km), the Comfrey tornado had the fifth-longest track of any tornado on record in Minnesota. It is however the longest continuous-track tornado in Minnesota history, meaning that it was the longest to have been observed to always be in contact with the ground. The damage from the F4 tornado that struck Comfrey is the strongest ever measured in Minnesota during the month of March. The previous strongest-measured were two F3's, occurring on March 27, 1905, and March 26, 1921.
## See also
- Climate of Minnesota
- List of Minnesota weather records
- List of North American tornadoes and tornado outbreaks
|
58,526,034 |
German torpedo boat T21
| 1,122,094,861 |
German torpedo boat
|
[
"1940 ships",
"Type 37 torpedo boats"
] |
The German torpedo boat T21 was one of nine Type 37 torpedo boats built for the Kriegsmarine (German Navy) during World War II. Completed in mid-1942, she was transferred to Norway in March 1943 for escort duties. The ship returned to Germany in October and was assigned to the Torpedo School. T21 returned to active duty in May 1944 and supported German forces operating in the Baltic Sea. The boat began a major refit in December which had not been completed when the war ended in May 1945. She was allocated to the United States after the war, but was only used to dispose of gas munitions by scuttling her in deep water in 1946.
## Design and description
The Type 37 torpedo boat was a slightly improved version of the preceding Type 35 with better range. The boats had an overall length of 85.2 meters (279 ft 6 in) and were 82 meters (269 ft) long at the waterline. The ships had a beam of 8.87 meters (29 ft 1 in), and a mean draft of 2.8 meters (9 ft 2 in) at deep load. They displaced 888 metric tons (874 long tons) at standard load and 1,139 metric tons (1,121 long tons) at deep load. Their crew numbered 119 officers and sailors. Their pair of geared steam turbine sets, each driving one propeller shaft, were designed to produce 31,000 shaft horsepower (23,000 kW) using steam from four high-pressure water-tube boilers which was intended to give the boats a maximum speed of 35 knots (65 km/h; 40 mph). They carried enough fuel oil to give them a range of 1,600 nautical miles (3,000 km; 1,800 mi) at 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph).
As built, the Type 37s mounted a single 10.5 cm (4.1 in) SK C/32 gun on the stern. Anti-aircraft defense was provided by a single 3.7 cm (1.5 in) SK C/30 anti-aircraft gun superfiring over the 10.5 cm gun and a pair of 2 cm (0.8 in) C/30 guns on the bridge wings. They carried six above-water 533 mm (21 in) torpedo tubes in two triple mounts amidships and could also carry 30 mines (or 60 if the weather was good).
### Modifications
Early-war modifications were limited to the conversion of the foremast into a tripod mast, installation of a FuMO 28 radar with fixed antennas angled 45° to each side. Quadruple 2 cm gun mounts began slowly replacing the 3.7 cm gun beginning in May 1942 as the ships were refitted. Another quadruple 2 cm mount had been fitted on the searchlight platform amidships in T21 by 1944. In September, installation of a single 3.7 cm gun was ordered, either the Flak M42 or the Flak M43, in lieu of the aft torpedo tubes, in all surviving boats, but it is uncertain if this was actually carried out. Some ships did receive additional 4 cm (1.6 in) Bofors guns. They all received twin 2 cm gun mounts that replaced the single mounts in the bridge wings. Before the end of the war, all of the surviving boats probably had at least two 3.7 cm or 4 cm guns aboard.
## Construction and career
T21 was ordered on 5 October 1938 from Schichau, laid down at their Elbing, East Prussia, shipyard on 27 March 1939 as yard number 1448, launched on 2 November 1940 and commissioned on 11 July 1942. On 1–3 October, the ship conducted exercises in the Baltic with the battleship Scharnhorst, the light cruisers Leipzig and Nürnberg, the destroyers Z25, Z31 and Z37, her sisters T13, T17, T20 and the torpedo boats T22, Falke and Kondor. On 7 March 1943, T21, T16, T20 and the torpedo boats Greif and Jaguar, joined the escorts for Scharnhorst on her voyage to the Arctic in the Skaggerak, although bad weather forced them to put into Bergen, Norway. T21 and T20 were then part of the escort force for the battleships Tirpitz and Scharnhorst and the heavy cruiser Lützow as they sailed from Narvik, Norway, to the Altafjord on 22–24 March.
The ship returned to Germany in October and was assigned to the Torpedo School until April 1944 when she returned to active duty supporting German forces in the Baltic. T21 began a refit at the Oderwerke shipyard in Stettin in August that lasted until September. During 10–15 October, the 3rd Torpedo Boat Flotilla, with T21, T16, T20 and T13, screened Lützow and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen as they bombarded advancing Soviet troops near Memel, Lithuania. Screened by the 2nd and 3rd Torpedo Boat Flotillas with (T5, T9, T12, T13, T16, T19 and T21), Prinz Eugen and the heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer shelled Soviet positions during the evacuation of Sworbe, on the Estonian island of Saaremaa, between 20 and 24 November. In December T21 began a major refit in Elbing, but the shipyard was threatened by advancing Soviet forces in February 1945 and she was towed to the Deschimag shipyard in Bremen on the 4th. The ship was decommissioned on 22 April. T21 was allocated to the United States when the Allies divided the surviving ships of the Kriegsmarine amongst themselves in late 1945. She was cannibalized for spare parts, loaded up with poison gas ammunition and scuttled in the Skaggerak on 10 June 1946.
|
30,431,700 |
Amazing Stories Annual
| 1,171,857,429 |
Science fiction magazine
|
[
"Hugo Gernsback",
"Magazines disestablished in 1927",
"Magazines established in 1927",
"Magazines published in New York City",
"Pulp magazines",
"Science fiction magazines established in the 1920s"
] |
Amazing Stories Annual was a pulp magazine which published a single issue in July 1927. It was edited by Hugo Gernsback, and featured the first publication of The Master Mind of Mars, by Edgar Rice Burroughs, which had been rejected by several other magazines, perhaps because the plot included a satire on religious fundamentalism. The other stories in Amazing Stories Annual were reprints, including two stories by A. Merritt, and one by H.G. Wells. The magazine sold out, and its success led Gernsback to launch Amazing Stories Quarterly the following year.
## Publication history and contents
In 1926, Hugo Gernsback launched Amazing Stories, the first magazine to publish only science fiction. The magazine was an immediate success, and in order to take advantage of its popularity Gernsback considered either increasing the frequency of Amazing Stories to twice a month, or taking the year's most popular stories from the magazine, and publishing them in an annual reprint edition. In early April 1927, Gernsback asked Edgar Rice Burroughs if he had anything to submit. Burroughs had completed Vad Varo of Barsoom, a novel in his Barsoom series; but had sent it to Munsey's Argosy, Street and Smith's Popular Magazine, and Elks Magazine without success. One of the rejection letters described aspects of the story as "repellent"; science fiction historian Mike Ashley suggests that this was probably in reference to the human organ transplant plot elements in the book. Another science fiction historian, Everett Bleiler, gives an additional possible reason: the book's satire of religious fundamentalists might have made the book unattractive to the usual pulp editors. Even when Burroughs offered it to Street and Smith's Popular Magazine with the proviso that he would only be paid if the magazine's circulation went up, it was rejected. Bleiler speculates that Gernsback knew his readership was less likely to be sympathetic to religious fundamentalism, or that he was liberal enough to enjoy Burroughs' criticisms of religion; whatever the reason, he agreed to purchase the novel early in May. As a result of the repeated rejections Burroughs only asked for two cents per word from Gernsback, instead of the six cents he was used to getting for his work; even this was conditional on the success of Gernsback's magazine. Gernsback was notorious for slow payment and non-payment, and Burroughs had some difficulty extracting the \$1,250 Gernsback owed him. Gernsback eventually paid him with trade acceptances (a form of commercial IOU), but Burroughs added seven per cent interest to the original fee, for a total of \$1,266.01.
In his correspondence with Burroughs, Gernsback had specified that he would like something with more scientific content than was usual in Burroughs' work. Science fiction historian Milton Wolf quotes Gernsback's assertion that the science in the story was "excellent", and also quotes author Frederik Pohl's reminiscences: "It was even scientifically accurate. That, I admit, is a claim for Burroughs not often heard...Barsoom is not much like the Mars of the Mariner photographs. But it is very like the Mars of Percival Lowell, and that was all that science knew of Mars at the time".
The title of the novel changed several times. In manuscript, Burroughs had called it A Weird Adventure on Mars, but sent it out under the title Vad Varo of Barsoom. Burroughs allowed Gernsback to choose the title for its appearance in Amazing Stories Annual; Gernsback initially suggested Xaxa of Mars, but finally chose The Master Mind of Mars, which remained the book's title in its subsequent editions. The remainder of the magazine was made up of reprints. Five were from Amazing Stories, though in all but one case their first appearances had been elsewhere—for example, H.G. Wells' "Under the Knife", which was included in the Annual, had originally appeared in 1896 in the British magazine The New Review. There were two stories by A. Merritt, as with Burroughs a very popular writer: "The People of the Pit", and "The Face in the Abyss"; the latter was the only story not to be reprinted from Amazing Stories, having been printed in 1923 in Argosy Allstory Weekly. The other stories were "The Feline Light and Power Company Is Organized" by Jacque Morgan, "The Man Who Saved the Earth" by Austin Hall, and "The Man Who Could Vanish" by A. Hyatt Verrill. Gernsback had also intended to reprint Murray Leinster's "The Runaway Skyscraper"; it was not included, so Leinster may have refused because he knew of Gernsback's poor payment habits. The cover art, and most of the interior illustrations, were by Frank R. Paul.
The print run sold out; Bleiler quotes a figure of 150,000 copies, but Wolf says it was 100,000. Gernsback had asked the readers of the Annual to send him feedback, and the response was enthusiastic, with almost every letter asking for Amazing Stories to be switched to a fortnightly basis. In the event Gernsback decided instead to launch Amazing Stories Quarterly, with the first issue appearing the following year.
## Bibliographic details
There was a single issue, published by Gernsback's Experimenter Publishing Company of New York, in large pulp format. It was 128 pages, and priced at 50 cents. The editor was Hugo Gernsback. The magazine was at one time considered to be extremely rare, with only about two dozen copies thought to exist, but the appearance of multiple copies for sale on eBay has made it apparent that it is not as rare as was once thought.
|
50,161,756 |
Emergency (WizzyPro song)
| 1,168,884,886 | null |
[
"2013 singles",
"2013 songs",
"Nigerian afropop songs",
"Patoranking songs",
"Runtown songs",
"Skales songs",
"WizzyPro songs"
] |
"Emergency" is a song recorded by Nigerian record producer WizzyPro for his debut studio album, Lord of the Sounds (2016). It was released on 2 November 2013 and features vocal appearances from Nigerian musicians Patoranking, Runtown and Skales. While each artist solely wrote their own respective verse, WizzyPro served as the track's executive producer.
The song was viewed favourably among several music critics, most of which noted "Emergency" as a standout track on Lord of the Sound. The single won the "Best Collaboration" category at the 2014 edition of The Headies. An accompanying music video for "Emergency" was released on 18 January 2014 and features the four singers performing the song to the public while dancing and singing in a street.
## Background and composition
Development of the song first began in WizzyPro's personal recording studio. According to Pulse's Joey Akan, despite recruiting several "young guns" for the original composition, WizzyPro did not intend for "Emergency" to become a success. The single was ultimately released on 2 November 2013 through Dem Mama Records. Following its surge in popularity, it was announced in March 2016 that "Emergency" would be included on WizzyPro's debut studio album, titled Lord of the Sounds (2016).
An afropop song lasting for three minutes and fifty-two seconds, "Emergency" was written by Douglas Jack, Patrick Okorie, and Raoul John Njeng-Njeng, while WizzyPro provided the original production. All three artists wrote their own individual verses, as performed over varying chord progressions. During Patoranking's verse, he refers to the track's lead artist and exclaims: "I see emergency, na na na / WizzyPro beats causing madness". Badmus Bello Shuaibu, a writer for Naija Celebrity, inferred that the use of the word 'emergency' in Davido's 2014 single "Aye" was inspired by the repetitiveness in "Emergency".
## Reception
"Emergency" was well received by contemporary music critics. Shuaibu from Naija Celebrity wrote about "Emergency" in his "Hit Song of the Week" column, where he claimed: "You can't walk pass a street in Lagos without hearing people singing [the song]." Ovie O. from the Nigerian music website NotJustOk described the single as a "banger", while Filfi Adinkra from Ghana Ndwom declared it a "crazy jam". Along the same lines, Abiola Solanke from Pulse called it "top notch" and acclaimed the production that WizzyPro performed on the track. AllAfrica.com's Aderibigbe Tolulope found his production skills exceptional and "enough to show he's taking the music business seriously".
In 2014, "Emergency" was selected for two distinctions within the Nigerian music industry. At the 2014 Nigeria Entertainment Awards held in New York City, "Emergency" was nominated under the "Best Collaboration" category, but lost to Runtown's "Gallardo". Additionally, it won at The Headies 2014 held on Victoria Island for the same category.
### Accolades
## Music video
An accompanying music video for "Emergency" was released on 18 January 2014 through WizzyPro's official YouTube account. The visual was directed by Patrick Ellis and features cameos from all of the track's artists. The video commences with Runtown walking through a street while singing the song's lyrics; the other musicians join him after departing nearby parked cars. From a crowd of people, each of them step forward during their verses, which continues for the video's entirety.
|
26,736,718 |
Judaism in Rugrats
| 1,171,811,031 |
Religious theme in the television series Rugrats
|
[
"Jewish portrayals in media",
"Jewish television",
"Rugrats (franchise)"
] |
The animated television series Rugrats has been noted for its portrayal of Judaism, a dynamic rarely represented in American animated programming during the series' broadcast run (1991–2004). Six episodes of the series are devoted to Jewish holidays and to explaining their history, and the Pickles family is shown to be part-Jewish.
The first Rugrats Jewish holiday special was suggested to the production staff in 1992 by Nickelodeon executives as a special devoted to Hanukkah. One of the show creators, Paul Germain, instead refashioned it into a Passover episode, and the series did not explore a Hanukkah special until 1996. Critical reaction to Jewish themes in Rugrats was largely positive. Each holiday special achieved high viewing numbers according to Nielsen Media Research and received positive reviews. However, Jewish character Grandpa Boris' portrayal in a 1998 Rugrats comic strip was criticized by the Anti-Defamation League for apparent antisemitism.
## Jewish themes
### Background
In Rugrats, the root of Jewish themes stem from Boris and Minka Kropotkin, the Russian Jewish maternal grandparents of Tommy Pickles. Boris and Minka follow traditional Ashkenazi Jewish practices and speak in heavy Yiddish accents. Tommy and the Pickles family therefore partake in several Jewish activities throughout the series, particularly through holidays. However, while Boris and Minka appear to practice their faith regularly, the Pickles are rarely shown to participate in religious activities outside of major holidays.
### Rugrats (1991–2004)
#### A Rugrats Passover (1995)
"A Rugrats Passover" (Season 3, Episode 26) follows the main characters, Tommy, Phil, Lil, Chuckie, and Angelica, as they arrive at the Kropotkin residence to celebrate Passover Seder alongside Boris and Minka, and imagine themselves as Jewish figures, notably Tommy as Moses and Angelica as the pharaoh of Exodus as it's told by Boris, who has accidentally locked the group in the attic.
#### A Rugrats Chanukah (1996)
In "A Rugrats Chanukah" (Season 4, Episode 1), though the opening title card for the episode simply reads Chanukah, the main characters are told the story of the Maccabean Revolt by Tommy's Jewish grandfather, Boris, and imagine themselves as Biblical characters, with Tommy seeing himself as Judas Maccabeus while others play nameless Jewish characters. A reference to the song "I Have a Little Dreidel" is made, with Chuckie telling a Greek guard baby that the two are just playing with their dreidels, to which Tommy adds that they made out of clay, and Tommy's famous line, "A baby's gotta do what a baby's gotta do", is modified to "A Macca-baby's gotta do what a Macca-baby's gotta do", a reference to Maccabees. The tradition of giving chocolate coins was also mentioned. It was groundbreaking in that it was the first children's series to air a Hanukkah special, in a time when children's shows frequently released Christmas-themed episodes during the holiday season.
### The Rugrats Movie (1998)
In The Rugrats Movie, a 1998 animated film produced by Nickelodeon Movies meant to introduce Tommy's younger brother Dil to audiences, makes a possible indirect reference to Judaism. Tommy almost sacrifices Dil to hungry monkeys by pouring baby food made from bananas on him; the scene parallels the Sacrifice of Isaac.
### All Grown Up! (2003–2008)
In All Grown Up! (2003–2008), a continuation of Rugrats that follows the characters into their adolescent years, Tommy, now 11 years old, appears apathetic towards his Jewish heritage. In "Rachel, Rachel" (Season 4, Episode 4), Tommy argues with Didi over being made to attend Hebrew school and shows no interest in going until he develops a crush on his female classmate, the titular Rachel. In a stark contrast to Rachel's piety, Tommy is shown to have no basic knowledge of Judaism, unfamiliar with the concept of shabbat and never having followed a kosher diet. Tommy's younger brother Dil is similarly disinterested in Judaism and, to avoid being made to attend Hebrew school in the future, founds his own religion. While the depiction of Tommy and Dil's laxity towards their faith may not necessarily be positive, they are realistic; in 2006, the year the episode aired, statistics showed that American Jewish youth held a declining interest in religion, with 61% believing in God and 14% saying that religion played a role in their daily life.
## Background
Boris and Minka were based on the Eastern European great aunts and uncles of Rugrats co-creator Arlene Klasky, who herself is Jewish. Including Jewish themes in the series was deemed essential by Klasky; in particular, she believed that making Didi Jewish and Tommy's father Stu a Christian was a crucial dynamic, as "it was important to show that difference between family." Klasky herself grew up with a Jewish mother and a non-Jewish father.
Boris and Minka first appeared in the series' first episode, "Tommy's First Birthday". Melanie Chartoff, voice of Minka and Jewish herself, had already been cast to play Didi when she was called by her agent to try out for a second voice role on the series as Minka. When given the description of the character, Chartoff felt she was incredibly clichéd, but still wanted to try out for the role. When reading her lines, she found it difficult to grasp the character's personality, as "Although the show had been created by Jews, this script had clearly not been written by them;" so she took a break so she could do research into her family memorabilia and conceive a personality to reflect in the character's voice.
In 1992, Nickelodeon executives pitched the idea of making a Chanukah special to the Rugrats production team. Germain, however, responded with a Passover special instead, as he considered it to be a "funny idea" and of "historical interest". While scripting the episode, now entitled "A Rugrats Passover", the writers were forced to audit many elements of the portrayal of the Ten Plagues, particularly the last one, so that the episode would remain accessible to children and not too frightening. Due to the overall success of "A Rugrats Passover", the Rugrats staff decided to revisit the Hanukkah special and created "A Rugrats Chanukah". One of the co-writers of the episode, David Weiss, had converted from Christianity to Judaism shortly before penning the teleplay. (He was also raised a Reform Jew when he was growing up)
## Reception
Rugrats was unusual among contemporary animations in its attention to Jewish ritual and tradition. "A Rugrats Passover"'s portrayal of a Seder dinner received press attention as a rare occurrence in children's programming. The episode also marked the first Passover special Nickelodeon had broadcast, while "A Rugrats Chanukah" marked the first televised animated Hanukkah program.
Fan reaction to Jewish themes in Rugrats have been overwhelmingly positive. "A Rugrats Passover" and "A Rugrats Chanukah" are two of the most popular episodes in the series broadcast run. The Passover special achieved a Nielsen Rating of 3.1 with a 4.8% share of American viewers, making it the sixth most watched American cable broadcast that week. The Hanukkah special, meanwhile, received a 7.9 Nielsen rating in Kids 2–11, the show's key demographic. Chartoff received an abundance of fan letters praising the series for detailing Judaism in sensitive fashion. She only received one complaint, from her mother, who claimed that the characterizations of Boris and Minka were anti-Semitic.
Critically, Rugrats' treatment of Judaism has also been acclaimed. Danny Goldberg wrote in his book How The Left Lost Teen Spirit: "I cannot think of any other TV show, animated or otherwise, in which Jewish traditions were so clearly expressed in the context of a mass appeal entertainment [than in Rugrats]." Authors Michael Atkinson and Laurel Shifrin, in their book Flickipedia: Perfect Films for Every Occasion, Holiday, Mood, Ordeal, and Whim praised the series for celebrating "secular Jewishness in the wisest and most entertaining fashion". TV Guide listed "A Rugrats Chanukah" number 5 in their 1999 "10 Best Classic Family Holiday Specials" list, opining that with the episode, "Nickelodeon's Rugrats secured its place in television history." Jewish online magazine Schmooze listed Tommy as the number 1 fictional Jewish character of all time. They also wrote that if someone had yet to see either one of the holiday specials, their "Jewish education is incomplete."
The series has received several accolades for its Jewish themes. In 2001, Rugrats won a Jewish Image Award for "Outstanding Achievement". "A Rugrats Passover" itself received three nominations from different television award programs. It was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in the category "Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour)", but lost to The Simpsons episode "Lisa's Wedding". At the 23rd Annual Annie Awards it was nominated in the category "Best Individual Achievement for Writing in the Field of Animation", but was beaten by the episode "The Tick vs. Arthur’s Bank Account" from Fox Kids' animated series The Tick. In 1995, it was Rugrats' submission for a CableACE award; it received a nomination but did not win. In 2007 the Sherwin Miller Museum of Jewish Art in Tulsa, Oklahoma opened an exhibition of Biblical images in art and pop culture, including a poster for Let My Babies Go!: A Passover Story, the picture book based on "A Rugrats Passover".
### Controversy
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) criticized the design of Grandpa Boris and charged it with being antisemitic. The controversy erupted when a 1998 Rugrats comic strip was published, featuring Boris in a synagogue reciting the Mourner's Kaddish. The ADL issued a statement saying that the design resembled Nazi-era depictions of Jews, and the fact that the character was reciting the sacred prayer perverted its solemnity. The Washington Post, the newspaper who published the strip, issued a similar statement in their Editor's Note section, criticizing Nickelodeon for not showing better judgment in editing the strip.
Though former Nickelodeon president Albie Hecht, a Jew himself, was dumbfounded by the accusation and deemed it absurd, Herb Scannell, president of the company in 1998, responded to the complaints and apologized to ADL. Scannell issued a statement promising that neither the strip nor the character would ever be published again. In the statement, he also noted, "Unfortunately, the creators of the strip made an error in judgment by referencing the Kaddish. I agree with you that, however well-meaning, the use of the Kaddish in the comic strip was inappropriate." Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, responded via a press release in which they thanked Scannell for his speedy response and commended the company in general for understanding the issue at hand; Foxman concluded by saying, "We appreciate Nickelodeon's long record of creative and quality programming and understand that it was not their intention to offend."
## See also
- List of fictional Jews
|
63,704,456 |
Theodore Paleologus (Junior)
| 1,081,858,484 |
17th-century English nobleman and soldier
|
[
"1609 births",
"1644 deaths",
"Burials at Westminster Abbey",
"Palaiologos dynasty",
"Roundheads"
] |
Theodore Paleologus (Italian: Teodoro Paleologo; April 1609 – April/May 1644), usually distinguished from his father of the same name by modern historians through being referred to as Theodore Junior or Theodore II,' was the second son of the 16th/17th-century soldier and assassin Theodore Paleologus, and the oldest son to reach adulthood. Through his father, he was possibly a descendant of the Palaiologos dynasty of Byzantine emperors.
Like his father, Theodore Junior was a professional soldier, first attested in this capacity when he was serving in the forces led by Algernon Percy, the Earl of Northumberland, in the Bishops' Wars in 1640. At the outbreak of the English Civil War (1642–1651), Theodore sided with the Roundheads (Parliamentarians), despite his two brothers and his friend Richard Grenville being Cavaliers (royalists). Theodore did not survive the war, dying in 1644, probably of camp fever during the early stages of the Siege of Oxford. He was buried in Westminster Abbey, where his grave was one of the few Parliamentarian graves to survive unscathed after the English monarchy was restored in 1660.
## Biography
Theodore Paleologus was the oldest' surviving son of his father by the same name and Mary Balls. He was baptised on 30 April 1609 (meaning he was probably born that month).' Theodore's family might have been the last living members of the Palaiologos dynasty,' which ruled the Byzantine Empire from 1259 to 1453. They claimed descent from Thomas Palaiologos, a brother of the last Byzantine emperor, Constantine XI Palaiologos, through a son called John, whose existence cannot be confirmed through contemporary sources. All other purported ancestors (descendants of this John) of the later Paleologus family can be verified through contemporary records. On account of the absence of evidence for John's existence, the English Byzantininst Donald Nicol wrote in 1974 that the family's claim to descend from Thomas "must be held unproven". John Hall, the author of a 2015 biography on Theodore Junior's father, believes that it would be wrong to dismiss their descent on account of a single missing link.
In his youth, Theodore Junior lived with his father and his siblings at Tattershall in Lincolnshire, England, where his father served as Master of the Horse for the Early Henry Clinton;' the modern historian John Hall describes Clinton as one of the most hated and feared noblemen in all of England at the time. When Clinton died in 1616 and their father left Lincolnshire, possibly being evicted by the new Earl (Thomas Clinton), the whereabouts of the children are unknown. What likely transpired was that the children were placed in the service of some household of higher class, a common practice in regards to adolescents at the time. It is also possible that the family lived with Mary's relatives, the Balls family.'
In 1619, Theodore Junior's parents are known to have lived in Plymouth and a legal paper confidently place Theodore Junior in the city as well, at least as early as 1623.' By 1628, Theodore Junior, aged nineteen, was again away from his family, making his own life elsewhere.' He is next attested in 1631, the same year his mother died, as a witness in a lawsuit against Richard Grenville. Theodore was apparently a friend of Grenville, described in court papers as "Theodore Palaeologus of Tavistock, gent, aged twentyone, who gave evidence that he had been present on 1 April the previous year when Sir Richard paid over money to redeem some jewels pawned by his wife Dame Mary". According to Theodore himself, he had known Grenville since 1623 and as he had been fourteen in 1623, the Grenvilles were likely the family he had served in his adolescence.'
Theodore is next attested in 1640 (aged 31) as a lieutenant of the army led by Algernon Percy, the Earl of Northumberland, against the Scots in the Bishops' Wars. Serving in this army, he would have met Grenville again as both are listed as lieutenants in Percy's army. The campaign against the Scots ended in defeat and Theodore is then listed, in the same year, as present in the regiment of Jacob Astley at Yorkshire.'
In 1642 the English Civil War erupted, forcing nobles across the country to choose either to fight for the royalists (Cavaliers) or the Parliamentarians (Roundheads).' Even though Grenville and both of Theodore's brothers, John Theodore and Ferdinand, were Cavaliers, Theodore sided with the rebels. By June 1642, his name was on the Reformado List, Parliament's list of officers who were entitled to be paid half their wage even when not employed. Soon after, a "Theo Paholigus" (a misspelling of Theodore's name) is listed as a captain lieutenant in a foot regiment raised in Oxford by Oliver St John, 5th Baron St John of Bletso.'
Theodore did not survive the war, dying in 1644, aged 35, by then having the rank of lieutenant colonel. Although his cause, time and place of death is unknown, by tracking the movements of his company, it can be assumed that he died of camp fever during the early stages of the long Siege of Oxford.' He was buried in the St. Michael's Chapel' in Westminster Abbey, a distinguished burial site, on 3 May 1644.' The honorable burial probably had little to do with Theodore's imperial ancestry, instead being the result of his service to the Parliamentarian cause' and possibly also because of the influence of Theodore's commanders.'
## Legacy
Many Parliamentarian graves in Westminster Abbey were exhumed on the orders of Charles II after the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, with the corpses suffering symbolic executions and their heads being impaled on spikes.' Theodore's grave was one of only seven Parliamentarian graves spared this fate, but whether it was because he was a simple soldier or because his grave was unmarked at the time is unknown.' The present marker for his grave was laid down by Arthur Penrhyn Stanley in the 19th century.' In his 2004 book on Westminster Abbey, historian Richard Jenkyns wrote that "those inclined to Romantic fantasy may toy with the notion that the Abbey also contains a rightful Emperor of Byzantium, the heir of Augustus and Constantine: that is, the Palaeologi were the last Byzantine dynasty, and a floor slab in the north transept records 'Theodorus Palaeologus 1644'".
|
59,568,319 |
Cale Morris
| 1,164,366,484 |
American collegiate ice hockey player
|
[
"1996 births",
"AHCA Division I men's ice hockey All-Americans",
"American men's ice hockey goaltenders",
"Chicago Steel players",
"Chicago Wolves players",
"Ice hockey players from Colorado",
"Indy Fuel players",
"Living people",
"Norfolk Admirals (ECHL) players",
"Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's ice hockey players",
"Rockford IceHogs (AHL) players",
"Sportspeople from Douglas County, Colorado",
"Waterloo Black Hawks players"
] |
Christopher Cale Morris (born May 22, 1996) is an American professional ice hockey goaltender who is currently an unrestricted free agent. He most recently played for the Chicago Wolves of the American Hockey League (AHL).
Following success in the United States Hockey League with the Chicago Steel and Waterloo Black Hawks, Morris joined the University of Notre Dame in the Big Ten Conference (B1G). During the 2017–18 season, he was awarded the Mike Richter Award as the most outstanding goaltender in Division I NCAA men's ice hockey, Big Ten Goaltender of the Year and Big-Ten Player of the Year as he led Notre Dame to the 2018 NCAA National Championship Finals. He was also selected for the AHCA First Team All-American, All-Big Ten First Team, and named a Hobey Baker Award finalist.
## Playing career
### Early career
Morris was born on May 22, 1996, to mother Kathy Morris. He has two older sisters, Kalee and Jessi. Growing up in Colorado, Morris played football, baseball and soccer on top of hockey, however, he states that he was inspired to become more committed to hockey in part due to goaltender Kyle Hayton's guidance. Hayton was a friend of his sisters who let Morris use his old equipment and practice in net. Morris played AAA hockey with the Colorado Thunderbirds from 2008 to 2013.
### USHL
Going undrafted into the United States Hockey League (USHL), Morris made the Chicago Steel roster following tryout camp in 2013. In his senior year of high school, Morris moved to Bartlett, Illinois, to play with the Chicago Steel and lived with teammate Robby Jackson. In his first year with the Steel, Morris finished the season with a 19–6–3 record and a .937 save percentage and graduated from South Elgin High School. His success with the Steel drew attention from college scouts.
In his first NHL draft eligible year, Morris posted a .895 save percentage with the Chicago Steel to begin the 2014–15 season. He was traded in January 2015 to the Waterloo Black Hawks. While playing with the Black Hawks, Morris posted a 19-6-3 record and a .937 save percentage in 28 games. With a season record of 27–15–4 and .920 save percentage that placed second in the league, Morris was selected for the USHL Third All-Star Team. During that season, Morris committed to play NCAA college hockey for the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Although the final rankings from the NHL Central Scouting Bureau ranked Morris 15th for North American goaltenders, he went undrafted in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft.
In his second season with the Black Hawks, Morris was named an alternate captain. By December 2015, Morris had a 7–4–2 record and was in the league's top goals-against average and save percentage. As a result, he was selected to the USHL/NHL Top Prospects Game. While playing in the tournament, Morris became the fifth goaltender to post a shutout at the USHL/NHL Top Prospects Game. On March 22, 2016, Morris set a new Black Hawks record with his seventh regular season shutout. His seventh shutout came in a 5–0 win over his former team, the Chicago Steel. A month later, Morris was voted as the Waterloo Black Hawks MVP. During the summer, Morris was invited to the Anaheim Ducks Development Camp Scrimmage as a college invite before joining Notre Dame for his freshman year.
### Collegiate
Enrolled in the Mendoza College of Business, Morris made his Notre Dame collegiate debut on October 7, 2016, against Arizona State. He spent the rest of the season backing up Cal Petersen and did not play another game in the regular season. At the conclusion of the 2016–17 season, Petersen signed a professional contract, ending his collegiate career and leaving an opening for Morris to become the new starter.
After beginning his sophomore season, he split his time in net with freshman Dylan St. Cyr, Morris gained the starter position and helped Notre Dame win 16 games in a row. On December 6, 2017, Morris was named the Hockey Commissioners’ Association (HCA) Player of the Month for November after he posted an 8–0–0 record with three shutouts and a nation-leading .969 save percentage. On February 9, 2018, Morris made 31 saves in a 2–1 victory over Ohio State to help the Fighting Irish win the Big Ten regular-season championship and qualify for the 2018 Big Ten Men's Ice Hockey Tournament in their first year in the Big Ten conference. Ohio State and Notre Dame met again during the post-season in the Big Ten Championship Finals. Before the Championship Finals, Morris was named Big Ten Goaltender of the Year, Big-Ten Player of the Year, First Team All-Big Ten, and a Hobey Baker Award top 10 finalist. On March 17, the Fighting Irish beat Ohio State in overtime to clinch the Big Ten Conference Tournament championships and qualify for the 2018 NCAA National Championship tournament. Morris was named Big Ten Tournament MVP and selected for the Big Ten All-Tournament Teams due to his play. He then helped the Fighting Irish qualify for the 2018 NCAA National Championship Final by defeating the Michigan Wolverines in the National Semifinals. After Notre Dame advanced to the National Championship Finals, Morris was awarded the Mike Richter Award, becoming the first Notre Dame goaltender to receive the award. His .945 save percentage led the United States collegiate league while his 1.91 goals against average was sixth. Notre Dame played the 2018 National Championship game against Minnesota Duluth, losing 2–1 with Morris making 33 saves. Although Notre Dame lost, Morris was named an AHCA First Team All-American.
Leading up to the 2018–19 season, Morris was named a unanimous selection on the Big Ten Preseason Watch List. In the annual Ice Breaker Tournament, Morris posted a 22 save shutout in a 3–0 win over Providence Friars to win the Championship. His second shutout of the season came on December 31 in a 4–0 win over Boston College. This shutout helped earn him Big Ten First Star of the Week honors. On January 16, 2019, Morris was named a nominee for the Hobey Baker Award. Morris helped the Fighting Irish qualify for the 2019 Big Ten Men's Ice Hockey Tournament where he posted back-to-back shutouts to defeat the Michigan State Spartans in the quarterfinals. On March 12, Morris was again named a finalist for Big Ten Goaltender of the Year and was later selected for the All-Big Ten Second Team. On March 23, 2019, Morris and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish won their second Big Ten Conference Tournament championship title after a 3–2 win over Penn State. After the game, Morris was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player and selected for the Big Ten All-Tournament team. However, in the second round of the 2019 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament against the UMass Minutemen, Notre Dame lost 4–0 and was eliminated from the competition.
On April 12, Morris committed to return to Notre Dame for his senior year, citing "unfinished business" as his reason. He was subsequently named an alternate captain on September 19 alongside Tory Dello, becoming only the second goaltender to become an alternate captain under head coach Jeff Jackson. However, before he could begin the collegiate season, Morris was injured during training camp which forced his season debut to be delayed. He eventually made his season debut on October 26 against Lake Superior State where he made 29 saves in the 6–4 win. By December, Morris was named a Big Ten First Star of the Week for recording his ninth career collegiate shutout while facing 37 shots. On February 21, in his 100th collegiate game, Morris recorded his 56th win in a 2–1 victory over the Michigan Wolverines.
### Professional
As collegiate hockey was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic in North America, Morris signed his first professional contract with the Rockford IceHogs of the American Hockey League (AHL) on October 12, 2020.
As an impending restricted free agent with the Blackhawks, Morris was not tendered a qualifying offer by the rebuilding Blackhawks, and was released to free agency on 12 July 2022. Morris opted to continue in the AHL, later signing a one-year contract for the 2022–23 season with the Chicago Wolves, the primary affiliate to the Carolina Hurricanes, on July 26, 2022.
## International play
In his second season with the Chicago Steel, Morris was selected to play for the United States at the 2014 World Junior A Challenge in Kindersley, Saskatchewan. With his help, Team USA won the 2014 World Junior A Challenge championship title.
## Career statistics
### Regular season and playoffs
## Awards and honors
|
2,519,788 |
The History of Sir Charles Grandison
| 1,173,852,695 |
Book by Samuel Richardson
|
[
"1753 novels",
"18th-century British novels",
"Epistolary novels",
"Novels by Samuel Richardson",
"Sentimental novels"
] |
The History of Sir Charles Grandison, commonly called Sir Charles Grandison, is an epistolary novel by English writer Samuel Richardson first published in February 1753. The book was a response to Henry Fielding's The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, which parodied the morals presented in Richardson's previous novels. The novel follows the story of Harriet Byron who is pursued by Sir Hargrave Pollexfen. After she rejects Pollexfen, he kidnaps her, and she is only freed when Sir Charles Grandison comes to her rescue. After his appearance, the novel focuses on his history and life, and he becomes its central figure.
## Background
The exact relationship between Fielding's The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling and Richardson's The History of Sir Charles Grandison cannot be known, but the character Charles Grandison was designed as a morally "better" hero than the character Tom Jones. In 1749, a friend asked Richardson "to give the world his idea of a good man and fine gentleman combined". Richardson hesitated to begin such a project, and he did not work on it until he was prompted the next year (June 1750) by Anne Donnellan and Miss Sutton, who were "both very intimate with one Clarissa Harlowe: and both extremely earnest with him to give them a good man". Near the end of 1751, Richardson sent a draft of the novel to Miss Donnellan, and the novel was being finalised in the middle of 1752.
While Thomas Killingbeck, a compositor, and Peter Bishop, a proofreader, were working for Richardson in his print shop during 1753, Richardson discovered that printers in Dublin had copies of The History of Sir Charles Grandison and began printing the novel before the English edition was to be published. Richardson suspected that they were involved with the unauthorized distribution of the novel and promptly fired them. Immediately following the firing, Richardson wrote to Lady Bradshaigh, 19 October 1753: "the Want of the same Ornaments, or Initial Letters [factotums], in each Vol. will help to discover them [if exported into England], although they should put the Booksellers Names that I have affixed. I have got some Friends to write down to Scotland, to endeavour to seize their Edition, if offered to be imported". There were four Dublin presses used to make unauthorized copies of the novel, but none of them were able to add the ornaments that could effectively mimic Richardson's own. However, there were still worries about the unlicensed copies, and Richardson relied on seven additional printers to speed up the production of Grandison.
In November 1753, Richardson ran an ad in The Gentleman's Magazine to announce the "History of Sir Charles Grandison: in a Series of Letters published from the Originals, — By the Editor of Pamela and Clarissa, London: Printed for S. Richardson, and sold by Dodsley in Pall Mall and others." The first four volumes were published on 13 November 1753 and the next two volumes appeared in December. The final volume was published in March to complete a seven volume series while a six volume set was simultaneously published. Richardson held the sole copyright to Grandison, and, after his death, twenty-fourth shares of Grandison were sold for 20 pounds each. Posthumous editions were published in 1762 (including revisions by Richardson) and 1810.
## Plot summary
As with his previous novels, Richardson prefaced the novel by claiming to be merely the editor, saying, "How such remarkable collections of private letters fell into the editor's hand he hopes the reader will not think it very necessary to enquire". However, Richardson did not keep his authorship secret and, on the prompting of his friends like Samuel Johnson, dropped this framing device from the second edition.
The novel begins with the character of Harriet Byron leaving the house of her uncle, George Selby, to visit Mr. and Mrs. Reeves, her cousins, in London. She is an orphan who was educated by her grandparents, and, though she lacks parents, she is heir to a fortune of fifteen thousand pounds, which causes many suitors to pursue her. In London, she is pursued by three suitors: Mr. Greville, Mr. Fenwick, and Mr. Orme. This courtship is followed by more suitors: Mr. Fowler, Sir Rowland Meredith, and Sir Hargrave Pollexfen. The final one, Pollexfen, pursues Byron vigorously, which causes her to criticise him over a lack of morals and decency of character. However, Pollexfen does not end his pursuits of Byron until she explains that she could never receive his visits again.
Pollexfen, unwilling to be without Byron, decides to kidnap her while she attended a masquerade ball at the Haymarket. She is then imprisoned at Lisson Grove with the support of a widow and two daughters. While he keeps her prisoner, Pollexfen makes it clear to her that she shall be his wife, and that anyone who challenges that will die by his hand. Byron attempts to escape from the house, but this fails. To prevent her from trying to escape again, Pollexfen transports Byron to his home at Windsor. However, he is stopped at Hounslow Heath, where Charles Grandison hears Byron's pleas for help and immediately attacks Pollexfen. After this rescue, Grandison takes Byron to Colnebrook, the home of Grandison's brother-in-law, the "Earl of L.".
After Pollexfen recovers from the attack, he sets out to duel Grandison. However, Grandison refuses on the grounds that dueling is harmful to society. After explaining why obedience to God and society are important, Grandison wins Pollexfen over and obtains his apology to Byron for his actions. She accepts his apology, and he follows with a proposal to marriage. She declines because she, as she admits, is in love with Grandison. However, a new suitor, the Earl of D, appears, and it emerges that Grandison promised himself to an Italian woman, Signorina Clementina della Porretta. As Grandison explains, he was in Italy years before and rescued the Barone della Porretta and a relationship developed between himself and Clementina, the baron's only daughter. However, Grandison could not marry her, as she demanded that he, an Anglican Protestant, become a Catholic, and he was unwilling to do so.
After he left, she grew ill out of despair, and the Porrettas were willing to accept his religion, if he would return and make Clementina happy once more. Grandison, feeling obligated to do what he can to restore Clementina's happiness, returns to Italy; however, Clementina determines she can never marry a "heretic", and so Grandison returns to England and Harriet who accepts him. They are married. Shortly after their marriage, they recieve news from the Poretta family that Clementina has fled Italy to avoid their further pressuring her to marry the Count of Belvedere, one of her suitors. The family believes that she has fled to England. Sir Charles finds her and shelters her while her family arrives in England to reconcile with her. Sir Charles negotiates a reconciliation on the terms that the family will leave it up to Clementina, without further pressure or urging, whether she will marry on the condition that she will abandon her plans to join a nunnery. While she is staying in England, Clementina becomes good friends with Harriet.
At the end of the novel, both of Sir Charles' sisters have recently had healthy babies. Sir Charles vivacious sister Charlotte's marriage has improved because she is showing her husband more respect and is excelling in her role as a mother, something she had originally dreaded. It is suggested that Harriet is pregnant. The Poretta family returns to Italy with Clementina saying she will take a year to collect her thoughts and then will decide whether to marry the Count of Belvedere. Sir Charles and Harriet say they will visit Italy in a year (presumably after Harriet has given birth). The novel ends with the death of Sir Hargrave Pollenfax, who dies miserably of wounds he suffered while behaving with iniquity toward another woman. He laments throwing his life away through immoral behavior and leaves Harriet a large amount of his estate to make up for his abuse of her. Thus, everyone is accorded their just deserts.
In a "Concluding Note" to Grandison, Richardson writes: "It has been said, in behalf of many modern fictitious pieces, in which authors have given success (and happiness, as it is called) to their heroes of vicious if not profligate characters, that they have exhibited Human Nature as it is. Its corruption may, indeed, be exhibited in the faulty character; but need pictures of this be held out in books? Is not vice crowned with success, triumphant, and rewarded, and perhaps set off with wit and spirit, a dangerous representation?" In particular, Richardson is referring to novels of Fielding, his literary rival. This note was published with the final volume of Grandison in March 1754, a few months before Fielding left for Lisbon. Before Fielding died in Lisbon, he included a response to Richardson in his preface to Journal of a Voyage to Lisbon.
## Structure
The epistolary form unites The History of Sir Charles Grandison with Richardson's Pamela and Clarissa, but Richardson uses the form in a different way for his final work. In Clarissa, the letters emphasise the plot's drama, especially when Lovelace alters Clarissa's letters. However, the dramatic mood is replaced in Grandison with a celebration of Grandison's moral character. In addition to this lack of dramatic emphasis, the letters of Grandison do not serve to develop character, as the moral core of each character is already complete at the outset.
In Richardson's previous novels, the letters operated as a way to express internal feelings and describe the private lives of characters; however, the letters of Grandison serve a public function. The letters are not kept to individuals, but forwarded to others to inform a larger community of the novel's action. In return, letters share the recipients' responses to the events detailed within the letters. This sharing of personal feelings transforms the individual responders into a chorus that praises the actions of Grandison, Harriet, and Clementina. Furthermore, this chorus of characters emphasises the importance of the written word over the merely subjective, even saying that "Love declared on paper means far more than love declared orally".
## Themes
20th-century literary critic Carol Flynn characterises Sir Charles Grandison as a "man of feeling who truly cannot be said to feel". Flynn claims that Grandison is filled with sexual passions that never come to light, and he represents a perfect moral character in regards to respecting others. Unlike Richardson's previous novel Clarissa, there is an emphasis on society and how moral characteristics are viewed by the public. As such, Grandison stresses characters acting in the socially accepted ways instead of following their emotional impulses. The psychological realism of Richardson's earlier work gives way to the expression of exemplars. In essence, Grandison promises "spiritual health and happiness to all who follow the good man's exemplary pattern". This can be taken as a sort of "political model of the wise ruler", especially with Charles's somewhat pacifist methods of achieving his goals.
Although Flynn believes that Grandison represents a moral character, she finds Grandison's "goodness" "repellent". Richardson's other characters, like Clarissa, also exhibit high moral characters, but they are capable of changing over time. However, Grandison is never challenged in the way that Clarissa is, and he is a static, passive character. Grandison, in all situations, obeys the dictates of society and religion, fulfilling obligations rather than expressing personality. However, a character like Harriet is able to express herself fully, and it is possible that Grandison is prohibited from doing likewise because of his epistolary audience, the public.
In terms of religious responsibility, Grandison is unwilling to change his faith, and Clementina initially refuses to marry him over his religion. Grandison attempts to convince her to reconsider by claiming that "her faith would not be at risk". Besides his dedication to his own religion, and his unwillingness to prevent Clementina from being dedicated to her own, he says that he is bound to helping the Porretta family. Although potentially controversial to the 18th century British public, Grandison and Clementina compromise by agreeing that their sons would be raised as Protestants and their daughters raised as Catholics. In addition to the religious aspects, the work gives "the portrait of how a good marriage should be created and sustained". To complement the role of marriage, Grandison opposes "sexual deviance" in the 18th century.
## Critical response
Richardson shared drafts of the novel with Dorothy Lady Bradshaigh who had contacted him anonymously when Clarissa was part published. He met her in March 1750 and she would make comments on his drafts of The History of Sir Charles Grandison and he would make amendments. Richardson wrote that his book was "owing to you ... more than to any one Person besides". Richardson valued her opinions and he planned to reissue Pamela and Clarissa based on her comments. Dorothy identified herself with the character of Charlotte in The History of Sir Charles Grandison.
