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174th Infantry Brigade (United States)
| 1,094,546,484 |
Infantry brigade of the United States Army
|
[
"Infantry brigades of the United States Army",
"Military units and formations established in 1917",
"Training brigades of the United States Army"
] |
The 174th Infantry Brigade is an infantry brigade of the United States Army based at the Fort Dix entity of Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey. A multi-component training unit, the brigade provides operational training and increased readiness for units in the continental Northeast.
The brigade was deployed for both World War I and World War II. Reorganized and redesignated numerous times, the 174th Infantry Brigade has been a reserve unit of the United States Army for most of its existence, seeing only short stints in the Active Duty forces and a combat role.
Reactivated in 2006 as an active duty, combined arms training brigade, the brigade is responsible for preparing Soldiers of the Reserve and National Guard for deployment through battle training in maneuvers, equipment, and other details. As such, many personnel in the brigade are instructors who are themselves combat veterans of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.
## Organization
The brigade is a subordinate unit of the First Army's Division East.
The brigade is made up of ten battalions; five Regular Army battalions, four Army Reserve training support battalions, and an Army Reserve logistics support battalion headquartered at Joint Base McGuire–Dix–Lakehurst, New Jersey.
: Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 174th Infantry Brigade
: 1st Battalion (Training Support), 307th Infantry Regiment
: 1st Battalion (Training Support), 309th Regiment (Combat Support/Combat Service Support)
: 2d Battalion (Training Support), 309th Regiment (Combat Support/Combat Service Support)
: 2d Battalion (Training Support), 312th Regiment (Combat Support/Combat Service Support)
: 3d Battalion (Training Support), 312th Regiment (Combat Support/Combat Service Support)
: 3d Battalion (Training Support), 313th Regiment (Combat Support/Combat Service Support)
: 1st Battalion (Training Support), 314th Infantry Regiment
: 3d Battalion (Training Support), 314th Field Artillery Regiment
: 1st Battalion (Brigade Support), 315th Regiment
: 2d Battalion (Brigade Support), 315th Regiment
## History
### World War I
The 174th Infantry Brigade was first constituted on 5 August 1917 in the National Army. It was organized on 25 August 1917 at Camp Dix, New Jersey, and assigned to the 87th Division. It never saw combat in World War I, like the other units of the 87th Division, the brigade was used for labor duties and a pool of reinforcements. It received a campaign streamer for World War I without an inscription. After the war, it was demobilized on 23 May 1919 at Camp Dix, New Jersey.
Reorganized in December 1921 at Shreveport, Louisiana, the brigade was redesignated on 23 March 1925 as the 174th Brigade. It was again redesignated on 24 August 1936 as the 174th Infantry Brigade. On 13 February 1942, the unit was converted and redesignated as 3rd platoon, 87th Reconnaissance Troop, still assigned to the 87th Division. This consolidation also occurred to the 173rd Infantry Brigade. That December, the unit was ordered into active military service and reorganized along with the rest of the division at Camp McCain, Mississippi, which became an Infantry division. It was then mechanized the next year.
### World War II
The 87th Infantry Division arrived in Scotland on 22 October 1944, and trained in England until the end of November. It landed in France in early December, and moved to Metz, where, on the 8th, it went into action against and took Fort Driant. The troop followed its division as it shifted to the vicinity of Gross Rederching near the Saar-German border on 10 December, and capturing Rimling, Obergailbach, and Guiderkirch.
The 87th Division was moving into Germany when Von Rundstedt launched his offensive in the Ardennes. The Division was placed in reserve from 24 December until 28 December, before engaging in the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium on 29 December. In a fluctuating battle, it captured Moircy on 30 December and Remagne on 31 December. On 2 January 1945, it took Germont, on 10 January Tillet, and reached the Ourthe by 13 January. On 15 January 1945, the Division moved to Luxembourg to relieve the 4th Infantry Division along the Sauer and seized Wasserbillig on 23 January. The 87th moved to the vicinity of St. Vith on 28 January, then attacked and captured Schlierbach, Selz, and Hogden by the end of the month. After the fall of Neuendorf on 9 February, the Division went on the defensive until 26 February, when Ormont and Hallschlag were taken in night attacks. The 87th crossed the Kyll River on 6 March, took Dollendorf on 8 March, and after a brief rest, returned to combat on 13 March 1945, crossing the Moselle on 16 March and clearing Koblenz, on 18–19 March. The Division crossed the Rhine on 25–26 March and despite strong opposition, consolidated its bridgehead, and secured Grossenlinden and Langgöns. On 7 April, it jumped off in an attack which carried it through Thuringia into Saxony. Plauen fell on 17 April, and the Division took up defensive positions on 20 April, about 4 miles from the Czech border. On 6 May 1945, it took Falkenstein and maintained its positions until VE-day.
The 87th Division returned to the United States in July 1945 expecting to be called upon to play a role in the defeat of the Japanese, but the sudden termination of the war in the Pacific while the division was reassembling at Fort Benning changed the future of the 87th. The Division was inactivated on 21 September 1945. The 87th Reconnaissance Troop was inactivated on the same day.
### Cold War era
The 87th Reconnaissance Troop was reorganized and redesignated in April 1947 as the 87th Mechanized Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop in the reserves. It was then activated the next month at Birmingham, Alabama. At the same time, the Organized Reserves were undergoing a transformation into the Army Reserve. The unit was again reorganized and redesignated in 1949 as the 87th Reconnaissance Company before being inactivated in December 1951 in Birmingham.
The unit was once again designated as the 174th Infantry Brigade following a conversion and redesignation in March 1963. For the next 30 years, the brigade would continue as a Reserve unit in inactive status and would never be called on to participate in any conflicts. In 1997, the brigade was withdrawn from the Reserve and activated in the Regular Army at Fort Drum, New York, before being inactivated two years later.
### Training brigade
The brigade headquarters were again reactivated on 1 December 2006 at Fort Drum, by reflagging 2nd Brigade, 78th Division (Training Support). It was one of 16 reserve brigades to be activated for the purpose of training. The brigade, which is headquartered at Fort Drum and is subordinate to the First Army Division East, is responsible for early stages of training for other reserve soldiers who have been alerted for deployment. The brigade offers the opportunity for veterans of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom to use their skills to train new soldiers who will be entering the field of operations in Iraq or Afghanistan. This training includes convoy live-fire training exercises, and techniques in dealing with improvised explosive devices, which are the primary cause of casualties in the operations.
During the summer of 2007, the brigade was mobilized to Fort Dix for training along with the 72nd Field Artillery Brigade from April until September. Soldiers of the 174th Infantry Brigade trained other units in land navigation, area security, urban operations, marksmanship, and live fire exercises. Most of the soldiers being trained were members of the Army National Guard. The brigade received distinctive unit insignia and shoulder sleeve insignia in September 2007. These items contained allusions to the brigade's honors during World War I and II, and its history with the 78th Infantry Division. However, as it is subordinate to the First Army, soldiers of the brigade wear that patch on their shoulders instead. Later that month, the brigade was again mobilized to Fort Bragg, North Carolina for another training mission.
October 2016 saw the 174th Infantry Brigade reorganize after the deactivation of the 72d Field Artillery Brigade in 2015. The 174th IN BDE is now configured as a Combined Arms Training Brigade (CATB) under 1st Army's Division East.
## Honors
### Unit decorations
### Campaign streamers
|
71,041,849 |
York Light Infantry Volunteers
| 1,171,649,364 |
Light infantry regiment of the British Army
|
[
"Foreign regiments in British Service",
"Light Infantry regiments of the British Army",
"Military units and formations disestablished in 1817",
"Military units and formations established in 1803"
] |
The York Light Infantry Volunteers, also known as the Barbados Volunteer Emigrants, was a foreign light infantry regiment of the British Army during the Napoleonic Wars. It was formed in September 1803 from the Dutch garrisons of the captured Batavian colonies of Demerara, Essequibo, and Berbice. Additions to the regiment were recruited from the ranks of prisoners of war, and the regiment was also the recipient of the majority of deserters taken in the Peninsular Wars. The regiment served its whole existence in the West Indies, fighting in the British West Indies campaign. It was present at the Battle of Suriname in 1804 and at the invasions of Martinique and Guadeloupe in 1809 and 1810 respectively. It finished the Napoleonic Wars as garrison at Jamaica, before in early 1817 being sent to England, where it was disbanded on 19 March.
## Formation
The Batavian Republic was formed in 1795 from Holland as a puppet state to the French First Republic. The ousted William V, Prince of Orange, went into exile in England. There he formed the Dutch Emigrant Brigade from troops who had stayed loyal to him, however those Dutch soldiers serving at the time in their colonies of Surinam, Berbice, Essequibo, and Demerara refused to allow their charges to be taken over by William's new British allies. Subsequently, in 1796 Demerara and Essequibo were captured by the British and garrisoned. The Dutch soldiers stationed in these two colonies then defected to the British cause, becoming the Loyal Orange Brigade. Surinam and Berbice were left in Batavian hands.
When the French Revolutionary Wars ended in March 1802 with the Peace of Amiens, Demerara and Essequibo were given back to Batavian control. The local population of the colonies was, however, unhappy with the renewed or continued Batavian rule. The French colonial administrator Victor Hughes had recently visited the Dutch colonies, worrying them that in case of war combat in their lands would see devastation equal to that seen at the invasion of Guadeloupe in 1794. To avoid this the Dutch appealed to Britain for protection.
When the Napoleonic Wars began in May 1803 the Dutch regular soldiers garrisoning Berbice mutinied against the republicans, hoisting the Union Jack. The uprising was eventually put down after heavy fighting. On 16 September a British force under Lieutenant-General William Grinfield arrived at Georgetown and offered terms of surrender to the colonies. Demerara and Essequibo capitulated on 20 September and Berbice followed five days later. Surinam was, as in 1796, left untouched. Having shown their disinterest in serving Batavia and with the likely alternative being starvation, over 1,000 Dutch soldiers, mostly from the Berbice garrison, chose to join the British Army.
## Service
While some of the Dutch volunteers were recruited into the 60th Regiment of Foot, a majority were taken to the British stronghold of Barbados, where they were formed into the Barbados Volunteer Emigrants later in September by Colonel Fitzroy Maclean. This new unit was organised into ten companies with a total strength of 1,804. The name of the regiment was changed to the York Light Infantry Volunteers (YLIV) in January 1804. New officers for the regiment were brought in from other British units already serving in the West Indies. The lieutenant-colonel, Francis Streicher, came from the 60th, while the senior major, Francis Geraghty, was from the 6th West India Regiment. Many of the subalterns were non commissioned officers who had been commissioned from the ranks. While the majority of officers were British, two lieutenants were taken from the original Batavian forces.
The YLIV were officially accepted onto the British establishment on 25 March 1804. In April an expedition including the regiment was brought together to finally capture the remaining Batavian colony, Surinam, which was not expected to surrender easily as its neighbours had. The expedition arrived off Surinam on 25 April, and after the capital New Amsterdam was outflanked in the Battle of Suriname, the Dutch governor surrendered on 3 May. The regiment is not recorded as part of any of the notable events of the expedition. While the majority of the regiment was armed with slightly shortened muskets, around this time one company carried rifles.
In the following year the regiment was sent to garrison Barbados and Dominica. On 22 February a French force invaded Dominica, where the YLIV contingent was stationed at Scotts Head. The gun battery there fought off two French ships of the line but the garrison had provisions for only one week, and so in the evening they retreated to St Rupert's Bay. From there the garrisons of the island were brought together in strength around Fort Cabrit, which the French were unable to capture, choosing instead to sail to Guadeloupe.
The regiment continued in its garrison role for several years, in 1807 being recorded at a strength of 650 men, still in the original ten companies. As the British West Indies campaign continued, 350 men of the unit fought in the 4th Brigade of Major-General Frederick Maitland's 2nd Division at the invasion of Martinique in 1809. The division landed at Sainte-Luce on 30 January, meeting no resistance as they reached Lamentin on 2 February. They then arrived at the heavily defended Fort Desaix a day later, entrenching nearby to cover a possible landing place. On 5 February the division moved on to the capital Fort-de-France, participating in its siege. The French surrendered on 24 February. Later in the year the regiment served onboard Royal Navy warships as part of the blockading fleet operating off Guadeloupe.
In 1810 a detachment of 200 men from the regiment participated in the invasion of Guadeloupe. Part of the 4th Brigade of Major-General Thomas Hislop's 1st Division, they left Dominica on 16 January and arrived at Capesterre-Belle-Eau two days later. They landed on 27 January. The division marched south without issue and reached Trois-Rivières, where the French defenders abandoned their defensive positions. The division stayed there to assist with landing provisions until 2 February, when they occupied the Palmiste heights east of the capital of Basseterre.
The French had positioned themselves in mountains to the north-east of the town. At dawn on 4 February the YLIV and the 1st West India Regiment's light company were sent to take the strategic Bridge of Voziere, over the Noire River, to the right of the French. They were spotted by a picket but stormed the bridge despite this, capturing the position. With other units having also crossed the river, heavily pushing the defenders back on the left, the French surrendered on 6 February. During this time the regiment continued to grow in numbers from its nadir of 1807, and in October 1810 was recorded at 1,290 men in twelve companies.
The regiment subsequently continued to expand, most likely because of heavy recruitment from French prisoners of war and because the majority of deserters from the Peninsular War were sent to it; in 1811 it numbered 1,543 men. In the same year the regiment was put back on garrison duty. Split in half, it was sent to Antigua and Barbados. In December 1814 the regiment was brought back together to serve as a whole in the Jamaica garrison. Lieutenant-Colonel Edward O'Hara assumed command on 15 June 1815, and left the unit on 25 July 1816. Still at Jamaica, the regiment was reduced in size in December, lowering to 1,077 men in ten companies. The regiment continued at Jamaica until early 1817 when it was sent to Britain. The YLIV arrived at Harwich in March and were disbanded on the 19th of that month, by then being commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander Mackenzie.
## Uniform
The York Light Infantry Volunteers wore green uniforms with black facings and white crossbelts, based on that of the 95th Rifles. While green was the traditional colour of rifle regiments, it was not exclusively worn by them. The collar, cuffs, and shoulder straps were black with white lace, with white metal buttons for the other ranks and silver for the officers. The uniform style was similar to that of the Dutch Emigrant Brigade, with the blue-grey trousers of the latter being replaced with green. The regiment also had a morning parade dress uniform, which was white with black collar, shoulder straps, and facings. Sashes worn for rank identification were crimson, but did not have the traditional stripe running through them in the colour of the unit's facings. They wore a black stovepipe shako, likely with a bugle badge, until December 1813 when this was changed to the infantry "Belgic" shako. This later shako has been recorded as being white or brown by different sources. While the regiment was designated as light infantry, it carried drums rather than the more traditional bugle alongside its white accoutrements.
## Colonels of the Regiment
The following officers served as Colonel of the Regiment:
Barbados Volunteer Emigrants
- 1803–1804: Colonel Fitzroy Maclean
York Light Infantry Volunteers
- 1804–1808: Major-General Sir Charles Green
- 1808–1809: Major-General Edwin Hewgill
- 1809–1815: Lieutenant-General Sir Alexander Campbell
- 1815–1816: Major-General Sir John Byng
## Notes and citations
|
552,650 |
Second Avenue Subway
| 1,171,743,902 |
New York City Subway line
|
[
"Independent Subway System",
"New York City Subway lines",
"New York City Subway projects",
"Program for Action",
"Railway lines opened in 2017",
"Second Avenue (Manhattan)"
] |
The Second Avenue Subway (internally referred to as the IND Second Avenue Line by the MTA and abbreviated to SAS) is a New York City Subway line that runs under Second Avenue on the East Side of Manhattan. The first phase of this new line, with three new stations on Manhattan's Upper East Side, opened on January 1, 2017. The full Second Avenue Line, if and when it will be funded, will be built in three more phases to eventually connect Harlem–125th Street in Harlem to Hanover Square in Lower Manhattan. The proposed full line would be 8.5 miles (13.7 km) and 16 stations long, serve a projected 560,000 daily riders, and cost more than \$17 billion.
The line was originally proposed in 1920 as part of a massive expansion of what would become the Independent Subway System (IND). In anticipation of the Second Avenue Subway being built to replace them, parallel elevated lines along Second Avenue and Third Avenue were demolished in 1942 and 1955, respectively, despite several factors causing plans for the Second Avenue Subway to be cancelled. Construction on the line began in 1972 as part of the Program for Action. It was halted in 1975 because of the city's fiscal crisis, leaving only a few short segments of tunnels completed. Work on the line restarted in April 2007 following the development of a financially secure construction plan. The first phase of the line, consisting of the 96th Street, 86th Street and 72nd Street stations, as well as 1.8 mi (2.9 km) of tunnel, cost \$4.45 billion. A 1.5-mile (2.4 km), \$6 billion second phase from 96th to 125th Streets is in planning as of 2023.
Phase 1 is served by the Q train at all times and limited rush-hour N and R trains. Phase 2 will extend the line's northern terminus from 96th Street to Harlem–125th Street. Both the Q and limited N services will be extended to 125th Street. Phase 3 will extend the line south from 72nd Street to Houston Street in Manhattan's Lower East Side. Upon completion, a new T train will serve the entire line from Harlem to Houston Street. Phase 4 will again extend the line south from Houston Street to Hanover Square, maintaining the T designation for the entire line. The T will be colored since it will use the Second Avenue Line through Midtown Manhattan.
## Extent and service
Services that use the Second Avenue Line through Midtown Manhattan are to be colored . The following services use part or all of the Second Avenue Line:
### Phase 1
Phase 1 of the Second Avenue Line opened in January 2017. It runs under Manhattan's Second Avenue from 65th Street to 105th Street, with stations at 72nd Street, 86th Street, and 96th Street. It is double-tracked along its entire length, with tracks in parallel tubes bored by tunnel boring machines, and central island platforms at all stations. North of 96th Street, both tracks continue as storage tracks until they end at 105th Street.
As part of Phase 1, the Second Avenue Subway connects to the BMT Broadway Line using an existing connection via the 63rd Street Line. The Q, as well as limited rush-hour N and R, operates northward from 57th Street–Seventh Avenue on the Broadway Line, curving east under Central Park on the 63rd Street Line. Broadway Line trains then stop at Lexington Avenue–63rd Street with a cross-platform interchange to the train before merging with the Second Avenue Line near 65th Street. This connection also connects to the Sixth Avenue Line allowing for trains from the Sixth Avenue line to access the Second Avenue Subway, though this connection has been unused in regular service since April 2020. The northbound 63rd Street Connector track dips below the level of Phase 3's planned tunnels, providing for a future flying junction between the connector and the rest of the Second Avenue Line.
### Plans for expansion
The long-term plans for the Second Avenue Subway involve digging 8.5 miles (13.7 km) of new tunnels north to Harlem–125th Street in Harlem and south to Hanover Square in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan. The entire line would also be double-tracked, except for a tentatively four-tracked segment between 21st and 9th Streets, including the 14th Street station, with the outer two tracks used to store trains. After Phase 4 is completed, the residents of East Harlem and the Upper East Side will have mass transit service down both Second Avenue and Broadway to the Financial District (the latter via transfer to Broadway local trains), as well as across the Manhattan Bridge to Brooklyn via the Q train.
An additional two-track connection is planned at around 63rd Street that will connect the Lower Manhattan-bound tracks on the Second Avenue Line with the Queens-bound tracks on the IND 63rd Street Line, using existing bellmouths at 63rd Street and First Avenue. Current plans do not call for it to be used by regular service. Instead, it would be used for moving out-of-service trains. The connection would allow for trains to run from the Financial District to Queens if the capacity of the IND Queens Boulevard Line were increased, or if the Queens Bypass were built.
Service from Queens via the 63rd Street Tunnel would allow for the full capacity of the line south of 63rd Street to be used. The whole line will be designed to accommodate 30 trains per hour, with the exception of the terminal at Hanover Square, which will only be able to handle 26 trains per hour (TPH). The portion north of 63rd Street is planned to have 14 TPH on the Q and 14 TPH on the T, for a combined 28 trains per hour on both routes. South of there, only 14 TPH on the T are planned, although 12 additional TPH could be provided in the future via the 63rd Street Tunnel. The 2004 plans for the Second Avenue Subway include the construction of short track segments to allow a future extension north under Second Avenue past 125th Street to the Bronx, as well as an extension south to Brooklyn.
In order to store the 330 additional subway cars needed for the operation of the line, storage tracks would be built between 21st Street and 9th Street along the main alignment. The 36th–38th Street Yard in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, would also be reconfigured.
The Second Avenue Subway is chained as "S". The track map in the 2004 FEIS showed that all stations, except for 125th Street, would have two tracks and one island platform. 72nd Street and 125th Street were conceived as three-track, two-platform stations. 72nd Street was eventually scaled down to a two-track, center island platform station in order to reduce costs, A three-tracked 72nd Street station would have allowed trains from the Broadway Line to short-turn (reverse) without interfering with mainline service on Second Avenue, as well as provided additional operational flexibility for construction work and non-revenue moves. In July 2018, the 125th Street station was also scaled down to a two-track, one-platform station because the MTA had ascertained that two-tracked terminals would be sufficient to handle train capacities, and that building a third track would have caused unnecessary impacts to surrounding buildings.
## History
### Initial attempts
After World War I, the New York City Subway experienced a surge in ridership. By 1920, 1.3 billion annual passengers were riding the subway, compared to 523 million annual riders just seven years before the war. In 1919, the New York Public Service Commission launched a study at the behest of engineer Daniel L. Turner to determine what improvements were needed in the city's public transport system. Turner's final paper, titled Proposed Comprehensive Rapid Transit System, was a massive plan calling for new routes under almost every north-south Manhattan avenue, extensions to lines in Brooklyn and Queens, and several crossings of the Narrows to Staten Island. Among the plans was a massive trunk line under Second Avenue consisting of at least six tracks and numerous branches throughout Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. The Second and Third Avenue elevated lines were to be knocked down to make room for the 6-track subway. The paper was revised in January 1927.
In September 1929, the Board of Transportation of the City of New York (BOT) tentatively approved the expansion, which included a Second Avenue Line with a projected construction cost of \$98.9 million (equivalent to \$ in ), not counting land acquisition. In the north, several spur lines in the Bronx would merge into a four-track trunk line, crossing the Harlem River south to 125th Street. There would be six tracks from 125th Street to a link with the IND Sixth Avenue Line at 61st Street, then four tracks from 61st Street to Chambers Street, and two tracks from Chambers Street to Pine Street.
The Great Depression began that year and the soaring costs of the expansion became unmanageable. Construction on the first phase of the IND was already behind schedule, and the city and state were no longer able to provide funding. In 1930, the line was scaled down, with the line from 125th to Houston Streets to be complete by 1940, as well as a spur along 34th Street to be done by 1948. This scaled-down plan was postponed in 1931. In 1932, the Board of Transportation modified the plan to further reduce costs, omitting a branch in the Bronx, and truncating the line's southern terminus to the Nassau Street Loop.
Further revision of the plan and more studies followed. By 1939, construction had been postponed indefinitely, with only a short length being completed above the Second Avenue station. The Second Avenue Line was relegated to "proposed" status, and was number 14 on the Board of Transportation's list of important transportation projects. The line was cut to two tracks with single northern branch through Throggs Neck, Bronx, a connection to the BMT Broadway Line in Manhattan, and a continuation south onto the IND Fulton Street Line in Brooklyn via that line's Court Street station. The subway's projected cost went up to US\$249 million (equivalent to \$ in ). The United States' entry into World War II in 1941 halted all but the most urgent public works projects, delaying the Second Avenue Line once again.
As part of the unification of the three subway companies that comprised the New York City Subway in 1940, elevated lines were being shut down all over the city and replaced by subways. The northern half of the Second Avenue Elevated, serving the Upper East Side and East Harlem, closed on June 11, 1940. The southern half, running through Lower Manhattan, East Midtown and across the Queensboro Bridge to Queens, closed on June 13, 1942. The demolition of the Second Avenue elevated caused overcrowding on the Astoria and Flushing Lines in Queens, which no longer had direct service to Manhattan's far East Side. The elevated line's closure, as well as a corresponding increase in the East Side's population, increased the need for a Second Avenue subway.
In 1944, BOT superintendent Philip E. Pheifer put forth a proposal for Second Avenue Subway services, which would branch extensively off to B Division. The subway was originally to be opened by 1951, but in 1945, plans for the Second Avenue Subway were again revised. Another plan was put forth in 1947 by Colonel Sidney H. Bingham, a city planner and former Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) engineer. O'Dwyer and Gross believed that construction of a Second Avenue subway line would be vital to both increasing capacity on existing lines and allowing new branch lines to be built. Bingham's proposal involved more branch lines and track connections than did Phiefer's, and similar to the 1960s and 1990s phased proposals, was to be built in sections. In 1948, New York City was short \$145 million of the \$800 million program needed for rehabilitation and proposed capital improvements. The City petitioned the New York State Legislature to exceed its \$655 million debt ceiling so that the city could spend \$500 million on subway construction, but this request was denied.
The BOT then ordered ten new prototype subway cars made of stainless steel from the Budd Company. These R11 cars, so called because of their contract number, were delivered in 1949 and specifically intended for the Second Avenue Subway. They cost US\$100,000 (equivalent to \$ in ) each; the train became known as the "million dollar train". The cars featured porthole style round windows and a new public address system. Reflecting public health concerns of the day, especially regarding polio, the R11 cars were equipped with electrostatic air filters and ultraviolet lamps in their ventilation systems to kill germs.
In 1949, Queens and Lower Manhattan residents complained that the Second Avenue Subway would not create better transit options for them. In 1950, a revised plan involved connections from Queens. New York voters approved a bond measure for its construction in 1951, and the city was barely able to raise the requisite \$559 million for the construction effort. However, the onset of the Korean War caused soaring prices for construction materials and saw the beginning of massive inflation. Money from the 1951 bond measure was diverted to buy new cars, lengthen platforms, and maintain other parts of the aging New York City Subway system. Out of a half-billion-dollar bond measure, only \$112 million (equivalent to \$ in ), or 22% of the original amount, went toward the Second Avenue Subway. By then, construction was due to start by either 1952 or 1957, with estimated completion by 1958 at the earliest.
The Third Avenue Elevated, the only other elevated line in the area, closed on May 13, 1955, and was demolished in 1956. The Lexington Avenue Line was now the only subway transportation option on the East Side, leading to overcrowding. By 1957, the 1951 bond issue had been almost entirely used for other projects, and The New York Times despaired of the line's ever being built. "It certainly will cost more than \$500 million and will require a new bond issue", wrote one reporter.
### 1970s construction
As the early 1960s progressed, the East Side experienced an increase in development, and the Lexington Avenue Line became overcrowded. In 1962, construction began on a connection between the Manhattan and Williamsburg Bridges and the Sixth Avenue Line. This segment, the Chrystie Street Connection, was first proposed in the 1947 plan as the southern end of the Second Avenue line, which would feed into the two bridges. When opened in November 1967, the connection included the new Grand Street station on the Sixth Avenue Line (another station, 57th Street, opened in July 1968), and introduced the most significant service changes ever carried out in the subway's history. Grand Street, located under Chrystie Street (the southern end of Second Avenue) was designed to include cross-platform transfers between the Sixth Avenue and Second Avenue Lines.
Separately, in 1967, voters approved a \$2.5 billion (worth about \$ in current dollars) Transportation Bond Issue, which provided over \$600 million (worth \$ today) for New York City projects, including for a 1968 Program for Action. The City secured a \$25 million Urban Mass Transportation Act (UMTA) grant for initial construction. The Program for Action proposed a Second Avenue line to be built in two phases: a first phase north of 34th Street and a second phase south of there. The Second Avenue project, for a line from 34th Street to the Bronx, was given top priority.
The line's planned stops in Manhattan, spaced farther apart than those on existing subway lines, proved controversial. The Second Avenue line was criticized as a "rich man's express, circumventing the Lower East Side with its complexes of high-rise low- and middle-income housing and slums in favor of a silk stocking route." In response to protests, the MTA added stations at 72nd Street and 96th Street. The MTA issued a plan for a spur line, called the "cuphandle", to serve the heart of the Lower East Side. Branching off from the IND Sixth Avenue Line near the Second Avenue station, the spur would run east on Houston Street, turn north on Avenue C, and turn west on 14th Street, connecting to the BMT Canarsie Line.
A combination of Federal and State funding was obtained for the project. In March 1972, the entire cost of the section between 34th Street and 126th Street, according to the project's Draft Environmental Study, was estimated to be \$381 million. In June 1972, it was announced that UMTA would grant \$25 million for the construction of this section of the line. The MTA had requested \$254 million in federal funds for the northern part of the line. Preliminary estimates of the cost of the southern portion of the line came to \$450 million.
Construction on a tunnel segment between 99th and 105th Streets began in October 1972. A second segment between 110th and 120th Street in East Harlem started construction in March 1973. In October 1973, the line's Chinatown segment began construction at Canal Street under the foot of the Manhattan Bridge between Canal and Division Streets. A fourth segment started construction in July 1974, between Second and Ninth Streets in the East Village. In total, construction on the Second Avenue Line during the 1970s spanned over 27 blocks.
The city soon experienced its most dire fiscal crisis yet, due to the stagnant economy of the early 1970s, combined with the massive outflow of city residents to the suburbs. The system was already in decline. The subway had seen a 40% decrease in ridership since 1947, and a \$200 million subsidy for the MTA, as well as a 1952 fare increase had not been enough to pay for basic upkeep for the subway system, let alone fund massive expansion projects like the Second Avenue Subway. When plans were finalized in 1971, the subway had been proposed for completion by 1980, but two years later, its completion date was forecast as 2000. In October 1974, the MTA chairman, David Yunich, announced that the completion of the line north of 42nd Street was pushed back to 1983 and the portion to the south in 1988.
In December 1974, New York City mayor Abraham Beame proposed a six-year transit construction program that would reallocate \$5.1 billion of funding from the Second Avenue Line to complete new lines in Queens and to modernize the existing infrastructure, which was rapidly deteriorating and in dire need of repair. Beame issued a stop-work order for the line in September 1975, whereupon construction of the section between Second and Ninth Streets was halted, and no other funding was allocated to the line's construction. Besides the Chrystie Street Connection, only three sections of tunnel had been completed. These tunnels were sealed.
In 1978, when the New York City Subway was at its lowest point in its existence, State Comptroller Arthur Levitt stated that there were no plans to finish the line. During the 1980s, plans for the Second Avenue line stagnated. Construction on the 63rd Street Lines continued. The IND portion of the line opened in 1989 and extended to 21st Street–Queensbridge in Long Island City, Queens, but it did not include a connection to the Second Avenue line. Of this failure to complete construction, Gene Russianoff, an advocate for subway riders since 1981, stated: "It's the most famous thing that's never been built in New York City, so everyone is skeptical and rightly so. It's much-promised and never delivered."
### 1990s plans
With the city's economic and budgetary recovery in the 1990s, there was a revival of efforts to complete construction of the SAS. Rising ridership on the IRT Lexington Avenue Line, the only subway trunk line east of Central Park, demonstrated the need for the Second Avenue Line, as capacity and safety concerns rose. The four-track IRT Lexington Avenue Line, the lone rapid transit option in the Upper East Side and East Harlem since the 1955 closure of the Third Avenue elevated, is the most crowded subway line in the country. The line saw an average of 1.3 million daily riders in 2015. This is more than the daily ridership of the second-busiest subway system in the U.S., the Washington Metro, as well as more than the combined daily riderships of San Francisco's and Boston's transit systems. Local bus routes are just as crowded during various times of the day, with the parallel M15 local and M15 Select Bus Service routes seeing 46,000 passengers per weekday in 2016, translating to 14.5 million passengers that year.
In 1991, then-New York Governor Mario Cuomo allocated \$22 million to renew planning and design efforts for the Second Avenue line, but two years later, the MTA, facing budget cuts, removed these funds from its capital budget. In 1995, the MTA began its Manhattan East Side Alternatives (MESA) study, both a MIS and a DEIS, seeking ways to alleviate overcrowding on the Lexington Avenue Line and improve mobility on Manhattan's East Side.. Second Avenue was chosen over First Avenue for logistical reasons. The MTA started the Lower Manhattan Access Study (LMA) in November 1997. The construction of the Second Avenue Subway from 63rd Street to Lower Manhattan was one of the five building alternatives developed by the study. A 1999 DEIS only proposed new subway service on Second Avenue from 63rd to 125th Street, as well as swapping the local and express services on the Broadway Line. A spur to Grand Central Terminal was considered, but later dropped due to its infeasibility.
Due in part to strong public support, the MTA Board committed in April 2000 to building a full-length subway line along the East Side, from East Harlem to Lower Manhattan. In May 2000, the MTA Capital Program Review Board approved the MTA's 2000–2004 Capital Program, which allocated \$1.05 billion for the construction of the Second Avenue Subway. The next year, a contract for subway design was awarded to DMJM Harris/Arup Joint Venture. A new draft statement proposed the full-length line from 125th to 14th Streets; in Lower Manhattan; it was decided to build the line under Water Street.
In December 2001, the Federal Transit Administration approved the start of preliminary engineering on a full-length Second Avenue Subway. The MTA's final environmental impact statement (FEIS) was approved in April 2004. This latest proposal is for a two-track line from 125th Street and Lexington Avenue in Harlem, down Second Avenue to Hanover Square in the Financial District. The final plan called for the full-length Second Avenue line to carry two services: the T, with a route emblem colored , as well as a rerouted Q train. Phase 1 rerouted the Q, the Broadway Express via the BMT 63rd Street Line and north along Second Avenue, to the Upper East Side at 96th Street. Phase 2 will extend the rerouted Q train to 125th Street and Lexington Avenue. In Phase Three, the new T train will run from 125th Street to Houston Street. The final phase will extend T train service from Houston Street to Hanover Square in Lower Manhattan.
The 1.8-mile (2.9 km) first phase was built within budget, at \$4.45 billion. Its construction site was designated as being from 105th Street and Second Avenue to 63rd Street and Third Avenue. Deep bore tunneling methods were to be used in order to avoid the disruptions for road traffic, pedestrians, utilities and local businesses produced by cut-and-cover methods of past generations. Stations were to retain cut-and-cover construction. The total cost of the 8.5-mile (13.7 km) line is expected to exceed \$17 billion. In 2014, MTA Capital Construction President Dr. Michael Horodniceanu stated that the whole line may be completed as early as 2029, and would serve 560,000 daily passengers upon completion. As of December 2016, only Phases 1 and 2 would be completed by 2029. The line is described as the New York City Subway's "first major expansion" in more than a half-century. It would add two tracks to fill the gap that has existed since the elevated Second and Third Avenue Lines were demolished in the 1950s. According to the line's final environmental impact statement, the catchment area of the line's first phase would include 200,000 daily riders.
### Phase 1 construction
New York voters passed a transportation bond issue in November 2005, allowing for dedicated funding allocated for that phase. Its passage had been seen as critical to its construction, but the bond was passed only by a narrow margin, with 55% of voters approving and 45% disapproving. At the time, the MTA said that the project would be done in 2012 in case the city's 2012 Summer Olympics bid succeeded, which it had not. In December 2006, the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) announced that they would allow the MTA to commit up to \$693 million in funds to begin construction of the Second Avenue Subway and that the federal share of such costs would be reimbursed with FTA transit funds, subject to appropriations and final labor certification. The USDOT also later gave \$1.3 billion in federal funding for the project's first phase, to be funded over a seven-year period. Preliminary engineering and a final tunnel design was completed by a joint venture between AECOM and Arup.
In March 2007, upon completion of preliminary engineering, the MTA awarded a contract for constructing the tunnels, a launch box for the tunnel boring machine (TBM), and access shafts to S3, a joint venture of Schiavone Construction, Skanska USA Civil, and J.F. Shea Construction. A ceremonial groundbreaking took place on April 12, 2007, at the 99th Street tunnel segment built in the 1970s. Actual construction work began on April 23, 2007. At the time, it was announced that passengers would be able to ride trains on the new line by the end of 2013. Due to cost increases, several features of the subway were cut back soon after construction started: for instance, the 72nd Street station was downsized. The MTA also postponed its completion date several times to 2016.
In 2009, contracts were awarded for the 96th Street station box, as well as for excavation around the 86th Street stations. The TBM began boring the western tunnel southward from 96th Street in 2010. Contracts for tunnels to the Lexington Avenue–63rd Street station, and for the excavation of the 72nd Street station, were awarded in 2010. The following year, contracts were awarded for excavation of the cavern at the 86th Street station, as well as construction for the Lexington Avenue–63rd Street station.
The TBM, digging at a rate of approximately 50 feet (15 m) per day, finished its run at the planned endpoint under 65th Street on February 5, 2011, and started digging the eastern tunnel. On March 28, 2011, S3, having completed its task of completing the 7,200-foot (2,200 m) west tunnel to 65th Street, began drilling the east tunnel to the bellmouth at the existing Lexington Avenue–63rd Street station. The portion of the west tunnel remaining to be created was then mined using conventional drill-and-blast methods. In September 2011, the TBM completed its run to the Lexington Avenue–63rd Street station's bellmouth.
In July 2013, the MTA opened a Second Avenue Subway Community Information Center for Phase 1 at 1628 Second Avenue between 84th and 85th Streets. In the three years that followed, the center was visited over 20,000 times. The final contract for Phase 1 was awarded in June 2013. Blasting for the station caverns was finished in November 2013, and the muck houses were taken down at around the same time. In late 2013, many of the tracks and signal panels began to arrive at the construction site, to be installed on the line over the next few years.
In February 2016, the MTA allocated \$66 million to speed up the construction of the first phase so that it could open in December. Concerns about the line's timely opening persisted through October and November. Test trains started running on October 9, 2016, and out-of-service Q trains started running through the subway in November 2016. The new Third Avenue entrance to the Lexington Avenue–63rd Street station opened on December 30, 2016. The ceremonial first train, with several prominent officials in attendance, ran on New Year's Eve, and regular service began at noon the next day. About 48,200 passengers entered the new stations on January 1, excluding passengers who toured the line by entering at a station in the rest of the system.
Because of the opening of Phase 1, ridership on the Lexington Avenue Line at the 68th Street, 77th Street, 86th Street, and 96th Street stations decreased in January 2017 compared to January 2016. The Second Avenue Line's three stations and the renovated Lexington Avenue–63rd Street station saw an average weekday ridership of more than 150,000 by the end of January. The 72nd Street station was the busiest of the line's new stations, with an average daily ridership of 44,000. By April, taxi usage in the area also saw a decline of more than 20% compared to before the line's opening.
By February 2018, there were 190,000 riders per weekday, within the 5% margin of error for the 200,000-daily-rider estimate given in the Environmental Impact Statement. Rush-hour ridership was within 2% of projections. In November 2017, because of the increasing demand, Q service was increased by one trip during each rush hour, and one northbound R trip was rerouted from the IND Queens Boulevard Line to further boost service. This trip returns southbound in Q service.
### Phase 2 construction
The second phase, between 125th and 96th Streets, was allocated \$535 million in the MTA's 2015–2019 Capital Plan for planning, design, environmental studies and utility relocation. Three new stations will be constructed at 125th Street, 116th Street and 106th Street. A transfer to the Lexington Avenue Line and an intermodal connection with Metro-North Railroad would be available at the Harlem–125th Street station.
The original plan called for the main line to turn west onto 125th Street with tail tracks to Fifth Avenue, while tail tracks would continue north on a spur via Second Avenue to 129th Street. However, the tail tracks to 129th Street, as well as a proposed ancillary building at 127th Street and Second Avenue, were removed in a June 2018 update to the plans. The change in tail tracks was made because it was found that providing tail tracks at the line's terminal will more efficiently facilitate subway service.
A bellmouth provision for extension to the Bronx remains, though shifted closer to the 116th Street station at 118th Street. Here, two outer tracks will head west toward 125th Street while space for two inner tracks will allow for an extension to the Bronx. North of 120th Street, the line will be constructed through the use of TBMs. South of 120th Street, the line will utilize the 99th–105th and 110th–120th Streets tunnel sections built during the 1970s, with a cut-and-cover tunnel connecting the segments between 105th and 110th Streets.
The Phase 2 budget was originally \$1.5 billion, which would be used to start construction of the tunnels. The MTA reduced the amount of money allocated in the budget, projecting that the agency would not be able to start construction by the end of the 5-year cycle in 2019. In April 2016, the MTA and the State of New York reached a deal to restore funding to Phase 2, with a total of \$1.035 billion allocated. This budget was raised by \$700 million in May 2017. By August 2017, preliminary work on the line was underway, and design of the project was being performed by Phase 2 Partnership, a joint venture of Parsons-Brinckerhoff and STV. The EIS and design were finished in 2018. In July 2018, the MTA published a Supplemental Environmental Assessment for the SAS FEIS. The FTA issued a Finding of No Significant Impact for the project on November 15, 2018.
A Second Avenue Subway Community Information Center for Phase 2, along 125th Street between Park and Madison Avenues, opened in September 2017, delayed by four months. The administration of Joe Biden approved funding for Phase 2 of the Second Avenue Subway in November 2021, and land acquisition for Phase 2 started in April 2022. The MTA began soliciting bids for the first construction contracts in July 2023, and estimated that construction would start by the end of the year.
### Phases 3 and 4
Phase 3, which has no funding commitments, would extend the line southward along Second Avenue from 63rd Street to Houston Street. Upon its completion, a new service will operate running between 125th and Houston Streets. Phases 2 and 3, classified as a high-priority project by the Trump administration, may cost up to a combined total of \$14.2 billion.
Phase 4, which also has no funding commitments, will provide an extension from Houston Street to a permanent terminus, with storage tracks, at Hanover Square. These storage tracks, initially recommended in the SDEIS, would allow for the storage of four trains, and they would run south of Hanover Square from Coenties Slip to a traffic island located near Peter Minuit Plaza at a depth of 110 feet (34 m). The Hanover Square terminal is only planned to be able to turn back 26 trains per hour instead of 30 as less capacity will be needed on the line south of 63rd Street. The Hanover Square station will be deep enough to allow for the potential extension of Second Avenue Subway service to Brooklyn through a new tunnel under the East River.
## Design and cost
### Features
The stations on the line were built to be wider than most other underground subway stations in the system. Because of this, Horodniceanu likened the Second Avenue Subway stations to the stations on the Washington Metro. All stations on the line feature 615-foot-long (187 m) platforms, with 800–1,400 ft (240–430 m) overall lengths to provide space for power stations and ventilation plants. Tracks are built on rubber pads, which reduces noise from trains.
In August 2006, the MTA revealed that all future subway stations—including stations on the Second Avenue Subway and the 7 Subway Extension, as well as the new South Ferry station—would be outfitted with air-cooling systems to reduce the temperature along platforms by as much as 10 °F (6 °C). In early plans, the Second Avenue Subway was also to have platform screen doors to assist with air-cooling, energy savings, ventilation, and track safety, but this plan was scrapped in 2012 as cost-prohibitive. Stations constructed as part of Phase 2 may receive platform screen doors depending on the results of studies being conducted for their installation elsewhere.
### Construction methods
The construction of the 8.5 miles (13.7 km) of the Second Avenue Subway underneath densely populated Manhattan will require the use of several construction methods, depending on the section of the line. The line's tunnels will largely consist of twin tunnels with diameters of up to 23.5 feet (7.2 m). About 90% of the tunneling is to be performed by tunnel boring machines. The rest will be done using the cut-and-cover method, or through the use of mined drill-and-blast, for sections averaging 275 meters (902 ft) in length, namely the station boxes. The methods used to construct the sections of the line were confirmed in 2003, with a modification of the section north of 120th Street announced in 2016.
#### Phase 1
Phase 1 of the Second Avenue Subway was constructed between the Lexington Avenue–63rd Street station on the 63rd Street Lines and an existing tunnel segment between 99th Street and 105th Street, with a terminal station at 96th Street. In Phase 1, tunneling was completed between East 63rd Street and East 92nd Streets through the use of TBMs. The TBM launch box was 814-by-75-foot-wide (248 by 23 m), and is now part of the 96th Street station. Two access shafts were constructed for the 72nd Street station. Slurry or diaphragm walls, 1.1 meters (3.6 ft) wide and 6.1 meters (20 ft) long and about 35 meters (115 ft) deep, were built alongside the sections between East 93rd and 95th Streets.
Since the rock is shallower between East 91st and 93rd Streets, 1.1-meter-diameter (3.6 ft) secant piles did the same work at shallower depths. Earth excavation was conducted between walls once they were installed, and box structures were built using a bottom-up construction method. Temporary decking constituted the top of the boxes, and the decking both braced the excavation and supported the walls and Second Avenue traffic.
The stations at 86th and 72nd Streets were mined. This was challenging, given the number of expensive high rise properties in their vicinities. The 96th Street cut-and-cover station was about 15 meters (49 ft) deep, making it one of the shallowest stations being built on the line. The shallowness was so that the new line could align with the preexisting piece of subway tunnel built in the 1970s between 99th and 105th Streets. Stations at the two mined stations are between 25.9 and 27.4 meters (85 and 90 ft) deep in rock. The construction method that was used was supposed to ease concerns for buildings above the station sites, because only two shafts were required for excavation.
Of the below-ground obstacles, Arup director of construction David Caiden stated: "It's a spaghetti of tunnels, utilities, pipes and cables—I've never seen anything like it." Complicating the process, the project must go over, or under, subway lines, Amtrak railway lines, and the Queens-Midtown Tunnel linking Manhattan and Queens, in later phases. There were geological anomalies along the way of Phase 1. Manhattan's geology changes along the subway's length, passing through rock and soft ground, consisting of sands, silts, and clays over Manhattan schist, and there are faults and shear zones as well as fractured rock.
Hard-rock TBMs 6.7 meters (22 ft) in diameter, 450 feet (140 m) in length, and 485 short tons (433 long tons) in weight were used to tunnel during the first phase, progressing at a rate of about 20 meters (66 ft) per day. The tunnels near the 125th Street station would need to go through soft soil in addition to diving underneath the existing IRT Lexington Avenue Line. The soft-soil tunnels are in contrast to the hard-rock bored tunnels south of 92nd Street and the cut-and-cover tunnels north of that point (necessitated because Manhattan's rock profile drops sharply north of 92nd Street).
#### Phase 2
Phase 2 will extend the line north from the 96th Street station to the Harlem–125th Street subway station at Lexington Avenue. North of 120th Street, it will be constructed through the use of TBMs. The TBM Launch Box will be located between 121st Street and 122nd Street on Second Avenue. The TBMs will head north under Second Avenue to 118th Street before turning slightly east to curve under the East River Houses, turning west on 125th Street, crossing Lexington Avenue, before ending either 325 feet (99 m) east of Lenox Avenue or 275 feet (84 m) to the west of Lenox Avenue to accommodate storage tracks. The line is designed as to not preclude the construction of a station at Lenox Avenue and the extension of the line west along 125th Street.
South of 120th Street, the line will utilize a tunnel section built during the 1970s, located between 110th Street and 120th Street. This section will have tracks and other essential equipment installed, like that of the rest of the line. Cut-and-cover will be used to connect the existing tunnel section to the bored section to the north (at 120th Street) and to the portion of the line already in operation to the south (at 105th Street) to maximize the use of the tunnel sections built in the 1970s. A bellmouth will be constructed to allow for a future extension to the Bronx at 118th Street. The storage tracks west of the 125th Street station would replace the storage tracks north of the 96th Street station, which would then be used in revenue service as part of Phase 2.
A transfer will be constructed at the eastern end of the Second Avenue Subway's Harlem–125th Street station to connect to the IRT Lexington Avenue Line's 125th Street station. A new lower-level mezzanine will house the connection between the two stations, directly connecting to the downtown platform for Lexington Avenue service. The direct connection to the staircases to the upper level will be rebuilt. At the western end of the station, staircases will lead to Park Avenue, allowing passengers to walk to the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem–125th Street station.
The station entrances for 106th Street and 116th Street will be located on the east side of Second Avenue so as to avoid utilities located on the west side of the street and to avoid potential adverse effects to the East Harlem Historic District.
#### Phases 3 and 4
Phases 3 and 4 will extend the line south from 63rd Street to Houston Street and Hanover Square, respectively. As part of Phase 3, a connection to the IND 63rd Street Line would be built, allowing for non-revenue moves into Queens. This connection will be constructed through underground drilling and blasting. Bellmouths already exist for this connection east of the Lexington Avenue–63rd Street station. This section, like the rest of the line, will mainly consist of a two-track line. Between 21st Street and 9th Street, two additional tracks will be constructed on either side of the main alignment to allow for the storage of eight trains. This location was selected due to the sufficient depth of the area. The third phase would pass above several East River tunnels, including the 63rd Street Tunnel, the 60th Street Tunnel, the 53rd Street Tunnel, the Steinway Tunnel at 42nd Street, and the East River Tunnels at 32nd and 33rd Streets.
Like Phase 1, the sections between stations will largely be constructed through the use of TBMs, while stations will be constructed through cut-and-cover and mining, allowing for the construction of station caverns, shafts, and entrances. Five transfers are planned to connect stations on the Second Avenue Line and nearby stations on adjacent lines, increasing travel options for passengers. The transfer at Grand Street will require the construction of a mezzanine below the existing station, allowing for a vertical transfer to be constructed. The existing station will have to be rebuilt to accommodate the increased volume of passengers using the station. The Houston Street station's transfer to the Second Avenue station of the IND Sixth Avenue Line would require some construction within the existing station.
The remaining three transfers are being proposed, and will be constructed, barring the increased cost of their construction. The transfer to the BMT Canarsie Line's Third Avenue station would consist of a passageway that will be 200 feet (61 m) long. The most complicated of the transfers will be the connection between the 42nd Street station and the Grand Central station on the IRT Flushing Line. To allow for the connection to be built, a 900-foot long tunnel would be built under 42nd Street from the west side of Third Avenue to Second Avenue.
The Flushing Line station might have to be significantly reconstructed in anticipation of the increased volume of passengers and due to Americans with Disabilities Access requirements for the transfer. To allow for necessary vents and emergency exits to be built, cut-and-cover would be used. The final transfer would be between the 55th Street station and the Lexington Avenue–53rd Street station on the IND Queens Boulevard Line. Either shielded mining or cut-and-cover would be used to complete the connection. The existing station would have to be modified to allow for the transfer passageway to be built.
Three construction options were evaluated during the project's Environmental Impact Study for the portion of the line between 11th Street and Hanover Square. One option known as the Shallow Chrystie Option would mainly use cut and cover, while the Deep Chrystie Street and Forsyth Options would use a combination of tunneling by Earth Pressure Balance Machines (EPBMs) and cut and cover. The Shallow Chrystie Option would have used the existing Confucius Plaza tunnel section between Canal and Division Streets. Like the plan from the 1970s, there would have been a cross-platform transfer to the existing Grand Street station, with the transfer expected to be heavily used.
This option would require digging up Sara Delano Roosevelt Park to the east as Chrystie Street is not wide enough to fit four tracks. Under this option, a track connection would be built to allow trains from Second Avenue to run via the Manhattan Bridge north tracks to allow service to Brooklyn. The Forsyth Option would curve below the park to Forsyth Street and the station would be built under Forsyth Street, requiring a 200-foot transfer passageway that would be less convenient than the other options.
The Deep Chrystie Option would have the Second Avenue Subway run deeper underground, running underneath the existing Grand Street station, with a mezzanine in between the two stations. In order to allow for sufficient room for stairways to transfer to the Second Avenue Line, the Grand Street station would be widened to have twenty foot wide platforms. No track connection would be built under this option, and the Confucius Plaza tunnel section would not be used for subway service, but it instead might be used for ancillary subway facilities. Currently, this is the preferred option.
South of the terminal at Hanover Square, two tail tracks will be constructed through the use of a TBM to allow for the storage of four trains. The tracks would be built at a depth of about 110 feet (34 m) under Water Street, allowing the line to be deep enough to tunnel under the East River for a possible future extension into Brooklyn. Cut-and-cover would be used to build a vent facility at a traffic island located at Water and Whitehall Streets.
### Cost
There was controversy over the high cost of the line as a whole. The project was divided up into four phases, in part, to maximize the ability of the project to receive funding from the Federal Government as part of the Department of Transportation's New Starts Program. The initial projections for the cost of the line were made in the 2004 FEIS, with Phase 1 estimated to cost \$3.8 billion, Phase 2 estimated to cost \$3.4 billion, and Phases 3 and 4 each estimated to cost \$4.8 billion.
Phase 1 ended up costing \$500 million over its original budget of \$3.8 billion—still a very high price compared to other new subway systems worldwide. Regulations set by the Buy America Act forced the MTA to purchase materials made in the United States, which led to objections when an MTA contractor bought a fire suppression system made in Finland. Finally, the private and public sector could not cooperate smoothly on the project, further raising costs. Of the \$4.5 billion cost for Phase 1, \$2.4 billion was allocated to building the three new stations and renovating the Lexington Avenue–63rd Street station. Meanwhile, \$500 million was spent on design and engineering, and another \$734 million was for building tunnels between the stations, tracks, signals, and trackside systems.
The rest of the cost, \$800 million, was spent on "construction management, real estate, station artwork, fare-collection systems and other sundry items." The stations' cost was magnified by the depth of the stations and the enormity of the caverns that needed to be excavated. The Second Avenue Subway stations have full-length mezzanines, like the original IND but unlike other deep-level projects such as London's Crossrail. The stations will have full-length mezzanines as opposed to smaller mezzanines for each entrance to accommodate anticipated ridership for the full-length line and to comply with emergency egress requirements.
In December 2016, after it was announced that Phase 2 might cost \$6 billion, transit experts expressed concern that the Second Avenue Subway might be so excessively costly as to preclude construction of Phases 3 and 4, as well as future expansions. One expert stated that the Phase 1 project was the most expensive subway project in the world, and that compared to other subway systems around the world, the cost of building new subways in New York City was much higher. The Second Avenue Subway's per-mile construction cost is higher than that of other projects in similar cities like London's Crossrail and Paris's Grand Paris Express, which themselves are among the most expensive underground-railway projects in the world. MTA officials stated that the Second Avenue Subway cost as much as it did only because of the complex underground infrastructure in Manhattan, as well as the fact that the New York City Subway operates 24/7 service.
### Artwork
For Phase 1 of the Second Avenue Subway, four contemporary artists were chosen to design artwork for the 96th, 86th, 72nd, and 63rd Street stations. The project consisted of four permanent installations: Blueprint for a Landscape by Sarah Sze at 96th Street; Subway Portraits by Chuck Close at 86th Street; Perfect Strangers by Vik Muniz at 72nd Street; and Elevated by Jean Shin at 63rd Street. These public artworks were sponsored and commissioned as part of the MTA Arts & Design program.
## Service patterns
### Routes
The opening of Phase 1 extended Q service to 96th Street from its former terminal at 57th Street. The Q service has a rush-hour service frequency of 7 to 10 trains per hour. By contrast, the IRT Lexington Avenue Line's express tracks () have an estimated rush-hour frequency of 30 trains per hour, or one train approximately every 2 minutes in each direction. As part of the 2004 Final Environmental Impact Study (FEIS) for the line, the Q service was planned to have a frequency of 14 trains per hour during rush hours, but this was revised due to MTA schedule changes.
A few rush hour N trains that formerly short-turned at 57th Street began to run to 96th Street in January 2017. The northbound trips are labeled as Q trains via the Sea Beach Line to reduce passenger confusion. Starting in November 2017, one northbound R train has served the line during weekday mornings, boosting service. From April 2019 to April 2020, weekend and evening M service was also diverted on the Second Avenue Subway to accommodate extra passengers during the 14th Street Tunnel shutdown.
In Phase 2, all current services will be extended to 125th Street and Lexington Avenue. As part of the 2004 FEIS, it was planned for the Q service to be increased to 19 trains per hour to accommodate the projected increase in ridership. In order to allow for the construction of Phase 3, bellmouths have been constructed at the turnoff to the BMT 63rd Street Line.
### Future full-length designation
When the construction of Phase 3 is completed, a new T service will operate from Harlem–125th Street to Houston Street. After Phase 4 opens, T service will run the full length of the line, from Harlem–125th Street to Hanover Square. T service is planned to operate at a frequency of 14 trains per hour during rush hours, with the combined frequency north of 72nd Street with Q service being 28 trains per hour. With the opening of Phase 3, the frequency of Q service is planned to be reduced from 19 to 14 trains per hour.
The MTA decided to designate the future service with the letter T, in part because:
- H is the Rockaway Park Shuttle's internal route designator, which has occasionally been used publicly, most notably from 1986–93 and again in 2012–13 following Hurricane Sandy.
- The letters I and O are too easily confused with the numbers 1 and 0, respectively.
- The letter K was used until the late 1980s to denote services on the IND Eighth Avenue Line, and earlier on the BMT Jamaica Line, and thus is not preferred.
- The letters P, U and Y are more easily confused with common words.
- The letter V was in use at the time (and until 2010) to denote services on the IND Sixth Avenue Line and IND Queens Boulevard Line.
The T's route emblem is colored (hex triplet \#00ADD0, which could also be considered robin's egg blue or teal) because the color had also been used for the JFK Express in the past. In 2011, turquoise was considered "the color of the year", and at the time of the color's selection in the 2000s, it was considered a very upscale color.
## Station listing
Three stations are part of Phase 1, which opened in January 2017. Three more are planned for Phase 2 (including one transfer to an existing line); six more in Phase 3 (including up to four transfers); and four more in Phase 4 (including one transfer).
## See also
- Fulton Center
- Lower Manhattan–Jamaica/JFK Transportation Project
- Transportation in New York City
|
23,372,357 |
Coeur Alaska, Inc. v. Southeast Alaska Conservation Council
| 1,168,632,243 | null |
[
"2009 in United States case law",
"2009 in the environment",
"Environmental impact of mining",
"United States Supreme Court cases",
"United States Supreme Court cases of the Roberts Court",
"United States environmental case law"
] |
Coeur Alaska, Inc. v. Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, 557 U.S. 261 (2009), is a United States Supreme Court case that was decided in favor of Coeur Alaska's permit to dump mine waste in a lake. The case addressed tailings from the Kensington mine, an underground mine located in Alaska. The gold mine had not operated since 1928, and Coeur Alaska obtained a permit in 2005 from the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to dispose of up to 4.5 million tons of tailings in Lower Slate Lake, which is located in a National Forest.
The suit was filed by three environmental non-governmental organizations and brought before the United States District Court for the District of Alaska who found in favor of Coeur Alaska. The District Court's decision was overturned by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals before being brought before the Supreme Court, who also found in favor of Coeur Alaska.
The ruling was praised by the National Mining Association for the economic benefit it provided. Environmental groups criticised the decision for the impact it would have on Lower Slate Lake, and the opportunity for its use as a precedent in the future. In March 2009 proposed legislation, the Clean Water Protection Act, was introduced in Congress to remove mining waste from the definition of "fill material."
## Background
In 2005 Coeur Alaska Inc., a subsidiary of Coeur d'Alene Mines, successfully applied for a tailings disposal permit from the USACE. The permit allowed Coeur Alaska to dispose of 4.5 million tons of tailings from the Kensington gold mine, 45 mi (72 km) north of Juneau, into Lower Slate Lake. The mine operated in the early 20th century, but had been inactive since 1928. The lake is 3 miles (4.8 km) from the mine, within the Tongass National Forest.
The discharge of material into waters of the United States is regulated under the Clean Water Act by either the USACE or the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), depending on what the material is. Discharge of "fill material" falls under the jurisdiction of the USACE; discharge of other pollutants falls under the jurisdiction of the EPA. In 2005 Coeur was granted a permit to dispose of tailings into Lower Slate Lake by the USACE under section 404 of the Clean Water Act. The decision was based on the definition of "fill material" which had been revised in 2002 under the administration of George W. Bush. This new definition allowed some contaminants to be included in mine waste and still be classified as fill. The permit allowed Coeur to dump 4.5 million tons of a combination of waste rock and tailings into Lower Slate Lake over a period of ten years, causing the floor elevation of the lake to rise by 50 ft (15 m).
After the USACE issued the permit, the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, the Sierra Club, and Lynn Canal Conservation Inc. filed suit. The suit claimed that the permit was issued in violation of sections 301(a), 301(e), and 306(e) of the Clean Water Act. The United States District Court for the District of Alaska found that the USACE was correct in its application of section 404 of the act, because the permit was for "fill material", and therefore not covered under or in violation of sections 301(e) and 306(e).
In May 2007 the District Court's 2006 decision was overturned by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. The Circuit Court found in favor of the non-governmental organizations, ruling that discharge of tailings was not permitted under the EPA's New Source Performance Standard.
## Opinion of the Court
The Supreme Court found in favor of Coeur Alaska by a vote of 6–3, agreeing that the USACE is indeed the appropriate body to issue a permit to discharge mine waste into Lower Slate Lake. In her dissent, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg stated that currently discharging pollutants into a lake is permitted provided there is enough material to raise the lake's floor elevation, thereby turning it into a waste disposal site. Ginsburg voiced concern about the potential for pollution regulation to not apply to several industries (mining included) on the basis of this loophole.
## Subsequent developments
The decision was praised by the National Mining Association, which stated that it would "provide employment and greater economic certainty for all those involved in the project". Alaska Governor Sarah Palin also welcomed the ruling, calling it a "green light for responsible resource development". The environmental groups that originally filed suit against Coeur Alaska were unhappy with the decision. Environmental groups stated that the proposed material includes aluminum, lead, and mercury (among other metals), and that discharging into Lower Slate Lake will have a detrimental effect on the lake and surrounding waters. A representative from Earthjustice warned of the ruling being used as a precedent, allowing other companies to discharge pollutants into other rivers and lakes. Following the court's decision share prices of Coeur d'Alene Mines rose over 5%.
In March 2009 a bill, the Clean Water Protection Act, was introduced in Congress by Frank Pallone and Dave Reichert. The Clean Water Protection Act would have changed the definition of "fill material" in the Clean Water Act. Under the new definition "fill material" would have excluded mine waste.
## See also
- List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 557
- List of United States Supreme Court cases
|
63,423,576 |
Tropical Storm Olga (2019)
| 1,173,150,919 |
Atlantic tropical storm in 2019
|
[
"2019 Atlantic hurricane season",
"Atlantic tropical storms",
"Hurricanes in Louisiana",
"Hurricanes in Mississippi",
"Hurricanes in Tennessee"
] |
Tropical Storm Olga was a short-lived tropical cyclone that caused unexpected severe damage as a non-tropical system along its track across the Central United States in late October 2019. The storm began as a distinct tropical wave that moved off Africa on October 8 and organized into a tropical storm over the Bay of Campeche early on October 25. It moved north-northeast, transitioning into an extratropical cyclone within 12 hours. The remnants of the cyclone made landfall in central Louisiana early on October 26 and continued across the Eastern United States and into Ontario, where it dissipated on October 28.
The severity of the storm along its track from Louisiana through Tennessee caught meteorologists by surprise. Intense winds inflicted severe damage, and downed numerous trees onto homes, vehicles, and roadways. In Louisiana, power was cut to 132,000 customers statewide. A peak rainfall accumulation total of 10.24 in (260 mm) was observed near Ponchatoula, with lesser amounts across the state. The remnants of the storm continued into Mississippi, where 772 homes were damaged or lost, 26 businesses impacted, and 27 roads damaged or destroyed; effects were particularly severe in Tupelo. At least 154,000 power outages were reported across the state; in the storm's wake there, a 34-year-old man was killed cleaning tree debris, although this death was not acknowledged by the National Hurricane Center (NHC) in its Tropical Cyclone Report. In Tennessee, a wide swath of winds up to 96 mph (154 km/h) resulted in nearly 65,000 power outages that forced school closures for up to two weeks in several counties, and a 63-year-old man was killed by a downed tree. Total damage along the path of the cyclone was estimated at \$400 million.
## Meteorological history
A well-organized tropical wave moved off the western coastline of Africa on October 8. High wind shear across the tropical Atlantic hampered the wave from developing into a tropical cyclone even as it showed intermittent signs of convective organization. The disturbance progressed into the eastern Caribbean Sea on October 17 and reached Central America five days later. After crossing the Yucatán Peninsula into the Bay of Campeche by October 24, the wave spawned a broad area of low pressure. The diffuse circulation became better defined the next morning, when satellite-derived wind data indicated it was already producing gale-force winds. As such, the NHC upgraded the system to Tropical Storm Olga at 12:00 UTC on October 25 when it was about 390 miles (630 km) south-southwest of Lake Charles, Louisiana. The system's cloud pattern was characterized by a large cluster of deep thunderstorm activity within the northeastern quadrant. A broad upper-level trough to the west of the newly formed cyclone directed it on a general northeastward course.
Shortly after the time of formation, a reconnaissance aircraft found that a cold front was already impinging on Olga's circulation, while maximum sustained winds had increased to 45 mph (72 km/h); slightly stronger winds trailed the frontal boundary. However, since the boundary had not yet moved through the system's circulation, Olga persisted as a tropical cyclone. The final passes conducted by the reconnaissance aircraft a few hours later found strong northwesterly flow and a sharp gradient in temperature and dew point near the center that had either been overtaken by the front or become poorly defined. As such, Olga transitioned into an extratropical cyclone by 00:00 UTC on October 26, with winds of 50 mph (80 km/h) as the earlier measurements behind the front became representative of the overall system. It was positioned roughly 225 miles (362 km) south-southeast of Lake Charles at the time. The post-tropical cyclone continued north-northeast and crossed the southeastern Louisiana coastline around 07:00 UTC. It progressed inland across the Eastern United States, crossed Lake Huron, and finally dissipated over southeastern Ontario by 00:00 UTC on October 28.
## Preparations and impact
The National Hurricane Center did not issue tropical cyclone warnings and watches along the Gulf Coast of the United States, as they expected Olga to become a post-tropical cyclone prior to landfall. However, local weather forecast offices of the National Weather Service laid in place gale warnings and coastal flood advisories among other hazard messages. Nearly 8 million residents throughout the Southern United States were placed under flash flood watches. In advance of Olga's remnants in Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana, all floodgates and flood control systems were closed to prevent major flooding. New Orleans lifted parking restrictions on neutral grounds and sidewalks, allowing citizens to move their vehicles to higher ground in advance of the anticipated heavy rainfall. Along the entirety of its path, the remnants of Olga caused approximately \$400 million in damage.
### Louisiana
Tropical storm-force winds overspread much of southeastern Louisiana, with a maximum statewide gust of 73 mph (117 km/h) in Mandeville. These winds were short in duration as the remnants of Olga moved rapidly north-northeast, but the severity of the storm caught meteorologists and local officials off guard. The New Orleans and Lake Charles branches of the National Weather Service expressed their intention to further study the event in order to better prepare for similar systems in the future. The energy companies Entergy and Cleco reported damage to 260 and 35 power poles, respectively; Entergy reported the most significant damage throughout New Orleans and Hammond. Gusty winds at the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport caused two separate electrical disruptions, resulting in the delay or cancellation of multiple flights; citywide, power outages were estimated around 17,000. At the nearby Voodoo Music + Arts Experience, events were delayed to allow recovery from storm damage. A 25 ft (7.6 m) tall LED video wall was blown down and saw its plastic panels shattered. The Jazz Half marathon was also delayed until later in the morning. High winds damaged the perimeter fencing at the site of the Hard Rock Hotel collapse. Statewide, the number of power outages peaked around 132,000 customers, principally in Tangipahoa Parish. About 92,000 of those outages were among Entergy customers while the other 40,000 were associated with Cleco.
The remnants of Olga also produced heavy rainfall, with a peak statewide accumulation of 10.24 in (260 mm) to the east of Ponchatoula. Local amounts of 10–14 in (250–360 mm) overspread Terrebonne Parish, while more widespread accumulations of 6–8 in (150–200 mm) were recorded in portions of that parish northeastward into Washington Parish. At the height of the storm, flash flood emergencies were issued for Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes. The heavy rainfall brought challenges for sugarcane farmers who had already suffered in the wake of several heavy rainfall events in years past. In spite of this fact, dry soil conditions in the lead-up to Olga's remnants alleviated concerns about river flooding. Only a few rivers reached flood stage and mainly minor flooding was reported across the state. Water levels of 2–3 ft (0.61–0.91 m) above normal in southeastern Louisiana did cause minor coastal flooding there, including across the Mandeville Lakefront along the northern shore of Lake Pontchartrain. Coastal flooding of 1–2 ft (0.30–0.61 m) affected the central Louisiana coastline around high tide. Precipitation associated with Olga contributed to the second wettest year on record at New Orleans International Airport, after 1985.
### Mississippi
The strongest measured winds in relation to the remnants of Olga throughout the Eastern United States were observed in Mississippi. A storm chaser recorded a peak, hurricane-force wind gust of 74 mph (119 km/h) near Ripley. These strong winds downed countless trees, some up to 3 ft (0.91 m) in diameter, and caused extensive damage to structures and power lines across a 150 mi (240 km) swath through Mississippi and into Tennessee. A 34-year-old man was killed on Highway 489 in Newton County when a tree fell on him as he cleaned up tree debris, although this was death was not included in the NHC's final report. Union and Tippah counties each saw twenty roads closed by fallen trees and lines. Four roads were also closed in Pontotoc County, where two tractor trailer trucks were overturned on US 278. Roofing was ripped from houses, siding was torn from manufactured homes, and road signs were toppled. Statewide, 772 homes were lost or damaged, 26 businesses were affected, and 27 roads were damaged or destroyed. At the height of the storm, at least 154,000 power outages were reported.
Disruption to the electrical grid was particularly severe around Tupelo. One of the main power providers, Tombigbee Electric Power Association, estimated over 19,000 residents were without power at one point. Seventeen of the company's nineteen power substations suffered damage. Tupelo Water & Light reported at least 25 power poles were downed. Tupelo mayor Jason Shelton was trapped in his home and subsequently transferred to the hospital for injuries after a tree was downed on his home. The former city automotive museum suffered structural damage when the outer wall of the storage portion of the building collapsed. A fire station and car dealership were also damaged. Farther north, Alcorn County also recorded widespread damage. About 16,000 people were without power at the storm's worst, and 50 residences remained without power even nine days later. A state of emergency was declared, and schools throughout the county for closed for one day. Similar school closures were recorded across Prentiss and Alcorn counties. 4-County Electric Power Association reported more than 700 customers without power, mainly in Choctaw County, while the East Mississippi Electric Power Association documented an additional 500 in Winston County, and Prentiss County noted 700 more. Natchez Trace Electric Power Association, meanwhile, worked to restore power to the WTVA and WLOV-TV transmitters, allowing them to resume broadcasting at full power.
The maximum observed storm surge was 3.5 ft (1.1 m) above normal tide levels in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. The combined effects of storm surge and normal tide rose water levels to 2–3 ft (0.61–0.91 m) above normal along the Mississippi coastline, resulting in minor coastal flooding across Hancock County.
### Tennessee
A long swath of damaging winds that originated in Mississippi continued into Tennessee in McNairy County, where 21 homes were destroyed and an additional 880 were damaged. The hardest hit community in the county was reported to be Adamsville. In nearby, Milledgeville, a 63-year-old man was killed by a fallen tree. In Decatur County, a 300 ft (91 m) AT&T tower buckled and fell north of the county seat of Decaturville. A tree fell on a trailer home in the rural portions of the county, critically injuring a woman. There and in neighboring Benton and Henderson counties, seven tractor trailer trucks were blown off the Interstate 40 bridge over the Tennessee River, prompting a closure of the bridge for several hours. The remnants of Olga intensified across central Tennessee as a 5–10 mi (8.0–16.1 km) swath of severe downburst winds, estimated up to 96 mph (154 km/h), cut across Perry, Houston, Humphreys, and Montgomery counties. The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency estimated that damage throughout those four counties totaled \$8.07 million, with \$1.07 million in Perry County, \$2.41 million in Humphreys County, \$500,000 in Houston County, and \$4.09 million in Montgomery County. The Meriwether Lewis Electric Cooperative reported that 15,000 of the company's 35,000 meters were disabled by the storm, chiefly in Humphreys County. Extensive damage was reported throughout Clarksville, where 40,000 customers were left without power. Sixty-one utility poles and fifteen electricity transformers were disabled throughout the city, representing a harsher blow to the area than an ice storm in February 1994 and F3 tornado in January 1999. Grandstands at the Clarksville Speedway were toppled, while at the nearby Clarksville–Montgomery County Regional Airport, one hangar experienced a gas leak, several others saw damage, and two runways were closed after runway lights stopped working. Statewide, the number of power outages reached nearly 65,000.
### Elsewhere
Severe weather occurred concurrently with Olga's progression toward the United States Gulf Coast. While initial reports drew a connection between Olga and confirmed tornadoes across southwestern Alabama, meteorologists later established them as separate weather events. Moisture from Olga did, however, stream northward through Tuscaloosa, Alabama, producing an October accumulation record of 6.5 in (170 mm) there. Rainfall associated with Olga and preceding Tropical Storm Nestor contributed to monthly precipitation totals 150–300 percent of average throughout Virginia, the western Carolinas, central Georgia, and western Alabama. This was beneficial to a region suffering from prolonged drought. In Kentucky, winds up to 70 mph (110 km/h) brought down numerous trees onto homes, vehicles, and roadways. Tractor trailers and a recreational vehicle were overturned on Interstate 24. Rainfall accumulations of 2–3 in (51–76 mm) were commonplace across the western portions of the state, with lesser amounts elsewhere. This precipitation alleviated a flash drought from September. Farther north in Ontario, already-high water levels on Lake Erie were exacerbated by strong winds, sustained at 51 mph (82 km/h) and gusting to 65 mph (105 km/h) in Port Colborne. A water rise of at least 7.5 ft (2.3 m) was reported, causing the lake to overflow its banks and cause a number of road closures in Port Dover, Long Point, and Turkey Point. The nearby Niagara River also caused local inundation and road closures as waves up to 20 ft (6.1 m) crested over breakwaters across Fort Erie and Crystal Beach. Rainfall amounts of 1.2–1.6 inches (30–41 mm) were commonplace throughout southern Ontario, highest at 1.7 in (43 mm) on the opposing end of Lake Ontario in Oswego, New York.
## Aftermath
In the aftermath of the storm in Louisiana, St. Tammany Parish President Pat Brister issued an emergency declaration. The parish distributed emergency generators to assist water systems that lost power, alleviating concerns about having to boil water in the days following. Residents were directed to place their debris from downed trees on the right side of their roads for crews to collect. Cleco brought in 200 contractors and personnel from unaffected communities to repair damaged equipment, cut trees, and clear limbs from power lines. Entergy, meanwhile, faced questions concerning storm preparedness after customers were left without service for several days. Given Olga's status as a post-tropical cyclone at landfall in Louisiana, some homeowners questioned whether their damages could be filed as a hurricane deductible. Two days after the storm, the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services announced that Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients whose homes lost power for at least 24 consecutive hours would be eligible for replacement benefits.
In Mississippi, Tupelo Mayor Jason Shelton signed a proclamation of local emergency, declaring the city a disaster area. Twenty-five workers from four neighboring power associations aided in clean up. Tupelo Public Works engaged in tree debris pick-up along roadways. In Alcorn County, the American Red Cross established a shelter at the convention center to assist those without power; The Salvation Army provided it with food. Even a month later, tree debris continued to litter the streets in the county seat of Corinth. Believing his city did not have sufficient funds to swiftly eliminate storm debris, the alderman looked to outside contractors for help. He planned to open a declaration center within two weeks while working with local church groups to provide for those in need. Ultimately, 11 companies offered support for the clean-up job. Three-quarters of the clean-up cost was handled by the Federal Emergency Management Association. The city of Okolona planned to ask that agency for funds as well, and received \$72,000 for repairs in January. The Poplarville School Board of Trustees engaged with Mississippi Power to approve a \$40,729 service agreement to repair damaged light poles. Citing widespread and severe damage throughout the state, the Mississippi delegation to the United States Congress—senators Cindy Hyde-Smith and Roger Wicker, and representatives Bennie Thompson, Steven Palazzo, Trent Kelly, and Michael Guest—penned a request to U.S. President Donald Trump for full consideration of Governor Phil Bryant's request for a major federal disaster declaration for 16 counties. This request was approved a day later.
Throughout Tennessee, animal rescues were overwhelmed, especially in the rural counties of the state. Local officials voiced concerns about electrocution, fire risk, and carbon monoxide given the widespread power outages; these concerns were magnified after two people suffered carbon monoxide poisoning while operating generators inside their homes. In McNairy County, the Red Cross set up a shelter to distribute basic necessities. Schools in that county were closed for a week, while the prolonged power outages forced school closures for up to two weeks across Perry, Humphreys, Houston, and Montgomery counties. Eighteen counties across the state were selected by the Small Business Administration for disaster assistance to residents and businesses. The organization announced the opening of disaster-loan outreach centers for citizens to apply for low-interest disaster loans. Over the following months, over 700,000 loans were approved. In early December, senators Lamar Alexander and Marsha Blackburn, alongside representative Mark E. Green, backed Governor Bill Lee's request to President Trump for federal disaster assistance in ten counties. The members of Congress noted in their letter that eight of the ten counties requested for assistance were below the national poverty rate, and they noted the state had already spent \$22 million in disaster response to date. The request was approved that week.
## See also
- Timeline of the 2019 Atlantic hurricane season
- Other storms of the same name
- Tropical Storm Nestor (2019)
- Tropical Storm Cristobal (2020)
|
1,919,297 |
Mama (Spice Girls song)
| 1,166,126,148 |
1997 single by Spice Girls
|
[
"1990s ballads",
"1997 singles",
"Comic Relief singles",
"Irish Singles Chart number-one singles",
"Music videos directed by Big T.V.",
"Number-one singles in Austria",
"Number-one singles in Scotland",
"Pop ballads",
"Song recordings produced by Richard Stannard (songwriter)",
"Songs about mothers",
"Songs written by Emma Bunton",
"Songs written by Geri Halliwell",
"Songs written by Matt Rowe (songwriter)",
"Songs written by Mel B",
"Songs written by Melanie C",
"Songs written by Richard Stannard (songwriter)",
"Songs written by Victoria Beckham",
"Spice Girls songs",
"UK Singles Chart number-one singles"
] |
"Mama" is a song by the British girl group the Spice Girls. It was written by the Spice Girls, Matt Rowe and Richard Stannard, and produced by Rowe and Stannard for the group's debut album Spice, released in November 1996. "Mama" is a pop ballad that features instrumentation from keyboards, a rhythm guitar, a cello, and a violin, and its lyrics deal with the difficulties in relationships between mothers and daughters that appear during their childhood.
It was released as a double A-side with "Who Do You Think You Are", and became the official single of the 1997 Comic Relief. Its Big TV! directed music video, featured the group singing to an audience of children and their own mothers. Despite receiving mixed reviews from music critics, "Mama" was commercially successful. Released as the album's fourth single in March 1997, it became their fourth consecutive number-one single in the United Kingdom, which made the Spice Girls the first act in UK chart history to have its first four singles reach number one. It was certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). The single performed well internationally, reaching the top ten in many European countries and New Zealand, and the top fifteen in Australia.
## Writing and inspiration
"Mama" was written by the Spice Girls with songwriting partners Matt Rowe and Richard Stannard. In an interview about the writing process between the group and the duo, Rowe credits Mel B as the one who came up with the song's concept. During the writing process, each member wrote a small verse in a different corner of the recording studio, while the chorus was finished around the piano with a guitar. Then, the producers added a gospel choir filled with the group's harmonies at the end of the song. Brown explained the song's inspiration on the book Real Life: Real Spice The Official Story:
> We wrote 'Mama' when I was going through a bad phase with my mum. The sentiments are really that your mum's probably the best friend that you've got. Whether she's an over-protective mother or a bit of a landmine, she probably knows you better than yourself in some ways.
In the same book, Melanie C further elaborated: "'Mama's all about how you're such a cow to your mum when you're going through that rebellious teenage stage. Then when you get a bit older, you realise that whatever she was doing, she was only doing it for your own good. And you think: 'God, I was really horrible.'" "Mama" was released in the UK and Ireland as a double A-side along with "Who Do You Think You Are" in March 1997, timed not only for the Comic Relief telethon, but also for Mothering Sunday.
## Composition
"Mama" is a pop ballad, written in the key of A-flat major, it is set in the time signature of common time and moves at a moderate tempo of 100 beats per minute. The song is constructed in a verse-chorus form, with a bridge before the third chorus, and its instrumentation comes from keyboards, a rhythm guitar, a cello, and a violin.
It opens with an instrumental introduction, with a chord progression of D–E–Fm–E/G–A, that is used in the entire song. Bunton and Brown sing the first and second verse respectively. The bridge and third chorus follow. Then a choir, arranged by Mark Beswick, supplements the group during the last part of the song. "Mama" ends with the group repeating the chorus until the song gradually fades out. Lyrically, the song deals with the difficulties in the relationships between mothers and teenagers that appears during the adolescence, and it was dedicated to the group's mothers.
## Reception
### Critical response
"Mama" received mixed reviews from music critics. The Daily Mirror criticised the song saying "Yuk! We don't want our Spice Girls sweet, ta very much. They should concentrate on the raunch and let Daniel O'Donnell take care of the mums." Dev Sherlock of Yahoo! Music Radio called it a "glossy ballad that would do Mariah Carey proud". Edna Gundersen of the USA Today said that their album Spice "is assembly-line dance-pop", adding that "only the funky 'Say You'll Be There' and touchingly cornball 'Mama' hint at depth".
In a review of their album Spice, Ken Tucker from Entertainment Weekly called it "a fearlessly corny ballad", and added that it "will likely keep them from being one-hit wonders in America". Melissa Ruggieri of the Richmond Times-Dispatch said that in the song, the girls "are sunny vocalists who harmonize with perfumey sweetness when called upon". Daniel Incognito of Sputnikmusic said that in "Mama" the group "sing with heartfelt emotion", and added that "their somewhat amateurish singing is brought up and pushed along by the production crew, harmonising nicely into a stirring pop hook".
### Chart performance
"Mama" was released in the UK as a double A-side single with "Who Do You Think You Are" on 3 March 1997. It debuted on the UK Singles Chart at number one on Mother's Day, with sales of 248,000 copies, becoming the group's fourth consecutive chart-topper. This achievement made the Spice Girls the first act in UK chart history to have its first four singles reach number one, breaking the record set by Gerry & The Pacemakers, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers, and Robson & Jerome with three number ones each. It spent three weeks at number one, nine weeks in the top forty, fifteen weeks in the top seventy-five, and sold 786,000 copies as of May 2019, earning a platinum certification by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).
"Mama" was commercially successful in Europe. It peaked at number three on the Eurochart Hot 100, and performed similarly in other European charts. It became the group's third number-one single in Ireland, and peaked inside the top ten in Belgium (both the Flemish and French charts), Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Switzerland. "Mama" was released as a standalone single in Austria and Finland. In Austria, it was released on 23 March 1997, debuting on the Ö3 Austria Top 40 at number thirty-one. It peaked at number one in its ninth week, and remained fifteen weeks on the chart.
In Oceania, its commercial performance was generally positive, though not as overwhelming as their three first singles. In New Zealand, it debuted on 23 March 1997 at number ten, while their three first singles were slowly descending from the chart. It peaked at number six and stayed fifteen weeks on the chart. In Australia, it did not perform as well as their previous releases. On 27 July 1997, it debuted on the singles chart at number thirteen, but was unable to reach a higher position and dropped off the chart after fourteen weeks.
## Music video
The music video for "Mama" was directed in February 1997 by Big TV!, and filmed in a studio in Ealing, London. It features the group singing to an audience of children and their own mothers. The video alternated between this scenes and shots of 10 child actors playing younger versions of the Spice Girls doing various things all together, such as playing and practicing singing and dancing, though none of the group's members grew up together. It also shows each mother of the girls holding a picture of their daughter.
There are two versions of the music video, which are edited slightly differently to one another.
The original video features the crowd chanting "Spice Girls," then Geri and Emma arriving at the stage in a convertible, Victoria and Mel B entering the stage through a set of wooden French doors, and Mel C arriving on the stage by sliding down a rope. It has a young boy directing the show, and has Emma start the singing standing up on stage.
Whereas the re-edited version pans to the girls already sat in a circle on stage, along with a slide show displaying photos of the real band members as children. This version has Emma start the singing sitting down on her stool.
About the shoot, Victoria Beckham commented: "It took such a long time to film the 'Mama' video, but it was nice that our mums were there and could see what we're doing. It's good, because they were actually knackered at the end of the day and I said to my mum: 'Ha! Now you know how I feel every day!" Geri Halliwell commented: "I found it a bit bizarre bringing my mum to work with me on the 'Mama' video. You know: 'This is what I do—come and do it, too.' If you worked in Sainsbury's, you wouldn't get your mum to sit with you on the till".
## Live performances
The song was performed many times on television, including An Audience with..., Live & Kicking, Top of the Pops, the 1997 Prince's Trust Gala, and the 1997 Comic Relief. In October 1997, the group performed it as the thirteenth song of their first live concert at the Abdi İpekçi Arena in Istanbul, Turkey. The performance was broadcast on Showtime in a pay-per-view event titled Spice Girls In Concert Wild!. However, the VHS and DVD release of the concert, Girl Power! Live in Istanbul, does not include the performance. The song was also used during the climax of their 1997 film, Spice World. In the scene, the group performs "Mama" at London's Royal Albert Hall, surrounded by the media and thousands of fans. The scene was included as a bonus performance in the VHS and DVD release of the movie.
The group have performed the song on their four tours, the Spiceworld Tour, the Christmas In Spiceworld Tour, the Return of the Spice Girls Tour and the Spice World - 2019 Tour. It remained in the group's live set after Halliwell's departure at the end of the European leg of the Spiceworld Tour. The performance at the tour's final concert can be found on the video: Spice Girls Live at Wembley Stadium, filmed in London, on 20 September 1998. During the Return of the Spice Girls tour, "Mama" was performed as the second song from the show's fifth segment. All five girls stood together holding hands to perform it, while the LED screens in the background showed photos of their mothers holding baby pictures of the group, and a montage of them and their children. For the British shows, fifty young girls from the Capital Children's Choir dressed in white came out from a platform and lined the stage against the backdrop screens to sing with the Spice Girls.
## Formats and track listings
These are the formats and track listings of major single releases of "Mama":
- UK CD1/Australian CD1/European CD1/Japanese CD
1. "Mama" (Radio Version) – 3:40
2. "Who Do You Think You Are" (Radio Version) – 3:44
3. "Baby Come Round" – 3:22
4. "Mama" (Biffco mix) – 5:49
- German CD
1. "Mama" (Radio Version) – 3:40
2. "Mama" (Album Version) – 5:03
3. "Who Do You Think You Are" (Radio version) – 3:44
- Digital EP
1. "Mama" (Biffco Mix) – 5:49
2. "Who Do You Think You Are" (Radio Version) – 3:44
3. "Baby Come Round" – 3:22
## Credits and personnel
- Spice Girls – lyrics, vocals
- Matt Rowe – lyrics, producer, keyboards and programming
- Richard Stannard – lyrics, producer, keyboards and programming
- Dave Way and Absolute – audio mixing
- Adrian Bushby – recording engineer
- Patrick McGovern – assistant
- Greg Lester – rhythm guitar
- Tony Ward – cello
- Jackie Drew – violin
- Mark Beswick – choir arrangement
Published by Windswept Pacific Music Ltd/PolyGram Music Publishing Ltd.
## Charts
All entries charted with "Who Do You Think You Are" unless otherwise noted.
### Weekly charts
### Year-end charts
## Certifications
## Release history
|
61,265,745 |
We Are Here (collective)
| 1,148,540,271 |
Human rights campaign of migrants in Amsterdam
|
[
"2012 establishments in the Netherlands",
"European migrant crisis",
"Organisations based in Amsterdam",
"Organizations established in 2012",
"Squatters' movements",
"Squatting in the Netherlands"
] |
We Are Here (Dutch: Wij Zijn Hier) is a collective of migrants based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, which campaigns for human rights for its members and all undocumented migrants. The asylum seekers have in many cases had their applications to remain in the Netherlands denied but they either cannot go back or refuse to return to their country of origin. They demand access to social services such as medical care and housing. The group formed in 2012 and by 2015 contained over 200 migrants from around 15 countries.
The collective is constantly in flux as a result of individually precarious legal situations. Since its members refuse to use the homeless shelters offered by the city of Amsterdam, which can only be used from 5 p.m. until 9 a.m., the collective has squatted a chain of buildings in and around the city since 2012. Most buildings are quickly evicted, some have led to offshoot projects. The group is mostly composed of men originally from Africa, although there have also been women-only occupations. There have been some successes, such as the Vluchtmaat, where a long-term deal was negotiated with the owner, and some long-term squats such as the Vluchtgarage, where Amsterdam city council tolerated the occupation. As of 2017, roughly one hundred people from the group had gained Dutch residence permits.
By 2018, the new council had pledged to set up 24 hour shelters for up to 500 undocumented migrants, but We Are Here stated it was against the hostels since they were only for a short time period and it disputed the plan to send asylum seekers back to their country of origin at the end of the project. The collective has diversified into different subgroups occupying different buildings, such as a women-only group, a Swahili language group, and a group composed of people mainly from Ethiopia, Eritrea and Sudan.
## Background
Refugees seeking asylum in the Netherlands are assessed by the Immigration and Naturalisation Service and then either gain residency or fail to do so, based on their documentary evidence. For some who have fled warzones, it is difficult to provide documents or other proof for their claim. If the refugees fail to be granted asylum, they are given temporary housing and have 28 days to leave. Some people fall into what human rights groups term the "asylum gap" since they are unable to return to their country of origin, whilst others want to go back but cannot because they do not possess the required visas or identity documents. In 2016, it was estimated there were 35,000 undocumented migrants in the Netherlands. Without a residence permit they are denied access to social services such as healthcare and housing.
By the end of 2017, the migrants of the We Are Here collective had occupied over 30 buildings and parks. They argue that they should have access to basic needs such as housing and healthcare. The city council of Amsterdam refuses to accede to their demands. Much of the dispute with the council is that it only offers the so-called BBB service – Bed-Bath-Bread (Dutch: bed-bad-broodvoorziening) – that is to say an overnight accommodation open from 5 p.m. until 9 a.m., which cannot be stayed in during the day. The migrants reject this offer as insufficient and comment that the service is also often over-subscribed. The city council argues that its actions are limited by the policy of the Dutch Government. Therefore, We Are Here have chosen to squat a number of buildings to live in. By 2019, the total had risen to over 50 squats, according to the group. The occupations are tracked on a map hosted on the We Are Here website.
We Are Here is mostly composed of men originally from Africa. In some squats, such as the Vluchtgarage occupation, the collective has been men only. However, there have also been women only squats. The group's membership changes often since people are often being deported or detained. Overall, representatives of the group estimated that over one hundred people had gained residence permits by 2017. A spokesperson for the group, Khalid Jone, who escaped war in Sudan and had lived in the Netherlands for 16 years, was granted a residence permit in 2018. The collective regularly makes demonstrations highlighting the plight of individuals. It has also set up the We Are Here Academy, a scheme to offer university level qualifications for undocumented migrants.
In 2018, a newly elected Amsterdam city council, now controlled by a centre-left coalition of GroenLinks, D66, PvdA and SP, decided to go against the will of the Parliament and set up a 24-hour shelter for homeless failed asylum seekers. However, We Are Here as a group announced it would not make use of the shelter, since it would only exist for a maximum time of eighteen months and afterwards participants would be required to return to their country of origin. Since We Are Here was set up for people unable to return to their motherland, a spokesman said the plan offered no real solution. In March 2019, the council announced seven prospective sites for its plan to set up shelters for undocumented migrants. It was considering up to 23 sites, with around 30 beds at each. The cities of Rotterdam, Utrecht, Groningen and Eindhoven stated that they were all also looking for sites.
Femke Halsema, previously parliamentary leader of GroenLinks, started serving a six-year term as Mayor of Amsterdam in July 2018. In 2019, she discussed making the enforcement of the Dutch squatting ban tougher and suggested that the immigration police could be employed to stop the We Are Here collective squatting. GroenLinks asked for clarification since the tradition in Amsterdam is that illegal migrants are not searched for by the police. Halsema stated that if We Are Here members did nothing wrong they had nothing to fear, but that squatting was a criminal offence. GroenLinks stated it was troubled by this position.
## Significant occupations
### 2012–2017
We Are Here coalesced as a group in 2012, when a small number of asylum seekers whose claims had been rejected began a protest camp at the garden of the Diakonie on the Nieuwe Herengracht in the Grachtengordel in central Amsterdam. More migrants joined the protest, which then moved location to Notweg in Osdorp. The camp swelled to 130 people and received national media attention. The camp was evicted on 30 November. Everyone was arrested and some people were held in foreign detention (Dutch: vreemdelingendetentie).
After a few nights staying at the Vondelpark Bunker and OT301, the group squatted an empty church in Bos en Lommer. This became known as the Vluchtkerk, a portmanteau of the Dutch words for migrant (Dutch: vluchteling) and church (Dutch: kerk). This began the tradition of giving every new location a nickname, by adding 'Vlucht' to the type of place. The Vluchtkerk again generated a lot of media attention in the Netherlands. Celebrities such as popstar Anouk made solidarity performances.
The Vluchtkerk was occupied until 31 May 2013. Mayor of Amsterdam Eberhard van der Laan then asked the group to leave a building they had squatted on the Weteringschans and the council offered the migrants the possibility to stay in a former prison for 6 months. Many people refused, citing bad prior experiences of prisons, but 75 others took the opportunity and it became known as the Vluchthaven. Only migrants who signed up with the Dutch Refugee Council were eligible to stay there. By the end of the period, a total of 165 people had stayed in the prison. Of these, three had returned to their country of origin, three more were planning to, twelve had successfully gained residency, one person had died and the largest group (38) was formed by those still gathering documents for their asylum process. In terms of country of origin, the largest numbers of people were from Somalia (48), Eritrea (31) and Ethiopia (28).
On 13 December 2013, a building in Amsterdam Zuid Oost was occupied by a group of 90 migrants and their supporters. It was a derelict parking garage with offices attached, which became known as the Vluchtgarage. It was occupied until April 2015. In August 2014, a Somali man called Nassir Guuleed died at the squat. A few days later, Ibrahim Touré from Côte d'Ivoire suffered a brain haemorrhage and broken vertebra when he fell off a stairway. Police and ambulance services refused to enter the building, citing fears of the presence of asbestos, though the city had found none in an inspection earlier that same day. The severely injured man was carried to the ambulance. Fred Teeven, Undersecretary for Security and Justice announced his intention to evict the Vluchtgarage in January 2015. At this point there were around 100 people living there. Following the eviction in April 2015, people camped on land in the De Pijp neighbourhood but were moved on by the council.
By 2015, We Are Here was composed in total of around 225 migrants from about 15 countries. As well as occupying several buildings, they regularly made demonstrations demanding rights. At each squat, the collective was helped out by local people who donated things. If something was needed, a request was made on the website or on Facebook. Often things were scavenged from the street. The Vluchtmaat was occupied in 2015 by 40 migrants mainly from Ethiopia and Eritrea. The building had formerly been used by the construction company Bouwmaat. Unusually, the owner did not want to evict the squatters but came to an arrangement with them whereby they could stay for a fixed time as long as the building costs were paid. The security of short-term tenure allowed the former squatters to break the offices up into residential units and spaces which small businesses could rent affordably, thus supplying enough money to pay the costs of electricity, water, insurance and so on. A foundation, Stichting Noodzaak, was set up to deal with the owner. The initial contract was for six months and has since been extended in six month blocks.
Another subgroup of We Are Here is composed of Swahili language speakers. They first squatted on Amstelstraat in the centre of Amsterdam at the end of 2016. They then occupied a disused kindergarten in Amsterdam-Zuidoost in May 2017 and a building on Sarphatistraat in September of the same year. In May 2018, they were occupying the former discotheque Club Empire on Buikslootermeerplein in Amsterdam-Noord.
In April 2017, the We Are Here subgroup composed of men from West Africa, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Sudan occupied a derelict office building on Nienoord street in Diemen. The owner was the Arq Group, which specialises in treating people with severe psychotraumas which cannot be treated by psychologists or psychiatrists. The owner was sympathetic to the squatters but said the building contained asbestos and therefore was unliveable. We Are Here denounced Arq for not making a temporary contract since the building would not be demolished for two years and added that many in the group had actually attended treatment sessions for trauma provided by the group's Equator Foundation. Normally the group would leave a building willingly after a court order or having made an agreement with the owner, but in this case the squatters said they would resist the eviction, since they were tired of constantly moving. The building was evicted in November 2017 by the police, with one arrest. It was the 29th building which had been squatted by We Are Here since 2012. Out of the 90 people evicted, 17 were from Sudan. Some said they had escaped the Darfur genocide, but the immigration authorities had refused their claims.
### Rudolf Dieselstraat
In April 2018, We Are Here occupied eleven apartments and a shop on Rudolf Dieselstraat in Amsterdam-Oost. They renamed the street 'We Are Here Village'. Since the housing corporation, Ymere, had left the apartments empty for some time, they asked that they could stay there until they were demolished. The city council backed their request. The previously unknown street became both a media and political sensation with many actors becoming involved in the debate about whether We Are Here should be able to stay or not.
In Parliament, centre-right parties VVD and CDA demanded that the state took action to evict the squatters. This was in response from a motion at the Amsterdam city council put forward by centre-left parties D66, PvdA, SP and GroenLinks proposing that the council would not put asylum seekers on the street and would ask owners of occupied buildings not to evict migrants. Acting mayor Jozias van Aartsen of the VVD party opposed the motion. He later received criticism from within his party for not taking further action and replied that "You must be very careful with the mayor's office and not go down the route of politicizing the mayor's role." CDA Parliament member Madeleine van Toorenburg stated that "the enforcement of the law [which criminalised squatting] is a joke."
The housing corporation, Ymere, went to court to evict the squatters. The judge decided that Ymere was not demonstrating an immediate need for the buildings, which would eventually be demolished. He stated that the squat action had not disturbed the public order and that the squatters could stay until 1 June. The situation then became more tense when a far-right group announced that they would also occupy a building on the same estate, in protest against We Are Here. Identitair Verzet (a small Dutch branch of Generation Identity) claimed to have squatted a building but Ymere later stated a property guardian had let them into a house. The house was immediately attacked with fireworks and had its windows smashed. The police then evicted the house on grounds of public order. Identitair Verzet had also previously tried to demonstrate against the Vluchtkerk. The houses occupied by the We Are Here collective were subsequently evicted in June.
### 2018–
We Are Here squatted in a building in Amstelveen on Groen van Prinstererlaan in June 2018, having left Rudolf Dieselstraat. They had briefly occupied a former bowling alley in Amsterdam-Noord and failed to squat at Hoog Kadijk and Weesperzijde. They were then given an eviction order for the end of the month.
The Weesperzijde squat action at a former United Nations building became a notorious incident, since the building was actually inhabited. A heated confrontation between We Are Here and a resident, who happened to be the son of the chair of the local branch of the VVD, was filmed and circulated in the press. In April 2019, member of the collective Fortune M. was given a three-day jail sentence and a conditional fine of €150, for damaging a door during the attempt to squat the building.
## In popular culture
- 2014: Photographer Manel Quiros won third place in the International Photography Awards with a photoseries following We Are Here.
- 2015–2016: Inspired by meeting members of the We Are Here collective and following them around for several months, Dutch artist Manon van Hoeckel created the Limbo Embassy. This provided a way for people to hear the stories of We Are Here participants. Members of the collective were otherwise not allowed to work or volunteer, but because it was an artistic project they could be paid for performances and sell political printed matter. Between June 2015 to June 2016, the embassy visited 15 events, including the Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven.
- 2015: Alexandra Jansse made an hour-long documentary called Wij Zijn Hier about the group
- 2017: We Are Here featured in the exhibition Architecture of Appropriation at Het Nieuwe Instituut (the Dutch Institute of Architecture), in Rotterdam.
- 2018: Artist Hilda Moucharrafieh won the International Bursary Award at the Amsterdam Fringe Festival for her project Tracing Erased Memories: A parallel walk of Amsterdam & Cairo. She worked with members of We Are Here to make a choreographed roadmap in which a person walked through central Amsterdam wearing headphones and hearing the sounds of someone walking through central Cairo.
- 2018: Academics who have studied We Are Here organised a meeting at Spui 25 cultural centre to discuss their findings with members of the collective and to listen to their feedback.
## See also
- Abahlali baseMjondolo
- Calais Jungle
|
51,410,542 |
Honduras at the 2016 Summer Paralympics
| 1,137,372,032 | null |
[
"2016 in Honduran sport",
"Honduras at the Paralympics",
"Nations at the 2016 Summer Paralympics"
] |
Honduras sent a delegation to compete at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7–18 September 2016. This was the nation's sixth appearance at a Summer Paralympiad after it debuted at the 1996 Summer Paralympics. The Honduran delegation to Rio de Janeiro consisted of two athletes: powerlifter Gabriel Zelaya Díaz and short-distance swimmer Emmanuel Díaz. Both competitors were not ranked in their respective competitions after Gabriel Zelaya Díaz was unable to lift any weights in his three tries and Emmanuel Díaz was two minutes late arriving to his event.
## Background
Honduras debuted at the Paralympic Games at the 1996 Summer Paralympics. The country has participated in every Summer Paralympic Games since, making Rio de Janeiro the sixth time they have taken part in a Summer Paralympiad. At the close of the Rio Paralympics, Honduras had not won its first medal at the Paralympics. The 2016 Summer Paralympics were held from 7–18 September 2016 with a total of 4,328 athletes representing 159 National Paralympic Committees taking part. Honduras sent two athletes to compete at the Rio Paralympics, powerlifter Gabriel Zelaya Díaz and Emmanuel Díaz, a short-distance swimmer. Emmanuel Díaz was selected to be the flag bearer for the parade of nations during the opening ceremony.
## Disability classifications
Every participant at the Paralympics has their disability grouped into one of five disability categories; amputation, the condition may be congenital or sustained through injury or illness; cerebral palsy; wheelchair athletes, there is often overlap between this and other categories; visual impairment, including blindness; Les autres, any physical disability that does not fall strictly under one of the other categories, for example dwarfism or multiple sclerosis. Each Paralympic sport then has its own classifications, dependent upon the specific physical demands of competition. Events are given a code, made of numbers and letters, describing the type of event and classification of the athletes competing. Some sports, such as athletics, divide athletes by both the category and severity of their disabilities, other sports, for example swimming, group competitors from different categories together, the only separation being based on the severity of the disability.
## Powerlifting
Gabriel Zelaya Díaz was paralyzed as a consequence of being shot in the vertebral column and in the leg on 16 May 2004. He was 40 years old at the time of the Rio Paralympic Games and had limited experience competing in international powerlifting events. Zelaya Díaz qualified for the Games by receiving an invitation from the Bipartite Commission and partook in the men's −72 kg competition. On 11 September, he was up against nine other powerlifters for the top three placings in Riocentro. Zelaya Díaz was unsuccessful during his first try at lifting 100 kg (220 lb) and could not do the same for 105 kg (231 lb) at his second attempt. He waved to the crowd for encouragement just before his final try, but despite the increased support, was unable to record a mark. This meant Zelaya Díaz was not ranked by the judges in the competition.
## Swimming
Universidad Católica de Honduras student Emmanuel Díaz was 20 years old at the time of the Rio Summer Paralympics, and these Games were his second significant international competition, after the 2015 Parapan American Games. His disability is congenital; he was born with Myelomeningocele, a type of spina bifida, which has shortened his right leg by 2.5 cm (0.98 in) and has lost 80% of muscle strength in that limb. Emmanuel Díaz has undergone eleven surgeries to increase his mobility and took up swimming at the age of eight for health reasons. He is classified S7 by the International Paralympic Committee. Emmanuel Díaz qualified for the Games because of his performance at the 2015 Parapan American Games which placed him ninth in the American rankings and 72nd in the world standings. He trained for half a year to prepare for the Paralympics. Going into the Paralympics, Emmanuel Díaz said he wanted to create history and set a pattern, "The goal we have is the one God has prepared for us, on my part I do not set limits, it will be he who decides where and when he will write my story." He was due to compete in the second heat of the men's 50 metre freestyle S7 event on 9 September but was disqualified for arriving two minutes late because of a miscommunication between competition officials and members of the Honduran delegation.
Men
## See also
- Honduras at the 2016 Summer Olympics
|
44,862,307 |
Harmonia (video game)
| 1,122,193,093 |
2016 video game
|
[
"2016 video games",
"Bishōjo games",
"Dystopian video games",
"Key (company) games",
"Nintendo Switch games",
"Post-apocalyptic video games",
"Science fiction video games",
"Video games developed in Japan",
"Video games scored by Shinji Orito",
"Visual novels",
"Windows games",
"Windows-only games"
] |
Harmonia is a Japanese post-apocalyptic visual novel developed by Key, a brand of Visual Arts. It was released on September 23, 2016 for Windows on Steam, and was available in English before its Japanese release on December 29, 2016. It was later ported to the Nintendo Switch. The story is set in a world where artificially intelligent, emotional androids called Phiroids were developed before a rapid decline in human civilization. An emotionless young man named Rei with a mechanical right hand is cared for by a girl in a small town as he gradually learns how to express emotions.
Like Key's 2004 game Planetarian: The Reverie of a Little Planet, Harmonia is defined as a "kinetic novel", since its gameplay offers no choices or alternate endings. Instead, the player proceeds through the story solely by reading. The story was written by Kai and Tsuzuru Nakamura, and character design was produced by Itaru Hinoue. The game's soundtrack was composed by Shinji Orito, Ryō Mizutsuki and Tomohiro Takeshita. Harmonia was described as providing an emotional impact despite its short length, but was said to not be as impactful as other titles developed by Key.
## Plot
### Setting and gameplay
Harmonia is set in a post-apocalyptic world sometime in the future. A rapid decline in human civilization began once the population hit its peak of 10 billion, caused in part by pollution and war. During this time, artificially intelligent, emotional androids called Phiroids were developed to serve as partners for humans. Although Phiroids were originally powered by batteries for the first two generations, they were afterwards developed to be powered by eating food, making them nearly indistinguishable from humans. Artificial memories could also be implanted into the Phiroids, making them highly desirable, leading them to be produced in numbers that eventually rivaled the human population at a time when the birth rate was already in decline. Eventually, nuclear warfare and the resulting nuclear fallout killed off most of humanity, culminating in a world covered in dark clouds and ash blocking out sunlight, land stripped of vegetation, and an ocean that could no longer support life. Some people were placed in cryogenic facilities in an attempt to sleep long enough until the environment improved even a little bit.
Harmonia is a visual novel in which the player assumes the role of Rei. The gameplay is spent on reading the story's narrative and dialogue and follows a linear plot line; this is what Key refers to as a "kinetic novel". The text in the game is accompanied by character sprites, which represent who Rei is talking to, over background art. Throughout the game, the player encounters CG artwork at certain points in the story, which take the place of the background art and character sprites. Once the game is completed, a gallery of the game's CGs and background music becomes available on the title screen. The story takes place in a town with a stable water source that supports a small population. Frequented locations include the church where Rei and Shiona live, the library where Tipi lives, and the town plaza. The town also has various establishments, including a general store, a photo studio, and a bar. Although most of the town does not have electricity, there is a solar-powered battery in the library. On the outskirts of town, there is a ruined Phiroid factory next to the town dump.
### Story
Harmonia begins when the protagonist Rei (レイ) wakes up in a derelict facility without any memories of who or where he is. Rei notices that his right hand is mechanical, and when he sees various Phiroids strewn about the facility, he assumes he is a Phiroid whose production went unfinished, as he also realizes that he does not have any emotions. Rei leaves the facility and walks several days to the outskirts of a town, where he is found by a girl named Shiona (シオナ, voiced by: Kaori Mizuhashi) who takes him back to the church where she lives and names him Rei. To pay Shiona back for her kindness, Rei sets out to repair a broken music box containing a song her brother had composed. Rei goes to the library to find a book to help in the repairs and meets the librarian, a little girl named Tipi (ティピィ, voiced by: Misaki Kuno) who is constantly sad. Once the music box is repaired, Shiona is able to sing to the tune in the town plaza while Rei plays the music box. With the help of the townspeople, Rei also repairs a projector to play a film directed by the son of Madd (マッド, voiced by: Kenta Miyake), the owner of the general store.
Rei finds a heavily injured man and races to try to save his life, but the man shortly dies after he brings him to the church. The whole town shows up to show their respects at the funeral. Worried about Tipi's state of mind in dealing with the man's death, Rei repeatedly tries to go see Tipi, but Shiona keeps preventing him from going to see her. Rei eventually makes it to the library, but Shiona merely tells Tipi that her parents, who she has been waiting to return, are dead and that she will always be alone. Enraged at Shiona's behavior, Rei gets her to leave the library and Rei stays with Tipi overnight. Rei and Tipi wake up the next morning to find that the town is under attack. When Rei leaves to investigate, he finds humans have infiltrated the town and are killing the townspeople. Rei is nearly killed by them, but Shiona protects him from a gunshot, which leaves her unconscious, but alive. Rei takes Shiona back to the library where they regroup with Tipi before leaving through the sewer system to make it back to the church. A lone man comes to the church, and while Rei is fighting him, the man uses a grenade, but Shiona protects Rei from the blast.
The aftermath of the blast makes Rei realize that he was human all along, and that everyone else in the town were Phiroids. After collecting some supplies, the three of them leave the town and make it to the facility where Rei originally woke up, which still has some electricity. Tipi gives Rei access to an electronic library on a tablet shortly before her battery is no longer able to function. Rei and Shiona stay in the facility for a time until Shiona eventually succumbs to the gunshot wound which had damaged her internal components. Rei puts Shiona and Tipi in cryogenic pods before leaving with the music box in an attempt to find a world where humans and Phiroids can coexist. Sometime later, Shiona wakes up in a facility with her memories wiped, but she is told that there was a music box with her when she was found. The environment has recovered and human civilization is once again prosperous and highly technological. Shiona is taken back to the town where humans and Phiroids once again coexist. She is reunited with Tipi, who also had her memories wiped. Prompted by the tune playing from the music box, Shiona sings the song which is now known worldwide.
## Development and release
Harmonia is directed by Kai, who also wrote the scenario with Tsuzuru Nakamura. In 2010, Nakamura had submitted a scenario titled Todoketai Melody (届けたいメロディ) to Visual Arts' Kinetic Novel Awards. Itaru Hinoue served as the art director and character designer, which marked her last contribution to Key before resigning in September 2016. At the time, she was most pleased with her art in Harmonia compared to her art in other games, especially with how she drew the faces of the characters. The game's soundtrack was composed by Shinji Orito, Ryō Mizutsuki and Tomohiro Takeshita. The game's theme song is "Todoketai Melody" (届けたいメロディ) by Ayaka Kitazawa, and the game also features the insert song "Towa no Hoshi e" (永遠の星へ) by Haruka Shimotsuki. A single containing both songs was released on April 11, 2015 by Key Sounds Label. Two music albums were released on May 26, 2017: Harmonia's original soundtrack and a piano remix album titled Teneritas.
Harmonia is Key's 12th visual novel and second "kinetic novel" after Planetarian: The Reverie of a Little Planet. It was announced in April 2015 to celebrate Key's 15th anniversary, and added to Steam Greenlight in October 2015, but this was followed by numerous delays. It was released on September 23, 2016 for Windows on Steam, and was available in English before its Japanese release on December 29, 2016 at Comiket 91. Although only a limited number of copies were sold at Comiket, Harmonia was released for general sale on May 26, 2017 in Japan. According to Visual Arts president Takahiro Baba, Harmonia was first released in English because he wanted to know how the game would be received worldwide before its release in Japan. Prototype released a Nintendo Switch port worldwide on October 20, 2022 with text support for Japanese, English and Chinese.
## Reception
Harmonia ranked at No. 20 in terms of national sales of PC games in Japan in May 2017. Marcus Estrada of Hardcore Gamer wrote that although Harmonia was not as "emotionally impactful" as other titles developed by Key, the game still achieved an emotional impact despite its short length. The CG artwork was described as beautiful and the sprites were also praised for emphasizing the "frailty of the characters and their world." However, Estrada felt that the English translation was "slightly off", with text that seemed less poetic than what might have been intended with its Japanese counterpart.
|
6,244,070 |
Gunnerkrigg Court
| 1,173,820,881 |
Science-fantasy webcomic started in 2005
|
[
"2000s webcomics",
"2005 webcomic debuts",
"2010s webcomics",
"Archaia Studios Press titles",
"Boom! Studios titles",
"British webcomics",
"Comics about animals",
"Comics about foxes",
"Comics about women",
"Coming-of-age webcomics",
"LGBT-related webcomics",
"Long-form webcomics",
"School webcomics",
"Science fantasy webcomics",
"Titan Books titles",
"Web Cartoonists' Choice Award winners",
"Webcomics in print"
] |
Gunnerkrigg Court is a science-fantasy webcomic created by Tom Siddell and launched in April 2005. It is updated online three days a week, and eight volumes of the still continuing comic have been published in print format by Archaia Studios Press and Titan Books (in the United Kingdom and Ireland). The comic has been critically acclaimed and has won numerous Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards, as well as receiving positive reviews for its artwork and storytelling.
The comic tells the story of Antimony Carver, a young girl who has just started attending a school at a strange and mysterious place called Gunnerkrigg Court, and the events that unfold around her as she becomes embroiled in political intrigues between Gunnerkrigg Court and the inhabitants of the Gillitie Wood, a forest outside the school. The comic's style and themes include elements from science, fantasy creatures, mythology from a variety of traditions, and alchemical symbols and theories; the literary style is heavily influenced by mystery fiction and manga.
## Production
Gunnerkrigg Court was first posted online on 4 April 2005, and was originally updated two days per week. The comic began updating three days per week on 25 December 2006. The end of the seventh chapter in May 2006 marked the end of the "first book," which Siddell published through Lulu.com in 2007; that book is no longer in print. In August 2008, Tom Siddell explained that the comic had a standard "comic book format" which was useful when he had sufficient pages to print a hard copy. The first fourteen chapters of the webcomic were printed as the first Archaia Studios Press edition of 296 pages bound in a hardcover collection titled "Orientation". In 2012 Siddell announced that he had quit his regular job to work on the comic full-time. In addition to books and merchandising the comic is supported through crowdfunding via Patreon since July 2014.
### Format
The Gunnerkrigg Court webcomic is told in a series of episodic chapters such that each, while forming part of the overall storyline, also functions individually as a stand-alone story arc. The themes and topics of the chapters vary widely: as one reviewer describes, "You are also not subjected to 400-plus pages of intricate plot movement. While there is an overall story arc, there are also lighter chapters that focus on unusual classes ... or small moments that build the main characters." Each chapter begins with a title page and ends with one or more "bonus pages," which are not integral to the main storyline but often offer ancillary details about the world of Gunnerkrigg Court or about minor characters. The chapters have varied in length from one page to more than eighty. Each page is drawn in traditional (A4; 210 × 297 mm) page format and divided arbitrarily into frames. At the bottom of the most recent page is a link to a comments thread for that page, in which readers may comment on and discuss that day's comic.
### Influences
Siddell has stated that he enjoyed reading Alfred Hitchcock & The Three Investigators as a child, and that it has heavily influenced the literary style of his comic. His artistic style is influenced by many artists, among which he cites as his favorites Jamie Hewlett, Yukito Kishiro, and Mike Mignola, as well as the manga Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and Dragon Ball.
One notable feature of the comic is the blending of mythological elements from many different cultural traditions, especially from the British Isles and Native American mythology. Siddell attributes this style to his experience as a child: "I moved about a lot when I was younger and had the opportunity to grow up hearing stories from different parts of the world and I've always been fascinated by them." In addition to mythology, Siddell makes heavy use of alchemical themes; for example, the main character is named Antimony, after a toxic chemical element, and many pages feature artistic depictions of alchemical symbols. The symbol for antimony appears frequently in Gunnerkrigg Court: the character Antimony wears a necklace shaped like that symbol, the character Reynardine has the symbol imprinted on his wolf body, and the symbol is used to mark the end of a chapter.
The artwork of Gunnerkrigg Court has been described as "stylized," with simple character designs. At least one reviewer, on the other hand, has noticed that the backgrounds, in contrast to the characters, are often very elaborate. The comic has also been described as having a "rich" look in spite of its limited color palette, and Siddell himself has stated that he first developed the idea for the comic using only a limited number of colors. The pieces of artwork that Siddell has posted at the end of each printed book, entitled "Treatise"(s), demonstrate many such of Siddell's artistic and storytelling motifs: they integrate alchemical symbols, mythological figures, nature, and technology.
## Synopsis
### Setting
Gunnerkrigg Court is set somewhere in the United Kingdom or a country that resembles it. The titular institution functions as a boarding school, but also occupies a vast area, some of it seemingly uninhabited, some used as industrial or research facilities, and some occupied by students and staff. The Annan Waters separate the Court from Gillitie Wood, which is inhabited by "etheric" or magical creatures. Chief among them are Coyote and Ysengrin, along with populations of forest animals, elves, fairies, and others. At the time the story begins, both sides enforce a kind of truce and strict separation between the Court and Forest, although there is an established tradition of some forest creatures transferring into human bodies to attend the Court, and a few Court denizens – notably an ambassador called the medium – are allowed to enter the Forest.
Many characters suspect that the Court is much more than just a school. The school appears to actively recruit many talented or extraordinary students. As the story progresses, it is soon revealed that the school is inhabited by a wide variety of both supernatural creatures – many of which become characters involved in the story's plot – and ultra-modern technology. One character explains that "the Court was founded on a union between technological and etheric design." Another describes it as "man's endeavor to become god." The house system described at the end of the first chapter is similar to that used by many UK schools, including the one the author attended; Siddell has even stated that the school in which Gunnerkrigg Court takes place is modeled after his own secondary school.
### Plot
The main story of Gunnerkrigg Court revolves around Antimony “Annie” Carver, a student at the Court. Annie's parents, Surma and Anthony Carver, were also students there decades earlier, and Surma became the Court's medium to the Forest. Surma died after a long illness and Anthony disappeared, leaving Annie in the Court's care. Early in the comic, Annie befriends several supernatural beings, including a sentient shadow, a robot, and a ghost named Mort. Though initially not well liked by most of her fellow students, she becomes best friends with Katerina “Kat” Donlan, a classmate and robotics prodigy, and eventually also befriends older students Parley and Smitty.
Annie meets a creature called Reynardine, who tries to take over her body but, by accident, instead becomes trapped in the body of a stuffed animal she carries and becomes subject to her command. She gradually learns from various characters the history of the Forest and its connection to her own family. In the past, Coyote had granted some of his powers to Reynardine and Ysengrin: he had given Ysengrin "power over the trees" and Reynardine the power to take bodies. Reynardine had been in love with Surma and had used his power to steal a young man's body and woo Surma; the man died, however, and Reynardine was imprisoned in the Court until Annie encountered him. Surma was a psychopomp and the descendant of a fire spirit: she had an etheric power over fire, which is passed from mother to daughter at the cost of the mother's life.
Because of her relationship with Reynardine, Coyote, and Ysengrin, Annie is nominated to receive training as a medium, developing her etheric abilities including fire manipulation and astral projection. In the end, the position is given to Smitty instead, but Coyote designates her as the Forest's medium to the Court. She begins training under Ysengrin, who she learns is in a constant state of anger towards the Court but is partially brainwashed and kept in check by Coyote. Meanwhile, Anthony suddenly returns to the Court as a professor, and behaves coldly toward his daughter, moving her to a separate residence and making her repeat a school year. Annie later learns that the court is displeased by her closeness with the forest creatures and brought him back in an attempt to control her. Trying to control her rage at these events, she severs the link to her emotions and fire powers.
Annie and Kat investigate a powerful presence that guards the Annan Waters between the Court and the Forest. It turns out to be the ghost of a woman named Jeanne, one of the founders of the Court. Another founder named Diego created an arrow that killed Jeanne's lover and trapped her soul in the river, where she resisted attempts from the psychopomps to collect her soul and kills all who attempt to cross the river without the bridge. Annie, Kat, and several friends mount an expedition to recover the arrow and free the souls of Jeanne and her lover; they succeed, but Smitty is mortally wounded by Jeanne. Annie strikes a deal with the psychopomps in which they spare Smitty's life in exchange for her commitment to become a psychopomp in the future. As preparation, Annie and Kat help Mort finally pass into the ether.
Coyote, aware that the river can now be crossed freely, cedes his strength to Ysengrin, who is suddenly overwhelmed by rage and devours Coyote, becoming a creature named Loup. Loup destroys the Annan Waters, creates a duplicate version of Annie, and attacks the Court, which temporarily fends him off while preparing evacuation plans. Annie meets with Loup several times, while the Court attempts to capture him; Coyote appears several times during these encounters and suggests that all of Loup's actions were part of his plan, and that he will eventually return after Loup is killed by Annie.
In addition to Annie's central story, the story includes several additional plot arcs interspersed with the main story. One concerns two girls from the Court, Zimmy and Gamma, who communicate with one another telepathically. Zimmy sees hallucinations of monsters that her etheric abilities turn into reality, which she relies on Gamma to dispel. Kat has her own storylines, including her romance with a fellow student named Paz, and experiments in robotics inspired by natural bodies and the highly complex robots created by Diego. Kat is eventually able to create full organic bodies for robots that make them capable of sensation, and a faction of robots seemingly starts a religion centered on the belief that she is an angel with the gift of giving robots life.
### Main characters
## Reception
In addition to being officially recognized at the Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards, Gunnerkrigg Court has been critically acclaimed in a number of online reviews, and has a large readership and an active forum. Author Tom Siddell has been interviewed about his work numerous times, mostly by non-mainstream online magazines such as ComixTalk. Kevin Powers of the Comics Bulletin and Graphic Smash listed Gunnerkrigg Court as one of the series he "respect[s]," and ComixTalk (then called Comixpedia) listed Siddell as one of the twenty-five "People of Webcomics" in 2006.
The comic has received praise for its artwork and use of color, dark mood, slowly revealed mysteries, and pacing. Al Schroeder of ComixTalk has called Gunnerkrigg Court's setting "marvelous" and "unique," and said the comic is "delightfully fun" in spite of its moody backdrop. Along with the evolution in art style since the start of the comic, many reviewers have praised the age progression of the protagonists and their maturation with the plot, likening it to that of Harry Potter.
Some reviewers, on the other hand, have criticized its, at times, dark and sad tone as potentially being frightening for younger audiences, also noting that there can be "lots [of information] to take in at times."
In 2006, science fiction author Neil Gaiman praised Gunnerkrigg Court in his blog, which brought the comic to the attention of many more readers.
### Awards
Gunnerkrigg Court has been nominated for and has won a number of Web Cartoonist's Choice Awards, shown in the table below. When the Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards were discontinued in 2008 and replaced by The Webcomic List Awards (run by The Webcomic List Community) in 2009, it won several of those as well. It was also nominated in 2006 for a Clickie award in the "International Clickie" category at Stripdagen Haarlem, a webcomics festival in the Netherlands. Gunnerkrigg Court: Orientation won a 2008 gold Book of the Year Award from ForeWord magazine in their graphic novel category. Gunnerkrigg Court: Orientation won a 2009 Cybils Award in the graphic novel category. Gunnerkrigg Court was nominated for the 2014 Harvey Award for Best Online Comics Work.
## Books
- -
### Side comics
|
5,167,330 |
Sussex Spaniel
| 1,063,069,585 | null |
[
"Dog breeds originating in England",
"FCI breeds",
"Gundogs",
"Rare dog breeds",
"Spaniels",
"Vulnerable Native Breeds"
] |
The Sussex Spaniel is a breed of dog native to Sussex in southern England. It is a low, compact spaniel and is as old a breed as and similar in appearance to the Clumber Spaniel. They can be slow-paced, but can have a clownish and energetic temperament. They suffer from health conditions common to spaniels and some large dogs, as well as a specific range of heart conditions and spinal disc herniation.
The Sussex Spaniel was first recorded in 1795 in East and West Sussex, being at Goodwood and Rolvenden for specific hunting conditions. The breed nearly became extinct during the Second World War, but was bred back to sustainable numbers. It is now more popular in the United Kingdom and the United States than any other countries, and is recognised by all major kennel clubs. The breed was one of the first to be recognised by the UK Kennel Club in 1872. Sussex Spaniel Stump won the best in show in 2009 at the 133rd Westminster Kennel Club.
## Description
The Sussex Spaniel is a low compact spaniel similar in appearance, but not in colour, to a Clumber Spaniel. It is normally no taller than 15–16 in (38–41 cm) at the withers and the usual weight range is 45–50 lb (20–23 kg) with a roughly rectangular appearance. The Clumber Spaniel meanwhile is normally between 17–20 in (43–51 cm) high at the shoulder, and weighing 55–85 lb (25–39 kg).
One of the noticeable features is their golden liver-coloured coat which is unique to the breed. Historically however, there have also been examples of black, black and tan and golden liver and white coloured Sussex Spaniels. coat is thick (sometimes with a slight wave to it), feathering on the chest, legs and ears and consists of a weather-resistant undercoat with a silky outer coat. The eyes are hazel in colour. The long silky ears are lobe-shaped typical of the Spaniel, and set moderately low. The Sussex is a short, stocky kind of dog.
## Temperament
The Sussex Spaniel is a slow-paced, calm breed with somewhat clownish behaviour that normally keeps his energy and enthusiasm in check. He is always eager to be around people, is excellent around children, and can be quite protective of the family. They make excellent candidates for therapy dog work. Most Sussex Spaniels are primarily family pets, but they are competent enough to aid a hunter though quite stubborn to train. They tend to have a natural ability to quarter in the field, have excellent noses, and can be used to retrieve, given training. The breed is the only spaniel to howl once a game's scent is picked up.
## Health
The breed is generally healthy with an average life span of 12 to 15 years. Hip dysplasia, a genetic malformation of the hip joint, may be a concern but because of the breed's compact nature is not often seriously debilitating. Surveys conducted by the Orthopedic Foundation For Animals showed that 41.5% of Sussex Spaniels were affected by hip dysplasia, and the breed was ranked 9th worst affected out of 157 breeds.
Another common condition is otitis externa (outer ear infections), which is common to a variety of spaniels, as the long floppy ears trap moisture, making them more prone to recurrent infections than dogs with more upright ears. The infections can be caused by a variety of reasons including mites, ear fungi and generally dirt and germs. Treatment is relatively simple and can range from prescribed antibiotics to over-the-counter ear cleaning liquids.
Whelping sometimes presents difficulties and require caesarean section for successful delivery of the puppies. The Sussex Spaniel is considered difficult to breed.
Heart conditions in the Sussex Spaniel can include pulmonary valve stenosis, which is the most common of the congenital heart defects. Essentially, in an animal with this condition, the pulmonary valve is improperly formed which causes the heart to work much faster to pump blood around the body. The final results of this condition can be swelling of fluid in the chambers of the heart, thickening of the heart muscle known as ventricular hypertrophy leading to eventual heart failure.
Patent ductus arteriosus also appears in the breed. It is a condition where a small blood vessel connecting two major arteries does not close following birth. It can cause complications as it is positioned to allow the blood flow to bypass the lungs. It also appears in American Staffordshire Terriers.
A heart condition uncommon to the breed is tetralogy of Fallot, which is more common in the Keeshond and English Bulldog breeds relatively. It is actually a combination of up to four conditions, including the previously mentioned pulmonary valve stenosis, with a secondary condition of right ventricular hypertrophy. The other conditions are ventricular septal defect which is a defect or hole in the wall of the heart between the two ventricles and the aorta which carries the blood from the left to the right side of the heart can be mis-positioned. The effect on the dog depends on the severity of the condition, and can range from a heart murmur through to reduced activity levels to death. Symptoms in puppies are generally a failure to grow and a reduced tolerance for exercise. Active treatment is effective in around 50% of cases.
### Intervertebral disc syndrome
Also commonly called spinal disc herniation, this is where the intervertebral disc bulges or ruptures into the vertebral canal where the spinal cord resides. When the cord is compressed, the dog can experience symptoms ranging in scope from mild back or neck pain to paralysis of limbs, loss of sensation, and loss of bladder or bowel control. It is most commonly seen in the mid-back area, but can occur anywhere along the spine. Mild cases that do not result in paralysis can be treated medically by confining the animal in a crate to restrict movement to a minimum for several weeks, which can be accompanied by pain medication. Surgery can restore sensation to a dog's legs following paralysis but the success rate depends on how severe the herniation was.
## History
The Sussex is a native breed to the county, known to be bred at Goodwood, West Sussex in 1792 and by Augustus Elliot Fuller of Rose Hill (now known as Brightling Park, Brightling in East Sussex, England. The Sussex is a breed of gun dog able to work in districts where the terrain is rough and the undergrowth very dense where a spaniel was needed which could give tongue or to alert the hunter on his quarry. The Sussex as a breed is older than the liver and white Norfolk Spaniel (now extinct), the Field Spaniel, and English Springer Spaniels. The Sussex was bred specifically to inherit the barking ability ( giving tongue) that was not common in most Spaniel breeds.
The Sussex Spaniel was one of the first to be registered by the UK Kennel club when it formed in 1872 and was one of the first ten breeds admitted into the stud book by the American Kennel Club in 1884, but lost what little popularity it had achieved in the 1940s. During World War II, breeding was discouraged but the Sussex saved from extinction by English breeder Joy Freer. All modern Sussex Spaniels are descended from the dogs she saved. In 1947, only ten Sussex Spaniels were registered in the English Kennel Club.
In 2004 the breed was identified as a vulnerable native breed by Kennel Club of Great Britain which are described as having annual registration figures of less than 300 per year. In 2008, only 56 puppies were registered.
In 2009 a Sussex Spaniel named "Clussexx Three D Grinchy Glee," call name "Stump," won best in show at the 133rd Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. At 10 years old, Stump is the oldest dog to win this title.
The breed is more popular in the United Kingdom and the United States than any other countries. It is recognised by the Continental Kennel Club, Fédération Cynologique Internationale, American Kennel Club, Kennel Club of Great Britain, Canadian Kennel Club, National Kennel Club, New Zealand Kennel Club, and the American Canine Registry.
|
17,817,893 |
Supreme Warrior
| 1,169,679,610 | null |
[
"1994 video games",
"3DO Interactive Multiplayer games",
"Cancelled Sega Saturn games",
"Classic Mac OS games",
"Digital Pictures",
"Full motion video based games",
"Sega 32X games",
"Sega CD games",
"Single-player video games",
"Video games developed in the United States",
"Video games set in Imperial China",
"Windows games"
] |
Supreme Warrior is a full-motion video (FMV) beat 'em up game developed by Digital Pictures. It was released for the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer and Sega CD in November 1994 in North America and in early 1995 in Europe, with subsequent releases in 1995 for the 32X, Macintosh, and Windows. The game is themed as a kung fu film where the player has to fight off opponents to protect half of a magical mask.
According to Digital Pictures president Tom Zito, Supreme Warrior came about as a result of fans telling the studio to develop a game based on a kung fu film. The video footage was filmed in Hong Kong. Supreme Warrior received mixed reviews; critics praised the graphics but criticized the gameplay and use of FMV.
## Gameplay and premise
Supreme Warrior is a full-motion video (FMV) beat 'em up game. Gameplay consists of fighting the villain Fang Tu's minions, and eventually Fang Tu himself. From a first-person perspective, players can punch, kick, and execute special moves. A pair of hands is visible on screen that the player controls, and icons prompt the player to attack with timing. Defeating various opponents will give the player special moves. There are three difficulty levels.
Supreme Warrior's plot is about a warrior, Wei Jian Tsen, who acquires a mask that can be split in halves representing good and evil. When the two halves are combined, the wearer gains untold power. Wei Jian Tsen's second wife, Mei Tu, becomes influenced by the Black Flower Cult, a murderous group that uses sorcery. In response, Wei had her executed, causing their only son, Fang Tu, to leave their clan. Wei divides the mask and entrusts half to a Shaolin monk, Master Kai, while keeping the other half himself. Fang Tu kills his father and takes his half. Kai requests that the player transport the other half to a secret sanctuary. The player is assisted by an ally, Wu Ching. She is portrayed by Vivian Wu, and the rest of the cast includes Roger Yuan as Fang Tu and Richard Norton, Chuck Jeffreys, and Ron Yuan as elemental warlords.
## Development and release
Supreme Warrior was developed by Digital Pictures, a company focused on FMV games and interactive films. When asked about the inspiration for the game, Tom Zito, president of Digital Pictures, said that in asking players to tell them what kind of game to make, they received numerous requests to make a game that recreates a kung fu movie. The video footage for Supreme Warrior was filmed on Shaw Brothers Studio sets in Hong Kong. Many of the actors, and director Guy Norris, had extensive martial arts backgrounds. The actors playing the enemies each choreographed their own fight routines. The fight sequences were mostly recorded using a head-mounted minicam worn by a stunt coordinator, while the sequences where the player character is hit were recorded with a padded hand-held camera which the actors would actually punch and kick. Supreme Warrior includes both English and Cantonese audio, the latter more common in kung fu films, but the scenes were only filmed in English, meaning the Cantonese audio is out of sync with the actors' lips.
The 3DO and Sega CD versions of Supreme Warrior were released in November 1994 in North America, with the European release following in February 1995 and an Australian release in April. The game was released for the 32X and Macintosh in North American in January 1995 and for Windows in April. Europe received the 32X version in July 1995. The 32X version requires both a Sega CD and 32X add-ons for its attached Sega Genesis.
## Reception
Supreme Warrior's 3DO version received mixed reviews. The four reviewers of Electronic Gaming Monthly praised the exceptionally good video quality of the 3DO version and the innovation of having a fighting game from a first person perspective, they found that the gameplay did not work, and in particular that opponent attacks are excessively difficult to block. A reviewer for Next Generation was more optimistic about the gameplay and remarked that "Digital Pictures' games are usually better to watch than play ... however, with this title it may be on the edge of a viable game structure." He went on to say that the game, while a step in the right direction for the developer, suffers from a steep learning curve and a disconnect between the gameplay and the onscreen video. GamePro's Slo Mo echoed the praise of the production values of the game's full-motion video, but was more positive about the controls and gameplay. Though he warned that the controls are complicated, he noted that they are responsive as well, and commented that taking the time to master the gameplay is rewarding.
The Sega CD version received mixed reviews. Three reviewers for VideoGames praised the game's graphics though noting that the Sega CD version's video was grainy. The reviewers panned the game's playability and overuse of full-motion video, claiming the game "plays like a wet brick". In contrast to his 3DO version review, Slo Mo was slightly less approving of the Sega CD version for its video quality and its controls in the absence of a six-button controller. Dean of Sega Power was more positive about the game and called the video some of the best seen in a full-motion video game, but was critical of the game's high difficulty.
Reviews for the 32X version were improved over the Sega CD. Electronic Gaming Monthly's review team considered the 32X version's video positive and its gameplay negative, just as they had done with the 3DO. The same sentiments were shared by Francis of MEGA Force [fr] , who also praised the video but stated that finding opportunities to attack is a problem. Slo Mo's review of the 32X version in GamePro praised it as having better graphics than the Sega CD version, and otherwise repeated his previous comments in other versions on the difficult but rewarding gameplay.
|
1,914,895 |
Zahir al-Umar
| 1,171,606,214 |
Arab ruler of northern Palestine (1689/90–1775)
|
[
"1690 births",
"1775 deaths",
"17th-century Arab people",
"18th-century Arab people",
"18th-century people from the Ottoman Empire",
"Arabs in Ottoman Palestine",
"Ottoman governors of Gaza",
"Ottoman governors of Sidon",
"Ottoman rulers of Galilee",
"People from Arraba, Israel",
"People killed in action",
"Rebels from the Ottoman Empire",
"Zaydani family"
] |
Zahir al-Umar al-Zaydani, alternatively spelled Daher al-Omar or Dahir al-Umar (Arabic: ظاهر العمر الزيداني, romanized: Ẓāhir al-ʿUmar az-Zaydānī, 1689/90 – 21 or 22 August 1775) was the autonomous Palestinian ruler of northern Palestine in the mid-18th century, while the region was part of the Ottoman Empire. For much of his reign, starting in the 1730s, his domain mainly consisted of the Galilee, with successive headquarters in Tiberias, Deir Hanna and finally Acre, in 1750. He fortified Acre, and the city became the center of the cotton trade between Palestine and Europe. In the mid-1760s, he reestablished the port town of Haifa nearby.
Zahir withstood sieges and assaults by the Ottoman governors of Damascus, who attempted to limit or eliminate his influence. He was often supported in these confrontations by the Shia Muslim clans of Jabal Amil. In 1771, in alliance with Ali Bey al-Kabir of the Egypt Eyalet and with backing from Russia, Zahir captured Sidon, while Ali Bey's forces conquered Damascus, both acts in open defiance of the Ottoman sultan. At the peak of his power in 1774, Zahir's rule extended from Beirut to Gaza and included the Jabal Amil and Jabal Ajlun regions. By then, however, Ali Bey had been killed, the Ottomans entered into a truce with the Russians, and the Ottoman imperial government felt secure enough to check Zahir's power. The Ottoman Navy attacked his Acre stronghold in the summer of 1775 and he was killed outside of its walls shortly after.
The wealth Zahir accumulated through monopolizing Palestine's cotton and olive oil trade to Europe financed his sheikhdom. For much of his rule, he oversaw a relatively efficient administration and maintained domestic security, although he faced and suppressed several rebellions by his sons. The aforementioned factors, along with Zahir's flexible taxation policies and his battlefield reputation made him popular among the local peasantry. Zahir's tolerance of religious minorities encouraged Christian and Jewish immigration to his domain. The influx of immigrants from other parts of the empire stimulated the local economy and led to the significant growth of the Christian communities in Acre and Nazareth and the Jewish community in Tiberias. He and his family, the Banu Zaydan, patronized the construction of commercial buildings, houses of worship and fortifications throughout the Galilee. Zahir's rule over a virtually autonomous area in Palestine has made him a national hero among Palestinians today.
## Origins and early life
Zahir was born around 1690. His father, Umar, was a sheikh of the Banu Zaydan, a small family of Bedouin (nomadic Arab) origin which had abandoned nomadism under Zahir's grandfather, Salih, and settled as cultivators in the Tiberias area in the late 17th century. Zahir's mother was a member of the Sardiyya, a Bedouin tribe based in the Hauran. Around 1698, Umar was appointed, in effect, as the tax collector of the Safed muqata'a (fiscal district) by Bashir Shihab, a powerful chief of the Druze in Mount Lebanon who was granted the iltizam, or limited-term tax farm, of the district by the governor of Sidon. The Sidon eyalet (province) spanned the Galilee, southern Mount Lebanon, and the adjacent Mediterranean coast. By 1703, Umar had grown powerful enough to be considered the "paramount sheikh of the Galilee" by the French vice-consul of Sidon, while his brothers Ali and Hamza were multazims (holders of iltizam) in the western Lower Galilee and the vicinity of Nazareth, respectively, around this time. Umar died in 1706 and was succeeded as head of the family by Zahir's eldest brother, Sa'd. The Zaydans were deposed from their iltizam by the governor of Sidon the following year, after the death of Bashir, but were restored by Bashir's successor, Haydar Shihab, when he defeated his Druze rivals for control of Bashir's former ilitizam in 1711. The Zaydans occasionally transferred their iltizam to Zahir during his adolescence to help prevent the authorities from holding the practical multazims accountable in the event of a default. Legal control of the Zaydani iltizam gave Zahir considerable power within his clan.
Zahir's killing of a man from Tiberias during a brawl in 1707 prompted Sa'd to move the family from the Tiberias area. They settled in Arraba, a village between the market towns of Tiberias, Safed, and Nazareth but away from the main highways, after being offered safe haven there by the chiefs of the Bedouin Banu Saqr tribe, who resided in the village. In Arraba, Zahir received a degree of formal education from a Muslim scholar, Abd al-Qadir al-Hifnawi. He also learned how to hunt and fight. When the nearby village of Bi'ina was attacked by the governor of Sidon sometime between 1713 and 1718, Zahir helped defend the village and evaded the governor's troops. According to contemporary chroniclers, this event, along with Zahir's moderate personality, made him a local folk hero. His martial talents gained him further respect among the peasantry throughout the 1720s.
Sa'd and Zahir also gained respect from the people of Damascus, with whom they continued commercial relationships established by their father. The wealth that earlier Zaydans had generated from trade with Damascus and Aleppo had given them the financial ability to establish themselves as tax farmers. Throughout the 1720s, Zahir frequently joined caravans bound for Damascus, where he bought and sold goods. Among the contacts Zahir made there was the Muslim scholar Abd al-Ghaffar al-Shuwayki, who introduced Zahir to Sayyid Muhammad of the Husayni family, whose members were part of the city's elite ashraf (descendants of the Islamic prophet Muhammad). Zahir married Sayyid Muhammad's daughter and established her residence in Nazareth because she considered Arraba too small. When Sayyid Muhammad died, Zahir inherited his fortune.
## Rise and consolidation of power
### Stronghold in the Galilee
#### Capture of Tiberias
Around 1730, the governor of Sidon and the rural sheikhs of Jabal Nablus (e.g. Samaria) collaborated in a military campaign to suppress the Saqr Bedouins. The tribe had long dominated the area between Nablus and Safed, rendering the highways unsafe for travel and commerce, while often plundering villages and ignoring tax obligations. Under pressure, the Saqr resolved to appoint a local dignitary to negotiate on their behalf with the government. Their leader, Rashid al-Jabr, nominated Zahir for the role, hoping his tribe could benefit from the Zaydans' good reputation with the authorities and the local inhabitants. The Zaydans' chief at the time, Sa'd, was bypassed in favor of the younger Zahir, a signal that the Saqr did not intend to subordinate themselves to the Zaydans' will. Philipp comments the Bedouins "probably hoped to use Zahir for their own purposes" but "did not anticipate how quickly Zahir al-Umar would use them for his own ambitions".
Not long after allying with the Saqr, Zahir initiated his takeover of Tiberias with the Bedouins' support. Zahir captured the town's mutesellim (subdistrict governor and tax collector) and sent him to the governor of Sidon with a letter accusing the mutesellim of oppressing and illegally taxing the population, thereby engendering the inhabitants' ire toward the government. Zahir requested the iltizam of Tiberias and Arraba, promising to timely forward taxes and rule justly. The governor of Sidon consented, marking the first time a Zaydani multazim was directly appointed by a provincial governor rather than through the Shihabi multazims. Zahir made Tiberias his principal base and was joined there by his Zaydani kinsmen. He appointed his cousin Muhammad, the son of Ali, as commander of the family militia. Zahir spent the 1730s fortifying Tiberias and expanding his territory.
#### Northern and western expansion
Due to the relative justice and fairness of his rule, peasants from nearby areas moved to Zahir's domains or invited him to rule over them. The people living under the rule of Ahmad al-Husayn, the multazim of the Jiddin district, in the northwestern Galilee, appealed for Zahir to relieve them of Ahmad's heavy-handedness, as well as the extortions of the Bedouins. Zahir accepted their proposition and obtained permission from Sidon's governor, Ibrahim Pasha al-Azm, to seize the area. Ahmad had also requested permission to attack Zahir, to which Ibrahim Pasha consented in the hope of neutralizing two powerful local leaders. In 1738, Zahir assembled a 1,500-strong force and defeated Ahmad's forces near the Jiddin fortress, occupying it and the adjacent areas under its control, namely Abu Sinan, to the west, and Tarshiha, to the east. He was then formally granted the iltizam of Jiddin. During the confrontation, Zahir encountered a mercenary, Ahmad Agha al-Dinkizli, whom he commissioned to raise and command a private army of Maghrebi troops.
Zahir next moved on Safed, whose multazim, Muhammad al-Naf'i, surrendered the town around 1740, after prolonged negotiations and military pressure. Control of the strategically situated town, with its citadel built on a high hill, gave the Zaydans command over the surrounding countryside. Afterward, the fortified village of Bi'ina, which had withstood a siege by Zahir in 1739, was added to his domains through an agreement sealed by Zahir's marriage to the daughter of the village mukhtar (headman). He also acquired the fortress of Suhmata through diplomacy, followed by the nearby fortified village of Deir al-Qassi, after marrying the daughter of its sheikh, Abd al-Khaliq Salih. All the above gains solidified his hold over the northern and eastern Galilee. Elsewhere, Sa'd had taken control of Deir Hanna, establishing his headquarters there, while their cousin Muhammad, who was already the multazim of Damun, added Shefa-Amr to his holdings, increasing the presence of the Zaydans in the western Galilee.
#### Capture of Nazareth and conflict with Nablus
According to Marom et al, "Beginning in the 1740s CE [...] Dhahir al-‘Umar expanded his rule to the northern part of the valley and fortified adjacent villages, turning the valley into a borderland of conflict with the rulers of Jenin and Nablus. Nazareth, a mostly Christian town, came under Zahir's control by the end of 1740, following his capture of Safed. Philipp contends the extension of Zahir's rule southward toward Nazareth and the neighboring Marj Ibn Amer, the wide plain between the Galilee and Jabal Nablus through which the Damascus–Nablus trade routes passed, was a drawn-out process and the precise dating of the associated events is unclear. Although it administratively belonged to the Sidon Eyalet, Nazareth was controlled by the rural chiefs of Nablus Sanjak, a district of the Damascus Eyalet. The town was the residence of Zahir's first, Damascene wife and the hometown of his second wife. Through these connections, he forged good ties with its residents. They preferred Zahir, who had a reputation for religious tolerance, over the chiefs and merchants of Nablus, who they viewed as oppressive or extortionary.
The dominant clans of Jabal Nablus, especially the Jarrar family, challenged Zahir's advance, recruiting the Saqr as allies. By then, the Saqr had become hostile toward Zahir, their ostensible junior partner, for stemming their raids against the peasants in his territories. Probably sometime after 1738, Zahir, backed by his kinsmen, Maghrebi mercenaries, and the residents of Nazareth, routed the Jarrar–Saqr coalition at the Marj Ibn Amer village of al-Rawda, near al-Mansi. Following his victory, Zahir called for reinforcements from the people of his domains to subdue Jabal Nablus. Among them were many residents of Nazareth, including Christian women who supplied the troops with food and water. Zahir's forces pursued the Jarrars to their throne village of Sanur, but withdrew after failing to capture its fortress. The defeat marked the limit of Zahir's influence south of Marj Ibn Amer and confirmed the Jarrars as the dominant force of Jabal Nablus over their rivals, the Tuqans. While the Jarrars and Zahir eventually concluded a truce, the former continued to mobilize the clans of Jabal Nablus to prevent Zahir's southward expansion.
### Confrontations and respite with Damascus
Zahir's rise coincided with that of the Azm family, whose members governed Damascus Eyalet for over a quarter century, beginning with Isma'il Pasha al-Azm in 1725. The Azms often attempted to expand their control to the provinces of Tripoli and Sidon. Isma'il Pasha's brother, Sulayman Pasha al-Azm, became governor of Sidon in 1733, before taking up office in Damascus the following year. He opposed Zahir's buildup of power on the borders of his province and encroachments into the Nablus Sanjak. More alarming to the governor than Zahir's activities in Palestine were his incursions east of the Jordan River. In 1737 and 1738, he had launched raids into the Golan Heights and the Hauran plain, and attacked Damascus city. For threatening Damascus, the imperial government determined Zahir was a threat to the all-important Hajj pilgrim caravan to Mecca, which was annually marshaled in Damascus and traditionally led by its governor. With Constantinople's sanction, Sulayman Pasha launched an abortive attack against Zahir in 1738. The Banu Saqr then captured his brother, Salih, and handed him over to Sulayman Pasha, who executed him, further embittering Zahir toward the Saqr. Sulayman Pasha renewed his efforts to suppress the Zaydans in 1741, enlisting his nephew, Ibrahim Pasha of Sidon, who was defeated by Zahir near Acre.
In September 1742, Sulayman Pasha besieged Tiberias for ninety days, with unprecedented orders from Constantinople to execute Zahir. The latter proclaimed his loyalty to the Ottoman sultan, but failed to sway Sulayman Pasha during ensuing negotiations. When Sulayman Pasha lifted the siege to lead the Hajj caravan, Zahir marshaled French mercantile partners in Acre and Jewish allies in Tiberias to lobby the authorities in Constantinople. His efforts to sway the government failed and Sulayman Pasha resumed the operation after his return to Damascus in July 1743. He died suddenly in August on the outskirts of Tiberias, and Zahir used the opportunity to assault his camp and capture its weapons and goods.
Sulayman Pasha's successor, his nephew As'ad Pasha al-Azm, relented from further action against Zahir. The following fourteen years were characterized by peace between Zahir and Damascus, partly because As'ad Pasha was dissuaded by his brother's unsuccessful experience and preoccupied with domestic affairs. In late 1757, the Banu Sakhr and Sardiyya tribes launched an assault on the Hajj caravan on its return to Syria. Thousands of Muslim pilgrims were killed in the raid, including Sultan Osman III's sister. The attack shocked the government, and discredited the governor of Damascus, Husayn Pasha ibn Makki, for failing to ward off the Bedouin. Husayn Pasha had replaced As'ad Pasha, and among his priorities were subduing Zahir. He lodged a complaint to the imperial government alleging Zahir's involvement in the raid. Zahir denied the allegation and pressed for an investigation into the assault. To earn the government's favor, he purchased the looted goods of the caravan from the Bedouin, including the decorated banners representing the Islamic prophet Muhammad and the sovereignty of the sultan, and restored them to Sultan Mustafa III (Osman III had died on 30 October). Husayn Pasha was replaced by Uthman Pasha al-Kurji in 1760.
### Control of Acre and Haifa
Zahir consolidated his authority over the port of Acre in a drawn-out process starting in the 1730s. Joudah views Zahir's moves as "inevitable", considering he already controlled Acre's fertile countryside and needed "an outlet to the sea" and was motivated by "potential profits". Zahir had commercial dealings with the French merchants of the city through his Acre-based partner, the Melkite merchant Yusuf al-Qassis. His first contact with the merchants came in 1731 when he arranged the settlement of debts owed to them by his brother Sa'd. Control of Acre would greatly improve his business potential, and the peace with Damascus under As'ad Pasha enabled Zahir to focus his military resources against the city.
In 1743, Zahir had his cousin Muhammad arrested and executed to remove him as a rival for influence in Acre. That year, Zahir had requested the iltizam of Acre from Ibrahim Pasha, who, wary of Zahir's growing power in the province, rejected the request. Zahir took Acre by force, probably in 1744, and killed its multazim. After mobilizing its ulema (Muslim scholars) and qadi (Islamic head judge) to petition the sultan on his behalf, in July 1746, Zahir was formally appointed the multazim of Acre. In the first few years following his takeover of Acre, Zahir resided in Deir Hanna. He began fortifying Acre by building a wall around it in 1750. He built other fortifications and public buildings in Acre and promoted immigration to the city, which became his new headquarters. Afterward, Zahir confiscated five villages in Sahil Akka (the coastal plain of Acre), Julis, Mazra'a, Makr, Judayda, and Sumayriyya, as personal estates, which he also developed. He installed water mills on the Na'aman River south of Acre and the Ga'aton River north of the city, both part of the 16th-century waqf (endowment) of Sinan Pasha to which he paid a fixed amount yearly.
In 1757, Zahir had expanded his holdings southward, along Palestine's northern coastal plain, taking control of the villages of Haifa, Tira, and Tantura, and nearby Mount Carmel. Ostensibly, Zahir captured the harbor village of Haifa to eliminate the base established there by Maltese pirates, but he probably aimed to prevent the governors of Damascus from utilizing the port village, strategically positioned across the bay from Acre, as a launchpad against him, while also seeking another potential port for his domains. While As'ad Pasha had not acted against Zahir's occupation of Haifa, Uthman Pasha sought to return the port to Damascene authority. Acting on Uthman Pasha's request, the governor of Sidon, Nu'man Pasha, dispatched 30 Maghrebi mercenaries on a vessel captained by a Frenchman to capture Haifa in May 1761. Upon arrival, Zahir had the ship confiscated, its soldiers arrested, and its captain fined. The issue over Haifa's annexation was smoothed over with the assistance of Yaqub Agha, a Constantinople-based official with friendly ties to Zahir. Yaqub Agha had a high-ranking official, Sulayman Agha, revoke the imperial order sanctioning Uthman Pasha's attempt to capture the Haifa coast.
### Family rebellions
To safeguard his interests in the Galilee, particularly after establishing headquarters in Acre, Zahir installed his sons at strategic fortresses across the region. In the 1760s, many of his sons increasingly struggled against him and each other to expand their holdings in anticipation of their aging father's death.
In 1761, Zahir had Uthman assassinate Sa'd, hitherto his chief adviser and a key figure behind his successes, in exchange for control of Shefa-Amr. Zahir reneged after Sa'd's killing, prompting Uthman and his full-brothers Ahmad and Sa'd al-Din to besiege Shefa-Amr in 1765, but they were repulsed. In May 1766, Uthman renewed his rebellion against Zahir but was again defeated. Mediation by Isma'il Shihab of Hasbaya culminated in a peace summit near Tyre where Zahir and Uthman reconciled and Uthman was given control of Nazareth.
In September 1767, a conflict between Zahir and his son Ali, who controlled Safed, broke out over the former's refusal to cede the strategic fortress villages of Deir Hanna and Deir al-Qassi. Before the dispute, Ali had been a key supporter of his father, helping suppress dissent among his brothers and quashing external threats. Zahir's forces marched on Safed later that month, pressuring Ali to surrender. Zahir pardoned Ali, but gave him Deir al-Qassi. The intra-family conflict resumed weeks later, with Ali and his full brother Sa'id poised against Zahir and Uthman. Ibrahim Sabbagh, Zahir's financial adviser, brokered a settlement giving Sa'id control of the villages of Tur'an and Hittin. Ali held out and took over Deir Hanna, which Zahir previously denied him. Joined by Zahir's eldest son, Salibi, who controlled Tiberias, Ali defeated Zahir, who had demobilized his troops and was relying on local volunteers from Acre. Zahir remobilized his Maghrebi mercenaries and defeated Ali, prompting him to flee Deir Hanna in October. Nevertheless, he pardoned Ali for a fine and ceded him the fortress village. By December 1767, Zahir's intra-family disputes had subsided.
The rebellions by Zahir's sons were nearly always backed by the governor of Damascus, Uthman Pasha, in a bid to sustain the internal dissent and weaken Zahir. The latter lodged complaints to the imperial government about Uthman Pasha's support for his rebellious sons at least once in 1765. Zahir received the support of the governor of Sidon, Muhammad Pasha al-Azm, an opponent of Uthman Pasha who sought to restore the Azms to office in Damascus. While Sidon's support had no practical military value, the support of his nominal superior provided Zahir with official legitimacy amid his family's insurrections.
### Alliance with the Metawalis of Jabal Amil
Zahir's takeover of the Safed region and the western Galilee removed the barriers between him and the Twelver Shia Muslim clans of Jabal Amil, the predominantly Twelver Shia hill country east of Tyre and Sidon, who were referred to in the sources as the 'Metawalis'. Their territory was wedged between the Shihabs in Mount Lebanon and the Zaydans in northern Palestine. In 1743, Nassar, the chief of the Ali al-Saghirs, the dominant Metawali clan in the Bilad Bishara nahiya, assisted government forces in their campaign against Zahir. Around 1750, Nassar's successor, his son Zahir al-Nassar, called for Zahir's backing against the Shihabs, who had earlier killed hundreds of Shia Muslim villagers and sacked the nahiyas of Jabal Amil in a campaign against the Metawalis. With Zahir's support, the Ali al-Saghirs routed the Shihabs at Marjayoun. Zahir al-Nassar died that year and was succeeded by his brother, Nasif al-Nassar, who soon emerged as the most powerful chief of the Metawalis.
Nasif and the other Metawali chiefs backed Zahir's son Uthman during his rebellion against him in 1766, and then his other son Ali in 1767. Amid the conflict, Zahir captured the fortified Metawali-held villages of Bassa and Yaroun on the borders of Zaydani territory. While the contemporary al-Rukayni and the near contemporary Mikha'il Sabbagh agree that the capture of the two villages were the cause of the subsequent battles between Zahir and Nasif, they diverge on the other details. After a series of clashes, the two sides fought at the village of Tarbikha on 6 October 1766. While Sabbagh claims it ended in a victory for Zahir, al-Rukayni held Nasif was the decisive victor. Thereafter, Zahir's Maghrebi mercenaries supposedly employed a ruse by capturing two of Nasif's yong sons from Nasif's headquarters, the Tebnine castle, compelling Nasif to negotiate terms. This account is considered a local legend by the historian Stefan Winter, and Philipp deems Rukayni more reliable for these events.
Despite their conflict, Zahir and the Metawalis shared an interest in limiting the power of Sidon and keeping the Druze forces of Mount Lebanon at bay. Zahir's son Uthman mediated an end to the conflict and secured a treaty between Zahir and Nasif. Rukayni dates the treaty ceremony to 24 November 1767. According to its terms, Zahir would keep control of Bassa and Yaroun, he would represent the Metawalis in their fiscal and other relations with the governor of Sidon, and he reduced their tax obligations to Sidon by a quarter. He promised his backing for the Metawalis in any confrontation with the Shihabs and the Druze, in return for the Metawalis' military support. In effect, though without official recognition, Zahir became the multazim of Jabal Amil, greatly expanding his territory. The backing of some 10,000 Metawali fighters significantly boosted his military potential, and the Metawalis "remained faithful allies ... to the end", in the words of Philipp, participating in fifteen subsequent campaigns against Zahir's foes. The alliance secured Zahir's northern borders, allowing him to focus on operations in the south.
## Peak of power
In 1768, the Porte partially recognized or legitimized Zahir's de facto political position by granting him the title of 'Sheikh of Acre, Emir of Nazareth, Tiberias, Safed, and Sheikh of all Galilee'. This recognition was tempered when Yaqub Agha was executed shortly after and Sulayman Agha died in 1770, depriving Zahir of close allies in Constantinople. In November 1770, Uthman Pasha engineered the replacement of Sidon's governor with his own son, Darwish Pasha, and succeeded in having his other son, Muhammad Pasha, appointed to Tripoli. Uthman Pasha was committed to ending Zahir's rule, which was left especially vulnerable with the loss of support in the imperial capital. In response to threats from Damascus, Zahir further strengthened Acre's fortifications and armed every adult male in the city with a rifle, two pistols and a sabre. He mended ties with his sons, who held iltizam throughout the Galilee, and consolidated his relationship with the Shia clans of Jabal Amil, thereby cementing his local alliances.
### Alliance with Ali Bey and war with Damascus
Although Zahir was bereft of support in Constantinople and Damascus, he was forging a new alliance with the increasingly autonomous mamluk governor of Egypt and the Hejaz, Ali Bey al-Kabir. Seeking to extend his influence to Syria for strategic purposes vis-a-vis his conflict with the Porte, Ali Bey had a mutual interest with Zahir in subduing Damascus. He dispatched 15,000-20,000 Egyptian troops to the port cities of Gaza and Jaffa under commander Ismail Bey. Together, Zahir and Ismail crossed the Jordan Valley with their armies and moved north toward Damascus. They made it as far as Muzayrib, but Ismail abruptly halted his army's advance after confronting Uthman Pasha as he was leading the Hajj caravan in order to avoid harming the Muslim pilgrims. Ismail considered attacking the governor at that point to be a grave religious offense. He subsequently withdrew to Jaffa.
Zahir was surprised and angered by Ismail's reticence to attack. In a unilateral move to impose his authority in Uthman Pasha's jurisdiction, Zahir had his son Ahmad and other subordinate commanders collect taxes from villages in Damascus Eyalet, including Quneitra, while he dispatched Ali on a campaign against the Banu Nu'aym tribe in the Hauran, also part of Damascus. In response to Zahir's indignation, Ali Bey sent him 35,000 troops under Abu al-Dhahab in May. Together with Ismail's troops in Jaffa, the Egyptian army captured Damascus from Uthman Pasha in June, while Zahir and his Metawali allies captured the city of Sidon from Darwish Pasha. However, Abu al-Dhahab was persuaded by Ismail that confronting the Ottoman sultan, who carried a high religious authority as the caliph of Islam, was "truly ... a scheme of the Devil" and a crime against their religion. A short time after capturing Damascus, Abu al-Dhahab and Ismail withdrew from the city, whose inhabitants were "completely astonished at this amazing event", according to a chronicler of the time period. The sudden turn of events compelled Zahir's forces to withdraw from Sidon on 20 June.
Abu al-Dhahab's withdrawal frustrated Zahir who proceeded to make independent moves, first by capturing Jaffa in August 1771, after driving out its governor Ahmad Bey Tuqan. Shortly thereafter, he captured the cotton-producing Bani Sa'b district (centered around Tulkarm), which was held by Mustafa Bey Tuqan. Zahir had Jaffa fortified and garrisoned with 2,000 men. By the end of August, Uthman Pasha restored his control over Ramla and Gaza, but Zahir retained Jaffa.
In an attempt to expand his zone of influence to Nablus, the commercial center of Palestine and its agriculturally-rich hinterland, Zahir besieged Nablus in late 1771. By then, he had secured an alliance with the Jarrars, who were incensed at Uthman Pasha's appointment of Mustafa Bey Tuqan as the collector of the miri (Hajj caravan tax). Nablus was under the de facto control of the Tuqan and Nimr clans, local rivals of the Jarrars. The loss of Jaffa and Bani Sa'b stripped Nablus of its sea access. Nablus was defended by 12,000 mostly peasant riflemen under Nimr and Tuqan commanders. After nine days of clashes, Zahir withdrew to avoid a costly stalemate. As he departed Nablus, his forces raided many of the city's satellite villages, from which its peasant defenders originated.
