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Dog Gone

"Dog Gone" is the eighth episode of the eighth season of the animated comedy series Family Guy. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on November 29, 2009. The episode features Brian, the family pet, attempting to prove that a dog's life is just as important as that of a human's, after he accidentally kills another dog with no consequences. Meanwhile, the Griffin family hires Consuela, a stereotypical Hispanic woman, as the household maid, which they each end up regretting once she takes advantage of the family's home. First announced at the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con International, the episode was written by series showrunner Steve Callaghan and directed by Julius Wu. It received high praise from critics for its storyline and many cultural references, in addition to receiving some criticism from PETA. According to Nielsen ratings, it was viewed in 8.48 million homes in its original airing. The episode featured guest performances by Chris Matthews, Nathan Gunn, Eddie Sotelo, Fred Tatasciore and Kel MacFarlane, along with several recurring guest voice actors for the series. "Dog Gone" was released on DVD along with seven other episodes from the season on June 15, 2010. ## Plot Brian receives an invitation to an award ceremony celebrating his novel, Faster Than the Speed of Love, by the Rhode Island Society for Special Literary Excellence. Convinced he is a great writer, Brian attempts to gain the family's interest but fails to do so, they even callously disregard him. Once he arrives at the "award ceremony" however, he discovers that he has misunderstood the meaning of the word "special", prompting him to drown his sorrows at the local bar and realize that he is not a good writer. He drives home drunk that night and accidentally runs over and kills a dog. He secretly buries the dead dog's body outside the Griffins' home and tries to keep quiet about it. Stewie, having witnessed his deed, begins to toy with Brian's guilt, eventually driving him to a state where he decides to confess to "murder". However, when he confesses to Joe and the Griffin family, they all laugh, saying that no one cares if a dog or any other animal is killed, especially by another animal. Outraged, Brian starts a support group, and decides to call it "The Quahog Animal Equal Rights League", to convince the town that the lives of animals should be of equal value to humans'. As the town citizens learn more about it, however, none of them are keen on changing their lifestyles if it means no processed meats and medical research on animals, and even become interested in how dogs taste after Brian mentions they are eaten in some cultures. Refusing to listen any further, they chase after Brian in an attempt to eat him. Brian realizes that if no one cares about the lives of animals, then he is worthless to the Griffin family and everyone else. Stewie finds Brian crying in the bathtub, and, seeing how upset Brian is and feeling sorry for him, Stewie successfully fakes his death by putting his collar (which Brian hadn't been wearing) on a stray and killing it in a liquor store fire. The Griffins are devastated upon learning about Brian's supposed death, and realize how close a friend he was to them. Seeing this, Stewie rushes upstairs to show Brian how much the Griffins still care about him, regardless of his species. Brian then realizes his life does have a purpose and thanks Stewie for helping him, and decides to remain hidden to let the Griffins grieve a little longer. Meanwhile, Quagmire accidentally knocks over a carton of Kool-Aid mix on the kitchen floor of the Griffin's house and leaves Peter to take the blame. Frustrated with having to clean Peter's messes, Lois hires a Hispanic maid named Consuela to clean their house. But Consuela quickly proves to be very stubborn, refusing to leave after her work hours and sleeping at the Griffins' house overnight, much to Peter and Lois' annoyance. They try to fire her and even bribe her to leave, but she still refuses (though she takes the money they offer her anyway). In a last-ditch attempt, Peter finally gets rid of her by tricking her into inhaling chloroform on a handkerchief, and leaves her in a basket on Joe's front porch. At the end, Peter lets the viewers know that everyone at Family Guy respects all living beings and assures the viewers that no animals were harmed in the making of the episode, but they are going hurt the feelings of an Italian opera singer by prematurely dropping the curtain on his performance - this is then shown onscreen. ## Production and development First announced at the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con International in San Diego, California on July 25, 2009, by future showrunner Steve Callaghan, the episode was directed by series regular, and former King of the Hill and The Oblongs director, Julius Wu, and written by Callaghan before the conclusion of the eighth production season. The episode saw the reintroduction of the recurring character Consuela, a Hispanic maid whose first appearance was in the sixth season episode "Believe It or Not, Joe's Walking on Air". The character is voiced by main cast member Mike Henry. "Dog Gone", along with seven other episodes from Family Guy's eighth season, was released on a three-disc DVD set in the United States on June 15, 2010. The sets included brief audio commentaries by Seth MacFarlane and various crew and cast members for several episodes, a collection of deleted scenes, a special mini-feature which discussed the process behind animating "Road to the Multiverse", and a mini-feature entitled Family Guy Karaoke. In addition to the regular cast, anchor and political commentator Chris Matthews, voice actor Fred Tatasciore, opera singer Nathan Gunn, radio personality Eddie Sotelo and Kel MacFarlane, webmaster of the Seth MacFarlane fan site, guest starred in the episode. Recurring guest voice actors Ralph Garman, writer John Viener, writer Mark Hentemann, actress Alexandra Breckenridge, writer Alec Sulkin and writer Danny Smith also made minor appearances. ## Cultural references In the opening scene of the episode, Stewie is seen going through Brian's internet history, which includes searches about himself on the internet search engine Google. Later, after going to the bar to drink, Brian talks to Bill, the father from The Family Circus syndicated comic strip. After Bill tells him he should have tried harder on writing his book, Brian responds by yelling that all Bill does is "judge" other people, and demands for him to go home and "fuck [his] wife in the face", to which Bill agrees. This is also later recognized by Peter the next day, when he is seen reading the funnies, and murmurs to himself, "this is a very shocking Family Circus." News anchor and political commentator Chris Matthews' show entitled Hardball with Chris Matthews is referenced by Stewie when he suggests Brian is getting a big head, with the guest, United States Senator Harry Reid, then appearing on Matthews' forehead, suggesting Matthews is self-centered. After Reid continues to interrupt him, however, Matthews cuts to actor Kurtwood Smith, in which Matthews appears on Smith's forehead instead. Once Consuela is hired as the family maid, she first begins to annoy Peter by listening to stereotypical Latin music played loudly on a portable radio, in which the singer repeats the Spanish phrase "¡Muchos horn-os!" which literally translates to "many ovens" but within the context of the show is actually meant to be Spanglish for "many horns." In Consuela's final appearance in the episode, she is seen watching a commercial, which parodies local commercials urging viewers to hire a lawyer if they are in a car accident. In an attempt to try to prove that an animal has the same rights as humans, Brian starts an advocacy group, and is suggested by Lois to join PETA, but she is unable to enunciate the word differently from how she pronounces "Peter," leading her husband to become confused. The end of the gag has Chris stating his belief that Betty White is a member of the organization, with his wording prompting Peter to yell, "That doesn't even make sense!" Brian goes on to create a public service announcement regarding animal rights, one of which involves a dog being "tortured" by having to listen to the radio show All Things Considered on National Public Radio, which the dog's owner leaves on for him before leaving the house. ## Reception In an improvement over the previous four episodes, the episode was viewed in 8.48 million homes in its original airing, according to Nielsen ratings, despite airing simultaneously with Sunday Night Football, the television movie A Dog Named Christmas on CBS and Desperate Housewives on ABC. The episode also acquired a 4.4 rating in the 18–49 demographic, beating The Simpsons, The Cleveland Show and American Dad!, but was ultimately edged out slightly by The Simpsons in total viewership. Reviews of the episode were highly positive, citing the Brian and Stewie storyline as a "solid attempt to tell a good story," and the Consuela scenes as "terrific." Ahsan Haque of IGN also noted that "the writers deserved some credit" for the episode, saying that, in comparison to past episodes the episode did not "come across as a haphazardly assembled string of jokes." Jason Hughes of TV Squad also found the Consuela scenes to be "hilarious," but found the final scene to be "strangely uncomfortable," expecting Meg to be pushed out of the family hug. Emily VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club praised the handling of Brian's character in the episode, and called the Peter and PETA gag "pretty cheap, but quite funny," giving the episode a B rating overall. In February 2010, for "rais[ing] public awareness of animal issues", "Dog Gone" won a Genesis Award for television comedy, winning over South Park episode 'Whale Whores" and Monk episode "Mr. Monk and the Dog". In a post on PETA's official blog, Amanda Schinke, however, was highly critical of the episode for its "myriad of violent deaths of cartoon dogs." In addition, she called for the show to "hire who can generate material that doesn't make us roll our eyes."

Hero (Mariah Carey song)

1993 single by Mariah Carey

"Hero" is a song by American singer-songwriter, and record producer Mariah Carey released on October 18, 1993, via Columbia Records as the second single from her third studio album, Music Box (1993). The song was written and produced by Carey and Walter Afanasieff. While writing the song, Carey did not connect to its style or sound, therefore forfeiting it to Gloria Estefan, who was intended to sing it for the soundtrack of the film of the same name (1992). However, after being convinced by Sony executive Tommy Mottola to keep it for herself, she changed some of the lyrics to more precisely fit her personality. Lyrically, the song is regarded as one of Carey's most inspirational and personal ballads, with its protagonist declaring that even though people may feel discouraged or down at times, in reality, they are "heroes" if they look inside themselves and see their own inner strength; in time, it will help them "find the way". The song received mixed reviews from contemporary music critics for its lyrical content, while Carey's vocal performance was praised. Aside from its lyrics, "Hero" derived its hook and sound from several musical instruments such as the guitar, piano, and organ. The song was a global success, reaching the top five in Canada, France, Ireland, New Zealand and Norway, the top ten in Australia, the United Kingdom, and becoming Carey's eighth chart topper on the US Billboard Hot 100. Additionally, it was ranked number 53 on the Decade-End Chart. Due to fan requests and letters, as well as their connection to its personal meaning and content, the song remains one of Carey's most performed songs. Deemed by many as her signature song, the song was originally performed on The Arsenio Hall Show, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and Hey Hey It's Saturday during its original chart run. Additionally, Carey has performed Hero at several special live telethons, memorials and benefit concerts; in 1996, Mariah sang the song at Capitol Hill’s Peace Officers Memorial Day service in Washington, D.C. (with the Clinton family in attendance), as well as Pavarotti and Friends in 1998, Michael Jackson & Friends in 1999, America: A Tribute to Heroes in 2001, Live 8 in 2005, and the inaugural ball for Barack Obama in 2009. Additionally, the song has been featured on all of Carey's tours, usually serving as the encore or closing number, and making its debut during the album's accompanying set of concerts, the Music Box Tour. The song was included on several of Carey's compilation albums, \#1's (1998), Greatest Hits (2001), The Ballads (2008), and \#1 to Infinity (2015). Throughout the course of her career, Carey has re-recorded the song twice, and filmed other music videos, aside from the original. The first music video for the song was filmed by Larry Jordan in July 1993, during a private concert at Proctor's Theatre, later released on the home video Here Is Mariah Carey. In 2001, following the September 11 attacks, Carey re-recorded the song as a mash-up single titled "Never Too Far/Hero Medley", a medley with her single at the time, "Never Too Far". Additionally, prior to the release of her compilation album The Ballads, Carey re-recorded "Hero" and filmed a new video featuring behind the scenes footage of the studio. "Hero" won two ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Music Awards, one ASCAP Pop Music Award and one BMI Pop Award for the Songwriter Award. The song has been covered many times during both studio and live recordings, such as on global singing competitions. ## Background Mariah Carey's second studio album, Emotions (1991), contained influences from mostly 1950s, 1960s and 1970s balladry and gospel, as well as her continued work of R&B and soul. The album, while praised by some as more mature and raw, failed to reach the critical or commercial heights of her debut effort, and could not introduce Carey to a different market. Following these events, Columbia decided to market the singer in a similar fashion to her debut, only have her produce a more commercial and radio-friendly album. Their plans were to tone down Carey's vocals, and soften the album's production, leaving a more contemporary pop record. Agreeing to the change, Carey and producer Walter Afanasieff began writing and recording material for her third studio effort, Music Box (1993). The B-side for the single, Everything Fades Away, was never included on the Music Box album, and was not performed by Carey for years until the early 2020 leg of her The Butterfly Returns residency, when she performed parts of the song with her background singers and singer JoJo as part of a series of snippet videos recorded for her fans. The song was later included in her 2020 compilation, The Rarities ## Writing and recording Aside from her work as a vocalist and record artist, Carey was becoming known as a songwriter, having penned and produced all of her own material throughout her career. During the production of Music Box, she was approached by Epic Records to write and record a song alongside Afanasieff, and release it on the soundtrack to the 1992 film Hero, featuring Dustin Hoffman and Geena Davis. While Carey was interested in the project, Mottola was very adamant over not allowing Carey to take part in anything involving film, fearing it would hurt her career. Additionally, Columbia felt uneasy about allowing their highest-selling recording artist to contribute to another label, even a branch of the same parent company, Sony. Instead, it was agreed upon that Carey would write a song for the soundtrack that would instead be recorded by another artist. Still interested in working for the film, Carey agreed to pen the feature song for the film, intended for fellow female singer, Gloria Estefan. Carey and Afanasieff sat together in a studio in New York, and over the course of two hours, composed the song's melody, lyric and concept. In an interview with Fred Bronson, Afanasieff discussed the process in which they had completed the rough version of the song: > I went to New York and we were in the studio and came to a break. I was sitting at the piano and told Mariah about this movie. Within two hours, we had this incredible seed for this song, 'Hero'. It was never meant for Mariah to sing. In her mind, we were writing a song for Gloria Estefan for this movie. And we went into an area that Mariah didn't really go into-in her words, it was a little bit too schmaltzy or too ballady or too old-fashioned as far as melody and lyrics. As they completed the song's demo, Tommy Mottola, CEO of Sony Music Entertainment and Carey's fiancé, walked into the studio. After hearing the rough version of the song, on which they were still working, he became interested in it, asking what project the song belonged to. Carey explained to him the concept and how the song would be used for the film Hero. Mottola immediately took an intense liking to the song, responding, "Are you kidding me? You can't give this song to this movie. This is too good. Mariah, you have to take this song. You have to do it." Initially, Carey was guided by the subject of the film, but Afanasieff acknowledged that she made it a very personal song after deciding to keep it, altering some of the lyrics, key and instrumentation. After their decision to keep "Hero", Afanasieff went back to the staff at Epic and told them that they had failed to come up with a song for the soundtrack. Estefan never heard the tune was originally meant for her, and the song that ended up in the soundtrack was "Heart of a Hero", written, produced and recorded by Luther Vandross. In the following weeks, after completing the song, Afanasieff spoke with Bronson about its recording, and how Carey created several versions of the track: > There was a simpler performance on tape and a more difficult one, with Mariah singing out more, with more licks. But we chose a happy medium. The song really calls for not anything really fancy. But she's always fighting the forces inside of her because she's her own devil's advocate. She wants to do something that's so over the top and use her talents and the voice she has. But she also knows she has to restrain herself and do what the music really calls for. ## Composition and lyrical content "Hero" is a mid-tempo ballad. It was written and produced by Carey and Afanasieff, and was released as the second single from her third studio album, Music Box. It incorporates music from several musical instruments, including the piano, guitar and organ. The song is set in common time with a tempo of 60 beats per minute. Carey's vocal range spans one octave and eight semitones from the low note of G₃ to the high note of E₅. Originally, Carey felt the song was "too schmaltzy" and over the top for her, and not in line with her other work. However, after being convinced by Mottola to keep the song, Carey changed the song and personalized it, during which time she grew to feel a connection to the song and its lyrics. According to author Chris Nickson, "Hero" is one of Carey's most personal and inspirational ballads. Carey has described how the song was never her favorite, however, after all the fan letters and messages she received about the song, she felt the need to perform it as often as possible. In an interview with Fred Bronson, Carey described the song's meaning to her and to fans: > One person could say that 'Hero' is a schmaltzy piece of garbage, but another person can write to me a letter and say, 'I've considered committing suicide every day of my life for the last ten years until I heard that song, and I realized, after all, I can be my own hero,' and that, that's an unexplainable feeling, like I've done something with my life, you know? It meant something to someone. The song's lyrics describe of the individual power that lies inside every person, their ability to be their own hero. According to author Carol K. Ingall, the song inspires anyone to be a hero. Ingall continued how due to a hero's power to transform and inspire those around them, so too every person has inside of them the light and force needed to help change the world. Similarly, author Darlene Wade connects the song's lyrical content to the power within the soul, however also with the inclusion of God. According to Maryellen Moffitt, author of "See It, Be It, Write It", "Hero" is about looking into oneself and discovering the inner courage inside each individual, and being strong and believing in oneself through times of trouble and adversity. Moffitt claims the song personally helped him get through difficult moments when "the answers seemed so far away". Following her taped performance of "One Sweet Day" at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California during The Adventures of Mimi Tour, Carey described the song's importance to her and her fans: > I wrote a song a while back even before "One Sweet Day" and it was not my favorite song in the world, but I wrote it. Someone asked me to write a song and they told me the story, and you know it was kind of a moving concept or whatever. And I did it, and I was like you know it's not necessarily what I like per se, but after doing the song over and over again and having people coming up to and saying, thank you for writing 'Hero' because it saved my life or it saved my father's life or my brothers or sisters life, or something of that nature, I said I always have to sing that song when I'm performing because if I don't, you never know who I'm leaving out and you know what, in times of my life I've had to turn to that song lyrically and flip it onto my own life and sing it to myself. So its from the 'Music Box' album, and it’s called 'Hero', this is for you. ## Copyright lawsuits "Hero" was the subject of two copyright plagiarism cases; one by Christopher Selletti and the other by Rhonda Dimmie, filed in 1993 and 1996. Selletti claimed he had written the song's lyrics in the form of a poem. One day, as he drove Sly Stone in a limousine to Long Island, he claimed to show him the poem. Selletti claimed Stone complimented the poem, taking it and promising to patent it and earn him royalties. After many months, the pair fell out of contact, leading Selletti to mail himself the envelope and poem, performing a "poor man's copyright". Three years later in 1996, he claimed to listen to Carey's album Music Box and was shocked when he noted the song's similar lyrics. He filed a lawsuit against Carey, Stone, Sony and Stone's manager Jerry Goldstein. Selletti claimed that Stone must have sold or contributed the lyrics to Carey during the recording of the album in late 1992. However, since Stone did not receive songwriting credits on "Hero", Selletti then dropped the suit against Stone, leaving him against Carey and Sony. Prior to their courtroom meeting, Carey told New York Daily News "I feel totally victimized. 'Hero' is my creation and it holds a very special meaning to me. I have every intention of fighting this all the way." In court, Carey provided evidence to her innocence, in the form of a dated lyrical and music notebook, with conceptual info on the song dated back to November 20, 1992, prior to Selletti's meeting with Stone. Additionally, Carey stated the fact that she had originally written it for the film Hero alongside Afanasieff, making their connection or the involvement of his material impossible. Judge Denny Chin found Carey innocent, and ordered Selletti to pay her a fine. Years later, after consulting with another lawyer, Selletti made another attempt at suing Carey and Sony. His lawyer, Jeffrey Levitt, had uncovered the fact that the film was released in October 1992, a full six weeks prior to the November 22 dating in Carey's notebook. Additionally, "Heart of a Hero", which was written by Luther Vandross for the film, was submitted in January 1992, making it impossible for "Hero" to have been the original choice of song for the soundtrack. After uncovering further tapes from the studio dating to the summer of 1992, recordings provided evidence that Carey and Afansieff had indeed discussed and had parts of the song completed well before the film's October release. Following the evidence from both parties, the judge dismissed the case, ruling in Carey's favor for the second time. Following the dismissal of the case, Rhonda Dimmie, another songwriter and an independent singer, filed a lawsuit against Carey, this time claiming the song to have borrowed heavily from her song "Be Your Own Hero". During the short deposition made by Carey, Afanasieff revealed that they had written the song in two days during the summer of 1992, "within a matter of hours". Soon after, the case was dismissed, with the judge claiming there to not be sufficient evidence on Dimmie's behalf. Following the lawsuits, in 2001 Selletti made further hints to plan another lawsuit, as well as a forensic team of specialists to conduct research on the incident. Following the suits, Cindy Berger, Carey's publicist released the following statement: "This case has been thrown out of court three times. The federal judge after hearing Selletti's story and considering all the evidence ruled the case was a 'complete fabrication' and that it was filed 'to extort a settlement from deep-pocket defendants." ## Reception ### Critical response The Baltimore Sun critic J.D. Considine praised the song, writing, "["Hero"] is a lavish, soul-stirring ballad, the sort of thing other singers would pay Diane Warren to write." Additionally, he called its chorus "uplifting" and "soaring", following praise towards Carey's vocal performance. Larry Flick from Billboard described it as "an inspirational winner with a sure, dignified message whose wisdom is matched by the stirring clarity of the arrangement." He added, "Carey's vocals have never been more pure-toned and plaintive. An across-the-spectrum smash, it will be heard for years to come because it deserves to be." Troy J. Augusto from Cashbox named it Pick of the Week, calling it a "lushly arranged song of inner strength and the finding of one's self-worth." He felt it "plays like a companion to Bette Midler's "Wind Beneath My Wings", complete with soaring chorus, delicate vocal phrasing and a message so powerful and timeless that it's bound to be turned into a charity fundraising theme song, prom dance theme song, sandwich chain ad campaign or, probably, all of the above." Rik Ambelle from Crawley News stated that Carey "really is at her best" on ballads like "Hero". Entertainment Weekly wrote that "there's a timelessness" to the song "that's almost jarring — it's such a classic chest-pounder that it's as if we've always had 'Hero', and the imaginary movie scene to go with it." Annette M. Lai from the Gavin Report commented that the song is "less commercial", "in that its hook is rather subtle, but still worthy of mention because of its inspiring message about believing in oneself and one's dreams." Another editor, Ron Fell, called it "a wonderful song of self-assuring courage". In his weekly UK chart commentary, James Masterton wrote, "The first ever Mariah Carey single that I will hold my hand up and admit to loving, "Hero" eases back on the vocal histrionics and ups the emotion to produce this tender ballad which crashes straight in to beat the peak of the last single and becomes her highest new entry ever." In an retrospective review, Pop Rescue noted that Carey's vocals "are flawless, and the song flows perfectly along with her." Nathan Brackett from Rolling Stone called the singer's vocal tone "golden" and regarded "Hero" as "a standard for weddings, funerals and singing auditions." It received a mixed review from The Washington Post editor Mike Joyce, who while impressed, claimed it was not as good as competing ballads of the time. Paul Gettelmen of the Orlando Sentinel criticized the song, calling it a "rip-off" of Whitney Houston's "Greatest Love of All". Stephen Holden, another editor from Rolling Stone also noted an inspiration and similarity to "Greatest Love of All" and calling its lyrics "made up entirely of pop and soul clichés". ### Chart performance "Hero" became Carey's eighth chart topper on the US Billboard Hot 100. It reached the number one position in its tenth week and spent four weeks at the top, from December 25, 1993, to January 15, 1994. It replaced "Again" by Janet Jackson, and was replaced by Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart and Sting's "All for Love". In total, the song remained in the top 40 for 25 weeks, with 16 of those spent in the top ten. On the Billboard year-end Charts for 1994, "Hero" finished at number five, number 53 on the decade-end chart and number three on the year-end Airplay Chart. "Hero" has been certified triple-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), denoting shipments of over two million units throughout the country. Prior to the song's recital at Carey's concert at Madison Square Garden on December 10, 1993, during her Music Box Tour, she announced that the proceeds from the stateside sales of the single were to be donated to the families of the victims of the 1993 Long Island Rail Road shooting. The song was dedicated to the three men who subdued the shooter on stage that night, three days after the tragedy. Carey was a frequent rider on the LIRR rush hour service out of Penn Station when she lived on Long Island. In Canada, the song debuted at number 64 on the Canadian RPM Singles Chart during the week of November 6, 1993. During the week of December 4, 1993, "Hero" reached its peak position of number three, staying there for three consecutive weeks, and a total of 21 weeks within the top 100. "Hero" finished at numbers 48 and 22 on the Canadian year-end charts for 1993 and 1994. The song entered the Australian Singles Chart at number 47 on the issue dated November 14, 1993, and eventually spent three weeks at its peak position of number seven. "Hero" was certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), denoting shipments of over 70,000 units throughout the country. In France, "Hero" entered the single chart at number 24 during the week dated March 19, 1994. After staying six consecutive weeks at its peak position of number five, and a total of 21 weeks in the chart, the song was certified silver by the Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique (SNEP), denoting shipments of over 200,000 units. In the Netherlands, the song peaked at number 13 on the Single Top 100 chart, spending eight weeks fluctuating within the chart. "Hero" peaked at number five on the Irish Singles Chart, spending a combined 14 weeks within the chart. In New Zealand, the song peaked at number two on the singles chart, spending five nonconsecutive weeks at the position, and a total of 20 weeks on the chart. "Hero" was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ), denoting shipments of 15,000 units. During the week of January 21, 1994, the song peaked at number two on the Norwegian Singles Chart, spending a total of eight weeks in the chart and being certified gold by the VG-lista. On November 11, 1993, the song entered the UK Singles Chart at number eight. The following week, it reached its peak position of number seven, spending a total of 15 weeks in the chart during its original chart run. On November 8, 2008, following the release of the "Hero" by the X Factor finalists, it re-entered the chart at number 100. Two weeks later, "Hero" managed to reach number 67 on the chart, before plummeting outside the top 100 the following week. As of December 2022, the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) estimates sales of "Hero" in the United Kingdom to be at 400,000 units, qualifying it for a gold certification in the UK. ### Awards and accolades "Hero" was awarded and nominated for awards throughout the music industry. At the 12th ASCAP Awards, Carey took home the award for "Rhythm & Soul Songwriter". The following year, at the 13th annual ceremony, "Hero" won Carey awards for "Rhythm & Soul Songwriter" and "Pop Songwriter". The song was awarded a BMI Pop Award at the ceremony in 1995. Additionally, it was nominated for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 37th annual Grammy Awards, losing to Sheryl Crow's "All I Wanna Do". ## Music videos and re-recordings Prior to the song's release towards the end of 1993, Carey performed an intimate concert at Proctor's Theatre, New York on July 15, 1993. Following its taping, the concert was released as the home video titled, Here Is Mariah Carey (1993). Carey's performance of the song that night was edited and commissioned as the official music video, directed by Larry Jordan. The video was included on Carey's DVD \#1's (1998). The video features her in a long dark dress, sporting long curly hair. On few international versions of the album, a Spanish version of the song was included, such as on the Mexican and Argentinian versions. It was titled "Héroe", and featured translation by Jorge Luis Piloto, a Spanish musician who had come to briefly work with Carey. In 2001, following the September 11 attacks, Carey re-recorded the song as a medley with "Never Too Far", her single at the time. Titled "Never Too Far/Hero Medley", it was released as a charity single throughout October of that year. In an interview with MTV, Carey described the idea behind the medley: > "I started [performing] at different charity events where I did a combination of 'Never Too Far' and 'Hero'. We made it into a medley and kinda put them both in the same key and just made it work, and people responded really well to it. It's been interesting for me, since the events of September 11, the way people have been playing 'Hero' and talking to me about 'Never Too Far', 'cause that song is also about loss. I figured that it would be a nice thing to do, to put them both out for Christmas. ... I feel like it's our responsibility to do what we can right now in terms of music, just being artists and being human beings." In 2008, prior to the release of Carey's compilation album The Ballads, Carey recorded a version of "Hero" with new vocals, releasing it on the stateside version of the album. Additionally, a music video was filmed and released for the 2008 version, featuring behind the scenes footage of the song's recording, as well as Carey's writing music in the studio. ## Live performances Due to fan requests and its personal lyrical content, Carey has performed "Hero" on several occasions throughout her career. She first performed the song in July 1993 at the Proctor's Theater, later to be released as Here Is Mariah Carey. Later, she performed the song live on The Arsenio Hall Show in November 1993, appearing on stage after a short interview wearing a mid-length black gown and sporting long brown locks. She was joined by three back-up vocalists, Trey Lorenz, Cindi Mizelle and Melodie Daniels. Carey continued stateside promotion of the song with a performance on The Jay Leno Show the following week. Throughout Europe and Australasia, Carey made appearances on Sacrée Soirée in France, Platendaagse in the Netherlands, Sale El Dia in Spain, Sontagsoppet in Sweden, and Hey Hey It's Saturday in Australia. On May 15, 1996, at the Annual National Peace Officers Memorial Service, held in the grounds of the US Capitol Building, Carey performed Hero in tribute to police officers killed in the line of duty. In attendance was the US president at the time, Bill Clinton. Following the release of her sixth studio album Butterfly, Carey performed it alongside "Butterfly" on The Oprah Winfrey Show on September 22, 1997. In between both performances, Winfrey interviewed Carey over her failed marriage to Mottola, as well as the several negative rumors that followed their divorce. Two years later, she performed "Hero" together with Luciano Pavarotti in Modena, Italy during the summer of 1999. Carey appeared on stage alongside him, wearing a long pink evening gown and sporting a long straightened hairstyle. The performance was filmed and released on VHS as Pavarotti and Friends. Carey sang "Hero" in Seoul, South Korea in June 1999 during the Michael Jackson & Friends benefit concert, which raised money for several charitable organizations. On September 21, 2001, following the September 11 attacks, Carey sang "Hero" as part of the America: A Tribute to Heroes telethon. Her appearance on the telethon was her first public appearance since her publicized breakdown and hospitalization, prior to the release of Glitter which was theatrical release on the same day. In 2003, Carey performed a medley of songs from her album, Charmbracelet (2002), during Michael Jordan's final NBA All-Star Game in 2003 Following the medley, she included "Hero" onto the short set-list, followed by Jordan's final game. On July 2, 2005, a benefit concert was held in Hyde Park, London titled Live 8. The televised event was watched by over 9.6 million British citizens, and held a live audience of over 200,000. Carey performed a three-song set-list, opening with "Make It Happen" and "Hero", which featured a live choir of African children, and followed by "We Belong Together", accompanied by actors Chris Barrie, Judy Flynn, Mike Burns and Julia St. John. During a promotional tour for her eleventh studio effort E=MC2 in 2008, the song was re-recorded by the 2008 UK X Factor finalists and released as a single. Prior to its release, Carey appeared on the program, where she performed her single at the time "I Stay in Love", followed by a duet of "Hero" in between her and the finalists. In 2009, during the inaugural ball for Barack Obama, Carey opened the televised event with a live rendition of "Hero", wearing a long black evening gown while sporting a long wavy hairstyle. On June 5, 2010, Carey performed the song alongside "We Belong Together" at the Walmart shareholders meeting. Following the performance, Carey gained heavy media coverage for her apparent weight gain, leading many to suspect her pregnancy with husband Nick Cannon. Aside from the several live televised performances, Carey included "Hero" on the set-lists on all of her tours, usually serving as one of the closing numbers. In an interview, Carey said that although it is not one of her favorite songs, she tries to perform it on each of her shows due to its powerful message, fearing that if she doesn't, she might miss out on the opportunity to help someone. She first performed the song in concert during her stateside Music Box Tour. During the song's recital, Carey donned a black gown and matching sandals, while sporting her signature golden locks of the time. During her performances at the Tokyo Dome on her Daydream World Tour (1996), Carey performed the song as one of the closing numbers. Prior to the song, Carey introduced Afanasieff, who played the organ throughout the tour. Carey appeared on stage with a straightened hairstyle, and a long black evening gown. On her Butterfly World Tour in 1998, Carey performed "Hero" as the eighth song on the set-list. Unlike her previous tour, Afanasieff was not present, due to the pair's continued personal dispute. During the song, Carey was backed up by three vocalists, and wore a long sequined black gown. In 2000, during her Rainbow World Tour, Carey used "Hero" as the tour's closing number, leaving the stage to meet and greet fans during the song's performance. Similarly, "Hero" served as the closing number on her Charmbracelet World Tour (2002–03), where she wore a long beige gown and feathered frock tail. In 2006, during The Adventures of Mimi Tour, Carey performed "Hero" as the penultimate song on the set-list. She wore a blue floor-length mid-bearing gown, and received vocal back up from four background singers. Following the release of her twelfth studio effort, Carey embarked on the Angels Advocate Tour. After performing the regular set-list, Carey exited the arena, only to make one re-entry for "Hero" as the encore performance. She also performed the song regularly as a part of her 2014 The Elusive Chanteuse Show world tour, and her first annual Christmas show at New York City's Beacon Theatre, entitled All I Want For Christmas Is You, A Night of Joy & Festivity. In addition, she included the song in her 2015 Las Vegas residency, Mariah Carey Number 1's, a chronicle of her 18 US number 1 hits. The song was performed 8th in her setlist. She sang on a circular platform on the stage, donning a short white dress. ## Track listings - European CD single 1. "Hero" (LP version) – 4:18 2. "Hero" (Live from Here Is Mariah Carey) – 4:16 - European CD maxi single 1. "Hero" (LP Version) – 4:19 2. "Dreamlover" (Def Club Mix Edit) – 4:02 3. "Dreamlover" (Theo's Club Joint) – 4:32 4. "Dreamlover" (Def Tribal Mix) – 6:40 - Japanese CD single 1. "Hero" – 4:18 2. "Everything Fades Away" – 5:25 - US/Japan CD maxi single 1. "Hero" (LP Version) – 4:18 2. "Hero" (Live from Here Is Mariah Carey) – 4:16 3. "Everything Fades Away" – 5:25 4. "Dreamlover" (Club Joint Mix) – 4:33 ## Credits and personnel Credits adapted from the Music Box liner notes. "Hero" was recorded at The Plant Studios, Sausalito, California and The Record Plant, Los Angeles. Vocals were recorded and mixed at Right Track Studios, New York. Recording engineer, Dana Jon Chappelle. - Mariah Carey – co-production, songwriting, vocals - Walter Afanasieff – co-production, songwriting, keyboards, rhythm programming, acoustic guitar - Michael Landau – guitar - Dana Jon Chappelle – music and vocal engineering - David Gleeson –additional engineering - Mick Guzauski – mixing - Bob Ludwig – mastering ## Charts ### Weekly charts ### Year-end charts ### Decade-end charts ## Certifications and sales ## Release history ## Miho Nakayama version "Hero" was covered by Japanese entertainer Miho Nakayama as her 30th single, released by King Records on December 14, 1994. Co-written in Japanese by Nakayama and arranged by Robbie Buchanan, this version was used as the theme song of the Fuji TV drama series For You, which also starred Nakayama. The B-side is an a cappella version with different lyrics. Nakayama's version of "Hero" peaked at No. 8 on Oricon's weekly singles chart. It sold over 474,000 copies and was certified Platinum by the RIAJ. ### Track listing ### Charts Weekly charts Year-end charts ### Certification ## The X Factor UK 2008 contestants version The twelve contestants from the fifth series of the British TV talent show The X Factor released a cover of the song on October 27, 2008, for the Help for Heroes and The Royal British Legion charities. The finalists performed the single for the first time on October 25, 2008, during Week 3 of the live broadcasts. The single was released on download on October 26, 2008, followed by the physical release the day after. On October 30, it was announced that the British Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, would waive all tax on copies sold on the single. He said, "I support the efforts being made by the X Factor contestants and in recognition of that I'm proposing effectively to waive the VAT on the sale of these singles. We will do that by making a donation equivalent to the value of the VAT." Following the single's release, the music video was sent to music channels on November 8 before the fifth live show, when the contestants (excluding Diana Vickers, absent because of illness) sang it again. All the contestants appeared in the video, which also showed still images of soldiers in Iraq. The contestants performed the song again with Mariah Carey on November 8, 2008, during Week 5 of the live broadcasts, a week in which Carey's music and career served as the theme. ### Chart performance On November 2, 2008, the single debuted atop of the UK Singles Chart, staying there for three consecutive weeks and becoming the fastest-selling single of 2008. The song sold 100,000 copies in the first day of its release and 313,244 copies by the end of the week. It raised over £1 million for Help for Heroes. It was suggested that the song would become one of the biggest-selling releases of the decade, with HMV spokesman Gennaro Castaldo saying: "This is proving to be one of the biggest single releases for years if not the decade. Only Leona Lewis's debut hit "A Moment Like This", which sold over 500,000 copies in its first week, can compare. It's selling more than most Christmas No 1s would, and HMV has placed an urgent order for more copies." On December 28, 2008, the UK Singles Chart listed it as the second biggest selling single for the year end countdown and the nineteenth best-selling single of the decade. The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) certified the song double-platinum, denoting shipments of over 1.2 million copies within the country. ### Charts and certifications #### Weekly charts #### Year-end charts #### Certifications ## Other cover versions and uses "Hero" has been covered several times through live performances, as well as recorded studio versions. Additionally, since its debut, it has achieved strong media attention. In 2009, prior to the election results, Barack Obama's wife Michelle played him the song to give him strength and inner support. A source close to Carey claimed that hearing the song's use meant a lot to her, saying, "She was blown away when she heard. She is so honoured to have played her part in such an occasion." At the 1994 Essence Awards, Aretha Franklin performed a live rendition of the song as a tribute to The Reverend Jesse Jackson. In 2001, Neal Schon performed an instrumental version on the album Voice. Filipino singers Regine Velasquez and Sarah Geronimo both performed the song live on television, with the former playing a medley of the song alongside Carey's "Anytime You Need a Friend". International male operatic pop group Il Divo included the Spanish version of the song on their second studio album, Ancora (2005). Australian singer and actress Natalie Bassingthwaighte performed a live version of the song at the Rugby League World Cup Heroes 08 Campaign. Michael Ball, British singer, actor and radio personality, covered "Hero" for his album titled One Voice (2006). American Idol season 5 contestant Heather Cox performed the song during the top 20 performances week, only to be voted off that night for not being able to successfully carry the song. Similarly, season 7 contestant Brooke White performed the song during the Mariah Carey themed week, while season 8 contestant Danny Gokey performed the song in the top 36 performances. season 10 contestant Karen Rodriguez performed the song in both English and Spanish versions in the top 24 performances, making it into the top 13 the following night. Japanese-American singer Yuna Ito included her rendition of "Hero" on her compilation album Love -Singles Best 2005–2010. Barbadian R&B singer Rihanna sang "Hero" during a live talent show at her high school in Barbados when she was 15. Soon after, she was signed by Jay-Z to Def Jam. The YouTube event "Dear Class of 2020" had the cast of Schitt's Creek performing the song before Carey appeared for the last lines. The X Factor winner Melanie Amaro performed the song during the first season of the show, as a song chosen for her by the public. In 2013, Dami Im recorded a version for her album Dami Im. The album was \#1 in Australia. ## See also - List of Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles of 1993 - List of Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles of 1994

9 (New York City Subway service)

Former New York City Subway service

The 9 Broadway–Seventh Avenue Local was a rapid transit service in the A Division of the New York City Subway. Its route emblem, or "bullet", was colored , since it used the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT)'s Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line for its entire route. The 9 operated during rush hour periods from 1989 to 2005, as a variant of the 1, providing service between Van Cortlandt Park–242nd Street in Riverdale, Bronx, and South Ferry in Lower Manhattan. The 1 ran in a skip-stop service pattern during rush hours, with the 9 providing the complementary skip-stop service on the same route. The 9 was temporarily suspended between 2001 and 2002 due to severe damage to the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line caused by the September 11 attacks, and was permanently discontinued in 2005 as a result of a decrease in the number of riders benefiting. The 9 designation was also used for a shuttle train on the IRT Dyre Avenue Line between 1941 and 1967. ## History ### Dyre Avenue Line (1941–67) The 9 designation was originally used for the Interborough Rapid Transit Company's (IRT) Dyre Avenue Line. It served the former New York, Westchester and Boston Railway between Dyre Avenue and East 180th Street, connecting to the IRT White Plains Road Line at the latter station. When a connection between the Dyre Avenue Line and the White Plains Road Line opened in 1957, daytime shuttle service was replaced with through service as the . From 1957 until 1967, the nighttime Dyre Avenue Shuttle continued to use the number 9. The shuttle was relabeled SS in 1967, and then renamed as part of the , the same as the through service on the line through East 180th Street to Dyre Avenue. ### Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line (1989–2005) In April 1988, the New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA) unveiled plans to speed up service on the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line through the implementation of skip-stop service. As soon as the plan was announced, some local officials were opposed to the change. Initially, skip-stop service would have been operated north of 116th Street, with 1 trains skipping 125th Street, 157th Street, 207th Street, and 225th Street, and 9 trains skipping 145th Street, 181st Street, Dyckman Street, 215th Street and 238th Street. As part of the study that resulted in the skip-stop plan, the NYCTA examined the feasibility of using the center track for express service. However, the center track along the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line exists in two segments, which would result in an inefficient express service, and so skip-stop service was chosen instead. Most passengers would not have to wait longer for a train because, previously, a third of 1 trains had terminated at 137th Street. The previous headway for stations north of there was 10 minutes. At skip-stop stations, the maximum wait was to be 10 minutes, and would be 5 minutes at all-stop stations. Skip-stop trains would not speed through stations, instead passing through skipped stops at 15 mph (24 km/h), the maximum allowed per NYCTA rules. On July 1988, it was announced that 1/9 skip-stop service would begin on August 29, 1988. Skip-stop service was expected to speed up travel times for almost half of riders north of 96th Street. In August 1988, the NYCTA postponed plans for 1/9 skip-stop service due to public opposition. NYCTA officials recognized that they did not do a good job informing the community, and indicated that they planned to continue to look into it. Plans to implement skip-stop service on the IRT Pelham Line (6 train), which were contingent on the success of 1/9 skip-stop were indefinitely postponed. In September 1988, the MTA Board formally voted to defer implementation of 1/9 skip-stop service for these reasons. NYCTA planned to initiate outreach in January 1989 and implement the change at some point later that year. In October 1988, the NYCTA informed local communities that it planned to implement skip-stop the following spring; residents of Inwood and Washington Heights were particularly opposed to the change. In March 1989, the NYCTA stated that there was not a set date for the implementation of the plan, with service possibly starting as late as the fall. To convince local communities, it set up meetings with residents and distributed leaflets advertising the change. In an attempt to win their favor, they changed the name of the service from "skip-stop" to "express" service. A public hearing on the NYCTA's plan for skip-stop service was held on June 27, 1989. The goals of skip-stop service were to extend all trips to 242nd Street, to provide faster travel times for a majority of riders, and to improve service reliability through evenly loaded and spaced trains. During 1987 and 1988 analysis was conducted to determine various options for express service along the 1, including using the center express track. As part of the plan, express service was to operate weekdays between 6:30 a.m. and 7 p.m. Trips that ended at 137th Street were extended to 242nd Street, which eliminated the need for a significant reduction in service levels at local stops. The 125th Street station, which is located south of 137th Street, would have experienced a reduction in service. The location of all-stop stations and skip-stop stations was done to evenly distribute passengers between the 1 and the 9, and to accommodate reverse commuting patterns. Stops with ridership greater than 8,000 daily passengers were designated all-stop stations, while less patronized stops were served by either 1 or 9 trains. One change was made from the 1988 plan–due to community input 181st Street was added as an all-stop station. Express service was expected to save up to 2+1⁄2 minutes of travel time, with an additional 2+1⁄2-minute reduction in waiting time at all-stop stations. This would save a minimum of six minutes, and a maximum of nine minutes or a 19% travel time reduction. Running express service via the center track was dismissed since it was not designed for express service. The track south of 145th Street is not long enough to allow an express train to pass a local, resulting in merging delays at 103rd Street which would eliminate any time saved. In addition, the busiest stops on the line north of 96th Street would be bypassed without any time savings. Extending all-local service to 242nd Street or adding additional trains were dismissed since they would require additional subway cars, which were not available at the time. On July 28, 1989, the MTA Board approved a revised 1/9 skip-stop plan unanimously, with the plan scheduled to take effect on August 21, 1989. Unlike the original plan, 1 trains would skip 145th Street, 191st Street, 207th Street and 225th Street, while 9 trains would skip 157th Street, Dyckman Street, 215th Street and 238th Street. Beginning at 6:30 a.m. on August 21, 1989, the services were coordinated as the /9 and both ran between Van Cortlandt Park–242nd Street and South Ferry. The plan was to have skip-stop service begin north of 116th Street–Columbia University, but due to objections, most notably that riders did not want 125th Street to be a skip-stop station, skip-stop service was only implemented north of 137th Street–City College between the hours of 6:30 am and 7:00 pm weekdays. On September 4, 1994, midday skip-stop service was discontinued, and 191st Street was no longer a skip-stop station. By this time, skip-stop service assigned the following stations to the train only: - 238th Street - 215th Street - Dyckman Street - 157th Street and the following stations to the 9 train only: - Marble Hill–225th Street - 207th Street - 145th Street After the September 11, 2001 attacks, trains had to be rerouted since the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line ran directly under the World Trade Center site and was heavily damaged in the collapse of the Twin Towers. The 1 ran only between Van Cortlandt Park–242nd Street and 14th Street, running local north of 96th Street and express south of there. It later ran to New Lots Avenue via the IRT Eastern Parkway Line, running local on that line, as well as south of 96th Street, replacing the train, which ran between Harlem–148th Street and 14th Street; the 9 service and skip-stop service were suspended at this time. trains returned to South Ferry, and skip-stop service was restored on September 15, 2002. On April 27, 2004, it was announced that New York City Transit was considering eliminating 9 and skip-stop service due to long wait times, and as a result of a decrease in the number of riders benefiting. The MTA estimated that eliminating skip-stop service only added 2+1⁄2 to 3 minutes of travel time for passengers at the northernmost stations at 242nd Street and 238th Street, while many passengers would see trains frequencies double, resulting in decreased overall travel time because of less time waiting for trains. It planned on making a decision in the summer, and approved the change on January 11, 2005. The 9 train was discontinued on May 27, 2005, and the 1 now makes all stops on the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line. ## Final route ### Service pattern The 9 service used the following lines during the rush hours only. ### Stations Stations in green and stations in blue denote stops served by the 1 and former 9, respectively, during rush hours. At all other times, the 1 ran local and now runs local at all times.

Moodu Pani

1980 film by Balu Mahendra

Moodu Pani (English: The Mist) is a 1980 Indian Tamil-language psychological thriller film written, directed and filmed by Balu Mahendra. Starring his then wife Shoba and Pratap, with N. Viswanathan, Ganthimathi, Mohan and Bhanu Chander in supporting roles, it is based on two novels: Idhuvum Oru Viduthalai Thaan (1978) by Rajendra Kumar, and The Collector (1963) by John Fowles. The film follows Chandru (Pratap), who has a strong hatred towards prostitutes and would kill any such woman he encounters. He falls in love with Rekha (Shoba) and believes marrying her will end his psychological distress. Moodu Pani was the third directorial venture of Mahendra and his second in Tamil after Azhiyatha Kolangal (1979). It also marked Mohan's debut in Tamil cinema, and the last film Shoba acted in before her death. Principal photography took place between January and April 1980, mostly in Udupi, Bangalore and Ooty. The film's similarities to Alfred Hitchcock's film Psycho (1960) have been widely discussed. The soundtrack was composed by Ilaiyaraaja, this being his 100th film, and his brother Gangai Amaran was the main lyricist. Moodu Pani was released on 6 November 1980, during the Diwali holiday frame. The film received critical acclaim, with particular praise for the performances of Pratap and Shoba, and Ilaiyaraaja's music; the song "Yen Iniya Pon Nilavae" attained immense popularity. It was a commercial success, running for over 200 days in theatres, and responsible for a resurgence of the thriller genre in Tamil cinema at that point. Despite the film propelling Pratap to stardom, it also led to him being typecast in similar roles. ## Plot Chandru, a wealthy businessman in Bangalore, has an uncontrollable hatred for prostitutes, a consequence of having watched his mother being beaten by his father frequently after he spent a night with a prostitute. Raghunath, a police inspector, knows Chandru and his mother. His son Ravi is engaged to Rekha, the daughter of his friend. Haunted by memories of the prostitute, Chandru lures two prostitutes to lonely places and murders them as he sees that woman in each of them. Rekha's friend Pallavi comes to Bangalore to meet her, and telephones her for her residential address. The conversation is overheard by the Madam of a brothel, who misleads Pallavi. Instead of being taken to Rekha's house, Pallavi is taken to the brothel and forced into prostitution. Rekha and Raghunath search for Pallavi. Chandru comes to the same brothel, takes Pallavi in his car and later kills her. Rekha learns of Pallavi's murder through Raghunath; neither are aware that Chandru is the murderer. Still photographer Bhaskar takes pictures of his lover with a motorbike in the background. Chandru, who had come on that motorbike, had parked it there and murdered a prostitute who enticed him near the same location, then rode away. Reading about the murder in a newspaper, Bhaskar shows Raghunath the pictures with the murderer's motorbike in the background. Raghunath investigates and learns that the owner has lent it to his friend. Troubled by his constant anger, Chandru meets with a psychiatrist who advises him to marry soon so that he will no longer be lonely, saying the loneliness is leading him to dwell on his past and indulge in extreme acts. Chandru meets Rekha at a theatre and then at a book stall. He proposes to Rekha and even pleads with her to marry him. Surprised at his extreme pleading, Rekha politely tells him that she loves someone else (Ravi), and their marriage is already fixed. Raghunath is startled when Rekha tells him about Chandru's marriage proposal. Chandru keeps following Rekha; one day he makes her unconscious and takes her away to a bungalow in Ooty. When she regains consciousness, he tells her that he had purchased this house in Ooty only for her, and again asks her to marry him. When Rekha refuses and begs to be freed, he asks her to stay for at least a month so that she can understand him better, and then reduces it to a week. He makes all the arrangements to ensure that she cannot escape. Rekha later slams Chandru with a spade and runs away. He manages to catch and imprison her in the garage of his house, but is hospitalised for his injury. Raghunath visits Chandru's office for an enquiry and learns that he has gone to Ooty. He also meets Chandru's psychiatrist and learns about his hatred for prostitutes. He immediately connects this with the recent news of the prostitutes murdered in the city. Raghunath visits Chandru's house and, hidden in the garage, he finds the motorbike photographed by Bhaskar. With his suspicions growing stronger, he arrives in Ooty to meet Chandru and visits the police station, where he finds Chandru's car. The area's inspector tells Raghunath that an unknown person came in the car to the hospital and was admitted; the car was brought to the police station for safety. Raghunath visits the hospital, but finds that Chandru has left. Raghunath is joined by Ravi, and both rush to Chandru's house. Meanwhile, Rekha escapes from the garage and enters the room where Chandru earlier claimed his mother stays. However, she finds only a skeleton and is cornered by Chandru, who tries to assault her. Ravi and Raghunath hear Rekha screaming and rush to the room. Raghunath subdues Chandru, who collapses and reveals that the skeleton is his mother's. Raghunath understands Chandru's love for his mother and his traumatic childhood, which had made him develop a hatred for women with loose morals. Chandru is arrested, while Rekha and Ravi unite. ## Cast - Shoba Mahendra as Rekha - Pratap as Chandru - N. Viswanathan as Raghunath - Ganthimathi as the Madam of the brothel - Kokila Mohan as Bhaskar - Vijaychandrika as a prostitute murdered by Chandru Additionally, Bhanu Chander appears uncredited as Rekha's lover Ravi. ## Production ### Development After directing and writing two original films: the Kannada film Kokila (1977) and the Tamil film Azhiyatha Kolangal (1979), Balu Mahendra decided that his third directorial venture be based on a published novel. The film, which would later be titled Moodu Pani, was an adaptation of Idhuvum Oru Viduthalai Thaan, a 1978 Tamil novel by Rajendra Kumar, and The Collector, a 1963 English novel by John Fowles. Mahendra said he based 40% of the film on Idhuvum Oru Viduthalai Thaan, and 60% on The Collector. It was produced by Raja Cine Arts, and edited by D. Vasu. In addition to writing the screenplay and directing the film, Mahendra also served as the cinematographer. The producer of the film is not credited, while K. R. Shanmugham is listed under "Thayarippu Nirvagam" (production administration). ### Casting Pratap, who previously collaborated with Mahendra on Azhiyatha Kolangal, was cast as Chandru, the mild-mannered and psychopathic serial killer of prostitutes. Mahendra's wife Shoba, who had appeared in both Kokila and Azhiyatha Kolangal, was chosen to play the female lead, with Mahendra claiming the film was "specially made" for her. She was credited in the opening titles as "Shoba Mahendra". Mohan, who later became a leading actor in Tamil cinema, made his debut in Tamil with this film, playing the still photographer Bhaskar. It was his second film under Mahendra's direction after Kokila, and he was credited as "Kokila Mohan". ### Filming Principal photography for Moodu Pani began in January 1980 and ended in late April, a few days before Shoba's suicide on 1 May, making this the last film she acted in; the last song to be filmed was "Yen Iniya Pon Nilavae". The film was shot primarily in Udupi, Bangalore and Ooty. Mahendra shot the film in hilly places "to capture that misty feel". During the post-production phase, Anuraatha Rajkrishna was chosen to dub Shoba's voice; in preparation, she "spent days on an empty stomach hoping to get it right". In making Moodu Pani, Mahendra faced the challenge of distinguishing it from Bharathiraja's Sigappu Rojakkal (1978), which had a similar theme. The final length of the film was 3,848 metres (12,625 ft). ## Themes Although Moodu Pani is officially based on Idhuvum Oru Viduthalai Thaan, it is widely discussed as also having been inspired by Alfred Hitchcock's thriller Psycho (1960). R. Ilangovan of Frontline stated that while Mahendra was inspired by Psycho, his camera work, the "mist-covered nights" of Bangalore and Ooty, and the "weirdness" of the subject made the film "unique". While Idhuvum Oru Viduthalai Thaan and its author were acknowledged in the opening credits of the film, Hitchcock and Psycho were not. According to Sify, there is a strong similarity between Moodu Pani and Psycho as the male leads in both films keep the skeletal remains of their respective mothers, which they continue to communicate with. Chellappa of Hindu Tamil Thisai compared Moodu Pani to Psycho and Sigappu Rojakkal as all three films depict their leads as committing murders to achieve peace of mind. Mahendra's disciple Ameer noted the Oedipal elements between Chandru and his deceased mother. Mahendra described the film as a suspense thriller, while N. Venkateswaran of The Times of India described it as a psychological thriller. Devika Bai, writing for the New Straits Times, referred to it as a whodunit film. In the 2017 book Indian Horror Cinema, Mithuraaj Dhusiya likened it to a slasher film because of the numerous prostitutes murdered by Chandru. K. Hariharan, director of the L. V. Prasad Film & TV Academy, noted that sexuality and the repression of desire were the dominant motifs in Moodu Pani, expressed through the mysterious misty atmospheres of Ooty where the protagonist confronts their psychological antagonist. He also noted that Moodu Pani, like many of Mahendra's films, borrowed its themes and stylistic devices from French New Wave and New Hollywood styles of filmmaking. Ilangovan noted that Chandru's character, which was depicted as having flashes of wickedness bordering on perversion, was new to Tamil cinema. Crime fiction writer Pattukkottai Prabakar considers Moodu Pani, along with Sigappu Rojakkal and Nooravathu Naal (1984), to explore the personalities and behavioural traits of psychopaths in detail. ## Music The film's soundtrack and score were composed by Ilaiyaraaja, this being his 100th film, and was released under the label EMI Records. It was also the first film in which he collaborated with Mahendra; Ilaiyaraaja would later compose for all of Mahendra's films until Thalaimuraigal (2013), the director's last film before his death in February 2014. Mahendra recalled in 2007, "When I first met [Ilaiyaraaja] I explained him what my kind of movie is and what I expect from him. The background score should allow meaningful silences in my films. I believe silence conveys more than words or music". Moodu Pani marked A. R. Rahman's first association with Ilaiyaraaja. Rahman (then known by his birth name Dilip) who was just 13 years old then, worked as a keyboard programmer in the film. During the background scoring sessions of Moodu Pani, Ilaiyaraaja fired his old keyboard programmer, due to the person's drinking behaviour. At that time, another one of his troupe members asked Ilaiyaraaja to meet a boy named Dilip, who was already doing keyboard programming for Malayalam films. Ilaiyaraaja agreed and sent for Dilip, whom he instructed regarding the notes and tune he had to play. Dilip, under Ilaiyaraaja's supervision, successfully completed the background score. "Yen Iniya Pon Nilavae" was written in January 1980, and is set in Natabhairavi, a Carnatic raga. According to Ilaiyaraaja's brother Gangai Amaran, it was one of the hardest songs in the album to write. Mahendra wanted a song depicting Chandru playing the guitar and asked Ilaiyaraaja for a tune; Ilaiyaraaja played the "scratch notes" of the song that would become "Ilaya Nila", but Mahendra was not pleased and asked for another tune; Ilaiyaraaja gave him the tune of "Yen Iniya Pon Nilavae", and this was retained; K. J. Yesudas would sing it. Like "Yen Iniya Pon Nilavae", the song "Paruva Kaalangalin" is also set in Natabhairavi. According to A. S. Panneerselvan of Frontline, the dominant genre of the music used in Moodu Pani was "modern jazz with a sprinkling of avant-garde elements." Gangai Amaran was the main lyricist of the soundtrack, except for the English-language number "Sing Swing" (also known as "Swing Swing") which was written by Viji Manuel (credited as Vijaysamuel on the first soundtrack edition, and Vijaymanuel on the second); the lyricist of "Aasai Raja", is not credited. The first soundtrack edition did not feature "Aasai Raja"; the song was, however, included in a 1981 edition of the soundtrack. Elements of "Yen Iniya Pon Nilavae" were incorporated by Ilaiyaraaja in his song "Baatein Hawa" from Cheeni Kum (2007). A remix version of "Yen Iniya Pon Nilavae" is featured on music artist M. Rafi's album Aasaiyae Alaipolae. In 2006, Yesudas performed "Yen Iniya Pon Nilavae" during a programme held at PSG College of Technology, organised by Helpline Arts Academy to sponsor the education of underprivileged children in and around Coimbatore. In March 2010, singer Vijay Prakash performed "Yen Iniya Pon Nilavae" as part of a medley, at the Star Vijay music show "Kaadhal Unplugged". Singer Srinivas performed the song live the following year in a concert organised by Rotary Coimbatore Central, as did Ajesh, at the Puthuyugam TV music show "Yugam Unplugged" in March 2014, followed by Yesudas' son Vijay in a 2015 concert titled Yesudas 50. In May 2015, the FM radio station Radio City commemorated Ilaiyaraaja's 72nd birthday by broadcasting the composer's songs in a special show titled Raja Rajathan for 91 days. "En Iniya Ponnilave" was one of the most-requested songs on the show. Track listing ## Release Moodu Pani was released on 6 November 1980, during the Diwali holiday frame. Despite facing competition from other Diwali releases such as Nizhalgal and another Pratap film Varumayin Niram Sivappu, the film was commercially successful, running for over 200 days in theatres. ## Reception Moodu Pani received critical acclaim, with critics praising the performances of Pratap and Shoba. Ananda Vikatan, in its review dated 30 November 1980, said that half the dialogues in the film were spoken by the camera, and felt that when there was great cinematography, there was no need for screenplay and dialogues. Soundara Kailasam of Kalki appreciated the film for various aspects, including Shoba's performance, Ilaiyaraaja's music, the less number of songs, and the cinematography. ## Legacy > For some reason, despite names like Balu Mahendra and Yesudas being associated with this song, people get reminded of me when they listen to this. I have no idea what I did so well in this song to deserve that. This was also my last song with Shoba. I remember how we looked into the sky just before the line, 'Panneerai Thoovum Mazhai'. Balu Mahendra made me listen to this song for the first time in Chola Sheraton. I learned just then that he got married to Shoba. I told him that this song was so beautiful, that it was a great wedding gift for him from Ilaiyaraaja. After Sigappu Rojakkal, there was a resurgence of the thriller genre in Tamil cinema, as evidenced by films like Moodu Pani. According to film producer and writer G. Dhananjayan, the film "inspired a generation to take up film-making". M. Suganth of The Times of India stated that Mahendra "changed the landscape of Tamil cinema with his distinctive visuals and eclectic films" such as Moodu Pani. Following Mahendra's death, K. S. Sivakumaran of Ceylon Today described the film as "halfway between artistic and merely entertaining." Pratap recalled in January 2015 that it was the simultaneous release of Moodu Pani and Varumayin Niram Sivappu that made him a star. However, both Varumayin Niram Sivappu (which depicted Pratap as an eccentric director obsessed with an actress) and Moodu Pani led to him being typecast in similar roles. "Both roles caught the public imagination, and I admit I cashed in when I was offered similar stuff. Now, unless I'm offered an unreasonable amount of money, I doubt I'll accept these roles," he said in 2014. In Iruvar Mattum (2006), Azhagu (Abhay) keeps the skeletal remains of his mother and frequently talks to her; Sify compared this plot detail to that of Moodu Pani and Psycho. Malathi Rangarajan of The Hindu, in her review of Julie Ganapathi (2003) a film about a mentally deranged woman (Saritha) who saves an accident victim (Jayaram) from death, nurses him in her own home and also falls in love with him, but holds him captive there, stated that the film had "shades" of Moodu Pani. Actor Veera stated that he watched Moodu Pani in preparation for his role as a psychopath in the thriller Nadunisi Naaygal (2011). Reviewing Amara Kaaviyam (2014), K. Siddharth of Sify praised its cinematographer Jeeva Shankar for "showcasing Ooty in trademark [Balu Mahendra's] way" in the style of Moodu Pani. In Vaaranam Aayiram (2008), when Suriya's character first sees Sameera Reddy's character and falls in love with her, he takes his guitar and performs "Yen Iniya Pon Nilavae". Pratap expressed appreciation for Suriya's version of the song in a May 2015 interview, saying that he had "enjoyed it". In June 2014 during Ilaiyaraaja's 71st birthday, singers Shweta Mohan and Aalap Raju collaborated to make a video in which they performed some of Ilaiyaraaja's songs as a tribute to him; one song was "Yen Iniya Pon Nilavae". Although no print of Moodu Pani is known to survive, the film is still available on home video.

William Brooks Close

British rower and businessman (1853–1923)

William Brooks Close (1853–1923) was a British businessman active in the Midwestern United States. He first arrived in the United States during the summer of 1876 to compete in a regatta in Philadelphia while he was the president of the Cambridge University Boat Club. Close and two brothers, Frederick and James, created a colony in Iowa called the Close Colony. They made a profit from buying public land and reselling it. He was the co-founder of the Close Brothers Group. Close helped finance the building of a railway from Skagway into the Yukon, named the White Pass and Yukon Route. ## Early life Close was born in 1853 in Naples, Italy. He was one of eight children, all of whom grew up on the yacht Sibilla, which his British father, James Close, sailed on the Mediterranean and Adriatic Seas. Close lived on the yacht until he was five years old. His father was a banker and a business advisor to Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies. James taught his children based on his own ideals. Following Ferdinand II's death in 1859, James retired and subsequently died of a heart attack in 1865 at the family home in Antibes, France. After his father's death, his French mother Anne Brooks sent Close and his three brothers to school in Marlborough, Wiltshire. From the time he was a child, Close grew up with the idea that a man can be a gentleman and earn money. Close later attended Wellington College and Trinity College, Cambridge. He rowed in The Boat Race during his time at Cambridge. He was runner-up to Alfred Dicker in the Diamond Challenge Sculls at Henley Royal Regatta in 1875. ## First arrival in the United States Close first arrived in the United States in 1876 when he was the president of the Cambridge University Boat Club that was taking part in the Centennial Regatta in Philadelphia during the summer. Recovering from an injury sustained during the race, Close met Daniel Paullin, a landowner and land speculator from Quincy, Illinois, who told him that it was possible to earn a significant amount of money buying and selling land in northwest Iowa to settlers. Close traveled to West Virginia where his brother Frederick had been farming for two years. The journey to West Virginia was Close's first exploration of the United States countryside and he attempted to learn what he could about the land. After touring Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia with his brother for leisure, they then proceeded to St. Louis, Missouri, to travel by steamboat in order to visit Paullin's family in Quincy, Illinois. He and his brother toured the prairies in the northwest of Iowa and could see the merit in Paullin's claim. Close wrote in his journal, "To see what sort of land we should buy and to have some idea of their value, we organized our party for a week or ten days cruise on wheels through the western and less settled parts of Iowa." The Close brother's first stop was in Des Moines, Iowa, to speak with land agents about tracts that were available for purchase. Close said of Des Moines, "Like all western American towns, there is nothing worth looking at." The party then traveled almost 250 miles (400 km) in a circle until they reached Stuart, Iowa. After the brothers had traveled throughout the Iowa prairies they returned to Quincy where they stayed briefly with Paullin and his family, including his daughter Mary. ## Emigration to the United States During the spring of 1877, after their travels the year before, Close emigrated to the United States to be with his brother Frederick. Close meant to contact friends that he met when he first visited the United States, but did not contact them after receiving an invitation to stay in Boston from Daniel Paullin's son Ed. When the brothers arrived in Boston, they found that Daniel Paullin and Mary had not arrived yet, so Ed invited them to stay at Harvard University, where he was studying, in nearby Cambridge, Massachusetts. Upon the arrival of the two Paullin family members in Boston, the Close brothers traveled with them by train so they could visit Iowa's prairies in order to consider which land to buy. Their first purchase was for almost 2,594 acres (1,050 ha) in Denison, Iowa, for \$3.25 per acre in 1877. The brothers raised cattle and hogs on their unused land. During this time, Close was a superintendent of a Sunday school and his brother sang in a choir. Their brother James later emigrated to Iowa and settled there. Because farming in Iowa could yield a 54 per cent return on investment, in 1877, British squires were interested in sending their sons to live on suitable land. In 1878, Close and his brothers Frederick and James founded the Close Brothers Group in London after buying 14,475 acres (5,858 ha) acres of land. The company gave men from English universities the opportunity to become farmers in Iowa and it also started an agricultural college that taught relevant farming methods for that area. Close and his brother traveled between the United States and the United Kingdom often to make business deals for their Iowa land. In 1879, they opened their only other office, located in Sioux City, Iowa. Close became close to Mary Paullin, and they married in 1880. They moved their American office to Chicago in 1884. ## Close Colony Close and his two brothers began a colony in Iowa, known as the Close Colony. Its heyday was from 1879 to 1885. The Close Colony was founded by Le Mars, Iowa in February 1879. The Close Colony was a community of British farmers. Journalist Poultney Bigelow wrote in Harper's Magazine and described the colony, > They have the very best ground for fox hunting in the world – a rolling prairie with a creek here and there. Every colonist makes it his chief care, after buying his farm, to breed a good hunter for the steeplechase. They have regular meets for fox or 'paper' hunts, as the case may be. They last year opened a racing track, and wound up the race with a grand ball. A newspaper journalist in Le Mars, Iowa, wrote, "They descend from the recesses of the Pullman palace cars dressed in the latest London and Paris styles, with Oxford hats, bright linen shining on their bosoms, a gold repeater tucking in the depths of their fashionably cut vest pockets. We recall last summer a single family that had eighty-two pieces of luggage." During the Close Colony's heyday, many prominent families from Great Britain had a relative living in the colony. In 1880, Close wrote Farming in North-western Iowa, United States of America: A Pamphlet for Emigrants and a Guide to North-western Iowa. The pamphlet contained information about the Close brothers and for those emigrating to Iowa. The Close brothers purchased Kingsley, Iowa, then known as Quorn, in 1880 along with parts of six Iowa counties: Woodbury, Plymouth, Cherokee, Lyon, Sioux, and Osceola. Englishmen founded the Prairie Club in Le Mars in 1881, which became a popular venue for gatherings and was renovated in 1882. The only club members were British emigrants until 1882, when Americans were allowed to join to replace its dwindling numbers. In 1884, Congress introduced a bill to "stop the Leviathan squatters from buying more of America". At that time, tracts that were equal to almost one-quarter of the area of the British Isles were owned by British emigrants living in the United States. The Close brothers took over the Iowa Land Company in 1881 after discussing the matter with Daniel Paullin, which was likely the biggest foreign company operating in the United States at the time. The Iowa Land Company was founded on May 28, 1855. They operated the Iowa Land Company to purchase acres of United States land, help investors manage farms, lease farms, offer mortgages, and look after stock feeding operations. The Close brothers were in the business of buying and selling acreage in Iowa, Minnesota, Kansas, Texas, and other states. At times they owned at almost 40,000 acres (16,000 ha) of the best land in the United States. The Iowa Land Company operated under the Close brothers from 1881 to 1884, when C. W. Benson began running the company. There were multiple benefits for the Close Colony settlers. The Close brothers showed settlers "the best and cheapest lands" for a farm. If a settler was inexperienced at farming, they could live at a farm requiring help and possibly receive a wage. The Close brothers obtained wholesale lumber and were able to buy necessities such as machinery and furniture at a wholesale price. They charged a \$250 commission and a \$125 deposit before the settler left England. The deposit would be returned if the settler was unhappy living in the United States. The Close Colony had little to keep it together, with the exception being the British class system's social code, which the settlers wished to bring with them to the colony. Some British immigrants were unconvinced that they had found their new home. They were under the impression that they could easily try something else if farming the land did not suit them. A few of them adopted a normal American middle-class life, but most of them did not want to do so. While living in Sibley, Iowa, with his wife Margaret, Frederick wrote to his brother in London about part of the Antibes property being sold. Close was working in the London location of Close Brothers Group at the time. The colony eventually disappeared after Frederick Close died in 1890 following a polo accident in Sioux City. An economic depression gripped the country, land lost its value, and a fire destroyed the Prairie Club. Most of the British immigrants returned to their original homes. ## Later life and death Three months after Frederick Close died in 1890, William's wife Mary gave birth to a son named Herbert. Mary became suspicious of Close due to him leaving often without telling her where he was going and what he was doing. Close later admitted to Mary that he was with another woman. In 1893, Mary divorced him on the legal grounds of adultery. The court hearing took place on 18 July 1893 in the New York Supreme Court. After the hearing, the divorce was final and Mary gained full custody of the child. In November 1897, Close met entrepreneur Charles Wilkinson who had maps, pictures, and stories about Alaska and the Yukon. Wilkinson thought there was a need to build a railroad to develop Alaska and Canada and wanted Close to invest in it. Wilkinson was willing to accept practically any deal, so Close decided to accept his proposal. Despite having an interest in building the railroad, Close did not intend for the Close Brothers Group to pay for all of its costs. The Close Brothers Group gave Wilkinson a \$20,000 short-term loan. In February 1898, Wilkinson said his company was ready to begin building the railroad. Close assumed that Wilkinson could not pay back the loan on time, so he negotiated with others, including associates he knew about taking control. Wilkinson attempted to raise more money in Canada, but accepted the inevitable and gave Close control of the construction. On 8 March 1898, Close and his team researched legal issues that could prevent the completion of the railroad, known as the White Pass and Yukon Route. This enterprise was started in 1898 and it became operational by 1899. After the enterprise became operational, Close moved to a manor near Henley-on-Thames in order to be closer to the rowing competitions in that area. In 1922, Close bought the Shipley Collieries in Derbyshire to process coal. Towards the end of his life, Close continued these business ventures and also hired others to use metal in order to reinforce concrete and roads. Close died in 1923 at the home of actress Florence Desmond on the Isle of Wight. ## See also - List of Cambridge University Boat Race crews ## Book [1853 births](Category:1853_births "wikilink") [1923 deaths](Category:1923_deaths "wikilink") [People educated at Wellington College, Berkshire](Category:People_educated_at_Wellington_College,_Berkshire "wikilink") [Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge](Category:Alumni_of_Trinity_College,_Cambridge "wikilink") [Cambridge University Boat Club rowers](Category:Cambridge_University_Boat_Club_rowers "wikilink") [English male rowers](Category:English_male_rowers "wikilink") [British businesspeople](Category:British_businesspeople "wikilink")

The Man-Eating Myth

Book by W. Arens

The Man-Eating Myth: Anthropology and Anthropophagy is an influential anthropological study of socially sanctioned "cultural" cannibalism across the world, which casts a critical perspective on the existence of such practices. It was authored by the American anthropologist William Arens of Stony Brook University, New York, and first published by Oxford University Press in 1979. Arens' primary hypothesis is that despite claims made by western explorers and anthropologists since the 15th century, there is no firm, substantiable evidence for the socially accepted practice of cannibalism anywhere in the world, at any time in history. Dismissing claims of cultural cannibalism made against the Carib and Aztec peoples by invading Spanish colonialists, he tackles 19th and 20th century claims regarding socially acceptable cannibalism in Sub-Saharan Africa and New Guinea. Turning to prehistory, he critiques archaeological claims to have discovered evidence for such practices in Europe and North America. In the second half of the work, Arens puts forward his argument that an erroneous belief in "others" who commit socially sanctioned cannibalism is a global phenomenon. He proceeds to chastise the anthropological community for perpetuating the "Man-Eating Myth", suggesting reasons as to why they have done so. The Man-Eating Myth was widely reviewed in academic journals and also attracted attention from mainstream press. Views were mixed, with most reviewers highlighting the intentionally provocative nature of the work. Critics charged Arens with constructing straw man arguments and for exaggerating the methodological problems within anthropology. Though the book was influential and caused a critical re-evaluation of much prior work, its main hypothesis was largely rejected by the academic community. Increasing archaeological evidence for cannibalism in the decades after the book's publication has made it even less plausible. ## Background William Arens undertook the research for his PhD in Tanzania, Eastern Africa. After beginning his fieldwork in a rural community there in 1968, he discovered that the locals referred to him as mchinja-chinja, a Swahili term meaning "blood-sucker". This was due to a widespread belief in the community that Europeans would collect the blood of Africans whom they killed, convert it into red pills, and consume it. He would note that by the time he left the community a year-and-a-half later, most of the locals still continued to believe this myth. In the preface to The Man-Eating Myth, Arens notes that he was first inspired to begin a fuller investigation of cannibalism while teaching an introductory course on anthropology at Stony Brook University, New York. One student asked him why he focused his teaching on such topics as kinship, politics and economics rather than the more "exotic" subjects of witchcraft, fieldwork experiences and cannibalism. Arens concurred that these latter topics would interest his students to a greater extent than those which he was then lecturing on, and so undertook an investigation into the prior accounts of cannibalism in the anthropological record. As he began to read up on the written accounts of cultural cannibalism, he was struck by inconsistencies and other problems in these tales. In search of reliable accounts from anthropologists who had witnessed the practice of cultural cannibalism first-hand, he placed an advertisement in the newsletter of the American Anthropological Association, but again failed to come up with any first-hand documented cases. Prior to its publication, rumors had circulated in the anthropological community that Arens was putting together a book that would challenge the concept of cultural cannibalism. ## Synopsis In chapter one, "The Nature of Anthropology and Anthropophagy", Arens discusses the study of anthropophagy, or cannibalism, within the anthropological discipline. Noting that anthropologists have widely taken it for granted that there are societies who socially sanction cannibalism, he nevertheless states that there is no "adequate documentation" for such practices anywhere in the world. In the second part of the chapter, he explores several first-hand accounts of cannibalism and highlights their implausible and inaccurate nature. Beginning with the German Hans Staden's claims to have encountered socially sanctioned cannibalism among the Tupinambá people of South America in the 1550s, Arens illustrates a number of logical contradictions in Staden's account, and highlights the dubious nature of the text. The anthropologist then moved on to the 19th-century accounts of widespread socially approved cannibalism among the Polynesian people of Rarotonga in the Cook Islands provided by Ta'unga, a Polynesian native who had been converted to Christianity and wrote for the London Missionary Society; Arens again highlights a number of inconsistencies and logical impossibilities in Ta'unga's claims. The second chapter, entitled "The Classic Man-Eaters", explores the accounts of cannibalism produced by European colonialists and travellers in the Americas during the Early Modern era. It begins by documenting the Spanish interaction with the Carib people of the Lesser Antilles, first begun by Christopher Columbus and his men in the 1490s. Columbus noted that the Caribs had been described as cannibals by the neighbouring Arawak people of the West Indies, but was initially sceptical about such claims himself. Arens highlights that it was only later, when Columbus began to oversee largescale colonization and pacification of Carib lands, that he began to assert that they were cannibals, in order to legitimize his cause. Arens then proceeds to note that the Spanish government only permitted the enslavement of cannibals in the Caribbean, leading European colonists to increasingly label the indigenous peoples as cannibalistic in order to increase their economic power. Following on from this, Arens goes on to critique the longstanding claims that the Aztec people of Mexico were cannibals; noting that while the early Spanish accounts of the Aztecs include first-hand descriptions of human sacrifice, he highlights that none of these Spanish observers actually witnessed cannibalism, despite the claims that were later made asserting the cannibalistic nature of Aztec religion. In contrast, Arens argues that the Aztecs found the idea of cannibalism – even in survival conditions – socially reprehensible, and believed that some of their neighbouring peoples were guilty of it. Chapter three, "The Contemporary Man-Eaters" explores the claims made for socially sanctioned cannibalism in the 20th century, with a particular focus on Sub-Saharan Africa and New Guinea. Regarding the former, Arens discusses E. E. Evans-Pritchard's work in disproving that the Azande people were cannibalistic, before arguing that the stories of socially accepted cannibalism in the "Dark Continent" were based largely on misunderstandings and the sensationalist claims of European travellers like Henry Morton Stanley, and that there was no reputable first-hand accounts of such a practice anywhere in Africa. Instead, he notes that many African societies found cannibalism to be a reprehensible anti-social activity that was associated with witchcraft, drawing comparisons with the Early Modern European witch hunt. Moving on to look at claims for cannibalism in New Guinea made by anthropologists like Margaret Mead and Ronald Berndt, he notes that none of them ever actually came across any evidence of the practice themselves, before going on to critique claims that cannibalism was the cause of the kuru outbreak among the New Guinean Fore people in the mid 20th century. In the fourth chapter, entitled "The Prehistoric World of Anthropophagy", Arens deals with archaeological arguments for socially approved cannibalism in European and North American prehistory. He argues that many early archaeologists, in viewing prehistoric societies as "primitive" and "savage", expected to find widespread evidence of cannibalism within the archaeological record, just as social anthropologists were claiming that the practice was widespread in recently documented "primitive", "savage" societies. He critiques various claims that broken bones represent evidence of cannibalism, both in Iron Age Yorkshire and in the case of Peking Man, maintaining that these breakages could represent many different things rather than cannibalism. He then moves on to look at North American examples, including those from the Pueblo period in the Southwestern United States and among the Iroquois in the country's northeast, in both instances critiquing an interpretation of socially sanctioned cannibalism. The penultimate chapter, "The Mythical World of Anthropophagy", consists of Arens' argument that all human groups have been accused of socially accepted cannibalism at one point in time, and that these cannibals are often usually thought of as "others", being outside of the accuser's society, and are associated with certain animals because of their "non-human" behaviour. From this, he deduces that the belief in cannibalism is a "universal phenomenon", and questions why this should be so. He suggests that societies gain a sense of self-meaning by conjuring the image of an opposite culture that breaks societal taboos. He also describes the manner in which many societies hold origin myths that involve them once being incestuous cannibals before they became civilised, in this way referencing the ideas expressed by the psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud in his Totem and Taboo. He then proceeds to discuss a variety of other related issues, such as the connection between cannibalism and witchcraft, the role of gender and class in cannibal claims, and the role of the Eucharist. In "The Mythical World of Anthropology", Arens looks at the manner in which anthropologists have approached the idea of cultural cannibalism. Noting the widespread western idea that cannibals exist "beyond the pale of civilization", in the land of savagery and primitivism, he argues that anthropologists have taken it upon themselves to explain and rationalize the cannibalism of such "primitives" without first proving that they were cannibalistic to start with. He connects this to the attitude held by many westerners both past and present that they are the bearers of civilization who have helped to put a stop to cannibalism. Challenging and criticizing the anthropological community's long-term advocacy of what he considers the "Man-Eating Myth", he draws comparisons with the belief in demonic witchcraft and cannibalism in Europe that led to the witch trials of the Early Modern period, ending his work on a quote from the historian Norman Cohn's book Europe's Inner Demons. ## Main arguments ### The existence of cultural cannibalism In The Man-Eating Myth, Arens notes that he was unable to find any form of "adequate documentation" for the existence of socially sanctioned cannibalism in any recorded society. As such, he remained "dubious" that cannibalism has ever existed as an approved social activity. He nevertheless refused to rule out the possibility that it had ever occurred, maintaining that the correct methodological stance was to hold an open mind on the issue, and that it would be impossible to conclusively state that no society throughout human history has ever culturally sanctioned cannibalism. From this definition of "cultural cannibalism" he excludes those instances where people have resorted to cannibalism under survival conditions, or where individuals have committed cannibalism as an anti-social activity that is condemned by the rest of their community. ### The universal belief in cultural cannibalism Arens considers the belief in cannibalism to be a "universal phenomenon" that has been exhibited in all inhabited regions of the world. He expresses his view that "all cultures, subcultures, religions, sects, secret societies and every other possible human association have been labeled anthropophagic by someone". He notes that accusations of socially sanctioned cannibalism in a society typically arise from an alternative society with whom they are often in conflict. As evidence, he notes that pagan Romans labelled the early Christians as cannibals, despite the lack of any evidence for this, and subsequently Christians in Medieval Europe labelled Jews as cannibals, again without any corroborating evidence. He argues that across the world, cannibals are viewed as non-human entities, committing acts that no human would ordinarily perpetrate. In this way they were akin to various non-human species of animal, and Arens notes that in some societies, cannibals are believed to physically transform into different species in order to kill and consume humans. Arens proceeds to ponder the question as to why societies across the world believe that other, exotic societies exhibit cannibalism. He notes that the development of a "collective prejudice" against a foreign entity provides meaning for the group by conjuring up an opposite who commit social taboos. He also suggests that one society's belief that a foreign society is cannibalistic might arise from an inability to differentiate between the latter's conceptions of the natural and the supernatural. As evidence, he asserts that rumors that the Indigenous Americans of Northeastern Canada were cannibals arose when foreign societies learned of their folkloric beliefs in man-eating giants who lived in the wilderness and conflated this fantasy with reality. ### The anthropological approach to cultural cannibalism Arens' third primary argument is that ever since the development of the discipline, the anthropological community have continually perpetuated the "Man-Eating Myth" that cultural cannibalism was widespread across the world. In this way, he sees anthropologists as following in the path of Christian friars from the Early Modern period who asserted the existence of cannibalism "beyond the pale of civilization", in societies that are either historically or geographically distinct to western culture. He furthermore argues that both Christian proselytizers and academic anthropologists have sought to accuse non-western, non-Christian peoples of cultural cannibalism in order to then explain and rationalize their "savage" ways; in doing so, he argues, they continue to portray the Christian west as a civilizing influence on the world that suits their own socio-political agendas. In this way, Arens feels that the "Man-Eating Myth" furthers the "we–they" dichotomy between westerners and non-westerners, and has indirectly lent some justification for the western exploitation of "savage" non-western peoples. He does not believe that there was any conscious academic conspiracy to spread the claims of cultural cannibalism, instead believing that they have arisen as a result of poor methodologies that have been used in this area, namely a lack of properly scrutinizing sources. He furthermore suggests that anthropologists have failed to tackle this issue because – while novel ideas are certainly welcomed – they feared that by criticising long-held core assumptions, they would be upsetting the established status quo within the discipline, and would ultimately tarnish the reputation of anthropology itself by suggesting that it had made major errors. ## Reception ### Academic reviews The Man-Eating Myth was reviewed by Ivan Brady for the American Anthropologist journal. He noted that the framework for Arens' scepticism was not coherent and was never spelled out explicitly in the text, even if it could be deduced from reading the entirety of the work. Brady sees this framework as an "unsophisticated" version of positivism and naturalism, an approach that he laments was becoming increasingly popular in anthropology. Casting a critical eye over Arens' scepticism, he admits to being perplexed as to why only "direct observation" will do as evidence, pondering whether Arens would accept anything short of affidavits by practicing cannibals as evidence for the practice. Brady notes that there are other activities in the world that surely go on – such as masturbation in monasteries and homosexual activity in the armed forces – but that these would be hidden by a veil of secrecy and therefore difficult to observe directly, suggesting that the same may be true for cannibalism. Moving on, Brady attacks Arens' criticism of anthropology, believing that he has constructed a straw man argument by comparing the early accounts of travellers to the later, 20th-century accounts of anthropologists, and lambasts him for portraying himself as an objective figure in the debate. He argues that in cases such as that of the Carib people, the evidence for cannibalism is "indeterminate", rather than negative, as Arens believes. Concluding his review, Brady admits that he agrees with Arens' premise that socially accepted cannibalism is not as globally widespread as some anthropologists have suggested, but disagreed that anthropologists have been as "reckless" in their claims as Arens charges, and furthermore disagrees with Arens' suggestion that the cause can be blamed on poor observation standards. The journal Man published a highly negative review by P. G. Rivière of the University of Oxford. Criticizing what he saw as the "chatty 'Holier-than-Thou' tone" of the book, Rivière asserted that at only 160 pages of text, Arens had failed to give sufficient attention to the subject and evidence, instead devoting much of the space to constructing and demolishing straw men arguments. Coming to the defence of those who believe the account of Staden regarding cannibalism among the Tupinambá by arguing that it could indeed reflect the German explorer's genuine experiences, Rivière notes that Arens has not tackled all of the claims which assert that this South American people committed anthropophagy. Furthermore, he expresses his opinion that Arens' work has made him reassess the evidence for Tupinambá cannibalism, of whose existence he is now even more thoroughly convinced. Proclaiming it to be both a "bad" and a "dangerous" book, he finally expresses his fear that it might prove to be "the origin of a myth". Similarly, Shirley Lindenbaum of the New School for Social Research published her highly negative review of Arens' work in the journal Ethnohistory. Casting a critical eye on his claims, she notes that his use of source material was "selective and strangely blinkered", which detracted from his ideas of "collective prejudice" which she considers valuable. Critiquing his discussion of the Fore people of New Guinea as being littered with inaccuracies, she draws comparisons between cannibalism and sexual activity, noting the latter is also not directly observed by anthropologists but nonetheless undoubtedly goes on. She furthermore expresses surprise that the work was ever designed for a scholarly audience because of its poor levels of accuracy. James W. Springer of Northern Illinois University reviewed Arens' book for Anthropological Quarterly. He hoped that the book would in part have a positive legacy, in that it might make anthropologists look more closely and critically at their source material, and praised its criticism of the claims regarding Aztec cannibalism. He nevertheless proclaimed that Arens was "almost certainly wrong", making use of faulty evaluation methods and being excessively critical of any and all claims for cultural cannibalism, failing to prove dishonesty or prejudice on the behalf of Europeans who have claimed evidence for cultural cannibalism. He criticises both Arens' treatment of Staden's claims and his discussion of Iroquois cannibalism, claiming that Arens has neglected to mention many Native American first-hand testaments as to the cannibalistic nature of these people. Ultimately, he dismissively asserted that The Man-Eating Myth "does not advance our knowledge of cannibalism". More favourably, R.E. Downs of the University of New Hampshire reviewed the work for American Ethnologist. Noting that the book was "provocative" in its thesis, he felt that it was bound to raise many "hackles", and that it would lead future anthropologists to challenge other long-standing beliefs about non-western "primitive" societies, such as that of widespread incest and promiscuity. Ultimately, he remarked that while many anthropologists might dispute Arens' ideas, never again could they claim that the existence of cultural cannibalism was an undisputed fact. The geographer Thomas Krabacher of the University of California undertook a review of The Man-Eating Myth for the journal Human Ecology. Believing that a critical study of cannibal claims has been long needed, he was nevertheless perturbed that Arens' work failed to be either comprehensive or objective. Although concurring that reports of cannibalism have been all too readily accepted without being properly scrutinized, Krabacher nonetheless argues that he has used a "careless and selective" approach to the literary sources. He also sees problems in Arens' approach to the nature of the evidence, stating that the anthropologist has not given sufficient thought to what would constitute reliable testimony in the case of cannibalism. Drawing comparisons with sexual behaviour, he notes that it would not always be possible for a western anthropologist to directly view cannibalism, which would likely be hidden from their view by many practitioners, and that as such, second-hand accounts would have to do. He then critiques Arens' writing style, believing it to be "contentious and possibly offensive", and highlighting a number of typological errors. Khalid Hasan's review of The Man-Eating Myth appeared in the Third World Quarterly journal. Considering it to be a "brilliant and well documented" tome, he praised Arens' "admirable" work and expressed his hope that others would expand on his initial thesis. The German journal Anthropos published a largely positive review of Arens' work by John W. Burton, in which he described it as an "extensive and meticulous" study which was the model of a "fair and reasoned argument". Supporting Arens' arguments, he proclaimed that the final chapter should be essential reading for all anthropologists. P. Van de Velve reviewed the book for the Dutch journal Anthropologica. Van de Velve felt that the book contained several weaknesses, for instance Arens did not, he notes, explain how the claim for cultural cannibalism can be successfully refuted. The Dutch scholar also noted that the argument that anthropology focused on examining "non-bourgeoisie" cultures was not new. Ultimately however, Van de Velve considered it to be a well written book that offered "good reading", particularly for students. ### Subsequent academic reception Archaeologist Paola Villa, one of the primary excavators of Fontbrégoua Cave, a Neolithic site in Southeastern France where the team argued for the existence of cannibalism, made reference to Arens' work in a 1992 paper of his published in the Evolutionary Anthropology journal. Villa noted that following the book's publication, prehistorians always dealt with suspicions of cannibalism with "extreme reluctance and scepticism". The English archaeologist Timothy Taylor critically discussed Arens' work in his book The Buried Soul: How Humans Invented Death (2002). Proclaiming that "there is now overwhelming biological, anthropological and archaeological evidence that cannibalism was once all around us", he attacked Arens for his blanket and "bizarre" accusations against the concept of cultural anthropophagy. He argued that The Man-Eating Myth had become so influential upon publication because it was what a generation of anthropological and archaeological students wanted to hear, not because it represented a coherent argument, citing P.G. Rivière's negative review in Man. Commenting on the situation in archaeology, he felt that following the publication of Arens' work, archaeologists had ceased to cite cannibalism as an explanation, to the detriment of the discipline itself. Presenting evidence to counter Arens' claims, Taylor cites the accounts of cannibalism among Pom and Passon, two chimpanzees of Gombe National Park whose anti-social activities were recorded by Jane Goodall, and from this discusses the evolutionary benefits of cannibalism. Proceeding to defend various ethnographic accounts of cultural cannibalism, he argues that this thoroughly disproves the beliefs which "Arensite" anthropologists find it "comfortable or fashionable" to believe. Later in The Buried Soul, he proclaims that Arens' book is pervaded by a "hollow certainty of viscerally insulated inexperience", and he claims that such a flawed methodology has echoes in the anthropologist Jean La Fontaine's Speak of the Devil: Tales of Satanic Abuse in Contemporary England (1998); Taylor himself suggests that multiple claims of the Satanic ritual abuse have been incorrectly dismissed for being considered "improbable". Reviewing the state of cannibalism research more than 20 years after her initial review of the book, Lindenbaum noted that, while after "Arens['s] ... provocative suggestion ... many anthropologists ... reevaluated their data", the outcome was not a confirmation of his claims, but rather an improved and "more nuanced" understanding of where, why and under which circumstances cannibalism took place: "Anthropologists working in the Americas, Africa, and Melanesia now acknowledge that institutionalized cannibalism occurred in some places at some times. Archaeologists and evolutionary biologists are taking cannibalism seriously." Arens' book was also briefly mentioned by the Scottish archaeologist Ian Armit in his book, Headhunting and the Body in Iron Age Europe (2012). Armit noted that though the book was influential, most anthropologists would "probably" argue that Arens' wholesale dismissals had gone "too far". He also saw Arens' work as symptomatic of a trend within anthropology to neglect the "undesirable" cultural practices of non-western societies. Claude Lévi-Strauss summarily dismissed Arens's work, calling it "a brilliant but superficial book that enjoyed great success with an ill-informed readership", but failed to convince the academic community: "No serious ethnologist disputes the reality of cannibalism". Several researchers have evaluated Arens's statements regarding specific regions, generally finding them incomplete and misleading. Thomas Abler investigated Arens's dismissal of Iroquois cannibalism, concluding that his summary rejection of many detailed accounts cannot be justified and that he totally overlooked important other sources. He finished by calling Arens's book an example of "sloppy scholarship" and "ignorance" that failed to shed new light on Iroquois customs. Donald Forsyth critically examined Arens's dismissal of Hans Staden's travel report, concluding that, despite Arens's attempts to show the opposite, "the basic reliability of [Staden's] story is beyond reasonable doubt." Christian Siefkes analyzed Arens's discussion of the Congo Basin, showing that Arens misleadingly quoted several sources – claiming, for example, that David Livingstone had found no evidence of cannibalism in the Maniema region, while Livingstone's diary shows in fact the opposite – and totally overlooked many others. ### Criticism of ethnocentrism in Arens's work Lindenbaum and others have pointed out that Arens displays a "strong ethnocentrism". His refusal to admit that cultural (or institutionalized) cannibalism ever existed seems to be motivated by the implied idea "that cannibalism is the worst thing of all" – worse than any other behavior people engaged in, and therefore uniquely suited to vilify others. Kajsa Ekholm Friedman called this "a remarkable opinion in a culture [the European/American one] that has been capable of the most extreme cruelty and destructive behavior, both at home and in other parts of the world." She observed that "[i]n many parts of the Congo region there was no negative evaluation of cannibalism", in contrast to Arens's claim that it was universally despised. In the Congo, however, many "expressed their strong appreciation of this very special meat and could not understand the hysterical reactions from the white man's side." Why indeed, she goes on to ask, should they have had the same negative reactions to cannibalism as Arens and his contemporaries? His argument is based on the implicit idea that everybody throughout human history must have shared the strong taboo placed by his own culture on cannibalism, but he never even attempts to explain why this should be so, and "neither logic nor historical evidence justifies" this viewpoint, as Siefkes commented. ### Press attention Arens' book gained attention from the popular press soon after its publication.

Ruislip-Northwood Urban District

Former urban district in Middlesex, UK

Ruislip-Northwood was an urban district in west Middlesex, England, from 1904 to 1965. From its inception Ruislip-Northwood fell within the Metropolitan Police District and from 1933 it was part of the London Passenger Transport Area. The urban district council presided over a huge increase in population as the Metropolitan Railway gave rise to many new development opportunities. This created many challenges to improve public services and housing while preserving the area's heritage sites. In 1931 King's College, Cambridge sold their final plots of land to the council, having been owners of much of the land in the manor of Ruislip since the mid-15th century. The urban district was abolished in 1965 and its former area was incorporated into the newly established London Borough of Hillingdon, as part of Greater London. ## History ### Creation The urban district was created on 30 September 1904, covering the parish of Ruislip, which had previously been part of Uxbridge Rural District. The parish of Ruislip included Ruislip Manor, South Ruislip, Eastcote, and Northwood. The new urban district council held its first meeting at Northwood School on 1 October, the day after the district's formation. An urban district council had been considered a year previously, in light of the expansion of areas within the parish, particularly Northwood. A report was prepared in 1903 which noted the population in Northwood—2,700 by that time, with 530 houses—compared with the largely rural character of the rest of Ruislip parish. The Metropolitan Railway extension from Harrow to Uxbridge was also discussed at the meeting on 28 October 1903, as a station was to be opened in Ruislip on the line. King's College, Cambridge, owners of much of the land in the parish, were planning to sell some for development in light of the new line. As a result of these events, the Ruislip Parish Council voted in favour of becoming an urban district. ### Governance and developments The urban district council consisted of nine councillors in 1904: the Chairman William Page Edwards; F. M. Elgood; H. J. Brewer; H. Ewer; William Gregory; S. Matheson; Rev. Harvey Roe; J. Westacott, and A. M. Hooper. A clerk was appointed, E. R. Abbot, for £100 per year. He remained in the position until 1931. By 1920 the number of councillors had reached 15. The expansion of the Metropolitan Railway caused the district to experience a sharp rise in population—from 6,217 in 1911 to 72,791 in 1961—and an increase in suburban housebuilding, especially in the area termed Metro-land. Consequentially, the district was one of the first in England to devise a statutory planning scheme in 1914, following the Housing and Town Planning Act 1909. The council had been prompted to follow this new act by the Chairman of the council, Mr. Elgood, an architect, and the Clerk to the council, Mr. Abbot. Members of the council had already raised concerns over some of the new building work around Eastcote and South Ruislip and the new development near Northwood station, which they described as "badly arranged and closely-packed". Three divisions were established within the new council: Finance and General Purposes; Public Health, Buildings and Sewerage; and Highways. The council sought to save money from the outset; reducing the number of workmen employed on the highways from ten to seven and cancelling the cleaning of ditches beside the roads. The lowest-paid man working on the sewers was informed he would need to move within the district and take a pay cut from £1:6s to £1:3s or be made redundant. He accepted. The urban district council worked with King's College, Cambridge, to establish plots of land for development around Ruislip and Ruislip Manor. A town planning competition was held, won by A & J Soutar, town planners from Wandsworth, who sought to create a symmetrical design spreading across Ruislip parish. Many of the woods and historic sites including Manor Farm were to be demolished and cleared as part of the plan, making way for a projected total of 7,642 homes, enough for 35,000 residents. Only the church in Ruislip, St. Martin's, would have been spared. An outline map was made public on 30 November 1910 with few objections. A local board inquiry followed on 17 February 1911, which required negotiations with landowners to allow for a full planning scheme to be compiled. This was presented in February 1913 with an adaptation of the original Soutars plan and received approval from the Local Government Board in September 1914. Three roads with residential housing—Manor Way, Windmill Way, and Park Way—were completed before the outbreak of the First World War. All construction work was halted, and did not resume until 1919. The Ruislip Manor Cottage Society had been set up in 1911 to facilitate the construction of cottages and small housing in the area, though it did not manage to build as much as had been planned. As the council took on several plots in Eastcote, only four houses could be built by the society there. In Northwood, eighteen cottages were later built in 1926. ### Development after the First World War Manor Farm and the local woods were eventually saved from new developments in January 1930, after a member of the Royal Society of Arts visited to choose the buildings that should be conserved. The Great Barn and Little Barn were singled out, together with the old Post Office, the Old Bell public house, and the Priest's House of the local church. The woods were included in a sale by King's College, Cambridge, to the district in February 1931. Park Wood was sold for £27,300, with Manor Farm and the old Post Office included as a gift to the people of Ruislip. King's had wished to also present the wood as a gift but was required by the university and College's Act to receive payment, as it was the trustee of the land. Middlesex County Council contributed 75 per cent of the cost, as the urban district council argued that many of those who would make use of the land would be recreational day-trippers from outside the district. Under a 999-year lease, the council agreed to maintain the wood and ensure no new building was constructed without the permission of the county council. An area of the wood to the south was not included in the lease agreement and three residential roads were later constructed on it. Copse Wood was purchased by Middlesex County Council and London County Council in 1936 for £23,250, joined by Mad Bess Wood in the same year. The urban district council purchased the 186 acres (75 ha) wood together with Middlesex and London County Councils for £28,000 in a compulsory purchase from Sir Howard Stransom Button. Sir Howard became High Sheriff of Middlesex in 1937. The council purchased Haydon Hall and its 14.7 acres (5.9 ha) of ground in 1936, planning to build a civic centre there. The outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 caused the plan to be suspended, and it was never continued. During the war, the urban district saw a high number of bombing raids by the Luftwaffe during The Blitz, between 8 September 1940 and 9 May 1941. A total of 57 raids were recorded with 241 high explosive bombs, 2000 incendiary bombs and 4 parachuted landmines falling on the area; 27 people were killed and a further 231 were injured. A public hall was built on part of the Manor Farm site in 1965 and named Winston Churchill Hall. The land upon which it was built had been Barn Close and was bought by Councillor T. R. Parker in 1932 from King's College. He presented the land to the Ruislip Village Trust as the site of a future public hall and the Trust gave it to the urban district council in 1964 stipulating that that would be the sole use. ### Abolition The urban district was abolished in 1965 and its area formed part of the London Borough of Hillingdon in Greater London. By this time the population within the district had reached 75,000. The Ruislip-Northwood name survived in the Ruislip-Northwood parliamentary constituency until 2010, when it was incorporated into the Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner constituency. ## Coat of arms A coat of arms was granted in 1937. It is described as "argent, a hurst of oak-trees proper growing out of a grassy mount, and above them a roundel azure charged with a star of five points or; on a chief gules a silver mitre between two fleurs-de-lis or". It also had a crest, described as "on a wreath or the colours in front of two ears of rye slipped in saltire proper a boar passant sable armed and unguled." The hurst of trees with a representation of the Pole Star above are a play on the name Northwood. The mitre and fleurs-de-lys refer to the Abbey of Bec Herlewin in Normandy, to whom the Lordship of Ruislip was granted, where there was a cell of the Order. The Manor was later seized by Henry V and granted as part of the endowment of King's College, Cambridge. The Abbey and the college were dedicated to St. Mary, one of whose symbols is a fleur-de-lis. The 'rye slips' are a play on the name Ruislip. The wild boar shows that the Lordship was an ancient one, granted when the land was forest roamed by wild boars. The present coat of arms of the London Borough of Hillingdon use the Pole Star, fleur-de-lis, and rye stalks from the coat of arms of the former Ruislip-Northwood Urban District on its coat of arms.

Forestry in the United Kingdom

None

The United Kingdom, being in the British Isles, is ideal for tree growth, thanks to its mild winters, plentiful rainfall, fertile soil and hill-sheltered topography. Growth rates for broadleaved (hardwood) trees exceed those of mainland Europe, while conifer (softwood) growth rates are three times those of Sweden and five times those of Finland. In the absence of people, much of Great Britain would be covered with mature oaks, except for Scotland. Although conditions for forestry are good, trees do face damage threats arising from fungi, parasites and pests. The development of afforestation and the production and supply of timber in Wales come under Natural Resources Wales, as set out in the Forestry Act 1967. Nowadays, about 13% of Britain's land surface is wooded. The country's supply of timber was severely depleted during the First and Second World Wars, when imports were difficult, and the forested area bottomed out at under 5% of Britain's land surface in 1919. That year, the Forestry Commission was established to produce a strategic reserve of timber. As of 2020, other European countries average from 1% (Malta) to 66% (Finland) of their area as woodland. Of the 31,380 square kilometres (12,120 sq mi) of forest in Britain, around 30% is publicly owned and 70% is in the private sector. More than 40,000 people work on this land. Conifers account for around one half (51%) of the UK woodland area, although this proportion varies from around one quarter (26%) in England to around three quarters (74%) in Scotland. Britain's native tree flora comprises 32 species, of which 29 are broadleaves. Britain's industry and populace uses at least 50 million tonnes of timber a year. More than 75% of this is softwood, and Britain's forests cannot supply the demand; in fact, less than 10% of the timber used in Britain is home-grown. Paper and paper products make up more than half the wood consumed in Britain by volume. In October 2010, the new coalition government of the UK suggested it might sell off around half the Forestry Commission-owned woodland in the UK. A wide variety of groups were vocal about their disapproval, and by February 2011, the government abandoned the idea. Instead, it set up the Independent Panel on Forestry led by Rt Rev James Jones, then the Bishop of Liverpool. This body published its report in July 2012. Among other suggestions, it recommended that the forested portion of England should rise to 15% of the country's land area by 2060. As of 2021, government plans call for 30,000 hectares of afforestation per annum. Efforts to reach these targets have attracted criticism for planting non-native trees, or trees that are out of place for their surroundings, leading to ecological changes. ## Background Throughout most of British history, people have most commonly created farmland at the expense of forest. Furthermore, variations in the Holocene climate have led to significant changes in the ranges of many species. This makes it complex to estimate the likely extent of natural forest cover. For example, in Scotland four main areas have been identified: oak dominated forest south of the Highland Line, Scots Pine in the Central Highlands, hazel/oak or pine/birch/oak assemblages in the north-east and south-west Highlands, and birch in the Outer Hebrides, Northern Isles and far north of the mainland. Furthermore, the effects of fire, human clearance and grazing probably limited forest cover to about 50% of the land area of Scotland even at its maximum. The stock of woodland declined alarmingly during the First World War and "a Forestry Subcommittee was added to the Reconstruction Committee to advise on policy when the war was over. The Subcommittee, better known as the Acland Committee after its chairman Sir A. H. D. Acland, came to the conclusion that, in order to secure the double purpose of being able to be independent from foreign supplies for three years and a reasonable insurance against a timber famine, the woods of Great Britain should be gradually increased from three million acres to four and three quarter millions at the end of the war". Following the Acland Report of 1918 the Forestry Commission was formed in 1919 to meet this need. State forest parks were established in 1935. Emergency felling controls had been introduced in the First and Second World Wars, and these were made permanent in the Forestry Act 1951. Landowners were also given financial incentives to devote land to forests under the Dedication Scheme, which in 1981 became the Forestry Grant Scheme. By the early 1970s, the annual rate of planting exceeded 40,000 hectares (99,000 acres) per annum. Most of this planting comprised fast-growing conifers. Later in the century the balance shifted, with fewer than 20,000 hectares (49,000 acres) per annum being planted during the 1990s, but broadleaf planting actually increased, exceeding 1,000 hectares (2,500 acres) per year in 1987. By the mid-1990s, more than half of new planting was broadleaf. In 1988, the Woodland Grant Scheme replaced the Forestry Grant Scheme, paying nearly twice as much for broadleaf woodland as conifers. (In England, the Woodland Grant Scheme was subsequently replaced by the English Woodland Grant Scheme, which operates six separate kinds of grant for forestry projects.) That year, the Farm Woodlands Scheme was also introduced, and replaced by the Farm Woodland Premium Scheme in 1992. In the 1990s, a programme of afforestation resulted in the establishment of Community Forests and the National Forest, which celebrated the planting of its seven millionth tree in 2006. As a result of these initiatives, the British Isles are one of a very few places in the world where the stock of forested land is actually increasing, though the rate of increase has slowed since the turn of the millennium. England Rural Development Programme is the current overarching grants scheme that includes money for forested land within it. ## Ancient woodland Ancient woodland is defined as any woodland that has been continuously forested since 1600. It is recorded on either the Register of Ancient Semi-Natural Woodland or the Register of Planted Woodland Sites. There is no woodland in Britain that has not been profoundly affected by human intervention. Apart from certain native pinewoods in Scotland, it is predominantly broadleaf. Such woodland is less productive, in terms of timber yield, but ecologically rich, typically containing a number of "indicator species" of indigenous wildlife. It comprises roughly 20% of the forested area. ## Native and historic tree species Britain is relatively impoverished in terms of native species. For example, only thirty-one species of deciduous tree and shrub are native to Scotland, including ten willows, four whitebeams and three birch and cherry. This is a list of tree species that existed in Britain before 1900. The sheer number of tree species planted subsequently precludes a complete list. {\| class="sortable wikitable" ! Common name !! Scientific name !! Period !! Type !! style="width:20%" \| Notes \|- \| Ash \|\| Fraxinus excelsior \|\| Native \|\|Broadleaf \|\| - \|- \| Aspen \|\| Populus tremula \|\| Native \|\| Broadleaf \|\| - \|- \| Atlas cedar \|\| Cedrus atlantica \|\| 1800–1900 \|\| Conifer \|\| - \|- \| Austrian pine \|\| Pinus nigra \|\| 1800–1900 \|\| Conifer \|\| - \|- \| Bay willow \|\| Salix pentandra \|\| Native \|\| Broadleaf \|\| - \|- \| Beech \|\| Fagus sylvatica \|\| Native \|\| Broadleaf \|\| - \|- \| Bird cherry \|\| Prunus padus \|\| Native \|\| Broadleaf \|\| - \|- \| Black cottonwood \|\| Populus trichocarpa \|\| 1800–1900 \|\| Broadleaf \|\| - \|- \| Black poplar \|\| Populus nigra \|\| Native \|\| Broadleaf \|\| - \|- \| Black walnut \|\| Juglans nigra \|\| 1600–1800 \|\| Broadleaf \|\| - \|- \| Box \|\| Buxus sempervirens \|\| Native \|\| Broadleaf \|\| - \|- \| Caucasian fir \|\| Abies nordmanniana \|\| 1800–1900 \|\| Conifer \|\| - \|- \| Cedar of Lebanon \|\| Cedrus libani \|\| 1600–1800 \|\| Conifer \|\| - \|- \| Coast redwood \|\| Sequoia sempervirens \|\| 1800–1900 \|\| Conifer \|\| - \|- \| Common alder \|\| Alnus glutinosa \|\| Native \|\| Broadleaf \|\| - \|- \| Common juniper \|\| Juniperus communis \|\| Native \|\| Conifer \|\| - \|- \| Common lime \|\| Tilia x vulgaris \|\| 1600–1800 \|\| Broadleaf \|\| - \|- \| Common silver fir \|\| Abies alba \|\| 1600–1800 \|\| Conifer \|\| - \|- \| Common walnut \|\| Juglans regia \|\| pre-1600 \|\| Broadleaf \|\| - \|- \| Corsican pine \|\| Pinus nigra \|\| 1600–1800 \|\| Conifer \|\| - \|- \| Crab apple \|\| Malus sylvestris \|\| Native \|\| Broadleaf \|\| - \|- \| Crack willow \|\| Salix fragilis \|\| Native \|\| Broadleaf \|\| - \|- \| Cricket-bat willow \|\| Salix alba, var caerulea \|\| 1600–1800 \|\| Broadleaf \|\| - \|- \| Deodar cedar \|\| Cedrus deodara \|\| 1800–1900 \|\| Conifer \|\| - \|- \| Douglas fir \|\| Pseudotsuga menziesii \|\| 1800–1900 \|\| Conifer \|\| Tallest tree in the UK \|- \| Downy birch \|\| Betula pubescens \|\| Native \|\| Broadleaf \|\| May have been the first tree to grow in Britain after the ice age \|- \| English elm \|\| Ulmus procera \|\| pre-1600 \|\| Broadleaf \|\| Despite the name, not a native species \|- \| Eucalypts \|\| Eucalyptus species \|\| 1800–1900 \|\| Broadleaf \|\| - \|- \| European larch \|\| Larix decidua \|\| 1600–1800 \|\| Conifer \|\| - \|- \| Field maple \|\| Acer campestre \|\| Native \|\| Broadleaf \|\| - \|- \| Giant fir \|\| Abies grandis \|\| 1800–1900 \|\| Conifer \|\| - \|- \| Giant sequoia \|\| Sequoiadendron giganteum \|\| 1850s– Present \|\| Conifer \|\| - Found in botanical gardens and private estates \|- \| Grey alder \|\| Alnus incana \|\| 1600–1800 \|\| Broadleaf \|\| - \|- \| Grey poplar \|\| Populus x canescens \|\| pre-1600 \|\| Broadleaf \|\| - \|- \| Hawthorn \|\| Crataegus monogyna \|\| Native \|\| Broadleaf \|\| - \|- \| Hazel \|\| Corylus avellana \|\| Native \|\| Broadleaf \|\| - \|- \| Holly \|\| Ilex aquifolium \|\| Native \|\| Broadleaf \|\| - \|- \| Holm oak \|\| Quercus ilex \|\| pre-1600 \|\| Broadleaf \|\| - \|- \| Hornbeam \|\| Carpinus betulus \|\| Native \|\| Broadleaf \|\| - \|- \| Horse chestnut \|\| Aesculus hippocastanum \|\| 1600–1800 \|\| Broadleaf \|\| - \|- \| Italian alder \|\| Alnus cordata \|\| 1800–1900 \|\| Broadleaf \|\| - \|- \| Japanese larch \|\| Larix kaempferi \|\| 1800–1900 \|\| Conifer \|\| - \|- \| Large-leaved lime \|\| Tilia platyphyllos \|\| Native \|\| Broadleaf \|\| - \|- \| Lawson cypress \|\| Chamaecyparis lawsoniana \|\| 1800–1900 \|\| Conifer \|\| - \|- \| Lodgepole pine \|\| Pinus contorta \|\| 1800–1900 \|\| Conifer \|\| - \|- \| Lombardy poplar \|\| Populus nigra var. italica \|\| 1600–1800 \|\| Broadleaf \|\| - \|- \| London plane \|\| Platanus x hispanica \|\| 1600–1800 \|\| Broadleaf \|\| \|- \| Maritime pine \|\| Pinus pinaster \|\| pre-1600 \|\| Conifer \|\| - \|- \| Midland thorn \|\| Crataegus laevigata \|\| Native \|\| Broadleaf \|\| - \|- \| Monkey puzzle \|\| Araucaria araucana \|\| 1600–1800 \|\| Conifer \|\| - \|- \| Monterey cypress \|\| Cupressus macrocarpa \|\| 1800–1900 \|\| Conifer \|\| - \|- \| Monterey pine \|\| Pinus radiata \|\| 1800–1900 \|\| Conifer \|\| - \|- \| Noble fir \|\| Abies procera \|\| 1800–1900 \|\| Conifer \|\| - \|- \| Norway maple \|\| Acer platanoides \|\| 1600–1800 \|\| Broadleaf \|\| - \|- \| Norway spruce \|\| Picea abies \|\| pre-1600 \|\| Conifer \|\| Supplanted as most common forestry species by Sitka spruce \|- \| Oriental plane \|\| Platanus orientalis \|\| pre-1600 \|\| Broadleaf \|\| - \|- \| Pedunculate oak \|\| Quercus robur \|\| Native \|\| Broadleaf \|\| Also called the English Oak \|- \| Red alder \|\| Alnus rubra \|\| 1800–1900 \|\| Broadleaf \|\| - \|- \| Red oak \|\| Quercus rubra \|\| 1600–1800 \|\| Broadleaf \|\| - \|- \| Robusta poplar \|\| Populus x robusta \|\| 1800–1900 \|\| Broadleaf \|\| - \|- \| Rowan \|\| Sorbus aucuparia \|\| Native \|\| Broadleaf \|\| - \|- \| Sallow (Goat willow) \|\| Salix caprea \|\| Native \|\| Broadleaf \|\| - \|- \| Scots pine \|\| Pinus sylvestris \|\| Native \|\| Conifer \|\| - \|- \| Serotina poplar \|\| Populus x serotina \|\| 1600–1800 \|\| Broadleaf \|\| - \|- \| Sessile oak \|\| Quercus petraea \|\| Native \|\| Broadleaf \|\| - \|- \| Silver birch \|\| Betula pendula \|\| Native \|\| Broadleaf \|\| - \|- \| Sitka spruce \|\| Picea sitchensis \|\| 1800–1900 \|\| Conifer \|\| Most common forestry species \|- \| Small-leaved lime \|\| Tilia cordata \|\| Native \|\| Broadleaf \|\| - \|- \| Smooth-leaved elm \|\| Ulmus carpinifolia \|\| pre-1600 \|\| Broadleaf \|\| - \|- \| Southern beech \|\| Nothofagus antarctica \|\| 1800–1900 \|\| Broadleaf \|\| - \|- \| Swamp cypress \|\| Taxodium distichum \|\| 1600–1800 \|\| Conifer \|\| - \|- \| Swedish whitebeam \|\| Sorbus intermedia \|\| pre-1600 \|\| Broadleaf \|\| - \|- \| Sweet chestnut \|\| Castanea sativa \|\| pre-1600 \|\| Broadleaf \|\| - \|- \| Sycamore \|\| Acer pseudoplatanus \|\| pre-1600 \|\| Broadleaf \|\| - \|- \| Turkey oak \|\| Quercus cerris \|\| 1600–1800 \|\| Broadleaf \|\| - \|- \| Wellingtonia \|\| Sequoiadendron giganteum \|\| 1800–1900 \|\| Conifer \|\| - \|- \| Western hemlock \|\| Tsuga heterophylla \|\| 1800–1900 \|\| Conifer \|\| - \|- \| Western red cedar \|\| Thuja plicata \|\| 1800–1900 \|\| Conifer \|\| - \|- \| White poplar \|\| Populus alba \|\| pre-1600 \|\| Broadleaf \|\| - \|- \| White willow \|\| Salix alba \|\| Native \|\| Broadleaf \|\| - \|- \| Whitebeam \|\| Sorbus aria \|\| Native \|\| Broadleaf \|\| - \|- \| Wild cherry (Gean) \|\| Prunus avium \|\| Native \|\| Broadleaf \|\| - \|- \| Wild service tree \|\| Sorbus torminalis \|\| Native \|\| Broadleaf \|\| - \|- \| Wych elm \|\| Ulmus glabra \|\| Native \|\| Broadleaf \|\| - \|- \| Yew \|\| Taxus baccata \|\| Native \|\| Conifer \|\| - \|- ## Threats Most serious disease threats to British woodland involve fungus. For conifers, the greatest threat is white rot fungus (Heterobasidion annosum). Dutch elm disease arises from two related species of fungi in the genus Ophiostoma, spread by elm bark beetles. Another fungus, Nectria coccinea, causes Beech bark disease, as does Bulgaria polymorpha. Ash canker results from Nectria galligena or Pseudomonas savastanoi, and most trees are vulnerable to Honey Fungus (Armillaria mellea). The oomycete Phytophthora ramorum (responsible for "Sudden oak death" in the USA) has killed large numbers of Japanese Larch trees in the UK. Acute oak decline has a bacterial cause. Beetles, moths and weevils can also damage trees, but the majority do not cause serious harm. Notable exceptions include the Large Pine Weevil (Hylobius abietis), which can kill young conifers, the Spruce Bark Beetle (Ips typographus) which can kill spruces, and the Cockchafer (Melolontha melolontha) which eats young tree roots and can kill in a dry season. Rabbits, squirrels, voles, field mice, deer, and farm animals can pose a significant threat to trees. Air pollution, climate change, acid rain, and wildfire represent the main environmental hazards. ## Timber industry In 2013, the UK produced 3,582,000 cubic metres of sawn wood, 3,032,000 cubic metres of wood-based panels and 4,561,000 tonnes of paper and paperboard. The UK does not produce enough timber to satisfy domestic demand, and the country imports 80% of its timber and paper from abroad, as the world's second largest timber importer after China. The majority of sawn softwood imports come from the Baltic, in particular Sweden (42%), Latvia (16%) and Finland (14%). In 2008 the country imported sawn and other wood to a value of £1,243 million and exported £98 million; imported £832 million of wood-based panels and exported £104 million; and imported paper and paper-based products to a value of £4,273 million and exported £1,590 million. In 2012 approximately 15,000 people were employed in forestry and 26,000 in primary wood production in the country, resulting in a gross value added to the country of £1,936 million. Most of the domestically produced construction timber is spruce graded to the strength class C16. With the ongoing closure of sawmills, the biomass industry is likely to be a key driver for future growth. ### Planting Successful forestry requires healthy, well-formed trees that are resistant to diseases and parasites. The best wood has a straight, circular stem without a spiral grain or fluting, and small, evenly spaced branches. The chances of achieving these are maximised by planting good-quality seed in the best possible growing environment. ### Stewardship and management The Forestry Commission was established in 1919, in order to address a lack of timber following the First World War: at this point Britain had only 5% of its original forest cover left and the government at that time wanted to create a strategic resource of timber. Since then forest coverage has doubled and the commission's remit expanded to include greater focus on sustainable forest management and maximising public benefits. Woodland creation continues to be an important role of the commission, however, and works closely with government to achieve its goal of 12% forest coverage by 2060, championing initiatives such as The Big Tree Plant and Woodland Carbon Code. Originally, the commission operated across Great Britain, however in 2013 Natural Resources Wales took over responsibility for Forestry in Wales, whilst two new bodies (Forestry and Land Scotland and Scottish Forestry) were established in Scotland on 1 April 2019. The Commission retains responsibility for forestry in England, as well as co-coordinating international forestry policy support and certain plant health functions in respect of trees and forestry across the UK. The Forestry Commission is also the government body responsible for the regulation of private forestry in England; felling is generally illegal without first obtaining a licence from the commission. The commission is also responsible for encouraging new private forest growth and development. Part of this role is carried out by providing grants in support of private forests and woodlands. Tree breeding programmes, to ensure the best seed, are hampered by the trees' long life-cycles. However, particularly since the 1950s, the Forestry Commission among other organisations has been running a programme of breeding, propagation, induced flowering and controlled pollination with the aim of producing healthy, disease-resistant, fast-growing stock. Natural Resources Wales (Welsh: Cyfoeth Naturiol Cymru) is a Welsh Government sponsored body, for the management of all the natural resources of Wales. It was formed from a merger of the Countryside Council for Wales, Environment Agency Wales, and the Forestry Commission Wales, and also assumes some other roles formerly taken by Welsh Government. Other organisations working in Wales to improve the management of Welsh woodlands and forests include the Confederation of Forest Industries, Coed Cymru and Woodknowledge Wales. For forestry in Scotland, both Forestry and Land Scotland and Scottish Forestry are executive agency of the Scottish Government. The key functions of Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) are to look after the national forest estate, including unforested land within this portfolio, and to produce and supply timber. It is expected to enhance biodiversity, increase public access to the outdoors, encourage tourism and support the rural economy. Scottish Forestry is responsible for regulation, policy and support to landowners, including regulation of FLS. The Forest Stewardship Council, more specifically FSC UK, sets forest management standards for the UK, promotes the system and provides an information service. It looks at the environmental, social and economic impacts of the timber industry. ### Transportation Currently, the vast majority of Britain's timber uses road haulage. As forests are located in rural areas, the heavy timber vehicles have severely damaged many single lane tracks, especially in the Highlands. In order to combat this, companies are being forced to provide funding for repairs, as well as using alternative transport systems such as rail and coastal shipping. Despite the number of forest railways plummeting after the Beeching Axe, rail's share of timber transport has risen from 3% in 2002 with the opening of new lines in Devon, the Pennines, Scotland and South Wales by Colas Rail. ## Land values The price of woodland has risen out of proportion to its productivity, and in 2012 reached peak prices over £10,000 per acre. Woodland prices are affected by its very favourable tax treatment and its high amenity value. ## See also - List of forests in the United Kingdom - List of Great British Trees - List of renewable resources produced and traded by the United Kingdom - English Lowlands beech forests - Woodland Carbon Code - Natural Forest Standard - Forestry in Scotland

NASA Astronaut Group 5

Group of astronauts selected by NASA in 1966

NASA Astronaut Group 5 was a group of nineteen astronauts selected by NASA in April 1966. Of the six Lunar Module Pilots that walked on the Moon, three came from Group 5. The group as a whole is roughly split between the half who flew to the Moon (nine in all), and the half who flew Skylab and Space Shuttle, providing the core of Shuttle commanders early in that program. This group is also distinctive in being the only time when NASA hired a person into the astronaut corps who had already earned astronaut wings, X-15 pilot Joe Engle. John Young labeled the group the Original Nineteen in parody of the original Mercury Seven astronauts. ## Background The launch of the Sputnik 1 satellite by the Soviet Union on October 4, 1957, started a Cold War technological and ideological competition with the United States known as the Space Race. The demonstration of American technological inferiority came as a profound shock to the American public. In response to the Sputnik crisis, although he did not see Sputnik as a grave threat, the President of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower, created a new civilian agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), to oversee an American space program. Confidence that the United States was catching up with the Soviet Union was shattered on April 12, 1961, when the Soviet Union launched Vostok 1, and cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man to orbit the Earth. In response, Kennedy announced a far more ambitious goal on May 25, 1961: to put a man on the Moon by the end of the decade. This already had a name: Project Apollo. By 1966, NASA was looking beyond Project Apollo. On February 3, 1966, the Chief of the Astronaut Office, Mercury Seven astronaut Alan Shepard, created a new branch office at the Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC) called the Advanced Programs Office. NASA announced plans for the future on March 3. The Apollo Applications Program (AAP), as it was named in September 1965, was extremely ambitious in scope. It called for no less than 45 crewed missions, utilizing 19 Saturn V and 26 Saturn IB rockets. There would be three orbital workshops, three orbital laboratories and four Apollo Telescope Mounts. The first AAP launch was expected to occur as early as April 1968 if the Moon landing went well. Each orbital laboratory was expected to be visited by two or three crews. At this point, NASA had 33 astronauts. The Director of Flight Crew Operations, Mercury Seven astronaut Deke Slayton, reckoned that NASA needed another two dozen trained astronauts for AAP. On September 10, 1965, NASA announced that it was recruiting more pilot astronauts. ## Selection Key selection criteria were that candidates: - Be a United States citizen; - Born on or after December 1, 1929; - 6 feet 0 inches (1.83 m) or less in height; - With a bachelor's degree in the physical or biological sciences, or engineering; and - Either a graduate of an armed force test pilot school or with 1,000 hours of jet flying experience. In addition, all applicants had to be able to pass a class I flight physical examination, which required 20–20 uncorrected vision. The height requirement was firm, an artifact of the size of the Apollo spacecraft. The criteria were much the same as those for NASA Astronaut Group 3 in 1963, except that the age requirement was raised from 34 to 36 years of age. Active-duty military applicants had to apply through their respective services. Civilian applicants and military reservists could apply directly. They had to fill in a Civil Service Form 57 Application for Federal Employment, which could be obtained from U.S. Post Offices, and mail it to Pilot-Astronaut, P.O. Box 2201, Houston, Texas. Applications had to be received postmarked by midnight December 1, 1965. About 5,000 applications were received by the deadline. Of these, only 351 met the key criteria. From this group, 159 applicants, 100 of whom were military and 59 were civilians, were selected for further consideration. Six women had applied, but none apparently met the key criteria, most likely because women were not allowed to fly military jet aircraft in the United States at this time. Lieutenant Frank K. Ellis, a U.S. Navy aviator who had lost both legs in an air crash in July 1962, submitted an application, arguing that being a double amputee would not be a handicap in space. NASA was impressed with his tenacity, but he too was passed over. Michael Collins later recalled that while he felt a sense of relief at there being no female finalists, he was disturbed that there were no African-American ones. From this 159, 44 were selected to undergo medical examinations at Brooks Air Force Base at San Antonio, Texas. These were conducted between January 7 and February 15, 1966. Several had been through the NASA astronaut selection process before. Edward Givens was applying for the second time, having previously applied for NASA Astronaut Group 1 in 1959. Jack Swigert was applying for the third time, having previously applied for NASA Astronaut Group 2 in 1962 and NASA Astronaut Group 3 in 1963. Vance Brand, Ron Evans, George Furlong, Jim Irwin and Don Lind had also applied in 1963, and Lind had applied for NASA Astronaut Group 4 as a scientist-astronaut in 1965, but had been rejected as too old. Psychological tests included Rorschach tests; physical tests included encephalograms, and sessions on treadmills and a centrifuge. Other tests included some that Lind thought had been originated by the Inquisition, such as plunging a hand into hot water and having cold water poured into the ears. The final stage of the selection process was an interview by the seven-member selection panel. This was chaired by Deke Slayton, with the other members being astronauts Alan Shepard, John Young, Michael Collins and C. C. Williams, NASA test pilot Warren North, and spacecraft designer Max Faget. Interviews were conducted over a week at the Rice Hotel. A point system that Slayton had devised for previous selections was used. Each candidate was given a score out of 30. Ten points were for "academics". This was broken down into one point for IQ, four for academic degrees and qualifications, three for NASA aptitude tests, and two for the results of a technical interview. Ten points were for "pilot performance", which were broken down into three points for flying record, a point for a test pilot rating, and six points for a technical interview. The remaining ten points were for "character and motivation". Thus, eighteen of the thirty points were awarded for the interview, which took about an hour for each of the candidates. The selection panel then met at Rice University to review their findings. When the scores were tallied, Fred Haise came out with the highest score. In all, 19 candidates were rated as qualified. Young and Collins were shocked when Slayton said that he would take all 19. A reason for the larger-than-expected cohort was that the astronaut corps' attrition rate was double the 10% NASA had expected, including the deaths in February of Elliot M. See and Charles Bassett in the 1966 NASA T-38 crash. Selection occurred at the same time as for the second group of Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) astronauts, with many applying to both programs. Successful candidates were told that NASA or MOL chose them, with no explanation. ## Group members ## Demographics John Young labeled the group the "Original Nineteen" in parody of the original Mercury Seven astronauts. Of the nineteen, four were civilians: Brand, Haise, Lind and Swigert. Seven were from the USAF: Majors Givens, Irwin and Pogue, and Captains Duke, Engle, Roosa and Worden. Six were from the Navy: Lieutenant Commander Evans, Mitchell and Weitz, and Lieutenants Bull, Mattingly and McCandless. There were two marines, Major Carr and Captain Lousma. Swigert and Mattingly were single; all the rest were married with children. Carr had the most children, with six, followed by Lind with five, and Brand and Roosa, who had four. All were male and white. They were slightly older than the 1963 group, and this translated into more flying hours. Twelve were test pilots: Brand, Bull, Duke, Engle, Givens, Haise, Irwin, Mattingly, Mitchell, Pogue, Roosa and Worden. They also had more education than previous groups. Lind and Mitchell had doctorates, and Brand, Carr, Duke, Evans, Lousma, McCandless, Pogue, Swigert, Weitz and Worden had master's degrees. Engle had already earned his USAF astronaut wings flying the X-15, and Duke, Engle, Givens, Haise, Irwin, Mattingly, Mitchell, Roosa and Worden had received some astronaut training through the USAF Aerospace Research Pilot School (ARPS). ## Training The selection of the nineteen was publicly announced on April 4, 1966. Seventeen of the nineteen faced the media for the first time at a press conference at the MSC News Center; Givens was still involved in USAF work, and Carr was recovering from a case of measles. On May 9, they commenced fifteen months of formal astronaut training. They were joined by Joseph Kerwin and Curt Michel from NASA Astronaut Group 4, who were qualified military pilots; the remaining three members of that group joined after they completed flight training in August. Together, the 24 new astronauts were the most that NASA had ever trained at the one time, although they would be surpassed by some of the later groups. The first order of business was checking out all the pilots on the aircraft that they would have to fly, the Lockheed T-33 and the Northrop T-38. Training was conducted on Monday to Wednesday, with Thursday and Friday for field trips. They were given classroom instruction in astronomy (15 hours), aerodynamics (8 hours), rocket propulsion (8 hours), communications (10 hours), space medicine (17 hours), meteorology (4 hours), upper atmospheric physics (12 hours), navigation (34 hours), orbital mechanics (23 hours), computers (8 hours) and geology (112 hours). The training in geology included field trips to the Grand Canyon and the Meteor Crater in Arizona, Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico, Horse Lava Tube System in Bend, Oregon, and the ash flow in the Marathon Uplift in Texas, and other locations, including Alaska and Hawaii. There was also jungle survival training in Panama, and desert survival training around Reno, Nevada. Water survival training was conducted at Naval Air Station Pensacola using the Dilbert Dunker. Some 30 hours of briefings were conducted on the Apollo command and service module, and twelve on the Apollo lunar module. ## Operations Although training continued until September 1967, Shepard assigned them to six branches of his office on October 3, 1966. Engle, Lousma, Pogue and Weitz were assigned to the Apollo Applications Branch, which was headed by Group 3 member Alan Bean, with Bill Anders as his deputy. Brand, Evans, Mattingly, Swigert and Worden were assigned to the CSM Block II Branch, which was headed by Group 2 member Pete Conrad, with Group 3 member Richard Gordon as his deputy. Bull, Carr, Haise, Irwin and Mitchell were assigned to Group 2 member Neil Armstrong's LM/LLRV/LLRF Branch. Givens was assigned to John Young's Pressure Suits/PLSS Branch; Lind and McCandless were to Owen Garriott's Experiments Branch; and Duke and Roosa to Frank Borman and C.C. Williams's Boosters/Flight Safety Panels Branch. In earlier groups, the senior astronaut had assumed the role of command module pilot while the more junior was the lunar module pilot, but the Nineteen were divided into CSM and LM specialists. Slayton asked each of the Nineteen which speciality he preferred, but made the final decision himself. This early division of assignments would have a profound effect on their subsequent careers. Brand, Evans, Givens, Mattingly, Pogue, Roosa, Swigert, Weitz and Worden became CSM specialists, while Bull, Carr, Duke, Engle, Haise, Irwin, Lind, Lousma, McCandless and Mitchell became LM specialists. During Projects Mercury and Gemini, each mission had a prime and a backup crew. For Apollo, a third crew of astronauts was added, known as the support crew. The support crew maintained the flight plan, checklists, and mission ground rules, and ensured that the prime and backup crews were apprised of any changes. The support crew developed procedures in the simulators, especially those for emergency situations, so that the prime and backup crews could practice and master them in their simulator training. Support crew assignments soon became the stepping stone to assignment to a backup, and then a prime crew. For the Apollo 1, which would not carry a LM, the support crew three CSM specialists were assigned to the support crew: Givens, Evans and Swigert. For Apollo 2, which would test the LM, two LM specialists, Haise and Mitchell, were assigned to the support crew, along with Worden, a CSM specialist. For Apollo 3, the support crew consisted of LM specialists Bull and Carr, and CSM specialist Mattingly. The schedule was disrupted by the deaths of Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee in the Apollo 1 fire on January 27, 1967, Givens in a car crash on June 6, and C.C. Williams in an air crash on October 5. Pogue replaced Givens on the first support crew, which now supported Apollo 7. Haise became the first of the Nineteen to be promoted to a backup crew assignment when he joined Armstrong's backup crew for the Apollo 9 mission, followed by Mitchell, who joined Gordon Cooper's backup crew for Apollo 10. They were replaced by Lousma and Roosa, respectively, while Brand replaced Bull, who had been forced to resign due to ill-health. Apollo 8 and 9 subsequently exchanged prime, backup and support crews, so Brand, Carr and Mattingly became the support crew of Apollo 8, and Lousma, Roosa and Worden became that of Apollo 9. Originally, Mitchell was in line to be the first member of the group to fly in space, but due to the swap of Apollo 13 and Apollo 14 crews, Swigert and Haise became the first. Starting with Apollo 13, each crew consisted of a senior astronaut from Group 1, 2 or 3, and a CM and LM specialist from the Nineteen, except that geologist Harrison Schmitt from Group 4 was designated as the lunar module pilot of Apollo 18, and then took Engle's place on Apollo 17 when Apollo 18 was canceled. Of the 24 men who flew to the Moon on Apollo missions, nine were from the Nineteen, the most of any group. Three of them—Mitchell, Irwin and Duke—walked on the Moon, and Worden, Mattingly and Evans conducted deep space EVAs on the way back from the Moon. Four more of the Nineteen flew on the three Skylab missions, and also performed EVAs. Brand flew as command module pilot on the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in July 1975, becoming the last of the Nineteen to fly in an Apollo spacecraft. With no more space flights in prospect, ten of the Nineteen left NASA in the 1970s. The seven that remained would all fly Space Shuttle missions. Veteran astronauts Engle, Lousma, Mattingly, Brand and Weitz commanded STS-2, STS-3, STS-4, STS-5 and STS-6 respectively. McCandless was the only one of the Nineteen to perform an EVA from a shuttle, which he did as a mission specialist on his first space flight, the STS-41B mission in February 1984. Lind had to wait even longer; flying in space for the first time as a mission specialist on STS-51B in April and May 1985, nineteen years after he was first selected as an astronaut in April 1966, and fifteen after Haise and Swigert had become the first of the Nineteen to fly on Apollo 13 in April 1970. The last mission flown by any of the Nineteen was STS-35 in December 1990, which was commanded by Brand, who became the last member of the group to leave the Astronaut Office when he departed in 1992. Between them, the Nineteen had flown 29 Space Shuttle missions.

The Cost of Living (Lost)

"The Cost of Living" is the 5th episode of the third season of Lost, and the 54th episode overall. It aired on November 1, 2006, in the US, averaging 16.07 million viewers, and on December 5, 2006, in the UK, being watched by 1.15 million viewers. The episode was written by Monica Owusu-Breen and Alison Schapker and directed by Jack Bender. The plot centers on the character of Mr. Eko (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), who in flashbacks shows how he became a priest replacing his dead brother Yemi (Adetokumboh M'Cormack), and in the present day events is haunted by visions of Yemi while other castaways decide to visit a Dharma Initiative station. The episode was written to finish Eko's character arc as Akinnuoye-Agbaje had requested to leave the show while finishing the second season. Reviewers subsequently praised "The Cost of Living" while considering that the departure of Eko made Lost lose one of its best characters. ## Plot ### Flashbacks Shortly after the death of his brother Yemi, Eko is driven back to Yemi's village. Inside the church, Eko announces to the altar boy Daniel and his mother Amina that he will be taking his brother's place at the church. When Amina also inquires about Yemi's upcoming trip to London, a surprised Eko states that he would also replace him there. Some time later, after Eko has become established in his new role as priest, he is confronted by militiamen, who Amina reveals that had a deal with Yemi to get most of the clinic's vaccines. Eko soon develops a plan to sell the vaccine on the black market before he leaves the country that coming weekend. As the militiamen learn of Eko's deal, they attack him inside the church, but end up getting killed. The villagers respond by closing the church as they felt it was desecrated. Amina calls out Eko, saying she had been aware of the vaccine deal, and advises him to repent and make his peace with God, telling Eko that he "owes" Yemi one church. ### On the Island A delirious Eko has a vision of his brother Yemi (Adetokumboh M'Cormack) holding a cigarette lighter, who says it was Eko's time to confess his sins and, he knew where to find him. Afterwards, Eko's shelter catches fire, and Eko is rescued by Charlie Pace (Dominic Monaghan) and Hugo "Hurley" Reyes (Jorge Garcia). As John Locke (Terry O'Quinn) arrives to ask what happened, Eko has vanished. The next morning, Locke suggests to Desmond Hume (Henry Ian Cusick) that he visit the Pearl station. Joined by Charlie, Sayid Jarrah (Naveen Andrews), Nikki and Paulo (Kiele Sanchez and Rodrigo Santoro), the group finds Eko on their way to the Pearl. Upon arrival, Eko does not find Yemi's body on the airplane atop the entrance, and decides to remain outside while Locke and the others enter the hatch. Inside the Pearl, Sayid tinkers first with the communication lines and, following a suggestion from Nikki, the monitors. Then one of the screens gets a live video feed of what appears to be another hatch, revealing a man with an eyepatch (Andrew Divoff) who then turns off the camera. Meanwhile, outside the Pearl, Eko sees Yemi and follows him into an open field, where Yemi tells him it is time for Eko to confess his sins. Eko says he has not sinned, having not chosen the life he was given and that Eko had only done what he needed to do to survive. An angry-looking Yemi replies, "You speak to me as if I were your brother" as he retreats into the jungle. Eko follows him asking "Who are you?!", and then finds the smoke monster. An arm of smoke attacks Eko, beating him into trees before he is slammed into the ground. Locke and the others rush out of the station to find a bloodied Eko. Locke approaches Eko, who whispers his dying words into Locke's ears. Sayid asks what he said, and Locke replies, "We're next." ### On Hydra Island At The Hydra, Jack is invited by Ben Linus (Michael Emerson) to attend a memorial service being held for Colleen. On the way, Jack asks about the symptoms of Ben's spinal tumor, particularly pointing out that it will kill him. Ben professes not to know what Jack is talking about. Privately, Ben asks Juliet Burke (Elizabeth Mitchell) why she showed his X-rays to Jack. Juliet replies that she never told Jack whose X-rays they were, and remarks that Ben must have inadvertently confirmed Jack's guess. The following day, Ben tells Jack that they had a perfect plan to convince Jack to operate on Ben's spine, but it failed when Jack saw the X-rays. Afterwards, Juliet brings to Jack's cell a movie, which consists of Juliet speaking through cue cards. As Juliet discusses how the surgery will proceed, on the tape she tells Jack that Ben is a liar and very dangerous, and thus the surgery should be intentionally botched to kill Ben, and that she will protect Jack if he does so. ## Production Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje signed to Lost on a one-year contract, as he did not want to make a long-term commitment to the series. As Michelle Rodriguez signed under similar conditions that lead to her character Ana-Lucia Cortez only appearing in the show's second season, show runners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse negotiated with Akinnuoye-Agbaje to make his character, Mr. Eko, to appear in the third season as well, adding some space between the two character deaths to develop Eko's closure better. As filming of season 2 ended, conversations between the actor and the writers ended setting Eko's departure during the first six episodes, prior to mid-season break, with "a shocking and emotional death". To make sure the sequence was "big and impressive", effects supervisor Kevin Blank decided to set the death at the Jackass Ginger in Kalihi, a large space that allowed to make the Smoke Monster "flip him around in weird physical positions". A stunt double was dragged through cables, and along with the digital monster and wire removal, fast editing made the scene akin to "a magician's trick", in Blank's opinion. The episode was written by Monica Owusu-Breen and Alison Schapker, who had previously worked in another series by Lost production company Bad Robot Productions, Alias. Cuse and Lindelof stated that Nikki and Paulo served as a red herring as rumors were raised of an incoming character death, and the fanbase would expect this to happen to the newcomers "who were sort of just there all along" instead of a prominent and popular character as Eko. Juliet's message to Jack is an homage to Bob Dylan's video for "Subterranean Homesick Blues", where the musician flips cue cards while looking at the camera. ## Reception This episode attracted 16.07 million American viewers in its original broadcast on November 1, 2006, standing as the tenth most watched program of the week. In the United Kingdom, the episode had 1.247 million viewers, ranking third in multichannel shows after Ford Super Sunday and The Simpsons. In Canada, "The Cost of Living" had 1.15 million viewers, ranking as the 26th highest-rated program of the week. Reviews were positive, though most critics found that the character of Eko was killed too soon in the show. Writing for Zap2it, Rick Porter said that while "The Cost of Living" was the best episode of season 3 thus far with "an illuminating flashback, some heavy island juju and a nice mix of the campers and the Others", the death of Eko removed from Lost "one of its most compelling characters and best actors, which just flat-out sucks." Kristin dos Santos of E! Online called Mr. Eko "the best character of the show", and was therefore very disappointed with his death. Christine Fenno of Entertainment Weekly stated that she would miss Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, and found Juliet's message to be the best part of the episode, that like the rest of season three "answered a few questions (whose tumor?), raised a few questions (who's the eye-patch guy?), and ignored many long-standing questions (how did Yemi and Eko crash on the same island?)." IGN's Chris Carabott ranked the episode 9.3 out of 10, saying it was "one of the series' best efforts" exploring the series' mythology and providing new paths, while also featuring Eko in "one of the most refreshing flashbacks that the series has produced thus far" and "a shocking confrontation" with the Smoke Monster. The reviewer still complained about Nikki and Paulo's participation, considering them "poorly developed" and giving "the sense that they are being shoehorned in". The website later ranked "The Cost of Living" as the 25th best episode of the series, saying that while early Season 3 "might have dragged a bit", "The Cost of Living" "saw the excitement and drama ramp up considerably. The only thing marring this otherwise excellent episode was the presence of Nikki and Paolo." On the other hand, a similar list by the Los Angeles Times ranked it 96th, considering that despite being "actually a pretty good piece of TV", the episode was "just marred by the fact that the show was forced into killing Mr. Eko, a character whose story was far from over."