Samuel Johnson was one of the first to respond to the published novel, but he focused primarily on the preface: "If you were to require my opinion which part [in the preface] should be changed, I should be inclined to the supression of that part which seems to disclaim the composition. What is modesty, if it deserts from truth? Of what use is the disguise by which nothing is concealed? You must forgive this, because it is meant well." Sarah Fielding, in her introduction to The Lives of Cleopatra and Octavia, claims that people have an "insatiable Curiosity for Novels or Romances" that tell of the "rural Innocence of a Joseph Andrews, or the inimitable Virtues of Sir Charles Grandison". Andrew Murphy, in the Gray's Inn Journal, emphasised the history of the production when he wrote:
> Mr. Richardson, Author of the celebrated Pamela, and the justly admired Clarissa... an ingenuous Mind must be shocked to find, that Copies of very near all this Work, from which the Public may reasonable expect both Entertainment and Instruction, have been clandestinely and fraudulently obtained by a Set of Booksellers in Dublin, who have printed of the same, and advertised it in the public Papers.... I am not inclined to cast national Reflections, but I must avow, that I looked up this to be a more flagrant and atrocious Proceeding than any I have heard of for a long Time.
Sir Walter Scott, who favoured the bildungsroman and open plots, wrote in his "Prefatory Memoir to Richardson" to The Novels of Samuel Richardson (1824):
> In his two first novels, also, he shewed much attention to the plot; and though diffuse and prolix in narration, can never be said to be rambling or desultory. No characters are introduced, but for the purpose of advancing the plot; and there are but few of those digressive dialogues and dissertations with which Sir Charles Grandison abounds. The story keeps the direct road, though it moves slowly. But in his last work, the author is much more excursive. There is indeed little in the plot to require attention; the various events, which are successively narrated, being no otherwise connected together, than as they place the character of the hero in some new and peculiar point of view. The same may be said of the numerous and long conversations upon religious and moral topics, which compose so great a part of the work, that a venerable old lady, whom we well knew, when in advanced age, she became subject to drowsy fits, chose to hear Sir Charles Grandison read to her as she sat in her elbow-chair, in preference to any other work, 'because,' said she, 'should I drop asleep in course of the reading, I am sure, when I awake, I shall have lost none of the story, but shall find the party, where I left them, conversing in the cedar-parlour.' — It is probable, after all, that the prolixity of Richardson, which, to our giddy-paced times, is the greatest fault of his writing, was not such an objective to his contemporaries.
Although Scott is antipathetic towards Richardson's final novel, not everyone was of the same opinion; Jane Austen was a devotee of the novel, which was part of her mental furniture to the point where she could claim to describe "all that was ever said or done in the cedar parlour". She would for example casually compare a flower in a new cap she got to the white feather described by Harriet Byron as being in hers. Nevertheless, throughout her life she also subjected Grandison to much affectionate, even satirical mockery - adapting it into a dramatic lampoon (not published until 1980) around 1800. Her juvenilia also included a heroine who guyed Harriet Byron's frequent fainting, through being "in such a hurry to have a succession of fainting fits, that she had scarcely patience enough to recover from one before she fell into another". As late as 1813, she would respond to a long letter from her sister Cassandra by exclaiming "Dear me!...Like Harriet Byron I ask, what am I to do with my Gratitude".
Later critics believed that it is possible that Richardson's work failed because the story deals with a "good man" instead of a "rake", which prompted Richardson's biographers Thomas Eaves and Ben Kimpel to claim, this "might account for the rather uneasy relationship between the story of the novel and the character of its hero, who is never credible in his double love – or in any love." Flynn agrees that this possibility is an "attractive one", and conditions it to say that "it is at least certain that the deadly weighted character of Sir Charles stifles the dramatic action of the book." John Mullan suggests that the problem stems from Grandison's role as a hero when he says, "his hero is able to display his virtue in action; as a consequence, Sir Charles Grandison presents its protagonist without the minutely analyzed reflexes of emotion that brought his heroines to life."
Some critics, such as Mark Kinkead-Weekes and Margaret Doody, like the novel and emphasise the importance of the moral themes that Richardson takes up. In a 1987 article, Kinkead-Weekes admits that the "novel fails at the [moral] crisis" and "it must be doubtful whether it could hope for much life in the concluding volumes". However, critics such as Jean Howard Hagstrum believe that "Richardson's last novel is considerably better than can be easily imagined by those who have only heard about it. But admittedly it represents a falling off after Clarissa". Morris Golden simply claims that the novel is a book for old men.
|
11,199,086 |
Ontario Highway 141
| 1,054,987,037 |
Ontario provincial highway
|
[
"Ontario provincial highways",
"Roads in Parry Sound District",
"Transport in Huntsville, Ontario"
] |
King's Highway 141, commonly referred to as Highway 141, is a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario. Its western terminus is at Highway 400 south of Horseshoe Lake in Seguin Township while its eastern terminus is at Highway 11 near Port Sydney. The route was designated in 1974 when Highway 532 was renumbered and upgraded from a secondary highway to a King's Highway. The route has remained generally unchanged since, though it was extended by several kilometres on October 7, 2003 when Highway 400 was extended north of Mactier.
## Route description
Highway 141 is 54.3 km long. It travels through Muskoka District and Parry Sound District, travelling through the communities of Humphrey, Rosseau, Bent River (off-route but nearby), Ullswater, Raymond and Utterson. The road passes several bodies of water including Lake Rosseau, Skeleton Lake, Longs Lake and others. Other lakes are accessible via Highway 141 including Three Mile Lake, Lake Joseph, Horse Lake and others.
Highway 141 is the first major highway connection between Highway 400 and Highway 11 north of Barrie and the Muskoka Lakes Region. The highway terminates at Exit 207 on both of these highways, and is the only highway in Ontario to begin and end at the same exit number. On Highway 400, the Highway 141 junction is located near the Parry Sound Area Municipal Airport. Rosseau is the largest community located directly on the route.
## History
While Highway 141 was not designated until the mid-1970s, the route it follows was assumed in early 1956 by the Department of Highways. At that time, the route existed as Highway 532 and Highway 516. These two routes met southeast of Raymond, at what is now the junction with Muskoka District Road 35. On January 1, 1973, the route of Highway 532 was modified so that it continued east along the former Highway 516 instead of curving south through Bracebridge. This routing was short-lived; in 1974 the Ministry of Transportation and Communications redesignated the entirety of Highway 532 as Highway 141.
On October 7, 2003, with the extension of Highway 400 between Mactier and Horseshoe Lake, the western terminus of Highway 141 was shifted from Highway 69 at Hayes Corners southwest to Highway 400, adding three kilometres of shared routing with Highway 69 and the access road to the Parry Sound Airport. In the summer of 2012, Highway 69 was decommissioned in the area; the old route is now known as Rankin Lake Road north of the shared segment and Lake Joseph Road south of it.
## Major intersections
|
28,405 |
Sigismund Báthory
| 1,165,984,069 |
Prince of Transylvania (1573–1613)
|
[
"1573 births",
"1613 deaths",
"16th-century Hungarian LGBT people",
"17th-century Hungarian LGBT people",
"Báthory family",
"Dukes of Opole",
"Hungarian Roman Catholics",
"LGBT Roman Catholics",
"People of the Long Turkish War",
"Princes of Transylvania",
"Voivodes of Transylvania"
] |
Sigismund Báthory (Hungarian: Báthory Zsigmond; 1573 – 27 March 1613) was Prince of Transylvania several times between 1586 and 1602, and Duke of Racibórz and Opole in Silesia in 1598. His father, Christopher Báthory, ruled Transylvania as voivode (or deputy) of the absent prince, Stephen Báthory. Sigismund was still a child when the Diet of Transylvania elected him voivode at his dying father's request in 1581. Initially, regency councils administered Transylvania on his behalf, but Stephen Báthory made János Ghyczy the sole regent in 1585. Sigismund adopted the title of prince after Stephen Báthory died.
The Diet proclaimed Sigismund to be of age in 1588, but only after he agreed to expel the Jesuits. Pope Sixtus V excommunicated him, but the ban was lifted in 1590, and the Jesuits returned a year later. His blatant favoritism towards the Catholics made him unpopular among his Protestant subjects. He decided to join the Holy League against the Ottoman Empire. Since he could not convince the Diet to support his plan, he renounced the throne in July 1594, but the commanders of the army convinced him to revoke his abdication. At their proposal, he purged the noblemen who opposed the war against the Ottomans. He officially joined the Holy League and married Maria Christina of Habsburg, a niece of the Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolph II. The marriage was never consummated.
Michael the Brave, Voivode of Wallachia, and Ștefan Răzvan, Voivode of Moldavia, acknowledged his suzerainty. Their united forces defeated an Ottoman army in the Battle of Giurgiu. The triumph was followed by a series of Ottoman victories, and Sigismund abdicated in favor of Rudolph II in early 1598, receiving the duchies of Racibórz and Opole as a compensation. His maternal uncle, Stephen Bocskai, persuaded him to return in late summer, but he could not make peace with the Ottoman Empire. He renounced Transylvania in favor of Andrew Báthory and settled in Poland in 1599. During the following years, Transylvania was regularly pillaged by unpaid mercenaries and Ottoman marauders. Sigismund returned at the head of a Polish army in 1601, but he could not strengthen his position. He again abdicated in favor of Rudolph and settled in Bohemia in June 1602. After he was accused of a conspiracy against the emperor, he spent fourteen months in jail in Prague in 1610 and 1611. He died at his Bohemian estate.
## Early life
Sigismund was the son of Christopher Báthory and his second wife, Elisabeth Bocskai. He was born in Várad (now Oradea in Romania) in 1573, according to the Transylvanian historian, István Szamosközy. At the time of Sigismund's birth, his uncle, Stephen Báthory, was the voivode of Transylvania. After being elected King of Poland in late 1575, Stephen Báthory adopted the title of Prince of Transylvania and made Sigismund's father voivode. Stephen Báthory set up a separate chancellery in Kraków to supervise the administration of the principality.
Sigismund's father and uncle were Roman Catholic, but his mother was Calvinist. According to the Jesuit Antonio Possevino, Sigismund demonstrated his devotion to Catholicism already at the age of seven. His mother mocked him for his piety, saying that he only wanted to secure his uncle's goodwill. Sigismund was especially hostile towards the Anti-Trinitarians in his youth. His mother died in early 1581.
## Reign
### Voivode
Christopher Báthory fell seriously ill after his wife's death. At his request, the Diet of Transylvania elected Sigismund voivode in Kolozsvár (present-day Cluj-Napoca in Romania) around 15 May 1581. Since Sigismund was still a minor, his dying father tasked a council of twelve noblemen with the government. Christopher Báthory's cousin, Dénes Csáky, and his brother-in-law, Stephen Bocskai, headed the council. Christopher Báthory died on 27 May.
The Ottoman Sultan, Murad III, confirmed Sigismund's election on 3 July 1581, reminding him of his obligation to pay a yearly tribute of 15,000 florins. However, Pál Márkházy, a young nobleman who lived in Istanbul, offered to double the tribute and to pay an additional tax of 100,000 florins if he was made the ruler of Transylvania. The Grand Vizier, Koca Sinan Pasha, supported Márkházy's claim. Taking advantage of the situation, Murad demanded the same payments from Sigismund, but Stephen Báthory and the "Three Nations of Transylvania" resisted. After receiving the customary tribute from Transylvania, the sultan again confirmed Sigismund's rule in November 1581.
Stephen Báthory who took charge of Sigismund's education confirmed the position of his Jesuit tutors, János Leleszi and Gergely Vásárhelyi. According to Szamosközy, Stephen Báthory also ordered Sigismund's companions to talk of foreign lands, wars, and hunting with him during their dinners together. He reorganized the government on 3 May 1583, charging Sándor Kendi, Farkas Kovacsóczy, and László Sombori with the administration of Transylvania during Sigismund's minority. The Diet suggested to Stephen Báthory that he dismiss them, but he only dissolved the council on 1 May 1585. He replaced the three councillors with the devout Calvinist János Ghyczy, making him regent for Sigismund.
### Prince under guardianship
Sigismund adopted the title of Prince of Transylvania after Stephen Báthory died on 13 December 1586. He was still a minor, and Ghyczy continued to rule as regent. Sigismund was one of the candidates to the throne of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. His advisors knew that he had little chance to win, but they wanted to demonstrate that the Báthorys had a valid claim to rule the Commonwealth. Kovacsóczy officially announced Sigismund's application at the Sejm (or general assembly) on 14 August 1587. Five days later, the assembly elected Sigismund III Vasa king. During the ensuing war of succession, Transylvanian troops supported Sigismund III against Maximilian of Habsburg, who had also laid claim to Poland and Lithuania.
Sigismund's cousins, Balthasar and Stephen Báthory, returned from Poland to Transylvania. Balthasar wanted to take charge of the government, making his court at Fogaras (present-day Făgăraș in Romania) the center of those who opposed Ghyczy's rule. Kovacsóczy, the chancellor of Transylvania, remained neutral in the conflict.
In October 1588 the Diet proposed to declare the sixteen-year-old Sigismund of age if he banished the Jesuits from Transylvania. He did not accept the offer, mainly because he did not want to expel his confessor, Alfonso Carillo. The Diet was dissolved, but Sigismund's cousins convinced him not to resist the Diet, which was dominated by Protestant delegates. The Diet was again summoned in late 1588; on 8 December it ordered the expulsion of the Jesuits and declared Sigismund to be of age.
### Internal conflicts
Sigismund took the customary oath of the Transylvanian monarchs on 23 December 1588. Pope Sixtus V excommunicated him for the expulsion of the Jesuits. Sigismund's cousin, Cardinal Andrew Báthory, urged the pope to lift the ban, saying that the prince's Protestant advisors had forced him to throw out the priests. The pope authorized Sigismund to employ a confessor in May 1589, and the excommunication was revoked on Easter 1590.
Sigismund made several attempts to strengthen the position of the Roman Catholic Church, especially by appointing Catholics to the highest positions of state administration. Carillo and other Jesuit priests returned to Sigismund's court in disguise in early 1591. Sigismund met Andrew and Balthasar Báthory in August to seek their support for the legalization of the Jesuits' presence, but they refused to stand by the priests at the Diet.
Sigismund dispatched his favorite, István Jósika, to Tuscany to start negotiations regarding his marriage to Eleonora Orsini (a niece of Ferdinando I de' Medici), although his cousins had sharply opposed Jósika's appointment. He also invited Italian artists and artisans to his court, making them his advisors or butlers. Szamosközy described them as "the trashiest representatives of the noblest nation". The delegates of the "Three Nations" criticized Sigismund for his prodigal way of life at the Diet in Gyulafehérvár in November. To reduce his authority, the Diet prescribed that Sigismund should only make decisions in the royal council. Sigismund deprived his cousins of the allowances that the royal treasury had paid to them.
Gossip about conspiracies spread during the following months. Sándor Kendi accused Sigismund's former tutor, János Gálffy, of deliberately stirring up debates between the prince and his cousins. Other courtiers claimed that Balthasar Báthory was planning to dethrone Sigismund. A Jesuit priest was informed at Vienna that Gálffy and his allies wanted to murder the prince and his cousins. In late 1591 Sigismund stated that he was willing to renounce in favor of Balthasar if the members of the royal council favored his cousin. His offer was refused, but during the debate Kendi referred to Sigismund and Balthasar as the "two monsters and greatest disasters of the Transylvanian realm". Pope Clement VIII's legate, Attilio Amalteo, mediated a reconciliation between Sigismund and his cousins in the summer of 1592. The pope also urged Sigismund to marry a Catholic princess from the House of Lorraine.
At the demand of the sultan, Transylvania troops assisted Aaron the Tyrant, Voivode of Moldavia. The sultan also ordered Sigismund to pay double the amount of the yearly tribute. Balthasar Báthory murdered Sigismund's secretary, Pál Gyulai, on 10 December 1592. He also persuaded Sigismund to order the execution of Gálffy on 8 March 1593. That summer, Sigismund went to Kraków in disguise to start negotiations regarding his marriage with Anna, the sister of Sigismund III of Poland. The Holy See had proposed the marriage, which could have enabled Sigismund to rule Poland during the absence of the king, who was also King of Sweden, but the plan came to nothing.
Murad III declared war against the Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolph in August. The sultan ordered Sigismund to send reinforcements to support the Ottoman army in Royal Hungary. According to diplomatic sources, the grand vizier was planning to occupy Transylvania. At the proposal of Jan Zamoyski, Chancellor of Poland, Sigismund sent envoys to Elizabeth I of England, asking her to intervene on his behalf at the Sublime Porte. She ordered her ambassador at Istanbul, Edward Barton, to support Sigismund.
Pope Clement VIII wanted to persuade Sigismund to join the Holy League that the pope had organized against the Ottoman Empire. After Rudolph's troops defeated the Ottomans in a series of battles in the autumn of 1593, Sigismund decided to join the Holy League, provided that Rudolph acknowledged the independence of Transylvania from the Hungarian Crown. However, the delegates of the Three Nations refused to declare war against the Ottoman Empire at three consecutive Diets between May and July. Sigismund abdicated, tasking Balthasar Báthory with the government in late July. Balthasar wanted to seize the throne, but Kovacsóczy, Kendi, and the other leading officials decided to set up an aristocratic council to administer Transylvania.
The commanders of the army (including Stephen Bocskai), and Friar Carillo jointly convinced Sigismund to return on 8 August. They also persuaded him to order the arrest of Kovacsóczy, Kendi, Balthasar Báthory, and twelve other noblemen who had opposed the war against the Ottomans on 28 August, accusing them of plotting. Sándor and Gábor Kendi were beheaded along with two other members of the royal council; Balthasar Báthory, Kovacsóczy, and Ferenc Kendi were strangled in prison. All but one murdered noblemen were Protestants, mostly Unitarians. Many of their relatives converted to Catholicism to prevent the confiscation of their estates.
### Holy League
Sigismund decided to join the Holy League together with Aaron the Tyrant, voivode of Moldavia, and Michael the Brave, voivode of Wallachia, on 5 October 1594. The two voivodes had started direct negotiations with the Holy See, but Sigismund, who claimed suzerainty over them, prevented them from conducting further direct negotiations. Sigismund's envoy, Stephen Bocskai, signed the document that confirmed the membership of Transylvania in the Holy League in Prague on 28 January 1595. According to the treaty, Rudolph II recognized Sigismund's hereditary right to rule Transylvania and Partium and to use the title of prince, but he also stipulated that the principality was to be re-united with the Hungarian Crown if Sigismund's family died out. The Diet of Transylvania confirmed the treaty on 16 April. The Diet also prohibited religious innovations, which gave rise to the persecution of Szekler Sabbatarians in Udvarhelyszék.
The Wallachian boyars and prelates recognized Sigismund's suzerainty over Wallachia on behalf of Michael the Brave in Gyulafehérvár on 20 May 1595. According to the treaty, Michael was forbidden to enter into an alliance with foreign powers without Sigismund's approval. The voivode's right to sentence his boyars to death was also limited. The Diet of Transylvanian was authorized to impose taxes in Wallachia with a council of twelve boyars. After Aaron the Tyrant refused to sign a similar treaty, Sigismund invaded Moldavia and captured him in Iași. He made Ștefan Răzvan the new voivode on 3 June, forcing him to swear fealty to him. Thereafter, Sigismund styled himself "By the Grace of God, Prince of Transylvania, Wallachia and Moldavia, Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, Count of the Székelys and Lord of Parts of the Kingdom of Hungary".
Sigismund married Maria Christina of Habsburg, a niece of Rudolph II, on 6 August. However, the marriage was never consummated. Sigismund accused Margit Majláth [Wikidata] (who was the mother of his executed cousin, Balthasar Báthory) of witchcraft, causing his impotence. Historian László Nagy notes that Sigismund's contemporaries made no reference to his relationship with women, showing that Sigismund was homosexual.
György Borbély, Ban of Karánsebes, captured Lippa (now Lipova in Romania) and other Ottoman fortresses along the Maros River before the end of August. Koca Sinan Pasha broke into Wallachia, forcing Michael the Brave to retreat towards Transylvania. Michael routed the invaders in the Battle of Călugăreni, but he could not prevent them from seizing Târgoviște and Bucharest. He withdrew to Stoenești to await the arrival of the Transylvanian and Moldavian troops.
Since the Ottoman army outnumbered the forces at Sigismund's disposal, he proposed the Székely commoners (who had been reduced to serfdom in the 1560s) to restore their freedom if they joined his campaign against the Ottomans. The Székelys accepted his offer, enabling Sigismund to launch a counter-invasion in Wallachia in early October. The united forces of Transylvania, Wallachia, and Moldavia defeated the retreating Ottoman army in the Battle of Giurgiu on 25 October. Although the victory was not decisive, the battle enabled the two voivodes to maintain their alliance with the Holy League.
Ignoring the Székely warriors' preeminent role during the war, the Diet of Transylvania refused to restore their freedom on 15 December. Sigismund left for Prague to start negotiations with Rudolph II in early January 1596, tasking his wife and Stephen Bocskai with the government. The Székelys tried to secure their freedom, but Bocskai repressed their movement with extraordinary cruelty during the "Bloody Carnival" in early 1596.
Rudolph II promised Sigismund to send reinforcements and money to continue the war against the Ottomans. Sigismund returned to Transylvania on 4 March. He laid siege to Temesvár (now Timișoara in Romania), but he lifted the siege when an Ottoman army of 20,000 strong approached the fortress. The Ottoman Sultan Mehmed III invaded Royal Hungary in summer. Sigismund joined his forces with the royal army, which was under the command of Maximilian of Habsburg. However, the Ottomans routed their united army in the Battle of Mezőkeresztes between 23 and 26 October.
Sigismund again went to Prague to meet Rudolph II and offered to abdicate in January 1597. After he returned to Transylvania, he restored the Roman Catholic bishopric in Gyulafehérvár. He sent envoys to Italy to demand the supreme command of a new Christian army, but his delegates at Istanbul started negotiations regarding a reconciliation with the sultan.
### Abdications and returns
The failure of his marriage and the defeats of the Holy League diminished Sigismund's self-confidence. He sent his envoys to Rudolph II and again offered to abdicate in September 1597. An agreement regarding his abdication was signed on 23 December 1597. Rudolph II granted Sigismund the Silesian duchies of Racibórz and Opole and a yearly subsidy of 50,000 thalers. The agreement was kept secret for months.
The Diet of Transylvania acknowledged Sigismund's abdication on 23 March 1598. Maria Christierna took charge of the government until the arrival of Maximilian of Habsburg, whom Rudolph II had appointed to administer Transylvania. Sigismund went to Silesia, but he did not like his new duchies. Bocskai, who had been dismissed after Sigismund's abdication, urged him to return.
Sigismund came to Kolozsvár on 21 August. On the following day, Bocskai convoked the Diet to his military camp at Szászsebes (now Sebeș in Romania), and the delegates proclaimed Sigismund prince. Most Transylvanians accepted the decision, but György Király, the deputy captain of Várad, remained loyal to Rudolph II. In September an Ottoman army invaded the principality, capturing the fortresses along the Maros. Sigismund sent his envoys to the commander of the army, Mehmed, convincing him to attack Várad instead of breaking into Transylvania proper.
All of Sigismund's attempts to make peace with the sultan failed. He sent his envoys to Prague to negotiate with Rudolph II, while his confessor, Carillo, started negotiations with Jan Zamoyski in Poland. At Sigismund's invitation, his cousin, Andrew Báthory, returned from Poland. Sigismund abdicated at the Diet in Medgyes (now Mediaș in Romania) on 21 March 1599. Eight days later, the Diet proclaimed Andrew Báthory prince, hoping that Andrew could make peace with the Ottomans with the assistance of Poland. Sigismund left Transylvania for Poland in June. His marriage with Maria Christierna was declared invalid in Rome in August.
Andrew Báthory lost his throne and his life fighting against Michael the Brave and his Székely allies in autumn. Michael the Brave administered Transylvania as Rudolph II's governor, but his rule was unpopular among the noblemen, especially because of the pillaging raids made by his unpaid soldiers. As early as 9 February 1600 Sigismund announced that he was ready to return to Transylvania. Moses Székely, a commander-in-chief during Michael the Brave's campaign against Moldavia in May, deserted Michael and came to Poland to meet Sigismund.
The elected leader of the Transylvanian noblemen, István Csáky, sought assistance from Rudolph II's military commander, Giorgio Basta, against Michael. Basta invaded Transylvania and expelled Michael the Brave in September. Basta's unpaid soldiers regularly pillaged the principality, while Ottoman and Tatar marauders made frequent incursions across the frontiers. Sigismund returned to Transylvania across Moldavia at the head of a Polish army on 24 March 1601. The Diet proclaimed him prince in Kolozsvár on 3 April. Basta and Michael the Brave invaded Transylvania in summer. They routed Sigismund's army in the Battle of Goroszló on 3 August 1601. After the battle, Sigismund fled to Moldavia, but he returned on 6 September.
The sultan's envoy confirmed Sigismund's position as Prince of Transylvania in Brassó (now Brașov in Romania) on 2 October. At the head of an army which also included Ottoman and Tatar soldiers, Sigismund expanded his rule over most regions of the principality, but he could not capture Kolozsvár in late November. He started new negotiations with Basta over his abdication in March 1602, because he did not trust his own supporters. He referred to them as "intoxicated and brutish sons of a bitch" and asked István Csáky to help him to leave their camp on 2 July. He left Transylvania for the last time on 26 July 1602.
## Last years
Basta's soldiers accompanied Sigismund to Tokaj. Before long, he went to Prague to beg for Rudolph II's mercy. He received the incolatus (or the right to own lands in Bohemia) in 1604. After the Diet of Transylvania proclaimed Stephen Bocskai prince in February 1605, Rudolph tried to persuade Sigismund to return to Transylvania, but he did not accept the offer. The ambassadors of Venice and Spain and the emperor again tried to convince him to lay claim to Transylvania in July 1606, but Sigismund refused, saying that he had no information about the affairs of his former principality. In December he again met Rudolph in Prague, but still resisted the emperor's offer.
Sigismund received the domain of Libochovice in Bohemia. After one of his employees accused him of plotting against the emperor, Sigismund was imprisoned for fourteen months in the jails of Prague Castle in 1610. Sigismund died of a stroke in Libochovice on 27 March 1613. He was buried in a crypt in the St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague.
## See also
- Moldavian Magnate Wars
- List of rulers of Transylvania
- János Baranyai Decsi
|
29,558,663 |
Caroline Lacroix
| 1,172,841,025 | null |
[
"1883 births",
"1948 deaths",
"Belgian baronesses",
"Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery",
"French prostitutes",
"Leopold II of Belgium",
"Mistresses of Belgian royalty",
"Morganatic spouses",
"Political sex scandals in Belgium",
"Romanian emigrants to Belgium",
"Royal scandals in Belgium"
] |
Blanche Zélia Joséphine Delacroix, better known as Caroline Lacroix (; 13 May 1883 – 12 February 1948), was the most prominent and notorious of Leopold II of Belgium's mistresses.
Delacroix, who was of French origin, met the king in Paris as a young girl, when she was only 16 and he was 65. At that time, she earned her living from prostitution. They soon embarked upon a relationship that was to last until his death in 1909. Leopold lavished upon her large sums of money, estates, gifts, and a noble title, baronne de Vaughan (Baroness Vaughan). Because of these presents, Caroline was deeply unpopular both among the Belgian people and internationally, as Leopold became increasingly criticized for his greed-induced actions in the Congo Free State, his own personal colony. As Caroline largely profited from the king's income from the colony, she became known as La reine du Congo ("The Queen of the Congo").
She and Leopold married in a religious ceremony five days before his death, though their failure to perform a civil ceremony rendered the marriage void under Belgian law. After the king's death, it was soon discovered that he had left Caroline numerous properties, items of high material value, Congolese bonds, and other valuable sources of income – all of which turned her into a multimillionaire. For years, the Belgian government and Leopold's three estranged daughters attempted to recover some of this wealth, with their success varying depending on the case. Caroline died on 12 February 1948 in Cambo-les-Bains, France.
## Early life
There remains a small degree of mystery concerning Caroline's early life. One account states that her father, Jules Delacroix, was a janitor of the French Legation at Bucharest. Another states that her father lived in Bucharest to seek his fortune, and she was born there as the thirteenth child of her parents. In her youth, Caroline worked as a barmaid.
Various sources assert that Caroline was a prostitute living in Paris. As a young woman, she was the mistress of Antoine-Emmanuel Durrieux, a former officer in the French army. According to Adam Hochschild, Durrieux liked to support the two of them by betting on horse races; when his luck soured, he became a form of pimp, prostituting Caroline to well-born clients. They undertook their schemes at the Élysée Palace, but frequently left debts unpaid. One day in 1900, while residing in Paris, Leopold II of Belgium heard of her "attractions" and felt interested in her modest beginnings. A woman sent by Leopold informed Caroline, "Madame, I am sent to you by a gentleman who has noticed you. He is a very high personage, but his exalted position obliges me to withhold his name".
A meeting was arranged for the following day; Caroline went to a secluded room, where Leopold arrived with two aides. As Leopold II was unknown to her, Caroline was so flustered with the encounter that she mixed up Belgium and Sweden in the king's presence, referring to him as His Majesty Oscar, to his surprise and amusement. The two aides' purpose soon became clear: one sat on each side of her and began asking questions that required her to "turn my head first to the right, then to the left ... their only aim, as I learned later, being to show off my two profiles to the mute personage", according to her memoirs. Leopold confessed himself pleased and invited Caroline to Austria with him; a large sum of money duly arrived the next day, along with some empty trunks, as Leopold was aware that she loved to buy clothes.
## Relationship with Leopold II
### Reaction in the press
As a mere sixteen-year-old (compared with Leopold's age of 65), Caroline's relationship with the old king quickly became public knowledge, causing Leopold to be labeled lecherous and besotted. Though Leopold had previously embarked upon affairs with other mistresses (earning him the nickname le roi des Belges et des Belles), his affair with Caroline was unique, and the Belgian press in particular enjoyed publicising their affair for years. Her habit of accompanying Leopold to fashionable spas in Europe provoked further disbelief and outrage, with some speculating that she perversely pleasured the old king with the use of strategically placed mirrors and "special" equipment. The young mistress became known as la reine du Congo because the great wealth she accumulated from Leopold came from the Congo Free State. She became his companion for the last years of his life, as his estranged wife Queen Marie Henriette died in 1902. Their relationship coincided with Leopold's worsening international reputation, which was the result of his actions and orders concerning the Congo Free State. Hochschild writes that their affair ironically lost Leopold more popularity in Belgium than any of his crimes in the Congo; consequently, few of his former allies were willing to defend him once he became the target of the international protest movement led by the Congo Reform Association. Belgian socialists in particular used the affair to prove that because Leopold was in his "dotage" and under the control of a "rapacious and ambitious woman", he was unfit to govern.
### A wealthy mistress
After Marie Henriette's death, Leopold's relationship with Caroline became flagrantly open, and he placed her across from his Laeken mansion, in the Villa Vanderborght, even building a pedestrian bridge (above the ground, and over the fences of the mansion) so he could see her at will. The bridge reveals the king's jealousy, although this may have been justified, as her former lover Durrieux had been caught with her on several occasions. Caroline tried to pass him off as her brother when Leopold caught the two together; one publication reported that she and Durrieux had placed secret electric bells in all her residences so that servants could warn her when the king was approaching.
Leopold spent vast sums of money on gifts and estates for his young mistress, presenting for instance the Villa Leopolda to Caroline in 1902. She frequently traveled to Paris to visit her dress- and hat-maker, once bragging that she spent three million francs on dresses at a single store on one occasion. Caroline once complained to Leopold that the evening express train back to Brussels gave her little time to shop, causing Leopold to arrange it so that the train would leave an hour later. When pregnant with their first child, the king and the French government even split the cost of constructing a new road close to her villa so that her ride would not be uncomfortable. Taking Caroline with him everywhere, the king spent much of his time outside Belgium on his various properties throughout Western Europe, and was much resented by the Belgian people as a result. Much of this time was spent with Caroline and their two sons at his estate at Cap Ferrat in southern France. Caroline also stayed at Chateau de Larmoy, which Leopold had rented for her; he acquired the French Chateau de Balaincourt as well as a villa in Brussels, where Caroline had no scruples in appearing in public. Though typically traveling incognito, she accompanied Leopold to the funeral of Queen Victoria in 1901, causing a great scandal. Her unpopularity in Belgium increased dramatically once it began to be realized that all of Leopold's riches from the Congo were not benefiting his country, but rather himself and his young mistress.
As the years went by and the king became increasingly prone to outbursts of anger, breaking with all his old relationships, it was said that only in Caroline and their sons' company did Leopold "recapture some of his vitality and Germanic humour". Caroline was described as having been above average in height, "plump but graceful, with a beautiful complexion and skin", with masses of chestnut hair; in character, she was "haughty, sharp, irritable" and ill-educated, and insisted on being treated with respect or else one would have to face the king's displeasure. She was also said to be in possession of "vivid conversational powers" and "dazzling youthfulness". Caroline was well-used to Leopold's "quirks", such as his extreme hypochondria; for instance, when she needed free time for herself, she coughed and pretended to have a cold; she used this "weapon" to keep scheming female rivals from gaining favor with the king as well, telling Leopold that they had colds. Rather than ignore their age difference, Caroline and Leopold seemed to enjoy it, she calling him Très Vieux and he calling her Très Belle.
### Marriage
The king became ill from an "intestinal blockage" at his home at Laeken, and his mistress and two sons rushed to his side. Five days before his death, on 12 December 1909, King Leopold married Caroline in a religious ceremony performed by his personal chaplain. The marriage had no legal authority under Belgian law, as it was performed religiously, not civilly. It was recognized by the Vatican, as their wedding was solemnized in accordance with the Catholic Church's religious rites. The marriage caused a great scandal in Belgium, as its citizens were shocked that the Church had not only sanctioned it, but also allowed Caroline to remain at his bedside, even when the priest was present. Despite their marriage, Caroline had to hide out of sight whenever a visitor arrived to see the king, though she stayed by his side otherwise.
Leopold died in the presence of Caroline and two nurses; his youngest legitimate child Princess Clémentine, who had been barred from entering his palace before, was still not allowed to go into his room despite his weakening condition. Princesses Louise and Stéphanie also traveled to Brussels for a hoped-for reconciliation with their father and changes to the king's will, but Leopold turned them away. Caroline claimed that right before his passing, Leopold turned to his aide Baron Auguste Goffinet and said "I present you my widow. I place her under your protection during the few days she'll spend in Belgium after my death". Hochschild speculates that it is likely the king said this or something similar, as he was well-aware how much his daughters and the public loathed her, particularly when they discovered just how much he had left her and their sons.
### Issue
Caroline and Leopold had two sons together:
- Lucien Philippe Marie Antoine (9 February 1906 – 15 November 1984), Duke of Tervuren; he married Lucie Gracieuse Mundutey (30 October 1900 – 8 February 2005) on 1 March 1927.
- Philippe Henri Marie François (16 October 1907 – 21 August 1914), Count of Ravenstein; died young.
Like Caroline herself (who was created Baroness Vaughan upon the birth of their first son), the two boys were granted courtesy titles, but no official royal decrees were ever issued by Leopold, the Belgian government, or any other foreign state, causing them to be merely honorary. Because of their parents' legally invalid marriage, their two sons were still deemed illegitimate. Upon each of their births, they had been registered in France under Caroline's name; no mention of Leopold or another potential father was made. Despite these facts, there were fears in Belgium that Leopold would recognize his eldest son as heir to the throne. Had Leopold married in a legal civil ceremony, the boy could have indeed inherited the throne, because all classes were equal under the Belgian constitution, and thus their marriage would not have been considered morganatic. In 1910, the two boys were adopted by Antoine Durrieux, whom Caroline married soon after Leopold's death.
Leopold was devoted to his sons, and much of the wealth Caroline inherited went to the two; she once reportedly boasted that because she was able to marry the king, her sons were in better standings than Charles Beauclerk, 1st Duke of St Albans, the illegitimate son of Nell Gwyn and Charles II of England. Because of these gifts, Caroline was loathed by the Belgian public; on one occasion, her carriage was stoned on the streets of Brussels.
Their second son was born with a deformed hand, leading a cartoon to depict Leopold holding the child surrounded by Congolese corpses with their hands sliced off: the caption said "Vengeance from on high".
## Later years
Leopold gave his mistress vast sums of money by investing large sums in her name or confiding in trustees for her benefit. He also arranged for his two sons to be well provided for after his death. Under Belgian law, his three remaining legitimate children were entitled to a considerable portion of his estate, regardless of the contents of his will. However, this applied only in Belgium and not abroad; consequently, much of the wealth he distributed for safekeeping was in foreign investments or in the shape of paintings, bric-a-brac, and art treasures that could be easily converted into cash. Leopold transferred Caroline a fortune in Congo securities, which were added to the already vast sum of six million francs he had previously presented her. Princess Louise soon went after these securities, but with the help of men loyal to the king, Caroline was able to safely spirit away the majority of her wealth to Paris; two of her estates (in Brussels and in France) were boarded up however, disallowing her from entering them.
The exact degree of Caroline's wealth was always difficult to trace, as the king had placed so much of it in different sources often hard to locate and measure both during his lifetime and after his death. One 1912 source for instance reported that out of the king's estimated estate of \$65,000,000, Caroline received \$7,000,000, while others stressed still higher numbers, and that the majority of it came from Congo shares.
### Legal suits
The old king's estrangement from his three daughters from his first marriage (Princesses Louise, Stéphanie, and Clémentine) spurred Leopold to keep or give as much wealth away as possible in order to disinherit the girls. An Austrian newspaper claimed that right before he died, Leopold personally gave Caroline his large collection of personal letters as well as documents detailing information about various European royal figures, which greatly worried his eldest daughter. After his death, the three princesses sued his estate for several million francs, although this was only a very small portion compared with the fortune he accumulated. The fortune was so large that the princesses were still attempting to recover some of Caroline's wealth four years after their father's death, claiming that Caroline and Durrieux had speedily ransacked one of Leopold's properties in Paris and seized important financial documents before the Belgian envoy to France appeared. A trust of \$10,000,000 the king had placed in Caroline and their two sons' names became a target of the princesses; they and the Belgian government argued that the trust formed part of Leopold's private estate, and thus all three girls and the government had a right to their share, as its funds had derived from the Congo Free State. The Belgian government's lawsuit succeeded, allowing them to collect the entire trust, but it also diminished the share the princesses received (as each collected a comparatively meager \$1,000,000). Belgian statesman Emile Vandervelde later charged in an open letter that Leopold had given Caroline \$6,000,000 worth of Congo bonds which had been found to be previously missing when Belgium annexed the colony.
### Second marriage, divorce and death
An extremely rich widow (Leopold's gifts left her a multimillionaire), Caroline continued to appear in newspapers long after Leopold's death. She married Antoine Durrieux (1865–1917), her former love and longtime friend, in 1910, seven months after the king's death. He was formerly a non-commissioned officer in the French army, and served as her chief agent at the time of Leopold's death, helping her collect the necessary papers to secure her inherited fortune. Because of Durrieux's earlier role in prostituting Caroline off for money, Adam Hochschild speculates that if she had shared some of her riches with him, their arrangement was "surely one of the most successful feats of pimpery of all time". Though Durrieux recognized her two sons as his own offspring, giving them his surname, he disliked how Caroline insisted he acknowledge their noble ranks when in their presence.
Caroline and her second husband divorced soon after, and she was able to keep the bulk of her wealth intact (though she settled on Durrieux a sum of one million dollars in order to retain custody of her two sons). Various suitors often in her entourage, such as Count Boni de Castellane and Gaston Bonnefoy (friend of Toulouse Lautrec), were reported to be engaged or interested in her, particularly after her divorce. She never remarried. Caroline's younger son died in 1914, but the elder lived a long, quiet life on his inherited wealth, dying in 1984.
In 1937, Caroline published her memoirs, a Commoner Married a King: As Told by Baroness De Vaughan to Paul Faure; in it, she stated she had loved and was faithful to the king, and that he had loved her and their two sons. Caroline died on 12 February 1948 in Cambo-les-Bains, Pyrénées-Atlantiques in southern France.
|
28,715,587 |
Coast Guard Squadron One
| 1,149,374,372 | null |
[
"Military units and formations established in 1965",
"Military units and formations established in 1970",
"Military units and formations of the United States in the Vietnam War",
"United States Coast Guard",
"Units and organizations of the United States Coast Guard"
] |
Coast Guard Squadron One, also known in official message traffic as COGARDRON ONE or RONONE, was a combat unit formed by the United States Coast Guard in 1965 for service during the Vietnam War. Placed under the operational control of the United States Navy, it was assigned duties in Operation Market Time. Its formation marked the first time since World War II that Coast Guard personnel were used extensively in a combat environment.
The squadron operated divisions in three separate areas during the period of 1965 to 1970. Twenty-six Point-class cutters with their crews and a squadron support staff were assigned to the U.S. Navy with the mission of interdicting the movement of arms and supplies from the South China Sea into South Vietnam by Viet Cong and North Vietnam junk and trawler operators. The squadron also provided naval gunfire support to nearby friendly units operating along the South Vietnamese coastline and assisted the U.S. Navy during Operation Sealords. As the United States' direct involvement in combat operations wound down during 1969, squadron crews began training Republic of Vietnam Navy (RVN) sailors in the operation and deployment of the cutters. The cutters were later turned over to the RVN as part of the Vietnamization of the war effort. Turnover of the cutters to RVN crews began in May 1969 and was completed by August 1970. Squadron One was disestablished with the decommissioning of the last cutter.
The squadron was awarded several unit citations for its service to the U.S. Navy and the South Vietnamese government during the six years the unit was active with over 3,000 Coast Guardsmen serving aboard cutters and on the squadron support staff. Six squadron members were killed in action during the time the unit was commissioned.
Squadron One, along with American and South Vietnamese naval units assigned to the task force that assumed the Market Time mission, were successful interdicting seaborne North Vietnamese personnel and equipment from entering South Vietnamese waters. The success of the blockade served to change the dynamics of the Vietnam War, forcing the North Vietnamese to use a more costly and time-consuming route down the Ho Chi Minh trail to supply their forces in the south.
## Background
As the United States military involvement in South Vietnam shifted from an advisory role to combat operations, advisors from Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV) to the South Vietnamese military noticed an increase in the amount of military supplies and weapons being smuggled into the country by way of North Vietnamese junks and other small craft. The extent of infiltration was underscored in February 1965 when a U.S. Army helicopter crew spotted a North Vietnamese trawler camouflaged to look like an island. The event would later be known as the Vung Ro Bay Incident, named for the small bay that was the trawler's destination. After the U.S. Army helicopter crew called in air strikes on the trawler, it was sunk and captured after a five-day action conducted by elements of the Republic of Vietnam Navy (RVN). Investigators found one million rounds of small arms ammunition, more than 1,000 stick grenades, 500 pounds of prepared TNT charges, 2,000 rounds of 82 mm mortar ammunition, 500 anti-tank grenades, 1,500 rounds of recoilless rifle ammunition, 3,600 rifles and sub-machine guns, and 500 pounds of medical supplies. Labels on captured equipment and supplies and other papers found in the wreckage indicated that the shipment was from North Vietnam. Concern by top MACV advisors as to whether the RVN was up to the task of interdicting shipments originating in North Vietnam led to a request by General William C. Westmoreland, commanding general of MACV, for U.S. Navy assistance.
The request was initially filled by U.S. Navy radar picket destroyer escorts (DER) and minesweepers (MSO) in March when Operation Market Time was started, but these vessels had too great a draft to operate effectively in shallow coastal waters. In April the U.S. Navy ordered 54 Patrol Craft Fast (PCF) (known as Swift Boats), 50-foot (15 m) aluminum-hulled boats with a draft of only 5 feet (1.5 m) and capable of 25 knots (29 mph; 46 km/h). At the same time, the U.S. Navy queried the Treasury Department, the lead agency for the U.S. Coast Guard at the time, about the availability of suitable vessels. The Coast Guard had only a very minor role in combat operations during the Korean War and the Commandant of the Coast Guard, Admiral Edwin J. Roland, responded to the request by offering the use of 82-foot (25 m) Point-class cutters (WPB) and 40-foot (12 m) utility boats, fearing that, if the Coast Guard were left out of a role in Vietnam, its status as one of the nation's armed services might be jeopardized.
The decision to use the Point-class cutter was one of logistics. The 95-foot (29 m) Cape-class cutter was initially considered an option by Roland since it had a greater speed because of its four main drive engines. The Point-class cutter had only two main drive engines but they were more consistent throughout the class than the Cape-class cutters, so it was easier to supply spare parts and maintain the engines. Additional factors favoring the Point-class cutter were an unmanned engine room with all controls and alarms on the bridge, and air-conditioned living spaces, a big factor in a tropical climate where crews were expected to live on the boat whether on or off duty. The 40-foot utility boats were rejected because they lacked radar, berthing, and mess facilities for extended patrols offshore.
On 22 April representatives of the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Navy signed a memorandum of understanding stating that the Coast Guard would supply 17 Point-class cutters and their crews and the Navy would provide transport to South Vietnam and logistical support with two tank landing ships (LST) that had been converted to repair ships. Ten of the cutters were sourced from stations on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts and seven were sourced from Pacific coast stations. After removal of the Oerlikon 20–mm cannon on the bow, in place of which each cutter was fitted with a combination mount consisting of an 81 mm mortar which could be either drop-fired or trigger-fired, above which was mounted a .50 caliber M2 Browning machine gun. The mortar could be fired in both indirect and direct modes, and was equipped with a recoil cylinder. The cutters were loaded on merchant ships for shipment to U.S. Naval Base Subic Bay in the Philippines. On 29 April President Lyndon B. Johnson authorized Coast Guard units to operate under Navy command in Vietnam and to provide surveillance and interdiction assistance to U.S. Navy vessels and aircraft in an effort to stop the infiltration of troops, weapons and ammunition into South Vietnam by People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) and Viet Cong (VC) forces.
## Crew training and unit commissioning
While the cutters were being shipped to Subic Bay, crew members started reporting to Coast Guard Training Center Alameda, California on 17 May 1965 for overseas processing and training. The cutter crews received one week of small arms training at Naval Amphibious Base Coronado and Camp Pendleton while Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE) training was received at Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center, near Coleville, California, in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station, Washington. Returning to Alameda, they underwent refresher firefighting and damage control training from the Navy at Treasure Island Naval Base. Additional weapons qualifications and live fire exercises were held at Coast Guard Island and Camp Parks, California, along with refresher training in radar navigation, radio procedures and visual signaling. Gun crews received mortar and machine gun training at Camp Pendleton. Of the 245 personnel assigned to the unit only 131 were present at the squadron commissioning ceremony held at Alameda on 27 May with the remainder of the crews in the process of completing training elsewhere. For service in Vietnam, two officers were added to the normal crew complement of eight to add seniority to the crew in the mission of interdicting vessels at sea. All officers assigned to command cutters were required to be lieutenants and to have previously commanded a Cape-class cutter and had to volunteer for the assignment. The executive officer was either a lieutenant junior grade or ensign.