Uthman Pasha had resumed his governorship of Damascus at the end of June 1771 and was determined to eliminate Zahir. To that end, he assembled a coalition that included Darwish Pasha, Muhammad Pasha and Yusuf Shihab. In late August, Uthman Pasha reached Lake Hula at the head of 10,000 soldiers. Before Uthman Pasha could be joined by his allies, Zahir and Nasif confronted the governor on 2 September. Zahir's son Ali raided Uthman Pasha's camp, while Zahir's other troops blocked them from the west. Uthman Pasha's troops hastily retreated towards the Jordan River, the only place where they were not surrounded. The overwhelming majority drowned in the river, with only 300–500 survivors, including Uthman Pasha, who almost drowned before being rescued by one of his men. The Battle of Lake Hula marked a decisive victory for Zahir, who entered Acre triumphantly with the spoils of Uthman Pasha's camp. He was celebrated by the city's residents and on the way there, had been given honorary gun salutes by the fortified villages between Tiberias and Acre. He also received congratulations from the French merchant ships at the port of Acre. Zahir's victory encouraged Ali Bey to relaunch his Syrian campaign.
Following his victory, Zahir had Darwish Pasha vacate Sidon on 13 October. He returned two days later after receiving Yusuf Shihab's backing. Zahir decided to move against Yusuf Shihab and, together with Nasif, confronted him and his 37,000 men at the village of Nabatieh on 20 October. Zahir's Metawali cavalry feigned retreat, luring Yusuf Shihab's army into a place where they were surrounded by Zahir's men, who dealt them a decisive blow. Yusuf Shihab thereafter retreated to his mountain village of Deir al-Qamar, leaving Sidon under Sheikh Ali Jumblatt and 3,000 Druze defenders. When news of Zahir's victory reached them, Ali Jumblatt and Darwish Pasha withdrew from the city, which was subsequently occupied by Zahir and Nasif. Uthman Pasha and all of his sons were consequently dismissed from their posts by the Porte. Although he could not capture Nablus and its hinterland, Zahir's domain by the end of 1771 extended from Sidon to Jaffa and included an influential presence in the Hauran plain. In the same year, Lajjun was the site of a decisive battle in which Zahir defeated the alliance of the Jarrars, the Saqr and the Nabulsi sheikhs, preparing his political and military hegemony over Jabal Nablus.
Muhammad Tuqan captured Jaffa from Zahir in May 1772, the same month that Ali Bey arrived in Acre to seek Zahir's protection after being forced out of Egypt by rival mamluks. In June, the Ottoman loyalist Jazzar Pasha took over Beirut from local Druze sheikhs. The Druze had previously been in conflict with Zahir, but due to Jazzar's offensive, the circumstances fostered an alliance between them, Zahir, and the Metawali clans. Zahir and Ali Bey captured Jaffa with help from the Russian Fleet after a nine-month siege, in which they exhausted many of their resources. Before that, in late October 1772, Zahir and his Druze and Metawali allies captured Beirut from Jazzar, also with Russian naval support.
In March 1773, Ali Bey left Palestine to reestablish himself in Egypt, but Abu al-Dhahab had him killed when he arrived. With this came an end to the alliance that politically and economically aligned Egypt and Palestine for the first time since the early 16th century. While their attempts to unite their territories were unsuccessful, their rule posed the most serious domestic challenge to Ottoman rule in the 18th century. As a consequence of Ali Bey's death, Zahir moved to strengthen his hold over Jaffa and capture Jerusalem, but he failed in the latter attempt. All of Syria came under the official command of Uthman Pasha al-Misri in 1774 in order to bring stability to its provinces. Misri avoided conflict with Zahir and sought to establish friendly terms with him. He convinced the Porte to appoint Zahir governor of Sidon as long as Zahir paid all of the taxes the province had owed the Porte. Misri further promoted Zahir in February by declaring him 'Governor of Sidon, Nablus, Gaza, Ramla, Jaffa and Jabal Ajlun', although this title was not imperially sanctioned. In effect, Zahir was the de facto ruler over Palestine (with the exception of Nablus and Jerusalem), Jabal Amil, and the Syrian coast from Gaza to Beirut.
## Downfall and death
Misri was recalled to Constantinople in the summer of 1774 and Muhammad Pasha al-Azm was appointed governor of Damascus. Zahir's governorship of Sidon was thus left vulnerable because it had largely depended on guarantees from Misri. Azm sought peaceful relations with Zahir, but the Porte, having made peace with Russia and relieving itself from the Russo-Ottoman War, aimed to move against the rebellious rulers of its provinces, including Zahir. Azm secured an official pardon of Zahir from the Porte in April 1775, but his governorship of Sidon was not preserved. Meanwhile, conflict between Zahir and his sons was renewed, with Ali attempting to capture Zahir's villages in the Galilee in 1774. Zahir defeated Ali with support from his other son Ahmad. Later that year, Zahir's rule was challenged by his son Sa'id, Zahir armed and mobilized 300 of Acre's civilian inhabitants to counter Sa'id. Ali continued to undermine his father's rule by encouraging defections by his Maghrebi mercenaries through bribes.
On 20 May 1775, Abu al-Dhahab, having been encouraged by the Porte to eradicate Zahir's influence, captured Jaffa and slaughtered its male inhabitants. News of the massacre spurred the people of Acre into a mass panic, with its residents fleeing and storing their goods in the city's Khan al-Ifranj caravanserai for safekeeping. On 24 May, Zahir also departed the city, leaving for Sidon. Ali subsequently entered and declared himself governor. However, his Maghrebi troops abandoned him and looted the city as Abu al-Dhahab's troops approached it a few days later. They proceeded to conquer Sidon by sea, prompting Zahir to seek shelter with Metawali allies in Jabal Amil. Some of Zahir's sons attempted to secure their own peace with Abu al-Dhahab, but the latter became ill and died on 10 June, causing the collapse and chaotic withdrawal of his Egyptian troops from Acre. Zahir reentered the city two days later and reestablished order with the assistance of Dinkizli. However, the setback of Abu al-Dhahab's death did not preclude the Porte from attempting to check Zahir's power and Sidon remained in direct government control.
On 23 April, the Porte dispatched the Ottoman Navy admiral, Hasan Pasha al-Jazayiri, to blockade Acre. He reached Haifa on 7 August, taking Jaffa from Zahir's son-in-law, Karim al-Ayyubi. Hasan Pasha ordered Zahir to pay arrears of the miri accruing from 1768. Zahir initially agreed to pay 500,000 piasters of the total amount upfront and a further 50,000 piasters to Hasan Pasha personally to "spare the blood of the people". Hasan Pasha accepted Zahir's proposals, but the arrangements fell apart.
The accounts differ as to why the negotiations collapsed, but agree that their failure was the result of disputes within Zahir's inner circle between Sabbagh and Dinkizli. Most accounts claim that Sabbagh urged Zahir not to pay the requested sums and agitated for war. Sabbagh argued that Zahir's treasury lacked the funds and that Zahir's forces were capable of defeating Hasan Pasha. Dinkizli pressed Zahir to pay, arguing that mass bloodshed could be averted. He advised Zahir to force Sabbagh to pay the amount if Zahir could not afford it. When the negotiations dragged on, Hasan Pasha pressed for a full repayment of the miri arrears, warning Zahir that he would be executed if he failed to do so. Insulted by the threat, he threatened to destroy Hasan Pasha's fleet unless he withdrew.
Hasan Pasha proceeded to bombard Acre, and Zahir's Maghrebi artillerymen responded with cannon fire, damaging two of imperial ships. The following day, Hasan Pasha's fleet fired roughly 7,000 shells against Acre without returning fire from the city's artillerymen; Dinkizli ordered his Maghrebi forces to disengage because as Muslims they were prohibited from attacking the sultan's military. Realizing his long-time lieutenant's betrayal, Zahir attempted to flee Acre on 21 August or 22 August. As he departed its gates, he was fired on by Ottoman troops, with a bullet striking his neck and causing him to fall off his horse. A Maghrebi soldier then decapitated him. Zahir's severed head was subsequently delivered to Constantinople.
### Aftermath
Following his death, Sabbagh and Zahir's sons Abbas and Salih were arrested by Hasan Pasha's men. Sabbagh was executed by Hasan Pasha. The sons were imprisoned in Constantinople. The Porte confiscated property belonging to Zahir, his sons and Sabbagh, valued at 41,500,000 piasters. Also arrested with Zahir's sons was their physician, who was known to be skilled. The physician was summoned by the sultan to treat his ailing wife, which he did successfully, earning him his release and a medal of honor from the sultan. The physician used his influence with the authorities to have Zahir's children and grandchildren released and returned to their hometowns. Dinkizli was rewarded with the governorship of Gaza, but died en route to his new headquarters, likely having been poisoned by Hasan Pasha.
Zahir's sons Uthman, Ahmad, Sa'id and Ali continued to resist government forces, with Ali putting up the longest fight from his fortress in Deir Hanna. On 22 July 1776, the fortress capitulated to the combined forces of Hasan Pasha and Jazzar Pasha. Ali fled, but was killed later that year in the area between Tiberias and Safed. By then, the rest of Zahir's sons had been arrested or killed. Abbas was later appointed by Sultan Selim III as the sheikh of Safed. In 1799, when Napoleon invaded Palestine and withdrew after being defeated by Jazzar in Acre, Abbas and Salih left Safed with the departing French forces. This marked the end of Zaydani influence in the Galilee.
Constantin-François Volney, who wrote the first European biography of Zahir in 1787, lists three main reasons for Zahir's failure. First, the lack of "internal good order and justness of principle". Secondly, the early concessions he made to his children. Third, and most of all, the avarice of his adviser and confidant, Ibrahim Sabbagh.
## Politics
### Administration
Zahir appointed many of his brothers and sons as local administrators, particularly after he consolidated his control over Acre, which became the capital of his territory. Except for Acre and Haifa, Zahir divided the remainder of his territory between his relatives. His eldest brother was appointed to Deir Hanna, and his younger brothers Yusuf and Salih were installed in I'billin and Arraba, respectively. Zahir appointed his eldest son Salibi as the multazim of Tiberias. Salibi was killed in 1773 fighting alongside Ali Bey's forces in Egypt. His death deeply distressed Zahir, who was around 80 years old at the time. He appointed Uthman in Kafr Kanna then Shefa-Amr, Abbas in Nazareth, Ali in Safed, and Ahmad in Saffuriya. Ahmad replaced Salibi in Tiberias as well, and also conquered Ajlun and Salt in Transjordan. Ahmad was given authority over Deir Hanna after Sa'd's death. Zahir appointed his son-in-law Karim al-Ayyubi in Jaffa and Gaza, while Dinkizli was made multazim in Sidon in 1774. The appointment of Zahir's relatives and close associates was meant to ensure the efficient administration of his expanding realm and the loyalty of his circle. Among their chief functions was to ensure the supply of cotton to Acre. It is not clear if these posts were recognized by the Ottoman government.
Zahir had an aide who jointly served in the capacity of mudabbir (manager) and vizier to assist him throughout much of his rule in matters of finance and correspondence. This official had always been a Melkite (local Greek Catholic). His first vizier was Yusuf al-Arqash, followed by Yusuf Qassis in 1749. Qassis continued in this role until the early 1760s when he was arrested for attempting to smuggle wealth he had accumulated during his service to Malta. He was succeeded by Ibrahim Sabbagh, who had served as a personal physician for Zahir in 1757 when he replaced Zahir's longtime physician Sulayman Suwwan. The latter was a local Greek Orthodox Christian and when he failed to properly treat Zahir during a serious illness in 1757, Qassis used the opportunity to replace him with Sabbagh, a friend and fellow Melkite. Sabbagh became the most influential figure in Zahir's administration, particularly as Zahir grew old. This caused consternation among Zahir's sons as they viewed Sabbagh to be a barrier between them and their father and an impediment to their growing power in Zahir's territory. Sabbagh was able to gain increased influence with Zahir largely because of the wealth he amassed through his integral role in managing Zahir's cotton monopoly. Much of this wealth was acquired through Sabbagh's own deals where he would purchase cotton and other cash crops from the local farmers and sell them to the European merchants in Syria's coastal cities and to his Melkite partners in Damietta, Egypt. Sabbagh served other important roles as well, including as Zahir's political adviser, main administrator and chief representative with European merchants and Ottoman provincial and imperial officials.
There were other officials in Zahir's civil administration in Acre, including chief religious officials, namely the mufti and the qadi (judge). The mufti was the chief scholar among the ulema (Muslim scholarly community) and oversaw the interpretation of Islamic law in Zahir's realm. Although he was appointed by the Sublime Porte, Zahir managed to maintain the same mufti for many years at a time in contrast with the typical Syrian province which saw its mufti replaced annually. The mufti was a Damascene, Abd al-Halim al-Shuwayki, who had been an old friend of Zahir's family when they were based in Tiberias and had often hosted Zahir during his business trips to Damascus. Zahir directly appointed the qadi from Palestine's local ulema, but his judicial decisions had to be approved by the qadi of Sidon. Zahir had a chief imam, who in the last years of his rule was Ali ibn Khalid of Sha'ab. An agha was also appointed to supervise the customs payments made by the European merchants in Acre and Haifa.
Zahir's initial military forces consisted of his Zaydani kinsmen and the inhabitants of the areas he ruled. They numbered about 200 men in the early 1720s, but grew to about 1,500 in the early 1730s. During this early period of Zahir's career, he also had the key military backing of the Banu Saqr and other Bedouin tribes. As he consolidated his hold over Galilee, his army rose to over 4,000 men, many of the later recruits being peasants who supported Zahir for protecting them against Bedouin raids. This suppression of the Bedouin in turn caused the tribes to largely withdraw their military backing of Zahir. The core of his private army were the Maghrebi mercenaries. The Maghrebis' commander, Dinkizli, also served as Zahir's top military commander from 1735 until Dinkizli's defection during the Ottoman siege of Acre in 1775. From the time Zahir reconciled with Sheikh Nasif of Jabal Amil in 1768 until most of the remainder of his rule, Zahir also counted on the support of Nasif's roughly 10,000 Metawali cavalrymen. However, the Metawalis did not aid Zahir during the Ottoman offensive of 1775. Zahir's fortified villages and towns were equipped with artillery installments and his army's arsenal consisted of cannons, matchlock rifles, pistols and lances. Most of the firearms were imported from Venice or France, and by the early 1770s, the Russian imperial navy.
### General security
According to Joudah, the two principal conditions Zahir established to foster his sheikhdom's prosperity and its survival were "security and justice". Before Zahir's consolidation of power, the villages of northern Palestine were prone to Bedouin raids and robberies and the roads were under constant threat from highway robbers and Bedouin attacks. Despite being left destitute following the looting raids, the inhabitants of these agrarian villages remained obligated to pay the Ottoman government the miri. To avoid punitive measures for not paying the miri, the inhabitants would abandon their villages for safety in the larger towns or the desert. This situation hurt the economy of the region as the raids sharply reduced the villages' agricultural output, tax collectors could not collect their impositions, and trade could not be safely conducted due to the insecurity of the roads.
By 1746, Zahir had established order in the lands he controlled. He coopted the dominant Bedouin tribe of the region, the Banu Saqr, which greatly contributed to the establishment of security in northern Palestine. Moreover, Zahir charged the sheikhs of the towns and villages of northern Palestine with ensuring the safety of the roads in their respective vicinity and required them to compensate anyone who was robbed of their property. General security reached a level whereby "an old woman with gold in her hand could travel from one place to another without fear or danger", according to Zahir's biographer Sabbagh.
The period of calm that persisted between 1744 and 1765 greatly boosted the security and economy of the Galilee. The security established in the region encouraged people from other parts of the empire to immigrate there. Conflict between the local clans and between Zahir and his sons remained limited to periodic clashes, while there were no external attacks against Zahir's domains. While Zahir used force to strengthen his position, the local inhabitants generally took comfort in his rule, which historian Thomas Philip described as "relatively just and reasonably fair". According to the traveler Richard Pococke, who visited the area in 1737, the local people had great admiration for Zahir, especially for his war against bandits on the roads.
### Economic policies
In addition to providing security, Zahir and his local deputies adopted a policy of aiding peasants cultivate and harvest their farmlands as a means to ensure the steady supply of agricultural products for export. These benefits included loans to peasants and the distribution of free seeds. Financial burdens on the peasants were also reduced as Zahir offered tax relief during dry seasons or when harvests were poor. This same tax relief was extended to newcomers who sought to begin cultivating new farmlands. Moreover, Zahir assumed responsibility for outstanding payments the peasants owed to merchants from credit-based transactions, if the merchants could provide proof of unsatisfactory payment. According to Philipp, Zahir "had the good business sense not to exploit peasants to the point of destruction, but kept his financial demands to a more moderate level". He regularly paid the Ottoman authorities their financial dues, ensuring a degree of stability in his relationship with the sultanate.
After Zahir conquered Acre, he transformed it from a decaying village into a fortified market hub for Palestinian products, including silk, wheat, olive oil, tobacco and cotton, which he exported to Europe. Zahir monopolized the cotton market, controlling its production and foreign export. He did business with European merchants based in northern Palestine's ports, who competed with one another for the cotton and grain cultivated in the rural villages under Zahir's control or influence in the Galilee's hinterland and Jabal Amil. Before this, European merchants dealt directly with local cotton growers, but Zahir, with the help of Sabbagh, ended this system by assuming the role of middleman between the foreign merchants and the growers living under his rule. This allowed him to both monopolize cotton production and the merchants' price for the product. Zahir's pricing for the local cash crops prevented "exploitation" of the peasants and local merchants by European merchants and their "manipulation of the prices", according to Joudah. This caused financial losses to the Europeans, who lodged numerous complaints to the French and English ambassadors to the Ottoman government. A formal agreement to regulate commerce between Zahir and the European merchants was reached in 1753. Zahir further encouraged trade by offering local merchants interest-free loans.
The high European demand for cotton enabled Zahir to become wealthy and finance his autonomous sheikhdom. Control of the cotton market also allowed him to gain practical control of the Sidon Eyalet, except for the city of Sidon. With mixed success, Zahir attempted to have French merchant ships redirected from the ports of Tyre and Sidon to Haifa, in order to benefit from the customs fees he could exact. Acre underwent an economic boom as a result of its position in the cotton trade with France.
### Relationship with religious minorities
Zahir governed with religious tolerance and encouraged the involvement of religious minorities in the local economy. As part of his wider efforts to increase the Galilee's population, Zahir invited Jews to settle in Tiberias around 1742, along with Muslims. He did not consider Jews to be a threat to his rule and believed that their connections with the Jewish diaspora would encourage economic development in Tiberias, which the Jews considered particularly holy. His tolerance towards the Jews, the cuts in taxes levied on them, and assistance in the construction of Jewish homes, schools and synagogues, helped foster the growth of the Jewish community. The initial Jewish immigrants came from Damascus and were later followed by Jews from Aleppo, Cyprus and Smyrna. Many Jews in Safed, which was governed by Zahir's son Ali, moved to Tiberias in the 1740s to take advantage of better opportunities in that city, which at the time was under Zahir's direct rule. Jewish communities were also established in the villages of Kafr Yasif and Shefa-Amr under Zahir's watch.
Zahir encouraged the settlement of Christians in Acre, in order to contribute to the city's commercial dynamism in trade and manufacturing. Christians grew to become the largest religious group in the city by the late 18th century. Zahir's territory became a haven for Melkites and Greek Orthodox from other parts of Ottoman Syria, who migrated there for better trade and employment opportunities. In Nazareth, the Christian community prospered and grew, receiving an influx of Maronites and Greek Orthodox from Mount Lebanon and Transjordan, respectively. The Melkite patriarch was based in Acre between 1765 and 1768. Along with Jews, Christians contributed to the economy of Zahir's sheikhdom through their relative ease in dealing with Christian European merchants, the financial support networks many of them maintained in Damascus or Constantinople, and their role in service industries.
Zahir allowed the Franciscan community of Nazareth to build churches in 1730, 1741 and 1754 on sites Christians associated with the life of Jesus. He allowed the Greek Orthodox community to build St. Gabriel's Church over a ruined Crusader church in Nazareth, and in 1750 they enlarged St. George's Church. The largest Christian community in Acre, the Melkites, built the city's largest church, St. Andrew's Church, in 1764, while the Maronites built St. Mary's Church for their congregation in 1750. As a testament to the exceptional prosperity Christians enjoyed under Zahir, no further churches were built under the auspices of the less tolerant successive rulers of Acre and the Galilee.
A strong relationship was maintained between Zahir and the Shia Muslim peasants of Jabal Amil and their sheikhs and merchant class. Zahir maintained law and order in Jabal Amil, while leaving its mostly Shia inhabitants to their own devices. The Shia also benefited economically from Zahir's monopoly of the cotton industry and their sheikhs provided him men of great military skills. Zahir was a key backer of the Shia in their successful conflict with the Druze Jumblatt clan and the Shihabs under Mulhim.
The relationship between Zahir and the rural sheikhs of the Druze of Mount Lebanon under the Shihabs were mixed. While Mansur Shihab of the Chouf allied with Zahir, his nephew and rival, Yusuf Shihab of the Tripoli region remained supportive of the Ottomans. Owing largely to the conflict between Zahir and the Druze emirs of Mount Lebanon, the Druze of the Galilee did not fare well under Zahir and his Zaydani clan. In the oral traditions of the Galilee's Druze, Zahir's reign was synonymous with oppression. During this period, many Druze villages were destroyed or abandoned, and there was a partial Druze exodus from the Galilee, especially from the villages around Safed, to the Hauran.
## Family
Zahir had five wives during his lifetime. His marriages were politically advantageous, helping to seal his rule over areas he captured and consolidate relationships with Bedouin tribes, local clans, or urban notables. His first wife was the daughter of the Damascene religious notable, Sayyid Muhammad al-Husayni. Among his other wives was a woman from the Sardiyya tribe, and the daughters of the mukhtars of Bi'ina and Deir al-Qassi.
Zahir had eight sons from his wives, and according to Tobias Smollett, a daughter as well. His sons, from eldest to youngest, were Salibi, Ali, Uthman, Sa'id, Ahmad, Salih, Sa'd al-Din and Abbas. His daughter Nijma was married to Karim al-Ayyubi, who was a cousin of Zahir. By 1773, Zahir had a total of 272 children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
As Zahir consolidated his power and reduced external threats to his rule in the 1760s, his sons aspired for more influence and ultimately fought against their father and each other in order to secure their place as Zahir's successor. Besides support from elements of the Zaydani clan, Zahir's sons maintained their own power bases, largely derived from their mothers' clans, and also made their own alliances with other powerful actors in the region. Zahir was victorious in the many conflicts he had with his sons, but their frequent dissent weakened his rule and contributed to his downfall. Before his sons' rebellions, Zahir had eliminated other relatives who challenged his power.
## Legacy
Zahir's rule radically changed the urban landscape of the Galilee. With the restoration and refortification of Acre and the establishment of the secondary port city of Haifa, the Galilee's ties with the Mediterranean world were significantly strengthened. Following his death, his successor Jazzar Pasha maintained the cotton monopoly Zahir had established and the Galilee's economy remained almost completely dependent on the cotton trade. The region prospered for decades, but with the rise of cotton production in the southern United States during the early–mid-19th century, European demand shifted away from Palestine's cotton. Because of its dependency on the crop, the region experienced a sharp economic downturn from which it could not recover. The cotton crop was largely abandoned, as were many villages, and the peasantry shifted its focus to subsistence agriculture.
In the late 19th century, the Palestine Exploration Fund's Claude Reignier Conder wrote that the Ottomans had successfully destroyed the power of Palestine's indigenous ruling families who "had practically been their own masters" but had been "ruined so that there is no longer any spirit left in them". Among these families were the "proud race" of Zahir, which was still held in high esteem, but was powerless and poor. Zahir's modern-day descendants in the Galilee use the surname 'Dhawahri' or 'al-Zawahirah' in Zahir's honor. The Dhawahri constitute one of the traditional elite Muslim clans of Nazareth, alongside the Fahum, Zu'bi and Onallas families. Other places in the Galilee where descendants of Zahir's clan live are Bi'ina and Kafr Manda and, before its 1948 destruction, Damun. Many of the inhabitants of modern-day northern Israel, particularly the towns and villages where Zahir or his family left an architectural legacy, hold Zahir in high regard.
Although he was mostly overlooked by historians of the Middle East, some scholars view Zahir's rule as a forerunner to Palestinian nationalism. Among them is Karl Sabbagh, who asserts the latter view in his book Palestine: A Personal History, which was widely reviewed in the British press in 2010. Zahir was gradually integrated into Palestinian historiography. In Murad Mustafa Dabbagh's Biladuna Filastin (1965), a multi-volume work about Palestine's history, Zahir is referred to as the "greatest Palestinian appearing in the eighteenth century". The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) radio station, Voice of Palestine, broadcast a series about Zahir in 1966, praising him as a Palestinian national hero who fought against Ottoman imperialism. Zahir is considered by many Arab nationalists as a pioneer of Arab liberation from foreign occupation. According to Joudah,
> However historians may look at Shaykh Zahir al-'Umar and his movement, he is highly respected by the Arabs of the East. In particular the Palestinians consider him a national hero who struggled against Ottoman authority for the welfare of his people. This praise is reflected in the recent academic, cultural and literary renaissance within Palestinian society that has elevated Zahir and his legacy to near-iconic status. These re-readings are not always bound to historical objectivity but are largely inspired by the ongoing consequences of the Nakba. Still it is precise to say that Shaykh Zahir had successfully established an autonomous state, or a "little Kingdom," as Albert Hourani called it, in most of Palestine for over a quarter of a century.
Palestinian academic Nur Masalha described Zahir as "the founding father of early Palestinian modernities and social renewal". Masalha further argued that Palestine under the rule of Zahir was "the closest Palestine got to a modern independent state".
### Building works
Zahir and his family built fortresses, watchtowers, warehouses, and khans (caravanserais). These buildings improved the domestic administration and general security of the Galilee. Today, many are in a state of disrepair and remain outside the scope of Israel's cultural preservation laws.
#### Acre
Zahir rebuilt the Crusader walls around Acre. Although considerable in their extent, Zahir's walls were designed to ward off pirates and Bedouin raiders, and could not defend well against the Ottoman military. Under Jazzar Pasha, major reconstruction of the walls was undertaken and the new walls largely remain in place in the present day. Part of Zahir's contributions are extant, mainly a section of the northeastern wall, and are characterized by small stone blocks. An inscription dated to 1750 on a marble slab that was removed from this part of the wall credits Zahir as the builder:
> By the order of Allah this wall was erected in Akka [Acre] by a nobleman who generously acted.
> The father of the heroes he is, the beloved Zahir.
> May Allah reinforce his government forever.
He also built on top of a number of Crusader and Mamluk structures in the city. Among these were the caravanserais of Khan al-Shawarda and its Burj al-Sultan tower and Khan al-Shunah. The Crusader plan and main structure of Khan al-Shunah was preserved by Zahir in his restoration of the building in 1764, and it remained in use as an inn and market for traders until Haifa overtook Acre as the commercial center of the region in the late 19th century. It thereafter became housing for the poor. The original structure of the Suq al-Abyad (the White Bazaar), located in the northeastern corner of the walled city, was built by Zahir, though most of the present structure dates to an 1815 reconstruction by Acre's governor, Sulayman Pasha.
In 1748, Zahir commissioned the construction of the Muallaq Mosque. The building had been used as a synagogue; after Zahir converted it for Muslim use, he compensated the Jewish worshippers with property elsewhere in the city. The Zaytuna Mosque was built in Acre during his rule at the initiative of Hajj Muhammad al-Sadiq, or the local scholar Muhammad Shadi al-Farid, who financed its construction.
#### Nazareth
Zahir built the Seraya government house in Nazareth, which served as the city's municipal headquarters until 1991.
#### Haifa
Between 1765 and 1769, Zahir had Haifa demolished and rebuilt and fortified at a site 3 kilometers (1.9 mi) to the southeast. While the old village was situated on a plain, the new town, which remained a port along the Haifa Bay, was built on a narrow strip of land at the northern foot of Mount Carmel to make it easier to defend by land. In the new Haifa, Zahir built a wall around the town with four towers and two gates, none of which are extant. They existed at least until the early 19th century when David Roberts described and sketched the wall. Within Haifa, Zahir built Burj al-Salam, a two-story square tower, which remained intact until the 1970s. The original great mosque in new Haifa was probably built by Zahir, but most of the present building is a later construction. He also built a customs building and a saraya (government residence). The remains of the saraya consist of a few cross-vaults lying on square pillars in a car park, while the eastern section of the structure is used for warehousing.
#### Tiberias
Zahir built fortifications around Tiberias in 1739–1740. Part of the walls originally ran along the shore of the Sea of Galilee and had eighteen towers. The fortifications were severely damaged in the 1837 earthquake. Most of the walls have been destroyed or form part of modern structures, while eight of the towers are extant.
The two-story square citadel with its four-round towers, located at the northeastern section of the fortifications, remains extant. Both stories of the citadel are characterized by three rows of cross vaults. The citadel was built by Zahir's son Salibi. As of 2001, the upper floor was operated as a restaurant, while the lower floor contained an art gallery. The citadel is locally often misidentified as the "Crusader castle/fortress".
In the present center of Tiberias, Zahir built a mosque, known after him as the Omari Mosque or the Zahiri Mosque. It consists of a prayer hall, a portico and a minaret. It was built with alternating white and black stone, typical of the architectural style of Zahir's building works. While there have been restorations since it was first constructed in the 1740s, the mosque retains its original plan.
#### Villages
Fortifications and other structures were built in the rural villages under Zahir's control. The Zaydans built a double wall around Deir Hanna, making it "the best example of a fortified village in the Galilee", according to Andrew Petersen. Zahir's brother Sa'd built the inner walls and the twelve towers which hovered over them, while Zahir built the outer walls. His son Ali added towers, detached from the walls, in front of the eastern and western sides. They also built a palace complex, including a mosque. The Zaydans' building works in Deir Hanna were severely damaged during Jazzar Pasha's siege. Nonetheless, considerable parts of the structures remain intact and as late as 1960, the town retained the same form of the fortress, with no structures built outside of the lines of the original fortifications.
North of Deir Kifa (in Lebanon) Zahir built the castle of Kulat Marun. In Khirbat Jiddin, Zahir rebuilt the demolished Crusader fortress with the addition of a mosque and hammam (bathhouse). The mosque was destroyed by Israeli forces when the village was captured during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. In Shefa-Amr, Zahir's son Uthman built a large fortress with four towers, of which one remains standing. His son Ahmad rebuilt the Crusader fortress in Saffuriya. In the village of I'billin, Zahir's brother Yusuf built fortifications and a mosque. The I'billin fortress was later used as the headquarters of Aqil Agha, the 19th-century, semi-autonomous Arab sheikh of the Galilee.
In Tibnin, in modern Lebanon, and in Safed, Zahir or his son Ali rebuilt Crusader fortifications. Zahir fortified the village of Harbaj, though the village and its fort were in ruins by the late 19th century. At Tabgha on the Sea of Galilee, Zahir built five fountains, one of which remained standing by the 19th century. That remaining fountain was the largest of its kind in the Galilee.
## See also
- Fakhr al-Din II, tax farmer and local strongman of Mount Lebanon, the Galilee, and the adjacent coasts in the late 16th–early 17th centuries.
- District of Acre
- Gigi and Bella Hadid: American models, claims descent from Zahir al-Umar through their father, Mohamed Hadid
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2,870,470 |
Bembo
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Serif typeface in 1495 Venetian style
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[
"1495 introductions",
"Adobe typefaces",
"Monotype typefaces",
"Old style serif typefaces",
"Typefaces and fonts introduced in 1929",
"Typefaces with infant variants",
"Typefaces with text figures"
] |
Bembo is a serif typeface created by the British branch of the Monotype Corporation in 1928–1929 and most commonly used for body text. It is a member of the "old-style" of serif fonts, with its regular or roman style based on a design cut around 1495 by Francesco Griffo for Venetian printer Aldus Manutius, sometimes generically called the "Aldine roman". Bembo is named for Manutius's first publication with it, a small 1496 book by the poet and cleric Pietro Bembo. The italic is based on work by Giovanni Antonio Tagliente, a calligrapher who worked as a printer in the 1520s, after the time of Manutius and Griffo.
Monotype created Bembo during a period of renewed interest in the printing of the Italian Renaissance, under the influence of Monotype executive and printing historian Stanley Morison. It followed a previous more faithful revival of Manutius's work, Poliphilus, whose reputation it largely eclipsed. Monotype also created a second, much more eccentric italic for it to the design of calligrapher Alfred Fairbank, which also did not receive the same attention as the normal version of Bembo.
Since its creation, Bembo has enjoyed continuing popularity as an attractive, legible book typeface. Prominent users of Bembo have included Penguin Books, the Everyman's Library series, Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, the National Gallery, Yale University Press and Edward Tufte. Bembo has been released in versions for phototypesetting and in several revivals as digital fonts by Monotype and other companies.
## History
The regular (roman) style of Bembo is based on Griffo's typeface for Manutius. Griffo, sometimes called Francesco da Bologna (of Bologna), was an engraver who created designs by cutting punches in steel. These were used as a master to stamp matrices, the moulds used to cast metal type.
Manutius at first printed works only in Greek. His first printing in the Latin alphabet, in February 1496 (1495 by the Venetian calendar), was a book entitled Petri Bembi de Aetna Angelum Chabrielem liber. This book, usually now called De Aetna, was a short 60-page text about a journey to Mount Etna, written by the young Italian humanist poet Pietro Bembo, who would later become a Cardinal, secretary to Pope Leo X and lover of Lucrezia Borgia.
Griffo was one of the first punchcutters to fully express the character of the humanist hand that contemporaries preferred for manuscripts of classics and literary texts, in distinction to the book hand humanists dismissed as a gothic hand or the everyday chancery hand. One of the main characteristics that distinguished Griffo's work from most of the earlier "Venetian" tradition of roman type by Nicolas Jenson and others is the now-normal horizontal cross-stroke of the "e", a letterform which Manutius popularised. Modern font designer Robert Slimbach has described Griffo's work as a breakthrough leading to an "ideal balance of beauty and functionality", as earlier has Harry Carter. The type is sometimes known as the "Aldine roman" after Manutius' name.
In France, his work inspired many French printers and punchcutters such as Robert Estienne and Claude Garamond from 1530 onwards, even though the typeface of De Aetna with its original capitals was apparently used in only about twelve books between 1496 and 1499. Historian Beatrice Warde suggested in the 1920s that its influence may have been due to the high quality of printing shown in the original De Aetna volume, perhaps created as a small pilot project. De Aetna was printed using a mixture of alternate characters, perhaps as an experiment, which included a lower-case p in the same style as the capital letter with a flat top. In 1499, Griffo recut the capitals, changing the appearance of the typeface slightly. This version was used to print Manutius' famous illustrated volume Hypnerotomachia Poliphili.
Griffo's roman typeface, with several replacements of the capitals, continued to be used by Manutius's company until the 1550s, when a refresh of its equipment brought in French typefaces which had been created by Garamond, Pierre Haultin and Robert Granjon under its influence. UCLA curators, who maintain a large collection of Manutius's printing, have described this as a "wholesale change ... the press followed precedent; popular in France, [these] types rapidly spread over western Europe". Ultimately, old-style fonts like all of these fell out of use with the arrival of the much more geometric Didone types of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. They returned to popularity later in the century, with the arrival of the Arts and Crafts movement.
In 1500, Manutius released the first books printed using italic type, again designed by Griffo. This was originally not intended as a complementary design, as is used today, but rather as an alternative, more informal typeface suitable for small volumes.
### Italic
Bembo's italic is not based directly on the work of Griffo, but on the work of calligrapher and handwriting teacher Giovanni Antonio Tagliente (sometimes written Giovannantonio). He published a writing manual, The True Art of Excellent Writing, in Venice in 1524, after the time of Manutius and Griffo, with engravings and some text set in an italic typeface presumably based on his calligraphy. (Tagliente did not only publish on handwriting, but also self-help guides on learning to read, arithmetic, embroidery and a book of model love letters.) It too was imitated in France, with imitations appearing from 1528 onwards. Another influential italic type created around this time was that of Ludovico Vicentino degli Arrighi, also a calligrapher who became involved in printing. His almost upright italic design was also imitated in France and would also become influential to twentieth-century font designs. Morison continued to be interested in Tagliente's work and late in life curated a book, Splendour of Ornament, on Tagliente's decorative pattern designs.
## Monotype history
Monotype Bembo is one of the most famous revivals of the Aldine typeface of 1495. It was created under the influence of Monotype executive and printing historian Stanley Morison by the design team at the Monotype factory in Salfords, Surrey, south of London. While most printers of the Arts and Crafts movement of the previous sixty years had been more interested in the slightly earlier typefaces of Nicolas Jenson, Morison greatly admired Aldus Manutius' typeface above others of the period. The main reasons for his admiration were the balance of the letter construction, such as the evenness of the 'e' with a level cross-stroke and the way the capitals were made slightly lower than the ascenders of the tallest lower-case letters. He described the Aldine roman as "inspired not by writing, but by engraving; not script but sculpture." His friend printer Giovanni Mardersteig similarly suggested the appeal of the Aldine face in his commentary that "Griffo...rid himself of the influence of the characteristic round forms of letters written with a pen; he developed instead a more narrow and it might be said a more modern form, which was better suited to [engraving]...whereas Jenson's style made a strong appeal to the sense of beauty prevalent in the period of Art Nouveau, today our taste in architecture and typography inclines towards simpler and more disciplined forms."
Bembo's development took place following a series of breakthroughs in printing technology which had occurred over the last fifty years without breaking from the use of metal type. Pantograph engraving had allowed punches to be precisely machined from large plan drawings. This gave a cleaner result than historic typefaces whose master punches had been hand-carved out of steel at the exact size of the desired letter. It also allowed rapid development of a large range of sizes. In addition, hand printing had been superseded by the hot metal typesetting systems of the period, of which Monotype's was one of the most popular (in competition with that of Linotype's). Both allowed metal type to be quickly cast under the control of a keyboard, eliminating the need to manually cast metal type and slot it into place into a printing press. With no need to keep type in stock, just the matrices used to cast the type, printers could use a wider range of fonts and there was increasing demand for varied typefaces. Artistically, meanwhile, the preference for using mechanical, geometric Didone and “modernised old style” fonts introduced in the nineteenth century was being displaced by a revival of interest in "true old style" serif fonts developed before this, a change that has proved to be lasting. At the same time, hot metal typesetting had imposed new restrictions: in Monotype's system (while less restrictive than Linotype's), in order to mechanically count the number of characters that could be fitted on a line, letters could only be certain widths, and care was needed to produce letters that looked harmonious in spite of this.
Morison was interested in the history of the 15th century Italian printing, and had discussed the topic with his correspondent, the printer Giovanni Mardersteig, in correspondence with whom he wrote a series of letters discussing Bembo's development. He also discussed the project in his letters with the Poet Laureate Robert Bridges, who had some interest in printing. For the project Morison bought a copy of De Aetna which he then sold to Monotype as a model.
Bembo's technical production followed Monotype's standard method of the period. The characters were drawn on paper in large plan diagrams by the highly experienced drawing office team, led and trained by American engineer Frank Hinman Pierpont and Fritz Stelzer, both of whom Monotype had recruited from the German printing industry. The drawing staff who executed the design was disproportionately female and in many cases recruited from the local area and the nearby Reigate art school. From these drawings, Benton-pantographs were used to machine metal punches to stamp matrices. It was Monotype's standard practice at the time to first engrave a limited number of characters and print proofs from them to test overall balance of colour on the page, before completing the remaining characters.
Monotype's publicity team described the final italic as "fine, tranquil" in a 1931 showing, emphasising their desire to avoid a design that seemed too eccentric. It was, however, not the only design considered. Morison initially commissioned from the calligrapher Alfred Fairbank a nearly upright italic design based on the work of Arrighi, and considered using it as Bembo's companion italic before deciding it was too eccentric for this purpose. Monotype ultimately created a more conventional design influenced by Tagliente's typeface and sold Fairbank's design as Bembo Condensed Italic. It was digitised as "Fairbank" in 2003, and sold independently of Monotype's Bembo digitisations. Morison conceded in his memoir that the Fairbank design "looked its best when given sole possession of the page". Fairbank later complained that he had not been told that his italic was intended to be a complementary design, and that he would have designed it differently if he had been.
As was normal in metal type fonts of the period from Monotype and other companies, the font was drawn differently at different sizes by modifying Griffo's original single-size design, a quite large letter at an approximate size of 15 points. The changes made were looser spacing, higher x-height (taller lower-case letters) and a more solid colour of impression at smaller sizes, and a finer, more graceful and tightly spaced design at large sizes.
## Characteristics
Among Bembo's more distinctive characteristics, the capital "Q"'s tail starts from the glyph's centre, the uppercase "J" has a slight hook and the sides of the "M" splay outwards slightly. The 'A' has a flat top. Many lowercase letters show subtle, sinuous curves; the termination of the arm of both the r and the e flare slightly upward and outward. The lowercase "c" and "e" push slightly forwards. Characters "h", "m", and "n" are not quite vertical on their right-hand stems, with a subtle curve towards the left going down the stroke. In italic, the k has an elegantly curved stroke in the lower-right and descenders on the p, q and y end with a flat horizontal stroke. In the 1950s, Monotype noted that its features included: "serifs fine slab, fine-bracketed and in l.c. prolonged to right along baseline." This meant that many of the serifs (especially the horizontals, for example on the W) are fine lines of quite uniform width, rather than forming an obvious curve leading into the main form of the letter. The ascenders reach above the cap height.
In metal type, Bembo includes two capital "R"s, one with a long, extended leg following Griffo's original engraving, and another with a more tucked-in leg for body text if a printer preferred it.
Bembo does not attempt to strictly copy all the features of Renaissance printing, instead blending them with a twentieth-century sensibility and the expectations of contemporary design. An eccentricity of Griffo's first De Aetna capitals was an asymmetrical M that does not seem to have a serif at top right. So odd it has been suggested it may have been the result of faulty casting of type, it was nonetheless often copied in French imitations by Garamond and his contemporaries. The final release of Monotype's revival did not follow this, although it was available by special order. Monotype also did not copy the curving capital Y used by Manutius in the tradition of the Greek letter upsilon which had been used in some versions of Poliphilus and Blado, although not in the digitisation of Poliphilus. Nesbitt has described the capitals as "a composite design in the spirit of [Griffo's] type". Historian James Mosley reports that other changes from the earliest versions were reduction in the weight of the capitals and alteration of the 'G' by adding the conventional right-hand serif, and widening the 'e', and suggests that the numerals of Bembo were based on those Monotype had already developed for the typeface Plantin.
In the italic, the expansive ascenders of Tagliente's type were shortened and the curl to the right replaced with more conventional serifs. Monotype also cut italic capitals sloped to match the lower-case, whereas in the Renaissance italics were used with upright capital letters in the Roman inscriptional tradition. The bold (Monotype's invention, since Griffo and his contemporaries did not use bold type) is extremely solid, providing a very clear contrast to the regular styles, and Monotype also added lining (upper-case height) figures as well as the text figures (at lower-case height) used in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
Book designer Elizabeth Friedländer drew some rarely-seen swash capitals for Bembo for capital introductions to Churchill's history of the second world war.
## Related fonts
### Poliphilus and Blado
Monotype had already designed two other types inspired by the same period of Italian printing and calligraphy, the roman Poliphilus and italic Blado (both 1923). Made more eccentric and irregular than the sleek lines of Bembo to evoke the feel of antique printing, these remained in Monotype's catalogue and have been digitised, but are much less known today. Bembo can therefore be seen as an iteration of a preexisting design concept towards mass market appeal, taking the basic idea of the Griffo design and (unlike Poliphilus) updating its appearance to match the more sophisticated printing possible by the 1920s. Bembo's original working name was "Poliphilus Modernised".
Poliphilus is named after the book Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, one of Manutius's most famous books in the Latin alphabet, which was printed with the same roman as De Aetna but recut capitals; it was made for the Medici Society, who planned to create an English translation. Blado is named after the printer Antonio Blado, a colleague of Arrighi. Morison preferred Bembo's roman and was somewhat dismissive of Poliphilus. Unlike Bembo, both in metal featured a Greek-influenced Y with a curving head, as in the original.
### Centaur
Monotype licensed and released the font Centaur around the same time as Bembo. It was drawn by the American book designer Bruce Rogers. Its roman is based on a slightly earlier period of Italian renaissance printing than Bembo, the work of Nicolas Jenson in Venice around 1470. Like Bembo, its italic (by Frederic Warde) comes from the 1520s, being again loosely based on the work of Arrighi from around 1520. Compared to Bembo it is somewhat lighter in structure, something particularly true in its digital facsimile. Penguin often used it for headings and titles of 'classic' editions, particularly its capitals and italic; its lower-case does not so effectively harmonise with Bembo due to the different letter shapes such as the tilted 'e'.
### Griffo and Dante
Although Bembo went on to dominate British book printing in the twentieth century, in the words of John Dreyfus "Morison was not entirely satisfied by the way Griffo's roman had been recut", feeling that "the real charm of the original had not been brought out in the mechanical recutting". His friend printer Giovanni Mardersteig made two attempts at designing an alternative revival for use in his fine printing house, the Officina Bodoni, first in discussion with Morison and cut by hand by punchcutter Charles Malin, who some years later had also cut a version of Perpetua for Morison. This more delicate "Griffo" revival (1929) was used in handprinting and not developed for use outside Mardersteig's company.
In the 1940s, Mardersteig developed plans for a second design, Dante, which was again cut by Malin slowly from 1946 onwards but taken also up by Monotype. Monotype Dante Series 592, Dante Semi Bold Series 682 and Dante Titling Series 612, were only produced in Didot-sizes. It was a more eccentric revival of the Aldine face than Bembo, it did not attract as much popularity.
### Titling fonts
Monotype created several titling designs based on Renaissance printing that could be considered complementary to Bembo: Bembo Titling (based directly on Bembo's capitals, but more delicate to suit a larger text size) and the more geometric Felix Titling in 1934, inspired by humanist capitals drawn by Felice Feliciano in 1463. In the hot metal type era Monotype also issued a titling version of Centaur, which was often used by Penguin; Monotype's digitisations of Centaur do not include it.
## Timeline
### The Renaissance
- 1496 Griffo's roman
- 1501 Griffo's italic; development of italic type follows over the next fifty years.
- 1515 Death of Manutius.
- 1518 Death of Griffo.
- 1520s Tagliente publishes in Venice, Ludovico Vicentino degli Arrighi in Rome (possibly also Venice). Both are former calligraphers who publish writing manuals.
- 1522–25 Tagliente publishes a writing manual The True Art of Excellent Writing, as does Arrighi, La Operina... around the same time. Arrighi's friend Gian Giorgio Trissino writes of Arrighi that "in calligraphy he has surpassed all other men of our age so [he now does] in print all that was formerly done with the pen, in his beautiful types he has gone beyond all other printers." His contemporary Antonio Blado publishes in Rome in an italic apparently derived from Arrighi's work.
- 1527 War in central Italy. Arrighi disappears from history; he may have been killed in the Sack of Rome.
- 1528 Tagliente dies in Venice.
- 1535 Blado appointed printer to the papacy and remains in this role until his death in 1567.
- 1530s–1550s France becomes a centre of the typefounding industry under the influence of the work of Manutius and others. French typefaces replace old Italian designs at the Aldine Press in Venice. Tradition that italic capitals should slope like the lower case established.
### 20th Century
- 1910s The italic calligraphy style of the Italian renaissance is revived by calligraphers including Edward Johnston and Alfred Fairbank.
- 1923 Monotype releases Monotype series 119, an italic based on the work of Arrighi and Antonio Blado, and Poliphilus Monotype series 170, a roman based on the work of Griffo.
- 1926 Edward Johnston develops a font based on his italic calligraphy, but it remains obscure.
- 1926 Frederic Warde creates an italic based on the work of Arrighi. Monotype series 252 It is now almost always used as the companion italic of the font Centaur, but initially had an independent existence.
- 1928–29 Monotype develops and releases Bembo, Monotype series 270 based on the work of Griffo but much smoother in texture. After considering releasing an italic by Fairbank-based the work of Arrighi, Monotype abandons the idea, making Bembo's default italic on the Tagliente model. Hot metal matrices for Fairbank's italic or "Bembo Condensed Italic" Monotype series 294 were only made in 4 sizes: 10pt, 12pt, 13pt and 16pt.
- 1929 Monotype releases Centaur and the Warde italic as a matching set.
- 1960s Monotype releases Bembo for phototypesetting. Other companies also release versions.
## Reception
Bembo has been very popular in book publishing, particularly in Britain. It was also recommended by HMSO in its style guide for outsourced printing jobs. Cambridge University Press's history describes Bembo as one of its most commonly used typefaces; Morison was closely connected to Cambridge and his personal archive (as well as much of Monotype's) went to the university after his death.
Among reviews of typefaces, writing in the anthology Typographic Specimens: The Great Typefaces, Jeff Price commented that Bembo became noted for its ability to "provide a text that is extremely consistent in colour", helping it to "remain one of the most popular book types since its release". Roger Black commented in 1983 "For me, Bembo is the all-time classic roman; if I were stuck on a desert island with only one typeface, that would be it." Digital font designer Nick Shinn has also commented, "Bembo has a sleek magnificence, born of high-precision technology at the service of accomplished production skills, which honours the spirit of the original, and an exotic grace of line which humbles most new designs made more ostensibly for the new technology." Oxford University Press editor John Bell also borrowed the name for his set of comic verse lampooning publishing, Mutiny on the Bembo.
## Digitisations and derivatives
### Monotype digitisations
Monotype has released two separate digitisations named Bembo and more recently Bembo Book, as well as the more slender caps-only display font Bembo Titling and the alternate italic design Fairbank. Bembo Book is considered to be superior by being thicker and more suitable for body text, as well as for offering the alternate shorter R for better-spaced body text.
Monotype's original, early digitisation of Bembo was widely seen as unsuccessful. Two main problems have been cited with it: being digitised from drawings, it was much lighter in type colour than the original metal type which gained weight through ink spread, much reduced on modern printing equipment. In addition, the digital Bembo was based on the 9 pt metal drawings, creating a font with different proportions to the metal type in the point sizes at which Bembo was most often used in books; Sebastian Carter has pointed particularly to the 'M' being drawn too wide. This made the proportions of the digital font appear wrong, failing to match the subtlety of the metal type and phototypesetting release, which was released in three different optical sizes for different print sizes. Future Monotype executive Akira Kobayashi commented that the original digitisation was "a kind of compromise ... the types that were originally designed for hot-metal often looked too light and feeble ... Bembo Book is more or less what I expected."
While Bembo Book is considered the superior digitisation, the original continues to offer the advantages of two extra weights (semi- and extra-bold) and infant styles with simplified a and g characters resembling handwriting; its lighter appearance may also be of use on printing equipment with greater ink spread. Cross-licensing has meant that it is sold by a range of vendors, often at very low prices. As an example of this, Fontsite obtained the rights to resell a derivative of the original digitisation, using the alternative name Borgia and Bergamo, upgrading it by additional OpenType features such as small capitals and historical alternative characters. Neither version includes digitisations of the larger size versions of Bembo, which had a more delicate and elegant design.
### Other Griffo-inspired fonts
A major professional competitor to Bembo is Agmena, created by Jovica Veljović and released by Linotype in 2014. Intended as a unified serif design supporting Roman, Greek and a range of Cyrillic alphabets such as Serbian, it features a more calligraphic italic than Bembo with swash capitals and support for Greek ligatures.
A looser interpretation of the Griffo designs is Iowan Old Style, designed by John Downer and also released by Bitstream. With a larger x-height (taller lower-case letters) than the print-oriented Bembo and influences of signpainting (Downer's former profession), it was intended to be particularly clear for reading at distance, in displays and in signage. It is a default font in the Apple Books application.
Not explicitly influenced by Bembo but also influenced by Griffo is Minion by Slimbach. Released by Adobe, a 2008 survey ranked it as one of the most popular typefaces used in modern fine printing.
Besides designs with similar inspiration, a number of unofficial releases and digitisations of Bembo have been made in the phototypesetting and digital periods, reflecting the lack of effective intellectual property protection for typefaces. Several unofficial versions were released during the phototypesetting period under alternate names; for example one unofficial phototypesetting version was named "Biretta" after the hat worn by Roman Catholic clergy, and another by Erhard Kaiser was created for the East German printing concern Typoart, outside the reach of Western intellectual property laws. In the digital period, Rubicon created a version named "Bentley" intended for small sizes and Bitstream made a version under the name of "Aldine 401". Its licensee ParaType later created a set of Cyrillic characters for this in 2008. The name "Bembo" remains a Monotype trademark and may not be used to describe such clones.
### Free and open-source fonts
Two open-source designs based on Bembo are Cardo and ET Book. The Cardo fonts, developed by David J. Perry for use in classical scholarship and also including Greek and Hebrew, are freely available under the SIL Open Font License. Unimpressed by the first Bembo digitisation, statistician and designer Edward Tufte commissioned an alternative digitisation for his books in a limited range of styles and languages, sometimes called 'ET Bembo'. He released it publicly as an open-source font named 'ET Book' in September 2015.
### Privately used fonts
Heathrow and other British airports used a highly divergent adaptation of Bembo for many years. Designed by Shelley Winters and named BAA Bembo or BAA Sign, it was very bold with a high x-height.
The National Gallery in London used Bembo, then its corporate font, as a plan for the carving of its name into its frontage.
The Yale face, developed by Matthew Carter as a corporate font for Yale University, is based on Griffo's work; Yale commissioned a custom font from Carter, a member of the university faculty, after being dissatisfied with digital versions of Bembo. Carter commented on the design that "John Gambell, the Yale University printer who initiated and ran the project, also liked the idea of an Aldine face ... Monotype Bembo had been used for University printing at an earlier time, so there was a useful precedent." It is available exclusively to "Yale students, employees, and authorized contractors for use in Yale publications and communications. It may not be used for personal or business purposes, and it may not be distributed to non-Yale personnel."
In the pre-digital period, IBM offered Aldine, a font inspired by Bembo, as a font for the IBM Composer. This was an ultra-premium electric golfball typewriter system, intended for producing copy to be photographically enlarged for small-scale printing projects, or for high-quality office documents. Ultimately the system proved a transitional product, as it was displaced by cheaper phototypesetting, and then in the 1980s by word processors and general-purpose computers.
## See also
- Antiqua
- History of Western typography
- Typography
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Meteorological history of Hurricane Sandy
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Hurricane Sandy was the sixth-costliest Atlantic hurricane on record. It lasted for over a week in late October-early November 2012. Classified as the eighteenth named storm, tenth hurricane, and second major hurricane of the annual hurricane season, Sandy originated from a tropical wave on October 22. Performing a small loop over the central Caribbean Sea, the system intensified into a tropical storm a day later and became the final hurricane of the season before briefly coming ashore the coast of Jamaica on October 24. After emerging between Jamaica and Cuba, Sandy began a period of rapid intensification into a Category 3 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale, with maximum sustained winds of 115 mph (185 km/h). It made landfall at this intensity near Santiago de Cuba on October 25.
An approaching trough over the central United States induced high wind shear over Sandy as it traversed the Bahamas, causing the hurricane to weaken to a tropical storm while turning more northeastward. The southern part of the trough detached, causing the shear to decrease late on October 28 and allowing Sandy to regain strength. It attained a secondary peak of Category 2 strength the following day, and later turned toward the west. During this change in direction, Sandy began to transition into an extratropical cyclone, a process it completed before making landfall near Brigantine, New Jersey, late on October 29. The extratropical remnants weakened gradually overland, and the center of circulation was declared indistinguishable over western Pennsylvania two days later. In addition to becoming the largest Atlantic hurricane, Sandy broke records for the lowest pressures ever observed in many cities across the Northeastern United States.
## Origins
The origins of Hurricane Sandy trace back to a tropical wave that moved off the western coast of Africa and into the eastern Atlantic Ocean on October 11. As the wave tracked westward over subsequent days, it interacted with an upper-level trough over the Eastern Atlantic, resulting in the development of widespread shower and thunderstorm activity; however, strong wind shear prevented further development at the time. Increased convergence, likely as a result of Hurricane Rafael to the wave's west, hindered development as well. By October 18, numerous yet disorganized convective activity formed near the center of the disturbance despite moderate wind shear. Marked with an extended low pressure area, conditions were expected to gradually become more favorable for development. On October 20, following modest organization, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) assessed a high potential for it to become a tropical cyclone within 48 hours, tagging it "Invest 99L".
By the next day, the convection had decreased, although barometric pressures in the area remained low, a trademark of development. Convection gradually increased as the day went on, while the system slowed and became nearly stationary over the western Caribbean. By 1500 UTC on October 22, surface observations and satellite imagery indicated the system had developed enough organized convection to be classified as Tropical Depression Eighteen. At the time of the upgrade, the system was situated about 320 mi (510 km) south of Kingston, Jamaica The environment around the newly formed depression was characterized by an area of weak steering currents south of a ridge extending eastward from the Gulf of Mexico. Low wind shear and warm sea surface temperatures were conducive for strengthening, and perhaps rapid deepening. Late on October 22, a Hurricane Hunters flight observed winds of 40 mph (64 km/h) in a rainband well removed from the center of circulation, prompting the NHC to upgrade the depression to Tropical Storm Sandy. Outflow increased, while moist air helped the convection organize further. The NHC noted that "remaining nearly stationary over the warm waters of southwestern Caribbean Sea is never a good sign for this time of year." Still, the cloud pattern initially remained largely unchanged. Early on October 24, an eye began developing, as observed on microwave imagery, and Sandy was moving steadily northward, drawn by a trough approaching from the northwest. At 1500 UTC on October 24, the NHC upgraded Sandy to hurricane status after the Hurricane Hunters observed flight-level winds of 99 mph (159 km/h). At the time, Sandy was located roughly 65 mi (105 km) south of Kingston, Jamaica.
## Caribbean landfalls and The Bahamas
At approximately 1900 UTC on October 24, Sandy made landfall near Kingston, with winds near 85 mph (137 km/h). After spending a short duration over the island, Sandy moved just offshore Cuba and began a period of rapid intensification, in which the cyclone strengthened into a Category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale, with 1-minute sustained winds at 115 mph (185 km/h) winds and a central pressure at 954 millibars (28.2 inHg); operationally, Sandy was classified as a high-end Category 2 hurricane at landfall. Shortly thereafter, at 0525 UTC on October 25, the hurricane came ashore just west of Santiago de Cuba. At landfall, Sandy had a well-defined eye over 23 mi (37 km) in diameter, and flight-level winds reached 135 mph (217 km/h). While over land, the structure deteriorated, and the eye was no longer visible. After exiting Cuba, a combination of dry air and increasing shear restricted the outflow of Sandy and caused the structure of the storm to become disorganized. A mid-level low over Florida and approaching trough turned the hurricane toward the north-northwest.
By early October 26, a majority of the convection in association with Sandy was located to the north of the center, primarily due to wind shear and dry air to the southwest of the hurricane. The size of the storm had increased greatly as well, with tropical storm-force winds extending out some 275 mi (443 km) from the center. As the day progressed, Sandy continued moving slowly to the north, and the strong wind shear caused the storm's intensity to decrease slightly. On October 27, the NHC remarked that Sandy was "showing characteristics of a hybrid cyclone...like a large occluded frontal low." However, the system maintained a warm thermal core, and despite strong 50 kt (60 mph) wind shear, continued to develop thunderstorms due to an abundance of divergence from a nearby trough; the same trough turned Sandy toward the northeast as the two began to phase and morph into what many called a "Superstorm". On October 27, Sandy briefly weakened to a tropical storm, after dry air became fully ingested into the mid- and upper-level circulations. Later that day, however, data received from the Hurricane Hunters indicated that Sandy had re-intensified into a minimal hurricane.
## Post-tropical transition and final landfall
By late October 27, Sandy was moving steadily northeastward ahead of an approaching trough. Although it maintained winds of hurricane force, the entrainment of dry air and continued strong wind shear caused the inner area of convection to diminish. On October 28, however, thunderstorms increased over the center, and Sandy's upper-level circulation was better defined when opposed to 24 hours previous. As the day progressed, wind shear decreased, and a banded eye began redeveloping while the hurricane was still over the Gulf Stream. The convection organized further early on October 29. Around the same time, Sandy began transitioning into an extratropical storm after the western periphery of the circulation began interacting with a cold front. The storm revolved around an upper-level low over the eastern United States, and also to the southwest of a ridge over Atlantic Canada that the NHC described as "highly anomalous"; this caused Sandy to turn to the north and northwest. Maintaining an eye and deep convection, the hurricane intensified, reaching a secondary peak of 100 mph (160 km/h) and an unusually low central barometric pressure of 940 millibars (28 inHg), by 1200 UTC on October 29; at this time, the cyclone was moving over a small area of the Gulf Stream with waters in excess of 81 °F (27 °C). Around that time, Sandy had a gale-force wind field of over 1,150 mi (1,850 km) in diameter. Both a warm and cold front were located near the storm's center, and the storm was predicted to become extratropical before landfall.
The convection diminished while the hurricane accelerated toward the New Jersey coast, due to it becoming involved with the low to the west. The pressure continued to drop, which indicated the system was intensifying because of baroclinic instability. In an advisory issued by the NHC late on October 29, the NHC noted that, "all of these considerations lead us to conclude that the most appropriate classification at advisory time is extratropical." The agency declared Sandy a post-tropical cyclone at about 2100 UTC that afternoon, while located just offshore southern New Jersey. About 21⁄2 hours later, the storm made landfall approximately 5 mi (8.0 km) northeast of Atlantic City near Brigantine. The intensity at landfall was estimated at 80 mph (130 km/h), although the strongest winds were located offshore, east and southeast of the center.
## Dissipation
After moving ashore, Sandy continued moving to the west, weakening below hurricane force by the time it reached Pennsylvania. Because the system was non-tropical, the Weather Prediction Center (WPC) – known at the time as the Hydrometeorogical Prediction Center (HPC) – took over the responsibility of issuing advisories on the low. The remnants of Sandy brought heavy snow and high winds to the central Appalachian Mountains, resulting in blizzard warnings being issued. The system continued to weaken as it moved across western Pennsylvania, and by 0300 UTC on October 31, the storm's movement had shifted to the northwest. Blizzard conditions continued in the Appalachians, bringing more snow to the region that had already seen high amounts the day before. By 0900 UTC on October 31, the circulation degenerated into a trough of low pressure, with no discernible center of low pressure. Later that day, the remnants of Sandy spread into the Great Lakes, and the WPC issued its last advisory. By the time the system had moved out of the region, nearly three feet of snow had fallen in some areas of West Virginia, Tennessee, and Maryland, with lesser amounts elsewhere in the region. During the next two days, Sandy's remnants drifted northward and then northeastward over Ontario, before merging with another low pressure area over Eastern Canada, on November 2.
## Predictions
As early as October 23, while Sandy was developing in the Caribbean, the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) predicted the storm would strike the East Coast of the United States, while most other tropical cyclone forecast models anticipated the storm would move out to sea. By the next day, various computer models agreed that Sandy would interact with a trough over the eastern United States and turn to the west. About five days before landfall, the ECMWF, Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL), and Navy Operational Global Prediction System (NOGAPS) models predicted Sandy would strike the Delmarva Peninsula, while the American Global Forecast System (GFS) model anticipated the hurricane would move out to sea; the remaining models were between the two scenarios. By four days before landfall, the NHC was forecasting a landfall on New Jersey, as were most of the computer models. In general, the European computer models performed better than the United States ones, due to the European models' higher resolution. MIT professor Kerry Emanuel used the moment to call attention to the under-performance of US models, and to recommend a "dedicated effort" to reverse it.
## Records
The storm surge produced by Hurricane Sandy, which occurred at high tide, pushed water to 13.88 ft (4.23 m) at Battery Park, New York, beating the previous record of 10.02 ft (3.05 m) set by Hurricane Donna in 1960 at the same location. However, a storm surge of 13 feet, during low tide, was also reported at Battery Park during the 1821 Norfolk and Long Island hurricane, which occurred before records were officially kept. Storm tide records were also broken in Sandy Hook, New Jersey and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with peak tides of 13.31 and 10.62 ft (4.06 and 3.24 m), respectively. The tidal gauge in Sandy Hook lost power while the tide was still rising, meaning the tide crested higher than the recorded peak. A buoy in New York Harbor reached a record height when it measured a 32.5-foot (9.9 m) wave on October 30, 7.5 feet (2.3 m) taller than a 25-foot (7.6 m) wave registered by Hurricane Irene in 2011.
Sandy was the largest Atlantic tropical cyclone in terms of gale diameter since records began in 1988, with a gale-force diameter measuring 1,150 miles (1,850 kilometers) across. In addition, at 945 millibars (27.9 inHg), Sandy was second only to 1938 New England hurricane for the most intense storm to make landfall in the United States north of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. The barometric pressure hit a record low of 945.5 mbar (27.92 inHg) over Atlantic City, New Jersey, breaking the previous record of 961 mbar (28.4 inHg) set in 1938. Sandy also broke the record for producing the lowest pressure in Philadelphia, with a minimum of 954 mbar (28.2 inHg); the previous record was 962 mbar (28.4 inHg), set during the 1993 Storm of the Century.
## Effect of climate change
Climate scientists agree that climate change increases the likelihood of stronger and wetter storms, though possibly leading to fewer of them. However, researchers were unable to say just how responsible climate change was for the development and track of Sandy. Tropical cyclones derive their energy from warm waters, and warmer water generally means stronger storms. Climate change has caused sea levels to rise, which made the storm surge and coastal flooding caused by Sandy much more devastating. Since the overall sea level has risen by 8 in (20 cm) between 1902 and 2007, and is accelerating, the rise in sea level increases the risk for major floods to occur every time a storm hits. A 2012 paper in Nature projected that climate change could lead to floods that should occur only once a century to happening every three to twenty years.
In the case of Hurricane Sandy, two major factors contributing to the size and strength of the storm were unusually warm ocean surface temperatures and an increase in blocking patterns, both of which are expected to occur more frequently due to global warming. As they drift north, Atlantic hurricanes are typically moved to the east and out to sea by the jet stream's prevailing winds. This typical pattern was blocked by a ridge of high pressure over Greenland, resulting in a negative Arctic oscillation, forming a kink in the jet stream and causing it to double back on itself off the East Coast; Sandy was caught up in this northwesterly flow. The blocking pattern over Greenland also stalled an arctic front, which combined with the cyclone. Mark Fischetti of Scientific American argued that the jet stream's unusual shape was caused by the melting of Arctic ice. Noting that these blocking patterns are unusual in the fall but have been increasing, meteorologist Jeff Masters said that three studies in 2011 found "that the recent record decline in Arctic sea ice could be responsible, since this heats up the pole, altering the Equator-to-pole temperature difference, forcing the jet stream to slow down, meander, and get stuck in large loops." Trenberth said that while a negative Arctic Oscillation and a blocking anticyclone were in place, the null hypothesis remained that this was just the natural variability of weather.
Climatologist Michael E. Mann attributes at least one foot of the 13-foot (at least 0.3 of the 4-meter) storm surge in Lower Manhattan to global sea level rise. Harvard geologist Daniel P. Schrag calls Hurricane Sandy's 13-foot storm surge an example of what will, by mid-century, be the "new norm on the Eastern seaboard".
According to National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) senior climatologist Kevin E. Trenberth, "The answer to the oft-asked question of whether an event is caused by climate change is that it is the wrong question. All weather events are affected by climate change because the environment in which they occur is warmer and moister than it used to be." He illustrates by pointing out that steroids in a baseball player's system do not cause home runs all by themselves but do make home runs more likely. Meteorologist Kerry Emanuel stressed that no individual weather event, such as Hurricane Sandy, can be attributed to climate change, or any specific cause, for that matter.
NOAA meteorologist Martin Hoerling attributed the "immediate cause" of Sandy to "little more than the coincidental alignment of a tropical storm with an extratropical storm." Trenberth agrees that the storm was caused by "natural variability", but adds that it was "enhanced by global warming". One factor contributing to the storm's strength was additional energy from abnormally warm water off the North American East Coast, where global warming was identified as contributing 1.1 °F (0.6 °C) of the 5.4 °F (3 °C) above-average sea surface temperatures. As the temperature of the atmosphere increases, the capacity to hold water increases, leading to stronger storms and higher rainfall amounts.
US Representative Henry Waxman, the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, wanted Republicans to hold a hearing on links between climate change and Hurricane Sandy. "Hurricane Sandy is exactly the type of extreme weather event that climate scientists have said will become more frequent and more severe if we fail to reduce our carbon pollution. That is why we are writing to request that you hold a hearing on the storm and its relation to climate change in the lame-duck session", he and Congressmen Bobby Rush wrote. The hearing was not presented before the senate and house prior to the emergence of the new Congress in early 2013. On April 9, 2013, however, Waxman and Rush renewed their request of a hearing, stating that, "If we rely upon representatives of electric utilities, coal companies, oil refiners, and chemical manufacturers to explain the state of the science regarding climate change, we are unlikely to get a full and unbiased view of the challenge we must confront and the opportunities we have."
## See also
- List of New Jersey hurricanes
|
9,033,368 |
Ricky Marvin
| 1,142,239,729 |
Mexican professional wrestler
|
[
"1980 births",
"AAA World Trios Champions",
"CMLL World Lightweight Champions",
"GHC Junior Heavyweight Champions",
"GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions",
"Living people",
"Masked wrestlers",
"Mexican male professional wrestlers",
"NWA World Welterweight Champions",
"People from Veracruz (city)",
"Professional wrestlers from Veracruz"
] |
Ricardo Fuentes Romero (born January 8, 1980) is a second-generation Mexican professional wrestler, known by his ring name Ricky Marvin, and is most known for his work in the Japanese promotion Pro Wrestling Noah. Between 2005 and 2007, he also wrestled as the masked Mushiking Joker character, a storyline arch-enemy of "Mushiking Terry", who was played by his then-tag team partner Kotaro Suzuki. He also worked as the masked character Bengala in Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA) and Lucha Underground between 2013 and 2016.
Suzuki and Ricky Marvin were the first Japanese/foreigner team to win the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, one of three reigns with that championship. Marvin is also a former GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion in Pro Wrestling Noah, a former CMLL Japan Super Lightweight Champion and Mexican National Lightweight Champion in Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) and one third of the AAA World Trios Champions in AAA. He is the son of retired professional wrestler Ricardo Fuentes and brother of Rolando Romero.
## Professional wrestling career
Ricardo Fuentes was trained for his professional wrestling career by his father Ricardo Fuentes, a professional wrestler known by the ring name Aries, and later on by Ringo Mendoza, Negro Casas, and Memo Diaz when he began working for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL). Fuentes made his debut in 1995, using the ring name White Demon, an enmascarado (masked) character.
### Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (1998–2003)
In 1998, Fuentes began training in the CMLL wrestling school under Mendoza and Casas, and it was there that he came up with a new ring name, combining his first name, Ricky, and his favorite cartoon character, Marvin the Martian, to create the ring name "Ricky Marvin". As Ricky Marvin, his first appearance at a major CMLL event came at the second Gran Alternativa of 1999, where he teamed with his mentor Ringo Mendoza. In the first round, Marvin and Mendoza defeated Apolo Dantés and Alan Stone but lost to eventual tournament winners El Felino and Tigre Blanco in the second round. On July 16, 1999, Marvin teamed with Sombra de Plata, losing to Fugaz and Sangre Azteca in a match that stole the show, earning the four youngsters a standing ovation from the crowd. The success of that match earned all four a match at CMLL's 66th Anniversary show on September 24, 1999. This time, Marvin and Sombra de Plata won the match. Marvin made his Japanese debut on November 23, 1999, defeating Sangre Azteca, who was also making his debut for CMLL Japan. The rivalry continued on March 17, 2000, as Ricky Marvin defeated Sangre Azteca in a three falls match on the undercard of the 2000 Jucio Final pay-per-view. While working for CMLL Japan, Marvin defeated Virus to win the CMLL Japan Super Lightweight Champion on August 6, 2000. He held the title once more before the organization ceased operations in early 2001. On November 29, 2000, Marvin defeated Virus, this time to win the Mexican National Lightweight Championship. Marvin held the championship until December 3, 2001, when he lost it to Loco Max.
In 2003, the CMLL group Los Guapos created Guapos U, a "reality show"-inspired storyline in which young hopefuls competed to earn a spot in the Los Guapos group. Marvin was one of the wrestlers selected for the first class of Guapos U. During the storyline, fellow "classmate" Zumbido developed a rivalry with Marvin, which got Zumbido kicked out of the group for fighting. Zumbido and Marvin met in a Lucha de Apuesta match in which both wrestlers put their hair on the line. The match ended in a draw, and, as a result, both wrestlers had their hair shaved off after the match. Marvin was the last wrestler eliminated in the Guapos U contest, losing the membership to El Terrible. At the CMLL 70th Anniversary Show, Ricky Marvin teamed with Virus and Volador Jr. to defeat "The Havana Brothers" (Rocco Quance, Puma Boy and Rocky Romero) in a match that several years later is still remembered fondly.
### Working in Japan
Marvin returned to Japan on several tours even after CMLL Japan folded, often working for Último Dragón's Toryumon Japan promotion. In Toryumon, Marvin defeated Super Nova on July 7, 2002, to win the NWA World Welterweight Championship. Marvin only held the title for 17 days before losing it to Genki Horiguchi, but the title win helped convince Marvin that his future lay in Japan. From 2003 through 2015 Marvin worked primarily in Japan, only making occasional guest appearances in his native Mexico.
### Pro Wrestling Noah (2003–2015)
In 2005 Marvin began working for Pro Wrestling Noah, often appearing at Pro Wrestling SEM events, Noah's league for younger, inexperienced wrestlers. Over time, Marvin began teaming regularly with Kotaro Suzuki. While teaming with Suzuki, Marvin also began a storyline feud with Suzuki's masked alter ego "Mushiking Terry", while he wrestled as the masked Mushiking Joker character himself. The two masked characters wrestled off and on between 2005 and 2007, with both men occasionally wrestling unmasked as well. On January 21, 2007, Marvin and Suzuki defeated Jay Briscoe and Mark Briscoe to win the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. The team held the title for just over 10 months before losing the championship to the Dragon Gate team "Speed Muscle" (Naruki Doi and Masato Yoshino).
Since Marvin was well versed in Lucha libre, he often teamed with or faced luchadors from Mexico who toured with Noah. In August 2008, Marvin often teamed with Laredo Kid and El Oriental as they wrestled against Histeria, Antifaz, and Rocky Romero, all representing the Mexican Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA) promotion. On September 3, 2007, Marvin was part of the main event of a joint AAA/Noah show called TripleSEM. He teamed with Mushiking Terry and Naomichi Marufuji to wrestle against Los Hell Brothers (Cibernético, Charly Manson, and Chessman) in a match that ended in a no-contest due to outside interference. In 2009, Marvin began teaming regularly with Taiji Ishimori, setting his sights on the junior tag team title for a second time. In early 2010, the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship was vacated when Kotaro Suzuki suffered a knee injury. Ishimori and Marvin teamed up for a tournament to determine the next champions. They defeated Bobby Fish and Eddie Edwards in the first round and Genba Hirayanagi and Yoshinbou Kanemaru in the finals to win the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. On August 22, Marvin and Ishimori lost the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship to New Japan Pro-Wrestling representatives Koji Kanemoto and Tiger Mask. In July 2011, Marvin reunited with his brother Rocky Marvin to take part in the 2011 Nippon TV Cup Jr. Heavyweight Tag League. After one victory and three losses, the team finished last in their block of the tournament. On October 16, 2011, Marvin defeated Satoshi Kajiwara to win the vacant GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship for the first time. Immediately after the match, Marvin vacated the title, declaring that he wanted to earn it by defeating Katsuhiko Nakajima, who had been forced to vacate the title due to injury and whom Marvin considered the real champion. Nakajima returned on November 27 and defeated Marvin for the vacant GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship. On July 22, 2012, Marvin and Super Crazy, known as Los Mexitosos, defeated Atsushi Aoki and Kotaro Suzuki to win the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. They lost the title to Genba Hirayanagi and Maybach Taniguchi, Jr. on March 10, 2013. In July 2013, Los Mexitosos entered in the NTV G+ Cup Junior Heavyweight Tag League for the vacant GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. The team won three of their four matches but did not advance to the finals.
Marvin, working as the masked Bengala persona, returned to Noah on July 18, 2015, entering the 2015 Global Junior Heavyweight League. He finished the tournament with a record of three wins and three losses, failing to advance to the finals.
### Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (2007–2008, 2013–2017)
Two weeks after TripleSEM, Marvin traveled to Mexico to team with Latin Lover and La Parka, defeating the La Legión Extranjera team of Abismo Negro, Ron Killings, Kenzo Suzuki and X-Pac in one of the featured matches on the 2007 Verano de Escandalo event. Marvin made a further appearance in AAA on June 13, 2008, wrestling at Triplemanía XVI as part of the Mexican Powers, alongside Crazy Boy and Último Gladiador, as they defeated La Legión Extranjera (Bryan Danielson, Jack Evans, and Teddy Hart) and La Familia de Tijuana (Extreme Tiger, Halloween, and T.J. Xtreme) in a three-way tag team elimination match, On April 15, 2013, Marvin returned to AAA, joining Los Perros del Mal.
On May 2, 2014, Marvin returned to AAA, working under a mask as the tecnico character "Bengala", with no public acknowledgement that it was Ricky Marvin under the mask. He won his first match as Bengala when he pinned Los Perros del Mal leader El Hijo del Perro Aguayo in a six-man tag team main event. On June 7 at Verano de Escándalo, Bengala won an eight-way match to advance to the finals of a tournament to determine the number one contender to the AAA Cruiserweight Championship. Bengala received his title shot with eight other challengers on August 17 at Triplemanía XXII but failed to capture the title. During this period, he also appeared on the first and second seasons of Lucha Underground but did not have a featured role on the show. In 2016, the Bengala gimmick was taken over by Super Nova, while Fuentes began working as Ricky Marvin once more.
Marvin was teamed up with Averno and Chessman, forming a new trio called Los OGT. Los OGT won the AAA World Trios Championship on November 4, 2016, as they defeated Los Xinetes ("The Horsemen"; El Zorro, Dark Cuervo and Dark Scoria). They lost the title to El Apache, Faby Apache and Mary Apache on March 5, 2017, when Marvin was defeated by Faby in a singles match. On October 30, 2017, Marvin left AAA.
## Personal life
Ricardo Fuentes is a second-generation wrestler; his father, Ricardo Fuentes, worked under the ring name "Aries" for many years and had a hand in training Fuentes. His brother, Rolando Fuentes Romero, is also a wrestler; he originally worked as the Mini-Estrella Rocky Marvin, playing off family connection between them, but currently wrestles as Mini Histeria for AAA.
## Championships and accomplishments
- Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide
- AAA World Trios Championship (1 time) – with Averno and Chessman
- Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre
- CMLL Japan Super Lightweight Championship (2 times)
- Mexican National Lightweight Championship (1 time)
- Estudio Wrestling Association
- EWA World Championship (1 time)
- Imperio Lucha Libre
- Campeonato Sudamericano de Imperio (1 time, current)
- Powerslam Wrestling
- PW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- PWI ranked him \#107 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the PWI 500 in 2007
- Pro Wrestling Noah
- GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship (3 times) – with Kotaro Suzuki (1), Taiji Ishimori (1), and Super Crazy (1)
- Toryumon
- NWA World Welterweight Championship (1 time)
- Universal Wrestling Entertainment
- UWE Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Super Crazy
- Xplosion Nacional de Lucha
- XNL Championship (1 time)
- Xtreme Mexican Wrestling
- XMW Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
## Luchas de Apuestas record
|
2,146,586 |
Ridge Racer Revolution
| 1,161,927,642 |
1995 video game
|
[
"1995 video games",
"Multiplayer and single-player video games",
"Namco games",
"PlayStation (console) games",
"PlayStation (console)-only games",
"Racing video games",
"Ridge Racer",
"Sony Interactive Entertainment games",
"Video games developed in Japan",
"Video games scored by Shinji Hosoe",
"Video games with custom soundtrack support"
] |
Ridge Racer Revolution is an arcade racing game developed and published by Namco for the PlayStation in 1995. It is the PlayStation sequel of Ridge Racer (the arcade sequel is Ridge Racer 2). Like the original Ridge Racer, the player races computer-controlled cars with the objective of winning a series of races, and supports Namco's NeGcon controller. Ridge Racer Revolution adds two hidden cars, and two-player support via the PlayStation Link cable, and took roughly the same time to develop as the first. The intention was to increase the depth and add features.
The game borrows most of its soundtrack from Ridge Racer 2. Ridge Racer Revolution was re-released in Japan for the PlayStation The Best range in June 1997, and for the Platinum Range in PAL regions the following year. The game received generally positive reviews, although some criticised its similarity to the original. Ridge Racer Revolution was followed by a sequel, Rage Racer, in 1996.
## Gameplay
The gameplay system remains unchanged from Ridge Racer, the checkpoint and time limit system remain the same; running out of time ends the race and passing through checkpoints grants additional time, although the car drifting is more like Ridge Racer 2. The player drives using automatic transmission or manual transmission. Ridge Racer Revolution supports Namco's NeGcon controller, and adds a rear-view mirror when using the in-car view. The game consists of three courses: 'Novice', 'Intermediate' (also called 'Advanced'), and 'Expert', each having different sections opened, and incorporates modes from the original game; Race, against eleven opponents, and Time Trial, against one. Ridge Racer Revolution adds a mode: Free Run, in which there are no other cars and the player practises driving. There is no lap limit. How fast the cars run depends on which speed grade is used, selectable in Free Run, and can be unlocked for Race. It is not available in Time Trial. A new feature is the option to select the time of day in which the race takes place, although this is not available at the start of the game. Ridge Racer Revolution features a two-player link-up mode which allows the players access to the original Ridge Racer'''s courses known as 'Special 1' and 'Special 2'. There are two modes in two-player link-up: Race, identical to its single-player counterpart, and Versus, where only the players race against each other. Versus features a handicap option, increasing the speed of the trailing car.
Like the first Ridge Racer, the player normally starts with four cars. The remaining eight are selectable on winning the mini game before the title screen (the mini game is Galaga '88 instead of the original game's Galaxian). They are mostly unchanged; their names (certain cars are named after other Namco titles) and specifications are similar to the first game. After the player wins the first three circuits, reversed versions are unlocked, and Time Trial features an additional opponent driving a secret car. There are three secret cars; the '13th Racing' (from the first Ridge Racer) of the Novice course, and the new '13th Racing Kid' (of the Intermediate course) and 'White Angel' (of the Expert course), the car featured on the cover art. These cars are unlocked upon winning the respective course's Time Trial race.
Ridge Racer Revolution features two hidden modes; 'Drift Contest', where points are earned according to how well spins are performed on certain corners, and 'Pretty Racer' (also known as 'Buggy mode'), in which the cars size appears with deformed body sizes, similar to Choro-Q cars, which led to the arcade game Pocket Racer. Mirrored tracks that function identically to the original game are accessible. Like the first game, a music CD can be inserted and listened to instead of the soundtrack. Unlike the first game, only the last course played is loaded into the PlayStation's memory; to switch, the game disc needs to be reinserted before loading.
## Development
Ridge Racer Revolution was developed over eight months by a team of more than twenty people, most of whom joined just for Ridge Racer Revolution. The biggest difficulties were the link-up mode, rear-view mirror, and running the game at high speeds. Each member had worked on other console games, and they commented that the graphics detail showed the improvements in skill and technique. The team wanted players to enjoy a more in-depth game than the original, so rather than develop a port of Ridge Racer 2, as many features as possible were added. The early designs for the new courses were made in a 'free run' programme, and used to see how fast the cars went. The rear-view mirror was added primarily with the two player link-up mode in mind. The music was mostly taken from Ridge Racer 2, and as a result, the sound was finished more quickly than the game. Soundtrack composition for Ridge Racer 2 involved Shinji Hosoe, Nobuyoshi Sano, Ayako Saso, and Takayuki Aihara, although new tracks were composed by Hiroshi Okubo and Nobuhide Isayama. The team kept exploring the PlayStation's capabilities to solve the high speed problem, although were confident it was possible. The designer, Hiroyuki Onada, commented that designing an original course was a challenge, and director Kazumi Mizuno believed that graphics quality would be degraded with a split-screen multiplayer mode, so the team decided to focus on the PlayStation's link-up instead.
## Reception
The game was a bestseller in the UK. It was the top-selling game on the UK multi-format chart in May 1996.
The additional features and improvements over the original in particular were given high praise. Coming Soon Magazine praised its multiplayer mode, saying it "will furnish many hours of competitive fun!", and in their conclusion remarked that the game "is an excellent racing game that will yield much excitement and challenges". A reviewer from Absolute PlayStation concurred with this by praising its playability, its "greatly" improved artificial Intelligence, and the two-player link-up feature. Both of Electronic Gaming Monthly's sports reviewers thought that Ridge Racer Revolution is better than the original, due to the cleaner graphics and improved handling on the cars, which it was believed makes them easier to control. David Hodgson of Maximum acknowledged the similarity to the original Ridge Racer but gave it a strong recommendation, arguing that removal of the slowdown and track updating of the original, the unlockables, and the two-player mode make it worth buying. His conclusion was that the game is "an instantly playable arcade racer that oozes options and playability".
The Electric Playground's reviewer complimented the additions and improvements, including the "much improved" graphics and the scene changes, about which it was commented that it was a "serious improvement". It was commented that the colours are "sharp and pretty", and the link-up multiplayer mode was lauded, although the remixed music tracks were criticised because they "pale greatly in comparison to the original tracks". The new tracks were complimented as "always challenging and fun to race" by Gamezilla's Mark Skorupa, who also praised Free Run, saying it's a "great way to learn the tracks". Major Mike of GamePro believed the game surpassed the first and upheld the Ridge Racer tradition, and Computer and Video Games Magazine's reviewer commented that the game is "Everything Ridge Racer maniacs could have wanted from a sequel".
Hugh Sterbakov of GameSpot was more critical. He called it "a clone of the original", and criticised the lack of split-screen multiplayer. Another critical reviewer was from Edge; he described the game as "virtually indistinguishable" from the first Ridge Racer, and commented that Ridge Racer Revolution does not fulfil the expectations evoked by the original. It was also stated that it is simply a "jazzed-up" Ridge Racer 2, and the visuals were criticised as "antiquated". Despite these criticisms, the handling was praised, and the gameplay was described as "varied". A reviewer for Next Generation contended that the original Ridge Racer was rushed in order to make it out for the PlayStation launch, and that whereas rival Sega had done an exceptional job of fixing their own launch day rush job with Virtua Fighter Remix, "Namco has simply released a disc with a new track, using the same flawed game engine". He particularly felt that the price was much too high for what was essentially an expansion pack, and concluded that anyone who bought the game would be "a half-step away from being conned". Will Groves of the Official UK PlayStation Magazine'' described the game as "a poor sequel", but liked the range of options provided. He described the game itself as "great", but further criticised it for not being fun, as he thought the feel is aggressive.
|
382,984 |
HMS Inflexible (1907)
| 1,169,091,432 |
Invincible-class battlecruiser
|
[
"1907 ships",
"Invincible-class battlecruisers",
"Maritime incidents in 1915",
"Ships built on the River Clyde",
"World War I battlecruisers of the United Kingdom"
] |
HMS Inflexible was one of three Invincible-class battlecruisers built for the Royal Navy before World War I and had an active career during the war. She tried to hunt down the German battlecruiser SMS Goeben and the light cruiser SMS Breslau in the Mediterranean Sea when war broke out and she and her sister ship Invincible sank the German armoured cruisers SMS Scharnhorst and SMS Gneisenau during the Battle of the Falkland Islands. Inflexible bombarded Turkish forts in the Dardanelles in 1915, but was damaged by return fire and struck a mine while maneuvering. She had to be beached to prevent her from sinking, but she was patched up and sent to Malta, and then Gibraltar for more permanent repairs. Transferred to the Grand Fleet afterwards, she damaged the German battlecruiser Lützow during the Battle of Jutland in 1916 and watched Invincible explode. She was deemed obsolete after the war and was sold for scrap in 1921.
## Design
The Invincible-class ships were formally known as armoured cruisers until 1911 when they were redesignated as battlecruisers by an Admiralty order of 24 November 1911. Unofficially a number of designations were used until then, including cruiser-battleship, dreadnought cruiser and battle-cruiser.
### General characteristics
Inflexible was significantly larger than her armoured cruiser predecessors of the Minotaur class. She had an overall length of 567 ft (173 m), a beam of 78 ft 10.13 in (24.0 m), and a draught of 29 ft 9 in (9.07 m) at deep load. She displaced 17,290 long tons (17,570 t) at load and 20,700 long tons (21,000 t) at deep load, nearly 3,000 long tons (3,000 t) more than the earlier ships.
### Propulsion
Inflexible had two paired sets of Parsons direct-drive turbines, each of which was housed in a separate engine-room and drove an outboard and inboard shaft. The high-pressure ahead and astern turbines were coupled to the outboard shafts and the low-pressure turbines to the inner shafts. A cruising turbine was also coupled to each inner shaft; these were not used often and were eventually disconnected. The turbines were powered by thirty-one Yarrow water-tube boilers in four boiler rooms. The turbines were designed to produce a total of 41,000 shaft horsepower (30,574 kW), but reached nearly 47,000 shp (35,048 kW) during her trials in 1908. She was designed for 25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph), but reached 26.48 knots (49 km/h; 30 mph) during trials. She carried 3,084 long tons (3,133 t) of coal, and an additional 725 long tons (737 t) of fuel oil that was to be sprayed on the coal to increase its burn rate. At full fuel capacity, she could steam for 3,090 nautical miles (5,720 km; 3,560 mi) at a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).
### Armament
Inflexible mounted eight BL 12-inch (305 mm) Mk X guns in four twin hydraulically powered turrets. Her secondary armament consisted of sixteen 4-inch (102 mm) QF Mk III guns. In 1915, the turret roof guns were transferred to the superstructure, and the total number of guns was reduced to twelve. All of the remaining guns were enclosed in casemates and given blast shields at that time to better protect the gun crews from weather and enemy action. These guns were replaced by twelve 4-inch BL MK IX guns on CPI mountings during 1917.
Her anti-aircraft armament consisted of a single QF 3-inch (76 mm) 20 cwt AA gun on a high-angle MKII mount at the aft end of the superstructure that was carried from July 1915. A 3-pounder Hotchkiss gun on a high-angle MkIc mounting with a maximum elevation of 60° was fitted in November 1914 and used until August 1917. A 4-inch BL MK VII on a HA MkII mount was added in April 1917. Five 18-inch (457.2 mm) submerged torpedo tubes were fitted on the Invincibles, two on each side and one in the stern. Fourteen torpedoes were carried for them.
### Armour
The armour protection given to the Invincibles was heavier than that of the Minotaurs; their waterline belt measured 6 in (152 mm) amidships in contrast to the 4 in (102 mm) belt of their predecessors. The belt was 6 inches thick roughly between the fore and aft 12-inch gun turrets, but was reduced to four inches from the fore turret to the bow, but did not extend aft of the rear turret. The gun turrets and barbettes were protected by 7 in (178 mm) of armour, except for the turret roofs which used 3 in (76 mm) of Krupp non-cemented armour (KNC). The thickness of the main deck was 1–2 in (25–51 mm) and the lower deck armour was 1.5–2.5 in (38–64 mm). Mild steel torpedo bulkheads of 2.5-inch thickness were fitted abreast the magazines and shell rooms.
After the Battle of Jutland revealed her vulnerability to plunging shellfire, additional armour was added in the area of the magazines and to the turret roofs. The exact thickness is not known, but it was unlikely to be thick as the total amount was less than 100 long tons (102 t).
## Construction and career
She was authorized in the naval expansion program of 1905, and built at the John Brown & Company shipyard on the Clyde. She was laid down on 5 February 1906, launched on 26 June 1907, and commissioned on 20 October 1908. Inflexible was initially assigned to the Nore Division of the British Home Fleet. She was the temporary flagship of Admiral of the Fleet Sir Edward Hobart Seymour while in New York for the Hudson–Fulton Celebration in September 1909. On 26 May 1911, she was in a collision with the battleship Bellerophon that damaged her bow. She was refitted in October–November 1911, where her fore funnel was also raised by 6 feet (1.8 m) to reduce smoke interference with the bridge.
### First World War
#### Pursuit of Goeben and Breslau
On the outbreak of the First World War, Inflexible was flagship of the Mediterranean Fleet. Accompanied by Indefatigable, under the command of Admiral Sir Archibald Berkeley Milne she encountered the German battlecruiser Goeben and the light cruiser Breslau on the morning of 4 August 1914 headed east after a cursory bombardment of the French Algerian port of Philippeville, but Britain and Germany were not yet at war so Milne turned to shadow the Germans as they headed back to Messina to recoal. All three battlecruisers had problems with their boilers, but Goeben and Breslau were able to break contact and reached Messina by the morning of the 5th. By this time, war had been declared, after the German invasion of Belgium, but an Admiralty order to respect Italian neutrality and stay outside a 6-nautical-mile (11 km) limit from the Italian coast precluded entrance into the passage of the Strait of Messina where they could observe the port directly. Therefore, Milne stationed Inflexible and Indefatigable at the northern exit of the Strait of Messina, still expecting the Germans to break out to the west where they could attack French troop transports, the light cruiser Gloucester at the southern exit and sent Indomitable to recoal at Bizerte where she was better positioned to react to a German sortie into the Western Mediterranean.
The Germans sortied from Messina on 6 August and headed east, towards Constantinople, trailed by Gloucester. Milne, still expecting Rear Admiral Wilhelm Souchon to turn west, kept the battlecruisers at Malta until shortly after midnight on 8 August when he set sail for Cape Matapan at a leisurely 12 knots (22 km/h), where Goeben had been spotted eight hours earlier. At 14:30, he received an incorrect signal from the Admiralty stating that Britain was at war with Austria; war would not be declared until 12 August and the order was countermanded four hours later, but Milne followed his standing orders to guard the Adriatic against an Austrian breakout attempt, rather than seek Goeben. Finally on 9 August, Milne was given clear orders to "chase Goeben which had passed Cape Matapan on the 7th steering north-east". Milne still did not believe that Souchon was heading for the Dardanelles, and so he resolved to guard the exit from the Aegean, unaware that the Goeben did not intend to come out. Indomitable remained in the Mediterranean to blockade the Dardanelles, but Inflexible was ordered home on 18 August.
### Battle of the Falklands
The West Indies Squadron of Rear Admiral Christopher Cradock was destroyed by the German German East Asia Squadron commanded by Admiral Graf von Spee during the Battle of Coronel on 1 November 1914. In response, the Admiralty ordered that a squadron be sent to destroy the Germans. The squadron, under the command of Admiral Sir Doveton Sturdee, consisted of Invincible (flag) and Inflexible. They departed on 11 November and rendezvoused with several other cruisers under Rear Admiral Stoddard at Abrolhos Rocks, off the coast of Brazil on the 26th. They departed the following day and reached Port Stanley on the morning of 7 December.
Spee – making a leisurely voyage back to the Atlantic – wished to destroy the radio station at Port Stanley, so he sent the armoured cruiser SMS Gneisenau and the light cruiser Nürnberg to see if the harbor was clear of British warships on the morning of 8 December. They were spotted at 07:30, although the pre-dreadnought Canopus, grounded in Stanley Harbor to defend the town and its wireless station, did not receive the signal until 07:45. It mattered little because Sturdee was not expecting an engagement and most of his ships were coaling. Furthermore, the armoured cruiser Cornwall and the light cruiser Bristol had one or both of their engines under repair. The armed merchant cruiser Macedonian was patrolling the outer harbor entrance while the armoured cruiser Kent was anchored in the outer harbor, scheduled to relieve the Macedonian at 08:00. The Germans were not expecting any resistance and the first salvo from Canopus's guns at 09:20 caused them to sheer off from their planned bombardment of the wireless station and fall back on Spee's main body.
Sturdee's ships did not sortie from the harbor until 09:50, but they could see the retreating German ships on the southwest horizon. The Invincibles, fresh out of dry dock, had a 5 knots (9.3 km/h; 5.8 mph) advantage over Spee's ships which all had fouled bottoms that limited their speeds to 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) at best. The light cruiser Leipzig was lagging behind the other ships and Inflexible opened fire on her when the range dropped to 17,500 yards (16,000 m) at 12:55. Invincible opened fire shortly afterwards and both ships began straddling Leipzig as the range closed to 13,000 yards (12,000 m). At 13:20, Spee ordered his squadron to separate and ordered his light cruisers to turn to the southwest while his armoured cruisers turned to the north east to cover their retreat. The German ships opened fire first at 13:30 and scored their first hit at 13:44 when SMS Scharnhorst hit Invincible, although the shell burst harmlessly on the belt armour. Both sides fired rapidly during the first half-hour of the engagement before Sturdee opened up the range a little to put his ships outside the effective range of the German guns. British gunnery was very poor during this period, scoring only four hits out of 210 rounds fired. The primary cause was the smoke from the guns and funnels as the British were downwind of the Germans.
Spee turned to the south in the hope of disengaging while the British had their vision obscured, but only opened the range to 17,000 yards (16,000 m) before the British saw his course change. This was futile as the British battlecruisers gave chase at 24 knots (44 km/h; 28 mph). Forty minutes later, the British opened fire again at 15,000 yards (14,000 m). Eight minutes later, Spee turned again to the east to give battle; this time, his strategy was to close the range on the British ships so he could bring his 15 cm (5.9 in) secondary armament to bear. He was successful, and they were able to open fire at 15:00 at maximum elevation. On this course, the smoke bothered both sides, but multiple hits were made regardless. Those made by the Germans either failed to detonate or hit in some insignificant area. On the contrary, Gneisenau had her starboard engine room put out of action. Sturdee ordered his ships at 15:15 back across their own wakes to gain the windward advantage. Spee turned to the northwest, as if to attempt to cross the British T, but actually to bring Scharnhorst's undamaged starboard guns to bear as most of those on his port side were out of action. The British continued to hit Scharnhorst and Gneisenau regularly during this time and Scharnhorst ceased fire at 16:00 before capsizing at 16:17 with no survivors. Gneisenau had been slowed by earlier damage and was battered for another hour and a half by Inflexible and Invincible at ranges down to 4,000 yards (3,700 m). Despite the damage her crew continued to fire back until she ceased firing at 16:47. Sturdee was ready to order 'Cease fire' at 17:15 when an ammunition hoist was freed up and she made her last shot. The British continued to pound her until 17:50, after her captain had given the order to scuttle her at 17:40. She slowly capsized at 18:00 and the British were able to rescue 176 men. She had fired 661 twelve-inch shells during the battle and had only been hit three times because she was often obscured by Invincible's smoke. Only one man was killed and five wounded aboard the battlecruisers during the battle.
### Dardanelles Campaign
After the Battle of the Falklands Inflexible was repaired and refitted at Gibraltar. She arrived at the Dardanelles on 24 January 1915 where she replaced Indefatigable as the flagship of the Mediterranean Fleet. She bombarded Turkish fortifications on 19 February, the start of the Battle of Gallipoli, to little effect, and again on 15 March, with the same results. She was part of the first line of British ships on 18 March as they attempted to suppress the Turkish guns so the minefields could be swept. Turkish return fire was heavy and she was hit a number of times. A 15 cm (5.9 in) howitzer shell knocked out the left gun of 'P' turret, a 105 mm (4.1 in) shell hit the yard above the foretop and killed or wounded everybody within. A heavy shell of unknown size hit her on the port side 6 feet (1.8 m) below the waterline, but only dished in the side plating. A 240 mm (9.4 in) shell hit the foremast at the same level as the flying bridge and set fire to the navigator's sea cabin. The hit destroyed all the cables and voice pipes running through the foremast to the fire control director. The smoke from the fire was choking the wounded so she withdrew to turn her head into the wind and the fire was then quickly put out. She returned to reengage the Turkish forts and was hit once more with little effect. Later, as she was turning in Eren Keui Bay, she was seriously damaged by a mine – probably about 100 kg (220 lb) in size – that blew a large hole in her starboard bow and flooded the forward torpedo flat, drowning 39 men. She had to be beached at the island of Bozcaada (Tenedos) to prevent her sinking, as she had taken in some 1,600 long tons (1,600 t) of water, but she was temporarily repaired with a cofferdam over the 30-by-26-foot (9.1 m × 7.9 m) hole. She sailed to Malta, escorted by Canopus and Talbot on 6 April. She nearly foundered when her cofferdam worked loose in heavy weather en route and had to be towed stern-first by Canopus for six hours while the cofferdam was repaired. She was under repair at Malta until early June before she sailed for home. She reached the U.K. on 19 June, where she joined the 3rd Battlecruiser Squadron (BCS) of the Grand Fleet under the command of Rear Admiral H.L.A. Hood.
### Battle of Jutland
At the end of May 1916, the 3rd BCS was temporarily assigned to the Grand Fleet for gunnery practice. On 30 May, the entire Grand Fleet, along with Admiral Beatty's battlecruisers, was ordered to sea to prepare for an excursion by the German High Seas Fleet. In order to support Beatty, Admiral Hood took his three battlecruisers ahead of the Grand Fleet. At about 14:30, Invincible intercepted a radio message from the light cruiser Galatea, attached to Beatty's Battlecruiser Force, reporting the sighting of two enemy cruisers. This was amplified by other reports of seven enemy ships steering north. Hood interpreted this as an attempt to escape through the Skagerrak and ordered an increase in speed to 22 knots (41 km/h; 25 mph) at 15:11 and steered East-Southeast to cut off the fleeing ships. Twenty minutes later, Invincible intercepted a message from Beatty reporting five enemy battlecruisers in sight and later signals reporting that he was engaging the enemy on a south-easterly course. At 16:06, Hood ordered full speed and a course of south-southeast in an attempt to converge on Beatty. At 16:56, with no British ships in sight, Hood requested Beatty's course, position and speed, but he never received a reply.
Hood continued on course until 17:40, when gunfire was spotted in the direction to which his light cruiser Chester had been dispatched to investigate other gunfire flashes. Chester encountered four light cruisers of Hipper's 2nd Scouting Group and was badly damaged before Hood turned to investigate and was able to drive the German cruisers away. At 17:53, Invincible opened fire on Wiesbaden; the other two Invincibles followed two minutes later. The German ships turned for the south after fruitlessly firing torpedoes at 18:00 and attempted to find shelter in the mist. As they turned, Invincible hit Wiesbaden in the engine room and knocked out her engines while Inflexible hit Pillau once. The 2nd Scouting Group was escorted by the light cruiser Regensburg and 31 destroyers of the 2nd and 9th Flotillas and the 12th Half-Flotilla which attacked the 3rd BCS in succession. They were driven off by Hood's remaining light cruiser Canterbury and the five destroyers of his escort. In a confused action, the Germans only launched 12 torpedoes and disabled the destroyer Shark with gunfire. Having turned due west to close on Beatty's ships, the Invincibles were broadside to the oncoming torpedoes, but Invincible turned north, while Inflexible and Indomitable turned south to present their narrowest profile to the torpedoes. All the torpedoes missed, although one passed underneath Inflexible without detonating. As Invincible turned north, her helm jammed and she had to come to a stop to fix the problem, but this was quickly done and the squadron reformed heading west.
At 18:21, with both Beatty and the Grand Fleet converging on him, Hood turned south to lead Beatty's battlecruisers. Hipper's battlecruisers were 9,000 yards (8.2 km) away and the Invincibles almost immediately opened fire on Hipper's flagship, Lützow, and Derfflinger. Lützow quickly took ten hits from Lion, Inflexible and Invincible, including two hits below the waterline forward by Invincible that would ultimately doom her. But at 18:30, Invincible abruptly appeared as a clear target before Lützow and Derfflinger. The two German ships then fired three salvoes each at Invincible, and sank her in 90 seconds. A 305 mm (12-inch) shell from the third salvo struck the roof of Invincible's midships 'Q' turret, flash detonated the magazines below, and the ship blew up and broke in two, killing all but six of her crew of 1,032 officers and men, including Rear-Admiral Hood.
Inflexible and Indomitable remained in company with Beatty for the rest of the battle. They encountered Hipper's battlecruisers only 10,000 yards (9.1 km) away as the sun was setting about 8:19 and opened fire. Seydlitz was hit five times before the German battlecruisers were rescued by the appearance of the pre-dreadnought battleships of Rear Admiral Mauve and the British shifted fire to the new threat. Three of the predreadnoughts were hit before they too were able to turn into the gloom.
### Post-Jutland career
The loss of three battlecruisers at Jutland (the others were Queen Mary and Indefatigable) led to the force being reorganised into two squadrons, with Inflexible and Indomitable in the 2nd BCS. However, after Jutland there was little significant naval activity for the Invincibles, other than routine patrolling, thanks to the Kaiser's order that his ships should not be allowed to go to sea unless assured of victory. Two torpedoes fired by the German U-boat U-65 during one of these patrols on 19 August 1916 missed astern. On 1 February 1918, she collided with the British submarine HMS K22 off the Isle of May with minor damage. This was during a night exercise in the Firth of Forth involving the Flotilla, eight capital ships, and numerous cruisers and destroyers. It was a series of collisions which led to the loss of two K boats, serious damage to three others, including K22, and a cruiser, and the deaths of 104 submariners, with no enemy involved. She was fitted with two flying off ramps fitted above her midships turrets in early 1918. On 21 November she was present at Scapa Flow for the surrender of the German High Seas Fleet.
The end of the war saw the end for many of the older vessels, not least the two remaining Invincible-class ships. Inflexible was paid off to the Reserve Fleet in January 1919 before being decommissioned on 31 March 1920. Chile briefly considered purchasing the ship in 1920, however the sale did not materialise. She was sold for scrap on 1 December 1921, and scrapped in Germany the following year. Mount Inflexible in the Canadian Rockies was named after the battlecruiser in 1917.
|
39,614,229 |
Manam (film)
| 1,172,944,356 |
2014 film written and directed by Vikram Kumar
|
[
"2010s Telugu-language films",
"2014 films",
"2014 romantic drama films",
"Films about reincarnation",
"Films directed by Vikram Kumar",
"Films scored by Anoop Rubens",
"Films shot in Hyderabad, India",
"Films shot in Karnataka",
"Films shot in Mumbai",
"Indian romantic drama films",
"Reliance Entertainment films"
] |
Manam () is a 2014 Indian Telugu-language fantasy drama film written and directed by Vikram Kumar, and produced by the Akkineni Family under the Annapurna Studios banner. The film stars Akkineni Nageswara Rao, Nagarjuna, Naga Chaitanya, Shriya Saran and Samantha Ruth Prabhu. The film is set in various time periods, over the course of a hundred years up until 2013, and deals with the concepts of rebirth and eternal love. The plot features a wealthy businessman, Nageswara Rao (Nagarjuna), attempting to bring a young couple together resembling his deceased parents and the elderly Chaitanya's (Nageswara Rao) attempts to bring the businessman and a doctor together. They resemble Chaitanya's deceased parents, who died because of a mistake committed by him in his childhood.
The film was made with a budget of ₹28 crore (\$4.6 million). Harsha Vardhan wrote the film's dialogues, while Anup Rubens composed the film's music. P. S. Vinod handled the film's cinematography and Prawin Pudi edited the film. Production began on 3 June 2013. Principal photography began on 7 June 2013 and was shot in and around Hyderabad, Coorg and Mysore till mid April 2014.
Manam was the last film of Nageswara Rao, who died on 22 January 2014 during the film's production phase and was promoted as a "befitting send off" and a tribute from his son, Nagarjuna. The film released worldwide on 23 May 2014 to positive reviews from critics and was commercially successful, collecting ₹62 crore (\$10.2 million) in its lifetime. It was screened at the 45th International Film Festival of India in the Homage to ANR section on 29 November 2014. The film garnered several accolades. It won five Filmfare Awards South including the Best Film and Best Director in Telugu films category.
## Plot
Radha Mohan and Krishna Veni are a couple who were initially in love with each other but later on lead a difficult marital life due to several misunderstandings and decide to file for divorce, against their six-year-old son's wishes. However, they die in a car accident on 14 February 1983 at 10:20 am near a clock tower on their way to the lawyer's office. 30 years later, their son, Nageswara Rao, becomes a rich and influential businessman. He happens to come across his parents' lookalikes, Nagarjuna and Priya. After befriending them, Rao decides to re-establish them as a couple but is shocked when Nagarjuna introduces his lover, Prema. Rao manages to dissolve the relationship with the help of his personal adviser, Girish Karnad. Unaware of this, Nagarjuna swears not to fall in love with anyone. At the same clock tower, Rao meets Dr. Anjali and falls in love with her at first sight. He helps her in admitting an injured old man to a nearby hospital and donates his blood. The injured man, Chaitanya, is shocked upon seeing the pair as they resemble his deceased parents, Seetharamudu and Ramalakshmi.
Seetharamudu was a barrister who returned from London upon his father's death to manage his family businesses. He was a zamindar and fond of cars. While looking through photos of potential brides, Seetharamudu selects a poor farmer, Ramalakshmi. Asked by a mediator, she accepts the proposal, without meeting Seetharamudu, but asks him for six months' delay as she has to buy new clothes for the bridegroom, following the village's tradition. Seetharamudu learns about this and meets Ramalakshmi in disguise as a reformed thief. With his help, Ramalakshmi is able to cultivate enough grain in three months and buy new clothes with that money. On the day of her marriage, she is pleasantly surprised to know that Seetharamudu is her chosen groom and they marry. On 14 February 1924, the couple goes out, but eight-year-old Chaitanya, suffering from a fever, fakes a stomach ache so that his parents return. The plan works and the couple rush home at high speed but die in an accident at 10:20 am near the same clock tower where Radha Mohan and Krishna Veni would die nearly 60 years later. Now, Chaitanya aims to reunite them without letting them recollect their past as they cannot bear the pain of losing him.
Chaitanya stays in Rao's house for further treatment while Nagarjuna joins them as he was expelled from his hostel due to mischievous trait- Nagarjuna drinks the whole day in the hostel talking about his broken love & when the principal enquiries about his health, he argues with him & in the meantime begins to experience nausea & as the argument proceeds, Nagarjuna starts to vomit on the principal & out of fury principal throws him out of the hostel. One night, Priya, remembering her past life, visits Rao's house only to see Nagarjuna sleeping beside him. She leaves the house in tears. While Rao attempts to court Anjali, Nagarjuna and Priya join Salsa dance classes where Priya constantly expresses her anger towards Nagarjuna. On Rao's birthday, 13 February 2014, Anjali proposes to him which he accepts. This makes Chaitanya very happy. Priya meets Nagarjuna there who is dressed as Radha Mohan, who reveals that he too recollected memories of his past life on the night she left the house in shock. He apologises for his wrong deeds and proposes her. She accepts his proposal and Rao is relieved.
The next day, Nagarjuna goes to a temple with Priya in a car which has no brakes and Rao chases them along with Anjali. Both of the couples are nearing the same clock tower where they died in their past lives. A worried Chaitanya is offered a lift by a young biker who follow them. On 10:20 am when all the four are safe near the clock tower, a lorry driven by a drunk driver is shown rushing towards them. The biker and Chaitanya jump from the bike, which goes on to hit the lorry tyre, distracting the lorry's path. The four thank Chaitanya, who urges them to thank the random-biker Akhil, who saved them in the nick of time by offering Chaitanya a lift.
## Cast
- Akkineni Nageswara Rao as Chaitanya
- Nagarjuna in a dual role as Seetharamudu and Nageswara "Bittu" Rao
- Yashvardhan Singh as Young Bittu
- Naga Chaitanya in a dual role as Radha Mohan and Nagarjuna
- Shriya Saran in a dual role as Ramalakshmi and Dr. Anjali
- Samantha Ruth Prabhu in a dual role as Krishna Veni and Priya
- Brahmanandam as Girish Karnad
- Ali as Leonardo DiCaprio
- M. S. Narayana as Father Francis
- Jaya Prakash Reddy as Home Minister J.P.
- Chalapathi Rao as merchant
- Posani Krishna Murali as Inspector Dharma
- Shankar Melkote as Yashwanth Rayudu, Prema's father
- Srinivasa Reddy as car broker
- Krishnudu as Doctor
- Ramchandra as Dr. Babu Rao
- Chitram Seenu as Constable Sreenu
- Saptagiri as Nagarjuna's friend
- Gundu Sudharshan as marriage broker
- Ambati Srininivas as Home Minister's assistant
- Duvvasi Mohan as Home Minister's assistant
- Saranya as Seetharamudu's mother
- Tejaswi Madivada as Divya
- Satya Krishnan as lecturer
- Kaushal Sharma
Special appearances:
- Amitabh Bachchan as Pratap Ji
- Amala Akkineni as a Dance teacher
- Akhil Akkineni as Akhil
- Lavanya Tripathi as Radha Mohan's friend
- Raashi Khanna as Prema
- Neetu Chandra as Air hostess
## Production
### Development
After the release of 100% Love (2011), Nagarjuna decided to act and produce in an all-star film along with his father, actor Akkineni Nageswara Rao and elder son Naga Chaitanya. Nageswara Rao suggested Nagarjuna to begin the film as early as possible, because of his age. After examining and rejecting many scripts due to a perceived lack of novelty, Nagarjuna was advised by actor Nithin's father and distributor Sudhakar Reddy to listen to a script by Vikram Kumar, who was directing Nithin and Nithya Menen in Ishq (2012). Although he liked the script after the first narration, he agreed to act in the film only after watching Ishq before its theatrical release.
Kumar requested Nagarjuna a year's time to complete and provide the finishing touches to the script. The latter read the script to director K. Raghavendra Rao, who suggested Kumar develop a simpler version, as the original was too complicated. The rewritten version was read to Nagarjuna in two and a half hours and to Nageswara Rao over six hours, as the latter wanted every detail to be clear. Due to the complex nature of the second half, the latter suggested Kumar to add a comedy plotline between grandfather and grandson. After its incorporation into the script, and after considering the titles Hum and Trayam, Manam was chosen as the film's title on Nageswara Rao's suggestion.
The film was officially launched on 3 June 2013 at Annapurna Studios office by conducting a small pooja ceremony. Nageswara Rao died in late January 2014, making this film his last project as an actor. The promotion material featured the "Akkineni Family" as the film's producer. Nagarjuna revealed in an interview that he did so because Nageswara Rao taught his family the importance of it in his last days. Reliance Entertainment co-produced and distributed the film.
### Casting
Nagarjuna engaged Samantha Ruth Prabhu as the second female lead, to be paired with Chaitanya in the film. This was her third collaboration with Chaitanya after Ye Maaya Chesave (2010) and Autonagar Surya (2014). Her inclusion was confirmed in mid-October 2012 by Nagarjuna in an interview with The Times of India.
Ileana D'Cruz was approached for the main female lead role to be paired with Nagarjuna in early February 2013. She was impressed with her role and the film's script and quoted a fee of ₹20 million, which was denied by sources close to her. However, Shriya Saran was signed as the main female lead as her fourth collaboration with Nagarjuna. Nagarjuna announced in mid September 2013 that Kaushal Sharma, Srikar Chittarbu and Krishna Yadav, who graduated from the Annapurna International School of Film and Media, would make their debut with this film.
Nagarjuna's younger son Akhil Akkineni was rumoured to be making a cameo appearance following Nageswara Rao's request. Sources close to the film's unit initially denied those reports. Samantha later tweeted that Akhil appeared for shooting his portions in the film. When his health conditions worsened, Nageswara Rao asked Nagarjuna to bring the dubbing equipment to dub for his role fifteen days before his surgery as he did not want any other artist to do it if his voice worsened. He completed those activities just before he died on 22 January 2014. Only an appearance in a song remained incomplete.
Neetu Chandra, who worked with Kumar on Yavarum Nalam (2009), made a cameo appearance in the film. Nagarjuna's sister Supriya told the media that a few other actors also made cameo appearances in the film. Rashi Khanna confirmed in early April 2014 that she too would make such an appearance. Kumar convinced Nagarjuna to let Akhil make a cameo appearance towards the end of the film or in a special song. However an official confirmation was originally unavailable. Amitabh Bachchan posted in his official blogging site on 27 April 2014 that he would make a quick cameo appearance in the film which would be his debut in Telugu cinema. Lavanya Tripathi also made a cameo appearance on Kumar's request. Akhil made a cameo towards the film's end, as he did not want to miss a chance of sharing the screen with his grandfather.
### Crew
Anup Rubens was selected to compose the film's music and background score in mid March 2013 marking his second collaboration with both Kumar and Chaitanya after Ishq (2012) and Autonagar Surya (2014) respectively. Kumar read the script to Rubens without revealing the film's cast. After Rubens accepted a role in the film, both met Nagarjuna. Rubens said in an interview that he worked for fewer days when compared to his previous works and added that Kumar had a small story to tell within every song in the film. Due to Nageswara Rao's death, a song's tune was replaced with another tune and a few lines of the song Nenu Puttanu from the film Prem Nagar (1971).
Harsha Vardhan was selected in late April 2013 to write the film's dialogues, in consideration of his work in Gunde Jaari Gallanthayyinde (2013). Since the film was a period drama, Nagarjuna wanted an experienced veteran cinematographer, and approached P. C. Sreeram. As Sreeram was busy with I (2015), P. S. Vinod was finalised as the cinematographer, marking his return to Telugu cinema after Panjaa (2011). Chennai-based costume designer Nalini Sriram, who worked for Ye Maaya Chesave, was selected as the film's costume designer. While all the artists had to give their inputs for the costumes, Nageswara Rao gave her full freedom to design the film's costumes.
Rajeevan, also a part of the technical team of Ye Maaya Chesave, was chosen as the film's art director. In a press interview during the first look launch, executive producer Supriya announced the remaining key technicians. Prawin Pudi was confirmed as the film's editor. Brinda was signed in on to choreograph the song sequences. FEFSI Vijayan was chosen as the stunt choreographer. Vanamali and Chandrabose were chosen to write the lyrics for the songs.
### Characterisations
Nageswara Rao played the role of a 90-year-old man. His character enters the film just before the interval and remains until the very end of the film. All the members of the principal cast except Nageswara Rao played dual roles in the film. Nagarjuna said in an interview that he would be seen in the 1920s, 1980s and 2013 and would play a zamindar in 1920. Saran revealed that every character in the film would have a specific aspect; Nagarjuna's character loves cars. Regarding her role, Saran said that she would be seen as a poor but content farmer in the flashback sequences and a doctor in the present day. She added "My character goes back to 1930s and comes back in the present era. I can't tell how it happens though. It's a fun character and you will find me stammering a lot. Suddenly, I'm talking normally and suddenly I start stammering, that's how you understand my character." She added that apart from Nagarjuna, she has more scenes with Nageswara Rao and only a couple of scenes with Chaitanya in the film.
Chaitanya is seen as the father of a six-year-old in 1980s and a happy-go-lucky college student in 2013. He described the former role as a challenging one. He also said that both the roles would have multiple layers and added, "The film as you all would know by now, is spread across three generations, and all the characters go back and forth in time. I play a happy-go-lucky college guy in the present era. It's a typically fun character and has nothing in common with my character from the flashback. So acting wise, it was a big challenge". He described the drunk scenes shared with Nagarjuna, Nageswara Rao and his confrontation scene with Samantha towards the end of the film as the toughest scenes to act.
Samantha revealed that she too would be seen in a dual role – a mature mother named Krishna Veni in the past and a bubbly girl named Priya in the present. She added that she would not be overshadowed in the film despite the presence of three male leads. Similar to Ye Maaya Chesave, Chaitanya and Samantha had a kissing scene in this film as a part of the script. A clip of one of Samantha's looks in the film was leaked in late July 2013. She was seen sporting an urban look and opted for a complete makeover. Nagarjuna's look in the film was leaked in mid August 2013 and he was seen sporting corrective eyeglasses and a conventional clean shave and moustache for which he removed the goatee he grew for his previous works Greeku Veerudu (2013) and Bhai (2013). Saran's look in the film's flashback sequences was leaked in late February 2014.
The film had two particular wedding scenes, one filmed on Chaitanya and Samantha and the other on Nagarjuna and Saran. The first pair greet each other with "Hi" during the wedding. When Kumar wrote those scenes, they were surprised and felt that such scenes were unrealistic. But it was retained as Nageswara Rao liked it. For the other wedding scene, Kumar wanted to heighten the emotions between the two characters in that scene and it was Nagarjuna who came up with the idea of not revealing his identity to the bride till the last moment.
### Filming
Principal photography began on 7 June 2013. Scenes focusing on Chaitanya and Samantha were shot at Narayanguda in mid June 2013. The latter completed her part in the schedule and left for Switzerland on 18 June 2013 to work on Attarintiki Daredi (2013). The first schedule was wrapped up by late June 2013 and the second schedule was scheduled to begin in mid-July 2013. Some important scenes were planned to be shot in that schedule. Shriya Saran joined the film's sets in late July 2013. Samantha tweeted on 31 July 2013 that the film's second schedule had been wrapped up. The film was shot in Hyderabad Campus of Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani in late August 2013 and Samantha rejoined the film's sets on 1 September 2013 after completing Ramayya Vasthavayya (2013).
Scenes featuring Nageswara Rao, Nagarjuna and Chaitanya were shot from 9 September 2013 in Hyderabad. Executive producer Supriya announced in mid September 2013 that the filming would be completed by November 2013. Nageswara Rao had chronic stomach ache, and doctors found out on 8 October 2013 that he is suffering from cancer. He announced this to the press on 19 October 2013 while on set. Recovering from surgery, Nageswara Rao rejoined the film's sets in mid November 2013. A 15-day schedule in Coorg starting from 1 December 2013 was announced in late November 2013 and key scenes on all the members of the principal cast except Nageswara Rao were planned to be shot. The next schedule began in mid December 2013 at Mysore.
The film's team continued filming at Melukote, Lalitha Mahal and in the backwaters of the Krishna Raja Sagara among others. Samantha completed filming her portions on 22 February 2014. By late March 2014, the entire filming, except for a song sequence, was completed; the song was planned to be shot in April 2014 Featuring Nagarjuna and Naga Chaitanya, it was shot at Annapurna Studios in mid-April 2014. Amitabh Bachchan shot the scenes for his cameo at the Filmistan Studio in Mumbai on 27 April 2014.
Saran later revealed in an interview that during the shoot at Coorg, the team's day began at 4:30 am every day. She visited coffee plantation and black pepper farms to observe the farmers' work for her part. For a few particular scenes, where Saran teaches Nagarjuna some farm chores, the team made a few takes, as Nagajuna, being a quick learner, completed the tasks better than Saran.
## Themes and influences
The film was initially rumoured to be inspired by the American science fiction comedy film Back to the Future. It was also compared with an older Hindi film Kal Aaj Aur Kal (1971) for its casting.
Nagarjuna revealed that the film is set over a period of a hundred years, up until 2013, and involves reincarnation. He said in an interview that the film's script is not particularly intense, but has a light narration. The film's basic theme, established by Kumar and his assistant directors, was "that things have changed and our sorrows and joys have been exchanged; Night and day, morning and evening, a movement of souls united in being, cosmic beings rearranged. Some things may go wrong in one's life but they are corrected in the other life. The universe and nature correct the mistakes made in one life, in the other." He said that this statement would seem complex but would be fully explained by the film.
Nagarjuna added that the film's characters would reborn with no special purpose unlike other reincarnation films like Janaki Ramudu (1988), Arundhati (2009) and Magadheera (2009). Saran said in an interview that the film basically has a family-oriented theme and is about falling in love with "small, little things that you sort of don't see every day, but are really, really important". Unlike other reincarnation based films, the film's story develops two separate themes – the relationship between reborn lovers, but also the relationship between reborn parents and their children. Naga Chaitanya acknowledged in an interview with The Hindu that the film's script might seem to have a few overly-convenient coincidences, but felt that Kumar's detailing in every scene made the script believable.
## Music
The soundtrack features five songs as well as a theme musical piece all composed by Anoop Rubens. Chandrabose wrote lyrics for three songs and the remaining two were written by Vanamali and Rubens himself. Aditya Music acquired the audio rights and released the soundtrack on 9 May 2014 on YouTube. The soundtrack received positive response, especially for the songs Kanulanu Thaake and Chinni Chinni Aasalu.
## Release
Nagarjuna planned to release the film on 31 March 2014, on the eve of Ugadi, confirmed on a visit to the Tirumala Venkateswara Temple with Akhil in early March 2014. However, he later postponed the film's release, planning to release the film after the 2014 general elections. The film's trailer confirmed the release date as 23 May 2014. The film was confirmed to feature in both Dolby Atmos and 5.1 surround sound systems. On 14 May 2014, the Central Board of Film Certification passed the film with a U/A certificate instead of a U certificate that the makers expected because of a few drinking scenes. The British Board of Film Classification passed the film with a PG rating due to "brief images of injury, mild bad language".
Nagarjuna arranged a special premiere show on 22 May 2014 at Prasads IMAX for Nageswara Rao's fans. He succumbed to the huge demand from the admirers of Nageswara Rao and changed the single screen premiere into a five-multiplex screen red carpet show at Prasads IMAX, playing host to thousands of celebrity invitees. CineGalaxy Inc. stated that the film would release in more than 100 screens in the United States alone with advance ticketing commencing at few locations. The film's release however clashed with Vikrama Simha, the Telugu dubbed version of Kochadaiiyaan (2014).
Nagarjuna planned to release the film in more than 1000 screens in India as well as international markets. In India, 171 theatres in Nizam, 95 theatres in Ceded, 50 theatres in Vishakhapatnam, 85 theatres in East and West Godavari districts, 40 theatres in Krishna, 45 theatres in Guntur, 25 theatres in Nellore, 12 screens in Chennai, 20 screens in Bangalore and 25 screens in Maharashtra were booked. In overseas, 108 screens in the United States, 9 screens in Toronto, 6 screens in Germany, 2 screens in Switzerland and 3 screens in Netherlands were booked. The advance ticket booking was made available both online as well as in theatres five days before the film's release. It registered nearly 50% advance booking by 22 May 2014 and was expected to register more than 75% before its theatrical release. It was also dubbed and released in Tamil and Hindi under the same title.
### Distribution
Sudhakar Reddy acquired the distribution rights of the film in Nizam Region. CineGalaxy Inc. acquired the entire overseas theatrical screening rights of the film. Lorgan Entertainments acquired the film's distribution rights for Australia and New Zealand. DBB Films later acquired the theatrical screening rights of the film in all European countries except the United Kingdom, where Errabus Films was the distributor.
### Promotion
The first look poster of the film was unveiled by Nagarjuna on 19 September 2013 on the eve of Nageswara Rao's 90th birthday. The poster featured Nagarjuna dressed in a black suit, Chaitanya sitting in a throne as an elder in traditional costume and Nageswara Rao sitting on the floor posing as a child. The poster received praise for its offbeat theme. The theatrical trailer of the film was planned to be released on 11 April 2014. The second poster was released on 31 March 2014 on the eve of Ugadi. A special video named "Candid Moments" was released along with the theatrical trailer as a tribute to Nageswara Rao on 8 April 2014 on the eve of Sri Rama Navami. The trailer began with a voiceover of Rao and ends with the message "ANR Lives On".
Upon release, the trailer went viral, praised as "refreshing". IndiaGlitz stated "The trailer looks very refreshing and promising. In overall, the trailer looks very delightful, colourful and loaded with entertainment. Hope the movie will be a befitting farewell for the great actor Akkineni Nageswara Rao" and gave it the verdict "Refreshing, Vibrant and Vivid". Oneindia Entertainment stated "The trailer of Manam shows that the movie has amazing background score, stunning camera work, breath-taking exotic locales, wonderful performances by the lead actors". The trailer was also screened in theatres screening Race Gurram (2014) on 11 April 2014. The trailer received 1 million views of YouTube. Nagarjuna released the promo of the song Piyo Piyo Re on 26 April 2014. It featured Nagarjuna and Chaitanya dancing in a pub. It became a viral video post its release.
After the audio launch, the positive reception of the song Chinni Chinni Aasalu prompted the makers to release a video featuring the making of the song. Shot in the backdrop of a village, the song featured Nagarjuna dressed as a farmer while Shriya Saran was dressed as an innocent villager. On the other hand, the video showcased the recording of the song by Shreya Ghoshal. The video too received positive response. A still featuring Chaitanya and Samantha in an intimate sequence from the flashback was re-tweeted many times by the fans and Telugu film websites. A short teaser, 31 seconds long, was unveiled on 13 May 2014, in which Samantha was seen speaking about Nageshwar continuously at a doctors' check up and the montage of the film's male leads being played side by side.
A behind-the-scenes video of the making of the song Kanulanu Thaake was released on 14 May 2014. The song featured Chaitanya and Samantha as a newly married couple and their onscreen romance with Lavanya Tripathi making a brief glimpse towards the end. It also showcased the recording of the song by Arijit Singh. The video received a positive response, with praises directed towards the on-screen chemistry between Chaitanya and Samantha. The audio launch event, entitled "Manam Sangeetham", was aired on 18 May 2014 in Gemini TV at 5:00 pm, with the Akkineni family in attendance.
Tata DoCoMo & Brooke Bond Red Label were involved with the film, advertising on hoardings, television, radio, in print, and on buses, among other venues. Tata DoCoMo came up with the tagline "Be a part of the Manam family" and offered a chance to the meet the film's star cast by recharging with a certain amount. Brooke Bond used the slogan "Red Label celebrates the taste of togetherness with Manam" and offered a chance to meet Nagarjuna. First Show Digital handled the film's online promotions. The film's 100-day celebration was held along with the platinum disc function of Oka Laila Kosam (2014) on 22 September 2014 at the Shilpakala Vedika in Hyderabad.
### Leak
In early March 2014, the film was leaked into the Internet. Two people related to the film leakage were arrested on 8 March 2014. They were identified as Mubashir Sheik and Sheik Abid Basha hailing from Guntur. Basha illegally accessed the feed of the film and handed it over to Sheik who then uploaded it on YouTube. Post release, the film became one of the most downloaded titles in recent times and the Anti-Video Piracy team worked for a week since the film's release to reduce the effect of this leak on the film's gross.
### Home media
The television broadcast rights were sold to Gemini TV for ₹80 million. The film was planned for a television premiere on 20 September 2014 on the eve of Nageswara Rao's birthday. The film registered a TRP rating of 15.62 making it one of the highest TRPs ever registered for a film in 2014. Reliance Home Video released the film's DVDs and Blu-ray discs in December 2014.
## Reception
### Critical reception
The film received positive reviews from critics who called it a beautiful film and a complete entertainer, according to International Business Times India. Prabalika M. Borah of The Hindu praised the performances of the film's cast, the work of the technical crew, and Kumar's execution of the film's script in narrating a complex story without confusion. She summarised, "The smile and laughter will not leave you while it still manage to moisten your eyes here and there". Sandhya Rao of Sify stated, "Manam's story is something new within Telugu films context, but the way the film showcases romance and emotion, it is far from a regular fare. Go watch Manam, a complete entertainer, which will surely enthrall!". She recognised Nageswara Rao as the pillar of the film and termed his performance as an "outstanding" one.
Shekhar of Oneindia Entertainment gave the film 4 out of 5 stars, stating "Manam is a perfect family entertainer and it is director Vikram Kumar's unique script that makes the movie a brilliant experiment. The movie is high on entertainment quotient and it is treat to see ANR, Nagarjuna and Naga Chaitanya together on screen". Rajasekhar S of Cinemalead also gave the film 4 out of 5 stars and called it "classy and brilliant", stating "Vikram K Kumar has packed the movie in such a way that the audience never get bored. Especially the last 20 minutes of the movie, towards the climax brings us to the edge of the seat". IndiaGlitz gave the film 4 out of 5 stars as well, and called the film a "complete entertainer that is more than a love story" and stated, "The film packs everything that the trailer promised, plus the not-quite-unknown formula of Past Life Regression. Although we have seen many PLR stories in the past, 'Manam' is special because of its sublime and intriguing nature."
Karthik Pasupulate of The Times of India gave the film 3.5 out of 5 stars and wrote, "You cannot appreciate the smarts in the script has been written, and how humorously it all gets translated onscreen without getting unduly melodramatic. Since this is ANR's last film, the cumulative nostalgia and feel goodness of the movie might just paper over the structural issues. It's definitely worth a watch". Suresh Kavirayani of Deccan Chronicle also gave the film 3.5 out of 5 stars and wrote, "Vikram Kumar has come out with a nice story and screenplay and created a classic masterpiece. Though there are past life regressions and rebirths, the director's intelligent screenplay makes you to see more comfortably without any confusion. Manam is a good film to watch and a fitting tribute to Akkineni Nageswara Rao."
### Box office
The film achieved an average 95% occupancy in both single screens and multiplexes during the morning and matinee shows on its opening day, increasing during the evening and night shows. The film collected ₹3.21 crore worldwide on its first day according to trade analyst Taran Adarsh. It collected more than ₹11.26 crore net worldwide in three days and topped the Tollywood business chart, beating Vikrama Simha. In four days, the film collected ₹14.9 crore worldwide. By the end of its first week, the film collected ₹19 crore worldwide. The film collected ₹26.71 crore net in 10 days worldwide.
The film collected ₹32.75 crore net worldwide by the end of the 19th day of its theatrical run. By mid June 2014, the film crossed the ₹35 crore mark worldwide, and was expected to reach the ₹40 crore mark. The film crossed \$1.5 million gross at the US box office by the end of its fourth weekend. By late July 2014, after completing its 50-day run, it had amassed a ₹48 crore revenue, including satellite rights and audio rights. The film collected ₹38.5 crore share worldwide during its lifetime, becoming one of the highest grossing Telugu films of 2014. The film's success was attributed to Nagarjuna's strategy of releasing the film on a limited number of screens, and utilising a low budget according to IANS.
#### India
The film collected a share of ₹2.23 crore on its first day at AP/Nizam box office. The film collected its highest share of ₹91 lakh in the Nizam region, followed by the Ceded region with ₹39 lakh and ₹22 lakh in Vishakhapatnam. It collected ₹1.6 crore and ₹3 lakh in Karnataka and the rest of India respectively. The film collected ₹4.02 crore at the Indian box office in two days. The film collected ₹6.22 crore at the AP/Nizam box office and ₹80 lakh in the rest of India by the end of its first weekend. The film again collected its highest share of ₹2.67 crore in the Nizam region, followed by the Ceded region with ₹1.06 crore and Vishakhapatnam with ₹62 lakh. Adarsh reported that the film collected a share of ₹8.92 crore in four days at the Indian box office.
It collected ₹12.22 crore at the AP/Nizam box office, ₹1.48 crore at the Karnataka box office, and ₹30 lakh in the rest of India by the end of its first week. The film collected ₹3.94 crore net at the AP/Nizam box office and ₹58 lakh in the rest of India by the end of its second weekend. It collected ₹21.87 crore in AP/Nizam and ₹2.11 crore in the rest of India by the end of its 19-day run. The film company held celebrations after the completion of its 50-day run on 14 July 2014. The film completed a 100-day run on 30 August 2014.
#### Overseas
The film collected ₹53 lakh from 69 screens at its premiere in the United States. The premiere was held on Thursday, 22 May 2014. According to Taran Adarsh, the collections made by the film from its premiere show was a "phenomenal" start. The film collected ₹3.33 crore in three days in the United States with many screens still yet to report as of 25 May 2014. The film collected ₹4.96 crore on 108 screens as of 27 May 2014, in the United States. With this, Manam became the film with the highest grossing opening weekend for Nagarjuna and Chaitanya in the United States, and also became the third-highest grosser for an opening weekend in the country in 2014, after 1: Nenokkadine and Race Gurram. The film crossed the US\$1 million mark by the end of its first four-day weekend.
The film collected ₹62.6 million in six days, thus surpassing the ₹5.93 crore nine-day extended first week collections of Race Gurram in the United States. According to Adarsh, the film continued to do good business in the United States by collecting ₹6.45 crore by the end of its first week. The film continued its successful run in the United States through early June 2014 and collected ₹8.2 crore . With this, the film broke the record set by Race Gurram and became the second highest grosser in 2014 after 1: Nenokkadine. The film surpassed the lifetime collections of 1: Nenokkadine at the United States box office in 14 days by collecting ₹8.33 crore.
The film collected ₹8.77 crore in the United States in 19 days. By mid June 2014, the film collected ₹9.11 crore in the United States, and by the end of its 25-day run and crossed the US\$1.5 million mark, becoming one of the biggest commercially successful Tollywood films in the country.
## Awards and nominations
## Legacy
Celebrities like S. S. Rajamouli, Shobu Yarlagadda, Nani, K. Dasaradh, Manchu Manoj, Pooja Hegde, Allu Sirish, Deva Katta, Adivi Sesh, Rakul Preet Singh, Rana Daggubati, Gopimohan, Prakash Raj, Allu Arjun, and Mahesh Babu praised the film. Director Ram Gopal Varma called Manam an "avant garde product but deeply rooted in earth" and "the first constructive demonstration that Tollywood actually can go into a new age of cinema". He added that both Nagarjuna and Vikram deserved multiple salutes for making a film like Manam, and the only tragedy was that Nageswara Rao was not alive to see this film, which Varma termed an "astounding celebration of human emotions". Ram Charan called Manam a film that induces "Love, joy, passion, hatred, excitement and almost every feeling you can imagine and more". Kamal Haasan watched the film on 29 May 2014, at a special screening in Chennai. Haasan became emotional and could not control his tears. Regarding this, he said "I have always been a fan of ANR and this film has brought back very fond memories. I turned emotional when I saw ANR on the big screen. I wholeheartedly appreciate the Akkineni family for paying tribute to ANR in this manner."
IndiaGlitz called Manam, along with 1: Nenokkadine and Drushyam, the best experimental films in recent times. Manam, along with Minugurulu (2014), was nominated by the Telugu Film Producers Council to the Film Federation of India to be included on the list of 30 Indian films for the 87th Academy Awards, in the category of Best Foreign Language Film. In late September 2014, the United States postal department released a stamp in honour of Nageswara Rao, making him the first Indian actor in whose name a postal stamp had been released. That stamp featured a still of Nageswara Rao from the film. The film was screened at the 45th International Film Festival of India on 29 November 2014, as a Homage to Nageswara Rao. In February 2015, the makers of Bandipotu (2015) released a poster featuring Sampoornesh Babu, Allari Naresh and Saptagiri, whose theme resembled the first look of Manam. During the promotions of Theeran Adhigaram Ondru (2017), Karthi, speaking about the adaptation of the film in Tamil, said that "it is a fascinating idea to work with my father (Sivakumar) and brother (Suriya)", but he felt that "a lot of things needed to fall in place in order to materialise".
|
317,070 |
Sable (wrestler)
| 1,170,912,005 |
American professional wrestler and model
|
[
"1967 births",
"20th-century female professional wrestlers",
"American expatriate sportspeople in Canada",
"American female professional wrestlers",
"American film actresses",
"American television actresses",
"Living people",
"People from Jacksonville, Florida",
"Professional wrestlers from Florida",
"Professional wrestling managers and valets",
"Sportspeople from Jacksonville, Florida",
"WWF/WWE Women's Champions"
] |
Rena Marlette Lesnar (née Greek, formerly Mero; born August 8, 1967), better known as Sable, is an American former model, actress, and retired professional wrestler. She is primarily known for her time in the WWF. She began working for the WWF in 1996. As Sable, she gained immense popularity during the Attitude Era. After feuding with Luna Vachon, and Jacqueline, Sable became the second WWF Women's Champion after the title was reinstated into the company. After leaving the company in 1999, she filed a \$110 million lawsuit against the company, citing allegations of sexual harassment and unsafe working conditions.
In 2003, she returned to WWE and was put into a feud with Torrie Wilson, and another storyline as Vince McMahon's mistress. In 2004, she left the company to spend more time with her family. Outside wrestling, she is considered to be a sex symbol and has been featured on the cover of Playboy three times. The April 1999 issue of the magazine with her on the cover was one of the highest selling issues in Playboy history. She has guest starred on several television series, including Pacific Blue, and appeared in the film Corky Romano.
## Early life
Rena Greek was born in Jacksonville, Florida. She was active in her youth and was interested in activities such as gymnastics, horseback riding, and softball. After winning her first beauty pageant when she was twelve, she eventually became a model in 1990, working with companies such as L'Oréal, Pepsi, and Guess?.
## Professional wrestling career
### World Wrestling Federation
#### Debut and feud with Marc Mero (1996–1998)
She made her World Wrestling Federation debut as Sable at WrestleMania XII in March 1996, escorting Hunter Hearst Helmsley to the ring as he took on the returning Ultimate Warrior. Sable's first major angle involved her then real-life husband, who debuted at WrestleMania XII as "Wildman" Marc Mero. The storyline started when Marc Mero witnessed Sable being mistreated by Helmsley backstage, so Mero attacked Helmsley and took Sable as his manager, and taking on an appearance of a typical cocky biker thug. She remained Mero's manager until his injury in 1997. Between 1997 and the time he returned from his injury in 1998, Sable became popular on her own. In her next storyline, a returning Marc Mero (now known as "Marvelous" Marc Mero) became jealous, refused to let Sable get any of the spotlight, and mistreated her. The duo entered into a feud with Luna Vachon and The Artist Formerly Known as Goldust, which climaxed in a match at WrestleMania XIV in March 1998. Sable delivered a superkick to Goldust and executed a "Sable Bomb", a release powerbomb, on Luna. She also delivered a TKO and pinned Luna to finish the match, with the crowd chanting Sable's name in the background. At the following pay-per-view event, Unforgiven in April 1998, Sable lost to Luna in an Evening Gown match after being distracted by Marc Mero.
After Marc's interference at Unforgiven, Sable came to the ring and challenged Marc to a match. Sable then kicked him in the groin and delivered a Sable Bomb to get revenge. Sable eventually broke away from "Marvelous" Marc Mero, who debuted Jacqueline as his new manager, resulting in a storyline feud between the two women. The two met in a bikini contest in July 1998 at Fully Loaded. Sable, only wearing impressions of hands painted on her exposed breasts, won the contest after receiving the most cheers from the audience. The next night on Raw however, Vince McMahon disqualified Sable from the previous night's contest since she did not actually wear a bikini, and the trophy was then awarded to Jacqueline. In response, Sable gave McMahon the double finger. At SummerSlam, Sable and her mystery partner, federation newcomer Edge, defeated Marc Mero and Jacqueline in a mixed tag team match.
#### Women's Champion (1998–1999)
Sable and Jacqueline faced off for the newly reinstated WWF Women's Title on the edition of September 21, 1998 of Raw. Jacqueline claimed the title after Marc Mero interfered. On November 15, 1998, at Survivor Series, she dropped the title to Sable, who won after powerbombing both Marc and Jacqueline during the match. During this time, Rena appeared on an episode of the USA Network show Pacific Blue. Sable then briefly entered a storyline where she was forced to play a subservient role to Vince and Shane McMahon, but the storyline was cut short.
In December 1998, as part of a new storyline, Sable was attacked by a masked villainess named Spider Lady, who turned out to be Luna Vachon. Sable defeated Luna in a Strap match at the Royal Rumble after an assist from a planted female Sable fan, WWF newcomer Tori. Tori's debut signified a change in Sable's persona. After the Rumble, Sable was the cover girl for the April 1999 issue of Playboy, one of the highest selling issues of Playboy ever. Surrounding the release of the issue, the Sable character turned heel by "going Hollywood" and having an inflated ego. She debuted a new catchphrase: "This is for all the women who want to be me and all the men who come to see me" and a dance move called "the grind." Rarely defending her title, Sable continually berated her fan Tori, leading to a feud and a match at WrestleMania XV. During the contest, Nicole Bass debuted as Sable's bodyguard and helped her win the match. Sable also feuded with Luna Vachon, who had turned face.
Sable went on with Bass making Bass do all of her dirty work. Sable continued to hold the championship for almost six months, but on May 10, 1999, Debra won the Women's Championship from Sable in an Evening Gown match. Normally in an Evening Gown match, the winner is the woman who forcibly removes her opponent's dress, which Sable did. As part of the storyline, WWF Commissioner Shawn Michaels, however, ruled that the woman who had lost her dress was the winner, making Debra the new Women's Champion. Off-screen, Sable was in a dispute with the WWF, which is why she was stripped of the title on-screen. Sable at this time was also very unpopular backstage, to the extent that Sean Waltman has since admitted to playing a nasty practical joke on her last day with the WWF.
### Post–WWF (1999–2002)
In June 1999, Sable quit the WWF and filed a \$110 million lawsuit against the company, citing allegations of sexual harassment and unsafe working conditions. She claims to have filed the lawsuit after refusing to go topless. During the lawsuit, Vince McMahon counter-sued her over control of the stagename "Sable". Sable reduced the amount she was seeking in damages, and they eventually settled out of court in August 1999. Sable used her real name for her appearance in the September 1999 issue of Playboy. She was the first woman in history to be given two Playboy covers in the same year. After her WWF exit, she made an on-camera appearance as an audience member on World Championship Wrestling's Monday Nitro on June 14, 1999.
During this time, she made appearances on The Howard Stern Show and Late Night with Conan O'Brien. She also made appearances on television shows such as Relic Hunter and First Wave and in the films Corky Romano as a female bouncer and Ariana's Quest. She released her autobiography, entitled Undefeated in August 2000. She also released a comic book entitled The 10th Muse starring herself as a superhero. In May 2001, she was given an advice column on CompuServe. On November 13 and 14, 2001, she appeared as the on-camera "CEO" of the newly formed Xcitement Wrestling Federation (XWF), but these were her only appearances with the company.
### Return to WWE
#### Relationship with Vince McMahon (2003)
Rena Mero returned to the WWF, which is now known as World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) on April 3, 2003, episode of SmackDown!, reprising her role as Sable. Sable continued portraying a villainess and spent several months in a storyline with new Playboy cover girl Torrie Wilson. During their angle, the evil Sable followed Wilson down to her matches, talked with her backstage, and on one occasion, she left Wilson in a tag match alone to fend for herself. Sable eventually challenged Wilson to a showdown bikini contest at Judgment Day. After Sable got the bigger applause, Wilson removed her underwear to reveal an even smaller bikini underneath, and Special Guest Referee Tazz declared Wilson the winner. After the match, Wilson went up to Sable and kissed her before exiting the ring. Sable then had an altercation with the guest judge Tazz, dumping water on him on the following edition of SmackDown!, as a means of gaining revenge for declaring Wilson the winner.
Sable then feuded with Stephanie McMahon in a storyline in which she was Vince McMahon's mistress. Vince appointed Sable as Stephanie's personal assistant against Stephanie's will, sparking the feud between the duo. During the feud, they competed in several catfights, a food fight, a parking lot brawl in which Sable's bra was ripped off, revealing both her breasts on live television, and a match in which Sable smacked a clipboard over Stephanie's head. At Vengeance, Sable defeated Stephanie after interference by her new ally, A-Train. At SummerSlam, Sable accompanied A-Train in his match against The Undertaker, which he lost. After the match, The Undertaker held Sable so that Stephanie could use a Spear attack on her. After SummerSlam, Vince and Sable focused on getting rid of Stephanie for good, so Vince made an "I Quit" match at No Mercy. During the match, Sable slapped Stephanie and was involved in a scuffle with Linda McMahon.
#### Various storylines (2004)
Sable briefly became a face again when she appeared on the cover of Playboy magazine (March 2004 issue) for the third time in her career. On the cover, she appeared with fellow diva Torrie Wilson, making them the first WWE Divas to pose in Playboy together. Surrounding the release of the cover, the duo feuded with Raw divas Stacy Keibler and Miss Jackie, even though all four women were faces at the time. The two teams squared off at WrestleMania XX in an Interpromotional Tag Team Evening Gown match, but the divas started the match in their underwear, making it more of a lingerie match. Sable and Wilson were victorious. The change was rumored to have occurred because Sable had suffered damage to her breast implants while weightlifting.
Following WrestleMania XX, Sable quickly turned heel again and engaged in another short feud with Torrie Wilson. The feud culminated at The Great American Bash, where Sable defeated Wilson despite the referee not noticing that one of Wilson's shoulders were not down. On the edition of July 1 of SmackDown, Sable was defeated by Wilson in a rematch..In The July 22, 2004 episode Of SmackDown! she was originally competed in a Fatal-4-Way lingerie match, against Wilson, Dawn Marie and Miss Jackie but Kurt Angle appeared fired all four of them (Kayfabe), however all four where re-signed after Angle was fired as General Manager of SmackDown! by Vince McMahon, Sable's final appearance in WWE was on the August 5, 2004 episode of SmackDown! when she, Marie, and Wilson accompanied Eddie Guerrero to the ring in his lowrider and mocking Angle, turning face again. On August 10, 2004, WWE's official website announced that Sable and WWE had parted ways, this time on good terms. Lesnar claimed that she left the company to spend more time with her family.
### New Japan Pro-Wrestling (2006–2007)
She made her debut for New Japan Pro-Wrestling on January 4, 2006, at Toukon Shidou Chapter 1, along with Brock Lesnar as special guests, and continued to accompany Lesnar until late June 2007. Sable and Lesnar later departed from the company after Lesnar battled WWE in a lawsuit.
## Other media
### Playboy and video games
Sable made her video game debut in the WWE game WWF Attitude, and appears in WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain and WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw. She also appeared in the April 1999, September 1999, and March 2004 issues of Playboy, the latter with Torrie Wilson.
### Filmography
## Personal life
Rena married Wayne W. Richardson in 1987. They had a daughter named Mariah, and remained married until Richardson died in a drunk driving incident in 1991. She met her second husband, professional wrestler and former boxer Marc Mero, in 1993. After marrying Mero in 1994, she broke into the wrestling business through WWE. Before the couple divorced in 2004, Greek began dating professional wrestler Brock Lesnar, to whom she became engaged later that year. Their engagement was called off in early 2005, but they were engaged again in January 2006 and were married on May 6, 2006. They have two sons named Turk (born June 3, 2009) and Duke (born July 21, 2010).
## Championships and accomplishments
- World Wrestling Federation
- WWF Women's Championship (1 time)
- Slammy Award (2 time)
- Dressed to Kill (1997)
- Miss Slammy (1997)
- Milton Bradley Karate Fighters Holiday Tournament Champion (December 16, 1996)
|
216,017 |
Metal Gear Solid (1998 video game)
| 1,167,421,181 |
1998 video game
|
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"Japanese radio dramas",
"Metal Gear video games",
"PlayStation (console) games",
"PlayStation Network games",
"Single-player video games",
"Stealth video games",
"Top-down video games",
"Video game sequels",
"Video games about genetic engineering",
"Video games about virtual reality",
"Video games designed by Hideo Kojima",
"Video games developed in Japan",
"Video games directed by Hideo Kojima",
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"Video games scored by Takanari Ishiyama",
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is an action-adventure stealth video game developed and published by Konami for the PlayStation in 1998. It was directed, produced, and written by Hideo Kojima, and follows the MSX2 video games Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, which Kojima also worked on. It was unveiled at the 1996 Tokyo Game Show and then demonstrated at trade shows including the 1997 Electronic Entertainment Expo; its Japanese release was originally planned for late 1997, before being delayed to 1998.
Players control Solid Snake, a soldier who infiltrates a nuclear weapons facility to neutralize the terrorist threat from FOXHOUND, a renegade special forces unit. Snake must liberate hostages and stop the terrorists from launching a nuclear strike. Cinematic cutscenes were rendered using the in-game engine and graphics, and voice acting is used throughout.
Metal Gear Solid sold more than seven million copies worldwide and shipped 12 million demos. It scored an average of 94/100 on the aggregate website Metacritic. It is regarded as one of the greatest and most important video games of all time and helped popularize the stealth genre and in-engine cinematic cutscenes. It was followed by an expanded version for PlayStation and Windows, Metal Gear Solid: Integral (1999), and a GameCube remake, Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes (2004). It produced numerous sequels, starting with Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (2001), and media adaptations including a radio drama, comics, and novels. In May 2023, Konami announced Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1, a compilation of games including Metal Gear Solid scheduled for release on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S on October 24, 2023.
## Gameplay
The player must navigate the protagonist, Solid Snake, through a nuclear weapons facility without being detected by enemies. When Snake moves into an enemy's field of vision, he sets off an "alert mode" that draws enemies. The player must then hide until "evasion mode" begins; when the counter reaches zero, the game returns to "infiltration mode", where enemies are no longer suspicious. The radar cannot be used in alert or evasion mode. In addition to the stealth gameplay, set-piece sequences entail firefights between the player and enemies.
To remain undetected, the player can perform techniques which make use of Snake's abilities and the environment, such as crawling under objects, using boxes as cover, ducking or hiding around walls, and making noise to distract enemies. An on-screen radar provides the player with the location of nearby enemies and their field of vision. Snake can also make use of many items and gadgets, such as infra-red goggles and a cardboard box disguise. The emphasis on stealth promotes a less violent form of gameplay, as fights against large groups of enemies will often result in severe damage to Snake.
Despite the switch to 3D, the game is still played primarily from an overhead perspective similar to the original 2D Metal Gear games. However, the camera angle will change during certain situations, such as a corner view when Snake flattens himself to a wall next to an open space, or into first-person when crawling under tight spaces or when equipping certain items such as the binoculars or a sniper rifle. The player can also use the first-person view while remaining idle to look around Snake's surroundings and see what's ahead of him.
Progress is punctuated by cutscenes and codec, as well as encounters with bosses. To progress, players must discover the weaknesses of each boss and defeat them. Play controls and strategies can also be accessed via the Codec radio, where advice is delivered from Snake's support team; for example, the support team may chastise Snake for not saving his progress often enough, or explain his combat moves in terms of which buttons to press on the gamepad. The Codec is also used to provide exposition on the game's backstory.
In addition to the main story, there is also a VR training mode in which the player can test out their sneaking skills in a series of artificially constructed environments. This mode is divided into three main categories (practice, time attack, and gun shooting), each consisting of ten stages. After completing all 30 stages, a survival mission is unlocked in which the player must sneak their way through ten consecutive stages under a seven-minute limit.
## Synopsis
### Setting
Metal Gear Solid takes place in an alternate history in which the Cold War continued into the 1990s, ending at some point near the end of the 20th century. The game's events take place six years after those in downfall of Zanzibarland, and form the third chapter in an overarching plot concerning the character of Solid Snake.
### Characters
The protagonist is Solid Snake, a legendary infiltrator and saboteur. During the mission, Snake receives support and advice via codec radio. Colonel Roy Campbell, Solid Snake's former commanding officer, supports Snake with information and tactics. While he initially keeps some secrets from Snake, he gradually reveals them. He is joined by Naomi Hunter, who gives medical advice; Nastasha Romanenko, who provides item and weapon tips; Master Miller, a former drill instructor and survival coach; and Mei Ling, who invented the soliton radar system used in the mission and is also in charge of mission data; the player can call her to save the game.
The main antagonist of the game is Liquid Snake, leader of a now-terrorist splinter cell of the organization FOXHOUND, and genetic counterpart to Solid Snake. An elite special forces unit, FOXHOUND contains experts specializing in different tasks. Members are Revolver Ocelot, a Western-style gunslinger and expert interrogator whose weapon of choice is the Colt Single Action Army; Sniper Wolf, a preternatural sniper; Vulcan Raven, a hulking Alaskan shaman armed with an M61 Vulcan torn from a downed F-16; Psycho Mantis, a psychic profiler and psychokinesis expert; and Decoy Octopus, a master of disguise.
Other characters include Meryl Silverburgh, Colonel Campbell's niece and a rookie soldier stationed in Shadow Moses who did not join the revolt; Dr. Hal Emmerich, the lead developer of Metal Gear REX; and the "Ninja", a mysterious cybernetically enhanced agent who is neither an ally nor an enemy of Snake but does oppose FOXHOUND.
### Plot
In 2005, renegade genetically enhanced special forces unit FOXHOUND seizes control of a remote island in Alaska's Fox Archipelago codenamed "Shadow Moses", which houses a nuclear weapons disposal facility. FOXHOUND threatens to use the nuclear-capable mecha Metal Gear REX, being secretly tested at the facility, against the US government, if they do not receive the remains of Big Boss and a ransom of \$1 billion within 24 hours. Solid Snake is forced out of retirement by Colonel Roy Campbell to infiltrate the island and neutralize the threat.
Snake enters the facility via an air vent and locates the first hostage, DARPA Chief Donald Anderson. Anderson reveals that Metal Gear REX can be deactivated with a secret detonation override code, but dies of a heart attack. Colonel Campbell's niece Meryl Silverburgh, held hostage in a neighboring cell, helps Snake escape. Snake locates another hostage, ArmsTech president Kenneth Baker, but is confronted by FOXHOUND member Revolver Ocelot. Their gunfight is interrupted by a mysterious cyborg ninja who cuts off Ocelot's right hand. Baker briefs Snake on the Metal Gear project and advises him to contact Meryl, whom he gave a PAL card that might prevent the launch, but he too dies of a sudden heart attack.
Over Codec, Meryl agrees to meet in the warhead disposal area on the condition that Snake contacts Metal Gear's designer, Dr. Hal "Otacon" Emmerich. En route, Snake receives an anonymous codec call calling themselves "Deepthroat", warning him of a tank ambush. Snake fends off the attack from Vulcan Raven and proceeds to the rendezvous, where he locates Otacon. The ninja reappears, and Snake realizes it is his former ally Gray Fox, believed dead. Devastated over learning REX's true intentions, Otacon agrees to aid Snake remotely using special camouflage to procure information and supplies.
Snake meets Meryl and receives the PAL card. As they head for the underground base, Meryl is possessed by psychic Psycho Mantis and pulls her gun on Snake. He disarms her and defeats Mantis, who informs Snake that he has "a large place" in her heart. After they reach the underground passageway, Sniper Wolf ambushes them, wounds Meryl, and captures Snake. Liquid confirms Snake's suspicion that they are twin brothers. After being tortured by Ocelot, Snake is confused to discover Anderson's body in his cell, seemingly dead for days. He escapes with the help of Otacon, makes his way up the communications tower, and fends off a Hind D helicopter attack from Liquid. As he emerges onto a snowfield, he is confronted again by Sniper Wolf. He kills her, devastating Otacon, who was infatuated with her.
Snake continues to REX's hangar and is ambushed again by Raven. After Snake defeats him, Raven tells Snake that the "Anderson" he conversed with was, in fact, FOXHOUND disguise artist Decoy Octopus. Infiltrating Metal Gear's hangar, Snake overhears Liquid and Ocelot preparing the REX launch sequence and uses the PAL card, but this unexpectedly activates REX. Liquid reveals that he has been impersonating Snake's advisor Master Miller and that FOXHOUND has used Snake to facilitate REX's launch. He and Snake are the product of the Les Enfants Terribles project, a 1970s government program to clone Big Boss. He also reveals to Snake the government's true reason for sending him: Snake is unknowingly carrying a weaponized "FOXDIE" virus that causes cardiac arrest in FOXHOUND members on contact, allowing the government to retrieve REX undamaged.
As Liquid, in REX, battles Snake, Gray Fox appears. He reveals to Snake that he was Deepthroat, destroys REX's radome, and is crushed to death by REX. Snake destroys REX and defeats Liquid, then escapes with Meryl or Otacon via a tunnel, pursued by Liquid in a Jeep. After their vehicles crash, Liquid pulls a gun on Snake but dies from FOXDIE. Colonel Campbell, briefly ousted from command, calls off a nuclear strike to destroy evidence of the operation and has Snake registered as killed in action to stop the US government searching for him. Naomi Hunter, who injected Snake with the FOXDIE virus, tells him that he has an indeterminate amount of time before it kills him. Ocelot calls the US President; he was a double agent whose mission was to steal Baker's disk of Metal Gear specifications.
## Development
Kojima originally planned his third Metal Gear game in 1994 for the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer. Kojima was initially planning Metal Gear Solid while Policenauts (1994) was still in development. Conceptual artwork by Yoji Shinkawa of the characters Solid Snake, Meryl Silverburgh, who was also a character in the adventure game Policenauts, and the FOXHOUND team, were included in the Policenauts: Pilot Disk preceding the release of the full version of the 3DO game in 1995. After the 3DO was discontinued, development shifted to the PlayStation after Policenauts was released.
The game was titled Metal Gear Solid, rather than Metal Gear 3, as Kojima felt that the previous MSX2 games that he worked on were not widely known, due to the fact that they were not released in North America and only the first one was released in Europe (an NES version of the first Metal Gear was released in North America, but Kojima had no involvement with it or its sequel Snake's Revenge). The word "Solid," derived from the codename of series's protagonist Solid Snake (as well as the title of the second MSX2 game), was chosen not only to represent the fact that it was the third entry of the series, but also the transition from 2D to 3D computer graphics.
Considering first person games difficult to control, the team opted to give the gameplay a 2D style by having it predominantly played from an overhead angle, while using 3D graphics and the ability to switch to first person on the fly to make it feel as though the game were taking place in a real 3D world.
Development for Metal Gear Solid began in mid-1995. Developers aimed for accuracy and realism while making the game enjoyable and tense. In the early stages of development, the Huntington Beach SWAT team educated the creators with a demonstration of vehicles, weapons, and explosives. Weapons expert Motosada Mori was also tapped as a technical adviser in the research, which included visits to Fort Irwin and firing sessions at Stembridge Gun Rentals. Kojima stated that "if the player isn't tricked into believing that the world is real, then there's no point in making the game." To fulfill this, adjustments were made to every detail, such as individually designed desks.
The characters and mecha designs were made by artist Yoji Shinkawa based on Kojima's concepts. According to Shinkawa, Solid Snake's physique in this particular installment was based on Jean-Claude Van Damme, while his facial appearance was based on Christopher Walken. The characters were completed by polygonal artists using brush drawings and clay models by Shinkawa. According to Kojima, "the ninja's cloaking effect is the result of a bug. Of course, it wasn't totally coincidence since we wanted that effect anyway, but we did get a somewhat unexpected result." Kojima wanted greater interaction with objects and the environment, such as allowing the player to hide bodies in a storage compartment. Additionally, he wanted "a full orchestra right next to the player"; a system which made modifications such as tempo and texture to the currently playing track, instead of switching to another pre-recorded track. Although these features could not be achieved, they were implemented in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty.