No One Killed Jessica

2011 Indian Hindi-language crime thriller film by Raj Kumar Gupta

No One Killed Jessica is a 2011 Indian Hindi-language crime drama film written and directed by Rajkumar Gupta. It stars Rani Mukerji and Vidya Balan. Based on the Jessica Lal murder case, the film revolves on a bartender who dies after being shot by a politician's son and her sister's struggle to find justice for her death. Made on a budget of ₹9 crore (US\$1.1 million), No One Killed Jessica was released theatrically on 7 January 2011. The film received widespread critical acclaim towards its screenplay and cast performances and emerged as a sleeper hit, grossing ₹45.72 crore (US\$5.7 million) approximately in its theatrical run. It was nominated for Best Film, Best Director (Gupta) and Best Actress (Balan) at the 57th Filmfare Awards, where it won Best Supporting Actress (Mukerji). ## Plot Jessica, a bartender at an elite event in New Delhi, refuses to serve three men (Manish, Vishal and Lucky) alcohol after the last call. Manish, who is the son of a politician, shoots her in the head in response. There are dozens of eyewitnesses, but as Jessica's sister, Sabrina, discovers, they are either conveniently forgetful or willing to sell their testimony to the highest bidder, leaving an open-and-shut case hostage to greed and political influence. Manish is taken into custody by the police and investigations begin. Inspector N. K. informs Sabrina that one of the two bullets that were sent for verification has been replaced. Sabrina's repeated attempts into getting the witnesses and evidence in order to prove Jessica's crime fail one by one. The court case runs until 2006. Due to lack of evidence and witnesses, the court acquits the culprits. Sabrina's mother suffers a heart attack due to the trauma caused by the news and dies in the hospital. Meanwhile, reporter Meera Gaity finds out about the acquittal through a newspaper. Having expected Jessica's case to be an open and shut case, Meera is shocked, takes the matter in her own hands, and plans to get justice for Jessica. With the approval of her editor, she performs various sting operations and exposes the failure of law and order in the country while raising questions about the police and the authorities. Inspector N. K. helps Meera by sending her the tape of Manish where he confesses his crime. Meera uses the clip to publicly exploit the cases and starts to build up pressure on the system and Manish's father's political party. Soon, the public, having followed the case on television, decides to protest against the cover-up by the powerful and bring justice to Jessica. A number of phone calls, SMS, and voice messages are sent through the channel in support for Jessica. Meera uses this public support to reach out to the government and the President for their help. A candlelight vigil march is organized for Jessica by the people of Delhi to stand for her and demand justice. Meanwhile, Sabrina, affected by all the trauma while fighting for her sister in court, seems to have given up and moved on. Meera approaches Sabrina to stand up for her sister again and assures her that she would get justice this time as she has the support of the entire city. Political pressure gets mounted on the family of Manish and his father resigns from his position. The High Court summons the police for the recklessness they showed in the case. The police appeal to the High Court to have the case re-opened and it gets accepted. The case is promoted to the Supreme Court, where Manish is found guilty and is sentenced to life imprisonment. His allies, Vishal and Lucky, get punished with four years in jail. ## Cast The cast is listed below: - Rani Mukerji as Meera Gaity - Vidya Balan as Sabrina Lal - Yogendra Tiku as Sanjit Lal - Satyadeep Mishra as Meera's boss - Bubbles Sabharwal as Mallika Sehgal - Geeta Sudan as June Lall - Samara Chopra as Naina Sehgal - Shireesh Sharma as Pramod Bharadwaj - Myra Karn as Jessica Lal - Raj Kumar Gupta as Meera's colleague - Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub as Manish P. Bharadwaj - Rajesh Sharma as Inspector N. K. - Neil Bhoopalam as Vikram Jai Singh - Avijit Dutt as B. M. Pandit ## Production No One Killed Jessica was Raj Kumar Gupta's second directorial venture after Aamir (2008). Gupta was inspired to address the Jessica Lal murder case for the film after he saw a Times of India's headline about the case, appearing shortly after the accused Manu Sharma released by the court in 2006. The next year, he met Jessica's sister, Sabrina, to ask some additional information about the case. Gupta said that he spent between seven and eight months to rewrite the film's story: "The material is very sensitive and I had to bring it in the realm of cinema. There was hesitation. Will I be able to do justice to the spirit of the story? I was not sure. Finally, I took it as a challenge. It's my interpretation of the events." The film was produced by Ronnie Screwvala under UTV Spotboy, a subsidiary of UTV Motion Pictures. After Kareena Kapoor refused to play one of the lead role, in January 2010, Rani Mukerji and Vidya Balan were cast to replace her. Mukerji was cast as the stubborn reporter Meera Gaity. Her role was the only fictional aspect in the film, and according to her, Gupta asked her "to build the character on my own and not draw inspirations from anybody". Mukerji stated that Meera has "dynamic" and "modern" character, adding, "It wasn't something that I had ever done before. I actually had to play a man!" Meanwhile, Vidya played the role of Sabrina. She was required to wear men's clothing that was oversized and loose. She described Mukerji as her "favorite" co-star and spoke positively of her rapport with the actress. Myra Karn featured as Jessica in her film debut; she revealed that Gupta had been persuading her to play the part for one year before she accepted. Gautam Kishanchandani finished casting for the film in April 2010. Produced on a budget of ₹90 million (US\$1.1 million), No One Killed Jessica was filmed in 2-day schedules with Anay Goswamy as the cinematographer. Sabyasachi Mukherjee and Bibi Zeeba Miraie were the costume designers, and Ashley Lobo handed the choreography. While Sukant Panigrahy was the production designer, Helen Jones was the art director. Shooting took place at Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport, Ballygunge, Park Circus and New Market; as the crowds were hard to control, Gupta used hidden cameras to shoot scenes in these places. The filming was finished around July 2010, and Aarti Bajaj then edited the film. ## Soundtrack The soundtrack for No One Killed Jessica was composed by Amit Trivedi and the lyrics were written by Amitabh Bhattacharya. It contains a total of six songs, with vocals performed by Aditi Singh Sharma, Anushka Manchanda, Bhattacharya, Biswajit Chakraborty, Joi Barua, Mame Khan, Meenal Jain, Raja Hasan, Raman Mahadevan, Robert Bob Omulo, Shilpa Rao, Shriram Iyer, Sonika Sharma, Sonu Kakkar, Tochi Raina, and Vishal Dadlani. The album was launched in the reality show Bigg Boss 4 on 24 December 2010. The soundtrack received mixed reviews from critics. Joginder Tuteja, writing for Bollywood Hungama, called it "good" and "above expectations", particularly praising the compositions of "Dilli" which she described "racy, ferocious, vociferous, energetic and relentless". Giving the album a rating of two-and-a-half stars, Nikhil Hemrajani of the Hindustan Times saying, "Overall, the soundtrack fails to contain a cohesive sound and is rather mediocre." ## Release No One Killed Jessica was one of the most anticipated Indian films of 2011. The trailer, which was released on 18 November 2010, generated controversy as it featured Mukerji cursing, showing her middle finger and smoking. The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare then asked Gupta to censor all of the scenes. The film was later certified A (restricted to adults) on 23 December by the CBFC without any cuts being made. The film's commercial expectations were mixed. The trade analyst Komal Nahta predicted that the absence of a male lead would negatively impact its opening. Indo-Asian News Service, however, felt that the film has "chances ... [to] lure audiences as it is based on one of the most talked about murder cases in the country". No One Killed Jessica was released on 7 January 2011 and emerged a commercial success and one of the highest-grossing Indian films of the year; the Indo-Asian News Service called it "the lucky mascot". It faced competition from Sachin P. Karande's thriller Vikalp, Gaurav Jain's animation film Ashoka: The Hero and Rahat Kazmi's romantic comedy Impatient Vivek. On its opening day, the film earned ₹32.5 million (US\$410,000). Still, despite a strong opening, the film gradually lost public interest; after three days of running, its daily earnings decreased. No One Killed Jessica grossed a total grossing of ₹457.2 million (US\$5.7 million), and the film-trade website Box Office India concluded the film's final commercial performance with the verdict "semi hit". On 1 February 2011, No One Killed Jessica was released on DVD. On 20 March, the film and a retrospective of Vidya's films—including Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006), Paa (2009) and Ishqiya (2010)—were screened at the Bollywood and Beyond festival in Australia. On 11 March 2017, it was available for streaming on Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. ## Critical reception No One Killed Jessica received positive reviews from critics upon release, with praise directed towards its screenplay and Balan and Mukerji's performances. It received a rating of 80 percent on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes based on ten reviews, with an average rating of 6.5 out of 10. Writing for the entertainment portal Bollywood Hungama, Taran Adarsh gave the film 4 stars out of 5. He wrote of Mukerji's performance, "In the role of a spirited and audacious journo, Mukerji, who smokes non-stop, flings swear words every now and then and who rebuffs being a voiceless spectator when the culprits go scot-free, is simply exceptional." The critic felt that Mukerji "sinks her teeth into the character, giving it the much required pragmatism that it necessitates". Nikhat Kazmi of The Times of India found Mukerji to be "impeccable" in the role, which Kazmi described as "the world-wise, hard-talking, foul-mouthed journalist", and Baradwaj Rangan appreciated her for playing against type. Komal Nahta opined, "Mukerji does a fine job, getting into the skin of the character of the feisty journalist who has no qualms about speaking her heart out and using swear words at the drop of a hat." Daily News and Analysis's Aniruddha Guha declared Mukerji's performance as "one of her best performances till date". Anupama Chopra gave No One Killed Jessica 3 out of 5 stars, claiming that the film was "several notches ahead of the tripe we've been subjected to in theatres lately". This time, Chopra was critical of Mukerji's performance, arguing that "the character is written superficially and Rani's portrayal of her is equally banal. It's all about externals. She argues a lot and proudly labels herself a bitch but her hair stays perfectly in place and in the end, she even gets to do a super-hero-like slow motion walk." Sanjukta Sharma of Mint shared similar thoughts; she was believed that Mukerji was "overloaded and overdetermined and she blusters through the role of the "bitch" who gets away with everything". Rajeev Masand calling the film a "full-on melodrama that doesn't always ring true". He compared it with Aamir, and found No One Killed Jessica to be "disappointing". However, Masand appreciated the leads' performances; Masand called Balan "plays her character one-note, and seems to forget to invest any personality into Sabrina", and similarly on Mukerji's performance, saying: "... [D]espite being saddled with a cliché of a character, is more cinematically engaging, and knows exactly how to command the screen with her presence." Sudhish Kamath of The Hindu said, "No One Killed Jessica is a fine film undoubtedly, but does not quite match up to the potential it had after a gut-wrenching first half." A critic from The Indian Express complimented the film for its success "to sustain interest as it makes itself way towards the climactic moment when the culprit, despite the best efforts of his politician father and his fawning courtiers, is nabbed." Mayank Shekhar, in a three-out-of-five-star review published in the Hindustan Times, said that Vidya "stunningly natural". In a review for Rediff.com, Savera R. Someshwar singled out Vidya's "stand-out" performance, noting: "... [H]er hesitant body language, her faith, her helplessness, her rage, her sorrow and her gratitude all come across beautifully." Kaveree Bamzai of India Today added, "Balan is strong and steady, often startling with her quietude." However, Renuka Rao (also from Daily News and Analysis) was less impressed by the performance and considered her to be "insipid and somewhat forced". Less positive views for No One Killed Jessica was given by overseas critics. Writing for The New York Times, Andy Webster found that Gupta "effectively recreate[d]" the Jessica Lal murder case "a milestone ... in the history of a new India". Zara Farooqui of the Newsline magazine gave a mixed review for the film; she called Mukerji's introduction "is way too long", while praising her "doe-eyed beauty". Lisa Tsering of The Hollywood Reporter believed that Mukerji's role is "the flashiest". While Gulf News referred to Vidya as "brilliance", Screen International found her performance to be overshadowed by Karn, who played a role the critic described as "bubbly, bold and somewhat uppity". Richard Kuipers of Variety took note of its production aspects; he wrote that Goswamy's "fluid [cinematography]" and Panigrahy's "richly textured decor, spanning high- and low-end life in New Delhi top an impressive tech package". ## Accolades

I Am the Best

2011 single by 2NE1

"I Am the Best" () is a song recorded by South Korean girl group 2NE1 for their self-titled second EP. It was written and produced entirely by the group's long-time collaborator Teddy Park and was released for digital download as the third single from the EP on June 24, 2011, under YG Entertainment. "I Am the Best" integrates a variety of musical genres such as electro house, electronic and hip hop, complete with instrumentations of synthesizers and middle eastern inspired rifts. An empowerment anthem, the lyrics revolve around the themes of self-confidence, dominance, and narcissism. Music journalists applauded the musical styles of "I Am the Best" and 2NE1's performance, and considered it an iconic symbol of the genre's girl crush image—an industry-specific concept encompassing themes of ferocity and female empowerment. It is recognized as an important work in the spread of the Korean wave around the world and has often been ranked amongst the top K-pop songs of the decade and all time. It was commercially successful in the group's native country, achieving the number one position on the Gaon Digital Chart and garnered more than 3.4 million digital downloads in 2011, and became the fourth best-selling single of the year in South Korea. Seo Hyun-seung directed the accompanying music video for "I Am the Best", which incorporated elaborate sets, props, attire and hairstyles with unconventional aesthetics. In 2014, the song attracted renewed attention after appearing in a Microsoft Surface Pro 3 commercial campaign. It then entered the top 70 on the France SNEP singles chart and topped the Billboard World Digital Songs chart for the first time, making 2NE1 the first Korean group and the second Korean act overall to have done so. The song was subsequently released in the United States on December 10, 2014 by Capitol Records and became one of the few non-English songs to have received airplay on American radio stations. ## Background and composition On April 18, 2011, YG Entertainment announced plans for 2NE1 to release a new series of singles, starting with Bom's solo track "Don't Cry" on April 21 and leading up to a new mini-album. The group would promote a new single every three weeks, intending to promote all six songs on their upcoming second mini-album. They reunited for the mini-album's second single, "Lonely", on May 12 after the release of "Don't Cry". Both songs were commercially and critically successful. YG announced on June 15 that the third single, "I Am the Best", would be released on June 24; it would be a more intense song, with a quick tempo (combining electronic music and hip-hop) and would be familiar to the youth who are used to clubbing culture. The track was made available through various sites and showed an "opposite vibe" as compared to the two previously released singles. It was written and produced by YG Entertainment collaborator Teddy Park, who had worked on most of the group's past records. In Japan, the Japanese-language version of the song was first made available for download via Recochoku on July 20, 2011, and was later included in the Japanese edition of the EP (Nolza) on September 21 as part of the group's debut in the country. The three-minute, 28-second song is composed in the key of C major with a tempo of 128 beats per minute. It has been described as a powerful, energetic, self-confident anthem similar to "Fire" (2009), 2NE1's debut single. "I Am the Best" incorporates a range of musical influences (electronic, electro house, hip-hop, African rhythms and reggae), synthesizers, Middle Eastern-inspired strings in the song's middle eight, and chants. Calling it "the gold standard of anthemic bangers about self-confidence", Brag reviewer L. Singh cited "CL’s free-flowing rap" and the song's "often bordering on jarring" electronic soundscape. A Rolling Stone article noted the song's ability to bridge cultures and genres, "gloriously weav[ing] a Middle Eastern synth line in the middle of a glossy electro-pop track." An empowerment anthem, its lyrics explore self-confidence, dominance and narcissism. In 2021, CL revealed a snippet of an alternate version of the song that was recorded, featuring vocals from Canadian singer Justin Bieber. ## Critical response Music critics applauded the musical styles of "I Am the Best" and 2NE1's performance. While discussing the rise of the Korean wave in November 2011, James Brooks of Pitchfork highlighted the song and praised it's energy, calling it "show-stopping" and further noted 2NE1's "manic" and "larger-than-life" charisma. In The New York Times, Jon Caramanica wrote that the song was "a postcard from the moment" when K-pop, which had been bound by the sound of other countries', "was beginning to embrace excess as its own style." Caramanica called 2NE1 powerful influence in the industry, almost "ruthlessly modern", and believed that "'I Am the Best' encapsulated its "high-grade attitude." The song was the only K-pop work to be selected by Slant Magazine in their list of 25 Best Singles of 2011; the publication described the track as "a jaw-dropping, vibrant triumph of pure swagger and verve", and wrote that one of the year's best developments was the Western world discovering the "unmitigated joy of K-pop." Korean Music Awards selection committee member Seo Jeong-min highlighted the song's "powerful, sensuous, and addictive electronic sound", and asserted that it firmly establishes itself as one of the representative tracks of K-pop. In Spin magazine's June 2012 list of the 21 Greatest K-Pop Songs of All Time, "I Am the Best" ranked at number three, with Chuck Eddy writing that it "might've been the best single released on the planet in 2011". In October 2013, the Smithsonian Institution recognized "I Am the Best" as a key work in the spread of the Korean wave around the world with "The Boys" by Girls' Generation, "Gangnam Style" by Psy, and "Fantastic Baby" by Big Bang, among others. An editor from Vice magazine commented that the "timeless hit 'I Am The Best' scream[s] self confidence" with its empowering lyrics. In January 2017, Jeff Benjamin of Billboard picked the track as the number one single in the group's discography, writing that as "one of the most recognized K-pop songs in the world," the song speaks to 2NE1's legacy as a "bonafide, complete act", and commented that each member proves herself as an essential element of the "perfect-pop product" by turning into a superstar on her respective section. ## Awards "I Am the Best" was nominated for a number of awards, including Song of the Year at three 2011 awards ceremonies. It received the Song of the Year award at the 2011 Mnet Asian Music Awards in Singapore in November of that year, making 2NE1 the first group to win that award twice (their first award was for "I Don't Care" in 2009). They received awards for Best New Artist and Best Dance & Electronic Song with "I Am the Best" at the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards Japan and the ninth Korean Music Awards, respectively, and the song reached the top spot on the music programs Inkigayo and Music Bank. ## Commercial performance "I Am the Best" was a commercial success in South Korea, entering the Gaon Digital Chart at number four for the week ending June 25, 2011. In only one day of tracking, the song received 632,923 streams and achieved 414,580 units in digital sales, and was ranked as the week's sixth best-selling song. The following week, "I Am the Best" rose three positions to the number one spot on the chart, becoming the group's fourth number one single. The song sold an additional 735,518 digital units and received 2,181,326 streams, ranking at number one on both the component download and streaming charts. In its third charting week, the song descended eight positions down to number nine, with Infinite Challenge collaboration track "I Cheated" by GG (Park Myung-soo & G-Dragon) feat. Bom occupying number one. By the end of 2011, the song accumulated a total of 3.47 million units in digital sales, and ranked as the fourth best-selling single of the year in South Korea. Factoring in digital sales, streams and background music downloads, "I Am the Best" was ranked as the seventh best performing song in the country overall on the year-end Gaon Digital Chart for 2011, with the EP's other singles "Lonely" and "Don't Cry" ranking at number four and five, respectively. Elsewhere, in Japan, the song was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) for digital sales of over 100,000 units. However, it was met with rather lukewarm reception on the charts, peaking at number 37 on the RIAJ Digital Track Chart and number 53 on the Japan Hot 100. In the United States, two years after its release, Billboard listed the song as the sixth best-selling K-pop song in 2013. The following year, Microsoft Corporation featured the track in their Surface Pro 3 commercial "Head to Head", which was broadcast from August 2014 onwards. As a result of increased exposure from the advertising campaign, the song reached number one in the United States on Billboard's World Digital Songs chart. It was the first K-pop song to achieve the feat, and the fourth Korean song to do so overall; the first three were Psy's singles, "Gangnam Style" (2012), "Gentleman" (2013) and "Hangover" (2014). It sold 6,000 copies during the week ending October 10, 2014, according to Nielsen SoundScan, becoming the group's best sales week in the United States. As of October 2014, the song has held the distinction of being the fifth-longest-charting single on the World Digital Songs chart, tied with BTS' "Mic Drop" (2017). The song received airplay from radio stations in New York and Boston without officially being released to the airplay market, and attracted interest from some for being one of the few non-English songs to be played on American radios. In France, "I Am the Best" entered the SNEP singles chart at number 117 in the chart issue dated November 8, 2014. The following week, the song rose to number 61 where it peaked, and charted for four additional weeks in the country. ## Music video ### Background The first preview of the music video for "I Am the Best"—the song's first 10 seconds sung by group leader CL—was released on June 19, 2011. The preview was posted on YG Life and YouTube along with the song's cover art. YG Entertainment said that it would release an additional 10-second snippet of the track each day until the release date of the single on June 24. After a three-day delay due to a scaling issue, the song's music video premiered on 2NE1's YouTube channel on June 27. It was directed by Seo Hyun-seung, who had previously directed the music videos for 2NE1's "Fire" (2009), "Try to Follow Me" (2010) and "Can't Nobody" (2010). The choreography practice video was uploaded to the group's channel on July 1. A Japanese version of the music video was additionally uploaded later that month and was included in the DVD of Nolza in September. The music video has been called extraordinary, intense and eye-catching, featuring a range of elaborate sets and props such as pyramids, diamonds, and globe-shaped chairs. The group makes a number of fashion statements, incorporating silver and street style ensembles designed by Sophie Hulme, Gemma Slack, Cassette Playa and Gareth Pugh. The visual features CL sporting a wrestler (complete with a sparkling WWE championship belt), futuristic and punk-inspired attire, metal-studded leather pieces, and unconventional hairstyles; for example, CL's resembles a bull’s horn while Dara's resembles that of the Dragon Ball character Vegeta. They are seen ascending stairs during the third chorus while breaking platinum records with baseball bats, seemingly indicating the widening of boundaries of the genre. The final scene features the members with AK-47s, destroying the former pyramid with a new mirrored triangle subsequently emerging with "2NE1" reflecting in the light. ### Reception The music video attracted over two million views in the two days after its release and four million views by July 1, considered impressive for a Korean act at the time. It was one of YouTube's top 10 trending videos in several territories worldwide, including France, Hong Kong, Sweden, Taiwan, and Mexico. The video garnered positive reviews from commentators; in March 2012, Tom Breihan of Stereogum ranked it number one on their list of 20 Best K-pop Videos, writing that "the song is ridiculously catchy and propulsive, and everything about the video – the editing, the choreography, the sheer volume of what-the-fuck imagery – works to support it", and opined "it's the greatest music video ever made". In Billboard's article "Top 5 Must-See Music Videos From the K-Pop Phenoms" marking the group's fifth anniversary, Jeff Benjamin commented that "throughout all the looks, styles and sound, none seem to define 2NE1 as much as 'I Am the Best.'" In 2019, Hyperallergic editor So Yun Um noted the video's use of "elegant minimalism to speak volumes," adding that the video's extensive wardrobe and "sparse, high-contrast black and white convey grandeur, class, and charisma — 2NE1’s indelible presence." The video exceeded 100 million total YouTube views on October 6, 2014, and made 2NE1 one of the few K-pop groups to have accomplished the feat. In September 2021, the video surpassed 300 million views, becoming the first by a female Korean artist released in the first half of the 2010s decade to have achieved the milestone. ## Promotion and live performances The group premiered "I Am the Best" on television with their first performance on Inkigayo on June 26, 2011, following up with their first performance on Show! Music Core on July 2. After the release of the choreography practice video, the group announced a dance contest for the song on July 8, where 2NE1 and their choreographers would choose the four best submissions to win exclusive concert tickets for their upcoming Nolza tour in Seoul, Adidas Originals merchandise, and 2NE1 stage attire. The winner was L.Y.N.T., a female dance troupe from Vietnam. In August, 2NE1 embarked on their Nolza tour—the group's first headlining tour—and included the song in its set list. The group performed "Lonely" and "I Am the Best" at the 2011 Mnet Asian Music Awards in Singapore on November 29, 2011, where they sported black outfits with gold and silver ornaments. Their stage reportedly had the ceremony's highest broadcast viewership rating, garnering an average audience share of 5.56 percent across multiple networks. The following month, they performed the song at the MTV Iggy Best New Band in the World Concert at Times Square's Best Buy Theater, and at the SBS Gayo Daejeon 2011. On June 23, 2012, 2NE1 performed the song along with "Scream" at the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards Japan in Tokyo. During the concerts of their New Evolution Global Tour, which they embarked on the following month, "I Am the Best" was used as the opening number. The group made a performance with the song at the K-Pop Collection in Okinawa on October 18, and at the SBS K-Pop Super Concert in California on November 10. For their 2014 All Or Nothing World Tour, the group sang the track while sitting astride motorbikes. Following a year's hiatus on December 2, 2015, 2NE1 gave a surprise performance at the 2015 Mnet Asian Music Awards in Hong Kong. After CL's solo performance, the rest of the group unexpectedly appeared and reunited to perform "Fire" and "I Am the Best". Fuse TV named the reunion as one of the best performances of the year, and was only one of the two non-Western acts to have been mentioned by the media outlet. On February 25, 2018, CL co-headlined the 2018 Winter Olympics closing ceremony with Exo and performed parts of the song; her audience included South Korean president Moon Jae-in, First Lady Kim Jung-sook, and Ivanka Trump. At the games, figure skaters Kim Kyu-eun and Alex Kam featured the track in their routine for the figure skating exhibition gala. In July of that year, CL's stage at the closing ceremony was ranked the eighth-best Olympic live music performance of all time. On April 16, 2022, 2NE1 reunited to perform the song as a surprise performance during 88rising's Head in the Clouds showcase at the Coachella Festival in Indio, California, marking the group's first performance in over six years since the 2015 Mnet Asian Music Awards. ## In popular culture "I Am the Best" has appeared in various television series in South Korea and abroad, including in the first episode of the 2018 drama series Something in the Rain (when Jung Hae-in's character watches Son Ye-jin's casually dancing to the song). It was featured in the season 10 of the American reality series So You Think You Can Dance, when Jenna Johnson dances with Mark Kanemura in a routine choreographed by Kanemura. In March 2017, the song was used in The Magicians episode "Plan B", where one of the magicians (played by Hale Appleman) set off one of his magical objects to induce his targets into a dance trance. In 2019, it was heard in episode 5 of the drama Welcome 2 Life (with Rain's character referencing the song's title) and in the South Park episode "Board Girls". The following year, it was used in the drama Mr. Queen and in a dance performance of the Netflix original film Work It. About choosing "I Am the Best" for its "Head to Head" Surface Pro 3 commercial, Microsoft said that the song's "confident lyrics and lively beats made a good fit with the new product's image". A follow-up commercial, "Accolades", was broadcast beginning in December 2014. The song was also chosen for an advertisement campaign for the 2019 Kia Forte in North America. It was included in the Xbox 360 Kinect game Dance Central 3 (2012), the video-game series' first K-pop song, and was added to the soundtrack of Ubisoft's Just Dance 2020 rhythm game. In 2020, the lyrics of "I Am the Best" were featured in an exhibition titled "Korean Pop Lyrics: Melodies of Life" at the National Hangeul Museum in Seoul. ## Legacy Considered to be 2NE1's signature song, the track is regarded as an important contribution in the international expansion of K-pop as well as a symbol of girl crush. Writing for Billboard, Caitlin Kelley defined girl crush as "anything that conveys the image of ferocity, stepping outside the expectations of hyperfemininity", but also amounting to "more abstract ideas of relatability, aspiration and female empowerment." She noted 2NE1 as one of the groups which largely developed the image in the genre, and referred to "I Am the Best" as "one of the most iconic girl crush concepts on many levels." In 2018, Pitchfork included the song in their article of 45 highlights in girl group history. In 2019, British GQ called it the highlight of 2011 and a game-changer in a decade of K-pop, acknowledging 2NE1 as one of the groups who brought the genre to the "curious attention of the Western fashion and music media", and regarded "I Am the Best" as the "visual blueprint" for the genre's "feisty" girl crush concept. Billboard ranked the song number four on their "100 Greatest K-pop Songs of the 2010s" list, calling the song "undeniably iconic" and the "track that bulldozed into our lives and pulled so many of us into the wondrous world of Korean pop". Regarding its international exposure, Jeff Benjamin of Billboard wrote that "K-pop has much of its overseas travel to thank for this absolute monster of a pop smash." GQ named it one of 24 songs that defined the decade worldwide while Stereogum named its video the second best music video of the 2010s, the only non-Western work to be mentioned in both lists. In 2021, Billboard editor Nolan Feeney wrote that "I Am the Best" "lives up to its name a decade later", and considered it to have helped pave the way for K-pop's takeover in America. In a ranking conducted by a panel of 35 music and industry experts curated by Melon and Seoul Shinmun from August of that year, it was listed as the seventh best Korean idol song of all-time, with critic Kim Young-dae writing that it presented a "completely new attitude and possibility" to the music of K-pop girl groups. He added that the 10-second opening sung by CL "will be remembered as a critical moment in K-pop history", along with the intro to "Gangnam Style" to be released the following year. Rolling Stone ranked it the eighth greatest song in the history of Korean pop music in 2023, stating that "2NE1 established a new industry standard". ## Credits Credits adapted from Tidal. - 2NE1 – vocals - Teddy Park – lyricist, composer, producer - Lee Kyung-joon – engineer - Jason Robert – mixer ## Charts ### Weekly charts ### Year-end charts ## Sales and certifications ## Release history ## See also - List of best-selling singles in South Korea - List of Gaon Digital Chart number ones of 2011

English prepositions

Prepositions in the English language

English prepositions are words – such as of, in, on, at, from, etc. – that function as the head of a prepositional phrase, and most characteristically license a noun phrase object (e.g., in the water). Semantically, they most typically denote relations in space and time. Morphologically, they are usually simple and do not inflect. They form a closed lexical category. Many of the most common of these are grammaticalized and correspond to case markings in languages such as Latin. For example, of typically corresponds to the genitive. ## History of the concept in English The history of the idea of prepositions in > English grammar writing can be seen as one of relative stagnation, only exceptionally interrupted by certain more influential authors... It was only in the second half of the twentieth century that the situation radically changed and since then, grammarians have introduced scientifically precise definitions and developed detailed and elaborate frameworks for their description. The word preposition is from "Latin praepositionem (nominative praepositio) 'a putting before, a prefixing,' noun of action from past-participle stem of praeponere 'put before'," the basic idea being that it is a word that comes before a noun. Its first known use in English is by John Drury, writing in Middle English on Latin grammar c1434. The meaning was essentially the same as the general idea today: a simple word preceding a noun expressing a relation between it and another word. William Bullokar wrote the earliest grammar of English, published in 1586. It includes a chapter on prepositions. His definition follows: > A part of speech properly used prepositively, that is governing an accusative case set next after it (except sometime in verse it is set after his casual word) as, I go to the church: and is sometime postpositively used, that is, when it governeth the relative, that, or which, coming before a verb, whose governing preposition is set after such verb: as, this is the man whom we spoke of, or of whom we spoke; and is some time used in composition after a verb, but being severed from the verb by the adverb, not, or by an accusative case, may be said to be set in apposition adverbially. (p. 320; orthography has been modernized) Some grammarians, though, noted problems. In 1746, John Kirkby complains: "we have several instances of the same word being used at one time as a conjunction and at another time as a preposition." And in 1784, John Hunter > argued in much more detail, in a paper presented to the Royal Society of Edinburgh in its first year, that neither conjunctions nor adverbs were in all cases usefully distinguished from prepositions in English (or in Latin and Greek). He stressed that classifications were being based on the "merely accidental" differences in what constituent (if any) happened to follow the word. The rational analysis is to treat after as simply a preposition governing (optionally) a complement that can be either a noun phrase or a clause. In 1924, Otto Jespersen developed these ideas, pointing out that prepositions were the only lexical category defined by the type of complement. In other words, prepositions were defined as words that take a noun phrase (NP) complement. Verbs, though, take various complements, including object, goal complement, predicative complement, and no complement at all, in the case of an intransitive verb. Similarly, an adjective phrase may consist of an adjective alone or with a complement (e.g., I'm happy; I'm happy to be here). Jespersen also noted that many words, such as before in I came before, which were categorized as adverbs, were very similar in meaning and syntax to prepositions (e.g., I came before you.). And the same held for many words categorized as subordinating conjunctions (e.g., I came before you did.). He therefore proposed that all these words are prepositions, and that the requirement that they be followed by a noun phrase be dropped. This is the position taken in many modern grammars, such as The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language. On the other hand, dictionaries and ESL grammars have not adopted these ideas. For example, Merriam-Webster's Dictionary has before as an adverb, preposition, and conjunction. ## Preposition vs other lexical categories ### Prepositions vs verbs Both prepositions and verbs license NP objects, but in most cases, the distinction is clear because verbs conjugate, and prepositions do not. There are, however, a number of prepositions derived from participial verb forms (e.g., come or barring), which could be confused with verbs. Modification by really is typically possible with a VP (e.g., spring has really come) but not with a PP (e.g., the \*flowers will bloom really come spring). ### Intransitive prepositions vs adverbs One of the results of the reconceptualization of prepositions by Jespersen and others (see ) is confusion between intransitive prepositions and adverbs. Many adverbs end in -ly, which clearly distinguishes them from prepositions, but many do not. One simple test that is often telling is to modify the phrase by right or just. In Standard English, adverb phrases do not accept such modification (e.g., it ran right up the tree [PP]; \*it ran right vertically [AdvP].) Also, PPs commonly function as complements in a be VP (e.g., it's in the car), while adverbs cannot normally do so. ### Prepositions vs complementizers "Complementizer" is a term which has its origins in generative grammar. It refers to a restricted subset of what are classified as subordinating conjunctions in traditional grammar. There are only a very few complementizers: that, whether, and if are the main examples. Traditional grammar includes words like because, while, and unless in the class of subordinating conjunctions. But since at least Jespersen (see ) most modern grammarians distinguish these two categories based on whether they add meaning to the sentence or are purely functional. The distinction can be shown with if, since there is a complementizer if and a preposition if. The preposition introduces a conditional meaning (e.g., if it works, that's great). Complementizers, though, have no meaning. They just mark a clause as subordinate; there is no difference in meaning between I know that you were there and I know you were there. Similarly, in She asked if we were there the complementizer if merely marks the following clause as a closed interrogative content clause, without adding any conditional meaning. ## The syntax of prepositions and PPs ### Internal structure PPs are usually quite simple in their internal structure. The following syntax tree shows a PP with an adverb phrase as modifier and a head PP. The head PP has a head preposition in and an object NP the rain. When the preposition governs an argument of a larger phrase, such as a noun phrase, the object of the preposition is sometimes called a prepositional or oblique argument. For example, convert the energy of ocean waves into electricity becomes the conversion [of the energy of ocean waves] into electricity, where the underlined NP – which is the object in the PP headed by of – is the oblique argument of conversion. #### Postpositions A very small number of prepositions (see ) may occur after their object, for example, notwithstanding, which can appear either before the object (e.g., notwithstanding the fact) or after (e.g., the contrary notwithstanding). ### Complements of prepositions Traditional grammars of English characterize prepositions as words that take objects in the form of noun phrases. Though the prototypical prepositional phrase consists of a noun phrase complement following a preposition, prepositions can take a wider variety of complements than just noun phrases. English prepositions can also take clauses, adjective phrases, adverb phrases, and other prepositional phrases as complements, though they occur less frequently than noun phrase complements. #### Noun phrase complements Prepositions typically take noun phrases as complements. For example, the prepositional phrase on the table consists of the head on and the complement the table, and the prepositional phrase in the area consists of the head in and the complement the area. By analogy with noun phrase complements of verbs, noun phrase complements of prepositions are occasionally called objects in grammars of English. Like objects of verbs, objects of preposition typically carry accusative case. Thus, we expect to see prepositional phrases like near me and at her rather than near I and at she because me and her are accusative case pronouns while I and she are nominative case pronouns. Indeed, some grammars treat the inability of prepositions to have nominative case pronouns as a defining characteristic of prepositions. An exception to this rule about case seems to occur when the preposition takes a coordinated pair of objects, such as someone and I. In these cases, usage varies, and the pronoun can carry either nominative or accusative case. For example, users of English might say "between you and I" or "between you and me". Some commentators have called the former "illiterate" and a sign that the English language is deteriorating, according to Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage, nominative case pronouns as part of a coordinated pair of prepositional objects have occurred in respected works of literature and are actually more characteristic of educated varieties of English than of less educated varieties. In some cases, the object NP in the PP is atypical in that it lacks a determiner. For example, I'm at school is grammatical, even though an NP headed by the singular noun school usually requires a determiner; \*They're building new school is not grammatical because it is lacking a determiner. Other examples are in hospital and to bed. Typically the meaning here implies a purpose. For example, going to the bed does not suggest sleeping in the way that going to bed does. #### Clause complements Prepositions that take a clause as a complement are called conjunctive prepositions or subordinating prepositions. Conjunctive prepositions can take a variety of kinds of clauses as complements. Most often, they take finite clauses as complements. These finite clause complements can be declarative (this happened after Stacy left) or interrogative (they ignored the question of whether it was ethical). They can also be subjunctive clauses (lest there be any doubt). Less commonly, conjunctive prepositions take non-finite clauses as complements. These non-finite clause complements include infinitive clauses (we can't agree on how much to charge) and present participle clauses (you can't just put it on without them knowing). These clauses may occur with or without subjects, and subjects that do occur can be in accusative case (without them knowing) or genitive case (without their knowing). Though various usage commentators have called both cases incorrect in such clauses, many writers use both constructions, and the choice of case often depends on the context. For example, the accusative case is more likely when the subject is emphasized, a phrase intervenes between the subject and the verb, or the subject is plural. #### Other complements of prepositions In more limited cases, prepositions can take other kinds of complements. The preposition as can take an adjective phrase complement to form a prepositional phrase that functions as an object complement (you described them as jealous). Prepositions also take adjective phrase complements in certain fixed phrases, such as at last and in brief. As with adjective phrase complements, prepositions can take adverb phase complements in fixed phrases, such as by far and since when. Further, certain prepositions (namely, before/ere, for, and till/until) can take temporal adverbs (such as later, long, one, and recently) as complements, forming prepositional phrases such as for later, until recently, for once, and before long. Prepositions can also take prepositional phrases as complements. These prepositional phrase complements can be specified by the preposition or not. In the prepositional phrase apart from Jill, for example, the preposition apart requires that the complement include the preposition from. In the prepositional phrase since before the war, however, the preposition since does not require the preposition before and could have instead been something else, such as since after the war. ### Modifiers of prepositions Prepositions may optionally be modified by other phrasal categories. Adverb phrases, noun phrases, and prepositional phrases can function as pre-head modifiers of prepositions (that is, modify prepositions that follow them), and prepositional phases can also function as post-head modifiers (that is, modify prepositions that precede them). #### Pre-head modifiers Adverb phrases can function as pre-head modifiers in prepositional phrases. For example, the prepositional phrase after midnight can be modified by adverb phrases such as shortly (shortly after midnight) or quite obviously (quite obviously after midnight). A subset of adverb phrase modifiers of prepositions express degree and occur within prepositional phrases but not other phrasal categories. These degree adverbs include clear, flat, plumb, right, smack, and straight. Examples of prepositional phrases modified in this way include clear up the tree, straight out the door, and right out of the park. Noun phrases indicating spatial or temporal extent can occur before a preposition that expresses spatial or temporal meaning in order to modify it. For example, the prepositional phrase beyond the post office can be modified by the noun phrase two miles (two miles beyond the post office) or a few minutes' walk (a few minutes' walk beyond the post office). Certain prepositions with directional meanings can function as pre-head modifiers in prepositional phrases. The prepositions down, out, over, and up frequently occur in this role. For example, the preposition down can modify the prepositional phrases by the beach (down by the beach) and by the sea (down by the sea). We can tell that these directional prepositions are modifying other proportional phrases rather than taking prepositional phrases as complements because the other preposition determines whether the whole phrase is grammatical. Thus, "I placed it up on the shelf" is grammatical because "I placed it on the shelf" is also grammatical, but "I placed it up to the attic" is not grammatical because "I placed it to the attic" is not grammatical. #### Post-head modifiers Prepositional phrases can also modify prepositions that precede them. In the clause they go out in the cold, for example, the preposition out is modified by the prepositional phrase in the cold. Though it may appear that in the cold could be modifying the verb go rather than the preposition out, movement of the elements to different parts of the clause suggests that in the cold is actually linked with the preposition out: the prepositional phrase in the cold cannot move to the start of the clause by itself (\*in the cold they go out) but it can move to the start of the clause as part of the larger prepositional phrase out in the cold (out in the cold they go). ### Functions PPs typically function as adjuncts in clauses, verb phrases, NPs, and AdjPs. They also function as complements in VPs, PPs, AdjPs, and NPs. #### Particle Prepositions may function as particles, a kind of dependent in a VP that may, unusually, come between a verb and an object. An example is up in pick up the children or pick the children up. #### Subject In rare cases, a PP can function as the subject of a clause, such as the underlined PP in the following conversation: A: What time can we meet? B: Before noon doesn't work. ## Types of prepositions ### Subcategorization In linguistics, subcategorization is the "assignment of a lexical item to a subclass of its part of speech, especially with respect to the syntactic elements with which it can combine.". Prepositions can be subcategorized based on complement type. The list of English prepositions is categorized this way. Though the prototypical preposition is a single word that precedes a noun phrase complement and expresses spatial relations, the category of preposition includes more than this limited notion (see ). Prepositions can be categorized according to whether the preposition takes a complement, what kind of complement the preposition takes, on what side of the preposition the complement occurs, and whether the preposition consists of one word or multiple words. A preposition that takes a noun-phrase complement is called a transitive preposition (e.g., She went up the hill), and one that does not take any complements is called an intransitive preposition (e.g., She went up). Prepositions can also take the following complements: clauses (e.g., after you arrived), adjective phrases (e.g., accepted as valid), and other prepositional phrases (e.g., because of the problem). A preposition whose complement precedes it (e.g., the constitution notwithstanding) may be called a postposition to distinguish it from more prototypical prepositions, whose complements follow them. Some grammars classify prepositions and postpositions as different kinds of adpositions while other grammars categorize both under the heading of the more common variety in the language. Thus, in the latter categorization method, postpositions may be considered a variety of preposition in English. ### Complex prepositions A complex preposition is a multi-word preposition. The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language (CGEL) says of complex prepositions, > In the first place, there is a good deal of inconsistency in the traditional account, as reflected in the practice of dictionaries, as to which combinations are analysed as complex prepositions and which as sequences of adverb + preposition. For example, owing to and out of are listed as prepositions, but according to, because of, and instead of are treated as adverb + preposition. Modern descriptive grammars have tended to extend the category of complex prepositions, and there is accordingly some variation in dictionary practice, depending on how far they are influenced by such work. CGEL generally argues against a complex preposition analysis, and favours a "layered head analysis" for expressions like in front of the car. In this analysis, in front is a PP, which is head of a larger PP that has of the car as a complement. ## Fronting and stranding Preposition fronting (see ) and stranding can occur when the complement PP is an interrogative or relative pronoun, as in the following examples. ### Fronting Preposition fronting is a feature of very formal registers and rare in casual registers. Not just the interrogative phrase but the PP containing it is fronted. In the example above, the PP with whom is not in its usual position inside the VP after the head verb. Instead, it appear at the front of the clause. When the pronoun is who the accusative whom form is typically used. ### Stranding In preposition stranding, the relative or interrogative phrase appears at the front of the clause instead of in its usual position inside the P after the head preposition. The preposition is then "stranded", typically at the end of the clause. ## Semantics ### Space and time Prepositions most typically denote relations in space and time. #### Location Prepositions like in and at typically denote locations in space (e.g., I live in Toronto) and time (e.g., I arrived in January). These prepositions often locate something relative to the object (e.g., the speaker relative to Toronto). #### Goal and source Prepositions like to and from typically denote the beginning or end point of a path in space (e.g., I went from Ottawa to Toronto) and time (e.g., I lived there from 1992 to 2003). #### Path Prepositions like through and over typically denote the course of a path in space (e.g., I went over the hill) and time (e.g., I lived there through the 1990s). ### Other The semantic classification of prepositions has no principled limit. But a small sample of the variation can be presented. Because and since are connected to reasons. Concerning and regarding are related to topicality, with and without to having. The prepositions plus, minus, and times are related to mathematical operations. Than and as signify comparison. And so forth. ## Morphology Given that English prepositions hardly ever inflect, discussion of their morphology is generally limited to word formation. English prepositions are formed through both derivation and compounding, and some carry inflectional morphology associated with other parts of speech. ### Derivational morphology Most prepositions are simple bases consisting of a single morpheme, like in, from, and under. Historically, however, English prepositions have been formed from the prefixes a- and be-. This a- prefix originally contributed the meaning "on" or "onto" but is no longer productive; that is, it is no longer used to form new words. The preposition aboard, for example, can be paraphrased as "on board of". The be- prefix originally meant "about" but, in prepositions, came to mean something closer to "at" or "near". For example, one sense of the preposition before means "at or near the front". Though the be- prefix is still productive in forming words of certain parts of speech, it is no longer used to form new prepositions. Some morphological bases of prepositions remain productive. For example, -wards, which occurs in prepositions such as afterwards and towards, can attach to other morphemes to form new prepositions such as sun in we looked sunwards. ### Inflectional morphology Despite lacking an inflectional system of their own, English prepositions occasionally carry inflectional morphemes associated with other parts of speech, namely verbs and adjectives. For example, some English prepositions derive from non-finite verb forms and still carry the associated inflectional affixes. The prepositions barring and concerning, for example, contain the -ing suffix of present participle verb forms. Similarly, the prepositions given and granted contain, respectively, the -en and -ed suffixes of past participle verb forms. The prepositions near and far are unusual in that they seem to inflect for comparison, a feature typically limited to adjectives and adverbs in English. ### Compound prepositions A compound preposition is a single word composed of more than one base. Often, the bases of compound prepositions are both prepositions. Compound prepositions of this kind include into, onto, throughout, upon, within, and without. Compound prepositions have also been formed from prepositions and nouns. Compound prepositions of this kind include some transitive prepositions, such as alongside, inside, and outside, but they are typically intransitive, such as downhill, downstage, downstairs, and downstream. ## Phonology Harold Palmer noted in 1924, that when a preposition is the last element in a clause or intonation group, it is in its "strong form" or stressed and when it comes before, it is in its "weak form" or unstressed. For example, I'm from Toronto is unstressed as /ˈfrəm/, while Where are you from is stressed as /ˈfrʌm/ or /ˈfrɒm/. This observation is originally due to Henry M. Sweet.

Tampines MRT station

Mass Rapid Transit station in Singapore

Tampines MRT station is a Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) interchange station on the East West (EWL) and Downtown (DTL) lines in Tampines, Singapore. Situated at the heart of the Tampines town centre next to Tampines Avenue 4, Tampines Central 4 and Tampines Central 5, it is in close proximity to the Tampines and Tampines Concourse bus interchanges. The station also serves the surrounding retail developments of Tampines Mall, Tampines One and Century Square. The EWL station opened on 16 December 1989 as part of the MRT eastern line extension to Pasir Ris station via this station. On 20 August 2010, it was announced that the station would interchange with the DTL by 2017. The DTL station, which isn't directly connected to the existing EWL station, was completed on 21 October 2017. The EWL station exterior has the characteristic dome-shaped segmented roof also seen on other elevated EWL stations, while the DTL station features The Big Round & The Tall Long, an art piece by Studio Juju, as part of the MRT network's Art-in-Transit programme. ## History ### East West line (EWL) In the planning stages of the MRT network, there were two proposed stations, tentatively named "Tampines North" and "Tampines South", on the EWL, with Tampines North being its eastern terminus. The station was later constructed as part of the section between Pasir Ris station and Tanah Merah station, which in turn was part of Phase 2A of the MRT system. Contract 306 for the construction of the stations from Changi Depot to Pasir Ris and 5.5 kilometres (3.4 mi) of tracks was awarded to Sato Kogyo Pte Ltd at a contract sum of S\$91.89 million (US\$ million) in March 1986. The contract also included the construction of the Pasir Ris and Simei stations. The station opened on 16 December 1989 when the EWL extends to Pasir Ris as announced by then-first deputy prime minister Goh Chok Tong on 4 November that year. The opening of the station was generally welcomed by residents in Tampines and Pasir Ris, who hoped for shorter travelling times to their workplaces in the city via the MRT. Tampines station was one of the first five MRT stations to be retrofitted with lifts and ramps in 2002, alongside enhancement works such as toilets for the disabled. These works, which cost , were part of a system-wide programme to make the MRT network more wheel-chair accessible. The programme comes after lobbying by the Handicaps Welfare Association. In 2009, enhanced bicycle parking facilities were installed at Tampines station (alongside Yishun and Pasir Ris) as part of a pilot programme. These improvements include greater flexibility to lock the bicycles at either the frame or the wheels and basic shelters. The contract for the bicycle parking facilities was awarded to Shincon Industrial Pte Ltd at a contract sum of S\$1.43 million (US\$ million). In 2012, half-height platform screen doors were installed at this station as part of the Land Transport Authority's (LTA) programme to improve safety in MRT stations. Later, on 30 March 2012, Tampines was the first MRT station to have high-volume low-speed fans installed above the station platforms as part of a network-wide programme to improve ventaliation at the platforms of elevated stations. ### Downtown line (DTL) On 20 August 2010, the LTA announced that Tampines station would be an interchange with the Downtown line. The station would be constructed as part of the 21-kilometre (13 mi) Stage 3, consisting of 16 stations between the River Valley (now Fort Canning) and Expo stations. The line was expected to be completed in 2017. Contract 925A for the construction of the DTL station was awarded to KTC Civil Engineering & Construction Pte Ltd at a contract sum of S\$118.5 million (US\$ million) in July 2011. Construction of the station started that month and was targeted to complete in 2017. The station was constructed using the top-down method. This was to minimise movement to the existing viaducts for the EWL. As there is limited space, special low headroom machines were utilised to facilitate some of the works. To prevent disruption to the operations of the bus interchange and the shops, a paid link was not constructed between the DTL and EWL stations. On 31 May 2017, it was announced that the station, together with the rest of DTL3, would be opened on 21 October that year. Passengers were offered a preview of the station along with the other DTL3 stations at the DTL 3 Open House on 15 October. ## Station details ### Location As the name suggests, the station serves the town of Tampines. The station is surrounded by the retail developments of Century Square, Tampines Mall and Tampines 1, in addition to commercial buildings such as the HDB (Housing and Development Board) Branch Office, AIA Tampines, the CPF (Central Provident Fund) Tampines Building and two Income buildings. It is also within walking distances to the Tampines North Community Club, Tampines Polyclinic, Our Tampines Hub and the Masjid Darul Ghufran. The station also serves two bus interchanges: the Tampines Bus Interchange and the Tampines Concourse Bus Interchange. The latter bus interchange, which opened on 18 December 2016, was built as an extension of the existing bus interchange. ### Services The station is an interchange between the EWL and the DTL. The official station code is EW2/DT32. On the EWL, the station is between the Pasir Ris and Simei stations. The EWL station operates between 5:22 am and 11:39 am and has headways of 2 to 5 minutes depending on peak hours. On the DTL, the station is between the Tampines West and Tampines East stations. The DTL station operates between 5:41 am and 12:35 am and has headways of 2 to 5 minutes depending on peak hours. The DTL station is not directly connected to the EWL station and hence commuters have to exit either of the stations to transfer to the other line via a 300-metre (980 ft) sheltered walkway. The transfer is considered a "valid transfer" of a "journey" as long as it does not exceed 15 minutes. ### Design Like most EWL elevated stations on the eastern segment on the line, Tampines station has the notable feature of the dome-shaped roof, segmented like a caterpillar, over the platform level. The design was an attempt by the MRT Corporation (MRTC) to give the stations on the EWL an "attractive look". The colour scheme used for the station is rustic brown, reflected on the doors to the restricted areas and the ceiling trunking box at the platform level of the station. The DTL station, designed by Greenhilli, is intended to "people-centric" while built at an affordable cost. It is designed to facilitate movement through interconnectivity, spatial volume, asymmetry, colour and "super-graphics". The spacious interior improves visual awareness within the station, fostering "intuitive" wayfinding and giving the station identity that reflects the locality of the area. The architecture of the DTL station allows future integration with upcoming developments, including provisions for additional underground developments above the station structure. ### Public artwork As part of the MRT system's Art-in-Transit Programme, The Big Round & The Tall Long by Studio Juju is an artwork consisting of two huge shapes – the Big Round and the Tall Long – on the opposite walls of the DTL platforms. The Big Round, which is 7 metres (23 ft) in diameter, is "stripped away" from the excessiveness of "form and details", creating a singular, expressive geometry. The Tall Long, which is 9 metres (30 ft) in height, is "buoyant" and "stretches upwards". Both of these shapes reflect the dimensions of the station and "gave polarities" to the nearly symmetrical station, bringing a sense of "calm and order" to the station atmosphere. The shapes was also meant to "fill the void" between the vastness of space and commuters. These shapes, enhanced by the reflecting benches on the platforms, act as wayfinders for passengers travelling around the station.

Andreacarus voalavo

Species of mite

Andreacarus voalavo is a parasitic mite found on the Malagasy rodent Voalavo gymnocaudus. First described in 2007, it is closely related to Andreacarus gymnuromys and Andreacarus eliurus, which are found on other Malagasy rodents. The length of the idiosoma, the main body, is 630 to 670 μm in females and 450 to 480 μm in males. Unlike A. eliurus, this species lacks distinct sternal glands (secretory organs) between two lyrifissures (sensory organs) on the lower part of the female body. The pilus dentilis, a sensory organ on the chelicera, is serrate, which distinguishes it from A. gymnuromys. Females of A. gymnuromys also have a less ornamented sternal shield (covering part of the underparts) and shorter setae (bristles) on the upperparts. ## Taxonomy and ecology Andreacarus voalavo was named in 2007 by Ashley Dowling, Andre Bochkov, and Barry OConnor on the basis of 15 specimens found on an individual of the rodent Voalavo gymnocaudus that was collected in 1994 in the Anjanaharibe-Sud Reserve in northern Madagascar. The specific name, voalavo, is taken from the generic name of the type host. Voalavo gymnocaudus, the only known host, is only found in the Anjanaharibe-Sud and Marojejy massifs of the Malagasy Northern Highlands. A. voalavo is closely related to Andreacarus gymnuromys and Andreacarus eliurus, found on other Malagasy rodents. They are members of the genus Andreacarus, which currently includes 11 species found on rodents and other small mammals in Madagascar and mainland Africa. ## Description In the female, the pilus dentilis, a sensory organ on the chelicera (mouthpart), is serrate, not smooth as in A. gymnuromys. The idiosoma (main part of the body) is 630 to 670 μm long and 370 to 435 μm wide and the dorsal shield (covering the upper side) is 620 to 655 μm long and 360 to 370 μm wide. The dorsal setae (bristles) are long relative to A. gymnuromys. The sternal shield (on the lower side of the body) is 115 to 125 μm long and 184 to 200 μm wide and is more ornamented than in A. gymnuromys. Unlike A. eliurus, A. voalavo lacks distinct sternal glands (secretory organs) between the lyrifissures (sensory organs) iv1 and iv2 on the lower side of the body. The other shields on the lower side of the body are the genitoventral shield (232 to 253 by 170 to 182 μm), the peritrematic shield (140 to 147 by 117 to 127 μm), and the anal shield (140 to 147 by 117 to 127 μm). On the soft part of the cuticle, there are nine pairs of setae. The first segments of the legs, the coxae, lack hooks. On the coxae of the third pair of legs, the setae at the back are spur-like. The idiosoma of the male is 450 to 480 μm long and 270 to 300 μm wide, the dorsal shield is 440 to 475 by 250 to 270 μm, and the holoventral shield is 360 to 395 μm and 189 to 207 μm wide.

W. Sterling Cary

American Christian minister (1927–2021)

William Sterling Cary (August 10, 1927 – November 14, 2021) was an American Christian minister. From 1972 to 1975, he was the first Black president of the National Council of Churches (NCC) in its history. Born and raised in Plainfield, New Jersey, Cary earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1949 from Morehouse College, where he served as student body president. He was ordained a Baptist minister and studied at Union Theological Seminary, receiving a Bachelor of Divinity degree in 1952. Unable to find a position in a Baptist church, he became a pastor at a Presbyterian church from 1952 to 1955 in Youngstown, Ohio, and then at an experimental interdenominational church in Brooklyn. Cary changed his denominational affiliation to the United Church of Christ (UCC) in 1958. He became increasingly active in the Black liberation theology movement in the 1960s, advocating for racial justice and equality within the UCC and on a broader scale. He was elected administrator of the New York Metropolitan Association of the UCC in 1968, and four years later he was unanimously elected to a three-year term as president of the National Council of Churches. Cary was a harsh critic of U.S. President Richard Nixon's budget cuts to affordable housing and anti-poverty measures. Though he disagreed with Nixon's successor, Gerald Ford, on issues related to the Vietnam War, they rekindled a long-neglected relationship between the NCC and the White House, and Ford later appointed Cary to an advisory committee that oversaw the resettlement of South Asian refugees in the United States. After Cary's presidency ended, he continued in his role as the executive minister of the Illinois conference of the UCC until his retirement in 1994. ## Early life and education Cary was born in Plainfield, New Jersey, on August 10, 1927. His father, Andrew Jackson Cary, was a real estate broker, and his mother, Sadie Walker, was a homemaker. He had seven siblings. Growing up in Plainfield, he was active in the Boy Scouts of America, and attended Washington School where he was the founding president of the junior high YMCA club and the eighth-grade class president. In 1944, the Courier News called Cary "the boy preacher" in an announcement of his sermon for Young People's Day at a local AME church. He graduated from Plainfield High School in 1945. After the dean of the mostly white high school told him that he had lost an election for student body president—an election he believed he had resoundingly won—he decided to enroll in the all-black Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. At Morehouse, Cary majored in sociology and occasionally returned to Plainfield to preach at Calvary Baptist Church; by 1947, he was an assistant pastor there. He was a member of the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity and was elected student body president in 1948. The same year, he was ordained a Baptist minister then graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1949. Cary continued his studies at Union Theological Seminary in New York City while also serving as a student assistant to the minister of Grace Congregational Church. In 1950, at the end of his first year, he was elected class president for the upcoming year becoming the first Black class president in the seminary's history. He was elected student body president the following year and graduated with a Master of Divinity degree in 1952. ## Career ### Early ministry (1952–1964) Cary worked in a factory after graduating from Union Theological Seminary because he had been unable to find a position in a Baptist church. He moved to Youngstown, Ohio, to become the pastor of Butler Memorial Presbyterian Church from 1952 to 1955. During that time, he co-chaired the United Negro College Fund in Youngstown and was active in other local organizations and committees including the YMCA and the Mahoning County Mental Health Council. He married Marie Belle Phillips, a teacher in the SoHo school system, on July 11, 1953. They were married in Carron Street Baptist Church in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and later had four children: Yvonne, Denise, Patricia, and W. Sterling Jr. In December 1955, Cary was assigned to be the pastor at an interdenominational and interracial church in Brooklyn that included the Baptist, Congregational Christian, Methodist, Presbyterian, and Reformed denominations. It was the first interdenominational church built in a public housing project in the United States. He began his position at the church, named the Church of the Open Door, on January 1, 1956. In July 1958, Cary was named the pastor at Grace Congregational Church where he was previously a student assistant to the minister during his seminary studies. He changed his denominational affiliation from Baptist to the United Church of Christ (UCC) and began his new position on September 1, 1958, succeeding Herbert King who had resigned to become a professor at McCormick Theological Seminary. Cary participated in several discussions on juvenile delinquency including a televised panel discussion on NBC's "Frontiers of Faith" series in 1961. He was a speaker at a 1963 rally between the New York NAACP and Governor Nelson Rockefeller and frequently spoke on racial issues in the 1960s. After the Harlem riot of 1964, while not condoning the rioting, he called for the suspension of the shooter, Lieutenant Thomas Gilligan, and the establishment of a civilian board to examine allegations of police brutality. ### Towards Black liberation theology (1965–1971) Cary was elected committee chairman of a permanent "National Committee for Racial Justice Now" authorized by the United Church of Christ in 1965. At the annual UCC assembly in 1966, he condemned the Ku Klux Klan and other "insane bigoted mobs", and forcefully called for high-quality integrated schools and fairer employment laws. He was named executive coordinator of the committee in March 1966; at that time, he was also the vice president of the Manhattan division of the Protestant Council of the City of New York and a member of the Mayor of New York's youth task force. Cary advocated for racial justice both within the UCC, calling for increased funding to build new churches in Black communities, and on a broader scale by helping to establish the "National Committee of Negro Churchmen" which promoted the Black Power movement. The organization purchased a full-page ad in The New York Times demanding changes to segregated schools and discriminatory laws. At the Vermont Conference of the UCC in September 1966, Cary continued to advocate for the Black Power movement and Black liberation theology stating that "equality will come not by goodwill or love, but by the Negro's achieving independence, strength and some measure of wealth." After his lectures, the conference ministers voted to adopt several race-related resolutions, including lobbying the state government for open housing and encouraging churches to appoint more Black pastors. In his role as chairman of the National Committee for Racial Justice Now, Cary also called on the UCC to protect ministers who spoke out on racial issues and other controversial topics such as the Vietnam War while also criticizing the firing of some outspoken ministers. In June 1968, he was elected administrator of the New York Metropolitan Association of the United Church of Christ, a position in which he oversaw 77 churches in the district comprising approximately 36,000 UCC members. He was the first Black minister to hold the position. He was a signer of the 1969 Black Manifesto that called for white churches and synagogues to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in reparations. Cary opposed a 1971 effort to reorganize Protestant and Orthodox denominations into a tiered system with increased separation between individual denominations. ### National Council of Churches (1972–1975) The Minneapolis Star reported in September 1972 that Cary would be put forth by a nominating committee for president of the National Council of Churches, the largest ecumenical body in the United States, and that he was expected to be elected. Running unopposed, he was unanimously elected to a three-year term at the NCC's general assembly in Dallas, Texas, on December 7, 1972. Cary succeeded Cynthia Clark Wedel, was the first Black president of the NCC, and its youngest president at the time. Upon his election, he pledged to focus on integrating churches, uniting different denominations, and advocating for affordable housing and education. At the Dallas meeting, the NCC general assembly also voted to establish a new, more diverse governing body to be rolled out during Cary's first year in office. In February 1973, Cary joined other religious leaders, including Paul Moore Jr. and Balfour Brickner, in criticizing President Richard Nixon's proposed budget which decreased funding for affordable housing and other anti-poverty measures. He accused Nixon of "declar[ing] war on the poor people and members of this country's minorities" and called on Congress to reject the budget. After Nixon fired Archibald Cox during the Watergate scandal, Cary released a statement urging Congress to "examine the President's fitness to remain in office". At his first NCC governing board meeting, the board voted to direct its member churches to evaluate a study paper on abortion in a move toward advancing Cary's goal of establishing a formal relationship with the Catholic Church. In May 1973, he received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Bishop College in Dallas for "unique Christian humanism predicated upon justice for all". That same month, Cary and NCC General Secretary R. H. Edwin Espy apologized for and retracted a statement they had sent to the House Committee on Ways and Means opposing tax credits for students attending private schools, after they had received backlash from Catholic bishops. Cary was a vocal supporter of the United Farm Workers' grape strike led by Cesar Chavez. In 1974, he advocated for amnesty for draft evaders in the Vietnam War. He later praised President Gerald Ford's call for conditional amnesty while urging the president to make it unconditional. Cary moved to Chicago, Illinois, after he was elected executive minister of the Illinois Conference of the United Church of Christ in September 1974. This made him the first Black executive minister in the conference's history. In February 1975, Cary and other religious leaders met with Ford; it was the first time in a decade that church leaders were invited to the White House. The meeting re-established the relationship between the NCC and the White House, though Ford and church leaders continued to disagree on issues like amnesty and Vietnam aid. In the aftermath of the Vietnam War, he was appointed by President Ford to a 17-member advisory committee to oversee the resettlement of Southeast Asian refugees. In March 1975, the NCC voted for the first time to support gay rights passing a resolution that condemned discrimination on the basis of "affectional or sexual preference". At the same meeting, the governing board voted in support of the Equal Rights Amendment and resolved to investigate Cary's claim that the Nixon administration had bugged NCC phones in order to conduct special tax audits of the organization. He sharply criticized Operation Babylift, in which children were mass-evacuated from South Vietnam to the United States, accusing the U.S. government of staging the operation for political gain and saying that the Vietnamese people described it an "insensitive kidnap operation". Ebony named Cary among the 100 most influential Black Americans in both 1974 and 1975. Cary's three-year term as NCC president ended on October 11, 1975, when the governing board elected William Phelps Thompson who was the chief executive of the United Presbyterian Church at the time. ### Post-presidential ministry (1976–1994) After his presidency, Cary continued in his role as the Illinois conference minister and continued his calls for Black churches to combat racial injustice. In 1981, he was elected chair of the Council of Conference Executives of the UCC. Cary was one of six finalists considered by a nominating committee for UCC president in 1989, though he was not ultimately selected as the nominee. He retired in 1994 after two decades as the Illinois conference minister. ## Death After a long illness, Cary died of heart failure in his home in Flossmoor, Illinois, on November 14, 2021. He was 94 years old. He was survived by his wife of 68 years, Marie Belle, four children, two grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

Picture to Burn

2008 single by Taylor Swift

"Picture to Burn" is a song by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, taken from her self-titled debut studio album (2006). Swift and Liz Rose wrote the track, which was produced by Nathan Chapman. The song was released as the album's fourth single on February 4, 2008, by Big Machine Records. For the lyrics, which narrate a protagonist's contempt and vengeance against an ex-lover, Swift was inspired by the narcissistic and cocky nature of a high-school classmate. Musically, the country rock track features prominent plunking banjo and distorted guitars. The original album version of "Picture to Burn" contained the lyric, "That's fine; I'll tell mine you're gay", which was modified to "That's fine; You won't mind if I say", on the radio edit and subsequent versions. Music critics praised the song's production and lyrics for earnestly depicting teenage feelings. In the United States, the single peaked at number 28 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number three on Hot Country Songs, and was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It peaked within the top 50 in Canada, where it was certified gold. The music video for "Picture to Burn" was directed by Trey Fanjoy and features Swift fantasizing about taking revenge on her ex-boyfriend after she discovers him with another woman. The video has Swift and her band performing with pyrotechnics as a backdrop. Swift performed "Picture to Burn" live as an opening act to other country-music artists' tours, and included it in the set list of her first headlining tour, the Fearless Tour (2009–10). ## Background and release Swift was inspired to write "Picture to Burn" by an informal boyfriend from high school; both Swift and the boy were classmates at Hendersonville High School in Tennessee. She found him narcissistic and cocky, which frustrated her, and channeled this feeling through her after-school songwriting. Liz Rose co-wrote the song on guitar, and Swift gave it a comedic edge, exclaiming to herself, "I hate his stupid truck that he doesn't let me drive. He's such a redneck! Oh my God!", a line that was ultimately developed into the chorus. Speaking of "Picture to Burn", Swift described it as brutally honest and cited it as an example of how she expressed her feelings towards those who wronged her. She said it was the only song driven by anger on her self-titled debut album (2006) and that it was a topic she felt most teenage females could relate to. After Swift performed "Picture to Burn" at concerts throughout 2006–2007, she decided to pick it as a single because the crowd seemed to be the most enthusiastic with most screaming it "at the top of their lungs". In retrospect, Swift stated that the song was something typical of her to say in her teenage years and that it exemplified how she processed emotion at the time, "I didn't know anything then." She explained, "I had this song called 'Picture to Burn,' that's talking about how 'I hate your truck,' and 'I hate that you ignored me,' 'I hate you.' Now, the way that I would say that and the way that I would feel that kind of pain is a lot different." Despite her evolving on a personal level and as a songwriter, she claimed not to be regretful of "Picture to Burn", rather happy she was able to demonstrate "those emotions that when you're so angry, you hate everything. It's like recording your diary over the years, and that's a gift", she said. "Picture to Burn" was released to US country radio as the fourth single from Taylor Swift on February 3, 2008, by Big Machine Records. It was released to US contemporary hit radio on July 15, 2008, by Big Machine and Republic Records. ## Composition "Picture to Burn" is a country song with a length of two minutes and 55 seconds. It draws influences from traditional elements of country music, resulting in an uptempo country rock number. Written in the key of G major, the song is set in common time and has a tempo of 106 beats per minute with a strong beat. Swift's boasts with "big vocals" that span two octaves, from the note of G₃ to C₅. It follows the chord progression G–Am₇–C–D. The verses are driven by banjos and drums, meanwhile the refrains' instrumentation is marked by distorted guitars. Lyrically, "Picture to Burn" is an evisceration of a no-good adolescent male, and is directed towards an ex-boyfriend. The narrator ridicules the ex-boyfriend's love for pickup trucks and threatens to date all of his friends. About the song's theme, Sean Dooley of About.com commented, "Swift takes no prisoners in her quest to make a former flame feel her wrath for doing her wrong." In the first verse, Swift introduces relationship by stating she acknowledged the fact that her former boyfriend was more in love with himself than with her. The second verse has Swift plotting retaliation: "There's no time for tears / I'm just sitting here planning my revenge / There's nothing stopping me / From goin' out with all of your best friends." For the refrains, she speaks of setting fire to photographs of her ex-boyfriend, concluding them with a musical punch line, "As far as I'm concerned / You're just another picture to burn". About.com found the song's theme to be feminism. ## Critical reception The song was critically acclaimed. Chris Neal of Country Weekly believed "Picture to Burn", along with "Should've Said No", were the most immediately striking songs on Taylor Swift. Billboard lauded the song as "a totally infectious slice of fun with a singalong chorus that you won't be able to dismiss from your memory bank". Jack Lowe of About.com said the song was fun, and that females would specially enjoy it. Kate Kiefer of Paste magazine selected the track as one of Swift's six best singles, and stated, "She really shows her age in this one". Roger Holland of PopMatters commented that the song was the epitome of how, according to him, Swift was more given in uptempo tempos, and that it served as indication to the nature of Swift's debut album. Holland added, "'Picture to Burn' is two parts Ashlee Simpson to one part Amy Dalley, with an overly familiar guitar melody that could have been lifted directly from the latter." Top music critic Robert Christgau selected "Picture to Burn" as a highlight on Taylor Swift. Josh Love of The Village Voice attributed the song to be one of the reasons how the singer rose to stardom. He called it a "bluntly relatable composition [...] that connected [Swift] with teens from across the spectrum." Patrick McDonald of The Seattle Times called it a "clever, sassy, upbeat song" Alison Bonaguro of the Chicago Tribune said the song was a "clean-but-still-rowdy" number for Swift. Kevin Courtney of The Irish Times mentioned "Picture to Burn" among powerful revenge songs and noted the lyric "Go and tell your friends that I'm obsessive and crazy / That's fine / I'll tell mine you're gay" (a lyric later changed in subsequent releases of the song to the less inflammatory "you won't mind if I say"). He supported the sentiment behind the song and wrote, "You go girl". ## Commercial performance In the United States, "Picture to Burn" peaked at number 28 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart dated May 17, 2008, and spent 20 weeks in total on the chart. The single was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 2014, denoting two million copies based on sales and streaming. By November 2017, "Picture to Burn" had sold 1.7 million digital copies in the United States. On the Hot Country Songs chart, it was the fourth consecutive top-ten single from Swift's debut album, peaking at number three. It spent a total of 20 weeks on Hot Country Songs. In Canada, the single peaked at number 48 on the Canadian Hot 100 chart dated May 3, 2008. It was certified gold by Music Canada for sales of 40,000 digital downloads. ## Music video Trey Fanjoy, who had worked with Swift on past music videos, directed "Picture to Burn" Swift said they conceptualized the video to be "edgy and comical", departing from the tone of their previous collaborations. Swift herself was styled edgier than usual, sporting clothing, hair, and jewelry she was not accustomed to. She was intended to wear thigh-length boots, but was not able to find a pair to correspond with her height. Instead, her stylist sewed black fabric to strap onto black high heels to give the illusion of thigh-length boots. The video's plot was conjectured to involve rampaging and seeking revenge on her ex-boyfriend. Swift chose football player Justin Sandy to portray her ex-boyfriend in the video, believing he had a classic and suspiciously perfect demeanor; she described him as "real life Ken". The video guest-stars Swift's backup band and real-life high school friend Abigail Anderson. The video was filmed over the course of two days in Nashville, Tennessee. On the first day, performance scenes were filmed inside the Sommet Center, and involved pyrotechnics. Swift was at first nervous about the shoot, as it was her first experience with pyrotechnics. "There are some things I'm nervous about. My hair could very well catch on fire," she said. She was later assured of its safety and explained to about the discrepancy in the distance of the fire in reality than on camera: on camera, it appears to be quite close to her, whereas, in actuality, it was placed far behind her. On the second day, the remaining scenes were filmed at a suburban house in Nashville. Props were provided by the video personnel. On the set, Fanjoy suggested using binoculars for the primary scenes, but Swift disagreed, believing it could come across as "cheesy". She ultimately accepted the idea after Fanjoy explained how it would translate on camera. The video premiered on March 14, 2008, on AOL's The Boot. It commences with Swift and Anderson in a car parked behind a tree. Swift reminiscences, looking at a photograph of her and her ex-boyfriend together, calling him "a jerk". Anderson is then seen ogling outside the window with binoculars, and spots Swift's ex-boyfriend and another woman arriving in a pick-up truck. Discovering this, Swift states angrily he never allowed her to drive the truck. As Swift's ex-boyfriend and the woman start frolicking inside the truck, the music begins and the video transcends to a concrete room where Swift (clothed in a grey, one-shoulder mini-dress and black leather, thigh-length boots) is playing an electric guitar, alongside her backup band. During the refrain fire ignites behind them. Afterwards, the band is depicted entering a house furtively, using flashlights. Swift is sitting on a brown couch, sporting a black tank top, black leather pants and a beehive hairdo, as the band ransacks the house. The ex-boyfriend and the woman are shown approaching the house, and, seeing this, Anderson informs Swift and the band via a walkie-talkie. He enters the house and discovers it was ransacked. The video concludes with Swift and Anderson leaving the spot, with the photograph of Swift and her ex-boyfriend in flames, thrown in the sidewalk. ## Accolades ## Live performances "Picture to Burn" was part of Swift's set lists as the opening act to Brad Paisley's 2007 tour and Rascal Flatts's 2008 tour. While promoting her debut album, Swift sang "Picture to Burn" on October 10, 2007, on Regis & Kelly. She then performed the song at a concert at the Apple Store in SoHo, New York, which was recorded and released as a live extended play (EP), iTunes Live from SoHo, exclusively sold through the iTunes Store. Commencing promotion for it in early and mid-2008, Swift performed "Picture to Burn" on Studio 330 Sessions, Good Morning America, the 2008 CMT Music Awards, and Nashville Star. Since completing promotion for Taylor Swift and its corresponding singles, the singer has performed the song on Clear Channel Communications's Stripped, at the 2009 CMA Music Festival, at the 2009 V Festival, and at the Australian charity concert Sydney Sound Relief. Swift performed "Picture to Burn" to close the main set, before commencing the encore on all venues of her first headlining concert tour, the Fearless Tour (2009–10). During 2009 performances, Swift donned a black cocktail dress with sparkly ornaments along the stomach, as she roamed throughout the stage, which was projected with images of searing flames, singing the song. In the 2010 extension, Swift bared a spangly, violet mini-dress. Jim Harrington of the San Jose Mercury News believed "Picture to Burn"'s performance on April 11, 2010 at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California demonstrated how versatile Swift was as a performer, feeling equally at gusto with tender ballads and uptempo rockers. Of the performance at the tour's final concert on June 5, 2010, at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, Jay N. Miller of The Patriot Ledger said, "She strutted down the catwalk chastising another hapless ex-boyfriend". Attending the same concert, Molly Trust of Billboard deemed the performance one of the most energized moments of the night, while Susan McDonald of The Sun Chronicle deemed it simple, yet the most powerful. On July 14, 2023, at the Empower Field Stadium in Denver, Swift performed "Picture to Burn" as a "surprise song", as part of the Eras Tour (2023–2024). ## Credits and personnel Credits are adapted from the liner notes of Taylor Swift (2006). - Taylor Swift – vocals, songwriting - Liz Rose – songwriting - Nathan Chapman – production, additional engineering, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, harmony vocals - Chad Carlson – engineering, additional engineering - Steve Short – assistant engineering - Chuck Ainlay – mixing - Scott Kidd – assistant mixing - Jeff Hyde – banjo - Tim Marks – bass guitar - Nick Buda – drum set - Rob Hajacos – fiddle - John Willis – mandolin - Eric Darken – percussion - Scotty Sanders – steel guitar ## Charts ### Weekly charts ### Year-end charts ## Certifications ## Release history

Not Your Kind of People

Not Your Kind of People is the fifth studio album by American rock band Garbage. It was released on May 11, 2012, through the band's own record label, Stunvolume. The album marks the return of the band after a seven-year hiatus that started with previous album Bleed Like Me. Guitarist Duke Erikson said at the launch of the record that "working with Garbage again was very instinctual. Like getting on a bicycle...with three other people." The band emphasized that they did not want to reinvent themselves, but embrace their sonic identity, reflecting their classic sound whilst updating it for 2012. Although Shirley Manson's morose dispositions have a presence on the record, many of the songs share a more optimistic outlook on life, influenced by some of Manson's personal experiences during their hiatus. Recorded mostly at various recording studios in California, Not Your Kind of People was produced by Garbage, and was engineered and mixed by Billy Bush. The album contains bass guitar parts recorded by Justin Meldal-Johnsen while Finnish actress Irina Björklund performs the musical saw on one track. Both daughters of band-members Steve Marker and Butch Vig laid down vocals on the album's title track. Photos for the album package were shot by Autumn de Wilde at the Paramour Mansion in Silver Lake, Los Angeles. Not Your Kind of People was preceded by the release of "Blood for Poppies" as the lead single internationally, while in the United Kingdom, "Battle in Me" was marketed as the album's lead single. The album also spawned three more singles, "Automatic Systematic Habit", "Big Bright World", and "Control". Not Your Kind of People received a generally positive reception from critics. It debuted at number 17 on the Billboard 200, at number 10 on the UK Albums Chart, peaked at number three on Billboard'''s Independent Albums chart and topped the Alternative Albums chart. ## Background Garbage decided to take a hiatus in 2005, following the troubled production of their fourth studio album Bleed Like Me and cutting short the album's promotional tour. Aside from a reunion in 2007 to compose new tracks for the compilation Absolute Garbage, the band members found themselves involved in various projects, with Butch Vig producing Green Day, Foo Fighters, and Muse, while singer Shirley Manson recorded an unreleased solo album and made her professional acting debut as a series regular on Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. In 2009, Vig and Manson met at the funeral of Pablo Castelaz, the six-year-old son of Dangerbird Records founder Jeff Castelaz, and had a conversation where, according to Vig, "we felt like we had some unfinished business, and we realized how precious life is and how important music has been in our lives." Manson suggested calling guitarists Duke Erikson and Steve Marker to get together and write some songs. One week later, the group informally convened in Los Angeles, where they laughed, drank, and reminisced of the old days, leaving behind the tensions among them and general weariness that was partly responsible for their 2005 breakup; they set up their equipment and "started fucking around". "We were all pleased to notice on the first day there just didn't seem to be any personal tensions," Vig recalled. "Enough time had passed that any sort of weirdness or tension that had risen between us all had dissipated. So it was easy. There was no one telling us what to do. We weren't signed to a label. We were between managers. So we made this on our own terms." In that session, the group wrote the song "Battle In Me". In mid-2010, the entire group were in Los Angeles for a birthday, where Manson suggested they book a studio and spend time writing. Along with Garbage's long time engineer and Manson's husband Billy Bush, the band, as Bush described, "hung out for a couple weeks, drank some wine and played a bunch of music”. Three or four song ideas came together during this time. "But we didn't go right into making-a-record mode", Erikson recalled. "It took a bit of time for us to realize that we were going to make an album." Erikson described reconvening as a piecemeal process, saying that it informally began with the first phone conversations among them since their hiatus, as they discussed playing together again. After convening, and composing and performing song ideas together through multiple sessions, they then decided to move forward with the band and embark on a full-length album. The project took off in February 2011, when Manson called Vig proposing to reunite the band and try making a new record. Manson convoked the group out of an eagerness "to make loud music again". "I'm a loud person", she proclaimed; "I love noise and aggression. I crave contact. I needed to make that connection again. I think we all did. To get something back up when there was absolutely no momentum took a Herculean effort on everybody's part. It's like pulling yourself out of mud. Even to stand back up and say 'we're going to take another swing at this' was a scary feeling, and I'm proud of us for trying. It's much easier to stay at home.” The band members stated that following the troublesome final years signed to Geffen Records, being an independent act again helped improve their mood and approach, with Vig remarking, "There were no expectations; no one even knew we were recording. So it was all under the radar and pretty casual and we all felt inspired after having that amount of time off ... when we started writing songs, they came fast and furious. We probably wrote 24, 25 songs over the course of a couple of months. Marker commented that "the business stuff ends up taking over some of that fun. We got really bogged down in people's expectations of what we were supposed to be doing, being on bigger record labels and stuff. With all that behind us, it was suddenly exciting again and it felt a lot like it did when we first formed, which was really just sort of a fun idea that we had." Manson added, "People at record companies live in fear of being wrong. Music cannot thrive in that environment. It is an unruly art form. You can't keep treating it like sausage meat. You have to let it morph and move and breathe." Manson stated that eliminating the corporate pressure and indifference, as well as the band having a relaxed approach to the making of the record was pivotal for a healthy regroup, writing and recording process. "We didn't put any pressure on ourselves to finish an album... We just took our time and got together in two-week blocks of time – any longer than that I'm sure we would have started getting on each others' nerves. So we did two weeks and then we'd take some time off and then when everybody felt ready we'd get back in [the studio] again. As a result, I think everybody really enjoyed our time together and really plugged in", she remarked. Never much enjoying being in a studio, Manson relished the record-making process this time around. ## Recording Unlike the previous albums, which were done at Vig's Smart Studios in Madison, Wisconsin, Not Your Kind of People was mostly recorded in Los Angeles, where both Vig and Manson live. Smart was only used for some of Erikson's parts, as he was the only bandmember still in Wisconsin. The working process was also different; while the previous records had the band gathering for an entire year at Smart Studios, the band would instead work two weeks per month in Los Angeles, with Erikson and Marker flying in from Wisconsin and Colorado, respectively, then spend another two weeks in their home studios while e-mailing ideas back and forth to develop songs. Manson would also visit Vig's GrungeIsDead studio to experiment with vocals. Then they would get back together in the studio, which according to Marker "would be fun again because we hadn't seen these people for a couple of weeks." The first recordings were done in two weeks of jam sessions at The Pass in Studio City. The band then moved to Bush's studio Red Razor Sounds at Atwater Village, where the engineer did a rough mix of the tracks. Vig declared that the album's mood emerged from the combination of the "trashy and lo-tech" studio which he compared to a small clubhouse with the band's ProTools and samplers. The band had a looser approach to recording and mixing compared to the "nano-editing" of Version 2.0. The band worked on estimatedly "25 or 26 songs" during the album sessions; While a few were still "bits and pieces", Vig stated they might finish them as further bonus tracks, B-sides, or as part of an EP at a later point. Erikson said that the bonus tracks of the deluxe edition are songs that were not ready in time to join the regular track list. He also said that while most songs were new compositions, some were old ideas, such as the "10 years old or something" track "Show Me". Throughout the recording sessions for the album, the band mentioned several song titles via Facebook and Twitter; these included: "Alone", "Animal", "Choose Your Weapon", "Time Will Destroy Everything" and "T.R.O.U.B.L.E.". Manson confirmed on Twitter that "Animal" became "The One", a song from the deluxe version, while "Time Will Destroy Everything" was released as the b-side to the band's 2014 Record Store Day single, "Girls Talk". ## Composition and style According to Vig, Not Your Kind of People evokes ambient vibes of Garbage's first two albums, Garbage and Version 2.0: "There's lots of elements of things we've always loved: noisy guitars, big electronic beats, atmospheric film moments", adding that the band "wanted to make a record sound like something that we want to hear when we're driving the car." While the record was reminiscent "vibe-wise" of the band's early work, the production aimed for a rawer sound, instead of cleaning up the sound through computers, to "capture a performance" and "sound kind of trashy and for the songs to blow out a little bit." Vig said, "we tried to leave a lot of the performance raw on this album. A lot of the songs, we sort of throw paint at the wall and some of it sticks and some of it drips off." He explained that the group avoided reinventing themselves: "We wanted to just embrace exactly who we are and what we like to do and just sort of update it sonically for 2012. For better or worse, when we approach a song, it's going to end up sounding like Garbage. I think we have a strong sonic identity, and I think that's an asset these days." Manson similarly noted that what mattered most was the record sounding authentic to who they are as a band. Manson considered that while the record recalled the band's classic sound "it fits in with radio programming right now"; She said that they are interested in also reaching a new generation and, regarding their distinct sound, "We don't sound like anyone else on the radio. Much to our surprise there hasn't been another band like ours since we came off the road." Like the band's earlier releases, the album features a variety of guitar configurations as well as electronic synths. Erikson said that initially they gather with the standard guitar-bass-drum and keyboard gear, and as they pass around different ideas and implement them the songs take form in any which way a session takes them. "Once we started on the album proper, it became a Garbage record, which is any number of approaches to writing a recording. There were no rules, certainly", he explained. A song like "Automatic Systematic Habit" features more electronics than guitars, and "Big Bright World", a guitar-heavy song, involves configurations that make some of the guitars sound like synths. Guitar parts are normally divvied between guitarists Marker and Erikson. Erikson said it comes down to "Whoever comes up with what at any given time. There's no job description as far as lead guitar/rhythm guitar. It's just whoever has an idea as a articular [sic] moment. It's usually about 50/50". Erikson and Marker used a variety of guitars and pedals, old, new, and defective. Vig recalled that the title "Not Your Kind of People" came to him when he was stuck in a traffic jam in Los Angeles; he texted Manson the idea for a title and she loved it. Manson wrote all the lyrics that night, and the next day the four of them gathered with acoustic guitars and wrote the music to the song in about half an hour. Manson explained that the album title Not Your Kind of People was "a call to arms in a way to anyone who feels like we do about the world", saying that "it can be great to be outsider." She felt that this applied to them as the band "never fit into a music scene" and that "in my life I've never been an insider." Manson also described the title as "a two-fingered salute to people who reject or criticize us", stating the band was "only really interested in people who share our outlook" as she considered that their fans were "the people who connect with what you're saying and how you say it." Most of the lyrics were written by Manson as she included and filtered some of her bandmates' ideas on songwriting. "It was a very do-it-yourself, homemade thing when it comes down to it", Erikson explained; "We all pitch in. Shirley had just as many comments on the guitar parts or the sound of the guitars as anybody else, and likewise, if we don't like a lyric, we say it right away." Many songs have a more optimistic view in life, inspired by Manson overcoming a desire to quit music after the death of her mother and realizing how important her work is to her. Darker themes still appear as Manson described herself as "enthusiastic and passionate, but I do see death marching toward me." "Blood for Poppies" came "from a lot of things", Manson said; "It's really an analogy for a story I read about Afghanistan and the opium wars over there ... it's from a few stories, one about a platoon of soldiers in Afghanistan and the other about the opium wars. I use that as a backdrop for a story about maintaining sanity in an out-of-control place." "[It's about] remaining sane, when faced with insanity", she added. "I Hate Love" criticized "the commercialized idea of love and what pain that puts us through" along with "knowing that there will be no more torture in your life than really, truly loving somebody who doesn't love you back." "Big Bright World" contains a lyrical sample from the poem "Do not go gentle into that good night" by Dylan Thomas. Both daughters of Steve Marker and Butch Vig laid down vocals on the album's title track. Finnish actress Irina Björklund performs the musical saw on "Sugar". "Beloved Freak" includes a sample of Klaus Nomi, as the group felt the artist fit Manson's lyrics about "people being an outsider, feeling like a freak, and not fitting in and trying to come to terms with that it's okay to feel like you're an outsider." KROQ-FM and MTV Buzzworthy described the sound of the album as electronic rock; The Huffington Post noted "the band has maintained their signature dark, driving, trip-hoppy sound", while Jason Heller of The A.V. Club wrote that "the group's shoegaze influences are more in vogue now than they were 15 years ago." ## Release and promotion A post on Garbage's Facebook page on January 23, 2012 announced that the band launched their own record label, Stunvolume, to self-release their new studio album, distributed in the United States by Fontana. Overseas distribution deals were made with Cooperative Music, Liberator Music, Sony Music Japan and Universal Canada. On March 7, 2012, Garbage confirmed the album track listing via YouTube. Four further tracks recorded for the deluxe edition were confirmed later in a press release issued through the band's own label. In the United Kingdom, 250 copies of the deluxe edition were signed by Garbage and issued as part of the Record Store Day campaign. The album had a worldwide release date of May 14, 2012. At the launch of the record, guitarist Duke Erikson said that "working with Garbage again was very instinctual. Like getting on a bicycle... with three other people"; Erikson added, "We haven't felt this good about a Garbage record since the last one." Los Angeles-based studio SMOG Design handled the album's artwork and creative campaign, featuring band photographs by Autumn de Wilde. According to Duke Erikson, for the cover "there was some art that we wanted to do but we didn't want to spend what the artist wanted us to", so instead of "a very colorful and complex cover" they opted to go the other way and be simplistic, with only a lowercase "g". ### Singles "Blood for Poppies" was confirmed as the lead single to launch the album. The song was made available for free digital download from the group's website after it leaked online early. A digital single was confirmed for release in Australia; while a limited edition 7" single, backed with an exclusive remix by Butch Vig, was distributed to independent record stores across North America to mark Record Store Day on April 21, 2012. "Battle In Me" was confirmed as the lead-single exclusively for the United Kingdom. A limited edition 7" vinyl was issued on April 21 to mark Record Store Day, while a proper commercial release followed on May 7, 2012. To promote the album, "Automatic Systematic Habit" was released as a free download through iTunes in the US on May 8, 2012. "Big Bright World" was released as the album's second single in Australia on June 1, 2012. On July 8, Manson announced that "Control" was the band's next US single. ### Songs in other media In the same year of release, "Blood for Poppies" appeared in an episode of True Blood titled "Whatever I Am, You Made Me", while "Control" was used in the 2012 video game The Amazing Spider-Man and featured in the launch trailer of the game. The song also appeared in the season 4 episode of The Vampire Diaries "Bring It On". The title track, "Not Your Kind of People", was re-recorded in simlish and featured on the newly added "Dark Wave" radio station in The Sims 3: Supernatural expansion pack. "Sugar" appeared in an episode of The Following, and "Not Your Kind of People", was also later featured in its entirety in the trailer and soundtrack for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. ## World tour In late 2011, Garbage announced their return to touring upon the release of Not Your Kind of People, marking the band's first live performances since 2007, and their first tour since 2005. "Thinking about going back on the road is both thrilling and terrifying in equal measure," Manson stated, "...but we've always enjoyed a little pain mixed in with our pleasure." Manson considered that self-reflection helped change the way the group approached touring, and, as a result, "we're playing the best shows of our career." Eric Avery, who performed with the band during their Bleed Like Me tour, rejoined them as the tour bassist. The band played concerts throughout North and South America, Europe, Oceania and Asia. ## Critical reception Not Your Kind of People received generally positive reviews from critics.At AnyDecentMusic?, which collects critical reviews from more than 50 media sources, the album scored 6.0 points out of 10, based on 33 reviews. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, it received a weighted average score of 63 based on 28 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". In his review for The Guardian, Dave Simpson gave the album four out of five stars, stating that it "returns to the blueprint of their first two, best albums" while lessening the electronics and augmenting the crunchy guitars, with a contemporary production. He praised the title track, deeming it a "surprise" and a "beautiful, otherworldly cross between a John Barry Bond theme and a David Bowie outsider anthem." Cameron Adams of The Courier-Mail wrote that "musically, they still find that sweet spot between Motown and Nirvana, via the Pretenders and Prodigy", and considered it "refreshing" that the band is "still pushing pop music to its darkest limits." AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine said that unlike their previous two albums, "there is no grappling with new sounds and styles, only an embrace of the thick aural onslaught of "Stupid Girl" and "Vow". He complimented Manson's "keenly aware lyrics" and said that their hooks are efficiently delivered while "no flab in either the composition or production" is evident. He summarized the album "as a simultaneous testament and revival of their strengths", but "what once was futuristic now sounds nostalgic." Tim Grierson wrote in The About Group that out of the many '90s bands that reunited in the last few years, "none have done it with as much gusto as Garbage" as they "return with their sexy, edgy vibe intact" and Manson "sounds as ferocious and bruised as ever." The Bangkok Post noted that the band "stick[s] firmly to their '90s alt rock guns." Their "fuzzy-guitar/catchy-hook formula continues to dominate the album" and amidst the fuzz and electronics, "the title-track, Sugar and Beloved Freak do offer moments of (relatively) quiet bliss" — songs that "refreshingly showcase the essence of Manson's voice". It is proposed however that, apart from older, devoted 90's fans, the album probably won't connect with contemporary audiences. In his review for Time, Adam Kivel likewise stated that the album is most likely to resonate with fans of 90's alternative fusion, characterizing it as "an anomaly" in the current musical climate and not likely to gain significant radio-play. Lindsay Zoladz of Pitchfork Media summarized the album as "a statement from a band that's stuck, combatively, to its guns. The times have changed but Garbage haven't, and now, for better and for worse, they've at last become alternative to everything." NME writer Rick Martin, despite hearing "flashes of their previous class" proving "they haven't completely lost their confrontational electro-rock streak", considered too much of it "pedestrian, anodyne and utterly unremarkable", and wondered "why they ever ditched the near-perfect mid-'90s FM rock of "Stupid Girl"." BBC Music writer Tom Hocknell felt that the band's relocation to L.A. made "no discernible difference to the band's sound" but that "despite occasional lapses into overproduced mess, the surprise here is their enthusiasm." Similarly, Jamie Carson of Clash disapproved of the production, calling it "pompousness" and "annoying", and Mark Davison of No Ripcord remarked that "for all the interesting noises that the band have come up with ... the production really doesn't do them any favours, cramming them into a fairly narrow space and stripping them almost entirely of any sense of atmosphere", concluding that the album is nonetheless "enjoyable, and will probably go down better than their last two releases." Not Your Kind of People was listed at number 44 on Rolling Stone's list of the top 50 albums of 2012. ## Commercial performance In the United States, Not Your Kind of People was released exclusively through iTunes during its first week, and debuted at number 17 on the Billboard'' 200 with 19,000 digital copies sold in its first week. In its second week, the album rose to number 13 with sales of over 22,000 copies. As of June 2016, the album has sold 98,000 copies in the US. In the United Kingdom, it became the band's fifth top-10 studio album when it entered the UK Albums Chart at number 10 with first-week sales of 8,310 copies. The album also debuted at number 33 on the Japanese Oricon chart, selling 1,983 copies. ## Track listing ## Personnel ### Garbage - Shirley Manson – vocals, synth, stylophone - Duke Erikson – guitars, synth, piano - Steve Marker – guitars, synth, noise - Butch Vig – drums, loops, effects ### Additional musicians - Justin Meldal-Johnsen – bass (tracks 1–8, 11–15) - Eric Avery – bass (tracks 9, 10) - Ruby Winslow Marker – backing vocals (track 5) - Bo Violet Vig – backing vocals (track 5) - Matt Chamberlain – drums (tracks 11, 14) - Mike Fasano – drum tech - Irina Björklund – musical saw (track 8) - Stevie Blacke – strings (track 7) - Matt Walker – drums (track 15) ### Technical - Garbage – production - Billy Bush – engineering, mixing, additional production - Butch Vig – mixing - Emily Lazar – mastering (at The Lodge, New York City) - Joe LaPorta – mastering (at The Lodge, New York City) ### Artwork - Ryan Corey – artwork, illustration, bone assembly - Jeri Heiden – artwork, additional detail pics - Autumn de Wilde – photography ## Charts ## Release history

2010 Pichilemu earthquakes

6.9 and 7.0 MW intraplate earthquakes 2010 in Chile

The 2010 Pichilemu earthquakes (Spanish: Terremoto de Pichilemu de 2010), also known as the Libertador O'Higgins earthquakes, were a pair of intraplate earthquakes measuring 6.9 and 7.0 that struck Chile's O'Higgins Region on 11 March 2010 about 16 minutes apart. The earthquakes were centred 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) northwest of the city of Pichilemu. The earthquakes were caused by increased regional stress arising from an earthquake on 27 February, centered offshore Maule Region, which was felt throughout central Chile. The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center pointed out the possibility of local tsunamis within 100 kilometres (62 mi) of the epicentre, although small, but violent waves were seen in the Pichilemu and Bucalemu area. One person was reported dead. At least eleven aftershocks immediately followed, causing panic throughout coastal towns between the Coquimbo and Los Lagos regions. The earthquakes were especially destructive in the epicentre town, Pichilemu, capital of Cardenal Caro Province. The city hosts five National Monuments of Chile, of which two, the Agustín Ross Park and the Agustín Ross Cultural Centre, were seriously damaged by the earthquake. They also damaged the villages of La Aguada and Cardonal de Panilonco. Rancagua, the capital of O'Higgins Region, was also damaged, leading President Sebastián Piñera to declare a state of catastrophe in that region. ## Background Nearly all of the territory of Chile lies above the convergent boundary where the Nazca Plate subducts beneath the South American Plate at a rate of about 71 mm per year. Earthquakes occur along the plate interface and in both the subducting and overriding plates. Within the South American Plate shallow earthquakes occur on reverse, normal and strike-slip faults. The subduction zone along the Chilean coast produced the most powerful earthquake ever recorded, the 1960 Valdivia earthquake. Some earthquakes which occurred near the epicentre of the 11 March 2010 event are the 1985 Algarrobo and Rapel Lake earthquakes. On 27 February 2010, a strong earthquake, which reached a magnitude of 8.8 on the moment magnitude scale, hit central Chile. The earthquake occurred in the region of the plate boundary between the Nazca and South American plates, offshore Maule Region. The earthquake produced a tsunami which caused great damage in cities and towns along the Chilean coast; Pichilemu was badly damaged after the earthquake and tsunami struck. The 6.9 and 7.0 earthquakes of 11 March 2010 occurred two weeks after the 27 February event. Chilean seismologists, including Sergio Barrientos from the University of Chile Seismological Service, had suggested that the absence of an aftershock greater than magnitude 6 following the February 27 quake indicated that there remained energy with the potential to be released. Two foreshocks of the 11 March events occurred on 5 March: one reached magnitude 5.7, and the other magnitude 5.2; both were felt between the Valparaíso and Maule regions. ## Earthquake sequence The Pichilemu earthquakes were caused by the change in regional stress from the 27 February earthquake. Preliminary analyses by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) of the 11 March earthquake locations and seismic-wave radiation patterns suggested that the events resulted from normal faulting within the subducting Nazca plate or the overriding South America plate, unlike the 27 February earthquake, which occurred as thrust faulting on the interface between the two plates. Later in 2010, University of Chile Seismologist Sergio Barrientos stated that the earthquakes were produced inside the South American plate. The earthquakes' depths were estimated as 33.1 kilometres (20.6 mi) and 31.0 kilometres (19.3 mi) by the University of Chile Seismological Service (Servicio Sismológico de la Universidad de Chile), and 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) and 18.0 kilometres (11.2 mi) by the USGS. On 15 March 2010, seismologist Mario Pardo from the University of Chile Seismological Service ruled out that Pichilemu was experiencing a seismic swarm, after public concerns about the continued aftershocks in the area; as of that date, more than 50 aftershocks had occurred in the area, the strongest of them measuring 6.7 in the moment magnitude scale, minutes after the initial quake. From the pattern of aftershocks, it has been suggested that the earthquakes originated from rupture along a previously unknown geological fault, the Pichilemu Fault, between Pichilemu and the commune of Vichuquén in Maule Region, at 15 km depth, 40 km in length and 20 km wide. At first it was not known whether this fault was formed during the earthquakes or if it was just reactivated, however geologist José Cembrano from the University of Chile affirmed that "[the fault] corresponds to a long life fault, in a million years time, whose activity had not been detected before." In a 2012 publication titled Aftershock Seismicity of the 27 February 2010 Mw 8.8 Maule Earthquake Rupture Zone, it was stated that, in total, 10,000 aftershocks were located in the Pichilemu area for the first six months after the mainshock; this pronounced crustal aftershock activity with mainly normal faulting mechanisms found in approximately a 30 kilometres (19 mi) wide region, with sharp inclined borders and oriented oblique to the trench. ## Reaction The earthquakes took place minutes before the new President of Chile, Sebastián Piñera, was sworn in, at about , at the Chilean congress in Valparaíso, where the shaking was clearly felt. Piñera was at the Palace of Cerro Castillo at the time of the earthquakes, and as he left the palace, he was seen "looking worried"; Michelle Bachelet, the outgoing president, was also seen "worried" by the earthquakes as she entered the Congress. La Nación newspaper reported some journalists attempted to flee the Congress building. According to Spanish newspaper El Mundo, there was "nervousness" at the ceremony, and the ceremony narrator called for calm, adding that the Congress building could even stand stronger earthquakes. Presidents Néstor Kirchner of Argentina, Evo Morales of Bolivia, Álvaro Uribe of Colombia, Rafael Correa of Ecuador, and Fernando Lugo of Paraguay were present at the ceremony, but television footage showed that the inauguration was not interrupted, even though there was a tsunami warning in place; however, it was reported the ceremony was concluded more quickly than planned. President Piñera cancelled the ceremonial lunch with his visitors and traveled to Rancagua, one of the cities most affected by the earthquakes; Piñera subsequently declared a catastrophe state in O'Higgins Region as a result of the earthquakes, and appointed Army General Antonio Yackcich as Area Commander in Chief (Jefe de Plaza) for the region, while he was visiting Rancagua that day. The declaration meant that "the military would occupy the area to keep order and prevent the kind of looting that occurred in Concepción during the first two to three days after last month's quake", according to The New York Times. ## Tsunami A Pacific-wide tsunami warning was not issued by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, although the organization pointed out the possibility of local tsunamis within 100 kilometres (62 mi) of the epicentre, roughly the area between La Serena and Concepción. Half an hour after the first earthquake, the Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service of the Chilean Navy (Servicio Hidrográfico y Oceanográfico de la Armada, SHOA) issued a tsunami warning for the area between Coquimbo and Los Lagos regions, as a way of "keeping people protected" against the possible occurrence of new tsunamis. President Piñera urged coastal residents to move to higher ground in case of a tsunami. Following the tsunami alert, thousands of residents of central Pichilemu fled to La Cruz Hill, with some of them staying there for several days, and received advice from members of the Army. People from the village of Cáhuil stayed at Cordón. The tsunami warning emitted by SHOA was lifted that same day at around . According to a preliminary report by the National Office of Emergency of the Interior Ministry (Oficina Nacional de Emergencias del Ministerio del Interior, ONEMI) on 11 March 2010, only 'small waves, without any [special] kind of characteristics' were seen in the area surrounding Pichilemu, while the USGS reported a small tsunami, with sea wave heights of 16 centimetres (0.525 ft) at Valparaíso, and 29 centimetres (0.951 ft) at San Antonio. Interior Minister Rodrigo Hinzpeter reported violent waves in Pichilemu and Bucalemu. ## Damage and casualties At Pichilemu, the epicentre town, the earthquakes destroyed the balustres surrounding Agustín Ross Park, damaged severely the recently re-inaugurated Agustín Ross Cultural Centre, and the Espinillo, and Rodeillo villages. The earthquake was accompanied by "great noise", according to witnesses from the Pichilemu villages of Cardonal de Panilonco and La Aguada; most of the already damaged buildings in La Aguada fell down, including the local church. The road to Cardonal de Panilonco was damaged, and many houses built with adobe did not resist the shaking. Outside Pichilemu, in Rancagua, local mayor Eduardo Soto reported severe damage to homes in the town. The Santa Julia highway overpass located between Rancagua and Graneros collapsed, and part of the Pan-American highway was damaged. A power outage affected Pichilemu for two days, beginning right after the earthquake struck, and there were partial power outages in Mostazal, San Fernando and Peumo. In Santiago, "windows rattled, buildings trembled and cellphone service failed", according to a New York Times article. The old Basílica del Salvador in Santiago, which was damaged during the 1985 Algarrobo earthquake and was never repaired, suffered additional damage. In Nilahue Barahona, a village near the town of Pumanque, electric cables fell to the ground during the earthquake, causing a fire that burned 65 hectares (160 acres) of a pine, eucalyptus and grassland forest. The earthquake was also reported to have been felt in Mendoza, Bariloche, Córdoba, San Rafael, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, and Asunción. One person died of a heart attack during the earthquakes in Talca, Maule Region. A United States Geological Survey summary of the earthquakes reported damage at Rancagua, 177 kilometers northeast of Pichilemu. Relief efforts for the 27 February earthquake stalled for about six hours because of the constant aftershocks. According to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Geophysical Data Center, the damage caused by the earthquakes and the accompanying small tsunami was "limited", adding that "a rough estimate of the dollar amount of damage" was "roughly corresponding to less than one million". ## Aftershocks Following the main shock, there were two aftershocks of magnitude 6 or greater. The first of them occurred at , fifteen minutes after the initial quake, and was centered in the commune of La Estrella, Cardenal Caro Province, at a depth of 18.0 kilometres (11.2 mi), reaching a magnitude of 6.7; another aftershock, of magnitude 6.0, took place eleven minutes later, at , this time centered in Pichilemu, at a depth of 29.3 kilometres (18.2 mi). In total, there were ten aftershocks within the six hours after the 6.9 magnitude earthquake, two of magnitude 6 or greater, and seven between 5 and 6. Almost two months later, on 2 May 2010, an aftershock of magnitude 5.8 M_W struck the Chilean O'Higgins Region, at . The aftershock was centered 44 kilometres (27 mi) southwest of Navidad, and occurred at a depth of 32.9 kilometres (20 mi), according to the University of Chile Seismological Service. The National Emergencies Office (ONEMI) reported that the aftershock was felt most strongly in Talca, 258 kilometres (160 mi) south of Santiago, and that there were no casualties, only some telephone lines had collapsed. Six other aftershocks subsequently hit the Pichilemu area that day. The United States Geological Survey measured the aftershock with a magnitude of 5.9. A further aftershock of the Pichilemu earthquake occurred on 29 September 2010 at . It reached magnitude 5.6, and its epicentre was centered 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) southwest of Lolol, 43 kilometres (27 mi) southwest of Santa Cruz, at a depth of 50 kilometres (31 mi). Telephone lines collapsed in O'Higgins Region. No infrastructural damage or casualties were reported. The aftershock was felt between the Valparaíso and Maule regions. The event reached Mercalli V intensity in Rancagua, Navidad, Talca, Curicó, amid other cities and towns. As of February 2013, there have been about 8,500 aftershocks of the Chilean February and March 2010 earthquakes according to the University of Chile Seismological Service, with most taking place in the proximities of Pichilemu. Seismologist Sergio Ruiz said that "a significant number of aftershocks" will take place at least until 2015. ## Media coverage The earthquakes were reported by local, national and international news media. Locally, online newspaper Pichilemu News published an article named "First signs of change?: Shaken handover ceremony in Chile because of new earthquake aftershocks" ("¿Los primeros signos del cambio?: Movido cambio de mando se vivió en el país ante nuevas réplicas del terremoto") on 11 March; five days later, local newspaper El Expreso de la Costa published an interview with Mario Pardo, seismologist in charge of the geophysics department of the University of Chile, who recommended people of Pichilemu to "try to remain calm, the worst already happened". The only local radio that continued broadcasting through the day of the earthquakes was Radio Entre Olas, directed by Jorge Nasser Guerra, who along with two other radio workers, reportedly were the only ones not to be evacuated after the earthquakes in Pichilemu. Because the earthquakes provoked a power outage, the radio worked with "emergency equipment". Previously, after the 27 February earthquake, Entre Olas did not stop broadcasting either, despite there was a power outage that lasted for several days. Nationally distributed newspaper El Mercurio published on its 12 March 2010 main page the headline "6.9 [magnitude] aftershock marks the most seismic day after the earthquake" ("Réplica de 6,9° marca el día más sísmico post terremoto"), adding that "[s]eventeen of the twenty seisms that occurred yesterday [11 March] in central-southern Chile had their epicentre in Pichilemu, Region of O'Higgins, which was declared in Disaster State yesterday." On that same day, Santiago-based newspaper La Tercera published on their headline: "Piñera faces first crisis as he takes office as new President" ("Piñera enfrenta primera crisis al asumir como nuevo Presidente"); La Tercera elaborated: "The 6.9 Richter magnitude earthquake, which occurred minutes before the power handover took place, added an additional quota of drama to the oath of Sebastián Piñera, whose agenda was already modified by the 27 February disaster." Other newspapers of national distribution where the earthquake was reported on its main page included Las Últimas Noticias (which featured a photograph of President Piñera aboarding a helicopter in military dress), Publimetro, and La Nación, whose main headline said "Emergency measures marked start of Piñera['s presidency]" ("Medidas de emergencia marcan partida de Piñera"). Throughout Chile, regional newspapers also reported the earthquakes and tsunami warning on their edition of 12 March 2010. Among these are La Estrella de Arica (Arica), La Estrella de Iquique (Iquique), El Mercurio de Antofagasta, La Estrella del Norte (both from Antofagasta), El Mercurio de Calama, La Estrella del Loa (both from Calama), El Diario de Atacama, Diario Chañarcillo (both from Copiapó), El Día (La Serena), El Mercurio de Valparaíso, La Estrella de Valparaíso (both from Valparaíso), El Líder (San Antonio), El Tipógrafo (Rancagua), La Prensa (Curicó), El Sur (Concepción), El Austral de Temuco (Temuco), El Diario Austral de Los Ríos (Valdivia), El Austral de Osorno (Osorno), El Llanquihue (Puerto Montt), and La Prensa Austral (Punta Arenas). Among the international media who reported on the earthquakes were the BBC, CNN, CBS News, The Huffington Post, and news agencies Al Jazeera, Reuters, and Associated Press. The New York Times included on their 12 March 2010 main page a photograph of Presidents Fernando Lugo of Paraguay and Rafael Correa of Ecuador "re-acting to an aftershock felt Thursday [11 March] in Valparaíso, Chile, the strongest since the devastating Feb. 27 earthquake"; the photograph was followed by the headline "For Chile, More Aftershocks, and an Inauguration". The newspaper published an extensive article titled "Aftershocks Jolt Chile as New President Is Sworn In", which stated that the earthquakes "almost overshadowed the inauguration of Chile’s first right-wing leader in 20 years [Piñera]." Other newspapers who included headlines on the earthquake on their 12 March 2010 main pages include El Mundo, El País, ABC (the three from Madrid, Spain), Clarín (Buenos Aires, Argentina), Bild (Berlin, Germany), El Colombiano (Medellín, Colombia), El Tiempo (Bogotá, Colombia), The Dallas Morning News (Dallas, Texas, United States of America), El Comercio (Lima, Peru), and Excélsior (Mexico City, Mexico). ## See also - 1985 Rapel Lake earthquake - List of earthquakes in 2010 - List of earthquakes in Chile

Folklore (Taylor Swift album)

2020 studio album by Taylor Swift

Folklore (stylized in all lowercase) is the eighth studio album by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. It was a surprise album, released on July 24, 2020, via Republic Records. After the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, Swift canceled the concert tour for her seventh studio album Lover (2019). She conceived Folklore during quarantine as "a collection of songs and stories that flowed like a stream of consciousness", working with producers Aaron Dessner and Jack Antonoff virtually; Dessner and Antonoff operated from recording studios in Hudson Valley and New York City, respectively, while Swift recorded her vocals in a home studio at her Los Angeles residence. Departing from the mainly upbeat pop production of its predecessors, Folklore consists of mellow ballads driven by neo-classical instruments, pursuing indie folk, alternative rock, and electro-acoustic styles. Influenced by loneliness during quarantine, Swift explores themes of escapism, empathy, nostalgia and romanticism in the album, using a set of characters, fictional narratives, and story arcs, in contrast to the autobiographical tone of her previous projects. The title was inspired by the lasting legacy of folk songs, whereas its visual aesthetic reflects cottagecore. Upon release, Folklore broke the record for the biggest opening day on Spotify for an album by a female act. Three of its tracks, "Cardigan", "The 1", and "Exile" featuring Bon Iver, reached the top 10 on music charts in eight countries, with the former becoming Swift's sixth number-one single on the US Billboard Hot 100. Folklore topped the charts in various countries and is certified platinum or higher in Australia, Denmark, New Zealand, Norway, the United Kingdom, and the United States. It was Swift's seventh number-one album on the US Billboard 200, where it reigned atop for eight weeks and became the best-selling album of 2020. Folklore received widespread critical acclaim, centering on its emotional weight, poetic lyricism, and relaxed pace. Critics found its introspective essence timely for the pandemic and regarded its sound a bold reinvention of Swift's artistry. The album was featured on numerous 2020 year-end rankings. It won Album of the Year at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards, making Swift the first woman in history to win the honor three times, following her wins for Fearless (2008) and 1989 (2014). She discussed Folklore and performed it live in the Disney+ concert documentary Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions, premiering on November 25, 2020, and released Folklore's sequel record, Evermore (2020), two weeks later. Several artists cite Folklore as a source of inspiration. ## Background In April 2020, Taylor Swift was set to embark on Lover Fest, her sixth concert tour in support of her seventh studio album Lover (2019), which was cancelled following the COVID-19 pandemic. On July 23, 2020, nine photos were uploaded to Swift's Instagram account, all without captions, forming a black and white image of the singer standing alone in a forest. Subsequently, she made another post across all her social media accounts, announcing that her eighth studio album would be released at midnight; Swift stated: "Most of the things I had planned this summer didn't end up happening, but there is something I hadn't planned on that DID happen. And that thing is my 8th studio album, Folklore". She confirmed the image as the album's cover artwork and revealed the track list. The Wall Street Journal opined that the surprise announcement "caught fans and the music business off-guard". Billboard stated that it "blindsided the pop music world", arriving as "exciting news" during lockdown. Folklore was released eleven months after Lover—the fastest turnaround for a Swift studio album at the time, beating the one year and nine months gap between Reputation (2017) and Lover. In another post, Swift announced that the music video for the track "Cardigan" would release at the same time as the album. During the YouTube premiere countdown to the "Cardigan" music video, Swift hinted that the album lyrics contained many of her signature Easter eggs: "One thing I did purposely on this album was put the Easter eggs in the lyrics, more than just the videos. I created character arcs and recurring themes that map out who is singing about who... For example, there's a collection of three songs I refer to as the Teenage Love Triangle. These three songs explore a love triangle from all three people's perspectives at different times in their lives". She referred to the album as "wistful and full of escapism. Sad, beautiful, tragic. Like a photo album full of imagery, and all the stories behind that imagery", described "Cardigan" as a song that explores "lost romance and why young love is often fixed so permanently in our memories," and pointed-out the self-written track, "My Tears Ricochet", as the first song she wrote for the album. Uproxx narrated, "on Thursday night, that hand-drawn 'T' and 'S' could be seen up and down the timeline. Music fans and critics across genres unveiled hot takes, quoted lyrics like Myspace teens writing on the back of textbooks or crafting the perfect AIM away message, and debated Folklore's place in the unimpeachable Taylor Swift canon." ## Conception Swift did not expect to create an album in early 2020. After the cancellation of Lover Fest, Swift quarantined herself, during which she watched numerous films, such as Rear Window (1954), L.A. Confidential (1997), Pan's Labyrinth (2006), Jane Eyre (2011), Marriage Story (2019), and The Last Dance (2020), and read more books than she ever did, books that "dealt with times past, a world that doesn't exist anymore", such as Rebecca (1938) by Daphne du Maurier. The fictions inspired Swift to venture beyond her usual autobiographical style of songwriting, and experiment with different narrative standpoints. In isolation during the lockdown, she let her imagination "run wild", ensuing in a set of imageries and visuals that consequently became Folklore. Some of the imageries the singer developed include: "An exiled man walking the bluffs of a land that isn't his own, wondering how it all went so terribly, terribly wrong. An embittered tormentor showing up at the funeral of his fallen object of obsession. A seventeen-year-old standing on a porch, learning to apologize. Lovestruck kids wandering up and down the evergreen High Line. My grandfather, Dean, landing at Guadalcanal in 1942. A misfit widow getting gleeful revenge on the town that cast her out". Swift "poured all of [her] whims, dreams, fears, and musings" into the songs, and reached out to her "musical heroes" to collaborate with. She initially planned to release Folklore in early 2021, but it "ended up being done" sooner, and released in July 2020 without giving it second thoughts. She approached the album's creation without subjecting herself to any rules, and explained that she "used to put all these parameters on [herself], like, "How will this song sound in a stadium? How will this song sound on radio?" If you take away all the parameters, what do you make? And I guess the answer is Folklore." ## Writing and recording Swift's songwriting drifted towards escapism and romanticism for Folklore. She enlisted two producers to achieve her desired sound—her longtime collaborator Jack Antonoff, who worked with her on 1989 (2014), Reputation, and Lover, and first-time collaborator Aaron Dessner, guitarist of American indie rock band the National. Due to COVID-19 concerns, Swift, Antonoff and Dessner quarantined remotely, separate from each other, creating Folklore by continually exchanging digital files of instrumentals and vocals. The album ensued from a DIY process, mixed and engineered by personnel scattered across the US. Swift had previously met the National on a Saturday Night Live episode in 2014, and attended one of their concerts in 2019, where she talked to Dessner and his twin brother Bryce. She asked Aaron Dessner about his songwriting technique, because it is her "favorite thing to ask people who I'm a fan of", and he replied his band members live in different parts of the world, and that he would make instrumental tracks and send them to the lead singer, Matt Berninger, who would write the lyrics—this ignited Swift's idea to create music in quarantine. Due to the pandemic, all recording studios were closed, so Swift built a home studio at her Los Angeles residence, named Kitty Committee, with help from engineer Laura Sisk. Antonoff, with whom Swift worked on five songs from the album, operated from New York City while Sisk recorded Swift's vocals in Los Angeles. "My Tears Ricochet" was the first song written for Folklore. Swift wrote it about her ties with Scott Borchetta, founder of her old record label, coming to an abrupt end. Antonoff compared the writing process of "Mirrorball" and "August" to that of "Out of the Woods" (2016). Swift wrote "Mirrorball" following the cancellation of Lover Fest, as an ode to fans who find solace in her music and concerts. She wrote "August" about a fictitious mistress, and "This Is Me Trying" based on multiple narratives, such as dealing with addiction, and her own mental health in 2016–2017 when she felt she was "worth absolutely nothing." In late April, Swift approached Dessner to co-write some songs remotely. He worked on eleven of the album's 16 tracks over the next few months. Dessner "thought it would take a while for song ideas to come" and "had no expectations as far as what we could accomplish remotely", but was surprised that "a few hours after sharing music, my phone lit up with a voice memo from Taylor of a fully written song—the momentum never really stopped." Swift and Dessner "were pretty much in touch daily for three or four months by text and phone calls." He would mail her folders of instrumentals, and she would write the "entire top line"—melody and lyrics, and "he wouldn't know what the song would be about, what it was going to be called, where [she] was going to put the chorus." The first song the duo wrote was "Cardigan", which is based on one of Dessner's sketches called "Maple". "Cardigan" was followed by "Seven" and "Peace". Upon hearing the composition of "Peace", Swift felt an "immediate sense of serenity" that roused the feeling of being peaceful, but felt it would be "too on-the-nose" to sing about finding peace; she instead wrote about complex "conflicted" feelings contrasting the track's calming sound, and recorded it in one vocal take.A few weeks later, when Swift and Dessner had written "six or seven" songs, she explained him her concept of Folklore. She told him about the work she had done earlier with Antonoff, concluding that both of her works resonate as an album. Swift and Dessner also wrote "The Last Great American Dynasty", "Mad Woman", and "Epiphany", the first of which has an array of electric guitars inspired by Radiohead's 2007 surprise album In Rainbows. The lyrics document American socialite Rebekah Harkness, whom Swift had been wanting to write about ever since she bought the Holiday House in 2013. Dessner composed the piano melody for "Mad Woman" with his earlier work on "Cardigan" and "Seven" in mind. On "Epiphany", he slowed down and reversed the sounds of different instruments to create a "giant stack of harmony", and added piano for a cinematic trope. Swift wrote the song based on the experiences of her veteran grandfather, and healthcare workers in the pandemic. Swift wrote two songs, "Exile" and "Betty", with her then boyfriend, English actor Joe Alwyn. She developed "Exile" as a duet, and Dessner recorded a draft of her singing both the male and female parts. Swift and Dessner ran through candidates for the male partner, and Swift liked the voice of Bon Iver's Justin Vernon, who is one half of the American indie rock band Big Red Machine along with Dessner. Dessner sent the song to Vernon, who liked the song, added his own lyrics and sang his part. "Betty" is the only song on the album produced by both Dessner and Antonoff; Swift was influenced by Bob Dylan's The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1963) and John Wesley Harding (1967) for its composition. Alwyn used the pseudonym William Bowery for his credits. Upon the album's release, mainstream media and fans pointed out Bowery's lack of online presence, and presumed that it was actually a pseudonym for Alwyn, which was later ultimately confirmed by Swift. Swift added that he also penned the chorus of "Betty", and the piano line and first verse in "Exile". The last two songs written were "The 1" and "Hoax", the first and last songs on the album respectively; Swift wrote both in a span of few hours. Speaking about his collaboration with her, Dessner commented "there's a palpable humanity and warmth and raw emotion in these songs that I hope you'll love and take comfort in as much as I do." In a November 2020 Rolling Stone interview with Paul McCartney, Swift stated she began using words in the album's lyrics that she always wanted to use, not worrying about whether it would suit radio. She used "bigger, flowerier, prettier" words such as "epiphany", "elegies" and "divorcée", just because they "sound beautiful". Swift disclosed that she maintains lists of such words, and recalled using one such, "kaleidoscope", in "Welcome to New York" (2014). In a December 2020 Entertainment Weekly interview, Swift said the lyrics, melodies, and production of Folklore are the way she wanted them, without subjecting to others' expectations. > Taylor has opened the door for artists to not feel pressure to have "the bop". To make the record that she made, while running against what is programmed in radio at the highest levels of pop music—she has kind of made an anti-pop record. Folklore was written and recorded in secrecy. Swift, her boyfriend, family, management team, Antonoff, and Dessner were aware of the album's creation; she did not disclose the news or play the album to her friends like she did with her previous works. Near the end of Folklore's recording process, Dessner reached out to his regular collaborators, including the National bandmates, to provide instrumentation remotely. Bryce orchestrated several songs, while Bryan Devendorf performed the drums in "Seven". Dessner kept Swift's involvement confidential from his family and colleagues until announcement. While filming the "Cardigan" music video, Swift wore an earpiece and lip-synced to the song to prevent it from leaking. Dessner stated that Swift's label, Republic Records, was unaware of the album until hours before its launch. ## Music and lyrics The standard edition of Folklore is about an hour and three minutes long, consisting of 16 tracks, while the deluxe edition adds a bonus song, "The Lakes", as the seventeenth track. Bon Iver is featured on "Exile", the fourth track. Folklore was written and produced by Swift, Dessner, Antonoff, and Alwyn, with additional writing credit to Vernon, the lead vocalist of Bon Iver, on "Exile". It is Swift's first album to carry an explicit content label. ### Composition Critics mostly categorize Folklore as an alternative, indie folk, and electro-folk album departing from the pop maximalism and synth-driven sound of Swift's previous works. It also incorporates indie rock, electronica, dream pop, country, and folk rock elements. NME's Hannah Mylrea wrote the album "dives headfirst into the world of folk, alternative rock and indie", while the same magazine's Gary Ryan classified it as indietronica and chamber pop. Kaelen Bell of Exclaim! said Folklore is a laid-back pop record, Variety's Chris Willman and Pitchfork's Jillian Mapes specified it as chamber pop, Michael Sumsion of PopMatters described it as a blend of chamber-pop and alt-folk, and Raisa Bruner of Time deemed it "alternative pop-folk". Music journalist Amanda Petrusich, reviewing for The New Yorker, felt Folklore is a "genre-less" record that drifts toward atmospheric pop rather than folk. In disagreement, The New York Times critic Jon Caramanica called it an atmospheric rock album abandoning pop. Spencer Kornhaber of The Atlantic said the album "swims through intricate classical and folk instrumentation" held together by electronic music. Devoid of radio-friendly pop songs, Folklore eschews the mainstream sound of Swift's older works. It consists of mellow, cinematic, slow-paced ballads, with a minimal, lo-fi production, and elegant melodies, together lending a modern spin on traditional songwriting. It is built around neo-classical instrumentals, such as: soft, sparse and sonorous pianos, moody, picked and burbling guitars, glitchy and fractured electronic elements, subliminal, throbbing percussions, mellow programmed drums, Mellotron, sweeping orchestrations with ethereal strings and meditative horns. The album does not fully avoid plush synths and programmed beats characteristic of Swift's pop music, but instead dials them down to a subtle texture, delivering an electro-acoustic soundscape, which highlights Swift's voice and lyrics. Rolling Stone stated the album's tone resembles "Safe & Sound", Swift's 2012 single for The Hunger Games: Songs from District 12 and Beyond. The Ringer noted that Antonoff confers a synth-based style to the record, while Dessner contributes a piano-leaning sound, and linked Folklore to two songs on Lover—"The Archer" and "It's Nice to Have a Friend"—as Swift's albums "usually have a couple tracks that harken back to the previous album or wind up connecting them to the next". ### Themes Folklore consists of songs exploring points of view that diverge from Swift's life, including third-person narratives written from perspectives of characters that interweave across the tracks. Its songwriting style combines balladeering with autobiographical experiences and character-driven storytelling, and is primarily distinguished by themes of wistfulness, escapism, nostalgia, contemplation, and empathy. Although Swift opted for a new sound, the album retains stylistic aspects of her trademark songwriting, such as mournful delivery and bildungsroman passion. Compared to much of her older discography, Folklore reflected Swift's deepening self-awareness, introspection, and vivid storytelling that showed a higher degree of fictionalization and fewer self-references, culminating in an outward-looking approach. The lyricism is both personal and fictional, and a blend of both at times. The emotional and narrative range of Folklore is widened by expanding the focus from Swift's personal stories to imagined characters and personifications. The narratives described in Folklore include a ghost finding its murderer at its funeral, a seven-year-old girl with a traumatized friend, an old widow spurned by her town, recovering alcoholics, and a love triangle between the fictional characters Betty, James, and an unnamed woman, as depicted in the tracks "Cardigan", "Betty" and "August", with each of the three songs written from each of the character's perspective in different times in their lives. NPR's Ann Powers defined Folklore as a "body constructed of memory, a shared sense of the world, built of myths, heard stories", based on the idea that "we each have our own folklore", with the album being Swift's folklore. Many songs on the album exude a cinematic quality in their lyrics, and reference objects and phenomena in nature, such as a solar eclipse, Saturn, auroras, purple-pink skies, salt air, weeds, and Wisteria. ### Songs "The 1", the opening track, is a soft rock tune driven by a bouncy arrangement of piano, minimal percussion, and electronic accents. In the perspective of Swift's friend, "The 1" describes a new-found positive approach to life and past love, wishing they could have been soulmates. The slow-burning "Cardigan" is a folk ballad driven by moody, stripped-down instrumentals consisting of drums and tender piano; Swift sings from the perspective of a fictional character named Betty, who recalls the separation and enduring optimism of a relationship with a boy named James. "The Last Great American Dynasty" is an alternative indie pop tune with classical instruments like slide guitar, viola, violins, drums and glitchy production elements. The satirical song tells the story of Harkness, the founder of Harkness Ballet, when she resided in Swift's Rhode Island mansion. It details how Harkness married into an upper-class family, was hated by the town, and blamed for the death of her then-husband and heir to Standard Oil, William Harkness, and the fall of his family's name, and draws parallels with Swift's life. "Exile" is a gospel-influenced, indie folk duet with Bon Iver, fusing Swift's soft vocals with Vernon's growling baritone, serving as an unspoken, argumentative conversation between two former lovers. It begins with a plodding piano and reaches a dramatic climax accompanied by strings, synths and harmonies. Sung from the perspective of a deceased lover's ghost, "My Tears Ricochet" is an icy arena-goth song that reflects on the tensions following the end of a marital relationship, using funereal imagery—a metaphor for Scott Borchetta and his sale of the masters of Swift's older catalogue. It encompasses a music box, backing choir, reverbed ad-libs in the bridge, and reaches a tumultuous climax over shuddering drums. "Mirrorball" is a folk-tinged dream pop song, driven by pedal steel and twanging guitars. Its lyrics portray Swift as a disco ball, pertaining to the reflective quality, describing her ability to entertain people with her music by making herself her vulnerable and sensitive. In "Seven", Swift sings in an innocent tone, reminiscing about an abused friend from her childhood in Pennsylvania, whom she cannot fully remember but still has fond memories of, over a resonant arrangement consisting of flurrying strings and piano. "August" is a gloomy dream-pop song that captures the summer affair between two young lovers—a naive girl who is seen holding on to a boy that "wasn't hers to lose"; the boy is revealed to be James, later in the album. The song depicts the girl grieve and yearn over her love, using Swift's light and breezy delivery, "yo-yoing" vocal yelps, and a grandiose production driven by acoustic guitar, glistening vocal reverb, and key changes. The ninth track, "This Is Me Trying", is an orchestral pop song detailing the accountability and regret of an alcoholic who admits feeling inadequate. It contains Swift's "ghostly", reverberated vocals and a gradually growing, dense production. Over an acoustic arrangement of finger-plucked strings and soft horns, "Illicit Affairs" unfolds the infidelity of a disloyal narrator, and highlights the measures they carry out to keep the affair a secret. "Invisible String" is a folk song that provides a glimpse into Swift's love life with Alwyn, recounting the "invisible" connection between them that they were not aware of until they met, alluding to an East Asian folk myth called the Red Thread of Fate. It comprises an acoustic riff, thumping vocal backbeats, a distinct passive writing style, and references her older songs. "Mad Woman" tackles the taboo linked with female anger, using sarcastic remarks at sexism, as Folklore's moment of vituperation. It metaphorically describes Swift's dispute with Borchetta and Scooter Braun, painting the story of a deviant widow getting revenge, with references to witch hunts. "Epiphany" is an ambient hymn. It depicts the devastation of the pandemic, paying homage to healthcare workers, with whom she empathizes, comparing them to traumatized military soldiers, such as her veteran grandfather, Dean, who fought at the Battle of Guadalcanal (1942). The song is carried by a glacial piano, and a howling brass. The fourteenth track, "Betty", is a country and folk rock song with prominent harmonica. It describes the relationship narrated in "Cardigan", but in the perspective of the cheating boyfriend James, who had a summer fling with the female narrator of "August". James apologizes for his past actions but does not fully own up to them, citing excuses. Its characters (Betty, James, and Inez) are named after the daughters of Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds. The R&B-inclining "Peace" features jazzy vocals with a complex vocal melody. over a pulse juxtaposed with three lushly harmonized basslines, complemented by minimal synths and a drizzling piano. Lyrically, "Peace" is an ode to Swift's lover, dissects the effects of hectic stardom on her relationship and warns the subject of future challenges. The standard edition of the album closes with "Hoax", a slow piano ballad with emotionally raw lyrics that detail a flawed but everlasting relationship, ending the album on a despondent note of sadness. The deluxe bonus track, "The Lakes", is a string-laden midtempo song that introspects on Swift's semi-retirement in England's Lake District; the location is also mentioned in "Invisible String". Imagining a red rose growing out of tundra "with no one around to tweet it", Swift fantasizes about a social-media-free utopia, referencing William Wordsworth, an English poet known for his Romantic writings. ## Art direction > From the very beginning, Taylor had a clear idea of what she wanted for the album's visuals. We looked at Surrealist work, imagery that toyed with human scale in nature. We also looked at early autochromes, ambrotypes, and photo storybooks from the 1940s. Folklore's album art, packaging, and lyric videos were created through a DIY approach. Swift collaborated with photographer Beth Garrabrant for the artworks, without a technical team due to COVID-19 concerns. The photoshoot marked a change from Swift's older shoots, where she would have "100 people on set, commanding alongside other people in a very committee fashion." She styled herself, including hair, makeup and wardrobe, and prescribed Garrabrant a specific moodboard. The photographs are characterized by a grayscale, black and white filter. ### Cover artwork The standard cover art depicts Swift as an 19th-century pioneer sleepwalking in a nightgown. She is seen standing alone in a misty forest covered by morning fog, wearing a long, double-breasted plaid coat over a white prairie dress, gazing at the height of the trees. On the backside cover, she stands turned away from the camera, wearing a slouchy flannel-lined denim jacket slumped around her arms, and a white lace frock, with two loose braided buns low over her nape, similar to American Girl doll Kirsten Larson. The album title is written in an italicized roman font reminiscent of "a Chronicles of Narnia scrawl". In December 2020, Jimmy Kimmel interviewed Swift about the presence of the word "Woodvale" on the cover of "Hide and Seek" edition of Folklore, which some suspected to be the title of a new album after Evermore; Swift denied it and said she did not reveal Folklore's title to anyone until just before its release and used "Woodvale" as a code name, which was included in an artwork for reference, but was accidentally printed in the final products. ### Aesthetic and fashion Reflecting its lyrical motifs of escapism, Folklore sees Swift embracing a rustic, nature-focused, cottagecore aesthetic for the project, moving away from the "technicolor carnival" of its predecessor, Lover. The music video for "Cardigan" expands on cottagecore, and starts with her sitting at a vintage piano in a cozy cabin in the woods. The video features a moss-covered forest and a waterfall-producing piano. Swift sold replicas of the "folklore cardigan"—a cream colored cable knit, with silver embroidered stars on the sleeves' chunky elbows, and navy blue piping and buttons—she wore in the video, on her website. W regarded the cardigan the "pièce de résistance" of the aesthetic, and thought the eight cover artworks of Folklore have Swift "frolicking through the woods like a cottagecore queen". Irish Independent wrote that she became a "rural tunesmith communing with the birds and the trees", dressed up in a bulky "Clancy Brothers-style" Aran sweater. RTÉ thanked Swift for putting cardigans "back on the map once more". Noting that her album eras have been defined by their own color scheme, fashion and cultural motifs, Teen Vogue described Folklore as simple, neutral-toned wear, with the cardigan helping in understanding the sentimental role clothing plays. Cottagecore faced resurgence on the internet after Swift used the aesthetic, with a sales surge of hand-knitted Aran sweaters in Ireland and the US. Comparing it with her past albums, The Guardian characterized 1989 as sleek and suave, Reputation as gothic and dangerous, and Lover as jovial and pastel-hued, whereas Folklore is the monochrome tale of a songwriter returning to folksy roots. Refinery29 dubbed the aesthetic as Swift's return to her "truest self", and compared her new look to that of a "classic English Rose". Vogue found Swift opting for a pastoral palette, and drew parallels to the music video of her 2012 single "Safe & Sound". Beats Per Minute deemed the aesthetic reminiscent of works by painters Grant Wood, Andrew Wyeth, and Lionel Walden, especially Wood's American Gothic. Vulture defined Folklore as "an eerie black-and-white indie period horror film" that pays homage to various cult classic films, especially A24 horror films, with its songs evoking cinematic visuals. The album's aesthetic has been compared to the visuals in multiple films, including Ivan's Childhood (1962), Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), The Blair Witch Project (1999), Pan's Labyrinth (2006), The Babadook (2014), The Witch (2015), The Beguiled (2017), Woodshock (2017), The Lighthouse (2019), Midsommar (2019) and Little Women (2019). ## Release and promotion Folklore was a surprise album. It marked the first time Swift abandoned her traditional album rollout, opting to release suddenly due to intuition; she stated "if you make something you love, you should just put it out into the world". She unveiled the album via her social media on July 23, 2020, 16 hours prior to its release to digital music platforms at midnight. Swift informed Republic Records about the new album only a few hours before its release, and thus it was not widely and immediately available at retail, especially in its first week. Deluxe CDs and vinyl LPs with seven other alternate covers, were sold on Swift's website exclusively. The standard edition "In the Trees" CDs of Folklore were released to retail on August 7, 2020, while "Meet Me Behind the Mall" CDs were made exclusive to Target. The formerly physical-exclusive Folklore deluxe, featuring the bonus track "The Lakes", was released to digital platforms on August 18, 2020. Starting on August 20, 2020, a limited number of autographed Folklore CDs were delivered to various indie record shops in the US and Scotland to support small businesses in the pandemic. Swift mailed her Folklore cardigans to celebrity friends and well-wishers. Four six-song compilations of Folklore tracks were released to streaming, based on the thematic cohesion between them; The Escapism Chapter, The Sleepless Nights Chapter, The Saltbox House Chapter and The Yeah I Showed Up at Your Party Chapter were released in August–September 2020. Swift's ninth studio album, Evermore, is a sequel to Folklore. She dubbed them "sister albums". ### Singles "Cardigan" serves as the lead single of Folklore. It was accompanied by a music video posted to YouTube, directed by Swift and produced by Jil Hardin. Both were released on July 24, 2020, alongside the album. It was serviced to US pop and adult pop radio formats on July 27. The song debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, becoming Swift's sixth chart-topper and second number-one debut. Billboard noted a unique radio roll-out for Folklore, where few of its tracks were simultaneously promoted to multiple radio formats. While "Cardigan" impacted pop and adult contemporary, "Exile" was sent to adult alternative radio on August 3, 2020, which had initially peaked at number six on the Hot 100, whereas "Betty" was sent to country radio on August 17, after arriving at number six on the Hot Country Songs chart. "The 1" was released as a promotional single in Germany on October 9, 2020; "The 1" had previously reached number four on the Hot 100. On July 24, 2021, the first anniversary of Folklore, the original orchestral version of "The Lakes" was also released as a promotional single. ### Film and live album A concert documentary, titled Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions, was released on November 25, 2020, to Disney+. It was directed and produced by Swift, seeing her perform all the tracks of Folklore in an intimate setting at Long Pong Studio, and sharing the stories behind the songs, with Antonoff and Dessner. Alongside the film's premiere, Swift's third live album, Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions (From the Disney+ Special), containing the acoustic versions from the film, was released to streaming platforms. ## Critical reception Folklore was met with widespread acclaim from music critics, who praised its emotional weight and introspective songwriting, calling it Swift's most subdued and sophisticated body of work yet. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the album received an average score of 88, based on 27 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Folklore is widely regarded as Swift's best album. Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone lauded Swift's songwriting abilities that brought out her "deepest wit, compassion, and empathy", making Folklore her most intimate album so far. Also noting the album's vivid storytelling filled with imagination and imagery, Pitchfork's Jillian Mapes considered Folklore a mature step in Swift's artistry while retaining her core as a celebrated songwriter. Mark Savage of BBC classified Folklore as an indie record dealing with nostalgia and mistakes that resonate with the times. Katie Moulton from Consequence appreciated Swift's maturity, particularly the employment of third-person perspectives that had been uncommon on her previous works. Complimenting the album's writing, The Daily Telegraph's Neil McCormick, i's Sarah Carson, and The Sydney Morning Heralds Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen, gave the album full-score ratings. Describing Folklore as a bold attempt, Hannah Mylrea of NME praised Swift's ability to evoke vivid imagery, but said that the 16-song run can "sometimes drag slightly". Several critics welcomed Swift's new musical direction. Chris Willman of Variety considered Folklore to be a "first-rank album", and its change of a musical style a "serious act of sonic palette cleansing" for Swift. Laura Snapes of The Guardian considered it to be the most cohesive and the most experimental among Swift's releases. Entertainment Weekly's Maura Johnston deemed the album a bold move for a pop star like Swift to challenge its audience. Roisin O'Connor of The Independent praised the album's "exquisite, piano-based poetry" which she found unconventional for Swift's catalog. AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine was positive towards the album but felt its musical styles are not "precisely new tricks" for Swift. In agreement, Annie Zaleski of The A.V. Club deemed the album not completely experimental, but still a new aspect of Swift's artistry. In his Substack-published Consumer Guide column, Robert Christgau was most moved by the youth-themed "Seven" and "Betty" than the more adult songs, which he summarized as "melodically fetching, lyrically deft pop songs that are fine as far as they go". He singled out "The Last Great American Dynasty" as the only intolerable song for how it reminds him of "Taylor Swift the showbiz plutocrat". In a mixed review, The New York Times critic Jon Caramanica praised Swift's songwriting but felt the album is burdened by "desolate" and "overcomposed" indie rock. ### Year-end lists A multitude of publications listed Folklore in their lists of best albums of 2020, including number-one placements from Billboard, Los Angeles Times, Rolling Stone, Insider, NJ.com, South China Morning Post, Uproxx, USA Today, Us Weekly, Variety, and Walla Walla Union-Bulletin. Folklore placed third on Metacritic's ranking of the most mentioned albums in 2020 year-end lists. Its tracks "The 1", "Cardigan", "The Last Great American Dynasty", "Exile", "Mirrorball", "Seven", "August", "This Is Me Trying", "Invisible String" and "Betty" were also named among the best songs of 2020. ## Commercial performance The biggest first day on Spotify for a 2020 album, Folklore opened with over 80.6 million global streams on the platform, and earned the Guinness World Record for the most opening-day streams for an album by a female artist, surpassing Ariana Grande's Thank U, Next. "Cardigan" placed first on global Spotify chart with 7.742 million plays—the biggest first day for a song by a female artist in 2020. The album broke the Apple Music record for the most-streamed pop album in a day, and the Amazon Music indie/alternative record. Republic Records reported that Folklore sold over 1.3 million units worldwide on its first day and two million units in its first week. Swift was 2020's second most-streamed woman on Spotify, after Billie Eilish, and the year's most streamed act on Amazon Music. By the end of 2020, Folklore sold 2 million pure copies globally. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry named it the year's best-selling album by a woman, and Swift the best-selling solo act of 2020. ### United States The album's on-demand first-day streams were 72 million in the US, beating Thank U, Next's 55.9 million. Folklore sold over 500,000 units, including 400,000 sales, in its first three days, becoming the first album to do so since Swift's own Lover. Folklore debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and topped it for eight weeks, becoming the longest-reigning number-one album of 2020. Opening with 846,000 units, consisting of 615,000 pure sales and 289.85 million streams, it marked the largest sales and streaming weeks of 2020, surpassing Juice Wrld's Legends Never Die. Its first-week sales alone were enough to make it the year's best-selling album, beating BTS' Map of the Soul: 7. Swift became the first woman with seven Billboard 200 number-one debuts and tied Janet Jackson for the third-most number-ones. Eclipsing Eminem, she was the first act in Nielsen SoundScan history to have seven albums each sell 500,000 copies or more in a week, and the first woman since Barbra Streisand to have six albums spend multiple weeks at number one. Folklore gave Swift her first entry on Alternative Albums, with the biggest debut ever on the chart. It was 2020's fastest album to move a million units, the longest-running number-one album by a woman on the Billboard 200 since Reputation, and the first to spend its first four weeks at the top since Adele's 25 (2015); Swift became the first 21st-century act to have six albums each spend four weeks atop, and the first solo/female artist (after the Beatles) to have five albums each top the chart for six weeks or more. Billboard attributed the album's success to its timing, pandemic-suited songs and Swift's ability to connect with listeners. She also surpassed Whitney Houston as the woman with the most weeks atop Billboard 200 (47 weeks). Folklore sold a million pure copies in the US by October, becoming the only 2020 album to do so and Swift's ninth project to reach the mark. When Evermore topped the Billboard 200 later that year, Folklore rose to number three with 133,000 units, making Swift the first woman ever to chart two simultaneous albums in the top three. All of its 16 tracks debuted simultaneously on the Billboard Hot 100, giving three top-10 and five top-20 entries. Swift became the first act to debut atop both Billboard 200 and Hot 100 in the same week, with the number-one debut of "Cardigan". She also was the first act to debut two songs in the top-four and three songs in the top-six simultaneously, as "The 1" entered at number four and "Exile" at number six. It increased Swift's sum of top-10 hits to 28, including 18 top-10 debuts. Folklore was her second consecutive album to chart all of its tracks together on the Hot 100 after Lover. Swift extended her record for the most concurrent Hot 100 debuts ever among women (16), and eclipsed Nicki Minaj as the woman with the most Hot 100 entries (113). 11 tracks charted on Hot Rock & Alternative Songs, of which a record eight entries were in the top 10. On the 2020 Billboard Year-End charts, Swift was the top female artist for the fifth time in her career. Swift or Folklore ranked at number one on the year-end Top Album Sales, Tastemaker Albums, Alternative Albums, Hot Rock & Alternative Songs Artists, and Billboard 200 Female Artists charts. 11 tracks from Folklore landed on the year-end Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart—the most for any act or album. Swift ranked as US Spotify's most streamed female artist of 2020, and the year's most consumed artist, totaling 3.5 million units (including 1.3 million sales). The best-selling album of 2020, Folklore earned 2.3 million units, including 1.276 million sales. It made Swift the first act to have the best-selling album of a calendar year five times, following Fearless (2009), 1989, Reputation, and Lover. Folklore was the eighth best-selling album of 2021 with 304,000 copies sold. ### Other markets Folklore opened at number-one on the Billboard Canadian Albums as Swift's seventh consecutive number-one, spending four weeks atop. All of its 16 tracks debuted on the Canadian Hot 100 chart together, with "Cardigan", "Exile", and "The 1" in the top-10. Folklore landed ninth on the 2020 Top Canadian Albums year-end list. In the UK, Folklore debuted atop the Official Albums Chart with 37,000 copies, beating Eminem's Music to Be Murdered By for the biggest digital sales week of 2020. It became Swift's fifth consecutive chart-topper, making her one of the only five women to score five number-one albums in the UK, after Madonna, Kylie Minogue, Streisand, and Celine Dion, and the first one to do so in the 21st-century. Becoming Swift's first album to spend multiple weeks atop the chart, Folklore remained at number one for three consecutive weeks. On the UK Singles Chart, "Cardigan", "Exile", and "The 1" opened at numbers six, eight and 10, respectively, taking the total of Swift's UK top-ten entries to 16, and made her the first woman in UK history to concurrently debut three songs in the top-10. Folklore is the UK's most downloaded album of 2020. It further topped the Official Vinyl Albums Chart. The album arrived at number one on the Irish Albums Chart, scoring Ireland's biggest opening week of 2020 and outperforming the rest of the top-five combined. Swift became the first solo female act with five Irish number-one albums in the 21st-century. Folklore stayed atop for four weeks, yielding Swift's longest-running Irish number-one album. The tracks "Exile", "Cardigan" and "The 1" appeared at the third, fourth and seventh spots on the Irish Singles Chart, respectively, taking Swift's career top-tens to a total of 15. Folklore is 2020's longest-running number-one album of Ireland, and the most downloaded. It reached number one in Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Norway, Switzerland, and many other European countries. In China, the album sold more than 200,000 copies in its first six hours and around 740,000 copies in its first week, instantly becoming the best-selling and fastest-selling album of 2020 by a western act. Folklore was certified Diamond by QQ Music, making Swift the first western act to have four albums, with Reputation, 1989 and Lover, reach the milestone. It was the platform's most streamed English-language album of 2020. In Malaysia, Folklore spawned nine top-20 songs on the RIM Singles chart, with "Cardigan", "Exile", "The 1", "My Tears Ricochet" and "The Last Great American Dynasty" entering the top 10. In Singapore, 14 tracks from the album landed on the RIAS Singles chart, 11 of which reached the top 20 and five in the top 10. Folklore was the best selling foreign album of 2020 in Japan. In Australia, Folklore topped the ARIA Albums Chart as Swift's sixth album to do so, giving her more chart-toppers in the country in 2010–2020 than any other artist. Its 16 tracks entered the top 50 of the ARIA Singles Chart together, breaking the all-time record for the most debuts in one week, previously held by Post Malone and Ed Sheeran. "Cardigan" became Swift's sixth number-one song, while "Exile", "The 1", "The Last Great American Dynasty" and "My Tears Ricochet" reached top-10; Swift became the act with the most Australian top-ten hits of 2020. Folklore topped the chart for four consecutive weeks as Swift's longest-running Australian number-one album since 1989, the only 2020 album to top the chart for more than two weeks, and the country's best selling album by a woman in 2020. It topped New Zealand's Official Top 40 Albums chart as well, spending two weeks atop. "Cardigan", "Exile", and "The 1" charted in the top-10 of the New Zealand singles chart, and "The Last Great American Dynasty" placed 13th. Folklore ranked at number seven on the RMNZ 2020 year-end albums list. ## Awards Folklore and its songs received five Grammy Award nominations at the 63rd ceremony, winning the Album of the Year. Swift became the first woman in history to win Album of the Year thrice, and the fourth artist overall, tied with Frank Sinatra, Stevie Wonder and Paul Simon. The album was also a candidate for Best Pop Vocal Album, while "Cardigan" was nominated for Best Pop Solo Performance and Song of the Year, making Swift the most nominated female artist ever in the latter category with five nods. "Exile" contended for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. At the 2020 American Music Awards, Swift scored four nominations: Artist of the Year, Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist, Favorite Music Video for "Cardigan" and Favorite Pop/Rock Album for Folklore, and won the first three, extending her record as the most awarded artist in the show's history with 32 American Music Awards. It also marked the third consecutive year Swift was crowned the Artist of the Year, and sixth overall—the first and only artist to achieve it. ## Legacy Folklore's release ignited widespread interest in the term "folklore" on the internet. In response to this mainstream attention, the American Folklore Society launched a website titled "What is Folklore?" and engaged in an online campaign to educate passersby about folklore studies. Folklorists were recruited to promote the academic field to the general public via social media. Metacritic's traffic skyrocketed by roughly half a million views upon Folklore's release. The site's founder Marc Doyle stated, "There's nothing quite like Taylor Swift", whose albums supply "a great deal of traffic and user participation" to the site whenever they are released. The album has been contextualized as a lockdown project by commentators, and earned a reputation as the archetypal quarantine album. The Guardian opined that Folklore was a respite from chaotic events. The Daily Telegraph called it "an exquisite, empathetic lockdown triumph". NME wrote the album will be remembered as "the quintessential lockdown album" that "felt like the perfect accompaniment for the weird loneliness" of 2020. Insider stated that Folklore would be known as "lockdown's one true masterpiece". Rolling Stone said the album may go down in history as "the definitive quarantine album" for providing comfort and catharsis "just when we needed it most". Billboard proclaimed that Folklore would be cherished as one of Swift's most influential albums. Uproxx noted how Folklore changed the tone of music in 2020, and its impact on the year's cultural landscape "can't be measured". In a list awarding the most creative works that shaped quarantine, Vulture labeled Folklore as 2020's "Best Breakdown in Musical Form" for addressing topics of loneliness. Vogue listed the album amongst the best moments of lockdown culture. The Week called it "the first great pandemic art" for setting "a high bar" for future pandemic-inspired projects. Financial Times called it "the first great lockdown album", while Hot Press termed it "the first great album of the lockdown era". Judging from its acclaim and commercial success, critic Tom Hull concluded that Swift "caught the spirit of the times" with Folklore. Billboard named Folklore and Evermore as the best examples of innovative albums from artists who amended their creative process during the pandemic, and in a list titled "The 25 Musical Moments That Defined the First Quarter of the 2020s", called the album a "commercial smash" that stands as "one of the quintessential quarantine full-lengths". In 2023, The New York Times named Folklore as one of the "17 pop culture moments that define the COVID era". > My world felt opened up creatively. There was a point that I got to as a writer who only wrote very diaristic songs that I felt it was unsustainable for my future moving forward. So what I felt after we put out Folklore was like "oh wow, people are into this too, this thing that feels really good for my life and feels really good for my creativity... it feels good for them too?" The making of and rave reception to Folklore encouraged Swift to release Evermore. Swift herself has credited Folklore for ushering a new mindset of songwriting in her repertoire, which in turn influenced her subsequent releases. Folklore was the most popular album of 2020 on Genius, and Swift was the top searched act. She was also the world's highest-paid solo musician of 2020, and the highest paid in the US, solely due to her incomes from the 2020 albums. In 2023, Swift embarked on the Eras Tour, which consisted of 10 acts, the seventh of which is dedicated to Folklore. ### Artistic influence - Hayley Williams of Paramore described her second solo studio album, Flowers for Vases / Descansos, as her Folklore. - Phoebe Bridgers, in January 2021, stated her next record could be inspired by Folklore. - Critics noted influences of Folklore in Olivia Rodrigo's debut album, Sour (2021), and its lead single "Drivers License". - Spanish singer-songwriter Zahara released a song titled "Taylor" in tribute to Swift, and credited Folklore for encouraging her to compose music again following months of isolation. - Croatian singer Mia Dimšić named Folklore as an inspiration for "Guilty Pleasure", her song representing Croatia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2022. - Christina Perri and Sabrina Carpenter credited Folklore with encouraging them to be emotionally honest in their songs without worrying about external expectations. - Japanese-British singer-songwriter Rina Sawayama cited the poetic and fictitious traits of Folklore as a source of inspiration for her second studio album, Hold the Girl (2022). - Bridgerton writer Abby McDonald stated the track "Illicit Affairs" inspired writing the episode "An Unthinkable Fate" of the series' second season. - American singer-songwriter and actress Maya Hawke was inspired by Folklore's compositions for her second studio album, Moss (2022). - Following Folklore, artists such as Hawke, Gracie Abrams, Ed Sheeran, King Princess, and Girl in Red chose to collaborate with Dessner and record songs at his Long Pond Studio. - The story, characters and art style of Superman: The Harvests of Youth, an upcoming DC Comics graphic novel by Sina Grace, was inspired by Folklore's aesthetic and melancholic themes. ## Track listing Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes and Tidal. ## Personnel Credits are adapted from Pitchfork, Tidal, and the album's liner notes. ### Musicians - Taylor Swift – lead vocals, songwriting, production (5, 6, 8–10, 14, 17) - Aaron Dessner – production (1–4, 7, 11–16), songwriting (1–3, 7, 11–13, 15, 16), piano (1–4, 7, 11–16), acoustic guitar (1, 7, 11, 12, 16), electric guitar (1–4, 11–14, 16), drum programming (1–4, 7, 11, 12), Mellotron (1, 2, 11, 13, 15), OP-1 (1, 4, 16), synth bass (1, 16), percussion (2–4, 7, 11, 12, 14), bass (2, 3, 7, 11, 12, 14, 15), synthesizer (2–4, 7, 11–13, 15), slide guitar (3), keyboards (3), high string guitar (14), field recording (15), drone (15) - Bryce Dessner – orchestration (1–4, 7, 11–13) - Thomas Bartlett – synthesizer (1), OP-1 (1) - Jason Treuting – percussion (1) - Yuki Numata Resnick – viola (1, 2, 7, 11, 12), violin (1, 2, 7, 11, 12) - Benjamin Lanz – modular synth (2) - Dave Nelson – trombone (2, 13) - James McAlister – drum programming (2, 11), beat programming (12), synthesizers (12), hand percussion (12), drums (12) - Clarice Jensen – cello (2, 7, 11–13) - Rob Moose – orchestration (3, 16), violin (3, 4, 16), viola (3, 4, 16) - JT Bates – drums (3, 7, 13) - Justin Vernon – lead vocals (4), songwriting (4), pulse (15) - Joe Alwyn – production (4, 5, 8–10, 14), songwriting (4, 14) - Jack Antonoff – production (5, 6, 8–10, 14, 17), songwriting (6, 8–10, 17), live drums (5, 6, 8–10, 14, 17), percussion (5, 6, 8–10, 14, 17), programming (5, 6, 8–10, 17), electric guitars (5, 6, 8–10, 14, 17), keyboards (5, 6, 8–10, 17), piano (5, 17), bass (5, 8–10, 14), background vocals (5, 6, 9, 10, 17), acoustic guitars (6, 8, 14), B3 (6, 14), organ (9), Mellotron (14) - Evan Smith – saxophones (5, 8–10, 14, 17), keyboards (5, 8–10, 17), programming (5), flute (8, 17), electric guitar (8, 10), accordion (10), background vocals (10), clarinet (14, 17), bass (17) - Bobby Hawk – strings (5, 8, 9, 17) - Bryan Devendorf – drum programming (7) - Jonathan Low – synth bass (8) - Mikey Freedom Hart – pedal steel (10, 14), Mellotron (14), Wurlitzer (14), harpsichord (14), vibraphone (14), electric guitar (14) - Kyle Resnick – trumpet (13) - Josh Kaufman – harmonica (14), electric guitar (14), lap steel (14) Additional instrument recording''' - Kyle Resnick – viola (1, 2, 7, 11–13), violin (1, 2, 7, 11–13) - Bella Blasko – modular synth (2) - Lorenzo Wolff – strings (5, 9) - Mike Williams – strings (8, 17) - Jon Gautier – strings (8, 17) - Benjamin Lanz – trombone (13) ### Technical - Taylor Swift – executive producer - Jonathan Low – recording (1–4, 7, 11–16), mixing (1–4, 7, 8, 11, 15–17) - Aaron Dessner – recording (1–4, 7, 11–16), additional recording (2, 11) - Laura Sisk – recording (5, 6, 8–10, 14, 17), vocal recording (1–3; Swift on 4; 13, 15, 16) - Jack Antonoff – recording (5, 6, 8–10, 14, 17) - Bella Blasko – additional recording (2) - Justin Vernon – vocal recording (Bon Iver on 4) - John Rooney – assistant engineering (5, 9, 14) - Jon Sher – assistant engineering (5, 9) - Şerban Ghenea – mixing (5, 6, 9, 10, 12–14) - John Hanes – mix engineering (5, 6, 9, 10, 12–14) - Randy Merrill – mastering ### Design - Taylor Swift – wardrobe styling, hair and makeup, packaging creative and art direction - Beth Garrabrant – photography - 13 Management – packaging design, project support and coordination - Republic Records – project support and coordination ## Charts ### Weekly ### Year-end ## Certifications ## Release history ## See also - Cultural impact of Taylor Swift - List of Billboard'' 200 number-one albums of 2020 - List of UK Albums Chart number ones of the 2020s - List of UK Album Downloads Chart number ones of the 2020s - List of number-one albums of 2020 (Canada) - List of number-one albums of 2020 (Australia) - List of number-one albums of 2020 (Ireland) - List of number-one albums from the 2020s (New Zealand) - List of number-one albums in Norway - List of number-one albums of 2020 (Belgium) - List of best-selling albums in China

How to Start Your Own Country (book)

1979 book by Erwin S. Strauss

How to Start Your Own Country is an American non-fiction book written by Erwin S. Strauss about micronationalism, particularly its application to libertarianism and individualism. Strauss, who holds libertarian views, believes in the abolition of the power of the state. In How to Start Your Own Country, Strauss introduces five approaches that micronations may take in an attempt to achieve statehood, and documents various micronations and their mostly unsuccessful attempts at seceding. The first book published about micronations, How to Start Your Own Country was published in 1979, with subsequent editions in 1984 by Loompanics and in 1999 by Paladin Press. The book was well-received by critics. ## Background and publication Erwin S. Strauss is an American science fiction author with libertarian views, particularly individual freedom and the abolition of the power of the state. How to Start Your Own Country explores various micronations and their mostly unsuccessful attempts at seceding. Micronations are political entities that claim independence and mimic acts of sovereignty as if they were a real country, but lack any legal recognition. They are classified separately from states with limited recognition or quasi-states as they lack the legal basis in international law for their existence. Strauss gave the work a do-it-yourself title so as to maximise its effect in regards to libertarianism and personal autonomy. The International Micropatrological Society, a research institute dedicated to the study of micronations, contributed research and photographs. The earliest book about micronations, How to Start Your Own Country was first published in 1979, with subsequent editions in 1984 by Loompanics and in 1999 by Paladin Press. The second edition included the addition of a preface and over one hundred additional pages. It has also been subtitled How You Can Profit from the Decline of the Nation State or How You Can Profit from the Coming Decline of the Nation State. ## Content How to Start Your Own Country is 167 pages long, and discusses over 100 micronations. The book includes photographs of the micronations, their leaders, currencies and flags. Strauss introduces five approaches that micronations may take in an attempt to achieve statehood. The first, which the author calls "traditional sovereignty", is done by claiming a territory and seeking diplomatic recognition from an international organisation or world government. For micronations based on vessels, a second approach involves registering a flag of convenience but declaring the ship as sovereign. Approach three revolves around declaring independence and fighting the parent country's response in the court of law. Strauss writes that one must appeal to the media and public for support in order for this approach to hold merit. The fourth approach involves residing in a secluded area and refraining from interaction with authorities, without formally seceding or declaring independence. The fifth approach is the "model country" approach, in which one builds and operates a micronation while still paying taxation and abstaining from unnecessary hostility to avoid persecution. Next, Strauss writes about the organisation and running of one's micronation, followed by a chapter on his thoughts on the future of micronationalism. The final chapter—"Case Studies"—profiles several micronations, elements of micronationalism and other related organisations, in alphabetical order. ## Critical reception and aftermath Susan Morgan of Real Life Magazine wrote in 1985 that in How to Start Your Own Country, Strauss takes "the self-help individualism of Americans (and marginals) to its ultimate", positively comparing the book to Strauss' other work Basement Nukes: The Consequences of Cheap Weapons of Mass Destruction (1980). Jesse Walker, writing for The American Conservative in 2007, called it "the classic guide to such societies [micronations]" and noted that How to Start Your Own Country has been built upon by several websites and by the book Micronations: The Lonely Planet Guide to Home-Made Nations (2006). He further noted that the work offered a "surprisingly extensive discussion of micronational defence". Lauren Davis of Gizmodo briefly noted in 2014 that despite its age, How to Start Your Own Country remains "a rather interesting, if sometimes tongue-in-cheek, read". Strauss was interviewed in 2005 by humorist Danny Wallace as part of the unrelated BBC comedy documentary series How to Start Your Own Country. In 2009, Strauss gave a presentation on micronational seasteading attempts at the 2009 Seasteading Conference by the Seasteading Institute. Canadian filmmaker Jody Shapiro was inspired to make an eponymous documentary about micronations after discovering a copy of How to Start Your Own Country in a book store. The film premiered at the 35th Toronto International Film Festival in 2010. ## See also - Bibliography of works on micronationalism

I Want to Tell You

1966 song by the Beatles

"I Want to Tell You" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1966 album Revolver. It was written and sung by George Harrison, the band's lead guitarist. After "Taxman" and "Love You To", it was the third Harrison composition recorded for Revolver. Its inclusion on the LP marked the first time that he was allocated more than two songs on a Beatles album, a reflection of his continued growth as a songwriter beside John Lennon and Paul McCartney. When writing "I Want to Tell You", Harrison drew inspiration from his experimentation with the hallucinogenic drug LSD. The lyrics address what he later termed "the avalanche of thoughts that are so hard to write down or say or transmit". In combination with the song's philosophical message, Harrison's stuttering guitar riff and the dissonance he employs in the melody reflect the difficulties of achieving meaningful communication. The recording marked the first time that McCartney played his bass guitar part after the band had completed the rhythm track for a song, a technique that became commonplace on the Beatles' subsequent recordings. Among music critics and Beatles biographers, many writers have admired the group's performance on the track, particularly McCartney's use of Indian-style vocal melisma. Harrison performed "I Want to Tell You" as the opening song throughout his 1991 Japanese tour with Eric Clapton. A version recorded during that tour appears on his Live in Japan album. At the Concert for George tribute in November 2002, a year after Harrison's death, the song was used to open the Western portion of the event, when it was performed by Jeff Lynne. Ted Nugent, the Smithereens, Thea Gilmore and the Melvins are among the other artists who have covered the track. ## Background and inspiration George Harrison wrote "I Want to Tell You" in the early part of 1966, the year in which his songwriting matured in terms of subject matter and productivity. As a secondary composer to John Lennon and Paul McCartney in the Beatles, Harrison began to establish his own musical identity through his absorption in Indian culture, as well as the perspective he gained through his experiences with the hallucinogenic drug lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD). According to author Gary Tillery, the song resulted from a "creative surge" that Harrison experienced at the start of 1966. During the same period, the Beatles had been afforded an unusually long time free of professional commitments due to their decision to turn down A Talent for Loving as their third film for United Artists. Harrison used this time to study the Indian sitar and, like Lennon, to explore philosophical issues in his songwriting while preparing to record the band's next album, Revolver. In his autobiography, I, Me, Mine, Harrison says that "I Want to Tell You" addresses "the avalanche of thoughts that are so hard to write down or say or transmit". Authors Russell Reising and Jim LeBlanc cite the song, along with "Rain" and "Within You Without You", as an early example of the Beatles abandoning "coy" statements in their lyrics and instead "adopt[ing] an urgent tone, intent on channeling some essential knowledge, the psychological and/or philosophical epiphanies of LSD experience" to their listeners. Writing in The Beatles Anthology, Harrison likened the outlook inspired by his taking the drug to that of "an astronaut on the moon, or in his spaceship, looking back at the Earth. I was looking back to the Earth from my awareness." Author Robert Rodriguez views the song as reflecting the effects of Harrison's search for increased awareness, in that "the faster and more wide-reaching his thoughts came, the greater the struggle to find the words to express them". As reproduced in I, Me, Mine, Harrison's original lyrics were more direct and personal, compared with the philosophical focus of the completed song. The latter has nevertheless invited interpretation as a standard love song, in which the singer is cautiously entering into a romance. Another interpretation is that the theme of miscommunication was a statement on the Beatles' divergence from their audience, during a time when the group had tired of performing concerts before screaming fans. ## Composition ### Music "I Want to Tell You" is in the key of A major and in a standard time signature of 4/4. It contains a low-register, descending guitar riff that music journalist Richie Unterberger describes as "circular, full" and "typical of 1966 British mod rock". The riff opens and closes the song and recurs between the verses. Particularly over the introduction, the rests between the riff's syncopated notes create a stammering effect. The metric anomalies suggested by this effect are borne out further in the uneven, eleven-bar length of the verse. The main portion of the song consists of two verses, a bridge (or middle eight), followed by a verse, a second bridge and the final verse. According to Rodriguez, "I Want to Tell You" is an early example of Harrison "matching the music to the message", as aspects of the song's rhythm, harmony and structure combine to convey the difficulties in achieving meaningful communication. As in his 1965 composition "Think for Yourself", Harrison's choice of chords reflects his interest in harmonic expressivity. The verse opens with a harmonious E-A-B-C#-E melody-note progression over an A major chord, after which the melody begins a harsh ascent with a move to the II7 (B7) chord. Further to the off-kilter quality of the opening riff, musicologist Alan Pollack identifies this chord change as part of the disorientating characteristics of the verses, due to the change occurring midway through the fourth bar, rather than at the start of the measure. The musical and emotional dissonance is then heightened by the use of E79, a chord that Harrison said he happened upon while striving for a sound that adequately conveyed a sense of frustration. With the return to the I chord for the guitar riff, the harmonic progression through the verse suggests what author Ian MacDonald terms "an Oriental variant of the A major scale" that is "more Arabic than Indian". The middle eight sections present a softer harmonic content relative to the strident progression over the verses. The melody encompasses B minor, diminished and major 7 chords, together with A major. The inner voicings within this chord pattern produce a chromatic descent of notes through each semitone from F to C. Musicologist Walter Everett comments on the aptness of the conciliatory lyric "Maybe you'd understand", which closes the second of these sections, as the melody concludes on a perfect authentic cadence, representing in musical terms "a natural emblem for any coming together". Pollack views the song's outro as partly a reprise of the introduction and partly a departure in the form of "a one-two-three-go! style of fade-out ending". On the Beatles' recording, the group vocals over this section include Indian-style gamaks (performed by McCartney) on the word "time", creating a melisma effect that is also present on Harrison's Revolver track "Love You To" and on Lennon's "Rain". Further to Harrison's drawn-out phrasing over the first line of the verses, this detail demonstrates the composition's subtle Indian influence. ### Lyrics The lyrics to "I Want to Tell You" address problems in communication and the inadequacy of words in conveying genuine emotion. Writing in 1969, author Dave Laing identified "serene desperation" in the song's "attempt at real total contact in any interpersonal context". Author Ian Inglis notes that lines such as "My head is filled with things to say" and "The games begin to drag me down" present in modern-day terms the same concepts regarding interpersonal barriers with which philosophers have struggled since the pre-Socratic period. MacDonald cites the lyrics to the first bridge – "But if I seem to act unkind / It's only me, it's not my mind / That is confusing things" – as an example of Harrison applying an Eastern philosophical approach to difficulties in communication, by presenting them as "contradictions between different levels of being". In Laing's interpretation, the entities "me" and "my mind" represent, respectively, "individualistic, selfish ego" and "the Buddhist not-self, freed from the anxieties of historical Time". In I, Me, Mine, however, Harrison states that, with hindsight, the order of "me" and "my mind" should be reversed, since: "The mind is the thing that hops about telling us to do this and do that – when what we need is to lose (forget) the mind." Further to Laing's reading of the song's message, author and critic Tim Riley deems the barriers in communication to be the boundaries imposed by the anxious, Western concept of time, as Harrison instead "seeks healthy exchange and the enlightened possibilities" offered outside such limitations. According to Riley, "the transcendental key" is therefore the song's concluding lines – "I don't mind / I could wait forever, I've got time" – signifying the singer's release from vexation and temporal restrictions. ## Recording Untitled at the time, "I Want to Tell You" was the third Harrison composition that the Beatles recorded for Revolver, although his initial submission for a third contribution was "Isn't It a Pity". It was the first time he had been permitted more than two songs on one of the group's albums. The opportunity came about due to Lennon's inability to write any new material over the previous weeks. Exasperated by Harrison's habit of not titling his compositions, Lennon jokingly named it "Granny Smith Part Friggin' Two" – referring to the working title, derived from the Granny Smith apple, for "Love You To". Following Lennon's remark, Geoff Emerick, the Beatles' recording engineer, named the new song "Laxton's Superb" after another variety of apple. The Beatles taped the main track, consisting of guitars, piano and drums, at EMI Studios (now Abbey Road Studios) in London. The session took place on 2 June 1966, the day after Harrison met Indian classical musician Ravi Shankar for the first time and secured Shankar's agreement to help him master the sitar. The band recorded five takes of the song before Harrison selected the third of these for further work. After reduction to a single track on the four-track master tape, their performance consisted of Harrison on lead guitar, treated with a Leslie effect, McCartney on piano and Ringo Starr on drums, with Lennon adding tambourine. The group then overdubbed vocals, with McCartney and Lennon singing parallel harmony parts beside Harrison's lead vocal. Further overdubs included maracas, the sound of which Pollack likens to a rattlesnake; additional piano, at the end of the bridge sections and over the E79 chord in the verses; and handclaps. Created during a period when the Beatles had fully embraced the recording studio as a means of artistic expression, the recording added further to the message behind the song. Like "Eight Days a Week", the completed track begins with a fade-in, a device that in combination with the fadeout, according to Rodriguez, "provided a circular effect, perfectly matching the song's lack of resolution". Everett similarly recognises McCartney's "clumsy finger-tapping impatience" on the piano over the E79 chord as an apt expression of the struggle to articulate. The final overdub was McCartney's bass guitar part, which he added on 3 June. The process of recording the bass separately from a rhythm track provided greater flexibility when mixing a song, and allowed McCartney to control the harmonic structure of the music by defining chords. As confirmed by the band's recording historian, Mark Lewisohn, "I Want to Tell You" was the first Beatles song to have the bass superimposed onto a dedicated track on the recording. This technique became commonplace in the Beatles' subsequent work. During the 3 June session, the song was temporarily renamed "I Don't Know", which had been Harrison's reply to a question from producer George Martin as to what he wanted to call the track. The eventual title was decided on by 6 June, during a remixing and tape-copying session for the album. ## Release and reception EMI's Parlophone label released Revolver on 5 August 1966, one week before the Beatles began their final North American tour. "I Want to Tell You" was sequenced on side two of the LP between Lennon's song about a New York doctor who administered amphetamine doses to his wealthy patients, "Doctor Robert", and "Got to Get You into My Life", which McCartney said he wrote as "an ode to pot". For the North American version of Revolver, however, Capitol Records omitted "Doctor Robert", together with two other Lennon-written tracks; as a result, the eleven-song US release reinforced the level of contribution from McCartney and from Harrison. According to Beatles biographer Nicholas Schaffner, Harrison's Revolver compositions – "Taxman", which opened the album, the Indian music-styled "Love You To", and "I Want to Tell You" – established him as a songwriter within the band. Recalling the release in the 2004 edition of The Rolling Stone Album Guide, Rob Sheffield said that Revolver displayed a diversity of emotions and styles ranging from the Beatles' "prettiest music" to "their scariest", among which "I Want to Tell You" represented the band at "their friendliest". Commenting on the unprecedented inclusion of three of his songs on a Beatles album, Harrison told Melody Maker in 1966 that he felt disadvantaged in not having a collaborator, as Lennon and McCartney were to one another. He added: "when you're competing against John and Paul, you have to be very good to even get in the same league." Melody Maker's album reviewer wrote that "The Beatles' individual personalities are now showing through loud and clear" and he admired the song's combination of guitar and piano motifs and vocal harmonies. In their joint review in Record Mirror, Richard Green found the track "Well-written, produced and sung" and praised the harmony singing, while Peter Jones commented on the effectiveness of the introduction and concluded: "The deliberately off-key sounds in the backing are again very distinctive. Adds something to a toughly romantic number." Maureen Cleave of The Evening Standard expressed surprise that Harrison had written two of the album's best tracks, in "Taxman" and "I Want to Tell You", and described the latter as a "fine love song". In America, due to the controversy there surrounding Lennon's remark that the Beatles had become more popular than Christianity, the initial reviews of Revolver were relatively lukewarm. While commenting on this phenomenon in September 1966, KRLA Beat's reviewer described "I Want to Tell You" as "unusual, newly-melodic, and interesting" and lamented that, as with songs such as "She Said She Said" and "Yellow Submarine", it was being denied the recognition it deserved. ## Retrospective assessment and legacy Writing in Rolling Stone's Harrison commemorative issue, in January 2002, Mikal Gilmore recognised his incorporation of dissonance on "I Want to Tell You" as having been "revolutionary in popular music" in 1966. Gilmore considered this innovation to be "perhaps more originally creative" than the avant-garde styling that Lennon and McCartney took from Karlheinz Stockhausen, Luciano Berio, Edgar Varese and Igor Stravinsky and incorporated into the Beatles' work over the same period. According to musicologist Dominic Pedler, the E79 chord that Harrison introduced in the song became "one of the most legendary in the entire Beatles catalogue". Speaking in 2001, Harrison said: "I'm really proud of that as I literally invented that chord ... John later borrowed it on I Want You (She's So Heavy): [over the line] 'It's driving me mad.'" In his overview of "I Want to Tell You", Alan Pollack highlights Harrison's descending guitar riff as "one of those all-time great ostinato patterns that sets the tone of the whole song right from the start". Producer and musician Chip Douglas has stated that he based the guitar riff for the Monkees' 1967 hit "Pleasant Valley Sunday" on that of the Beatles' song. Neil Innes of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band (and later the Rutles) recalls being at Abbey Road Studios while the Beatles were recording "I Want to Tell You" and his band were working on a 1920s vaudeville song titled "My Brother Makes the Noises for the Talkies". Innes said he heard the Beatles playing back "I Want to Tell You" at full volume and appreciated then, in the words of music journalist Robert Fontenot, "just how far out of their league he was, creatively". Innes has since included his recollection of this episode in his stage show. Among Beatles biographers, Ian MacDonald cites the song as an example of Harrison's standing as "[if] not the most talented then certainly the most thoughtful of the songwriting Beatles". He comments that, in keeping with the lyrics' subtle Hindu-aligned perspective, Harrison's embrace of Indian philosophy "was dominating the social life of the group" a year after its release. Jonathan Gould considers that the track would have been a highlight of any Beatles album before Revolver but, such was the standard of songwriting on their 1966 album, it "gets lost in the shuffle of Lennon and McCartney tunes on side two". Simon Leng writes that, aided by the "fertile harmonic imagination" evident in "I Want to Tell You", Revolver "changed George Harrison's musical identity for good", presenting him in a multitude of roles: "a guitarist, a singer, a world music innovator ... [and] a songwriter". In his review of the song for AllMusic, Richie Unterberger admires its "interesting, idiosyncratic qualities" and the group vocals on the recording, adding that McCartney's singing merits him recognition as "one of the great upper-register male harmony singers in rock". Similarly impressed with McCartney's contribution, Joe Bosso of MusicRadar describes the incorporation of vocal melisma as "an affectionate nod to Harrison's Indian influences" and includes the track among his choice of Harrison's ten best songs from the Beatles era. In a 2009 review of Revolver, Chris Coplan of Consequence of Sound said that Harrison's presence as a third vocalist "fits perfectly in contrast with some of the bigger aspects of the [album's] psychedelic sounds", and added: "In a song like 'I Want To Tell You', the sinister piano and the steady, near-tribal drum line combine effortlessly with his voice to make for a song that is as beautiful as it is emotionally impacting and disturbing." ## Other versions Ted Nugent covered "I Want to Tell You" on his 1979 album State of Shock, a version that Billboard's reviewer said was "probably enough to sell the album". Nugent's recording was also released as a single that year, and later appeared on his 1998 compilation Super Hits. The Lambrettas and Mike Melvoin are among the other artists who have recorded the song. The Grateful Dead included "I Want to Tell You" in their live performances in 1994, before which Jerry Garcia had occasionally performed it live with his long-running solo project, the Jerry Garcia Band. Although "I Want to Tell You" had been the least well-known of Harrison's three tracks on Revolver, it gained greater renown after he began performing it live in the early 1990s. A live version from his 1991 Japanese tour with Eric Clapton opens Harrison's Live in Japan album, released in 1992. Harrison said that, even before rehearsals, he had chosen "I Want to Tell You" as the opening song for the tour, which marked his first series of concerts since 1974, and his first visit to Japan since the Beatles had played there during their 1966 world tour. On this live version, he and Clapton extend the song by each playing a guitar solo. "I Want to Tell You" was also Harrison's opener at the Natural Law Party Concert, held at London's Royal Albert Hall in April 1992, which was his only full-length concert as a solo artist in Britain. In November 2002, a year after Harrison's death, Jeff Lynne performed "I Want to Tell You" at the Concert for George tribute, where it served as the first song of the main, Western-music portion of the event. Lynne was backed by a large band, including Clapton and other musicians who had supported Harrison on the 1991 tour and at the Natural Law Party Concert. Blue Cartoon covered the song in the power pop style for the Harrison tribute album He Was Fab, released in 2002. The following year, the Smithereens contributed a recording to another Harrison tribute album, Songs from the Material World. The band also included the track on the 2005 deluxe edition of God Save the Smithereens. Thea Gilmore recorded the song during the sessions for her 2006 album Harpo's Ghost, a version that appeared on Mojo magazine's Revolver Reloaded CD celebrating the fortieth anniversary of the Beatles' album. The Melvins covered "I Want to Tell You" on their 2016 album Basses Loaded. While Pitchfork Media's reviewer dismisses the Melvins' performance as a throwaway version of a "Beatles classic", Jared Skinner of PopMatters describes it as "solid proof of their ability to make loud, gleeful rock 'n' roll". ## Personnel According to Ian MacDonald: - George Harrison – double-tracked vocal, lead guitar, handclaps - John Lennon – harmony vocal, tambourine, handclaps - Paul McCartney – harmony vocal, piano, bass, handclaps - Ringo Starr – drums, maracas, handclaps

The Cats of Ulthar

1920 short story by H. P. Lovecraft

"The Cats of Ulthar" is a short story written by American fantasy author H. P. Lovecraft in June 1920. In the tale, an unnamed narrator relates the story of how a law forbidding the killing of cats came to be in a town called Ulthar. As the narrative goes, the city is home to an old couple who enjoy capturing and killing the townspeople's cats. When a caravan of wanderers passes through the city, the kitten of an orphan (Menes) traveling with the band disappears. Upon hearing of the couple's violent acts towards cats, Menes invokes a prayer before leaving town that causes the local felines to swarm the cat-killers' house and devour them. Upon witnessing the result, the local politicians pass a law forbidding the killing of cats. Influenced by Lord Dunsany, the tale was a personal favorite of Lovecraft's and has remained popular since his death. Considered one of the best short stories of Lovecraft's early period, aspects of "The Cats of Ulthar" would be referenced again in the author's works The Other Gods and The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath. It was first published in the literary journal Tryout in November 1920 and now resides in the public domain. ## Synopsis An unnamed narrator, while gazing upon his pet cat, begins to reminisce about a law in the town of Ulthar which forbids the killing of cats and relates the story of how this law came to be. The tale begins with the introduction of an old cotter and his wife who delight in trapping and violently killing any cats who venture onto their property. The people of the town are too afraid of the couple to speak against these acts, so they instead focus their efforts on keeping their felines from approaching the cotter's house. One night a caravan of travelers from a distant land arrives and passes through the village. They bring with them an orphan named Menes who, having lost his family to a plague, has only a small, black kitten to keep him company. After being unable to find his kitten on the third day of his stay, Menes hears the stories of the old cotter and his wife, and decides to take action. Menes spends time meditating prior to unleashing a prayer that affects the shapes and movements of the clouds in the sky, granting all the cats of Ulthar sentience. The caravan leaves Ulthar that night, shortly before the townspeople notice that all of their cats have gone missing. The townspeople suspect both the old couple and the wanderers, but the innkeeper's son Atal witnesses the felines circling the property of the cotter. The next morning, the cats have returned to their owners well-fed, but the cotter and his wife have vanished. When the townspeople explore their abandoned house, they discover nothing more than two skeletons that have been picked clean. The local burgesses, after reviewing the evidence and stories of the townspeople, decide to pass a law that forbids the killing of cats in Ulthar. ## Background Lovecraft outlined the plot to his friend Rheinhart Kleiner in May 1920 and wrote "The Cats of Ulthar" on June 15, 1920, five months after completing his previous tale, The Terrible Old Man. Conceived during the author's early period, Lovecraft was influenced by the writing of Anglo-Irish writer Lord Dunsany and attempted to mimic his style. Among the literary aspects that Lovecraft borrows are the "vengeance motif" and the "ponderous tone" of Dunsany. Dunsany's influence is evident on the surface of the text as well: wanderers, similar to the ones portrayed in "The Cats of Ulthar", appear in Dunsany's earlier tale Idle Days on the Yann. Lovecraft's character of Menes shares his name with Menes, the semi-mythical founder of the ancient city of Memphis, Egypt. The ancient Egyptians were admirers of cats who made it a crime to kill or export felines. Prior to "The Cats of Ulthar", Lovecraft had penned several tales in the style of Lord Dunsany, including The White Ship, The Street, The Doom that Came to Sarnath, The Terrible Old Man, and The Tree. His next Dunsanian tale, Celephaïs, was considered by Lovecraft scholar S. T. Joshi to be "one of his best and most significant". "The Cats of Ulthar" was first published in the literary journal Tryout in November 1920, and later appeared in Weird Tales in February 1926 and 1933, as well as being privately reprinted in a forty two-copy run in December 1935. ## Reception and legacy "The Cats of Ulthar" was a personal favorite of Lovecraft's, who was an ardent cat lover. A number of contemporary critics, as well as Lovecraft himself, consider the story to be the best of all his Dunsanian tales. Other critics have noted that the story is one of Lovecraft's most famous tales that fits both the Dunsanian and the "weird fantasy" style. Literary critic Darrell Schweitzer, however, comments that "The Cats of Ulthar" resembles Dunsany in "mood and execution" only and that "[it] has no obvious parallels in any Dunsany story". Schweitzer refers to the prose as "restrained", and notes that, unlike Lovecraft, Dunsany preferred dogs and would have been unlikely to have written such an enthusiastic tribute. Lovecraft scholar S. T. Joshi disagrees, claiming that "[t]his tale owes more to Dunsany than many of his other 'Dunsanian' fantasies". The character of Atal, the innkeeper's son who witnesses the cats of Ulthar circling the antagonists' cottage, would later appear in Lovecraft's The Other Gods. In this short story, written in August 1921 and first published in November 1933, Atal, now an adult, becomes an apprentice to Barzai the Wise and travels with him to seek out the tale's eponymous deities. Barzai even mentions the law against killing cats in Ulthar, further cementing the connection. Atal also appears as a priest in the long The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath — written in 1927 but not published until 1943 — when protagonist Randolph Carter visits the city 300 years after the events in "The Cats of Ulthar", when the town is still heavily populated by felines. Carter is later able to summon the cats of Ulthar to his aid. Cats would be used in what scholar Katharine M. Rogers calls "a more original way" in Lovecraft's 1923 work The Rats in the Walls. Here, as in others of Lovecraft's later tales, cats embody the attraction to horror while, unlike the human protagonists, "never pursuing horror to the point of becoming horrible themselves". The text of "The Cats of Ulthar", like many of Lovecraft's works, has fallen into the public domain and can be accessed in several compilations of the author's work as well as on the Internet.