## Naval Base Subic Bay
### Divisions 11 and 12
The first crews arrived at Subic Bay on 11 June and a squadron office was established. On 12 June 1965, the squadron came under the operational control of the commander, Vietnam Patrol Force (CTF 71). Administrative control for personnel actions such as pay and personnel records was retained by the Coast Guard. The first cutters arrived at Subic Bay on 17 June and before they were put in the water each hull bottom was inspected, repaired if necessary and painted from the waterline down. Mechanical, ordnance, electrical and electronic maintenance checks were completed before any modifications for duty in Vietnam were attempted. Modifications completed at Subic Bay included new radio transceivers, fabrication of gunner's platforms and ammunition ready boxes for the mortar, the addition of floodlights for night boardings, installation of small arms lockers on the mess deck and addition of sound-powered telephone circuits. Additional bunks and refrigerators were added to increase patrol on-station time. Modifications were made to the bow-mounted over-under machine gun mortar combination allowing it to be depressed below the horizon for close-range firing. Four additional M2 machine guns with ready boxes were added to the gunwales of each cutter.
As the crews arrived from the United States, they began doing required modification work in the shipyard and shakedown sorties in an effort to get all systems working. Night training exercises and gunnery drills were held each day and underway drills and training had been completed and commissary stores loaded by 9 July. A one-day survival training course was conducted by Negrito natives and completion was compulsory for all squadron personnel. When it became known that the cutters would be operating in two widely separated locations, Squadron One was divided into two divisions with Division 11 operating in the Gulf of Thailand at An Thới, Phu Quoc Island and Division 12 operating near the port of Da Nang close to the Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). Division 11 consisted of nine cutters and Division 12 consisted of eight cutters. At 16:00 on 16 July, Division 12 got underway and once out of the harbor they formed up on USS Snohomish County, the LST permanently assigned to support the division at Da Nang. Division 11 and USS Floyd County, the division's LST support ship, left Subic Bay bound for Phu Quoc Island at 08:00 on 24 July
### Division 13
After reviewing a study of the overall infiltration threat, MACV requested additional aircraft and patrol vessels for Operation Market Time. A request for an additional division of Point-class cutters to be added to Squadron One was made on 5 August 1965 and preparations for deploying the additional cutters started in late October with the new division of nine patrol boats to be named Division 13. The staff and repair personnel arrived at Subic Bay 14 December 1965 while the division's boat crews received weapons and undertook survival training in California. The crews started arriving at Subic Bay on 28 December where additional survival and weapons training was given. Twenty-one of the division's personnel were sent to Divisions 11 and 12 to be exchanged for crewmen who had Market Time experience. Division 13 cutters began arriving as deck cargo on transport ships at Subic Bay on 24 January 1966 and crews commenced outfitting and painting them deck gray. Some of the outfitting had been accomplished before shipment so that more time could be devoted to training crews in gunnery and procedure before the division's scheduled departure for Vietnam on 18 February. During a training exercise on 13 February, the main engine alarm sounded on the bridge of . After checking the cause of the alarm, it was determined that a complete overhaul of one of the engines would be required. Division 12 shipped a complete kit of repair parts from Da Nang overnight by way of a U.S. Marine Corps C-130 flight to Cubi Point Naval Air Station. The flight was met by division personnel and repairs commenced. Divided into three shifts, the crews worked around-the-clock and the repairs were completed in 72 hours. A partial load break-in was made the morning of departure and the rest of the procedure was completed while the division was en route to Vietnam. At 16:00 on 18 February, Division 13 left Subic Bay in the company of USS Forster, arriving at the RVN Base at Cat Lo on 22 February. Patrol work for six of the division's cutters began at 08:00 the following morning, covering the area from 60 miles (97 km) north of Vung Tau to 120 miles (193 km) south.
## Operations
### Arrival in South Vietnam
Division 12 arrived at the port city of Da Nang at 07:00 on 20 July 1965 and was the first U.S. Coast Guard unit to be stationed in South Vietnam. The morning after their arrival five of the division's eight cutters prepared to get underway for their first patrol accompanied by the Navy destroyer USS Savage, which coordinated the Market Time assets in the Da Nang area.
Division 11 arrived at Con Son Island on 29 July taking shelter from heavy seas and monsoon rains that had developed during the transit. Point Banks was the only cutter to have engine problems during the transit and repairs were made in the cramped engine room while underway so that no time was lost by the division during transit. During the lay over at Con Son minor repairs were made and repainting was completed on some of the cutters' hulls which had been partially stripped of paint by the storm. Three RVN liaison officers reported aboard the cutters just before the division departed for Phu Quoc Island and the same three cutters started patrol work as the rest of the division put into Phu Quoc harbor on 31 July. On 30 July operational control of all Market Time elements, whether U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard or RVN, was transferred to the Commander, Task Force 115 (TF115).
### Market Time operational theory
Market Time planners sectioned off nine patrol areas numbered in order from the DMZ in the north to the Cambodian border in the south. The areas varied in size, measuring 80 by 120 miles (130 km × 190 km) wide and running 30 to 40 miles (48 to 64 km) out to sea. The outer two-thirds of each area was covered by the U.S. Navy DER and MSO fleet and was identified by the area number with the suffix "B". After May 1967 high endurance cutters (WHEC) from Coast Guard Squadron Three also assisted in the outer patrol areas. Because the inner third of each patrol area was usually shallow water it was covered by Navy PCFs and Coast Guard WPBs which had shallow drafts. These smaller patrol areas were identified by a letter "C" or higher. Thus, the patrol area covering the waters near Cam Ranh Bay would have the outer two-thirds designated "4B" and the waters nearer shore designated "4C" through "4H". Overflying the whole area were Navy patrol aircraft that flew various assigned tracks, reporting any traffic to watchstanders stationed at five Coastal Surveillance Centers (CSC) operated jointly by the U.S. Navy and RVN. Reports of movements by suspicious vessels were relayed to the nearest Market Time patrol craft whose duty it was to board and search for contraband material and persons on board without proper identification. The rules of engagement that Market Time forces operated under allowed any vessel except warships to be stopped, boarded and searched within three miles (4.8 km) of the coastline and from the area three miles to twelve miles (19 km) from shore, identification and a declaration of intent could be demanded of any vessel except a warship. Outside the twelve-mile limit only vessels of South Vietnamese origin could be stopped, boarded and searched.
While on patrol the cutters operated under orders from an operational commander at the CSC and not the division commander to which they were assigned. The division was responsible for seeing that each cutter was ready to perform her assignments and properly supplied with trained personnel, supplies and equipment. Each division's staff performed regular readiness reviews on each assigned cutter; riding with the crews to judge their effectiveness.
On 30 September 1968, Vice Admiral Elmo Zumwalt assumed command of Naval Forces Vietnam and he redirected the focus of interdiction operations conducted by TF115 to areas nearer the DMZ as a part of Operation Sealords (Southeast Asia Lake, Ocean, River, and Delta Strategy). The result was that all but four Division 11 WPBs were transferred to Divisions 12 and 13 and the shallower draft U.S. Navy PCFs that had been used for patrol duties at the DMZ were used to patrol the canals and rivers.
### Major cutter operations
#### 1965
Soon after patrol operations started in Division 12's area of responsibility (AOR), encountered machine gun and mortar fire from the shore south of the Cửa Việt River while attempting to board a junk in the early morning hours of 24 July 1965. The Point Orient returned fire, and in doing so it became the first Coast Guard unit in Vietnam to engage the enemy. As a result of the incident, it became obvious to the skipper of the Point Orient that the paint scheme used by the Coast Guard in the U.S. was too visible at night and shortly thereafter the white paint was replaced by deck gray on all WPBs in Squadron One. On assuming control, the TF115 commander changed the way patrols were conducted in the DMZ. Future patrols were concentrated along the DMZ for most of the WPBs and PCFs with only a few assets placed in the Da Nang area. Assets were concentrated where vessel traffic was encountered; most traffic near the Da Nang area was interdicted further out to sea by the DERs and WHECs and fewer shallow draft assets were needed there.
19 September was a busy day for Division 11 in the Gulf of Thailand with encountering a junk that fired on her and when unable to escape tried to ram the cutter. The VC crew jumped overboard and Point Glover disabled the junk's engine with machine gun fire. A boarding party from Point Glover boarded the sinking junk and did a quick search of the vessel, finding arms and ammunition. Unable to stop the junk from sinking, she was beached in shallow water while , and went searching for the missing junk crew; however, only one crew member was captured. Later that night Point Marone attempted to stop an unlit junk near the coastal town of Ha Tien but the junk ignored a warning shot across her bow and attempted to evade boarding while firing at the cutter and throwing hand grenades. Point Glover was nearby and assisted Point Marone in engaging the junk with machine gun fire. The junk caught fire and started sinking. Unable to keep the junk afloat the cutter crews marked it with a buoy and let it sink in shallow water. Salvage operations conducted later found rifles, ammunition, hand grenades, documents and money. Eleven VC were killed in the action and one badly wounded crewman was captured ashore.
#### 1966
After Division 13's arrival at Cat Lo on 22 February 1966, operations started at nearby Rung Sat Special Zone; an area of tidal mangrove swamp southeast of Saigon that straddled the Long Tau River, the main shipping channel to the Port of Saigon. was patrolling on the night of 9 March and intercepted a small junk attempting to smuggle supplies across the Soai Rạp River. After hailing the junk and receiving automatic weapons fire in reply, the cutter returned fire and killed several VC. They continued to fire on Point White so the skipper ordered the helmsman to ram the junk amidships at full speed. All but four of the crew of the junk were killed. One of the survivors turned out to be a key leader in the VC Rung Sat infrastructure. On 15 March engaged and damaged another junk, but shallow water allowed the junk to escape. On 22 March drew fire from another junk on the river. In the battle that followed, an estimated ten VC were killed. In conjunction with a joint U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps operation designated Operation Jackstay, several Division 13 cutters were ordered to patrol the lower portion of the Soi Rap River in an effort to deny food, water, and ammunition to the VC operating in the Rung Sat Special Zone. From the start of patrols on 10 March until the ships of the amphibious ready group put the Marines ashore on the Long Thành peninsula on 26 March, Division 13 cutters had taken fire from the shore almost every night during patrol operations. Some of the most intense combat operations that Squadron One encountered occurred during March 1966 in support of Operation Jackstay. The joint operation ended 6 April with the withdrawal of the Marine Amphibious Force but the skipper of Point Partridge decided to continue the patrols after the operation ended. On the night patrols from 1 to 6 May Point Partridge engaged VC junks or received fire from the shore every night.
While patrolling off the coast of the Ca Mau Peninsula in the late evening hours of 9 May 1966 reported sighting two large bonfires on the shore near the mouth of the Rach Gia River. Since this was an unusual activity the skipper decided to monitor the area for the remainder of the night. Shortly after midnight, a steel-hulled trawler was spotted and challenged but Point Grey received no answer. The trawler continued on a course headed for the beach area near the bonfires and ran aground 400 yards (370 m) from the shore. After daybreak Point Grey attempted to board the trawler but encountered heavy fire from the shore. After requesting assistance from the CSC, Point Grey stood off from the trawler until destroyer escort USS Brister arrived on scene. With Brister standing in deeper water and Republic of Vietnam Air Force A-1E Skyraider aircraft bombing the beach nearby, Point Grey attempted a boarding but she received very heavy small arms fire from VC positions beyond the beach which heavily damaged the bridge and wounded three of her crew manning the mortar on the bow. With evening approaching it was decided by CSC to destroy the trawler and Point Grey assisted by began mortaring the trawler. During the shelling an explosion on board the trawler broke it in two pieces and caused it to sink in the shallow waters. Salvage operations began the next morning and included the recovery of six crew served weapons and 15 short tons (14,000 kg) of ammunition of Chinese manufacture. The destruction of the trawler marked the first instance of the capture of a trawler by Market Time assets.
While on patrol near the mouth of the Co Chien River in the early hours of 20 June, the skipper of Point League noted a large radar contact which, upon further investigation, was found to be running without navigation lights. After informing the CSC of the situation the cutter went to general quarters and spotlighted the incoming trawler. The trawler ignored a hail from Point League and two bursts of machine gun fire across its bow. The trawler returned with heavy machine gun fire hitting the cutter's bridge and wounding the executive officer and a crewman manning the mortar on the forecastle. The trawler dropped the line on a towed junk and picked up speed in an effort to beach along the shore. When the commanding officer of Point League noticed that the trawler was headed for shoal water near the mouth of the river, he let the trawler run aground 75 yards (69 m) from shore and moved to a position 1,000 yards (910 m) away while keeping the target illuminated with mortar rounds. Point League then came under fire from VC elements operating from just behind the shoreline. With assistance from Point Slocum the two cutters poured machine gun fire into the grounded trawler. Just after dawn the trawler was sunk by what was probably a scuttling charge resulting in a large fire. At 07:15 destroyer escort USS Haverfield arrived on scene and assumed control of the operation. With the assistance of two U.S. Air Force F-100 Super Sabre aircraft providing close air support, resistance from the shoreline was finally controlled. It was decided by the commanding officer of the Haverfield that salvage of the trawler would be attempted in order to learn more about the trawler, its origins and the cargo on board. The crews of the two cutters were joined by Point Hudson and dock landing ship USS Tortuga and several RVN junks in fighting the fire and beginning salvage operations. After patching the hull and dewatering; the trawler was eventually towed to the RVN shipyard at Vung Tau. The 99-foot (30 m) trawler yielded valuable information about the capabilities of that particular class of trawler. It was carrying about 100 short tons (91,000 kg) of small arms and ammunition of recent manufacture in China and North Korea. The surviving log and navigation charts helped determine the trawler's origin and two possible destinations.
##### Point Welcome incident
Point Welcome was patrolling Area 1A1 immediately south of the DMZ in the early morning hours of 11 August 1966. At 03:40 the cutter was illuminated by a U.S. Air Force forward air controller (FAC) who mistook her for an enemy vessel. The FAC called in one B-57 Canberra tactical bomber and two F-4 Phantom fighter-bomber aircraft which proceeded to strafe the cutter for about one hour, each making from seven to nine passes. Point Welcome turned on all of her running and docking lights when first illuminated by the FAC aircraft and contacted the CSC by radio telling them that they were being illuminated by aircraft. During the first pass all of the crew on the bridge were wounded and the commanding officer, Lieutenant Junior Grade David Brostrom, was killed along with the helmsman, Engineman Second Class Jerry Phillips. All signaling equipment, electronics and radios were knocked out on the first pass. Point Welcome began evasive maneuvers at the direction of Chief Boatswains Mate Richard Patterson, who had assumed command after the executive officer was seriously injured. Patterson attempted to avoid the illumination lights of the attacking aircraft and move out of the way of the strafing aircraft. At 04:15 Patterson decided that the best course of action was to beach the cutter and move the wounded ashore, however when this was attempted, the crew came under fire from unknown sources from the shoreline. At 04:25 Point Orient and arrived on the scene and started rescue proceedings. In addition to the commanding officer, one other crewman was killed, nine other crewmen were injured along with a RVN liaison officer and civilian freelance journalist Tim Page. The bridge of the cutter was severely damaged and despite nine 5 to 9 inches (13 to 23 centimetres) wide holes in the main deck, the hull was undamaged. Point Welcome was escorted back to Da Nang under her own power and required three months to repair the damage. Patterson saved the cutter and the surviving crew at great risk to himself. He was awarded a Bronze Star with the combat "V" device for his actions.
After eight days of testimony the findings of a board of investigation conducted by MACV were forwarded to the Commandant of the Coast Guard:
> It is evident from the record that there was a lack of communication between different forces operating in the same area, and that existing orders and instructions pertaining to identification and recognition of friendly forces were not observed.
As a result of the investigation, lines of communication were set up between the Navy and the Air Force. The Air Force knew nothing of Operation Market Time and did not routinely communicate with Naval Forces, Vietnam. To avoid a repetition of the incident, aircraft patrolling near the DMZ were instructed not to attack vessels without first contacting CSC Da Nang for clearance.
#### 1967
In the late evening hours of 1 January 1967 along with two U.S. Navy vessels, PCF-68 and PCF-71, intercepted a trawler attempting to land supplies on the Cau Mau Peninsula. After running the trawler aground the PCFs managed to hit it with several mortar rounds while Point Gammon kept the trawler illuminated. Several secondary explosions occurred and the trawler disappeared. Investigations later concluded that the trawler could have successfully escaped to a nearby river although heavily damaged.
A more successful action was fought in the early morning hours of 14 March 1967 when a U.S. Navy patrol aircraft spotted a trawler near Cu-Lao Re, an island 65 miles (105 km) southeast of Da Nang. USS Brister and two PCFs along with closed on the trawler and forced it aground near the village of Phouc Thien on the Batangan Peninsula. The patrol elements continued to exchange heavy gunfire with the trawler and land-based VC units until dawn when the trawler was scuttled with a massive explosion. Investigators later discovered a heavy machine gun, a recoilless rifle, sub-machine guns, rifles and carbines along with thousands of rounds of ammunition. Also in the wreckage was a complete surgical kit for a field hospital and medical supplies.
A similar conclusion was the result of the capture of a steel hull trawler 15 July 1967 after three days of tracking by patrol aircraft and the radar picket, USS Wilhoite. After playing a cat-and-mouse game for three days with TF115 units the trawler headed for the mouth of the Sa Ky River on the Batangan Peninsula late on 14 July. The trawler was directed by Point Orient to heave to, but the hail was answered with gunfire. The cutter returned fire along with Wilhoite and gunboat USS Gallup, destroyer USS Walker, and PCF-79. At 02:00 on 15 July, the trawler was boxed in and ablaze, and ran aground 200 yards (180 m) from shore. South Korean marines directed artillery fire from the shore and at 06:00 with the trawler apparently abandoned, a U.S. Navy demolitions expert from Walker boarded the trawler and defused 2,000 pounds of TNT charges that were designed to scuttle the craft. Found on board were several thousand rounds of rifle and machine gun ammunition, mortar and rocket rounds, anti-personnel mines, grenades, and several thousand pounds of C-4 plastic explosive and TNT. Weapons found included several hundred machine guns, AK-47 rifles, AK-56 rifles, and B-40 rocket launchers.
On many occasions during the months of October, November and December 1967, the cutters Point Hudson, , and Point Gammon were called on to assist in naval gunfire support missions in the Long Toan and Thanh Phu Secret Zones near Soc Trang. These missions resulted in the destruction of several sampans and structures as well as bunkers used by the Viet Cong.
#### 1968
During the morning hours of 31 January 1968, combined PAVN/VC forces initiated coordinated attacks on military installations throughout South Vietnam in what would be later be referred to as the Tet Offensive. Because of monsoon weather in the northern provinces of South Vietnam and a general curfew imposed by South Vietnam on most sampan traffic, routine boardings by Squadron One vessels during February were far below normal. However, requests for naval gunfire support by land-based U.S. Army and U.S. Marine units increased significantly after Tet. The cutters Point Gammon, , Point Grey, Point Cypress, Point League, and were involved in multiple naval gunfire support missions throughout February. The use of Squadron One cutters as a blocking force against exfiltration by PAVN/VC forces operating along the coastline also increased at this time.
During an action on 1 March 1968, in the early morning several Squadron One cutters were involved in the interdiction and destruction of four North Vietnamese trawlers attempting to smuggle arms and ammunition into South Vietnam at different locations. This co-ordinated attempt by the North Vietnamese was met by various elements of TF115; including U.S. Navy aircraft and vessels, RVN junks, U.S. Air Force aircraft, and U.S. Army helicopters. In addition, there were several Owasco-class cutter cutters from Coast Guard Squadron Three – , , and – as well as Point Grey, Point Hudson, and Point Welcome from Squadron One. As a result of this action, three North Vietnamese trawlers were destroyed and a fourth was turned back before it could reach the coast. After this action the incidence of smuggling by trawler was decreased and PAVN/VC forces had to resort to shipments along the Ho Chi Minh Trail or through the port of Sihanoukville in Cambodia.
While on patrol just south of the DMZ in the early morning hours of 16 June 1968 reported seeing two rockets fired from an unidentified source hit U.S. Navy PCF-19, which sank very quickly with the loss of five crew. Shortly thereafter, Point Dume came under fire from an unidentified aircraft along with the heavy cruiser USS Boston and the Royal Australian Navy destroyer . The duration of the attack was about one hour with little damage to the cutter and Boston but considerable damage to Hobart with two sailors killed and eight wounded. Evidence during a board of inquiry later showed that it was a friendly fire incident involving U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy aircraft mistaking the ships for enemy targets. This incident and the 11 August 1966 friendly fire incident involving Point Welcome caused several procedures for the identification of naval vessels by U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine and U.S. Air Force aircrews to change.
Operations conducted by South Vietnamese Regional Force troops on Phu Quoc island in September were assisted by Market Time assets. Point Partridge and Point Banks assisted with naval gunfire support on 9 September which destroyed three bunkers, killing four and wounding several others. Ten VC were captured. On 20 September, Point Cypress and RVN MSC-116 assisted Regional Forces troops that had been ambushed by VC forces by lending naval gunfire support. Point Hudson, , and U.S. Navy PCF-50 and PCF-3 arrived shortly after the action started and joined in the gunfire support. Small boats from the cutters helped evacuate wounded Regional Force troops.
Heavy weather in the form of monsoons in the northern half of South Vietnam reduced indigenous coastal traffic during October 1968 and the U.S. Navy's PCF support of Market Time was limited by heavy seas; however, Market Time units including Squadron One cutters fired a record number of naval gunfire missions for the sixth month in a row. The 1,027 missions conducted during October was 19 percent higher than the previous record.
On 5 December 1968, three crewmen operating the small boat from Point Cypress in a small stream on the Ca Mau Peninsula were ambushed, severely wounding two and killing the third, Fireman Heriberto S. Hernandez. Zumwalt awarded a Bronze Star Medal with "V" Device posthumously to Hernandez for his heroic actions in saving his fellow crewmen's lives.
#### 1969
In February 1969, Squadron One personnel began training RVN engineers in the maintenance and repair of the Point class cutters that would eventually be turned over to the South Vietnamese under the Vietnamization program.
On 22 March during routine operations involving the inspection of fishing craft for contraband arms and supplies, the chief engineer, Chief Engineman Morris S. Beeson of the Point Orient was killed by ambush fire from three shore positions while attempting to board a sampan near Qui Nhon.
On 27 March, Point Dume was notified by a unit of the U.S. Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade that a VC unit was located at a village 40 miles (64 km) north of Qui Nhon and Point Dume was requested to perform a blocking patrol while the brigade's troops conducted a sweep. Point Dume assisted with naval gunfire support. Additionally, in the aftermath, a landing party helped to destroy 41 sampans that had been used to transport VC supplies.
The first turnover of Squadron One cutters occurred on 16 May with the transfer of Point League and Point Garnet to the RVN. An elaborate ceremony was held at the RVN Base in Saigon with dignitaries from many area naval activities witnessing the turnover of the two cutters. On 5 June, Division 11 was disestablished and its cutters were transferred to Division 13. The need for Squadron One cutters had been supplanted by the shallower draft PCFs and Patrol Boat, River (PBRs) that were being concentrated in the Mekong Delta region for use in Operation Sealords. With better foul weather stationkeeping abilities than the U.S. Navy craft, the Point-class cutters of the Squadron were shifted for use during the northeast monsoon season in the northern half of the country.
On 9 August while conducting a harassment and interdiction mission aboard Point Arden, a misfire occurred with the mortar killing Lieutenant Junior Grade Michael W. Kirkpatrick, the cutter's executive officer, and Engineman First Class Michael H. Painter.
## 1970 – Vietnamization and disestablishment
With the growing dissatisfaction of the American public about the war in Vietnam in 1969, high officials in the Nixon Administration sought a way to disengage the United States from the war. Part of the strategy to placate public opinion was to remove most U.S. combat troops from Vietnam and turnover supplies and equipment to the South Vietnamese military, known as Vietnamization. Other parts of the plan, referred to as Accelerated Turnover to Vietnamese (ACTOV), included the training of Vietnamese in the use of equipment that was to be turned over to them and a gradual phase-in of responsibilities for the conduct of the war by the South Vietnamese. The first assets turned over to the Vietnamese under ACTOV occurred on 1 February 1969 when 25 mostly smaller U.S. Navy vessels were transferred to the RVN to be used in supporting Operation Sealords in the Mekong Delta.
> The disestablishment of COGARDRON ONE upon turnover of the final WPBs to South Vietnam marks a significant step in Vietnamization. The Coast Guard performance in Vietnam operations has been characterized by the highest professionalism, traditional with the Coast Guard, and has been recognized by every Navy man, both U.S. and Vietnamese, who have had occasion to work with and receive support from WPBs. The record and reputation achieved by COGARDRON ONE have earned our highest respect.
### ACTOV
The naval assets portion of the ACTOV plan consisted of two parts: SCATTOR (Small Craft Assets, Training, and Turnover of Resources) and VECTOR (Vietnamese Engineering Capability, Training of Ratings). While SCATTOR trained Vietnamese replacement crews for the patrol boats of Squadron One, VECTOR trained and prepared Vietnamese repair personnel to maintain them.
#### Background
Since the patrol boats of Squadron One were an essential part of the blockade of war supplies entering South Vietnam from North Vietnam, it was decided that they would be transferred to the RVN after crews had been trained to operate them effectively. On 2 November 1968, Zumwalt, Commander, Naval Forces Vietnam, presented a plan to General Creighton W. Abrams, Commander, MACV to turn over all U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard resources to the RVN by 30 June 1970. Abrams approved the Navy's plan with the caveat that any equipment turned over to the Vietnamese would have to be in first-class condition and that they would have to be properly trained in its use. The Navy plan called for the enlisted Vietnamese personnel to report aboard vessels for training first with the officers finally reporting aboard after the crews were trained. In a recommendation made 14 January 1969, the Commander, Coast Guard Activities Vietnam, Captain Ralph W. Niesz, suggested that English speaking Vietnamese officers report aboard first and be given the chance to receive extensive procedural training with Coast Guard crews before any junior personnel report aboard. Neisz cited cultural imperatives that required seniors to be more knowledgeable than subordinates and that it would be very difficult for officers to accept instruction from junior personnel without losing face. Zumwalt agreed with the Coast Guard plan and ordered it implemented immediately.
On 3 February 1969 the first RVN officers reported aboard Point Garnet and Point League for an 18-week pilot training program. Each cutter's executive officer was relieved and assigned staff duties ashore with the commanding officer assuming his duties. The two spare bunks on each cutter were utilized by the new Vietnamese personnel reporting on board. As experience was gained by the Vietnamese crew members, new junior personnel reported in pairs replacing Coast Guardsmen that were then assigned ashore to assist with the VECTOR phase of training. The first transfer of Squadron One cutters occurred at the RVN Base in Saigon during joint decommissioning and commissioning ceremonies held 16 May 1969 by the Coast Guard and the RVN. Point Garnet and Point League were the first cutters transferred under the ACTOV plan.
#### Problems
SCATTOR training was not easy for either the trainers or the trainees. Cultural differences and language barriers had to be breached by both. English–Vietnamese dictionaries were used extensively and Vietnamese sailors who spoke even broken English were often pressed into service to help translate the training syllabus for each job on the cutter. Coast Guardsmen that had maintained their cutters could not understand the Vietnamese sailors seeming lack of care about housekeeping chores. Orders dictated that any cutter entering the ACTOV Program had to be ready for turnover within four months. Often after a return from patrol duties the Vietnamese sailors would just leave the cutter as soon as it reached homeport, leaving maintenance, cleanup, and re-provisioning to the Coast Guardsmen. AWOL rates for Vietnamese sailors often interfered with training schedules as well as patrol operations. Morale of the Coast Guardsmen charged with the training of the replacement Vietnamese crew was often very low and this caused friction between the two parts of the crew. Because of political pressures in the United States to end involvement in the war as soon as possible, the SCATTOR program of training was accelerated to a 15-week program and eventually an 11-week program. This caused overcrowding on the cutters and further problems with the mixed crews.
All of the Squadron One cutters eventually completed training of the Vietnamese crews and as cutters were transferred to the RVN each division shrunk in size until they were consolidated with other divisions. Division 11 was disestablished on 5 June 1969 with the remaining cutters in the division moving to Cat Lo. Division 12 was consolidated with Division 13 at Cat Lo 16 March 1970.
#### Last patrols
After Point Grey and Point Orient were turned over to the RVN on 14 July only Point Cypress and Point Marone were left in Division 13. On that day the remaining two cutters were given orders to report to the lower Mekong Delta and provide support for operations in the Than Phu Secret Zone. On 19 and 20 July the crews of both cutters consisted of a full complement of 13 RVN sailors and 5 Coast Guardsmen including the commanding officers. Kit Carson Scouts were also embarked, making the decks very crowded. The Scouts were put ashore on a search and destroy mission and the cutters backed them up with gunfire from their decks and the cutter small boats. The raid was successful, netting several captured VC troops and boxes of documents. A week later both cutters with Australian Army explosive ordnance disposal soldiers aboard cruised the My Thanh River and destroyed fortifications.
On 4 August 1970, coincidentally Coast Guard Day, the pair of cutters set out on what would prove to be their last combat patrol. Each cutter had 25 Kit Carson Scouts embarked for a patrol of the Co Chien River. While following a narrow canal leading off the main channel, Point Marone was the target of a command detonated mine. The blast killed two of the RVN sailors instantly; all five Coast Guardsmen were injured along with 10 Kit Carson Scouts. After the mine explosion, Point Marone listed to starboard but managed to get underway while Point Cypress laid down suppressing fire and escorted the damaged cutter back to base at Cat Lo. Point Marone suffered three shrapnel holes at the starboard waterline as well as extensive damage to the bridge windows and damage to the watertight door between the mess deck and the forward berthing space. The deck aft of the bridge was covered with three inches of mud. After patching and painting, Point Marone was prepared for a final Operational Readiness Inspection to check the RVN crew readiness for the pending turnover of both Point Marone and Point Cypress.
#### Last turnover
With the turnover of Point Cypress and Point Marone to the RVN on 15 August 1970, Squadron One and its remaining division, Division 13, were decommissioned. Over 3,000 Coast Guardsmen had served with Squadron One in South Vietnam since May 1965. Administrative and liaison functions that had been carried out by the Squadron One staff were turned over to the Office of the Senior Coast Guard Officer, Vietnam (SCGOV). Several officers of Squadron One were assigned temporary duties as advisors to former Squadron One cutters to further assist the new RVN commanding officers in their new duties. The Coast Guard continued to provide technical assistance and training under the SCATTOR/VECTOR programs for the RVN after Squadron One was disestablished through the formation of four Technical Assistance Groups. Each group was composed of an officer and eight to eleven engineers reporting to SCGOV. The groups were located at Da Nang where there were six cutters assigned; Cam Ranh Bay, six cutters; Vung Tau, eight cutters; and An Thoi, six cutters. As tours of duty for each Coast Guardsman ended, U.S. Navy personnel gradually took over the training duties.
## Civic action
U.S. Coast Guard personnel stationed in Vietnam were encouraged by their commands to donate off duty time to assist in various civic action programs supporting the Vietnamese people. Squadron One personnel participated as time permitted in an island adoption program that was designed to provide educational materials and medical treatment to inhabitants of the many coastal islands in their area of operation. This program was offered to counter Viet Cong propaganda and promote a better understanding of the South Vietnamese government and USAID rural development programs. Since medical personnel were normally not a part of the make-up of the Squadron One patrol boat crews, medical corpsmen were borrowed from Squadron Three cutters or nearby U.S. Navy units. Division 11 crews constructed a fresh water well and distribution system in addition to constructing voting booths on Hon Thom Island. Division 12 cutters helped evacuate refugees from the vicinity of Cape Batangan when military operations intensified during 1967. Division 13 personnel spent many hours of off duty time at the children's ward of the U.S. Army 36th Medevac Hospital and gave games, toys, clothing and candy to injured Vietnamese children. During the Christmas holidays, at local orphanages all squadron personnel distributed gifts of candy and toys as well as clothing, soap and toothpaste that had been donated by Coast Guard families in the United States and brought to Vietnam on the Commandant's airplane. Squadron One crews arranged for transportation of a small girl by a U.S. Air Force helicopter to USS Sanctuary for eye surgery while the squadron commander personally delivered a cornea for transplant.
## Legacy and impact
The cutters of Squadron One made a significant contribution to the success of Operation Market Time by forcing the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces to rely on the difficult Ho Chi Minh trail for most of their supplies and reinforcements. During the period between 27 May 1965 and 15 August 1970 the squadron cruised 4,215,116 miles (6,783,572 km) and boarded 236,396 vessels while detaining 10,286 persons. During 4,461 naval gunfire missions they damaged or destroyed 1,811 enemy vessels and killed or wounded 1,232 enemy personnel.
## Unit and service awards
- Presidential Unit Citation
The Presidential Unit Citation (Navy) was awarded for extraordinary heroism and outstanding performance to units participating in Operation Sealords for the period 18 October to 5 December 1968 and included the Squadron One cutters Point Cypress, Point White, Point Grace, Point Young, Point Comfort, Point Mast, Point Marone, Point Caution, and Point Partridge.
- Navy Unit Commendation
The Navy Unit Commendation was awarded for exceptionally meritorious service to the United States Navy Coastal Surveillance Force (Task Force 115) which included the administrative staff of Squadron One and Division 11 for service during period 1 January 1967 to 31 March 1968; Division 12, 1 January to 28 February 1967; and Division 13, 1 January to 10 May 1967.
- Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation
The Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation was awarded for meritorious service to units of the United States Navy Coastal Surveillance Force (Task Force 115) which included the following Squadron One cutters: Point White, Point Arden, Point Dume, Point Glover, Point Jefferson, Point Kennedy, Point Young, Point Partridge, Point Caution, Point Welcome, Point Banks, Point Lomas, Point Grace, Point Mast, Point Grey, Point Orient, Point Cypress, and Point Marone.
- Vietnam Service Medal
Although the Vietnam Service Medal is a personal service award, it is permissible and customary under Coast Guard regulations for cutters to display service awards on the port and starboard bridge wings. Squadron One cutters were entitled to display the VSM by virtue of having served in Vietnam for more than thirty days during the eligibility period of 15 November 1961 to 30 April 1975.
- Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross Unit Citation with Palm
All units serving under MACV were awarded the Vietnam Gallantry Cross Unit Citation with Palm by South Vietnam. Because U.S. Navy units serving in Vietnam were subordinate to MACV this included all Coast Guard Squadron One cutters.
- Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal
The Vietnam Campaign Medal was an award of South Vietnam for those individuals who served in Vietnam for a period of at least six months. Although it was a personal award, Coast Guard regulations permitted its display on a cutter's port and starboard bridge wings since Squadron One's cutters served during the eligibility period of 1 March 1961 to 28 March 1973.
## Cutter assignment and disposition information
Legend:
## See also
- Brown-water navy
- History of the United States Coast Guard
- Ships of the Republic of Vietnam Navy
|
57,519,325 |
Tour Championship (snooker)
| 1,150,870,594 |
Snooker tournament
|
[
"2019 establishments in the United Kingdom",
"Players Series",
"Recurring sporting events established in 2019",
"Snooker competitions in the United Kingdom",
"Snooker ranking tournaments",
"Tour Championship (snooker)"
] |
The Tour Championship is a professional snooker tournament first held in 2019. The event features the twelve (previously eight) highest ranked players on the one-year ranking list, which reflects prize money won at ranking events since the beginning of the season. The Tour Championship is the third and final tournament in the Players Series, following the World Grand Prix and the Players Championship. The event features a prize fund of £380,000, with the winner receiving £150,000. The tournament is broadcast by ITV Sport in the United Kingdom and Eurosport across the rest of Europe. The reigning champion is Shaun Murphy, who won the 2023 Tour Championship with a 10–7 win over Kyren Wilson in the final.
## History
The tournament was announced in April 2018, and was scheduled to be played for the first time in March 2019. The event was organised as the third and final event to make up the Coral Cup (now Players Series), tournaments sponsored by bookmakers Coral which use the rankings exclusively from the season prior. The tournaments in the Cup featured declining player entries, with the first event, the World Grand Prix having 32 participants, and the Players Championship 16. The Tour Championship is the tournament with the lowest number of entries of any tournament on the calendar, with just eight participants. The tournament is broadcast by ITV4 in the United Kingdom, Eurosport across Europe. The event also airs on Sky Sport in New Zealand, NowTV in Hong Kong, and Superstars Online in China.
The first edition of the tournament was played in 2019 at Venue Cymru in Llandudno, Wales after the Players Championship was moved from Llandudno to Preston in 2019. The 2019 Tour Championship was the first event since the 2010 UK Championship (and other than the World Snooker Championship) in which every match was played over multiple , with two in the quarter-finals and semi-finals, and three sessions in the final. The best-of-25-frames final, held on 23 and 24 March, was the first non-World Championship match of this length or longer since the 1992 UK Championship final. The 2019 final was played between Ronnie O'Sullivan and Neil Robertson, who had also met in the Players Championship final two weeks prior. O'Sullivan lead 5-3 after the first session and later won the match and the tournament 13–11. The win also gave O'Sullivan the Coral Cup for the 2018–19 season.
The 2020 Tour Championship was moved in both date and location due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Matches were also shortened with all matches being either best-of-17 or best-of-19 frame matches. It was originally organised to be played from 17 to 22 March 2020 but on the morning of the first day, it was postponed. On 5 June 2020, the tournament was rescheduled to be held between 20 and 26 June 2020 and moved to a different venue, the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes, England. Due to the pandemic, Ding Junhui was unable to participate, and was replaced by Stephen Maguire. Maguire reached the final, where he defeated Mark Allen 10–6 in the final, to win his first ranking title since the 2013 Welsh Open.
The 2021 event was also held with no live audience but was held at the Celtic Manor Resort in Newport, Wales with all matches as the best-of-19 frames. Defending champion Maguire did not qualify for the event, having not scored enough ranking points during the season. The final was between the two players who contested the 2019 event, Robertson and O'Sullivan. Robertson won the event with a 10–4 win in the final. O'Sullivan commented he could not compete with Robertson's performance, saying "I've never seen anyone play as well as that."
As of the 2022–23 snooker season, the tournament, along with the other tournaments in the Players Series, is sponsored by Duelbits.
## Winners
Below is a summary of the results from the previously held tournaments.
|
40,705,642 |
Typhoon Dujuan (2003)
| 1,165,021,106 |
Pacific typhoon in 2003
|
[
"2003 Pacific typhoon season",
"2003 disasters in China",
"2003 disasters in the Philippines",
"Tropical cyclones in 2003",
"Typhoons",
"Typhoons in China",
"Typhoons in the Philippines"
] |
Typhoon Dujuan, known in the Philippines as Typhoon Onyok, was the strongest tropical cyclone to strike the Pearl River delta since Typhoon Hope in 1979. The 13th storm and 7th typhoon of the 2003 Pacific typhoon season, Dujuan developed on August 27 to the east of Taiwan. It initially moved to the northwest, slowly intensifying into a tropical storm while drawing moisture and rainfall over the Philippines. On the island of Luzon, one person was killed and areas were flooded. Dujuan quickly intensified after turning and moving quicker to the west-northwest, developing an eye. It reached peak winds of 150 km/h (93 mph) on September 1, and shortly thereafter passed just south of Taiwan. There, Dujuan left 590,000 people without power, killed three, and caused NT\$200 million (NWD, \$115 million USD) in crop damage. While moving through the South China Sea, the typhoon developed concentric eyewalls. Dujuan weakened to severe tropical storm status before making landfall on September 2 in southern China, just east of Hong Kong near Shenzhen, Guangdong. The storm dissipated the next day after causing 40 deaths and ¥2.3 billion (CNY, US\$277 million) in damage. Most of the deaths were in Shenzhen where the storm moved ashore, and the city experienced a near-total power outage.
## Meteorological history
On August 25, an area of convection persisted on satellite imagery on August 25. The thunderstorms pulsed and became better organized by August 27. That day, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) estimated that a tropical depression formed southeast of the Japanese island of Okinotorishima, or about 520 km (320 mi) northwest of Guam. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) also estimated a tropical cyclone formed on August 27. With a ridge to the north, the depression tracked slowly to the southwest. The system gradually organized while developing improved outflow to the south, although a tropical upper tropospheric trough to the north caused wind shear. On August 29, the JMA upgraded the depression to Tropical Storm Dujuan, although the JTWC had upgraded a day prior. That day, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) began issuing advisories as the storm approached the region, naming it Onyok.
Shortly after it was named, Dujuan quickly intensified after an upper-level low to the northwest improved outflow to the north. On August 30, the ridge to the north built eastward, causing the storm to slow and turn more to the northwest. That day, an eye developed in center, and the JMA upgraded Dujuan to typhoon status. Subsequently, the typhoon accelerated to the west-northwest and later to the west. On September 1, the JMA estimated Dujuan attained peak 10–minute sustained winds of 150 km/h (93 mph). Around the same time, the JTWC assessed peak 1–minute winds of 230 km/h (140 mph), making it the equivalent of a Category 4 on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale. While near peak intensity, the center of Dujuan passed about 45 km (28 mi) south of the southern tip of Taiwan. While moving westward through the South China Sea, the typhoon weakened slightly after its peak intensity due to an eyewall replacement cycle. Radar from the Hong Kong Observatory indicated an inner eye about 20 km (12 mi) in diameter, and an outer eye about 100 km (62 mi) in diameter. At around 1200 UTC on September 2, Dujuan made landfall just east of Hong Kong, near Shenzhen. The JMA estimated the typhoon had weakened into a severe tropical storm by the time of landfall, while the JTWC estimated winds of 185 km/h (115 mph). It was considered the strongest typhoon to strike the Pearl River Delta since Typhoon Hope in 1979. Dujuan rapidly weakened while continuing westward through China, dissipating on September 3 over Guangxi.
## Preparations and impact
Although the center passed north of Luzon in the Philippines, Dujuan interacted with the monsoon to produce heavy rainfall over the country. Flash flooding in Metro Manila covered roads, causing traffic jams. Dangerous conditions caused many schools to close. The typhoon destroyed one house, and one person was killed in the country. While in the vicinity, Dujuan produced gusts of 100 km/h (62 mph) on Yonaguni, a Japanese subdivision of Okinawa. Strong winds and high waves disrupted marine and airline traffic, with two flights canceled. Rainfall on Okinawa reached about 18 mm (0.71 in).
On August 31, officials in Taiwan issued a sea warning, advising for boats to avoid the Bashi Channel. Schools in southern Taiwan were closed, and transport was disrupted. The Ministry of National Defense canceled a military exercise due to the storm. In Taiwan, the typhoon dropped heavy rainfall that reached 628 mm (24.7 in) in Pingtung County, and several other locations reported over 200 mm (7.9 in). Sustained winds reached 176 km/h (109 mph) on Orchid Island offshore southeastern Taiwan, where gale-force winds were recorded for 13 hours and gusts reached 271 km/h (168 mph). The typhoon was so strong that it destroyed the anemometer there. On the island of Taiwan, winds peaked at 87 km/h (54 mph) at Dongshi, while gusts peaked at 184 km/h (114 mph) in a mountainous region of Nantou County. The typhoon left about 590,000 people without power at some point on the island. Transport was disrupted, and there was about NT\$200 million (TWD, US\$115 million). Dujuan killed three people and injured eight in southern Taiwan; one was a drowning in the Penghu islands, and another occurred when a man was blown out of his window in Taipei.
Before Dujuan made its final landfall, the Hong Kong Observatory initially issued a standby warning signal, and eventually raised it to a number 9 signal, the second-highest out of 10, for the first time since Typhoon York in 1999. The threat of the storm caused 360 flights to be canceled or delayed at Hong Kong International Airport, and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange was closed. Officials opened 27 shelters for residents, housing over 120 people. Winds in the territory briefly reached typhoon status, or 120 km/h (75 mph), at Lau Fau Shan. Rainfall reached over 90 mm (3.5 in) on Lantau Island. Dujuan caused minor flooding and two small landslides In Hong Kong, the typhoon knocked down 85 trees and caused a power outage affecting 300 people in Yuen Long. Dujuan injured 24 people in the territory, and four fishermen were missing and presumed drowned after their boat sank. Despite the close passage, damage was minor in Hong Kong. During the height of the storm, three people stole \$1.3 million (USD) worth of jewelry, watches, and clothing from a store.
On the Chinese mainland, Dujuan produced 183 mm (7.2 in) of rainfall in Puning in Guangdong, of which 131 mm (5.2 in) fell in 24 hours. In Fujian province, winds reached 144 km/h (89 mph) in Quanzhou, and in Guangdong, winds peaked at 179 km/h (111 mph) in Shenzhen. In Shenzhen near where Dujuan made landfall, 90% of residents lost power, after strong winds knocked down power lines, although it was quickly restored. Also in the city, 20 people were killed, 16 of whom due to the collapse of a half-finished building that they were constructing. Officials had opened 272 emergency shelters before the storm's arrival, housing 4,950 people. In Huizhou, nine people were killed, and another three people died in Shanwei from the storm. Across Guangdong, the typhoon damaged roads, water and power systems, and telecommunication networks. About 139,000 ha (340,000 acres) of crops were damaged in the province, and 54,000 homes were destroyed. In Macau, 30 flights were delayed at Macau International Airport, and two bridges were closed. In Fuzhou in Fujian province, the storm knocked down 500 trees. Overall damage in China was estimated at ¥2.3 billion (CNY, US\$277 million), and across Guangdong, the typhoon injured about 1,000 people and killed 40 people.
## See also
- Other tropical cyclones named Dujuan
- Other tropical cyclones named Onyok
- Typhoon Usagi (2013)
- Typhoon Dujuan (2015)
|
17,378,307 |
Statue of Christopher Columbus (Providence, Rhode Island)
| 1,171,446,757 | null |
[
"1893 establishments in Rhode Island",
"1893 sculptures",
"Bronze sculptures in Rhode Island",
"Buildings and structures in Providence, Rhode Island",
"Historic district contributing properties in Rhode Island",
"Italian-American culture in Providence, Rhode Island",
"Monuments and memorials in Rhode Island",
"Monuments and memorials in the United States removed during the George Floyd protests",
"Monuments and memorials on the National Register of Historic Places in Rhode Island",
"National Register of Historic Places in Providence, Rhode Island",
"Outdoor sculptures in Rhode Island",
"Relocated buildings and structures in Rhode Island",
"Sculptures by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi",
"Sculptures of maps",
"Sculptures of men in Rhode Island",
"Statues in Rhode Island",
"Statues of Christopher Columbus",
"Statues removed in 2020",
"Vandalized works of art in Rhode Island",
"World's Columbian Exposition",
"World's fair sculptures"
] |
Columbus is a historic statue in Providence, Rhode Island, United States which formerly stood on Elmwood Avenue in Columbus Square. The statue is a bronze cast of a sterling silver statue which was created by Rhode Island's Gorham Manufacturing Company for the 1892 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The original silver statue was not meant for permanent exhibition, but rather as a demonstration of the skills of the Gorham Company, and was later melted down. The bronze cast was dedicated November 8, 1893 as a gift from the Elmwood Association to the City of Providence. The statue was created in 1893 by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2001. It was removed from Columbus Square in 2020 by the City of Providence.