Kojima used Lego building blocks and toy figurines to model 3D areas and see what the planned camera views would look like. The game was developed by a staff of twenty people, a small team for such a major title. Kojima preferred to have a smaller team so that he got to know everyone in the team and what they were working on, and could know if anyone was sick or unhappy. The team size did not expand to full strength until September 1996; initially, there was only a single programmer working on the game's code.
A gameplay demo of Metal Gear Solid was first revealed to the public at the 1996 Tokyo Game Show and was later shown at E3 1997 as a short video. The 1997 version had several differences, including a more controllable camera and blue-colored vision cones. The demo generated significant buzz and positive reviews at the event, for its game design emphasizing stealth and strategy (like earlier Metal Gear games), its presentation, and the unprecedented level of real-time 3D graphical detail for the PlayStation. The enthusiastic response to the game at E3 took Kojima by surprise, and increased his expectations for the game's performance in the American market. The game's Japanese release was originally planned for late 1997, but was delayed to 1998.
It was playable for the first time at the Tokyo Game Show in 1998 and released the same year in Japan with an extensive promotional campaign. Television and magazine advertisements, in-store samples, and demo giveaways contributed to a total of \$8 million in promotional costs.
### Voice acting
Except for David Hayter (Solid Snake), the English voice cast was credited with pseudonyms. Reportedly, this was done because the Screen Actors Guild's rules at the time were unclear regarding performances for video games. When the actors returned for the 2004 remake Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, they were credited with their real names.
### Music
The musical score of Metal Gear Solid was composed by Konami's in-house musicians, including Kazuki Muraoka, Hiroyuki Togo, Takanari Ishiyama, Lee Jeon Myung, and Maki Kirioka. Composer and lyricist Rika Muranaka provided a song called "The Best is Yet To Come" for the game's ending credits sequence. The song is performed in Irish by Aoife Ní Fhearraigh. The main theme was composed by Tappi Iwase from the Konami Kukeiha Club.
Music played in-game has a synthetic feel with increased pace and introduction of strings during tense moments, with a looping style endemic to video games. Overtly cinematic music, with stronger orchestral and choral elements, appears in cutscenes. The soundtrack was released on September 23, 1998, under the King Records label.
## Release
Metal Gear Solid was first released for the PlayStation in Japan on September 3, 1998. The game was available in a standard edition, as well as a limited "Premium Package" edition sold in a large box that also contained a t-shirt, a pair of FOXHOUND-themed dog tags, memory card stickers, an audio CD featuring the soundtracks from the MSX2 Metal Gear games (including a few bonus arranged tracks), and a 40-page booklet, Metal Gear Solid Classified, featuring production notes, interviews with the developers, and a glossary of terminology in the game.
The North American version was released a month later on October 20. Changes and additions were made to this version, such as a choice of three difficulty settings when starting a new game (with a fourth setting that is unlocked after completing the game once), an alternate tuxedo outfit for Snake (which the character wears on every third playthrough on the same save file), and a "demo theater" mode where the player views every cutscene and radio conversations relevant to the main story. Jeremy Blaustein, who previously worked on the English localization of Snatcher for the Sega CD, wrote the English version of the script. One change in the English script was the addition of Western sources and authors to Mei-Ling's pool of motivational quotes; originally the character only cited Chinese proverbs natively, providing an explanation afterward in Japanese, but this proved challenging to adapt during the translation. The games detected by Psycho Mantis when he reads the player's memory card were also changed, due to certain games (such as the Tokimeki Memorial series) not being released outside Japan. This resulted in Kojima's cameo (in which he thanks the player for supporting his work via a voiceover) being cut from the Western versions, as save data from two PlayStation games not available outside Japan, Snatcher and Policenauts, needed to be present on the player's memory card for this Easter egg to appear.
The game was launched in Europe on February 22, 1999, with versions voiced in French, Italian, and German available in addition to English. A Spanish dubbed version was later released on May 1. Like in Japan, a limited edition of the game was released, although the contents of the European limited edition differs from the Japanese counterpart. The European Premium Package comes with the game software itself and its soundtrack album CD, along with a t-shirt, dog tags, memory card stickers, a double sided movie-style poster and a set of postcards.
The Japanese PlayStation version of Metal Gear Solid was reissued twice: once under "The Best" series and later under "PS one Books." Likewise, the American and European versions of Metal Gear Solid were reissued under the "Greatest Hits" and "Platinum" series respectively. The game is included in the Japanese Metal Gear Solid: 20th Anniversary Collection set and in the American Essential Collection set. The original Metal Gear Solid was released on the PlayStation Store for download on the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable on March 21, 2008, in Japan and on June 18, 2009, in North America and on November 19 of the same year in Europe.
Metal Gear Solid is one of the twenty PlayStation games included in the PlayStation Classic released in 2018. The game is included in both the Japanese and western models of the unit in their respective versions.
### Integral
Released on June 25, 1999, for the PlayStation in Japan, is an expanded edition of the game that features the added content from the American and European versions. It replaces the Japanese voices from the original version with the English dub, offering players a choice between Japanese and English subtitles during cutscenes and CODEC conversations (item descriptions, mission logs, and other text are still in Japanese). Further additional content to the main game include an alternate "sneaking suit" outfit for Meryl (which she wears when Snake is dressed in the tuxedo), a "Very Easy" difficulty setting where the player starts the mission armed with a suppressor-equipped MP5 submachine gun with infinite ammo (substituting the FAMAS rifle in Snake's inventory), an eighth Codec frequency featuring commentary from the development team (unvoiced and in Japanese text only) on every area and boss encounter, hidden music tracks, an alternate game mode where the player controls Snake from a first-person perspective (on Normal difficulty only), an option for alternative patrol routes for enemies, and a downloadable PocketStation minigame. The Torture Event was also made easier, reducing the number of rounds to three per session on all five difficulty settings.
The VR training mode is now stored on a separate third disc, known as the "VR Disc", and has been expanded into 300 missions. These new set of missions are divided into four main categories: Sneaking, Weapons, Advanced, and Special. The first three categories feature standard training exercises that test the player's sneaking, shooting, and combat skills, while the fourth category contains less conventional tests involving murder mysteries, giant genome soldiers, and flying saucers. One particular set of missions has the player controlling the Cyborg Ninja, unlocked by either completing a minigame on the PocketStation and uploading the data to the VR Disc or by achieving the Fox rank on the main game. Completing all 300 missions will unlock a concept artwork of Metal Gear RAY, a mech that would later appear in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. Additional content includes preview trailers of Metal Gear Solid from trade events and a photoshoot mode where the player can take photographs of fully expressive polygonal models of Mei Ling and Dr. Naomi after completing the main game. Famitsu magazine rated Metal Gear Solid: Integral a 34 out of 40.
The VR Disc from Integral was released by itself during the same year in other regions as Metal Gear Solid: VR Missions in North America on September 23 and as Metal Gear Solid: Special Missions in the PAL region on October 29. While the content of both, VR Missions and Special Missions, are virtually identical to the VR Disc, the unlocking requirements for the Ninja missions and the photoshoot mode were changed accordingly, so that save data from the main game was no longer required. The Special Missions version also adds an additional requirement in which the user must also own a copy of the original Metal Gear Solid in PAL format in order to start the game - after booting Special Missions on the console, the player will be asked to switch the disc with the first disc from Metal Gear Solid to load data before asking the player to switch back to the Special Missions disc to proceed through the rest of the game. This requirement renders Special Missions incompatible with PlayStation 2 consoles made before the SCPH-70000 model.
### Windows version
The Windows version of Metal Gear Solid was released in North America, Europe, and Asian territories (excluding Japan) in late 2000. This version was published by Microsoft Game Studios and developed by Digital Dialect. It supports the use of a keyboard or a USB game controller with at least six buttons (with the manual recommending the Sidewinder Game Pad Pro). It also supports Direct3D-capable video cards, allowing for a high resolution of up to 1024x768. The Windows version is labeled Metal Gear Solid on the packaging, but the actual game uses the Metal Gear Solid: Integral logo, although it has some differences as well from the PlayStation version of Integral and lacks some of its content. The most significant change was reducing the number of discs from three to two, which was done by giving each disc two separate executable files, one for the main game (mgsi.exe) and the other for the VR training portion (mgsvr.exe), thus eliminating the need for a stand-alone third disc.
One notable omission was the removal of the cutscene before the Psycho Mantis battle in which he reads the player's memory card and activates the vibration function of the player's controller if a DualShock is being used, as this scene involved the use of PlayStation-specific peripherals. The method for defeating Mantis was also changed from using the second controller to simply using the keyboard (regardless of whether the player was using a game controller or not up to that point). Other omissions include the removal of the eighth Codec frequency (140.07), which featured written commentaries by the developers, Meryl's alternate sneaking suit outfit, and the mission logs when loading a save file. However, the Windows version adds the option to toggle moving and shooting in first-person view mode at any time regardless of difficulty setting, and players can now save their progress at any point without contacting Mei-Ling through the use of quicksaves. On the VR training portion, all 300 missions, as well as the photoshoot mode, are available from the start, although the opening video and the three unlockable preview trailers from the PlayStation version have been removed.
Scoring 83 on Metacritic's aggregate, the game was criticized for "graphic glitches," the aged nature of the port, and being virtually identical to the PlayStation version.
### Master Collection version
In May 2023, Konami announced the Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 1 compilation for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S, comprising the first five main entries of the Metal Gear franchise, including Metal Gear Solid. This release marks the first time the original version of the game has appeared on a Nintendo platform, as well as the first release of any version of the game on an Xbox console. The Master Collection version will be based on its Integral re-release including its standalone set of additional VR Missions, but will receive partial edits to various copyrighted content, such as cutscenes using live-action footage. Accompanying material related to the game will be included within the collection, such as the game's full screenplay, a walkthrough strategy guide, and a Master Book detailing the game's plot and various characters, accompanied by official scans of concept art and development anecdotes. An in-game sound selection will also collect songs from the original soundtrack, including a rearranged composition of the end credits theme "The Best is Yet to Come", which will be made available exclusively through pre-orders. The Metal Gear Solid Digital Graphic Novel adapting the game's story will also be included as an extra. The Master Collection version of the game will launch alongside the other titles on October 24, 2023 both as part of the compilation and as a standalone digital release.
### Remake
A remake, Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, was developed by Silicon Knights under the supervision of KCE Japan and released for the GameCube in North America, Japan, and Europe in March 2004. Although Twin Snakes was primarily developed at Silicon Knights, its cutscenes were developed in-house at Konami and directed by Japanese film director Ryuhei Kitamura, reflecting his dynamic signature style, utilizing bullet time photography and choreographed gunplay extensively. While the storyline and settings of the game were unchanged (although a select few lines of dialog were re-written more closely resembling the original Japanese version), a variety of gameplay features from Sons of Liberty were added such as the first-person aiming and hanging from bars on walls. Another change in the English voice acting was the reduction of Mei Ling's, Naomi's and Nastasha's accents, as well as the recasting of Gray Fox from Greg Eagles, who still reprises the role of the DARPA chief, to Rob Paulsen. The graphics were also updated to match those of Metal Gear Solid 2.
## Related media
A Japanese radio drama version of Metal Gear Solid, directed by Shuyo Murata and written by Motosada Mori, was produced shortly after the release of the original PlayStation game. 12 episodes were aired, from 1998 to 1999 on Konami's CLUB db program. The series was later released on CD as a two-volume series Drama CD Metal Gear Solid. Set after the events of the PlayStation game, Snake, Meryl, Campbell and Mei Ling (all portrayed by their original Japanese voice actors) pursue missions in hostile third world nations as FOXHOUND. The new characters introduced include Sgt. Allen Iishiba (voiced by Toshio Furukawa), a Delta Force operative who assists Snake and Meryl, Col. Mark Cortez (v.b. Osamu Saka), an old friend of Campbell who commands the fictional Esteria Army Special Forces, and Capt. Sergei Ivanovich (v.b. Kazuhiro Nakata), a former war buddy of Revolver Ocelot from his SVR days.
In September 2004, IDW Publications began publishing a series of Metal Gear Solid comics, written by Kris Oprisko and illustrated by Ashley Wood. The comic was published bimonthly until 2006, lasting 12 issues fully covering the Metal Gear Solid storyline. The comic was adapted into a PlayStation Portable game, Metal Gear Solid: Digital Graphic Novel (Metal Gear Solid: Bande Dessinée in Japan). It features visual enhancements and two interactive modes designed to give further insight into the publication. Upon viewing the pages, the player can open a "scanning" interface to search for characters and items in a three-dimensional view. Discoveries are added to a database which can be traded with other players via Wi-Fi. The "mission mode" allows the player to add collected information into a library. This information must be properly connected to complete a mission. Metal Gear Solid: Digital Graphic Novel was released in North America on June 13, 2006, Japan on September 21 and the PAL region on September 22. In 2006, the game received IGN's award for Best Use of Sound on the PSP. A DVD-Video version is included with its sequel (Metal Gear Solid 2: Bande Dessinée), which was released in Japan on June 12, 2008. The DVD version features full voice acting.
A novelization based on the original Metal Gear Solid was written by Raymond Benson and published by Del Rey. The American paperback edition was published on May 27, 2008, and the British Edition on June 5, 2008.
A second novelization by Kenji Yano (written under the pen name Hitori Nojima), Metal Gear Solid Substance I, was published by Kadokawa Shoten in Japan on August 25, 2015. This novelization is narrated through a text file written by a young man living in Manhattan in 2009 (the present year of the Plant chapter in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty). The story also acknowledges certain plot elements from Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain regarding certain characters such as Liquid Snake and Psycho Mantis.
## Reception
Prior to release, the game's demonstrations at several trade shows between 1996 and 1998 had received a positive response. This had generated significant worldwide interest in the game prior to its release in 1998.
### Critical reception
Metal Gear Solid received "universal acclaim", according to review aggregator Metacritic.
PlayStation Official Magazine – UK review called Metal Gear Solid "the best game ever made. Unputdownable and unforgettable". The review by IGN opined Metal Gear Solid came "closer to perfection than any other game in PlayStation's action genre" and called it "beautiful, engrossing, and innovative...in every conceivable category." Computer and Video Games compared it to "playing a big budget action blockbuster, only better." Arcade magazine praised it for "introducing a brand new genre: the sneak-'em-up" and said it would "herald a tidal wave" of "sneak-'em-ups." They called it a "brilliant, technically stunning, well thought through release that's sure to influence action adventure games for many years." GMR called it a "cinematic classic."
GamePro called it "this season's top offering [game] and one game no self-respecting gamer should be without," but criticized the frame rate that "occasionally stalls the eye-catching graphics." GameSpot was critical of how easy it is for the player to avoid being seen, as well as the game's short length, calling it "more of a work of art than ... an actual game."
Next Generation reviewed the PlayStation version of the game, rating it five stars out of five, and stated that "rest assured that this is a game no player should miss and the best reason yet to own a PlayStation."
Metal Gear Solid received an Excellence Award for Interactive Art at the 1998 Japan Media Arts Festival. During the 2nd Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated Metal Gear Solid for "Game of the Year", "Console Game of the Year", "Console Action Game of the Year", and outstanding achievements in "Interactive Design", "Software Engineering", and "Character or Story Development".
In 1999, Next Generation listed Metal Gear Solid as number 27 on their "Top 50 Games of All Time", commenting that, "MGS is one of the most vibrant efforts in gaming history to bring serious ideas to games."
### Sales
Prior to its North American release, an estimated 12 million demos for the game were distributed in 1998. Upon release, the game was a commercial success. It became one of the most rented games in the United States, and topped sales charts in the United Kingdom and Japan. PC Data, which tracked sales in the United States, reported that Metal Gear Solid sold 1.06 million copies and earned \$51,834,077 (equivalent to \$93,064,000 in 2022) in revenue during 1998 alone. This made it the country's fifth-best-selling PlayStation release of 1998, and the third highest-grossing PlayStation title that year. In the United Kingdom, it was the third best-selling video game of 1999. In Germany, it received a Platinum award from the Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland (VUD) in June 1999 for sales above 200,000 copies within several months, and it became the year's second best-selling PlayStation game. In Europe, the game grossed €40,034,122 or \$ (equivalent to \$Error when using {{Inflation}}: `|value=` (parameter 2) must be specified. in 2022) in 1999, adding up to more than \$94,502,444 (equivalent to \$169,672,212 in 2022) grossed in the United States and Europe by 1999.
By early 2001, it had sold 6 million units worldwide, including 1 million units in Japan and approximately 5 million units in the United States and Europe. It went on to sell more than 6.6 million units worldwide by 2002. By 2004, the original release had sold 5.51 million and Integral had sold 1.27 million for a combined 6.78 million units worldwide. As of March 2005, the game has sold over seven million units worldwide. In the United States, 2.81 million units were sold as of 2007.
Despite its high success even in sales, Kojima, during an interview with Geoff Keighley in 2014, revealed that Metal Gear Solid sales expectations were low and said: "Neither I nor anyone else expected Metal Gear Solid to sell at all. [...] I didn't think at all of how to make this game sell well, because I didn't expect it to sell."
### Legacy
Metal Gear Solid is credited with popularizing the stealth game genre. The idea of the player being unarmed and having to avoid being seen by enemies rather than fight them has been used in many games since. It is also sometimes acclaimed as being a film as much as a game due to the lengthy cutscenes and complicated storyline. IGN called it "the founder of the stealth genre."
The game is often considered one of the best games for the PlayStation and was featured in best video games lists by Computer and Video Games in 2000, by Electronic Gaming Monthly and Game Informer in 2001, by Retro Gamer in 2004, by GameFAQs and GamePro in 2005, and by Famitsu. Hyper magazine in 2001 called it "Probably the single best game on the PlayStation."
In 2002, IGN ranked it as the best PlayStation game ever, stating that just the demo for the game had "more gameplay [in it] than in most finished titles." IGN also gave it the "Best Ending" and "Best Villain" awards. In 2005, in placing it 19th on their list of "Top 100 Games", they said that it was "a game that truly felt like a movie." Guinness World Records awarded Metal Gear Solid with a record for the "Most Innovative Use of a Video Game Controller" for the boss fight with Psycho Mantis in the Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition 2008 edition. In 2010, PC Magazine ranked it as seventh in the list of most influential video games of all time, citing its influence on "such stealthy titles as Assassin's Creed and Splinter Cell." In 2012, Time named it one of the 100 greatest video games of all time and G4tv ranked it as the 45th top video game of all time.
According to 1UP.com, Metal Gear Solid*'s cinematic style continues to influence modern action games such as Call of Duty. Metal Gear Solid, along with its sequel, Metal Gear Solid 2, was featured in the Smithsonian American Art Museum's exhibition The Art of Video Games in 2012. During August 2015, Eurogamer reanalyzed the game's technical and overall impact and claimed that Metal Gear Solid had been nothing less than "the first modern video game." In September 2015, Metal Gear Solid was voted the best original PlayStation game of all time by PlayStation.Blog's users. In May 2023, GQ listed Metal Gear Solid* as the seventh best video game of all time according to a team of video game journalists across the industry.
|
35,980,256 |
Oscar Taveras
| 1,162,689,994 |
Dominican–Canadian baseball player (1992–2014)
|
[
"1992 births",
"2014 deaths",
"Accidental deaths in the Dominican Republic",
"Baseball people from Quebec",
"Baseball players from Montreal",
"Black Canadian baseball players",
"Canadian expatriate baseball players in the United States",
"Canadian people of Dominican Republic descent",
"Dominican Republic emigrants to Canada",
"Gulf Coast Cardinals players",
"Johnson City Cardinals players",
"Major League Baseball players from the Dominican Republic",
"Memphis Redbirds players",
"Naturalized citizens of Canada",
"People from Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic",
"Quad Cities River Bandits players",
"Road incident deaths in the Dominican Republic",
"Sportspeople of Dominican Republic descent",
"Springfield Cardinals players",
"St. Louis Cardinals players"
] |
Oscar Francisco Taveras (June 19, 1992 – October 26, 2014) was a Dominican–Canadian professional baseball outfielder who played one season for the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball (MLB). Known as "El Fenómeno" (Spanish for "The Phenomenon") in the Dominican Republic, the Cardinals signed him at age 16 in 2008 as an international amateur free agent and he made his MLB debut in 2014. Over six minor league seasons, he batted .321 with a .519 slugging percentage. He played all three outfield positions while spending most of the time in center field.
With prodigious batting skills, Taveras was a consensus top-five minor league prospect in 2013 and 2014. He elicited comparisons to former MLB outfielder and fellow Dominican Vladimir Guerrero—with a powerful and smooth, balanced stroke, Taveras successfully hit pitches well outside of the strike zone. Also similar to Guerrero, he possessed a strong and accurate throwing arm. The outfielder was the recipient of a litany of awards and won batting titles in two minor leagues, including hitting .386 for the Midwest League title in 2011. The next year, he won the Texas League batting title and was the Texas League Player of the Year and Cardinals organization Player of the Year.
On May 31, 2014, Taveras homered in his major league debut against the San Francisco Giants and went on to hit .239 in 80 regular season games, playing mostly right field. He also hit a game-tying home run in Game 2 of the 2014 National League Championship Series against the Giants. On October 26, 2014, he died in a car accident in the Dominican Republic shortly after the Cardinals were eliminated from the playoffs.
## Early life
Originally from Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, Oscar Taveras grew up in a town called Sosúa. He began taking interest in baseball early in life. According to his father, Francisco Taveras, at about age five, he started to call himself "El Fenómeno," which is Spanish for "The Phenomenon". "He would say, 'I’m going to make you the happiest dad in the world. I want to be a star. I want to be a major leaguer. I’m the phenomenon. I’m the best,'" recounted his father.
Taveras' father was an outfielder in the Milwaukee Brewers' minor league system. Taveras lived in Montreal from ages 12 to 16 and obtained Canadian citizenship. Afterwards, he returned to the Dominican Republic; had he stayed in Canada, he would have entered the draft after high school.
## Professional career
### Minor leagues
#### DSL Cardinals, Johnson City, and Quad Cities (2009–11)
The St. Louis Cardinals signed Taveras as an international amateur free agent on November 25, 2008 for \$145,000. They assigned him to the rookie league Dominican Summer League Cardinals the next season. Although he hit just .265 with one home run (HR) and 42 runs batted in (RBI) in 65 games, Taveras earned a promotion to the Johnson City Cardinals of the Rookie-level Appalachian League in 2010. The talent which scouts had discovered in the Dominican Republic quickly actualized, as he hit .322 with eight HR and 43 RBI in 53 games.
Taveras earned another promotion to the Quad Cities River Bandits of the Class A Midwest League (MWL) in 2011 and spent the entire season there. From May 11 to June 11, he was out of action due to a hamstring injury. Despite missing a full month, his hitting continued to improve by obtaining 33 multi-hit games, 17 three-hit contests and five four-hit games. Further, he earned two MWL Player of the Week (PoW) awards. The first was for the week of July 17, after batting .600 (15 hits in 25 at bats) with five multi-hit games, 10 runs scored and five RBI.
The second PoW award Taveras earned with the River Bandits was for the week ending August 28. He batted .581 (18–31) with another five multi-hit games, two home runs and 11 RBI. That week, he also achieved three three-hit games and two four-hit games. After coming off the bench in the August 28 game against Burlington, he went 3-for-3 with a home run and missed hitting for the cycle by a double. For the season, Taveras batted .386 with a .444 on-base percentage (OBP), .584 slugging percentage (SLG), eight HR and 62 RBI in 78 games. He earned the Midwest League batting title with the highest average in the league since 1956. He was actually 31 plate appearances short of qualifying; however, his adjusted batting average after adding the hitless at-bats still gave him the title. He was the first Cardinals minor leaguer to win the MWL batting title since Brendan Ryan in 2004.
#### Springfield and Memphis (2012–14)
After winning the Midwest League batting title at age 19, Taveras began to garner notice outside the Cardinals organization. Baseball America named him the Cardinals' third-best prospect prior to the 2012 season and ranked him 74th in all of baseball. The Cardinals assigned him to play for the Springfield Cardinals of the Class AA Texas League. He spent the entire season there, playing 124 games before participating in winter league play.
Taveras won his first of two Cardinals Minor League Player of the Month awards in 2012 for April after batting .340 (32–94) with six HR and 21 RBI. On June 4, he achieved his first career five-hit game against Corpus Christi with four runs scored. He earned PoW honors for the week ending June 10 – which included the five-hit game – after batting .500 (14–28) with two home runs, four RBI and 11 runs scored. Taveras won his second organizational Player of the Month award of 2012 – and third of his career – for June after totaling a .347 average (34–98), six HR and 19 RBI. Beginning June 8, he amassed a 12-game hitting streak.
Selected to the Texas League All-Star team, Taveras started in center field and batted fourth. His 3-for-4, home run, double and two-RBI effort helped earn him unanimous Most Valuable Player honors for the game. He also played in the Major League Baseball All-Star Futures Game for the World squad. He started in right field and batted third, collecting one hit in three at-bats. He ended the season with a 22-game on-base streak that spanned from August 4 to September 3. Taveras logged 43 multi-hit games, including 12 three-hit games, five four-hit games and one five-hit game. In his 124 total games, he played 93 in center field, 15 in right and one in left. He hit safely in 94 games and reached base in 107. He batted .346 (47 of 136) with eight HR and 72 RBI with runners in scoring position (RISP) and .321 with RISP and two outs, including 17 RBI. He also hit .372 (73 of 196) with 12 HR and 49 RBI in the sixth inning and later.
Taveras' season totals for 2012 included 23 HR, 94 RBI and a league-leading .321 batting average, his second minor league batting title. In addition, he led the Texas League in extra base hits (67), doubles (37), total bases (273) and intentional walks (10). He ranked second in hits (153), RBI and slugging percentage (.572), and tied for fourth both in home runs and triples (7). In nine playoff games, he hit .235 with four doubles and two RBI as Springfield won the Texas League championship. Baseball America conferred the club with their Minor League Team of the Year award. Taveras was named the Texas League Player of the Year.
Further, Taveras led all Cardinals minor leaguers in hits, doubles, triples, home runs, RBI, SLG and on-base plus slugging (.953), while also finishing in the top five in batting average and runs. He was named the Cardinals' Minor League Player of the Year. He played another 39 games in the after-season Dominican Professional Baseball League for the Águilas Cibaeñas. He won the league Rookie of the Year award after batting .316 with five home runs and 17 RBI as the Águilas clinched the league's best record. In a skills ("Best Tools") survey, Baseball America found Taveras the "Best Hitter for Average".
Entering the 2013 season, Baseball America ranked Taveras as the Cardinals' best prospect and the third-best prospect in all of baseball. MLB.com also ranked Taveras as the Cardinals' number-one prospect, and the number-three prospect in its Top 50 Prospects. Prior to the 2013 World Baseball Classic, Taveras' agent was approached about him playing for the Canadian national baseball team. The Cardinals promoted him to the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds of the Pacific Coast League.
In each game from May 6–10, Taveras collected at least one RBI. He batted .362 with 17 hits in 47 at bats for the month of May. However, injury obstructed his in-game action. While sliding into second base in a May 12 game, his ankle caught and pronated awkwardly on the bag, resulting in a high-ankle sprain. He played in just 15 games after that for the season and in 46 total. Surgery to correct the sprain, performed by Dr. Robert Anderson, ended his season in August.
For the season, Taveras rendered a .306 batting average with 12 doubles, five home runs and 32 RBI. It was the fourth consecutive season in which he batted at least .300. Especially productive against right-handed pitching, he forged a .366 batting average (37-for-101) with four HR and 24 RBI. Further, he generated three four-hit games and 15 multi-hit games while hitting safely in 31 overall. In 18 games, he provided at least one RBI, and in nine, recorded multiple runners driven in. In Baseball America'''s "Best Tools" survey, he was rated the "Best Hitter for Average" in the Cardinals organization. The Cardinals added Taveras to their 40-man roster on November 20, 2013.
### St. Louis Cardinals (2014)
Beginning in the 2014 season, MLB.com ranked Taveras as the second-best prospect in all of MLB, behind only Byron Buxton of the Minnesota Twins organization. The Cardinals invited him to spring training. Although team officials believed that his ankle had fully healed in time for 2014 spring training, he hesitated to fully trust the ankle in performance. A hamstring injury followed, limiting him to just six at-bats. The Cardinals optioned him to minor league camp on March 14.
On May 30, 2014, the Cardinals called Taveras up to their MLB roster in one of the most anticipated promotions in all MLB. He became the first from Sosúa to reach the major leagues. At that point, he had been batting .325 with a .373 OBP and a .524 SLG at Memphis. Other totals included seven HR and 40 RBI in 49 games and 191 at-bats. Taveras was held hitless in consecutive games just once. In his last 10 games, he collected hits in all but one, batting .462. During those same 10 games, he fashioned two three-hit games and one four-hit outing. In 209 plate appearances, he walked just 14 times, but also struck out just 25 for a 12.1% strikeout rate.
Making his MLB debut at Busch Stadium on the afternoon of Saturday, May 31, against the San Francisco Giants, Taveras flied out in his first at-bat. However, he launched his first hit and home run, which traveled 418 feet (127 m), in his next at-bat. It occurred with one out in the bottom of the fifth inning against starting pitcher Yusmeiro Petit. He became the youngest to hit a home run in his major league debut for the Cardinals since Eddie Morgan in 1936. It also started to rain, immediately forcing a 47-minute delay. The home run proved to be the game-winning run as the Cardinals won, 2–0.
Taveras hit his first MLB single the next day, June 1. When Matt Adams came off the DL June 19, Taveras' 22nd birthday, the Cardinals optioned him back to Memphis after batting .189 with a .225 OBP and .297 SLG in 40 PA. Despite the low rate statistics, he showed a marked ability to get contact on MLB pitching. His contact rate of 92.3% on pitches outside of the strike zone surpassed the MLB average of 65.7% for all non-pitchers. His miss rate of 2.5% on swinging strikes was significantly lower than the MLB average of 9.1%.
One month after his first call-up, the Cardinals recalled Taveras on June 30. He was batting .318 with a .502 SLG at Memphis. To allow him more playing opportunities, the Cardinals traded slumping incumbent right fielder Allen Craig to the Boston Red Sox on the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline. His first career three-hit game was on September 7 against the Milwaukee Brewers. That series, he played three of the four games, collecting five hits in eight at-bats with a home run and four RBI. It was one of eight multi-hit games on the year. Taveras finished the 2014 season with a batting average of .239 in 80 major league games. He appeared on the postseason roster for the Cardinals, playing exclusively as a pinch hitter, and collected three hits and two runs scored in seven total at bats. His postseason debut was in the National League Division Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. One hit was a home run that tied the score in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series against the Giants, the only game the Cardinals won in the series; as it turned out, it was the final hit in his career. His final tweet was "Thanks for all the fan support!" on October 13.
## Skills profile
Regarded as a left-handed hitting version of Vladimir Guerrero (also a native of the Dominican Republic), one of Taveras' prized skills was an ability that few possess to square the bat on—and effectively hit—pitches that are out of the strike zone, much as the case was with Guerrero. Because of his bat speed and the wide range of pitch locations of which he could hit, Taveras successfully unraveled what are termed as "pitcher's pitches", which helped contribute to his high batting average. An aggressive hitter, Taveras maintained control with his smooth swing.
With a wide batting stance and slight leg kick that "allows him to maintain both incredible balance and timing", he shifted his weight on his left (back) leg "before connecting with the ball with an explosive, quick swing." His combination of strong, quick hands and excellent hand-eye coordination allowed him to assert considerable bat control to make constant, square contact with the incoming pitch. With an ability to drive the ball to all fields, his power ceiling was high, projected with 25 to 30 home runs in his peak. His preparation also received high marks. Through 2013, Taveras' career minor league batting average was .320 with 45 home runs and 275 RBIs in 374 games.
Although Taveras' defensive skills were not as prodigious as his hitting abilities, he ran routes well and had solid instincts. Earlier in his professional career, he gained a reputation for concentrating too heavily on hitting at the expense of his fielding. However, Taveras worked to increase his abilities in the outfield. With a strong throwing arm, his defensive skills projected him to be a corner outfielder, particularly in right field. However, the Cardinals believed that Taveras showed the range and skill to be an effective center fielder so he began taking an apprenticeship to learn the position.
## Death
On October 26, 2014, Taveras and his girlfriend, Edilia Arvelo, both died in a car accident on the Sosúa-Cabarete freeway in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, in which his red Chevrolet Camaro ran off the road and hit a tree. Taveras suffered multiple injuries and was pronounced dead while receiving care at Sosúa Cabarete Medical Center. Arvelo suffered injuries to the head and to the chest. The accident occurred at 7:40 PM ET, just before the start of Game 5 of the 2014 World Series. Cardinals chairman William DeWitt, Jr. issued the following statement:
> We are all stunned and deeply saddened by the tragic loss of one of the youngest members of the Cardinals family. Oscar was an amazing talent with a bright future who was taken from us well before his time. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends tonight.
Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak made a statement saying:
> I simply can’t believe it. I first met Oscar when he was 16 years old and will forever remember him as a wonderful young man who was a gifted athlete with an infectious love for life who lived every day to the fullest.
Cardinals Manager Mike Matheny stated, "There is not a more accurate word ("love") for how a group of men share a deep and genuine concern for each other. We loved Oscar, and he loved us. That is what a team does. That is what a family does." Commissioner of Baseball Bud Selig stated, "With heavy hearts, tonight we play Game 5 of the 2014 World Series in the memory of these two young people."
### Aftermath and legacy
Observances on behalf of Arvelo and Taveras were held for Game 6 of the World Series, including a moment of silence before the first pitch. Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Yordano Ventura wrote "R.I.P. O.T \#18" on his hat along with other tributes on his cleats and glove. His hat was turned in for display at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. Ventura himself went on to die in a car crash in the Dominican Republic less than three years later. On October 28, the Cardinals left the right field lights on at Busch Stadium and released a Twitter photo of the scene the next day.
More than an estimated 5,000 gathered for Taveras's funeral in Sosúa, including about 40 who gathered on the rooftop of a cemetery church. Many of the mourners wore jerseys with "El Fenómeno"'' printed on their backs. "He was like Superman here. He was here to uplift kids and put the town on the map. He was the hope," said teammate Carlos Martínez. Martínez requested to change his uniform number from 44 to 18 (Taveras's number) to honor him in part because they were also friends. The team granted his request. Taveras had left behind a one-year-old son, Oscar Yadier Taveras.
Questions arose as to whether he was intoxicated in that fatal crash on the Sosúa-Cabarete freeway. On November 11, press releases confirmed that his blood alcohol content was 0.287, nearly six times the legal limit for the Dominican Republic. After the second alcohol-related fatality to a Cardinals player in a decade, following that of Josh Hancock in 2007, John Mozeliak lamented the circumstances of the player's death. He declared that the team would take a greater role in educating young players to "avoid reckless actions".
In January 2015, DeWitt announced plans for the Cardinals to renovate a baseball field in Sosúa in Taveras's honor, modeled after the Cardinals Care facilities in Greater St. Louis. The team would also wear black circular patches inscribed with OT (Taveras's initials) inside a white circle on their jerseys. The patch will omit Taveras's No. 18 because Carlos Martínez was already wearing it as his uniform number as a tribute. A large decal in his memorial was posted in the home team bullpen of Busch Stadium along with the ones of Hancock and former pitcher Darryl Kile, who died of coronary artery disease during the 2002 season while still active.
## Awards
## See also
- List of baseball players who died during their careers
- List of people from the Dominican Republic
|
68,535,071 |
Splintered Light
| 1,129,544,407 |
Book of literary criticism of Tolkien's Middle-earth
|
[
"1983 non-fiction books",
"American non-fiction books",
"Books about Middle-earth"
] |
Splintered Light: Logos and Language in Tolkien's World is an 1983 book of literary criticism by the leading Tolkien scholar Verlyn Flieger, in which she argues that light is a central theme of Tolkien's Middle-earth mythology, in particular in The Silmarillion. It has been admired by other scholars to the extent that it has become a core element of Tolkien scholarship.
## Context
J. R. R. Tolkien was an English author and philologist of ancient Germanic languages, specialising in Old English; he spent much of his career as a professor at the University of Oxford. He is best known for his novels about his invented Middle-earth, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion. A devout Roman Catholic, he described The Lord of the Rings as "a fundamentally religious and Catholic work", rich in Christian symbolism.
Verlyn Flieger worked for over 30 years as a Tolkien scholar, becoming accepted as one of the foremost authors in that field. Splintered Light was her first book, establishing a reputation that increased with her later monographs Interrupted Music and A Question of Time, and two edited collections of essays.
## Book
Splintered Light: Logos and Language in Tolkien's World was published by Wm. B. Eerdmans in 1983. A revised edition was issued in 2002. The work is not illustrated.
The book begins with a chapter on J. R. R. Tolkien as "a man of antitheses", of faith and doubt. It then compares and contrasts two of Tolkien's best-known essays, "Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics" and "On Fairy Stories", the one essentially dark and fateful, the other bright, embracing the possibility of good fortune. The next pair of chapters examine the Inkling Owen Barfield's philosophy of mythology and Tolkien's view of fantasy as sub-creation, and then their view of language, with the idea that it was once whole, and is now fragmented.
Three chapters then examine the symbolism of light in Middle-earth as divine creation, showing with close analysis of the text of The Silmarillion that the created light is successively fragmented by interaction with the forces of darkness and the choices of the free peoples, Elves and Men. The story of The Lord of the Rings is covered in "One Fragment", in which, after the many disasters of The Silmarillion, the small remnant of the light survives to combat the remaining darkness.
A final chapter reviews the book's findings, noting two necessities, change and language, which is an agent of change.
## Reception
In A Companion to J. R. R. Tolkien, the Tolkien scholar Bradford Lee Eden writes that Splintered Light was the first scholarly monograph on The Silmarillion. he describes it as "the most important and influential book on both language and music in Tolkien's works", discussing how music and light are interwoven as "central themes" throughout The Silmarillion, and viewing Tolkien as a "musician of words".
In the Rocky Mountain Review, the scholar and fantasy author Brian Attebery notes that Flieger shows how Tolkien followed Owen Barfield's views on myth-making, including the idea of a gradual fall from grace over the course of history. In Attebery's view, Flieger successfully links Tolkien's Middle-earth writings to his scholarship, with a "well researched and sympathetic reading of The Silmarillion, a work whose importance she goes far towards demonstrating", showing that even though it contains numerous short tales written decades apart, it is "a unified whole with a deeply felt meaning". He writes that she is "less successful in tying his creations to [Tolkien's] biography". He argues that even if the reader accepts her thesis that the paired opposites in his Middle-earth writings – between light and dark, or between redemption and fall – derive from a temperament that oscillated "between hope and despair", that would not explain why those feelings resulted in fantasy "rather than ... metaphysical verse or realistic fiction"; and it wouldn't explain, either, why The Silmarillion is overwhelmingly dark, while The Lord of the Rings is largely optimistic. Attebery suggests that the reasons might be the works' different origins – in his view, Beowulf and Norse legend versus fairy tale.
The scholar of English Janice Neuleib, reviewing the work in Christianity & Literature, writes that it both illuminates Tolkien's philosophy and analyses his "creative genius", much of it in territory unexplored by other scholars. The forces of light and dark might, she writes, have been the subject of doubt to the man, but in his writing they are "equal forces held in tension by their opposition to and dependence upon one another ... at once literal, metaphoric, and symbolic". She comments that where his celebrated essay "Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics" showed the certainty of fated disaster, his other famous essay "On Fairy Stories" considers eucatastrophe, the happy turn of fate in a story. In her view, "the tension of these two opposing forces produced the action of The Silmarillion." However, the core of the book for Neuleib is in the 3 chapters on The Silmarillion itself, in which Flieger traces the progressive splintering of the light created by Eru Iluvatar through the music of the Valar and on down to the Elves, Men, and Hobbits who people Middle-earth. The Elves too are sundered into peoples with differing languages as they agree to approach the light of the Two Lamps or the Two Trees, or reject this. Their languages, too, represent the light, and the original and higher language, Quenya, is spoken only by the Elves who have seen the light of Valinor. The most prized artefacts of the Elves, the Silmarils, capture a little of the splintered light; their maker, Fëanor, is therefore for both Flieger and Tolkien the most significant of the Elves; and he is destroyed by his creation.
The scholar of theology and literature Ralph C. Wood, reviewing another of Flieger's books for VII, writes that Splintered Light is "an indispensable work for any serious study of the great fantasist, especially of The Silmarillion".
Flieger was nominated for the 1986 Mythopoeic Scholarship Award for Splintered Light. The scholar of humanities Deidre Dawson comments that the book has become a core element of Tolkien scholarship.
|
1,489,377 |
Fair catch kick
| 1,126,406,269 |
American football rule regarding attempting free kicks after fair catches
|
[
"American football terminology"
] |
The fair catch kick is a rule at the professional and high school levels of American football that allows a team that has just made a fair catch to attempt a free kick from the spot of the catch. The kick must be either a place kick or a drop kick, and if it passes over the crossbar and between the goalposts of the opposing team's goal, a field goal, worth three points, is awarded to the kicking team.
The fair catch kick is considered to be an obscure rule and it is rarely attempted. Because most fair catches are made well out of field goal range, and a team making a fair catch has possession of the ball and a first down, it is rarely to a team's advantage to attempt a fair catch kick rather than run a play from scrimmage. A team may attempt a fair catch kick if it makes a fair catch within reasonable range when the clock expires at the end of either half, as a half must be extended in order to allow a fair catch kick attempt. At the professional level, the last successful fair catch kick was made by Ray Wersching of the San Diego Chargers in 1976.
The fair catch kick has its origins in rugby football's goal from mark, which has since been abolished in both major rugby codes; a similar rule, the mark, is a major part of Australian rules football.
## Rule
The fair catch kick rule states that, after a player has successfully made a fair catch or has been awarded a fair catch as the result of a penalty such as kick catch interference, their team can attempt a kick from the spot of the catch; the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) rulebook also allows a kick to be made if the down following the fair catch or awarded fair catch has to be replayed. Prior to the kick, the opposing team must be lined up at least ten yards beyond the spot of the ball. The kick itself can be either a place kick or drop kick; a kicking tee cannot be used at the professional level, but use of a tee up to two inches in height is permitted at the high school level. Like other field goal attempts, the kicking team is awarded three points if the kick goes above the crossbar and between the goalposts of the opposing team's goal and did not touch a player of the kicking team after the kick. If the attempt fails, the opposing team is awarded control of the ball from the spot of the kick. The opposing team can also return the kick if it does not go out of bounds.
In the NFHS rulebook, the fair catch kick is specifically defined as a free kick. The National Football League (NFL) rulebook specifically states that the fair catch kick is not a free kick, instead considering the fair catch kick to be a distinct type of kick. Despite this, reporters at both levels describe the fair catch kick as a free kick.
The XFL (2020) rulebook defines the fair catch kick separately from the free kick. Under the XFL rules, a fair catch kick cannot itself be returned and the play ends when either team secures possession of the ball; the formation is executed under the XFL's rules for an onside kick, which are separate from those of the XFL's standard kickoff formation.
## History
The fair catch kick found in American football originated in rugby football. A similar rule in rugby, the goal from mark, allowed a player who had fair caught a ball to attempt an uncontested free kick from the spot of the fair catch. Both major codes of rugby have eliminated the rule; rugby league abolished the goal from mark in 1922, and rugby union removed it in 1977. Australian rules football has retained the rule, and it is a vital part of the Australian game; a "fair catch" of a ball kicked more than 15 meters in the air is called a mark, and the player making the mark is then awarded a free kick. The fair catch kick has been present in the NFL rulebook since the league's inception, and also remains in the NFHS rulebook. The fair catch kick is not legal in National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) football; the NCAA abolished the fair catch in 1950, but re-added it a year later. When the fair catch returned to the rulebook, however, the option to attempt a kick after the fair catch was removed.
## Usage
The fair catch kick rule is very rarely invoked, and is one of the rarest plays in football. The rule has been regarded as "obscure", "bizarre", and "quirky". A unique set of circumstances is required for a fair catch kick to be a viable option. For one, the fair catch would need to be made at a point on the field where a field goal attempt has a reasonable chance of being successful; most fair catches are made well outside of field goal range. Furthermore, for a fair catch kick to be a viable option near the end of the fourth quarter, the team attempting the kick needs to be either tied or behind by three points or fewer; even if such a situation were to occur, a coach might still decline to attempt a fair catch kick.
For example, New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, known for his knowledge and utilization of obscure football rules, declined the opportunity to attempt a 75-yard fair catch kick at the end of regulation in Super Bowl LI; although kicker Stephen Gostkowski was able to kick the ball that far and the game was tied, Belichick felt the risk of a return touchdown by the opposing team off a failed kick outweighed the opportunity to score from the kick. Art McNally, who led the officiating department of the National Football League from 1968 to 1990, said that even in the event a fair catch is made within field goal range, most teams would attempt to score a touchdown unless there is not enough time left to score one. Accordingly, most fair catch kick attempts occur when a team has fair-caught a ball from a punt from deep in their opponent's territory but there is not enough time left in the half to go for a touchdown. After Cottonwood High School (Murray, Utah) kicker Ryan Nielson successfully completed a game-winning fair catch kick in 2022, coach Casey Miller said he thought "I've never seen a chance to do this play in my life. If it's not going to happen now, it will never happen in my lifetime."
Despite its drawbacks, there are several unique advantages to using the fair catch kick. Because the defense is required to be ten yards beyond the spot of the kick, the kicker can take a running start before kicking as opposed to the typical two steps taken on regular field goal attempts. Similarly, the kicker does not have to worry about a low snap because the ball is not snapped. Because the defense cannot come within 10 yards of the kicker before the ball is kicked, the kicker can give the ball a lower trajectory than a field goal kick from scrimmage without the threat of it being blocked. The fair catch kick would also be of a shorter distance than a normal field goal attempt from the same spot, because the fair catch kick is taken from the spot of the catch, while a typical field goal is taken seven yards back from the line of scrimmage. In the XFL, the rules allow for a fair catch kick after time expires and do not allow the opposing team to return it, making it a feasible end-of-half strategy where it otherwise would have been too dangerous in the NFL.
## Known attempts in the NFL
The NFL does not keep a record of fair catch kick attempts, so the exact number of attempts is unknown. Out of the 26 recorded fair catch kick attempts in regular season and postseason games, six were successful; all five known attempts in exhibition games were unsuccessful. With one exception, all fair catch kick attempts were made within the last 30 seconds of either the 2nd or 4th quarter. The last successful attempt was made in 1976 by Ray Wersching of the San Diego Chargers (45 yards), and the longest successful attempt was made in 1964 by Paul Hornung of the Green Bay Packers (52 yards). The most recent fair catch kick attempt was by Carolina Panthers kicker Joey Slye, who missed a 60-yard fair catch kick wide right on October 13, 2019.
### Regular season and post-season games
### Exhibition games
|
250,835 |
Henry Martyn
| 1,170,137,277 |
English Anglican priest and missionary in India and Persia
|
[
"1781 births",
"1812 deaths",
"19th-century Christian saints",
"19th-century English Anglican priests",
"Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge",
"Anglican missionaries in India",
"Anglican missionaries in Iran",
"Anglican saints",
"British expatriates in Iran",
"Cornish Christian missionaries",
"English Anglican missionaries",
"English evangelicals",
"Evangelical Anglicans",
"Fellows of St John's College, Cambridge",
"Missionary linguists",
"People educated at Truro Cathedral School",
"People from Truro",
"Senior Wranglers",
"Translators of the Bible into Persian",
"Translators of the Bible into Urdu"
] |
Henry Martyn (18 February 1781 – 16 October 1812) was an Anglican priest and missionary to the peoples of India and Persia. Born in Truro, Cornwall, he was educated at Truro Grammar School and St John's College, Cambridge. A chance encounter with Charles Simeon led him to become a missionary. He was ordained a priest in the Church of England and became a chaplain for the British East India Company.
Martyn arrived in India in April 1806, where he preached and occupied himself in the study of linguistics. He translated the whole of the New Testament into Urdu, Persian and Judaeo-Persic. He also translated the Psalms into Persian and the Book of Common Prayer into Urdu. From India, he set out for Bushire, Shiraz, Isfahan, and Tabriz.
Martyn was seized with fever, and, though the plague was raging at Tokat, he was forced to stop there, unable to continue. On 16 October 1812, he died. He was remembered for his courage, selflessness and his religious devotion. In parts of the Anglican Communion he is celebrated with a Lesser Festival on 19 October. Martyn's papers and private letters are held at the Cambridge Centre for Christianity Worldwide at Westminster College in Cambridge, England.
## Early life
Martyn was born in Truro, Cornwall, on 18 February 1781. His father, John Martyn, was a "captain" or mine-agent at Gwennap. As a boy, he was educated at Truro grammar school under Dr. Cardew and he entered St John's College, Cambridge, in the autumn of 1797, and was senior wrangler and first Smith's prizeman in 1801. In 1802, he was chosen as a fellow of his college.
He had intended to go to the bar, but in the October term of 1802 he chanced to hear Charles Simeon speaking of the good done in India by a single missionary, William Carey, and some time afterwards he read the life of David Brainerd, a missionary to the Native Americans. He resolved, accordingly, to become a missionary himself. On 22 October 1803, he was ordained deacon at Ely, and afterwards priest, and served as Simeon's curate at Holy Trinity Church, Cambridge, taking charge of the Cambridgeshire parish of Lolworth.
## Missionary work
Martyn wanted to offer his services to the Church Missionary Society, when a financial disaster in Cornwall deprived him and his unmarried sister of the income their father had left for them. It was necessary for Martyn to earn an income that would support his sister as well as himself. He accordingly obtained a chaplaincy under the British East India Company and left for India on 5 July 1805. On his voyage to the East, Martyn happened to be present at the British conquest of the Cape Colony on 8 January 1806. He spent that day tending to the dying soldiers and was distressed by seeing the horrors of war. He would come away feeling that it was Britain's destiny to convert, not colonize, the world. He wrote in his diary:
> I prayed that...England whilst she sent the thunder of her arms to distant regions of the globe, might not remain proud and ungodly at home; but might show herself great indeed, by sending forth the ministers of her church to diffuse the gospel of peace.
### India
Martyn arrived in India in April 1806, and for some months he was stationed at Aldeen, near Serampur. In October 1806, he proceeded to Dinapur, where he was soon able to conduct worship among the locals in the vernacular, and established schools. In April 1809, he was transferred to Cawnpore, where he preached to British and Indians in his own compound, in spite of interruptions and threats from local non-Christians.
He occupied himself in linguistic study, and had already, during his residence at Dinapur, been engaged in revising the sheets of his Hindustani version of the New Testament. He now translated the whole of the New Testament into Urdu also, and into Persian twice. His work for the Persian Bible included translating the Psalms into Persian, the Gospels into Judaeo-Persic, and the Book of Common Prayer into Urdu, in spite of ill-health and "the pride, pedantry and fury of his chief munshi Sabat." Ordered by the doctors to take a sea voyage, he obtained leave to go to Persia and correct his Persian New Testament. From there, he wanted to go to Arabia, and there compose an Arabic version. On 1 October 1810, having seen his work at Cawnpore rewarded on the previous day by the opening of a church, he left for Calcutta, from where he sailed on 7 January 1811 for Bombay. The ship reached port on his thirtieth birthday.
## Final voyage and death
From Bombay he set out for Bushire, bearing letters from Sir John Malcolm to men of position there, as also at Shiraz and Isfahan. After an exhausting journey from the coast he reached Shiraz, and was soon plunged into discussion with the disputants of all classes, "Sufi, Muslim, Jew, and Jewish Muslim, even Armenian, all anxious to test their powers of argument with the first English priest who had visited them." He next traveled to Tabriz to attempt to present the Shah with his translation of the New Testament, which proved unsuccessful. Sir Gore Ouseley, the British ambassador to the Shah, was unable to bring about a meeting, but did deliver the manuscript. Although Martyn could not present the Bible in person, the Shah later wrote him a letter:
> In truth (said the royal letter of thanks to the ambassador) through the learned and unremitted exertions of the Reverend Henry Martyn it has been translated in a style most befitting sacred books, that is in an easy and simple diction...The whole of the New Testament is completed in a most excellent manner, a source of pleasure to our enlightened and august mind.
At this time, he was seized with fever, and after a temporary recovery, had to seek a change of climate. He set off for Constantinople, where he intended to return on furlough to England to regain his strength and recruit help for the missions in India. On 12 September 1812, he started with two Armenian servants and crossed the Aras River. Urged on from place to place by their Tatar guide, they rode from Tabriz to Erivan, from Erivan to Kars, and from Kars to Erzurum. They departed Erzurum and though the plague was raging at Tokat, he was forced to stop there, unable to continue. He wrote his final journal entry on 6 October. It read, in part:
> Oh! when shall time give place to eternity? When shall appear that new heaven and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness? There, there shall in no wise enter in any thing that defileth: none of that wickedness which has made men worse than wild beasts, none of those corruptions which add still more to the miseries of mortality, shall be seen or heard of any more.
On 16 October 1812 he died and was given a Christian burial by Armenian clergy.
He was heard to say, "Let me burn out for God". An indication of his zeal for the things of God.
## Legacy
His devotion to his tasks won him much admiration in Great Britain and he was the hero of a number of literary publications. Thomas Babington Macaulay's Epitaph, composed early in 1813, testified to the impression made by his career:
> > Here Martyn lies. In Manhood's early bloom The Christian Hero finds a Pagan tomb. Religion, sorrowing o'er her favourite son, Points to the glorious trophies that he won. Eternal trophies! not with carnage red, Not stained with tears by hapless captives shed, But trophies of the Cross! for that dear name, Through every form of danger, death, and shame, Onward he journeyed to a happier shore, Where danger, death, and shame assault no more.
An institution was established in his name in India, called the Henry Martyn Institute: An Interfaith Centre for Reconciliation and Research, Hyderabad, India. John McManners wrote in his Oxford Illustrated History of Christianity that Martyn was a man remembered for his courage, selflessness and his religious devotion. Henry Martyn is honored in the Church of England and in the Episcopal Church on 19 October.
In 1881, on the centennial of Martyn's birth, a trust was created in his name for the purpose of constructing a hall for a library and a place for public lecture on missions. The Henry Martyn Library opened in the Hall in 1898, and there it remained as a small collection of missionary biographies and other books until 1995. The evolution of the Henry Martyn Library into the present Henry Martyn Centre began in 1992, when Canon Graham Kings was appointed as the first Henry Martyn Lecturer in Missiology in the Cambridge Theological Federation. In 2014 the Henry Martyn Centre was renamed the Cambridge Centre for Christianity Worldwide.
## See also
- Cambridge Centre for Christianity Worldwide
- Henry Martyn Hall, Cambridge, built 1887
- Saints in Anglicanism
- Church Missionary Society in India
- List of Protestant missionaries in India
- John Gilchrist (linguist)
- James Hawkes (missionary)
|
1,636,928 |
The Arsenal of Freedom
| 1,173,055,494 | null |
[
"1988 American television episodes",
"Star Trek: The Next Generation (season 1) episodes",
"Television episodes about weapons",
"Television episodes directed by Les Landau"
] |
"The Arsenal of Freedom" is the twenty-first episode of the American science fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, originally aired on April 11, 1988, in broadcast syndication. The teleplay was written by Richard Manning and Hans Beimler, based on a story by Beimler. The episode was directed by Les Landau.
Set in the 24th century, the series follows the adventures of the Starfleet crew of the Federation starship Enterprise-D. In this episode, the crew investigates the disappearance of the USS Drake. They travel to the planet Minos, where an away team and the ship are separately attacked by the demonstration of an automated weapons system.
Maurice Hurley saw the episode as commentary on the sale of F-14 Tomcats to Iran. He intended to have Doctor Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) reveal her feelings for Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) in this episode, but Gene Roddenberry had it changed. VFX Supervisor/Producer Dan Curry created the model of the drone seen in this episode using a pantyhose container and a shampoo bottle. The opinions of critics were mixed, but singled out the performance of Vincent Schiavelli for praise.
## Plot
The Enterprise has been sent to the Lorenze Cluster to search for the USS Drake after it vanished while surveying the planet Minos, which many years ago became wealthy by selling weapons. When the ship reaches the planet, they are met by a recorded holographic figure (Vincent Schiavelli) advertising "The Arsenal of Freedom", which invites the crew to the surface. Commander William Riker (Jonathan Frakes), Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner) and Lieutenant Tasha Yar (Denise Crosby) beam down to the surface to investigate. Riker is met by Captain Rice of the Drake, but determines the captain is an imposter and feeds him false information. After further questions, the "captain" disappears, revealing a floating sentry probe, which fires a stasis field around Riker before Data and Yar can destroy it.
The Enterprise cannot beam Riker through the stasis field, so Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and Doctor Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) travel to the surface, and Lt. Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) is left in command of the Enterprise. As Picard and Crusher attempt to free Riker, another sentry probe appears and fires on them. Picard and Crusher are separated from Data and Yar in the skirmish and fall into a pit, severely injuring Crusher. Meanwhile, Data and Yar discover that the second probe is more powerful than the first and requires their combined power to destroy it. While Picard tends to Crusher's injuries, Data manages to release Riker from the stasis field. Riker, Yar and Data are again attacked, with this new probe requiring even more phaser power to destroy it. Data deduces that each probe learns from the previous probes' experiences and adapts to become stronger, and that the next probe might be unbeatable.
The Enterprise is fired upon by a cloaked attacker, with each subsequent attack stronger than the last, straining the ship's shields. Chief Engineer Lt. Logan (Vyto Ruginis) goes to the bridge to demand that the Enterprise flee the planet and attempts to take command, as he outranks La Forge, but La Forge refuses, pointing out that Logan lacks the authority to remove him and orders him to return to Engineering. As the attacks continue, La Forge recalls Logan to the bridge and orders a saucer separation, leaving Logan in charge of the saucer and taking command of the star-drive section from the battle bridge to return to Minos.
Still underground, Picard discovers a computer terminal, which he activates, causing a hologram of the salesman to appear and explain that they are witnessing a demonstration of an intelligent weapon system which is able to upgrade itself in response to any enemy threat. Picard surmises that the Minosians and the Drake were destroyed by the weapons. He fails to coerce the hologram into ending the demonstration. Data is able to locate Picard and determines that while the sentries could be set to destroy their own power source, the resulting explosion would probably take out the whole area, including the away team. Picard finally tells the salesman he will buy the system, causing the salesman to disappear and the probes on the planet to shut down. La Forge uses the planet's atmosphere to reveal the location of the space-borne probe and destroys it. The away team returns to the star-drive section, where Picard allows La Forge to stay in command until they rendezvous with the saucer section, remarking that he left him with the ship intact and would like it returned in the same condition.
## Production
Story editor Maurice Hurley saw the plot of "The Arsenal of Freedom" as commentary on the sale of American Grumman F-14 Tomcats to Iran taken to the "ultimate conclusion". In 1974, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi purchased 80 Tomcats and missiles for \$2 billion. That transaction prevented Grumman from going into bankruptcy as the United States Congress was no longer funding the project. Iran was the only country other than the United States to use the planes.
The original story had Picard injured, and Crusher revealing her feelings for him while trying to save him from dying. Gene Roddenberry did not want to do a love story and so it was changed. Les Landau made the suggestion to switch around the roles of Picard and Crusher to take them out of their elements. Landau had been an assistant director on staff,and became the first member of the production team to direct an episode with "The Arsenal of Freedom".
The model of the drone was created by Dan Curry, from a L'eggs pantyhose container and a shampoo bottle. He hand animated the model instead of using motion control photography, using his years of Tai Chi training to keep the movements fluid. To blend into the background, he wore a pair of green tights whilst he was manually moving the model on screen.
## Reception
"The Arsenal of Freedom" first aired in broadcast syndication on April 11, 1988. It received a 10.4 rating, meaning that it was seen by 10.4 percent of all households. This was the first new episode in three weeks, the previous episode, "Heart of Glory" receiving a rating of 10.7.
Several reviewers re-watched the episode after the end of the series. Keith DeCandido reviewed the episode for Tor.com in July 2011. He highlighted the appearance of Vincent Schiavelli, saying that he "totally owns every scene he's in". He thought that the situation which left La Forge in charge of the Enterprise was "horribly contrived" and said "Picard doesn't even give a good excuse for going down to the planet beyond the script calling for it". He gave the episode a score of six out of ten, summing up that it was a "fun, enjoyable, diverting episode". Zack Handlen reviewed the episode in May 2010 for The A.V. Club. He criticised the episode, saying that there "are all kinds of problems, the biggest being that the episode doesn't really have a third act, but the moral superiority of the crew is on full display, and it's frustrating." He summed up the moral story played out in this episode, saying that "On TOS, Kirk, Spock, and McCoy would've hashed out the appeal of an unbeatable weapon as well as its drawbacks. Here, we're all supposed to know that violence begets violence, and that's it." He gave the episode a grade of C+.
James Hunt watched the episode for the website Den of Geek in March 2013. He recalled it being a good episode but found it wasn't as good on the re-watch for the review. He thought that the plot seemed reminiscent of the plot of a Philip K. Dick novel but thought that the away team sequences on the planet were a little boring with the exception of Data jumping down into the pit where Picard and Crusher were. Michelle Erica Green reviewed the episode for the website TrekNation in August 2007. She thought that the scenario with La Forge was the most forced but described Vincent Schiavelli as a "treat". She said that the cast otherwise didn't get to stretch much but was pleased with the visuals where the star-drive section enters the planet's atmosphere.
## Releases
"The Arsenal of Freedom" was released on DVD on region one as part of the Season one set on March 26, 2002 with the sound remastered to Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround standards, and a series of interviews with the cast and crew were included on the sixth disc.
It was remastered in High-definition video and released as part of the season one Blu-ray set on July 24, 2012.
|
769,483 |
Belgrave line
| 1,173,296,684 |
Passenger rail service in metropolitan Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
|
[
"1889 establishments in Australia",
"2 ft 6 in gauge railways in Australia",
"5 ft 3 in gauge railways in Australia",
"Public transport routes in the City of Melbourne (LGA)",
"Railway lines in Melbourne",
"Railway lines opened in 1889",
"Transport in the City of Boroondara",
"Transport in the City of Knox",
"Transport in the City of Maroondah",
"Transport in the City of Whitehorse",
"Transport in the City of Yarra",
"Transport in the Shire of Yarra Ranges"
] |
The Belgrave line is a commuter railway line in the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Operated by Metro Trains Melbourne, it is the city's fourth-longest metropolitan railway line at 41.8 kilometres (26.0 mi). The line runs from Flinders Street station in central Melbourne to Belgrave station in the east, serving 31 stations via Burnley, Box Hill, Ringwood, and Upper Ferntree Gully. Beyond Belgrave, the narrow-gauge line has been restored as the Puffing Billy Railway, which runs tourist services to the original terminus of Gembrook. The line operates for approximately 19 hours a day (from approximately 5:00 am to around 12:00 am) with 24 hour service available on Friday and Saturday nights. During peak hours, headways of up to 15 minutes are operated, with services every 20–30 minutes during off-peak hours. Trains on the Belgrave line run in a two three-car formations of X'Trapolis 100 trainsets.
Sections of the Belgrave line opened as early as 1889, with the line fully extended and re-gauged to Belgrave by 1962. The line was built to connect Melbourne and Ringwood with the rural towns of Bayswater, Boronia, Upper Ferntree Gully, and Belgrave, among others.
Since the 2010s, due to the heavily utilised infrastructure of the Belgrave line, significant improvements and upgrades have been made. Different packages of work have upgraded the corridor to replace sleepers, upgraded signalling technology, introduced new rolling stock, and removed seven of the nine remaining level crossings.
## History
### 19th century
A rail branch was constructed from Ringwood to Upper Ferntree Gully in December 1889. A narrow-gauge line was opened from Upper Ferntree Gully to Gembrook station in December 1900, the second of four experimental narrow-gauge lines built by the Victorian Railways. These two lines would become joined and standardised to form the Belgrave railway line in the 20th century.
### 20th century
In 1921, the narrow-gauge section from Upper Ferntree Gully to Belgrave was converted to automatic signalling, the first such instance on single track in the Southern Hemisphere. This section was then reverted to Staff and Ticket safeworking in 1930. Electrification of the railway to Upper Ferntree Gully was implemented in November 1925.
Following a landslide in 1953, the narrow-gauge line was formally closed in April 1954, although services resumed as far as Belgrave for some "farewell specials", and then for the Puffing Billy Preservation Society until services ceased again in February 1958.
The line was partly duplicated between Bayswater and Lower Ferntree Gully (now Ferntree Gully) in February 1957.
The closing of the narrow-gauge line to Gembrook enabled the first stage of its planned rebuilding to Emerald as part of the suburban electrified system to proceed. This first stage, as far as Belgrave, of the new, broad-gauge, electrified extension opened in February 1962. It initially operated on the Staff and Ticket system but was converted to automatic signalling in March 1964, with the section from Ferntree Gully to Upper Ferntree Gully being converted the following day. Ringwood to Bayswater was converted to automatic signalling in June 1974, as was Bayswater to Ferntree Gully in July 1977. In December 1982, Ringwood -Bayswater was duplicated.
The Comeng trains were introduced to the Melbourne railway system in 1981, alongside the opening of the City Loop. Initially, along with the Belgrave line, they were only allowed to operate on the Alamein, Dandenong, Glen Waverley and Lilydale lines due to the trains 3.05-metre width.
### 21st century
A 2007 restructure of train ticketing in Melbourne involved the removal of Zone 3, with these stations being re-classified to Zone 2. This brought the cost of train fares down, improving system accessibility for the public.
In April 2016, plans to potentially run a regular revenue Tait set service on the Belgrave line was announced. This came following La Trobe MP Jason Wood's push for the idea as part of the greater "Puffing Billy master plan". The Tait service would be aimed at tourists visiting Puffing Billy. In November 2016, \$1 million was committed to restoring a Tait set currently stored at the Newport Workshops. The Tait service is expected to originate at Flinders Street station as a direct service to Belgrave bypassing the City Loop.
## Future
### Level Crossing Removals
The Level Crossing Removal Project has announced the removal of seven level crossings between the city and Ferntree Gully station, to be completed in stages from 2016 to 2025. In 2016, two level crossings were removed at Mountain Highway and Scoresby Road, Bayswater, through the rail under method. These two removals also included a rebuilt Bayswater station and upgraded stabling facilities. A further two crossings were removed at Blackburn Road, Blackburn, and Heatherdale Road, Ringwood in January 2017. Both of these removals involved lowering the rail line under the road, with a rebuilt Heatherdale station built as part of the project. Union and Mont Albert Roads have also been removed by lowering the rail line in May 2023. The removals also included closing Mont Albert and Surrey Hills stations, with a new station built in-between called "Union." The final scheduled crossing to be removed on the corridor will be at Bedford Road in Ringwood by lowering the rail line in 2025. At the conclusion of these removals, only two crossings will remain.
## Network and operations
### Services
Services on the Belgrave line operates from approximately 5:00 am to around 12:00 daily. In general, during peak hours, train frequency is \~7 minutes on the Ringwood corridor (combined with the Lilydale line) and 15 minutes in the AM peak on the Belgrave Line while during non-peak hours the frequency is reduced to 20–30 minutes throughout the entire route. During certain periods of the day, services operate as a shuttle to Ringwood due to lower demand. On Friday nights and weekends, services run 24 hours a day, with 60 minute frequencies available outside of normal operating hours.
Train services on the Belgrave line are also subjected to maintenance and renewal works, usually on selected Fridays and Saturdays. Shuttle bus services are provided throughout the duration of works for affected commuters.
#### Stopping patterns
Legend — Station status
- ◼ Premium Station – Station staffed from first to last train
- ◻ Host Station – Usually staffed during morning peak, however this can vary for different stations on the network.
Legend — Stopping patterns
Some services do not operate via the City Loop
- ● – All trains stop
- ◐ – Some services do not stop
- ▼ – Only outbound trains stop
- \| – Trains pass and do not stop
### Operators
The Belgrave line has had a total of 6 operators since its opening in 1889. The majority of operations throughout its history have been government run: from its first service in 1889 until the 1999 privatisation of Melbourne's rail network, four different government operators have run the line. These operators, Victorian Railways, the Metropolitan Transit Authority, the Public Transport Corporation, and Hillside Trains have a combined operational length of 110 years. Hillside Trains was privatised in August 1999 and later rebranded Connex Melbourne. Metro Trains Melbourne, the current private operator, then took over the operations in 2009. Both private operators have had a combined operational period of years.
### Route
The Belgrave line forms a mostly curved route from the Melbourne central business district to its terminus in Belgrave. The route is 41.8 kilometres (26.0 mi) long and predominantly double-tracked, however, between Flinders Street station and Richmond, the track is widened to 12 tracks, narrowing to 4 tracks between Richmond and Burnley before narrowing to 3 tracks between Burnley and Box Hill. Finally, the line narrows to two tracks between Box Hill and Ferntree Gully before narrowing to a single track to its terminus. After Ferntree Gully, passing loops and island platforms are present at Upper Ferntree Gully, Upwey, and Belgrave. After departing from its terminus at Flinders Street, the Belgrave line traverses both flat and hilly country, with some curves (more towards the end of the line) and fairly significant earthworks for parts of the line. Sections of the line have been elevated or lowered into a cutting to eliminate level crossings. Despite some removals, there are a small number of level crossings still present, with no current plans to remove them.
The line follows the same alignment as the Alamein, Glen Waverley, and Lilydale lines, with the four services splitting onto different routes at Burnley. The Alamein, Belgrave, and Lilydale services continue till the Alamein line splits off at Camberwell, with the two services continuing together till Ringwood. After departing Ringwood station, the Belgrave line heads south, with the Lilydale line heading in an eastern direction. Almost all of the rail line goes through built-up suburbs, however, the rail line becomes peri-urban towards its terminus in Belgrave.
### Stations
The line serves 31 stations across the 49-kilometre (30-mile)-long track. The stations are a mix of elevated, lowered, underground, and ground level designs. Underground stations are present in the City Loop and Box Hill, with the majority of elevated and lowered stations being constructed as part of level crossing removals.
## Infrastructure
### Rolling stock
The Belgrave line uses X'Trapolis 100 electric multiple unit (EMU) trains operating in a two three-car configuration, with three doors per side on each carriage, and can accommodate up to 432 seated passengers in each six car configuration. The trains were originally built between 2002 and 2004 as well as between 2009 and 2020, with a total of 212 three-car sets constructed. The trains are shared with 7 other metropolitan train lines and have been in service since 2003.
Alongside the passenger trains, Belgrave line tracks and equipment are maintained by a fleet of engineering trains. The four types of engineering trains are: the shunting train, designed for moving trains along non-electrified corridors and for transporting other maintenance locomotives; for track evaluation; designed for evaluating track and its condition, the overhead inspection train; designed for overhead wiring inspection, and the infrastructure evaluation carriage, designed for general infrastructure evaluation. Most of these trains are repurposed locomotives previously used by V/Line, Metro Trains, and the Southern Shorthaul Railroad.
### Accessibility
All stations that are new or rebuilt are fully accessible. Projects improving station accessibility have included the Level Crossing Removal Project, which involves station rebuilds and upgrades, and individual station upgrade projects. These works have made significant strides in improving network accessibility, with more than 58% of Belgrave line stations classified as fully accessible.
### Signalling
The Belgrave line uses three-position signalling with automatic block signalling (ABS) and automatic and track control (ATC) safeworking systems. Three position signalling was first introduced on the line in 1919, with the final section of the line converted to the new type of signalling by 1960. Automatic and track control are used with the centre line between Burnley and Box Hill, and between Ferntree Gully and the line's terminus in Belgrave.
## See also
- Ringwood–Belgrave Rail Trail
|
1,516,911 |
Drukair
| 1,165,650,686 |
Flag carrier of Bhutan
|
[
"1981 establishments in Bhutan",
"Airlines established in 1981",
"Airlines of Bhutan",
"Government-owned airlines",
"Organisations based in Bhutan with royal patronage",
"Paro District"
] |
Drukair Corporation Limited (Dzongkha: འབྲུག་མཁའ་འགྲུལ་ལས་འཛིན།), operating as Drukair — Royal Bhutan Airlines, is the flag carrier of the Kingdom of Bhutan, headquartered in the western dzongkhag of Paro.
Founded in 1981, ten years after Druk Gyalpo Jigme Dorji Wangchuck gradually began to open up the kingdom from self-imposed isolation, and seven years after welcoming its first foreign visitors, the airline commenced operations in 1983 with flights from Kolkata to Paro utilising Dornier 228 aircraft. A switch to BAe 146-100 equipment occurred in November 1988, and, in order to meet increased demand, those aircraft were replaced in 2004 with five Airbus A319s.
Drukair operates a modest scheduled flight network within the South Asian and Southeast Asian region from its base at Paro Airport and currently serves thirteen destinations in six countries.
`The airline also owns a small fleet of four Airbus A320 family jets - three A319 and one A320neo - and one ATR 42 turboprop regional aircraft.`
## History
In 1968, the Indian Border Roads Organisation built an airstrip in the Paro valley, which was initially used for on call helicopter operations by the Indian Armed Forces for the Royal Government of Bhutan. After consideration by King Jigme Singye Wangchuck and the Tshogdu, Drukair was established by royal charter on 5 April 1981, ten years after the Druk Gyalpo, King Jigme Dorji Wangchuck gradually began to open up the Kingdom from self-imposed isolation, and seven years after welcoming its first foreign visitors.
Paro Airport is located deep in a valley 2,235 metres (7,333 ft) above sea level, and is surrounded by mountains as high as 4,900 metres (16,100 ft). At the time, the runway was 1,200 metres (3,900 ft) in length, giving the Bhutanese government specific requirements for a choice of aircraft to be operated. They required an 18–20 seat STOL-capable aircraft with operating capabilities which included a high service ceiling, high rate of climb and high manoeuvrability. The major requirement for the aircraft was that it must be capable of flying Kolkata – Paro – Kolkata, a 1,200 kilometres (750 mi) round-trip flight, without refuelling, due to minimal infrastructure being available at Paro for this purpose. Three different aircraft types were considered after flight tests in India and Bhutan between 1978 and 1980; however, none was deemed suitable.
In mid-1981, the Indian government set up a committee to study its own requirements for a light transport aircraft. Based upon this competition, the Bhutanese government ordered one Dornier 228-200 for delivery in January 1983, with the option for a second aircraft for delivery in late 1983. The first 18-seat Dornier 228-200 landed at Paro Airport on 14 January 1983, the exact time of landing, the number of passengers on board and even the direction the aircraft was parked on the airport apron being predetermined by the high lama of Paro Dzong.
The airline inaugurated scheduled revenue flights on 11 February 1983, with Flight 101 departing Paro for Kolkata and returning the next day as Flight 102. For the first four weeks the flight was operated three times a week, after which it was increased to a daily flight. At the time of service commencement, Paro Airport consisted of the runway, a two-room air traffic control building (with the ground floor acting as the check-in counter) and a departure lounge on the lawn. Prior to the establishment of the Department of Civil Aviation in January 1986, the airline was responsible for the operation and maintenance of airport infrastructure. The airline commenced flights to Dhaka in Bangladesh on 30 October 1986.
### Jet era
On 30 December 1987, a US\$25 million order was placed with British Aerospace for a BAe 146-100 STOL regional jet. The purchase of the aircraft was financed by the government, obtaining, for the first time in the country's history, a commercial loan. In 1988, the airlines' operational base was shifted from Kolkata to Paro Airport and the airline also hired its first seven flight attendants who were trained by Thai Airways International. On 21 November 1988, the BAe 146 was delivered to Paro Airport. With the introduction of the BAe 146, Drukair was able to widen its network to link Paro with Delhi on 26 November 1988, Bangkok on 28 January 1989 and Kathmandu in April 1989. In the first full year of operational service with the BAe 146, the airline achieved an average load factor of 50–60 percent, more than the 40 percent which was expected, carrying 12,732 passengers over the 1989 – 1990 period. In 1990, the runway at Paro Airport was lengthened from 1,400 metres (4,600 ft) to 2,000 metres (6,600 ft) and reinforced for heavier aircraft. A hangar was also constructed for the aircraft, which was funded by the Indian government as part of the Paro Airport Development Project.
The airlines' only aircraft was requisitioned by King Jigme Singye on 9 November 1990, in order to allow the king and his party to travel to Tokyo for the coronation of Akihito as Emperor of Japan. From Japan, the King then travelled to Malé in the Maldives for the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit between 21 and 23 November, and returned to Bhutan in order for the aircraft to re-enter service with the airline on 25 November. Due to a requirement stipulated by the Bhutanese government that all foreign tourists, with the exception of Indian nationals, enter and leave Bhutan by air, the country's tourism industry was brought to a halt, which saw the airline paying hefty penalties to disgruntled tour operators. This problem was somewhat alleviated when a second BAe 146 entered service in 1992, and on 11 November 1993, the airline introduced a 10 Executive Class on the aircraft. On 13 May 1991, Drukair was registered under the Companies Act of Bhutan. Service to Yangon, the capital of Myanmar, began on 6 January 1997.
During 2000–2001, Drukair could operate with only one single aircraft for over a year due to a corrosion defect in its A5-RGD aircraft in the wing tanks that was detected during a check at Woodford. The wings were replaced. In 2002, an RJ70 was wet-leased from airBaltic to cover for maintenance to A5-RGE.
Drukair became the launch customer for the Avro RJX-85 in April 2000 when it placed an order with BAE Systems for two aircraft, with deliveries initially scheduled to take place in November 2001 and January 2002. Delays in the first flight and certification of the RJX pushed back expected delivery to Drukair to after April 2002. BAe Systems cancelled the RJX program in November 2002, due to receiving orders from only two airlines, Drukair and British European. With British European threatening legal action to enforce their contract with BAE Systems, the aircraft manufacturer offered to fulfil the contract for Drukair, although airline management decided against acquiring the aircraft, citing potential problems with sourcing spare parts for the aircraft in future.
In order to find a replacement for the 2 BAe 146s, Drukair management fielded submissions from Airbus, Boeing and Embraer to determine their products' suitability to meet Drukair's stringent operational requirements. Bombardier was also invited by management to demonstrate the CRJ900 regional jet, however, the airline was advised by Bombardier the aircraft would be unsuited for operations at Paro. In February 2002, the Airbus A319 became the largest aircraft to ever land at Paro Airport, when Airbus demonstrated the aircraft to the airline. By October, Boeing had withdrawn from the competition due to not being able to source an aircraft to demonstrate to the airline. With the Embraer E-190 yet to fly, it was expected that Drukair would order the A319. However, the government had concerns regarding financing for the purchase, and in October the final decision was delayed. After a short period of time, the government instructed management to begin evaluations once again, and a Boeing 737-700 conducted eleven test flights at Paro Airport in February 2003, in which it was demonstrated it met the requirements of the airline for operation into Paro.
Airbus signed a memorandum of understanding with Drukair in July 2003 for two 114-seat Airbus A319-115, powered by two CFM56-5B engines, for delivery in the second half of 2004. The purchase of the two jets, valued at 3,534.36 million Bhutanese ngultrum (BTN), was the biggest single purchase ever made by Bhutan, and was largely responsible for a 250 percent increase in the Bhutanese trade deficit over the previous year for the financial year 2004–2005. The Bhutanese government issued BTN 1,767.18 million in government bonds to pay for one aircraft and for only the second time in Bhutan's history intended to seek a commercial loan for the other aircraft. However, in October 2004 it announced it would instead seek a soft loan for this purpose.
On 11 November 2003, the king's birthday, Drukair initiated services to Gaya, India. Bodh Gaya, 10 kilometres (6 mi) from Gaya, is the site of the Mahabodhi Temple where Siddhārtha Gautama, the Buddha, reached enlightenment, and 30,000–40,000 Bhutanese make the pilgrimage every year. Pilgrims have previously made the pilgrimage to Bodh Gaya via a 2–3-day overland trip from the Bhutanese border town of Phuntsholing, and Drukair management plans on acquiring 20–30% of this traffic, although the airline had yet to record a profit on the route at of February 2006. The following month, as a result of Royal Bhutan Army efforts to expel from Bhutan territory Indian separatist insurgent groups, notably the United Liberation Front of Asom and the National Democratic Front of Bodoland, flights to Dhaka were suspended from 29 December in order to prevent insurgents from using Drukair flights to escape to alleged hideouts in Bangladesh.
### Airbus era
The first Airbus A319 arrived in Bhutan on 19 October 2004; the date chosen after a Buddhist astrologer was consulted to ensure the aircraft arrived in Bhutan on an auspicious day in the Buddhist calendar. Before entering service on commercial flights on 31 October 2004, Drukair took their A319 on a country-wide flight in honour of the ascension of Crown Prince Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck to the Chhoetse Penlop. The second aircraft was delivered by Airbus to Drukair in December 2004. On 31 August 2012, Druk Air took delivery of a third Airbus A319.
In July 2005, the governments of India and Bhutan signed a new bilateral air services agreement which increased the allowable number of weekly flights between the two countries from 12 to 49. In addition to destinations already served by Drukair, the cities of Mumbai, Chennai and Guwahati were included in their services agreement, with Bhutan being granted fifth freedom rights from several Indian cities to onward destinations such as Yangon, Dhaka and Singapore.
Domestic helicopter service was inaugurated in November 2005, in line with a resolution by the Council of Ministers in April 2001 which stated that domestic services should be introduced. Thirty heliports across the country were identified, and the introduction of services saw, for example, the 550 kilometres (340 mi) trip from Thimphu to Trashigang taking only one hour, instead of two to three days. The Eurocopter Ecureuil helicopter operated by the Nepalese operator, Air Dynasty, had by January 2006 seen 30 hours of service, netting Drukair US\$3,000 in profits.
Flights to Dhaka, suspended since 29 December 2003, resumed on 23 October 2006, and the airline was given rights to fly to Chittagong and Cox's Bazar by the Bangladeshi authorities. The airline announced plans in July 2007 to start scheduled flights to Mumbai via Kathmandu from March 2008, inline with the strategy of Drukair management to increase the number of Indian tourists travelling to Bhutan during the low season months of June through August and November through February. These plans were put on hold in March 2008, due to Paro Airport not being able to handle night flights and the airline only being able to secure landing slots at Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport at 3 am. Plans for services to Hong Kong, Singapore, Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah were also shelved.
The airline posted its first profit in 2007 of BTN 31.15 million. The two BAe 146 aircraft were sold to Star Perú in October 2007 for US\$3.3 million, and left Bhutan for Peru in November and December 2007.
Druk Gyalpo Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck on 11 November 2007 issued a Royal Kasho establishing Druk Holding and Investments Limited, a holding company which would manage existing and future investments of the Royal Bhutanese government. As a result, seven government-owned companies, including Drukair, had their ownership transferred from the Ministry of Finance to the newly formed holding company. Incorporated on 13 November 2007, Druk Holding and Investments announced in December 2007 that given Bhutan's tourism industry being reliant on Drukair, the head of the government agency overseeing tourism development in Bhutan would become the chairperson of Drukair, and would be responsible for improving the performance of the national airline.
In March 2008, Drukair introduced a new uniform for its flight attendants, consisting of a contemporary kira and tego. The uniforms were introduced for the centenary celebrations of the monarchy, as well as the airlines own silver jubilee. The uniform was chosen by way of a competition in which five Bhutanese fashion designers submitted entries, with the winner receiving a BTN 75,000 prize. The textiles used in the new uniform were chosen via a competition which was jointly organised by Drukair and the United Nations Development Programme to promote the Bhutanese textile industry and culture.
Although the government of Bhutan goes to great lengths to prevent outside influences from intruding on Bhutanese culture, Drukair is not immune to problems which affect the airline industry and the world community at large. In June 2008, citing hikes in the price of oil and the need to contain operational costs, the airline reduced frequencies across its network and announced an increase in airfares to offset the increased costs, whilst taking advantage of the lower cost of jet fuel at Delhi, Kolkata and Bangkok airports. Due to its small network which is reliant on fifth-freedom rights, Drukair regularly leases its aircraft to other airlines, such as Myanmar Airways International and Bangkok Airways in order to keep utilisation rates on its aircraft higher than they would under normal circumstances, whilst at the same time earning extra revenue.
The airline was due to begin flights on 20 April 2009 to Bagdogra Airport in India, but had to delay the inaugural flight due to the lack of immigration and customs facilities at the airport. The inaugural flight to Bagdogra Airport left Paro Airport on 18 June 2009, making Drukair the first international airline to operate into the airport. In Bagdogra, a ceremony was held which was attended by S. M. Krishna, the Indian Minister for External Affairs, and Lyonpo Ugyen Tshering, the Bhutanese Minister of Foreign Affairs.
## Contemporary developments
Until 23 August 2010 Drukair was the only airline flying into Bhutan.
The airline is important for Bhutan and the Bhutanese people, connecting Bhutan with the outside world and supporting tourism and export markets.
In October 2009, the Bhutanese government planned construction works for an airstrip in Yongphulla. The airstrip, which was expected to be 3,900 feet (1,200 m) in length and operational by March 2010, would allow for service by small aircraft in the 15–16 seat category. The project was being financed with Nu. 34 million from the budget which was previously allocated to the development of domestic helicopter services. The airstrip would only be operational during the morning hours due to high winds in the afternoon, making safe operations risky.
Drukair is conducting a feasibility study into operating flights to the airstrip from Paro, as well as two others which are under construction at Bathpalathang and Gelephu.
In 2006, the Indian government, acting for the Bhutanese government, conducted a feasibility study into the viability of an international airport near the southern Bhutanese town of Gelephu. In the five-year plan (which covers 2008–2013) the sum of BTN 2,826 million had been allocated by the Bhutanese government for development of the new airport. A preliminary survey was conducted by India in May 2006 and the survey team from the Airports Authority of India was to return and complete the final survey in September 2006. In October 2008 the project was shelved, and the Bhutanese government decided that the airport at Gelephu would be used for domestic flights only.
Since then, the construction of a domestic airport at Gelephu has been scheduled to commence in late 2010 with the airport proposing to start operations in June 2011. The Bhutanese Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) has indicated that Gelephu's will be an 'all-weather' airport that may be able to accept some international traffic in the future.
Under the Vision 2020 Plan, the Royal Bhutanese Government has identified the requirement for improved external air links by 2017, in an effort to increase tourism revenue 100% by 2012 and 150% by 2017. Drukair is conducting feasibility studies into the commencement of operations to either Hong Kong or Singapore by March 2011. The airline's commercial manager has stated that preliminary studies show that Bhutanese traffic to Singapore would consist mainly of official travel, whilst traffic to Hong Kong would be mainly commercial, with good prospects for tourism development.
On 21 April 2010, an ATR 42 turboprop regional aircraft was delivered to Paro under a nine-month lease. The aircraft was used on flights from Paro to Kolkata and Kathmandu, and was on standby during the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit in Thimphu at the end of April. Drukair announced its intention to join the International Air Transport Association in 2009.
During February 2018, Druk air performed a few charter flights to Hong Kong and additional charter flights were on slate during the following months. The airline had received request for charter flights to other destinations in Asia . It was also reported that Druk air would be adding an Airbus A320neo aircraft as well as purchasing a new ATR-42-600 aircraft.
Drukair took delivery of its new ATR 42-600 on 22 October 2019. This was followed by the delivery of the Airbus A320neo in April 2020.
## Destinations
Drukair operates scheduled flights to the following destinations:
## Fleet
As of May 2022, the Drukair fleet consists of the following aircraft:
An ATR 42-500 first operated on a nine-month lease from April 2010 was evaluated by the airline with the possibility of a future purchase. On 4 June 2011, a purchased ATR 42-500 arrived in Paro. Drukair had bought the 48-seater with the view of using it to service the domestic routes to Bumthang and Yonphula in late 2011. On 22 October 2019, Drukair received a new ATR 42-600 following which it sold its ATR 42-500 to ATR.
On 12 October 2021, Drukair inaugurated its first Airbus A320neo. The aircraft was ordered in 2018 and received in April 2020.
## Retired fleet
## Services
### Frequent flyer program
"My Happiness Reward" was launched by Drukair on 10 November 2014, in commemorating the birth anniversary of His Majesty the Fourth Druk Gyalpo Jigme Singye Wangchuck and in celebrating his enlightened and visionary philosophy of Gross National Happiness.
The members of the program can accumulate miles corresponding to the distance flown on Drukair and the class of service availed. Accrued miles may then be redeemed for free air tickets (Happiness Reward Ticket), upgrades at airports (Happiness Class Upgrade) and other benefits. Drukair currently offers 3 tiers of membership: Silver (Basic tier), Gold and Platinum (the elite tier).
## Accidents and incidents
- On 16 April 2016, Druk Air Flight KB140 was damaged after flying through a hail storm while on approach to Guwahati. The aircraft, an Airbus A319-115, operated on a flight from Paro to Bangkok via Guwahati. While descending to Guwahati over the Garo Hills, hail stones damaged and punctured the nose cone of the aircraft. A safe landing was made at Guwahati. No injuries were reported.
## See also
- Transport in Bhutan
|
67,687,968 |
I Pity the Poor Immigrant
| 1,135,393,964 |
1967 song by Bob Dylan
|
[
"1967 songs",
"Bob Dylan songs",
"Songs written by Bob Dylan",
"Works about immigration"
] |
"I Pity the Poor Immigrant" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. It was recorded on November 6, 1967, at Columbia Recording Studios, Nashville, produced by Bob Johnston. The song was released on Dylan's eighth studio album John Wesley Harding on December 27, 1967.
The song's lyrics reference the Biblical Book of Leviticus. The track has been interpreted as empathetic to the plight of immigrants, despite what appear to be some unsympathetic lyrics. The song, and in particular Dylan's delivery of the vocals, received a mixed critical reception.
## Background and recording
Following a motorcycle accident in July 1966, Dylan spent the next 18 months recuperating at his home in Woodstock and writing songs. According to Dylan biographer Clinton Heylin, all the songs for John Wesley Harding, Dylan's eighth studio album, were written and recorded during a six-week period at the end of 1967. With one child born in early 1966 and another in mid-1967, Dylan had settled into family life.
He recorded ten takes of "I Pity the Poor Immigrant" on November 6, 1967, at Columbia Studio A in Nashville, Tennessee, the same studio where he had completed Blonde on Blonde the previous year. Accompanying Dylan, who played acoustic guitar and harmonica, were two Nashville veterans from the Blonde on Blonde sessions: Charlie McCoy on bass guitar and Kenneth Buttrey on drums. The producer was Bob Johnston, who produced Dylan's two previous albums, Highway 61 Revisited in 1965 and Blonde on Blonde in 1966, and the sound engineer was Charlie Bragg. The last of the ten takes was released as the third track on side two of John Wesley Harding on December 27, 1967.
## Composition and lyrical interpretation
Dylan visited London from December 1962 to January 1963, where he heard folk singers including Martin Carthy and learned tunes, including "Come All Ye Tramps And Hawkers" and "Paddy West" which he adapted in composing "I Pity the Poor Immigrant". The Sunday Heralds Ron McKay referred to Dylan's song as "a straight pinch, with Dylan variations, of course, from 'Come All Ye Tramps and Hawkers', a traditional song performed by Jimmy MacBeath, a Scottish traveller from Portsoy, who probably pinched it from someone else." John Boland of the Irish Independent noted that the same tune was also used in "The Homes of Donegal", which pre-dated Dylan's song.
Asked by interviewer John Cohen in 1968 whether there was a "germ that started" the song, Dylan replied "Yes, the first line." Cohen followed up by asking what the trigger might have been, to which Dylan responded "To tell the truth, I have no idea how it comes into my mind." Critic Andy Gill calls the song "confusing", finding it unclear whether it is a literal immigrant, or a person who lives like an immigrant, with Dylan's "gentle and piteous delivery bely[ing] his tough attitude." Across three verses, Dylan outlines what Gill describes as the subject's "propensity to strive for evil ... lying, cheating, greed, self-loathing, uncharitableness and ruthlessness", possibly satirically. The song ends with "I pity the poor immigrant / When his gladness comes to pass".
The lyrics feature phrases such as "strength spent in vain" "heaven [as] iron" and "eats but is not satisfied" which closely match the Book of Leviticus, Chapter 26, verses 20, 19, and 26. Critic Oliver Trager believes that "essence of [the Biblical] references is that God punishes those who do not obey the Ten Commandments by turning them into immigrants and casting them into a threatening environment", and that the lyrics "finds Dylan playing with the conflicting instincts driving his song's title character". Journalist Paul Williams wrote that Dylan's delivery and music show him as an "empathetic (human) observer" rather than the voice of the Old Testament version of God, but Harvey Kubernik concluded in Goldmine that "the 'speaker' of the song likely is Christ"
Classics scholar Richard F. Thomas interprets "I Pity the Poor Immigrant" as a "plaintive song of empathy, for the poor immigrant who just doesn't fit, and whose preoccupations – that man 'who falls in love with wealth itself and turns his back on me' —keep him from joining the world of the singer." Time called it a melancholy portrait of a misanthropic, malcontented wanderer", citing the lyric "who passionately hates his life and likewise fears his death." In The Guardian, Neil Spencer felt that it has an "enigmatic mix of empathy and judgment" Gordon Mills wrote in Rolling Stone that Dylan
> "suggests the immense sympathy he has for those who have dared to cut the rope and be free from the life of being one, 'who lies with every breath, who passionately hates himself, and likewise fears his death.' ... The immigrant, having seen through the enormous paradox of wealth and poverty on this earth, seeks another way. The song ends with open tenderness for those who have made the journey."
Scholar of English David Punter wrote that it is unclear who the audience that the narrator of the song addresses are, but that the lyrics seem to be "less about a concern for the immigrant himself than about the plight into which his situation places all of us". He suggested that the opening verse, which says that the "poor immigrant ... uses all his power to do evil "is indicative of "depthless irony". According to Punter:
> "we are not, surely, supposed to mistake the immigrant for a terrorist, but instead to sense the interior struggle of resentment, and hence a questioning of what this 'evil' might actually be: an evil emanating from the immigrant, or more probably the impossibility of escaping from prejudice, of always being 'pre-judged' and feeling the distorted need to live up to these negative expectations."
Punter considers that the verse which contains "fills his mouth with laughing / And who builds his town with blood" relates to the trope of the immigrant rather than a more literal interpretation, and that it serves to uncover "a whole series of associations which remind us of a complex history of violence, of defamiliarization".
## Critical reception
Record Mirror reviewer Norman Jopling described the track as "draggy with tremendous atmosphere and an unusually different vocal sound", saying "you could almost fall asleep to this one." Pete Johnson of the Los Angeles Times called the track "as maudlin and gummy as it sounds" and added that "Dylan's voice may be parodying Dylan's voice deliberately." David Yaffe described the vocal as "morose, almost a parody of self-righteous liberal guilt." Greil Marcus wrote that Dylan sounded ill, "his voice curled up in his throat, will and desire collapsed under leaden vowels." Trager wrote that Dylan's singing was "in top form."
The song was awarded a maximum rating of 5 stars by Allan Jones in Uncut's Bob Dylan supplement in 2015. It was in 20th place on Thomas's 2017 list of the best Bob Dylan songs in Maxim. Matthew Greenwald of AllMusic thought that the song "the song works on several levels and portrays an illustration of people who can't help but use others."
## Live performances
According to his official website, Dylan has played the song in concert 17 times. The live debut was on August 31, 1969, at the Isle of Wight Festival, following which he did not perform it live again until the Rolling Thunder Revue in 1976. One of the 1976 performances, with Joan Baez, was included in the Hard Rain television special. Williams regarded "I Pity the Poor Immigrant" as the highlight of the TV special, highlighting Howie Wyeth's piano playing, Dylan's "masterful vocal performance", and Baez's "good-humoured warrior harmonies." Dylan's most recent concert performance of the song was on May 25, 1976, in Salt Lake City. Heylin felt that the song was "redeemed by the glorious honky-tonk arrangement" on the Rolling Thunder tour.
An out-take from the original sessions was included on The Bootleg Series Vol. 15: Travelin' Thru, 1967–1969 (2019). Jamie Atkins of Record Collector magazine wrote that this version "gallops along – compared to the original it's practically a head-shaking beat group rave-up." The Bootleg Series Vol. 10: Another Self Portrait (1969–1971) (2013), includes "I Pity the Poor Immigrant" from the Isle of Wight concert, August 31, 1969.
## Credits
Personnel for the November 6, 1967, recordings at Columbia's Nashville studios:
Musicians
- Bob Dylan – vocals, rhythm guitar, harmonica
- Charlie McCoy – bass
- Kenneth Buttrey – drums
Technical'''
- Bob Johnston – production
- Charlie Bragg – engineering
## Official releases
- John Wesley Harding (1967)
- The Original Mono Recordings (2010)
- The Bootleg Series Vol. 10: Another Self Portrait (1969–1971) (2013)
- The Bootleg Series Vol. 15: Travelin' Thru, 1967–1969 (2019)
A duet with Joan Baez from the 1976 Hard Rain TV Special was released on Baez's CD and DVD How Sweet The Sound in 2009.
## Cover versions
Covers of the song include versions by Judy Collins on Who Knows Where The Time Goes (1967), Joan Baez on Any Day Now (1968), and Richie Havens on Richard P. Havens, 1983 (1969). Marion Williams released the song on a single in 1969. Sidney Nelson of Nottingham Evening Post praised Collins's' version, describing it as better than Dylan's. Baez's version was described as "mediocre" by Robb Baker of the Chicago Tribune, and as "shrill and strained by Ralph J. Gleason in The San Francisco Examiner.
Planxty's cover on their album Words & Music was described by Steven X. Rea of the Philadelphia Inquirer as "lethargic". Marty Ehrlich's 2001 version on his album Song was called "a slow bluesy meander that grows gently funkier" by John Fordham in The Guardian. Thea Gilmore covered the whole John Wesley Harding'' album in 2011. Patrick Humphries, writing for BBC Music, described her version of "I Pity the Poor Immigrant" as "a poignant testament to the untold millions who passed through Ellis Island".
|
14,495,164 |
George Hoey
| 1,125,321,130 |
American football player (born 1946)
|
[
"1946 births",
"20th-century African-American sportspeople",
"21st-century African-American people",
"African-American players of American football",
"American football defensive backs",
"American football return specialists",
"Denver Broncos players",
"Flint Central High School alumni",
"Living people",
"Michigan Wolverines football players",
"Michigan Wolverines men's track and field athletes",
"New England Patriots players",
"New York Jets players",
"People from Gaffney, South Carolina",
"Players of American football from Flint, Michigan",
"San Diego Chargers players",
"St. Louis Cardinals (football) players",
"University of Colorado Boulder faculty"
] |
George William Hoey (born November 14, 1946) is a former American football defensive back, punt returner and kickoff returner. He played college football for the University of Michigan Wolverines (1966–1968) and professionally in the National Football League (NFL) for the Arizona Cardinals (1971), New England Patriots (1972–1973), San Diego Chargers (1974), Denver Broncos (1975), and New York Jets (1975).
In high school, Hoey was an All-State halfback. At the University of Michigan, College Football Hall of Fame halfback Ron Johnson was in Hoey's class, and Hoey was therefore used principally as a defensive back. Hoey is most remembered for his work as a punt returner at Michigan. He led the Big Ten Conference in punt return yards in 1967 and 1968, and still holds Michigan's modern era (post-1949) records for most punt return yards in a game (140), most return yards per punt in a season (24.3) and most return yards per punt in a career (17.1). Hoey was also a record-setting sprinter on Michigan's track and field team.
In five seasons in the NFL, Hoey was principally a kickoff returner. In 1971, he set a St. Louis Cardinals club record with six kickoff returns for 206 yards, including one for 103 yards and a touchdown. He had 534 kickoff return yards in his career.
Since 1993, Hoey has worked in administration at the University of Colorado. He worked first in academic services for the athletic department. After controversies in the late 1990s concerning eligibility of University of Colorado athletes, Hoey accepted a position in the school's career services department providing career counseling to student athletes.
## High school athlete at Flint Central
Hoey was born in Gaffney, South Carolina. He moved with his family from South Carolina to Flint, Michigan at age 13. At Flint Central High School, he excelled in both football and track. When No. 1 ranked Flint Central met No. 2 ranked Bay City Central in 1963, it was billed as the "Game of the Year." Flint Central won the game 25–18, as Hoey (then only a junior) scored three touchdowns, including a 63-yard punt return for a touchdown, and a pass interception that Hoey ran back 35 yards for a touchdown on the final play of the game. As a senior in 1964, Hoey was named an All-State halfback by The Detroit News and UPI. In naming him to its All-State team, the UPI noted: "Hoey, a 5-foot-10, 165-pounder, gained 502 yards in 64 carries and caught 17 passes. He scored 11 touchdowns to lead the Saginaw Valley Conference for the second straight year. A great broken-field runner, he has scored eight touchdowns on kickoff or punt returns during his two-year stint with the varsity." He also led the Saginaw Valley Conference in scoring for two seasons. On his high school track team, Hoey won the 60-yard dash at the Central Michigan Relays Invitational indoor meet with a time of 6.3 seconds. He was All-State in track at the 1965 Michigan High School Athletic Association Class A track meet.
## University of Michigan track and football star
In 1965, Hoey became the first African-American athlete from Flint to earn a University of Michigan scholarship. At Michigan, Hoey excelled in both football and track. In track, Hoey set a 60-yard dash record with a time of 6.1 in 1966. He was a member of the Wolverines' record-setting 4 × 100 metres relay with a time of 40.6. In football, Hoey did not make the team as a halfback, having the misfortune to be in the same class as College Football Hall of Famer Ron Johnson. He started only three games at halfback during his time at Michigan (and one at fullback). With Ron Johnson playing halfback, Hoey was used principally as a defensive back and punt returner. Playing against Navy in 1968, Hoey had two interceptions which he returned for 31 yards, and punt returns of 63 and 36 yards. He was named an All-Big Ten defensive back in 1968.
### Punt return records at Michigan
Though he was also an All-Big Ten defensive back, Hoey is most remembered as one of the leading punt returners in Michigan history. He led the Big Ten in punt return yards in 1967 and 1968, and holds several Michigan school records for punt returns, including most return yards in a game and most yards per return in a season and a career.
#### Most yards in a game
On October 28, 1967, Hoey gained 140 yards on four punt returns against Minnesota—still Michigan's single-game record for punt return yardage. Hoey and Steve Breaston are the only two Michigan players with two games in the top ten single-game performances by a Michigan punt returner.
#### Most yards per return in a season
Hoey also holds the modern (post-1949) Michigan school record for yards per return in a season. His 1967 average of 24.3 yards/return exceeds any other modern Michigan punt returner by more than eight yards per return (minimum 1.2 return per team game played). Hoey's 1967 average ranks sixth in NCAA Division I-A history behind the all-time Michigan leader Gene Derricotte who ranks fifth. However, the Michigan record books base single-season leadership based upon minimum 15 returns per game and Hoey's name is omitted.
N.B.:The database used here includes stats since 1949. Totals before 1949 are not included here; for example, Gene Derricotte averaged over 24 yards per return prior to 1949.
#### Most yards per return in a career
Hoey also holds the Michigan school record for punt return yards per return in a career with an average of 17.1 yards per return.
## NFL football player
Hoey was selected by the Detroit Lions in the 14th round of the 1969 NFL Draft. He played five seasons in the NFL for the St. Louis Cardinals (1971), New England Patriots (1972–1973), San Diego Chargers (1974), Denver Broncos (1975) and New York Jets (1975). Hoey played in 53 NFL games and had four punt returns for 38 return yards, 21 kickoff returns for 534 return yards, and two interceptions for 45 return yards. He set a Cardinals club record with six kickoff returns for 206 yards, one for 103 yards and a touchdown against the Philadelphia Eagles. The club record for longest return was broken in 1979 by Roy Green, who posted a 106-yard return. Hoey had the misfortune of playing with losing teams throughout his NFL career. The best team that he played for was the 1975 Denver Broncos, who recorded a 6–8 record.
## Professional career at the University of Colorado
Hoey has worked in various capacities at the University of Colorado. From 1993–1999, Hoey was involved in academic services in Colorado's athletic department. Hoey "came under fire for an eligibility problem of a prospective CU athlete," including linebacker Anwawn Jones who lost a year of eligibility and was forced to sit out the 1999 NCAA Division I-A football season due to an error in calculating his transfer credits. In 1999, Hoey transferred out of the athletic department and began working in the university's career services department. That October, Jones told The Denver Post that Hoey "wasn't necessarily a scapegoat, but there were definitely mistakes made in his department." Recruiting issues arose after Rick Neuheisel departed as Colorado's head football coach and were part of broader problems that resulted in the school's being placed on two years' probation for 53 rules violations, 51 occurring while Neuheisel was the Colorado coach.
In 2004, the Colorado Daily reported that Hoey was a career counselor working with all students to help them prepare for their future careers. I provide information that will hopefully have them taking advantage of many services and resources." In May 2007, Hoey was the University of Colorado's career development coordinator and a co-chair of the Black Faculty/Staff Association, and the Virginia Patterson Chapter of Mortar Board Honors Society at the University of Colorado honored Hoey for his efforts to educate students.
## Family and honors
Herb Washington, former Oakland A and world-class sprinter, is Hoey's cousin. Hoey is married to Erin Hoag and has two sons, William and Sean. He was inducted into the Greater Flint Afro-American Hall of Fame in 2001, and he was inducted into the Greater Flint Area Sports Hall of Fame in 2003.
## Career statistics
## See also
- List of NCAA major college yearly punt and kickoff return leaders
|
1,785,449 |
Madusa
| 1,171,961,144 |
American professional wrestler and monster truck driver
|
[
"1964 births",
"20th-century female professional wrestlers",
"21st-century American Jews",
"21st-century American women",
"AWA World Women's Champions",
"American female professional wrestlers",
"American podcasters",
"American professional wrestlers of Italian descent",
"American women podcasters",
"Dangerous Alliance members",
"Expatriate professional wrestlers in Japan",
"IWA World Women's Champions",
"Italian emigrants to the United States",
"Italian female professional wrestlers",
"Jewish American sportspeople",
"Jewish professional wrestlers",
"Living people",
"Monster truck drivers",
"Professional wrestling managers and valets",
"Professional wrestling trainers",
"Sportspeople from Milan",
"Tag League the Best winners",
"WCW/WWE Cruiserweight Champions",
"WWE 24/7 Champions",
"WWE Hall of Fame inductees",
"WWF/WWE Women's Champions"
] |
Debrah Ann Miceli (born February 9, 1963), better known as Madusa, is an American monster truck driver and former professional wrestler. She is currently working for National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) as a producer. In professional wrestling Miceli is also known by the ring name Alundra Blayze, which she used while in the WWF/WWE. Outside of the WWF, she wrestled under her professional name of Madusa, which was shortened from "Made in the USA". Her early career was spent in the American Wrestling Association, where she once held the AWA World Women's Championship. In 1988, she was the first woman to be awarded Pro Wrestling Illustrated's Rookie of the Year. The following year, she signed a contract with All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling, making her the first foreign wrestler to do so.
She later joined World Championship Wrestling (WCW), where she was a member of The Dangerous Alliance, a group of wrestlers managed by Paul E. Dangerously. In 1993, she joined the rival World Wrestling Federation (WWF) under the name Alundra Blayze. In the WWF, she feuded with Bull Nakano and Bertha Faye, while holding the WWF Women's Championship three times. Two years after joining the WWF, Miceli returned to WCW, showing up on an episode of Monday Nitro to throw the WWF Women's Championship belt into a trash can; she was blacklisted by the WWF for the next 20 years as a result. In her second WCW run, Miceli feuded with Bull Nakano and Oklahoma, and became the first woman to hold the WCW World Cruiserweight Championship. After training wrestlers such as Torrie Wilson, Stacy Keibler, and Nora Greenwald (Molly Holly) at the WCW Power Plant, she left the company in 2001. On March 28, 2015, she was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2015, under the Alundra Blayze moniker. In 2015, she additionally served as the commissioner of Japanese promotion World Wonder Ring Stardom.
Miceli is a former monster truck driver, and second longest tenured female driver in the sport to Scarlet Bandit. She drove a truck named Madusa, and won the 2004 co-championship at the Monster Jam World Finals for freestyle in the first-ever three-way tie. The following year, she won the Racing Championship in the Monster Jam World Finals.
## Early life
Miceli was born in Minneapolis. Before entering professional wrestling, she participated in both gymnastics and track, and at age 14, she worked at an Arby's fast-food restaurant. During the beginning of her wrestling career, she also worked as a part-time nurse.
## Professional wrestling career
### American Wrestling Association (1986–1989)
In 1984, Miceli trained with Eddie Sharkey in Minneapolis and began working on the independent circuit for \$5 a match. In 1986, she started wrestling in the American Wrestling Association (AWA) feuding with Sherri Martel as Madusa Miceli. After Martel left the AWA, she replaced her as "Mr. Magnificent" Kevin Kelly's manager, who often teamed with Nick Kiniski as "The Perfect Tag Team". In a tournament final, she won the AWA World Women's Championship over Candi Devine on December 27, 1987. At that time Madusa also began managing the AWA World Heavyweight Champion Curt Hennig. She later lost the title to Wendi Richter on November 26, 1988. Hennig and Madusa joined the Diamond Exchange, a stable led by Diamond Dallas Page that included Badd Company. With Badd Company she faced the team of the Top Guns (Ricky Rice and Derrick Dukes) and Wendi Richter at the only AWA pay-per-view SuperClash III. Both Badd Company's Tag-Team Title and Wendi Richter's AWA World Women's Championship were on the line, but since Richter pinned Miceli, Badd Company remained the champions. In 1988, Miceli was also the first woman to be awarded Pro Wrestling Illustrateds Rookie of the Year.
### All Japan Women's Pro Wrestling (1989–1991)
Miceli wrestled a six-week tour for All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling at the beginning of 1989, where she won the IWA Women's title from Chigusa Nagayo before dropping it back to her the very next day. She then began training in Japan, learning the Japanese wrestling style, as well as Muay Thai, kickboxing, and boxing. She eventually signed a three-year deal with All Japan, which made her the first non-Japanese wrestler to do so. In addition, she worked for the TWA, feuding with Luna Vachon, whom she faced in a Hair vs Hair Mixed Tag Team match in September 1991. Miceli and her partner Eddie Gilbert defeated Vachon and Cactus Jack, which resulted in Vachon having her head shaved.
### World Championship Wrestling (1991–1993)
She then went to WCW and helped Paul E. Dangerously form his Dangerous Alliance. She acted primarily as Alliance member Rick Rude's valet. On October 25, Dangerously kicked her out of the Dangerous Alliance at Halloween Havoc. She, however, defeated him by count-out on November 18, 1992 at Clash of the Champions XXI.
### World Wrestling Federation (1993–1995)
In 1993, the WWF reinstated its Women's Championship, a title that had been vacant since 1990, and Miceli was brought in by the company to revive the women's division. She debuted under the ring name Alundra Blayze, because WWF owner Vince McMahon did not want to pay Miceli to use the name Madusa, which she had trademarked. She wrestled in a six-woman tournament to crown a new Women's Champion, and in the finals, she pinned Heidi Lee Morgan on December 13 to win the title. After the tournament, Miceli asked WWF management to bring in new women for her to wrestle. In mid-1994, Bull Nakano joined the WWF roster and began feuding with Blayze. Blayze defeated Nakano at SummerSlam, but lost the belt to her on November 20, 1994, in Japan at the Big Egg Wrestling Universe event. Five months later on April 3, 1995, Blayze regained the title from Nakano on an edition of Monday Night Raw. As part of the storyline, immediately following the win, she was attacked by Bertha Faye, who broke her nose. According to Rhonda Sing (Faye), the storyline was written so Miceli could take time off to get breast implants and a nose job. She returned to the ring in August 1995, losing the Women's Championship to Faye at SummerSlam on August 27. Two months later, she won the title a third time, defeating Faye on October 23. In December, due to financial troubles the WWF was having at the time she was released from her contract and was stripped of the title following her jump to rival company World Championship Wrestling, and the WWF Women's Championship remained vacant until 1998. Miceli was blacklisted by the WWF for the next 20 years, owing to her participation in a controversial incident upon returning to WCW during which she dropped the WWF Women's championship belt into a trash can.
### World Championship Wrestling (1995–2001)
In December 1995, Miceli signed with WCW, and as part of a storyline by booker Eric Bischoff, showed up on WCW Monday Nitro on December 18, where she threw the WWF Women's belt into a trash can. She later admitted that she regretted the action and would not have done it had Bischoff not coerced her. Miceli immediately began using the Madusa name again. Upon her debut she attacked Sherri Martel during her wedding to Col. Robert Parker. She had a match the following Monday on Nitro against Sherri Martel which she lost. After that, the company brought in Bull Nakano to feud with her; they battled in a match at Hog Wild in August 1996. Due to pre-match stipulations, Madusa was allowed to destroy Nakano's motorcycle after the match.
The company then decided to establish the WCW Women's Championship, but Madusa lost to Akira Hokuto in the finals of the tournament to crown the first champion on December 29 at Starrcade. On June 15, Hokuto retained the title against Madusa at The Great American Bash in a Title vs. Career match. The latter then took a nearly two-year hiatus from the company.
Madusa returned to WCW in April 1999 as part of Randy Savage's faction Team Madness with Gorgeous George and Miss Madness. After that storyline ended, Madusa entered into a tournament for the WCW Championship, but she was defeated and eliminated from the tournament. She was later re-entered into the tournament in a match against Evan Karagias, but was eliminated the next week. After her elimination, Madusa put all her focus on managing Karagias. After Karagias won the WCW World Cruiserweight Championship at Mayhem, he was found flirting with Spice of the Nitro Girls. At Starrcade, however, Spice gave Karagias a low blow during the match, and Madusa pinned him to become the first female ever to win the WCW World Cruiserweight Championship. Spice then aligned herself with Madusa and became her manager for a short time.
In January 2000, Madusa developed a rivalry with Oklahoma. In a farcical Evening Gown match on an episode of WCW Thunder on January 12, Madusa defeated Oklahoma by stripping off his dress, but he attacked her after the match. She eventually lost the Cruiserweight belt to Oklahoma at Souled Out on January 16, 2000.
In the meantime, Miceli became an instructor at the WCW Power Plant, where she helped train women such as Nora Greenwald (Molly Holly) to wrestle. Before WCW's collapse, she engaged in a brief feud with Torrie Wilson and Shane Douglas, who defeated her and partner Billy Kidman at Fall Brawl in a Mixed Tag Team Scaffold match. Madusa took a big bump during this match and wasn't seen again on WCW TV. She left the company when she heard that Vince McMahon, the owner of the World Wrestling Federation, was going to buy WCW. Because she had a previous falling-out with McMahon, she opted not to stay with the company. She retired from professional wrestling for good in 2001 because she did not like the direction in which women's wrestling was going; according to her, it was becoming less about real wrestling and more about Bra and Panties matches.
### Late career (2001–present)
On March 2, 2015, it was announced that Miceli would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2015, under her Alundra Blayze moniker. On Twitter, she said this was a sign of respect, since that was her name in WWE, but "that bitch Madusa will be on stage speaking." During her speech, in response to constant questions about her dumping the WWF Women's Championship belt in the trash on Monday Nitro, her inductor, Natalya, wheeled a trash can onstage. Miceli (calling herself both Madusa and Alundra Blayze) withdrew the belt, which she stressed was a good-looking "women's wrestling belt", and said it was finally "back home where it belongs" after 20 years. She held the belt on her shoulder, and referred to herself as the reigning WWF Women's Champion. Following her Hall of Fame induction, she made a special appearance during the WrestleMania 31 event the following day on March 29, along with the other Hall of Fame inductees.
In September 2015, Miceli was appointed the commissioner of Japanese women's promotion World Wonder Ring Stardom.
On January 27, 2016, Miceli appeared on WWE Network's program Table for 3, along with fellow wrestlers Ivory and Molly Holly.
In September 2017, the WWE Network released a documentary entitled "TrailBlayzer" detailing Miceli's careers in both wrestling and monster truck driving.
Miceli as Alundra Blayze was announced as an entrant into the battle royal for a women's championship opportunity at WWE Evolution, marking a return to the ring after an 18-year hiatus, however she was eliminated by Nia Jax
On July 22, 2019, Alundra Blayze appeared as a heel and attacked 24/7 Champion Candice Michelle, after which she captured the title from Candice by forcing her to submit, with Melina acting as the official, becoming the third woman to win the title, while also becoming the first individual to win the title via submission. She also became the second woman to hold both the WWE Women's Championship, and the 24/7 Championship. She later attempted to toss the 24/7 Championship into the trash (similar to when she did the same to the WWF Women's Championship in 1995), only to instead sell the title to WWE Hall of Famer Ted DiBiase.
Returning to TNT for the first time in 20 years, Miceli was presenter of the All Elite Wrestling (AEW)'s Women's Tag Team Cup Tournament: The Deadly Draw, which began on August 3, 2020. The tournament concluded on the August 22, 2020 Saturday episode of AEW Dynamite, where she gave the championship cup to the tournament winners Ivelisse and Diamante.
Miceli would also appear in WWE on the July 26, 2022 episode of NXT in a backstage segment with Roxanne Perez and McKenzie Mitchell, announcing a fatal four way elimination match for the vacant NXT Women's Tag Team Championship.
On January 23, 2023, Miceli appeared backstage during Raw is XXX, celebrating the 30th anniversary of Monday Night Raw.
## Monster truck career
Miceli entered the monster truck business under Dennis Anderson in 1999. She made her first American hot rod appearance at the Trans World Dome. Afterward, she purchased her own truck and named it Madusa, as she still held the rights to the name. She began winning freestyle competitions in 2001. Miceli won the 2004 co-championship at the Monster Jam World Finals for freestyle in the first-ever three-way tie. In March 2005 in Las Vegas, she beat her trainer Dennis Anderson in the final bracket of the Monster Jam World Finals for the Racing Championship, thus making her the first woman to win the Monster Jam World Finals racing championship. Also in 2005, she was the only female competitor in the Super Bowl of Motorsports.
As of January 2008, she is also the Executive Vice President of the Major League of Monster Trucks. In 2009, she returned to Monster Jam for the first time since 2006.
On October 10, 2014, she was injured in a Monster Jam event in Melbourne, Australia, and was taken to a Melbourne hospital for treatment.
## Other media
She appeared in the video game WCW Nitro, WCW Backstage Assault, WWE 2K16, WWE 2K17, WWE 2K18 and WWE 2K19.
## Personal life
After a brief first marriage to Eddie Gilbert in 1990, Miceli's second marriage was on February 14, 1998, to NFL player Ken Blackman, eight months after they met in June 1997. They shared homes in Cincinnati and Homosassa, Florida. In 1998, they opened a motorcycle shop called Spookee Custom Cycles, which made motorcycles for other NFL players such as Kimo von Oelhoffen, Darnay Scott, Bradford Banta, and Dan Wilkinson. The couple later divorced in 2008.
On June 25, 2011, Miceli married Alan Jonason, a sergeant major in the U.S. Army, in Memphis. The wedding took place at Graceland and was broadcast over the internet for over 22,000 fans.
In 1995, she appeared in the films Shootfighter II, Death Match, and Intersanction II. In Japan, she released a CD of songs sung in Japanese. She owns a grooming, pet spa, and doggy bakery called Koolkats and Hotdogs in Lecanto, Florida. In February 2004, she provided commentary for boat races.
## Championships and accomplishments
### Professional wrestling
- All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling
- IWA World Women's Championship (2 times)
- Tag League the Best (1989) – with Mitsuko Nishiwaki
- American Wrestling Association
- AWA World Women's Championship (1 time)
- Cauliflower Alley Club
- Iron Mike Mazurki Award (2020)
- International World Class Championship Wrestling
- IWCCW Women's Championship (1 time)
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated''
- Rookie of the Year (1988)
- Stanley Weston Award (2020)
- Women's Wrestling Hall of Fame
- Class of 2023
- World Championship Wrestling
- WCW Cruiserweight
Championship (1 time)
- World Wrestling Federation/WWE
- WWF Women's Championship (3 times)
- WWE 24/7 Championship (1 time)
- WWE Hall of Fame (Class of 2015)
### Motorsports
- United States Hot Rod Association'''
- USHRA Monster Jam World Finals Freestyle Co-Championship (2004)
- USHRA Monster Jam World Finals Racing Championship (2005)
## See also
- List of Jewish professional wrestlers
|
1,647,163 |
JFK Express
| 1,150,215,412 |
Former New York City Subway service
|
[
"1978 establishments in New York City",
"1990 disestablishments in New York (state)",
"Airport rail links in the United States",
"Defunct New York City Subway services",
"John F. Kennedy International Airport"
] |
The JFK Express, advertised as The Train to The Plane, was a limited express service of the New York City Subway, connecting Midtown Manhattan to John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK Airport). It operated between 1978 and 1990. Passengers paid extra, premium fares to ride JFK Express trains. Its route bullet was colored and contained an aircraft symbol.
For most of its history, the JFK Express operated along the IND Sixth Avenue Line; IND Fulton Street Line; and IND Rockaway Line between its northern terminal at 57th Street–Sixth Avenue in Manhattan and its southern terminal at Howard Beach–JFK Airport in Queens. At Howard Beach, passengers transferred to shuttle buses to reach the airport itself. During the JFK Express's last six months of operation, it was extended northward along the IND 63rd Street Line to 21st Street–Queensbridge, also in Queens. The service primarily used R46 subway cars.
## Fares and rolling stock
### Fares
Passengers purchased premium-fare tickets on board, and an onboard transit clerk on each train punched passengers' tickets. In addition, there were transit police officers aboard to provide protection for travelers. The initial fare was \$3.50, and the fare for the shuttle bus was \$1.00. On January 1, 1979, airline and airport employees were provided a discounted book of twenty tickets, selling for \$25. On July 3, 1981, the fare was raised from \$4 to \$5. When the service was discontinued in 1990, the fare was \$6.75.
### Rolling stock
The JFK Express used R46s exclusively for most of its existence, although near its end R44s were used after major service changes took place on December 11, 1988. The trains were initially three cars long or 225 feet (69 m) in length. They later were four cars long or 300 feet (91 m) long, half the length of a typical B Division train. The cars featured luggage racks for airport-bound passengers.
## History
### Introduction
In spring 1978, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) reached out to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) to join a study evaluating long-term transportation improvements to JFK Airport. In summer 1978, the two agencies worked out the details for a service running to the Howard Beach station on the IND Rockaway Line. The station was renamed Howard Beach—JFK Airport, and a transfer terminal to shuttle buses was built. Since air passengers were perceived to be more sensitive to the quality of service, and less sensitive to fare levels, it was decided to operate a special service to Howard Beach at a fare of \$3.50, fifty cents cheaper than bus service operated to the airport by Carey Bus Lines. It was decided to have the route operate via the Sixth Avenue Line instead of the Eighth Avenue Line due to its proximity to the economic center of Midtown Manhattan, to Herald Square, Rockefeller Center, and hotels along 50th Street. In addition, 57th Street–Sixth Avenue station provided an optimal terminal for the service as it was underutilized. The MTA announced plans for an "experimental" subway–bus service between Manhattan and JFK Airport on June 27, 1978.
The JFK Express began operation on September 23, 1978, with a three-car train originating at 57th Street. The MTA created several 30-second long television commercials to promote the new service. Trains ran daily from 5:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. on 20 minute headways. The route began at 57th Street and ran express on the IND Sixth Avenue Line to West Fourth Street–Washington Square, where it switched to the IND Eighth Avenue Line and ran express to Jay Street–Borough Hall in Downtown Brooklyn. From that point on, it ran non-stop on the IND Fulton Street Line and IND Rockaway Line to Howard Beach–JFK Airport. In its first year, 832,428 passengers rode the JFK Express, greater than an estimate of 550,000 to 850,000 trips for when the service became better known and fully established.
The JFK Express attracted 25 percent of the market for travel between Manhattan and JFK Airport, and increased the share of trips to the airport by public transportation. While the MTA received \$2.63 million in revenue from the service, it cost \$6.5 million to operate it, meaning an operating loss of \$3.9 million. The cost of operating the service was \$3 million greater than expected due to the decision to have railroad clerks collect tickets on board the train, and due to the service's expanded hours of operation to 2 a.m. during the Carey Bus strike from June 27 to July 23, 1979. On November 4, 1979, the schedule of service was modified to have trains run every 30 minutes between 5 and 6 a.m., every 20 minutes from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. and every 24 minutes from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m.
### Modifications
Within a few years of its inauguration, the service was being criticized as a poor use of resources. The JFK Express proved to be unsuccessful, seeing low ridership in part because the service did not actually serve any airline terminals, but rather transferred passengers to a shuttle bus service that was several hundred yards from the station. In May 1980, the MTA executive director, John Simpson, recommended that the express train be discontinued, stating that ridership on the line stabilized at 1.3 million yearly riders, and the yearly deficit rose to \$2.5 million. In June 1980, members of the MTA board voted to make the JFK Express a permanent service, stating that a mass transit link to JFK Airport was necessary.
In June 1983, the New York City Transit Authority, along with other service changes, planned to change service on the JFK Express. The JFK Express would have been extended to Rockaway Park–Beach 116th Street, and the \$5 fare and the special guard would be eliminated, making it like any other subway line. Trains would be 8 cars long instead of 4 cars long, and the headway between trains would be 18 minutes, instead of 20 minutes. The shuttle bus fare would be reduced to 75 cents, the same as the subway fare; a passenger traveling between the airport and any subway stop except Howard Beach would pay \$1.50 in total. The proposal was still being reviewed in January 1984; it never came to fruition.
At times, regular passengers were allowed on the trains and no fares were charged due to disruptions on other services; this included the 1988 closure of the Williamsburg Bridge, when trains on the BMT Nassau Street Line and BMT Jamaica Line were rerouted. Between December 11, 1988, and October 29, 1989, on weekday evenings between 9 p.m. and 1 a.m., passengers were allowed to ride the JFK Express between 57th Street and 47th–50th Streets–Rockefeller Center without paying the extra fare as it was the only service running between these two stations during those times. Some passengers paid the extra fare to get to Aqueduct Racetrack during racing days, when the JFK Express would stop at Aqueduct Racetrack station.
### Discontinuation
In October 1989, the NYCTA proposed eliminating the JFK Express, citing that it had not attracted enough passengers. At the time, 3,200 passengers were using the train per day, down from a high of between 4,000 and 5,000 passengers that used it at the beginning of the service's operation. The executive vice president of the NYCTA, George Miller, said that eliminating the service would save \$7 million a year and free 144 transit workers and 12 subway cars for more cost-efficient subway runs. It was determined that 47 percent of the riders of the JFK Express were commuters from Howard Beach and the Rockaways who were willing to pay for the premium service. Trains were running every hour by this point.
On October 29, 1989, the IND 63rd Street Line opened and the JFK Express was extended to 21st Street–Queensbridge, skipping Roosevelt Island. This extension was short-lived, as service was discontinued on April 15, 1990, due to low ridership, with as few as 3,200 riders per day. The bus service, connecting the Howard Beach–JFK Airport station and the airport proper, continued after JFK Express service ended, and was the only link between the airport and the Howard Beach station at the time. Passengers preferred the A train, which was cheaper and ran more often. Ridership on the A to the airport increased after the discontinuation of the JFK Express; in 1995, about 1 million passengers used the A to the airport.
Since the discontinuation of the JFK Express, the A train has continued to serve the Howard Beach–JFK Airport station. The JFK shuttle bus service remained in operation until the AirTrain JFK, a Port Authority of New York and New Jersey-operated people mover system, replaced it on December 17, 2003. The AirTrain JFK also connects with the Long Island Rail Road at Jamaica, and with the to Manhattan at Sutphin Boulevard–Archer Avenue. A proposal, referred to as the Lower Manhattan–Jamaica/JFK Transportation Project, would provide express train service between JFK Airport and Lower Manhattan through Brooklyn. This would be similar to the JFK Express except that the service would be an extension of AirTrain JFK and operate via the LIRR's Atlantic Branch, providing a one-seat ride to the airport terminals.
## Final route
### Service pattern
The following lines were used by the JFK Express service:
### Stations
|
542,727 |
Brioni Agreement
| 1,164,053,688 |
1991 document on the future of Yugoslavia
|
[
"1991 in Croatia",
"1991 in Slovenia",
"1991 in Yugoslavia",
"Croatian War of Independence",
"July 1991 events in Europe",
"Peace treaties",
"Political history of Slovenia",
"Ten-Day War",
"Treaties concluded in 1991",
"Treaties entered into force in 1991",
"Treaties of Croatia",
"Treaties of Slovenia",
"Treaties of Yugoslavia",
"Yugoslav Wars"
] |
The Brioni Agreement, also known as the Brioni Declaration (Croatian: Brijunska deklaracija, Serbian: Brionska deklaracija, Serbian Cyrillic: Брионска декларација, Slovene: Brionska deklaracija), is a document signed by representatives of Slovenia, Croatia, and Yugoslavia under the political sponsorship of the European Community (EC) on the Brijuni Islands on 7 July 1991. The agreement sought to create an environment in which further negotiations on the future of Yugoslavia could take place. However, ultimately it isolated the federal prime minister Ante Marković in his efforts to preserve Yugoslavia, and effectively stopped any form of federal influence over Slovenia. This meant the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) would focus on combat in Croatia, creating a precedent of redrawing international borders and staking the EC's interest in resolving the Yugoslav crisis.
The agreement put an end to hostilities between the Yugoslav and Slovene forces in the Ten-Day War. Slovenia and Croatia agreed to suspend activities stemming from their 25 June declarations of independence for a period of three months. The document also resolved border control and customs inspection issues regarding Slovenia's borders, resolved air-traffic control responsibility and mandated an exchange of prisoners of war. The Brioni Agreement also formed the basis for an observer mission to monitor implementation of the agreement in Slovenia. Eleven days after the agreement was made, the federal government pulled the JNA out of Slovenia. Conversely, the agreement made no mitigating impact on fighting in Croatia.
## Background
On 23 June 1991, as Slovenia and Croatia prepared to declare their independence during the breakup of Yugoslavia, the European Community (EC) foreign ministers decided the EC member states would not extend diplomatic recognition to the two states. The EC viewed the declarations as unilateral moves and offered assistance in negotiations regarding the future of the SFR Yugoslavia instead. At the same time, the EC decided to suspend direct talks with Slovenia and Croatia. The move was welcomed by the Yugoslav federal government. Slovenia and Croatia declared independence on 25 June, and the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) units began to deploy from its bases in Slovenia the next day. On 27 June, armed conflict broke out as the JNA and the Territorial Defence Force of Slovenia (TDS) began fighting over control of Slovenia's border posts, in what became the Ten-Day War.
A three-strong EC delegation made three visits to the region in late June and early July to negotiate a political agreement which would facilitate further negotiations. The delegation consisted of the foreign ministers of Luxembourg, as the incumbent holder of the EC presidency, and Italy and the Netherlands, as the previous and future holders of that office. The delegation members were Jacques Poos (Luxembourg), Gianni de Michelis (Italy), and Hans van den Broek (Netherlands). Prior to the delegation's arrival in Belgrade, Poos told reporters that the EC would take charge of the crisis. There, the delegation was met by Serbian president Slobodan Milošević who dismissed the prospect of Croatia leaving the Yugoslav federation because its population contained 600,000 Serbs.
On 29 June, Croatia and Slovenia agreed to suspend their declarations of independence to allow time for a negotiated settlement. The EC delegation appeared to make progress when Serbia responded to the move by ceasing their opposition to the appointment of a Croatian member of the federal presidency, Stjepan Mesić, as President of the Presidency of Yugoslavia on 30 June. The appearance of a success was reinforced when the JNA ordered its troops posted in Slovenia to return to their barracks. On 1 July, de Michelis was replaced by João de Deus Pinheiro, the Portuguese foreign minister, to maintain the formula of current, former and future EC presidencies comprising the EC delegation as the Netherlands took over the presidency from Luxembourg, while Portugal was scheduled to assume the presidency after the Dutch.
## Conference at Brijuni
A further result of the EC delegation's mission were talks attended by representatives of the EC, Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia and the Yugoslav government. The talks were held at Brijuni Islands on 7 July. Besides the EC delegation, headed by van den Broek, five out of eight members of the federal presidency attended the talks—Mesić, Bogić Bogićević, Janez Drnovšek, Branko Kostić and Vasil Tupurkovski. The Yugoslav federal prime minister Ante Marković was also present, as were the Yugoslav federal foreign minister Budimir Lončar, interior minister Petar Gračanin and the deputy defence minister Vice Admiral Stane Brovet [sr]. Croatia was represented by President Franjo Tuđman while President Milan Kučan attended on behalf of Slovenia. Serbia was represented by Borisav Jović, a former Serbian member of the federal presidency who had resigned from the position on 15 June, instead of Milošević who refused to attend. Starting at 8:00 a.m., the EC delegation held separate talks with Kučan and his assistants, then with Tuđman and his assistants, and finally with Jović. In the afternoon, a plenary meeting was held with the federal, Slovene and Croatian delegations in attendance, while Jović reportedly left dissatisfied with the talks.
The agreement was prepared at the EC council of ministers in The Hague on 5 July. It consisted of a Joint Declaration, and two annexes detailing the creation of an environment suitable to further political negotiations and guidelines for an observer mission to Yugoslavia. The agreement, which became known as the Brioni Declaration or the Brioni Agreement, required the JNA and the TDS to return to their bases, and stipulated that Slovene officials were to control Slovenia's borders alone and that both Slovenia and Croatia were to suspend all activities stemming from their declarations of independence for three months. The observer mission set out by the Brioni Agreement materialised as the European Community Monitor Mission (ECMM) tasked with monitoring the disengagement of the JNA and the TDS in Slovenia, and ultimately the withdrawal of the JNA from Slovenia.
## Aftermath
Even though little was agreed upon and the agreement was later interpreted differently by its signatories, the Brioni Agreement established the EC's interest in the region and the first EC Ministerial Conference on Yugoslavia was held in The Hague on 10 July. The ECMM helped calm several standoffs around military barracks in Slovenia and facilitated negotiations between Slovene authorities and the JNA regarding the withdrawal of the JNA from Slovenia. In Croatia, armed combat continued and the JNA shelled the city of Osijek the same evening the agreement was signed. The federal presidency ordered the complete withdrawal of the JNA from Slovenia on 18 July in response to Slovene actions in breach of the Brioni Agreement. The ECMM's scope of work was expanded to include Croatia on 1 September. By mid-September, the war had escalated as the Croatian National Guard and police blockaded the JNA barracks and the JNA embarked on a campaign against Croatian forces.
The Brioni Agreement isolated Marković who tried to preserve the federation, but was ignored by van den Broek who appeared not to comprehend issues presented before him, and the EC delegation tacitly encouraged the dissolution of Yugoslavia. The agreement diminished the authority of part of the JNA's leadership who fought for the preservation of the Yugoslav federation. The agreement was also unfavourable for Croatia because it was left to defend against the JNA and Serb forces. By effectively removing Slovenia from influence of the federal authorities, especially the JNA, the agreement fulfilled one of the Serbian nationalists' goals, allowing the redrawing of international borders. Sabrina Ramet noted that Kučan and Milošević reached an agreement in January 1991 in which Milošević gave his assurances that Slovenia's independence bid would not be opposed by Serbia. In return, Kučan expressed his understanding for Milošević's interest to create a Greater Serbia.
At the time, the EC viewed the agreement as a method of defusing the crisis and failed to attribute the lull which coincided with the Brioni Agreement to a shift in Serbian strategy instead. The EC delegation's failure to respond to Jović's departure before the plenary meeting and the EC foreign ministers' declaration of 10 July indicating the EC would withdraw from mediation if the Brioni Agreement was not implemented only encouraged Serbia which, unlike Slovenia, Croatia, or the Yugoslav federation, had nothing to lose if the EC pulled out. In the end, the EC took credit for a rapid resolution of the armed conflict in Slovenia without realising that its diplomatic efforts had little to do with the situation on the ground.
|
34,549,466 |
Jake Diekman
| 1,172,381,194 |
American baseball player (born 1987)
|
[
"1987 births",
"Arizona Diamondbacks players",
"Baseball players from Nebraska",
"Boston Red Sox players",
"Chicago White Sox players",
"Clearwater Threshers players",
"Cloud County Thunderbirds baseball players",
"Doane Tigers baseball players",
"Florida Complex League Phillies players",
"Kansas City Royals players",
"Lakewood BlueClaws players",
"Lehigh Valley IronPigs players",
"Living people",
"Major League Baseball pitchers",
"Mesa Solar Sox players",
"Oakland Athletics players",
"People from Beatrice, Nebraska",
"People from Gage County, Nebraska",
"Philadelphia Phillies players",
"Reading Phillies players",
"Scottsdale Scorpions players",
"Tampa Bay Rays players",
"Texas Rangers players",
"Williamsport Crosscutters players"
] |
Jacob Tanner Diekman (born January 21, 1987) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Tampa Bay Rays of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Philadelphia Phillies, Texas Rangers, Arizona Diamondbacks, Kansas City Royals, Oakland Athletics, Boston Red Sox, and Chicago White Sox.
With the Phillies, Diekman began as a starting pitcher and progressed through a few levels of the Phillies' farm system in his first two years in that role, before adjusting his mechanics and lowering his arm slot to throw sidearm out of the bullpen, as a relief pitcher. The adjustment worked and helped him move through the remaining levels of the Phillies' farm system. In 2012, Diekman made his major league debut. Over the next two seasons, he split time between the major league Phillies and their Triple-A (AAA) affiliate, the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, though while he was with the major league team, he was considered one of the "lone bright spots" in both 2012 and 2013. Diekman throws a fastball in the upper-90s (mph), a slider, and an occasional changeup; his fastball is among the fastest of any left-handed reliever in the major leagues.
## Early career
Diekman was born to Paul and Billie Diekman, in 1987. He has one brother, Brian. The Diekmans lived in Wymore, Nebraska, where Jake attended Southern High School. His alma mater was too small to field a baseball team, so he instead focused on golf. Eventually, Diekman joined an American Legion baseball team, playing in the summer with other players from Wymore and several surrounding towns, which he called "the best experience of my life ... so much fun." Concurrently, Diekman worked full-time at a lawn mower factory, to earn money to pursue a post-secondary education.
After graduating from high school, Diekman enrolled at Doane College, pitching one season for the school's ball team. He then transferred to Cloud County Community College, in Kansas. Following Diekman's sophomore season, he attended a junior college baseball showcase at which, with a fastball well over 90 miles per hour (140 km/h), Diekman drew much interest. He received an offer for a full scholarship to be a Nebraska Cornhusker, which he would have accepted, had the Phillies not drafted him in the 2007 Major League Baseball Draft's 30th round.
## Professional career
### Philadelphia Phillies
Between 2007 and 2010, he pitched in the lower levels of the Philadelphia Phillies' Minor League system initially as a starter, and subsequently as a reliever. Although he initially saw success in 2007, posting a 2.72 ERA in 10 starts with GCL Phillies and Williamsport Crosscutters, he struggled in 2008, posting an ERA of 5.09 in 27 starts, split between Williamsport and the Lakewood BlueClaws. At the conclusion of both 2008 and 2009, he pitched in the Florida Instructional League to continue honing his skills on the mound.
He converted from a starting pitcher to a reliever in 2009, along with several other Phillies pitching prospects. Around that time, he also, at the suggestion of the same minor league pitching coaches who converted him to relief, lowered his release point to his current low angle. Success did not manifest itself immediately, as he still posted a 4.04 ERA in 2009, his first season in relief, but in 2010, he cut his ERA to 2.91 while splitting time between Lakewood and the Clearwater Threshers, the Phillies High-A affiliate. At the end of the 2010 season, he played for the Mesa Solar Sox in the Arizona Fall League. He spent the 2011 season with the Double-A Reading Phillies, accruing a 0–1 record and a 3.05 ERA and 3 saves in 53 games. Thereafter, the Phillies added him to their 40-man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 draft.
After receiving praise from Phillies' pitching coach Rich Dubee for his performance in spring training, Diekman opened the 2012 season with the Triple-A (AAA) Lehigh Valley IronPigs. With Lehigh Valley, he posted a 1–0 record and a 0.59 ERA with 5 saves in 13 games in the season's first month. He was added to the Phillies' 25-man Major League roster on May 11, and four days later recorded a win against the Houston Astros in his MLB debut. He finished the year an established lefty specialist, and had a 3.95 ERA, though walked 6.6 batters per 9 innings, and was erratic in his control.
Entering 2013, Diekman was expected to be a key part of the Phillies bullpen after his success in 2012, however he did not break camp with the big league club, beginning the season in AAA. In AAA, he struggled, which delayed his arrival to the major league team until June. While with the big league club, he continued his dominance of left-handed hitters, however was not as good against right-handed hitters (a 150-point differential in opponent batting average and over 300 point differential in On-base plus slugging (OPS)). Diekman improved his control, which made him a presumptive member of the 2014 bullpen, as he was one of 2013's "lone bright spots" for the otherwise dismal Phillies' bullpen. Ultimately, he did make the Phillies' opening day roster as a member of the bullpen.
Early in the season, Diekman emerged as a reliable reliever in the Phillies' bullpen, and was used extensively by manager Ryne Sandberg. As the season progressed, Diekman was more successful against left-handed hitters than right-handed hitters, but was used against both in a variety of situations. On September 1, 2014, Diekman was one of four pitchers who combined for a no-hitter in the Phillies' 7–0 win over the Atlanta Braves in Turner Field. By the end of the season, the Phillies had one of the best bullpens in the league, and it consisted predominantly of young players such as Diekman. There was excitement from both Phillies' personnel and writers that the bullpen could remain solid for a long time because of young pitchers such as Diekman, Ken Giles, and Justin De Fratus. Moreover, Diekman and Giles had potential as closers should the Phillies trade Jonathan Papelbon. Overall, Diekman emerged as a name to be mentioned among the "elite" relievers of the National League, but was overused against right-handed batters, which hurt his statistics.
### Texas Rangers
On July 31, 2015, Diekman was traded to the Texas Rangers along with Cole Hamels in exchange for Matt Harrison, Nick Williams, Jorge Alfaro, Jake Thompson, Alec Asher, and Jerad Eickhoff. He became an important bullpen piece in the Rangers' run to the playoffs in 2016. Diekman and the Rangers agreed to a one-year deal worth \$1.225 million on January 29, 2016, and avoided arbitration. Diekman finished the 2016 season with a 4–2 record, 4 saves and a 3.40 ERA in 66 appearances. On January 25, 2017, Diekman underwent surgery for chronic ulcerative colitis. He only made 11 appearances towards the end of the season. In 2018, fully healthy, Diekman posted an ERA of 3.69 in 47 games. He struck out 48 batters in 39 innings.
### Arizona Diamondbacks
On July 31, 2018, Diekman was traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Wei-Chieh Huang and Joshua Javier. The trade took place while the Diamondbacks and Rangers were facing off in a two-game series in Arizona. Diekman struggled after being acquired by Arizona, posting an ERA of 7.53 in 24 appearances. Diekman became a free agent following the 2018 season.
### Kansas City Royals
On February 13, 2019, Diekman signed a one-year contract with a mutual option for 2020 with the Kansas City Royals. The deal was worth a reported \$2.75 million guaranteed, plus performance incentives. In 48 relief appearances with the 2019 Royals, Diekman accrued a 4.75 ERA and an 0–6 record while striking out 63 batters in 41+2⁄3 innings.
### Oakland Athletics
On July 27, 2019, the Royals traded Diekman to the Oakland Athletics for Ismael Aquino and Dairon Blanco. On September 6, Diekman pitched in a suspended game between the Athletics and Detroit Tigers that originally started on May 19, allowing a double in a scoreless inning. This appearance was recorded on the original game date of May 19, when Diekman threw an inning of relief for the Royals against the Los Angeles Angels. Diekman thus accomplished the rare feat of having pitched for two different teams on the same day, statistically. For the 2019 season, he tied for the major league lead in holds (31). In 28 games for the A's, Diekman struck out 21 in 20+1⁄3 innings.
Diekman became a free agent following the 2019 season after the Athletics declined his contract option. On December 3, 2019, Diekman re-signed with Oakland on a two-year contract. In the 2020 shortened season, Diekman only allowed 2 runs in 21+1⁄3 innings.
### Boston Red Sox
On March 16, 2022, Diekman signed a two-year contract with a club option for 2024 with the Boston Red Sox. In 44 relief appearances through the end of July, he compiled a 5–1 record and a 4.23 ERA while striking out 51 batters in 38+1⁄3 innings.
### Chicago White Sox
On August 1, 2022, Diekman was traded to the Chicago White Sox for catcher Reese McGuire and Taylor Broadway. In 26 relief appearances through the end of the season, Diekman compiled an 0–3 record with a 6.52 ERA while striking out 28 batters in 19+1⁄3 innings.
In 2023, Diekman made 13 appearances for the White Sox, struggling immensely to a 7.94 ERA with 11 strikeouts in 11+1⁄3 innings pitched. On May 2, 2023, Diekman was designated for assignment by Chicago. He was released by the team on May 6.
### Tampa Bay Rays
On May 10, 2023, Diekman signed a one-year, major league deal with the Tampa Bay Rays.
## Pitching style
A lefty specialist, Diekman throws a fastball in the mid-90s, a slider at 78–81, and an occasional changeup to right-handed hitters. His fastball is among the fastest of left-handed relievers in the major leagues. Like most left-handed pitchers, particularly those who throw out of an arm angle similar to Diekman's, he is tough on left-handed hitters. In 2013, he held lefties to just a .368 OPS, though allowed a .765 OPS to right-handed hitters. Despite suggestions he remain a lefty specialist, he emerged in 2014 as a favorite middle reliever for manager Ryne Sandberg against both righties and lefties. In 2020, Diekman credited Rob Friedman with helping improve his slider grip through Twitter, increasing the horizontal break on his slider substantially.
## Personal life
Diekman's mother died at age 57 just months before the Phillies drafted him. Diekman describes his father as his "best friend", and one who has helped him cope with his mother's death. His mother, Billie, was Diekman's "biggest fan" and had to order her husband, Paul, to stop pacing and watch Diekman pitch. Diekman has sought therapy to cope with the loss of his mother, and meditates and thinks about her during "The Star-Spangled Banner" prior to each game.
> "(After his mother's death) Diekman started to appreciate the little things. The game slowed down when he had fun. He invoked his mother's spirit rather than avoiding it. 'The drive and determination she had for all the projects she did, how hard she worked, the dedication she had for her job,' Diekman said. 'It really paid off. It really came to me. I thought, 'If I have a job, I want to put in the time and dedication like she did.' ' That is how Billie Diekman's legacy perseveres. It is why a young man from tiny Wymore, Neb., will cherish Sunday's rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" at a baseball stadium..."
Away from baseball, Diekman holds an associate's degree in business administration from Cloud County Community College. He enjoys listening to music, working out, playing golf, and long walks on the beach. He resides in Beatrice, Nebraska, during the offseason. Because of his struggles with ulcerative colitis, he started a non-profit association called Gut It Out to benefit others who struggle with the disease.
|
67,905,922 |
165 West 57th Street
| 1,154,799,172 |
Building in Manhattan, New York
|
[
"1916 establishments in New York City",
"57th Street (Manhattan)",
"Commercial buildings completed in 1916",
"Commercial buildings in Manhattan",
"Midtown Manhattan",
"New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan",
"School buildings completed in 1916",
"Schools in Manhattan"
] |
165 West 57th Street, originally the Louis H. Chalif Normal School of Dancing headquarters, is a building in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. It is along the northern sidewalk of 57th Street between Sixth Avenue and Seventh Avenue. The five-story building was designed by George A. and Henry Boehm for dance instructor Louis H. Chalif. It was designed as an event space, a school, and Chalif's apartment.
165 West 57th Street has an asymmetrical facade. The original ground story was originally built with ivory-colored Dover marble but was later refaced with limestone. At the second and third stories, the facade contains a diagonal pattern resembling a diamond, with terracotta molding. Inside were a ballroom at the second story (later known as the Carl Fischer Hall, Judson Hall, or CAMI Hall) and a dining area at the third story. The fourth floor has terracotta panels and windows; it was originally used as Chalif's family residence. The fifth floor, used as an event space, has a loggia behind a colonnade. The building is topped by an overhanging cornice and an asphalt roof.
Construction started in 1914 and was completed in 1916. The building was occupied by the Louis H. Chalif Normal School of Dancing until 1932 or 1933. Three clients were listed as occupying the building until 1937, after which it remained vacant for five years. The Federation of Crippled and Disabled moved its headquarters to the building in 1943 and operated there for several years. Carl Fischer Music acquired the building in 1946 and had a shop and performance hall there until 1959, when it was sold to Columbia Artists Management Inc (CAMI). The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated 165 West 57th Street as a city landmark in 1999. It was sold to the Clover Foundation in 2007 and has been occupied by IESE Business School since then.
## Site
165 West 57th Street is on the north side of 57th Street between Sixth Avenue and Seventh Avenue, two blocks south of Central Park, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. The site covers 3,930 square feet (365 m<sup>2</sup>), with a width of 39.83 feet (12 m) on 57th Street and a depth of 100 feet (30 m).
165 West 57th Street shares a city block with The Briarcliffe to the west, the Alwyn Court to the northwest, and One57, the Nippon Club Tower, the Calvary Baptist Church, and 111 West 57th Street to the east. It is also near the Saint Thomas Choir School to the northwest; the American Fine Arts Society (also known as the Art Students League of New York building) and the Osborne Apartments to the west; the Rodin Studios to the southwest; Carnegie Hall and Carnegie Hall Tower to the south; and Russian Tea Room, Metropolitan Tower, and 130 and 140 West 57th Street to the southeast. 165 West 57th Street is part of an artistic hub that developed around West 57th Street between Sixth Avenue and Broadway during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, following the opening of Carnegie Hall in 1891.
## Architecture
The Louis H. Chalif Normal School of Dancing building at 165 West 57th Street was designed by George A. and Henry Boehm. It was developed for Russian-born dance instructor Louis H. Chalif, founder of the Louis H. Chalif Normal School of Dancing. The school, one of the first in the United States to train dance instructors, taught children and amateur dancers as well. The building's exterior design generally reflects the original layout of the interior. As built, it had a first-floor reception area, a second-floor ballroom, a third-floor banquet hall, a fourth-floor living space for Chalif's family, and a fifth-floor gymnasium and solarium.
The Murphy Construction Company was the general contractor and S. C. Weiskopf was the structural steel contractor. The subcontractors included foundation contractor R. D. Coombs & Co., elevator supplier Otis Elevator Co., exterior marble contractor B. A. & G. N. Williams, terracotta contractor Federal Terra Cotta Co., plastering contractor P. J. Durcan Inc., and interior marble contractor McLaury Tile & Marble Corporation. In addition, Empire City-Gerard Co. performed the trim and cabinet work, Liberty Sheet Metal Works installed the copper roofing and skylights, Standard Arch Co. installed the fireproof floor arches, American Kalamein Works Inc. installed the kalamein doors and windows, and Lieberman & Sanford Co. was responsible for ornamental iron work. The plumbing was installed by Charles H. Darmstadt, steam heating by Reis & O'Donovan Inc., and ventilation and electrical installation by Reis & O'Donovan Inc.
### Facade
The street facade of 165 West 57th Street is designed with elements of Mannerism and the Italian Renaissance styles. The facade was designed with marble at its first story and buff brick with polychrome terracotta at the upper stories. The fifth story has a loggia made of marble, as well as an overhanging cornice. The street facade is asymmetrical, being divided into five vertical bays at the fourth and fifth stories. On the first through third stories, the section corresponding to the westernmost bay is designed differently from the portion corresponding to the four other bays, which is largely symmetrical on these stories. There were windows on the side facades, The terracotta decorations contain classical Greek and Roman motifs, some of which relate to theater.
#### Ground story
The ground story was originally built with ivory-colored Dover marble. A horizontal band course of terracotta ran above it. In its initial design, there were two windows from the raised basement, which had iron grilles in front of them. A marble step led to the entrance, which was slightly offset. The entrance consisted of a pair of recessed wooden doors, above which was a transom and letters spelling Chalif's name. The doorway was flanked by gray-green scones, which were subsequently removed and taken to the Central Park Zoo. On each side of the entrance was a window. The westernmost section of the facade had an additional recessed service doorway at ground level and a small window at the height of the band course.
The existing ground story dates from 1983 and is similar in design to the original. The current base is made of Indiana limestone and has a band of polished granite at its base. In addition, there is a polished-granite ramp and step leading to the center doorway, and the sconces flanking the main entrance are darker in color. The band course above the top story is also made of terracotta but has no window interrupting it.
#### Upper stories
There is tan-gray brick cladding at the second and third stories, which is laid in a diagonal pattern resembling a diamond. The wall bricks were originally installed in blue, cream, and gray-green hues, while the terracotta was cream and yellow. The westernmost bay of those stories has terracotta panels and three window openings. To the east (right) of that bay, the second story has a pair of round-arched windows surrounded by brick and terracotta, with carvings of female heads above them. These windows were originally casement windows with multiple panes, but they were replaced with single-pane windows. The third story has a pair of rectangular windows surrounded by terracotta frames, with louvers below the windows and lyres above them. There are flagpoles below these two third-story windows.
The fourth story has five window openings, though the westernmost opening is a blind opening with marble inside it. There are carved terracotta panels between each set of windows. Above the fourth story is a terracotta frieze containing depictions of swags and masks, as well as a denticulated cornice. The fourth floor panels were designed with an orange background.
There is a loggia on the fifth story, which contains a colonnade of several paired columns and a solitary column on the far east. The bases and the Ionic-style capitals of the columns are made of terracotta, while the rest of the columns are coated in concrete. There is a terracotta balustrade interspersed with the columns' bases. Above these columns is a frieze made of terracotta. On the loggia behind the colonnade are French doors, as well as a ceiling containing three light bulbs. Projecting from the top of the loggia is a sloped copper cornice that contains modillions and rosettes. Above the cornice are a metal railing, a gutter, an asphalt-tile pitched roof, and chimneys. As designed, the roof had green Spanish tiles, a skylight, and iron grilles and lanterns.
### Features
The interior structure was designed with fireproof material. The superstructure is constructed in such a manner that two extra stories could be added if there was a need for more space. The structure was initially heated by steam and ventilated by a system of intake and exhaust fans, including a rooftop exhaust fan. Two electric elevators serving all floors were installed: one for passengers and the other for service. The building also had an interior staircase and an enclosed exterior fire escape in case of emergency. The asymmetrical arrangement of the facade reflected the fact that the elevators and staircase were on the western wall of the building.
The building was intended to allow the Louis H. Chalif Normal School of Dancing to host classes and periodical exhibitions, as well as summer classes for dance teachers. In addition, an apartment for the Chalif family was provided in the design. As a result, the second and third floors were designed with few columns in the center of the space. The building was also designed so it could be rented for private social functions. For the decorations of the interior, cast ornamental plaster and paint were used frequently, but wood was used sparingly except in the ground-floor foyers. The wall hangings and furniture were designed to fit in with the color schemes. Crystal chandeliers provided artificial light. The ballrooms were planned with parquet floors and 23-foot (7.0 m) ceilings.
When it was used by the Chalif School, the ground floor had a large wooden reception foyer, which led to the stairs and elevators. Also at ground level were offices, a coat room, dressing rooms, bathrooms with four shower baths, and a large studio. The second floor was devoted to the grand ballroom, with a mezzanine gallery at the south end. The third floor included a banquet hall, where a pantry connected to the basement kitchen via a service elevator. The fourth floor had the living apartments of the Chalif family. Chalif's apartment was planned as a nine-room apartment with three bathrooms and housekeeping. The Real Estate Record and Guide described it as having "all of the features now to be found in apartments of the highest type." The gymnasium floor at the top was a glass-enclosed space used by the summer school, with an open steel-trussed roof. It could be enclosed in winter and open on all sides in summer, and it was meant to be used for social functions and recreation.
## History
In 1905, Louis Chalif opened the Louis H. Chalif Normal School of Dancing. The school was initially situated on the Upper West Side and then at 360 Fifth Avenue inside the Aeolian Company's showroom. At the school, one of the first in the United States to train dance instructors, Chalif also taught children and amateur dancers. In 1907, the school relocated to the Aeolian Building at 7 West 42nd Street.
### Construction
In October 1914. Chalif purchased a 21-by-100-foot (6.4 by 30.5 m) lot at 165 West 57th Street from Louis de Bebian. At the time, the lot contained a four-story dwelling. Chalif acquired the adjacent 19-by-100-foot (5.8 by 30.5 m) lot at 163 West 57th Street, which also contained a four-story dwelling, from the Wilmurt Realty Company in May 1915. The two lots gave Chalif a combined frontage of nearly 40 feet (12 m) on 57th Street. Chalif had selected the site because it was convenient for pupils. The Sun described the building that August as "a Temple of Terpsichore".
George and Henry Boehm had been hired to design a building for the Chalif school by that August. The Boehms had probably become involved with Chalif in 1907, when George Boehm had designed a building for the Acker, Merrall & Condit Company on 42nd Street, next to the Chalif School. The architects identified seven terracotta firms, consisting of three manufacturers and four modelers, to manufacture the building's terracotta in November 1915, and exact details of the terracotta were finalized later. Susan Tunick, an expert on terracotta, stated that an unusually large amount of documentation still existed about the terracotta contracting process. The architects submitted plans to the New York City Department of Buildings in December 1915. The site was cleared starting in January 1916 and work began that April. The building's construction was completed by that December.
### 1910s to 1940s
The building sometimes served as an event space in its early years. In 1918, the building hosted an event for the Red Cross Institute for Crippled and Disabled Men after the original hosts, Daniel Webster Herrman and his wife, could not accommodate all the guests at their house. The building also hosted a meeting for the Women's Freedom Congress in 1919, as well as the Roosevelt Anniversary Ball and a dance for the Semper Fidelis Post's female marines in 1921. The school had a beginner course for delegates to the Democratic National Convention in 1924. The building also hosted the 21st birthday celebration of Dutch princess Juliana of the Netherlands in 1930, and the weddings of Louis's daughter Helen in 1928 and 1934. Other events included a 1929 performance by a group of instrumental orchestra performers, as well as sermons given by minister Charles Francis Potter in 1929 and 1930. Chalif's son Amos, who grew up in the building, said it had been "a wonderful place to grow up", as he learned to ride a bicycle there with his brother Selmer accompanying him.
Galy Russian Art Gowns moved into the building in 1930. The Chalif School had moved out of the building by 1932 or 1933. In October 1934, the Harlem Savings Bank took over the building through foreclosure. Amos Chalif said the bank providing a mortgage loan for the building and several nearby structures had gone bankrupt. Afterward, the building was occupied by Galy Russian Art Gowns, as well as the Vanity Fair Theater Restaurant and Georgian Hall. These tenants had moved out by 1937 and the building remained empty for the next five years. Documents from February 1939 indicate that the Harlem Savings Bank was planning to convert the second story into a 222-seat auditorium. At the same time, an arcade with an iron balcony was installed at the ground story.
The Federation of Crippled and Disabled bought the building in September 1942 and moved its headquarters to the building in January 1943. That December, the New York state government sued to disband the organization as fraudulent, accusing the officers and directors of using disabled persons solely for fundraising. The disbanding was averted the next year when the federation was reorganized. Carl Fischer Music acquired the building in February 1946. The Federation of Crippled and Disabled continued to occupy the building for some time. In 1947, five disabled students taking classed with the federation became the first-ever palsy and paralysis victims to receive diplomas from the New York City public school system. A Carl Fischer music store opened in the building in May 1948. The Carl Fischer Concert Hall on the second floor opened the same October.
### 1950s to present
Through the 1950s, the concert hall and the "Sky Room" at 165 West 57th Street held various musical performances and recitals. The musical programming at the hall was directed by Eric Simon, who invited composers such as Benjamin Britten and John Cage to perform there. Other events included a series of lectures by the Fashion Group Inc. in 1950, as well as a showcase in 1956 for performers who completed a two-year course with the American Theatre Wing. In 1959, Carl Fischer sold the building to Columbia Artists Management Inc (CAMI). The Fischer company planned to move to Cooper Square and Columbia Artists was relocating from the nearby Steinway Hall. CAMI hired William Lescaze to remodel portions of the building, including at the ground story, where red mosaic tiles and new signage were added. At the time, Carnegie Hall was being proposed for demolition, and CAMI officials believed 165 West 57th Street would become an important music venue with the demolition of Carnegie Hall.
CAMI moved into the building in 1960 and the Carl Fischer Concert Hall was renamed the Judson Hall. The renovated 275-seat auditorium was named for musician Arthur Judson and formally reopened in October 1960. Further work on the building continued until 1963. Shortly afterward, Arthur Judson decided to leave CAMI, and he requested that his name be removed from the concert hall. Accordingly, the hall was renamed CAMI Hall. An advertisement from 1964 advertised the hall as being available for rent for private functions from 8 to 11 p.m. for \$125 per night (). CAMI hired Marlo & De Chiara in 1983 to redesign the ground-story exterior to resemble the original appearance. The Polonia Restoration Company conducted the reconstruction. CAMI moved its Community Concerts division from the building in 1990. The building served many of CAMI's late-20th-century clients. Ronald A. Wilford, president of CAMI in the 1990s, was quoted in The New York Times as "cast[ing] a long shadow from the music canyon of West 57th Street".