Albie Pearson

American baseball player (1934–2023)

Albert Gregory Pearson (September 12, 1934 – February 21, 2023) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a centerfielder for the Washington Senators (1958–59), Baltimore Orioles (1959–60), and Los Angeles/California Angels (1961–66). Pearson stood 5 feet 5 inches (1.65 m) tall, weighed 140 pounds (64 kg), and batted and threw left-handed. Named for star college football player Albie Booth, Pearson grew up desiring to play baseball. Though he initially attended Mt. San Antonio College, he dropped out to sign with the Boston Red Sox after a psychology professor suggested he was more interested in baseball than his lectures. Pearson spent five years playing Minor League Baseball in Boston's organization but had not yet reached the major leagues upon his trade to the Senators in 1958. Pearson made Washington's roster out of spring training that season and batted .275, winning the American League (AL) Rookie of the Year and the Sporting News Rookie of the Year Awards. He struggled to start off the 1959 season, though, and was traded to Baltimore during the year; Pearson went back and forth between the minor leagues and the majors in 1959 and 1960. Hearing that his native California was about to be awarded the expansion Los Angeles Angels, Pearson wrote Fred Haney, the Angels' general manager, asking the Angels to pick him in the expansion draft. Haney did draft Pearson–as the 30th and last pick. With the Angels, Pearson turned his career around. He batted .288 in his first year with the ballclub and became a starting outfielder again. The Angels named him their starting right fielder in 1962, but he was moved to centerfield on May 4 after Lee Thomas batted only .149 in his first 17 games. Pearson led the AL with 115 runs scored that season. In 1963, he was selected to the All-Star Game, earning the start in the game over Mickey Mantle, who had broken his leg a month earlier. Pearson was one of four AL players to hit over .300 in 1963, a season in which he set career highs in many categories. After Pearson batted .214 in the first two months of 1964, he was replaced in centerfield by Bob Perry, serving as a reserve player the rest of the year and only batting .223 on the season. He earned a platoon role with Lou Clinton in 1965 and batted .278 while playing 122 games. However, a back injury suffered in spring training of 1966 limited Pearson to two games, and he retired after that season. After retiring, Pearson was involved in Christian ministries. He became an ordained minister in 1972, and in 1997, he and his wife sold their home to found Father's Heart Ranch in Desert Hot Springs, California, an 11-acre (4.5 ha) home for abused, neglected and abandoned 6- to 12-year-old boys. Golf was one of Pearson's hobbies, and he also acted in television shows and released a record under the Capitol label. ## Early life Pearson was named after star college football player Albie Booth. He inherited his short height from his parents; his father was 5 feet 5 inches (1.65 m) and his mother was 5 feet 1 inch (1.55 m). He was their only child. He was interested in baseball from a young age. When he was six, he borrowed his mother's decorative pillows and used them for a makeshift baseball field, then pretended to hit a home run to beat the New York Yankees in the World Series. He said God told him during that game, "Join my team." Pearson pitched and played the outfield for the baseball team, played halfback for the football team, and played on the basketball team at El Monte High School, earning 13 letters in those three sports. On the baseball team his senior year, he had a 23–6 record and an 0.83 earned run average (ERA) while batting .506, but he drew little interest from scouts because of his height. Though he was offered football scholarships at California Polytechnic State University and Pacific University, he turned them down to attend Mt. San Antonio College which was nearer his home. Following part of a semester at Mt. San Antonio, he was signed by the Boston Red Sox as an amateur free agent in 1953. He said that he dropped out of Mt. San Antonio to sign with the Red Sox after a psychology professor suggested he was more interested in baseball than his lectures (which Pearson agreed with). ## Baseball career ### Minor leagues Tom Downey was the scout who signed Pearson to his first contract, which amounted to little else besides two pairs of cleats, a new suitcase, and a promise of making \$225 a month if he made the team. "I was afraid they wouldn't give me another chance," Pearson said of his decision to sign. "I realized this was the way it had to be." Pearson was assigned to the San Jose Red Sox of the Class C California League, where he hit .334 in 125 games. Although he was signed as a pitcher, a shortage of outfielders at San Jose forced Pearson to have a spot in the lineup daily. After getting eight hits in his first two games, Pearson did little pitching during his minor league career–none with San Jose though he spent all of 1953 with them. Promoted to the Albany Senators in the Class A Eastern League in 1954, he hit .269. He earned a two-game promotion to play for the Louisville Colonels of the Class AAA American Association. Pearson spent 1955 back at Class A, this time hitting .305 for the Montgomery Rebels in the South Atlantic League. He split 1956 between the San Francisco Seals in the Open Pacific Coast League (PCL) and the Oklahoma City Indians in the Class AA Texas League, hitting well throughout the season and finishing with a combined .358 batting average with seven home runs, 46 runs batted in (RBIs), six triples, and 36 doubles. He had 91 walks and only 41 strikeouts in 153 games, winning the Texas League batting championship. Pearson was back with the Seals in 1957 and continued to hit, batting .297 with five home runs, 50 RBIs, 11 triples, and 22 doubles. Looking at archived Seals photos, Peter Hartlaub of the San Francisco Chronicle observed in October 2012 that Pearson stood apart from the other Seals because of "his joyous grin." His clean living also set him apart, as a contemporary Chronicle article observed: "The little man doesn't drink or smoke or swear." With the Seals in 1957, Pearson helped the team win the PCL title in its final season. ### Major leagues #### Washington Senators and Baltimore Orioles (1958–60) On January 23, 1958, the Red Sox traded Pearson and Norm Zauchin to the Washington Senators for infielder Pete Runnels. He wrote Senators' owner Calvin Griffith a letter that month, asking permission to report to camp early, as he wanted to make a good impression despite his short size. Pearson won a spot as the Senators Opening Day centerfielder and played the position all year for Washington. Hitless in his first three games, his first major league hit came on April 19, a single against Mike Fornieles in a 4–3 victory over the Red Sox. On July 28, he had three hits and hit his first major league home run against eventual Hall of Famer Early Wynn in a 6–5 loss to the Chicago White Sox. On September 2, he hit an inside-the-park home run against Hal Brown, driving in three runs in a 4–3 victory over the Baltimore Orioles. Three days later, he hit a two-run home run against Bob Turley in a 6–3 victory over the New York Yankees. In 1958, he won both the Major League Baseball (MLB) Rookie of the Year and the Sporting News Rookie of the Year Awards in the American League (AL). Pearson played 146 games for the Senators that year, batting .275 with 63 runs scored, 146 hits, three home runs, and 33 RBIs. A hernia and a lingering, physically draining cold caused Pearson to miss games in 1959 spring training, but he was healthy enough to play by Opening Day. However, Pearson started the 1959 season hitting only .188 over the first 25 games with no home runs and only two RBIs, after which he was traded to the Baltimore Orioles for centerfielder Lenny Green. With the Orioles in 1959, Pearson was used as a reserve outfielder in all three outfield positions. In 80 games for the Orioles, he batted .232 with 22 runs scored, 32 hits, no home runs, and six RBIs. His combined batting average in 105 games between Baltimore and Washington was .216. Pearson started the 1960 season again as a reserve outfielder for the Orioles, batting .286 in his first 12 games. By June 12, with his average dropping to .231, Pearson was sent to the Miami Marlins, Baltimore's Class AAA team in the International League. After hitting over .300 in Miami, Pearson returned to Baltimore in September. He ended the year playing in only 48 games for the Orioles, batting .244 with 17 runs scored, 24 hits, one home run, and six RBIs. #### Los Angeles Angels (1961–66) Following the 1960 season, the Orioles sent Pearson back to their Class AAA affiliate, the Rochester Red Wings, in 1961. Meanwhile, baseball owners approved the creation of the Los Angeles Angels as an expansion team in October 1960, meaning there would be an expansion draft in which the Angels got to select players from all of the major league teams. Since he was from California, Pearson wrote Fred Haney, the Angels' general manager, asking the Angels to pick him in the 1960 expansion draft. Haney chose Pearson with their 30th and final pick. With the expansion Angels, Pearson turned around his career. In the team's first game, Pearson scored the franchise's first run, in a 7–0 win against his old team, the Orioles. Used mostly as a centerfielder early on, Pearson batted .250 in 30 games through May 21. For the next 30 days, he was used mainly as a pinch-hitter, batting .319 over that period. From June 19 through the end of the year, he made most of the team's starts in right field, batting .296 for the rest of the season. Pearson hit .288 with 7 home runs, 41 RBIs, and 92 runs for the season. Pearson began the 1962 season as the Angel right fielder, but he was moved to centerfield on May 4 after Lee Thomas batted only .149 in his first 17 games. In the first game of a doubleheader against Boston on May 30, 1962, Pearson had three hits and scored four runs in a 10–5 victory. The Angels played another doubleheader two days later, but Pearson became the first player to go hitless when receiving at least 11 at bats in a doubleheader. He walked three times and had three RBIs on June 28 in a 19–7 victory over the Red Sox. With the Angels trailing the Yankees 7–6 in the bottom of the ninth inning on July 14, Pearson led off the inning with a game-tying home run against Marshall Bridges; however, the Yankees won the game in the tenth. Eleven times during the year, Pearson had three hits in a game. Pearson set a career-high with 160 games played, and he led the AL with 115 runs scored. He batted .261 with 160 hits, five home runs, 42 RBIs, and 15 stolen bases in 21 attempts. On April 24, 1963, he had five walks, playing all 15 innings of a 4–3 loss to the Detroit Tigers. He had four RBIs on May 6, including a game-ending, two-RBI double against Bill Pleis in the ninth inning that turned a 3–2 deficit into a 4–3 win over the Minnesota Twins. In the first game of a doubleheader on May 19, his third-inning, three-run home run against eventual Hall of Famer Whitey Ford put the Angels ahead to stay in a 6–2 victory over the Yankees. Pearson had four hits and two RBIs on June 5 in an 8–2 victory over the White Sox. He was selected to the All-Star Game in 1963. At the game, he had Mickey Mantle and Brooks Robinson autograph a bat for him. Pearson was chosen to start the game in centerfield over Mantle, who had gotten off to a slow start to his season. On September 1, Pearson again had four hits in a 7–6 loss to the Kansas City Athletics. During his All-Star season, Pearson set career highs in RBIs (47), hits (173), and stolen bases (17, though the 10 times he was caught stealing led the AL). Pearson also led the AL with 139 singles, and his .304 batting average (another career-high) ranked him fourth in the batting crown race behind Carl Yastrzemski (.321), Al Kaline (.312) and Rich Rollins (.307), the only other American Leaguers to bat over .300. Pearson only batted .214 in the 1964 season's first couple of months, and in June, he lost the starting centerfield job to Bob Perry. For the rest of the season, he was used as a pinch-hitter and pinch-runner, making occasional starts in left field and centerfield. On May 11, he had three hits, including a two-run home run against Moe Drabowsky in a 6–5 win over the Athletics. He also had three hits on May 22 in a 4–3 loss to the Yankees. In 107 games, Pearson had only 265 at-bats, batting .223 with 59 hits and two home runs. His runs scored total dropped from 92 the previous season to 34. In 1965, Pearson began the season as a pinch-hitter. After Lou Clinton, the right fielder, only batted .200 in April, Angels manager Bill Rigney began using Pearson in a platoon role with him. Pearson, who was left-handed, typically started against right-handed pitchers, while Clinton, who was right-handed, typically started against left-handed pitchers. On June 12, Pearson had three hits, three RBIs, and two stolen bases in a 13–2 victory over the Yankees. In the first game of a doubleheader against the Twins on August 20, Pearson had four hits in a 3–1 victory. Eight days later, in the seventh inning of a game against the Tigers that was tied 3–3, Pearson delivered a go-ahead RBI single against Orlando Peña, providing the margin of victory in a 4–3 win. On August 31, his first-inning home run against Bill Stafford provided all the scoring in a 1–0 win over the Yankees. In 122 games for the Angels in 1965, Pearson had 360 at-bats and batted .278 with 41 runs scored, 100 hits, four home runs, and 21 RBIs. He only stole 12 bases but also only got caught stealing once all season. A jarring slide into third base during 1966 spring training resulted in two ruptured discs in Pearson's back. The injury kept him from playing until July, and he only made two pinch-hit appearances before sitting out the rest of the season. He retired after the year, due partly to his back problems and partly to his belief that God wanted him to retire. In his final major league appearance on July 16, Pearson pinch-hit for Angel starting pitcher Dean Chance in the fifth inning, then finished a 7–1 loss to Boston in left field. In his nine-year major league career, Pearson was a .270 hitter with 28 home runs and 214 RBIs in 988 games. He compiled a 2.45 walk-to-strikeout ratio (477-to-195) and a .369 on-base percentage. ## Stature During his career, Pearson was the shortest player in the major leagues. He stood 5 feet 5 inches (1.65 m) tall and weighed 140 pounds (64 kg). His small size helped make him a favorite of children, as he was closer to their height. Gilbert Rogin of Sports Illustrated wrote that in 1956, the Little Guys and Dolls of America, who did not allow anybody to join who was more than 5 feet 6 inches (1.68 m), voted Pearson their Athlete of the Year. Worried his small size would deter scouts, Pearson credits the 5-foot-6-inch (1.68 m) Bobby Shantz's successful 1952 season (in which he won 24 games) with helping Boston become interested in him. He took his short size in good humor, saying, "I never have the satisfaction of looking an umpire in the eye, I'm forever signing autographs for kids taller than I am, and human skyscrapers like Norm Zauchin and Jim Lemon of our club make me feel like a midget when they walk by but, hand me a bat and let me step into the box, and I'm as good as the next guy - some of 'em, at least." ## Personal life and later years Pearson and his wife Helen married in 1953. A 2011 Orange County Register article reported that they had five daughters, 17 grandchildren, and 16 great-grandchildren. Pearson also played golf; he participated in a 1962 golf tournament with several other major leaguers, including Hall of Famers Bob Lemon and Ralph Kiner. While he was with the Angels, his roommates at various times included Bo Belinsky and Don Lee. Pearson was also an actor and singer. He was offered a part in The Petticoat Pirates, a movie, but he turned it down because the proposed scene involved him drinking. However, he did appear in Day in Court, a TV show, and he would have appeared in an episode of The Roaring 20's, only his scene was cut before the episode was released. In 1961, he made two records for Capitol (only one of which was released), and he sang "Because" when his bride-to-be came down the aisle at his wedding. In the 1961–62 offseason, he served as a disc jockey on KPRO in Riverside County, California. During his career, he owned 27.5% of the stock in the Mighty Mite Corporation, which made adhesive grips for sporting equipment. Pearson became an ordained minister in 1972. Even before that, he had taught Sunday school at Baptist churches. "I'm a firm believer in the Bible and the Ten Commandments," he told Gilbert Rogin of Sports Illustrated. He and his wife had moved to Riverside in 1963. Later that decade, he started a Riverside youth foundation which focused on helping children stay off drugs. He has founded a non-profit organization providing training for pastors and ministers and set up churches and orphanages in Ecuador and Zambia. "When you see a life changed, it's worth everything compared to getting a base hit or winning a game," he says. The Pearsons moved to Garden Valley, Texas, in 1987 so Albie could minister to musicians in the area. From 1988 through 1989, he served as the pastor of Community Christian Fellowship in Lindale, Texas, before moving back to California. In 2004, Albie and his wife became the pastors of Thousand Palms Community Church, which they later renamed Desert Christian Community Church, in Thousand Palms, California. In 1997, Pearson and his wife sold their home to found Father's Heart Ranch in Desert Hot Springs, California, an 11-acre (4.5 ha) home for abused, neglected and abandoned 6- to 12-year-old boys. The ranch includes a Pop Warner football team and a Little League baseball team. "It's interesting and amazing how they respond to love," Pearson said of the boys at Father's Heart Ranch. "We found that to be a key. When they find out that they are not just something to kick and hit, but that they have a purpose, a God who really loves them, they begin to respond in a dramatic way. They are little miracles." In 2011, the Orange County Register noted that the Pearsons' Father's Heart International foundation was providing food to about 4,000 Zambian children each week whose parents had died of AIDS. Pearson died in La Quinta, California, on February 21, 2023, at age 88. ## See also - List of Major League Baseball annual runs scored leaders

Milan Lucic

Canadian ice hockey player

Milan Lucic (; born June 7, 1988) is a Canadian professional ice hockey player for the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League (NHL). He played major junior hockey with the Vancouver Giants in the Western Hockey League (WHL) for three seasons and captured the Memorial Cup, while being named tournament MVP in 2007. He was selected 50th overall in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft and made the Bruins’ roster as a 19-year-old in 2007–08. Three years later, he won a Stanley Cup with the Bruins. He spent the first eight seasons of his NHL career with Boston prior to being traded to the Los Angeles Kings in June 2015. After a single season in Los Angeles, Lucic signed as a free agent with the Edmonton Oilers in July 2016, playing three seasons for the Oilers before being traded to the Calgary Flames in July 2019. Internationally, Lucic captained the Canadian national junior team at the 2007 Super Series. He plays physically in the style of a power forward. ## Early life Lucic was born in East Vancouver to Serbian couple Dobrivoje "Dobro" Lučić and Snežana Kesa. His father, Dobro, was a longshoreman in Vancouver who immigrated to North America from his native Serbia when he was 27. His mom, Snezana, came to Vancouver when her parents moved from Serbia when she was just 2. He has a younger brother named Nikola and an older brother named Jovan. His maternal uncle, Dan Kesa, is a retired NHL right winger who played for the Vancouver Canucks, Pittsburgh Penguins, Tampa Bay Lightning and Dallas Stars. Growing up, Lucic attended Killarney Secondary in Vancouver. He was a fan of the hometown Vancouver Canucks and has named forward Todd Bertuzzi as one of his favourite players when following the team. At age 15, Lucic was diagnosed with Scheuermann's disease, a condition that can cause the upper back to curve and has given him a hunched-over posture. Lucic played minor hockey (VMHA) in Vancouver, but nearly quit the sport after being passed up in the 2003 WHL Bantam Draft. He was invited to play for the Coquitlam Express of the Junior A British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL), but was further demoralized when he initially failed to make the team out of rookie camp. He agreed to play, instead, for the Junior B Delta Ice Hawks, but later played his way onto the Express after five games. ## Playing career ### Amateur Lucic began his junior career with the Coquitlam Express of the BCHL in 2004–05. In the same season, he made his major junior debut with the Vancouver Giants, his hometown Western Hockey League (WHL) team, playing in one regular-season game and two playoff games. He joined the Giants full-time in 2005–06, scoring 19 points in 62 games. He added seven points in 18 playoff games to help the Giants to a WHL title and an appearance in the 2006 Memorial Cup. In the off-season, he was selected 50th overall by the Boston Bruins in the second round of the 2006 NHL Entry Draft. Bruins management had considered taking Lucic earlier in the second round with the 37th overall pick, but chose defenceman Yuri Alexandrov instead. Bruins Director of Scouting Scott Bradley admitted he did not expect Lucic to still be available with the 50th pick, adding, "We were fortunate to get him." The following season, in 2006–07, Lucic emerged as one of the Giants' leaders, finishing first in team scoring with 68 points in 70 games. He added 19 points in 22 post-season games as the Giants lost the WHL Finals to the Medicine Hat Tigers in seven games. Despite losing the WHL title, Vancouver appeared in the 2007 Memorial Cup as tournament hosts. Lucic and the Giants met Medicine Hat once more in the tournament final, capturing the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) title by a 3–1 score. Lucic assisted on Michal Řepík's tournament-winning goal with five minutes to play in regulation. He finished the tournament tied for the lead in scoring with Řepík (with more goals, Řepík was awarded the Ed Chynoweth Trophy as leading scorer) and earned the Stafford Smythe Memorial Trophy as tournament MVP. Nearly four years after his last junior game, Lucic was honoured by the Giants prior to a game against the Chilliwack Bruins on February 25, 2011. Dubbed "Milan Lucic Night," he was added to the club's Ring of Honour, showcasing the top Giants alumni of all time. The first 500 game-attendees were also given free Lucic bobblehead dolls. As part of the team's ten-year anniversary, he was also voted by fans as the team's best player of all time. ### Professional #### Boston Bruins (2007–2015) In the 2007 off-season, Lucic signed an entry-level contract with the Bruins on August 2. He had been chosen as the Giants' next team captain, but made the Bruins' 2007–08 opening roster out of training camp. He played in his first career NHL game on October 5, 2007, a 4–1 loss to the Dallas Stars, in which he fought opposing forward Brad Winchester. His first goal came a week later on October 12 against Jonathan Bernier, a game winner, in an 8–6 win against the Los Angeles Kings. By also fighting Kings forward Raitis Ivanāns and notching an assist, he recorded a Gordie Howe hat trick (an unofficial statistic constituting a goal, an assist and a fight in one game). Unsure of whether the Bruins would keep him or return him to junior, he stayed in a downtown hotel in Boston to start the season. However, Lucic made enough of an impression during his first set of games with the Bruins, showing grit and consistent willingness to fight (he recorded 13 fighting majors in his rookie season), that they decided to keep him in the lineup. Bruins management informed the Giants prior to Lucic's tenth game, accounting for the NHL's nine-game maximum for junior-eligible players to stay with their NHL club without initiating their contract. He was chosen to participate in the 2008 NHL YoungStars Game and finished his rookie campaign with eight goals and 27 points. Towards the end of the season, he was voted by Bruins fans for the team's Seventh Player Award for exceeding expectations. Matched up against the first-seeded Montreal Canadiens in the opening round, Lucic scored his first Stanley Cup playoff goal in Game 3 on April 13, 2008. He finished his first NHL post-season with two goals as the Bruins were eliminated by the Canadiens in seven games. Early into the 2008–09 season, Lucic recorded his first career NHL hat-trick and added an assist in a 5–4 win against the Atlanta Thrashers on October 25, 2008. Later that week, Lucic made a much-publicized return to his hometown in a game against the Vancouver Canucks, which featured a picture of him as a baby on the back page of Vancouver's The Province newspaper. Earlier in the year, Lucic's 2007 Memorial Cup ring had been stolen from his home in East Vancouver on July 10, 2008. In a private ceremony before the game against the Canucks, he was presented a replacement ring by Vancouver Giants ownership. Lucic was chosen to his second YoungStars Game in January 2009. However, he did not compete for the sophomores in Montreal due to an undisclosed upper-body injury. Near the end of the season, on April 4, 2009, Lucic was awarded the Bruins' Eddie Shore Award for hustle and determination. He finished his second NHL season improving to 17 goals and 42 points in 72 games, while playing predominantly on a line with the Bruins' top centre, Marc Savard. Entering the 2009 playoffs with the Bruins as the first seed in the Eastern Conference, Lucic received a one-game suspension after delivering a cross-check to the head of Montreal Canadiens forward Maxim Lapierre in Game 2 of the first round. While the Bruins argued that Lucic used predominantly his glove, rather than his stick, the League held its decision. After serving his suspension, Lucic and the Bruins went on to eliminate the Canadiens, advancing to the second round against the Carolina Hurricanes, to whom the Bruins lost in seven games. Lucic added nine points in ten games in the playoffs. With the 2009–10 season marking the final year of his original entry-level contract, it was announced on October 6, 2009, that Lucic had been signed to a three-year, US\$12.25 million contract extension with the Bruins through to the 2012–13 season. The deal is structured at US\$4 million for the first two seasons and US\$4.25 million in the third, a raise from his US\$685,000 base salary in 2009–10. Ten days later, on October 16, he suffered a broken finger requiring surgery in a game against the Dallas Stars while hitting defenceman Stéphane Robidas. Lucic returned to the Bruins lineup on November 19, but was injured again four games later, suffering a sprained ankle in a game against the Minnesota Wild on November 25. His left leg had buckled from underneath him while reaching behind him to receive a pass from teammate Dennis Wideman. Missing an additional 18 games, Lucic was limited to 50 contests in his third NHL season. His play was perceived by Head Coach Claude Julien to have suffered following the two injuries; he recorded nine goals and 20 points to finish the regular season. He added nine points in 13 playoff games as the Bruins were eliminated in the second round by the Philadelphia Flyers. They became the third team in NHL history to lose a playoff series after having led three games to none. All five goals Lucic scored in the playoffs were recorded in the second round, including two in the deciding seventh game, which the Bruins lost 4–3. In the second month of the 2010–11 season, Lucic recorded a natural hat-trick on November 18, 2010, during a 4–0 win over the Florida Panthers. Later in the campaign, he was fined \$3,500 by the NHL for his actions during a game against Atlanta on December 23. After Lucic was hit by opposing defenceman Freddy Meyer, teammate Andrew Ference engaged Meyer in a fight. In the ensuing scrum, Lucic punched Meyer as the two were being restrained by referees, resulting in a match penalty. Three days following the game, Lucic received a \$2,500 fine for his punch and an additional \$1,000 for an obscene gesture he had made to players on the Thrashers' bench immediately afterwards. In January 2011, he missed three games with a shoulder injury. Lucic completed the season with a career-high 30 goals, 32 assists and 62 points in 79 games. He led the Bruins in goal-scoring while tying for the points lead with centre David Krejčí. Entering the 2011 playoffs as the third seed in the East, the Bruins eliminated the Montreal Canadiens, Philadelphia Flyers and Tampa Bay Lightning in the first three rounds, en route to the Stanley Cup Finals against Vancouver. Although Lucic scored below his regular-season pace during the post-season with 12 points (five goals and seven assists) in 25 games, he helped the Bruins to their first Stanley Cup since 1972, as the team defeated the Canucks in Game 7 of the Finals. It was later reported that Lucic was playing through a couple of injuries during the playoffs. During the Eastern Conference Finals, he suffered a broken toe after blocking a shot from teammate Tyler Seguin during practice. He also struggled with a sinus infection, which was part of a larger problem in his right nostril that traced back to the end of the 2009–10 season and caused improper breathing. Lucic underwent surgery in the off-season to repair the sinus. In August 2011, Lucic had his customary day in possession of the Stanley Cup, which he spent in Vancouver. While it is traditional for players to host public celebrations with the trophy in their hometowns, Lucic chose to keep the day private, explaining that "I grew up a Canucks fan. I know how it is." Following the Canucks' defeat in the Finals, fans had staged an hours-long riot in Downtown Vancouver. More personally, posters of Lucic at a local cultural community centre were defaced. Also, an appearance by Lucic at a Greek festival in Vancouver sparked a public brawl; The Vancouver Sun reported that Lucic did not throw any punches. While Lucic's day with the Cup was private, many of his functions were held in public venues, which were reportedly well received by passers-by. He brought the trophy to his hometown church, St. Archangel Michael Serbian Orthodox Church in Burnaby, for a gathering of approximately 350 people and on a harbour cruise with friends and family. He finished the day atop Grouse Mountain, the same place where he and his Vancouver Giants teammates took the Memorial Cup after their CHL victory in 2007. Months later, in February 2012, the church he brought the trophy to was vandalized. A month and a half into the 2011–12 season, Lucic received considerable attention for a hit against opposing goaltender Ryan Miller during a game against the Buffalo Sabres. Miller had come out of his net to play a puck that Lucic last touched midway between the centre line and the Sabres' blue line. As Miller shot the puck towards the end-boards, Lucic collided with him heavily, knocking him to the ice. Miller was diagnosed with a concussion and was sidelined for several games; he also heavily criticized Lucic for his actions and called him a "gutless piece of shit" in post-game comments. The day after the hit, the NHL held a hearing with Lucic and later announced that he would not be suspended for the play, citing that the minor penalty for charging that was assessed during the game was sufficient. A few weeks after this incident, he received a one-game suspension for an illegal hit on Philadelphia forward Zac Rinaldo. Lucic hit Rinaldo from behind during a battle for the puck along the boards, although he was not seriously injured on the play. A short time into the 2013–14 season, Lucic scored his first-ever NHL overtime goal to break a 2–2 tie game at home against the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets. #### Los Angeles Kings (2015–2016) On June 26, 2015, Lucic was traded to the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for goaltender Martin Jones, Colin Miller and a first-round pick in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft. Lucic excelled during his season with the Kings, playing a strong two-way game while recording 20 goals, 35 assists for 55 points during the regular season. Lucic also added three assists in five games in the 2016 playoffs. #### Edmonton Oilers (2016–2019) As an unrestricted free agent, on the opening day of free agency, Lucic signed a seven-year, \$42 million contract with the Edmonton Oilers on July 1, 2016. As his usual \#17 is retired by the Oilers for Jari Kurri, he instead chose to wear \#27, his number during his junior years. Lucic enjoyed a successful first year with the Oilers, tallying 23 goals and 50 points to help lead the team to the playoffs for the first time since 2006. The Oilers defeated the San Jose Sharks in six games, but lost to the Anaheim Ducks in seven games. Following his first season in Edmonton, Lucic's production began to dramatically decline. A disappointing second season saw Lucic score just 10 goals and 34 points. This was followed up by scoring just 6 goals and 20 points in his third year with the Oilers, including a goal drought of over 40 games. #### Calgary Flames (2019–2023) On July 19, 2019, Lucic waived his no-movement clause and was traded, along with a conditional 2020 third-round draft choice, to the Calgary Flames in exchange for James Neal. Both Neal and Lucic had struggled to live up to the expectations attached to their large salaries on their previous teams and the trade gave both players a chance for a fresh start. Lucic switched back to his familiar \#17 with the Flames. Lucic began his tenure with the Flames on a prolonged goal drought, made more notorious by Neal scoring seven goals (including a four-goal game) in his first seven games with the Oilers. On November 2, 2019, in the midst of his cold streak, Lucic received a 2-game suspension for roughing Kole Sherwood in a game the previous night against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Lucic's slow start, coupled with concerns about his role on the team and lack of playing time, led him to contemplate retirement early in the season. Finally, in his 28th game of the 2019–20 season, Lucic scored his first goal as a Flame, converting on a pass by Derek Ryan in a 4–3 victory over the Buffalo Sabres. Lucic followed that goal with two more in his next three games. By March, when the last 3 weeks of the season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Lucic had eight goals, with only Elias Lindholm, Sean Monahan, and Johnny Gaudreau having recorded more than Lucic's five powerplay goals on the season. At the time of the Lucic-for-Neal trade, the Flames and Oilers had agreed that, should Neal score at least 21 goals in the 2019–20 NHL season and Lucic score at least 10 fewer goals than Neal, the Oilers would owe the Flames a third-round draft choice in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft. Due to the abrupt and incomplete finish to the 2019–20 season, the Flames and Oilers remained at an impasse over how to resolve the trade condition, given that Neal finished with 19 goals (two fewer than the required threshold) but was on pace to surpass 21 if the season played to its 82-game conclusion. On July 31, 2020, the NHL ruled that the Oilers owed the Flames a third-round draft choice in Edmonton's choice of either the 2020 or 2021 NHL Entry Drafts as a result of a trade condition the two teams had made as part of the Lucic/Neal swap. On April 13, 2021, Lucic officially played his 1000th game in the National Hockey League. In doing so, he became the 352nd player to reach the 1000 game mark. #### Return to Boston (2023–present) On July 1, 2023, Lucic returned to Boston, signing a one-year, \$1 million contract with the team. ## International play In the off-season following Lucic's MVP performance at the 2007 Memorial Cup, he was named team captain of Canada for the 2007 Super Series against Russia. The series, an eight-game competition between Canada and Russia's under-20 teams, commemorated the 35th anniversary of the historic 1972 Summit Series. He recorded three assists as Canada won the series with seven wins and a tie. Two years later, Lucic was invited to Canada's summer orientation camp in Calgary for the 2010 Winter Olympics. He was not, however, chosen to the final roster. Lucic was also invited to the orientation camp for the 2014 Winter Olympics, but again did not make the final roster. Lucic would be named to the roster for the 2023 IIHF World Championship, winning gold with the team. ## Personal life Lucic married his longtime girlfriend Brittany Carnegie in the summer of 2012. The couple have three children together, two daughters Valentina and Nikolina, and son Milan Jr. ## Career statistics ### Regular season and playoffs ### International ## Awards ### Major junior ### NHL - Did not play due to injury ### Boston Bruins

Hormizd I

King of Kings of Iran from 270 to 271

Hormizd-Ardashir, better known by his dynastic name of Hormizd I (also spelled Hormozd I or Ohrmazd I; Middle Persian: 𐭠𐭥𐭧𐭥𐭬𐭦𐭣), was the third Sasanian King of Kings (shahanshah) of Iran, who ruled from May 270 to June 271. He was the third-born son of Shapur I (r. 240–270), under whom he was governor-king of Armenia, and also took part in his father's wars against the Roman Empire. Hormizd I's brief time as ruler of Iran was largely uneventful. He built the city of Hormizd-Ardashir (present-day Ahvaz), which remains a major city today in Iran. He promoted the Zoroastrian priest Kartir to the rank of chief priest (mowbed) and gave the Manichaean prophet Mani permission to continue his preaching. It was under Hormizd I that the title of "King of Kings of Iran and non-Iran" became regularized in Sasanian coinage; previously, the royal titulary had generally been "King of Kings of Iran." Hormizd I was succeeded by his eldest brother Bahram I. ## Etymology The name of Hormizd (also spelled Ōhrmazd, Hormozd) is the Middle Persian version of the name of the supreme deity in Zoroastrianism, known in Avestan as Ahura Mazda. The Old Persian equivalent is Auramazdā, whilst the Greek transliteration is Hormisdas. The name is attested in Armenian as Ormizd and in Georgian as Urmizd. His personal name was "Hormizd-Ardashir", a combination of "Hormizd" and "Ardashir", the latter being the Middle Persian form of the Old Persian Ṛtaxšira (also spelled Artaxšaçā), meaning "whose reign is through truth (asha)". ## Background Hormizd was the third-born son of Shapur I (r. 240–270). According to folklore, Hormizd's mother was a daughter of the Parthian dynast Mihrak. His two elder brothers were Bahram (the eldest) and Shapur Meshanshah, whilst Narseh was his younger brother. Hormizd had two sisters named Adur-Anahid and Shapurdukhtak. His grandfather was Ardashir I, the founder of the Sasanian Empire. The Sasanians had supplanted the Arsacid Empire as the sovereigns of Iran in 224, when Ardashir I defeated and killed the last Arsacid King of Kings Artabanus IV (r. 213–224) at the Battle of Hormozdgan. ## Rise Hormizd is first mentioned during the wars of Shapur I against the Roman Empire. He was made the king of Armenia after its conquest by Shapur I in 252. Hormizd is believed to be many modern historians to have taken part in Shapur I's second Roman expedition, which took place in the Roman provinces of Syria, Cilicia, and Cappadocia, and which lasted from 253 to 256. This is supported by the reports of the Cappadocian conquests. Cappadocia does not appear to have been the only area that Hormizd fought in: according to the Scriptores Historiae Augustae, the Roman rebel Cyriades assisted Shapur I and a certain Odomastes in the conquest of Antioch. The name Odomastes is an incorrect transliteration of Hormizd, and may thus suggest that after plundering Cappadocia, Hormizd took part in the siege of Antioch in 253. Hormizd is mentioned in an inscription on the wall of the Ka'ba-ye Zartosht at Naqsh-e Rostam near Persepolis in southern Iran, which Shapur I had created in order to praise his sons by citing their names and titles. In the inscription, Hormizd is given the title of Wuzurg Šāh Arminān ("Great King of the Armenians"). The 4th-century Armenian historian Agathangelos states that this title was only given to the heir of the shahanshah. When Shapur I was on his deathbed, he crowned Hormizd as the new shahanshah of Iran, in May 270. ## Reign Little is known of Hormizd's reign. He reportedly gave the Zoroastrian priest Kartir clothes that were worn by the upper class, the cap and belt (kulāf ud kamarband) and appointed him as the chief priest (mowbed). Like his father, Hormizd also granted the Manichaean prophet Mani permission to continue his preaching. It is unclear why Hormizd supported Kartir and Mani, both of whom represented a different religion. The Iranologist Touraj Daryaee has suggested that it was possibly part of his attempt to control both religions, which were both seeking to become the main religion in the empire. According to the Iranologist Prods Oktor Skjaervo, Hormizd was like his two predecessors, a "lukewarm Zoroastrian". Hormizd is usually given the epithet of nēw or yaxī/yaxē (both meaning "brave") in Manichean Middle Iranian sources, possibly indicating his accomplishments in warfare. It was seemingly under Hormizd that the two New Year festivals (Nowruz) in the month of Farwardin were linked together to design a festival that lasted six days. In primary sources, Hormizd is credited as the founder of the city of Hormizd-Ardashir (present-day Ahvaz), however, in some instances Ardashir I is also attributed as its founder. Modern historians (citing Šahrestānīhā ī Ērānšahr) usually consider Hormizd to be its actual founder. He also founded the city of Ram-Hormizd-Ardashir (meaning "Ardashir's peace of Hormizd"), abbreviated as Ram-Hormizd. He refounded the city of Artemita as Dastagird, whose royal residence would later serve as an important place for the shahanshahs Khosrow I (r. 531–579) and Khosrow II (r. 590–628). Hormizd was not succeeded by his son Hormozdak, but by his brother Bahram (who became known as Bahram I), who ascended the throne with the aid of Kartir. According to local folklore, Hormizd was buried in Ram-Hormizd. ## Coinage and imperial ideology While Ardashir I and Shapur I generally used the title of "King of Kings of (Iran)ians" on their coinage, Hormizd had the title slightly modified, adding the phrase "and non-Iran(ians)". His full title thus read "the Mazda-worshiping, divine Hormizd, King of Kings of Iran(ians) and non-Iran(ians), whose image/brilliance is from the gods". The phrase "and non-Iran(ians)" had already been in use in the inscriptions of Shapur I, and in rare cases his coin mints, but was first regularized under Hormizd. The extended title demonstrates the incorporation of new territory into the empire, however what was precisely seen as "non-Iran(ian)" (aneran) is not certain. The reverse of Hormizd's coin portrayed two attendants, an addition that was first made by Shapur I, on whose coinage both attendants are depicted wearing mural crowns, whilst looking away from the fire temple between them. They most likely represented the shah. In the coinage of Hormizd, the attendants face the temple and are wearing different crowns. The figure on the left side represents Hormizd, whilst the figure on the right—depending on its portrayal—represents the Iranian deities Mithra or Anahita.

Amel-Marduk

Babylonian king

Amel-Marduk (Babylonian cuneiform: Amēl-Marduk, meaning "man of Marduk"), also known as Awil-Marduk, or under the biblical rendition of his name, Evil-Merodach (Hebrew: , ʾÉwīl Mərōḏaḵ), was the third king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, ruling from 562 BC until his overthrow and murder in 560 BC. He was the successor of Nebuchadnezzar II (r. 605–562 BC). On account of the small number of surviving cuneiform sources, little is known of Amel-Marduk's reign and actions as king. Amel-Marduk, originally named Nabu-shum-ukin, was not Nebuchadnezzar's eldest son, nor the oldest living son at the time of his appointment as crown prince and heir. It is not clear why Amel-Marduk was appointed by his father as successor, particularly since there appear to have been altercations between the two, possibly involving an attempt by Amel-Marduk to take the throne while his father was still alive. After the conspiracy, Amel-Marduk was imprisoned, possibly together with Jeconiah, the captured king of Judah. Nabu-shum-ukin changed his name to Amel-Marduk upon his release, possibly in reverence of the god Marduk to whom he had prayed. Amel-Marduk is remembered mainly for releasing Jeconiah after 37 years of imprisonment. Amel-Marduk is also known to have conducted some building work in Babylon, and possibly elsewhere, though the extent of his projects is unclear. The Babylonians appear to have resented his rule, as Babylonian sources from after his reign describe him as incompetent. In 560 BC, he was overthrown and murdered by his brother-in-law Neriglissar who thereafter ruled as king. ## Background Amel-Marduk was the successor of his father, Nebuchadnezzar II (r. 605–562 BC). It seems that the succession to Nebuchadnezzar was troublesome and that the king's last years were prone to political instability. In one of the inscriptions written very late in his reign, after Nebuchadnezzar had already ruled for forty years, the king affirms that he had been chosen for kingship by the gods before he had even been born. Stressing divine legitimacy in such a fashion was usually only done by usurpers, or if there were political problems with his intended successor. Given that Nebuchadnezzar had been king for several decades, and had been the legitimate heir of his predecessor, the first option seems unlikely. Amel-Marduk was chosen as heir during his father's reign and is attested as crown prince in 566 BC. Amel-Marduk was not Nebuchadnezzar's oldest son—another of Nebuchadnezzar's sons, Marduk-nadin-ahi, is attested in Nebuchadnezzar's third year as king (602/601 BC) as an adult in charge of his own lands. Given that Amel-Marduk is attested considerably later, it is probable that Marduk-nadin-ahi was Nebuchadnezzar's eldest son and legitimate heir, making the reason for the selection of Amel-Marduk unclear, particularly since Marduk-nadin-ahi is attested as living until as late as 563 BC. Additionally, evidence of altercations between Nebuchadnezzar and Amel-Marduk makes his selection as heir seem even more improbable. In one text, Nebuchadnezzar and Amel-Marduk are both implicated in some kind of conspiracy, with one of the two accused of bad conduct against the temples and people: > Concerning [Nebu]chadnezzar they thought [. . .] his life were not treasured [by them . . . the people of] Babylon to Amēl-Marduk spoke, not [. . .] . . . "concerning the treasure of [the Esagila] and Babylon [. . ."] they mentioned the cities of the great gods [. . .] his heart over son and daughter will not let [. . .] family and tribe are [not . . .] in his heart. All that is full [. . .] his thoughts were not about the well-being of [the Esagila and Babylon . . .], with attentive ears he went to the holy gates [. . .] prayed to the Lord of lords [. . .] he cried bitterly to Marduk, the gods [..w]ent his prayer to [. . .]. The inscription contains accusations, though it is unclear to whom they are directed, concerning the desecration of holy places and the exploitation of the populace—failures in the two main responsibilities of the king of Babylon. The accused is afterwards stated to have cried and prayed to Marduk, Babylon's national deity. Another text from late in Nebuchadnezzar's reign contains a prayer by an imprisoned son of Nebuchadnezzar named Nabu-shum-ukin ( Nabû-šum-ukīn), who states that he was imprisoned because of a conspiracy against him. According to the Leviticus Rabbah, a 5th–7th-century AD Midrashic text, Amel-Marduk was imprisoned by his father alongside the captured Judean king Jeconiah (also known as Jehoiachin) because some of the Babylonian officials had proclaimed him king while Nebuchadnezzar was away. The Assyriologist Irving Finkel argued in 1999 that Nabu-shum-ukin was the same person as Amel-Marduk, who changed his name to "man of Marduk" once he was released as reverence towards the god to whom he had prayed. Finkel's conclusions have been accepted as convincing by other scholars, and would also explain the previous text, perhaps relating to the same incidents. The Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a Hebrew work on history possibly written in the 12th century AD, erroneously states that Amel-Marduk was Nebuchadnezzar's eldest son, but that he was sidelined by his father in favour of his brother, 'Nebuchadnezzar the Younger' (a fictional figure not attested in any other source), and was thus imprisoned together with Jeconiah until the death of Nebuchadnezzar the Younger, after which Amel-Marduk was made king. Considering the available evidence, it is possible that Nebuchadnezzar saw Amel-Marduk as an unworthy heir and sought to replace him with another son. Why Amel-Marduk nevertheless became king is not clear. Regardless, Amel-Marduk's administrative duties probably began before he became king, during the last few weeks or months of his father's reign when Nebuchadnezzar was ill and dying. The last known tablet dated to Nebuchadnezzar's reign, from Uruk, is dated to the same day, 7 October, as the first known tablet of Amel-Marduk, from Sippar. ## Reign Very few cuneiform sources survive from Amel-Marduk's reign, and as such, almost nothing is known of his accomplishments. Despite being the legitimate successor of Nebuchadnezzar, Amel-Marduk was seemingly met with opposition from the very beginning of his rule, as indicated by the brevity of his tenure as king and by his negative portrayal in later sources. The later Hellenistic-era Babylonian writer and astronomer Berossus wrote that Amel-Marduk "ruled capriciously and had no regard for the laws" and a cuneiform propaganda text states that he neglected his family, that officials refused to carry out his orders, and that he solely concerned himself with veneration and worship of Marduk. Whether the opposition towards Amel-Marduk resulted from his earlier attempt at conspiracy against his father, tension between different factions of the royal family (given that he was not the oldest son), or from his own mismanagement as king, is not certain. Little is known of Amel-Marduk's own immediate family, i.e., his wife and potential children. No sons of Amel-Marduk are known, but he had at least one daughter named Indû. The Chronicles of Jerahmeel ascribes three sons to Amel-Marduk: Regosar, Lebuzer Dukh and Nabhar, though it seems the author confused Amel-Marduk's successors for his sons (respectively, Neriglissar, Labashi-Marduk and Nabonidus). One of his inscriptions suggests that he renovated the Esagila in Babylon, and the Ezida in Borsippa, but no concrete archaeological or textual evidence exists to confirm that work was actually done at these temples. Some bricks and paving stones in Babylon bear his name, indicating that some building work was completed at Babylon during his brief tenure as king. The Bible states that Amel-Marduk freed Jeconiah, king of Judah, after 37 years of imprisonment in Babylon, the only concrete political act attributed to Amel-Marduk in any extant source. Though such acts of clemency are known from accession ceremonies, and in this case may have been connected to the celebration of the Babylonian New Year's Festival, the specific reason for Jeconiah's release is not known. Suggested reasons include to win favour with the population of Jewish deportees in Babylonia, or that Amel-Marduk and Jeconiah may have become friends during their imprisonment. Later Jewish tradition held that the release was a deliberate reversal of Nebuchadnezzar's policy (having destroyed the Kingdom of Judah), though there is no indication that Amel-Marduk made any attempt to restore Judah. Despite this, Jewish contemporaries of Amel-Marduk likely hoped that Jeconiah's release was the first step in a restoration of Judah, given that Amel-Marduk also released Baalezer, the captured king of Tyre, and restored him to his throne. The release of Jeconiah is narrated in 2 Kings 25:27–30, and in the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, both sources referring to Amel-Marduk as Evil-Merodach. The Chronicles of Jerahmeel narrates the release of Jeconiah as follows: > In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the year Evil-Merodach became king of Babylon, he released Jehoiachin from prison on the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month. He spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat of honour higher than those of the other kings who were with him in Babylon. Amel-Marduk's reign abruptly ended in August 560 BC, after barely two years as king, when he was deposed and murdered by Neriglissar, his brother-in-law, who then claimed the throne. The last document from the reign of Amel-Marduk is a contract dated to 7 August 560 BC, written in Babylon. Four days later, documents dated to Neriglissar are known from both Babylon and Uruk. Based on increased economic activity attributed to him in the capital, Neriglissar was at Babylon at the time of the usurpation. It is likely that the conflict between Amel-Marduk and Neriglissar was a result of inter-family discord rather than some other form of rivalry. Neriglissar was married to one of Nebuchadnezzar's daughters, possibly Kashshaya. As Kashshaya is attested considerably earlier in Nebuchadnezzar's reign than Amel-Marduk (in Nebuchadnezzar's fifth year, 600/599 BC) and most of the other sons, it is possible that she was older than them. Though the gap between the earliest reference to Kashshaya and those of the sons could be accidental or coincidental; it could also be interpreted as an indication that many of the sons were the progeny of a second marriage. It is therefore possible that Neriglissar's usurpation was the result of infighting between an older, wealthier and more influential branch of the royal family (represented by Nebuchadnezzar's daughters, Kashshaya in particular) and a less well established and younger, though more legitimate, branch (represented by Nebuchadnezzar's sons, such as Amel-Marduk). ## Titles From one of his inscriptions, found on a pillar of one of Babylon's bridges, Amel-Marduk's titles read as follows: > Amēl-Marduk, king of Babylon, the one who renovates Esagil and Ezida, son of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. Given that few inscriptions of Amel-Marduk are known, no more elaborate versions of his titulature are known. He may also have used the title 'king of Sumer and Akkad', used by other Neo-Babylonian kings. ## See also - List of biblical figures identified in extra-biblical sources

French cruiser Isly

Protected cruiser of the French Navy

Isly was a Jean Bart-class protected cruiser built in the late 1880s and early 1890s for the French Navy. The second and final member of the class, Isly and her sister ship were ordered during the tenure of Admiral Théophile Aube as Minister of Marine according to the theories of the Jeune École doctrine. The ships were intended as long-range commerce raiders, and they were armed with a main battery of four 164 mm (6.5 in) guns, were protected by an armor deck that was 50 to 100 mm (2 to 4 in) thick, and were capable of steaming at a top speed of around 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph). Isly initially served with the Reserve Division of the Northern Squadron, spending only part of the year in active service for training exercises. She was deployed to French Indochina from 1895 to 1896 and then again from 1897 to 1899. After returning to France, she joined the North Atlantic station, operating out of Brest. Isly spent the next decade serving in the Atlantic, changing units as the fleet was repeatedly reorganized; she also received new water-tube boilers in 1902. In 1908, she was briefly sent to French Morocco, and the following year she was converted into a depot ship for destroyers. She was struck from the naval register in 1914 and thereafter broken up. ## Design Design work on the Jean Bart class began in 1885 under the direction of the French naval minister, Charles-Eugène Galiber, who wanted a new commerce raiding protected cruiser similar to the earlier Amiral Cécille, albeit smaller and with a smaller secondary battery. By the time French shipyards had responded to requests for design proposals, Admiral Théophile Aube had replaced Galiber as naval minister, but Aube was an ardent supporter of the Jeune École doctrine that emphasized long-range, commerce raiding cruisers. He called for the construction of six large and ten small protected cruisers, though by the end of his tenure in 1887, the program had been reduced to five large, two medium, and six small cruisers. Aube ordered the first two Jean Bart-class cruisers to fulfill the requirements for the first set of large cruisers, and his successor, Édouard Barbey, authorized the third. The two Jean Barts proved to be the last of the initial series of commerce raiders built under the influence of the Jeune École. Isly was 105 m (344 ft 6 in) long between perpendiculars, with a beam of 12.98 m (42 ft 7 in) and a draft of 6.10 to 6.45 m (20 ft 0 in to 21 ft 2 in). She displaced 4,406 long tons (4,477 t). Her crew varied over the course of her career, amounting to 387–405 officers and enlisted men. The ship's propulsion system consisted of a pair of triple-expansion steam engines driving two screw propellers. Steam was provided by eight coal-burning fire-tube boilers that were ducted into two funnels. Her machinery was rated to produce 8,000 indicated horsepower (6,000 kW) for a top speed of 19 to 19.5 knots (35.2 to 36.1 km/h; 21.9 to 22.4 mph). She had a cruising radius of 3,200 nautical miles (5,900 km; 3,700 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). The ship was armed with a main battery of four 164.7 mm (6.48 in) 28-caliber guns and a secondary battery of six 138.6 mm (5.46 in) 30-cal. guns. All of these guns were placed in individual pivot mounts; the 164 mm guns were in sponsons located fore and aft, with two guns per broadside. Four of the 138 mm guns were in sponsons between the 164 mm guns, one was in an embrasure in the forecastle and the last was in a swivel mount on the stern. For close-range defense against torpedo boats, she carried six 47 mm (1.9 in) 3-pounder Hotchkiss guns and eight 37 mm (1.5 in) Hotchkiss revolver cannon. She was also armed with five 356 mm (14 in) torpedo tubes in her hull above the waterline. Armor protection consisted of a curved armor deck that was 40 to 90 mm (2 to 4 in) thick, along with 120 mm (5 in) plating on the conning tower. The main and secondary guns received 54 mm (2.1 in) thick gun shields. ### Modifications In 1897, Isly had her heavy military masts replaced with light pole masts in an attempt to reduce topweight. At that time, she also had her bow and stern torpedo tubes removed. Another refit took place in 1909, during which her light armament was standardized to twelve 47 mm guns. The navy considered replacing her boilers in 1910, but decided against it due to the cost. ## Service history Isly was ordered on 1 March 1887 and she was laid down at the Arsenal de Brest in Brest, France on 3 July 1887, before the lead ship of her class, Jean Bart, began construction. She was launched on 22 June 1891 and was commissioned on 25 October 1892 to begin sea trials. During her initial testing, she reached a top speed of 18.5 knots (34.3 km/h; 21.3 mph) using forced draft, though the test was conducted in poor weather that reduced the ship's speed by about half a knot. The trials lasted nearly a year, and she was finally placed in full commission for active service on 20 September 1893. Ten days later, she steamed to Cherbourg to join the Escadre du Nord (Northern Squadron). She was assigned to the Reserve Division of the Northern Squadron, which that time included the ironclad Suffren, the coastal defense ships Tonnerre and Fulminant, and the torpedo cruiser Epervier. The following year, she continued to operate with the squadron. She took part in annual training exercises that year to evaluate the effectiveness of the French coastal defense system. The squadron went to sea on 15 July and began the operations the next day, which lasted until 29 July. The maneuvers demonstrated the usefulness of torpedo boat flotillas in coastal defense, but highlighted that France's coastal defense system in the English Channel was not yet complete. Isly was sent with the cruiser Alger on a cruise to French Indochina in 1895; at that time, the unit also included the cruisers Duguay-Trouin, Forfait, and Beautemps-Beaupré. She remained on station in the Far East into 1896, but was ordered home that year. In 1897, Isly returned to the Far East in company with the recently completed protected cruiser Descartes; they joined the old ironclad Bayard and the unprotected cruiser Éclaireur. Isly had returned to France by 1899, when she was assigned to the North Atlantic station in Brest on 15 March. The ship was laid up in 1900 for an overhaul that included the replacement of her original wood decks with linoleum-covered steel. She remained out of service through early 1901 and was recommissioned on 8 April for service in the fisheries in the Atlantic. She was assigned to the Naval Division of the Atlantic Ocean, along with the protected cruisers Suchet and Amiral Cécille. Isly operated with the transport vessel Manche, patrolling the fishing grounds off Newfoundland for six months of the year. The next year, Isly was decommissioned for a major overhaul, which included the installation of new water-tube boilers. In 1908, the Naval Division of the Atlantic was amalgamated with the Northern Squadron, and Isly was transferred to that command, commissioning for service on 1 January in Lorient. By that time, the squadron consisted of eight armored cruisers and four other protected cruisers. Isly was temporarily sent to French Morocco early in the year in company with the armored cruiser Kléber. In 1909, Isly was converted into a depot ship for destroyers, before being decommissioned on 13 March 1911. She was struck from the naval register on 23 November 1911 and used as a depot ship for torpedo boats based in Lorient from late 1911 to 1913. She was then placed for sale, eventually being purchased on 11 April 1914 by Willer Peterson of Copenhagen, Denmark, to be broken up.

Carrick, Tasmania

Carrick is a small historic village 17 kilometres (11 mi) west of Launceston, Tasmania, Australia, on the banks of the Liffey River. The Meander Valley Highway passes through the town's centre; this road was formerly the main road from Launceston to Deloraine and Devonport. Carrick has a well-preserved 19th-century heritage; fifteen of its colonial buildings are listed on the Tasmanian Heritage Register including Carrick House (1840), St Andrew's Church (1848), the Old Watch house (1837), Monds Roller Mill (1846) and the Carrick Hotel (1833). The first land grant at Carrick was in 1818 and a decade later William Bryan was building a wooden mill on the river's bank. The town was formed in consequence of this mill's construction and town plots sold in 1838. Carrick Post Office opened on 5 November 1841. Carrick never grew large—the population varied from around 200 to 439—and today it is largely a residential settlement for those who work in Launceston and the rural areas surrounding the town. During much of its history growth has been limited by lack of organised water supply and sewerage, though reticulated services for both are now connected. Volunteer labour enabled piped water supply, from the Liffey, from 1961 and a sewerage plant was built in the mid-1970s on the towns outskirts. The local councils' strategic plan aims for the town to stay small with only infill development. The 1846 stone building known as "Monds Roller Mill" is the town's most prominent feature. The operation of this mill—and the preceding wooden mill—was the foundation of the town's prosperity during the 19th century. The mill operated until 1924, for most of this time by Thomas Monds and his family company, and was the last water powered flour mill in Tasmania. Since a 1984 renovation it has intermittently been a restaurant, wedding venue and meeting venue. Near the mill is Archer's Folly, an imposing and now ruined, but never completed, grand colonial house. The folly was started in 1847, sold incomplete in 1867 and burned to a roofless shell in 1978. Significant people associated with Carrick include: Thomas Reibey, once Premier of Tasmania; Thomas Monds who founded an extensive milling company; and Sammy Cox whose claims would make him the earliest European settler in Tasmania. The Anglican Church St Andrews has held services since the 1840s. For some time the town also had a Wesleyan Chapel. A private school opened in 1843 and a government one in the 1870s. By the late 1930s both schools had closed. Carrick hosts Agfest, the state's largest single event and one of Australia's largest agricultural field days. The 1848 Anglican church, 1833 hotel and a few other establishments serve the townspeople. A brewery, steam and water mill, butcher, schools and other hotels are all long since closed. Carrick has a long association with horse racing, starting prior to the race course's formation in 1848. For a time the town held the oldest horse race in Australia. Today regular harness racing, speedway racing and cycling events have replaced this. ## History ### Prior to foundation Carrick's area is within the traditional grounds of the Northern Midlands group of Tasmanian Aborigines. Records held by Aboriginal Heritage Tasmania have no reference, as recently as 2010, of any Aboriginal heritage or artifacts in the area. The first land grant at Carrick was made in 1818 to Thomas Haydock Reibey, father of Thomas Reibey (later Premier of Tasmania). The grant was for 4,000 acres (1,600 ha) taking in the area of the later town. Early land use was for agriculture and by 1823, at least, there were only a few widely scattered settlers. Captain William Thomas Lyttleton was granted over 1,300 acres (530 ha) near Carrick in late 1825 when he lived at nearby Hagley in Hagley House. What was then just a locality became known as Lyttleton after the Captain. The river that passed from the Great Western Tiers to nearby Meander River was then known as The Pennyroyal Creek, after a plant that grew profusely on its banks. William Bryan arrived at Hobart, from Ireland, in May 1824. He received land grants of 1,077 acres (436 ha) in the Meander Valley and later purchased 500 acres (200 ha) at Carrick, including 30 acres (10 ha) on the creek. Bryan began building a mill on his Carrick grant in 1826, on the same site as the later Monds Roller Mills. His business interests prospered and he purchased large amounts of land, including more at Carrick. By 1828 the first bridge over the river had been built, a simple log structure. Bryan's mill was the impetus for foundation of the town. Van Diemen's Land's Land Commissioners recommended in early 1828: "Mr W Bryan is building a mill a short way up the stream and we beg to recommend reserving 100 acres each side for the various purposes of a village which we called Lyttleton." Over the next few years Bryan used his influence to rename, in memory of his homeland, both the town and the river, much to the disgust of Lyttleton. It was reported in 1831 newspapers that the road from Launceston to Carrick had been opened. The path of the road was announced in April 1831, and it was opened for public traffic in June. The State Government sold town allotments in late 1838, obtaining what was noted as a high price of £45 (A\$8,100 in 2005) per acre. ### 19th century Samuel Pratt Winter was sent to Tasmania by his father, at Bryan's request, to act as an overseer of the mill. He managed the mill from 1834, when Bryan went to London in the midst of a dispute with Governor Arthur, and leased it from 1837 onwards. After a dispute with the leasee Donald McLean in 1841, the mill was operated by Richard Warren from April 1841, he also occupied the mill cottage according to the 1842 census. A post office opened in November 1841, and at the end of the year the village had also four dwellings, a blacksmith shop, a police station, the flour mill and an adobe hotel built by John Archer. While passing through the town Louisa Anne Meredith took note of the buildings. In her guidebook, published in 1843, she referred to the "crazy weather board mill". At the time the mill's motive power came from an overshot water wheel supplied with water from the Liffey River via a long wooden trough. St Andrew's church was built in 1843 by Thomas Reibey as a school. The initial church grounds of 14 acres (6 ha) were donated by Thomas Reibey. Winter was living at the mill cottage in 1846, when he arranged for the old wooden mill to be removed and, with John Kinder Archer, began building the blue-stone mill. The town greatly expanded in the late 1850s, fueled by the efforts of those returning from the Victorian gold fields. Over time many cottages in Carrick were built for workers on the Reibey's Entally House outside nearby Hadspen. By 1859 the town had two mills—one steam and one water wheel powered—that processed approximately 4000 bushels per week. There was a steam-powered brewery, opposite St Andrew's church, whose produce won first prize at the 1859 Launceston show (by 1947 the brewery was scant ruins). During its operation the brewery had supplied all of the town's hotels. Four inns were open and the town had an agricultural machinery manufacturing business. A public library was established in 1860. The mill was sold to Thomas Monds, an experienced miller, in 1867. At the time it was reported that its machinery was in poor repair, but the building was sound. When a nearby rail line was built in 1869 traffic through Carrick greatly diminished and trade in the town suffered, though the nearest station was Bishopbourne over 5 miles (8 km) away. A government school was established in the 1870s and grew to 65 students by 1901. Mond's business expanded throughout the latter part of the 19th century and the prosperity of the town did likewise. He built a large grain store opposite the mill and opened offices and a depot in Launceston. Westbury Municipal Council built a public hall on the main road in 1883. The current weatherboard town hall dates from c. 1900 and the old hall is presumed to have been destroyed prior to this. At the town's height in the 19th century, just after the return of men from the Victorian gold fields, the town had four public houses and a population of approximately 400. It had four public houses operating two of which, Prince of Wales and the Carrick Hotel, remained open in 1901. As of 1883 it was reported that the inns were kept open by the Carrick Races and fortnightly livestock sales. Carrick's livestock sales were held at the Carrick Hotel and were the main fat stock sales for Launceston. At the turn of the century the town had no reticulated water. It relied on wells, rainwater and the inconstant river. ### Transportation The Liffey River—then called Pennyroyal Creek—was first bridged at Carrick in 1828 with a simple log structure. This was replaced in the 1830s with a more substantial bridge, though still wooden. As of 1834 the areas' roads were poor and vehicles frequently became bogged on the road to Westbury. A bridge over the South Esk, at what is now Hadspen, was built in 1843. It replaced a frequently impassable ford and more reliably connected Carrick to Launceston. Liffey bridge was repaired and raised in the mid-1860s, keeping the original foundations. In May 1875 water sufficiently eroded these foundations to lead to the bridge's collapse, when one of the two supporting piles (logs) gave way. All of the Liffey bridges, and the connecting parts of the road, were subject to inundation when the river flooded; the 1929 Tasmanian Floods carried the bridge away. In the 1950s the road was reconstructed and the bridge again replaced. To reduce the incidence and impact of flooding both were raised substantially leaving the mill's ground floor far below the road level. A rail line was built nearby in 1869. With the advent of rail, traffic through Carrick was greatly diminished and trade in the town suffered. A rail siding was built at "The Oaks", over 1 mile (1.6 km) from the town's edge and a station at Bishopbourne over 5 miles (8 km) away. The passenger rail service had ceased before 1978, a time when all Tasmanian passenger rail services ceased. By 1877 there was a twice daily mail and passenger cart connecting Carrick to the railway station at Bishopbourne and "Blair's Bus" ran thrice weekly to Launceston. The Bass Highway, which passed through Carrick, had been designated a National Highway as part of the Federal National Highway Act 1974. The structure of this type of road required that the centre of Carrick be bypassed. The road through Carrick is now known as the Meander Valley Highway. Bass Highway, which connects Launceston, Burnie and Devonport, passes south of the town. As of 2011 Redline Coaches, runs a daily school bus service that passes through Carrick to many of the Schools in and around Launceston and regular services connecting Carrick to Burnie, Launceston, Hobart and towns in between. ## Sports Carrick has long been associated with horse racing. The Reverend Thomas Reibey and the Fields Family were instrumental in founding both a racing club and racecourse. Racing first begun on "The Moat", a property on the east edge of Carrick. Reibey gifted a racecourse somewhat south of "The Moat"; the course was originally 1 mile, 57 links long. The Carrick Racing Club was formed in 1848 and the course was well regarded; it was called "the best in Tasmania" by author Hugh Munro Hull in 1859. The Carrick Plate—a name now used for a race held in Launceston—was held at the new racecourse, without interruption, annually from 1849 to 1913; this made it the oldest race in Australia. The track's use changed from racing to trotting at this time. The Carrick Trotting club was formed in early 1914 and had its first meeting in February of the same year. The Carrick Trotting Club and Westbury Trotting Club combined in 1976 to form the Carrick Park Trotting Club, later to renamed Carrick Park Pacing Club. As of 2012 Carrick has a 1013m trotting track hosting 3 race meetings a year and up to 27 trial sessions. Next to the trotting track, on grounds owned by the club, is a speedway. Construction of the speedway began in 1967 and the first races were in September 1968. The track has been in use since opening and crowds of over 10,000 have been reported. The town is frequent host to cycling events that are recorded as far back as 1897, and continue to the present day. The Liffey is fished for brown trout (Salmo trutta) during the August to April fishing season. Trout were released into the Liffey River by the fisheries commission in 1940, and by 1949 specimens of up to 11 pounds (5 kg) had been caught in the river's upper reaches. ## Water and sewerage Organised water supply in the town began at least by 1883 when it was reported being carted from the millrace. The river's water was used as wells in the town were deemed too brackish. Five years later Thomas Monds installed hydraulic rams and began pumping water from the river to three iron tanks in the town. He on-sold the water to townspeople, though the mill had priority over river water; this was a particular problem during droughts when the Liffey slowed to a trickle. Westbury Council—local government of the time—called for tenders for Carrick's water supply in 1889. This water supply system was completed in 1890. Water was again pumped from the river near the mill, again by hydraulic rams, to a tank near the centre of the town which supplied another tank on the main road and some houses on the same road. Both tanks had troughs and hoses for public use. A typhoid outbreak in the early 20th century was blamed on the water supplied from these tanks. Subsequent to this the pumps were shut down and the town again relied on rainwater tanks, wells and water carted from the river. The Westbury council's "Carrick Water Supply" was not self-funding and was abandoned in 1928. The mill's dam was washed away in the 1929 floods and has not been rebuilt, losing the town its water storage. In 1961 a residents progress association was formed. A prime goal was the building of a reservoir—supplied from the river—on Armidale hill overlooking the town. To defray costs and gain council acceptance, a large part of the work was performed by volunteers. This scheme began supplying the town on 17 February 1961. Up to the 1970s, Carrick's growth was limited by the lack of town sewerage—which restricted the minimum allotment size—and reluctance of landowner's to subdivide property. A 1977 planning study found that the land structure allowed most of the town to be served by a gravity fed system and recommended construction. As of 2008 the majority of the town was connected to reticulated water and sewerage. From the mid-1970s sewerage was processed at a plant near the town, which also handles sewerage from nearby Hadspen. Treated waste-water from there is discharged into a tributary of the Liffey River. As of 2003 the reticulated water supply in the town was untreated and both were operated by the Meander Valley council. By 2011 Carrick's water was supplied from the Mount Leslie Water Treatment Plant. This plant was built in 1996 and supplies treated water from the Trevallyn Dam. ## Education Thomas Monds was instrumental in formation of the first school. This private school was built in 1843, though Thomas Reibey converted it into St Andrews church in 1845, and the school moved elsewhere in the town. A Government school was built in 1873, next to the current recreation ground, and both schools were open as of 1883. The private school closed late in the 19th century, but the Government school still had 65 students on the 1901 roll. The latter was a weatherboard building. It was extensively renovated in 1920 and was in use until the mid-1930s when the last school in Carrick closed. The building was relocated to nearby Hagley in 1938, though it was later demolished. In the same year the government began funding regular school transport from Carrick to the school at nearby Hagley, accompanying children from Hadspen whose school had also been closed. Since that time there has been no school in Carrick and a 1976 planning report stated the population was likely to remain insufficient to require one. ## Flora and fauna Since European settlement the area has been subdivided, settled and farmed. A traveller in 1855 noted that the area was highly cultivated. The endangered Growling Grass Frog (Litoria raniformis) has been sighted, though there is only a single record. In some undisturbed areas there is Poa labillardierei (silver tussock) grassland and Themeda triandra (kangaroo grass). Glycine latrobeana (clover glycine) was recorded south of the town in 1984. Discaria pubescens (Hairy Anchor Plant or Australian Anchor Plant), which appears on the states endangered species list, was recorded north-east in 2001 on the South Esk River's floodplain. Apart from introduced brown trout the Liffey River is home to platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus). Platypus in the river have, in common with in other rivers nearby, been found with the potentially lethal fungal infection Mucor amphiborum. ## Religion Carrick has one extant church, St Andrew's, an Anglican church in the parish of Quamby. Until 1992 it was in the former Anglican Parish of Carrick. Church of England—now known as the Anglican Church of Australia—services were first held c. 1843 in a blacksmith's shop and subsequently in a schoolhouse, whose building was later transformed into St Andrew's. Thomas Reibey had the schoolhouse converted by 1845, though the tower was a later addition. The church's burial ground was consecrated in April 1845, and the church itself, by Tasmania's first Church of England Bishop Francis Russell Nixon, on 25 November 1845. Though not yet ordained, Reibey received dispensation to begin holding services, first in the blacksmith's shop, prior to his ordination. He was later the first clergyman ordained by Bishop Nixon and was made an archdeacon in 1857. Thomas Reibey was the first minister of St Andrew's, and was succeeded by his brother James, for whom the church's rectory was built. A Wesleyan chapel was built in 1865; a small weatherboard building with an attached Sunday School. The Church eventually fell out of use and became a private home. It was demolished during the 1930s. There has not been a Roman Catholic church in Carrick—the nearest church is Westbury—but some Catholics are recorded as attending the Anglican Church. ## Geography The town is 17 kilometres (11 mi) from Launceston on the Meander valley Highway (B54) between the towns of Hadspen and Hagley. The Liffey river crosses the town's western end, after flowing from the Great Western Tiers, over the Liffey falls, through Bracknell and Bishopbourne. Shortly after passing through the town the river joins the Meander River. ## Demographics and people Carrick's population has never been large. There were 430 residents in 1836 and near to 400 for most of the rest of the 19th century. By late 1976 the population had shrunk to around 200 living in 70 buildings—of which sixteen were classified as "Significantly contributing to the heritage of Australia" by the National Trust. A recovery in the late 20th century saw 317 residents recorded in the 2001 census and 439 in the 2006 census. Carrick's role in 1976 was as: a residential area for those working in Launceston; a retirement village; and a service centre for farming and stock breeding enterprises. The population in 2006 was largely Australian-born (87% compared to an average for all of Australia of 70.9%) and English-speaking at home (92.7% compared to an Australian average of 78.5%). Sammy Cox (aka Samuel Emanuel Jervis) (c. 1773–1891) is a significant former resident. He claimed to have been born Samuel Emanuel Jervis, 15 November 1773 in Wales, or Lichfield, England, and spent time on his uncle's ship, the Regent Fox, after his father died, then jumped ship in 1789 near Tamar heads and subsequently lived with the local Aboriginals for twenty-six years. This would have him resident in Tasmania years before the first recorded settlement, in 1803 on the Derwent River, and before even the existence of Bass Strait was proved by George Bass and Matthew Flinders. In 1814 he met and was befriended by the Cox family, residents near Hadspen, and took the family's surname. He ended up working as a gardener and spent about 50 years living in a cottage on the "Little Moat" property on the Launceston side of Carrick. Cox died in the Launceston invalid depot, 5 June 1891 claiming to be 117 years old, though 115 is a more credible figure (von Stieglitz in 1946 credited his age as 118). His story has been widely reported; the dining room of the Carrick Hotel is named after him on the basis of it. It has been called into doubt, though, with historian Dr Andrew Piper describing the story as a tall tale constructed by Cox. While writing about Cox, Thomas Monds, who had befriended and assisted him, also expressed doubt as to the story's veracity. Thomas Reibey has been written of as the Father of Carrick. Reibey was instrumental in construction of the Church, the racecourse and other, now heritage listed, buildings in the town. He donated over 10,000 pounds for the construction of the town's Anglican church, a very large sum for the time, and was appointed as the Archdeacon of Launceston in 1858. Reibey was elected to the House of Assembly seat of Westbury in 1874. He held the seat for 30 years and was the Premier of Tasmania from 20 July 1876 until 9 August 1877. Reibey was an avid horse trainer. His horse "Stockwell" won the 1882 Launceston Cup, the Carrick Plate in 1881 and came second in the Melbourne Cup. Thomas Wilkes Monds was a successful miller and builder before moving to Carrick. He bought the stone mill in Carrick in 1867 and a steam mill in the town the following year. The successful operation of the mills by Monds brought wealth to him and prosperity to the town. Monds built the Gothic house "Hawthorn" in 1875 and worked the nearby 1,200 acres (490 ha) farm called "Hattondale", as well as the mills. Before he left Carrick for Launceston in 1888 his holdings in Carrick included the mill, the steam mill, Archer's Folly and some houses and acreages within the town and "Hattondale". Monds was chairman and treasurer of the Carrick Road Trust from 1870 to 1904 and spent nine years on the area's local council. ## Today's town Carrick is a small historic village that is primarily a residential settlement for those who work in Launceston and the rural areas surrounding the town. Development has been slow and has not changed the town's original 19th century character. The local council's development plan aims to restrict development along Meander Valley road and prevent the merging of Carrick and Hadspen, keeping them as distinct centres. Construction is only planned within the town's boundary, where up to sixty homes could potentially be built under the strategic plan that runs until 2016. The town's development boundary is dictated by the span of sewerage connection. There are few businesses in the town and little incentive for business growth due to the town's small population. The town is in the Meander Valley Council local government area, the Federal Division of Lyons, and the State Division of Lyons. Carrick has a roadhouse, a post office, a hotel, a copper and metal gallery and some accommodation. After Thomas Monds merged his business into Monds and Affleck, the company built a milling operation on Oaks Road, just south of the now re-aligned Bass Highway. As of 2010 the mill owner claimed it is "Tasmania's only large-scale commercial feed milling operation". The town plays host to a number of events including the Agfest field days, trotting races, speedway racing and cycling events. Next door to the ruins of Archer's Folly is the Tasmanian Copper and Metal Art Gallery. From here the Marik family makes, displays and sells handcrafted copper artworks. The lack of development over time has left the town with a significant number of colonial buildings and mature trees. The 1846 stone "Monds Roller Mill" is the town's most prominent feature. It was closed but being renovated as of 2008. Other heritage listed buildings are the ruin of Archer's Folly (begun 1847), St Andrews Church (1845), Balmoral (1851), The Old Watchhouse (1837), the Carrick Hotel (1833). ### Agfest Agfest is an annual agricultural field day, held each May on a rural property in Carrick. It is the state's, and one of the country's, largest agricultural field days. Agfest is run by the Rural Youth Organisation of Tasmania with profits assisting Tasmanian Rural Counselling. It was first held at Symmons Plains, near Perth, Tasmania, in 1982 but the organising committee soon recognised the need for a larger site and in 1986 they purchased land on Oaks Road, Carrick from the Peterson family. This piece of land had originally been part of "Oaks Estate" belonging to Thomas Haydock Reibey, father to once Premier of Tasmania Thomas Reibey. They named it "Quercus Rural Youth Park"—Quercus is the genus name for oak—and held the first Agfest on the new site from 7–9 May 1987. Agfest has grown to the state's largest single event and attracts up to 70,000 visitors during the three days in May each year at the 200-acre (80 ha) site. ## Heritage properties Carrick has a large number of well-preserved 19th-century buildings. Fifteen properties in and around Carrick are listed on the Tasmanian Heritage Register. The listings recognised their historic cultural heritage significance to all Tasmania. Some of the properties are also listed on the Register of the National Estate. Pensioner's Row is a pair of co-joined brick cottages built by Thomas Reibey, originally for the blacksmith and saddler for "Entally Estate" in Hadspen. A heritage-listed cottage close by on Meander Valley road was formerly called "Ivy Cottage" due to prolific growth of the plant and was used as a private school. The former police watch-house was built opposite the Carrick Inn in 1837 using convict labour. The Prince of Wales Hotel was built in 1840 and was licensed for many years, but is now a private home. By 1869 it was a two-storey brick building with sixteen rooms, a cellar and a separate stone stable. "Sillwood" is the remains of an original farm building, built on a grant that was 4,560 acres (1,845 ha) in 1835. The original home was partly demolished to make way for an extension to an adjacent building in the late 20th century. The main farmhouse, said to be an "Outstanding Indian-influence house", has been demolished. Carrick House, on East Street was built around 1840 by Roderic O'Conner and was extended in the 19th century. Until the 1980s the house was associated with horse racing; its stables were used as a training base. It is a two-storey brick house with an iron roof and twelve-pane windows. Behind the stone mill is a single-storey brick cottage that was built around 1840 as a four-roomed, single-story brick building. After he purchased the mill, Monds expanded the cottage with a pantry, three more rooms and a dairy. The Carrick Hotel is a two-storey brick building with an iron hip roof built in 1833. It is the only licensed premises in Carrick and has been operated as a hotel for the entire of its history. The hotel has been sold and the licence transferred numerous times, including the first instance from John Taylor to Thomas Archer on 12 August 1839, and was called the Hotel Marella from November 1945 to December 1952.John Rudge built the Plough Inn in 1841, though it was referred to in an 1842 survey map as the Carrick Inn. It is a two-story brick building with an iron roof and 12-panel windows. John Archer was the Inn's first licensee, but by 1863 it was no longer operating and the building was offered for lease. The last licensee was John Jordan in 1873; over time it has been used as a bakery, art gallery, hotel and private home. ### Monds Roller Mills Monds Roller Mills building is a four-level, three-story, bluestone building with an iron gabled roof built c. 1846 by John Kinder Archer. The mill, and its associated storage and transportation needs, was the main employer in Carrick for many years. It was the last mill in Tasmania to be powered by water. The first mill was built of timber and powered by a water wheel fed from a dam on the Liffey, all constructed by William Bryan in 1826. Samuel Pratt Winter was sent to Tasmania by his father, at Byran's request, as an overseer for the mill. He managed this mill from 1834, when Bryan went to London in the midst of a dispute with Governor Arthur. From 1837 he leased the mill from Bryan and continued to operate it. He was living at the mill cottage in 1846, and still leasing the mill, when he arranged for the old wooden mill to be removed and, with John Kinder Archer, began building the current stone structure. As built this new mill had a water wheel powering three pairs of French burrs. Thomas Wilkes Monds was born in Launceston in 1829 and spent his early life gaining experience in numerous milling operations. In early 1841, on Monds' first visit to the town, he recorded it as having only four houses, a wooden flour mill, a blacksmith's shop and a pub constructed of mud and straw. Thomas Monds purchased the mill, including 13 acres (5 ha) of attached land, at Auction in 1867 for 2,100 pounds. He then took ownership of the "Carrick Mills" and in early 1868 Monds, his wife and six children moved into the small cottage behind the mill. This cottage had four rooms that Monds later expanded with a pantry, three more rooms and a dairy. When he purchased it, and for some time afterwards, the mill was not financially successful. Monds blamed this state of affairs on the "speculative" operation of a steam-powered mill, just a short distance uphill. The steam mill owners eventually became insolvent and Monds acquired the operation and building. Over time the mill's machinery was updated: in 1868 the existing wire machine was replaced with a silk dressing machine; a corn screen was installed in 1871; an oatmeal plant was added in 1880; the water wheel was replaced with an American-built water-powered "Victor" turbine in 1887; and in 1889 the plant was converted from millstones to roller milling, making it one of the earliest conversions in Tasmania. This last change, to roller milling, was recorded by Monds as driven by public demand for the whiter flour that process produced. Monds' oldest son took over office management of the mill in 1882 and Monds moved to Launceston in 1888 leaving the mill's management to his sons. The mill was the scene of the town's first telephones when they were installed at it and adjacent Hawthorn Villa in 1893. The mill remained in the hands of TW Monds & Sons until their 1918 merger with T Affleck & Son—which owned the Newry mill at Longford—creating the company Monds & Affleck. Monds & Affleck only operated the mill until 1924, and never reopened it. By 1931 it was reported as having ceased operations years ago. Monds & Affleck sold the mill in 1947, though it is not known when the mill's machinery was removed. By this time the mill was descending into Ruin and had long been vacant. The mill was renovated in 1984 and opened as a restaurant, though four years later it had closed and was being sold. After this it was reopened as a wedding and meeting venue. It had closed again by 2008, but was being renovated with the intention of reopening. ### St. Andrew's Church St. Andrew's Church is an actively used Anglican Church. The building is made from stuccoed brick with a crenelated tower and sits on 14 acres (6 ha)—that includes a cemetery and a rectory—abutting the Liffey River. The building was begun in 1843 by Thomas Reibey as a school for the town. He had the building converted to a church in 1845; Reibey donated the church's land and funded the building of the rectory and later purchase of the church's organ. The cemetery was consecrated in April 1845 and the church itself in November of the same year. The current structure was not complete until the tower was added in 1863. St. Andrew's was renovated c. 1900, the roof surface was replaced and new Cathedral glass installed. A bell hangs in the tower, made in England from iron and steel and lined with silver. Early in the church's history, the Archdeacon of Chichester (later Cardinal Henry Edward Manning) provided communion vessels copied from a 12th-century coffin of the Bishop of Chichester, a fact recorded in inscriptions on the cups. St Andrew's east window commemorates James, Charlotte and Thomas Reibey (Archdeacon of Launceston for a time). The church features an organ, originally housed in the crypt of St Paul's Cathedral, London. It was built by London organ builder J. C. Bishop around 1839, probably for a private owner. This dating is based partly on the organ's dedication plate's claim that Bishop was "Organ Builder to her Majesty" Queen Victoria, a claim that Bishop did not make until around this time. The organ's case is English oak with turned pillars at the front corners. It has a mechanical action with one manual and five speaking stops. A thorough restoration was completed in 1987 and the organ remains in use. ### Archer's Folly John Kinder Archer, son of Carrick's first Inn's builder, began building a large mansion on Bishopbourne Road in 1847. It was built as a substantial, brick quoin and rubble walled, two-story structure with a triple-gabled roof. It was designed to have large rooms (16 ft (4.9 m) by 30 ft (9.1 m)) and a domed driveway through the house's centre. When only four rooms were completed, the ship "The City of Launceston" sank off Adelaide with much of the supplies to complete the building. After this setback, exacerbated by the lack of insurance, Archer abandoned the building. Thomas Monds bought it in 1867 and used it for storing grain. Archer's building work created only a shell that became known as Archer's Folly. The folly was recorded by The Mercury in 1883 as both unfinished and ugly. By 1946 the Folly remained uncompleted and was used as a barn. In the late 20th century it was owned by Mirek Marik, local copper-work artist, who partly restored it. A fire broke out on 5 April 1978 and the conflagration left just a roofless shell. Marik Metal Art later built a replacement studio and workshop adjacent to the now grand ruin. ### Hawthorne Villa Hawthorne Villa is a Gothic-revival two-storey red-brick building at 1 Church Street. It was built by Thomas Monds in 1875 and is surrounded by English-style gardens that contain two large Californian Redwoods. The Villa was built on the site of Carrick's first hotel—an Adobe Inn built in the 1830s by John Archer—using some brickwork from the former building. This former building had been vacant since 1867 and was in a poor state. "The Stables" is a tourist property, set in the Villa's gardens, that is used for self-contained accommodation.

Battle of Kolubara

Battle during World War I

The Battle of Kolubara (Serbian Cyrillic: Колубарска битка, German: Schlacht an der Kolubara) was fought between Austria-Hungary and Serbia in November and December 1914, during the Serbian Campaign of 1914. It commenced on 16 November, when the Austro-Hungarians under the command of Oskar Potiorek reached the Kolubara river during their third invasion of Serbia that year, having captured the strategic town of Valjevo and forced the Serbian army to undertake a series of retreats. The Serbs withdrew from Belgrade on 29–30 November, and the city soon fell under Austro-Hungarian control. On 2 December, the Serbian army launched a surprise counterattack all along the front. Valjevo and Užice were retaken by the Serbs on 8 December. The Austro-Hungarians retreated to Belgrade, which 5th Army commander Liborius Ritter von Frank deemed untenable. The Austro-Hungarians abandoned the city between 14 and 15 December and retreated into Austria-Hungary, allowing the Serbs to retake their capital the following day. The Austro-Hungarians and the Serbs suffered heavy casualties, with more than 20,000 dead on each side. The defeat humiliated Austria-Hungary, which had hoped to occupy Serbia by the end of 1914. On 22 December, Potiorek and von Frank were relieved of their respective commands, and the 5th and 6th armies were merged into a single 5th Army of 95,000 men. ## Background On 28 June 1914, the Bosnian Serb student Gavrilo Princip assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in Sarajevo. The assassination precipitated the July Crisis, which led Austria-Hungary to issue an ultimatum to Serbia on 23 July because it suspected that the assassination had been planned in Belgrade. The Austro-Hungarian ultimatum was intentionally unacceptable to Serbia and was indeed rejected. The Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia on 28 July. The same day, the Serbs destroyed all bridges on the Sava and Danube rivers to prevent the Austro-Hungarians from using them during any future invasion. Belgrade was shelled the following day, which marked the beginning of World War I. Fighting in Eastern Europe began with the first Austro-Hungarian invasion of Serbia in early August 1914, under the command of Oskar Potiorek. The number of Austro-Hungarian troops assigned to the invasion was far smaller than the force of 308,000 that had been intended when war was declared since much of the Austro-Hungarian 2nd Army had moved to the Russian front. That reduced the number of troops involved in the initial stages of the invasion to approximately 200,000. On the other hand, the Serbs could muster some 450,000 men to oppose the Austro-Hungarians upon full mobilization. The main elements to face the Austro-Hungarians were the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and Užice Armies, with a combined strength of approximately 180,000 men. The Serbian Army was commanded by Crown Prince Alexander, with the chief of the Serbian general staff, Radomir Putnik, as his deputy and de facto military leader. Petar Bojović, Stepa Stepanović, Pavle Jurišić Šturm and Miloš Božanović commanded the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and Užice Armies, respectively. The Balkan Wars had only just concluded l, and Serbia was still recovering. Over 36,000 Serbian soldiers had been killed and 55,000 seriously wounded. Few recruits had been gained from the newly-acquired territories, and the Serbian army had been stretched by the need to garrison them against Albanian insurgents and the threat of a Bulgarian attack. To compound matters, the Serbs were dangerously short of artillery and had only begun replenishing their ammunition stocks. Their supply problems also extended to more basic items. Many soldiers lacked any uniform other than a standard issue greatcoat and a traditional Serbian cap known as a šajkača. Rifles were also in critically short supply. It was estimated that fully mobilizing would leave about 50,000 Serbian soldiers lacking equipment. The Austro-Hungarians, on the other hand, had an abundance of modern rifles, twice as many machine guns and field guns as the Serbs also had better stocks of munitions and much better transport and industrial infrastructure behind them. The Serbs had a slight advantage over the Austro-Hungarians, as many of their soldiers were experienced veterans of the Balkan Wars and were better trained than their Austro-Hungarian counterparts. The Serbian soldiers were also highly motivated, partially compensating for their lack of weaponry. The Serbs beat back an Austro-Hungarian invasion in August at the Battle of Cer. That marked the first Allied victory over the Central Powers in World War I. Potiorek was humiliated by the defeat and was determined to resume the assault against the Serbs. He was permitted in September to launch another invasion of Serbia if he "risk anything that might lead to a further fiasco." Under pressure from the Russians to launch their offensive and to keep as many Austro-Hungarian troops as possible away from the Eastern Front, the Serbs invaded Bosnia in September with the help of Chetnik irregulars until being repulsed after a month of fighting in what came to be known as the Battle of the Drina. Bojović was wounded during the battle and was replaced by Živojin Mišić as commander of the Serbian 1st Army. ## Prelude ### Austro-Hungarian plans The Armeeoberkommando (AOK) acknowledged that an undefeated Serbia severed Austria-Hungary's connection to the Ottoman Empire and prevented the completion of the Berlin–Baghdad railway. The AOK also realized that the Austro-Hungarian Army's inability to defeat Serbia would discourage neutral countries such as Bulgaria, Romania and Greece, from joining the Central Powers and would tempt Italy to open up a third front against Austria-Hungary. Nevertheless, the AOK hesitated to authorize a third invasion of Serbia. That changed in September 1914, when Austro-Hungarian troops discovered a map in an abandoned Semlin bookshop titled The New Division of Europe. Originally printed in a Russian newspaper, the map was widely sold in Serbia and depicted the borders of Europe as they would appear after the war. Germany was to be divided into northern and southern confederations. Austria-Hungary was to be abolished; its eastern provinces were given to Russia, Romania, the Czechs and the Hungarians; and its southern provinces were to be divided between Serbia and Italy. Alarmed by the prospect of Austria-Hungary's disintegration, Emperor Franz Joseph personally authorized a third invasion of Serbia in early October 1914. Having just repelled the Serbian incursion into Bosnia, the Austro-Hungarian Army regrouped and positioned itself for one final invasion before winter set in. Potiorek was again placed in charge of Austro-Hungarian forces and was given command of the Austro-Hungarian 6th Army. The Austro-Hungarian 5th Army was commanded by Liborius Ritter von Frank. The Austro-Hungarians had 450,000 troops at their disposal. The Serbian army had 400,000 soldiers ready to face the Austro-Hungarian advance. Potiorek appeared confident: "Soldiers of the 5th and 6th armies, the goal of this war is nearly attained—the destruction of the enemy. The three-month campaign is almost over; we must only break the enemy's last resistance before the onset of winter". The Serbs were exhausted and demoralized. In a telegram to Putnik dated 27 October 1914, Stepanović complained that the 2nd army did not have enough shells to resist the Austro-Hungarians effectively and requested for him to be removed from his command; Putnik denied the request but ordered all units to resist the Austro-Hungarian advance for as long as possible before they retreated. That strategy had worked in Putnik's favour during the summer months until heavy rainfall in September and early October had reduced Serbia's roads to "muddy quagmires," making the movement of troops, guns and wagons increasingly hard. Potiorek recognized that the Serbian army was in a difficult situation; he was certain that a third invasion would bring him the decisive victory that he so desperately wanted. In Vienna and Sarajevo, Austro-Hungarian officials began planning for the occupation and dismantling of Serbia. The country was to be plundered, with its territory used to bribe the neutral Balkan states into joining the Central Powers. The Romanians would get the region of the Timok Valley and the Bulgarians Macedonia and southeastern Serbia. The Austro-Hungarians intended to annex everything west of the Morava river, as well as the cities of Scutari (Shkodër) and Durazzo (Durrës), in northern Albania. The Serbs living west of the Morava, or "the compact masses of the Serbian element," as the Austro-Hungarians called them, were to be expelled and replaced with Austrian settlers, who would "change the psychology [of the region], making Serbia more Habsburg [and] less Serbian in outlook." Ludwig Thallóczy, the section chief of the Austro-Hungarian Finance Ministry, wrote Potiorek in October to recommend "the West Europeanization of the Serbs with a strong hand" as soon as Serbia had been occupied. Potiorek planned to launch a converging attack across northern and western Serbia. The 5th army was to capture Valjevo and envelope the Kolubara River from the north as the 6th army was to secure the Jagodnja plateau and outflank Serbian units on the Kolubara from the south. The capture of the southeastern Serbian city of Niš was Potiorek's primary objective. Niš had been Serbia's capital since July and was a crucial transportation hub for its military. It also acted as a clearing house for munitions produced at the arsenal in Kragujevac. The city's capture would cut Serbia into two and scatter the Serbian army. ### Third Austro-Hungarian invasion of Serbia All of the valleys of northwestern Serbia were swamped by constant rainfall. The mountains had been covered in snow since early October. Acknowledging the opportunity such conditions presented, Putnik told his closest advisors: "All my strategy consists in placing the 'Serbian national mud' between the enemy's fighting line and his supplies." On 31 October, von Frank's 5th army pushed down into the region between the Sava and Drina rivers while Potiorek's 6th army drove west across the Drina and into the Jagodnja plateau. Austria-Hungary's third invasion of Serbia commenced on 6 November 1914, with intense artillery fire strafing a series of Serbian border towns. On 7 November, the Austro-Hungarian 5th and 6th Armies attacked across the Drina. Outnumbered and in desperate need of ammunition, the Serbian army offered fierce resistance but was forced to retreat. The 3rd army fell back against a road by the Jadar River to block the Austro-Hungarian advance towards Valjevo, and the 1st army retreated southward into the Serbian interior. The Užice Army managed to prevent the Austro-Hungarians from crossing the Drina. On 8 November, the Austro-Hungarians attacked the Serbian 2nd army near Cer Mountain, coming within 1.6 kilometres (0.99 mi) of the Serbian frontline, entrenching themselves at the foot of the mountain. The 2nd Army was given orders to hold the Austro-Hungarians down for as long as possible and, if its position became untenable, to retreat towards the right bank of the Dobrava River and position itself to block the approach to Valjevo. Elsewhere, the Austro-Hungarians drove a wedge between the 1st and the 3rd Armies and forced another Serbian retreat. Later that day, the Serbian Government and The Serbian Supreme Command held a joint session concerning Serbia's worsening military position. Putnik stressed that Serbia needed to maintain the Kolubara and the towns within its vicinity and suggested that the Serbs make a separate peace with Austria-Hungary if that proved impossible. That notion was rejected by Pašić, who urged further resistance to the Austro-Hungarians and threatened his government's resignation if peace discussions began. The session ended with the Serbian government and the Supreme Command agreeing to fight on. ### Serbian retreat Putnik reasoned that Austro-Hungarian supply lines would become overstretched as their forces pressed deeper into Serbia while the Serbs would continue to hold the railheads in the Serbian interior. On 10 November, he ordered a general retreat from the Jadar, withdrew the Serbian 2nd army to Ub, and positioned the 1st and the 3rd Armies north and west of Valjevo. Meanwhile, the Užice Army took up positions to defend the town from which it took its name. The Austro-Hungarians pressed after the Serbs and hoped to capture the Obrenovac–Valjevo railroad. Clashes ensued, and the Serbian army prevented the Austro-Hungarians from taking the railroad for a while. It quickly became evident to Putnik that he had underestimated the Austro-Hungarians, who managed to bring their heavy artillery through the muddy Serbian country roads. They established firing positions on the Serbian side of the Drina and began targeting the Serbian army, which suffered heavy casualties. Morale plummeted amongst the Serbs, who were already significantly demoralized from a lack of cold-weather clothing and ammunition and were exhausted by the long retreat toward the Serbian interior. Putnik realized that his forces would need to regroup to provide effectual resistance. He ordered the abandonment of Valjevo and had the Serbian army take positions on the Kolubara. The retreat towards the river was long and excruciating, with the Serbs being forced to destroy all bridges and telephone lines so they would not fall into Austro-Hungarian hands. The Serbian army also abandoned the bulk of its heavy equipment to speed up the withdrawal. Seeing that the situation was critical and that Serbian forces were lacking artillery, ammunition and supplies, Pašić sought the help of the Triple Entente. He sent a telegram to his envoys abroad, which read: "Urgent help is required. Beg and plead". France provided the Serbs with munitions and supplies. Representatives of Russia and the United Kingdom "expressed understanding" but failed to deliver weapons and munitions. The Austro-Hungarians entered Valjevo on 15 November, which prompted wild public celebrations in Vienna. Franz Joseph praised Potiorek for seizing the town, cities across the empire made Potiorek an honorary citizen, and Sarajevo even named a street after him. Valjevo's capture led the Austro-Hungarians to believe that they were on the verge of defeating Serbia and that its army was no longer a coherent fighting force. However, the scorched earth tactics that the Serbs had used during their withdrawal complicated the Austro-Hungarian advance. Although the Austro-Hungarians correctly assumed the Serbian army to be exhausted, its defensive positions along the Kolubara had been prepared months in advance. Putnik's carefully-timed withdrawals had ensured that the losses of the Serbian army were lighter than if it had stood and fought pitched battles with the Austro-Hungarians. Also, the geography of northwestern Serbia favoured defensive operations since the approaches to the Kolubara did not offer any cover for armies invading from the direction of Austria-Hungary, and the river itself was surrounded by mountainous terrain. In October, the Serbs fortified the Jeljak and the Maljen mountain ranges in anticipation of an Austro-Hungarian attack. That gave the Serbs an advantage over the Austro-Hungarians by placing the former in control of all roads leading to Kragujevac. The Serbs also established a series of field fortifications blocking the approach to Niš. The extensive series of fortifications and the difficulty of the terrain that they faced left the Austro-Hungarians with no choice but to conduct operations in the gruelling Serbian countryside, with almost no lines of communication. ## Battle ### 16–26 November The Austro-Hungarians reached the Kolubara on 16 November and launched an assault against Serbian defensive positions there the following day. The Serbs managed to force the Austro-Hungarians back, and for the next five days, both armies fought a series of battles under heavy rain and snowfall. Both sides suffered heavy casualties, with a large number of soldiers succumbing to frostbite and hypothermia. The Austro-Hungarian assault began at Lazarevac, a strategically-located town just south of Belgrade whose capture would have given them access to the Mladenovac railway line and the ability to outflank the Serbian forces holding the road to Belgrade. Further south, the Austro-Hungarians attacked the Serbian 1st army. During the assault, they made the mistake of attacking its better-defended right flank and were met with determined Serbian resistance, which prevented them from gaining any ground. The military historian David Jordan notes that if the Austro-Hungarians had attacked the junction splitting the 1st and Užice armies, they might have cut the Serbs down the centre and gotten hold of an unimpeded passage to the Morava River. The Serbian 1st army quickly reinforced its left flank and realized that any subsequent attack against it would be far less easy to repel. During the night of 18 November, the Austro-Hungarians moved into position to carry out a further assault, which began the following morning. Their main goals were to break through the defenses of the Serbian 2nd army, which was concentrated primarily around Lazarevac, and to drive the Serbian 1st army back towards the town of Gornji Milanovac while they simultaneously assaulted Serbian positions around the villages of Čovka and Vrače Brdo, which threatened the Austro-Hungarian flank. The Austro-Hungarians gained a foothold at Vrače Brdo by the evening of 19 November and seized higher ground from the Serbs further to the south. The Serbian 1st army was forced to retreat the following day, which allowed the Austro-Hungarians to advance down the main routes leading to Kragujevac. Though Potiorek believed that Putnik might be trying to lure the Austro-Hungarians deeper into Serbia to encircle them so that he could attack their flanks, he correctly assessed that the Serbian army was in no position to carry out such an attack. The Austro-Hungarians made a renewed attack against the 1st army on 21 November and forced the Serbs back after a series of brutal engagements. The Austro-Hungarians then advanced towards Mount Maljen and aimed to drive the 1st Serbian army from its positions there. The Serbs withdrew from the mountain after three days of heavy fighting. Potiorek decided not to pursue this and to allow the Serbs to make an orderly withdrawal. The Austro-Hungarians had suffered heavy casualties, and the intensity of the fighting had caused them to lose cohesion. As they advanced deeper into Serbia, the terrain became increasingly harsh and exhausted the already-tired Austro-Hungarian soldiers. While the Serbian 1st army withdrew, the 2nd and the 3rd armies fiercely resisted the Austro-Hungarian advance. Thar led Potiorek to reinforce his positions around Lazarevac, which he aimed to capture and use as a pivot from which to attack Kragujevac while his right flank pushed down the West Morava valley. The Austro-Hungarian advances convinced Potiorek that his army had the upper hand. He planned for his forces to pursue the surviving soldiers from the Serbian 2nd and 3rd Armies and predicted that the Serbian 1st and Užice Armies would be forced to manoeuvre towards Belgrade and Lazarevac, where they would be encircled and destroyed. As a result, combat on the outskirts of Lazarevac intensified once again, and the Serbian army managed to repulse every Austro-Hungarian assault despite a lack of ammunition. The Serbs began to run out of shells, and Stepanović asked the Serbian Supreme Command for the artillery of the 2nd army to be redirected to its rear, as he felt that its failure to contribute to the defence of Lazarevac had frustrated his troops and hurt their morale. Putnik instructed Stepanović to keep the artillery of the 2nd army on the front and told him that the Russians had sent artillery shells for its guns. Stepanović was skeptical but kept it on the front line as instructed. By 24 November, Potiorek predicted that Serbia would be defeated within a matter of days and appointed Stjepan Sarkotić to be the country's governor once occupied. The Austro-Hungarians made further gains on 25 November and forced the Serbian Army from Čovka and Vrače Brdo with an intense artillery bombardment. On 26 November, they attempted to cross the Kolubara at its junction with the Sava River and managed to do so in their initial attack. The Serbs soon counterattacked, forced the invaders back, inflicted 50% casualties on the Austro-Hungarians and caused their offensive to grind to a halt. On 27 November, the Serbian army attacked Čovka and Vrače Brdo and succeeded in forcing the Austro-Hungarians out. ### Fall of Belgrade Although the Serbian army had put up fierce resistance and inflicted heavy casualties on the Austro-Hungarians, Putnik became concerned that his lines were overextended. He began contemplating another strategic withdrawal in which Belgrade would need to be evacuated. On the night of 26–27 November, the Austro-Hungarian 6th Army attacked all along the front and pushed deeper into the Serbian interior. Defending along an overextended front, the Serbian Supreme Command abandoned Belgrade. The city was evacuated on 29-30 November. The Austro-Hungarians entered it on 1 December, prompting even more celebrations in Vienna. The Serbian people withdrew alongside their army, and many retreated to Niš, where news of Belgrade's fall was greeted "impassively" since it had been "expected since the beginning of the war." Albin Kutschbach, a German agent in Niš, reported: "More refugees are arriving by the day, and despite many people being sent south, there are certainly still 60,000 people here". Germany responded to the capture of Belgrade with delight and sent a congratulatory telegram to the Austro-Hungarian leadership. The Austro-Hungarians ascertained that their war against Serbia would soon end and began preparing for its occupation. On 2 December, the anniversary of Franz Joseph's 66th year on the throne, Potiorek wrote that he was "laying town and fortress Belgrade at His Majesty's feet." ### Serbian counterattack It became increasingly clear to both Potiorek and Putnik that the Austro-Hungarian supply lines were overextended, so on 1 December, Potiorek ordered the Austro-Hungarian 6th Army to stop and to wait for the 5th army to secure its supply lines east of the Valjevo railway. That resulted in a short pause to all Austro-Hungarian military operations. Mišić exploited the brief respite by withdrawing the Serbian 1st army a full 19 kilometres (12 mi) from the front line and ensuring that his soldiers had an opportunity to rest. The Serbian Army then converged around Mount Rudnik, where it received long-promised supplies from its allies via the Niš–Salonika railroad. Putnik's confidence in the ability of his army to launch a counterattack was restored. On 2 December, he ordered his forces to attack the Austro-Hungarians all along the front, informing his officers that the offensive would be specifically to improve Serbian morale. Determined to play his part, the aging Serbian King Peter I took a rifle and accompanied his troops to the front. The Serbian offensive caught the Austro-Hungarians by surprise, and when the attack was launched, they were holding a large military parade through the streets of Belgrade. The Austro-Hungarians now found themselves defending along an overextended front, as Potiorek had just begun strengthening his left flank, which left the front line very lightly held. Potiorek knew he could avoid a reversal on the battlefield by preventing the Serbian 1st army from reaching the Kolubara and Morava Rivers. But the Serbs were confident after discovering that the Austro-Hungarians had failed to adequately prepare for a Serbian counterattack, as their artillery was well behind the front line. That meant the Austro-Hungarian defenders could not use their heavy guns to break up any Serbian advance. Rested and resupplied, the Serbs pushed forward toward Belgrade. By the night of 2 December, the Serbian 1st army had advanced several kilometres past Austro-Hungarian lines, taken many prisoners and inflicted heavy casualties on the Austro-Hungarians. The 2nd and the 3rd Armies captured several vital positions on high ground, and the Užice Army met fierce resistance but ultimately pushed back the Austro-Hungarians. The offensive's initial success greatly enhanced the morale of Serbian troops, just as Putnik had wanted. Significantly weakened, the Austro-Hungarians did not have time to recover before the offensive resumed the next day. They had been forced into retreat by the end of the day. On 6 December, the British ambassador to Serbia informed the British Government that the Serb offensive was "progressing brilliantly." That day, the Serbian army had broken the Austro-Hungarians at their centre and on their right flank. Outmanoeuvred, the Austro-Hungarians were forced into a full retreat and abandoned their weapons and equipment as they went. Meanwhile, the Austro-Hungarians attempted to consolidate control around Belgrade. On 7 December, they attacked the right flank of the Serbian army in the city's outskirts. On 8 December, the Austro-Hungarians fell back against Užice and Valjevo. Though the Serbs anticipated their opponents would entrench themselves and attempt to block the Serbian army's advance, the Austro-Hungarians had failed to construct any defensive networks and weren't in a position to block the Serbian offensive. Though the Austro-Hungarians had ensured that Valjevo's defences were fortified and had laid down artillery plans for the town's defense, their lack of prior preparation meant the hills surrounding the town had no significant defensive positions. The Serbs exploited that weakness by manoeuvring around the hills, encircling the Austro-Hungarians and suffering minimal casualties. The Serbian 3rd Army then broke through the defenses of the 6th Army at Mount Suvobor and stormed Valjevo. In Niš, the Bulgarian ambassador to Serbia reported, "The most improbable news from the battleground, sweet to the Serb ear, has been going around since this morning." He wrote that in the last three to four days, the Serbian army had captured one Austro-Hungarian general, 49 officers and more than 20,000 troops, including 40 cannons and "huge quantities of war matériel." By 9 December, the Austro-Hungarian counteroffensive around Belgrade had lost momentum, and the Austro-Hungarians began to retreat towards the city centre. One Austro-Hungarian soldier wrote, "We could not have imagined that the Serbs were on our heels since we had recently been victorious." On 10 December, the Serbian army captured the lower reaches of the Drina and forced most of the surviving Austro-Hungarian troops to flee across it. They did not stop until they had crossed the Sava and the Danube and entered the Banat. Very few Austro-Hungarian soldiers made it back to Bosnia. On 13 December, von Frank informed Potiorek that he considered it impossible for Austro-Hungarian forces to remain in Belgrade for much longer. As a result, Potiorek ordered the ones in the city to withdraw. The Austro-Hungarians left Belgrade on 14 and 15 December and retreated to Austria-Hungary, covered by their river monitors on the Sava and the Danube. The Serbian army re-entered Belgrade on 15 December and had total control of the city by the end of the following day. ## Aftermath The battle ended in a decisive Serbian victory. A directive issued by the Serbian Supreme Command on 16 December reported: "The recapture of Belgrade marks the successful end of a great and magnificent period in our operations. The enemy is beaten, dispersed, defeated and expelled from our territory once and for all." Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf, the Austro-Hungarian Chief of the General Staff, attributed the defeat to a Serbian "thunderbolt from the south." The battle achieved none of Austria-Hungary's objectives: it failed to knock Serbia out of the war, induce Bulgaria to join the Central Powers, and convince Romania to stay neutral. Austro-Hungarian historians concluded after the battle that defeat by Serbia constituted "a serious diminution in the Dual Monarchy's prestige and self-confidence." The battle, like the Battle of Cer before it, drew considerable attention to Serbia, and many foreigners came to the country in late 1914 to offer political and humanitarian aid or to fight alongside the Serbian army. German publicist Maximilian Harden wrote: "Serbia has risen from its grave on the field of Kosovo. From the source of the Kolubara River, it will draw courage for the greatest battles of the whole century." The Austro-Hungarians suffered about 225,000 casualties, including 30,000 killed, 173,000 wounded and 70,000 taken prisoner. They reported that 200 of their officers were taken prisoner during the battle, and more than 130 cannons, 70 heavy machine guns and a large quantity of matériel were captured. The Serbs also suffered heavy casualties, with 22,000 killed, 91,000 wounded and 19,000 missing or captured. The Western press was appalled with the scale of atrocities committed by the Austro-Hungarian troops against Serbian civilians, including women and children. William Shepard of the United Press confirmed as an eyewitness that at least 11 towns were abandoned, and all of northwestern Serbia was nearly depopulated. Mišić was promoted to the rank of Vojvoda for his command during the battle. Potiorek, on the other hand, was relieved of command on 22 December for "this most ignominious, rankling and derisory defeat." The decision reportedly made him suicidal. He was replaced by Archduke Eugen of Austria, who the Austro-Hungarians hoped would "restore Habsburg forces to the glory days of Prince Eugene." Von Frank was dismissed as commander of the 5th Army and replaced by Karl Tersztyánszky von Nádas, who had commanded the 4th Corps at the Battle of Cer. The 5th and the 6th Armies were then merged into a single 5th Army consisting of 95,000 men. Dobrica Ćosić's novel A Time of Death revolves around the battle. It was adapted into a stage play in 1983, titled The Battle of Kolubara. ## See also - Battle of Cer - Battle of the Drina

Sørkjosen Airport

Airport in Nordreisa Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway

Sørkjosen Airport (Norwegian: Sørkjosen lufthavn; ) is a regional airport located at the village of Sørkjosen in Nordreisa Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway, about 4.5 kilometres (2.8 mi) from the municipal center of Storslett. Owned and operated by the state-owned Avinor, it handled 15,198 passengers in 2014. The airport has a 880-meter (2,890 ft) runway and is served by Widerøe, which operates regional routes using the Dash 8-100 to Tromsø, and some communities and towns in Finnmark on public service obligation contracts. The airport opened in 1974 and was originally served using de Havilland Canada Twin Otter aircraft. Dash 8s were introduced in 1995 and two years later ownership was transferred from Nordreisa Municipality to the state. ## History Sørkjosen was launched as part of a national network of regional short take-off and landing airport which was proposed in the mid-1960s. The final decision to build the airport was taken by Parliament in 1972. Both Widerøe and Norving applied to operate the subsidized regional routes in Finnmark, which included the route to Sørkjosen. Widerøe was awarded the contract in 1973. Sørkjosen Airport opened on 1 August 1974, the same day as four regional airports in Finnmark. A new fire station, serving both the airport and the municipality, was completed in 1992, costing 3.2 million Norwegian krone. A five-week strike by three employees took place in 1992, where they demanded a collective agreement. The strike stopped all traffic at the airport, but the employees never received their demands. The Civil Aviation Administration (later renamed Avinor) recommended in 1994 that Sørkjosen and eight other airports be considered closed, as they had high costs and low patronage. Widerøe served the airport using Twin Otters until 1995, when they were replaced by the Dash 8. The airport received subsidies of 3.9 million Norwegian krone (NOK) in 1996, which allowed the airport to operate with a profit of NOK 1.4 million. The state and the Civil Aviation Administration took over ownership and operations of the airport from 1 January 1997, in exchange for NOK 3.9 million being paid to Nordreisa Municipality. Ground handling remained a municipal responsibility. Flights to Sørkjosen have been subject to public service obligations since 1 April 1997. In the mid-1990s, Nordreisa Municipal Council attempted to change the airport's name from Sørkjosen to Nordreisa. They argued that it was necessary to use the Nordreisa name to market the region as a tourist destination. The application was rejected by the Ministry of Transport and Communications, who stated that airports were required by regulation to be named after a settlement rather than a municipality. Airport security was introduced on 1 January 2005. This required the terminal to be slightly rebuilt; while it previously had a common departure and arrivals hall, it had to be separated into two areas. The municipality therefore decided to transfer the ownership of the ground handling service to the three employees. Avinor carried out a major upgrade to the runway safety area and landing lights in 2008 and 2009. The investments cost NOK 40 million. The expansion of the safety area resulted in part of the lot of Birkelund Sawmill being expropriated. ## Facilities The airport has a 880-by-30-meter (2,887 by 98 ft) asphalt runway aligned 15–33 (roughly north–south). The airport consists of a passenger terminal and an operations building. The terminal has a capacity of sixty passengers per hour and one airliner on the apron. Twenty people work at the airport, which is five minutes from Storslett. Free parking, taxis and car rental is available. ## Airlines and destinations Sørkjosen Airport is served by Widerøe with Dash 8-100 aircraft connecting the community with Tromsø and airports in Finnmark. The routes are operated on public service obligation with the Ministry of Transport and Communications. The airport had 15,198 passengers, 2,343 aircraft movements and handled 0 tonnes of cargo in 2014, and 22,256 passengers in 2017. Sørkjosen airport's catchment area covers northern Troms and it is the only regional airport in the county (Tromsø and Bardufoss are primary). ## Statistics

William Johnstone Hope

British Royal Navy admiral and politician

Vice Admiral Sir William Johnstone Hope, GCB (16 August 1766 – 2 May 1831) was a prominent and controversial British Royal Navy officer and politician in late eighteenth and early nineteenth century Britain, whose career experienced fleet actions, disputes with royalty, party politics and entry to both Russian and British orders of chivalry. A popular officer, Hope served with Nelson, Duncan and Lord Keith through several campaigns, making connections which enabled him to secure a lengthy political career after his retirement from the Royal Navy in 1804 due to ill-health. After 26 years in Parliament, Hope was largely inactive and instead served as a Lord of the Admiralty and commissioner of Greenwich Naval Hospital. Hope died in 1832 after 55 years of naval and political service and was buried in the family plot in Scotland. ## Early life William Johnstone Hope was born the third son of John Hope and his wife Mary Breton. The Hopes were descendants of the first Earl of Hopetoun and maintained strong political links with the family; his brothers were also prominent figures, Charles Hope later became Lord Granton and Sir John Hope served as a brigadier under Wellington in the Peninsular War. Hope was educated at Edinburgh High School between 1774 and 1776 and the following year, aged 12, he entered the Royal Navy as a midshipman in HMS Weazel, a sloop commanded by his uncle Captain Charles Hope. As his uncle's protégé, William traveled with his relative through various commands, serving during the American Revolutionary War off the Home, Lisbon and Newfoundland Stations. In 1782 he was promoted to lieutenant and left his uncle, taking a position on the frigate HMS Daedalus in Newfoundland. At the conclusion of the war, Hope returned home on Daedalus and remained on her until 1785 when his uncle returned him to his own ship, now the guardship HMS Sampson at Plymouth. In 1786, Hope's career suffered a blow when he was stationed aboard the frigate HMS Pegasus, commanded by Prince William Henry. Hope and Prince William fell out badly and in less than a year Hope had been transferred to the frigate HMS Boreas, at that time commanded by Captain Horatio Nelson, with whom Hope had good relations. Two years later, Hope was transferred to HMS Adamant at the request of Sir Richard Hughes. When Hughes reached flag rank in 1790 whilst stationed in Newfoundland, he promoted Hope to commander and gave him command of Adamant. ### French Revolutionary War Hope continued in command of small ships for several years, pausing in 1792 to marry his distant cousin, Lady Anne Hope Johnstone. The couple had two daughters and four sons before Anne's death in 1818. In 1794, Hope was in command of HMS Incendiary, a fireship of the Channel Fleet attached to Lord Howe's force sent to engage the French. In March, Hope was given his step to post captain, taking command of the ship of the line HMS Bellerophon, the flagship of Admiral Thomas Pasley. Hope was still in command of the Bellerophon three months later when he was heavily engaged in the van of Howe's fleet at the Glorious First of June, when an equally sized French fleet was defeated 200 miles out in the Atlantic Ocean. At the start of 1795, Hope joined HMS Tremendous, but within two months was requested on board HMS Venerable by Admiral Duncan. However, while visiting aboard a Russian ship in 1796, Hope suffered a serious accidental head injury that left him an invalid for two years, consequently missing Duncan's victory at the Battle of Camperdown. Returning from his long convalescence, Hope was again requested by Duncan and commanded his flagship HMS Kent for the next three years. In 1799, the Kent was Duncan's flagship in supporting the Anglo-Russian invasion of the Batavian Republic, with Hope being present at the surrender of the Dutch fleet in Texel to the Royal Navy. Sent to Britain with the dispatches proclaiming the surrender, Hope was lauded by both the British and Russian courts, King George III presenting him with £500 and Tsar Paul I making him a Commander of the Order of St John. In 1801 in the Mediterranean, under the command of Admiral Lord Keith, Kent carried Sir Ralph Abercromby and his headquarters for the invasion of Egypt, a successful campaign which forced the surrender of the French occupying force. Hope was not present for the conclusion of the action, returning to Britain with Admiral Duncan after Sir Richard Bickerton raised his flag on Kent. He was awarded the Order of the Crescent by Emperor Selim III for this service. In 1800, Hope began his second career, gaining the seat of Dumfries Burghs in the House of Commons through family influence. During his time as MP, Hope rarely visited his constituency and equally rarely appeared in parliament. He lost the constituency to his brother in 1802, but in 1804 was elected to the seat of Dumfriesshire, again through family connections. He retained this post until his retirement from public life in 1830. ## Retirement In 1804, at the end of the Peace of Amiens, Hope briefly took command of HMS Atlas, but it soon became clear that his health was failing and he could no longer maintain an active naval career. Retiring from the navy on half-pay, Hope was an invalid from 1804 until 1807, when a return to health permitted him to take a post as a Lord of the Admiralty. Hope changed positions several times in this role, but he held onto the position for twenty years as a political favourite, a status maintained by being almost totally politically inactive. In 1812, Hope was advanced to rear-admiral and in January 1815 he was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) on the reorganisation of the order, and was invested later in the year. From 1813, Hope served as commander-in-chief at Leith until 1818 and in 1819 he was again promoted, this time to vice-admiral. In March 1820 he was recalled to the Admiralty as First Naval Lord in the Liverpool ministry. He remained there for seven years without participating in any of the important decisions and innovations of the period. He remarried in 1821 to Maria, née Eden, widow of Frederik Willem van Reede, 6th Earl of Athlone, and daughter of Sir John Eden, 4th Baronet, and in 1825 was advanced to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB). In 1827, in the chaotic aftermath of the collapse of Lord Liverpool's government, Hope was retired in favour of Sir George Cockburn and given the favourable role of treasurer and later commissioner of the Royal Naval Hospital in Greenwich. Despite his conflicts with Prince William 45 years earlier, when King William IV ascended the throne in 1830, he made Hope a privy councillor, before Hope entered retirement later in the year. Hope died in May 1831, a few months after giving up his seat in Parliament. Although he died in Bath, his remains were returned to the family crypt at Johnstone Church, Johnstone, Dumfriesshire.