## History
### Columbian Exposition
Cast in 1893, the statue of Columbus that once stood on Elmwood Avenue was produced by the Gorham Manufacturing Company who commissioned master sculptor, Auguste Bartholdi. The bronze statue is a cast of the original made of sterling silver, which was commissioned for the 1892 Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois. For the upcoming exposition, Gorham wanted a demonstration piece to show the skill of its foundry and commissioned Bartholdi to create a statue of Columbus. The completed model was shipped across the Atlantic Ocean to be cast from 30,000 ounces of silver at Providence, Rhode Island. The casting was a ceremonial affair, where guests "were feted as they watched the process". Gorham officials accompanied and shipped the statue to Chicago via rail. It served as a demonstration piece at the exposition, showcasing the skill of its foundry in the technically difficult task of casting a work in sterling silver. After the exposition, the statue was returned to Providence where it was melted down: a silver statue was impractical as a permanent outdoor sculpture and the piece had already served its celebratory and advertisement purpose.
### Bronze replica
In 1893, a bronze replica of Columbus was cast by the Gorham company and gifted to the City of Providence by the Elmwood Association, a civic group from a neighborhood near Gorham. It is known that Bartholdi visited Newport, Rhode Island in 1893, but it is unknown if he was involved in the production of the bronze cast. The statue was dedicated on November 8, 1893 at 2:30 p.m. Professor Alonzo Williams was the presenter of the statue to the city and Mayor Potter acted as "response on behalf the city". Music was provided by the Reeves American Band and the song "Columbus" was performed. The oration was given by Reverend H. W. Rugg and a chorus of children lead the crowd in singing "My Country, 'Tis of Thee". The site of the statue was originally deeded to the Town of Cranston by Joseph Cooke on May 24, 1824. The Town of Cranston deeded it to Providence in 1868 and renamed it Columbus Park in 1893.
The statue was sometimes a focal point for Columbus Day ceremonies and speeches. One such event in 1939 was attended by the mayor, alderman, and council members.
### Controversy
In 2010, the statue was defaced on Columbus Day with red paint and a sign reading "murderer" hanging from its waist. The statue was again vandalized with paint in 2015 and 2017, raising questions in the media as to the appropriateness of honoring Columbus with a public statue.
In October 2019, the statue was splashed with red paint, and a sign reading "stop celebrating genocide" was leaned against the pedestal, again prompting local controversy. Providence councilwoman Katherine Kerwin of Ward 12 defended the actions on a local radio program hosted by RI WJAR anchor Gene Valicenti, prompting backlash and national news media attention. Mayor Jorge Elorza stated that he would consider moving the statue, though did not commit to where. Some of Rhode Island's Italian American community were pushing for a move from Elmwood to the Federal Hill neighborhood, which has historically been the center of Providence's Italian American community.
### Removal
In June 2020, on the order of mayor Jorge Elorza, the Columbus statue was removed from Columbus Square. The order was given as a response to statue removals across the United States in the wake of George Floyd protests. During the removal, dozens of people from the neighborhood gathered to cheer. The city has not disclosed where the statue would be stored, nor what would be its fate.
In 2023, Former Providence Mayor Joe Paolino purchased the statue for 50,000 Dollars. Paolino donated the statue to Johnston, Rhode Island. With the statue expected to be re-erected in Johnston memorial park, on Columbus Day.
## Design
The bronze cast depicts a 6.6 feet (2.0 m) high by 4.5 feet (1.4 m) wide and deep, "larger-than-life size" standing figure of Christopher Columbus atop a 5.25 feet (1.60 m) by 5.33 feet (1.62 m) plain square base of grey Westerly, Rhode Island granite. The National Historic Register of Places nomination describes the statue: "The explorer is caught in mid-stride, his left foot stepping off the base. In his left hand he holds a globe; his right arm is raised, his index finger pointing, as if giving an order or sighting land. Columbus wears a short tunic; a wide belt wraps the waist; a second belt across the hip holds a sword. A short full cloak billows out around the figure, and he wears a brimmed hat. There is a coil of line at his feet." The square base is inscribed with "Columbus" on the front, "1492" on the right side and "1893" on the left side.
The statue is in good overall condition, but has some very small cracks in the figure and the tail ends of the bronze swag are missing. The base is also in good condition with only some chipping on the lower edge of the base being noted in the nomination.
## Importance
The National Register of Historic Places nomination lists the Columbus statue under both criteria A and C. Criterion A requires that the property must make a contribution to the major pattern of American history, and criterion C concerns the distinctive characteristics of its architecture and construction, including having great artistic value or being the work of a master. The basis for meeting criterion A is that the work is an example of the Gorham Manufacturing Company's large statue. Columbus was listed under criterion C as an example of Auguste Bartholdi's work. The statue has not been moved from its original location, but the "significance of the work is not dependent upon its setting but is encompassed within the object itself." Columbus was added to the National Register of Historic Places on October 19, 2001.
Though it is a bronze cast copy of the original silver work, the sculpture itself was declared a masterpiece because "[l]ife and vigor are implied in every line and feature, and the general effect is one of great beauty." In relation to the original silver cast, James Wilson Pierce declared it as an exemplary work of art that surpasses all other Christopher Columbus sculptures in the United States.
## See also
- List of monuments and memorials to Christopher Columbus
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Providence, Rhode Island
|
34,222,929 |
Russian submarine Tula (K-114)
| 1,144,271,760 |
Russian Delta-IV-class submarine
|
[
"1987 ships",
"Cold War submarines of the Soviet Union",
"Delta-class submarines",
"Ships built by Sevmash",
"Ships built in the Soviet Union",
"Ships of the Russian Northern Fleet",
"Submarines of Russia"
] |
K-114 Tula (К-114 Тула) is a Project 667BDRM Delfin-class (NATO reporting name: Delta IV) nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine (SSBN). As such, she carries a complement of R-29RM Shtil and R-29RMU Sineva nuclear submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) as her primary deterrent mission, along with anti-ship missiles and torpedoes, the latter for self-defense. Built in Severodvinsk during the late 1980s, she served with the Soviet Navy before being transferred to the Russian Navy following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Tula underwent an extensive overhaul during 2000–2004 and was fitted with upgraded Shtil SLBMs, several of which were launched from her during her later operational life. She was sponsored by the city of Tula, and is homeported in Gadzhiyevo.
## Construction
Construction of the nuclear submarine Tula (K-114) began at the Northern Machinebuilding Enterprise (Sevmash) in Severodvinsk on 22 February 1984, before being commissioned into the Soviet Navy on 30 October 1987. She was the fourth of the seven-boat Project 667BDRM Delfin class, which was developed at the Rubin Design Bureau in September 1975. A ballistic missile submarine, she was designed primarily to carry up to 16 R-29RM Shtil (NATO designation: SS-N-23 Skiff) SLBM for use against military and industrial facilities in the case of a nuclear war. Each Shtil missile carries ten 100 kt multiple independently targeted reentry vehicles, and has a circular error probable of 500 metres (1,600 ft). She is also equipped with RPK-7 Veter (NATO designation: SS-N-16 Stallion) anti-ship missile for use against enemy submarines, and self-defense torpedoes.
## Operational history
Due to her nature as an SSBN, and like most submarines, the operation of Tula is mostly classified. During 1987–1988, the boat conducted seven patrols, including five in the Arctic, 17 combat duties, and firing of twelve missiles. In October 1990, Soviet Deputy Minister of Defense General V. M. Kochetov visited Tula; this happened shortly before the collapse of the Soviet Union, when the boat was transferred to the Russian Navy. Until 2000, she logged 134,856 miles (217,030 km) in total distance travelled, 77,245 miles (124,314 km) of which was submerged.
From June 2000 until 21 April 2004, Tula underwent overhaul at the Zvezdochka shipyard, Severodvinsk, the third boat after Verkhoturie (K-51) and Ekaterinburg (K-84). The overhaul extended her service life by ten years, and allowed her to carry R-29RMU Sineva missiles. She conducted sea trials in early 2006 and re-entered service shortly thereafter, despite plans to do so in 2005. Tula's post-overhaul operational history is characterised by a number of missile launches, the first of which occurred on 17 December 2007, when she launched a Sineva missile aimed at the Kura Test Range in the Kamchatka Peninsula. Within eight days, Tula launched another missile, again aimed at Kura; both tests were successful.
Another four launches took place during 2008–2011, mostly from the Barents Sea. On 11 October 2008, Tula launched a Sineva while submerged. The missile reached the equatorial Pacific region after having flown for 11,547 kilometres (7,175 mi), a record for the missile. The launch was part of the bigger "Stabilnost 2008" exercise, which comprised eight surface ships, five submarines, 11 aircraft and 5,000 sailors. Tula launched the Sineva again on 4 March 2010 after an unremarkable 2009. The test was successful, as was another launch of two more missiles, on 6 August 2010, aimed at the Kura Test Range. On 29 September 2011, Tula conducted the latest launch of the Sineva missile aimed at Kura from the Barents Sea. Tula received a second major overhaul in 2014 by the Ship Repair Center Zvezdochka and returned to active service in December 2017. In 2022 during the Ukraine crisis, the submarine participated in nuclear exercises together with other elements of Russian nuclear triad forces.
|
10,121,452 |
2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (United States)
| 1,162,475,257 | null |
[
"10th Mountain Division (United States)",
"1985 establishments in the United States",
"Brigade combat teams of the United States Army",
"Infantry brigades of the United States Army",
"Military units and formations established in 1985"
] |
The 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division is an infantry Brigade Combat Team of the United States Army based at Fort Drum, New York. It is a subordinate unit of the 10th Mountain Division.
Activated in 1985, the 10th Mountain Division's second brigade's elements saw numerous deployments to contingencies around the world in the 1990s. With the Global War on Terrorism the brigade has deployed six times: initially deployed to Uzbekistan, Kuwait and Qatar in 2001, elements of the brigade later deployed from Uzbekistan into Afghanistan; the brigade deployed again in early 2003, split across Iraq, Afghanistan and the Horn of Africa; the entire brigade returned to Iraq in 2004–2005, 2006–2007 and 2009–2010 before returning to Afghanistan in 2013 for its sixth deployment.
## Organization
The 2nd Brigade Combat Team is a subordinate unit of the 10th Mountain Division. however, its modular nature means it is capable of operating independently of the division's Headquarters and Headquarters Company.
As an infantry brigade combat team (IBCT), the brigade consists of a Headquarters and Headquarters Company or HHC, a squadron, and several subordinate battalions stationed at Fort Drum, New York:
- 2nd Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment
- 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment
- 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment
- 1st Squadron, 89th Cavalry Regiment
- 2nd Battalion, 15th Field Artillery Regiment (2–15th FAR)
- 41st Engineer Battalion
- 210th Brigade Support Battalion (210th BSB)
## History
On 13 February 1985, the 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) was activated at Fort Drum, New York, after several decades inactive. In accordance with the Reorganization Objective Army Divisions plan, the division was no longer centered on regiments, instead two brigades were activated under the division. The 1st Brigade, 10th Mountain Division was activated at Fort Drum while the 2nd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division was activated at Fort Benning, moving to Fort Drum in 1988. The division was also assigned a round-out brigade from the Army National Guard, the 27th Infantry Brigade. The division was specially designed as a light infantry division able to rapidly deploy. Equipment design was oriented toward reduced size and weight for reasons of both strategic and tactical mobility. The division also received a distinctive unit insignia.
### Contingencies
In 1990, the division sent 1,200 soldiers to support Operation Desert Storm. The largest of these units was the 548th Supply and Services Battalion with almost 1,000 soldiers, which supported the 24th Infantry Division (Mechanized) in Iraq. Following a cease-fire in March 1991, the support soldiers began redeploying to Fort Drum through June of that year.
Hurricane Andrew struck South Florida on 24 August 1992, killing 13 people, leaving another 250,000 homeless and causing damages in excess of 20 billion dollars. On 27 September 1992, the 10th Mountain Division assumed responsibility for Hurricane Andrew disaster relief as Task Force Mountain. Division soldiers set up relief camps, distributed food, clothing, medical necessities and building supplies, as well as helping to rebuild homes and clear debris. The last of the 6,000 division soldiers to deploy to Florida returned home in October 1992.
#### Operation Restore Hope
On 3 December 1992, the division headquarters was designated as the headquarters for all Army forces (ARFOR) of the Unified Task Force (UNITAF) for Operation Restore Hope. Major General Steven L. Arnold, the division commander, was named Army forces commander. The 10th Mountain Division's mission was to secure major cities and roads to provide safe passage of relief supplies to the Somali population suffering from the effects of the Somali Civil War. Due to 10th Mountain Division efforts, humanitarian agencies declared an end to the food emergency and factional fighting decreased. When Task Force Ranger and the SAR team were pinned down during a raid in what later became known as the Battle of Mogadishu, 10th Mountain units provided infantry for the UN quick reaction force sent to rescue them. The 10th had 2 soldiers killed in the fighting, which was the longest sustained firefight by regular U.S. Army forces since the Vietnam War. The division began a gradual reduction of forces in Somalia in February 1993, until the last soldiers of the 2nd Battalion, 22nd Infantry returned to the United States in March 1994.
#### Operation Uphold Democracy
The division formed the nucleus of the Multinational Force Haiti (MNF Haiti) and Joint Task Force 190 (JTF 190) in Haiti during Operation Uphold Democracy. More than 8,600 of the division's troops deployed during this operation. On 19 September 1994, the 1st Brigade conducted the Army's first air assault from an aircraft carrier. This force consisted of 54 helicopters and almost 2,000 soldiers. They occupied the Port-au-Prince International Airport. This was the largest Army air operation conducted from a carrier since the Doolittle Raid in World War II.
The division's mission was to create a secure and stable environment so the government of Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide could be reestablished and democratic elections held. After this was accomplished, the 10th Mountain Division handed over control of the MNF-Haiti to the 25th Infantry Division on 15 January 1995. The Division redeployed the last of its soldiers who served in Haiti by 31 January 1995.
#### Task Force Eagle
In the fall of 1998, the division received notice that it would be serving as senior headquarters of Task Force Eagle, providing a peacekeeping force to support the ongoing operation within the Multi-National Division-North area of responsibility in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Selected division units began deploying in late summer, approximately 3,000 division soldiers deployed. After successfully performing their mission in Bosnia, the division units conducted a Transfer of Authority, relinquishing their assignments to soldiers of the 49th Armored Division, Texas National Guard. By early summer 2000, all 10th Mountain Division soldiers had returned safely to Fort Drum.
### Global War on Terrorism
Following the 11 September 2001 attacks, elements of the division, including its special troops battalion and the 1-87th Infantry and 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment (4–31 Infantry), deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in late 2001. These forces remained in the country until mid-2002, fighting to secure remote areas of the country and participating in operations such as Operation Anaconda, the Fall of Mazar-i-Sharif, and the Battle of Qala-i-Jangi. The division also participated in fighting in the Shahi Khot Valley in 2002. Upon the return of the battalions, they were welcomed home and praised by President Bush. In 2003, elements of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division returned to Afghanistan to support US forces operating in the western region of the country.
Upon the return of the division headquarters and 1st Brigade, the 10th Mountain Division began the process of transformation into a modular division. On 16 September 2004, the division headquarters finished its transformation. The 1st Brigade became the 1st Brigade Combat Team, while the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division was activated for the first time. In January 2005, the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division was activated at Fort Polk, Louisiana. 2nd Brigade Combat Team would not be transformed until September 2005, pending a deployment to Iraq.
In late 2004, 2nd Brigade Combat Team was deployed to Iraq supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. The 2nd Brigade Combat Team undertook combat operations in Baghdad including the Green Zone and Ahub Grab prison camp, returning to the US in late 2005. Around that time, the 1st Brigade Combat Team deployed back to Iraq, staying in the country until 2006. In August 2006, 2nd Brigade Combat Team began a 15-month deployment to Iraq.
The 1st Brigade Combat Team and the 2nd Brigade Combat Team were scheduled to deploy to Iraq in fall 2009, as a part of the 2009–2010 rotation to Iraq. As of summer 2009, it was one of only a few brigades in the U.S. Army to be deployed 40 months or more in support of the War on Terrorism.
In 2015, about 1,200 members of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team deployed to southern Afghanistan as part of the Resolute Support Mission. It was the brigade's fourth deployment to Afghanistan.
## Honors
### Unit decorations
### Campaign streamers
|
8,094,177 |
M-157 (Michigan highway)
| 1,167,466,469 |
State highway in Roscommon County, Michigan, United States
|
[
"State highways in Michigan",
"Transportation in Roscommon County, Michigan"
] |
M-157 is a short state trunkline highway in the US state of Michigan. The highway is entirely within Roscommon County in the Lower Peninsula. It is the fourth-shortest state highway in the system, and it serves as a connector route between M-18 and M-55 just east of Prudenville. The current roadway was built and designated as M-157 in the 1930s.
## Route description
M-157 begins at an intersection with M-55 east of Prudenville and Houghton Lake. The trunkline angles to the northwest before turning north near Ryan Lake. Serving as a short connector, the highway travels north through the Roscommon State Forest terminating just over a mile later at a junction with M-18. A newspaper article in 1972 describing the shortest highways in the state to "important places" listed M-157 as a "short-cut" between the two highways. The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) conducts surveys in 2008 that showed 496 vehicles per day, on average.
## History
M-157 was originally designated in 1931 as a connector route between M-55 and US 27 (present-day M-18). Just a year later, that version was decommissioned, and the road obliterated. A new alignment, the present-day routing of M-157, was then commissioned just to the east.
## Major intersections
## See also
|
45,472,952 |
The Stolen Invention
| 1,168,629,534 | null |
[
"1910 drama films",
"1910 films",
"1910 lost films",
"1910s American films",
"American black-and-white films",
"American drama short films",
"American silent short films",
"Lost American drama films",
"Silent American drama films",
"Thanhouser Company films"
] |
The Stolen Invention is a 1910 American silent short drama produced by the Thanhouser Company. The film focuses on John Deering, an inventor, whose invention interests Mr. Cobleigh. Deering rejects the small sum Cobleigh offers for the invention, so Cobleigh decides to drugs Deering. The effect of the drug makes him temporarily insane and Deering is sent to the asylum, Cobleigh than forges Deering's signature and secure the invention. Deering's daughter breaks her father out of the asylum and nurses him back to health. The girl's sweetheart, Tom, is a lawyer who takes Cobleigh to court and reveals the forgery through a stereopticon and Cobleigh is arrested. The film was released on September 16, 1910, and received neutral to negative reviews. The film is presumed lost.
## Plot
Though the film is presumed lost, a synopsis survives in The Moving Picture World from September 17, 1910. It states: "John Deering is a poor inventor living modestly with his wife and only daughter. He has approached Mr. Cobleigh, a capitalist, with a proposition to share the profits of a new invention with him, providing that he (Cobleigh) furnish the capital to swing it. Cobleigh comes to see the model of Deering's invention and is greatly impressed with it. Cobleigh offers Deering a small amount of money for the invention, but Deering refuses to accept it. Then Cobleigh, having failed to get his invention by fair means, determines to secure it by foul. He drugs Deering, and the result of the poison is to make the inventor temporarily insane. While in this condition, Cobleigh has Deering transferred to an insane asylum. Then he forges the inventor's name to the bill of sale and thinks that his crime will never be discovered. Deering's daughter, Grace, failing to induce her sweetheart, Tom Reynolds, to aid in rescuing Deering, breaks into the asylum and takes her father out singlehandedly. She conveys him to a camp in the woods where her tender care restores him to health. Then she takes him home again and he demands his rights from Cobleigh. The latter denies that he owes Deering a cent, and the inventor goes to law. Tom, who acts as his counsel, shows by enlarged stereopticon views of the two signatures that Cobleigh had traced the one from the other. Cobleigh, overcome by the revelation of his crime, is arrested, and the Deering family and the faithful Tom are happy."
## Production
The writer of the scenario is unknown, but it was most likely Lloyd Lonergan. He was an experienced newspaperman employed by The New York Evening World while writing scripts for the Thanhouser productions. The film director is unknown, but it may have been Barry O'Neil. Film historian Q. David Bowers does not attribute a cameraman for this production, but at least two possible candidates exist. Blair Smith was the first cameraman of the Thanhouser company, but he was soon joined by Carl Louis Gregory who had years of experience as a still and motion picture photographer. The role of the cameraman was uncredited in 1910 productions. Cast credits are unknown, but many 1910 Thanhouser productions are fragmentary. The Celluloid Couch does not include any credits and only a brief summary of the film in its filmography listing. It is also listed in Psychotherapists on Film without further detailing onto the cast or credits. A surviving film still gives the possibility of identifying the actors of Deering and his daughter.
A reviewer for The New York Dramatic Mirror stated, "It is rather difficult to understand by what magic the two signatures are made to appear in the court room without human agency. They come and go in anything but legal fashion. Evidently their appearance is to be taken symbolically - not realistically." The final part of the review is difficult to infer because the film is lost, but the synopsis states that a stereopticon was used. A stereopticon, not to be confused with a stereoscope, is a type of slide projector that projects an image. According to the synopsis, the production employs one, or possibly two, stereopticon's to display the two different signatures to compare and reveal the forgery. The reviewer seems to state that the appearance as unnatural, perhaps referencing a dissolve effect. The ability to project with a dissolve was a known ability of more advanced stereopticons. According to another reviewer the film included shots of Long Island Sound.
## Release and reception
The single reel drama, approximately 1,000 feet long, was released on September 16, 1910. The film had a wide national release, with known theater advertisements in Pennsylvania, Kansas, Minnesota, Washington, North Carolina, Arizona, and Indiana. The film was also shown in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada by the Province Theatre.
Reception for this film was mixed, but not praised highly in the three main trade publications. Walton of The Moving Picture News merely commented on how the water scenery and the reviewer for the Moving Picture World stated it was, "[an interesting domestic story, representing the machinations of a capitalist to secure a poor man's invention." The most detailed review was the negative one published in The New York Dramatic Mirror which states, "This film is not so good as the Thanhouser trademark would lead one to expect. The story is long and rambling and the acting is not notable at any point. A drugged potion, a forged receipt, an escape from an insane asylum, and the confounding of the villain are the points around which the threads are woven. The result looks a good deal like crazy work. The sheer impossibility of the plot is not relieved by the details of the mounting or of the action. The wild escape from the lunatic asylum, the row across the river, and hiding in the woods, are all cut upon an absurd pattern. Probably for those who like highly seasoned drama the film will prove entertaining; for others it is too mellow."
## See also
- List of American films of 1910
|
70,720,644 |
1916 Pioneer Exhibition Game
| 1,169,865,240 |
Australian Rules football charity match
|
[
"1916 in Australian rules football",
"Articles containing video clips",
"Australian Football League",
"Australian people of World War I",
"Australian rules football games",
"History of Australian rules football",
"Military sport in Australia",
"Participants in \"Pioneer Exhibition Game\" (London, 28 October 1916)"
] |
On Saturday 28 October 1916, the former Olympic champion swimmer and the later Lord Mayor of Melbourne, Lieutenant Frank Beaurepaire, organised an Australian Rules football match in aid of the British and the French Red Cross.
Promoted as the Pioneer Exhibition Game of Australian Football in London, and "believed to be the first exhibition of Australian football in London" (de Lacy, 1949), the match was contested between two teams of Australian servicemen who were stationed in the UK the Australian Training Units Team and the Third Australian Divisional Team all of whom were highly skilled footballers, and the majority of whom had already played senior football in their respective states prior to their enlistment.
The Third Australian Divisional team beat the Australian Training Units Team 6.16 (52) to 4.12 (36).
## Origin
The match was suggested by Sir John Monash, then in command of the 3rd Australian Division, with the complete support of Brigadier-General Sir Newton Moore, former Premier of Western Australia and, at the time, General Officer Commanding Australian Imperial Force in the United Kingdom. Both agreed that, if at all possible, the game should be played in London, rather than on the Salisbury Plain:
: Sir Frank Beaurepaire said today that the famous football match between the Third Divvy and the Training Units ... which is believed to be the first exhibition of Australian football in London ... held in Queen's Park, London, in 1916, would never have taken place but for the personal interest taken by the late Sir John Monash. ...
"General Monash was keen on sport for the troops", said Sir Frank. "There was a very strong side in the Third Divvy at Larkhill while the Training Units were at Tidmouth [sic] [viz., Tidworth]. We had decided to play at Larkhill until the suggestion came from Sir John that we should play in London.
"He made everything possible. The organisers had an office at Horseferry Road [viz., AIF Headquarters] and every difficulty was straightened out by Sir John." — The Sporting Globe, 27 August 1949.
### Monash's views on the value of sport
Despite not being an athlete himself, Monash firmly believed in the power of sport to boost troop morale and keep his soldiers fit for war.
On the evening of Saturday, 17 January 1920, for instance, in his response on behalf of the Army to the toast "The Navy and Army" at a dinner at Scott's Hotel, Melbourne, hosted by the president of the Victorian Cricket Association, Donald Mackinnon, for the visiting AIF Cricket team, Monash made his position on the value of sport unequivocally clear:
: "Sir John Monash, who was greeted with loud applause, said that all responsible commanders of the A.I.F. early in the war were impressed with the importance of sport, which was a powerful assistance. The Y.M.C.A. and the Australian Comforts Fund had sent liberal and adequate supplies of sporting material. (Hear, hear.) Every unit had its teams, and the keeping of the spirit of sport alive was an important factor in maintaining the [morale]. An appeal to the men that never failed was the appeal to their sportsmanship. (Hear, hear.) This was the inspiration which took them to many victories. The appeal "It's up to you to play for your side" always told. (Cheers.) The reason the Australians were recognised, as possessing the gift for keen work to a degree not exceeded by any other army in the war, was that they had the capacity for collective effort, which was due to the influence of sport in their life in Australia. (Cheers.)" — The Australasian, 24 January 1920.
## Planning
The two generals chose Lieutenant-Colonel C.A. Keatinge Johnson, then Commander of the A Group Training Brigade on Salisbury Plain, to be responsible for the arrangements; and, if possible, he was asked to select two first-class teams.
Keatinge-Johnson directed Major C.W. St John Clarke to begin the planning.
St. John-Clarke, in turn, appointed Lieutenant Frank Beaurepaire who was in the UK at the time as a commissioner of the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA), and serving with the 3rd Division to be responsible for the 3rd Division, and Lieutenant H. Bartram of the 2nd Brigade, to be responsible for the 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th Divisions. Beaurepaire and Bartram immediately set to work and established an office in London. The match took almost three months to organise.
: The principal organiser [of the event] turns out to be Frank Beaurepaire, the Y.M.C.A. official, and former swimming writer for The Winner.
To him is due the chief credit for the successful carrying out of all the innumerable details in connection with the undertaking — the getting together of the players, obtaining the necessary leave, arranging trial matches in order to get into some sort of form, the fixing on the ground, and having it marked off, arranging prices of admission, gatekeepers, etc., interviewing artists and others re programme, and the hundred and one other necessary items.
That the whole affair panned out so successfully speaks well for his organising ability.
But, then, we are used to expecting nothing but the best from any effort of Beaurepaire. — Gerald Brosnan, 10 January 1917.
### Participants
The members of the team squads had been chosen on the basis of their footballing skills.
: "On looking through the personnel of the teams the first thing that impresses one is the number of fine exponents of Australian football men who have shown exceptional skill on the fields here [in Australia] before thousands who took part in the match.
That the organisers hit on the physiological [sic] moment is evidenced by a glance at the names [of the players that took part].
Of course, there are any number of prominent footballers in the Army enough to form a dozen or more teams but to pick out a date on which such 36 first-class players as those who took part in the game could be brought together in London must be classed as nothing short of an inspiration.
Probably not once again during the currency of the war will such a galaxy of football talent be gathered in England at the one time . . . " — Gerald Brosnan, 20 December 1916.
The majority of those chosen had already played senior football in their respective states, and a number of them had also played interstate representative football:
- Three squad members F.R. McGargill (New South Wales), P.J.H. Jory (Tasmania), and J.T. Cooper (Victoria) had represented their respective States at the Second Australian National Football Carnival, in Adelaide, in August 1911.
- Three squad members J. Brake, J.H. James, and W.I. Sewart had represented Victoria in the interstate match against South Australia, at the MCG, on 6 July 1912, and three J. Brake, J.T. Cooper, and W.I. Sewart had represented Victoria in the return match, against South Australia, in Adelaide on 10 August 1912.
- Three squad members J. Brake, J.T. Cooper, and B.M.F. Sloss had represented Victoria in the interstate match against South Australia, in Adelaide, on 12 July 1913, and two J.H. James and B.M.F. Sloss had represented Victoria in the return match against South Australia at the MCG on 16 August 1913.
- Nine squad members F.R. McCargill (New South Wales), J. Pugh (Tasmania), J.W. Robertson (South Australia), J. Brake, J.T. Cooper, C.H. Lilley, J.H. James, B.M.F. Sloss, (Victoria), and D. Scullin (Western Australia) had represented their respective States at the Third Australian National Football Carnival, in Sydney, in August 1914.
- One squad member, J.H. James, would go on (post-war) to represent Victoria in the interstate match against South Australia, in Adelaide, on 24 July 1920.
- One squad member, C.L. Hoft, would go on (post-war) to represent Western Australia at the Fourth Australian National Football Carnival, in Perth, in August 1921, South Australia at the Fifth Australian National Football Carnival, in Hobart, in August 1924, and, once again, South Australia at the Sixth Australian National Football Carnival, in Melbourne, in August 1927.
Despite their individual skills and expertise, those eventually chosen from the prospective squads to play on the day had not really been able to practice together as teams prior to the match.
## Promotion
The match was promoted as the "Pioneer Exhibition Game of Australian Football in London":
: An Australian football match (an Australian Division v. Training Groups) will be played at Queen's Club, West Kensington, tomorrow, at 3 p.m., in aid of the British and French Red Cross Funds. The game, played by 18 players a side, will show how Australians have combined "Soccer" and Rugby. — The Times, Friday, 27 October 1916.
## The official programme
As well as providing a clear explanation of the game, which made it easy for spectators to follow, the official printed programme provided the names and numbers for the members of each squad's extended list of "possibles" 25 for the Third Australian Division, and 26 for the Combined Training Units from which the 18 players for the day in each team were to be selected.
### Team lists
It is obvious from the differences in references to the same individual in various parts of the programme for instance, "Fred Lindsay" (p. 2) vs. "Dan Lindsay" (p. 10); "Cecil Hart" (p. 2) vs. "Cecil J. Hartt" (p. 4), etc. that, rather than a written draft of the programme having been created and cross-checked against all available artistic, sporting, and military records by a single, dedicated, and well-informed official, and the cluster of pages from which the programme was subsequently constructed having been imagined and, then, realised by a single creative designer, the entire programme was a set of associated fragments, each constructed by different individuals to whom various aspects of the various tasks involved had been delegated at different times, and all of which had been hurriedly aggregated together at last moment by some other person.
Consequently, the lists of squad members and match officials in the programme not only contain typographical errors (e.g., "Pubiaco" for "Subiaco"), but also some outright mis-identifications of specific individuals and/or their original football teams, all of which have been corrected and are accurately identified below which, allowing for the changes due to differences in age, health, and physical fitness, and the consequences of their military service (such as being gassed while serving in France), are clearly those of the same individual that appears in the relevant team photograph taken on the day except, that is, for the goal umpire "S.M Keen", the Third Division's [13] "L. Martin, University", and [23] "L.V. Brown, Brighton", and the Training Units' [14] "Maxfield, Fremantle", [19] "Bennett, Ballarat", and [21] "McDonald, Essendon", whose respective identification-puzzles (as of June 2022) seem impossible to resolve.
However, given that all of the players were serving soldiers whose stamina, current states of health (due to hepatitis, measles, meningitis, malaria, etc.), post-injury and post-wound levels of physical fitness-for-football, (post-gassing) respiratory capacities, and/or immediate demands of their military duties might make them suddenly available (or, not available) for instance, Jack Cooper's condition had only just recovered enough from being gassed in France for him to be able to play for the Training Units team it is not surprising that the names of two of the unexpectedly-available-on-the-day players (i.e., Alf Moore and Billy Orchard) were missing from their respective squad's list in the published programme.
### Cartoon sketches by Australian artists
The official programme also presented a small collection of sketches by six well-known Australian artists resident in London at the time, all of whom "gave their services gratuitously":
- Will Dyson: William Henry Dyson (1880–1938), the husband of Ruby Lindsay. At the specific suggestion of the High Commissioner of Australia to the United Kingdom, the former Australian Prime Minister Andrew Fisher, Dyson was appointed as the first official Australian "war artist" in December 1916.
- Cecil L. Hartt: Cecil Lawrence Hartt (1884–1930), having enlisted in the AIF at the age of 30, he was seriously wounded in his right thigh and left ankle fighting with the Anzacs at Gallipoli on 28 August 1915. Invalided to England, he was recuperating in the Reading Military Hospital at the time of the match. He did not recover enough to resume active service, and was repatriated to Australia in June 1918, discharged as medically unfit for service in July 1918; and, in May 1930, most likely due to his on-going post-traumatic stress and the sequelae of his war injuries, he committed suicide.
- Fred Leist: Frederick William Leist (1873–1945), cartoonist, graphic artist, and painter; another official Australian "war artist", appointed later than Will Dyson.
- Ruby Lind: that is, Ruby Lindsay (1885–1919), the sister of Norman, Percy, Lionel, and Daryl Lindsay, painter, cartoonist, poster-designer, book illustrator, and the wife of Will Dyson. She died on 12 March 1919 during the Spanish flu pandemic.
- Dan Lindsay: that is, Daryl Ernest Lindsay (1889–1976) N.B.: not the (otherwise) famous "Fred Lindsay" mistakenly listed as the cartoon's contributor on page 2 of the programme the brother of Lionel, Norman, Percy, and Ruby Lindsay; the brother-in-law, and former batman of Will Dyson. Known to his friends as "Dan", he was the husband of Joan Lindsay, author of Picnic at Hanging Rock. His contribution to the programme was one of the first of his cartoons to be published, and its subject reflects the fact that, for at least four years prior to his enlistment, Lindsay had worked in remote Queensland as a jackaroo.
- Although famous for his later production of a wide range of watercolours and other works of art relating to soldiers and warfare, Daryl Lindsay's art made a very substantial contribution to the advancement of military reconstructive surgery with the extensive set of images he produced for Sir Harold Gillies, while serving in 1918 and 1919 as the specialist, in-house "medical artist" at the specialist military hospital at Sidcup, in Kent.
- Laurie Tayler: Laurence Bush Tayler (1882–1972), painter, graphic artist, and illustrator.
### Sales
No special sale price was fixed for the programmes. A staff of 80 girls, each of whom carried their allocation of programmes in a basket decorated with the green and gold colours of Australia, volunteered to dispose of them, and a prize was offered for the girl whose work netted the best returns. The winning girl handed in more than £70:
: "[The] souvenir programmes, in aid of the French Red Cross funds sold like hot cakes, mainly because the sellers were pretty English girls. They did a roaring trade among the Diggers, though one more venturesome than the rest created a sensation when she walked into one of the dressing rooms at half-time and endeavoured to sell programmes to the players." — The Sporting Globe, 10 September 1930.
: "With donations, the game raised close on £1000 for the British and French Red Cross. One girl alone collected £70 from the sale of programmes. She must have been the young lady who, in her eagerness to collect, unwittingly blundered into our dressing-room, to retire precipitantly in blushing confusion from the midst of big, hulking soldier-footballers in varying stages of dress — and undress!" — Dan Minogue's (1937) recollection of the match.
## The football
Two hand-stitched footballs were made for the match by Corporal C.C. McMullen, who had been a leatherworker at Henry Fordham's football factory in Sydney Road, Brunswick, prior to his enlistment in the First AIF. The Fordham footballs i.e., contrasted with the "Sherrin" footballs (see the football held by Dan Minogue in the image above) that had been (c.1902) especially designed to facilitate the stab-kicking of the Collingwood footballers were being used in the West Australian Goldfields League as early as 1907. Also, Fordham footballs were the official ball for the Victorian Football Association (VFA) for fourteen years in the 1920s and 1930s.
The balls that McMullen made for the match were marked "The AIF Ball" on one side, and "Match II" on the other. One of the balls is currently (as of June 2022) on display at the Dandenong/Cranbourne Sub Branch of the RSL.
- "Match II" (see the football held by Gerald Brosnan, in the image above, and by the George Barry, the umpire, in both team photographs) was a generic descriptor, used by Fordham, Ross Faulkner, the Melbourne Sports Depot, and other football manufacturers, to identify Australian Rules footballs that were of such quality that they could be used in First XVIII VFL matches.
## Match officials
- Field umpires: S.R. Gray (first half of the match), squatting, at the extreme right of the front row in the Divisional Team photograph, and George Barry (second half of the match), second umpire from the left, holding the ball, in the front row of each photograph.
- Boundary Umpires: Thomas Sinton Hewitt (replacing the programme's A.A. Barker), third umpire from the left in the front row of each photograph. and E.J. "Eddie" Watt, umpire at left in the front row of each photograph (wounded in action 7 June 1917).
- Goal Umpires: Lieutenant A.E. Olsson, and S.M. Keen.
## Third Australian Divisional Squad
The Divisional Team played in the blue guernsey which had been made in London especially for the match, that had a large white map of Australia (minus Tasmania) on the centre of its front, and in white shorts.
### The team
The eighteen players that took the field were:
- E.J. "Ted" Alley [14] (Williamstown, formerly South Melbourne), player cross-legged at the hard right of the front row.
- Frank Beaurepaire, team manager, the man in uniform, middle of middle row.
- J. "Jack" Brake [2] (Melbourne, formerly University), fifth player from left, back row.
- J.F. "Jim" Foy [19] (East Perth), player at extreme right, back row. He was killed in action, near Armentières, Northern France, on 14 March 1917.
- C.L. "Cyril" Hoft [12] (Perth), player at the extreme left, back row.
- J.H. "Hughie" James [15] (Richmond), fourth player from right, back row.
- P.J.H. "Percy" Jory [9] (St Kilda), at right of middle row, with Carl Willis' hands on his shoulders.
- L.E. "Les" Lee [11] (Richmond & Williamstown), fourth player from left, back row. Killed in action during the Battle of Messines (1917) on 8 June 1917.
- C.H. "Charlie" Lilley [10] (Melbourne), second from left, middle row.
- L.P. "Leo" Little [5] (University), second from right, back row.
- L. Martin [13] (University), third player from left, back row.
- B.H. "Ben" Mills [17] (Northcote), second player from the right, front row.
- D.T. "Dan" Minogue [3] (Collingwood), team vice-captain, seated at right of Frank Beaurepaire, middle row.
- H.M. "Harry" Moyes [8] (St Kilda), player at the extreme left of the middle row.
- W.H. "Billy" Orchard [–] (Geelong), second from left, in back row.
- J. "James" Pugh [7] (City), second from right, in middle row. Killed in action, in France, on 28 January 1917.
- W.I. "Bill" Sewart [6] (Essendon), first player from left, front row.
- B.M.F. "Bruce" Sloss [1] (South Melbourne), team captain, seated at left of Frank Beaurepaire, middle row. Killed in action at Armentières, Northern France, on 4 January 1917.
- C.J. "Carl" Willis [4] (University, and South Melbourne), third from right, back row; died of "pleurisy and pneumonia, accentuated by the effects of [First World War] gas" at the age of 37.
### Squad members not selected
Eight of those listed in the official programme as members of the Third Division's squad; who, although "selected to go to London and hold themselves in readiness if required to play" (Minogue & Millar, 1937), did not take the field that day:
- L.V. Brown [23] (Brighton).
- O.R. Brown [21] (Collingwood Districts).
- E.J. "Ted" Busbridge [22] (Williamstown). Wounded in action in France on 11 April 1917, he was captured and spent the remainder of the war as a prisoner of war in Germany.
- T.J. "Tim" Collins [24] (Melbourne).
- A.E. Ollson [25] (Kenilworth), who served as one of the match's two goal umpires (see above).
- J.W. Robertson [18] (Port Adelaide).
- L.C. "Les" Turner [20] (Essendon Association, Prahran, and South Melbourne).
- J.W. "Jack" Watt [16] (Geelong).
## Australian Training Units Squad
The Training Units played in the red guernsey which had been made in London especially for the match, that had a large white kangaroo on its left breast, and in white shorts.
### The team
The eighteen players that took the field were:
- O.R. "Ossy" Armstrong [10] (Geelong), far right, back row. He was captured by the Germans on 11 April 1917, and was a prisoner of war.
- E.F. "Ernest" Beames [16] (Norwood), fifth player from left, back row.
- G.B. "George" Bower [18] (South Melbourne), player at the extreme left, back row.
- H.J. "Hugh" Boyd [8] (University/South Bendigo), extreme right, centre row.
- I. "Italo" Cesari [9] (Dromana, Peninsular Association), player kneeling at far right.
- J.T. "Jack" Cooper [2] (Fitzroy), vice-captain, fifth from right, back row. Killed in action during the Battle of Passchendaele on 20 September 1917.
- C. "Clyde" Donaldson [4] (Essendon), third player from left, top row.
- T.P. "Phil" Hosking [6] (Melbourne), second player from left, back row. Wounded twice in action: gassed (July 1918); gunshot wounds to thigh (fractured femur, etc., August 1918).
- A. "Alf" Jackson [22] (Essendon), second from right, middle row.
- H.C. "Harry" Kerley [5] (Collingwood), second from right, back row.
- S.C "Stan" Martin [7] (University), third from right, back row. Killed in action at Bullecourt, France on 3 May 1917.
- Maxfield [14] (Fremantle).
- McDonald [21] (Essendon).
- A.M. "Mac" Moore [–] (Norwood), fourth player from left, back row.
- T. "Thomas" Paine [15] (Union Football Club, Northam, Tasmania), player at left, front row. Wounded twice in action: gunshot wounds to hand (June 1917); gunshot wounds to head (September 1917).
- Chaplain-Captain C.J. "Charlie" Perry [1] (Norwood), third from left, middle row, team captain.
- D.F. "Dan" Scullin [11] (Mines Rovers), fourth from right, back row, killed in action, in France, on 26 September 1917.
- P.G. "Percy" Trotter [3] (East Fremantle), at extreme left, middle row.
### Squad members not selected
Eight of those listed in the official programme as members of the Training Group's squad; who, although "selected to go to London and hold themselves in readiness if required to play" (Minogue & Millar, 1937), did not take the field that day:
- A.J. Andrews [17] (Goldfields).
- Bennett [19] (Ballarat).
- William "Roy" Drummond [20] (Port Adelaide).
- F.R. "Freddy" McGargill [23] (N.S.W.).
- C.R. Murphy [25] (N. Queensland).
- P. Newsome [24] (Ballarat).
- R.W. "Dick" Rowe [26] (Ballarat), as a member of the AIF's 6th Battalion Rowe was one of those who landed at Anzac Cove on 25 April 1915.
- P.S. "Phil" Stott [12] (Latrobe), as a member of the AIF's 12th Battalion Stott was one of those who landed at Anzac Cove on 25 April 1915; he was wounded in action three times (at Gallipoli on 26 April 1915, in France on 10 April 1917, and in France on 19 September 1918).
## Saturday, 28 October 1916
The game was played at Queen's Club, West Kensington, on the cold, bleak, overcast, and windy late-Autumn afternoon of Saturday, 28 October 1916, before a crowd that was estimated at 3,000, by many, 5,000, by some, and as many as 6,000 by others. There's no doubt that the considerably smaller-than-expected crowd almost exclusively limited to those expressly invited to the match, and those Australian servicemen who took advantage of the leave that Monash had granted them on the day was entirely due to the consequences of the inclement weather.
A very strong goal-to-goal wind favoured one end of the ground, and the playing field itself was the wrong shape and the wrong size: it was considerably shorter and narrower than the sorts of field the players were accustomed to playing upon back in Australia it measured at 120 yards (110 m) wide and 180 yards (165 m) long and this significant reduction in the overall available playing area contributed to somewhat more congested play, at times, than usual.
The match began at 3PM local time. It was played over four 20-minute quarters and, over and above those 80 minutes of elapsed playing time, the three additional breaks between the quarters meant that on such a gloomy day (sunset was at 4.42 PM) the final minutes of the match were played in very, very poor light conditions.
## The match
The Third Australian Divisional Team was the pre-match favourite; at the time of the match they were in much better shape, mainly because, unlike those of the First, Second, Fourth, and Fifth Divisions, the soldiers of the Third Division were the only ones who had not yet seen any active overseas service. The Divisional team beat the Australian Training Units Team 6.16 (52) to 4.12 (36).
### Player positions
According to the records supplied to Vic Johnson by Italo Cesari in 1954, the Training Units players' positions were:
### First quarter
The two captains met in the centre of the ground. The Training Unit's captain, Charlie Perry, won the toss, and chose to kick with the wind to the northern end of the ground. The match started off at a brisk, enthusiastic pace, with both sides competing strongly and, to the spectator's delight, displaying the game's characteristic "high marking and long kicking". Although the Training Units team had the advantage of the strong wind, its inaccurate kicking resulted in just two goals (and 5 behinds), whilst the Divisional team was restricted to a score of two behinds mainly due to the outstanding efforts of the training Unit's Percy Trotter and Clyde Donaldson.
### Second quarter
Kicking with the strong wind, with Jack Brake, Hughie James, and Les Lee "marking magnificently", and with Cyril Hoft "sparkling" on the wing, the even-less-accurate Divisional team could only kick two goals (and 8 behinds), whilst the Training Units team was restricted to just 2 behinds. Percy Jory kicked a goal with a drop-kick. At half-time, the Divisional team was leading by 3 points.
### Third quarter
The third quarter was considered to be "the best of the match". It was notable for the play moving rapidly backwards-and-forwards up and down the ground the "play rocked to and fro in a buzzing, tense atmosphere", thrilling the crowd (who were "on their toes, roaring the players on") with the "strong ruck clashes", the "swift passing", the "long drop-kicking", and the "finger-tip marks" and with the backlines of each team dominating their forward opponents. The Training Units team, which had kicked two goals (and 2 behinds) to the Divisional team's 2 behinds, had a lead of 8 points at the three-quarter time interval.
### Last quarter
As the match progressed it was becoming increasingly obvious that the match fitness of the players (or the absence thereof), and not just the strong wind favouring one end of the ground, would play a large part in the final result of the match (Richardson, 2016, p. 171). Kicking with the wind, and in "a particularly fierce last quarter" that was "full of fire and color [sic]" in which "both sides [were] striving mightily", with "their military blood up, the 36 men played with fanatical fervor [sic]", Les Lee, Hughie James, and Dan Minogue gained ascendancy in the ruck, and the Divisional team drew away from the tiring Training Units team, scoring four goals (and 3 behinds) to 3 behinds, and winning the match by 16 points.
### Post-match
In 1937, Dan Minogue recalled that, "the match was played on a Saturday afternoon. The soldiers who had taken part in it had leave in London till Sunday night. This they celebrated in true Digger style."
### Progressive and final scores
- Goals:
- Divisional: Moyes (2), Willis (2), Jory (1), and Lee (1).
- Training Units: Moore (1), Paine (1), Maxfield (1), and Armstrong (1).
- Best Players:
- Divisional: James, Moyes, Willis, Brake, Minogue, Alley, Lilley, Little, Mills, Foy, and Lee.
- Training Units: Perry, Trotter, Cooper, Bower, Kerley, Paine, Armstrong, Martin, and Scullin.
## Profits
The admission charges to the match were 1/-, 2/6 and 10/-. The profits of the match which included a donation of £5/5/- from Lord Stanfordham, the private secretary to King George, and a donation from the former Governor-General of Australia, Lord Denman and the proceeds from the sales of programmes eventually came to £1000, all of which went to the British and Red Cross Societies.