The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated 165 West 57th Street as a city landmark on October 17, 1999. At the time, Extell Development Company president Gary Barnett was acquiring several nearby plots to build a residential skyscraper, which would later become One57. By 2002, Barnett had acquired the air rights over 165 West 57th Street to develop his skyscraper. At the time, the second-story recital hall was described as having 168 seats. CAMI moved to 1790 Broadway in 2005, and 165 West 57th Street was placed on sale for \$20 million in 2006. The building was purchased by the Clover Foundation in 2007. The same year, IESE Business School opened its New York City campus in the building. IESE continues to occupy 165 West 57th Street as of 2021.
## Critical reception
When it was completed, 165 West 57th Street was described by the Real Estate Record and Guide as being in a "purely modern style". The Real Estate Record stated, "The facade will add considerable interest to the locality in which it is being erected." Some architectural publications focused on the use of multiple colors of terracotta and brick. Architectural Forum characterized the upper stories' facade as having a "rich, cool color", with the terracotta "adding warmth to the color scheme without strong contrast". A brochure from the National Terra Cotta Society described the building as having "a very successful polychrome treatment" that contributed to the overall facade's "beautiful harmony", and Good Furniture & Decoration characterized the building as having "a golden charm that is all its own". According to architectural writer Robert A. M. Stern, the "Tuscan overtones" of the design "responded with refinement to the less tutored Italianate vocabulary of Carnegie Hall". The AIA Guide to New York City also cited the building's Tuscan design details.
165 West 57th Street was also shown in exhibits and publications. When it was completed, Architectural Forum and Architecture and Building magazines both published images of the building. The Boehms showed a model of the Chalif School building during the 1921 Paris Salon. The same year, in his textbook about Russian pageants and dancing, Chalif advertised the building as being "unparalleled for its purposes in America" as well as "striking evidence" of the school's success. The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography of 1927 called the school "a surprisingly beautiful building". An early 1930s catalog for the Chalif School advertised the building as being a "spacious and beautiful" dancing facility that received many architectural accolades.
In 1949, after Chalif's death, Dance Magazine characterized the building as "the greatest highlight and dream of Chalif's lifetime", noting that Chalif would walk past the building even after other parties had purchased it. Amos Chalif stated in the 2000s that he also walked past his father's school building often. The New York Times described the building as a "sumptuous dancing school" in 1999.
## See also
- List of New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan from 14th to 59th Streets
|
30,281,287 |
Hurricane Winifred
| 1,132,690,911 |
Category 3 Pacific hurricane in 1992
|
[
"1992 Pacific hurricane season",
"Category 3 Pacific hurricanes",
"Hurricanes in Colima",
"Hurricanes in Michoacán"
] |
Hurricane Winifred was the last tropical cyclone to make landfall in the record-breaking 1992 Pacific hurricane season. Impacting western Mexico, especially Colima and Michoacán, Hurricane Winifred brought heavy rain and destruction to the area. Rains flooded farms and roads, and caused more than \$5 million (1992 USD, \$ 2023 USD) in damage and a total of three people were killed.
The last major hurricane, and hurricane of its season, Winifred existed in October 1992. It formed southeast of Acapulco on October 6 as the twenty-fourth east Pacific tropical cyclone of its season, and recurved as it strengthened. It peaked as a Category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. It made landfall southeast of Manzanillo, Colima and dissipated inland.
## Meteorological history
On October 1, a disorganized area of thunderstorms existed south of Panama. It gradually headed west-northwestward, slowly organized, and developed deep and concentrated convection. The disturbed area had become organized enough to be considered a tropical depression. Numbered Twenty-Four-E, the cyclone was located about 460 mi (740 km) south-southeast of Acapulco. It moved towards the west-northwest at a speed of about 12 mph (19 km/h), and by the time it was located about 550 km (340 mi) south of Zihuatanejo, it had intensified into Tropical Storm Winifred.
Winifred steadily became more organized, and late on October 7, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) was anticipating Winifred to reach hurricane intensity within the next 36 hours. A large cyclone, Winifred continued to intensify. Its forward speed decreased as it started to turn to the northwest. By October 8, Winifred become a hurricane while located approximately 340 mi (545 km) south-southeast of Manzanillo. A small eye became evident on satellite imagery, and thus the winds increased to 85 mph (145 km/h).
Winifred then intensified into a moderate Category 2 hurricane on October 9. Although the eye briefly disappeared, slight intensification was anticipated. The hurricane was curved north by an upper-level trough. Winifred peaked in intensity as a major hurricane (Category 3 or higher on the Saffir-Simpson Scale). At this time, Winifred, had central pressure of 960 mb (28 inHg) and winds of 115 mph (185 km/h). This made Winifred the final hurricane– major or otherwise– of the 1992 Pacific hurricane season. However, it was operationally believed to have peaked as a Category 2 hurricane; the NHC did not issue any advisories with winds any higher than 110 mph (175 km/h).
Hurricane Winifred re-curved to the north-northeast, increased in forward speed, and slightly weakened as it approached land, with the storm's eye becoming less apparent in satellite imagery. On October 9, it made landfall in Colima about 17 mi (28 km) east-southeast of Manzanillo. At the time it was a Category 2 hurricane with winds of 110 mph (175 km/h) and a central pressure of 975 mb (28.8 inHg). Hurricane Winifred quickly weakened after landfall, and weakened to a tropical storm less than three hours later, which was early on October 10. Later on October 10, Winifred weakened to a tropical depression, before dissipating over the mountains of central Mexico.
## Preparations and impact
Five thousand people were evacuated to emergency shelters as Winifred neared. With the approach of the hurricane, watches and warnings were issued. On October 9 a tropical storm warning was issued from Zihuatanejo to Cabo Corrientes. At the same time, a hurricane watch went into effect in the same area. The watch was later replaced with a hurricane warning 12 hours later. On October 10, all watches and warnings were dropped.
Starting on October 8, Hurricane Winifred caused rainfall over an extensive area of Mexico. The highest point maximum reported was of 16.7 in (420 mm) at Lázaro Cárdenas, a point to the right of its track. That rain caused flooding, which was blamed for three deaths.
Damage was heaviest in the states of Colima and Michoacán. In areas of the former, utilities were knocked out. Waves flooded portions of Highway 200 between Zihuatenajo, Ixtapa, and Lázaro Cárdenas. Other roads were also flooded. Waves of 12 ft (3.7 m) forced the closure of Playa de Oro International Airport and port facilities in Manzanillo. Throughout the affected area, trees were blown down on cars, roughly 1,500 houses were damaged, as were hotels and restaurants. About 84,000 ha (207,570 acres) of farmland were damaged, especially those of plantains and corn. Carlos de la Madrid Virgen, the Governor of Colima, estimated that the total damage in his state was 16000 pesos (1992 MXP) or \$5 million (1992 USD, \$ 2023 USD). Elsewhere, Winifred forced a temporary closure of the port of Acapulco.
## See also
- Other storms of the same name
- List of Pacific hurricanes
|
27,040 |
Schutzstaffel
| 1,172,606,110 |
Nazi paramilitary organization (1925–45)
|
[
"1925 establishments in Germany",
"1945 disestablishments in Germany",
"Antisemitism in Germany",
"Heinrich Himmler",
"Military wings of fascist parties",
"Nazi Party organizations",
"Nazi SS",
"Nazi terrorism",
"Nazi terrorist organizations",
"Organizations disestablished in 1945",
"Organizations established in 1925",
"Right-wing terrorism",
"The Holocaust",
"The Holocaust in Germany"
] |
The Schutzstaffel (SS; also stylized as ᛋᛋ with Armanen runes; ; lit. 'Protection Squadron') was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany, and later throughout German-occupied Europe during World War II.
It began with a small guard unit known as the Saal-Schutz ("Hall Security") made up of party volunteers to provide security for party meetings in Munich. In 1925, Heinrich Himmler joined the unit, which had by then been reformed and given its final name. Under his direction (1929–1945) it grew from a small paramilitary formation during the Weimar Republic to one of the most powerful organizations in Nazi Germany. From the time of the Nazi Party's rise to power until the regime's collapse in 1945, the SS was the foremost agency of security, mass surveillance, and state terrorism within Germany and German-occupied Europe.
The two main constituent groups were the Allgemeine SS (General SS) and Waffen-SS (Armed SS). The Allgemeine SS was responsible for enforcing the racial policy of Nazi Germany and general policing, whereas the Waffen-SS consisted of the combat units of the SS, with a sworn allegiance to Hitler. A third component of the SS, the SS-Totenkopfverbände (SS-TV; "Death's Head Units"), ran the concentration camps and extermination camps. Additional subdivisions of the SS included the Gestapo and the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) organizations. They were tasked with the detection of actual or potential enemies of the Nazi state, the neutralization of any opposition, policing the German people for their commitment to Nazi ideology, and providing domestic and foreign intelligence.
The SS was the organization most responsible for the genocidal murder of an estimated 5.5 to 6 million Jews and millions of other victims during the Holocaust. Members of all of its branches committed war crimes and crimes against humanity during World War II (1939–45). The SS was also involved in commercial enterprises and exploited concentration camp inmates as slave labor. After Nazi Germany's defeat, the SS and the Nazi Party were judged by the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg to be criminal organizations. Ernst Kaltenbrunner, the highest-ranking surviving SS main department chief, was found guilty of crimes against humanity at the Nuremberg trials and hanged in 1946.
## Origins
### Forerunner of the SS
By 1923, the Nazi Party led by Adolf Hitler had created a small volunteer guard unit known as the Saal-Schutz (Hall Security) to provide security at their meetings in Munich. The same year, Hitler ordered the formation of a small bodyguard unit dedicated to his personal service. He wished it to be separate from the "suspect mass" of the party, including the paramilitary Sturmabteilung ("Storm Battalion"; SA), which he did not trust. The new formation was designated the Stabswache (Staff Guard). Originally the unit was composed of eight men, commanded by Julius Schreck and Joseph Berchtold, and was modeled after the Erhardt Naval Brigade, a Freikorps of the time. The unit was renamed Stoßtrupp (Shock Troops) in May 1923.
The Stoßtrupp was abolished after the failed 1923 Beer Hall Putsch, an attempt by the Nazi Party to seize power in Munich. In 1925, Hitler ordered Schreck to organize a new bodyguard unit, the Schutzkommando (Protection Command). It was tasked with providing personal protection for Hitler at party functions and events. That same year, the Schutzkommando was expanded to a national organization and renamed successively the Sturmstaffel (Storm Squadron), and finally the Schutzstaffel (Protection Squad; SS). Officially, the SS marked its foundation on 9 November 1925 (the second anniversary of the Beer Hall Putsch). The new SS protected party leaders throughout Germany. Hitler's personal SS protection unit was later enlarged to include combat units.
### Early commanders
Schreck, a founding member of the SA and a close confidant of Hitler, became the first SS chief in March 1925. On 15 April 1926, Joseph Berchtold succeeded him as chief of the SS. Berchtold changed the title of the office to Reichsführer-SS (Reich Leader-SS). Berchtold was considered more dynamic than his predecessor but became increasingly frustrated by the authority the SA had over the SS. This led to him transferring leadership of the SS to his deputy, Erhard Heiden, on 1 March 1927. Under Heiden's leadership, a stricter code of discipline was enforced than would have been tolerated in the SA.
Between 1925 and 1929, the SS was considered to be a small Gruppe (battalion) of the SA. Except in the Munich area, the SS was unable to maintain any momentum in its membership numbers, which declined from 1,000 to 280 as the SA continued its rapid growth. As Heiden attempted to keep the SS from dissolving, Heinrich Himmler became his deputy in September 1927. Himmler displayed good organizational abilities compared to Heiden. The SS established a number of Gaus (regions or provinces). The SS-Gaue consisted of SS-Gau Berlin, SS-Gau Berlin Brandenburg, SS-Gau Franken, SS-Gau Niederbayern, SS-Gau Rheinland-Süd, and SS-Gau Sachsen.
### Himmler appointed
With Hitler's approval, Himmler assumed the position of Reichsführer-SS in January 1929. There are differing accounts of the reason for Heiden's dismissal from his position as head of the SS. The party announced that it was for "family reasons." Under Himmler, the SS expanded and gained a larger foothold. He considered the SS an elite, ideologically driven National Socialist organization, a "conflation of Teutonic knights, the Jesuits, and Japanese Samurai". His ultimate aim was to turn the SS into the most powerful organization in Germany and the most influential branch of the party. He expanded the SS to 3,000 members in his first year as its leader.
In 1929, the SS-Hauptamt (main SS office) was expanded and reorganized into five main offices dealing with general administration, personnel, finance, security, and race matters. At the same time, the SS-Gaue were divided into three SS-Oberführerbereiche areas, namely the SS-Oberführerbereich Ost, SS-Oberführerbereich West, and SS-Oberführerbereich Süd. The lower levels of the SS remained largely unchanged. Although officially still considered a sub-organization of the SA and answerable to the Stabschef (SA Chief of Staff), it was also during this time that Himmler began to establish the independence of the SS from the SA. The SS grew in size and power due to its exclusive loyalty to Hitler, as opposed to the SA, which was seen as semi-independent and a threat to Hitler's hegemony over the party, mainly because they demanded a "second revolution" beyond the one that brought the Nazi Party to power. By the end of 1933, the membership of the SS reached 209,000. Under Himmler's leadership, the SS continued to gather greater power as more and more state and party functions were assigned to its jurisdiction. Over time the SS became answerable only to Hitler, a development typical of the organizational structure of the entire Nazi regime, where legal norms were replaced by actions undertaken under the Führerprinzip (leader principle), where Hitler's will was considered to be above the law.
In the latter half of 1934, Himmler oversaw the creation of SS-Junkerschule, institutions where SS officer candidates received leadership training, political and ideological indoctrination, and military instruction. The training stressed ruthlessness and toughness as part of the SS value system, which helped foster a sense of superiority among the men and taught them self-confidence. The first schools were established at Bad Tölz and Braunschweig, with additional schools opening at Klagenfurt and Prague during the war.
### Ideology
The SS was regarded as the Nazi Party's elite unit. In keeping with the racial policy of Nazi Germany, in the early days all SS officer candidates had to provide proof of Aryan ancestry back to 1750 and for other ranks to 1800. Once the war started and it became more difficult to confirm ancestry, the regulation was amended to just proving the candidate's grandparents were Aryan, as spelled out in the Nuremberg Laws. Other requirements were complete obedience to the Führer and a commitment to the German people and nation. Himmler also tried to institute physical criteria based on appearance and height, but these requirements were only loosely enforced, and over half the SS men did not meet the criteria. Inducements such as higher salaries and larger homes were provided to members of the SS since they were expected to produce more children than the average German family as part of their commitment to Nazi Party doctrine.
Commitment to SS ideology was emphasized throughout the recruitment, membership process, and training. Members of the SS were indoctrinated in the racial policy of Nazi Germany and were taught that it was necessary to remove from Germany people deemed by that policy as inferior. Esoteric rituals and the awarding of regalia and insignia for milestones in the SS man's career suffused SS members even further with Nazi ideology. Members were expected to renounce their Christian faith, and Christmas was replaced with a solstice celebration. Church weddings were replaced with SS Ehewein, a pagan ceremony invented by Himmler. These pseudo-religious rites and ceremonies often took place near SS-dedicated monuments or in special SS-designated places. In 1933, Himmler bought Wewelsburg, a castle in Westphalia. He initially intended it to be used as an SS training center, but its role came to include hosting SS dinners and neo-pagan rituals.
In 1936, Himmler wrote in the pamphlet "The SS as an Anti-Bolshevist Fighting Organization":
> We shall take care that never again in Germany, the heart of Europe, will the Jewish-Bolshevik revolution of subhumans be able to be kindled either from within or through emissaries from without.
The SS ideology included the application of brutality and terror as a solution to military and political problems. The SS stressed total loyalty and obedience to orders unto death. Hitler used this as a powerful tool to further his aims and those of the Nazi Party. The SS was entrusted with the commission of atrocities, illegal activities, and war crimes. Himmler once wrote that an SS man "hesitates not for a single instant, but executes unquestioningly ..." any Führer-Befehl (Führer order). Their official motto was "Meine Ehre heißt Treue" (My Honour is Loyalty).
As part of its race-centric functions during World War II, the SS oversaw the isolation and displacement of Jews from the populations of the conquered territories, seizing their assets and deporting them to concentration camps and ghettos, where they were used as slave labor or immediately murdered. Chosen to implement the Final Solution ordered by Hitler, the SS were the main group responsible for the institutional murder and democide of more than 20 million people during the Holocaust, including approximately 5.2 million to 6 million Jews and 10.5 million Slavs. A significant number of victims were members of other racial or ethnic groups such as the 258,000 Romani. The SS was involved in murdering people viewed as threats to race hygiene or Nazi ideology, including the mentally or physically handicapped, homosexuals, and political dissidents. Members of trade unions and those perceived to be affiliated with groups that opposed the regime (religious, political, social, and otherwise), or those whose views were contradictory to the goals of the Nazi Party government, were rounded up in large numbers; these included clergy of all faiths, Jehovah's Witnesses, Freemasons, Communists, and Rotary Club members. According to the judgments rendered at the Nuremberg trials, as well as many war crimes investigations and trials conducted since then, the SS was responsible for the majority of Nazi war crimes. In particular, it was the primary organization that carried out the Holocaust.
## Pre-war Germany
After Hitler and the Nazi Party came to power on 30 January 1933, the SS was considered a state organization and a branch of the government. Law enforcement gradually became the purview of the SS, and many SS organizations became de facto government agencies.
The SS established a police state within Nazi Germany, using the secret state police and security forces under Himmler's control to suppress resistance to Hitler. In his role as Minister President of Prussia, Hermann Göring had in 1933 created a Prussian secret police force, the Geheime Staatspolizei or Gestapo, and appointed Rudolf Diels as its head. Concerned that Diels was not ruthless enough to use the Gestapo effectively to counteract the power of the SA, Göring handed over its control to Himmler on 20 April 1934. Also on that date, in a departure from long-standing German practice that law enforcement was a state and local matter, Hitler appointed Himmler chief of all German police outside Prussia. Himmler named his deputy and protégé Reinhard Heydrich chief of the Gestapo on 22 April 1934. Heydrich also continued as head of the Sicherheitsdienst (SD; security service).
The Gestapo's transfer to Himmler was a prelude to the Night of the Long Knives, in which most of the SA leadership were arrested and subsequently executed. The SS and Gestapo carried out most of the murders. On 20 July 1934, Hitler detached the SS from the SA, which was no longer an influential force after the purge. The SS became an elite corps of the Nazi Party, answerable only to Hitler. Himmler's title of Reichsführer-SS now became his actual rank – and the highest rank in the SS, equivalent to the rank of field marshal in the army (his previous rank was Obergruppenführer). As Himmler's position and authority grew, so in effect did his rank.
On 17 June 1936, all police forces throughout Germany were united under the purview of Himmler and the SS. Himmler and Heydrich thus became two of the most powerful men in the country's administration. Police and intelligence forces brought under their administrative control included the SD, Gestapo, Kriminalpolizei (Kripo; criminal investigative police), and Ordnungspolizei (Orpo; regular uniformed police). In his capacity as police chief, Himmler was nominally subordinate to Interior Minister Wilhelm Frick. In practice, since the SS answered only to Hitler, the de facto merger of the SS and the police made the police independent of Frick's control. In September 1939, the security and police agencies, including the Sicherheitspolizei (SiPo; security police) and SD (but not the Orpo), were consolidated into the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA), headed by Heydrich. This further increased the collective authority of the SS.
During Kristallnacht (9–10 November 1938), SS security services clandestinely coordinated violence against Jews as the SS, Gestapo, SD, Kripo, SiPo, and regular police did what they could to ensure that while Jewish synagogues and community centers were destroyed, Jewish-owned businesses and housing remained intact so that they could later be seized. In the end, thousands of Jewish businesses, homes, and graveyards were vandalized and looted, particularly by members of the SA. Some 500 to 1,000 synagogues were destroyed, mostly by arson. On 11 November, Heydrich reported a death toll of 36 people, but later assessments put the number of deaths at up to two thousand. On Hitler's orders, around 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and sent to concentration camps by 16 November. As many as 2,500 of these people died in the following months. It was at this point that the SS state began in earnest its campaign of terror against political and religious opponents, who they imprisoned without trial or judicial oversight for the sake of "security, re-education, or prevention".
In September 1939, the authority of the SS expanded further when the senior SS officer in each military district also became its chief of police. Most of these SS and police leaders held the rank of SS-Gruppenführer or above and answered directly to Himmler in all SS matters within their district. Their role was to police the population and oversee the activities of the SS men within their district. By declaring an emergency, they could bypass the district administrative offices for the SS, SD, SiPo, SS-Totenkopfverbände (SS-TV; concentration camp guards), and Orpo, thereby gaining direct operational control of these groups.
### Hitler's personal bodyguards
As the SS grew in size and importance, so too did Hitler's personal protection forces. Three main SS groups were assigned to protect Hitler. In 1933, his larger personal bodyguard unit (previously the 1st SS-Standarte) was called to Berlin to replace the Army Chancellery Guard, assigned to protect the Chancellor of Germany. Sepp Dietrich commanded the new unit, previously known as SS-Stabswache Berlin; the name was changed to SS-Sonderkommando Berlin. In November 1933, the name was changed to Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler. In April 1934, Himmler modified the name to Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (LSSAH). The LSSAH guarded Hitler's private residences and offices, providing an outer ring of protection for the Führer and his visitors. LSSAH men manned sentry posts at the entrances to the old Reich Chancellery and the new Reich Chancellery. The number of LSSAH guards was increased during special events. At the Berghof, Hitler's residence in the Obersalzberg, a large contingent of the LSSAH patrolled an extensive cordoned security zone.
From 1941 forward, the Leibstandarte became four distinct entities, the Waffen-SS division (unconnected to Hitler's protection but a formation of the Waffen-SS), the Berlin Chancellory Guard, the SS security regiment assigned to the Obersalzberg, and a Munich-based bodyguard unit which protected Hitler when he visited his apartment and the Brown House Nazi Party headquarters in Munich. Although the unit was nominally under Himmler, Dietrich was the real commander and handled day-to-day administration.
Two other SS units composed the inner ring of Hitler's protection. The SS-Begleitkommando des Führers (Escort Command of the Führer), formed in February 1932, served as Hitler's protection escort while he was traveling. This unit consisted of eight men who served around the clock protecting Hitler in shifts. Later the SS-Begleitkommando was expanded and became known as the Führerbegleitkommando (Führer Escort Command; FBK). It continued under separate command and remained responsible for Hitler's protection. The Führer Schutzkommando (Führer Protection Command; FSK) was a protection unit founded by Himmler in March 1933. Originally it was charged with protecting Hitler only while he was inside the borders of Bavaria. In early 1934, they replaced the SS-Begleitkommando for Hitler's protection throughout Germany. The FSK was renamed the Reichssicherheitsdienst (Reich Security Service; RSD) in August 1935. Johann Rattenhuber, chief of the RSD, for the most part, took his orders directly from Hitler. The current FBK chief acted as his deputy. Wherever Hitler was in residence, members of the RSD and FBK would be present. RSD men patrolled the grounds and FBK men provided close security protection inside. The RSD and FBK worked together for security and personal protection during Hitler's trips and public events, but they operated as two groups and used separate vehicles. By March 1938, both units wore the standard field grey uniform of the SS. The RSD uniform had the SD diamond on the lower left sleeve.
### Concentration camps founded
The SS was closely associated with Nazi Germany's concentration camp system. On 26 June 1933, Himmler appointed SS-Oberführer Theodor Eicke as commandant of Dachau concentration camp, one of the first Nazi concentration camps. It was created to consolidate the many small camps that had been set up by various police agencies and the Nazi Party to house political prisoners. The organizational structure Eicke instituted at Dachau stood as the model for all later concentration camps. After 1934, Eicke was named commander of the SS-Totenkopfverbände (SS-TV), the SS formation responsible for running the concentration camps under the authority of the SS and Himmler. Known as the "Death's Head Units", the SS-TV was first organized as several battalions, each based at one of Germany's major concentration camps. Leadership at the camps was divided into five departments: commander and adjutant, political affairs division, protective custody, administration, and medical personnel. By 1935, Himmler secured Hitler's approval and the finances necessary to establish and operate additional camps. Six concentration camps housing 21,400 inmates (mostly political prisoners) existed at the start of the war in September 1939. By the end of the war, hundreds of camps of varying size and function had been created, holding nearly 715,000 people, most of whom were targeted by the regime because of their race. The concentration camp population rose in tandem with the defeats suffered by the Nazi regime; the worse the catastrophe seemed, the greater the fear of subversion, prompting the SS to intensify their repression and terror.
## SS in World War II
By the outbreak of World War II, the SS had consolidated into its final form, which comprised three main organizations: the Allgemeine SS, SS-Totenkopfverbände, and the Waffen-SS, which was founded in 1934 as the SS-Verfügungstruppe (SS-VT) and renamed in 1940. The Waffen-SS evolved into a second German army alongside the Wehrmacht and operated in tandem with them, especially with the Heer (German Army). However, it never obtained total "independence of command", nor was it ever a "serious rival" to the German Army. Members were never able to join the ranks of the German High Command and it was dependent on the army for heavy weaponry and equipment. Although SS ranks generally had equivalents in the other services, the SS rank system did not copy the terms and ranks used by the Wehrmacht's branches. Instead, it used the ranks established by the post-World War I Freikorps and the SA. This was primarily done to emphasize the SS as being independent of the Wehrmacht.
### Invasion of Poland
In the September 1939 invasion of Poland, the LSSAH and SS-VT fought as separate mobile infantry regiments. The LSSAH became notorious for torching villages without military justification. Members of the LSSAH committed atrocities in numerous towns, including the murder of 50 Polish Jews in Błonie and the massacre of 200 civilians, including children, who were machine-gunned in Złoczew. Shootings also took place in Bolesławiec, Torzeniec, Goworowo, Mława, and Włocławek. Some senior members of the Wehrmacht were not convinced the units were fully prepared for combat. Its units took unnecessary risks and had a higher casualty rate than the army. Generaloberst Fedor von Bock was quite critical; following an April 1940 visit of the SS-Totenkopf division, he found their battle training was "insufficient". Hitler thought the criticism was typical of the army's "outmoded conception of chivalry." In its defense, the SS insisted that its armed formations had been hampered by having to fight piecemeal and were improperly equipped by the army.
After the invasion, Hitler entrusted the SS with extermination actions codenamed Operation Tannenberg and AB-Aktion to remove potential leaders who could form a resistance to German occupation. The murders were committed by Einsatzgruppen (task forces; deployment groups), assisted by local paramilitary groups. Men for the Einsatzgruppen units were drawn from the SS, the SD, and the police. Some 65,000 Polish civilians, including activists, intelligentsia, scholars, teachers, actors, former officers, and others, were murdered by the end of 1939. When the army leadership registered complaints about the brutality being meted out by the Einsatzgruppen, Heydrich informed them that he was acting "in accordance with the special order of the Führer." The first systematic mass shooting of Jews by the Einsatzgruppen took place on 6 September 1939 during the attack on Kraków.
Satisfied with their performance in Poland, Hitler allowed further expansion of the armed SS formations but insisted new units remain under the operational control of the army. While the SS-Leibstandarte remained an independent regiment functioning as Hitler's personal bodyguards, the other regiments—SS-Deutschland, SS-Germania, and SS-Der Führer—were combined to form the SS-Verfügungs-Division. A second SS division, the SS-Totenkopf, was formed from SS-TV concentration camp guards, and a third, the SS-Polizei, was created from police volunteers. The SS gained control over its own recruitment, logistics, and supply systems for its armed formations at this time. The SS, Gestapo, and SD were in charge of the provisional military administration in Poland until the appointment of Hans Frank as Governor-General on 26 October 1939.
### Battle of France
On 10 May 1940, Hitler launched the Battle of France, a major offensive against France and the Low Countries. The SS supplied two of the 89 divisions employed. The LSSAH and elements of the SS-VT participated in the ground invasion of the Battle of the Netherlands. Simultaneously, airborne troops were dropped to capture key Dutch airfields, bridges, and railways. In the five-day campaign, the LSSAH linked up with army units and airborne troops after several clashes with Dutch defenders.
SS troops did not take part in the thrust through the Ardennes and the river Meuse. Instead, the SS-Totenkopf was summoned from the army reserve to fight in support of Generalmajor Erwin Rommel's 7th Panzer Division as they advanced toward the English Channel. On 21 May, the British launched an armored counterattack against the flanks of the 7th Panzer Division and SS-Totenkopf. The Germans then trapped the British and French troops in a huge pocket at Dunkirk. On 27 May, 4 Company, SS-Totenkopf perpetrated the Le Paradis massacre, where 97 men of the 2nd Battalion, Royal Norfolk Regiment were machine-gunned after surrendering, with survivors finished off with bayonets. Two men survived. By 28 May the SS-Leibstandarte had taken Wormhout, 10 mi (16 km) from Dunkirk. There, soldiers of the 2nd Battalion were responsible for the Wormhoudt massacre, where 80 British and French soldiers were murdered after they surrendered. According to historian Charles Sydnor, the "fanatical recklessness in the assault, suicidal defense against enemy attacks, and savage atrocities committed in the face of frustrated objectives" exhibited by the SS-Totenkopf division during the invasion were typical of the SS troops as a whole.
At the close of the campaign, Hitler expressed his pleasure with the performance of the SS-Leibstandarte, telling them: "Henceforth it will be an honor for you, who bear my name, to lead every German attack." The SS-VT was renamed the Waffen-SS in a speech made by Hitler in July 1940. Hitler then authorized the enlistment of "people perceived to be of related stock", as Himmler put it, to expand the ranks. Danes, Dutch, Norwegians, Swedes, and Finns volunteered to fight in the Waffen-SS under the command of German officers. They were brought together to form the new division SS-Wiking. In January 1941, the SS-Verfügungs Division was renamed SS-Reich Division (Motorized), and was renamed as the 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich when it was reorganized as a Panzergrenadier division in 1942.
### Campaign in the Balkans
In April 1941, the German Army invaded Yugoslavia and Greece. The LSSAH and Das Reich were attached to separate army Panzer corps. Fritz Klingenberg, a company commander in the Das Reich, led his men across Yugoslavia to the capital, Belgrade, where a small group in the vanguard accepted the surrender of the city on 13 April. A few days later Yugoslavia surrendered. SS police units immediately began taking hostages and carrying out reprisals, a practice that became common. In some cases, they were joined by the Wehrmacht. Similar to Poland, the war policies of the Nazis in the Balkans resulted in brutal occupation and racist mass murder. Serbia became the second country (after Estonia) declared Judenfrei (free of Jews).
In Greece, the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS encountered resistance from the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and Greek Army. The fighting was intensified by the mountainous terrain, with its heavily defended narrow passes. The LSSAH was at the forefront of the German push. The BEF evacuated by sea to Crete, but had to flee again in late May when the Germans arrived. Like Yugoslavia, the conquest of Greece brought its Jews into danger, as the Nazis immediately took a variety of measures against them. Initially confined in ghettos, most were transported to Auschwitz concentration camp in March 1943, where they were murdered in the gas chambers on arrival. Of Greece's 80,000 Jews, only 20 percent survived the war.
## War in the east
On 22 June 1941, Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union. The expanding war and the need to control occupied territories provided the conditions for Himmler to further consolidate the police and military organs of the SS. Rapid acquisition of vast territories in the East placed considerable strain on the SS police organizations as they struggled to adjust to the changing security challenges.
The 1st and 2nd SS Infantry Brigades, which had been formed from surplus concentration camp guards of the SS-TV, and the SS Cavalry Brigade moved into the Soviet Union behind the advancing armies. At first, they fought Soviet partisans, but by the autumn of 1941, they left the anti-partisan role to other units and actively took part in the Holocaust. While assisting the Einsatzgruppen, they formed firing parties that participated in the liquidation of the Jewish population of the Soviet Union.
On 31 July 1941, Göring gave Heydrich written authorization to ensure the cooperation of administrative leaders of various government departments to undertake genocide of the Jews in territories under German control. Heydrich was instrumental in carrying out these exterminations, as the Gestapo was ready to organize deportations in the West and his Einsatzgruppen were already conducting extensive murder operations in the East. On 20 January 1942, Heydrich chaired a meeting, called the Wannsee Conference, to discuss the implementation of the plan.
During battles in the Soviet Union in 1941 and 1942, the Waffen-SS suffered enormous casualties. The LSSAH and Das Reich lost over half their troops to illness and combat casualties. In need of recruits, Himmler began to accept soldiers that did not fit the original SS racial profile. In early 1942, SS-Leibstandarte, SS-Totenkopf, and SS-Das Reich were withdrawn to the West to refit and were converted to Panzergrenadier divisions. The SS-Panzer Corps returned to the Soviet Union in 1943 and participated in the Third Battle of Kharkov in February and March.
### The Holocaust
The SS was built on a culture of violence, which was exhibited in its most extreme form by the mass murder of civilians and prisoners of war on the Eastern Front. Augmented by personnel from the Kripo, Orpo (Order Police), and Waffen-SS, the Einsatzgruppen reached a total strength of 3,000 men. Einsatzgruppen A, B, and C were attached to Army Groups North, Centre, and South; Einsatzgruppe D was assigned to the 11th Army. The Einsatzgruppe for Special Purposes operated in eastern Poland starting in July 1941. The historian Richard Rhodes describes them as being "outside the bounds of morality"; they were "judge, jury and executioner all in one", with the authority to kill anyone at their discretion. Following Operation Barbarossa, these Einsatzgruppen units, together with the Waffen-SS and Order Police as well as with assistance from the Wehrmacht, engaged in the mass murder of the Jewish population in occupied eastern Poland and the Soviet Union. The greatest extent of Einsatzgruppen action occurred in 1941 and 1942 in Ukraine and Russia. Before the invasion there were five million registered Jews throughout the Soviet Union, with three million of those residing in the territories occupied by the Germans; by the time the war ended, over two million of these had been murdered.
The extermination activities of the Einsatzgruppen generally followed a standard procedure, with the Einsatzgruppen chief contacting the nearest Wehrmacht unit commander to inform him of the impending action; this was done so they could coordinate and control access to the execution grounds. Initially, the victims were shot, but this method proved impracticable for an operation of this scale. Also, after Himmler observed the shooting of 100 Jews at Minsk in August 1941, he grew concerned about the impact such actions were having on the mental health of his SS men. He decided that alternate methods of murder should be found, which led to the introduction of gas vans. However, these were not popular with the men, because removing the dead bodies from the van and burying them was a horrible ordeal. Prisoners or auxiliaries were often assigned to do this task so as to spare the SS men the trauma.
### Anti-partisan operations
In response to the army's difficulties in dealing with Soviet partisans, Hitler decided in July 1942 to transfer anti-partisan operations to the police. This placed the matter under Himmler's purview. As Hitler had ordered on 8 July 1941 that all Jews were to be regarded as partisans, the term "anti-partisan operations" was used as a euphemism for the murder of Jews as well as actual combat against resistance elements. In July 1942 Himmler ordered that the term "partisan" should no longer be used; instead resisters to Nazi rule would be described as "bandits".
Himmler set the SS and SD to work on developing additional anti-partisan tactics and launched a propaganda campaign. Sometime in June 1943, Himmler issued the Bandenbekämpfung (bandit fighting) order, simultaneously announcing the existence of the Bandenkampfverbände (bandit fighting formations), with SS-Obergruppenführer Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski as its chief. Employing troops primarily from the SS police and Waffen-SS, the Bandenkampfverbände had four principal operational components: propaganda, centralized control and coordination of security operations, training of troops, and battle operations. Once the Wehrmacht had secured territorial objectives, the Bandenkampfverbände first secured communications facilities, roads, railways, and waterways. Thereafter, they secured rural communities and economic installations such as factories and administrative buildings. An additional priority was securing agricultural and forestry resources. The SS oversaw the collection of the harvest, which was deemed critical to strategic operations. Any Jews in the area were rounded up and killed. Communists and people of Asiatic descent were killed presumptively under the assumption that they were Soviet agents.
### Death camps
After the start of the war, Himmler intensified the activity of the SS within Germany and in Nazi-occupied Europe. Increasing numbers of Jews and German citizens deemed politically suspect or social outsiders were arrested. As the Nazi regime became more oppressive, the concentration camp system grew in size and lethal operation, and grew in scope as the economic ambitions of the SS intensified.
Intensification of the killing operations took place in late 1941 when the SS began construction of stationary gassing facilities to replace the use of Einsatzgruppen for mass murders. Victims at these new extermination camps were killed with the use of carbon monoxide gas from automobile engines. During Operation Reinhard, run by officers from the Totenkopfverbände, who were sworn to secrecy, three extermination camps were built in occupied Poland: Bełżec (operational by March 1942), Sobibór (operational by May 1942), and Treblinka (operational by July 1942), with squads of Trawniki men (Eastern European collaborators) overseeing hundreds of Sonderkommando prisoners, who were forced to work in the gas chambers and crematoria before being murdered themselves. On Himmler's orders, by early 1942 the concentration camp at Auschwitz was greatly expanded to include the addition of gas chambers, where victims were killed using the pesticide Zyklon B.
For administrative reasons, all concentration camp guards and administrative staff became full members of the Waffen-SS in 1942. The concentration camps were placed under the command of the SS-Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt (SS Main Economic and Administrative Office; WVHA) under Oswald Pohl. Richard Glücks served as the Inspector of Concentration Camps, which in 1942 became office "D" under the WVHA. Exploitation and extermination became a balancing act as the military situation deteriorated. The labor needs of the war economy, especially for skilled workers, meant that some Jews escaped the genocide. On 30 October 1942, due to severe labor shortages in Germany, Himmler ordered that large numbers of able-bodied people in Nazi-occupied Soviet territories be taken prisoner and sent to Germany as forced labor.
By 1944, the SS-TV had been organized into three divisions: staff of the concentration camps in Germany and Austria, in the occupied territories, and of the extermination camps in Poland. By 1944, it became standard practice to rotate SS members in and out of the camps, partly based on manpower needs, but also to provide easier assignments to wounded Waffen-SS members. This rotation of personnel meant that nearly the entire SS knew what was going on inside the concentration camps, making the entire organization liable for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
## Business empire
In 1934, Himmler founded the first SS business venture, Nordland-Verlag, a publishing house that released propaganda material and SS training manuals. Thereafter, he purchased Allach Porcelain, which then began to produce SS memorabilia. Because of the labor shortage and a desire for financial gain, the SS started exploiting concentration camp inmates as slave labor. Most of the SS businesses lost money until Himmler placed them under the administration of Pohl's Verwaltung und Wirtschaftshauptamt Hauptamt (Administration and Business office; VuWHA) in 1939. Even then, most of the enterprises were poorly run and did not fare well, as SS men were not selected for their business experience, and the workers were starving. In July 1940 Pohl established the Deutsche Wirtschaftsbetriebe GmbH (German Businesses Ltd; DWB), an umbrella corporation under which he took over administration of all SS business concerns. Eventually, the SS founded nearly 200 holding companies for their businesses.
In May 1941 the VuWHA founded the Deutsche Ausrüstungswerke GmbH (German Equipment Works; DAW), which was created to integrate the SS business enterprises with the burgeoning concentration camp system. Himmler subsequently established four major new concentration camps in 1941: Auschwitz, Gross-Rosen, Natzweiler-Struthof, and Neuengamme. Each had at least one factory or quarry nearby where the inmates were forced to work. Himmler took a particular interest in providing laborers for IG Farben, which was constructing a synthetic rubber factory at Auschwitz III–Monowitz. The plant was almost ready to commence production when it was overrun by Soviet troops in 1945. The life expectancy of inmates at Monowitz averaged about three months. This was typical of the camps, as inmates were underfed and lived under disastrously bad living conditions. Their workload was intentionally made impossibly high, under the policy of extermination through labor.
In 1942, Himmler consolidated all of the offices for which Pohl was responsible into one, creating the SS Main Economic and Administrative Office (Wirtschafts- und Verwaltungshauptamt; WVHA). The entire concentration camp system was placed under the authority of the WVHA. The SS owned Sudetenquell GmbH, a mineral water producer in Sudetenland. By 1944, the SS had purchased 75 percent of the mineral water producers in Germany and were intending to acquire a monopoly. Several concentration camps produced building materials such as stone, bricks, and cement for the SS-owned Deutsche Erd- und Steinwerke (German Earth And Stone Works; DEST). In the occupied Eastern territories, the SS acquired a monopoly in brick production by seizing all 300 extant brickworks. The DWB also founded the Ost-Deutsche Baustoffwerke (East German Building Supply Works; GmbH or ODBS) and Deutsche Edelmöbel GmbH (German Noble Furniture). These operated in factories the SS had confiscated from Jews and Poles.
The SS owned experimental farms, bakeries, meat packing plants, leather works, clothing and uniform factories, and small arms factories. Under the direction of the WVHA, the SS sold camp labor to various factories at a rate of three to six Reichsmarks per prisoner per day. The SS confiscated and sold the property of concentration camp inmates, confiscated their investment portfolios and their cash, and profited from their dead bodies by selling their hair to make felt and melting down their dental work to obtain gold from the fillings. The total value of assets looted from the victims of Operation Reinhard alone (not including Auschwitz) was listed by Odilo Globocnik as 178,745,960.59 Reichsmarks. Items seized included 2,909.68 kg (6,414.7 lb) of gold worth 843,802.75 RM, as well as 18,733.69 kg (41,300.7 lb) of silver, 1,514 kg (3,338 lb) of platinum, 249,771.50 American dollars, 130 diamond solitaires, 2,511.87 carats of brilliants, 13,458.62 carats of diamonds, and 114 kg of pearls. According to Nazi legislation, Jewish property belonged to the state, but many SS camp commandants and guards stole items such as diamonds or currency for personal gain or took seized foodstuffs and liquor to sell on the black market.
## Military reversals
On 5 July 1943, the Germans launched the Battle of Kursk, an offensive designed to eliminate the Kursk salient. The Waffen-SS by this time had been expanded to 12 divisions, and most took part in the battle. Due to stiff Soviet resistance, Hitler halted the attack by the evening of 12 July. On 17 July he called off the operation and ordered a withdrawal. Thereafter, the Germans were forced onto the defensive as the Red Army began the liberation of Western Russia. The losses incurred by the Waffen-SS and the Wehrmacht during the Battle of Kursk occurred nearly simultaneously with the Allied assault into Italy, opening a two-front war for Germany.
### Normandy landings
Alarmed by the raids on St Nazaire and Dieppe in 1942, Hitler had ordered the construction of fortifications he called the Atlantic Wall all along the Atlantic coast, from Spain to Norway, to protect against an expected Allied invasion. Concrete gun emplacements were constructed at strategic points along the coast, and wooden stakes, metal tripods, mines, and large anti-tank obstacles were placed on the beaches to delay the approach of landing craft and impede the movement of tanks. In addition to several static infantry divisions, eleven panzer and Panzergrenadier divisions were deployed nearby. Four of these formations were Waffen-SS divisions. In addition, the SS-Das Reich was located in Southern France, the LSSAH was in Belgium refitting after fighting in the Soviet Union, and the newly formed panzer division SS-Hitlerjugend, consisting of 17- and 18-year-old Hitler Youth members supported by combat veterans and experienced NCOs, was stationed west of Paris. The creation of the SS-Hitlerjugend was a sign of Hitler's desperation for more troops, especially ones with unquestioning obedience.
The Normandy landings took place beginning on 6 June 1944. 21st Panzer Division under Generalmajor Edgar Feuchtinger, positioned south of Caen, was the only panzer division close to the beaches. The division included 146 tanks and 50 assault guns, plus supporting infantry and artillery. At 02:00, Generalleutnant Wilhelm Richter, commander of the 716th Static Infantry Division, ordered 21st Panzer Division into position to counter-attack. However, as the division was part of the armored reserve, Feuchtinger was obliged to seek clearance from OKW before he could commit his formation. Feuchtinger did not receive orders until nearly 09:00, but in the meantime, on his own initiative he put together a battle group (including tanks) to fight the British forces east of the Orne. SS-Hitlerjugend began to deploy in the afternoon of 6 June, with its units undertaking defensive actions the following day. They also took part in the Battle for Caen (June–August 1944). On 7–8 and 17 June, members of the SS-Hitlerjugend shot and killed twenty Canadian prisoners of war in the Ardenne Abbey massacre.
The Allies continued to make progress in the liberation of France, and on 4 August Hitler ordered a counter-offensive (Operation Lüttich) from Vire towards Avranches. The operation included LSSAH, Das Reich, 2nd, and 116th Panzer Divisions, with support from infantry and elements of the 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division Götz von Berlichingen under SS-Oberstgruppenführer Paul Hausser. These forces were to mount an offensive near Mortain and drive west through Avranches to the coast. The Allied forces were prepared for this offensive, and an air assault on the combined German units proved devastating. On 21 August, 50,000 German troops, including most of the LSSAH, were encircled by the Allies in the Falaise Pocket. Remnants of the LSSAH which escaped were withdrawn to Germany for refitting. Paris was liberated on 25 August, and the last of the German forces withdrew over the Seine by the end of August, ending the Normandy campaign.
### Battle for Germany
Waffen-SS units that had survived the summer campaigns were withdrawn from the front line to refit. Two of them, the 9th SS and 10th SS Panzer Divisions, did so in the Arnhem region of Holland in early September 1944. Coincidentally, on 17 September, the Allies launched in the same area Operation Market Garden, a combined airborne and land operation designed to seize control of the lower Rhine. The 9th and 10th Panzers were among the units that repulsed the attack.
In December 1944, Hitler launched the Ardennes Offensive, also known as the Battle of the Bulge, a significant counterattack against the western Allies through the Ardennes with the aim of reaching Antwerp while encircling the Allied armies in the area. The offensive began with an artillery barrage shortly before dawn on 16 December. Spearheading the attack were two panzer armies composed largely of Waffen-SS divisions. The battlegroups found advancing through the forests and wooded hills of the Ardennes difficult in the winter weather, but they initially made good progress in the northern sector. They soon encountered strong resistance from the US 2nd and 99th Infantry Divisions. By 23 December, the weather improved enough for Allied air forces to attack the German forces and their supply columns, causing fuel shortages. In increasingly difficult conditions, the German advance slowed and was stopped. Hitler's failed offensive cost 700 tanks and most of their remaining mobile forces in the west, as well as most of their irreplaceable reserves of manpower and materiel.
During the battle, SS-Obersturmbannführer Joachim Peiper left a path of destruction, which included Waffen-SS soldiers under his command murdering American POWs and unarmed Belgian civilians in the Malmedy massacre. Captured SS soldiers who were part of Kampfgruppe Peiper were tried during the Malmedy massacre trial following the war for this massacre and several others in the area. Many of the perpetrators were sentenced to hang, but the sentences were commuted. Peiper was imprisoned for eleven years for his role in the murders.
In the east, the Red Army resumed its offensive on 12 January 1945. German forces were outnumbered twenty to one in aircraft, eleven to one in infantry, and seven to one in tanks on the Eastern Front. By the end of the month, the Red Army had made bridgeheads across the Oder, the last geographic obstacle before Berlin. The western Allies continued to advance as well, but not as rapidly as the Red Army. The Panzer Corps conducted a successful defensive operation on 17–24 February at the Hron River, stalling the Allied advance towards Vienna. The 1st and 2nd SS Panzer Corps made their way towards Austria but were slowed by damaged railways.
Budapest fell on 13 February. Hitler ordered Dietrich's 6th Panzer Army to move into Hungary to protect the Nagykanizsa oilfields and refineries, which he deemed the most strategically valuable fuel reserves on the Eastern Front. Frühlingserwachsen (Operation Spring Awakening), the final German offensive in the east, took place in early March. German forces attacked near Lake Balaton, with 6th Panzer Army advancing north towards Budapest and 2nd Panzer Army moving east and south. Dietrich's forces at first made good progress, but as they drew near the Danube, the combination of muddy terrain and strong Soviet resistance brought them to a halt. By 16 March the battle was lost. Enraged by the defeat, Hitler ordered the Waffen-SS units involved to remove their cuff titles as a mark of disgrace. Dietrich refused to carry out the order.
By this time, on both the Eastern and Western Front, the activities of the SS were becoming clear to the Allies, as the concentration and extermination camps were being overrun. Allied troops were filled with disbelief and repugnance at the evidence of Nazi brutality in the camps.
On 9 April 1945 Königsberg fell to the Red Army, and on 13 April Dietrich's SS unit was forced out of Vienna. The Battle of Berlin began at 03:30 on 16 April with a massive artillery barrage. Within the week, fighting was taking place inside the city. Among the many elements defending Berlin were French, Latvian, and Scandinavian Waffen-SS troops. Hitler, now living in the Führerbunker under the Reich Chancellery, still hoped that his remaining SS soldiers could rescue the capital. In spite of the hopelessness of the situation, members of the SS patrolling the city continued to shoot or hang soldiers and civilians for what they considered to be acts of cowardice or defeatism. The Berlin garrison surrendered on 2 May, two days after Hitler committed suicide. As members of SS expected little mercy from the Red Army, they attempted to move westward to surrender to the western Allies instead.
## SS units and branches
### Reich Security Main Office
Heydrich held the title of Chef der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD (Chief of the Security Police and SD) until 27 September 1939, when he became chief of the newly established Reich Security Main Office (RSHA). From that point forward, the RSHA was in charge of SS security services. It had under its command the SD, Kripo, and Gestapo, as well as several offices to handle finance, administration, and supply. Heinrich Müller, who had been chief of operations for the Gestapo, was appointed Gestapo chief at this time. Arthur Nebe was chief of the Kripo, and the two branches of SD were commanded by a series of SS officers, including Otto Ohlendorf and Walter Schellenberg. The SD was considered an elite branch of the SS, and its members were better educated and typically more ambitious than those within the ranks of the Allgemeine SS. Members of the SD were specially trained in criminology, intelligence, and counter-intelligence. They also gained a reputation for ruthlessness and unwavering commitment to Nazi ideology.
Heydrich was attacked in Prague on 27 May 1942 by a British-trained team of Czech and Slovak soldiers who had been sent by the Czechoslovak government-in-exile to assassinate him in Operation Anthropoid. He died from his injuries a week later. Himmler ran the RSHA personally until 30 January 1943, when Heydrich's positions were taken over by Ernst Kaltenbrunner.
### SS-Sonderkommandos
Beginning in 1938 and throughout World War II, the SS enacted a procedure where offices and units of the SS could form smaller sub-units, known as SS-Sonderkommandos, to carry out special tasks, including large-scale murder operations. The use of SS-Sonderkommandos was widespread. According to former SS-Sturmbannführer Wilhelm Höttl, not even the SS leadership knew how many SS-Sonderkommandos were constantly being formed, disbanded, and reformed for various tasks, especially on the Eastern Front.
An SS-Sonderkommando unit led by SS-Sturmbannführer Herbert Lange murdered 1,201 psychiatric patients at the Tiegenhof psychiatric hospital in the Free City of Danzig, 1,100 patients in Owińska, 2,750 patients at Kościan, and 1,558 patients at Działdowo, as well as hundreds of Poles at Fort VII, where the mobile gas van and gassing bunker were developed. In 1941–42, SS-Sonderkommando Lange set up and managed the first extermination camp, at Chełmno, where 152,000 Jews were killed using gas vans.
After the Battle of Stalingrad ended in February 1943, Himmler realized that Germany would likely lose the war, and ordered the formation of Sonderkommando 1005, a special task force under SS-Standartenführer Paul Blobel. The unit's assignment was to visit mass graves on the Eastern Front to exhume bodies and burn them in an attempt to cover up the genocide. The task remained unfinished at the end of the war, and many mass graves remain unmarked and unexcavated.
The Eichmann Sonderkommando was a task force headed by Adolf Eichmann that arrived in Budapest on 19 March 1944, the same day that Axis forces invaded Hungary. Their task was to take a direct role in the deportation of Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz. The SS-Sonderkommandos enlisted the aid of antisemitic elements from the Hungarian gendarmerie and pro-German administrators from within the Hungarian Interior Ministry. Round-ups began on 16 April, and from 14 May, four trains of 3,000 Jews per day left Hungary and traveled to the camp at Auschwitz II-Birkenau, arriving along a newly built spur line that terminated a few hundred meters from the gas chambers. Between 10 and 25 percent of the people on each train were chosen as forced laborers; the rest were killed within hours of arrival. Under international pressure, the Hungarian government halted deportations on 6 July 1944, by which time over 437,000 of Hungary's 725,000 Jews had been murdered.
### Einsatzgruppen
The Einsatzgruppen had its origins in the ad hoc Einsatzkommando formed by Heydrich following the Anschluss in Austria in March 1938. Two units of Einsatzgruppen were stationed in the Sudetenland in October 1938. When military action turned out not to be necessary because of the Munich Agreement, the Einsatzgruppen were assigned to confiscate government papers and police documents. They secured government buildings, questioned senior civil servants, and arrested as many as 10,000 Czech communists and German citizens. The Einsatzgruppen also followed Wehrmacht troops and killed potential partisans. Similar groups were used in 1939 for the occupation of Czechoslovakia.
Hitler felt that the planned extermination of the Jews was too difficult and important to be entrusted to the military. In 1941 the Einsatzgruppen were sent into the Soviet Union to begin large-scale genocide of Jews, Romani people, and communists. Historian Raul Hilberg estimates that between 1941 and 1945 the Einsatzgruppen and related agencies murdered more than two million people, including 1.3 million Jews. The largest mass shooting perpetrated by the Einsatzgruppen was at Babi Yar outside Kiev, where 33,771 Jews were massacred in a single operation on 29–30 September 1941. In the Rumbula massacre (November–December 1941), 25,000 victims from the Riga ghetto were murdered. In another set of mass shootings (December 1941-January 1942), the Einsatzgruppe massacred over 10,000 Jews at Drobytsky Yar in Kharkiv.
The last Einsatzgruppen were disbanded in mid-1944 (although some continued to exist on paper until 1945) due to the German retreat on both fronts and the consequent inability to continue extermination activities. Former Einsatzgruppen members were either assigned duties in the Waffen-SS or concentration camps. Twenty-four Einsatzgruppen commanders were tried for war crimes following the war.
### SS Court Main Office
The SS Court Main Office (Hauptamt SS-Gericht) was an internal legal system for conducting investigations, trials, and punishment of the SS and police. It had more than 600 lawyers on staff in the main offices in Berlin and Munich. Proceedings were conducted at 38 regional SS courts throughout Germany. It was the only authority authorized to try SS personnel, except for SS members who were on active duty in the Wehrmacht (in such cases, the SS member in question was tried by a standard military tribunal). Its creation placed the SS beyond the reach of civilian legal authority. Himmler personally intervened as he saw fit regarding convictions and punishment. The historian Karl Dietrich Bracher describes this court system as one factor in the creation of the Nazi totalitarian police state, as it removed objective legal procedures, rendering citizens defenseless against the "summary justice of the SS terror."
### SS Cavalry
Shortly after Hitler seized power in 1933, most horse riding associations were taken over by the SA and SS. Members received combat training to serve in the Reiter-SS (SS Cavalry Corps). The first SS cavalry regiment, designated SS-Totenkopf Reitstandarte 1, was formed in September 1939. Commanded by then SS-Standartenführer Hermann Fegelein, the unit was assigned to Poland, where they took part in the extermination of Polish intelligentsia. Additional squadrons were added in May 1940, for a total of fourteen.
The unit was split into two regiments in December 1939, with Fegelein in charge of both. By March 1941 their strength was 3,500 men. In July 1941, they were assigned to the Pripyat swamps punitive operation, tasked with rounding up and exterminating Jews and partisans. The two regiments were amalgamated into the SS Cavalry Brigade on 31 July, twelve days after the operation started. Fegelein's final report, dated 18 September 1941, states that they killed 14,178 Jews, 1,001 partisans, and 699 Red Army soldiers, with 830 prisoners taken. The historian Henning Pieper estimates the actual number of Jews killed was closer to 23,700. The SS Cavalry Brigade took serious losses in November 1941 in the Battle of Moscow, with casualties of up to 60 percent in some squadrons. Fegelein was appointed as commander of the 8th SS Cavalry Division Florian Geyer on 20 April 1943. This unit saw service in the Soviet Union in attacks on partisans and civilians. In addition, SS Cavalry regiments served in Croatia and Hungary.
### SS Medical Corps
The SS Medical Corps were initially known as the Sanitätsstaffel (sanitary units). After 1931, the SS formed the headquarters office Amt V as the central office for SS medical units. An SS medical academy was established in Berlin in 1938 to train Waffen-SS physicians. SS medical personnel did not often provide actual medical care; their primary responsibility was medicalized genocide. At Auschwitz, about three-quarters of new arrivals, including almost all children, women with small children, all the elderly, and all those who appeared on brief and superficial inspection by an SS doctor not to be completely fit were killed within hours of arrival. In their role as Desinfektoren (disinfectors), SS doctors also made selections among existing prisoners as to their fitness to work and supervised the murder of those deemed unfit. Inmates in deteriorating health were examined by SS doctors, who decided whether or not they would be able to recover in less than two weeks. Those too ill or injured to recover in that time frame were killed.
At Auschwitz, the actual delivery of gas to the victims was always handled by the SS, on the order of the supervising SS doctor. Many of the SS doctors also conducted inhumane medical experiments on camp prisoners. The most infamous SS doctor, Josef Mengele, served as a medical officer at Auschwitz under the command of Eduard Wirths of the camp's medical corps. Mengele undertook selections even when he was not assigned to do so in the hope of finding subjects for his experiments. He was particularly interested in locating sets of twins. In contrast to most of the doctors, who viewed undertaking selections as one of their most stressful and horrible duties, Mengele undertook the task with a flamboyant air, often smiling or whistling a tune. After the war, many SS doctors were charged with war crimes for their inhumane medical experiments and for their role in gas chamber selections.
### Other SS units
#### Ahnenerbe
The Ahnenerbe (Ancestral Heritage Organization) was founded in 1935 by Himmler and became part of the SS in 1939. It was an umbrella agency for more than fifty organizations tasked with studying German racial identity and ancient Germanic traditions and language. The agency sponsored archaeological expeditions in Germany, Scandinavia, the Middle East, Tibet, and elsewhere to search for evidence of Aryan roots, influence, and superiority. Further planned expeditions were postponed indefinitely at the start of the war.
#### SS-Frauenkorps
The SS-Frauenkorps was an auxiliary reporting and clerical unit, which included the SS-Helferinnenkorps (Women Helper Corps), made up of female volunteers. Members were assigned as administrative staff and supply personnel and served in command positions and as guards at women's concentration camps. While female concentration and extermination camp guards were civilian employees of the SS, the SS-Helferinnen who completed training at the Reichsschule für SS-Helferinnen in Oberehnheim (Alsace) were members of the Waffen-SS. Like their male equivalents in the SS, females participated in atrocities against Jews, Poles, and others.
In 1942, Himmler set up the Reichsschule für SS Helferinnen (Reich school for SS helpers) in Oberehnheim to train women in communications so that they could free up men for combat roles. Himmler also intended to replace all female civilian employees in his service with SS-Helferinnen members, as they were selected and trained according to Nazi ideology. The school was closed on 22 November 1944 due to the Allied advance.
#### SS-Mannschaften
The SS-Mannschaften (Auxiliary-SS) were not considered regular SS members, but were conscripted from other branches of the German military, the Nazi Party, the SA, and the Volkssturm for service in concentration camps and extermination camps.
## Foreign legions and volunteers
Beginning in 1940, Himmler opened up Waffen-SS recruiting to ethnic Germans that were not German citizens. In March 1941, the SS Main Office established the Germanische Leitstelle (Germanic Guidance Office) to establish Waffen-SS recruiting offices in Nazi-occupied Europe. The majority of the resulting foreign Waffen-SS units wore a distinctive national collar patch and preceded their SS rank titles with the prefix Waffen instead of SS. Volunteers from Scandinavian countries filled the ranks of two divisions, the SS-Wiking and SS-Nordland. Swiss German speakers joined in substantial numbers. Belgian Flemings joined Dutchmen to form the SS-Nederland legion, and their Walloon compatriots joined the SS-Wallonien. By the end of 1943 about a quarter of the SS were ethnic Germans from across Europe, and by June 1944, half the Waffen-SS were foreign nationals.
Additional Waffen-SS units were added from the Ukrainians, Albanians from Kosovo, Serbians, Croatians, Turkic, Caucasians, Cossack, and Tatars. The Ukrainians and Tatars, who had suffered persecution under Stalin, were likely motivated primarily by opposition to the Soviet government rather than ideological agreement with the SS. The exiled Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Amin al-Husseini was made an SS-Gruppenführer by Himmler in May 1943. He subsequently used antisemitism and anti-Serb racism to recruit a Waffen-SS division of Bosnian Muslims, the SS-Handschar. The year-long Soviet occupation of the Baltic states at the beginning of World War II resulted in volunteers for Latvian and Estonian Waffen-SS units. The Estonian Legion had 1,280 volunteers under training by the end of 1942. Approximately 25,000 men served in the Estonian SS division, with thousands more conscripted into Police Front battalions and border guard units. Most of the Estonians were fighting primarily to regain their independence and as many as 15,000 of them died fighting alongside the Germans. In early 1944, Himmler even contacted Pohl to suggest releasing Muslim prisoners from concentration camps to supplement his SS troops.
The Indian Legion was a Wehrmacht unit formed in August 1942 chiefly from disaffected Indian soldiers of the British Indian Army captured in the North African Campaign. In August 1944 it was transferred to the auspices of the Waffen-SS as the Indische Freiwilligen-Legion der Waffen-SS. There was also a French volunteer division, SS-Charlemagne, which was formed in 1944 mainly from the remnants of the Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism and French Sturmbrigade.
## Ranks and uniforms
The SS established its own symbolism, rituals, customs, ranks, and uniforms to set itself apart from other organizations. Before 1929, the SS wore the same brown uniform as the SA, with the addition of a black tie and a black cap with a Totenkopf (death's head) skull and bones symbol, moving to an all-black uniform in 1932. In 1935, the SS combat formations adopted a service uniform in field grey for everyday wear. The SS also developed its own field uniforms, which included reversible smocks and helmet covers printed with camouflage patterns. Uniforms were manufactured in hundreds of licensed factories, with some workers being prisoners of war performing forced labor. Many were produced in concentration camps.
Hitler and the Nazi Party understood the power of emblems and insignia to influence public opinion. The stylized lightning bolt logo of the SS was chosen in 1932. The logo is a pair of runes from a set of 18 Armanen runes created by Guido von List in 1906. It is similar to the ancient Sowilō rune, which symbolizes the sun, but was renamed as "Sig" (victory) in List's iconography. The Totenkopf symbolized the wearer's willingness to fight unto the death, and also served to frighten the enemy.
## SS membership estimates 1925–1945
After 1933 a career in the SS became increasingly attractive to Germany's social elite, who began joining the movement in great numbers, usually motivated by political opportunism. By 1938 about one-third of the SS leadership were members of the upper middle class. The trend reversed after the first Soviet counter-offensive of 1942.
{\| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable" style="text-align: center;"
\|- ! scope="col" class="unsortable" \|Year ! scope="col" \|Membership ! scope="col" class="unsortable" \|Reichsführer-SS \|- ! scope="row" \|1925 \| \| style="text-align:left;" \|Julius Schreck \|- ! scope="row" \|1926 \| \| style="text-align:left;" \|Joseph Berchtold \|- ! scope="row" \|1927 \| \| style="text-align:left;" \|Erhard Heiden \|- ! scope="row" \|1928 \| \| style="text-align:left;" \|Erhard Heiden \|- ! scope="row" \|1929 \| \| style="text-align:left;" \|Heinrich Himmler \|- ! scope="row" \|1930–33 \|
(Nazis come to power in 1933) \| style="text-align:left;" \|Heinrich Himmler (establishment of Nazi Germany) \|- ! scope="row" \|1934–39 \| \| style="text-align:left;"\| Heinrich Himmler \|- ! scope="row" \|1940–44 \| \| style="text-align:left;" \|Heinrich Himmler \|- ! scope="row" \|1944–45 \| Unknown \| style="text-align:left;" \|Heinrich Himmler and Karl Hanke
## SS offices
By 1942 all activities of the SS were managed through twelve main offices.
- Personal Staff Reichsführer-SS
- SS Main Office (SS-HA)
- SS-Führungshauptamt (SS Main Operational Office; SS-FHA)
- Reich Security Main Office (RSHA)
- SS Main Economic and Administrative Office (WVHA)
- Ordnungspolizei Hauptamt (Main Office of the Order Police)
- SS Court Main Office
- SS Race and Settlement Main Office (RuSHA)
- SS Personnel Main Office
- Hauptamt Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle (Racial German Assistance Main Office; VOMI)
- SS Education Office
- Main Office of the Reich Commissioner for the Consolidation of German Nationhood (RKFDV)
## Austrian SS
The term "Austrian SS" is often used to describe that portion of the SS membership from Austria, but it was never a recognized branch of the SS. In contrast to SS members from other countries, who were grouped into either the Germanic-SS or the Foreign Legions of the Waffen-SS, Austrian SS members were regular SS personnel. It was technically under the command of the SS in Germany but often acted independently concerning Austrian affairs. The Austrian SS was founded in 1930 and by 1934 was acting as a covert force to bring about the Anschluss with Germany, which occurred in March 1938. Early Austrian SS leaders were Kaltenbrunner and Arthur Seyss-Inquart. Austrian SS members served in every branch of the SS. Austrians constituted 8 percent of Nazi Germany's population and 13 percent of the SS; 40 percent of the staff and 75 percent of commanders at death camps were Austrian.
After the Anschluss, the Austrian SS was folded into SS-Oberabschnitt Donau. The third regiment of the SS-Verfügungstruppe (Der Führer) and the fourth Totenkopf regiment (Ostmark) were recruited in Austria shortly thereafter. On Heydrich's orders, mass arrests of potential enemies of the Reich began immediately after the Anschluss. Mauthausen was the first concentration camp opened in Austria following the Anschluss. Before the invasion of the Soviet Union, Mauthausen was the harshest of the camps in the Greater German Reich.
The Hotel Metropole was transformed into Gestapo headquarters in Vienna in April 1938. With a staff of 900 (80 percent of whom were recruited from the Austrian police), it was the largest Gestapo office outside Berlin. An estimated 50,000 people were interrogated or tortured there. The Gestapo in Vienna was headed by Franz Josef Huber, who also served as chief of the Central Agency for Jewish Emigration in Vienna. Although its de facto leaders were Adolf Eichmann and later Alois Brunner, Huber was nevertheless responsible for the mass deportation of Austrian Jews.
## Post-war activity and aftermath
Following Nazi Germany's collapse, the SS ceased to exist. Numerous members of the SS, many of them still committed Nazis, remained at large in Germany and across Europe. On 21 May 1945, the British captured Himmler, who was in disguise and using a false passport. At an internment camp near Lüneburg, he committed suicide by biting down on a cyanide capsule. Several other leading members of the SS fled, but some were quickly captured. Kaltenbrunner, chief of the RSHA and the highest-ranking surviving SS main department chief upon Himmler's suicide, was captured and arrested in the Bavarian Alps. He was among the 22 defendants put on trial at the International Military Tribunal in 1945–46.
Some SS members were subject to summary execution, torture, and beatings at the hands of freed prisoners, displaced persons, or Allied soldiers. American soldiers of the 157th Regiment, who entered the concentration camp at Dachau in April 1945 and saw the human deprivation and cruelty committed by the SS, shot some of the remaining SS camp guards. On 15 April 1945, British troops entered Bergen-Belsen. They placed the SS guards on starvation rations, made them work without breaks, forced them to deal with the remaining corpses, and stabbed them with bayonets or struck them with their rifle butts if they slowed their pace. Some members of the US Army Counter Intelligence Corps delivered captured SS camp guards to displaced person camps, where they knew they would be subject to summary execution.
### International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg
The Allies commenced legal proceedings against captured Nazis, establishing the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg in 1945. The first war crimes trial of 24 prominent figures such as Hermann Göring, Albert Speer, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Alfred Rosenberg, Hans Frank, and Kaltenbrunner took place beginning in November 1945. They were accused of four counts: conspiracy, waging a war of aggression, war crimes, and crimes against humanity in violation of international law. Twelve received the death penalty, including Kaltenbrunner, who was convicted of crimes against humanity and executed on 16 October 1946. The former commandant at Auschwitz, Rudolf Höss, who testified on behalf of Kaltenbrunner and others, was tried and executed in 1947.
Additional SS trials and convictions followed. Many defendants attempted to exculpate themselves using the excuse that they were merely following superior orders, which they had to obey unconditionally as part of their sworn oath and duty. The courts did not find this to be a legitimate defense. A trial of 40 SS officers and guards from Auschwitz took place in Kraków in November 1947. Most were found guilty, and 23 received the death penalty. In addition to those tried by the Western allies, an estimated 37,000 members of the SS were tried and convicted in Soviet courts. Sentences included hangings and long terms of hard labor. Piotr Cywiński, the director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum, estimates that of the 70,000 members of the SS involved in crimes in concentration camps, only about 1,650 to 1,700 were tried after the war. The International Military Tribunal declared the SS a criminal organization in 1946.
### Escapes
After the war, many former Nazis fled to South America, especially to Argentina, where they were welcomed by Juan Perón's regime. In the 1950s, former Dachau inmate Lothar Hermann discovered that Buenos Aires resident Ricardo Klement was, in fact, Adolf Eichmann, who had in 1948 obtained false identification and a landing permit for Argentina through an organization directed by Bishop Alois Hudal, an Austrian cleric with Nazi sympathies, then residing in Italy. Eichmann was captured in Buenos Aires on 11 May 1960 by Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency. At his trial in Jerusalem in 1961, he was found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging. Eichmann was quoted as having stated, "I will jump into my grave laughing because the fact that I have the death of five million Jews [or Reich enemies, as he later claimed to have said] on my conscience gives me extraordinary satisfaction." Franz Stangl, the commandant of Treblinka, also escaped to South America with the assistance of Hudal's network. He was deported to Germany in 1967 and was sentenced to life in prison in 1970. He died in 1971.
Mengele, worried that his capture would mean a death sentence, fled Germany on 17 April 1949. Assisted by a network of former SS members, he traveled to Genoa, where he obtained a passport under the alias "Helmut Gregor" from the International Committee of the Red Cross. He sailed to Argentina in July. Aware that he was still a wanted man, he moved to Paraguay in 1958 and Brazil in 1960. In both instances he was assisted by former Luftwaffe pilot Hans-Ulrich Rudel. Mengele suffered a stroke while swimming and drowned in 1979.
Thousands of Nazis, including former SS members such as Trawniki guard Jakob Reimer and Circassian collaborator Tscherim Soobzokov, fled to the United States under the guise of refugees, sometimes using forged documents. Other SS men, such as Soobzokov, SD officer Wilhelm Höttl, Eichmann aide Otto von Bolschwing, and accused war criminal Theodor Saevecke, were employed by American intelligence agencies against the Soviets. As CIA officer Harry Rositzke noted, "It was a visceral business of using any bastard so long as he was anti-Communist ... The eagerness or desire to enlist collaborators means that sure, you didn't look at their credentials too closely." Similarly, the Soviets used SS personnel after the war; Operation Theo, for instance, disseminated "subversive rumours" in Allied-occupied Germany.
Simon Wiesenthal and others have speculated about the existence of a Nazi fugitive network code-named ODESSA (an acronym for Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen, Organization of former SS members) that allegedly helped war criminals find refuge in Latin America. British writer Gitta Sereny, who conducted interviews with SS men, considers the story untrue and attributes the escapes to postwar chaos and Hudal's Vatican-based network. While the existence of ODESSA remains unproven, Sereny notes that "there certainly were various kinds of Nazi aid organizations after the war — it would have been astonishing if there hadn't been."
## See also
- Germanic SS
- Glossary of Nazi Germany
- HIAG
- List of SS personnel
- List of Waffen-SS divisions
- Myth of the clean Wehrmacht
## Informational notes
|
212,907 |
Killswitch Engage
| 1,173,871,529 |
American metalcore band
|
[
"1999 establishments in Massachusetts",
"Ferret Music artists",
"Heavy metal musical groups from Massachusetts",
"Metal Blade Records artists",
"Metalcore musical groups from Massachusetts",
"Musical groups established in 1998",
"Musical groups from Springfield, Massachusetts",
"Musical quintets",
"Roadrunner Records artists"
] |
Killswitch Engage is an American metalcore band from Westfield, Massachusetts, formed in 1999 after the disbanding of Overcast and Aftershock. Killswitch Engage's current lineup consists of vocalist Jesse Leach, guitarists Joel Stroetzel and Adam Dutkiewicz, bassist Mike D'Antonio, and drummer Justin Foley. The band has released eight studio albums and three live performance albums. Their eighth studio album, Atonement, was released on August 16, 2019.
Killswitch Engage rose to fame with its 2004 release The End of Heartache, which peaked at number 21 on the Billboard 200, and was certified gold by the RIAA in December 2007 for over 500,000 shipments in the United States. The title track, "The End of Heartache", was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2005 for Best Metal Performance, and a live DVD titled (Set This) World Ablaze was released in 2005. Killswitch Engage has performed at festivals such as Soundwave Festival, Wacken Open Air, Reading and Leeds Festivals, Ozzfest, Download Festival, Rock on the Range, Rock am Ring, Mayhem Festival, Monsters of Rock, Pointfest, Knotfest and Heavy MTL. The band has sold over four million records in the U.S. and has been considered notable within the New Wave of American Heavy Metal, and has also been considered one of the earliest leading forces of the metalcore genre.
## History
### Early years and debut album (1999–2001)
Killswitch Engage formed following the disbandment of metalcore bands Overcast and Aftershock in 1999. After Overcast broke up in 1998, bassist Mike D'Antonio collaborated with Aftershock guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz. Dutkiewicz, now playing drums, recruited guitarist Joel Stroetzel from Aftershock and vocalist Jesse Leach of the band Nothing Stays Gold (who were signed to a record label owned by Dutkiewicz's brother Tobias, who was also the vocalist in Aftershock) to form a new band, Killswitch Engage. The band's name is derived from an episode of the television series The X-Files entitled "Kill Switch", written by William Gibson, who gave the episode this title after meeting the industrial band Kill Switch...Klick.
In 1999, Killswitch Engage recorded a demo containing four tracks, including "Soilborn", the first song written by the band. The demo was first released at the band's first show, opening for melodic death metal act In Flames, in November 1999. They released their self-titled debut album the following year. Although initially the album was not a financial success and did not land on any charts, it attracted the interest of Carl Severson, who worked at Roadrunner Records at the time. Severson handed Killswitch Engage to several Roadrunner representatives. Mike Gitter, a talent agent of the company, contacted D'Antonio, attended several of the band's shows, and offered the band a recording contract with Roadrunner. Realizing that Roadrunner had the resources to promote and distribute Killswitch Engage releases, the band accepted his offer, declining several offers from smaller labels.
### Lineup changes and Alive or Just Breathing (2001–2004)
For a brief time in 2000 and 2001, ex-Overcast guitarist Pete Cortese joined Killswitch Engage, but left when he became a father. Killswitch Engage began writing new material for their second album in November 2001. Mixed in January at Backstage Studios by producer Andy Sneap, the album was titled Alive or Just Breathing, after lyrics in the song "Just Barely Breathing". A music video for the single "My Last Serenade" increased the band's exposure, and the album peaked at number 37 on the Top Heatseekers chart.
Following Alive or Just Breathing's release, the album having been written and recorded for two guitarists, the band decided to expand and become a fivesome; Dutkiewicz moved to guitar and former Aftershock drummer Tom Gomes filled in the vacant drummer position. After Leach was married on April 20, 2002 and began touring again he fell into a depression. Leach left the band a few days before the band was meant to play a show and sent the band members an e-mail telling them he had quit. On Leach's end, he remarked "I didn't have the mental energy to face them, or even call them on the phone rather. I was at a point in my life where I just didn't want to face any of them so I wrote them a long email explaining, like, I'm just done", while D'Antonio said in an interview that "after three years of hanging out with the dude, and considering him a brother, to just get an email was a little bit harsh."
The band immediately started to search for a replacement vocalist and found Howard Jones of Blood Has Been Shed. Jones disliked the band's sound when he first heard it. He commented, "I was like, 'Meh.' I come from hardcore and dirtier metal, and Killswitch sounded so clean. But the more I listened to it, I realized there's some really good songs here". After hearing about Leach's vocal problems, Jones contacted the band and was accepted as the replacement. Philip Labonte of All That Remains tried out for lead vocals but lost to Jones, who had to quickly memorize seven songs for his debut at the 2002 Hellfest.
The new lineup played on the Road Rage tour in Europe in 2002 with 36 Crazyfists and Five Pointe O . Touring continued through the New Year's Day, and in 2003 the first song to feature Jones, "When Darkness Falls", appeared on the soundtrack of the 2003 horror film Freddy vs. Jason. Following the 2003 Ozzfest, drummer Gomes left the band because he wished to spend more time with his wife, to pursue his band Something of a Silhouette, and because he was tired of touring. He was replaced by Justin Foley of Blood Has Been Shed, and Foley's first tour with the band was the MTV2 Headbangers Ball in 2003.
### The End of Heartache (2004–2006)
The End of Heartache was released on May 11, 2004, and peaked at number 21 on the Billboard 200 with 38,000 sales in its first week, and it also peaked at number 39 on the Australian Albums Chart. The album went on to sell more than 500,000 copies in the U.S and was certified gold on December 7, 2007. The album received mostly positive reviews, with Jon Caramanica of Rolling Stone calling the album a "stunning collection, retaining much of their signature musical brutality". Eduardo Rivadavia of AllMusic commented "riffs upon riffs are piled sky-high into each number that follows, it's the unpredictable rhythmic shifts used to build and then relieve internal pressure that fuel the Killswitch Engage power source".
"The End of Heartache" became the main single for the movie Resident Evil: Apocalypse, and in 2005 the song was nominated for Best Metal Performance for the 47th Grammy Awards. In late 2004, The End of Heartache was re-released as a special edition album, with a second disc featuring various live performances, a Japanese bonus track, and a re-recorded version of "Irreversal". During the summer of 2005, the band returned for Ozzfest, and on November 1, 2005, Alive or Just Breathing was re-released as part of Roadrunner Records' 25th anniversary. On November 22, 2005, the live DVD (Set This) World Ablaze was released, which contained a live concert at the Palladium in Worcester, Massachusetts, an hour-long documentary, and all the band's music videos. The DVD was certified gold in the US on April 8, 2006.
### As Daylight Dies (2006–2007)
Killswitch Engage played the Reading and Leeds Festivals in August 2006, having already played Australian dates without Dutkiewicz, who was suffering from back problems and needed corrective surgery. On May 23, 2006, the song "This Fire Burns" was released on the WWE Wreckless Intent album. The track was intended to be the new theme song for WWE wrestler Randy Orton; however, it was scrapped and later became the theme song for the WWE Judgment Day 2006 pay-per-view. "This Fire Burns" was used as the entrance theme for WWE wrestler CM Punk (along with his stables the Straight Edge Society and The New Nexus) from 2006 until 2011 and was later re-released as "This Fire" on the As Daylight Dies Special Edition.
Recorded in three months, As Daylight Dies was released on November 21, 2006 and peaked at number 32 on the Billboard 200 chart with 60,000 sales in its first week. "As Daylight Dies" proved to be one of their biggest albums yet. It also entered the Australian Albums Chart at number 29. Mixed by Dutkiewicz, the album received mostly positive reviews—Thom Jurek of Allmusic called it "a Top Five metal candidate for 2006 for sure". Decibel Magazine contributor Nick Terry said "To call As Daylight Dies addictive would be an understatement. That it outdoes its already impressive enough predecessor could almost go without saying". Cosmo Lee of Stylus Magazine commented "the album is astonishingly badly sequenced", though he praised the album as being "less emotionally heavy-handed, and a lot more fun". As of November 27, 2007, As Daylight Dies has sold more than 500,000 units in the US.
The album's first single, "My Curse", peaked at number 21 on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, and is featured in the video games Sleeping Dogs, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, Burnout Dominator and Burnout Paradise and is available as downloadable content for the Rock Band series. "The Arms of Sorrow" peaked at number 31 on the same chart. The band's cover of Dio's "Holy Diver", originally recorded for a Kerrang! compilation album titled High Voltage, peaked at number 12 on the Mainstream Rock charts. Early in 2007, the band had to cancel three of its European tour dates with The Haunted due to Dutkiewicz's back problems. He required emergency back surgery and was replaced on the tour by Soilwork guitarist Peter Wichers.
Due to Dutkiewicz's back problems in early 2007, he was replaced by Damageplan and The Mercy Clinic frontman Patrick Lachman during the No Fear Tour. Dutkiewicz recovered and was able to finish the No Fear tour, and the band began filming its video for As Daylight Dies's second single, "The Arms of Sorrow". On August 6, 2007, Dutkiewicz was forced to leave the Warped Tour so he could fully recover from his back surgery and continue daily physical therapy. He was replaced by Killswitch's guitar technician Josh Mihlek for select songs, until his return on August 14, 2007.
### Second self-titled album (2007–2011)
Killswitch Engage entered the studio in October 2008 to start recording their next album with Dutkiewicz and Brendan O'Brien co-producing the album. In mid-February, bassist Mike D'Antonio confirmed in an interview with Metal Hammer that "drums were finished", and that he had "finished up the last few bass fixes". He also stated that Howard [Jones] was in Atlanta finishing vocals, and that "it shouldn't be too much longer now." From March to May, Killswitch Engage was a part of Disturbed's Music as a Weapon IV festival along with Lacuna Coil, Chimaira, Suicide Silence, Bury Your Dead and more. On April 14, the band announced the name of their album as Killswitch Engage, the second time the band has self-titled an album. The album was released on June 30, 2009, debuting at No. 7 on the Billboard 200, marking the band's highest chart position for an album. In July and August, Killswitch Engage took part in Mayhem Festival with headliners Marilyn Manson, Slayer, Bullet for My Valentine and others. In February 2010, Killswitch Engage announced that vocalist Howard Jones would not be performing with Killswitch Engage during their winter tour with The Devil Wears Prada and Dark Tranquillity; during the time, All That Remains vocalist Philip Labonte was substituting for Jones until he could return. At least one source speculated that Jones's hiatus was due to back pain. On March 18, 2010, original vocalist Jesse Leach returned to the band for a series of songs. From then on, Leach and Labonte performed as substitute vocalists for the remainder of the tour.
In 2010, the band contributed the track "My Obsession" to the God of War: Blood & Metal soundtrack. The band was later added as late replacement to 2010's Download Festival in June, after original sub-headliner, Wolfmother could not attend as scheduled. Afterward, Killswitch Engage took a break from the road, and its members pursued other interests. Adam Dutkiewicz formed the band Times of Grace with Leach and released the band's debut album The Hymn of a Broken Man on January 18, 2011. Along with Dutkiewicz and Leach, Times of Grace added Joel Stroetzel to their tour lineup. Justin Foley provided the drum tracking for the band Unearth on their album "Darkness in the Light", released on July 5, 2011. Foley also traveled with the band for their 2011 summer tour. D'Antonio started the hardcore band Death Ray Vision, with Shadows Fall vocalist Brian Fair and former Killswitch Engage guitarist Pete Cortese.
### Jones's departure, Leach's return and Disarm the Descent (2011–2015)
In an interview with FTC, Gun Shy Assassin, Mike D'Antonio had stated that the band was currently in the works for a sixth studio album. D'Antonio stated, "Currently, everyone is individually writing demos for the next Killswitch Engage record. There is no release date yet, but I would assume it will be out early 2012." Adam Dutkiewicz followed that up with a statement on the Killswitch Engage Facebook, saying "YO! Its Adam D! We're about to begin writing our new record. Thanks to all of our fans for waiting so friggin' patiently...now let's turn on the "riff faucet" and RAGE!" On December 1, 2011, Mike D'Antonio posted online that Killswitch Engage should be entering the studio around February/March 2012 to record their sixth album expected around summer 2012. He also stated that the band had eight demos finished for the new record.
On January 4, 2012, the band announced via the band's official website, along with their other official sources, that Howard Jones had left the band after his nine-year membership with them. In the statement, the band did not disclose the reason for this decision out of respect for Jones, but simply thanked him for his nine years with the band and wished him well, as well as thanking the fans for their support as they began the search for a new lead singer; Jones later explained he departed the band to manage his type 2 diabetes which was worsened by a hectic touring lifestyle. Soon after the announcement of Jones's departure, rumors began that Phil Labonte of All That Remains would officially take over lead vocals due to his previous history with the band, although Labonte quickly dispelled the rumor. Many vocalists were considered in the search for a new one for the band. The band's search for a new singer concluded in February with the announcement that original lead vocalist Jesse Leach would return to the band, as the band felt that Leach's energy, as well as his overall comfort and command of both the old and new material, made him the clear choice during auditions. Following Leach's return, the band continued to the process of recording their new album and touring. On April 22, 2012, the band performed Leach's first show since 2002 at the New England Metal and Hardcore Fest.
On June 20, 2012, the demo version of a new song titled "This Is Confrontation" was leaked on YouTube. Not long after the song was leaked, the videos were soon deleted. Later, the band took part in Metal Hammer's "Trespass America Festival" headlined by Five Finger Death Punch with additional support from God Forbid, Emmure, Pop Evil, Trivium and Battlecross. The band performed this song live, confirming the song's title "No End in Sight". Not long after the album was confirmed, the song was streamed publicly again. In October 2012, with Jesse back at the helm, Killswitch Engage announced they would be celebrating the ten-year anniversary of their seminal album Alive or Just Breathing with a US Tour through November/December 2012, in which the band played the album live in its entirety. Support on the tour came from fellow Massachusetts natives Shadows Fall and Acaro.
The album Disarm the Descent was released April 1, 2013 in the UK. The album debuted at \#15 in the UK charts while debuting at \#7 in the Billboard top 200 April 2 in the US. The first single "In Due Time" was released on February 5, 2013. The album has received critical acclaim from reviewers, and has been labeled as a "true standout" and "nothing short of amazing". It was announced in December 2013 that "In Due Time" was nominated for "Best Metal Performance" at the 2014 Grammy Awards, but lost to "God Is Dead?" by Black Sabbath. A tour in May 2013 was done to promote the new album. With Miss May I, Darkest Hour, The Word Alive and Affiance as support. As I Lay Dying was originally supposed to be on the tour but dropped due to criminal charges from frontman Tim Lambesis. The band also did a co-headliner with fellow Heavy Metal act Lamb of God in October 2013 with Testament and Huntress as support for both bands. The band did a small headliner on the east coast for Halloween 2014, with All That Remains, Death Ray Vision and City of Homes supporting.
### Incarnate (2015–2017)
In an interview with Wikimetal, Jesse Leach announced that the band will start demoing new material "in the coming months".
On February 25, 2015, the band released a 40-second snippet of a new single titled "Loyalty". The track appears on the Catch The Throne: The Mixtape Volume 2 to promote the HBO TV series Game of Thrones. The mixtape also features appearances from various other metal and rap acts such as Anthrax and Snoop Dogg.
On March 30, 2015, Mike D'Antonio stated that the band had completed demoing material for its next studio album.
Killswitch Engage took part in a summer tour in July 2015, opening up for Rise Against with support from letlive.
On December 10, 2015, the band premiered a new song entitled "Strength of the Mind" on Revolver. The band also did a small Christmas 2015 tour on the East Coast with Unearth, Act of Defiance and '68.
On December 16, 2015, it was revealed that the band's upcoming seventh album, released on March 11, 2016, would be titled Incarnate, with a tour being took part in March of that year with Memphis May Fire and 36 Crazyfists as supporters.
On September 27, 2016, Leach revealed on his Instagram page that the band would be releasing a documentary compiled of live footage since 2012.
On November 25, 2016, the band released a Blu-ray/CD called Beyond The Flames: Home Video Vol.2. The Blu-ray contains live performances that were recorded around the world from 2012 to 2016 and an hour long documentary taking place right after the band's (Set This) World Ablaze had left off, as well as music videos, band member profiles and more, plus a bonus live CD containing live tracks from the band's legendary 2014 Monster Mosh show. The two disc set had a one day exclusive sale in record stores everywhere on Black Friday. The set is now available for online purchase and digital download on the Killswitch Engage store.
### Atonement (2017–present)
On August 30, 2017, the band announced on their Instagram page that they were in the process of demoing material for their upcoming eighth studio album.
In April 2018, it was revealed that their former singer Howard Jones will appear on their new album performing a duet with Jesse Leach during a song that was revealed to be titled "The Signal Fire".
The band cancelled their tour dates from April 26 to May 5 due to the need of vocalist Jesse Leach undergoing surgery on his vocal cords.
During an interview with the Wall of Sound: Up Against the Wall podcast in October 2018, Jesse Leach revealed more details about the song with former singer Howard Jones stating: "He does a verse, I do a verse, we sing the chorus together it's a real heavy shitkicker" and that the song was inspired by Howard's new band name Light the Torch and their friendship. On April 24, 2019, the band posted on their Instagram that the follow-up to the 2016 album Incarnate would be released in the autumn.
According to Music Week, the band has signed with Metal Blade Records for the USA, Music for Nations for the UK, and an international contract with Columbia/Sony. These labels released the band's eighth studio album, Atonement, on August 16, 2019.
On August 20, 2019, the band released their music video for Atonement's third single "The Signal Fire", the song they recorded with former frontman Howard Jones (now of Light the Torch).
## Musical style, influences, and lyrical themes
Killswitch Engage's musical style has been described as metalcore and melodic metalcore. Like some 2000s metalcore bands, Killswitch Engage vocally combine singing, screaming vocals, and growls in their music. In 2009, MTV, while naming "The Greatest Metal Bands of All Time", said that Killswitch Engage have been "called one of the founders of metalcore". Jason D. Taylor of AllMusic said Alive or Just Breathing is "a pure metal album that seemingly has ignored any fashionable trend and instead relies solely on skill and expertise to sculpt some of the meatiest heavy metal since the glory days of Metallica and Slayer."
Both current vocalist Jesse Leach and former vocalist Howard Jones write lyrics that are considered positive. Jesse Leach stated on (Set This) World Ablaze, that the lyrics contain "unity, positivity, [and] love." On the lyrical themes of Killswitch Engage, Ultimate Guitar reviewer Amy Sciarretto noted:
> Howard Jones has come into his own since 2004's The End of Heartache, and he continues to hit the notes, wax about relationships, faith-issues and other relatable issue [sic] on this second self-titled effort.
On Killswitch Engage's 2009 self-titled album, Howard Jones states the change in lyrical themes:
> I've got enough to draw on to write some stuff that can be dark. Maybe there's still a hint of positivity in it, but there are some songs on there that are not positive at all.
Killswitch Engage's influences include Van Halen, Black Sabbath, Fear Factory, Carcass, At the Gates, Machine Head, Neurosis, Metallica, Iron Maiden, HIM, Megadeth, Suicidal Tendencies, Anthrax, Slayer, Testament, Bad Brains, Agnostic Front, Leeway, and Sick of It All. Both Leach and Jones cited Faith No More singer Mike Patton as their biggest influence.
Jesse Leach has talked about the band's label of metalcore, stating: "I never liked the term 'metalcore.' I don't think it's an accurate representation of the wide variety of bands that get lumped under that category. But I get it. People have to categorize stuff and put it into their own little category so they can describe stuff to somebody else. I like to say we're more of a metal band. It is what it is. People are going to use that term whether I like it or not."
## Band members
Current
- Mike D'Antonio – bass (1999–present)
- Adam Dutkiewicz – lead guitar (2002–present); backing vocals (1999–present); drums (1999–2002)
- Joel Stroetzel – rhythm guitar, backing vocals (2002–present); lead guitar (1999–2002)
- Jesse Leach – lead vocals (1999–2002, 2012–present)
- Justin Foley – drums (2003–present)
Former
- Pete Cortese – rhythm guitar (2000–2001)
- Tom Gomes – drums (2002–2003)
- Howard Jones – lead vocals (2002–2012)
Live
- Patrick Lachman – lead guitar, backing vocals (2007)
- Philip Labonte – lead vocals (2010)
- Jordan Mancino – drums (2013)
- Josh Mihlek – rhythm guitar (2019)
Timeline
## Discography
- Killswitch Engage (2000)
- Alive or Just Breathing (2002)
- The End of Heartache (2004)
- As Daylight Dies (2006)
- Killswitch Engage (2009)
- Disarm the Descent (2013)
- Incarnate (2016)
- Atonement (2019)
## Awards and nominations
Grammy Award
!Ref. \|- \| 2005 \|\| The End of Heartache \|\| Best Metal Performance \|\| \| \|- \| 2014 \|\| In Due Time \|\| Best Metal Performance \|\| \| style="text-align:center;" rowspan="2"\| \|- \| 2019 \|\| Unleashed \|\| Best Metal Performance \|\|
Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards
!Ref. \|- \| 2004 \|\| Killswitch Engage \|\| Best International Act \|\| \| \|- \| 2004 \|\| The End of Heartache \|\| Best Album \|\| \| \|- \| 2007 \|\| Killswitch Engage \|\| Best International Band \|\| \| \|- \| 2014 \|\| Killswitch Engage \|\| Best Live Band \|\| \|
Boston Music Awards
!Ref. \|- \| 2007 \|\| Killswitch Engage \|\| Outstanding Metal/Hardcore Band of the Year \|\| \| style="text-align:center;" rowspan="2"\| \|- \| 2007 \|\| Killswitch Engage \|\| Act of the Year \|\| \|- \| 2007 \|\| As Daylight Dies \|\| Album of the Year (Major) \|\| \| style="text-align:center;" rowspan="2"\| \|- \| 2007 \|\| Howard Jones \|\| National Male Vocalist of the Year \|\|
Loudwire Music Awards
!Ref. \|- \| 2013 \|\| Disarm the Descent \|\| Metal Album of the Year \|\| \| style="text-align:center;" rowspan="3"\| \|- \| 2013 \|\| In Due Time \|\| Metal Song of the Year \|\| \|- \| 2013 \|\| Killswitch Engage \|\| Metal Band of the Year \|\|
|
101,372 |
New Jersey Route 48
| 1,164,778,743 |
State highway in Salem County, New Jersey, US
|
[
"State highways in New Jersey",
"Transportation in Salem County, New Jersey"
] |
Route 48 is an east–west state highway in Salem County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is a 4.26-mile (6.86 km) route running from U.S. Route 130 (US 130) and County Route 675 (CR 675) in Penns Grove southeast to US 40 in Carneys Point Township. It is known as East Main Street from US 130 to DuPont Road, and as the Harding Highway from DuPont Road to its terminus at US 40. Route 48 is signed east–west, although it travels more northwest-southeast throughout its route. It is a two-lane, undivided road through its entire length that intersects with Interstate 295 (I-295) and CR 551.
The road was originally created as Route 18S, running from Penns Grove to Atlantic City, in 1923, before becoming Route 48 in 1927. In Penns Grove, the route ended at a ferry which crossed the Delaware River to Wilmington, Delaware, connecting with Delaware Route 48 (DE 48) until the ferry service was terminated in 1951, when the Delaware Memorial Bridge opened. US 40 was also designated to run along the entire length of the route between Penns Grove and Atlantic City. On two occasions, US 40 has been relocated off portions of Route 48: once following a realignment to a ferry between New Castle, Delaware and Pennsville and again after the Delaware Memorial Bridge and New Jersey Turnpike opened in 1951. Route 48 was designated onto its current alignment in 1953, eliminating the concurrency it shared with US 40 from Carneys Point Township to Atlantic City.
## Route description
Route 48 begins at a traffic light with US 130 and CR 675 in Penns Grove, heading to the southeast on Main Street, a two-lane, undivided road. CR 675 continues west on Main Street past US 130. The road passes through residential areas, intersecting with local roads before entering Carneys Point Township. In Carneys Point Township, Route 48 crosses Dupont Road, becoming Harding Highway, and passes by Penns Grove High School, located on the south side of the road. The road enters a more rural setting and intersects CR 601 at a signalized intersection. Shortly after CR 601, the road comes to an interchange with I-295. Route 48 continues southeast through a mix of woodland and farmland, intersecting CR 551 at a traffic light. Just past the CR 551 intersection, the road intersects CR 628, passing by Laytons Lake before crossing over the New Jersey Turnpike. Route 48 continues southeast for about another mile, crossing Stumpy Road before ending at an intersection with US 40.
## History
The entirety of the highway was once included in the Woodstown and Penn's Grove Turnpike, chartered in 1852. The turnpike followed what is now U.S. 40 to Woodstown.
The route was designated as Route 18S in 1923, running from Penns Grove southeast to Atlantic City along what was known as the Harding Highway. US 40 was designated along the length of Route 18S, running east from a ferry dock in Penns Grove where the route crossed the Delaware River to Wilmington, Delaware, to continue its journey west. The entire routing of Route 18S was designated Route 48 in the 1927 renumbering of New Jersey state highways, running concurrent with US 40 its entire length. Until the Delaware Memorial Bridge opened in 1951, a ferry connected Route 48 to DE 48 in Wilmington. US 40 had used this ferry, but was eventually moved to a ferry that ran from New Castle, Delaware, to Pennsville, with US 40 being rerouted to follow present-day Route 49, various local roads, and CR 551 to reach Route 48 and continue east along with that route. Following the completion of both the Delaware Memorial Bridge and the New Jersey Turnpike in 1951, US 40 was routed off more of Route 48 onto a new alignment, joining the route at its current eastern terminus. In the 1953 renumbering of New Jersey state highways, Route 48 was designated onto its current alignment from US 130 to US 40, with the rest of the route dropped in favor of the US 40 designation. The old alignment of Route 48 to the ferry terminal is now CR 675.
## Major intersections
## See also
|
26,247,480 |
Hurricane Doria
| 1,163,903,382 |
Category 1 Atlantic hurricane in 1967
|
[
"1967 Atlantic hurricane season",
"Category 1 Atlantic hurricanes",
"Hurricanes in New Jersey",
"Hurricanes in North Carolina",
"Hurricanes in Virginia"
] |
Hurricane Doria was an unusual and erratic hurricane that existed during September 1967. The fourth named storm and hurricane of the 1967 Atlantic hurricane season, Doria developed on September 8 off the east coast of Florida. It meandered until attaining tropical storm status, at which point the storm accelerated towards the northeast. On September 10, Doria intensified into a Category 2 hurricane on the modern-day Saffir–Simpson Hurricane Scale. After moving out to sea, the storm turned westward towards the United States. A compact cyclone, Doria weakened to a tropical storm shortly before moving ashore in the Mid-Atlantic States. The storm ultimately dissipated on September 21.
The storm, which ultimately made landfall near the Virginia–North Carolina border, produced high winds along the coast from New Jersey through North Carolina. A small boat sank off the coast of New Jersey, killing three of its occupants. Overall damage was estimated around \$150,000 (1967 USD), although the storm overall was considered beneficial.
## Meteorological history
The origins of Hurricane Doria are traced back to an area of disturbed weather off the northeastern coast of Florida on September 4. For several days, the low pressure system meandered as its central barometric pressure gradually fell. The storm is estimated to have organized into a tropical depression at 0000 UTC on September 8. At the time, it was situated north of Grand Bahama Island. Drifting westward, the cyclone attained tropical storm intensity early the next day. Doria turned northeastward and accelerated as it moved away from Florida. On September 10, the tropical storm achieved hurricane force. Cold air became entrained into the hurricane's circulation by September 11, causing it to weaken to a tropical storm. However, its forward motion slowed and it once again strengthened.
The hurricane moved eastward, seemingly out to sea. However, an area of high pressure over New England began to steer Doria westward on September 13. The hurricane continued to strengthen, and it is estimated to have peaked with maximum sustained winds of 100 mph (155 km/h) and a minimum air pressure of 973 mbar (hPa; 28.73 inHg). It maintained these winds for approximately 18 hours, before weakening slightly late on September 14. In his 2007 book "Hurricanes and the Middle Atlantic States", Rick Schwartz compared Doria to the 1933 Chesapeake–Potomac hurricane, citing similar intensities, tracks, and forward speeds. On September 16, the storm weakened to a tropical storm in a colder, drier environment. As it turned southward, Doria quickly weakened. Initial forecasts suggested the possibility for the storm to maintain its severity and move ashore between Maryland and New Jersey.
Continually deteriorating, Doria made landfall near the Virginia–North Carolina border, and moved south over land. It reemerged over open waters on September 17, and at around the same time, it weakened to a tropical depression. It curved southeastward as a weak depression, and several days later it was still identifiable as a storm system south of the island of Bermuda. It dissipated on September 21. Doria had an unusual and capricious track, described as "one of the most erratic storms ever observed".
## Impact
In advance of the storm, hurricane warnings were issued for much of the East Coast of the United States. For 19 hours, about 260 mi (420 km) of shoreline was under an advisory. At least 400 people were evacuated from their homes in southern New Jersey and 6,600 from Ocean City, Maryland.
Doria was a small storm, although it brought high winds and moderate coastal flooding to some areas; generally light rainfall was also observed. In North Carolina, 6.09 in (155 mm) of precipitation fell at Whiteville. Flash flooding and the overflowing of storm sewers ensued in the southeastern portions of the state; there were also losses to crops, especially corn, cotton, and tobacco. In Virginia, strong winds were reported along the coast, with gusts up to 60 mph (97 km/h) at Wallops Island. Along the east coast of the state, winds damaged trees, roofs, signs, and billboards. In Maryland, similar impact occurred in Ocean City, with damage sustained to signs and billboards and tore the roof of a prefabricated home; a city boardwalk also sustained storm-related damage.
A station at the Indian River Inlet in Delaware recorded a tide 6.5 ft (2.0 m) above-normal; the highest sustained winds reported on land association with the storm, 50 mph (80 km/h), also occurred there. Atlantic City, New Jersey, recorded a peak gust of 39 mph (63 km/h), with rainfall amounting to 0.53 in (13 mm). Damage from the storm was generally light. Off the coast of Ocean City, New Jersey, a cabin cruiser sank in 25-ft (7.6 m) seas. Three of the vessel's occupants, a mother and her two sons, drowned. In Massachusetts, some small boats sank at the harbors. At Ipswich Bay, 10 people required rescue after two boats capsized. Minor beach erosion was reported at Nantucket. Overall damage was estimated at \$150,000, which was considered minor. The storm's passage was considered beneficial, due to adding sand to beaches and providing favorable rains.
## See also
- List of North Carolina hurricanes
- List of United States hurricanes
|
71,336,308 |
Evdokia Reshetnik
| 1,139,483,060 |
Ukrainian zoologist and ecologist
|
[
"1903 births",
"1996 deaths",
"20th-century Ukrainian women scientists",
"20th-century Ukrainian zoologists",
"National University of Kharkiv alumni",
"People from Poltava Oblast",
"Ukrainian ecologists",
"Ukrainian women biologists",
"Women ecologists",
"Women zoologists"
] |
Evdokia Reshetnik (Ukrainian: Євдокія Решетник; 1 March 1903 O.S./14 March 1903 (N. S.) – 22 October 1996) was a Ukrainian zoologist and ecologist. She was a specialist in the mole-rats and ground squirrels of Ukraine, and was the first scientist to describe the sandy blind mole-rat of southern Ukraine in 1939. She played a key role in keeping the National Museum of Natural History at the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine operable in the inter-war and immediate post-war periods, in spite of arrests by both the Gestapo and Soviet authorities. She was one of the people involved in hiding specimens of the museum to prevent them being taken by the Germans. She is known for arguing that ecology, species distribution, populations, utility, and variability, should be weighed before making determinations that labeled certain animals as pests and harmful to the environment. Though she was responsible for maintaining the historiography of scientific development in Ukraine, her own legacy was lost until the twenty-first century.
## Early life and education
Evdokia Grigoryevna Reshetnik was born on 14 March 1903 (N. S.) in the village of Koshmanovka [uk] in the Poltava Oblast of the Russian Empire, in what is now Ukraine. Her father, Grigory Yefimovich Reshetnik, was a prosperous peasant who died before being de-Kulaked. He owned a sizeable acreage on which he raised cattle. Probably because of her father's early death, Reshetnik was raised from childhood by her older sister and brother-in-law in Poltava. There she attended both primary school and seven years in gymnasium. In 1918, she began a three-year program in pedagogy, completed her practical work teaching at the local orphanage, and earned her teaching credentials from the Poltava Pedagogical University, under the rules of the Russian Institute of Public Education, in 1920.
Continuing as a student there, Reshetnik studied biology until 1924, with classmates Oksana Ivanenko, Pavlo Tychyna, and her future husband, Yakov Khomenko. While she was studying, she simultaneously continued to teach at the orphanage. She graduated with a specialty in biology in 1924, and was hired to work at the Osnovianskyi District worker's school on the outskirts of Kharkiv as a zoology instructor. Khomenko worked as a philologist and translator at the Institute of Linguistics and Literature. Reshetnik and Khomenko married in 1926 and had a son, Emil, two years later. After passing her examinations in 1931, Reshetnik began graduate studies at Kharkiv State University in the Zoology Research Institute. From 1933, she also worked as a researcher at the Kharkiv Scientific Research Station. She graduated in 1934, after a successful defense of her work, which focused on the study of larks.
## Career
### Pre-war and war years (1935–1946)
In 1935, when the capital of Ukraine was transferred from Kharkiv to Kyiv, Reshetnik's husband was transferred with his employer and she followed him. She found employment as a researcher at the Kyiv Zoo. In 1936, she was designated as a senior researcher at the I. I. Schmalhausen Institute of Zoology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, for which she served as secretary. In 1939, she published her paper describing Spalacidae (mole-rats) in Ukraine and the following year earned a Candidate degree in 1940, although her diploma would not be awarded until 1946. While on a research trip the following year in Chișinău, Bessarabia, the war caused Reshetnik to return to Kyiv. Boarding the academic evacuation train for Ufa, she disembarked at Poltava, where her son was staying with her sister. She was also reunited with her husband at the train station. The curfew made it impossible for her to pick up her son and continue on the evacuation train, so they remained in Poltava until October 1941, when the Germans invaded the city. They then went back to Kyiv on horseback, a difficult and lengthy journey.
After arriving in Kyiv, Reshetnik discovered her home had been ransacked and looted, so she and her son stayed with friends. Without work, she volunteered with the Red Cross, distributing clothes and food to captured Red Army prisoners, held at the Darnytsky concentration camp [uk]. The prisoners were fed peas, which were shared with Reshetnik who was able to take them home and feed her family. On 10 February 1942, Red Cross workers, including Reshetnik, were arrested by the Gestapo. She was also charged with collaborating with the newspaper Ukrainian Word, although she had no affiliation with the publication. After eighteen days of imprisonment, her bail was paid by colleagues, Mykola Charlemagne [uk] and Sergey Paramonov and Reshetnik was released.
In May 1942, the Institute of Plant Protection and Pest Control [uk] was established by the Reich Commissariat of Ukraine in the National Academy of Sciences. Reshetnik was hired to work under the direction of Charlemagne and she secured a position there for her son as a bookbinding student to prevent him being removed to Germany. She conducted work on ground squirrels, gophers, and groundhogs at this institute until September 1943. Of particular interest to the Germans was research into drugs and other means of eliminating pests, particularly rodents, which might endanger agricultural plants. Near the end of the war, the Germans began moving the Zoological museum collections to Poznań, and other locations in Germany and Poland. Reshetnik was actively involved in successfully hiding some of the specimens to prevent their removal.
### Post-war (1946–1986)
At the end of the war, Reshetnik was awarded a research specialist designation in zoology in 1946 and was hired to work at the Institute of Zoology of the Academy of Sciences, where she remained until 1950. During this time, she published two papers on her earlier study of ground squirrels. One of them, which was published in 1946, identified new subspecies of the speckled ground squirrel (Citellus suslica ognevi and Citellus suslica volhynensis). In her works, Reshetnik pointed out that rodents could be valuable for their skins as well as their fat, which was widely used during the war as a food source. She published extensive analyses about the ecology, species distribution, populations, and variability of the types of rodents throughout Ukraine. In these works, she argued that the economic or usefulness of rodents should be weighed against the potential damage they might do.
When the Soviets were restored to power, a period of repression began in Ukraine. In 1948, Reshetnik's son was arrested for membership in the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and deported to Mordovia. Soon after, her husband was also arrested and imprisoned. Both of them were required to serve eight-year sentences. She faced several fabricated charges — that she was to have been shot by the Gestapo and since she was not must have been a collaborator; that she had friendships with questionable people, such as Charlemagne and Paramonov; and that she had plagiarized other people's work — among other accusations and denunciations from colleagues. In 1951, Reshetnik was remanded to the Chernihiv Penal Colony, where she remained until 1955. Upon her release, Reshetnik began working as a district entomologist for the Kyiv-Sviatoshyn District Sanitary and Epidemiology Station. Between 1956 and 1957, she was rehabilitated by the authorities, and in 1961 allowed to return to the Institute of Zoology, where she remained until her retirement in 1986.
Much of her work at the Institute of Zoology was spent curating the museum's collections. As a skilled authority and taxidermist, she expanded the zoological specimens with hundreds of samples of species. As an archivist, and one with intimate knowledge of how history treats scientists, she was a meticulous record keeper and made sure that the personnel files of her colleagues retained their most important works, even if they had been repressed by the government. Among the biographies of Ukrainian scientists Reshetnik preserved were Charlemagne, Ivan Demyanovich Ivanenko (Ukrainian: Іван Дем’янович Іваненко), Sergey Medvedev [uk], and Paramonov, among others. In 1993, she dictated her memories of Olena Teliha to her son, because her eyesight was failing. The remembrance was published in the newspaper Ukrainian Word under the title "Моя Оленіана" ("My Oleniana") and told of their relationship when they were held by the Gestapo.
## Death and legacy
Reshetnik died on 22 October 1996, in Kyiv and was buried Sovsky Cemetery [uk]. Despite her name being remembered in Ukraine because of the papers she had published, Reshetnik's biography was not retold until the twenty-first century.
## Selected works
Reshetnik is primarily known for her research on rodents, particularly mole-rats and ground squirrels. She published over twenty papers between 1939 and 1965 detailing new species and subspecies, including a unique blind mole-rat, Spalax arenarius, which she first identified in 1939 and is endemic to Ukraine. Her work evaluated the ecology, varying shapes, and distribution of their populations.
|
1,032,586 |
Liberum veto
| 1,162,515,980 |
Parliamentary device in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
|
[
"Legal history of Belarus",
"Legal history of Lithuania",
"Legal history of Poland",
"Sejm of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth",
"Veto"
] |
The liberum veto (Latin for "free veto") was a parliamentary device in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. It was a form of unanimity voting rule that allowed any member of the Sejm (legislature) to force an immediate end to the current session and to nullify any legislation that had already been passed at the session by shouting either Sisto activitatem! (Latin: "I stop the activity!") or Nie pozwalam! (Polish: "I do not allow!"). The rule was in place from the mid-17th century to the late 18th century in the Sejm's parliamentary deliberations. It was based on the premise that since all of the Polish–Lithuanian noblemen were equal, every measure that came before the Sejm had to be passed unanimously. The liberum veto was a key part of the political system of the Commonwealth, strengthening democratic elements and checking royal power and went against the European-wide trend of having a strong executive (absolute monarchy).
Many historians hold that the liberum veto was a major cause of the deterioration of the Commonwealth political system, particularly in the 18th century, when foreign powers bribed Sejm members to paralyze its proceedings, causing foreign occupation, dominance and manipulation of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and its eventual destruction in the partitions. Piotr Stefan Wandycz wrote that the "liberum veto had become the sinister symbol of old Polish anarchy". In the period of 1573–1763, about 150 sejms were held, about a third failing to pass any legislation, mostly because of the liberum veto. The expression Polish parliament in many European languages originated from the apparent paralysis.
## Origin
The rule evolved from the principle of unanimous consent, which derived from the traditions of decision making in the Kingdom of Poland, and it developed under the federative character of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Each deputy represented a region in the Sejm, himself being elected at a sejmik (the local sejm of a region). He thus assumed responsibility to his sejmik for all decisions taken at the Sejm. Since all noblemen were considered equal, a decision taken by a majority against the will of a minority (even if only one sejmik) was considered a violation of the principle of political equality.
At first, the dissenting deputies were often convinced or cowed back to withdraw their objections. Also, at first, the rule was used to strike down only individual laws, not to dissolve the chamber and throw out all measures passed. For example, as historian Władysław Czapliński describes in the Sejm of 1611 context, some resolutions were struck down, but others passed. From the mid-17th century onward, however, an objection to any item of Sejm legislation from a deputy or senator automatically caused other, earlier adopted legislation to be rejected. That was because all legislation that was adopted by a given Sejm formed a whole.
It is commonly and erroneously believed that a Sejm was first disrupted by the liberum veto by a Trakai deputy, Władysław Siciński, in 1652. In reality, he vetoed only the continuation of the Sejm's deliberations beyond the statutory time limit. He had, however, set up a dangerous precedent. Over the proceedings of the next few sejms, the veto was still occasionally overruled, but it became gradually more accepted. Before 20 years had passed, in 1669 in Kraków, the entire Sejm was prematurely disrupted on the strength of the liberum veto before it had finished its deliberations by the Kyiv deputy, Adam Olizar. The practice spiraled out of control, and in 1688, the Sejm was dissolved even before the proceedings had begun or the Marshal of the Sejm was elected.
## Zenith
During the reign of John III Sobieski (1674–1696), half of Sejm proceedings were scuttled by the veto. The practice also spread from the national Sejm to local sejmik proceedings. In the first half of the 18th century, it became increasingly common for Sejm sessions to be broken up by the liberum veto, as the Commonwealth's neighbours, chiefly Russia and Prussia, found it to be a useful tool to frustrate attempts at reforming and strengthening the Commonwealth. By bribing deputies to exercise their vetoes, Poland–Lithuania's neighbours could derail any measures not to their liking. The Commonwealth deteriorated from a European power into a state of anarchy. Only a few Sejms were able to meet during the reign of the House of Saxony in Poland (1696–1763), the last one in 1736. Only 8 out of the 18 Sejm sessions during the reign of Augustus II (1697–1733) passed legislation. For a period of 30 years around the reign of Augustus III, only one session was able to pass legislation (1734–1763). The government was near collapse, giving rise to the term "Polish anarchy", and the country was managed by provincial assemblies and magnates.
Disruption of the Commonwealth governance caused by the liberum veto was highly significant. From 1573 to 1763, about 150 Sejms were held, of which 53 failed to pass any legislation. Historian Jacek Jędruch notes that out of the 53 disrupted Sejms, 32 were disrupted by the liberum veto.
## Final years
The 18th century saw an institution known as a "confederated sejm" evolve. It was a parliament session that operated under the rules of a confederation. Its primary purpose was to avoid disruption by the liberum veto, unlike the national Sejm, which was being paralyzed by the veto. On some occasions, a confederated sejm was formed of the whole membership of the national Sejm so that the liberum veto would not operate.
The second half of the 18th century, marking the age of the Polish Enlightenment, also witnessed an increased trend aiming at the reform of the Commonwealth's inefficient governance. Reforms of 1764–1766 improved the Sejm's proceedings. Majority voting for non-crucial items, including most economic and tax matters, was introduced, with binding instructions from sejmiks being outlawed. The road to reform was not easy, as conservatives, supported by foreign powers, opposed most of the changes and attempted to defend the liberum veto and other elements perpetuating the inefficient governance, most notably by the Cardinal Laws of 1768.
The liberum veto was finally abolished by the Constitution of 3 May 1791, adopted by a confederated sejm, which permanently established the principle of majority rule. The achievements of that constitution, however, which historian Norman Davies called "the first constitution of its kind in Europe", were undone by another confederated sejm, meeting at Grodno in 1793. That Sejm, under duress from Russia and Prussia, ratified the Second Partition, anticipating the Third Partition, the final dissolution of the Polish-Lithuanian state, just two years later.
## Significance
Harvard political scientist Grzegorz Ekiert, assessing the history of the liberum veto in Poland–Lithuania, concludes:
The principle of the liberum veto preserved the feudal features of Poland's political system, weakened the role of the monarchy, led to anarchy in political life, and contributed to the economic and political decline of the Polish state. Such a situation made the country vulnerable to foreign invasions and ultimately led to its collapse.
Political scientist Dalibor Roháč noted that the "principle of liberum veto played an important role in [the] emergence of the unique Polish form of constitutionalism" and acted as a significant constraint on the powers of the monarch by making the "rule of law, religious tolerance and limited constitutional government... the norm in Poland in times when the rest of Europe was being devastated by religious hatred and despotism."
It was seen as one of the key principles of the Commonwealth political system and culture, the Golden Liberty.
At the same time, historians hold that the principle of liberum veto was a major cause of the deterioration of the Commonwealth political system and Commonwealth's eventual downfall. Deputies bribed by magnates or foreign powers, or simply content to believe they were living in some kind of "Golden Age", for over a century paralysed the Commonwealth's government, stemming any attempts at reform. Piotr Stefan Wandycz wrote that the "liberum veto had become the sinister symbol of old Polish anarchy." Wagner echoed him thus: "Certainly, there was no other institution of old Poland which has been more sharply criticized in more recent times than this one.".
## Modern parallels and popular culture
### References in popular culture
A 2004 Polish collectible card game, Veto, set in the background of a royal election during an election sejm, is named after this procedure.
### Modern parallels
Until the early 1990s, IBM had a decision-making process called "non-concur" in which any department head could veto a company-wide strategy if it did not fit in with their own department's outlook, the disagreements being then sent to the superiors in the hierarchy, often taking several months. This effectively turned IBM into several independent fiefdoms. "Non-concur" was eliminated by CEO Louis Gerstner, who was brought in to revive the declining company.
Dispositions of the European Union law requiring unanimity between states have been compared to the liberum veto by some commenters. Wallonia vetoing Belgium's signature of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with Canada brought comparisons to this rule.
## See also
- Consensus decision-making
- Filibuster
- Minoritarianism
|
25,643,106 |
Slade's Case
| 1,171,707,131 |
Case in English contract law that ran from 1596 to 1602.
|
[
"1600s in case law",
"1602 in English law",
"Court of Exchequer Chamber cases",
"English contract case law"
] |
Slade's Case (or Slade v. Morley) was a case in English contract law that ran from 1596 to 1602. Under the medieval common law, claims seeking the repayment of a debt or other matters could only be pursued through a writ of debt in the Court of Common Pleas, a problematic and archaic process. By 1558 the lawyers had succeeded in creating another method, enforced by the Court of King's Bench, through the action of assumpsit, which was technically for deceit. The legal fiction used was that by failing to pay after promising to do so, a defendant had committed deceit, and was liable to the plaintiff. The conservative Common Pleas, through the appellate court the Court of Exchequer Chamber, began to overrule decisions made by the King's Bench on assumpsit, causing friction between the courts.
In Slade's Case, a case under assumpsit, which was brought between judges of the Common Pleas and King's Bench, was transferred to the Court of Exchequer Chamber where the King's Bench judges were allowed to vote. The case dragged on for five years, with the judgment finally being delivered in 1602 by the Chief Justice of the King's Bench, John Popham. Popham ruled that assumpsit claims were valid, a decision called a "watershed" moment in English law, with archaic and outdated principles being overwritten by the modern and effective assumpsit, which soon became the main cause of action in contract cases. This is also seen as an example of judicial legislation, with the courts making a revolutionary decision Parliament had failed to make.
## Background
Under the medieval common law, there was only one way to resolve a dispute seeking the repayment of money or other contract matters; a writ of debt, which only the Court of Common Pleas could hear. This was archaic, did not work against the executors of a will and involved precise pleading; a minor flaw in the documents put to the court could see the case thrown out. By the middle of the 16th century lawyers had attempted to devise an alternative using the action of assumpsit, which was technically a type of trespass due to deceit. The argument was based on the idea that there was an inherent promise in a contract to pay the money, and that by failing to pay the defendant had deceived the plaintiff. By 1558 the lawyers had succeeded, with the Court of King's Bench agreeing to hear cases under this piece of legal fiction. The judges of the Common Pleas, however, a more traditional group, rejected this argument and only accepted cases where an actual promise had been made in addition to the contract.
The action of assumpsit had several advantages over a writ of debt; the plaintiff could count on always having a jury, while in writs of debt the defendant could rely on wager of law, where he produced twelve people to swear he did not owe the plaintiff money and had the case dismissed. In addition, it worked for executory agreements, not just normal contracts. In 1585 a new form of the Court of Exchequer Chamber was set up, an appellate court where the Common Pleas judges held a majority, and regularly began to reverse King's Bench judgments which were based on assumpsit. This, and the conflict between the King's Bench and the Common Pleas as a whole, was problematic; a plaintiff at assizes could not be sure which sort of judge his case would come before, lending uncertainty to the law. Boyer suggests that, in this environment, the Chief Justice of the King's Bench John Popham deliberately provoked the Common Pleas to resolve the matter, and did so through Slade's Case.
## Facts
John Slade was a grain merchant, who claimed that Humphrey Morley had agreed to buy a crop of wheat and rye from him, paying £16, and had reneged on the agreement. He brought the case before the assizes in 1596, where it was heard by two judges; one of the Common Pleas, and one of the King's Bench. It was heard under assumpsit, and the jury found that Morley indeed owed Slade money. Before a judgment could be issued, Popham had the case transferred to an older version of the Court of Exchequer Chamber, which, sitting in Serjeant's Inn, allowed the King's Bench judges to sit.
Edward Coke was counsel for Slade, arguing that the King's Bench had the power to hear assumpsit actions, along with Laurence Tanfield, while Francis Bacon and John Doddridge represented Morley. The quality of legal argument was high; Bacon was a "skillful, subtle intellect" capable of distinguishing the precedent brought up by Coke, while Doddridge, a member of the Society of Antiquaries, knew the records even better than Coke did. Coke, rather than directly confronting opposing counsel, made a twofold argument; firstly, that the fact that the King's Bench had been allowed to hear assumpsit actions for so long meant that it was acceptable, based on institutional inertia, and second that, on the subject of assumpsit being used for breaches of promise, that the original agreement included an implied promise to make payment.
The case continued for five years; at one point, the judges let the matter continue for three years because they could not reach a decision. Eventually, in November 1602, Popham issued a judgment on behalf of the court which stated "Firstly, that every contract executory implies in itself a promise or assumpsit. Secondly, that although upon such a contract an action of debt lies, the plaintiff may well have an action in the case upon the assumpsit." Coke, in his report of the case (published in 1604) reports that the judgment was unanimous, while more modern commentators such as Boyer assert that it was narrow, most likely 6 to 5, with the dividing line being between the King's Bench judges and Common Pleas.
## Judgment
Lord Popham CJ held that Slade could sue, and was successful. He said the following.
> 3\. It was resolved, that every contract executory imports in itself an assumpsit, for when one agrees to pay money, or to deliver anything, thereby he promises to pay, or deliver it; and therefore when one sells any goods to another, and agrees to deliver them at a day to come, and the other in consideration thereof promises to pay so much money to the other, in this case both parties may have an action of debt, or an action upon the case on assumpsit, for the mutual executory agreement of both parties imports in it self reciprocal action upon the case, as well as action of debt, and therewith agrees the judgment in Reade and Norwoods Case, Pl. Comm. 128.
> 4. It was resolved, that the plaintiff in this action upon the case upon assumpsit shall not recover only damages for the special loss (if any be) which he has, but also for the whole debt, so that recovery or barre in this action shall be a good bar in an action of debt brought upon the same contract; so vice versa, a recovery or bar in an action of debt is a good bar in an action upon the case upon assumpsit.
## Significance
The impact of the case was immediate and overwhelming. Ibbetson considers Slade's Case to be a "watershed" moment, in which the archaic and conservative form of law was overwritten by a modern, more efficient method. Assumpsit became the dominant form of contract cases, with the door "opened wide" to plaintiffs; Boyer suggests this was perhaps "too wide". In his Commentaries on the Laws of England, William Blackstone explained that this was the reason why the Statute of Frauds was subsequently passed in 1677:
> Some agreements indeed, though ever so expressly made, are deemed to be of so important a nature, that they ought not to rest in verbal promise only, which cannot be proved but by the memory (which sometimes will induce the perjury) of witnesses.
The case is particularly notable as an example of judicial legislation, with the judges significantly modernising the law and moving it forward in a way Parliament had not considered. As a side impact, Coke's arguments were the first to define consideration. The conservative outlook of the Common Pleas soon changed; after the death of Edmund Anderson, the more activist Francis Gawdy became Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, and other Common Pleas judges, many of whom were uncertain but had followed Anderson's lead in the case, changed their mind.
|
13,023,730 |
Ef: A Fairy Tale of the Two
| 1,161,157,222 |
Japanese visual novel and anime series
|
[
"2005 manga",
"2006 Japanese novels",
"2006 video games",
"2007 Japanese novels",
"2008 video games",
"ASCII Media Works manga",
"Anime television series based on video games",
"Bishōjo games",
"Dengeki Comic Gao!",
"Dengeki Comics",
"Dengeki Daioh",
"Eroge",
"Fiction about photography",
"Kadokawa Dwango franchises",
"Light novels",
"Manga based on video games",
"MangaGamer games",
"Minori (company) games",
"Music in fiction",
"NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan",
"Novels set in abandoned buildings and structures",
"PlayStation 2 games",
"Romance video games",
"School life in anime and manga",
"Sentai Filmworks",
"Shaft (company)",
"Shōnen manga",
"Twins in fiction",
"Video games about mental health",
"Video games developed in Japan",
"Visual novels",
"Windows games"
] |
Ef: A Fairy Tale of the Two is a Japanese two-part adult visual novel series by Minori for Windows PCs. The first game in the series, Ef: The First Tale, was released on December 22, 2006, and the second game, Ef: The Latter Tale, was released on May 30, 2008. The opening video for the game was animated by Makoto Shinkai, and a majority of the music was produced by Tenmon, who has worked in the past with Shinkai and Minori. Female character design was by Naru Nanao of Da Capo fame, while male character design was by 2C Galore.
Before the release of Ef: The First Tale, a manga based on the overall story was serialized between 2005 and 2015 starting in Dengeki Comic Gao, but later transferred to Dengeki Daioh. In addition, a light novel was serialized in Kadokawa Shoten's Comptiq from July 2006 to July 2008. A 12-episode anime adaptation titled Ef: A Tale of Memories was produced by Shaft and aired between October and December 2007. A second season of the anime titled Ef: A Tale of Melodies aired 12 episodes between October and December 2008.
On September 26, 2010, it was announced that MangaGamer had acquired the rights of the visual novel for a worldwide English release, in partnership with the translation group No Name Losers. The English version of the two games were released in 2012 and 2013, with a physical edition containing both on separate DVD-ROMs being released in 2014. Sentai Filmworks licensed both Ef anime series for American distribution.
## Gameplay
The gameplay requires little interaction from the player as most of the duration of the game is spent simply reading the text that appears on the screen which represents either dialogue between the various characters or the inner thoughts of the protagonist. The player has a chance to assume the role of four protagonists, two in each Ef: The First Tale and Ef: The Latter Tale. Each protagonist is paired with a heroine, and each scenario in the original PC versions of the visual novels includes scenes with sexual content. These scenes are removed or modified in the PlayStation 2 port.
Every so often, the player will come to a point where he or she is given the chance to choose from multiple options. The time between these points is variable and can occur anywhere from a minute to much longer. Gameplay pauses at these points and depending on which choice the player makes, the plot will progress in a specific direction. There are four main plot lines that the player will have the chance to experience, one for each of the heroines in the story. The plot lines carry on from each other in a linear fashion. The game can end prematurely if the player makes the wrong decisions. When this occurs, the player must go back to a previously saved spot and choose different decisions.
For Ef, Minori attempted to create a movie-like experience, using a lot of animated two-dimensional computer graphics presented from various angles. Instead of presenting the visuals straight-on with a character's image in the middle of the screen and the character being the main focus, the character images in the Ef series are off-center and appear closer to "event" computer graphics (CGs) in typical visual novels. These types of CGs occur at certain pivotal times in a visual novel's story and are meant to be artistic and much more detailed than normal visuals.
## Plot and characters
Ef: A Fairy Tale of the Two consists of two parts. The first part is titled Ef: The First Tale and primarily consists of the story of Hiro Hirono, Miyako Miyamura, Kyosuke Tsutsumi, Kei Shindo, and Yuko Amamiya. It consists of a prologue and two main chapters with Miyako as the focus for the first chapter, and Kei for the second. This is followed by the second part of the story, Ef: The Latter Tale, which primarily deals with the story of Renji Aso, Chihiro Shindo, Shuichi Kuze, Mizuki Hayama, and Yu Himura. The second part consists of two more main chapters and an ending chapter, with Chihiro as the focus for the third chapter, and Mizuki for the fourth. Bringing the two parts together forms the all-encompassing Ef: A Fairy Tale of the Two. The story is set in the town Otowa (音羽).
### Ef: The First Tale
Yuko Amamiya (雨宮 優子, Amamiya Yūko, voiced by: Yumiko Nakajima (Japanese), Carli Mosier (English)), a mysterious girl dressed like a nun, and Yu Himura (火村 夕, Himura Yū, voiced by: Kōichi Tōchika (Japanese), David Matranga (English)), a mysterious gentleman who is somehow attached to the church where Yuko first appears, are having a reunion in a church during Christmas time. Despite her attire, Yuko is not affiliated with the church. She always appears generally out of nowhere, and disappears just as quickly in various places throughout the story to talk with Hiro or other characters and give them advice. Yuko and Yu reminisce about the past and remember events of the previous year around the same time at the beginning of the first chapter of the story. Yuko hints of events that are revealed throughout Ef: A Fairy Tale of the Two. After the conclusion of the first chapter, the story cycles back to the prologue and the talk between Yuko and Yu. Yuko ends with her talk about the events in the first chapter. At the end of the second chapter, the story shifts again to the scene with Yuko and Yu. Yuko finishes her talk on the events from the second chapter and says that she misses talking to Hiro, Kyosuke, and their friends. Their talk ends with allusions to the continuation of the story, Ef: The Latter Tale.
The first chapter's protagonist is Hiro Hirono (広野 紘, Hirono Hiro, voiced by: Hiro Shimono (Japanese), Greg Ayres (English)), an already established manga author despite still attending high school. Due to the pressures of his work, he often skips school and puts most of his time into his job as a manga artist of shōjo manga under the pseudonym "Nagi Shindo" (新堂 凪, Shindō Nagi). Writing manga causes him to lose interest in school and focuses mainly on his work in order to earn an income, as usually he does not have much money as it is. While out one Christmas night, a purse snatcher rushes past Hiro on a bike and soon Miyako Miyamura (宮村 みやこ, Miyamura Miyako, voiced by: Hiroko Taguchi (Japanese), Luci Christian (English)) appears, chasing after the purse thief, taking Hiro's bike without asking to pursue the culprit. She ends up destroying his bike, and later hangs out with him for the rest of the night.
Hiro later meets Miyako again at school, and learns that she is a student of the same year there, but in a different class; she too does not attend classes much because she finds them boring. Miyako has an energetic personality and enjoys doing unorthodox things. She eventually starts to become attracted to Hiro after they start spending more time together, but during this time Hiro's childhood friend Kei Shindo (新藤 景, Shindō Kei, voiced by: Junko Okada (Japanese), Brittney Karbowski (English)) begins to feel left out and a love triangle develops between the three students. She is attracted to Hiro, and becomes jealous when she finds out how much time he is spending with Miyako Miyamura. Hiro and Miyako eventually become a couple, despite Kei's feelings for him.
The second chapter begins several months after the end of the first. It is now summer, and the story focuses on a new protagonist named Kyosuke Tsutsumi (堤 京介, Kyōsuke Tsutsumi, voiced by: Yūki Tai (Japanese), Chris Patton (English)). Kyosuke is an acquaintance of Hiro's and happens to be in the same grade and school. He has a passion for filming, and constantly carries a digital video recorder around with him. On Christmas night, he saw Kei Shindo, who is the main heroine of the second chapter, running down the street and tried to get a shot of her, but a truck passed by, so he could not get a clean shot of the mystery girl. After thinking about the mystery girl, he ends up quitting the film club and agrees with his girlfriend, Emi Izumi (voiced by: Kaori Nobiki (Japanese), Allison Sumrall (English)), to break up.
One day, while filming near the gymnasium, Kyosuke catches sight of Kei practicing basketball for her school's girls' basketball team and becomes infatuated by her image. He desires to cast Kei in an amateur film he is making for an upcoming film festival. Occupied with thoughts of Kei, he sets out determined to get closer to Kei by becoming better friends with Hiro, Kei's childhood friend. Kei is one year younger than Hiro and she attends the same school as him too. After being asked to be cast in one of his films, Kei initially refuses Kyosuke's offer, but agrees to watch some of his previous films. While initially put off by the films, she eventually comes to like aspects of his work. After hanging out together more, the two eventually fall in love and go out together.
### Ef: The Latter Tale
Ef: The Latter Tale begins once again with Yuko Amamiya and Yu Himura in the middle of a reunion in a church during Christmas time. Yuko tells Yu how she has influenced people in two separate stories (from Ef: The First Tale). After she is done with this, she asks him to tell her about the people he has influenced. Yu starts to tell his first story, that of Chihiro Shindo; the third chapter begins. Like Yuko, Yu also abruptly appears out of nowhere and disappears just as mysteriously. He often gives advice and warnings to Renji and others. Yu is close to Chihiro and takes care of her. After the conclusion of the third chapter, the story goes back to Yuko and Yu with Yu ending his recount of the third chapter, and goes on to talk about how he and Yuko were separated in the past. Yu starts his recount of the events from the fourth chapter. At the end of the fourth chapter, the story shifts one final time back to Yuko and Yu. Up to this point the two have been recounting individual tales to each other. The meaning of the overall title Ef: A Fairy Tale of the Two is revealed to be in connection with Yuko and Yu.
Like the first chapter, the third chapter is also set in winter, but now focuses on another protagonist named Renji Aso (麻生 蓮治, Asō Renji, voiced by: Motoki Takagi (Japanese), Clint Bickham (English)) who is half German, half Japanese. One day, he goes to an abandoned train station in town he would often frequent to read at since it is so quiet there and meets a girl wearing an eyepatch over her left eye and sitting alone named Chihiro Shindo (新藤 千尋, Shindō Chihiro, voiced by: Natsumi Yanase (Japanese), Monica Rial (English)). Chihiro is the younger twin sister of Kei Shindo from Ef: The First Tale and the main heroine of the third chapter in the story. Despite them being mutually shy, Renji comes back to see her at the station every day after school and quickly becomes friends with her. Renji later learns that she has a severe case of anterograde amnesia, where she can only remember 13 hours' of memory at a time, aside from the events before the accident that led to her current state, which she can recall perfectly. Now, she carries a diary with her which she writes in every day the events of that day so that the next day, after she had forgotten everything, she will be able to remind herself of what happened the previous day. Ironically, she has a fantastic memory of anything that happened that is less than thirteen hours old.
Renji also finds out that it is her dream to write a fantasy novel, but due to her condition has never been able to get far. Renji loves to read novels, and after discussing it with Chihiro, he collaborates with her to see if he can finally make her dream come true. Through the process of writing the novel, the two eventually become very close and they fall in love with each other. As the story progresses and more of the novel is written, Renji soon discovers that the novel is an allegory for Chihiro's life and how she sees the world around her due to the state of her limited memory.
Shuichi Kuze (久瀬 修一, Kuze Shūichi, voiced by: Kenji Hamada (Japanese), Illich Guardiola (English)) is the main protagonist of the fourth chapter in the story. He is an older man who is a professional violinist. He had been studying abroad in Germany for a time, and comes back to where Ef'''s story takes place. Shuichi is a neighbor of Renji's and is good friends with him despite the age difference. Shuichi knows Yu Himura and Chihiro as well, but she forgets Shuichi due to her condition. He meets the main heroine from the fourth chapter of the story named Mizuki Hayama (羽山 ミズキ, Hayama Mizuki, voiced by: Mai Goto (Japanese), Hilary Haag (English)) after being introduced by Renji's mother. She goes to an affiliated school and admires Kei greatly as someone who is older than she is; in fact, Mizuki is also on her school's girls' basketball team. She greatly enjoys reading shōjo manga. She has a straightforward attitude and likes to be frank towards others, especially to Kei. She initially comes to Otowa to visit her older cousin Renji, and this is when she meets Shuichi. Shuichi keeps to himself that he is dying of a special case of neurosis, of which Mizuki is aware of, but even though she tries to get closer to him, he forcibly pushes her away and rejects her affections. Mizuki becomes depressed and obtains Chihiro's diary. Casually reading it, she finds Yu's name which she recognizes from her past. Mizuki goes to the church to find Yu, but the chapter ends shortly after.
## Development and release history
Planning for Ef started in 2004 headed by Nobukazu Sakai (also known as nbkz), who is the main producer for Minori. The director for Ef was Mikage, who was also one of the main scenario writers along with Yū Kagami. Character design for Ef was headed by two artists, Naru Nanao who drew the female characters, and 2C Galore who drew the males. The opening movie animation was done via a collaboration between the animation studio Ajia-do Animation Works and Makoto Shinkai. Music in the Ef series was provided by Tenmon, who was the sole composer for Ef: The First Tale, and was accompanied by Eiichirō Yanagi for additional music used in Ef: The Latter Tale. It cost Minori over 100 million yen to produce the Ef series.
A fan disc entitled Ef: First Fan Disc was initially released during Comiket 72 between August 11 and August 13, 2007; the disc, playable on a PC was later sold in retail stores starting on August 25, 2007. The disc, unlike the normal visual novels in the series, did not contain adult content, and offered a glimpse into the world of Ef, though only touched on points from Ef: The First Tale, the first game in the series. Ef: The First Tale was released as an adult game for the PC on December 22, 2006. The second game in the series, Ef: The Latter Tale was released on May 30, 2008. MangaGamer released both games in English: Ef: The First Tale was released on July 27, 2012 and Ef: The Latter Tale was released on December 20, 2013.
A game demo of Ef: The First Tale is available via a free download at Getchu.com's special website for Ef: The First Tale. A second fan disc entitled Ef: Second Fan Mix, released as a preview of Ef: The Latter Tale, was initially released at during Comiket 73 on December 29, 2007; the disc, playable on a PC, was later sold in retail stores starting on February 8, 2008. A PlayStation 2 port combining The First Tale and The Latter Tale was released on April 29, 2010 published by Comfort. A fan disc titled Tenshi no Nichiyōbi "Ef: A Fairy Tale of the Two" Pleasurable Box. (天使の日曜日 "ef - a fairy tale of the two" Pleasurable Box.) was released on September 17, 2010.
## Adaptations
### Print media
A manga adaptation titled Ef: A Fairy Tale of the Two began serialization in the April 2005 issue of the shōnen manga magazine Dengeki Comic Gao! sold on February 27, 2005, published by MediaWorks. The manga ended serialization in the April 2008 issue Dengeki Comic Gao! at 35 chapters, but continued serialization in the June 2008 issue of ASCII Media Works' manga magazine Dengeki Daioh sold on April 21, 2008. After a lengthy hiatus, the manga ended serialization in the March 2015 issue. The story was written by Mikage and Yū Kagami, two scenario writers of Minori, and illustrated by Juri Miyabi. Ten tankōbon volumes were published under ASCII Media Works' Dengeki Comics imprint between February 27, 2006 and January 27, 2015.
A series of 24 short side-stories in a light novel form were serialized under the title Ef: A Fairy Tale of the Two Another Tale in Kadokawa Shoten's seinen magazine Comptiq between the July 2006 and July 2008 issues sold on June 10, 2006 and June 10, 2008, respectively. The stories are written by the same scenario staff as with the original games and manga, and illustration is handled by Naru Nanao, 2C Galore, and Mitsuishi Shōna. The chapters of Another Tale were released in a single volume on February 27, 2009 entitled Another Tales.. Another two separate light novels, under the general title Ef: A Fairy Tale of the Two, were published by Fujimi Shobo on October 25, 2007. They were written by Yū Kagami, and illustrated by Kinusa Shimotsuki. The first novel was a novelization of Miyako's route, and the second was centered around Kei's route.
The Ef series, encompassing the visual novels and anime adaptation, was the only Minori title to receive coverage in an entire issue of Dengeki G's Festival! Deluxe, a special edition version of Dengeki G's Magazine which is published by ASCII Media Works; the issue in question was the first, and was published on November 30, 2007. Along with information pertaining to Ef: A Fairy Tale of the Two and Ef: A Tale of Memories, the magazine came bundled with an ergonomic mousepad, a small cell phone cleaner which can also attach to a cell phone, and an ID card/pass case.
### Radio shows and drama CDs
There are two Internet radio shows for Ef: A Fairy Tale of the Two The first, entitled Omoshiro Minori Hōsōkyoku (おもしろミノリ放送局), was broadcast between October 13, 2006 to June 1, 2007 every Friday and was produced by Onsen, Cospa, and Minori. The show contained thirty-three episodes and was mainly used to promote the visual novels. In this way, the promotion mainly entailed news about the series and any updates related to the visual novels while also discussing points about the games themselves. The second radio broadcast began on June 8, 2007 called Yumiko & Yūna no Ef Memo Radio (ゆみこ&ゆうなのえふメモらじお). This broadcast is mainly used to promote the anime series which entails reporting on updates related to the anime and goods for the anime including musical CDs or DVDs.
A set of four drama CDs were released by Frontier Works based on the series between October 2006 and April 2007. A special edition drama CD was released on November 21, 2007, and another special drama CD was released on January 1, 2008. The first print release of the special edition CD will contain comments from the cast. The drama CDs used the same female cast as with the games and anime versions (albeit under assumed names), but the two males that appeared in the dramas, Hiro and Kyosuke, had different voice actors in respect to the anime version. Hiro was voiced by Takashi Komitsu, and Kyosuke was by Kakeru Shiroki.
### Anime
On August 24, 2007, a short prologue for an Ef anime series was released as a DVD. The prologue was a teaser which introduced the characters and some conflict that would appear in the series. The anime series, under the title Ef: A Tale of Memories, aired 12 episodes on Chiba TV between October 7 and December 22, 2007. The anime was produced by Shaft and directed by Shin Oonuma who volunteered for the job when it was offered. Even though the script for Ef: The Latter Tale was finished at the time of the anime's production, in order to direct the anime from the viewer's standpoint, Shin Oonuma himself never read it. However, Katsuhiko Takayama, who wrote the screenplay for the anime, had read the script. Each episode ends with a still image drawn by Japanese illustrators of anime, manga, and visual novels. The first letter in each episode's title, plus the "coda" title of the last episode, can be brought together to form "Euphoric Field". The series was released in six limited and regular edition DVD compilations, each containing two episodes. The first DVD volume was released on December 7, 2007, and the sixth DVD was released on May 9, 2008. A second season entitled Ef: A Tale of Melodies aired 12 episodes between October 7 and December 22, 2008 in Japan. The license holding company Sentai Filmworks licensed both Ef anime series. The DVD and Blu-ray Disc box sets of Ef: A Tale of Memories were released on January 31, 2012 in North America with an English dub, and the Ef: A Tale of Melodies box sets were released on March 20, 2012.
## Music
The opening theme song for Ef: The First Tale is "Yūkyū no Tsubasa" (悠久の翼, Eternal Feather) by Hitomi Harada which was released as a maxi single called "Eternal Feather" on October 27, 2006. For Ef: The Latter Tale, the opening theme is "Emotional Flutter", and the ending theme is "Ever Forever"; the single containing the two themes was released on April 11, 2008. Ef: A Fairy Tale of the Two's original soundtrack, Alato, was released on February 27, 2009 containing three CDs. The PlayStation 2 version released by Comfort will include an image song CD in the game disc, which will contain a song called "Echt Forgather" by Hitomi Harada.
The opening theme for Ef: A Tale of Memories, starting with episode three, is the English version of "Euphoric Field" by Tenmon featuring Elisa. The first episode used a background music track for the opening theme, and the second and tenth episodes had no opening theme; the English version of "Euphoric Field" was also used for the ending theme in episode two. The Japanese version of "Euphoric Field" was used as the opening theme for the twelfth episode. The opening theme single was released on October 24, 2007 by Geneon. The first ending theme for the anime is "I'm here" by Hiroko Taguchi which was used for episodes one, three, seven, and ten; the single for the song (entitled "Adagio by Miyako Miyamura") was also released on October 24, 2007 by Geneon. The second ending theme, "Kizamu Kisetsu" (刻む季節, Carving Season) by Junko Okada, was used for episodes four, five, and nine, and the single (entitled "Vivace by Kei Shindo") was released on November 21, 2007. The third ending theme, "Sora no Yume" (空の夢, Sky's Dream) by Natsumi Yanase, was used for episode six, eight, and eleven, though the second verse of the song was used in that episode; the single (entitled "Andante by Chihiro Shindo") was released on December 21, 2007. A remix of the visual novel's theme song called "Yūkyū no Tsubasa 07.mix" (悠久の翼 07.mix, Eternal Feather 07.mix) sung by Yumiko Nakajima was used as the ending theme in episode twelve. The single for this (entitled "Yūkyū no Tsubasa 07.mix / Euphoric Field live.mix") was released on September 26, 2008. The first original soundtrack for the anime series (Espressivo) was released on February 8, 2008, and the second (Fortissimo) was released on April 2, 2008.
The opening theme of Ef: A Tale of Melodies is the English version of "Ebullient Future", also by Tenmon featuring Elisa, with the sixth episode featuring the instrumental version and episode eleven with the second verse. The opening sequence is shown to change many times; episode ten contains no opening, but a piano remix of the song was used as the ending for that same episode. Episode twelve uses the Japanese version of the song, with a different opening sequence. The first ending theme is called "Egao no Chikara" (笑顔のチカラ, Strength of Smiles) by Mai Goto and was used in episode two through five, seven, and the second verse was used in episode eleven. The second ending theme is called "Negai no Kakera" (願いのカケラ, Pieces of Wish) by Yumiko Nakajima which was used in episode six, nine, and the second verse was used in episode eight. The song "A moon filled sky." by Mai Goto was featured at the end of episode eleven and a new Japanese version of the opening sequence of the first season was inserted in the same episode. Episode twelve uses the song "Ever Forever OG.mix" sung by the voice actresses of all the major female characters. The singles for "Ebullient Future" and "Egao no Chikara" (the latter entitled "Fermata by Mizuki Hayama") were released on November 5, 2008 and the single for "Negai no Kakera" (entitled "Fine by Yuko Amamiya") was released on November 26, 2008. The first original soundtrack for the series (Elegia) was released on December 26, 2008 while the second original soundtrack (Felice) was released on February 27, 2009.
## Reception
In the October 2007 issue of Dengeki G's Magazine, poll results for the fifty best bishōjo games were released. Out of 249 titles, Ef: A Fairy Tale of the Two ranked 23rd with 11 votes, tying with Muv-Luv Alternative and Snow. The first game in the Ef series, Ef: The First Tale, was the highest selling game for the month of December 2006 on Getchu.com, and dropped to 19th in the ranking the following month. Also, Ef: The First Tale was the fourth most widely sold game of 2006 on Getchu.com despite it being released with a little over a week left in 2006. In the January 25, 2007 issue of the Japanese gaming magazine PC News, it was reported that Ef: The First Tale was the fifth-highest selling game of 2006 with 40,843 units sold. Across the national ranking of bishōjo games in amount sold in Japan, Ef: The First Tale premiered at number two, and ranked twice more at number five and 32. From mid-April to mid-May 2008, Ef: The Latter Tale ranked fourth in national PC game pre-orders in Japan. Ef: The Latter Tale ranked first in terms of national sales of PC games in Japan in May 2008, and ranked at 30th on the same ranking the following month.
Theron Martin of Anime News Network reviewed the Blu-ray edition of Ef: A Tale of Memories, where he praised the anime series for not resorting to "even a whiff of the supernatural", and called the way in which characters behave as "largely believable". The anime received a mostly positive review from Bradley Meek THEM Anime Reviews. Bradley appreciated the animation, saying that "It does wonders for the mood in the series, adding a tangible layer of mysticism and fantasy." However, he criticized the series being "cheesy and melodramatic more often than not." He concluded the review saying, "Despite some laughable melodrama, the raw emotions and Shaft's hypnotic animation makes ef \~a tale of memories\~'' a memorable romance. The plotting is slow, though, so it's not for people with short attention spans."
## See also
|
73,022,808 |
Gloria Cameron
| 1,170,856,774 |
Jamaican-British activist (1932–2020)
|
[
"1932 births",
"2020 deaths",
"Black British activists",
"Black British history",
"Black feminism",
"British anti-racism activists",
"British feminists",
"British social workers",
"British women activists",
"British women's rights activists",
"Caribbean culture",
"Emigrants from British Jamaica to the United Kingdom",
"Folk dancers",
"Jamaican women activists",
"Members of the Order of the British Empire"
] |
Florence Tina "Gloria" Cameron MBE (27 June 1932 – 15 March 2020) was a Jamaican-born British community worker, activist and promoter of West Indian culture. Born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica, she emigrated to England as part of the "Windrush generation". In 1958, she joined the St John's Inter-Racial Club in the Brixton district of London and became involved in activism directed at widespread discrimination against the West Indian community. Her concerns included accommodation problems, educational disparity, racial discrimination in employment, transport, and pubs, as well as Sus laws, which allowed police to detain people upon suspicion that they might have committed an offence.
Believing that celebrating culture could both help West Indians adapt and bridge misunderstandings, Cameron helped to develop London's first indoor Caribbean-style carnival in 1959. In 1963, she founded the Caribbean Folk Group, which performed throughout Britain reciting West Indian folklore and playing music accompanied with dance. In the 1970s, intent on creating a day nursery for working mothers that would better prepare Caribbean children for school, along with Gerlin Bean and Mabel Carter, she formed the West Indian Parents Action Group (WIPAG). Cameron became a community relations officer for the London Borough of Lambeth in 1973 and was one of the first Black women to be appointed a justice of the peace in the UK, serving from 1975. Cameron worked with the Inner London Juvenile Courts, became a magistrate, and volunteered to visit prisoners. As the day nursery expanded exponentially, in 1983 a new facility was officially launched by Diana, Princess of Wales.
Cameron's community work was recognised with honours as a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 1980 and with the Jamaican Prime Minister's Medal of Appreciation in 1987. She was featured in several documentaries throughout the 1980s and was the first native Jamaican to appear on the British television programme This Is Your Life. In 1988, she was arrested and falsely charged with fraud and theft. Her defence blamed the charges on an organised group wishing to take over the nursery she had worked to build and ruin her reputation. After a five-day trial, the judge Valerie Pearlman of the Southwark Crown Court ruled that Cameron and the other three people charged were innocent, based on the inability of an accounting audit to substantiate the prosecution's charges. The judge noted that the case had been an injustice, causing anxiety for the defendants, and encouraged an investigation into how the charges had made it to court. In 2016, Cameron wrote an autobiography Case Dismissed!: An Ordinary Jamaican Woman, an Extraordinary Life giving her side of the ordeal.
## Early life and education
Florence Tina was born on 27 June 1932 in Kingston, Jamaica. When she was fourteen months old, a tropical storm caused the family home to be flooded. She and her mother, the only ones home at the time, were rescued, but Florence developed typhoid fever and subsequently pneumonia and was hospitalised at Kingston Public Hospital for several months. When she finally began to recover, their rescuer suggested Florence be called "Gloria" thereafter, and the name was quickly adopted. From 1934, she lived with her step-mother Eugenie (née Johnson) and father, Clifford George Hylton. Her father worked as a manager for the textile firm Seaga's. He was active in the Universal Negro Improvement Association and her step-mother served as one of the Black Cross Nurses. Gloria attended Brown's Private Infant School and then middle school at the Methodist-run Ebenezer School. She began high school at St Martin but at fifteen, when her parents separated, she went to live with her birth mother. Attending the West India Commercial College, she trained as a secretary, and simultaneously studied domestic science at the Kingston Technical School.
When her father stopped paying her school fees, Gloria sought work as a secretary. She was invited to become an assistant teacher at West India Commercial College, where she had passed examinations in bookkeeping, shorthand and typing, and took the job. When she became pregnant in 1950, she refused to marry to legitimise her son, Winston, who was born in February the following year. Seven months later, she returned to teaching and participating in the St Bernard's Choral Society. At the choir practices, she met Herbert Cameron, whom she married at the Moravian Church of the Redeemer, in Kingston. Five weeks after their marriage, their daughter, Valerie, was born in February 1953, followed by a son, Franklin, in June 1955. Shortly thereafter, Herb migrated to Britain to seek better opportunities. Nine months later, he wrote Cameron that she should join him. Leaving her three children with her mother, she left to join him in early 1957.
## British activism
By the end of 1957, the couple had settled in London and their son Christopher was born just before Christmas. Three months later, Cameron took a position as a cook for the London Transport service but left after a few months. At the end of 1958, she had another daughter, Christine, and joined the St John's Inter-Racial Club in Brixton. The club was her first entry into community service, and it had been organised that year to deal with widespread discrimination against the West Indian community in London. At the time in Britain, covertly and overtly, racial segregation was imposed in employment, in housing, on transport, and in pubs. At the invitation of Gee Bernard, she worked with other activists to stop the Sus laws, which allowed police to stop and search anyone who might be suspected of having the intent to commit an offence. Sus law arrests frequently targeted Black youth and police were given broad latitude in defining the terms "suspect" and "intent". Shortly thereafter, the family moved to Gresham Road in Brixton and were able to buy a house in South London in 1961. That year, she had another daughter, Jennifer, and a son, Richard, followed in 1965. In 1967, their home became the target of urban renewal and the Housing Office made an offer on their home. The family relocated to Streatham and were able to bring the children in Jamaica to join the family in England.
Cameron, Gerlin Bean, and Mabel Carter began meeting as the West Indian Parents Action Group (WIPAG) around 1971, but the group was not formalised until 1974. The goal of the organisation was to address under-achievement by Black children in the British school system and was particularly focused on early childhood education that gave training to children before they entered formal schooling. To that end, WIPAG started a day nursery to support working mothers in 1974. Outgrowing their facility, in 1977, the group renovated a derelict terrace house in Canterbury Crescent. She also worked on issues facing orphans and foster children and was offered a course in social work by the Lambeth London Borough Council. When she completed the training, she was employed in 1973 as a community relations officer for the London Borough of Lambeth. Two years later she was appointed as a justice of the peace (JP), one of the first Black women in the UK to receive the position. Her appointment was to serve as JP for the Inner London Juvenile Courts. Concerned about delinquency problems and lack of services for immigrant adolescents, she took part in a study of the issue with other community workers, teachers and social workers in 1977. She also served as a magistrate and volunteered as a prison visitor. Her dedication to community service was recognised with an MBE in 1980, the citation describing her as "Social worker, Lambeth Community Relations Council". She was honoured by Edward Seaga with the Jamaican Prime Minister's Medal of Appreciation in 1987, in recognition of her contributions to Britain's Caribbean community.
### Folk music and culture
In 1959, Cameron, along with Nadia Cattouse, Jimmy Fairweather, Cy Grant, and Sam King, participated in the first Caribbean-style carnival in London. The event was suggested by Claudia Jones in St Pancras Town Hall and six indoor carnivals preceded the Notting Hill Street Carnival, which began in the late 1960s. Because of the 1958 Notting Hill race riots, the group was reluctant to hold an event in the streets and held the first carnivals in halls. The Cameron family had always been musical. Gloria sang, Herb played the accordion, Valerie the clarinet, Franklin the cornet, Christopher the piano, Christine the guitar, and Jennifer the violin. Seeking to celebrate London's diversity and foster cultural understanding, Cameron formed the Caribbean Folk Group in 1963. The group included around twenty singers, dancers, and dramatists, who performed traditional music and other entertainment throughout greater London. Recitation of West Indian folklore and enactment of pantomime performances such as Anansi and Brer Englishman, written by Cameron with Manley Young, were often included in the presentations.
After the 1981 race riots in England, Cameron turned again to culture to improve racial relationships in Brixton. She and other parents founded the West Indian Parents' Family Center in 1983, which was officially launched by Diana, Princess of Wales. Because the WIPAG nursery had once again outgrown its space, the new facility at 3 & 5 Gresham Road allowed expansion of the nursery to include cultural workshops and adult education programmes. Next door at 7 Gresham Road, the Abeng Centre, for which Cameron served as coordinator, helped immigrants to adjust to life in Britain by providing counselling services as well as vocational training to assist them with finding employment and a youth club to give teenagers a place to mingle with their peers. Besides her work in the centres and performing with the folk company, Cameron presented various cultural programmes with John Agard, Len Garrison, and Courtney Laws. Along with Laws, she supported the creation in 1980 of the Black Cultural Archives and was one of its inaugural board members.
In 1981, Cameron, along with the teacher Yvonne Conolly, published a book titled Mango Spice, featuring Caribbean songs. The book was part of a multicultural curriculum developed for schools and commissioned by the Inner London Education Authority. Music was arranged by Cameron's son, Chris, and another teacher Sonia Singham. Cameron was featured in 1983 on the television programme This Is Your Life, hosted by Eamonn Andrews. The show brought in her mother who was still living in Jamaica as a surprise guest. Cameron was the first native Jamaican in the UK to be featured on the British television series. A documentary series, Women at Work , produced by the Central Office of Information featured an episode "The West Indian Community: Life of Gloria Cameron an Immigrant to Britain in the 1950s" in the 1983 and 1984 season. Harlech Television ran "A Woman's Place: The West Indian Community" about Cameron in 1986. A second edition of Mango Spice was released in 2001 and was widely distributed to British schools.
### Nursery case
In 1985 WIPAG was encouraged by the Chief Coordinator Community and Voluntary Services (CCCVS) to apply to develop the property at 90 Kellet Road as an additional nursery. The bid to manage the site was approved by the Lambeth Council's Social Services Committee in June and the CCCVS was appointed as the Grant Liaison Officer for the facility. The CCCVS was not the typical agency that oversaw grants for nursery and senior day care facilities as these were normally supervised within the social work division. The nursery facility was opened under the direction of WIPAG in March 1987, but the building did not have working toilets, causing the children enrolled to be transferred to the Gresham Road nursery. The following month, Lambeth Council changed the funding mechanism from the Urban Programme to the Policy and Resources Committee and notified WIPAG that existing funding had ceased. Funding had still not been organised by July and in September, Cameron was notified that their grant would be approved on a monthly basis. Claims of mismanagement by the CCCVS led to a board meeting to discuss Cameron's voluntary leaving and the potential closing of the nurseries temporarily. As a precautionary measure because of harassing phone calls and an angry crowd that had gathered, police were notified to secure the buildings on Gresham and Kellet Roads and escort the employees out on 11 September.
Thereafter, a media blitz followed accusing Cameron of theft, mismanagement, and fraud. In December 1987, she was informed through her solicitor that an inquiry would be held at the Holborn police station on 7 January 1988. The day after her initial interrogation, she was notified that her daughter, who worked as a clerical officer for the government was to be suspended from her job and investigated for fraud. Another daughter who worked as a senior nursery officer for WIPAG was notified that she was wanted for questioning. In April, Cameron was charged with three counts of theft and later her daughters and the WIPAG treasurer were also charged. The prosecution claimed that Cameron and her daughters stole money from the charity to make mortgage payments on a home they had purchased in Purley. Articles like one that appeared under the headline "How Are the Mighty Fallen", in the January–February 1988 issue of Race Today, reported that Cameron had been arrested and "believed her connections in high places would save her". In January 1989, the case was called in the Bow Street Magistrates' Court. After two days, the case was remanded to the Southwark Crown Court.
In February 1989, the case was heard over five days. Bruce Houlder, counsel for the prosecution, alleged that Cameron and her daughters had stolen £43,000 between August 1985 and September 1987. Defence counsel, Martin Thomas, argued that "a small and totally organised group were determined to destroy Mrs Cameron and her family and the work they had built up" with the intent of taking over the WIPAG nursery. In evaluating the claims of the star witness, an accountant, it was determined that he had evaluated limited evidence, only eight salary payments during the period, and had erred in his calculations. An audit of the accountant's sums, which were reviewed in a two-day adjournment, found no significant irregularities in the accounting books for WIPAG. The audit also noted that all funds in Cameron's personal account over the period, save minor discrepancies of a few thousand pounds, were verified. Based on the evidence, Judge Valerie Pearlman [wikidata] ruled that all four accused were not guilty and stated that their characters should not be damaged by the trial. She suggested there should be an investigation to determine how the case had come to court, stating: "This case has caused me enormous concern. It is quite an appalling injustice that any defendant should have had to face worrying allegations and months of anxiety over what appears to be a prosecution witness statement that did not on inquiry support these allegations."
## Later life, death and legacy
Cameron, who was still struggling with depression and anxiety because of the case, returned to Jamaica for six months. She subsequently returned to London and worked for three years as a lay member of the Department of Education in the Special Education Tribunal, before retiring. In 2016, Cameron wrote her autobiography, Case Dismissed!: An Ordinary Jamaican Woman, an Extraordinary Life, which also detailed her side of the court proceedings against her. Cameron died on 15 March 2020 in Croydon, South London. She was remembered for commitment to preserving Caribbean culture and heritage and work to build up the West Indian community in Britain.
|
4,914,849 |
Alabama State Route 73
| 1,054,426,642 |
Highway in Alabama
|
[
"State highways in Alabama",
"Transportation in Jackson County, Alabama"
] |
State Route 73 (SR 73), is a 11.219-mile-long (18.055 km) state highway in the U.S. state of Alabama. The southern terminus of the highway is at an intersection with SR 71 in Higdon north to the Tennessee state line, where it becomes Tennessee State Route 377 (SR 377). SR 73 travels through rural areas in eastern Jackson County, serving the community of Bryant.