1926 FA Cup final

The 1926 FA Cup final was a football match between Bolton Wanderers and Manchester City on 24 April 1926 at Wembley Stadium in London. The showpiece match of English football's primary cup competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup (better known as the FA Cup), it was the 55th final, and the fourth at Wembley. Each team progressed through five rounds to reach the final. Both teams were members of the Football League First Division, Bolton Wanderers occupying a position in upper-mid-table and Manchester City next to bottom. Consequently, Bolton entered the match as favourites and, as expected, went on to win, their single goal being scored by David Jack. ## Route to the final ### Bolton Wanderers Both teams entered the competition in the third round, the entry point for First Division clubs. Bolton Wanderers were drawn away at Accrington Stanley but, following a request to the FA, the match was switched to Bolton for crowd safety reasons. Bolton's David Jack scored the only goal of the game in an unexpectedly close contest. To the resentment of the Bolton crowd, Ted Vizard was sent off for the first time in his career, leading the referee to require a police escort to the railway station. In the fourth round Bolton were held to a surprise draw at Third Division team Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic. The Wanderers lost Bill Cope to injury after fifteen minutes. A 1–0 half-time lead quickly turned into a 2–1 deficit early in the second half but, with five minutes remaining, Jack scored an equaliser. Bolton's fifth round home tie against South Shields produced a straightforward 3–0 victory. The goals were scored by Joe Smith, Jack Smith and David Jack, the latter maintaining his record of scoring in every round. The quarter-final against Nottingham Forest required two replays to produce a winner. Following a 2–2 draw in Nottingham and a goalless game in Bolton, the Wanderers prevailed 1–0 in another close game held at Old Trafford. Bolton drew Swansea Town, the last remaining Second Division club, in the semi-final. This meant Bolton did not meet a single First Division club in their path to the final. Three early goals gave Bolton a comfortable 3–0 win at White Hart Lane. ### Manchester City Manchester City's third round tie was against the amateur club Corinthians at Crystal Palace. The third round was the furthest Corinithians had ever progressed, though until 1923 the club never entered the cup due to club rules preventing them from entering any competition with a prize. Manchester City went behind and only equalised three minutes from time. The Corinthians goalkeeper, Benjamin Howard Baker collided with a teammate, causing him to take more than four steps with the ball. From the resulting free kick, Frank Roberts scored in a goalmouth melee to take the tie to a replay, held the following Wednesday. The rematch proved less even. Manchester City won 4–0 courtesy of goals by Austin (twice), Hicks and Johnson. After his goal, Hicks had to leave the field as he had sustained an injury while performing a celebratory somersault. In the fourth round, City faced league champions Huddersfield Town and again won 4–0. The crowd of 74,799 was by far the highest of the round, and only 1,200 short of the club record. Manchester City were drawn at home to Crystal Palace in the fifth round. A final score of 11–4 set a club record for the number of goals in a game and was City's biggest margin of victory since 1903. Frank Roberts scored five and Tommy Browell also scored a hat-trick. Yet another high scoring win was achieved in the quarter-final, when Clapton Orient were beaten 6–1. Johnson scored a hat-trick and Hicks scored for the fifth successive cup match. In the semi-final, Manchester City faced local rivals Manchester United in a derby match at Bramall Lane. Browell scored the opener from a Hicks corner amid vehement protests for handball from the United players. Later in the half, United's Frank Barson flattened Sam Cowan with an "ugly challenge" for which he later received a suspension. In the second half, Browell and Roberts each scored to make the final score 3–0. ## Build-up Both teams had won the FA Cup on one previous occasion and had met in the 1904 FA Cup Final. In that match, Manchester City won 1–0 thanks to a Billy Meredith goal. The 1904 meeting was Manchester City's only previous final, whereas the 1926 tie was the fourth time Bolton had reached the final. They lost in 1894 and 1904, but won the competition for the first time in the "White Horse Final" of 1923, the first to be held at Wembley. The 1926 final was the first to be held since the change to the offside rule in 1925. It now required two defenders behind an attacker receiving the ball instead of three, a change which increased the average number of goals per match. Of the two teams, Bolton Wanderers had the better league form. After rising as high as fourth early in the league season, Bolton spent the majority of the year in mid-table and finally finished 8th of the 22 First Division clubs with 44 points from their 42 league fixtures. Manchester City remained in the lower reaches of the league table throughout the season and were relegated after finishing 21st with 35 points. Their matches were frequently high scoring. City scored more league goals than second-placed Arsenal, but also had the second-worst defensive record in the division. The two league matches between the teams in the 1925–26 season ended in a 5–1 home win for Bolton in November and a 1–1 draw at Maine Road in March. In accordance with changes made for the 1924 final onwards, all tickets were sold in advance to prevent a repeat of the overcrowding at the 1923 final. Approximately 91,000 tickets were available. 53,000 were standing tickets, 15,000 were uncovered seats and 23,000 were covered seats. Standing tickets cost two shillings, seat prices ranged from five shillings to one guinea. The majority of tickets were sold before the finalists were known. As a result, few supporters of the participating teams attended; most were unable to afford the remaining tickets available to the general public, which were typically in the more expensive areas of the stadium. 1,750 tickets were allocated directly to each club. Bolton fielded 6,000 enquiries and lodged a formal protest about the inadequacy of their allocation. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway laid on a total of seven special trains from Manchester to London on the eve and morning of the match. A number of supporters travelled to London without tickets in the hope of securing one outside the stadium. 5s tickets changed hands for up to 15s, provoking the ire of ticketless supporters who accused the sellers of profiteering. In one such instance, a man selling twenty 2s tic\|kets at 10s each required the assistance of five police officers to escape the wrath of the crowd. The total gate receipts for the match were £23,157, a new record. Manchester City prepared for the match by training in the spa town of Buxton. Bolton Wanderers followed their usual training schedule for most of the week, then travelled to Harrow on the Thursday. All eleven men who played for Bolton in their 1923 triumph were still at the club. Of those, only the injured Alex Finney was absent as they travelled to London. Jack Smith had been injured for several weeks in the run-up to the final, but recovered in time and participated in Bolton's last league match before the tie. ## Match In the hour before kick-off, the crowd was entertained by the bands of the Royal Engineers and the Chatham Naval Dockyard. Following the National Anthem, the players, match officials and club chairmen were introduced to King George V. The toss was then won by the Bolton captain Joe Smith. In contrast to the lengthy delays which marred Bolton's previous visit to Wembley, the match kicked off three minutes earlier than scheduled. As anticipated, Bolton fielded ten of the eleven who played the 1923 final. Left-back Harry Greenhalgh was the only change from the 1923 line-up. Each team played the formation typical of the era: two full-backs, three half-backs and five forwards. Bolton had the better of the opening exchanges; the Times correspondent wrote: "In the first five minutes Bolton Wanderers were so superior to their opponents that they might have been giving an exhibition for the cinema against schoolboys". Manchester City then gradually asserted themselves and had the first clear chance. Frank Roberts took a right-footed shot, but hit the ball straight at Bolton goalkeeper Dick Pym. Overall, the defences enjoyed the better of the play in the first half. Bolton's Joe Smith was instrumental in much of his team's attacking play, both he and left-winger Ted Vizard receiving praise for their play. Hicks, who was generally described as the most effective of the Manchester City forwards, had a chance which he hit high over the crossbar. In a rare spell of sustained Manchester City pressure, a free kick by captain Jimmy McMullan forced a save from Pym, and the resulting near-post corner prompted a goalmouth scramble which ended with a foul on Bolton's Greenhalgh. Pym made further saves from Browell and Hicks, the latter resulting in a corner. From the corner Bolton won the ball and headed upfield on the counter-attack. Billy Butler's cross from the right went beyond the goal and was retrieved by Vizard on the left wing. The outside-forward then cut inside and played the ball across goal in a manner described by some correspondents as a shot and others as a pass. David Jack received the ball in the six-yard box and put the ball between Goodchild and McCloy into the City goal, giving Bolton the lead with 14 minutes remaining. In the few minutes after the goal, Manchester City came forward in numbers but lacked clear chances and were hindered by over-eager forwards going offside. Following a goal kick by Pym, the referee blew the final whistle. Bolton won the cup for a second time, becoming the first club to win twice at Wembley. ## Post-match The Bolton team were greeted by crowds at Bolton Town Hall. In a playful exchange, Joe Smith gave the Cup to the mayor, saying that it had been won for Bolton and was given to Bolton, which the mayor refused. Bolton went on to win a third FA Cup in 1929, beating Portsmouth 2–0. The 1929 team contained five of the 1926 cup winners. Goalscorer David Jack was transferred to Arsenal in 1928. The transfer set a world record as the first to exceed £10,000. Jack won one more FA Cup with Arsenal. Upon arrival back in Manchester, the Manchester City team were given a civic reception at Manchester Town Hall, then immediately travelled to their Maine Road ground to play a league fixture against Leeds. Manchester City won that match 2–1, but failed to win the following Saturday and were relegated to the Second Division. In doing so they became the first cup finalists ever to be relegated in the same season, a fate since shared by 1969 finalist Leicester City, 1983 finalist Brighton & Hove Albion, 2010 finalist Portsmouth and 2013 winners Wigan Athletic. The final was the last time Albert Alexander's committee selected the team. Peter Hodge had agreed to join the club as manager well in advance of the final, but was unable to take up the position until his previous club Leicester City completed their league fixtures. Several seasons later, City half-back Sam Cowan went on to captain the club in the 1933 and 1934 finals. ## Match details

Cassel, Nord

Cassel (; Dutch: Kassel) is a commune in the Nord départment in northern France. Built on a prominent hill overlooking French Flanders, the town has existed since Roman times. It was developed by the Romans into an important urban centre and was the focus of a network of roads, which are still in use today, that converge on the hill. After the fall of the Roman Empire, Cassel became an important fortified stronghold for the rulers of Flanders which was repeatedly fought over before finally being annexed to France in the 17th century. It was the headquarters of Marshal Ferdinand Foch during part of the First World War. In 1940, during the German invasion of France, Cassel was the scene of a fierce three-day battle between British forces (led in part by Major Ronald Cartland, MP) and German forces which resulted in much of the town being destroyed. The town, which was rebuilt following the war, is a popular destination for visitors to French Flanders. It is renowned for its extensive views from the summit of Mont Cassel and is the location of the Nord départment's principal museum of local art, history and folklore. It is also the home of the legendary giants Reuze-Papa and Reuze-Maman, which are paraded in effigy each Easter during the town's annual carnival. ## Geography The town of Cassel is situated at the top of Mont Cassel (Dutch: Kasselberg), a prominent hill located in the local Houtland region about 30 kilometres (19 mi) from the sea. The hill rises to a height of 176 metres (577 ft) above sea level. Its geological composition comprises limestone capped with a very hard ferruginous layer of rock. ## History ### Ancient times The hill of Mont Cassel was occupied during the late Iron Age by the Menapii, a Belgic tribe, who made it the capital of a large territory extending from modern Calais to as far as the Rhine. The hilltop was probably used as an oppidum or hill fort. The Menapii fought against Julius Caesar but were forced to submit to Rome in 53 BC. They rebelled along with their neighbours, the Morini, in 30 or 29 BC. The Roman governor of Gaul, Carrinas, successfully quelled the rebellion and the territory of the Menapii was subsequently absorbed into the Roman province of Gallia Belgica. Cassel was redeveloped as Castellum Menapiorum, the urban centre or civitas of the Menapii; the modern town takes its name from the Roman settlement. From the 1st century AD onwards, Cassel developed into a key urban centre for the whole region with an extensive road network converging on the hill. Towards the end of the 3rd century, however, repeated invasions of Germanic tribes caused devastation throughout the region and at least 80% of settlements in the area are thought to have been abandoned, accompanied by a general economic decline. Cassel was fortified with a circuit of walls at around this time but suffered its own decline, which was reflected in its loss of status as a regional capital; Tournai took over as the capital of the newly constituted Civitas Turnacensium. ### Medieval period Following the collapse of the Roman Empire, Flanders became part of the Merovingian realm of Neustria. In the 9th century it became part of West Francia, forming a pagus within the kingdom of Charles the Bald. In 864, Cassel passed into the hands of Baldwin Ironarm, who expanded his holdings to become the first count of the County of Flanders. At the time, the town was on the edge of a deep bay of the North Sea, making it vulnerable to raids by the Vikings, who attacked and destroyed it in the 9th century. It was rebuilt by Baldwin's grandson, Arnulf I, in the 10th century. In 1071, the sixth Count of Flanders, Arnulf III, was killed in the first Battle of Cassel by the forces of Robert the Frisian in a dispute over the succession to the title of count. Although Arnulf was numerically superior and was supported by King Philip I of France, Robert was able to defeat his rival's army and took the title of Count of Flanders with the acquiescence of Philip I after a further five years of struggle. The town was re-fortified, possibly by Robert, with a castle and a new set of walls built on the remains of the old Roman walls. The castle does not survive today—it was already in ruins by the early 18th century—but is depicted on old engravings as a large square tower, the Tour Grise, dominating the western flank of the hill. Cassel was the capital of a chatellany (an administrative district) during the Middle Ages, serving as the administrative centre for an area comprising about fifty towns and villages. It was the site of a second battle that took place on 23 August 1328 involving Philip VI of France and a rebel force led by Nicolaas Zannekin. The rebels had driven the ruling Count Louis I out of Flanders and sought to press their advantage by occupying Cassel and attacking the French royal army nearby. Although they achieved some initial successes, the rebels were decisively defeated when William I, Count of Hainaut lent his support to the French side. ### Early modern period By end of the 16th century Cassel had become a border town between France and the Spanish Netherlands. The French repeatedly fought with Spain and later the independent Dutch Republic for control of the town; in March 1645, Gaston, Duke of Orléans, seized it but lost it again to the Spanish a few months later. In 1658 Turenne expelled two Irish regiments in the pay of the Spanish who were garrisoning Cassel. The French captured the town in July 1676 under Louis de Crevant, Duke of Humières and strengthened the castle. The following year, a third battle of Cassel took place just west of the town on 11 April 1677 when a French army under François-Henri de Montmorency, duc de Luxembourg and Philippe I of Orléans defeated Dutch forces commanded by the Prince of Orange, later to be William III of England. The battle took place after King Louis XIV of France besieged the Dutch-held town of Saint-Omer during the Franco-Dutch War. William sent an army to relieve Saint-Omer but was defeated at the village of Zuytpeene just to the west of Cassel, losing 7,000–8,000 men killed or wounded and another 4,000 taken prisoner. Saint-Omer fell a week later. Cassel was annexed to France the following year under the terms of the Treaty of Nijmegen, which ended the war. The annexation led to the town's defences being dismantled; it was considered indefensible, as it was within easy firing range of the nearby Mont des Récollets, and it would have cost far too much to fortify both hills. In addition, the revised frontier following the treaty was now a significant distance from Cassel and without the proximity of the border, the town was no longer seen as having much strategic significance. During the French Revolutionary Wars, Cassel is said to have been the hill up which the Grand Old Duke of York marched his 10,000 men before he "marched them down again". While it is true that Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany, did command an army in the Flanders Campaign of 1793 and was probably in the vicinity, the link with Cassel is considered dubious as the eponymous nursery rhyme appears to have originated well before the Revolutionary Wars. ### 19th century The population of Cassel grew to about 4,200 people by the mid-19th century. Benjamin Disraeli, later to become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, stayed there for a month in September–October 1845 and wrote in a letter to his sister Sarah that he considered it "an extremely savage place; few of the inhabitants, & none of the humbler classes, talk French, there is no library, bookseller's shop, nor newspaper of any sort ... It is quite French Flanders, their provisions come from Holland, the Hotel de Ville was built by the Spaniards, the carillons are perpetually sounding, & religion is supreme." In 1848, Cassel gained a railway connection when the Lille-Dunkirk line was built. The station is, however, at the foot of the hill at Oxelaëre some 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) from the centre of Cassel. To link the two places, an electric tramway was built under the auspices of the Compagnie des Tramways de Cassel, which operated between 1900 and 1934. It was replaced by a bus link which still operates today. ### 20th century Cassel served as the headquarters of Marshal Ferdinand Foch during the early part of the First World War, between October 1914 and May 1915. Foch had previously been based at Doullens north of Amiens, but removed his headquarters to Cassel to take advantage of its strategic position near the northern end of the Western Front and to be closer to the Belgian headquarters at Veurne. From 1916 to 1918, Cassel was the headquarters for the British Second Army under Sir Herbert Plumer. The town avoided significant damage during the war, though it came under occasional shellfire when the Germans advanced to within 18 kilometres (11 mi) during the Battle of the Lys in April 1918. In the Second World War, the 2nd Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment and the 4th Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry held Cassel for three days as part of the defensive screen around Dunkirk during the Battle of Dunkirk and evacuation (27 May 1940 – 30 May 1940). The British forces had prepared a defence on the hilltop, emplacing anti-tank guns and barricading the narrow streets of the town. After scoring initial successes against the tanks of Panzer Regiment 11, which had made the mistake of advancing without infantry support, the British garrison was heavily attacked from the ground and the air by German forces. Much of the town was reduced to ruins by bombing. Most of the garrison's members were killed or captured by the Germans during the fighting or the subsequent attempted breakout towards Dunkirk, but the defence they had put up played an important role in holding up the Germans while the Dunkirk evacuation was taking place. ### Heraldry ## Sights and culture The Jardin des Mont du Récollets provides expansive views over the plains of Flanders and beyond; on a clear day it is possible to see the North Sea, the English coast and the belfry of Bruges. It used to be said that from Cassel one could see five kingdoms: France, Belgium, Holland, England and Heaven. The garden also hosts an equestrian statue of Marshal Foch and the Monument des Trois Batailles, commemorating the battles of 1071, 1328 and 1677. Just below the gardens is the Porte du Château of 1621, the last substantial part of the old castle to remain standing. The city walls no longer stand but footpaths and streets still trace their former course. The Kasteel Meulen ("Castle Windmill") is a post mill situated on the highest point of Mont Cassel on the site of the former castle. A windmill constructed here in the 16th century burned down on 30 October 1911. It was replaced in 1947 by an 18th-century windmill that was moved from nearby Arnèke, one of around twenty that once existed in the area. The mill is open to the public and still operates daily during the high season. The Hôtel de la Noble Cour (also known as the Landshuys) off Cassel's Grande Place houses the Musée de Flandre, which opened in 2010. The museum presents the art, history and folklore of the French Flanders region. Built in the 16th century under Spanish rule, the mansion's stone-built façade (unusual for Flanders) is decorated in a French Renaissance style and has unusual carvings of grotesque heads, mythical beasts and other figures. The building originally housed the "Noble Court" of the Lords of Cassel, who had authority over a swathe of territory from Ypres in modern Belgium to Saint-Omer. The Collégiale Notre-Dame de la Crypte is Cassel's main church, built in brick. Parts date from the 11th century but the main part is a 16th-century Gothic structure of a design known as a hallekerk or hall-church, peculiar to Flanders and Artois. It comprises a huge rectangular space with three gables, three aisles, three apses and a square tower over the transept. During his stay in Cassel during the First World War, Marshal Foch regularly prayed here. ### Events Like several other Flemish towns, Cassel commemorates legendary giants in annual processions. The town's two giants are Reuze-Papa (Father Giant, also known as Le Reuze) and Reuze-Maman (Mother Giant, also known as La Reuzaine). They are 94 kilograms (207 lb) and 82 kilograms (181 lb) in weight and 6.25 metres (20.5 ft) and 5.8 metres (19 ft) high, respectively. The current effigies date from 1827 and 1860 respectively, though the tradition dates from the 16th century (when Reuze-Papa was known as Titenka). Reuze-Papa is depicted as a bearded man wearing a Roman-style breastplate and helm, while Reuze-Maman used to be depicted as a shrimp fisher carrying a basket on her back but is now shown wearing a diadem, a red robe and a golden shawl. The couple had their first child, Kint'je, in 1900, followed by Pietje, Boutje and a baby daughter, Meisje. They are escorted by six bodyguards named Allowyn, Dagobert, Gélon, Goliath, Roland and Samson, who all wear Roman dress. The giants commemorate a tradition that the hill of Cassel was created when a couple of giants were carrying a huge mound of earth but tripped, spilling the earth on the ground and forming the hill. The figures make their appearances each year around Easter, when they are paraded around Cassel during the annual carnival. For the rest of the year they are looked after by the association of the amis du Reuze. They are registered as UNESCO "intangible cultural heritage" treasures. ## Gallery ## See also - Communes of the Nord department - French Flemish

Boniface of Verona

Lombard crusader

Boniface of Verona (Italian: Bonifacio da Verona, died late 1317 or early 1318) was a Lombard Crusader lord in Frankish Greece during the late 13th and early 14th century. A third son from a junior branch of his family, he sold his castle to equip himself as a knight, became a protégé of Guy II de la Roche, Duke of Athens, expelled the Byzantines from Euboea in 1296, and advanced to become one of the most powerful lords of Frankish Greece. Following Guy II's death, he served as regent for the Duchy of Athens in 1308–09, and was captured by the Catalan Company in the Battle of Halmyros in March 1311. The Catalans held Boniface in high regard, and offered to make him their leader. Boniface refused, but retained close relations with them, sharing their hostility towards the Republic of Venice and its own interests in Euboea. Boniface died in late 1317 or early 1318, leaving his son-in-law, the Catalan vicar-general Alfonso Fadrique, as the heir of his domains. ## Life Boniface was born probably around 1270, as the son of Francesco of Verona, and grandson of Giberto I of Verona, one of the three original Lombard barons, known as the "triarchs", who divided the island of Negroponte (Euboea) in central Greece between them. Boniface's father, as a younger son, did not inherit his father's triarchy. The identity of Boniface's mother is unknown. ### Career under Guy II Boniface was the youngest of three brothers. He inherited a single castle from his father, which he sold in 1287 in order to arm and equip himself and ten attendants, and went to the court of the Duchy of Athens. There he became a friend and close companion of the under-age Duke of Athens, Guy II de la Roche (born in 1280, he became duke at the age of seven). In June 1294 the ceremony for the coming of age of Guy was celebrated with great splendour at the co-capital of Thebes, and Guy chose Boniface to be the one to knight him. As described in the chronicle of Ramon Muntaner, Boniface stood out by his splendid attire even among the assembled nobility of Frankish Greece, dressed in its finery. As a reward, Guy gave Boniface an annuity of 50,000 sols, conferred on him thirteen castles, including the lordship of Gardiki in southern Thessaly, which Guy had inherited from his mother, and the island of Salamis. Boniface was also wed to a lady, identified as "Agnes de Cicon" by some 19th-century and 20th-century historians, whose dowry included titles to the island of Aegina and of Karystos on the southern tip of Euboea. In addition, the Duke decreed that in the event of his own premature death, Boniface was to become regent. In 1296, Boniface turned his attention to his home island of Euboea. In the 1270s, most of Euboea had been captured from the Lombards for the Byzantine Empire by a renegade, Licario, but after the latter's departure from the island c. 1280, the Lombards began recovering the forts they had lost. Boniface campaigned against the remaining Byzantine strongholds on the island, which included his wife's inheritance, Karystos. By the end of the year, he had managed not only to recover Karystos, but to expel the Byzantines altogether from the island. This campaign made him the most powerful person in Euboea: in addition to Karystos, which he claimed by right of his wife, he held on to the other forts he had captured, aided by the fact that most of the surviving claimants of the Lombard triarchies were women. At the same time, however, the Republic of Venice increasingly made its presence felt on the island through its colony at the city of Negroponte (Chalkis), and through the rising influence of the local Venetian representative, the bailo. In 1302 or 1303, following the sudden death of the Greek ruler of Thessaly, Constantine Doukas, the region passed into the hands of his underage son, John II. The regent of Epirus, Anna Palaiologina Kantakouzene, saw an opportunity to annex Thessaly into her state, and invaded its territory, seizing the town of Fanari. Guy II, whom his uncle Constantine Doukas had appointed as steward of John II until he came of age, reacted by quickly mobilizing his vassals, Boniface of Verona among them. According to the Chronicle of the Morea, Boniface joined Guy and the Marshal of the Principality of Achaea, Nicholas III of Saint Omer, with a hundred knights. The large Frankish host impressed Anna, who quickly offered to abandon Fanari in return for peace. Her proposal was accepted, and the Frankish army moved north into Byzantine-controlled lands around Thessalonica, until the Italian-born Empress Yolande of Montferrat, who held the city as her own domain, convinced them to withdraw without further incident. In 1308, Venice accused Boniface, along with Guy II, Anthony le Flamenc, and Bernat de Rocafort, the leader of the Catalan Company, of plotting to seize the Venetian colony of the city of Negroponte, but the sudden death of Guy II on 5 October, without leaving an heir, changed the situation. Boniface served as regent for the duchy until the arrival of the new Duke, Walter of Brienne, in August/September 1309. ### Battle of Halmyros and aftermath Almost immediately the new Duke was confronted by the threat of the mercenaries of the Catalan Company. Since 1306, the Catalans had been raiding Thessaly from the north. Walter of Brienne now engaged them to fight against John II Doukas, who had turned against the Frankish tutelage and, seeking to make himself independent, joined forces with Epirus and the Byzantines. The Catalans captured and garrisoned more than thirty fortresses around Domokos on Brienne's behalf, but when the Duke tried to cheat them of the promised pay, the Catalans marched on to the duchy itself, invading Boeotia in the winter of 1310–11. In response, Brienne assembled his feudatories and, bolstered by contingents from the Principality of Achaea and the Duchy of the Archipelago, marched to meet them in battle. Boniface also joined the Athenian host, and was a witness to Brienne's last will at Zetounion on 10 March 1311, along with another Euboeote baron, John of Maisy. Five days later, at the Battle of Halmyros, the Frankish army was heavily defeated. The details of the battle are unclear, but the Frankish heavy cavalry charge was apparently impeded by the marshy terrain, allowing the Catalans and their Turkish auxiliaries to prevail. Most of the chivalry of Athens perished alongside their duke. Boniface was among the few lords who were taken captive, his life spared by the Catalans, who considered him their friend. The Battle of Halmyros shattered the status quo of Frankish Greece: the bulk of the Frankish nobility was dead, and the Duchy of Athens was swiftly and without much resistance taken over by the Catalans. The Catalans were now faced with the task of governing their newly won territories. Lacking a leader of sufficient social standing, at first they turned to Boniface, who was now the most important surviving Frankish noble in the whole of northern Greece, and whom they esteemed greatly; Muntaner described him as "the wisest and most courteous nobleman that was ever born". Fearing reprisals from Venice in Negroponte, and loath to antagonize the rest of Frankish Greece, at a time when the permanence of the Catalan regime was still uncertain, Boniface declined the honour. Consequently, the Catalans instead chose another captive Frankish lord, Roger Deslaur, as their leader. Deslaur served until 1312, when King Frederick III of Sicily named his son Manfred as Duke of Athens, sending a vicar-general to govern the country in his name. Nevertheless, during the 1310s Boniface remained one of the most powerful lords of Frankish Greece: he not only controlled most of Euboea, as well as Aegina and Salamis, but was also the wealthiest of the Euboeote lords. His relations with Venice remained strained, as the Republic suspected him of designs to install himself as lord of all Euboea, with Catalan assistance. As a result, the Venetians began fortifying their colony at Chalkis, for which purpose all the local barons, except for Boniface, agreed to contribute money. In addition, Boniface was engaged in disputes with the local Venetian authorities over piracy by some of his subjects against Venetian shipping, which led to the confiscation of goods by the Venetian bailo at Chalkis. In 1317, however, in a dispute between Boniface and the Venetian Andrea Cornaro, ruler of half a triarchy, the Catalans took the side of the latter and supplied 2,000 soldiers to bolster the garrison of Chalkis. In the same year, the new Catalan vicar-general, Alfonso Fadrique, arrived in Greece. Boniface quickly concluded an alliance with the Catalan leader, marrying his daughter Maria (Marulla) to Fadrique, while virtually dispossessing his other daughter Helen and his son Thomas of their inheritance. Soon after his arrival, Fadrique and his men invaded Euboea and probably conquered most of it. Fadrique possibly intended to install his father-in-law as the island's ruler, but Boniface died in late 1317 or early 1318. Diplomatic pressure from his father, King Frederick III, and a Venetian victory at sea, forced Alfonso to withdraw by the end of 1318. A protracted dispute now began between the Fadriques, who claimed the full inheritance of Boniface, particularly the castles of Karystos and Larmena on Euboea, and Venice, which reluctantly supported the claims of Boniface's son Thomas, who was a Venetian citizen. In the end, Venice managed to secure control of Larmena. Over the following decades, the Republic gradually extended its power over the island, until finally it acquired Karystos from Alfonso Fadrique's heir, Boniface Fadrique, in 1365.

Anthony Anderson (basketball)

American basketball player (1981-)

Anthony Nathaniel Anderson (born November 12, 1981), also known by his initials as Double A, is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Moncton Magic of the National Basketball League of Canada (NBL). Standing 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m), he plays the point guard position. Anderson has played in the NBL Canada with the Riptide and Mill Rats for nearly six seasons. As of February 2016, he is the league's all-time leading scorer and is known as one of its most prominent players. Anderson also played for Saint John and their previous incarnation, the Manchester Millrats, in the Premier Basketball League (PBL) and the American Basketball Association (ABA). Anderson played four seasons of college basketball under head coach Steve Lappas at the University of Massachusetts Amherst with the Minutemen. He most notably was named Rookie of the Year for the Atlantic 10 Conference in 2002. He closed his college career at UMass as its second-best three-point shooter in school history, behind only Monty Mack. Anderson attended Lynn English High School in Lynn, Massachusetts before college, where he was one of the top basketball players in the Northeastern Conference. After leaving UMass, Anderson shortly competed as a rookie with the PAWS London Capital following a brief hiatus in his career, in which he only played locally for personal reasons. He later drew the attention of the Millrats, for whom he would play in the 2007–08 season. Anderson then competed in Cyprus and Poland before returning to Manchester. He remained with the team as they relocated to Saint John and the NBL Canada. Midway through his stint with the Mill Rats, Anderson played in Qatar in 2013. His individual accolades in his professional career include ABA All-Star Game MVP, All-ABA First Team, ABA Most Valuable Player, and third and second-team All-PBL. In the NBL Canada, Anderson has appeared on the All-NBL Canada First Team thrice, made the NBL Canada All-Star Game on two occasions, and was named Most Valuable Player in 2014. ## High school career Anderson attended Lynn English High School in Lynn, Massachusetts, where he played basketball under head coach Ronald Bennett. He was named Most Valuable Player of the Northeastern Conference as a junior and senior. In his final season with the team, Anderson averaged 24 points, 10 assists, and 9 rebounds and led them to a 19–5 record. He was named to the 2000 Boston Globe All-Scholastic team and became one of the most highly ranked guards in the United States. Bennett said, "In 35 years, he's the best player I've ever had. He sees the floor so well and can always find the open man." Anderson decided to play college basketball for the UMass Minutemen over Florida State, Villanova, and St. John's. He verbally committed to play for UMass and became eligible after initial struggles with his SAT scores. ## College career ### Freshman Anderson quickly became a key part of the Minutemen as a freshman, starting in 26 of the team's 29 games. He had personal ties with teammate Shannon Crooks, who was brought up in the same area of Massachusetts. According to head coach Steve Lappas, Crooks helped Anderson adjust to the college level. Lappas said, "I think he helped Anthony a lot. They're both from Boston so they have a little kinship there and they're pretty close so I think he definitely helped him." On November 16, 2011, Anderson took part in his first official collegiate game against Arkansas–Little Rock, scoring 10 points, grabbing 5 rebounds, and recording 4 assists. He played a team-high 37 minutes as the Minutemen won the game, 66–60. In the days that followed, the point guard would earn Atlantic 10 Conference Rookie of the Week honors. On December 4, 2011, Anderson posted career-highs of 13 points and 7 assists vs. Holy Cross. He eclipsed the scoring total in his following game against Boston College, in which he recorded a team-high 19 points. In this game, Anderson hit three three-pointers in the closing 15.2 seconds, but he could not lead his team to the victory. On January 29, 2002, in a loss to Dayton, Anderson scored a season-high 20 points and made 6 of 7 three-pointers. He became the first Minuteman to record over 5 threes that season and scored double figures for the 10th time as a freshman. In mid-February 2002, Anderson was named co-WHMP/UMass Athlete of the Week after scoring 14 and 11 points against Duquesne and La Salle respectively. By the end of the season, he was averaging 10.0 points, 3.4 rebounds, 3.4 assists, and 1.1 steals. Anderson finished his freshman year by being named Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week four times—a league-high—and ultimately earned conference All-Rookie and Rookie of the Year honors. He became the fourth Minuteman of all-time to be Freshman, Rookie, or Newcomer of the Year and the first since Marcus Camby in 1994. At the team banquet, Anderson won the Mark Donoghue Most Productive Player Award for "having numbers in every category." ### Sophomore Anderson opened his sophomore season against the Indiana Hoosiers, scoring 2 points and going 0-of-6 on three-pointers as his team fell, 71–84. However, he led his team with 20 points two games later, in a 14-point win over Chaminade. Anderson said, "I feel like if I'm not scoring I can't get anybody else into the game either. But today I was hitting shots, so I could do other things, like penetrate and kick out to guys." He finished the game with a career-high 9 assists as well. On December 14, 2002, against the Florida International Panthers, Anderson surpassed the 20-point mark for the second time. He was praised by Lappas, "When Anthony plays well, we can win a game ugly. When he doesn't, we can't win at all." Anderson topped his previous scoring record on January 2, 2003, when he posted 25 points vs. NC State and helped his team capture the victory. He also recorded a career-high 9 rebounds. This performance led to Anderson being named Atlantic 10 Player of the Week. The point guard matched his season-best on February 23, 2003, when he scored 25 points against Duquesne and shot 10-of-13 from the field. After completing his sophomore season, Anderson was averaging 11.8 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 1.3 steals, and 2.6 three-pointers. He was his team's leader in minutes and three-pointers and ranked second in points. Anderson recorded more than 100 assists for the second straight season, becoming the first to do so since 1999. He also made the eighth-most single-season threes in school history. ### Junior Heading into his junior year, Anderson was named preseason third-team All-Atlantic 10. He became known as the entrenched starting point guard for UMass and was named team captain. He posted a team-high 21 points, 5 rebounds, and 6 assists in his debut vs. St. Francis (NY). Anderson notched a career-high 29 points on December 2, against Vermont, connecting on 7 of his 9 three-point attempts. He was the first Minuteman to accomplish the feat since Monty Mack in March 2001. Anderson also recorded the seventh-most three-pointers in a single game in school history. He said, "When you see a guy hit a couple shots you might want to run a play to get that guy open. So it definitely helps out a lot, it makes it way easier for me." Following another 20-point effort vs. Boston College and a season-best 9 rebounds, he was named Atlantic 10 Player of the Week and Dinn Brothers UMass Athlete of the Week. Anderson was effective from beyond the arc once more against St. Bonaventure, hitting 6 threes en route to 26 points, although his team lost. He led his team in rebounds as well, with 8. On March 6, 2004, Anderson recorded 9 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists in his team's final regular season game vs. Richmond, scoring his 1,000th point for UMass. He became the 36th Minuteman to join the 1,000-point club and the first since former teammate Shannon Crooks in 2002. Anderson closed out the season with 7 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 assists in an Atlantic 10 tournament defeat to Duquesne. He finished the year averaging 12.9 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.4 assists, and 1.5 steals. At the team banquet, he received the Rick Pitino Assist Award and the Jim Laughnane Free Throw Award. He recorded the third-most three-pointers and seventh-most assists in school history. He also had the sixth-highest minutes per game average for a Minuteman. ### Senior Anderson opened his senior stint on November 23, 2004, with 14 points, 3 assists, and 5 steals against Birmingham–Southern. In his next appearance vs. Yale, despite scoring only six points, he posted a career-high 13 rebounds. Teammate Stéphane Lasme added 10 boards. Lappas said, "What else do you say about Anthony Anderson? He had thirteen rebounds in the game. Its great to see Anthony have six points in the game and win. We couldn't have one a game like this in a million years with Anthony Anderson only scoring six points. You don't even notice it now, where when he didn't score before we almost didn't have a chance. It's good for him to go out there and play and direct these kids that he has out there under him." In mid-December 2004, Anderson was suspended for three games after failing a drug test. Lappas called it a "violation of team rules." Following his return, Anderson scored a season-high 23 points against Fordham on January 19, 2005. He represented UMass for the 100th time on January 22 vs. Saint Joseph's, as he recorded 16 points, 7 rebounds, and 7 assists. On February 12, he scored 4 points to become the 20th-best scorer in school history. However, he suffered from back injuries that would keep him from playing in five games and the Atlantic 10 tournament. After his senior year, Anderson was averaging 10.2 points, 4.7 rebounds, 2.9 assists, 1.9 steals, and 2.4 three-pointers. He finished his collegiate career with the second-most threes, the third-most steals, the fifth-highest three-point field goal percentage, the seventh-most assists, and the 19th most points in school history. In 2010, Ricky Harris passed Anderson for the second-most three-pointers in Minutemen history, with 276. ### Statistics Cited from ESPN. \|- \|style="text-align:left;"\| 2001–02 \|\|style="text-align:left;"\| UMass \| 29 \|\| 26 \|\| 34.0 \|\| .408 \|\| .388 \|\| .453 \|\| 3.4 \|\| 3.4 \|\| 1.1 \|\| 0.1 \|\| 10.0 \|- \|style="text-align:left;"\| 2002–03 \|\| style="text-align:left;"\| UMass \| 29 \|\| 28 \|\| 36.1 \|\| .417 \|\| .392 \|\| .757 \|\| 4.3 \|\| 3.7 \|\| 1.3 \|\| 0.1 \|\|11.8 \|- \|style="text-align:left;"\| 2003–04 \|\| style="text-align:left;"\|UMass \| 29 \|\| 28 \|\| 38.1 \|\| .415 \|\| .387 \|\| .812 \|\| 4.3 \|\| 3.4 \|\| 1.5 \|\| 0.1 \|\| 12.9 \|- \|style="text-align:left;"\| 2004–05 \|\| style="text-align:left;"\|UMass \| 20 \|\| 18 \|\| 35.8 \|\| .431 \|\| .397 \|\| .640 \|\| 4.7 \|\| 2.9 \|\| 1.9 \|\| 0.1 \|\| 10.2 \|- class="sortbottom" \|style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"\|Career \|107\|\|100\|\|36.0\|\|.418\|\|.391\|\|.666\|\|4.2\|\|3.4\|\|1.5\|\|0.1\|\|11.2 ## Professional career ### Early pro years (2007–2008) Following his graduation, Anderson returned to his alma mater and began serving as an assistant coach at Lynn English High School under Buzzy Barton. He could not join a professional team because of family problems and worked as a debt collector to support his family. Instead, Anderson competed in Boston Weekend League and became a prominent streetball player in the area. In August 2007, Anderson drew the attention of Steve Bucknall, head coach of the PAWS London Capital of the British Basketball League (BBL), when he took part in a local summer basketball tournament known as the Hoganz Basketball Classic. At the event, Anderson scored 51 points against Detroit Pistons player Will Blalock and led his Lynn-based team to the championship by hitting a buzzer-beating three-pointer in the finals. Later in the month, Anderson signed his first professional contract with London Capital for the team's inaugural season. He commented on his move to the new country, "England was by far the worst situation I ever been in since playing overseas." Anderson also experienced culture shock while living there. In his time with London Capital, he most notably scored 32 points in a single game. On November 12, 2007, Anderson returned to the United States and was signed by the Manchester Millrats of the American Basketball Association (ABA). General manager Ian McCarthy said, "Anthony gives us another super-talented point guard who can also break down the defense and really light up the scoreboard." Anderson was unable to play in the team's first game due to a bruised collar bone. By January 1, 2008, Anderson was averaging 32.4 points per game. In mid-February, he was averaging 22.8 points, shooting 69% from the field and 48% on three-pointers. Among his most notable performances was when he scored 43 points to lead Manchester to a 133–123 win over the Boston Blizzard on January 26. He made all 10 of his two-point shots and was 17-of-23 from the field. ProBasketballNews.com ranked him the top ABA player and the third-best minor league basketball player in the country, above players such as Ian Mahinmi, Eddie Gill, and Elton Brown. On March 17, Anderson was named to the ABA All-Star Game. He scored 19 points in the first half of the game, propelling his East team to an 18-point lead at halftime. His game-high 33 points helped him win the Halogen Records ABA All-Star Most Valuable Player Award. Manchester owner Jason Briggs said, "We are very proud of Anthony. He is a super-star in the making and he has a great work ethic and is very humble to boot." On April 1, 2008, Anderson was named first-team All-ABA and won the league's Most Valuable Player Award. On March 19, 2010, he was named second-team ABA All-Decade, an award for the top players in the league from 2000 to 2009. ### Overseas ventures (2008–2010) Anderson's strong performance in his rookie season helped him participate in a three-day tryout for the NBA's Indiana Pacers in June 2008. He expected to take part in the team's training camp, but a trade involving Jarrett Jack and T. J. Ford led him to never receive the invitation. On August 9, 2008, Anderson signed a contract with AEK Larnaca B.C. of the Cyprus Basketball Division 1. He finished the season averaging 17.8 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 4.2 assists, with the second-most assists in the league and the most points. In an interview with SLAM Online, Anderson said, "It was very good competition. It's just like when you see European guys in the NBA. There are a lot of skilled and crafty players, not overly athletic but very skilled." He played against players such as Bradley Buckman while in Cyprus. After the season concluded, Eurobasket.com named Anderson 2nd Team All-Cyprus League. On August 21, 2009, Anderson signed with the Polish club Sportino Inowrocław of the Tauron Basket Liga. He debuted with his new team on October 10, 2009, when he recorded 13 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 assists vs. Polpharma Starogard Gdański. He recorded a season-high 6 assists on October 24, against Anwil KK Włocławek, but his team lost the game, 60–82. In his next appearance, Anderson finished with a season-high 6 steals vs. Turów Zgorzelec. On November 8, he notched a season-best 17 points and matched his record of 6 assists against Asseco Prokom Gdynia. Anderson played only 7 minutes in his final game with Sportino Inowrocław, scoring 0 points. He capped his career in the Polish League averaging 9.9 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 3.3 assists in 28.5 minutes per game. ### Return to Manchester (2010–2011) Anderson returned to the Manchester Millrats in 2010, after the team joined the Premier Basketball League (PBL). In January, he averaged 23.4 points and shot .600 from the floor in 7 appearances. By February 3, 2010, he led the league in scoring and assists. At this time, Anderson was evaluated by Trotamundos de Carabobo of the Liga Profesional de Baloncesto (LPB) in Venezuela and was expected to sign the overseas contract. However, he would never play for the team. He then returned to the Manchester Millrats and made his first appearance since the tryout on February 20, 2010, making a buzzer-beating jumper to top the Vermont Frost Heaves. The next day, Anderson scored 23 points against Puerto Rico Capitanes, the combined performances helping him win Player of the Week honors. In late March, Anderson was named to the PBL All-Star Game with teammate Stanley Ocitti. He was leading the Millrats in scoring, averaging 20.2 points per game, assists, and three-pointers. By the end of the season, he was also named third-team All-League. Anderson came back for another PBL season with the Saint John Mill Rats in 2011. The team had changed locations from Manchester, New Hampshire to Saint John, New Brunswick in Canada prior to the start of the season. Anderson debuted on January 2, 2011 in a loss against the Quebec Kebs, in which he recorded a team-high 20 points, 6 assists, and 4 steals. He had another notable scoring performance on January 21, when he poured 24 points on the Rochester RazorSharks. In the next two contests, Anderson recorded season-highs of 9 assists and 7 rebounds vs. the Halifax Rainmen and tied his season-bests of 24 points and 9 assists in a rematch against the Quebec Kebs. The three games led to him being named PBL Player of the Week on February 10, 2011. On March 17, Anderson scored a season-high 32 points with 12-of-24 shooting and 5 three-pointers vs. the Halifax Rainmen. He also contributed 6 assists and 4 rebounds. As the season came to a conclusion, he was named second-team All-PBL. ### Move to Canada (2011–2013) The Saint John Mill Rats moved to the newly created National Basketball League of Canada (NBL) for the 2011–12 season. Anderson debuted in the league by recording 14 points, 5 assists, and 3 steals in a 96–112 loss to the Summerside Storm on November 4, 2011. In a rematch with the same team less than one week later, he posted 25 points, although his team was still defeated by one point. Anderson scored a season-high 35 points in a 106–90 win over the Storm on November 17, hitting three of four three-pointers. He recorded 20 points in the second half alone. After leading his team in points in three of four games, Anderson earned Player of the Week honors on November 20. The point guard posted his first double-double of the season with 10 points and 10 assist in a 5-point victory over the Halifax Rainmen on December 2, despite making no treys. He was effective again on December 29, scoring 31 points vs. the London Lightning and adding 11 assists. However, on January 3, 2012, Anderson injured his hand in a defeat to the Moncton Miracles and was expected to be sidelined for three to four weeks. General manager Ian McCarthy said, "This really stung because we were unable to finish the game strong against Moncton with Anthony out, and now we have a road game 48 hours later against a tough Quebec team." The Mill Rats responded by signing two players, including Darren Duncan. Anderson returned to the court in a rematch with the Miracles on February 1, notching 15 points and 7 assists. In the remainder of the regular season, he recorded 2 double-doubles and had three games in which he scored 20 or more points. In Game 1 of the NBL Canada Playoffs vs the London Lightning, Anderson recorded 26 points and 12 assists, going 6-of-7 from beyond the arc and 4-of-4 on free throws. He put up another 19 points in the second game. However, Saint John was swept 0–2 in the best-of-3 series and London went on to win the 2012 NBL Canada Finals. On September 14, 2012, Anderson re-signed with the Saint John Mill Rats. Ian McCarthy said, "He's an elite player at any level and is our leader in our pursuit of championship." The general manager also commented on Anderson, saying that he was their franchise player. Anderson also joined Saint John for training camp. David Cooper would be named head coach for the Mill Rats for the 2012–13 NBL Canada season. Anderson made his regular season debut on November 2, 2012, putting up 24 points, 7 assists, and 5 rebounds vs. the Summerside Storm. In his following appearance, he recorded a double-double of 24 points and 12 rebounds as the Mill Rats defeated the Montreal Jazz. Anderson had another notable performance on January 13, 2013, with 28 points and 10 rebounds vs. the Moncton Miracles. In another game against the Miracles on January 24, he scored 20 points, recorded 14 assists, and grabbed 7 rebounds. In his next contest, in a victory over the Jazz, Anderson scored 35 points. He followed up by notching a career-best 43 points on January 30, 2013, vs. the Miracles. However, he left the Mill Rats in mid-February and did not take part in the NBL Canada playoffs after signing a contract with El Jaish of the Qatari Basketball League. Anderson capped his season in the Canadian league averaging 21.1 points, 4.4 rebounds, 7.1 assists, and two steals per game. With El Jaish, he reached the finals of the Emirates Cup and the semifinals of the Qatar Cup. Anderson later remarked that Qatar was one of his favorite countries to live in, as well as Cyprus. ### MVP season and beyond (2013–present) On September 13, 2013, Anderson agreed to terms to return to the Mill Rats for the 2013–14 season. He hoped to carry his team to the championship with new head coach Rob Spon. Spon commented, "I've finally got my wish to coach [Anderson] come true. Instead of watching him torch me, I get to help him unleash his potential on other teams." In his season debut on November 1, 2013, Anderson scored 23 points in a road win over the Halifax Rainmen. In a loss to the Moncton Miracles two games later on November 9, he added 28 points and seven assists. On November 24, Anderson recorded his first double-double of the season vs. the Miracles, with 22 points and 13 rebounds. Anderson had a 34-point performance in another rematch with Moncton on December 12, 2013. In late December, he scored over 30 points in back-to-back games against the Rainmen. Entering January 1, 2014, Anderson led the Mill Rats in scoring and stood 0.15 points per game behind Stefan Bonneau for being the top scorer in the NBL Canada. On January 16 and 17, he scored 37 and 39 points respectively against the Island Storm. On January 24, Anderson scored a season-high 40 points and recorded nine assists in another contest vs. the Storm. Despite holding an early lead, the Mill Rats were eventually defeated by the Island. In early February 2014, Anderson scored over 30 points in consecutive games against the Mississauga Power and the Brampton A's of the Central Division. He tied his season-best of 40 points in a victory over the Rainmen on February 23, with a season-high of seven three-pointers. Anderson scored 19 points in the third quarter and scored 15 straight at one point as well. In early April, he was named to the 2014 NBL Canada All-Star Game. Anderson helped the Atlantic Division capture the win, contributing 21 points, 12 assists, and nine rebounds. On April 19, 2014, Anderson won the Most Valuable Player award. He finished the season as the league's all-time leading scorer, with 2,121 points. Anderson later reflected on the year, saying, "I have never been on a team that was so together from the coach all the way down to the last guy ... it was a family for real." Anderson returned to the Mill Rats for the 2014–15 season on September 17, 2014. Ian McCarthy described him as the team's "franchise player since we have been in existence." The Mill Rats also replaced Spon with head coach Julian King. In his season opener, Anderson scored 21 points and recorded seven assists to push Saint John past the Miracles on November 1, 2014. In his next game vs. the Storm on November 6, he notched 19 points and 10 rebounds and followed up with another double-double against the same team, with 14 points and 14 assists. On November 21, 2014, Anderson dropped 31 points on the A's and topped that performance with 34 points against the Storm in his following appearance. However, the two contests resulted in defeats. He was a candidate to earn Player of the Week honors, but the award went to Brandon Robinson instead. On November 30, he scored a season-high 39 points in a loss to the Storm. Anderson had 31 points and seven assists in his next game vs. the Rainmen. He scored 30 or more points in just one of the remaining 16 regular season games, and the Mill Rats exited the playoffs after losing in the first round to the Storm, 2–3, in the best-of-five series. On November 19, 2015, Anderson re-signed with the Mill Rats along with fellow former NBL Canada MVP, Gabe Freeman. He reunited with Rob Spon, who spent the previous season with the Rochester Razorsharks. Spon said, "Anthony and Gabe are two of the best players I have coached. To have them together on the same team is going to be something special to see. Both of them are winners and leaders and they will make my job that much easier." Anderson debuted with a double-double, scoring 24 points and adding 10 assists in a victory over the Storm on December 26, 2015. On December 30, Anderson paced Saint John with 33 points, pairing with Doug Herring, Jr. to lead the team to a win over the Miracles. He nearly achieved a triple-double in an overtime loss to the Halifax Hurricanes on January 3, 2016, putting up 19 points, 10 assists, and 8 rebounds. He made a three-pointer with 25 seconds left in regulation, but Hurricanes' Shane Gibson equalized the score and forced overtime. Anderson would not score 20 or more points for 11 consecutive games, before notching 32 against Moncton on February 6. He recorded career-highs of 51 points and nine three-pointers in a 147–102 win over the Orangeville A's on February 18, breaking the Mill Rats' single-game records in both categories. Two days after his performance, he was named the league's Player of the Week. On October 23, 2017, Anderson signed with the Moncton Magic. ## Personal life Anthony is the older brother of Antonio Anderson, who is currently the head coach for the boys basketball team at Lynn English High School. Antonio played college basketball with the Memphis Tigers under head coach John Calipari and was most notably named Conference USA Defensive Player of the Year in 2009. He has experience playing professional basketball in the NBA Development League and outside North America. He also played alongside Anthony with the Saint John Mill Rats in 2012. The National Basketball Association (NBA) team, the Oklahoma City Thunder, signed him to multiple 10-day contracts in February 2010. The two brothers' uncle, Marvin Avery, said, "There's some in our family that have been in trouble, but we always had Antonio and his brother [Anthony] playing basketball or traveling somewhere to play basketball at all times." When Anthony began playing at UMass, his younger brother became frustrated with basketball and wanted to play American football instead. However, Anthony and his uncles convinced him to continue playing basketball. In the summer, Anthony often holds basketball camps and runs a pro–am league. His longtime girlfriend and wife is Krista Morris, who he met after one of his games. Morris came in contact with Anderson because her friend was dating an assistant coach on the Mill Rats. The two later bought a home for themselves. Anderson has a son, Jacari, who was born in mid-2015. ## See also - List of NBL Canada All-Stars - List of National Basketball League of Canada career scoring leaders - List of National Basketball League of Canada season scoring leaders

Intravenous therapy

Medication administered into a vein

Intravenous therapy (abbreviated as IV therapy and known informally as the drip) is a medical technique that administers fluids, medications and nutrients directly into a person's vein. The intravenous route of administration is commonly used for rehydration or to provide nutrients for those who cannot, or will not—due to reduced mental states or otherwise—consume food or water by mouth. It may also be used to administer medications or other medical therapy such as blood products or electrolytes to correct electrolyte imbalances. Attempts at providing intravenous therapy have been recorded as early as the 1400s, but the practice did not become widespread until the 1900s after the development of techniques for safe, effective use. The intravenous route is the fastest way to deliver medications and fluid replacement throughout the body as they are introduced directly into the circulatory system and thus quickly distributed. For this reason, the intravenous route of administration is also used for the consumption of some recreational drugs. Many therapies are administered as a "bolus" or one-time dose, but they may also be administered as an extended infusion or drip. The act of administering a therapy intravenously, or placing an intravenous line ("IV line") for later use, is a procedure which should only be performed by a skilled professional. The most basic intravenous access consists of a needle piercing the skin and entering a vein which is connected to a syringe or to external tubing. This is used to administer the desired therapy. In cases where a patient is likely to receive many such interventions in a short period (with consequent risk of trauma to the vein), normal practice is to insert a cannula which leaves one end in the vein, and subsequent therapies can be administered easily through tubing at the other end. In some cases, multiple medications or therapies are administered through the same IV line. IV lines are classified as "central lines" if they end in a large vein close to the heart, or as "peripheral lines" if their output is to a small vein in the periphery, such as the arm. An IV line can be threaded through a peripheral vein to end near the heart, which is termed a "peripherally inserted central catheter" or PICC line. If a person is likely to need long-term intravenous therapy, a medical port may be implanted to enable easier repeated access to the vein without having to pierce the vein repeatedly. A catheter can also be inserted into a central vein through the chest, which is known as a tunneled line. The specific type of catheter used and site of insertion are affected by the desired substance to be administered and the health of the veins in the desired site of insertion. Placement of an IV line may cause pain, as it necessarily involves piercing the skin. Infections and inflammation (termed phlebitis) are also both common side effects of an IV line. Phlebitis may be more likely if the same vein is used repeatedly for intravenous access, and can eventually develop into a hard cord which is unsuitable for IV access. The unintentional administration of a therapy outside a vein, termed extravasation or infiltration, may cause other side effects. ## Uses ### Medical uses Intravenous (IV) access is used to administer medications and fluid replacement which must be distributed throughout the body, especially when rapid distribution is desired. Another use of IV administration is the avoidance of first-pass metabolism in the liver. Substances that may be infused intravenously include volume expanders, blood-based products, blood substitutes, medications and nutrition. #### Fluid solutions Fluids may be administered as part of "volume expansion", or fluid replacement, through the intravenous route. Volume expansion consists of the administration of fluid-based solutions or suspensions designed to target specific areas of the body which need more water. There are two main types of volume expander: crystalloids and colloids. Crystalloids are aqueous solutions of mineral salts or other water-soluble molecules. Colloids contain larger insoluble molecules, such as gelatin. Blood itself is considered a colloid. The most commonly used crystalloid fluid is normal saline, a solution of sodium chloride at 0.9% concentration, which is isotonic with blood. Lactated Ringer's (also known as Ringer's lactate) and the closely related Ringer's acetate, are mildly hypotonic solutions often used in those who have significant burns. Colloids preserve a high colloid osmotic pressure in the blood, while, on the other hand, this parameter is decreased by crystalloids due to hemodilution. Crystalloids generally are much cheaper than colloids. Buffer solutions which are used to correct acidosis or alkalosis are also administered through intravenous access. Lactated Ringer's solution used as a fluid expander or base solution to which medications are added also has some buffering effect. Another solution administered intravenously as a buffering solution is sodium bicarbonate. #### Medication and treatment Medications may be mixed into the fluids mentioned above, commonly normal saline, or dextrose solutions. Compared with other routes of administration, such as oral medications, the IV route is the fastest way to deliver fluids and medications throughout the body. For this reason, the IV route is commonly preferred in emergency situations or when a fast onset of action is desirable. In extremely high blood pressure (termed a hypertensive emergency), IV antihypertensives may be given to quickly decrease the blood pressure in a controlled manner to prevent organ damage. In atrial fibrillation, IV amiodarone may be administered to attempt to restore normal heart rhythm. IV medications can also be used for chronic health conditions such as cancer, for which chemotherapy drugs are commonly administered intravenously. In some cases, such as with vancomycin, a loading or bolus dose of medicine is given before beginning a dosing regimen to more quickly increase the concentration of medication in the blood. The bioavailability of an IV medication is by definition 100%, unlike oral administration where medication may not be fully absorbed, or may be metabolized prior to entering the bloodstream. For some medications, there is virtually zero oral bioavailability. For this reason certain types of medications can only be given intravenously, as there is insufficient uptake by other routes of administration, such is the case of severe dehydration where the patient is required to be treated via IV therapy for a quick recovery. The unpredictability of oral bioavailability in different people is also a reason for a medication to be administered IV, as with furosemide. Oral medications also may be less desirable if a person is nauseous or vomiting, or has severe diarrhea, as these may prevent the medicine from being fully absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract. In these cases, a medication may be given IV only until the patient can tolerate an oral form of the medication. The switch from IV to oral administration is usually performed as soon as viable, as there is generally cost and time savings over IV administration. Whether a medication can be potentially switched to an oral form is sometimes considered when choosing appropriate antibiotic therapy for use in a hospital setting, as a person is unlikely to be discharged if they still require IV therapy. Some medications, such as aprepitant, are chemically modified to be better suited for IV administration, forming a prodrug such as fosaprepitant. This can be for pharmacokinetic reasons or to delay the effect of the drug until it can be metabolized into the active form. #### Blood products A blood product (or blood-based product) is any component of blood which is collected from a donor for use in a blood transfusion. Blood transfusions can be used in massive blood loss due to trauma, or can be used to replace blood lost during surgery. Blood transfusions may also be used to treat a severe anaemia or thrombocytopenia caused by a blood disease. Early blood transfusions consisted of whole blood, but modern medical practice commonly uses only components of the blood, such as packed red blood cells, fresh frozen plasma or cryoprecipitate. #### Nutrition Parenteral nutrition is the act of providing required nutrients to a person through an intravenous line. This is used in people who are unable to get nutrients normally, by eating and digesting food. A person receiving parenteral nutrition will be given an intravenous solution which may contain salts, dextrose, amino acids, lipids and vitamins. The exact formulation of a parenteral nutrition used will depend on the specific nutritional needs of the person it is being given to. If a person is only receiving nutrition intravenously, it is called total parenteral nutrition (TPN), whereas if a person is only receiving some of their nutrition intravenously it is called partial parenteral nutrition (or supplemental parenteral nutrition). #### Imaging Medical imaging relies on being able to clearly distinguish internal parts of the body from each other. One way this is accomplished is through the administration of a contrast agent into a vein. The specific imaging technique being employed will determine the characteristics of an appropriate contrast agent to increase visibility of blood vessels or other features. Common contrast agents are administered into a peripheral vein from which they are distributed throughout the circulation to the imaging site. ### Other uses #### Use in sports IV rehydration was formerly a common technique for athletes. The World Anti-Doping Agency prohibits intravenous injection of more than 100mL per 12 hours, except under a medical exemption. The United States Anti-Doping Agency notes that, as well as the dangers inherent in IV therapy, "IVs can be used to change blood test results (such as hematocrit where EPO or blood doping is being used), mask urine test results (by dilution) or by administering prohibited substances in a way that will more quickly be cleared from the body in order to beat an anti-doping test". Players suspended after attending "boutique IV clinics" which offer this sort of treatment include footballer Samir Nasri in 2017 and swimmer Ryan Lochte in 2018. #### Use for hangover treatment In the 1960s, John Myers developed the "Myers' cocktail", a non-prescription IV solution of vitamins and minerals marketed as a hangover cure and general wellness remedy. The first "boutique IV" clinic, offering similar treatments, opened in Tokyo in 2008. These clinics, whose target market was described by Elle as "health nuts who moonlight as heavy drinkers", have been publicized in the 2010s by glamorous celebrity customers. Intravenous therapy is also used in people with acute ethanol toxicity to correct electrolyte and vitamin deficiencies which arise from alcohol consumption. #### Others In some countries, non-prescription intravenous glucose is used to improve a person's energy, but is not a part of routine medical care in countries such as the United States where glucose solutions are prescription drugs. Improperly administered intravenous glucose (called "ringer"), such as that which is administered clandestinely in store-front clinics, poses increased risks due to improper technique and oversight. Intravenous access is also sometimes used outside of a medical setting for the self-administration of recreational drugs, such as heroin and fentanyl, cocaine, methamphetamine, DMT, and others. Intravenous therapy is also used for veterinary patient management. ## Types ### Bolus Some medications can be administered as a bolus dose, which is called an "IV push". A syringe containing the medication is connected to an access port in the primary tubing and the medication is administered through the port. A bolus may be administered rapidly (with a fast depression of the syringe plunger) or may be administered slowly, over the course of a few minutes. The exact administration technique depends on the medication and other factors. In some cases, a bolus of plain IV solution (i.e. without medication added) is administered immediately after the bolus to further force the medicine into the bloodstream. This procedure is termed an "IV flush". Certain medications, such as potassium, are not able to be administered by IV push due to the extremely rapid onset of action and high level of effects. ### Infusion An infusion of medication may be used when it is desirable to have a constant blood concentration of a medication over time, such as with some antibiotics including beta-lactams. Continuous infusions, where the next infusion is begun immediately following the completion of the prior, may also be used to limit variation in drug concentration in the blood (i.e. between the peak drug levels and the trough drug levels). They may also be used instead of intermittent bolus injections for the same reason, such as with furosemide. Infusions can also be intermittent, in which case the medication is administered over a period of time, then stopped, and this is later repeated. Intermittent infusion may be used when there are concerns about the stability of medicine in solution for long periods of time (as is common with continuous infusions), or to enable the administration of medicines which would be incompatible if administered at the same time in the same IV line, for example vancomycin. Failure to properly calculate and administer an infusion can result in adverse effects, termed infusion reactions. For this reason, many medications have a maximum recommended infusion rate, such as vancomycin and many monoclonal antibodies. These infusion reactions can be severe, such as in the case of vancomycin, where the reaction is termed "red man syndrome". ### Secondary Any additional medication to be administered intravenously at the same time as an infusion may be connected to the primary tubing; this is termed a secondary IV, or IV piggyback. This prevents the need for multiple IV access lines on the same person. When administering a secondary IV medication, the primary bag is held lower than the secondary bag so that the secondary medication can flow into the primary tubing, rather than fluid from the primary bag flowing into the secondary tubing. The fluid from the primary bag is needed to help flush any remaining medication from the secondary IV from the tubing. If a bolus or secondary infusion is intended for administration in the same line as a primary infusion, the molecular compatibility of the solutions must be considered. Secondary compatibility is generally referred to as "y-site compatibility", named after the shape of the tubing which has a port for bolus administration. Incompatibility of two fluids or medications can arise due to issues of molecular stability, changes in solubility, or degradation of one of the medications. ## Methods and equipment ### Access The simplest form of intravenous access is by passing a hollow needle through the skin directly into a vein. A syringe can be connected directly to this needle, which allows for a "bolus" dose to be administered. Alternatively, the needle may be placed and then connected to a length of tubing, allowing for an infusion to be administered. The type and location of venous access (i.e. a central line versus peripheral line, and in which vein the line is placed) can be affected by the potential for some medications to cause peripheral vasoconstriction, which limits circulation to peripheral veins. A peripheral cannula is the most common intravenous access method utilized in hospitals, pre-hospital care, and outpatient medicine. This may be placed in the arm, commonly either the wrist or the median cubital vein at the elbow. A tourniquet may be used to restrict the venous drainage of the limb and make the vein bulge, making it easier to locate and place a line in a vein. When used, a tourniquet should be removed before injecting medication to prevent extravasation. The part of the catheter that remains outside the skin is called the connecting hub; it can be connected to a syringe or an intravenous infusion line, or capped with a or saline lock, a needleless connection filled with a small amount of heparin or saline solution to prevent clotting, between uses of the catheter. Ported cannulae have an injection port on the top that is often used to administer medicine. The thickness and size of needles and catheters can be given in Birmingham gauge or French gauge. A Birmingham gauge of 14 is a very large cannula (used in resuscitation settings) and 24-26 is the smallest. The most common sizes are 16-gauge (midsize line used for blood donation and transfusion), 18- and 20-gauge (all-purpose line for infusions and blood draws), and 22-gauge (all-purpose pediatric line). 12- and 14-gauge peripheral lines are capable of delivering large volumes of fluid very fast, accounting for their popularity in emergency medicine. These lines are frequently called "large bores" or "trauma lines". #### Peripheral lines A peripheral intravenous line is inserted in peripheral veins, such as the veins in the arms, hands, legs and feet. Medication administered in this way travels through the veins to the heart, from where it is distributed to the rest of the body through the circulatory system. The size of the peripheral vein limits the amount and rate of medication which can be administered safely. A peripheral line consists of a short catheter inserted through the skin into a peripheral vein. This is usually in the form of a cannula-over-needle device, in which a flexible plastic cannula comes mounted over a metal trocar. Once the tip of the needle and cannula are placed, the cannula is advanced inside the vein over the trocar to the appropriate position and secured. The trocar is then withdrawn and discarded. Blood samples may also be drawn from the line directly after the initial IV cannula insertion. #### Central lines A central line is an access method in which a catheter empties into a larger, more central vein (a vein within the torso), usually the superior vena cava, inferior vena cava or the right atrium of the heart. There are several types of central IV access, categorized based on the route the catheter takes from the outside of the body to the central vein output. #### Peripherally inserted central catheter A peripherally inserted central catheter (also called a PICC line) is a type of central IV access which consists of a cannula inserted through a sheath into a peripheral vein and then carefully fed towards the heart, terminating at the superior vena cava or the right atrium. These lines are usually placed in peripheral veins in the arm, and may be placed using the Seldinger technique under ultrasound guidance. An X-ray is used to verify that the end of the cannula is in the right place if fluoroscopy was not used during the insertion. An EKG can also be used in some cases to determine if the end of the cannula is in the correct location. #### Tunneled lines A tunneled line is a type of central access which is inserted under the skin, and then travels a significant distance through surrounding tissue before reaching and penetrating the central vein. Using a tunneled line reduces the risk of infection as compared to other forms of access, as bacteria from the skin surface are not able to travel directly into the vein. These catheters are often made of materials that resist infection and clotting. Types of tunneled central lines include the Hickman line or Broviac catheter. A tunnelled line is an option for long term venous access necessary for hemodialysis in people with poor kidney function. #### Implantable ports An implanted port is a central line that does not have an external connector protruding from the skin for administration of medication. Instead, a port consists of a small reservoir covered with silicone rubber which is implanted under the skin, which then covers the reservoir. Medication is administered by injecting medication through the skin and the silicone port cover into the reservoir. When the needle is withdrawn, the reservoir cover reseals itself. A port cover is designed to function for hundreds of needle sticks during its lifetime. Ports may be placed in an arm or in the chest area. ### Infusions Equipment used to place and administer an IV line for infusion consists of a bag, usually hanging above the height of the person, and sterile tubing through which the medicine is administered. In a basic "gravity" IV, a bag is simply hung above the height of the person and the solution is pulled via gravity through a tube attached to a needle inserted into a vein. Without extra equipment, it is not possible to precisely control the rate of administration. For this reason, a setup may also incorporate a clamp to regulate flow. Some IV lines may be placed with "Y-sites", devices which enable a secondary solution to be administered through the same line (known as piggybacking). Some systems employ a drip chamber, which prevents air from entering the bloodstream (causing an air embolism), and allows visual estimation of flow rate of the solution. Alternatively, an infusion pump allows precise control over the flow rate and total amount delivered. A pump is programmed based on the number and size of infusions being administered to ensure all medicine is fully administered without allowing the access line to run dry. Pumps are primarily utilized when a constant flow rate is important, or where changes in rate of administration would have consequences. ### Techniques To reduce pain associated with the procedure, medical staff may apply a topical local anaesthetic (such as EMLA or Ametop) to the skin of the chosen venipuncture area about 45 minutes beforehand. If the cannula is not inserted correctly, or the vein is particularly fragile and ruptures, blood may extravasate into the surrounding tissues; this situation is known as a blown vein or "tissuing". Using this cannula to administer medications causes extravasation of the drug, which can lead to edema, causing pain and tissue damage, and even necrosis depending on the medication. The person attempting to obtain the access must find a new access site proximal to the "blown" area to prevent extravasation of medications through the damaged vein. For this reason it is advisable to site the first cannula at the most distal appropriate vein. ## Adverse effects ### Pain Placement of an intravenous line inherently causes pain when the skin is broken and is considered medically invasive. For this reason, when other forms of administration may suffice, intravenous therapy is usually not preferred. This includes the treatment of mild or moderate dehydration with oral rehydration therapy which is an option, as opposed to parenteral rehydration through an IV line. Children in emergency departments being treated for dehydration have better outcomes with oral treatment than intravenous therapy due to the pain and complications of an intravenous line. Cold spray may decrease the pain of putting in an IV. Certain medications also have specific sensations of pain associated with their administration IV. This includes potassium, which when administered IV can cause a burning or painful sensation. The incidence of side effects specific to a medication can be affected by the type of access (peripheral versus central), the rate of administration, or the quantity of drug administered. When medications are administered too rapidly through an IV line, a set of vague symptoms such as redness or rash, fever, and others may occur; this is termed an "infusion reaction" and is prevented by decreasing the rate of administration of the medication. When vancomycin is involved, this is commonly termed "Red Man syndrome" after the rapid flushing which occurs after rapid administration. ### Infection and inflammation As placement of an intravenous line requires breaking the skin, there is a risk of infection. Skin-dwelling organisms such as coagulase-negative staphylococcus or Candida albicans may enter through the insertion site around the catheter, or bacteria may be accidentally introduced inside the catheter from contaminated equipment. Infection of an IV access site is usually local, causing easily visible swelling, redness, and fever. However, pathogens may also enter the bloodstream, causing sepsis, which can be sudden and life-threatening. A central IV line poses a higher risk of sepsis, as it can deliver bacteria directly into the central circulation. A line which has been in place for a longer period of time also increases the risk of infection. Inflammation of the vein may also occur, called thrombophlebitis or simply phlebitis. This may be caused by infection, the catheter itself, or the specific fluids or medication being given. Repeated instances of phlebitis can cause scar tissue to build up along a vein. A peripheral IV line cannot be left in the vein indefinitely out of concern for the risk of infection and phlebitis, among other potential complications. However, recent studies have found that there is no increased risk of complications in those whose IVs were replaced only when clinically indicated versus those whose IVs were replaced routinely. If placed with proper aseptic technique, it is not recommended to change a peripheral IV line more frequently than every 72–96 hours. Phlebitis is particularly common in intravenous drug users, and those undergoing chemotherapy, whose veins can become sclerotic and difficult to access over time, sometimes forming a hard, painful "venous cord". The presence of a cord is a cause of discomfort and pain associated with IV therapy, and makes it more difficult for an IV line to be placed as a line cannot be placed in an area with a cord. ### Infiltration and extravasation Infiltration occurs when a non-vesicant IV fluid or medication enters the surrounding tissue as opposed to the desired vein. It may occur when the vein itself ruptures, when the vein is damaged during insertion of the intravascular access device, or from increased vein porosity. Infiltration may also occur if the puncture of the vein by the needle becomes the path of least resistance—such as a cannula which has been left inserted, causing the vein to scar. It can also occur upon insertion of an IV line if a tourniquet is not promptly removed. Infiltration is characterized by coolness and pallor to the skin as well as localized swelling or edema. It is treated by removing the intravenous line and elevating the affected limb so the collected fluids drain away. Injections of hyaluronidase around the area can be used to speed the dispersal of the fluid/drug. Infiltration is one of the most common adverse effects of IV therapy and is usually not serious unless the infiltrated fluid is a medication damaging to the surrounding tissue, most commonly a vesicant or chemotherapeutic agent. In such cases, the infiltration is termed extravasation, and may cause necrosis. ### Others If the solutions administered are colder than the temperature of the body, induced hypothermia can occur. If the temperature change to the heart is rapid, ventricular fibrillation may result. Furthermore, if a solution which is not balanced in concentration is administered, a person's electrolytes may become imbalanced. In hospitals, regular blood tests may be used to proactively monitor electrolyte levels. ## History ### Discovery and development The first recorded attempt at administering a therapeutic substance via IV injection was in 1492, when Pope Innocent VIII fell ill and was administered blood from healthy individuals. If this occurred, the treatment did not work and resulted in the death of the donors while not healing the pope. This story is disputed by some, who claim that the idea of blood transfusions could not have been considered by the medical professionals at the time, or that a complete description of blood circulation was not published until over 100 years later. The story is attributed to potential errors in translation of documents from the time, as well as potentially an intentional fabrication, whereas others still consider it to be accurate. One of the leading medical history textbooks for medical and nursing students has claimed that the entire story was an anti-semitic fabrication. In 1656 Sir Christopher Wren and Robert Boyle worked on the subject. As stated by Wren, "I Have Injected Wine and Ale in a liveing Dog into the Mass of Blood by a Veine, in good Quantities, till I have made him extremely drunk, but soon after he Pisseth it out." The dog survived, grew fat, and was later stolen from his owner. Boyle attributed authorship to Wren. Richard Lower showed it was possible for blood to be transfused from animal to animal and from animal to man intravenously, a xenotransfusion. He worked with Edmund King to transfuse sheep's blood into a man who was mentally ill. Lower was interested in advancing science but also believed the man could be helped, either by the infusion of fresh blood or by the removal of old blood. It was difficult to find people who would agree to be transfused, but an eccentric scholar, Arthur Coga, consented and the procedure was carried out by Lower and King before the Royal Society on 23 November 1667. Transfusion gathered some popularity in France and Italy, but medical and theological debates arose, resulting in transfusion being prohibited in France. There was virtually no recorded success with any attempts at injection therapy until the 1800s, when in 1831 Thomas Latta studied the use of IV fluid replacements for cholera treatment. The first solutions which saw widespread use for IV injections were simple "saline-like solutions", which were followed by experiments with various other liquids, including milk, sugar, honey, and egg yolk. In the 1830s, James Blundell, an English obstetrician, used intravenous administration of blood to treat women bleeding profusely during or after delivery. This predated the understanding of blood type, leading to unpredictable results. ### Modern usage Intravenous therapy was expanded by Italian physician Guido Baccelli in the late 1890s and further developed in the 1930s by Samuel Hirschfeld, Harold T. Hyman and Justine Johnstone Wanger but was not widely available until the 1950s. There was a time, roughly the 1910s-1920s, when fluid replacement that today would be done intravenously was likelier to be done with a Murphy drip, a rectal infusion; and IV therapy took years to increasingly displace that route. In the 1960s, the concept of providing a person's complete nutritional needs through an IV solution began to be seriously considered. The first parenteral nutrition supplementation consisted of hydrolyzed proteins and dextrose. This was followed in 1975 with the introduction of intravenous fat emulsions and vitamins which were added to form "total parenteral nutrition", or that which includes protein, fat, and carbohydrates. ## See also - Banana bag - Dialysis - Fluid warmer - Hypodermic needle - Life support - Needleless connector - Rehydrex - Saline flush

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Trials and Tribulations

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Trials and Tribulations is a visual novel adventure video game developed and published by Capcom. It was originally released for the Game Boy Advance in 2004 in Japan, and has since been released for several platforms, including a Nintendo DS version that was released in 2007 in Japan and North America and in 2008 in Europe. It is the third game in the Ace Attorney series, following Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (2001) and Justice for All (2002). The story follows defense attorneys Phoenix Wright and Mia Fey, who defend their clients in five episodes. Among other characters are Phoenix's assistant and Mia's sister Maya, her cousin Pearl, and prosecutor Godot. The gameplay is split into courtroom sections, where the player cross-examines witnesses and tries to discover contradictions in their testimonies, and investigations, where they gather evidence and talk to witnesses. The game was directed and written by Shu Takumi as the last game in an Ace Attorney trilogy; he also wanted it to be the final entry in the series, as he felt he had explored Phoenix's character fully. Because he was satisfied with the gameplay in Justice for All, he did not introduce any new gameplay mechanics in Trials and Tribulations. Flashbacks were used as a major theme in the game; this originated in Takumi trying to come up with a way of handling dialogue-integrated tutorials, and deciding to use a flashback to a case from when Mia was a rookie attorney. The game has received generally favorable reviews, with reviewers liking the story, writing, character designs and music, but with some criticizing the lack of new gameplay mechanics. Additionally, the Wii version was criticized for using resized graphics from the Nintendo DS version, without any modifications to make them appear better on a larger screen. The Nintendo DS version was a commercial success in North America, with pre-orders being more than double the amount Capcom had estimated. A high-definition version of the first three Ace Attorney games, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy HD, was released for iOS and Android in Japan on February 7, 2012, and for iOS in the West on May 30, 2013. Another collection of the first three games, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy, was released for the Nintendo 3DS in Japan on April 17, 2014, in North America on December 9, 2014, and in Europe on December 11, 2014. It was also released for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on February 21, 2019, in Japan, and on April 9, 2019, internationally; a Windows version was released internationally on the same date. The PC version of the collection was among the best-selling new releases of the month on Steam. ## Gameplay Trials and Tribulations is a visual novel adventure game in which the player takes the roles of Phoenix Wright and Mia Fey, defense attorneys who defend their clients in five different episodes. The gameplay remains unchanged from Justice for All, the previous title in the series. From the start, only one episode is available to play; when the player completes an episode, a new one is unlocked. The episodes are divided into chapters, which consist of investigations and courtroom sessions. During investigation sections, the player aims to find evidence for use in the courtroom sessions; the game moves on to the next chapter within the episode when the player has gathered enough evidence. The player moves and performs actions through a menu with four options: "examine", which lets them move a cursor over the environment and examine items; "move", which shows a menu with locations the player can move to; talk, which shows a list of topics the player can discuss with witnesses in the area; and present, which lets the player show evidence or character profiles to a witness. Some witnesses do not want to discuss certain subjects, leading to a lock symbol appearing over the subject. By showing the witness a magatama, the player is able to see the secret they are trying to hide in the form of locks, called a "Psyche-Lock"; by presenting correct evidence or character profiles, the player can break the locks and be able to discuss the subject. During the courtroom sections, the player defends their client and cross-examines the witnesses. They can move back and forth between the statements in each testimony; if they find a contradiction between a statement and the evidence, they can point out the contradiction by presenting a relevant piece of evidence or character profile. The player can also choose to question a statement, which sometimes leads to changes in the testimony. A life bar, representing the judge's patience, is shown in the upper right corner of the screen. If the player presents incorrect evidence or profiles, the bar will decrease; if it reaches zero, the player loses and their client is declared guilty. The bar will also decrease if the player makes mistakes while trying to break psyche-locks; however, the player cannot lose while trying to break psyche-locks. 50% of the life bar gets restored when the player manages to break a psyche-lock, and it gets fully restored when the player completes an episode. ## Plot ### Characters Similar to previous games, Trials and Tribulations focuses on the careers of defense attorneys Phoenix Wright and Mia Fey. Other featured characters include Maya Fey, Mia's sister and a spirit medium who acts as Phoenix's secretary and assistant, and her young cousin Pearl Fey. After Mia was killed during the events of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney; Phoenix took over her law practice. Nevertheless, he regularly consults with her on cases by having either Maya or Pearl channel her spirit, which allows them to assume her appearance. Phoenix also occasionally receives help from prosecutors Miles Edgeworth and Franziska von Karma, who both hold him in high regard. The game's featured antagonist is Godot, an eccentric, coffee-loving prosecutor who keeps his identity concealed behind a mask and who seems to harbor a personal grudge against Phoenix. ### Story The first case, "Turnabout Memories", takes place five years prior to most of the game's story. University student Phoenix Wright is charged with the murder of his classmate Doug Swallow. Mia, acting as his lawyer, exposes prosecution witness Dahlia Hawthorne, Phoenix's girlfriend, as the real murderer, revealing she used Phoenix to hide evidence tying her to the poisoning of Mia's former partner Diego Armando, planning to kill him as well. For her efforts, Dahlia is arrested, convicted, and sentenced to death. Phoenix, who was already planning on changing majors to study law, asks Mia to allow him to study under her, as he has a friend he needs to save. In the present, case two, "The Stolen Turnabout", has Phoenix representing thief Ron DeLite in court, faces off against prosecutor Godot. Although Phoenix is able to get Ron acquitted, Ron is subsequently arrested for the murder of his former boss Kane Bullard, based on evidence Phoenix presented in his defense. At the last second, Phoenix manages to identify corrupt private investigator Luke Atmey as the true culprit, having realized Atmey framed Ron so he could use double jeopardy to escape punishment. The third case, "Recipe for Turnabout", is set months later. Phoenix is informed he supposedly failed to properly defend former client Maggey Byrde against accusations of poisoning programmer Glen Elg. Realizing someone impersonated him, Phoenix secures a retrial and conducts his own investigation, discovering that Elg was developing a computer virus on behalf of loan shark Furio Tigre. He deduces Tigre killed Elg to steal the virus, needing money to repay a large debt to a mob boss, before framing Maggey and posing as Wright to ensure her conviction. Despite no conclusive evidence, Phoenix manages to get Tigre arrested by tricking him into identifying the bottle of poison used in the murder, exposing himself as the killer. The fourth case, "Turnabout Beginnings" depicts Mia's first case six years earlier, in which she and Armando defend death row inmate Terry Fawles, who was under suspicion of murdering policewoman Valerie Hawthorne during an escape attempt. Facing off against Edgeworth, also on his first case as a prosecutor, Mia's persistence pays off when she learns the truth: years earlier, Terry, Valerie, and her younger sister Dahlia staged a kidnapping to steal a priceless jewel from their father. Dahlia then betrays Terry by faking her death, leaving Terry to be convicted of murder based on Valerie's testimony. Terry had escaped in the hopes of learning the truth from Valerie, but unbeknownst to him, Dahlia had already killed Valerie and planted her body in his car. Before a judgement can be passed, Terry commits suicide by consuming poison received from Dahlia years earlier, forcing a mistrial and freeing Dahlia. She subsequently poisons Armando after learning he was investigating her further, leading to Phoenix gaining the bottle, ensuring that they would both cross paths with Mia months later. In the fifth and final case, "Bridge to the Turnabout", Phoenix is visiting a mountain retreat with Maya and Pearl when fellow guest Elise Deauxnim is murdered. While looking for Maya, he falls into a river and becomes ill, forcing Edgeworth and Franziska to temporarily fill in as attorney and prosecutor to keep his client, a nun named Iris, from being found guilty. When Phoenix returns, he explains Elise was really Maya's long-lost mother, Misty Fey, and that her death was the result of a plan engineered by her sister Morgan to kill Maya with the help of the now-executed Dahlia, who turns out to be Iris' twin. Through cross-examination, Phoenix reveals that not only is Dahlia impersonating Iris, but she is also using Maya's body to do so. With Mia's help, Dahlia is exorcised from Maya and the real Iris is declared innocent. Godot is revealed as the one responsible for killing Misty to protect Maya from Dahlia, leading to the discovery of his true identity as Diego Armando. Having spent his time since awakening from his coma blaming Phoenix for Mia's death and seeking revenge, he concedes that Phoenix has done more to continue her legacy than he had. Iris is arrested again as Diego's accomplice in Misty's murder, but reveals to Phoenix that it was her he had dated in college, as she posed as Dahlia to protect him from her sister before eventually and genuinely falling in love with him. Reuniting with his friends, Phoenix celebrates finally being free of his past. ## Development Trials and Tribulations was written and directed by Shu Takumi, with art by Tatsuro Iwamoto and music by Noriyuki Iwadare. After development of the original Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney was finished, Takumi's boss, Shinji Mikami, told him that they should make an Ace Attorney trilogy, with a grand finale in the third game's last case. As Takumi wanted the three first Ace Attorney games to be parts of a larger work, he avoided making a lot of changes: art for main characters such as Phoenix, Maya and Edgeworth was reused from the first game, to avoid having the previous games look outdated in comparison to newer games in the series; and no new gameplay mechanics were added for Trials and Tribulations, as Takumi was happy with the gameplay after having added the psyche-lock mechanic for Justice for All. He wanted the series to end with Trials and Tribulations, as he had explored Phoenix's character fully and wanted to avoid the series becoming "a shadow of its former self", saying that he thinks it is important to know when to end a story. Because the dialogue-integrated tutorial in the first game had been well received, it was considered a major point for future games in the series. In the first game, Takumi had Phoenix being guided through his first trial by the judge and Mia, and for the second game, he had Phoenix suffer from amnesia; when writing the third game, Takumi did not know what to do, as it would not seem credible if Phoenix had amnesia a second time. Eventually he came up with the idea of using a flashback to a case where Mia had just become an attorney; he developed this idea further, and ended up using flashbacks as a major theme for the game's story. He decided that he wanted to include a case where Mia faces off against Edgeworth back when he was a rookie prosecutor, but encountered a problem: both characters had previously been established as never having lost a single case. Trying to come up with a way for a case in the past to work with neither of them winning or losing, he came up with the story for Terry Fawles, who dies during the trial. The game's main theme was "not everything is always what it seems on the surface". As Edgeworth had been a popular character ever since start of the series, Takumi found it difficult to come up with a way to bring him back without having him, a supposedly great prosecutor, always lose to Phoenix. While he was writing the story for the game's final case, he thought of the idea to have Edgeworth become a player character; he liked this idea so much that he immediately started to rewrite the case. In order to allow Edgeworth to be the player character, the first thing he did was to "get rid of" Phoenix by having him fall from a bridge into an icy river. He enjoyed writing from another character's perspective, who thought differently from Phoenix; he also used the case to explore the relationship between Edgeworth and Gumshoe. The third episode of the game, "Recipe for Turnabout", was originally intended as the fourth episode of Justice for All but had been cut due to memory limitations. ### Hardware limitations and art direction The development team had troubles fitting the entire game on a single Game Boy Advance cartridge: while they had the same amount of memory available as when they made the first Ace Attorney game, Trials and Tribulations was 2.3 times as large content-wise. To accomplish this, they made use of "tricks and workarounds" they had figured out since working on the first game: for instance, they worked to create better structures for storing data efficiently, better compression of the graphical data, and good sounds that only use little data. Takumi found these constraints fun, as it was a chance to improve the team's abilities and a source of inspiration for doing as much as possible within the memory limitations. They still ended up having to cut or change several features: along with the art of the younger Mia, Phoenix and Edgeworth in the flashback episodes, they had planned to have new art assets for a younger Gumshoe, with his tie tied tightly and with only one hair spike, but had to settle for giving him a new coat. The character Oldbag from the first game was first cut, then included as a cameo at the end when they realized that they had just enough space for her; Takumi wanted to have her wear a lei as she would have just come back from a Hawaii trip, but was unable to due to memory limitations. Due to miscalculations of the game asset size, they had to make the character Bikini shorter in order to save some memory. After all text was written, the development team decided which scenes should have illustrations made for them; Takumi drew rough sketches of these. He also drew the storyboards for the episodes' openings. While episode openings in previous Ace Attorney games consisted of series of illustrations, the development team decided to change to make use of a "more animated and dramatic presentation" in Trials and Tribulations: by using moving graphics on top of still images, they were still able to limit the amount of data used. The first opening they did was for episode 2; it used animation a lot, and was liked by the development team, inspiring Takumi to make even better openings for the rest of the episodes and leading the team to think of movie effects that could be used. For one opening, they gave it a "vintage movie feel": by setting the color palette to monochrome, they were able to limit the color data. The character Grossberg's design was changed for Trials and Tribulations, with his brown suit changed to a red one: this was because the Game Boy Advance system's screen made his previous design blend in too much with the brown courtroom. Iwamoto based the design of Godot on Rutger Hauer's role in Blade Runner. He was originally going to be depicted as drinking bourbon whiskey and smoking, as part of his "hard-boiled" image; when the development team realized that this could have a bad influence on children, they made him drink coffee instead. As Takumi and Hideki Kamiya had joined Capcom around the same time and had desks near each other, Kamiya had asked Takumi for a voice role ever since the development of Justice for All; eventually, Takumi gave him the role of Godot. Takumi explained the role as a hard-boiled guy, so Kamiya decided to adapt the dialogue and shout "Objection, baby!". Takumi said that it was a good take, but that the in-game graphics just say "Objection!", so it could not be used. ## Release The game was originally released for the Game Boy Advance on January 23, 2004, in Japan; a Windows version followed on March 31, 2006, also in Japan. A Nintendo DS version was released on August 23, 2007, in Japan, on October 23, 2007, in North America, and on October 3, 2008, in Europe. It was released for the Wii via WiiWare on February 23, 2010, in Japan, on May 10, 2010, in North America, and on May 21, 2010, in Europe. ### Localization The localization of Trials and Tribulations was directed by Janet Hsu, with editing help from fellow localization director Andrew Alfonso. They changed several character names for the localization: Dahlia Hawthorne's English name came from the X Japan album Dahlia (1996), which Hsu was listening to at the time of the localization, as well as the short story "Rappaccini's Daughter". Her nickname, Dollie, was a reference to an attempted fan translation of Trials and Tribulations, in which she was named Dolly. Among the initial ideas for Diego Armando's name were Joseph Cuppa, Xavier Barstucks, and William Havamug. Luke Atmey's catchphrase, rendered as "Zuvari" (ズヴァリ) in the Japanese version, was going to be changed to "Schwing!" at one point; Hsu eventually changed it to "Zvarri!", as she found it "catchy and eccentric like Atmey himself". Because Alfonso, who is from Canada, wanted to "show his Maple Pride", it was decided to make the judge's brother a Canadian. The localization team faced some issues when localizing the character Jean Armstrong: in the Japanese version, he is portrayed as an okama character, which at the time of the game's development was a general word for effeminate men, often implying homosexuality, but also used for biologically male persons who do drag or speak like women, regardless of their sexuality and gender, and even including trans women. Because of this, they only had a vague concept of "gay", and had to make it understandable for English-speaking players. Hsu looked through all information that is given about Jean in the game, and came to the conclusion that he is a gay cis man who likes to perform non-passing drag. Looking back at the game in 2014, Hsu said that she still thought Jean caused confusion due to the general public having a less informed and nuanced understanding of gender and sexuality at the time of the game's release. ## Reception Trials and Tribulations has received generally favorable reviews for the Nintendo DS, holding a score of 81/100 based on 45 reviews at the review aggregator Metacritic; meanwhile, the Wii version holds a Metacritic score of 67/100 based on 9 reviews, indicating mixed or average reviews. The North American Nintendo DS release was a success, with pre-orders more than double of Capcom's estimates, resulting in a shortage of it at both retailers and at Capcom's own online store. In 2010, IGN ranked the game as the 23rd best video game for the Nintendo DS, praising it for its writing and for being an evolution of the point-and-click adventure genre. Reviewers at Famitsu liked the game's story. Ryan Scott at 1UP.com called it "a perfect storm of everything that makes graphic adventures work", saying that it was apparent throughout the game that it had been created with a cohesive plot in mind, something he noted as a contrast to the previous games' more episodic approach. John Walker at Eurogamer said that the plot was the darkest and most complex in the Ace Attorney series, but also the funniest. He called the dialogue "consistently wonderful", and liked how Maya was given a bigger role than in Justice for All, with her often taking the lead during conversations with other characters. Aaron Thomas at GameSpot found the cases interesting and the writing "top-notch", with the dialogue feeling natural and well written; he did, however, think that the new characters, except for Godot and Dahlia Hawthorne, were annoying or not developed well. Colin Moriarty at IGN liked how the game's cases fit together, and enjoyed learning more about returning characters from the previous games, but wished the game had been less linear. Michael Cole at Nintendo World Report enjoyed how the story makes use of "brilliant twists of dramatic irony" by presenting the cases in a non-chronological order, and called it a "satisfying closure" for the series. Scott noted that it was easier to reach correct puzzle solutions, with clues being given out "at a very reasonable rate". He saw this as the game's largest improvement upon previous Ace Attorney titles, which he said relied on trial and error; he had considered this the weakest point in the series, and something that needed to be changed. On the other hand, Walker said that the player often can figure out what a contradiction is going to be before the game lets them prove it, and the player might come up with legitimate ideas that the game does not accept. He also wished that the life bar could be filled up in court. Cole criticized how relevant evidence sometimes is not accepted, and how testimony statements sometimes need to be pressed in a certain order, but appreciated the game's larger focus on courtroom sessions over investigations. Thomas and the reviewers at Famitsu criticized the lack of new gameplay features, although the former thought that fans of the series would be fine with it. Scott acknowledged that the gameplay only is what is expected from the series, but did not find a problem with it due to the focus on narrative over gameplay. Moriarty said that while Trials and Tribulations is a good game in its own right, he wished that Capcom would make some changes to the gameplay or presentation, to avoid the series becoming "overdone, played-out, and tired". Thomas liked the visuals, saying that the game was capable of conveying characters' moods instantly despite being limited to only a few frames of animation, and that the backgrounds were nice and fitting in well with the ones from returning locations; he did however dislike how a lot of the artwork was reused from previous Ace Attorney games. Cole and Moriarty were not bothered by the limited character sprites and animation or static backgrounds; Cole called the character designs "memorable and hilariously animated", while Moriarty, who liked both, said that the characters looked "awesome". Thomas called the game's music outstanding, saying that the intense music that plays at high-stakes moments during trials, as well as the character themes, all fit well. Cole said that the courtroom and character themes were memorable and fitting; he called them improvements over their counterparts in Justice for All, and "at least on par with" those in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. Moriarty said that the music "set the mood perfectly" for each scene. ### Wii version Corbie Dillard at Nintendo Life criticized the Wii version for using resized graphics from the Nintendo DS version without doing any "touch-ups", resulting in a pixelated look. He also disliked the Wii Remote-based gameplay changes, saying that they were annoying for people who have already played the portable versions of the game. Lucas M. Thomas at IGN also found it disappointing how the graphics, audio and content had not been changed at all compared to the Nintendo DS release, saying that the visuals did not look attractive when resized to fit a larger screen; he concluded that it did not seem like the Wii version had been given "any extra love and attention at all". Marissa Meli at GameZone called it a "3/10 interpretation of a 9/10 title", saying that the pixelated graphics made the game look ugly and shoddy.

Timoleague Friary

Ruined Franciscan friary in Cork, Ireland

Timoleague Friary (Irish: Mainistir Thigh Molaga), also known as Timoleague Abbey, is a ruined medieval Franciscan friary in Timoleague, County Cork, Ireland, on the banks of the Argideen River overlooking Courtmacsherry Bay. It was built on the site of an early Christian monastic site founded by Saint Molaga, from whom the town of Timoleague derives its name. The present remains date from roughly the turn of the fourteenth century and were burnt down by British forces in the mid-seventeenth century, at which point it was an important ecclesiastical centre that engaged in significant trade with Spain. The friary is the largest medieval ruin in West Cork and one of the few early Franciscan friaries in Ireland to have substantial ruins. It is claustral in layout, and built in the Early English Gothic architectural style. It contains several elements atypical of Franciscan architecture of the period, including wall passages and exterior access to its upper floor. It was significantly altered in the early 16th and early 17th centuries. Several historical artefacts are associated with the friary, and during the Romantic era it was depicted in several notable artworks. ## History ### Monastic site The friary sits on a monastic site dedicated to Saint Molaga dating to either the 6th or 7th century. According to legend, this settlement was originally to be formed a mile west of Timoleague, but all work done on that site by day would fall down by morning. Interpreting this as God's will that the friary be built elsewhere, Molaga supposedly placed a blessed candle on a sheaf of corn, and set it down the Argideen River, building his settlement on the spot that it came ashore, in an area overlooking Courtmacsherry Bay. The town derives its Irish name, Teach Molaga or "Molaga's House" from the saint. ### Foundation and early history The date of foundation by the Franciscans is disputed. Documentary evidence places the foundation of the friary between 1307 and 1316, though physical evidence suggests that a preexisting 13th-century building was incorporated into the site. According to the Annals of the Four Masters, the friary was founded in 1240 by the MacCarthy Reagh family. This has been identified as possibly being too early. Some sources ascribe this claimed foundation to Domhnall Got MacCarthy, while others claim that Got MacCarthy merely expanded the friary anywhere between 1312 and 1366. Domhnall's grandson, Domhnall Glas MacCarthy, is also thought to have been a patron of the friary. Samuel Lewis, in A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland... (1837) writes that the MacCarthy's founded the friary in 1312. The friary's foundation has also been attributed to the Anglo-Norman de Barry family in the early 14th century. Though the friars were well established in Timoleague by 1320, the earliest surviving parts of the ruined friary date from later in the 14th century. It is likely that they were based in Timoleague Castle prior to the construction of the friary. By the 15th century, the friary was recognised as a centre of learning, and also as an important ecclesiastical centre. In 1460, Timoleague became one of the first houses in the Franciscan order to recognise the observantine reform. Tadhg Mac Cárthaigh, also known as "Blessed Thaddeus", is said to have been educated by the friars in Timoleague around this time. According to the Annals of Ulster, in 1505 Patrick Ó Feidhil, a famous preacher in Ireland and Scotland, was buried in the friary. An important patron of the church was Bishop John Edmond de Courcy, along with his nephew James, 8th Baron Kingsale. They funded the construction of the Gothic style bell tower, the infirmary, the library, and one of the dormitories. De Courcy had been a friar in Timoleague before being made a bishop. The tower was added between 1510 and 1518. They also contributed to the friary's collection of plate. John de Courcy was buried in the transept of the friary, but in the Cromwellian period his grave was desecrated and his bones thrown into the estuary. Despite the dissolution of the monasteries in 1540 by Henry VIII, the friars remained in Timoleague. In 1568, the friary was seized by crown forces, and in 1577 was granted to James de Barry, 4th Viscount Buttevant. Despite this, Timoleague remained an important centre for the training of the novitiate until the late 1580s. In 1590, the Protestant Bishop of Cork ordered materials to be taken from the friar's mill to be used in the construction of a new mill he was building, but the river flooded and swept away all progress on the new mill. In 1596, the friary's wooden cells were removed and were being transported by ship, but the ship sank in a storm. After the succession of James I, the friary was reclaimed by Catholics in 1603, and was repaired in its entirety by the end of 1604. During these repairs, significant changes were made to the architecture of the friary. ### Abandonment and destruction In 1612, Bishop Lyons came to Timoleague to disperse the friars but was repelled by an Irish force led by Daniel O'Sullivan. Though the friary had reportedly been re-edified by 1613, by the time of Donatus Mooney's visit in 1616, the friary could no longer be considered genuinely inhabited. In 1629, four years after the death of King James, Richard Boyle was named Lord Justice and instigated the closure of religious buildings across Cork, putting increasing pressure on the friary. It is assumed, however, that the friary was already largely abandoned by the Franciscans by this point, as the guardian appointed to the friary, Eugenius Fildaeus, was appointed in Limerick, in Loco refugii. By 1631 the friary had been largely plundered by Protestant settlers. Despite these accounts, the friary was reportedly renowned for its School of Philosophy, established in 1620 and led by Owen O'Fihelly. Furthermore, in 1629 Mícheál Ó Cléirigh reportedly transcribed material from the Book of Lismore in the friary library. The friary was eventually burnt down by crown forces in July 1642, when a force led by Lord Kinelmeaky failed to capture Timoleague Castle and instead burnt the friary and much of the town. Franciscan houses were commonly founded at trading ports, and Timoleague is no exception: the friary at one time engaged in significant trade with France, and in particular, Spain. The monks likely traded Irish agricultural goods such as hides, butter, timber, and corn in exchange for wine: an account of the burning of the friary states that: "We burnt all the towne, and their great Abbey, in which was some thousand barrels of wine." The destruction of the friary led to a significant downturn in the financial development of the town. ### As ruins After the friary was burnt, local families began to bury their dead within the friary regardless of status, something which previously had only been done for prominent local families. Despite the burning of the friary, the Franciscan community of Timoleague survived for close to two centuries. In 1696 four friars were reportedly living in the ruined monastery. Though the Franciscan community dispersed by the mid-eighteenth century, individual friars remained in the area for several more decades. The last Franciscan friar working in the area was Fr Edmund Tobin (also known as Bonaventure Tobin), who died circa 1822. The Franciscans appointed titular guardians of the friary up until 1872. The last guardian of Timoleague friary was Patrick Carey. Interest in the friary was renewed during the Romantic era of the early 19th century, and many paintings and sketches of the friary exist from this period. On 15 January 1848, Fr Matt Horgan, writing under the pen-name "Viator", wrote the following which was released in the Cork Examiner: > "The walls [of the friary] are washed by the tide and some large breaches are already made in the burying ground, much to the disgrace of the lord of the soil, who must be either some heartless absentee, or a Gothic resident, having no feeling of fatherland; irrespective of its history or monuments, thinking only of bullocks, and knowing nothing, and caring less for the arts; blind to the beauties, with heart closed against the romance and poetry of the glorious past, and its mute but still eloquent memorials." Soon after the publication of these remarks, Colonel Robert Travers, the so-called "lord of the soil", had the walls of the friary grounds replaced, and a road built between them and the sea, all at his own expense. In 1891, mass was celebrated in the friary for the first time since it was burnt down 249 years prior. One of the Timoleague chalices (the Dale-Browne Chalice) was used on the occasion. In 1892, Denham Franklin wrote that > "The preservation of the abbey is mainly due to the care bestowed on it by the family of the present proprietor of Timoleague, Mr. Robert Travers, who did not allow the depredations unfortunately too common on our ancient buildings." In 1920, in response to the murder of three police officers by Irish nationalists, British soldiers desecrated the friary's burial ground. Burial vaults were opened, and the flags that had been draped over the coffins within were torn and cast aside. Coffins were opened, and in some cases, human remains were left visible. The friary has been listed as a discovery point on the Wild Atlantic Way since it was established in 2014. Irish-language writer Máire Ní Shíthe was interred in the friary in an unmarked grave in 1955. In 2016 the location of her burial was identified, and a commemorative stone placed above it. ## Architecture The friary is the largest medieval ruin in West Cork. The use of locally available freestone was typical in the construction of Franciscan friaries of the period, and Timoleague Friary is no exception, having been made from locally sourced slate, quarried in nearby Borleigh. Built in the Early English Gothic architectural style, the architectural details are quite plain. Despite the extensive standing remains, the friary was once much larger than it is today. Records show that in the late 1500s the friary had a mill attached to the main structure, and that the monastery stood on a 4.5 acre site — four times larger than what is left of the friary grounds today. At the entrance to the nave, now used as the main entrance to the friary, a fleur-de-lis is engraved on the left jamb. The doorway features simple mouldings, features of the Perpendicular Gothic period. The original monks were likely French-speaking, and would have used the fleur-de-lis as an aid to describing the Holy Trinity. A small recess above the door was used to hold either a sculpture or other religious imagery. The nave was considerably smaller when the friary was first constructed; it features an arcade of six arches, only three of which are original. A leprosarium was located in Spittal, a nearby townland, and as a result, the south window of the transept was known as the "Leper's Hole" or "Lepers' Window" — a gap through which sufferers of leprosy could see and hear the service, and partake in the Blessed Sacrament. The window is narrower on the outside than it is on the inside, and the Eucharist was likely passed out by the monks on a spoon so as to avoid contact with a disease which was considered highly contagious at the time. The choir is the oldest part of the friary and may have originally been an early 13th-century castle or church that the Franciscans later added to. It is notably tall and features unusual components such as long arches and triforium wall passages. It features four widely splayed arched recesses in the north and south walls, separated by piers, one of which is now covered by the base of the tower. The recess nearest the east gable contained the sedilia. A niche on the northern wall once contained an altar in memory of the de Courcey family. The great window in the choir faces east, and once contained elaborate stained glass imagery. The graves of the McCarthy Reagh family are also located here. The sacristy features a bullaun stone, commonly known as a “wart well” as the water in the depression was said to heal warts. This stone is far older than any other aspect of the friary, and may have originally been associated with the original 6th or 7th century monastic site. One of the protruding stones on the exterior wall is known as "St Molaga's Head". A gift given by French sailors as thanksgiving for safe harbour following a storm at sea, it was originally a sculpture of Molaga's head, but the facial features have been completely eroded. A room generally considered to have been the library is the only section of the friary not in use as a burial ground. This may have been the place of residence of the friars who remained in Timoleague after the destruction of the friary. The windows present in the remaining ground floor of this room would not have been sufficient for literary work, and the library was actually more likely to have been on the upper floor. When Donatus Mooney visited the friary in the 17th century, he noted that the ceilings above the refectory and the chapter room were supported by beams of carved oak. The chapter room may have at one time been the location of the library, though it was later used for storage purposes. The chamber designated as the refectory is evidenced by traces of a reader's seat and one of the five windows which lighted it. The friary originally had a cloister, but only a portion of its walls remain standing. It is unclear whether the ambulatory extended along the western side. The cloister and the monk's living quarters are towards the north of the church, which is typical of Irish Franciscan friaries. The cloister quadrangle would have covered an area 9.8 metres (32 ft) across by 9.3 metres (30.5 ft) wide. In the south wall of the cloister is an intramural space known locally as "The Fairy Cupboard". In the 1800s, some local children supposedly entered the Fairy Cupboard and discovered a parchment manuscript beneath one of the flagstones, which they used as a football before the remainder was eaten by pigs. Documentary evidence suggests that there was exterior access from the cloister to rooms on the upper floor, which would have been unusual. Though there are no traces of steps, there are indications that the space typically occupied by the chapter room in Franciscan friaries was used as a cellarage, and that the chapter room was located above. A further atypical feature of the friary is that alongside the cloister it has a large outdoor courtyard. The bell tower is one of fourteen pre-reformation towers built in Franciscan monasteries that still stand today. It is a later addition to the friary, and was erected in the early 16th century. The tower is wider from north to south than from west to east, a feature typical of Franciscan towers. It measures 4.0 metres (13 ft) from west to east and 4.6 metres (15 ft) from north to south. Also typical is the abrupt narrowing of the cross-walls from the north and south at the point where the tower begins. The tower is more obviously battered than most Franciscan towers. The tower is battlemented, as are almost all surviving towers. The top of the tower has three merlons rising to each of its four corners. ## Historical artefacts ### Book of Lismore Leabhar Leasa Móir, or the Book of Lismore, also known as Leabhar Mhic Cárthaigh Riabhaigh, is a 15th-century manuscript with connections to the friary. Though some sources claim that the manuscript was written or partly written in the friary, Professor Pádraig Ó Macháin, an expert on Irish manuscripts, says that that is not the case. It was held in the friary at times, and material from the book was transcribed there by Mícheál Ó Cléirigh in 1629. ### Timoleague Chalices Two 17th century chalices – both of which are referred to as the "Timoleague Chalice" – are associated with the friary. The first, also known as the "Dale-Browne Chalice", or the "Dale Chalice", is made of gilt silver and was created circa. 1600. After the suppression of the monastery, one of the friars supposedly escaped with the chalice, disguised himself and lived as a farmer. His dying wish was that the chalice and his vestments were buried in a box beneath his house and that they remain buried until the friary was restored and the friars had returned. Years later, the box was discovered while the house was undergoing renovations. The contents were given to Franciscans in Cork. The earlier chalice is engraved with the words "Orate · Pro · Animabvs · Caroli · Dali · Et · Elizie · Browne · TimoLeagve." around the base, which translates as "Pray for the souls of Charles Daly and Elizabeth Browne, Timoleague". It is 8.5 inches tall, with the tulip-shaped bowl measuring 3.25 inches wide and 3 inches deep. Its primary decoration is on one facet of its tall hexagonal foot. It depicts a selection of the Instruments of the Passion: a central cross with a spear to one side and a stick with a sponge on the other. The cross is depicted as the tree of life, with branches sprouting from its tip and base and shamrocks forming its head and arms. The chalice was likely a gift from the Dalys (Elizabeth Browne being Charles' wife) to the friars upon their return to the friary after its suppression in 1568. It is currently held by the Collins Barracks branch of the National Museum of Ireland. The later chalice, also known as the "Timoleague Franciscan Chalice", is made of gold and may date to c. 1633. When the friary was burned, three friars supposedly fled via rowboat and were found at sea by fishermen from Cape Clear Island, by which time two of them had died. A box was left with the fishermen by the surviving friar, with instructions that they not open it as he would one day return for it, though he never did. It was re-opened in 1860 and found to contain a set of severely deteriorated vestments and a chalice "black with age". The chalice is engraved with the words "ffr'MinConv de Thimolaggi" ("Friars Minor Convent of Timoleague"). In 1892, 250 years after the chalice was removed from the town, it was returned to the parish priest of Timoleague. It has remained in the safekeeping of his successors, and an exact replica of the chalice is on permanent display in the local Catholic church. ## In culture William Ashford depicted the friary several times: first in a pencil sketch, and then again among his earliest landscape works, which include a rough drawing of the friary, titled Timoleague (abbey ruins), which he followed with two 1776 watercolours of the ruins. The Irish writer Seán Ó Coileáin wrote the c. 1913 poem Machtnadh an Duine Dhoilghiosaich about the ruins. James Hardiman described it as one of the "finest modern poems in the Irish language" in 1831. It has been translated to English several times, including as The Mourner's Soliloquy in the Ruined Abbey of Timoleague and as Lament over the Ruins of the Abbey of Teach Molaga by Sir Samuel Ferguson. A bronze cast of one of the verses in the original Irish is located at the entrance gate of the ruins. ## Gallery

Trish Stratus

Canadian professional wrestler

Patricia Anne Stratigeas (/ˈstrætɪdʒiəs/; born December 18, 1975), better known by the ring name Trish Stratus, is a Canadian professional wrestler, actress and yoga instructor. She is currently signed to WWE. A member of the WWE Hall of Fame, Stratus was ranked the greatest women's superstar of all time by WWE. Initially studying at York University to become a doctor, Stratigeas began her career as a fitness model. She began working for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1999, later renamed World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in 2002. Early in her career, she was mostly involved in sexually themed storylines, such as managing the team T & A and a kayfabe affair with WWE owner Vince McMahon. As Stratus's popularity increased due to receiving more in-ring experience, she was made a one-time WWE Hardcore Champion, three-time "WWE Babe of the Year", and was proclaimed "Diva of the Decade". After nearly seven years in WWE, Stratus retired from professional wrestling on a full-time basis at WWE Unforgiven on September 17, 2006, after winning her record seventh WWE Women's Championship. Following her initial retirement from full-time performing, she has since made occasional WWE appearances. On Raw, she made sporadic tag-team match appearances between 2008 and 2011 – as well as a one-off singles match against Vickie Guerrero – before being involved in a mixed six-person tag team match at WrestleMania XXVII. In 2018, she returned to WWE to participate in the promotion's first Women's Royal Rumble and later competed at the all-female Evolution event in October of that year. She then wrestled Charlotte Flair in her first singles match on pay-per-view since her initial full-time retirement at SummerSlam 2019. In 2023, Stratus appeared in a six-woman tag team match at WrestleMania 39, after which she returned as a full time member of the roster. Aside from professional wrestling, Stratus has appeared on a number of magazine covers and has been involved in charity work. She appeared as a judge on WWE Tough Enough in 2011, where she also had her first role in film as the main character in Bail Enforcers. She has also hosted several award and television shows and formerly owned a yoga studio. Since 2022, Stratus has been a judge on Canada's Got Talent. ## Early life Stratigeas was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and attended Bayview Secondary School in Richmond Hill, Ontario. She enrolled at York University, where she studied biology and kinesiology and played soccer and field hockey. Due to a faculty strike in 1997, she was forced to change her plans. She was working as a receptionist at a local gym when she was approached by the publisher of MuscleMag International to do a test shoot for the magazine. She later appeared on the cover of the May 1998 issue and was signed to a two-year contract. For the next six months, she worked on her body and appeared on numerous magazine covers. During this time, she joined Big Daddy Donnie & Jeff Marek as the third host of Live Audio Wrestling on Toronto Sports Radio, The FAN 590. Stratigeas had been a fan of wrestling since childhood and was especially fond of wrestlers Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage, among others. Her modelling work caught the attention of the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). In November 1999, she was signed to a multi-year contract with the company, who sent her to Sully's Gym where she was trained by Ron Hutchison. ## Professional wrestling career ### World Wrestling Federation / World Wrestling Entertainment / WWE (2000- present) #### T & A (2000–2001) Stratigeas made her debut as a heel on the March 19, 2000, episode of Sunday Night Heat under the ring name Trish Stratus. She appeared on stage to scout Test and Prince Albert. The next night on Raw Is War, Test and Albert joined forces as the tag team T & A and Stratus began her first role in the company as their valet. It was during her stint managing T & A that Stratus took her first major bump in the ring, by being driven through a table by the Dudley Boyz at Backlash, after she had been taunting Bubba Ray Dudley for several weeks. In June, she was on the receiving end of a stinkface from Rikishi on Raw. She also began managing then-heel, Val Venis to win the WWE Intercontinental Championship, but their partnership ended at SummerSlam after Venis lost the title. Stratus made her in-ring debut on the June 22 episode of SmackDown!, winning a tag team match with T & A against the Hardy Boyz and Lita. A storyline feud between Stratus and Lita developed after the match with Stratus attacking Lita on episodes of Raw and SmackDown!. This led to an Indian Strap match between the two women on the July 24 episode of Raw, which Stratus won with help from Stephanie McMahon. She finished the year competing unsuccessfully for the WWF Women's Championship numerous times, and separating from Test and Albert when the team disbanded. In early 2001, Stratus became involved in an angle with WWF Chairman Vince McMahon, during a time when Vince's wife Linda was kayfabe institutionalized following a demand Vince had made for a divorce during an episode of SmackDown!. Vince and Stratus' relationship increasingly angered the boss' daughter, then-heel, Stephanie McMahon. On the February 19 episode of Raw, Stephanie and Trish were scheduled for a match, but it quickly got cancelled due to Stephanie getting stunned by Steve Austin. At No Way Out, Stratus and Stephanie squared off, with Stephanie scoring the victory after a run-in by William Regal. In the midst of a tag team match that pitted Vince and Stratus against Regal and Stephanie the next night on Raw, Stratus was the victim of a set-up by Vince, Stephanie and Regal. Regal executed his finisher, the Regal Cutter, on Stratus and Stephanie then dumped slop over Stratus' body. Vince stood over Stratus and he told her she was a "toy" with which he had "grown tired of playing with". The angle continued the next week on Raw in controversial fashion, with Vince humiliating Stratus, forcing her to strip down to her black bra and panties in the ring and bark like a dog while crying. The storyline came to an end at WrestleMania X-Seven, when Stratus slapped Vince during his match against his son Shane, turning face in the process. #### Women's Champion (2001–2003) Following her first face turn, Stratus began wrestling part-time. She teamed up with Lita against then-heels, Stacy Keibler and Torrie Wilson at InVasion. After suffering an ankle injury in the summer, however, she was sidelined for the following three months. This interrupted not only her recent venture into wrestling, but also an on-screen romance with Jeff Hardy and budding storyline with Team Xtreme. As she rehabilitated, she kept herself visible by co-hosting Excess on TNN. After returning in autumn, Stratus appeared at Survivor Series where she won the WWF Women's Championship for the first time in a six-pack challenge. Stratus was next involved in a feud with Jazz over the Women's Championship, where on the January 17, 2002, episode of SmackDown! Jazz attacked Stratus backstage and broke her hand. Stratus overcame the injury and retained the championship at the Royal Rumble. On the January 22 episode of SmackDown!, Stratus defeated Jazz via disqualification after Jazz relentlessly attacked Stratus's injured hand and left her laid out in the ring. Stratus eventually dropped the championship to Jazz in convincing fashion on the February 4, 2002, episode of Raw. Stratus then attempted to regain the title for several months, including competing in a triple threat match at WrestleMania X8 against Lita and Jazz in her hometown of Toronto, but failed to win the match. While chasing after the Women's Championship, Stratus won the WWE Hardcore Championship on May 6, pinning Crash Holly after Bubba Ray Dudley hit him over the head with a trash can. She lost the title to Steven Richards soon afterward however, due to the stipulation that the belt was to be defended 24/7 as long as there was a referee present. One week later, she won the Women's Championship for the second time in a tag team match with Bubba Ray Dudley where she faced Richards and Jazz, where the Hardcore Championship was also on the line. Stratus landed a hard metal trash can shot to Jazz's head, which badly weakened her and allowed Stratus to win easily. During this time, Stratus began wrestling solely on the Raw brand after being drafted in the WWF Brand Extension. Stratus' second reign as champion came to an end on June 23, when she was defeated at King of the Ring by Molly Holly. The two Divas continued their storyline feud for the next three months. After a failed attempt to win the title in July, Stratus won the championship for the third time at Unforgiven. While feuding with Holly, Stratus was also involved in an angle with new Diva Victoria, who held a storyline grudge against Stratus, claiming she was betrayed by Stratus when they both worked as fitness models. The two competed in several title matches, the first taking place on the September 30 episode of Raw, which saw Stratus win via disqualification after being knocked unconscious from a chair shot from Victoria. Stratus would again retain the championship against Victoria at No Mercy, before ultimately dropping it at Survivor Series, where Victoria won the title in a Hardcore match. Stratus attempted to regain the title from Victoria on the November 25 episode of Raw, but was defeated. Stratus and Victoria took part in the main event of the December 9, 2002, edition of Raw where they were in an intergender Tables match, with Stratus teaming with The Dudley Boyz and Victoria teaming with Chris Jericho and Christian; the match ended in victory for Team Stratus when she Powerbombed Victoria through a table. Stratus once again unsuccessfully challenged for the title at Armageddon in a triple threat match also featuring Jacqueline. On the January 27, 2003, episode of Raw, Stratus was once again unsuccessful in challenging Victoria for the championship, this time in a Chicago street fight. Immediately after this defeat, Stratus was beaten down and destroyed further in a brutal attack by the returning Jazz. On March 17, 2003, Victoria and Steven Richards defeated Jazz and Stratus in a tag team match when Jazz walked out on Stratus. After the match, Jeff Hardy saved Stratus from an attack by Victoria and Richards and then kissed her, resulting in Stratus becoming Hardy's on-screen girlfriend once more. The two would talk and kiss backstage, compete as an intergender tag team, and come to each other's aid when in danger during singles competition. At no point was their previous relationship acknowledged. The storyline was suddenly dropped when WWE released Hardy in April. This marked the second time in two years that a romance between Stratus and Hardy abruptly ended due to a setback in one of their personal lives. In neither instance did the angle fully play out or reach a conclusion. At WrestleMania XIX, Stratus ended her feud with Victoria by defeating her and Jazz to capture her fourth Women's Championship. Following WrestleMania XIX, Stratus entered a feud with Jazz following a match on the April 7 episode of Raw where Stratus defeated Jazz while Jazz's foot was on the rope. The following week on Raw, Jazz defeated Stratus cleanly via submission in a tag team match also featuring Ivory and Victoria. On the April 21 episode of Raw, Stratus was forced to team with Spike Dudley in a match against the Dudley Boyz. The match ended in a no contest after Bubba Ray Dudley destroyed Stratus, allowing Jazz to run down to the ring and hit an unconscious Stratus with a Bitchlock on to a table. Stratus would eventually lose the title to Jazz at the pay-per-view, Backlash. The Raw after Backlash, Eric Bischoff ordered a No Disqualification match between him and Stratus. If Stratus won, she would get a championship rematch the next week; if Bischoff won, he would get to spend a night with her. Bischoff would go on to win the match following interference from Jazz, though the stipulation was nullified when Linda McMahon confronted him after the match. The following week on Raw, Stratus received a rematch against Jazz for the title but was defeated. Stratus was once again unsuccessful in challenging for the title in a fatal four way match on May 18, at Judgement Day. #### Teaming and feuding with Lita (2003–2005) In the following months, Stratus was placed into an alliance with Gail Kim. It was short-lived, however, as Kim turned on Stratus and teamed with Molly Holly, putting the women in a storyline feud. The duo defeated Stratus and several tag team partners until Stratus allied herself with a returning Lita. The team defeated Kim and Holly in several matches, including a match at Unforgiven. Stratus began an on-screen romance with Chris Jericho during the November 10 episode of Raw when she agreed to go on a date with him. Subsequently, they participated in an intergender tag team match as partners on December 1. After the match, Stratus overheard Jericho talking to then-heel, Christian, who was involved in an on-screen romance with Lita at the time, about who could sleep with their respective woman first. One week later, Stratus and Lita confronted the men about their actions, leading to a feud between the two men and women which resulted in a "Battle of the Sexes" tag team match at Armageddon, which the women lost. A rematch the next night ended in a no contest. Her relationship with Jericho continued into the next year with a new angle of Stratus developing feelings for Jericho. Christian would also briefly turn face once again, but only revealed to be a hoax as he would attack and defeat her in a match ordered by Eric Bischoff. This would start a feud between Christian and Jericho, who was defending Stratus. During their match at WrestleMania XX, however, Stratus turned heel by betraying Jericho and siding with Christian. Stratus claimed her reasons for siding with Christian were that he was a "real man", and Jericho was a "love sick puppy". The duo feuded with Jericho for several months and competed in a 2-on-1 Handicap match at Backlash. The team of Stratus and Christian were joined by "problem solver" Tyson Tomko the next night on Raw. Stratus won the WWE Women's Championship for a fifth time at Bad Blood on June 13. She defended the title until she suffered a legitimate broken hand in July that caused her to be out of action for approximately a month. Upon her return, she continued to defend the title against numerous challengers before losing the championship to Lita on December 6, when both women wrestled in the main event of Raw for the championship. Stratus recaptured the title for the sixth time a month later at New Year's Revolution, after Lita suffered a legitimate knee injury during the match. Stratus was originally booked to lose the championship back to Lita at WrestleMania 21, but due to Lita's injury, she wasn't cleared to wrestle. A new angle was then developed between Stratus and 2004 Raw Diva Search winner Christy Hemme over jealousy of Hemme's Playboy magazine exposure, with Stratus attacking Hemme with a Chick Kick and spray painting the word "slut" across her back. Stratus was challenged by Hemme, who later revealed she was being trained by Lita, for a championship match at WrestleMania 21, where Stratus successfully retained her championship. Stratus would then demand a rematch against Hemme the next night on Raw; before the match started, Stratus hit Hemme again with the Chick Kick, and re-injured Lita's knee. The next week, after losing a tag team match, Stratus was chased around the arena by Lita's storyline husband, Kane, narrowly escaping. The week after, Stratus almost got chokeslammed again onto the stage, but Viscera saved her. Stratus would then form a short-lived alliance with Viscera, who was ordered to protect her. #### Final matches and first retirement (2005–2006) In May 2005, Stratus was sidelined with the Women's Championship after suffering a herniated disc, with the storyline explanation that Viscera had injured her at Backlash after she insulted him for losing to Kane. This left the company without a Women's Champion for four months, as Stratus remained the champion during the time of her injury, thus ignoring the 30-day clause stating that a champion must defend their respective title at least once every 30 days. She returned to Raw on September 12, 2005, as a face by siding with Ashley Massaro against Vince's Devils (Candice Michelle, Victoria and Torrie Wilson). The feud also involved the debuting Mickie James, who introduced herself as Stratus' biggest fan. In November, during the Eddie Guerrero Tribute Show, Stratus took part in an inter-promotional Divas battle royal that was won by SmackDown! Diva Melina. The next week, MNM (Joey Mercury and Johnny Nitro) kidnapped Stratus for Melina, who challenged a tied up and tape gagged Stratus to a match for the Women's Championship. The two fought at Survivor Series, with Stratus defeating Melina. Stratus and Mickie James continued teaming together in late 2005, while James became increasingly obsessed with Stratus. On the December 26 episode of Raw, the storyline between Stratus and James developed into a lesbian one, when James initiated an intimate kiss with Stratus under a sprig of mistletoe, causing a surprised Stratus to flee the locker room. The odd relationship between Stratus and James continued into 2006, with the two Divas competing against each other in a title match at New Year's Revolution, where Stratus emerged victorious. Despite the defeat, James continued to be enamored of Stratus which made her feel uncomfortable, and on March 6, Stratus confronted James, telling her that she needed space. The duo briefly reconciled on the March 18 Saturday Night's Main Event XXXII, teaming together to defeat Candice Michelle and Victoria; however, after the match, James turned on Stratus and attacked her. A match at WrestleMania 22 saw Stratus lose the Women's Championship to James, ending her 448-day reign. The match was, and still is, widely recognized as one of the best women's matches in the World Wrestling Entertainment. During a rematch at Backlash, Stratus suffered a legitimate dislocated shoulder after taking a bump to the outside of the ring. While she was rehabilitating for six weeks, she continued to appear on-screen. Stratus returned to the ring on June 26 on Raw, where she competed in a Women's Championship match with Mickie James. Stratus would go on to lose the match, thus finally ending their nine-month long storyline. On the same night, she started a romantic angle with Carlito after he saved her from an ambush by Melina and Johnny Nitro. They competed as a team, winning a mixed tag team match against Melina and Nitro at Saturday Night's Main Event XXXIII on July 15. As a couple, Stratus and Carlito briefly feuded with WWE Champion Edge and Lita (who turned heel) after the pair interrupted Stratus' title match with Mickie James. The two couples competed in several tag team matches, including a six-person tag team match where Edge, Lita and Randy Orton defeated Stratus, Carlito and John Cena after Orton RKO'd Stratus and Lita followed up with the pin. Stratus' last match on Raw occurred on September 11, 2006, where she defeated former rival Mickie James. In late August, Lita stated that Stratus would retire at Unforgiven, which was later confirmed by Stratus. At Unforgiven on September 17, in her hometown of Toronto, Stratus defeated Lita with fellow Canadian Bret Hart's signature submission manoeuvre, the Sharpshooter. Her victory earned her her seventh and final Women's Championship, the most in WWE history, retiring as the champion. The title was vacated soon after. #### Part-time appearances as WWE Hall of Famer (2007–2019) Stratus and Lita made a special appearance on December 10, 2007, during Raw's 15th Anniversary special, attacking Jillian Hall. The following year, Stratus appeared on Raw in Toronto on May 5, 2008, in a backstage segment involving Ron Simmons and Trevor Murdoch. Stratus wrestled on the December 22, 2008, episode of Raw, when she and John Cena defeated Santino Marella and her former on-screen protégé Beth Phoenix in a mixed tag team match. On September 14, 2009, Stratus served as the guest hostess of Raw, and participated in a six-person tag team match, teaming with Montel Vontavious Porter and Mark Henry to defeat Phoenix, Chris Jericho, and Big Show. Stratus made a surprise appearance at the 2011 Elimination Chamber pay-per-view to announce that she would be a trainer on the revival of WWE Tough Enough and stopped LayCool (Layla & Michelle McCool) from attacking Kelly Kelly. The following month, on March 14, she lost a singles match to Vickie Guerrero due to interference from LayCool and Dolph Ziggler. After the match, John Morrison and Raw guest star Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi came to her aid. At WrestleMania XXVII, Stratus, Snooki, and Morrison defeated the team of Ziggler and LayCool. The night after WrestleMania, on Raw, Stratus and Morrison defeated Guerrero and Ziggler. She also appeared on Raw on June 6 and SmackDown on September 16. The following year, on July 23, 2012, she made a guest appearance on Raw's 1000th episode. On the January 28, 2013, episode of Raw, Stratus was announced as a WWE Hall of Fame inductee as part of the 2013 class, Stratus chose Stephanie McMahon to induct her into the Hall of Fame in April. The following year, Stratus inducted Lita into the WWE Hall of Fame. On August 16, 2016, Stratus appeared on WWE Network special WWE 24: Women's Evolution, discussing the history of the women back in her era known as the Attitude Era and also her rivalry with Lita. On January 22, 2018, during the WWE Raw 25 Years anniversary episode, Stratus was amongst a group of women honoured as some of the greatest female superstars in the twenty-five-year history of the show, along with The Bella Twins, Maryse, Kelly Kelly, Lilian Garcia, Torrie Wilson, Michelle McCool, Terri Runnels, Maria Kanellis, and Jacqueline. Six days later, Stratus was a surprise entrant in the inaugural all-women's Royal Rumble match at the event. Stratus entered in the final spot, number 30, and eliminated Nia Jax, Mickie James and Natalya. Stratus' interaction with James garnered a considerable crowd reaction. Stratus was amongst the final five women in the match, before being eliminated by Sasha Banks. On August 18, 2018, WWE announced that Stratus would make her in-ring return at WWE Evolution in singles competition against Alexa Bliss. On the August 27, 2018, episode of Raw, Stratus made a surprise appearance in Toronto, interrupting Elias and confronting him for talking down her hometown. The two exchanged insults, culminating in Stratus slapping him. Later in the night, Stratus, Ronda Rousey and Natalya were confronted by Alexa Bliss, Mickie James, and Alicia Fox. Stratus later appeared at ringside with Rousey during a one-on-one match between Natalya and Alicia Fox. She was then seen backstage during the show in a segment with Ronda and Natalya as well as the returning Bella Twins, Nikki and Brie. On the October 8 episode of Raw, Stratus would cut a promo against Bliss ahead of WWE Evolution. Bliss, along with Mickie James, came to the ring to confront Stratus, challenging her to a tag match at Evolution with herself and James instead. Stratus agreed, announcing Lita (who was originally scheduled to face James at Evolution) as her tag partner. At the Evolution event, Trish and Lita defeated Mickie James and Alicia Fox, who replaced Bliss due to injury. On the July 30, 2019, episode of SmackDown, Stratus returned as a guest of Jerry Lawler's "The King's Court" in–ring segment. Charlotte Flair interrupted the two and issued a challenge to Stratus to a match at SummerSlam, which Stratus accepted. At SummerSlam, in her hometown of Toronto, the returning Stratus lost to Flair by submission. #### Full-time return (2022–present) On the August 22, 2022, episode of Raw, Stratus made an appearance for the first time in 3 years, where she was interrupted by Damage CTRL (Bayley, Dakota Kai, and Iyo Sky). On the February 27, 2023, episode of Raw, Stratus helped Lita and Becky Lynch defeat Damage CTRL for the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship by taking out Damage CTRL's leader, Bayley, who attempted to interfere. The following week, she announced that she would be teaming up with Lita and Lynch to face Damage CTRL in a six-woman tag team match at WrestleMania 39. Stratus would appear on every episode of Raw in the build to their match. At WrestleMania 39, Stratus, Lita and Lynch were successful in defeating Damage CTRL. On the April 10 episode of Raw, Stratus teamed with Lynch to defend the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship against Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez on the behalf of an injured Lita, who had been attacked by a mystery assailant backstage. Morgan pinned Stratus with a roll-up, costing Lita and Lynch the titles. Following the match, Stratus attacked Lynch, turning heel for the first time since 2005. The following week on Raw, Stratus revealed herself as the mystery assailant who attacked Lita. She was frustrated by the two appearing as Lynch's sidekicks and a perceived lack of respect for her impact on the women's division. On April 27, 2023, WWE announced that Stratus would be eligible during the second night of the 2023 Draft. Stratus was once again drafted to the Raw brand in the fourth round as their seventh pick, the thirteenth of that night overall. On May 8, 2023, Stratus taunted Lynch who had not been seen since losing the WWE Women's Tag Team Championships, and insulted her infant daughter Roux. However, Lynch would then return and attack Stratus with a Manhandle Slam. The following week, Lynch vowed to stand up for her family, and challenged Stratus for a singles match at Night of Champions in Saudi Arabia. The match was made official during a contract signing on Raw in the following week, where Stratus once again claimed sole responsibility for the growth in opportunities for women in WWE. In response, Lynch stated that Stratus was never as good as many remember her to be and made reference to her barking like a dog for Vince McMahon in the build up to WrestleMania X-7 in 2001. At the event, Stratus defeated Lynch with the help of Zoey Stark, who hid under the ring and attacked Lynch during the match. Stratus and Stark continued their partnership, and on the June 19 episode of Raw, Stratus won the qualification match for the women's Money in the Bank ladder match against Raquel Rodriguez by disqualification after Lynch attacked her during the match. On July 1, 2023, Stratus competed at the namesake event in London in her first appearance in a ladder match against Becky Lynch, Zoey Stark, Bayley, Iyo Sky, and Zelina Vega. Stratus worked with Stark throughout the match to prevent Lynch from winning, including a failed attempt to restrain her with handcuffs. Stratus, Stark and Lynch were defeated when Iyo Sky claimed the briefcase and won the match. Lynch eventually earned a rematch against Stratus by defeating Zoey Stark in singles action on Raw, which was scheduled by WWE Official Adam Pearce for a future episode occurring two weeks later. The match not being included on the card for SummerSlam received backlash from fans on social media, with reports suggesting that both Stratus and Lynch had real-life frustrations with the decision. Further reports claimed that the match was not included due to time constraints, which was seemingly confirmed by Triple H, who defending the decision by stating: "There was a lot of banter I saw this week about matches being cut, which is the word that was used. But nothing was cut. There was no card announced. If we don't have more things in the pocket ready to go for a PLE than can fit in the PLE, I've done a terrible job." On August 15, Stratus and Lynch's match ended in a double count-out. Adam Pearce declared that the two would have a future rematch inside of a steel cage, which would be a first for Stratus, at Payback. Stratus, who was aided by Stark, ended up losing the match at Payback. After the match, Stark turned on Stratus after Stratus slapped and berated Stark. ## Professional wrestling persona Stratus based her professional wrestling character on much of her real-life personality, with some elements being more emphasized depending on her wrestling alignment. She described her heel character as being "so much fun" and "quite entertaining" to play. She has also been noted for her distinct wrestling attires. She has cited the outfit she wore at WrestleMania 2000 as her favourite. ### Legacy Stratus is widely regarded as one of the greatest female superstars of her generation and by some as the greatest female wrestler of all time. Stratus is cited as an inspiration for several female wrestlers, such as: Alexa Bliss, Bayley, Carmella, Deonna Purrazzo, Emma, Kelly Kelly, Kia Stevens, Leila Grey, Mandy Rose, Maria Kanellis, Melina Perez, Michelle McCool, Natalya, Rosa Mendes, Santana Garrett, Sasha Banks, Shazza McKenzie, and Taryn Terrell. During a September 2020 episode of Raw, Mandy Rose paid tribute to Stratus by wearing pink gear identical to an attire worn by Stratus in the early 2000s. She later cited Stratus as her role model. She added; "She's always been my inspiration, and still to this day [she is]." Zelina Vega asserted that Stratus and Lita inspired her to become a professional wrestler. Stratus's feud with Mickie James in 2006 has been an inspiration to Sasha Banks's rivalry with Bayley. Banks has cited Stratus is the one performer from the past she most wants to wrestle. Banks added, "It's going to be Trish Stratus because she was just the top of the women's division of her time. She was just the best, she was beautiful, she was athletic, and she killed it, and inspired me." Jerry Lawler called Stratus his all time favorite female superstar. Booker T in one interview has cited Stratus as the best of all time for women's wrestling while adding "She was the one that broke that barrier more than any other woman on the roster." On May 15, 2023, Stratus was awarded the key of Niagara Falls by its mayor, Jim Diodati. ## Personal life Stratigeas is of Greek and Polish descent and is the eldest daughter of John and Alice Stratigeas. Her younger sisters are named Christie and Melissa. Stratigeas married her high school sweetheart and boyfriend of fourteen years, Ron Fisico, on September 30, 2006. Her bridal gown was featured on a cover of Today's Bride magazine. Stratigeas and Fisico have two children, a son born in 2013 and a daughter born in 2017. Fellow wrestler and former on-screen rival Amy Dumas, better known by the ring name Lita, is her son's godmother. Stratigeas has also been involved with numerous charities such as Ronald McDonald House, Dreams Take Flight, and the Special Olympics. From 2001, she was a spokesperson for the World Natural Sports Association. ### Business ventures On March 29, 2008, she participated in the Island Triathlon Series as part of a celebrity relay team to help raise money for Dignitas International. In 2008, Stratus opened a yoga studio named Stratusphere in the suburbs of Toronto, Ontario. The studio is billed as "Canada's largest eco-friendly yoga studio". In 2009, Stratusphere was awarded Top Choice Awards' Best New Business award, and the following year, Stratus won the award for Business Woman of the Year. The studio won Top Choice Awards' Best Yoga Studio award in 2013. The studio was closed on March 31, 2015. On December 28, 2020, it was announced that Stratus' online retail platform named Stratusphere Shop was awarded a 2021 Canadian Business Award for Best Celebrity News Platform & Online Retailer. Stratusphere Shop was also awarded the Business Excellence Award for Best Women's Merchandise Platform in Canada. ## Other media ### Television On June 3, 2006, she hosted the Canada's Walk of Fame induction ceremony and performed a song and dance number inspired by the soundtrack from the film Chicago at the event. During the show, Stratus ad libbed a kiss with fellow Canadian actress Pamela Anderson. From late November 2006 to mid-January 2007, Stratus temporarily moved to Muncie, Indiana, for the CBS reality show Armed & Famous. She was given a spot in the series after Paul Heyman had mentioned her name to CBS. The concept was that she was one of five celebrities who trained as volunteer officers with the Muncie Police Department. After finishing her training, Stratus and her real life officer partner were followed around by a camera crew while going on legitimate police calls. Although the show was scheduled to broadcast seven episodes starting on January 10, 2007, CBS cancelled the series after just four of the episodes were aired. After the cancellation of Armed & Famous, Stratus hosted The Second City's Next Comedy Legend. The contest was similar to the style of America's Next Top Model, with Stratus portraying the "Tyra Banks" role as contact between the contestants and judges. Stratus is the host and subject of the show Stratusphere, which debuted in 2008 on the Travel + Escape television channel. The show follows Stratus as she visits different locations around the world to participate in local sports and adventure. Bill Harris wrote that, "Every week, Stratus embarks on a trip in search of exotic locations and daring physical challenges. In the first episode, for example, Stratus is in Kochi, India, where she learns the ancient martial art of kalarippayattu, progressing from fighting with sticks to fighting with metal swords. Through the 10-episode run of Stratusphere, Stratus does everything from reindeer racing in Norway to bungee jumping in Bali. Her athleticism obviously sets Stratusphere apart from most travel shows." Stratus also guest-starred in the Canadian show Da Kink in My Hair new season, which started on February 12, 2009. In 2009, Stratus became a spokesperson for sports betting website, Sports Interaction. Also, she has a YouTube fanpage dedicated to her which has more than 565,000 subscribers as of July 17, 2019. In 2020, Stratus made a cameo appearance in a TV Christmas movie for Fox called Christmas in the Rockies. Since March 2021, Stratus has appeared as a judge on Canada's Got Talent, along with Howie Mandel, Lilly Singh, and Kardinal Offishall. ### Film Stratus starred in the Canadian independent movie, Bail Enforcers, which marked her acting debut. She played a bounty hunter named Jules Taylor, which released on April 19, 2011, premiering at ActionFest 2011. The movie was then released on DVD as "Bounty Hunters". Stratus co-starred in the 2015 film Gridlocked, as the antagonist Gina. In January 2022, Stratus announced that she had been cast in the lead role for an unnamed Christmas movie which would be released at the end of the year. The movie was later revealed to be entitled Christmas in Rockwell, where she played a character named Alyssa Strader. ### Filmography ### Video games ### Awards and nominations ## Championships and accomplishments - The Baltimore Sun - Best Female Wrestler of the Decade (2010) - Cauliflower Alley Club - Iron Mike Mazurki Award (2016) - Fighting Spirit Magazine - Double X Award (2006) - Three Degrees Award (2006) - George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame - Lou Thesz Award (2020) - Guinness World Records - World record: Most WWE Women's Championships (7 times) - Ontario Sports Hall of Fame - Sandy Hawley Community Service Award (2017) - Pro Wrestling Illustrated - Woman of the Year (2002, 2003, 2005 and 2006) - Woman of the Decade (2000–2009) - World Wrestling Entertainment / WWE - WWE Hardcore Championship (1 time) - WWE Women's Championship (7 times) - WWE Hall of Fame (Class of 2013) - Babe of the Year (2001–2003) - Diva of the Decade (2003) - Ranked No. 1 of the top 50 Greatest WWE Female Superstars of all time (2021) - Wrestling Observer Newsletter - Worst Worked Match of the Year (2002) with Bradshaw vs. Christopher Nowinski and Jackie Gayda on Raw, July 7, 2002

Artaxerxes III

King of the Achaemenid Empire from 359/8 to 338 BC

Ochus (Greek: Ὦχος Ochos), known by his dynastic name Artaxerxes III (Old Persian: 𐎠𐎼𐎫𐎧𐏁𐏂𐎠 Artaxšaçāh; Greek: Ἀρταξέρξης), was King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire from 359/58 to 338 BC. He was the son and successor of Artaxerxes II and his mother was Stateira. Before ascending the throne Artaxerxes was a satrap and commander of his father's army. Artaxerxes came to power after one of his brothers was executed, another committed suicide, the last murdered and his father, Artaxerxes II died. Soon after becoming king, Artaxerxes murdered all of the royal family to secure his place as king. He started two major campaigns against Egypt. The first campaign failed, and was followed up by rebellions throughout the western part of his empire. During the second, Artaxerxes finally defeated Nectanebo II, the Pharaoh of Egypt, bringing the country back into the Persian fold after six decades. In Artaxerxes' later years, Philip II of Macedon's power was increasing in Greece, where he tried to convince the Greeks to revolt against the Achaemenid Empire. His activities were opposed by Artaxerxes, and with his support, the city of Perinthus resisted a Macedonian siege. There is evidence for a renewed building policy at Persepolis in his later life, where Artaxerxes erected a new palace and built his own tomb, and began long-term projects such as the Unfinished Gate. ## Etymology Artaxerxes is the Latin form of the Greek Artaxerxes (Αρταξέρξης), itself from the Old Persian Artaxšaçā ("whose reign is through truth"). It is known in other languages as; Elamite Ir-tak-ik-ša-iš-ša, Ir-da-ik-ša-iš-ša; Akkadian Ar-ta-ʾ-ḫa-šá-is-su; Middle Persian and New Persian Ardašīr. His personal name was Ochus (Greek: Ὦχος Ôchos; Babylonian: 𒌑𒈠𒋢 Ú-ma-kuš). ## Background Ochus was the legitimate son of Artaxerxes II and his wife Stateira. He had two elder full-brothers, Ariaspes and Darius (the eldest). He also had many illegitimate brothers born to concubine mothers, whom the 2nd-century AD Roman writer Justin numbered to be 115. Out of all the sons, it was Darius who had been appointed as the heir to the empire, thus receiving the royal privilege of wearing the upright tiara. However, Artaxerxes II's long reign frustrated the latter, who was already over 50 years old. Incited by the former satrap Tiribazus, he started plotting against his father to quicken his succession. Darius expected that he would receive support from many courtiers, including fifty of his illegitimate brothers according to Justin. A eunuch discovered the conspiracy, and as a result Darius was summoned to the court and executed, "along with the wives and children of all the conspirators" (Justin). The right of succession then passed over to Ariaspes. However, Ochus, with the support of some eunuchs, created a series of ruses and allegations to make his legitimate brother Ariaspes go mad and commit suicide. Artaxerxes II, who disliked Ochus, appointed his favourite illegitimate son Arsames as the new crown prince. He was, however, soon killed by Arpates at the instigation of Ochus. Ochus was then finally appointed as crown prince, with Artaxerxes dying shortly after. ## Revolt of Artabazus At his accession (which happened sometime between November 359 and March 358 BC), Artaxerxes III demanded that all the satraps in western Anatolia were to disband their mercenary forces. This was done to diminish the power of powerful satraps and consolidate the power of the crown. Indeed, under Artaxerxes III's father, the satrap Datames had with the help of his mercenaries ruled a more or less independent state, while previously the Achaemenid prince Cyrus the Younger had almost managed to overthrow Artaxerxes II with the help of his mercenaries. All the satraps followed his order and disbanded their mercenaries. Later in 356 BC, Artaxerxes III attempted to dismiss Artabazus II from his satrapy of Hellespontine Phrygia, which resulted in the latter revolting. His royal blood through his mother Apama, a sister of Artaxerxes III, may have made the latter vigilant towards him. Artabazus' two brothers are Oxythres and Dibictus are also reported to have joined him, which implies that Artaxerxes III was targeting the whole family. Artaxerxes III sent the other satraps in Anatolia—Tithraustes, Autophradates and Mausolus—to suppress the revolt. Artabazus quickly joined forces with the Athenian military commander Chares, who had acquired most of his disbanded mercenary unit. Together, they defeated the satraps in 355 BC and marched deeper into Greater Phrygia, ransacking the region. Artaxerxes III quickly pressured Athens to stop supporting Artabazus by the threat of war. Artabazus subsequently found a new ally in the Thebian general Pammenes, who supplied him with 5,000 soldiers in 354 BC. Further defeats were inflicted on the Achaemenid forces, but Artabazus soon fell out with Pammenes, and had him arrested. In 354/3 BC, he ceased his rebellion and fled to Macedonia, where he was well received by its king, Philip II. ## First Egyptian Campaign (351 BC) In around 351 BC, Artaxerxes embarked on a campaign to recover Egypt, which had revolted under his father, Artaxerxes II. At the same time a rebellion had broken out in Asia Minor, which, being supported by Thebes, threatened to become serious. Levying a vast army, Artaxerxes marched into Egypt, and engaged Nectanebo II. After a year of fighting the Egyptian Pharaoh, Nectanebo inflicted a crushing defeat on the Persians with the support of mercenaries led by the Greek generals: the Athenian Diophantus and the Spartan Lamius. Artaxerxes was compelled to retreat and postpone his plans to reconquer Egypt. ## Rebellion of Cyprus and Sidon Soon after this Egyptian defeat, Phoenicia, Anatolia and Cyprus declared their independence from Persian rule. In 343 BC, Artaxerxes committed responsibility for the suppression of the Cyprian rebels to Idrieus, prince of Caria, who employed 8000 Greek mercenaries and forty triremes, commanded by Phocion the Athenian, and Evagoras, son of the elder Evagoras, the Cypriot monarch. Idrieus succeeded in reducing Cyprus. ### Sidon campaign of Belesys and Mazaeus Artaxerxes initiated a counter-offensive against Sidon by commanding the satrap of Syria Belesys and Mazaeus, the satrap of Cilicia, to invade the city and to keep the Phoenicians in check. Both satraps suffered crushing defeats at the hands of Tennes, the Sidonese king, who was aided by 4,000 Greek mercenaries sent to him by Nectanebo II and commanded by Mentor of Rhodes. As a result, the Persian forces were driven out of Phoenicia. ### Sidon campaign of Artaxerxes After this, Artaxerxes personally led an army of 330,000 men against Sidon. Artaxerxes' army comprised 300,000 foot soldiers, 30,000 cavalry, 300 triremes, and 500 transports or provision ships. After gathering this army, he sought assistance from the Greeks. Though refused aid by Athens and Sparta, he succeeded in obtaining a thousand Theban heavy-armed hoplites under Lacrates, three thousand Argives under Nicostratus, and six thousand Æolians, Ionians, and Dorians from the Greek cities of Anatolia. This Greek support was numerically small, amounting to no more than 10,000 men, but it formed, together with the Greek mercenaries from Egypt who went over to him afterwards, the force on which he placed his chief reliance, and to which the ultimate success of his expedition was mainly due. The approach of Artaxerxes sufficiently weakened the resolution of Tennes that he endeavoured to purchase his own pardon by delivering up 100 principal citizens of Sidon into the hands of the Persian king, and then admitting Artaxerxes within the defences of the town. Artaxerxes had the 100 citizens transfixed with javelins, and when 500 more came out as supplicants to seek his mercy, Artaxerxes consigned them to the same fate. Sidon was then burnt to the ground, either by Artaxerxes or by the Sidonian citizens. Forty thousand people died in the conflagration. Artaxerxes sold the ruins at a high price to speculators, who calculated on reimbursing themselves by the treasures which they hoped to dig out from among the ashes. Tennes was later put to death by Artaxerxes. Artaxerxes later sent Jews who supported the revolt to Hyrcania, on the south coast of the Caspian Sea. ## Conquest of Egypt It was probably in 340 or 339 BC that Artaxerxes finally succeeded in conquering Egypt. After years of extensive and meticulous preparations, the King assembled and led in person a large host which included Greek mercenaries from Thebes, Argos, Asia Minor, and those commanded by the turncoat mercenary Mentor of Rhodes, as well as a war fleet and a number of transport ships. Although the Artaxerxes's army considerably outnumbered that of his Egyptian counterpart Nectanebo II, the difficulty of marching through the dry land south of Gaza and the many rivers of Upper Egypt still posed, as in previous invasions, a challenge, which was compounded, according to Diodorus Siculus, by the refusal of the Persians to make use of local guides. The invasion started poorly, as Artaxerxes lost some troops to quicksand at Barathra, and an attempt by his Theban troops to take Pelusium was successfully counterattacked by the garrison. Artaxerxes then created three divisions of shock troops, each with a Greek commander and a Persian supervisor, while remaining himself in command of the reserves. One unit, to which he assigned the Thebans, a force of cavalry and Asiatic infantry, was tasked with taking Pelusium, while a second, commanded by Mentor of Rhodes and the eunuch Bagoas, was sent against Bubastis. The third division, which comprised the Argives, some unspecified elite troops and 80 triremes, was to establish a bridgehead on the opposite bank of the Nile. After an attempt to dislodge the Argives failed, Nectanebo retreated to Memphis, which prompted the besieged garrison of Pelusium to surrender. Bubastis likewise capitulated, as the Greek mercenaries in the garrison came to terms with the Persians after falling out with the Egyptians. This was followed by a wave of surrenders, which opened the Nile to Artaxerxes's fleet and caused Nectanebo to lose heart and abandon his country. After this victory over the Egyptians, Artaxerxes had the city walls destroyed, started a reign of terror, and set about looting all the temples. Persia gained a significant amount of wealth from this looting. Artaxerxes also raised high taxes and attempted to weaken Egypt enough that it could never revolt against Persia. For the 10 years that Persia controlled Egypt, believers in the native religion were persecuted and sacred books were stolen. Before he returned to Persia, he appointed Pherendares as satrap of Egypt. With the wealth gained from his reconquering Egypt, Artaxerxes was able to amply reward his mercenaries. He then returned to his capital having successfully completed his invasion of Egypt. ## Later years After his success in Egypt, Artaxerxes returned to Persia and spent the next few years effectively quelling insurrections in various parts of the Empire so that a few years after his conquest of Egypt, the Persian Empire was firmly under his control. Egypt remained a part of the Persian Empire until Alexander the Great's conquest of Egypt. After the conquest of Egypt, there were no more revolts or rebellions against Artaxerxes. Mentor of Rhodes and Bagoas, the two generals who had most distinguished themselves in the Egyptian campaign, were advanced to posts of the highest importance. Mentor, who was governor of the entire Asiatic seaboard, was successful in reducing to subjection many of the chiefs who during the recent troubles had rebelled against Persian rule. In the course of a few years Mentor and his forces were able to bring the whole Asian Mediterranean coast into complete submission and dependence. Bagoas went back to the Persian capital with Artaxerxes, where he took a leading role in the internal administration of the Empire and maintained tranquility throughout the rest of the Empire. During the last six years of the reign of Artaxerxes III, the Persian Empire was governed by a vigorous and successful government. The Persian forces in Ionia and Lycia regained control of the Aegean and the Mediterranean Sea and took over much of Athens’ former island empire. In response, Isocrates of Athens started giving speeches calling for a ‘crusade against the barbarians’ but there was not enough strength left in any of the Greek city-states to answer his call. Although there weren't any rebellions in the Persian Empire itself, the growing power and territory of Philip II of Macedon in Macedon (against which Demosthenes was in vain warning the Athenians) attracted the attention of Artaxerxes. In response, he ordered that Persian influence was to be used to check and constrain the rising power and influence of the Macedonian kingdom. In 340 BC, a Persian force was dispatched to assist the Thracian prince, Cersobleptes, to maintain his independence. Sufficient effective aid was given to the city of Perinthus that the numerous and well-appointed army with which Philip had commenced his siege of the city was compelled to give up the attempt. By the last year of Artaxerxes' rule, Philip II already had plans in place for an invasion of the Persian Empire, which would crown his career, but the Greeks would not unite with him. In late August/late September 338 BC, the court eunuch and chiliarch (hazahrapatish) Bagoas orchestrated the poisoning and subsequent death of Artaxerxes III through the latter's own physician. Artaxerxes III's early death proved to be a problematic issue for Persia, and may have played a role in the weakening of the country. The majority of Artaxerxes III's sons, with the exception of Arses and Bisthanes, were also murdered by Bagoas. Bagoas, acting as kingmaker, put the young Arses (Artaxerxes IV) on the throne. ## Legacy Historically, kings of the Achaemenid Empire were followers of Zoroaster or heavily influenced by Zoroastrian ideology. The reign of Artaxerxes II saw a revival of the cult of Anahita and Mithra, when in his building inscriptions he invoked Ahura Mazda, Anahita and Mithra and even set up statues of his gods. Mithra and Anahita had until then been neglected by true Zoroastrians—they defied Zoroaster's command that God was to be represented only by the flames of a sacred fire. Artaxerxes III is thought to have rejected Anahita and worshipped only Ahuramazda and Mithra. An ambiguity in the cuneiform script of an inscription of Artaxerxes III at Persepolis suggests that he regarded the father and the son as one person, suggesting that the attributes of Ahuramazda were being transferred to Mithra. Strangely, Artaxerxes had ordered that statues of the goddess Anâhita be erected at Babylon, Damascus and Sardis, as well as at Susa, Ecbatana and Persepolis. Artaxerxes' name appears on silver coins (modeled on Athenian ones) issued while he was in Egypt. The reverse bears an inscription in an Egyptian script, saying "Artaxerxes Pharaoh. Life, Prosperity, Wealth". ### In literature It is thought by some that the Book of Judith could have been originally based on Artaxerxes' campaign in Phoenicia, as Holofernes was the name of the brother of the Cappadocian satrap Ariarathes, the vassal of Artaxerxes. Bagoas, the general that finds Holofernes dead, was one of the generals of Artaxerxes during his campaign against Phoenicia and Egypt. ### Construction There is evidence for a renewed building policy at Persepolis, but some of the buildings were unfinished at the time of his death. Two of his buildings at Persepolis were the Hall of Thirty-Two Columns, the purpose of which is unknown, and the palace of Artaxerxes III. The unfinished Army Road and Unfinished Gate, which connected the Gate of All Nations and the One-hundred Column Hall, gave archaeologists an insight into the construction of Persepolis. In 341 BC, after Artaxerxes returned to Babylon from Egypt, he apparently proceeded to build a great Apadana whose description is present in the works of Diodorus Siculus. The Nebuchadnezzar II palace in Babylon was expanded during the reign of Artaxerxes III. Artaxerxes' tomb was cut into the mountain behind the Persepolis platform, next to his father's tomb. ## Family Artaxerxes III was the son of Artaxerxes II and Statira. Artaxerxes II had more than 115 sons by many wives, most of them however were illegitimate. Some of Ochus' more significant siblings were Rodogune, Apama, Sisygambis, Ocha, Darius and Ariaspes, most of whom were murdered soon after his ascension. His children were: By Atossa. - Artaxerxes IV Arses By an unknown wife: - Bisthanes - Parysatis II, future wife of Alexander the Great. He also married: - An unknown daughter of his sister Ocha. - A daughter of Oxyathres, brother of Darius III

KSTU

Fox affiliate in Salt Lake City

KSTU (channel 13) is a television station in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside Provo-licensed independent station KUPX-TV (channel 16). KSTU's studios are located on West Amelia Earhart Drive in the northwestern section of Salt Lake City, and its transmitter is located on Farnsworth Peak in the Oquirrh Mountains, southwest of Salt Lake City. More than 80 dependent translators carry its signal throughout Utah and portions of neighboring states. KSTU went on the air in 1978 as the third attempt at an independent station in the Salt Lake City market, and the first to last longer than two years. Broadcasting on channel 20, it was also the first commercial UHF outlet in the state. It was built by and named for Springfield Television, the Massachusetts-based firm that owned it. KSTU was sold to Adams Communications in 1984 and affiliated with Fox at its launch in 1986. While KSTU was starting on channel 20, a decade-long proceeding began to assign VHF channel 13, which had been made available in Salt Lake City in 1980. Eight applicants submitted bids; Mountain West Television, a consortium of mostly local partners, emerged with the construction permit after buying out its competitors' interests. In what the partners later described as coerced action coordinated by their legal counsel and financial backers, the company bought the KSTU intellectual unit and moved it to channel 13 in November 1987 instead of building and staffing its own station. Between 1989 and 2007, KSTU was a Fox owned and operated station. In 1991, the station began producing local newscasts, which Fox and subsequent owners would use as the foundation for a large emphasis on news. After Fox spun off its smaller owned-and-operated stations in 2007, KSTU has been owned in succession by Local TV LLC, Tribune Media, and Scripps. ## History Channel 20 was allocated to Salt Lake City in 1952, but there was no interest in the channel until a 1967 application was made by the Great Desert Broadcasting Company, which was never granted. There had, however, been two attempts to operate independent stations on the VHF band in the late 1950s and early 1960s. KLOR-TV signed on in 1958 from Provo. However, poor transmitter site selection hindered reception for many viewers in the Wasatch Front whose antennas were aimed at the Oquirrh Mountains. It signed off in 1960, having been placed in bankruptcy, and the license was sold to Brigham Young University for reactivation as KBYU-TV. At the other end of the Wasatch Front, in Ogden, KVOG-TV began on channel 9 in 1960 but was sold to the Ogden city school board in 1962 and converted to educational use as KOET, which ceased broadcasting in 1973. During KOET's life, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) blocked an attempt by the school board to sell the station back to a buyer to be reverted to commercial use because of the effects such a reclassification would have on the development of UHF, then an agency priority, and on educational broadcasting in northern Utah. ### The channel 20 years In September 1977, Springfield, Massachusetts-based Springfield Television, whose other holdings were NBC-affiliated flagship WWLP in Springfield and ABC affiliate WKEF in Dayton, Ohio, applied to the FCC for channel 20. There had been a previous full-service UHF educational station in the state: KWCS-TV (channel 18) in Ogden, owned by the Weber County school system. The Springfield Television application came at a time when the Salt Lake market appeared "ripe" for a fourth station. By this time, two other events were occurring: another attempt was being made to restore channel 9 at Ogden to commercial status, and the FCC was also considering adding channel 13 to Salt Lake City. In March 1978, the FCC granted a construction permit to Springfield Television, which had previously announced that channel 20 would be Utah's only independent station and only commercial UHF outlet. Office space in the Salt Lake International Center, west of the airport, was constructed, KSTU began broadcasting on October 24, 1978, with a programming lineup typical of independent stations and broadcasting from a transmitter site leased from KSL-TV in the Oquirrh Mountains. As the first UHF station in Utah in five years and the first-ever UHF outlet serving the full Salt Lake market, station promotions prior to the launch explained to viewers how to tune in: "Ever wonder what that other dial is for? It's for 'U'!" Almost immediately, Springfield Television also began building translators of its own in order to match the total coverage area of the existing local stations. The first KSTU-owned translator, on Levan Peak serving Aurora, went into service in September 1979. Even though Washington County rejected KSTU's initial proposal when the station did not offer funding to connect KSTU into the county translator network, new translators continued to come into service for several years in areas such as Orangeville, Cedar City, and Vernal. Springfield Television reached an agreement to sell its entire group to Adams Communications in 1983 for \$47.3 million. The Adams offer met the conditions for Springfield to sell: the stations were sold together, the current management was retained, and the price was agreeable. The deal was closed in 1984. On October 9, 1986, the station became a charter affiliate of the new Fox network, though Fox's limited output continued to make the station generally an independent in programming philosophy. ### Channel 13 drops in When the FCC allocated television channels, the station spacing guidelines meant that inserting channel 13 in Salt Lake City was not possible. In 1968, the FCC denied a petition by Salt Lake radio station KLUB to add channel 13 to Salt Lake City so it could apply to build a companion TV station, which would have required changes in unused VHF assignments in Richfield, Vernal, and Rock Springs, Wyoming. That petition was opposed by Great Desert, which at the time was seeking channel 20; the Salt Lake VHF stations; and educational television interests in Utah, including KWCS-TV, who were concerned that a commercial station on channel 13 would affect the translators they used to rebroadcast their programming. The concept of VHF drop-ins—changes to station spacing that permitted the insertion of new VHF channel allocations in cities across the United States—continued to be of interest, particularly because, in other cities, there were not enough VHF television stations for all three major networks. In 1977, the FCC initially approved four drop-ins nationwide—including channel 13 for Salt Lake—having whittled down the number of proposed new channels in the preceding years. Its studies found that Salt Lake could support not one but two independent VHF outlets. Springfield Television, then still applying for a permit, asked for a chance to establish itself in the market before a VHF station was dropped in; the group contended that a VHF station would not mean automatic failure for a new UHF. The FCC reaffirmed the decision on a 4–3 vote in 1980. The approval came even though KSTU and KSL-TV had expressed renewed concern over a high-power channel 13 in Salt Lake City causing problems for the translator system. While KSTU was busy building translators to extend channel 20's reach, interested parties were busy filing applications for channel 13. In December 1980, the first application was received from Utah Television Associates, whose principals included Salt Lake businessman Richard S. McKnight. David and Deanna Williams, owners of a paging service and an AM station in Bountiful, submitted a bid on March 10, 1981, under the name Intermountain Broadcasting. By May, when the commission set a deadline to receive other applications, the field had grown to eight with six further bidders: - American Television of Utah, a subsidiary of Salt Lake City-based American Stores Company, which had also applied for the unused UHF channel 14; - West Valley City Television Associates Limited Partnership, led by Salt Lake advertising and real estate figures; - Mountain West Television Company, in which the largest shareholders were KCPX radio news director Joseph C. Lee and Salt Lake City land developer Sidney Foulger; - Rocky Mountain Broadcasting, owned by real estate investor John Price; - Salt Lake City Family TV, consisting primarily of Pennsylvania and Tennessee interests; - and Salt Lake City Utah T.V., a company of Malcolm Glazer, who owned network-affiliated stations in three smaller markets. This made Salt Lake City the first of the four drop-ins to attract more than one application. By 1984, however, there were multiple applications in all four cities, and Salt Lake was the last of the four to receive a designation for comparative hearing among the applicants, on February 10, 1984. By that time, two of the eight applicants had dropped out. American Television had already won the channel 14 construction permit (which eventually materialized as KXIV in 1989), and Rocky Mountain Broadcasting was no longer in contention by the time the hearing designation order was issued. FCC administrative law judge Edward Kuhlmann issued an initial decision in May 1985 that looked toward granting Salt Lake City Family TV the permit because of its superior proposal for the integration of ownership and management. With Glazer's application having been abandoned, the four other contestants objected to the commission, whose review board scheduled oral argument in the case. Mountain West Television retained the advice of Wiley Rein, a Washington, D.C., law firm. ### KSTU moves to channel 13; sale to Fox Wiley Rein attracted two other clients which had interest in channel 13. One was Northstar Communications, a Washington company financially backed by insurer Allstate. The Mountain West principals, with Northstar, formed MWT Limited Partnership; Northstar insisted that Mountain West buy out the other applicants, leading to it obtaining the channel 13 permit. MWT then signed an agreement to purchase all of KSTU's non-license assets from Adams for \$30 million in June 1987. Under the terms of the deal, MWT would operate channel 20 until the channel 13 facility was ready to be activated, after which it would surrender the channel 20 license. The Mountain West partners later said that Northstar had refused to provide the financing to outfit a new station, essentially forcing the company to buy KSTU for relocation. It was later reported that Adams was a client of Wiley Rein. To pay for the transaction, Mountain West borrowed \$22.5 million; the deal included \$10 million in a non-compete agreement with Adams. On November 2, 1987, with the new transmitter facility complete, the KSTU intellectual unit (call letters, Fox affiliation, syndicated programming and staff) moved from channel 20 to channel 13. It also moved to channel 13 on local cable systems. Due to the manner in which the changeover was structured legally, the FCC reckons KSTU's current facility on channel 13 as a new license dating from 1987; it was issued a construction permit under the call letters KTMW on July 17, and changed its call letters to KSTU on November 9. The obligations incurred by the Mountain West partners were financially debilitating. In August 1989, Mountain West and Farragut Communications—part of the Northstar group—put KSTU on the market. While multiple bidders, including Meredith Broadcasting, inspected the station, the Fox network itself purchased KSTU. Fox had just sold WFXT in Boston, meaning it had the ability to buy another station. The \$41 million deal resulted in the first network-owned TV station in Utah. The sale's outcome led to long-running litigation. Mountain West's partners said that Northstar capitalized on their weakened position to squeeze them out of profits on the sale to Fox. In 1990, they sued Wiley Rein for \$20 million, which they calculated as the financial value if Northstar had financed their venture as a competing independent station. The case became one of the longest civil trials in Utah history; while a trial court initially dismissed the case, the Utah Court of Appeals ordered a trial be held in 1996. After a three-month trial in which 1,000 exhibits were presented and the case record filled 31 volumes, a jury awarded the partners a net total of \$18 million in December 1998, but the Utah Supreme Court discarded the monetary award in 2001 and ordered another trial be held, finding that the trial judge had improperly instructed jurors. Under MWT, KSTU replaced KSL-TV as the exclusive broadcast television home of Utah Jazz basketball in 1988, having carried some Jazz games over the preceding four seasons. However, KSTU indicated that it would not renew the deal after 1993, due to Fox initiating programming seven nights a week. This resulted in KXIV being purchased by Jazz owner Larry H. Miller and becoming KJZZ-TV. Under Fox, KSTU began airing local news programming in December 1991, progressively expanding its offerings through the next 15 years. At one time in the early 1990s, Elisabeth Murdoch, Rupert Murdoch's daughter, served as programming manager. In 2000, when Fox Television Stations acquired the Chris-Craft Industries station group, it traded away ABC affiliate KTVX to keep KSTU. ### Local TV and Tribune ownership On June 13, 2007, Fox announced the sale of KSTU and seven other owned-and-operated stations to Local TV LLC, a subsidiary of Oak Hill Capital Partners. The sale was finalized on July 14, 2008. Under Local TV LLC, KSTU bought the adjacent building to double its studio footprint to 26,000 square feet (2,400 m²), part of a construction project that also outfitted the station for high-definition news production. On July 1, 2013, the Tribune Company acquired Local TV for \$2.75 billion; the sale was completed on December 27. That year, KSTU ranked third in revenue among the four major Salt Lake TV stations, far behind KSL and KUTV but well ahead of KTVX. ### Sinclair and Fox purchase attempt; sale to Scripps Sinclair Broadcast Group entered into an agreement to acquire Tribune Media on May 8, 2017, for \$3.9 billion plus the assumption of \$2.7 billion in Tribune-held debt. As Sinclair already owned KUTV, KJZZ-TV, and KMYU in the market, the company offered to sell KSTU back to Fox Television Stations as part of a \$910 million deal; Howard Stirk Holdings concurrently agreed to purchase KMYU. The merger was terminated on August 9, 2018, by Tribune Media, nullifying both transactions; this followed a public rejection of the deal by FCC chairman Ajit Pai and vote by the commission to designate it for hearing by an administrative law judge, which was seen as a death knell for the proposed transaction. Following the collapse of the Sinclair merger, Nexstar Media Group announced its intention to purchase Tribune Media on December 3, 2018, for \$6.4 billion in cash and debt. Due to Nexstar owning KTVX and KUCW, the E. W. Scripps Company agreed to purchase KSTU as part of \$1.32 billion in overall divestments by Nexstar in order to meet regulatory approval. The sale was completed on September 19, 2019. ## News operation In 1984, when the station was an independent owned by Adams, KSTU general manager Vickie Street told Electronic Media that the station could not hope to compete with the well-established VHF stations in news, commenting, "We have two giants here. Their news budget is bigger than my entire operations budget. It would be David versus Goliath." However, the acquisition by Fox made KSTU one of just two stations owned by the company not to produce local news programming (the other was KDAF in Dallas). As part of a corporate push to bring news to the remaining stations, in 1991, KSTU began building out a news department. Nick Clooney, a veteran television anchor and the father of actor George Clooney, was the original news anchor. In addition to serving the Salt Lake market, the KSTU newscast was intended as a prototype for the development of similar newsrooms at mid-market Fox affiliates, and it also functioned as a test bed for Sony and Fox to test a new video camera system based on the Hi8 format. The Fox News at Nine debuted on December 31, 1991. It was not the first 9 p.m. newscast in modern Utah television, as KXIV briefly aired a KSL-TV-produced newscast between October 1991 and September 1992. Clooney was dismissed in 1993 as part of a change in direction for the local newscast. These changes were driven by Lisa Gregorisch-Dempsey—later the producer of syndicated newsmagazine Extra—who was placed at KSTU by Murdoch and increased the pace of the format. Gregorisch-Dempsey then left Salt Lake in 1994 to start a newsroom at KDAF in Dallas, which was eventually scrapped when Fox announced its plans to sell the station and move its affiliation. The half-hour newscast became an hour-long show in 1994. The mid-1990s saw the start of KSTU's expansion beyond prime time news coverage with the addition of noon and morning newscasts in 1996. While the noon newscast initially rated poorly, the morning news—now known as Good Day Utah—was expanded to a second hour the next year. With expansions of newscasts in a variety of time slots, KSTU was producing eight hours of news a day by 2012, ten hours by 2015, and 10+1⁄2 hours—part of 62+1⁄2 hours of news output a week—in 2016. ### Notable former on-air staff - Brad Giffen – anchor (later at CFTO-DT and CTV News Channel in Toronto; now a full-time voice-over artist) ## Technical information ### Subchannels The station's digital signal is multiplexed: ### Analog-to-digital conversion KSTU shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 13, on June 12, 2009, as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 28, using virtual channel 13. ### Translators More than 80 retransmitters broadcast KSTU's signal throughout Utah and into portions of neighboring states. - Antimony: K30OS-D - Beaver, Utah: K13AAL-D - Beryl, Modena, Newcastle: K25GY-D - Bicknell, etc.: K20MO-D - Blanding, Monticello: K36AK-D - Bluff & Area: K15HN-D - Boulder: K30OV-D - Caineville: K31KN-D - Cedar Canyon: K04RW-D - Cedar City: K10PN-D - Circleville, etc.: K18MI-D - Clear Creek: K28KP-D - Coalville, etc.: K30KG-D - Delta, Oak City: K30PG-D - Duchesne, etc.: K36IM-D - East Carbon County: K18MY-D - East Price: K13AAP-D - Emery: K28PI-D - Escalante: K29HN-D - Ferron: K30PP-D - Fillmore, etc.: K29MN-D - Fishlake Resort: K29JQ-D - Fountain Green: K29LZ-D - Fremont: K35NE-D - Fruitland: K19MH-D - Garfield, etc.: K21MX-D - Garrison, etc.: K34PA-D - Green River: K21JV-D, K30PN-D (Cedar Mountain) - Hanksville: K34NT-D - Hatch: K14QX-D - Heber City: K29MC-D - Helper: K12XI-D - Henefer, etc.: K33LV-D - Henriville: K20MY-D - Huntington: K30PS-D - Huntsville, Liberty: K28JK-D - Kanab: K28OS-D - Kanarraville, etc.: K36PA-D - Koosharem: K20MV-D - Laketown, etc.: K48GV-D - Leamington: K15LL-D - Logan: K28OS-D - Manila, etc.: K33PQ-D - Manti, Ephraim: K29EM-D - Marysvale: K13AAI-D - Mayfield: K15CD-D - Mexican Hat: K18IB-D - Milford, etc.: K15FQ-D - Montezuma Creek, Aneth: K23JC-D - Morgan, etc.: K28JL-D - Mount Pleasant: K23NR-D - Myton: K22NE-D - Navajo Mountain: K18HZ-D - Nephi: K22OO-D - Oljeto: K18IA-D - Orangeville: K21NP-D - Orderville: K16BT-D, K27KH-D (Alton) - Panguitch, etc.: K20MX-D - Park City: K35OP-D - Peoa, etc.: K36PK-D - Randolph, Woodruff: K30JG-D - Richfield, etc.: K20MS-D - Roosevelt: K13AAN-D - Rural Garfield County: K28GM-D - Rural Juab, etc.: K13OG-D - Rural Juab County: K14PA-D - Rural Sevier County: K20MW-D - Salina, Redmond: K13AAH-D - Samak: K28JS-D - Santa Clara, etc.: KVBT-LD - Scofield: K29MT-D - Scipio: K15LK-D - St. George: KKRP-LD 21, K25PA-D - Summit County: K25OY-D - Tropic, Cannonville: K29GJ-D - Vernal, etc.: K35IQ-D - Wanship: K29HX-D - Wendover: K16MN-D - Woodland, Kamas: K13AAJ-D - Cortez, CO: K23LH-D - Holbrook, ID: K33QF-D - Malad City, ID: K16MW-D - Mink Creek, ID: K07XM-D - Montpelier, ID: K34OH-D - Preston, ID: K19EW-D - Soda Springs, ID: K25OI-D - Big Piney, etc., WY: K24DA-D