## Press reports
Overall, the accurate, interesting, and matter-of-fact press reports of the exhibition match (collectively) provided a strong and long-overdue contrast to what Richardson usefully identifies (at 2016, p. 307) as the "misguided mythology" that was ever so firmly embedded in the questionable characterisation echoing the widely quoted sentiments of Henry Newbolt's poem Vitaï Lampada made early in the war, of the Australian "digger" as a fierce footballer playing on another field. See, for instance:
- The poem by George Shand (1863–1926), the Victorian lawn-tennis identity: "The Sportsmen's Brigade", at The Referee, (Wednesday, 13 January 1915), p.16.
- Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett's article "A Race of Athletes", written at Gallipoli, and reprinted at The Bendigonian, (Thursday, 13 May 1915), p.14.
- The article "Deeds that Thrill by our Athletes and Sportsmen: Rushes of the Football Field Repeated with the Bayonet Against the Turks: Australasians who have played the Part Hero ", at The Referee, (Wednesday, 12 May 1915), p.1.
- The headline references to how "Players of our National games heed Imperial Summon to Grandest Game of all—Bearing Arms", at The Referee, (Wednesday, 12 May 1915), p.16.
- The article ""Going into Battle is like Great Football Rush", says a Soldier: Invalided Home, Private Anderson tells of Colonial Sporting Grit in War", at The Referee, (Wednesday, 12 May 1915), p.16.
There were also the extraordinary claims, made in some quarters, that the footballers who had enlisted were somehow more robust and less likely to be injured than their non-footballer comrades; and Brosnan's remarks, made a year later, in relation to the manner in which the footballer's sporting background contributed to their value as a recruit, reflected similar views:
: "Whether footballers or the authorities controlling the game in Victoria could not do more towards "Winning the War" than they are doing is a matter about which opinions differ, but that they have done their share in providing recruits is beyond doubt. After all, this is only what it should be. Owing to the training necessary to become an expert (and everyone aspires to be an expert), and the physical fitness and endurance required to take part in a game of football, our players should, and, from letters received, do, make the best soldiers. From all sides one hears glowing accounts of their discipline, ability to do long marches, and quickness and resource in dangers and difficulties. This is exactly what one would expect, but unfortunately these very qualities place them in positions of the greatest danger, and day by day the footballers' death roll grows until by now it assumes alarming proportions." — Gerald Brosnan, The Winner, 28 February 1917.
The match reports spoke of a hotly contested game of Australian football that was, without doubt, being enjoyed beyond measure by those who played on that special day when, just for a moment, they were elite footballers once again (albeit serving with the AIF at the time) and, inescapably, many of whom would either die later or sustain lifelong injury, debilitating mental issues, and/or the ongoing physical sequelae of medical conditions (such as respiratory distress due to having been gassed) connected with their fight against a real enemy.
Beyond this, the match had quite a different significance for various sorts of individuals. Some treated it as just an event, others saw it as a sporting contest, many "imperial" Britons viewed it as a fascinating exhibition of an unusual and different "colonial" pastime an obvious parallel to the (later) for-general-interest-only presentation of a demonstration sport, such as Basque pelota, at an Olympic Games and, for most Australians, it was far more than just a social match: given the skill, experience, and background of those selected to play on the day, and the overall strength of the two teams, they afforded the match a status of at least the equal of an interstate representative game, if not an ANFC Carnival match.
The various press reports also reflected a wide range of different motivations. From one perspective (shared by Gerald Brosnan), the exhibition match of Australian football brought to mind the (abandoned) pre-war proposals by former St Kilda footballer and coach Jim Smith for a 25-match tour of the world commencing with the Panama–Pacific International Exposition, in San Francisco, California, in March 1915 and, from thence, across America, and on to England, France and South Africa with a squad of 45 Victorian footballers, to advertise and promote the Australian game; and, further, the 1916 match seemed to suggest the reasonable possibility of the game's successful promotion in the UK and overseas once the war was over. However, it was not until the match between the RAAF and HMAS Shropshire, at Hyde Park, London, organised by ex-Collinwood footballer and later ANFC secretary Bruce Andrew, that a second exhibition match was held in the UK. A third match, contested between RAAF HQ (captain, Bruce Andrew) and the RAAF's No.10 (Sunderland) Squadron (captain, Jack Forrest), took place, soon after, at Hyde Park on 8 January 1944.
### The Australian press
In late September 1916, it was announced in the Australian press that "General Monash has granted a holiday [to his troops] for an exhibition of Australian football arranged to take place in London, early in October". A week before the match, the Australian press noted that, "Australian soldiers are introducing Australian football into Britain. Strong teams have been formed at Salisbury and London, and an exhibition game will be played in London on the 28th, when it is expected that Royalty will be present." Several days later, the press noted that, "Members of the competing teams in the Australian (football match, to be held on Saturday, are all senior players, and many have taken part in interstate matches. The captain of the third division team is Lieutenant B. Sloss, of South Melbourne, and the captain of the training groups team is Captain W.H. Perry, of Norwood (S.A.)".
Following the match, although a number of brief reports of the event were published immediately after the match, such as,
: "An Australian football match was played on the Queens Club ground, London, on Saturday, between teams representing the Australian 3rd Division, and the Australian trainees at Salisbury Plain. The former won, scoring 6 goals 16 behinds to 4 goals 12 behinds",
the small number that did provide a match report, only supplied (at the most) a two paragraph description of the match itself, and failed to supply any detailed list of participants.
In his own brief report for The Winner on the match in the week following the match (1 November 1916), which was, to a considerable extent, embellished by the pre-match correspondence he had already received relating to the match's participants, Gerald Brosnan lamented the lack of relevant information in the cable reports, and observed that "[further] details by mail will be anxiously awaited".
Ten weeks later (20 December 1916), Brosnan's second article not only contained a detailed first-person account of the events of the day from The Winner's London-based correspondent, E.A. Bland, but, also, Bland's description of first-time spectators' impressions of Australian football. Observing that, notwithstanding the significant fact "that these were scratch teams which had few chances of getting together", the presence of "such a galaxy of stars" meant that "the individual play was at times brilliant and spectacular", and recording that he, Bland, as a first-time spectator, came away from the match with the strong impression that the game "was faster than either Soccer or Rugger", he also reported that "the "high marking" which seemed to be the feature of the game which attracted most [spectator] attention was extraordinarily good". Brosnan's article, which supplied a photograph of each team (i.e., [ADP.3], and [TUP.3]), also included extensive extracts taken directly from the four major British sporting papers, Sporting Life, The Sportsman, The Times, and The Weekly Despatch.
In his final article on the match (10 January 1917), published three weeks later, and unique in the level of match detail it contained (it also published three photographs taken at the game), Brosnan explained that "later details of the match, contained in letters from players, and from spectators, have since arrived, and will no doubt prove of interest to the great number of football followers as well as to the general body of sports-loving public here".
### The New Zealand press
The reports that appeared in the New Zealand press took the form of brief, simple news items.
### The British press
Although number of brief excerpts from the reports in Sporting Life, 'The Sportsman, The Times, and The Weekly Despatch were published from time to time in the Australian press i.e., rather than being offered as sports reports of the match, they were presented as examples of the amusing British descriptions of Australian football it seems that Brosnan's second (20 December 1916) article was the only place at which the relevant sections of all four of the British articles were published in the Australian press. The contents of an entirely different fifth article (apparently written on 29 October 1916), taken from The Referee of London, was published in The (Emerald Hill) Record of 6 January 1917.
The British reports concentrated on the match as an event, rather than a contest; and were, thus, devoid of the normal sorts of descriptions of the patterns of play, the performance of prominent individuals, particular match incidents, and the progression of the scores.
With the reasonable intention of providing their British readers with some sense of the experience they had missed in person, the reports described the similarities and differences between the Australian game and those their readers already knew: rugby union, rugby league, and soccer the pitch upon with it was played, the layout of its goal-posts, its requisite skills, its rules, its scores, its four quarters, the standard player positions, the level of athleticism demanded of its players, etc.
Consequently, they tended to focus on the absence of the "off-side" rule, kicking long drop-kicks, and kicking long and accurate place-kicks. Also, unique features of the game, such as the stab-kick, high marks, bouncing the ball on the run, and being able to kick in any direction were stressed: and, in particular, the (to the British) extraordinary spectator practice, displayed on the day to some considerable extent by the Australians present: that of barracking.
: "Those who had the good fortune to witness the match will be in agreement that it is a most exhilarating and exciting pastime, and it is played at such a pace throughout that it is unquestionably the fastest outdoor game, with the exception of lacrosse. With eighteen players on each side, each watched by an opponent, the chances for open, speedy exchanges would appear to be limited, but in practice the reverse is the case, for with no offside for players to worry about, with a ground width of some 120 yards, affording plenty of scope for manœuvring, with free kicks taken without a moment's time being wasted, with players permitted to run ten yards with the ball before bouncing it, and then bouncing it while going at full speed, with the right to knock-off, punt, or drop-kick in any direction, and without scrums, and the whistle seldom being heard, it will be understood that the Australian code lends itself to speed work. . . .
The ball, it should be mentioned, is slightly larger than the Rugby ball, but similar in shape, with the ends more flattened. Some of the players showed wonderful control, in their punches, and also in their kicking, but more noticeable, perhaps, than either was the high marking, players leaping in the air to make a fair catch from a pass, and this entitled them to a kick in any direction. Then, again, some of the long kicking to players on the same side was wonderfully accurate, while the pace at which the ball travelled about the field was at times almost bewildering."
Sporting Life, reprinted in The Winner of 20 December 1916.
: "Long kicking and marking are two of the distinctive features. When the ball is caught from a clean kick of over ten yards the player is entitled to a free kick in any direction. If the angle is favorable he tries to drop or punt a goal, but if badly placed he endeavors to kick to a fellow player. There is much keen competition in jumping in the air to make a catch, and in this phase are very expert. The game is very fast, very open, very spectacular, and needs plenty of stamina and pace. The ruck men and rovers are required to be up and doing all the time, and on account of the strain they are changed and given fixed positions every quarter. There is also plenty of work for the field umpire who requires to be very quick to keep up with the play.
The Sportsman, reprinted in The Winner of 20 December 1916.
: "One thing that is clearly apparent is the enormous amount of skill which is required, while physical fitness is also essential. There can be no doubt of it being a game of high value from an athletic point of view. As a spectacle, much can be said in its favor, for the fluctuations are rapid, brought about by the nimbleness, versatility, and dexterity of the players. . . . Pace is an important essential, but a still greater feature is high marking and long kicking. It is no unusual thing for several players to spring between 4ft. and 5ft. in the air to catch the ball from a kick over ten yards, which constitutes a mark and entitles the successful player to a free kick. Drop-kicking and place kicking are further salient points, and these reach a remarkably high standard for accuracy and length. There is great art in bouncing the ball while travelling at full speed, and also the stab jack passing, which is tantamount to short passing methods in the Association game [viz., soccer]."
The Referee of London, reprinted in The (Emerald Hill) Record of 6 January 1917.
: "Football — Australian fashion — drew a big crowd to Queen's Club yesterday afternoon, when a team chosen from the Third Division beat the representatives of the Combined Training Groups by 52 points to 36.
It was the first time that the fast Australian game had ever been played by skilled exponents in London, and the onlookers could be readily grouped in two classes.
There were the partisans in slouched bats over hard-bitten Anzac faces, who had come to "barrack" for or against the "Fighting Third", the only Anzac Division which has not yet seen active service.
There were also curious sportsmen and sportswomen of all kinds, who had come out to get a glimpse of the game of which so much has been written here at one time and another. . . .
The section of the spectators unfamiliar with the Australian game agreed that it was fast rather than exciting, and had more admiration for the splendid condition of the men, their untiring energy through a long and trying game, and the huge drop kicks, of which they all seemed capable, than for the game itself as a rival to Rugby."
Weekly Despatch, reprinted in The Winner of 20 December 1916.
: The spectators were also treated to their first exhibition of Australian "barracking". This barracking is a cheerful running comment, absolutely without prejudice, on the players, the spectators, the referee, the line umpires, and lastly the game itself. On Saturday it was mostly concerned with references to the military history of the teams engaged. When a catch was missed, for instance, a shrill and penetrating voice inquired of the abashed player "D'you think it's a bomb? It's not, it's a ball." On one side there was a colonel playing among the backs and the captain of the other side was a chaplain, and a popular one, to judge by the cheery advice that he got from the privates on the line and in the stand."
The Times of London, reprinted in The Winner of 20 December 1916.
### The American press
On 19 November 1916, the New York Times published a photograph, taken during the match, of a large pack of players contesting for a mark.
### The French press
On 20 November 1916 the French newspaper, "The Excelsior" [fr], published a version of a photograph (a different photograph from that published in the New York Times) that had been taken during the match of a large pack of players contesting for a mark, under the title "Les Australiens guerriers et sportifs" ('The Australian Warriors and Sportsmen').
## Records of the day
### News film
A film ([NR.1]) was taken at the match. A remastered and colourised version ([NR.2]) of the original film was released in 2019.
### Team photographs
Two official photographs were taken of each team prior to the match by the same photographer.
- Third Divisional Team
- [ADP.1]: In the collection of the Australian War Memorial.
- [ADP.2]: In the collection of the Australian Sports Museum (reprinted at [ADP.3] and [ADP.4]).
- Training Units Team
- [TUP.1]: In the collection of the Australian War Memorial.
- [TUP.2]: In the collection of the Australian Sports Museum (reprinted at [TUP.3]).
## Frank Beaurepaire's presentation set of team photographs
In celebration of the match, Frank Beaurepaire commissioned a souvenir set of the team photographs displaying [TUP.2] and [ADP.2] which he donated to the Collingwood football Club; and, as of June 2022, there is no evidence that any other football club received a similar souvenir set of photographs from Beaurepaire.
: "Writing from the Y.M.C.A.'s quarters at 21 Bartholomew road, London, to Mr E. Copeland, secretary of Collingwood F.C., Frank Beaurepaire says: "Knowing of the fine collection of football and other photos, trophies, etc., that you have at Victoria Park, and being reminded of [same] by association here, with Dan Minogue, I thought you would like to have copies of the teams which recently played in London on 28/10/16, for Red Cross. It was, as you are probably aware, a pioneer game of first class Australian football, and went off well indeed. Crowd 4000 to 5000, Profit £260 or so. I had the honor of suggesting the game, and arranging much of the detail, particularly in the early stages. You will see me seated in uniform next to Dan Minogue, Vice-Captain, and Bruce Sloss, Captain. Third Division won by 6 goals 16 behinds, to 4 goals 12 behinds. If Dan has not sent you a souvenir programme so that you may list the names I shall have, I hope, the pleasure of doing so, on my return to Australia in the distant future, all going well . . ." – The Winner, 31 January 1917.
The mounting boards of the souvenir sets were decorated with a British Union Jack and an Australian Red Ensign, with "Australian Football in London. Pioneer Exhibition Game. At Queen's Club, West Kensington. Saturday 28 Oct. 1916" at their head, and "Organizer of Match & Donor of Photos to Club Lieut. Frank Beaurepaire" at their feet. They were mounted especially for presentation by the Allan Studio, of 318 Smith Street, Collingwood.
## Centenary match (2017)
On Saturday, 6 May 2017, at West London's Chiswick Rugby Club, the 1916 Pioneer match was commemorated, when the two 2016 AFL London Grand Final teams West London Wildcats (premiers) and Wandsworth Demons (runners-up) played each other in the opening round of the 2017 competition; with the West London Wildcats wearing navy blue guernseys featuring a large white map of Australia (with Tasmania included), and the Wandsworth Demons wearing red guernseys featuring a large white kangaroo.
## See also
- 1916 VFL season
- Australian rules football exhibition matches
- List of Victorian Football League players who died on active service
- Australian rules football during the World Wars
|
45,090,457 |
Daddy's Double
| 1,105,397,403 | null |
[
"1910 drama films",
"1910 films",
"1910s American films",
"American black-and-white films",
"American silent short films",
"Articles containing video clips",
"Films directed by Lloyd B. Carleton",
"Silent American drama films",
"Thanhouser Company films"
] |
Daddy's Double is a 1910 American silent short drama produced by the Thanhouser Film Corporation. The film focuses on Hal, a young man, who proposes to Sue, his love interest. Her father overhears and becomes furious before whisking his daughter away to a boarding school. Hal and Sue attempt to elope, but it is foiled. Hal then gets an idea to disguise himself as the father and reclaim Sue. The plan works, but the father follows in pursuit. He breaks into the wedding ceremony at the parson's house and sees his double. He then laughs and approves of the marriage. The film was the fourth release by Thanhouser and it was met with favorable reviews by critics. In 2007, a surviving print was released on DVD with a new original score composed and performed by Raymond A. Brubacher.
## Plot
At the Post's home, Hal Dunton sits down with his love interest Sue Post, cautiously checking to see if they are alone. Hal then proposes to Sue and in the excitement, her father comes into the room. He is outraged and believes his daughter is too young to be married and promptly makes Hal leave before scolding his daughter. Before departing, Hal meets and pleads with the father as he takes the daughter away by car. The father refuses and Hal is knocked down before the father and daughter depart to a boarding school. The father meets with the mistress and leaves Sue in her care, much to Sue's distress.
Whisked away from her home and her beloved, Sue is in despair until Hal appears outside her window with a ladder. The attempted elopement fails when the mistress catches Hal in the act and dismisses him. She awaits Sue to descend and round the corner before halting her and forcing her back inside. The father pulls up to a place of business and Hal, who is walking by, attempts to greet the father. The angry father ignores him, but Hal turns and sees the wigmaker's store next to him. An idea strikes him and he pays a photographer to get a photo of the father on the way out, which further angers him. Hal then sends a message to Sue, that he will come and claim her the following day, disguised as her father.
Hal head to the wigmaker and is disguised as the father. So well is the disguise that the father's chauffeur is convinced and takes Hal to the boarding school. The father quickly exits in time to see his chauffeur drive away and hails a taxi. Hal arrives at the boarding school and the disguise works, claims Sue and drives away. Seconds later the father arrives and confronts the mistress, departing to pursue in a fit of anger. Hal and Sue go to the parson's house to be immediately wed. The father is delayed for a short time by car trouble, but quickly arrives before the two are wed. He bursts in and sees his double and both he and Hal laugh. The father relents and approves the marriage as Hal removes his disguise in front of the stunned Parson.
## Cast
- Frank H. Crane as Mr. Post or "Daddy"
- Fred Santley as Hal Dunton or "Daddy's double"
- Isabelle Daintry as Sue Post
## Production
The scenario was written by Lloyd F. Lonergan. Lonergan was the writer of all three previous productions of the Thanhouser company. Lonergan was an experienced newspaperman still employed by The New York Evening World while writing scripts for the Thanhouser productions. He was the most important script writer for Thanhouser, averaging 200 scripts a year from 1910 to 1915. The director of the film is not known for certain, but two Thanhouser directors are possible. Barry O'Neil was the stage name of Thomas J. McCarthy, who would direct many important Thanhouser pictures, including its first two-reeler, Romeo and Juliet. Lloyd B. Carleton was the stage name of Carleton B. Little, a director who would stay with the Thanhouser Company for a short time, moving to Biograph Company by the summer of 1910. Film historian Q. David Bowers does not attribute either as the director for this particular production, but he does credit Blair Smith as the cameraman. The film is composed of 28 shots, 8 titles and 1 insert.
The cast for the film featured Thanhouser's first leading male actor, Frank H. Crane, along with two stage actors, Isabelle Daintry and Fred Santley. Isabelle Daintry has one other known Thanhouser credit, but this marks Fred Santley's only known credit. During this era, the players in the film were not credited and anonymity was the rule.
## Release and reception
The one reel drama, approximately 960 feet, was released on Tuesday April 5, 1910. The film would also be released in the United Kingdom on October 16, 1910. The surviving feel reel says the Gaumont Company of London (Gaumont British) had exclusive rights to Thanhouser films outside of the United States. The film was shown across the United States, including theaters in Kansas, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Indiana. One of the last advertisements for the film came three years after its release by the Neosho Picture Show Company of Neosho, Missouri.
The film received positive attention from film critics. The Morning Telegraph praised it as the best work from the new Thanhouser Company. The New York Dramatic Mirror found it to have good acting which could still be more expressive, but was more indifferent to the use of unnecessary connecting scenes. The Moving Picture World stated, in a brief review, that the acting and photography was good.
In 2007, the film was released by Thanhouser Company Film Preservation on a three-disc DVD set along with eleven other surviving Thanhouser films. The surviving print was obtained from the British Film Institute and featured a new original score composed and performed by Raymond A. Brubacher. According to Silent Era, the archive holds the 35mm nitrate positive, the more stable 35mm safety negative and a 35mm reference positive.
## See also
- List of American films of 1910
|
29,531,173 |
Strez
| 1,161,677,130 |
Bulgarian sebastokrator
|
[
"1214 deaths",
"12th-century births",
"13th-century Bulgarian people",
"Asen dynasty",
"Bulgarian murder victims",
"Medieval Bulgarian military personnel",
"Medieval Bulgarian nobility",
"People from medieval Macedonia",
"Sebastokrators"
] |
Strez (Bulgarian and Macedonian: Стрез; original spelling: Стрѣзъ) (fl. 1207–1214) was a medieval, semi-independent Bulgarian sebastokrator. He was a member of the Asen dynasty and a cousin or a brother of Boril of Bulgaria. A major contender for the Bulgarian throne, Strez initially opposed the ascension of his close relative Tsar Boril. He fled to Serbia, where he accepted the vassalage of Grand Prince Stefan Nemanjić, and Serbian support helped him establish himself as a largely independent ruler in a large part of the region of Macedonia. However, Strez turned against his suzerains to become a Bulgarian vassal and joined forces with his former enemy Boril against the Latins and then Serbia. Strez died amidst a major anti-Serbian campaign under unclear circumstances, sometimes described as a Serbian plot.
## Throne contender and Serbian vassal
Nothing is mentioned of Strez until the events in the wake of the sudden death of Tsar Kaloyan (1197–1207) during his siege of the Crusader-held Thessaloniki. Just like Alexius Slav, another noble who would later emerge as a separatist, Strez was a nephew of the Asen brothers Peter, Ivan Asen and Kaloyan, who were the first three emperors of the Second Bulgarian Empire. However, it is unclear whether through his relation to the early Asens he was a first cousin or a brother of Boril (1207–1218).
At the time of Kaloyan's death, Strez was in the capital Tarnovo, perhaps seeking to capitalize on his ancestral rights to the Bulgarian crown. However, Boril proved to be the more ambitious candidate. Boril persecuted the other candidates for the throne, and Alexius Slav, along with Ivan Asen's sons Ivan Asen II had to leave Bulgaria.
As happened to other members of the royal family, Boril's ascension forced Strez and his closest supporters to flee, in that case to neighbouring Serbia, where he was welcomed by the reigning Stefan Nemanjić (1196–1228) in 1207 or early 1208. Even though Boril requested the extradition of Strez to Bulgaria, the Serbian ruler hoped to use Strez as a puppet in gaining Bulgarian-held territory. Stefan believed that Strez's royal ancestry and imperial aspirations would make it much easier to impose Serbian rule over Macedonia, Kosovo and Braničevo, as well as Belgrade, all captured by Bulgaria under Kaloyan. At the same time, Boril was unable to take military action against Strez and his Serbian patron, as he had suffered a major defeat at the hands of the Latins at Plovdiv. Stefan went as far as to become a blood brother of Strez in a ceremony which Stefan was hoping would secure Strez's loyalty.
In 1208, Strez headed a Serbian force which seized much of the Vardar valley from Bulgaria. He established himself as a Serbian vassal at the Prosek fortress (near modern Demir Kapija), formerly the capital of Vlach separatist Dobromir Chrysos. By 1209, Strez's realm spread over much of Macedonia, from the Struma valley in the east, where he bordered the lands controlled by Boril, to Bitola and perhaps Ohrid in the west, and from Skopje in the north to Veria in the south. While Strez quickly gained the support of the local Bulgarian population and possibly inherited the remaining administration from Boril's rule, Serbian units nevertheless remained in his domains, either to guarantee his loyalty or with the intent to oust him and annex his lands.
## Bulgarian vassal
Alexius Slav's marriage to the daughter of Latin Emperor Henry of Flanders in 1209 was potentially a great danger to Boril, who could be facing their joint forces. Fearing such a coalition, Boril approached Strez, who was at the time gaining more power and was close to complete independence from Serbia. Strez agreed to a union with his former enemy, though only after Boril reconfirmed his complete autonomy. Strez eliminated the remaining Serbian troops in his lands in an act that the Serbs saw as devil-inspired treason. It is not impossible that Boril persuaded Strez through military action, though it is more likely that the union was achieved through negotiations.
In the same year, Strez and Boril had come to peace with Michael I Komnenos Doukas, the ruler of Epirus. In late 1209, Strez and Michael may have attempted a joint campaign against Thessaloniki, as they both lost lands to the Latins in what was likely a retaliation raid in late 1209 or early 1210. The failure of this attack prompted Michael to break away from his Bulgarian allies and support the Latins. In early 1211, Strez clashed with the Latins and Epirotes at Thessaloniki and required Boril's assistance after Michael and Henry invaded the western reaches of Strez's realm. In the early summer, the allied Bulgarian army suffered a heavy defeat at Bitola at the hands of Michael, Henry's brother Eustace and Bernard of Katzenellenbogen. Even though it resulted in no territorial losses, it prevented Strez from an expansion to the south. In relation to an anti-Bogomil council in 1211, Strez is referred to as a sebastokrator. The title was either conferred to him by Boril as part of their agreement in 1209, or was awarded to Strez by Kaloyan during his rule. In any case, Boril certainly recognized Strez's right to that appellation. There are signs that Strez divided his possessions into administrative units, each headed by a sebastos. In 1212, Strez was powerful enough to be considered one of the Latin Empire's chief adversaries, along with Boril, Michael and Nicaean emperor Theodore I Laskaris, by Henry himself.
## Anti-Serbian campaign and death
After a series of military failures against the Latins, Boril made peace with Henry in 1213, cemented through two royal marriages. As Boril's vassal, Strez joined the Bulgarian–Latin union, the short-term goal of which was a double invasion of Serbia. In 1214, the forces of Boril and Henry attacked Serbia from the east, while Strez's army, deemed in contemporary sources to be "countless", penetrated Serbian territory from the south and reached the Polog. Facing a major invasion on two fronts, the Serbs were quick to ask for peace. After Stefan's envoys to Strez failed, he sent his brother, archbishop Sava (canonized as Saint Sava) to Strez's camp.
Even though Sava's diplomacy was of no effect either, Strez died the night after Sava's departure. Serbian sources present the death of Strez as a miracle, Strez being stabbed by an angel, though he was possibly murdered in a plot orchestrated by Sava. Historian John V. A. Fine theorizes that Sava may have found supporters among Strez's nobles, some of whom had turned against him and organized his murder, only to defect to Serbia immediately afterwards. According to the hagiography of Saint Sava, in his dying words Strez claimed he was stabbed by a young soldier on the order of Sava.
While Strez's death meant an end to the Latin–Bulgarian campaign, Stefan did not undertake a campaign into Macedonia due to the proximity of the coalition troops, which had halted at Niš. In 1217, all of Strez's territory was under the Epirote rule of Theodore Komnenos Doukas, though Boril may have controlled some or all of it in the meantime. The Serbs failed to take advantage of Strez's death as far as they did not manage to acquire any of his former domains.
## Assessment and legacy
Contemporary Serbian sources, such as the hagiography of Saint Sava, are highly critical of Strez's actions. The Serbs accused Strez of recklessness, drunkenness, ungodliness, treason and cruelty. The hagiography of Saint Sava tells of Strez's alleged tendency to have captives thrown from a high cliff into the Vardar River for his and his guests' entertainment. As the prisoners were falling to their death, Strez would sarcastically shout at them not to get their coats wet. Bulgarian historian Ivan Lazarov dismisses these allegations as slanderous. In his biography of Strez, he hails the medieval ruler as a "true member of the Asen dynasty" and defends his actions due to him being a "child of his time". Lazarov assesses Strez as a characteristic, vivid personality who put his independence above all.
The name of Strez has become a part of Bulgarian folklore, including a legendary account of his life written down as the Biography of Prince Stregan in the 18th century or later. At least one location throughout Macedonia was tied by the locals with Strez, whom the folk interpreted as a voivode or hajduk who defended the people against the Ottomans. Some ruins by the Vardar River near Jegunovce west of Skopje were known to the locals as "Strez's Fortress" (Стрезово кале, Strezovo kale). Even though in reality his capital, Prosek, lay far to the south, the castle at Jegunovce may have formed part of Strez's border fortifications, or it may have been the site of his negotiations with Sava and his death.
## References and notes
|
7,041,559 |
Epaulette shark
| 1,172,098,966 |
Species of longtailed carpet shark
|
[
"Fish described in 1788",
"Fish of New Guinea",
"Hemiscyllium",
"Marine fish of Northern Australia",
"Taxa named by Pierre Joseph Bonnaterre",
"Walking fish"
] |
The epaulette shark (/ɛpəlɛt ʃɑːrk/, Hemiscyllium ocellatum) is a species of longtailed carpet shark, family Hemiscylliidae, found in shallow, tropical waters off Australia and New Guinea (and possibly elsewhere). The common name of this shark comes from the very large, white-margined black spot behind each pectoral fin, which are reminiscent of military epaulettes. A small species usually under 1 m (3.3 ft) long, the epaulette shark has a slender body with a short head and broad, paddle-shaped paired fins. The caudal peduncle (to which the tail fin is attached) comprises over half the shark's length. Adults are light brown above, with scattered darker spots and indistinct saddles.
Epaulette sharks have nocturnal habits and frequent shallow water on coral reefs or in tidal pools. This shark has evolved to cope with the severe night time oxygen depletion (hypoxia) in isolated tidal pools by increasing the blood supply to its brain and selectively shutting down non-essential neural functions. It is capable of surviving complete anoxia for two hours without ill effects, and at a much higher temperature than most other hypoxia-tolerant animals. Rather than swim, epaulette sharks often "walk" by wriggling their bodies and pushing with their paired fins. This species feeds on a wide range of small benthic invertebrates and bony fishes. Epaulette sharks are oviparous, with females depositing pairs of egg capsules around every 14 days from August to December. Due to their hardiness and small size, epaulette sharks are popular with both public and home aquaria. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has assessed this species as of Least Concern, as outside of the small aquarium trade it is of little interest to fisheries.
## Taxonomy and phylogeny
The epaulette shark was originally described as Squalus ocellatus by the French naturalist Pierre Joseph Bonnaterre in the 1788 Tableau encyclopédique et méthodique des trois règnes de la nature. The name was later changed to the currently valid Hemiscyllium ocellatum. The type specimen was a 35 cm (14 in) long immature male caught near Cooktown, Queensland, Australia. Other common names for this species are the itar shark and the blind shark (also used for Brachaelurus waddi). Goto's 2002 morphological analysis of the carpet sharks showed the genus Hemiscyllium as a polytomy, meaning that the phylogenetic relationships between the epaulette shark and its sister species could not be resolved.
## Distribution and habitat
The range of the epaulette shark extends from the southern coast of New Guinea to the northern coast of Australia, as far south as Sydney. The Capricorn-Bunker Group of the Great Barrier Reef contains a particularly large population, with thousands estimated to inhabit the reefs around Heron Island alone. Additionally, there are unsubstantiated reports of this species from Malaysia, Sumatra, and the Solomon Islands. Epaulette sharks are found in shallow water to a maximum depth of 50 m (160 ft), and are often seen in water barely deep enough to cover their bodies. They prefer tidal pools, coral flats, and stands of staghorn coral.
## Description
The epaulette shark has an elongated body, over half of which is comprised by the slender caudal peduncle. The snout is short and rounded, with the nares placed almost at the tip along with a pair of tiny barbels; there are grooves running from the nares to the mouth. There are 26–35 tooth rows in the upper jaw and 21–32 tooth rows in the lower jaw. The teeth are small, with broad bases and triangular cusps. The eyes are oval in shape and elevated, with a large spiracle below each. The five pairs of gill slits are small, with the fourth and fifth very close together.
The pectoral and pelvic fins are broad and rounded and are thickly muscled. The two similarly sized dorsal fins are placed well back on the body. The anal fin is low and positioned just in front of the caudal fin. The caudal fin has only an upper lobe, which contains a prominent ventral notch near the tip and is angled almost horizontally relative to the body. Adult epaulette sharks are beige to brownish above with many widely spaced brown spots and subtle darker bands. There is a very large black spot ringed in white located behind each pectoral fin; this pair of spots are the origin of this shark's common name. Juveniles have alternating light and dark bands over their body and fins, which break up as they mature. Epaulette sharks are typically 70–90 cm (27.5–35.5 in) long; the maximum reported length is 107 cm (42 in).
## Biology and ecology
As an adaptation for navigating its complex reef environment, the epaulette shark moves by seemingly walking, bending its body from side-to-side and pushing off of the substrate with its paddle-shaped pectoral and pelvic fins. Its gait is similar to that of salamanders, an example of convergent evolution. The shark is capable of swimming, but often prefers to walk along the sandy or coral bottom even when the water is deep enough to allow it to swim freely. The cartilaginous supports of the epaulette shark's paired fins are reduced and separated when compared to other sharks, allowing them to be rotated for use as limbs. This mode of locomotion even enables the shark to crawl out of the water to access isolated tidal pools. The gait of the epaulette shark is convergently similar to those of tetrapods such as salamanders, suggesting that the movements needed for walking on land may predate, and facilitated the evolution of, the first terrestrial vertebrates. Epaulette sharks are largely nocturnal and are most active in low water. They often hide inside or below coral heads, though it is enough for the head to be covered even if the rest of the body is exposed. Sometimes they perch in the open on sandy flats or atop reefs facing into the current, a form of orientation known as rheotaxis that may improve respiration or predator awareness.
Epaulette sharks are preyed upon by larger fishes such as other sharks. Its coloration provides protective camouflage, while its epaulette is speculated to be an eyespot for distracting or deterring predators. Epaulette sharks are almost all parasitized by the praniza (parasitic) larval stage of gnathiid isopods. The larvae feed on blood and mostly attach to the skin around the cloaca and the claspers, though they are also found inside the mouth and on the gills. These parasites cause little damage and are not believed to adversely affect the health of the shark. Other parasites of this species include a species of myxosporean in the genus Kudoa, which infests the skeletal muscles, the hemogregarine protozoan Haemogregarina hemiscyllii, which infects the blood, the ostracod Sheina orri, which attaches to the gills, and the nematode Proleptus australis, which infests the stomach.
### Hypoxia tolerance
At night, the shallow reef platforms inhabited by the epaulette shark often become isolated from the ocean by the receding tide. The amount of dissolved oxygen in the pool can drop 80% or more overnight from the combined respiration of all the organisms within the pool. The epaulette shark has evolved to cope with these hypoxic conditions, being able to survive for over three hours in 5% of the atmospheric O<sub>2</sub> level without losing behavioral responsiveness. In the laboratory, epaulette sharks have survived for an hour without any oxygen at 30 °C (86 °F), which is also unusual in that most animals capable of tolerating oxygen deprivation do so at low temperatures.
The physiological responses of the epaulette shark to low oxygen are mediated by the nucleoside adenosine. In hypoxic conditions, the heart and ventilation rates drop sharply. The shark's blood pressure falls by half as the blood vessels dilate to deliver more blood to the brain and heart. Unlike in bony fishes and tetrapods, the blood flow rate remains constant and there is no elevation of blood glucose levels. The brains of sharks only consume a third as much ATP as those of teleosts. The epaulette shark is able to lower this energy demand further by reducing the metabolism of certain areas of its brain, e.g. keeping the sensory nuclei functional while deactivating the motor nuclei. This allows the shark to supply enough ATP to prevent neuron death, while still remaining alert to its environment.
### Temperature susceptibility
Epaulette shark development rate and fitness are strongly affected by temperature during development. Temperature rises due to climate change are sufficient to weaken the sharks, which risks damage to ecosystems.
### Feeding
The epaulette shark is an opportunistic predator of benthic crustaceans, worms, and small bony fish. Off Heron Island, over 90% of the epaulette shark's diet consists of polychaete worms and crabs, with juveniles taking mostly the former and adults mostly the latter. It hunts most actively at dawn and dusk, though feeding can occur at any time during the day. This shark relies mainly on its olfactory and electroreceptive senses to locate hidden prey. It is capable of sucking prey into its mouth by expanding its muscular buccal cavity. While searching for food, the epaulette shark sometimes turns over debris with its snout or thrusts its head into the sand, swallowing food items while expelling the sand grains through its gill slits. Unlike most sharks, the epaulette shark may chew its food for up to 5–10 minutes. Its teeth can be depressed to form a flat surface for crushing hard-shelled prey.
### Life history
Mating in the epaulette shark takes place from July to December, though in captivity reproduction occurs continuously. Courtship may be initiated by the female following and biting the male. The male then holds onto the pectoral fin of the female with his mouth and lies alongside her, while inserting one of his claspers into her cloaca. Copulation lasts about one and a half minutes. Epaulette sharks readily breed in aquariums, even in tanks as small as 135 gallons, but larger tanks are recommended to allow room for the hatched offspring. This species is oviparous, with females depositing eggs from August to December. The female drops the egg capsules two (rarely four) at a time every 14 days, producing a total of 20–50 eggs per year. Each egg case measures 10 cm (3.9 in) long and 4 cm (1.6 in) wide. The young emerge after 120–130 days, at a length of 14–16 cm (5.5–6.5 in). The growth rate of the young is slow at first but increases to about 5 cm (2.0 in) per year after three months. Both males and females mature sexually at a length of 54–64 cm (21.5–25 in), corresponding to an age of at least seven years.
## Human interactions
Epaulette sharks are harmless to humans, though if handled they may nip their captors. They are easily observed and handled by beachgoers as they move slowly whilst out of water, and show little fear of humans; the shark is often injured by these encounters. This species adapts readily to captivity and is displayed by many public aquariums in the United States, Canada, and Australia. In an article for Aquarium Fish Magazine, Scott W. Michael referred to the epaulette shark as "the best shark for the home aquarium." They will breed in captivity, even in tanks as small as 510 L (135 gal), though full-grown sharks are best housed in tanks of 680 L (180 gal) or more. They are not compatible with community tanks as they will eat other fish.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has assessed the epaulette shark as of Least Concern. This species is common in Australian waters, where it is not captured by either commercial or recreational fisheries, and is minimally affected by collection for the aquarium trade and fishery bycatch. Much of its Australian habitat is encompassed by protected marine parks. Off New Guinea, the epaulette shark has been assessed as Near Threatened, as there it faces habitat degradation, destructive fishing practices, and over-exploitation by artisan fishers.
In 2015, the behaviour of an epaulette shark was filmed in detail by the BBC for the first episode of a new documentary series named Shark, released around the 40th anniversary of Jaws. The documentary shows an epaulette shark's ability to walk over land, and its hunting behaviours in the ebbing tide.
|
3,275,323 |
Binsted
| 1,156,522,836 | null |
[
"Villages in Hampshire"
] |
Binsted is a village and large civil parish in East Hampshire, England. It is about 4.1 miles (6.6 km) east of Alton, its nearest town. The parish is one of the largest in northern Hampshire and covers almost 7,000 acres (2,800 ha). It contains two villages, Bucks Horn Oak and Holt Pound, as well as two hamlets, Wyck and Wheatley. The parish also covers the entirety of the Alice Holt Forest, a royal forest situated near the border with Surrey. The nearest railway station is 1.8 miles (2.9 km) northeast of the village, at Bentley. According to the 2011 census, the parish had a population of 1,817 people.
The village was first mentioned as being part of the Hundred of Netham at the time of the Domesday Survey in 1086. The history of Binsted from the 11th to 19th centuries is not documented, owing to its isolation and non-involvement in controversial activity. The parish has 58 Grade II listed buildings, and one Grade I building – the Church of the Holy Cross.
## History
At the time of the Domesday Survey, Binsted was listed as part of the Hundred of Netham as well as the Manor of Alton Westbrook. The village was referred to as "Benested", which means "holding of land". Over the years there have been different variations on the spelling of the name, including Bensted, Benested and Boonsted (11th century), Bensted (14th century), and Bennsted (17th century). The name most likely has its origin from the Saxon word "bin", meaning "heap". Before the Norman Conquest, the village was known as "Binsted Popham" and was held by Egbert of Wessex.
The history of Binsted from the 11th century to the early 19th century is not documented. A likely explanation is that the village remained a "simple agricultural community" and was not involved in any controversial activity, due to its isolation. However, the Alice Holt Forest was an important supplier of timber from the 12th and 18th centuries, and the forest was claimed to have 13,000 trees "fit for ship building" in the early 17th century.
Binsted was recorded in the Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales by John Marius Wilson in 1870. Five years later a school was built on land belonging to the Wickham Estate from stones brought from a pit near Semaphore House.
## Geography and demographics
Binsted is located in the eastern central part of Hampshire, South East England and is 4.1 miles (6.6 km) east of Alton, its nearest town. The parish is one of the largest in North East Hampshire and covers an area of around 7,000 acres (2,800 ha), extending from the edge of Alton to the Surrey border in the east. It also includes the entirety of the Alice Holt Forest. The landscape is dominated by farms and woodland such as Binsted Farm, Wheatley Copse and Sparkfield Wood. The parish contains two hamlets; Wyck and Wheatley, and two villages; Bucks Horn Oak and Holt Pound. The River Wey forms the parish's northern boundary. According to the 2011 census, the parish of Binsted had a population of 1,817 people. In addition, there are 711 households in the parish with an average size of 2.56 people.
## Binsted Church
The Church of the Holy Cross is a Grade I listed building. The existing parish church started construction in about 1140 AD. It has early 13th and 15th century additions, as well as a substantial restoration in 1863. The building itself consists of stone walls, a tiled roof, and a stone slated porch. The oldest part is the chancel, which dates from the 12th century with 15th century extensions. The north chapel was altered in 1331, and in its churchyard is the grave of Field Marshal The 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, the famous military commander in the Second World War, who latterly lived in the parish at Isington Mill. The churchyard also contains the Commonwealth war graves of six British Army soldiers of World War I (all in the north west corner) and a Royal Air Force airman of World War II (in south west corner).
## Notable landmarks
The parish contains a total of 58 Grade II listed buildings, including a Grade II\* listed barn. Other listed buildings include Barnfield House – three houses which were once separated all dating from 1550 with 20th century restorations. The house itself has a timber frame with a tiled roof, including a late medieval hall. Mill Court, another Grade II listed building, is a large house dating from the early 19th century with a low pitched roof and yellow brickwork, and became a listed building on 15 August 1985.
Telegraph House was built on the hill NE of the village by the Admiralty in 1825 as a semaphore relay station close to the railway line linking London with Portsmouth, one of a number of relay stations. It is now a private residence.
### Climate
Due to its location in south central England and its proximity to the sea, the average maximum temperature in January is 7.2 °C (45 °F) with the average minimum being 1.6 °C (35 °F). The average maximum temperature in July is 21.9 °C (71 °F), with the average minimum being 12.5 °C (55 °F). The hamlet gets around 755 millimetres (29.7 in) of rain a year, with a minimum of 1 mm (0.04 in) of rain reported on 103 days a year.
|
287,207 |
Plasmodium
| 1,170,069,959 |
Genus of parasitic protists that can cause malaria
|
[
"Apicomplexa genera",
"Malaria",
"Plasmodium"
] |
Plasmodium is a genus of unicellular eukaryotes that are obligate parasites of vertebrates and insects. The life cycles of Plasmodium species involve development in a blood-feeding insect host which then injects parasites into a vertebrate host during a blood meal. Parasites grow within a vertebrate body tissue (often the liver) before entering the bloodstream to infect red blood cells. The ensuing destruction of host red blood cells can result in malaria. During this infection, some parasites are picked up by a blood-feeding insect (mosquitoes in majority cases), continuing the life cycle.
Plasmodium is a member of the phylum Apicomplexa, a large group of parasitic eukaryotes. Within Apicomplexa, Plasmodium is in the order Haemosporida and family Plasmodiidae. Over 200 species of Plasmodium have been described, many of which have been subdivided into 14 subgenera based on parasite morphology and host range. Evolutionary relationships among different Plasmodium species do not always follow taxonomic boundaries; some species that are morphologically similar or infect the same host turn out to be distantly related.
Species of Plasmodium are distributed globally wherever suitable hosts are found. Insect hosts are most frequently mosquitoes of the genera Culex and Anopheles. Vertebrate hosts include reptiles, birds, and mammals. Plasmodium parasites were first identified in the late 19th century by Charles Laveran. Over the course of the 20th century, many other species were discovered in various hosts and classified, including five species that regularly infect humans: P. vivax, P. falciparum, P. malariae, P. ovale, and P. knowlesi. P. falciparum is by far the most lethal in humans, resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths per year. A number of drugs have been developed to treat Plasmodium infection; however, the parasites have evolved resistance to each drug developed.
Although the parasite can also infect people via blood transfusion, this is very rare, and Plasmodium cannot be spread from person to person. Some of subspecies of Plasmodium are obligate intracellular parasites.
## Description
The genus Plasmodium consists of all eukaryotes in the phylum Apicomplexa that both undergo the asexual replication process of merogony inside host red blood cells and produce the crystalline pigment hemozoin as a byproduct of digesting host hemoglobin. Plasmodium species contain many features that are common to other eukaryotes, and some that are unique to their phylum or genus. The Plasmodium genome is separated into 14 chromosomes contained in the nucleus. Plasmodium parasites maintain a single copy of their genome through much of the life cycle, doubling the genome only for a brief sexual exchange within the midgut of the insect host. Attached to the nucleus is the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), which functions similarly to the ER in other eukaryotes. Proteins are trafficked from the ER to the Golgi apparatus which generally consists of a single membrane-bound compartment in Apicomplexans. From here, proteins are trafficked to various cellular compartments or to the cell surface.
Like other apicomplexans, Plasmodium species have several cellular structures at the apical end of the parasite that serve as specialized organelles for secreting effectors into the host. The most prominent are the bulbous rhoptries which contain parasite proteins involved in invading the host cell and modifying the host once inside. Adjacent to the rhoptries are smaller structures termed micronemes that contain parasite proteins required for motility as well as recognizing and attaching to host cells. Spread throughout the parasite are secretory vesicles called dense granules that contain parasite proteins involved in modifying the membrane that separates the parasite from the host, termed the parasitophorous vacuole.
Species of Plasmodium also contain two large membrane-bound organelles of endosymbiotic origin, the mitochondrion and the apicoplast, both of which play key roles in the parasite's metabolism. Unlike mammalian cells which contain many mitochondria, Plasmodium cells contain a single large mitochondrion that coordinates its division with that of the Plasmodium cell. Like in other eukaryotes, the Plasmodium mitochondrion is capable of generating energy in the form of ATP via the citric acid cycle; however, this function is only required for parasite survival in the insect host, and is not needed for growth in red blood cells. A second organelle, the apicoplast, is derived from a secondary endosymbiosis event, in this case the acquisition of a red alga by the Plasmodium ancestor. The apicoplast is involved in the synthesis of various metabolic precursors, including fatty acids, isoprenoids, iron-sulphur clusters, and components of the heme biosynthesis pathway.