## Route description
SR 73 begins at an intersection with SR 71 in the community of Higdon, heading north on a two-lane undivided road. The highway heads through rural areas of farms and woods with some homes, curving to the northwest. The highway heads north again as it crosses under several power lines radiating from the Widows Creek Power Plant along the Tennessee River. SR 73 continues northeast past homes and businesses in the Bryant area on top of Sand Mountain prior to going north through more forested areas with a few rural homes. The highway travels through a mix of farm and woodland before it turns east into forests. SR 73 makes a sharp curve north again to traverse Sand Mountain as it comes to the Tennessee state line. At this point, the road continues into Tennessee as SR 377, which ascends Sand Mountain to end at SR 156 in New Hope, TN, a town just east of South Pittsburg, TN.
## History
The SR 73 designation was first assigned in 1934 to an unimproved road connecting SR 74 in Piedmont and SR 62 in Forney, traveling through Spring Garden and Rock Run. By 1948, this road was removed from the state highway system, becoming CR 29 in Calhoun and Cherokee counties by 1955. What would become the current SR 73 south of Bryant became a part of SR 207 by 1955; at this time, the portion of road was a paved highway. SR 207 was redesignated SR 73 by 1957. By 1987, SR 73 was extended north from Bryant to the Tennessee state line.
## Major intersections
## See also
|
2,476,765 |
Pero Me Acuerdo de Ti
| 1,165,223,807 |
2000 single by Christina Aguilera
|
[
"1990s ballads",
"1991 songs",
"2000 singles",
"Christina Aguilera songs",
"Dark Latin Groove songs",
"Edith Márquez songs",
"Lourdes Robles songs",
"Pop ballads",
"RCA Records singles",
"Song recordings produced by Rudy Pérez",
"Song recordings produced by Sergio George",
"Songs written by Rudy Pérez",
"Spanish-language songs"
] |
"Pero Me Acuerdo de Ti" (English: "But I Remember You") is a song written and produced by Rudy Pérez. It was first recorded by Puerto Rican singer Lourdes Robles on her album Definitivamente (1991). In the ballad, the singer remembers her lover even when she tries to forget. Nine years later, American recording artist Christina Aguilera included a cover version on her second studio album Mi Reflejo which Pérez also produced. It was released as the second single from the album in December 2000. The music video for Aguilera's version was directed by Kevin Bray.
Aguilera performed the song live at the 2001 Grammy Awards. Her version peaked at number eight on the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart in the United States and number three in Spain. It received a Latin Grammy nomination for Record of the Year. It has been covered by Mexican singer Edith Márquez and Jencarlos Canela.
## Background
In 1991, Puerto Rican recording artist Lourdes Robles released her third studio album Definitivamente which was arranged and produced by Cuban-American musician Rudy Pérez. Pérez wrote three songs for the album including "Pero Me Acuerdo de Ti". The song tells the story of a woman who cannot forget her lover. It was later included on Robles's greatest hits album Contradicciones y Sus Exitos (2007). In 2000, American recording artist Christina Aguilera covered "Pero Me Acuerdo de Ti" on her second studio album Mi Reflejo which was also produced by Pérez.
## Christina Aguilera version
### Release and reception
"Pero Me Acuerdo de Ti" was serviced to Latin radio stations the second week of December 2000 in the United States. It reached number eight on Hot Latin Songs and five on Hot Latin Pop Songs in the US. In Spain, it reached number three on the country's singles chart. Kurt B. Reighley from Wall of Sound was positive toward the song, saying that Aguilera is "persuasive and engaging" on the song. Orlando Sentinel editor Perry Gettelman was not impressed, writing that "She seems equally fond of acrobatic trills and low, sex-kittenish moans". Writing for the Billboard magazine, Lucas Villa provided a supporting commentary and called the ballad "heartbreaking". At the 2nd Latin Grammy Awards, "Pero Me Acuerdo de Ti" received a Latin Grammy nomination for Record of the Year which went to Alejandro Sanz for "El Alma al Aire". It has been called "one of Aguilera's greatest hits" by Rolling Stone en Español.
### Promotion and live performances
The video for "Pero Me Acuerdo de Ti" was directed by Kevin G. Bray, which features Aguilera performing the song in a recording studio. Aguilera also gave a performance at the 2001 Grammy Awards in February, performing "Pero Me Acuerdo de Ti" and "Falsas Esperanzas". Leila Cobo of Billboard magazine called Aguilera's Grammy performance "remarkably mainstream".
In December 2019, Aguilera performed the song, along with "Falsas Esperanzas" and "Contigo en la Distancia", during the Mexican leg of her concert tour, The X Tour. In February 2021, she sang "Pero Me Acuerdo de Ti" at the Verizon's "Big Concert for Small Business" Super Bowl afterparty.
### Charts
#### Weekly charts
#### Year-end charts
### Release history
## Other cover versions
Mexican singer and actress Edith Márquez performed a cover of the song on her studio album Pasiones de Cabaret (2008). In the same year, America band Dark Latin Groove performed a salsa cover of the song on their album Renacer (2008) which was produced by Sergio George. It was also performed live by American actor and singer Jencarlos Canela (whom Pérez has also worked with) in the House of Blues, Orlando.
|
52,377,980 |
My Trigger
| 1,167,674,805 |
Song performed by Swedish indie pop band Miike Snow from their third studio album
|
[
"2016 singles",
"2016 songs",
"Cultural depictions of John F. Kennedy",
"Cultural depictions of Marilyn Monroe",
"Cultural depictions of Nikita Khrushchev",
"Miike Snow songs",
"Music videos directed by Ninian Doff",
"Song recordings produced by Bloodshy & Avant",
"Songs written by Andrew Wyatt",
"Songs written by Christian Karlsson (DJ)",
"Songs written by Claydes Charles Smith",
"Songs written by J Dilla",
"Songs written by Pontus Winnberg",
"Songs written by Robert \"Kool\" Bell",
"Songs written by Ronald Bell (musician)",
"Works about the Cuban Missile Crisis"
] |
"My Trigger" is a song performed by Swedish indie pop band Miike Snow from their third studio album, iii (2016). Written and produced by the band, the song contains elements from J Dilla's "The Diff'rence" (2006), which samples "Fruitman" (1974) by Kool & the Gang. The writers of both compositions obtained writing credit. "My Trigger" is an electropop and indie pop song, the lyrics of which speak of spending a weekend with a stripper. Lead singer Andrew Wyatt also revealed that it comments on the sex industry in the United States. The song was released on 9 September 2016, through Jackalope and Atlantic as the third single from iii.
Critical response to "My Trigger" was generally positive; the majority of critics applauded its pop sound and production, although some felt it lacked depth. The single became the band's second entry on the American Alternative Songs chart, peaking at number 37. The accompanying music video was directed by Ninian Doff and depicts a dramatization of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis where John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev express doubts about pushing a button to start a nuclear war. The video received positive reviews as critics praised its choreography and entertainment value.
## Background
"My Trigger" was written by Miike Snow's three members, Christian Karlsson, Pontus Winnberg and Andrew Wyatt, for the band's third studio album, iii (2016). The instrumental is based on J Dilla's track "The Diff'rence" from his album Donuts (2006), which samples "Fruitman" by Kool & the Gang from their album Light of Worlds (1974). The stems from J Dilla's albums Donuts and The Shining (2006) were made available for use while Miike Snow were working on iii. Karlsson presented the instrumentals to the rest of the band and they found one that was "so inspirational". As the original instrumental is "chopped" and incoherent, Wyatt learned the piano chord progression to complete a continuous pattern that the source material lacked. He noted that the band's own version is somewhat different from the original because of this.
Wyatt explained to Rolling Stone that they experimented with many different samples on iii, stating that they are "all pop songwriters" and they try to conceptualize songs from "as weird of a place" as possible. He added, "Our formula has been take what's great about pop songwriting and leave what's not great about some pop songwriting and present that with as complex an array of instrumental aspects we can add on the production side." Winnberg elaborated to HuffPost on the topic of sampling, "For us, to do a song based on a J Dilla beat is, of course, a huge tribute to J Dilla, and we wish that he could be alive and hear it. And maybe even like it. It's not about taking something and running with it to build on your own success." In an interview for Spin, Wyatt deemed "My Trigger" the album's "best combination of song and track", elaborating on the difference of the two terms, "I think a 'song' is, like, just play it on the guitar and sing it. You look out and see thousands of covers of 'Animal' for example ... There are other tracks that are more reliant upon the beat."
## Composition and lyrics
Musically, "My Trigger" is an electropop and indie pop song with a hip hop groove and influences of "old-school Motown". Instrumentation is provided by bass guitar, organ, piano and timpani. Wyatt uses a falsetto vocal style throughout the song. It includes a section with electronically manipulated vocals, which "sounds like a squirrel is ... having a seizure", according to Michael Pementel of PopMatters. Wyatt told musicOMH that "My Trigger" has an almost identical sound to a composition from his unreleased 1993 solo album. He also said it recalls the music he made with Greg Kurstin in the 1990s, while in a band called Funkraphiliacs.
The lyrics of "My Trigger" came about when Karlsson came up with the line "I saw you licking a dollar bill". Wyatt then went with the idea and wrote about a "lost weekend with a stripper". He previously dated a stripper, which inspired the single "Silvia" from the band's debut album Miike Snow (2009), but he told Notion that the narration of "My Trigger" is "totally fictional". He stated that the song is meant to convey a deeper meaning about the sex industry in the United States, "You can say some things that feel kind of truthful, or that are a little bit more controversial, inside of a song that's about something very simplistic." He commented that the lyrical interpretation is up to the listener, stating that the public "can dive in and maybe get something to think about in the lyrics" or just enjoy the beat. Critic Dave Simpson of The Guardian deemed the phrase "Pull my trigger" to be "laden with innuendo", while Paul Carr of PopMatters wrote that it contains "the most unsubtle innuendo since Robert Plant asked to squeeze his lemon".
## Release and reception
Miike Snow launched a remix competition in collaboration with Earmilk and Wavo on 23 August 2016, where participants submitted self-produced remixes of "My Trigger". The winner received synths by Teenage Engineering and shoutouts on the band's social media. "My Trigger" was released through Jackalope Recordings and Atlantic Records as the third single from iii. A digital EP containing five remixes was made available on 9 September 2016. The single debuted and peaked at number 37 on the American Alternative Songs chart. It spent four weeks on the chart in total, and became the band's second entry there following "Genghis Khan".
"My Trigger" was met with generally positive reviews from critics. Eight different writers reviewed and rated the song on behalf of PopMatters as part of the magazine's "Singles Going Steady" series. The song averaged 7.13 out of 10, with individual scores ranging from 4 to 10. Adriane Pontecorvo deemed it "the perfect pop song", and Scott Zuppardo described it as "hell of a jam". Chris Ingalls called it "catchy, fun, and unique", commenting that the single "incorporates lovely effects and production that seem somewhat experimental but still have a lovely pop sheen". William Sutton described it as a "fun slice of light hearted pop" and wrote, "The electronically manipulated vocals can be slightly grating at times but this is still a good track." Sputnikmusic's staff reviewer Rudy K. perceived "My Trigger" as a "genuinely great addition" to the band's catalog and commended its position as the opening track of iii. Ben Hogwood of musicOMH viewed it as "almost as good" as "Genghis Khan" and felt the J Dilla sample is "screwed up brilliantly".
Kat Bein of Billboard called the song "captivating" and argued it "could use a little kick" if it were to be played in dance clubs, praising the Higher Self remix included on the digital release, "This remix is all the things we love about 'My Trigger' with a hefty injection of kick drum and synthetic flourishes." DIY critic David Beech felt "My Trigger", along with two other album tracks, "possess a pop pomp that's been hinted at only slightly in the past". He concluded, "Though there's a definite confidence in their composition, they certainly feel less organic, more contrived than before." Spin's Rachel Brodsky was critical in her review, stating that the song "lives in the upper register but ends up suggesting the unappealing prospect of Gnarls Barkley cutting an ELO record". Writing for PopMatters, Andrew Paschal felt it lacked "sonic depth", asserting, "While catchy, the song comes across as a factory-produced collection of hooks arbitrarily pasted together with no overarching concept or emotional nuance to guide it."
## Music video
Ninian Doff directed the accompanying music video for "My Trigger". Doff also directed the visual for iii's previous single "Genghis Khan", starring actors Edward Hayes Neary and Adam Jones. The two actors returned for the "My Trigger" video, this time portraying American President John F. Kennedy (Hayes Neary) and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev (Jones) in a dramatization of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. Doff described the visual as "an apparently very serious political drama about the Cuban Missile Crisis which starts spiraling into a sort of hallucinatory musical". Patrick Meller provided the video's cinematography and Supple Nam created the choreography. It was produced by Pulse Films, with Russ Hallard as editor, Rik Green as producer and Tim Gibson as production designer.
The video begins in the White House, where President Kennedy is pressured by his cabinet to hit a red "launch nukes" button. Kennedy is anxious of the decision, and the scenery cuts to his fantasy where Marilyn Monroe (Fran Dearlove) dances seductively atop an oversized red button, tempting him to push it. Meanwhile, in the Kremlin, Soviet leader Krushchev is faced with the same decision as his cabinet presents a red button. The two leaders break out in a choreographed dance number before they decide to call each other. Deciding not to push the button, they then return to their respective cabinets, where white doves emerge from their mouths and clothing as they enter the room.
The video premiered on 22 August 2016 on Miike Snow's YouTube channel. Commentators had positive remarks regarding the video. Gabriel Aikins of Substream Magazine wrote that Miike Snow continues the trend of releasing "great videos" and concluded, "The video is a bizarre and delightful mix of historical drama and stage musical". Pementel of PopMatters called the video "hilarious" and applauded its choreography. Bein, writing for Billboard, characterized it as a "beautifully-entertaining video". The video received a UK Music Video Award nomination for Best Pop Video (International). The band's video for "Genghis Khan" ultimately took home the prize.
## Track listing
- Digital EP – Remixes
1. "My Trigger" (Olin Batista remix) – 4:11
2. "My Trigger" (Higher Self remix) – 3:43
3. "My Trigger" (Imad Royal remix) – 2:59
4. "My Trigger" (Klyne remix) – 3:09
5. "My Trigger" (Indiginis remix) – 3:57
## Credits and personnel
Credits are adapted from the iii liner notes.
- Songwriting – Christian Karlsson, Pontus Winnberg, Andrew Wyatt, James Yancey, Dennis Thomas, George Brown, Robert Mickens, Robert "Kool" Bell, Ronald Bell, Robert Westfield, Claydes Charles Smith
- Production – Miike Snow
- Vocals – Andrew Wyatt
- Bass – Pontus Winnberg
- Keyboard – Pontus Winnberg, Andrew Wyatt
- Piano – Andrew Wyatt
- Engineering – Johannes Raassina
- Mixing – Niklas Flyckt, Miike Snow
- Mastering – Tom Coyne, Randy Merrill
## Charts
## Release history
|
43,710,448 |
Crab dip
| 1,131,568,439 |
Thick, creamy dip that is typically prepared from cream cheese and lump crab meat
|
[
"Baked foods",
"Condiments",
"Crab dishes",
"Dips (food)",
"Snack foods"
] |
Crab dip, sometimes referred to as Maryland crab dip, is a thick, creamy dip that is typically prepared from cream cheese and lump crab meat. Other primary ingredients such as mayonnaise may be used. Various types of crab preparations, species and superfamilies are used, as are a variety of added ingredients. It is typically served hot, although cold versions also exist. Hot versions are typically baked or broiled. It is sometimes served as an appetizer. Accompaniments may include crackers and various breads. Some U.S. restaurants offer crab dip, commercially produced varieties exist, and some stadiums offer it as a part of their concessions.
## Ingredients
Fresh, frozen or canned crab meat may be used in the preparation of crab dip. Different types of crab meat may be used, such as jumbo lump, lump backfin, leg and claw, among others. Various types of crab species and superfamilies are also used, such as blue crab, Dungeness crab and Alaska king crab, among others.
Some versions may use mayonnaise, other types of cheese, such as pepper jack cheese, brie cheese or Cheddar cheese instead of or in addition to cream cheese as primary ingredients. Some may incorporate other seafoods in addition to crab, such as imitation crab, lobster, shrimp and surimi. Additional ingredients may include mushrooms, artichoke, onion, green onion, shallot, green pepper, bread crumbs (such as panko), heavy cream and others. Bread crumbs may be used to top the dish, which may be browned during the cooking process creating a crust. Sometimes Parmesan cheese is combined with the bread crumbs. Some versions use Old Bay Seasoning as an ingredient to add flavor, and some are prepared spicy with the addition of ingredients such as hot sauce and red pepper.
## Preparation and service
Some U.S. restaurants offer crab dip on their menus. Commercially mass-produced crab dips are also manufactured. Crab dip can be prepared in advance, refrigerated, and cooked at a later time. It may be served in bread that has been hollowed-out, such as a sourdough loaf. Crab dip may be served with crackers, flatbread, pita bread, bread, crostino, pretzels and sliced vegetables, among other accompaniments.
## Stadium concessions
The Nationals Park baseball park in the Navy Yard neighborhood of Washington, D.C., the home ballpark for the Washington Nationals, offers a sandwich prepared with a half-smoke, Maryland crab dip and Virginia ham called "The DMV" as part of its concessions. It was reported in August 2014 that Byrd Stadium on the campus of the University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland planned to offer a large 700 g (1+1⁄2 lb) soft pretzel baked with crab dip and melted cheese that serves four people as part of its concessions. Byrd Stadium also offers other foods prepared with crab, such as nachos and "crab fries".
## See also
- Clam dip
- List of crab dishes
- List of dips
- List of hors d'oeuvre
|
5,264,437 |
Gilbert de Clare, 8th Earl of Gloucester
| 1,167,739,828 |
14th-century English magnate
|
[
"1291 births",
"1314 deaths",
"14th-century English nobility",
"De Clare family",
"Earls of Gloucester",
"Earls of Hertford",
"English deaths at the Battle of Bannockburn",
"English military personnel killed in action",
"English people of the Wars of Scottish Independence",
"Lords of Glamorgan"
] |
Gilbert de Clare, 8th Earl of Gloucester, 7th Earl of Hertford (c. 10 May 1291 – 24 June 1314) was an English nobleman and military commander in the Scottish Wars. In contrast to most English earls at the time, his main focus lay in the pursuit of war rather than in domestic political strife. He was the son of Gilbert de Clare, 7th Earl of Gloucester, and Joan of Acre, daughter of King Edward I. The older Gilbert died when his son was only four years old, and the younger Gilbert was invested with his earldoms at the young age of sixteen. Almost immediately, he became involved in the defence of the northern border, but later he was drawn into the struggles between Edward II and some of his barons. He was one of the Lords Ordainers who ordered the expulsion of the king's favourite Piers Gaveston in 1311. When Gaveston was killed on his return in 1312, Gloucester helped negotiate a settlement between the perpetrators and the king.
Now one of Edward's strongest supporters, Gloucester accompanied the king on a campaign to Scotland in 1314, when several other nobles refused. He was killed at the Battle of Bannockburn on 24 June 1314, under somewhat unclear circumstances. Gloucester was the most prominent of the casualties of the battle, which ended in a humiliating defeat for England. As he had no issue, his death marked the end of the prominent de Clare family. His estates were divided between his three sisters, one of whom was married to the king's new favourite, Hugh Despenser the younger. Despenser's ruthless expansion of the de Clare Lordship of Glamorgan in Wales led directly to the troubles of Edward II's later reign, including a rebellion in the Welsh Marches, the defeat of the Earl of Lancaster at the Battle of Boroughbridge, and eventually, the deposition of the king by Roger Mortimer and Queen Isabella in 1326.
## Family background and early life
Gilbert de Clare was the son of Gilbert de Clare, 7th Earl of Gloucester – known as Gilbert 'the Red' – who in 1290 married Joan of Acre, daughter of Edward I. As a condition for the marriage, the earl had to surrender all his lands to the king, only to have them returned jointly to himself and his wife for the lifetime of either. This grant was made on the condition that the lands would pass to the couple's joint heirs, but if they were childless to Joan's heirs from any later marriages. The younger Gilbert was born the next year, around 10 May 1291, securing the inheritance for the de Clare family, but his father died only four years later, on 7 December 1295, while the boy was still a minor. Because of the joint enfeoffment, Joan kept the custody of the family lands and did homage to the king on 20 January the next year.
In 1297, Joan secretly married Ralph de Monthermer, a knight in the late earl's household. This enraged Edward I, who had other marriage plans for Joan. The king imprisoned Monthermer, but later relented, and sanctioned the marriage. Because of the previous settlement, Joan was still titled countess, and her new husband became Earl of Gloucester and Hertford. This, however, only lasted for the life of Joan, who died in 1307. Only a few months later, Gilbert was granted his inheritance, and by March 1308 was made Earl of Gloucester and Hertford at the young age of sixteen. This grant was made by Edward II, who succeeded his father Edward I in July 1307. It was previously believed that Edward II and Gilbert were brought up together, but this is based on confusion with another person of the same name. This other Gilbert de Clare, who was closer to the king in age, was in fact the earl's cousin, the son of Thomas de Clare, Lord of Thomond.
## Early service under Edward II
Gilbert's first years as earl were predominantly concerned with the Scottish Wars. He had no personal interest in the region, but the Welsh Marches, where his landed interest lay, were largely pacified at the time, and Scotland presented a good opportunity to pursue military glory and reward. He was almost immediately trusted with important military commands on the northern border, and served as warden of Scotland from 1308 to 1309, and as captain of Scotland and the northern marches in 1309. He led an expedition to relieve the castle of Rutherglen in December 1308. The war effort, however, was not pursued with the same intensity by Edward II as it had been by his father. The new king's neglect of the Scottish Wars allowed Robert the Bruce to regain the initiative in the war.
This situation led to frustration among the English nobility. In addition to the Scottish issue, there was also discontent with the king's treatment of his favourite, Piers Gaveston. Gaveston's promotion from relative obscurity to Earl of Cornwall, combined with his arrogant behaviour, caused resentment among the established nobility. Gloucester was initially not hostile to Gaveston, who had married Gloucester's sister Margaret in October 1307. He did, however, share in the other earls' frustration with Edward's lack of initiative towards Scotland. In 1308, therefore, Gloucester was among the earls who demanded Gaveston's exile, a demand the king was forced to meet. After this, he seems to have been reconciled with the king, and in 1309 he acted as a mediator when the earls agreed to Gaveston's return. Relations between the king and the nobility deteriorated even further, however, after Gaveston's return. In 1310, a group of so-called Lords Ordainers were appointed to draft the Ordinances of 1311, a set of restrictions on the rule of Edward II, including a renewed exile for Gaveston. Gloucester, who was still a supporter of the king, was not initially among the Ordainers, but was appointed on 4 March 1311, upon the death of the Earl of Lincoln.
## Escalation of the national conflict
In spite of his participation in the baronial reform movement, Gloucester still maintained the trust of the king. He, Gaveston and the Earl of Warenne were the only earls to accompany the king on a Scottish campaign in 1310–11. In March 1311, while the Ordinances were still in the workings, Gloucester was appointed guardian of the realm while the king was still in Scotland. There are signs that he might have fallen out with Thomas, Earl of Lancaster – who was at this point the leader of the opposition against the king – over a feud between two of their respective retainers. When Gaveston once more returned from exile, however, Gloucester sided with the baronial opposition. The earls divided the country into different parts for defence, and Gloucester was given charge of the south. In June 1312, Gaveston was captured by Guy de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, who was working in cooperation with Lancaster. Aymer de Valence, Earl of Pembroke, who had the custody of Gaveston and had guaranteed his safety to the king, appealed to Gloucester, as Gaveston's kinsman, for assistance. Gloucester, however, refused to help, and Gaveston was killed. This act brought the country to the brink of civil war, and Gloucester was one of the few men who was still trusted enough by both sides to be able to take on a role as mediator. In the following months, he was among the main negotiators working towards an agreement between the king and the offending earls, an effort that was at least temporarily successful.
Gloucester remained in the inner circle around the king over the next months. In the summer of 1313, he was again guardian of the realm while the king was in France, and in February 1314, he was sent to France on a diplomatic mission regarding Gascony. The greatest problem of the reign, however, remained the unresolved conflict with Scotland, and the resurgence of Robert the Bruce. In the summer of 1314, Edward finally embarked on a major Scottish campaign. The objective was to protect the English garrison at Stirling Castle from an attack by Bruce. The campaign was impeded by the absence of some of the greater magnates, such as Lancaster and Warwick. There were still a number of great lords in the king's company, including Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford, Pembroke and Gloucester. These men were valuable to the king for their ability to raise large numbers of troops from their dominions in the Welsh Marches. On 23 June 1314, the royal army had passed Falkirk and was within a few miles of Stirling. There were, however, signs of strife between the earls of Gloucester and Hereford. Gloucester had been given the command of the English vanguard, a position he had earned through his loyalty to the king. Yet Hereford, who had been placed under Gloucester's command, believed the command belonged to him, in his capacity of hereditary Constable of England.
## Death at Bannockburn
Gloucester was involved in a brief skirmish with the Scots on 23 June, 1314, the day before the main battle. While the king considered whether to camp for the night or to engage the Scots immediately, Gloucester and Hereford – either through insubordination or a misunderstanding – charged directly into the place called the New Park, where the Scots were encamped. The English immediately ran into difficulties, and Hereford's cousin Henry de Bohun was killed by King Robert the Bruce. It was perhaps during the subsequent retreat that Gloucester was thrown off his horse, but managed to escape unharmed. The next day the English were still not entirely decided on the course of action. While Gloucester took the part of certain experienced captains, recommending that Edward avoid battle that day, the younger men surrounding the king labelled this lethargic and cowardly, and advised attack. According to the Vita Edwardi, when Edward grew angry and accused Gloucester of treason, the earl forcefully replied that he would prove his loyalty on the field of battle.
The most detailed account of the Earl of Gloucester's death at the Battle of Bannockburn is the chronicle Vita Edwardi Secundi. This account is written as a moral tale, expounding on the earl's heroism and the cowardly conduct of his companions. For this reason, its historical accuracy must be taken with some caution. According to some accounts, Gloucester rushed headfirst into battle in the pursuit of glory and fell victim to his own foolishness. The Vita, on the other hand, claimed that as the earl was vigorously trying to fend off the Scottish attacks, he was knocked off his horse and killed when his own men failed to come to his rescue. It is also likely that the quarrels between Gloucester and Hereford over precedence could have contributed to the chaotic situation. According to one account, Gloucester rushed into battle without a distinguishing coat of arms, exposing himself to the Scottish soldiers, who otherwise would have been eager to secure a valuable ransom.
After Gloucester was killed, the English army soon fell into disarray, and the battle resulted in a resounding victory for the Scots, and a humiliating withdrawal for the English. It was widely agreed that Gloucester, with his proud family history and valuable estates, was the most prominent of the many casualties that day. Robert the Bruce mourned his death and stood vigil over Gloucester's body at a local church (the two were second cousins). Later he allowed its transfer to England, where the earl was buried at Tewkesbury Abbey, on his father's right-hand side.
## Dispersal of estates and aftermath
Gloucester's political importance did not end with his death; his disappearance from the political scene had immediate consequences. In his Welsh lordship of Glamorgan, the uncertain situation caused by his death caused a short-lived rebellion in 1316. In Ireland, where he also held large possessions, the power vacuum he left behind facilitated the 1315 invasion by Robert the Bruce's brother Edward. The greatest consequences, however, resulted from the division of the de Clare estates. In 1308, Gilbert de Clare married Maud (or Matilda) de Burgh, the daughter of Richard de Burgh, Earl of Ulster. The couple left no surviving issue, so his death marked the end of the great de Clare family. The family lands were worth as much as £6,000, second only to those of the Earl of Lancaster among the nobility of the realm.
The lands went into royal possession while the matter of inheritance was being settled. By the entail of 1290, the lands could only be inherited by direct descendants of the seventh earl and Joan of Acre. Maud managed to postpone the proceedings by claiming to be pregnant, but by 1316 it was clear that this could not be the case. The late earl's sisters, Eleanor, Margaret (now widowed after the death of Gaveston) and Elizabeth were by 1317 all married to favourites of Edward II: Hugh Despenser the Younger, Hugh de Audley and Roger d'Amory respectively. The three were granted equal parts of the English possessions, but Despenser received the entire lordship of Glamorgan in Wales, politically the most important of the de Clare lands.
Not content with his part, Despenser used his relationship with the king to impinge on the lands of other Marcher lords. This caused resentment among such men as Hereford and Roger Mortimer, who rose up in rebellion in 1321. The rebellion was crushed, but resistance continued under the Marcher lords' ally Thomas of Lancaster, who was defeated at the Battle of Boroughbridge in 1322, and executed. Although this victory temporarily secured Edward's position on the throne, he was eventually deposed in 1326 by Roger Mortimer, with the help of the king's wife, Isabella of France. The title of Earl of Gloucester was recreated by Edward II's son Edward III in 1337, for Hugh de Audley.
## Ancestry
|
24,534,600 |
Stephen Schilling
| 1,170,455,040 |
American football player (born 1988)
|
[
"1988 births",
"American football offensive guards",
"American football offensive tackles",
"Living people",
"Michigan Wolverines football players",
"Players of American football from King County, Washington",
"San Diego Chargers players",
"Seattle Seahawks players",
"Sportspeople from Bellevue, Washington"
] |
Stephen Dana Schilling (born July 21, 1988) is a former American football offensive guard. He was included on the 2009 preseason watchlist for the Lombardi Award. He had previously been a two-time Associated Press first-team Class 3A All-state selection in Washington for the Bellevue High School Wolverines football team where he played on three state champion teams.
Born and raised in Bellevue, Washington, Schilling grew up playing basketball until high school. In high school, he was a member of the three-time state champion team. He became a star offensive lineman who was a standout Seattle athlete as his high school won its third consecutive state championship in his junior year. He won numerous all-area and all-state honors as a junior and a senior and was highly touted on the national level. He was selected to play in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl and as one of the nominees for Parade All-American Player of the Year. After being highly recruited by several top college football programs and narrowing his list to several Pacific-10 Conference football teams and University of Michigan, he decided to attend Michigan.
At Michigan, he redshirted as a true Freshman and then started the following year. When the team transitioned from head coach Lloyd Carr to Rich Rodriguez during his redshirt sophomore season, he became one of the few experienced players to endure the change. He has since anchored the offensive line composed of less experienced players. He was honored as the 2008 Michigan Wolverines football team's best offensive lineman as a redshirt sophomore before being nationally recognized as a Lombardi Award watchlist candidate in 2009. He was selected as a 2009 and 2010 All-Big Ten Conference honorable mention. He was a 2010 Outland Trophy watch list candidate.
He was drafted by the San Diego Chargers in the sixth round of the 2011 NFL Draft. He began his NFL career on the practice squad. He was activated prior to week 8 of the 2011 NFL season (his rookie year), and played in several subsequent games for the team. He has also played for the Seattle Seahawks. He announced his retirement on April 2, 2015.
## High school
When Schilling was young, he was too large to play organized football with kids his own age because Bellevue's youth leagues were regulated by weight-age limits, which caused him to take up basketball instead. Schilling says that his true love was basketball and that he would probably not have experimented with football, but the coach of the basketball team resigned right before his freshman season. During the summer prior to his freshman year, Schilling first visited the Bellevue High School weight room where he noticed the intensity and camaraderie. He eventually became a three-year starter for the football team. As a sophomore, Schilling was part of the Bellevue championship football team whose season extended long enough to interfere with him participating in the early part of the basketball season as a sophomore. The championship, which came as a result of a ten-game winning streak to close the season, made the Bellevue Wolverines three-time Class 3A state champions. On September 4, 2004, as a junior, he helped Bellevue end the high school football record 151-game winning streak by De La Salle High School in front of 24,987 at the second annual Emerald City Kickoff Classic at Qwest Field by a 39–20 score.
Early in his junior season, he got his first scholarship offer from the University of Washington. The 6-foot-5-inch (1.96 m) 280-pound (130 kg) Schilling, who wore \#52 in high school, played on both the offensive line and defensive line. Prior to the state championship game he was named to the All-area football team by The Seattle Times. He helped his 13–0 team become the first school from the state of Washington to win five state championships in 2004. For the championship week effort Schilling, who played offensive tackle, was selected as The Seattle Times''' Class 3A male athlete of the week. During the season, Schilling was known for his training habits. At the end of the football season, he was selected to All-State teams both by the Associated Press and The Seattle Times. During his junior basketball season, he was a solid contributor to team scoring and rebounding. He averaged 10.6 points/game during his junior season. At the end of his junior year he was named the number 25 football prospect in the nation and the number three offensive tackle by Rivals.com. In July prior to his senior season, he was included in a Reebok Western All-American list in Sports Illustrated.
Early in his senior season, running a Wing T offense, Bellevue again defeated a highly regarded California high school in a game at Qwest Field. On September 16, 2009, they defeated the Long Beach Polytechnic High School, who had been ranked number three by the USA Today. At the end of September, he left a game in the second quarter with what was thought to be a separated shoulder. He spent the following three weeks on the sidelines with a sore shoulder. In his October 28 return, Bellevue snapped their 30-game winning streak. During the first ten games of the season, Bellevue averaged 11 yards per rush. In the eleventh game, the team lost in the state quarterfinals. Schilling ended his career having played for three state champions. Schilling was one of sixteen nominees for the Parade All-America High School Player of the Year award. He was selected to the local all-star teams by both The Seattle Times and Seattle Post-Intelligencer. He repeated as an Associated Press Class 3A All-state selection. Schilling was selected to play in the January 7, 2006 U.S. Army All-American Bowl. Although he was highly regarded as a tackle, he started at right guard for the west during the game. He became a Parade'' All-American. Schilling did not play basketball during his senior year to avoid the risk of injury.
Although he was highly recruited during the season, he decided not to make his decision until after the season ended. He scheduled visits with the Cal Bears and USC Trojans and anticipated visits with the Michigan Wolverines and Washington Huskies. Those were the four schools he was seriously considering. He eventually changed his visit dates, but the final four contenders remained the same. By the time he was to make his final decision he had 20 scholarship offers. In his final week of consideration, he eliminated USC from contention and had home visits from the other three finalists during the week. He made his final selection in what has become a traditional recruit announcement technique by using the schools' caps in front of his extended family, including his mother who is named Joanne and a sister. He also has an Aunt Lydia Schilling.
## College
Schilling did not arrive in Ann Arbor, Michigan in time for 2006 spring practice like some of his classmates. Just prior to the 2006 NCAA Division I FBS football season opener for the 2006 Michigan Wolverines football team, Schilling was diagnosed with mononucleosis. This caused him to miss several weeks of practice. In late October, he decided to redshirt and have a second shoulder surgery after having missed weeks of practice and lost much weight. As part of his transition from a Wing T offense that rarely passed, Schilling had to work on improving his pass blocking.
He earned the starting right tackle position in a battle with Mark Ortmann and Perry Dorrestein at the start of the 2007 NCAA Division I FBS football season for the 2007 Michigan Wolverines football team. He was the starter on September 1 during the opening game loss to two-time defending FCS champion Appalachian State Mountaineers. After starting the first five games at right tackle, Schilling moved to right guard for two games (Eastern Michigan and Purdue) as a result of injuries to some of his other teammates. He was expected to start a third game at right guard, but he was returned to right tackle. During practice, he had to spend time at both positions after the injuries. Although he did not start at guard until the sixth game, he played guard in the opener after Jeremy Ciulla got injured. Although, he had to stretch beyond his past experiences and natural position, he was able to seek fifth-year seniors Jake Long and Adam Kraus as mentors. The 2007 rivalry game against Ohio State was a prime example of his lack of experience with pass blocking. He had difficulties pass blocking against Vernon Gholston, who posted three quarterback sacks.
With the departure of Mike Hart, Mario Manningham, Adrian Arrington, Jake Long, Chad Henne, and Adam Kraus to the National Football League and Justin Boren's defection from the team, the 2008 Michigan Wolverines football team entered the season for new head coach Rich Rodriguez with only three returning offensive starters: Schilling, tight end Carson Butler and fullback Mark Moundros. Backup quarterback Ryan Mallett transferred and two senior offensive linemen (Jeremy Ciulla and Alex Mitchell) declined to use their fifth years of eligibility. Schilling was virtually the only returning offensive lineman with any experience. Aside from Schilling, the projected opening game starting offensive line had a total of three career starts. Offensive line injuries continued to affect the lineup through the early part of the season with David Molk (center), David Moosman (right guard) and Schilling (right tackle) being the only players to start each of the first four games. Even Schilling was a bit injured, causing him to be handled delicately during practice. In the first five games, the team used four different starting offensive line combinations due to injuries. For much of the season, Rodriguez' offense started six freshmen. By the seventh game the line returned to full strength and used the opening day lineup. In the week before the last game of the season against Ohio State, Schilling injured his knee in practice. As a result, he did not play in the final game. Nonetheless, he was honored by the team at the end of the season as the team's best offensive lineman. The young offense had all but one of its starters returning for the following season.
As a fourth-year junior, Schilling entered the 2009 NCAA Division I FBS football season opener with the second most career starts (26) on the 2009 Michigan Wolverines football team behind punter Zoltan Mesko (38). He switched to left guard from right tackle in 2009. In the Ohio State game, he was notable for losing a shoe during the game and trying to play without it. He was recognized as an honorable mention 2009 All-Big Ten Conference selection by both the coaches and the media.
As a fifth-year senior, Stephen Schilling was watchlisted for the Outland Trophy award for lineman. He was also, elected co-captain and participated in a season long fanmail program where he responded to Michigan fan questions made by email and on Facebook every Friday. Following the Big Ten Conference season, he was selected as an honorable mention All-Conference selection by both the coaches and the media. Following the season, he participated in the 2011 Senior Bowl. During Schilling's senior season, Denard Robinson had a record-setting season on offense: he broke Drew Brees' Big Ten single-season total offense record of 4,189 yards. Robinson fell 116 yards short of Tim Biakabutuka's Michigan school record of 1,818 rushing yards. However, he led the conference in both total offense and rushing yards per game.
## Professional career
### Pre-draft
Schilling was one of 56 offensive linemen invited to participate in the February 24 – March 1, 2011 NFL Scouting Combine. He ranked sixth in the bench press with a total of 30 repetitions. He ranked ninth in the 20-yard shuttle with a time of 4.62.
### San Diego Chargers
Schilling was selected with the 201st overall pick in the sixth round of the 2011 NFL Draft by the San Diego Chargers. He was waived by the Chargers on September 3, 2011, but was signed to the practice squad on September 5, 2011. Schilling was activated from the practice squad on October 26, 2011. He was activated prior to week 8, but did not play. Schilling played in the subsequent weeks and started in both weeks 11 & 12. In week 13, he was not in the starting lineup, but remained active and played. Schilling was released from the roster on August 31, 2012. He was re-signed by the Chargers on December 4, 2012. Schilling was released by the Chargers on August 31, 2013, during the last round of preseason roster cuts. On September 25, 2013, the Chargers re-signed Schilling.
### Seattle Seahawks
Schilling signed with the Seattle Seahawks on March 20, 2014. Schilling was placed on season-ending Injured Reserve on November 8, 2014 with a knee injury. Schilling opted to retire on April 2, 2015.
## Personal
, he had a girlfriend named Katie who was a University of Michigan Law School student and who was a Michigan Women's soccer player as an undergraduate. He is a recreational golfer. Also in high school, he was teammates with Pittsburgh Steelers Guard David DeCastro.
|
1,232,091 |
Yehudi lights
| 1,169,241,367 |
Active camouflage system prototype for World War II aircraft
|
[
"Aircraft external lights",
"Military camouflage",
"Military research",
"Prototypes"
] |
Yehudi lights are lamps of automatically controlled brightness placed on the front and leading edges of an aircraft to raise the aircraft's luminance to the average brightness of the sky, a form of active camouflage using counter-illumination. They were designed to camouflage the aircraft by preventing it from appearing as a dark object against the sky.
The technology was developed by the US Navy from 1943 onwards, to enable a sea-search aircraft to approach a surfaced submarine to "within 30 seconds of flying time" before becoming visible to the submarine's crew. This in turn enabled the aircraft to engage the submarine with depth charges before it could dive, to counter the threat from German submarines to allied shipping. The concept was based on earlier research by the Royal Canadian Navy in its diffused lighting camouflage project.
Yehudi lights were unused in the war and were made obsolete by advanced postwar radar. With 1970s improvements in stealth technology, they again attracted interest.
## Etymology
A US National Defense Research Committee report on the history of the project explains in a footnote that the name "Yehudi" in then-contemporary slang meant "the little man who wasn't there". The slang may perhaps allude to the popular catchphrase and novelty song "Who's Yehudi?" or "Who's Yehoodi?". The catchphrase is said to have originated when violinist Yehudi Menuhin was a guest on the popular radio program of Bob Hope, where sidekick Jerry Colonna, apparently finding the name itself humorous, repeatedly asked "Who's Yehudi?". Colonna continued the gag on later shows without Menuhin, turning "Yehudi" into a widely understood late 1930s slang reference for a mysteriously absent person.
## Canadian origins
The use of Yehudi lights to camouflage aircraft by matching their luminance with the background sky was developed, in part, by the US Navy's Project Yehudi from 1943 onwards, following pioneering experiments in the Canadian diffused lighting camouflage project for ships early in the Second World War. A Canadian professor, Edmund Godfrey Burr, had serendipitously stumbled upon the principle when he saw an aircraft coming in to land over snow suddenly vanish. He realized that the reflected light had increased its brightness just enough to match the background sky.
The ships were fitted with ordinary projectors mounted on small platforms fixed to their sides, with the projectors pointing inwards at the ship's side. The brightness was adjusted to match the brightness of the sky. The Canadian experiment showed that such counter-illumination camouflage was possible, arousing interest in both Britain and America, but the equipment was cumbersome and fragile, and neither the Royal Canadian Navy nor their allies brought it into production.
## Active camouflage in animals
An equivalent active camouflage strategy, known to zoologists as counter-illumination, is used by many marine organisms, including fish, shrimps, and cephalopods such as the midwater squid, Abralia veranyi. The underside is covered with small photophores, organs that produce light. The squid varies the intensity of the light according to the brightness of the sea surface far above, providing effective camouflage by painting out the animal's silhouette with light.
## US Navy research project
### Goal
Yehudi lights were developed by the US Navy to help counter the "menace" of German submarines to Allied shipping in the North Atlantic. The United States Army Air Force's Director Of Technical Services (DTS) asked the camouflage section of the National Defence Research Committee (NDRC) to develop a camouflage method that would allow a radar-equipped, sea-search aircraft to approach a surfaced submarine to within 30 seconds' flight time before being seen. This was to enable the aircraft to drop its depth charges before the submarine could dive.
British researchers had found that the amount of electrical power required to camouflage an aircraft's underside in daylight was prohibitive; and that externally mounted light projectors (following the Canadian approach) unacceptably disturbed the aircraft's aerodynamics.
The DTS, and through him the NDRC, were informed, in line with the Canadian findings, that even a white aircraft would normally appear dark against the sky. They were further told that while "floodlighting" the aircraft (in the manner of diffused lighting camouflage for ships) could in theory make it bright enough to match its background, that would require an impossibly large amount of electrical power: but a less power-hungry option was available, namely to use forward-facing lights, and to require the aircraft to fly within 3 degrees of the line directly towards the submarine, so that only its counter-illuminated front would face the enemy.
Pilots noted that if they chose a straight-line heading to compensate for a crosswind, the nose of the plane would not point directly at the enemy, but could be, say, 20 degrees off. Since making the beams bright enough at such a wide angle was impracticable, pilots were instructed to keep the nose pointed directly towards the target at all times, resulting in a curving approach path.
The NDRC estimated that lights could be spaced up to about 4 feet (1.2 m) apart without becoming visible as individual objects at a distance of 2 miles (3.2 km). On this basis, it calculated that a large aircraft like a B-24 Liberator bomber could be camouflaged against the sky for a power consumption of under 500 watts. The key technology investigated under Yehudi was therefore the use of forward-facing lights to anti-submarine and attack aircraft.
### Ground prototyping
To improve confidence in the approach, the project made a prototype in the form of a counter-illuminated plywood silhouette of a Liberator at life size, suspended from towers 100 feet (30 m) at a point where it could be seen from a point a little above sea level 2 miles (3.2 km) away across Oyster Bay, Long Island, so that it was seen mainly over water as a sea search aircraft would be from a submarine's conning tower. It was fitted with sealed beam lamps made by General Electric.
The lamps had reflectors to give them a narrow beam of 3 degrees horizontally, 6 degrees vertically, to minimise power consumption for the required brightness. The lamps' brightness was controllable with a variable resistor. During a test in the winter of 1943, selecting a day when the visibility was above 2 miles (3.2 km) and the wind not so strong as to destroy the prototype, the observers could clearly see the 1 inch (2.5 cm) thick cables used to hold up the model, but the silhouette itself was "completely invisible" with the lamps correctly adjusted.
### Aircraft trials
The Yehudi project therefore used forward-pointing lamps mounted in the aircraft's nose and the leading edges of the wings, or suspended beneath the wings, their brightness controlled by a circuit containing a pair of photocells to match the brightness of the sky. One photocell pointed at the sky, the other at an auxiliary lamp; the circuit adjusted lamp brightness to make the output from the two photocells equal. It was trialled in Liberators, Avenger torpedo bombers and a Navy glide bomb from 1943 to 1945.
By directing the light forwards towards an observer (rather than towards the aircraft's skin), the system provided effective and efficient counter-illumination camouflage, more like that of marine animals such as the firefly squid than the Canadian diffused lighting approach. The system never entered active service.
### Results
In 1945 a Grumman Avenger with Yehudi lights got within 3,000 yards (2,700 m) of a ship before being sighted, when under the same conditions an uncamouflaged plane was detected at a range of about 12 miles (19 km). It was noted at the time that this would force the enemy either to give up radar silence, making submarines easy to locate but harder to approach, or for observers to use binoculars continually. Since 8x binoculars at the time had a field of view of only 5 degrees, whereas enemy submarines at the surface kept watch with three observers each assigned a 120 degree arc, the camouflage was considered effective.
## Later developments
The ability to approach a target unseen was rendered obsolete by advances in radar in the 1940s and 1950s. Since the development of stealth technology, Yehudi lights have attracted renewed interest, first in 1973 when McDonnell Douglas researched a "Quiet Attack" aircraft for the Office of Naval Research, modifying the F-4 Phantom with Yehudi lights on its underside, and later in the 1970s when Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works was contracted to develop a stealth aircraft prototype Have Blue, which helped to guide the development of the F-117A stealth attack aircraft and the B-2 stealth bomber.
The Have Blue prototype was disruptively camouflaged to disguise its shape from casual onlookers, as well as being constructed of angled facets to reduce its radar cross-section. The use of any form of active camouflage, whether Yehudi lights or microwave emissions, was rejected.
## See also
- Index of aviation articles
- Active camouflage
|
5,707,741 |
Tomo Miličević
| 1,173,805,278 |
American musician (born 1979)
|
[
"1979 births",
"20th-century American musicians",
"21st-century American bass guitarists",
"21st-century American violinists",
"Alternative rock guitarists",
"American activists",
"American male bass guitarists",
"American male guitarists",
"American male songwriters",
"American male violinists",
"American multi-instrumentalists",
"American people of Bosnia and Herzegovina descent",
"American record producers",
"American rock bass guitarists",
"American rock guitarists",
"American rock keyboardists",
"American rock songwriters",
"American rock violinists",
"Guitarists from Detroit",
"Lead guitarists",
"Living people",
"Musicians from Sarajevo",
"Thirty Seconds to Mars members",
"Yugoslav emigrants to the United States"
] |
Tomislav "Tomo" Miličević (; born September 3, 1979) is a Bosnian-American musician and record producer. He was the lead guitarist of the rock band Thirty Seconds to Mars from 2003 to 2018. Born in Sarajevo but raised in the United States, Miličević moved to Troy, Michigan, in the early 1980s, where he became active in the local heavy metal scene and played in a number of bands, co-founding Morphic. In 2003, he joined Thirty Seconds to Mars, with whom he achieved worldwide recognition in the mid-2000s after recording the band's second album A Beautiful Lie (2005). Its full-length follow-ups, This Is War (2009) and Love, Lust, Faith and Dreams (2013), received further critical and commercial success.
Miličević has also worked as a collaborator and music producer. Throughout the 2010s, he was featured on a recording with Dommin and collaborated with Ivy Levan on a number of releases, including Introducing the Dame (2013) and No Good (2015). Miličević has experimented with various guitar effects and introduced influences from several genres of music into his own style.
## Early life
Tomo Miličević was born on September 3, 1979, in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, then part of SFR Yugoslavia, to a Bosnian Croat family. He is the middle child of Tonka and Damir Miličević. He has an elder sister, Ivana, and a younger brother, Filip. His father worked in agricultural engineering and his mother was a doctor. His family first arrived in the United States in 1982, where Miličević's brother Filip was born. They traveled back and forth until they permanently emigrated to Troy, Michigan, when Miličević enrolled in the third grade, to avoid the Bosnian War. He stated that he "would be in the army by 16, fighting in the front lines by age 17" if his family had not emigrated. After moving to the United States, both his parents worked in manufacturing industries in Troy and Detroit. A few years later, they started their own business.
Miličević became interested in classical music at early age, when he started to take violin lessons inspired by his uncle Željko "Bill" Miličević, a virtuoso violinist and professor of music at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan. "I was actually born and bred to be a concert violinist", he explained. Miličević's introduction to the world of heavy metal music was around the age of 11. His parents supported his decision to start playing guitar, so he and his father made one together. He began writing his own music in high school, while at the same time performing in a number of local bands.
Miličević gained American citizenship in the early 1990s. He attended culinary school at Oakland Community College, becoming a certified executive and pastry chef, and worked in a number of restaurants in Metro Detroit. He graduated from Athens High School in Troy and then moved to Los Angeles, rejoining his siblings Ivana and Filip. The three later convinced their parents to leave Troy and resettle in Los Angeles, where they opened a restaurant.
## Career
Miličević began playing in bands around Troy in the late 1990s. He co-founded the group Morphic with some friends in 2000. The band first operated under the name Loki, before settling on its final name. By 2001, the group performed gigs at small Michigan venues and clubs, and recorded a number of demo tracks. The following year, Miličević left the band and was almost ready to quit his musical career. However, during this period, manager Arthur Spivak, who had previously met Miličević at a showcase concert with Morphic, told him about an audition for Thirty Seconds to Mars. Miličević then decided to move to Los Angeles where he had a successful audition with Thirty Seconds to Mars, replacing guitarist Solon Bixler. By 2003, the band consisted of Miličević, lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Jared Leto, drummer Shannon Leto, and bassist Matt Wachter. The new lineup debuted on The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn in February 2003.
Thirty Seconds to Mars entered the studio in March 2004 to begin working on their second album A Beautiful Lie. The recording process saw the band traveling to four different continents to accommodate Jared Leto's acting career. A Beautiful Lie was released on August 30, 2005, in the United States. Fueled by the band's relentless touring and the mainstream success of the single "The Kill", the album received multiple certifications all over the world, including platinum in the United States, with a worldwide sales total of over four million. The album tour saw the band playing at several major festivals, including Roskilde, Pinkpop, Rock am Ring, and Download.
In August 2008, during the recording process of the band's third studio album, Thirty Seconds to Mars attempted to sign with a new label, prompting EMI (the parent label of Virgin), to file a \$30 million breach of contract lawsuit. After nearly a year of legal battles, the band announced on April 28, 2009, that the suit had been settled following a defense based on the De Havilland Law. Thirty Seconds to Mars then signed a new contract with EMI and released their third album This Is War in December 2009 to critical acclaim.
This Is War reached the top ten of several national album charts and earned numerous music awards. The band began their Into the Wild Tour in support of the record in February 2010 and was among the hardest-working touring artists of the year. In December 2011, they entered the Guinness World Records for most live shows during a single album cycle, with 300 shows. Miličević collaborated with American band Dommin on a rendition of Cutting Crew's song "(I Just) Died in Your Arms", which was released on a special edition of Dommin's album Love Is Gone (2010). He began producing American singer Ivy Levan in 2012. After signing to Cherrytree Records, Levan released the EP Introducing the Dame (2013), which features a collaboration with Miličević, who wrote and produced a number of tracks.
Thirty Seconds to Mars released their fourth album, Love, Lust, Faith and Dreams, in May 2013 through Universal. It received generally positive reviews and reached the top ten in more than fifteen countries, including the United Kingdom and the United States. The band promoted the album by embarking on their Love, Lust, Faith and Dreams Tour and the Carnivores Tour, co-headlining with Linkin Park. In April 2014, Thirty Seconds to Mars announced that they have parted from Virgin Records after tumultuous years with the label. The following year, Miličević engineered Ivy Levan's debut album No Good alongside Patrick Nissley. He also wrote and performed on selected tracks. Thirty Seconds to Mars released their fifth album, America, in April 2018 through Interscope. During the Monolith Tour in support of the album, it was announced that Miličević would be taking a break from touring due to personal matters. In June 2018, he officially announced his departure from the band.
## Artistry
Miličević is a classically trained musician who began his musical education at a very early age, playing the violin. During his youth, he had been influenced by jazz and classical music, listening to performers such as Stéphane Grappelli, John McLaughlin, Paco de Lucía, and Al Di Meola. His own ethnic background, and the diverse social and cultural mix in and around Detroit, were crucial in the formation of Miličević as a musician. He developed his interest in guitar from the moment he was introduced to heavy metal music, becoming a devoted fan of bands such as Pantera, Metallica, and Slayer. When he started writing his own music, Miličević regarded Pantera's album Vulgar Display of Power as a particularly influential record. He was further drawn into guitar when he realized the "genius" of emotions and passions which characterizes the common songwriting of rock music. Miličević explained, "All of the music that I have ever listened to, in some shape or form, has inspired me to do music". He grew up listening to progressive rock and blues artists, citing Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, and Led Zeppelin. His major influences also include alternative rock bands such as Nirvana and The Smashing Pumpkins. He is inspired by electronic music, including The Cure and Depeche Mode.
Miličević explained that when making music his passion for the creative process is what drives his works and allows to constantly reinvent his style. Rod Lockwood from The Blade described his work as "propulsive and energetic, with a big, anthemic sound that draws on U2, The Cure, and classic rock for its aural infrastructure". Artistdirect complimented the "beautifully complex guitars" featured on the album A Beautiful Lie. A writer from the Chicago Music Guide commended the "imaginative effects" on This Is War, while Guitar Edge stated that the guitar work on the album is "in a class of its own", noticing "rich atmospheres" and "masterful guitar tone". Miličević experimented with different instruments and drew influences from a varied range of styles in Love, Lust, Faith and Dreams. In addition to the guitar and violin, Miličević is also a fluent player of bass instruments, keyboards and percussion, and supplies backing vocals during concerts.
## Personal life
Miličević's immediate family includes his sister, actress Ivana, and his late brother, photographer Filip. He is a nephew of Željko "Bill" Miličević, professor of music at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan. Miličević married his longtime girlfriend Vicki Bosanko in Crete, Greece in July 2011. After living in Los Angeles for over a decade, Miličević came back to Michigan in August 2014, moving to Indian Village in Detroit with his wife. He described himself as a "Michigan kid" who grew up with the music scene of Detroit. He also explained to have a "deep-rooted affinity" for the city. Miličević lives a vegan lifestyle and supports animal rights. He worked with the Best Friends Animal Society on a number of programs. In the 2008 presidential election, Miličević supported Senator Barack Obama of Illinois. In June 2008, he joined Habitat for Humanity to work with Thirty Seconds to Mars on a home being repaired and renovated through the Greater Los Angeles Area's "A Brush With Kindness" programme.
## Discography
Studio albums with Thirty Seconds to Mars
- A Beautiful Lie (2005)
- This Is War (2009)
- Love, Lust, Faith and Dreams (2013)
- America (2018)
|
22,576,080 |
Invasion of Guadeloupe (1810)
| 1,145,822,054 |
1810 British amphibious operation
|
[
"1810 in the Caribbean",
"1810s in Guadeloupe",
"Amphibious operations",
"Amphibious operations involving the United Kingdom",
"Battles involving France",
"Battles involving the United Kingdom",
"Battles of the Napoleonic Wars",
"Conflicts in 1810",
"February 1810 events",
"History of Guadeloupe",
"Invasions by the United Kingdom",
"Invasions of Guadeloupe",
"January 1810 events"
] |
The Invasion of Guadeloupe was a British amphibious operation fought between 28 January and 6 February 1810 over control of the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe during the Napoleonic Wars. The island was the final remaining French colony in the Americas, following the systematic invasion and capture of the others during 1809 by British forces. During the Napoleonic Wars, the French colonies had provided protected harbours for French privateers and warships, which could prey on the numerous British trade routes in the Caribbean and then return to the colonies before British warships could react. In response, the British instituted a blockade of the islands, stationing ships off every port and seizing any vessel that tried to enter or leave. With trade and communication made dangerous by the British blockade squadrons, the economies and morale of the French colonies began to collapse, and in the summer of 1808 desperate messages were sent to France requesting help.
Despite repeated efforts, the French Navy failed to reinforce and resupply the garrison, as their ships were intercepted and defeated either in European waters or in the Caribbean itself. The British had intercepted a number of these messages, and launched a series of successful invasions during 1809, until Guadeloupe was the only French colony remaining. A British expeditionary force landed on 28 January 1810, and found that much of the island's militia garrison had deserted. Advancing from two landing beaches on opposite sides of the island, they were able to rapidly push inland. It was not until they reached Beaupère–St. Louis Ridge outside the capital Basse-Terre that the expeditionary force faced strong opposition, but in a battle lasting for most of 3 February, the French were defeated and driven back. The island's commander, Jean Augustin Ernouf, began surrender negotiations the following day.
## Background
The French West Indian colonies during the Napoleonic Wars were almost completely cut off from France due to the British naval strategy of close blockade: squadrons of British Royal Navy warships patrolled the coasts of both France itself and the West Indian islands under French control. This hindered communications, severely restricted trade and prevented the reinforcement of the French garrisons during the conflict. As a result, the colonies began to suffer food shortages, their economies stagnated and public and military morale began to severely erode. In desperation, the commanders of the main colonies, the Leeward Islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe, sent a series of messages to France during the summer of 1808, entreating the French government to send food and military supplies. The French responded with a series of frigates and smaller vessels, sailing to the Caribbean independently or in small squadrons. Some of these ships reached their destinations, but the majority were captured by the Royal Navy blockades off France or the islands. Those few ships that did safely make port were trapped there, unable to make the return journey without risking defeat by the British ships waiting offshore.
The British had intercepted a number of the messages sent to France, and the decision was made to invade and capture the French West Indies before substantial reinforcements could arrive. During the winter of 1808, ships and troops from across the Caribbean began gathering off Barbados under the command of Vice-Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane and Lieutenant General George Beckwith, with the intention of invading Martinique early in 1809. A smaller force was sent to Cayenne, which was invaded and captured in early January 1809. In late January the invasion of Martinique began, and despite resistance in the central highlands, the island fell to the invaders in 25 days. Cochrane then split his attention, sending a number of ships and men to aid the Spanish in the Siege of Santo Domingo while still maintaining a strong blockade force in the Leeward Islands. In April 1809, a strong reinforcement squadron of three ship of the line and two frigates "en flute" with supplies arrived at the Îles des Saintes, south of Guadeloupe. There they were blockaded until 14 April, when a British force under Major-General Frederick Maitland invaded and captured the islands. The French squadron managed to escape during the following night, and the three ship of the line went to the north with the British following. Behind them the two French frigates went for Basse-Terre on Goadeloupe with their supplies and reinforcements. Later the three ship of the line split up and the D'Hautpoul was captured after three days close to the south coast of Puerto Rico while the other two escaped to France. The two French frigates were trapped in Basse-Terre. In June, the frigates attempted to return to France. Only one of the frigates escaped the blockade squadron, although the escapee was also captured a month later in the North Atlantic.
Subsequent French attempts to supply their one remaining colony on Guadeloupe were minor, most of the brigs sent were seized without reaching the island. The only significant attempt, launched in November 1809, achieved initial success in the destruction of the British frigate HMS Junon on 13 December, but ultimately failed when the two armed storeships, Loire and Seine were destroyed on 18 December in a battle with a British squadron off the southern coast of Guadeloupe. During the autumn and winter, British forces were collected from across the Caribbean at Fort Royal, Martinique, under Cochrane and Beckwith for the invasion of Guadeloupe.
## Preparations
Beckwith mustered 6,700 men from a variety of garrisons and sources, his men belonging to the 3rd, 4th, 6th and 8th West India Regiments, the 1st Foot, 15th Foot, 19th Foot, 25th Foot, 63rd Foot, 90th Foot and the Royal York Rangers, as well as 300 garrison artillerymen and various militia forces. These troops were split into two divisions: the largest, 3,700 men under Beckwith with subordinate command given to Major General Thomas Hislop, was to be deployed at Le Gosier on the island's southern shore. The second division, 2,450 men under Brigadier General George Harcourt, was initially ordered to wait on the Îles des Saintes before being deployed after the main attack to the rear of the French garrison. A small reserve under Brigadier General Charles Wale would follow the main assault to provide support if required. As the French had no significant naval resources on the island, the Royal Navy's contribution was much smaller than that required for the Martinique invasion the year before. Cochrane attached ships of the line to both divisions, Beckwith sailing in Cochrane's flagship HMS Pompee, accompanied by HMS Abercrombie with Commodore William Charles Fahie, while Harcourt sailed with Commodore Samuel James Ballard in HMS Sceptre. Ballard and Fahie were in command of the transports and smaller vessels that carried the invasion forces and bore responsibility for ensuring that the amphibious landings were successful as well as for any naval units that participated in the land campaign.
The French defenders of the island were weakened by years of isolation caused by the British blockade. Although the available French troops numbered between 3,000 and 4,000, there was an epidemic on the island and a significant proportion of the garrison, principally formed by the 66e Régiment, were unfit for duty. Apart from the capital, the rest of the island's defences were manned by a militia formed from local inhabitants, among whom morale was low and desertion rates high. Military and food stores of all kinds were in short supply and the governor, General Jean Augustin Ernouf was unable to maintain garrisons around the island's extensive perimeter.
## Invasion
After a brief period of consolidation on Dominica, Cochrane and Beckwith sailed for Guadeloupe on 27 January 1810, arriving off Le Gosier in the evening and landing the larger division at the village of Sainte-Marie under the command of Hislop. The division split, with one half marching south towards Basse-Terre and the other north. Neither met serious opposition, the militia forces deserting in large numbers and abandoning their fortifications as the British approached. Messages were sent by the approaching British ordering the surrender of towns and forts, and both forces made rapid progress over the following two days. On 30 January, Ernouf took up a position with his remaining garrison in the Beaupère–St. Louis Ridge highlands that guarded the approaches to Basse-Terre, Hislop forming his men in front of Ernouf's position. Later in the day, Harcourt's men came ashore to the north of Basse-Terre, outflanking the strongest French positions at Trois-Rivières and forcing their withdrawal to Basse-Terre itself.
With his capital coming under bombardment from gun batteries set up by Royal Navy sailors organised into naval brigades, Ernouf marched to meet the British on the plain at Matabar on 3 February. Forming up, Ernouf attacked the British and initially drove them back, before superior numbers forced him to retire after he was outflanked by Wale's force attacking from the north. General Wale was wounded in the attack, in which his men suffered 40 casualties. One eyewitness, an Irish sailor from HMS Alfred, claimed that Ernouf had laid a large land mine along his line of retreat and planned to detonate it as the British advanced but was prevented from doing so when Beckwith spotted the trap and refused to be drawn into it, although this story does not appear in other accounts. While Ernouf was retreating, Commodore Fahie seized the opportunity to attack the undefended town of Basse-Terre, landing with a force of Royal Marines and capturing the town, cutting off Ernouf's route of escape. Isolated and surrounded, the French general requested a truce at 08:00 on 4 February to bury the dead from the battle the day before. This was accepted, and on 5 February he formally surrendered.
## Aftermath
British casualties in the operation numbered 52 killed and 250 wounded, with seven men missing. French losses were heavier, in the region of 500–600 casualties throughout the campaign. 3,500 soldiers were captured with their officers, cannon and the French Imperial Eagle of the 66e Régiment. As Napoleon had rescinded the prisoner exchange system previously in place, all of the prisoners would remain in British hands until 1814. The captured eagle was sent to Britain, the first French eagle captured during the Napoleonic Wars. By 22 February, the nearby Dutch colonies of Sint Maarten, Sint Eustatius and Saba were all persuaded to surrender without a fight by ships sent from Cochrane's fleet. The British officers were rewarded for their successes: Beckwith remained in the Caribbean until he retired in 1814 from ill-health, while Cochrane and Hislop were promoted. All of the expedition's officers and men were voted the thanks of both Houses of Parliament and ten years later the regiments and ships that participated (or their descendants) were awarded the battle honour Guadaloupe 1810. Four decades after the operation, it was among the actions recognised by a clasp attached to the Naval General Service Medal and the Military General Service Medal, awarded upon application to all British participants still living in 1847.
Guadeloupe was taken over as a British colony for the remainder of the war, only restored to France after Napoleon's abdication in 1814. The following year, during the Hundred Days, Guadeloupe's governor Charles-Alexandre Durand Linois declared for the Emperor once more, requiring another British invasion, although of much smaller size and duration, to restore the monarchy. The fall of Guadeloupe marked the end of the final French territory in the Caribbean; the entire region was now in the hands of either the British or the Spanish, except the independent state of Haiti. The lack of French privateers and warships sparked a boom in trade operations, and the economies of the Caribbean islands experienced a resurgence. It also made a significant reduction in French international trade and had a corresponding effect on the French economy. Finally, the capture of the last French colony struck a decisive blow to the Atlantic slave trade, which had been made illegal by the British government in 1807 and was actively persecuted by the Royal Navy. Without French colonies in the Caribbean, there was no ready market for slaves in the region and the slave trade consequently dried up.
|
56,351,803 |
Antofalla
| 1,170,396,026 |
Mountain in Argentina
|
[
"Miocene stratovolcanoes",
"Mountains of Argentina",
"Pleistocene stratovolcanoes",
"Pliocene stratovolcanoes",
"Polygenetic volcanoes",
"Six-thousanders of the Andes",
"Stratovolcanoes of Argentina",
"Subduction volcanoes",
"Volcanoes of Catamarca Province"
] |
Antofalla is a Miocene-Pliocene volcano in Argentina's Catamarca Province. It is part of the volcanic segment of the Andes in Argentina, and it is considered to be part of the Central Volcanic Zone, one of the volcanic zones of the Andes. Antofalla forms a group of volcanoes that are aligned on and behind the main volcanic arc. Antofalla itself is a remote volcano.
Antofalla and other Andean volcanoes form because the Nazca Plate is subducting beneath the South American Plate. Antofalla volcano is located in a region with a "basins and ranges" topography, where during the Miocene ranges were uplifted and basins formed through tectonic movement. It sits on a basement formed by Eocene-Miocene sedimentary units over a much older crystalline basement.
Antofalla is formed by a principal volcano, the 6,409-metre (21,027 ft) high Antofalla volcano proper, and a surrounding complex of smaller volcanic systems that are formed by lava flows and pyroclastic material. The whole complex was active between 10.89–1.59 million years ago; whether activity occurred in historical time is unclear.
## Name
The mountain is first attested in a map of 1900 as Antofaya, although an earlier map in 1632 uses the name Antiofac for the whole region. The name may be derived from anta, anti, antu, which means "metal" (especially "copper") in the indigenous language Quechua. Pedro Armengol Valenzuela hypothesized that the second part of the name is pallay, "collect"; thus the name Antofalla would mean "collection of copper". Another theory is that Antofalla is derived from the Diaguita language.
## Geography and structure
Antofalla lies in the Antofagasta de la Sierra department of the northern Catamarca Province, in northwestern Argentina. The towns of Antofalla, Puesto Cuevas, Botijuela and Potrero Grande are east, southeast, south and southwest of the volcano, respectively. Gravel roads run along the northern, northeastern and east-southeast-southern sides of the volcanic complex, but the volcano is difficult to access. Precolumbian constructions, including a platform on the summit of Antofalla, have been found.
Antofalla is part of the Central Volcanic Zone of the Andes, which runs along the border between Argentina and Chile and whose main expression occurs in the Western Cordillera. The volcanoes of the Central Volcanic Zone lie at high altitudes, and the volcanic zone spans the countries of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile and Peru. Present-day activity in the Central Volcanic Zone occurs at Lascar and Lastarria, and about 44 centres have been active in the Holocene. Aside from stratovolcanoes, calderas with large ignimbrites are also part of the Central Volcanic Zone; the Altiplano–Puna volcanic complex is a complex of such large calderas.
Antofalla is a cluster of stratovolcanoes, with the 6,409-metre (21,027 ft) high Antofalla volcano at its centre. An altar with a stone pyramid lies on its summit, and the mountains Llullaillaco, Pajonales and Pular can be seen from the top of the mountain.
A number of other centres developed around the main Antofalla volcano, forming a 50-kilometre (31 mi) wide volcanic area; counterclockwise from the north these are:
- 5,804-metre (19,042 ft) high Cerro Onas
- 5,765-metre (18,914 ft) high Cerro Patos (with the neighbouring 5,761-metre (18,901 ft) high Cerro Ojo de Antofalla)
- 5,704-metre (18,714 ft) or 5,783-metre (18,973 ft) high Cerro Lila
- 5,700-metre (18,700 ft) or 5,787-metre (18,986 ft) high Cerro Cajeros
- 5,750-metre (18,860 ft) or 5,785-metre (18,980 ft) high Cerro de la Aguada, also known as Cerro Botijuelas
- Cerro Bajo-Cerro Onas
- 5,656-metre (18,556 ft) high Conito de Antofalla.
These volcanic centres overlap with each other, are all much smaller than the main Antofalla volcano and have experienced little erosion. All these volcanoes are formed by lava domes, lava flows and pyroclastic units. Ignimbrites are also found and one of these forms Cerro Onas, while a more recent one occurs in the Quebrada de las Cuevas area. Between Cerro de la Aguada and Cerro Cajeros lies the Cerro la Botijuela obsidian dome. On the western and southwestern side of the complex, some cinder cones can be found, and fissure vents linked to faults cut through the volcanic complex. Finally, a sector collapse deposit and collapse amphitheatre can be observed at Quebrada de las Minas and Quebrada el Volcán. A large scale topographic anomaly surrounds the entire volcanic complex, and seismic tomography has shown the presence of low-velocity anomalies linked to the volcanic group.
The Salar de Antofalla, one of the largest salt pans in the world, lies southeast of the Antofalla complex. It is one of many salt pans that developed within closed basins of the region and its surface lies at an elevation of 3,340 metres (10,960 ft); other such salt pans include Salar Archibarca north-northwest of Antofalla, Salina del Fraile south-southwest and Salar del Rio Grande northwest. There also are several lakes such as Laguna Las Lagunitas on the northeastern foot of Antofalla, Laguna Patos west of Cerro Lila – Cerro Ojo de Antofalla and Laguna Cajeros southwest of Cerro Lila – Cerro Cajeros. Most of the northwestern flank of the main Antofalla volcano drains into the Salar de Archibarca, while the southeastern flank has drainages connecting it to the Salar de Antofalla through the (from northeast to southwest) Quebrada de las Cuevas, Quebrada del Volcan and Quebrada de las Minas; the latter two join before entering the salt pan in a large fan, the Campo del Volcán. Northeast of the Conito de Antofalla, the Rio Antofalla originates and flows southeastward into the Salar de Antofalla in a large alluvial fan, similar to other drainages that enter the Salar de Antofalla. Finally, south of Antofalla lies Vega Botijuela, a hot spring that discharges 32 °C (90 °F) warm water at a rate of 2–4 cubic metres per minute (33–67 L/s), and which has emplaced a 550 metres (1,800 ft) wide travertine. There is a conspicuous travertine cone at Botijuela, an extinct geyser. Other warm springs in the area are Vega Antofalla, El Hervidero and Te bén Grande; they may be nourished by thermal waters that ascent on faults.
## Geology
Off the western coast of South America, the Nazca Plate subducts beneath the South American Plate at a rate of about 10 centimetres per year (3.9 in/year); this subduction is responsible for volcanic activity in the Central Volcanic Zone and elsewhere in the Andes. Volcanism does not occur along the entire length of the subduction zone; north of 15° and south of 28° the subducting plate moves downward at a shallower angle and this is associated with the absence of volcanic activity. Other volcanic zones exist in the Andes, including the Northern Volcanic Zone in Colombia and Ecuador and the Southern Volcanic Zone also in Chile. A furtherourth volcanic zone, the Austral Volcanic Zone, is caused by the subduction of the Antarctic Plate beneath the South American Plate and lies south of the Southern Volcanic Zone.
A fault runs in north–south direction in the western part of the Antofalla complex. Many geologic lineaments control tectonics across the whole region, they direct the ascent of magma and the location of basins; some of these lineaments exist since the Precambrian. One of these lineaments in the region trends north-northeast and separates the Arequipa-Antofalla terrane from the Pampia terrane.
### Geologic record
The regional geography developed during the Middle and Late Miocene, when basins and ranges were formed by thrusting and subsidence; the basins were filled with evaporites above older molasse-like material, while the ranges are mainly formed by Paleozoic rocks. Precambrian and Late Cretaceous rocks crop out in the Eastern Cordillera on the eastern margin of the Puna. The tectonic activity decreased about 9 million years ago, with the exception of a brief reactivation less than 4 million years ago. The present-day southern Puna is tectonically quiescent, although fault scarps indicate recent ground movements.
The oldest volcanic activity occurred during the Permian and early Jurassic, and the present-day manifestations consist mainly of lava and pyroclastic material. During the Cenozoic, a number of now inactive volcanoes and ignimbrites, the latter of which typically have volumes of less than 10 cubic kilometres (2.4 cu mi), erupted in the region. Only less than 15-centimetre (5.9 in) thick ignimbrites were deposited during the Eocene-early Miocene, probably from vents in the Coastal Cordillera. During the Eocene, the subduction became shallower, moving volcanism eastward into the main Andes. Volcanic activity dramatically increased during the Miocene, during which large stratovolcanoes and ignimbrites were emplaced; it is often not clear from which centre a given ignimbrite is sourced from. Later volcanic activity was characterized by the emplacement of ignimbrites and of monogenetic volcanoes, which consist of cinder cones and lava flows with small volumes. Some of these cones are partially eroded, other ones have a fresh appearance and these are as little as 200,000 ± 90,000 years old, with even more recent (Holocene) activity possible. While the Miocene phase of high activity was linked to a fast subduction regime, the monogenetic activity may be linked to delamination of the crust beneath the Puna instead as well as with a change in tectonic regime that favoured crustal extension. The transition between the two volcanic phases was characterized by a decrease in volcanic activity.
The Juan Fernández Ridge was subducted in the region between 11–8 million years ago according to Kraemer et al. 1999. This may have generated a flat subduction profile and thus allowed volcanic arc-like volcanism to occur in the region behind the actual volcanic arc.
### Local
Antofalla lies in the Salar de Antofalla area of the Argentine Puna, a high plateau located over a thick crust of the Andes. It is a basin and range-like region with volcanoes. Before the Neogene the region was not part of the Andes proper, being located behind the mountain chain, and was integrated into the mountain chain by tectonic movements.
Antofalla together with neighbouring Cerro Archibarca, Cerro Beltrán and Tebenquicho is part of a group of long lived volcanic complexes that developed in the Argentine Puna; the first and the last of these lie due north and northeast of Antofalla, respectively. All of them appear to be associated with a lineament known as the Archibarca lineament, which crosses the Andes in northwest-southeast direction, and which additionally includes the Escondida ore occurrence and the volcanoes Llullaillaco, Corrida de Cori and Galán. This lineament may be an area where the crust is unusually weak. Other such lineaments in the Andes are the Calama-Olacapato-El Toro lineament and the Culampajá one. Seismic tomography has found a low-velocity zone under Antofalla, which may be an active magma body.
The terrain beneath the volcano is formed in part by the crystalline basement of Precambrian-Paleozoic ("Antofalla Metamorphites") age mainly north of the volcano and often interpreted as ophiolite, and by sedimentary units of Eocene-Miocene age that crop out on its southern side and by a conglomerate unit known as the Potrero Grande Formation. Parts of the basement crop out where it have been exposed by erosion, such as in the Rio Antofalla and the Quebrada de las Minas, and more generally in two sectors north and south of the volcano.
### Composition
Antofalla has erupted andesite and dacite, with dacite dominant and rhyolite a less common rock type; the entire spectrum from basaltic andesite to rhyolite has been found. Thin lava flows form most of the basalt-like rocks, which are subordinate at Antofalla. The rocks have a porphyric texture and contain phenocrysts including biotite, clinopyroxene, hornblende, ilmenite, magnetite, olivine, orthopyroxene, plagioclase, quartz and sanidine; not all of these occur in every rock.
Magma genesis appears to involve extensive interactions with the lower crust, a process which at first gave rise to rhyolitic material; later the now heavily altered crust interacted less with newer magmas and thus a more basaltic andesite-andesite-dacite unit developed.
Hydrothermal alteration has occurred on the southeastern flanks of the complex at Quebrada de las Minas and on Antofalla's western flank. Volcanic systems like Antofalla and volcano-plutonic complexes often develop mineral deposits through hydrothermal and epithermal processes; such has also happened at Antofalla, yielding occurrences of gold, lead, silver and zinc. These became targets of mining operations:
- The latter three extracted on the eastern side of Antofalla in the old Los Jesuitas mine.
- There are ruins of a gold mining settlement close to the town of Antofalla.
- A map of 1900 mentions the existence of an Antofaya silver mine on the southeastern side of the complex.
- A more recent map showing the existence of a mining site on Quebrada de las Minas.
Mining at Antofalla goes back to 1700 at least, and infrastructure includes mills. Significant ore deposits may exist at the volcano, but their deep burial in the poorly eroded volcanic complex hampers their exploitation.
## Climate, vegetation and fauna
Antofalla lies in a region of arid climate, with about 150 millimetres per year (5.9 in/year) precipitation, much of it in the form of snow at high elevations. Temperatures change drastically from day to night and vice versa, ranging from −20–40 °C (−4–104 °F) in the wider region; the climate has been characterized as continental. The region lies between two major climatic regimes, a northerly regime dominated by easterly moisture flows which occur during summer, and a southerly regime where westerlies transport moisture from the west mainly in winter.
Vegetation is scarce in the region. Where water is available, marsh vegetation and the so-called pajonales and tolares form; Deyeuxia, Festuca and Stipa grasses make up the former and Adesmia, Acantholippia, Baccharis, Fabiana, Senecio and Parastrephia thorn-bearing bushes the latter.
Animals in the region include llamas, various rodents and vicuñas, as well as carnivores such as Darwin's rhea, pumas and South American foxes. Human hunters were also active in the region and have left a number of archeological traces, including projectiles and trenches where hunters hid from prey. The extreme climate and scarcity of water restrict human habitation to small areas, however.
### Climatological implications
During winter snow covers the peaks; meltwater formed during spring has cut gullies into the mountains. There are not many creeks on Antofalla that carry water year round, although deep ravines with evidence of flash flood activity can be discerned.
The main Antofalla volcano may have been glaciated during the Pleistocene, but this is disputed especially for the lower mountains of the complex. It is likely that in the past, more water was available and led to the deposition of alluvial fans at the margins of basins although there is no evidence that a lake ever formed in the Salar de Antofalla, unlike in other salars farther north. Indeed, the early Holocene was colder and wetter than present-day, and precipitation may have reached 0.5 metres per year (20 in/year).
## Eruptive history
The Antofalla complex has been active from the Miocene 11 million years ago into the Quaternary and has generated a large variety of volcanic rocks; it is thus considered to be a very long-lived volcano. The subsidiary peaks around Antofalla were all considered to be extinct by Ferdinand von Wolff.
The first phase of volcanic activity occurred between 10.89–10.1 million years ago. At that time, eruptions covered the terrain beneath the volcano with ignimbrites of rhyolitic composition. Subsequently, lava flows of mafic to trachydacitic composition were emplaced, in part on top of the earlier ignimbrites. Between 9.09–1.59 million years ago activity was continuous and dominated by lava flows of andesitic to dacitic composition, which constructed the main Antofalla volcano and the surrounding vents. Small felsic eruptions generating lava domes and ignimbrites concluded this activity, with the ignimbrite in Quebrada de las Cuevas dated to 1.59 ± 0.08 million years ago. Other volcanic units attributed to this volcanic complex are the Aguas Calientes basalt, the Los Patos ignimbrite of lower Pliocene age and the Tambería Ignimbrite.
Even later, several mafic centres grew southwest and west of the Antofalla complex. Fumarolic activity continues to this day, the existence of geysers was reported in 1962 and traces of an extinct geyser such as sinter structures have been found at Botijuelas. There are reports that the main volcano "smoked" occasionally such as in 1901 and 1911 and Antofalla is sometimes incorrectly considered the highest active volcano in the world, but the Global Volcanism Program considers the complex as Pleistocene in age, and no clear evidence of Holocene activity is found.
## Climbing
Antofalla is a technically simple climb and there are guides in the region. The main Antofalla volcano can be ascended in three days, although the paths are not always easy to reach by vehicle. Low temperatures and high wind are common issues.
|
4,367,444 |
The Bhoys from Seville
| 1,166,469,038 |
Former nickname for Celtic F.C.'s team and fans
|
[
"2002–03 in Scottish football",
"2008 plays",
"Association football fandom",
"Celtic F.C.",
"Culture in Glasgow"
] |
The Bhoys from Seville is a nickname used to refer to Celtic F.C.'s team and fans during Celtic's 2002–03 UEFA Cup campaign, which culminated in their defeat in the final against F.C. Porto in Seville, Spain. Around 80,000 Celtic fans travelled to support their team in the final. The name "The Bhoys from Seville" is a play on words from the book and film The Boys from Brazil, the nickname of Celtic F.C. (The Bhoys), and the location of the final (Seville). This UEFA Cup campaign was Celtic's most successful in Europe since their run to European Cup Final in 1970, and the first time in 23 years that they had remained in European competition beyond Christmas.
Although they lost in the final against F.C. Porto, the team has been compared to Celtic's European Cup winning team in 1967, the Lisbon Lions. The estimated 80,000 Celtic supporters who travelled to Seville for the final received widespread praise for their exemplary conduct, and were later awarded Fair Play Awards from UEFA and FIFA "for their extraordinarily loyal and sporting behaviour". The support of the Celtic supporters and the team's performance during the campaign provided the inspiration for a number of books, television programmes and DVDs, primarily highlighting the experiences of the travelling fans.
## Background
Celtic F.C.'s participation in the 2002–03 UEFA Cup came as a result of their defeat in the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round against FC Basel (3–3 aggregate score with the Swiss team progressing to the group stage on away goals). During the 2003 UEFA Cup competition, Celtic goalkeeper Rab Douglas and defender Bobo Balde appeared in twelve matches, which led the team in that category. They both missed the 2nd leg of the first round against FK Sūduva. Douglas conceded twelve goals and had six clean sheets. Celtic outscored opponents 27 to 12 on their run to the final. Striker Henrik Larsson scored eleven goals, including a hat-trick in the first game against FK Sūduva.
The motto "V for Victory" was coined during the campaign as every team Celtic faced; FK Sūduva, Blackburn Rovers, Celta Vigo, VfB Stuttgart, Liverpool, and Boavista, each had V in their name, with the exception of the team Celtic played in the final, Porto, although it was highlighted that the game would be in Seville.
In another reference to the letter V, for the days leading up to the game the Daily Record, a Scottish tabloid newspaper, sent an open topped double decker bus to Seville with the slogan "Here V Go" on the side of the bus.
### First round v FK Sūduva
The first game of the campaign was against Lithuanian team FK Sūduva. Sūduva stated that they could not send a scout to Glasgow to spy on Celtic to prepare for their match, and instead had to watch videotapes of their opponents.
Celtic all but won the tie in the first leg at home in Celtic Park on 14 August 2002 with their 8–1 win. Henrik Larsson scored a hat-trick, while Stilian Petrov, Chris Sutton, Paul Lambert, Joos Valgaeren and John Hartson all scored a goal each. Martin O'Neill rested a number of players for the second leg, with first-team regulars such as Larsson, Sutton, Lambert, Valgaeren, Petrov and Neil Lennon all being left in Glasgow. Celtic won the second leg 2–0 and went through to the second round on an aggregate of 10–1.
### Second round v Blackburn Rovers
The next round caught media and football fans attention when Celtic were paired with Blackburn Rovers. The English side were enjoying a good season and eventually finished sixth in the Premiership. Their squad boasted former Man United strikers Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole as well as rising star David Thompson and Irish winger Damien Duff, who had impressed in the 2002 World Cup. Highlighted by the media was the fact that Blackburn Rovers manager Graeme Souness had previously been player-manager of Celtic's city rivals Rangers. The tie was dubbed the Battle of Britain.
Celtic were poor in the first leg at Parkhead, and were outplayed by Blackburn for long spells of the game. Nevertheless, a Henrik Larsson goal five minutes from full-time secured a crucial 1–0 win on the night and a narrow lead to take down to Ewood Park.
In the build-up to the return match, Blackburn captain Gary Flitcroft made public that Souness had commented in the dressing room after the first game that Blackburn should have won the game and that it was like watching "men against boys." Flitcroft also added his own opinion that no Celtic player had impressed him. In a press conference the day before the second game, Souness stated that if Celtic scored one goal then Blackburn would score three.
In the second leg, Celtic showed much more composure and scored after 14 minutes through Larsson. Celtic were now 2–0 ahead on aggregate and controlled the game after that to the joy of their 7,500 travelling fans. Former Blackburn striker Chris Sutton scored another goal for Celtic after 68 minutes and the match ended with Celtic winning 2–0 on the second leg and 3–0 on aggregate.
### Third round v Celta Vigo
Celtic's third round UEFA cup opponents were Celta Vigo. In the first leg, Henrik Larsson scored the only goal of the game in Glasgow to give Celtic a slender 1–0 advantage to take to Spain. The match was overshadowed by the eccentric refereeing of Claude Columbo, who sent Celtic's Martin O'Neill from the home dugout during the game. O'Neill received a two-game touchline ban, but this was later reduced to a one match ban after an appeal.
The return match saw Celta Vigo's Jesuli level the tie on aggregate after 24 minutes. Celtic rallied, and on 37 minutes John Hartson used his body strength to force his way into the Spanish penalty box and score with a powerful shot. Crucially, due to the away goals rule, Celta Viga now had to score twice to avoid losing the tie. Benni McCarthy scored early in the second half for Celta Vigo but, despite a glaring miss from Jesuli near the end, Celtic held on to win the tie on away goals. The 1–2 loss on the night was the first of two defeats for Celtic on the way to the final.
This was the first time ever that Celtic had knocked out a Spanish club in European competition, and also the first time in 23 years that Celtic had remained in European competition beyond Christmas.
### Fourth round v VfB Stuttgart
The opponent for Celtic in the fourth round was German Bundesliga team VfB Stuttgart. Celtic went into the first leg at Celtic Park with John Hartson suspended and Henrik Larsson absent due to sustaining a broken jaw in league match. Despite Stuttgart's Marcelo Bordon getting sent off on 16 minutes, the German's still took the lead with a goal from Kevin Kurányi on 27 minutes. Celtic rallied and were 2–1 up at half-time after goals from Paul Lambert and Shaun Maloney. A Stilyan Petrov goal in the second half clinched a 3–1 win.
A reported 10,000 Celtic fans travelled to Germany to cheer on Celtic in the second leg. John Hartson returned from suspension to the starting line-up whilst defender Ulrik Laursen also came into the side; with Shaun Maloney and Jackie McNamara dropping out. After early pressure from Stuttgart, Celtic scored on 12 minutes; Hartson played a pass from midfield out wide right to Didier Agathe, who raced down the wing and on reaching the bye-line crossed in to the Stuttgart penalty box. Hartson headed the ball towards the back post and Alan Thompson scored with a diving header. Two minutes later Celtic extended their lead. Agathe was again the provider, racing 50 yards down the right wing and cutting the ball into the penalty box to Chris Sutton who scored from close range with a powerful shot. That left Stuttgart requiring to score five goals to salvage the tie. A comeback by the Bundesliga club saw them eventually win 3–2 on the second leg, but Celtic won the tie 5–4 on aggregate.
### Quarter-final v Liverpool
The quarter-finals saw another English Premiership opponent for Celtic, this time Liverpool. Liverpool was competing in the UEFA Cup after it finished third in Group B of the 2002–03 Champions League, which also featured Celtic's conquerors in the qualifying round, FC Basel, who finished second.
The first leg took place at Celtic Park on 13 March 2003. This clash was again billed as the "Battle of Britain". Before kick off, Gerry Marsden led both sets of supporters in a rousing version of "You'll Never Walk Alone". Celtic then started the match on the attack, John Hartson hitting the crossbar after only 12 seconds. Henrik Larsson, in his first match back after recovering from a broken jaw, then opened the scoring after 100 seconds from close range. Emile Heskey equalised for Liverpool on 16 minutes, latching on to a John Arne Riise cross from the left and shooting past Rab Douglas from a tight angle. The match finished at 1–1, with the away goal giving Liverpool the advantage going in to their home tie at Anfield. Liverpool player El Hadji Diouf spat at a Celtic supporter during the match, and was later fined £5,000 at Glasgow's Sheriff Court for the incident.
The return match at Anfield took place the following week. Celtic's Alan Thompson and Liverpool's Dietmar Hamann both came close to scoring in the opening quarter-hour with long range shots. On 19 minutes, Jerzy Dudek turned a 30-yard free kick from Henrik Larsson around the post. Two minutes from half time, Celtic were awarded a free kick 25 yards from goal. Thompson struck a low shot past Dudek from the set piece, with the ball going under the defensive wall, which had jumped up and appeared to distract the Liverpool goalkeeper. Celtic sealed their victory on 82 minutes when John Hartson played a one-two with Larsson, and then drove a swerving shot from 25 yards out into the top-right corner of Dudek's goal. Celtic's 2–0 win saw them win the tie 3–1 on aggregate and progress to the semi-finals.
### Semi-final v Boavista
Celtic's first European semi-final since the early 1970s saw them paired against Portuguese team Boavista. As with all the previous rounds, Celtic were drawn to play the first leg of the tie at Celtic Park.
In the first leg Celtic went a goal down through an own goal from Joos Valgaeren on 48 minutes. Larsson equalised seconds later, but then missed a penalty kick on 75 minutes. Despite a couple of good chances near the end of the game, Celtic were unable to score a winning goal. The 1–1 draw, watched by around 60,000 fans, was Martin O'Neill's 50th unbeaten match at Celtic Park, a record of results that stretched back to their last home defeat which was against Ajax in August 2001.
In a difficult return leg, Celtic toiled to break down a dour Boavista side who knew that a scoreless draw was all they needed to reach the final. An opportunistic strike by Larsson on 80 minutes won the match and the tie for Celtic, meaning that Celtic went through to the final, preventing an all-Portugal, and all-Oporto, final.
## Celtic fans in Seville
Celtic were the first Scottish team in 16 years to reach a European final and the first Celtic team to reach a European final since the 1970 European Cup Final. Their opponents in the final were Portuguese club Porto, who had defeated Lazio 4–1 on aggregate in the other semi-final. The match was played at the Estadio Olímpico in Seville.
Tickets for the match had been selling for £500 in the lead up to the game. UEFA and the Spanish police had warned Celtic fans to avoid buying the 700 estimated fake tickets that were circulating before the game. Many of the fans who were not able to get tickets for the final watched the game on a large screen placed a mile from the stadium.
There was a scramble to arrange travel to Spain, and Celtic fans travelled by plane, car, bus, train and ferry to get to Seville on time. Many fans travelled to Seville on day trips and returned to Scotland early the next morning after the match. The first charter flights to Spain on the day of the match left Scotland well before dawn. About 33 charter planes departed before midday with over 9,000 Celtic fans on board. 2,000 more travelled on scheduled flights. At Glasgow Prestwick Airport, 9 charter flights departed before 9 a.m. BST with 3,500 fans.
Tens of thousands of Celtic fans travelled to Seville during the days leading up to the match, partying in a carnival atmosphere. Many of the supporters congregated in the Cathedral area of the city. One Irish pub was reported to have sold 300 barrels in the day leading up to the final, to satisfy the thirst of supporters in the near 100 degree heat (\~ 37 °C). By the day of the final, an estimated 80,000 Celtic supporters had arrived in Seville.
### The final vs. F.C. Porto
The humid weather meant that the game was played at a relatively slow pace, which seemed to favour Porto. This caused a number of rash challenges from Celtic, one of which led to Joos Valgaeren getting a yellow card on 8 minutes. After this it was very much a stoic affair, until 32 minutes into the first half when Capucho played in Deco, but he could do no more than fire his shot straight at Celtic's goalkeeper Robert Douglas. Straight after this attack Celtic broke on the counter with Henrik Larsson, putting Didier Agathe through on the right, but his cross was too high for Chris Sutton. Larsson had a chance to make it 1–0 on 35 minutes, but from Sutton's assist he was unable to make enough contact with the ball. Porto came close on 41 minutes when Deco moved past Bobo Baldé to go one on one against Robert Douglas, who saved Deco's shot with his legs. Porto finally found a way through on 45 minutes when, after an offensive play from Deco, Derlei followed up Dmitri Alenichev's shot on target, which had been saved by Robert Douglas. This gave Porto a 1–0 lead on the stroke of half time and Derlei's 11th goal of the competition.
Porto were unable to hold onto their lead for long; two minutes after the restart, Celtic equalised when Henrik Larsson met Didier Agathe's cross to send a looping header in over Porto's goalkeeper Vítor Baía to get his tenth goal of the tournament and his 200th Celtic goal. However, within five minutes, it was 2–1 to Porto when Deco's through ball found Dmitri Alenichev, who scored with a low shot. Just three minutes later, Celtic equalised once again through Larsson when he headed in Alan Thompson's corner. After this, the game stagnated until a couple of minutes from the end of the game when Jackie McNamara's errant pass found Alenichev, who shot over the crossbar.
Normal time ended with the game at 2–2. The ensuing periods of extra time saw defensive football from both sides; Celtic was down to ten men when Bobo Balde was dismissed on 95 minutes after his second yellow card. On 112 minutes, Derlei reacted quickest to a Robert Douglas block and rounded McNamara make it 3–2 for Porto. Porto managed to hang on even after having Nuno Valente sent off just before the end of extra-time, ensuring that they ended their 16-year wait between European trophies. It was Porto's first UEFA Cup win, and they were also the first team to win a trophy on the silver goal rule.
After the match Henrik Larsson said in an interview that he was disappointed to have scored two goals in the final and still come away with a runners up medal. Larsson stated that there was nothing to be happy about the outcome of the final. He told BBC Sport, "I've said before, I'd much rather not score and be able to lift the UEFA Cup, than to score twice and finish up on the losing side. There's nothing to be happy about, but now we have to find a way to lift ourselves for the league game on Sunday."
The Porto manager, José Mourinho, led his team to the Champions League title the following year before moving to Chelsea. Reflecting on the final, Mourinho was happy to admit he played part of a historic moment in football. He said, "As a football game, Celtic-Porto in Seville was the most exciting football game I have ever been involved in. An unbelievable game. Every time I see Martin O'Neill I remember I was the lucky one that day. An incredible match. I've never seen such emotional people. It was unbelievable."
#### The team for the final
### Match facts
### Viewing figures
The cup final was broadcast live on BBC One in the UK, and the viewing figures were as follows:
- Match average - 8.3 million, 34.8% audience share
- Programme average - 7.8 million, 33.6% audience share
- Viewing peaked at 10 million for the quarter-hour 10.00–10.15pm
BBC Head of Football, Niall Sloane said: "We're delighted that so many people tuned in to follow a British team's progress in the final. We're only sorry that Celtic didn't win."
## Fans' awards
Approximately 80,000 Celtic supporters, the largest travelling support in history at that time, made the journey to Seville for this game. The exemplary conduct of the Celtic supporters (three arrests the night before the game, no arrests at all on the day of the final) received widespread praise from the people of Seville, and the fans were awarded Fair Play Awards from both UEFA and FIFA "for their extraordinarily loyal and sporting behaviour". Celtic Supporters Association general secretary Eddie Toner said, "The Fair Play Award is a fantastic tribute to the Celtic supporters who represented the club in Europe so magnificently last season. Celtic supporters have travelled in large numbers throughout Europe over many years and they have rightly earned an excellent reputation during this time. The Fair Play Award is further recognition of the Celtic supporters' high standing in Europe and an honour which is well deserved."
FIFA president Sepp Blatter also praised the Celtic fans when he presented the FIFA Fair Play award at Celtic Park; "I can only say that this is not the first time that Celtic fans have presented themselves as warm and wonderful supporters."
Sevilla fans travelling to the 2006–07 UEFA Cup in Glasgow noted that the visiting Celtic fans in 2003 had left them with a "great impression" of Glasgow.
## In media and popular culture
The team and their supporters have since become known as "The Bhoys from Seville"; this is a play on words from the book and film The Boys from Brazil, the nickname of Celtic (the Bhoys), and the location of the UEFA Cup final (Seville). Although they lost in the final, the team is still compared favourably with European Cup winning team of 1967, the Lisbon Lions.
The support of the Celtic supporters and the team's performance during the campaign provided the inspiration for a number of books, television programmes, and DVDs. This included a book called Over and Over, which documented the experience of the travelling fans. The official video and DVD produced by the club was entitled The Road to Seville. The DVD edition included a bonus disc featuring the full away match with Liverpool at Anfield. A television programme and subsequent DVD produced by STV that took its name from the team was called The Bhoys from Seville.
The Bhoys from Seville DVD focused on the fans and their endeavours to get to Spain and see the final. The DVD also contained broadcasts from Scottish news programmes from Seville and a tribute piece to the Lisbon Lions.
### Celts in Seville stage play
Actor and playwright Tony Roper wrote a play entitled Celts in Seville, the story of a typical Celtic supporting-family following the team over the course of their run to the final in Seville. The play enjoyed a successful initial run in 2008, and a similarly successful rerun in 2014. Roper wrote the play to highlight the passionate but good-natured support of Celtic fans during the campaign, stating "The reason I wrote this was not to celebrate Celtic not winning the UEFA cup, the reason I wrote the play was to celebrate Celtic supporters' way of not winning the cup."
## Campaign results
## See also
- History of Celtic F.C.
- Celtic F.C. in European football
|
2,571,780 |
Mark Bresciano
| 1,164,555,054 |
Australian association football player
|
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"1980 births",
"2001 FIFA Confederations Cup players",
"2004 OFC Nations Cup players",
"2006 FIFA World Cup players",
"2007 AFC Asian Cup players",
"2010 FIFA World Cup players",
"2014 FIFA World Cup players",
"2015 AFC Asian Cup players",
"AFC Asian Cup-winning players",
"Al-Gharafa SC players",
"Al-Nasr SC (Dubai) players",
"Australia men's international soccer players",
"Australian Institute of Sport soccer players",
"Australian expatriate men's soccer players",
"Australian expatriate sportspeople in Italy",
"Australian expatriate sportspeople in Qatar",
"Australian expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates",
"Australian men's soccer players",
"Australian people of Croatian descent",
"Australian people of Italian descent",
"Brunswick Juventus FC players",
"Carlton SC players",
"Empoli FC players",
"Expatriate men's footballers in Italy",
"Expatriate men's footballers in Qatar",
"Expatriate men's footballers in the United Arab Emirates",
"Footballers at the 2000 Summer Olympics",
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"People from the City of Banyule",
"Qatar Stars League players",
"SS Lazio players",
"Serie A players",
"Serie B players",
"Soccer players from Melbourne",
"Sportspeople of Italian descent",
"UAE Pro League players"
] |
Mark Bresciano (/brɛˈʃɑːnoʊ/ breh-SHAH-noh; ; born 11 February 1980) is an Australian former professional soccer player who played as a midfielder.
Born in Melbourne, Bresciano played youth football for Bulleen Lions, before moving into the National Soccer League with Carlton. In 1999, he moved to Italian Serie B side Empoli, beginning a twelve-year stay in the country. In 2002, he moved to the Serie A with Parma, later playing for Palermo and S.S. Lazio. From 2011, he spent the final four years of his career in the Middle East, first with UAE Pro-League side Al Nasr and then Qatar Stars League club Al-Gharafa where he last played in 2015.
Bresciano had a long career for Australia, making 84 appearances and scoring 13 goals. He played in three FIFA World Cups, two AFC Asian Cups (one victorious) and the 2004 OFC Nations Cup winning team. His goal against Uruguay in the 2006 World Cup qualification play-off sent the match to a penalty shootout which Australia won to qualify for the first time in 32 years. He previously represented Australia frequently at youth levels, including the 2000 Summer Olympics in Australia and the 1999 FIFA U-20 World Cup.
## Biography
### Early days in Australia
Bresciano grew up in Rosanna, Melbourne. He began playing football locally and later progressed to the first team of Victorian Premier League side Bulleen Lions in 1995 at the age of 15. He made little impact until his third year in the first team, scoring four goals in four league games and helping Bulleen to the 1997 VPL grand final. Bresciano's reputation began to grow and he was selected in an Australian Schoolboys squad that toured the United Kingdom in 1996. In 1997, he featured prominently in Australia's unsuccessful U17 World Cup qualifying campaign, scoring five goals.
At the end of the 1997 season and upon completing high school at Marcellin College, he was offered a place at the Australian Institute of Sport, where he reunited with childhood pal Vince Grella. The players' careers would mirror in the coming years as the two supported their footballing endeavours on and off the field. He and Vince Grella signed with new National Soccer League (NSL) club Carlton for the 1997–98 season, but Bresciano was forced to wait until Round 17 to make his NSL debut. He then played every game for the rest of the year, as Carlton finished second with a place in the finals. Bresciano scored in injury time to win the elimination semi-final and put the club into its first grand final, which they lost 2–1. He stayed with the Blues for the 1998–99 season, scoring four goals in 18 games, but the club finished well outside the top six. In 1998 and 1999, Bresciano made a number of appearances for Australia in various matches at Under-20 and Under-23 level, including the 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship, where the Young Socceroos were eliminated in the first round.
### Move to Italy
As for many Australian players, a career in Europe beckoned for Bresciano as he sought to develop his game and further his career. Bresciano and Grella had sights set on a move to Italy, spurred in part by their Italian heritage. The pair joined Empoli in 1999, who had been relegated to Serie B the previous season, and became regular selections in the first team. In Bresciano's third year at the club, he scored 10 goals and helped Empoli to a fourth position and promotion back to the top-flight Serie A. The pair also appeared several times in the Australian Under-23 team in the lead-up to the 2000 Olympics, particularly in friendlies held in Europe. They were both included in the team for the Sydney Olympics, although Bresciano only saw limited action as a substitute. The following year, his efforts with the Olympic squad were rewarded with a call-up to the "Socceroos." On 1 June 2001, Bresciano received his first cap for Australia in a Confederations Cup match against France, coming on as a substitute in the 78th minute for Josip Skoko. He made a further five appearances that year for the "Socceroos," including another match against France in a friendly at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), again replacing Skoko as a substitute.
In the summer of 2002, he joined Parma for €7 million, at the time a record transfer fee for an Australian player. "Moving to Parma was a big change in every way, not just money-wise but it is a big club. The structure of the club, the facilities, its popularity means you are under a lot more pressure to get a result," he said following the close of the season, well aware of his profile. Though he was hampered by a series of injuries, his 24 appearances in 2002–03 helped Parma to fifth and a UEFA Cup place. With Empoli being relegated again, he was reunited with Grella who stayed in Serie A with a transfer to Parma.
### Goal scoring for Parma and Socceroos
Setting himself a target for the 2003–04 season of five goals, Bresciano surpassed that with eight goals from 33 appearances, the most of any midfielder in the Serie A, as Parma finished fifth in the league again. Bresciano had also claimed a regular spot in the Socceroos line-up, justifying his selection with a string of goals, including a match-winning free-kick against New Zealand and the only goal in a one-nil victory against South Africa. Parma's fifth place qualified them for the UEFA Cup, where the club advanced through to the semi-finals before being eliminated by eventual winners CSKA Moscow. Their league performance that year was in stark contrast to their UEFA Cup form, as they were forced in to a play-off to retain their Serie A status by finishing 18th in the league. Bresciano and Grella were excused from the 2005 Confederations Cup by then-Australian manager Frank Farina to allow them to take part in the play-off against Bologna — Parma went on to win the tie and remained in Serie A for the following season. Both players returned to the Australian squad in September 2005, now under the direction of Guus Hiddink, for World Cup qualification playoff against the Solomon Islands, followed by a friendly against Jamaica where Bresciano scored the first of Australia's five goals. After playing the first leg of the CONMEBOL – OFC World Cup qualification play-off against Uruguay on 12 November, Bresciano scored the only goal in the second leg four days later. The 1–0 win levelled the playoff 1–1 on aggregate after extra time and the Socceroos won the ensuing penalty shoot-out to advance to the World Cup.
Parma recovered well in the 2005–06 season with Bresciano playing the majority of games, finishing a respectable 10th by season's end in May 2006 (later rising to seventh and a UEFA Cup place after the Calciopoli findings). Bresciano described their resurgence as physically finding their form. Despite starting poorly, the team went from "strength to strength" as the season went on, with Bresciano himself becoming mentally tougher for the experience.
### 2006 World Cup
Buoyed by his strong club season, Bresciano played in Australia's opening game of the 2006 FIFA World Cup, being substituted before the team went on to score three goals and defeat Japan. He came on as a substitute in the second game against Brazil and, in the third Group Stage game, was instrumental in the 79th-minute goal scored by Harry Kewell against Croatia. The goal resulted in a 2–2 draw, a result securing Australia's place in the second round. Against Italy, Bresciano was judged to be in a scoring position in the 50th minute when fouled by Marco Materazzi, the Italian receiving a red card. Italy went on to win after being awarded a penalty in the dying minutes of the game, eliminating the "Socceroos." After being identified as a key player for Australia, Bresciano's overall performance at the tournament failed to live up to expectations, described by an FFA writer as "solid without being spectacular," although his role as a set-piece-specialist was highlighted.
### Palermo and Asian Cup
Shortly after the end of the World Cup, Bresciano was signed by Palermo on a four-year-contract, and made regular first team appearances in the Serie A and Europe. In October 2006 Bresciano scored what some – including Socceroos Assistant Coach John Kosmina – have described as the greatest goal ever scored for Australia in a full international match. In an Asian Cup qualification match against Bahrain, Mile Sterjovski received a cross-field pass which was played first-time back into the penalty area, Bresciano reacting quickly to turn his body horizontally and strike the ball on the volley into the net. The goal drew comparisons to his first goal for Palermo in Serie A, two months earlier, against Reggina on the opening day of the 2006–07 season. Bresciano was on the pitch on 2 February 2007, when violence broke out outside the stadium in the Catania-Palermo match. He was affected by tear gas as it drifted into the stadium and afterwards described the incident as "completely terrifying". He scored his ninth international goal against China in March 2007. A hamstring injury suffered in May caused him to miss the final round match for Palermo, Australia's friendly against Uruguay on 2 June and hampered his preparations for the 2007 AFC Asian Cup. However, he recovered in time for a warmup match against Singapore and played all of Australia's first two Asian Cup matches. He was substituted in the second half against Thailand and the quarter-final against Japan before the Socceroos' elimination on penalties. The Sydney Morning Herald rated the 71 minutes played against Japan as his best performance of the tournament, after average displays in the early matches.
Bresciano returned to the national team in February 2008 for Australia's opening World Cup qualification match against Qatar, starting the match and scoring the Socceroos third goal. He also played a full 90 minutes in the second group match, away to China. The new campaign has also seen Bresciano change squad numbers, wearing '18' in the two qualifiers, as opposed to his traditional '23' which he has worn for the majority of his Socceroo career.
### To England and back
On return from Australia's Asian Cup exit, Bresciano became a transfer target for Premier League club Manchester City. After confirmation from new Palermo manager Stefano Colantuono that he would be leaving Palermo for Manchester, the clubs agreed to a four-year contract with a transfer price of £5 million and he began training with the City squad. "I needed a new challenge and I wanted to get the excitement factor back into my game," Mark stated in confirming his desire to play in England, also citing the chance to play under Sven-Göran Eriksson as a big reason for seeking to make the switch. However, talks between the two clubs broke down in finalising the move, with the timing of the transfer fee given as the primary issue – as City sought to delay payment – and Bresciano returned to Palermo to rejoin their pre-season preparations. As the transfer deadline passed and the deal was put off indefinitely, Bresciano continued training with Palermo. He came off the bench for their opening-day loss to Roma, and remained a regular selection under new manager Francesco Guidolin, although more commonly from the substitute bench.
He came off the bench in the first match of the 2008–09 season to score a goal, although Palermo lost 3–1 to Udinese. He then established himself back in the starting line-up following the appointment of new head coach Davide Ballardini, playing both as a winger and a deep-lying forward for the rosanero, and also managing to score both goals in Palermo's second seasonal away win, a 2–0 to Sampdoria on 18 January 2009.
### Lazio
On 3 July 2010, it was confirmed that Bresciano had signed for Lazio on a two-year-contract. Bresciano scored his first goal for Lazio in the Coppa Italia third round win over Serie B outfit Portogruaro on 27 October 2010.
### Al-Nasr
On 9 August 2011, it was announced he had signed a contract with UAE Pro-League side Al-Nasr Dubai for free.
### Al-Gharafa
On 6 August 2012, Bresciano joined Qatar Stars League side Al-Gharafa on a three-year contract. He unilaterally breached the contract with Al-Nasr in order to finalize the transfer.
On 4 October 2013, Bresciano was suspended for four months and fined €1,377,000 after the manner in which he transferred to Al-Gharafa from Al Nasr, putting serious doubt into his chances for a third World Cup. On 8 January, Bresciano was cleared to play for the Socceroos in the 2014 World Cup. The ban was ended on 3 February 2014. Bresciano and Al-Nasr jointly appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport to overturn the penalties imposed on both parties, however this appeal was dismissed.
## Style of play
Bresciano was one of Australia's most talented footballers and had a renowned eye for goal. He usually played his football on the left side of midfield but could also play as a forward, behind the strikers, and in a central or right midfield role. Bresciano was a versatile player who often assisted in both attack and defence and was also a set-piece specialist.
Bresciano was also popular for his "Spartacus" goal celebration, that involves the player stopping in the position from where he shot from, clenching his fists by his side and raising his chin. He stands still, usually until mobbed by his teammates coming to celebrate the goal.
## Personal life
### Name
Bresciano's correct first name is Mark and not, as is often reported, "Marco". Interviewed for the TV documentary The Away Game, he said "In Australia, it's Marco. In Italy, it's Mark. Work that one out. My birth certificate says Mark. But I'm named after my grandfather Marco. I like Marco but not Mark-O. I prefer Mark".
### Family
Bresciano's father is Italian (from Viggiano, Basilicata) and his mother Croatian (from Antonci, in Istria). His younger brother Robert currently plays for Fawkner Blues in the Victorian Premier League. He married his childhood sweetheart Renée Capitanio in May 2006 in Heidelberg, Melbourne, after proposing to her at the Romeo and Juliet House in Verona. In February 2007, the couple welcomed their first child, a daughter named Alessia and in May 2009, the couple welcomed their second child, a daughter named Montana.
## Career statistics
### Club
Cup includes domestic cups, promotion/relegation playoffs and NSL/VPL Finals series
### International career
Source:
#### International goals
Scores and results list Australia's goal tally first.
## Honours
Australia
- OFC U-20 Championship: 1998
- OFC Nations Cup: 2004
- AFC Asian Cup: 2015
|
47,200 |
4 Vesta
| 1,173,536,038 |
Second largest asteroid of the main asteroid belt
|
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Vesta (minor-planet designation: 4 Vesta) is one of the largest objects in the asteroid belt, with a mean diameter of 525 kilometres (326 mi). It was discovered by the German astronomer Heinrich Wilhelm Matthias Olbers on 29 March 1807 and is named after Vesta, the virgin goddess of home and hearth from Roman mythology.
Vesta is thought to be the second-largest asteroid, both by mass and by volume, after the dwarf planet Ceres, though in volume it overlaps with the uncertainty in the measurements of 2 Pallas. Measurements give it a nominal volume only slightly larger than that of Pallas (about 5% greater, which is the magnitude of the uncertainties in measurement), but it is 25% to 30% more massive. It constitutes an estimated 9% of the mass of the asteroid belt. Vesta is the only known remaining rocky protoplanet (with a differentiated interior) of the kind that formed the terrestrial planets. Numerous fragments of Vesta were ejected by collisions one and two billion years ago that left two enormous craters occupying much of Vesta's southern hemisphere. Debris from these events has fallen to Earth as howardite–eucrite–diogenite (HED) meteorites, which have been a rich source of information about Vesta.
Vesta is the brightest asteroid visible from Earth. It is regularly as bright as magnitude 5.1, at which times it is faintly visible to the naked eye. Its maximum distance from the Sun is slightly greater than the minimum distance of Ceres from the Sun, although its orbit lies entirely within that of Ceres.
NASA's Dawn spacecraft entered orbit around Vesta on 16 July 2011 for a one-year exploration and left the orbit of Vesta on 5 September 2012 en route to its final destination, Ceres. Researchers continue to examine data collected by Dawn for additional insights into the formation and history of Vesta.
## History
### Discovery
Heinrich Olbers discovered Pallas in 1802, the year after the discovery of Ceres. He proposed that the two objects were the remnants of a destroyed planet. He sent a letter with his proposal to the British astronomer William Herschel, suggesting that a search near the locations where the orbits of Ceres and Pallas intersected might reveal more fragments. These orbital intersections were located in the constellations of Cetus and Virgo. Olbers commenced his search in 1802, and on 29 March 1807 he discovered Vesta in the constellation Virgo—a coincidence, because Ceres, Pallas, and Vesta are not fragments of a larger body. Because the asteroid Juno had been discovered in 1804, this made Vesta the fourth object to be identified in the region that is now known as the asteroid belt. The discovery was announced in a letter addressed to German astronomer Johann H. Schröter dated 31 March. Because Olbers already had credit for discovering a planet (Pallas; at the time, the asteroids were considered to be planets), he gave the honor of naming his new discovery to German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss, whose orbital calculations had enabled astronomers to confirm the existence of Ceres, the first asteroid, and who had computed the orbit of the new planet in the remarkably short time of 10 hours. Gauss decided on the Roman virgin goddess of home and hearth, Vesta.
### Name and symbol
Vesta was the fourth asteroid to be discovered, hence the number 4 in its formal designation. The name Vesta, or national variants thereof, is in international use with two exceptions: Greece and China. In Greek, the name adopted was the Hellenic equivalent of Vesta, Hestia (4 Εστία); in English, that name is used for 46 Hestia (Greeks use the name "Hestia" for both, with the minor-planet numbers used for disambiguation). In Chinese, Vesta is called the 'hearth-god(dess) star', 灶神星 zàoshénxīng, naming the asteroid for Vesta's role, similar to the Chinese names of Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto.
Upon its discovery, Vesta was, like Ceres, Pallas, and Juno before it, classified as a planet and given a planetary symbol. The symbol represented the altar of Vesta with its sacred fire and was designed by Gauss. In Gauss's conception, now obsolete, this was drawn . The asteroid symbols were gradually retired from astronomical use after 1852, but the symbols for the first four asteroids were resurrected for astrology in the 1970s. The abbreviated modern astrological variant of the Vesta symbol is (U+26B6 ⚶).
After the discovery of Vesta, no further objects were discovered for 38 years, and during this time the Solar System was thought to have eleven planets. However, in 1845, new asteroids started being discovered at a rapid pace, and by 1851 there were fifteen, each with its own symbol, in addition to the eight major planets (Neptune had been discovered in 1846). It soon became clear that it would be impractical to continue inventing new planetary symbols indefinitely, and some of the existing ones proved difficult to draw quickly. That year, the problem was addressed by Benjamin Apthorp Gould, who suggested numbering asteroids in their order of discovery, and placing this number in a disk (circle) as the generic symbol of an asteroid. Thus, the fourth asteroid, Vesta, acquired the generic symbol 4. This was soon coupled with the name into an official number–name designation, 4 Vesta, as the number of minor planets increased. By 1858, the circle had been simplified to parentheses, (4) Vesta, which were easier to typeset. Other punctuation, such as 4) Vesta and 4, Vesta, was also used, but had more or less completely died out by 1949.
### Early measurements
Photometric observations of Vesta were made at the Harvard College Observatory in 1880–1882 and at the Observatoire de Toulouse in 1909. These and other observations allowed the rotation rate of Vesta to be determined by the 1950s. However, the early estimates of the rotation rate came into question because the light curve included variations in both shape and albedo.
Early estimates of the diameter of Vesta ranged from 383 kilometres (238 mi) in 1825, to 444 km (276 mi). E.C. Pickering produced an estimated diameter of 513 ± 17 km (319 ± 11 mi) in 1879, which is close to the modern value for the mean diameter, but the subsequent estimates ranged from a low of 390 km (242 mi) up to a high of 602 km (374 mi) during the next century. The measured estimates were based on photometry. In 1989, speckle interferometry was used to measure a dimension that varied between 498 and 548 km (309 and 341 mi) during the rotational period. In 1991, an occultation of the star SAO 93228 by Vesta was observed from multiple locations in the eastern United States and Canada. Based on observations from 14 different sites, the best fit to the data was an elliptical profile with dimensions of about 550 km × 462 km (342 mi × 287 mi). Dawn confirmed this measurement. These measurements will help determine the thermal history, size of the core, role of water in asteroid evolution and what meteorites found on Earth come from these bodies, with the ultimate goal of understanding the conditions and processes present at the solar system's earliest epoch and the role of water content and size in planetary evolution.
Vesta became the first asteroid to have its mass determined. Every 18 years, the asteroid 197 Arete approaches within 0.04 AU of Vesta. In 1966, based upon observations of Vesta's gravitational perturbations of Arete, Hans G. Hertz estimated the mass of Vesta at (1.20±0.08)×10<sup>−10</sup> M<sub>☉</sub> (solar masses). More refined estimates followed, and in 2001 the perturbations of 17 Thetis were used to calculate the mass of Vesta to be (1.31±0.02)×10<sup>−10</sup> M<sub>☉</sub>. Dawn determined it to be 1.3029×10<sup>−10</sup> M<sub>☉</sub>.
## Orbit
Vesta orbits the Sun between Mars and Jupiter, within the asteroid belt, with a period of 3.6 Earth years, specifically in the inner asteroid belt, interior to the Kirkwood gap at 2.50 AU. Its orbit is moderately inclined (i = 7.1°, compared to 7° for Mercury and 17° for Pluto) and moderately eccentric (e = 0.09, about the same as for Mars).
True orbital resonances between asteroids are considered unlikely; due to their small masses relative to their large separations, such relationships should be very rare. Nevertheless, Vesta is able to capture other asteroids into temporary 1:1 resonant orbital relationships (for periods up to 2 million years or more); about forty such objects have been identified. Decameter-sized objects detected in the vicinity of Vesta by Dawn may be such quasi-satellites rather than proper satellites.
## Rotation
Vesta's rotation is relatively fast for an asteroid (5.342 h) and prograde, with the north pole pointing in the direction of right ascension 20 h 32 min, declination +48° (in the constellation Cygnus) with an uncertainty of about 10°. This gives an axial tilt of 29°.
## Coordinate systems
Two longitudinal coordinate systems are used for Vesta, with prime meridians separated by 150°. The IAU established a coordinate system in 1997 based on Hubble photos, with the prime meridian running through the center of Olbers Regio, a dark feature 200 km across. When Dawn arrived at Vesta, mission scientists found that the location of the pole assumed by the IAU was off by 10°, so that the IAU coordinate system drifted across the surface of Vesta at 0.06° per year, and also that Olbers Regio was not discernible from up close, and so was not adequate to define the prime meridian with the precision they needed. They corrected the pole, but also established a new prime meridian 4° from the center of Claudia, a sharply defined crater 700 meters across, which they say results in a more logical set of mapping quadrangles. All NASA publications, including images and maps of Vesta, use the Claudian meridian, which is unacceptable to the IAU. The IAU Working Group on Cartographic Coordinates and Rotational Elements recommended a coordinate system, correcting the pole but rotating the Claudian longitude by 150° to coincide with Olbers Regio. It was accepted by the IAU, although it disrupts the maps prepared by the Dawn team, which had been positioned so they would not bisect any major surface features.
## Physical characteristics
Vesta is the second most massive body in the asteroid belt, although it is only 28% as massive as Ceres, the most massive body. Vesta is however the most massive body that formed in the asteroid belt, as Ceres is believed to have formed between Jupiter and Saturn. Vesta's density is lower than those of the four terrestrial planets but is higher than those of most asteroids, as well as all of the moons in the Solar System except Io. Vesta's surface area is about the same as the land area of Pakistan, Venezuela, Tanzania, or Nigeria; slightly under 900,000 square kilometres (350,000 sq mi; 90,000,000 ha; 220,000,000 acres). It has a differentiated interior. Vesta is only slightly larger (525.4±0.2 km) than 2 Pallas (512±3 km) in volume, but is about 25% more massive.
Vesta's shape is close to a gravitationally relaxed oblate spheroid, but the large concavity and protrusion at the southern pole (see 'Surface features' below) combined with a mass less than 5×10<sup>20</sup> kg precluded Vesta from automatically being considered a dwarf planet under International Astronomical Union (IAU) Resolution XXVI 5. A 2012 analysis of Vesta's shape and gravity field using data gathered by the Dawn spacecraft has shown that Vesta is currently not in hydrostatic equilibrium.
Temperatures on the surface have been estimated to lie between about −20 °C (253 K) with the Sun overhead, dropping to about −190 °C (83.1 K) at the winter pole. Typical daytime and nighttime temperatures are −60 °C (213 K) and −130 °C (143 K), respectively. This estimate is for 6 May 1996, very close to perihelion, although details vary somewhat with the seasons.
## Surface features
Before the arrival of the Dawn spacecraft, some Vestan surface features had already been resolved using the Hubble Space Telescope and ground-based telescopes (e.g., the Keck Observatory). The arrival of Dawn in July 2011 revealed the complex surface of Vesta in detail.
### Rheasilvia and Veneneia craters
The most prominent of these surface features are two enormous craters, the 500-kilometre (311 mi)-wide Rheasilvia crater, centered near the south pole, and the 400 km (249 mi) wide Veneneia crater. The Rheasilvia crater is younger and overlies the Veneneia crater. The Dawn science team named the younger, more prominent crater Rheasilvia, after the mother of Romulus and Remus and a mythical vestal virgin. Its width is 95% of the mean diameter of Vesta. The crater is about 19 km (12 mi) deep. A central peak rises 23 km (14 mi) above the lowest measured part of the crater floor and the highest measured part of the crater rim is 31 km (19 mi) above the crater floor low point. It is estimated that the impact responsible excavated about 1% of the volume of Vesta, and it is likely that the Vesta family and V-type asteroids are the products of this collision. If this is the case, then the fact that 10 km (6.2 mi) fragments have survived bombardment until the present indicates that the crater is at most only about 1 billion years old. It would also be the site of origin of the HED meteorites. All the known V-type asteroids taken together account for only about 6% of the ejected volume, with the rest presumably either in small fragments, ejected by approaching the 3:1 Kirkwood gap, or perturbed away by the Yarkovsky effect or radiation pressure. Spectroscopic analyses of the Hubble images have shown that this crater has penetrated deep through several distinct layers of the crust, and possibly into the mantle, as indicated by spectral signatures of olivine.
The large peak at the center of Rheasilvia is 20 to 25 km (12–16 mi) high and 180 km (112 mi) wide, and is possibly a result of a planetary-scale impact.
### Other craters
Several old, degraded craters rival Rheasilvia and Veneneia in size, although none are quite so large. They include Feralia Planitia, shown at right, which is 270 km (168 mi) across. More-recent, sharper craters range up to 158 km (98 mi) Varronilla and 196 km (122 mi) Postumia.
#### "Snowman craters"
The "snowman craters" is an informal name given to a group of three adjacent craters in Vesta's northern hemisphere. Their official names from largest to smallest (west to east) are Marcia, Calpurnia, and Minucia. Marcia is the youngest and cross-cuts Calpurnia. Minucia is the oldest.
### Troughs
The majority of the equatorial region of Vesta is sculpted by a series of parallel troughs. The largest is named Divalia Fossa (10–20 kilometres (6.2–12.4 mi) wide, 465 kilometres (289 mi) long). Despite the fact that Vesta is a one-seventh the size of the Moon, Divalia Fossa dwarfs the Grand Canyon. A second series, inclined to the equator, is found further north. The largest of the northern troughs is named Saturnalia Fossa (≈ 40 km wide, \> 370 km long). These troughs are thought to be large-scale graben resulting from the impacts that created Rheasilvia and Veneneia craters, respectively. They are some of the longest chasms in the Solar System, nearly as long as Ithaca Chasma on Tethys. The troughs may be graben that formed after another asteroid collided with Vesta, a process that can happen only in a body that, like Vesta, is differentiated. Vesta's differentiation is one of the reasons why scientists consider it a protoplanet.
### Surface composition
Compositional information from the visible and infrared spectrometer (VIR), gamma-ray and neutron detector (GRaND), and framing camera (FC), all indicate that the majority of the surface composition of Vesta is consistent with the composition of the howardite, eucrite, and diogenite meteorites. The Rheasilvia region is richest in diogenite, consistent with the Rheasilvia-forming impact excavating material from deeper within Vesta. The presence of olivine within the Rheasilvia region would also be consistent with excavation of mantle material. However, olivine has only been detected in localized regions of the northern hemisphere, not within Rheasilvia. The origin of this olivine is currently unknown.
### Features associated with volatiles
Pitted terrain has been observed in four craters on Vesta: Marcia, Cornelia, Numisia and Licinia. The formation of the pitted terrain is proposed to be degassing of impact-heated volatile-bearing material. Along with the pitted terrain, curvilinear gullies are found in Marcia and Cornelia craters. The curvilinear gullies end in lobate deposits, which are sometimes covered by pitted terrain, and are proposed to form by the transient flow of liquid water after buried deposits of ice were melted by the heat of the impacts. Hydrated materials have also been detected, many of which are associated with areas of dark material. Consequently, dark material is thought to be largely composed of carbonaceous chondrite, which was deposited on the surface by impacts. Carbonaceous chondrites are comparatively rich in mineralogically bound OH.
## Geology
A large collection of potential samples from Vesta is accessible to scientists, in the form of over 1200 HED meteorites (Vestan achondrites), giving insight into Vesta's geologic history and structure. NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (NASA IRTF) studies of asteroid suggest that it originated from deeper within Vesta than the HED meteorites.
Vesta is thought to consist of a metallic iron–nickel core 214–226 km in diameter, an overlying rocky olivine mantle, with a surface crust. From the first appearance of calcium–aluminium-rich inclusions (the first solid matter in the Solar System, forming about 4.567 billion years ago), a likely time line is as follows:
{\|class=wikitable
\|+Timeline of the evolution of Vesta \|- !2–3 million years \|Accretion completed \|- !4–5 million years \|Complete or almost complete melting due to radioactive decay of <sup>26</sup>Al, leading to separation of the metal core \|- !6–7 million years \|Progressive crystallization of a convecting molten mantle. Convection stopped when about 80% of the material had crystallized \|- \|colspan=2\|Extrusion of the remaining molten material to form the crust, either as basaltic lavas in progressive eruptions, or possibly forming a short-lived magma ocean. \|- \|colspan=2\|The deeper layers of the crust crystallize to form plutonic rocks, whereas older basalts are metamorphosed due to the pressure of newer surface layers. \|- \|colspan=2\|Slow cooling of the interior
Vesta is the only known intact asteroid that has been resurfaced in this manner. Because of this, some scientists refer to Vesta as a protoplanet. However, the presence of iron meteorites and achondritic meteorite classes without identified parent bodies indicates that there once were other differentiated planetesimals with igneous histories, which have since been shattered by impacts.
{\|class=wikitable
\|+Composition of the Vestan crust (by depth) \|- \|A lithified regolith, the source of howardites and brecciated eucrites. \|- \|Basaltic lava flows, a source of non-cumulate eucrites. \|- \|Plutonic rocks consisting of pyroxene, pigeonite and plagioclase, the source of cumulate eucrites. \|- \|Plutonic rocks rich in orthopyroxene with large grain sizes, the source of diogenites. On the basis of the sizes of V-type asteroids (thought to be pieces of Vesta's crust ejected during large impacts), and the depth of Rheasilvia crater (see below), the crust is thought to be roughly 10 kilometres (6 mi) thick. Findings from the Dawn spacecraft have found evidence that the troughs that wrap around Vesta could be graben formed by impact-induced faulting (see Troughs section above), meaning that Vesta has more complex geology than other asteroids. Vesta's differentiated interior implies that it was in hydrostatic equilibrium and thus a dwarf planet in the past, but it is not today. The impacts that created the Rheasilvia and Veneneia craters occurred when Vesta was no longer warm and plastic enough to return to an equilibrium shape, distorting its once rounded shape and prohibiting it from being classified as a dwarf planet today.
### Regolith
Vesta's surface is covered by regolith distinct from that found on the Moon or asteroids such as Itokawa. This is because space weathering acts differently. Vesta's surface shows no significant trace of nanophase iron because the impact speeds on Vesta are too low to make rock melting and vaporization an appreciable process. Instead, regolith evolution is dominated by brecciation and subsequent mixing of bright and dark components. The dark component is probably due to the infall of carbonaceous material, whereas the bright component is the original Vesta basaltic soil.
## Fragments
Some small Solar System bodies are suspected to be fragments of Vesta caused by impacts. The Vestian asteroids and HED meteorites are examples. The V-type asteroid 1929 Kollaa has been determined to have a composition akin to cumulate eucrite meteorites, indicating its origin deep within Vesta's crust.
Vesta is currently one of only seven identified Solar System bodies of which we have physical samples, coming from a number of meteorites suspected to be Vestan fragments. It is estimated that 1 out of 16 meteorites originated from Vesta. The other identified Solar System samples are from Earth itself, meteorites from Mars, meteorites from the Moon, and samples returned from the Moon, the comet Wild 2, and the asteroids 25143 Itokawa and 162173 Ryugu.
## Exploration
In 1981, a proposal for an asteroid mission was submitted to the European Space Agency (ESA). Named the Asteroidal Gravity Optical and Radar Analysis (AGORA), this spacecraft was to launch some time in 1990–1994 and perform two flybys of large asteroids. The preferred target for this mission was Vesta. AGORA would reach the asteroid belt either by a gravitational slingshot trajectory past Mars or by means of a small ion engine. However, the proposal was refused by the ESA. A joint NASA–ESA asteroid mission was then drawn up for a Multiple Asteroid Orbiter with Solar Electric Propulsion (MAOSEP), with one of the mission profiles including an orbit of Vesta. NASA indicated they were not interested in an asteroid mission. Instead, the ESA set up a technological study of a spacecraft with an ion drive. Other missions to the asteroid belt were proposed in the 1980s by France, Germany, Italy and the United States, but none were approved. Exploration of Vesta by fly-by and impacting penetrator was the second main target of the first plan of the multi-aimed Soviet Vesta mission, developed in cooperation with European countries for realisation in 1991–1994 but canceled due to the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
In the early 1990s, NASA initiated the Discovery Program, which was intended to be a series of low-cost scientific missions. In 1996, the program's study team recommended a mission to explore the asteroid belt using a spacecraft with an ion engine as a high priority. Funding for this program remained problematic for several years, but by 2004 the Dawn vehicle had passed its critical design review and construction proceeded.
It launched on 27 September 2007 as the first space mission to Vesta. On 3 May 2011, Dawn acquired its first targeting image 1.2 million kilometers from Vesta. On 16 July 2011, NASA confirmed that it received telemetry from Dawn indicating that the spacecraft successfully entered Vesta's orbit. It was scheduled to orbit Vesta for one year, until July 2012. Dawn's arrival coincided with late summer in the southern hemisphere of Vesta, with the large crater at Vesta's south pole (Rheasilvia) in sunlight. Because a season on Vesta lasts eleven months, the northern hemisphere, including anticipated compression fractures opposite the crater, would become visible to Dawn's cameras before it left orbit. Dawn left orbit around Vesta on 4 September 2012 11:26 p.m. PDT to travel to Ceres.
NASA/DLR released imagery and summary information from a survey orbit, two high-altitude orbits (60–70 m/pixel) and a low-altitude mapping orbit (20 m/pixel), including digital terrain models, videos and atlases. Scientists also used Dawn to calculate Vesta's precise mass and gravity field. The subsequent determination of the J<sub>2</sub> component yielded a core diameter estimate of about 220 km assuming a crustal density similar to that of the HED.
Dawn data can be accessed by the public at the UCLA website.
### Observations from Earth orbit
### Observations from Dawn
Vesta comes into view as the Dawn spacecraft approaches and enters orbit:
#### True-color images
Detailed images retrieved during the high-altitude (60–70 m/pixel) and low-altitude (\~20 m/pixel) mapping orbits are available on the Dawn Mission website of JPL/NASA.
## Visibility
Its size and unusually bright surface make Vesta the brightest asteroid, and it is occasionally visible to the naked eye from dark skies (without light pollution). In May and June 2007, Vesta reached a peak magnitude of +5.4, the brightest since 1989. At that time, opposition and perihelion were only a few weeks apart. It was brighter still at its 22 June 2018 opposition, reaching a magnitude of +5.3. Less favorable oppositions during late autumn 2008 in the Northern Hemisphere still had Vesta at a magnitude of from +6.5 to +7.3. Even when in conjunction with the Sun, Vesta will have a magnitude around +8.5; thus from a pollution-free sky it can be observed with binoculars even at elongations much smaller than near opposition.
### 2010–2011
In 2010, Vesta reached opposition in the constellation of Leo on the night of 17–18 February, at about magnitude 6.1, a brightness that makes it visible in binocular range but generally not for the naked eye. Under perfect dark sky conditions where all light pollution is absent it might be visible to an experienced observer without the use of a telescope or binoculars. Vesta came to opposition again on 5 August 2011, in the constellation of Capricornus at about magnitude 5.6.
### 2012–2013
Vesta was at opposition again on 9 December 2012. According to Sky and Telescope magazine, this year Vesta came within about 6 degrees of 1 Ceres during the winter of 2012 and spring 2013. Vesta orbits the Sun in 3.63 years and Ceres in 4.6 years, so every 17.4 years Vesta overtakes Ceres (the previous overtaking was in April 1996). On 1 December 2012, Vesta had a magnitude of 6.6, but it had decreased to 8.4 by 1 May 2013.
### 2014
Ceres and Vesta came within one degree of each other in the night sky in July 2014.
## See also
- 3103 Eger
- 3551 Verenia
- 3908 Nyx
- 4055 Magellan
- Asteroids in fiction
- Diogenite
- Eucrite
- Former classification of planets
- Howardite
- Vesta family (vestoids)
- List of tallest mountains in the Solar System
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Cher Scarlett
| 1,166,358,502 |
American software engineer, writer, labor activist, and corporate whistleblower
|
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"1980s births",
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"American activists with disabilities",
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"American people of German descent",
"American social activists",
"American social justice activists",
"American software engineers",
"American trade unionists of German descent",
"American whistleblowers",
"American women engineers",
"American women scientists",
"American women trade unionists",
"American women's rights activists",
"Apple Inc. employees",
"Blizzard Entertainment people",
"Computer programmers",
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"People from Walla Walla, Washington",
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"USA Today people",
"Video game developers",
"Volga German people",
"Web developers",
"Workers' rights activists",
"Writers from Kirkland, Washington",
"Year of birth missing (living people)"
] |
Cher Scarlett (born ) is an American workers' rights activist, software engineer, and writer. She has organized staff at Apple, Activision Blizzard, and Starbucks.
Scarlett, who has bipolar disorder, experienced struggles in her early life, leading her to drop out of high school and attempt to overdose. Self-taught web development skills from her adolescence in the late 1990s allowed her to overcome a lack of formal education and build a software engineering career after the birth of her child. Scarlett's experiences and observations in a male-dominated occupation led her to become a workers' rights advocate and critic of technology and corporations.
She was a leader of the \#AppleToo movement, which gathered and shared stories of mistreatment from current and former Apple employees, and was a founder of Apple Together, a solidarity union, where she remains an advisor. Scarlett also filed complaints against Apple with the National Labor Relations Board and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. After months of activism at the company, Scarlett voluntarily resigned with a now-defunct settlement after she says she was harassed, intimidated, and retaliated against.
Scarlett has successfully lobbied for labor laws in Washington state. She also advocated for Apple shareholder proposals regarding civil rights and concealment clauses, the first to be approved by the company's shareholders in more than 10 years.
## Early life and education
Scarlett was born in Walla Walla, Washington, and grew up in Kirkland with her mother, who worked in construction. Her father and step-father were mostly absent from her life. She said she grew up poor, coming from generational poverty in a family of farm laborers that settled in Eastern Washington descended from the Volga Germans.
She attended Juanita High School in the early 2000s, and says she earned a nearly perfect score on the SAT. Scarlett was interested in science and video gaming, and says she wanted to be a scientist and go to space after being a junior astronaut and studying biotechnology while in school. She taught herself to code during middle school, creating a website for her guild in EverQuest and continued experimenting with web development on the blogging platform LiveJournal.
Scarlett experienced sexual abuse at a young age, and when she was in high school began battling drug addiction, eventually dropping out. She also experienced an incident of commercial sexual exploitation in 2005, which led her to a suicide attempt. Scarlett later provided information to federal authorities that led to the arrest of one of the perpetrators in 2018. Prior to starting her career, Scarlett worked as a stripper, but she says getting pregnant prompted her to change her life.
Scarlett also worked in the service industry, including working "overnights" at Krispy Kreme, while her daughter was young.
## Career and activism
### 2007–2015
In 2007, Scarlett worked briefly in a web development position at a real-estate firm. She worked as a freelance developer until 2011, when she was recruited as a web developer at USA Today, where her manager referred to her as a "talented developer".
### Activision Blizzard (2015–2016)
In 2015, Scarlett was hired as a software engineer at Activision Blizzard and worked on their Battle.net platform. While there, she pressed the human resources department on gender-based pay discrimination and sexism she had observed. She said that her manager and she developed the games publisher's first interactive esports brackets and esports data API, and her manager told The Washington Post that she was an "incredibly driven" employee and "shows passion with every project she works on and she doesn't stop until she gets it right."
Scarlett left Blizzard in 2016, and in 2021, provided testimony to the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing as part of a lawsuit alleging systemic discrimination, sexual harassment, and retaliation. Scarlett encouraged others to come forward, helped direct them to the agency, and later supported a walkout. Scarlett alleged in the amended lawsuit she was groped by Alex Afrasiabi, a former developer of World of Warcraft (WoW), at a work event, who was named as "a blatant example" of Blizzard's "refusal to deal with a harasser because of his seniority/position," and that she had been told by a friend that he had done the same to her the year prior at BlizzCon. Afrasiabi was fired in 2020.
Scarlett spoke publicly about what she alleged to be poor treatment of female employees through underpayment, sexual harassment, and abuse. Scarlett alleged that she was unfairly reprimanded, touched inappropriately, and sexually harassed on a regular basis. Scarlett and others referred to the behavior described in the lawsuit as normalized at the company, Scarlett saying, "this behavior was normal and protected here". She outed the unnamed chief technology officer (CTO) from the lawsuit as Ben Kilgore in a series of tweets, claiming he had been the subject of numerous complaints about inappropriate behavior, some of which had also been reported to authorities years earlier. This was later corroborated by Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal. Kilgore was terminated in 2018.
She also spoke about what she said was improper handling of a 2018 incident when she outed one of Overwatch League's unpaid moderators for previously hoarding and distributing revenge porn. The moderator was removed from his role without notice, and his public complaints about the company's treatment of volunteer workers went viral, gaining significant sympathy from the community. A few hours later, Scarlett wrote a Medium post about her history with the moderator, dating back to 2012 when Twitch was still small and she livestreamed WoW. The moderator initially denied the allegations, but later retracted his denial and apologized. Blizzard later dissolved community moderation teams.
Scarlett criticized working in a "dream job" like Blizzard. She said that because of the sacrifices employees make to get there, "you ignore everything that's happening because you want to be there so badly" and "you stop seeing things that are bad as bad." The company said it appreciated Scarlett's bravery in coming forward, and said they were prioritizing equity and safety in the workplace.
### 2016–2020
Scarlett joined World Wide Technology in 2016, working there until 2017, when she was recruited at Starbucks as a lead software engineer, where she worked remotely from Greater St. Louis, Missouri. At Starbucks, she joined a successful campaign to address gender-based pay disparities. After leaving in 2019 to work at Webflow, she wrote about what she alleged to be a practice at Starbucks of paying lower wages to workers in areas that were predominantly Black or had high proportions of underrepresented groups. She continued to write, primarily advocating for equity in tech, and became a maintainer for a website that advocates for healthy work–life balance in tech, 1x.engineer, a play on the heavily stereotyped idea of a "10x engineer".
### Apple (2020–2021)
In April 2020, Scarlett began working as a principal software engineer on Apple's software security team, where she worked remotely from St. Louis, and later, the Seattle metropolitan area.
A year into her employment, Scarlett got involved in workplace activism in the company's Slack, which was repeatedly leaked to the press. Scarlett became the most vocal, public-facing advocate for workplace issues at Apple, where employees previously rarely spoke to the media, especially about the company's "unprecedented" secretive culture. Scarlett was credited for inspiring others to speak out, but was also criticized for breaking the company's unwritten rules, such as not speaking unsolicited about Apple publicly. She said that while hundreds of people asked for help with concerns around pay equity, discrimination, and restrictive remote work policies, she was also accused of ruining the company's culture. Scarlett said that Apple's "cult-like" and "self-policing" culture of loyalty and secrecy has discouraged employees from speaking out, and told The New York Times, "Never have I met people more terrified to speak out against their employer".
Scarlett requested medical leave in September 2021, saying that harassment from colleagues began to affect her mental health. She said that while discussing her request, Apple asked her to stop discussing the company publicly tweeting that executives said she was "giving them a lot of headaches". She said she felt forced to comply, and was subsequently granted paid time off (PTO) instead of medical leave. Scarlett described several incidents of harassment from colleagues at Apple, including a "nasty email" from a teammate she tried unsuccessfully to address with their manager, accusations of leaking confidential information, anonymous hateful messages on various platforms, obscene submissions to her compensation survey, and an incident of doxing on Blind. Though the company helped her take safety precautions, Scarlett said that Apple enabled the abuse by not condemning the behavior.
On November 19, 2021, after briefly returning to work, Scarlett quit, later alleging she was isolated, intimidated and retaliated against, after filing National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) complaints against the company.
#### Antonio García Martínez
In May 2021, Scarlett tweeted that she was "gutted" by the hiring of Antonio García Martínez, and that she "believe[d] in leadership to do the right thing". García Martínez had previously written in a book that women in the Bay Area were "soft and weak, cosseted and naive". Scarlett edited a letter that a group of employees had drafted to send to management, which spoke out against the hire as not being aligned with Apple's diversity and inclusion (D&I) policies and made a list of demands. After the letter leaked to the press, Scarlett's tweet about García Martínez appeared in Bloomberg, which she said triggered an onset of abuse, based on misconceptions that she had written the letter.
Scarlett said she was contacted by the company's public relations department, who seemed only interested in suppressing bad publicity. She gave a quote to CNN, saying she "trust[ed] in Apple's culture", but the hire was "starkly contradictory" of her feelings. Garcia Martinez was quickly fired, and Apple commented that "Behavior that demeans or discriminates against people for who they are has no place [at Apple]."
#### Remote work advocacy
Around June 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Apple announced they would be requiring most employees to return to working in the office several days a week. Scarlett helped to lead employees in organizing to be allowed to continue working remotely. Scarlett tweeted about the importance of remote work for disabled employees, caregivers, and workers from poverty. She encouraged some colleagues to request accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 to continue working from home. She later tweeted a medical release form she was given, which gave the company access to medical records normally protected by Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which made Scarlett and other employees uncomfortable.
Apple responded to the group's requests for more flexible remote work policies stating that "in-person collaboration is essential" to the company's culture and future. Scarlett criticized the company's response saying, "There's this idea that people skateboarding around tech campuses are bumping into each other and coming up with great new inventions. That's just not true," pointing to the company's already-distributed workforce.
Apple's return-to-work plans were later delayed several times due to surging COVID-19 cases.
#### \#AppleToo movement and Apple Together
Scarlett, along with Janneke Parrish, was a leader of the \#AppleToo movement. In August 2021, the group created a website and Medium page, on which they posted anonymous reports of mistreatment, including verbal and sexual abuse, retaliation, discrimination, poor working conditions, and unequal pay experienced by Apple employees and contractors. Scarlett said the group received over 600 stories from employees. Parrish was later fired, and the group started more formally organizing as Apple Together, a solidarity union which Scarlett and Parrish helped found and as of May 2022, were advisors for. Organizers said that they are not being paid fairly for the work they are doing, and that many are struggling to survive. Scarlett asked The Washington Post, "If the richest company in the world won't pay its workers enough to live, who will?"
Apple has said that they trust in their "framework for the implementation and oversight of [Apple's] human rights commitments", and that they have "always strived to create an inclusive, welcoming workplace where everyone is respected and accepted".
#### Pay equity and NLRB charges
On September 1, 2021, Scarlett filed a charge with the NLRB, alleging that Apple had violated the law in stopping employees from discussing their salaries and gathering data to examine racial or gender-based wage gaps. A month prior, she launched a wage transparency survey at the company, after the company shut down previous attempts by other employees. It gained over 3,000 submissions.
Scarlett and the company reached a non-board settlement in November 2021, after nearly three months of what Scarlett referred to as "fighting" with the company in a tweet, which included a severance of one year's pay to be split with her attorneys, and withdrawal of the charge, under the condition that Apple make a "public, visible affirmation" that employees could freely discuss workplace conditions and pay. Scarlett tweeted that the affirmation was one of four demands she had sent to the company on September 2, 2021. In December, Scarlett said that Apple had not made changes to the settlement requested by the NLRB, and the withdrawal was subsequently denied by the agency. The company posted the stipulated notice, but only during the week of Thanksgiving, which Apple had given the entire company off. As a result, she said that Apple had not upheld the agreement, and she would not be making another request to withdraw the charge. As of April 2022, the charge was still being investigated by the agency. Scarlett additionally filed charges for retaliating against employees and for constructive dismissal, which as of April 2022, were also being investigated.
Scarlett's allegations with the NLRB, along with other employee activism around D&I, prompted SOC Investment Group (SOC), Trillium Asset Management (TAM), and Service Employees International Union (SEIU) to introduce a shareholder proposal for a "civil-rights audit." The proposal cited diversity statistics, and alleged that the company's public philanthropy in racial justice is not reflected in the company's own workforce, writing, "It is unclear how Apple plans to address racial inequality in its workforce," and Scarlett said the company's "behavior is not reflective of the mission and values they portray to their shareholders and the public." She said charts she tweeted showed "alarming" trends, alleging "white men have much more opportunities to advance within the company, and are more likely to be working in technical roles". She said her coworkers wanted "a third-party investigation into salary data, or an audit that [employees] have insight into." Apple recommended shareholders vote against the proposal, but on March 4, 2022, shareholders voted in favor of the proposal for the first time in 10 years.
Apple has stated that they examine compensation annually and ensure that they maintain pay equity, that the company, through existing policies and practices, already meet the objectives of the civil-rights audit, and that "underrepresented communities represent nearly half of the U.S. workforce". The proposal was considered non-binding, but Apple agreed to follow through with the audit.
Also due to Scarlett's, Parrish's, and other Apple workers' charges over 2021 and 2022 with the NLRB against Apple, SOC, TAM, and SEIU introduced an additional shareholder proposal in September 2022 asking for a "workers' rights assessment."
In January 2023, the NLRB determined 3 of Scarlett's charges had merit.
#### NDA and SEC whistleblowing
In fall 2021, Ifeoma Ozoma, a public policy specialist, along with the non-profit shareholder advocacy group Open MIC, and social impact investing firms Whistle Capital and Nia Impact Capital (Nia) filed a shareholder proposal at Apple on the use of concealment clauses. On October 25, 2021, Scarlett filed a whistleblower complaint with the SEC over Apple's statements in a no-action letter claiming that the company does not use non-disclosure agreements" (NDAs) in the context of harassment, discrimination, and other unlawful acts." Scarlett provided the SEC and, later, Nia, with the NDA that Apple had included as a part of a separation agreement, which she had refused to sign. In the complaint, Scarlett alleged that Apple had tried to stipulate that she describe her choice to "leav[e] the company [as] being a personal decision, rather than fleeing a hostile work environment". Apple's no-action request was subsequently denied by the SEC.
During the course of her settlement negotiations with Apple, Scarlett also asked for the company to add the language "Nothing in this agreement prevents you from discussing or disclosing information about unlawful acts in the workplace, such as harassment or discrimination or any other conduct that you have reason to believe is unlawful," which came from a law that would be effective in California a few months later in January 2022. The company refused at the time, but later said in a proxy statement to the SEC, which recommended that shareholders vote against the proposal, that it would add the language to all separation agreements in the United States. Shareholders voted to approve the proposal on March 4, 2022. The CEO of Nia said that as of September 2022, the board had not met with them to conduct the audit, and filed a resolution asking board members to make themselves available.
Scarlett received one of five payments of a \$213,000 severance package, and received notice Apple would not be paying her attorneys, or making future severance and COBRA payments, because she "repeatedly" breached her NDA. The letter also stated Apple was "preserving its right to seek liquidated damage for each separate breach", to which Scarlett said, "I don't have anything for them to take". In an essay for The Olympian, Scarlett, along with Gretchen Carlson and Julie Roginsky, who had both signed NDAs in settlements with Fox News, described a financial cost to speaking out and being driven from their careers and urged Washington to pass legislature making such NDAs illegal. Scarlett ran a GoFundMe campaign to pay her attorneys' fees.
After leaving Apple in November 2021, Scarlett accepted a position with the nonprofit Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. During her background screening, it was discovered that Apple had furnished her job title incorrectly as "associate" to Equifax's employment verification databases, causing a delay in her hiring, and eventually the job offer being rescinded. A lawyer, Laurie Burgess, said the practice of reporting false job titles, which it follows for all past employees, may be illegal. Scarlett filed a retaliation complaint with the SEC, which is reportedly being investigated, along with her previous tip, after eight state officials urged the agency to look into Scarlett's allegations.
### 2021–present
Scarlett is on the Tech Worker Committee of The Solidarity Fund, an emergency fund for Apple and Netflix workers involved with organizing. The fund was created by Liz Fong-Jones and Coworker.org. Of the fund, Scarlett said, "There's a solidarity movement happening and there are hundreds of people from different parts of the company that are coming together to support the most vulnerable". In December 2021, Apple Together advertised the fund to encourage workers to strike in solidarity with workers at a retail store in Jacksonville, Florida. According to Jess Kutch, who co-founded Coworker.org, the call to action resulted in a real time increase of "significantly large" contributions from Apple employees.
In early 2022, Scarlett helped Starbucks baristas in the 2021–2022 unionization effort, partnering with Workers United (WU), a trade union affiliated with Service Employees International Union. While she was engaged in that effort, a Grand Central Terminal Apple retail employee reached out to her "distraught" after their union organizing committee had lost its partnership with their trade union. Scarlett connected the workers with her Starbucks WU contact, and on February 22, 2022, Fruit Stand Workers United voted to affiliate with WU. In April 2022, the workers went public with their organization effort to collect signatures to file for representation with the NLRB.
Scarlett joined game studio ControlZee in March 2022 to work on a game called dot big bang, a game creation platform that allows users to build multiplayer video games.
Scarlett was one of five expert researchers involved in a March 2022 Financial Times (FT) investigation into "Russia's Google", Yandex. Scarlett and the other researchers found that Yandex was harvesting and storing sensitive information such as a user's device fingerprint and IP address in Russia, which the Kremlin could legally demand access to. Yandex said the information obtained could "theoretically" be used by Russian officials to identify persons, but it would be "extremely hard". The team of researchers said that users of more than 52,000 applications, including applications like virtual private networks (VPNs) and secure messaging platforms launched during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, targeted at Ukrainians, would be unaware of the presence of Russian software because it was hidden in a software development kit (SDK) called AppMetrica, "piggybacking" on permissions granted to trusted applications. Scarlett said users were "trying to be proactive in being more safe, but actually making [themselves] more vulnerable". The research started with Zach Edwards, a researcher at the nonprofit organization Me2B Alliance, as part of an application audit campaign. Opera, which operates a mobile web browser of the same name, and some other application developers said they disabled the software and were working on removing it entirely. Google acknowledged they could be doing more to inform users about SDKs and agreed to conduct an investigation into the researchers' findings. Apple denied any SDKs could leech data without user knowledge.
In April 2022, The Washington Post reported that Scarlett believed she may have been turned down for positions at Mozilla and Epic Games due to her labor organizing at Apple. She filed charges with the NLRB against both companies, which as of April 2022, were being investigated. Epic had provided her with a form called a "Request for Activities" she says explicitly stated was required to be returned when an offer is about to be made. Epic said that request for the form to be filled out is not indicative of a forthcoming offer, and that another candidate "scored higher" in interviewing. Scarlett said that she "let go of other prospects" because it was "such a great match". According to Epic, by the time Scarlett returned the form, with details of her work in Apple Together, on December 8, 2021, the same day it was sent to her, the position had already been filled by a more qualified applicant. Scarlett tweeted that claim was "absurd". Epic said that recruiters were aware of her labor advocacy work prior to interviewing her, but Scarlett later clarified in a tweet that the form was reviewed by senior leadership, and that's what her concern was. Scarlett clarified in a tweet that she originally wasn't sure whether or not Epic may have violated the law in refusing to hire her, but said that after she learned the same thing happened to another unnamed person, she decided to move forward with the charges.
### Facial recognition software criticism
Scarlett has called for scrutiny and regulation of facial recognition software (FRS). In January 2022 Scarlett tweeted a photograph that Facebook's FRS had thought was her, but was really her great-great-great-grandmother, and indicated that such activities were dangerous and off-putting. Andrew Bosworth, the chief technology officer of Meta, and Jerome Pesenti, Meta's head of artificial intelligence, responded to Scarlett's tweet that the FRS had been turned off "a while back" and that they "never tagged people in random photos of people they weren't connected to".
A month later, Rachel Metz of CNN reached out to Scarlett about the tweet to discuss FRS, and directed Scarlett to PimEyes, a FRS website that allows users to search the internet for photos matching a face in an uploaded photo. Curious if the site would also give images of her relatives, Scarlett found some photos of her and matches to similar-looking individuals such as Britney Spears and Jamie Lynn Spears, but no photographs of any of her relatives. However, some of the photos of her turned out to be from a 2005 incident in which she was forced to perform sexual acts on camera. Despite an opt-out request being approved, Scarlett and Metz discovered that the images were not actually removed from the service. Scarlett filed complaints with the Washington State Attorney General's office in January 2023. After PimEyes removed more than 400 matching images, searches still found her images on the website.
## Select publications
## Legislation
### Whistleblower protection
In 2021, Scarlett was assisted by Ozoma in lobbying for legislation in her home state of Washington similar to the Silenced No More Act, a bill Ozoma worked on with California lawmakers that prevents employers from silencing whistleblowers. Scarlett worked with Senator Karen Keiser and House Representative Liz Berry on bills presented to the Washington State Senate and Washington House of Representatives in the 2022 Washington State Legislature session.
On January 18, 2022, Scarlett, along with Chelsey Glasson, a former Google employee who was also credited with inspiring the bills, testified in support of HB 1795. Scarlett testified in support of the bill a second time, on February 17, 2022, after the bill was passed through the House. Scarlett argued that confidentiality clauses make "corporations the judges and juries of their own wrongdoing". Of her testimony, Scarlett said the legislation was needed to "eradicate abuses that fester in tech," but also in other industries, like Washington's agriculture industry, which is among the state's largest economy drivers. Testimony from the deputy director of Columbia Legal Services, Blanca Rodriguez, expanded how NDAs are used to silence farm laborers. Scarlett also provided similar testimony for SB 5520.
HB 1795 was passed into law on March 3, 2022 effective as of June 9, 2022. Google committed to Silenced No More protections for all employees following passage of the Washington legislation.
### Wage transparency
In 2022, Scarlett lobbied for SB 5761, a bill that requires employers with 15 or more employees to post salary information on its job postings, including for internal transfers for existing employees. Scarlett had relocated while she was at Apple and requests for her new compensation were unanswered until after she moved. Scarlett testified in support of the bill on February 16, 2022, and spoke about her own wages being suppressed during her career because her past employers asked for her salary expectations, instead of sharing what the role paid. She said that underrepresented groups are often not in a position to negotiate, and the "veil of secrecy" around compensation results in wage gaps. The bill was passed into law on March 1, 2022. It is effective as of January 1, 2023.
## Personal life
Scarlett has Bipolar I disorder and ADHD.
Scarlett is active on Twitter, where she is known for her advocacy for marginalized groups.
## See also
- Timnit Gebru
- Chris Smalls
- Sophie Zhang
- Jaz Brisack
- Emma Kinema
|
12,425,142 |
K-27 (Kansas highway)
| 1,170,811,462 |
Highway in Kansas
|
[
"State highways in Kansas",
"Transportation in Cheyenne County, Kansas",
"Transportation in Greeley County, Kansas",
"Transportation in Hamilton County, Kansas",
"Transportation in Morton County, Kansas",
"Transportation in Sherman County, Kansas",
"Transportation in Stanton County, Kansas",
"Transportation in Wallace County, Kansas"
] |
K-27 is an approximately 226-mile-long (364 km) north–south state highway that parallels Kansas' western border with Colorado. It is the westernmost north–south state highway in the state. It begins at U.S. Route 56 (US-56) in Elkhart near the Oklahoma state line and travels through the seven counties that border Colorado until reaching its northern terminus north of St. Francis, where it ends at the Nebraska state line (effectively becoming like-numbered Nebraska Highway 27). Along the way, it intersects several major highways, including US-160 in Johnson City, US-50 and US-400 in Syracuse, US-40 in Sharon Springs, Interstate 70 (I-70) and US-24 in Goodland, and US-36 in Wheeler. The section from US-40 north to Nebraska, is designated as the Land and Sky Scenic Byway. K-27 changes time zones twice, during its trek through Kansas, the only highway in the state to do so.
Before state highways were numbered in Kansas there were auto trails. The section of K-27 from Elkhart to the beginning of the overlap with K-51 was a part of the former Dallas–Canadian–Denver Highway. In Syracuse, the highway crosses the former National Old Trails Road, Old Santa Fe Trail and New Santa Fe Trail and Albert Pike Highway. In Tribune, K-27 crosses the former Kansas–Colorado Boulevard. In Sharon Springs the highway crosses the former Union Pacific Highway. Then further north in Goodland K-27 crosses the former Golden Belt, former Kansas White Way, former Blue Line, and former Pikes Peak Ocean to Ocean Highway. The route that K-27 follows was first designated as a state highway in 1926, as K-25. At that time it ran from the Elkhart, north to the Nebraska border. By 1927, it was renumbered to K-27. In 1955, K-27 was extended from Elkhart, south to the Oklahoma border. Then in 2004, it was realigned to intersect US-56 northeast of Elkhart.
## Route description
K-27 changes time zones twice, during its trek through Kansas, the only highway in the state to do so. From the southern terminus, Central Standard Time is observed in Morton and Stanton counties, but the time zone changes to Mountain Standard Time when the highway crosses from Stanton into Hamilton County. Hamilton and the next three counties to the north (Greeley, Wallace, and Sherman) observe Mountain time, but clocks revert to Central Time at the Sherman County-Cheyenne County line.
The Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) tracks the traffic levels on its highways, and in 2018, they determined that on average the traffic varied from 410 vehicles per day just north of the southern overlap with K-51 to 4,410 vehicles per day in the city of Goodland. The only section of K-27 included in the National Highway System is its overlap with US-50 and US-400. The National Highway System is a system of highways important to the nation's defense, economy, and mobility. K-27 also connects to the National Highway System at its junction with I-70 and US-24.
### Morton and Stanton counties
K-27 begins at US-56 northeast of Elkhart, crosses the Cimarron Valley Railroad, and then curves to the west. After about .5 miles (0.80 km) the road curves to the north then crosses Happy Ditch about 1.2 miles (1.9 km) later. The highway continues north through flat rural farmlands for roughly 4.9 miles (7.9 km) then crosses the Cimarron River. From here the roadway continues another 1.4 miles (2.3 km), where it begins an overlap with K-51, the only overlap with another state highway. The two routes continue north through flat farmlands for approximately 3.45 miles (5.55 km) then cross an unnamed creek. K-27 and K-51 advance north for about two miles (3.2 km) then crosses North Fork Cimarron River. About 2.4 miles (3.9 km) past the river the highway curves east at Road 9. The roadway continues through farmlands for roughly 5.7 miles (9.2 km) then begins to border the city of Richfield as South Boulevard.
About 0.5 miles (0.80 km) later K-27 turns north onto Main Street, as K-51 continues east. K-27 then exits the city and passes through flat farmlands for about 2.3 miles (3.7 km) and crosses an unnamed creek. The highway continues on for about five miles (8.0 km) then curves northeast and enters into Stanton County. K-27 enters the county and curves north then continues about 7.45 miles (11.99 km) and crosses Sand Arroyo Creek. From here the highway passes through flat rural farmlands for roughly 4.25 miles (6.84 km), crosses a Cimmaron Valley Railroad, then is joined by US-160. K-27 and US-160 continue north parallel to the western Johnson City line for about one mile (1.6 km), then US-160 turns east. K-27 continues north from here for approximately 3.5 miles (5.6 km) then crosses Bear Creek. The highway passes through more flat farmlands for 7.5 miles (12.1 km) then enters into Hamilton County.