Hurricane Rick (1997)

Category 2 Pacific hurricane in 1997

Hurricane Rick was the second-latest hurricane ever to make landfall in Mexico. The eighteenth named storm, ninth and final hurricane of the 1997 Pacific hurricane season, Rick was a short-lived Category 2 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale that weakened before making landfall in Mexico on November 10. It hit almost a month after the more powerful Hurricane Pauline made landfall in the same country. Most of the damage associated with Pauline was exacerbated by the weaker Rick, which struck during rebuilding efforts. Damage from Rick was fairly minor. As Rick was heading towards Mexico, the people on the coastline evacuated due to the impact of Pauline making them more prepared to deal with another hurricane, leading to no casualties. ## Meteorological history Hurricane Rick's ultimate origin was a tropical wave that left Africa on October 15. While crossing the Atlantic, the wave was mainly tracked by continuity due to its lack or organization. After entering the Pacific, part of it developed cloudiness on November 5 when it was south of the Gulf of Tehuantepec. Organization and a circulation developed, and satellite tracking began on November 6. The disturbance became better organized and formed into Tropical Depression Nineteen-E on November 7. At first moving northwest, the depression was turned north by a trough. Around noon on November 8, when it was about 375 miles (604 km) southwest of Acapulco, the depression was upgraded to Tropical Storm Rick. The storm developed a cold central dense overcast, turned northeast, and became a hurricane on November 9. An eye appeared that day, accompanied by a well-center visible on Acapulco radar. The hurricane reached its peak intensity of 100 mph (160 km/h) and 973 mbar, making it a low-end Category 2 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale; However, some sources disagree, saying that Rick was a Category 3 major hurricane at its peak. After weakening to 85 mph (137 km/h), it made landfall on Oaxaca on November 10. Around the time of landfall, hurricane force winds extended 35 miles (56 km) and tropical storm force winds extended 115 miles (185 km) from the center, respectively. Rick continued to weaken while moving parallel to Mexico's coast along the Gulf of Tehuantepec before dissipating into a convectionless swirl of clouds over Chiapas on November 11. ## Preparations The pre-Rick tropical depression was a threat to Mexico. Hours before upgrading, Mexican officials issued a tropical storm watch for the area between Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacán and Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca. Three hours before Rick was upgraded to a hurricane, the watch was upgraded to a warning and a hurricane watch was issued and shortly afterward raised to a warning. On November 9, the hurricane warning was extended to Zihuatanejo and Huatulco; warnings for areas west of Zihuatanejo and Lázaro Cárdenas were dropped at the same time. However, warnings for areas west of and including Acapulco remained until lifted three hours later. On November 10, warnings were extended from Punta Maldonado to Tapachula; all warnings west of Punta Maldonado were dropped at that time. Then, Mexico's Interior Ministry declared a state of emergency along the Oaxaca coast. Six hours later, the warnings were downgraded to tropical storm warnings. These warnings remained until they were dropped when Rick was downgraded to a depression. The people in the coastal areas, most of which were already affected by the more catastrophic Pauline a month ago, were ready for Rick. All major ports along the coast were closed ahead of time in preparation, as well as airports in Huatulco and Puerto Escondido where power failures occurred because of Hurricane Rick. One hundred and thirty Red Cross workers, including twenty that were based in Mexico, who were in the area in the aftermath of Pauline, kept in the area to handle the second hurricane. Many people from Puerto Ángel, Huatulco, and Puerto Escondido (where National Operations Director Bernardino Heredia was overseeing recovery efforts) beach areas were evacuated. During the Puerto Ángel evacuation, helicopters landed carrying soldier and rifles, which one tourist likened to a third-world revolution. In Chiapas, officials watched for flooding along the rivers and upstream river valleys, where the rains from three previous systems caused the ground to saturate and in the state capital of Tuxtla Gutiérrez, families were evacuated due to rising rivers. ## Impact The damage from Rick was minor in comparison to Pauline. In Oaxaca, the hurricane was responsible for dumping 10 inches (250 mm) of rain onto the state, which in turn resulted in mudslides and flash floods in areas earlier ravaged by Pauline. These rains also resulted in the sea level rising three feet above normal levels due to high waves generated during its passage. The hurricane was also responsible for rendering bridges and roads unpassable in the state, which had only recently been repaired after they were damaged by two prior hurricanes: 1995's Hurricane Roxanne in the Atlantic and Pauline, which had weakened bridges a month prior, allowing Rick to topple them, including a bridge near Puerto Escondido which left a 15-foot (4.6 m) deep gap in the road. Among the major roads that were cut off were a mountain road from Puerto Angel to Oaxaca City, a route used to link the coast with Mexico City, and a route from Puerto Escondido with Acapulco. A total of 10.47 inches (266 mm) of rainfall, the highest total caused by Rick, was recorded in Astata/San Pedro Huameluca, which was near the point where the hurricane made landfall. Telephone communications and traffic were cut off to many villages in the wake of the hurricane. Although Rick was much weaker than Pauline, there were some areas where Rick's impact was greater than that of Pauline's. One such place was the village of El Tomatal, located 10 miles (16 km) southeast of Puerto Escondido. There, eight houses were destroyed and roofs were torn off of many others, which residents attributed to more rain than in Pauline, even though the winds were roughly equal. Although there were no casualties, the hurricane caused more than 2000 people to become homeless. Most of what Pauline had left behind was destroyed by Rick, which one resident said was like "Pauline came to harvest the corn, and Rick came to harvest the peanuts." In the United States, Rick had a temporary economic impact when, during its time off the shore of Chiapas and Oaxaca, it caused the price of coffee to rise 4.7 percent to \$1.5685 per pound on the Coffee, Sugar and Cocoa Exchange in New York, the highest total it reached since October 16. Mexico is the United States's largest source of coffee imports and Oaxaca and Chiapas are the largest coffee growing regions in Mexico. Like the impact in El Tomatal, Rick's effects were much worse than Pauline's because Rick threatened the coffee crop when the beans were more susceptible to winds that could blow them off. ## Records Rick was one of only eight known hurricanes to form in the East Pacific in November. The others were Nina in 1957, Tara in 1961, Iwa in 1982, Nora in 1991, Sergio in 2006, Kenneth in 2011, and Sandra in 2015. Rick was the second one of these to make landfall, although it was the third weakest of them, just slightly stronger than Nina and Iwa (Tara's central pressure is unknown). Rick is also the second-latest hurricane in official records to have hit either coast of Mexico, behind only Tara. ## See also - List of Pacific hurricanes - Timeline of the 1997 Pacific hurricane season - Hurricane Pauline - 1997 Pacific hurricane season - Other storms with the same name

Murdering Oscar (And Other Love Songs)

Murdering Oscar (And Other Love Songs) is the second solo album by Patterson Hood. The album's songs were written from 1994 to 2004, and recording began in early 2005 in Athens, Georgia, USA. Murdering Oscar was released on June 23, 2009, by Hood's own label, Ruth St. Records, and on ATO Records. The music consists of guitar chords and reverb on some tracks, while others also have piano. The lyrics address topics that affected Hood around the time the songs were written, such as the birth of his child and his success with the Drive-By Truckers. The album received mainly favorable reviews from critics, who praised it for being optimistic and mature in its handling of both positive and negative themes. Some also commended it for addressing these themes in a compassionate manner, and for being exceptionally personal compared to his previous work with the Drive-By Truckers. However, others criticized it as inferior to Hood's previous work with them. Murdering Oscar peaked at No. 153 on the Billboard 200 chart. ## Background and recording Half of the songs on the album were written when Hood moved to Athens in 1994, before the Drive-By Truckers were established, and soon after his previous band, Adam's House Cat, disbanded. The other half were written in 2004, shortly after his child was born. However, the songs were not recorded until 2005, with recording starting in early January that year at David Barbe's Athens studio Chase Park Transduction. In addition to Hood, most of the instruments on Murdering Oscar were played by the former Truckers' sidemen Barbe, Will Johnson, and Scott Danbom, as well as Hood's father, David Hood. Jewly Hight compared Murdering Oscar to Chinese Democracy, writing that while Axl Rose "obsessively retooled Guns N' Roses' Chinese Democracy in 14 studios over 13 years, all the while stringing along the public with empty promises of a finished album", Hood handled his long-in-the-making album rather differently, by leaving the album essentially unchanged from its recording in 2005 to its release four years later. Hood has attributed this delay between the songs' recording in 2005 and Murdering's release four years later to "record industry bullshit". The album was released on June 23, 2009, by Hood's own Ruth St. Records label. ## Music and lyrics Murdering Oscar (And Other Love Songs) has songs from several genres that Hood explored in his previous work, including country and Southern rock. The songs on the album were influenced by his second marriage, the birth of his child and the success of the Drive-By Truckers. Steve LaBate described Murdering Oscar's music as "a little of everything Hood’s done so far, plus a few dashes of discovery". Stuart Henderson, writing in PopMatters, described its music as "grinding three-or-four chord garage rock, [and] drive-heavy reverb" and its lyrics as "throaty storytelling, a hefty dose of gallows humour, and a few slow-burning excursions into some poor schlub’s bleak night". "Murdering Oscar" tells a tale of a "morally elastic hitman" inspired by the Woody Allen film, Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989). "Pollyanna", the oldest song on the album, blends "filthy guitars" and "lucid, hopeful piano". "Pride of the Yankees" is a "bleak, uncharacteristic piano waltz". The "poppy" "I Understand Now" finds Hood happy and content with his life and coming to understand, as an adult, the advice he received in his youth. "Screwtopia" is "a sardonic portrait of suburban domestic tranquility" that "seems almost wistful". The "optimistic" "Granddaddy" is about having a child and growing old. "Belvedere" is a "bad-date song" about "a creepy guy", according to Hood. "The Range War" is a cover version of a Todd Rundgren song from Runt. The Ballad of Todd Rundgren. "She's a Little Randy" finds Hood sounding silly. "Foolish Young Bastard" is "a put-down aimed at an old manager". "Heavy and Hanging" was written in response to Kurt Cobain's suicide in 1994. "Walking Around Sense" displays a sound similar to that of Crazy Horse, and some have speculated that the song may be criticizing Courtney Love's parenting ability. "Back of a Bible" is a love song Hood wrote to his wife in the back of a motel Bible while touring. ## Reception According to the review aggregator Metacritic, Murdering Oscar (And Other Love Songs) has a score of 80/100, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Several critics described Murdering Oscar's music as more intimate and personal than Hood's previous work with the Drive-By Truckers. Jon Pareles also noted that Hood's music on Murdering Oscar discusses both depressing topics, such as murder and suicide, as well as more positive ones such as "family and continuity" on "I Understand Now". Joshua Klein wrote that Hood was "surprisingly sanguine, even mature" in the way he addressed both positive and negative topics on the album, and AllMusic's Mark Deming wrote that its songs were "dark but compassionate character studies", adding that it "consistently cuts closer to the bone" than Hood's first solo album, Killers and Stars (2004). Greg Kot gave Murdering Oscar three stars out of four and wrote that it "maintains a certain raw immediacy". Different critics made different comparisons between the album and the work Hood did with the Drive-By Truckers: Ken Tucker wrote, "Where the music made by the Drive-By Truckers can expand to epic proportions without becoming overblown, Hood's solo songs are smaller scale, more intimate." Stuart Henderson in PopMatters wrote "None of the songs here would be out of place on either of the last two Truckers albums,", and "The sound, then, remains the same, but just a little less the same." Henderson also argued that the music of Murdering Oscar discusses variations on the story of "the lonely, forgotten everyman", which he called one of Hood's favorite themes. Jesse Cataldo, writing in Slant, criticized the album for being far inferior to Hood's work with the Truckers, saying that on Murdering Oscar "Hood falters, resulting in an uninterrupted stream of watery drivel that drifts by much too slowly". He attributed this in part to the absence of the Truckers' other songwriter, Mike Cooley. It was ranked 316th on the Village Voice's 2009 Pazz & Jop, 39th on Robert Christgau's 2009 "Dean's List", and was named the fifth best album of 2009 by Steven Hyden of The A.V. Club. It peaked at number 153 on the Billboard 200 on July 11, 2009. ## Track listing All songs written by Patterson Hood, except where noted. 1. "Murdering Oscar" – 4:27 2. "Pollyanna" – 4:37 (Mike Cooley, Patterson Hood) 3. "Pride of the Yankees" – 4:16 4. "I Understand Now" – 3:22 5. "Screwtopia" – 4:35 6. "Granddaddy" – 2:39 7. "Belvedere" – 3:59 8. "The Range War" – 3:50 (Todd Rundgren) 9. "She's a Little Randy" – 4:28 10. "Foolish Young Bastard" – 2:31 11. "Heavy and Hanging" – 4:14 12. "Walking Around Sense" – 5:13 13. "Back of a Bible" – 4:28 ## Personnel ### Musicians - Patterson Hood – guitar, piano, lead vocals - Will Johnson – guitar, harmony, vocals - Scott Danbom – fiddle, harmony, piano, vocals - David Barbe – bass guitar, guitar, piano - Mike Cooley – guitar - Frank MacDonnell – guitar - David Hood – bass guitar - Shonna Tucker – bass guitar - Brad Morgan – drums - John Neff – pedal steel - Don Chambers – banjo - Kevin Lane – backing vocals ### Production - David Barbe – producer, engineer, mixing - Patterson Hood – producer, liner notes - Glenn Schick – mastering - Lilla Hood – art direction - Wes Freed – artwork - Sean Fine – photography - Wendy Van Pelt – photography

Wickford Junction station

Railway station in North Kingstown, RI

Wickford Junction is a commuter rail station located in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, United States. It is the southern terminus of the MBTA Commuter Rail Providence/Stoughton Line and serves as a park and ride location for commuters to Providence, Rhode Island, and Boston, Massachusetts. The station consists of a single high-level side platform on a stub-end siding next to the Northeast Corridor mainline. The first station at the site opened in 1844. In 1870, the Newport and Wickford Railroad and Steamboat Company was opened from the station to Wickford Landing, where it connected with steamships to Newport, Rhode Island. The station was rebuilt in 1871, expanded in 1887, and rebuilt again around 1890 after a fire. Branch service ended in 1925, but the station remained open until 1981. A new station and parking garage opened on the same site on April 23, 2012, as part of the South County Commuter Rail project, which also included the new T. F. Green Airport station. ## History ### Former station In 1844, seven years after the Rhode Island section of the New York, Providence and Boston Railroad opened, a small station was placed at Wickford. The Newport and Wickford Railroad and Steamboat Company opened in 1870 as a branch from the mainline to Wickford Landing, where wealthy riders would board steamships to the resorts and summer homes of Newport, Rhode Island. A new station named Wickford Junction was built in 1871 at a cost of \$8,000; a \$3,500 addition was added sixteen years later. The station burned and was replaced by a smaller structure around 1890. Passenger service on the branch ended in 1925, though some mainline service continued to stop. The station building was torn down in 1969 as rail service declined, leaving just the stone foundation, which was later filled with gravel. The pedestrian overpass was moved in 1971 to Route 128 station, where it remained until Route 128 station was rebuilt in 2000. The station, by then just bare platforms, was served by a single New London-Providence round trip (cut to Westerly-Providence by Penn Central on November 22, 1971). The commuter train was discontinued on June 3, 1977. Amtrak's New Haven-Boston Beacon Hill began service on April 30, 1978, including a stop at Wickford Junction. The Beacon Hill was discontinued on October 1, 1981. The Wickford Landing branch's right-of-way is still extant, as are the remains of a turntable about 700 feet (200 m) north of Ten Rod Road. The state is considering building a bikeway along the right-of-way to connect the Wickford town center with the Wickford Junction development and station. ### Modern station After Beacon Hill service ended in 1981, some residents proposed a new station and the restoration of service. Bob Coie, a local builder, had bought a strip of land along the tracks in 1959 and acquired a large parcel along their west side in 1982. In 1985, he convinced the town to upzone the land for commercial use with the intention of eventually building a "pre-planned business district" and commuter rail station there. A state study of rail corridors was completed in 1994 and the Northeast Corridor was designated as the highest-priority line for commuter service to Providence. An addendum in 1995, assuming a quick start to operations, projected that daily ridership from Wickford would be 2,869 in 2000 and 3,386 in 2020. An operations plan was released in 2001, and environmental assessment was completed in 2003. By November 2006, the station and associated track work was expected to cost \$43.7 million, of which \$24.99 million would be Federal Transit Administration New Starts funding. The station received a total of \$59 million in federal funds, including the \$24.99 million from New Starts and \$4.35 million in stimulus funds. In late 2009, the State of Rhode Island spent \$3.2 million to purchase 350,000 square feet (33,000 m²) of land for the station and parking garage, with hopes that it could be in service in 2011. Ground was broken for the new station on August 18, 2010. Primary construction work on the station platform and garage was completed on time and under budget in December 2011, and a test train was run to the station in March 2012. The station opened on April 23, 2012. A major part of the modern station is the four-story parking garage, which was modeled after the nearby Lafayette Mill. The garage includes an indoor waiting room—rare in the MBTA system—and a small coffee/snack shop. An 8-foot (2.4 m)-tall bronze sculpture celebrating the history of rail service at Wickford Junction was completed in October 2015. ### Ridership Ridership at Wickford Junction has been far below projections, some of which had assumed that transit-oriented development would be constructed at the station. Daily boardings were projected to reach 3,544 in 2025 according to the 1995 analysis. This was reduced to 1,669 by 2020 in the 2003 Environmental Assessment, but raised again to 3,386 by 2020 in a 2005 analysis. Initial ridership in May 2012 was 130 inbound riders per day, of whom 80 percent rode to Providence and 20 percent to Boston. Ridership increased to 150 riders per day by early June and to 175 daily by February 2014. Ridership averaged 292 daily boardings in the first quarter of 2017. For the second half of 2017, the state offered free intrastate rides in an attempt to promote the under-utilized T.F. Green Airport and Wickford Junction stations. The six-month promotion was expected to cost about \$102,000. Ridership increased by 50% within the first month of the promotion. However, a 2018 count totalled only 235 daily boardings. As of 2017 the station only has weekday service, but planners hope to add weekend service eventually. Previous official discussions about adding weekend service to T. F. Green Airport and Wickford Junction took place in 2014. ### Bus operations and consolidation Wickford Junction's drop-off lane also serves as a busway, which RIPTA bus route 66 URI/Galilee briefly served before it was rerouted to a park-and-ride closer to Route 2. In January 2013, RIDOT began planning to sell the park-and-ride property and reroute the 66 and the new 65X Wakefield Express to Wickford Junction on all trips; however, the plan was held up by concerns about eliminating free parking in the lot in favor of the paid garage. In July 2015, the agency renewed plans to sell the park-and-ride lot for an estimated \$1.9 million and reroute the buses, but similar concerns were voiced at a public meeting. A judge blocked RIDOT's sale plan in July 2017 over concerns that the family of the original property owners (from whom it was taken by eminent domain in the 1930s) may have had the right to buy back the property. In August 2015, RIDOT announced that it would be taking over operations and maintenance at Wickford Junction from a private contractor. The savings from the change—estimated at \$340,000 annually—were to be used to increase frequencies on the 65X route. At the same time, RIDOT began a two-week, \$372,500 project to allow bus operations to be shifted to the station, which involved constructing a bus depot next to the garage and a new access driveway from Route 102. Only several days of "preliminary work" were completed by August 31 when Coie's company, owner of the adjacent shopping plaza, filed a lawsuit against RIDOT. The suit alleged that the changes would reduce traffic to the shopping center and cause a safety issue. RIDOT answered the claim, saying that the 2009 land deal gave the agency exclusive rights to the transit facility land. The state settled the lawsuit with the company in November 2015 by agreeing to pay \$750,000 by July 2016. Effective December 7, 2015, all 65X and 66 trips were rerouted to Wickford Junction, with the garage now open 24/7. The restrooms and waiting room had full hours beginning in January 2016. ## Rail operations The station opened on April 23, 2012, with ten trains in each direction on weekdays. Two off-peak trains ran only as far as Providence, while the other eight—including five rush hour trains—ran to Boston. Travel time is approximately 35 minutes to Providence and 100 minutes to Boston. The station is located on a 0.7-mile (1.1 km) siding which connects to the southbound mainline track of the Northeast Corridor at Stony interlocking, north of the station. The siding allows Amtrak trains to pass while a commuter train is stopped at the station and laying over. Wickford Junction station is located at milepost 165.8 on the Northeast Corridor, 16 miles (26 km) from Providence and 63 miles (101 km) from Boston. The 2014 State Rail Plan recommended the implementation of shuttle service between Wickford Junction and Providence via T.F. Green Airport with half-hour headways. The service, which could be operated with multiple units rather than conventional locomotive-hauled commuter trains, was expected to increase ridership at Wickford to as much as 3,400 riders per day.

WNUV

CW affiliate in Baltimore

WNUV (channel 54) is a television station in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, affiliated with The CW. It is owned by Cunningham Broadcasting, which maintains a local marketing agreement (LMA) with Sinclair Broadcast Group, owner of Fox/MyNetworkTV affiliate WBFF (channel 45), for the provision of programming and certain services. However, Sinclair effectively owns WNUV, as the majority of Cunningham's stock is owned by the family of deceased group founder Julian Smith. Sinclair also operates TBD affiliate WUTB (channel 24) under a separate shared services agreement with Deerfield Media. The stations share studios on 41st Street off the Jones Falls Expressway on Television Hill in the Woodberry neighborhood of north Baltimore; WBFF and WNUV are also broadcast from the same tower on the hill. WNUV began broadcasting on July 1, 1982. During the day, it ran specialty programming from the Financial News Network, which was subsidized by its nighttime broadcast of Super TV, a subscription television service that operated in the Washington and Baltimore areas. Super TV peaked at 30,000 Baltimore subscribers in August 1983, but even though the city of Baltimore was late to be wired for cable, the industry suffered a national decline in the mid-1980s, and WNUV ceased airing Super TV on March 31, 1986. In preparation for its closure, the station had begun to recast itself as a general-entertainment independent station as early as 1984. The founding owner and namesake, New-Vision, Inc., sold the station to ABRY Communications in 1989; ABRY upgraded the transmitter and increased the station's visibility with a campaign allowing residents to vote on programming choices. ABRY attempted to sell WNUV to Glencairn, Ltd.—a forerunner to Cunningham, owned by former Sinclair employee Edwin Edwards and the mother of the Smith children that controlled Sinclair—in 1993. The deal was met with public scrutiny, and though it initially fell apart, ABRY signed an LMA directly with Sinclair in 1994 before transferring the license to Glencairn the next year. WNUV affiliated first with UPN in 1995 before switching to The WB in a group deal in 1998 and The CW upon those two networks' merger in 2006. The station aired a WBFF-produced early evening newscast from 1997 to 2005; for most of its history since Sinclair began programming channel 54, it has been used as a test bed for television transmission technologies. ## History ### Early years: Super TV There had been several expressions of interest in Baltimore's ultra high frequency (UHF) channel 54 in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Two applications were considered for the channel in 1967, and the Zamoiski Company held a construction permit for channel 54 as WUHF-TV in the early 1970s. However, it was not until June 23, 1977, when New-Vision, Inc. tendered for filing an application for channel 54, specifying possible use for subscription television (STV) programming. New-Vision found itself in competition with Peter and John Fellowship, a Christian broadcaster, which had filed by late 1978. The latter group dropped out, leaving New-Vision uncontested for the channel and resulting in the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) granting the firm a construction permit in June 1979. From the name of the company, channel 54 took the call letters WNUV. Also signed before the station was built was a contract that would have seen the station broadcast Wometco Home Theater as its subscription service. Construction of the station's tower in Catonsville began in April 1982, ahead of a July 1 launch. The independent station aired syndicated reruns and the Financial News Network during the day leading into the subscription service Super TV at night and on weekend afternoons. Super TV was already in business in Washington, where its scrambled programs had been airing on WCQR since November 1981. The star attraction on Super TV was a package of Baltimore Orioles baseball games. For a \$20 decoder deposit, a \$49 installation charge, and a \$19 monthly service fee (plus an optional package of late-night adult movies), subscribers could watch the Orioles, special events, and 70 movies a month. Super TV's entry in the Baltimore market convinced competing independent WBFF (channel 45) to abandon its plans to pursue subscription programming despite receiving FCC approval, and it also accumulated 30,000 subscribers in Baltimore (alongside 55,000 more in greater Washington) within a year of starting up. The ad-supported portion of the station also experimented with some local programming, such as a daily newsmagazine, Say Baltimore, that aired in 1984. However, as the early 1980s progressed, subscription television would experience headwinds nationally due to a recession and the development of cable television in major cities. As early as January 1984, WNUV general manager Mark Salditch realized that Super TV likely was not going to be around much longer and began preparing the station for a future without subscription programming. For the 1984–85 television season, channel 54 overhauled its daytime schedule to be more typical for a general-entertainment independent, and the station launched a promotion campaign to make viewers aware that it offered more than subscription programming. One element of the revamped channel 54 was a series of "Pet of the Day" station IDs featuring the dogs, cats, and birds of regional viewers, an idea taken from KTZO in San Francisco. In October 1985, Subscription Television of Greater Washington, which owned Super TV, announced it would cease broadcasting over WCQR in Washington at year's end and retune subscribers' equipment to receive WNUV if they fell within its coverage area. However, the number of subscribers continued to fall rapidly, from 28,000 in late 1985 to 14,000 in early 1986. As a result of the company's failure and WNUV's desire to become a full-time commercial independent, Super TV broadcast for the last time on March 31, 1986. ### Going full-time independent With Super TV no longer broadcasting, WNUV overhauled its evening programming and made aggressive moves in an effort to become what Salditch called "the Cadillac of independents". Later that year, the station picked up The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, an NBC program not cleared by WMAR-TV; the program had previously aired on WBFF, which dropped Carson to make room for The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers. New-Vision sold WNUV to a company formed by Boston investors Andrew Banks and Royce Yudkoff in a deal announced in December 1988. Banks and Yudkoff formed ABRY Communications—named from their initials. The FCC approved of their purchase in March 1989, and the new owners embarked on a campaign to upgrade the station's transmitting equipment; the power levels that had been adequate for specially designed antennas as an STV station were insufficient for typical over-the-air receiving equipment. In addition, ABRY moved its corporate headquarters to Baltimore. ABRY also aimed to capitalize on WBFF's commitment to the expanding Fox network to case channel 54 as Baltimore's only true independent station. It launched a campaign allowing the public to vote on programs for its schedule, a promotional tool successful enough that ABRY duplicated it in relaunching KSMO-TV in Kansas City in 1991. In 1994, WNUV picked up the broadcast rights to some Baltimore Orioles games produced by Home Team Sports. The station showed Orioles games through 2006, sharing what ultimately was a package of 65 over-the-air telecasts with WJZ-TV; only WJZ-TV carried games in 2007. From 1993 to 1994, the station aired Late Show with David Letterman in lieu of WBAL-TV, which declined to carry the show. ### Sale to Glencairn, Ltd. In August 1993, ABRY announced that it had sold two stations—WNUV and WVTV in Milwaukee, the latter of which it managed and held an option to buy—to Edwin "Eddie" Edwards, who already owned WPTT in Pittsburgh. The deal concerned some in the broadcasting industry. Edwards had a close connection to Sinclair Broadcast Group; he had previously worked for the company, and in Pittsburgh, Edwards brokered most of WPTT's broadcast day to Sinclair. The move represented some turnabout given that two years prior, when Edwards bought WPTT so that Sinclair could purchase Pittsburgh Fox affiliate WPGH-TV, ABRY had filed through a third party a petition to deny on the transaction, alleging that Sinclair exercised continued control by way of seller financing. It had explicitly done so through counsel in fear that Sinclair would retaliate by encouraging program suppliers to bypass WNUV in favor of WBFF. In addition, some program syndicators fretted that possible Sinclair combinations such as WBFF–WNUV gave the company excessive leverage over the buying of syndicated shows in those markets. Scripps-Howard Broadcasting, owner of Baltimore station WMAR-TV, filed a petition to deny on the transfer of WNUV to Edwards in October. It charged that Edwards and Carolyn Smith (née Cunningham), the mother of the four Smith brothers that owned Sinclair, were being used by the brothers as a vehicle to create what in essence would be a duopoly—ownership of two TV stations in a market—which at the time was not allowed by the FCC. It cited the structure of the proposed buyer's parent company. While Edwards was the only voting shareholder in Glencairn, Ltd., 70 percent of the non-voting shares in the firm were held by Carolyn Smith, and Scripps's petition to deny also pointed to prior business dealings between her and Sinclair as well as to a proposed local marketing agreement (LMA) to allow Sinclair to manage WNUV's affairs. The Scripps petition was dismissed by Edwards as an attempt to set up roadblocks to Black ownership of broadcasters and as retaliation for a 1991 challenge by the Smiths to WMAR-TV's broadcast license. The original application for Glencairn to purchase WNUV was withdrawn in April 1994, but ABRY continued to express interest in selling the station to Sinclair. ABRY then signed an LMA directly with Sinclair for WNUV and WVTV, concurrently with the company selling two stations outright to the firm. With the LMA in place, Scripps ultimately decided that continued protest was pointless and dropped its objection to a revised version of the sale, leading to WNUV becoming a Glencairn property. ### Affiliations with UPN and The WB WBFF–WNUV management opted to affiliate channel 54 with the United Paramount Network (UPN) over The WB when both networks began in January 1995 because UPN had more conventional affiliation agreements, specifying network compensation payments, than The WB. That network was forced to settle for coverage on local cable systems and a low-power UHF station, Towson State Television. However, on July 21, 1997, Sinclair signed an affiliation agreement with The WB to switch the affiliations of WNUV and four other UPN affiliates to the network. The move put UPN on the back foot; the network contested the validity of the action in Maryland courts, where it lost twice. WNUV became a WB affiliate on January 16, 1998. One of UPN's corporate parents, United Television, acquired home shopping outlet WHSW (channel 24) and hastily relaunched it as UPN affiliate WUTB to give the network a continued presence in Baltimore. The relationship between Sinclair and Glencairn received renewed attention in 1999, when the company sought to acquire more stations and the FCC detected contradictions in its financial representations. By this time, Edwards only owned three percent of Glencairn's equity, with the rest being held by Carolyn Smith and trusts for the benefit of her grandchildren. In December 2001, Sinclair was fined \$40,000 by the FCC for illegally controlling Glencairn. Sinclair filed to acquire WNUV outright from the company, renamed Cunningham Broadcasting, in 2002; it attempted again in 2003, when it appeared that the FCC would remove a restriction only allowing new duopolies in markets with more than eight independent TV station owners (which Baltimore lacked). In 2006, The WB and UPN were shut down and replaced with The CW, which offered programming from both predecessor networks. However, Sinclair was late to sign an agreement with the network. The news of the merger resulted in Sinclair announcing, two months later, that most of its UPN and WB affiliates would join MyNetworkTV, a new service formed by the News Corporation, which was also owner of the Fox network; the core stations for this effort were Fox's UPN stations, including WUTB. It was not until May 2, 2006, that Sinclair entered into a deal to affiliate WNUV and five other stations it operated with The CW. ### Testing new technologies Since the late 1990s, Sinclair has used WNUV as a testing ground for new television transmission technologies. Sinclair was the first Baltimore broadcaster to start airing digital simulcasts of its stations, with WBFF and WNUV both beginning digital broadcasts on February 27, 1998. WNUV's analog signal on UHF channel 54 was shut down on February 17, 2009, the original target date on which full-power television stations in the United States were to transition from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate (which was later pushed back to June 12). The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 40, using virtual channel 54. In July 2009, Washington, D.C.-area TV stations became a test market for Mobile DTV, and WNUV was one of the participating stations. WNUV received FCC authorization in 2013 to begin conducting tests of the OFDM-based DVB-T2 terrestrial television standard and other future television broadcast standards, with the aim of identifying the feasibility of next-generation standards for mobile device usage and 4K ultra HD; the experimental broadcasts began on the morning of March 27, 2013. The tests ran between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. and did not interrupt cable reception; the lost programs were aired on a subchannel of WBFF. As a part of the repacking process following the 2016-2017 FCC incentive auction, WNUV was reassigned to UHF channel 25 and was to relocate by March 2020. Because it did not have to wait for any other stations to move first, WNUV moved to channel 25 on September 1, 2018, to allow new spectrum licensee T-Mobile to begin operations. WNUV's signal became the Baltimore market's ATSC 3.0 (NextGen TV) lighthouse station on June 24, 2021. As required by FCC rules, WNUV's existing ATSC 1.0 channels relocated to other stations in the market to preserve service to existing ATSC 1.0 receivers. In November 2022, Sinclair signed a memorandum of understanding with South Korean automaker Hyundai for development of ATSC 3.0 technologies in the automotive industry; WNUV began broadcasting information to support a demonstration of an in-car entertainment platform being conducted at a Hyundai dealership in Baltimore. ## Newscasts WNUV launched a 6:30 p.m. newscast in March 1997 called UPN 54 News at 6:30 (changed to WB 54 News at 6:30 in January 1998). The newscast shared the same news set and anchors as WBFF's 10 p.m. newscast; the idea of news in this evening time slot had been first floated in 1995. In January 2005, Sinclair replaced WNUV's 6:30 p.m. newscast with a new half-hour early evening newscast on WBFF, airing at 5:30 p.m. weeknights. ## Technical information ### Subchannels WNUV offers four subchannels, which are broadcast under hosting arrangements by five Baltimore TV stations. To more accurately replicate the WNUV coverage area, the main CW subchannel is broadcast from two Maryland Public Television transmitters. ### ATSC 3.0 lighthouse service In turn, WNUV broadcasts most of the market's major stations in ATSC 3.0 format:

William Henry Cushing

Canadian politician (1852–1934)

William Henry Cushing (August 21, 1852 – January 25, 1934) was a Canadian politician. Born in Ontario, he migrated west as a young adult where he started a successful lumber company and later became Alberta's first Minister of Public Works and the 11th mayor of Calgary. As Minister of Public Works in the government of Alexander Cameron Rutherford, he oversaw the creation of Alberta Government Telephones. Cushing's resignation in 1910 precipitated the Alberta and Great Waterways Railway scandal, which forced Rutherford's resignation. Though Cushing had hopes of being asked to replace Rutherford, that role fell instead to Arthur Sifton, the province's chief judge. Left out of Sifton's cabinet, Cushing did not seek re-election in the 1913 election, and did not re-enter politics thereafter. He was the chairman of Mount Royal College's board of governors for sixteen years. He died in 1934. ## Early life Cushing was born August 21, 1852, in Kenilworth, Ontario, to William Cushing and Sarah Thomson. His father was a farmer who had immigrated from Norwich, England in 1840. In 1879, Cushing indentured as a carpenter. He moved to Calgary in 1883, where in partnership with Stephen Jarett, he engaged in carpentry, building houses and stores. In 1877 Cushing married Elizabeth Rinn, who died three years later. In 1883 he married Mary Jane Waters, with whom he had two children. In 1885 he opened a sash and door factory, which made him wealthy. His business flourished and expanded; by 1900, it occupied 42 city lots and employed more than one hundred workers; by 1911, this number had reached two hundred. He was also active in the local Methodist church and the Bowness golf club, and served eight years as a school trustee with the Calgary Board of Education. He was a supporter of the Temperance Movement. ## Municipal politics Cushing was elected Calgary town councillor for a term beginning on January 20, 1890. He remained in that capacity until January 16, 1893. Two years later he became an alderman on the council of Calgary, which was now a city. He served as alderman from January 7, 1895, until January 4, 1897, and again from May 1899 until January 2, 1900. During his last term he was elected the thirteenth mayor of Calgary, a position he held from January 2, 1900, until January 7, 1901. He subsequently served another term as alderman from January 6, 1902, until January 2, 1905. He also served as the president of Calgary's Board of Trade in 1906. ## Provincial politics After Alexander Cameron Rutherford was asked to form Alberta's first government in 1905, he appointed Cushing as his Minister of Public Works. Historian L. G. Thomas notes that this was an important portfolio, given the rapid development of infrastructure expected in the new province. In keeping with custom for cabinet ministers in Westminster parliamentary systems, Cushing ran for the first Legislative Assembly of Alberta in the district of Calgary in the 1905 election. Cushing, a Liberal, was opposed by Conservative leader R. B. Bennett. The campaign was acrimonious; at one meeting, Bennett accused Cushing of giving his fellow Liberal candidates road-building money with which they could bribe their districts. On election day, Cushing defeated Bennett, who attributed his defeat to "Roman Catholic influence". Once elected, he was Calgary's primary supporter in the legislature's debate over Alberta's capital city, claiming that it was the new province's economic centre, that Alberta's status as a province was the result of a political movement that had begun in Calgary, and that it would be cheaper to build a legislature there than in Edmonton, site of the interim capital. His motion to name Calgary as the capital was defeated 16 votes to eight, and permanent capital was located at Edmonton. Though it was not to be at his preferred location, as Public Works Minister, Cushing chose the design for the new Alberta Legislature Building, which was based on the Minnesota State Capitol. As Calgary's representative, Cushing was further dismayed when Rutherford elected to locate the University of Alberta in his own hometown of Strathcona, immediately across the North Saskatchewan River from Edmonton. Calgarians felt that, having been denied the capital, they should be first in line for the university. As Public Works Minister, Cushing was a primary advocate of government intervention in the labour disputes plaguing Alberta's coal industry in 1907; Rutherford eventually appointed a commission to examine the problem. Cushing also presided over the government's entry into the telephone business: in 1906, most telephone lines in Alberta were privately owned, and the largest of these private owners was the Bell Telephone Company. Bell controlled all telephone service in Calgary, and refused to extend its operations into less densely populated, and therefore less profitable, regions of the province. In response, Cushing attacked Bell as "the most pernicious and iniquitous monopoly that had ever been foisted upon a people claiming to be free" and sponsored legislation creating Alberta Government Telephones to service areas that Bell would not. This new company later purchased Bell's lines and financed the venture by issuing debentures, in contrast to the government's usual policy of "pay as you go". Cushing's zeal for government involvement was such that member of the House of Commons of Canada Peter Talbot in 1908 warned Rutherford that his Public Works Minister was "going crazy" with public ownership and that Rutherford would "someday find a lot of trouble through him". Thomas argued that it was strange for a successful businessman like Cushing to be so aggressive rhetorically against a successful corporation, but Mount Royal College historian Patricia Roome has suggested that Cushing was soured by his own experience as a Calgarian living under the monopoly, was hostile to what he saw as a symbol of "eastern capitalism," and hoped that bringing telephone service to rural areas would guarantee continued Liberal success. ### Railway scandal By the 1909 Alberta general election, Calgary's growth had earned it a second seat in the legislature. Cushing finished first in a five-candidate field, and was elected to fill one of these seats; Bennett, finishing second, was elected to the other. Though Cushing, as Minister of Public Works, was initially responsible for railway policy, on November 1, 1909, Rutherford created a new ministry of Railways, which he appointed himself to head. In February 1910, Cushing resigned as Minister of Public Works, expressing disagreement with Rutherford's policy of offering loan guarantees to private railway builders, including the Alberta and Great Waterways (A&GW) Railway. He stated in his letter of resignation that this policy had been adopted without his knowledge or consent. Rutherford accepted the resignation with regret, but publicly disagreed with Cushing's claim that he had been kept unaware of government railway policy. On February 25, Cushing gave his account of the events leading to his resignation In the legislature: after responsibility for railways was removed from his department, Rutherford had offered the A&GW guarantees of \$20,000 per mile of railway constructed. In making this guarantee, Rutherford had not consulted government engineers in the department of Public Works about construction costs, relying instead on the A&GW's engineer. Cushing felt that guaranteeing \$20,000 per mile, regardless of actual construction costs, was unwise, and further believed that the government's reliance on the A&GW's engineer could let the company get away with building a sub-standard railway. There followed a dramatic series of legislative debates and votes, in which many Liberals, including Cushing, frequently voted against their own government, even on motions of non-confidence. In March, Rutherford invited Cushing to rejoin the cabinet; according to Cushing, he was assured that if he did so his rival, Attorney General Charles Wilson Cross, would resign. He declined Rutherford's offer, both because he considered that he was no longer able to work with the premier and because his allies among the anti-Rutherford Liberals urged him to fight on. Rumours began to circulate that Rutherford would resign, to be replaced by Cushing. Lieutenant Governor of Alberta George Bulyea was indeed convinced that Rutherford would have to resign in order to save the Liberals, but he and other powerful Liberals did not view Cushing as capable of leading the government. Bulyea instead invited provincial Chief Justice Arthur Sifton to form a government, though Cushing was reputed to have been "sitting in his hotel room, his ear glued to the telephone, waiting for the summons from the Lieutenant-Governor to assume the robes of Rutherford". Sifton left Cushing, along with all other major figures of the A&GW dispute, out of his first cabinet; Ezra Riley, a staunch Cushing ally, resigned his seat in protest. Cushing did not do the same but did not seek re-election in the 1913 election. ## Later life and legacy Cushing was the first chairman of the Mount Royal College board of governors, holding the post from 1910 until 1926, when he was designated honorary chairman. He died in Calgary January 25, 1934, of a heart attack. Calgary's W. H. Cushing Workplace School is named in his honour. Cushing is primarily remembered for his role in the Alberta and Great Waterways Railway Scandal. In assessing his role in that episode, Thomas has suggested that his actions were motivated by something other than "revulsion against what appeared to be an unwise contract with a railway company". Instead, he believes that Cushing had concluded that he, rather than Rutherford, should be premier, and began to conduct himself publicly in such a way as to undermine Rutherford's authority. Whatever his motivations, Cushing's resignation precipitated a scandal that ended Alexander Rutherford's political career, and in so doing had a profound effect on Alberta's political history. In evaluating his legacy, Roome also considers his role in establishing the government telephone system, which in her opinion "produced serious financial difficulties" for the province in the years ahead. ## Electoral record

Buckeye chicken

American breed of chicken

The Buckeye is an American breed of chicken. It was created in Ohio in the late nineteenth century by Nettie Metcalf. The color of its plumage was intended to resemble the color of the seeds of Aesculus glabra, the Ohio Buckeye plant for which the state is called the 'Buckeye State'. It is a dual-purpose chicken, kept for both meat and eggs. It is yellow-skinned, and the eggs are brown. It is the only breed in the American Class to have a pea comb. ## History The Buckeye was first bred and developed in 1896, by Nettie Metcalf, a resident of Warren, Ohio. It is the only American breed of chicken known to have been developed by a woman, although women customarily were in charge of the household poultry flock on farms and in households throughout much of U.S. history. Metcalf crossbred Barred Plymouth Rocks, Buff Cochins, and some black-breasted red games to produce the Buckeye. Her goal was a functional breed that could produce well in the bitter Midwest winters. Contrary to popular belief, the Buckeye breed was created before the Rhode Island Red breed. Metcalf sent birds to the RIR breeders in order for them to improve their breed. The Buckeye was admitted in 1904 to the American Poultry Association's Standard of Perfection. This acceptance signifies official certification as a breed by the Association, allowing Buckeyes to be entered into poultry shows and judged according to the breed standard (as outlined in the Standard of Perfection). The recognition of Buckeyes in the Standard has been a significant factor in its survival. In the past, largely due its lack of color variations, the Buckeye has not been an especially popular exhibition breed. Since the late 20th century, there has been growing interest in the exhibition poultry fancy for this dual-purpose variety of bird. The Buckeye has generally been a bird of smaller farm flocks, rather than major commercial operations. Today the breed status is listed as watch by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, watch being defined as: Fewer than 5,000 breeding birds in the United States, with ten or fewer primary breeding flocks, and estimated global population less than 10,000. The breed is included in the Slow Food USA Ark of Taste, a catalog of heritage foods in danger of extinction. ## Characteristics The Buckeye male weighs an average of 9 lb (4 kg), and the hen 6.5 lb (3 kg). The breed has yellow skin and lays brown eggs. Its primary color is a mahogany red with black tails; sometimes males have other dark feathering. According to the breed standard, a Buckeye's plumage should ideally resemble the hue of an Ohio Buckeye's seeds. Especially in the hen, the breed is very similar in appearance to the Rhode Island Red. The Buckeye can be differentiated by a bar of slate color on the back feathers close to the body; the body is also much more compact, with a short yet broad back. The Buckeye is the only purely American breed to sport a pea comb, and this, combined with its stocky build, makes it a supremely cold hardy chicken. Other breeds of fowl developed in the U.S. (such as the Ameraucana) may sport pea combs, but these chickens were bred primarily from foreign birds. It bears some traits of Game fowl in frame and disposition, being assertive in character and a very good forager. Generally calm, the cock birds in rare cases may become aggressive. Despite its game heritage, it tolerates confinement well, although it will be much happier and produce better if allowed to range on grass. The Buckeye is said by breeders to be disinclined towards feather picking. A good meat producer and layer of between 150 and 200 eggs per year, the Buckeye is a dual-purpose chicken well-suited to small farmyard and backyard flocks.

Final Fantasy VII (NES video game)

Unofficial Chinese Famicom game

Final Fantasy VII is an unlicensed "Shanzhai" demake of SquareSoft's role-playing video game Final Fantasy VII, originally released for PlayStation in 1997. The two-dimensional "port" was developed and published by Chinese company Shenzhen Nanjing Technology for Subor, a Famiclone. The cartridge itself is unique, as it is structurally different from licensed Famicom cartridges in terms of hardware and programming. The title features many gameplay elements of the original counterpart, including a three-member party structure and adaptations of the game's subsystems. Items, spells and equipment available to the player are based upon those in the original game, and although a large number have been omitted along with optional characters and some side quests, the original story was reproduced in very minute detail. Its reception was mixed, cited as an impressive achievement but at the same time criticized for the difficulty and choice of a target console. ## Gameplay In Final Fantasy VII, the player directs the protagonist throughout the game world with a group of three interchangeable party members, exploring areas and interacting with non-player characters. Most of it occurs within the city of Midgar for the first act, later expanding to towns, dungeons, caves, and similar areas for the rest of the game. Players can save their game at any time when not in combat to the game's single save slot. Starting from the second act, players can journey between field screen locations via the world map, a downsized representation of Final Fantasy VII's world. Players can freely navigate the world map screen unless restricted by geographical obstacles, such as water or mountains. To overcome this, players can ride emu-like chocobos and various vehicles available to them, though usage is limited. As in other Final Fantasy–related games, travel across the world map screen and hostile areas is frequently interrupted by random enemy encounters. ### Combat Whenever the protagonist encounters an enemy, the map changes to the "battle screen". On this, the enemy appears opposite to the three characters in the party; each battle uses a turn-based battle system similar to that featured in Final Fantasy III. All characters can physically attack the enemy, use spells from equipped materia, or use an item in one turn. Combat ends when the player either defeats all enemies and the game returns to the area map, or all party members are defeated in which case the game ends and returns to the title screen. If one of the party members successfully flees, the battle also ends. A character's performance in battle is determined by numerical values for categories such as speed, strength, and magical power. Character statistics are driven by experience—players are awarded "experience points" for winning battles, which accumulate until characters gain "experience levels". When characters "level up", the statistics for their attributes increase permanently, which can also be amplified by the types of equipment the character is wearing. Winning battles may reward the player money (Gil) and items. ### Equipment and abilities Each character brings one materia into the party when they join, carrying one spell that can be used in combat. Materia have a limited number of uses before they must be recharged at one of the game's magic shops. Like party members, materia gain experience when used, and can be leveled up to a maximum level of nine. Characters can swap materia among themselves, with unequipped materia being used mid-battle for such things as healing party members, compensating for the limited amount of healing items. Weapons follow the same principle as materia in terms of attack power, gaining experience and levelling up. Unlike materia, they cannot be swapped or replaced, and have unlimited usage. In addition to weapons, each has four types of armor that can be equipped for defense, which can be purchased at armor shops or found in chests scattered throughout the game. Armor directly affects the vitality statistic, which will in turn affect the amount of health gained when leveling up. Also available in the game are curative items, which can be purchased at designated shops or found in chests. These items can be used in or out of combat to restore health (HP), materia usage (CP), or revive fallen party members. ## Development Final Fantasy VII was developed by SquareSoft and released worldwide in 1997 on PlayStation. At an unknown date, Shenzhen Nanjing Technology developed an unauthorized NES demake of the game. It was released in 2005, and both the box and manual make reference to Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children as the game's full title, a statement supported by the game's manual. Despite the name on the box and cartridge, the title screen simply states "Final Fantasy VII", and the game itself includes no content or plot elements from the film. The game was released on Subor, a Famicom clone series, though it can also be played on Famicom and NES consoles through the use of an adapter. Due to the Famicom's restricted hardware capabilities, the remake is in 2D computer graphics. Special compensation was made for some of the in-battle sprites such as Cloud Strife's, combining two 16x24 pixel sprites side by side instead of the usual single sprite to account for weapons such as Cloud's sword or Barret's gun. While most Japanese games use only 8x8-pixel hiragana or katakana fonts, and most Chinese games use 4-color 16x16-pixel tiles stored in dedicated CHR ROM pages, this game uses its own several-hundred 16x16-pixel monochrome font instead. The script itself is strewn in chunks across the code; at the beginning of each piece of text for dialog boxes is a three digit number preceded by an @-symbol, signifying which character portrait to display. The cartridge's circuit board layout is unique compared to most Famicom games, using a single two megabyte PRG (program) ROM chips. A RAM chip is used instead of a ROM for the character graphics data, similar to the "UNROM" method used in some Nintendo games. As a result, the data is strewn across the PRG ROM in various banks. The cartridge features one 8-kilobyte battery-backed RAM chip, used for the game's single save slot. Many of the game's graphics are borrowed from other games, mostly other Final Fantasy titles and including Super NES graphics converted to four-color palettes used by the Famicom's hardware. Much of the game's music is borrowed from other games as well, in many cases shortened significantly to a few repeating notes. ## Reception While the game has received praise for covering the entire story within the game, it has been described as extremely difficult, with an inconsistent battle rate and fights that take a long time to complete. Its limited healing options and slow growth rate for abilities and weapons compound this, with one reviewer recommending "play it — but cheat". Despite these issues, interest has been shown regarding the release of a patch to translate the game into English. Final Fantasy VII has additionally gained mention on several major gaming websites, including Gameworld Network, and Japan-based Gpara.com. Another project, which aims to overhaul the game and improve upon the gameplay and graphics to better resemble the original PlayStation version, was released in 2013 by members of the Romhacking.net community. The patch, which took four years to develop, first started off as a graphics hack, but has since evolved into an extensive revamp. The game has received praise from various sources. Journalist Derrick Sobodash stated that while the game would not be an entirely new experience for those that played the original Final Fantasy VII, he added that "...this title can hold its own against the other NES Final Fantasy games", further calling the effort "surprisingly professional". Kotaku editor Luke Plunkett cited the Famicom game as "...an achievement I have no hesitation in labeling Herculean", further calling it "...a triumph of the human spirit". Boing Boing Gadgets and Wired News writer Joel Johnson described the game as "more than just a knock-off — it's an act of true skill and commitment by an unknown team of Chinese coders". GamePro named it one of the thirteen best fan-made video game remakes, placing first on their list and described as "the video game equivalent of the Human Genome Project", despite its flaws.

Alfred Verdross

Austrian lawyer and judge (1890–1980)

Alfred Verdross or Verdroß or Verdroß-Droßberg (until 1919, Edler von Droßberg; 22 February 1890 – 24 April 1980) was an Austrian international lawyer and judge at the European Court of Human Rights. After having served as an Austrian foreign ministry official, he became professor of public international law, private international law and philosophy of law at the University of Vienna. He was a pan-German nationalist and an early sympathizer with Nazism, but did not join the Nazi party. Following the German occupation of Austria, he was suspended from his teaching assignments, but from mid-1939 onwards he was allowed to resume the teaching of international law. After the end of World War II he continued his academic career in Vienna and became, among other things, member of the International Law Commission, member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration, president of the Institut de Droit International and, from 1959 to 1977, judge at the European Court of Human Rights. Together with Hans Kelsen, Adolf Merkl [de; pt] and Josef L. Kunz, he was one the main exponents of the Vienna school of legal theory. He was an early proponent and chief theorist of the ius cogens doctrine and of the monist theory of the relationship between international and national law, and is considered one of the most influential international lawyers of the 20th century. ## Life ### Early years Alfred Verdross was born on 22 February 1890 in Innsbruck as the son of the then lieutenant and later general of the Austro-Hungarian army, Ignaz Verdroß von Droßberg [de; it]. He attended school in Rovereto and Brixen and then studied law at the universities of Vienna, Munich (with Franz Brentano) and Lausanne. In 1913 he was awarded a doctorate at the University of Vienna. As a student in Vienna he met Hans Kelsen, whose private seminars he attended during World War I. In 1916, Verdross passed the judges' examination and subsequently entered military service as first lieutenant auditor (Oberleutnantauditor) at the Supreme Military Court (Oberster Militärgerichtshof) in Vienna. Before the end of the war, on 15 January 1918 Verdross left the military service and was assigned to the legal services of the Imperial and Royal Foreign Ministry. After the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy he became secretary to the Austrian Legation in Berlin. In this capacity, he was among the experts who in December 1918 contributed to the parliamentary debates leading up to the drafting of the Weimar Constitution, and in 1919 an essay of his succeeded in persuading the parliamentary Constitutional commission to redraft the constitutional provision on international law. In December 1920 he returned to Vienna, where he was employed in the International Law Department of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs until 1924, and from 1923 also as a professor at the Consular Academy. He habilitated at the University of Vienna in 1921. In 1924 was appointed associate professor (außerordentlicher Professor) of philosophy of law and in 1925 full professor of public international law, private international law and philosophy of law at the University of Vienna, where he served as a member of the Law Faculty until his retirement in 1961. After 1924 Verdross became director and coeditor of the Zeitschrift für öffentliches Recht [de] ("Journal of Public Law"), a public law journal founded upon the initiative of Kelsen, who also worked as an editor. In 1927 he was elected a correspondent member of the Institute for International Law in Kiel and in 1928, an associate of the Institut de droit international. In 1927 he gave his first Hague Lectures, followed by his general course in 1929 and two monographic courses in 1931 and 1935; in 1931 he became a member of the Curatorium of the Hague Academy of International Law. In 1926–1929, he was appointed substitute member of the Austrian Constitutional Court, in 1928, and in 1931–1933 Dean of the Vienna Faculty of Law. Austria moved decisively toward an autocratic fascist state when Chancellor Dollfuss began ruling by decree after the self- elimination of parliament in 1933. Verdross was offered a position as Minister of Justice, but refused, although he was personally not hostile to the values of Austrofascism. Together with the law school deans of Graz and Innsbruck, he even lodged a formal protest against the breach of the constitution by the new authoritarian government. He agreed to join Dolfuss's Austrian nationalist party, the Fatherland Front, only on the condition that he would not renounce "the ultimate goal of the unification of all Germans", i.e., his pan-Germanist ideals. In 1935 he was appointed as an extraordinary member of the Federal Supreme Court [de] and in 1937 he was elected as Corresponding Member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. In the same year, he founded the Austrian branch of the London-based anti-war organisation The New Commonwealth, which advocated for the establishment of a world court to adjudicate international disputes and an international police force to enforce its decisions. ### Relationship with Nazism Verdross was a Catholic conservative whose political views during the interwar years have been described as attachment to the values of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and hostility to the people's right of self-determination, hope for a "Christian-occidental Europe" in the tradition of the Holy Roman Empire, and endorsement of pan-Germanist nationalism under the influence of Othmar Spann's communitarianism and Austrofascism. The exact extent of Verdross's sympathy for Nazism remains debated, and his relationship with the fascist government is a matter of controversy. He was an early sympathiser with Nazism and was active in DNSAP circles even after the party was outlawed in 1933. He was popular among German nationalist and Nazi students and often intervened on their behalf, but on one occasion he also protected Jewish and democratic students from a Nazi attack at the university. In 1933–1934 his assistant at the Consular Academy was Friedrich August Freiherr von der Heydte, at the time an SA member, whom he had recommended to Kelsen in Cologne. In 1934, his personal friendship with Kelsen came to an end when Kelsen was forced by the editorial board of the Zeitschrift für öffentliches Recht to resign as editor on the grounds that he was Jewish. In his successful 1937 textbook on international law, Verdross attempted to bring Nazism and Catholic-inspired universalism closer together. The book calls Mussolini a defender of Christian values, characterises the Nazist doctrine of international law as "anti-imperalist and federalist", and contains significant traces of a völkisch approach to legal studies and international politics. Verdross showed no qualms about contact with Nazism, but never joined the Nazi party either before or after the annexation of Austria into the German Reich in 1938. After the annexation he was temporarily suspended from his teaching assignments in the summer of 1938, but accommodated to political pressure and, from 1939, thanks to the support of the Nazi rector of the university, the legal historian Ernst Schönbauer [de], and the intervention of General Jodl, he was allowed to resume the teaching of international law, after adapting the content of his lectures to the demands of the new rulers. He was never allowed to resume the teaching of philosophy of law, probably because his natural law theory based on Christian values was deemed incompatible with the ideology of the regime. He managed to come to terms with the Nazi government and in 1942 was appointed alternate judge at the German Prize Court of Appeals (Oberprisenhof) and director of the Institute of Legal Sciences at the university of Vienna. ### Post-war After the end of World War II, Verdross continued his career without undergoing the denazification process. He regained his academic position in 1945. He served as the Dean of the Faculty of Law in 1946–1947 and again in 1958–1959, was nominated as a full professor in 1947, and was the Rector of the University of Vienna from 1951–1952. In 1950, he was elected a member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and of the Institut de Droit International (from 1977, honorary member). In 1956, he was appointed by the United Nations General Assembly as the first Austrian member of the International Law Commission – a body of experts mainly concerned with the codification of international law – where he served from 1957 to 1966. From 1958 to 1977 he also served as a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration of The Hague and from 1959 to 1961 as president of the Institut de droit international. In 1957, he declined a nomination as a joint candidate for the Federal Presidency of the Austrian People's Party and the Austrian Freedom Party against the later victorious Adolf Schärf. In 1959, Verdross became a judge of the newly created European Court of Human Rights, where he sat for two terms until 1977. In 1961, he was President of the Vienna Conference on Diplomatic Relations. Until 1977, he was also a member of the Curatorium of the Hague Academy of International Law, where he taught at least five courses. His textbook Völkerrecht ("International law"), which first appeared in 1937, soon became the leading treatise on international law in the German language, translated into both Spanish and Russian. Verdross came to be regarded as one of the most authoritative international lawyers of the 20th century, not least because of the resurgence of natural law theory in post-war Austria and Germany: Verdross became one of the most celebrated protagonists in this revival. Verdross died on 27 April 1980 in Innsbruck, the city where he was born. ## Doctrine Alongside Adolf Merkl [de; pt] and Josef Laurenz Kunz, Verdross was one of Hans Kelsen's most important pupils and a leading exponent of the Vienna school of legal theory. Many of his contributions to the study of international law are based on Kelsen's theory of law and the state, which Verdross largely embraced, including the idea of the unity of law, the hierarchical structure of the legal system (so-called Stufenbau [de]) and the concept of basic norm (Grundnorm). Thus, as early as 1921, Verdross followed Kelsen's lead and abandoned his initial "monism with primacy of state law", according to which international and national law constitute a single legal system in which national law enjoys supremacy. He also rejected the prevailing theory of the time, Triepel's "dualism", according to which international and national law constitute two separate legal systems, based on different grounds of validity and addressed to different subjects. Instead, in line with the revival of the universalist approach to international law initiated by the Dutch scholar Hugo Krabbe and continued by Kelsen, Verdross subscribed to "monism with primacy of international law", a position he already expounded in his 1923 book Die Einheit des rechtlichen Weltbildes ("The Unity of the Legal World-View"). From that universalist perspective, international and national law are parts of a single, unitary legal system, largely effective and endowed with the power of coercion; within that common frame, international law prevails over national law and determines the scope of legitimate state action. Anticipating Kelsen, who later accepted Verdross's views in his Pure Theory of Law, Verdross admitted that in case of conflict between international law and national law the latter is not per se null and void, but remains valid until it is formally repealed or amended to make it compatible with international law: national law retains a temporary, provisional, validity (so-called "moderate monism"). These conclusions were largely based on the rejection, shared by Verdross and Kelsen, of the dogma of absolute state sovereignty and voluntarist legal positivism: sovereignty is no longer the "supreme power" but only a competence conferred on the state directly by international law; international law is not founded on the consent of states and therefore states can in principle be bound by rules to which they have not agreed. In Verdross' work, the "fight against voluntarist legal positivism" was the premise for further doctrinal developments, including the possibility of recognising as sources of international law, alongside the law of treaties and customary law, also the "general principles of law recognized by civilised nations". In a 1931 essay, Verdross explained that these fundamental principles originate from the legal consciousness of all modern civilised nations and are binding also upon states which have not consented to them. In a 1937 essay on "Forbidden Treaties" he argued that these principles forbid the conclusion of treaties contra bonos mores, that is, offensive to the conscience and sense of justice. In so doing, he became the chief theorist of the ius cogens doctrine that prevails today and that found its final breakthrough in the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties: he contended that all rules of general international law created for humanitarian purposes qualify as ius cogens, and that neither international treaties nor customary international law can override these fundamental principles upon which the international legal order is built. Verdross's work also had a strong influence on later theorization about the "constitutionalisation of international law". Verdross also distanced himself from essential parts of Kelsen's theory. As early as 1923, he rejected Kelsen's moral relativism, turned away from of his mentor's neo-Kantianism and legal positivism, and fully embraced objective idealism, the Aristotelian-Thomistic tradition of natural law, and the Wertphilosophie of Franz Brentano, Max Scheler and Nicolai Hartmann. The School of Salamanca in particular is said to be "so influential on Verdross that he virtually adopted it as the Leitmotiv of his entire international legal thinking". Consequently, Verdross radically modified the Kelsenian theory of the basic norm. For Kelsen, the basic norm is simply "presupposed" by legal science, rather than created by some human or divine authority, and is "formal" because it can found the validity of any legal system, irrespective of the content of its norms. In contrast, Verdross's basic norm is neither presupposed nor formal: it is rooted in the objective realm of values and is both legal and moral. He believes that the social nature of human communities gives rise to objective values, and can therefore ascribe to the basic norm a substantive normative content, that of the fundamental principles of law, such as the safeguarding of human freedom, dignity and basic standards of inviolability. According to Martti Koskenniemi, in filling the basic norm with natural law principles, "Verdross used the pure theory so as to turn what Kelsen saw as political choice into an article of faith in fundamental values. This was the language of Austrian Catholicism that did little to prevent the country’s descent into Nazism". From the mid-1930s onwards, the gulf between Kelsen and his former pupil Verdross widened, as the latter took up some of the ethno-nationalist themes then in vogue and began to argue that the Volkstum constitutes "the highest natural form of humanity" and that "every person can attain the development of his natural talents only within the Volksgemeinschaft", thus moving away from Kelsen's and his school's rejection of nationalism. ### Legacy Verdross is regarded as the founder and leading exponent of the Viennese School of international law and legal philosophy based on natural law theory. According to his disciple Bruno Simma, "[w]ithin the German-speaking countries, Alfred Verdross shaped international legal thinking in a way unparalleled in the past"; in the Austrian community of international law scholars, "everybody was exposed to and, to a greater or lesser degree, influenced by the teachings of the Viennese master". Verdross's disciples include Stephan Verosta [de] (1909–1998), who was his assistant in the 1930s and succeeded him in the chair of International Law and Legal Philosophy in 1962; Ignaz Seidl-Hohenveldern [de] (1918–2001), who was Verdross's assistant immediately after World War II and became professor of International Law at the universities of Saarland, Cologne and lastly Vienna; Karl Zemanek [de] (born 1929), who became professor at the university of Vienna and also worked as a legal advisor at the Austrian Foreign Ministry; Herbert Miehsler [de] (1934–1986), who became professor at the universities of Karl-Franzens University of Graz and Paris Lodron University of Salzburg; and Bruno Simma (born in 1941), who met Verdross in 1967, when he was already emeritus, and became professor at the University of Michigan Law School and at the University of Munich, and served as a judge on the International Court of Justice. Alongside his academic capacity, Verdross contributed to the development of international law as a judge at the European Court of Human Rights in the early stages of this new system of international rights protection, and as a member of the International Law Commission. Thanks to his long membership of the International Law Commission, he was in a position to contribute his ideas to the international codification process. ## Awards - Honorary doctorates of the universities of Paris, Salamanca, Frankfurt, Thessaloniki. - Doctor theologiae honoris causa at the University of Vienna. - Doctor philosophiae honoris causa at the University of Salzburg (1967). - Member (since 1928) of the Institut de droit international; Honorary member (from 1977); President from 1959 to 1961. - Full member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (from 1950). - Honorary member of the American Society of International Law (1953). - Grand Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria in Silver (1954). - Knight Commander of the Pontifical Order of St. Gregory the Great (1958). - Austrian Decoration of Honour for Science and Art (1959). - Honorary senator of the University of Vienna (1960). - Ring of Honour of the City of Vienna (1960). - Prize of the City of Vienna for the Humanities (1967). - Nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize (1969, 1970). - Foreign Member of the Italian Accademia dei Lincei (1970). - Kardinal Innitzer Prize, Archdiocese of Vienna (1974). - Feltrinelli Prize, Accademia dei Lincei (1975). - Spanish Grand Cross of the Civil Order of Alfonso X, the Wise. (1977) - Grand Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria in Gold with Star (1980). - Dedication in his name of one of the "Gates of Remembrance" at the campus of the University of Vienna and memorial plaque (1998). ## Publications (selected) ### Books - Die Einheit des rechtlichen Weltbildes auf Grundlage der Völkerrechtsverfassung (Tübingen, Mohr 1923) - Die Verfassung der Völkerrechtsgemeischaft (Wien, Springer 1926) - Völkerrecht (Berlin, Springer, 1937 read online; 5th ed. 1964, with Stephan Verosta and Karl Zemanek) - Die immerwährende Neutralität der Republik Österreich (Wien, Österreichischer Bundesverlag, 1958; 3rd ed. 1967) - Abendländische Rechtsphilosophie. Ihre Grundlagen und Hauptprobleme in geschichtlicher Schau (Wien, Springer, 1958; 2nd ed. 1963) - Die Quellen des Universellen Völkerrechts. Eine Einführung (Freiburg, Rombach, 1973) - (with Bruno Simma) Universelles Völkerrechts. Theorie und Praxis (Berlin, Duncker & Humblot, 1976; 3rd ed. 1984) - Österreichs immerwährende Neutralität (Wien, Verlag f. Politik u. Geschichte, 1978; also in English and French). - Alfred Verdross: Gesammelte Schriften, edited by Franz Köck and Herbert Schambeck (Wien, Verlag Österreich, 2019) ### Courses - "Le fondement du droit international" (1927-I) 16 Recueil des cours de l'Académie de droit international, pp. 247–323. read online - "Règles générales du droit international de la paix" (1929-V) 30 Recueil des cours de l'Académie de droit international, pp. 271–518. read online - "Les règles internationales concernant le traitement des étrangers" (1931-III) 37 Recueil des cours de l'Académie de droit international, pp. 323–412. read online - "Les principes généraux du droit dans la jurisprudence internationale" (1935-II) 52 Recueil des cours de l'Académie de droit international, pp. 191–251. read online - "Idées directrices de l'Organisation des Nations Unies" (1953) 83 Recueil des cours de l'Académie de droit international, pp. 1–78. ### Essays - "Das Problem des freien Ermessens und die Freirechtsbewegung", Österreichische Zeitschrift für öffentliches Recht, 1. Jahrgang, Wien 1914, pp. 616–644. read online - "L'excès de pouvoir du juge arbitral dans le droit international public", Revue de droit international et de législation comparée, 1928, pp. 225–242. read online - "Les principes généraux du droit et le droit des gens", Revue de droit international, 1934, pp. 484. read online - "L'idée du droit des gens dans la philosophie de Platon à Hegel", Mélanges offerts à Ernest Mahaim, vol. II, 1935, p. 383. - "Forbidden Treaties in International Law", American Journal of International Law, 1937, pp. 571–577. read online - "General International Law and The United Nations Charter", International Affairs, 1954, pp. 342–348. read online - "Jus Dispositivum and Jus Cogens in International Law", American Journal of International Law, 1966, pp. 55–63. read online - "Le principe de la non intervention dans les affaires relevant de la compétence nationale d'un Etat et l'article 2 (7) de la Charte des Nations Unies", in La Communauté internationale. Mélanges offerts à Charles Rousseau, Paris, Pedone, 1974, pp. 267–276. read online - "La dignité de la personne humaine comme base des droits de l’homme", Österreichische Zeitschrift für öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht, 1980, vol. 31, pp. 271–277. ### Festschriften - F. A. von der Heydte et al. (eds.), Völkerrecht und rechtliches Weltbild. Festschrift für Alfred Verdross (Vienna: Springer, 1960). - R. Marcic et al. (eds.), Internationale Festschrift für Alfred Verdross zum 80. Geburtstag (München-Salzburg: Wilhelm Fink Verlag, 1971) - H. Miehsler et al. (eds.), Ius Humanitatis. Festschrift zum 90. Geburtstag von Alfred Verdross (Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 1980) . ## See also - Hans Kelsen - Hugo Krabbe - Monism and dualism in international law - Neo-scholasticism - Axiological ethics - Pan-Germanism - Peremptory norm - School of Salamanca - Othmar Spann - Friedrich August Freiherr von der Heydte

The Immaculate Collection

1990 greatest hits album by Madonna

The Immaculate Collection is the first greatest hits album by American singer Madonna, released on November 13, 1990, by Sire Records. It contains fifteen of her hit singles recorded throughout the 1980s, as well as two brand new tracks, "Justify My Love" and "Rescue Me". All the previously released material were reworked through the QSound audio technology, becoming the first ever album to use it. Meanwhile, the new material saw Madonna working with Lenny Kravitz and Shep Pettibone. The album's title is a pun on the Immaculate Conception, a Marian dogma of the Catholic Church. The release of the album was accompanied by a same-titled home video release, an EP titled The Holiday Collection, and a box set titled The Royal Box. "Justify My Love" was released as the lead single from the album, with a controversial music video featuring overtly sexual imagery. After being banned by MTV, the video was released on VHS and became the best-selling video single of all time. It also became Madonna's ninth number-one single on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. The second single, "Rescue Me", had the highest debut on the chart since the Beatles' "Let It Be" (1970) and peaked at number nine. The Immaculate Collection received universal acclaim from critics, who deemed it a defining retrospective of 1980s music. The album reached number two on the US Billboard 200 chart, while topping the charts in Argentina, Australia, Canada, Finland, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. Earning elevenfold platinum from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), it became Madonna's second diamond-certified album in the United States. The Immaculate Collection has sold over 30 million copies worldwide, making it the best-selling compilation album by a solo artist ever and one of the best-selling albums of all time. It has been featured on all-time critic lists by several publications, including Blender which named it the greatest American album of all time. ## Background and development By the end of the 1980s, Madonna had become the biggest female singles artist in history, with the most number-one and top-ten hit songs by a woman in both the United States and the United Kingdom. J. Randy Taraborrelli, author of Madonna: An Intimate Biography, noted that a Madonna's greatest hits album was ready by that point, serving as "a proud landmark" of her career which had progressed upwards since she entered the music scene in 1982. Following the completion of the 1990 Blond Ambition World Tour, Madonna began preparing the project aimed to be released in time for the year's Christmas season. On October 13, 1990, Billboard magazine confirmed that Madonna had been working on new material for the album with Shep Pettibone and Lenny Kravitz. The Immaculate Collection contains fifteen previously released Madonna singles in chronological order, from "Holiday" (1983) to "Vogue" (1990). All of them were reworked using QSound by Pettibone, alongside Goh Hotoda and Michael Hutchinson within a month and a half. It became the first album to use QSound, which then was a new technology that gives recordings three-dimensional sound on standard stereo systems. Tracks have been edited down from their original lengths to decrease the overall running time. Minor alterations and additions have been applied to every track; for example, "Material Girl" has a new outro in place of the original fade-out. Pettibone also remixed "Into the Groove", "Like a Prayer", and "Express Yourself", featuring different music productions from their original album versions. Pettibone later commented: > Well, actually some of the songs we changed up a bit, but most of the songs we kept in their original form. Like "Holiday", "Lucky Star", et cetera, et cetera, those were all the original productions. The remix was just really to create the QSound, and make the song kind of envelop you when you listened to it in a certain sweet spot in front of the speakers [...] That wasn't easy to do. But then again, that was one of those—you know, "Hurry up, this has to be out last week". That was a rush rush job. Two new songs, "Justify My Love" and "Rescue Me", were included on the album in order to generate public interest. "Justify My Love" is a trip hop song, featuring Madonna's spoken word vocals over a "grinding, sparse" hip hop groove. It was first written as a love letter by Ingrid Chavez, who was having an affair with Kravitz at the time. He invited her over a studio to record the letter and later took a master copy of the song to Virgin Records after the end of their relationship. Months later, Kravitz told Chavez that the song would be released by Madonna and he asked her to sign a document saying that Chavez would receive 12.5% publishing royalties, but no writing credit. She signed the paper, and was then invited to meet Madonna in the studio while they mixed the track. However, Chavez later sued Kravitz in 1992 and reached an out-of-court settlement whereby she received a co-writing credit. The second new song, "Rescue Me", is a dance-pop and gospel-house track written and produced by Madonna and Pettibone. Lyrically, "Rescue Me" expresses the extinguishing of deranged behavior in a relationship and features spoken word verses, like on "Justify My Love". A Dolby Atmos mix of The Immaculate Collection was released in May 2023 via Apple Music. ## Packaging, release, and promotion The album was packaged in a gatefold sleeve which did not feature Madonna's image on the cover. Instead, a short haired, brunette Madonna was featured on the two inner sleeves along with lyrics for the two previously unreleased tracks. Photographer Herb Ritts shot the booklet's black-and-white images, which previously appeared on the June 1990 issue of Interview magazine. Madonna continued referencing Catholicism on The Immaculate Collection, dedicating the album to "The Pope, my divine inspiration" on its booklet. This led to many believing it was dedicated to Pope John Paul II, but it was actually dedicated to her brother, Christopher Ciccone, who had spent the year on tour with Madonna on the Blond Ambition World Tour and whose nickname is "The Pope". The album's title is a pun on the Immaculate Conception, a conception of the Virgin Mary without the stain of original sin. In The Everything Mary Book (2006), editors explained "the album's colors of blue and gold resonate with some of the colors used in the traditional images of Virgin Mary". The album was originally titled Ultra Madonna, but the plan was changed as it was too similar to the name of Ultra Naté, a then-new artist in Warner Bros. However, it was marketed in Japan with the title Ultra Madonna: Greatest Hits. The Immaculate Collection was released in the United States on November 13, 1990, by Sire Records. A same-titled home video was also released, containing 13 music videos, including the live performance of "Vogue" at the 1990 MTV Video Music Awards. A box set titled The Royal Box was issued on December 4, 1990, containing the album, VHS, a poster, and postcards. An extended play (EP) titled The Holiday Collection was also released in Europe with the same design as The Immaculate Collection. The full-length album version of "Holiday" was included on the EP, alongside three worldwide chart hits omitted from the album: "True Blue", "Who's That Girl", and "Causing a Commotion". The re-release of "Holiday" eventually went to number five in the UK Singles Chart. "Crazy for You", the 1985 single from Vision Quest, was another UK re-release at the time, reaching number two on the chart. "Justify My Love" was released as the album's lead single on November 6, 1990. It became her ninth number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and the top ten in many other countries. The black-and-white music video caused controversy for its sexually explicit imagery and was banned by MTV. Due to this prohibition, the music video was commercially released as a video single, and become the highest-selling in this format of all time. Liz Smith from Sarasota Herald-Tribune commented that the headlines and gossip would only hype more interest in the album. Prior to its release as a single, "Rescue Me" started receiving airplay in the radios as an album cut. "Rescue Me" entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart at number fifteen—thus becoming the highest-debuting single since the Beatles' "Let It Be" (1970)—and eventually peaked at number nine. The single also reached number three on the European Hot 100 Singles chart. ## Critical reception The Immaculate Collection received universal acclaim from music critics. AllMusic senior editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote that the album "remains a necessary purchase, because it captures everything Madonna is about and it proves that she was one of the finest singles artists of the '80s." However, he felt that "while all the hits are present, they're simply not in their correct versions" due to the QSound remastering and significant changes in several songs. Billboard commented that the album was "irresistible holiday buying fare", and praised the QSound process for adding "unheard detail and depth to the recordings". David Browne from Entertainment Weekly opined that the album was "as relentless as the woman herself", and "refocuses our attention on how brilliant her records have been over the years—and gives us a peek into the obstacles she might face as her career enters the '90s." Jim Farber of the same magazine stated: "More than a mere greatest-hits set, it's hands down the catchiest collection of '80s singles." Peter Buckley, author of the book The Rough Guide to Rock, wrote that the album "stakes Madonna's claim to be the best singles act of the 80s." Rolling Stone called the album the "standard bearer for Madonna compilations", summing up the first stage of Madonna's career "flawlessly" with an addition of "worthy sensual" new tracks. In a review for Music & Media, Pieter de Bruyn Kops complimented the album's new material as "brilliant" and said that "Madonna proves again she is the ruling Queen of Pop." Danny Eccleston from Q magazine said the album's "ambitious title" was justified by "magnificent content: 17-track best of enhanced by the hard-faced sexiness of Lenny Kravitz-aided Justify My Love (and Rescue Me)." Robert Christgau called it "the greatest album of [Madonna's] mortal life" featuring "seventeen hits, more than half of them indelible classics." Writing for Stereogum, Tom Breihan commented the compilation "is even more impressive when you think about what didn't make it onto the album." Ross Bennett from Mojo called the album "truly the best of best of's" and stated: "This has to be right up there with ABBA Gold as a collection of singles so deeply ingrained in the collective consciousness [...] But there is no denying the pop nous behind Ms Ciccone's first 15 years of hits, here brilliantly packaged in, gasp, chronological order." J.D. Considine from The Baltimore Sun considered it "no mere greatest hits" and commented, "Immaculate? Impeccable is more like it." Lucy O'Brien in her book Madonna: Like an Icon deemed the album a "seamless marriage of high-octane pop and dance", as well as "the ultimate party record". Select's Andrew Harrison wrote: "Given that she's had the good grace to leave out second-raters [...] it's hard to fault this wonderful collection. You might find better music this Christmas but you'll never hear better pop." Kevork Djansezian of Tulsa World commented that "if the controversy, the outrage, the boycotts, and the sexual revolution it created don't spark your interest, at least you can have a great time dancing and lip-synching to its acclaimed and definitely catchy pop tracks." Douglas Wolk from Pitchfork stated that the album is "the kind of perfect straight-into-orbit retrospective pop artists dream of achieving." ## Commercial performance The Immaculate Collection has sold over 30 million copies worldwide, making it the best-selling compilation album ever by a solo artist and one of the world's best-selling albums of all time. In Madonna's home country, the album entered the Billboard 200 chart at number 32 on the week of December 1, 1990. It jumped to number two on January 26, 1991, being blocked from the top spot for two weeks by Vanilla Ice's To the Extreme. Nevertheless, it became the highest-charting greatest hits album in a decade since Kenny Rogers's Greatest Hits (1980). After Billboard overturned the rule preventing older albums to chart on the Billboard 200 in November 2009, The Immaculate Collection has made multiple re-entries on the chart, with the latest being its 148th week on September 10, 2016. The album also spent 290 weeks on the Catalog Albums chart, with a peak of number six. The Immaculate Collection became Madonna's second album, after Like a Virgin (1984), to receive diamond award from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and was later certified eleven-time platinum denoting 11 million album-equivalent units. After the advent of the Nielsen SoundScan, the album has sold over 5,992,000 copies as of 2016. In Canada, The Immaculate Collection topped the RPM albums chart for six consecutive weeks. It earned seven-time platinum certification from the Music Canada (MC) for shipments of 700,000 copies. It became one of the all-time best-selling albums in Latin American countries such as Mexico and Brazil, with sales of over 800,000 and 500,000 copies, respectively. In Australia, the album debuted at number one on the albums chart, remaining at the top for five weeks and the top 50 for 95 weeks. It received twelve-time platinum certification from the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) and has sold over 880,000 copies as of January 2013, making it the best-selling female compilation album ever in Australia. In Japan, The Immaculate Collection charted for 26 weeks on the Oricon Albums Chart, with a peak of number five. The Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) certified it quadruple platinum for shipment of 800,000 copies. The Immaculate Collection debuted atop the UK Albums Chart on November 24, 1990. Madonna became the first female artist to achieve four number-one albums and the first female to have a Christmas number-one album in the United Kingdom. Occupying the top position for nine weeks, the album broke the record for the longest consecutive weeks at number one by a female artist, a feat that would not be matched for 20 years until the release of Adele's album 21 (2011). It became the seventh best-selling album of the decade with 2.5 million copies. The Immaculate Collection was certified thirteen-time platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). It remains the best-selling solo compilation album in British music history, with sales of 3.77 million as of July 2016. In France, the album reached number four on the chart and was certified diamond by the Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique (SNEP). The sales of the album stand at 1.1 million copies there. The Immaculate Collection peaked at number 10 in Germany and was certified triple gold by the Bundesverband Musikindustrie (BVMI), denoting 750,000 units shipped. Across Europe, the album reached number one in Finland and Ireland, while peaking at number three on the pancontinental European Top 100 Albums chart. ## Legacy Nick C Levine from Dazed magazine stated that The Immaculate Collection cemented Madonna's iconic status and "distilled her early career into one era-defining pop single after another." According to Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic, the album "captured the time when Madonna was the defining figure of American pop culture." Mike Wass from Idolator described the album as "a time capsule of the 1980s... [showing] the Queen of Pop's progression from bubblegum-pop diva to the risk-taking, rule-breaking icon she went on to become in the 1990s." James Rose from Daily Review retrospectively described The Immaculate Collection as "a story of women and pop music in the decade leading to 1990... pop music history, in itself a living timeline of an era." Writing for The Guardian, Lucy O'Brien recommended The Immaculate Collection for listeners who want to discover Madonna's back catalog since her 1980s hits "are brilliantly captured" on the album. The album has been featured on a number of all-time lists by music critics. The New York Times dubbed The Immaculate Collection as one of the definitive album releases of the century. Rockdelux also named it one of the greatest albums of the 20th century. In 2003, the album was ranked number 278 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". The latest update of the Rolling Stone list was published in September 2020, showing the album rising to number 138. Blender magazine placed the album at number one on their "100 Greatest American Albums of All Time" list, explaining: > Just as Bob Dylan's insurgent braininess embodied the boundary-stretching '60s, Madonna epitomized the '80s, from the coy consumerism of "Material Girl" to the stylish hedonism of "Vogue". She was a change-agent of Hollywood-blockbuster proportions, embodying womanhood's power while simultaneously upending musty notions of femininity... And, since this is above all expertly built, wonderfully sung music, the songcraft lets listeners ignore all of the above and just dance. [E]ach listen shows that Madonna's unerring musical instincts—let's go ahead and call it genius—were as formidable as her more famous ambition. Other retrospective assessments specifically praised the album as a greatest hits collection. Drew Mackie of People, called the album "the best-named greatest hits compilation ever" and "easily one of the best greatest hits albums ever." In 2022, it was included in the Rolling Stone Italia list of the 10 greatest hits albums that "made history". NME ranked it as the second-best greatest hits album of all time, claiming that "In her pomp, Madonna was the best pop star of her time." Selena Dieringer from Houston Press listed The Immaculate Collection among the "ten really fantastic Greatest Hits albums". Classic Pop named it the best compilation album of all time. The Daily Telegraph ranked it as Madonna's best album, calling it "a phenomenal collection". It was also included in Out's The 100 Greatest, Gayest Albums of All Time, addressing the influence of records for the gay community, with staff calling it "the definitive document of her stratospherically successful first decade". Queerty editors selected The Immaculate Collection among 20 most important albums to shape LGBTQ culture, calling it "a must for any gold star gay's record collection." ## Track listing Notes - Digital and Dolby Atmos releases of the album use the "New Mix" version of "Lucky Star" (7:15), and the album version of "Borderline" (5:17). - signifies additional lyrics by ## Personnel Personnel credits adapted from the liner notes of The Immaculate Collection. - Madonna – vocals, background vocals - Lenny Kravitz – background vocals - Dian Sorel – background vocals - Catherine Russell – background vocals - Lillias White – background vocals - Henry Hirsch – recording - David Domanich – recording - Andy Cardenas – recording - Josh Cuervokas – recording - P. Dennis Mitchell – recording engineer - Curt Frasca – assistant engineer - Lolly Grodner – assistant engineer - John Partham – assistant engineer - Peter Schwartz – keyboards, programming - Joe Moskowitz – additional programming - Rob Mounsey – arranger - Shep Pettibone – mixing, album coordinator - Goh Hotoda – mixing - Michael Hutchinson – mixing - Ted Jensen – mastering - Jane Brinton – album coordinator - Freddy DeMann – management - Herb Ritts – photography - Jeri Heiden – art direction, design - John Heiden – design - Andre Guedes – digital booklet - Gene Sculatti – liner notes - Mike Dean – mixing (2023 Dolby Atmos mix) ## Charts ### Weekly charts ### Monthly charts ### Year-end charts ### Decade-end charts ## Certifications and sales ## See also - List of best-selling albums in Argentina - List of best-selling albums in Australia - List of best-selling albums in Brazil - List of best-selling albums in France - List of best-selling albums in Mexico - List of best-selling albums in the United Kingdom - List of best-selling albums in the United States - List of Canadian number-one albums of 1991 - List of UK Albums Chart number ones of the 1990s - List of number-one albums in Australia during the 1990s

Re-education through labor

System of administrative detention in Mainland China

Re-education through labor (RTL; simplified Chinese: 劳动教养; traditional Chinese: 勞動教養; pinyin: láodòng jiàoyǎng), abbreviated laojiao (simplified Chinese: 劳教; traditional Chinese: 勞教; pinyin: láojiào) was a system of administrative detention on mainland China. Active from 1957 to 2013, the system was used to detain persons who were accused of committing minor crimes such as petty theft, prostitution, and trafficking of illegal drugs, as well as political dissidents, petitioners, and Falun Gong followers. It was separated from the much larger laogai system of prison labor camps. Sentences under re-education through labor were typically for one to three years, with the possibility of an additional one-year extension. They were issued as a form of administrative punishment by police, rather than the judicial system. While they were incarcerated, detainees were frequently subjected to a form of political education. Estimates of the number of RTL detainees on any given year range from 190,000 to two million. In 2013, approximately 350 RTL camps were in operation. On 28 December 2013, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress abolished the re-education through labor system and detainees were released. However, human rights groups have claimed that other forms of extrajudicial detention have taken its place, with some former RTL camps being renamed drug rehabilitation centers. In 2014, re-education facilities were constructed in Xinjiang and they were used to target a wider context than people who were accused of committing minor crimes and political dissidence. By 2017, these had become the massive Xinjiang internment camps holding 1–3 million people, utilizing forced labor, and now recognized as re-education camps by many nations, intergovernmental organizations such as the UN and EU, and human rights groups.By October 2019, “students” held in these camps or “vocational education and training centers” were all released and these camps were closed. ## Re-education through labor and the Chinese penal system The People's Republic of China employs several forms of correction for people who have been arrested, of which re-education through labor was one. The Laogai Research Foundation classifies re-education through labor as a sub-component under the umbrella of the laogai ("reform through labor") criminal justice system, which generally refers to prisons, prison farms, and labor camps for convicted criminals. Re-education through labor, on the other hand, refers to detentions for persons who are not considered criminals or have only committed minor offenses. Persons detained under re-education through labor were detained in facilities which are separate from the general prison system; furthermore, detainees in these re-education facilities receive a small salary, which laogai detainees do not, and in theory have shorter work hours. The laogai system is much larger than the re-education through labor system, with the Laogai Research Foundation identifying 1,045 laogai camps in 2006 (compared to 346 re-education centers). Both systems, however, involve penal labor and often do not allow trials or judicial hearings. The term "reform through labor" or laogai was officially replaced with "prison" in 1994, and the term "re-education center" or láojiàosuǒ (劳教所) was replaced with "correctional center" in 2007. Other components of the prison system include detention centers for individuals awaiting sentence or execution, and juvenile detention camps for individuals under a minimum age (which has varied through the years, and may currently be under 14). The system formerly included components such as custody and repatriation for individuals without a residence permit; "forced job placement," which has not been widely practiced since the 1990s; and "shelter and investigation," a system of detentions for individuals under legal investigation, which was abolished in 1996. The Laogai Research Foundation also classifies psychiatric facilities, or ankang, as a form of detention for political dissidents, although it is not officially recognized as part of the laogai penal system. ## History Institutions similar to re-education through labor facilities, but called "new life schools" or "loafers' camps", existed in the early 1950s, although they did not become official until the anti-rightist campaigns in 1957 and 1958. A report by Human Rights in China (HRIC) states that re-education through labor was first used by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1955 to punish counter-revolutionaries, and in 1957 was officially adopted into law to be implemented by the Ministry of Public Security. The law allowed police to sentence both minor offenders and "counter-revolutionaries" or "anti-socialist elements" to incarceration in labor camps without the right to a judicial hearing or trial, and did not allow judicial review to take place until after the punishment was being enforced. In the beginning there were no limits to the length for which detainees could be sentenced, and it was not until 1979 that a maximum sentence of four years (three years' sentence plus one-year extension) was set. In 1983, the management and implementation of the re-education through labor system was passed from the Ministry of Public Security to the Ministry of Justice. When Falun Gong was banned in mainland China in 1999, re-education through labor became a common punishment for practitioners. Some human rights groups claim that as many as 10,000 Falun Gong members were detained in between 1999 and 2002, with as many as 5,000 detained in 2001. `More recent estimates suggest that hundreds of thousands of Falun Gong adherents are imprisoned in China, with some sources estimating up to half of the official reeducation through labor camp population is Falun Gong practitioners. In some labor camps, Falun Gong practitioners make up the majority population.` There have been numerous calls for the system to be reformed or replaced. As early as 1997, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) called for China to allow judicial control over detentions; in 2000, the UN Committee Against Torture recommended that all forms of administrative detention, including re-education through labor, be abolished; in 2004, the WGAD called for the establishment of rights to due process and counsel for individuals detained; and in 2005, the Special Rapporteur on Torture called for the outright abolition of re-education through labor. The prominent deaths of two inmates in spring 2003 prompted many calls within China for reform of the system, but reform did not happen immediately, though The China Daily reported that there was "general consensus" that reform was needed. In March 2007, however, the Chinese government did announce that it would abolish the re-education through labor system and replace it with a more lenient set of laws. According to the proposal, the maximum sentence would be lowered from four years to 18 months; re-education centers would be renamed "correction centers" and have their fences and gates removed. A month later, Chongqing municipality passed a law allowing lawyers to offer legal counsel in re-education through labor cases. Many human rights groups, however, doubted the efficacy of the proposed reforms, saying that the new laws would only help minor criminals and not help political prisoners, and the reforms would not actually abolish the re-education through labor system. The Laogai Research Foundation stated that lowering the maximum length of detention and changing the names of the detention facilities would not constitute a "fundamental change". Nine months after the declaration that the laws would be rewritten, the re-education through labor system had not been abolished; in December 2007, a group of academics drafted an open letter to the government calling for an end to the system. During the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, there were reports that some individuals who applied for permits to protest were detained without trial; of these, some were sentenced to re-education through labor. In the United Nations Human Rights Council's September 2008 Universal Periodic Review of the People's Republic of China, re-education through labor was listed as an "urgent human rights concern," and as of February 2009, a large number of re-education through labor camps were still in operation. ### Statistics Reports on re-education through labor have found it difficult to estimate the number of people in re-education centers, and nationwide statistics were often unavailable in the past. What data have become available often vary widely. Of these detainees, 5 to 10 percent are estimated to be political prisoners, and as many as 40 percent are estimated to be drug offenders—in 1998, nearly one-third of the known re-education camps were specifically built for the purpose of holding drug offenders. The China Daily estimated that there were a total of 310 re-education centers in China in 2007. The 2008 edition of the Laogai Research Foundation's biennial report listed exactly 319 "confirmed" re-education centers in China, and 74 "unconfirmed" ones, but it also estimated that the actual number of such centers might be much higher. the provinces with the most centers being Guangdong (31), Heilongjiang (21), and Henan (21). In a February 2009 meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Council, the Chinese government stated that there are 320 centers. The provinces with the largest numbers of re-education centers include Guangdong, Liaoning, Heilongjiang, and Henan. At the end of 2008, there were 350 labor camps and 160,000 prisoners were being held in them. ## Detentions ### Conviction and detention Sentencing for re-education through labor is generally carried out by the police rather than by the judicial system, so individuals are rarely charged or tried before being detained. Public security bureaus (police offices) are able to carry out administrative detentions for "minor" infringements that are not considered criminal acts; at least one analyst has suggested that local public security bureaus often abuse their authority and detain individuals for things such as personal vendettas. Individuals may also be sentenced to re-education through labor by courts, but the proportion of individuals who receive trials rather than going directly into administrative detention is determined in part by how much capacity that province has for re-education detainees—provinces with large re-education through labor apparatus generally allow fewer detainees to have trials. Where detainees have been allowed a trial, their lawyers have faced "intimidation and abuse," according to some reports, and the individuals under trial have sometimes been convicted on the basis of confessions that were coerced through "torture and severe psychological pressure." In at least one instance, convicted individuals were sent to re-education through labor even after being found not guilty in a trial. Most detainees in re-education through labor facilities are reported to be drug users, petty criminals, and prostitutes, as well as some political prisoners; James Seymour has also claimed that most individuals sentenced to re-education through labor are from urban areas. Individuals who attempt to leave the country illegally have also been sentenced to re-education through labor upon their return. In periods leading up to visits from foreign dignitaries or politically sensitive anniversaries (such as the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989), local authorities have supposedly detained "undesirables" such as the homeless, mentally or physically disabled individuals, and migrant workers. One China specialist at the RAND Corporation has claimed that the police, faced with a lack of "modern rehabilitation and treatment programs," use re-education through labor convictions to "warehouse" individuals for "an increasing number of social problems." Detainees can seek to have their detention repealed through an "administrative review" (xingzheng fuyi, 行政复议) of the decision or by filing an "administrative litigation" (xingzheng susong 行政诉讼) against the Re-education Through Labor Management Committee that detained them. According to the advocacy group Chinese Human Rights Defenders, however, these options are ineffective and the groups overseeing the reviews and litigations often have the same interests as the management committee that originally ordered the detention. ### Conditions in the facilities The United States Department of State called the conditions in prisons "harsh and frequently degrading," and said the conditions in re-education through labor facilities were similar, citing overcrowded living spaces, low-quality food, and poor or absent medical care. Detainees in camps are required to work for little or no pay; while Chinese law requires that prison laborers' workday be limited to 12 hours a day. In 2001, sociologist Dean Rojek estimated that detainees generally worked six days a week, "in total silence." Much of the labor done by re-education through labor detainees is geared towards agriculture or producing goods, many of which are sold internationally, since re-education through labor detainees are not counted as official "prisoners" and therefore not subject to international treaties. They also perform work ranging "from tending vegetables and emptying septic pits to cutting stone blocks and construction work." Although drug abusers are ostensibly placed in re-education through labor to be treated for their addictions, some testimonial evidence has suggested that little "meaningful treatment" takes place in at least some of the centers, and that drug abusers often relapse into addiction upon their release from detention. The facilities have been widely criticized for the physical abuse that is said to go on within them. Corporal punishment is commonly used, and torture and physical abuse are also thought to be widespread in the facilities. In April 2003, Zhang Bin, an inmate at the re-education facility Huludao City Correctional Camp, was beaten to death, reportedly by other inmates and by the labor supervisor. Zhang's death, along with the March 2003 death of inmate Sun Zhigang in a custody and repatriation prison, sparked calls within China for reform of the system, although reforms were not made immediately. Though most reports describe the conditions of re-education camps as "brutal," there are some claims of prisoners being well-treated. For example, when he was released from a three-year re-education sentence in 1999, dissident Liu Xiaobo said that he had been treated very mildly, that he had been allowed to spend time reading, and that the conditions had been "pretty good." Forced labor may include breaking rocks and assembling car seat covers, and even gold farming in World of Warcraft. According to Chinese state media Xinhua, slightly over 50% of detainees released from prison and re-education through labor in 2006 received government aid in the form of funds or assistance in finding jobs. ### Life after release Detainees who are released from re-education through labor camps may still be unable to travel or see other people freely. Individuals who remain in re-education through labor for 5 or more years may not be allowed to return to their homes, and those who do may be closely monitored and not permitted to leave certain areas. For example, in July 2003 a priest who had been released from detention was kept under house arrest, and five men who attempted to visit him were themselves detained. ## Criticism The re-education through labor system has been criticized by human rights groups, foreign governments and UN bodies, and Chinese rights lawyers. Some Chinese government agencies and reformers within government have likewise criticized the system as being unconstitutional, and advocated for its reform or abolition. Human Rights Watch has stated that the "re-education through labor" system violates international law, specifically Article 9 (4.)of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which provides that "Anyone who is deprived of his liberty by arrest or detention shall be entitled to take proceedings before a court, in order that the court may decide without delay on the lawfulness of his detention..." Re-education through labor has also been criticized by numerous human rights groups for not offering procedural guarantees for the accused, and for being used to detain political dissidents, teachers, Chinese house church leaders, and Falun Gong practitioners. Furthermore, even though the law up until 2007 specified a maximum length of detainment of four years, at least one source mentions a "retention for in-camp employment" system that allowed authorities to keep detainees in the camps for longer than their official sentences. Re-education through labor has been a focus of discussion not only among foreign human rights groups, but also among legal scholars in China, some of whom were involved in the drafting of the 2007 laws meant to replace the system. In addition to legal scholars, the Supreme People's Court of the People's Republic of China had criticized the system. In light of the widespread disapproval of the system, HRIC called in 2001 for the system to be abolished entirely. Among its criticisms it cited the fact that the wording of re-education through labor laws was excessively vague, allowing authorities to manipulate it; the fact that the punishment given in re-education centers was too severe for the crimes committed; the abusive conditions at re-education centers; and the variation of re-education through labor laws from one province to another. The Chinese Ministry of Justice, has also noted that the system violated items in the Chinese constitution. Wang Gongyi, vice-director of the Institute of Justice Research affiliated to the Ministry of Justice, said that the re-education through labor system contradicts several items in the Constitution, the Criminal Procedure Law, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which China signed in 1998. Although many human rights groups and legal scholars both within and without China called for the reform or total abolition of re-education through labor, China's security agencies have defended the use of the system as being necessary to maintain social stability. A 1997 report in China's Legal Daily hailed re-education through labor as a means to "maintain social peace and prevent and reduce crime." The Ministry of Public Security stated in 2005 that re-education through labor helped maintain rule of law and was mainly used for rehabilitating lawbreakers. In 2007, when new laws were drafted, the Ministry of Public Security was opposed to the proposal that would allowing judicial review before punishment was enforced. ### Profit opportunities The laojiao system employs tens of thousands of people. Profits are made through sale of the products of forced labor and through the collection of bribes received to reduce sentences or to ensure that relatives receive adequate food. ## Abolition During the Third Plenum of the 18th Party Congress in Beijing on 15 November 2013, Chinese officials announced that they planned to abolish the Re-education Through Labor system. The planned abolition of the system, however, has been criticised by human rights groups, with Amnesty International issuing a report titled "Changing the Soup but Not the Medicine." Amnesty's report concludes that the camp closures are a positive step forward for human rights, but the fundamental problems of arbitrary detention remain in China: > Many of the policies and practices which resulted in individuals being punished for peacefully exercising their human rights by sending them to RTL have not fundamentally changed: quite the contrary. There is ample evidence that such policies and practices are continuing in full force. The latest anti-Falun Gong campaign, launched earlier this year and intended to operate for three years, shows that the CCP's determination to rid China of this spiritual group has not abated. Falun Gong practitioners continue to be punished through criminal prosecution and being sent to "brainwashing centres" and other forms of arbitrary detention. Petitioners likewise continue to be subjected to harassment, forcibly committed to mental institutions and sent to "black jails" and other forms of arbitrary detention. Human rights defenders, democracy advocates, whistle-blowers and other political activists are also being increasingly targeted through criminal detention, "black jails", short-term administrative detention, and enforced disappearances, rather than RTL. On 28 December 2013, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress abolished the re-education through labor system. Detainees were released without finishing their sentences. ## See also - Custody and repatriation - Human rights in the People's Republic of China - List of Re-education Through Labor camps in China - Mao Hengfeng, a human rights activist, who has been repeatedly ill-treated and tortured in the RTL camps.

Winchester Model 1897

Pump-action shotgun

The Winchester Model 1897, also known as the Model 97, M97, Riot Gun, or Trench Gun, is a pump-action shotgun with an external hammer and tube magazine manufactured by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. The Model 1897 was an evolution of the Winchester Model 1893 designed by John Browning. From 1897 until 1957, over one million of these shotguns were produced. The Model 1897 was offered in numerous barrel lengths and grades, chambered in 12 and 16 gauge, and as a solid frame or takedown. The 16-gauge guns had a standard barrel length of 28 inches, while 12-gauge guns were furnished with 30-inch length barrels. Special length barrels could be ordered in lengths as short as 20 inches or as long as 36 inches. Since the time the Model 1897 was first manufactured, it has been used to great effect by American military personnel, law enforcement officers, and hunters. ## History The Winchester Model 1897 was designed by American firearms inventor John Moses Browning. The Model 1897 was first listed for sale in the November 1897 Winchester catalog as a 12 gauge solid frame. The 12 gauge takedown was added in October 1898, and the 16 gauge takedown in February 1900. Originally produced as a tougher, stronger and more improved version of the Winchester 1893, itself an improvement on the early Spencer pump gun, the 1897 was identical to its forerunner, except that the receiver was thicker and allowed for use of smokeless powder shells, which were not common at the time. The 1897 introduced a "take down" design, where the barrel and magazine tube could easily be separated from the receiver for cleaning or transportation, the ease of removal of the barrel becoming a standard in pump shotguns made today, like the Remington 870 and Mossberg 500 series. Over time, "the model 97 became the most popular shotgun on the American market and established a standard of performance by which other kinds and makes of shotguns were judged, including the most expensive imported articles". The Winchester Model 1897 was in production from 1897 until 1957. It was in this time frame that the "modern" hammerless designs became common, like the Winchester Model 1912 and the Remington 870. The Model 1897 was superseded by the Winchester Model 1912. However, the gun can still be found today in regular use. ### Improvements from the 1893 While designing the new Model 1897, many of the weaknesses present in the earlier Model 1893 were taken into account and remedied. These improvements included: - The frame was strengthened and made longer to handle a 12 gauge 2+3⁄4 inch shell, as well as with the shorter 2+5⁄8 inch shell. - The top of the frame was covered so that the ejection of the fired shell was entirely from the side. This added a lot of strength to the frame of the gun and it allowed the use of a 2+3⁄4 inch shell without the danger of the gun constantly jamming. - The action could not be opened until a slight forward movement of the slide handle released the action slide lock. In firing, the recoil of the shotgun gave a slight forward motion to the slide handle and released the action slide lock which enabled the immediate opening of the action. In the absence of any recoil, the slide handle had to be pushed forward manually in order to release the action slide lock. - A movable cartridge guide was placed on the right side of the carrier block to prevent the escape of the shell when the shotgun was turned sideways in the act of loading. - The stock was made longer and with less drop. Of these improvements, the slide lock is the one that made the Model 1897 into a safe firearm. This improved slide lock kept the shotgun locked until actual firing occurred which prevented it from jamming in the case of a misfire. The slide lock "stands in such a relation to the body of the firing pin as will prevent the firing pin reaching the primer until the pin has moved forward a sufficient distance to insure locking of the breech bolt". This prevents the action sleeve "from being retracted by the hand of the gunner until after firing, and hence rendering the firearm more safe". ## Description The Winchester Model 1897 and the Winchester Model 1893 were both designed by John Browning. The Model 1897 is an external hammer shotgun that is lacking a trigger disconnector. This means that the user can hold the trigger down while cycling the shotgun and once the action is returned to battery the shotgun fires. The firearm itself is classified as a slide action pump shotgun. It was the first truly successful pump-action shotgun produced. Throughout the time period the Model 1897 was in production, over a million of the type were produced in various grades and barrel lengths. 16-gauge guns had a standard barrel length of 28 inches, while 12-gauge guns were furnished with 30-inch length barrels. Special length barrels could be ordered in lengths as short as 20 inches, and as long as 36 inches. Along with various grades and barrel lengths, the Model 1897 came in two different chamberings. One was the 12 gauge and the other was the 16 gauge. The shells should be of the 2+5⁄8 inch or 2+3⁄4 inch models. Any shells larger are not recommended. An average Model 1897 can hold 6 shotgun shells in the magazine tube. When working the action of the Model 1897 the forend (fore grip) is pulled back, forcing the breech bolt to the rear which extracts and then ejects the spent shell while simultaneously cocking the external hammer by pushing it to the rear. When the forend is slid forward again, the breech bolt pushes a fresh shell into the gun's chamber and locks into place. The Chinese company Norinco has made an effort to reproduce this firearm. The Norinco 97 is an almost exact copy of the Winchester 1897, produced in both Trench and Riot grades, yet lacking in the fit and finish of the originals. ### Grades of the Model 97 ### Original prices When the Model 1897 was first introduced, the price depended upon what grade was being purchased and what features were being added to that specific shotgun. To purchase a plain finished shotgun would cost the buyer \$25, whereas an engraved receiver with checkered and finer wood included cost \$100. The more expensive grades of the Model 1897 were the standard, trap, pigeon, and tournament grades. These were the grades that were normally equipped with an engraved receiver and with checkered, finer wood. The less expensive and plainer grades were the Brush, Brush Takedown, Riot, and Trench. These grades were not given the higher valued wood or special designs. This is because these guns were designed and built for hard abuse. These grades stood a higher chance of being badly damaged so there was no need to put extra money into them for appearance purposes. As the functions that were performed with these grades required them to be lightweight, it was not beneficial to use heavy and expensive wood when designing them. Most often, when these grades were purchased, they were purchased in high numbers. By designing these grades with standard wood and finish, it kept the prices at a lower level. They were also sold in German catalogues for prices comparable to luxury double-barreled shotguns. ## Military use The Model 1897 was issued to American soldiers during the Philippine–American War of 1899. This first major use of issued shotguns by the United States military involved 200 weapons procured and sent to the Philippines in 1900. They were employed in countering Moro tribesmen who engaged the Americans in close-quarter combat using knives and swords. (See: juramentado) During the Punitive Expedition in Mexico, some US soldiers were also equipped with M97s. Already popular before World War I, sales of the Model 1897 picked up after the war broke. This was because many were produced to meet the demands of the military. When the United States entered World War I, there was a need for more service weapons to be issued to the troops. It became clear to the United States just how brutal trench warfare was, and how great the need was for a large amount of close-range firepower while fighting in a trench, after they had observed the war for the first three years. The Model 1897 Trench grade was an evolution of this idea. The pre-existing Winchester Model 1897 was modified by adding a perforated steel heat shield over the barrel which kept the soldier's hands off a hot barrel, and an adapter with bayonet lug for affixing an M1917 bayonet. This model was ideal for close combat and was efficient in trench warfare due to its 20-inch cylinder bore barrel. Buckshot ammunition was issued with the trench grade during the war. Each round of this ammunition contained nine 00 (.33-caliber) buckshot pellets. This gave considerable firepower to the individual soldier by each round that was fired. This shorter barrel and large amount of firepower is what made this grade ideal for trench warfare. It has been said that American soldiers who were skilled at trap shooting were armed with these guns and stationed where they could fire at enemy hand grenades in midair. Unlike most modern pump-action shotguns, the Winchester Model 1897 (versions of which were type classified as the Model 97 or M97 for short) fired each time the action closed with the trigger depressed (that is, it lacks a trigger disconnector). Coupled with its five-shot capacity, this made it effective for close combat, such that troops referred to it as a "trench sweeper". This characteristic allowed troops to fire the whole magazine with great speed, known as "slam firing". The Model 1897 was so effective, and feared, that the German government protested (in vain) to have it outlawed in combat. The Model 1897 was used again in World War II by the United States Army and Marine Corps, where it was used alongside the similarly militarized version of the hammerless Model 1912. Some were still in service during the Korean War and the Vietnam War. Other military uses of the shotgun included "the execution of security/interior guard operations, rear area security operations, guarding prisoners of war, raids, ambushes, military operations in urban terrain, and selected special operations". Despite protesting them, Germans did not listen to Ludendorff and decided to use and unofficially adopt the M1897 for their own use with modifications and named it "trench mauser" and mainly place them with stormtroopers. ### World War I protests The Model 1897 was popular with American troops in World War I, and the Germans soon began to protest its use in combat. "On 19 September 1918, the German government issued a diplomatic protest against the American use of shotguns, alleging that the shotgun was prohibited by the law of war." A part of the German protest read that "[i]t is especially forbidden to employ arms, projections, or materials calculated to cause unnecessary suffering" as defined in the 1907 Hague Convention on Land Warfare. This is the only known occasion in which the legality of actual combat use of the shotgun has been raised. However, the United States interpreted its use of the shotgun differently than Germany. The Judge Advocate General of the Army, Secretary of State Robert Lansing, promptly rejected the German protest. France and Britain had double-barreled shotguns available for use as trench warfare weapons during World War I; however, unable to obtain high-powered ammunition and judging reload speed too slow for close combat, these countries did not field them. The rejection of their protest greatly upset the German forces, because they believed they were treated unjustly in the war. Shortly after the protest was rejected, Germany issued threats that they would punish all captured American soldiers that were found to be armed with a shotgun. This led to the United States issuing a retaliation threat, stating that any measures unjustly taken against captured American soldiers would lead to reprisals by the United States on captured German troops who wielded flamethrowers and serrated bayonets. However, Tom Laemlein, in his article entitled The Trouble with Trench Guns noted that "there are no photos [online or not] of trench guns in combat [during World War I]. None." He believed that in spite of retaliation threats, the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) ordered that photos of trench guns in combat be censored, and ultimately eliminated to prevent leaking among the press that would give Germany a reason to portray U.S. troops as "undisciplined and barbaric" and "incapable of using proper rifles." Another reason is that there were also seemingly concerns by General John J. Pershing and his staff that French and British commanders might exert control of American forces over public relations with the combat use of trench guns, as America was considered a junior partner among the Entente Powers. Laemlein concluded that "[t]he trench guns would remain in France and continue to do their deadly, effective work, but there would simply be no photographs allowed to document it." ## Other uses After the war, a shorter-barrelled version of the Model 1897 was marketed by Winchester as a riot gun. Messengers of The American Express Company were armed with this weapon as were various police departments throughout the US. The differences between this riot version and the trench version were that the riot version lacked the heat shield and bayonet lug, and all trench guns were equipped with sling swivels, whereas most riot guns were not. ## Users - Ireland: 698 reported in service in late 1940 - Philippines - South Korea: used by UDT/SEAL - United States - United Kingdom: used by the Royal Irish Constabulary ## See also - List of individual weapons of the U.S. Armed Forces - List of shotguns ## General and cited references [Firearms by John Browning](Category:Firearms_by_John_Browning "wikilink") [Pump-action shotguns](Category:Pump-action_shotguns "wikilink") [Shotguns of the United States](Category:Shotguns_of_the_United_States "wikilink") [United States Marine Corps equipment](Category:United_States_Marine_Corps_equipment "wikilink") [Weapons of the Philippine Army](Category:Weapons_of_the_Philippine_Army "wikilink") [Winchester Repeating Arms Company firearms](Category:Winchester_Repeating_Arms_Company_firearms "wikilink") [World War I infantry weapons of the United States](Category:World_War_I_infantry_weapons_of_the_United_States "wikilink") [World War II firearms of the United States](Category:World_War_II_firearms_of_the_United_States "wikilink")

Ambush of Geary

Skirmish of the American Revolutionary War

The Ambush of Geary, also known as the Amwell Skirmish, was a skirmish of the American Revolutionary War fought on 14 December 1776 in Amwell Township of Hunterdon County, New Jersey. Cornet Francis Geary, the leader of a company of dragoons, was shot in an ambush set up by local militiamen led by Captain John Schenck. After British forces captured New York City in the first part of the New York and New Jersey campaign, they established outposts throughout central New Jersey. Geary, the son of Admiral Sir Francis Geary, was operating from a station at Pennington when he was killed in the ambush. His body was concealed and later buried in a shallow grave, preventing its recovery by British troops. In the 19th century local historical interest led to the confirmation of his grave's location, and the establishment of markers at the site and in England. Making a casualty of Geary was one of a number of militia actions that resulted in a reduced scope of British reconnaissance, contributing to the eventual success of George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River and victory at the Battle of Trenton. ## Background After General William Howe successfully drove George Washington's Continental Army out of New York City in the fall of 1776, Washington retreated across New Jersey, pursued by General Charles Cornwallis. Washington retreated all the way across the Delaware River in early December, and the British began arranging winter quarters in New Jersey, establishing a chain of outposts from Perth Amboy to Bordentown. The British and their Hessian allies regularly sent out reconnaissance and foraging parties. These were vulnerable to attack by local Patriot militia companies. The area around the Trenton outpost, commanded by Johann Rall and populated primarily by Hessians, was particularly vulnerable to these militia raids, as was a detachment of the 16th (Queen's) Light Dragoons posted not far away from Trenton at Pennington. Hunterdon County, north of Trenton, was an area where atrocities were reported in early December, including claims of rape of girls and pregnant women, perpetrated by groups of British and German soldiers; these reports contributed to an increase in Patriot militia activity in the area north of Trenton. Cornet Francis Geary was the eldest son and heir of Admiral Sir Francis Geary and Mary Bartholomew. Born in 1752, he was raised in Surrey and educated at Balliol College, Oxford. Purchasing a cornetcy in the 16th Light Dragoons in 1773, Geary was sent to North America in 1776, arriving in New York at the end of September. In October and November, Geary's unit was mainly occupied with forays in northern New Jersey where they met little organized resistance, but on 1 December, his company was ordered to camp at Pennington. On 14 December, Cornet Geary and seven other members of the 16th were sent north on a reconnaissance mission. ## Ambush The most detailed source for this action is a deposition attached to the application for a military pension of John Schanck, cousin of Captain John Schenck, the leader of the Patriot militia; detailed British accounts do not appear to exist. According to this account, Geary's party rode through Amwell Township toward Flemington to verify that a supply of salt beef and pork was ready for the army to pick up. The deponent had received intelligence of this movement the previous day, and when John Schenck learned of it, he set out the next morning, gathering up a few men (eight in number, according to the deponent), and set up an ambush in a wooded area about 5 miles (8.0 km) south of Flemington. When Geary's company rode by, the militia fired a volley of musket fire, killing Geary. A more brief description by a non-participating British officer reporting the event indicated that Geary was alerted to the impending fire, but was unable to escape the volley. The dragoons returned fire, but were driven off by continuing militia fire. ## Aftermath The militiamen appropriated portions of Geary's uniform, including his sword and the silver plate on his cap that had his name inscribed on it. British troops that had been sent out to meet them and take the supplies questioned the local inhabitants and searched the area, but could not find his body. The militiamen had concealed it; it was buried in a shallow grave the next day. General John Burgoyne, in his capacity as colonel of the 16th, wrote to Admiral Geary: > I have seldom felt a pain so acute as that of communicating to you the news from America, which personally regards yourself. I am afraid my authority is too good. Your Son has met a Soldier's fate. > > Experienced in calamity, describes what it is to resign an object near the heart, and ho[w] poor our best fortitude is upon such trial I am unfit to comfort or exhort you. Time and reflection can alone relieve you: I wish therefore only add to the tears of the Corps. My private lamentations for the Son of an invaluable parent and the assurance of the respect I have bear to his memory. This ambush and similar militia attacks resulted in British troops reducing the range of their scouting forays, as the danger of going further than about 4 miles (6.4 km) from Trenton was significant. This was crucial when the Americans began massing boats along the Delaware River prior to George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River that culminated with the Battle of Trenton on 26 December 1776. Geary's troops were stationed only 5 miles (8.0 km) from the river and Malta Island, the staging area for the crossing. ## Legacy Hunterdon County traditions claim that Geary's belongings were hidden to prevent their discovery by British troops. His coat is said to have been hidden under a pile of wheat on the floor of a garret, while his boots were hidden in an oven. It is also said that Geary's red sash was unravelled and the thread was used for various ornamental purposes, his sword was melted to make teaspoons and his stiff leather hat was used by a farmer to dip oats from his feed bin for his horses. Many local residents of Hunterdon County were unaware that Geary had been buried there, and accounts persisted that the British had recovered his body. In 1891 the Hunterdon County Historical Society exhumed a body from a site suspected to contain his body. Found in the grave were a skeleton and silver buttons labeled "Q. L. D.", signifying the Queen's Light Dragoons. His family placed a grave marker on the site in 1907. The St. Nicholas Church in Great Bookham, Surrey, contains a bas-relief depicting Cornet Francis Geary and the incident. The ambush site is between Copper Hill and Larison's Corners, in Raritan Township. On 14 December 1976, as part of the United States Bicentennial, the township dedicated a monument to the Amwell Militia here. The memorial monument to Geary erected in 1907 by his great nephew, Sir William Nevill Montgomerie Geary, is located nearby, 875 feet (267 m) away. A historical information plaque describing the Amwell Skirmish is also located next to his memorial. ## See also - Geary baronets

That's Not My Penguin

"That's Not My Penguin" is the sixth episode of the American television police procedural fantasy drama Awake. The episode premiered on April 5, 2012, on NBC, and was simultaneously broadcast on Global in Canada. It was written by series creator and executive producer Kyle Killen and staff writer Noelle Valdivia, and was directed by Scott Winant. "That's Not My Penguin" was well received by television critics, who praised its storylines. Commentators noted that the script was well written and that the episode worked "either way". Upon airing, the episode garnered 2.56 million viewers in the United States and a 0.9 rating in the 18–49 demographic, according to Nielsen ratings. It was the lowest-rated show of the timeslot. The show centers on Michael Britten (Jason Isaacs), a police detective living in two separate realities after a car accident. In this episode, Michael enters a psychiatric hospital during a hostage situation by Gabriel Wyath (Billy Lush). Gabriel wants the police and Michael to find his sister Christie, who was murdered. However, Gabriel has created a separate reality where she was kidnapped by Dr. Wild rather than murdered. In the "green reality", Michael looks for a "ring", which is Dr. Wild's; Rex stole it for his girlfriend Emma (Daniela Bobadilla). Michael meets Emma and gets the ring back. He also experiences hallucinations after being injected by Gabriel, seeing a penguin and Dr. Jonathan Lee (BD Wong). ## Plot The episode opens with Gabriel Wyath (Billy Lush) in a psychiatric ward after blowing up a government building. There are doctors who are taking notes and comparing Wyath's behavior to that of Michael Britten. The doctor's note that the two are sharing signs of disorganization, having odd behavior, and suffering from a sleeping disorder. Later, in the "green reality" (where Rex is alive, and Hannah is dead from the crash) Michael forgets to sign a permission form for a field trip. He goes to work, and asks Efrem Vega (Wilmer Valderrama) if the prints came back. Since he is in the "green reality", Efrem is confused, because he is not his partner in this world. Michael suddenly realizes that he is in the "green reality". Later, Bird is bragging about his astronaut bed, when Dr. Wild comes to Michael's desk, and asks for his ring. In the "red reality" (where Hannah is alive, and Rex is dead from the crash), Michael goes to work, and is called in for a hospital hostage situation. Gabriel Wyath (Billy Lush) is the one causing the situation. He demands to see his sister Christie. However, she was murdered in a dispute with an ex-boyfriend. Gabriel created a separate world where she was not murdered, but rather kidnapped by Dr. Wild. Later, Dr. Lee explains what they are dealing with. Gabriel allows Michael to come in the hospital, but nobody else. Michael enters the building and realizes that he has a "dead man switch", meaning that if Wyath is shot, then the whole building will blow up. Gabriel goes up near the window to handle a man who is screaming, and the police are prepared to shoot him. However, to prevent Gabriel from using his switch, Michael jumps at him, causing him to divert his path. Gabriel knocks him out, and shortly after injects him with ketamine. Michael suddenly wakes up in his "green reality". Michael is looking for a ring, which is Dr. Wild's. He sees a hallucination of a penguin, caused by the drugs. The penguin tells him that Rex has the ring. He calls him down, and Rex reveals that he stole it for his girlfriend, Emma (Daniela Bobadilla). Michael meets Emma and gets the ring back. Dr. Evans (Cherry Jones) claims that he is "having a nightmare about madness". He wakes up in the "red reality" and sees Dr. Lee helping him. The police are coming in to shoot him. Michael quickly phones and tells them to stop, due to the "dead man switch". Gabriel and Michael talk about Gabriel's two reality life. This makes Michael think about his life. Shortly later, Michael and Dr. Evans are talking about his mind. He thinks about his life and tells her that he is okay. During a subsequent discussion, he finds out that Dr. Lee was not really inside his mind; he was actually helping himself. ## Production The episode was written by series creator Kyle Killen and staff writer Noelle Valdivia, and was directed by Scott Winant; it was Killen's fourth writing credit, with the last episode he wrote being "Kate Is Enough". The episode was Valdivia's first writing credit on the series and Winant's first directing credit. The episode featured guest performances from Billy Lush, who was cast as Gabriel Wyath, Matt Riedy, who was cast as the SWAT Commander Hamilton, John Christopher Storey, who was cast as the Tech, and Daniela Bobadilla, who is cast as Emma, Rex's girlfriend. ## Reception ### Ratings "That's Not My Penguin" was originally broadcast on April 5, 2012 in the United States on NBC between 10:00 pm and 11:00 pm, preceded by Up All Night. Upon airing, the episode garnered 2.56 million viewers in the United States despite airing simultaneously with The Mentalist on CBS, and the series premiere of the drama series Scandal on ABC. It acquired a 0.9 rating in the 18–49 demographic, meaning that it was seen by 0.9% of all 18- to 49-year-olds, according to Nielsen ratings. The episode's ratings dropped from the previous episode, "Oregon". It was simultaneously broadcast on Global in Canada, and was subsequently aired on Sky Atlantic in the United Kingdom on June 8, 2012. ### Critical response "That's Not My Penguin" was well received by television commentators. Matt Fowler of IGN gave an extremely positive review. He claimed that the story worked "either way" and that it was "awesome", mainly because of the hallucinations. Fowler stated that he had his "mind blown" and that the best part of the episode was "when the show, for a little while, actually made me think that there was something to Gabriel's Dr. Wild story". Claiming that he was "hooked" to the show, Folwer concluded his review by giving the episode a "9 out of 10" classifying it as "amazing". Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club enjoyed the episode. In his "A−" review, he noted that the episode "doesn't show any signs of imminent immolation". He thought that the morale of the episode was "wanting something to be real doesn't make it easier to pretend, and the harder Michael has to work to keep this up, the better the odds that he’s going to lose his grip". Alan Sepinwall of HitFix "loved" the episode. Nick McHatton of TV Fanatic gave the episode a "5 out of 5" as a perfect score and thought that the entry "really used Awake's concept to its advantage".

Circus Juventas

American circus arts school

Circus Juventas (formerly Circus of the Star) is a youth performing arts circus school located in Saint Paul, Minnesota, serving youth throughout the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area. The organization was founded in 1994 by Dan and Betty Butler, and offers circus arts training to young people ranging from 3 to 21 years old. Emulating the style of Cirque du Soleil, Circus Juventas's first show was at Saint Paul's Highland Fest in 1995. From there, the school's enrollment quickly expanded and the organization initiated a campaign to fund a \$2.1 million permanent big top facility, which opened in 2001 on Saint Paul parkland in the Highland Park neighborhood. That year, it began to produce annual summer performances showcasing the work of its most advanced students, each with a distinct theme. Yearly themed December holiday shows were added starting in 2020 after that year's summer show was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. These shows have proven popular with local audiences and have been well received critically, with reviewers praising the professionalism and fearlessness exhibited in the productions, while noting students' occasional missteps during performances. Circus Juventas students have performed and competed both around the Minneapolis–Saint Paul area and abroad. As of 2014, Juventas was the largest youth performing arts circus in North America. The school had tentative plans to add a second facility elsewhere in the region. ## History The founders of Circus Juventas, Dan and Betty Butler, met as teenagers at the Sailor Circus of Sarasota during the mid-1970s. Dan was a catcher on the flying trapeze, and Betty was an aerialist on the cloud swing. They began dating at age sixteen, went on to perform at Florida State University's Flying High Circus, and married in 1980. Dan became a successful real estate broker in Atlanta, but faced bankruptcy and chemical dependency. The couple came to reside in Minnesota because Dan Butler was receiving alcohol and drug abuse rehabilitation at Hazelden. The Butlers attended Sailor Circus reunions together and after one, in April 1994, Betty Butler wondered, "Wouldn't it be great if we could do something in Minnesota?" The Butlers founded Circus Juventas as a nonprofit corporation in October 1994, citing a desire to give back to the community as one of the reasons for its creation. It was originally known as Circus of the Star, so called for Minnesota's nickname, The North Star State. The newly opened Hillcrest Recreation Center in Saint Paul provided the couple with inspiration for the circus program, and they asked the city if they could hold classes there. The Saint Paul Parks and Recreation Department approved the program, and assumed liability for approximately fifty children who enrolled the first year. About thirty of those students stayed with the program and performed in their first show at the 1995 Highland Fest, an annual family-oriented neighborhood festival. After this performance, interest in the program increased. By 1996, 30 more students were enrolled, and by 1997, an additional 25 had joined the program. The circus was still based out of the Hillcrest Recreation Center's gym, and had to work around the schedule of the other regular activities in the facility. In 1997, the waitlist for the program was around 200 students. With the school's growing popularity, the Butlers saw the need for a larger space so they developed plans to build a 1,500-seat facility. In an article published in the St. Paul Pioneer Press in 1997, the estimated cost of the project was quoted at \$700,000, with a groundbreaking planned for April 1998. The Butlers initiated their capital campaign on February 18, 1998, with the goal of raising \$1.1 million for their new building. By August 1999, they had raised \$1 million of their expanded \$1.6 million goal for the circus expansion, with plans to break ground on the new facility that November. Part of the funding came from Saint Paul's Sales Tax Revitalization (STAR) program, through which surplus funds were distributed by councilmembers to worthy organizations. A total of \$627,183 was disbursed for the circus through the program, split between three STAR components: \$450,000 as part of Neighborhood STAR which sought to fund local initiatives, \$122,183 as part of Cultural STAR which funded arts and culture programs, and \$55,000 from 3rd Ward City Councilmember Pat Harris's discretionary Neighborhood Investment Initiative budget. Another \$60,000 came from an anonymous recently retired Saint Paul businessperson. The \$1.6 million were raised in full by the end of April 2000, just in time to ensure the circus received its STAR funding which would have been nullified if the Butlers had not made their fundraising goal by May 5 of that year. The Butlers had found the space for the school through coincidence; after driving along Montreal Avenue in Saint Paul one night, they turned into a parking lot, noticed an area beneath some trees, and realized it was an ideal location for their school's expanded facility. On August 25, 2000, ground was broken on the new structure. The big top took about a year to complete, during which time the school also changed its name to Circus Juventas, named for Juventas, an ancient Roman goddess of youth and rejuvenation. Ultimately, the project totaled \$2.1 million and by 2006, the school was \$700,000 in debt. It was working with various city agencies to resolve the shortfall and faced "no looming threat." The school relies heavily on parent volunteers to help with various operational aspects, from rigging to administrative work to set construction and decoration, and concessions sales. Betty Butler estimated that 90 percent of work on the school's shows is done by parent volunteers. The circus operates with the equivalent of 40 full-time employees. In 2010, the circus school enrolled students from ages 6 to 21, with an additional enrollment of about 150 toddlers and other younger participants as young as three years old. By 2013, the enrollment had reached over 800 and the school's annual operating budget exceeded \$2 million. Circus Juventas has also held circus arts fitness classes for adults, taught by the school's regular instructors. The school is a member of the Outdoor Amusement Business Association and the Fédération Mondiale du Cirque. A listing on the latter organization's website notes that as of 2014, Juventas is the largest performing arts circus school for youth in the United States; other sources indicate that it is the largest in all of North America. ## Facilities Circus Juventas's big top is located in the Highland Park neighborhood of Saint Paul, Minnesota. It stands 40 feet (12 m) tall and encompasses 21,000 square feet (1,951 m²) of floor space built on concrete slab. The structure is supported by an aluminum frame and covered with flame-resistant vinyl-coated cloth. The building's 1,000-square-foot (93 m²) lobby space was designed by Locus Architecture, Ltd., of Minneapolis. The firm connected texteline fabric (often used for awnings) to the system of catwalks and supports to help "the lobby act...as an immersion tank, rather than a threshold, to introduce spectators to the illusion of the world of circus." Although Locus was still installing the fabric within hours of the circus's gala opening, the company won one of the 10 honor awards distributed in 2002 by the Minnesota branch of the American Institute of Architects for their design. The circus school's original bleachers could seat 1,200 audiencemembers. ### Bleacher collapse On August 16, 2009, at the closing performance of the show Yulong, a set of bleachers with a carrying capacity of 450 people and holding 420 at the time collapsed, sending seven people to the hospital. In the ensuing investigation, it came to light that Juventas had not had the bleachers inspected each time they were set up, as required by their lease with the city. They had been issued a permit in 2006 for the bleachers, and had not had them inspected since. The school was fined \$500 and shut down until the legal and safety issues could be fully investigated. It reopened about a month later and installed new bleachers with molded plastic seats the next March. ### Future In early 2014, the Butlers announced plans to expand their big top facility by an additional 10,000 square feet (930 m²). The additional space would house a dance and theater studio, a costume shop, offices, and a 4,500-square-foot (420 m²) gym. Naming rights for the new structure would provide a component of the \$4 million the school hoped to raise for the \$2 million expansion, a \$1 million addition to the circus's endowment, and eventual repairs to the building's exterior, estimated at \$1 million. Betty Butler stated that the project stemmed from the desire to create "a true professional program, a separate program" for students looking to study and perform circus arts post-Juventas, even though she and her husband originally shied away from pre-professional training as a core aspect of their circus school. According to Saint Paul's Parks and Recreation Department, the cliffside space which the expansion would occupy was deemed unsuitable for building a structure of the expansion's proposed size. In response, the Butlers were considering building a new facility of up to 50,000 square feet (4,600 m²) in the western suburbs of Minneapolis–Saint Paul. Construction of a new building would likely cost \$10 million, require a capital campaign to fund, and probably not begin for five to 10 years. In the meantime, the school is performing a small expansion to its Highland Park space, on which the Circus has a lease for at least 17 more years, as of 2014. ## Performances The school typically puts on three shows each year: a spring performance featuring less advanced students studying circus arts at beginning and intermediate levels, a late-summer show to display the talents of more advanced students, and a December holiday show. While the earliest shows were focused primarily on technique and the individual acts, by 1997 or 1998 the school began to emphasize the artistic side of performances, including integrating those acts into Cirque du Soleil-style narratives. Holiday shows were introduced beginning in 2020 after the planned summer show that year was cancelled on account of the COVID-19 pandemic. The school also hosts an annual gala in late autumn that includes portions of the year's earlier summer performance. Circus Juventas does not utilize animal acts in its shows. ### Big top summer shows - 2001: Mythos, a production dealing with Greek mythology was performed not only in Circus Juventas's newly opened permanent big top facility but also at the Minnesota State Capitol on New Year's Eve, 2001. - 2002: Cirque Napoleon, a show that delved into the history of circus, taking place in a French circus in 1859 and honoring Jules Léotard, an early trapeze artist. - 2003: Taroq, a production set in Morocco following four traveling nomads on a quest to determine the meaning of life. - 2004: Swash, a pirate-themed performance that entailed a quest for lost treasure. - 2005: Dyrnwych, a production that included "an amalgam of fairy-tale types, with wicked hag witches, trolls, forest spirits, and warrior women." - 2006: Pazzanni, a retelling of the story of Cinderella, inspired by 1500s Venetian carnivales and featuring masks designed by the maskmaker responsible for those used in the 1999 film Eyes Wide Shut. - 2007: Atlanticus, a performance set under the oceans in the domain of Poseidon. - 2008: RavensManor, a haunted house-themed show, based loosely on the Haunted Mansion ride located in Disneyland. RavensManor's story, set in New Orleans, included a tragic romance and zombies. - 2009: Yulong: The Jade Dragon (sometimes shortened to Yulong), a presentation derived from Chinese legendary and circus traditions. Produced in collaboration with the Chinese American Association of Minnesota, the show spotlighted three Taiwanese guest artists and included an emphasis on Chinese circus acts such as Chinese pole and hoop diving. - 2010: Sawdust, a performance evoking the traditions of historic American circuses. Special guests in the show were veteran circus performers Willie Edleston and Tony Steele who played slightly fictionalized versions of themselves. - 2011: Grimm—Happily Ever After! (sometimes shortened to Grimm), a show retelling a number of the Brothers Grimm's fairy tales. Characters included Rapunzel, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Hansel and Gretel, Snow White, and the Frog Prince. - 2012: Showdown, a Wild West-themed show set in the fictional town of Tumbleweed. The performance included portrayals of historical figures including Lillie Langtry, Black Bart, Billy the Kid, and Wyatt Earp, and featured a seven-man highwire pyramid, becoming the second youth circus to complete this trick. - 2013: Oz, based on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The performance retold Dorothy Gale's travels through the Land of Oz and incorporated a "maison" trapeze, a cubic apparatus replicating Dorothy's house that gets swept away and carried to Oz by a tornado. - 2014: Neverland, incorporating elements from the world of Peter Pan and featuring a cradle act. - 2015: 1001 Nights, a retelling of Scheherazade's One Thousand and One Nights. - 2016: Wonderland, an adaptation of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. - 2017: Nordrsaga, a hero's journey based on Norse mythology in which a young librarian teams up with Thor to help recover Mjölnir from Loki. - 2018: Steam, a steampunk time travel tale inspired by H. G. Wells's The War of the Worlds and Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. - 2019: Twisted, a retelling in which several fairy tale characters rewrite their own stories. - : None, cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. - 2021: Galaxium, a performance set on the fictional planet of the same name in which an industrialist attempts to determine what became of her great-great-grandparents' lost mission a century before. - 2022: Confetti, a show commemorating pivotal moments in the history of the circus arts. - 2023: Excalibur, which retells Arthurian legend. ### Big top holiday shows - 2020: A Hygge Holiday, narrated by Kevin Kling. - 2021: Blizzard!, a performance about three elves at the North Pole who cause trouble. - 2022: Solstice, a show about woodland characters attempting to save the winter by saving Jack Frost. ### Other engagements In addition to shows at their Saint Paul big top, Juventas students have performed across the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metro area and at domestic and international shows and competitions. Performers have appeared at local events including the Saint Paul Winter Carnival, Minneapolis mayor R. T. Rybak's 2002 inauguration at the Minneapolis City Hall, and at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts as part of the Flint Hills International Children's Festival. Students have presented their work at a variety of local public, retail, and theater spaces. Students have also participated non-Juventas shows, including a 2004 Minnesota Fringe Festival production, the 2005 world premiere of Tin Forest with the Minnesota Orchestra at Orchestra Hall, the Children's Theatre Company's 2008 stage adaptation of Madeline and the Gypsies, and the 2012 adaptation of Jack Prelutsky's The Dragons Are Singing Tonight at The Southern Theater. In 2010, a cohort of Juventas students traveled to perform in Chattanooga, Tennessee, at the RiverRocks Festival. Outside the United States, performers have traveled to compete, including at the International Circus Festival in Latina, Italy, and at the Circus Ring of Friendship Festival in Norrköping, Sweden, in which the troupe's triple trapeze team garnered the gold medal. In April 2015, a Circus Juventas spinning cube team performed at the Circus Waldoni Festival in Darmstadt, Germany, where they tied for first place. Students from the school will perform at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, D.C., in June and July 2017. ## Music Much of the accompaniment for the big top summer shows came from Peter Ostroushko, a local mandolin player. Ostroushko, known for his work on the radio show A Prairie Home Companion, became involved in the youth circus after his daughter saw a show and decided to join. In 2005, the Butlers discovered Ostroushko's affinity for the mandolin and fiddle, and asked if he would play a Celtic song at the premiere of their upcoming summer big top show, Dyrnwych. He happily agreed, having expressed a lifelong dream of joining a circus, and played the track, "See It There/Con Cassidy's", not only at Dyrnwych's opening but also at each of its subsequent 18 performances. The following year, he composed original music for the 2006 Juventas show, Pazzanni, and expanded his band to five members, including himself on mandolin, fiddle, and mandocello, Marc Anderson on percussion, Dan Chouinard on piano, accordion, and keyboard, Dirk Freymuth on electric and acoustic guitars, and Joel Sayles on electric and acoustic bass guitars. Ostroushko again provided a score for Atlanticus and RavensManor, continued in 2010 with Sawdust, then Grimm, and finally Showdown. Tracks from the first four shows for which he played, from Dyrnwych to RavensManor, are anthologized on the album Peter Joins the Circus, published by Borderland Productions in 2008. ## Reception Jando Dominique, reporting for Spectacle: An Online Journal of Circus Arts, summarized audience and critical reception for Circus Juventas's shows by describing them as "always sold out and enthusiastically reviewed by the press." Renee Valois cited the age of the performers and the proximity between them and the audience when she asked in a St. Paul Pioneer Press review of Oz comparing the circus school with Cirque du Soleil, "Dare I say Circus Juventas is more exciting than the troupe that inspired it?" Writing for Minnesota Monthly, Amanda Bankston commended the technical skill and professionalism of the performers in 2012's Showdown: "There is nothing child-like about the talent in this show. The budding stars fearlessly swing, flip, and soar through the air like pros." In Spectacle, Dominique noted that Juventas's productions consistently have "a polish and style not often seen in youth circuses, or most professional ones, for that matter." Susannah Schouweiler of Knight Arts wrote, "at two hours and 45 minutes, plus a 20-minute intermission, [Grimm's] run time is an awfully long haul for the smallest circus-goers." Critics have also commented on the occasional misstep in a performance; Rohan Preston noted in his review of Grimm that "there are moments – just a few stand out – when you realize that these are students, after all, in a celebrated after-school program. You want them to succeed, even if they do not always." Similarly, writing for BroadwayWorld, Elaina Lenertz stated, "Sometimes their silks routines are a bit out of sync and sometimes the show features dance routines from younger kids who are still mastering stunts. Despite this, the performance is very impressive."

Soulmates (Parks and Recreation)

"Soulmates" is the tenth episode of the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation's third season, and the 40th overall episode of the series. In the episode, Leslie is disappointed when Ben rejects her romantic advances, and is surprised when she is matched with Tom in an online dating service. Meanwhile, Ron and Chris have a cook-off to determine which is better: red or lean meat. The episode was written by Alan Yang and directed by Ken Whittingham. After it aired, NBC launched a website for HoosierMate.com, the fictional online dating site featured in "Soulmates". The episode featured a guest appearance by stand-up comedian Kirk Fox as sewage department employee Joe, who previously appeared in the second season. Josh Pence, who appeared with Parks co-star Rashida Jones in the 2010 film The Social Network, also appeared in "Soulmates" as a man wearing cowboy clothes who dates Ann. According to Nielsen Media Research, the episode was seen by 4.89 million household viewers, a slight decrease from the previous original episode, "Andy and April's Fancy Party". It received generally positive reviews, with several commentators particularly praising the performance of Aziz Ansari as Tom Haverford. ## Plot Chris (Rob Lowe) enacts a government-wide health initiative in Pawnee, starting by banning red meat from the city hall commissary, much to the displeasure of Ron (Nick Offerman). He challenges Chris to a burger cook-off to prove red meat is superior to Chris' preferred lean meat, with red meat staying on the menu if Ron wins. Meanwhile, Leslie (Amy Poehler) invites Ben (Adam Scott) out to dinner, but he turns her down, leaving Leslie confused because she was sure Ben was attracted to her. Ann (Rashida Jones), who is now dating multiple men after taking Donna's (Retta) advice to be more adventurous, tells Leslie to join an online dating website called HoosierMate.com and helps set up her profile (after Leslie's original description of herself was "yellow haired female; likes waffles and news"). Leslie finds a match that is 98 percent compatible with her – a "soulmate" rating – but is horrified to discover that it is Tom (Aziz Ansari). Additionally, the crude sewage department employee Joe (Kirk Fox) makes a romantic advance toward Leslie, prompting her to launch a "douche-vestigation" to find out why she attracts the wrong type of man. Meanwhile, Chris takes Andy (Chris Pratt), April (Aubrey Plaza), and Ron to a health food market called Grain 'n Simple, where he gathers numerous ingredients for the perfect turkey burger, but Ron is unfazed, simply buying a pound of red meat from his favorite food market, Food and Stuff. In her investigation, Leslie quickly learns Joe merely hits on any woman as long as she is not elderly. She takes Tom out to lunch to learn more about him. He responds to all of Leslie's questions with his usual chauvinistic answers, annoying her to the point that she admits she took him out because they matched on HoosierMate. A delighted Tom teases Leslie the rest of the day by pretending they are a couple, but she finally silences him by kissing him. Chris notices the kiss and warns Leslie that he has a strict policy against workplace dating. At the cook-off, Chris prepares his meticulous turkey burgers for the judges: Tom, Donna, Jerry (Jim O'Heir), and Kyle (Andy Forrest). They all love it, but give much higher praise to Ron's simple hamburger on a bun. Initially surprised, even Chris comes to admit the burger is superior after trying it, so he agrees to reinstate red meat on the commissary menu. Chris later tells Leslie his dating policy has affected others, explaining that he earlier warned Ben not to ask out a co-worker. Leslie realizes that is why Ben rejected her and is glad when Ben asks her to eat in front of her favorite city hall mural. Leslie deletes her profile on HoosierMate, and is relieved to learn that Tom has 26 different profiles on the site to match himself with any type of woman, although the one Leslie matched with was his "nerd" profile. ## Production "Soulmates" was written by Alan Yang and directed by Ken Whittingham. The idea of Chris' no-dating policy stemmed from real life policies in small town governments. Parks and Recreation co-creator Michael Schur said although romantic obstacles between two characters are difficult to make effective and genuine, he believed the policy was realistic and fitting with the type of show. Schur said: "The 'no dating' thing is a very big deal in government – these people are handling taxpayer money, so relationships are even more frowned upon than they are in the private sector." The episode features a fictional online dating service called HoosierMate.com, inspired by the nickname Hoosier for residents of Indiana, where Parks and Recreation is set. After the episode aired, NBC started a fake website on an actual HoosierMate.com domain, which included fake accounts for Leslie and Tom similar to those featured in "Soulmates". Stand-up comedian Kirk Fox made a guest appearance in "Soulmates" as Pawnee sewer department employee Joe, who he previously played in the second season episodes "The Camel" and "Telethon". Josh Pence, who appeared with Parks co-star Rashida Jones in the 2010 film The Social Network, also appeared in "Soulmates" as a man wearing cowboy clothes who dates Ann. During one scene in "Soulmates", Ron misunderstood a turkey burger to be "a fried turkey leg inside a grilled hamburger". After the episode aired, the cooking website Eater.com created and posted a recipe for that exact food. ## Cultural references When Leslie asks Tom what he would ask for if given three wishes, one of them is to star in a remake of the 1991 action film Point Break playing the roles of both main characters, who are played by Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze. During one scene, while on hold during a telephone call, Tom sings badly out of tune to the hold music of "Forever Young", by the German synthpop group Alphaville. At one point, Tom describes the nicknames he has for various foods, and describes sandwiches as "sammies, sandoozles or Adam Sandlers", the latter of which refers to the comedian and actor Adam Sandler. Andy tells Chris his favorite food is Skittles sandwiched between two Starburst, which he calls "Andy's Mouth Surprise". When Leslie describes her ideal date as a dark and mysterious man who can play the organ, Ann says she believes Leslie is describing the title character from The Phantom of the Opera, a story about a deformed man who haunts an opera hall. ## Reception ### Ratings In its original American broadcast, "Soulmates" was seen by an estimated 4.89 million household viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research, with a 2.9 rating/5 share among all viewers and a 2.4 rating/6 share among viewers between ages 18 and 49. A rating point represents one percent of the total number of television sets in American households, and a share means the percentage of television sets in use tuned to the program. The "Soulmates" rating constituted a slight decrease from the previous episode, "Andy and April's Fancy Party", which was seen by 5.16 million households. In its 9:30 p.m. timeslot, "Soulmates" was outperformed by the Fox crime drama series Bones, which was seen by 10.96 million household viewers, and the CBS forensic crime series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, which was seen by 8.47 million households. It outperformed a repeat of the ABC medical drama series Grey's Anatomy, which was seen by 3.86 million household viewers, and an original episode of the CW Television Network drama series Nikita, which was seen by 2.013 million households. ### Reviews "Soulmates" received generally positive reviews, with several commentators particularly praising the performance of Aziz Ansari. The Atlantic writer Scott Meslow said Ansari "has somehow found a way to make Tom petulant, sexist, and materialistic without ever being unlikable". Meslow also complimented the "slight but charming" subplot about the burger cook-off, and said Rob Lowe stood his own against the show's reliable comedic stars Nick Offerman and Chris Pratt. Zap2it writer Rick Porter called "Soulmates" one of the "out-and-out funniest episodes of the season" and provided Ansari with the "best sustained bit of comedy he's had in a long time". Porter also said he appreciated how the script "wisely didn't make much" over Ann's dating many men, claiming the subtlety of the joke was effective. Andy Daglas of ChicagoNow also said Ansari "stole the show" and that "Soulmates" was an excellent showcase for his character, who had largely remained on the sidelines throughout the season. Daglas said the scenes with Tom mocking Leslie were effective not only due to Ansari's performance, but also because of the genuine loyalty and admiration that had been built between the two characters. The A.V. Club writer Steve Heisler called "Soulmates" one of the best Parks and Recreation episodes, and praised it for advancing its character relationships and finding "tons of natural, free-flowing comedy in something incredibly mundane", such as a conflict over burgers. Matt Fowler of IGN said he enjoyed seeing Offerman and Lowe pitted against each other, which he described as an "epic" pairing. Fowler also said he enjoyed that the script introduced "mini-mysteries" that took some time to reveal, like why Ben seemed uncomfortable around Leslie, and why Leslie and Tom were a match on the dating website. Nick McHatton of TV Fanatic said he is enjoying the slow and deliberate pace at which the Leslie and Ben relationship is progressing. He also said Ansari "delivered just the right amount to creep out Leslie (and) keep me in fits of laughter", and said Tom's slang nicknames for food were "some of the funniest Tom-isms he's doled out yet". New York magazine writer Steve Kandell said the episode demonstrates how, even several months after the addition of Lowe and Adam Scott to the cast, their presence allows for excellent new story opportunities, like the Ron and Chris cook-off and Ben's infatuation with Leslie. Eric Sundermann of Hollywood.com said "Soulmates" demonstrates how Parks and Recreation is superior to other comedy shows because it "invests in its characters and really allows the audience time to get to know them" rather than depending solely on gags. Alan Sepinwall said he "laughed louder and more frequently at it than any episode so far this season" except for "Flu Season" and called the Ron and Chris subplot as "predictable as hell but perfectly-executed". Sepinwall objected to the introduction of a no-dating policy simply to slow the budding romance between Leslie and Ben, and said "so much of this season has been so perfect that the rare imperfections stand out even more than they would on a weaker overall comedy". Joel Keller of TV Squad said the no-dating policy felt like a plot contrivance meant strictly to keep Ben and Leslie apart, which he felt was not good for the story. However, he complimented Leslie and Tom's scenes together, and said the subplot was even funnier, which he called a "Ron Swanson classic". Entertainment Weekly writer Hillary Busis said the episode was "a little too disjointed for me", particularly because the two plots were barely associated with each other. However, she said the show included funny individual jokes, and enjoyed the moment when Leslie kissed Tom.