## Life cycle
The life cycle of Plasmodium involves several distinct stages in the insect and vertebrate hosts. Parasites are generally introduced into a vertebrate host by the bite of an insect host (generally a mosquito, with the exception of some Plasmodium species of reptiles). Parasites first infect the liver or other tissue, where they undergo a single large round of replication before exiting the host cell to infect erythrocytes. At this point, some species of Plasmodium of primates can form a long-lived dormant stage called a hypnozoite. It can remain in the liver for more than a year. However, for most Plasmodium species, the parasites in infected liver cells are only what are called merozoites. After emerging from the liver, they enter red blood cells, as explained above. They then go through continuous cycles of erythrocyte infection, while a small percentage of parasites differentiate into a sexual stage called a gametocyte which is picked up by an insect host taking a blood meal. In some hosts, invasion of erythrocytes by Plasmodium species can result in disease, called malaria. This can sometimes be severe, rapidly followed by death of the host (e.g. P. falciparum in humans). In other hosts, Plasmodium infection can apparently be asymptomatic.
Even when humans have such subclinical plasmodial infections, there can nevertheless be very large numbers of multiplying parasites concealed in, particularly, the spleen and bone marrow. Certainly, this applies in the case of P. vivax. These hidden parasites (in addition to hypnozoites) are thought to be the origin of instances of recurrent P. vivax malaria.
Within the red blood cells, the merozoites grow first to a ring-shaped form and then to a larger form called a trophozoite. Trophozoites then mature to schizonts which divide several times to produce new merozoites. The infected red blood cell eventually bursts, allowing the new merozoites to travel within the bloodstream to infect new red blood cells. Most merozoites continue this replicative cycle, however some merozoites upon infecting red blood cells differentiate into male or female sexual forms called gametocytes. These gametocytes circulate in the blood until they are taken up when a mosquito feeds on the infected vertebrate host, taking up blood which includes the gametocytes.
In the mosquito, the gametocytes move along with the blood meal to the mosquito's midgut. Here the gametocytes develop into male and female gametes which fertilize each other, forming a zygote. Zygotes then develop into a motile form called an ookinete, which penetrates the wall of the midgut. Upon traversing the midgut wall, the ookinete embeds into the gut's exterior membrane and develops into an oocyst. Oocysts divide many times to produce large numbers of small elongated sporozoites. These sporozoites migrate to the salivary glands of the mosquito where they can be injected into the blood of the next host the mosquito bites, repeating the cycle.
## Evolution and taxonomy
### Taxonomy
Plasmodium belongs to the phylum Apicomplexa, a taxonomic group of single-celled parasites with characteristic secretory organelles at one end of the cell. Within Apicomplexa, Plasmodium is within the order Haemosporida, a group that includes all apicomplexans that live within blood cells. Based on the presence of the pigment hemozoin and the method of asexual reproduction, the order is further split into four families, of which Plasmodium is in the family Plasmodiidae.
The genus Plasmodium consists of over 200 species, generally described on the basis of their appearance in blood smears of infected vertebrates. These species have been categorized on the basis of their morphology and host range into 14 subgenera:
- Subgenus Asiamoeba (Telford, 1988) – reptiles
- Subgenus Bennettinia (Valkiunas, 1997) – birds
- Subgenus Carinamoeba (Garnham, 1966) – reptiles
- Subgenus Giovannolaia (Corradetti, et al. 1963) – birds
- Subgenus Haemamoeba (Corradetti, et al. 1963) – birds
- Subgenus Huffia (Corradetti, et al. 1963) – birds
- Subgenus Lacertamoeba (Telford, 1988) – reptiles
- Subgenus Laverania (Bray, 1958) – great apes, humans
- Subgenus Novyella (Corradetti, et al. 1963) – birds
- Subgenus Ophidiella (Telford, 1988) – reptiles
- Subgenus Paraplasmodium (Telford, 1988) – reptiles
- Subgenus Plasmodium (Bray, 1955) – monkeys and apes
- Subgenus Sauramoeba (Garnham, 1966) – reptiles
- Subgenus Vinckeia (Garnham, 1964) – mammals inc. primates
Species infecting monkeys and apes with the exceptions of P. falciparum and P. reichenowi (which together make up the subgenus Laverania) are classified in the subgenus Plasmodium. Parasites infecting other mammals including some primates (lemurs and others) are classified in the subgenus Vinckeia. The five subgenera Bennettinia, Giovannolaia, Haemamoeba, Huffia, and Novyella contain the known avian malarial species. The remaining subgenera: Asiamoeba, Carinamoeba, Lacertamoeba, Ophidiella, Paraplasmodium, and Sauramoeba contain the diverse groups of parasites found to infect reptiles.
### Phylogeny
More recent studies of Plasmodium species using molecular methods have implied that the group's evolution has not perfectly followed taxonomy. Many Plasmodium species that are morphologically similar or infect the same hosts turn out to be only distantly related. In the 1990s, several studies sought to evaluate evolutionary relationships of Plasmodium species by comparing ribosomal RNA and a surface protein gene from various species, finding the human parasite P. falciparum to be more closely related to avian parasites than to other parasites of primates. However, later studies sampling more Plasmodium species found the parasites of mammals to form a clade along with the genus Hepatocystis, while the parasites of birds or lizards appear to form a separate clade with evolutionary relationships not following the subgenera:
Estimates for when different Plasmodium lineages diverged have differed broadly. Estimates for the diversification of the order Haemosporida range from around 16.2 million to 100 million years ago. There has been particular interest in dating the divergence of the human parasite P. falciparum from other Plasmodium lineages due to its medical importance. For this, estimated dates range from 110,000 to 2.5 million years ago.
## Distribution
Plasmodium species are distributed globally. All Plasmodium species are parasitic and must pass between a vertebrate host and an insect host to complete their life cycles. Different species of Plasmodium display different host ranges, with some species restricted to a single vertebrate and insect host, while other species can infect several species of vertebrates and/or insects.
### Vertebrates
Plasmodium parasites have been described in a broad array of vertebrate hosts including reptiles, birds, and mammals. While many species can infect more than one vertebrate host, they are generally specific to one of these classes (such as birds).
Humans are primarily infected by five species of Plasmodium, with the overwhelming majority of severe disease and death caused by Plasmodium falciparum. Some species that infect humans can also infect other primates, and zoonoses of certain species (e.g. P. knowlesi) from other primates to humans are common. Non-human primates also contain a variety of Plasmodium species that do not generally infect humans. Some of these can cause severe disease in primates, while others can remain in the host for prolonged periods without causing disease. Many other mammals also carry Plasmodium species, such as a variety of rodents, ungulates, and bats. Again, some species of Plasmodium can cause severe disease in some of these hosts, while many appear not to.
Over 150 species of Plasmodium infect a broad variety of birds. In general each species of Plasmodium infects one to a few species of birds. Plasmodium parasites that infect birds tend to persist in a given host for years or for the life time of the host, although in some cases Plasmodium infections can result in severe illness and rapid death. Unlike with Plasmodium species infecting mammals, those infecting birds are distributed across the globe.
Species from several subgenera of Plasmodium infect diverse reptiles. Plasmodium parasites have been described in most lizard families and, like avian parasites, are spread worldwide. Again, parasites can result either in severe disease or be apparently asymptomatic depending on the parasite and the host.
A number of drugs have been developed over the years to control Plasmodium infection in vertebrate hosts, particularly in humans. Quinine was used as a frontline antimalarial from the 17th century until widespread resistance emerged in the early 20th century. Resistance to quinine spurred the development of a broad array of antimalarial medications through the 20th century including chloroquine, proguanil, atovaquone, sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine, mefloquine, and artemisinin. In all cases, parasites resistant to a given drug have emerged within a few decades of the drugs deployment. To combat this, antimalarial drugs are frequently used in combination, with artemisinin combination therapies currently the gold standard for treatment. In general, antimalarial drugs target the life stages of Plasmodium parasites that reside within vertebrate red blood cells, as these are the stages that tend to cause disease. However, drugs targeting other stages of the parasite life cycle are under development in order to prevent infection in travelers and to prevent transmission of sexual stages to insect hosts.
### Insects
In addition to a vertebrate host, all Plasmodium species also infect a bloodsucking insect host, generally a mosquito (although some reptile-infecting parasites are transmitted by sandflies). Mosquitoes of the genera Culex, Anopheles, Culiseta, Mansonia and Aedes act as insect hosts for various Plasmodium species. The best studied of these are the Anopheles mosquitoes which host the Plasmodium parasites of human malaria, as well as Culex mosquitoes which host the Plasmodium species that cause malaria in birds. Only female mosquitoes are infected with Plasmodium, since only they feed on the blood of vertebrate hosts. Different species affect their insect hosts differently. Sometimes, insects infected with Plasmodium have reduced lifespan and reduced ability to produce offspring. Further, some species of Plasmodium appear to cause insects to prefer to bite infected vertebrate hosts over non-infected hosts.
## History
Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran first described parasites in the blood of malaria patients in 1880. He named the parasite Oscillaria malariae. In 1885, zoologists Ettore Marchiafava and Angelo Celli reexamined the parasite and termed it a member of a new genus, Plasmodium, named for the resemblance to the multinucleate cells of slime molds of the same name. The fact that several species may be involved in causing different forms of malaria was first recognized by Camillo Golgi in 1886. Soon thereafter, Giovanni Batista Grassi and Raimondo Filetti named the parasites causing two different types of human malaria Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium malariae. In 1897, William Welch identified and named Plasmodium falciparum. This was followed by the recognition of the other two species of Plasmodium which infect humans: Plasmodium ovale (1922) and Plasmodium knowlesi (identified in long-tailed macaques in 1931; in humans in 1965). The contribution of insect hosts to the Plasmodium life cycle was described in 1897 by Ronald Ross and in 1899 by Giovanni Batista Grassi, Amico Bignami and Giuseppe Bastianelli.
In 1966, Cyril Garnham proposed separating Plasmodium into nine subgenera based on host specificity and parasite morphology. This included four subgenera that had previously been proposed for bird-infecting Plasmodium species by A. Corradetti in 1963. This scheme was expanded upon by Sam R. Telford in 1988 when he reclassified Plasmodium parasites that infect reptiles, adding five subgenera. In 1997, G. Valkiunas reclassified the bird-infecting Plasmodium species adding a fifth subgenus: Bennettinia.
## See also
- Plasmodium molecular tools
- List of Plasmodium species
- Haematozoa
|
14,895,352 |
Romanian record charts
| 1,173,454,048 |
Rankings of recorded music in Romania
|
[
"Music chart shows",
"Romanian record charts"
] |
Multiple record charts have been inaugurated in Romania since the 1990s. The Romanian Top 100 was the country's national chart until 2012. Founded in 1995, it was a ranking based on the compilation of charts submitted by local Romanian radio stations. The Romanian Top 100 was published weekly and was also announced during a radio show starting in 1998. Compilation of the list was first handled by Body M Production A-V, followed by Media Forest. In the 2010s, the chart was announced during a podcast on Kiss FM, but the broadcast ended in February 2012.
Later that month, the Airplay 100—which was compiled by Media Forest and also broadcast by Kiss FM—replaced the Romanian Top 100 as a national chart. Until its cancellation in November 2021, it measured the airplay of songs on radio stations and television channels throughout the country. For a short period of time during the late 2000s and early 2010s, Nielsen Music Control and Uniunea Producătorilor de Fonograme din România (UPFR) jointly published airplay charts; UPFR resumed publishing charts in November 2021, in collaboration with BMAT. Media Forest has also been issuing weekly radio and television airplay charts since 2009. In February 2022, Billboard inaugurated Romania Songs, a streaming and digital download-based chart compiled by MRC Data.
## Charts and history
### 1995–2012: Romanian Top 100, and UPFR and Media Forest charts
The airplay-based Romanian Top 100 was founded in 1995 as the country's first national chart; however, it had another name until 1996. The first year-end chart was published in 1997. From 1998 onwards, the chart was announced during a two-hour radio show called Romanian Top 100 Radio Show hosted by disc jockey Adi Simion and created by VentoStudio. Aired by 57 radio stations in Romania, it was originally titled Romanian Top 100 Bravo Show due to a partnership with Bravo. From 1999, the Romanian Top 100 was compiled by Body M Production A-V with the help of a "special software". At the time, over 110 independent radio stations in Romania were considered when compiling the chart, with each submitting their own airplay statistics. The compiling process was similar to the Eurochart Hot 100. The results were sent to music specialists in Romania, among others.
As of April 2001, the Romanian Top 100 had reached over 250 editions. In 2005, the number of radio stations involved in the making of the chart rose to 120, with 500 editions produced by then. The chart was included in Billboard's Music & Media until that magazine's cancellation in 2003. The Romanian Top 100 significantly lacks archives for the late 2000s; at that time, Nielsen Music Control and Uniunea Producătorilor de Fonograme din România (UPFR) began publishing charts which reflected the most-broadcast songs on radio stations and television channels throughout Romania. However, it is unknown whether the two were affiliated with the Romanian Top 100, and whether their rankings can be used to substitute the missing Romanian Top 100 archives. In the 2010s, the Romanian Top 100—compiled by Media Forest—was announced during a weekly podcast on Kiss FM by disc jockey Andreea Berghea. Media Forest had previously begun publishing weekly radio and television airplay charts on their website starting with July 2009. The Romanian Top 100 ceased publication in February 2012, with its last edition on 19 February.
### 2012–present: Airplay 100, continued UPFR and Media Forest charts, and Romania Songs
The Romanian Top 100 was replaced with the Airplay 100 on 26 February as Romania's national chart, also compiled by Media Forest and aired as a radio show on Kiss FM hosted by Cristi Nitzu. It measured the airplay of songs on radio stations and television channels across the country, but was ultimately cancelled by Kiss FM after its 28 November 2021 issue. Also in November 2021, UPFR resumed publishing airplay charts, in collaboration with the monitoring service BMAT, where the songs are ranked by their plays and audience numbers. Billboard inaugurated Romania Songs, a streaming and digital download-based chart on 19 February 2022 as part of its Hits of the World collection, for which MRC Data assesses data from the leading music retailers in Romania.
## Number ones
### Active charts
#### UPFR charts
#### Romania Songs
#### Media Forest charts
### Discontinued charts
#### Romanian Top 100
#### Airplay 100
|
3,880,659 |
Sarah Bryant (Virtua Fighter)
| 1,164,071,122 |
Virtua Fighter character
|
[
"Female characters in anime and manga",
"Female characters in video games",
"Female soldier and warrior characters in video games",
"Fictional American people in video games",
"Fictional Jeet Kune Do practitioners",
"Fictional characters from San Francisco",
"Fictional college students",
"Fictional martial artists in video games",
"Fictional slaves in video games",
"Sega antagonists",
"Video game characters introduced in 1993",
"Video game mascots",
"Virtua Fighter characters"
] |
Sarah Bryant (Japanese: サラ・ブライアント, Hepburn: Sara Buraianto) is a character in the Virtua Fighter series of fighting games by Sega. She is a college student from San Francisco, California, who debuted in the original Virtua Fighter, brainwashed to try and kill her brother, and later tries to surpass him while seeking to take down the organization responsible. She has appeared in every game in the series including spinoff titles, and made several guest appearances in other games, notably in Tecmo Koei's Dead or Alive 5 as a playable character. In addition, she has been featured in various print media, as well as the Virtua Fighter anime.
Originally voiced by Lynn Harris, she was designed by Seiichi Ishii alongside director Yu Suzuki after a brainstorming session, and inspired by Sarah Connor from the Terminator franchise. Her primary outfit, designed to serve as both combat-ready attire and a distraction for opponents, has remained consistent throughout the series with minimal changes. Sarah has been cited as one of the first Western female characters in Japanese fighting games, receiving much praise for her looks and character, and noted for her influence on the designs of later similar characters in other fighting game franchises. However, discussion and criticism has also arisen around the sexualization of her character done by both Sega themselves and gaming publications utilizing her image.
## Conception and design
Created during a brainstorming session by development team Sega AM2, her initial name was Anego (姉, lit. "Sister"), signifying her role as Jacky Bryant's sibling who at this point was called Aniki (兄貴, lit. "Big brother"). Designed by Seiichi Ishii, he stated she was inspired by the Terminator character Sarah Connor, though series creator Yu Suzuki refused to comment himself when asked if she was based on anyone. He did however label her his favorite character due to her ease of use, due to the fact she "fights aggressively: she does not stand still waiting for the opponent's move, but moves ahead. It fully reflects my personality." When asked what feelings Sarah was meant to invoke in a player, then Vice President of Product Development for Sega Eric Hammond stated it was up to the player, and they could either see her as the "damsel in distress" or the "bad girl" able to take care of herself, the latter of which he felt was popular in comic books.
Her primary outfit went through several radical changes during the course of development, with notes in Virtua Fighter Maniax stating they tried to keep a "voluptuous charm" to her throughout this process. Her initial design consisted of a purple short halter top, leggings, a ponytail, and pink heels. Most of these themes were kept going forward into the second design pass, with the halter top expanded into a full leotard featuring a sash, fingerless purple gloves, and a short dark brown haircut. The next concept was drastically different, and resembled a wrestling outfit consisting of black gloves, hotpants and bikini top, and pink boots with black thigh highs on her legs. Her hair color was also switched back to long and blonde at this point also. The shorts and bikini top were eventually changed into a black catsuit, with the arms and shoulders exposed and extending up to her collar, and a red jewel on the belt buckle while buttons were visible on the top. Intended to have "a sense of style while also combat-ready", and possibly serve as a "distraction", this finalized design was simplified to lose the buttons and buckle, and with Virtua Fighter 3 shifted to a dark blue color. While she has had a wide variety of secondary outfits as the series progressed, her main design has been used through the series and in promotional material, only seeing minimal change through the years.
Sarah stands about 5'8" (173 cm) tall, and has measurements of 36-23-36" (90-57-90 cm). According to Suzuki, her ponytail in the finalized design was intended to be "practical" in martial arts fighting, due to no hair pulling within the games, while her longer legs were meant to emphasize her reliance on kick-based attacks using Jeet Kune Do. As an easter egg, her earring color changes depending on the fighting stage the player is currently engaged in, a trend continued up to Virtua Fighter 3tb. One of the goals of the series development team was to increase realism by improving the graphics from one entry to the next, with one developer noting for Virtua Fighter 2 "many polygons" were used for her chest on the model. Developer Keiji Okayasu elaborated on this, stating it caused an issue for the home port of the title, as they were unable to reduce the polygon count without drastically altering her proportions.
## Appearances
Sarah Bryant was introduced in the 1993 video game Virtua Fighter as a college student from San Francisco, California, investigating her brother Jacky's car crash in the 1990 Indianapolis 500. While doing so she is kidnapped by the Illuminati-esque group responsible for the crash, Judgement 6, and brainwashed to kill her brother who had entered in their World Martial Arts Tournament. However they were unable to control her completely and she failed, and as a result the group focused on training her to be try again in their second tournament. Jacky instead saved her and broke the brainwashing, however it also caused her to have amnesia, so both entered the third tournament in hopes the environment would help her recover her memories. Successful, it also causes her to recall what she had done while brainwashed. Uncertain if the urge to kill Jacky was due to Judgement 6 or her own desires, she enters the subsequent tournaments in hopes of surpassing him while also taking down Judgement 6. Originally voiced by Lynn Harris, since Virtua Fighter 3 she has been voiced by multiple actresses, sometimes for the same game. These actresses include Colleen Lanki, Claire O'Connor, Lenne Hardt, and Lisle Wilkerson.
Outside of the main series, she also appears in several other fighting games such as Sega's Virtua Fighter Animation, which utilized 2D sprites, Virtua Fighter Kids, a parody of the franchise featuring the characters as super deformed children with more playful representation of their storylines, and Sega franchise crossover title Fighters Megamix. She was featured in Koei Tecmo's Dead or Alive 5 as a guest character, due to Virtua Fighter's influence on their franchise's development. Outside of fighting games, she has appeared as a non-playable character in the Sega's action role-playing game Virtua Quest, and later in SNK's The King of Fighters All Star as part of a collaboration event. After the release of Digital Dance Mix Vol. 1, Yu Suzuki stated to Official Sega Saturn Magazine she would be featured in the next volume. However, the game was never released. In 2022, she appears as a reskin of Nina Williams in Tekken 7.
### In other media
An anime series called Virtua Fighter was also produced, consisting of thirty-minute segments and was directed by Hideki Tonokatsu, with Ryo Tanaka as character designer. Voiced by Maya Okamoto in Japanese and Juliet Cesario in localized releases, she appears in the third episode onward, acting as a grid girl for her brother when he races. In this incarnation she also has a pet flying squirrel named Alexander, which serves as the animal sidekick for the show. After helping series protagonists Akira Yuki and Pai Chan, two other fighters from the games, she fights alongside them with Jacky, and they travel together as a group. Later on she is kidnapped due to her fighting ability and brainwashed with the intention of creating a "pure human weapon with no emotion", attacking the group and beating Jacky severely afterwards. When the control unit giving her commands is broken she goes berserk, but after being knocked out she comes to her senses. However, the data gathered while Sarah was experimented on is used to create a robotic duplicate of her, Dural, which the heroes fight at the end of the series.
A manga series titled Virtua Fighter: Legend of Sarah by Takahal Matsumoto was published in installments within issues of Weekly Playboy and Comic Tetsujin in 1996, which focused on Jacky and Sarah's lives before and after the first tournament. It was later compiled and sold separately as a standalone book and GameWare Vol. 2 for the Sega Saturn. An additional manga named Virtua Fighter was also released featuring her; written by Billy Takibana, it acted as a retelling of the anime series. Lastly, a separate one-shot comic was released in 1995 by Marvel comics written by Mark Paniccia, featuring her in a smaller role and noted as having a more "tongue-in-cheek" storyline.
## Promotion and reception
In an interview for the book From Barbie to Mortal Kombat: Gender and Computer Games in 2000, the then-corporate spokesman for Sega in North America Lee Caraher stated that of their fighting game characters Sarah was picked the most often in her observation, regardless of the player's gender. A variety of merchandise was released to promote the character and series, including a set of playing cards featuring images of moves from the game, pinups, and a CD of 3D rendered images after the release of Virtua Fighter 2, showcasing her in a bikini by a pool.
In an interview with Kotaku, Team Ninja's Yosuke Hayashi stated he felt that Sarah was one of two characters that "carry with them the history of the [Virtua Fighter] series". Official Sega Saturn Magazine described her as "one of the most brilliant creations in the world of video games", praising her brainwashing plot and more heavily her breast size. Arcade featured her on a two-page spread, praising her appearance but lamenting they knew little about the character's personality from her in-game appearances or Suzuki's statements about her. Roger Miller of Game On! USA called her a "true original", praising her as one of the first female characters in 3D fighting games and preferring her over later similar characters such as Battle Arena Toshinden's Sofia and Tekken's Nina Williams, the latter of which called a "clone, right down to the purple clothes". He further noted of the three, "for sheer volume of fan material published, Sarah Bryant is \#1". The magazine Total Control was far more critical of the character, citing Virtua Fighter as an example of sexism due to her presence in the title, comparing the series to Tekken which they felt was more respectful to its female characters, and adding "Sega would be exploiting Sarah Bryant for all she was worth if they could convince anyone she was sexy."
Sarah has also been the subject of academic study in sexualization and video games since her introduction. J. C. Hertz in the 1997 book Joystick Nation called her "the reigning queen of 3D polygon fighting game characters", describing her as being "built like an Olympic swimmer. [...] This woman has powerful shoulders and strong legs, and she's tall", further stating she was more realistic than Pamela Anderson. In a note she additionally praised her outfit, calling her modestly attired and "dressed for business, not for show." However, despite these strong aspects he noted her usage in media such as Next Generation magazine focused on her as a sexual element for their young male readers, complete with pull out poster and text akin to a Playboy article, and felt this helped contribute towards a negative view of women by those readers. The 2015 German book Sheroes: Genderspiele im virtuellen Raum cited her multiple times in an examination of the image of feminine power versus conventional women, and argued that the use of martial arts enhanced her sexualization and emphasized the idea that a woman's most powerful weapon is her body.
On the other hand, University of Delaware professor Rachael Hutchinson noted the positive influence of the characters' sexuality, citing her as significant due to being "the first Western woman in a Japanese fighting game" and that her "tall frame, blond hair and jutting breasts formed the template for later, more sexualized figures" such as Ivy Valentine in Soulcalibur and Nina Williams. She further stated her belief that the increased sexualization in Sarah's own design as the Virtua Fighter series progressed was in part response to the aforementioned Ivy, causing "a ‘sexualization race’ among companies who could produce (and get away with) the most outrageous skin exposure and physical forms", eventually leading to the creation of titles such as Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball.
|
143,377 |
Ted Bundy
| 1,173,746,550 |
American serial killer (1946–1989)
|
[
"1946 births",
"1974 murders in the United States",
"1975 murders in the United States",
"1978 murders in the United States",
"1989 deaths",
"20th-century executions by Florida",
"20th-century executions of American people",
"American escapees",
"American male criminals",
"American murderers of children",
"American people convicted of kidnapping",
"American rapists",
"Child sexual abuse in the United States",
"Criminals from Philadelphia",
"Criminals from Tacoma, Washington",
"Escapees from Colorado detention",
"Executed American serial killers",
"Executed people from Vermont",
"FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives",
"Fugitives",
"Human trophy collecting",
"Male serial killers",
"Methodists from Washington (state)",
"Necrophiles",
"People convicted of murder by Florida",
"People excommunicated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints",
"People executed by Florida by electric chair",
"People from Burlington, Vermont",
"People from Salt Lake City",
"People with antisocial personality disorder",
"People with narcissistic personality disorder",
"People with psychopathy",
"Ted Bundy",
"University of Puget Sound alumni",
"University of Utah alumni",
"University of Washington College of Arts and Sciences alumni",
"Violence against women in the United States",
"Washington (state) Republicans"
] |
Theodore Robert Bundy (; November 24, 1946 – January 24, 1989) was an American serial killer who kidnapped, raped and murdered dozens of young women and girls during the 1970s and possibly earlier. After more than a decade of denials, he confessed to 30 murders committed in seven states between 1974 and 1978. His true victim total is unknown.
Bundy often employed charm to disguise his murderous intent when kidnapping victims, and extended this tactic vis-a-vis law enforcement, the media and the criminal justice system to maintain his claims of innocence. His usual technique involved approaching a female in public and luring her to a vehicle parked in a more secluded area, at which point she would be beaten unconscious, restrained with handcuffs and taken elsewhere to be sexually assaulted and killed.
To this end, Bundy typically simulated having a physical impairment such as an injury in order to convince his target that he was in need of assistance with something, or would dupe her into believing he was an authority figure. He frequently revisited the bodies of those he abducted, grooming and performing sex acts on the corpses until decomposition and destruction by wild animals made further interactions impossible. He decapitated at least 12 of his victims, keeping their severed heads as mementos in his apartment. On a few occasions, he broke into homes at night and bludgeoned, maimed, strangled and/or sexually assaulted his victims in their sleep.
In 1975, Bundy was arrested and jailed in Utah for aggravated kidnapping and attempted criminal assault. He then became a suspect in a progressively longer list of unsolved homicides in several states. Facing murder charges in Colorado, Bundy engineered two dramatic escapes and committed further assaults in Florida, including three murders, before his ultimate recapture in 1978. For the Florida homicides, he received three death sentences in two trials, and was executed at Florida State Prison in Raiford on January 24, 1989.
Biographer Ann Rule characterized him as "a sadistic sociopath who took pleasure from another human's pain and the control he had over his victims, to the point of death and even after." Bundy once described himself as "the most cold-hearted son of a bitch you'll ever meet", a statement with which attorney Polly Nelson, a member of his last defense team, agreed. "Ted", she wrote, "was the very definition of heartless evil."
## Early life
### Childhood
Ted Bundy was born Theodore Robert Cowell on November 24, 1946, to Eleanor Louise Cowell (September 21, 1924 – December 23, 2012, known by her middle name) at the Elizabeth Lund Home for Unwed Mothers in Burlington, Vermont. His biological father's identity has never been confirmed; his original birth certificate apparently assigns paternity to a salesman and United States Air Force veteran named Lloyd Marshall, though a copy of it listed his father as unknown. Louise claimed she met a war veteran named Jack Worthington, who abandoned her soon after she became pregnant.
Census records reveal that several men by the name of John Worthington and Lloyd Marshall lived near Louise when Bundy was conceived. Some family members expressed suspicions that Bundy was sired by Louise's own father. However, in the 2020 documentary film Crazy, Not Insane, psychiatrist Dorothy Otnow Lewis claimed she received a sample of Bundy's blood and that a DNA test had confirmed that Bundy was not the product of incest.
For the first three years of his life, Bundy lived in the Philadelphia neighborhood Roxborough, Pennsylvania, with his maternal grandparents, Samuel Knecht Cowell (September 23, 1898 – December 4, 1983) and Eleanor Miriam Longstreet (February 16, 1895 – April 25, 1971) who raised him as their son to avoid the social stigma that accompanied birth outside of wedlock at that time. Family, friends, and even young Ted were told that his grandparents were his parents and that his mother was his older sister. Bundy eventually discovered the truth, although his recollections of the circumstances varied; he told a girlfriend that a cousin showed him a copy of his birth certificate after calling him a "bastard," but he told biographers Stephen Michaud and Hugh Aynesworth that he had found the certificate himself.
Biographer and true crime writer Ann Rule, who knew Bundy personally, wrote that he did not find out until 1969, when he located his original birth record in Vermont. Bundy expressed a lifelong resentment toward his mother for never telling him about his real father, and for leaving him to discover his true parentage for himself. Bundy occasionally exhibited disturbing behavior at an early age. Louise's younger sister, Julia Cowell, recalled awakening from a nap to find herself surrounded by knives from the kitchen, and her 3-year-old nephew standing by the bed, smiling.
In some interviews, Bundy spoke warmly of his grandparents and told Rule that he "identified with," "respected," and "clung to" his grandfather. In 1987, however, he and other family members told attorneys that Samuel was a tyrannical bully who beat his wife and dog, swung neighborhood cats by their tails, and expressed racist and xenophobic attitudes. In one instance, Samuel reportedly threw Julia down a flight of stairs for oversleeping. He would sometimes speak aloud to unseen presences, and at least once flew into a violent rage when the question of Bundy's paternity was raised. Bundy described his grandmother as a timid and obedient woman who periodically underwent electroconvulsive therapy for depression and feared to leave their house toward the end of her life.
These descriptions of Bundy's grandparents have been questioned in more recent investigations. Some locals remembered Samuel as a "fine man", and expressed bewilderment at the reports of him being violent. “The characterization that [Sam] was a raging alcoholic and animal abuser was a convenient characterization used to make people justify why Ted was the way he was,” said one of Bundy’s cousins. “From my limited exposure to him, nothing could be farther from the truth. His daughters loved him dearly and had nothing but fond memories of him.” In addition, Louise's sister, Audrey Cowell, stated that their mother could not leave her home because she suffered a stroke due to being overweight and was not mentally ill.
In 1950, Louise changed her surname from Cowell to Nelson and, at the urging of multiple family members, left Philadelphia with Ted to live with cousins Alan and Jane Scott in Tacoma, Washington. In 1951, Louise met Johnny Culpepper Bundy (April 23, 1921 – May 17, 2007), a hospital cook, at an adult singles night at Tacoma's First Methodist Church. They married later that year and Johnny formally adopted Ted. Johnny and Louise conceived four children together, and though Johnny tried to include his adopted son in camping trips and other family activities, Bundy remained distant from him. He would later complain to a girlfriend that Johnny "was not his real father", "wasn't very bright," and "didn't make much money."
Bundy varied his recollections of Tacoma in later years. To Michaud and Aynesworth, he described roaming his neighborhood, picking through trash barrels in search of pictures of naked women and to attorney and author Polly Nelson he said that he perused detective magazines, and crime novels for stories that involved sexual violence, particularly when the stories were illustrated with pictures of dead or maimed women. In a letter to Rule, however, he asserted that he "never, ever read fact-detective magazines, and shuddered at the thought that anyone would." He once told Michaud that he would consume large quantities of alcohol and "canvass the community" late at night in search of undraped windows where he could observe women undressing, or "whatever [else] could be seen." Psychologist Al Carlisle claimed that Bundy “started fantasizing about women he saw while window peeping or elsewhere [and] mimicking the accents of some politicians he listened to on the radio. In essence, he was fantasizing about being someone else, someone important.”
Bundy's childhood Tacoma neighbor Sandi Holt described him as a bully, saying, "He liked to terrify people... He liked to be in charge. He liked to inflict pain and suffering and fear." “He hung one of the stray cats in the neighborhood from one of the clothes lines in the backyard, doused it in lighter fluid and set it on fire and I heard that cat squealing.” Bundy also allegedly used to take younger children in the neighborhood into the woods and terrorize them, she said. “He’d take them out there and strip them down, take their clothes,” she said. “You’d hear them screaming for blocks, I mean no matter where we were here, we could hear them screaming.”
Accounts of Bundy's social life also varied. He told journalists Michaud and Aynesworth that he "chose to be alone" as an adolescent because he was unable to understand interpersonal relationships. He claimed that he had no natural sense of how to develop friendships. "I didn't know what made people want to be friends," Bundy said. "I didn't know what underlay social interactions." “Some people perceived me as being shy and introverted,” he said. “I didn’t go to dances. I didn’t go on the beer drinking outings. I was a pretty, you might call me straight, but not a social outcast in any way.” Classmates from Woodrow Wilson High School, however, told Rule that Bundy was "well known and well liked" there, "a medium-sized fish in a large pond." Bundy's only significant athletic avocation was downhill skiing, which he pursued enthusiastically with stolen equipment and forged lift tickets. During high school, he was arrested at least twice on suspicion of burglary and motor vehicle theft. When he was 18-years-old, the details of the incidents were expunged from his record, as is customary in Washington and many other states.
### University years
After graduating from high school in 1965, Bundy attended the University of Puget Sound (UPS) for one year before transferring to the University of Washington (UW) to study Chinese. In 1967, he became romantically involved with a UW classmate, Diane Edwards (identified in Bundy biographies by several pseudonyms, most commonly Stephanie Brooks). “He saw a woman who was the epitome of his dreams,” Rule wrote. “[Edwards] was like no girl he had ever seen before, and he considered her the most sophisticated, the most beautiful creature possible.” Bundy later described Edwards as “the only woman I ever really loved.”
In early-1968, Bundy dropped out of college and worked a series of minimum-wage jobs. He also volunteered at the Seattle office of Nelson Rockefeller's presidential campaign and became Arthur Fletcher's driver and bodyguard during Fletcher's campaign for Lieutenant Governor of Washington State. Edwards graduated in the spring of 1968 and left Washington for San Francisco. Bundy visited her later that year after he earned a scholarship to study Chinese at Stanford University that summer.
In August, Bundy attended the 1968 Republican National Convention in Miami as a Rockefeller delegate. Shortly thereafter, Edwards ended their relationship and returned to her family home in California, frustrated by what she described as Bundy's immaturity and lack of ambition. Psychiatrist Dorothy Otnow Lewis would later pinpoint this crisis as "probably the pivotal time in his development". Devastated by the breakup, Bundy traveled to Colorado and then farther east, visiting relatives in Arkansas and Philadelphia and enrolling for one semester at Temple University. It was also at this time in early 1969, Rule believed, that Bundy visited the office of birth records in Burlington and confirmed his true parentage.
Bundy was back in Washington by the fall of 1969, when he met Elizabeth Kloepfer (identified in Bundy literature as Meg Anders, Beth Archer, or Liz Kendall), a single mother from Ogden, Utah, who worked as a secretary at the UW School of Medicine. Their tumultuous relationship would continue well past his initial incarceration in Utah in 1976. Bundy became a father figure to Kloepfer's daughter Molly, who was 3-years-old when he started dating her mother; he remained in her life until she was aged 10, after he had been arrested. As an adult, Molly wrote of incidents beginning at age 7 in which Bundy was abusive or sexually inappropriate with her. Her accounts include Bundy hitting her in the face, knocking her down, putting her at risk of drowning, indecent exposure, and sexual touching disguised as accidents or "games".
In mid-1970, Bundy, now focused and goal-oriented, re-enrolled at UW, this time as a psychology major. He became an honor student and was well regarded by his professors. In 1971, he took a job at Seattle's Suicide Hotline Crisis Center. There, he met and worked alongside Ann Rule, a former Seattle police officer and aspiring crime writer who would later write one of the definitive Bundy biographies, The Stranger Beside Me. Rule saw nothing disturbing in Bundy's personality at the time; she described him as "kind, solicitous, and empathetic."
After graduating from UW in 1972, Bundy joined Governor Daniel J. Evans's re-election campaign. Posing as a college student, he shadowed Evans' opponent, former governor Albert Rosellini, and recorded his stump speeches for analysis by Evans's team. Evans appointed Bundy to the Seattle Crime Prevention Advisory Committee. After Evans was re-elected, Bundy was hired as an assistant to Ross Davis, Chairman of the Washington State Republican Party. Davis thought well of Bundy and described him as "smart, aggressive ... and a believer in the system." In early-1973, despite mediocre LSAT scores, Bundy was accepted into the law schools of UPS and the University of Utah on the strength of letters of recommendation from Evans, Davis, and several UW psychology professors.
During a trip to California on Republican Party business in the summer of 1973, Bundy rekindled his relationship with Edwards. She marveled at his transformation into a serious and dedicated professional who was seemingly on the cusp of a significant legal and political career. Bundy continued to date Kloepfer as well; neither woman was aware of the other's existence. In the fall of 1973, he matriculated at UPS Law School, and continued courting Edwards, who flew to Seattle several times to stay with him. They discussed marriage, and at one point he introduced her to Davis as his fiancée.
In January 1974, Bundy abruptly broke off all contact with Edwards; her phone calls and letters went unreturned. When she finally reached him by phone a month later, she demanded to know why he had unilaterally ended their relationship without explanation. In a flat, calm voice, he replied, "Diane, I have no idea what you mean," and hung up. She never heard from him again. Bundy later explained, "I just wanted to prove to myself that I could have married her"; but Edwards concluded in retrospect that “Ted’s high-power courtship in the latter part of 1973 had been deliberately planned, that he had waited all those years to be in a position of where he could make her fall in love with him, so that he could drop her, reject her, as she had rejected him.” By then, Bundy had begun skipping classes at law school. By April, he had stopped attending entirely, as young women began to disappear in the Pacific Northwest.
### First murders
There is no consensus as to when or where Bundy began killing women. He told different stories to different people and refused to divulge the specifics of his earliest crimes, even as he confessed in graphic detail to dozens of later murders in the days preceding his execution. He told Nelson that he attempted his first kidnapping in 1969 in Ocean City, New Jersey, but did not kill anyone until sometime in 1971 in Seattle. He told psychologist Art Norman that he killed two women in Atlantic City while visiting family in Philadelphia in 1969. Bundy hinted to homicide detective Robert D. Keppel that he committed a murder in Seattle in 1972 and another murder in 1973 that involved a hitchhiker near Tumwater, but he refused to elaborate. Rule and Keppel both believed that he might have started killing as a teenager. Bundy's earliest documented homicides were committed in 1974, when he was 27-years-old. By his own admission, he had by then mastered the necessary skills – in the era before DNA profiling – to leave minimal incriminating forensic evidence at crime scenes.
## First two series of murders
### Washington, Oregon
Shortly after midnight on January 4, 1974, around the time that he terminated his relationship with Edwards, Bundy entered the basement apartment of 18-year-old Karen Sparks (often identified as Joni Lenz, Mary Adams, and Terri Caldwell in Bundy literature), a dancer and student at UW in the University District, Seattle. After bludgeoning Sparks with a metal rod from her bed frame, he sexually assaulted her with the same rod causing extensive internal injuries and rupturing her bladder. She remained unconscious in the hospital for ten days and although she survived, she was left with permanent brain damage, with significant loss to her vision and hearing. In the early morning hours of February 1, Bundy broke into the basement room of 21-year-old Lynda Ann Healy, a UW undergraduate who broadcast morning radio weather reports for skiers. He beat her unconscious; dressed her in blue jeans, a white blouse, and boots; carried her away and drove her to a secluded access road at the base of Taylor Mountain, where she was murdered and then dumped in the nearby woods. When journalist Stephen Michaud asked Bundy to speculate about how Healy may have died, Bundy responded with; "My initial reaction is that I don’t think I can.”
During the first-half of 1974, female college students disappeared at the rate of about one per month. On March 12, Donna Gail Manson, a 19-year-old student at Evergreen State College in Olympia, 60 miles (95 km) southwest of Seattle, left her dormitory to attend a jazz concert on campus but never arrived. Bundy described Manson's death as “nightmarish” and claimed that he had incinerated her skull in his girlfriend’s fireplace before he then vacuumed up the ashes. On April 17, 18-year-old Susan Elaine Rancourt disappeared while on her way to her dorm room after an evening advisors' meeting at Central Washington State College in Ellensburg, 110 miles (175 km) southeast of Seattle. Two female Central Washington students later came forward to report encounters—one on the night of Rancourt's disappearance, the other three nights earlier—with a man wearing a sling, who was asking for help carrying a load of books to his brown or tan Volkswagen Beetle.
On May 6, Roberta Kathleen Parks, 22, left her dormitory at Oregon State University in Corvallis, 260 miles (420 km) south of Seattle, to have coffee with friends at the Memorial Union, but never arrived. Bundy claimed that he spotted Parks sitting by herself in a cafeteria and chose to take a seat next to her. She was lonely and depressed, according to Bundy, and after a casual talk, he persuaded her to go with him into Corvallis. Once they were in his car, he drove to a remote location, where he raped her. A few hours later, he raped her once more before killing her. Investigators from Seattle and King County grew increasingly concerned. There was no significant physical evidence, and the missing women had little in common apart from similar appearance: young, attractive, white college students with long hair parted in the middle. On June 1, Brenda Carol Ball, 22, disappeared after leaving the Flame Tavern in Burien, near Seattle–Tacoma International Airport. She was last seen in the parking lot, talking to a brown-haired man with his arm in a sling. According to his confession, Bundy brought Ball back to his residence where they had a “consensual” sexual encounter before he strangled her while she was sleeping.
In the early hours of June 11, 18-year-old UW student Georgann Hawkins vanished while walking down a brightly lit alley between her boyfriend's dormitory residence and her sorority house. The next morning, three Seattle homicide detectives and a criminalist combed the entire alleyway on their hands and knees, finding nothing. Bundy later told Keppel that he lured Hawkins to his car and knocked her unconscious with a crowbar. After handcuffing her, he drove her to Issaquah, a suburb 20 miles (30 km) east of Seattle, where he strangled her and spent the entire night with her body. He later returned to the UW alley the morning after and, in the very midst of a major crime scene investigation, located and gathered Hawkins's earrings and one of her shoes where he had left them in the adjoining parking lot, and departed, unobserved. "It was a feat so brazen," wrote Keppel, "that it astonishes police even today." Bundy said he revisited Hawkins' corpse on three occasions.
After Hawkins's disappearance was publicized, witnesses came forward to report seeing a man in an alley behind a nearby dormitory on the night of her disappearance. He was on crutches with a leg cast and was struggling to carry a briefcase. One woman recalled that the man asked her to help him carry the case to his car, a light brown Volkswagen Beetle. During this period, Bundy was working in Olympia as the assistant director of the Seattle Crime Prevention Advisory Commission, where he wrote a pamphlet for women on rape prevention. Later, he worked at the Department of Emergency Services (DES), a state government agency involved in the search for the missing women. At the DES he met and began dating Carole Ann Boone (April 12, 1947 – January 13, 2018), a twice-divorced mother of two who would play an important role in the final phase of his life six years later.
Reports of the brutal attack on Sparks and the six missing women appeared prominently in newspapers and on television throughout Washington and Oregon. Fear spread among the population; hitchhiking by young women dropping sharply. Pressure mounted on law enforcement agencies, but the scarcity of physical evidence severely hampered them. Police would not provide reporters with the little information that was available for fear of compromising the investigation. Further similarities between the victims were noted: the disappearances all took place at night, usually near ongoing construction work, and were within a week of midterm or final exams. All of the victims were wearing slacks or blue jeans when they disappeared, and at many crime scenes there were sightings of a man wearing a cast or a sling and driving a brown or tan Volkswagen Beetle.
The Oregon and Washington murders culminated on July14 with the broad daylight abductions of two women from a crowded beach at Lake Sammamish State Park in Issaquah. Four female witnesses described an attractive young man wearing a white tennis outfit with his left arm in a sling, speaking with a light accent, perhaps Canadian or British. Introducing himself as "Ted," he asked their help in unloading a sailboat from his tan or bronze-colored Volkswagen Beetle. Three refused; one accompanied him as far as his car, saw that there was no sailboat, and fled. Three additional witnesses saw him approach Janice Anne Ott, 23, a probation caseworker at the King County Juvenile Court, with the sailboat story and watched her leave the beach in his company. About four hours later, Denise Marie Naslund, a 19-year-old woman who was studying to become a computer programmer, left a picnic to go to the restroom and never returned. Bundy told Stephen Michaud and William Hagmaier that Ott was still alive when he returned with Naslund and that he forced one to watch as he murdered the other after he took them both to an isolated logging road, where he strangled them before engaging in necrophilia with and decapitating their corpses. According to convicted murderer Gerard Schaefer, who became acquainted with Bundy at Florida State Prison, Ted both admired and envied him to such an extent that he had followed his case and abducted both Ott and Naslund as a "copycat crime" to pay "tribute" to him.
King County police, finally armed with a detailed description of their suspect and his car, posted fliers throughout the Seattle area. A composite sketch was printed in regional newspapers and broadcast on local television stations. Kloepfer, Rule, a DES employee, and a UW psychology professor all recognized the profile, the sketch, and the car, and reported Bundy as a possible suspect; but detectives—who were receiving up to 200 tips per day—thought it unlikely that a clean-cut law student with no adult criminal record could be the perpetrator. On September 6, two grouse hunters stumbled across the skeletal remains of Ott and Naslund near a service road in Issaquah, 2 miles (3 km) east of Lake Sammamish State Park. An extra femur and several vertebrae found at the site were later identified by Bundy as those of Hawkins. Six months later, forestry students from Green River Community College discovered the skulls and mandibles of Healy, Rancourt, Parks, and Ball on Taylor Mountain, where Bundy frequently hiked, just east of Issaquah. Manson's remains were never recovered. The absence of clothing and jewellery recovered led investigators to believe that the bodies were left and discarded at the scene naked.
### Idaho, Utah, Colorado
In August 1974, Bundy received a second acceptance from the University of Utah Law School and moved to Salt Lake City, leaving Kloepfer in Seattle. While he called Kloepfer often, he dated "at least a dozen" other women. As he studied the first-year law curriculum a second time, he was devastated to find out that the other students "had something, some intellectual capacity", that he did not. He found the classes completely incomprehensible. "It was a great disappointment to me," he said. A new string of homicides began the following month, including two that would remain undiscovered until Bundy confessed to them shortly before his execution.