### Hamilton and Greeley counties
Just inside the county, K-27 crosses Little Bear Creek, and continues north. The highway passes through flat farmland and grassland for about 15.8 miles (25.4 km) then crosses the Arkansas River. K-27 then enters the city of Syracuse as Main Street. A few blocks later the road has an at-grade crossing with a BNSF Railway track and then intersects US-50 and US-400, known as A Avenue. At this point K-27 turns west and begins to overlap US-50 and US-400. At the western city line, K-27 turns north onto McDow Street as US-50 and US-400 continue west. K-27 continues north through flat rural farmlands for about 3.15 miles (5.07 km) then crosses Syracuse Creek. The highway advances north another 5.85 miles (9.41 km) and crosses Sand Creek. The road continues north through flat land for approximately 9.1 miles (14.6 km) and then crosses Mattox Draw. The highway then curves northeast and enters into Greeley County. As the roadway enters the county, it curves back north and travels about 14 miles (23 km) and intersects K-96 at the southern city limits of Tribune. The highway crosses the Kansas and Oklahoma Railroad as it continues north through the city. As K-27 leaves Tribune it crosses White Woman Creek and continues north. The highway passes through flat rural farmland for approximately 13.45 miles (21.65 km) then curves northeast and crosses South Ladder Creek. The road then curves north and enters into Wallace County.
### Wallace County
As the road enters the county, it soon crosses Middle Ladder Creek. About four miles (6.4 km) north from here, the road crosses Ladder Creek. The highway continues through flat rural farmland for around 3.4 miles (5.5 km) then crosses Rose Creek. K-27 then crosses North Fork Rose Creek and curves northwest. The highway curves back north and continues though flat lands for around 2.75 miles (4.43 km) then enters Sharon Springs as Main Street. Within the city, the road crosses Eagletail Creek and a Union Pacific Railway before intersecting US-40. K-27 turns east and follows US-40 for a brief distance, then turns back north. Here the Land and Sky Scenic Byway begins and follows K-27. The highway exits the city and after about 2.3 miles (3.7 km) crosses the Smoky Hill River. From here, the roadway continues for a short distance, then shifts 0.5 miles (0.80 km) to the east through an s-curve. K-27 proceeds north through farmland for around 3.25 miles (5.23 km) then crosses Pond Creek. The highway continues for 3.9 miles (6.3 km) then crosses South Fork Lake Creek. Roughly 2.1 miles (3.4 km) north from here, K-27 curves northeast and crosses North Fork Lake Creek. The road curves north and passes through flat farmland for approximately 1.3 miles (2.1 km) then crosses into Sherman County.
### Sherman and Cheyenne counties
K-27 continues for 2.7 miles (4.3 km) then curves slightly northeast and crosses the North Fork Smoky Hill River. The highway curves northwest for a slight distance then curves and resumes its northern course. The roadway crosses Wild Horse Draw then advances northward for roughly 6.8 miles (10.9 km) and enters Goodland as Commerce Road. The highway soon reaches I-70 and US-24 at a diamond interchange. K-27 begins to overlap US-24 Business as it continues north. After 0.5 miles (0.80 km), US-24 Business leaves to the east, as K-27 continues north out of the city limits. The highway crosses a Kyle Railroad track and continues along the west side of Goodland. The highway then curves northeast and begins to follow Middle Fork Sappa Creek. After about 0.9 miles (1.4 km) K-27 crosses Middle Fork Horse Draw then curves north. The highway passes through flat rural farmland for 3.1 miles (5.0 km) and crosses South Beaver Creek. The road continues for 1.3 miles (2.1 km) then crosses Middle Beaver Creek. K-27 advances north through flat farmlands for roughly 7.9 miles (12.7 km) then curves northwest and enters into Cheyenne County.
As the highway enters the county, it curves northward again, and after 0.9 miles (1.4 km) crosses Little Beaver Creek. The road continues through rural farmland for around 11.7 miles (18.8 km) then intersects US-36 and the southern terminus of former K-217. At this point K-27 turns west and begins to overlap US-36. The two routes cross Sand Creek 2.1 miles (3.4 km) later then curve northwest. K-27 and US-36 then enter St. Francis as they curve west. The highway exits the city and soon crosses the South Fork Republican River. K-27 then turns north as US-36 continues west toward Colorado. K-27 advances north through rolling hills for about 0.6 miles (0.97 km) then curves northwest and crosses Cherry Creek .8 miles (1.3 km) later. The highway then curves north and passes through a combination of rolling hills and flat farmland for 2.7 miles (4.3 km) then crosses Fish Creek. K-27 then curves west and continues for roughly five miles (8.0 km) then curves back north. The highway passes through a mixture of flat farmlands transitioning to small rolling hills for about 3.8 miles (6.1 km) and crosses Hackberry Creek. The road advances north through farmlands for around 3.4 miles (5.5 km) then the landscape transitions to rolling hills. K-27 advances north for 2.8 miles (4.5 km) and then enters into Nebraska, where it continues as Nebraska Highway 27.
## History
### Early roads
Before state highways were numbered in Kansas there were auto trails, which were an informal network of marked routes that existed in the United States and Canada in the early part of the 20th century. The section of K-27 from Elkhart to the beginning of the overlap with K-51 was a part of the former Dallas–Canadian–Denver Highway, which went from Boulder, Colorado to Galveston, Texas. In Syracuse, the highway crosses the former National Old Trails Road, Old Santa Fe Trail and New Santa Fe Trail as well as the Albert Pike Highway, which ran from Colorado Springs, Colorado. to Hot Springs, Arkansas. In Tribune, K-27 crosses the former Kansas–Colorado Boulevard. In Sharon Springs the highway crosses the former Union Pacific Highway. Then further north in Goodland K-27 crosses the former Golden Belt, which began in Denver and went east to Kansas City; the former Kansas White Way, which went from Colorado Springs, Colorado, to St. Joseph, Missouri; former Blue Line, which went from Limon, Colorado to Junction City, Kansas; former Roosevelt National Highway; and former Pikes Peak Ocean to Ocean Highway, which was formed in 1912, and went from New York City to Los Angeles.
### Establishment
The route that K-27 follows was first designated as a state highway in 1926, as K-25. At that time it ran from the Oklahoma state line, north then east to Richfield. It then turned north and intersected K-46 then US-50 shortly after in Syracuse. It then continued north to K-96 in Tribune, then reached US-340 in Sharon Springs. It continued north, intersecting US-40 in Goodland, before reaching K-2 by Wheeler. K-2 and K-25 then overlapped from Wheeler to St Francis. In St Francis the two routes split, and K-25 headed north and soon crossed into Nebraska. The county engineer of Morton County ordered signs in January 1926. By 1927, the highway was renumbered as K-27. Also, US-340 was renumbered to US-40S and US-40 was renumbered to US-40N.
### Realignments
In a July 23, 1935 resolution, the alignment of K-27 was straightened to eliminate sharp curves, within Sharon Springs. On June 6, 1936, it was approved to slightly realign K-27 in Stanton in Stanton County. In a January 26, 1937 state highway commission meeting, it was approved to realign K-27 where it crosses the Smoky Hill River, in order to eliminate a bad drainage condition caused by several small branches converging with the main river. Between February 1937 and January 1938, US-270 was extended into Kansas, and overlapped K-27 from Johnson north to US-50 in Syracuse, where it terminated. KDOT requested that US-270 be extended north along K-27 to I-70 south of Goodland. This request was denied by the American Association of State Highway Officials in an October 14, 1967 meeting. In a November 14, 1980 AASHTO meeting, a request by KDOT was approved to truncate US-270 to its current terminus in Liberal. Then in a May 18, 1981 state highway commission meeting, it was approved by the state to truncate US-270 to Liberal and the designation was removed from K-27. In a March 20, 1937 resolution, the intersection with K-96 in tribune was reconstructed. On March 18, 1940, it was approved to slightly realign K-27 within Richfield and Stanton in Morton County, to eliminate several sharp curves. Before 1950, K-27 zigzagged from St. Francis northwestward. Then in an August 10, 1950 resolution, the overlap with US-36 was extended 1.5 miles (2.4 km) west from St Francis then turned north for about six miles (9.7 km) then turned west, which eliminated 13 sharp curves. On September 27, 1950, the state highway commission approved to realign K-27 in Goodland. Then in an October 14, 1953 resolution, the latter K-27 realignment was moved further northward to run along 8th Street in Goodland. This new alignment was completed by 1954. Then by 1970, it was realigned in Goodland again to its modern-day alignment.
On June 2, 1954, it was approved to slightly straighten the alignment of K-27, slightly south of the Nebraska border, to eliminate several sharp curves. In an April 27, 1955 resolution, K-27 was extended from Elkart, 0.33 miles (0.53 km) south to the Oklahoma border, where it continued as Oklahoma Highway 95.
In a November 14, 1956 resolution, a 0.276-mile-long (0.444 km) connector road was built from K-27 east to US-56, and designated as K-127. K-127 was decommissioned by 1959, as the city of Elkhart had annexed all the land around the highway, which is against Kansas law.
In a June 7, 1966 State Highway Commission meeting, the interchange with I-70 was designated, K-27 Spur was designated, and US-24 was realigned to overlap the new I-70. Then in an April 1, 1981 resolution, K-27 Spur was renumbered to US-24 Business in Goodland. On a May 3, 1996, the state approved to extend US-400 west, and was added to the overlap with US-50 in Syracuse. Before 2004, K-27 travelled through the west side of Elkhart to the Oklahoma border. On May 21, 2004, KDOT approved to realign K-27 north of Elkhart. The new 1.902-mile-long (3.061 km) realignment intersected US-56 northeast of Elkhart. In a December 22, 2015 resolution, the highway was realigned south of Sharon Springs, where it crossed Rose Creek and North Fork Rose Creek.
## Major intersections
## K-27 Spur
K-27 Spur was a 2.902-mile-long (4.670 km) connection between K-27 and I-70 / US 24 in Goodland. In a June 7, 1966 resolution, when US-24 was moved onto I-70, and K-27 Spur was designated along the old alignment of US-24. K-27 Spur was decommissioned in an April 1, 1981 resolution, and became a part of US-24 Business.
### Major junctions
## See also
- List of state highways in Kansas
- List of state highway spurs in Kansas
|
50,491,086 |
Al-Rahba
| 1,126,621,124 |
Ruined castle in Syria
|
[
"1207 establishments in Asia",
"9th-century establishments in the Abbasid Caliphate",
"Archaeological sites in Deir ez-Zor Governorate",
"Ayyubid architecture in Syria",
"Buildings and structures completed in the 9th century",
"Buildings and structures in Deir ez-Zor Governorate",
"Castles in Syria",
"Former populated places in Syria",
"Ruined castles in Syria"
] |
Al-Rahba (/ALA-LC: al-Raḥba, sometimes spelled Raḥabah), also known as Qal'at al-Rahba, which translates as the "Citadel of al-Rahba", is a medieval Arab fortress on the west bank of the Euphrates River, adjacent to the city of Mayadin in Syria. Situated atop a mound with an elevation of 244 meters (801 ft), al-Rahba oversees the Syrian Desert steppe. It has been described as "a fortress within a fortress"; it consists of an inner keep measuring 60 by 30 meters (197 ft × 98 ft), protected by an enclosure measuring 270 by 95 meters (886 ft × 312 ft). Al-Rahba is largely in ruins today as a result of wind erosion.
The original site, which was known as "Rahbat Malik ibn Tawk" after its Abbasid namesake and founder, was located along the Euphrates. It was viewed by Muslim armies, caravans and travelers as the key to Syria from Iraq and sometimes vice versa. Bedouin tribes often took control of it and used it as a launching point for invasions of northern Syria. Because of its strategic location, al-Rahba was frequently fought over by Muslim powers, including local lords, the Hamdanids, the Uqaylids, the Mirdasids and the Seljuks, among others. Rahbat Malik ibn Tawk was destroyed in an earthquake in 1157.
A few years later, the current fortress was built close to the desert edge by the Zengid–Ayyubid lord Shirkuh. The latter's descendants held al-Rahba as a hereditary fief granted by Saladin until 1264. One of them, Shirkuh II, oversaw a third major reconstruction in 1207. Through the early Mamluk era (late 13th–14th centuries), the fortress was continuously restored and strengthened as a result of frequent sieges by the Ilkhanid Mongols of Iraq. Al-Rahba was the most important Mamluk fortress along the Euphrates, an administrative center and the terminal stop on the sultanate's postal route. It fell into disuse during Ottoman rule (1517–1918) and from then until the early 20th century, the fortress primarily served as a shelter for local shepherds and their flocks. Excavations were carried out at the site between 1976 and 1981.
## Location and etymology
Throughout Islamic history, al-Rahba was considered, in the words of the 14th-century traveler Ibn Batuta, "the end of Iraq and the beginning of al-Sham [Syria]". The fortress is located about 4 kilometers (2.5 mi) southwest of the Euphrates River, 1 kilometer (0.62 mi) southwest of the modern Syrian city of Mayadin, and 42 kilometers (26 mi) southeast of Dayr az-Zawr, capital of the Dayr az-Zawr Governorate, of which al-Rahba is part. According to the 13th-century geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi, the site's name, al-raḥba, translates from Arabic as the "flat part of a wadi, where the water collects"; al-Rahba's original location was on the western bank of the Euphrates. The current fortress is situated on an artificial mound detached from the plateau of the Syrian Desert to its west. Its elevation is 244 meters (801 ft) above sea level.
## History
### Rahbat Malik ibn Tawk
#### Founding
According to historian Thierry Bianquis, "Hardly anything definite is known about the history of the town [al-Rahba] before the Muslim era." Medieval Talmudic and Syriac writers (such as Michael the Syrian and Bar Hebraeus) identified it with the Biblical town of Rehobot han-Nahar ("Rehobot by the river [Euphrates]"). Some medieval Muslim historians, among them al-Tabari, have written that it was a place called "Furda" or "Furdat Nu'm", named after a monastery that supposedly existed in its vicinity called "Dayr Nu'm". However, the 9th-century Persian historian al-Baladhuri asserts that there was "no trace that ar-Rahba ... was an old city", and that it was first founded by the Abbasid general Malik ibn Tawk during the reign of Caliph al-Ma'mun (813–833 CE). As such, the fortress town was often referred to as "Rahbat Malik ibn Tawk" by Muslim historians. According to Syrian historian Suhayl Zakkar, al-Rahba held significant strategic value as it was "the key to Syria and sometimes to Iraq" and it was the first stop for Syria-bound caravans coming from Iraq. From al-Rahba, travelers, caravans and armies could proceed northwestward along the Euphrates route to Aleppo or traverse the desert route to Damascus. Because of its strategic value, it was frequently fought over by rival Muslim powers. Bedouin tribes in particular used al-Rahba as a main launch point for invasions of northern Syria, and as a safe haven and marketplace. Malik ibn Tawk served as its first lord, and after his death in 873, he was succeeded by his son Ahmad. The latter was expelled following al-Rahba's capture in 883 by the Abbasid lord of al-Anbar, Muhammad ibn Abi'l-Saj. By the 10th century, al-Rahba had become a large town.
In 903, the Qarmatian leader al-Husayn ibn Zikrawayh was imprisoned in al-Rahba before being transferred to Caliph al-Mustakfi's custody in Raqqa. At the time, al-Rahba was the center of the Euphrates province and headquarters of its governor, Ibn Sima. Al-Husayn was executed, prompting his partisans from the Banu Ullays tribe to submit to Ibn Sima in al-Rahba in early 904. However, shortly after, they turned against Ibn Sima, whose forces routed them in an ambush in al-Rahba's environs in August. Following further battles, Ibn Sima received another round of surrenders by Qarmatian chieftains and da'is (Ismaili religious leaders). In March 928, the Qarmatians under Abu Tahir al-Jannabi conquered al-Rahba and massacred scores of its inhabitants during their invasion of Iraq. Its residents faced hardships for several more years due to civil strife in the surrounding region. Peace was established in 942 with the arrival of an Abbasid commander named Adl who was dispatched by Bajkam, the strongman of the Baghdad-based caliphate. Adl subsequently became governor of the Euphrates and Khabur valley regions.
#### Hamdanid period
Al-Rahba came under Hamdanid rule a few years later, becoming part of the Euphrates district (tariq al-Furat) of the Mosul-based emirate. At the time, the town was described by the Persian geographer al-Istakhri, as being larger than the ancient Circesium on the opposite side of the Euphrates. The lord of al-Rahba, Jaman, rebelled against the Hamdanid emir of Mosul, Nasir al-Dawla (r. 929–968/9). Jaman fled the town and drowned in the Euphrates, but not before al-Rahba was heavily damaged in the rebellion's suppression. Nasir al-Dawla granted his favored son, Abu'l-Muzzafar Hamdan, control of al-Rahba, its district of Diyar Mudar, and the district's revenues.
Nasir al-Dawla's sons contested control of al-Rahba in the aftermath of their father's deposition in 969. It ultimately passed to his son Abu Taghlib when his brother and subordinate commander, Hibat-Allah, captured it from Hamdan in a surprise attack. Abu Taghlib had al-Rahba's walls rebuilt. He restored al-Rahba to Hamdan to preempt the possibility of his Buyid enemy, Izz al-Dawla al-Bakhtiyar, forming an alliance with Hamdan to undermine Abu Taghlib. The Hamdanids lost control of al-Rahba in 978, after which it was captured by the Buyid emir 'Adud al-Dawla (r. 949–983). In 991, al-Rahba's inhabitants requested and received a governor assigned by 'Adud's son, Emir Baha' al-Dawla (r. 988–1012). The town was described by Jerusalemite geographer al-Muqaddasi in the late 10th century as being the center of the Euphrates district, located on the edge of the desert, having a semi-circular layout and being defended by a strong fortress. He also noted that the wider vicinity was characterized by highly irrigated and productive lands, with abundant date palms and quince groves.
#### Uqaylid and Mirdasid period
In the early 11th century, control of al-Rahba was contested between the Uqaylids of Mosul and the Fatimids of Egypt. Preceding this conflict, the Fatimid caliph al-Hakim appointed a member of the Al Khafajah tribe, Abu Ali ibn Thimal, as lord of al-Rahba. Abu Ali was killed in 1008/09 during a battle with his Uqaylid rivals led by Isa ibn Khalat. The latter lost al-Rahba to another Uqaylid emir, Badran ibn al-Muqallad. The latter's victory was short-lived as the Fatimid emir of Damascus, Lu'lu, soon captured both al-Rahba and Raqqa, a fortified city to the northwest. He appointed a governor for al-Rahba and returned to Damascus.
A wealthy resident of al-Rahba, Ibn Mahkan, revolted against the Fatimids and took control of the town shortly after Lu'lu departed. Though able to oust the Fatimid governor, Ibn Mahkan was unable to hold the town without outside support since al-Rahba was located amid the crossroads of several regional powers who coveted the town. Thus, he gained the backing of the Mirdasid emir of the Banu Kilab tribe, Salih ibn Mirdas. Conflict arose between Ibn Mahkan and Salih leading the latter to besiege al-Rahba. The two reconciled and then Ibn Mahkan and his men captured the fortified town of Anah in Anbar. However, when Ibn Mahkan sought Salih's support in suppressing a revolt in Anah, the latter used the opportunity to kill Ibn Mahkan.
After eliminating Ibn Mahkan, Salih became the lord of al-Rahba, and made his allegiance with the Fatimids. Al-Rahba was the first major territory Salih held and was the touchstone of the emirate he would establish in Aleppo and much of northern Syria. His son Thimal later succeeded him as emir of Aleppo, and al-Rahba became his principal power base from which many of his wazirs (advisers or ministers) originated. He was later compelled by the Fatimids to hand over al-Rahba to their ally Arslan al-Basasiri, a Turkish general who revolted against his Seljuk masters and the Abbasid Caliphate. The ceding of al-Rahba to al-Basasiri was the first step in Thimal's loss of the Mirdasid emirate. Together with the loss of Raqqa, it provoked dissension within the Banu Kilab, with Thimal's brother Atiyya resolving to restore the Mirdasid emirate. Al-Basasiri's revolt ultimately failed and he was killed in 1059, prompting Atiyya to capture al-Rahba in April 1060. Later, in August 1061, Atiyya successfully defended al-Rahba from Numayrid advances.
The Mirdasids lost al-Rahba in 1067 to the Uqaylid emir, Sharaf ad-Dawla, a vassal of the Abbasid-affiliated Seljuks. Beforehand, Atiyya and part of his army had been in Homs, allowing Sharaf ad-Dawla the opportunity to rout al-Rahba's Banu Kilab defenders. Afterward, the name of the Abbasid caliph was read in the town's khutba (Friday prayer sermons) instead of the Fatimids, a formal recognition of al-Rahba's change of allegiance. In 1086, the Seljuk sultan Malik-Shah granted al-Rahba and its Upper Mesopotamian dependencies, Harran, Raqqa, Saruj and Khabur, to Sharaf ad-Dawla's son, Muhammad.
#### Seljuk period
At some point the Seljuks or their Arab allies lost al-Rahba, but in 1093 the Seljuk ruler of Damascus, Tutush captured it along with several other Upper Mesopotamian towns. Following his death, possession of al-Rahba reverted to the Uqaylids, but in 1096, Karbuqa of al-Hillah captured and looted the town. He held onto it until 1102 when Qaymaz, a former mamluk (slave soldier) of the Seljuk sultan Alp Arslan, took control of it. Tutush's son Duqaq and the latter's deputy Tughtakin besieged the town, but failed to capture it. Qaymaz died in December 1102 and al-Rahba passed to one of his Turkish mamluks named Hasan, who dismissed many of Qaymaz's officers and arrested several of al-Rahba's notables due to suspicions of a coup against him. Duqaq renewed the siege, but this time was welcomed in by al-Rahba's townspeople, forcing Hasan to retreat into the citadel. Hasan surrendered after receiving guarantees of safe passage from Duqaq as well as an iqta (fief) elsewhere in Syria. According to the 12th-century chronicler Ibn al-Athir, al-Rahba's inhabitants were treated well by Duqaq, who reorganized the administration of the town, established a garrison there, and assigned to it a governor from the Banu Shayban tribe, Muhammad ibn Sabbak.
Jawali, a general of the Seljuk sultan Muhammad I, conquered al-Rahba from Ibn Sabbak in May 1107, after a month-long siege. Ibn al-Athir recorded that al-Rahba's inhabitants suffered greatly during the siege and that some townsmen informed Jawali of a weak point in the fortress's defense in return for promises of safety. When Jawali entered the town and sacked it, Ibn Sabbak surrendered and joined Jawali's service.
In 1127, the Seljuk lord of Mosul, Izz ad-Din Mas'ud ibn al-Bursuqi besieged and conquered al-Rahba as part of an attempted invasion of Syria. However, he fell ill and died there shortly after. His lordship in Mosul was taken by Imad ad-Din Zengi, while al-Rahba was left under the control of al-Bursuqi's mamluk, al-Jawali, who ruled it as a subordinate of Zengi. Zengi's son Qutb ad-Din captured al-Rahba some years later. In 1149, Qutb ad-Din's brother Nur ad-Din received al-Rahba in Seljuk-sponsored negotiations between the Zengid lords.
### Al-Rahba al-Jadida
#### Ayyubid period
Al-Rahba was destroyed in an earthquake in 1157. Four years later, Nur ad-Din granted the territories of al-Rahba and Homs as a fief to Shirkuh, who had a certain Yusuf ibn Mallah administer it on his behalf. According to the 14th-century Ayyubid historian, Abu'l-Fida, Shirkuh rebuilt al-Rahba. Abu'l-Fida's assertion may have been incorrect or the fortress built by Shirkuh fell into a ruinous state at some point before the century's end. In any case, the new fortress, which became known as "al-Rahba al-Jadida", was relocated about five kilometers west of the Euphrates' western bank, where the original site, "Rahbat Malik ibn Tawk", had been situated. When Shirkuh died, his territories reverted to Nur ad-Din. However, Shirkuh's nephew and the founder of the Ayyubid Sultanate, Saladin, conquered Nur ad-Din's domains by 1182 and granted Homs and al-Rahba to Shirkuh's son, Nasir ad-Din Muhammad, as a hereditary emirate.
According to the Ayyubid-era chronicler and one-time resident of al-Rahba, Ibn Nazif, the fortress of al-Rahba was rebuilt again by Shirkuh's grandson, al-Mujahid Shirkuh II (r. 1186–1240), in 1207. Al-Rahba was the easternmost fortress of Shirkuh II's Homs-based emirate, and was one of the four principal centers of the emirate, the other three being Homs itself, Salamiyah and Palmyra. He personally oversaw the demolition of al-Rahba's ruins and the construction of the new fortress. Al-Rahba remained in the hands of Shirkuh's descendants until a few years after the annexation of Ayyubid Syria by the Mamluk Sultanate in 1260.
#### Mamluk period
In 1264, the Mamluk sultan Baybars (r. 1260–1277) replaced the Ayyubid governor of al-Rahba with one of his mamluk officers from Egypt. Al-Rahba's garrison and its commander held a high place in the Mamluk military hierarchy. The fortress, along with and al-Bira to the north, emerged as the principal Mamluk bulwark against Mongol invasions of Syria's eastern frontier. It was the Mamluks' most important fortress along the Euphrates, supplanting Raqqa, which had been the traditional Muslim center in the Euphrates valley since the 10th century. A large population of refugees from areas ruled by the Mongols settled in al-Rahba as did many people from the adjacent, unfortified town of Mashhad al-Rahba (former site of Rahbat Malik ibn Tawk, modern-day Mayadin). It was also the terminal stop of the Mamluk barid (postal route) and an administrative center.
Throughout the Ayyubid and Mamluk periods, al-Rahba was situated near the tribal territory of the Al Fadl. About four hundred Al Fadl tribesmen joined the small army of Caliph al-Mustansir, the Egypt-based Abbasid caliph dispatched by Baybars to recapture Baghdad from the Mongols, when he reached al-Rahba. The latter was al-Mustansir's first stop after he rode out from Damascus, but his campaign ultimately failed and he was killed in a Mongol ambush in al-Anbar. The Mongols of Ilkhanid Iraq inflicted significant damage on al-Rahba during their wars with the Mamluks. The fortress was restored by Baybars at some point toward the end of his reign. In 1279, the Mamluk viceroy of Syria, Sunqur al-Ashqar, rebelled against Sultan Qalawun (r. 1279–1290) and took refuge with the Al Fadl chieftain, Isa ibn Muhanna, at al-Rahba, where he requested the intervention of the Mongol ruler Abaqa Khan. When the Mongols could not help him, Sunqur fled the incoming Mamluk army, while Isa barricaded himself in the fortress. The Mongols' failure to capture al-Rahba after a month-long siege commanded by the Ilkhanid ruler Öljaitü in 1312/13 marked the Ilkhanate's final attempt to invade Mamluk Syria. Isa's son Muhanna rebelled against Sultan an-Nasir Muhammad (r. 1310–1341) in 1320, and was pursued by the Mamluk army as far al-Rahba. During the ensuing confrontation, the fortress may have been destroyed.
#### Ottoman era
Under the Ottomans, who conquered Syria and Iraq in the early 16th century, al-Rahba's military use apparently diminished. During the Middle Ages, the road between Palmyra and al-Rahba was the most important Syrian desert route, but its importance declined during Ottoman rule. From then on, al-Rahba was mostly used as a shelter for shepherds from nearby villages and their flocks. In 1588, it was visited by the Venetian traveler Gasparo Balbi, who noted a dilapidated fortress and inhabitants known as "Rahabi" living below it. The French traveler, Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, mentioned Mashhad Rahba, 9.7 kilometres (6.0 mi) southwest of the fortress, during his travels there in circa 1632. The town did serve as the centre of the Ottoman sancak (province) of Deyr-Rahbe, which also encompassed Deir ez-Zor. For much of the sixteenth to eighteenth century, it was held by emirs of the Al Abu Risha, descendants of the Al Fadl emirs, who were appointed both as Ottoman governors and as çöl beyis (desert emirs). In 1797, French traveler Guillaume-Antoine Olivier passed by al-Rahba, mentioning that it was a fortress and a ruined site.
## Excavations
The fortress has deteriorated considerably as a result of erosion. Excavations were carried out at al-Rahba, including the presumed site of Rahbat Malik ibn Tawk along the Euphrates bank, between 1976 and 1981 under the auspices of Syria's General Directorate of Antiquities and Museums, the Institut Français d'Etudes Arabes de Damas and the University of Lyon II. In later years, surveys of the site and the surrounding desert and Euphrates and Khabur valleys were carried out by multi-disciplinary teams of Syrian, American and European archaeologists. One of the French surveyors, J. L. Paillet, sketched the plans and elevations of the fortress, which are detailed in his 1983 dissertation, Le château de Rahba, étude d'architecture militaire islamique médiévale.
Excavations at the foot of the fortress between 1976 and 1978 revealed a medieval settlement within a quadrangular enclosure, some of whose walls measured up to 30 meters (98 ft) long and 4 meters (13 ft) high. The walls generally have a thickness of 1 meter (3.3 ft). Among the unearthed structures were the probable remains of a khan (caravanserai), a congregational mosque with a small oratory, and a cavalry barracks. There was also a system of canals that brought in fresh water and emptied sewage. Among the artifacts found at the fortress and the former settlement beneath it were pottery sherds and coins (mostly Mamluk and a few Ayyubid) and numerous feather fletches belonging to arrows left over by Mongol besiegers. During the ongoing Syrian Civil War, looting and illegal digging for antiquities have occurred at al-Rahba. Affected areas include the fortress's storage rooms and courtyards, as well as the medieval settlement at its foot.
## Architecture
### Specifications and components
The citadel of al-Rahba is described by historian Janusz Bylinski as "a fortress within a fortress". Its core consists of a four-story, pentagon-shaped keep, roughly measuring 60 by 30 meters (197 ft × 98 ft). The keep is enclosed by a pentagon-shaped wall, roughly measuring 270 by 95 meters (886 ft × 312 ft). The outer wall's shape was described by Paillet as a triangle with its two parallel angles having been chamfered and substituted with short curtain walls. Around the artificial mound upon which the fortress sits is a moat with a depth of 22 meters (72 ft) and a width of 80 meters (260 ft). Al-Rahba's moat is considerably deeper than the Ayyubid-era desert fortresses of Palmyra and Shumaimis. A large cistern makes up the lowest floor of the keep.
Several bastions were built along the external walls of the fortress. The western and southeastern sides contained al-Rahba's four largest bastions, with the largest measuring 17.2 by 15.2 meters (56 ft × 50 ft) and the smallest being 12.4 by 12.4 meters (41 ft × 41 ft). These bastions supported heavy defensive artillery. Their height surpassed the towers of Palmyra and Shumaimis probably because the latter forts' locations on isolated hills did not necessitate "state of the art defensive artillery", according to Bylinski. By contrast, at al-Rahba, enemy siege engines could be placed at the close-by plateaus, which were almost at level with the fortress. Al-Rahba's smallest bastion is on its northern, less vulnerable wall and measures 5.2 by 4.4 meters (17 ft × 14 ft).
Both the external walls and those around the keep were fitted with merlons and parapets, with the parapets of the keep positioned 6.5 meters higher than their counterparts along the external wall. This was done to establish a secondary defensive line that enabled the building's defenders to shoot arrows at attackers who breached the external walls. The core building was linked to the external fortifications by corridors and chambers.
### Construction phases
Though large parts of the building are in ruins, excavations have determined that al-Rahba went through at least eight undated construction phases probably starting from the early Ayyubid period. For the most part, each phase utilized different architectural techniques and fortification concepts, and none of the phases affected the entire extent of the building at one time. One common theme of the phases was the restoration or strengthening of al-Rahba's western and southeastern sides, which faced the desert plateau and were the most exposed areas of the fortress. In contrast, the northern side facing the population centers remained largely unchanged.
The first phase saw the walls built with mudbrick, a very common feature of Euphrates-area structures. Although the shape of the building after its initial phase cannot be determined, Paillet presumes that its size likely corresponded to that of the current building. The small salient bastion that juts out of the northern wall dates to the first phase.
The second phase of construction added three salient bastions, each of which were over twice the size of the northern bastion. The new bastions were placed along the part of al-Rahba's citadel that faced the desert to the west. The builders in the second phase also reinforced al-Rahba's walls with roughly cut conglomerate blocks fixed together by high-quality mortar. In the third phase, higher quality mudbrick was used, the western curtain wall was elevated and the southwestern curtain wall was replaced and decorated with bands of Arabic inscriptions. In addition, a large, brick dome was built atop the ground-level chamber of the northwestern bastion. The external walls of the fortress reached their final form during the third phase, though there would be further restorations in later decades.
In the fourth phase, low-lying casemates were added to the western and southwestern curtains to provide an additional platform for al-Rahba's defenders to use. The walls, particularly on the eastern side, were reinforced in the fifth phase, which Paillet attributes to the efforts of Shirkuh II and his Ayyubid contemporaries to strengthen the fortresses of Syria. The building technique used in this phase likely necessitated significant funds, equipment and technical expertise. Several changes were made including the southeastern tower being rebuilt and the northeastern tower being reinforced by an additional wall and a vaulted story. Moreover, the northern slope of the outer wall was further strengthened with a glacis built from large conglomerate blocks. A building in the center of al-Rahba was erected during this phase, likely replacing an older structure or a courtyard.
The last major building phase was the sixth, which saw the restoration of the eastern and western external walls after they were severely damaged by Mongol besiegers. A northeastern salient bastion, much smaller than the eastern and western bastions, was also built. Masonry from the fifth phase was reused for the reconstruction along with new gypsum, limestone and other materials. The seventh and eighth phases both consisted of heightening al-Rahba's western external walls.
|
2,226,284 |
Al-Amir bi-Ahkam Allah
| 1,173,738,407 |
Fatimid caliph and imam (1096–1130)
|
[
"1096 births",
"1130 deaths",
"12th-century Fatimid caliphs",
"12th-century murdered monarchs",
"Egyptian Ismailis",
"Muslims of the Crusades",
"Musta'li imams",
"Sons of Fatimid caliphs",
"Victims of the Order of Assassins"
] |
Abū ʿAlī al-Manṣūr ibn al-Mustaʿlī (Arabic: أبو علي المنصور بن المستعلي; 31 December 1096 – 7 October 1130), better known by his regnal name al-Āmir bi-Aḥkām Allāh (الآمر بأحكام الله, 'The Ruler Who Executes God's Decrees') was the tenth Fatimid caliph, and the 20th imam of the Musta'li Isma'ili sect of Shia Islam, from 1101 to his death in 1130. Until 1121, he was a de facto puppet of his uncle and father-in-law, the vizier al-Afdal Shahanshah. When the latter was murdered, possibly with al-Amir's connivance, he appointed al-Ma'mun al-Bata'ihi as his vizier, but took an increasing direct role in government, and after 1125 ruled without a vizier. His reign saw the progressive loss of all Fatimid strongholds in Palestine to the Crusaders, apart from Ascalon. His assassination in 1130, leaving only his infant son al-Tayyib as heir, threw the Fatimid regime into a succession struggle during which it almost collapsed. Fatimid rule was restored with the succession of al-Amir's cousin al-Hafiz li-Din Allah in 1132, which led to the division of Musta'li Isma'ilism into the rival Hafizi and Tayyibi branches.
## Life
The future al-Amir was born on 31 December 1096 as Mansur, the oldest son of the ninth Fatimid imam-caliph, al-Musta'li (r. 1094–1101). His mother was a sister of the all-powerful vizier, al-Afdal Shahanshah, who had raised al-Musta'li to the throne in 1094 and was the de facto ruler of the Fatimid state.
### Reign under al-Afdal's tutelage
Al-Musta'li died on 11 December 1101, and on the same day, at the age of five, al-Amir was proclaimed caliph by al-Afdal. Al-Afdal was already al-Amir's maternal uncle, and further strengthened the familial ties with the young caliph by marrying him to his own daughter. This was a departure from usual practice, as the Fatimid caliphs had until then had children with concubines and never legally wed. The formal marriage was evidently an attempt by al-Afdal to secure the succession of any progeny of this union over other children of the caliph. A decree, dictated by al-Afdal, renewed his appointment as vizier with plenipotentiary powers and ensured his ascendancy over the child-caliph. The first twenty years of al-Amir's reign were thus dominated by al-Afdal, who controlled government and restricted al-Amir to a few ceremonial duties.
Under al-Afdal's rule, the Fatimid state was chiefly occupied with the conflict with the Crusaders of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. This holy war also served as the main legitimization device for al-Afdal's rule and for the dynasty itself. During the previous decade, both the Fatimid state (the dawla) and the Fatimid Isma'ili mission (the da'wa) had suffered setbacks: much of the Levant had been lost to the Sunni Seljuk Turks, while al-Afdal's coup that installed al-Musta'li on the throne resulted in the breaking away of the Nizari Isma'ilis from Fatimid allegiance. As the historian Michael Brett writes, the struggle against the Crusaders "had given the dynasty fresh purpose". Despite al-Afdal's continuous campaigns, most of Palestine was lost to the Crusaders, along with the Levantine coastal cities of Tartus (1102), Acre (1103), Tripoli (1109), and Sidon (1111). Egypt itself was briefly invaded by King Baldwin I of Jerusalem in 1117. The Fatimids largely fell back on the coastal city of Ascalon, which developed into a major fortress and outpost (ribat) of the holy war: for the next half-century it was to remain a centre for raids against the Crusader territories, and a guard of the route from Palestine into Egypt. Medieval Muslim historians often blame al-Amir for these disasters, but in reality he played no role in the Fatimid government during those years.
### Vizierate of al-Ma'mun al-Bata'ihi
Al-Afdal's tutelage ended with his assassination on 11 December 1121, on the eve of the Eid al-Fitr. The deed was officially blamed on Nizari agents, but both medieval historians and modern scholars are skeptical: given his own resentment at the subordinate figurehead role to which al-Afdal had relegated him, al-Amir is suspected of having been the true instigator of the assassination.
While engaging in a public display of grief for his vizier and father-in-law and arranging a public burial ceremony in the caliphal palace, al-Amir moved quickly to imprison al-Afdal's sons and confiscate al-Afdal's enormous fortune, houses, and estates, while the moveable items were brought from the vizieral palace to his own palace. During their long rule over Egypt as quasi-sultans, al-Afdal and his father, Badr al-Jamali, had accumulated an enormous treasure, "the extent of which no one knew apart from God", according to the 13th-century encyclopaedist Ibn Khallikan. It was considered to have been larger than that of any previous king, and it took forty days to move it.
As al-Amir had been left out of government and was unfamiliar with its intricacies, he selected al-Afdal's long-time chief of staff, al-Qa'id al-Bata'ihi, as vizier. The sources that blame al-Amir for al-Afdal's murder also implicate the ambitious al-Bata'ihi in the deed, or at least in concealing al-Afdal's death until al-Amir could arrive at the vizieral palace to designate al-Bata'ihi as al-Afdal's successor. After supervising the transfer of al-Afdal's treasures, al-Bata'ihi was formally proclaimed vizier on 13 February 1122, and given the honorific al-Ma'mun ('the trusted one'), by which he is known.
Al-Bata'ihi formally assumed the same plenipotentiary powers that al-Afdal had possessed, and was a capable administrator, but his position was much weaker vis-à-vis the caliph than his old master's: al-Amir resumed many of the old caliphal functions that al-Afdal had arrogated to himself, and he henceforth had a voice in government. Most importantly, al-Amir ensured that all tax income and precious textiles would be kept in the caliphal palace, and distributed from there. As ruler, al-Amir is portrayed in the sources as "unusually intelligent and knowledgeable", and was said to have memorized the Quran.
In the aftermath of the assassination of al-Afdal, the threat of the Nizaris, who were implacably hostile to the rule of al-Amir and his father, was a major concern of the government, in view of the widespread network of agents they had established. In December 1122 al-Amir convened a meeting of officials in Cairo in which the Nizari claims to the imamate were publicly denounced, and the legitimacy of the Musta'li claims affirmed. A proclamation to that effect, the al-Hidaya al-Amiriyya, was issued on this occasion and has been preserved to the present day. Al-Amir also paid attention to courting the remaining pro-Fatimid Musta'li communities abroad, especially in Yemen, where he sent rich gifts to the Sulayhid queen Arwa bint Ahmad in 1123. In the same year, the Zirid emir of Ifriqiya, Abu'l-Hasan al-Hasan ibn Ali, also sent envoys to Cairo to announce his return to recognizing Fatimid suzerainty, and sought Fatimid assistance in repelling a possible Norman invasion.
In 1123, the Luwata Berbers invaded Egypt and reached as far as Alexandria, before they were driven back by al-Ma'mun. The war against the Crusaders continued with the loss of Tyre in 1124.
### Personal rule
By 1125, al-Amir began to resent al-Ma'mun's attempts to restrict his authority, and in October 1125 had him, his brother, and his chief aides arrested. They were executed in 1128. Instead of appointing a new vizier, al-Amir now ruled in person, relying on the heads of the various administrative departments for governance. One of them, the Christian Abu Najah ibn Fanna, quickly rose to prominence due to his ability to provide the caliph with money through confiscations from Christians, Jews, and eventually Muslims as well. His ascendancy lasted for three years before he was denounced, arrested, and executed. Having ignored the matter for so long, al-Amir's own reputation was left tarnished from the affair, as well as from his extravagance and profligacy: it is said that the palace consumed 5,000 sheep per month, and the rich gifts he made to his favourites were unfavourably remarked upon.
In February/March 1130, al-Amir finally had a son, who was named al-Tayyib. His birth was celebrated with public festivals, and letters were sent abroad announcing his birth, and his designation as successor.
### Murder and aftermath
On 7 October 1130, al-Amir was assassinated by Nizari agents. He left only his six-month-old son, al-Tayyib, to succeed him, with no designated regent or serving vizier. Al-Amir's murder not only undid his attempts to once again concentrate power in the caliph's hands instead of over-mighty generals and ministers, but also, given the fragility of succession, endangered the very survival of the Fatimid dynasty.
Al-Tayyib was quickly sidelined, and his fate is unknown; it is unclear whether he died in infancy or was killed. A new regime was installed under the regency of al-Amir's cousin, Abd al-Majid, which at first claimed to rule in the name of an unborn son by one of al-Amir's concubines. Within a fortnight, an army mutiny brought al-Afdal's last surviving son, Kutayfat, to power. Kutayfat abolished the Fatimid imamate and imprisoned Abd al-Majid, but was himself assassinated by Fatimid loyalists in December 1131. With no other heir available, Abd al-Majid took over as imam and caliph with the regnal name al-Hafiz li-Din Allah in January 1132, proclaiming that he had secretly received the designation by al-Amir before he had died.
Al-Hafiz' succession broke a continuous line of father-to-son succession of ten generations, something extremely rare in the Islamic world and much remarked upon by medieval authors. Al-Hafiz' accession thus represented an unprecedented departure from the accepted norm, and caused yet another schism in Isma'ilism, as the Musta'li sect was divided into those who accepted al-Hafiz's succession (the "Hafizis") and those who did not, upholding instead the imamate of the vanished al-Tayyib (the "Tayyibis"). The Hafizis were mostly concentrated in the Fatimid-controlled territories in Egypt, Nubia, and the Levant, while the Tayyibis resided in the Yemen, where Queen Arwa took up a leading role in forming a separate Tayyibi da'wa that survives to the present day.
The Tayyibis hold that al-Tayyib was entrusted by al-Amir to a certain Ibn Madyan, and that Ibn Madyan and his helpers hid the infant when Kutayfat came to power. Ibn Madyan was killed by Kutayfat, but his brother-in-law escaped with al-Tayyib, who went into concealment. Al-Tayyib is held to have died while still in concealment, and his offspring have continued as hidden imams to the present day. The public leadership of the Tayyibi community was instead assumed by a succession of 'absolute missionaries' (da'i al-mutlaq).
## See also
- List of Ismaili imams
- Lists of rulers of Egypt
|
71,524,033 |
Twenty (concert)
| 1,163,411,957 |
2006 concert by Regine Velasquez
|
[
"2006 concert tours",
"Regine Velasquez concert tours"
] |
Twenty (also stylized as 20) was an arena concert by Filipino entertainer Regine Velasquez. It was announced in September 2006 and held on two consecutive nights in October 2006 at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City. Its concept and name is a reference to the 20th anniversary since her professional debut in 1986. The staging resembled a Roman colosseum connected by a grand staircase extending from the upper box gallery. The setlist predominantly contained songs taken from Velasquez's discography and various covers. The show was produced by Aria Productions, with GMA Network as its broadcast partner. Ronnie Henares served as stage director and Raul Mitra as musical director. Guest conductors were featured, including Louie Ocampo and Gerard Salonga, backed by the 60-member ensemble of the Manila Philharmonic Orchestra. It received positive reviews from music critics, who praised Velasquez's vocals and the production.
## Background and development
Regine Velasquez's career began with a record deal with OctoArts International and the release of her single "Love Me Again" in 1986. Initially introduced as Chona, she appeared on the variety show The Penthouse Live! and caught the attention of Ronnie Henares, a producer and talent manager who signed her to a management deal. She later adopted the stage name Regine at the suggestion of The Penthouse Live! host Martin Nievera. In 1996, Velasquez staged a show, named Isang Pasasalamat, at UPD's Sunken Garden to commemorate her then-ten-year-career.
On September 24, 2006, the Philippine Daily Inquirer published that Velasquez would headline a two-night concert to celebrate the 20th anniversary since her career debut. The show, titled Twenty, would be staged at the Araneta Coliseum on October 13–14 and exclusively promoted by Aria Productions. Velasquez stated, "It's a concert for the fans who have been with me for two decades. I will sing songs that are memorable, not only to me but also to my supporters." She further said that it was vital for her to challenge herself and still be passionate on every project:
> It's true ... about my having changed my repertoire for the concert three times. And it's all because in the first two line-ups, I included a lot of songs, which I thought were people's favorites, not necessarily mine. But afterward, I realized, in all my concerts in the past I sang what I felt were peoples favorites. So, for the first time, let me sing songs that are my favorites and which had something to do with my career and my life at one time or another.
At the behest of Velasquez, Henares was tapped as the show's stage director, which marked their first collaboration since parting ways in 2003. Describing his involvement in the production as a "big honor", he said, "I've seen her grow and mature as a performer. She has not changed much but she has so much passion in her music now compared [to] before. And when it comes to giving ideas about her concert, she's really good at it. All I have to do is just put Regine's ideas into place." Raul Mitra served as musical director, accompanied by the 60-member ensemble of the Manila Philharmonic Orchestra. Several guest conductors also made special appearances during the show, including Louie Ocampo, Gerard Salonga, Mark Lopez, and Mon Faustino. The stage set up was built to resemble a Roman colosseum and featured a grand staircase extending from the upper box gallery.
## Synopsis and reception
The concert opened with Velasquez performing an operetta musical number telling the story of her career beginnings, before transitioning to "Narito Ako". Shortly after, she began a medley of "Hot Stuff" and "Shake Your Groove Thing" which contained samples of The Pussycat Dolls's "Buttons" and Don't Cha. She followed this with a performance of "Shine" and continued with an orchestral arrangement of "On the Wings of Love". For the next number, Velasquez sang the movie theme song "Music of Goodbye" while aerialists performed acrobatics. She then introduced conductor Louie Ocampo and began with "What Kind of Fool Am I?". The segment ended with Velasquez joined by various male singers as they sang a medley of her duets.
The setlist continued with guest conductor Mon Faustino at the helm of Velasquez's performance of "Sana Maulit Muli". Next, she began a Ogie Alcasid tribute number, before continuing with "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing". During the performance of "Love Me Again", Velasquez was joined by conductor Gerard Salonga. She spoke briefly to the crowd and thanked her parents, before performing Didith Reyes's "Bakit Ako Mahihiya" and a medley of songs she performed in talent competitions, including "You'll Never Walk Alone" and "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going". After singing "Till I Met You", Velasquez closed the show with an encore performance of "The Greatest Love of All" and "I Believe".
The concert was met with a positive response from critics, who praised Velasquez's vocal abilities and the production. The Philippine Daily Inquirer's Ronald Mangubat described the show as "well-conceptualized" and "highly entertaining". He praised Velasquez's "bravura belting" and ability to sing "high notes with relative ease". He concluded, "[She did] what some singers failed to achieve—establish a strong connection to her audience". Jojo Panaligan from the Manila Bulletin wrote, "Regine has reached twenty years in the business because others, from past to present, could only approximate the power and impact of her voice. If this goes on, then so will she."
The concert was aired as a television special on GMA Network in 2006. Velasquez was named Best Female Major Concert Act and Entertainer of the Year at 20th Aliw Awards for the production.
## Set list
This set list is adapted from the television special Twenty.
1. "Nais Ko" / "Narito Ako"
2. "Hot Stuff" / "Shake Your Groove Thing"
3. "Shine"
4. "On the Wings of Love"
5. "Music of Goodbye"
6. "What Kind of Fool Am I?"
7. "Please Be Careful with My Heart" / "Forever" / "It's Hard to Say Goodbye" / "Magkasuyo Buong Gabi" / "In Love with You" / "Hanggang Ngayon" / "Muli"
8. "Sana Maulit Muli"
9. "Kailangan Kita" / "Ikaw Lamang"
10. "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing"
11. "Love Me Again"
12. "Bakit Ako Mahihiya"
13. "In Your Eyes"
14. "You'll Never Walk Alone" / "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going"
15. "Till I Met You"
Encore
1. <li value=16>
"The Greatest Love of All" / "I Believe"
## Personnel
Credits and personnel are adapted from the television special Twenty.
Show
- Wilma Galvante – overall in charge of production
- Ronnie Henares – show direction, staging
- Regine Velasquez – show direction, staging
- Louie Ignacio – television director
- Raul Mitra – musical director
- Juel Balbon – executive producer
- Cacai Velasquez-Mitra – executive producer
- Corazon de Jesus – supervising producer
- Maro Garcia – associate producer
- Cez Urrutia – associate producer
- Hazel Abonita – production manager
- Liza Camus – production manager
- Epoy Isonera – stage manager
- Bodjie Singson – assistant stage manager
- Tess Padiernos – assistant stage director
- Jaime Mejia – lighting
- Jun Bon Rustico – sound engineer
- Mitoy Sta. Ana – set designer
- Rajo Laurel – costume design
- Pepsi Herrera – costume design
- Edwin Tan – costume design
Band
- Manila Philharmonic Orchestra
- U.P. Singing Ambassadors Choir
- Arturo Molina – conductor
- Gerard Salonga – guest conductor
- Louie Ocampo – guest conductor
- Mon Faustino – guest conductor
- Cesar Aguas – guitars
- Meong Pacana – guitars
- Sonny Matias – keyboards
- Bond Samson – keyboards
- Tek Faustino – drums
- Babsie Molina – background vocalist
- Sylvia Macaraeg – background vocalist
- Rene Martinez – background vocalist
## See also
- List of Regine Velasquez live performances
|
41,058,282 |
Al-Kunduri
| 1,169,492,125 |
11th-century Seljuq Vizier (1055 – 1063)
|
[
"1024 births",
"1064 deaths",
"11th-century Iranian people",
"People from Razavi Khorasan Province",
"Viziers of the Seljuk Empire"
] |
Amid al-Mulk Abu Nasr al-Kunduri (Persian: عمیدالملک ابونصر الکندری; 1024 – 29 November 1064), commonly known as al-Kunduri (کندری; also spelled Kunduri), was a Persian bureaucrat, who served as the vizier of the first Seljuk Sultan Tughril (r. 1037–1063) and his nephew Alp Arslan (r. 1063–1072).
Kunduri was born in Kundur. He was recruited into the Seljuk bureaucracy as a secretary, at the suggestion of his teacher, Imam al-Muwaffaq al-Nishapuri. A natural schemer, Kunduri sought to exploit the power and influence over the Seljuk sultan.
Kunduri's first scheme was during his early vizierate when Tughril had tasked him to arrange a marriage between Tughril and a princess from the family of the Khwarazmshah. Instead, Kunduri arranged the marriage for himself. Kunduri subsequently went to Tughril, where he absolved himself by shaving off his beard and castrating himself. While Tughril was preparing a march towards Mosul to fight the local contender al-Basasiri in 1057, Kunduri plotted to install the son of Tughril's wife Altun Jan Khatun, Anushirwan, on the throne. However, the conspirators, including Altun Jan Khatun, quickly dissociated themselves from the conspiracy. Nevertheless, Kunduri was kept as vizier.
Kunduri's third scheme was against the Abbasid caliph al-Qa'im (r. 1031–1075), whom he successfully convinced to accept a marriage between his daughter and Tughril. After the death of Tughril in 1063, Kunduri attempted to install his infant nephew Sulayman (a son of Chaghri Beg) on the throne. It was, however, Chaghri Beg's more competent and elder son Alp Arslan, who ruled Khurasan, that ultimately ascended the throne. Kunduri was initially kept as vizier, but at the instigation of his peer Nizam al-Mulk, Alp Arslan had Kunduri imprisoned on 31 December 1063, and executed the following year, on 29 November 1064. Kunduri was succeeded by Nizam al-Mulk.
## Background
Kunduri was born in around 1024 as the son of a dehqan, possibly of Arab ancestry. His nisba suggests a connection to the profession of selling frankincense. The 12th-century Iranian author Sadr al-Din al-Husayni () says that Kunduri's place of birth is near Turaythith in Quhistan, the southern part of Khurasan. Kunduri has been referred to as a "Khurasani." Along with the poet Abu'l-Qasim Ali Bakharzi, Kunduri was educated in the Khurasanian principal city of Nishapur, by Imam al-Muwaffaq al-Nishapuri.
## Career
### Under Tughril
When the first Seljuk Sultan Tughril (r. 1037–1063) conquered Nishapur in 1038, he told Imam al-Muwaffaq that he wanted a secretary who could speak both fluent Arabic and Persian. The latter recommended Kunduri, who was subsequently appointed a secretary of the chancery. In July or August 1055, Tughril appointed Kunduri as his vizier, thus succeeding Nizam al-Mulk Dihistani. During his vizierate, Kunduri began to assemble a standard Perso-Islamic state and this was continued under the following Seljuk sultans, Alp Arslan (r. 1063–1072) and Malik-Shah I (r. 1072–1092). Kunduri also acted as an interpreter for Tughril, translating Arabic and Persian into Turkic for him. As part of the Seljuk propaganda, Kunduri instructed the poet and dabir (scribe) Ibn Hassul to write an article that criticized the Kitab al-Taji of Ibrahim ibn Hilal al-Sabi, which was composed in 978 as Buyid propaganda, and connected them with the Sasanian ruler Bahram V (r. 420–438). The work of Ibn Hassul, amongst other things, connected the Seljuk family with Tur, a son of the mythological Iranian king Fereydun.
Kunduri sought to exploit the power and influence over the sultan. During his early vizierate, Kunduri was tasked by Tughril to arrange a marriage between Tughril and a princess from the family of the Khwarazmshah. Instead, he arranged the marriage for himself. Kunduri subsequently went to Tughril, where he absolved himself by shaving off his beard and castrating himself. While Tughril was preparing a march towards Mosul to fight the local contender al-Basasiri in 1057, Kunduri plotted to install the son of Tughril's wife Altun Jan Khatun, Anushirwan, on the throne. Seeing that he only had 2,000 soldiers at his departure, Tughril reprimanded Kunduri; "Why did you not inform me so that I could wait until all the men were assembled?"
During the subsequent rebellion of Tughril's half-brother Ibrahim Inal, the sultan requested the aid of Kunduri. Altun Jan initially wanted to help, but was persuaded by Kunduri that their soldiers would desert to Inal and only bolster his forces, in return further weakening Altun Jan and Tughril's army. Kunduri once again attempted to place Anushirwan on the throne, now with the support of Altun Jan, the Abbasid caliph al-Qa'im (r. 1031–1075), as well as the merchants and the leading officials of Baghdad. This plot was opposed by two of Tughril's generals, Umar and Inanjil, who rejected Anushirwan. When Kunduri requested al-Qa'im to announce Anushirwan as sultan, he told him to postpone the plot and secure the city against al-Basasiri. Altun Jan also had a change of heart and instead rejoined Tughril. The following details regarding the plot are unclear. Kunduri and Anushirwan continued to serve under Tughril, fighting alongside him against al-Basasiri, who was killed by a clerk of Kunduri.
Kunduri was a key figure in the negotiations with the reluctant caliph al-Qa'im to arrange a marriage between his daughter and Tughril. According to the Arab scholar Ibn al-Jawzi (died 1201), Kunduri had incited Tughril with this idea to counterbalance the marriage already arranged between Tughril's niece Arslan Khatun and al-Qa'im. Tughril became somewhat obsessed with the idea of marrying an Abbasid princess, perhaps with the aspiration that one of his descendants one day might rule as caliph. Although Kunduri and al-Qa'im seemingly had a friendly relationship, they soon fell out due to the actions of the former. Between May and June 1061, Kunduri and al-Qa'im were in prolonged and resentful negotiations regarding the marriage, with Kunduri at some point even threatening to seize the iqta''' (estates) of the caliph. Between February and March 1062, Kunduri finally convinced al-Qa'im to agree, in exchange for lucrative payment, and on the condition that his daughter was not to leave the caliphal palace. Kunduri ignored the latter term as the caliph's daughter was transported to Tughril's residence in Baghdad. Regardless, the marriage was only nominal and ended abruptly after six months and twenty-three days due to Tughril's death on 4 September 1063.
### Downfall and death
Tughril had no children and thus had nominated his infant nephew Sulayman (a son of Chaghri Beg) as his successor. Kunduri supported this choice, and may have been the one to suggest it to Tughril to greatly expand his authority as the regent of the child. However, Chaghri Beg's more competent and elder son Alp Arslan, who ruled Khurasan, opposed this choice and had the support of the competent bureaucrat Nizam al-Mulk, as well as a powerful army in Khurasan. Kunduri quickly included the name of Sulayman in the khutba (Friday sermon) of the capital of Ray. He subsequently contacted Alp Arslan, threatening him and telling him to be satisfied with dominion over Khurasan. Tughril's cousin Qutalmish also emerged as a contestant for the throne, which led to peace and cooperation between Kunduri and Alp Arslan, who defeated and killed Qutalmish outside Ray. Alp Arslan thus succeeded to the sultanate, and retained Kunduri as vizier. However, at the instigation of Nizam al-Mulk, Alp Arslan had Kunduri imprisoned in Marw-Rud on 31 December 1063 and also had his property confiscated. Nizam al-Mulk was then made the vizier of the sultanate. After approximately a year in prison, Kunduri was murdered by two slave-soldiers sent by Alp Arslan on 29 November 1064. Kunduri's sister took his body to Kundur, where it was buried. Al-Kunduri was survived by a daughter.
## Beliefs
A fervid adherent of the Sunni Islam madhhab (school) of Hanafi, Kunduri included the cursing of the Ash'ari school in the khutba of Nishapur in 1053, which led to distinguished scholars, such as al-Qushayri and al-Juwayni to seek refuge in the Arabian region of Hijaz. Both medieval and modern sources largely agree that the act was political, done so that the Hanafi could occupy high offices. Kunduri seems to have later abandoned his zealotry.
## Legacy and assessment
A prominent figure in the Seljuk realm, Kunduri was praised by contemporary poets, such as Bakharzi. Kunduri composed Arabic poetry, supported the priests and poets of the realm, and was also an active builder. Kunduri was amongst the Iranian figures who helped the Seljuk rulers advance from that of tribal chieftains with limited power to that of "Most Exalted Sultans" (Salāṭīn-i A'ẓam'') with a fully structured court, an Iranian administration, and an obedient partly slave army of multiple ethnicities. However, this transition also alienated the Seljuk sultans from the Turkmen, who, as a result, often rallied around rebellions led by disgruntled Seljuk family members, such as Inal and Qutalmish.
|
23,483,566 |
Hugh Cloberry Christian
| 1,167,926,535 |
Royal Navy officer (1747–1798)
|
[
"1747 births",
"1798 deaths",
"English people of Manx descent",
"Knights Companion of the Order of the Bath",
"People from Cherwell District",
"Royal Navy personnel of the American Revolutionary War",
"Royal Navy personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars",
"Royal Navy rear admirals"
] |
Sir Hugh Cloberry Christian KB (1747 – 23 November 1798) was an officer of the Royal Navy who saw service during the American War of Independence, and the French Revolutionary Wars.
Details of his early life are obscure, but he appears to have served initially in the English Channel and the Mediterranean, before obtaining the rank of captain and going out to North America with Commodore Joshua Rowley. Christian was Rowley's flag-captain on HMS Suffolk for several years, and saw action in several of the naval engagements of the American War of Independence.
Returning to Britain at the end of the war, he spent a period without active employment, before receiving a post as second captain aboard Lord Howe's flagship, the 100-gun HMS Queen Charlotte, during the Spanish Armament. He temporarily left her when the crisis abated, but the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars led to his return to Queen Charlotte. Christian stepped down from her in 1794 to join the Transport Board, and in 1795 was promoted to rear-admiral.
He was made commander-in-chief in the Leeward Islands Station and given the task of transporting a large troop convoy. Twice he attempted the crossing of the Atlantic, and twice he was forced back by severe gales which ravaged his fleet and wrecked a number of the merchant ships in the convoy. He made a third attempt in 1796, and succeeded in shepherding the fleet to its destination. He was then active in using the troops and his naval forces to capture the islands of Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and Grenada, before returning to England. He was made second in command at the Cape of Good Hope in 1797, succeeding to commander-in-chief the following year, and he died while in command there in November 1798.
## Family and early life
Christian, descended from residents of the Isle of Man, was born at Hook Norton, Oxfordshire in 1747. His father, Thomas Christian, was a captain with his own privateer, whilst his mother, Anne Penny was a poet. He followed his father into the navy in 1761, spending time in the English Channel and the Mediterranean, but few details of his early service survive, other than that he took his lieutenant's examination in 1767, and received his commission on 21 January 1771. He married Ann Leigh, resident of the Isle of Wight on 6 March 1775, and was promoted to master and commander in 1778.
## American War of Independence
Christian received a further promotion to flag-captain on 8 December 1778 and took command of the 74-gun HMS Suffolk, flying the broad pennant of Commodore Joshua Rowley. Rowley sailed from Spithead on 25 December in command of a squadron of seven ships of the line, which was part of the fleet under the overall command of Lord Shuldham escorting the trade convoys to the colonies. Rowley and the Suffolk were assigned to the West Indies-bound convoy. The Suffolk arrived in the Leeward Islands on 12 February 1779, and Christian remained with Rowley in the West Indies, serving with Vice-Admiral John Byron at the Battle of Grenada on 6 July 1779. Christian led the van of the British attack, and the Suffolk lost seven killed and 25 wounded. Byron returned to England after this, being replaced by Rear-Admiral Hyde Parker, with Rowley retaining Suffolk as his flagship. Towards the end of 1779 intelligence reached Parker that three French ships had been sighted from Morne Fortune, sailing northward. Parker sent Rowley to intercept them, and after chasing them for several hours, all three were captured. They were revealed to be the 42-gun Fortunée, the 36-gun Blanche and the 28-gun Ellis, with all three being added to the Royal Navy.
Christian was again in action on 18 December, helping to capture and destroy a large French convoy off Martinique, and took part in the engagements off Martinique under Admiral George Rodney in April 1780. Over the three engagements that took place, Suffolk lost one man killed, and 33 wounded. Rowley shifted his flag to the 74-gun HMS Conqueror after these clashes, and Christian was transferred to command the 38-gun HMS Fortunee, the frigate he had helped to capture in 1779. He was present at the Battle of the Chesapeake on 5 September 1781, after which he returned to the West Indies. He and Fortunee formed part of Sir Samuel Hood's fleet, with Christian being present at the Battle of St. Kitts on 25 and 26 January 1782, attached to the centre division. He was still with Rodney's fleet when the Battle of the Saintes was fought against the Comte de Grasse on 9 to 12 April 1782.
## End of the war
Christian sailed north from Jamaica on 21 July 1782 with Admiral Hugh Pigot's fleet, arriving at New York City on 5 September. Returning to Port Royal with Hood's fleet in February the following year, he spent several months cruising in the area. He returned to England with Hood in April 1783, and left active service following the end of the war with the signing of the Treaty of Paris. He presumably did not receive any further employment until the Spanish Armament in 1790, when he is recorded as being appointed as second captain aboard Lord Howe's flagship, the 100-gun HMS Queen Charlotte. The easing of tensions meant that Queen Charlotte was paid off at the end of the year, and Christian again found himself without a ship.
## French Revolutionary Wars
The outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars in early 1793 provided Christian with further employment. Queen Charlotte was recommissioned, and he again became her second captain, still under Lord Howe. He stepped down from his post in August the following year, becoming a commissioner of the Transport Board, and on 1 June 1795 he was advanced to rear-admiral of the blue. He was then appointed commander-in-chief of the Leeward Islands Station in 1796, and was instructed to take a fleet out with a convoy of transports, carrying soldiers for operations against the French and Dutch colonies there. He duly hoisted his flag aboard the 98-gun HMS Prince George and assembled his squadron and the transports, numbering over two hundred merchants carrying 16,000 men, and making up the largest troop convoy to leave England to that date.
### Attempts to cross the Atlantic
The fleet did not leave Spithead until 16 November, the departure having been delayed until late in the season. The delay proved disastrous: two days after departing, a westerly gale blew up, dispersing the fleet and driving the ships back to port. Several of the merchantmen were wrecked with heavy loss of life; over 200 bodies washed up on the coastline between Portland and Bridport.
Christian shifted his flag to the 90-gun HMS Glory, after deeming the Prince George to be too badly damaged to take to sea, and after gathering his fleet again, set sail on another attempt to cross the Atlantic on 9 December. Again the ships encountered severe gales that caused considerable damage, forcing nine of the warships and fifty of the merchantmen to struggle back to port on 29 January. Some of the convoy successfully made the crossing, while others were wrecked, or captured by enemy ships. The storms were afterwards alluded to as 'Christian's Gales'. Christian again shifted his flag, this time to the 74-gun HMS Thunderer, while he waited for repairs to his ships to be completed, and the merchantmen gathered to make a third attempt to reach the West Indies. While ashore he was invested as a Knight Companion of the Order of the Bath on 17 February 1796, and on 20 March he left Spithead again, bound for the West Indies. The third voyage was successful, and he arrived at Carlisle Bay, Barbados on 21 April. He joined with the forces of the station's current commander, Sir John Laforey several days later, and took over the command from him. Christian assembled his forces, and on 26 April sailed to invade St Lucia, with a detachment of troops under Lieutenant-General Sir Ralph Abercromby. The invasion was successful and the island was surrendered to the British on 25 May. Christian went on to use his naval forces to support the reduction and capture of the islands of Saint Vincent and Grenada.
## Later years
Christian was succeeded as commander in the West Indies by Rear-Admiral Henry Harvey, who had arrived in late June, and Christian returned to England in October aboard HMS Beaulieu. He was advanced to rear-admiral of the white on 20 February 1797, and was appointed as second in command of the Cape of Good Hope Station later in the year and duly sailed to take up the post on the 44-gun HMS Virginie. He succeeded Admiral Thomas Pringle as the station commander in 1798, but died on 23 November that year at the age of 51. His wife, who had been seriously ill for sometime, died two months later, without having heard of her husband's death. Hugh Cloberry Christian had been created a peer, and chose the title of Lord Ronaldsway to honour his ancestor, Manx politician Illiam Dhone, but died before the patent reached him. He was buried at the Cape. He and his wife had two sons and three daughters; one son, Hood Hanway Christian, became a Rear Admiral.
|
6,917,063 |
False catshark
| 1,054,841,839 |
Species of shark
|
[
"Fish described in 1868",
"Pseudotriakidae"
] |
The false catshark or sofa shark (Pseudotriakis microdon) is a species of ground shark in the family Pseudotriakidae, and the sole member of its genus. It has a worldwide distribution, and has most commonly been recorded close to the bottom over continental and insular slopes, at depths of 500–1,400 m (1,600–4,600 ft). Reaching 3.0 m (9.8 ft) in length, this heavy-bodied shark can be readily identified by its elongated, keel-like first dorsal fin. It has long, narrow eyes and a large mouth filled with numerous tiny teeth. It is usually dark brown in color, though a few are light gray.
With flabby muscles and a large oily liver, the false catshark is a slow-moving predator and scavenger of a variety of fishes and invertebrates. It has a viviparous mode of reproduction, featuring an unusual form of oophagy in which the developing embryos consume ova or egg fragments released by the mother and use the yolk material to replenish their external yolk sacs for later use. This species typically gives birth to two pups at a time. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has assessed the conservation status of the false catshark as Least-concern. While neither targeted by fisheries nor commercially valuable, it is caught incidentally by longlines and bottom trawls, and its low reproductive rate may render it susceptible to population depletion.
## Taxonomy and phylogeny
The false catshark was first described by Portuguese ichthyologist Félix de Brito Capelo in the Jornal do Sciências Mathemáticas, Physicas e Naturaes in 1868. He based his account on a 2.3 m (7.5 ft) long adult male caught off Setubal, Portugal. Brito Capelo thought the specimen resembled a member of the genus Triakis, except lacking a nictitating membrane (though it is now known that this species does in fact have this trait). Thus, he assigned it to the new genus Pseudotriakis, from the Greek pseudo ("false"). At the time, Triakis was classified with the catsharks, hence "false catshark". The specific name microdon comes from the Greek mikros ("small") and odontos ("tooth"). Other common names for this species are dumb shark (from its Japanese name oshizame) and keel-dorsal shark.
Pacific populations of the false catshark were once regarded as a separate species, P. acrales. However, morphological comparisons have failed to find any consistent differences between P. microdon and P. acrales, leading to the conclusion that there is only one species of false catshark. The closest relatives of the false catshark are the gollumsharks (Gollum). Pseudotriakis and Gollum share a number of morphological similarities. Phylogenetic analysis using protein-coding genes has found that the amount of genetic divergence between these taxa is less than that between some other shark species within the same genus. This result suggests that the many autapomorphies (unique traits) of the false catshark evolved relatively recently, and supports the grouping of Pseudotriakis and Gollum together in the family Pseudotriakidae.
## Description
Bulky and soft-bodied, the false catshark has a broad head with a short, rounded snout. The nostrils have large flaps of skin on their anterior rims. The narrow eyes are over twice as long as high, and are equipped with rudimentary nictitating membranes; behind the eyes are large spiracles. The huge mouth is arched and bears short furrows at the corners. There are over two hundred rows of tiny teeth in each jaw, arranged in straight lines in the upper jaw and diagonal lines in the lower jaw; each tooth has a pointed central cusp flanked by one or two smaller cusplets on either side. The five pairs of gill slits are fairly small.
The pectoral fins are small and rounded, with fin rays only near the base. The first dorsal fin is highly distinctive, being very long (roughly equal to the caudal fin) and low, resembling the keel of a ship; it originates over the pectoral fin rear tips and terminates over the pelvic fin origins. The second dorsal fin is larger than, and originates ahead of, the anal fin; both these fins are positioned very close to the caudal fin. The caudal fin has a long upper lobe with a ventral notch near the tip, and an indistinct lower lobe. The dermal denticles are shaped like arrowheads with a central ridge, and are sparsely distributed on the skin. This species is typically plain dark brown in color, darkening at the fin margins. However, a few individuals are instead light gray with irregular darker mottling made from fine dots. The false catshark grows up to 3.0 m (9.8 ft) long and 330 kg (730 lb) in weight.
## Distribution and habitat
Though rarely encountered, the false catshark has been caught from locations scattered around the world, indicating a wide circumglobal distribution. In the western Atlantic, it has been reported from Canada, the United States, Cuba, and Brazil. In the eastern Atlantic, it is known from the waters of Iceland, France, Portugal, and Senegal, as well as the islands of Madeira, the Azores, the Canaries, and Cape Verde. Records from the Indian Ocean have come from off Madagascar, the Aldabra Group, Mauritius, Indonesia, and Australia. In the Pacific Ocean, it has been documented from Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia, the Coral Sea, New Zealand, and the Hawaiian Islands.
Inhabiting continental and insular slopes, the false catshark mostly occurs between the depths of 500 and 1,400 m (1,600 and 4,600 ft), though it has been recorded as deep as 1,900 m (6,200 ft). Individuals occasionally wander into relatively shallower waters over the continental shelf, perhaps following submarine canyons or suffering from an abnormal condition. The false catshark generally swims close to the sea floor and has been found at seamounts, troughs, and deepwater reefs.
## Biology and ecology
The soft fins, skin, and musculature of the false catshark suggest a sluggish lifestyle. An enormous oil-filled liver makes up 18–25% of its total weight, allowing it to maintain near-neutral buoyancy and hover off the bottom with little effort. This species likely captures prey via quick bursts of speed, with its large mouth allowing it to consume food of considerable size. It feeds mainly on bony fishes such as cutthroat eels, grenadiers, and snake mackerel, and also takes lanternsharks, squids, octopodes, and Heterocarpus shrimp. It likely also scavenges, as examination of stomach contents have found surface-dwelling fishes such as frigate mackerel, needlefishes, and pufferfishes. One specimen caught off the Canary Islands had swallowed human garbage, including potatoes, a pear, a plastic bag, and a soft drink can. There is a record of a false catshark found with bite marks from a great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias).
Unusual among the ground sharks, the false catshark is viviparous with the developing embryos practicing intrauterine oophagy. Adult females have a single functional ovary, on the right, and two functional uteruses. A female 2.4 m (7.9 ft) long was found to contain an estimated 20,000 ova in her ovary, averaging 9 mm (0.35 in) across. During gestation, the developing embryos are initially nourished by yolk, and later transition to feeding on ova or egg fragments ovulated by the mother. Excess egg material ingested by the embryo is stored within its external yolk sac; when close to birth, the embryo then transfers the yolk from the external yolk sac into an internal yolk sac to serve as a post-birth food reserve. The typical litter size is two pups, one per uterus, though litters of four may be possible. The gestation period is probably longer than one year, possibly lasting two or three years. Newborns measure 1.2–1.5 m (3.9–4.9 ft) long. Males and females probably mature sexually at around 2.0–2.6 m (6.6–8.5 ft) and 2.1–2.5 m (6.9–8.2 ft) long respectively.
## Human interactions
The false catshark is an infrequent bycatch of longlines and bottom trawls. It has minimal economic value, though its meat, fins, and liver oil may be utilized. In Okinawa, its oil is traditionally used to seal the hulls of wooden fishing boats. Like other deepwater sharks, this species is thought to be highly susceptible to overfishing due to its slow reproductive rate. However, it is rarely caught and there is no information available on its population. Therefore, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has listed it as Least Concern. In June 2018 the New Zealand Department of Conservation classified the false catshark as "Data Deficient" with the qualifier "Secure Overseas" under the New Zealand Threat Classification System.
|
7,974,019 |
Sandugo
| 1,171,038,121 |
1565 blood compact between Miguel López de Legazpi and Datu Sikatuna
|
[
"1565 in the Philippines",
"1565 treaties",
"16th century in the Philippines",
"History of Bohol",
"History of the Philippines (1565–1898)",
"Treaties of the Philippines",
"Treaties of the Spanish Empire",
"Visayan history"
] |
The Legazpi-Sikatuna Blood Compact or Sandugo (Spanish: Pacto de Sangre) was a blood compact, performed in the island of Bohol in the Philippines, between the Spanish explorer Miguel López de Legazpi and Datu Sikatuna the chieftain of Bohol on March 16, 1565, to seal their friendship as part of the tribal tradition. This is considered as the first treaty of friendship between the Spaniards and Filipinos. "Sandugo" is a Visayan word which means "one blood".
The Sandugo is depicted in both the provincial flag and the official seal of the government in Bohol. It also features the image of the blood compact. The top of the seal explains the history behind the Sandugo event that occurred in Bohol, the fleet and the location where the Spaniards anchored and the place where the treaty was conducted which was dated on March 16, 1565.
## History
In 1521, navigator Ferdinand Magellan arriving on a Spanish expedition to the Moluccas became the first person from Europe to reach Asia by sailing west, a voyage of which he would meet an untimely death in the island of the Philippines. Spain sent expeditions to colonize the East Indies in their competition with Portugal to seize control over the spice trade. However, all of these expeditions failed. It was not until Miguel López de Legazpi, sailing from Mexico with five ships and five hundred men, reached the Philippines in 1565 and a Spanish settlement was established. López de Legazpi was greeted by hostile Muslim tribes opposing a foreign invasion. His attempt to land on the island of Cebu resulted in the death of one of his soldiers prompting him to explore another island and seek trade with various tribes.
Sailing south toward the island of Mindanao, López de Legazpi's fleet encountered highwinds forcing them to sail northward to the island of Bohol. There, he captured a vessel from Borneo whose Malay sailors informed the Spaniards that the natives inhabiting the region traded with people from Borneo and Indonesia. Arriving in Bohol, López de Legazpi noticed the hostility of the people. The Malayan servant explained that such hostility was due to the expeditions conducted by the Portuguese from the Moluccas islands. In 1563, Portuguese fleets arrived in Visayan waters and enslaved about 1,000 inhabitants. López de Legazpi, with the help of the Malayan sailor, explained to the tribes in Bohol that they were not Portuguese and that they had come to the islands to trade. Upon learning this, the chieftains and their tribes became friendlier and welcoming to the Spaniards.
## Ceremony
The Sandugo began with the arrival of Miguel López de Legazpi in Bohol in 1565 and the establishment of allegiance by Datu Sikatuna to the king of Spain. They made a cut on their left arm with a dagger and poured their blood into a cup filled with wine, which they both drank in honour of their friendship. The inscription at a monument in Tagbilaran City describes the event:
> About the middle of March 1565, the fleet of Captain General Miguel López de Legazpi anchored along these shores. In the course of this visit, López de Legazpi entered into a blood compact with Datu Sikatuna for the purpose of insuring friendly relations between the Spaniards and Filipinos.
It added that the compact was performed as part of the tribal tradition.
> Each of the two leaders made a small cut in his arm, drew a few drops of blood from the incision, mixed it with wine, and drank the goblet containing the blood of the other. Thus was the first bond of friendship between Filipinos and Spaniards.
In his report to Philip II, López de Legazpi wrote:
> It is observed in the following manner: one from each party draws two or three drops of blood from his own arm or breast and mixes them in the same cup, with water or wine. Then the mixture must be divided equally between two cups and neither person may depart until both cups are alike drained.
## Tradition
By performing a blood compact, it preserves the bond of friendship between two tribes. This ceremony was the first treaty or bond of friendship between the natives, and the Spaniards. In honor of this ceremony, the former President of the Philippines Elpidio Quirino established the Order of Sikatuna, a presidential decoration conferred upon politicians. Juan Luna, a Filipino painter, depicted this event in his painting entitled The Blood Compact (Spanish: El Pacto de Sangre) in 1883. El Pacto de Sangre obtained the first prize in Paris in 1885 and at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition of St. Louis in 1904. At that period, it was an important part for tribes to perform the sandugo as part of the peace process. A monument was constructed in Tagbilaran City by the Philippine Historical Committee and the National Historical Institute.
## See also
- Tagayan
- History of the Philippines
## Publications
- Agoncillo, Teodoro A. History of the Filipino People. GAROTECH Publishing, 1990 (8th Edition).
- Arcila, José S. Rizal and the Emergence of the Philippine Nation. 2001 revised edition.
- Constantino, Renato. The Philippines: A Past Revisited. Tala Publishing Series, 1975.
- Corpuz, Onofre D. The Roots of the Filipino Nation. 1989.
- Scott, William Henry. Barangay: Sixteenth-Century Philippine Culture and Society. AdMU: 1994.
- Zaide, Gregorio F. Great Filipinos in History: An Epic of Filipino Greatness in War and Peace. Verde Bookstore, 1970.
- Zaide, Gregorio. Dagohoy: Champion of Philippine Freedom. Manila: Enriquez, Alduan and Co., 1941.
|
28,750,323 |
A Year Without Rain (song)
| 1,173,499,389 | null |
[
"2010 singles",
"2010 songs",
"2010s ballads",
"Eurodance songs",
"Hollywood Records singles",
"Selena Gomez & the Scene songs",
"Song recordings produced by Toby Gad",
"Songs written by Lindy Robbins",
"Songs written by Toby Gad",
"Spanish-language songs",
"Synth-pop ballads"
] |
"A Year Without Rain" is a song by American band Selena Gomez & the Scene. It was written by Lindy Robbins and Toby Gad, with the latter also producing the song. The song was released on September 7, 2010 as the second and final single from the band's second album of the same name. A Spanish-language version of the song was also recorded, entitled "Un año sin lluvia" . Gomez titled the album for the song because she wanted to base all the other songs around it. Musically, the song is a Eurodance track backed with a disco beat. In its lyrics, the song's protagonist compares yearning for her love to a year without rain.
Music critics gave the song positive reviews, complimenting it as a dance ballad and noting Gomez's vocal maturity. "A Year Without Rain" became the band's third consecutive top forty single in the United States and Canada. It also reached number 3 in Flanders and charted in the lower regions of some other European countries. The song is certified Double Platinum in the US. The song's accompanying music video, directed by Chris Dooley and shot on-site in Lucerne Valley, California features Gomez frolicking in the desert surrounded by a swarm of photographs of her and her love interest, before they meet during a rainstorm. The band performed the song a number of times via live performances, including on televised programs such as Good Morning America, The Ellen Show, and the 2011 People's Choice Awards.
## Background and composition
In early 2010, a demo of the song, performed by singer RaVaughn leaked online. Becky Bain of Idolator called the song a "mature dance track" and said that it "wouldn’t entirely be out of place on a Sophie Ellis-Bextor album." In an interview with MTV News, Gomez said that "A Year Without Rain" was the first song she recorded for the album. She also explained why she named the album for the song, commenting, "I feel like that song has a lot of meaning, and it also kind of was the start of what I wanted to base all the other songs around." A Spanish-language version of the song titled "Un Año Sin Lluvia" was released through the iTunes Store on October 26, 2010.
"A Year Without Rain" was written by Lindy Robbins and Toby Gad, the later also producing it, with a length of three minutes and twenty-nine seconds. Musically, it has been described as a dance track, more specifically as Eurodance. It has also been called a synth-pop and electro track which uses a standard pop structure and is backed with a disco beat. According to sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by EMI Music Publishing, "A Year Without Rain" is set in common time and has a tempo of 120 beats per minute. It is written in the key of C Mixolydian and follows the chord progression of C–Gm–Dm–F throughout most of the song, but the bridge is written in D minor, following a chord progression of Bb-C-Am-Dm. It's important to mention that C Mixolydian and D minor share the same key signature, so the musical notes of both modes are the same, but the tonic note is different. Gomez's vocals in the song span from F<sub>3</sub> to E<sub>5</sub>. Lyrically, the song sees Gomez longing for the object of her affection and compares it to a year without rain: "I need you by my side/ Don't know how I'll survive/A day without you is like a year without rain." According to Megan Vick of Billboard, the sound of the song contrasts with its "tender" lyrics.
## Reception
### Critical reception
Although he called it one of the album's "pensive moments", Bill Lamb of About.com noted the track as one of the top songs on the album, calling it a "beautiful dance ballad." Lamb also said the song shows "Selena Gomez is clearly growing up as an artist." Stating that it showed her "maturation as an artist", Lamb later ranked the song number thirty-nine on the site's list of "Top 100 Pop Songs of 2010". Allmusic's Tim Sendra also named the song a standout on the album, calling it "catchy" and "well-sung". Megan Vick of Billboard said that while Gomez did not have the vocal power of Demi Lovato, she "makes a strong effort to attack the high notes as she croons the chorus". Vick stated that the song "is compelling enough to separate the singer from other Disney-groomed pop stars." Wairarapa Times-Age writer Kim Gillespie named "A Year Without Rain" one of the album's highlights. David Welsh of musicOMH noted Gomez' mature performance and wrote that the song "reaps rewards with an impressively heartbroken stab at euro-dance". In contrast, The Washington Post critic Allison Stewart was unfavorable of the lyrical content of the song, commenting that it was "the sort of exercise in teenage co-dependence...that should be long extinct."
### Chart performance
Propelled by its debut at number fourteen on the Hot Digital Songs chart, "A Year Without Rain" debuted at number thirty-five on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the group's third consecutive top forty single. It remained on the chart for four weeks. On the week dated January 1, 2011, the song debuted at number thirty-six on the US Hot Dance Club Play chart. As of August 2014, the song has sold 1,002,000 downloads in the US.
The song achieved greater success in Canada, peaking at thirty on the Canadian Hot 100. The song also appeared on numerous European charts, peaking at seventy-eight in the United Kingdom, fifty-six in Germany, and forty-one in Slovakia. It also reached number three on the Belgian Flanders Tip chart.
## Music videos
The music video, directed by Chris Dooley, was shot on location in Lucerne Valley, California. It premiered on September 3, 2010 on Disney Channel, following the premiere of Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam and a sneak peek of Fish Hooks. The video starts off with the band driving through the desert in a red convertible. Gomez removes a photograph from the sun visor, which is subsequently blown away by the wind. The chorus commences as the band disappears and Gomez steps out of the vehicle, wearing a dress and begins to sing. As the video progresses, a multitude of photographs of her relationship fall from the sky, as Gomez travels elegantly through the desert. During the bridge, it starts to rain as Gomez spots her love interest (Niko Pepaj) in the distance. The two begin to walk towards each other, and the video ends as they meet and hold hands.
Nadine Cheung of AOL JSYK said "She sings: 'I'm missing you so much / Can't help it, I'm in love / A day without you is like a year without rain' and that's really what's depicted in a simple and sweet way."
A Spanish version ("Un Año Sin Lluvia") of the video was released on November 19 on Vevo.
## Live performances
The band first performed the song on September 22, 2010 on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. The band performed the song on Good Morning America on September 23, 2010. On November 16, 2010, the band performed the song on Lopez Tonight, and they performed it on Live with Regis and Kelly on December 1, 2010. They performed the song at the 2011 People's Choice Awards on January 5, 2011, and afterwards were awarded the Choice award for Favorite Breakout Artist. Gomez appeared on stage accompanied by low lights and fog. Kara Warner of MTV News commented, "Although it wasn't a stadium-rocking performance à la Lady Gaga or Katy Perry, Gomez powered through her pop song with a sense of earnestness and commitment. She didn't even miss a beat when her earpiece appeared to fall out mid-song." The song was also performed during the "We Own the Night Tour".
## Formats and track listings
- Germany CD single
1. "A Year Without Rain" – 3:54
2. "A Year Without Rain" (Starlab Radio Edit) – 3:41
- Digital download
1. "A Year Without Rain" – 3:54
## Credits and personnel
Credits and personnel adapted from A Year Without Rain album liner notes.
- Selena Gomez – lead vocals
- Lindy Robbins – songwriting
- Robert Vosgien – mastering
- Toby Gad – songwriting, production, mixing, arrangement, recording & instruments
## Awards and nominations
## Charts and certifications
### Weekly charts
### Certifications
### Year-end charts
## Release history
## See also
- List of number-one dance singles of 2011 (U.S.)
|
466,928 |
Zebra shark
| 1,168,691,135 |
Species of carpet sharks
|
[
"Endangered biota of Africa",
"Endangered fauna of Asia",
"Endangered fauna of Oceania",
"Endangered fish",
"Fish described in 1783",
"Fish of Southeast Asia",
"Fish of the Red Sea",
"Marine fish of East Africa",
"Marine fish of Northern Australia",
"Stegostomatidae",
"Taxa named by Johann Reinhold Forster"
] |
The zebra shark (Stegostoma tigrinum) is a species of carpet shark and the sole member of the family Stegostomatidae. It is found throughout the tropical Indo-Pacific, frequenting coral reefs and sandy flats to a depth of 62 m (203 ft). Adult zebra sharks are distinctive in appearance, with five longitudinal ridges on a cylindrical body, a low caudal fin comprising nearly half the total length, and usually a pattern of dark spots on a pale background. Young zebra sharks under 50–90 cm (20–35 in) long have a completely different pattern, consisting of light vertical stripes on a brown background, and lack the ridges. This species attains a length of 2.5 m (8.2 ft).
Zebra sharks are nocturnal and spend most of the day resting motionless on the sea floor. At night, they actively hunt for molluscs, crustaceans, small bony fishes, and possibly sea snakes inside holes and crevices in the reef. Though solitary for most of the year, they form large seasonal aggregations. The zebra shark is oviparous: females produce several dozen large egg capsules, which they anchor to underwater structures via adhesive tendrils. Innocuous to humans and hardy in captivity, zebra sharks are popular subjects of ecotourism dives and public aquaria. The World Conservation Union has assessed this species as Endangered worldwide, as it is taken by commercial fisheries across most of its range (except off Australia) for meat, fins, and liver oil. There is evidence that its numbers are dwindling.
## Taxonomy
The zebra shark was first described as Squalus varius by Seba in 1758 (Seba died years earlier; the publication was posthumous). No type specimen was designated, though Seba included a comprehensive description in Latin and an accurate illustration of a juvenile. Müller and Henle placed this species in the genus Stegostoma in 1837, using the specific epithet fasciatus (or the neuter form fasciatum, as Stegostoma is neuter while Squalus is masculine) from an 1801 work by Bloch and Schneider. In 1984, Compagno rejected the name "varius/m" in favor of "fasciatus/m" for the zebra shark, because Seba did not consistently use binomial nomenclature in his species descriptions (though Squalus varius is one that can be construed as a binomial name). In Compagno's view, the first proper usage of "varius/m" was by Garman in 1913, making it a junior synonym. Both S. fasciatum and S. varium are currently in usage for this species; until the early 1990s most authorities used the latter name, but since then most have followed Compagno and used the former name. A taxonomic review in 2019 instead argued that S. tigrinum is its valid name. This name was omitted in Compagno's review in 1984, possibly due to confusion over its year of description (in a publication in 1941, Fowler mistakenly listed it as being described in 1795). Squalus tigrinus was described by Forster in 1781, two years before Squalus fasciatus was described by Hermann. Consequently, the former and older is the valid name (as Stegostoma tigrinum), while the latter and younger is its junior synonym. As the name proposed by Forster in 1781 has been used in tens of publications since 1899, it is not a nomen oblitum.
The genus name is derived from the Greek stego meaning "covered", and stoma meaning "mouth". The specific epithet fasciatum means "banded", referring to the striped pattern of the juvenile. The juvenile coloration is also the origin of the common name "zebra shark". The name "leopard shark" is sometimes applied to the spotted adult, but that name usually refers to the houndshark Triakis semifasciata, and is also sometimes used for the tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier). Due to their different color patterns and body proportions, both juveniles and subadults have historically been described as separate species (Squalus tigrinus and S. longicaudatus respectively).
## Phylogeny
There is robust morphological support for the placement of the zebra shark, the whale shark (Rhincodon typus), and the nurse sharks (Ginglymostoma cirratum, Nebrius ferrugineus, and Pseudoginglymostoma brevicaudatum) in a single clade. However, the interrelationships between these taxa are disputed by various authors. Dingerkus (1986) suggested that the whale shark is the closest relative of the zebra shark, and proposed a single family encompassing all five species in the clade. Compagno (1988) suggested affinity between this species and either Pseudoginglymostoma or a clade containing Rhincodon, Ginglymostoma, and Nebrius. Goto (2001) placed the zebra shark as the sister group to a clade containing Rhincodon and Ginglymostoma.
## Description
The zebra shark has a cylindrical body with a large, slightly flattened head and a short, blunt snout. The eyes are small and placed on the sides of the head; the spiracles are located behind them and are as large or larger. The last 3 of the 5 short gill slits are situated over the pectoral fin bases, and the fourth and fifth slits are much closer together than the others. Each nostril has a short barbel and a groove running from it to the mouth. The mouth is nearly straight, with three lobes on the lower lip and furrows at the corners. There are 28–33 tooth rows in the upper jaw and 22–32 tooth rows in the lower jaw; each tooth has a large central cusp flanked by two smaller ones.
There are five distinctive ridges running along the body in adults, one along the dorsal midline and two on the sides. The dorsal midline ridge merges into the first dorsal fin, placed about halfway along the body and twice the size of the second dorsal fin. The pectoral fins are large and broad; the pelvic and anal fins are much smaller but larger than the second dorsal fin. The caudal fin is almost as long as the rest of the body, with a barely developed lower lobe and a strong ventral notch near the tip of the upper lobe. The zebra shark attains a length of 2.5 m (8.2 ft), with an unsubstantiated record of 3.5 m (11 ft). Males and females are not dimorphic in size.
The color pattern in young sharks is dark brown above and light yellow below, with vertical yellow stripes and spots. As the shark grows to 50–90 cm (20–35 in) long, the dark areas begin to break up, changing the general pattern from light-on-dark stripes to dark-on-light spots. There is substantial variation in pattern amongst adults, which can be used to identify particular individuals. A rare morph, informally called the sandy zebra shark, is overall sandy–brown in color with inconspicuous dark brown freckles on its upperside, lacking the distinct dark-spotted and banded pattern typical of the species. The appearance of juveniles of this morph is unknown, but subadults that are transitioning into adult sandy zebra sharks have a brown-netted pattern. Faint remnants of this pattern can often be seen in adult sandy zebra sharks. This morph, which is genetically inseparable from the normal morph, is only known from the vicinity of Malindi in Kenya, although seemingly similar individuals have been reported from Japan and northwestern Australia.
In 1964, a partially albino zebra shark was discovered in the Indian Ocean. It was overall white and completely lacked spots, but its eyes were blackish-brown as typical of the species and unlike full albinos. The shark, a 1.9 m (6.2 ft) long mature female, was unusual in that albino animals rarely survive long in the wild due to their lack of crypsis.
## Distribution and habitat
The zebra shark occurs in the tropical waters of the Indo-Pacific region, from South Africa to the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf (including Madagascar and the Maldives), to India and Southeast Asia (including Indonesia, the Philippines, and Palau), northward to Taiwan and Japan, eastward to New Caledonia and Tonga, and southward to northern Australia.
Bottom-dwelling in nature, the zebra shark is found from the intertidal zone to a depth of 62 m (203 ft) over the continental and insular shelves. Adults and large juveniles frequent coral reefs, rubble, and sandy areas. There are unsubstantiated reports of this species from fresh water in the Philippines. Zebra sharks sometimes cross oceanic waters to reach isolated seamounts. Movements of up to 140 km (87 mi) have been recorded for individual sharks. However, genetic data indicates that there is little exchange between populations of zebra sharks, even if their ranges are contiguous.
## Biology and ecology
During the day, zebra sharks are sluggish and usually found resting on the sea bottom, sometimes using their pectoral fins to prop up the front part of their bodies and facing into the current with their mouths open to facilitate respiration. Reef channels are favored resting spots, since the tightened space yields faster, more oxygenated water. They become more active at night or when food becomes available. Zebra sharks are strong and agile swimmers, propelling themselves with pronounced anguilliform (eel-like) undulations of the body and tail. In a steady current, they have been seen hovering in place with sinuous waves of their tails.
The zebra shark feeds primarily on shelled molluscs, though it also takes crustaceans, small bony fishes, and possibly sea snakes. The slender, flexible body of this shark allows it to wriggle into narrow holes and crevices in search of food, while its small mouth and thickly muscled buccal cavity allow it to create a powerful suction force with which to extract prey. This species may be preyed upon by larger fishes (notably other larger sharks) and marine mammals. Known parasites of the zebra shark include four species of tapeworms in the genus Pedibothrium.
### Social life
Zebra sharks are usually solitary, though aggregations of 20–50 individuals have been recorded. Off southeast Queensland, aggregations of several hundred zebra sharks form every summer in shallow water. These aggregations consist entirely of large adults, with females outnumbering males by almost three to one. The purpose of these aggregations is yet unclear; no definite mating behavior has been observed between the sharks. There is an observation of an adult male zebra shark biting the pectoral fin of another adult male and pushing him against the sea floor; the second male was turned on his back, and remained motionless for several minutes. This behavior resembles pre-copulatory behaviors between male and female sharks, and in both cases the biting and holding of the pectoral fin has been speculated to relate to one shark asserting dominance over the other.
### Life history
The courtship behavior of the zebra shark consists of the male following the female and biting vigorously at her pectoral fins and tail, with periods in which he holds onto her pectoral fin and both sharks lie still on the bottom. On occasion this leads to mating, in which the male curls his body around the female and inserts one of his claspers into her cloaca. Copulation lasts for two to five minutes. The zebra shark is oviparous, with females laying large egg capsules measuring 17 cm (6.7 in) long, 8 cm (3.1 in) wide, and 5 cm (2.0 in) thick. The egg case is dark brown to purple in color, and has hair-like fibers along the sides that secure it to the substrate. The adhesive fibers emerge first from the female's vent; the female circles vertical structures such as reef outcroppings to entangle the fibers, so as to anchor the eggs. Females have been documented laying up to 46 eggs over a 112-day period. Eggs are deposited in batches of around four. Reproductive seasonality in the wild is unknown.
In captivity, the eggs hatch after four to six months, depending on temperature. The hatchlings measure 20–36 cm (7.9–14.2 in) long and have proportionately longer tails than adults. The habitat preferences of juveniles are unclear; one report places them at depths greater than 50 m (160 ft), while another report from India suggests they inhabit shallower water than adults. The stripes of the juveniles may have an anti-predator function, making each individual in a group harder to target. Males attain sexual maturity at 1.5–1.8 m (4.9–5.9 ft) long, and females at 1.7 m (5.6 ft) long. Their lifespan has been estimated to be 25–30 years in the wild. There have been two reports of female zebra sharks producing young asexually. An additional study has observed parthenogenesis in females regardless of sexual history.
## Human interactions
Docile and slow-moving, zebra sharks are not dangerous to humans and can be easily approached underwater. However, they have bitten divers who pull on their tails or attempt to ride them. As of 2008 there is one record of an unprovoked attack in the International Shark Attack File, though no injuries resulted. They are popular attractions for ecotourist divers in the Red Sea, off the Maldives, off Thailand's Phuket and Phi Phi islands, on the Great Barrier Reef, and elsewhere. Many zebra sharks at diving sites have become accustomed to the presence of humans, taking food from divers' hands and allowing themselves to be touched. The zebra shark adapts well to captivity and is displayed by a number of public aquaria around the world. The small, attractively colored young also find their way into the hands of private hobbyists, though this species grows far too large for the home aquarium.
The zebra shark is taken by commercial fisheries across most of its range, using bottom trawls, gillnets, and longlines. The meat is sold fresh or dried and salted for human consumption. Furthermore, the liver oil is used for vitamins, the fins for shark fin soup, and the offal for fishmeal. Zebra sharks are highly susceptible to localized depletion due to their shallow habitat and low levels of dispersal between populations, and market surveys suggest that they are much less common now than in the past. They are also threatened by the degradation of their coral reef habitat by human development, and by destructive fishing practices such as dynamiting or poisoning. As a result, the World Conservation Union has assessed this species as Endangered. Off Australia, the only threat to this species is a very low level of bycatch in prawn trawls, and there it has been assessed as of Least Concern.
|
165,320 |
Jodrell Bank Observatory
| 1,166,115,749 |
Astronomical observatory in Cheshire, England
|
[
"1945 establishments in the United Kingdom",
"Arboreta in England",
"Astronomical observatories in England",
"Astronomy institutes and departments",
"Botanical gardens in England",
"Buildings at the University of Manchester",
"Gardens in Cheshire",
"Jodrell Bank Observatory",
"Radio observatories",
"Space programme of the United Kingdom",
"Square Kilometre Array",
"Tourist attractions in Cheshire",
"World Heritage Sites in England"
] |
Jodrell Bank Observatory (/ˈdʒɒdrəl/ JOD-rəl) in Cheshire, England, hosts a number of radio telescopes as part of the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics at the University of Manchester. The observatory was established in 1945 by Bernard Lovell, a radio astronomer at the university, to investigate cosmic rays after his work on radar in the Second World War. It has since played an important role in the research of meteoroids, quasars, pulsars, masers and gravitational lenses, and was heavily involved with the tracking of space probes at the start of the Space Age.
The main telescope at the observatory is the Lovell Telescope. Its diameter of 250 ft (76 m) makes it the third largest steerable radio telescope in the world. There are three other active telescopes at the observatory; the Mark II, and 42 ft (13 m) and 7 m diameter radio telescopes. Jodrell Bank Observatory is the base of the Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network (MERLIN), a National Facility run by the University of Manchester on behalf of the Science and Technology Facilities Council.
The Jodrell Bank Visitor Centre and an arboretum are in Lower Withington, and the Lovell Telescope and the observatory near Goostrey and Holmes Chapel. The observatory is reached from the A535. The Crewe to Manchester Line passes by the site, and Goostrey station is a short distance away. In 2019, the observatory became a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
## Early years
Jodrell Bank was first used for academic purposes in 1939 when the University of Manchester's Department of Botany purchased three fields from the Leighs. It is named from a nearby rise in the ground, Jodrell Bank, which was named after William Jauderell, an archer whose descendants lived at the mansion that is now Terra Nova School. The site was extended in 1952 by the purchase of a farm from George Massey on which the Lovell Telescope was built.
The site was first used for astrophysics in 1945, when Bernard Lovell used some equipment left over from World War II, including a gun laying radar, to investigate cosmic rays. The equipment was a GL II radar system working at a wavelength of 4.2 m, provided by J. S. Hey. He intended to use the equipment in Manchester, but electrical interference from the trams on Oxford Road prevented him from doing so. He moved the equipment to Jodrell Bank, 25 miles (40 km) south of the city, on 10 December 1945. Lovell's main research was transient radio echoes, which he confirmed were from ionized meteor trails by October 1946. The first staff were Alf Dean and Frank Foden who observed meteors with the naked eye while Lovell observed the electromagnetic signal using equipment. The first time Lovell turned the radar on – 14 December 1945 – the Geminids meteor shower was at a maximum.
Over the next few years, Lovell accumulated more ex-military radio hardware, including a portable cabin, known as a "Park Royal" in the military (see Park Royal Vehicles). The first permanent building was near to the cabin and was named after it.
Jodrell Bank is primarily used for investigating radio waves from the planets and stars.
## Searchlight telescope
A searchlight was loaned to Jodrell Bank in 1946 by the army; a broadside array, was constructed on its mount by J. Clegg. It consisted of 7 elements of Yagi–Uda antennas. It was used for astronomical observations in October 1946.
On 9 and 10 October 1946, the telescope observed ionisation in the atmosphere caused by meteors in the Giacobinids meteor shower. When the antenna was turned by 90 degrees at the maximum of the shower, the number of detections dropped to the background level, proving that the transient signals detected by radar were from meteors. The telescope was then used to determine the radiant points for meteors. This was possible as the echo rate is at a minimum at the radiant point, and a maximum at 90 degrees to it. The telescope and other receivers on the site studied the auroral streamers that were visible in early August 1947.
## Transit Telescope
The Transit Telescope was a 218 ft (66 m) parabolic reflector zenith telescope built in 1947. At the time, it was the world's largest radio telescope. It consisted of a wire mesh suspended from a ring of 24 ft (7.3 m) scaffold poles, which focussed radio signals on a focal point 126 ft (38 m) above the ground. The telescope mainly looked directly upwards, but the direction of the beam could be changed by small amounts by tilting the mast to change the position of the focal point. The focal mast was changed from timber to steel before construction was complete.
The telescope was replaced by the steerable 250 ft (76 m) Lovell Telescope, and the Mark II telescope was subsequently built at the same location.
The telescope could map a ± 15-degree strip around the zenith at 72 and 160 MHz, with a resolution at 160 MHz of 1 degree. It discovered radio noise from the Great Nebula in Andromeda – the first definite detection of an extragalactic radio source – and the remnants of Tycho's Supernova in the radio frequency; at the time it had not been discovered by optical astronomy.
## Lovell Telescope
The "Mark I" telescope, now known as the Lovell Telescope, was the world's largest steerable dish radio telescope, 76.2 metres (250 ft) in diameter, when it was constructed in 1957; it is now the third largest, after the Green Bank telescope in West Virginia and the Effelsberg telescope in Germany. Part of the gun turret mechanisms from the First World War battleships HMS Revenge and HMS Royal Sovereign were reused in the telescope's motor system. The telescope became operational in mid-1957, in time for the launch of the Soviet Union's Sputnik 1, the world's first artificial satellite. The telescope was the only one able to track Sputnik's booster rocket by radar; first locating it just before midnight on 12 October 1957, eight days after its launch.
In the following years, the telescope tracked various space probes. Between 11 March and 12 June 1960, it tracked the United States' NASA-launched Pioneer 5 probe. The telescope sent commands to the probe, including those to separate it from its carrier rocket and turn on its more powerful transmitter when the probe was eight million miles away. It received data from the probe, the only telescope in the world capable of doing so. In February 1966, Jodrell Bank was asked by the Soviet Union to track its unmanned Moon lander Luna 9 and recorded on its facsimile transmission of photographs from the Moon's surface. The photographs were sent to the British press and published before the Soviets made them public.
In 1969, the Soviet Union's Luna 15 was also tracked. A recording of the moment when Jodrell Bank's scientists observed the mission was released on 3 July 2009.
With the support of Sir Bernard Lovell, the telescope tracked Russian satellites. Satellite and space probe observations were shared with the US Department of Defense satellite tracking research and development activity at Project Space Track.
Tracking space probes only took a fraction of the Lovell telescope's observing time, and the remainder was used for scientific observations including using radar to measure the distance to the Moon and to Venus; observations of astrophysical masers around star-forming regions and giant stars; observations of pulsars (including the discovery of millisecond pulsars and the first pulsar in a globular cluster); and observations of quasars and gravitational lenses (including the detection of the first gravitational lens and the first Einstein ring). The telescope has also been used for SETI observations.
## Mark II and III telescopes
The Mark II telescope is an elliptical radio telescope, with a major axis of 38.1 metres (125 ft) and a minor axis of 25.4 metres (83 ft). It was constructed in 1964. As well as operating as a standalone telescope, it has been used as an interferometer with the Lovell Telescope, and is now primarily used as part of the MERLIN project. The Mark III telescope, the same size as the Mark II, was constructed to be transportable but it was never moved from Wardle, near Nantwich, where it was used as part of MERLIN. It was built in 1966 and decommissioned in 1996.
## Mark IV, V and VA telescope proposals
The Mark IV, V and VA telescope proposals were put forward in the 1960s through to the 1980s to build even larger radio telescopes.
The Mark IV proposal was for a 1,000 feet (300 m) diameter standalone telescope, built as a national project.
The Mark V proposal was for a 400 feet (120 m) moveable telescope. The concept of this proposal was for a telescope on a 3⁄4-mile-long (1.2 km) railway line adjoining Jodrell Bank, but concerns about future levels of interference meant that a site in Wales would have been preferable. Design proposals by Husband and Co and Freeman Fox, who had designed the Parkes Observatory telescope in Australia, were put forward.
The Mark VA was similar to the Mark V but with a smaller dish of 375 feet (114 m) and a design using prestressed concrete, similar to the Mark II (the previous two designs more closely resembled the Lovell telescope).
None of the proposed telescopes was constructed, although design studies were carried out and scale models were made, partly because of the changing political climate, and partly due to the financial constraints of astronomical research in the UK. Also it became necessary to upgrade the Lovell Telescope to the Mark IA, which overran in terms of cost.
## Other single dishes
A 50 ft (15 m) alt-azimuth dish was constructed in 1964 for astronomical research and to track the Zond 1, Zond 2, Ranger 6 and Ranger 7 space probes and Apollo 11. After an accident that irreparably damaged the 50 ft telescope's surface, it was demolished in 1982 and replaced with a more accurate telescope, the "42 ft". The 42 ft (12.8 m) dish is mainly used to observe pulsars, and continually monitors the Crab Pulsar.
When the 42 ft was installed, a smaller dish, the "7 m" (actually 6.4 m, or 21 ft, in diameter) was installed and is used for undergraduate teaching. The 42 ft and 7 m telescopes were originally used at the Woomera Rocket Testing Range in South Australia. The 7 m was originally constructed in 1970 by the Marconi Company.
A Polar Axis telescope was built in 1962. It had a circular 50 ft (15.2 m) dish on a polar mount, and was mostly used for moon radar experiments. It has been decommissioned. An 18-inch (460 mm) reflecting optical telescope was donated to the observatory in 1951 but was not used much, and was donated to the Salford Astronomical Society around 1971.
## MERLIN
The Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network (MERLIN) is an array of radio telescopes spread across England and the Welsh borders. The array is run from Jodrell Bank on behalf of the Science and Technology Facilities Council as a National Facility. The array consists of up to seven radio telescopes and includes the Lovell Telescope, the Mark II, Cambridge, Defford, Knockin, Darnhall, and Pickmere (previously known as Tabley). The longest baseline is 217 kilometres (135 mi) and MERLIN can operate at frequencies between 151 MHz and 24 GHz. At a wavelength of 6 cm (5 GHz frequency), MERLIN has a resolution of 50 milliarcseconds which is comparable to that of the HST at optical wavelengths.
## Very Long Baseline Interferometry
Jodrell Bank has been involved with Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) since the late 1960s; the Lovell telescope took part in the first transatlantic interferometer experiment in 1968, with other telescopes at Algonquin and Penticton in Canada. The Lovell Telescope and the Mark II telescopes are regularly used for VLBI with telescopes across Europe (the European VLBI Network), giving a resolution of around 0.001 arcseconds.
## Square Kilometre Array
In April 2011, Jodrell Bank was named as the location of the control centre for the planned Square Kilometre Array, or SKA Project Office (SPO). The SKA is planned by a collaboration of 20 countries and when completed, is intended to be the most powerful radio telescope ever built. In April 2015 it was announced that Jodrell Bank would be the permanent home of the SKA headquarters for the period of operation expected for the telescope (over 50 years).
## Research
The Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, of which the Observatory is a part, is one of the largest astrophysics research groups in the UK. About half of the research of the group is in the area of radio astronomy – including research into pulsars, the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation, gravitational lenses, active galaxies and astrophysical masers. The group also carries out research at different wavelengths, looking into star formation and evolution, planetary nebula and astrochemistry.
The first director of Jodrell Bank was Bernard Lovell, who established the observatory in 1945. He was succeeded in 1980 by Sir Francis Graham-Smith, followed by Professor Rod Davies around 1990 and Professor Andrew Lyne in 1999. Professor Phil Diamond took over the role on 1 October 2006, at the time when the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics was formed. Prof Ralph Spencer was Acting Director during 2009 and 2010. In October 2010, Prof. Albert Zijlstra became Director of the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics. Professor Lucio Piccirillo was the Director of the Observatory from Oct 2010 to Oct 2011. Prof. Simon Garrington is the JBCA Associate Director for the Jodrell Bank Observatory. In 2016, Prof. Michael Garrett was appointed as the inaugural Sir Bernard Lovell chair of Astrophysics and Director of Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics. As Director JBCA, Prof. Garrett also has overall responsibility for Jodrell Bank Observatory.
In May 2017 Jodrell Bank entered into a partnership with the Breakthrough Listen initiative and will share information with Jodrell Bank's team, who wish to conduct an independent SETI search via its 76-m radio telescope and e-MERLIN array.
There is an active development programme researching and constructing telescope receivers and instrumentation. The observatory has been involved in the construction of several Cosmic Microwave Background experiments, including the Tenerife Experiment, which ran from the 1980s to 2000, and the amplifiers and cryostats for the Very Small Array. It has also constructed the front-end modules of the 30 and 44 GHz receivers for the Planck spacecraft. Receivers were also designed at Jodrell Bank for the Parkes Telescope in Australia.
## Visitor facilities, and events
A visitors' centre, opened on 19 April 1971 by the Duke of Devonshire, attracted around 120,000 visitors per year. It covered the history of Jodrell Bank and had a planetarium and 3D theatre hosting simulated trips to Mars. Asbestos in the visitors' centre buildings led to its demolition in 2003 leaving a remnant of its far end. A marquee was set up in its grounds while a new science centre was planned. The plans were shelved when Victoria University of Manchester and UMIST merged to become the University of Manchester in 2004, leaving the interim centre, which received around 70,000 visitors a year.
In October 2010, work on a new visitor centre started and the Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre opened on 11 April 2011. It includes an entrance building, the Planet Pavilion, a Space Pavilion for exhibitions and events, a glass-walled cafe with a view of the Lovell Telescope and an outdoor dining area, an education space, and landscaped gardens including the Galaxy Maze. A large orrery was installed in 2013. It does not, however, include a planetarium, though a small inflatable planetarium dome has been in use on the site in recent years.
The visitor centre is open Tuesday to Sunday and Mondays during school and bank holidays and organises public outreach events, including public lectures, star parties, and "ask an astronomer" sessions.
A path around the Lovell telescope is approximately 20 m from the telescope's outer railway, information boards explain how the telescope works and the research that is done with it.
The 35 acres (140,000 m<sup>2</sup>) arboretum, created in 1972, houses the UK's national collections of crab apple Malus and mountain ash Sorbus species, and the Heather Society's Calluna collection. The arboretum also has a small scale model of the Solar System, the scale is approximately 1:5,000,000,000. At Jodrell Bank, as part of the SpacedOut project, is the Sun in a 1:15,000,000 scale model of the Solar System covering Britain.
On 7 July 2010, it was announced that the observatory was being considered for the 2011 United Kingdom Tentative List for World Heritage Site status. It was announced on 22 March 2011 that it was on the UK government's shortlist. In January 2018, it became the UK's candidate for World Heritage status.
In July 2011 the visitor centre and observatory hosted "Live from Jodrell Bank - Transmission 001" – a rock concert with bands including The Flaming Lips, British Sea Power, Wave Machines, OK GO and Alice Gold. On 23 July 2012, Elbow performed live at the observatory and filmed a documentary of the event and the facility which was released as a live CD/DVD of the concert. On 6 July 2013, Transmission 4 featured Australian Pink Floyd, Hawkwind, The Time & Space Machine and The Lucid Dream. On 7 July 2013, Transmission 5 featured New Order, Johnny Marr, The Whip, Public Service Broadcasting, Jake Evans and Hot Vestry. On 30 August 2013, Transmission 6 featured Sigur Ros, Polca and Daughter.
On 31 August 2013, Jodrell Bank hosted a concert performed by the Hallé Orchestra to commemorate what would have been Lovell's 100th birthday. As well as a number of operatic performances during the day, the evening Halle performance saw numbers such as themes from Star Trek, Star Wars and Doctor Who among others. The main Lovell telescope was rotated to face the onlooking crowd and used as a huge projection screen showing various animated planetary effects. During the interval the 'screen' was used to show a history of Lovell's work and Jodrell Bank.
There is an astronomy podcast from the observatory, named The Jodcast. The BBC television programme Stargazing Live is hosted in the control room of the observatory. The programme has had four series, in January 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014.
Since 2016, the observatory hosted Bluedot, a music and science festival, featuring musical acts such as Public Service Broadcasting, The Chemical Brothers, as well as talks by scientists and scientific communicators such as Jim Al-Khalili and Richard Dawkins.
## Threat of closure
On 3 March 2008, it was reported that Britain's Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), faced with an £80 million shortfall in its budget, was considering withdrawing its planned £2.7 million annual funding of Jodrell Bank's e-MERLIN project. The project, which aimed to replace the microwave links between Jodrell Bank and a number of other radio telescopes with high-bandwidth fibre-optic cables, greatly increasing the sensitivity of observations, was seen as critical to the survival of the facility. Bernard Lovell said "It will be a disaster ... The fate of the Jodrell Bank telescope is bound up with the fate of e-MERLIN. I don't think the establishment can survive if the e-MERLIN funding is cut".
On 9 July 2008, it was reported that, following an independent review, STFC had reversed its initial position and would now guarantee funding of £2.5 million annually for three years.
## Fictional references
Jodrell Bank has been mentioned in several works of fiction, including Doctor Who (The Tenth Planet, Remembrance of the Daleks, "The Poison Sky", "The Eleventh Hour", "Spyfall") and Birthday Boy by David Baddiel. It was intended to be a filming location for Logopolis (Tom Baker's final Doctor Who serial) but budget restrictions prevented this and another location with a superimposed model of a radio telescope was used instead. It was also mentioned in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (as well as The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy film), The Creeping Terror and Meteor.
Jodrell Bank was also featured heavily in the 1983 music video "Secret Messages" by Electric Light Orchestra and also "Are We Ourselves?" by The Fixx. The Prefab Sprout song Technique (from debut album Swoon) opens with the line "Her husband works at Jodrell Bank/He's home late in the morning".
The observatory is the site of several episodes in the novel Boneland by the local novelist Alan Garner (2012), and the central character, Colin Whisterfield, is an astrophysicist on its staff.
## Appraisal
Since 13 July 1988 the Lovell Telescope has been designated as a Grade I listed building. On 10 July 2017 the Mark II Telescope was also designated at the same grade. On the same date five other buildings on the site were designated at Grade II; namely the Searchlight Telescope, the Control Building, the Park Royal Building, the Electrical Workshop, and the Link Hut. Grade I is the highest of the three grades of listing, and is applied to buildings that are of "exceptional interest", and Grade II, the lowest grade, is applied to buildings "of special interest".
At the 43rd Session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in Baku on 7 July 2019, the Jodrell Bank Observatory was adopted as a World Heritage Site on the basis of 4 criteria
- Criterion (i): Jodrell Bank Observatory is a masterpiece of human creative genius related to its scientific and technical achievements.
- Criterion (ii): Jodrell Bank Observatory represents an important interchange of human values over a span of time and on a global scale on developments
- Criterion (iv): Jodrell Bank Observatory represents an outstanding example of a technological ensemble which illustrates a significant stage in human history
- Criterion (vi): Jodrell Bank Observatory is directly and tangibly associated with events and ideas of outstanding universal significance.
## See also
- Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory
- Extremely Large Telescope
- La Silla Observatory
- Llano de Chajnantor Observatory
- Paranal Observatory
- Very Large Telescope
- List of World Heritage Sites in the United Kingdom
|
11,940,816 |
Wichita Linebacker
| 1,050,538,882 | null |
[
"2006 American television episodes",
"Veronica Mars (season 3) episodes"
] |
"Wichita Linebacker" is the third episode of the third season of the American mystery television series Veronica Mars, and the forty-seventh episode overall. Written by Phil Klemmer and John Enbom and directed by Harry Winer, the episode premiered on The CW on October 17, 2006.
The series depicts the adventures of Veronica Mars (Kristen Bell) as she deals with life as a college student while moonlighting as a private detective. In this episode, Veronica helps a football player, Kurt Fenstermacher (Armie Hammer) retrieve his stolen playbook. Meanwhile, Piz (Chris Lowell) gains a job at the college radio station, and Veronica meets Dean O'Dell (Ed Begley, Jr.) for the first time after she gets in trouble for events related to the events that occurred in the previous episode, "My Big Fat Greek Rush Week".
Phil Klemmer and John Enbom, the writers of the episode, found the episode difficult to write because they were not very familiar with American football. However, they decided to resolve the problem by making the episode as little about football as possible. "Wichita Linebacker" also features a guest appearance by Armie Hammer, as well as the first appearances by Begley, Jr. as Cyrus O'Dell and Ryan Devlin as Mercer Hayes. The episode received mixed to negative reviews, with criticism primarily focusing on the case of the week.
## Synopsis
Veronica watches a football practice before she expresses her frustration with Logan (Jason Dohring). Later, she meets Weevil (Francis Capra), who is working at a car wash. Veronica is called into the Dean O'Dell's office, and he threatens her with expulsion if she does not give up some names in relation to the sorority marijuana scandal. Piz calls Veronica in to help a football player, Kurt Fenstermacher, retrieve his playbook, with Kurt's girlfriend, Trish (Lindsey McKeon) paying for the investigation. Veronica's only suggestion is that he gets a new one. Veronica convinces her father, Keith Mars (Enrico Colantoni), to hire Weevil as his new assistant at Mars Investigations. In an attempt to print a playbook for Kurt, Veronica disguises herself as a cheerleader, but fails to print one. After being called back into the Dean's office, Veronica is in the room during a debate between fraternity boys and feminists. Veronica goes back to the football player, and she hypothesizes that his girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend stole it. Weevil helps Keith at detective work, succeeding beyond Keith's expectations.
Veronica talks to the ex-boyfriend before learning that Kurt's best friend is probably guilty. Veronica gets a disturbing phone call from Logan, so she tracks his cell phone, finding him gambling. Veronica and Logan have a fight before she learns that Keith had to stop working for a client when Weevil hit a suspect; Keith feels required to fire Weevil. Veronica tells Weevil the news before she gives him a job fixing the Dean’s car. Veronica confronts the best friend, but he’s not the perpetrator, and Veronica suddenly realizes that Trish is. Veronica lies to Trish about what happened to Kurt in order to elicit a true reaction from her; this plan works, and Veronica learns that Trish took the playbook in order to get him off the team. However, she lost it in the process. Kurt, Trish, and Veronica track it down to the ex-boyfriend, who gave the plays to another team to spite the couple.
Veronica goes to Dean O’Dell and asks for an exchange: Veronica tells him that his son spray-painted his car, and he will hire Weevil. Veronica talks to the gambling owner, who acts strangely. Veronica tracks his car before removing the tracker later. Veronica talks to Trish, who says that Kurt left for Kansas. Weevil starts his new job as a Hearst janitor. Piz gets a job on a campus radio show, where he interviews both the feminists and the fraternity boys. In the middle of the show, the feminists get a text that says that Claire, the girl who the fraternity boys pointed out, was raped. Veronica and Logan reconcile their relationship and kiss.
## Production
The episode was written by Phil Klemmer and John Enbom and directed by Harry Winer, marking both Klemmer and Enbom's eleventh writing credit, and Winer's third directing credit for the series. Klemmer and Enbom initially thought that they would be unable to write the episode because they didn't know very much about American football—so they tried to make the episode less about football. Enbom stated, "Rob just sort of handed [the episode] down. I think if you play strict attention, you'll find it isn't as footbally as an episode about a football player could possibly be. And I think that's why." The episode did not have the budget to hire a full football team, so several scenes were devoid of extras, including when Veronica meets one of the football players and when she breaks into the locker room.
The episode features the first appearance of Dean Cyrus O'Dell (Ed Begley, Jr.), a recurring character for the third season. Initially, Michael McKean was slated to take the role, but within twelve hours of accepting the part, McKean decided to pass on Veronica Mars altogether. Thomas called this "the most depressing casting news in the world." One week later, Begley accepted the role. Both actors had recently appeared in A Mighty Wind. "Wichita Linebacker" also includes a guest appearance by Armie Hammer, who plays Kurt Fenstermacher, the football player whose playbook is stolen. Ryan Devlin makes his first appearance as Mercer Hayes, a Hearst College student who would be convicted in the serial rape case in the episode "Spit & Eggs". Despite having this role on Veronica Mars, Devlin would go on to play Duncan Kane, a role originated by Teddy Dunn before he left the show in "Donut Run", in the spinoff web series Play It Again, Dick.
## Reception
### Ratings
In its original broadcast, "Wichita Linebacker" received 3.12 million viewers, ranking 84th of 92 in the weekly rankings. This figure was a slight increase from the previous episode, "My Big Fat Greek Rush Week", which was viewed by 2.96 million viewers.
### Reviews
"Wichita Linebacker" received mixed to negative reviews. Eric Goldman of IGN gave the episode a 7.0 out of 10, indicating that it was "good". Despite this, he wrote a mixed review, opining that "as far as mysteries go, this was a so-so one," that "the Hearst campus rapist story just doesn't seem to be getting the proper weight it requires," and that "there's also some strange tonal issues currently." However, he praised the return of Weevil. Rowan Kaiser, writing for The A.V. Club, was also relatively critical, while focusing praise on Weevil's storyline. He referred to "Wichita Linebacker" as "what I would expect were the show not so ambitious. Here, Veronica isn't going to Hearst College, she's going to Television College, where things that are college-y happen." Television Without Pity gave the episode a "C+". "I don't think it's being overly harsh to say that this was not one of this show's stronger or more exciting episodes. The writing was oddly flat, in the first place, and the attention to detail was subpar as well." In addition, the reviewer criticized the show's treatment of its relationships. "That's one of the things that's made this show great in the past -- layering in complex and important relationships while not actually being a relationship-centered show. I only hope they go somewhere with the gambling thing, because otherwise, in my opinion, this episode will have been a total waste of time."
Price Peterson of TV.com wrote that while he "liked it overall", he disliked the focus on Logan and Weevil, writing that he was "more than ready for Weevil to be written off the show" and, "I'm getting slightly tired of [Logan's] storylines. He seems to be alternating between woe-is-me hangdog and shifty bro liar. [...] Logan is not my favorite." On his blog What's Alan Watching, Alan Sepinwall wrote that "this was a fairly light-hearted hour, with the two darkest events -- Weevil beating up the abusive boyfriend and the blonde getting raped -- taking place off-screen. And if the purpose of doing shorter arcs was to avoid the loss of momentum that both the bus crash and the bridge stabbing suffered in the middle of last year, I'm not sure if it's working yet." BuzzFeed ranked the episode 47th on its ranking of Veronica Mars episodes.
|
36,576,935 |
Orme (horse)
| 1,002,131,561 |
British-bred Thoroughbred racehorse
|
[
"1889 racehorse births",
"1915 racehorse deaths",
"British Champion Thoroughbred Sires",
"Racehorses bred in the United Kingdom",
"Racehorses trained in the United Kingdom",
"Thoroughbred family 11-c"
] |
Orme (1889 – 17 September 1915) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse. He was trained at Kingsclere by John Porter for the 1st Duke of Westminster. As a two-year-old he won the Middle Park and Dewhurst Stakes. As a three-year-old he was not well enough to take part in the 2000 Guineas and Epsom Derby, but came back to win the Eclipse Stakes. Orme stayed in training as a four-year-old and won another Eclipse Stakes, becoming the first horse to win the race twice, a feat that has only been repeated four times since. After he had retired from racing, he became a successful sire and was Champion sire of Great Britain in 1899. His son Flying Fox won the Triple Crown and the Eclipse Stakes. Orme also sired Epsom Derby winner Orby and 1000 Guineas winner Witch Elm. His regular jockeys were George Barrett and Morny Cannon.
## Background
Orme was a bay colt born in 1889 at Eaton Stud in Cheshire. He was bred by the 1st Duke of Westminster. Orme stood 16 hands high and had a large white star, with no other white markings. His sire was the unbeaten 2000 Guineas, Epsom Derby and St. Leger winner Ormonde. Orme was one of Ormonde's first crop of foals. By the time Orme reached a racecourse, Ormonde had been exported to Argentina. Ormonde did not become a great sire due to fertility problems, producing only a few foals most years. However, he did also sire Goldfinch, a horse that was a top class two-year-old and won the New Stakes. In the United States, he sired Futurity Stakes winner Ormondale. Orme was clear-winded, unlike his sire, who was a roarer.
Orme's dam Angelica was an unraced sister to the outstanding sire St. Simon. They were progeny of Galopin and St. Angela, a daughter of King Tom. The Duke of Westminster had purchased Angelica in 1886 when she was carrying a foal by Coeruleus. The foal was Blue Green, who went on to win the Queen Alexandra Stakes. Orme was Angelica's fifth foal.
Orme showed great promise as a yearling, with trainer John Porter saying he had great expectations for him after only having him for a few months. In October 1890 Orme and Orville were described as "[t]he two finest yearlings in the Duke of Westminster's stud."
## Racing career
### 1891: Two-year-old season
Prior to Orme's first appearance on a racecourse, John Porter tested him over five furlongs against the three-year-old Massacre and three two-year-olds, including Orville. Ridden by George Barrett, Orme won the trial by half a length from Massacre.
#### Early career
Orme started his racing career in August 1891 at the Glorious Goodwood meeting at Goodwood Racecourse. He was ridden by George Barrett and started the 4/5 favourite in the Richmond Stakes. 20/1 outsider Ben Avon led the field of eight in the early stages of the race, with Orme in the middle of the pack. Orme took the lead with a quarter of a mile left to run, and despite showing his inexperience, he won easily by three quarters of a length from Flyaway (who was carrying more weight than Orme), the two then colliding as they pulled up. At the same meeting, two days later, Orme also started in the Prince of Wales' Stakes. He started as the 1/2 favourite and led the field from the start. Dunure made some progress from the back of the field into second place, but none of the runners could get to Orme, who won by one length. Dunure was second and Galeopsis was third, four lengths behind Dunure. After these two races, he was already as short as 5/1 for the 1892 Epsom Derby. After Goodwood the Duke of Westminster refused a big offer to purchase Orme.
Orme then took on older horses in the valuable Lancashire Plate, where he started the 7/4 favourite. In the last few furlongs Orme challenged the four-year-old Signorina for the lead, and as they approached the main stand, Martagon challenged the pair. Orme drew level with Signorina, but the filly edged away slightly again and won an exciting race by half a length from Orme, Martagon a head back in third. Orme received £1000 for finishing second.
#### October
He returned to racing against horses of his own age, starting the 8/15 favourite of a field of ten runners for the six-furlong Middle Park Plate at Newmarket. As the field neared the finish, Orme was travelling the best, and as soon as Barrett let him go, he immediately took the lead. El Diablo tried to close, but could not get to Orme, with the latter winning easily by a couple of lengths, Gantlet being a neck back from El Diablo in third. Orme then started in the Dewhurst Plate, but his presence deterred many owners from entering and he faced only two rivals. He started as the 6/100 favourite, with El Diablo at 20/1 and Hatfield at 50/1. Orme led from the start, and with two furlongs to run he began to stride away. El Diablo tried to close, but Orme won by three-quarters of a length from him and was never extended. Hatfield finished well behind Orme and El Diablo in third place. Orme's final race of the season came on 30 October in the Home-bred Foal Post Stakes over five furlongs and 140 yards at Newmarket. He started as the 3/100 favourite and faced three rivals. Orme lead throughout the race and won easily by two lengths from Esmond, with Lucellum a further three lengths back in third place.
He finished his two-year-old season with a record of five wins and a second place from six starts. At the end of the season, some even believed that he was better than his sire Ormonde, the 'horse of the century'. One writer rated him ten pounds superior to the next best two-year-old La Fleche, with her being one pound superior to Flyaway. Some were more cautious, however, suggesting that Orme had not beaten any top horses.
### 1892: Three-year-old season
Going into the 1892 season Orme was a strong favourite for the Epsom Derby, with odds as short as 2/1 in December. In March he was still favourite, but had drifted out slightly to 5/2 due to the support for stablemate La Fleche.
#### Suspected poisoning
In late April there were reports that Orme had a sore throat. This caused Orme to drift in the betting for the Derby, and La Fleche became the favourite. Orme was withdrawn from the 2000 Guineas, but returned to doing gentle exercise and it was hoped that he would still be able to make the Derby. The Duke of Westminster hinted that he had been poisoned. In early May, Orme had still not improved, and connections stated that he had been poisoned with mercury. It was suspected that the culprit may have been a well-known backer of Derby rival La Fleche, with the poison being administered in a lozenge that Orme chewed, blistering his tongue. However, a dentist that removed part of a decayed tooth from Orme suggested that the illness was not due to poisoning, but to the decayed tooth.
By mid-May it was clear that he would not make the Derby and he was removed from the race on the 23 May. Orme's trainer John Porter and Williams, the veterinary surgeon, remained convinced that he had been poisoned and was not just suffering from bad teeth. A reward of £1,000 was even offered for information that would lead to the conviction of the guilty party. The poisoning was investigated by George Lewis, a solicitor, who concluded that the horse had been poisoned. He stated that the horse was fine on the morning of the 21 April, but a few hours later his tongue was so inflamed he could not hold it in his mouth; something so sudden, Lewis argued, could not have been caused by a decaying tooth. He suggested that the poison may have in fact been attempted to be administered by some ball being put down his throat, but due to the struggles of the horse, it burst in his mouth, blistering his tongue. The Derby was won by Sir Hugo, but many believed that Orme would have won easily had he made the race.
#### Summer return
Porter ran Orme in a trial four days before the Eclipse Stakes at Sandown Park as preparation. He raced against his five-year-old half-brother Blue Green and the six-year-old Ormuz. Despite conceding weight to both of them, he won by the trial by two lengths from Ormuz. In the Eclipse he faced six rivals and started the 5/4 favourite, with Sussex Stakes winner Orvieto next in the betting at 11/4. During the race Orme was ridden in the middle of the field. As they turned into the finishing straight, Orme and Orvieto were close behind the two leaders; the two then took over the lead in the straight. As they neared the finish, Orvieto had a slight advantage, but as Barrett asked Orme for an effort, he responded and got in front to win by a neck from Orvieto, with St. Damien finishing only three quarters of a length behind Orvieto. The race was worth over £9000. Twelve days later Orme lined up as the 1/5 favourite for the Sussex Stakes. In the last few furlongs he battled with Watercress, and it was not until 50 yards from the finish that he came out on top, going on to win by a head from Watercress.
#### St. Leger Stakes
Orme had apparently improved significantly since Goodwood, and jockey George Barrett said, "I would stake my life he can beat Watercress 100 yards. I never was on such a horse in my life." Orme's previous wins made him favourite for the race, starting at 10/11, with 1000 Guineas and Epsom Oaks winner La Fleche second favourite at 7/2. Also near the front of the betting were Derby winner Sir Hugo at 10/1 and May Duke at 100/7.
In the race the early pace was slow, and Barrett positioned Orme near the front of the field. As they turned into the finishing straight, Orme was just leading from La Fleche, but Barrett soon picked up the whip and it was clear Orme was beaten. La Fleche went on to win easily by two lengths from Sir Hugo, with Watercress a further three lengths back in third, May Duke in fourth and Orme in fifth. The remainder of the field, led by The Lover, were at least twenty lengths behind Orme. After the race Barrett said: "I never was so disappointed in my life. He never took hold of his bit as he used to do; run as dead as a stone, and wouldn't make an effort." Other jockeys in the race agreed, saying Orme was "sulking" throughout the race. After the race, some suggested that Orme simply did not stay, the St Leger distance being too far for him.
#### Autumn
Orme next raced in the Great Foal Stakes at Newmarket. He won easily by 11⁄2 lengths from Versailles, with Dunure in third place. He then faced only one rival in the Champion Stakes, Orvieto, whom he defeated in the Eclipse. Orme started the 1/3 favourite and made the running, leading by a length with two furlongs to run. Barrett then asked Orme to quicken, and Orvieto could not keep up, with Orme going on to win by a couple of lengths.
Two weeks later he faced Sir Hugo, Orvieto, El Diablo and Frank Marsh in the Limekiln Stakes at the Newmarket Houghton meeting. Orme started the 4/5 favourite, and with two furlongs to run he strode into the lead. Without even being asked for an effort, he won easily by three lengths from El Diablo, with Sir Hugo in third. The next day he won the Subscription Stakes easily from Porridge, after leading from the start and never being caught. He raced again the next day, his third race in as many days, in a Free Handicap Sweepstakes over ten furlongs where he faced five opponents. Orme started as the 4/6 favourite, Bushey Park was at 5/1. Next in the betting came El Diablo, The Lover and Therapia all priced at 100/12. Bushey Park led in the early stages until Orme went into the lead with about two furlongs left to run. El Diablo overtook Orme in the final 100 yards and beat him by one and a half lengths. The Lover finished in third place, three quarters of a length behind Orme. Orme had to carry 16 pounds more weight than El Diablo and 22 pounds more than The Lover.
### 1893: Four-year-old season
Orme returned to the track as a four-year-old in the Rous Memorial Stakes at Royal Ascot. His only opposition was the four-year-old filly Lady Lena. Lady Lena briefly challenged Orme in the closing stages, but new jockey Morny Cannon only had to shake the reins a couple of times and Orme went away to win easily by a couple of lengths. He then went back to Sandown to attempt to win another Eclipse Stakes. He started the 2/1 second favourite, with the evens favourite being La Fleche who beat him in the St Leger. La Fleche was being hard ridden a long way from the finish. Soon after Orme took over the lead, but began to hang left. In the final furlong Medicis passed La Fleche and began to challenge Orme, but could not get on terms and Orme won by half a length, with La Fleche a further three lengths back in third.
Orme and La Fleche met again in the Gordon Stakes at Goodwood with two other opponents, Watercress and Royal Harry. Starting favourite, Orme had La Fleche in trouble with more than a quarter of a mile still to run. He seemed to have the race won, but then veered left forcing Morny Cannon to pull him back and allowing La Fleche to draw level. However Orme pulled away again and won by a neck, with Watercress a further six lengths back in third. Orme's final race came in the Limekiln Stakes where he had to carry 10 stone. He finished second to Childwick, who was receiving 33 pounds. During the autumn Orme's legs had started to give him trouble and during the Limekiln a suspensory ligament gave way. This injury brought an end to his racing career, and he was retired to stud. Throughout his racing career he won a total of £32,528 in prize money.
## Race record
Note: F = Furlongs, L = Lengths
## Assessment
At the end of 1891 he was considered by many to be the top two-year-old. During the 1892 season he earned £13,023, the second highest of any horse and only bettered by La Fleche. By the time he retired at the end of the 1893 season, he had earned £32,528 throughout his racing career. This was the third highest of any horse in history, behind only Donovan and Ayrshire. When Orme was at his best, John Porter rated him 7 to 10 pounds inferior to Ormonde, whom Porter also trained. Porter also believed that Orme was a better racehorse at age four than he had been at two and three.
## Stud record
Orme was retired to stud at the end of his four-year-old season, and on 26 October 1893 he left Newmarket for Eaton Stud. His first covering was St. Mary, a daughter of Hermit, which resulted in his first foal (a chestnut colt) being born in January 1895. His stud fee for 1898 was 200 guineas, plus one guinea for the groom. Orme became a successful stallion and was champion sire of Great Britain and Ireland in 1899, with more than double the winnings of any other sire that year, largely thanks to his son Flying Fox. His son Duke of Westminster was sold for £20,050 as a two-year-old. His fee was still 200 guineas in 1902. In total Orme sired 242 winners of races worth a total of £122,568.
### Notable progeny
s = stallion, m = mare, g = gelding
Flying Fox went on to be champion sire in France three times. His progeny included Prix du Jockey Club and Grand Prix de Paris winner Ajax, Prix de Diane winner Flying Star, Poule d'Essai des Poulains and Prix du Cadran winner Gouvernant, Poule d'Essai des Poulains and Prix du Jockey Club winner Dagor, Poule d'Essai des Poulains and Eclipse Stakes winner Val d'Or and Prix de la Forêt winner Adam.
Orby went on to sire Epsom Derby and St. James's Palace Stakes winner Grand Parade and 1000 Guineas winner Diadem. Orme's son Missel Thrush sired July Cup winner Thrush. Orme's daughter Topiary was the dam of the St Leger and Eclipse winner Tracery. Orme's daughter Optime was the dam of the American horse Sysonby, who was only defeated once in his career. Another daughter Osella was the dam of Grosser Preis von Baden winner Ossian and Preis der Diana winner Ostrea.
Orme was pensioned from stud duty in 1912. He died at Eaton Stud on 17 September 1915 aged 26 and was buried near his grandsire Bend Or. Orme's sire line continues today mainly through Ajax's son Teddy.
## Pedigree
Note: b. = Bay, br. = Brown, ch. = Chestnut
|
31,013,862 |
Beautiful People (Chris Brown song)
| 1,157,043,143 |
2011 single by Chris Brown
|
[
"2011 singles",
"2011 songs",
"Benny Benassi songs",
"Chris Brown songs",
"Dancehall songs",
"Electro house songs",
"Jive Records singles",
"Song recordings produced by Alle Benassi",
"Song recordings produced by Benny Benassi",
"Songs written by Alle Benassi",
"Songs written by Benny Benassi",
"Songs written by Chris Brown"
] |
"Beautiful People" is a song by American singer Chris Brown featuring Italian DJ Benny Benassi, released as the third single from Brown's fourth studio album F.A.M.E. on March 11, 2011 . It was written by Brown, with Benny Benassi and Alle Benassi handling its production. Musically, "Beautiful People" is an uptempo song which draws from the genres of progressive house and Europop, containing influences of dancehall and R&B. The song's lyrics revolve around Brown encouraging people to be positive discovering their inside beauty.
The song received critical acclaim for its production and lyrics, with various magazines listing it as one of the best outings of 2011. In the United States, the song peaked at number forty-three on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the US Hot Dance Club Songs chart. It reached the top ten in Australia, Ireland, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, and the top twenty in Belgium and Denmark. The accompanying music video was released on March 22, 2011, and features personal footage of Brown's everyday life. The video also features appearances from several of Brown's famous friends, including Diddy, Bow Wow, T-Pain, Nelly, Timbaland, among others. Brown promoted the song with live performances on Dancing with the Stars (U.S.), the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards, and the 54th Grammy Awards. It was also included on the set list of his 2011 F.A.M.E. Tour.
## Background and composition
"Beautiful People" was written by Brown, with Benny Benassi and Alle Benassi handling its production. It was recorded at The Record Plant—a studio in Los Angeles, California. Before the release of F.A.M.E., the song leaked online on January 16, 2011. The single cover was unveiled on February 2, 2011, showing Brown strapping a gas mask onto his face as he peers up at the camera. The song's title is spelled out in ransom note effect, with Brown's name graffitied onto the bottom right corner. "Beautiful People" was released for digital download on December 29, 2010. An extended play, featuring additional remixes of the song, was made available for download in the United Kingdom and the United States on April 19, 2011. "Beautiful People" was later included on Benassi's fifth studio album, Electroman (2011), as track four.
"Beautiful People" is an uptempo progressive house, and Europop song with dancehall and R&B influences. According to James Dean Wells from AOL Radio, the song is "comprised of pulsing synths that build under Benassi and Brown's staccato and auto-tuned melodies." "Beautiful People" is set in common time with a moderate tempo of 126 beats per minute. It is composed in the key of E♭ major with Brown's vocal range spanning from the note of E♭<sub>4</sub> to the note of F<sub>5</sub>. The song is positive and uplifting with lyrics such as: "Everywhere that I've been / The only thing that I see is beautiful people ... / Don't you know / Don't you know / You're beautiful." According to Rap-Up, on the song, Brown encourages "people to be positive discovering their inside beauty." When speaking about "Beautiful People", Brown told Jayson Rodriguez from MTV News that "It was a record where I wanted to inspire people with dance music. We have a lot of tragic things going on and the world needs to come together as a whole and stop the negativity."
## Music video
The accompanying music video for "Beautiful People" premiered on MTV's The Seven on March 22, 2011. The video features cameo appearances from Brandy, Tyga, Game, Big Sean, Ryan Leslie, Bow Wow, Pharrell Williams, Swizz Beatz, T-Pain, Estelle, Teyana Taylor, Omarion, Diddy, Kevin McCall, Nelly, and Timbaland. The video opens showing Brown and his dance crew, The Rej3ctz, riding scooters during the night in the streets, before switching to various scenes of Brown singing and dancing in the backseat of a car and hanging out in a recording studio with several famous friends listening to "Beautiful People". The video is also intercut with scenes of Brown and Benassi performing at separate concerts, and Brown in the studio dancing with T-Pain. More scenes feature Brown at the club with Teyana Taylor, Brandy, and Omarion. The video ends by showing Brown standing in front of a wall that has the words 'Beautiful People' graffitied on it.
Becky Bain from Idolator stated that the video was "basically a four-minute statement that Brown still has a bunch of friends on his side." Ann Lee from Metro thought his dancing in the video was "better than his singing but it's still pleasant enough." Tanner Stransky from Entertainment Weekly wrote that the video had a "nice concept", and noted it was "a departure from Brown's trademark glossy clips". Ed Easton Jr. from WXRK called it a "feel-good journey through his everyday life", and wrote "the visuals [in the video] are supposed to show the human side of Chris and his friends enjoying themselves and leaving the stresses of the world behind to be free from criticism."
## Live performances and cover versions
A pre-taped performance of Brown performing a medley of "Beautiful People" and "Forever" was shown on the American version of Dancing with the Stars on March 29, 2011. For the performance Brown wore a black and white suit, and was accompanied by a group of robotic dancers dressed in all-white suits adorned with LED lighting. Prior to the performance some of the show's cast were unhappy that Brown was going to perform because of the domestic violence assault that occurred with his then-girlfriend Rihanna in 2009. Host Tom Bergeron told the On Air with Ryan Seacrest radio show that, "I did tell the producers it may be to their advantage to not have me interview him, because my natural tendency would be to say something. So don't put me in a position where you are asking me to not say something, because I really won't do that."
On August 28, 2011, Brown performed a medley of "Beautiful People" and "Yeah 3x" at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards. He opened the performance with "Yeah 3x" and was dressed in a white formal suit, accompanied by "full-skirted dancers". Brown was eventually joined onstage by tuxedo-clad dancers and began dancing to the 1993 Wu-Tang Clan single "Protect Ya Neck". His dance routine then moved into 1991, where he danced to Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit". Brown's performance then came back to the future, where he began to sing "Beautiful People". While performing the song, he was suspended in the air, and then lowered to another stage where he continued to perform the song. Brown then went back in the air, where he did splits and back-flips. "Beautiful People" was also added to the set list of Brown's F.A.M.E. Tour in Australia and North America. On October 8, 2011, Nu Vibe sang "Beautiful People" on the eighth series of The X Factor (UK). On December 3, 2011, British singer-songwriter Labrinth covered "Beautiful People" during his set at the Jingle Bell Ball, which was held at the O2 Arena in London.
On February 12, 2012, Brown performed a medley of "Beautiful People" and "Turn Up the Music" at the 54th Grammy Awards, which took place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. He was dressed in a white and gray varsity jacket, white pants and sparkling sneakers. Brown and his backup dancers performed heavily choreographed routines to "Turn Up the Music" atop a collection of blocks, which changed from red to blue to yellow and green. He then sang "Beautiful People" as he jumped across the blocks, while his backup dancers followed in a high-flying routine. The performance ended when Brown saluted to the audience before he took a bow. Rob Markman from MTV News noted that the blocks "resembled the 1980s arcade game Q\*bert", while Evelyn McDonnell from Los Angeles Times noted that Brown lip-synched his performance. Andrew Martin from Prefix magazine wrote that it was one of the worst performances at the Grammy Awards due to the fact that he lip-synched. The performance was made available for download via the iTunes Store in the United States on February 15, 2012.
When Steps re-formed in 2011 and announced they would go on tour during Spring in 2012, Lisa Scott-Lee performed a medley as her solo featuring Heaven, Beautiful People and Lately.
## Critical reception
The song received critical acclaim. Rolling Stone listed it among the best songs of 2011, calling it a "heavenly bumping psychedelic track". Margaret Wappler from Los Angeles Times praised "Beautiful People", and said that it's filled "with powdered-sugar synths and dance floor positivity". Jon Caramanica from The New York Times wrote that the song "has the clanging, swelling synths that are the hallmark of megaclubs." Editors from Idolator wrote "We like the song, though we don't see anything inherently 'Chris Brown' about this track". Ed Easton Jr. from WNOW-FM wrote that the song "is a softer and sensitive side of Chris Brown as its lyrics are supposed to be meant to inspire others." Joanne Dorken from MTV UK wrote that "Brown offered a performance different to his usual on this Ibiza-dance scene floor filler, which you can't help but move to". James Montgomery from MTV News praised Benassi's production skills, and wrote "It's not a stretch to call 'Beautiful People' not only one of the year's most unexpected singles, but also one of the best." Robert Copsey from Digital Spy awarded "Beautiful People" five out of five stars, and called it a "dancehall thumper about equality and believing in yourself."
Nick Levine from BBC Music wrote that Brown "offers a positive ending to his uplifting F.A.M.E. album" when he unites with Benassi "for the electronic throb of "Beautiful People"". Jamie Horne of The Border Mail wrote that the song "is another thumping four-on-the-floor anthem." Tom Howard from Yahoo! Music called the song a "euphoric progressive house masterpiece outlined by pop attitude". Sean Fennessey from The Washington Post said that on "Beautiful People" Brown "lets his voice be an instrument of the wall-to-wall production". James Montgomery from MTV News placed "Beautiful People" at number 18 on his list of the "25 Best Songs of 2011". He wrote that "this single represents his biggest reinvention to date. A slippery, shiny club track helmed by Benny Benassi, like most of Breezy's work it is undeniably sexy, but it's also subtly smart too. And that's where he made his biggest strides." "Beautiful People" was nominated for Best R&B/Urban Dance Track at the 27th Annual International Dance Music Awards.
## Chart performance
In the issue dated September 17, 2011, "Beautiful People" debuted and peaked on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart at number 43. Months before, in the issue dated March 12, 2011, "Beautiful People" debuted at number 37 on the US Hot Dance Club Songs chart; the song peaked at number one in the issue dated May 21, 2011 and became the first number-one single for both Brown and Benassi on the Dance club chart. On October 3, 2017, the single was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for combined sales and streaming equivalent units of over a million units.
In Canada, the song debuted at number 90 on the Canadian Hot 100 chart dated May 7, 2011. It later peaked at number 22, and spent 10 weeks on the chart. On the Australian Singles Chart, "Beautiful People" debuted at number 14 on March 21, 2011, and peaked at number seven on May 2, 2011. The song was certified double platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), denoting sales of 140,000 copies.
On the New Zealand Singles Chart, "Beautiful People" debuted at number 40 on March 21, 2011, and peaked at number six on April 18, 2011. It was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ), denoting sales of 7,500 copies. In Ireland, "Beautiful People" debuted at number 39 on March 31, 2011, and peaked at number three on May 5, 2011. In the United Kingdom, "Beautiful People" debuted at number 95 on the UK Singles Chart dated April 9, 2011. After several weeks of climbing up the chart, it peaked at number four on May 7, 2011, where it remained for two consecutive weeks. Overall, it is Brown's fifth UK top ten single as a lead artist. "Beautiful People" also charted on the UK Dance Chart at number two. As of January 2012, the song has sold 588,000 copies in the UK.
## Track listing
- Digital download
1. "Beautiful People" featuring Benny Benassi (Main version) – 3:45
2. "Beautiful People" featuring Benny Benassi (Club version) – 5:57
- Digital Remix EP
1. "Beautiful People" (Felix Cartal Club Remix) – 4:31
2. "Beautiful People" (The Knocks Club Remix) – 4:38
3. "Beautiful People" (Ultimate High Radio Remix) – 3:45
4. "Beautiful People" (Lenny B Radio Mix) – 3:19
5. "Beautiful People" (Cosmic Dawn Club Remix) – 6:20
6. "Beautiful People" (Tonal Radio Remix) – 4:03
- Digital download – Live at the 54th Grammy Awards
1. "Turn Up the Music" / "Beautiful People" – 4:07
2. "Turn Up the Music" / "Beautiful People" (Video) – 4:07
## Credits and personnel
- Chris Brown – songwriter, lead vocals
- Marco "Benny" Benassi – songwriter, producer
- Alessandro "Alle" Benassi – songwriter, producer
- Jean Baptiste – songwriter
- Serban Ghenea – audio mixing
- John Hanes – engineering
- Tim Roberts – assistant engineering
Source:
## Charts
### Weekly charts
### Year-end charts
## Certifications
## Radio and release history
## See also
- List of number-one dance singles of 2011 (U.S.)
|
69,165,636 |
Big Blood
| 1,171,408,956 |
American psychedelic folk band
|
[
"2006 establishments in Maine",
"American alternative country groups",
"American experimental rock groups",
"American musical duos",
"American musical trios",
"Creative Commons-licensed authors",
"Family musical groups",
"Male–female musical duos",
"Married couples",
"Musical groups established in 2006",
"Musical groups from Portland, Maine",
"New Weird America",
"Psychedelic folk groups",
"Rock music groups from Maine"
] |
Big Blood is an American band formed in South Portland, Maine in 2006. The band's music fuses psychedelic folk, experimental rock, and an eclectic array of other styles and influences. Big Blood originated as a husband-and-wife duo of Colleen Kinsella and Caleb Mulkerin, who had previously been bandmates together in Cerberus Shoal. They formed Big Blood shortly after the birth of their daughter, Quinnisa Rose Kinsella Mulkerin, who began featuring in the band's recordings in 2010 and later became a full-fledged member.
Big Blood has self-released most of their recordings with unique handmade packaging, although starting with their 2010 album Dead Songs they have also distributed some albums through independent record labels. The band has also made most of their discography available to freely stream or download via the Free Music Archive. Big Blood is regarded as a mainstay of the 21st-century underground music scene in New England and they have garnered an international cult following. Music critic Byron Coley wrote in 2017 that Big Blood had "long been one of the most belovedly strange outfits in the sonic universe revolving around Portland, Maine."
## History
### Formation and early self-released music (2006–2009)
In the mid-2000s, Kinsella and Mulkerin lived in a house near oil tanks in South Portland, Maine, with fellow musicians Chriss Sutherland, Micah Blue Smaldone, and Tom Kovacevic; the five cohabitants would later form the band Fire on Fire. Kinsella and Mulkerin formed Big Blood in 2006 shortly after the birth of their daughter, Quinnisa. Raising an infant child conflicted with their demanding practice routine and live performance schedule as members of the band Cerberus Shoal, so they left the group and it dissolved. Nonetheless, the couple wanted to maintain an outlet for their musical creativity. By the time they formed Big Blood, the two had already been songwriting partners for years. Kinsella said the process of writing music with Mulkerin was far more natural than the six-person collaborative process involved with Cerberus Shoal, which she found rewarding but intensely deliberative.
Several of the band's early albums are titled with the name of a venue and a date, suggestive of a live album, although they are in fact home studio recordings. For each of these records, the venue name and date in the title correspond to a concert at which Big Blood debuted a setlist of the same songs. Big Blood self-released their early recordings through their own newly formed DIY label, called Don't Trust the Ruin (typically stylized as "dontrustheruin"), and continued to use the label to issue many of their later works. The band's first albums were distributed as CD-Rs packaged with handmade, screen-printed artwork by Kinsella. The CD-Rs also included inserts like small pieces of art, photography, original flyers promoting their concerts, and other ephemera. Sew Your Wild Days Tour Vol. II contained a mini-comic book created in collaboration with a local artist. In a 2007 interview, Kinsella said they wanted to provide packaging artwork that was personalized, yet inexpensive to produce or purchase. She said Mulkerin had interest in "harkening back to the punk days of photocopied lyrics and art." For their early self-released albums, Antonio Ciarletta of Ondarock [it] identified Big Blood within a rising tendency in underground music toward DIY distribution of homemade, highly limited-edition recordings in formats like CD-R, cassette tape, and MP3 (or other downloadable formats), alongside artists such as Grouper and Natural Snow Buildings.
The band made most of its discography freely available to stream or download via the Free Music Archive, an online repository for royalty-free, Creative Commons–licensed music organized by WFMU. When the Free Music Archive launched in 2008, Big Blood contributed the song "Oh Country" to the compilation album Selected Sounds From the Free Music Archive Vol. 1. Big Blood released two collaborative albums that same year. First, on Big Blood & the Bleedin' Hearts, Kinsella and Mulkerin were backed by "the Bleedin' Hearts", whose members were Kovacevic, Smaldone, and Kelly Nesbitt. Second, they paired with Visitations—another Portland-based duo—on 'Lectric Lashes, consisting of a 7-inch record and a CD-R. 'Lectric Lashes was part of a 12-part, multi-artist series of 7-inches released through the label L'Animaux Tryst.
In 2009, Big Blood self-released another pair of albums: Already Gone I and Already Gone II. In May of that year, Big Blood contributed a track—alongside other psych-folk artists, including Devendra Banhart and Marissa Nadler—to the charity album Leaves of Life, produced by Buck Curran of Arborea, the proceeds of which benefited the World Food Programme and Not on Our Watch. As members of the band Fire on Fire, Kinsella and Mulkerin also participated in the recording of the band's debut album The Orchard, released on Michael Gira's Young God Records in late 2008.
Critical reception of the band's early music was positive. The Boston Phoenix named Big Blood as the best new band from Maine for 2008, and the band was a runner-up for "Best Category-Defining Act" in The Portland Phoenix's 2008 Best Music Poll. "Big Blood," wrote WFMU's Scott Williams, "is clearly in full thrall to whatever demon god of creativity squirrels around under the dirt up there in South Portland, Maine among the loons and the decrepit oil tanks." Williams compared their music to "a trove of musical and folkloric delights that somehow fossilized and disappeared, centuries ago", and said that their work had the capacity to be "intensely and heartbreakingly warm and moving." In a review of their first seven discs of recordings, Justin F. Farrar at Cleveland Scene praised their diverse instrumentation and musicianship, particularly Kinsella's vocal range, and remarked that "the group's muse snorts a ton of meth before commanding [them] to explore everything from chamber popera to Asian folk music to cosmic Appalachia." According to The Brooklyn Rail's Christopher Nelson, their early album Space Gallery Jan. 27, 2007 / Sahara Club Jan. 28, 2007 (referred to as Space Gallery for short) "must be considered one of Big Blood's high points" and stands as "the best representation of the kind of music Big Blood made prior to 2010—sprawling folk music with a sinister sense of backwoods magic".
### Releases on indie labels and continued prolificacy (2010–2016)
Kinsella and Mulkerin had discussed plans to release an album on the Portland-based independent label Time-Lag Records since 2007. The label had previously helped distribute copies of the band's early self-released recordings through its website. In 2010, Dead Songs became the band's first album on Time-Lag, and thus their first recording to be distributed through an independent record label rather than their own DIY distribution. At the end of the decade, the Bangor Daily News ranked Dead Songs at no. 25 on its list of the 100 most essential Maine albums of the 2010s.
Their next album, Dark Country Magic, marked their daughter Quinnisa's debut on a Big Blood record with her spoken word performance on the track "Moo-Hoo". Initially self-released on CD-R and cassette, Dark Country Magic was reissued in LP format in 2020 on Cardinal Fuzz/Feeding Tube Records. In a retrospective review for It's Psychedelic Baby! Magazine, Jeff Penczak called it "an occasionally difficult listen" but said "in the proper set and setting (wink! wink!), Big Blood is a grower and their dark country is quite magical!" In Ptolemaic Terrascope, Ian Fraser assessed the album as a "sometimes uneasy yet strangely compelling combination of skewed country, American Gothic and psychedelic moonshine."
Also in 2010, Big Blood released Night Terrors in the Isle of Louis Hardin as a cassette on the label Cabin Floor Esoterica. On Night Terrors—which was reissued as a CD-R in 2014—Big Blood uses sound collage techniques and wordless vocals. In a review for the Portland Press Herald, Kristin DiCara-McClellan described the album as "enchanting, eerie, somewhat tribal feeling and anomalous". The same year, Kinsella and Mulkerin appeared on the album Death Seat by Wooden Wand, which also featured William Tyler (of Lambchop and Silver Jews) and Grasshopper (of Mercury Rev).
The band's next album, Big Blood & The Wicked Hex (2011), was released in LP format on the Greek record label Phase! Records. Based in Athens, Phase! had previously issued a cassette version of the band's early album The Grove. The band marked the release of Wicked Hex with a concert at the Athenian venue Six D.O.G.S., which also hosted an exhibit of Kinsella's art titled "Leviathan Song", exploring the anarchist text Against His-Story, Against Leviathan by Fredy Perlman. The international release gave an indication of the global extent of the band's cult following. With Wicked Hex, Big Blood took a turn toward more electric instrumentation and a more pronounced element of psychedelic drones and riffs. The band continued this stylistic shift on their next album Old Time Primitives, released the following year. For these two records, Big Blood were joined by drummer Shon Mahoney.
In 2012, Big Blood released a split album with fellow Maine musician Micah Blue Smaldone on Immune Records. The same year, Kinsella and Mulkerin featured on the Swans album The Seer, which also featured guest appearances from Karen O of Yeah Yeah Yeahs, members of Low, members of Akron/Family, Grasshopper, and Ben Frost, among others. The duo contributed "accordion, vocals, dulcimer, guitar, piano and assorted other instruments" on "The Seer Returns", a track that also included vocals from Jarboe and drumming from Kevin S. McMahon. Big Blood's 2013 album Radio Valkyrie 1905–1917, a double LP released on Feeding Tube Records, is a concept album filled with allusions to the dystopian novel We (1924) by Russian author Yevgeny Zamyatin. Spencer Grady awarded the album a perfect score of five stars in Record Collector, calling it "epic, biblical and totally essential". Critics have described it as a "crowning achievement" and a "masterpiece".
In 2014, Big Blood released the double LP Unlikely Mothers through Blackest Rainbow Records and self-released Fight for Your Dinner Vol. I. In a year-end piece for the website Boston Hassle, Portland-based musician Peter McLaughlin praised Unlikely Mothers as "perhaps the darkest and heaviest batch of transcendent-goddamn-music of their career". Fight for Your Dinner Vol. I collected rarities, alternate versions, and previously unreleased music. The band also made their back catalog available through Bandcamp for the first time in 2014. 2015 saw the release of two new Big Blood albums: Double Days I and Double Days II.
Kinsella joined a collective of visual artists called the Ant Girls—whose other members were Vivien Russe, Rebecca Goodale, and Dorothy Schwartz—to collaborate on a multimedia art exhibition titled "Ant Farm: At the Nexus of Art and Science", which took the leafcutter ant as its subject. Schwartz's husband, the composer Elliott Schwartz, collaborated with Mulkerin to create an ambient soundtrack to accompany the "Ant Farm" exhibition. Dorothy Schwartz died at the age of 75 in March 2014, only a few weeks before the exhibition opened at the Lewiston-Auburn Campus of the University of Southern Maine. Feeding Tube released the soundtrack as an LP titled Ant Farm, credited to Schwartz and Big Blood, in early 2016. Elliott Schwartz died at the age of 80 in December 2016, at which time he was identified in an obituary as "Maine's best-known classical composer".
### Rise of Quinnisa Rose (2017–present)
Since 2017, starting with The Daughters Union, Kinsella and Mulkerin's daughter Quinnisa—age 11 at the time of that album's recording—has been featured more prominently on Big Blood albums and gradually become a full-time member of the band. Over the same period, their highly prolific pace of musical output has slowed somewhat.