Five Mile Point Light

Lighthouse in Connecticut, United States

Five Mile Point Light, also known as Five Mile Point Lighthouse or Old New Haven Harbor Lighthouse, is a U.S. lighthouse in Long Island Sound on the coast of New Haven, Connecticut. Located at the entrance to New Haven Harbor, the beacon's name derives from its proximity to Downtown New Haven, about five miles (8 km) away. The original lighthouse consisted of a 30-foot (9.1 m) octagonal wooden tower built in 1805 by Abisha Woodward. In 1847, a new 80-foot (24 m) octagonal tower was constructed by Marcus Bassett with East Haven brownstone. This new beacon was illuminated by 12 lamps with reflectors which were positioned 97 feet (30 m) above sea level. Also constructed at this time was a two-and-one-half story brick house which supplanted the previous, deteriorating keeper's dwelling. A fourth-order Fresnel lens replaced the lamps in 1855 and a fog bell was added in the 1860s. The Five Mile Point Light was deactivated in 1877 when the nearby Southwest Ledge Light was completed. Currently, the lighthouse is contained within Lighthouse Point Park and, along with the keeper's house, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990. ## History During the American Revolutionary War in July 1779, a battle took place on the site of the future lighthouse when British troops anchored offshore and staged an invasion of New Haven. Patriot forces launched a defense of the beachfront as the attackers landed their boats. Ensign and Adjutant Watkins of the King's American regiment was the first of the British soldiers killed in the skirmish, shot while attempting to disembark on the shoreline. He was buried close to where the lighthouse at Five Mile Point would eventually be erected a few decades later. Although the British went on to burn the nearby house of Amos Morris and several other residences in the area, they suffered heavy losses and ultimately abandoned their advance on New Haven. ## Original tower In 1804, the United States Congress passed a statute requiring the secretary of the treasury to build a lighthouse at Five Mile Point if land could be obtained for a reasonable price. That same year, Amos Morris, Jr., son of the man whose home was the first to be razed during the 1779 British invasion, sold a suitable one-acre plot of his father's coastal estate to the federal government for \$100. On March 16, 1805, an appropriation for \$2500 was issued for the construction of the lighthouse. Late that year, a 30-foot (9.1 m) octagonal wooden tower was built by Abisha Woodward on the southwest edge of the harbor and to mark the path around the Southwest Ledge. The fixed white light was made by eight oil lamps with 13 inches (33 cm) parabolic reflectors, but it was criticized for being too dim. The lighthouse also had a keeper's quarters constructed in 1805. The first keeper of the light was Amos Morris Jr., for a period of just three weeks. An 1832 report noted that the light was 50 feet (15 m) above the water and that its visibility had been improved with the removal of some trees. In 1838, Lieutenant George M. Bache reported that the wooden tower and keeper's house was in a poor state. Congress would appropriate \$10,000 to construct a new stone lighthouse on March 3, 1847. ## Current tower Constructed in 1847, the new 80-foot (24 m) octagonal tower was constructed by Marcus Bassett with East Haven brownstone from Jabez Potter's quarry. The interior of the lighthouse was lined with New Haven brick and a 74-step granite stairway leads to the cast-iron lantern. The light was powered by 12 lamps with reflectors and was located 97 feet (30 m) above sea level. Also constructed was a new two-and-one-half story brick house to replace the one in a "very bad state of repair". The light would be replaced with a fourth-order Fresnel lens in 1855. In the 1860s, a fog bell was also added. The lighthouse was extinguished in 1877 when the offshore Southwest Ledge Light replaced it for navigation. The keeper, Elizur Thompson, went to be the Southwest Ledge Light's keeper for five years before returning to live in the Five Mile Point Light keeper's quarters and fly storm signal flags for the United States Weather Bureau. In 1896, the lighthouse was transferred to the United States Department of War and was improved by a leasee named Albert Widmann. In 1922, the property was split up, with the land given to the state of Connecticut and the buildings to the city of New Haven. Two years later, New Haven purchased the land from the state for \$11,180. The tower was renovated in 1986. The \$86,000 restoration included repairing cracked mortar, steam cleaning the interior and exterior and removing "guano [that had] accumulated over the decades". ## Importance Roth and Clouette note that the "Five Mile Point Lighthouse is significant because it embodies the distinctive characteristics of American lighthouse construction during the first half of the 19th century ... [it] is also significant in the maritime history of New Haven." The keeper's dwelling currently is a private residence for New Haven Recreation Department personnel and has been modified with the addition of a porch. The lighthouse and the keeper's residence were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990. ## List of keepers ## See also - List of lighthouses in the United States - List of lighthouses in Connecticut - National Register of Historic Places listings in New Haven, Connecticut

Nethermost Pike

Fell in Cumbria, England

Nethermost Pike is a fell in Cumbria, England, and a part of the Lake District. At 891 metres (2,923 ft) it is the second highest Wainwright in the Helvellyn range, the highest of which is Helvellyn itself. It is located close to the southern end of the ridge, with Helvellyn to the north, and High Crag and Dollywaggon Pike to the south. Nethermost Pike, along with many of the Eastern Fells, lies between Thirlmere in the west and the Ullswater catchment in the east. The closest villages are Glenridding and Patterdale on the shores of Ullswater, over 8 kilometres (5 mi) away. Like most fells in the Helvellyn range, Nethermost Pike has grassy western slopes and rocky outcrops on the eastern side. Geologically, Nethermost Pike belongs to the Borrowdale Volcanic Group. Lead was once mined on its eastern slopes, resulting in open workings and underground mines. The eastern slopes are protected as part of a Site of Special Scientific Interest because of the Pike's geological and biological features, which include some of England's best arctic-alpine and tall-herb vegetation. ## Classification Mountains are often classified according to their heights. At 891 metres (2,923 ft) Nethermost Pike is listed as a Nuttall, which requires an elevation of 610 metres (2,000 ft). However, with a prominence of 22 metres (72 ft) it is not counted as a Hewitt or Marilyn which require prominences of 30 metres (98 ft) and 150 metres (492 ft) respectively. Nethermost Pike is also counted as a Wainwright because it was given a chapter in Alfred Wainwright's Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells. It is the second-highest of the Eastern Fells, and the ninth highest of all the Wainwrights. South of Nethermost Pike is High Crag 884 metres (2,900 ft), which is separated from Nethermost Pike by a very limited depression. Most guidebooks follow Alfred Wainwright in considering High Crag to be a part of Nethermost Pike. This convention is not universally followed however, with author Bill Birkett preferring to differentiate between the two fells. ## Topography The Helvellyn range runs broadly north-south for about 11 kilometres (7 miles), remaining above 600 metres (1,970 ft) throughout its length. Nethermost Pike is toward the southern end of this ridge, with Helvellyn itself to the north and Dollywaggon Pike to the south. In common with much of the Helvellyn range there is a marked contrast between the western and eastern slopes of Nethermost Pike. In Wainwright's words: "The grassy western slope trodden by the multitudes is of little interest, but the fell should not be judged accordingly: it is made of sterner stuff. From the east, Nethermost Pike is magnificent, hardly less so than Helvellyn." The western slopes fall smoothly to the head of Thirlmere reservoir, and the tiny church at Wythburn. There are rougher areas, High and Comb Crags in particular, but these do little to change the overall impression of high moorland. The lower slopes have been planted with conifers as part of the Thirlmere Forest, but above this is a sense of wide open space. Nethermost Pike's toehold on the valley is shifted a little to the south, relative to its position on the ridge. This is because Whelpside and Birkside Gills, its boundary streams, both run south-west, rather than flowing straight down the slope. On the east, the first impression is all of rock. The long strath of Grisedale runs north-eastward to Ullswater, cutting off a series of hanging valleys which fall from the Helvellyn range. To the south east of Nethermost Pike, below the summit of High Crag, is Ruthwaite Cove. Surrounded by crag on three sides, this corrie contains Hard Tarn, a small pool on a rock shelf. This is one of the most difficult mountain tarns to locate, and its black algal bed and clear water combine to give the false impression of great depth. Ruthwaite Cove is now the site of Ruthwaite Lodge, a climbing hut. It was formerly the setting for more industrial activity, with the remains of several underground mines and some shallow open workings visible near the Lodge. Between Ruthwaite and Nethermost Coves, Nethermost Pike sends out a fine rocky ridge. This arête, although not as imposing as Striding Edge across Nethermost Cove, ascends by a series of rocky steps for three quarters of a mile, making straight for the summit. It is from this angle, rather than from the west, that the fell earns the sobriquet of "Pike", meaning peaked mountain. At the bottom of the ridge is Eagle Crag, standing above Grisedale Beck and forcing walkers to take a detour from the ridgeline. North from Nethermost Pike is the depression of Swallow Scarth, above the head of Nethermost Cove. From here the ridge climbs again, turning to the west as the long plateau of Helvellyn top is reached. Southwards the ridge steps down over High Crag, and narrows as it swings east around Ruthwaite Cove to Dollywaggon Pike. A heavily eroded path runs along the ridge, but actually bypasses the top of Nethermost Pike to the west, as it leads to Helvellyn. The summit area is triangular in plan with ridges running to the north, south and east. The actual top is toward the northern corner and set back a little from the drop to Nethermost Cove. There is a rash of stones on the summit although the surroundings are mostly covered in rough grass, and several small cairns have been built. Other than northward, where the bulk of Helvellyn intervenes, the view is extensive, with much of the Lake District visible. Further ground is brought into view from the summit of High Crag. ## Ascents The Lake District receives over 12 million visitors a year, many of whom come to climb the mountains. The closest villages to Nethermost Pike are Glenridding and Patterdale, 8 kilometres (5 mi) to the east, close to the shores of Ullswater. Both are common starting points for climbing Nethermost Pike or other fells in the Helvellyn range. The best ascents from the east is the east ridge, reached either from the path to Eagle Crag Mine, or via Ruthwaite Lodge and Hard Tarn. There are no settlements of note close to Nethermost Pike to the west, and many walkers start from a car park at Wythburn, close to Wythburn Church. This is a popular route which follows a wide track to Helvellyn before branching off right at Swallow Scarth. Alternatives are possible on the smooth flanks of the fell, but all are pathless. Because of its close proximity to the higher Helvellyn, Nethermost Pike receives fewer visitors. When climbing from the west many people traverse the western slopes on their way to Helvellyn. Despite this the summit does still receive a large number of walkers, who use a large number of footpaths. The large number of footpaths causes significant disturbance to the summit vegetation, which could be greatly reduced by using fewer footpaths. ## Geology Geologically the summit of the fell forms part of the Deepdale Formation, (principally volcaniclastic sandstone) underlain by the dacitic lapilli-tuff of the Helvellyn Formation. The geology of much of the Lake District is the Borrowdale Volcanic Group, of which Nethermost Pike is part, and is late Ordovician in age. The eastern cliffs of the range, including those of Nethermost Pike, are rich in base minerals. When these rocks weather they form areas of fertile soil, which together with the area's inaccessibility and climate provide suitable conditions for plants of biological importance. Mining was carried out in Ruthwaite Cove, and the remains of several levels and some shallow open workings are visible near Ruthwaite Lodge. These excavations were made in a search for lead-bearing galena, and are believed to have been worked in the 16th century. Further leases were taken out in 1784 and 1862; the last known operation was in 1880. North-east of the summit the scene is repeated in Nethermost Cove, where the Eagle Crag Mine was mined for its lead and zinc. The vein which was exploited forms a visible gully on Eagle Crag, and was worked both above and below ground over an altitude of 300 metres (980 ft). The vein is surrounded by rocks from the Borrowdale Volcanic Group, which dates from the Ordovician. Large dumps of veinstone are found in the area as a result of the mining. They contain, among other minerals, crystallised tetrahedrite, which is not believed to be able to be seen or collected anywhere else in Britain. Eagle Crag Mine has a history of working similar to that of Ruthwaite Lodge. ## Biological interest The summit and surrounding areas of Nethermost Pike contain many species and communities which are of biological interest. North east of the summit is Nethermost Cove which contains some of England's best arctic-alpine and tall-herb vegetation, including one third of the English population of Downy Willow (Salix lapponum). Similarly Ruthwaite Cove contains Arctic-alpine and tall-herb communities, and it is believed that the cove may contain very rare species of plants in very small, and therefore precarious, populations. The lower eastern slopes form Grisedale Common, a large expanse of dwarf shrub heath. The lower slopes are grazed by sheep, which has a significant effect on the type of vegetation which grows. Certain areas, such as Eagle Crag, are inaccessible to sheep due to their steep slopes. The summit and eastern slopes of Nethermost Pike are part of the Helvellyn and Fairfield Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). This SSSI covers 2,418.8 hectares (5,977 acres) centred on the Helvellyn range and Fairfield, and was designated in 1975 because of the area's geological and biological features. Natural England, which is responsible for choosing SSSIs, tries to ensure that the management and use of the area is sustainable. Overgrazing by sheep in Grisedale Common has damaged the vegetation to the extent that it has needed careful management. Since 2003 grazing has been limited to one ewe per hectare (2.5 acres) in summer and 0.6 ewe in winter. In summer sheep are also flushed from the coves, (Nethermost and Ruthwaite) as they contain vegetation which is susceptible to damage from summer grazing. The vegetation structure has started to improve; however, recovery is slowest on the higher land and the summit is still heavily grazed. The summit suffers erosion from the large number of walkers who climb Nethermost Pike. The use of fewer footpaths would help reduce the disturbance to the summit species.

Guitar (Sonny Sharrock album)

Guitar is a 1986 solo studio album by American jazz guitarist Sonny Sharrock. He recorded the album with producer Bill Laswell at RPM Sound Studios in New York City. As the project's sole instrumentalist, Sharrock performed and overdubbed his guitar improvisations onto other sections of a song he had recorded beforehand. Guitar was released by Enemy Records to positive reviews from critics, who praised Sharrock's compositions, playing, and use of distortion. The album was named the eighth best record of 1986 by rock critic Robert Christgau, while jazz writer Ian Carr said it epitomized the electric guitar's range as an instrument. ## Composition and recording Guitar was viewed by Sharrock as the culmination of a period in his career spent developing his sense of composition. After releasing his first record—Black Woman—in 1969, he experimented with different influences during the 1970s. When he recorded "Dance with Me Montana" in 1982, the song's chord progression changed his perspective on composing and inspired him to pursue more melodic ideas. "You listen to [it], and it's like a blind man struggling to get out of a room", Sharrock recalled. "Guitar was a crystallization of all of the things that I had discovered in that song." In the early 1980s, Sharrock had also worked on projects with Material, an experimental band fronted by Bill Laswell, who had convinced Sharrock to unretire in 1981. With Laswell, Sharrock would also form the band Last Exit during this period and depart from the lyrical jazz guitar he had played with a Gibson L-5 in favor of more heavy metal-influenced shred guitar using a Gibson Les Paul Custom. According to Reverb.com writer Jay Laughton, Guitar is the first in his series of "metal–inflected jazz albums". Sharrock recorded Guitar at RPM Sound Studios in New York City, with Laswell helping produce. As the sole instrumentalist for the project, Sharrock first recorded his performance of a song's introductory passage and chord statement before overdubbing his improvisations onto the finished recording. His compositions on the album included a blues piece called "Black Bottom", the berceuse "Broken Toys", "Devils Doll Baby"—which featured Sharrock's frenzied slide guitar playing—and "Princess Sonata", a suite showcasing his range of techniques. Sharrock cited Guitar as the first time he was able to play both powerfully and melodically in the same way saxophonists John Coltrane and Albert Ayler had late in their careers. ## Release and reception Guitar was released in 1986 by Enemy Records. Reviewing for The Village Voice in September of that year, Robert Christgau found Sharrock's avant-garde jazz playing "funky and beautiful" but also daring sonically. He said his songs feature expressive melodies, relaxed tempos, and definite song structures, which are sometimes "either counterpointed or strung together in a suite". Ken Hyder from Hi-Fi News & Record Review appreciated how Sharrock had abandoned the rhythmic strumming style of his past work in favor of "a post-Hendrix feedback electric guitar sound" in an elaborate overdubbing process that sustained his well–defined guitar lines. Hyder recommended the album to listeners of all genres and said Sharrock's playing recalled blues, R&B, and folk melodies. "Throughout all the distortion he avoids the one-dimensional emotion trap and comes up with something intensely warm and human." At the end of 1986, Christgau named it the year's eighth best record in his list for the Pazz & Jop critics poll, and later wrote that both Guitar and Sharrock's next album—Seize the Rainbow (1987)—could restore any listener's interest in jazz fusion. In a retrospective review for the Chicago Tribune, Greg Kot believed that as a showcase for a solo guitarist, Guitar was "bloodied and beautiful", while AllMusic's Sean Westergaard called it "a beautiful statement by one of jazz music's most unique voices" in Sharrock, whose unadulterated timbre sounded both "powerful and beautiful". Jazz critic John Fordham said the album was a "sensational, terrifying exercise in abstract sounds, fragmented blues, feedback and slide-guitar splinterings," but also "one of the most effective antidotes to the prim and studiedly dramatic conventional jazz-guitar performances on the circuit" at the time. In the Spin Alternative Record Guide (1995), Guitar was ranked 86th on a list of the "Top 100 Alternative Albums". According to The Absolute Sound, Laswell helped produce Sharrock's playing within a glossy, expansive sound that offered both an intimate jazz feel and an intense rock quality, which in the process helped "shine a light into Sharrock's spiritual depths". In The Rough Guide to Jazz (2004), Ian Carr felt Guitar epitomized the breadth of the electric instrument, "ranging from impressionistic sound poetry to abstract-expressionist blitzkrieg". ## Track listing ## Personnel Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes. - Mike Krowiak – recording, mixing - Bill Laswell – production - Jeff Lippay – assistant engineering - Sonny Sharrock – guitar, production

Reba McEntire

American country singer and actress (born 1955)

Reba Nell McEntire (born March 28, 1955), or simply Reba, is an American country music singer and actress. Dubbed "the Queen of Country", she has sold more than 75 million records worldwide. Since the 1970s, McEntire has placed over 100 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, 25 of which reached the number one spot. She is an actress in films and television. She starred in the television series Reba, which aired for six seasons. She also owns several businesses, including a clothing line. One of four children, McEntire was born and raised in Oklahoma. With her mother's help, she and her siblings formed the Singing McEntires, which played at local events and recorded for a small label. McEntire later enrolled at Southeastern Oklahoma State University and studied to become a public school teacher. She also continued to occasionally perform and was heard singing at a rodeo event by country performer Red Steagall. Drawn to her singing voice, Steagall helped McEntire secure a country music recording contract with PolyGram/Mercury Records in 1975; she relocated to Nashville, Tennessee, with her mother that year. Over the next several years, PolyGram/Mercury released a series of McEntire's albums and singles, which amounted to little success. In the early 1980s, McEntire's music gained more momentum through several top ten country songs, including "(You Lift Me) Up to Heaven", "I'm Not That Lonely Yet" and her first number one "Can't Even Get the Blues". Yet McEntire became increasingly unhappy with her career trajectory and signed with MCA Records in 1984. Her second MCA album titled My Kind of Country (1984) became her breakout release, spawning two number one Billboard country singles and pointed towards a more traditional musical style. Through the 1980s, McEntire released seven more studio albums and had ten more number one country hits. Her number one singles included "One Promise Too Late", "The Last One to Know" and the Grammy Award-winning "Whoever's in New England". In 1991, McEntire lost eight of her band members in a plane crash in San Diego, California. The experience led to McEntire's critically acclaimed album For My Broken Heart, which is her highest-selling album to date. She followed it with several commercially successful albums during the 1990s, including Read My Mind (1994), What If It's You (1996) and If You See Him (1998). These albums featured the number one country singles "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter", "How Was I to Know" and a duet with Brooks and Dunn called "If You See Him/If You See Her". McEntire's acting career began in January 1990 when she made her film debut in Tremors. In 2001, she played the role of Annie Oakley in the Broadway musical Annie Get Your Gun. The same year, The WB launched the TV series Reba, in which she starred. In 2023, McEntire will become a coach on The Voice. ## Early life McEntire was born in McAlester, Oklahoma, in 1955 but was raised on a ranch in Chockie, Oklahoma. She was the third of four children born to Clark (1927–2014) and Jacqueline McEntire (1926–2020). Her grandfather, John Wesley McEntire, was a world-champion steer roper in 1934, while her father held the same title three times (1957, 1958 and 1961). Jacqueline McEntire had aspirations of becoming a country singer, but instead became a public school teacher, librarian and secretary. While her mother was tender and loving, her father had trouble showing affection. "When we were growing up I used to regret that Daddy never told us that he loved us," she recalled in her autobiography. The McEntire family owned a cattle ranch in Chockie. Each family member contributed to running the cattle operation. The McEntire children helped with ranch chores before and after school. This included castrating bulls and giving them worm medicine. The McEntire siblings also developed an interest in singing, which was encouraged by their mother. On car trips to their father's rodeo dates, Jacqueline McEntire taught her children to sing in harmony with one another. Young Reba then started performing at school, beginning in first grade when she sang "Away in a Manger" at an elementary school Christmas pageant. In fifth grade, she joined the 4-H club and won first place in the Junior Act Division for singing "My Sweet Little Alice Blue Gown". She also played basketball and ran track. For several summers, she attended a basketball camp. She also learned piano and guitar. She also developed an interest in the rodeo and trained to become a barrel racer. By high school the McEntire siblings had been frequently performing. Together, they formed a trio which they called The Singing McEntires. In 1971, the trio released a single about their famous grandfather called "The Ballad of John McEntire". It was pressed as a single by a local label and was issued in small numbers regionally. The trio eventually included a backing band which performed at local functions. The group was later named The Kiowa High School Cowboy Band. They also had paying gigs at bars at dance halls in nearby Oklahoma City. "We were a bunch of kids barely in puberty who didn't get to bed until almost daylight after some of our shows," McEntire remembered. The band parted ways once Reba's brother graduated high school. In 1973, McEntire graduated from Kiowa High School. Once finishing high school, McEntire enrolled in college at Southeastern Oklahoma State University. She majored in elementary education with a minor in music. She completed student teaching and later graduated with a Bachelor's degree. She also continued to help out on her family's ranch during her college years. In 1974, McEntire's father encouraged her to take a job opportunity singing "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the National Finals Rodeo in Oklahoma City. She contacted family friend and rodeo announcer Clem McSpadden, who helped her get hired for the gig. Following one of her performances, McEntire was heard by country artist Red Steagall who was impressed by her singing. Reba, her siblings and her mother later joined him at a hotel party the same week. At the hotel, Reba performed an a cappella version of Dolly Parton's "Joshua". Jacqueline McEntire asked Steagall if he was able to help get all her children a recording contract. After going back to Nashville, Steagall contacted her in early 1975 and said, "I can't take all three. But I could take Reba. She's got something a little different." In March 1975 and accompanied by her mother, McEntire embarked on a trip to Nashville, Tennessee, to record a demonstration tape that Steagall hoped to pass along to record labels. At the start of the trip, she was unsure about pursuing a professional country music career. McEntire recalled in her autobiography continually making excuses for her mother to stop the car instead of traveling to Nashville. After noticing her daughter's fear, Jacqueline McEntire told her, "Now Reba, let me tell you something. If you don't want to go to Nashville, we don't have to do this. But I'm living all my dreams through you." The conversation changed her mind and they continued on to Nashville. After recording a demo, McEntire's tape was heard by Glenn Keener of PolyGram/Mercury Records, who was interested in signing her to a Nashville contract. Keener brought McEntire's tape and another female's tape to PolyGram's Chicago headquarters. The label informed Kenner that he could only sign one female performer. "He looked at the two tapes in his hand and handed ’em mine," McEntire told Entertainment Weekly. ## Music career ### 1976–1983: Career launch at Mercury In November 1975, McEntire signed a country music recording contract with PolyGram/Mercury Records. She made her first recordings for the label in January 1976. She was produced by Glenn Keener and was backed by a Countrypolitan arrangement that included a string section. McEntire's debut single was released in 1976 titled "I Don't Want to Be a One Night Stand". The track failed to become a major hit, only peaking at number 88 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart that May. It was followed by the low-charting Billboard country singles "(There's Nothing Like the Love) Between a Woman and Man" and "Glad I Waited Just for You". Mercury issued her self-titled debut album in 1977. In his album review, Greg Adams of AllMusic compared it to the country crossover style of Barbara Mandrell and Tammy Wynette. McEntire also began touring and performing more frequently. Without a band of her own, she often relied on house bands to accompany her. In some instances, the backing bands did not know country music and McEntire would have to fill her time onstage with jokes. McEntire's career gained more momentum by 1978. That year she collaborated on two singles with country artist Jacky Ward. The duo's double-sided release of "I'd Really Love to See You Tonight"/"Three Sheets in the Wind" became her first top 20 hit on the country chart. When Glenn Keener left the PolyGram/Mercury roster, McEntire inherited producer Jerry Kennedy. Kennedy produced her second studio album titled Out of a Dream (1979). The album's cover of Patsy Cline's "Sweet Dreams" became her first top 20 hit as a solo artist. Four additional top 40 country singles were spawned from the album as well. By 1980, McEntire had formed her own band which included sister Susie and brother Pake McEntire. She also hired a new manager. McEntire and her band toured to dates in a three-car caravan, which included a horse trailer for transporting instruments. She later upgraded to a bus nicknamed "Silver Eagle", which routinely broke down. Also in 1980, "(You Lift Me) Up to Heaven" became her first top ten hit on the country songs chart. It was included on her third studio album, Feel the Fire, which was released in October. By this point, McEntire's label pushed her to record music in a soft country pop style that she often disagreed with. Future material (which included her next album) was recorded in this format. Her fourth album, Heart to Heart was issued in 1981 and became her first disc to chart the Billboard Country Albums list. It received only a 2.5 star review from AllMusic's William Ruhlmann, who described McEntire as being "a promising, but not yet accomplished country artist." Yet its lead single, "Today All Over Again", became her highest charting country single yet, reaching number five. In 1983, McEntire's bus had broken down when she was informed that her latest single "Can't Even Get the Blues" reached the number one spot on the Billboard country chart. It was followed by her second number one song "You're the First Time I Thought About Leaving". The track also became her second to reach the top ten of Canada's RPM country songs chart. Both singles appeared on her 1983 album Unlimited. The following year, the single "Why Do We Want (What We Know We Can't Have)" reached the top ten. With increased success in the country music industry, she was able to arrange an early release from PolyGram/Mercury in 1983. "Let met put it this way, I've sorta taken my career into control myself," she explained of the decision. ### 1984–1990: Breakthrough McEntire signed with MCA Records in 1984 and released her seventh studio album Just a Little Love. Harold Shedd was originally intended to produce the disc, however, McEntire rejected his desire for a country pop arrangement. Instead, Norro Wilson produced the project. Despite spawning a top ten hit, McEntire was still dissatisfied with the record's production and the lack of control over material. Instead, she turned to MCA president Jimmy Bowen who suggested that she find her own songs to record. Accompanied by Don "Dirt" Lanier, McEntire spent several days listening to various songs from publishing companies. Eventually she found a song written by Harlan Howard titled "Somebody Should Leave" and a song by Jon Moffat titled "How Blue". Released as singles, they reached the number one spot on the country songs chart and later appeared on 1984's My Kind of Country. The collection also included several covers of classic country songs by Ray Price, Charley Pride and Connie Smith. AllMusic's William Ruhlmann gave the disc 4.5 stars. Billboard magazine described McEntire on the album as being "the finest woman country singer since Kitty Wells." United Press wrote that the album "represents a victory for McEntire. She has pulled in the reins of her career, regained control of her music and her life." The album became her breakthrough recording, leading McEntire to winning 1984's Female Vocalist of the Year accolade from the Country Music Association. Along with music by George Strait and Randy Travis, the album also brought forth a stylistic change in country towards traditional arrangements and sounds. Her next MCA album was 1985's Have I Got a Deal for You. The project followed the same traditional country format of its predecessor. It was produced by Jimmy Bowen, along with co-production credits from McEntire herself. The album 's title track reached the Billboard country top ten along with "Only in My Mind", a song composed by McEntire herself. Just a few months later, on October 19, McEntire performed the National anthem at game 1 of the 1985 World Series. In February 1986, her ninth studio album was released named Whoever's in New England. On the record, McEntire and co-producer Jimmy Bowen mixed a traditional country style with a modern, contemporary sound. Author Kurt Wolff described the title track's production, as being "bigger and sentimentalism more obvious, even manipulative". Issued as the lead single, the title track peaked at number one on the Billboard country chart and won McEntire the Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance. The album itself became her first to top the Billboard Country Albums survey. and later certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for sales of one million copies. By this point McEntire had reached the height of her commercial stardom. Following this, McEntire made changes to her stage show. She began implementing choreography and experimented with stage lighting. Also in 1986, McEntire's twelfth studio album appeared titled What Am I Gonna Do About You. AllMusic found that it lacked the features that had made Whoever's in New England unique. The title track was the lead single from the release. It became her next number one song on the Billboard country chart and her first number one on the RPM Canadian country chart. Its second single "One Promise Too Late" also topped the country chart. Her thirteenth studio project, The Last One to Know, was released in 1987 and reached number three on the Billboard country albums chart. Reviewer Tom Roland noted that McEntire chose material that reflected her recent divorce from first husband Charlie Battles. Both the title track and "Love Will Find Its Way to You" topped the Billboard country songs chart. In late 1987, McEntire released her first Christmas collection called Merry Christmas to You. Also in 1987, she played Carnegie Hall in New York City for the first time. In the late 1980s, McEntire took more control of her career. She fired her manager and formed her own entertainment company that helped further promote her material. Other new changes included her 1988 pop-inspired release Reba. Her fifteenth studio disc included covers of the former pop hits "Respect" and "A Sunday Kind of Love". It produced the number one Billboard country singles "New Fool at an Old Game" and "I Know How He Feels". It was followed by 1989's Sweet Sixteen, which was noted to be a more of a "return[s] to the neo-traditionalist fold", according to reviewer William Ruhlmann. The album featured the country hits "'Til Love Comes Again", "Little Girl", "Walk On" and a cover of "Cathy's Clown". Her first live project titled Reba Live was also released in 1989. Rumor Has It (1990) was another pop-oriented album release featuring a mix of ballads and uptempo numbers. It was the first disc in McEntire's career to reach the top 40 of the Billboard 200 albums chart. The disc would become McEntire's highest-selling album, certifying three-times platinum from the RIAA. Four hit country singles came from the release, including "You Lie" and her cover of Bobby Gentrys' 1969 single "Fancy". The latter single eventually became one of McEntire's signature songs. ### 1991: Plane crash and For My Broken Heart In the late 1980s, McEntire's touring schedule became increasingly busy. To avoid long bus trips, she and her band began traveling by private planes to concerts. McEntire and her touring band started the 1991 leg of their tour with dates in Alaska, Saginaw, Michigan, Fort Wayne, Indiana and a private gig for IBM in San Diego, California. Two planes were scheduled to leave San Diego which would carry McEntire's band. McEntire, her husband and her stylist would take a different aircraft the next day. In the early hours of March 16, 1991, McEntire was awakened by a phone call from Roger Woolsey, pilot of the second plane. McEntire's husband took the call and discovered that one of the planes had crashed. Following the successful takeoff of both planes, one plane's wing hit the side of Otay Mountain in San Diego, killing everyone on board. In total, eight members of her band were killed: Chris Austin, Kirk Cappello, Joey Cigainero, Paula Kaye Evans, Jim Hammon, Terry Jackson, Anthony Saputo, and Michael Thomas. In addition, pilot Donald Holmes and co-pilot Chris Hollinger were also killed. The first plane was a Hawker Siddeley DH-125-1A/522 charter jet that took off at 1:40 AM from the Brown Field Municipal Airport, located near the US/Mexico border. After reaching an altitude of 3,400 feet (1,040 m) above sea level, the aircraft crashed on the side of Otay Mountain, located 10 miles (16 km) east of the airport. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determined the probable cause of the accident was related to "improper pilot planning". Meanwhile, the second plane carrying the rest of her band made it successfully to an airport in Nashville. McEntire, her husband and hair stylist returned on their own plane following the accident. "By the time that long, terrible weekend was over, we were emotionally and physically exhausted," McEntire stated in her autobiography. The news was reported nearly immediately to McEntire and her husband, who were sleeping at a nearby hotel. A spokeswoman for McEntire made a statement to The Los Angeles Times on behalf of her: "She was very close to all of them. Some of them had been with her for years. Reba is totally devastated by this. It's like losing part of your family. Right now she just wants to get back to Nashville." Two days after the crash, McEntire conducted an interview with People magazine and scheduled a memorial service for the families of the victims. Nine days following the accident, McEntire performed at the 63rd Academy Awards ceremony, singing the Best Original Song nominee "I'm Checkin' Out" from the film Postcards from the Edge. In addition, Vince Gill and Dolly Parton offered their help in reorganizing her touring band. McEntire dedicated her sixteenth album, For My Broken Heart, to the deceased members of her road band. Released in October 1991, it contained songs of sorrow and lost love about "all measure of suffering", according to Alanna Nash of Entertainment Weekly. Nash reported that McEntire "still hits her stride with the more traditional songs of emotional turmoil, above all combining a spectacular vocal performance with a terrific song on 'Buying Her Roses', a wife's head-spinning discovery of her husband's other woman." The disc peaked at number three on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart. It also became her highest-charting release on the Billboard 200 yet, peaking at number 13. It later sold over four million copies in the United States, becoming her best-selling album to date. Its title track and "Is There Life Out There" both became number one Billboard country singles. In addition, "The Greatest Man I Never Knew" and McEntire's cover of "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia" both became major country hits. ### 1992–2002: Continued country success In December 1992, McEntire's seventeenth album It's Your Call was released. A sign of her increased mainstream success, the album was her first to reach the top ten of the Billboard 200. It spawned the country hits "Take It Back", the title track and a number one duet with Vince Gill called "The Heart Won't Lie". Critic Brian Mansfield compared the disc to For My Broken Heart, concluding that "only casual or partial listeners will be moved as much." Christopher John Farley of Time wrote that the album ranged from being "relaxing" to "cathartic", and "these vocals from one of the best country singers linger in the mind". For her next release, McEntire collaborated with up-and-coming artist Linda Davis on the single "Does He Love You". MCA Records encouraged McEntire to record the track with more established acts like Wynonna Judd or Trisha Yearwood, but ultimately finalized the track with Davis. It became her eighteenth number one hit on the Country Songs chart and her sixteenth number one hit on the Canadian country chart. It was later included on her 1993 compilation Greatest Hits Volume Two. Later that year, Davis and McEntire performed the duet at the CMA Awards. For her performance, McEntire wore a red dress with a plunging neckline that created controversy among the Nashville community. Her eighteenth studio release was 1994's Read My Mind. The disc reached number two on both the Billboard 200 and the Top Country Albums chart. The disc later reached sales of three million copies in the United States and certified three times platinum from the RIAA. Five major hits came from the release, including "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter", "Till You Love Me" and a song about a woman contracting AIDS called "She Thinks His Name Was John". The latter recording only reached a top 20 charting position due to its controversial lyrics. McEntire's nineteenth studio album, Starting Over (1995) is a collection of her favorite songs originally recorded by others. The album was made to commemorate McEntire's twenty years in the music industry. The album received a less favorable response from critics than that of her previous releases. While the project spawned three charting singles, only McEntire's cover of "Ring on Her Finger, Time on Her Hands" became a top ten country song. Starting Over was certified platinum by the RIAA within the first two months of its release. McEntire's next album release What If It's You was issued by MCA in November 1996. The record was a return to a contemporary country sound. It debuted at number 15 on the Billboard 200 and eventually topped the Billboard country albums list. It received a more favorable response from radio programmers than that of her 1995 album and received greater promotion. Critic Thom Owens noted that the project "[didn't] offer any new tricks from Reba McEntire, but it is nevertheless an excellent reminder of her deep talents as a vocalist." Its first single, "The Fear of Being Alone" became a top five hit, while "How Was I to Know" reached the number one spot on the Billboard country songs survey. McEntire began touring with country duo Brooks & Dunn during the mid 1990s. Their touring collaborating led to the recording of a duet titled "If You See Him/If You See Her" in 1998. The track topped both the Billboard country songs chart and the Canadian RPM country chart. Their initial collaborations would lead to several more professional endeavors over the years, including a joint Las Vegas residency. The duet was included on McEntire's If You See Him album and Brooks & Dunn's If You See Her album, both of which were released in June 1998. Thom Owens found that both album titles were named nearly the same as "a way to draw attention for both parties, since they were no longer new guns—they were veterans in danger of losing ground to younger musicians". If You See Him produced three more top ten country hits including "Forever Love" and "One Honest Heart". In 1999, McEntire released two albums. In September she issued her second Christmas album, The Secret of Giving: A Christmas Collection. In November, her twenty-second studio album, So Good Together was released. Entertainment Weekly commented that most of the album's material was "an odd set—mostly ballads, including an English/Portuguese duet with Jose e Durval on Boz Scaggs' 'We're All Alone'". It featured the top five country songs "What Do You Say" and "I'll Be". McEntire focused on an acting career in the early 2000s and took a temporary musical hiatus. One exception was 2001's "I'm a Survivor". The single became a top five country hit and the theme song to McEntire's 2001 television series. ### 2003–2015: Country music comeback, record label switch and continued music success McEntire returned to her recording career in August 2003 with the release of the MCA single "I'm Gonna Take That Mountain". The song was included on her first studio album in four years titled Room to Breathe (November 2003). "The reason I named the album Room to Breathe is because I needed a little room to breathe," McEntire told Billboard. The 12-track disc was produced by Buddy Cannon and Norro Wilson. It also featured a guest appearance from Vince Gill. Room to Breathe debuted at number four on the Billboard country chart and later certified platinum in the United States. It spawned McEntire's first number one song in six years titled "Somebody". Also featured was the top ten single "He Gets That from Me". In 2004, she embarked on her first tour in several years also titled "Room to Breathe", which included 36 cities in the United States. In 2005, MCA released the double-disc compilation titled Reba \#1's while she was in between albums. In September 2007, McEntire's next studio disc was released titled Reba: Duets. The album was a collection of duets with various music artists, including Kenny Chesney, LeAnn Rimes, Trisha Yearwood, Carole King, and Justin Timberlake. Reba: Duets topped the Billboard country chart and the Billboard 200, becoming her first album in her career to reach the top of both lists. Reba: Duets was later certified platinum by the RIAA. The album was given high critical praise from magazines such as PopMatters, which compared McEntire to artists like Janis Joplin and Tina Turner. AllMusic's Thom Jurek gave it 3.5 stars, commenting that "it's full of good to great songs delivered in mostly interesting ways." The first single was a duet version of Kelly Clarkson's "Because of You", which reached number two on the American country chart and topped the Canadian country songs chart. In 2008, McEntire announced that she would be departing her label of 25 years and signing with the Valory Music Group, an imprint of Big Machine Records. The switch to Valory reunited McEntire with the label's president, Scott Borchetta, whom she had worked with previously. Her first Valory single was 2009's "Strange". The song debuted at number 39 Billboard country songs chart, giving McEntire the highest single debut of her career and peaked at number eleven. Her twenty-sixth studio album, Keep On Loving You was released in August 2009 and also topped both the Billboard Country and 200 charts. In 2009, "Consider Me Gone" (spawned as the record's second single) became her 24th number-one on the Billboard chart in December. At age 54, McEntire became one of the oldest women to have a number one single on the country songs chart. McEntire's twenty-ninth studio album All the Women I Am was released in November 2010. Steve Morse of The Boston Globe called the project "one of her best efforts", while Thom Jurek at AllMusic only gave it a 2.5 star rating, calling it "awkward" and lacking a "center". "Turn On the Radio" was issued as the lead single prior to the album, eventually becoming her twenty-fourth number one on the Billboard country survey. Three additional charting singles were spawned from All the Women I Am that peaked outside the top 20. Her All the Women I Am Tour followed shortly after featuring country acts the Band Perry, Steel Magnolia, and Edens Edge. In 2014, McEntire moved to Big Machine's new imprint for veteran artists titled Nash Icon Music. Her first Nash Icon single was 2015's "Going Out Like That", which reached the top 25 of the Billboard country songs chart. It was included on her 2015 Nash Icon album Love Somebody. The album topped the country albums chart and charted the top five of the Billboard 200. In 2016, McEntire released a third Christmas-themed studio album called My Kind of Christmas. The album was exclusively sold at Cracker Barrel and online. She also announced she would soon be selling her own line of clothing, home decor, jewelry and other things under the "Rockin' R by Reba" line also at Cracker Barrel. ### 2017–present: New beginnings in her 60s After her split from ex-husband Narvel Blackstock, McEntire took control of her career as her own manager. She recruited Justin McIntosh of Starstruck Entertainment, Leslie Matthews serving as Brand Manager, and Carolyn Snell who has been with McEntire for nine years. They formed Reba's Business Inc. (RBI). She moved out of the building she and Blackstock had worked in, and moved her company to Green Hills, Nashville. On December 15, 2016, McEntire announced that she was releasing her first gospel album titled Sing It Now: Songs of Faith & Hope. It was released by Nash Icon/Rockin' R Records on February 3, 2017, and consists of two discs. Disc one contains traditional hymns while disc two contains original tracks. "Softly and Tenderly", featuring Kelly Clarkson and Trisha Yearwood, was the first track off the album released. Another track on the album, "In the Garden/Wonderful Peace", features the Isaacs. Jay DeMarcus of the Rascal Flatts produced the album. The first single off the album is "Back to God". In January 2018, McEntire won the Grammy Award for Best Roots Gospel Album, her first nomination since 2007, and her first Grammy Award win in more than twenty years, since 1994. She also headlined the C2C: Country to Country festival in the UK alongside Brad Paisley and Zac Brown Band in March. Because of its limited release in 2016, on October 13, 2017 My Kind of Christmas was re-released - this time including songs with Vince Gill, Amy Grant, Darius Rucker and Lauren Daigle - on her website and through iTunes. In July 2018, it was announced that McEntire would be one of four honorees for the 41st annual Kennedy Center Honors, along with Cher, Philip Glass, and Wayne Shorter. The ceremony was held December 2, 2018, and broadcast on CBS December 26, 2018. McEntire released her twenty-ninth studio album Stronger Than the Truth on April 5, 2019. McEntire also returned to host the 54th Academy of Country Music Awards on April 8, 2019. On February 20, 2020, during a surprise appearance at the Country Radio Seminar, McEntire announced she had signed a new record deal with MCA Nashville, returning to the label after leaving in November 2008. McEntire hosted the 54th Annual Country Music Association Awards alongside Darius Rucker in November 2020. McEntire previously hosted in 2019 with Carrie Underwood and Dolly Parton, 1992 with Vince Gill, 1991 by herself (the second solo female host) and 1990 with Randy Travis. On October 3, 2022, Reba revealed that she would continue her Reba: Live in Concert tour going through 2023 and play New York City's Madison Square Garden for the very first time. ## Acting career ### 1989–1999: Entry into film and television acting In 1990, she obtained her first film role playing Heather Gummer in the horror comedy Tremors, along with Kevin Bacon. The film told the story of a small group of people living in Nevada who were fighting subterranean worm-like creatures. After the film's release, McEntire developed a strong interest in acting and made it her second career. The film earned McEntire a nomination for Best Supporting Actress at the 1991 Saturn Awards. The following year, she starred along with Kenny Rogers and Burt Reynolds in the made-for-television movies The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw and The Man From Left Field. In 1994, McEntire worked with director Rob Reiner in the film North, playing Ma Tex. In 1994, McEntire starred in Is There Life Out There? a television movie based on her song of the same name. The following year, she appeared in Buffalo Girls, which was based upon the life of western cowgirl Calamity Jane (played by Anjelica Huston). Playing Jane's friend Annie Oakley, Buffalo Girls was nominated for an Emmy award. In 1996, McEntire was cast by director James Cameron as Molly Brown in his film Titanic. However, when it became apparent production for the film would extend well beyond its original length, McEntire had to turn down the part, as she had already scheduled prior concert engagements. The role was recast with Kathy Bates. In 1998, she starred as Lizzie Brooks in Forever Love, which was based upon McEntire's hit single of the same name. ### 2000–2007: Broadway and television series In early 2001, McEntire expanded into theater, starring in the Broadway revival of Annie Get Your Gun. Playing Annie Oakley (whom she had previously portrayed in Buffalo Girls), her performance was critically acclaimed by several newspapers, including The New York Times, which commented, "Without qualification the best performance by an actress in a musical comedy this season." McEntire personally called the musical "some of the hardest work I've ever done in my life". In 2005, McEntire starred as Nellie Forbush in the Carnegie Hall concert production of the Broadway musical South Pacific with Alec Baldwin as Luther Billis and Brian Stokes Mitchell as Emile de Becque, directed by Walter Bobbie and with an adapted script by David Ives. The concert was broadcast as part of the Great Performances series in 2006. In October 2001, McEntire premiered her half-hour television sitcom Reba on The WB. The show was based around divorced mother Reba Hart, who learns how to handle life situations after her husband divorces her in order to marry his dental hygienist––with whom he had been cheating and gotten pregnant––and then their teenage daughter becomes pregnant as well. Reba garnered critical acclaim and success, becoming the network's highest-rated television show for adults ranging from the ages of 18 to 49. The show ran for six seasons and earned McEntire a nomination for a Golden Globe award. It was canceled on February 18, 2007; the series finale had 8.7 million viewers. ### 2011–present: Brief television return and current projects In September 2011, McEntire confirmed on her website that ABC had ordered a pilot for her second television series Malibu Country. McEntire played a divorced mother of two who moves to Malibu, California to restart her music career. The pilot was filmed in April 2012 and began production on its first season in August. It was announced that the pilot for Malibu Country would premiere November 2, 2012. The show was broadcast Friday nights at 8:30/7:30c on ABC. On May 11, 2012, McEntire tweeted that the show had been picked up. She also was the host in the 2011 NASCAR Award Show in Las Vegas. Despite reports that Malibu Country was the most-watched freshman comedy in its debut season (8.7 million), the show was canceled on May 10, 2013, after eighteen episodes. In January 2017, it was announced that McEntire would star and produce a Southern drama series for ABC titled Red Blooded. It was reported in May that ABC ultimately turned down the show, so it moved to being shopped around to other networks. In January 2018, Reba was chosen to portray KFC's first female Colonel Sanders. The commercials ran through the end of April 2018. In 2020, McEntire launched a podcast titled Living & Learning hosted by herself and her former Reba co-star Melissa Peterman. She made a cameo appearance in the 2021 comedy film Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar as a water spirit named Trish after Annie Mumolo and Kristen Wiig, who wrote, produced, and starred in the film, wrote her an "impassioned letter" asking her to join the film. Director Josh Greenbaum said in an interview, "There's some casting that just clicks. Reba is not only 100% authentic, we knew she would be game." In May 2022, ABC announced that McEntire will be joining the cast of the drama Big Sky, playing local businesswoman Sunny Barnes in season 3. McEntire starred in Reba McEntire's The Hammer on Lifetime in 2023. The country star will reunite with her Reba sitcom co-star Melissa Peterman in the film inspired by the life of traveling Nevada circuit judge Kim Wanker. The film also stars McEntire's boyfriend Rex Linn as Bart Crawford, a mysterious cowboy with unknown motives, and Kay Shioma Metchie as Vicky, the tough talking bailiff who serves as Kim's right hand and trusted friend. In May 2023, it was announced that McEntire will be a coach on The Voice, replacing Blake Shelton. She will be a coach on season 24 alongside Gwen Stefani, Niall Horan, and John Legend. ## Musical styles and legacy McEntire's sound has been influenced by the country music of Bob Wills, Merle Haggard, Dolly Parton, Barbara Mandrell, and Patsy Cline. In college, McEntire attended local dances at the Oklahoma–Texas border so she could dance to Wills's music, commenting that, "it didn't get any better than dancing to Bob Wills music". She also explained Merle Haggard's influence on her career, stating "I had every album he ever put out", and would sing "every song he did", along with her brother, Pake and sister, Susie. In addition, her first major hit, "Sweet Dreams" was a remake of Patsy Cline's version of the song, according to McEntire herself. McEntire's music has been described not only to be built upon traditional country music, but also expand into the genres of country pop, mainstream pop, soul, and R&B. At times, her music has been criticized for moving away from traditional country music. Many music critics have called her music to be "melodramatic", "formulaic", and "bombastic", particularly after her 1988 album Reba. Studio releases such as Sweet Sixteen, Rumor Has It, It's Your Call, and Starting Over have been described by these terms. McEntire possesses a contralto vocal range and performs "vocal gymnastics" with her voice, a musical technique in which a singer twirls a note around, using their vibrato. McEntire has credited Dolly Parton for influencing this trait, stating that she always listened to Parton's records and find her style of vocal gymnastics "so pretty". McEntire has often been regarded as one of country music's most influential female vocalists and most beloved entertainers. She is highly credited for remaining one of country's most popular female artists for nearly four decades, maintaining her success by continually incorporating contemporary musical sounds without changing her traditional vocal style. For numerous artists, she has been credited as an inspiration to their careers in music. The Net Music Countdown second-handedly reported, "That influence has manifested itself in many ways. As a role model, she's shown others how to handle fame with grace and good humor while never backing down from her values or goals. Just as importantly, she's shown others to refuse to accept limitations on what she can do or how much she can achieve." McEntire also explained to the online website, "Whatever I'm doing, I feel like I'm representing country music". "It's always been my main career, and it's where my loyalties lie. I feel like I'm waving the flag of country music wherever I go, and I couldn't be prouder to do it." ## Personal life McEntire is a Christian, and she has stated that her faith in God has helped her immensely throughout her life. Two of her siblings have also had careers in the music industry. Her brother Pake dabbled in the country music industry in the late 1980s but returned to Oklahoma after a brief stint. He owns and operates a 1,000-acre (400 ha) ranch near Coalgate, Oklahoma, and continues to rodeo. Her sister Susie McEntire-Eaton (Martha Susan "Susie" McEntire-Eaton, formerly Luchsinger) is a successful Christian music singer who travels the country with her husband, speaking and performing. She also has an older sister, Alice Foran, a retired social worker who resides in Lane, Oklahoma. Her niece Calamity McEntire is the Assistant Head Coach for the University of Illinois Women’s Basketball Team. ### Relationships and family In 1976, McEntire married steer wrestling champion and rancher Charlie Battles who was 10 years her senior and had two sons from his previous marriage. The couple shared a ranch in Oklahoma. In 1987, McEntire divorced Battles and moved to Nashville, Tennessee, to further pursue her career. In 1989, McEntire married her manager and former steel guitar player Narvel Blackstock. The couple wed at Lake Tahoe on a boat in a private ceremony. Together, the pair took over all aspects of McEntire's career, forming Starstruck Entertainment, which was originally designed to help manage her career. From her marriage to Blackstock, McEntire gained three stepchildren, Chassidy, Shawna, and Brandon. She gave birth to a son, Shelby Steven McEntire Blackstock, in February 1990. On August 3, 2015, it was announced in a joint statement on McEntire's website that she and Blackstock had been separated for a few months after 26 years of marriage. McEntire announced in December 2015 that their divorce had been finalized on October 28, 2015. Despite the divorce, McEntire remains very close to her three stepchildren and the Blackstock family; she considers her stepchildren's children to be her grandchildren. McEntire's stepson Brandon Blackstock married singer Kelly Clarkson, with whom he has a daughter and a son. Speaking about their impending marriage in 2013, McEntire stated she was "Thrilled to death, to have my buddy as my daughter-in-law. I mean, who could ask for more?" In 2017, McEntire began a relationship with photographer Anthony "Skeeter" Lasuzzo. The couple met through McEntire's association with Kix Brooks. In describing her feelings about Lasuzzo, she stated, "We're totally in love — absolutely," she says. "I wouldn't put up with somebody for two years if I wasn't in love with 'em!" McEntire and Lasuzzo separated in the fall of 2019. In 2020, McEntire began dating film and TV actor Rex Linn. ### Philanthropy In 1992, she opened Reba's Ranch House in Denison, Texas. Similar to a Ronald McDonald House, the house incorporates holistic care by providing a calm setting for rest, warm meals for nourishment and sensitive staff for spiritual connections to guests who have loved ones being treated at the nearby Texoma Medical Center. Over the course of her career, she has been and continues to be an active supporter of various charitable organizations including Habitat for Humanity, The Salvation Army, the American Red Cross, Feeding America and Celebrity Fight Night. She has been honored with the Minnie Pearl Award, the ACM Home Depot Humanitarian Award and the Andrea Bocelli Foundation Humanitarian Award for her efforts. In 2018, she was honored with the Horatio Alger Award for Education, Charity Work. Named after the "rags to riches" writer, the award recognizes perseverance and giving back. ## Accolades McEntire has the second-most wins for the Academy of Country Music's Top Female Vocalist Awards with seven. McEntire holds the record American Music Awards for Favorite Country Female Artist (twelve). She also holds the distinction of being the first to win the Country Music Association's Female Vocalist of the Year Award four times consecutively. Martina McBride won Female Vocalist four times, although not consecutively. In 2013, Miranda Lambert tied McEntire to win Female Vocalist four years in a row and in 2016 Carrie Underwood joined this elite club by winning her fourth Female Vocalist award. McEntire is also a rare musical artist to achieve solo number-ones across four decades (1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s). She holds the record for 2nd most CMA Award nominations for a female artist, with 51. McEntire also holds the record with the most ACM Awards nominations for a female artist with 47, respectively. She is also the recipient of three Grammy Awards, winning in 1987, 1994 and 2018. In December 2018, McEntire received the Kennedy Center Honor. When Reba McEntire made her Grand Ole Opry debut on September 17, 1977, she almost did not make it in the door after a guard at the Opry gate missed her name on the night's list of performers. Her parents and older sister, Alice, drove 1,400 miles round trip from their Oklahoma home to see what turned out to be Reba's three-minute performance that night. Her act was cut from two songs to just one—"Invitation to the Blues"—because of a surprise appearance by Dolly Parton. McEntire was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry on January 17, 1986. "The Grand Ole Opry is a home," she says. "It's a family. It's like a family reunion, when you come back and get to see everybody." In 2011, the Country Music Association announced that McEntire would be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. McEntire was unable to attend the announcement after her father had slipped into a coma following a stroke. McEntire attended the official induction ceremony alongside the other 2011 inductees Jean Shepard and Bobby Braddock. She was inducted by Dolly Parton. ## Discography ### Studio albums - Reba McEntire (1977) - Out of a Dream (1979) - Feel the Fire (1980) - Heart to Heart (1981) - Unlimited (1982) - Behind the Scene (1983) - Just a Little Love (1984) - My Kind of Country (1984) - Have I Got a Deal for You (1985) - Whoever's in New England (1986) - What Am I Gonna Do About You (1986) - The Last One to Know (1987) - Merry Christmas to You (1987) - Reba (1988) - Sweet Sixteen (1989) - Rumor Has It (1990) - For My Broken Heart (1991) - It's Your Call (1992) - Read My Mind (1994) - Starting Over (1995) - What If It's You (1996) - If You See Him (1998) - The Secret of Giving: A Christmas Collection (1999) - So Good Together (1999) - Room to Breathe (2003) - Reba: Duets (2007) - Keep On Loving You (2009) - All the Women I Am (2010) - Love Somebody (2015) - My Kind of Christmas (2016) - Sing It Now: Songs of Faith & Hope (2017) - Stronger Than the Truth (2019) - Not That Fancy (2023) ## Tours Headlining tours - The Reba McEntire Show (1985) - The Last One to Know Tour (1987) - North American Tour '88 (1988) - World Tour '89 (1989) - '90 Tour (1990) - Rumor Has It Tour (1991) - Reba in Concert (1992) - It's Your Call Tour (1993) - Read My Mind Tour (1994) - Starting Over Tour (1995) - 20th Anniversary Tour (1996-97) - Singer's Diary (1999-2000) - Room to Breathe Tour (2004) - All the Women I Am Tour (2011-12) - Canadian Tour (2013) - Reba Live! (2018) - Summer Tour 2019 (2019) - Reba: Live in Concert (2022-23) Co-headlining tours - Brooks & Dunn and Reba: The Tour (with Brooks & Dunn) (1997-98) - Girls Night Out (with Martina McBride) (2001) - 2 Hats and a Redhead (with Brad Paisley and Terri Clark) (2005) - 2 Worlds 2 Voices Tour (with Kelly Clarkson) (2008) - Reba and George Strait on Tour (with George Strait) (2010-11) Residency shows - Key to the Heart (2006-07) - Together in Vegas (with Brooks & Dunn) (2015-2021) Opening act - Grand Tour\* (for George Jones) (1981) - The Statler Brothers in Concert (for the Statler Brothers) (1983-84) ## Filmography ## See also - List of best-selling music artists in the United States

Scelidosaurus

Genus of reptiles (fossil)

Scelidosaurus (/ˌsɛlɪdoʊˈsɔːrəs/; with the intended meaning of "limb lizard", from Greek skelis/σκελίς meaning 'rib of beef' and sauros/σαυρος meaning 'lizard') is a genus of herbivorous armoured ornithischian dinosaur from the Jurassic of the British Isles (specifically England and Ireland). Scelidosaurus lived during the Early Jurassic Period, during the Sinemurian to Pliensbachian stages around 191 million years ago. This genus and related genera at the time lived on the supercontinent Laurasia. Its fossils have been found in the Charmouth Mudstone Formation near Charmouth in Dorset, England, and these fossils are known for their excellent preservation. Scelidosaurus has been called the earliest complete dinosaur. It is the most completely known dinosaur of the British Isles. Scelidosaurus is currently the only classified dinosaur found in Ireland. Despite this, a modern description only materialised in 2020. After initial finds in the 1850s, comparative anatomist Richard Owen named and described Scelidosaurus in 1859. Only one species, Scelidosaurus harrisonii named by Owen in 1861, is considered valid today, although one other species was proposed in 1996. Scelidosaurus was about 4 metres (13 ft) long. It was a largely quadrupedal animal, feeding on low scrubby plants, the parts of which were bitten off by the small, elongated head to be processed in the large gut. Scelidosaurus was lightly armoured, protected by long horizontal rows of keeled oval scutes that stretched along the neck, back and tail. One of the oldest known and most "primitive" of the thyreophorans, the exact placement of Scelidosaurus within this group has been the subject of debate for nearly 150 years. This was not helped by the limited additional knowledge about the early evolution of armoured dinosaurs. Today most evidence suggests that Scelidosaurus is the most derived of the known basal thyreophorans, either closely related to Ankylosauria or Stegosauria+Ankylosauria. ## Description ### Size and posture A full-grown Scelidosaurus was rather small compared to most later non-avian dinosaurs, but it was a medium-sized species in the Early Jurassic. Some scientists have estimated a length of 4 metres (13 ft). In 2010, Gregory S. Paul gave a body length of 3.8 metres (12.5 ft) and a weight of 270 kg (600 lb). Scelidosaurus was quadrupedal, with the hindlimbs longer than the forelimbs. It may have reared up on its hind legs to browse on foliage from trees, but its arms were relatively long, indicating a mostly quadrupedal posture. A trackway from the Holy Cross Mountains of Poland shows a scelidosaur like animal walking in a bipedal manner, hinting that Scelidosaurus may have been more proficient at bipedalism than previously thought. ### Distinguishing traits The first modern diagnosis was provided by David Bruce Norman in 2020. In a first article, Norman provided autapomorphies, unique derived characters, of the skull. The front snout bones, the premaxillae, have a common central rough extension, in life bearing a small upper beak. The nasal bone has on its upper outside a facet touching the inner side of the ascending branch of the premaxilla. The antorbital fenestra is present as a bean-shaped depression, its lower edge formed by a sharp ridge. The central parietal crest on the skull roof is formed by two parallel crests separated by a narrow trough on the midline. The roof of the nasal cavity is formed by special plates above the vomers, called the "epivomers". The epipterygoid bone is shaped as a small conical vertical structure of which the base connects to the upper side of the pterygoid bone by means of a lateral flat surface. The basioccipital has large oblique facets on the lower sides. The opisthotic has an expanded pedicel with facets on its underside. Elongated epistyloid bones project obliquely to the rear and below, from the back of the skull. A small spur-like structure on the upper edge of the paroccipital process encases the posttemporal fenestra. The rear of the skull is fused on its upper edge with a pair of large curved horn-shaped osteoderms. The lower jaw shows only little exostosis, limited to the angular, and lacking an attached osteoderm. ### Skull The head of Scelidosaurus was small, about twenty centimetres long, and elongated. The skull was low in side view and triangular in top view, longer than it was wide, similar to that of earlier ornithischians. The snout, largely formed by the nasal bones, was flat on top. Scelidosaurus still had the five pairs of fenestrae (skull openings) seen in basal ornithischians: apart from the nostrils and eye sockets which are present in all basal dinosaurs, the fenestra antorbitalis and the upper and lower temporal fenestrae were not closed or overgrown, as with many later armoured forms. In fact, the upper temporal fenestrae were very large, forming conspicuous round openings in the top of the rear skull, serving as attachment areas for the powerful muscles that closed the lower jaws. The eye socket was slightly overshadowed in its front part by a brow ridge that has been seen as the prefrontal bone. In 2020, Norman concluded that it was a fused palpebral bone. Behind it, the upper rim of the eye socket was formed by the supraorbital bone. A study by Susannah Maidment e.a. concluded that juvenile specimens show that this bone was a fusion of three elements, one in front, the next in rear, and the third at the inner side. The premaxilla, the bone forming the snout tip, was short and no predentary, the bone core of the lower beak on the tip of the stout lower jaws, has been found, so the horny beak that is assumed present with all ornithischians was likely very short. Its teeth were longer and more triangular in side view than in later armoured dinosaurs. There were at least five teeth in each premaxilla, and at least nineteen in the maxilla and sixteen in the dentary of the lower jaw. However, the number of maxillary and dentary teeth were established with the incomplete skull of one of the first specimens found; the actual numbers might have ranged up to about two dozen, perhaps twenty-six for the lower jaw. The premaxillary teeth were somewhat longer and recurved. To the rear, they gradually approach the form of the maxillary teeth, beginning to show denticles. The crowns of the maxillary and dentary teeth have denticles on their edges and a swollen basis The ascending branches of the paired premaxillae notched the combined nasal bones, whereas the opposite was usual in ornithischians. The frontal bones were covered by a halo of fine ridges; these indicate the presence of keratinous plates, as with modern turtles. At the front of the braincase, paired hatchet-shaped ossified orbitosphenoids formed the floor of the olfactory lobes of the brain. The skull of the lectotype was damaged by a paleoichthyologist resulting in the detachment of triangular plates from the palate. These elements had been sketched by Norman in the seventies prior to the incident and interpreted as parts of the pterygoids, but in 2020 he concluded that they were special bones covering the roof of the nasal cavity, which he named the "epivomers". These are not known from any other animal. ### Postcranial skeleton The vertebral column of Scelidosaurus contained at least six neck vertebrae, seventeen dorsal vertebrae, four sacral vertebrae and at least thirty-five tail vertebrae. Though perhaps the actual total of cervical vertebrae was as high as seven or eight, the neck was only moderately long. The torso was relatively flat in side view, however, despite the belly being broad, it was not extremely vertically compressed as with ankylosaurs but taller than wide. The last three dorsal vertebrae had no ribs. The spines of the sacral vertebrae touched each other but were not fused into a supraneural plate. The quickly tapering tail was relatively short, probably representing about half of body length. The tail chevrons were strongly inclined to the rear. The hip area and tail base were stiffened by large numbers of ossified tendons. The scapula was short with a moderately expanded upper end. The coracoid was circular in side view. The elements of the forelimb were generally moderately long, straight and stout. The hand is only known from recent discoveries and has not yet been described. In the rather wide pelvis, the ilium was straight in side view. Its front blade was rod-shaped and moderately splayed to the outside, creating room for the belly. This was reinforced by the sacral ribs becoming longer towards the front. The sacral ribs were wider at their attachment areas with the ilium, but were not fused into a sacral yoke. The pubis featured a short prepubis. The pubis shaft was straight, running parallel to a straight ischium shaft that was transversely flattened at its lower end. The thighbone was straight in side view, in front view it was somewhat bowed to the outside. Its head was not separated from the shaft by a real neck. While the major trochanter was at about the same level as the head, the lower minor trochanter was separated from both by a deep cleft. At it rear side, the femur mid-shaft featured a well-developed drooping fourth trochanter, a process for the attachment of the retractor tail muscle, the Musculus caudofemoralis longus. The lower leg was somewhat shorter than the thighbone. The tibia had a wide upper end, with a cnemial crest protruding well to the front. The tibia lower end was also robust and rotated about 70° compared to the upper part, turning the foot strongly to the outside. The foot was very large and wide. The fifth metatarsal was only rudimentary but the other four were robust. Scelidosaurus had four large toes, with the innermost digit being the smallest. The fourth metatarsal was short but its toe was long and built to be splayed to the outside of the foot, to improve the stability. The claws were flat, hoof-shaped and curved to the inside. ### Armour The most obvious feature of Scelidosaurus is its armour, consisting of bony scutes embedded in the skin. These osteoderms were arranged in horizontal parallel rows down the animal's body. Osteoderms are today found in the skin of crocodiles, armadillos and some lizards. The osteoderms of Scelidosaurus ranged in both size and shape. Most were smaller or larger oval plates with a high keel on the outside, the highest point of the keel positioned more to the rear. Some scutes were small, flat and hollowed-out at the inside. The larger keeled scutes were aligned in regular horizontal rows. There were three rows of these along each side of the torso. The scutes of the lowest, lateral, row were more conical, rather than the blade-like osteoderms of Scutellosaurus. Between these main series, one or two rows of smaller oval keeled scutes were present. There were in total four rows of large scutes on the tail: one at the top midline, one at the midline of the underside, and one at each tail side. Whether the midline tail scutes continued over the torso and neck to the front is unknown and unlikely for the neck, though Scelidosaurus is often pictured this way. The neck had at each side two rows of large scutes. The osteoderms of the lower neck row were very large, flat and plate-like. The first osteoderms of the top neck rows formed a pair of unique three-pointed scutes directly behind the head. These points seem to have been connected by tendons to the rear joint processes, the postzygapophyses, of the axis vertebra. In general the scutes were larger at the front of the torso, the osteoderms diminishing towards the rear, especially on the surface of the thighs. The smallest flat round scutes might have filled the room between the larger osteoderm rows. Perhaps a row of vertical osteoderms was present on the upper arms. Compared to the later Ankylosauria, Scelidosaurus was lightly armoured, without continuous plating, spikes or pelvic shield. Rough areas on the skull and lower jaws indicate the presence of skin ossifications. Some of the latest specimens found show partly different osteoderms including scutes on which the keel is more like a thorn or spike. These specimens also seem to have little horns on the rear corners of the head, placed on the squamosal bones. Fossilized skin impressions have also been found. Between the bony scutes, Scelidosaurus had rounded non-overlapping scales like the present Gila monster. Between the large scutes, very small (5-10 millimetres [0.2-0.4 in]) flat "granules" of bone were perhaps distributed within the skin. In the later Ankylosauria, these small scutes may have developed into larger scutes, fusing into the multi-osteodermal plate armour seen in genera such as Ankylosaurus. ## History of study ### Discovery, naming, and type specimens During the 1850s, quarry owner James Harrison of Charmouth, West Dorset of England found fossils from the cliffs of Black Ven between Charmouth and Lyme Regis, that were quarried, possibly for raw material for the manufacture of cement. Some of these he gave to the collector and retired general surgeon Henry Norris. In 1858, Norris and Harrison sent some fragmentary limb bones to Professor Richard Owen of the British Museum (Natural History), London (today the Natural History Museum). Among them was a left thighbone, specimen GSM 109560. In 1859, Owen named the genus Scelidosaurus in an entry about palaeontology in the Encyclopædia Britannica. The lemma text contained a diagnosis, implicating that the genus was validly named and was not a nomen nudum, despite the fact that the definition was vague and no specimens were identified. Owen intended to call the dinosaur "hindlimb saurian" but confused the Greek word σκέλος, skelos, "hindlimb", with σκελίς, skelis, "rib of beef". The name was inspired by the strong development of the hind leg. Afterwards Harrison sent a knee joint, a claw (GSM 109561), a juvenile specimen and a skull to Owen, that were described in 1861. On that occasion the type species Scelidosaurus harrisonii was named, the specific name honouring Harrison. The skull later was revealed to be part of a nearly complete skeleton, that was described by Owen in 1863. British palaeontologist David Bruce Norman has stressed how remarkable it is that Owen, who previously had propounded that dinosaurs were active quadrupedal animals, largely neglected Scelidosaurus though it could serve as a prime example of this hypothesis and its fossil was one of the most complete dinosaurs found at that time. Norman explained this by Owen's excessive workload in this period, including several administrative functions, polemics with fellow-scientists and the study of a large number of even more interesting newly discovered extinct animals, such as Archaeopteryx. Norman also pointed out that Owen in 1861 suggested a lifestyle for Scelidosaurus that is very different from present ideas: it would have been a fish-eater and partially sea-dwelling. Owen had not indicated a holotype. In 1888, Richard Lydekker while cataloguing the NHMUK fossils, designated some of the hindlimb fragments described in 1861, specimen NHMUK 39496 consisting of a lower part of a femur and an upper part of the tibia and fibula, together forming a knee joint, as the type specimen, hereby implicitly choosing them as the lectotype of Scelidosaurus. Lydekker gave no reason for this choice; perhaps he was motivated by their larger size. Unfortunately, mixed in with the Scelidosaurus fossils had been the partial remains of a theropod dinosaur and the femur and tibia thus belonged to such a carnivore; this was not discovered until 1968 by Bernard Newman. The same year, B. H. Newman suggested to have Lydekker's selection of the knee joint as the lectotype officially rescinded by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, as the joint was in his opinion from a species related to Megalosaurus. Eventually, after Newman had already died, Alan Jack Charig actually filed a request in 1992. In 1994 the ICZN reacted positively, in Opinion 1788 deciding that the skull and skeleton, specimen NHMUK R.1111, would be the new lectotype of Scelidosaurus. The knee joint was in 1995 by Samuel Welles et al. informally assigned to a "Merosaurus", which name has not yet been validly published. It more likely belongs to some member of the Coelophysoidea or Neoceratosauria. It has also been established by Newman and confirmed by Roger Benson that the original left thighbone, GSM 109560, belonged to a theropod. The new lectotype skeleton had been uncovered in the Black Ven Marl or Woodstone Nodule Bed, marine deposits of the Charmouth Mudstone Formation, dating from the late Sinemurian stage, about 191 million years ago. It consists of a rather complete skeleton with skull and lower jaws. Only the snout tip, the neck base, the forelimbs and the tail end are missing. Hundreds of osteoderms were found in connection with the skeleton, many more or less in their original position. From the 1960s onward, this fossil was further prepared by Ronald Croucher using acid baths to free the bones from the surrounding matrix, a method perfected for the Charmouth fossils. In 1992, Charig reported that only a single block had yet to be treated, but he died before the results could be published. Norman, who intended to complete this task, had revealed some new anatomical details in 2004. Apart from these, a modern description was largely lacking. In 2020, Norman published articles on the skull and the postcrania, also taking later finds into account. It transpired that the acid baths had, through leakages, severely deteriorated the condition of the bones, further mishandling leading to breakage and crumbling. ### Additional specimens Apart from the lectotype, other fossils are known of Scelidosaurus. In 1888 Lydekker catalogued a large number of single bones, largely limb elements, and osteoderms, that had been acquired by the NHMUK from the Norris collection. Owen in 1861 described a second, partial, skeleton of a juvenile animal, that later was added to the collection of Elizabeth Philpot and today is registered in the Lyme Regis Museum as specimen LYMPH 1997.37.4-10. As it was relatively large, Owen speculated, in the context of its presumed marine lifestyle, that Scelidosaurus might have been ovoviviparous. The short prepubis in this specimen convinced scientists that this process did not represent the main pubic body as some had thought, who had been unable to believe that the thin, backward-pointing, pubis with the Ornithischia was homologous to the forward-pointing much larger pubic bone in most reptilian groups. In more recent times, new discoveries have been made at Charmouth, not through commercial quarrying but by the efforts of amateur palaeontologists. In 1968 a second partial juvenile skeleton was described, specimen NHMUK R6704, that had already been reported in 1959. Found by geologist James Frederick Jackson (1894-1966) of Charmouth, it is from a slightly younger layer, the Stonebarrow Marl Member dating to the early Pliensbachian, about 190 million years old. In 1985 Simon Barnsley, David Costain and Peter Langham excavated a partial skeleton including a very complete skull and skin impressions, which was sold to the Bristol Museum where it is registered as specimen BRSMG CE12785. Specimen CAMSMX.39256 is part of the collection of the Sedgwick Museum at Cambridge. Several specimens remain undescribed because they are in private collections. These include a 3.1 metres (ten feet) long skeleton found by David Sole in 2000, perhaps the most complete non-avian dinosaur exemplar ever discovered in the British Isles. All elements of the skeleton are now known. The finds by Sole differ from the lectotype in details of the armour and might represent a separate taxon or reflect sexual dimorphism. In 2020, Norman denied this. Between the years 1980 and 2000, three fossils were discovered on a beach near The Gobbins in Northern Ireland by palaeontologist Roger Byrne. Exact geologic provenance is not reported for any of the specimens, but the very dark colouration of the specimens indicate (through means of comparison to marine fossils in other Northern Irish localities) they hail from Lias Group rocks, likely from either the Planorbis Zone or the Pre-planorbis Zone of the Waterloo Mudstone Formation. The specimens include BELUM K3998, a proximal femur fragment discovered in January 1980; BELUM K12493, the fragment of a tibia shaft discovered in April 1981; and BELUM K2015.1.54, a small pentagonal object discovered in 2000. Histologist Robin Reid recognized the first specimen as dinosaurian due to its bone texture and structure, and reported it in 1989, suspecting it belonged to Scelidosaurus or a similar animal. Byrne then recognized the tibia specimen as dinosaurian using similar identifiers; it was assumed, based on association, the two specimens came from the same animal. The pentagonal specimen was then assumed to be a scelidosaur osteoderm on the same logic. These Irish specimens, alongside another discovered by fossil collector William Gray sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century, were formally studied by Michael J. Simms and colleagues and a study was published on them in the journal Proceedings of the Geologists' Association in December 2021. The assignment of the femoral fragment was upheld, with a clear ornithischian identity and with size and morphology specifically very similar to Scelidosaurus and unlike close relative Scutellosaurus. However, the tibia was reinterpreted as that of an indeterminate neotheropod, the pentagonal object as a mere piece of basalt resembling a fossil, and Grey's specimen as belonging to an ichthyosaur. The scelidosaur femur and theropod tibia are the only known remains of dinosaurs from Ireland, which has a poor Mesozoic fossil record entirely consisting of marine localities, and the scelidosaur specimen was the first ever reported from the island. In 2000, David Martill et al. announced the preservation of soft tissue in a specimen referred to a cf. Scelidosaurus sp. (that is, material tentatively referred to the genus Scelidosaurus but not to any specific species). The fossil, with inventory number BRSMG CF2781, was in the early 1990s, in an already prepared state, discovered in the legacy of the late Professor John Challinor, who had used it to illustrate his lectures. Its provenance is unknown. It consists of a series of eight caudal vertebrae in a cut slab of carbonate mudstone, which was judged to date from the late Hettangian to Sinemurian stages. Parts of the fossil were preserved in such a way that an envelope of preserved soft tissue is visible around the vertebrae, and show the presence of an epidermal layer over the scutes. The authors concluded that the osteoderms of all basal armoured dinosaurs were covered in a tough, probably keratinous layer of skin. ### Additional species Scelidosaurus harrisonii, named and described by Owen, is currently the only recognized species, based on several nearly complete skeletons. A potential second species from the Sinemurian-age Lower Lufeng Formation, Scelidosaurus oehleri, was described by David Jay Simmons in 1965 under its own genus, Tatisaurus. In 1996 Spencer G. Lucas moved it to Scelidosaurus. Although the fossils are fragmentary, this reassessment has not been accepted, and S. oehleri is today once again recognized as Tatisaurus. In 1989, scutes which were found in the Kayenta Formation (Glen Canyon Group) of northern Arizona, were by Kevin Padian referred to a Scelidosaurus sp., and used to determine that the age of the strata was around 199.6-196.5 million years ago, at a time when it was still thought that Scelidosaurus harrisonii dated to the early Sinemurian. These scutes established a geographic tie-in between Arizona's Glen Canyon and Europe, where fossils of Scelidosaurus had previously been discovered. Later scientists have rejected the assignment to Scelidosaurus, as the scutes are different in form. In 2014, Roman Ulansky named a new species, S. arizonenesis, based on these specimens. In 2016, Peter Malcolm Galton and Kenneth Carpenter identified it as a nomen dubium, instead once again placing the specimens as Thyreophora indet. ## Classification and phylogeny Scelidosaurus was placed in the Dinosauria by Owen in 1861. In 1868/1869 Edward Drinker Cope proposed a family Scelidosauridae in a double lecture but this was only published in December 1871; therefore it was Thomas Henry Huxley who validly named the Scelidosauridae in 1869. In the nineteenth century almost any armoured dinosaur then known has been considered a member of the Scelidosauridae. In the later twentieth century, the term was used for an assembly of "primitive" ornithischians close to the ancestry of ankylosaurs and stegosaurs, such as Scutellosaurus, Emausaurus, Lusitanosaurus and Tatisaurus. Today, paleontologists usually consider the Scelidosauridae paraphyletic, thus not forming a separate branch or clade; however, Benton (2004) lists the group as monophyletic. The family was resurrected by Chinese paleontologist Dong Zhiming in his 2001 description of Bienosaurus, a thyreophoran sharing close affinities with Scelidosaurus. Scelidosaurus was an ornithischian. It was the oldest ornithischian known until the description of Geranosaurus in 1911. During the twentieth century, it has been classified at different times as an ankylosaur or stegosaur. Alfred von Zittel (1902), William Elgin Swinton (1934), and Robert Appleby et al. (1967) identified the genus as a stegosaurian, though this concept then encompassed all armoured forms. In a 1968 paper, Romer argued it was an ankylosaur. In 1977, Richard Thulborn of the University of Queensland attempted to reclassify Scelidosaurus as an ornithopod similar to Tenontosaurus or Iguanodon. Thulborn argued Scelidosaurus was a lightly built bipedal dinosaur adapted for running. Thulborn's 1977 theories on the genus have since been rejected. This debate is still ongoing; at this time, Scelidosaurus is considered to be either more closely related to ankylosaurids than to stegosaurids and, by extension, a true ankylosaur, or basal to the ankylosaur-stegosaur split. The stegosaur classification has fallen out of favor, but is seen in older dinosaur books. Cladistic analyses have invariably recovered a basal position for Scelidosaurus, outside of the Eurypoda. The position of Scelidosaurus according to a cladistic study of 2011 is shown by this cladogram: In the 2022 monograph on Scelidosaurus by David Norman, a different relationship amongst thyreophorans was found, with Stegosauria being the most basal group, and Scelidosaurus being most closely related to Ankylosauria. Fossil records of thyreophorans more basal than Scelidosaurus are sparse. The more "primitive" Scutellosaurus, also found in Arizona, was an earlier genus which was facultatively bipedal. A trackway of a possible early armoured dinosaur, from around 195 million years ago, has been found in France. Ancestors of these basal thyreophorans evolved from early ornithischians similar to Lesothosaurus during the Late Triassic. ## Paleobiology ### Diet Like most other thyreophorans, Scelidosaurus is known to be herbivorous. However, while some later ornithischian groups possessed teeth capable of grinding plant material, Scelidosaurus had smaller, less complex leaf-shaped teeth suitable for cropping vegetation and jaws capable of only vertical movement, due to a short jaw joint. Paul Barrett concluded that Scelidosaurus fed with a puncture-crush system of tooth-on-tooth action, with a precise but simple up-and-down jaw movement, in which the food was mashed between the inner side of the upper teeth and the outer side of the lower teeth, without the teeth actually touching each other as shown by very long vertical wear facets on the lower teeth alone. In this aspect, it resembled the stegosaurids, which also bore primitive teeth and simple jaws. Its diet would have consisted of ferns or conifers, as grasses did not evolve until late into the Cretaceous Period, after Scelidosaurus was long extinct. Another similarity with the stegosaurs is the narrow head, which might indicate a selective diet consisting of high-quality fodder. However, Barrett pointed out that for an animal the size of Scelidosaurus, with a large gut allowing efficient fermentation, the intake of easily digestible food of high energetic value was less important than with smaller animals, that are often critically dependent on it. Norman concluded that Scelidosaurus fed on low scrubby vegetation, with a height up to one metre. Raising itself on its hindlimbs alone, could have vertically increased the feeding envelope and was perhaps anatomically possible, but Norman doubted it was a relevant part of its behaviour. ## See also - Timeline of ankylosaur research

Poppa's Got a Brand New Badge

"Poppa's Got a Brand New Badge" is the twenty-second and final episode of the thirteenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 22, 2002. In the episode, a massive heatwave causes the residents of Springfield to install large air conditioning devices in their homes. This leads the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant to overload, causing two town-wide blackouts to occur. The Springfield Police Department are unable to face the riots that follow, prompting Homer, dissatisfied with the police's incompetence, to start his own security company, called SpringShield. "Poppa's Got a Brand New Badge" was directed by Pete Michels and written by Dana Gould, who also pitched the idea for the episode. It features American actor Joe Mantegna as recurring character Fat Tony, and includes references to Dragnet, High Noon and The Sopranos. In its original broadcast, the episode was seen by approximately 5.3 million viewers, finishing in 53rd place in the ratings the week it aired. Following its home video release on August 24, 2010, the episode received mixed reviews from critics. The episode was dedicated to the memory of Stephen Jay Gould who died two days before it aired. He had voiced himself in the ninth-season episode "Lisa the Skeptic". ## Plot Springfield is in the midst of a massive heat wave. Every building in the town has installed a large air conditioning device. However, this draws a lot of power from the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. Despite the safety measures Mr. Burns has taken (cutting power to the orphanage), the plant is at full power. At home, without an air conditioning device, the Simpsons have to follow an old-fashioned fan. Homer decides to give them a taste of winter by plugging in his dancing Santa Claus. This overloads the plant and causes a town-wide blackout. After Lenny and Carl accidentally crash their cars into a store with no active alarm and decide to loot it, widespread rioting and looting occur. The police try to intervene, but are powerless to stop the massive crime wave. The next day, Springfield has been devastated by the crime wave. Mayor Quimby decides to take legal action by forming a blue-ribbon committee. At the Simpsons' house, someone steals Lisa's Malibu Stacy collection. Homer decides to take action by looking for it. He finds the culprit, Jimbo Jones, and later foils a robbery by Snake Jailbird at the Kwik-E-Mart. He goes through a very long list of his previous jobs (during which Marge puts curlers in her hair off-screen) and decides that he likes the idea of combining his love of helping and hurting people. Homer forms his own security company called "SpringShield". Although it only has Homer, Lenny, and Carl, it is more efficient and more successful than the Springfield Police Department. When Quimby sees Chief Wiggum trying to shoot a Piñata with a shotgun while blindfolded, in a fit of rage he dismisses Wiggum and makes Homer the chief of police on live television. After stopping one of Fat Tony's operations, Homer practically rids Springfield of crime. However, Fat Tony escapes and vows to kill Homer unless he leaves town. Homer is unable to get protection from the citizens he protects (only Ned Flanders volunteers, but Homer ignores his offer) and Lenny and Carl lock themselves in a jail cell. When Homer does not leave, Fat Tony arrives with a few of his own henchmen (including Johnny Tightlips), as well as mafia muscle—Christopher Moltisanti, Paulie Gualtieri, and Silvio Dante from The Sopranos series. Just before they are about to kill Homer, an unseen sniper shoots the mobsters; injuring them and causing them to flee. Safe again, Homer resigns as police chief and offers the job to the first person who comes along, which is Wiggum (who notes that an identical situation is how he became chief in the first place). When Marge thanks him for saving Homer, Wiggum says that he did not shoot anyone, having lost his gun, badge and nearly his squad car. Unbeknownst to them, the person who saved Homer was Maggie, who fires at the mobsters from her window with a scoped sporting rifle. ## Production "Poppa's Got a Brand New Badge" was written by Dana Gould and directed by Pete Michels. It was first broadcast on the Fox network in the United States on May 22, 2002. The idea for the episode was also pitched by Gould, who had just moved to southern California with his wife. After moving in, the two decided to install an alarm system because, Gould quipped, "the police aren't enough. Too many people wanna kill you." When meeting the other writers, Gould pitched an episode in which Homer becomes the owner of a security company, which then became "Poppa's Got a Brand New Badge." Although current showrunner Al Jean found it "very funny," the episode's first draft was heavily altered after the first table-read, a process in which the script is read out loud to the other writers. During the blackout, Lenny and Carl accidentally crash their cars into a store, causing a riot to erupt. The sequence was conceived by Gould who, after the 1992 Los Angeles riots, was "somewhat obsessed" with civil unrest issues. In the DVD commentary for the episode, he said "I love the idea of, 'All you need is for the power to go out and slowly the fabric of society unravels." While trying to determine who stole Lisa's Malibu Stacy car, Homer holds Bart as his prime suspect. Unbeknownst to Bart, who is eating an apple, Homer tells Lisa "Look at him over there, eating that apple. What is he planning?" Originally, the scene would show Homer suspecting Lisa, but because it bothered the character's voice actor, Yeardley Smith, the scene was changed. American actor Joe Mantegna reprises his role as Fat Tony in the episode. In another scene in the episode, Homer shows his family an advertisement for his security company. In it, a monster is seen breaking into an elderly woman's house. When the woman screams, the screen freezes and Homer is composited to the screen, instructing the audience about SpringShield's telephone number. In order to composite Homer into the screen, director Michels made use of a greenscreen. The advertisement resumes and the monster is subdued by Homer, Lenny and Carl. Confused, the monster turns to Homer and asks, "friend?" to which Homer replies "the only friend you need is SpringShield," and holds a business card in front of the camera. The monster then puts the card in his wallet and says "monster put in wallet." The monster's last line was written during one of the episode's rewrites, but none of the writers on The Simpsons' writing staff has taken credit for it. The line has since become very popular with the series' writing staff; Jean said that it was "very funny and unusual for a television show," and Gould considers it to be his favourite joke in any episode he has ever written. At the end of the episode, Maggie saves Homer by shooting Fat Tony's gang members with a rifle, as a reference to the two-part episode Who Shot Mr. Burns? from seasons 6 and 7, in which it is ultimately revealed that Maggie shot Burns after his gun fell into her hands. The scene was conceived by series co-creator and executive producer James L. Brooks while writing notes during the episode's first table-read. While "The Frying Game" was originally thought to be the last episode of the season, "Poppa's Got a Brand New Badge" was later revealed to be the real season finale. Although new episodes of The Simpsons usually air on Sundays, "Poppa's Got a Brand New Badge" aired on Wednesday, May 22, 2002. On August 24, 2010, "Poppa's Got a Brand New Badge" was released as part of The Simpsons: The Complete Thirteenth Season DVD and Blu-ray set. Al Jean, Matt Selman, Carolyn Omine, Dana Gould, Joe Mantegna and Pete Michels participated in the audio commentary of the episode. ## Cultural references In a scene in the episode, Homer tells Marge about all the jobs he has had, referencing several episodes of the series. According to Jean, the scene was added during a rewrite of the episode's script. In another scene, Homer, in the Springfield church, attempts to recruit companions for his security company. The scene is a reference to the 1952 American western film High Noon, although the line "You all know me" was taken from the American horror/thriller film Jaws. When visiting the clothing store Wooly Bully, Homer has a rapid, monotone conversation with the cashier. The two speak in a similar manner to the characters in the American 1950's television crime drama Dragnet, of which Gould was a "big fan". When noticing that one of his ferrets is wearing a wire, Fat Tony tells it "you're not a pet, and you're not a friend. You're nothing to me." The line parodies a similar conversation between Michael and Fredo Corleone in the American gangster film The Godfather Part II. Near the end of the episode, Fat Tony drives to the Simpsons house in what seems to be a white Dodge Caravan, while shots of Springfield are shown on the way. The scene parodies the title sequence of the American television drama series The Sopranos, and features Alabama 3's song "Woke Up This Morning," which is also used in The Sopranos' title sequence. Michels stated that the parody was "very fun" to animate; "Being from New Jersey, it was a labor of love," he said in the episode's DVD commentary. The episode title is a reference to the James Brown song "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag". The monster of SpringShield commercial is a parody of The New Woody Woodpecker Show Badger character, including a quote "Hey buddy". ## Reception In its original American broadcast, "Poppa's Got a Brand New Badge" received a 5.0 rating, according to Nielsen Media Research, translating to approximately 5.3 million viewers. The episode finished in 53rd place in the ratings for the week of May 20–26, 2002. Together with the first half-hour of Celebrity Boxing, the shows averaged a 3.9 rating among adults between ages 18 and 49, pushing Fox to number two for the night, just behind NBC. Some listings do not name this show as the Season 13 finale because it aired outside of the series' regular Sunday 8PM EST timeslot; those listings name this episode as a "special airing" and list The Frying Game as the S13 finale instead. Following its home video release, "Poppa's Got a Brand New Badge" received mixed reviews from critics. Writing for 411Mania, Ron Martin gave the episode a mixed review, calling it "passable." He wrote that "Poppa's Got a Brand New Badge" is "far from memorable as season finales should be." DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson wrote "Like many S13 episodes, “Badge” feels more than a little derivative," describing the episode as a combination of the season 4 episode "Mr. Plow" and the season 5 episode "Homer the Vigilante". He continued by writing "That doesn’t mean the show lacks amusement, but it’s too rehashed to end the year with a real winner." Nate Boss of Project-Blu described it as "A random episode, without many laughs," however, he added that it "could have been worse." Giving the episode a positive review, Jennifer Malkowski of DVD Verdict gave it a B+, billing "Homer's 'You know I've had a lot of jobs' list" as the episode's "highlight". Writing for Screen Jabber, Stuart O'Connor was favorable as well, describing it as a "first-rate ep[isode]". Screen Rant called it the best episode of the 13th season.

The Bubble (30 Rock)

"The Bubble" is the fifteenth episode of the third season of the American television series 30 Rock. It was written by series' creator Tina Fey and directed by Tricia Brock. The episode originally aired on NBC in the United States on March 19, 2009. Jon Hamm and Bobb'e J. Thompson guest star in this episode, and there are cameo appearances by Calvin Klein and Meredith Vieira. In the episode, Liz Lemon (Fey) discovers that her boyfriend Drew (Hamm) lives in a "bubble" because of his good looks, and has never experienced many of the unpleasant phenomena in life. At the same time, Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan) decides to leave the fictitious sketch comedy show The Girlie Show with Tracy Jordan (TGS) because he no longer needs the money, and Jenna Maroney (Jane Krakowski) decides to cut her hair as a publicity stunt. "The Bubble" received generally positive reviews. According to the Nielsen ratings system, it was watched by 7 million households during its original broadcast. For their performances in this episode, Hamm and Jack McBrayer – the latter playing Kenneth Parcell – received Primetime Emmy Award nominations in the categories for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series and Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series, respectively. ## Plot The episode begins with Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) noticing that people treat her boyfriend, Drew Baird (Jon Hamm), differently because of his good looks. After watching a traffic cop, (Frank Ridley) rip up a ticket for Drew, and fashion designer Calvin Klein offering him a job as an underwear model, Liz brings the matter up with her boss, Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin), who tells her that Drew is in "the bubble". Jack tells Liz that she should stay with Drew and enjoy the perks of the bubble, but Liz begins to realize that living in the bubble has left Drew without some essential skills. After discovering that Drew cannot perform the Heimlich maneuver, even though he is a doctor, and cannot play tennis, despite the fact that he worked as a tennis coach, Liz decides that she has to leave Drew, and ends their relationship. Meanwhile, at TGS, it is time to renew Tracy Jordan's (Tracy Morgan) contract, and Jack decides to approach the matter carefully as Tracy does not need the money he makes on the show. While negotiating Tracy's new contract, Jack mentions this fact, which comes as a shock to Tracy, who had never realized that he could survive financially without the income. After realizing that Tracy has quit the show, Jack must find a way to bring him back, after Tracy's son, Tracy Jr. (Bobb'e J. Thompson), complains to Jack about how unbearable his father is to have around the house. Meanwhile, in order to get attention for herself, Jenna Maroney (Jane Krakowski) decides to cut her hair for charity as a publicity stunt. Jenna makes an appearance on NBC's Today Show, where her haircut will be broadcast. Meredith Vieira asks Jenna's opinion on the news that Tracy has left TGS. At learning this, Jenna bails out on her haircut. After discovering that Tracy is still in contact with NBC page Kenneth Parcell (Jack McBrayer), Jack realizes that their relationship is the key to bringing Tracy back to TGS. Jack, therefore, orders Kenneth to break off all contact with Tracy, although this fails because of Kenneth's relationship with Tracy. Seeing an opportunity, Jack states that since Kenneth's duties were primarily taking care of Tracy, and Tracy no longer works at NBC, Kenneth is no longer needed. Not wanting Kenneth to lose his job, Tracy agrees to return on the stipulation that Kenneth keeps his job. ## Production "The Bubble" was written by series creator, executive producer and lead actress Tina Fey. The director of this episode was Tricia Brock. This was Fey's sixteenth writing credit, and Brock's first directed episode. "The Bubble" originally aired on NBC in the United States on March 19, 2009. When actor Jon Hamm hosted the sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live (SNL) in October 2008, negotiations took place with the show's producers for him to guest star on 30 Rock. In December 2008, it was confirmed Hamm would appear as a love interest for Fey's character, Liz Lemon. It was also announced by NBC that Hamm would star in a three-episode arc; he made his debut in the February 5, 2009, episode "Generalissimo", and made a second appearance in "St. Valentine's Day". "The Bubble" was the completion of Hamm's three episode arc, though Hamm made appearances on the show's fourth season episodes "Anna Howard Shaw Day" and "Emanuelle Goes to Dinosaur Land". In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Fey said that when the writing staff is developing a script, "We'll have an actor in mind and we'll keep referring to them. Like for this we said, 'Then Hamm comes in, blah blah blah.'" She believed that there was no possibility of getting Hamm though: "we were lucky with the timing because Mad Men was on hiatus and he was hosting SNL. So I called over there and asked them [whispering], 'Hey, is that guy funny? Tell me the truth.' And they were like, 'Yes, he's really funny.' By Saturday I knew they were right." All of Liz and Drew's scenes were filmed on January 15, 2009, in the Upper West Side. Fashion designer Calvin Klein, playing himself, made a cameo in this episode. Klein is the father of Marci Klein, an executive producer on 30 Rock. This episode was actor Bobb'e J. Thompson's second appearance as Tracy's son, Tracy Jr., on the show. Thompson first guest starred in the episode "Gavin Volure". "The Bubble" was Today show co-host Meredith Vieira's third guest appearance as herself, having appeared in the episodes "Greenzo" and "Larry King". ## Cultural references After Kenneth buys Tracy's food, Tracy calls Kenneth his Radar O'Reilly, a character from M\*A\*S\*H. He also tells him, "Now get in here and rub my feet until you hear a chopper coming." Drew tells Liz that Prince Eric was based on pictures of him in his younger days, a reference to the animated character from the movie The Little Mermaid (1989). Jenna talks about the Rachel haircut, made famous by actress Jennifer Aniston, as the character Rachel Green on the show Friends. Later, Jenna says she does not want to make the wrong choice with her hair explaining she does not want to end up like actress Keri Russell from Felicity season two. During an attempt to get Tracey to return to the show by having an employee imitate Bill Cosby, Tracey yells "You’ve got a lot of nerve getting on the phone with me after what you did to my Aunt Paulette!". Show Runner Robert Carlock confirmed this to be a reference to Cosby's sexual assault allegations. Kenneth tells Jack that when he and Tracy watch the show Lost he always holds Tracy's hand, due to the show's mysterious plots. After learning that Tracy has quit the show, Liz mocks Jack, in a deep voice, saying "Be a manager. Control your people. Buy better clothes." Jack explains his plans to her on how he will get Tracy to return, with Liz once again mocking Jack, this time in a deep raspy voice, "Just get it done. Nope. I lost it. That was Batman", a reference to actor Christian Bale's voice as the superhero in the Batman films. During the scenes where Liz and Drew are together, the music piece "Theme from A Summer Place" is played. ## Reception According to the Nielsen ratings system, an average of 7 million viewers watched "The Bubble" during its original United States broadcast, placing it in fourth place for its timeslot. The show also claimed a share of 3.2/8 among viewers aged 18 to 49, meaning that 3.2% of all people in that group, and 8% of all people from that group watching television at the time, watched the episode. For their performances in this episode, Jon Hamm and Jack McBrayer received Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series and Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series, respectively. The episode received generally positive reviews, although most reviewers found some of the storylines more effective than others. Robert Canning of IGN wrote that "the main portion of this episode was quite funny, even if the ending lacked bite." Similarly, Margaret Lyons of Entertainment Weekly found that the episode was "another strong showing for 30 Rock ... although Jenna's plotline was pretty tired." TV Squad's Bob Sassone was similarly positive about "The Bubble", calling it "another good episode." James Poniewozik of Time, also responded favorably to the episode with the exception of the Jenna storyline, writing that it "was the first one in a long time that I enjoyed almost completely without reservation (Jenna's subplot was off, but it was barely a blip)." Television columnist Alan Sepinwall for The Star-Ledger disliked the bubble concept, reporting, "[t]he idea that attractive people get away with things that the more average-looking can't is an old joke, even on 30 Rock (with Cerie)", but nonetheless enjoyed the "variations" of the joke saying they were "well-conceived". Sepinwall concluded, "this was one of the funniest 30 Rock's of the season. Zap2it's Rick Porter was also favorable to "The Bubble" in his recap, opining that 30 Rock "gave us a very well-done episode". As with Lyons and Poniewozik, Porter felt Jenna's story "didn't really click", but liked the scene with Jenna and her stylist team firing off words to describe Jenna's beauty as "scathingly funny." The A.V. Club's Nathan Rabin enjoyed Hamm's role as Drew, reporting that his character "initially seemed too good to be true but the show gradually revealed him to be imperfect and even fucked up enough to be plausible. [...] The Hamm subplot was very funny and well-executed". Sepinwall also praised Hamm, writing, "Finally! It took three episodes ... but Tina Fey (who wrote this one) let Jon Hamm be funny on his way out the door." Not all reviews were positive. Matt Mitovich of TV Guide wrote, "I must be honest ... This A-story was ridiculous, and not in the hysterical way. When I first read the logline about Drew 'getting by on his good looks,' I thought we'd witness the occasional favoritism. But horrid doctor skills and flailing at the very public sport of tennis, and his obliviousness to it all? Hamm got a turkey of an exit story, sorry."

French seaplane carrier Commandant Teste

French seaplane tender

Commandant Teste was a large seaplane tender of the French Navy (French: Marine Nationale) built before World War II. She was designed to be as large as possible without counting against the Washington Treaty limits. During the Spanish Civil War, she protected neutral merchant shipping and played a limited role during World War II as she spent the early part of the war in North African waters or acting as an aviation transport between France and North Africa. She was slightly damaged during the British bombardment of the French Fleet at Mers-el-Kébir in July 1940. Commandant Teste was scuttled at Toulon when the Germans invaded Vichy France in November 1942, but was refloated after the war and considered for conversion to an escort or training carrier. Neither proposal was accepted and she was sold for scrap in 1950. ## Design After the completion of aircraft carrier Béarn, the Marine Nationale desired another aviation vessel, but the lack of another hull that could cheaply be converted made another aircraft carrier too expensive. It settled for a seaplane carrier (transport d'aviation) that could act as a mobile aviation base and support seaplanes for a specific attack. The ship was restricted to a maximum size of 10,000 t (9,800 long tons) at standard displacement, which prevented her from counting against France's Washington Treaty capital ship allocation (she could not have been counted as an aircraft carrier, because she did not meet the Washington Treaty requirement for aircraft to be able to launch from the ship and land back on). This also served to keep her costs relatively low. ## Description Commandant Teste was 167 m (547 ft 11 in) long overall. She had a maximum beam of 27 m (88 ft 7 in) and a draught of 6.7 m (22 ft 0 in). She displaced 10,000 long tons (10,000 t) at standard load, 11,500 t (11,300 long tons) at normal load and 12,134 t (11,942 long tons) at full load. Because of the ship's high profile, there were concerns about her stability in bad weather as she had a significant amount of weight mounted high in the ship; notably her catapults, cranes and anti-aircraft guns. To increase her stability, two lateral tanks were fitted with a pressurized butterfly valve connecting them so that water could flow between the tanks to counter her rolling motion. On trials in 1933, the system was judged successful as it deadened the ship's roll by 37–65%. However, maintenance of the system proved to be problematic as the tanks were difficult to access. ### Propulsion Commandant Teste had a two-shaft unit machinery layout with alternating boiler and engine rooms. Her Schneider-Zoelly geared steam turbines were designed for 23,230 shp (17,320 kW). Four superheated Loire-Yarrow small-tube boilers powered the turbines at a pressure of 20 kg/cm² (2,000 kPa; 280 psi) at a temperature of 290 °C (554 °F). These were the first superheated boilers in the Marine National and required some modifications after the ship's trials. The two in the forward boiler room were oil-fired, but the other two could use either fuel oil or coal. Commandant Teste had a designed speed of 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph), but she exceeded 22 knots (41 km/h; 25 mph) during sea trials on 23 July 1933. 1,163 t (1,145 long tons) of fuel oil was carried as well as 700 t (690 long tons) of coal. This provided a range of 2,000 nautical miles (3,700 km; 2,300 mi) at 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) or 2,500 nmi (4,600 km; 2,900 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) using only coal. Two 300 kilowatt (kW) turbo generators provided electricity at 235 volts. Three 150 kW diesel generators were fitted to provide power while in harbor. ### Armament Commandant Teste was originally going to carry a mixture of 138.6 mm (5.5 in) or 155 mm (6.1 in) anti-surface and 75 mm (3.0 in) anti-aircraft (AA) guns, but this was changed before construction began to a homogeneous main battery of twelve Canon de 100 mm (3.9 in) Modèle 1927 45-caliber dual-purpose guns on powered single mounts. Five guns each were mounted on the fore and aft superstructures and two were mounted between the catapults. Their elevation limits were −10° to +85°. Their rate of fire was 10 rounds per minute. They had a maximum range of about 15,000 m (16,000 yd) with a 14.95 kg (33.0 lb) armor-piercing shell at a muzzle velocity of 755 m/s (2,480 ft/s). 280 rounds were provided for each gun, including 40 star shell rounds and 19 tracer rounds. Eight 37 mm (1.5 in)/50 cal semi-automatic AA guns were carried by Commandant Teste. Two each were fitted on the fore and aft superstructures and four on platforms around the single funnel. 4,000 rounds were carried; 500 rounds per gun. The guns could depress 15° and elevate to 80°. They fired .725 kg (1.60 lb) shells at a muzzle velocity of 810 m/s (2,700 ft/s). Their effective anti-aircraft ceiling was less than 5,000 m (16,000 ft). Six twin Hotchkiss Mitrailleuse de 13.2 mm (0.52 in) Modèle 1929 machine gun mounts were also fitted, two mounts were positioned on the bridge wings, two on the upper funnel platform, and two on the stern. The Hotchkiss guns had a cyclic rate of fire of 450 rounds per minute, but the practical rate was between 200 and 250 rounds per minute to allow for reloading its 30-round magazines. They had a theoretical ceiling of 4,200 m (13,800 ft). Two fire-control directors were mounted to control the 100 mm guns; one above the bridge and the other atop the rear superstructure. Each director was fitted with a 3 m (9 ft 10 in) stereoscopic rangefinder. An upgrade to 5 m (16 ft 5 in) rangefinders was planned to improve the director's performance against surface targets, but was never carried out. The midships 37 mm anti-aircraft guns were controlled by a single 1 m (3 ft 3 in) rangefinder, but nothing was provided for the fore and aft 37 mm guns. ### Protection Commandant Teste had a waterline armor belt with a maximum thickness of 5 cm (2.0 in) abreast the machinery spaces and was 3.76 m (12.3 ft) high. The ship was protected from axial fire at the waterline by partial transverse bulkheads 2 cm (0.8 in) thick. The magazines were protected by 5 cm sides and 2 cm ends and roofs. The deck consisted of two layers of 1.2 cm (0.5 in) plating which increased to three layers above the boilers. 2.6 cm (1.0 in) of armor protected the steering gear. The sides of the conning tower were 8 cm (3.1 in) thick, but its roof was 3 cm (1.2 in) thick. ### Aircraft arrangements Commandant Teste had a very large hangar amidships that was three decks high and measured approximately 80 m × 26.5 m (262 ft 6 in × 86 ft 11 in). It was partitioned in two by a bulkhead that incorporated the exhaust uptakes for the funnel and the ventilation trunking for the machinery spaces. It could accommodate ten large torpedo bombers with folding wings; two smaller aircraft with folding wings could be stowed in lieu of each torpedo bomber. Two additional large aircraft and four smaller aircraft could be carried dismantled in crates in a hold below the hangar. The aircraft were moved on a system of wheeled trolleys running on Décauville rails that extended throughout each half-hangar to the quarterdeck at the rear of the ship. The torpedo bombers would be moved to the quarterdeck where their wings would be extended and then they would be lowered into the water by the large crane at the very stern of the ship. The hangar was surmounted by four Penhöet compressed-air catapults, each with a launch capacity of 2.5 t (2.5 long tons). The smaller fighter and reconnaissance seaplanes were lifted through large 15 m × 7 m (49 ft 3 in × 23 ft 0 in) hatches in the hangar roofs by one of the four cranes mounted at each corner of the hangar and mounted on the catapult. During trials in 1937, it took three hours to embark or disembark a group of 16 aircraft, 17 minutes to embark a single Gourdou-Leseurre GL-812 reconnaissance floatplane, and seven minutes to launch a section of four floatplanes by catapult. ## Aircraft Commandant Teste was designed to accommodate the naval version of the Farman F.60 Goliath torpedo bomber, but they were obsolete when she was commissioned in 1932. Biplane Levasseur PL.14 torpedo bomber floatplanes were only briefly used as they proved to be too fragile for landing at sea. They were replaced by improved Levasseur PL.15 biplanes from July–August 1934. The Latécoère 298 monoplane replaced the PL.15 in March–May 1939. The scouting squadron was initially equipped with fixed-wing Gourdou-Leseurre GL-810 floatplanes until the folding wing Gourdou-Leseurre GL-811 arrived in October 1933. They were replaced in turn by the improved Gourdou-Leseurre GL-813 in early 1936. The larger Loire 130 flying boat replaced the GL-813 from April 1938, although the catapults had to be modified to handle their greater weight. No fighter seaplanes were ever embarked on Commandant Teste, although the Loire 210 floatplane was designed for the role. However, it proved to be greatly out-classed by contemporary land-based fighters and only 20 were built in 1939. It also proved to be a greatly deficient design; within three months of its service debut in August 1939, five had crashed due to structural failure of the wings and the remaining aircraft were grounded. ## Service history Commandante Teste served with the Mediterranean Squadron upon commissioning in 1932. She was refitted between November 1935 and August 1936 when her 100 mm guns were given gun shields. From September 1937, she was based at Oran to protect neutral shipping from commerce raiders during the Spanish Civil War. In February 1938, she was refitted in Toulon to upgrade her catapults and then served as an aviation transport between France and her colonies in North Africa. In August 1939, she embarked six Loire 130s and eight Latécoère 298s and sailed for Oran, where she was when World War II began the next month. Commandant Teste remained in North African waters until December 1939, when she returned to Toulon and landed her aircraft. She served as an aircraft transport between French North Africa and Metropolitan France for the first half of 1940. In late June 1940, she was transferred from the over-crowded anchorage at Oran to Mers El Kébir. She was lightly damaged by shell splinters during the British attack on Mers-el-Kébir on 3 July 1940, but suffered no casualties. She arrived at Toulon on 18 October where she was subsequently disarmed. In June 1941, Commandant Teste was reactivated as a gunnery training ship. She was at Toulon when the Germans invaded Vichy France and was scuttled there on 27 November 1942 to avoid capture by the Germans. Refloated by the Italians on 1 May 1943, Commandant Teste was captured by the Germans in September 1943 and sunk again the following year by Allied bombs on 18–19 August 1944. Raised again in February 1945, she was still thought to be repairable and was considered for conversion as an escort or training carrier. The proposals were eventually dropped and the ship was used as a store ship for U.S.-built equipment until sold for scrap on 15 May 1950.

Henry Daglish

Australian politician (1866–1920)

Henry Daglish (18 November 1866 – 16 August 1920) was an Australian politician who was the sixth premier of Western Australia and the first from the Labor Party, serving from 10 August 1904 to 25 August 1905. Daglish was born in Ballarat, Victoria, and studied at the University of Melbourne. In 1882, he worked as a mechanical engineer but soon switched to working in the Victorian public service. He first stood for election in 1896 but failed to win the Victorian Legislative Assembly seat of Melbourne South. He then moved to Subiaco, Western Australia, where he found work as a chief clerk in the Western Australian Police Department. In 1900, Daglish was elected to the Subiaco Municipal Council and in April the following year, he was elected to the Western Australian Legislative Assembly as the member for the newly created seat of Subiaco, becoming one of six Labor members in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly. The party elected him as its whip, and he resigned from the Subiaco council on 1 May 1901. On 1 December 1902, Daglish was sworn in as mayor of Subiaco, having been elected the previous month. In the 1904 state election, Labor won 22 of the Legislative Assembly's 50 seats, making it the party with the most seats. On 8 July 1904, the Labor Party caucus elected Daglish as the party's leader, and on 10 August, he successfully moved a motion of no confidence in the government of Walter James, who resigned as premier. Governor Frederick Bedford then swore in Daglish as premier of Western Australia, colonial treasurer and minister for education. His keynote speech on 23 August was poorly received; militant Labor supporters saw him as giving up on Labor policies. In parliament, Daglish struggled to achieve anything due to a hostile Legislative Council; his one major success was the passing of a new Public Service Act. In June 1905, a cabinet reshuffle decreased Daglish's popularity within the Labor Party but he defeated a motion of no confidence at a caucus meeting later that month. Daglish resigned as premier on 22 August 1905 when his plan to buy the Midland Railway Company for £1.5 million () failed to pass through parliament. Hector Rason succeeded him as premier on 25 August. On 27 September 1905, Daglish resigned as leader of the Labor Party. He then left the party and styled himself as an Independent Labor politician. He was again elected Mayor of Subiaco on 5 June 1907 and served until 1908. From August 1907 to September 1910, Daglish held the position of Chairman of Committees, and from September 1910 to October 1911, he was the minister for works in Frank Wilson's Liberal government. At the October 1911 state election, Daglish lost his seat in parliament to Labor candidate Bartholomew James Stubbs and failed to regain the seat at the 1914 state election. Daglish died at his home in Subiaco on 16 August 1920. Daglish railway station and the suburb of Daglish, Western Australia, are named after him. ## Early life Henry Daglish was born in Ballarat, Victoria, on 18 November 1866, to Mary Ann (née James) and William Daglish, an engine driver. He was educated in Geelong and in 1881 he attended the University of Melbourne. He gained a mechanical engineering apprenticeship at a foundry in 1882 but a year later, he left engineering to join the public service as a clerk in the Victorian Police Department. On 20 August 1894, in Carlton, Victoria, Daglish married Edith May Bishop, with whom he had one son and one daughter. With an increasing interest in the labour movement, by June 1895, Daglish was the secretary of the United Public Service Association. In September 1895, he went into business as an auctioneer, accountant and legal manager. In 1895 and 1896, Daglish was a member of the National Anti-Sweating League, a group campaigning against the poor conditions endured by low-paid workers. In 1896, Daglish stood in a by-election for the seat of Melbourne South in the Victorian Legislative Assembly, receiving 34 out of 2,192 total votes. Later the same year, Daglish moved to Western Australia (WA) after taking an offer of £200 () to resign from the recession-hit Victorian public service; he settled in the working-class suburb Subiaco, 4 km (2.5 mi) west of Perth, the state capital. Daglish wrote a letter to Premier John Forrest requesting work in the WA public service in 1897; he was offered and accepted a position as assistant to the chief clerk in the WA Police Department. He later resigned and entered business as an auctioneer, accountant and legal manager. ## Political career In November 1899, Daglish unsuccessfully stood for election to the Central Ward of the Subiaco Municipal Council. The following year, he was elected unopposed to the council's South Ward, his term starting on 1 December 1900. Daglish resigned from the public service in 1901 to stand as a Labor Party candidate in the newly created seat of Subiaco in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly. In the 1901 Western Australian state election on 24 April, Daglish was elected to that seat with the largest majority in the state, and became the whip of the Labor Party. The party had only seven members, all of whom, aside from Daglish, represented seats in the mining regions of Murchison and the Goldfields. He tendered his resignation from the Subiaco Municipal Council on 1 May 1901. One of Daglish's successes in his first term is the carrying of his motion in favour of an eight-hour working day for the Railway Department. He was also successful in stopping the spending of money to help public servants immigrate from England, instead spending the money on assisting Western Australian workers migrate their families from the eastern states. He also advocated for the non-alienation of crown lands and the introduction of a comprehensive system of old age pensions. In November 1902, Daglish was elected unopposed as mayor of Subiaco. He was sworn in on 1 December 1902 by Walter James, the premier of Western Australia. The premier had earlier made a speech heaping much praise on Daglish. He was again elected mayor unopposed the following year. Daglish was appointed to the Kings Park Board in his capacity as the member for Subiaco in October 1902. In January 1903, Daglish joined the Perth Hospital Board, which managed Perth Public Hospital (now known as Royal Perth Hospital). On the board, he "earned a reputation for shouldering the real or fancied troubles of dissatisfied ex-patients". He was also a member of the Lake Monger Board and the Karrakatta Cemetery Board. In February 1904, the Labor Party held a conference at which they decided on the issues of their campaigning and platforms they would take to the next election. The issues were: - Referendum on abolishing the Legislative Council - A tax on unimproved land values and no further alienation of crown lands - Old age pensions - Maximum working day of eight hours - Local control and state management of the liquor trade - Departmental construction of public works - Nationalisation of monopolies and the establishment of a Department of Labour - State banking and insurance - Limitation on state borrowing except for the purpose of reproductive works - The establishment of a sinking fund for the redemption of all future loans In the general campaign were policies of electoral, taxation, land, industrial and mining reform. ### Premier of Western Australia The Labor Party supported all but two pieces of the government's legislation during the fourth parliament. Despite this, they withdrew support for the James Ministry in August 1903. At the July 1904 state election, Daglish was re-elected with 80% of Subiaco's vote. The Labor Party won 22 seats, James's Ministerialist faction won 18 seats, and independents won 10 seats. The number of seats Labor won surprised most people, many of whom expected only a modest increase over the seven seats won in 1901. Two bills that passed in the previous session of parliament helped Labor; the Redistribution of Seats Act 1904 created new electorates in areas where Labor did well, and the Electoral Act 1904 abolished plural voting for property owners and made it easier for newcomers to Western Australia to qualify for the electoral roll. Labor leader Robert Hastie said James should not resign until parliament met, and so James continued as premier following the election. On 8 July 1904, the Labor Party caucus elected Daglish as the party's leader. Labor leader Hastie was universally hated and the leadership ballot was initially going to be between Hastie, Daglish, George Taylor, Patrick Lynch, Wallace Nelson and Henry Ellis. Hastie pulled out of the contest, and only Daglish and Taylor were left. Newspapers reported the vote was almost unanimously for Daglish. The party decided to sit in opposition and not try and seek government because the caucus had been divided on whether to align with independents sympathetic for the party's cause. When Daglish was elected Labor leader, the Sunday Figaro, a newspaper in Kalgoorlie, said he was "certainly one of the best debaters in the Legislative Assembly. He is a quiet, deliberate speaker, given more to argument than declamation, bearing in this respect a likeness to [Prime Minister Chris Watson]". On 10 August, Daglish successfully moved a motion of no confidence and James resigned as premier. Governor Frederick Bedford then swore in Daglish as premier of Western Australia, colonial treasurer and minister for education. He was the first Labor Party premier of WA, the sixth overall, and at 37 years of age, the youngest premier of the state at the time and the fourth-youngest as of 2022. Daglish's Cabinet were sworn in the same day; his party granted him the freedom to choose his own cabinet. Due to constitutional requirements that at least one minister be from the Legislative Council, Daglish invited John Drew, an unaligned politician, into the ministry, resulting in criticism from within his own party. Despite becoming premier, Daglish did not move from Subiaco to a more affluent area as many other premiers had. Immediate problems for Daglish were the state's poor financial situation and an inexperienced cabinet made up of unions that were hostile to each other. At Kings Hall, Subiaco, on 23 August, Daglish delivered a speech that was poorly received; militant Labor supporters saw him as giving up on Labor policies. He said the state's finances were in a poor position and expenditure was to be reduced. Newspapers mocked his use of the phrase "mark time policy" and so his government became known as the "mark time government". In the same speech, Daglish proposed a referendum on abolishing the Legislative Council, a bill to introduce pensions for those over 60 years and who had lived in the state for 10 years, the introduction of land tax with exemptions for properties valued below £1,000 () with the land value determined by the owner), the granting of greater job security for public servants, the establishment of a Department of Labor for the administration of workplace relations legislation, the amendment of the Truck Act, and companies and mining legislation to prevent monopolies and ensure all companies conducting business in Western Australia would have at least two local directors. Concerns with Daglish's speech included his lack of a clear policy for unemployment and that the tax exemption for land worth below £1,000 was a "violation of the Labor platform". A few days later, Daglish said; "we have never, as a Labor Party advocated the abolition of the Legislative Council". The Legislative Council prevented much of Daglish's agenda; his government's one major change was the passing of a new Public Service Act. He twice introduced a bill for a referendum to abolish the Legislative Council; the first bill was discharged at the end of the session and the second failed to pass before the Daglish government resigned. Daglish did not contest the November 1904 Subiaco municipal election; he was succeeded as mayor by John Henry Prowse. Daglish reshuffled his cabinet on 7 June 1905, making Thomas Bath the minister for education, leaving himself as premier and colonial treasurer. Patrick Lynch was added to cabinet, and George Taylor and John Holman were clumsily demoted. The cabinet reshuffle caused a split in the Labor Party; Daglish's opponents said he acted towards his colleagues in a high-handed and humiliating manner. On 18 June, The Sunday Times wrote; "it has taken the Labor Party in politics – and in Parliament – nearly a year to find out that its leader is not in every particular, fully qualified to hold responsible office". At a meeting of the Labor caucus on 26 June, Daglish defeated a motion of no confidence 14–3. After this, the government created a plan to buy the Midland Railway Company for £1.5 million (). The company owned the Midland railway line, which ran from Midland Junction near Perth to Walkaway near Geraldton. Opponents criticised the price for being too high, and Daglish failed to get approval from parliament on 17 August. On Monday 22 August, the Daglish Ministry resigned; the state's governor gave the Liberal-aligned Hector Rason until the end of the week to form a cabinet. On 25 August, the governor accepted the resignations of Daglish and his ministry, and appointed Hector Rason and the Rason Ministry to replace them. ### After premier On 27 September 1905, Daglish resigned as leader of the Labor Party and on 4 October, William Johnson was elected leader of the party. Daglish later left the party and began styling himself as an Independent Labor politician. On 4 October, Rason moved for the discharge of the referendum bill; the motion was defeated 18 votes to 16 and the following day, the premier met with the governor to dissolve the Legislative Assembly. The resulting election was called for 27 October. Labor Party lost eight seats at the election but Daglish narrowly retained his seat. The failure of Daglish's government caused the Labor Party to be more careful in selecting candidates and to use more discipline. On 5 June 1907, Daglish was again elected Mayor of Subiaco, following the resignation of the previous mayor Austin Bastow. Daglish was sworn in on 12 June 1907. He was re-elected unopposed in November 1907 and did not re-contest the post in 1908. From 20 August 1907 to 16 September 1910, Daglish held the position of Chairman of Committees. From 16 September 1910 to 3 October 1911, he was the minister for works in Frank Wilson's Liberal government. At the October 1911 state election, Daglish lost his seat in parliament to Labor candidate Bartholomew James Stubbs. At the following election in 1914, Daglish unsuccessfully stood for the seat of Subiaco. ## Outside politics From c. 1902 to 1906, Daglish was president of Subiaco Football Club. During 1906, he helped hold off a campaign by North Fremantle Football Club for Subiaco's expulsion from the Western Australian Football Association after several years of poor performance. The club had been playing next to Shenton Park Lake, and the club's ground was wet and muddy. Daglish helped secure money from the Municipality of Subiaco for the construction of a playing ground at Mueller Park, which later became known as Subiaco Oval. The club relocated there in 1908. In 1911, Daglish again served as president of Subiaco Football Club. From 1912, Daglish worked as an estate agent and from March that year, he was appointed the employers' representative in the Court of Arbitration, a post in which served until his death. ## Death and legacy In 1920, Daglish, who had been ill for several months, travelled to Melbourne for medical treatment. In Melbourne, he had an operation and was diagnosed with cancer. Daglish returned to Perth, arriving on 12 August 1920, and died at his home in Subiaco four days later. He was buried at Karrakatta Cemetery. He was survived by his wife Edith, who died aged 71 on 28 May 1946, and his two children. Although the Daglish government was little-remembered decades later, the Labor Party's coming to power marked the start of two-party politics in Western Australia. Labor came to be seen as the alternative to the Ministerialists, also known as Liberals. When Daglish resigned, he became Western Australia's first leader of the opposition. Daglish railway station, which opened in 1924 on the western edge of Subiaco, was named after Henry Daglish. The Perth suburb Daglish, adjacent to the railway station, was also named after him. The Subiaco house in which Daglish lived in from 1908 is heritage listed. ## See also - Daglish Ministry - Imprisonment of John Drayton, which occurred while Daglish was premier - Electoral results for the district of Subiaco

Bill Keating (politician)

American politician (born 1952)

William Richard Keating (born September 6, 1952) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the U.S. representative for Massachusetts's 9th congressional district since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, he first entered Congress in 2011, representing Massachusetts's 10th congressional district until redistricting. Keating's district includes Cape Cod and most of the South Coast. He raised his profile advocating for criminal justice issues in both houses of the Massachusetts General Court from 1977 to 1999 before becoming district attorney of Norfolk County, where he served three terms before being elected to Congress. Raised in Sharon, Massachusetts, Keating "took a traditional route to politics", attending Boston College and Suffolk University Law School. He was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1976 at age 24 and went on to serve in the Massachusetts Senate from 1985 to 1999. He authored numerous bills signed into law concerning taxation, drug crime, and sentencing reform. His attempted overthrow of Senate President William M. Bulger in 1994 was a failure but boosted his local name recognition, which contributed to his success in the 1998 election for DA. Keating followed the path of former Norfolk County District Attorney Bill Delahunt to the U.S. House of Representatives, winning election in 2010 to represent the 10th congressional district. In 2012, after redistricting drew his home in Quincy into the district of fellow incumbent Stephen Lynch, Keating chose to run in the redrawn 9th district, which combined the eastern portion of his old district with new territory on the South Coast taken from the 4th district long represented by Barney Frank. Keating has been reelected five times from this district. As of the 117th Congress (2021–23), he sits on the House Armed Services Committee and Foreign Affairs Committee. Much of his work has focused on domestic issues central to his district, such as the fishing industry and nuclear safety. ## Early life, education, and legal career Keating was born in Sharon, Massachusetts, in 1952 to Anna (née Welch) of Foxborough, Massachusetts, and William B. Keating of Sharon, Massachusetts. After graduating from Sharon High School, Keating enrolled at Boston College, from which he received his Bachelor of Arts in 1974, and his Master of Business Administration in 1982. In 1985, Keating earned his Juris Doctor from Suffolk University Law School and passed the bar exam. He later became a partner at the law firm of Keating & Fishman. ## Massachusetts General Court ### House of Representatives In 1977, Keating was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives from the 19th Norfolk district, where he served for a year. He was then elected from the 8th Norfolk district, serving from 1979 to 1984. He supported George Keverian's successful 1985 effort to overthrow Thomas W. McGee as Speaker of the House. By the end of his House tenure, Keating became vice chairman of the House Criminal Justice Committee. ### Senate In 1984, State Senator Joseph F. Timilty resigned his Norfolk and Suffolk seat to pursue a career in private law, and Keating became the only major Democratic contender for the office. In the general election he faced Republican Marion Boch, who promoted a plan for dramatic cuts to legislators' pay and hours, invoking the energy of the Ronald Reagan campaign. Keating focused his campaign on expanding resources for crime prevention and education, tailoring his message to the Boston constituency he would pick up as a senator. He was elected with about 64% of the vote. In his first year, Keating was named Senate chairman of the joint Public Safety Committee, where he led the legislative action for a statewide seat belt law pushed by Governor Michael Dukakis. He authored a drug sentencing reform package signed into law in 1988, lowering thresholds for possession charges and establishing new minimum sentences, including a one-year minimum sentence for first-time possession of cocaine or PCP "with intent to distribute". The latter provision was widely derided by criminal justice authorities as excessively strict and vaguely worded. Redistricting eventually placed Keating in the Norfolk and Bristol seat (1989–1994). As a vice chairman of the joint Criminal Justice Committee, he was a lead author of a 1991 sentencing reform bill, signed into law by Governor William Weld, that made it easier to try juveniles as adults and pass harsher sentences in the case of major crimes, especially murder. "What is occurring is a shift away from the rehabilitative stance to a focus on the seriousness of the crime committed by the juvenile", Keating said. In 1992, as co-chairman of the Taxation Committee, he successfully pushed a proposal to phase out the Massachusetts estate tax. In 1994, Keating led a group of liberals in a failed coup to remove state Senate President William Bulger from his position. A staunch liberal compared to the more socially conservative Bulger, Keating sought to reform the Senate rules to greatly reduce the president's power. Bulger, who had held the Senate gavel for 15 years, exerted strict control over the body's operations, but was gradually losing his power base, with crops of Democratic freshmen replacing his longtime allies. Keating's campaign failed, but he said during his 2010 election campaign: "The thought that I took on the most powerful person in Massachusetts, risking my whole career, a member of my own party, is something that is resonating in this campaign, that helps define me as independent." Further redistricting landed Keating in the Norfolk, Bristol, and Plymouth district from 1995 to 1998. During his Senate tenure, he served as chairman of the Judiciary Committee, chairman of the Committee on Taxation, chairman of the Committee on Public Safety, chairman of the Steering and Policy Committee, and vice chairman of the Committee on Criminal Justice. ## District attorney Speculation emerged in early 1997 that Keating was planning a run for district attorney (DA) of Norfolk County. He faced two former Norfolk assistant DAs, John J. Corrigan and William P. O'Donnell, in the Democratic primary. Keating, whose name recognition was boosted by the attempted Bulger coup, presented his work on public safety, criminal justice, and judiciary committees as a strength, while the other candidates pointed to his lack of courtroom experience as disqualifying. While Keating held a part-time law practice during his legislative career, he lacked exposure to the criminal cases handled by the DA's office. After winning the Democratic nomination, Keating faced incumbent DA Jeffrey A. Locke in the November 1998 general election. A Republican, Locke had been appointed to the position by Governor Weld the previous year after Bill Delahunt resigned. With years of experience as a prosecutor, Locke portrayed Keating as a career politician and echoed his primary opponents' criticism of his experience. Keating highlighted a range of endorsements from police organizations, and from Delahunt, as evidence of his criminal justice qualifications. Aided by a Democratic-leaning electorate, Keating won the election with around 55% of the vote. Upon taking office in January 1999, Keating immediately replaced two top officials, and a third of the remaining staff was replaced or left voluntarily. Press reports criticized the move as overly political and aggressive, particularly as it affected ongoing trials. In his first year, Keating founded the Norfolk Anti-Crime Council, a 35-member forum for judicial officers, police, and other local parties to discuss and coordinate anti-crime strategies. He established a pilot program for a drug court under Quincy District Court, which would provide an alternative sentencing pathway for nonviolent drug offenders, in an effort to reduce court backlogs and lower recidivism rates. He also expanded his office's juvenile crime unit. In 2000, he laid the groundwork for the Norfolk Country Children's Advocacy Center, based on similar programs in Middlesex and Suffolk counties, and it was fully established the next year. Keating's office also began an anti-bullying program in 2001. In 2002, Keating's office was the first in Massachusetts to win a murder conviction in a case that lacked a victim's body. In advance of the 2002 elections, he was seen as a likely contender to succeed the deceased Joe Moakley in the U.S. House of Representatives, but he opted to run for a second term as DA instead, and was unopposed for reelection. He won a third term, still unopposed, in 2006. ## U.S. House of Representatives ### Elections With incumbent U.S. Representative Bill Delahunt choosing to retire, Keating declared his candidacy in the 2010 congressional election. In order to run for Delahunt's 10th district seat, Keating moved from his longtime home in Sharon (in the neighboring 4th district) to a rental property in Quincy. On September 14, Keating won the Democratic primary against State Senator Robert O'Leary. In the general election, he faced Republican State Representative Jeff Perry. In the wake of the Tea Party movement and the election of Republican U.S. Senator Scott Brown, the campaign was unusually close for a modern Massachusetts race, which would normally skew heavily Democratic. Keating's campaign largely focused on a 1991 incident during Perry's tenure as a police sergeant in which a teenage girl had been illegally strip-searched by another officer while Perry was on the scene. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee ran a widely aired advertisement highlighting the incident and challenging Perry's character. Keating won the November 2 election with 47% of the vote to Perry's 42%, with two independents receiving the remainder. During his first term in the House, Keating represented a district that served much of the South Shore, part of the South Coast, and all of Cape Cod. With the state poised to lose a congressional seat after the 2010 census, lawmakers released a redistricting plan in November 2011 in which Keating's home in Quincy was drawn into the neighboring 8th district, represented by Stephen Lynch. Under the plan, nearly all of Keating's base in the South Shore was drawn into Lynch's South Boston-based district. Most of the southern portion of Keating's old district, including his summer home in Bourne on Cape Cod, was combined with territory centered on the South Coast cities of New Bedford and Fall River to create the new 9th district. Rather than challenge Lynch in the Democratic primary, Keating chose to run in the 9th, claiming his summer home as his residence in the district. Keating defeated Bristol County District Attorney Samuel Sutter in the September 6 Democratic primary, and in November 2012 defeated Republican nominee Christopher Sheldon to win a second term. ### Tenure Keating is considered a liberal by national standards. In 2012, the National Journal ranked him as "the 84th most liberal member of the House", but second only to Lynch as the most conservative of Massachusetts's House delegation. In February 2017, the National Republican Congressional Committee named Keating as one of 36 top Democratic targets in the 2018 elections. Republicans hoped to gain seats in the election in blue-collar parts of the country. Keating is a member of the New Democrat Coalition, the House Baltic Caucus, the Congressional Arts Caucus and the U.S.–Japan Caucus. #### Economic issues and budget Issues specific to his South Coast and Cape Cod–based district, such as maritime policy, have been a major focus of Keating's work. In June 2012, he organized the Federal Fishing Advisory Board, a body to research and address fisheries management concerns between lawmakers and industry stakeholders. Also in 2012, he and other Massachusetts representatives pushed the Commerce Department to issue a federal disaster declaration for fisheries in the northeastern U.S., which would open up the opportunity for financial aid. In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, Keating proposed to redirect \$111 million of relief funding to fisheries throughout the country, but the House Rules Committee did not adopt the proposal. When the Nuclear Regulatory Commission considered a 20-year contract extension for the Pilgrim Nuclear Generating Station in Plymouth in mid-2012, Keating repeatedly took to the press. He at first declined to take a position on the plant's reauthorization, saying, "I wouldn't be the right person to ask, and that's why we have regulatory authorities and people with expertise to deal with that." When the commission voted to renew the license, Keating joined other Massachusetts politicians in deriding the decision as premature. During a labor strike later in the year, Keating joined U.S. Representative Ed Markey in challenging the qualifications of the plant's replacement workers. Along with U.S. Senator John Kerry, Keating helped to finalize the cleanup and sale of portions of a defunct naval air base in South Weymouth to private developers. The deal, reached in November 2011, was a linchpin for the SouthField development project. Keating has stressed his opposition to Social Security reductions such as raising the retirement age or privatizing the program, and supported a cost-of-living adjustment the Social Security Administration announced in 2011. In 2011, Keating had a 100% rating from the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL–CIO), backing all 29 endorsed bills. In 2012, Keating voted for 10 of 12 AFL-CIO backed bills, with the two opposing votes dealing with small business startups and swap dealer exclusions. Overall, Keating has supported 95% of AFL-CIO-endorsed legislation. He has received an 0% rating from the anti-union WorkPlaceChoice.org. He voted against the NLRB Prohibitions Bill in November 2011. #### Foreign affairs and defense Keating sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, where he is the ranking member of the Europe, Eurasia and Emerging Threats Subcommittee, and formerly served on the House Homeland Security Committee. He joined a Congressional delegation to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq, shortly after the 2011 execution of Osama bin Laden. After TSA officers in Boston were accused of racial profiling in 2012, Keating requested a Homeland Security Committee hearing into the accusations. #### Social issues In 2011, Keating founded a Women's Advisory Board for the 10th congressional district, in hopes of gaining insight into how best to serve the women in the 10th district. From October 18 to 21, 2011, he hosted "Women's Week" in the district, with events focusing on topics such as breast cancer awareness, domestic violence, and female entrepreneurship. Keating is pro-choice, and during his tenure in the House has voted against the Protect Life Act and the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act. In 2010, Keating received a rating of 0% from Massachusetts Citizens for Life. In 1997, he was rated 100% by NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts. The same year, he received a 100% rating from the Massachusetts National Organization for Women. Keating is a supporter of gay rights. He supported ending the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy and has promised to push nationwide anti-discrimination laws and marriage rights for gays and lesbians. In July 2011, he recorded a video supporting LGBT youth in Massachusetts in conjunction with other members of Massachusetts's congressional delegation and the It Gets Better Project. During his 2010 House campaign, Keating promised to increase federal firearm regulations. His proposed changes included closing a loophole that allows people on the FBI Terrorist Watch List to buy guns and requiring child safety trigger locks on all guns. He voted against a bill to require any state offering right-to-carry permits to recognize such permits issued in other states. ### Legislation Keating and Representative Aaron Schock jointly introduced the Equitable Access to Care and Health Act (H.R. 1814; 113th Congress) on April 29, 2013. The bill would amend the Internal Revenue Code with respect to minimum essential health care coverage requirements added by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, to allow an additional religious exemption from such requirements for people whose sincerely held religious beliefs would cause them to object to medical health care provided under such coverage. Individuals could file an affidavit to get this exemption, but would lose the exemption if they went on to later use healthcare. Schock and Keating wrote a letter in support of their bill, saying, "we believe the EACH Act balances a respect for religious diversity against the need to prevent fraud and abuse." ### Committee assignments - Committee on Armed Services - Subcommittee on Cyber, Information Technologies, and Innovation - Subcommittee on Intelligence and Special Operations - Committee on Foreign Affairs - Subcommittee on Europe (Ranking Member) - Subcommittee on Indo-Pacific ### Caucus memberships - New Democrat Coalition ## Personal life Keating and his wife, Tevis, live in Bourne, Massachusetts. They have two adult children. He is Roman Catholic.