On September 2, Bundy raped and strangled a still-unidentified hitchhiker in Idaho, then returned the next day to photograph and dismember the corpse before disposing of the remains in a nearby river. On October 2, he abducted 16-year-old Nancy Wilcox in Holladay, Utah, a suburb of Salt Lake City. Bundy confessed that Wilcox was walking on a poorly lit "main roadway" when he parked his car and forced her into an orchard. He then restrained her and put her into his vehicle and drove back to his apartment, where he allegedly kept her for 24 hours before strangling her. Bundy informed investigators that her remains were buried near Capitol Reef National Park, some 200 miles (320 km) south of Holladay, but they were never found.
On October 18, Melissa Anne Smith—the 17-year-old daughter of the police chief of Midvale, another Salt Lake City suburb—disappeared after leaving a pizza parlor at around 9.30 p.m. Her nude body was found in a nearby mountainous area nine days later; post-mortem examination indicated that she may have remained alive for up to seven days following her disappearance. On October 31, Laura Ann Aime, also 17, disappeared 25 miles (40 km) south of Lehi after leaving a Halloween party by herself just after midnight; she was last seen trying to hitchhike. Her naked body was found by hikers 9 miles (14 km) to the northeast in American Fork Canyon on Thanksgiving Day. The medical examiner estimated that Aime had died on November 20; twenty days after her disappearance. Both Smith and Aime had been beaten, raped, sodomized, and strangled with nylon stockings. Years later, Bundy described his post-mortem rituals with the corpses of Smith and Aime, including hair shampooing and application of makeup.
In the late afternoon of November 8, Bundy approached 18-year-old telephone operator Carol DaRonch at Fashion Place Mall in Murray, less than a mile from the Midvale restaurant where Smith was last seen. He identified himself as "Officer Roseland" of the Murray Police Department and told DaRonch that someone had attempted to break into her car. He asked her to accompany him to the station to file a complaint. When DaRonch pointed out to Bundy that he was driving on a road that did not lead to the police station, he immediately pulled onto the shoulder and attempted to handcuff her. During their struggle, he inadvertently fastened both handcuffs to the same wrist, and DaRonch was able to open the car door and escape.
Later that evening, Debra Jean Kent, a 17-year-old student at Viewmont High School in Bountiful, 20 miles (30 km) north of Murray, disappeared after leaving a theater production at the school to pick up her brother. The school's drama teacher and a student told police that "a stranger" had asked each of them to come out to the parking lot to identify a car. Another student later saw the same man pacing in the rear of the auditorium, and the drama teacher spotted him again shortly before the end of the play. Outside the auditorium, investigators found a key that unlocked the handcuffs removed from DaRonch's wrist. Bundy eventually admitted to abducting Kent and claimed he took her back to his residence. “I did keep her there for a period of time,” Bundy said, estimating that it had been for 24 hours and when he was asked whether Kent was alive during that time, Bundy responded, “Let’s see, during half of it.”
In November, Kloepfer called King County police a second time after reading that young women were disappearing in towns surrounding Salt Lake City. Detective Randy Hergesheimer of the Major Crimes division interviewed her in detail. By then, Bundy had risen considerably on the King County hierarchy of suspicion, but the Lake Sammamish witness considered most reliable by detectives failed to identify him from a photo lineup. In December, Kloepfer called the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office and repeated her suspicions. Bundy's name was added to their list of suspects, but at that time no credible forensic evidence linked him to the Utah crimes. In January 1975, Bundy returned to Seattle after his final exams and spent a week with Kloepfer, who did not tell him that she had reported him to police on three occasions. She made plans to visit him in Salt Lake City in August. In 1975, Bundy shifted much of his criminal activity eastward, from his base in Utah to Colorado.
On January 12, a 23-year-old registered nurse named Caryn Eileen Campbell disappeared while walking down a well-lit hallway between the elevator and her room at the Wildwood Inn (now the Wildwood Lodge) in Snowmass Village, 400 miles (640 km) southeast of Salt Lake City. Her nude body was found a month later next to a dirt road just outside the resort. According to the coroner’s report, she had been killed by blows to her head from a blunt instrument that left distinctive linear grooved depressions on her skull; her assailant had slit her left earlobe and her body also bore deep cuts from a sharp weapon.
On March 15, 100 miles (160 km) northeast of Snowmass, Vail ski instructor Julie Cunningham, 26, disappeared while walking from her apartment to a dinner date with a friend. Bundy later told Colorado investigators that he approached Cunningham on crutches and asked her to help carry his ski boots to his car, where he clubbed and handcuffed her before sexually assaulting her at a secondary site near Rifle, 90 miles (140 km) west of Vail. Bundy stated Cunningham regained consciousness at some point and tried to escape, but he caught her and strangled her before disposing of her body in a shallow grave near Rifle, Colorado. Weeks later, he made the six-hour drive from Salt Lake City to revisit her remains.
Denise Lynn Oliverson, 25, disappeared near the Utah–Colorado border in Grand Junction on April 6 while riding her bicycle to her parents' house; her bike and sandals were found under a viaduct near a railroad bridge. Bundy stated he abducted Oliverson, killed her in his car near the Utah state line, and dumped her body in the Colorado River. This admission was supported by gas receipts, which showed that he was in the city on the exact same day that Oliverson went missing. On May 6, Bundy parked outside of the Alameda Junior High School in Pocatello, Idaho, 160 miles (255 km) north of Salt Lake City, and after seeing 12-year-old Lynette Dawn Culver walking along by herself, he lured her into his vehicle before driving her to his Holiday Inn hotel room. He then raped Culver and drowned her in the bathtub. He disposed of her body in the Snake River north of Pocatello. Bundy reportedly provided intimate details about Lynette's personal life in his confession.
In mid-May, three of Bundy's Washington State DES co-workers, including Boone, visited him in Salt Lake City and stayed for a week in his apartment. He subsequently spent a week in Seattle with Kloepfer in early-June and they discussed getting married the following Christmas. Again, Kloepfer made no mention of her multiple discussions with authorities in King County and Salt Lake County. Bundy disclosed neither his ongoing relationship with Boone nor a concurrent romance with a Utah law student known in various accounts as either Kim Andrews or Sharon Auer.
On June 28, 15-year-old Susan Curtis vanished from the campus of Brigham Young University in Provo, 45 miles (70 km) south of Salt Lake City. She was attending the Bountiful Orchard Youth Conference and was last seen on the first day of the conference. Her murder became Bundy's last confession, tape-recorded moments before he entered the execution chamber. The bodies of victims Wilcox, Kent, Cunningham, Oliverson, Culver, and Curtis were never recovered. In August 1975, Bundy was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, although he was not an active participant in services and ignored most church restrictions. He would later be excommunicated by the LDS Church following his 1976 kidnapping conviction. When asked his religious preference after his arrest, Bundy answered "Methodist", the religion of his childhood.
In Washington State, investigators were still struggling to analyze the Pacific Northwest murder spree that had ended as abruptly as it had begun. In an effort to make sense of an overwhelming mass of data, they resorted to the then-innovative strategy of compiling a database. They used the King County payroll computer, a "huge, primitive machine" by contemporary standards, but the only one available for their use. After inputting the many lists they had compiled—classmates and acquaintances of each victim, Volkswagen owners named "Ted", known sex offenders, and so on—they queried the computer for coincidences. Out of thousands of names, 26 turned up on four lists; one was Bundy. Detectives also manually compiled a list of their 100 "best" suspects, and Bundy was on that list as well. He was "literally at the top of the pile" of suspects when word came from Utah of his arrest.
## Arrest and first trial
On August 16, 1975, Bundy was arrested by Utah Highway Patrol officer Bob Hayward in Granger, another Salt Lake City suburb. Hayward observed Bundy cruising a residential area in his Volkswagen Beetle during the pre-dawn hours, and fleeing at high speed after seeing the patrol car. He noticed that the Volkswagen's front passenger seat had been removed and placed on the rear seats, and searched the car. He found a ski mask, a second mask fashioned from pantyhose, a crowbar, handcuffs, trash bags, a coil of rope, an ice pick, and other items initially assumed to be burglary tools. Bundy explained that the ski mask was for skiing, he had found the handcuffs in a dumpster, and the rest were common household items. However, Detective Jerry Thompson remembered a similar suspect and car description from the November 1974 DaRonch kidnapping, and Bundy's name from Kloepfer's phone call a month later. In a search of Bundy's apartment, police found a guide to Colorado ski resorts with a checkmark by the Wildwood Inn, and a brochure that advertised the Viewmont High School play in Bountiful, where Kent had disappeared. The police did not have sufficient evidence to detain Bundy, so he was released on his own recognizance. Bundy later said that searchers missed a hidden collection of Polaroid photographs of his victims, which he destroyed after he was released.
Salt Lake City police placed Bundy on 24-hour surveillance, and Thompson flew to Seattle with two other detectives to interview Kloepfer. She told them that in the year prior to Bundy's move to Utah, she had discovered objects that she "couldn't understand" in her house and in Bundy's apartment. These items included crutches, a bag of plaster of Paris that he admitted stealing from a medical supply house, and a meat cleaver that was never used for cooking. Additional objects included surgical gloves, an Oriental knife in a wooden case that he kept in his glove compartment, and a sack full of women's clothing. Bundy was perpetually in debt, and Kloepfer suspected that he had stolen almost everything of significant value that he possessed. When she confronted him over a new TV and stereo, he warned her, "If you tell anyone, I'll break your fucking neck." She said Bundy became "very upset" whenever she considered cutting her hair, which was long and parted in the middle. She would sometimes awaken in the middle of the night to find him under the bed covers with a flashlight, examining her body. He kept a lug wrench, taped halfway up the handle, in the trunk of her car—another Volkswagen Beetle, which he often borrowed—"for protection". The detectives confirmed that Bundy had not been with Kloepfer on any of the nights during which the Pacific Northwest victims had vanished, nor on the day Ott and Naslund were abducted from Lake Sammamish State Park. Shortly thereafter, Kloepfer was interviewed by Seattle homicide detective Kathy McChesney, and learned of the existence of Diane Edwards and her brief engagement to Bundy around Christmas 1973.
In September, Bundy sold his Volkswagen Beetle to a Midvale teenager. Utah police impounded it, and FBI technicians dismantled and searched it. They found hairs matching samples obtained from Campbell's body. Later, they also identified hair strands "microscopically indistinguishable" from those of Smith and DaRonch. FBI lab specialist Robert Neill concluded that the presence of hair strands in one car matching three different victims who had never met one another would be "a coincidence of mind-boggling rarity".
On October 2, detectives put Bundy into a lineup. DaRonch immediately identified him as "Officer Roseland", and witnesses from Bountiful recognized him as the stranger at the Viewmont High School auditorium. There was insufficient evidence to link him to Kent, whose body had not yet been found, but more than enough evidence to charge him with aggravated kidnapping and attempted criminal assault in the DaRonch case. He was freed on \$15,000 bail, paid by his parents, and spent most of the time between indictment and trial in Seattle, living in Kloepfer's house. Seattle police had insufficient evidence to charge him in the Pacific Northwest murders, but kept him under close surveillance. "When Ted and I stepped out on the porch to go somewhere," Kloepfer wrote, "so many unmarked police cars started up that it sounded like the beginning of the Indy 500."
In November, the three principal Bundy investigators—Jerry Thompson from Utah, Robert Keppel from Washington, and Michael Fisher from Colorado—met in Aspen, Colorado, and exchanged information with thirty detectives and prosecutors from five states. While officials left the meeting, which was later referred to as the Aspen Summit, convinced that Bundy was the murderer they sought, they agreed that more hard evidence would be needed before he could be charged with any of the murders.
In February 1976, Bundy stood trial for the DaRonch kidnapping. On the advice of his attorney, John O'Connell, he waived his right to a jury due to the negative publicity surrounding the case. After a four-day bench trial and a weekend of deliberation, Judge Stewart Hanson Jr. found him guilty of kidnapping and assault. In June, he was sentenced to one to 15 years in the Utah State Prison. In October, he was found hiding in bushes in the prison yard carrying an "escape kit"—road maps, airline schedules, and a social security card—and spent several weeks in solitary confinement. Later that month, Colorado authorities charged him with Campbell's murder. After a period of resistance, he waived extradition proceedings and was transferred to Aspen in January 1977.
## Escapes
On June 7, 1977, Bundy was transported 40 miles (64 km) from the Garfield County jail in Glenwood Springs to Pitkin County Courthouse in Aspen for a preliminary hearing. He had elected to serve as his own attorney, and as such, was excused by the judge from wearing handcuffs or leg shackles. During a recess, he asked to visit the courthouse's law library to research his case. While shielded from his guards' view behind a bookcase, he opened a window and jumped to the ground from the second story, injuring his right ankle as he landed.
After shedding an outer layer of clothing, Bundy limped through Aspen as roadblocks were being set up on its outskirts, then hiked south onto Aspen Mountain. Near its summit he broke into a hunting cabin and stole food, clothing, and a rifle. The following day, he left the cabin and continued south toward the town of Crested Butte, but became lost in the forest. For two days he wandered aimlessly on the mountain, missing two trails that led downward to his intended destination. On June 10, he broke into a camping trailer on Maroon Lake, 10 miles (16 km) south of Aspen, taking food and a ski parka; however, instead of continuing southward, he walked back north toward Aspen, eluding roadblocks and search parties along the way. Three days later, he stole a car at the edge of Aspen Golf Course. Cold, sleep-deprived, and in constant pain from his sprained ankle, Bundy drove back into Aspen, where two police officers noticed his car weaving in and out of its lane and pulled him over. He had been a fugitive for six days. In the car were maps of the mountain area around Aspen that prosecutors were using to demonstrate the location of Campbell's body since as his own attorney, Bundy had rights of discovery, indicating that his escape was not a spontaneous act, but had been planned.
Back in jail in Glenwood Springs, Bundy ignored the advice of friends and legal advisors to stay put. The case against him, already weak at best, was deteriorating steadily as pretrial motions consistently resolved in his favor and significant bits of evidence were ruled inadmissible. "A more rational defendant might have realized that he stood a good chance of acquittal, and that beating the murder charge in Colorado would probably have dissuaded other prosecutors ... with as little as a year and a half to serve on the DaRonch conviction, had Ted persevered, he could have been a free man." Instead, Bundy assembled a new escape plan. He acquired a detailed floor plan of the Garfield County jail and a hacksaw blade from other inmates. He further accumulated \$500 in cash, something he later said was smuggled in over a six month period by visitors—Boone in particular. During the evenings, while other prisoners were showering, he sawed a hole about one square foot (0.093 m<sup>2</sup>) between the steel reinforcing bars in his cell's ceiling. Having lost 35 pounds (16 kg), he was able to wriggle through and explore the crawl space above, allowing him to make a series of practice runs in the weeks that followed. Multiple reports from an informant of movement within the ceiling during the night were not investigated.
By late 1977, Bundy's impending trial had become a cause célèbre in the small town of Aspen, and Bundy filed a motion for a change of venue to Denver. On December 23, the Aspen trial judge granted the request—but to Colorado Springs, where juries had historically been hostile to murder suspects. On the night of December 30, with most of the jail staff on Christmas break and nonviolent prisoners on furlough with their families, Bundy piled books and files in his bed, covered them with a blanket to simulate his sleeping body, and climbed into the crawl space. He broke through the ceiling into the apartment of the chief jailer—who was out for the evening with his wife—changed into street clothes from the jailer's closet, and walked out the front door to freedom.
After stealing a car, Bundy drove eastward out of Glenwood Springs, but the car soon broke down in the mountains on Interstate 70. A passing motorist gave him a ride into Vail, 60 miles (97 km) to the east. From there he caught a bus to Denver, where he boarded a morning flight to Chicago. Back in Glenwood Springs, the jail's skeleton crew did not discover the escape until noon on December 31, more than seventeen hours later. By then, Bundy was already in Chicago.
## Florida
From Chicago, Bundy traveled by train to Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he was present in a local tavern on January 2. Five days later, he stole a car and drove south to Atlanta, where he boarded a bus and arrived in Tallahassee, Florida, on the morning of January 8. He stayed for one night at a hotel before he rented a room under the alias Chris Hagen at a boarding house near the Florida State University (FSU) campus. Bundy later said that he initially resolved to find legitimate employment and refrain from further criminal activity, knowing he could probably remain free and undetected in Florida indefinitely as long as he did not attract the attention of police; but his lone job application, at a construction site, had to be abandoned when he was asked to produce identification. He reverted to his old habits of shoplifting and stealing money and credit cards from women's wallets left in shopping carts at local grocery stores.
In the early hours of January 15, 1978—one week after his arrival in Tallahassee—Bundy entered FSU's Chi Omega sorority house through a rear door with a faulty locking mechanism. Beginning at about 2:45 a.m. he bludgeoned Margaret Bowman, 21, with a piece of oak firewood as she slept, then garroted her with a nylon stocking. He then entered the bedroom of 20-year-old Lisa Levy and beat her unconscious, strangled her, tore one of her nipples, bit deeply into her left buttock, and sexually assaulted her with a hair mist bottle. In an adjoining bedroom he attacked Kathy Kleiner, breaking her jaw and deeply lacerating her shoulder; and Karen Chandler, who suffered a concussion, broken jaw, loss of teeth, and a crushed finger. Chandler and Kleiner survived the attack; Kleiner attributed their survival to automobile headlights illuminating the interior of their room and frightening away the attacker.
Bundy escaped but not before being seen by sorority sister Nita Neary, who came through the back door and saw Bundy as he was exiting the sorority house. Tallahassee detectives determined that the four attacks took place in a total of less than 15 minutes, within earshot of more than 30 witnesses who heard nothing. After leaving the sorority house, Bundy broke into a basement apartment eight blocks away and attacked FSU student Cheryl Thomas, dislocating her shoulder and fracturing her jaw and skull in five places. Thomas's neighbors in the rooms adjacent overheard the racket and phoned the police, who discovered her lying in bed badly beaten. She was left with permanent deafness, and equilibrium damage that ended her dance career. On Thomas's bed, police found a semen stain and a pantyhose "mask" containing two hairs "similar to Bundy's in class and characteristic".
On February 8, Bundy drove 150 miles (240 km) east to Jacksonville in a stolen FSU van. In a parking lot he approached 14-year-old Leslie Parmenter, the daughter of the Jacksonville Police Department's Chief of Detectives, identifying himself as "Richard Burton, Fire Department", but retreated when Parmenter's older brother arrived and confronted him. That afternoon, he backtracked 60 miles (97 km) westward to Lake City. At Lake City Junior High School the following morning, 12-year-old Kimberly Dianne Leach was summoned to her homeroom by a teacher to retrieve a forgotten purse; she never returned to class. Seven weeks later, after an intensive search, her partially mummified remains were found in a pig farrowing shed near Suwannee River State Park, 35 miles (56 km) northwest of Lake City. Forensic experts surmised that Leach had been raped before having her throat cut.
On February 12, with insufficient cash to pay his overdue rent and a growing suspicion that police were closing in on him, Bundy stole a car and fled Tallahassee, driving westward across the Florida Panhandle. Three days later, at around 1:00 a.m., he was stopped by Pensacola police officer David Lee near the Alabama state line after a "wants and warrants" check showed his Volkswagen Beetle was stolen. When told he was under arrest, Bundy kicked Lee's legs out from under him and took off running. Lee fired two warning shots, then gave chase and tackled him. The two struggled over Lee's gun before the officer finally subdued and arrested Bundy. In the stolen vehicle were three sets of IDs belonging to female FSU students, 21 stolen credit cards and a stolen television set. Also found were a pair of dark-rimmed non-prescription glasses and a pair of plaid slacks, later identified as the disguise worn by "Richard Burton, Fire Department" in Jacksonville. As Lee transported his suspect to jail, unaware that he had just arrested one of the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, he heard Bundy say, "I wish you had killed me."
## Florida trials, marriage
Following a change of venue to Miami, Bundy stood trial for the Chi Omega homicides and assaults in June 1979. The trial was covered by 250 reporters from five continents and was the first to be televised nationally in the United States. Despite the presence of five court-appointed attorneys, Bundy again handled much of his own defense. From the beginning, he "sabotaged the entire defense effort out of spite, distrust, and grandiose delusion", Nelson later wrote. "Ted [was] facing murder charges, with a possible death sentence, and all that mattered to him apparently was that he be in charge."
According to Mike Minerva, a Tallahassee public defender and member of the defense team, a pre-trial plea bargain was negotiated in which Bundy would plead guilty to killing Levy, Bowman, and Leach in exchange for a firm 75-year prison sentence. Prosecutors were amenable to a deal, by one account, because "prospects of losing at trial were very good." Bundy, on the other hand, saw the plea deal not only as a means of avoiding the death penalty, but also as a "tactical move": he could enter his plea, then wait a few years for evidence to disintegrate or become lost and for witnesses to die, move on, or retract their testimony. Once the case against him had deteriorated beyond repair, he could file a post-conviction motion to set aside the plea and secure an acquittal. At the last minute, however, Bundy refused the deal. "It made him realize he was going to have to stand up in front of the whole world and say he was guilty", Minerva said. "He just couldn't do it."
At trial, crucial testimony came from Chi Omega sorority members Connie Hastings, who placed Bundy in the vicinity of the sorority house that evening, and Nita Neary, who saw him leaving the house clutching the murder weapon. Incriminating physical evidence included impressions of the bite wounds Bundy had inflicted on Levy's left buttock, which forensic odontologists Richard Souviron and Lowell Levine matched to castings of Bundy's teeth. The jury deliberated for less than seven hours before convicting Bundy on July 24, 1979, of the Bowman and Levy murders, three counts of attempted first-degree murder for the assaults on Kleiner, Chandler and Thomas and two counts of burglary. Trial judge Edward Cowart imposed death sentences for the murder convictions.
Six months later, a second trial took place in Orlando for the abduction and murder of Leach. Bundy was found guilty once again, after less than eight hours' deliberation, due principally to the testimony of an eyewitness who saw him leading Leach from the schoolyard to his stolen van. Important material evidence included clothing fibers with an unusual manufacturing error, found in the van and on Leach's body, which matched fibers from the jacket Bundy was wearing when he was arrested.
During the penalty phase of the Leach trial, Bundy took advantage of an obscure Florida law providing that a marriage declaration in court, in the presence of a judge, constituted a legal marriage. As he was questioning Boone—who had moved to Florida to be near Bundy, had testified on his behalf during both trials, and was again testifying on his behalf as a character witness—he asked her to marry him. She accepted, and Bundy declared to the court that they were legally married.
On February 10, 1980, Bundy was sentenced for a third time to death by electrocution. As the sentence was announced, he reportedly stood and shouted, "Tell the jury they were wrong!" This third death sentence would be the one ultimately carried out nearly nine years later. On October 24, 1982, Boone gave birth to a daughter, Rose Bundy. While conjugal visits were not allowed at the Florida State Prison in Raiford, where Bundy was incarcerated, inmates were known to pool their money in order to bribe guards to allow them intimate time alone with their female visitors.
## Death row, confessions and execution
Shortly after the conclusion of the Leach trial and the beginning of the long appeals process that followed, Bundy initiated a series of interviews with Stephen Michaud and Hugh Aynesworth. Speaking mostly in third person to avoid "the stigma of confession", he began for the first time to divulge details of his crimes and thought processes. Bundy recounted his career as a thief, confirming Kloepfer's long-time suspicion that he had shoplifted virtually everything of substance that he owned. "The big payoff for me," he said, "was actually possessing whatever it was I had stolen. I really enjoyed having something ... that I had wanted and gone out and taken." Possession proved to be an important motive for rape and murder as well. Sexual assault, he said, fulfilled his need to "totally possess" his victims. At first, he killed his victims "as a matter of expediency ... to eliminate the possibility of [being] caught"; but later, murder became part of the "adventure". "The ultimate possession was, in fact, the taking of the life", he said. "And then ... the physical possession of the remains."
Bundy also confided in Special Agent William Hagmaier of the FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit. Hagmaier was struck by the "deep, almost mystical satisfaction" that Bundy took in murder. "He said that after a while, murder is not just a crime of lust or violence", Hagmaier related. "It becomes possession. They are part of you ... [the victim] becomes a part of you, and you [two] are forever one ... and the grounds where you kill them or leave them become sacred to you, and you will always be drawn back to them." Bundy told Hagmaier that he considered himself to be an "amateur", an "impulsive" killer in his early years, before moving into what he termed his "prime" or "predator" phase at about the time of Healy's murder in 1974. This implied that he began killing well before 1974—although he never explicitly admitted having done so.
In July 1984, prison guards found two hacksaw blades hidden in Bundy's cell. A steel bar in one of the cell's windows had been sawed completely through at the top and bottom and glued back into place with a homemade soap-based adhesive. Several months later, guards found an unauthorized mirror, and Bundy was moved to a different cell. Shortly thereafter, he was charged with a disciplinary infraction for unauthorized correspondence with another high-profile criminal, John Hinckley Jr.
In October 1984, Bundy contacted Keppel and offered to share his self-proclaimed expertise in serial killer psychology in the ongoing hunt in Washington for the "Green River Killer", later identified as Gary Ridgway. Keppel and Green River Task Force detective Dave Reichert interviewed Bundy, but Ridgway remained at large for a further seventeen years. Keppel published a detailed documentation of the Green River interviews, and later collaborated with Michaud on another examination of the interview material.
In early-1986, an execution date (March 4) was set on the Chi Omega convictions; the U.S. Supreme Court issued a brief stay, but the execution was quickly rescheduled. In April, shortly after the new date (July 2) was announced, Bundy finally confessed to Hagmaier and Nelson what they believed was the full range of his depredations, including details of what he did to some of his victims after their deaths. He told them that he revisited Taylor Mountain, Issaquah, and other secondary crime scenes, often several times, to lie with his victims and perform sexual acts with their bodies until putrefaction forced him to stop. In some cases, he drove for several hours each way and remained the entire night. In Utah, he applied makeup to Smith's lifeless face, and repeatedly washed Aime's hair. "If you've got time," he told Hagmaier, "they can be anything you want them to be." He decapitated approximately twelve of his victims with a hacksaw, and kept at least one group of severed heads—probably the four later found on Taylor Mountain (Rancourt, Parks, Ball and Healy)—in his apartment for a period of time before disposing of them.
Less than fifteen hours before the scheduled July 2 execution, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals stayed it indefinitely and remanded the Chi Omega case for review on multiple technicalities—including Bundy's mental competency to stand trial and an erroneous instruction by the trial judge during the penalty phase requiring the jury to break a 6–6 tie between life imprisonment and the death penalty—which, ultimately, were never resolved. A new date (November 18) was then set to carry out the Leach sentence; the Eleventh Circuit Court issued a stay on November 17. In mid-1988, the Eleventh Circuit ruled against Bundy, and in December the Supreme Court denied a motion to review the ruling over the dissents of Justices Thurgood Marshall and William J. Brennan Jr. Within hours of that final denial, a firm execution date of January 24, 1989, was announced. Bundy's journey through the appeals courts had been unusually rapid for a capital murder case: "Contrary to popular belief, the courts moved Bundy as fast as they could ... Even the prosecutors acknowledged that Bundy's lawyers never employed delaying tactics. Though people everywhere seethed at the apparent delay in executing the archdemon, Ted Bundy was actually on the fast track."
With all appeal avenues exhausted and no further motivation to deny his crimes, Bundy agreed to speak frankly with investigators. He confessed to Keppel that he had committed all eight of the Washington and Oregon homicides for which he was the prime suspect. He described three additional previously unknown victims in Washington and two in Oregon whom he declined to identify if indeed he ever knew their identities. He said he left a fifth corpse—Manson's—on Taylor Mountain, but incinerated her head in Kloepfer's fireplace. "He described the Issaquah crime scene [where the bones of Ott, Naslund, and Hawkins were found], and it was almost like he was just there", Keppel said. "Like he was seeing everything. He was infatuated with the idea because he spent so much time there. He is just totally consumed with murder all the time." Nelson's impressions were similar: "It was the absolute misogyny of his crimes that stunned me," she wrote, "his manifest rage against women. He had no compassion at all ... he was totally engrossed in the details. His murders were his life's accomplishments."
Bundy confessed to detectives from Idaho, Utah, and Colorado that he had committed numerous additional homicides, including several that were unknown to the police. He explained that when he was in Utah he could bring his victims back to his apartment, "where he could reenact scenarios depicted on the covers of detective magazines." A new ulterior strategy quickly became apparent: he withheld many details, hoping to parlay the incomplete information into yet another stay of execution. "There are other buried remains in Colorado", he admitted, but refused to elaborate. The new strategy—immediately dubbed "Ted's bones-for-time scheme"—served only to deepen the resolve of authorities to see Bundy executed on schedule, and yielded little new detailed information. In cases where he did give details, nothing was found. Colorado detective Matt Lindvall interpreted this as a conflict between his desire to postpone his execution by divulging information and his need to remain in "total possession—the only person who knew his victims' true resting places."
When it became clear that no further stays would be forthcoming from the courts, Bundy supporters began lobbying for the only remaining option, executive clemency. Diana Weiner, a young Florida attorney and Bundy's last purported love interest, asked the families of several Colorado and Utah victims to petition Florida Governor Bob Martinez for a postponement to give Bundy time to reveal more information. All refused. "The families already believed that the victims were dead and that Ted had killed them", wrote Nelson. "They didn't need his confession." Martinez made it clear that he would not agree to further delays in any case. "We are not going to have the system manipulated", he told reporters. "For him to be negotiating for his life over the bodies of victims is despicable."
Boone had championed Bundy's innocence throughout all of his trials and felt "deeply betrayed" by his admission that he was, in fact, guilty. She moved back to Washington with her daughter and refused to accept his phone call on the morning of his execution. "She was hurt by his relationship with Diana [Weiner]," Nelson wrote, "and devastated by his sudden wholesale confessions in his last days." Hagmaier was present during Bundy's final interviews with investigators. On the eve of his execution, he talked of suicide. "He did not want to give the state the satisfaction of watching him die", Hagmaier said.
Bundy was executed in the Raiford electric chair at 7:16 a.m. EST on Tuesday, January 24, 1989. His last words were directed at his attorney Jim Coleman and Methodist minister Fred Lawrence: "Jim and Fred, I'd like you to give my love to my family and friends." Hundreds of revelers sang, danced and set off fireworks in a pasture across from the prison as the execution was carried out, then cheered as the white hearse containing Bundy's corpse departed the prison. He was cremated in Gainesville, and his ashes scattered at an undisclosed location in the Cascade Range of Washington State, in accordance with his will.
## Modus operandi and victim profiles
Bundy was an unusually organized and calculating criminal who used his extensive knowledge of law enforcement methodologies to elude identification and capture for years. His crime scenes were distributed over large geographic areas; his victim count had risen to at least 20 before it became clear that numerous investigators in widely disparate jurisdictions were hunting the same man. Bundy's assault methods of choice were blunt trauma and strangulation, two relatively silent techniques that could be accomplished with common household items. He deliberately avoided firearms due to the noise they made and the ballistic evidence they left behind. He was a "meticulous researcher" who explored his surroundings in minute detail, looking for safe sites to seize and dispose of victims. He was unusually skilled at minimizing physical evidence. His fingerprints were never found at a crime scene, nor any other incontrovertible evidence of his guilt, a fact he repeated often during the years in which he attempted to maintain his innocence.
Other significant obstacles for law enforcement were Bundy's generic, essentially anonymous physical features, and a curious chameleon-like ability to change his appearance. Early on, police complained of the futility of showing his photograph to witnesses; he looked different in virtually every photo ever taken of him. In person, "his expression would so change his whole appearance that there were moments that you weren't even sure you were looking at the same person", said Stewart Hanson Jr., the judge in the DaRonch trial. "He [was] really a changeling." Bundy was well aware of this unusual quality and he exploited it, using subtle modifications of facial hair or hairstyle to significantly alter his appearance as necessary. He concealed his one distinctive identifying mark, a dark mole on his neck, with turtleneck shirts and sweaters. Even his Volkswagen Beetle proved difficult to pin down; its color was variously described by witnesses as metallic or non-metallic, tan or bronze, light brown or dark brown.
Bundy's modus operandi evolved in organization and sophistication over time, as is typical of serial killers, according to FBI experts. Early on, it consisted of forcible late-night entry followed by a violent attack with a blunt weapon on a sleeping victim. As his methodology evolved, he became progressively more organized in his choice of victims and crime scenes. He would employ various ruses designed to lure his victim to the vicinity of his vehicle where he had pre-positioned a weapon, usually a crowbar. In many cases he wore a plaster cast on one leg or a sling on one arm, and sometimes hobbled on crutches, then requested assistance in carrying something to his vehicle. Bundy was regarded as handsome and charismatic, traits he exploited to win the confidence of his victims and the people around him in his daily life. "Ted lured females", Michaud wrote, "the way a lifeless silk flower can dupe a honey bee." He would sometimes approach females pretending to be an authority figure or firefighter.
Once Bundy had them near or inside his vehicle, he would overpower and bludgeon them, and then restrain them with handcuffs. He would then transport them to a pre-selected secondary site, often a considerable distance away, and rape them during ligature strangulation. In the case of his Utah victims, the secondary site would be his apartment building. Toward the end of his spree, in Florida, perhaps under the stress of being a fugitive, he regressed to indiscriminate attacks on sleeping women. While he is often said to have been a torturer, and biographer Ann Rule in particular regarded him as a "sadistic sociopath" who took pleasure in human suffering, Bundy disputed these claims in one of his conversations with Michaud, insisting that he never deliberately tortured any of those he killed and that the murders had no sadistic focus on enjoyment derived from the infliction of pain and injury. To the contrary, he claimed that he went out of his way to mitigate his victims' physical torment.
At secondary sites Bundy would remove and later burn the victim's clothing, or in at least one case (Cunningham's) deposit them in a Goodwill Industries collection bin. He explained that the clothing removal was ritualistic, but also a practical matter, as it minimized the chance of leaving trace evidence at the crime scene that could implicate him. A manufacturing error in fibers from his own clothing, ironically, provided a crucial incriminating link to the Leach killing. He often revisited his secondary crime scenes to engage in acts of necrophilia, and to groom or dress up the cadavers. Some victims were found wearing articles of clothing they had never worn, or nail polish that family members had never seen. Bundy took Polaroid photos of many of his victims. "When you work hard to do something right," he told Hagmaier, "you don't want to forget it." Consumption of large quantities of alcohol was an "essential component", he told both Keppel and Michaud; he needed to be "extremely drunk" while on the prowl in order to "significantly diminish" his inhibitions and to "sedate" the "dominant personality" that he feared might prevent his inner "entity" from acting on his impulses.
All of Bundy's known victims were white females, most of middle-class backgrounds. Almost all were between the ages of 15 and 25 and most were college students. He apparently never approached anyone he might have met before. In their last conversation before his execution, Bundy told Kloepfer he had purposely stayed away from her "when he felt the power of his sickness building in him." Rule noted that most of the identified victims had long straight hair, parted in the middle—like Diane Edwards, the woman who rejected him, and to whom he later became engaged and then rejected in return. Rule speculated that Bundy's animosity toward his first girlfriend triggered his protracted rampage and caused him to target victims who resembled her. Bundy dismissed this hypothesis: "[T]hey ... just fit the general criteria of being young and attractive", he told Aynesworth. "Too many people have bought this crap that all the girls were similar ... [but] almost everything was dissimilar ... physically, they were almost all different." He did concede that youth and beauty were "absolutely indispensable criteria" in his choice of victims.
After Bundy's execution, Rule was surprised and troubled to hear from numerous "sensitive, intelligent, kind young women" who wrote or called to say they were deeply depressed because Bundy was dead. Many had corresponded with him, "each believing that she was his only one". Several said they suffered nervous breakdowns when he died. "Even in death, Ted damaged women," Rule wrote. "To get well, they must realize that they were conned by the master con-man. They are grieving for a shadow man that never existed."
## Pathology
Bundy underwent multiple psychiatric examinations; the experts' conclusions varied. Dorothy Otnow Lewis, a professor of psychiatry at the New York University School of Medicine and an authority on violent behavior, initially made a diagnosis of bipolar disorder, but later changed her impression more than once. She also suggested the possibility of a multiple personality disorder, based on behaviors described in interviews and court testimony; a great-aunt witnessed an episode during which Bundy "seemed to turn into another, unrecognizable person ... [she] suddenly, inexplicably found herself afraid of her favorite nephew as they waited together at a dusk-darkened train station. He had turned into a stranger." Lewis recounted a prison official in Tallahassee describing a similar transformation: "He said, 'He became weird on me.' He did a metamorphosis, a body and facial change, and he felt there was almost an odor emitting from him. He said, 'Almost a complete change of personality ... that was the day I was afraid of him.'"
While experts found Bundy's precise diagnosis elusive, the majority of evidence pointed away from bipolar disorder or other psychoses, and toward antisocial personality disorder (ASPD). Bundy displayed many personality traits typically found in ASPD patients (who are often identified as "sociopaths" or "psychopaths"), such as outward charm and charisma with little true personality or genuine insight beneath the facade; the ability to distinguish right from wrong, but with minimal effect on behavior; and an absence of guilt or remorse. "Guilt doesn't solve anything, really", Bundy said, in 1981. "It hurts you ... I guess I am in the enviable position of not having to deal with guilt." There was also evidence of narcissism, poor judgment, and manipulative behavior. Upon assessment using the Psychopathy Checklist–revised (PCL-R), Bundy was reportedly evaluated as 39/40. Prosecutor George Dekle wrote, "Sociopaths are egotistical manipulators who think they can con anybody." "Sometimes he manipulates even me", admitted one psychiatrist. In the end, Lewis agreed with the majority: "I always tell my graduate students that if they can find me a real, true psychopath, I'll buy them dinner", she told Nelson. "I never thought they existed ... but I think Ted may have been one, a true psychopath, without any remorse or empathy at all." Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) has been proposed as an alternative diagnosis in at least one subsequent retrospective analysis.
On the afternoon before he was executed, Bundy granted an interview to James Dobson, a psychologist and founder of the Christian evangelical organization Focus on the Family. He used the opportunity to make new claims about violence in the media and the pornographic "roots" of his crimes. "It happened in stages, gradually", he said. "My experience with ... pornography that deals on a violent level with sexuality, is once you become addicted to it ... I would keep looking for more potent, more explicit, more graphic kinds of material. Until you reach a point where the pornography only goes so far ... where you begin to wonder if maybe actually doing it would give that which is beyond just reading it or looking at it." Violence in the media, he said, "particularly sexualized violence", sent boys "down the road to being Ted Bundys." The FBI, he suggested, should stake out adult movie houses and follow patrons as they leave. "You are going to kill me," he said, "and that will protect society from me. But out there are many, many more people who are addicted to pornography, and you are doing nothing about that."
While Nelson was apparently convinced that Bundy's concern was genuine, most biographers, researchers, and other observers have concluded that his sudden condemnation of pornography was one last manipulative attempt to shift blame by catering to Dobson's agenda as a longtime pornography critic. He told Dobson that "true crime" detective magazines had "corrupted" him and "fueled [his] fantasies ... to the point of becoming a serial killer"; yet in a 1977 letter to Rule, he wrote, "Who in the world reads these publications? ... I have never purchased such a magazine, and [on only] two or three occasions have I ever picked one up." He told Michaud and Aynsworth in 1980, and Hagmaier the night before he spoke to Dobson, that pornography played a negligible role in his development as a serial killer. "The problem wasn't pornography", wrote Dekle. "The problem was Bundy." "I wish I could believe that his motives were altruistic," wrote Rule. "But all I can see in that Dobson tape is another Ted Bundy manipulation of our minds. The effect of the tape is to place, once again, the onus of his crimes, not on himself, but on us."
Rule and Aynesworth both noted that for Bundy, the fault always lay with someone or something else. While he eventually confessed to thirty murders, he never accepted responsibility for any of them, even when offered that opportunity prior to the Chi Omega trial, which would have spared him the death penalty. He deflected blame onto a wide variety of scapegoats, including his abusive grandfather, the absence of his biological father, the concealment of his true parentage by his mother, alcohol, the media, the police whom he accused of planting evidence, society in general, violence on television, and, ultimately, true crime periodicals and pornography. He blamed television programming, which he watched mostly on sets that he had stolen, for "brainwashing" him into stealing credit cards. On at least one occasion, he even tried to blame his victims: "I have known people who ... radiate vulnerability", he wrote in a 1977 letter to Kloepfer. "Their facial expressions say 'I am afraid of you.' These people invite abuse ... By expecting to be hurt, do they subtly encourage it?" Another significant element of delusion permeated Bundy's thinking:
> "Bundy was always surprised when anyone noticed that one of his victims was missing, because he imagined America to be a place where everyone is invisible except to themselves. And he was always astounded when people testified that they had seen him in incriminating places, because Bundy did not believe people noticed each other."
"I don't know why everyone is out to get me", he complained to Lewis. "He really and truly did not have any sense of the enormity of what he had done," she said. "A long-term serial killer erects powerful barriers to his guilt," Keppel wrote, "walls of denial that can sometimes never be breached." Nelson agreed. "Each time he was forced to make an actual confession," she wrote, "he had to leap a steep barrier he had built inside himself long ago."
## Victims
### Confirmed
The night before his execution, Bundy confessed to 30 homicides, but the true total remains unknown, and Bundy occasionally made cryptic comments to encourage speculation. He told Aynesworth in 1980 that for every murder "publicized", there "could be one that was not." When FBI agents proposed a total tally of 36, Bundy responded, "Add one digit to that, and you'll have it." Years later he told Nelson that the common estimate of 35 was accurate, but Keppel wrote that "[Ted] and I both knew [the total] was much higher." In an interview, Keppel stated his belief that Bundy had killed "at least 50, and maybe 75." "I don't think even he knew ... how many he killed, or why he killed them", said Reverend Fred Lawrence, the Methodist clergyman who administered Bundy's last rites. "That was my impression, my strong impression."
John Henry Browne, a lawyer for Bundy, would later claim "that the first person he killed was a young boy when they were playing some kind of sex game in the woods. And so he must have been only 12, 13, 14." Browne also said that "Ted told me in that interview that he killed over 100 people." “I told Ted Bundy that we now have the evidence to charge him with both cases,” Leon County Sheriff Kenneth Katsaris recalled, referring to the Chi Omega murders and the slaying of Leach. “He looked at me and said, ‘When you find the person that committed these crimes that you think I committed, that person is going to be wanted for murders of women in the three digits in six states.’” On the evening before his execution, Bundy reviewed his victim tally with Hagmaier on a state-by-state basis for a total of 30 homicides:
- in Washington, 11 (including Parks, abducted in Oregon but killed in Washington; and including 3 unidentified)
- in Utah, 8 (3 unidentified)
- in Colorado, 3
- in Florida, 3
- in Oregon, 2 (both unidentified)
- in Idaho, 2 (1 unidentified)
- in California, 1 (unidentified)
### 1974
#### Washington, Oregon
- January 4: Karen Sparks (18): Bludgeoned and sexually assaulted in her bed as she slept in the University District; survived but the extent of her injuries resulted in permanent brain damage.
- February 1: Lynda Ann Healy (21): Bludgeoned while asleep and abducted from her basement bedroom in Seattle, Washington and was then decapitated and dismembered post-mortem; mandible recovered at Taylor Mountain site in 1975.
- March 12: Donna Gail Manson (19): Abducted while walking to a concert at Evergreen State College; body left according to Bundy at Taylor Mountain site, but never found. However, there is speculation that the partial remains of an unidentified female discovered near Eatonville, Washington on August 29, 1978, could have belonged to Manson. Remains and clothing were reportedly destroyed on May 10, 1985, before a positive forensic identification could be made.
- April 17: Susan Elaine Rancourt (18): Disappeared after attending an evening advisors' meeting at Central Washington State College; skull and mandible recovered at Taylor Mountain site in 1975. Both had been severely fractured.
- May 6: Roberta Kathleen Parks (22): Vanished from Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon; skull and mandible recovered at Taylor Mountain site in 1975. She had been bludgeoned to death.
- June 1: Brenda Carol Ball (22): Disappeared after leaving the Flame Tavern in Burien, and was last seen in the parking lot, talking to a man with his arm in a sling; skull and mandible recovered at Taylor Mountain site in 1975. Her skull had been fractured.
- June 11: Georgann Hawkins (18): Abducted from an alley behind her sorority house; skeletal remains identified by Bundy as those of Hawkins recovered at Issaquah site. Hawkins remains listed as a missing person.
- July 14: Janice Ann Ott (23): Abducted from Lake Sammamish State Park in broad daylight and was last seen leaving the park with Bundy who had asked her for assistance with putting his sailboat on his car; skeletal remains recovered at Issaquah site in 1974.
- July 14: Denise Marie Naslund (19): Abducted four hours after Ott from the same park and was last seen walking towards the restrooms; skeletal remains recovered at Issaquah site in 1974.
#### Utah
- October 2: Nancy Wilcox (16): Last seen riding in a yellow Volkswagen Beetle near her home in Holladay, Utah after going out to buy a pack of gum; body buried according to Bundy near Capitol Reef National Park, 200 miles (320 km) south of Salt Lake City, but never found.
- October 18: Melissa Anne Smith (17): Vanished from Midvale, Utah after leaving a pizza parlor to walk back to her home; body found nine days later on a hillside in Summit Park, Utah. Her head had been severely beaten with a crowbar, and her body had been battered before death.
- October 31: Laura Ann Aime (17): Disappeared from Lehi, Utah on her way home from a Halloween party; body discovered by hikers in American Fork Canyon. Her face was beaten beyond recognition and she had been strangled and sexually assaulted.
- November 8: Carol DaRonch (18): Abducted from a Murray shopping mall and intended to kill; she escaped by jumping out of Bundy's car after he inadvertently fastened a pair of handcuffs on the same wrist.
- November 8: Debra Jean Kent (17): Vanished after leaving a school play in Bountiful, Utah; body left according to Bundy near Fairview, Utah, 100 miles (160 km) south of Bountiful; one patella was found which was positively identified by DNA as Kent's in 2015.
### 1975
#### Utah, Colorado, Idaho
- January 12: Caryn Eileen Campbell (23): Disappeared from a hotel hallway in Snowmass, Colorado; body discovered on a dirt road near the hotel with skull fractures and knife wounds on February 17.
- March 15: Julie Cunningham (26): Disappeared from Vail, Colorado after she left her apartment in the Apollo Park neighborhood to visit a local tavern; body buried according to Bundy near Rifle, 90 miles (140 km) west of Vail, but never found.
- April 6: Denise Lynn Oliverson (25): Abducted while cycling to her parents' house in Grand Junction, Colorado; body thrown according to Bundy into the Colorado River 5 miles (8.0 km) west of Grand Junction, but never found.
- May 6: Lynette Dawn Culver (12): Abducted from Pocatello, Idaho after she left Alameda Junior High School for her lunch break; body thrown according to Bundy into what authorities believe to be the Snake River, but never found.
- June 28: Susan Curtis (15): Disappeared during a youth conference at Brigham Young University when she left her friends to walk back to her dormitory and brush her teeth; body buried according to Bundy near Price, Utah, 75 miles (121 km) southeast of Provo, but never found.
### 1978
#### Florida
- January 15: Margaret Elizabeth Bowman (21): Bludgeoned, raped and strangled as she slept at the Chi Omega sorority at Florida State University (no secondary crime scene).