Big Blood dedicated The Daughters Union to their late collaborator Elliott Schwartz and to Yoko Ono. Initially self-released, The Daughters Union was reissued on vinyl in 2019 by Feeding Tube. Critic Ed Pinsent noted the album's sound tended toward glam rock and praised its "real confidence", "swagger", and "originality". According to a review in The Conway Daily Sun, The Daughters Union "functions more like a proper 'album' than most of the spirited, experimental output in the Big Blood's history." On the other hand, Joe Sweeney of Portland-based outlet The Bollard wrote: "If you think the addition of a child would make this challenging music feel safer, you'd be wrong." Big Blood's 2018 album Operate Spaceship Earth Properly, first released on Feeding Tube, features a riff-heavy psychedelic rock style with electronic percussion and effects, complementing futuristic themes in the lyrics, which reference the ideas of systems theorist Buckminster Fuller and the science fiction of authors Ursula K. Le Guin and Octavia Butler. Also in 2018, they released a split album with Baltimore-based duo Thunder Crutch. The Thunder Crutch split used synthesizers in a style reminiscent of 1970s German "Kosmische Musik".
In December 2019, Big Blood self-released the album Deep Maine, offering a stripped-back and relatively more traditional folk–country sound on a recording of only the band's core duo of Kinsella and Mulkerin. Do You Wanna Have a Skeleton Dream?, released in 2020 on Feeding Tube, marked Quinnisa's first songwriting credits on a Big Blood album. Quinnisa sings either lead or back-up vocals throughout as well as playing drums, trombone, guitar, and bass, while by contrast Mulkerin does not sing on the album and generally makes a less prominent contribution than usual. Bryon Hayes of Exclaim! called the album "quite possibly the most coherent Big Blood record so far, with the most straightforward songwriting", identifying the influence of Motown-style pop while also remarking that there was "still a fair share of the deep-fried Big Blood take on traditional American song form to be found." Bob Boilen of NPR's All Songs Considered called it a "surrealist girl group record" and likened the studio experimentation to the work 1960s producers like Phil Spector and Joe Meek.
Big Blood released a live album and a compilation in 2021. The former was QuaranTunes Series No. 027, a recording of a virtual live performance streamed online via Zoom on October 16, 2020. It was part of a series organized by Feeding Tube Records of similar performances that took place during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States when many Americans were under lockdown (or "quarantine"). The latter was Fight for Your Dinner Vol. II, a compilation of rare and unreleased material. The same year, Quinnisa sang and played guitar on the debut EP of Florida Man, a rock trio of herself and two other teenage musicians.
## Musical style and influences
Big Blood have been regarded as part of the "New Weird America" or "freak folk" movement. A write-up on Big Blood in The Wire noted: "Whether collaborating with friends and family, or digging deep into duo dynamics, they weave a very particular type of mesmerising, esoteric psychedelia, tearing open new channels in the New England folk vernacular." Since its formation in 2006, Big Blood has maintained a highly prolific schedule of record releases. According to Anthony D'Amico of Brainwashed, "some albums are thematically focused conceptual or aesthetic statements and some are just straightforward collections of good songs that harken back to their earlier strain of outsider Americana." In the band's early years, Big Blood described themselves not as a duo, but as a "phantom four piece of Asian Mae, Caleb Mulkerin, Rose Philistine and Colleen Kinsella [who] perform only as a duo". "Asian Mae" and "Rose Philistine" are alter egos used by Kinsella and Mulkerin, respectively.
Sun City Girls were a significant influence on Big Blood, and Kinsella cited their albums Torch of the Mystics and 330,003 Crossdressers From Beyond the Rig Veda as particular favorites of the band. She named Diamanda Galás, Umm Kulthum, Nina Simone, and PJ Harvey as other artists whose music she admires. The band has recorded an eclectic range of covers of others' music, including versions of songs by such artists as Can, Skip James, Syd Barrett, Blondie, Captain Beefheart, the Velvet Underground, Missy Elliott, Bob Seger, The Troggs, and Silver Apples. Their 2020 album Do You Wanna Have a Skeleton Dream? concludes with a duet vocal performance of Franz Schubert's "Ave Maria".
Lady Lamb, a singer-songwriter from Maine, said that "I will ... always be inspired by Big Blood. They astound me. Colleen Kinsella has been a major inspiration to me as someone who weaves her different mediums of art into one tremendous mess of genius." The French duo Natural Snow Buildings, who make psychedelic folk and experimental music, have expressed their fondness for Big Blood.
## Discography
- Strange Maine 11.04.06 (2006) – DTTR 003
- Strange Maine 1.20.07 (2007) – DTTR 004
- Space Gallery Jan. 27, 2007 / Sahara Club Jan. 28, 2007 (2007) – DTTR 005
- Sew Your Wild Days Tour Vol. 1 (2007) – DTTR 006
- Sew Your Wild Days Tour Vol. II (2007) – DTTR 007
- The Grove (2007) – DTTR 009 / PHR-50
- Already Gone I (2009) – DTTR 013
- Already Gone II (2009) – DTTR 017
- Night Terrors in the Isle of Louis Hardin (2010) – CFE#18 / (2014 reissue) DTTR 022
- Dead Songs (2010) – TIME-LAG 051
- Operators & Things [EP] (2010) – DTTR 023
- Dark Country Magic (2010) – DTTR 027 / (2020 reissue) FTR 543, CFTUL0163
- Big Blood & the Wicked Hex (2011) – PHR-83
- Old Time Primitives (2012) – DTTR 033
- Radio Valkyrie 1905–1917 (2013) – FTR103
- Fight for Your Dinner Vol. I (2014) – DTTR 041
- Unlikely Mothers (2014) – BRR271
- Double Days I (2015) – DTTR 043
- Double Days II (2015) – DTTR 044
- The Daughters Union (2017) – DTTR 050 / FTR 459
- Operate Spaceship Earth Properly (2018) – FTR 385 / DTTR 055
- Deep Maine (2019) – DTTR 057
- Do You Wanna Have a Skeleton Dream? (2020) – FTR500
- QuaranTunes Series No. 027 (2021) – FTR634
- Fight for Your Dinner Vol. II (2021) – DTTR 058
- First Aid Kit (2023)
### Collaborations
- Big Blood & the Bleedin' Hearts (2008) – with the Bleedin' Hearts (Tom Kovacevic, Micah Blue Smaldone, and Kelly Nesbitt) – DTTR 011
- 'Lectric Lashes (2008) – with Visitations – LTH 707
- Micah Blue Smaldone / Big Blood (2012) – with Micah Blue Smaldone – Immune 021
- "The Seer Returns" (also featuring Jarboe and Kevin McMahon) from The Seer (2012) by Swans
- "Ain't No Hallowed Ground" / "Half-Light Blues" (2015) – split single with Human Adult Band on the A-side – ENO 040
- Ant Farm (2016) – with Elliott Schwartz – FTR241
- Big Blood & Thunder Crutch (2018) – with Thunder Crutch – DTTR 047
|
30,866,008 |
The King of Limbs
| 1,166,127,429 |
2011 studio album by Radiohead
|
[
"2011 albums",
"Albums produced by Nigel Godrich",
"Radiohead albums",
"Self-released albums",
"XL Recordings albums"
] |
The King of Limbs is the eighth studio album by the English rock band Radiohead. It was self-released on 18 February 2011 as a download, followed by a physical release on 28 March through XL Recordings internationally and TBD Records in North America.
Following the more conventional instrumentation of In Rainbows (2007), The King of Limbs saw Radiohead move further from standard song structures and recording methods. They developed the album with their producer Nigel Godrich through sampling and looping; the singer, Thom Yorke, described it as "an expression of wildness and mutation". The artwork, by Yorke and his longtime collaborator Stanley Donwood, depicts nature and spirits inspired by fairy tales.
Radiohead released no singles from The King of Limbs, but released a music video for "Lotus Flower" featuring Yorke's dancing that inspired an internet meme. In 2012, they began an international tour, with several festival appearances. To perform the complex rhythms live, they were joined by a second drummer, Clive Deamer. The European tour was postponed after the temporary stage collapsed in Toronto's Downsview Park, killing the technician Scott Johnson and injuring three others.
Though its unconventional production and shorter length divided listeners, The King of Limbs was named one of the best albums of the year by publications including The Wire, NME and PopMatters. It was nominated in five categories at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards, including Best Alternative Music Album. The download version sold an estimated 300,000 to 400,000 copies in two months, and the vinyl became a bestseller in the UK. The retail edition debuted at number seven on the UK Albums Chart and number six on the US Billboard 200, making it the first Radiohead album not to achieve gold certification in the US. The King of Limbs was followed by the remix album TKOL RMX 1234567, the live video The King of Limbs: Live from the Basement, and the non-album singles "Supercollider" and "The Butcher".
## Recording
Radiohead worked on The King of Limbs with their longtime producer Nigel Godrich intermittently from May 2009 to January 2011. The sessions included three weeks recording at the home of the actress Drew Barrymore in Los Angeles in early 2010.
Radiohead wanted to avoid repeating the protracted recording process of their previous album In Rainbows (2007). According to the singer, Thom Yorke, they felt that "if we are gonna carry on, we need to do it for a new set of reasons". The Radiohead cover artist, Stanley Donwood, said that whereas In Rainbows was "very much a definitive statement", the band wanted to make an album that was more "transitory". The multi-instrumentalist Jonny Greenwood said: "We didn't want to pick up guitars and write chord sequences. We didn't want to sit in front of a computer either. We wanted a third thing, which involved playing and programming."
Whereas Radiohead had developed In Rainbows from live performances, The King of Limbs developed from studio experimentation. Yorke sought to move further from conventional recording methods. After he and Godrich became interested in DJing during their time in Los Angeles, Godrich proposed a two-week experiment whereby the band used turntables and vinyl emulation software instead of conventional instruments. According to Godrich, "That two-week experiment ended up being fucking six months. And that's that record, the whole story of all of it."
Radiohead assembled much of the album by looping and editing samples of their playing. They used sampling software written by Greenwood, which he described as a "wonky, rubbish version" of Ableton Live, to create sequences of music. Yorke wrote melodies and lyrics over the sequences, which he likened to the process of editing a film. The guitarist Ed O'Brien said: "The brick walls we tended to hit were when we knew something was great, like 'Bloom', but not finished ... Then [Colin Greenwood] had that bassline, and Thom started singing. Those things suddenly made it a hundred times better." According to Godrich, the result of the recording sessions was a "gigantic mess that took me about a year and a half to unravel".
On 24 January 2010, Radiohead suspended recording to perform at the Hollywood Henry Fonda Theatre to raise funds for Oxfam responding to the 2010 Haiti earthquake. The show was released free online in December 2010 as Radiohead for Haiti, and included a performance of the future King of Limbs track "Lotus Flower" by Yorke on acoustic guitar.
## Music and lyrics
According to Rolling Stone, The King of Limbs saw Radiohead move further from conventional rock music and song structures in favour of "moody, rhythm-heavy electronica, glacially paced ballads and ambient psychedelia". Several critics noted dubstep influences. The album features extensive sampling, looping, and ambient sounds, including natural sounds such as birdsong and wind. Pitchfork said it comprised "aggressive rhythms made out of dainty bits of digital detritus, robotically repetitive yet humanly off-kilter, parched thickets of drumming graced with fleeting moments of melodic relief". According to O'Brien: "Rhythm is the king of limbs! The rhythm dictates the record. It's very important."
Yorke said The King of Limbs was a "visual" album, with lyrics and artwork about "wildness" and "mutating" inspired by his environmental concerns. The title derives from the King of Limbs, an ancient oak tree in Savernake Forest in Wiltshire, near Tottenham House, where Radiohead recorded In Rainbows.
The first track, "Bloom", was inspired by the BBC nature documentary series The Blue Planet. It opens with a piano loop and features horns and complex rhythms. "Morning Mr Magpie" has "restless guitars". "Little by Little" features "crumbling guitar shapes" and "clattering" percussion. "Feral" features scattered vocal samples and "mulched-up" drums. "Lotus Flower" features a driving synth bassline and Yorke's falsetto. "Codex" is a piano ballad with "spectral" horns and strings and a Roland TR-808 drum machine. "Give Up the Ghost" is an acoustic guitar ballad with layered vocal harmonies. The final track, "Separator", has guitar, piano, a "brittle" drum loop and echoing vocals.
At eight tracks and 37 minutes in length, The King of Limbs is Radiohead's shortest album. O'Brien explained that Radiohead felt the ideal album was around 40 minutes long, and cited Marvin Gaye's What's Going On (1971) as a classic record shorter than The King of Limbs.
## Artwork and packaging
The King of Limbs artwork was created by Yorke with Radiohead's longtime collaborator Stanley Donwood. As with previous Radiohead albums, Donwood worked as the band recorded nearby. He painted oil portraits of the Radiohead members in the style of Gerhard Richter, but abandoned them as "I'd never painted with oils before and I'm not Gerhard Richter so it was just a series of painted disasters". Instead, the music made Donwood think of "immense multicoloured cathedrals of trees, with music echoing from the branches whilst strange fauna lurked in the fog". He and Yorke drew trees with eyes, limbs, mouths, and familiars, creating "strange multi-limbed creatures" inspired by Northern European fairy tales.
For the special edition of The King of Limbs, Donwood wanted to create something "in a state of flux". He chose newspaper, which fades in sunlight, for its ephemeral nature. This reflected the album's nature themes, mirroring the natural decay of living things. Donwood took inspiration from weekend broadsheets and underground 1960s newspapers and magazines such as Oz and International Times. The special edition includes a sheet of artwork on blotting paper of the kind used to distribute LSD; Donwood said, "In theory, not that I would propose such an illegal thing, but somebody could... And I don't think that's been done as a marketing thing before." The special edition was nominated for the Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package at the 54th Grammy Awards.
## Release
Radiohead announced The King of Limbs on their website on 14 February 2011. It was released on 18 February, a day early, as the website was ready ahead of schedule. The download version was sold for £6, with a special edition of the album, released on 9 May 2011, sold for £30. The special edition contains the album on CD and two 10-inch vinyl records, additional artwork, a special record sleeve, and a "colour piece of oxo-degradable plastic package". The King of Limbs was released on CD and vinyl on March 28, 2011 by XL Recordings in the United Kingdom, TBD in the United States and Hostess Entertainment in Japan.
On 16 April 2011, Radiohead released two further tracks from the King of Limbs sessions, "Supercollider" and "The Butcher", as a double single for Record Store Day. A few days later, the tracks were released as free downloads for those who had purchased The King of Limbs from the Radiohead website. In June 2011, Radiohead announced a series of King of Limbs remixes by various electronic artists. Yorke said the band wanted to experiment with the music further by giving it to remixers, and liked the idea that it was not "fixed and set in stone". The remixes were compiled on the album TKOL RMX 1234567, released in September 2011.
Radiohead performed The King of Limbs in its entirety for The King of Limbs: Live from the Basement, broadcast in July 2011 and released on DVD and Blu-ray in December 2011. Godrich said the performance was an effort to record the "very mechanised" album again and show it in a new light. On 11 February 2014, Radiohead released an app, Polyfauna, featuring music and imagery from The King of Limbs. In 2017, Radiohead collaborated with the film composer Hans Zimmer to record a new version of "Bloom" for the BBC nature documentary series Blue Planet II. The track, "(ocean) bloom", features new vocals by Yorke recorded alongside the BBC Concert Orchestra. In a press release, Yorke said that "Bloom" had been inspired by the original Blue Planet series, and that it was "great to be able to come full circle with the song".
## Promotion
On 18 February, Radiohead released a music video for "Lotus Flower" on YouTube, featuring black-and-white footage of Yorke dancing. It was directed by Garth Jennings and choreographed by Wayne McGregor. The video inspired the "Dancing Thom Yorke" internet meme, whereby fans replaced the audio or edited the visuals, and "#thomdance" became a trending hashtag on Twitter. A promotional broadcast in Shibuya Crossing, Tokyo, was canceled due to security concerns.
On 28 March 2011, to promote the retail release of The King of Limbs, Radiohead distributed a free newspaper, the Universal Sigh, at independent record shops across the world. Donwood and Yorke distributed copies in person at the Rough Trade record shop in east London. Influenced by free newspapers such as LA Weekly or London Lite, the Universal Sigh is a 12-page tabloid printed using web-offset lithography on newsprint paper and features artwork, poetry, and lyrics, plus short stories by Donwood, Jay Griffiths and Robert Macfarlane.
### Tour
Radiohead did not perform The King of Limbs live until several months after its release, as Yorke wanted to continue studio work and it took some time to arrange the album for performance. To perform the album's complex rhythms, they enlisted a second drummer, Clive Deamer, who had worked with Portishead and Get the Blessing. Selway said: "That was fascinating. One played in the traditional way, the other almost mimicked a drum machine. It was push-and-pull, like kids at play, really interesting." Deamer has joined Radiohead for subsequent tours.
On 24 June 2011, Radiohead played a surprise performance on the Park stage at the 2011 Glastonbury Festival, performing mainly new material. The Guardian critic Rosie Swash gave the performance a mixed review, saying the audience had hoped for older songs. In September, Radiohead played two dates at New York City's Roseland Ballroom and made American TV appearances including the season premiere of Saturday Night Live and an hour-long special of The Colbert Report. In 2012, Radiohead toured Europe, North America, and Asia, with appearances at the Bonnaroo, Coachella and Fuji Rock festivals. They played mainly arenas, as O'Brien said the "precise and detailed" King of Limbs material would not suit outdoor venues.
On 16 June 2012, the stage collapsed during the setup for a show at Toronto's Downsview Park, killing drum technician Scott Johnson and injuring three other members of Radiohead's road crew. The show was canceled and Radiohead's tour dates in Europe were postponed. After rescheduling the tour, Radiohead paid tribute to Johnson and their stage crew at their next concert, in Nîmes, France, in July. In 2013, Live Nation Canada Inc, two other organisations and an engineer were charged with 13 charges. Following a delay caused by mistrial, the case was dropped in 2017 under the Jordan ruling, which puts time limits on cases. Radiohead released a statement condemning the decision. A 2019 inquest returned a verdict of accidental death.
## Sales
On the Radiohead website, where it was exclusively available for nearly two months prior to its retail release, The King of Limbs sold between 300,000 and 400,000 download copies. Radiohead's co-manager Chris Hufford estimated that Radiohead made more money from The King of Limbs than any of their previous albums, as most sales were made through their website without a record company.
The retail edition debuted at number seven on the UK Albums Chart, ending Radiohead's streak of five consecutive number-one UK albums, and sold 33,469 copies in its first week. The vinyl edition, excluding special edition sales, sold more than 20,000 copies in the UK in the first half of 2011, 12% of all vinyl sold in that period, and became the bestselling vinyl album of 2011. As of April 2015, it was the decade's second-bestselling vinyl in the UK.
In the US, the retail edition debuted at number six on the Billboard 200, with first-week sales of 69,000 copies. The following week, it reached number three, its highest position, selling 67,000 copies. By April 2012, The King of Limbs had sold 307,000 retail copies in the US, making it Radiohead's first album not to achieve gold certification there. This was credited to the surprise release; Radiohead's co-manager Bryce Edge said some fans did not realise Radiohead had released a new record.
## Reception
At Metacritic, which aggregates scores from mainstream critics, The King of Limbs has an average score of 80 based on 40 reviews, indicating "generally favourable reviews". Michael Brodeur of the Boston Globe praised "the tense calm these eight songs maintain—a composure that feels constantly ready to crack", and wrote that "where In Rainbows was mellow but brisk – an album that felt on its way somewhere – these songs are eerie and insidious, creeping like shadows". PopMatters' Corey Beasley wrote: "The King of Limbs is a beautiful record, one that begs more of a conscious listen than its predecessor, but one that provides equal – if different – thrills in doing so."
François Marchand of the Vancouver Sun said that the album "bridges Radiohead's many different styles" and was "worth embracing". The critic Robert Christgau awarded the album a two-star "honourable mention" and recommended the songs "Little by Little" and "Bloom". The Quietus critic Ben Graham felt it could be Radiohead's best work, writing that it returned to the style of their albums Kid A and Amnesiac with "a greater maturity and weight of experience that enriches both the songs and the process".
Some felt The King of Limbs was less innovative than Radiohead's prior albums. Mark Pytlik of Pitchfork called it "well-worn terrain for Radiohead, and while it continues to yield rewarding results, the band's signature game-changing ambition is missed". AllMusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine described it as "Radiohead doing what they do ... without flash or pretension, gently easing from the role of pioneers to craftsmen". Luke Lewis of NME felt it was "a record to respect for its craft, rather than worship for its greatness".
In the Los Angeles Times, Ann Powers wrote that The King of Limbs had divided listeners, with some finding it too low-key, abstract, or "doomy", or too similar to Radiohead's previous work. Some fans, having waited years for the follow-up to In Rainbows, were disappointed by a shorter album that felt "relatively dashed together". Unfounded rumours spread of a second album soon to be released, bolstered by the lyrics of the final track, "Separator": "If you think this is over then you're wrong".
In a 2015 article for Stereogum, Ryan Leas concluded that The King of Limbs was "very good, occasionally great music by a pivotal band that nevertheless felt like something of a letdown because it wasn't, ultimately, some genius stroke none of us expected". Many listeners preferred The King of Limbs: Live From the Basement', including Leas, who wrote: "You hear muscle and movement and bodies existing where the now tapped-out ingenuity of Radiohead's electronic impulses has begun to make their recorded music brittle."
In 2021, the Consequence of Sound critic Jordan Blum and the Stereogum writer Chris Deville both wrote that The King of Limbs remained Radiohead's most divisive record. Some fans found it too short, or too "shallow and ephemeral"; Blum and Deville credited the disappointment to expectations set by the "warm and approachable" In Rainbows, which had boosted Radiohead's influence with its innovative pay-what-you-want release. Deville also speculated that the running order, with the less accessible songs on the first half, had lost some listeners.
### Accolades
The King of Limbs was named one of the best albums of 2011 by several publications, including the Wire, the Guardian, Mojo, NME, PopMatters, Uncut and Rolling Stone''. At the 54th Grammy Awards, it was nominated for Best Alternative Music Album and Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package. "Lotus Flower" was nominated for Best Short Form Music Video, Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song.
## Track listing
All songs written by Radiohead.
## Personnel
Radiohead
- Colin Greenwood
- Jonny Greenwood
- Ed O'Brien
- Philip Selway
- Thom Yorke
Additional musicians
- Noel Langley – flugelhorn on "Bloom" and "Codex"
- Yazz Ahmed – flugelhorn on "Bloom" and "Codex"
- The London Telefilmonic Orchestra – strings on "Codex"
- Levine Andrade – leading
- Robert Ziegler – conducting
Production
- Nigel Godrich – production, engineering, mixing
- Drew Brown – additional engineering
- Darrell Thorp – additional assistance
- Bryan Cook – additional assistance
- Bob Ludwig – mastering
Artwork'
- Thom Yorke (credited as Zachariah Wildwood)
- Stanley Donwood (credited as Donald Twain)
## Charts
### Weekly charts
### Year-end charts
## Certifications and sales
|
54,985,298 |
The Dragon and the Wolf
| 1,171,143,167 | null |
[
"2017 American television episodes",
"Game of Thrones (season 7) episodes",
"Television episodes directed by Jeremy Podeswa",
"Television episodes written by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss"
] |
"The Dragon and the Wolf" is the seventh and final episode of the seventh season of HBO's fantasy television series Game of Thrones, and the 67th episode overall. It was written by series co-creators David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, and directed by Jeremy Podeswa. The title of the episode refers to the sigils of House Targaryen (the Dragon) and House Stark (the Wolf) and their newfound alliance.
The episode's plot includes a negotiation between Cersei and Daenerys, and a rift between Cersei and Jaime; Theon rededicates himself to Yara; Sansa and Arya unite against Littlefinger; Jon Snow is revealed to be the child of Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen; Jon and Daenerys's romantic relationship comes to fruition; and the Army of the Dead penetrates the Wall.
"The Dragon and the Wolf" received a positive reception from critics. The pacing, however, was met with mixed reviews, and criticism was also leveled at the resemblance of Rhaegar Targaryen to his brother Viserys Targaryen. In the United States, the episode achieved a viewership of 12.07 million in its initial broadcast, making it the highest-rated episode of the series at the time.
The episode received eight nominations at the 70th Primetime Emmy Awards – making it the most Emmy Award-nominated episode of the series to date –, including for its writing, direction, music, and the performances of Peter Dinklage and Lena Headey, with Djawadi and Dinklage winning in their categories. This episode marks the final appearance of Aidan Gillen (Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish).
## Plot
### In King's Landing
Cersei, Daenerys, and their entourages meet in the ruined Dragonpit, and Jon and the Hound present the captured wight to prove the existence of the White Walkers. Cersei pledges her assistance on the condition that Jon remains neutral between the queens, but retracts her support when Jon affirms he has already sworn himself to Daenerys and returns to the Red Keep. Brienne appeals to Jaime to make Cersei reconsider. Tyrion goes alone to confront Cersei. He explains to Cersei that Daenerys wanted to destroy King's Landing until Tyrion persuaded her not to. During their conversation, he realizes Cersei is pregnant. Cersei returns to the parley and agrees to send her entire army north to fight the White Walkers.
Later, Jaime prepares to mobilize the army, but Cersei reveals that she lied and will not join Daenerys and Jon's cause. Euron, who had claimed to be fleeing the threat of the dead, is revealed to have actually gone to Essos to transport the Golden Company, with which Cersei will fight whoever prevails in the Long Night. Jaime is disgusted; Cersei threatens to have the Mountain kill him, but ultimately relents. Jaime departs King's Landing riding North alone as snow begins to fall on the city.
### On Dragonstone
Daenerys' allies make plans to travel to Winterfell. Daenerys decides to travel with Jon, in hopes of garnering popular support amongst the Northmen. Later, Theon seeks guidance from Jon, who declares they both preserve Ned's legacy. Theon decides to save Yara. Harrag, the leader of the remaining Ironborn, defies Theon and the two begin fighting. Despite taking a brutal beating, Theon ultimately prevails, rallying the Ironborn to his cause.
### At Winterfell
Sansa and Littlefinger discuss Arya's actions. Littlefinger advises Sansa to always assume others have the worst possible motive. Sansa summons Arya before the lords of the North and Vale, then stuns Littlefinger by accusing him of murder and treason, which Bran corroborates. Littlefinger begs for mercy, but Arya executes him.
Sam arrives at Winterfell with his family. Bran tells him that Jon's real parents were Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark. Sam reveals information from the High Septon's journal: in secret, Rhaegar's marriage to Elia Martell was annulled and he married Lyanna. Bran revisits the vision of Ned and Lyanna at the Tower of Joy and discovers that Jon's real name is Aegon Targaryen VI, making him Rhaegar's legitimate lawful son and the rightful heir to the Iron Throne (ahead of Rhaegar's younger sister Daenerys) and Robert's Rebellion was built on a lie: Rhaegar didn't kidnap and rape Lyanna, she loved him.
### In the Narrow Sea
Tyrion witnesses Jon Snow entering Daenerys' cabin. Jon and Daenerys have sex.
### At Eastwatch-by-the-Sea
The undead army arrives at Eastwatch. When Viserion appears, ridden by the Night King and breathing blue fire, Tormund orders the Night's Watch to evacuate. Viserion destroys Eastwatch and breaches the Wall, finally allowing the White Walkers and the wights to invade the Seven Kingdoms.
## Production
### Writing
"The Dragon and the Wolf" was written by the series' co-creators David Benioff and D. B. Weiss. In the "Inside the Episode" featurette published by HBO following the airing of the episode, they described the meeting at the dragon pit as one of the most challenging scenes in the episode to write, as they felt it was important to give each character their due. Weiss described the many different interactions between various characters as "deceptively difficult", and the necessity for the actors to be "playing off the person they're supposed to be playing off of" for the scene to be properly translated during the filming process.
For the culmination of the Winterfell storyline, and the death of Littlefinger, Benioff and Weiss stressed the importance of the scenes leading up to the finale, which they described as a realistic threat of harm between Arya and Sansa, with Benioff saying "It's one of the benefits of working on a show like this, where over the years so many beloved characters have been killed, and so many characters make decisions you wish they hadn't that you can believe Sansa might conspire against Arya, or that Arya might decide that Sansa has betrayed the family and deserves to die." Benioff continued by revealing his excitement in seeing Aiden Gillan's performance as Littlefinger, as it was the first time that they had written a scene in which the character was caught unaware, saying "He's imagined every conceivable eventuality except this one." Isaac Hemsptead Wright, who portrays Bran, described a scene that was originally written between his character and Sansa, but it was later removed from the episode.
Another challenge involved with writing the episode involved the presentation of the information regarding Jon Snow's lineage, as it mostly consisted of details that had already been revealed in prior scenes. As such, the inclusion of a montage, of Rhaegar and Lyanna, and Jon and Daenerys, was one of the ways that Benioff and Weiss stated they were able to go about this problem. Weiss noted that it was important to make it clear "that this was almost like an information bomb that Jon was heading towards." Benioff continued by describing Jon and Daenery's intimacy as a complication "on a political level," and "on a personal level," due to the two being related, with Weiss adding "Just as we're seeing these two people come together we’re hearing the information that will inevitably, if not tear them apart at least cause real problems in their relationship." In writing the final interaction between Jaime and Cersei, Benioff felt it was important to convey Cersei's reluctance to fully confide in Jaime.
Leading up to the seventh-season finale, Benioff and Weiss revealed that it was always planned for the penultimate season to end with the destruction of the Wall, and the White Walker army crossing into the Seven Kingdoms. Weiss noted, "The wall's kept these things out for eight thousand years and there's no real reason it can't keep doing that unless something puts a hole in the Wall. There's one thing on the board from the beginning that is now big enough to do that and that's a dragon." They also felt it was essential for the seventh-season finale to contrast well with previous season finale episodes, particularly the sixth-season finale, "The Winds of Winter", which Benioff stated had a more "triumphant ending" as opposed to something "much more horrific" with the conclusion of "The Dragon and the Wolf".
### Filming
"The Dragon and the Wolf" was directed by Jeremy Podeswa. He joined the series as a director in the fifth season, his first episode being "Kill the Boy", which was followed by "Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken", for which he was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series. He further directed two more episodes in the series' sixth season, and also directed the seventh season's premiere episode, "Dragonstone". This would be Podeswa's final episode as a director for the series, as he would later reveal that he would not be returning for the series' final season.
In an interview with Variety, Podeswa described the tone in filming the scene at the dragon pit as "laden with tension," and that he was very excited to film the sequence due to several characters meeting for the first time and others reuniting after a long absence from each other. According to a separate interview with USA Today, shooting of the dragon pit scene took place over the course of six days, and was first rehearsed in Belfast, and later on set in Spain. The Italica ruins near Seville, Spain stood in for the dragon pit. Podeswa revealed that the sequence was "40 to 50 pages" in the script, which he felt was a lot of material to work with, saying he had to "make sure everything landed," and that "every look in that script and every moment that needed to be there was actually going to end up on screen."
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Podeswa described filming the death of Littlefinger and Aidan Gillen's performance, saying "It was moving and difficult to see somebody get to the end of their role on the show, but it was an amazing scene to go out on. The mood when we were shooting it was incredible, actually. Aidan's performance was so, so passionate, and so surprising in a way." The filming of the scene took place over the course of an entire day, with the conclusion being filmed later, with Podeswa noting, "We didn't really shoot the end until a certain point, and was very ready at that point."
Podeswa also described the process behind filming the sexual intimacy between Jon and Daenerys, saying, "In the script, it described the fact that they were love-making, but it didn't go into great detail in terms of what was going on between them as characters in that moment." He went on to state that he "built in a moment between" Kit Harington and Emilia Clarke, who portray Jon and Daenerys respectively, where they "stop for a moment and look into each other's eyes." He continued, "The intention from my point of view, and their point of view too, is that they're driven by passion into this. They don't even fully understand what it's all about and what the consequences of it are. They really can't stop themselves. It's almost destiny that's bringing them together." In regards to the similarity between the appearance of Rhaegar and Viserys Targaryen, Podeswa stated that the brothers were meant to look similar.
Podeswa's first reaction to the final scene of the episode, with the destruction of a portion of the Wall, was "This is an enormous, spectacular sequence. How are we actually going to pull it off?" In order to piece together the sequence, Podeswa was required to work with several different departments, including Benioff and Weiss, the visual effects department, storyboard artist, the set designers, stuntmen, the cinematographer, and the actors themselves. All of the scenes that were filmed on top of the Wall, with Kristofer Hivju and Richard Dormer as Tormund and Beric respectively, were on an actual set in Belfast, along with filming of the stuntmen falling, which would be later transposed by visual effects. He continued by describing the process of creating the non-practical shots by saying, "All of the more panoramic spectacular shots are visual effects, but they're designed by me working with the visual effects department from storyboards that I created with storyboard artists." There were also several interactive elements involved, which Podeswa noted by saying, "When we were shooting the Wall set, we had the lighting effect on the Wall that was caused by the flame, but we hadn't created the flame yet." He continued by revealing the process that went into Viserion's appearance, saying "Everything comes from a sense of logic, so I guess in this particular instance with Viserion, what were the wounds that he suffered before he died? What happened to him underwater and when he was dragged up? All of those kinds of things folded into the discussion of what he should appear to look like when he's resurrected."
## Reception
### Ratings
"The Dragon and the Wolf" was viewed by 12.07 million viewers on its initial live broadcast on HBO, and an additional 4.4 million viewers on streaming platforms, for a total 16.5 million viewers. This set a ratings record for Game of Thrones as the highest-rated episode of the series at the time, surpassing "Eastwatch", which previously held the record. The episode also acquired a 5.7 rating in the 18–49 demographic, making it the highest-rated show on cable television of the night. In the United Kingdom, the episode was viewed by 3.54 million viewers on Sky Atlantic, making it the highest-rated broadcast that week on its channel. It also received 1.02 million timeshift viewers.
### Critical reception
"The Dragon and the Wolf" was praised by critics, who listed the meeting at the Dragonpit, Cersei's lack of cooperation to defeat the White Walkers, Aidan Gillen's performance as Littlefinger, and the demolition of the Wall as highlights of the episode. The episode has received an 88% rating on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes from 64 reviews, with an average score of 8.93 out of 10. The site's consensus reads: "While much slower in pace than the season that preceded it, 'The Dragon and the Wolf' delivered satisfying conclusions to several story arcs, and masterfully set up the series' final season."
The pacing of the episode received mixed reviews. On the other hand, Erik Kain of Forbes believed the episode to be too rushed, but praised it nonetheless for being one of the most "ultimately satisfying episodes HBO has given us to date." He listed the reveal of Jon Snow's lineage as one of the most important moments of the episode, and praised it for paralleling Jon and Daenerys's intimate sexual encounter.
Myles McNutt of The A.V Club wrote that the episode returned to the slow pace of the premiere and criticized its pacing and some of the characters motivations, but gave it a B+ overall. Jeremy Egner of The New York Times also gave praise to the episode, albeit with some criticism towards the episode's predictability, stating that while there were "Plenty of enjoyable moments and blue fire-fueled spectacle, and effectively set up next season’s culminating clashes, it didn't offer much in the way of surprise." Matt Fowler of IGN praised the episode's ability at "delivering lengthy meaningful scenes filled with dialogue, deception, revelations, twists", and the assembly at the Dragonpit. He gave the episode a 9.3 out of 10.
Kain and McNutt were also critical that Rhaegar Targaryen bore too great a resemblance to his brother Viserys Targaryen.
### Accolades
|
23,140,073 |
Galadriel
| 1,171,817,503 |
Character in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth
|
[
"Characters in The Silmarillion",
"Female characters in film",
"Female characters in literature",
"Fictional lords and ladies",
"Fictional princesses",
"Fictional telepaths",
"High Elves (Middle-earth)",
"Literary characters introduced in 1954",
"Middle-earth rulers",
"Noldor",
"Ring-bearers",
"Teleri",
"The Lord of the Rings characters"
] |
Galadriel (IPA: [ɡaˈladri.ɛl]) is a character created by J. R. R. Tolkien in his Middle-earth writings. She appears in The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, and Unfinished Tales.
She was a royal Elf of both the Noldor and the Teleri, being a grandchild of both King Finwë and King Olwë. She was also close kin of King Ingwë of the Vanyar through her grandmother Indis. Galadriel was a leader during the rebellion of the Noldor, and present in their flight from Valinor during the First Age. Towards the end of her stay in Middle-earth, she was joint ruler of Lothlórien with her husband, Celeborn, when she was known as the Lady of Lórien, the Lady of the Galadhrim, the Lady of Light, or the Lady of the Golden Wood. Her daughter Celebrían was the wife of Elrond and mother of Arwen, Elladan, and Elrohir. Tolkien describes Galadriel as "the mightiest and fairest of all the Elves that remained in Middle-earth" (after the death of Gil-galad) and the "greatest of elven women".
The Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey has written that Galadriel represented Tolkien's attempt to re-create the kind of elf hinted at by surviving references in Old English. He has compared his elves also to those in a Christian Middle English source, The Early South English Legendary, where the elves were angels. Another scholar, Marjorie Burns, compares Galadriel in multiple details to Rider Haggard's heroine Ayesha, and to Tennyson's The Lady of Shalott, both being reworked figures of Arthurian legend. Galadriel, lady of light, assisting Frodo on his quest to destroy the One Ring, opposed to Shelob, the giant and evil female spider of darkness, have been compared to Homer's opposed female characters in the Odyssey: Circe and Calypso as Odysseus's powerful and wise benefactors on his quest, against the perils of the attractive Sirens, and the deadly Scylla and Charybdis.
Modern songwriters have created songs about Galadriel; Tolkien's Quenya poem "Namárië" has been set to music by Donald Swann. Galadriel has appeared in both animated and live-action films and television. Cate Blanchett played her in Peter Jackson's film series, while Morfydd Clark played her in an earlier age in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.
## Fictional biography
Stories of Galadriel's life prior to the War of the Ring appear in both The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales. She was the only daughter and youngest child of Finarfin, prince of the Noldor, and of Eärwen, daughter of Olwë and cousin to Lúthien. Her elder brothers were Finrod Felagund, Angrod, and Aegnor. She was born in Valinor. She had the ability to peer into the minds of others to judge them fairly. She was a member of the royal House of Finwë. Galadriel was often called the fairest of all Elves, whether in Aman or Middle-earth.
According to the older account of her story, sketched by Tolkien in The Road Goes Ever On and used in The Silmarillion, Galadriel was an eager participant and leader in the rebellion of the Noldor and their flight from Valinor; she was the "only female to stand tall in those days". She had, however, long since parted ways with Fëanor and his sons. In Beleriand she lived with her brother Finrod Felagund at Nargothrond and the court of Thingol and Melian in Doriath. In this account, she met Celeborn, a kinsman of Thingol, in Doriath. She carried some dark secrets from those times; she told Melian part of the violent story of the Silmarils and Morgoth's killing of Finwë, but did not mention the kinslaying of elves by elves.
### Second Age
Galadriel and Celeborn travelled first to Lindon, where they ruled over a group of Elves, and were themselves ruled by Gil-galad. According to Concerning Galadriel and Celeborn, they then removed to the shores of Lake Nenuial (Evendim) and were accounted the Lord and Lady of all the Elves of Eriador. Later, they moved eastward and established the realm of Eregion (Hollin). They made contact with a Nandorin settlement in the valley of the River Anduin, which became Lothlórien. At some point, Celeborn and Galadriel left Eregion and settled in Lothlórien. According to some of Tolkien's accounts, they became rulers of Lothlórien for a time during the Second Age; but in all accounts they returned to Lórien to take up its rule after Amroth was lost in the middle of the Third Age.
Celeborn and Galadriel had a daughter, Celebrían, who married Elrond Half-elven of Rivendell.
During the Second Age, when the Rings of Power were forged, Galadriel distrusted Annatar, the loremaster who taught the craft of the Rings to Celebrimbor. Again according to some of the accounts, Celebrimbor rebelled against her view and seized power in Eregion. As a result, Galadriel departed to Lórien via the gates of Moria, but Celeborn refused to enter the dwarves' stronghold and stayed behind. Her distrust was justified, for Annatar turned out to be the Dark Lord, Sauron. When Sauron attacked Eregion, Celebrimbor entrusted Galadriel with Nenya, one of the Three Rings of the Elves. Celeborn joined up with Elrond, whose force was unable to relieve Eregion but managed to escape back to Imladris. Celeborn reunited with Galadriel when the war ended; according to one text, after some years in Imladris (during which Elrond first saw and fell in love with Celebrían) Galadriel's sea-longing became so strong that the couple removed to Belfalas and lived at the place later called Dol Amroth.
### Third Age
In The Fellowship of the Ring, Galadriel welcomed the Fellowship to Lothlórien after their escape from Moria. When she met the Fellowship in her tree-dwelling she gave each member a searching look, testing their resolve—though Boromir interpreted this test as a temptation. She was in turn tested when Frodo Baggins offered to place the Ring in her keeping. Knowing that its corrupting influence would make her "great and terrible", and recalling the ambitions that had once brought her to Middle-earth, she refused the Ring. She accepted that her own ring's power would fail, that her people would diminish and fade with the One Ring's destruction, and that her only escape from the fading of the Elves and the dominion of Men would be to return at last to Valinor. It is implied, backed up by other writings, that in acknowledgement of this renunciation of power her personal ban from Valinor was lifted.
When the Fellowship left Lothlórien, she gave each member a gift and an Elven cloak, and furnished the party with supplies, both as practical support and as a symbol of faith, hope and goodwill. Her husband Celeborn likewise provided the Fellowship with Elven-boats. On the day that the Fellowship left Lórien, but unknown to them, Gandalf arrived, carried by the eagle Gwaihir. Galadriel healed his wounds and re-clothed him in white, signalling his new status as head of the Istari, the order of wizards.
After Sauron perished, Celeborn led the host of Lórien across the Anduin and captured Dol Guldur. Galadriel came forth and "threw down its walls and laid bare its pits". She travelled to Minas Tirith for the wedding of her granddaughter Arwen to King Aragorn Elessar after the end of the war. Galadriel passed over the Great Sea with Elrond, Gandalf, and the Ring-bearers Bilbo and Frodo, marking the end of the Third Age. Celeborn remained behind, and Tolkien writes that "there is no record of the day when at last he sought the Grey Havens".
### Characteristics
The Dúnedain said that her height was two rangar, or "man-high" – some 6 feet 4 inches (193 cm). However, Galadriel's most striking feature was her beautiful long silver-golden hair. The Elves of Tirion said it captured the radiance of the Two Trees Laurelin and Telperion themselves.
> Even among the Eldar she was accounted beautiful, and her hair is held a marvel unmatched. It is golden like the hair of her father and of her foremother Indis, but richer and more radiant, for its gold is touched by some memory of the starlike silver of her mother; and the Eldar say that the light of the Two Trees, Laurelin and Telperion, has been snared in her tresses.
Fëanor greatly admired her hair; it may have inspired him to create the Silmarils.
> Many thought that this saying first gave to Fëanor the thought of imprisoning and blending the light of the Trees that later took shape in his hands as the Silmarils. For Fëanor beheld the hair of Galadriel with wonder and delight.
Nevertheless, Galadriel never repaid Fëanor's admiration. Fëanor "had begged her thrice for a tress and thrice she refused to give him even one hair. It is said that these two kinsfolk, being considered the greatest of the Eldar of Valinor, remain unfriends forever."
Her character was a blend of characteristics of the Eldar from whom she was descended. She had the pride and ambition of the Noldor, but in her they were tempered by the gentleness and insight of the Vanyar. She shared the latter virtues of character with her father Finarfin and her brother Finrod.
> She was proud, strong, and self-willed, as were all the descendants of Finwë save Finarfin; and like her brother Finrod, of all her kin the nearest to her heart, she had dreams of far lands and dominions that might be her own to order as she would without tutelage. Yet deeper still there dwelt in her the noble and generous spirit of the Vanyar, and a reverence for the Valar that she could not forget. From her earliest years she had a marvellous gift of insight into the minds of others, but judged them with mercy and understanding, and she withheld her goodwill from none save only Fëanor. In him she perceived a darkness that she hated and feared, though she did not perceive that the shadow of the same evil had fallen upon the minds of all the Noldor, and upon her own.
Her sympathy for Gimli the Dwarf, when she rebuked her husband Celeborn for being tempted to regret his decision to admit a Dwarf to Lothlórien, completely won him over.
### Relationships
## Analysis
### Reconstructed Old English elf
The critic Tom Shippey notes that in creating Galadriel, Tolkien was attempting to reconstruct the kind of elf hinted at by elf references in Old English (Anglo-Saxon) words. The hints are, he observes, paradoxical: while ælfscyne, "elf-beautiful", suggests a powerful allure, ælfsogoða, "lunacy", implies that getting too close to elves is dangerous. In Shippey's view, Tolkien is telling the literal truth that "beauty is itself dangerous", as Chaucer did in The Wife of Bath's Tale where both elves and friars are sexually rapacious. So when Faramir says to Sam Gamgee in Ithilien that Galadriel must be "perilously fair", Shippey comments that this is a "highly accurate remark"; Sam replies that "folk takes their peril with them into Lorien... But perhaps you could call her perilous, because she's so strong in herself."
### Angelic being
Shippey also considers the Christian Middle English attitude of the South English Legendary, a hagiographic work which he supposes Tolkien must have read, that elves were angels. In Shippey's view, Tolkien's elves are much like fallen angels, above Men but below the angelic Maiar and the godlike Valar. He comments at once that Galadriel is in one way certainly not "fallen", as the elves avoided the war on Melkor in the First Age; but all the same, "Galadriel has been expelled from a kind of Heaven, the Deathless land of Valinor, and has been forbidden to return." Shippey suggests that the Men of Middle-earth might have thought the fall of Melkor and the expulsion of Galadriel added up to a similar fallen status; and he praises Tolkien for taking both sides of the story of elves into account.
### Arthurian figure
The Tolkien scholar Marjorie Burns compares Galadriel to Rider Haggard's heroine Ayesha in his 1887 novel She: A History of Adventure, a book that Tolkien acknowledged as an important influence, and to Tennyson's The Lady of Shalott, which recast the Arthurian legend of Elaine of Astolat; she notes that Ayesha was herself an Arthurian figure, transposed to 19th century Africa.
### Homeric benefactor
The Tolkien scholar Mac Fenwick compares Galadriel and what he sees as her monstrous opposite, the giant and evil spider Shelob, with the struggle between the good and the monstrous female characters in Homer's Odyssey. Like Galadriel, Circe and Calypso are rulers of their own secluded magical realms, and both offer help and advice to the protagonist. They help Odysseus to avoid destruction by the female monsters, the Sirens who would lure his ship on to the rocks, and Scylla and Charybdis who would smash or drown his ship; Galadriel gives Frodo the Phial of Galadriel, which by her power contains the light of Eärendil's star, able to blind and ward off Shelob in her darkest of dark lairs. Galadriel's gifts, too, are Homeric, including cloaks, food, and wisdom as well as light, just like those of Circe and Calypso.
## Legacy in music
Tolkien wrote a poem "Namárië" that Galadriel sings in farewell to the departing Fellowship, and to Frodo in particular. The song is in Quenya, and "spoke of things little-known in Middle-earth," but Frodo is said to have remembered the words and translated them long afterward. It is a lament in which Galadriel describes her separation from the Blessed Realm and the Valar, her longing to return there, and at the end a wish or hope that even though she herself is forbidden (by the Ban) to return, that Frodo might somehow come in the end to the city of Valimar in Valinor. The poem was set to music by Donald Swann with Tolkien's assistance. The sheet music and an audio recording are part of the song-cycle of The Road Goes Ever On. In a recording, Tolkien sings it in the style of a Gregorian chant.
Galadriel's songs are omitted from Howard Shore's music for The Lord of the Rings film series; instead, Shore created a Lothlórien/Galadriel theme using the Arabic maqam Hijaz scale to create a sense of antiquity. Fran Walsh, Shore, and Annie Lennox co-wrote the Oscar-winning song "Into the West" for the closing credits of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Originally sung by Lennox, the song was conceived as Galadriel's bittersweet lament for those who have sailed across the Sundering Seas. The lyrics include phrases from the final chapter of the original novel. The song has since been covered by Yulia Townsend and Will Martin.
On their album Once Again, the band Barclay James Harvest featured a song called "Galadriel". It gained notability because guitarist John Lees played John Lennon's Epiphone Casino guitar on this track, an event later recounted in a song on the band's 1990 album Welcome To The Show titled "John Lennon's Guitar". Hank Marvin and John Farrar wrote a song "Galadriel", recorded by Cliff Richard; the four five-line stanzas include the couplet "Galadriel, spirit of starlight / Eagle and dove gave birth to thee". An Australian band named Galadriel released a self-titled album in 1971 which "became a highly sought-after collectors' item among European progressive rock circles".
## Adaptations
Galadriel was voiced by Annette Crosbie in Ralph Bakshi's 1978 animated film of The Lord of the Rings, and by Marian Diamond in BBC Radio's 1981 serialisation.
In Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies, Galadriel is played by Cate Blanchett. In The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Galadriel narrates the prologue that explains the creation of the One Ring, as well as appearing in Lothlórien.
While Galadriel does not feature in Tolkien's The Hobbit, the story was amended so that she could appear in Jackson's films based on the book.
On stage, Galadriel was portrayed by Rebecca Jackson Mendoza in the 2006 Toronto musical production of The Lord of the Rings; Mendoza's dress was hand-embroidered with some 1800 beads. The musical was revised and moved to London's Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in 2007, with Laura Michelle Kelly in the "glittering" role.
Galadriel appears in video games such as The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II, where she is voiced by Lani Minella.
In the 2022 television series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, young Galadriel was portrayed by Morfydd Clark, and her younger version by Amelie Child Villiers.
|
3,934,201 |
My Mother, the Fiend
| 1,173,274,799 | null |
[
"2005 American television episodes",
"Veronica Mars (season 2) episodes"
] |
"My Mother, the Fiend" is the ninth episode of the second season of the American mystery television series Veronica Mars, and the thirty-first episode overall. Directed by Nick Marck, the episode was co-written by Phil Klemmer and Dayna Lynne North. The episode was first shown on November 30, 2005, on UPN.
The series depicts the adventures of Veronica Mars (Kristen Bell) as she deals with life as a high school student while moonlighting as a private detective. In this episode, Veronica finds her mother's old high school records and starts digging into her mother's past, discovering information about the Kane family in the process. Meanwhile, Beaver (Kyle Gallner) proposes a business plan to help Kendall (Charisma Carpenter).
"My Mother, the Fiend" features the third and final appearance by Alyson Hannigan on the show. The show's crew found it difficult to work an episode into Hannigan's schedule because of other projects. The episode was accompanied by an alternate ending, a publicity move made by executive producer Joel Silver and the UPN promotions department. The episode was initially viewed by 2.82 million viewers and received mostly positive reviews. For example, Rowan Kaiser, of The A.V. Club, wrote "I am intrigued by the decisions to make Veronica less than pure, but this time, I'm not as disappointed by the followthrough."
## Synopsis
In health class, the students are assigned to take care of fake babies. Vice-Principal Clemmons (Duane Daniels) calls Veronica into his office and gives her detention for having keys to his file cabinet. Beaver walks up to Mac (Tina Majorino) and asks to hire her to register a company named Phoenix Land Trust and build the company a website. For Veronica's detention, she has to alphabetize and organize old student files. Veronica finds her mother's permanent file and reads that she was frequently in trouble in high school, including being suspended for spreading rumors. While Weevil (Francis Capra) is in the auto shop he is ambushed by Logan (Jason Dohring) and his cronies. Veronica talks to Deborah Hauser, a teacher who was in the same class as Lianne. Mrs. Hauser confirms they were suspended, and that she regrets spreading Lianne's gossip. Weevil gets duct-taped to the flagpole. Veronica asks Vice Principal Clemmons about who else might have known her mom in high school, and he tells her to talk to Principal Moorhead and Mary Mooney. Veronica approaches Mary while she is cleaning up lunch trays, but Mary doesn't respond. A student tells Veronica Mary is deaf. Veronica uses fingerspelling to ask about her mom, who Mary calls a "fiend". Veronica then talks to Principal Moorhead, who tells her that her mom was "vicious". It is announced that Trina Echolls (Alyson Hannigan) is coming back to direct a play at Neptune High. Kendall tries to seduce Duncan (Teddy Dunn) again. Trina meets Kendall, and the interaction is rife with sarcasm. Veronica looks through her mom's yearbook and eventually tracks down Patty Wilson, one of her mother's old friends. Patty provides more information on the love triangle between Celeste (Lisa Thornhill), Jake (Kyle Secor), and Lianne.
Veronica asks Keith (Enrico Colantoni) about Lianne's suspension, which she thinks was punishment for spreading a rumor that Celeste was pregnant. Keith says that he doesn't know anything about it, but agrees to look up birth records for 1980. Trina slips and falls during a play rehearsal, knocking herself out. Beaver meets with Kendall and confronts her about selling his father's possessions for little money. Beaver gives her his plan, which involves her being the face of the Phoenix Land Trust, as Beaver is under 18. Keith search of the birth records finds that no baby was born to either "Kane" or "Carnathan" (Celeste's maiden name) at that time. However, he finds that a baby was abandoned in the girls' bathroom at the 1980 Neptune High prom. Veronica bad-mouths Celeste in Duncan's suite only for Celeste to walk in, having overheard everything. Veronica learns that Duncan never told his parents about their relationship. Celeste insults Veronica's mother, and Veronica deduces that Celeste's cleaning lady, Astrid, is probably her daughter. Weevil confronts Logan and they argue before Weevil admits that he no longer thinks Logan killed Felix. However, they agree to start fighting in order to keep up appearances when the bell rings.
Mac shows her work to Beaver, and they flirt. Veronica, under a disguise, meets with the prom baby's temporary foster mom. Veronica learns that the baby's adopted mother died by suicide and her adopted father is in jail, hinting that the baby is Trina Echolls. Veronica visits Trina in the hospital and they plot to smoke out Trina's birth mother by telling the tabloids Trina needs a bone marrow transplant. During play rehearsal, Mary Mooney approaches Trina and using sign language explains that she is Trina's mother. Mary explains to Veronica that Lianne was a friend (not a fiend) and that Lianne helped her cover up her pregnancy. It is revealed Trina's father is Principal Moorehead, and Trina confronts him about leaving her at the prom in front of many faculty. Veronica finds the dead rat that Keith picked up at the bus. Veronica deduces that Vice Principal Clemmons deliberately gave Veronica her detention task so that she would find her mother's permanent file and expose Principal Moorehead, leaving Clemmons to be promoted to Principal. Veronica picks up Abel Koontz's (Christian Clemenson) belongings and walks into Meg's (Alona Tal) room where she discovers that Meg is pregnant. After Veronica leaves the room Meg is shown opening her eyes.
## Production
Directed by Nick Marck, "My Mother, the Fiend" was written by Phil Klemmer and Dayna Lynne North. The episode marks Klemmer's eighth writing credit, the fifth and penultimate writing credit for North, and Marck's seventh directing credit. Despite being credited, Wallace (Percy Daggs III), Dick (Ryan Hansen), and Jackie (Tessa Thompson) do not appear in the episode. Among the episode's guest stars are Alyson Hannigan and Charisma Carpenter, who portray Trina Echolls and Kendall Casablancas, respectively. The two previously starred together in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, with Hannigan playing Willow Rosenberg and Carpenter portraying Cordelia Chase. Although the two characters had appeared previously, they had never shared a scene together. Jason Dohring, who portrays Logan, stated that he had a special connection with Hannigan on-set: "We get together and just tease each other, she sucker-punches me. There's just a total, I don't know, we really have a sister-brother thing going on. I've never had that kind of connection with an actress before. It totally works." Dohring also noted that Hannigan responded strongly to any spoilers that she was given during filming of the episode.
"My Mother, the Fiend" also marks Hannigan's third and final guest appearance on the show. Hannigan was open to appearing in another episode, but she was unsure whether or not her busy schedule would allow it. She also felt that the character's arc had come to a natural close in this episode. In an interview, Rob Thomas said that due to her busy schedule, it was difficult to write an episode featuring Hannigan. On Hannigan's role in the episode and her future availability, Thomas commented:
> Well, to work around Alyson's schedule is really difficult for us. It's hard to plan to write an episode with Alyson in it because we don't know exactly what her free days are. Even the episode that we did with her, there was a huge kerfuffle, we actually had to slide that story line one episode down from when we originally wrote that. We've loved having Alyson in the show, and I'm sure we will again, some day, if she's willing, because we've had a lot of fun with her. But we have nothing booked with her right now.
The episode also features a reappearance by Celeste Kane (Lisa Thornhill), a recurring character during the first season. The second season DVD includes an alternate ending to this episode, which was released around the airing of the episode as a promotional tool. The alternate ending starts the same way as the regular ending, with Veronica discovering that Meg is pregnant. But instead of the episode ending there, Meg's mom comes into the room while Veronica hides in the bathroom. When the mom leaves, Meg is dead with a pillow over her face, indicating smothering. However, Veronica takes the pillow off before a nurse comes in. Thomas commented that the alternate ending was never going to be the actual conclusion to the episode. He said: "We never seriously considered having that be the ending. There were various other endings that we did have, but they were so subtly different, it was like, 'When does Veronica enter the room?' " The idea to promote the alternate ending was a joint venture from the UPN promotions department and executive producer Joel Silver. After Thomas learned that others wanted an alternate ending, he decided to make it very different from the episode's actual conclusion. "But once we could have a [very different] alternate ending, we thought, 'Let's make it rock.' The beauty of having that alternate ending is that we don't have to play it out in the next episode."
## Reception
### Ratings
In its original broadcast, "My Mother, the Fiend" received 2.82 million viewers, marking an increase from "Ahoy, Mateys!" and ranking 101st (out of 112) in the weekly rankings.
### Reviews
The episode received mostly positive reviews. Price Peterson, of TV.com, gave the episode a positive review, writing that he "[l]oved this episode. That reveal was simultaneously shocking and heartbreaking. Plus it took one of the show's most annoying characters (Trina) and made her both sympathetic and heartbreaking." He also praised the information found on Veronica's mother: "It was nice that Veronica got to see a better side of her mother than we usually do...Heartwarming!" Maureen Ryan, of the Chicago Tribune, called the episode "engrossing" and that it is a better use of a viewer's time than Lost, which aired at the same time as Veronica Mars.
Rowan Kaiser, of The A.V. Club, lauded Veronica's characterization as an antiheroine in the episode. "I've discussed times when [Veronica has] behaved in ways that I'm not certain are ethical, but this might be the most blatant case. [...] Once again, I am intrigued by the decisions to make Veronica less than pure, but this time, I'm not as disappointed by the followthrough." Television Without Pity gave the episode a "B". Alan Sepinwall singled out the scene between Carpenter and Hannigan and the Weevil and Logan subplot as particular points of praise. Sepinwall also called the alternate ending "an interesting little feature" while going on to state that he was "glad the real show didn't go in that direction."
BuzzFeed ranked the episode 48th on its ranking of Veronica Mars episodes, writing that it made the viewer "bored." On a similar list, TVLine ranked the episode 19th.
|
61,769,741 |
Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous
| 1,173,767,347 |
American streaming television series
|
[
"2020 American television series debuts",
"2020s American animated television series",
"2020s American science fiction television series",
"2022 American television series endings",
"American action adventure television series",
"American animated action television series",
"American animated adventure television series",
"American animated science fiction television series",
"American computer-animated television series",
"Animated television series about dinosaurs",
"Animated television shows based on films",
"Annie Award-winning television shows",
"English-language Netflix original programming",
"Interquel television series",
"Teen animated television series",
"Television series about summer camps",
"Television series by Amblin Entertainment",
"Television series by DreamWorks Animation",
"Television series set in 2015",
"Television series set in 2016",
"Television series set on fictional islands",
"Television shows set in Costa Rica",
"Television shows set in summer camps",
"Works based on Jurassic Park"
] |
Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous is an American animated science fiction action-adventure television series developed by Zack Stentz. A part of the Jurassic Park franchise, it features the voices of Paul-Mikél Williams, Sean Giambrone, Kausar Mohammed, Jenna Ortega, Ryan Potter, and Raini Rodriguez as a group of teenage campers who become stranded on Isla Nublar after multiple dinosaurs escape their habitats. Jameela Jamil, Glen Powell, Stephanie Beatriz, Bradley Whitford, Angus Sampson, Greg Chun, Benjamin Flores Jr., Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Haley Joel Osment, and Andrew Kishino also star in recurring roles.
The series debuted on Netflix on September 18, 2020. It received generally positive reviews for its animation, characters, and voice cast, though responses to its character designs and writing were mixed. In 2021, a second season was released on January 22; a third on May 21; and a fourth season on December 3. A fifth and final season was released on July 21, 2022. A standalone interactive special titled Hidden Adventure was released on November 15, 2022. Aaron Hammersley and Scott Kreamer are the showrunners of the series; they executive produce along with Lane Lueras, Steven Spielberg, Colin Trevorrow, and Frank Marshall. At the 48th Annie Awards, the series won for Outstanding Achievement for Animated Effects.
## Premise
After winning a video game, dinosaur fanatic Darius Bowman is given the opportunity to visit Camp Cretaceous, an exclusive adventure dinosaur camp on Isla Nublar. Once there, Darius meets five other teenagers—Ben, Yaz, Brooklynn, Kenji, and Sammy—who were also chosen for the once-in-a-lifetime experience. However, when the dinosaurs break free from their habitats, the campers are stranded and forced to venture across the island without any help in the hopes of finding a way out alive.
## Voice cast
### Main
- Paul-Mikél Williams as Darius Bowman, a camper who is a dinosaur fanatic from Oakland and leader of the group.
- Sean Giambrone as Ben Pincus, a sensitive and shy camper who takes care of an Ankylosaurus he names Bumpy.
- Kausar Mohammed as Yasmina "Yaz" Fadoula, the "most athletically assured" of the camp goers, who later begins a relationship with Sammy.
- Jenna Ortega as Brooklynn, a pink-haired famous travel vlogger and camper at Camp Cretaceous.
- Ryan Potter as Kenji Kon, a self-appointed VIP camper described as the "self-proclaimed alpha male of the group".
- Raini Rodriguez as Sammy Gutierrez, a camper filled with enthusiasm for the experience of being at Camp Cretaceous, who later begins a relationship with Yaz.
### Recurring
- Jameela Jamil as Roxie (seasons 1, 5; guest season 2), a paleontologist and camp counselor at Camp Cretaceous.
- Glen Powell as Dave (seasons 1, 5; guest season 2), a paleontologist and camp counselor at Camp Cretaceous.
- Greg Chun as Dr. Henry Wu (season 3; guest season 1), InGen's chief genetic engineer who re-created the dinosaurs.
- Benjamin Flores Jr. as Brandon Bowman (season 5; guest seasons 1, 4), Darius' older brother.
- Secunda Wood as Island Announcers / Computers, the voice given to various computer systems on both Isla Nubla and Mantah Corp Island.
- Stephanie Beatriz as Tiff (season 2; archival footage season 3), Mitch's wife and a big-game hunter.
- Angus Sampson as Hap (season 2), a mysterious and brooding tour guide who works for Tiff and Mitch.
- Bradley Whitford as Mitch (season 2), Tiff's husband and a big-game hunter.
- Dave B. Mitchell as Hawkes (season 5; guest season 3), the lead mercenary hired to protect Dr. Wu. He is later hired by Mantah Corp.
- Mitchell also voices Reed (guest, season 3), a mercenary hired to protect Dr. Wu.
- Kirby Howell-Baptiste as Dr. Mae Turner (seasons 4–5), a behavioural paleoneurobiologist contracted by Mantah Corp.
- Haley Joel Osment as Kash D. Langford (seasons 4–5), a roboticist and senior employee of Mantah Corp.
- Roger Craig Smith as B.R.A.D. (seasons 4–5), the mass-produced Bio-Robotic Assistance Droids used by Manta Corp. Smith also voices the upgraded model, B.R.A.D.-X.
- Andrew Kishino as Daniel Kon (season 5; guest season 4), Kenji's father and the President of Mantah Corp.
- Avrielle Corti as Lana Molina (season 5), an investor in Mantah Corp who works for BioSyn.
### Guest
- Jeff Bergman as Mr. DNA (season 1 and Hidden Adventure), the animated mascot of Jurassic World.
- Bergman also voices Paddock Worker One (Hidden Adventure), an unnamed worker in the Raptor paddock.
- James Arnold Taylor as Eddie (season 1; archival footage season 3), an assistant who had his birthday interrupted by the escape of the dinosaurs.
- Keston John as Fredrick Bowman (seasons 1–2), Darius and Brandon's deceased father.
- John also voices Dawson (season 3), a mercenary hired to protect Dr. Wu.
- Cherise Boothe as The Pilot (season 3), a mercenary pilot hired by Dr. Wu.
- Okieriete Onaodowan as Mr. Gold (season 5), an investor in Mantah Corp.
- Jon Rudnitsky as Cyrus (season 5), an investor in Mantah Corp.
- Adam Harrington as Lewis Dodgson (season 5), the Head of Research at BioSyn.
- Mikey Kelley as The Twins (season 5), twin brothers who are mercenaries hired by Mantah Corp.
- Antonio Alvarez as Godinez (season 5), a mercenary hired by Mantah Corp.
- Bill Nye as Hal Brimford (Hidden Adventure), a former employee of Jurassic World who left a message for Owen Grady that leads to the Hidden Adventure, an amusement park that never opened.
- Chris Jai Alex as Paddock Worker Two (Hidden Adventure), an unnamed worker in the Raptor paddock.
A mercenary named Hansen also appears in the third season but does not have a credited voice actor.
Several notable creatures from the movie franchise make an appearance. This includes the Tyrannosaurus rex Rexy, the quartet of Velociraptors Blue, Charlie, Delta and Echo, the Indominus rex, the Mosasaurus and the Spinosaurus from Jurassic Park III.
Other notable dinosaurs that appear include Bumpy, an Ankylosaurus with an asymmetrical face who befriends Ben Pincus; Toro, a Carnotaurus that hunts the campers; Grim, Chaos and Limbo, a trio of Baryonyx; the Scorpios rex, the first hybrid dinosaur created by Dr. Henry Wu; Big Eatie and Little Eatie, a mother and daughter pair of Tyrannosaurus rex; Pierce, a Kentrosaurus cared for by Mae Turner; Angel and Rebel, a pair of young Spinoceratops (Sinoceratops-Spinosaurus hybrids), and Firecracker, a baby Brachiosaurus. The series also introduces the first prehistoric mammal in the Jurassic Park franchise, a Smilodon in the fourth season.
## Episodes
## Production
According to series developer and consulting producer Zack Stentz, who also pitched the idea for the series to Universal Pictures, production on Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous began as early as April 2017. In June 2018, Scott Kreamer took over a premise and pilot script written by Stentz and worked on the show's early design. In 2019, a CGI-animated series was announced to debut on Netflix the following year, to be set during the events of the 2015 film Jurassic World. A joint project between Netflix, Universal Pictures, Amblin Entertainment, and DreamWorks Animation, Scott Kreamer and Aaron Hammersley worked together as the series' showrunners, executive-producing the series along with Lane Lueras, Steven Spielberg, Colin Trevorrow, and Frank Marshall.
Spielberg did not want the series to be a "kiddy version" of the Jurassic Park films, insisting that the young characters be placed in dangerous scenarios, as in the films. Kreamer and Hammersley joined the project after it was greenlit and they shared Spielberg's vision. The three were inspired by various Spielberg films which often depicted children facing danger. Unlike the Jurassic Park films, where children are secondary characters rescued by adults, the series focuses instead on the teenagers and their efforts to survive on their own. While working, crew members watched the film Jurassic World several times to develop tie-ins between the film and the show, even creating a map of Isla Nublar to help with the process.
According to staff writer Sheela Shrinivas and story editor Josie Campbell, the hardest characters to develop for the show were Yaz and Brooklynn. The writers struggled to find ways to make the characters "likable" to viewers. However, they ultimately decided that the best thing to do would be to bring out the character's weaknesses to have viewers sympathize with each character. The role of Dave was written specifically for Glen Powell, which he said made voicing the character "easy and fun".
While executive producing, Trevorrow said he had two rules he told the show's crew: to treat the dinosaurs as actual animals when creating a story, and to avoid animating aerial shots to keep scenes "grounded". Programs such as V-Ray, Autodesk Maya, and Nuke were used to create the series. The COVID-19 pandemic began during production, and the series crew had to work from home.
The series also features original music composed by Leo Birenberg, using themes from the Jurassic Park and Jurassic World soundtracks, composed by John Williams and Michael Giacchino respectively. In an interview, Birenberg said that he first heard of the show from music executives Alex Nixon and Frank Garcia, who he had previously worked with on Kung Fu Panda: The Paws of Destiny, after being recommended by Giacchino, who he had already met.
The second season was released on January 22, 2021. Early drafts for the season considered having the character of Ben die shortly after his fall in the first season's finale, but these plans were abandoned and Ben survived to continue appearing in the series. Colin Trevorrow attended a virtual panel at the 2020 New York Comic Con held in October, in which he said that the show's second season gave the production crew "a lot of freedom", as the first season depended entirely on the context found in Jurassic World, and the second season was set six months before the opening sequence in Fallen Kingdom.
In an interview, Trevorrow told Comic Book Resources that the appearance of animal trafficking in Fallen Kingdom encouraged the writers of Camp Cretaceous to feature big-game hunting as a major plot point of the show's second season to teach children that these problems still existed. When asked about the series' future, Trevorrow told Screen Rant that the crew at Camp Cretaceous had a story already planned out that would "take these kids deeper into a journey that pulls further and further away from Jurassic World". A ten-episode third season was released on May 21, 2021.
On developing the third season, Kreamer said that they "wanted the kids to have their own agency and put their fate in their own hands [...] we wanted to take some time and do some cool stuff, and have some fun, and do things that we hadn't done before because there was no time to do it because the kids were always running for their lives". When asked about transferring the animated series into the live-action Jurassic World universe, he responded by saying: "I would never say never. As far as I know, there are no immediate plans for that to happen but it would be pretty cool if it did". Along with Kreamer and Raini Rodriguez, Trevorrow teased a fourth season: "We do have a beginning, middle, and an end for it. We do [have a plan], and there is an ending in sight. Scott and the writers have plotted out a pretty exciting way forward". Trevorrow explained that the show would not include the volcano eruption scene from Fallen Kingdom and said that "if we are able to tell the whole story that we have plotted out here, that the writers have built, it will really give us a chance to go into some really new spaces that are a real departure from the movies".
A fourth season was released on December 3, 2021. In an interview, Kreamer confirmed the return of the Spinosaurus, a dinosaur first depicted in Jurassic Park III (2001), and said the fourth season would take place on an island "previously unseen in the Jurassic canon". The writers originally thought the B.R.A.Ds were too unrealistic for the series. After watching a video by Boston Dynamics about robots, however, the writers decided to include them. On developing the relationship between Kenji and Brooklynn, Kreamer said the idea was first brought up and dismissed during the making of season two. He added: "It's a kid show and it's not necessarily something you would do in Jurassic. But it felt [like] a natural progression. If you've got six kids on an island for six months, feelings are going to develop. And we wanted to approach it in a way that felt organic to the show and made sense with our characters".
A fifth and final season was released on July 21, 2022.
A standalone interactive special titled Hidden Adventure was released on November 15, 2022.
## Home media
The first three seasons were released on DVD on May 3, 2022, by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.
## Reception
### Season 1
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the first season of Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous holds an approval rating of 77% based on 13 reviews, with an average rating of 6.6/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "With a spirited group of campers and exciting new adventures, Camp Cretaceous successfully evolves the Jurassic World franchise for younger viewers - though it may be a bit too violent for some."
Writing for Bloody Disgusting, Meagan Navarro called the season "the perfect Amblin mix of funny, touching, and daring", praising the voice cast and the dinosaur designs, but calling the character designs generic. Jesse Hassenger from The A.V. Club gave the season a grade rating of a C+, calling the show unrealistic storywise, but also saying that its character development was "clever" and that the show depicted teenagers accurately. Collider's Haleigh Foutch gave the season an A−, while Alana Joli Abbott of Den of Geek gave it four stars out of five. Overall, both critics lauded the animation, cast, and central story of the season. From the Los Angeles Times, Robert Lloyd compared the animation style to that found in the original characters in Scooby-Doo, and complimented the voice acting, stating that it "keeps them real enough". Nick Allen of RogerEbert.com considered the series' entertainment value to be worthy of comparison to the franchise's original trilogy, stating that "because of the care put into making [the series], it's more special than just a spin-off."
In a negative review, Empire journalist Ben Travis gave the season a rating of two stars out of five, criticizing the show's writing and its characters, who he said were "unlikeable" and "drawn in thin stereotypes and forced dialogue", concluding that the first season was only meant for younger viewers. On the other side of the spectrum, Beth Elderkin of io9 found the season to be excessively violent, pointing out that "not an episode goes by without at least one kid being put in mortal danger". However, she noted the consistency throughout the season, stating that "it's rare to find a modern children's show that trusts its audience to handle more intense subject material [...] even if it's unsettling at times". Having watched the first episode, the crew at Decider hesitantly recommended viewers to stream the series.
### Season 2
On Rotten Tomatoes, the second season holds an approval rating of 100% based on 5 reviews, with an average rating of 6.8/10. Den of Geek critic Alana Joli Abbott gave the second season of Camp Cretaceous a four and a half out of five star rating, stating that it improved compared to its first, while Daniel Hart from Ready Steady Cut said it did not, giving the season three stars out of five, and calling it a "missed opportunity". Danielle Solzman, from Solzy at the Movies, praised the exploration of the fictional Isla Nublar and the pacing of all eight episodes. Writing for Mashable, Brooke Bajgrowicz complimented the overall story in the season and the growing tension, but criticized the plot of the episode "Brave", which took place entirely in a flashback and only focused on the character of Ben.
From Collider, Haleigh Foutch ranked the season in her list of the top seven "new shows" to watch on Netflix, stating that the new season "leaves plenty of opportunity for action while making room for more character-focused moments". Screen Rant journalist John Orquiola lauded the show's story, action, and characters, specifically in the episode titled "The Watering Hole", stating that it was similar to the ending of the original Jurassic Park, and a "clever spin" on the directing style of Steven Spielberg. Rafael Motamayor, writing for The New York Observer, also shared positive feedback to "The Watering Hole", stating that the episode was "full of wonder" that allowed the show to "capture the feeling of the original Jurassic Park, while bringing the dinosaurs to the forefront of the story."
### Season 3
The third season of Camp Cretaceous received highly positive reviews from critics, with some calling it the series' best. On Rotten Tomatoes, the third season holds an approval rating of 100% based on 7 reviews, with an average rating of 8.3/10. From ComingSoon.net, Jeff Ames gave it a "9/10" for its character development and wrote that while it continued to use the same formula for its action sequences, "the creators know these characters so well, and have such a firm grip on audience expectations, that they manage to outmaneuver their episodic trappings and deliver a final product that satisfies, thrills, and, best of all, leaves you wanting more." Animation World Network's Victoria Davis also praised the season for its overall tone, noting that "the attention paid to small visuals adds to the heightened emotion by conveying a sense of aging and maturity in the characters." Furthermore, Den of Geek's Alana Joli Abbott gave it four stars and a half out of five for being able to balance "calmer, lighter moments with heart-pounding action, and real concern that favorite characters won't make it out alive", and said that the series was one that children of all ages could enjoy. However, Comic Book Resources's Renaldo Matadeen gave a negative review, finding that the finale "botched" Ben's character development when being separated from Bumpy, writing that "it's underwhelming and destroys the heroic nature he's developed. Ben should have made his own call in a rational and not melodramatic manner, so the next season could move past his screaming and anxious self. By trying to force humor, it just feels regressive and culls the badass leader he was turning into."
### Season 4
IGN's Amelia Emberwing gave positive notes to Yaz's character development for demonstrating that "even the toughest among us have moments where they need help". However, Emberwing found that for a series aimed at younger audiences, the violence against the dinosaurs was unnecessary; she said a scene in one episode served no purpose to the narrative and was "so pointlessly mean spirited that it warranted pausing and walking away for a moment". In her verdict, the reviewer said the cruelty shown on screen would taint the show's legacy and that the fourth season was a "frustrating hiccup in the story." Meanwhile, Jeff Ames from ComingSoon.net gave the fourth season an 8/10 and said, "it doesn't quite offer the narrative thrust (or intrigue) of previous seasons, but there's plenty to enjoy, even if you're only here to check out the beautifully rendered monsters." Brandon Zachary of Comic Book Resources gave extreme praise. He found the animation and designs to be "impressive" and wrote, "the overall strength of the writing and an ever-impressive voice cast help elevate it even further, making it one of the more genuinely exciting all-ages series on Netflix."
In its opening week, the fourth season of Camp Cretaceous was the seventh most-watched series on Netflix after accumulating a total of 16.9 million hours of watch time. In its second week, the season was watched for a total of 17.42 million hours, placing fourth in Netflix's top ten list for television shows in the English language.
### Season 5
Upon release of the season, several parents on Common Sense Media gave openly critical or negative reviews. They expressed disappointment over the incorporation of a romantic relationship between Yaz and Sammy and they felt that the show regressed too much into a gay association, which is not suitable for viewers who expect more prehistoric notions of the TV show. Even reviews that were otherwise positive expressed critical reactions toward the shift in tone and focus.
### Accolades
|
33,657,451 |
You da One
| 1,167,113,470 |
2011 single by Rihanna
|
[
"2011 singles",
"2011 songs",
"Black-and-white music videos",
"Def Jam Recordings singles",
"Music video controversies",
"Music videos directed by Melina Matsoukas",
"Reggae songs",
"Rihanna songs",
"Song recordings produced by Cirkut",
"Song recordings produced by Dr. Luke",
"Song recordings produced by Kuk Harrell",
"Songs involved in plagiarism controversies",
"Songs written by Dr. Luke",
"Songs written by Ester Dean",
"Songs written by Rihanna"
] |
"You da One" is a song by Barbadian singer Rihanna recorded for her sixth studio album, Talk That Talk (2011). It was co-written by Rihanna with Ester Dean, Henry Walter, John Hill and Lukasz Gottwald. Production of the song was completed by Gottwald, under his production name Dr. Luke, and Cirkut. Kuk Harrell and Marcas Tovar recorded the track at the Sofital Paris Le Laubourg, Room 538, and Westlake Recording Studios in Los Angeles, California. It premiered on US radio on November 11, 2011, and was made available to download digitally throughout Europe and Australasia on November 14, 2011. It was added to US Mainstream, rhythmic and urban radio station playlists on November 29, 2011. Throughout December 2011 and January 2012, a remix extended play (EP) was released worldwide.
Musically, "You Da One" is a mid-tempo pop and reggae song, which incorporates elements of electropop, dancehall and dubstep. It also features a dubstep bridge before the final chorus. It garnered positive reviews from music critics, many of whom complimented the West Indian and Caribbean tone, and compared it to "What's My Name?" and "Man Down", from her previous studio album Loud (2010). The song achieved moderate chart success; it peaked at number one on the US Dance Club Songs and number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100. Internationally, it peaked inside the top 10 in New Zealand and the UK Hip Hop and R&B Singles Chart, and attained top twenty positions in Canada, Hungary, Norway and Sweden.
To promote the song, an accompanying music video was shot in east London and directed by Melina Matsoukas. It was inspired by the 1971 film A Clockwork Orange, and premiered on December 23, 2011. It was mainly shot in black and white, and features Rihanna in a variety of different set ups, such as in a photo shoot and a lyric video game. At various points, lyrics are stamped across the video as Rihanna sings them. Hours after the release of the video, Norwegian photographer Sølve Sundsbø accused Rihanna and Matsoukas of plagiarism, suggesting that the scene featuring the singer wearing a white outfit with black dots was deliberately copied from his 2008 montage "Numero 93".
## Production and release
"You da One" was written by Ester Dean, Henry Walter, John Hill, Lukasz Gottwald and Rihanna. Production of the song was helmed by Dr. Luke and Cirkut. Rihanna recorded the song at several recording studios around the world during her Loud Tour (2011), which included Sofital Paris Le Laubourg in Room 538 and at Westlake Recording Studios in Studio B in Los Angeles, California. Vocal recording and production was carried out by Kuk Harrell and Marcos Tovar. Alejandro Barajas and Jennifer Rosales served as the vocal recording and production assistants to Harrel and Tovar. "You da One" was mixed by Serban Ghenea and assisted by Phil Seaford, at Mixstar Studios, Virginia Beach, Virginia. John Hanes served as the mixing engineer. The song was engineered by Aubrey “Big Juice” Delaine and Clint Gibbs, and were assisted by Chris Sclafani and Jonathon Steer. All instrumentation was provided by Dr. Luke, Cirkut and Hill, and the production coordinators were Irene Richter and Katie Mitzell.
During an interview with Ryan Seacrest on his radio show On Air with Ryan Seacrest, Rihanna revealed that she found "You da One" to be highly addictive to listen to after she heard the final cut, saying You da One' is one of those records that became very addictive for me. I could not stop listening to this song. It's very infectious." The artwork for the single was shot in black-and-white, the same technique which was used for Rihanna's previous single's artwork, "We Found Love". "You da Ones artwork displays the singer with her head tilted back and her eyes closed holding a cigarette between her lips. It prompted a mixed reaction from Sarah Anne Hughes for The Washington Post; while she noted that Rihanna looks "perfectly coiffed," she criticized the inclusion of the cigarette, and called it a "social taboo."
The song was released as the second single from Talk That Talk, and premièred in the United States nationwide on November 11, 2011, via the Clear Channel Radio station network. "You Da One" was made available to download digitally via iTunes on November 14, 2011, in Australia, New Zealand, South America, the United States and multiple European countries.
## Composition
"You da One" is a pop and reggae song with just a touch of a dubstep groove that embraces Caribbean rhythms, reggae, and pulsing house beats. which incorporates elements of dancehall The song also features a dubstep bridge before the final chorus. "You da One" runs for 3 minutes and 19 seconds, and it was composed in the key of E major using common time and a moderate groove of 126 beats per minute; it follows a chord progression of A–Cm–E. Instrumentation is provided by a piano. Rihanna's vocal range spans one octave from the low note of B♭<sub>3</sub> to the high note of B♭<sub>4</sub> on the song. According to Bradley Stern of MTV, the song's musical structure bore a resemblance to Britney Spears' "Inside Out", writing that Rihanna "gets squeezed between a killer dubstep-to-death breakdown, not unlike the ex-sexin' jam Dr. Luke crafted for Britney's 'Femme Fatale' cut." James Montgomery of the same publication commented on the song's structure, writing that the song "starts in traditional [Rihanna] territory — building on a slow, skanking rhythm — expands with a starbursty chorus, then contracts nearly as quickly on a knotty, ratcheting middle."
The lyrics to "You da One" are about a stable and comfortable relationship, which can be heard in the lyrics "You know how to love me hard / I won't lie, I'm falling hard / Yup, I'm falling for ya, but there's nothing wrong with that." Michael Cragg of The Guardian explained some of the lyrics in the song as part of his review, writing "It's perhaps less immediate, but there's a lovely pre-chorus of 'My love is your love, your love is my love' that leads into a refrain about how great it is to have found someone decent, ('I'm so happy that you came in my life').
## Critical reception
"You da One" garnered positive reviews from music critics. In regards to the song's sexually lewd demeanor, Jocelyn Vena of MTV News felt that Rihanna embodied a "potty-mouthed sex kitten"; Vena continued to write that the song is the most radio friendly on Talk That Talk, despite the excessive use of "NSFW lyrics". Robert Copsey for Digital Spy praised the song, writing that it is "bouncy" and is "oozing with Caribbean flavor". The song was also positively reviewed by Sadao Turner of On Air with Ryan Seacrest, who said that "'You da One' is a radio-friendly record with island influence teeming with pop goodness and that signature Rihanna sound that carries across a dancefloor". Amanda Dobbins of New York wrote that "You da One" and "We Found Love" are "relatively PG" compared to other songs on Talk That Talk. Entertainment Weekly's Melissa Maerz praised the song, writing that "You da One" is "the perfect opener to set the tone for an album that embraces Caribbean rhythms, reggae, and pulsing house beats." Maerz continued to call the song "an island-breezy tribute to some guy who's got [Rihanna] 'dreaming all the time'." Jason Lipshutz of Billboard magazine noted that the song is similar to some of Rihanna's previous dancehall influenced songs, such as "What's My Name?" and "Man Down", from her previous studio album Loud (2010). Leah Collins of Dose praised the lyrics in the song which she described as "lovey-dovey and most definitely radio-friendly."
Andrew Martin of Prefix Magazine commented on the infectiousness of the song, writing that once it has been listened to, it is hard to stop thinking about it. Martin continued to praise the "sugary sweetness of the song", but criticized the incorporation of the dubstep breakdown toward the end of the song, citing that the reason as to why it was included was to try and make the song "even bigger". Michael Cragg of The Guardian also noted that the song has a relaxed feel to it, and compared it to some of the singer's previous dancehall songs, "What's My Name?" and "Rude Boy". A reviewer for Spin criticized the song, writing "[Rihanna] is giving us a half-limp reggae jam full of platitudes like, '[You da] one I dream about all day'." The reviewer continued to write that there is "more chaste" on "You da One" than there was presented on Britney Spears' guest vocal on "S&M".
## Chart performance
### North America
In the United States, "You da One" debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 chart at number 73 on November 16, 2011, two days after it was released to iTunes. The following week, it peaked at number 14. It debuted at number 28 on the US Radio Songs, the apex of its stay, with a first week audience impression of 28 million. With this chart entry, the song became the highest chart position debut since Lady Gaga's "Born This Way", which debuted at number six in February 2011. On the US Digital Songs chart, the song debuted and peaked at number nine with digital download sales of 124,000 units sold. With this chart entry, Rihanna became the first female artist in the history of the chart to have three songs in the top 10 of the Digital Songs Chart; that week, the lead single from Talk That Talk, "We Found Love", was at number one with sales of 211,000 units, while her duet with Drake, "Take Care" from album of the same name, was at number four with sales of 162,000 units. She became the first artist to have three songs in the top 10 of the chart since Michael Jackson had a record breaking six songs in the top 10 following his death in July 2009.
On the US Mainstream Top 40, "You da One" debuted at number 26 on November 26, 2011, and was awarded the honor of that week's Greatest Gainer, and peaked at number 19. "You da One" achieved the most success on the US Dance Club Songs chart, where it peaked at number one,and became her seventeenth number one song on the chart. With this chart entry, she tied with Beyoncé for the third most Dance Club Songs chart number one songs in the chart's 35-year history. Only Madonna (40) and Janet Jackson (19) have achieved more number songs on the chart. The song also peaked at number 60 on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, and number 12 on the Canadian Hot 100. In the United States, "You da One" was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on March 27, 2012, denoting shipments of over one million units.
### Europe and Australia
In France, "You da One" debuted at number 64 on November 19, 2011, and reached a 2011 peak of 28. In its ninth week on the chart, February 14, 2012, the song peaked at number 23; it spent 23 weeks on the chart in total. In the Netherlands, "You da One" debuted at number 92 on November 19, 2011, and peaked at number 53 in its third week. It made a re-entry on the chart at number 61 on December 31, 2011, and remained on the chart for a further two weeks in January 2012. Elsewhere in Europe, the song managed to peak inside the top 20 in Ireland at number 12, in Norway at number 16, and in Sweden at number 17. It peaked inside the top 50 in Austria, Switzerland, and Spain. In the United Kingdom, "You da One" debuted on the UK Singles Chart at number 39 on December 3, 2011. The following week, it fell by one position to number 40. In the last week of December 2011, it charted at number 22. In the first week of January 2012, the song reached its peak of number 16. On the UK Hip Hop and R&B Singles Chart, "You da One" debuted at number 11 on December 3, 2011, and reached a 2011 peak of number six. On January 1, 2012, it peaked at number five.
In Australia, "You da One" debuted at number 41 on December 14, 2011, and peaked at number 26 in its third week. In 2012, it reached a peak of number 35. In total, it remained on that countries singles chart for a period of 10 weeks. It has since been certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) denoting shipments of over 70,000 units. In New Zealand, it debuted at number 22 on November 21, 2011, and peaked at number 10 in its third week. In 2012, it reached a peak of number 27. It remained on the chart for a total of 10 weeks.
## Music video
### Background and synopsis
The music video for "You da One" was filmed on November 30, 2011, at MC Motors in Dalston, East London. It was directed by Melina Matsoukas, who also directed the controversial video for her previous single, "We Found Love". In the first images from the London set, Rihanna sported short blonde hair, torn denim shorts, patterned leggings, and a white bowler hat. She held a black cane as she performed scenes in front of a bright pink wall in the visuals inspired by the 1971 film A Clockwork Orange. It premiered on December 23, 2011.
The clip is partly a photo shoot and a lyric video as lyrics are stamped across the screen and Rihanna's body, and was shot mainly in black and white. She wears numerous outfits and blonde wigs throughout the video as she emulates the clothes from A Clockwork Orange by wearing a white bowler hat and cane from Laird Hatters, sporting a smoky eye in homage, and smacking her pink pouty lips with bubble gum. Rihanna later strips down to a flesh-coloured leotard as she writhes on the floor with strategically placed artistic shards of light to create leopard spots and tiger stripes on her skin. Several scenes capture solely her mouth; first with a gold grill covering her bottom row of teeth, and later with smoke billowing from her lips transitioning into and out of the words "Dream" and later "You Da One". Another scene finds Rihanna in a white tank top and tattered jean shorts, swinging a cane in between two brick buildings. She continuously exudes sexuality; in several scenes, she touches and thrusts her crotch (reminiscent of Michael Jackson's dance moves, as noted by Jason Lipshutz of Billboard), struts toward the camera with a pimp cane, endorses provocative dance moves, and drapes herself over a giant ball. Using the latter move, she is found in a black and white chequered background room where she moves around a larger than life playing card. The video ends with Rihanna running away from the camera and jumping into a chair, throwing her legs over the side with a smile on her face.
### Reception and plagiarism allegations
A reviewer for Idolator described the video as "glorious." Amy Sciarretto for PopCrush wrote "Judging from the song's official video, it is, since RiRi can’t keep her hands to herself. The black and white video features the newly blond singer cavorting in an array of black and white outfits, dancing, smiling, giggling and grabbing her crotch with a great degree of regularity." Hours after the release of the video, Norwegian photographer Sølve Sundsbø alleged that the scene of Rihanna wearing a white outfit with black dots shining on her (pictured) is the same as a photo shoot he completed in 2008 titled "Numero 93'". A reviewer for Idolator wrote that "the evidence really doesn’t look to be in Rihanna's favor." The reviewer continued to write "Not only are the projected shapes similar, but both Rihanna and the model are wearing nearly-identical body suits and wigs (though the color differs). Plus, those pink lips providing the only splash of color also look pretty familiar." A reviewer for The Huffington Post concurred with Idolator's observations, and noted "The nakedness, the projections, the interplay of light and shadow... even the haircut" were very similar to that of the work by Sundsbo.
## Track listing
\*; Digital download
1. "You da One" – 3:18
\*; CD
1. "You da One"
2. "We Found Love" (Chuckie extended remix)
\*; Digital download (remixes)
1. "You da One" (Dave Audé radio) – 3:53
2. "You da One" (Dave Audé club) – 7:59
3. "You da One" (Dave Audé dub) – 7:29
4. "You da One" (Almighty radio) – 3:46
5. "You da One" (Almighty club) – 6:26
6. "You da One" (Almighty dub) – 6:26
7. "You da One" (Gregor Salto Amsterdam edit) – 2:58
8. "You da One" (Gregor Salto Amsterdam club) – 5:21
9. "You da One" (Gregor Salto Amsterdam dub) – 5:06
10. "You da One" (Gregor Salto Vegas edit) – 2:46
11. "You da One" (Gregor Salto Vegas club) – 4:46
12. "You da One" (Gregor Salto drum dub) – 4:34
## Credits and personnel
Recording locations
- Vocal recording – Sofital Paris Le Laubourg, Room 538; Westlake Recording Studios (Studio B), Los Angeles, California.
- Music recording – eightysevenfourteen Studios, Brentwood, California.
- Mixing – Mixstar Studios, Virginia Beach, Virginia.
Personnel
- Songwriting – Ester Dean, Lukasz Gottwald, Robyn Fenty, John Hill, Henry Walter
- Production – Dr. Luke, Cirkut
- Vocal producing and recording – Kuk Harrell, Marcos Tovar
- Assistant vocal recording – Alejandro Barajas, Jennifer Rosales
- Engineer – Aubrey "Big Juice" Delaine and Clint Gibbs
- Assistant engineer – Chris Sclafani, Jonathan Sheer
- Mixing – Serban Ghenea
- Assistant mixing – Phil Seaford
- Engineer for mixing – John Hanes
- All instruments and programming – Dr. Luke, Cirkut, John Hill
- Production coordination – Irene Richter, Katie Mitzell
Credits adapted from the liner notes of Talk That Talk, Def Jam Recordings, SRP Records.
## Charts
### Weekly charts
### Year-end charts
## Certifications
## Release history
## See also
- List of Billboard Dance Club Songs number ones of 2012
|
310,311 |
Zoltán of Hungary
| 1,159,720,868 | null |
[
"10th-century Hungarian people",
"10th-century monarchs in Europe",
"880 births",
"903 births",
"950 deaths",
"Gesta Hungarorum",
"House of Árpád",
"Hungarian monarchs",
"Year of birth uncertain",
"Year of death uncertain"
] |
Zoltán (; 880 or 903 – 950), also Zolta, Zsolt, Solt or Zaltas is mentioned in the Gesta Hungarorum as the third Grand Prince of the Hungarians who succeeded his father Árpád around 907. Although modern historians tend to deny this report on his reign, because other chronicles do not list him among the Hungarian rulers, there is consensus that even if Zoltán never ascended the throne, all monarchs ruling in Hungary from the House of Árpád after around 955 were descended from him.
## Life
### Zoltán in the Gesta Hungarorum
Modern historians' main source of Zoltán's life is the Gesta Hungarorum, a late 12th-century chronicle whose writer is now known as Anonymus. According to this source, Zoltán was the only son of Árpád, Grand Prince of the Hungarians. In contrast, the nearly contemporary Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus writes that "Zaltas" was Árpád's fourth son. Zoltán's name seemingly derived from the Arabian sultan title with Turkic mediation, but modern scholars have not unanimously accepted this etymology.
According to Anonymus, Zoltán was born after 903, during his father's second campaign against Menumorut. The latter was one of the many local rulers who are solely mentioned in the Gesta Hungarorum among the opponents of the Hungarians during their conquest of the Carpathian Basin. In the Gesta Hungarorum's narration, Menumorut was forced to surrender and to give his daughter in marriage to Zoltán in 904 or 905. When Menumorut died, Zoltán inherited his father-in-law's duchy east of the river Tisza, which Anonymus claims was inhabited by "the peoples that are called Kozár". Anonymus also states that Zoltán, still a minor, succeeded his father who died around 907. Zoltán, in turn, later abdicated in favour of his son Taksony and died "in the third year of his son's reign".
> And his son Zolta succeeded [Árpád], who was similar to his father in character but dissimilar in appearance. Prince Zolta was a little lisping and pale, with soft, blonde hair, of middling stature; a warlike duke, brave in spirit, merciful to his subjects, sweet of speech, but covetous of power, whom all the leading men and warriors of Hungary loved marvelously. Some time later, when Zolta was thirteen, all the leading men of the realm by their common counsel and of their equal wish appointed rectors of the kingdom beneath the prince to mend through the guidance of customary law the conflicts and lawsuits of litigants.
### Modern historians' views
Nowadays historians reject most details of Zoltán's life presented by Anonymus. For instance, the Hungarian historian Gyula Kristó says that Zoltán was born around 880 instead of around 903. His Romanian colleague Alexandru Madgearu likewise writes that either Zoltán was born many years earlier than 903 or his marriage must have happened years after 904.
Zoltán's father-in-law's identity is also debated. Medievalist Pál Engel says that Menumorut is one of the "imaginary figures" invented by Anonymus in order to describe the conquering Hungarians' heroic wars against them. Historian Charles R. Bowlus writes that he was a Moravian ruler whose daughter's marriage with Zoltán symbolized the end of "Great Moravia". Medievalist Tudor Sălăgean also says that Menumorut was a real person, the ruler of a one-time duchy inhabited by Romanians, Slavs and many other peoples at the turn of the 9th and 10th centuries.
Anonymus's statement that Zoltán succeeded his father as grand prince, or even the idea that Zoltán ever ruled the federation of the Hungarian tribes have also been challenged. For instance, historian Sándor L. Tóth writes that Zoltán, being the youngest among Árpád's four sons, could hardly precede his elder brothers in the line of succession. Kristó also says that other Hungarian chroniclers do not make mention of Zoltán's rule, implying that Anonymus only inserted Zoltán into the incompletely preserved list of the grand princes because he knew that all Hungarian monarchs from the House of Árpád descended from him.
## Family
The following is a family tree presenting Zoltán's closest-known relatives:
- Whether Menumorut is an actual or an invented person is debated by modern scholars.
\*\*All later grand princes and kings of Hungary (until 1301) descended from Taksony.
## See also
- Principality of Hungary
|
192,181 |
USS Oklahoma (BB-37)
| 1,168,514,989 |
Dreadnought battleship of the United States Navy
|
[
"1914 ships",
"Battleships sunk by aircraft",
"Maritime incidents in 1915",
"Maritime incidents in 1947",
"Maritime incidents in December 1941",
"Monuments and memorials in Hawaii",
"Nevada-class battleships",
"Ship fires",
"Ships built by New York Shipbuilding Corporation",
"Ships present during the attack on Pearl Harbor",
"Ships sunk during the attack on Pearl Harbor",
"Shipwrecks of Hawaii",
"World War I battleships of the United States",
"World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument",
"World War II battleships of the United States"
] |
USS Oklahoma (BB-37) was a Nevada-class battleship built by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation for the United States Navy, notable for being the first American class of oil-burning dreadnoughts. Commissioned in 1916, the ship served in World War I as a part of Battleship Division Six, protecting Allied convoys on their way across the Atlantic. After the war, she served in both the United States Battle Fleet and Scouting Fleet. Oklahoma was modernized between 1927 and 1929. In 1936, she rescued American citizens and refugees from the Spanish Civil War. On returning to the West Coast in August of the same year, Oklahoma spent the rest of her service in the Pacific.
On 7 December 1941, during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, several torpedoes from torpedo bombers hit the Oklahoma's hull and the ship capsized. A total of 429 crew died; survivors jumped off the ship 50 feet (15 m) into burning oil on water or crawled across mooring lines that connected Oklahoma and Maryland. Some sailors inside escaped when rescuers drilled holes and opened hatches to rescue them. The ship was salvaged in 1943. Unlike most of the other battleships that were recovered following Pearl Harbor, Oklahoma was too damaged to return to duty. Her wreck was eventually stripped of her remaining armament and superstructure before being sold for scrap in 1946. The hulk sank in a storm while being towed from Oahu, Hawaii, to a breakers yard in San Francisco Bay in 1947.
## Design
Oklahoma was the second of the two Nevada-class battleships which were ordered in a naval appropriation act on 4 March 1911. She was the latest in a series of 22 battleships and seven armored cruisers ordered by the United States Navy between 1900 and 1911. The Nevada-class ships were the first of the US Navy's Standard-type battleships, of which 12 were completed by 1923. With these ships, the Navy created a fleet of modern battleships similar in long-range gunnery, speed, turning radius, and protection. Significant improvements, however, were made in the Standard-type ships as naval technology progressed. The main innovations were triple turrets and all-or-nothing protection. The triple turrets reduced the length of the ship that needed protection by placing 10 guns in four turrets instead of five, thus allowing thicker armor. The Nevada-class ships were also the first US battleships with oil-fired instead of coal-fired boilers, oil having more recoverable energy per ton than coal, thus increasing the ships' range. Oklahoma differed from her sister Nevada in being fitted with triple-expansion steam engines, a much older technology than Nevada's new geared steam turbines.
As constructed, she had a standard displacement of 27,500 long tons (27,941 t) and a full-load displacement of 28,400 long tons (28,856 t). She was 583 feet (178 m) in length overall, 575 feet (175 m) at the waterline, and had a beam of 95 feet 6 inches (29.11 m) and a draft of 28 feet 6 inches (8.69 m).
The ship was powered by 12 oil-fired Babcock & Wilcox boilers driving two dual-acting, vertical triple-expansion steam engines, which provided 24,800 ihp (18,500 kW) for a maximum speed of 20.5 knots (38.0 km/h; 23.6 mph). She had a designed range of 8,000 nautical miles (15,000 km; 9,200 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).
As built, the armor on Oklahoma consisted of belt armor from 13.5 to 8.0 inches (343 to 203 mm) thick. Deck armor was 3 inches (76 mm) thick with a second 1.5 inches (38 mm) deck, and turret armor was 18 inches (457 mm) or 16 in (406 mm) on the face, 5 inches (127 mm) on the top, 10 inches (254 mm) on the sides, and 9 inches (229 mm) on the rear. Armor on her barbettes was 13.5 inches. Her conning tower was protected by 16 inches of armor, with 8 inches of armor on its roof.
Her armament consisted of ten 14-inch (356 mm)/45 caliber guns, arranged in two triple and two twin mounts. As built, she also carried 21 5-inch (127 mm)/51 caliber guns, primarily for defense against destroyers and torpedo boats. She also had two (some references say four) 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes for the Bliss-Leavitt Mark 3 torpedo. Her crew consisted of 864 officers and enlisted men.
## Service history
### Construction
Oklahoma's keel was laid down on 26 October 1912, by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation of Camden, New Jersey, which bid \$5,926,000 to construct the ship. By 12 December 1912, she was 11.2% complete, and by 13 July 1913, she was at 33%.
She was launched on 23 March 1914, sponsored by Lorena J. Cruce, daughter of Oklahoma Governor Lee Cruce. The launch was preceded by an invocation, the first for an American warship in half a century, given by Elijah Embree Hoss, and was attended by various dignitaries from Oklahoma and the federal government. She was subsequently moved to a dock near the new Argentine battleship Moreno and Chinese cruiser Fei Hung, soon to be the Greek Elli, for fitting-out.
On the night of 19 July 1915, large fires were discovered underneath the fore main battery turret, the third to flare up on an American battleship in less than a month. However, by 22 July, the Navy believed that the Oklahoma fire had been caused by "defective insulation" or a mistake made by a dockyard worker. The fire delayed the battleship's completion so much that Nevada was able to conduct her sea trials and be commissioned before Oklahoma. On 23 October 1915, she was 98.1 percent complete. She was commissioned at Philadelphia, on 2 May 1916, with Captain Roger Welles in command.
### World War I
Following commissioning, the ship remained along the East Coast of the United States, primarily visiting various Navy yards. At first, she was unable to join the Battleship Division Nine task force sent to support the Grand Fleet in the North Sea during World War I because oil was unavailable there. In 1917, she underwent a refit, with two 3 in (76 mm)/50 caliber guns being installed forward of the mainmast for antiaircraft defense and nine of the 5-inch/51 caliber guns being removed or repositioned. While conditions on the ship were cramped, the sailors on the ship had many advantages for education available to them. They also engaged in athletic competitions, including boxing, wrestling, and rowing competitions with the crews of the battleship Texas and the tug Ontario. The camaraderie built from these small competitions led to fleet-wide establishment of many athletic teams pitting crews against one another for morale by the 1930s.
On 13 August 1918, Oklahoma was assigned to Battleship Division Six under the command of Rear Admiral Thomas S. Rodgers, and departed for Europe alongside Nevada. On 23 August, they met with destroyers Balch, Conyngham, Downes, Kimberly, Allen, and Sampson, 275 miles (443 km) west of Ireland, before steaming for Berehaven, where they waited for 18 days before battleship Utah arrived. The division remained at anchor, tasked to protect American convoys coming into the area, but was only called out of the harbor once in 80 days. On 14 October 1918, while under command of Charles B. McVay Jr., she escorted troop ships into port at the United Kingdom, returning on 16 October. For the rest of the time, the ship conducted drills at anchor or in nearby Bantry Bay. To pass the time, the crews played American football, and competitive sailing. Oklahoma suffered six casualties between 21 October and 2 November to the 1918 flu pandemic. Oklahoma remained off Berehaven until the end of the war on 11 November 1918. Shortly thereafter, several Oklahoma crewmembers were involved in a series of fights with members of Sinn Féin, forcing the ship's commander to apologize and financially compensate two town mayors.
### Interwar period
Oklahoma left for Portland on 26 November, joined there by Arizona on 30 November, Nevada on 4 December, and Battleship Division Nine's ships shortly after. The ships were assigned as a convoy escort for the ocean liner SS George Washington, carrying President Woodrow Wilson, and arrived with that ship in France several days later. She departed 14 December, for New York City, and then spent early 1919 conducting winter battle drills off the coast of Cuba. On 15 June 1919, she returned to Brest, escorting Wilson on a second trip, and returned to New York, on 8 July. A part of the Atlantic Fleet for the next two years, Oklahoma was overhauled and her crew trained. The secondary battery was reduced from 20 to 12 5-inch/51 caliber guns in 1918. Early in 1921, she voyaged to South America's West Coast for combined exercises with the Pacific Fleet, and returned later that year for the Peruvian Centennial.
She then joined the Pacific Fleet and, in 1925, began a high-profile training cruise with several other battleships. They left San Francisco on 15 April 1925, arrived in Hawaii, on 27 April, where they conducted war games. They left for Samoa, on 1 July, crossing the equator on 6 July. On 27 July, they arrived in Australia and conducted a number of exercises there, before spending time in New Zealand, returning to the United States later that year. In early 1927, she transited the Panama Canal and moved to join the Scouting Fleet.
In November 1927, she entered the Philadelphia Navy Yard for an extensive overhaul. She was modernized by adding eight 5-inch/25 cal guns, and her turrets' maximum elevation was raised from 15 to 30 degrees. An aircraft catapult was installed atop turret No.3. She was also substantially up-armored between September 1927 and July 1929, with anti-torpedo bulges added, as well as an additional 2 inches (51 mm) of steel on her armor deck. The overhaul increased her beam to 108 feet (33 m), the widest in the US Navy, and reduced her speed to 19.68 knots (36.45 km/h; 22.65 mph).
Oklahoma rejoined the Scouting Fleet for exercises in the Caribbean, then returned to the West Coast in June 1930, for fleet operations through spring 1936. That summer, she carried midshipmen on a European training cruise, visiting northern ports. The cruise was interrupted by the outbreak of civil war in Spain. Oklahoma sailed to Bilbao, arriving on 24 July 1936, to rescue American citizens and other refugees whom she carried to Gibraltar and French ports. She returned to Norfolk on 11 September, and to the West Coast on 24 October.
The Pacific Fleet operations of Oklahoma during the next four years included joint operations with the Army and the training of reservists. Oklahoma was based at Pearl Harbor from 29 December 1937, for patrols and exercises, and only twice returned to the mainland, once to have anti-aircraft guns and armor added to her superstructure at Puget Sound Navy Yard in early February 1941, and once to have armor replaced at San Pedro in mid-August of the same year. En route on 22 August, a severe storm hit Oklahoma. One man was swept overboard and three others were injured. The next morning, a broken starboard propeller shaft forced the ship to halt, assess the damage, and sail to San Francisco, the closest navy yard with an adequate drydock. She remained in drydock, undergoing repairs until mid-October. The ship then returned to Hawaii. The Washington Naval Treaty had precluded the Navy from replacing Oklahoma, leading to the series of refits to extend her lifespan. The ship was planned to be retired on 2 May 1942.
### Attack on Pearl Harbor
On 7 December 1941, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Oklahoma was moored in berth Fox 5, on Battleship Row, in the outboard position alongside the battleship Maryland. She was immediately targeted by planes from the Japanese aircraft carriers Akagi and Kaga, and was struck by three torpedoes. The first and second hit seconds apart, striking amidships at approximately 07:50 or 07:53, 20 feet (6.1 m) below the waterline between the smokestack and mainmast. The torpedoes blew away a large section of her anti-torpedo bulge and spilled oil from the adjacent fuel bunkers' sounding tubes, but neither penetrated the hull. About 80 men scrambled to man the AA guns on deck, but were unable to use them because the firing locks were in the armory. Most of the men manned battle stations below the ship's waterline or sought shelter in the third deck, protocol during an aerial attack. The third torpedo struck at 08:00, near Frame 65, hitting close to where the first two did, penetrating the hull, destroying the adjacent fuel bunkers on the second platform deck and rupturing access trunks to the two forward boiler rooms as well as the transverse bulkhead to the aft boiler room and the longitudinal bulkhead of the two forward firing rooms.
As she began to capsize to port, two more torpedoes struck, and her men were strafed as they abandoned ship. In less than twelve minutes, she rolled over until halted by her masts touching bottom, her starboard side above water, and a part of her keel exposed. It's believed the ship absorbed as many as eight hits in all. Many of her crew, however, remained in the fight, clambering aboard Maryland to help serve her anti-aircraft batteries. Four hundred twenty-nine of her officers and enlisted men were killed or missing. One of those killed, Father Aloysius Schmitt, was the first American chaplain of any faith to die in World War II. Thirty-two others were wounded, and many were trapped within the capsized hull. Efforts to rescue them began within minutes of the ship's capsizing and continued into the night, in several cases rescuing men trapped inside the ship for hours. Julio DeCastro, a Hawaiian civilian yard worker, organized a team that saved 32 Oklahoma sailors. This was a particularly tricky operation as cutting open the hull released trapped air, raising the water levels around entombed men, while cutting in the wrong places could ignite stored fuel. It is likely that some survivors were never reached in time.
Some of those who died later had ships named after them, including Ensign John C. England for whom USS England (DE-635) and USS England (DLG-22) are named. USS Stern (DE-187) was named for Ensign Charles M. Stern, Jr. USS Austin was named for Chief Carpenter John Arnold Austin, who was also posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for his actions during the attack. USS Schmitt (DE-676) was named for Father Aloysius Schmitt. USS Barber (DE-161) was named for Malcolm, Randolph, and Leroy Barber. In addition to Austin's Navy Cross, the Medal of Honor was awarded to Ensign Francis C. Flaherty and Seaman James R. Ward, while three Navy and Marine Corps Medals were awarded to others on Oklahoma during the attack.
#### Salvage
By early 1942, it was determined that Oklahoma could be salvaged and that she was a navigational hazard, having rolled into the harbor's navigational channel. Even though it was cost-prohibitive to do so, the job of salvaging Oklahoma commenced on 15 July 1942, under the immediate command of Captain F. H. Whitaker, and a team from the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard.
Preparations for righting the overturned hull took under eight months to complete. Air was pumped into interior chambers and improvised airlocks built into the ship, forcing 20,000 tonnes (19,684 long tons; 22,046 short tons) of water out of the ship through the torpedo holes. Four thousand five hundred tonnes (4,429 long tons; 4,960 short tons) of coral soil were deposited in front of her bow to prevent sliding and two barges were posted on either end of the ship to control the ship's rising.
Twenty-one derricks were attached to the upturned hull; each carried high-tensile steel cables that were connected to hydraulic winching machines ashore. The righting (parbuckling) operation began on 8 March, and was completed by 16 June 1943. Teams of naval specialists then entered the previously submerged ship to remove human remains. Cofferdams were then placed around the hull to allow basic repairs to be undertaken so that the ship could be refloated; this work was completed by November. On 28 December, Oklahoma was towed into drydock No. 2, at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard. Once in the dock, her main guns, machinery, remaining ammunition, and stores were removed. The severest structural damage on the hull was also repaired to make the ship watertight. US Navy deemed her too old and too heavily damaged to be returned to service.
Oklahoma was decommissioned on 1 September 1944, and all remaining armaments and superstructure were then removed. She was then put up for auction at the Brooklyn Navy Yard on 26 November 1946, with her engines, boilers, turbo generators, steering units and about 24,000 tonnes (23,621 long tons; 26,455 short tons) of structural steel deemed salvageable. She was sold to Moore Drydock Co. of Oakland, California for \$46,127.
#### Final voyage
In May 1947, a two-tug towing operation began to move the hull of Oklahoma from Pearl Harbor to San Francisco Bay. Due to arrive on Memorial Day, a delegation of nearly 500 Oklahomans led by Governor Roy J. Turner planned to visit and pay final respects to the ship.
Disaster struck on 17 May, when the ships entered a storm more than 500 miles (800 km) from Hawaii. The tug Hercules put her searchlight on the former battleship, revealing that she had begun listing heavily. After radioing the naval base at Pearl Harbor, both tugs were instructed to turn around and head back to port. Without warning, Hercules was pulled back past Monarch, which was being dragged backwards at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph). Oklahoma had begun to sink straight down, causing water to swamp the sterns of both tugs.
Both tug skippers had fortunately loosened their cable drums connecting the 1,400-foot (430 m) tow lines to Oklahoma. As the battleship sank rapidly, the line from Monarch quickly played out, releasing the tug. However, Hercules' cables did not release until the last possible moment, leaving her tossing and pitching above the grave of the sunken Oklahoma. The battleship's exact location is unknown.
## Memorials and recovery of remains
During dredging operations in 2006, the US Navy recovered a part of Oklahoma from the bottom of Pearl Harbor. The Navy believes it to be a portion of the port side rear fire control tower support mast. It was flown to Tinker Air Force Base then delivered to the Muskogee War Memorial Park in Muskogee, in 2010, where the 40-foot-long (12 m), 25,000-pound (11,340 kg), barnacle-encrusted mast section is now on permanent outdoor display. The ship's bell and two of her screws are at the Kirkpatrick Science Museum in Oklahoma City. Oklahoma's aft wheel is at the Oklahoma History Center in Oklahoma City.
On 7 December 2007, the 66th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, a memorial for the 429 crew members who were killed in the attack was dedicated on Ford Island, just outside the entrance to where the battleship Missouri is docked as a museum. Missouri is moored where Oklahoma was moored when she was sunk. The USS Oklahoma memorial is part of Pearl Harbor National Memorial and is an arrangement of engraved black granite walls and white marble posts. Only 35 of the 429 sailors and Marines who died on Oklahoma were identified in the years following the attack. The remains of 394 unidentified sailors and Marines were first interred as unknowns in the Nu'uanu and Halawa cemeteries, but were all disinterred in 1947, in an unsuccessful attempt to identify more personnel. In 1950, all unidentified remains from Oklahoma were buried in 61 caskets in 45 graves at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
### Identification program
In April 2015, the Department of Defense announced, as part of a policy change that established threshold criteria for disinterment of unknowns, that the unidentified remains of the crew members of Oklahoma would be exhumed for DNA analysis, with the goal of returning identified remains to their families. The process began in June 2015, when four graves, two individual and two group graves, were disinterred for DNA analysis by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA). By December 2017, the identity of 100 crew members had been discovered, and with the numbers of sailor and Marine identities increasing at a steady pace, the 200th unknown was identified by 26 February 2019. Throughout 2019 and 2020, the DPAA continued to successfully identify more crew members, and on 4 February 2021, they announced the identity of the 300th unknown, a 19 year old Marine from Illinois.
As of 29 June 2021, the DPAA announced that the program was coming to a close, and that the remains of 51 crew members that could not be identified have been returned to Hawaii, and will be reinterred at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl Crater, with a ceremony scheduled for 7 December, the 80th anniversary of the Attack on Pearl Harbor. The program identified 343 crew members, including two Medal of Honor recipients, giving the DPAA a success rate of 88%. DPAA Director Kelly McKeague stated she had hoped to be able to identify at least a few more crew members before the program shut down, and in time for the ceremony. On 17 September 2021, the Department of Defense announced that number of identified was 346. After a final push to identify as many of the remaining unknown crew members as possible, the Department of Defense announced that they had identified a total 396 of 429 crew members, improving their success rate to 92.3%. As was previously planned, the crew remains that could not be identified, numbering only 33, would be reinterred at the Punchbowl Cemetery, during a ceremony on 7 December, that will coincide with the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, 80 years earlier.
## See also
- List of commanding officers of USS Oklahoma (BB-37)
- List of U.S. Navy losses in World War II
- Pearl Harbor Survivors Association
|
33,381,876 |
Born This Way: The Remix
| 1,155,250,331 | null |
[
"2011 remix albums",
"Albums produced by Lady Gaga",
"Interscope Records remix albums",
"Lady Gaga compilation albums",
"Lady Gaga remix albums"
] |
Born This Way: The Remix is the second remix album by American singer Lady Gaga, released on November 18, 2011 by Interscope. This album contains remixes of multiple songs from Gaga's second studio album, Born This Way. It was also released as part of the Born This Way: The Collection, a special edition release including the 17-track version of Gaga's second studio album and a DVD release of the HBO concert special Lady Gaga Presents the Monster Ball Tour: At Madison Square Garden. Most of the remixes had been available in the remix EPs released alongside each single from Born This Way. Musically, the album is an electronic and dance record; there are also influences of Europop, techno and dubstep within the composition.
Critics gave mixed reviews for the album, with their general complaint being that the release was unnecessary. Most of them, however, complimented The Weeknd, Twin Shadow and Guéna LG's remixes. It earned an overall score of 57 out of 100, on review aggregator site Metacritic. Commercially, Born This Way: The Remix achieved minor success, entering the charts in ten countries. Its highest peak position was attained in Japan, where it reached number 14. It also peaked at number 105 on the Billboard 200 chart in the United States.
## Background
In October 2011, Lady Gaga announced plans to release a remix album titled Born This Way: The Remix. The album contains fourteen remixes of tracks from her second studio album, Born This Way, only seven of which are unreleased. Born This Way: The Remix was also released as part of Born This Way: The Collection, a special edition release including the 17-track version of Gaga's second studio album and a DVD release of the HBO concert special Lady Gaga Presents the Monster Ball Tour: At Madison Square Garden. The remixers featured for the songs on the album include mainly techno musicians like Sultan & Ned Shepard, electropop producers like Goldfrapp and Metronomy, indie rock upstarts like Twin Shadow and Two Door Cinema Club, and then up-and-coming Canadian singer-songwriter the Weeknd.
Most of the remixes had been available in the remix EPs released alongside each single from Born This Way. The first remix commissioned was the Twin Shadow remix of "Born This Way", released in March 2011. This was followed by the Goldfrapp remix of "Judas" in May 2011, which was released to Gaga's YouTube channel. The Wild Beasts remix of "You and I" was released in August 2011, and the proceeds from the sales helped to raise awareness to the ways people can support independent labels that lost stock in the PIAS Recordings UK warehouse fire.
Regarding the inspiration behind the remix, Hayden Thorpe from Wild Beasts group told The Guardian: "The unlikeness of this match was perhaps what compelled us to take it on. Gaga in many ways is the epitome of what we are not. She is the butcher to our butter knife. The essential thrill is always to keep eluding what is expected of us and what we expect of ourselves." The last of the remix to be released was The Weeknd's take on "Marry the Night" which featured Illangelo, thus earning him a co-producer credit on it.
## Composition
The album opens with the Zedd remix of "Born This Way" which begins with some minimalist beat followed by loud synths, and consists of a techno breakdown. The Goldfrapp remix of "Judas" follows as the second track; the remix consists of industrial music and Gaga's vocals are converted to a slow, low-key moan making it almost like a man's voice. Foster the People remixed "The Edge of Glory" and introduced a new break down from the 3:20 time sequence. Producers Abel Tesfaye, known professionally as the Weeknd, and Illangelo kept the overall feel of "Marry the Night" intact, but introduced vocals by Tesfaye and a steely looping drum machine. Jason Lipshultz from Billboard described the addition as "directly conflict[ing] with Gaga's M.O. But like so many of these remixes, the Weeknd marries his vision of the song to Gaga's gorgeous voice without losing the original's integrity." Tesfaye's voice can be heard in spots on the song, adding an occasional "Ooh yeah" and a moan; ultimately at the 2:20 mark, the song collapses on itself and ditches the percussion for infrequent piano notes. The remix of "Black Jesus + Amen Fashion" retains the most of the composition of its original counterpart, although it introduces a new synth by Michael Woods, thus turning it into a rave-trance track. The Horrors remix of Born This Way album track "Bloody Mary" consisted of Gaga's vocals fading in and out of sequence. "Scheiße" featured influences from The Knife song "Heartbeats" (2003) as well as Vengaboys' "We Like to Party" (1999). "Electric Chapel"'s composition is completely changed by Two Door Cinema, altering the dark mood of the song to a fun and engaging one. The Metronomy remix of "You and I" varies little from its original equivalent, while dubstep is introduced in the Hurts remix of "Judas", with a different conclusion. Sultan & Ned Shepard's remix of "The Edge of Glory", the last track on the album, features pumping drums and slinking synths.
## Critical reception
After its release, Born This Way: The Remix received mixed reviews from critics. It earned an overall score of 57 out of 100, on review aggregator site Metacritic. Jason Lipshultz from Billboard commented that the album did not re-invent anything new in terms of remix composition, but instead "gives less recognizable artists a platform to tinker with these complex pop schemes." He added that the album is not essential listening for non-Gaga diehards, "but electronica fans who have yet to drink the Mother Monster kool-aid will find plenty of pristinely produced club tracks to groove to. The album is a great avenue for fans to digest new versions of their favorite songs of the year, as well as discover artists that are trying to command audiences the way Gaga so masterfully does." Stephen Thomas Erlewine from AllMusic gave the album three out of five stars, commenting that "some remixes take considerable liberty, ditching verses or hooks, whatever catches their fancy. So, it’s a remix album not for fairweather travelers but rather the hardcore Little Monsters, the kind who love every gesture grand or small from Gaga, but it also displays enough imagination to appeal to those listeners who fall into neither camp and are only looking for some darkly elastic dance." Harley Brown of Consequence of Sound website was impressed with the diversity of remixes on the album, prompting him to comment that "just in time for the holiday season, there’s something for everyone on Born This Way: The Remix. And, unlike many remix albums featuring one song reworked again and again, this Remix comprises a diverse tracklist to match the diverse list of remixers."
Jody Rosen from Rolling Stone gave a mixed review of the album, wondering why the remix album was necessary to be released in the first place. She nevertheless added that "[t]he album has some diverting moments. Goldfrapp's down-tempo 'Judas' is less a remix than a smart cover, and the Weeknd and Illangelo re-imagine 'Marry the Night' as a strobe-y, atmospheric R&B epic. But there are two or three duds for each winner—like the bludgeoning 'Scheiße', a gratuitous exercise that strives to make a dance-floor thumper out of a song that was born that way." Rosen's view was shared by Paul Schrodt from Slant Magazine, who gave the album a rating of two out of five stars. Rice's main complaint was that "[c]ertain artists cry out for the remix treatment more than others, usually those whose vocal talents are relatively straightforward and could benefit from the extra fuss." He added that Gaga was not such an artist and that the original Born This Way album "in particular, is too big and untamed, full of too many of its own references and styles, from Springsteen to Madonna. As such, it's best enjoyed on its own flawed, bombastic terms." Nick Levine, reviewing the album for BBC Music felt that most of the tracks are already available as digital downloads and CD singles, "so it's easy to dismiss Born This Way: The Remix as inessential and, yes, a cash-in. But taken as a whole, this release offers enough revelations to suggest the original album is worth revisiting. That additional purpose, whether intentional or not, feels at least partly fulfilled." Levine complimented The Weeknd and Twin Shadow's remixes, while criticizing Foster the People and Sultan & Ned Shepard for their predictable remixes.
## Commercial performance
In the United Kingdom, Born This Way: The Remix entered the UK Albums Chart at number 77, for the issue dated December 12, 2011. In Japan, the album sold 12,120 copies in its first week, and debuted at number 14 on the Japanese Albums Chart. In its second week, the album fell down to number 19 while selling 6,650 copies. It has been certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) for shipment of 100,000 copies. In the United States, the album debuted outside the top 100 of the Billboard 200 albums chart, at number 105, while debuting at number three on the Dance/Electronic Albums chart. As of April 2016, Born This Way: The Remix has sold 62,000 copies in the US according to Nielsen SoundScan. Other nations where the album attained top-100 positions included Italy, France and Spain.
## Track listing
## Personnel
Credits and personnel adapted from Born This Way: The Remix liner notes and AllMusic.
- DJ Aqeel – additional production, remixing
- Dick Beetham – mastering
- Svein Berge – additional production, remixing
- Torbjørn Brundtland – additional production, remixing
- Julien Carret – mixing
- Troy Carter – management
- Foster the People – remixing
- Goldfrapp – remixing
- Guéna LG – additional production, remixing
- Vincent Herbert – A&R, executive producer
- The Horrors – remixing
- Hurts – remixing
- Illangelo – remixing
- Lady Gaga – arranger, producer, vocals
- Fernando Garibay – producer
- Gregori Klosman – remix producer
- Robert John "Mutt" Lange – producer
- Jepper Laursen – writing, producer
- Patrick Mascall – guitar
- Joseph Mount – additional production, remixing
- RedOne – composer, producer
- Ned Shepard – remix producer
- Sultan Shepard – remix producer
- Clinton Sparks – producer
- Mark Taylor – additional production, remixing, keyboards, programming
- Twin Shadow – remix producer
- Two Door Cinema Club – remixing
- The Weeknd – remixing, background vocals
- DJ White Shadow – producer
- Wild Beasts – additional production, remixing
- Michael Woods – additional production, keyboards, remixing
- Zedd – remix producer, mixing
## Charts and certifications
### Weekly charts
### Year-end charts
### Certifications
## Release history
|
55,024,722 |
Metalhead (Black Mirror)
| 1,171,399,380 | null |
[
"2017 British television episodes",
"Black Mirror episodes",
"Black-and-white television episodes",
"Fictional robotic dogs",
"Netflix original television series episodes",
"Television episodes about robots",
"Television episodes directed by David Slade",
"Television episodes written by Charlie Brooker"
] |
"Metalhead" is the fifth episode of the fourth series of the anthology series Black Mirror. It was written by series creator Charlie Brooker and directed by David Slade. The episode first aired on Netflix, along with the rest of series four, on 29 December 2017.
"Metalhead" is filmed in black and white, and it follows the plight of Bella (Maxine Peake) trying to flee from robotic "dogs" after the unexplained collapse of human society. The dogs were influenced by Boston Dynamics' robots such as BigDog. Filming took place in England, with Lidar scans used for scenes from the dog's perspective. Lasting 41 minutes, "Metalhead" is the second-shortest episode behind "Mazey Day".
Reviews were mostly positive. It has been compared to The Terminator, as both works feature machines chasing humans. The episode's message has been widely debated, with reviewers discussing questions about artificial intelligence and the final shot of a box of teddy bears. The plot and short running time have received mixed reviews, while Peake's acting and Slade's directing have been praised, along with the cinematography and the design of the dogs.
## Plot
In a desolate landscape, Bella (Maxine Peake), Anthony (Clint Dyer), and Clarke (Jake Davies) drive to a warehouse searching for something to help ease the pain of Jack, who is dying. While Clarke hot-wires a van, Bella and Anthony break into the warehouse. They find the box they are looking for, but behind it is a four-legged robotic guard—a "dog". The dog sprays Bella and Anthony with shrapnel that contains trackers, then climbs down and shoots Anthony dead. Bella flees without the box to her car, with Clarke following in the van. The dog jumps into the van, kills Clarke and pursues Bella. It eventually enters her car, but she sends the car off a cliff and escapes.
Bella uses pliers to extract the tracker embedded in her leg. Over her walkie-talkie, she asks someone to pass a message to her loved ones in case she is killed. Bella is chased by the dog into a forest, climbing a nearby tree. The dog's forelimb was damaged in the car wreck, so it cannot climb the tree, and instead powers down and waits. Bella drains it of power by repeatedly throwing sweets at it, causing it to power up and down. When the dog no longer responds, Bella climbs down. She finds a compound and breaks in.
Bella takes car keys and a shotgun from two rotting corpses in the bedroom. When the sun rises, the dog recharges and gains access to the compound. As the dog approaches, Bella leaps out and throws paint over its visual sensor, then throws the paint can to the corner of the room to distract it and hurries to the car. However, the car will not start, so she turns on the radio and hides. As the dog investigates the noise, Bella shoots it. The dog stabs her in the leg; she shoots it again and it falls to the ground. The dog releases an air-burst shell, showering Bella with tracker-embedded shrapnel.
In the bathroom mirror, Bella sees many trackers in her face. She lifts a knife, but notices a tracker in her jugular vein. Bella speaks into her walkie-talkie, unsure if she can be heard, saying goodbye to her loved ones. As she puts the knife to her throat, the camera pans out over the landscape, showing dogs approaching and investigating. In the warehouse, the box's contents—dozens of teddy bears—have spilled onto the floor.
## Production
While series one and two of Black Mirror were shown on Channel 4 in the UK, Netflix commissioned the series for 12 episodes (split into two series of six episodes) in September 2015 with a bid of \$40 million, and in March 2016, Netflix outbid Channel 4 for the right to distribute the series in the UK. The six episodes in series four were released on Netflix simultaneously on 29 December 2017. "Metalhead" is listed as the fifth episode, though as each episode is standalone the episodes can be watched in any order.
"Metalhead" is the second-shortest episode of Black Mirror, with a length of 41 minutes (at 40 minutes, "Mazey Day" is the shortest). The episode was written by series creator Charlie Brooker and directed by David Slade. Maxine Peake stars in the episode as Bella. Joel Collins worked as the production designer. With Al Green as music editor, the soundtrack features compositions by Krzysztof Penderecki and includes some pieces which were used in 1980 horror film The Shining.
### Development
It was filmed in black and white, a style which had been considered for Black Mirror before but not previously used. The idea was suggested by the director David Slade to bring to mind old horror films and to match the "oppressive nature" of the episode. Brooker originally wanted the episode to be entirely free from dialogue, similar to the film All Is Lost. Brooker suggested using the Steven Spielberg films Duel and Jaws as inspiration, whilst The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was an influence for Slade. Executive producer Annabel Jones felt that the story presented a world devoid of hope, and filming "a world drained of color felt right". Slade reported that though biological events or apocalypses were considered, the episode does not suggest a backstory for the world in order to focus on the conflict between Bella and the dog.
Brooker came up with the episode's central idea while watching videos of Boston Dynamics' robotics products such as BigDog. He found that there was something "creepy" in how the products, if knocked over, would look helpless as they worked to regain their stance. Brooker captured this idea in the scene where the dog breaks through the van's back window, but ends up off its legs. The dogs have "enough artificial intelligence to problem solve", according to Slade, and they have no feelings, in contrast to many robots in fiction. Their design underwent many iterations, the aim being that it should look terrifying, be designed with functionality in mind and kill brutally.
Brooker's original script featured a human operating the dog from his home, including a scene where the operator left the "control unit" to give his kids a bath. However, this felt "superfluous", so the intention became for the episode to tell "a very simple story" and hence Brooker pared back the plot. Though viewers may assume the dogs are security for the warehouse, where they are first seen, the intention was for the dogs to have been deployed during a war. Camouflage for the dogs was designed but not used. One physical model of a dog was created for the episode, to help give actors and production a concept of their size and shape, but otherwise, all dogs were digitally added in post-production. Visual effects company DNEG were hired to work on this.
### Filming
Slade initially received the script in June 2016, while finishing work on the first series of American Gods. Slade was involved in Peake's casting, and he had a large amount of autonomy during filming. A large amount of location scouting was carried out, with Slade looking for "incredibly soft and overcast" light and "desolation". The 12-day shoot took place in England, largely in Devon and around London. With minimal dialogue in the episode, Slade noted that scenes were divided into many brief shots, as scenes utilising green screens would be difficult for Peake.
Filming took place on two monochrome cameras, not many of which existed at the time. In the scenes with Bella in a car, a remote driver controlled steering from a pod on top of the car. This allowed Peake to act fearfully with more realism. At one point, a dog jumps through a van window and shoots the driver. This sequence was achieved by filming the glass being broken for real, then adding the dog and additional broken glass in post-production.
Real Lidar scans were used to create the scenes shown from the dog's perspective. Collins came up with the idea that in the scene where the dog escapes the car wreckage, the release of its limb would be similar to the action of a drill chuck. Collins noted that the dog is "almost humanized" by its movement and damaged arm and compared the dog's multifaceted limbs to Pin Art.
The final scene shows a case full of teddy bears, which were yellow in real life but appear white in the episode. Brooker originally considered a gadget such as a Game Boy instead of a teddy bear, but Slade insisted on "something that you can touch, that you would hold to you, that would give you comfort". The teddy bears were intended by Slade to be the only "soft and comforting" element of the story.
### Marketing
In May 2017, a Reddit post unofficially announced the names and directors of the six episodes in series 4 of Black Mirror. The first trailer for the series was released by Netflix on 25 August 2017, and it contained the six episode titles. In October 2017, Jones revealed that "Metalhead" was filmed in black and white.
Beginning on 24 November 2017, Netflix published a series of posters and trailers for the fourth series of the show, referred to as the "13 Days of Black Mirror". The poster for "Metalhead" was released on 2 December, and the episode's trailer was released on 3 December. The trailer led one commentator to speculate that the episode could be the show's "most disturbing episode yet", with another saying the trailer was "enigmatic". The following day, Netflix published a trailer featuring an amalgamation of scenes from the fourth series, which announced that the series would be released on 29 December.
## Analysis
"Metalhead" has been described as genre fiction and low concept. Its tone is one of hopelessness. The episode is "pared-down and gimmick-free" and has "the most minimal plot in the series". The Ringer's Alison Herman wrote that it is the only episode that can not be read as an allegory. Jacob Stolworthy of The Independent suggested that it is the scariest episode of Black Mirror, while The Verge's Bryan Bishop and his wife were "literally squirming" while watching. However, The Atlantic reviewer David Sims commented that it has little gore when compared with other one-person survival fiction.
### Comparisons
The episode has widely been described as a simplified version of The Terminator, a 1984 film which—similar to "Metalhead"—is "about a human run ragged by an android's unceasing pursuit". It has also been compared to the "adrenaline highs" of Mad Max: Fury Road, a 2015 post-apocalyptic film which director George Miller wanted to shoot in black and white. Comparisons have also been drawn with the 2016 Anohni album Hopelessness, which "effectively communicates the cold horrors of drone warfare", and the Philip K. Dick short story "Second Variety". Scott Huver of Variety noted that the episode is one of several monochrome works produced around the same time, with others including FX anthology series Feud, and "Gotta Light?" from the 2017 revival of Twin Peaks. Tim Surette of TV Guide compared the episode's horror to past Black Mirror episodes "Playtest" and "White Bear".
"Metalhead" contains several Easter eggs—small details which refer to other Black Mirror episodes. A postcard and the letters "TCKR" on a truck refer to "San Junipero", while "Callister" appears on a computer screen in allusion to "USS Callister". When Clarke hijacks a van at the beginning of the episode, text on the car screen refers to previous episodes, as well as containing the message "WHY. did. you. bother. PAUSING. this. you. freak". The white teddy bears at the end of the episode have been read as a reference to "White Bear".
### Themes
The episode can be seen to explore the AI control problem: Ed Cumming of The Telegraph questioned how one could "set limits on [the] ruthlessness" of a robotic guard dog. While watching the episode, Nick Harley of Den of Geek questioned whether the dogs were self-aware. Another Den of Geek critic, Ryan Lambie, believed the dogs are not artificial intelligence, as their "lack of empathy or emotional nuance" is suggestive of "cold, pre-programmed logic". Cultfix's Ryan Monty described the episode as a "pressing statement" on autonomous AI and drone warfare. Bishop commented that "Metalhead" may have been conceived with Amazon in mind, particularly its use of drones to carry packages. Before reaching the final twist, Harley suggested the episode could have been about health care in a world where medication is government-controlled and guarded by AI.
Slade has stated that if there is a theme, it is "how important it is to hold onto our humanity". Commenting on the teddy bears, Emily VanDerWerff said in Vox that the message may be that humans are "ruthless in some contexts and quite stupid and soft in others". According to Scott Beggs of Nerdist, the episode implies "toys and art are just as vital to survival as the other stuff at the bottom of Maslow's hierarchy". Digital Spy's Steve O'Brien thought the moral is that "there's still room for a tender gesture" in the post-apocalyptic world. Bishop believed the story is about the "loss of human innocence" as a sacrifice for progress. Monty said the episode was about the triumph of "cold, calculated machine effectiveness" over human nature.
Reviewers have commented on early dialogue in the car, when Bella, Anthony and Clarke pass some pigsties. Bishop believed it is a metaphor for economic inequality. VanDerWerff suggested the scene evokes predator and prey imagery, comparing it to George Orwell's dystopia Animal Farm.
## Reception
The episode has received mostly positive reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, the episode has a score of 69% based on 26 reviews, with an average rating of 6.90 out of 10. The website's critics consensus reads: "Though 'Metalhead' is the show's shortest installment, the bleakness of its plot and spareness of its thrills can often make it feel longer – though some may appreciate its claustrophobic beauty." A Cultfix review gave the episode a score of eight out of ten. The episode received four out of five stars in Den of Geek and three out of five stars in The Telegraph. A reviewer for The A.V. Club gave the episode a B+ rating. Stolworthy believed "Metalhead" is in the "upper echelons" of Black Mirror episodes, while Adam Starkey of Metro summarised it as "an interesting experiment and welcome palette cleanser", though far from the best episode. Beggs called the episode "gorgeous but incredibly dull".
Reviewers have widely commented on the episode's 41-minute running time. Sims praised the storyline as "taut", writing that it didn't "waste a moment". Stolworthy said the "relentless" plot makes the episode "feel like the longest" rather than the shortest Black Mirror episode, and Monty believed its runtime makes it "one of the most effective and skin-crawling" episodes. Bishop commented that it would have been "untenable" to make the episode longer and Starkey called the episode's length a "relief" rather than a "detriment". However, Cumming believed the episode's themes are not enough to sustain it for its running time.
The episode's minimalism was praised by Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club for its "clear and immediate stakes" and threat which keeps the viewers interested. However, Handlen also claimed that the episode is limited by its simplicity, and VanDerWerff criticised it as "exactly the wrong balance between too much information and too little". Paste's Jacob Oller said that the episode "meanders", and criticised the plot devices as unoriginal.
Stolworthy praised Peake's acting, saying that it "elevates" the episode and increases the viewer's fear of the dog. Harley praised her performance for allowing the audience to empathise with her character immediately. Harley also complimented the poignancy of Bella's final scene. Monty said that "Peake showcases the absolute best of her abilities", playing a character who is "fittingly human and emphatic in her will to survive". Handlen praised her as "easy to root for", saying that Peake "does a good job of finding new ways to be terrified, angry, triumphant, and depressed". Cumming wrote that the actor is "never hard to watch" but only has the chance to express degrees of terror.
Bishop commented on the quick pace and wrote that the dog appears "utterly grounded in reality". Sims praised that "every glimpse of the empty moors in high-contrast black-and-white photography jumps out at the viewer", while Lambie commented positively on the ending's final landscape shots. Harley noted the sparse use of music to create a feeling of dread. Monty lauded the lack of exposition in the episode, believing it is the "strongest aspect" as the audience can make individual inferences about the backstory. However, Beggs criticised that the lack of exposition makes it difficult to empathise with Bella.
The ending of "Metalhead" reveals that the warehouse box contained teddy bears. Lambie suggested this is "bleak humour" from Brooker, and another example of the show's exploration of the worst outcomes of new technology. Beggs said the ending was paradoxically both "face-slappingly cheap" and "an outstanding, deeply humane subversion" of apocalypse films. Harley criticised the ending as laughable and not profound. Sims criticised it as "perhaps a little too cute" and VanDerWerff called it "nonsensical", going on to write that it "lands somewhere between affectionate exasperation for humanity's foibles and a sick joke". Starkey wrote that the viewer anticipates a revelation about the world or conflict which never comes.
The dog's design has been praised: Cumming called it "horribly believable". Lambie called the dog's first appearance in the warehouse a "superb introduction", and praised the "spiteful and unpredictable" weapons used by the dog. Handlen was impressed by the special effects team's dramatisation of "what is essentially a box on legs", commending the "creepily real" design of the dog. Contrastingly, Oller found the dog's design and animation simplistic, commenting that it is "not the imposing, minimalist murder machine it needs to be". Oller found that the monochrome gave the scenery an "especially unreal sheen".
### Episode rankings
"Metalhead" appeared on many critics' rankings of the 19 episodes in Black Mirror, from best to worst:
- 3rd – Matt Donnelly and Tim Molloy, TheWrap
- 6th – James Hibberd, Entertainment Weekly
- 8th – Steve Greene, Hanh Nguyen and Liz Shannon Miller, IndieWire
- 8th – Charles Bramesco, Vulture
- 10th – Eric Anthony Glover, Entertainment Tonight
- 10th – Corey Atad, Esquire
- 11th – Morgan Jeffery, Digital Spy
- 14th – Travis Clark, Business Insider
- 17th – Aubrey Page, Collider
Instead of by quality, Proma Khosla of Mashable ranked the episodes by tone, concluding that "Metalhead" is the 12th-most pessimistic episode of the show.
Other critics ranked "Metalhead" against the other five episodes in series four:
- 3rd – Christopher Hooton, Jacob Stolworthy, The Independent
- 5th (grade: C–) – TVLine
### Awards
"Metalhead" has won a BAFTA Craft Award, and was nominated for a Visual Effects Society Award:
|
1,068,807 |
Puddletown
| 1,167,525,994 | null |
[
"Civil parishes in Dorset",
"Puddletown",
"Villages in Dorset"
] |
Puddletown is a village and civil parish in Dorset, England. It is situated by the River Piddle, from which it derives its name, about 4.5 miles (7 km) northeast of the county town Dorchester. Its earlier name Piddletown fell out of favour, probably because of connotations of the word "piddle". The name Puddletown was officially sanctioned in the late 1950s. Puddletown's civil parish covers 2,908 hectares (7,185 acres) and extends to the River Frome to the south. In 2013, the estimated population of the civil parish was 1450.
Puddletown's parish church has significant architectural interest, particularly its furnishings and monuments. It has a 12th-century font and well-preserved woodwork, including 17th-century box pews. Thomas Hardy took an interest in the church, and the village provided the inspiration for the fictional settlement of Weatherbury in his novel Far from the Madding Crowd; Weatherbury Farm, the home of principal character Bathsheba Everdene, is based on a manor house within the parish.
## Toponymy
The name Puddletown means 'farmstead on the River Piddle'. It derives from the Old English pidele, a river-name meaning fen or marsh, and tūn, meaning farmstead. Several settlements along the river derive their names from it. In the upper reaches, Piddletrenthide and Piddlehinton retain the piddle rivername, whereas downstream Puddletown, Tolpuddle, Affpuddle, Briantspuddle and Turners Puddle use puddle. In the Domesday Book of 1086 it was recorded as Pitretone, and in 1212 it was Pideleton. John Speed used Puddletown for his county map of 1610. In 1848 Samuel Lewis used Piddletown in A Topographical Dictionary of England. In 1906 Sir Frederick Treves used Puddletown in Highways & Byways in Dorset—describing it as "the Town on the River Puddle" and a "curiously named place". In 1946 Piddletown was the name on voters lists. One explanation for the preference of Puddletown over Piddletown is that Major-General Charles William Thompson, who lived at Ilsington Lodge after returning from the Great War, pushed through the puddle variant because piddle had other connotations in army circles. The broadcaster and writer Ralph Wightman (1901–71), a native of the Piddle Valley and one-time Puddletown resident, believed it was due to Victorian "refinement", as he recalled that in his youth elderly aunts referred to Piddletrenthide as just "Trenthide". Roland Gant in Dorset Villages stated more explicitly that the Victorians used puddle because piddle "became a euphemism for 'piss'". The use of Puddletown rather than Piddletown was officially preserved in the late 1950s, when, according to Wightman, "a long County Council debate solemnly decided Piddletown should be Puddletown".
The other rivers of the parish have names that derive from Celtic river-names: the Frome, which forms the parish's southern boundary, means "fair, fine or brisk", and the Devil's Brook, which forms the north-eastern boundary, means "dark stream".
## History
Evidence of prehistoric human occupation in the parish exists in the form of 30 round barrows, about half of which are sited over chalk and half over Reading Beds. Many of the barrows have been damaged by more recent activities. The remains of strip lynchets of 'Celtic' fields have been found near a few of the barrows. One of the three 'Rainbarrows' on Duddle Heath has been excavated; bucket urns containing cremations from the site were taken to the Dorset County Museum.
The Roman road between Durnovaria (now Dorchester) and Badbury Rings passed through the area of the civil parish; it cut a WSW-ENE route through Puddletown Heath, between the village and the River Frome. In the 21st century a section of the road, which is 26 metres (85 ft) wide, was discovered in Puddletown Forest.
Part of the arm of a 9th- or 10th-century stone cross was discovered when a house in the village—Styles House, near the River Piddle—was demolished. The cross might have been connected with a meeting place. The fragment was incorporated into the parish church's new chancel when it was rebuilt in 1911.
At the time of the Domesday Book in 1086, Puddletown was a large and important manor that contained several villages, with 1,600 sheep recorded. In the 13th century, during the reign of Henry III, the manor of 'Pidele Bardolfeston town' was owned by John of Monmouth, and leased to Sir Alfred Lincoln: on Monmouth's death, it was inherited by Lady Albretha Boterell and Lady Joan Nevill.
Except for Puddletown village, the several small settlements within Puddletown parish have all either diminished or disappeared. The other settlements were Cheselbourne Ford (beside the Devil's Brook in the northeast of the parish), Bardolfeston (about half a mile northeast of Puddletown village, just north of the River Piddle), Hyde (now Druce Farm), Waterston, South Louvard (now Higher Waterston), Little Piddle (now Little Puddle Farm in neighbouring Piddlehinton parish) and Ilsington (in the south of the parish, by the River Frome). Cheselbourne Ford and Bardolfeston are abandoned. Cheselbourne Ford had a population of six in 1086, four in 1327, and by the mid-seventeenth century was just one ruinous house. In 1970 its remains covered about 5.7 hectares (14 acres) and consisted of ten closes bounded by low banks, though the site is not shown on modern Ordnance Survey maps. Records indicate that Bardolfeston was declining by the 13th century and, though still occupied in the 16th, it was completely deserted by the 17th century. Its site covers about 6.1 hectares (15 acres) and is well-preserved, revealing a 12 metres (40 ft)-wide hollow way aligned southwest–northeast, with the sites of at least eleven houses alongside, though the southern end of the site was destroyed when watermeadows were later created along the river. The site at Waterston consists of earthworks covering about 2 hectares (4.9 acres) on a terrace on the south side of the River Piddle. Its medieval population was relatively stable, and ten households were recorded in 1662. The site was probably abandoned gradually.
In the early 17th century Puddletown was one of the first places in Dorset where the use of watermeadows developed; the practice occurred at least as early as 1620, and in 1629 the manorial court decided to allow some tenants to continue making the necessary watercourses that would enable "the watering and Improvinge of theire groundes". Watermeadows are generally no longer used in southern England, though their physical remnants have persisted in many places; in Puddletown civil parish, several areas of watermeadow were shown by the Ordnance Survey as late as 1978, though none was shown in 2010.
Records from 1801 show that at that time agriculture was the main component of Puddletown's economy, though cottage industry and artisan crafts were also an important element: 596 people in the parish were primarily employed in agriculture, with 221 employed in handicrafts, manufacture and trade. Cottage industry, often undertaken by women and children, was used to supplement agricultural income, though there were fewer opportunities for this after the French Revolution.
In 1830, Puddletown was one of the places in Dorset where agricultural labourers took part in the Captain Swing riots of southern England, protesting against very low wages and long working hours. Threshing machines were damaged and ricks burned. Wages were raised from about six or seven shillings per week to ten as a result.
To the east of the church is Ilsington House, also known as the Old Manor, which was built in the late 17th to early 18th century. It was originally owned by the 3rd Earl of Huntingdon and in 1724 by Robert Walpole. Between 1780 and 1830 it was leased to General Thomas Garth, principal equerry to King George III. The General adopted King George III's illegitimate grandson by Princess Sophia, and brought him up at the manor. In 1861 the house was acquired by John Brymer and remained in the possession of the Brymer family for the next century. The family built new cottages and a reading room in the village, and a new manor next to the church, which they restored.
## Governance
In the UK national parliament, Puddletown is within the West Dorset parliamentary constituency, which is currently represented by Chris Loder of the Conservative Party. In local government, Puddletown is governed by Dorset Council at the highest tier, and Puddletown Area Parish Council at the lowest tier.
In national parliament and district council elections, Dorset is divided into several electoral wards, with Puddletown lying within Puddletown ward. In county council elections, Dorset is divided into 42 electoral divisions, with Puddletown being within Linden Lea Electoral Division.
## Geography
Puddletown civil parish extends between the flood plain and watermeadows of the River Frome in the south to the chalk watershed of Puddletown Down in the north. It covers 2,908 hectares (7,185 acres) and is bisected by the River Piddle, which crosses it from west to east. Measured directly, Puddletown village is about 4.5 miles (7.2 km) northeast of Dorchester, 16 miles (26 km) west of Poole and 11 miles (18 km) southwest of Blandford Forum.
The bedrock geology of the parish comprises rocks formed in the Santonian and Campanian ages of the Cretaceous period and the Eocene age of the Palaeogene period. In places these are overlain by younger Quaternary drift material: river terrace and head deposits, clay-with-flints, and alluvium—the last found only in the valley floors of the larger watercourses. On Puddletown Heath (now mostly covered by Puddletown Forest) are more than 370 solution hollows or sinkholes; these constitute the largest concentration of hollows on the heathlands in the area.
The River Frome, which forms the southern boundary of the parish, is designated by Natural England as a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Southwest of the village and almost wholly within the parish is Puddletown Forest, which covers 301 hectares (740 acres) and is managed by Forestry England. The forest is on the edge of the Dorset Heaths Natural Area and some of the forest is being restored to heathland; the heath flora consists of Calluna, Ulex gallii, Ulex minor and bilberry; fauna includes the rare smooth snake and sand lizard. Close to Puddletown Forest are Yellowham Wood and Ilsington Wood, which are ancient woodland sites, though Ilsington Wood has significant conifer plantings.
## Demography
In 2014 the estimated population of Puddletown civil parish was 1,452. Figures from the 2011 census have been published for Puddletown parish combined with the small parish of Athelhampton to the east; in this area there were 663 dwellings, 614 households and a population of 1,405.
## Notable buildings
Excluding ancient earthworks, there are fifty-six structures within the parish that are listed by Historic England for their historic or architectural interest, including two (the parish church and Waterston Manor) that are listed as Grade I, and three (Ilsington House, The Old Vicarage, and 8 The Square) that are Grade II\*.
Puddletown's parish church, dedicated to St Mary, has been described as being "of considerable architectural interest", "of exceptional interest for its furnishings and monuments" and "one of the most exciting parish churches in the county". It has 12th-century origins—parts of the tower date from 1180 to 1200—but was rebuilt and enlarged between the 13th and 16th centuries. The 12th-century font is particularly notable, being of a tapering beaker shape, with diapering depicting crossing stems and Acanthus leaves; its cover is an octagonal pyramid dating from about 1635, when the church interior was refitted. There is a panelled roof in the nave, and 17th-century box pews, pulpit and gallery. There are also a number of 15th- and 16th-century monumental brasses and some stained glass by Ninian Comper. The South or Martyn family chapel has three 16th-century tombs with alabaster effigies. In 1910 the church was partially restored by Charles Ponting. Thomas Hardy led an unsuccessful campaign to prevent enlargement of the original chancel.
Waterston Manor, about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) WNW of Puddletown village, is of early 17th-century origin, though it was largely rebuilt after a fire in 1863, and altered again in about 1911.
Ilsington House dates from the late 17th to early 18th century, with alterations made in the late 18th to early 19th century and enlargement later in the 19th. It has plaster-covered brick walls, quoins of ashlar, and a hipped slate roof. In 2000 it was presented with a "Dorset Architectural Heritage Award".
The Old Vicarage, previously the east wing of the vicarage, was originally a timber-framed building built about 1600. It was clad in brick in the 18th century (after the vicarage had been extended west in 1722) and a third storey added early in the 19th century. The 1722 west-wing extension became 8 The Square and is listed separately.
## Community facilities
Puddletown has a village hall, which has a kitchen and bar, full disabled facilities and access, and a capacity for between 100 and 160. Since 2013 it has also housed Puddletown Community Library, which is operated solely by volunteers. On Athelhampton Road there is a doctor's surgery, which also treats patients who live in surrounding villages. Puddletown has a recreation ground on Three Lanes Way; it has one cricket pitch and two grass football pitches (one junior, one full-size).
## Literary connections
Puddletown is the basis for the village of "Weatherbury" in Thomas Hardy's novel Far from the Madding Crowd. Weatherbury Farm, the house of Bathsheba Everdene, is based on Waterston Manor, between Puddletown and Piddlehinton. Hardy's cousin, Tryphena Sparks, who was the inspiration for Hardy's poem Thoughts of Phena at News of Her Death, lived in Puddletown.
## Notable people
Cardinal Pole, the last Roman Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury, was vicar of the parish from 1532 to 1536. The author and broadcaster Ralph Wightman (1901–1971) lived in Puddletown in the later years of his life; he lived in the 16th-century Tudor Cottage in The Square. The writer Constantine Fitzgibbon (1919–1983) owned Waterston Manor for part of the 20th century.
## See also
- Puddletown Hundred
|
931,735 |
Mu Arae
| 1,171,534,924 |
Star in the constellation Ara
|
[
"Ara (constellation)",
"Bayer objects",
"Bright Star Catalogue objects",
"Durchmusterung objects",
"G-type main-sequence stars",
"G-type subgiants",
"Gliese and GJ objects",
"Henry Draper Catalogue objects",
"Hipparcos objects",
"Mu Arae",
"Planetary systems with four confirmed planets"
] |
Mu Arae (μ Arae, abbreviated Mu Ara, μ Ara), often designated HD 160691, officially named Cervantes /sɜːrˈvæntiːz/ sur-VAN-teez, is a main sequence G-type star approximately 50 light-years away from the Sun in the constellation of Ara. The star has a planetary system with four known extrasolar planets (designated Mu Arae b, c, d and e; later named Quijote, Dulcinea, Rocinante and Sancho, respectively), three of them with masses comparable with that of Jupiter. Mu Arae c, the innermost, was the first hot Neptune or super-Earth discovered.
## Nomenclature
μ Arae (Latinised to Mu Arae) is the star's Bayer designation. HD 160691 is the entry in the Henry Draper Catalogue.
The established convention for extrasolar planets is that the planets receive designations consisting of the star's name followed by lower-case Roman letters starting from "b", in order of discovery. This system was used by a team led by Krzysztof Goździewski. On the other hand, a team led by Francesco Pepe proposed a modification of the designation system, where the planets are designated in order of characterization. Since the parameters of the outermost planet were poorly constrained before the introduction of the 4-planet model of the system, this results in a different order of designations for the planets in the Mu Arae system. Both systems agree on the designation of the 640-day planet as "b". The old system designates the 9-day planet as "d", the 310-day planet as "e" and the outer planet as "c". Since the International Astronomical Union has not defined an official system for designations of extrasolar planets, the issue of which convention is 'correct' remains open, however most subsequent scientific publications about this system appear to have adopted the Pepe et al. system, as has the system's entry in the Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia.
In July 2014 the International Astronomical Union launched NameExoWorlds, a process for giving proper names to certain exoplanets and their host stars. The process involved public nomination and voting for the new names. In December 2015, the IAU announced the winning names were Cervantes for this star and Quijote, Dulcinea, Rocinante and Sancho, for its planets (b, c, d, and e, respectively; the IAU used the Pepe et al system).
The winning names were those submitted by the Planetario de Pamplona, Spain. Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1547–1616) was a famous Spanish writer and author of El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha. The planets are named after characters of that novel: Quijote was the lead character; Dulcinea his love interest; Rocinante his horse, and Sancho his squire.
In 2016, the IAU organized a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) to catalog and standardize proper names for stars. In its first bulletin of July 2016, the WGSN explicitly recognized the names of exoplanets and their host stars approved by the Executive Committee Working Group Public Naming of Planets and Planetary Satellites, including the names of stars adopted during the 2015 NameExoWorlds campaign. This star is now so entered in the IAU Catalog of Star Names.
## Stellar characteristics
According to measurements made by the Gaia astrometric satellite, Mu Arae exhibits a parallax of 64.0853 milliarcseconds as the Earth moves around the Sun. When combined with the known distance from the Earth to the Sun, this means the star is located at a distance of 50.89 light-years (15.60 parsecs). Seen from Earth it has an apparent magnitude of +5.15 and is thus visible to the naked eye.
Asteroseismic analysis of the star reveals it is approximately 10% more massive than the Sun and significantly older, at around 6.34 billion years. The radius of the star is 36% greater than that of the Sun and it is 90% more luminous. The star contains twice the abundance of iron relative to hydrogen of the Sun and is therefore described as metal-rich. Mu Arae is also more enriched than the Sun in the element helium.
Mu Arae has a listed spectral type of G3IV–V. The G3 part means the star is similar to the Sun (a G2V star). The star may be entering the subgiant stage of its evolution as it starts to run out of hydrogen in its core. This is reflected in its uncertain luminosity class, between IV (the subgiants) and V (main sequence dwarf star stars like the Sun).
## Planetary system
### Discovery
In 2001, an extrasolar planet was announced by the Anglo-Australian Planet Search team, together with the planet orbiting Epsilon Reticuli. The planet, designated Mu Arae b, was thought to be in a highly eccentric orbit of around 743 days. The discovery was made by analysing variations in the star's radial velocity (measured by observing the Doppler shift of the star's spectral lines) as a result of being pulled around by the planet's gravity. Further observations revealed the presence of a second object in the system (now designated as Mu Arae e), which was published in 2004. At the time, the parameters of this planet were poorly constrained and it was thought to be in an orbit of around 8.2 years with a high eccentricity. Later in 2004, a small inner planet designated Mu Arae c was announced with a mass comparable with that of Uranus in a 9-day orbit. This was the first of the class of planets known as "hot Neptunes" to be discovered. The discovery was made by making high-precision radial velocity measurements with the High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) spectrograph.
In 2006, two teams, one led by Krzysztof Goździewski and the other by Francesco Pepe independently announced four-planet models for the radial velocity measurements of the star, with a new planet (Mu Arae d) in a near-circular orbit lasting approximately 311 days. The new model gives revised parameters for the previously known planets, with lower eccentricity orbits than in the previous model and including a more robust characterization of the orbit of Mu Arae e. The discovery of the fourth planet made Mu Arae the second known four-planet extrasolar system, after 55 Cancri.
### System architecture and habitability
The Mu Arae system consists of an inner Uranus-mass planet in a tight 9-day orbit and three massive planets, probably gas giants, on wide, near-circular orbits, which contrasts with the high-eccentricity orbits typically observed for long-period extrasolar planets. The Uranus-mass planet may be a chthonian planet, the core of a gas giant which has had its outer layers stripped away by stellar radiation. Alternatively it may have formed in the inner regions of the Mu Arae system as a rocky "super-Earth".
The inner gas giants "d" and "b" are located close to the 2:1 orbital resonance which causes them to undergo strong interactions. The best-fit solution to the system is actually unstable: simulations suggest the system is destroyed after 78 million years, which is significantly shorter than the estimated age of the star system. More stable solutions, including ones in which the two planets are actually in the resonance (similar to the situation in the Gliese 876 system) can be found which give only a slightly worse fit to the data. A 2022 study finds a stable orbital fit to the system, and estimates a lower limit on the system inclination of about 20°.
Astrometric observations using the Hubble Space Telescope have not detected any of the known planets, but have set upper limits on the masses of the outer three planets: planet b is , planet d is , and planet e is . Searches for circumstellar discs show no evidence for a debris disc similar to the Kuiper belt around Mu Arae. If Mu Arae does have a Kuiper belt, it is too faint to be detected with current instruments.
The gas giant planet "b" is located in the liquid water habitable zone of Mu Arae. This would prevent an Earth-like planet from forming in the habitable zone, however large moons of the gas giant could potentially support liquid water. On the other hand, it is unclear whether moons sufficiently massive to retain an atmosphere and liquid water could actually form around a gas giant planet, due to a theorized scaling law between the mass of a planet and its satellite system. In addition, measurements of the star's ultraviolet flux suggest that any potentially habitable planets or moons may not receive enough ultraviolet to trigger the formation of biomolecules. Planet "d" would receive a similar amount of ultraviolet to the Earth and thus lies in the ultraviolet habitable zone. However, it would be too hot for any moons to support surface liquid water.
## See also
- 55 Cancri
- Exoplanet
- Lists of exoplanets
- PSR B1257+12
|
60,890,366 |
Smithereens (Black Mirror)
| 1,171,436,382 | null |
[
"2019 British television episodes",
"Black Mirror episodes",
"Netflix original television series episodes",
"Television episodes about abduction",
"Television episodes about social media",
"Television episodes written by Charlie Brooker"
] |
"Smithereens" is the second episode of the fifth series of the British science fiction anthology series Black Mirror. Written by series creator and showrunner Charlie Brooker and directed by James Hawes, it premiered on Netflix on 5 June 2019, alongside "Striking Vipers" and "Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too". In the episode, the rideshare driver Chris (Andrew Scott) takes hostage the intern Jaden (Damson Idris) of Smithereen, a large social media company, making a demand to contact the company's CEO Billy Bauer (Topher Grace).
The episode was inspired by an experience Brooker had in a car hired via Uber when the driver got out unexpectedly to get a bottle of water. He also began a story around how a person grieves the loss of a loved one differently when their life is permanently inscribed in social media. Smithereen is similar to the social media website Twitter and Bauer was compared to its CEO at the time, Jack Dorsey. Most filming took place in England, but Grace's scenes were filmed in Spain. Scenes were shot roughly in chronological order, at Scott's request, and his inability to drive was a challenge for the production.