Darren Aronofsky

American filmmaker

Darren Aronofsky (born February 12, 1969) is an American filmmaker. His films are noted for their surreal, melodramatic, and often disturbing elements, frequently in the form of psychological fiction. Aronofsky studied film and social anthropology at Harvard University before studying directing at the AFI Conservatory. He won several film awards after completing his senior thesis film, Supermarket Sweep, which became a National Student Academy Award finalist. In 1997, he founded the film and TV production company Protozoa Pictures. His feature film debut, the surrealist psychological thriller Pi (1998), was produced for \$60,000 and grossed over \$3 million; it won Aronofsky the Directing Award at the Sundance Film Festival and an Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay. Aronofsky's follow-up, the psychological drama Requiem for a Dream (2000), garnered strong reviews and received an Academy Award nomination for Ellen Burstyn's performance. After writing the World War II horror film Below (2002), Aronofsky released his third film, the romantic fantasy sci-fi drama The Fountain (2006). It received mixed reviews and performed poorly at the box-office, but has since garnered a cult following. His fourth film, the sports drama The Wrestler (2008), was released to critical acclaim; both of the film's stars, Mickey Rourke and Marisa Tomei, received Academy Award nominations. His fifth film, the psychological horror Black Swan (2010), received further acclaim and many accolades, with five Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director, and a Best Actress win for Natalie Portman. His sixth feature film, the biblically inspired epic Noah (2014), became his first film to open at No. 1 at the box office despite its mixed reception from critics and audiences. His seventh and eighth films, mother! (2017) and The Whale (2022), sparked controversy and received both widespread praise and criticism. ## Early life Aronofsky was born in the Brooklyn borough of New York City on February 12, 1969, the son of teachers Charlotte and Abraham Aronofsky. He grew up in Brooklyn's Manhattan Beach neighborhood. He said he was "raised culturally Jewish, but there was very little spiritual attendance in the temple. It was a cultural thing—celebrating the holidays, knowing where you came from, knowing your history, having respect for what your people have been through." He graduated from Edward R. Murrow High School. He has one sister, Patti, who attended a professional ballet school through high school. His parents would often take him to Broadway performances, which sparked his interest in show business. During his youth, Aronofsky trained as a field biologist with The School for Field Studies in Kenya in 1985 and Alaska in 1986. He attended school in Kenya to pursue an interest in learning about ungulates. He later said that the School for Field Studies "changed the way [he] perceived the world". Aronofsky's interest in the outdoors led him to backpack his way through Europe and the Middle East. At the age of 18, he entered Harvard University, where he majored in social anthropology and studied filmmaking; he graduated in 1991. He became seriously interested in film while attending Harvard after befriending Dan Schrecker, an aspiring animator, and Sean Gullette, who would go on to star in Aronofsky's first film, Pi. His cinematic influences included Akira Kurosawa, Roman Polanski, Terry Gilliam, Shinya Tsukamoto, Hubert Selby Jr. Spike Lee, Satoshi Kon, and Jim Jarmusch. Aronofsky's senior thesis film, Supermarket Sweep, was a finalist in the 1991 Student Academy Awards. In 1992, Aronofsky received his MFA degree in directing from the AFI Conservatory, where his classmates included Todd Field, Doug Ellin, Scott Silver, and Mark Waters. He won the institute's Franklin J. Schaffner Alumni Medal. ## Career ### Early work Aronofsky's debut feature, titled Pi—sometimes stylized as π—was shot in October 1997. The film was financed in part from \$100 donations from his friends and family. In return, he promised to pay each back \$150 if the film made money, and they would at least get screen credit if the film lost money. Producing the film with an initial budget of \$60,000, Aronofsky premiered Pi at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival, where he won the Best Director award. The film itself was nominated for a special Jury Award. Artisan Entertainment bought distribution rights for \$1 million. The film was released to the public later that year to critical acclaim and it grossed a total of \$3,221,152 at the box-office. Pi was the first film to be made available for download on the Internet. Aronofsky followed his debut with Requiem for a Dream, a film based on Hubert Selby Jr.'s novel of the same name. He was paid \$50,000, and worked for three years with nearly the same production team as his previous film. Following the financial breakout of Pi, he was capable of hiring established actors, including Ellen Burstyn and Jared Leto, and received a budget of \$3,500,000 to produce the film. Production of the film occurred over the period of one year, with the film being released in October 2000. The film went on to gross \$7,390,108 worldwide. Aronofsky received acclaim for his stylish direction, and was nominated for another Independent Spirit Award, this time for Best Director. The film itself was nominated for five awards in total, winning two, for Best Actress and Cinematography. Clint Mansell's soundtrack for the film was also well-regarded, and since their first collaboration in 1996, Mansell has composed the music to every Aronofsky film (except for Mother!, 2017 and The Whale, 2022). Ellen Burstyn was nominated for numerous awards, including for an Academy Award for Best Actress, and won the Independent Spirit Award. Aronofsky was awarded the PRISM Award from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation with the National Institute on Drug Abuse for the film's depiction of drug abuse. In May 2000, Aronofsky was briefly attached to make an adaptation of David Wiesner's 1999 children's book Sector 7 for Nickelodeon Movies, the project remains unmade. In mid-2000, Warner Bros. hired Aronofsky to write and direct Batman: Year One, which was to be the fifth film in the Batman franchise. Aronofsky, who collaborated with Frank Miller on an unproduced script for Ronin, brought Miller to co-write Year One with him, intending to reboot the series. "It's somewhat based on the comic book", Aronofsky later said. "Toss out everything you can imagine about Batman! Everything! We're starting completely anew", who intended to re-imagine the titular character in a darker, adult-oriented and grounded style, with his adaptation aiming for an R-rating. Regular Aronofsky collaborator Matthew Libatique was set as cinematographer, and Aronofsky had also approached Christian Bale for the role of Batman. Bale was ultimately cast in the role for Batman Begins. After that project failed to develop, Aronofsky declined the opportunity to direct a film in the Batman franchise. In March 2001, he helped write the screenplay to the horror film Below, which he also produced. In April 2001, Aronofsky entered negotiations with Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow to direct a then-untitled science fiction film, with Brad Pitt in the lead role. In June 2001, actress Cate Blanchett entered talks to join the film, which Aronofsky, wanting the title to remain secret, had given the working title of The Last Man. Production was postponed to wait for a pregnant Blanchett to give birth to her child in December 2001. Production was ultimately set for late October 2002 in Queensland and Sydney. By now officially titled The Fountain, the film had a budget of \$70 million, co-financed by Warner Bros. and New Regency, which had filled the gap after Village Roadshow withdrew. Pitt left the project seven weeks before the first day of shooting, halting production. In February 2004, Warner Bros. resurrected it on a \$35 million budget with Hugh Jackman in the lead role. In August, actress Rachel Weisz filled the vacancy left by Blanchett. The Fountain was released on November 22, 2006, a day before the American Thanksgiving holiday; ultimately it grossed \$15,978,422 in theaters worldwide. Audiences and critics were divided in their responses to it. ### Breakthrough In 2007, Aronofsky hired writer Scott Silver to develop The Fighter with him. Aronofsky approached Bale to star in the film, but Aronofsky dropped out because of its similarities to The Wrestler and to work on MGM's RoboCop remake. In July 2010, Aronofsky had left the project due to uncertainty over the financially distressed studio's future. When asked about the film, he said, "I think I'm still attached. I don't know. I haven't heard from anyone in a while". Later during 2007, Aronofsky said he was planning to film a movie about Noah's Ark. Aronofsky had the idea for The Wrestler for over a decade. He hired Robert Siegel to turn his idea into a script. The actor Nicolas Cage entered negotiations in October 2007 to star as Randy, the film's protagonist. The following month Cage left the project, and Mickey Rourke replaced him in the lead role. Aronofsky said that Cage pulled out of the movie because Aronofsky wanted Rourke to star; Aronofsky said, stating that Cage was "a complete gentleman, and he understood that my heart was with Mickey and he stepped aside. I have so much respect for Nic Cage as an actor and I think it really could have worked with Nic but, you know, Nic was incredibly supportive of Mickey and he is old friends with Mickey and really wanted to help with this opportunity, so he pulled himself out of the race." Cage responded, "I wasn't quote 'dropped' from the movie. I resigned from the movie because I didn't think I had enough time to achieve the look of the wrestler who was on steroids, which I would never do". The roughly 40-day shoot began in January 2008. The Wrestler premiered at the 65th Venice International Film Festival. Initially receiving little attention, the film wound up winning the Golden Lion, the highest award at the world's oldest film festival. The Wrestler received critical acclaim, and both Rourke and co-star Marisa Tomei received Academy Award, Golden Globe, SAG, and BAFTA nominations for their performances. Rourke won a Golden Globe, as did Bruce Springsteen for his original song written for the film. The Wrestler grossed \$44,674,354 worldwide on a budget of \$6,000,000 making it Aronofsky's highest-grossing film to that point. Aronofsky's next film was Black Swan, which had been in development since 2001, a psychological thriller horror film about a New York City ballerina. The film starred actress Natalie Portman, whom Aronofsky had known since 2000. She introduced Aronofsky to Mila Kunis, who joined the cast in 2009. Black Swan had its world premiere as the opening film at the 67th Venice Film Festival in September 2010. It received a standing ovation whose length Variety said made it "one of the strongest Venice openers in recent memory". Black Swan has received high praise from film critics, and received a record 12 Broadcast Film Critics Association nominations, four Independent Spirit Award nominations, four Golden Globe nominations, three SAG nominations, and many more accolades. Aronofsky received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Director. The film broke limited-release box-office records and grossed an unexpectedly high \$329,398,046. On January 25, 2011, the film was nominated for a total of five Academy Awards; Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Cinematography and Best Film Editing. On February 27, 2011, Portman won for Best Actress. The film was awarded the PRISM Award from the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration for its depiction of mental health issues. Aronofsky served as an executive producer on The Fighter, which was also nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars and won two for Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress for Christian Bale and Melissa Leo. ### Larger-budget productions Aronofsky was attached to The Wolverine, which was scheduled to begin production in March 2011, but he left the project due to scheduling issues. The film was set to be sixth entry of the X-Men film series, featuring a story revolving around Wolverine's adventures in Japan. In April 2011, Aronofsky was announced as the President of the Jury for the 68th Venice International Film Festival. In December 2011, Aronofsky directed the music video for Lou Reed and Metallica's "The View" from their album Lulu. Aronofsky was set to direct an HBO series pilot called Hobgoblin. Announced on June 16, 2011, the series would have depicted a group of magicians and con artists who use their powers of deception to defeat Hitler during World War II. He was set to work on the project with Pulitzer Prize winning author Michael Chabon and his wife Ayelet Waldman. In June 2013, it was announced that HBO had dropped the show and Aronofsky had pulled out, as well. In 2011, Aronofsky tried to launch production on Noah, a retelling of the Bible story of Noah's Ark, projected for a \$115 million budget. By the following year, the film had secured funding and distribution from New Regency and Paramount Pictures, with Russell Crowe hired for the title role. The film was adapted into a serialized graphic novel written by Aronofsky and Ari Handel, published in French in October 2011 by the Belgian publisher Le Lombard. By July 2012, Aronofsky's crews were building an ark set in Oyster Bay, New York. Aronofsky announced the start of filming on Noah on Twitter in the same month, tweeting shots of the filming in Iceland. The film featured Emma Watson, Anthony Hopkins, Logan Lerman, and Jennifer Connelly, with the latter having also starred in Requiem for a Dream. During its opening weekend, Noah held the largest non-sequel opening within Russia and Brazil, and the fourth-largest opening of all time. Aronofsky did not use live animals for the film, saying in a PETA video that "there's really no reason to do it anymore because the technology has arrived". The Humane Society of the United States gave him their inaugural Humane Filmmaker Award in honor of his use of computer-generated animals. That same year, he was announced as the President of the Jury for the 65th Berlin International Film Festival for February 2015. Aronofsky's next film, mother!, was released by Paramount Pictures on September 15, 2017. It stars Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Michelle Pfeiffer, Domhnall Gleeson, Ed Harris and Kristen Wiig. The film sparked controversy upon release for its depiction of violence, and, though it received generally positive reviews, it polarized audiences, becoming one of few films to receive a "F" CinemaScore grade. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 68% based on 278 reviews, and an average rating of 6.8/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "There's no denying that mother! is the thought-provoking product of a singularly ambitious artistic vision, though it may be too unwieldy for mainstream tastes." His next film would be "A courtroom drama of Artificial intelligence", in which he would cooperate again with Paramount Pictures, having doing so in mother!. In 2018, he was the co-executive producer of SPHERES, a virtual reality journey through the universe, that was acquired in a seven figure deal at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. In January 2021, his next film was announced to be The Whale, a film adaptation of Samuel D. Hunter's play of the same name, starring Brendan Fraser. The Whale had its world premiere at the 79th Venice International Film Festival on September 4, 2022, where it received a six-minute standing ovation. Fraser's performance was highly praised and won him the Academy Award for Best Actor. ### Nonfiction work In 2018, Aronofsky executive produced One Strange Rock for NatGeo. This 10-part cinematic event series explores the fragility and wonder of planet Earth—one of the most peculiar, unique places in the universe. Host Will Smith guides viewers on an unprecedented exploration, bolstered by an elite group of eight astronauts who provide unique perspectives and relate personal memoirs of the planet seen from a distance. Hourlong episodes delve into monumental events such as genesis, cosmic violence, human intelligence and alien life, oxygen, and survival vs. destruction. The series is now available on Disney Plus. A second season, titled Welcome to Earth is currently in production and expected to premiere this year. Aronofsky is also producing Limitless for NatGeo. This upcoming series features Chris Hemsworth as it delves into the science of longevity and how to live better and longer. In 2020, Aronofsky produced director Lance Oppenheim's debut feature documentary, Some Kind of Heaven. Set in The Villages retirement community in Florida, the film follows four residents who struggle to fit into the community's prepackaged paradise. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival before being released by Magnolia Pictures in 2021. ## Directing style Aronofsky's first two films, Pi and Requiem for a Dream, were low budget and used montages of extremely short shots, also known as hip hop montages. While an average 100-minute film has 600 to 700 cuts, Requiem for a Dream features more than 2,000. Split-screen is used extensively, along with extremely tight closeups. Long tracking shots, including those shot with an apparatus strapping a camera to an actor, called the Snorricam, and time-lapse photography are also prominent stylistic devices. Often with his films, Aronofsky alternates between extreme closeups and extreme wide shots to create a sense of isolation. With The Fountain, Aronofsky restricted the use of computer-generated imagery. Henrik Fett, the visual effects supervisor of Look Effects, said, "Darren was quite clear on what he wanted and his intent to greatly minimize the use of computer graphics ... and I think the results are outstanding." He used more subtle directing in The Wrestler and Black Swan, in which a less-visceral directing style better showcases the acting and narratives. Aronofsky filmed both works with a muted palette and a grainy style. Part of this consistent style involves collaborations with frequent partners cinematographer Matthew Libatique, editor Andrew Weisblum and composer Clint Mansell. Mansell's music is often an important element of the films. ### Themes and influences Pi features several references to mathematics and mathematical theories. In a 1998 interview, Aronofsky acknowledged several influences for Pi: "I'm a big fan of Kurosawa and Fellini. In this film in particular I think there's a lot of Roman Polanski influence and Terry Gilliam influence as well as a Japanese director named Shinya Tsukamoto—he directed The Iron Man, Tetsuo." The visual style of Pi and Requiem for a Dream features numerous similarities to Tetsuo: The Iron Man. The majority of reviewers characterized Requiem for a Dream in the genre of "drug movies", along with films like The Basketball Diaries, Trainspotting, Spun, and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. But, Aronofsky placed his movie in a wider context, saying: > Requiem for a Dream is not about heroin or about drugs ... The Harry-Tyrone-Marion story is a very traditional heroin story. But putting it side by side with the Sara story, we suddenly say, 'Oh, my God, what is a drug?' The idea that the same inner monologue goes through a person's head when they're trying to quit drugs, as with cigarettes, as when they're trying to not eat food so they can lose 20 pounds, was really fascinating to me. I thought it was an idea that we hadn't seen on film and I wanted to bring it up on the screen. Dream logic is another leitmotif. With his friend Ari Handel, Aronofsky developed the plot for The Fountain; the director wrote the screenplay. In 1999, Aronofsky thought that The Matrix redefined the science fiction genre in film. He sought to make a science fiction film that explored new territory, as did The Matrix and its predecessors Star Wars and 2001: A Space Odyssey. He wanted to go beyond science fiction films with plots driven by technology and science. In the Toronto International Film Festival interview conducted by James Rocchi, Aronofsky credited the 1957 Charles Mingus song "The Clown" as a major influence on The Wrestler. It is an instrumental piece, with a poem read over the music about a clown who accidentally discovers the bloodlust of the crowds and eventually kills himself in performance. Aronofsky called Black Swan a companion piece to The Wrestler, recalling one of his early projects about a love affair between a wrestler and a ballerina. He eventually separated the wrestling and the ballet worlds, considering them as "too much for one movie". He compared the two films: "Wrestling some consider the lowest art—if they would even call it art—and ballet some people consider the highest art. But what was amazing to me was how similar the performers in both of these worlds are. They both make incredible use of their bodies to express themselves." About the psychological thriller nature of Black Swan, actress Natalie Portman compared the film's tone to Polanski's 1968 film Rosemary's Baby, while Aronofsky said Polanski's Repulsion (1965) and The Tenant (1976) were "big influences" on the final film. Actor Vincent Cassel also compared Black Swan to Polanski's early films, commenting that it was also influenced by Alejandro Jodorowsky's movies and David Cronenberg's early work. Aronofsky has also mentioned that he "learned a lot" from Jean-Luc Godard's film Breathless. ## Reception to films Requiem for a Dream was originally set for release in 2000, but it was met with controversy in the United States, being rated NC-17 by the MPAA due to a graphic sex scene. Aronofsky appealed the rating, claiming that cutting any portion of the film would dilute its message. The appeal was denied and the film's distributor Artisan Entertainment decided to release the film unrated. The question of who had designed 40 ballet costumes for Portman and the dancers in Black Swan was one publicized controversy related to the film. The media gave substantial coverage to the dance double controversy: how much credit for the dancing in the film was being given to Portman and how much to her "dance double", Sarah Lane, an American Ballet Theatre soloist. Lane claimed to have danced more than she was credited. The director and Fox Searchlight disputed Lane's claim. Their released statements said, "We were fortunate to have Sarah there to cover the more complicated dance sequences and we have nothing but praise for the hard work she did. However, Natalie herself did most of the dancing featured in the final film." Aronofsky said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly: > I had my editor count shots. There are 140 dance shots in the film. 111 are Natalie Portman untouched. 28 are her dance double Sarah Lane. If you do the math, that's 80% Natalie Portman. What about duration? The shots that feature the double are wide shots and rarely play for longer than one second. There are two complicated longer dance sequences that we used face replacement. Even so, if we were judging by time, over 90% would be Natalie Portman. And to be clear, Natalie did dance en pointe in pointe shoes. If you look at the final shot of the opening prologue, which lasts 85 seconds, and was danced completely by Natalie, she exits the scene on pointe. That is completely her without any digital magic. While Aronofsky's other movies have evoked significant emotional response, they were surpassed by the controversy aroused by Noah. It was screened for the first time on March 28, 2014, and despite its PG-13 rating, it has quickly been recognized by Box Office Mojo as one of the most controversial movies of the last 35 years along with such titles as The Passion of the Christ or The Da Vinci Code. Noah has been banned in United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Indonesia on religious grounds with other countries following suit. Aronofsky's films have also been criticized for content and casting. His seventh film mother! (2017) sparked controversy upon release due to its graphic and disturbing content, polarizing both critics and audiences. His eighth film The Whale (2022) also received controversy for lead star Brendan Fraser wearing a prosthetic suit; and for casting the heterosexual Fraser as a homosexual character. Some critics labeled the film's messaging relating to its lead character's obesity as fatphobic. In preparing for the role, Fraser consulted the Obesity Action Coalition (OAC) and conversed with members of the group about their life experiences. The OAC recognized the controversial use of prosthetics in portraying obesity, but the organization supported its role in the film because it helped "realistically portray one person's story with obesity, something rarely seen in media" rather than existing to "demean or ridicule". ## Environmental activism Aronofsky is known for his environmental activism. A number of his films, notably Noah and mother!, can be read as environmental parables. In 2014 he traveled to the Alberta Tar Sands with the Sierra Club's Michael Brune and Leonardo DiCaprio. In 2015, he traveled to Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge with Brune, Keri Russell, and the leaders of several veterans groups. In 2014, he received the Humane Filmmaker Award from the Humane Society of the United States. In 2015, he collaborated with the artist JR on The Standing March, a public art installation in Paris encouraging diplomats at COP21 to take action against climate change. He coproduced the 2022 documentary The Territory about a Brazilian rainforest tribe's fight to protect its existence from encroaching land grabbers. He is a board member of the Sierra Club Foundation and The School for Field Studies. ## Personal life Aronofsky began dating English actress Rachel Weisz in 2001, and they were engaged in 2005. They lived in Manhattan's East Village and had a son on May 31, 2006. Noted mohel Philip Sherman performed their son's brit milah. In November 2010, they announced that they had been separated for months but were raising their son together. In September 2016, he began dating American actress Jennifer Lawrence, whom he met during the filming of mother!. The relationship ended in November 2017. Since 2018, he has been dating Russian actress Aglaya Tarasova. Aronofsky said of his spiritual beliefs in 2014, "I think I definitely believe. My biggest expression of what I believe is in The Fountain." In 2022, he said, "I do TM [Transcendental Meditation] and I love it. It's a really helpful exercise." ## Filmography ### Feature films ### Student short films Producer only - Jackie (2016) - Aftermath (2017) - White Boy Rick (2018) - Some Kind of Heaven (2020) - Catch the Fair One (2021) - The Territory (2022) - The Good Nurse (2022) Executive producer - The Fighter (2010) - Zipper (2015) - Serendipity (2020) - Limitless with Chris Hemsworth (2022) ### Other productions ## Accolades Directed Academy Award performances Aronofsky has directed multiple Oscar nominated performances. ## See also - Darren Aronofsky's unrealized projects

Forget What You Know

Forget What You Know is the third studio album by American rock band Midtown. Following the release of Living Well Is the Best Revenge (2002), MCA was merged into Geffen Records, and the band was not picked up by the latter label. The group spent time writing on their next album and following a meeting with Butch Walker, moved to Atlanta, Georgia, to start recording the new material. Walker headed the producing helm and Forget What You Know was recorded in late 2003 at Ruby Red Studios. The album is classified as an emo and pop punk release; its songs were compared with those of Division of Laura Lee, Recover and Jimmy Eat World. The release of Forget What You Know was announced in April 2004 and the band embarked on a US tour, during which "Give It Up" was released as a single, and a music video for the song was released after the tour finished. Forget What You Know was released on June 29, 2004, through Columbia Records; it reached number 109 on the Billboard 200 and "Give It Up" peaked at number 32 on the Alternative Songs radio chart. Music critics gave the album a mixed reception with some complimenting its energy and sound, and others finding it average. Midtown went on two other US tours and performed shows in Australia and the UK, and embarked upon another US tour in late 2004. A music video for "Empty Like the Ocean" was released in March 2005 and a headlining US tour and a stint on the Warped Tour followed. ## Background In 1999, Midtown signed to the independent label Drive-Thru Records and released their debut album Save the World, Lose the Girl (2000) through it. Sometime afterwards, communication between the label and the group became difficult. Vocalist/bassist Gabe Saporta was concerned Drive-Thru were focussing their efforts on New Found Glory, which Saporta helped to sign with the label, rather than Midtown, and a public feud between Saporta and the label's founders Richard and Stefanie Reines ensued. Drive-Thru had a distribution deal with major label MCA Records that allowed MCA to acquire Drive-Thru Records' bands over a period of time. Midtown's next album Living Well Is the Best Revenge (2002) was a joint release by Drive-Thru and MCA. According to drummer Rob Hitt, MCA had a few groups that performed well commercially and Drive-Thru "wanted to put every other band into that same cookie-cutter mold. And we didn't want that." Midtown later had negative experiences with the label, which wanted to feature the band in teen magazines. Around the time, MCA had acquired acts that were dissimilar to Drive-Thru's bands; MCA was investing in the less-successful groups and lost a substantial amount of money. Midtown then entered into a legal battle to leave Drive-Thru that lasted for a year. By mid-2003, MCA was absorbed by Universal Music Group subsidiary Geffen Records, and its staff and roster were moved to Geffen. ## Writing and recording As the merger was occurring, Midtown was writing material for its next album. Geffen believed the group was inactive due to their break from touring, and did not pick up the band from MCA. Hitt said the band didn't wish to release a new album, despite "make it seem like we had all these things going on". Saporta said "as far as anyone cared, we were dead. No one gave a shit" about the group by the time they were working on the next album. Sometime afterwards, Midtown played a show with Butch Walker, after which Walker's manager started to manage the group. According to Saporta, after talking with Walker on another occasion, "he was like, 'Oh, I've heard your demos, I think they're great. I'd love to do your record'". Saporta, having grown suspicious of people talking to him after the legal battle, was ambivalent to Walker's offer. By October 2003, the band considered themselves free agents. They temporarily moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where recording sessions were held at Ruby Red Studios in Midtown Atlanta with Walker and Russ T serving as engineers. Despite not being fans of Walker's work, the group worked with him for the sessions. They wanted a rawer sound compared to the polished direction of the last two albums, both of which were produced by Mark Trombino. Saporta's said Walker's work was "all very slick" and they wanted to create something "a little more rock and roll". Saporta said they aimed to make the record for themselves and that "[we] were just like, 'Okay, we're going to make an awesome record for ourselves and prove something to ourselves,' and that's all we cared about." In addition to playing their usual instruments, Saporta did some programming and Hitt sang. With recording lasting three weeks in November, the group recorded 18 songs. All the recordings, but "Give it Up", were mixed by Walker and Russ T, and mastered by George Marino at Sterling Sound in New York City. "Give It Up" was mixed by Jay Baumgardner and mastered by Vlado Meller at Sony Music Studios, also in New York City. ## Composition Forget What You Know has been described as emo and pop punk, having similarities with the work of Alkaline Trio. The album showcases more energy than the group's previous album and highlights a moody atmosphere, which was likely influenced by Midtown's battle with their former label. Saporta' vocals were compared to those of the Wallflowers' frontman Jakob Dylan and Millencolin, leaning to a wail. While writing the album, Saporta was "going through a tough time, where everything that I thought I knew was proven to be false and the world just started redefining itself". The album, which has a darker overtone than Midtown's earlier work, is about the "realization that the reality that I knew was fake ... [and that] you're always going to be okay, there's always going to be something that gets you through in your new reality". Discussing the album title, the band said; "Forget what you know about the world; forget what you know about yourself. Forget what you think you know about Project Mayhem. Embrace nothingness, be everything." The opening track "Armageddon." acts as an introduction and has gang vocals shouting the phrase "So hard to believe you what you're looking for" before segueing into the post-punk track "To Our Savior", which is similar to the output of the Swedish band Division of Laura Lee. "Is It Me? Is It True?" features a toy piano and is followed by an instrumental interlude titled, "God Is Dead," which is an extrapolation of the vocal melody on the following track, "Whole New World." "Help Me Sleep" was compared to the work of the band Recover. The album's closing track "So Long as We Keep Our Bodies Numb We're Safe" ends with almost-10-minute-long loops of the phrases "You've had all the time in the world" and "You don't listen", and due to its loops and length has been compared to "Goodbye Sky Harbor" (1999) by Jimmy Eat World. ## Release and promotion Forget What You Know was sent to several record labels in early 2004. On January 23, "Is It Me? Is It True?" was made available for download through AbsolutePunk. On April 7, the release of Forget What You Know was announced for June 2004, and that it would be released through Sony Music Entertainment imprint Columbia Records. In addition, the album's track listing was revealed. "Give It Up" was released as a single on May 18 that year. Between late April and early June 2004, Midtown went on a co-headlining US tour with Armor for Sleep and Your Enemies Friends; they were supported on select dates by Time and Distance, the Working Title, Stars Hide Fire, Vise Versa, Emanuel and Lance's Hero. Following this, they appeared at the Best Music Poll 2004 festival. On June 12, a music video for "Give It Up" was released, together with a behind-the-scenes "making of" video. Forget What You Know was released through Columbia Records on June 29, 2004. It was subsequently released in Australia on August 16, Canada on August 24, and in Germany and the UK on September 24. To promote the album's release, Midtown performed a few in-store live shows. In July and August 2004, the band went on tour with Lostprophets and later played in Japan and Canada. In September and October, the group appeared on the Rock Against Bush tour in the US. The group then toured Australia and the UK with Hidden in Plain View. They returned to the US in November for a tour with Matchbook Romance and Hidden in Plain View. the Academy Is... and Name Taken appeared on select shows. In mid-December, the group played three shows with Paulson, Senses Fail and Moneen, and five shows with Fall Out Boy, the Academy Is... and Gym Class Heroes. In March and April 2005, the group performed across the US as part of the Fueled By Ramen & Friends Tour. On March 18, 2005, a music video for "Empty Like the Ocean" was released. At the end of April, the group appeared at The Bamboozle festival before embarking on a headlining tour with Plain White T's, Action Action and Rock Kills Kid. The group was initially scheduled to appear on the Warped Tour between mid-June and mid-August but pulled out of all of the shows except the last five. The group disbanded later in the year, making Forget What You Know their last album release. In a 2006 interview, guitarist Heath Saraceno explained that "it veered far away from any sort of resemblance to a democracy that it once had. One person in particular took all the control, and the rest of us were just kinda stuck there trying to give input and being shut down at almost every turn". "Sister Golden Hair", a cover of the America song recorded during the album's sessions, was released in November 2006. ## Reception Forget What You Know spent two weeks on the Billboard 200, peaking at number 109 on the chart dated July 17, 2004. "Give It Up" charted at number 32 on the Alternative Songs radio chart. The album received mixed reviews from most music critics. Exclaim! writer Liz Worth said "There isn't a weak track here, but there are some that really shine", particularly "Empty Like the Ocean" and "Hey Baby, Don't You Know That We're All Whores". She also said the record would go down well with fans of punk's more melodic nature. Kaj Roth of Melodic found the album a "well produced" release with "energetic" sounds, like those found on an archetypal emo record. With neither any stand-outs or bad songs, Roth said Forget What You Know is a "solid good album to listen to". In a review for Blender, journalist Maura Johnston said the album only missteps when the tempo "slows down and [Midtown's] peppy embrace of nihilism and nothingness stops pogoing". Ox-Fanzine's Kid Dynamite viewed it as "unfortunately only mediocre", noting the "catchy melodies, polyphonic vocals, variety ... the whole thing never seems too pop". Punknews.org writer Brian Shultz said Saporta's vocals had "gone absolutely berserk. It almost sounds like he's trying to reach pitches he's incapable of making." He regarded it as "more fluid and energized" than the group's preceding album but said it is "hardly as bold or invigorating" as their debut release. AllMusic reviewer Johnny Loftus complimented the group's "leaner, more moody sound" despite them abandoning "sugar-high" hooks for "less direct yet still succinct songcraft". Loftus said the release is not "a sun-and-sand summertime record" but it set the stage for "kids making the transition from goofy preteen pop-punk to bands like the Alkaline Trio". ## Track listing All lyrics by Gabe Saporta. All music by Midtown. All songs produced by Butch Walker. ## Personnel Personnel per booklet. Midtown - Robert Hitt – drums, vocals - Tyler Rann – guitar, vocals - Gabe Saporta – lead vocals, bass, programming - Heath Saraceno – guitar, vocals Production - Butch Walker – producer, engineer, mixing - Russ T – engineer, mixing - George Marino – mastering - Jay Baumgardner – mixing (track 3) - Vlado Meller – mastering (track 3) - Alan Ferguson – photos ## Charts ## Release history

Ahmedabad

Ahmedabad (/ˈɑːmədəbæd, -bɑːd/ AH-mə-də-ba(h)d; Gujarati: Amdavad ) is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 (per the 2011 population census) makes it the fifth-most populous city in India, and the encompassing urban agglomeration population estimated at 6,357,693 is the seventh-most populous in India. Ahmedabad is located near the banks of the Sabarmati River, 25 km (16 mi) from the capital of Gujarat, Gandhinagar, also known as its twin city. Ahmedabad has emerged as an important economic and industrial hub in India. It is the second-largest producer of cotton in India, due to which it was known as the 'Manchester of India' along with Kanpur. Ahmedabad's stock exchange (before it was shut down in 2018) was the country's second oldest. Cricket is a popular sport in Ahmedabad; a newly built stadium, called Narendra Modi Stadium, at Motera can accommodate 132,000 spectators, making it the largest stadium in the world. The world-class Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Sports Enclave is currently under construction and once complete, it will be one of the biggest sports centers (Sports City) in India. The effects of the liberalisation of the Indian economy have energised the city's economy towards tertiary sector activities such as commerce, communication and construction. Ahmedabad's increasing population has resulted in an increase in the construction and housing industries, resulting in the development of skyscrapers. In 2010, Ahmedabad was ranked third in Forbes's list of fastest growing cities of the decade. In 2012, The Times of India chose Ahmedabad as India's best city to live in. The gross domestic product of Ahmedabad metro was estimated at \$68 billion in 2020. In 2020, Ahmedabad was ranked as the third-best city in India to live by the Ease of Living Index. In July 2022, Time magazine included Ahmedabad in its list of world's 50 greatest places of 2022. Ahmedabad has been selected as one of the hundred Indian cities to be developed as a smart city under the Government of India's flagship Smart Cities Mission. In July 2017, the historic city of Ahmedabad, or Old Ahmedabad, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage City. ## Etymology The name "Ahmedabad" is derived from the name of Sultan Ahmed Shah, who founded the city in the year 1411 AD. The original name of the city was "Ashaval," which was a small settlement located on the banks of the Sabarmati river. According to local legends, Sultan Ahmed Shah was out on a hunting expedition when he came across a rabbit that was brave enough to turn and face his hunting dogs. Impressed by the courage of the rabbit, Sultan Ahmed Shah decided to build a new city on the spot and named it "Ahmedabad" after himself. Over the years, Ahmedabad grew into a prosperous city, becoming an important center for trade and commerce. Today, it is one of the largest cities in India and is known for its rich cultural heritage, including its monuments, museums, and festivals. At that time, Karna, the Chaulukya (Solanki) ruler of Anhilwara (modern Patan), waged a successful war against the Bhil king of Ashaval, and established a city called Karnavati on the banks of the Sabarmati. ## History The area around Ahmedabad has been inhabited since the 11th century, when it was known as Ashaval. At that time, Karna, the Chaulukya (Solanki) ruler of Anhilwara (modern Patan), waged a successful war against the Bhil king of Ashaval, and established a city called Karnavati on the banks of the Sabarmati. Solanki rule lasted until the 13th century, when Gujarat came under the control of the Vaghela dynasty of Dholka. Gujarat subsequently came under the control of the Delhi Sultanate in the 14th century. However, by the earlier 15th century, the local Muslim governor Zafar Khan Muzaffar established his independence from the Delhi Sultanate and crowned himself Sultan of Gujarat as Muzaffar Shah I, thereby founding the Muzaffarid dynasty. In 1411, the area came under the control of his grandson, Sultan Ahmed Shah, who selected the forested area along the banks of the Sabarmati river for his new capital. He laid the foundation of a new walled city near Karnavati and named it Ahmedabad after himself. According to other versions, he named the city after four Muslim saints in the area who all had the name Ahmed. Ahmed Shah I laid the foundation of the city on 26 February 1411 (at 1.20 pm, Thursday, the second day of Dhu al-Qi'dah, Hijri year 813) at Manek Burj. Manek Burj is named after the legendary 15th-century Hindu saint, Maneknath, who intervened to help Ahmed Shah I build Bhadra Fort in 1411. He chose it as the new capital on 4 March 1411. Chandan and Rajesh Nath, 13th generation descendants of Saint Maneknath, perform puja and hoist the flag on Manek Burj on Ahmedabad's foundation day and for the Vijayadashami festival every year. In 1487, Mahmud Begada, the grandson of Ahmed Shah, fortified the city with an outer wall 10 km (6.2 mi) in circumference and consisting of twelve gates, 189 bastions and over 6,000 battlements. In 1535 Humayun briefly occupied Ahmedabad after capturing Champaner when the ruler of Gujarat, Bahadur Shah, fled to Diu. Ahmedabad was then reoccupied by the Muzaffarid dynasty until 1573 when Gujarat was conquered by the Mughal emperor Akbar. During the Mughal reign, Ahmedabad became one of the Empire's thriving centres of trade, mainly in textiles, which were exported as far as Europe. The Mughal ruler Shahjahan spent the prime of his life in the city, sponsoring the construction of the Moti Shahi Mahal in Shahibaug. The Deccan Famine of 1630–32 affected the city, as did famines in 1650 and 1686. Ahmedabad remained the provincial headquarters of the Mughals until 1758, when they surrendered the city to the Marathas. During the period of Maratha Empire governance, the city became the centre of a conflict between the Peshwa of Poona and the Gaekwad of Baroda. In 1780, during the First Anglo-Maratha War, a British force under James Hartley stormed and captured Ahmedabad, but it was handed back to the Marathas at the end of the war. The British East India Company took over the city in 1818 during the Third Anglo-Maratha War. A military cantonment was established in 1824 and a municipal government in 1858. Incorporated into the Bombay Presidency during British rule, Ahmedabad became one of the most important cities in the Gujarat region. In 1864, a railway link between Ahmedabad and Mumbai (then Bombay) was established by the Bombay, Baroda, and Central India Railway (BB&CI), enabling traffic and trade between northern and southern India via the city. Over time, the city established itself as the home of a developing textile industry, which earned it the nickname "Manchester of the East". The Indian independence movement developed roots in the city when Mahatma Gandhi established two ashrams – the Kochrab Ashram near Paldi in 1915 and the Satyagraha Ashram (now Sabarmati Ashram) on the banks of the Sabarmati in 1917 – which would become centres of nationalist activities. During the mass protests against the Rowlatt Act in 1919, textile workers burned down 51 government buildings across the city in protest at a British attempt to extend wartime regulations after the First World War. In the 1920s, textile workers and teachers went on strike, demanding civil rights and better pay and working conditions. In 1930, Gandhi initiated the Salt Satyagraha from Ahmedabad by embarking from his ashram on the Dandi Salt March. The city's administration and economic institutions were rendered inoperative in the early 1930s by the large numbers of people who took to the streets in peaceful protests, and again in 1942 during the Quit India Movement. Following independence and the partition of India in 1947, the city was scarred by the intense communal violence that broke out between Hindus and Muslims in 1947, Ahmedabad was the focus of settlement by Hindu migrants from Pakistan, who expanded the city's population and transformed its demographics and economy. By 1960, Ahmedabad had become a metropolis with a population of slightly under half a million people, with classical and colonial European-style buildings lining the city's thoroughfares. It was chosen as the capital of Gujarat state after the partition of the State of Bombay on 1 May 1960. During this period, a large number of educational and research institutions were founded in the city, making it a centre for higher education, science and technology. Ahmedabad's economic base became more diverse with the establishment of heavy and chemical industry during the same period. Many countries sought to emulate India's economic planning strategy and one of them, South Korea, copied the city's second "Five-Year Plan". In the late 1970s, the capital shifted to the newly built city of Gandhinagar. This marked the start of a long period of decline in the city, marked by a lack of development. The 1974 Nav Nirman agitation – a protest against a 20% hike in the hostel food fees at the L.D. College of Engineering in Ahmedabad – snowballed into a movement to remove Chimanbhai Patel, then chief minister of Gujarat. In the 1980s, a reservation policy was introduced in the country, which led to anti-reservation protests in 1981 and 1985. The protests witnessed violent clashes between people belonging to various castes. The city was considerably impacted by the 2001 Gujarat earthquake; up to 50 multi-storey buildings collapsed, killing 752 people and causing much damage. The following year, a three-day period of violence between Hindus and Muslims in the western Indian state of Gujarat, known as the 2002 Gujarat riots, spread to Ahmedabad; in eastern Chamanpura, 69 people were killed in the Gulbarg Society massacre on 28 February 2002. Refugee camps were set up around the city, housing 50,000 Muslims, as well as some small Hindu camps. The 2008 Ahmedabad bombings, a series of seventeen bomb blasts, killed and injured several people. The terrorist group Harkat-ul-Jihad claimed responsibility for the attacks. Ahmedabad is one of few cities in India that has hosted the premiers of major economies such as the US, China and Canada. On 24 February 2020, US President Donald Trump became the first president to visit the city. The event was named Namaste Trump. Earlier, President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited the city. ## Demographics ### Population At the 2011 Census of India Ahmedabad had a population of 5,633,927, making it the fifth most populous city in India. The urban agglomeration centred upon Ahmedabad, then having a population of 6,357,693, now estimated at 7,650,000, is the seventh most populous urban agglomeration in India. The city had a literacy rate of 88.29%; 92.30% of the men and 83.85% of the women were literate. According to the census for the Ninth Plan, there are 30,737 rural families living in Ahmedabad. Of those, 5.41% (1663 families) live below the poverty line. Approximately 440,000 people live in slums within the city. In 2008, there were 2273 registered non-resident Indians living in Ahmedabad. As of 2020, Ahmedabad's population was estimated at 8,059,441. In 1950, the population of Ahmedabad was 854,959. Ahmedabad has grown by 950,155 since 2015, which represents a 2.54% annual change. According to the UN World Population Prospects, the population might increase to 8,854,444 by 2025. It is also predicted to have a massive rise to 11,062,112 as early as 2035. In 2010, Forbes magazine rated Ahmedabad as the fastest-growing city in India, and listed it as third fastest-growing in the world after the Chinese cities of Chengdu and Chongqing. In 2011, it was rated India's best megacity to live in by leading market research firm IMRB. According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report of 2003, Ahmedabad has the lowest crime rate of the 35 Indian cities with a population of more than one million. In December 2011, market research firm IMRB declared Ahmedabad the best megacity to live in when compared to India's other megacities. Slightly less than half of all real estate in Ahmedabad is owned by "community organisations" (i.e. cooperatives), and according to Vrajlal Sapovadia, professor of the B.K. School of Business Management, "the spatial growth of the city is to [an] extent [a] contribution of these organisations". Ahmedabad Cantonment provides residential zones for Indian Army officials. ### Poverty In the mid-1970s and early 1980s, the textile mills that were responsible for much of Ahmedabad's wealth faced competition from automation and domestic specialty looms. Several mills closed down, leaving between 40,000 and 50,000 people without a source of income, and many moved into informal settlements in the city centre. The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC), the governing and administrative body of the city, simultaneously lost much of its tax base and saw an increased demand for services. In the 1990s, newly emerging pharmaceutical, chemical, and automobile manufacturing industries required skilled labor, so many migrants seeking work ended up in the informal sector and settled in slums. Ahmedabad has made efforts to reduce poverty and improve the living conditions of poor residents. The urban poverty rate has declined from 28% in 1993–1994 to 10% in 2011–2012. This is partly due to the strengthening of the AMC and its partnership with several civil society organizations (CSOs) representing poor residents. Through projects and programs, the AMC has provided utilities and basic services to slums. However, some challenges remain, and there are still many residents who lack access to sanitation, clean running water, and electricity. Riots, often rooted in religious tensions, threaten the stability of neighborhoods and have caused spatial segregation across religious and caste lines. There remains to be seen a concerted effort to balance pro-poor, inclusive development with national initiatives that aim to create 'global cities' that are the focus of capital investment and technological innovation. #### Informal housing and slums As of 2011, about 66% of the population lives in formal housing, with the other 34% living in slums or chawls, which are tenements for industrial workers. There are approximately 700 slum settlements in Ahmedabad, and 11% of the total housing stock is public housing. The population of Ahmedabad has increased while the housing stock has remained generally constant, and this has led to a rise in density of both formal and informal housing and a more economical usage of existing space. The Indian census estimates that the Ahmedabad slum population was 25.6% of the total population in 1991 and had decreased to 4.5% in 2011, but these numbers are contested and local entities maintain that the census underestimates informal populations. There is a consensus that there has been a reduction in the percentage of the population that lives in slum settlements, and that there has also been a general improvement in living conditions for slum residents. #### Slum Networking Project In the 1990s, the AMC faced increased slum populations. They found that residents were willing and able to pay for legal connections to water, sewage, and electricity, but because of tenure issues, they were paying higher prices for low-quality, informal connections. To address this, beginning in 1995, the AMC partnered with civil society organizations to create the Slum Networking Project (SNP) to improve basic services in 60 slums, benefitting approximately 13,000 households. This project, also known as Parivartan (Change), involved participatory planning in which slum residents were partners alongside AMC, private institutions, microfinance lenders, and local NGOs. The goal of the program was to provide both physical infrastructure (including water supply, sewers, individual toilets, paved roads, storm drainage, and tree planting) and community development (i.e. the formation of resident associations, women's groups, community health interventions, and vocational training). In addition, participating households were granted a minimum de facto tenure of ten years. The project cost a total of ₹4,350 million. Community members and the private sector each contributed ₹600 million, NGOs provided ₹90 million, and the AMC paid for the rest of the project. Each slum household was responsible for no more than 12% of the cost of upgrading their home. This project has generally been regarded as a success. Having access to basic services increased the residents' working hours, since most work out of their homes. It also reduced the incidence of illness, particularly water-borne illness, and increased children's rates of school attendance. The SNP received the 2006 UNHABITAT Dubai International Award for Best Practice to Improve the Living Environment. However, concerns remain about the community's responsibility and capacity for the maintenance of the new infrastructure. Additionally, trust was weakened when the AMC demolished two of slums that were upgraded as part of SNP to create recreational parks. ### Religion and ethnicity According to the 2011 census, Hindus are the predominant religious community in the city comprising 81.56% of the population followed by Muslims (13.51%), Jains (3.62%), Christians (0.85%) and Sikhs (0.24%). Buddhists, people following other religions and those who did not state any religion make up the remainder. - The Cathedral of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Mirzapur is the cathedra of the Diocese of Ahmedabad. - Most of the residents of Ahmedabad are native Gujaratis. The city is home to some 2000 Parsis (Zoroastrians), and some 125 members of the Bene Israel Jewish community. There is also one synagogue in the city. ## Geography Ahmedabad lies in western India at 53 metres (174 ft) above sea level on the banks of the Sabarmati river, in north-central Gujarat. It covers an area of 505 km² (195 sq mi). The Sabarmati frequently dried up in the summer, leaving only a small stream of water, and the city is in a sandy and dry area. However, with the execution of the Sabarmati River Front Project and Embankment, the waters from the Narmada river have been diverted to the Sabarmati to keep the river flowing throughout the year, thereby eliminating Ahmedabad's water problems. The steady expansion of the Rann of Kutch threatened to increase desertification around the city area and much of the state; however, the Narmada Canal network is expected to alleviate this problem. Except for the small hills of Thaltej-Jodhpur Tekra, the city is almost flat. Three lakes lie within the city's limits—Kankaria, Vastrapur and Chandola. Kankaria, in the neighbourhood of Maninagar, is an artificial lake developed by the Sultan of Gujarat, Qutb-ud-din, in 1451. According to the Bureau of Indian Standards, the town falls under seismic zone 3, in a scale of 2 to 5 (in order of increasing vulnerability to earthquakes). Ahmedabad is divided by the Sabarmati into two physically distinct eastern and western regions. The eastern bank of the river houses the old city, which includes the central town of Bhadra. This part of Ahmedabad is characterised by packed bazaars, the pol system of closely clustered buildings, and numerous places of worship. A Pol (pronounced as pole) is a housing cluster which comprises many families of a particular group, linked by caste, profession, or religion. This is a list of Pols in the old walled city of Ahmedabad in Gujarat, India. Heritage of these Pols has helped Ahmedabad gain a place in UNESCO's Tentative Lists, in selection criteria II, III and IV. The secretary-general of EuroIndia Centre quoted that if 12000 homes of Ahmedabad are restored they could be very helpful in promoting heritage tourism and its allied businesses. The Art Reverie in Moto Sutharvado is Res Artis center. The first pol in Ahmedabad was named Mahurat Pol. The old city also houses the main railway station, the main post office, and some buildings of the Muzaffarid and British eras. The colonial period saw the expansion of the city to the western side of the Sabarmati river, facilitated by the construction of Ellis Bridge in 1875 (and later the modern Nehru Bridge). The western part of the city houses educational institutions, modern buildings, residential areas, shopping malls, multiplexes and new business districts centred around roads such as Ashram Road, C. G. Road and Sarkhej-Gandhinagar Highway. The Sabarmati Riverfront is a waterfront area being developed along the banks of the Sabarmati river in Ahmedabad, India. Proposed in the 1960s, its construction began in 2005, and it opened in 2012. ### Climate Ahmedabad has a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification: BSh), with marginally less rain than required for a tropical savanna climate. There are three main seasons: summer, monsoon and winter. Aside from the monsoon season, the climate is extremely dry. The weather is hot from March to June; the average summer maximum is 43 °C (109 °F), and the average minimum is 24 °C (75 °F). From November to February, the average maximum temperature is 30 °C (86 °F), and the average minimum is 13 °C (55 °F). Cold winds from the north are responsible for a mild chill in January. The southwest monsoon brings a humid climate from mid-June to mid-September. The average annual rainfall is about 800 millimetres (31 in), but infrequent heavy torrential rains cause local rivers to flood and it is not uncommon for droughts to occur when the monsoon does not extend as far west as usual. The highest temperature in the city was recorded on 20 May 2016, with it reaching 48 °C (118 °F). Following a heat wave in May 2010 reaching 46.8 °C (116.2 °F) and claiming hundreds of lives, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC), in partnership with an international coalition of health and academic groups and with support from the Climate & Development Knowledge Network, developed the Ahmedabad Heat Action Plan. Aimed at increasing awareness, sharing information and coordinating responses to reduce the health effects of heat on vulnerable populations, the action plan is the first comprehensive plan in Asia to address the threat of adverse heat on health. It also focuses on community participation, building public awareness of the risks of extreme heat, training medical and community workers to respond to and help prevent heat-related illnesses, and coordinating an interagency emergency response effort when heat waves hit. ### Cityscape Early in Ahmedabad's history, under Ahmed Shah, builders fused Hindu craftsmanship with Persian architecture, giving rise to the Indo-Saracenic style. Many mosques in the city were built in this fashion. Sidi Saiyyed Mosque was built in the last year of the Sultanate of Gujarat. It is entirely arched and has ten stone latticework windows or jali on the side and rear arches. Private mansions or haveli from this era have carvings. A Pol is a typical housing cluster of Old Ahmedabad. After independence, modern buildings appeared in Ahmedabad. Architects given commissions in the city included Louis Kahn, who designed the IIM-A; Le Corbusier, who designed the Shodhan and Sarabhai Villas, the Sanskar Kendra and the Mill Owners' Association Building, and Frank Lloyd Wright, who designed the administrative building of Calico Mills and the Calico Dome. B. V. Doshi came to the city from Paris to supervise Le Corbusier's works and later set up the School of Architecture (now CEPT). His local works include Sangath, Amdavad ni Gufa, Tagore Memorial Hall and the School of Architecture. Charles Correa, who became a partner of Doshi's, designed the Gandhi Ashram and Achyut Kanvinde, and the Ahmedabad Textile Industry's Research Association complex. Christopher Charles Benninger's first work, the Alliance Française, is located in the Ellis Bridge area. Anant Raje designed major additions to Louis Kahn's IIM-A campus, namely the Ravi Mathai Auditorium and KLMD. Some of the most visited gardens in the city include Law Garden, Victoria Garden and Bal Vatika. Law Garden was named after the College of Law situated close to it. Victoria Garden is located at the southern edge of the Bhadra Fort and contains a statue of Queen Victoria. Bal Vatika is a children's park situated on the grounds of Kankaria Lake and also houses an amusement park. Other gardens in the city include Parimal Garden, Usmanpura Garden, Prahlad Nagar Garden and Lal Darwaja Garden. Ahmedabad's Kamla Nehru Zoological Park houses a number of endangered species including flamingoes, caracals, Asiatic wolves and chinkara. The Kankaria Lake, built in 1451 AD, is one of the biggest lakes in Ahmedabad. In earlier days, it was known by the name Qutub Hoj or Hauj-e-Kutub. Lal Bahadur Shastri lake in Bapunagar is almost 136,000 square metres. In 2010, another 34 lakes were planned in and around Ahmedabad of which five lakes will be developed by AMC; the other 29 will be developed by the Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority (AUDA). Vastrapur lake is a small artificial lake located in the western part of Ahmedabad. Beautified by local authorities in 2002, it is surrounded by greenery and paved walkways and has become a popular leisure spot for the citizens. Chandola Lake covers an area of 1200 hectares. It is home to cormorants, painted storks and spoonbills. During the evening time, many people visit this place and take a leisurely stroll. There is a recently developed lake in Naroda, and there is also the world's largest collection of antique cars in Kathwada at IB farm (Dastan Farm). AMC has also developed the Sabarmati Riverfront. Looking at the health of traffic police staff deployed near the Pirana dump site, the Ahmedabad City Police is going to install outdoor air purifiers at traffic points so that the deployed staff can breathe fresh air. ## Civic administration Ahmedabad is the administrative headquarters of Ahmedabad district, administered by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC). The AMC was established in July 1950 under the Bombay Provincial Corporation Act of 1949. The AMC commissioner is an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer appointed by the state government who reserves the administrative executive powers, whereas the corporation is headed by the mayor of Ahmedabad. The city residents elect the 192 municipal councillors by popular vote, and the elected councillors select the deputy mayor and mayor of the city. The mayor, Bijal Patel, was appointed on 14 June 2018. The administrative responsibilities of the AMC are: water and sewerage services, primary education, health services, fire services, public transport and the city's infrastructure. AMC was ranked 9th out of 21 cities for "the best governance & administrative practices in India in 2014. It scored 3.4 out of 10 compared to the national average of 3.3." Ahmedabad registers two accidents per hour. The city is divided into seven zones constituting 48 wards. The city's urban and suburban areas are administered by the Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority (AUDA). - The city is represented by two elected members of parliament in the Lok Sabha (the lower house of the Indian Parliament) and 21 members of the Legislative Assembly at the Gujarat Vidhan Sabha. - The Gujarat High Court is located in Ahmedabad, making the city the judicial capital of Gujarat. Law enforcement and public safety is maintained by the Ahmedabad City Police, headed by the Police Commissioner, an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer. ### Public services - Health services are primarily provided at Ahmedabad civil hospital, the largest civil hospital in Asia. - Electricity in the city is generated and distributed by Torrent Power Limited, owned and operated by the Ahmedabad Electricity Company, which was previously a state-run corporation. Ahmedabad is one of the few cities in India where the power sector is privatised. ## Culture The people of Ahmedabad celebrate a vast range of festivals. Celebrations and observances include Uttarayan, a harvest festival which involves kite-flying on 14 and 15 January. The nine nights of Navratri are celebrated with people performing Garba, the most popular folk dance of Gujarat, at venues across the city. The annual Rath Yatra procession takes place on the Ashadh-sud-bij date of the Hindu calendar at the Jagannath Temple. Festivals like Diwali, Holi, Christmas and Muharram (pan-Indian festivals) are also celebrated. One of the most popular dishes in Ahmedabad is the Gujarati thali, which was first served commercially by Chandvilas Hotel in 1900. It consists of roti (Chapati), dal, rice and shaak (cooked vegetables, sometimes with curry), with accompaniments of pickles and roasted papads. Sweet dishes include laddoo, mango, and vedhmi. Dhoklas, theplas and dhebras are other popularly consumed dishes in Ahmedabad. Beverages include buttermilk and tea. Drinking alcohol is legally banned in Ahmedabad as Gujarat is a 'dry' state. There are many restaurants, which serve Indian and international cuisines. Most of food outlets serve only vegetarian food, as there exists a strong tradition of vegetarianism that has been maintained by the city's Jain and Hindu communities over centuries. The first all-vegetarian Pizza Hut in the world opened in Ahmedabad. KFC has a separate staff uniform for serving vegetarian items and prepares vegetarian food in a separate kitchen, as does McDonald's. Ahmedabad has a number of restaurants serving typical Mughlai non-vegetarian food in older areas like Bhatiyar Gali, Kalupur and Jamalpur. Manek Chowk is an open square near the centre of the city that functions as a vegetable market in the morning and a jewellery market in the afternoon. However, it is best known for becoming a vast congregation of food stalls in the evening, which sell local street food. It is named after the Hindu saint Baba Maneknath. Parts of Ahmedabad are known for their folk art. The artisans of Rangeela pol make tie-dyed bandhinis, while the cobbler shops of Madhupura sell traditional mojdi (also known as mojri) footwear. Idols of the Hindu deity Ganesha and other religious icons are made in large numbers by artisans in the Gulbai Tekra area. In 2019, there was a surge in demand for eco-friendly idols due to increased awareness surrounding the effects of submerging the traditional plaster-of-paris idols in the Sabarmati river. The shops at the Law Garden sell mirrorwork handicrafts. Three main literary institutions were established in Ahmedabad for the promotion of Gujarati literature: Gujarat Vidhya Sabha, Gujarati Sahitya Parishad and Gujarat Sahitya Sabha. Saptak School of Music festival is held in the first week of the new year. This event was inaugurated by Ravi Shankar. The Sanskar Kendra, one of the several buildings in Ahmedabad designed by Le Corbusier, is a museum displaying the city's history, art, culture and architecture. The Gandhi Smarak Sangrahalaya and the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Memorial have permanent displays of photographs, documents and other articles relating to the Gujarat-born Indian independence movement leaders, Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel. The Calico Museum of Textiles has a large collection of Indian and international fabrics, garments and textiles. The Hazrat Pir Mohammad Shah Library has a collection of rare original manuscripts in Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Sindhi and Turkish. The Vechaar Utensils Museum has stainless steel, glass, brass, copper, bronze, zinc and German silver tools on display. The Conflictorium is an interactive installation space that explores conflict in society through art. The Shreyas Foundation has four museums on its campus. The Shreyas Folk Museum (Lokayatan Museum) has art forms and artefacts from various Gujarati communities. The Kalpana Mangaldas Children's Museum has a collection of toys, puppets, dance and drama costumes, coins and a repository of recorded music from traditional shows from all over the world. Kahani houses photographs of fairs and festivals of Gujarat. Sangeeta Vadyakhand is a gallery of musical instruments from India and other countries. The L. D. Institute of Indology houses 76,000 hand-written Jain manuscripts with 500 illustrated versions and 45,000 printed books, making it the largest collection of Jain scripts, Indian sculptures, terracottas, miniature paintings, cloth paintings, painted scrolls, bronzes, woodwork, Indian coins, textiles and decorative art, paintings of Rabindranath Tagore and art of Nepal and Tibet. The N. C. Mehta Gallery of Miniature Paintings has a collection of ornate miniature paintings and manuscripts from all over India. In 1949, the Darpana Academy of Performing Arts was established by the scientist Dr. Vikram Sarabhai and his wife, Bharat Natyam dancer Mrinalini Sarabhai. Its influence has led Ahmedabad to become a centre of Indian classical dance. ## Education Ahmedabad had a literacy rate of 79.89% in 2001 which rose to 89.62 percent in 2011. As of 2011, the literacy rate among males and females were 93.96 and 84.81 percent, respectively. Among the several universities in Ahmedabad, Gujarat University is the largest and claims to be the oldest; although the Gujarat Vidyapith was established in 1920 by Mahatma Gandhi – it received no charter from the British Raj, becoming a deemed university only in 1963. A large number of colleges in the city are affiliated with Gujarat University. Gujarat Technological University, CEPT University, Nirma University, Institute of Infrastructure Technology Research and Management (IITRAM) and Ahmedabad University all date from this century. Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Open University has over 100,000 students enrolled on its distance learning courses.Ahmedabad is home to the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, which was ranked first among management institutes in the country by the Ministry of Human Resource Development in 2018. Established in 1947 by the scientist Vikram Sarabhai, the oldest of the research institutes in Ahmedabad, the Physical Research Laboratory is active in space science, astronomy, high-energy physics and other areas of research. The Darpana Academy of Performing Arts was listed by UNESCO as an institution active in the "Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage". Schools in Ahmedabad are either run publicly by the AMC, or privately by entities, trusts and corporations. The majority of schools are affiliated with the Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board, although some are affiliated with the Central Board for Secondary Education, Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations, International Baccalaureate and National Institute of Open School. ## Media Newspapers in Ahmedabad include English dailies such as The Times of India, Indian Express, DNA, The Economic Times, The Financial Express, Ahmedabad Mirror and Metro. Newspapers in other languages include Divya Bhaskar, Gujarat Samachar, Sandesh, Rajasthan Patrika, Sambhaav, and Aankhodekhi. The city is home to the historic Navajivan Publishing House, which was founded in 1919 by Mahatma Gandhi. The state-owned All India Radio Ahmedabad is broadcast both on medium wave bands and FM bands (96.7 MHz) in the city. It competes with five private local FM stations: Radio City (91.1 MHz), Red FM (93.5 MHz), My FM (94.3 MHz), Radio One (95.0 MHz), Radio Mirchi (98.3 MHz) and Mirchi Love (104 MHz). Gyan Vani (104.5 MHz) is an educational FM radio station run under the media co-operation model. In March 2012, Gujarat University started a campus radio service on 90.8 MHz, which was the first of its kind in the state and the fifth in India. The state-owned television broadcaster Doordarshan provides free terrestrial channels, while three multi system operators—InCablenet, Siti Cable and GTPL—provide a mix of Gujarati, Hindi, English, and other regional channels via cable. Telephone services are provided by landline and mobile operators such as Jio, BSNL Mobile, Airtel, and Vodafone Idea. ## Economy The gross domestic product of Ahmedabad was estimated at \$64 billion in 2014. The RBI ranked Ahmedabad as the seventh largest deposit centre and seventh largest credit centre nationwide as of June 2012. In the 19th century, the textile and garments industry received strong capital investment. On 30 May 1861 Ranchhodlal Chhotalal founded the first Indian textile mill, the Ahmedabad Spinning and Weaving Company Limited, followed by the establishment of a series of textile mills such as Calico Mills, Bagicha Mills and Arvind Mills. By 1905 there were about 33 textile mills in the city. The textile industry underwent rapid expansion during the First World War and benefited from the influence of Mahatma Gandhi's Swadeshi movement, which promoted the purchase of Indian-made goods. Ahmedabad was known as the "Manchester of the East" for its textile industry. The city is the largest supplier of denim and one of the largest exporters of gemstones and jewellery in India. The automobile industry is also important to the city; after Tata's Nano project, Ford, Suzuki and Peugeot have established engine and/or vehicle manufacturing plants near Ahmedabad. The Ahmedabad Stock Exchange, located in the Ambavadi area of the city, is India's second oldest stock exchange. It is now defunct. Two of the biggest pharmaceutical companies of India — Zydus Cadila and Torrent Pharmaceuticals – are based in the city. The Nirma group of industries, which runs detergent and chemical industrial units, has its corporate headquarters in the city. The city houses the corporate headquarters of the Adani Group, a multinational trading and infrastructure development company. The Sardar Sarovar Project of dams and canals has improved the supply of potable water and electricity for the city. The information technology industry has developed significantly in Ahmedabad, with companies such as Tata Consultancy Services opening offices in the city. A NASSCOM survey in 2002 on the "Super Nine Indian Destinations" for IT-enabled services ranked Ahmedabad fifth among the top nine most competitive cities in the country. The city's educational and industrial institutions have attracted students and young skilled workers from the rest of India. Ahmedabad houses other major Indian corporates such as Cadila Healthcare, Rasna, Wagh Bakri, Nirma, Cadila Pharmaceuticals, and Intas Biopharmaceuticals. Ahmedabad is the second largest cotton textile centre in India after Mumbai and the largest in Gujarat. Many cotton manufacturing units operate in and around Ahmedabad. Textiles are one of the major industries of the city. Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation has acquired land in Sanand taluka of Ahmedabad to set up three new industrial estates. ## Transportation ### Air Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, 15 km (9.3 mi) from the city centre, provides domestic and international flights for Ahmedabad and the adjoining state capital Gandhinagar. It is the busiest airport in Gujarat and the seventh-busiest in India in terms of passenger traffic. The Ahmedabad airport was earlier managed by Airports Authority of India and was leased to the city-based Adani Group in November 2020 for operations and maintenance. The Dholera International Airport is currently under proposal to be built near Fedara. It will be the largest airport in India with a total area of 7,500 hectares. #### Seaplane The first seaplane service in India started between Ahmedabad and the Statue of Unity, Kevadia, on 31 October 2020. The 19-seater plane makes four trips daily between the two destinations. ### Rail Ahmedabad is one of six operating divisions in the Western Railway zone. Ahmedabad railway station, locally known as Kalupur station, is the main terminus to differentiate it from other suburban railway stations. It is the centre point for railway stations in Gujarat and the Western Railway zone. Many lines originate in the city, connecting to a host of locations in Gujarat and India. There also exist other main stations which connect to different cities, such as Sabarmati Junction, Maninagar, Gandhigram, Asarva, and Chandlodiya among others. #### Ahmedabad Metro The Ahmedabad Metro began construction in March 2015. The first phase of the Ahmedabad metro is 40 km long; 6.5 km is underground and the remaining stretch is elevated. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the first section between Vastral Gam and Apparel Park on 4 March 2019 and was opened to public on 6 March 2019. The rest of the Phase-1 was inaugurated on 30 September 2022. The construction of the Phase-2 was started in 2021 connecting Gandhinagar. ### Road National Highway 48 passes through Ahmedabad and connects it with New Delhi and Mumbai. The National Highway 147 also links Ahmedabad to Gandhinagar. It is connected to Vadodara through National Expressway 1, a 94 km (58 mi)-long expressway with two exits. This expressway is part of the Golden Quadrilateral project. In 2001, Ahmedabad was ranked as the most-polluted city in India out of 85 cities by the Central Pollution Control Board. The Gujarat Pollution Control Board gave auto rickshaw drivers an incentive of 10,000 to convert the fuel of all 37,733 auto rickshaws in Ahmedabad to cleaner-burning compressed natural gas to reduce pollution. As a result, in 2008, Ahmedabad was ranked as 50th most-polluted city in India. ### Bus #### Ahmedabad BRTS Ahmedabad BRTS is a bus rapid transit system in the city. It is operated by Ahmedabad Janmarg Limited, a subsidiary of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation and others. Inaugurated in October 2009, the network expanded to 89 kilometres (55 mi) by December 2015 with daily ridership of 132,000 passengers. The Ahmedabad Municipal Transport Service (AMTS), maintained by Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, runs the public bus service in the city. More than 750 AMTS buses serve the city. Ahmedabad BRTS also runs 50 electric buses apart from CNG and diesel busses. #### AMTS Ahmedabad Municipal Transport Service is a public bus service launched on 1 April 1947 and solely operated by Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation. It has a fleet of more than 900 buses as of 2018 covering almost every part of the city. ### Bike A bicycle renting and sharing service was started in Ahmedabad in 2013 by MYBYK. The project started with 200 bicycles and aimed to provide bicycles for commuting from one BRTS station to another. As of 2021, it had 150 bicycle hubs with a fleet of 6,000 bicycles, making Ahmedabad India's largest public bicycle share (PBS) city. ## Sports Cricket is one of the most popular sports in the city. Narendra Modi Stadium, also known as the Motera Stadium, originally Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Stadium built in 1982, hosts both one day internationals and test matches. It is the largest stadium in the world by capacity, with a seating capacity of 132,000 spectators. It hosted the 1987, 1996 and 2011 Cricket World Cups. It is the home ground of the first-class team Gujarat cricket team, which competes in domestic tournaments. Ahmedabad has a second cricket stadium at the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation's Sports Club of Gujarat. Other popular sports include field hockey, badminton, tennis, squash and golf. Ahmedabad has nine golf courses. Mithakhali Multi Sports Complex is being developed by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation to promote various indoor sports. Ahmedabad has also hosted national level games for roller skating and table tennis. Kart racing is gaining popularity in the city, with the introduction of a 380 metre long track based on Formula One design concepts. Sabarmati Marathon has been organized every year December–January since 2011; it has categories like a full and half-marathon, a 7 km dream run, a 5 km run for the visually disabled, and a 5 km wheelchair run. In 2007, Ahmedabad hosted the 51st national level shooting games. The 2016 Kabaddi World Cup was held in Ahmedabad at The Arena by Transtadia (a renovated Kankaria football ground). Geet Sethi, a five-time winner of the World Professional Billiards Championship and a recipient of India's highest sporting award, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, was raised in Ahmedabad. The Adani Ahmedabad Marathon has been organized by the Adani Group every year since 2017; it attracted 8,000 participants in its first edition and also hosted its first virtual marathon in 2020 in compliance with COVID-19 guidelines. ## Tourist attractions ### Heritage - Gates of Ahmedabad - Pols in Ahmedabad - Bhadra Fort - Teen Darwaza - Manek Burj ### Mosques and tombs - Sidi Bashir Mosque-Shaking Minarets - Sidi Saiyyed Mosque - Sarkhej Roza - Ahmed Shah's Mosque - Haibat Khan's Mosque - Jama Mosque - Ahmad Shah's Tomb - Rani no Hajiro - Qutbuddin Mosque - Saiyad Usman Mosque - Dastur Khan's Mosque - Miya Khan Chishti's Mosque - Achut Bibi's Mosque - Dariya Khan's Tomb - Azam and Muazzam Khan's Tomb - Qutub-e-Alam's Mosque - Shah-e-Alam's Roza - Muhafiz Khan Mosque - Rani Rupamati's Mosque - Rani Sipri's Mosque - Malik Isan's Mosque - Mohammed Ghous Mosque - Baba Lului's Mosque - Wajihuddin's Tomb - Sardar Khan's Roza ### Museums - Calico Museum of Textiles - Lalbhai Dalpatbhai Museum - Gujarat Science City - Auto World Vintage Car Museum ### Stepwells - Mata Bhavani's Stepwell - Dada Harir Stepwell - Adalaj Stepwell - Amritavarshini Vav ### Temples - Hutheesing Jain Temple - Shahibaug - Shree Swaminarayan Mandir Kalupur - Kalupur - Shree Jagannath Mandir - Jamalpur - Camp Hanuman Mandir - Shahibaug ### Others - Shahibaug - Sabarmati Ashram - Sabarmati Riverfront - Kankaria Lake - Nalsarovar Bird Sanctuary - Indroda Dinosaur and Fossil Park - Atal Pedestrian Bridge ## Notable people - Gautam Adani (born 1962), chairman and founder of the Adani Group - Ali Sher Bengali (died 1570s), Islamic scholar and author - M. C. Bhatt - Human rights lawyer - Jasprit Bumrah (born 1993), cricketer - Kishore Chauhan - Indian entrepreneur and founder of the electronics company Arise India Limited - Jhinabhai Desai - Gujarati poet better known as Snehrashmi, author, educator, political leader and Indian independence activist - Prakash K. Desai - Air Marshal of Indian Air Force - Prasannavadan Bhagwanji Desai - Indian demographer, economist and independence activist - Drashti Dhami - Indian television actress, known for her roles in Hindi TV serials such as Geet - Hui Sabse Parayi and Madhubala – Ek Ishq Ek Junoon - B. V. Doshi, architect, Pritzker Architecture Prize laureate - Subramaniam Hariharan Iyer - Human rights lawyer - Gaurang Jani - Sociologist - Naresh Kanodia - Indian actor and politician, known for his work in Gujarati cinema - Sanjeev Kumar - Indian actor, known for his roles in Bollywood films in the 1970s - Shrenik Kasturbhai Lalbhai - Indian businessman and philanthropist, known for his contributions to education and research in India. - Jhaverchand Meghani - Indian poet, writer and freedom fighter, known for his contributions to Gujarati literature and folk literature of Gujarat - Ketan Mehta - Indian film director, known for his work in Bollywood and Gujarati cinema - Sudhir Mehta - Indian businessman and chairman of the Torrent Group, a leading Indian pharma and power company - Rohinton Mistry - Indian-Canadian novelist and short-story writer - Narhari Parikh (born 1891, died 1957), writer, activist, and social reformer - Girishbhai Patel - Human rights lawyer - Karsanbhai Patel - Indian billionaire entrepreneur and founder of Nirma, a consumer goods company that specializes in soaps, detergents, and other household products - Pankaj Patel - Indian businessman and former chairman of Cadila Healthcare, a leading pharmaceutical company in India - Smita Patil - Indian actress, known for her work in Hindi, Marathi and Malayalam films during the 1970s and 1980s. - Falguni Pathak - Indian singer and performer, known as the "Queen of Dandiya" for her popular Dandiya and Garba performances during Navratri. - Amrita Pritam - Indian writer and poet, known for her Punjabi literature - Mallika Sarabhai (born 1953), Indian classical dancer, choreographer, and activist - Vikram Sarabhai (born 1919, died 1971), physicist and astronomer who founded the Physical Research Laboratory and played a role in founding ISRO. - Jay Shah - BCCI Secretary (administrator) - Komal Shah (art collector), art collector, philanthropist, computer engineer, and businessperson in Silicon Valley - Naseeruddin Shah - Indian actor and director, known for his work in Bollywood and Indian parallel cinema - Ravi Shankar - Indian musician and composer, known for his work in Indian classical music and for popularizing the sitar in the West - Hemant Shesh - Indian cricketer who played for the Indian national team in the 1960s - Mukul Sinha - Human rights lawyer - Nirjhari Sinha - Human rights activist - Manhar Udhas - Indian playback singer, known for his work in Hindi, Gujarati and other Indian languages - Achyut Yagnik - Journalist, academic and activist - Jyotsna Yagnik - Judge - Disha Vakani - Indian Television Actress ## International relations Sister cities - Astrakhan, Astrakhan Oblast, Russia - Columbus, Ohio, United States (2008) - Guangzhou, Guangdong, China (September 2014) - Jersey City, New Jersey, United States (1994) - Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan (2019) - Valladolid, Castile and León, Spain (2019) ## See also - List of people from Ahmedabad - List of tallest buildings in Ahmedabad - Timeline of Ahmedabad

2021 NCAA Division I men's basketball championship game

American collegiate basketball game

The 2021 NCAA Division I men's basketball championship game was the final game of the 2021 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. The Baylor Bears were crowned as the national champion for the 2020–21 season after beating the then-undefeated Gonzaga Bulldogs, 86–70. The game was played on April 5, 2021, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana. Gonzaga was the first team to enter the national championship game undefeated since Indiana State in 1979. Baylor became the second consecutive first-time NCAA champions following Virginia in 2019 (no tournament was held in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic). ## Participants The championship game matched Baylor with Gonzaga. It was the sixth meeting between the two teams; Gonzaga entered the game leading the all-time series 5–0, with the last meeting resulting in an 83–71 win for Gonzaga in the second round of the 2019 NCAA tournament on March 23, 2019. This was the first championship game since 2005 to feature the top two overall seeds in the tournament. This was the second consecutive championship game where both teams were playing for their programs' first NCAA title. ### Baylor Baylor, led by 18th-year head coach Scott Drew, finished the regular season with a record of 21–1, including wins over seven ranked teams. The Bears posted a 13–1 conference record, earning them the No. 1 seed in the Big 12 tournament, where they defeated No. 9 seed Kansas State in the quarterfinals before falling to No. 5 seed Oklahoma State in the semi-finals. They were awarded an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament and received the No. 1 seed in the South Regional. In the tournament, they defeated No. 16 seed Hartford and No. 9 seed Wisconsin to reach their fifth Sweet Sixteen. The Bears then defeated No. 5 seed Villanova and No. 3 seed Arkansas to win the South Regional and reach their third Final Four. In the Final Four, Baylor soundly defeated No. 2 seed Houston, champions of the Midwest Regional, by a score of 78–59 to reach their second national title game; they entered seeking their first championship. ### Gonzaga Gonzaga, led by 22nd-year head coach Mark Few, finished the regular season with a perfect record of 24–0, including wins over four ranked teams. The Bulldogs posted a 15–0 conference record, earning them the No. 1 seed in the West Coast tournament, where they defeated No. 4 seed Saint Mary's and No. 2 seed BYU to win their 19th conference tournament championship. They received the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA tournament and were placed in the West Regional. In the tournament, they defeated No. 16 seed Norfolk State and No. 8 seed Oklahoma to advance to their 11th Sweet Sixteen. Gonzaga then faced and defeated No. 5 seed Creighton and No. 6 seed USC to move to the Final Four for the second time. In the Final Four, Gonzaga was matched up with No. 11 seed UCLA, the champions of the East Regional. A 3-point buzzer beater in overtime by Jalen Suggs won the game for the Bulldogs and gave Gonzaga their second national championship berth in program history; they entered seeking their first national title and the first unbeaten season in NCAA Division I men's basketball since Indiana in 1976. ## Starting lineups Source ## Game summary After winning the jump ball, Baylor controlled much of the first half. The Bears jumped out to an early 9–0 lead with multiple baskets each from Davion Mitchell and Jared Butler before Gonzaga's Andrew Nembhard scored a free throw. Gonzaga's first field goal came nearly five minutes into the game, with Corey Kispert's three-pointer that narrowed the lead back to nine, after a Mitchell jumper pushed the lead to double digits. A layup by Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua and a three-pointer by Butler pushed the lead to 12 points; shortly thereafter, a Drew Timme layup and a pair of Adam Flagler free throws kept the margin where it was, though it was extended to 15 within the next minute. Over the following several minutes, Baylor was able to take advantage of excellent offensive rebounding and Gonzaga turnovers to push the lead to 19, its highest point in the half and the largest deficit Gonzaga had faced all season. During the second part of the opening half, the game was much more even; Gonzaga was able to gradually chip away at the lead, with a last-second layup at the end of the half cutting the deficit to 10 at the break. The second half started similarly to the first, though both teams came out scoring this time. The Bears increased their lead to 15 within the first two minutes, and Gonzaga again narrowed it to single digits momentarily with 14:30 to play. The teams traded scores for the next minute and a half, getting the score to 62–51 in favor of the Bears, before Baylor went on an 11–1 run, pushing the score to a game-high 20 points. Both teams began to see foul trouble affect them, as Baylor's Flo Thamba fouled out with 8:40 to play and Gonzaga's Timme was temporarily benched after accumulating four fouls shortly before. Baylor controlled the ball well throughout the half, committing their first second-half turnover with only eight minutes to play. The Bears kept the lead between 15 and 20 as the teams alternated scores over the remainder of the game. With around a minute to play, both teams substituted out most of their starters, and Baylor was able to run the remainder of the clock out to win their first national championship. ## Media coverage The championship game was televised in the United States by CBS. Jim Nantz provided play-by-play, while Bill Raftery and Grant Hill provided color commentary. Tracy Wolfson served as the sideline reporter. The broadcast was the least-watched national championship ever shown on broadcast television, as it pulled in 16.92 million viewers on CBS for an average rating of 9.4. This marked a 14% viewership decline from the last men's national championship broadcast, in 2019 between Virginia and Texas Tech. ## Aftermath The win gave Baylor their first national championship in school history, and denied Gonzaga their first title and the first NCAA Division I men's basketball perfect season since Indiana in 1976. The loss was Gonzaga's first and only of the season, as they ended the year with a 31–1 record, while Baylor improved to 28–2 with the victory. After the game, Baylor coach Scott Drew was presented with the national championship trophy, and Bears guard Jared Butler was named the Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA tournament. Baylor's win was widely considered an upset, with Gonzaga considered a "massive favorite" to win the title by ESPN and Yahoo!'s platforms. Gonzaga never led during the game, and their 70 points were the fewest they had scored all season; the Bulldogs entered the championship averaging 91.6 points per game, the best in the nation. In addition, this was also Baylor's first win over Gonzaga in program history; they were 0–5 in previous meetings. Baylor also became the first team from the state of Texas to win the national championship since Texas Western in 1966. ## See also - 2021 NCAA Division I women's basketball championship game - 2021 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament

Danebury

Iron Age hillfort in Hampshire, England

Danebury is an Iron Age hillfort in Hampshire, England, about 19 kilometres (12 mi) north-west of Winchester (). The site, covering 5 hectares (12 acres), was excavated by Barry Cunliffe in the 1970s. Danebury is considered a type-site for hill forts, and was important in developing the understanding of hillforts, as very few others have been so intensively excavated. Built in the 6th century BC, the fort was used for almost 500 years, during a period when the number of hill forts in Wessex greatly increased. Danebury was remodelled several times, making it more complex and resulting in it becoming a "developed" hill fort. It is a Scheduled Monument and a Local Nature Reserve called Danebury Hillfort. The Scheduled Monument is surrounded by a Site of Special Scientific Interest, designated as Danebury Hill. ## Investigation Until the 19th century very little was known about hillforts, as none had been excavated and their original purpose had been long forgotten. In the medieval period, their construction was attributed variously to iconic figures such as King Arthur, King Alfred, the Danes, Julius Caesar, and even giants. By the 18th century, it was widely thought that hill forts were Roman in origin. Interest in hill forts was roused by the investigation of a hillfort at Worlebury Hill in the early-19th century. The first excavation at Danebury was carried out in November 1859, under antiquarian Augustus Wollaston Franks. His workers cleared out an Iron Age pit that was 2 metres (7 ft) deep and 1.5 m (5 ft) in diameter, although they were not able to ascertain its purpose. The first widespread investigation of hill forts was carried out in the second half of the 19th century under Augustus Pitt-Rivers. Pitt-Rivers' work on the hill forts of Sussex led him to the conclusion that most hill forts were built in the Iron Age, and it paved the way for future work on hillforts. In the 1920s and 1930s, there was "hill fort mania" in British archaeology; by 1940, about 80 had been archaeologically excavated. In the late 1960s, Barry Cunliffe decided to examine a single hillfort and its surrounding territory in an attempt to shed light on Iron Age society, its politics, and population. With the permission of the site's owner, Hampshire County Council, archaeological excavations began in 1969 and continued until 1988. Over the twenty seasons archaeologists spent examining the site, they looked at the defences and the gateway, and excavated 57% of the interior, where the remains of wattle and timber houses were discovered. It was the lengthiest investigation of any hill fort in western Europe. A further non-invasive survey was carried out in 1997, as part of the Wessex Hillforts Project, using a magnetometer. ## History There is no historical record of events in Iron Age Britain, so archaeological investigation is the only way to reconstruct the history of Danebury, and other forts. It is impossible to state with certainty every significant event in the hillfort’s history, but where an event leaves an archaeologically identifiable trace, a general chronology can be established, although dates are much less easy to establish. The hillfort was occupied from the mid-6th century BC until around 100 BC, and the defences were remodelled numerous times. Early in its life the site consisted of a single ditch encompassing an area of about 5 ha (12 acres), with two gateways, one in the south-west and another in the east; two more rings of ditches were added later. The north part of the fort was occupied by four-post structures, probably granaries, which were later replaced by storage pits, and in the south part, there were roundhouses in between granaries and storage pits. When Danebury was built in the 6th century BC, it coincided with the construction of several other hillforts in the Wessex region, all of a similar size and layout. The first phase of defences dates from around 550 BC, and consists of a rampart behind a ditch. When the ditch was cut, the chalk rubble fill was used to build the rampart, along with some of the local clay soil. The material was contained by timber, making it a box rampart with a vertical face. The east gateway was a simple 4 m (13 ft) wide gap in the defences with a timber gatehouse (the south-west gateway has not been excavated). At least 50 years after the rampart was first built, it was raised with the addition of more chalk material; this has been interpreted as maintenance work due to the ramparts beginning to collapse as the timber box started to rot. Around the same time the ramparts were altered, the east gateway was widened to 9 m (30 ft). The gates were burnt down not long after the east gateway was altered. For a short time the hill fort was gateless, when the east gateway was repaired the passage from the entrance was lengthened. In around 400 BC the third phase heightened the rampart and at the same time the ditch was re-dug. The V-shaped ditch was 6 m (20 ft) deep and between 11 m (36 ft) and 12 m (39 ft) wide; the size of the previous ditch is unknown as re-cutting the ditch has made it hard to ascertain. The wooden box was abandoned in favour of allowing the rampart to slope down to the ditch, but to provide protection the rampart would probably have been surmounted by a dry stone wall made from flint. From the top of the ramparts to the bottom of the ditch is about 16 m (52 ft). Although the rampart and ditch were in use for a long time, during this period the east gateway was remodelled twice, making it longer, and creating earthworks on each side of the approach. The southwest gateway was given extra defences in the form of earthworks before being abandoned and filled in. Also in this period, the southern part of the fort became populated with four- and six-post structures, probably granaries, replacing the earlier roundhouses. The fort's centre was probably used for shrines while houses were mainly built close to the ramparts. A new series of earthworks was created beyond the already existing ring, turning Danebury into a complex multivallate (more than one series of earthworks) fort. They added 5.3 ha (13 acres) to the fort and probably were used to protect livestock. Danebury was abandoned around 100 BC, in common with the trend across Britain for hill forts to fall out of use around that time. Once again, the east gate was burnt down, although this time it was not replaced. Most of the inhabitants deserted Danebury, and groups of bodies were disposed of in charnel pits. The site continued in use, but on a much smaller scale than before. Buildings were left to decay and the interior of the fort became used for grazing. By the start of the 1st century AD, the settlement of Danebury was probably nothing more than a single farm. ## Hillfort Danebury Hill, on top of which the hillfort sits, rises to 143 m (469 ft). The hillfort dominates the local landscape, which rarely rises above 100 m (330 ft), and has commanding views of the area. The surrounding country has light soil that would have been easily cultivated. Territory commanded by Danebury included areas of forest, pasture in the uplands, and access to water sources in the form of the River Test. To the west runs Wallop Brook which flows south east into the River Test. The nearby hill forts of Figsbury Ring, Quarley Hill, and Bury Hill were probably established around the same time as Danebury. All of a similar size, the hillforts were generally equally spaced, commanding similar sized territories and resources. There is some debate whether hill forts were purely defensive structures, and to what extent they were occupied. Cunliffe interprets the ramparts as essentially defensive, although he concedes that they may have been a means of displaying wealth and power, as Danebury would have been visible for miles around. The ramparts were the strongest part of the fort, with the entrances the weakest. The complex gateways support the view that the site was militaristic; the long, curving east entrance maximised the time it would have taken for attackers to enter the fort and would have allowed defenders on the ramparts more time to hurl missiles, while the southwest entrance narrowed forcing attackers together and causing disarray. Iron Age society was, in Cunliffe's view, "effervescent ... essentially unstable, and prone to conflict", and he uses the possible military nature of hill forts to support this view. The burning of the gates was probably the result of an attack, and the charnel pits dating from the end of the intense period of Danebury's occupation contain about 100 bodies, many with injuries that appear to have been inflicted by weapons such as spears and swords. Surrounding Danebury hillfort are many smaller farmsteads, between 1 ha (2.5 acres) and 2 ha (4.9 acres) in size. The fort was supplied with grain from the surrounding farmsteads, and could hold 20 times more food than the average farmstead, indicating Danebury had a higher status than local farmsteads. This is further supported by the fact that the hillfort was used as a "central place" where people could gather to trade and store commodities. Periods of intensified activity in hill forts such as Danebury coinciding with depopulation of the surrounding landscape could indicate the increasing importance of hill forts in society, or that there were times of unrest when people would retreat to the relative safety of a hill fort's ramparts. While other hill forts were abandoned in the 4th century BC, in about 400 BC Danebury grew into what is known as a "developed hill fort". Danebury's importance in the landscape increased over time, as demonstrated by its continued use until around 100 AD. It was possibly inhabited by a king or chieftain and his family, retinue, and craftsmen, and may have housed a population of 200–350. There are traces of craft and industry on a large scale, and use of the site by a social elite is indicated by the presence of shrines in the centre of the fort. ## Meteorite The Danebury meteorite is an H5 ordinary chondrite meteorite found in 1974 during the excavation of a grain pit at the hill fort. Originally classified as a lump of slag it was identified as a meteorite about a decade later. It was found in a grain pit between two layers of infill with no particular evidence of it having been placed there, so it may have fallen directly into the pit. Carbon dating produced a date of 748–230 BC. The meteorite was originally held by Oxford University but in 2014 was transferred to the Hampshire County Council Arts and Museums Service. ## See also - Hillforts in Britain - List of hill forts in England

Cowboy Jimmy Moore

American pool player (born 1910)

James William Moore (September 14, 1910 – November 17, 1999), known as "Cowboy Jimmy Moore", was a world-class American pocket billiards (pool) player originally from Troup County, Georgia, and for most of his life a resident of Albuquerque, New Mexico, best known for his mastery in the game of straight pool (14.1 continuous). An excellent athlete at various sports, Moore's achievements in pocket billiards include winning the Michigan State Championship four times and placing second at the World Straight Pool Championship on four occasions. Throughout Moore's career he competed against the best in the world such as Willie Mosconi, Irving Crane and Luther Lassiter, winning the National Pocket Billiards Championship in 1958, the National Pocket Billiards Championship in 1965 and the Legends of Pocket Billiards Tournament in 1984. Moore was also known for his straight pool exhibition work, as a formidable , and for his unusual pool style, which included both his flamboyant cowboy dress, and his rare form of cueing technique known as a . Moore also worked as a technical adviser for billiard-related scenes in television and film in such productions as My Living Doll, and the Jerry Lewis movie The Family Jewels. He is an inductee of the Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame and the Albuquerque Sports Hall of Fame. ## Early years James William Moore was born on September 14, 1910 on a farm located in Troup County, Georgia, just outside the City of Hogansville. He was the son of a Georgia blacksmith, sheriff and streetcar conductor. He began working at a young age, supplementing his family's income variously as a cotton picker earning 35 cents per 100 pounds, managing a fruit stand, and delivering newspapers. His family moved to Detroit when he was 13, where other ways of making money presented themselves. Moore ran card games and pursued other games of chance, even pitching pennies. He was very good at such gambling pursuits and was a naturally gifted athlete, attaining a Triple-A level as a baseball player in the minor leagues, once bowled a perfect game, and was a fine golfer. > I was shooting in the '70s soon after I took up golf. I thought about trying to become a pro but I figured there wasn't any money in it. That was true, back then. Same thing for baseball. I was a pretty good pitcher—I played in the minors for Belle Isle, out of Detroit—but I didn't think I could make a living at it. In 1928 at 18 years of age, Moore took a job as a pinsetter at Car Barns, a local bowling alley, earning six cents a line. True to form, Moore was a quick study, for a time carrying a 233 bowling average. Moore first picked up a cue stick at Car Barns, playing on the single 4 x 8 foot pool table the bowling alley had available. According to Moore he immediately fell in love with the game; specifically, with the game of straight pool (14.1 continuous), at which he chiefly competed during his career, though not to the exclusion of all other billiard disciplines, such as snooker which he was heralded as being unbeaten by other American players. In 1961, Moore placed second at the First Johnston City One-Pocket Championship. Straight pool was the game of championship pocket billiards competition until approximately the 1980s when it was overtaken by "faster" games such as nine-ball. In the game, a shooter may attempt to any on the table. The object is to reach a set number of points determined by agreement before the game—typically 150 in professional competition. One point is scored for each ball pocketed in the and where no has transpired. According to Moore, his high run in the game was 236 ball in a row. Six months after his first introduction to the game, Moore entered and won the 1929 Michigan State billiard championship. He won the title the next ten consecutive years. During the midst of the Great Depression, however, playing pool for trophies was not a luxury Moore could afford, so he took his game . ## On the road Moore first partnered with hustler cum exhibition player, Ray St. Laurent, a colorful character who staged exhibitions wearing a red cape and mask while billed as "The Red Devil". Although St. Laurent fostered Moore, they were not equals on the pool table. One winter evening in Canton, Ohio, St. Laurent was losing badly in a thoroughly overmatched gambling to Ohio , Don Willis, known as the "Cincinnati Kid", who was considered by many of his colleagues of the time "the deadliest player alive". The wager was 25 cents a ball—a not inconsiderable sum at the time—and Moore was the match. Eventually disgusted by the uneven proceedings, Moore told St. Laurent that he couldn't win and asked him to step aside and let him have a go. Willis later recalled: > Here was this punk kid sitting there saying, 'I'll play you some.' Well, he got out of that overcoat and ran over me in my home poolroom. He never missed a ball. Moore and Willis became traveling partners following their match, often accompanied on the road by future six-time world champion Luther "Wimpy" Lassiter. Given his skill and prominent road partners, Moore's name began to be known in the billiard world. In 1940, the World Pocket Billiards (straight pool) titleholder of that year, Andrew Ponzi, sought out Moore looking for a challenge. At the match ultimately arranged, Moore first beat Ponzi out of \$80 playing nine-ball, and then beat him at his own game of choice, straight pool, with Moore scoring 125 points to Ponzi's 82. After Moore's match with Ponzi, he was hired by Ponzi's sometime employer, Sylvester Livingston, a pool impresario who hosted exhibitions with a stable of top pool talent including Irving Crane, a six-time world champion. During 1941 Moore performed 250 exhibitions across the country, earning \$5 for matinees, and \$7 for evening performances. He lost only one match over the year, and posted straight pool runs of 100 or more in 24 out of the 250 exhibitions. By that time Moore was recognizable by his cowboy airs. He customarily wore cowboy boots, a white Stetson hat and a string tie, kept his hair in a crew-cut, and was rarely seen without a cigar. He was also known for his unusual form of stroke. Moore employed a —a shooting technique in which a player releases his gripping hand briefly and re-grasps the cue farther back on the butt just before hitting the cue ball. Employing the slip stroke to good effect, Moore was deadly accurate, but could also shoot with great power. In 1945, Moore's purchased a home in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he would live for the rest of his life with his wife, Julie Chavez, whom he married in 1949. They had seven children together: sons Jamie, Raymond and Tommy, and daughters Pamela Nathan, Kolma Moore, Emily DiLorenzo and Linda Bates. Soon after moving to Albuquerque, he became co-owner and operator of the U Cue Billiards Hall located in the City. It was said that hustlers avoided going through Albuquerque just to avoid getting into a money game with Moore. ## Exhibition and competition Though Moore continued playing on the road—as he would for over 40 years—he began competing and placing in top-tier tournaments. His tournament career was to be overshadowed by an enduring series of runner-up finishes that would earn him the nickname "pool's underpaid prince" in such publications as Esquire Magazine. The name that stuck with him for life, however, was Cowboy. According to Moore, he became 'Cowboy' Jimmy Moore when he appeared at the Commodore Hotel championships in New York City in the 1950s wearing the required tuxedo, but nevertheless sporting cowboy boots and his signature white Stetson hat. The second-place-saga started in 1951 at the two-week-long, double-elimination, round robin format, World Championship tournament, held that year in Boston. At the competition, Moore was defeated in his last match by Willie Mosconi. His record was seven wins in nine matches, including triumphs over future Billiard Congress of America (BCA) Hall-of-Famers, Irving Crane and Arthur Cranfield. In 1952 he made a strong showing in the same competition, held once more in Boston, running 93 balls against Lassiter, beating him 150 to 25, but again finishing behind Willie Mosconi, this time sharing second place with Jimmy Caras and Joe Procita. Moore's match with Mosconi had an ending score of 150 to 58 in 19 innings. Moore competed in the 1953 World Championship in San Francisco, but did not place, losing in his last match to Crane, 150-56 in 7 innings. The following year Moore took second place yet again in the World Championship, held that year in Philadelphia. The 1954 tournament was not sponsored and was unsanctioned by the BCA; in its absence being organized by Irving Crane. It was denominated by newspapers, such as The New York Times, as the "Unofficial World Pocket Billiard Championship." In a career highlight in the penultimate match there, Moore was losing 148 to 8 to Irving Crane. When Crane let him back to the table, Moore ran 142 balls . Despite this feat, Moore was dispatched to second place by Lassiter, with a final score of 150 to 95, sharing second place with Crane. The defending champion, Mosconi, did not participate. Moore's runner-up streak continued in the 1956 World Championship held at Judice's Academy in Brooklyn, New York. He clinched second place, to Willie Mosconi's now almost ubiquitous first, with a 150 to 50 score over Al Coslosky of Philadelphia in 15 innings, a win over Richard Riggie of Baltimore, 150 to 121, with an inspired run of 107 balls, but a loss to Lassiter, 150 to 70 in 7 innings. That same year Moore played Mosconi at a challenge match in Kinston, North Carolina. It was not Moore's day as Mosconi posted a career highlight; a perfect match—150 balls in a row in one inning. In all, Moore came in second at the World Championship four times but never took the crown. He did however win the National Pocket Billiards Championship held in Chicago at Bensinger's Billiards in 1958. The tournament was a challenge match, marathon straight pool to 3,000 points between Moore and Luther Lassiter. It was a tight competition, with Lassiter leading at one point 1,800 to 1,512. Moore battled back and eventually won with a final score of 3,000 to 2,634. > He didn't think I could beat him, and that made me mad. I had to get mad to win. I was way behind, then I ran 95, 96, 97 and 175, and only missed then when I scratched on the break. Ran right past him. Although Moore finished second several times in world competition he frequently competed with and beat all of the players whom he so often played second fiddle to in sanctioned tournament play. In fact, later in 1958, the same year he won the National Pocket Billiards Championship against Lassiter, he roundly defeated Mosconi in a two-day exhibition match in his home town of Albuquerque, with a final score of 500 to 397. Moore and Mosconi would battle it out many times in unsanctioned but publicized play. In addition to matches previously mentioned, they vied at Albuquerque's old Chaplin Alley in 1956; at the Highland Bowl in 1958; and later, in matches in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Philadelphia, Chicago and Johnston City at the Jansco Brother's Stardust Open, where Moore would win the prize for "all-around honors". It was not until 1965 at the National Pocket Billiards Championship, seven years after his last first-place finish, that he would repeat as champion in a sanctioned tournament. At that contest held at the Riviera Terrace in New York City, along the way to first place and the prize of \$4,000, Moore defeated: Onofrio Lauri 150 to 117; Joe Balsis 150 to -3; Cisero Murphy 150 to 96; Ed Kelly 150 to 83 in 3 innings; and the ever-present Luther Lassiter, 150 to 41 in 4 innings. The runner up in the tourney was Joe Balsis. In addition to competition, Moore served as a technical adviser for billiard-related scenes in television and film, including My Living Doll starring Julie Newmar and Robert Cummings in 1964, and the Jerry Lewis movie The Family Jewels in 1965. ## Later life Moore was inducted into the Billiard Congress of America's Hall of Fame in 1994, and the Albuquerque Sports Hall of Fame in 1998. He remained competitive in tournament and match play well into his 70s. In 1984, at age 74, Moore won the Legends of Pocket Billiards competition on ESPN. Even in later years he was still deadly on a pool table, running 111 balls three days after his 80th birthday. "Until the traffic accident I had about a year ago, I was still playing my usual speed" Moore said in July 1999 at the age of 89. However, Moore's health declined rapidly that same year. He died on November 17, 1999 of natural causes. ## Titles - 1929 Michigan State 14.1 Championship - 1930 Michigan State 14.1 Championship - 1931 Michigan State 14.1 Championship - 1932 Michigan State 14.1 Championship - 1933 Michigan State 14.1 Championship - 1934 Michigan State 14.1 Championship - 1935 Michigan State 14.1 Championship - 1936 Michigan State 14.1 Championship - 1937 Michigan State 14.1 Championship - 1938 Michigan State 14.1 Championship - 1939 Michigan State 14.1 Championship - 1958 National Pocket Billiards Championship - 1965 National Pocket Billiards Championship - 1966 New Mexico State 14.1 Championship - 1984 ESPN Legends of Pocket Billiards Tournament - 1994 Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame - 1998 Albuquerque Sports Hall of Fame ## See also

The Holocaust in Lithuania

Genocide of Lithuanian Jews

The Holocaust in Lithuania resulted in the near total destruction of Lithuanian (Litvaks) and Polish Jews, living in Generalbezirk Litauen of Reichskommissariat Ostland within the Nazi-controlled Lithuanian SSR. Out of approximately 208,000–210,000 Jews, an estimated 190,000–195,000 were murdered before the end of World War II, most of them between June and December 1941. More than 95% of Lithuania's Jewish population was massacred over the three-year German occupation – a more complete destruction than befell any other country affected by the Holocaust. Historians attribute this to the massive collaboration in the genocide by the non-Jewish local paramilitaries, though the reasons for this collaboration are still debated. The Holocaust resulted in the largest-ever loss of life in so short a period of time in the history of Lithuania. The events that took place in the western regions of the USSR occupied by Nazi Germany in the first weeks after the German invasion, including Lithuania, marked a sharp intensification of the Holocaust. The occupying Nazi German administration fanned antisemitism by blaming the Soviet regime's annexation of Lithuania in June 1940, on the Jewish community. To a large extent the Nazis also drew upon the physical organization, preparation and execution of their orders by local Lithuanian collaborators. As of 2020, the topic of the Holocaust in Lithuania and the role played by Lithuanians in the genocide, including several notable Lithuanian nationalists, remains controversial. ## Background After the German and Soviet invasion of September 1939, the Soviet Union signed a treaty with Lithuania on 10 October, handed over predominantly Polish and Jewish city of Wilno (renamed Vilna) to Lithuania, in exchange for military concessions, and subsequently annexed Lithuania in 1940 after an election. The German invasion of the Soviet Union, on 22 June 1941, came after a year of Soviet occupation which had culminated in mass deportations across the Baltics only a week before the German invasion. The Nazis were welcomed as liberators and received support from Lithuania's irregular militia against retreating Soviet forces. Many Lithuanians believed Germany would allow the re-establishment of the country's independence. In order to appease the Germans, some people expressed significant antisemitic sentiments. Nazi Germany, which had seized the Lithuanian territories in the first week of the offensive, used this situation to its advantage and indeed in the first days permitted a Lithuanian Provisional Government of the Lithuanian Activist Front to be established. For a brief period it appeared that the Germans were about to grant Lithuania significant autonomy, comparable with that given to Slovak Republic. However, after about a month, the more independently minded Lithuanian organizations were disbanded around August and September 1941, as the Germans seized more control. ## Destruction of Jewry ### Estimated number of victims Prior to the German invasion, the population of Jews was estimated to be about 210,000, (the Lithuanian statistics department claims there were 208,000 Jews as of 1 January 1941). This estimate, based on the officially accounted-for prewar emigration within the USSR (approx. 8,500), the number of escapees from the Kaunas and Vilnius Ghettos, (1,500–2,000), as well as the number of survivors in the concentration camps when they were liberated by the Red Army, (2,000–3,000), puts the number of Lithuanian Jews murdered in the Holocaust at 195,000 to 196,000. It is difficult to estimate the exact number of casualties of the Holocaust and the latter number cannot be final or indisputable. The numbers given by historians differ significantly ranging from 165,000 to 254,000. The higher number probably includes non-Lithuanian Jews among other Reich (empirical) dissenters labeled as Jewish killed in Lithuania. There were some interventions to rescue Jews. In the period 16 July – 3 August 1940 the Dutch Honorary Consul Jan Zwartendijk in Kaunas provided over 2,200 Jews with an official third destination to Curaçao, a Caribbean island and Dutch colony that required no entry visa, or Surinam (which, upon independence in 1975, became Suriname). There was also a Japanese government official, Chiune Sugihara, who served as vice consul for the Japanese Empire, also in Kaunas, Lithuania. During the Second World War, Sugihara helped some six thousand Jews flee Europe by issuing transit visas to them so that they could travel through Japanese territory, risking his job and his family's lives. The fleeing Jews were refugees from German-occupied Western Poland and Soviet-occupied Eastern Poland, as well as residents of Lithuania. ### Holocaust events The Lithuanian port city of Klaipėda (Memel in German) had historically been a member of the German Hanseatic League, and had belonged to Germany and East Prussia prior to 1918. The city was semi-autonomous during the period of Lithuanian independence, and under League of Nations supervision. Approximately 8,000 Jews lived in Memel when it was absorbed into the Reich on March 15, 1939. Its Jewish residents were expelled, and most fled into Lithuania proper where most would be killed after the Axis invasion in June, 1941. Chronologically, the genocide in Lithuania can be divided into three phases: phase 1. summer to the end of 1941; phase 2. December 1941 – March 1943; phase 3. April 1943 – mid-July 1944. Most Lithuanian Jews perished in the first phase during the first months of the occupation and before the end of 1941. The Axis invasion of the USSR began on June 22, 1941 and coincided with the June Uprising in Lithuania. During the days prior to the German occupation of Lithuania the Lithuanian Activist Front attacked Soviet forces, seized power in several cities, spread anti-Semitic propaganda and carried out massacres of Lithuanian Jews and Poles. One notable massacre began on the night of 25–26 June when Algirdas Klimaitis ordered his 800 Lithuanian troops to begin the Kaunas pogrom. Franz Walter Stahlecker, the SS commanding officer of Einsatzgruppe A claimed that by 28 June 1941 3,800 people had been killed in Kaunas and a further 1,200 in surrounding towns in the region. Klimaitis' men destroyed several synagogues and about sixty Jewish houses. In the 1990s the number of victims claimed by Stahlecker were questioned and thought to have been probably exaggerated. German death squads, Einsatzgruppen, followed the advance of the German army units in June 1941 and immediately began organizing the murder of Jews. The first recorded action of the Einsatzgruppen (Einsatzgruppe A) unit took place on June 22, 1941, in the border town of Gargždai (called Gorzdt in Yiddish and Garsden in German), which was one of the oldest Jewish settlements in the country and only 18 kilometres (11 mi) from Germany's recovered Memel. Approximately 800 Jews were shot that day in what is known as the Garsden Massacre. Approximately 100 non-Jewish Lithuanians were also executed, many for trying to aid Jews. About 80,000 Jews were killed by October and about 175,000 by the end of the year. The majority of Jews in Lithuania were not required to live in ghettos nor sent to the Nazi concentration camps which at that time were just in the preliminary stages of operation. Instead they were shot in pits near their places of residence with the most infamous mass murders, such as the Kaunas massacre of October 29, 1941, taking place in the Ninth Fort near Kaunas and the Ponary Forest near Vilnius. By 1942 about 45,000 Jews survived, largely those who had been sent to ghettos and camps. In the second phase, the Holocaust slowed, as Germans decided to use the Jews as forced labor to fuel the German war economy. In the third phase, the destruction of Jews was again given a high priority; it was in that phase that the remaining ghettos and camps were liquidated. Two factors contributed to the rapid destruction of Lithuanian Jewry. The first was the significant support for the "de-Jewification" of Lithuania coming from the Lithuanian populace. The second was the German plan for early colonization of Lithuania – which shared a border with German East Prussia – in accordance with their Generalplan Ost; hence the high priority given to the extermination of the relatively small Lithuanian Jewish community. ### Participation of local collaborators Dina Porat, the chief historian of Yad Vashem, writes that "The Lithuanians showed [the Einsatzgruppen] how to murder women and children, and perhaps made them accustomed to it...Indeed, at the onset of the invasion the German units killed mostly men, while the Lithuanians killed unselectively." The Nazi German administration directed and supported the organized killing of Lithuanian Jews. Local Lithuanian auxiliaries of the Nazi occupation regime carried out logistics for the preparation and execution of the murders under Nazi direction. Nazi SS Brigadeführer Franz Walter Stahlecker arrived in Kaunas on 25 June 1941 and gave agitation speeches in the city to instigate the murder of Jews. Initially this was in the former State Security Department building, but officials there refused to take any action. Later, he gave speeches in the city. In a report of October 15, Stahlecker wrote that they had succeeded in covering up their vanguard unit (Vorkommando) actions, and it was made to look like it was the initiative of the local population. Groups of partisans, civil units of nationalist-rightist anti-Soviet affiliation, initiated contact with the Germans as soon as they entered the Lithuanian territories. A rogue unit of insurgents headed by Algirdas Klimaitis and encouraged by Germans from the Sicherheitspolizei and Sicherheitsdienst, started anti-Jewish pogroms in Kaunas (Kovno) on the night of 25–26 June 1941. Over a thousand Jews perished over the next few days in what was the first pogrom in Nazi-occupied Lithuania. Different sources give different figures, one being 1,500 and another 3,800, with additional victims in other towns of the region. On 24 June 1941, the Lithuanian Security Police (Lietuvos saugumo policija), subordinate to Nazi Germany's Security Police and Nazi Germany's Criminal Police, was created. It would be involved in various actions against the Jews and other enemies of the Nazi regime. Nazi commanders filed reports purporting the "zeal" of the Lithuanian police battalions surpassed their own. The most notorious Lithuanian unit participating in the Holocaust was the Ypatingasis būrys (a subdivision of German SD) from the Vilnius (Vilna, Wilno) area which killed tens of thousands of Jews, Poles and others in the Ponary massacre. Another Lithuanian organization involved in the Holocaust was the Lithuanian Labor Guard. Many Lithuanian supporters of the Nazi policies came from the fascist Iron Wolf organization. Overall, the nationalistic Lithuanian administration was interested in the liquidation of the Jews as a perceived enemy and potential rivals of ethnic Lithuanians and thus not only did not oppose Nazi Holocaust policy but in effect adopted it as their own. A combination of factors serves as an explanation for participation of some Lithuanians in genocide against Jews. Those factors include national traditions and values, including antisemitism, common throughout contemporary Central Europe, and a more Lithuanian-specific desire for a "pure" Lithuanian nation-state with which the Jewish population was believed to be incompatible. There were a number of additional factors, such as severe economic problems which led to the killing of Jews over personal property. Finally the Jews were seen as having supported the Soviet regime in Lithuania during 1940–1941. During the period leading up to the German invasion, the Jews were blamed by some for virtually every misfortune that had befallen Lithuania. The involvement of the local population and institutions, in relatively high numbers, in the destruction of Lithuanian Jewry became a defining factor of the Holocaust in Lithuania. Not all of the Lithuanian populace supported the killings, and many hundreds risked their lives sheltering the Jews. Israel has recognized 891 Lithuanians (as of January 1, 2017) as Righteous Among the Nations for risking their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust. In addition, many members of the Polish minority in Lithuania also helped to shelter the Jews. Lithuanians and Poles who risked their lives saving Jews were persecuted and often executed by the Nazis. ## Comprehension and remembrance Following the Holocaust, Lithuania became part of the USSR and the government tried to minimize the unique suffering of the Jews. In Lithuania and throughout the Soviet Union, memorials did not mention Jews in particular; instead they were built to commemorate the suffering of "local inhabitants". However, people guilty of Nazi collaboration and crimes against Jews were often deported or executed. Since Lithuania regained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, the debate over Lithuanian participation in the Holocaust has been fraught with difficulty. Modern Lithuanian nationalists stress anti-Soviet resistance, but some Lithuanian partisans, seen in Lithuania as heroes in the struggle against Soviet occupation, were also Nazi collaborators who cooperated in the murder of Lithuanian Jewry. The genocide in Lithuania is seen by some historians as one of the earliest large-scale implementations of the Final Solution, leading some scholars to express an opinion that the Holocaust began in Lithuania in the summer of 1941. Other scholars say the Holocaust started in September 1939 with the onset of the Second World War, or even earlier, on Kristallnacht in 1938, or with Hitler's rise to power as Chancellor of Germany in 1933. The post-Soviet Lithuanian government has on a number of occasions commemorated the Holocaust, made attempts to combat antisemitism, and brought some Nazi-era war criminals to justice. The National Coalition Supporting Soviet Jewry have said "Lithuania has made slow but significant progress in the prosecution of suspected Lithuanian collaborators in the Nazi genocide". Lithuania was the first of the newly independent post-Soviet states to enact legislation to protect and mark of Holocaust-related sites. In 1995, president of Lithuania Algirdas Brazauskas speaking before the Israeli Knesset, offered a public apology to the Jewish people for the Lithuanian participation in the Holocaust. On 20 September 2001, to mark the 60th anniversary of the Holocaust in Lithuania, the Seimas (Lithuanian parliament) held a session during which Alfonsas Eidintas, the historian nominated as the Republic's next ambassador to Israel, delivered an address accounting for the annihilation of Lithuania's Jews. ### Controversy and criticism Historically Lithuanians have denied national participation in the Holocaust or labeled the Lithuanian participants in the genocide as fringe extreme elements. The memories of that time and the discussion of those events in Jewish and Lithuanian historiographies are quite different, although Lithuanian historiography in the past two decades has improved, compared to the Soviet historiography, with the works of scholars such as Alfonsas Eidintas, Valentinas Brandišauskas and Arūnas Bubnys, among others, being positively reviewed by Western and Jewish historians. The issue remains controversial to this day. According to Lithuanian historians, the contentious issues involve the role of the Lithuanian Activist Front, the Lithuanian Provisional Government and participation of Lithuanian civilians and volunteers in the Holocaust. Since the 1990s there has been criticism of the Lithuanian government's efforts to accurately depict the history of the Holocaust, the continued praising of alleged Lithuanian nationalists who collaborated with the Nazis in murdering hundreds of thousands of Lithuanian Jews and the government's aversion to accepting culpability for the Holocaust in Lithuania. In the 2010s Lithuanian society was characterized by Holocaust dismissal and a surge in anti-Semitic sentiment. In 2001 the Simon Wiesenthal Center criticized the Lithuanian government for its unwillingness to prosecute Lithuanians involved in the Holocaust. In 2002 the Center declared its dissatisfaction with the Lithuanian government's efforts and launched "Operation Last Chance", offering monetary rewards for evidence leading to the prosecution of war criminals. This campaign has encountered much resistance in Lithuania and the other former Soviet bloc countries. In 2008, the Center which had initially ranked Lithuania high during on-going trials to bring Lithuanian war criminals to justice, noted, in its annual report, no progress and the lack of any real punishment by Lithuanian justice organs for Holocaust perpetrators. In 2010 a Klaipėda court ruled that swastikas could be displayed publicly and were symbols of "Lithuania's historical heritage." In January 2020 Lithuania's Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis announced he will lead a committee to draft legislation declaring that neither Lithuania nor its leaders participated in the Holocaust. It is thought that the proposed law will likely be similar to the Polish Holocaust bill which makes it a crime to claim Poles or Polish authorities played any role in the Holocaust. In May 2020, on the 75th anniversary of end of World War II in Europe, the Lithuanian government sent its Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Povilas Poderskis to accompany the German, Israeli and American ambassadors in attending a ceremony at the Lithuanian Jewish Cemetery in Vilnius. #### Vilnius Street renaming and memorial controversy In 2019 the issue gained national political attention when Vilnius' liberal Freedom Party mayor, Remigijus Šimašius, renamed a street that had been named after Kazys Skirpa (founder of the Lithuanian Activist Front, which later carried out massacres of Jews across Lithuania) and removed a memorial to Jonas Noreika, who ordered and oversaw the killings of Lithuanian Jews in Plungė during the Plungė massacre. The Lithuanian government-backed Genocide and Resistance Research Centre of Lithuania, which had previously been criticized for its whitewashing of the Holocaust, alleged that the plan to rename the streets was a plot by foreigners (mainly British and American). During the controversy Vytautas Landsbergis, Lithuania's first head of state after its independence from the Soviet Union, posted a poem on social media that referred to the Virgin Mary as a "žydelka" ("jew-girl") which was condemned by Faina Kukliansky, chair of the Jewish Community of Lithuania. Landsbergis said the poem was an attempt to show the ignorance of Lithuanian antisemites and requested support from "at least one smart and brave Jew ... who does not agree with Simasius." Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda subsequently proposed a law that would require municipalities to follow rules from the national government "when installing, removing or changing commemorative plaques" but later tabled the proposed law. ## See also - Chiune Sugihara - Collaboration during World War II - History of the Jews in Lithuania - Lithuanian Territorial Defense Force (1944) - Lithuanian collaboration during World War II - Timeline of Jewish history in Lithuania - The Holocaust in Estonia - The Holocaust in Latvia

Killing of Fausto and Iaio

1978 killings in Milan, Italy

Fausto Tinelli (1959–1978) and Lorenzo "Iaio" Iannucci (1959–1978) were two Italian left-wing activists who were shot dead after a street confrontation in Milan on 18 March 1978 during the Years of Lead. An official investigation into their deaths closed without a conviction in 2000. Various theories have been suggested for the double murder, involving the neo-fascist underground, the Italian intelligence agencies, the kidnapping of Aldo Moro, and local drug dealers. ## Background Fausto Tinelli was born on 25 November 1959 in Trento. When he was a child, his parents moved to the district of Casoretto [it] in Milan. After school, he studied mechanical engineering followed by fine art. He was politically left-wing, sympathetic to the militant party Lotta Continua (Continuous Struggle) but not a fully-fledged member. He became friends with Lorenzo Iannucci, known as Iaio, when they were children playing at the local oratory. Iannucci was born on 29 September 1959 in Telese in the province of Benevento and also moved to Milan as a child. When they were older, the two bonded through their mutual love of music and reading, and frequented Centro Sociale Leoncavallo, a left-wing self-managed social centre founded in 1975 which hosted social and cultural activities for the local community. Iannucci worked as a labourer. With other Leoncavallo activists, the two men were researching the local heroin trade and its connection to local neo-fascists. After the strikes of the Hot Autumn of 1969, Italy entered into the Years of Lead (anni di piombo), a time of political upheaval in which various left-wing and right-wing groups fought in the streets. Neo-fascists began a campaign known as the strategy of tension. Over the course of the following decade of politically-motivated violence, 415 people were killed. Twelve days before the double murder, neo-fascist Franco Anselmi had been shot dead whilst robbing a gun shop in Rome and two days prior to that murder, former prime minister Aldo Moro had been kidnapped by the Red Brigades, a Marxist–Leninist revolutionary group. ## Double murder On 18 March 1978, Tinelli and Iannucci (commonly known as Fausto and Iaio) had been spending time together in Casoretto. They were planning to eat dinner at Tinelli's house and then go to a concert at Leoncavallo. Between 19:30 and 20:00, they passed the corner of via Casoretto and via Mancinelli, where they encountered three other men. Witnesses reported hearing muffled shots and both Iannucci and Tinelli fell to the ground; the former died immediately and the latter died after being rushed to hospital. The three assailants ran away on foot, one dropping a blue hat. One of them had fired eight 7.65 caliber bullets from a Beretta gun; the weapon had been hidden in a plastic bag in order to not leave any used cartridges behind. In the days following the double assassination, there was a vigil at the site and a demonstration of between 100,000 and 300,000 people. ## Theories on murderers Nobody has ever been convicted for the crime and there are different theories about the involvement of neo-fascists, the Italian intelligence agencies, and local drug dealers. In the immediate aftermath, four far-right groups claimed responsibility for the killings. Several figures in Italy's neo-fascist underground were linked to the murders, such as Massimo Carminati and Mario Corsi [it]. One of the groups claiming responsibility was the far-right Esercito nazional rivoluzionario, Brigata combattente Franco Anselmi (Revolutionary National Army, Franco Anselmi brigade), whose name referenced Anselmi. In their communique, the brigade claimed they wanted to destroy the political system and take revenge for Anselmi's killing days before. The investigation was formally ended by Judge Clementina Forleo in 2000 who said there was considerable evidence against Claudio Bracci [it], Carminati, and Corsi, but not enough to convict them. Another line of enquiry was that Iannucci and Tinelli were killed on account of the report they were compiling with other Leoncavallo activists about heroin selling in the local area, which linked the drug dealing to neo-fascists. In the late 1970s, anti-fascist activists were targeting the heroin trade. The double murder has also been linked to the kidnapping of Moro, since it was later discovered that the Red Brigades had a safe house close to Tinelli's home. In 2011, Tinelli's mother told the mainstream media that she blamed the intelligence agencies for her son's murder, because the third-floor flat in the building where the family lived had been used by a security agency to monitor the Red Brigades' apartment, and she thought she and her son had been put under surveillance. ## Legacy Journalist Daniele Biacchessi [it] wrote a book about the murders entitled Fausto e Iaio: La speranza muore a diciotto anni (Fausto and Iaio: Hope dies at 18). The association Familiari e Amici di Fausto e Iaio (Relatives and Friends of Fausto and Iaio) campaigned for gardens in Milan to be named after the two men and in 2012, the gardens of Piazza Durante were dedicated to them. There was also an attempt to unofficially rename the road where the men were murdered to via Fausto e Iaio. The play Viva L'Italia: Le morti di Fausto e Iaio (Long Live Italy: The Deaths of Fausto and Iaio) was written by Roberto Scarpetti and premiered in 2013. In 2023, forty-five years after the murders, Fausto Tinelli's brother Bruno said that his family was still working to find out what had happened.

Anne Burlak

American labor activist

Anne Burlak Timpson (May 24, 1911 – July 9, 2002) was an early twentieth-century leader in labor organizing and leftist political movements. A member of the National Textile Workers Union and Communist Party, Burlak was jailed numerous times for sedition. Based in New England for much of her adult life, Burlak was a candidate for local and state offices in Rhode Island and played a major role in crafting the National Recovery Administration's workplace standards for textile unions during the New Deal era. ## Early life Born in Slatington, Pennsylvania, Anne Burlak was the daughter of Harry and Anastasia Smigel Burlak, who came to the United States as immigrants from Tsarist Russia, in the area now comprising Ukraine. The eldest of six children, Burlak left school at the age of 14 to join the workforce and provide financial support to her family. As was common practice for children whose families needed the income, Burlak lied about her age in order to work at a textile mill in Bethlehem. Introduced to left-wing ideas early in life by her father, who worked for Bethlehem Steel, Burlak joined the Young Communist League at the age of 15 or 16. Inspired by her father's struggle for fair wages and work hours, as well as by the union organizers like Ella Reeve Bloor, whom she met in 1925, Burlak tried to organize a labor union of her fellow workers and was subsequently fired. In 1929, Burlak, her father, and her brother were arrested for sedition and on suspicion of spreading communist ideas. Reportedly, Burlak decided that, "I might as well join the Communist Party and learn more about it." Burlak was blacklisted following her arrest, and unable to find work; Harry Burlak was also terminated from his job at Bethlehem Steel. Harry and the rest of the Burlak family later relocated to the Soviet Union. ## Career At 17, Burlak had been a delegate to the inaugural National Textile Workers Union (NWTU) convention. After the charges of sedition against her were dropped, she became a labor organizer for the NTWU, working full-time for ten dollars a week. At age 21, Burlak became the first woman elected to the role of National Secretary of the NWTU. ### Georgia Burlak gained her first major experience with labor management conflicts trying to organize workers across lines of race and ethnicity in the South. After briefly working in North and South Carolina, the NTWU sent her to Atlanta, in 1930 to organize workers there into multiracial unions. Facing opposition not only from recalcitrant mill owners but also from the state's enforcement of segregation, Burlak was arrested and charged with insurrection under Georgia law, which carried the death penalty. Burlak was one in a group of black and white Communist organizers who were facing insurrection charges; collectively they became known as the Atlanta Six and counted M. H. Powers, Joe Carr, and Herbert Newton among their number. Burlak and the rest of the Atlanta Six were held in jail for six weeks. Upon being released on bail, Burlak traveled the country to raise funds for the Atlanta Six's legal defense. The law under which the Atlanta Six were charged dated from before the Civil War, and would not be overturned until the Supreme Court's decision in Herndon v. Lowry (1937). The charges against Burlak and the Atlanta Six were later dropped in 1939. ### New England Following her release from prison in Georgia, Burlak began organizing Rhode Island textile workers in their struggle for collective bargaining, overtime pay, and wage increases. She would become a central figure in the strikes that shook the state's textile industry in the early 1930s. Burlak soon began leading strike actions in Pawtucket and Central Falls, and was arrested for alleged violence in a July 1931 strike. She was ultimately sentenced to 30 days in jail and a fine. As a response to her continued activism, she faced deportation by federal immigration authorities, who tried to prove she was not born in the United States. During her time in Rhode Island, Burlak ran for elected office multiple times on the Communist Party ticket. In 1932, she ran for mayor of the city of Pawtucket, garnering only 160 votes in a city of 77,000 inhabitants. The Communist Party platform promised government-funded social welfare and support of workers' right to strike, among other planks. At the statewide and national level, Governor Theodore Francis Green and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt were elected in 1932 on the Democratic Party ticket, pledging similar reforms and support of workers. Burlak also led the Rhode Island delegation to the 1932 National Hunger March on Washington, D.C. Burlak later unsuccessfully ran for Secretary of State of Rhode Island in 1938. Following this defeat, Burlak relocated to Massachusetts within the next several years, and was elected Executive Secretary of the Communist Party of Massachusetts in 1940. She would be based in the Boston area for the remainder of her life, where she continued to advocate for housing, schools, and social welfare. ### The New Deal Era and the Red Scare As the National Secretary of the NWTU, Burlak became involved in crafting aspects of the National Recovery Administration (NRA)'s industrywide codes for minimum working conditions on behalf of textile unions. While voluntary, the provisions laid out in the NRA were widely accepted around the United States, leading to an increase in collective bargaining in the workplace and worker membership in the American Federation of Labor (AFL). Backed by the federal government, the AFL, particularly its United Textile Workers union (UTW), became a powerful political player and purged Communists from its ranks. As a prominent member of the more radical NWTU, Burlak was deemed a threat by the AFL, who enlisted its leadership and law enforcement in preventing her from leading in strikes or attending worker rallies. In 1939, she was subpoenaed by the House Un-American Activities Committee. Burlak was also targeted during the postwar Red Scare era. In 1956, she was arrested under the Smith Act, as were many other American Communists. The charges were not dropped until the Supreme Court decision in Yates v. United States (1957), which ruled that the First Amendment protected political speech in the absence of a "clear and present danger". Burlak was later arrested in 1964 under the McCarran Act, which required Communists to register with the United States government; the charges were dropped after the Supreme Court ruled the McCarran Act unconstitutional in Albertson v. Subversive Activities Control Board. ## Personal life Burlak married fellow labor activist Arthur E. Timpson in 1939. The couple had two children, Kathryn Anne Timpson Wright (b. 1943) and William Michael Timpson (b. 1946). She died July 9, 2002, in East Longmeadow, Massachusetts. ## Legacy Burlak's passion and staunch Communism earned her the nicknames of the "Red Flame," the "girl striker," "Seditious Anne," and the "Hunger March Queen." In 1933, social activist and writer Dorothy Day described Burlak "as a fine, strapping young girl, blond-haired, rosy cheeked, looking like a Valkyrie as she marches at the head of her strikers," but criticized her for joining in the "obstructionist" tactics of the Communist Party as opposed to working with more established unions. Poet Muriel Rukeyser penned a tribute to Burlak in her 1939 collection A Turning Wind: Poems. Burlak was awarded the Wonder Woman Award from the Wonder Woman Foundation in 1982, and the Sacco-Vanzetti Memorial Award for Social Justice from the Community Church of Boston in 1997. Anne Burlak Timpson donated her papers to the Sophia Smith Collection at Smith College from 1998 to 1999. Additional materials were donated by her children and her brother. Her papers date "from 1912 to 2003 and are primarily related to her personal and political life."

In Which We Meet Mr. Jones

"In Which We Meet Mr. Jones" is the seventh episode of the first season of the American science fiction drama television series Fringe. The story begins when an FBI agent collapses from a parasite constricting his heart, and Olivia must meet with biochemist David Robert Jones (Jared Harris) in Frankfurt in order to find a cure. It featured the first appearance by Harris. The episode was written by J. J. Abrams and Jeff Pinkner, and directed by Brad Anderson. The writers designed it to serve as the foundation for the "next chapter" in the season's narrative. It first aired in the United States on November 11, 2008 on the Fox network to an estimated 8.61 million viewers. Reviews of the episode were mostly mixed. ## Plot Agent Mitchell Loeb (Chance Kelly), a friend of Broyles (Lance Reddick), is on a group mission in Weymouth, Massachusetts but fails to find evidence of wrongdoing in a truck they targeted. Loeb and Broyles are in a meeting afterwards when Loeb collapses, seemingly of a heart attack or seizure. He is rushed to the hospital, where the medical staff cut open his chest, only to find his heart is being constricted by a synthetic rhizocephalan-like parasite. The Fringe division of Olivia, Walter, and Peter are briefed by Broyles, who then shows them the hospitalized Loeb. At Harvard, the Bishops run tests on Loeb while Olivia talks with Loeb's wife Samantha (Trini Alvarado). Not recognizing the parasite, Walter pokes it with a blade in an attempt to remove it, and it constricts tighter around Loeb's heart, further endangering his life. Walter is able to get a tissue sample, while Peter administers some medicine to calm Loeb's heart. After a DNA analysis, Walter discovers a pattern "too organized to be accidental, too perfect to be natural." Astrid thinks it is a Caesar cipher, and she and Olivia decipher the acronym "ZFT". After talking with Broyles, Olivia is directed to talk to David Robert Jones (Jared Harris), a biochemist being held incommunicado in "Wissenschaft Prison", Frankfurt, Germany ("Wissenschaft" is German for "science"). Broyles explains to her that ZFT are privately funded cells in 83 recorded countries that traffic in scientific progress, not weapons or drugs. Some fringe events in previous episodes may have been orchestrated by this group. He says little else is known. Meanwhile, Peter and Walter discover the parasite has slowly worked its roots into Loeb's circulatory system and extended through the IV into the IV drip; they estimate Loeb has a day to live. After meeting with old friend Lucas Vogel (Billy Burke), Olivia is able to secure a meeting with Jones, who knows the cure to the parasite slowly killing Loeb. Charlie Francis (Kirk Acevedo) finds a sheet of code in Loeb's briefcase listing agents from their field office. They suspect another mole with access to high-level security clearances and tie it to a Joseph Smith, previously mentioned by Loeb as a suspected mole after the truck mission failure. Although she is not able to talk with Jones at first, he arranges for Olivia to be given a piece of paper with instructions demanding he first speak to Smith, a colleague of his, before he helps her. Smith is unfortunately killed soon after in a raid set up by Broyles. Walter, however, devises a way to wire Peter into the dead man's brain, enabling Peter to speak on his behalf without Jones knowing Smith is dead. Smith's "response" is "little hill," which is an answer Jones seems pleased to hear. Jones duly tells Olivia a formula for the parasite, and the subsequent procedure is successful. The parasite is removed, but the team does not realize that the entire incident was orchestrated by Loeb and his wife to get the information Peter extracted from Smith. The final scene shows Samantha Loeb whispering "little hill" into her husband's ear at the hospital. ## Production Co-creator J. J. Abrams and executive producer Jeff Pinkner wrote the episode, and Brad Anderson directed it. Pinkner has stated that the first six episodes of season one served as a prologue, and that the following episodes, beginning with "In Which We Meet Mr. Jones", would be the "next chapter" in the story. Pinkner further described the episode as "foundational," as it will set up "a lot of things will be set up which will come to pay off over the next several weeks". The character David Robert Jones is a reference to English musician David Bowie, who was born with that name. "In Which We Meet Mr. Jones" was the first appearance of the character. When actor Jared Harris was first cast for the part, he was told Jones was "possibly a major, important character", as indicated by the episode's title. Whether his character would make a reappearance later in the season depended on how well received Jones was by the show's audience, Harris' performance, and if the writers felt they had more to tell about the character. Harris later described Jones in a May 2009 interview, "I think you could sense that there was a great bit of ambiguity about the character which was useful. He's a bad guy that might be on the right side. He just might be fighting for the good guys. Those guys are always great parts because you leave the audience guessing about what side he's really on. He's one of those guys that if he's fighting for the right cause, he's a tremendous ally. But if he's fighting on the wrong cause, he's a formidable opponent. He's an anti-hero who is fighting for the just cause". Harris asserted in a February 2009 interview that he did not sign a recurring contract, meaning that the character was not meant to be permanent. He affirmed this by believing the character's personality rendered Jones incapable of joining the regular cast, "You'd have to keep [Jones] chained like a dog. You couldn't let him loose. You certainly couldn't let him use his hands. You know what the f--k he'd do". The crew first considered making the parasite look like "an alien," but shifted away from that in favor of depicting it like an amoeba to be more familiar to the audience. CGI modeling followed, along with a physical model, which was then used by the CGI department to simulate it being wrapped around Loeb's heart. To create the actual, physical parasite, the crew used a prosthetic chest and CGI to create the parasite, and a pig torso was used when the doctors made the initial incision at the hospital. During the scene where Broyles is talking with Mitchell Loeb, Mitchell mentions the words "Page 47". The number 47 bears a huge significance to another J. J. Abrams show, Alias. ## Reception ### Ratings The premiere of "In Which We Meet Mr. Jones" was watched by an estimated 8.61 million viewers in the United States. It received a 5.2/8 rating among all households. ### Reviews Travis Fickett of IGN disliked the episode, criticizing it as "sloppy," the science as "repeating itself," and the fringe element [the parasite] as "especially goofy"; he rated the episode 6.0/10. Writing for Mania.com, critic Stephen Lackey thought Anna Torv's performance "felt forced", but heaped praise on John Noble. Lackey believes Torv and Joshua Jackson have good chemistry, and consequently partly disliked the episode because they had few scenes together. He also thought the case of the week was "fairly entertaining," but the storyline was "just...passable", as he wanted the show "to be done with all of the introductions and get more into the mystery of the pattern". He concluded his review, "Hopefully, next week the story will be just a little more concise, Olivia and Peter back working together and maybe at some point Astrid will actually have something important to do". The Los Angeles Times thought the episode was "solid if unexceptional", as he liked Walter but disliked the "vacuum of personality" that is Astrid. UGO Networks writer Jon Lachonis stated, "If you were on the fence before, [the episode] will drag you kicking and screaming into the dark world of Fringe's science wielding bogeymen. "In Which we Meet Mr. Jones" is what Fringe promised it would be from the beginning, a suspense driven procedural that probes deep into our technological phobias. With this new formulation of Fringe, we get the challenge of a sophisticated crime drama mixed with sad sack characters that tempt the everyman into the game, while blowing us away with a level of wordplay and pseudo science that CSI or Alias could only have dreamed of." The A.V. Club's Noel Murray enjoyed the episode, giving it a B+, while Television Without Pity gave the episode a B−.

Northern Area Command (RAAF)

Royal Australian Air Force command

Northern Area Command was one of several geographically based commands raised by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) during World War II. It was formed in May 1941, and covered the whole of northern Australia and Papua. Headquartered at Townsville, Queensland, Northern Area Command was responsible for air defence, aerial reconnaissance and protection of the sea lanes within its boundaries. In January 1942, following the outbreak of the Pacific War, it was divided into North-Western and North-Eastern Area Commands, to counter Japanese threats to northern Australia and Papua, respectively. ## History Prior to World War II, the Royal Australian Air Force was small enough for all its elements to be directly controlled by RAAF Headquarters in Melbourne. After war broke out, the RAAF began to decentralise its command structure, commensurate with expected increases in manpower and units. Between March 1940 and May 1941, it divided Australia and Papua into four geographically based command-and-control zones: Central Area, Southern Area, Western Area, and Northern Area. The roles of these area commands were air defence, protection of adjacent sea lanes, and aerial reconnaissance. Each was led by an Air Officer Commanding (AOC) responsible for the administration and operations of air bases and units within his boundary. Northern Area Command, headquartered in Townsville, Queensland, was formed on 8 May 1941 under the leadership of Air Commodore Frank Lukis. The command controlled units in northern New South Wales, Queensland, the Northern Territory, and Papua. Lukis was thus responsible for air defence along the entire north coast of Australia. The main air base in the Northern Territory, RAAF Station Darwin, was augmented by eight satellite bases in the region. Between June and November 1941, Northern Area took the lead in tracking Japanese pearl luggers, whose increased presence off north-western Australia was regarded as "significant" by intelligence services. Central Area was disbanded in August and its responsibilities divided between Northern Area, Southern Area, and the newly formed No. 2 (Training) Group in Sydney. By December 1941, Lukis' frontline strength in the Northern Territory consisted of No. 2 Squadron flying Lockheed Hudsons, No. 12 Squadron flying CAC Wirraways, and No. 13 Squadron flying Hudsons, all based at RAAF Station Darwin. When the Pacific War broke out, Nos. 2 and 13 Squadrons deployed forces to advanced operational bases at Koepang, Laha and Namlea in the Dutch East Indies. Nos. 11 and 20 Squadrons, flying PBY Catalinas, were based at Port Moresby in Papua and No. 24 Squadron, flying Hudsons and Wirraways, at Rabaul in New Britain. Northern Area Command was instructed to "strike at Japanese bases or shipping wherever possible", "obtain such warning as is possible of any attempted southward movements by the Japanese", "keep open the shipping routes through the Coral, Arafura and Timor Seas", and "deny enemy access to Rabaul and to the Territories of New Guinea, Papua and the Mainland of Australia". Nos. 2, 11, 13, 20 and 24 Squadrons undertook reconnaissance, maritime patrol and sporadic bombing missions against Japanese targets in the Dutch East Indies and Torres Strait. Short of modern fighters and sufficient numbers of bombers, the RAAF units were, according to the official history of Australia in the war, "virtually powerless" to either attack or defend against Japanese forces building up in the region. On 15 January 1942, Northern Area was split into North-Western Area and North-Eastern Area, to counter distinct Japanese threats to LAmbon and Darwin in the former case, and Rabaul and Port Moresby in the latter. Lukis remained at Townsville as AOC of the new North-Eastern Area Command. North-Western Area Command was headquartered at Darwin, Northern Territory; its inaugural AOC was Air Commodore Douglas Wilson. ## Aftermath Following the end of the war, the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal George Jones, proposed reducing the five extant mainland area commands (North-Western, North-Eastern, Eastern, Southern, and Western Areas) to three. One of these would have been Northern Area, covering Queensland and the Northern Territory. The Australian Government rejected the plan and the wartime area command boundaries essentially remained in place until supplanted in 1953–54 by a functional command-and-control system made up of Home (operational), Training, and Maintenance Commands.

Neuroacanthocytosis

Group of neurological genetic diseases involving misshapen spiky red blood cells

Neuroacanthocytosis is a label applied to several genetic neurological conditions in which the blood contains misshapen, spiculated red blood cells called acanthocytes. The 'core' neuroacanthocytosis syndromes, in which acanthocytes are a typical feature, are chorea acanthocytosis and McLeod syndrome. Acanthocytes are seen less frequently in other conditions including Huntington's disease-like syndrome 2 (HDL2) and pantothenate kinase-associated neurodegeneration (PKAN). The neuroacanthocytosis syndromes are caused by a range of genetic mutations and produce a variety of clinical features but primarily produce neurodegeneration of the brain, specifically the basal ganglia. The diseases are hereditary but rare. ## Acanthocytes The hallmark of the neuroacanthocytosis syndromes is the presence of acanthocytes in peripheral blood. Acanthocytosis originated from the Greek word acantha, meaning thorn. Acanthocytes are spiculated red blood cells and can be caused by altered distribution of membrane lipids or membrane protein/skeleton abnormalities. In neuroacanthocytosis, acanthocytes are caused by protein but not lipid membrane abnormalities ## Signs and symptoms The 'core' neuroacanthocytosis syndromes are chorea acanthocytosis and McLeod syndrome. Acanthocytes are nearly always present in these conditions and they share common clinical features. Some of these features are also seen in the other neurological syndromes associated with neuroacanthocytosis. A common feature of the core syndromes is chorea: involuntary dance-like movements. In neuroacanthocytosis, this is particularly prominent in the face and mouth which can cause difficulties with speech and eating. These movements are usually abrupt and irregular and present during both rest and sleep. Individuals with neuroacanthocytosis also often have parkinsonism, the uncontrolled slowness of movements, and dystonia, abnormal body postures. Many affected individuals also have cognitive (intellectual) impairment and psychiatric symptoms such as anxiety, paranoia, depression, obsessive behavior, and pronounced emotional instability. Seizures may also be a symptom of neuroacanthocytosis. Onset differs between individual neuroacanthocytosis syndromes but is usually between ages 20 and 40. Affected individuals usually live for 10–20 years after onset. ## Core neuroacanthocytosis syndromes ### Chorea acanthocytosis Chorea acanthocytosis is an autosomal recessive disorder caused by mutations in the VPS13A, also called CHAC, on chromosome 9q21. The gene encodes the protein Vacuolar protein sorting-associated protein 13A, also known as chorein. The protein's function is unknown. Chorea acanthocytosis is characterised by dystonia, chorea and progressive cognitive, behavioural changes and seizures. Strikingly, many people with chorea acanthocytosis uncontrollably bite their tongue, lips, and the inside of the mouth. Eye movement abnormalities are also seen. There are about 500–1,000 cases of chorea acanthocytosis worldwide and it is not specific to any particular ethnic group. ### McLeod syndrome McLeod syndrome is an X-linked recessive disorder caused by mutations in the XK gene encoding the Kx blood type antigen, one of the Kell antigens. Like the other neuroacanthocytosis syndromes, McLeod syndrome causes movement disorder, cognitive impairment and psychiatric symptoms. The particular features of McLeod syndrome are heart problems such as arrhythmia and dilated cardiomyopathy (enlarged heart). McLeod syndrome is very rare. There are approximately 150 cases of McLeod syndrome worldwide. Because of its X-linked mode of inheritance, it is much more prevalent in males. ## Other neurological conditions causing acanthocytosis Many other neurological conditions are associated with acanthocytosis but are not considered 'core' acanthocytosis syndromes. The commonest are: - Pantothenate kinase-associated neurodegeneration, an autosomal recessive condition caused by mutations in PANK2. - Huntington's disease-like syndrome type 2, an autosomal dominant condition caused by mutations in JPH3 that closely resembles Huntington's disease. - Bassen-Kornzweig disease, or Bassen-Kornzweig Syndrome (see also History). - Levine-Critchley syndrome (see History). - Paroxysmal movement disorders associated with GLUT1 mutations. - Familial acanthocytosis with paroxysmal exertion-induced dyskinesias and epilepsy (FAPED). - Some cases of mitochondrial disease. ## Management Currently, no treatment slows the neurodegeneration in any of the neuroacanthocytosis disorders. Medication may be administered to decrease the involuntary movements produced by these syndromes. Antipsychotics are used to block dopamine, anticonvulsants treat seizures and botulinum toxin injections may control dystonia. Patients usually receive speech, occupational and physical therapies to help with the complications associated with movement. Sometimes, physicians will prescribe antidepressants for the psychological problems that accompany neuroacanthocytosis. Some success has been reported with deep brain stimulation. Mouthguards and other physical protective devices may be useful in preventing damage to the lips and tongue due to the orofacial chorea and dystonia typical of chorea acanthocytosis. ## History Neuroacanthocytosis was first identified in 1950 as Bassen-Kornzweig disease, or Bassen-Kornzweig Syndrome, a rare, autosomal recessive, childhood-onset disorder in which the body fails to produce chylomicrons, low density lipoprotein (LDL) and very low density lipoprotein (VLDL). Symptoms include ataxia, peripheral neuropathy, retinitis pigmentosa and other forms of nerve dysfunction. It was first noted by the North American physician Frank Bassen, who later partnered with the ophthalmologist Abraham Kornzweig to identify and describe causes and symptoms of the disease. Affected children appear normal at birth but usually fail to thrive during their first year. A second form of neuroacanthocytosis, Levine-Critchley syndrome, was discovered by the American internist Irvine M. Levine in 1960 and reported in Neurology in 1964, and again in 1968. Subsequently, similar symptoms were identified and described by the British neurologist MacDonald Critchley in 1968. In both cases, the physicians described a hereditary syndrome that combined acanthocytosis with neurological peculiarities but normal serum lipoprotein. Specific symptoms included tics, grimacing, movement disorders, difficulty swallowing, poor coordination, hyporeflexia, chorea, and seizures. Patients often mutilated their tongues, lips, and cheeks. The diseases appeared in both sexes, and were usually diagnosed in infancy. ## Research Research is underway worldwide to increase scientific understanding of these disorders as well to identify prevention and treatment methods. Known genetic mutations provide a basis for studying some of the conditions.

The Girl in the Fireplace

"The Girl in the Fireplace" is the fourth episode of the second series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 6 May 2006. Written by Steven Moffat and directed by Euros Lyn, the episode is inspired by Audrey Niffenegger's novel The Time Traveler's Wife. The episode is set in France throughout the 18th century. In the episode, repair androids from a spaceship from the 51st century create time windows to stalk Madame de Pompadour (Sophia Myles) throughout her life. They seek to remove her brain as a replacement part for their spaceship at a particular point in her life as they believe her to be compatible with the ship. The programme's executive producer Russell T Davies, who conceived the idea while researching for Casanova, described the episode as a love story for the show's protagonist the Tenth Doctor (David Tennant). The episode was filmed in England and Wales in October 2005. It was well received by most critics, was nominated for a Nebula Award and won the 2007 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form. ## Plot The Tenth Doctor, Rose, and Mickey explore a derelict spaceship in the 51st century. The Doctor looks through a time window, a doorway to another place in space and time, which is shaped like a French fireplace. He sees a young girl called Reinette on the other side of the fireplace who is in 18th-century Paris. The Doctor steps through the time window to find that months have passed. He discovers a clockwork service android disguised in 18th-century clothing hiding in Reinette's bedroom, and saves Reinette from it. Returning to Reinette's bedroom, the Doctor discovers that she is now a young woman. Reinette and the Doctor kiss before she leaves to join her mother. The Doctor realises Reinette is Madame de Pompadour, the mistress of King Louis XV. Back on the ship, the Doctor discovers a horse that stepped through a time window; he names it Arthur. Several additional time windows are on the ship which lead to different moments in Reinette's life. The Doctor steps through one window to defend Reinette from an android. The android tells Reinette that the androids killed the ship's crew to use their organs for parts to repair the ship. The Doctor discovers that the androids plan to open a time window to Reinette's life at the age of 37, believing that her brain at that age will be compatible with the ship. The clockwork androids appear at a costume ball in Versailles and take Reinette hostage. At one end of the room is an enormous mirror, which is actually a time window. The Doctor cannot enter the time window without being stranded in the 18th century. The androids threaten to decapitate Reinette, but the Doctor, on Arthur, crashes through the mirror to save her. With no way of returning to their ship, the androids give up and shut down. Reinette tells the Doctor that she had her fireplace moved to Versailles in the hope that he would return. The Doctor finds that the fireplace is operating and uses it to return to the spaceship. He tells Reinette to prepare to leave. The Doctor returns to Reinette, but finds that seven years have passed for her and she has died. King Louis gives the Doctor a letter in which Reinette hopes for the Doctor's quick return. The Doctor and his companions are left not knowing why the androids specifically wanted Reinette for the ship, and accept that they may never know. As they depart, the name of the ship is revealed: the SS Madame de Pompadour. ## Production ### Writing and characters In 2004, Russell T Davies—Doctor Who's executive producer—was responsible for Casanova, a serial set in the 18th century. During his research, Davies became fascinated by Madame de Pompadour and wanted to include her in a story which also involved The Turk—a clockwork man who played chess around the same period and which was later revealed to be a hoax. In early 2005, Steven Moffat—who had written "The Empty Child" and "The Doctor Dances" for the series—was assigned to write the story. Euros Lyn was later assigned to direct it. Sophia Myles stated in an interview on Doctor Who Confidential that she did not have to audition for the role of Madame de Pompadour, she was offered it. In an interview with The Independent, Davies said the episode is "practically a love story for the Doctor ... It's very understated, very beautifully done, but it's nonetheless a Time Lord falling in love and Rose's reaction to him falling in love with someone else." Moffat was inspired by Audrey Niffenegger's novel The Time Traveler's Wife, though the episode's structure is different from that of the novel. During the production, Moffat considered "Madame de Pompadour", "Every Tick of My Heart", "Reinette and the Lonely Angel" and "Loose Connection" for the episode's title. "The Girl in the Fireplace" was planned as the second episode of the 2006 series, but when Davies realised how experimental it had become in Moffat's hands, he decided to move it to fourth in the running order between "School Reunion" and "Rise of the Cybermen". While Moffat was creating the clockwork automata he first decided to hide their faces with wigs, but when producer Phil Collinson told him this would severely limit camera angles, and that it could appear comical, the androids were given carnival masks to wear. Neill Gorton of Millennium Effects designed the androids and they were constructed by Richard Darwen and Gustav Hoegan. While the episode appears to follow immediately from the previous episode "School Reunion", Moffat says in the DVD audio commentary that when he wrote "The Girl in the Fireplace" he had not yet read the end of "School Reunion", hence the lack of Rose's continuing animosity shown towards Mickey after he joins the TARDIS crew. After reading the Doctor's mind, Reinette says "Doctor who?", a reference both to the series' title and to the long-running mystery about the Doctor's actual name. She also says that it is "more than just a secret", but does not elaborate further. Moffat said that he added the dialogue because he believes that because the Doctor does not tell even his closest companions his name, there must be a "dreadful secret" about it. Moffat also says that he did not include the word "Torchwood" (an "arc word" in the second series) in the script because Davies did not ask him to do so. ### Filming Filming for the episode took place between 12 and 27 October 2005. The scenes set in Versailles were filmed elsewhere; the first scenes filmed in which Reinette's body is taken away were filmed at Culverhouse Cross in Cardiff, Madame de Pompadour's sitting room and bedroom scenes were filmed at Tredegar House—a 17th-century mansion in Newport, Dyffryn Gardens in the Vale of Glamorgan was used as the set for the palace gardens, and Ragley Hall near Alcester was used for the ballroom scenes. The scenes on the spaceship, which were shot by the second unit, were also filmed in Newport. Two horses were used in the episode; one was used for the scenes in close quarters on the spaceship, and another for jumps. According to Doctor Who Confidential, the horse was not allowed into the ballroom for the climactic scene. Thus, the elements of the Doctor riding through the mirror, the horse, the mirror breaking and the reactions of the extras in the ballroom had to be filmed separately and then composited together with chroma key. Tennant's head was superimposed upon that of the stunt rider in post-production. Initially, the programme's staff considered the use of special effects but realised this would be very expensive and rejected the idea. ## Broadcast and reception "The Girl in the Fireplace" was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 6 May 2006. The final rating for the episode was 7.90 million, making it the thirteenth most watched programme on British television that week. It received an Appreciation Index of 84, considered "excellent". The episode's script was nominated for the 2006 Nebula Award, and "The Girl in the Fireplace" won the 2007 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form. Writing for IGN, Ahsan Haque praised Tennant and Myles' acting, the episode's pacing and the "extremely touching" story. He wrote that "with a little more attention to temporal details, this episode would have been considered as one of the series' greatest moments". In particular, Haque wrote that the episode would have worked better had the writers explained more precisely why the Doctor could not use the TARDIS to visit Madame de Pompadour before she died. Metro said the clockwork androids were one of the "most memorable villains" while The Guardian's Daniel Martin said "The Girl in the Fireplace" is "one of the most acclaimed episodes from the Davies era". Ross Ruediger from Slant Magazine wrote that the episode "may be the crowning achievement" of Doctor Who's second series. Ruediger called it an episode "for the new millennium" as he thought it "could never exist under the banner of the old series." He called it a "thought-provoking piece", and wrote that episodes like this could not be broadcast every week since it "would be too taxing on the average viewer's brain". IGN's Matt Wales ranked "The Girl in the Fireplace" the third best Tennant Doctor Who story, calling it "one of Doctor Who's most touching adventures". Not all reviews were positive, however. In the book The Doctors Are In, co-author Stacey Smith stated that he was critical of the Doctor and Reinette's relationship, finding it awkward, especially due to the Doctor first meeting her as a child. She criticises the dialogue and characterisation – questioning, for example, Rose's small role and her lack of upset at the Doctor leaving her for Reinette. Although she praises "The Girl in the Fireplace"'s cast, Smith describes the overall episode as "criminal" for Rose. ## See also - Clockpunk - Moberly–Jourdain incident, a supposed real life incident of time travel at Versailles.

50000 Quaoar

Cold classical Kuiper belt object

Quaoar (minor-planet designation 50000 Quaoar, provisional designation ) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a region of icy planetesimals beyond Neptune. A non-resonant object (cubewano), it measures approximately 1,086 km (675 mi) in diameter, about the size of Saturn's moon Dione or half the size of Pluto. The object was discovered by American astronomers Chad Trujillo and Michael Brown at the Palomar Observatory on 4 June 2002. Signs of water ice on the surface of Quaoar have been found, which suggests that cryovolcanism may be occurring on Quaoar. A small amount of methane is present on its surface, which can only be retained by the largest Kuiper belt objects. Quaoar has one known moon, Weywot, which was discovered by Brown in February 2007. Both objects were named after mythological figures from the Native American Tongva people in Southern California. Quaoar is the Tongva creator deity and Weywot is his son. In 2023, astronomers announced the discovery of two rings orbiting Quaoar outside its Roche limit, which defies theoretical expectations that these rings should not be stable. ## History ### Discovery Quaoar was discovered on 4 June 2002 by American astronomers Chad Trujillo and Michael Brown at the Palomar Observatory in the Palomar Mountain Range in San Diego County, California. The discovery formed part of the Caltech Wide Area Sky Survey, which was designed to search for the brightest Kuiper belt objects using the Palomar Observatory's 1.22-meter Samuel Oschin telescope. Quaoar was first identified in images by Trujillo on 5 June 2002, when he noticed a dim, 18.6-magnitude object slowly moving among the stars of the constellation Ophiuchus. Quaoar appeared relatively bright for a distant object, suggesting that it could have a size comparable to the diameter of the dwarf planet Pluto. To ascertain Quaoar's orbit, Brown and Trujillo initiated a search for archival precovery images. They obtained several precovery images taken by the Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking survey from various observatories in 1996 and 2000–2002. In particular, they had also found two archival photographic plates taken by astronomer Charles T. Kowal in May 1983, who at the time was searching for the hypothesized Planet X at the Palomar Observatory. From these precovery images, Brown and Trujillo were able to calculate Quaoar's orbit and distance. Additional precovery images of Quaoar have been later identified, with the earliest known found by Edward Rhoads on a photographic plate imaged on 25 May 1954 from the Palomar Observatory Sky Survey. Before announcing the discovery of Quaoar, Brown had planned to conduct follow-up observations using the Hubble Space Telescope to measure Quaoar's size. He had also planned to announce the discovery as soon as possible and found it necessary to keep the discovery information confidential during the follow-up observations. Rather than submitting his Hubble proposal under peer review, Brown submitted his proposal directly to one of Hubble's operators, who promptly allocated time to Brown. While setting up the observing algorithm for Hubble, Brown had also planned to use one of the Keck telescopes in Mauna Kea, Hawaii, as a part of a study on cryovolcanism on the moons of Uranus. This provided him additional time for follow-up observations and took advantage of the whole observing session in July to analyze Quaoar's spectrum and characterize its surface composition. The discovery of Quaoar was formally announced by the Minor Planet Center in a Minor Planet Electronic Circular on 7 October 2002. It was given the provisional designation , indicating that its discovery took place during the first half of June 2002. Quaoar was the 1,512th object discovered in the first half of June, as indicated by the preceding letter and numbers in its provisional designation. On that same day, Trujillo and Brown reported their scientific results from observations of Quaoar at the 34th annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society's Division for Planetary Sciences in Birmingham, Alabama. They announced Quaoar was the largest Kuiper belt object found yet, surpassing previous record holders 20000 Varuna and . Quaoar's discovery has been cited by Brown as having contributed to the reclassification of Pluto as a dwarf planet. Since then, Brown has contributed to the discovery of larger trans-Neptunian objects, including Haumea, , Makemake and . ### Name and symbol Upon Quaoar's discovery, it was initially given the temporary nickname "Object X" as a reference to Planet X, due to its potentially large size and unknown nature. At the time, Quaoar's size was uncertain, and its high brightness led the discovery team to speculate that it may be a possible tenth planet. After measuring Quaoar's size with the Hubble Space Telescope in July, the team began considering names for the object, particularly those from local Native American mythologies. Following the International Astronomical Union's (IAU) naming convention for minor planets, non-resonant Kuiper belt objects are to be named after creation deities. The team settled on the name Kwawar, the creator god of the Tongva people indigenous to the Los Angeles Basin, where Brown's institute, the California Institute of Technology, was located. According to Brown, the name "Quaoar" is pronounced with three syllables, and Trujillo's website on Quaoar gives a three-syllable pronunciation, /ˈkwɑː.oʊ(w)ɑːr/, as an approximation of the Tongva pronunciation . The name can be also pronounced as two syllables, /ˈkwɑːwɑːr/, reflecting the usual English spelling and pronunciation of the deity Kwawar. In Tongva mythology, Kwawar is the genderless creation force of the universe, singing and dancing deities into existence. He first sings and dances to create Weywot (Sky Father), then they together sing Chehooit (Earth Mother) and Tamit (Grandfather Sun) into existence. As they did this, the creation force became more complex as each new deity joined the singing and dancing. Eventually, after reducing chaos to order, they created the seven great giants that upheld the world, then the animals and finally the first man and woman, Tobohar and Pahavit. Upon their investigation of names from Tongva mythology, Brown and Trujillo realized that there were contemporary members of the Tongva people, whom they contacted for permission to use the name. They consulted tribal historian Marc Acuña, who confirmed that the name Kwawar would indeed be an appropriate name for the newly discovered object. However, the Tongva preferred the spelling Qua-o-ar, which Brown and Trujillo adopted, though with the hyphens omitted. The name and discovery of Quaoar were publicly announced in October, though Brown had not sought approval of the name by the IAU's Committee on Small Body Nomenclature (CSBN). Indeed, Quaoar's name was announced before the official numbering of the object, which Brian Marsden—the head of the Minor Planet Center—remarked in 2004 to be a violation of the protocol. Despite this, the name was approved by the CSBN, and the naming citation, along with Quaoar's official numbering, was published in a Minor Planet Circular on 20 November 2002. Quaoar was given the minor planet number 50000, which was not by coincidence but to commemorate its large size, being that it was found in the search for a Pluto-sized object in the Kuiper belt. The large Kuiper belt object 20000 Varuna was similarly numbered for a similar occasion. However, subsequent even larger discoveries such as 136199 Eris were simply numbered according to the order in which their orbits were confirmed. Planetary symbols are no longer much used in astronomy, so Quaoar never received a symbol in the astronomical literature. A symbol , used mostly among astrologers, is included in Unicode as U+1F77E. The symbol was designed by Denis Moskowitz, a software engineer in Massachusetts; it combines the letter Q (for 'Quaoar') with a canoe, and is stylized to recall angular Tongva rock art. ## Orbit and classification Quaoar orbits the Sun at an average distance of 43.7 AU (6.54 billion km; 4.06 billion mi), taking 288.8 years to complete one full orbit around the Sun. With an orbital eccentricity of 0.04, Quaoar follows a nearly circular orbit, only slightly varying in distance from 42 AU at perihelion to 45 AU at aphelion. At such distances, light from the Sun takes more than 5 hours to reach Quaoar. Quaoar has last passed aphelion in late 1932 and is currently approaching the Sun at a rate of 0.035 AU per year, or about 170 meters per second (380 mph). Quaoar will reach perihelion around February 2075. Because Quaoar has a nearly circular orbit, it does not approach close to Neptune such that its orbit can become significantly perturbed under the gravitational influence of Neptune. Quaoar's minimum orbit intersection distance from Neptune is only 12.3 AU—it does not approach Neptune within this distance over the course of its orbit, as it is not in a mean-motion orbital resonance with Neptune. Simulations by the Deep Ecliptic Survey show that the perihelion and aphelion distances of Quaoar's orbit do not change significantly over the next 10 million years; Quaoar's orbit appears to be stable over the long term. Quaoar is generally classified as a trans-Neptunian object or distant minor planet by the Minor Planet Center since it orbits in the outer Solar System beyond Neptune. Since Quaoar is not in a mean-motion resonance with Neptune, it is also classified as a classical Kuiper belt object (cubewano) by the Minor Planet Center and Deep Ecliptic Survey. Quaoar's orbit is moderately inclined to the ecliptic plane by 8 degrees, relatively high when compared to the inclinations of Kuiper belt objects within the dynamically cold population. Because Quaoar's orbital inclination is greater than 4 degrees, it is part of the dynamically hot population of high-inclination classical Kuiper belt objects. The high inclinations of hot classical Kuiper belt objects such as Quaoar are thought to have resulted from gravitational scattering by Neptune during its outward migration in the early Solar System. ## Physical characteristics Quaoar's albedo or reflectivity could be as low as 0.1, similar to 's albedo of 0.127. This may indicate that fresh ice has disappeared from Quaoar's surface. The surface is moderately red, meaning that Quaoar is relatively more reflective in the red and near-infrared spectrum than in the blue. The Kuiper belt objects Varuna and are also moderately red in the spectral class. Larger Kuiper belt objects are often much brighter because they are covered in more fresh ice and have a higher albedo, and thus they present a neutral color. A 2006 model of internal heating via radioactive decay suggested that Quaoar may not be capable of sustaining an internal ocean of liquid water at the mantle–core boundary. The presence of methane and other volatiles on Quaoar's surface suggest that it may support a tenuous atmosphere produced from the sublimation of volatiles. With a measured mean temperature of \~ 44 K (−229.2 °C), the upper limit of Quaoar's atmospheric pressure is expected to be in the range of a few microbars. Due to Quaoar's small size and mass, the possibility of Quaoar having an atmosphere of nitrogen and carbon monoxide has been ruled out, since the gases would escape from Quaoar. The possibility of a methane atmosphere, with the upper limit being less than 1 microbar, was considered until 2013, when Quaoar occulted a 15.8-magnitude star and revealed no sign of a substantial atmosphere, placing an upper limit to at least 20 nanobars, under the assumption that Quaoar's mean temperature is 42 K (−231.2 °C) and that its atmosphere consists of mostly methane. The upper limit of atmosphere pressure was tightened to 10 nanobars after another stellar occultation in 2019. ### Mass and density Because Quaoar is a binary object, the mass of the system can be calculated from the orbit of the secondary. Quaoar's estimated density of around 2.2 g/cm³ and estimated size of 1,110 km (690 mi) suggests that it is a dwarf planet. American astronomer Michael Brown estimates that rocky bodies around 900 km (560 mi) in diameter relax into hydrostatic equilibrium, and that icy bodies relax into hydrostatic equilibrium somewhere between 200 km (120 mi) and 400 km (250 mi). With an estimated mass greater than 1.6×10²¹ kg, Quaoar has the mass and diameter "usually" required for being in hydrostatic equilibrium according to the 2006 IAU draft definition of a planet (5×10²⁰ kg, 800 km), and Brown states that Quaoar "must be" a dwarf planet. Light-curve-amplitude analysis shows only small deviations, suggesting that Quaoar is indeed a spheroid with small albedo spots and hence a dwarf planet. Planetary scientist Erik Asphaug has suggested that Quaoar may have collided with a much larger body, stripping the lower-density mantle from Quaoar, and leaving behind the denser core. He envisioned that Quaoar was originally covered by a mantle of ice that made it 300 km (190 mi) to 500 km (310 mi) bigger than its present size, and that it collided with another Kuiper belt object about twice its size—an object roughly the diameter of Pluto, or even approaching the size of Mars. This model was made assuming Quaoar actually had a density of 4.2 g/cm³, but more recent estimates have given it a more Pluto-like density of only 2 g/cm³, with no further need for the collision theory. ### Size Quaoar is thought to be an oblate spheroid around 1,110 km (690 mi) in diameter, being slightly flattened in shape. The estimates come from observations of stellar occultations by Quaoar, in which it passes in front of a star, in 2013 and 2019. Given that Quaoar has an estimated oblateness of 0.0897±0.006 and a measured equatorial diameter of 1,138+48 −34 km, Quaoar is believed to be in hydrostatic equilibrium, being described as a Maclaurin spheroid. Quaoar is about as large and massive as (if somewhat smaller than) Pluto's moon Charon. Quaoar is roughly half the size of Pluto. Quaoar was the first trans-Neptunian object to be measured directly from Hubble Space Telescope images, using a method comparing images with the Hubble point spread function (PSF). In 2004, Quaoar was estimated to have a diameter of 1,260 km (780 mi) with an uncertainty of 190 km (120 mi), using Hubble's measurements. Given its distance Quaoar is on the limit of Hubble's resolution of 40 milliarcseconds and its image is consequently "smeared" on a few adjacent pixels. By comparing carefully this image with the images of stars in the background and using a sophisticated model of Hubble optics (PSF), Brown and Trujillo were able to find the best-fit disk size that would give a similar blurred image. This method was also applied by the same authors to measure the size of the dwarf planet Eris. At the time of its discovery in 2002, Quaoar was the largest object found in the Solar System since the discovery of Pluto. Quaoar's size was subsequently revised downward and was later superseded in size as larger objects (, , and ) were discovered. The uncorrected 2004 Hubble estimates only marginally agree with the 2007 infrared measurements by the Spitzer Space Telescope that suggest a higher albedo (0.19) and consequently a smaller diameter (844.4+206.7 −189.6 km). Adopting a Uranian satellite limb darkening profile suggests that the 2004 Hubble size estimate for Quaoar was approximately 40 percent too large, and that a more proper estimate would be about 900 km. In 2010, Quaoar was estimated to be about 890 km in diameter, using a weighted average of Spitzer and corrected Hubble estimates. In observations of the object's shadow as it occulted an unnamed 16th-magnitude star on 4 May 2011, Quaoar was estimated to be 1,170 km (730 mi) in diameter. Measurements from the Herschel Space Observatory in 2013 suggested that Quaoar has a diameter of 1,070 km (660 mi). In that same year, Quaoar occulted a 15.8-magnitude star, with multiple positive detections yielding a mean diameter of 1,110±5 km, consistent with the Herschel estimate. Another occultation by Quaoar in June 2019 yielded a similar chord length of 1,121±1.2 km. ### Rotation and shape Rotational light curves of Quaoar observed on March through June 2003 gave two possible rotation periods: 8.64 hours for a single-peaked light curve by a spheroidal body, or 17.68 hours for a double-peaked light curve by an elongated ellipsoidal body. The discovery of Quaoar's two rings in 2023 showed that its true rotation period should most likely be 17.68 hours in order to explain the rings' locations in stable spin-orbit resonances. This in turn implies Quaoar should be somewhat elongated to induce such a resonance. Various occultation measurements of Quaoar's dimensions show that its diameter slightly varies at different epochs, further supporting the possibility of a triaxial ellipsoid shape for Quaoar. ### Composition and cryovolcanism In 2004, signs of crystalline water ice were found on Quaoar, indicating that the temperature rose to at least 110 K (−163 °C) sometime in the last ten million years. Speculation began as to what could have caused Quaoar to heat up from its natural temperature of 55 K (−218.2 °C). Some have theorized that a barrage of mini-meteors may have raised the temperature, but the most discussed theory speculates that cryovolcanism may be occurring, spurred by the decay of radioactive elements within Quaoar's core. Crystalline water ice was also found on in 2006, but it is present in larger quantities and is thought to have originated from an impact. More precise observations of Quaoar's near infrared spectrum in 2007 indicated the presence of small quantities (5%) of solid methane and ethane. Given its boiling point of 112 K (−161 °C), methane is a volatile ice at average surface temperatures of Quaoar, unlike water ice or ethane. Both models and observations suggest that only a few larger bodies (Pluto, and ) can retain the volatile ices whereas the dominant population of small trans-Neptunian objects lost them. Quaoar, with only small amounts of methane, appears to be in an intermediary category. In 2022, near-infrared spectroscopic observations by the James Webb Space Telescope revealed the presence of methanol (CH₃OH), ethane (C₂H₆) and butane (C₃H₈) in Quaoar's surface. ## Rings ### Properties Quaoar is the third minor planet known and confirmed to have a ring system, after 10199 Chariklo and 136108 Haumea. It possesses two narrow rings, provisionally named Q1R and Q2R by order of discovery, which are confined at radial distances where their orbital periods are integer ratios of Quaoar's rotational period. That is, the rings of Quaoar are in spin-orbit resonances. The outer ring, Q1R, orbits Quaoar at a distance of 4,057 ± 6 km (2,521 ± 4 mi), over seven times the radius of Quaoar and more than double the theoretical maximum distance of the Roche limit. The Q1R ring is not uniform and is strongly irregular around its circumference, being more opaque (and denser) where it is narrow and less opaque where it is broader. The Q1R ring's radial width ranges from 5 to 300 km (3 to 200 mi) while its optical depth ranges from 0.004 to 0.7. The irregular width of the Q1R ring resembles Saturn's frequently-perturbed F ring or Neptune's ring arcs, which may imply the presence of small, kilometer-sized moonlets embedded within the Q1R ring and gravitationally perturbing the material. The Q1R ring likely consists of icy particles that elastically collide with each other without accreting into a larger mass. Q1R is located in between the 6:1 mean-motion orbital resonance with Quaoar's moon Weywot at 4,021 ± 57 km (2,499 ± 35 mi) and Quaoar's 1:3 spin-orbit resonance at 4,197 ± 58 km (2,608 ± 36 mi). The Q1R ring's coincidental location at these resonances implies they play a key role in maintaining the ring without having it accrete into a single moon. In particular, the confinement of rings to the 1:3 spin-orbit resonance may be common among ringed small Solar System bodies, as it has been previously seen in Chariklo and Haumea. The inner ring, Q2R, orbits Quaoar at a distance of 2,520 ± 20 km (1,566 ± 12 mi), about four and a half times Quaoar's radius and also outside Quaoar's Roche limit. The Q2R ring's location coincides with Quaoar's 5:7 spin-orbit resonance at 2,525 ± 58 km (1,569 ± 36 mi). Compared to Q1R, the Q2R ring appears relatively uniform with a radial width of 10 km (6.2 mi). With an optical depth of 0.004, the Q2R ring is very tenuous and its opacity is comparable to the least dense part of the Q1R ring. ### Discovery Besides accurately determining sizes and shapes, stellar occultation campaigns were planned on a long-term basis to search for rings and/or atmospheres around small bodies of the outer solar system. These campaigns agglomerated efforts of various teams in France, Spain and Brazil and were conducted under the umbrella of the European Research Council project Lucky Star. The discovery of Quaoar's first known ring, Q1R, involved various instruments used during stellar occultations observed between 2018 and 2021: the robotic ATOM telescope of the High Energy Stereoscopic System (HESS) in Namibia, the 10.4-m Gran Telescopio Canarias (La Palma Island, Spain); the ESA CHEOPS space telescope, and several stations run by citizen astronomers in Australia where a report of a Neptune-like ring originated and a dense arc in Q1R was first observed. Taken together, these observations reveal the presence of a partly dense, mostly tenuous and uniquely distant ring around Quaoar, a discovery announced in February 2023. In April 2023, astronomers of the Lucky Star project published the discovery of another ring of Quaoar, Q2R. The Q2R ring was detected by the highly-sensitive 8.2-m Gemini North and the 4.0-m Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope in Mauna Kea, Hawaii, during an observing campaign to confirm Quaoar's Q1R ring in a stellar occultation on 9 August 2022. ## Satellite Quaoar has one known moon, Weywot (full designation (50000) Quaoar I Weywot), discovered in 2006 and named after the sky god Weywot, son of Quaoar. It is thought to be approximately 170 km (110 mi) in diameter. ## Exploration It has been calculated that a flyby mission to Quaoar using a Jupiter gravity assist would take 13.6 years, for launch dates of 25 December 2016, 22 November 2027, 22 December 2028, 22 January 2030 and 20 December 2040. Quaoar would be 41 to 43 AU from the Sun when the spacecraft arrived. In July 2016, the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) aboard the New Horizons spacecraft took a sequence of four images of Quaoar from a distance of about 14 AU. Interstellar Probe, a concept by Pontus Brandt and his colleagues at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory would potentially fly by Quaoar in the 2030s before continuing to the interstellar medium, and the first of China National Space Administration's proposed Interstellar Express probe designed to explore the heliosphere has it considered as a potential flyby target. Quaoar has been chosen as a flyby target for missions like these particularly for its escaping methane atmosphere and possible cryovolcanism, as well as its close proximity to the heliospheric nose.