- January 15: Lisa Janet Levy (20): Bludgeoned, strangled, bitten and sexually assaulted as she slept at the Chi Omega sorority at Florida State University (no secondary crime scene).
- January 15: Karen Chandler (21): Bludgeoned as she slept at the Chi Omega sorority at Florida State University; survived although her skull was fractured, and her jaw, right arm, and fingers were crushed.
- January 15: Kathy Kleiner (21): Bludgeoned as she slept at the Chi Omega sorority at Florida State University resulting in her jaw being shattered and her right cheek being ripped open; survived.
- January 15: Cheryl Thomas (21): Bludgeoned as she slept, eight blocks from Chi Omega; survived after having a fractured jaw and skull which left her with permanent deafness and equilibrium damage.
- February 9: Kimberly Dianne Leach (12): Abducted from Lake City Junior High School in Lake City, Florida and was last seen being led to a white van by a man who was later identified as Bundy; mummified remains found near Suwannee River State Park, 43 miles (69 km) west of Lake City, with “homicidal violence about the neck region.”
### Suspected
Bundy remains a suspect in several unsolved homicides and disappearances, and is likely responsible for others that may never be identified; in 1987, he confided to Keppel that there were "some murders" that he would "never talk about", because they were committed "too close to home", "too close to family", or involved "victims who were very young". Minutes before his execution, Hagmaier queried Bundy about unsolved homicides in New Jersey, Vermont (the Curran case), Illinois, Texas, and Miami, Florida. Bundy provided directions—later proven inaccurate—to Curtis's burial site in Utah, but denied involvement in any of the open cases. In 2011, Bundy's complete DNA profile, obtained from a vial of his blood found in an evidence vault, was added to the FBI's DNA database for future reference in these and other unsolved murder cases:
- Ann Marie Burr, aged 8, vanished from her Tacoma home on August 31, 1961, when Bundy was 14. An unknown tennis shoe imprint was found by the overturned bench used to enter her house. Due to the small size of the shoe, police believed the perpetrator was a teenager or youth. The Burr house was on Bundy's newspaper delivery route and Burr's father was certain that he saw Bundy in a ditch at a construction site on the nearby UPS campus the morning his daughter disappeared. Other circumstantial evidence implicates Bundy as well, but detectives familiar with the case have never agreed on the likelihood of his involvement. Keppel has observed that the Burr case fits all three categories of murders Bundy would "never talk about": "too close to home," "too close to family," and "very young." Speaking in the third person, Bundy claimed during audiotaped discussions with journalists Michaud and Aynesworth in 1980 and 1981, that he had "stalked, strangled, and sexually mauled his first victim, an eight-year-old girl," in an orchard; Ann's family had lived next to an orchard. Burr's mother informed Bundy in a 1986 letter that she believed he was responsible for killing Ann. "You have nothing more to lose in this world," she wrote. "Will you write to me regarding Ann Marie?" In response, Bundy categorically denied killing her. "First and foremost, I do not know what happened to your daughter Ann Marie," Bundy wrote. "I had nothing to do with her disappearance." Forensic testing of material evidence from the Burr crime scene in 2011 yielded insufficient intact DNA sequences for comparison with Bundy's, and as such his involvement remains speculative.
- Flight attendants Lisa Wick and Lonnie Ree Trumbull, both 20, were bludgeoned with a piece of lumber as they slept in their basement apartment in Seattle's Queen Anne neighborhood in the early morning hours of June 23, 1966. An autopsy concluded that Trumbull had died at approximately midnight from a blow to the head she had received about an hour earlier. In retrospect, Keppel noted many similarities to the Chi Omega crime scene. The crime's modus operandi was also similarly comparable to Bundy's earlier verifiable assaults on murder victim Healy and survivor Sparks, who were bludgeoned while in their beds in Seattle basement apartments. Wick, who suffered permanent memory loss as a result of the attack, later contacted Rule: "I know that it was Ted Bundy who did that to us," she wrote, "but I can't tell you how I know." However, police records state that when Bundy's fingerprints were compared in January 1977 to those left at the crime scene, they did not match. Although, many people were allowed into the unsecured crime scene and may have left their fingerprints thereby causing unwanted alteration of evidence. Bundy's involvement remains unconfirmed.
- Vacationing Pennsylvania college friends Susan Margarite Davis and Elizabeth Potter Perry, both 19, were stabbed to death in Somers Point, New Jersey. The women had been visiting Ocean City and were on their way back to Pennsylvania at about 4:30 a.m. on May 30, 1969, before they stopped at the Somers Point Diner for breakfast. They left the diner one hour later and vanished. Their car was found that day abandoned beside the Garden State Parkway outside Somers Point, near Atlantic City, 60 miles (97 km) southeast of Philadelphia; and their bodies were discovered in nearby woods three days later tied to trees with their hair. Davis was naked with her clothing and accessories in a pile beside her. Except for her missing underwear, Perry was fully-dressed. Bundy attended Temple University from January through May 1969 and apparently did not move west until after Memorial Day weekend. While his accounts of his earliest crimes varied considerably between interviews, he told forensic psychologist Art Norman that his first murder victims were two women in the Philadelphia area. Biographer Richard Larsen believed that Bundy committed the murders using his feigned-injury ruse, based on an investigator's interview with Julia Cowell, Bundy's aunt: Ted, she said, was wearing a leg cast due to an automobile accident on the weekend of the homicides, and therefore could not have traveled from Philadelphia to the Jersey Shore; there is no official record of any such accident. Bundy is considered a "strong suspect", but the case remains open.
- Rita Patricia Curran, a 24-year-old elementary school teacher and part-time motel maid, was murdered in her basement apartment on July 19, 1971, in Burlington, Vermont; she had been strangled, bludgeoned and raped. The time of death was later given as approximately midnight. The location of the motel where she worked which was adjacent to Bundy's birthplace, the Elizabeth Lund Home for Unwed Mothers, and similarities to known Bundy crime scenes led retired FBI agent John Bassett to propose him as a suspect. Bundy told Keppel that he murdered a young woman in 1971 in Burlington when he was there to obtain information about his birth, but denied specific involvement in the Curran case to Hagmaier on the eve of his execution. Inquiring as to Bundy's involvement in Curran's death, Curran's sister wrote a telegram to Florida's Death Row. In a response, the FBI informed her that Bundy had declined to confirm or deny his culpability. No evidence firmly places Bundy in Burlington on that date, but municipal records note that a person named "Bundy" was bitten by a dog that week, and long stretches of Bundy's time—including the summer of 1971—remain unaccounted for. However, the Burlington Police Department announced during a 2023 press conference that Curran's killer was actually her next-door neighbor, William DeRoos, who had been identified using DNA extracted from a discarded cigarette butt found at the crime scene.
- Joyce Margaret LePage, 21, was last seen on the evening of July 22, 1971, when friends dropped her off at her apartment on the campus of Washington State University, where she was an undergraduate. Later, her vehicle would be discovered by police parked four blocks from her residence. Nine months later, her skeletal remains were found wrapped in two "military" blankets, bound with rope, in a deep ravine south of Pullman, Washington. Her remains were also covered with a sizable piece of green shag carpet that had been previously reported missing from Stevens Hall, a women's residence on the WSU campus, which was vacant and undergoing renovations in the summer of 1971. The cause of her death was confirmed to be three knife wounds to her chest, which was determined during an FBI forensic examination of her bones. Police concluded from the available evidence that she had been stabbed to death in Stevens Hall before being wrapped in carpet and taken to the ravine. Multiple suspects—including Bundy—have "never been cleared". According to reports, a "yellow VW Bug" and a person matching Bundy's description were spotted on campus at the time of the disappearance. LePage's case was briefly brought up by Keppel in January 1989, but Bundy did not either confirm or deny his involvement in the murder. Whitman County authorities have said that Bundy remains a suspect.
- Kerry May-Hardy, 22, disappeared whilst hitchhiking on June 13, 1972, from Woodland Park, Seattle. Hardy's skeletal remains were unearthed on September 6, 2010, by construction machinery, in a grave measuring two feet (0.6 meters) in depth. At the time she was reported missing, the site had been used for logging, and it was heavily wooded. A facial reconstruction was later created and her DNA was obtained in 2004 from family members. DNA from the skeleton matched the family's sample on June 1, 2011. The location where her body was discovered was in general proximity to where Bundy discarded known victims near Interstate 90, only five miles from his mass grave at Taylor Mountain. Hardy also matched Bundy's supposed victim preference and is even known to have shared a mutual acquaintance with Bundy; although it is uncertain if they actually knew each other. However, Bundy's involvement in her death is merely conjecture with notable forensic psychologist, Dr. Park Dietz, expressing skepticism over the notion. Bundy was executed in 1989, never mentioning direct involvement.
- Rita Lorraine Jolly, 17, disappeared from West Linn, Oregon, on June 29, 1973, after leaving her residence on Horton Road to go for a walk. Jolly was last seen between 8:30 and 9:00 p.m., walking uphill on Sunset Avenue. Vicki Lynn Hollar, 24, disappeared from Eugene, Oregon, on August 20, 1973. She was last seen getting into her car at a parking lot en route to her apartment. Bundy confessed to two homicides in Oregon without identifying the victims. Oregon detectives suspected that they were Jolly and Hollar, but were unable to obtain an interview with Bundy to confirm it. Both women remain classified as missing.
- Suzanne Rae Justis, 23, was last seen in Portland, Oregon on November 5, 1973. A resident of Eugene, Justis was last heard from when she telephoned her parents from outside the Veterans Memorial Coliseum and said she would return to Eugene the following day to pick up her son from school. Her mother reserved a room for her at a nearby motel, but Justis never used the room. Her car was later found in Eugene, leading authorities to believe that Justis had hitchhiked to Portland. Her body has not been found. In 1989, law enforcement identified Bundy as a prime suspect in the Justis case due to the fact that her disappearance occurred within six months of the murder of Parks and because of how Justis fitted Bundy's preferred victim profile.
- Katherine Merry Devine, 14, was abducted on November 25, 1973, and her body was found the next month in the Capitol State Forest near Olympia, Washington. Brenda Joy Baker, 14, was last seen hitchhiking near Puyallup, on May 27, 1974; her body was found in Millersylvania State Park a month later. Her throat had been slit. Though Bundy was widely believed responsible for both murders, he told Keppel that he had no knowledge of either case. DNA analysis led to the arrest and conviction of William Cosden for Devine's murder in 2002. The Baker homicide remains unsolved although Cosden is considered the prime suspect in her case.
- Sandra Jean Weaver, 19, a Wisconsin native who had been living in Tooele, Utah, was last seen at her job in Salt Lake City on July 1, 1974; her nude body was discovered the following day near Grand Junction, Colorado. She had been sexually assaulted and died by suffocation due to strangulation. Salt Lake County Sheriff's Detective Jerry Thompson later stated that Weaver's case was "very similar" to the subsequent deaths of Smith and Aime. However, Weaver's murder officially remains unsolved.
- 21-year-old University of Utah student Rhonda Stapley was waiting at a bus stop in Salt Lake City on October 11, 1974, when she was allegedly approached by Bundy who had pulled over and offered her a ride in his Volkswagen Beetle. After entering his vehicle, Bundy drove to an isolated canyon picnic spot, shut off the engine, turned to her and said: "Do you know what? I am going to kill you now." He then repeatedly choked and raped Stapley over a period of three hours until Bundy, who thought she was dead, was distracted by something near his car and she was able to run into the woods. Although she would not publicly acknowledge the incident until 2011, her account was supported by Ann Rule who said that it was consistent with the FBI’s timeline of Bundy’s activities in 1974.
- Melanie Suzanne Cooley, 18, disappeared on April 15, 1975, after leaving Nederland High School in Nederland, Colorado, 50 miles (80 km) northwest of Denver. Her bludgeoned and strangled corpse was discovered by road maintenance workers two weeks later in Coal Creek Canyon, 20 miles (32 km) away. Gas station receipts place Bundy in nearby Golden on the day Cooley disappeared. Jefferson County authorities consider the evidence in Cooley's case to be inconclusive and continue to treat her homicide as a cold case.
- Shelley Kay Robertson, 24, failed to show up for work in Golden, Colorado on July 1, 1975. Her nude, decomposed body was found in August, 500 feet (150 m) inside a mine on Berthoud Pass near Winter Park Resort by two mining students. In 1976, Bundy was questioned about the Robertson case by Clear Creek County Detective Bob Denning who subsequently stated that he was "99% sure" that Robertson's killer was Bundy. Gas station receipts place Bundy in the area at the time, but there is no direct evidence of his involvement; the case remains open.
- Nancy Perry Baird, 23, disappeared from the gas station where she worked as a service station attendant in Layton, Utah, 25 miles (40 km) north of Salt Lake City, on July 4, 1975, and remains classified as a missing person. A police officer on patrol saw her working alone there, and at 5:30 p.m., less than fifteen minutes later, she was discovered missing. Bundy admitted to eight Utah homicides shortly before his execution and authorities suspected that one of the unidentified victims could have been Baird. However, her suspected kidnapping did not fit the profile of Bundy's past crimes in a number of respects, and he explicitly denied involvement in this case during the interviews he gave from his death row cell.
- Deborah Diane Smith, 17, was last seen in Salt Lake City in early-February 1976, shortly before the DaRonch trial began; her body was found by a Utah Power and Light worker checking on poles in an open pasture near the Salt Lake City International Airport on April 1, 1976. Her murder remains unsolved.
- Joy Kathleen Harmon, 22, was last seen exiting the Better Days Bar in Salt Lake City on the evening of March 2, 1976. On March 6, a hiker between Parley's Canyon and Emigration Canyon, Utah found her partially clothed body north of Interstate 80. Harmon had been strangled and beaten; her murder occurred the day after Bundy was found guilty of aggravated kidnapping and three months before he was sentenced to prison and incarcerated on June 30. Her case is still unsolved.
## In media
### Books
- Rule, Ann (1980). The Stranger Beside Me. W.W. Norton and Company Inc.
- Kendall, Elizabeth (1981). The Phantom Prince: My Life with Ted Bundy. Abrams & Chronicle Books.
- Sullivan, Kevin M (2009). The Bundy Murders: A Comprehensive History. McFarland and Company Inc.
- Michaud, Stephen G., and Hugh Aynesworth (2000). Ted Bundy: Conversations with a Killer. Authorlink Press.
- Nelson, Polly (2019). Defending the Devil: My Story as Ted Bundy's Last Lawyer. Echo Point Books & Media.
- Carlisle, Al (2017). Violent Mind: The 1976 Psychological Assessment of Ted Bundy. Genius Book Publishing.
- Michaud, Stephen G., and Hugh Aynesworth (2012). The Only Living Witness: The True Story of Serial Sex Killer Ted Bundy. Authorlink.
### Films
- The Deliberate Stranger (1986), played by Mark Harmon
- Ted Bundy (2002), played by Michael Reilly Burke
- The Stranger Beside Me (2003), played by Billy Campbell
- The Riverman (2004), played by Cary Elwes
- Bundy: An American Icon (2008), played by Corin Nemec
- The Capture of the Green River Killer (2008), played by James Marsters
- Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (2019), played by Zac Efron
- Ted Bundy: American Boogeyman (2021), played by Chad Michael Murray
- No Man of God (2021), played by Luke Kirby
### Music
- The song "Ted, Just Admit it..." by Jane's Addiction
- The song "Lotta True Crime" by Penelope Scott references Ted Bundy
- The song "Video Crimes" by Tin Machine references Bundy.
- The song "Ted Bundy" by Theory of a Deadman
### Television
- Ted Bundy: Devil in Disguise.
- Ted Bundy: An American Monster.
- Ted Bundy: What Happened.
- Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes, Netflix documentary series (2019)
- Ted Bundy: Falling for a Killer, Amazon Prime Video documentary series (2020)
## See also
- Capital punishment in Florida
- List of people executed in Florida
- List of serial killers in the United States
## General and cited sources
|
16,161,691 |
Girls Just Wanna Have Fun (Xena: Warrior Princess)
| 1,126,881,556 | null |
[
"1996 American television episodes",
"American LGBT-related television episodes",
"Xena: Warrior Princess episodes"
] |
"Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" is the fourth episode of the second season of the syndicated television series Xena: Warrior Princess. It was written by Adam Armus and Nora Kay Foster, directed by T.J. Scott, and first aired on October 21, 1996. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun is also the title of a multipath adventure game by Slingshot Entertainment which is based upon this episode.
In the episode, Xena and Gabrielle join forces with Joxer and Orpheus to defeat Bacchus, who is transforming innocent girls into bloodsucking bacchae. Gabrielle is turned into a temporary bacchae, and Xena kills Bacchus before he can make the transformation permanent.
"Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" is a comical Halloween episode. It pushes the limits for sexuality on Xena, features disco music, and its artistic style is stylised after rock video horror. The episode also contains a lesbian subtext stronger than the average episode of Xena. Andrew Leonard of Salon said it gives "tacit consent to a lesbian reading of the Xena-Gabrielle relationship." The episode received positive reviews. Critics have commented on its music and special effects, and the supervising sound producer won an award at the Motion Picture Sound Editors' Golden Reel Awards.
## Plot
"Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" opens with Xena and Gabrielle running into Joxer, who has a package for Xena. It contains the talking head of Orpheus. Orpheus's head informs Xena that Bacchus has decapitated him, and that he must be stopped. They arrive at a nearby town, and Gabrielle goes to a party and dances with a group of Bacchus's bacchae: female vampires created by Bacchus. Meanwhile, Xena defeats two bacchae. Elsewhere, Bacchus plots to turn Xena into an "eternal bacchae".
The next day the protagonists go to the cemetery next to Bacchus's catacombs to collect dryad bones. These bones are the only thing capable of piercing a bacchae's heart and killing them. Xena kills one of the skeletal, winged dryads and procures a sharp bone. Gabrielle then turns into a bacchae; she had been bitten the previous day at the party. Gabrielle escapes into the catacombs and the group gives chase.
They find Gabrielle, Bacchus, and a large group of bacchae in the middle of a ceremony. Gabrielle is about to drink Bacchus's blood from a cup and become a permanent bacchae, but Xena knocks the cup to the ground with her chakram. A fight ensues and Xena attempts to kill Bacchus, but he informs her that only a bacchae can kill him. Xena lets Gabrielle bite her, becoming a bacchae, and then kills Bacchus, after which all of Bacchus' bacchae servants, as well as Xena and Gabrielle regain their humanity.
## Production
"Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" is a comical Halloween episode which was filmed in Auckland, New Zealand. After shooting for two days, director T.J. Scott went to producer Robert Tapert and asked permission to alter the episode's artistic style to stylised rock video horror. Scott said, "I got the crew together and said, 'Okay guys, here we go. This is going to be a lot more vampy and fun,' and cranked up the ghetto blaster with rock music and away we went." Because of the subject, Scott was able to increase the episode's level of sexual content. Scott said, "we did two takes that were on the edge of tasteful vampire sexuality, and we did a third take where Lucy really let loose. Of course, we all died laughing and said, 'Okay, that one is never going to make it to the screen'; we definitely pushed it too far!" Ultimately, Scott felt that "if you pull it too far out of context and try to take it seriously, it's a bit too rock video at times."
In one scene, Orpheus's head is attached to a scarecrow body. According to Matthew Chamberlain, the actor who portrayed Orpheus, he was told to jump on a horse while wearing the scarecrow costume. Chamberlain said he "just gave the horse a quick pat before hopping on" but found himself "getting tugged the other way as the horse was munching away on the straw poking out of the end of my sleeve!" An animatronic version of Chamberlain's head which operated by remote control was used in some scenes. Some of the actors had to only pretend to look at the animatronic head during their scenes, because if they looked at it while it responded, they would laugh and break character.
## Theme
"Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" has a lesbian subtext. According to The Audience Studies Reader by Will Brooker and Deborah Jermyn, while in some episodes a lesbian subtext is implied, in "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" the lesbianism is so strongly suggested that it could be considered "maintext". Andrew Leonard of Salon described the episode as the "disco lesbian vampire" episode and stated that it provided "tacit consent to a lesbian reading of the Xena-Gabrielle relationship." A DVD Town reviewer felt that the general lesbian eroticism in Xena: Warrior Princess was "amped up" in this episode, noting Gabrielle's "sexy clothes" and her looking at Xena with "hungry eyes". Heather Findlay of Girlfriends magazine itemized several scenes with a lesbian subtext. Gabrielle wandering into an all-female bar ("wink-wink"), becoming a vampire ("apparently Friedman studied that topos in her women's studies classes"), and "kissing" Xena ("oh, wait, that was a bite"). The book Queer by Simon Gage, et al. stated that although the series is now canceled, the "lesbian vampire disco" episode lives on in "lesbian video players everywhere."
Due to the strong lesbian subtext within this episode, "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" was never aired in Italy.
## Reception
Reviews for '"Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" were generally positive. Rob Lineberger of DVD Verdict felt that the episode was innovative and strange and that several aspects were notable including: Orpheus's head being paraded around on a scarecrow body; the use of a techno soundtrack; and Gabrielle being seduced by the Bacchae. Ilya of DVDFuture.com gave the episode a grade of B. A Play.com review deemed it a "classic" Xena episode.
Two technical aspects of the episode were singled out for praise. First, a Hollywood Reporter article cited the winged skeletons as one of the television show's special effects highlights. Second, the supervising sound editor Jason Schmid won the one-hour series sound editing award at the Motion Picture Sound Editors' Golden Reel Awards for his work on this episode.
### Themes and analysis
Writer and academic Emily McAvan cites "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" as showcasing the postmodernism found in the series. She cites the scene of Gabrielle entering nightclub with hip-hop music playing as showing this.
|
28,082,861 |
Final Fantasy Dimensions
| 1,163,361,657 |
2010 video game
|
[
"2010 video games",
"Android (operating system) games",
"Final Fantasy spin-offs",
"Final Fantasy video games",
"IOS games",
"Matrix Software games",
"Mobile games",
"Role-playing video games",
"Single-player video games",
"Square Enix franchises",
"Video games developed in Japan",
"Video games scored by Naoshi Mizuta"
] |
Final Fantasy Dimensions is a role-playing video game developed by Matrix Software and published by Square Enix for mobile devices. Similar to Final Fantasy IV: The After Years, it was initially released as an episodic game, with the first two installments released in September 2010 on the Japanese i-mode distribution service, and in December 2010 for the EZweb distribution service. The game was remade for the iOS and Android platforms and released internationally in August 2012.
Final Fantasy Dimensions features 2D graphics and a Job Change System similar to that of Final Fantasy V. Its battle system is a variation of the Final Fantasy series's Active Time Battle system. The game follows two parties, the Warriors of Light and the Warriors of Darkness, with players controlling up to five party members at a time in battle, on their quest to reform their shattered world and foil the dark plans of the Avalon Empire. In 2015, a sequel was released, titled Final Fantasy Dimensions II.
## Gameplay
Final Fantasy Dimensions is a role-playing video game, developed in the style of previous 16-bit Final Fantasy games. The game uses the Active Time Battle system in which a character's turn are determined by a gauge that fills over time during battle. Once the gauge fills completely from one character, players can choose a command from that specific character. After choosing a command, the gauge fills over again to execute the command. Once the gauge fills again and the command is executed, the gauge empties and repeats the cycle. Similar to Final Fantasy IV: The After Years, the game was released in an episodic format, but players must play through each episode in sequence. Players command a party of five with the party members changing in each episode.
The game uses a Job System similar to Final Fantasy V as a base of its battles. The game allows players to change job while still retaining skills that have already been acquired. Job-specific abilities can be learned after crossing a certain amount of AP for the current job given. That learned ability can be set even if the player changes to a different job. Players are limited in how many abilities they can set at a given time. This limit rises as the job's level rises. The game also has "Fusion Abilities" which players can form by setting combinations of certain abilities.
The Jobs available from the beginning for all the eight main characters are Freelancer, Warrior, Monk, Thief, Red Mage, White Mage, Black Mage, and Summoner. Each episode introduces a new Job, which is unlocked after completing the episode. The unlockable jobs for the Warriors of Light are Dragoon, Bard, Memorist, Paladin, and Seer, while the jobs unlocked for the Warriors of Darkness are Ranger, Dark Knight, Dancer, Ninja, and Magus.
## Plot
Long ago, there was a great world war ended by the efforts of the Avalon Empire, which became the dominant power in the land. The story begins with Sol, Diana, Glaive and Aigis being sent by the King of Lux to investigate a powerful crystal linked to the balance of the world. Simultaneously, Nacht, Alba, Dusk and Sarah are sent by the Avalon Empire to break their treaty with Lux by stealing the same crystal. On the way to the crystal's shrine, Sol's party aids a mysterious man called Elgo, who agrees to accompany them to the temple. When the two groups meet within the crystal shrine, the crystal's guardian spirit attacks them. Upon its guardian's defeat, the crystal shatters and splits the world into two halves: the "World of Light", ever in daylight, and the "World of Darkness" in which day never rises. Sol, Aigis, Dusk, and Sarah remain in the first half of the world and become the "Warriors of Light", with Elgo accompanying them. Nacht, Alba, Diana and Glaive find themselves in the other half and become the "Warriors of Darkness". Both groups of Warriors travel the split world in search of each other. As they travel, they retrieve the fragments of the crystal, which grant them new abilities and gradually cause the world to reform. They also encounter the Avalon Empire and their four Generals: Vata, Baugauven, Asmodai, and Styx. All four generals are defeated except for Vata, who decides to aid the Warriors for reasons unknown. In the battle between the Warriors of Light and Baugauven aboard an Avalon ship, Elgo seemingly sacrifices himself to save the Warriors of Light.
As the two worlds begin to merge, Dusk and Alba reveal their plans to go to the ancient floating city known as Mysidia. Once the Warriors of Light arrive and meet the Elder of Mysidia, Sophia, the Avalon Empire attempt to strike Mysidia with their airship superweapon Heliogabalus. The warriors destroy the ship with the aid of Dr. Lugae, the living doll Argy, and Barbara and her dragons. Sophia then helps the warriors gain the last remaining crystal in the World of Light within the caves of Mysidia. After gaining the crystal's ability, Mysidia falls to the ground while simultaneously the Warriors of Darkness are aided by a mysterious man known as The Mask in gaining the last crystal fragment remaining in the World of Darkness. They succeed in gaining the fragment, but The Mask dies. Before his death, he reveals himself to be Elgo's other half that formed when the world split in two and asks the Warriors of Darkness to take care of his other Half as he dies. After both parties gain the fragments, the split world merges and both parties are reunited, but most of the people in the world have disappeared. Attempting to make a frontal attack to the Avalon Empire, the warriors discover a barrier protecting Avalon and eight gates across the world, linking to a realm called the Rift. Upon entering one of the gates, the warriors encounter a dark sphere in which Sophia explains it is a substance found only in the Rift known as Dark Matter, and that Avalon's goal is to harvest it for their evil purposes. Vata explains the Avalon Empire is guarding the dark matter across the world with their generals, who have been revived in undead forms. After collecting all eight pieces of the dark matter and defeating the undead generals, the dark matter fuses together, creating a new crystal and revealing that the crystal split the world to protect itself from the Empire's plans. The crystal then breaks the barrier that was protecting Avalon, allowing the warriors to enter.
Upon entering Avalon, they defeat all of the Divine Generals. Once the Warriors attack the Emperor, it is revealed that they were battling with his armor, and that he was never there. After this revelation, a new gate to the Rift opens within Avalon. When the warriors enter the Rift, they encounter Vata, who explains that they are in the void and warns them that, in order for them to proceed, someone must make a sacrifice. As they traverse the void, they encounter the armies of Nil, having to fight the four magical blades of Nil. After defeating the four blades, another gate appears in the Void. Dr. Lugae reports to the warriors that the gates are what is known as "Dark Flow", and that it is draining the life of the world into Nil, a dark dimension of shadows. Vata attempts to aid the warriors in destroying the Dark Flow by being engulfed by it and attempting to control it. As he is being engulfed by Dark Flow, he reveals he originally was part of a village that Avalon destroyed. He trained to be in the ranks of the generals of Avalon, but when he discovered he could never be a match for them, he gave up on his plans until he discovered the Warriors. Vata fails at the cost of his life, and the Dark Flow remains. The Warriors then enter Dark Flow, leading them to the World of Nil.
Coming to the palace at the center of Nil, they encounter the Emperor himself, who is revealed to be Elgo. Elgo explains to the party that he wished to use the crystals to achieve immortality, and predicted that the crystals, sensing his purpose, would split the world hoping to halt his plans. Elgo then utilized the power of Nil to move between the worlds and ensured that the Warriors collect the crystals in effort to restore the world so that he could achieve his goals. The Warriors and Elgo battle, with Elgo using the power of Nil against them. When he is defeated, Elgo loses control of Nil and it mutates him into a dark monster. The Warriors, seeing that Nil will ravage their world unchecked, fight the transformed Elgo and win. As Nil reverses its flow and life is returned to the world, all the Warriors flee, apart from Dusk and Alba, who are presumed dead. Soon however, they are revealed to be alive, saved by the spirits of Vata and the Mask. The game ends with the Warriors reunited, and the world and its crystal restored.
## Development
The game was developed by the same internal Square Enix team that made Final Fantasy IV: The After Years, which was also initially a game for Japanese cell phones. The game was directed by Toshio Akiyama and produced by Takashi Tokita. Character designs were provided by Akira Oguro while the in-game 2D dot versions were created by Kazuko Shibuya. Takashi Tokita explained the game was meant to transcend the expectations of RPGs in cellphones. The team set the theme of a scenario of creating another game for the SNES. The team also added several references to previous games such as Sarah and Matoya being references to the original Final Fantasy game and Dusk and Alba being reminiscent of Palom and Porom from Final Fantasy IV. When asked about the high pricing for the game, the team explained their reasons: "This title offers about 50 hours of gameplay, and we feel that our community can enjoy the contents of this game as much as they would a console title. Also, we have set the price where it is because this title was developed specifically for the mobile platform, as opposed to just being a port of an older console or handheld game". When developing the smartphone version, Takashi Tokita changed the structure of selling a group of episodes rather than individually. Tokita noted that the episodic format of the game allowed them to focus on different origins to protagonist and tell two stories that intertwine together. Player feedback between episodes was vital factor in the story progress, as the fate of the characters was undetermined.
### Music
Naoshi Mizuta composed the music of Final Fantasy Dimensions with the exception of a number of songs previously composed by Nobuo Uematsu. Naoshi intended to compose the music closer to previous Final Fantasy games such as a solid melody that can be hummed or whistled. Naoshi also made it so that the Light chapters would have different music from the Dark chapters in order to have variation of music between them. A soundtrack for the game titled was released digitally in Japan on August 8, 2011 to celebrate the completion of the game. An EP soundtrack titled was also released digitally in Japan on iTunes and mora music store on August 31, 2012. The EP contains the arranged ending song with added lyrics featured in the iOS/Android version and being renamed using Katakana. The song was arranged by Hajime Kikuchi with added lyrics performed by Riya of Eufonius.
### Release history
The game was initially hinted when Square Enix trademarked Hikari to Yami no Senshi which was initially believed to be related to Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together. The game was revealed in Japan as Final Fantasy Legends: Hikari to Yami no Senshi in July 2010. The first chapters of the game were first released for iMode phones on September 6, and for EZweb phones on December 9 the same year. The rest of the chapters were released approximately once a month since then till August 8, 2011 for iMode and November 10 for EZweb. An iOS and Android versions, with improved graphics and sound, and support for slide-pad controls over the feature phone version, were later announced and iOS version was released internationally as Final Fantasy Dimensions on August 31, 2012. Due to technical difficulties, only "Prologue" was released first for the iOS version. All other chapters were purchasable at the in-app shop after upgrading from 1.0.0 to 1.0.1 which was available later in the same day. The Android version was released on December 21 in its complete form.
## Reception
The game had received mainly positive reviews. Final Fantasy Dimensions received an aggregated score of 78 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 10 critics and 74% on GameRankings based on 7 reviews. Slide to Play praised the game and commented: "Square Enix has made a truly masterful game here. The story is huge, the characters enjoyable and fun to play, and other than the iffy controls, the game works fantastically well on the touchscreen. The menus in particular are elegantly designed. The music and graphics are even great in creating a world that reminds us that the old and new can coexist, and do so with aplomb". Justin Davis of IGN criticized the episodic structure of the game, saying that the "players can't fully explore the game world until they're almost at the end – over 30 hours in!", but also praised the gameplay stating: "What Dimensions lacks in scenario & story flexibility it makes up for with sheer depth and flexibility in its job system. Players can assign any party member to any available job on-the-fly, with more opening up as the story progresses". Joe Juba of Game Informer praised the gameplay but criticized the lack of fanfare: "Despite the fun job system and classic vibe to the combat, Dimensions seems like it was set up to fail. It released to little fanfare at a prohibitive price point for mobile games". Tof Eklund of TouchArcade praised the games features: "There's an epic, high fantasy plot with lots of twists, a large cast of characters whose appearance and abilities vary wildly, tons of random combat, lots of leveling-up and abilities to unlock, a gradual opening up of the world, secret items, bonus dungeons, and a lot of looking inside pots and barrels in order to pilfer the worldly goods of the townspeople you run across". GamesTM praised the game for resembling previous Final Fantasy games.
Derek Heemsbergen of RPGFan gave it a mixed review: "I'm grateful that the game was released in English, and while it isn't everything I hoped it would be, Final Fantasy: Dimensions does enough right to be worth playing". Nathan Mustafa of Touchgen however, criticized the dialogue structure, the lack of animation, and sound of the game: "In the end, I cannot reconcile these cheapened portions of the game. I understand it is a port of a 'mobile' game from Japan, but the quality of the port could have been much better. Had my three key issues with how the game presents itself not been present, I would probably have walked away feeling quite positive about Final Fantasy Dimensions. In its current form, though, I can only give it a middling score".
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47,504,785 |
Gifts (novel)
| 1,083,151,480 |
2004 novel by Ursula K. Le Guin
|
[
"2004 American novels",
"American bildungsromans",
"American fantasy novels",
"Annals of the Western Shore",
"Novels by Ursula K. Le Guin",
"Young adult fantasy novels"
] |
Gifts (2004) is a young adult fantasy novel by Ursula K. Le Guin. It is the first book in the Annals of the Western Shore trilogy, and is followed in the series by Voices. The story is set in a fictional world, in a barren and poverty-stricken region called the Uplands, some of whose inhabitants have hereditary magical gifts. The story follows the narrator Orrec, son of the leader of the domain of Caspromant, whose hereditary gift is the ability to "unmake", and Gry, the daughter of a neighboring domain, who can communicate with animals. Orrec's gift manifests late, and seems uncontrollable, and so he is blindfolded. Their families are caught up in the cycle of violent feuds and retribution that characterize Upland society in which the children are trying to find their place.
The novel explores themes of violence and the abuse of power, as well as of coming of age. The protagonists have a recurring struggle to make choices they are comfortable with. Their moral development takes place within the harshness of the Upland culture, contrasted with examples of kindness and altruism. It has been described as sharing themes of dreamworlds and choices with a number of other works by Le Guin, such as the Earthsea cycle, The Beginning Place, and "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas". It also shares similarities with Maurice Sendak's book Where the Wild Things Are, while Orrec's transformation in the novel has been compared to the biblical story of Jonah.
Gifts won the PEN Center USA 2005 Children's literature award. It was very well received by critics, who praised the characterization of Orrec and Gry as "unique, thoughtful young rebels". The writing of the book was also praised as being lyrical or poetic, while the themes of misused power and coming of age were also described positively.
## Setting
Gifts is set in the Uplands of the fictional universe of the Annals of the Western Shore. The civilization of this world was settled by people from across a desert to the east of the regions depicted in the series. The civilization consists of a number of city states, as well as some nomads on the borders of the desert. The Uplands are in the far north of this region, in a poverty-stricken area isolated from the rest of the world. It is a bleak and barren landscape, forcing its inhabitants to struggle for a living. The Uplands are divided into a number of domains, each held by a "brantor", or leader. These leaders have powerful magical gifts, which are hereditary, and which are used to protect their domains, as well as for other purposes. The families must marry within their own lineage to maintain the gift, which is frequently difficult, as the Uplands are sparsely populated. The narrator Orrec is from the domain of Caspromant, where the hereditary gift is the power of "unmaking", which can kill or destroy at a glance; his friend Gry is from the neighboring domain of Roddmant, and her lineage has the ability to call animals. The society they live in has no laws or government, and its culture is shaped by feuds and battles between lineages and the alliances made to further these feuds: violence is thus endemic to the region.
## Plot summary
The novel begins with Emmon, a lowland runaway, coming to Caspromant when Orrec and Gry are 16. The children tell Emmon of their gifts, though he is somewhat disbelieving of them. Orrec then narrates the history of his family from his childhood. His father Canoc is the brantor of Caspromant; his mother Melle, a woman from the lowlands. Despite living in the Uplands, Melle holds to some of her traditions, and teaches Orrec stories and lays that she had learned as a child. She also teaches him to read, an ability rare among Uplanders. Canoc also begins to instruct Orrec in the use of their power, though Orrec does not manifest any ability as a child. Orrec and Gry, of a similar age, become good friends, and Gry begins to show her power, being able to listen to the speech of cats and mice.
When he is 13, Orrec seemingly becomes able to use his power, striking an adder dead when it was about to bite his father. However, he is troubled by the ability not feeling different from his past unsuccessful efforts at using it. His father asks him to try, suggesting that Orrec has a duty to use his power to protect the domain, but Orrec refuses. A few days later Ogge Drum, the brantor of the neighboring domain of Drummant, comes to Caspromant, inviting the Caspros to his home, and suggesting that Orrec be betrothed to his granddaughter. Although wary of Drum due to their longstanding enmity, Canoc agrees to visit. Melle expresses opposition to the betrothal: Orrec is hurt because he and Gry had assumed they would marry each other. Canoc once again asks Orrec to use his power; Orrec is initially unable, but as his frustration builds, he seemingly turns an entire hillside into desolation. Terrified at his lack of control over his "wild" gift, he blindfolds himself.
The Caspros visit Drummant, but Ogge is rude to them, and the granddaughter Ogge proposed to betroth to Orrec is found to be mentally disabled. After they return, Melle falls ill, and Orrec assumes that Ogge used his gift of setting a wasting sickness on her. As Melle gets slowly weaker, she asks Orrec to retell her stories, leading him to realize he has a gift for storytelling and poetry. Orrec also develops a bond with Coaly, a guide dog trained for him by Gry. On her deathbed, Melle asks to see Orrec's eyes one last time, so he removes his blindfold, and realizes that his love for Melle would never have let him hurt her. Orrec begins to secretly remove his blindfold to read his books, and once looks at Coaly accidentally without hurting her. He realizes that he never had the gift of unmaking; his father had performed all of the acts attributed to him, and had pretended that Orrec had a "wild" gift to frighten people into leaving his domain alone. He confronts his father, and stops wearing a blindfold. Soon after, Ogge leads a raid against Roddmant. Canoc kills Ogge and his son while defending it, thus avenging his wife, and is killed himself. Orrec and Gry decide that there is no future for them in the uplands, because Gry is unwilling to use her gift to call animals to be hunted, and Orrec's gift of poetry is of no use there. They join Caspromant to Roddmant, and leave the uplands to make a new life elsewhere.
## Main characters
### Orrec
The story is narrated by Orrec Caspro, the son of Canoc, master of the domain of Caspromant. The gift that his family possesses is the ability to "unmake" things, but his gift seems to manifest very late, and he is unable to control it. Later he seems to strike down his pet dog, and then destroy an entire hillside with his power. He decides the death was his fault, and horrified by the thought of his power out of control, demands that he be blindfolded. Orrec's battles with his power and its potential to destroy have been described as an example of a person's confrontation with their own shadow, a common theme in Le Guin's writing. The blindfold initially brings him some peace. Unable to see the real world, he lives within the stories that Melle has told him, Eventually he begins to retell the stories to his mother, and to add to them himself. When Melle asks to see his face without the blindfold one last time, he realizes he couldn't have hurt her, and feels the "dry fury of impotent regret." After his mother's death he descends into grief and rage, which he eventually emerges from with Gry's assistance. At Gry's suggestion he begins to remove his blindfold to read the books his mother writes for him. Orrec comes to realizes that his father has unintentionally tricked him into believing in his wild gift, so as to protect his domain. He confronts his father Orrec eventually realizes that he prefers "making" to unmaking. Gry and he get married, and leave the Uplands. Scholar Sandra Lindow has pointed out that Orrec's name is similar to "auric", meaning "related to hearing", and that it brings to mind the word "oracle", describing his discovery of his power to create and perform. Orrec's emotional journey during his blindfoldment has been compared to that of the biblical character Jonah, as well as to that of Max in the Maurice Sendak children's picture book Where the Wild Things Are.
### Gry
Gry Barre is the daughter of the brantor of the neighboring domain of Roddmant, and Orrec's friend. Lindow describes her as representing "all that is good in the Upland culture". Her gift is the ability to communicate with animals; while still a child she is able to hear the speech of animals in the farms, and later she trains Coaly, a guide dog for Orrec. She refuses to use her gift to call animals to be hunted, and is depicted as edgy and resolute. Despite being young, she is depicted as caring deeply for other beings, She visits Orrec in his despair, and persuades him to tell her stories, drawing him out of his grief through his gift for poetry. After she marries Orrec and the two decide to leave, she says "We might go as far as the ocean shore", suggesting that though the Uplands have become too limiting for them, their development is not complete.
## Publication and reception
Gifts was published on 1 September 2004 by Harcourt. It was the first volume of the Annals of the Western Shore trilogy, and was followed by Voices in 2006 and Powers in 2007. Le Guin suggested in an interview in 2012 that she had faced pressure from her publisher to make the series "more like Harry Potter", but that she tried to resist the pressure. Gifts won the PEN Center USA 2005 Children's literature award. The book was written as young adult fiction, and was marketed at children aged twelve and above, although reviewers stated that older readers would also enjoy it. Literature scholar Mike Cadden has stated that the novel represented Le Guin's return to young adult fantasy, to a genre where she has the "greatest moral force."
The novel had a strongly positive critical reception. Some reviewers praised the themes of the novel: the Portland Oregonian wrote that Le Guin's depiction of greed and misused power was "timeless as well as timely, and ha[d] the deep, lasting ring of truth that makes for well-loved, enduring young adult literature." Kirkus Reviews stated that the "ending was a little tidy", but that the story was compelling, and "getting-there that provides this offering’s greatest reward".
Other commentators gave the style of the work a positive reception. A review in the online science fiction magazine Tor.com compared Gifts to an old fairytale, stating that it had the "power of something told and retold". Reviewers wrote that Le Guin's description of Orrec's blindness was "fiercely real", and that her prose had a poetic or lyrical quality to it. The exploration of the consequences of power and the coming of age themes has been described as insightful and provocative, while the construction of the story, and the Orrec and Gry's gradual understanding of the consequences of their choices, were also praised.
The characterization of Orrec and Gry was well received. A review in Horn Book Magazine stated that the twain were "unique, thoughtful young rebels". Their struggles were described as having philosophical aspects that nonetheless did not dominate the story. The review used Le Guin's own words to describe her prose, writing that she "talked like a little stream running, clearly and merrily, with the Lowland softness and fluency." Cadden, writing in 2006, stated that the characters were drawn in a manner relevant to young adults, and that it was Le Guin's most satisfying work of young adult fiction. Another reviewer said that Gifts had the "earthy magic and intelligent plot twists" of the Earthsea Cycle, and that the book was a "gift in the purest sense."
## Themes
The Annals have a number of themes common across the series, including power, responsibility, slavery, and the place of women in society. The series has been described as part of a renaissance in Le Guin's work since the publishing of The Birthday of the World in 2002, in which the underlying plot of the novel was not subsumed by socially relevant themes. The writings of Carl Jung were influential in the work of Ursula Le Guin. Many of Le Guin's writings feature young people trying to find a sense of community in circumstances of lawlessness and disorder. The Uplands are depicted as a region of chaos, and according to scholar Sandra Lindow, a place of low moral development, dominated by vicious feuds. Lindow describes similarities between Gifts and Le Guin's other works A Wizard of Earthsea and Buffalo Girls, both of which feature eyesight as a motif. Conversely, Orrec's blindness has been compared to the "Dreamworlds" that other characters in Le Guin's novels enter as a part of their process of growing up, such as the labyrinth of The Tombs of Atuan for Ged and the dream portal in The Beginning Place. The experiences within these Dreamworlds then help the characters adapt to their real world when they return. Cadden describes Orrec's journey as the opposite of Ged's in A Wizard of Earthsea; while the latter discovers his true power in moving from the mundane world to the magical, Orrec is able to realize his true power when he gives up the "false power" of his reputation.
### Coming of age
In describing the premise of the novel, Le Guin stated "the hero of the book, the protagonist, he has a different gift, it isn’t magic at all, in fact, it’s another kind of talent. And his problem is to realize that he doesn’t have the kind he’s supposed to have, he has this other one. Which is a problem, actually, a lot of young people face: What is my gift?" Reviewers have described Orrec's search for his own identity, in contrast to the identity that has been thrust upon him, as one of the major themes of the novel. This theme is related to the other major theme of the novel, that of power and responsibility. As he comes to terms with his identity, Orrec questions whether he is betraying his power by refusing to try to use it. Gry, too, is unwilling to use her gift to call animals to be hunted, and wonders whether "all the gifts are backward.... They could have been healing, to begin with." The novel ends with the two protagonists realizing that they are unwilling to remain in the cycle of violence and retribution in the Uplands, and leaving to keep their integrity; but they are also running toward a place where they can use their gifts as they please, rather than simply running away. A part of Orrec and Gry's process of growing up is to see beyond the binary choices they are presented with by society. Orrec is faced with a choice of whether to use his power, or to be blindfolded; Gry has to use her power to hunt, or not. Gry realizes that all of the upland powers can be used in two ways: for control and dominion, or for healing and nurturing. This recognition allows them to take a third choice, and leave. This wrestling with choice has been compared to the choices the characters are forced to make in Le Guin's novella The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas.
### Power and violence
Le Guin described the role of magic in the novel in the following manner: "in Gifts, the powers of magic are kind of warped. They are mostly used aggressively and destructively and defensively, actually. You know, it’s like having that secret weapon that they use against each other. It’s all gone kind of sour." The characters in the novel often fail to understand the responsibility that goes along with their power; only by the end of the story do Orrec and Gry come to terms with their gifts, and understand the best way to use them. Orrec's power is misunderstood for much of the novel: he has inherited his mother's ability to tell stories, rather than his father's ability to unmake things. However, he also has power in his reputation, as a person to be feared. Much of the novel is concerned with the abuse of power, and the problems with following without thinking of consequences, as well as the violence that is contained in the Upland society. Although Orrec's father Canoc he too does not hesitate to use his power for his own ends: his wife Melle was taken in a raid, over the course of which Canoc slew another man. He nonetheless shows more forethought than some of the other characters in the novel, and actually asks Melle to be his wife; he also gives gifts to her town in return. Melle's stories form an important part of the children's morality, featuring as they do a number of characters exhibiting kindness and altruism, in contrast to the Upland culture. The violence within the Upland society is exemplified in the person of Ogge Drum, who is depicted as a thief and a bully. He lusts after Melle, and kills her with his gift when he realizes he cannot have her.
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