The major theme in "Smithereens" is the power of social media companies and their products' negative attributes, including addictivity. Critical reception was mixed: Scott's acting received widespread praise and a nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award, but reviewers mostly criticised the episode's storyline and the simplicity of its message. It was ranked poorly in comparison to other Black Mirror instalments.
## Plot
Chris Gillhaney (Andrew Scott) is a rideshare driver in London. He has sex with Hayley (Amanda Drew), a woman from his group therapy, who has been trying to guess the password to her late daughter's Persona account to find out what led to her suicide. One day, Chris picks up Jaden (Damson Idris), an employee at the social media company Smithereen. Chris abducts him at gunpoint but is furious upon discovering that he is a newly-joined intern. A police officer sees Jaden in the back seat with a bag over his head and pursues with her partner. In the chase, Chris veers to avoid two teenage cyclists and stalls the car in a field. An additional contingent of police arrive, led by CS Linda Grace (Monica Dolan).
Chris is aiming to speak with Smithereen CEO Billy Bauer (Topher Grace). Chris sends a picture of Jaden at gunpoint to Jaden's superior. Word gets to COO Penelope Wu (Ruibo Qian) in the U.S., who puts Chris on hold. However, Billy is on a solitary retreat. As police visit Chris's listed address, Smithereen gather much more information through Chris's social media profiles. Formerly a teacher, Chris lost his fiancée Tamsin in a car accident with a drunk driver three years earlier and has been planning a kidnapping for weeks. The hostage negotiator David Gilkes (Daniel Ings) speaks to Chris, but Chris has researched negotiator tactics and leverages the hostage so that David leaves.
Smithereen are recording Chris while he is on hold. Chris works this out by pretending that the gun is fake and noticing the police's changing behaviour and social media posts from bystanders. He threatens to shoot Jaden in five minutes unless Billy calls him; despite Penelope and the FBI's protestations, Billy does so. Talking to him, Chris reveals that he was checking a Smithereen notification when the cars collided and blames himself for the deaths. Chris and Billy agree that Smithereen has been designed to be as addictive as possible and Billy says he was planning to quit as CEO. Chris implies he will now kill himself, but Billy begs Chris to let him help. Chris thinks of a last favour: ask Persona to give Hayley her daughter's password.
Chris tries to release Jaden, who urges Chris not to attempt suicide and then fights to take his gun off him. At Grace's orders, snipers fire into the car as the pair struggle. Around the world, people check their phones, then continue on with their lives.
## Production
A fifth series of Black Mirror was commissioned by Netflix in March 2018, three months after the release of series four. Initially part of series five's production, the interactive work Black Mirror: Bandersnatch increased in scope to the point where it was separated from the series and released as a standalone film; it premiered on 28 December 2018. Although previous series of the programme produced under Netflix contained six episodes, series 5 comprises three episodes, as series creator Charlie Brooker viewed this as preferable to making viewers wait longer for the next series. The three episodes—"Striking Vipers", "Smithereens" and "Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too"—were released on Netflix simultaneously on 5 June 2019. As Black Mirror is an anthology series, each instalment can be watched in any order.
### Conception and writing
"Smithereens" was written by Brooker, who wanted the series to contain an episode without any futuristic technology, to remind viewers that Black Mirror is not solely a science fiction show. Previous such instalments include the first episode, "The National Anthem", and season three's "Shut Up and Dance". The two initial sparks for "Smithereens" were a question about how a person deals with the loss of a loved one whose life has been recorded in social media and an experience in a rideshare car booked through Uber. In the latter, the driver unexpectedly got out of the car and looked for something in the boot, while Brooker realised he was unaware of where they were. The driver was just getting some water.
The former idea developed into a story where the protagonist was trying to get into the social media account of somebody who died by suicide, but Brooker thought it would be "extremely superficial and cheap, and also weirdly slightly intrusive" to give a "glib reason" for a character's suicide. In the final episode, the secondary character Hayley has this storyline, but the contents of her daughter's Persona account are not shown. Brooker said, "Really, she's probably just going to open another box of questions by going in there".
Executive producer Annabel Jones described Chris as "overwhelmed" and said that he "feels like an onlooker" over society. Discussing the psychological effects of technology, Brooker said that he used to "reach for a cigarette first thing in the morning" as a chain smoker, and now does the same thing with his smartphone for a "similar reward-feedback loop". Jones gave the example of a homescreen showing the number of unread emails as gamification, one of many features that witness how phones are "subtly and incrementally ... designed to absorb you".
Billy Bauer was written to embody a Silicon Valley entrepreneur: Brooker said that Billy thinks himself a "switched on, liberal, hippy kind of guy". He was not written to be a "cartoon villain" or resemble any particular social media CEOs, though Brooker did take inspiration from a ten-day retreat taken by then-Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. Jones commented that Billy is "as lost as" Chris and feels "out of control".
Brooker described the episode's ending, in which strangers are seen looking at their phones, as a message about how the characters' lives were "reduced to ephemeral confetti that just passes us by". The "most important day" of Chris's life and maybe Jaden's is "reduced to the level of a pop-up".
### Casting and filming
Having previously talked to Brooker about appearing, Scott joined the cast of "Smithereens" as he was "really gripped by [the main] character." He described himself as less interested in technology than "the idea of the vulnerability of people that a simple mistake can be made at any given moment and you can blame it on yourself or you can blame it the powers that be". Per Scott's request, most of the episode was shot in chronological order, so that he could "slowly reveal" more of Chris's character. He said he was "as playful as possible" when acting, aiming to perform "in as many different ways as possible". One difficulty in filming was that Scott did not know how to drive a car. Production mounted a car on top of a mobile platform and instructed Scott to mimic steering to go along with filming.
Topher Grace—who had recently filmed for BlacKkKlansman (2018)—played Billy Bauer. He had been looking to vary the types of characters he played and was a fan of the show, having particularly enjoyed season two's "Be Right Back" and other episodes which "are more emotional than technology-based". He was surprised while reading the script when he reached Billy's appearance, having built up an expectation that he would be more villainous. He said that similar tech company founders had "created their own legend" and that he expected Billy to stand out in a crowd and have a distinctive "relationship with spirituality". For this reason, Grace wanted Billy to be bald but after discussion he ended up with a bun. Grace told an interviewer that he was unsure of whether Billy was "as trapped as he says", but that he does not personally like "people like this". Damson Idris played the Smithereen intern Jaden. His first Black Mirror audition was for the series three episode "Men Against Fire".
Director James Hawes had previously directed "Hated in the Nation" in the third series. Most of the filming took place in England, overlapping with production of Bandersnatch. Urban scenes were filmed in various downtown London locations. Some footage was shot in Harrietsham, Maidstone in Kent and in a field near Gravesend around June 2018. The Fairbourne Reservoir in Kent was used as a location for boardroom scenes. Grace flew to the UK to watch Scott's acting and briefly meet him before the filming of his scenes in Spain. To help Grace match the emotional intensity of Scott during the phone call, an actor was hired to read Chris's lines offscreen—usually the person in such a role is not a professional actor.
The episode's music was composed by the Japanese artist Ryuichi Sakamoto, known for his electronic music and soundtracks. It incorporates synthesisers which, according to Pitchfork reviewer Daniel Martin-McCormick, create "rising tension", "a looming state of emergency" and are "steadfastly integrated" with the episode. The soundtrack was released as an album two days after the episode's premiere.
## Analysis
Charles Bramesco of Vulture and Matt Reynolds of Wired found the episode to have a police procedural style, similar to the third series episode "Hated in the Nation". Atypical for the genre, the gathering of intelligence is speedy, due to the power of the social media companies, rather than forming the majority of the episode's runtime. "Smithereens" is set in 2018; David Sims of The Atlantic said it "could've been pulled from today's headlines". He drew the connection that as with "The National Anthem", it showcases a news story which "begins to spiral out of control online". Vox reviewer Aja Romano found that it "blends a hefty mix of bleak nihilism and social satire" and "comes across like a thesis statement for the series as a whole". Louisa Mellor of Den of Geek saw a "black comedy of errors" in Chris's plan quickly going wrong in several ways, and Sims commented that the episode showcases "classic hostage tropes" including "the panicked cops, the slick negotiator [and] the snipers looking for a shot through their scopes". Stephanie Dube Dwilson, writing for Heavy, noted an absence of an "unexpected" or "incredibly dark" twist, as many prior episodes employ.
The episode suggests that social media companies are unaccountable and make people vulnerable and powerless. Chris Longo suggested in Den of Geek that the technology is "purposely designed to give us tiny hits of dopamine". The former Facebook president Sean Parker spoke in a 2017 event about the addictiveness of social media, saying that he, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Instagram's Kevin Systrom "understood this consciously" but "did it anyway". Mellor said that it is "gently ironic" that Chris uses a meditation app on his phone "to escape the effects of other apps". The social psychologist Rosanna Guadagno highlighted that "research has shown that notifications from our phones have a negative impact on our stress levels, anxiety levels, and overall wellbeing". The 1967 song "Can't Take My Eyes Off You", sung by Frankie Valli, occurs throughout the episode and plays in the closing credits; Mellor called the song choice "a gag about phone addiction".
The episode shows social media companies as more powerful than law enforcement in profiling people. Guadagno saw Smithereen's information gathering on Chris as "both a violation of privacy" and a demonstration of "what you can learn about someone based on surveilling their digital activities". Victoria Turk of Wired saw it unrealistic that Smithereen choose to get involved with police activity, saying that such companies "seem to constantly distance themselves" from this "as they don't want that responsibility".
Critics most commonly compared Billy Bauer to Jack Dorsey, the CEO of Twitter at the time. Thomas Gorton of Dazed and Paste's Jim Vorel made comparisons to Zuckerberg, and Vorel also saw an aspect of Apple Inc. founder Steve Jobs in Billy. Smithereen was identified as similar to Twitter, and Persona to Facebook. Ed Cumming of The Independent commented of the name choice: "A smithereen is a tiny fragment of something, the debris of an explosion: the firm's users and also the information they post". Chris Longridge, writing for Digital Spy, saw a "religious parable" in Billy, who could represent Jesus or a Christian God. Longridge described Billy as "effectively omniscient", with a "Renaissance-art Jesus vibe". However, he "turns out to be just a guy", which could symbolise an "existential crisis of humankind in a world that no longer has God".
Reviewers gave differing descriptions of Chris's motives and behaviour. Olly Richards of NME said that Chris "holds Smithereen responsible" for his ex-fiancée's death, an easier choice "than accepting that he was at fault"; however, Longo said that when Chris talks to Billy, the audience learns that he "doesn't scapegoat Smithereen". Vorel said that Chris may be "at war with himself" over his choices, leading to "a spastic, explosive sort of nervous energy". Sims saw the episode as "a tale of two totally adrift people"—Chris and Billy—"unable to continue living in an interconnected world". Dwilson saw their conversation as exhibiting "the power of a simple one-on-one exchange in a world dominated by terse social exchanges". Guadagno hoped that after their call, Billy could "make his social media platform about maximizing positive human connection by making people the customer, not the commodity".
Easter egg references to previous episodes are made through frames of a character scrolling through contacts in their phone, many of whom share names with previous Black Mirror characters, and trending topics on Smithereen include SaitoGemu, a video game company from "Playtest", and Tucker, the company behind simulated reality in "San Junipero".
## Reception
### Critical response
The episode received mixed reception, with most critics finding the storyline and subject matter lacking in complexity, but Scott's performance accomplished. On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the episode holds an approval rating of 65% based on 26 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "A slippery moral dilemma and a superb turn from Andrew Scott make 'Smithereens' watchable, even if its familiar story feels more like an early episode of Black Mirror than a fresh futuristic horror story." Out of five stars, the episode garnered four stars in The Telegraph, three in the BBC and The Independent and two in Vulture. It received a rating of 7.8 out of 10 in the magazine Paste. Complex's Frazier Tharpe thought the episode was the best of series five, but The Guardian's Lucy Mangan found it "perhaps least successful". Sims said it was the "only definite flop" of the series as it "suffers from many of the flaws" of the fourth one.
Critics identified self-parody, drama and cliché as aspects of the episode, and mostly reviewed its tone negatively. Mellor said that it "feels like an imitation" of the "uniquely identifiable personality" of Black Mirror. Romano and Richards criticised the episode as reliant on clichés. Cumming summarised it as "muted rather than subtle" and Hugh Montgomery reviewed it for the BBC as "a rather inert and under-characterised drama". Longridge suggested that the episode may be "winking at the audience", given that it relates to a well-known parody of the show's message: "what if phones, but too much". Similarly, Mellor and Tharpe highlighted potential self-parody in Chris's rant upon discovering Jaden is an intern, though Tharpe found this nevertheless "emotionally affecting". Tharpe also praised the episode as tense and "well-paced" yet "casually hilarious".
The storyline and central theme were mostly criticised. As the longest episode of the series, "Smithereens" was criticised for length by Cumming and Sims, who both described the plot as "thin", as did Turk. Mellor said that it "lacks this show's usual depth", Turk found "the scope a bit narrow" and Richards viewed it as having "little to say that isn't already common opinion". Sims wrote that it was "hampered by ... how long it takes for the action to get going". The exploration of social media was reviewed by Turk to be "a bit two-dimensional" and Longo saw the episode as "too self-contained to fully realize the potential of the ideas". Montgomery wrote that the characters are "being held ransom to a plotline which is a vehicle for some rather clunky point-making" and Romano saw the message as "both redundant and a little weak". Bramesco critiqued the episode as having a "strong concept with lots of avenues for deeper exploration" which was averted in favour of "the same old conclusion about smartphones exacerbating our worst qualities", while both Longo and Turk saw concerns about data privacy to be unsatisfactorily explored.
Some critics were disappointed by a lack of twists in the episode, while Chris's recounting of the car crash and the ending received mixed reception. Mangan and Reynolds both said that the episode did not "twist and turn" as much as it should have and Sims "kept waiting for a twist that never really arrived". Reynolds found the storyline predictable from the 15 minute mark onwards, though Dwilson was "never quite sure where the episode was heading" and mostly guessed incorrectly. Longo saw Chris's "big reveal" about the cause of the car crash to be "devastating", but Romano said it "simply doesn't land with much impact". Mellor saw the ending as a "more subtle and effective point about social media", but Richards said it "falls flat" and Bramesco called it a "contrived non-ending".
Andrew Scott's role as Chris received critical acclaim. Several critics found that his performance was the highlight of an otherwise poor episode, such as Sims, who said that Scott's "committed lead performance" made him "at least interested throughout", and Reynolds, who said that Scott "just about held [the episode] all together". Benji Wilson of The Telegraph found that his "astonishing control and range ... elevated a too-tidy plot". Montgomery called the character "a compellingly twitchy, ambiguous presence", while Mangan said Scott had "uniquely potent and peculiar energy" which is "perfectly channelled" into Chris. Longo said that the acting is "unnerving throughout", but that Scott "dials it up to a 10" in the phone call with Billy. Bramesco viewed it differently, saying that Scott "feels like he's starting at a ten and leaving himself nowhere to go" and finding Scott unconvincing in the phone call, "seemingly uncertain whether the moment should be played hysterically or for genuine pathos". While Cumming found Chris to be "the only developed character", Longo said that the episode "missed key chances to add depth" to Chris.
Other actors and characters received more mixed reception. Montgomery found Grace "an amusing Jack Dorsey parody", and Dwilson "appreciated how his character surprised [her]" in his relatability. Vorel, in contrast, found it "rather difficult" to empathise with Billy. Idris received praise for his role from Dwilson and Romano. The storyline involving Hayley was criticised as "undercooked" by Cumming and "extraneous frippery" by Bramesco, but Vorel found the nature of her attempting to log into her daughter's Persona account every day a "powerful, Sisyphean piece of imagery".
Hawes received praise from Romano as he "keeps the pace taut", while Longo analysed that he "deliberately shot Chris' reactions to the use of phones in a cafe to cast a shadow of isolation around him" and used "flashback", "foreshadowing" and "purposeful misdirection". Pitchfork rated the soundtrack 6.8 out of 10, for being effective but lacking "iconic melodies". The reviewer, Martin-McCormick, found that the track "Meditation App" would fit in "the lobby of a high-end spa", but did not recommend the other tracks as standalone music.
### Episode rankings
"Smithereens" ranked poorly on critics' lists of the 23 instalments of Black Mirror, from best to worst:
- 11th – James Hibberd, Entertainment Weekly
- 11th – Ed Power, The Telegraph
- 15th – Matt Miller, Esquire
- 17th – Travis Clark, Business Insider
- 19th – Morgan Jeffery and Rosie Fletcher, Digital Spy
- 20th – Aubrey Page, Collider
- 21st – Tim Molloy, TheWrap
- 21st – Charles Bramesco, Vulture
IndieWire authors ranked the 22 Black Mirror instalments excluding Bandersnatch by quality, giving "Smithereens" a position of 11th. Instead of by quality, Proma Khosla of Mashable ranked the episodes by tone, concluding that "Smithereens" was the 10th-most pessimistic episode of the show.
### Awards
As the fifth series of Black Mirror consisted of three episodes that do not tell a complete story, it was not initially clear whether it would compete in TV Movie or Limited Series or Drama Series categories of the Emmy Awards. After Netflix petitioned to allow "Smithereens" as a TV Movie, despite a new rule that entries must be 75 minutes or longer, it was initially reported that it would be nominated in this category. Later, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced that the episode would instead be competing as a Drama Series, where performers who appear in less than 50% of a series have the choice to compete in leading, supporting, or guest awards. Scott was nominated for the Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series category. The winner was Ron Cephas Jones for This Is Us.
## See also
- Problematic social media use
- Problematic smartphone use
- Smartphone zombie
- Mobile phones and driving safety
- Internet addiction disorder
|
39,003,860 |
Zak Irvin
| 1,169,317,180 |
American basketball player (born 1994)
|
[
"1994 births",
"Abejas de León players",
"American expatriate basketball people in Mexico",
"American expatriate basketball people in Taiwan",
"American expatriate basketball people in the Dominican Republic",
"American men's basketball players",
"Bank of Taiwan basketball players",
"Basketball players from Indiana",
"Grand Rapids Gold players",
"Living people",
"Metropolitanos de Mauricio Báez players",
"Michigan Wolverines men's basketball players",
"Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball)",
"People from Fishers, Indiana",
"Shooting guards",
"Sportspeople from Hamilton County, Indiana",
"Super Basketball League imports",
"Westchester Knicks players"
] |
Zakarie Tyler Irvin (born September 5, 1994) is an American professional basketball player for the Grand Rapids Gold of the NBA G League. He played college basketball for the Michigan Wolverines. He earned the 2013 Indiana Mr. Basketball and Indiana Boys Basketball Gatorade Player of the Year while playing for Hamilton Southeastern High School. At Michigan, he was twice recognized as Big Ten Conference Freshman of the Week for the 2013–14 team, which won the 2013–14 Big Ten Conference regular-season championship outright. He was a 2015–16 Big Ten Conference men's basketball season All-Big Ten honorable mention honoree by the coaches and the media as well as a 2016 Big Ten Conference men's basketball tournament All-Tournament Team selection as a junior. He was a 2016–17 Big Ten Conference men's basketball season All-Big Ten honorable mention honoree by the media as a senior as well as a 2017 Big Ten Conference men's basketball tournament All-Tournament Team selection for the champion 2016–17 Wolverines. He led the Big Ten in minutes played as a senior and tied the Michigan record for career games played (142).
## Early life
Irvin was born in Fishers, Indiana to Marcia and James Irvin on September 5, 1994. As a freshman at Hamilton Southeastern, Irvin played junior varsity basketball. June 13, 2011 was the first day that Michigan offered scholarships to the class of 2013. On July 31, 2011, Irvin announced his non-binding verbal commitment to Michigan. At the time, he was ranked 97th in the class of 2013 according to Rivals.com and 74th according to ESPN. Scout.com ranked him as the 22nd-best shooting guard. By the time of his commitment, he had scholarship offers from Purdue, Indiana, Baylor, Miami, Xavier, Tennessee, Illinois and Butler. This commitment came one day before Derrick Walton joined Michigan's 2013 recruiting class. During the summer of 2012, Irvin jumped in the Rivals.com ranking from 68th to 31st in the national class of 2013. On November 16, 2012, Michigan men's basketball received a signed National Letter of Intent from the 6-foot-6-inch (1.98 m) Irvin. At Hamilton Southeastern High School, he earned 2013 Indiana Mr. Basketball and Parade All-American recognition. As Indiana Mr. Basketball, he succeeded former teammate, Gary Harris, and the duo became the state's first back-to-back winners from the same high school. He was also named 2013 Indiana Boys Basketball Gatorade Player of the Year. By the end of his high school career, he was ranked 24th by Rivals.
## College
### Freshman year
Irvin joined a team that had just lost Trey Burke and Tim Hardaway Jr. to the 2013 NBA draft. The 2012–13 Wolverines had reached the championship game of the 2013 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament, losing to Louisville. Prior to his freshman season, Sporting News named him the second best Big Ten Conference newcomer. On November 8, the Wolverines opened the season against UMass Lowell. Michigan played six freshman and Irvin was one of five who came off the bench in his debut that night; he scored 10 points. When 2013–14 Wolverine team leading scorer Stauskas sat out the November 29 game against , Irvin posted 24 points on 9-for-13 field goal shooting, including 6-for-10 three point shooting as Michigan won in an 87–45 rout. He was recognized on December 2, with a Big Ten Conference Freshman of the Week honor. On December 21, he posted 12 points (on 4-for-8 three-point shooting) and 6 rebounds against Stanford. On December 23, he earned co-Freshman of the Week honors with Noah Vonleh from the Big Ten Conference. Michigan clinched its first outright (unshared) Big Ten Conference championship since 1985–86. The 2013–14 team advanced to the elite eight round of the 2014 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament before being eliminated by Kentucky.
### Sophomore year
After coming off the bench in all 37 appearances as a freshman, Irvin started in the opening game of the season as a sophomore on November 15 for the 2014–15 team against and was one of three 20-point scorers for the team (along with Walton and Caris LeVert). On December 22, 2014, Irvin posted a career high of seven rebounds and tied his career high with 3 assists against Coppin State. On January 9, Irvin tallied a career high of nine rebounds against Penn State. On January 27, Irvin recorded his first career double-double and the team's first of the year with 14 points and a career-high 12 rebounds as Michigan defeated Nebraska. He also tied a career high with 3 assists On February 8, Irvin had a career-high 3 steals and season-high 23 points against Indiana. On March 3 against Northwestern, Irvin posted his and the team's second double-double of the season in a double-overtime loss with a career-high 28 points and 11 rebounds. Irvin played a career-high 49 minutes in the game. On March 12, Irvin tallied 14 points and a career-high 6 assists against Illinois in the second round of the 2015 Big Ten Conference men's basketball tournament to help Michigan extend its streak of opening round wins in the tournament to 9. In the third round against Wisconsin, Irvin posted his third double-double of his career and of the season with 21 points and 11 rebounds.
### Junior year
On September 9, 2015, head coach John Beilein announced that Irvin would be sidelined for 6 to 8 weeks, but that he was expected to be available near the beginning of the season for the 2015–16 team. In preseason top 100 player rankings Irvin was unranked by ESPN and ranked 77 by NBC Sports. He did not appear in the November 13 season opener against . On November 16 against Elon, Irvin made his season debut with three assists and one rebound but went scoreless. On November 20 against Xavier, Irvin made his first start of the season, posting seven points and one rebound. On December 8, Michigan lost 82–58 to (#19 AP Poll/unranked Coaches Poll) SMU despite 9 assists from Irvin. On January 12 with leading scorer LeVert sidelined, Michigan defeated (#3/#3) Maryland 70–67 behind a season-high and game-high 22 points from Irvin. On January 20, Michigan defeated Minnesota 74–69 with Irvin's fourth career double-double (a 19-point, 11-rebound effort). On January 27, Irvin tied his career high with 12 rebounds as Michigan defeated Rutgers for the eighth time in eight all-time meetings against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. On February 13, Michigan defeated (#18/16) Purdue, 61–56. Irvin scored 16 of his game-high 22 points in the second half, including a three-point shot and the go-ahead basket in the final three minutes as the Wolverines finished the game on an 11–0 scoring run after falling behind 56–50. On February 16, Irvin posted 15 points, nine rebounds, three assists, and two steals, becoming the 50th Wolverine to eclipse 1,000 career points. Following the 2015–16 Big Ten season, he was listed as an honorable mention All-Big Ten selection by the coaches and the media.
On March 10, in Michigan's first game of the 2016 Big Ten Conference men's basketball tournament at Bankers Life Fieldhouse against Northwestern, Irvin scored the game-winning overtime basket in front of his hometown crowd with 3.3 seconds left. Irvin, who grew up in nearby Fishers, Indiana, had 19 points and eight rebounds. The game marked his 100th career game with Michigan, becoming just the 64th Wolverine to reach the milestone. The following day in the March 11, 2016 Big Ten Conference men's basketball tournament quarterfinals Michigan upset of No. 1-seeded (#10/#10) Indiana. In the game, 2013 Indiana Mr. Basketball Irvin scored a team-high 17 points, marking the third time in only three wins against a nationally ranked conference foe that he led the team in scoring. Irvin was selected to the All-Tournament Team. On March 16 in the First Four round of the 2016 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, Michigan defeated Tulsa, 67–62, behind a team-high 16 points from Irvin, including a go-ahead three-point shot with 53 seconds left and late free throws.
### Senior year
He served as a co-captain with Derrick Walton. In the final four of the 2016 2K Sports Classic held at the Madison Square Garden on November 17 and 18, Irvin posted 16 points against Marquette in the semifinal and 16 against SMU to earn tournament MVP as Michigan won the tournament. Following the season, he was an honorable mention All-Big Ten selection by the media. In the 2017 Big Ten Conference men's basketball tournament championship game 71–56 victory over (#23/#24) Wisconsin, Irvin contributed 15 points for eighth-seeded Michigan. During the Tournament, Irvin averaged 14.8 points, 6.5 rebounds and 3.3 assist. After the tournament, he was named to the Big Ten tournament Team. The team reached the round of sixteen of the 2017 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. Irvin finished first in minutes played (35.4) in the Big Ten for the season. He finished his career tied for first in career games played in school history (142), third in career three-point shots made (241) and fourth in career minutes played (4,225). Irvin was one of five Big Ten players invited to participate in the annual Portsmouth Invitational Tournament for the top NCAA seniors (along with Bronson Koenig, Malcolm Hill, Marc Loving and Tai Webster).
## Professional career
Following the season Irvin went undrafted in the 2017 NBA draft and signed to play with the Miami Heat for the 2017 NBA Summer League. Ultimately, Irvin signed with Victoria Libertas Pesaro of the Lega Basket Serie A (the Italian league) in July 2017. Irvin left the team in mid-September.
On December 26, 2017, Irvin joined the Israeli team Hapoel Eilat on a trial contract. He parted ways with Eilat before appearing in any game for them.
### Westchester Knicks (2018)
On January 25, 2018, Irvin was acquired by the Westchester Knicks of the NBA G League. On February 2, he debuted with a 10-point, 10-rebound double-double in a 107–93 victory against the Greensboro Swarm.
### Dominican Republic (2018)
On May 2, 2018, Irvin signed with Metropolitanos de Mauricio Báez of the Dominican Torneo de Baloncesto Superior (TBS).
### Mexico (2018)
For the 2018–19 season, Irvin signed with the Abejas de León of the Mexican Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional. He had 16 points and 9 rebounds in a loss to Aguacateros on November 3, 2018.
### Return to Westchester (2018–2019)
On December 6, 2018, Irvin re-signed with the Westchester Knicks. He was on the Knicks 2019 NBA Summer League roster. On October 17, 2019, Irvin signed with the New York Knicks, but was waived on October 18.
### Bank of Taiwan (2020–2022)
In 2020 Irvin signed with the Bank of Taiwan team in the Super Basketball League in Taiwan.
### Maine Celtics (2022)
On October 24, 2022, Irvin joined the Maine Celtics training camp roster. However, he did not make the opening-night roster.
### Grand Rapids Gold (2023–present)
On March 7, 2023, Irvin was acquired by the NBA G League's Grand Rapids Gold.
|
3,822,491 |
Russian Five
| 1,160,652,505 |
Group of Russian players on the Detroit Red Wings
|
[
"Detroit Red Wings players",
"HC CSKA Moscow players",
"Nicknamed groups of ice hockey players",
"Russian ice hockey players"
] |
The Russian Five was the nickname given to the unit of five Russian ice hockey players from the Soviet Union that played for the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League in the 1990s. The five players were Sergei Fedorov, Vladimir Konstantinov, Slava Kozlov, Slava Fetisov, and Igor Larionov. Three of the players were drafted by the Red Wings in 1989 and 1990, and their defections from the Soviet Union were aided by the Wings. The last two were acquired via trades from the New Jersey Devils and San Jose Sharks. Red Wings coach Scotty Bowman played the five together as a unit at times from October 1995 to June 1997, but also mixed and matched them with other teammates.
The Russian Five were major contributors in the Red Wings' Stanley Cup-winning run of the 1996–97 NHL season. Six days after the Cup victory, Vladimir Konstantinov was critically injured in a car crash that ended his ice hockey career. His Red Wings teammates dedicated the following season to him, and achieved the goal of "winning it for Vladdie" with their second consecutive Stanley Cup win.
By 2003, the remaining four players had all either signed with new teams, been traded, or retired. The Russian Five left a lasting impact on the way ice hockey was played and taught in North America, and had contributed to a major change in how European players were viewed in the NHL.
## Background
During the Cold War, the best hockey players in the Soviet Union were not allowed to leave to play in the National Hockey League (NHL), despite their talents being on par with North American and Western European players. Before 1989, Victor Nechayev, who played three games for the Los Angeles Kings, was the only player from the USSR to play in the NHL. Sergei Pryakhin was given permission to play in the NHL in 1989 and played in 46 games through 1991. Neither player was considered a star in their native Russia.
In the fifth round of the 1988 NHL Entry Draft, the Buffalo Sabres selected Alexander Mogilny with the 89th overall pick. Mogilny had been called "the best 19-year-old player in the world" at the time. In May 1989, Mogilny became the first Russian player to defect from the Soviet Union in order to play in the NHL.
## Acquiring the Five
### Fedorov and Konstantinov
In June 1989, Red Wings general manager Jim Devellano arrived at the NHL Entry Draft determined to "start drafting some Russians." Devellano had discussed the possibility of drafting Sergei Fedorov with Red Wings owner Mike Ilitch; while Fedorov was considered one of the top young players in the world, the risk factor was high, as there was no guarantee that he would ever be able to come to Detroit to play, even if he wanted to. Ilitch instructed Devellano to draft the best players available, no matter where they came from, and management would worry about delivering them.
Devellano consulted future Hall-of-Famer Steve Yzerman about Fedorov while the Red Wings captain was on an exercise bike in the Joe Louis Arena weight room. When he asked Yzerman for a scouting report, knowing that the two had played against each other in the World Championships, Yzerman simply replied, "He's better than me."
Devellano drafted Fedorov in the fourth round, higher than any Soviet player had ever been drafted before. Referring to NHL draft conventional wisdom that most elite players were gone after the first three rounds, he later said, "I used the theory, who are we gonna get here now in the fourth round from North America, really?" The Red Wings followed up that pick with the 11th-round selection of Fedorov's Soviet teammate Vladimir Konstantinov, an imposing two-way defenseman who was already known as one of the best blue-liners in the world.
Wings executive vice-president Jim Lites then contacted Detroit sportswriter Keith Gave about passing a secret message to Fedorov and Konstantinov from the Wings. Not only did Gave speak Russian, but his media credentials would enable him to get into an exhibition game in Helsinki where the Soviet national team was scheduled to play a Finnish elite-level club. Gave agreed to the mission, and in August 1989, he managed to meet with the players after their game and slip them each a Red Wings media guide with a letter hidden inside. The letters made it clear that the Red Wings wanted both of them in Detroit and were willing to help them get there.
By July 1990, Fedorov had decided to defect. The Soviet national team came to North America to play in the 1990 Goodwill Games, and had scheduled an exhibition match against USA Hockey in Portland's Memorial Coliseum on July 22, 1990. Jim Lites came to Portland, picked up Fedorov outside his hotel after the game, and brought him to Detroit in Ilitch's private jet.
Getting Konstantinov out of Russia would be more difficult, for two reasons. Unlike Fedorov, he had previously signed a 25-year contract committing himself to the army, and if he deserted, he would be considered a felon in Russia, which would make him ineligible for a work visa in the United States. He also had a wife and daughter, and would not consider leaving without them. Fedorov introduced Lites to his friend, a Russian journalist named Valery Matveev, who had moved to Detroit just after Fedorov's defection. Lites and Matveev worked together to secure an army discharge for Konstantinov. With cash provided by the Red Wings, Matveev bribed six Russian doctors to diagnose and confirm that Konstantinov was suffering from inoperable cancer, and thus secured his medical discharge from the military in the summer of 1991. The Red Wings were planning to fly Konstantinov and his family out from Russia and get him to Detroit in time for the start of training camp in September, but the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt forced a change in plans. With the airports closed, Matveev took the family by train to Budapest. Lites met them there, again in Ilitch's private jet, and went back to Detroit with Konstantinov aboard. His wife and daughter followed two days later on a commercial flight.
### Vyacheslav "Slava" Kozlov
Jim Devellano had been impressed by Slava Kozlov when he saw him play at a youth tournament in Lake Placid, New York, in 1987, when Kozlov was just 15. He called the Ilitches and told them, "I've just seen the best 15-year-old hockey player I've ever seen in my lifetime – and I saw Wayne Gretzky play at that age." Devellano used his third round pick (45th overall) to draft Kozlov in the 1990 NHL Entry Draft, breaking his own record, set the previous year, for the highest draft pick of a Soviet player. He admitted later that this was a bigger risk, since in the third round, "You can get some North American players. It's not the fourth round, it's the third round."
In December 1990, a Red Wings contingent, including Lites and assistant GM Nick Polano, traveled to Regina, Saskatchewan, for the World Junior Championships, ready to bring Kozlov back to Detroit with them. However, Kozlov, just 19 at the time, was not ready to commit to defecting, and returned to the Soviet Union with the rest of his team. Polano met with Kozlov three more times over the next year. Then, in November 1991, Kozlov was seriously injured in a car crash that killed his passenger, teammate Kirill Tarasov. Polano traveled to Russia again and offered to take Kozlov to get medical care in Detroit. Valery Matveev bribed Russian doctors, much as he had in Konstantinov's case, but this time secured Kozlov's release from his Red Army enlistment with a diagnosis of permanent brain damage and loss of peripheral vision stemming from head injuries sustained in the crash. Kozlov traveled to Detroit in February 1992 and made his debut with the Wings on March 12.
### Fetisov and Larionov
After Scotty Bowman was hired as the Red Wings coach in 1993, the Wings finished first in the Western Conference but lost to the San Jose Sharks in the first round of the 1994 playoffs. Bowman felt the team needed more help on defense, and he and assistant GM Ken Holland talked to Sergei Fedorov about Slava Fetisov, a CSKA Moscow veteran who was then playing with the New Jersey Devils. When Holland asked Fedorov his opinion on making a trade to acquire Fetisov, Fedorov replied, "Absolutely. It would be great for our team." On April 3, 1995, the Wings traded a future third-round draft pick to the Devils for Fetisov. He was 17 days short of turning 37. The Wings finished the lockout-shortened season with the best record in the NHL, but were swept in the Stanley Cup Finals by Fetisov's former team, the Devils.
After that series, Fetisov began pushing Bowman to acquire Igor Larionov, another former Red Army teammate then playing for the San Jose Sharks. He told Bowman if he could make a trade happen, "We would have five (Russians) then, and if you ever want to, you could play them together." Bowman convinced management to trade 50-goal scorer Ray Sheppard for the 34-year-old Larionov. Three days later, on October 27, 1995, Larionov joined his new team in Calgary to play against the Flames. A few minutes into the game, Bowman sent all five Russians over the boards together, and the Russian Five was born.
## The Five on the Red Wings
For much of the 1995–96 season, Bowman played the five Russians together as a unit. By that time, there were 55 Russians playing in the NHL. Only the Red Wings, however, had put together such a combination in starring roles on their team. At the end of the regular season, the five Russians had scored 117 of the Red Wings' 325 goals. The team won an NHL-record 62 games, but fell to the Colorado Avalanche in six games in the Western Conference Finals. Towards the end of the regular season, Bowman had begun mixing and matching the five Russians with other teammates at times.
In the 1997 playoffs, the Russian Five were a critical part of each series. In the first round against the St. Louis Blues, Larionov led the team with five assists. In a second-round sweep of the Anaheim Mighty Ducks, the top three Wings scorers were Fedorov, with five points, along with Konstantinov and Kozlov, with four points each. In a Western Conference finals rematch against the Avalanche, Fedorov led all scorers with three goals and four assists, while Larionov and Kozlov each had two goals and three assists. All three players contributed a game-winning goal during the series.
### 1997 Stanley Cup Finals
Detroit faced the Philadelphia Flyers in the 1997 Stanley Cup Finals. Before the series, most hockey commentators believed that the Flyers' size and strength, led by MVP Eric Lindros, would be too much for the smaller Wings to handle, and the Flyers were favored to win the Stanley Cup. However, the Red Wings surprised most observers by being the more physical team, and one standout in that regard was Vladimir Konstantinov. Early in Game 1, he leveled Flyers winger Trent Klatt as he attempted to carry the puck into the Wings' end; Klatt lay on the ice for several seconds afterwards. In Game 3, Konstantinov delivered a hit on Dale Hawerchuk that led to a Red Wings goal 24 seconds later; Hawerchuk did not play in Game 4 and retired after the season. The Red Wings swept the Flyers and won their first Stanley Cup in 42 years.
Speaking about Konstantinov's effect in that series, Jimmy Devellano said "Vladdie certainly let the Flyers know that the Red Wings weren’t going to be pushed around... he just hit everything in sight." Bowman called him "a game-changer." Assistant coach Dave Lewis said, "When Vladimir Konstantinov hit Hawerchuk, it changed the game. It changed the series. It was over at that point." Teammate Kris Draper said it was "one of the hardest hits I’d ever seen."
At the conclusion of Game 4, the Stanley Cup was presented to the winning team's captain, Steve Yzerman, who hoisted it above his head and skated the traditional victory lap around Joe Louis Arena. He then handed the Cup to Slava Fetisov, the now-39-year-old former captain of the Red Army club. Fetisov immediately skated over to Igor Larionov and the two skated around the rink holding the cup aloft between them.
### Limousine crash
Six days after the Stanley Cup win, most of the team gathered for a golf outing and dinner at The Orchards Golf Club in nearby Washington Township. Limousines were ordered so that no one partying would have to drive. Fetisov, Konstantinov, and team massage therapist Sergei Mnatsakanov left the party in a limousine driven by Richard Gnida, who had a suspended license after two convictions for drunk driving. The limo veered across three lanes of traffic, skipped the curb, and crashed into a tree. All four occupants were taken to nearby Beaumont Hospital; Fetisov suffered broken ribs and a punctured lung but made a full recovery. Mnatsakanov spent several weeks in a coma, and was permanently paralyzed from the waist down.
Konstantinov suffered severe head injuries and was in a coma even longer than Mnatsakanov. When he finally awoke, he was unable to speak, and needed months of rehabilitation before he could leave the hospital. His brain had been torn in several places, which disrupted his ability to communicate, destroyed his short-term memory, and made him unable to move with balance. His hockey career was over.
### 1997–1998 season
The Red Wings players and coaches dedicated their efforts the following season to Konstantinov and Mnatsakanov. Kris Draper later said, "The motivation for us going into the Stanley Cup Finals in back-to-back years was definitely Vladdy. He was certainly in our hearts and in our minds and every time we played, he was that extra motivation that we need." Assistant coach Dave Lewis later said, "I don't think anybody could have beaten us that year, because we were so focused on winning it for Vladdie and Sergei Mnatsakanov."
In October 1997, Konstantinov's physical therapist decided that it was time to take him to Joe Louis Arena to see his teammates, and Konstantinov agreed with a thumbs-up. He was wheeled into the locker room a few minutes before practice ended, and the Red Wings arrived to see Konstantinov sitting in his stall with his jersey still hanging behind him. The players greeted him with hugs and handshakes. While Konstantinov spent most of the season in Florida undergoing physical therapy, he returned, along with his wife and daughter, to visit his teammates during the 1998 playoffs.
The Red Wings managed the rare feat of repeating as Stanley Cup Champions, sweeping the Washington Capitals in the finals. Konstantinov was brought onto the ice in his wheelchair for the team's victory celebration, and Yzerman, rather than taking the traditional lap around the rink that the captain would normally skate, immediately brought the Cup to Konstantinov and put it in his lap. As he held the Cup steady, Fetisov and Larionov pushed Konstantinov's wheelchair as the entire team skated their victory lap to a standing ovation.
### After the Russian Five
Slava Fetisov retired after the 1998 Stanley Cup win. Slava Kozlov was traded to the Buffalo Sabres in the summer of 2001; he later played several seasons for the Atlanta Thrashers before finishing his career in the KHL. In 2000, Larionov, as a free agent, left to join the Florida Panthers, but was traded back to the Red Wings in December of that year. Fedorov and Larionov were with the Wings when they won their third Stanley Cup in 6 years in 2002.
Three of the five – Fetisov, Larionov, and Fedorov – were elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame after they retired.
## Legacy
The five players forever changed how North Americans viewed hockey players from Russia. Until the 1990s, there had been a perception that Europeans in general, and Russians in particular, were "soft", and that a team with too many of them would never be able to win a Stanley Cup. The Russian Five dispelled those myths forever, not only with two Cup wins but also because Konstantinov was one of the most feared hitters in the NHL. Steve Yzerman said of his former teammates, "The way they conducted themselves, the way they played for our team – that has changed the tone for European players in general."
Beyond how Russians were perceived, the five also changed how hockey was taught in North America, in no small part because of the value they placed on puck possession. In the words of Jim Lites, "Everybody used to dump the puck in and chase it down behind the net. The Russians changed that. They changed our game." Commenting on their puck control abilities, Red Wings goalie Mike Vernon once said, "There were times when I could have left the net and gone out for a pizza, and the other team still wouldn't have the puck from those guys when I got back."
In a 2020 interview, coach Scotty Bowman pointed out that the Russian Five brought a different style of breakout to the NHL, in which both forwards would leave the defensive zone while their defensemen still had the puck, and crisscross in the neutral zone. In his words, "that was a no in our game", but he stated that the Russian Five had an advantage because North American players had not seen that style before, and it eventually became integrated into the NHL.
Jim Devellano believed the Russian Five had an impact that went beyond hockey. "I grew up with all this propaganda about how the Russians were our enemy. Now here we were, bringing the enemy over here. Then they were so good – the last missing piece for us to win. And they became our friends. I think I learned something about propaganda and how it gets our minds working against different people." Sergei Fedorov agreed, saying, "We need to build more bridges than weapons. That’s my deep feeling about what should happen between our countries. Like we did in Detroit, you know?"
|
44,436,870 |
The Boat Race 1937
| 1,032,232,760 | null |
[
"1937 in English sport",
"1937 sports events in London",
"March 1937 sports events",
"The Boat Race"
] |
The 89th Boat Race took place on 24 March 1937. Held annually, the Boat Race is a side-by-side rowing race between crews from the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge along the River Thames. In a race umpired by the former Cambridge rower and coach Harold Rickett, Oxford won by three lengths in a time of 22 minutes 39 seconds. It was their first success since the 1923 race and ended Cambridge's record streak of 13 wins. The victory took the overall record in the event to 47–41 in Cambridge's favour.
## Background
The Boat Race is a side-by-side rowing competition between the University of Oxford (sometimes referred to as the "Dark Blues") and the University of Cambridge (sometimes referred to as the "Light Blues"). The race was first held in 1829, and since 1845 has taken place on the 4.2-mile (6.8 km) Championship Course on the River Thames in southwest London. The rivalry is a major point of honour between the two universities; it is followed throughout the United Kingdom and, as of 2014, broadcast worldwide. Cambridge went into the race as reigning champions, having won the 1936 race by five lengths, and led overall with 47 victories to Oxford's 40 (excluding the "dead heat" of 1877). The Light Blues had won thirteen consecutive races coming into this year's event.
Cambridge were coached by J. Beresford Jr, J. R. F. Best, F. E. Hellyer (who had rowed for the Light Blues in the 1910 and 1911 races) and Kenneth Payne (who rowed for Cambridge in the 1932 and 1934 races, and had coached Oxford in the 1935 and 1936 races). Oxford's coaches were P. C. Mallam (a four-time Dark Blue who had rowed in the 1921, 1922, 1923 and 1924 races), Guy Oliver Nickalls (who had rowed three times between 1921 and 1923) and William Rathbone (who rowed for Oxford in the 1926 and 1927 races). The umpire for the race was the former Cambridge rower Harold Rickett who had rowed for the Light Blues three times, in the 1930, 1931 and 1932 races. He had also coached them for the 1933 race.
The special correspondent for The Observer suggested that the race would be the finest for some years, concluding that "a win for Oxford would do much good to English rowing".
## Crews
The Oxford crew weighed an average of 12 st 13.5 lb (82.1 kg), 7.75 pounds (3.5 kg) per rower more than their opponents. Cambridge saw three rowers return to the crew with Boat Race experience, including McAllister Lonnon who was taking part in his third consecutive event. Oxford's boat contained four former Blues, including David Michael De Rueda Winser who was also making his third appearance in the Boat Race. Oxford's number six Jan Sturrock won a silver medal at the 1936 Summer Olympics in the Men's coxless fours. His crew-mate John Cherry, and Cambridge's Thomas Cree, Hugh Mason and Lonnon all rowed in the Men's eight for Great Britain in the 1936 Games, finishing fourth. Cambridge's Cree and cox T. H. Hunter were the only non-British participants registered, both of whom hailed from Australia.
## Race
Cambridge won the toss and elected to start from the Surrey station, handing the Middlesex side of the river to Oxford. In calm weather, umpire Rickett started the race at 11:35 a.m. A false start ensued, with Rickett failing to hear Oxford state that they were not ready to start. Rickett restarted the race and, out-rating their opponents, Cambridge were half a length ahead after the first minute. They held the same advantage by Craven Steps, but a spurt from Oxford's stroke A. B. Hodgson saw the Dark Blues draw level. Following some errant steering from Cambridge's cox Hunter, Oxford pulled away to lead by a canvas-length by the time the crews passed the Mile Post.
As they passed the Crab Tree pub, the Cambridge stroke R. J. L. Perfitt put in a spurt which made little difference as Oxford continued to lead by Harrods Furniture Depository. Steering away from the Light Blues to avoid a collision, Oxford lost their lead as the crews passed under Hammersmith Bridge level. Another spurt from Perfitt saw the Light Blues a third of a length up by the Doves pub as the crews headed into Chiswick Reach. This time it was Oxford's turn to steer clear of a collision, losing most of their lead by Chiswick Steps, but heading over towards the Middlesex shore, they caught the best of the tide. The Dark Blues passed below Barnes Bridge three-quarters of a length ahead, and although Cambridge burst to out-rate Oxford by three strokes per minute, they failed to make any impression and Oxford pulled further ahead.
Oxford won by three lengths in a time of 22 minutes 39 seconds, securing their first victory since the 1923 race. It was both the slowest winning time and the narrowest margin of victory since 1877. It was declared by former Oxford rower E. P. Evans as being "one of the most exciting races ever seen on the tideway" and "a truly magnificent victory for the Oxford crew". The rowing correspondent in The Times stated that "not since 1921 has there been such a great race". He went on to suggest "it was one of the greatest races".
|
4,862,882 |
Harold Edward Elliott
| 1,170,849,849 |
Australian politician
|
[
"1878 births",
"1931 deaths",
"1931 suicides",
"20th-century Australian politicians",
"Australian Companions of the Distinguished Service Order",
"Australian Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George",
"Australian Companions of the Order of the Bath",
"Australian generals",
"Australian military personnel of World War I",
"Australian military personnel of the Second Boer War",
"Australian military personnel who committed suicide",
"Australian politicians who committed suicide",
"Australian recipients of the Distinguished Conduct Medal",
"Burials in Victoria (state)",
"Federation University Australia alumni",
"Melbourne Law School alumni",
"Members of the Australian Senate for Victoria",
"Military personnel from Victoria (state)",
"Nationalist Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia",
"Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1914–1918 (France)",
"Recipients of the Order of St. Anna, 3rd class",
"Royal Berkshire Regiment officers",
"Suicides by sharp instrument in Australia"
] |
Major General Harold Edward "Pompey" Elliott, (19 June 1878 – 23 March 1931) was a senior officer in the Australian Army during the First World War. After the war he served as a Senator for Victoria in the Australian parliament.
Elliott entered the University of Melbourne in 1898 to study law, but left in 1900 to serve in the Imperial Bushmen in the South African War. He was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal, and given a British Army commission, but chose to remain with the Victorian Imperial Bushmen as an attached subaltern. He returned to Australia in 1901, but went back to South Africa to serve with the Border Scouts, who patrolled remote and inhospitable areas. In December 1901, he distinguished himself in repelling a numerically superior Boer force, and received a congratulatory telegram from General Lord Kitchener. After he returned to Australia, he completed his law degree and became a solicitor. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Militia in 1904, and he was promoted to lieutenant in 1905, captain in 1909, major in 1911, and lieutenant colonel in 1913, commanding the 58th Battalion (Essendon Rifles).
After the outbreak of the First World War, Elliott joined the Australian Imperial Force (AIF), and formed and commanded the 7th Infantry Battalion, which he led in the landing at Anzac on 25 April 1915, and the Battle of Lone Pine in August. In March 1916, he became the commander of the newly formed 15th Infantry Brigade, which he led in the disastrous Battle of Fromelles in July 1916. In March 1917, the German retreat to the Hindenburg Line gave Elliott a rare chance to display his tactical acumen in an independent command as the 15th Brigade operated as an advance guard of the British Fifth Army. It fought in the Second Battle of Bullecourt in May 1917, and the Battle of Polygon Wood at the end of September 1917, when Elliott's leadership transformed a near-defeat into a victory. In the Second Battle of Villers-Bretonneux in April 1918, he won another famous victory.
Elliott won the 1919 federal election as a Nationalist Party of Australia candidate for the Senate, and was re-elected in the 1925 election. His involvement with returned servicemen's issues led to his redrafting of the constitution of the Returned Sailors and Soldiers Imperial League of Australia, and he played an important part in the Victoria Police strike, making a call alongside Lieutenant General Sir John Monash for members of the AIF to come to Melbourne Town Hall and sign up as special constables. In 1926, he was appointed to command the 15th Brigade again, and the following year was finally promoted to the rank of major general, and became the commander of the 3rd Division. Suffering from chronic post-traumatic stress disorder, he killed himself in March 1931.
## Early life
Harold Edward Elliott was born 19 June 1878 in West Charlton, Victoria, the third son and fifth child of eight children of a farmer and prospector, Thomas Elliott, and his wife Helen, née Janvrin. To his family, he was nicknamed "Harkey". He grew up on the family farms, and attended the local school, known as the Rock Tank. In 1894, his father was one of six men who made a sensational find on the goldfields at Coolgardie, Western Australia. They sold their claim to the Earl of Fingall for £180,000 and a sixth interest. Fingall then floated it in London as a company valued at £700,000. This changed the family's circumstances. Debts were paid, and the farms acquired outright. The family moved to a new house named "Elsinore" near Lake Wendouree in Ballarat, Victoria. In January 1895, Elliott commenced at Ballarat College, a private Presbyterian boys' school, where one of the school houses, "Elliott", is now named after him. Despite concerns about the adequacy of his Rock Tank education, Elliott topped his class in Latin, bookkeeping, and Bible studies in his first year. He topped the class in seven of his eight subjects in 1896, and went on to become dux of the school in 1897.
Elliott entered Ormond College, the Presbyterian hall of residence at the University of Melbourne in 1898 to study law. Between 1883 and 1896, law students had been required to first obtain a Bachelor of Arts degree before going on to study law. This had been changed, but Elliott, who was under no financial pressure to complete his degree quickly, elected to follow the old route and complete an arts degree first. He also represented Ormond College in football and athletics, and joined the University Officers' Training Corps. In March 1900, the Imperial authorities asked the Australian colonial governments to raise a force of 2,500 Imperial Bushmen for service in the South African War. Elliott decided to interrupt his studies to serve, and was one of 4,000 applicants for the 626 positions allotted to Victoria. He was accepted for the Victorian Imperial Bushmen, and trained at Langwarrin, Victoria, before embarking for South Africa on 1 May 1900.
In another aspect of his life, Elliott would join the United Grand Lodge of Victoria as a Freemason in the old and established Naval & Military Lodge No 49.
## Boer War service
The Victorian Imperial Bushmen were initially based at Marandellas in case the Boers invaded Southern Rhodesia. In January 1901 they moved to the Cape Colony, where they were attached to a Coldstream Guards force under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Henniker. This sometimes formed part of a larger force under the command of Colonel Herbert Plumer. On 28 February 1901, a 16-man detachment of Victorian Imperial Bushmen under the command of Captain Joseph Dallimore tracked a party of Boers. During the night, Elliott, now a corporal, stole the Boers' 54 horses without waking them. At dawn the bushmen surrounded and attacked the Boer party's encampment, and compelled all 33 of them to surrender. For his part, Elliott was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal, the British Empire's second-highest award for gallantry by other ranks after the Victoria Cross, and mentioned in despatches. He was given a British Army commission as a lieutenant in the 2nd Battalion, Royal Berkshire Regiment on 20 November 1900, but he remained with the Victorian Imperial Bushmen as an attached subaltern. He embarked for Australia on 22 June 1901, reaching Melbourne on 12 July. His British Army commission was cancelled at his own request.
On 24 August 1901, he sailed for South Africa again on the SS Britannic. There, he obtained a commission as a lieutenant in the Cape Colony Cyclist Corps on 18 October 1901. He then joined the Border Scouts, who patrolled remote and inhospitable areas. In December 1901, he distinguished himself in repelling a numerically superior Boer force under Commandant Edwin Alfred Conroy. For this he received a congratulatory telegram from General Lord Kitchener that read: "Please tell Lieut. Elliott that I am very pleased with his conduct and that of his men in driving off Conroy and saving horses." The war ended in May 1902, but Elliott remained with the Border Scouts until they were disbanded in September. In addition to his Distinguished Conduct Medal, Elliott was awarded the Queen's South Africa Medal with four clasps (Rhodesia, Orange Free State, Transvaal, and Cape Colony), and the King's South Africa Medal with two clasps (South Africa 1901 and South Africa 1902).
## Early law career
In 1903, Elliott returned to his studies, completing his arts degree. Instead of staying at Ormond College, he lived at "Endersleigh", a residence in Drummond Street, Carlton, owned by Alexander and Mary Campbell. The following year he commenced law, winning a residential scholarship to Ormond College. He was also commissioned in the Militia as a second lieutenant in the 5th Infantry Regiment. He returned to Ormond in 1905, where he was joined by his brother George, who had also been dux of Ballarat College, and went on to play football for Fitzroy and University in the Victorian Football League. Elliott graduated in 1906 with his Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws with second class honours, sharing the Supreme Court Prize for the top law student.
A law degree was not sufficient to allow one to practise law; aspiring lawyers still had to also complete their articles. Elliott joined the firm of Moule, Hamilton and Kiddle on Market Street. While working on his articles, he lived at Endersleigh, where he dated Belle and Kate, the daughters of the owners. He completed his articles in August 1907, and was dismissed by Moule, Hamilton and Kiddle, since the firm would now have to pay him a living wage. Elliott practised as a solicitor in Stawell, Victoria, for a while, before returning to Melbourne, where he formed a partnership with a fellow solicitor, Glen Roberts, with offices in Collins Street. He bought a house called "Dalriada" in Northcote, with a loan from his father, and married Kate Campbell there on 27 December 1909. They had two children, a daughter, Violet, born in March 1911, and a son, Neil, in June 1912. His militia career also flourished, and he was promoted to lieutenant in 1905, captain in 1909, major in 1911, and lieutenant colonel in 1913, commanding the 58th Battalion (Essendon Rifles).
## First World War
### Gallipoli Campaign
On 14 August 1914, soon after the First World War began, Elliott was given the same rank in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF), and command of the 7th Infantry Battalion, one of four Victorian battalions in Colonel James Whiteside McCay's 2nd Infantry Brigade. Elliott's first action was to ask Major Walter McNicoll to be his second in command, a position McNicoll readily accepted. He then supervised the raising of his battalion. Three of his eight companies were drawn from the northern suburbs of Melbourne, but the other five came mainly from central Victoria. He took particular care over the selection of officers. The newly formed battalion marched from Victoria Barracks to the training camp at Broadmeadows, Victoria, on 19 August. Elliott believed that Australians would take readily to military discipline if the reasons for it were properly explained. McCay was disturbed at the numbers of men without prior militia training that were being enlisted, but some of the battalion's recruiting area had no militia units. Instead, Elliott relied on the quality of the militia's officers and non-commissioned officers to produce well-trained soldiers.
On 18 October, the 7th Battalion entrained for Port Melbourne, where it boarded the SS Hororata for England. While it was en route, the destination was changed to Egypt. In Egypt, the battalion was re-organised, changing over to the new establishment of four companies instead of eight, and McNicoll left to take over command of the 6th Infantry Battalion. Elliott established a mystique as a larger than life personality, and his idiosyncrasies drew intense devotion and loyalty from his men. He acquired the nickname "Pompey" after the famous football player Fred "Pompey" Elliott, who played 209 games for Carlton and Melbourne. Throughout the war, he was accompanied by a black charger, called "Darkie", who (with subtle encouragement) would spot the smallest irregularities in the men. Years later, his men were still convinced that it was the horse who had noticed the errors their commander had berated them for.
For the landing at Anzac on 25 April 1915, the 6th and 7th Battalions travelled from Lemnos in the SS Galeka. The plan called for the troops to be landed by tows—wooden rowboats towed by a powered craft; but when the ship came under fire with no sign of the tows that were to take the troops ashore, the ship's master decided that the 7th Battalion must proceed ashore in the ship's rowboats. Elliott was strongly opposed to this, as the men would have to row a long way, and the battalion would become disorganised from the start, but had to give way. Elliott went in the fifth boat. When his boat and the one following were about 400 yards (370 m) from shore, they were met by a steam pinnace, which towed them to Anzac Cove, where Elliott stepped ashore at about 05:30. The plan called for the 2nd Brigade to advance on the left towards Hill 971, but Colonel Ewen Sinclair-Maclagan told him that the plan needed to be changed, and that the 2nd Brigade was required on the right, around the 400 Plateau. Climbing up to the 400 Plateau to view the situation for himself, Elliott was wounded in the ankle. He was helped down to the beach, where he remained for several hours, insisting that others were more severely wounded than himself. Eventually, he was taken to the hospital ship HMHS Gascon, and thence back to Alexandria.
Elliott was admitted to the 1st Australian General Hospital in Heliopolis on 7 May 1915, was discharged on 26 May, and rejoined the 7th Battalion at Anzac on 5 June. On 8 July he was in his headquarters behind Steele's Post when he received word that the Turks were in an Australian tunnel near the German Officers' Trench. Characteristically, he went forward in person to ascertain the situation, entering the tunnel with two men. Some 20 feet (6.1 m) from the end there was a flash in his face, and the man behind him was shot. Elliott drew his pistol and barricaded the tunnel with sand bags, refusing help for fear that anyone else coming forward might also be hit. The tunnel was blocked off, and sealed with an explosion. On 8 August 1915, the 7th Battalion moved into positions captured the previous day in the Battle of Lone Pine, and he took over responsibility for the defence of the entire position. He led his men from the front trenches, steadying them in an uncertain situation. They fought off a series of Turkish counterattacks, winning four Victoria Crosses in the process. In the fighting, a man next to him was shot dead, splashing him from head to foot with blood and brains, but he was not decorated for the battle despite inspirational leadership. Apparently his name, originally at the top of the recommendations for decorations, had been struck off the list. On 28 August, Elliott was evacuated to England towards the end of August with pleurisy, and did not rejoin the 7th Battalion until 7 November. On 18 December, one day before the evacuation of Anzac, he sprained his ankle and was evacuated ahead of his troops. He was mentioned in despatches on 28 January 1916.
### Suez Canal
After the evacuation, the 7th Battalion was returned to Egypt, where Elliott rejoined it on 15 January. On 15 February, he was appointed to command, with the rank of brigadier general, the 1st Infantry Brigade, vice Brigadier General Nevill Smyth, who was being promoted. Two weeks later the news came that Smyth would not be promoted after all, so Elliott asked to be returned to the 7th Battalion. When the commander of the AIF, Lieutenant General Sir William Birdwood, offered Elliott the newly formed 14th Infantry Brigade in Maj. Gen. James Whiteside M’Cay's new 5th Division instead, Elliott said that he would prefer the 15th Infantry Brigade, as it was the Victorian brigade of the 5th Division, whereas the 14th was from New South Wales. Birdwood granted this request. Elliott soon made himself unpopular with Birdwood when he wanted to replace three of the four battalion commanders allotted to him. He was told that their reputations were sacred, but Elliott replied that the lives of his men were more so. Birdwood forced him to accept them for the time being; but Elliott eventually had his way. He also reorganised the brigade to match that of the Militia brigade of the same number at home.
In March 1916, the 5th Division was sent 35 miles (56 km) across the desert to defend the Suez Canal. The crossing was first attempted by the 14th Brigade, who suffered badly. Elliott personally inspected the route, talked with officers familiar with it, and drew up a new timetable for the march, managing to get his men across with only a handful of casualties. On the march, one man forgot the ban on smoking. Elliott characteristically started to scream at the man, even threatening to shoot him. Out from the ranks came a shout: "If you shoot him, I'll shoot you." When the soldier who called out was brought forward and explained that no one talked to his brother like that, Elliott sent the man to his school for non-commissioned officers, with the rationale that anyone who could stand up to himself in full flight clearly had leadership potential.
On arriving at Suez, the water that the Battalion had been promised was nowhere to be found. They were assured that the water was coming, but hours later it still had not appeared. Elliott then made one of the "vigorous protests" that he was becoming famous for. He even threatened to march them back across the Suez Canal to get them a drink. "It was outrageous to deprive men of water in the desert" Elliott thundered. He was assured that the water would be available at 05:30 the next morning. Elliott was up at 05:00, and found many of his men had been unable to sleep due to their thirst, and were licking at the taps around camp. He found the camp's Chief Engineer who informed him that the Egyptian civil authorities had not provided enough water for the troops in camp, and that he had strict orders not to start the pumps before 08:00, as it would wake the II Anzac Corps Commander, Lieutenant General Sir Alexander Godley. Elliott remounted his horse and went to II Anzac Corps Headquarters, where he informed a yawning staff officer in silk pyjamas that unless the water was turned on in the next five minutes, the brigade would be assembling and telling the Corps Commander exactly what they thought of him. The staff officer made a phone call, and Elliott was warned that he shouldn't make such a fuss again. He simply replied that he would do whatever was needed to help his men whenever he had to.
### Western Front
The 15th Brigade embarked for the Western Front on 17 June 1916. Its first battle was the disastrous Battle of Fromelles. Despite his inexperience in trench warfare, he pointed out to Major H. C. L. Howard of Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig's British Expeditionary Force staff that the width of no-man's land was too great for the assault to succeed. Major Howard agreed and, on returning to Haig's Chateau, attempted to persuade him that the attack was doomed to fail. But the commander-in-chief decided that the operation must go on, so Elliott did all that was possible to make it a success by himself going to the front line to personally inspect the lie of the land and encourage his men. He soon realised that the attack had been a complete failure, reported to that effect, and established that he was now organising the defence of the original trenches. In the end, 1,804 of the 5,533 Australian casualties were from the 15th Brigade. For his part, Elliott was made a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George, mentioned in despatches, and awarded the Russian Order of St Anna (3rd class, with swords).
These losses precluded the 5th Division's further involvement in the fighting in the Battle of the Somme. It was not sent south to join the other division of I Anzac Corps until October. Ordered to make an attack north of Flers that he didn't believe would succeed, he refused. In March 1917, the Germans retreated to the Hindenburg Line, giving Elliott a rare chance to display his tactical acumen in an independent command as his brigade operated as an advance guard of the British Fifth Army. He was mentioned in despatches, and made a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order. His citation read:
> For conspicuous gallantry when in command of the advanced guards of the division during an advance. The successes during a long period of almost continuous fighting, the capture of several villages, which were held against frequent and violent counter-attacks, and the slightness of our losses compared to those of the enemy were largely due to his able leadership, energy and courage.
The 15th Brigade fought in the Second Battle of Bullecourt in May 1917, and the Battle of Polygon Wood at the end of September. According to Charles Bean, this victory was
> largely due to largely the perfect protection afforded by the artillery, but also largely to the vigour with which the 15th Brigade and the troops reinforcing it snatched complete success from an almost desperate situation on the right. Elliott himself, if asked, would have said that the counter-attack at Villers-Bretonneux seven months later was the fight of his lifetime, but most of his subordinates would probably answer for him "Polygon Wood." His staunchness and vehemence, and power of instilling those qualities into his troops, had turned his brigade into a magnificently effective instrument; and the driving force of this stout-hearted leader in his inferno at Hooge throughout the two critical days was in a large measure responsible for this victory.
For Elliott, the victory was marred by the death of his brother George, a captain in the Medical Corps attached to the 14th Brigade. He submitted a detailed report of the battle that was highly critical of the British 33rd Division on his right flank, and which Birdwood ordered suppressed. Elliott was mentioned in despatches.
In March 1918, a British Army captain was apprehended in Corbie looting champagne. The culprit was handed over the military police, and Elliott posted a proclamation that the next officer found looting would be publicly hanged in the village market square, in emulation of the actions of Major General Robert Craufurd. He reasoned that the enlisted men could not be expected to refrain from looting if officers set a bad example. The Second Battle of Villers-Bretonneux in April 1918, was another famous victory, praised by Marshal Ferdinand Foch for its "altogether astonishing valiance". Elliott was again mentioned in despatches, and made a Companion of the Order of the Bath.
Bean wrote that
> Even during the war, he sometimes gave the impression of boylike playing at soldiering. Yet no one was more wholly in earnest, and his powerful will and personality and control over his troops made him always a factor to be reckoned with in the AIF. They knew that he would fight tooth and nail against any order committing them to an attack that he believed to be impossible; he had saved them from one such trial near Flers in the mud of October 1916. From daily experience they trusted completely to his competence. If "the Old Man" said an operation was possible, then it was possible for the 15th Brigade. His attitude naturally led him to centre his interests on his own command. Though he was a solicitor by profession, his military career meant everything to him; his pride in his own powers and achievements was intense. But, unlike most egoists, he extended his interest to every man in his brigade, and, after his brigade, to the whole of the AIF. These proclivities-and his personal experience of troops of the British "New Army" at Fromelles, in the open warfare beyond Bapaume, at Polygon Wood, and lately in the Third and Fifth Armies-led him to be contemptuous of their fighting power ; and this, together with a hot-headed tendency to use his brigade as if it were independent of the rest of the BEF, caused not infrequent trouble, and was a chief cause of his being eventually excluded from higher command in the AIF. Nevertheless he was an outstandingly strong, capable, and sympathetic leader; and in his directness and simplicity, and in a baffling streak of humility that shot through his seemingly absorbing vanity, there were elements of real greatness.
Elliott was deeply disappointed at being passed over for command of a division in favour of John Gellibrand and William Glasgow, who were of equal seniority. He continued to lead the 15th Brigade, which fought in the Battle of Hamel on 4 July 1918, the Battle of Amiens on 8 August, and the Battle of St. Quentin Canal in August and September. At Peronne on 1 September, after leading his troops across a damaged bridge over the Somme River, he slipped and fell in the river. The division radio network became clogged with stations repeating the message that "Pompey's fallen in the Somme". During the mutinies over disbanding battalions in September 1918, Elliott was the only brigade commander with sufficient sway over his men for a battalion, the 60th, to obey his order to disband.
As the members of the brigade began to return to Australia after the war, he became increasingly depressed. Eventually, he called a parade to hand out some last medals, and gave them a farewell speech to thank them for upholding his demanding standards. They were then dismissed and he returned to his paperwork. Later that afternoon, the brigade returned to his chateau preceded by bands and colours. Each company circled the chateau and cheered for their commander. Lastly, the senior colonel called for three cheers and told Elliott that the men wanted to show their appreciation for him and that, despite it being a voluntary march, everyone was there. He was mentioned in despatches twice more, and awarded the French Croix de Guerre.
## Political service
Elliott embarked for Australia on the RMS Orontes on 15 May 1919, sharing a cabin with an old friend, Brigadier General Gordon Bennett. They arrived back in Melbourne on 28 June, and his AIF appointment was terminated the following day. He contested the federal election as a candidate for the Nationalist Party of Australia on 13 December 1919. He achieved the greatest popular vote of any Victorian candidate for the Senate. Moreover, he repeated this success at the 1925 election. Although not naturally suited to life in the federal parliament, he made significant contributions, and was outspoken in his efforts to assist returned servicemen, particularly those with whom he had served. This outspokenness often took the form of arguing in the Senate in relation to new legislation being brought before it, when such legislation involved the defence forces. At other times, he would personally champion the cause of those men who had been in his battalion.
In 1919, Elliott became Melbourne's city solicitor, and around this time founded H. E. Elliott and Downing, solicitors, with fellow-digger W. H. Downing and offices in Collins Street. His involvement with returned servicemen's issues led to his redrafting the constitution of the Returned Sailors and Soldiers Imperial League of Australia. He played an important part in the Victoria Police strike, making a call alongside Lieutenant General Sir John Monash for members of the AIF to come to Melbourne Town Hall and sign up as special constables. Many men came specifically for Elliott, ready to stand behind him again, although he was forced to leave only a few days into the Strike to attend meetings in Queensland of the Royal Commission on the Navigation Act. He received special thanks from the Premier of Victoria, Harry Lawson. He built a house at 56 Prospect Hill Road, Camberwell, where he lived with his wife, children, sister-in-law Belle, and mother-in-law, Mary Campbell, until she died in 1923. He often attended functions escorted by Belle. Violet attended Fintona Girls' School while Neil went to Camberwell Grammar School.
With considerable justice, Elliott felt that he had been sidelined by the new leadership of the Australian Army. This was most probably due to his tactlessness, particularly in relation to post-war changes of policy, and regarding the wartime records of some of those now being selected for the prime military appointments, particularly Lieutenant General Sir Brudenell White, who was now the Chief of the General Staff. In 1921, the Army established a division structure, and the two divisions in Victoria, the 3rd and 4th were given to Gellibrand and Charles Brand respectively. Elliott used the Senate as a forum to protest this, and he was supported by fellow senators and generals, Charlie Cox and Edmund Drake-Brockman. White was succeeded as Chief of the General Staff by Lieutenant General Sir Harry Chauvel in 1926, and he moved to rehabilitate Elliott, who was appointed to command the 15th Brigade again. In 1927, he was finally promoted to the rank of major general, and became the commander of the 3rd Division.
## Death
Increasingly, Elliott suffered from diabetes, hypertension, and what was diagnosed by Dr J. F. Williams as a "definite form of nervous disorder", now most likely post traumatic stress disorder and major depressive disorder. He was admitted to the Alfred Hospital on 16 February 1931 after making an attempt to gas himself in the oven at his house. His older sister Nell died by suicide, as had a niece. Early on the morning of 23 March 1931, Elliott committed suicide by cutting himself with his shaving razor while an inpatient in a private hospital in Malvern.
Elliott's funeral took place on 25 March. Following a short service at his home, his casket was drawn, with full military honours including bands and an escort party, on a gun carriage pulled by horses resplendent with black plumes, to the Burwood Cemetery, a march of some four miles. Stanley Bruce, whose premiership came to an end in late 1929, marched as a common returned soldier. Reports in the newspapers of the time state that several thousand people followed the cortège and lined the parade route. The parade was led by Rear Admiral William Munro Kerr, with Brigadier Generals Charles Brand, Thomas Blamey and J. C. Stewart. His grave bears the epitaph (from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar) "This was a man".
His papers are held by the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.
## In popular culture
Elliott was portrayed by Francis Bell in the 1985 Anzacs television miniseries.
Pompey Elliott was one of the six Australians whose war experiences were presented in The War That Changed Us, a four-part television documentary series about Australia's involvement in World War I.
A street in Ascot Vale, Victoria, was created in the Whiskey Hill subdivision around 6 km north of Melbourne in around 1930 and named after Elliott. The street is called Elliott street and is a time capsule of early 1930s architecture.
|
9,940,954 |
Hurricane Floyd (1987)
| 1,167,976,971 |
Category 1 Atlantic hurricane in 1987
|
[
"1987 Atlantic hurricane season",
"1987 in Florida",
"1987 natural disasters in the United States",
"Category 1 Atlantic hurricanes",
"Hurricanes in Cuba",
"Hurricanes in Florida",
"Hurricanes in the Bahamas",
"Tropical cyclones in 1987"
] |
Hurricane Floyd was the only hurricane to make landfall in the United States in the 1987 Atlantic hurricane season. The final of seven tropical storms and three hurricanes, Floyd developed on October 9 just off the east coast of Nicaragua. After becoming a tropical storm, it moved northward and crossed western Cuba. An approaching cold front caused Floyd to turn unexpectedly to the northeast, and late on October 12 it attained hurricane status near the Florida Keys. It moved through southern Florida, spawning two tornadoes and leaving minor damage. The hurricane also produced rip tides that killed a person in southern Texas. Floyd maintained hurricane status for only 12 hours before the cold front imparted hostile conditions and caused weakening. It passed through the Bahamas before becoming extratropical and later dissipating on October 14.
## Meteorological history
The origins of Hurricane Floyd were from a low pressure area in the Gulf of Honduras on October 5. Over the subsequent few days, it drifted eastward and later southward to a position off the east coast of Nicaragua. On October 9, a Hurricane Hunters flight confirmed the development of an organized circulation, which indicated that Tropical Depression Thirteen had developed. After continuing a southward drift, the depression turned to the north and later northwest due to a building ridge to its east. With an anticyclone aloft, the depression gradually organized, intensifying into Tropical Storm Floyd on October 10.
After reaching tropical storm status, Floyd accelerated to the north in the western Caribbean Sea, due to an approaching cold front. Steadily intensifying, the storm moved over extreme western Cuba early on October 12. Initially it was forecast to make landfall between Naples and Fort Myers, Florida. Unexpectedly the storm turned sharply northeastward into the southeastern Gulf of Mexico. Based on reports from the Hurricane Hunters, Floyd briefly attained hurricane status on October 12. Around the same time, the nearby cold front spawned a low pressure area that cut off the hurricane's inflow. While moving through the Florida Keys, Floyd became the only hurricane to affect the United States that year. However, its convection was rapidly decreasing over the center due to the front, and shortly thereafter Floyd weakened to tropical storm status. The circulation became nearly impossible to track on satellite imagery, although surface observations indicated it passed just south of Miami, Florida. The storm underwent extratropical transition as it weakened over the Bahamas, and Floyd was no longer a tropical cyclone by late on October 18. The circulation dissipated within the cold front early the next day.
## Preparations and impact
Around when Floyd first attained tropical storm status, a tropical storm warning was issued for the Swan Islands as well as Grand Cayman. Shortly thereafter, a tropical storm warning and hurricane watch was issued for the northeast Yucatán Peninsula before the storm dropped heavy rainfall along the coast. A tropical storm warning and hurricane watch were also issued for Cuba west of Havana. In preparation for the storm, Cuban officials in Pinar del Río Province evacuated 100,000 people, as well as 40,000 head of cattle. In addition, international flights were canceled for a day during Floyd's passage. Despite passing over western Cuba as a tropical storm, Floyd left no serious damage or fatalities in the country.
When Floyd was a tropical storm located over Cuba, the National Hurricane Center issued a hurricane warning for the Florida Keys as well as the southwest Florida coast to Venice. It was the first warning in the state related to the storm, and was issued due to the anticipated intensification to hurricane status as well as short notice. A tropical storm watch, and later warning, was issued for eastern Florida. After the track became more easterly, a hurricane warning was issued for southeastern Florida, as well as the northwestern Bahamas. Officials in southern Florida closed schools due to the storm, and a few flights were canceled at Miami International Airport. Roughly 100 F-4 and F16 fighter jets were transported out of Homestead Air Force Base to safer facilities. The American Red Cross opened 55 shelters in 10 Florida counties, housing about 2,000 people at some point, primarily in Lee County. People in the hurricane's path prepared by purchasing supplies from supermarkets, gassing up their vehicles, and securing loose outside items.
Floyd was the first named storm to strike southern Florida since Hurricane Bob in 1985. While passing south of Florida, Floyd produced its strongest winds over water away and from land. The strongest wind in the Florida Keys was 59 mph (94 km/h) at Duck Key, although wind gusts were stronger. The Air Force station on Cudjoe Key reported an unofficial gust of 92 mph (152 km/h). Rainfall directly from Floyd's rainbands produced minimal rainfall less than 1 in (25 mm). However, the interaction between the hurricane and the approaching cold front produced much heavier rainfall. Precipitation reached as far north as Daytona, peaking at 10.07 in (256 mm) in Fort Pierce. While bypassing the Florida Keys, Floyd spawned a waterspout that moved ashore in Rock Harbor. It damaged a few boats and homes. The hurricane produced rip tides as far west as the Texas coast, killing one person along South Padre Island.
Across southern Florida, the hurricane left minor damage of around \$500,000 (1987 USD), largely due to downed trees and power lines, as well as minor crop damage in Dade County. The rainfall flooded roads in southern Florida, which caused several vehicles to fail on the Florida Turnpike. After affecting Florida, Floyd caused minor wind damage in the Bahamas. In the country, the highest reported gust was 48 mph (77 km/h) at Freeport, Grand Bahama. Freeport International Airport reported sustained winds of 40 mph (64 km/h) from the remnants of Floyd.
On October 15, British weather forecaster Michael Fish stated on the BBC, "Earlier on today, apparently, a woman rang the BBC and said she heard there was a hurricane on the way; well, if you're watching, don't worry, there isn't, but having said that, actually, the weather will become very windy, but most of the strong winds, incidentally, will be down over Spain and across into France." That same day, a weather system developing over the Bay of Biscay (unrelated to Floyd or its remnants) struck South East England as one of the worst storms in the United Kingdom in three centuries. Though technically not a hurricane, the United Kingdom experienced wind gusts up to 120 mph (195 km/h). Fish was criticized for incorrectly forecasting the storm and later claimed he was referring to Hurricane Floyd, but neglected to mention Florida.
## See also
- Other storms of the same name
|
13,995,413 |
Radar (song)
| 1,173,078,083 |
2009 single by Britney Spears
|
[
"2007 songs",
"2009 singles",
"Britney Spears songs",
"Jive Records singles",
"Music videos directed by Dave Meyers (director)",
"Song recordings produced by Bloodshy & Avant",
"Songs written by Balewa Muhammad",
"Songs written by Candice Nelson (songwriter)",
"Songs written by Christian Karlsson (DJ)",
"Songs written by Ezekiel Lewis",
"Songs written by Henrik Jonback",
"Songs written by Patrick \"J. Que\" Smith",
"Songs written by Pontus Winnberg"
] |
"Radar" is a song by American singer Britney Spears from her fifth studio album, Blackout (2007). It was written and produced by Bloodshy & Avant and the Clutch, with additional writing from Henrik Jonback. The recording sessions took place the day after Spears filed for divorce from Kevin Federline, and members of the Clutch claimed to be surprised by her work ethic. "Radar" was originally planned to be released as the third single from Blackout, but "Break the Ice" was chosen instead. The song was then planned as the fourth single, but the release was cancelled as Spears began recording her sixth studio album, Circus (2008). "Radar" was later included as a bonus track on Circus, and released as the fourth and final single from the album on June 22, 2009, by Jive Records.
Musically, "Radar" runs through a midtempo dance groove. Spears' vocals are auto tuned and accompanied by sonar pulses and a heavy usage of distorted synthesizers. The lyrics refer to an attraction between the protagonist and a man, while she wonders if he knows what she is feeling. "Radar" received mixed reviews from critics; some called it one of the highlights of Circus, while others felt that it was over-produced and also criticized her vocals for being processed. In July 2008, "Radar" charted in the top 40 of Ireland and New Zealand, and inside the top ten in Sweden. After it was released as a single from Circus in 2009, the track performed poorly on the charts and did not manage to enter the top 40 in most countries. However, it became her 21st hit on the US Billboards Pop Songs chart, the most for any artist of the decade.
The single's accompanying music video was directed by Dave Meyers, and pays tribute to the music video of Madonna's "Take a Bow" (1994). In the video, Spears is an aristocratic woman involved in a love triangle with two men who are polo players. The video received mixed reviews from critics, who complimented the fashion but called the idea unoriginal. "Radar" was performed by Spears at The Circus Starring Britney Spears (2009), with the accompanying dance routine featuring her pole dancing.
## Background
The main instrumentation was recorded by Bloodshy & Avant at Bloodshy & Avant Studios in Stockholm, Sweden. In November 2006, Spears recorded "Radar" with Ezekiel Lewis and Patrick M. Smith of the Clutch at Sony Music Studios in New York City. Lewis had wanted to work with her for a long time and was motivated to produce something for her that was going to "help her project become a great project to come back with". Smith stated that the team tried to create a record "for the Britney Spears that we know and love" and that it did not "touch on anything that was really dealing with all the stuff that she was dealing with." Both commented that although Spears arrived late to the recording sessions, she caught them off guard with her efficiency and professionalism, with Lewis adding, "It was absolutely nuts, and she took directions very well. [...] I don’t know what I was expecting because we went in to cut that record the day after she filed divorce from Kevin [Federline]." The song was later mixed by Niklas Flyckt at Mandarine Studios in Stockholm, Sweden. "Radar" was originally planned to be released as the third single from Blackout, according to Lewis. "Break the Ice" was released instead and "Radar" was chosen as the fourth single. In July 2008, a physical promotional single was released in countries such as New Zealand and Sweden. However, a wider release was scrapped when Spears began recording new material for her sixth studio album, Circus. On May 7, 2009, the song was announced as the fourth single from Circus.
## Music and lyrics
"Radar" runs through a midtempo dance groove. The song is an electro, Euro disco and electronic disco composition influenced by R&B, and rave music. It has a bouncy and skipping beat, and a repetitive melody reminiscent of a nursery rhyme. Spears' vocals are auto tuned and kept "more in the foreground", according to Jennifer Vineyard of MTV. Her voice is accompanied by sonar pulses and distorted synthesizers. The synthesizers have been compared by Kimberly Chou of The Michigan Daily to those of Soft Cell's "Tainted Love" (1981). During the outro, Spears repeats Vocodered da-da-das. Critics noted that "Radar" is influenced by the music of Rihanna; Cameron Adams of the Herald Sun said the song sounds "like an inferior take" of Rihanna's single “SOS” (2006). Roger Friedman of Fox News said that along with "Break the Ice", "Radar" was more "straight-ahead electronic disco" than the rest of Blackout and added that it "sounds like Las Vegas goes Eurodisco." In the lyrics, Spears lets the subject know he is on her radar, while she lists the qualities the man has. Kimberly Chou said Spears' delivery "[is] so aggressive it's almost threatening." Spears sings lyrics such as "Confidence is a must / cockiness is a plus / edginess is a rush / edges I like 'em rough / A man with a Midas touch / Intoxicate me I'm a lush." During the bridge she sings "I got my eye on you / And I can't let you get away", making clear her attraction.
## Critical reception
Blender gave the song four and a half stars, named it the second potential hit from the album, and called it "a bubblegum-electro dance floor jam with a hook most pop stars would kill for". Eric R. Danton of The Hartford Courant deemed it as "crackling" and "club-ready", while calling it one of the "killer tracks" off the album along with "Break the Ice" and "Hot as Ice". Denton Record-Chronicle's Mike Daniel said the best tracks of Blackout are "the unwaveringly catchy 'Radar' and the neo-wave curveball of 'Heaven and Earth'". Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic said some of the songs of Blackout, "really show off the skills of the producers", exemplifying "Gimme More", "Radar", "Break the Ice", "Heaven on Earth" and "Hot as Ice". He also selected it as one of his 'track picks' of the album. Jedd Rosche of The Maneater deemed it as one of the standout tracks of Blackout along with "Ooh Ooh Baby."
Nekesa Mumbi Moody of USA Today called it "a sexy techno groove that you can't help but bounce to." Theon Weber of The Village Voice said that "Spears's writers present her with the goofiest, most vivacious productions she's ever had, filling 'Radar' with pinging noises and polishing Madonna's dance-floor trash bright." Nick Levine of Digital Spy called it "a rave-tinged electro blipathon on which Spears is vocodered to the point of sounding extra-terrestrial." Alexis Petridis from The Guardian said that the song "seems to be bending over backwards to annoy the listener. Perhaps it's a last desperate tactic to win back some privacy: she's trying to get people to leave her alone by making as irritating a noise as possible." A reviewer from the Ottawa Citizen said that "some tracks [of the album] just don't work, such as Radar, in which Britney's voice is tuned up so high she sounds like she's 14."
Laura Herbert of BBC News said that many of the album's songs, including "Radar" and "Toy Soldier" "are repetitive and over-produced." Jim Abbott of the Orlando Sentinel said that "Musically, songs such as 'Piece of Me,' 'Radar' and 'Break the Ice' are one-dimensional, robotic exercises." Chris Wasser from the Irish Independent said the album had single potential, exemplifying that "There's little doubting we'll hear the bouncing and digitally affected vocals of Radar and the livelier Hot As Ice on the radio soon enough, but both tracks still seem a little under par." After the release of "Radar" as a single from Circus, Nick Levine of Digital Spy said it "still sounds pretty ace, one of the best examples of the robopop sound Blackout essentially invented, but its fresh-out-the-box sheen has long since faded". On July 29, 2009, "Radar" was chosen as single of the week by FHM.
## Commercial performance
On November 17, 2007, due to digital downloads for the Blackout release, "Radar" peaked at number 52 on the US Billboard Hot Digital Songs and number seven on the US Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100. The song also charted in several countries based on strong digital sales and airplay alone, surprisingly reaching high chart positions. In Ireland, the song debuted at number 47 on July 15, 2008. It peaked at number 32 on August 5, 2008. In Sweden, "Radar" debuted at number 46 on July 24, 2008. The single peaked at number eight on July 28, 2008, becoming the second highest-charting single from the album after "Gimme More". It stayed on the position for two weeks, and for eight weeks on the chart overall. In New Zealand, the song debuted at number 37 on August 18, 2008, and peaked at number 32 two weeks later. It stayed on the chart for five weeks.
After being confirmed as the fourth single from Circus, "Radar" re-entered the charts in several countries. On August 29, 2009, the song peaked at number 30 on the US Billboard Pop Songs. On September 5, 2009, "Radar" finally entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number 90, and peaked at number 88 on the following week. It became her fifth song from Circus to chart on the Hot 100, marking the first time five songs from one of her albums entered the chart. It was also her 22nd Hot 100 hit. "Radar" also became her 21st hit on the Pop Songs chart, the most for any artist of the decade. As of July 2010, "Radar" has sold 481,000 paid digital downloads in the United States. On the same week, the song peaked at number 65 in Canada. The track re-entered the ARIA Singles Chart at number 46 on July 20, 2009, and stayed on the chart for just one week. In the UK, the song peaked at number 46 on August 2, 2009.
## Music video
### Development
In June 2008, a video for "Radar" was planned that would have Spears and her friends chasing a man in different clubs. However, this was scrapped along with the single's release. The music video for "Radar" from Circus was filmed on May 27 and 28, 2009, at the Bacara Resort & Spa located in Santa Barbara, California. It was directed by Dave Meyers, who previously worked with Spears on her music videos for "Lucky", "Boys" and "Outrageous" as well as the Curious commercials. Meyers claimed the video pays tribute to the music video of Madonna's 1994 single "Take a Bow". He added, "[we were] looking for a way to take her into a contemporary, classy environment. I felt empowered by referencing Madonna's video. Britney hasn't done anything like that". He had a very clear idea of how he wanted the story line to work: "There is a narrative going on, a romantic triangle on a weekend at this polo mansion," he said. "A soap-opera romance." Meyers commented that working with Spears again was "a great celebration of trusting one another", explaining that both wanted "to do something fresh and new, seeking out an actual different technique and stylistic choices and trying to find a form to celebrate them in." Since the song was not the first single from Circus, Meyers chose to experiment and not have dancing scenes, saying that "the videos are a chance for her to vocalize a sense of herself. The media tends to attack her, so I thought, 'Let's show the classy side of Britney and focus on a classy experience, very European-inspired'. And she's at the point in her career where I think this would be a nice step." After the video was finished, Meyers said he was happy with the lack of dancing scenes, because the cuts and dissolves kept the pace of the song.
### Synopsis
The video begins with Spears arriving at a polo mansion. She comes out from the car wearing a vest, jeans and showing her midriff. She starts singing while her boyfriend welcomes her. They walk past a barn, where a polo player is sitting. They look at each other briefly and she starts to sing in a balcony, watching the second man with a pair of binoculars. At the end of the first chorus, her boyfriend comes and puts a studded necklace around her neck, as a surprise gift. Until the end of the second chorus, we see scenes of Spears singing and watching the polo player as he gets ready. When the bridge begins, Spears arrives at a match wearing a white dress and a large hat. She looks at the polo player over her shoulder and sings the lines "I got my eye on you / And I can’t let you get away". When the match ends, she leaves and the second man follows her. They flirt inside a hallway and leave. Her boyfriend notices her absence, walks into the hallway and sees her necklace on the floor. The video ends with Spears and the second man walking into the sunset.
### Release and reception
The music video leaked online on July 1, 2009. Daniel Kreps of Rolling Stone said the music video was her weakest since "Gimme More" and highlighted the comparisons with "Take a Bow", saying, "while Madonna dressed the role of a distressed aristocratic senorita in the stands, Spears’ wardrobe and giant hat mirror the elite at the Kentucky Derby". He also said the idea was unoriginal and compared it to Spears' fragances commercials. Peter Gicas of E! commented that the video was a nice departure from her recent more choreographed videos, such as "Womanizer" and "If U Seek Amy". He commended it for its "more straightforward approach in telling a so-called story", but felt it was "a bit too much like one of those overly dramatic fragrance commercials". OK! said the video was "posh" and also noted the difference from her recent videos.
## Live performances and cover
Spears performed the song during The Circus Starring Britney Spears (2009). After the performance of "Piece of Me", there was a brief interlude in which acrobats hanging from fabric simulated a thunderstorm. Spears took the stage again to perform "Radar", which featured her pole dancing. She wore a black bra encrusted with Swarovski crystals, fishnet stockings and high-heeled laced up boots, designed by Dean and Dan Caten. Spears ended the performance with her and her dancers posing in the middle of the three-ring stage as a red curtain slowly descended in the closing. A contest in DanceJam.com was announced to promote the song. The contestants had to upload a video of them dancing to "Radar", and Spears and Jive Records picked the winner. In the revamped Britney: Piece of Me concert (2016), "Radar" plays during an interlude that features multiple excerpts of Spears' music videos. A cover version of the song by singer-songwriter Christopher Dallman was included in an extended play titled Sad Britney, released on November 9, 2009, along with covers of "...Baby One More Time", "Toxic" and "Gimme More".
## Track listings
- Digital download – EP
1. "Radar" – 3:48
2. "Radar" (Bloodshy & Avant Remix) – 5:43
3. "Radar" (Manhattan Clique UHF Remix) – 5:53
4. "Radar" (Tonal Club Remix) – 4:55
5. "Radar" (Tonal Radio Remix) – 4:01
- Digital download – Digital 45'
1. "Radar" – 3:48
2. "Radar" (Bloodshy & Avant Remix) – 5:39
## Credits and personnel
- Backing vocals, Lead vocals – Britney Spears
- Writers, drums – Christian Karlsson, Pontus Winnberg, Henrik Jonback, Balewa Muhammad, Candice Nelson, Ezekiel "Zeke" Lewis, Patrick "J.Que" Smith
- Producers, drums – Bloodshy & Avant, the Clutch
- Mixing – Niklas Flyckt
- Assistant engineer – Jim Carauna
- Guitars – Henrik Jonback
- Keyboard, bass – Bloodshy & Avant
- Background vocals – Candice Nelson, Michaela Breen
## Charts
### Weekly charts
### Year-end charts
## Release history
|
6,030,554 |
King John's Hunting Lodge, Axbridge
| 1,066,500,400 |
Wool-merchant's house in Axbridge, built c. 1460
|
[
"Axbridge",
"Grade II* listed buildings in Sedgemoor",
"Grade II* listed houses in Somerset",
"Grade II* listed museum buildings",
"Historic house museums in Somerset",
"Houses in Somerset",
"Local museums in Somerset",
"Mendip Hills",
"Museums in Somerset",
"National Trust properties in Somerset"
] |
King John's Hunting Lodge is a wool-merchant's house built c. 1460, long after the death of King John in 1216, in Axbridge, a town in the English county of Somerset. It is a jettied timber-frame building of three storeys, occupying a corner plot on the town square. The building has served a variety of purposes with shops on the ground floor and workshops and living quarters on the first and second floors. At one time part of the building was occupied by the King's Head Inn; a sculpture of a king's head, which acted as a sign for the pub, is preserved within and a replica is attached to the outside. The lodge was bequeathed to the National Trust in 1971, and repairs were undertaken to reverse significant deterioration to the building.
The house is leased by the National Trust to Axbridge and District Museum Trust, who operate it as a local museum which includes exhibits relating to local geology and history from the Neolithic to World War II. It is a Grade II\* listed building.
## History
In 1340 the site of the present building was occupied by a building belonging to John Oldeway. It contained shops and was called "the stockhouse". The current building, which was constructed around 1460, was occupied by shops on the ground floor, living areas and workshops on the first floor, and storage and sleeping areas on the second floor.
The house is the finest of a number of timber-frame houses in the High Street and The Square. The three-storey building is jettied on two adjacent sides and has three gables on the longer side. On the first and second floors curved brackets can be seen which support the floor above. The structure is based around a single wooden post, known as a king post, at the front corner of the building, which supports the floor boards and the horizontal dragon beams that carry the projection of the upper floors at each level.
In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the building housed a succession of shops and underwent various changes which contributed to its physical decline. A Miss Ripley bought the building in 1930, and used it to store her collection of antiques until 1968, allowing the public to see her collection once a year. She bequeathed it to the National Trust in 1971, who undertook the works necessary to make it fit for visitors and saved it from probable destruction.
In overhauling the structure of the premises, the National Trust restored its medieval character by recreating on the ground floor the appearance of arcaded stalls opening onto the street, and the sixteenth-century decoration of the upstairs windows, although this caused a dilemma as it required the removal of fine 18th-century windows.
The origin of the name is unclear as it was not built until long after the reign of King John, who died in 1216. Its present name first appeared in a 1915 publication, The Heart of Mendip by Francis Knight, when it was being run as a saddler's shop. The royal part of the name may have come from the fact that there was a carved king's head on the building, from a time when The King's Head Inn occupied part of the premises, but whether this represented King John or another king is not known. The head was attached to one corner of the exterior, but is now inside the building, and a replica placed on the outside.
## Museum
The property is owned by the National Trust and run as a local history museum by Axbridge and District Museum Trust with support from Somerset County Museums Service and Axbridge Archaeological and Local History Society. Until 2011 funding was received from Sedgemoor District Council, but this was withdrawn and an entry charge introduced to help pay for the running costs.
The museum aims to illustrate the history, geology and community of Axbridge and the surrounding area (the area of the old Axbridge Rural District, which included many neighbouring villages such as Cheddar, Wedmore, Mark and Winscombe). There is a core of long-term and permanent exhibits, reviewed regularly for possible changes, updates, and revised displays and information, and there is a programme of temporary exhibitions to reflect many aspects of local life and heritage.
Each room has a specific theme, which includes aspects of local history such as life during World War II, and aspects of law and order. Another exhibition shows local geology and archaeological finds from local caves. The exhibits include a fine flint flake which has been identified from the Neolithic occupation of Ebbor Gorge. The museum also displays paintings of local scenes and objects including a clock made by John Bilbie of the Bilbie family, who lived in Axbridge, and a merchants' table known as a "nail", similar to those outside The Exchange in Bristol which were made with a flat top and raised edges to prevent coins from tumbling onto the pavement.
## See also
- List of National Trust properties in Somerset
|
13,670,373 |
Terminator Salvation
| 1,173,415,522 |
2009 film by McG
|
[
"2000s American films",
"2000s English-language films",
"2000s chase films",
"2009 films",
"2009 science fiction action films",
"Alternate timeline films",
"American chase films",
"American post-apocalyptic films",
"American science fiction action films",
"American science fiction war films",
"American sequel films",
"Columbia Pictures films",
"Cyborg films",
"D-Box motion-enhanced films",
"Drone films",
"Films directed by McG",
"Films scored by Danny Elfman",
"Films set in 2003",
"Films set in 2018",
"Films set in Los Angeles",
"Films set in San Francisco",
"Films set in the future",
"Films shot in New Mexico",
"Films using motion capture",
"Lotte Entertainment films",
"Mecha films",
"Rating controversies in film",
"Reboot films",
"Techno-thriller films",
"Terminator (franchise) films",
"Warner Bros. films",
"Wonderland Sound and Vision films"
] |
Terminator Salvation is a 2009 American military science fiction action film directed by McG and written by John Brancato and Michael Ferris. It is the fourth installment of the Terminator franchise, serving as sequel to Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003), but also as a soft reboot. This is the only Terminator film to date not to feature Arnold Schwarzenegger, though his likeness briefly appears digitally. Instead, it stars Christian Bale and Sam Worthington with Anton Yelchin, Moon Bloodgood, Bryce Dallas Howard, Common, Michael Ironside, and Helena Bonham Carter in supporting roles. In a departure from the previous installments, Salvation is a post-apocalyptic film set in the year 2018. It focuses on the war between Skynet's machine network and humanity, as the remnants of the world's militaries have united to form the Resistance to fight against Skynet. Bale portrays John Connor, a Resistance fighter and central character, while Worthington portrays cyborg Marcus Wright. Yelchin plays a young Kyle Reese, a character first introduced in The Terminator (1984), and the film depicts the origins of the T-800 Terminator. After troubled pre-production, with the Halcyon Company acquiring the rights from Andrew G. Vajna and Mario Kassar, and several writers working on the screenplay, filming began in May 2008 in New Mexico, and ran for 77 days.
Terminator Salvation was released on May 21, 2009, by Warner Bros. Pictures in the United States, and by Sony Pictures Releasing internationally, and grossed over \$371.4 million worldwide and received mixed reviews. While originally intended to be the first installment of a second Terminator trilogy, these plans were canceled following the Halcyon Company filing for bankruptcy after the film's release. The franchise rights were sold in 2012 to Annapurna Pictures, resulting in Terminator Genisys, a reboot of the series, being released in 2015 with Schwarzenegger reprising his role.
## Plot
In 2003, Dr. Serena Kogan of Cyberdyne Systems convinces death row inmate Marcus Wright to sign over his body for medical research following his execution. Sometime later, the automated Skynet system is activated and becomes self-aware; perceiving humans as a threat to its existence, it starts a nuclear holocaust to eradicate them in the event known as "Judgment Day".
In 2018, John Connor orchestrates an attack on a Skynet base, where he discovers prisoners and schematics in a laboratory for incorporating living tissue into a new type of Terminator, which he recognizes as the T-800 model. John survives an explosion on the base, which is destroyed. Following John's departure, Marcus emerges from the base's wreckage and begins walking toward Los Angeles.
John returns to the Resistance headquarters located aboard a nuclear submarine and is briefed by General Ashdown that the Resistance has discovered a hidden signal containing a code protocol that they believe can initiate a shutdown of Skynet's machines. The Resistance plans to launch an offensive against Skynet's headquarters in San Francisco. It is decided among the Resistance that the offensive will commence in four days, due to an intercepted kill list created by Skynet, which plans to kill the Resistance's leaders within the same time frame. John learns he is second on this list, following Kyle Reese. The Resistance leaders do not understand Kyle's importance, but John knows that Kyle will eventually travel back in time and become his father and realizes that Skynet has learned this.
Arriving at the ruins of Los Angeles, Marcus encounters Kyle and a mute child named Star during a skirmish with Skynet's machines. Kyle and Star are subsequently abducted and taken prisoner by Skynet. Two Resistance A-10 airplanes are shot down while trying to intercept a machine transport. Marcus locates downed pilot Blair Williams, and they make their way to John's base, where Marcus is wounded by a magnetic land mine. Attempting to save his life, the Resistance fighters discover that Marcus is a cyborg, with a cybernetic endoskeleton and a partially artificial cerebral cortex. Although Marcus insists that he is human, John and his wife Kate suspect that Marcus has been sent to execute them, and John orders him to be killed. Blair helps Marcus escape. During the pursuit, Marcus saves John's life from Skynet's hydrobots and the two make a bargain: Marcus will enter Skynet's headquarters in San Francisco to help John rescue Kyle and the other prisoners if he lets him live.
John pleads with General Ashdown to delay the offensive so he can formulate a plan to extract the human captives, but Ashdown refuses and relieves John of his command. However, the Resistance disobeys Ashdown's orders and instead awaits John's signal. Marcus enters the base, interfaces with the computer, and disables perimeter defenses so that John can release the prisoners. Marcus learns from Skynet (which assumes the form of Dr. Kogan on a screen) that he was resurrected by it to lure John to the base; when the Resistance launches its attack, John will be killed, achieving Skynet's goal. The hidden signal that the Resistance received earlier is revealed to be a ruse, and Skynet uses it to track down and destroy the Resistance command submarine.
Refusing to accept his fate, Marcus tears out the hardware linking him to Skynet and leaves to aid John. John locates Kyle and Star, but they are ambushed by a T-800 Terminator. As Kyle and Star escape, Marcus appears and fights the T-800 while John rigs together nuclear fuel cells to destroy the facility. Marcus is soon outclassed in strength and temporarily disabled until John comes to his aid, after which John is stabbed through the chest by the T-800 from behind. Marcus destroys the T-800 by tearing its head off and he, John, Kyle, and Star are airlifted out. John detonates the explosives, destroying a stockpile of Skynet's weapons, including the T-800s, with the base.
At a field hospital, John's injury is deemed terminal, so Marcus offers his heart for transplantation, sacrificing himself to save John. As he recovers, John radios to other Resistance fighters that, although this battle has been won, the war continues.
## Cast
- Christian Bale as John Connor. Director McG deemed Bale "the most credible action star in the world" during development. McG wanted Bale for Marcus, but the actor—even though he "can't really remember why"—wanted to play John, and that led to the character's role getting expanded in rewrites of the script. Bale was the first person to be cast and signed on for the role in November 2007. McG talked extensively with Bale in the UK about the role while the latter was filming The Dark Knight, and they both agreed to proceed. Although a fan of the Terminator series, he was at first uninterested until McG convinced him the story would be character-based and not rely on special effects. They kept working on the story every day, along with Worthington. McG said Bale broke his hand punching a Terminator prop during filming. Bale spent six to eight hours each day with McG in the editing room to advise the finished product. In January 2018, Bale revealed he rejected the role three times before accepting it, in part to prove wrong people who told him not to take the role.
- Sam Worthington as Marcus Wright, a human-terminator hybrid experiment. Worthington compared Marcus to Dorothy (The Wonderful Wizard of Oz) and Alice (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland) due to being "this person waking up in another world [who then] tries to find himself". Terminator creator James Cameron personally recommended Worthington (whom he directed in Avatar) to McG. Russell Crowe also recommended him to McG. The director decided Worthington looked tougher than the "great many of today's [waify] young male actors". Worthington recalled Cameron told him "the Terminator to make is the one with the war". Worthington tore his intercostal muscles during the first weeks of filming but nevertheless insisted on performing his own stunts. McG once expressed interest in casting Christian Bale, Daniel Day-Lewis or Josh Brolin in the part. Brolin did talk to Bale and read a draft of the screenplay, which he found "interesting and dark; ultimately, though, I didn't think it felt right".
- Anton Yelchin as Kyle Reese, a teenage refugee and admirer of John Connor and the Resistance. As portrayed by Michael Biehn in The Terminator, he was sent back in time to 1984 to protect Sarah Connor to ensure the survival of the human race, and fathered John with her. Yelchin said he wanted to portray Kyle as Biehn did and not make him appear weaker because it was a younger version of the character. The difference in his portrayal lies in showing Kyle as intense, but not concentrated until he joins the resistance proper. Yelchin tried to convey Kyle's intensity by focusing on how fast Biehn appeared when running in the original film.
- Moon Bloodgood as Blair Williams, a "no-nonsense and battle-hardened" pilot of the Resistance who suffers from survivor's guilt and serves as a romantic interest for Marcus. McG characterizes her as continuing the feminine strength that has been prominent throughout the franchise.
- Bryce Dallas Howard as Kate Connor, the wife of John Connor and daughter of Robert Brewster, who supervised the development of Skynet. Charlotte Gainsbourg was originally set to play the part, but left due to scheduling conflicts with another film. As portrayed by Claire Danes in the third film, Kate was a veterinarian; but in this film, she is now a physician. Howard suggested, as part of the character's backstory, that Kate studied medical books and interviewed many surviving doctors after the events of Judgment Day. The film's subject matter reminded her of developing countries, devastated by war and lacking basic supplies such as clean water, which "reflects things that are going on currently in this privileged world that we are living in where there hasn't been an apocalypse and robots haven't taken over the world. I think that's something definitely for us to reinvestigate and that we continue to make choices for our own future to take that into consideration". Howard focused on Kate "being accustomed to fear and loss" because the character was a military brat.
- Common as Barnes, John's right-hand man. Common stated the character was not overly developed, being "only just a bad-ass character, you know, really the big heavy of the movie", before McG's intervention. Common agreed with this, as "I didn't want to just be the big, bulky guy there" and worked on the emotional side, "thinking about how it would be in a world that's post-apocalyptic, a world where, you know, things have been destroyed and we're really fighting for survival."
- Jane Alexander as Virginia, the leader of a group of human refugees.
- Helena Bonham Carter as Dr. Serena Kogan / Skynet: an ex-Cyberdyne scientist who convinces Marcus to donate his body for her research. Her face is later used by the Skynet computer to communicate with Marcus. Tilda Swinton was originally considered for the part, but Bonham Carter replaced her before filming. She accepted the part because her then-domestic partner, Tim Burton, was a Terminator fan. Her role was a "small but pivotal" one and would only require ten days of shooting. However, on July 20, 2008, Bonham Carter delayed filming by a day, and was given an indefinite leave due to the death of four of her family members in a minibus accident in South Africa.
- Michael Ironside as General Ashdown, the leader of the Resistance.
- Ivan G'Vera as General Losenko, a member of the Resistance.
- Roland Kickinger as T-800: the first Terminator covered in living tissue. Bodybuilder and actor Kickinger, who previously portrayed Schwarzenegger in the 2005 biographical film See Arnold Run, was his physical double on set. When asked about his role, Kickinger said it is "Arnold's character in the first Terminator. That's basically my role, but 20 years before, so it establishes how the Terminator came about." Polish strongman athlete Mariusz Pudzianowski was also considered for doubling Schwarzenegger. If Schwarzenegger had decided not to lend his appearance to the film, then John would have shot the T-800's face off before the audience got a good look at him.
- Arnold Schwarzenegger's facial likeness was recreated with CGI, with a mold of his face made in 1984 scanned to create the digital makeup. Schwarzenegger gave his consent to appear this way, due to being unavailable because he was serving as Governor of California.
- Jadagrace Berry as Star, an 8-year-old girl in Kyle's care. Born after Judgment Day, Star is mute due to the trauma of the post-apocalyptic world. Therefore, this has given her the unnatural ability to sense when a Skynet unit is approaching.
- Brian Steele as the T-600.
- Linda Hamilton as the voice of Sarah Connor, John's mother who died years ago of leukemia. In two scenes of the film, John plays Sarah's recorded cassette tapes for more information regarding Kyle Reese, Marcus Wright and Skynet's Terminators. Hamilton was uncredited for the role, and was the only actress from previous films to return.
- Isaac Kappy as Barbarosa.
## Production
### Development
In 1999, two years after C2 Pictures purchased the rights, two Terminator films' premises were mapped out and were supposed to be developed simultaneously. Tedi Sarafian was hired to write Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, which he eventually received shared story credit for, while David C. Wilson was to write Terminator 4. Before any revisions were done, T3 initially took place in 2001 and revolved around the first attacks between Skynet and humans. T4 would follow immediately afterward and centered primarily on the war briefly seen in the first two films. Warner Bros. gave the film the codename "Project Angel".
Following the release of Terminator 3 in 2003, producers Andrew G. Vajna and Mario Kassar contracted Nick Stahl and Claire Danes to return as John Connor and Kate Brewster in another film. Director Jonathan Mostow helped develop the script, written by John Brancato and Michael Ferris, and was set to begin production in 2005 after completing another film. It was known by then that Arnold Schwarzenegger's role would be limited, as he had assumed office as Governor of California. The producers sought to have Warner Bros. finance the picture as they did for Terminator 3. In 2005, Stahl said John and Kate would be recast as the story jumped forward in time. By 2006, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (a successor to Orion Pictures and current owners of the Hemdale Film Corporation library, distributor and producer of the original film, respectively) was set to distribute the fourth film as part of the new CEO Harry Sloan's scheme to make the studio a viable Hollywood player.
On May 9, 2007, it was announced that production rights to the Terminator series had passed from the feuding Vajna and Kassar to the Halcyon Company. The producers hoped to start a new trilogy. The purchase was financed with a loan by Pacificor, a hedge fund from Santa Monica. By July 19, the project was in legal limbo due to a lawsuit between MGM and Halcyon subsidiary T Asset. MGM had an exclusive window of 30 days to negotiate for distribution of the Terminator films. When negotiating for Terminator 4, Halcyon rejected their initial proposal, and MGM suspended negotiations. After the 30 days were over, MGM claimed that the period during which negotiations were suspended did not count and their exclusive period was still open. Halcyon asked a court for an injunction allowing them to approach other distributors. Later, the lawsuit was settled and MGM got a 30-day right of first refusal to finance and distribute the fifth Terminator film.
Finally, Warner Bros. paid \$60 million to acquire the United States distribution rights of Terminator Salvation; Sony Pictures also paid just over \$100 million to acquire the film's distribution rights in all international territories (excluding South Korea, Japan and the Middle East, where it was respectively distributed by Lotte Entertainment and Mars Entertainment, Toho-Towa, and Gulf Film).
### Writing
McG signed on to direct, as the first two films were among his favorites, and he had even cast Robert Patrick (who played the T-1000) in his previous films. Though he was initially unsure about "flogging a dead horse," he felt the post-apocalyptic setting allowed the film to be different enough so as not to be just an inferior sequel. The idea that events in Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines altered the future allowed them to be flexible with their presentation of the futuristic world. McG met with the series' co-creator James Cameron, and, although he neither blessed nor denigrated the project, Cameron told the new director he had faced a similar challenge when following Ridley Scott's Alien with Aliens. He maintained two elements of the previous films; that John is an outsider to the authorities, and someone of future importance is being protected, and in this film, it is Kyle Reese.
The first full screenplay for the film was written by Terminator 3 writers John Brancato and Michael Ferris, who received full screenplay credit. Paul Haggis rewrote Brancato and Ferris's script, and Shawn Ryan made another revision three weeks before filming. Jonathan Nolan also wrote on set, which led to McG to say, "I would have to characterize Jonah as the lead writer of the film." In response to whether or not Nolan would receive a writing credit for his contribution, McG went on to say, "I don't know how the WGA rules work, but honest to goodness, we did the heaviest lifting with Jonah." Nolan contributed to the film after Bale signed on and created Connor's arc of becoming a leader. Unfortunately according to its main actor Christian Bale, due to the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike, Nolan had to abruptly leave the project due to another commitment. Anthony E. Zuiker contributed to the script as well. So extensive were the rewrites that Alan Dean Foster decided to rewrite the entire novelization after submitting it to his publisher because the compiled shooting script was very different from the one he was given beforehand.
In the early script drafts, John was a secondary character. Producer James Middleton explained "Ben-Hur was influenced by Jesus Christ, but it was his story. Much in that way, this [new main] character will be influenced by John Connor."
The original ending was to have John killed, and his image kept alive by the resistance by grafting his skin onto Marcus' cybernetic body. Marcus would have then murdered Kate, Barnes, Kyle, and Star. However, after the ending was leaked on the Internet, Warner Bros. decided to completely change the entire third act of the film. McG and Nolan did continue the Christ element of John's character though, in which he has some followers who believe what he knows about Skynet and others who do not.
McG described the film's theme as "where you draw the line between machines and humans". The friendship between Marcus—who was executed (for murder) when humanity still ruled the world—and Kyle Reese illustrates how war and suffering can bring out the best in people, such as when they worked together to survive during the Blitz. The title was derived from this second chance given to humanity and to Marcus, in addition to John's efforts to save humanity from the machines. The film's original title was Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins, but this was dropped during filming.
Throughout writing, the cast and crew would watch scenes from the three films to pick moments to reference or tribute, including "Come with me if you want to live" and "I'll be back", which is uttered by John in this film. McG found himself having to decide which ideas for references would be included and which would not. An opening scene has John fighting a Terminator on a crashed helicopter, which was storyboarded as an homage to the climax of the original film, where his mother Sarah, having broken her leg, is chased by a crippled Terminator. McG did this to reflect the skills John learned from her.
### Filming
With an estimated \$200 million budget, Terminator Salvation is the most expensive Terminator film to date, followed closely by Terminator: Dark Fate (2019) (estimated budget \$185-\$196 million). The shooting of the film started on May 5, 2008, in New Mexico, with parts of the filming taking place at Kirtland Air Force Base, after the United States Air Force agreed to provide the crew guidance and aircraft. The filmmakers had originally intended to begin filming on March 15 in Budapest or Australia, but a 25 percent tax rebate and absence of an interest rate cap and floor made the filmmakers seek the cheaper New Mexico, because of their elevated budget. To avoid delays caused by a possible 2008 Screen Actors Guild strike in July, all exterior scenes were completed by then, so production could restart easily. The shoot ended on July 20, 2008, though some pick-ups took place in January 2009.
In addition to Bale breaking his hand and Worthington hurting his back, special effects technician Mike Menardis almost lost his leg filming an explosion. The sequence required a manhole cover being blown into the air, which hit Menardis and partially severed his leg. McG noted it was a testament to the gritty style of the film. "I say with respect, I didn't want that Star Wars experience of everything's a blue screen, tennis balls, and go for it. I had Stan Winston build all the machines. We built all the sets, the explosive power, the explosive power so you feel that wind and that percussion and that heat blowing your eyebrows off. And with that, you get a couple bumps and bruises on the way, but you get it in an integrity and a realism that hopefully echoes Apocalypse Now. You couldn't say, 'Let's just shoot Apocalypse Now in Burbank, I think it's going to feel just as good.'"
The film used Technicolor's Oz process during post-production. This is a partial silver retention on the interpositive, similar to bleach bypass, which will be used to lend to the sense of detachment from the modern world McG was looking for. Industrial Light & Magic developed shader programs to make the desaturated lighting of the CGI realistic and well-integrated to the on-set footage. The filmmakers consulted with many scientists about the effects of an abandoned world and nuclear winter. McG cited Mad Max 2, the original Star Wars trilogy and Children of Men, as well as the novel The Road, as his visual influences. He instructed his cast to read the latter as well as Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Like Children of Men, McG would storyboard scenes so that it would be edited together to resemble a seamless, continuous shot. It took two weeks to film a two-minute shot of Connor getting caught up in a bombing on the Skynet base where he discovers plans for the T-800.
### Design and special effects
McG sought to create as many "in-camera" elements as possible to make the film more realistic. Many of the settings were hand-built, including an entire gas station for the Harvester attack scenes. The Terminator factory was built in an abandoned factory, and the design crew consulted robot manufacturer companies for a more realistic depiction. A 20-foot-tall (6.1 m) model built and detonated by Kerner Optical was used for the explosion of Skynet's 30-story San Francisco-based lab.
The majority of the machines were designed by Martin Laing, a crew member on Cameron's Titanic and Ghosts of the Abyss. McG described many of the machines as having an H. R. Giger influence. McG's intent was to create a gritty, tactile 2018 on screen, and Laing concurred the robots would have to be black and degraded as none of them are new. Laing devised Aerostats, which are smaller versions of the Aerial Hunter Killers from the previous films. The Aerostats send a signal to the 60-foot-tall (18 m) humanoid Harvesters. They are very big and slow, so they use Mototerminators to capture humans, and the Harvesters place them in Transporters. Laing was unsure of how to design the Transporters until he saw a cattle transport while driving through Albuquerque.
The film features the first aquatic Skynet robot, the Hydrobot, which Laing modeled on eels, and was built by the animatronics crew with its exterior made of metal-looking rubber so it could be used in the aquatic scenes.
The film features rubber-skinned T-600 robots. McG interpreted Kyle Reese's description in the original film of the T-600 as being easy to spot by making them tall and bulky. For scenes of humans fighting with Terminators, the actors interacted with stuntmen wearing motion capture suits, later replaced by digital robots. For the Moto-Terminators, Ducati designers were hired to create the robots, and the on-screen robot was a combination of stuntmen driving actual Ducatis and a Moto-Terminator mock-up, as well as a digital Moto-Terminator. Visual effects studio Imaginary Forces created the Terminator point-of-view sequences, and tried to depict a simple interface, "free of the frills—anything that a machine would not purely need", and with more software bugs and anomalies since the robots of Salvation were not as advanced as the Terminators from the previous films.
The majority of the special effects were done by Industrial Light & Magic. Salvation was one of the last films that Stan Winston, the visual effects supervisor on the first three films, worked on. Winston died on June 15, 2008, after a long struggle with multiple myeloma. McG dedicated the film to him in the end credits. John Rosengrant and Charlie Gibson replaced Winston, and McG commented that they are "trying to achieve something that's never been done before" and "push the envelope". Asylum Visual Effects created digital plates, Marcus' endoskeleton, and a digital T-600. Rising Sun Pictures did the digital correction of day for night scenes, the destruction of the submarine and Marcus' robot hand.
## Music
Danny Elfman began composing the score in January 2009. Elfman's score had a different theme but it did feature the five notes which had been featured in every Terminator film used here & there in the score.
Beforehand, McG wanted to hire Gustavo Santaolalla to work on the music for the human characters, while having either Thom Yorke or Jonny Greenwood for Skynet's themes. He couldn't get Hans Zimmer but he did meet with the original Terminator composer Brad Fiedel but decided he did not want to repeated the sounds Fiedel achieved in his films. McG wanted Elfman to give those themes and ambient sounds a "Wagnerian quality".
Reprise Records released the soundtrack on May 19, 2009, which included 15 tracks. While Common had expressed interest in writing a song for the soundtrack, Alice in Chains' "Rooster" is the only featured song. Although not included in the soundtrack, "You Could Be Mine" by Guns N' Roses, which was featured in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, can be heard briefly in a scene of the film as well.
## Marketing
### Promotion
On July 16, 2008, Warner Bros. debuted the film's teaser trailer on Yahoo!, accompanied by a voiceover by Christian Bale's character of John Connor. On November 25, 2008, Sony Pictures unveiled a motion poster, showing a T-800 with the words: "Welcome to Los Angeles, 2018". In December 2008, the first theatrical trailer was released on the Apple website. In March 2009, the second trailer was released on Yahoo! Movies and was attached to Watchmen, accompanied by a remix version of Nine Inch Nails' "The Day the World Went Away". On May 8, 2009, the extended four-minute final trailer was released on Apple.
### Tie-ins
In addition to the novelization by Alan Dean Foster, a prequel novel titled Terminator Salvation: From the Ashes by Timothy Zahn was released. Two further books were inspired by the film Cold War by Greg Cox and Trial by Fire, again by Zahn. IDW Publishing released a four-issue prequel comic, as well as an adaptation. It follows Connor rallying together the resistance in 2017, as well as examining normal people overcoming their intolerances to defeat Skynet. Dark Horse Comics released a twelve-issue sequel comic to the film, titled Terminator Salvation: The Final Battle by J. Michael Straczynski from 2013 to 2014. Playmates Toys, Sideshow Collectibles, Hot Toys, Character Options, and DC Unlimited produced merchandise, while Chrysler, Sony, Pizza Hut, and 7-Eleven were among the product placement partners. On May 23, 2009, a roller coaster named after the film opened at Six Flags Magic Mountain. In 2011, the ride was no longer licensed and renamed as Apocalypse: The Ride.
### Video game
A third-person shooter video game of the same name was released on the same week of the release of the film. Christian Bale declined to lend his voice, so Gideon Emery voiced the character of John Connor. The game features the voices of Common and Moon Bloodgood as Barnes and Blair Williams, respectively. Despite not appearing in the film, Rose McGowan voiced the character of Angie Salter, an ex-high school teacher. The game is set in 2016, after the events of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines and before the events of Terminator Salvation. Another video game also titled Terminator Salvation was released in 2010 in the arcades. It's a light gun shooter developed by Play Mechanix and published by Raw Thrills.
### Animated series
On May 18, 2009, Machinima released Terminator Salvation: The Machinima Series, an animated prequel web series set before the video game, comprising six episodes. Set after Judgment Day, Blair Williams (again voiced by Bloodgood) is fighting the war against the machines in downtown Los Angeles while tracking down the computer hacker named Laz Howard (voiced by Cam Clarke) and trying to convince him to join sides with the resistance. The series was created using real-time computer animation from the video game. It was distributed by Warner Premiere, produced by Wonderland Sound and Vision and The Halcyon Company and was released on DVD on November 3, 2009.
## Release
### Theatrical
The film was released in North America on May 21, 2009, with Warner Bros. setting the American premiere on May 14, 2009, at the Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. Elsewhere, Sony Pictures Entertainment released the film in most overseas territories on different dates in June. One exception was Mexico, because of the swine flu outbreak in the country, which forced Sony to push the release date to July 31, 2009.
It is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America for "intense sequences of sci-fi violence, action, and language," unlike the first three films which are rated R. The decision to release the film with a PG-13 rating was met with much criticism from fans, as well as the media. The rating decision was made after McG cut out a shot of Marcus stabbing a thug with a screwdriver, as the director felt disallowing the young audience due to that one shot was unfair. He also deleted a topless scene for Moon Bloodgood because "It was a soft moment between a man and a woman that was designed to echo the Kelly McGillis/Harrison Ford moment in Witness [but] in the end, it felt more like a gratuitous moment of a girl taking her top off in an action picture, and I didn't want that to convolute the story or the characters." In September 2020 McG again mentioned that he had a darker cut of the film that might have worked better. The producers had expected the rating because of the modern leniency toward violence in PG-13 films, such as the 2007 action film, Live Free or Die Hard.
### Home media
The DVD and Blu-ray of the film was released on December 1, 2009. The DVD contains the theatrical cut of the film with a featurette on the Moto-Terminators. The Blu-ray features both the theatrical cut and the R-rated Director's cut, which is three minutes longer (118 minutes), with bonus material including Maximum Movie Mode, a video commentary in which director McG talks about the film while it plays, featurettes, a video archive, and a digital comic of the first issue of the official film prequel comic. Both versions include a digital copy of the theatrical cut for portable media players. Target Stores was the only retailer to carry the Director's Cut on DVD. On its first week of retail, Terminator Salvation debuted at the top spot of the Blu-ray charts, and second in the DVD charts, behind Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian. The film made \$29,811,432 in domestic DVD sales bringing its total gross to \$401,439,971 In 2019, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released the film on Ultra HD Blu-ray in Europe and Australia. A North American Ultra HD Blu-ray release from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment is scheduled to be released in the near future.
## Reception
### Box office
The film's first nationwide U.S. screenings on Thursday, May 21, 2009, made \$3 million from midnight screenings and earned \$13.3 million in its first day and grossed an additional \$42,558,390 on its four-day Memorial Day opening weekend from 3,530 theaters. It debuted at number two behind Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, giving it a lower first-weekend take than its predecessor, becoming the first film in the series not to open at number one and failing to meet Boxoffice Magazine predictions by 50%. Terminator Salvation was more successful in its international release, opening at number one in 66 of 70 territories through the first week of June, and continuing to be the highest-grossing film in the following week. The film's total domestic gross was \$125,322,469, along with \$246,030,532 from overseas territories, for a worldwide gross of \$371,353,001. As of December 2009, the film ranks 14th for the year internationally and 23rd domestically (U.S. and Canada), which puts it below initial expectations in terms of domestic gross and first weekend, as well as overall global take.
### Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 33% based on 280 reviews, with an average rating of 5.10/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "With storytelling as robotic as the film's iconic villains, Terminator Salvation offers plenty of great effects but lacks the heart of the original films." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 49 out of 100, based on 46 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade B+ on scale of A to F.
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film two out of four stars, saying that "After scrutinizing the film, I offer you my summary of the story: Guy dies, finds himself resurrected, meets others, fights. That lasts for almost two hours." Michael Rechtshaffen of The Hollywood Reporter wrote that the film isn't the same without Arnold Schwarzenegger and that it misses its dramatic element. Likewise, Claudia Puig of USA Today gave the film two out of four stars and called it "predictable" with the "dramatic elements flat-lin[ing]". She considered Christian Bale's performance "one-dimensional", but found his co-stars to "come off better", saying Sam Worthington had "a quiet intensity marred only by yelling "Nooooo!" three times in about 10 minutes" and that Anton Yelchin had "some of the best lines".
Total Film's review gave the film four out of five stars with its verdict: "The Terminator story recharges with a post-apocalyptic jolt of energy. Frantic and full of welcome ties to the past, it also ploughs new ground with purpose. Fingers crossed McG will follow Cameron's lead and serve up a worthy sequel."
Devin Faraci of Empire also gave a positive rating of four out of five stars, saying: "McG has sparked a moribund franchise back to life, giving fans the post-apocalyptic action they've been craving since they first saw a metal foot crush a human skull two decades ago." However, on CHUD, the latter said, "Bale's desire to star as John Connor was probably the most fatal blow to the film; it completely distorted the shape of the story as it existed." Furthermore, he expressed that the third act was when the film began falling apart, saying, "McG and Nolan muddied the end of the picture, delivering action generics (yet another Terminator fight in a factory) while never finding their own hook that would give this movie more of an impact than you would get from an expanded universe novel." In contrast, James Berardinelli considered the ending the best part of the film, feeling that the first two-thirds were "rambling and disjointed" and that the lack of a central villain was only fixed when the T-800 appeared.
Betsy Sharkey of the Los Angeles Times stated that "[Bale's] strengths do not serve him, or the movie, as well here" and that "when the story starts to crumble around Bale, Worthington is there to pick up the pieces". Craig Sharp of FilmShaft gave the film three out of five stars, saying "If you're looking for action then this is one damn good film! If it's character depth you're after then move along please."
A.O. Scott of The New York Times said the film has "a brute integrity lacking in some of the other seasonal franchise movies" and "efficient, reasonably swift storytelling". Ben Lyons and Ben Mankiewicz gave the film a "See It" and "Skip It", respectively, on their show At the Movies with the latter mentioning that it "is the worst big budget summer release I've seen in some time".
In Reel Power: Hollywood Cinema and American Supremacy, Matthew Alford argued that with the fourth installment, "the franchise had made a clear shift towards supporting establishment narratives, despite its earlier reservations" and that a "central theme" is whether John Connor "should prioritise striking a decisive military blow against the machines or rescue some captured humans, who are entombed—with shades of Auschwitz—by the Terminators". "[T]he flashforwards from the first three Terminator films hinted at a horrible future scape of pain, deprivation and ad-hoc guerrilla warfare", he writes, but "in contrast, producer Jeffrey Silver explained that the Department of Defense gave 'fantastic cooperation [to Salvation] because they recognized that in the future portrayed in this film, the military will still be the men and women who protect us, no matter what may come'". Alford concludes that "for a world that is set just fifteen years after a global nuclear holocaust the survivors are fancifully healthy, not to mention hairy" and that this "normalises the unthinkable".
### Response from Terminator actors
Arnold Schwarzenegger, star of the preceding three films in the series, initially remarked that Terminator Salvation was "a great film, I was very excited", but later reversed this position and said it was "...awful. It tried hard, not that they didn't try, the acting and everything. It missed the boat." Terminator series creator James Cameron considered it an "interesting film" that he "didn't hate as much as I thought I was going to" and praised Sam Worthington's performance but also said he would not return to the franchise: "[The series] has kind of run its course [...] frankly, the soup's already been pissed in by other film makers". He also felt his two films were better than either of the later films.
Linda Hamilton, who portrayed Sarah Connor in The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day and lent her voice to Terminator Salvation, wished the film "all the best" but expressed her opinion that the series "was perfect with two films. It was a complete circle, and it was enough in itself. But there will always be those who will try to milk the cow".
### Retrospective appraisal
In 2020, following the critical and commercial failures of the two subsequent films, Terminator Genisys and Terminator: Dark Fate, MovieWeb reported that Terminator Salvation had developed a strong cult following, and that fans had begun petitioning for McG's R-rated director's cut to be released.
### Accolades
### Controversies
During filming, Bale lost his temper with director of photography Shane Hurlbut for walking onto the set during an intense scene; he swore at and criticized Hurlbut before threatening to quit the film. Audio of Bale's rant leaked to the public and went viral. Bale apologized publicly and said he reconciled his differences with Hurlbut, stating that he dislikes it when takes are ruined, and that after the incident took place they continued to work together for a number of hours that day. A satirical dance remix song based on this incident titled, "Bale Out" was created by composer Lucian Piane, and various clips of Bale's voice were used in the song "Christian Bale Is At Your Party" by Rob Cantor.
In March 2009, producer Moritz Borman filed a lawsuit against the Halcyon Company, seeking \$160 million. Borman, who had arranged the transfer of the Terminator rights to Halcyon in May 2007, claimed the company's two managers, Derek Anderson and Victor Kubicek, had "hijacked" the production and refused to give him his \$2.5 million share of the production. Borman alleged budget overruns were the reasons Anderson and Kubicek did not pay him and that they had \$1 million in debt. Nevertheless, an "amicable" resolution was reached a month later.
Further complications occurred on May 20, 2009, when executive producer Peter D. Graves, who informed Anderson and Kubicek about the Terminator rights, filed a breach-of-contract claim for arbitration, alleging that they owe him \$750,000.
## Other media
### Cancelled sequels and animated prequel
While Terminator Salvation was initially intended to begin a new trilogy, production of a fifth film was halted by legal trouble, as well as The Halcyon Company filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. While some anonymous sources insisted that Terminator 5 would be moving forward, the majority of analysts predicted that its future was in jeopardy.
In late September 2009, it was announced that the rights to the franchise were once again up for sale as The Halcyon Company tried to pull itself out of bankruptcy. In late October 2009, Halcyon announced it would auction off the rights to future Terminator material and was seeking \$60–70 million, though the only offer made was by director Joss Whedon for \$10,000. In December 2009, Halcyon issued a statement saying that they were looking at various options including sale and refinancing of the rights with an announcement on the outcome no later than February 1, 2010. On February 8, 2010, an auction was held to determine the owner of the Terminator rights. After studios Sony Pictures and Lionsgate bid separately, Pacificor, the hedge fund that pushed Halcyon into bankruptcy, made a deal for \$29.5 million. Pacificor hired an agency to sell off the rights to the franchise.
In August 2010, it was reported that a new Terminator film was being developed. The new film would not be a direct sequel to Salvation, but rather an animated reboot of the original series. It would have been entitled Terminator 3000 and would be shot by Hannover House. However, Pacificor, the owner of the rights to the Terminator franchise, had not given any official license to Hannover House to develop a new film.
On February 16, 2011, it was announced that Universal Studios was considering a fifth Terminator film with Arnold Schwarzenegger returning as the star and with Fast Fives Justin Lin directing along with Chris Morgan as the screenwriter. The discussions for the film had been in the very early stages. On April 27, 2011, it was announced that a rights package to a Terminator film, to which Schwarzenegger, Lin, and producer Robert W. Cort were attached, but no screenwriter, had been circulating among the studios. Universal, Sony and Lionsgate, and CBS Films had been some of the interested companies. According to sources close to Schwarzenegger, he had only wanted to commit fully if a good script could be created.
It was reported on May 13, 2011, that Megan Ellison and her production company Annapurna Pictures won the rights to make at least two more Terminator films, including Terminator 5, in an auction deal that is rumored to have hit the \$20 million mark. While Schwarzenegger was claimed to be up for a substantial role, the film would not be anchored by him; instead, a young male actor would take the lead. On December 4, 2012, a year and a half after negotiations were entered, the deal was finally closed. Ellison said that she and her brother David Ellison were "starting from scratch as they seek out a screenwriter to plot the end".
### Reboot
Terminator Genisys is a reboot of the franchise, taking the premise of the original film in another direction while restarting the series from scratch. Genisys was intended to be the first of a trilogy, with Schwarzenegger reprising his role as the T-800. Genisys was released on July 1, 2015. Although the film's reception was generally negative, it was a mild box office success overseas.
|
38,085,142 |
Nicholas de Sigillo
| 1,104,077,811 |
12th-century Anglo-Norman ecclesiastic and royal administrator
|
[
"Anglo-Normans",
"Archdeacons of Huntingdon"
] |
Nicholas de Sigillo was a medieval Anglo-Norman administrator and clergyman in England. Perhaps beginning his career as a royal official during the reign of King Stephen of England, he had certainly entered royal service by 1157 when he was serving Stephen's successor King Henry II, and was a witness on a number of royal charters from 1157 to 1159.
Sometime before 1166 Nicholas was appointed to the archdeaconry of Huntingdon. While in office there, he attempted to reform both the administrative and religious practices of his archdeaconry. In 1173 Nicholas once more served Henry, this time assessing royal taxes. He last appears alive in 1187 when he is still named as an archdeacon. He may be the Nicholas who gave a still extant first volume of the Bible to Lincoln Cathedral.
## Early career
Nicholas derived his name from his office, as he was clericus de sigillo, the next highest office in the royal chancery after the chancellor. It is unknown when he first held royal office, but it is possible it was during the reign of King Stephen of England (reigned 1135–1154). One document of Stephen's reign states that he was master of Stephen's writing chamber. He held a prebend in the diocese of Lincoln by the middle of the 1150s.
Sometime between 1148 and 1160 Robert de Chesney, the Bishop of Lincoln granted a church to Nicholas to hold for life, on the condition that he would lose possession of the church if he either became a monk or if he was elevated to a bishopric. In 1157 Nicholas was a royal administrator as he was involved with King Henry II's invasion of Wales. In the years 1157 through 1159 he was a witness to the king's charters.
## Archdeacon
Sometime between 1164 and 1166 he was appointed Archdeacon of Huntingdon, in succession to the medieval chronicler Henry of Huntingdon. The most likely date of his appointment is 1164 or early 1165. After his appointment, John of Salisbury wrote to him, congratulating Nicholas on his new office. John also commented that Nicholas would need to change his opinion of the chances that archdeacons had of reaching salvation now that he held that office.
Nicholas, as part of his duties as archdeacon, heard disputes between clergy over church property. One such dispute was heard sometime between 1164 and 1185 by Nicholas, along with the synod of his archdeaconry, over land in Woodstone parish that was disputed between the parish and the Fens monastic house of Thorney Abbey. Between 1164 and 1166 Nicholas put canons from Malton Priory in Yorkshire as the clergy of the church at King's Walden in Hertfordshire. Nicholas also instituted a set of "constitutions" or regulations for the clergy of his archdeaconry. This was part of Nicholas' efforts to reform the administrative and ecclesiastical affairs of his office.
## Later years
In 1173 Nicholas was once again working for the king, when he, along with Richard fitz Nigel and Reginald de Warenne, assessed a land tax on the royal demesne. These three men assessed the tax in the counties of Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Oxfordshire, Kent and Sussex. Nicholas is last mentioned in the historical record in 1187, as an archdeacon without territorial title. During the reign of King John, a legal case documents that Nicholas gave a messuage to his niece (or possibly a granddaughter) Emma. Nicholas may be the same Nicholas whose death was commemorated on 13 March at Lincoln Cathedral and gave a gift of the first volume of the Great Bible to the cathedral, where it remains as Lincoln, MS 1; the second volume is now at Trinity College, Cambridge.
|
48,521,958 |
Hasta la Raíz (song)
| 1,166,603,422 | null |
[
"2015 songs",
"Latin Grammy Award for Best Alternative Song",
"Latin Grammy Award for Record of the Year",
"Latin Grammy Award for Song of the Year",
"Natalia Lafourcade songs",
"RCA Records singles",
"Song recordings produced by Cachorro López",
"Songs about plants",
"Songs written by Leonel García",
"Sony Music Mexico singles",
"Spanish-language songs"
] |
"Hasta la Raíz" (transl. "Down to the Root") is a song by Mexican recording artist Natalia Lafourcade, the first track on her 2015 studio album of the same name. It was released as the album's lead single on January 6, 2015, through Sony Music Mexico. After attaining success from her previous album, Mujer Divina – Homenaje a Agustín Lara, a tribute to Mexican singer-songwriter Agustín Lara, Lafourcade decided to record an album with original recordings. Lafourcade spent three years writing, searching for inspiration in different cities, resulting in songs with personal feelings regarding love. Lafourcade wrote the song with Mexican artist Leonel García and produce it with Argentine musician Cachorro López.
"Hasta la Raíz" received positive reviews from music critics. The song was also commercially successful, peaking at number 17 on the US Billboard Latin Pop Songs and number five in Mexico. A music video for the track was directed by Alonso Ruizpalacios and recorded at the Estudios Churubusco in Mexico City, gathering 300 fans who responded to an invitation posted by Lafourcade on social networks. The video ranked on the list of the "10 Best Latin Music Videos of 2015" by Latin Post. "Hasta la Raíz" earned accolades for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Alternative Song at the 16th Latin Grammy Awards.
## Background and release
In 2010, Natalia Lafourcade joined Mexican orchestra conductor Alondra de la Parra on the album Travieso Carmesí, a musical project created to celebrate the Bicentennial of Mexico. Lafourcade analyzed Mexican singer-songwriter Agustín Lara's catalogue and decided to record a tribute album with his songs, since the singer wanted to give herself the opportunity to perform songs written by another person. In 2014, Lafourcade wanted to find a balance between heart, mind and body, and traveled to Veracruz, Colombia and Cuba, searching for inspiration to write new music. "This [new] album was made parallel to the experience of singing the Lara's music... is the result of my need to be proud of my songs." Lafourcade said to Vívelo Hoy. The album Hasta la Raíz is Lafourcade's sixth studio album and is her first album of original material in six years, since Hu Hu Hu (2009) and was produced by Argentine musician Cachorro López, Mexican singer-songwriter Leonel García and herself after another record producer became very expensive.
"Hasta la Raíz" was released for digital download on January 6, 2015, as the album's lead single. A new version entitled "Canova's Root Version" followed on May 19, 2015. Lafourcade included the song on the live EP Spotify Sessions. "Hasta la Raíz" is featured in the Italian edition of the album series Now Summer Hits 2015.
## Writing and recording
`Lafourcade overcame writer's block, but felt that the songs she wrote were too similar compared to her previous albums, so she sought inspiration from Lara's repertoire and her native country, Mexico. "One of the things I wanted to happen with this record was to find the connection with Mexico and its people again. I am Mexican proud of the positive parts that Mexico have, which are many." Musically, the singer wanted simplicity. Lafourcade forced herself to write "without judgement", recording voice memos on her phone during the process. The singer was also inspired by the work of Latin American songwriters such as Simón Díaz, Violeta Parra, Mercedes Sosa, Chavela Vargas, and Caetano Veloso. While recording demos, Lafourcade realized that the songs were more direct and emotional than her previous work. The writing process took three years to complete, resulting in approximately 30 songs, from which the singer selected "the strongest ones" since the album was about her personal life and she wanted to record the best of the bunch to represent it, "more than making an album, I wanted to have songs... songs that could stand on their own."`
"Hasta la Raíz" was written by Lafourcade and Mexican singer-songwriter Leonel García, since Lafourcade wanted to experiment with other composers on her music and they became friends while working on her album Mujer Divina – Homenaje a Agustín Lara and his album Todas Mías (2012). García had an idea about the song, and they finished together the music. Laforcade referred to this collaboration as "magical", with this song being an anthem to the human strength, without forgetting our roots, "It came out of a conversation about maintaining a sense of connection to where you come from." Throughout the song, Lafourcade sings about a lover that taught her how to love and cannot forget despite the distance between them. García played a huapango riff, and Lafourcade started singing along while producer Cachorro López recorded everything, and the final result is from that session.
## Critical reception
After its release, "Hasta la Raíz" received positive reviews from music critics. Luis Romero of the website Coffee and Saturday and the music editor of Televisa Espectáculos were in agreement that the song keeps a musical style similar to her previous album, Mujer Divina, with Agustin Lara's influence being evident. Andrew Casillas of Club Fonograma stated that the song sounds "rich", but resembles Chilean singer-songwriter Camila Moreno, and that even if it "doesn't sound like a bold step outward for Natalia, there's certainly no need to lower your expectations". Lissette Corsa, of MTV Iggy, declared that the "staccato strumming" of the track "evokes the huapango rhythm of Veracruz, Mexico, Lafourcade’s hometown". Lafourcade performed the track at the Latin Grammy Awards of 2015, where it won Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Alternative Song.
## Commercial reception
"Hasta la Raíz" peaked at number five in Mexico's Monitor Latino Pop Songs chart, and 27 in the Mexico Airplay charts, respectively. In the United States, the track peaked at number 17 in the Billboard Latin Pop Songs chart, becoming Lafourcade's more successful song there. Following Lafourcade's performance at the Latin Grammys, the song climbed to number nine on the Billboard Latin Pop Digital Songs, with a sales increase of 86%, selling 1,000 downloads. In 2022, "Hasta la Raíz" entered the Billboard-published charts in Mexico and Bolivia, with peaks of 11 and 16, respectively. It also reached number 188 on the Billboard Global 200.
## Music video
The music video was directed by Alonso Ruizpalacios, at the Estudios Churubusco in Mexico City, gathering 300 fans who responded to an invitation posted by Lafourcade in social media. The singer asked her fans to send a thought inspired by the song or a personal story derived from their identification with "Hasta la Raíz". Lafourcade told to Variety Latino: "I thought that we would get few answers, but we received almost 800 responses immediately, and later it turned into a riot and we did not know if they would get out of control, but nothing happened, my fans are super cool.". In the video, shot in black and white, Lafourcade is surrounded by several people who lead her to a stage to perform the last part of the song, in the meantime, Lafourcade throws flowers in the air, kisses a man and plays a guitar. According to Milly Contreras of Latin Post the video "shows off the singer's individuality and simplicity" and included it at number 7 in the list for the "10 Best Latin Music Videos of 2015".
## Track listing
- Digital download and streaming
1. "Hasta la Raíz" – 3:41
- Digital download and streaming – Canova's Root Version
1. "Hasta la Raíz (Canova's Root Version)" – 3:39
## Credits and personnel
Credits adapted from the liner notes of Hasta la Raíz''.
- Natalia Lafourcade – vocals, producer, keyboards, electric guitar, percussion
- Cachorro López – producer
- Leonel García – acoustic guitar, voice director
- Alan Ortíz – programming
- Gustavo Guerrero – electric guitar, percussion
- Uriel Herrera – drums, percussion
- José Lugo – percussion
- Mariana Ruiz – bass guitar
## Charts
## Certifications
## Release history
|
28,023,549 |
Malvern Water (bottled water)
| 1,146,542,400 |
Brand of bottled drinking water
|
[
"Bottled water brands",
"Carbonated water",
"Coca-Cola brands",
"English brands",
"English drinks",
"Malvern, Worcestershire",
"Non-alcoholic drinks",
"Soft drinks",
"Springs of England"
] |
Malvern Water is a brand of bottled drinking water obtained from a spring in the range of Malvern Hills that marks the border between the counties of Herefordshire and Worcestershire in England. The water is a natural spring water from the hills that consist of very hard granite rock. Fissures in the rock retain rain water, which slowly permeates through, escaping at the springs. The springs release an average of about 60 litres a minute. The flow rate depends on rainfall and can vary from as little as 36 litres (8 gallons) per minute to over 350 litres (77 gallons) per minute.
Schweppes began bottling the water on a commercial scale in 1850 and it was first offered for sale at the Great Exhibition of 1851. Since the owners, Coca-Cola Enterprises, closed their Colwall plant in November 2010, Malvern Water is now exclusively bottled on a smaller scale by the family-owned Holywell Water Company Ltd under the name Holywell Malvern Spring Water who offer the water in still and sparkling (carbonated) versions.
## History
Malvern Water has been bottled and distributed in the United Kingdom and abroad from the 16th century, with water bottling at the Holy Well being recorded in 1622. Various local grocers bottled and distributed Malvern water during the 19th and early 20th centuries, but it was first bottled on a large commercial scale by Schweppes, who opened a bottling plant at Holywell in Malvern Wells in 1850. The water was first introduced by Schweppes as Malvern Soda, later renaming it Malvern Seltzer Water in 1856. In 1890 Schweppes moved away from Holywell, entered into a contract with a Colwall family, and built a bottling plant in the village in 1892. The Holywell was subsequently leased to John and Henry Cuff, who bottled there until the 1960s.
The Holywell became derelict until 2009 when, with the aid of a Lottery Heritage grant, production of 1200 bottles per day of Holywell Malvern Spring Water was recommenced by an independent family-owned company. Malvern water continues to be sold by the Hollywell Spring Water Co. in Malvern Wells whose three employees produce around 1,200 bottles a day. The well is believed to be the oldest bottling plant in the world.
In the 1850s Malvern Water was bottled by John and William Burrow at the Bottling Works Spring in Robson Ward's yard on Belle Vue Terrace in Great Malvern. Bottling ceased here in the 1950s and the former bottling works are now a selection of shops, coffee house and kitchen showroom. Water for the Bottling Works Spring is piped from St Ann's Well.
In 1927, Schweppes acquired from the Burrow family, Pewtress Spring in Colwall, on the western side of the Herefordshire Beacon, approximately two miles from Colwall village. The source emerges at the fault line between the Silurian thrust and the Precambrian diorite and granite above it. The spring was renamed Primeswell Spring, and in 1929 Schweppes commenced bottling. The factory employed 25 people who bottled 26 million bottles annually. It was operated by Coca-Cola Enterprises Ltd., and the water was sold under the Schweppes brand name.
On 20 October 2010 Coca-Cola Enterprises, who owned the Malvern brand, announced that due to the declining market share Malvern has on the overall water market, production of their water would be ceasing on 3 November 2010. On 28 October 2011, it was reported that the Colwall bottling plant would be sold to a property developer. The factory was demolished and a housing estate was built on the land. One building remains, the Grade II listed tank house, built in 1892.
Malvern water continues to be sold by the Hollywell Spring Water Co. in Malvern Wells whose three employees produce around 1,200 bottles a day. In 2011, Holywell was awarded Most Promising New Business in Herefordshire & Worcestershire 2011 by the Chamber of Commerce.
## Purity
The natural untreated water is generally devoid of all minerals, bacteria, and suspended matter, approaching the purity of distilled water. In 1987 Malvern gained official EU status as a natural mineral water, a mark of purity and quality. However, in spite of regular quality analysis, Malvern's reputation for purity suffered a blow when the rock that filters the water dried out during 2006, allowing the water from heavy storms to flow through it too quickly for the natural filtering process to take place efficiently. Due to the slight impurities, the Coca-Cola Company, manufacturer of the Schweppes brand, had to install filtration equipment, which reclassifies the water as spring water under European Union law. Consequently, the labels were changed from: the original English mineral water to read the original English water
In 1998, Coca-Cola Schweppes recalled stocks of carbonated Malvern Water due to traces of benzene found in the carbon dioxide delivered to the bottling plants from the Terra Nitrogen Company near Bristol, which distributes the gas to carbonated drinks manufacturers.
## Royalty
Malvern Water has been drunk by several British monarchs. Queen Elizabeth I drank it in public in the 16th century; in 1558 she accorded John Hornyold, a Catholic bishop and lord of the manor, the right to use the land under the condition that travellers and pilgrims continue to be able to draw water from the Holy Well spring. A royal warrant was granted by Princess Mary Adelaide in 1895 and by King George V in 1911. Queen Victoria refused to travel without it and Queen Elizabeth II took it with her whenever she travelled.
|
3,131,620 |
Battle of Thermopylae (191 BC)
| 1,149,263,331 |
Battle of the Roman–Seleucid War
|
[
"191 BC",
"Battles involving the Roman Republic",
"Battles involving the Seleucid Empire",
"Battles of the Hellenistic period",
"History of Phthiotis",
"Roman–Seleucid War"
] |
The Battle of Thermopylae took place on 24 April 191 BC. It was fought as part of the Roman–Seleucid War, pitting forces of the Roman Republic led by the consul Manius Acilius Glabrio against a Seleucid-Aetolian army of Antiochus III the Great.
When the main bodies of the armies initially clashed at the Thermopylae pass, the Seleucids managed to hold their ground, repulsing multiple Roman assaults. However, a small Roman force under Marcus Porcius Cato managed to outflank the Seleucids from the hillside after surprising the Aetolian garrison of Fort Callidromus. The Seleucids panicked and broke ranks, leading to the destruction of their force. Antiochus managed to escape the battlefield with his cavalry, departing mainland Greece soon afterwards.
## Background
Following his return from his Bactrian (210–209 BC) and Indian (206–205 BC) campaigns, the Seleucid King Antiochus III the Great forged an alliance with Philip V of Macedon, seeking to jointly conquer the territories of the Ptolemaic Kingdom. In 198 BC, Antiochus emerged victorious in the Fifth Syrian War, taking over Coele-Syria and securing his south-eastern border. He then focused his attention on Asia Minor, launching a successful campaign against coastal Ptolemaic possessions. In 196 BC, Antiochus used the opportunity of Attalus I's death to assault cities controlled by the Attalid dynasty. Fearing that Antiochus would seize the entirety of Asia Minor, the independent cities Smyrna and Lampsacus decided to appeal for protection from the Roman Republic. In the early spring of 196 BC, Antiochus' troops crossed to the European side of the Hellespont and began rebuilding the strategically important city of Lysimachia. In October 196 BC, Antiochus met with a delegation of Roman diplomats in Lysimachia. The Romans demanded that Antiochus withdraw from Europe and restore the autonomous status of Greek city states in Asia Minor. Antiochus countered by claiming that he was simply rebuilding the empire of his ancestor Antiochus II Theos and criticized the Romans for meddling in the affairs of Asia Minor states, whose rights were traditionally defended by Rhodes.
In late winter 196/195 BC, Rome's erstwhile chief enemy, Carthaginian general Hannibal, fled from Carthage to Antiochus' court in Ephesus. Despite the emergence of a pro-war party led by Scipio Africanus, the Roman Senate exercised restraint. Negotiations between the Romans and the Seleucids resumed, coming to a standstill once again, over differences between Greek and Roman law on the status of disputed territorial possessions. In the summer of 193 BC, a representative of the Aetolian League assured Antiochus that the Aetolians would take his side in a future war with Rome, while Antiochus gave tacit support to Hannibal's plans of launching an anti-Roman coup d'état in Carthage. The Aetolians began spurring Greek states to jointly revolt under Antiochus' leadership against the Romans, hoping to provoke a war between the two parties. The Aetolians then captured the strategically important port city of Demetrias, killing the key members of the local pro-Roman faction. In September 192 BC, Aetolian general Thoantas arrived at Antiochus' court, convincing him to openly oppose the Romans in Greece. The Seleucids selected 10,000 infantry, 500 cavalry, 6 war elephants and 300 ships to be transferred for their campaign in Greece.
## Prelude
The Seleucid fleet sailed via Imbros and Skiathos, arriving at Demetrias where Antiochus' army disembarked. Antiochus traveled to Lamia where he participated in the council of the Aetolians, who declared him their Strategos for a year. The Achaean League declared war on the Seleucids and Aetolians, with the Romans following suit in November 192 BC. Antiochus forced Chalcis to open its gates to him and raided a Roman camp at Delium, killing 250 soldiers. The surrender of the Chalcidians led the rest of Euboea to follow its example. The Seleucids transformed the city into their base of operations, effectively controlling the Greek eastern coast. Antiochus then shifted his attention towards rebuilding his alliance with Philip V of Macedon, which had been shattered after the latter was decisively defeated by the Romans at the 197 BC Battle of Cynoscephalae. Philip expected that the Romans would emerge victorious in the conflict and counted on territorial rewards as well as the writing off of war reparations that he owed; while the Seleucids could provide neither, so Antiochus' overtures were rejected and Philip aligned himself with the Romans. Antiochus likewise approached Athens, the Athamanians, the Boeotian League as well as city states in Acarnania and Epirus with offers of alliance. Despite the reassurances of the Aetolians, most of the Greek states remained neutral, fearing future reprisals. Only Elis, the Boeotian League and Amynander of Athamania declared their allegiance to Antiochus, the later being promised the Macedonian throne for his brother in law Philip of Megalopolis.
In December 192, the Seleucids and their Aetolian allies launched a campaign against the Thessalian League from the south, while the Athamanian army attacked from the west. Antiochus rapidly seized much of southern Thessaly, withdrawing to his winter quarters after running out of supplies. In early March 191 BC, the Seleucids invaded Acarnania, aiming at depriving the Roman fleet of ports on the western coast of Greece. After a brief campaign, Antiochus seized control of half of the Acarnanian League and gained the allegiance of its Strategos Klytos. At the same time Roman consul Manius Acilius Glabrio crossed from Brundisium to Illyria with an army of 20,000 infantry, 2,000 cavalry and 15 war elephants. Glabrio's army brought the total of the Roman and allied forces in Greece to 36,000 men, significantly outnumbering that of the Seleucids and their allies. In the meantime, Philip V and Roman propraetor Baebius launched parallel offensives in Thessaly and Athamania, quickly erasing Seleucid gains in the region. Glabrio and Philip's armies united at Limnaion before joining with that of Baebius at Pellina. Upon being alerted about the enemy's advance into Thessaly and the disintegration of the Athamanian army, Antiochus returned to Chalcis; gathering his scattered garrisons along the way.
Antiochus marched to Lamia with his entire force of 12,000 infantry, 500 cavalry and 16 war elephants, simultaneously ordering the Aetolians to mobilize there. Only 4,000 men answered his call, as the Aetolians feared that their homeland was on the brink of invasion. Fearing encirclement by a numerically superior force, the Seleucids withdrew to the Thermopylae pass. The Aetolian force was split into two armies of equal strength, garrisoning the cities of Hypata and Heraclea in Trachis; which blocked the roads to Aetolia and Thermopylae respectively. Antiochus' troops took hold of the narrowest section of the Thermopylae pass some 90 meters (300 ft) wide located at its eastern end. Augmenting the preexisting defensive wall which extended 1,800 meters (5,900 ft) up the hill to its south, ending at an inaccessible cliff. The ditch and earthworks situated in front of the wall stretched to the Malian Gulf, the slopes on the hills overlooking it were relatively gradual, allowing the Seleucids to man them with projectile throwers. Special towers were built to house mechanai, Hellenistic era artillery. Glabrio ravaged the countryside of Hypata and Heraclea, before camping at the "hot gates", half way through the pass.
## Battle
Antiochus positioned his Macedonian phalanx behind the rampart while the argyraspides and the light infantry stood in front of it. The Seleucid left flank was composed of a few hundred archers, slingers, and dart throwers. Antiochus led the cavalry on the right flank which formed a line behind the war elephants, with the remnants of his army forming a rearguard. The Aetolians transferred 2,000 of their soldiers to the Callidromus, Teichius, and Rhoduntia forts overlooking the pass, the rest remaining in Hypata and Heraclea. The coast east of the pass was protected by the Seleucid navy as well as the Chalcis and Demetrias garrisons. The Seleucids intended to hold the pass until much needed reinforcements arrived from Asia Minor, allowing them to face the Romans on an open field.
Despite the natural strengths of the position controlled by his adversaries, Glabrio decided to launch an assault; since he held a significant numerical advantage, commanding an army of 25,000 to 30,000 soldiers. He dispatched 2,000 soldiers to besiege Heraclea and left the 2,000 strong cavalry to guard the camp. On the night of 23 April 191 BC, Glabrio ordered Marcus Porcius Cato's and Lucius Valerius Flaccus's 2,000-man detachments to assault the Aetolian controlled forts. At dawn on 24 April, Glabrio led the main Roman force of 18,000 through the pass in a frontal attack.
The first Roman assault was repulsed, as the Romans found themselves enfiladed by the Seleucid missile troops. The Romans pressed on, their repeated attacks forcing the argyraspides and the light infantry to withdraw behind the rampart. Yet the wall of Seleucid sarissas proved to be impenetrable for the Romans, halting their advance. Flaccus likewise failed to make headway against the defenders of Teichius and Rhoduntia. Cato on the other hand discovered Callidromus at dawn, having previously lost his way during the night march. The 600-man Aetolian garrison was taken by surprise, fleeing to the Seleucid camp. Cato outflanked the Seleucids striking their camp; thinking Cato's force to be much larger than it was in reality, the Seleucids' morale plunged. The Seleucids broke ranks and engaged in a disorganized retreat, the whole army being lost, save for Antiochus and his cavalrymen.
## Aftermath
Antiochus was decisively defeated on land and had lost contact with his navy. Upon learning that Glabrio advanced through Phocis and Boeotia without facing any resistance, he rushed back to Ephesus. When the Seleucid garrison at Chalcis followed their emperor back to Asia Minor in May 191 BC, Euboean cities immediately welcomed the Romans as liberators.
The Seleucids then attempted to destroy the Roman fleet before it could unite with those of Rhodes and the Attalids. In September 191 BC, the Roman fleet defeated the Seleucids in the Battle of Corycus, enabling it to take control of several cities including Dardanus and Sestos on the Hellespont. In May 190 BC, Antiochus invaded the Kingdom of Pergamon, ravaging the countryside, besieging its capital and forcing its king, Eumenes II, to return from Greece. In August 190 BC, the Rhodians defeated Hannibal's fleet at the Battle of the Eurymedon. A month later a combined Roman–Rhodian fleet defeated the Seleucids at the Battle of Myonessus. The Seleucids could no longer control the Aegean Sea, opening the way for a Roman invasion of Asia Minor.
|
10,741,873 |
Delaware Route 300
| 1,157,078,120 |
State highway in Kent County, Delaware, United States
|
[
"State highways in Delaware",
"Transportation in Kent County, Delaware"
] |
Delaware Route 300 (DE 300) is an 11.83-mile-long (19.04 km) state highway in Kent County, Delaware. The route is a continuation of Maryland Route 300 (MD 300) from the Maryland border near Everetts Corner. It runs in a northeast direction from there to the town of Smyrna, where it ends at U.S. Route 13 (US 13) while concurrent with DE 6. The route is signed east-west. Along the way, DE 300 passes through rural areas of northern Kent County as well as the towns of Kenton and Clayton. The road intersects DE 44 at Everetts Corner, DE 11 southwest of Kenton, DE 42 in Kenton, DE 15 between Kenton and Clayton, and DE 6 in Smyrna. The road was first built as a state highway in the 1920s and 1930s between the Maryland border and Clayton, with the DE 300 designation given to the road by 1936. The route was extended to its current terminus in the 1950s.
## Route description
DE 300 begins at the Maryland border, where the road continues west into that state as MD 300. From the state line, the route heads east on two-lane undivided Sudlersville Road through agricultural areas and woods with some homes. A short distance after the state line, the road intersects the western terminus of DE 44 at Everetts Corner. DE 300 continues east-northeast through rural areas, passing through the community of Downs Chapel and crossing Jordan Branch. Farther east, the road intersects the northern terminus of DE 11. The route curves northeast, crossing an abandoned railroad line before entering the town of Kenton. At this point, the road becomes Main Street and passes homes along with a few businesses, intersecting DE 42 in the center of town.
Past Kenton, DE 300 continues northeast on Wheatleys Pond Road, passing through more farm fields, some woodland, and residences. The road forms a brief concurrency with DE 15 before heading north and crossing Mill Creek. DE 300 enters the town of Clayton and passes residential subdivisions, curving northeast. The road crosses the Delmarva Central Railroad's Delmarva Subdivision line at-grade, where it becomes the border between Clayton to the northwest and the town of Smyrna to the southeast, and runs north of industrial areas. The route continues past a mix of homes and businesses, heading into Smyrna and passing northwest of Bayhealth Emergency Center, Smyrna before intersecting DE 6. At this point, DE 6 turns northeast and forms a concurrency with DE 300 on West Glenwood Avenue. The two routes pass a mix of homes and businesses before gaining a center left-turn lane past the Main Street junction and entering a commercial area in the northern part of Smyrna as East Glenwood Avenue. Here, the road widens into a divided highway before it intersects US 13. At this point, DE 300 ends and DE 6 turns southeast to form a concurrency with US 13.
DE 300 has an annual average daily traffic count ranging from a high of 15,378 vehicles at the eastern terminus at US 13 to a low of 2,686 vehicles at the DE 44 intersection. The portion of DE 300 between the Maryland border and DE 44 is part of the National Highway System.
## History
By 1920, what is now DE 300 existed as an unimproved county road. The road was completed as a state highway between Kenton and Clayton and was proposed as one west of Kenton four years later. By 1931, the entire route between Clayton and the Maryland border was completed as a state highway. DE 300 was designated between the Maryland border and an intersection with DE 6 between Clayton and Smyrna by 1936. By 1954, DE 300 was extended east to its present terminus at US 13 in Smyrna. By the 1990s, DE 6 was routed along DE 300 in Smyrna, bypassing the downtown area.
## Major intersections
## See also
|
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