Internal Security Act (Singapore)

Statute of the Parliament of Singapore

The Internal Security Act 1960 (ISA) of Singapore is a statute that grants the executive power to enforce preventive detention, prevent subversion, suppress organized violence against persons and property, and do other things incidental to the internal security of Singapore. The present Act was originally enacted by the Parliament of Malaysia as the Internal Security Act 1960 (No. 18 of 1960), and extended to Singapore on 16 September 1963 when Singapore was a state of the Federation of Malaysia. Before a person can be detained under the ISA by the Minister for Home Affairs, the President must be satisfied that such detention is necessary for the purposes of national security or public order. In the landmark case of Chng Suan Tze v. Minister for Home Affairs (1988), the Court of Appeal sought to impose legal limits on the power of preventive detention by requiring the Government to adduce objective facts which justified the President's satisfaction. Two months after the decision, a series of legislative and constitutional amendments was enacted that effectively reversed the Chng Suan Tze decision. These amendments were subsequently confirmed to be valid by the High Court and Court of Appeal in Teo Soh Lung v. Minister for Home Affairs (1989–1990), which held it is sufficient for the President to be subjectively satisfied that a detainee is a threat to national security in order for a detention order to be issued under the ISA. Notable ISA cases include Operation Coldstore in 1963 which led to the arrest of some 100 left-wing politicians and trade unionists, including members of the socialist opposition party, the Barisan Sosialis. Chia Thye Poh, an alleged Communist, was detained and subject to other restrictions on his liberty under the ISA from 1966 to 1998. The Chng Suan Tze and Teo Soh Lung cases resulted from a 1987 security operation called Operation Spectrum in which 22 Roman Catholic church and social activists and professionals accused of being members of a Marxist conspiracy were detained under the ISA. The ISA also empowers the authorities to prohibit political and quasi-military organizations, ban subversive documents and publications, shut down entertainments and exhibitions that are or are likely to be detrimental to the national interest, and to suppress organized violence by declaring parts of Singapore to be security areas. ## History and developments British colonial Malaya introduced the Emergency Regulations Ordinance 1948 on 7 July 1948 during the Malayan Emergency in response to a Communist uprising and guerrilla war. The regulations allowed the police to arrest anybody suspected of having acted or being likely to act in a way that would threaten security without evidence or a warrant, hold them incommunicado for investigation, and detain them indefinitely without the detainee ever being charged with a crime or tried in a court of law. The successor to the Emergency Regulations Ordinance, the Preservation of Public Security Ordinance 1955 ("PPSO"), was introduced a result of the 1955 Hock Lee bus riots by the Labour Party government in Singapore. There was strong opposition to the PPSO by the party then in opposition, the People's Action Party ("PAP"). In 1958, Lee Kuan Yew of the PAP accused the Lim Yew Hock government of using the PPSO to stifle political dissent. In 1960, three years after Malaya's independence, the Emergency was declared over. However, the Malayan Internal Security Act 1960 ("ISA") was passed in place of the PPSO with much of the same powers. During parliamentary debates on the Act, Malayan Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman stated that the ISA would only be applied against only the remaining Communist insurgents. The Malayan Communist Party and its insurgents eventually surrendered in 1989. Nonetheless, the ISA was retained in Malaysia. The drafter of the Malayan ISA was Hugh Hickling, a British lawyer, author and professor. In 1989, he commented that he "could not imagine then that the time would come when the power of detention, carefully and deliberately interlocked with Article 149 of the Constitution, would be used against political opponents, welfare workers and others dedicated to nonviolent, peaceful activities". Nonetheless, he commented that he supported review of the ISA but it was not for him to say if the law should be scrapped, as "you've got a multi-racial society [in Malaysia] in which emotions can run high very quickly". When Singapore joined the Federation of Malaya in 1963, the Malayan ISA was extended to Singapore. The Act was retained in Singapore even after its separation from Malaysia in 1965. The current version of the Act is known as Chapter 143 of the 1985 Revised Edition. In September 2011, the debate over whether the ISA should be retained was re-opened after Malaysia announced that it was considering repealing the ISA. Prime Minister Najib Razak stated that the Act would be abolished and replaced by new laws to safeguard peace and order. The legitimacy and relevance of the ISA were subsequently debated by former ISA detainees, the Singapore Government, and others. Member of Parliament for Pasir Ris–Punggol Group Representation Constituency, Dr. Janil Puthucheary, commented in Parliament on 18 October 2011 that "while he felt it inappropriate to detain a citizen without trial, he is convinced by the hard logic that the safety and security of Singapore must be paramount". However, he agreed that there needed to be more safeguards to prevent abuse of the ISA and that "the ISA needs to be discussed in a more transparent manner, even as the facts associated with a given detainee need to be kept secret". The following day, 19 October 2011, Deputy Prime Minister, Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Home Affairs Teo Chee Hean explained the relevance of the ISA and its powers of preventive detention. He noted that in the 1960s preventive detention was primarily used to counter the subversive Communist threat posed by the Malayan Communist Party which was hiding within legal organizations. For the past two decades, though, preventive detention has helped safeguard Singapore's national security by countering threats posed by espionage and terrorism. Preventive detention allows for a comprehensive assessment of a threat, as opposed to a criminal case tried before a court which requires the court to consider only the specific acts that relate to the charge. Detaining those who have not yet committed overt deeds that warrant prosecution also allows pre-emptive action to be taken to neutralize threats before they materialize into actual harm. In addition, the Minister said that detention without trial is preferable in situations where open prosecutions in court are not practicable due to the confidentiality of certain intelligence. Such intelligence might have been obtained through foreign security agencies on the understanding that the source and details would not be disclosed to an open court. What is more, disclosure of confidential intelligence could compromise ongoing or future operations through the revelation of existing sources and methods of intelligence gathering. However, if confidential information were withheld from the court, a criminal case could be weakened due to evidential requirements, which may result in the acquittal of an otherwise guilty accused. Finally, court proceedings may stall investigations as part of a broader network, and could exacerbate situations where communal sensitivities are involved. Opposition political parties in Singapore have called for the ISA to be abolished. In its manifesto for the 2011 general election, the Workers' Party said that specific anti-terrorism and anti-espionage laws, which allow arrests and detention without trial only under strict conditions, should be enacted to replace the ISA. The National Solidarity Party took a similar stance in February 2013. In late January 2021, the Singaporean Internal Security Department confirmed it had detained a 16-year old Protestant Indian youth under the Internal Security Act for plotting to attack the Assyafaah and Yusof Ishak Mosques on the anniversary of the Christchurch mosque shootings. The youth had been motivated by anti-Muslim sentiments and regarded the Christchurch mosque shooter Brenton Tarrant as a "saint." The youth is the youngest person and first far right extremist to be detained under the ISA. ## Legislative authority for enactment The legislative authority for the enactment of the ISA is Article 149 of the Constitution of Singapore, which appears in Part XII ("Special Powers against Subversion and Emergency Powers"). Entitled "Legislation against subversion", Article 149 states: > \(1\) If an Act recites that action has been taken or threatened by any substantial body of persons, whether inside or outside Singapore — > > > \(a\) to cause, or to cause a substantial number of citizens to fear, organised violence against persons or property; > > \(b\) to excite disaffection against the President or the Government; > > \(c\) to promote feelings of ill-will and hostility between different races or other classes of the population likely to cause violence; > > \(d\) to procure the alteration, otherwise than by lawful means, of anything by law established; or > > \(e\) which is prejudicial to the security of Singapore, > > any provision of that law designed to stop or prevent that action or any amendment to that law or any provision in any law enacted under clause (3) is valid notwithstanding that it is inconsistent with Article 9, 11, 12, 13 or 14, or would, apart from this Article, be outside the legislative power of Parliament. > > \(2\) A law containing such a recital as is mentioned in clause (1) shall, if not sooner repealed, cease to have effect if a resolution is passed by Parliament annulling such law, but without prejudice to anything previously done by virtue thereof or to the power of Parliament to make a new law under this Article. > > \(3\) If, in respect of any proceedings whether instituted before or after 27th January 1989, any question arises in any court as to the validity of any decision made or act done in pursuance of any power conferred upon the President or the Minister by any law referred to in this Article, such question shall be determined in accordance with the provisions of any law as may be enacted by Parliament for this purpose; and nothing in Article 93 shall invalidate any law enacted pursuant to this clause. To satisfy the requirements of Article 149(1), the preamble to the Malaysian ISA, which has been retained in Singapore's ISA, contains the following recital: > Whereas action has been taken by a substantial body of persons to cause a substantial number of citizens to fear organised violence against persons and property: > > And Whereas action has been taken and threatened by a substantial body of persons which is prejudicial to the security of Malaya: > > And Whereas Parliament considers if necessary to stop or prevent that action: > > Now therefore pursuant to Article 149 of the Constitution be it enacted by the Duli Yang Maha Mulia Seri Paduka Baginda Yang di-Pertuan Agong with the advice and consent of the Dewan Negara and Dewan Ra'ayat in Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows ... ## Provisions relating to internal security Part II of the ISA, the first substantive part of the Act, contains provisions relating to internal security. It is divided into six chapters: I. Prohibition of organisations and associations of a political or quasi-military character and uniforms, etc. II\. Powers of preventive detention. III\. Special powers relating to subversive publications, etc. IV\. Control of entertainments and exhibitions. V. Other powers for the prevention of subversion. VI\. Miscellaneous. ### Prohibition of political or quasi-military organizations Chapter I of Part II of the ISA empowers the Minister for Home Affairs to take action against political or quasi-military organizations and associations. It is a criminal offence to be a member or adherent of any association of persons who are organized, trained or equipped to enable them to be employed "in usurping the functions of the police or of the Singapore Armed Forces" or "for the purpose of enabling them to be employed for the use or display of physical force in promoting any political or other object, or in such a manner as to arouse reasonable apprehension that they are organised or trained or equipped for that purpose". It is a more serious crime to promote or conspire with someone else to promote, or to participate in the control or management of, the association, or to organize or train any member or adherent of the association. The Minister is empowered to prohibit any uniform or dress to be worn in public by members or adherents of a political or quasi-military association involved in the activities mentioned in the previous paragraph, or any uniform or dress indicating an association with a political organization or with the promotion of a political object. Wearing such a uniform or dress in contravention of the Minister's order is an offence. In addition, if the Minister considers it to be in the national interest to do, he may prohibit the "manufacture, sale, use, wearing, display or possession of any flag, banner, badge, emblem, device, uniform or distinctive dress or any part thereof". Currently, the only emblem or device that is prohibited is one "in the form of a 5-pointed red star or a hammer and sickle in circumstances which raise a reasonable presumption that the emblem or device was intended or was likely to be used in a manner prejudicial to the interests of Singapore or to promote or foster a purpose prejudicial to or incompatible with peace, welfare or good order in Singapore". It is a crime for a person to be present at or to attend any meeting or assembly organized for the participants to train or drill themselves or to be trained or drilled "in the use of arms ... or for the purpose of practising military exercises, movements or evolutions". It is also a crime to train or drill other people in these manners or to take part in the control or management of an association whose members are so trained. The prohibition does not apply to members of the Singapore Armed Forces, the police, a legally constituted volunteer or local force, a visiting force lawfully present in the country, or any organization or association exempted by the Minister. ### Preventive detention Chapter II of Part II of the ISA, which allows for preventive detention (also known as detention without trial), is the most conspicuous feature of the Act. It confers on the executive a discretionary power to arrest and detain without trial, when necessary, a person with a view to prevent "that person from acting in any manner prejudicial to the security of Singapore or any part thereof or to the maintenance of public order or essential services therein". For the purposes of this provision, essential services means services relating to water, electricity, public health, fire, prisons, post, telephony, telegraphy, radiocommunication (including broadcasting and television), ports, docks, harbours, public transport, and the bulk distribution of fuel and lubricants. Instead of detaining a person for the purposes mentioned above, the executive may impose other restrictions upon the person's liberty such as curfews, requiring the reporting of their movements, prohibiting the person from speaking at public meetings or taking part in political activities, and travelling beyond Singapore or any part of the country. #### Procedure ##### Before detention Before a person can be detained under the ISA, the President must be satisfied that such detention is necessary for the purposes of national security or public order. This is a precondition for the valid exercise by the Minister for Home Affairs of the power to order the detention. The detention order is supplemented by section 74 of the ISA which empowers the police to arrest and detain any person pending enquiries without a warrant under section 8. ##### Initial detention Once an individual has been detained, there are administrative processes which the executive is required to follow under sections 9, 11 and 12 of the Act. The detainee is to be informed of the grounds of detention as soon as possible, unless their disclosure is against the national interest. They are to be served with a copy of the detention order as well as the grounds and allegations of fact on which the detention order was made. The detainee is also to be informed within 14 days of their right to make representations against the order to an advisory board, which is required to hear and consider the detainee's representations. Each advisory board is chaired by a Supreme Court judge appointed by the President, and has two other members appointed by the President in consultation with the Chief Justice. The board has the powers of a court to summon and examine witnesses, and to order that documents be produced. It evaluates the evidence and must make recommendations to the President concerning the matter within three months of the date of detention. When the advisory board recommends the release of the detainee against the Minister's decision, the President exercises personal discretion whether the detainee should be released. Before exercising his discretion, the President is required to consult the Council of Presidential Advisers. Non-citizens detained under the ISA do not have a right to make representations to an advisory board. They may, within two months from the date of the detention order, make written representations to the Minister. The Minister may, but is not bound to, refer the representations to an advisory board. Any decision on such representations by the Minister is final and cannot be called into question in any court. The burden of proving that a person is a citizen lies on the person claiming to be one, and again the Minister's decision on the matter is final. ##### Extension and suspension of detention The initial order of the Minister for Home Affairs may direct that an individual be detained for up to two years. This may be further extended by directions issued by the President for further periods of up to two years at a time. The Minister is empowered with discretion to suspend a detention order, but also has the authority to revoke the suspension at any time, which reactivates the detention order. Detention orders must be reviewed at least once every 12 months by an advisory board which thereafter makes its recommendation to the Minister. If an advisory board recommends the release of a detainee and the Minister disagrees, the President may exercise personal discretion to order the release. The requirement for regular reviews of detention orders does not apply to detainees who are not citizens. When a detention order is extended, the Minister is not required to provide the detainee with the grounds justifying the extension order or give the detainee an opportunity to appeal against the extension. #### Scope of judicial review of ISA orders Under administrative law, judicial review is an exercise in which the High Court scrutinizes the executive's decisions and orders to ensure that they conform with the law. If the decisions and orders are not authorized by statute or if they have been made in contravention of administrative law principles, the Court can invalidate them. Similarly, if any exercise of power by an executive body contravenes the Constitution, the Court has a duty to declare it invalid. With regards to the ISA and the powers to detain without trial, the scope of judicial review was subject to a succession of changes between 1988 and 1990. These changes revolved around the issue of whether the discretion of the President and the Home Affairs Minister should be assessed objectively or subjectively. During that period, the scope of judicial review was expanded by common law developments but was subsequently curtailed by legislative and constitutional amendments. ##### Before 1988: Lee Mau Seng v. Minister for Home Affairs Prior to 1988, the Singapore case of Lee Mau Seng v. Minister for Home Affairs (1971) was authority for the application of the subjective discretion test for judicial review of executive power exercised under the ISA. The subjective test precludes the court from inquiring into the facts and grounds that are relied upon by the executive body in exercising its discretion. It is based on the literal interpretation of the words "[i]f the President is satisfied" that appear in section 8 of the ISA, such that no more is required than the subjective satisfaction of the President. This reasoning applies similarly to section 10 of the ISA, which requires the Minister's satisfaction for the suspension of detention orders. ##### 1988–1989: Chng Suan Tze v. Minister for Home Affairs In the case of Chng Suan Tze v. Minister for Home Affairs (1988), the Court of Appeal expanded the scope of judicial review by adopting an objective test when reviewing the exercise of executive discretion. In contrast to the subjective test, the objective test permits the court to examine whether the decision-maker's satisfaction was based on objective facts which fell within the scope of the purposes specified by the ISA. The subjective satisfaction or mere ipse dixit of the executive body is insufficient. However, the adoption of this objective test was only part of the obiter dicta of the case. The ratio decidendi of the case was based on narrower technical grounds. The subjective test was rejected for several reasons by the Court of Appeal. It held that applying the subjective test to sections 8 and 10 of the ISA would render the provisions unconstitutional. The word law in Article 12(1) of the Constitution was held in Ong Ah Chuan v. Public Prosecutor (1980) to encompass fundamental rules of natural justice. Hence, Parliament cannot pass legislation which authorizes the executive to exercise power in breach of these fundamental rules or to exercise power in an arbitrary manner. If the subjective test were to be adopted, it would in effect allow the executive to exercise arbitrary powers of detention, therefore rendering sections 8 and 10 of the ISA inconsistent with Article 12(1). When the case was decided, Article 149(1) of the Constitution, which protects the validity of anti-subversion laws notwithstanding inconsistencies with specified fundamental liberties, did not cover inconsistencies with Article 12. Also, the Court noted that adopting the objective test would be consistent with Article 93 of the Constitution, which vests judicial power in the courts. It did not, however, directly address the argument by counsel that the subjective test, in conferring arbitrary powers of detention, would be inconsistent with Article 93. Further, the Court rejected the subjective test on the basis that "the notion of a subjective or unfettered discretion is contrary to the rule of law". The rule of law requires the courts to examine the exercise of discretionary power and ensure that executive power is exercised within its legal limits. The Court of Appeal also held that legal precedents from other Commonwealth jurisdictions supported a rejection of the subjective test in favour of the objective test. The subjective test was applied in Liversidge v. Anderson (1941) and subsequently affirmed in Greene v. Secretary of State for Home Affairs (1941). However, these decisions had been departed from in subsequent decisions by the Privy Council and House of Lords. These courts had rejected the subjective test applied by the majority in Liversidge, preferring the objective test applied by Lord Atkin in his dissenting judgment. In the light of these developments, the Malaysian case of Karam Singh v. Menteri Hal Ehwal Dalam Negeri (Minister for Home Affairs), Malaysia (1969), which had applied the test in Liversidge and which the respondents' counsel had relied on in support of the subjective test, could no longer be considered good law. Additionally, Teh Cheng Poh v. Public Prosecutor (1978) decided by the Privy Council on appeal from Malaysia, was referred to by the Court in support of the objective test. The case concerned the exercise of discretionary power under the Malaysian Internal Security Act, which the ISA of Singapore is derived from. Although sections 8 and 10 of the ISA concern matters of national security, the Court held that this concern does not preclude the objective review of executive discretion. Following the case of Council of Civil Service Unions v. Minister for the Civil Service (1983), the Court of Appeal decided that it is up to the courts to determine whether a decision is in fact based on grounds of national security. Similarly, it should also be within the court's purview to determine whether the matters relied upon in exercising powers under the ISA fall within the scope of purposes specified by sections 8 and 10. ##### 1989 amendments and Teo Soh Lung v. Minister for Home Affairs Parliament subsequently passed the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore (Amendment) Act 1989 and the Internal Security (Amendment) Act 1989. They took effect on 27 and 30 January 1989 respectively. Section 8B(1) of the amended ISA provides that the law pertaining to the judicial review of decisions made by the President or the Minister was restored to the legal position applicable in Singapore on 13 July 1971, the date when Lee Mau Seng was decided. In Teo Soh Lung v. Minister for Home Affairs (1990), the Court of Appeal held that these amendments reinstated the legal position set out in Lee Mau Seng as the applicable law governing judicial review in Singapore, thus prompting a return to the subjective test in reviewing the exercise of executive discretion under the ISA. The possible inconsistencies the subjective test had with respect to Articles 12 and 93 of the Constitution were sought to be resolved with the passing of the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore (Amendment) Act 1989. Article 149(1) was amended to shield any anti-subversion laws enacted pursuant to this provision from inconsistency with Articles 11 and 12. This was in addition to Articles 9, 13 and 14 which had already been present in Article 149(1) before the amendment. Furthermore, a new Article 149(3) provided that nothing in Article 93 would invalidate any provisions that were enacted pursuant to Article 149. Hence, the ruling in Chng Suan Tze that the subjective test was inconsistent with the Constitution was legislatively reversed, and the subjective test was restored as the valid and relevant law in Singapore. The Internal Security (Amendment) Act 1989 also introduced section 8B(2), which is an ouster clause providing that no judicial review of orders made under the ISA shall be available save in relation to questions relating to the procedural requirements of the ISA. In Teo Soh Lung, the Court of Appeal held that it was not necessary for it to decide if the subjective test in Lee Mau Seng precluded judicial review in the case. Hence, the position remains to be confirmed by the courts. In addition, the Court decided that it was unnecessary to consider the effect of section 8B(2) on issues not related to national security and the constitutionality of the 1989 amendments to the ISA. Parliament also introduced into the ISA section 8D, which dictates that the Internal Security (Amendment) Act 1989 is to be applied retrospectively to proceedings instituted "before or after" 30 January 1989. Article 11(1) of the Constitution states: "No person shall be punished for an act or omission which was not punishable by law when it was done or made, and no person shall suffer greater punishment for an offence than was prescribed by law at the time it was committed." Though the 1989 amendments to the ISA did not retrospectively introduce any criminal offences, the legislature saw fit to amend Article 149(1) by inserting a reference to Article 11 to forestall any possible arguments on section 8D's inconsistency with the Article. As the Minister for Law S. Jayakumar said in Parliament: "The reference to Article 11 is necessary to ensure the retrospective application of the Internal Security (Amendment) Bill is not challenged." The test for judicial review on matters not relating to the ISA remains the objective test. In Kamal Jit Singh v. Minister for Home Affairs (1992), the High Court held that validity of detention under the Criminal Law (Temporary Provisions) Act is not dependent on the Minister's subjective satisfaction. Rather, the Minister must be objectively satisfied that the person was associated with criminal activities. #### Academic views ##### Mala fides situations While the current law in Singapore holds that the Home Affairs Minister's decision is subjective and not judicially reviewable, there is uncertainty whether there are exceptional situations in which the courts may still step in to practice judicial review even though the ISA deals with national security matters. A possible exception is when the Minister's decision was made mala fides, that is, in bad faith. Such decisions would involve the clear abuse of power, such as being "detained solely for having red hair or for failing a professional examination or for having acted as a lawyer against the Government". However, the law on this issue is presently unclear. In Lee Mau Seng, the High Court said that mala fides was not a justiciable issue in relation to the ISA. A similar stance was taken in Malaysia in Karam Singh. However, in Teo Soh Lung the Court of Appeal said that it did not need to decide whether Lee Mau Seng has precluded judicial review in mala fides situations until a case with a mala fides factual situation arises. Furthermore, there is an increasing number of Malaysian cases reflecting "a gradual recognition that ... indicate a retreat from the purely subjective approach". In response to the harshness of the rule in Lee Mau Seng, academics have offered several suggestions for circumventing it. One is that the definition of mala fides used by the courts in Lee Mau Seng is actually unreasonableness and not mala fides in the narrow sense of dishonesty or bad faith. In Cannock Chase District Council v. Kelly (1977), Lord Justice Megaw asserted that bad faith is "dishonesty" and "always involves a grave charge". This contrasts with the meaning of mala fides in Lee Mau Seng which includes situations of carelessness or vagueness. Thus, an allegation of bad faith in the narrow sense could permit review by the courts. ##### Freezing of the common law After the 1989 amendments to the Constitution and the ISA, there was academic discourse on the effect of section 8B(1) on the future development of the common law. The amendments merely caused a time warp in the common law, taking it back to 1971. As they did not amount to a codifying or declaratory Act seeking to replace the common law of judicial review, there is uncertainty whether the courts may continue to develop the common law and move away from the legal position laid down in Lee Mau Seng. Michael Rutter has asserted that the common law can indeed continue to change. While the Parliament has the power to turn the clock back, "the Parliament is powerless to stop the clock from running" and "as soon as the clock is placed back in the hands of the judiciary, the hands might race forward again". Such a stance has wide implications: the High Court and Court of Appeal would not be bound by Lee Mau Seng. They could rule that situations involving mala fides are judicially reviewable, or completely re-adopt the legal position stated in Chng Suan Tze. The justification is that "if Parliament intended to render judiciary law impossible, it has only to issue its laws in a more detailed shape, so that in the vast complexity of human affairs there may always be at hand a rule sufficiently precise and definite to meet each particular case". ##### Validity of ouster clause Another issue that has undergone academic scrutiny is the nature of section 8B(2) as an ouster clause. An ouster clause is an objectively worded provision which is drafted to exclude the jurisdiction of the courts. In Teo Soh Lung, the Court of Appeal declined to address the constitutionality of section 8B and, in particular, how section 8B(2) should be interpreted. Michael Hor has described the judiciary's reluctance to address these points as "an elegant piece of judicial 'kung fu'" in which it chose to evade the problem. In a lecture to law students in 2010, Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong commented that, in general, "ouster clauses may be inconsistent with Article 93 of the Constitution, which vests the judicial power of Singapore in the Supreme Court", though he expressed no concluded opinion on the matter. However, it seems unlikely that Article 93 can be relied on to invalidate section 8B(2) since Parliament specifically enacted Article 149(3) to protect the 1989 amendments to the ISA from inconsistency with Article 93. Tham Chee Ho has opined that where a jurisdictional error of law is involved, judicial review will be available despite the presence of an ouster clause. However, an ouster clause still precludes judicial review of non-jurisdictional errors of law. If this distinction between jurisdictional and non-jurisdictional errors of law exists, section 8B(2) will preclude judicial review of non-jurisdictional errors of law but not jurisdictional errors. Notably, there is a difference between English and Singapore law as regards this issue. In R. v. Lord President of the Privy Council, ex parte Page (1992), Lord Browne-Wilkinson commented that the case of Anisminic Ltd. v. Foreign Compensation Commission (1968) had the effect of rendering the distinction between jurisdictional and non-jurisdictional errors of law obsolete. This has limited the effect of ouster clauses in the United Kingdom since all errors of law are considered as jurisdictional. However, the Singapore courts have not yet adopted this legal position, and there are cases indicating that the distinction between jurisdictional and non-jurisdictional errors of law still exists. ##### Basic features doctrine The basic features doctrine developed in Kesavananda Bharati v. The State of Kerala (1973) and Minerva Mills Ltd. v. Union of India (1980) by the Supreme Court of India rests on the notion that there are certain elements of the nation's constitutional structure which cannot be amended by Parliament. In the High Court case of Teo Soh Lung v. Minister for Home Affairs (1989), the plaintiff argued that the 1989 amendments to the Constitution had violated the basic features of the Constitution by breaching the principle of separation of powers by usurping judicial power, and contravening the rule of law. The Court rejected the application of the basic features doctrine owing to the differences in the making of the Singapore Constitution and the Indian Constitution, and the fact that the framers of the Singapore Constitution had not expressly provided for limitations to be placed on Parliament's power of amendment. The Court also held that, in any case, there had been no violation of the Constitution's basic features on the facts of the case. On appeal, the Court of Appeal determined the case on other grounds, and thus found it unnecessary to decide conclusively if the basic features doctrine applies in Singapore. ##### Role of the judiciary in national security matters There are competing views over the appropriate role of the judiciary in matters concerning preventive detention under the ISA. A related concern is whether the judicial process is suitable for such matters. The legislative and constitutional amendments relating to judicial review under the ISA were intended to limit the role of the courts in national security matters. In 1989, Law Minister S. Jayakumar argued in Parliament that the amendments were needed because the courts would effectively be responsible for national security matters if judicial review was permitted. The subjective test was deemed necessary to reserve to the executive the responsibility for national security matters, and to enable the Government to deal effectively with security threats. Tham Chee Ho contends that, based on the objective test set out in Chng Suan Tze, the fear that the courts will take over responsibility for national security matters is misplaced. This is because the courts do not review the actions taken by the executive for national security purposes, but merely determine whether the situation in fact involves national security issues. The Court of Appeal in Chng Suan Tze reflected this by holding that what was required to preserve national security was a matter solely for executive judgment. Another reason that was put forward by Jayakumar to justify a limited role by the judiciary was that the judicial process is unsuitable for deciding preventive detention issues. Persons who are potential threats to national security may act covertly, hindering the collection of evidence to secure a conviction in a court trial. By its nature, however, preventive detention is a precautionary measure and involves making decisions on limited information to prevent threats to national security from materializing. Jayakumar said that the court is ill-equipped to determine whether there are suspicious circumstances which justify pre-emptive action. Tham agrees with this view, but argues that it applies only where the courts review the exercise of executive power. He distinguishes the objective test applied in Chng Suan Tze from the situation mentioned by Jayakumar, since the court is only interested in whether there is a national security issue involved. Thio Li-ann has opined that the 1989 measures taken to limit judicial checks on executive power demonstrate a preference for non-legal institutional checks. One example of a non-legal institutional check is the requirement under the Constitution and the ISA for an advisory board to hear detainees' representations and recommend to the President whether a detention order should be terminated. Thio argues that such checks are weak and cannot replace judicial review. She contends that since Article 149 of the Constitution permits the enactment of repressive laws which contravene constitutional liberties, meaningful restraints should be placed on the wide discretionary powers under the ISA. Similarly, in Chng Suan Tze, the Court of Appeal rejected the view that the executive's accountability to Parliament is a sufficient safeguard against the arbitrary exercise of power. Eunice Chua argues against adopting the subjective test and limiting judicial review to breaches of the procedures stated in the ISA. Her argument is based on the premise that courts should consider notions of substantive democracy in performing their judicial role. Chua argues that in Teo Soh Lung the Court of Appeal should have considered whether there were sufficient safeguards for the protection of detainees after the curtailment of judicial review through constitutional and legislative amendments. She suggests that Article 151, which provides for restrictions on preventive detention, should be read liberally in favour of detainees, bearing in mind the exclusion of fundamental liberties by Article 149. In her view, the curtailment of judicial review should therefore be rejected, as it does not accord with the "spirit" of Article 151 of the Constitution which ensures safeguards for detainees. Conversely, Jayakumar argued in 1989 that judicial review is an inappropriate safeguard in preventing abuse of the detention powers under the ISA in the situation where a dishonest government is in power. He argued that judicial safeguards are illusory because such a dishonest government would "pack the courts" and appoint judges which would rule in their favour. He regarded the best safeguard to be for voters to elect honest and incorruptible men into the Government. #### Criticisms of preventive detention In 2006, the United States Department of State noted that although the ISA had not been used against the Singapore Government's political opponents for some years, "political opposition and criticism remained restricted by the government's authority to define these powers broadly. In the past, occasional government references to speech that it considered 'out-of-bounds' were understood to be implicit threats to invoke the ISA." The Singapore Government itself has regularly raised the need to prevent national security threats from materializing as a justification for preventive detention. However, there have been suggestions that the criminal law is apt for dealing with this matter as well. Crimes of accessory liability such as abetment, conspiracy and unlawful assembly in the Penal Code may apply even if harm has not actualized. Furthermore, restrictions imposed by the Societies Act, as well as the offences in the Sedition Act, may be viable alternatives to preventive detention. Preventive detention has been preferred over open court trials, as it has been suggested that the criminal trial could be used as a platform for radicals to publicize their views, and that it might confer the honour of martyrdom on accused persons. However, it has been suggested that an open trial which details the evils of terrorism and the indiscriminate destruction that it causes could educate the public and potentially unite the various communities in the country. Under the framework of the ISA, detainees are theoretically accorded due process. For instance, detainees have a right to make representations against their detention to an advisory board. However, Article 151(3) of the Constitution prevents any government authority from disclosing any information which would, "in its own opinion, be against national interest". Therefore, there is no means to compel the authorities to disclose information which may be pertinent for the detainee to make a proper representation to an advisory board, thus compromising due process. Moreover, the secrecy of advisory board hearings has been criticized as it may lead to the public questioning the legitimacy of the hearings, and to an impression that justice has not manifestly been done. Due to the limited form of judicial review available under the ISA, whether a person remains under detention depends largely on the Ministry of Home Affairs. This raises the question quis custodiet ipsos custodes? – who guards the guardians? If preventive detention is applied illegitimately in a manner that cripples lawful democratic opposition, the absence of judicial review would preclude the exposure of such abuse. It has been submitted that the voice of public opinion is most suited for this purpose. #### Instances of the application of the PPSO and ISA According to The Sunday Times of 28 October 1956, 234 people, including trade union leaders Lim Chin Siong, James Puthucheary and C. V. Devan Nair, were detained under the PPSO as suspected Communist subversives. On 2 February 1963 Operation Coldstore, a joint Malaysian–Singaporean anti-Communist operation, led to the arrest of 133 people. As of 5 April 1963, 17 were being detained in the Federation of Malaya and 107 in Singapore, while the remaining nine had been released. On 30 October 1966, Chia Thye Poh, leader of the leftist Barisan Sosialis political party, was detained. He was subsequently held for 32 years pursuant to the ISA, the last nine of which under forms of house arrest and civil rights restrictions, including confinement on the island of Sentosa. All such restrictions were finally lifted on 27 November 1998. As of that date, the South China Morning Post referred to him as "the world's second longest serving prisoner-of-conscience after South Africa's Nelson Mandela". The Straits Times of 28 May 1976 reported that 50 people allegedly involved in a Communist plot had been arrested. Among them were the playwright and theatre director Kuo Pao Kun, then a secretary for the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, and his wife Goh Lay Kuan. Kuo was detained under the ISA for four years and seven months, and his citizenship was revoked. Following his release he was placed under residence and travel restrictions until 1983. His citizenship was reinstated in 1992. In 1987, in a security operation known as Operation Spectrum, 22 Roman Catholic church and social activists and professionals were detained under the ISA. They were accused of being members of a dangerous Marxist conspiracy bent on subverting the government by force and replacing it with a Marxist state. The detentions led to, among others, the Chng Suan Tze and Teo Soh Lung cases. Two people were arrested in 1997 and four in 1998 for espionage activities. Of those arrested in 1997, one was a male permanent resident who was a deep-cover operative of a foreign intelligence service who had used the other person, a female Singaporean, as a collaborator. Three of the people arrested in 1998 were agents for a foreign intelligence agency. One of them had recruited the fourth person to collect intelligence on and to subvert a local community organization. All the detainees were subsequently released. From 2001, the ISA was mainly used against al-Qaeda-inspired terrorists in Singapore. In December that year, 15 members of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) militant group were arrested for involvement in the Singapore embassies attack plot. JI member Mohamed Khalim bin Jaffar was detained in January 2002 (and later released in September 2011), and another 21 members were arrested and detained in August 2002. In February 2006, alleged JI head Mas Selamat bin Kastari was extradited from Indonesia and detained under the ISA. He escaped from custody on 27 February 2008 and was only rearrested by the Malaysian authorities on 1 April 2009. He was transferred back to Singapore for detention under the ISA on 24 September 2010. Between November 2006 and April 2007, four Singaporean JI members were detained under the ISA while one had a restriction order issued against him. In addition, lawyer and lecturer Abdul Basheer s/o Abdul Kader, who radicalized himself by reading extremist propaganda on the Internet, was detained in February 2007 for preparing to engage in militant activities in Afghanistan. He was released on 21 February 2010, but rearrested in September 2012 and detained under the ISA the following month for planning to resume jihadist terrorism against foreign military operations abroad, including leaving Singapore – illegally, if necessary – to do so. Full-time National Serviceman Muhammad Fadil Abdul Hamid was detained on 4 April 2010. He was described by the media as self-radicalized, having been deeply influenced by the lectures of Feiz Mohammad and Anwar al-Aulaqi which he had accessed online. Around this time, two other people influenced by al-Aulaqi were placed under restriction orders. Between January and July 2011, three Muslim radicals were deported to Singapore from other countries and detained. JI members Jumari bin Kamdi and Samad bin Subari were arrested in Malaysia and Indonesia respectively; while Abdul Majid s/o Kunji Mohammad, a member of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), was arrested in Malaysia. As of 13 September 2011, there were 17 people on orders of detention, one whose detention had been suspended, and 49 people on restriction orders. On 7 March 2013, it was mentioned in Parliament that 64 people had been detained under the ISA for activities related to terrorism since 2002. In September 2013, the Singapore media reported that Asyrani Hussaini had been detained in March that year and was the fifth Singaporean to have been influenced by radical ideology he had read online. Asyrani had entered Thailand illegally to take part in the armed insurgency in Southern Thailand, but was arrested and deported to Singapore. Another Singaporean, Mustafa Kamal Mohammad, was placed on a two-year restriction order from September 2013 for being a member of the MILF in the Philippines. Three Singaporean former JI members had their restriction orders lifted; they were Jahpar Osman and Samad Subari, and Abdul Majid Kunji Mohamad who had trained with the MILF. ### Subversive documents Under Chapter III of Part II of the ISA, the minister responsible for printing presses and publications – currently the Minister for Communications and Information – is authorized to ban documents and publications that are subversive or otherwise undesirable. For instance, the Minister may prohibit (absolutely or conditionally) the printing, publication, sale, issue, circulation or possession of a document or publication that: > \(a\) contains any incitement to violence; > > \(b\) counsels disobedience to the law or to any lawful order; > > \(c\) is calculated or likely to lead to a breach of the peace, or to promote feelings of hostility between different races or classes of the population; or > > \(d\) is prejudicial to the national interest, public order or security of Singapore ... Such a prohibition order can extend to any past or future issue of a periodical publication, and to other publications which have been issued or appear to have been issued by the publishing house, agency or other source which issued the prohibited publication. The proprietor of a prohibited publication can lodge an objection to a prohibition order within a month of the date when the order is published in the Government Gazette to the President, whose decision on the matter is "final and shall not be called in question in any court". When exercising this discretion, the President is required to follow the advice of the Cabinet. It is a criminal offence to print, publish, sell, issue, circulate, reproduce or possess a prohibited publication or an extract from it; and to import, abet the importation of, or have in one's possession any imported prohibited publication. There is a rebuttable presumption a person knows the contents of a publication and their nature immediately after the publication comes into their possession. However, it is a defence for a person to demonstrate that the publication was "printed, published, sold, issued, circulated or reproduced, as the case may be, without his authority, consent and knowledge, and without any want of due care or caution on his part, and that he did not know and had no reason to suspect the nature of the document or publication". Among the publications that have been interdicted under the Act are works by Vladimir Lenin and Mao Zedong, and the Russian political newspaper Pravda. A crime is committed if any person posts or distributes a placard, circular or other document which contains an incitement to violence, counsels disobedience to the law or a lawful order, or is likely to lead to a breach of the peace. Spreading false reports or making false statements likely to cause public alarm orally, in writing, or in any newspaper, periodical, book, circular or other printed publication is also an offence. Finally, it is an offence to carry or have in one's possession or under one's control a subversive document. A document is deemed to be subversive if, in whole or in part, it has a tendency: > \(a\) to excite organised violence against persons or property in Singapore; > > \(b\) to support, propagate or advocate any act prejudicial to the security of Singapore or the maintenance or restoration of public order therein or inciting to violence therein or counselling disobedience to the law thereof or to any lawful order therein; or > > \(c\) to invite, request or demand support for or on account of any collection, subscription, contribution or donation, whether in money or in kind, for the direct or indirect benefit or use of persons who intend to act or are about to act, or have acted, in a manner prejudicial to the security of Singapore or to the maintenance of public order therein, or who incite to violence therein or counsel disobedience to the law thereof or any lawful order therein. A document that purports to be a subversive document is presumed to be one until the contrary has been proved, and if it is proved that a person was carrying or had in their possession or under their control a subversive document, they are deemed to have known the contents of the document and their nature. Nevertheless, a person may defend themself by proving that they were unaware of the contents and the nature of the contents of the document, and that they did not have reasonable cause to believe or suspect that the document was subversive. The ISA places a duty on any person, any office-bearer of an association, or any responsible member or agent of an organization who receives a subversive document to deliver it to a police officer without delay. Failure to do so without police authorization, or communicating the contents of such a document to others or publishing them is an offence. ### Control of entertainments and exhibitions The Home Affairs Minister may, under Chapter IV of Part II of the ISA, order that any entertainment or exhibition be closed if satisfied if it "is or is likely to be in any way detrimental to the national interest". Entertainment is defined by the Act as "any game, sport, diversion, concert or amusement of any kind to which the public has or is intended to have access and in which members of the public may or may not take part, whether on payment or otherwise", while exhibition "includes every display of goods, books, pictures, films or articles to which the public has or is intended to have access, whether on payment or otherwise". It is an offence to be the promoter of or a person concerned in the promotion of an entertainment or exhibition held or continued in contravention of an order requiring it to be closed, or the proprietor of the premises on which such an event is held. However, it is a defence to show that the event was "promoted or continued without his authority, consent and knowledge and without any want of due care or caution on his part". Alternatively, to ensure that an entertainment or exhibition is not detrimental to the public interest, the Minister can impose conditions relating to the holding of the event on its promoter, every person involved in its promotion, and the proprietor of the premises on which the event is to be held. Failure to comply with any of such conditions is an offence, unless the person involved is able to show they were not responsible for the breach and exercised due care and caution. The authorities are empowered to close an entertainment or exhibition operated in breach of any condition, or kept open in contravention of an order by the Minister. To enable the Minister to determine whether an entertainment or exhibition should be banned or allowed to be held subject to conditions, the Minister can require that its promoter, any person involved in its promotion, or the proprietor of the premises on which it is to be held to provide information on the following matters: > \(a\) particulars of persons concerned in the promotion of the entertainment or exhibition and the interests represented by those persons; > > \(b\) particulars of the persons who have agreed to participate or participated in the entertainment or exhibition or have been invited to do so and the interests represented by those persons; > > \(c\) the purposes to which any profits from the entertainment or exhibition are intended to be or have been applied; and > > \(d\) such other matters as the Minister may direct. Furnishing false or incomplete information is an offence, and also entitles the Minister to prohibit an event from being held or direct it to be closed. The person providing the information also commits a crime if the event is held in a manner contrary to the information provided. ### Other powers Chapter VI of Part II of the ISA confers additional powers on the Minister for Home Affairs to prevent subversion. If a written law confers power on a person, body or authority to appoint people to positions, the Minister can order that they be provided with a list of the people from which the appointment will be made, and other information. The Minister can then direct that people whose appointment would be prejudicial to the interests of Singapore shall not be appointed or recruited. Furthermore, no person is permitted to disclose any communication received from the Minister except in the course of official duty. The Minister, if satisfied that a school or educational institution is being used for a purpose detrimental to the interests of Singapore or the public, for instruction that is detrimental to the interests of the public or pupils, or as a meeting-place of an unlawful society, can order that it be closed for a period not exceeding six months at a time. The board of managers or governors of an affected school or educational institution can lodge an objection against an order with the President, whose decision on the matter is final and may not be questioned in any court. The Minister's power does not extend to places where the teaching "is of a purely religious character, or for a purely religious purpose". A person who requires a certificate of suitability for admission to an institution of higher education must apply to the Director of Education, who must not issue a certificate if "there appear to him to be reasonable grounds for believing that the applicant, if admitted to the institution in question, would be likely to promote, or otherwise participate in, action prejudicial to the interests or security of Singapore or any part thereof". A person who does not hold a certificate of suitability may not be admitted to an institution of higher learning as a student. A person who has been refused a certificate may appeal to the Home Affairs Minister, whose decision on the matter is final and cannot be called into question in any court. The Minister can forbid pupils, students, teachers or members; any class of pupils, students, teachers or members; or any named pupil, student, teacher or member of any school, college, educational institution or students' union or association situated or established outside Singapore to enter into or travel within Singapore as a group unless they first obtain permission from the police to do so. An individual pupil, student, teacher or member can also be barred from Singapore if they intend to carry out within the country some common object of the group to which they belong. The police can grant permission for such travel subject to conditions. If there is a reason for the Commissioner of Police to believe that any person: > \(i\) is a pupil, student, teacher or member affected by an order made under subsection (1) [that is, an order by the Minister that the person must obtain police permission to travel to Singapore]; > > \(ii\) has entered Singapore from a place outside and has not since the date of such entry continuously remained in Singapore for a period exceeding 3 months; > > \(iii\) is not the holder of a valid identity card issued to him in Singapore in accordance with the provisions of any written law for the time being in force relating to identity cards and which bears an address within Singapore; and > > \(iv\) has contravened or intends to contravene the provisions of any such order; ... or any person has breached any conditions imposed, the Commissioner can require that the person leave Singapore within a certain time and remain abroad for six months or a lesser period; or take the person into custody and remove them from Singapore, whereupon the person must remain out of Singapore for six months. Failure to comply with any order by the Minister or a breach of the conditions of any permission to travel to Singapore is an offence. The above provisions do not authorize the removal from Singapore of any citizen of Singapore ordinarily resident in the country. ## Provisions relating to security areas Part III of the ISA deals with security areas. Section 48, which is the only provision in Chapter I of Part III, empowers the President, acting on the Cabinet's advice, to proclaim any area in Singapore a security area if in his opinion public security in the area "is seriously disturbed or threatened by reason of any action taken or threatened by any substantial body of persons, whether inside or outside Singapore, to cause or to cause a substantial number of citizens to fear organised violence against persons or property" and "he considers it to be necessary for the purpose of suppressing such organised violence". A proclamation of a security area must be published by the Home Affairs Minister in any way that the Minister thinks necessary for bringing it to the notice of all persons who, in the Minister's view, should have notice of it. It comes into effect once notice has been given, even if it has not yet been published in the Government Gazette. A proclamation remains in force until the President revokes it or Parliament annuls it by passing a resolution. ### Preservation of public security Chapter II of Part III of the ISA empowers the Minister to take various steps to preserve public security. Within a security area, the Minister may declare areas to be danger areas, controlled areas or protected places. No person is allowed to enter or remain in a danger area unless escorted by a member of a security force, and to enforce this prohibition security forces can take all necessary measures, including those that are "dangerous or fatal to human life". A person who is injured while in a danger area unlawfully cannot make any legal claim for it, though compensation may be awarded if a compensation board thinks it is equitable to do so. The declaration of an area as a controlled area enables the Minister to order that people within the area may only reside within that portion of the area declared to be the "residential part", and that they may not venture beyond the residential part during certain hours. Failure to comply with such orders is a criminal offence. If the Commissioner of Police is of the view that it is "necessary or expedient in the interests of public security or order, for the maintenance of supplies or services essential to the life of the community, that special precautions should be taken to prevent the entry of unauthorised persons", he may declare a place or premises within a security area to be a protected place. While such a declaration is in force, no person is permitted to enter or remain in the place without the permission of the authority or person stated in the declaration. Persons wishing to enter a protected place must submit to being searched by police officers and other authorized persons, and must comply with directions concerning their conduct. A failure to do so can result in their removal from the protected place. It is an offence to be present in a protected place without permission, and to wilfully fail to stop after being challenged by a police officer or unlawfully refuse to submit to a search. The Commissioner of Police can take steps that he considers necessary to secure a protected place, including those that endanger the life of anyone entering the place. If the Commissioner employs such steps, he must take precautions (including displaying prominent warning notices) that he considers reasonably necessary to prevent accidental entry into the place. Once such precautions have been put in place, if any person enters the protected place without permission and is injured or killed, they are not entitled to receive any compensation or damages. The Minister can declare any fence or barrier surrounding a part of a security area to be a perimeter fence. The Commissioner of Police is permitted to take steps to prevent people from crossing the fence or passing articles over, through or under the fence, including defensive measures that involve or may involve danger to life. If the measures are taken in a place other than on, under or within the perimeter fence, the Commissioner must take precautions – including displaying prominent warning signs – to ensure that people do not accidentally enter the area. If anyone is injured or dies as a result of a defensive measure, no compensation is payable unless the Minister certifies that it is just and equitable for such compensation to be paid. It is an offence to cross or attempt to cross, or pass or attempt to pass any article over, though or under a perimeter fence except at an authorized entry point; and to damage, attempt to damage or tamper with any fence or any gate or movable barrier at an entry point. In the interests of public safety, the Minister can make a "clearance order" concerning land that is within 46 metres (151 ft) of any railway, public road or perimeter fence within a security area, or land in a security area that is "used for or in connection with the cultivation of rubber, oil palm, gutta-percha, coconut, bananas or any other fruit growing on trees, or any other agricultural or food crops". Such an order directs the owner or occupier of the land, their agent, or any person living in the area surrounded by a perimeter fence to clear away "all herbage, bush and undergrowth and any other object mentioned in the order, other than permanent buildings", prevent the undergrowth from growing higher than 30 centimetres (12 in), and maintain the cleanliness of the land. Failure to comply with a clearance order is a criminal offence. The officer in charge of a police division that forms part of a security area can do the following: - Exclusion of persons. Give a written order excluding any person or persons from the police division. - Curfew. Impose a curfew on specified persons, designating that they stay indoors or within a particular area between certain hours, unless they obtain a permit to the contrary issued by a police officer of or above the rank of sergeant. - Control of roads. Regulate, restrict, control or prohibit the use of a road or waterway by any person or class of persons; or any vehicle or vessel, or type or description of vehicle or vessel. In addition, can issue permits to regulate, restrict, control or prohibit persons or classes of persons from travelling in any bus, car, train or other vehicle, or in a vessel. A police officer or member of the security forces who is of or above the rating of leading rate or rank of non-commissioned officer and on duty, or a person authorized by the officer in charge of a police division, is empowered to seize any rice or other food if, because of its quantity or situation, it "is likely to or may become available to any persons who intend or are about to act or have recently acted in a manner prejudicial to public security or to the maintenance of public order". In support of this power, people, premises, vehicles and vessels can be searched without a warrant. If it appears to the Minister to be "necessary or expedient ... in the interests of public security, or for the accommodation of any security forces", they may take possession of any land or building (or part of a building) in a security area. Police officers are permitted to use reasonable force when effecting the taking of possession, and the Minister can require the owner or occupier of the land or building to provide information relating to it. Once the land or building is in the Minister's possession, they have wide power to determine how to use it. The Minister is entitled to disregard any legal restrictions on how it may be utilized, authorize other persons to do with the property anything which the owner or occupier is entitled to do, and ban or limit anyone from exercising rights of way over, and other rights relating to, the land or building. Anyone who feels aggrieved by the Minister taking possession of land or a building can lodge an objection with an advisory committee. The committee is required to consider the objections and any grounds against the objections put forward by the person given possession of the property, and make recommendations to the Minister. The Minister can give "such directions [on the recommendations] as he may think fit", and award compensation. If a building or structure in a security area is left unoccupied due to an order relating to the security area, and the officer in charge of the police division in which the building or structure is situated takes the view that it may be used by "any person or persons who intend, or are about, to act or have recently acted in a manner prejudicial to public security or by any other person who is likely to harbour any such persons", and it is not practical to prevent such use, the officer can authorize the destruction of the building or structure. Compensation is payable for such destruction to a person if they can demonstrate to the Minister that the building or structure was constructed with the consent of the person lawfully entitled to the land on which it stood, and it was not liable to be forfeited. Even if the building or structure was subject to forfeiture, the Minister can still pay compensation to the owner or occupier if the latter person can prove that it was used by persons acting in a manner prejudicial to public security or for harbouring such persons without their knowledge or consent, and that they exercised due diligence to ensure that the building would not be used in this manner. ### Offences Chapter III of Part III of the ISA creates a number of criminal offences relating to security areas. #### Firearms, ammunition and explosives It is an offence to carry, or have in one's possession or under one's control in a security area without lawful excuse, any firearm, ammunition or explosive without lawful authority. The penalty for the offence is death. The onus is on the person charged to prove that they have a lawful excuse for having the item, and this can only be done by demonstrating that they acquired the item in a lawful manner for a lawful purpose, and did not act "in a manner prejudicial to public security or the maintenance of public order" while in possession of or having control of it. Furthermore, the person charged has lawful authority to have the item only if they: - are a police officer, member of the security forces, or person employed in the Prisons Department, and have the item in connection with the performance of their duty; - are licensed, or authorized without a licence, to have the item; or - have been granted an exemption by an officer in charge of a police division, or are a member of a class of persons exempted by the Commissioner of Police. However, even if any of the above situations applies to a person, they will not be regarded as having lawful authority if they have the item for the purpose of using it in a manner prejudicial to public security or the maintenance of public order. In Liew Sai Wah v. Public Prosecutor (1968), the appellant was arrested at the Singapore train station for having six grenade bodies in his bag. He was charged and found guilty of possession of ammunition by the High Court, and sentenced to death. The conviction was upheld by the Federal Court of Malaysia (then part of Singapore's court hierarchy). However, on further appeal to the Privy Council, their Lordships held that grenade bodies did not come within the term ammunition, which was defined as "ammunition for any fire-arm as hereafter defined and includes grenades, bombs and other like missiles whether capable of use with such a fire-arm or not and any ammunition containing or designed or adapted to contain any noxious liquid, gas or other thing". Counsel for the Public Prosecutor suggested that grenade bodies might fall within the definition of explosive, which includes "any material for making an explosive and any apparatus, machine, implement or material used or intended to be used or adapted for causing or aiding in causing any explosion in or with any explosive, and any part of any such apparatus, machine or implement". However, the Privy Council declined to allow this submission as it involved the presentation of a case completely different from the one that the appellant was required to meet during his trial and the appeal before the Federal Court. The appellant was therefore acquitted. It is a crime, while in a security area, to consort with or to be found in the company of a person carrying or having possession of or having under their control a firearm, ammunition or explosive in contravention of the offence mentioned above, if the circumstances raise a reasonable presumption that the person consorting intends or is about to act or has recently acted with the person having the item in a manner prejudicial to public security or the maintenance of public order. The penalty is either death or life imprisonment. It is a slightly less serious offence to be in a security area and consort with or be in the company of another person if it is reasonable for the person consorting to know that the other person had one of the above items. The penalty for this offence is imprisonment not exceeding ten years. If a person is carrying or has in their possession or under their control a firearm, ammunition or explosive, there is a rebuttable presumption that the person was acting in contravention of the offence mentioned above. #### Supplies It is an offence for a person, whether inside or outside a security area, to demand, collect or receive supplies from another person under circumstances which raise a reasonable presumption that: - the first person intends or is about to act, or has recently acted, in a manner prejudicial to public security or the maintenance of public order; or - the supplies are intended for someone who intends or is about to act, or has recently acted in such a manner, or are for a terrorist to use. It is also an offence, inside or outside a security area, to be found in possession of supplies which cannot be satisfactorily accounted for, or to directly or indirectly provide supplies to another person, in circumstances which raise the reasonable presumption referred to above. The penalty for all these offences is life imprisonment. However, in the latter situation, a person will not be convicted if they voluntarily provide full information of the offence to a police officer before being accused of or charged with the offence. #### Other offences A person inside or outside a security area who knows or has reasonable cause to believe that another person has committed an offence under Part III of the ISA, or has information about the present or intended movements or whereabouts of another person whom they know or have reasonable cause to believe to be a terrorist, but who fails to report the matter to a police officer, commits an offence punishable by imprisonment for up to ten years. However, if the person voluntarily gives full information to a police officer before being accused of or charged with an offence, they will not be convicted. It is also an offence to attempt to commit an offence under Part III; to assist someone that one knows or has reasonable cause to believe has committed an offence to prevent, hinder or interfere with that person's arrest, trial or punishment; or generally to contravene or fail to comply with any provision of Part III or any order made, direction given or requirement imposed under Part III, or to abet any contravention or failure by another person. ## Miscellaneous provisions The final part of the ISA, Part IV, contains various miscellaneous provisions. Some notable provisions are described in this section. A police officer is entitled to use such force as is reasonably necessary in the circumstances, including lethal weapons: - to arrest a person subject to a detention order; - to arrest a person in respect of whom the officer has reason to believe that there are grounds justifying their preventive detention, or that they have acted or are about to act or are likely to act in a manner prejudicial to national security; - to arrest a person suspected of having committed an offence under the ISA, the Corrosive and Explosive Substances and Offensive Weapons Act, or sections 435 or 436 of the Penal Code which criminalize the commission of mischief by fire or an explosive substance to damage property or destroy a building; - to overcome forcible resistance by a person to such an arrest; or - to prevent an arrested person from escaping or being rescued from arrest. A person who has been arrested for any of the offences mentioned above must, as soon as possible after arrest, be "clearly warned of his liability to be shot at if he endeavours to escape from custody". In addition to a police officer, the power to use force can be exercised by a member of the security forces, any guard or watchman in a protected place, and any person authorized by the Commissioner of Police. Provisions exist in the ISA to make it easier to admit statements made by people charged with offences under the Act or certain offences under other laws specified in the Second Schedule to the Act. A statement is admissible in evidence in a trial and, if the person who made the statement chooses to testify during a trial, it may be used in cross-examination and to impeach their credit, "whether the statement amounts to a confession or not or is oral or in writing, made at any time, whether before or after that person is charged and whether in the course of a police investigation or not and whether or not wholly or partly in answer to questions, by that person to or in the hearing of any police officer of or above the rank of sergeant and whether or not interpreted to him by any other police officer or any other person concerned, or not, in the arrest". This is subject to two limitations: - A statement is not admissible "if the making of the statement appears to the court to have been caused by any inducement, threat or promise having reference to the charge against that person, proceeding from a person in authority and sufficient in the opinion of the court to give that person grounds which would appear to him reasonable for supposing that by making it he would gain any advantage or avoid any evil of a temporal nature in reference to the proceedings against him". - If a statement has been made by a person after being arrested, it is only admissible if the court is satisfied that a caution along the following lines was administered: "It is my duty to warn you that you are not obliged to say anything or to answer any question, but anything you say, whether in answer to a question or not, may be given in evidence." However, if a person makes a statement before there is time to administer a caution, the statement remains admissible if the caution is then administered as soon as possible. Once a person has been cautioned, they have a right to remain silent and are not required to answer any questions. ## See also - Internal Security Act (Malaysia) - Criminal Law (Temporary Provisions) Act (Singapore) - Judicial independence in Singapore - Hong Kong national security law

Erhalt uns, Herr, bei deinem Wort, BWV 126

Chorale cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach

Erhalt uns, Herr, bei deinem Wort (Sustain us, Lord with your word), BWV 126, is a cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach for use in a Lutheran service. He composed the chorale cantata in 1725 in Leipzig for the Sunday Sexagesimae, the second Sunday before Lent, and first performed it on 4 February 1725. It is based on the hymn "Erhalt uns, Herr, bei deinem Wort" by Martin Luther, published in 1542. The hymn text at Bach's time also included two stanzas by Justus Jonas and Luther's "Verleih uns Frieden gnädiglich". An unknown librettist retained four of these seven combined stanzas, using the first and the two last unchanged as customary, and expanding the third by adding text for a recitative. He paraphrased the other stanzas for two arias and another recitative. Bach structured the cantata in six movements and scored it for three vocal soloists, a four-part choir and a Baroque instrumental ensemble of trumpet, oboe, strings and continuo. The first movement is a chorale fantasia dominated by the trumpet. In the unusual third movement, Bach has an alto and a tenor voice alternate for the recitative, while they sing the lines from the third hymn stanza in a duet. The fourth movement is a dramatic bass aria, accompanied by a restless continuo. Due to the compiled hymns, the melody of the closing two stanzas is different from the one used in movements 1 and 3. ## History and words Bach held the position of Thomaskantor (director of church music) in Leipzig from 1723. During his first year, beginning with the first Sunday after Trinity, he wrote a cycle of cantatas for the occasions of the liturgical year. In his second year he composed a second annual cycle of cantatas, which was planned to consist exclusively of chorale cantatas, each based on one Lutheran hymn. As part of this cycle, Bach composed Erhalt uns, Herr, bei deinem Wort for Sexagesima, the second Sunday before Lent. The prescribed readings for the Sunday were taken from the Second Epistle to the Corinthians, "God's power is mighty in the weak" (), and from the Gospel of Luke, the parable of the Sower (). The cantata is based on the hymn "Erhalt uns, Herr, bei deinem Wort" by Martin Luther. At Bach's time, it included the three stanzas of Luther's chorale, followed by two stanzas of Justus Jonas, Luther's German version of Da pacem Domine (Give peace, Lord, 1531), and a second stanza to it, paraphrasing (1566). The result are seven stanzas: 1. Erhalt uns, Herr, bei deinem Wort 2. Beweis dein Macht, Herr Jesu Christ 3. Gott Heilger Geist, du Tröster wert 4. Ihr' Anschläg, Herr, zunichte mach 5. So werden sie erkennen doch 6. Verleih uns Frieden gnädiglich 7. Gib unserm Fürsten und aller Obrigkeit A line in the epistle, "For the word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword" (), possibly prompted the choice of the hymn. The unknown poet of the cantata text kept stanzas 1, 3, 6 and 7 unchanged, expanding 3 by recitative, and reworded 2, 4 and 5 for the respective movements of the cantata. The topic of the gospel is God's word, as Jesus explains in verse 11, "Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.", which is mentioned in the first line of the hymn, "bei deinem Wort" (close to your word). Instead of relating closely to the parable, the poet concentrates on a general request to God: to keep his people faithful to his word, to protect them from enemies and to provide peace. Bach first performed the cantata on 4 February 1725, only two days after the cantata Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin, BWV 125, for the Purification of Mary on 2 February. The autograph of the cantata is lost, but the parts which Bach used are extant. The cantata is the third-to-last chorale cantata in Bach's second cantata cycle. ## Music ### Structure and scoring Bach structured the cantata in six movements. In the typical format of Bach's chorale cantatas, the first and last movement on the first and stanza of the hymn are set for choir, as a chorale fantasia and a closing chorale. They frame alternating arias and recitatives with the librettist's text. Bach scored the work for three vocal soloists (alto (A), tenor (T) and bass (B)), a four-part choir, and a Baroque instrumental ensemble: trumpet (Tr), two oboes (Ob), two violins (Vl), viola (Va), and basso continuo (Bc). The duration of the piece has been stated as 22 minutes. In the following table of the movements, the scoring follows the Neue Bach-Ausgabe. The keys and time signatures are taken from Alfred Dürr, using the symbol for common time (4/4). The instruments are shown separately for winds and strings, while the continuo, playing throughout, is not shown. ### Movements #### 1 The opening chorus, "Erhalt uns, Herr, bei deinem Wort" (Sustain us, Lord with your word,), is a chorale fantasia. A characteristic feature of the instrumental concerto is a four-note trumpet signal, which is derived from the beginning of the chorale melody, as if to repeat the words "Erhalt uns, Herr" (Sustain us, Lord) again and again. The motif consists of the three notes of the A minor chord in the sequence A C A E, with the higher notes on the stressed syllables, the highest one on "Herr". The cantus firmus of the chorale is sung by the soprano, while the other voices sing in imitation, embedded in the independent concerto of the orchestra. The Bach scholar Christoph Wolff notes that the trumpet fanfare "underlines the combative, dogmatic character of this late devotional song of Luther's". #### 2 The first aria, sung by the tenor, "Sende deine Macht von oben" (Send Your power from above), is a prayer, intensified by two oboes. In the middle section the words "erfreuen" (delight) and "zerstreuen" (scatter) are illustrated by runs in the voice. #### 3 Movement 3 presents two text elements interwoven, the recitative "Der Menschen Gunst und Macht wird wenig nützen" (The wish and will of mankind are of little use), and the interspersed four lines of the hymn's third stanza, "Gott, Heiliger Geist, du Tröster wert" (God, Holy Spirit, worthy Comforter). The recitative lines are sung by alternating voices alto and tenor, while the interspersed chorale lines are rendered by both voices in duet. In this duet, the voice that enters sings the embellished hymn tune, while the other accompanies. #### 4 The second aria, "Stürze zu Boden, schwülstige Stolze!" (Hurl to the ground the pompous proud!), is dramatic, especially in the restless continuo. John Eliot Gardiner quotes William G. Whittaker: Bach’s "righteous indignation at the enemies of his faith was never expressed more fiercely than in this aria". The Bach scholar Alfred Dürr describes the movement as an "aria of genuinely baroque dramatic force", expressing "Old Testament zeal". #### 5 A tenor recitative, "So wird dein Wort und Wahrheit offenbar" (Thus Your word and truth will be revealed), changes the topic and leads to peace, implored in the final movement. #### 6 Movement 6 combines the two stanzas from different chorales, Luther's "Verleih uns Frieden gnädiglich" (Grant us peace graciously), and Walter's "Gib unsern Fürsten und all'r Obrigkeit Fried und gut Regiment" (Give our rulers and all lawgivers peace and good government), in a four-part setting. These two stanzas have a different melody. ## Recordings The selection is taken from the listing on the Bach-Cantatas website. Instrumental groups playing period instruments in historically informed performances are highlighted green under the header "Instr.".

New York State Route 390

State highway in Monroe County, New York, US

New York State Route 390 (NY 390) is a north–south state highway located along the western edge of the city of Rochester, New York, in the United States. The route, a controlled-access northward continuation of Interstate 390 (I-390), extends for 8.00 miles (12.87 km) from I-490 in Gates to the Lake Ontario State Parkway in Greece, less than 1 mile (1.6 km) from the Lake Ontario shoreline. Between I-490 and NY 104, NY 390 makes up the north–south segment of the northwest quadrant of the Rochester Outer Loop, a series of freeways encircling Rochester. At NY 104, the Outer Loop departs NY 390 and follows NY 104 east into the city. The freeway was constructed in stages from the 1960s to the 1980s, with the first segment—between I-490 and NY 31—opening to traffic c. 1963. At the time, it was part of NY 47, which followed the completed portions of the Outer Loop from Gates to Irondequoit. An extension of the freeway north to U.S. Route 104 (US 104; now NY 104) was opened to traffic in the early 1970s. NY 47 was eliminated in 1980, giving way to NY 390 from I-490 to NY 104. NY 390 was extended to its current length in the early 1980s. ## Route description NY 390 begins at the point where I-390 northbound crosses over I-490 eastbound in the center of a complex interchange between the two in Gates. Due to the setup of the junction, the northbound and southbound roadways, both two lanes wide, are initially set about 250 yards (229 m) apart. The highway heads through the remainder of the exit, passing over the left exit ramp from I-490 west to I-390 south heading northbound and under the ramp linking I-490 east to NY 390 north southbound and crossing over I-490 westbound. North of the junction, the median narrows to a more standard width as NY 390 widens to six lanes and connects to NY 31 (Lyell Avenue). The expressway proceeds north through neighborhoods equally residential and industrial, crossing over both the former right-of-way of the CSX Transportation-owned Falls Road Secondary Track and the Erie Canal prior to meeting Lexington Avenue via a modified trumpet interchange. From Lexington Avenue, where NY 390 passes into the town of Greece, north to NY 104, NY 390 runs parallel to the western edge of Eastman Business Park, the large production and distribution complex owned and maintained by Eastman Kodak. Midway between the Lexington Avenue and West Ridge Road exits, NY 390 encounters Ridgeway Avenue via a partial diamond interchange. Just north of Ridgeway Avenue, the expressway crosses a small, narrow strip of land that lies within the Rochester city limits, a carryover from when the Erie Canal occupied this tract and entered the city decades before. North of the strip, NY 390 curves to the northeast, passing along the west side of the industrial park and the eastern edge of a residential yet wooded area to reach NY 104. Heading northbound, it splits into two halves, with exit 24A connecting to NY 104 east and exit 24B linking to NY 104 west. Past NY 104, the roadway surface shifts from pavement to concrete as the freeway heads generally northward through primarily residential neighborhoods. This section northwards to the Lake Ontario State Parkway is designated the "Assemblyman Roger J. Robach Memorial Lakeway" by state law. The next exit, with Vintage Lane 1.5 miles (2.4 km) to the north-northeast of NY 104, is the highway's last as a six-lane freeway. Here, it narrows to four lanes—two in both directions—before continuing onward to meet NY 18 (Latta Road) at a conventional diamond interchange. At this point, all commercial vehicles are forced to exit NY 390 due to a similar restriction on the Lake Ontario State Parkway 1 mile (1.6 km) to the north. Outside of a small pocket of development near Greece Arcadia High and Middle Schools, the remainder of the freeway crosses open, sparsely developed areas of Greece. NY 390 curves to the northeast for its final 0.5 miles (0.8 km) before ending at a trumpet interchange with the parkway 1 mile (1.6 km) from the shore of Lake Ontario. ## History The 2-mile (3.2 km) segment of the Rochester Outer Loop between NY 33A and NY 31 was completed c. 1963. It was originally designated as part of NY 47, which had followed the parallel Howard Road to the west prior to the freeway's construction. Work on an extension north to US 104 (now NY 104) began in the mid-1960s and was completed in the early 1970s. The freeway officially became part of NY 47 on January 1, 1970, when the route was extended northward over the then-proposed Outer Loop to a new terminus at the Lake Ontario State Parkway. In actuality, however, NY 47 never extended any farther north than NY 104, which served as the freeway's northern terminus throughout the 1970s. In the late 1970s, the state of New York submitted a proposal to the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials that would substantially alter how the Outer Loop was numbered. As part of the plan, the NY 47 designation would be eliminated while the northwestern section of the Outer Loop—from I-490 in Gates to the proposed northern terminus at the Lake Ontario Parkway in Greece—would become the northernmost part of I-390. Most of the proposed changes took effect on March 18, 1980, when NY 47 was eliminated; however, I-390 was modified to end at its junction with I-490. In its place, the Gates–Greece leg of the Outer Loop was assigned NY 390. The NY 390 designation was extended northward to its current terminus in the early 1980s when the segment of the Outer Loop between NY 104 and the Lake Ontario State Parkway was completed. The highway began experiencing dramatic increases in traffic, especially after the highway was extended to the Lake Ontario State Parkway post 1980's. As Greece and towns on the northwest side of Rochester have expanded, NY-390 emerged as the primary highway link southward. The interchange of NY/I-390 and I-490 currently serves over 200,000 cars daily — compared to 25,000 when it was designed and opened in the 1960s — and regularly has heavy congestion during the morning and evening rush hours. Major slowdowns on 390 are often influenced by the interchange at 490 and Lyell Avenue. Starting in 2010, the New York State Department of Transportation began soliciting ideas on how to improve the junction. The overall project includes four phases, with \$150 million in state and federal funding. The project launched in May 2017, with the replacement of the (NY-31) Lyell Avenue Bridge (which was completed in July 2018). ## Exit list ## See also - See Interstate 390 for exits 1–19

Hurricane Alice (June 1954)

Category 2 Atlantic hurricane in June 1954

Hurricane Alice was the second-strongest Atlantic hurricane to make landfall in the month of June since reliable records began in the 1850s. The storm was linked to catastrophic flooding in southern Texas and northern Mexico, especially along the Rio Grande and its tributaries. The third tropical cyclone and first hurricane of the 1954 Atlantic hurricane season, Alice was one of two storms to receive the same name that year, the other being an unusual post-season hurricane that persisted into the new year of 1955, becoming one of only two January hurricanes on record (the other having formed in 1938). The first Alice developed rather suddenly on June 24 over the Bay of Campeche, though it may well have formed earlier but went undetected due to limited surface weather observations. Moving northwestward, Alice strengthened rapidly as it neared the Mexican coastline, becoming a hurricane early the next day. By midday on June 25, the hurricane reached peak winds of 110 miles per hour (177 km/h) before moving inland well south of the U.S.–Mexico border. The storm struck an area with few inhabitants and caused relatively minimal impacts from wind near the point of landfall and in southern Texas. As it moved inland, however, Alice produced prolific rains along and near the Rio Grande, resulting in some of the worst flooding ever seen in parts of northern Mexico and southern Texas; in some areas, the flooding amounted to a one-in-1,000-year event. The Pecos River crested at 96.24 ft (29.33 m), which joined with the Rio Grande to produce significant flooding. The floods destroyed bridges and dikes and flooded many cities along the inner reaches of the river, which reached its highest water levels since 1865. As the river overflowed its banks, floods breached the dikes at Piedras Negras, Coahuila, destroying large sections of the town. Other communities in Mexico reported significant flood damage. In the United States, damage was heaviest in Ozona, Texas, where the floods killed 15 people and caused \$2 million in damage (1954 USD). Rainfall peaked at over 24.07 in (611 mm), most of which fell in a 24‐hour period. In all, flooding from Hurricane Alice killed at least 55 people, including 17 in the U.S. and 38 in Mexico, though many deaths in rural Mexico may have gone unreported; the total death toll could have exceeded 150. ## Meteorological history At 12:00 UTC on June 24, 1954, a moderate tropical storm formed about 270 miles (435 km) east of Tampico, Tamaulipas, with winds of 60 miles per hour (97 km/h). In 2015, NOAA researchers working on reanalysis with the Hurricane Research Division examined observations to determine whether Alice formed earlier, but were unsuccessful due to sparse surface weather observations over the Bay of Campeche. The first observation of gale-force winds occurred at 18:00 UTC on June 24, when a ship reported 60-mile-per-hour (97 km/h) winds and an atmospheric pressure of 999 millibars (29.50 inHg), indicating a well-developed cyclone in the area. Based on these data, scientists concluded that Alice likely formed earlier than indicated, but went undetected until that day. Regardless, Alice steadily intensified almost immediately upon detection as it headed northwestward, strengthening into the equivalent of a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale by 00:00 UTC on June 25. Early on that day, a ship calibrated the rapid strengthening of the storm, measuring winds of 85 mph (137 km/h) at 08:17 UTC. As Alice neared the coast of Mexico, reconnaissance aircraft known as Hurricane Hunters began tracking the eye of the hurricane, but apparently did not penetrate the center of the storm. They did, however, provide information about the position of the storm. The storm continued to intensify rapidly as it approached the coastline south of the United States–Mexico border. Based on aircraft observations, research suggests that Alice made landfall about 60 mi (97 km) south of Matamoros, Tamaulipas, at 14:00 UTC on June 25. The storm affected a thinly populated segment of the Mexican coastline, and few observations were available to determine the strength of the hurricane. One report, taken about 100 mi (161 km) south of Brownsville, Texas, suggested top winds of at least 70 to 80 mph (113 to 129 km/h). Prior to scientific reexamination, HURDAT—the official database containing tracks and intensities of cyclones in the North Atlantic and Eastern North Pacific regions—listed top winds of 80 mph (129 km/h) at landfall in Mexico. However, a radiosonde, launched from Brownsville in time for the 12:00 UTC observation, recorded winds of 150 mph (241 km/h) from the southeast at 3,000 feet (914 m) in elevation. Based on this measurement, which may have represented winds in the eyewall, researchers determined that Hurricane Alice was likely significantly stronger at landfall than previously assessed. They analyzed Alice as having struck Mexico with winds of 110 mph (177 km/h), while noting the great uncertainty and the possibility that the storm may have even been much stronger than this. The central pressure in the eye was probably 975 mb (28.79 inHg) or lower, as corroborated by observations well inland in Texas. Therefore, Alice was at least equivalent to a high-end Category 2 hurricane at landfall and conceivably could have attained major hurricane status. After landing, Hurricane Alice gradually weakened as it approximately followed the Rio Grande, crossing into southern Texas near La Grulla just before 00:00 UTC on June 26. The storm by then had weakened back to a moderate tropical storm with winds of 60 mph (97 km/h), but it still produced gale-force winds in several communities across southern Texas; a few areas in Texas may have even experienced hurricane-force winds for brief periods before the storm entered the state, but there are no observations to confirm such winds. The storm likely caused winds of at least 70 mph (113 km/h) in southern Texas. As it crossed into Texas, Tropical Storm Alice curved more to the north-northwest early on June 26 before assuming a sharp bend back westward later in the day. The storm degenerated into a tropical depression by 18:00 UTC and dissipated early on June 27 near the Big Bend National Park in Texas. ## Impact Before Alice moved ashore, about 50 Girl Scouts at a camp were evacuated to a center in Brownsville, Texas. The residents of Padre Island were also evacuated. Residents in the storm's path were unprepared due to the storm forming suddenly. The United States Coast Guard spread the word about the storm by traversing the coast and advising residents to seek shelter. Officials at the U.S. Weather Bureau posted northwest storm warnings for the Brownsville area, recommending that small boats to stay at harbor. Damages along the coastline at the point of landfall were relatively light. Winds in Brownsville reached 62 mph (100 km/h), which created flying debris that injured one man. Moderate to strong gales affected the Rio Grande Valley inland over southern Texas. Across the border, minor damage was reported in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, and one person there was killed by a fallen power line. A few shrimp fishing boats were driven ashore by heavy winds. Although later there was severe flooding further inland, a dam along the Rio Grande prevented significant flooding in the Brownsville area. Most of the damage resulting from Alice was caused by heavy rain in the inland areas of Texas, Tamaulipas and Coahuila; damage was exacerbated in these areas by drought conditions that rendered the soil especially vulnerable to erosion. Estimates of peak rainfall within 12 hours vary from 22 inches (56 cm) to 26 inches (132 cm), and a total of 35 inches (89 cm) of rain fell in 24 hours, approaching the world record that had been set by an unnamed hurricane in Texas in 1921. However, a 2010 report on the storm's rainfall indicated a maximum of 24.07 in (611 mm) near Pandale, of which 16.02 in (407 mm) fell in a 24‐hour period. The peak rainfall occurred in a small area centered near the Pecos River. A location along the Johnson Draw reported 11 in (280 mm) of rainfall after receiving minimal precipitation in the previous three years. In addition, some locals in western Texas experienced rainfall from Alice that exceed yearly averages. This contributed to significant flooding along the Pecos River, reaching a flood stage of 55 ft (17 m) in Pandale. The flooding swept away a group of fishermen in Sheffield as well as at a location 10 mi (16 km) north of Pandale, killing four. Downstream, the river crested at 96.24 ft (29.33 m), which washed out a highway and three railroad bridges. A temporary bridge was built between Eagle Pass and Piedro Negro by July 10, or two weeks after the storm. The destroyed rail lines stranded a Sunset Limited train, which prompted the passengers to evacuate to nearby Langtry. The flooding also stranded a Southern Pacific train, whose occupants were later evacuated by helicopters. The peak river crest corresponded to a discharge rate of 948,000 ft3/s (26,800 m3/s), which the International Boundary and Water Commission remarked was "probably the greatest rate of runoff for a watershed of [that] size in the United States". Heavy rain fell across all of southern Texas and northern Mexico as a result of Alice, causing flash floods in inland areas. Ozona, Texas was the town most affected by the floods, sustaining \$2 million in damage (1954 USD), as well as 15 deaths. Early on the morning of June 25, a "wall of water" as high as 30 feet (9.2 m) poured out of a dry gully and overwhelmed most of the town. Roughly a third of Ozona had to be evacuated, and many livestock there were killed. About 500 families were left homeless in the town. United States military helicopters worked to rescue people trapped by the floodwaters. In all, at least seven towns experienced flooding from the storm on either side of the border, including Lamesa and Laredo, Texas which were badly damaged by flash floods. The Rio Grande rose well above flood level at the cities of Eagle Pass, Texas and Piedras Negras, Coahuila. While the city of Eagle Pass was evacuated, Piedras Negras was not. Both cities were completely flooded, and the dike intended to protect Piedras Negras from floods was washed away. At least 38 people (some sources say 39) were killed in Piedras Negras after the dike collapsed. In Eagle Pass, the commercial sector was flooded by over 8 ft (2.4 m) of waters, which let heavy losses. Before the storm began producing heavy rainfall, officials anticipated moderate river flooding that would peak at less than the flood of 1948. The river crested at Laredo, Texas, where waters reached a peak of 62.2 feet (19 m), at least 10 feet (3 m) above the previous record flood. High waters caused the water treatment plants to fail there, which prevented the safe delivery of fresh water until July 1. The International Bridge connecting Laredo and Nuevo Laredo was swept away. Although severe damage occurred in the latter city, no deaths were recorded in either city due to evacuations. Flooding along the Rio Grande was the highest since 1865, and was considered a 1 in 2000 year event. About 12,000 people were evacuated from nearby Ciudad Acuña following the flood. There, the floods left heavy damage. Estimates for total death toll range from 55 to 153. Death toll estimates for Texas range from 17 to 38, though official records indicate that the 38 deaths occurred in Mexico rather than Texas. Estimates of the deaths in Mexico, where records are less complete, vary more widely. Several of the deaths in Texas were homeless people attempting to enter the United States, and as a result their deaths were not counted. Monetary damage figures are not available, but it is known that flooding from Alice caused considerable damage to crops, primarily cotton. ## Aftermath and records While Alice left almost unprecedented flooding in its wake, the storm itself was not an unheard-of occurrence: a similar storm in 1921, which followed a comparative track, caused significant flooding in Texas as well, albeit not in the same areas affected by the floods of 1954. Following the devastation left by Alice, members of the U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Army flew 21 helicopters with over 81 tons of relief supplies to the affected people of Mexico and Texas, including food, water, medicine, and clothing. The disastrous flooding caused by Hurricane Alice along the Rio Grande accelerated the joint US–Mexico Amistad Dam project, a series of flood control dams designed to prevent similar catastrophes in the future. The project, in the planning stages for decades before the storm, was finally begun in 1960. Leftover waters from the storm led to an increase in mosquitoes in Texas, which prompted a widespread application of larvicide via airplane. On July 1, the flood areas of southern Texas were declared a major disaster area. This followed a delivery of 2 flood specialists, 20 laborers, 2 portable water treatment plants, 7 trucks, and a quantity of insecticides and water treatment tablets. Residents in Laredo, Texas provided citizens of its neighboring city Nuevo Laredo, Mexico with food and water. The Mexican government provided temporary homes for the affected citizens of the flood. American officials distributed typhoid vaccinations, water purification tablets, and insecticides to the American cities along the Rio Grande. Safe water was eventually restored to Laredo, Texas on July 12. All emergency work related to the disaster was finished by September 3. Besides flooding, Hurricane Alice was also notable for another reason: it made landfall with some of the strongest winds in a June hurricane on record. With top winds of 110 mph (177 km/h), the cyclone was the second-strongest Atlantic hurricane to make landfall in the month of June, behind only Hurricane Audrey in 1957, which made landfall in Louisiana with winds of 125 mph (201 km/h). The storm was somewhat analogous to Hurricane Alex, which also affected the same region in 2010 with winds of 110 mph (177 km/h), though Alex made landfall in early July. ## See also - Other storms of the same name - List of Category 2 Atlantic hurricanes - Hurricane Alex (2010)

Wizard (horse)

British-bred Thoroughbred racehorse

Wizard (1806 – 30 June 1813) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse. He won seven of his ten races, with all his wins coming at Newmarket. In 1809 he won the 2000 Guineas Stakes, before finishing second in the Derby Stakes. The following year he won a match race against his Derby conqueror Pope. Throughout his racing career he was owned by Christopher Wilson and trained by Tom Perren. Wizard only stood as a stallion for two years before dying in an accident in 1813. His son Young Wizard won the Riddlesworth Stakes and was the runner-up in the Derby in 1817. ## Background Wizard was a chestnut colt foaled in 1806 and bred by Mr. Goodison. He was sired by Sorcerer, a successful racehorse and three-time Champion sire in Britain. Amongst Sorcerer's other progeny were 2000 Guineas and Derby winner Smolensko, St. Leger winner Soothsayer and the Oaks winners Morel, Maid of Orleans and Sorcery. Wizard's dam was a daughter of Precipitate. Wizard was the second of her ten foals. He was trained by Tom Perren. ## Racing career ### 1809: Three-year-old season Wizard did not race as a two-year-old and he made his debut on 3 April 1809 in a sweepstakes of 100 guineas each at the Newmarket Craven meeting. Ridden by William Clift, he started the race as the 6/5 favourite and won it easily from Chryseis. Cock Robin finished third, with three others behind him. Two weeks later he started 4/5 favourite for the 2000 Guineas Stakes over the Rowley Mile at Newmarket. This was the first running of the 2000 Guineas. Also near the front of the betting were Japan at 10/3, Robin at 6/1 and Fair Star at 7/1. Eight runners started the race, which Wizard won from Robin. Fair Star finished third and Japan fourth. Wizard then went to Epsom Downs for the Derby Stakes, where he was again ridden by Clift, as he had been in his previous two races. He started as the odds-on favourite, priced at about 8/11. Fair Star was the second favourite, with Salivator third in the betting. Salivator took the lead and held it until the field turned into the finishing straight, where Wizard overtook him. Wizard was in front until a few yards from the finish, where he was passed by Pope, a 20/1 outsider. Pope won the race by a neck from Wizard with Salivator in third and Fair Star in fourth. In his last race of the season Wizard finished fourth in the St. Leger Stakes at Doncaster. The race was won by Ashton, who had started as favourite. The St. Leger was the first time Wizard had not been ridden by William Clift, with Francis Buckle riding him. ### 1810: Four-year-old season Wizard did not reappear as a four-year-old until October, when he defeated Derby winner Pope over one and a quarter miles at Newmarket. Pope had started the race as the 1/2 favourite. The following day, Wizard walked over for one-third of a subscription of 25 guineas each. These were his only two appearances in 1810. ### 1811: Five-year-old season Wizard's first race as a five-year-old was a sweepstakes of 100 guineas each on 20 April at Newmarket. He faced three opponents and won the race from odds-on favourite Spaniard. He was then intended to face 1810 Derby winner Whalebone at Newmarket in early May, but Whalebone's owner, the 4th Duke of Grafton, paid a forfeit and the race never took place. He beat Middlethorpe at Newmarket after Middlethorpe unseated his rider in the early stages of the race. The match against Middlethorpe won him 500 guineas. The following day he beat Anthonio over five and a half furlongs. He faced Middlethorpe again in September when he fell lame and Middlethorpe beat him. This was his final race and he was retired to stud. Throughout his racing career Wizard earned 3850 guineas. ## Race record ## Stud career Wizard was a stallion at Elmsal Lodge near Ferrybridge, Yorkshire. In 1812 his stud fee was ten guineas plus half a guinea for the groom. He also stood at Emsal, for the same fee, in 1813. He only stood as a stallion for these two seasons and died on 30 June 1813 at Elmsal Lodge two days after running into a post. He broke three ribs and an iron bar attached to the post became so lodged in his backbone that it took two men to remove it. Wizard sired three winners of eleven races. His winning progeny were: - Wizard filly (1813) – won a maiden race at Penrith in three two-mile heats in 1816. She ran in the Richmond Cup, but was unplaced. - Warlock (1814) – won two races at Chesterfield and two races at Pontefract in 1817. He also won a race of four three-mile heats at Durham in 1818. - Young Wizard (1814) – owned by the 3rd Baron Foley and later the 2nd Marquess of Exeter. As a three-year-old in 1817 he won the Riddlesworth Stakes at Newmarket and a Produce Sweepstakes at Doncaster. A match between Young Wizard and Pickaxe at Newmarket finished in a dead heat. He also finished second to Azor in the Derby. In 1818 he beat Sir Thomas in a match race and won a race at Ascot Heath in 1819. Wizard's descendants include 1963 Irish 2000 Guineas and 1964 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes winner Linacre and 1940 Gran Premio di Milano winner Sirte. Through 1948 Prix Edmond Blanc winner Menetrier he is an ancestor of multiple time Canadian Champion sire and Hall of Fame inductee Vice Regent and his brother Viceregal and their many descendants (which include Deputy Minister, Victory Gallop and Trempolino), as well as Canadian Horse of the Year Canebora and 1979 Prix du Jockey Club winner Top Ville. All these were descended through another unnamed daughter foaled in 1813, as was Hyacinthus, who won the 1940 Middle Park Stakes. This unnamed daughter of Wizard was never trained to race as she was crippled. Through his 1814 daughter Wizardess his descendants include 1928 Grand Prix de Paris winner Cri de Guerre and his descendants (including 1972 Bay Shore Stakes winner Explodent and 1983 Phoenix Stakes winner King Persian). ## Pedigree Note: b. = Bay, bl. = Black, br. = Brown, ch. = Chestnut \* Wizard is inbred 4S × 4S x 4D to the stallion Matchem, meaning that he appears fourth generation twice on the sire side of his pedigree and fourth generation once on the dam side of his pedigree. \* Wizard is inbred 4S × 4D to the mare Snap mare, meaning that he appears fourth generation once on the sire side of his pedigree and fourth generation once on the dam side of his pedigree.

The First Time (Glee)

"The First Time" is the fifth episode of the third season of the American musical television series Glee, and the forty-ninth overall. Written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and directed by co-executive producer Bradley Buecker, it first aired on Fox in the United States on November 8, 2011. The episode features the preparations for performing West Side Story and the show's opening night, and the various events leading to the decisions by two of the show's student couples—Rachel (Lea Michele) and Finn (Cory Monteith), and Kurt (Chris Colfer) and Blaine (Darren Criss)—to begin having sex. While an advanced copy of the episode was released to several reviewers and was highly praised by them, the reviewers of the broadcast were not as generally enthusiastic. In particular, some of the plotting and resulting characterization came in for criticism. The performance of "America", however, was widely acclaimed, especially that of Santana (Naya Rivera) in the role of Anita. While the advance publicity about the "first time" events drew some pre-broadcast condemnation, many critics were enthusiastic about the fact that a gay couple was being given such a storyline. All six songs were released in five singles, available for download. Of these, "Uptown Girl", a song sung by the returning Dalton Academy Warblers, charted on the Billboard Hot 100, and also on the Canadian Hot 100. The remaining songs, all from West Side Story, did not chart. Upon its initial airing, this episode was viewed by 6.91 million American viewers, the lowest of the season, and garnered a 3.1/10 Nielsen rating/share in the 18–49 demographic. The total viewership for this episode was down somewhat from the previous episode, "Pot o' Gold", though ratings were fractionally higher. ## Plot Artie Abrams (Kevin McHale) has taken charge of directing the school musical, West Side Story, and he tells the two leads—Rachel (Lea Michele), playing Maria, and Blaine (Darren Criss), playing Tony—that they are not conveying enough emotion in their rendition of "Tonight". He questions whether they can convincingly portray the roles if they are still virgins. Later, his co-director Coach Beiste (Dot-Marie Jones) confesses to him that she is attracted to football recruiter Cooter Menkins (Eric Bruskotter), who is at McKinley to scout potential players for Ohio State, though she is sure he would never consider her. Artie thinks otherwise, and acting on his advice, Cooter arranges a date with her. Blaine and Kurt (Chris Colfer) discuss their decision to postpone sex. Blaine goes to Dalton Academy to invite the Warblers to see him in West Side Story and arrives as they are performing "Uptown Girl". Afterward, new Warbler Sebastian Smythe (Grant Gustin) makes a play for Blaine, intercut with Santana (Naya Rivera) and Rachel singing "A Boy Like That" from the musical. They later meet at a coffee shop, and Kurt arrives as Blaine is telling Sebastian that he already has a boyfriend. Sebastian convinces them to go with him to the local gay bar and supplies fake IDs. While Blaine and Sebastian are dancing, Kurt is surprised to see Dave Karofsky (Max Adler), who has transferred to another school. When Blaine and Kurt leave, Blaine is drunk and aroused, and urges Kurt to have sex with him in the back seat of the car; Kurt refuses, and Blaine angrily walks home. Rachel lets Finn (Cory Monteith) know that she is interested in having sex with him, but he balks when she admits her reason is to be a better Maria. Later, she asks advice from the other girls in the show. While Santana and Quinn (Dianna Agron) both urge her not to have sex with Finn, Tina (Jenna Ushkowitz) reveals that she and Mike (Harry Shum, Jr.) had sex over the summer and says how wonderful it was with the boy she loved—her words are intercut with Rachel and Santana singing "I Have a Love" in rehearsal. Mike's father (Keong Sim) confronts him about his participation in the musical, and Mike tells him he wants to be a professional dancer, not a doctor. His father disowns him in disbelief, claiming that as long as he wants to be a dancer, he won’t be his son anymore. Cooter recruits Shane (LaMarcus Tinker) for Ohio State, but not Finn, who is despondent about his future. Rachel comforts him, and promises that she will help him find a new future. Back at school, Blaine apologizes to Kurt for getting drunk, and says he cares nothing for Sebastian. Kurt proposes that they go over to Blaine's house for the night. On opening night, Artie is assailed by self-doubt, but he is thanked by the cast for his leadership, and he thanks them for trusting him. They perform "America", which gets a standing ovation. Blaine and Rachel, waiting to go on and still virgins, are afraid they will not convey the necessary emotion, but Rachel reminds Blaine that they both have found their soulmates in Finn and Kurt, just like Maria and Tony had with each other. As they sing "One Hand, One Heart" on stage, they are also shown in scenes involving their first sexual encounters with their true soulmates. ## Production The episode began filming on September 23, 2011, and ended on October 14, 2011. The last nine days were shot in parallel with the sixth episode, which began shooting on October 6, 2011, and briefly with the seventh episode, which began shooting on October 13, 2011. Grant Gustin makes his first appearance in this episode, playing a new "major" recurring character, Sebastian Smythe, a "gay Dalton Academy Warbler who sets his sights on Blaine". Gustin won the role after "an exhaustive, weeks-long casting search", and the character is referred to as "promiscuous" and "scheming". Gustin's first day on the Glee set was September 26, 2011. He had been playing the role of Baby John in the touring company of Broadway revival of West Side Story since it opened on September 30, 2010, and left the show after performing on September 23, 2011 to return for his first day with Glee. Although the Dalton Academy Warblers also return in this episode, they are not voiced by the Tufts Beelzebubs, who sang backgrounds for Warblers numbers in the second season. According to Curt Mega, who sings lead on the Warblers track in this episode, the backgrounds were sung by "Jon Hall, Brock Baker and Luke Edgemon and some others", with the three named men having played on-screen Warblers in the second season. Some of the actors who played Warblers in the second season, including Hall and Mega, returned for the third. After the Warblers were filmed on October 3, 2011, Dominic Barnes, who played Trent in season two, tweeted to Gustin, "very impressive moves today sir", to which Gustin replied, "Thanks bro! Fun stuff!!" Another "major recurring role" debuts in this episode: Eric Bruskotter joins the cast as Cooter Menkins, "a football recruiter who comes scouting for talent at McKinley, but finds he can’t take his eyes off the team’s gruff but big-hearted coach." Other recurring guest stars that appear in the episode include football coach Shannon Beiste (Jones), the focus of Cooter's eyes, former prom king Dave Karofsky (Adler), exchange student and new glee club member Rory Flanagan (Damian McGinty), and Mike's parents Julia Chang and Mike Chang, Sr. (Tamlyn Tomita and Sim). This episode features six covers, five of which are from West Side Story, the stage musical being rehearsed and performed during the course of the episode: "A Boy Like That" and "I Have a Love" sung by Rivera and Michele, "Tonight" and "One Hand, One Heart" sung by Michele and Criss, and the number performed by the Sharks and Jets, "America". The sixth cover, "Uptown Girl", is sung by the Dalton Academy Warblers, with Mega on lead vocal. ## Reception ### Ratings "The First Time" was first broadcast on November 8, 2011 in the United States on Fox. It garnered a 3.1/8 Nielsen rating/share in the 18–49 demographic, and received 6.91 million American viewers during its initial airing, the lowest number of viewers for a new episode in the third season. While the show's viewership was down by over 7% from the 7.47 million for previous new episode, "Pot o' Gold", which was broadcast on November 1, 2011, the rating in the 18–49 demographic increased slightly from the 3.0/8 rating/share received by that episode. Viewership also decreased in other countries, and hit season lows in the United Kingdom and Australia as well. In the United Kingdom, "The First Time" was watched on Sky1 by 973,000 viewers, down 7% compared to "Pot o' Gold" the previous week, when 1.05 million viewers were watching. In Australia, "The First Time" was watched by 660,000 viewers, which made Glee the fourteenth most-watched program of the night. The viewership was down almost 9% from "Pot o' Gold", which was seen by 724,000 viewers. In Canada, however, viewership was up slightly and 1.66 million viewers watched the episode, which made it the fifteenth most-viewed show of the week, up three slots and over 2% from the 1.62 million viewers who watched "Pot o' Gold" the week before. ### Pre-broadcast reception Like "Asian F" before it, screener copies of this episode were sent to a number of critics before the show aired. Michael Ausiello of TVLine called it "stellar" and a "standout episode", and Entertainment Weekly's Tim Stack wrote that it was "one of Glee's best installments ever" and an "exceptional episode". Both articles headlined the sexual theme of the episode, and made prominent mention of the fact that both couples would be "having sex for the first time". Prior to broadcast, Colfer anticipated that the episode's sexual themes and content would prove controversial among television watchdog groups. He said, "I absolutely expect to hear from them, but I think it's handled very sweetly and very emotionally. They're expecting this big, raunchy, suggestive, brainwashing storyline when, really, it's very sweet." Before the episode aired, the conservative Parents Television Council called the show "reprehensible" and the Fox network reckless for "celebrating teen sex". ### Critical reception When the show aired, the reviewers were not as uniformly enthusiastic as the screeners. Bobby Hankinson of The Houston Chronicle called this "one of the better episodes in the show’s three-season run, though not as good as 'Asian F'". Time's James Poniewozik weighted them differently, calling "The First Time" the "best episode, overall, of Glee season three". Raymund Flandez of The Wall Street Journal said it had "tasteful restraint, subtle playfulness and smoothly woven storylines", and The Atlantic's Kevin Fallon said the episode "treats its characters realistically and send an important message". Robert Canning of IGN gave the episode a "good" grade of 7.5 out of 10. Rolling Stone's Erica Futterman wrote that it was "clinical and awkward", and the "second flatline" episode in a row, though she complimented the four actors playing the two couples as "genuine and relatable". John Kubicek of BuddyTV said that the episode infuriated him "on a grand scale". Amy Reiter of the Los Angeles Times wrote that the episode was "far more nuanced, gentle-hearted and romantic than it sounds—much more about love than about sex", and a number of reviewers agreed, including AOLTV's Crystal Bell. For Hankinson, however, "the teenage lust was played a touch too safe, a bit too romanticized". Canning said that Kurt and Blaine's "attempts to get a little wild", and "trying to grow up faster than they should", were "the better parts of the episode as they felt the most realistic". Futterman praised their departure from the bar as a "very faithful and honest scene". Emily VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club and Kubicek both had issues with Blaine's characterization. The latter asserted that he "just behaves however the writers need him to behave in order for the scene to work", while the former said that Blaine's season three storyline "hasn’t been bad by any means, but it does feel like Darren Criss is playing someone who’s quite a bit different from the guy he was playing last season". Bell was impressed by the way the characters' relationship "inspires gay youth in a way that we haven't seen on network television yet" and called them "amazing role models for all teens", and Fallon said it was "remarkable" and a "milestone" that "the decision by gay teen characters to lose their virginities is given equal weight to that of a straight couple". Anthony Benigno of The Faster Times characterized the scene with Kurt and Karofsky as "subtle" and "a home run", and Entertainment Weekly's Abby West called it a "perfect little nuanced scene", while Ausiello said it was his "favorite scene of the episode". Poniewozik complimented the way "Monteith really sold Finn’s feeling of being helpless and overmatched", and Canning said that Finn's reaction to Rachel's admission that she wanted to have sex because of the play was a "solid and true moment". Rachel's reasoning, however, came in for harsh criticism: Brett Berk of Vanity Fair said it was "neither believable nor even amusing" that she would try intercourse for such a reason, Bell called her a "dunce", and VanDerWerff didn't believe that she would just blurt it out to Finn. The Star-Ledger's Vicki Hyman felt her decision to go all the way did not "ring quite true", and Poniewozik called it "essentially pity sex". Ausiello had a different view—"I would hardly call it pity sex"—and West said she was "going to choose to believe" that Rachel did not have her first time "just to make him feel better". Several of Artie's scenes came in for criticism. The scene where he advised Rachel and Blaine to have sex was viewed by Poniewozik as "a forced conflict designed to drive the plot" and highly implausible for a number of reasons. Kubicek stated that "acting is about pretending, and if Rachel is really a great actress, she'd be able to play the emotion without needing to have sex". Bell and West made similar points. Rae Votta of Billboard commented on the "weird" plotline that involved Artie and Coach Beiste, for which Kubicek called Artie's actions "inappropriate". While Hyman "liked Artie coming into his own as a director", she called his pre-show jitters "jarring", though she called his final speech "a nice moment", and Benigno characterized it as "a kind of cheesy but actually appropriate speech". Futterman felt it was a "valid and heartwarming point", but "awkwardly slotted in". Poniewozik credited Jones as Coach Beiste with "stunning work", and Kubicek said Beiste's "fragile lack of self-esteem" was "believable and heartfelt" and that Jones was "brilliant". The scene where Mike is disowned by his father was characterized as "weird" and "tonally off" by VanDerWerff and "abrupt and unlikely" by Hyman. Kubicek was even more critical: "the most over-the-top, terribly clichéd scene ever". However, Votta gave "kudos to Glee for sticking with Mike's story this season as he figures out his path", and West wrote that Shum "played it well", while Canning said it and the later scene with his mother "were mighty effective, if a bit stereotypical". Hyman and West also approved of the latter scene. Sue's absence from the episode was applauded by Bell, who called it "exactly what the show needed". Michael Slezak of TVLine said "the show might be at its best" when Sue and Will "are relegated to benchwarmer status", and Poniewozik "did not miss them one bit". The new Warbler, Sebastian, was said to be "instantly loathsome" by Benigno. His scene with Blaine that was blended with Santana and Rachel singing "A Boy Like That" was variously described as "savvily intercut" by Hyman, "heavy-handed" by Votta, and bringing "the dangers of teen love" to "ferocious life" by Slezak. Of the ending, Futterman noted that "the final scenes actually wound up truthful to these characters", and Kevin Sullivan of MTV wrote that "when the two separate moments finally did arrive at the end of the episode, it felt like the natural end and was quite touching". ### Music and performances Supervising Music Editor David Klotz received a Best Sound Editing: Short Form Musical in Television nomination at the 2012 Golden Reel Awards for his work on the episode. The musical performances were generally well received by reviewers, though a few songs came in for some criticism. One that was given near-universal plaudits was "America", from Hankinson's "awesome" to Hyman's "killer rendition" to VanDerWerff's "one of the best production numbers the show has ever done". The most frequent caveat seemed to be the accents used by the singers; Flandez thought they "could've used a little finesse", and Futterman characterized them as "questionable", though both complimented the performance's dance moves. Santana's performance in the number and the show came in for particular comment: The Hollywood Reporter's Lesley Goldberg called her "completely captivating as Anita", and Rae Votta of Billboard mentioned her "two stand out vocal performances". Of the four other songs from West Side Story, "Tonight" was given an "A−" and called "pretty wonderful" by Benigno, while Futterman thought it "very sweet, yet very vanilla" and West gave it a "B" and noted it "was lacking something". Slezak gave the musical's songs a collective grade of "A". Although others praised Santana as Anita, Futterman was not impressed with her rendition of "A Boy Like That" and wrote, "Santana's part of the song is not nearly angry or urgent enough and sounds like a watered-down version of what Santana is capable of". West gave the song a "B+", and stated that the song was "stellar for Rachel's fire". Futterman singled out Rachel for "I Have a Love": "Rachel delivers the best vocals of the night with her powerful, yet incredibly high soprano that sounds effortless despite being out of her normal range." Benigno and West both gave "One Hand, One Heart" an "A"; the former called it "wonderful", although he railed about the prevalence of show tunes in the episode, and the latter wrote, "This was the perfect soundtrack to the trio of first times." The one song that did not come from the musical was "Uptown Girl". Votta said the performance by the Dalton Academy Warblers, with "leads by minor Warbler Nick, played by Curt Mega", was "refreshing and nostalgic all at once, a bright pop musical spot in an episode devoted to Broadway and a reminder of the dominant Dalton presence last season". Bell wrote that the "Warblers were totally born to sing 'Uptown Girl'", and Goldberg called it "among the young season’s best" performances. Flandez said it was a "terrific performance", though Benigno was more restrained, and gave it a "B+" despite there being "less innovation" in the a cappella "gimmick", and noted that "the barbershop-quartet finish is actually pretty good". Slezak, however, said the song was the only musical "weak link" in the episode, and Canning called it "too polished". Futterman thought the lead singers were "grating and over-the-top", and Poniewozik characterized the performance as "unfortunate". ### Chart history One of the six cover versions released as five singles—the "A Boy Like That" single also contained "I Have a Love"—debuted on the Billboard Hot 100: "Uptown Girl" debuted at number sixty-eight. It also debuted on the Canadian Hot 100 at number eighty-three. The other singles, all from West Side Story, did not chart. Two of these singles, "Uptown Girl" and "Tonight", are included on the soundtrack album Glee: The Music, Volume 7.

Barry (dog)

Swiss mountain rescue dog (1800–1814)

Barry der Menschenretter (1800–1814), also known as Barry, was a dog of a breed which was later called the St. Bernard that worked as a mountain rescue dog in Switzerland and Italy for the Great St Bernard Hospice. He predates the modern St. Bernard, and was lighter built than the modern breed. He has been described as the most famous St. Bernard, as he was credited with saving more than 40 lives during his lifetime, hence his byname Menschenretter meaning "people rescuer" in German. The legend surrounding him was that he was killed while attempting a rescue; however, this is untrue. Barry retired to Bern, Switzerland and after his death his body was passed into the care of the Natural History Museum of Bern. His skin has been preserved through taxidermy although his skull was modified in 1923 to match the Saint Bernard of that time period. His story and name have been used in literary works, and a monument to him stands in the Cimetière des Chiens near Paris. At the hospice, one dog has always been named Barry in his honor; and since 2004, the Fondation Barry du Grand Saint Bernard has been set up to take over the responsibility for breeding dogs from the hospice. ## History The first mention in the Great St Bernard Hospice archives of a dog was in 1707 which simply said "A dog was buried by us." The dogs are thought to have been introduced to the monastery as watchdogs at some point between 1660 and 1670. Old skulls from the collection of the Natural History Museum of Bern show that at least two types of dog lived at the hospice. By 1800, the year that Barry was born, it was known that a special kind of dog was being used for rescue work in the pass. This general variety of dog was known as a Küherhund, or cowherd's dog. Measurements of his preserved body show that Barry was significantly smaller and lighter built than the modern Saint Bernard, weighing between 40 and 45 kilograms (88 and 99 lb) whereas modern Bernards weigh between 54 and 81kg (120 to 180lbs) His current mounted height is approximately 64 centimetres (25 in), but the living Barry would have been slightly smaller. Although Barry was definitely of the original Saint Bernard breed, depictions of him in media, especially picture books, are usually a dog of the modern Saint Bernard breed. During Barry's career, he was credited with saving the lives of more than forty people, although this number has sometimes varied over the years. Barry's most famous rescue was that of a young boy. He found the child asleep in a cavern of ice. After warming up the boy's body sufficiently by licking him, he moved the boy about and onto his back and carried the child back to the hospice. The child survived and was returned to his parents, although other sources say that the boy's mother died in the avalanche that trapped the boy. The Natural History Museum of Bern disputes the legend, attributing it to Peter Scheitlin, an animal psychologist. > The best of dogs, the best of animals is Barry. You used to leave the convent with a basket round your neck, into the storm, in the most insidious snow. Each and every day you examined the mountain searching for unfortunates buried under avalanches. You dug them out and brought them back to life by yourself and, when you couldn't, you rushed back to the convent signalling the monks for help. You resurrected people. Your tenderness was so easy to communicate, that the boy you dug out had no fear to let you bring him, holding on to your back, to the Hospice. ### Death There is a plaque on a monument in the Cimetière des Chiens pet cemetery in France which states, "Il sauva la vie à 40 personnes. Il fut tué par le 41ème" ("He saved the lives of forty people. He was killed by the forty-first"). The story goes that news had come that a Swiss soldier was lost in the mountains. Barry was searching for the soldier and had picked up the scent, some forty-eight hours old, and finally stopped before a large bank of ice. He dug until he reached the soldier, and then licked him as he was trained. The Swiss soldier awoke startled and mistook Barry for a wolf and fatally stabbed him with his bayonet. James Watson in his 1906 work The Dog Book attributed the rumour to fellow author Idstone, also known as Reverend Thomas Pearce. However, the legend of his death is untrue. After twelve years of service at the monastery, Barry was brought by a monk to Bern, Switzerland so that he could live out the rest of his life. He died at the age of 14. His body passed into the hands of the Natural History Museum of Bern. A special exhibition was held in his honour at the museum to commemorate his 200th birthday in 2000. ## Legacy The Hospice has always maintained one St. Bernard named Barry in the original's honor. During Barry's lifetime, his breed did not have one specific name. By 1820, six years after his death, Barry was specifically referred to as being an Alpine Mastiff, while there was also a breed called the Alpine Spaniel which was recorded around the same time period. The English called the breed "sacred dogs", while the German Kynology proposed the name "Alpendog" in 1828. Following his death and up until 1860, the entire stock were called "Barry hounds" in the Canton of Bern after Barry himself. It was not until 1865 when the term "St. Bernard" was first used primarily for the breed. Under this name, the St. Bernard has been recognised since 1880 by the Swiss Kennel Club. Barry is described as the most famous St. Bernard by the Natural History Museum of Bern. Following his death, his skin was preserved by a taxidermist for the museum, while the rest of his body was buried. He was originally given a humble and meek pose, as the taxidermist felt that this would serve as a reminder of servitude to future generations. In 1923, his body was refurbished by Georg Ruprecht, as his coat had become brittle and had broken into more than 20 pieces. During the restoration, his body was re-posed and his skull shape was modified to match the shape of the St. Bernard of that time, in a compromise between Ruprecht and the Museum's director. His original head shape was rather flat with a moderate stop, with the modification resulting in a larger head with a more pronounced stop. A barrel was added hanging from his collar, following the popularization of the myth of the monastery's dogs using these during the rescues, which was originally introduced by Edwin Landseer's work Alpine Mastiffs Reanimating a Distressed Traveller. The barrel was removed in 1978 by Professor Walter Huber, the director of the museum, although it has since been replaced. A monument to Barry is located opposite the entrance to the Cimetière des Chiens in Paris. In literary works, Samuel Rogers' poem The Great Saint Bernard is sometimes referred to as Barry, The Great St. Bernard. Henry Bordeaux praised Barry's work in his 1911 novel La Neige sur les pas. Walt Disney Productions made a telemovie entitled Barry of the Great St. Bernard in 1977, and Barry's story has been featured in children's books such as Barry: The Bravest Saint Bernard published by Random House Books for Young Readers. Until September 2004, 18 dogs still belonged to the hospice at any one time. The Foundation Barry du Grand Saint Bernard was established to create kennels in Martigny, a village further down the pass, to take over the breeding of St. Bernard puppies from the friars at the hospice. Around 20 puppies per year are born at the foundation. In 2009, the St. Bernard Dog Museum was opened at the Foundation in Martigny and – to commemorate the occasion – Barry's remains were lent from the museum in Bern. Each summer, the foundation leads dogs up the pass when it is open to the hospice, mainly for tourists, with rescue efforts on the pass now conducted by helicopters. As of 1995 Barry is the single official hallmark for all precious metals and all fineness standards in Switzerland. ## See also - List of individual dogs

The Hobbit

1937 children's fantasy book by J. R. R. Tolkien

The Hobbit, or There and Back Again is a children's fantasy novel by English author J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published in 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the New York Herald Tribune for best juvenile fiction. The book is recognized as a classic in children's literature, and is one of the best-selling books of all time with over 100 million copies sold. The Hobbit is set in Middle-earth and follows home-loving Bilbo Baggins, the hobbit of the title, who joins the wizard Gandalf and thirteen dwarves that make up Thorin Oakenshield's Company, on a quest to reclaim the dwarves' home and treasure from the dragon Smaug. Bilbo's journey takes him from his peaceful rural surroundings into more sinister territory. The story is told in the form of an episodic quest, and most chapters introduce a specific creature or type of creature of Tolkien's geography. Bilbo gains a new level of maturity, competence, and wisdom by accepting the disreputable, romantic, fey, and adventurous sides of his nature and applying his wits and common sense. The story reaches its climax in the Battle of Five Armies, where many of the characters and creatures from earlier chapters re-emerge to engage in conflict. Personal growth and forms of heroism are central themes of the story, along with motifs of warfare. These themes have led critics to view Tolkien's own experiences during World War I as instrumental in shaping the story. The author's scholarly knowledge of Germanic philology and interest in mythology and fairy tales are often noted as influences. The publisher was encouraged by the book's critical and financial success and, therefore, requested a sequel. As Tolkien's work progressed on its successor, The Lord of the Rings, he made retrospective accommodations for it in The Hobbit. These few but significant changes were integrated into the second edition. Further editions followed with minor emendations, including those reflecting Tolkien's changing concept of the world into which Bilbo stumbled. The work has never been out of print. Its ongoing legacy encompasses many adaptations for stage, screen, radio, board games, and video games. Several of these adaptations have received critical recognition on their own merits. ## Characters Bilbo Baggins, the protagonist, is a respectable, reserved and well-to-do hobbit — a race resembling short humans with furry, leathery feet who live in underground houses and are mainly pastoral farmers and gardeners. Gandalf, an itinerant wizard, introduces Bilbo to a company of thirteen dwarves. Thorin Oakenshield is the proud, pompous head of the company of dwarves and heir to the destroyed dwarvish kingdom under the Lonely Mountain. Smaug is a dragon who long ago pillaged the dwarvish kingdom of Thorin's grandfather and sleeps upon the vast treasure. The plot involves a host of other characters of varying importance, such as the twelve other dwarves of the company; two types of elves: both puckish and more serious warrior types; Men; man-eating trolls; boulder-throwing giants; evil cave-dwelling goblins; forest-dwelling giant spiders who can speak; immense and heroic eagles who also speak; evil wolves, or Wargs, who are allied with the goblins; Elrond the sage; Gollum, a strange creature inhabiting an underground lake; Beorn, a man who can assume bear form; and Bard the Bowman, a grim but honourable archer of Lake-town. ## Plot Gandalf tricks Bilbo Baggins into hosting a party for Thorin Oakenshield and his band of twelve dwarves (Dwalin, Balin, Kili, Fili, Dori, Nori, Ori, Oin, Gloin, Bifur, Bofur, and Bombur), who go over plans reclaiming their ancient home, Lonely Mountain, and its vast treasure from the dragon Smaug. Gandalf unveils Thrór's map showing a secret door into the Mountain and proposes that the dumbfounded Bilbo serve as the expedition's "burglar". The dwarves ridicule the idea, but Bilbo, indignant, joins despite himself. The group travels into the wild. Gandalf saves the company from trolls and leads them to Rivendell, where Elrond reveals more secrets from the map. When they attempt to cross the Misty Mountains, they are caught by goblins and driven deep underground. Although Gandalf rescues them, Bilbo gets separated from the others as they flee the goblins. Lost in the goblin tunnels, he stumbles across a mysterious ring and then encounters Gollum, who engages him in a game, each posing a riddle until one of them cannot solve it. If Bilbo wins, Gollum will show him the way out of the tunnels, but if he fails, his life will be forfeit. With the help of the ring, which confers invisibility, Bilbo escapes and rejoins the dwarves, improving his reputation with them. The goblins and Wargs give chase, but the company are saved by eagles. They rest in the house of Beorn. The company enters the dark forest of Mirkwood without Gandalf, who has other responsibilities. In Mirkwood, Bilbo first saves the dwarves from giant spiders and then from the dungeons of the Wood-elves. Nearing the Lonely Mountain, the travellers are welcomed by the human inhabitants of Lake-town, who hope the dwarves will fulfil prophecies of Smaug's demise. The expedition reaches the mountain and finds the secret door. The dwarves send a reluctant Bilbo inside to scout the dragon's lair. He steals a great cup and, while conversing with Smaug, spots a gap in the ancient dragon's armour. The enraged dragon, deducing that Lake-town has aided the intruders, flies off to destroy the town. A thrush overhears Bilbo's report of Smaug's vulnerability and tells Lake-town resident Bard. Smaug wreaks havoc on the town, until Bard shoots an arrow into the chink in Smaug's armour, killing the dragon. When the dwarves take possession of the mountain, Bilbo finds the Arkenstone, the most-treasured heirloom of Thorin's family, and hides it away. The Wood-elves and Lake-men request compensation for Lake-town's destruction and settlement of old claims on the treasure. When Thorin refuses to give them anything, they besiege the mountain. However, Thorin manages to send a message to his kinfolk in the Iron Hills and reinforces his position. Bilbo slips out and gives the Arkenstone to the besiegers, hoping to head off a war. When they offer the jewel to Thorin in exchange for treasure, Bilbo reveals how they obtained it. Thorin, furious at what he sees as betrayal, banishes Bilbo, and battle seems inevitable when Dáin Ironfoot, Thorin's second cousin, arrives with an army of dwarf warriors. Gandalf reappears to warn all of an approaching army of goblins and Wargs. The dwarves, men and elves band together, but only with the timely arrival of the eagles and Beorn do they win the climactic Battle of Five Armies. Thorin is fatally wounded and reconciles with Bilbo before he dies. Bilbo accepts only a small portion of his share of the treasure, having no want or need for more, but still returns home a very wealthy hobbit roughly a year and a month after he first left. Years later, he writes the story of his adventures. ## Concept and creation ### Background In the early 1930s Tolkien was pursuing an academic career at Oxford as Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon, with a fellowship at Pembroke College. Several of his poems had been published in magazines and small collections, including Goblin Feet and The Cat and the Fiddle: A Nursery Rhyme Undone and its Scandalous Secret Unlocked, a reworking of the nursery rhyme Hey Diddle Diddle. His creative endeavours at this time also included letters from Father Christmas to his children—illustrated manuscripts that featured warring gnomes and goblins, and a helpful polar bear—alongside the creation of elven languages and an attendant mythology, including The Book of Lost Tales, which he had been creating since 1917. These works all saw posthumous publication. In a 1955 letter to W. H. Auden, Tolkien recollects that he began work on The Hobbit one day early in the 1930s, when he was marking School Certificate papers. He found a blank page. Suddenly inspired, he wrote the words, "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit." By late 1932 he had finished the story and then lent the manuscript to several friends, including C. S. Lewis and a student of Tolkien's named Elaine Griffiths. In 1936, when Griffiths was visited in Oxford by Susan Dagnall, a staff member of the publisher George Allen & Unwin, she is reported to have either lent Dagnall the book or suggested she borrow it from Tolkien. In any event, Dagnall was impressed by it, and showed the book to Stanley Unwin, who then asked his 10-year-old son Rayner to review it. Rayner's favourable comments settled Allen & Unwin's decision to publish Tolkien's book. ### Setting The setting of The Hobbit, as described on its original dust jacket, is "ancient time between the age of Faerie and the dominion of men" in an unnamed fantasy world. The world is shown on the endpaper map as "Western Lands" westward and "Wilderland" as the east. Originally this world was self-contained, but as Tolkien began work on The Lord of the Rings, he decided these stories could fit into the legendarium he had been working on privately for decades. The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings became the end of the "Third Age" of Middle Earth within Arda. Eventually those tales of the earlier periods became published as The Silmarillion and other posthumous works. ### Influences One of the greatest influences on Tolkien was the 19th-century Arts and Crafts polymath William Morris. Tolkien wished to imitate Morris's prose and poetry romances, following the general style and approach of the work. The Desolation of Smaug as portraying dragons as detrimental to landscape, has been noted as an explicit motif borrowed from Morris. Tolkien wrote also of being impressed as a boy by Samuel Rutherford Crockett's historical novel The Black Douglas and of basing the Necromancer—Sauron—on its villain, Gilles de Retz. Incidents in both The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings are similar in narrative and style to the novel, and its overall style and imagery have been suggested as having had an influence on Tolkien. Tolkien's portrayal of goblins in The Hobbit was particularly influenced by George MacDonald's The Princess and the Goblin. However, MacDonald's influence on Tolkien was more profound than the shaping of individual characters and episodes; his works further helped Tolkien form his whole thinking on the role of fantasy within his Christian faith. The Tolkien scholar Mark T. Hooker has catalogued a lengthy series of parallels between The Hobbit and Jules Verne's 1864 Journey to the Center of the Earth. These include, among other things, a hidden runic message and a celestial alignment that direct the adventurers to the goals of their quests. Tolkien's works show many influences from Norse mythology, reflecting his lifelong passion for those stories and his academic interest in Germanic philology. The Hobbit is no exception to this; the work shows influences from northern European literature, myths and languages, especially from the Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda. Examples include the names of characters, such as Fili, Kili, Oin, Gloin, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Dori, Nori, Dwalin, Balin, Dain, Nain, Thorin Oakenshield and Gandalf (deriving from the Old Norse names Fíli, Kíli, Oin, Glói, Bivör, Bávörr, Bömburr, Dori, Nóri, Dvalinn, Bláin, Dain, Nain, Þorin Eikinskialdi and Gandálfr). But while their names are from Old Norse, the characters of the dwarves are more directly taken from fairy tales such as Snow White and Snow-White and Rose-Red as collected by the Brothers Grimm. The latter tale may also have influenced the character of Beorn. Tolkien's use of descriptive names such as Misty Mountains and Bag End echoes the names used in Old Norse sagas. The names of the dwarf-friendly ravens, such as Roäc, are derived from the Old Norse words for "raven" and "rook", but their peaceful characters are unlike the typical carrion birds from Old Norse and Old English literature. Tolkien is not simply skimming historical sources for effect: the juxtaposition of old and new styles of expression is seen by the Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey as one of the major themes explored in The Hobbit. Maps figure in both saga literature and The Hobbit. Several of the author's illustrations incorporate Anglo-Saxon runes, an English adaptation of the Germanic runic alphabets. Themes from Old English literature, and specifically from Beowulf, shape the ancient world which Bilbo stepped into. Tolkien, a scholar of Beowulf, counted the epic among his "most valued sources" for The Hobbit. Tolkien was one of the first critics to treat Beowulf as a literary work with value beyond the merely historical, with his 1936 lecture Beowulf: the Monsters and the Critics. Tolkien borrowed several elements from Beowulf, including a monstrous, intelligent dragon. Certain descriptions in The Hobbit seem to have been lifted straight out of Beowulf with some minor rewording, such as when the dragon stretches its neck out to sniff for intruders. Likewise, Tolkien's descriptions of the lair as accessed through a secret passage mirror those in Beowulf. Other specific plot elements and features in The Hobbit that show similarities to Beowulf include the title of thief, as Bilbo is called by Gollum and later by Smaug, and Smaug's personality, which leads to the destruction of Lake-town. Tolkien refines parts of Beowulf's plot that he appears to have found less than satisfactorily described, such as details about the cup-thief and the dragon's intellect and personality. Another influence from Old English sources is the appearance of named blades of renown, adorned with runes. In using his elf-blade Bilbo finally takes his first independent heroic action. By his naming the blade "Sting" we see Bilbo's acceptance of the kinds of cultural and linguistic practices found in Beowulf, signifying his entrance into the ancient world in which he found himself. This progression culminates in Bilbo stealing a cup from the dragon's hoard, rousing him to wrath—an incident directly mirroring Beowulf and an action entirely determined by traditional narrative patterns. As Tolkien wrote, "The episode of the theft arose naturally (and almost inevitably) from the circumstances. It is difficult to think of any other way of conducting the story at this point. I fancy the author of Beowulf would say much the same." The name of the wizard Radagast is taken from the name of the Slavic deity Radogost. The representation of the dwarves in The Hobbit was influenced by his own selective reading of medieval texts regarding the Jewish people and their history. The dwarves' characteristics of being dispossessed of their ancient homeland at the Lonely Mountain, and living among other groups whilst retaining their own culture are all derived from the medieval image of Jews, whilst their warlike nature stems from accounts in the Hebrew Bible. The Dwarvish calendar invented for The Hobbit reflects the Jewish calendar which begins in late autumn. And although Tolkien denied that he used allegory, the dwarves taking Bilbo out of his complacent existence has been seen as an eloquent metaphor for the "impoverishment of Western society without Jews." ### Publication George Allen & Unwin published the first edition of The Hobbit on 21 September 1937 with a print run of 1,500 copies, which sold out by December because of enthusiastic reviews. This first printing was illustrated in black and white by Tolkien, who designed the dust jacket as well. Houghton Mifflin of Boston and New York reset type for an American edition, to be released early in 1938, in which four of the illustrations would be colour plates. Allen & Unwin decided to incorporate the colour illustrations into their second printing, released at the end of 1937. Despite the book's popularity, paper rationing due to World War II and not ending until 1949 meant that the Allen & Unwin edition of the book was often unavailable during this period. Subsequent editions in English were published in 1951, 1966, 1978 and 1995. Numerous English-language editions of The Hobbit have been produced by several publishers, making it one of the best-selling books of all time with over 100 million copies sold by 2012. In addition, The Hobbit has been translated into over sixty languages, with more than one published version for some languages. #### Revisions In December 1937 The Hobbit's publisher, Stanley Unwin, asked Tolkien for a sequel. In response Tolkien provided drafts for The Silmarillion, but the editors rejected them, believing that the public wanted "more about hobbits". Tolkien subsequently began work on The New Hobbit, which would eventually become The Lord of the Rings, a course that would not only change the context of the original story, but lead to substantial changes to the character of Gollum. In the first edition of The Hobbit, Gollum willingly bets his magic ring on the outcome of the riddle-game, and he and Bilbo part amicably. In the second edition edits, to reflect the new concept of the One Ring and its corrupting abilities, Tolkien made Gollum more aggressive towards Bilbo and distraught at losing the ring. The encounter ends with Gollum's curse, "Thief! Thief, Thief, Baggins! We hates it, we hates it, we hates it forever!" This presages Gollum's portrayal in The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien sent this revised version of the chapter "Riddles in the Dark" to Unwin as an example of the kinds of changes needed to bring the book into conformity with The Lord of the Rings, but he heard nothing back for years. When he was sent galley proofs of a new edition, Tolkien was surprised to find the sample text had been incorporated. In The Lord of the Rings, the original version of the riddle game is explained as a lie made up by Bilbo under the harmful influence of the Ring, whereas the revised version contains the "true" account. The revised text became the second edition, published in 1951 in both the UK and the US. Tolkien began a new version in 1960, attempting to adjust the tone of The Hobbit to its sequel. He abandoned the new revision at chapter three after he received criticism that it "just wasn't The Hobbit, implying it had lost much of its light-hearted tone and quick pace. After an unauthorized paperback edition of The Lord of the Rings appeared from Ace Books in 1965, Houghton Mifflin and Ballantine asked Tolkien to refresh the text of The Hobbit to renew the US copyright. This text became the 1966 third edition. Tolkien took the opportunity to align the narrative even more closely to The Lord of the Rings and to cosmological developments from his still unpublished Quenta Silmarillion as it stood at that time. These small edits included, for example, changing the phrase "elves that are now called Gnomes" from the first, and second editions, on page 63, to "High Elves of the West, my kin" in the third edition. Tolkien had used "gnome" in his earlier writing to refer to the second kindred of the High Elves—the Noldor (or "Deep Elves")—thinking that "gnome", derived from the Greek gnosis (knowledge), was a good name for the wisest of the elves. However, because of its common denotation of a garden gnome, derived from the 16th-century Paracelsus, Tolkien abandoned the term. He also changed "tomatoes" to "pickles" but retained other anachronisms, such as clocks and tobacco. In The Lord of the Rings, he has Merry explain that tobacco had been brought from the West by the Númenóreans. #### Posthumous critical editions Since the author's death, two critical editions of The Hobbit have been published, providing commentary on the creation, emendation and development of the text. In The Annotated Hobbit, Douglas Anderson provides the text of the published book alongside commentary and illustrations. Later editions added the text of "The Quest of Erebor". Anderson's commentary makes note of the sources Tolkien brought together in preparing the text, and chronicles the changes Tolkien made to the published editions. The text is also accompanied by illustrations from foreign language editions, among them work by Tove Jansson. With The History of The Hobbit, published in two parts in 2007, John D. Rateliff provides the full text of the earliest and intermediary drafts of the book, alongside commentary that shows relationships to Tolkien's scholarly and creative works, both contemporary and later. Rateliff provides the abandoned 1960s retelling and previously unpublished illustrations by Tolkien. The book separates commentary from Tolkien's text, allowing the reader to read the original drafts as self-contained stories. ### Illustration and design Tolkien's correspondence and publisher's records show that he was involved in the design and illustration of the entire book. All elements were the subject of considerable correspondence and fussing over by Tolkien. Rayner Unwin, in his publishing memoir, comments: "In 1937 alone Tolkien wrote 26 letters to George Allen & Unwin... detailed, fluent, often pungent, but infinitely polite and exasperatingly precise... I doubt any author today, however famous, would get such scrupulous attention." Even the maps, of which Tolkien originally proposed five, were considered and debated. He wished Thror's Map to be tipped in (that is, glued in after the book has been bound) at first mention in the text, and with the moon letter Cirth on the reverse so they could be seen when held up to the light. In the end the cost, as well as the shading of the maps, which would be difficult to reproduce, resulted in the final design of two maps as endpapers, Thror's map, and the Map of Wilderland (see Rhovanion), both printed in black and red on the paper's cream background. Originally Allen & Unwin planned to illustrate the book only with the endpaper maps, but Tolkien's first tendered sketches so charmed the publisher's staff that they opted to include them without raising the book's price despite the extra cost. Thus encouraged, Tolkien supplied a second batch of illustrations. The publisher accepted all of these as well, giving the first edition ten black-and-white illustrations plus the two endpaper maps. The illustrated scenes were: The Hill: Hobbiton-across-the-Water, The Trolls, The Mountain Path, The Misty Mountains looking West from the Eyrie towards Goblin Gate, Beorn's Hall, Mirkwood, The Elvenking's Gate, Lake Town, The Front Gate, and The Hall at Bag-End. All but one of the illustrations were a full page, and one, the Mirkwood illustration, required a separate plate. Satisfied with his skills, the publishers asked Tolkien to design a dust jacket. This project, too, became the subject of many iterations and much correspondence, with Tolkien always writing disparagingly of his own ability to draw. The runic inscription around the edges of the illustration are a phonetic transliteration of English, giving the title of the book and details of the author and publisher. The original jacket design contained several shades of various colours, but Tolkien redrew it several times using fewer colours each time. His final design consisted of four colours. The publishers, mindful of the cost, removed the red from the sun to end up with only black, blue, and green ink on white stock. The publisher's production staff designed a binding, but Tolkien objected to several elements. Through several iterations, the final design ended up as mostly the author's. The spine shows runes: two "þ" (Thráin and Thrór) runes and one "d" (door). The front and back covers were mirror images of each other, with an elongated dragon characteristic of Tolkien's style stamped along the lower edge, and with a sketch of the Misty Mountains stamped along the upper edge. Once illustrations were approved for the book, Tolkien proposed colour plates as well. The publisher would not relent on this, so Tolkien pinned his hopes on the American edition to be published about six months later. Houghton Mifflin rewarded these hopes with the replacement of the frontispiece (The Hill: Hobbiton-across-the Water) in colour and the addition of new colour plates: Rivendell, Bilbo Woke Up with the Early Sun in His Eyes, Bilbo comes to the Huts of the Raft-elves and Conversation with Smaug, which features a dwarvish curse written in Tolkien's invented script Tengwar, and signed with two "þ" ("Th") runes. The additional illustrations proved so appealing that George Allen & Unwin adopted the colour plates as well for their second printing, with exception of Bilbo Woke Up with the Early Sun in His Eyes. Different editions have been illustrated in diverse ways. Many follow the original scheme at least loosely, but many others are illustrated by other artists, especially the many translated editions. Some cheaper editions, particularly paperback, are not illustrated except with the maps. "The Children's Book Club" edition of 1942 includes the black-and-white pictures but no maps, an anomaly. Tolkien's use of runes, both as decorative devices and as magical signs within the story, has been cited as a major cause for the popularization of runes within "New Age" and esoteric literature, stemming from Tolkien's popularity with the elements of counter-culture in the 1970s. ## Genre The Hobbit takes cues from narrative models of children's literature, as shown by its omniscient narrator and characters that young children can relate to, such as the small, food-obsessed, and morally ambiguous Bilbo. The text emphasizes the relationship between time and narrative progress and it openly distinguishes "safe" from "dangerous" in its geography. Both are key elements of works intended for children, as is the "home-away-home" (or there and back again) plot structure typical of the Bildungsroman. While Tolkien later claimed to dislike the aspect of the narrative voice addressing the reader directly, the narrative voice contributes significantly to the success of the novel. Emer O'Sullivan, in her Comparative Children's Literature, notes The Hobbit as one of a handful of children's books that have been accepted into mainstream literature, alongside Jostein Gaarder's Sophie's World (1991) and J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series (1997–2007). Tolkien intended The Hobbit as a "fairy-story" and wrote it in a tone suited to addressing children although he said later that the book was not specifically written for children but had rather been created out of his interest in mythology and legend. Many of the initial reviews refer to the work as a fairy story. However, according to Jack Zipes writing in The Oxford Companion to Fairy Tales, Bilbo is an atypical character for a fairy tale. The work is much longer than Tolkien's ideal proposed in his essay On Fairy-Stories. Many fairy tale motifs, such as the repetition of similar events seen in the dwarves' arrival at Bilbo's and Beorn's homes, and folklore themes, such as trolls turning to stone, are to be found in the story. The book is popularly called (and often marketed as) a fantasy novel, but like Peter Pan and Wendy by J. M. Barrie and The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald, both of which influenced Tolkien and contain fantasy elements, it is primarily identified as being children's literature. The two genres are not mutually exclusive, so some definitions of high fantasy include works for children by authors such as L. Frank Baum and Lloyd Alexander alongside the works of Gene Wolfe and Jonathan Swift, which are more often considered adult literature. The Hobbit has been called "the most popular of all twentieth-century fantasies written for children". Jane Chance, however, considers the book to be a children's novel only in the sense that it appeals to the child in an adult reader. Sullivan credits the first publication of The Hobbit as an important step in the development of high fantasy, and further credits the 1960s paperback debuts of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings as essential to the creation of a mass market for fiction of this kind as well as the fantasy genre's current status. ## Style Tolkien's prose is unpretentious and straightforward, taking as given the existence of his imaginary world and describing its details in a matter-of-fact way, while often introducing the new and fantastic in an almost casual manner. This down-to-earth style, also found in later fantasy such as Richard Adams' Watership Down and Peter Beagle's The Last Unicorn, accepts readers into the fictional world, rather than cajoling or attempting to convince them of its reality. While The Hobbit is written in a simple, friendly language, each of its characters has a unique voice. The narrator, who occasionally interrupts the narrative flow with asides (a device common to both children's and Anglo-Saxon literature), has his own linguistic style separate from those of the main characters. The basic form of the story is that of a quest, told in episodes. For the most part of the book, each chapter introduces a different denizen of the Wilderland, some helpful and friendly towards the protagonists, and others threatening or dangerous. However the general tone is kept light-hearted, being interspersed with songs and humour. One example of the use of song to maintain tone is when Thorin and Company are kidnapped by goblins, who, when marching them into the underworld, sing: > > Clap! Snap! the black crack! Grip, grab! Pinch, nab! And down down to Goblin-town You go, my lad! This onomatopoeic singing undercuts the dangerous scene with a sense of humour. Tolkien achieves balance of humour and danger through other means as well, as seen in the foolishness and Cockney dialect of the trolls and in the drunkenness of the elven captors. The general form—that of a journey into strange lands, told in a light-hearted mood and interspersed with songs—may be following the model of The Icelandic Journals by William Morris, an important literary influence on Tolkien. ## Critical analysis ### Themes The evolution and maturation of the protagonist, Bilbo Baggins, is central to the story. This journey of maturation, where Bilbo gains a clear sense of identity and confidence in the outside world, may be seen in psychological terms as a Bildungsroman rather than a traditional quest. The Jungian concept of individuation is also reflected through this theme of growing maturity and capability, with the author contrasting Bilbo's personal growth against the arrested development of the dwarves. Thus, while Gandalf exerts a parental influence over Bilbo early on, it is Bilbo who gradually takes over leadership of the party, a fact the dwarves could not bear to acknowledge. The analogue of the "underworld" and the hero returning from it with a boon (such as the ring, or Elvish blades) that benefits his society is seen to fit the mythic archetypes regarding initiation and male coming-of-age as described by Joseph Campbell. Chance compares the development and growth of Bilbo against other characters to the concepts of just kingship versus sinful kingship derived from the Ancrene Wisse (which Tolkien had written on in 1929), and a Christian understanding of Beowulf, a text that influenced Tolkien's writing. Shippey comments that Bilbo is nothing like a king, and that Chance's talk of "types" just muddies the waters, though he agrees with her that there are "self-images of Tolkien" throughout his fiction; and she is right, too, in seeing Middle-earth as a balance between creativity and scholarship, "Germanic past and Christian present". The overcoming of greed and selfishness has been seen as the central moral of the story. Whilst greed is a recurring theme in the novel, with many of the episodes stemming from one or more of the characters' simple desire for food (be it trolls eating dwarves or dwarves eating Wood-elf fare) or a desire for beautiful objects, such as gold and jewels, it is only by the Arkenstone's influence upon Thorin that greed, and its attendant vices "coveting" and "malignancy", come fully to the fore in the story and provide the moral crux of the tale. Bilbo steals the Arkenstone—a most ancient relic of the dwarves—and attempts to ransom it to Thorin for peace. However, Thorin turns on the Hobbit as a traitor, disregarding all the promises and "at your services" he had previously bestowed. In the end Bilbo gives up the precious stone and most of his share of the treasure to help those in greater need. Tolkien also explores the motif of jewels that inspire intense greed that corrupts those who covet them in the Silmarillion, and there are connections between the words "Arkenstone" and "Silmaril" in Tolkien's invented etymologies. The Hobbit employs themes of animism. An important concept in anthropology and child development, animism is the idea that all things—including inanimate objects and natural events, such as storms or purses, as well as living things like animals and plants—possess human-like intelligence. John D. Rateliff calls this the "Doctor Dolittle Theme" in The History of the Hobbit, and cites the multitude of talking animals as indicative of this theme. These talking creatures include ravens, a thrush, spiders and the dragon Smaug, alongside the anthropomorphic goblins and elves. Patrick Curry notes that animism is also found in Tolkien's other works, and mentions the "roots of mountains" and "feet of trees" in The Hobbit as a linguistic shifting in level from the inanimate to animate. Tolkien saw the idea of animism as closely linked to the emergence of human language and myth: "...The first men to talk of 'trees and stars' saw things very differently. To them, the world was alive with mythological beings... To them the whole of creation was 'myth-woven and elf-patterned'." ### Interpretation As in plot and setting, Tolkien brings his literary theories to bear in forming characters and their interactions. He portrays Bilbo as a modern anachronism exploring an essentially antique world. Bilbo is able to negotiate and interact within this antique world because language and tradition make connections between the two worlds. For example, Gollum's riddles are taken from old historical sources, while those of Bilbo come from modern nursery books. It is the form of the riddle game, familiar to both, which allows Gollum and Bilbo to engage each other, rather than the content of the riddles themselves. This idea of a superficial contrast between characters' individual linguistic style, tone and sphere of interest, leading to an understanding of the deeper unity between the ancient and modern, is a recurring theme in The Hobbit. Smaug is the main antagonist. In many ways the Smaug episode reflects and references the dragon of Beowulf, and Tolkien uses the episode to put into practice some of the ground-breaking literary theories he had developed about the Old English poem in its portrayal of the dragon as having bestial intelligence. Tolkien greatly prefers this motif over the later medieval trend of using the dragon as a symbolic or allegorical figure, such as in the legend of St. George. Smaug the dragon with his golden hoard may be seen as an example of the traditional relationship between evil and metallurgy as collated in the depiction of Pandæmonium with its "Belched fire and rolling smoke" in John Milton's Paradise Lost. Of all the characters, Smaug's speech is the most modern, using idioms such as "Don't let your imagination run away with you!" Just as Tolkien's literary theories have been seen to influence the tale, so have Tolkien's experiences. The Hobbit may be read as Tolkien's parable of World War I with the hero being plucked from his rural home and thrown into a far-off war where traditional types of heroism are shown to be futile. The tale as such explores the theme of heroism. As Janet Brennan Croft notes, Tolkien's literary reaction to war at this time differed from most post-war writers by eschewing irony as a method for distancing events and instead using mythology to mediate his experiences. Similarities to the works of other writers who faced the Great War are seen in The Hobbit, including portraying warfare as anti-pastoral: in "The Desolation of Smaug", both the area under the influence of Smaug before his demise and the setting for the Battle of Five Armies later are described as barren, damaged landscapes. The Hobbit makes a warning against repeating the tragedies of World War I, and Tolkien's attitude as a veteran may well be summed up by Bilbo's comment: "Victory after all, I suppose! Well, it seems a very gloomy business." ## Reception On first publication in October 1937, The Hobbit was met with almost unanimously favourable reviews from publications both in the UK and the US, including The Times, Catholic World and New York Post. C. S. Lewis, friend of Tolkien (and later author of The Chronicles of Narnia between 1949 and 1954), writing in The Times reports: > The truth is that in this book a number of good things, never before united, have come together: a fund of humour, an understanding of children, and a happy fusion of the scholar's with the poet's grasp of mythology... The professor has the air of inventing nothing. He has studied trolls and dragons at first hand and describes them with that fidelity that is worth oceans of glib "originality." Lewis compares the book to Alice in Wonderland in that both children and adults may find different things to enjoy in it, and places it alongside Flatland, Phantastes, and The Wind in the Willows. W. H. Auden, in his review of the sequel The Fellowship of the Ring, calls The Hobbit "one of the best children's stories of this century". Auden was later to correspond with Tolkien, and they became friends. The Hobbit was nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the New York Herald Tribune for best juvenile fiction of the year (1938). More recently, the book has been recognized as "Most Important 20th-Century Novel (for Older Readers)" in the Children's Books of the Century poll in Books for Keeps. In 2012 it was ranked number 14 on a list of the top 100 children's novels published by School Library Journal. Publication of the sequel The Lord of the Rings altered many critics' reception of the work. Instead of approaching The Hobbit as a children's book in its own right, critics such as Randel Helms picked up on the idea of The Hobbit as being a "prelude", relegating the story to a dry-run for the later work. Countering a presentist interpretation are those who say this approach misses out on much of the original's value as a children's book and as a work of high fantasy in its own right, and that it disregards the book's influence on these genres. Commentators such as Paul Kocher, John D. Rateliff and C. W. Sullivan encourage readers to treat the works separately, both because The Hobbit was conceived, published, and received independently of the later work, and to avoid dashing readers' expectations of tone and style. ## Legacy ### The Lord of the Rings While The Hobbit has been adapted and elaborated upon in many ways, its sequel The Lord of the Rings is often claimed to be its greatest legacy. The plots share the same basic structure progressing in the same sequence: the stories begin at Bag End, the home of Bilbo Baggins; Bilbo hosts a party that sets the novel's main plot into motion; Gandalf sends the protagonist into a quest eastward; Elrond offers a haven and advice; the adventurers escape dangerous creatures underground (Goblin Town/Moria); they engage another group of elves (Mirkwood/Lothlórien); they traverse a desolate region (Desolation of Smaug/the Dead Marshes); they are received and nourished by a small settlement of men (Esgaroth/Ithilien); they fight in a massive battle (The Battle of Five Armies/Battle of Pelennor Fields); their journey climaxes within an infamous mountain peak (Lonely Mountain/Mount Doom); a descendant of kings is restored to his ancestral throne (Bard/Aragorn); and the questing party returns home to find it in a deteriorated condition (having possessions auctioned off/the Scouring of the Shire). The Lord of the Rings contains several more supporting scenes, and has a more sophisticated plot structure, following the paths of multiple characters. Tolkien wrote the later story in much less humorous tones and infused it with more complex moral and philosophical themes. The differences between the two stories can cause difficulties when readers, expecting them to be similar, find that they are not. Many of the thematic and stylistic differences arose because Tolkien wrote The Hobbit as a story for children, and The Lord of the Rings for the same audience, who had subsequently grown up since its publication. Further, Tolkien's concept of Middle-earth was to continually change and slowly evolve throughout his life and writings. ### In education The style and themes of the book have been seen to help stretch young readers' literacy skills, preparing them to approach the works of Dickens and Shakespeare. By contrast, offering advanced younger readers modern teenage-oriented fiction may not exercise their reading skills, while the material may contain themes more suited to adolescents. As one of several books that have been recommended for 11- to 14-year-old boys to encourage literacy in that demographic, The Hobbit is promoted as "the original and still the best fantasy ever written." Several teaching guides and books of study notes have been published to help teachers and students gain the most from the book. The Hobbit introduces literary concepts, notably allegory, to young readers, as the work has been seen to have allegorical aspects reflecting the life and times of the author. Meanwhile, the author himself rejected an allegorical reading of his work. This tension can help introduce readers to "readerly" and "writerly" interpretations, to tenets of New Criticism, and critical tools from Freudian analysis, such as sublimation, in approaching literary works. Another approach to critique taken in the classroom has been to propose the insignificance of female characters in the story as sexist. While Bilbo may be seen as a literary symbol of "small folk" of any gender, a gender-conscious approach can help students establish notions of a "socially symbolic text" where meaning is generated by tendentious readings of a given work. By this interpretation, it is ironic that the first authorized adaptation was a stage production in a girls' school. ### Adaptations The Hobbit has been adapted many times for a variety of media, starting with a March 1953 stage production by St. Margaret's School, Edinburgh. The first motion picture adaptation of The Hobbit was Gene Deitch's 1966 short film of cartoon stills. In 1968, BBC Radio 4 broadcast an 8-part radio drama version by Michael Kilgarriff. In 1977, Rankin/Bass made an animated film based on the book. In 1978, Romeo Muller won a Peabody Award for his "execrable" and "confusing" teleplay. A children's opera composed by Dean Burry appeared in 2004 in Toronto. Between 2012 and 2014, Peter Jackson's three-part live-action film version appeared on cinema screens. Several computer and video games have been based on the story, including a 1982 game by Beam Software. During the COVID-19 lockdown, Andy Serkis read the whole of The Hobbit to raise money for charity. He then recorded the work again as an audiobook, with cover art by Alan Lee. ### Collectors' market While reliable figures are difficult to obtain, estimated global sales of The Hobbit run between 35 and 100 million copies since 1937. In the UK The Hobbit has not retreated from the top 5,000 bestselling books measured by Nielsen BookScan since 1998, when the index began, achieving a three-year sales peak rising from 33,084 (2000) to 142,541 (2001), 126,771 (2002) and 61,229 (2003), ranking it at the 3rd position in Nielsen's "Evergreen" book list. The enduring popularity of The Hobbit makes early printings of the book attractive collectors' items. The first printing of the first English-language edition can sell for between £6,000 and £20,000 at auction, although the price for a signed first edition has reached over £60,000. ## See also - Middle-earth in film

A New Start (Degrassi High)

"A New Start" is a two-part episode that serves as the premiere of the Canadian teen drama series Degrassi High. Both parts aired on CBC in Canada on November 6, 1989, and on PBS in the United States on January 13, 1990. The episode was written by Yan Moore and directed by Kit Hood. It is the first of three episodes of Degrassi that depict abortion, followed by 2003's "Accidents Will Happen" from Degrassi: The Next Generation and 2017's "#IRegretNothing" from Degrassi: Next Class. In the episode, which follows the cast of Degrassi Junior High as they begin high school, Erica Farrell (Angela Deiseach) discovers she is pregnant following a summer romance and contemplates an abortion, and her anti-abortion twin sister Heather (Maureen Deiseach) becomes torn on supporting her. In the sub-plot, Joey Jeremiah (Pat Mastroianni), Archie "Snake" Simpson (Stefan Brogren) and Derek "Wheels" Wheeler (Neil Hope) are hazed one-by-one by Joey's former enemy Dwayne Myers (Darrin Brown) and his cronies. The episode was made in reaction to the abortion debate of the late 1980s. The writers of Degrassi had thought of making an episode on abortion as early as Degrassi Junior High but ultimately avoided it due to the extremely polarizing nature of the topic. Angela Deiseach extensively prepared for the episode, including visiting a real abortion clinic where she was heckled. The episode did not generate the level of backlash the showrunners expected and aired to a largely positive reception for its portrayal of both sides in the abortion debate, and Angela Deiseach's performance as Erica was singled out for praise by some critics. Several newspapers called Degrassi High "gutsy" in tackling the subject matter and not "copping out", and the episode generated commentary in the Canadian media. However in the United States, PBS removed the final scene in which Erica and Heather fight through a crowd of anti-abortion picketers; a decision which drew pushback from the showrunners and led to Hood's name being removed from the credits at his request. ## Plot ### Part one While getting prepared for their first day at Degrassi High School, Erica Farrell (Angela Deiseach) suddenly becomes sick and runs into a bathroom to vomit as her sister Heather (Maureen Deiseach) expresses her excitement at the new school. At Degrassi High, many of the students from junior high school reunite with each other. As Erica and Heather approach the school, they are met by Christine "Spike" Nelson (Amanda Stepto) and Liz O'Rourke (Cathy Keenan), the former of who is now taking her daughter Emma to a daycare nearby the high school. Although Heather is excited to see them, Erica looks on, emotionless. In school, Grade 10 students Dwayne Myers (Darrin Brown) and his friends Tabi (Michelle Johnson-Murray) and Nick (George Chaker) express their dismay at the influx of the younger students and they decide that "initiation" should be brought back "unofficially". Erica and Heather meet up with Lucy Fernandez (Anais Granofsky) and L.D. (Amanda Cook), where Heather tells them that Erica had a romance over the summer; a camp counselor named Jason. Erica, not amused, says Jason was a jerk and leaves. Heather explains that the two had a fight and broke up before they left the camp and then tells them that Erica lost her virginity to him, despite having only known him for two months. After Joey, Snake and Wheels meet their junior high teacher Ms. Avery (Michelle Goodeve), Dwayne bumps into Joey and then blames him, Snake and Wheels for burning down the school and explains his plans to initiate the three of them despite the school having banned initiation. After noticing Erica's behavior at school, she consoles her back at home and the two decide to buy a pregnancy test. Back at school, Snake is targeted in the initiation He later returns to Joey and Wheels covered in white powder as Joey and Wheels run away. As the twins wait for the pregnancy tests, Erica suggests having an abortion, which Heather disagrees with, telling her abortion is wrong. The results come back and she tests negative. Later at school, Erica says her period is still late and decides to buy another pregnancy test which Heather agrees with. In the halls, Wheels is next for initiation and returns to Joey and Snake in the cafeteria covered in shaving cream. Snake and Wheels tease Joey, who is next. Back at home, Erica awaits her test results. ### Part two Her results return and Heather jokes she can finally use the washroom. When she is out of sight, Erica appears to be stunned, implying that the test came back positive. Back at the school, Erica and Heather meet Spike and Liz again. Erica asks Spike how horrible it was being pregnant, which Heather feels is an offhand question. Spike explains that she felt like an outcast and had no social life but that she still loved Emma. In communications class, Erica sparks a class debate about abortion, which Spike refuses to participate in, feeling that because it was wrong for her, it did not mean it was wrong in general. Later on, Erica goes to an abortion clinic, where she is swarmed by anti-abortion protesters. She is led inside the clinic by a worker, who explains the procedure to her. Joey continues to hide from the initiation. At home, Erica reveals she lied to Heather about the results of the second test, that she had a third done at the clinic and that she's made an appointment for an abortion. Heather vehemently disagrees and despite Erica pleading her to come with her, a panicked Heather refuses. Joey is later caught and undergoes initiation; while he is being dragged up a ramp while rolling a banana under his nose, the three leave, just as Joey is approached by Mr. Raditch (Dan Woods), who tells Jeremiah that he is the new vice principal, and takes him to his office for a "little chat". After class, Heather pulls Spike aside and asks her if she'd ever thought about having an abortion. Spike says that she did and that she felt it was wrong to have one but clarifies that it was her choice and Erica (who Heather doesn't name) feels it is right for her. Spike tells Heather: "Y'know, it's great to have high ideals and stuff but when you're in that situation, right and wrong, they can get really complicated." Back at the clinic, protesters are still circling outside. This time, Heather is with Erica and the two go together, where they are swarmed (and in Erica's case the second time) by the protesters. As they make it to the top of the stairs, one protester holds up a plastic fetus and the two are led inside by the woman. ## Cast Credited in order of original broadcast: ## Production and broadcast Prior to "A New Start", Degrassi's writers had been reluctant to tackle the subject of abortion due to the polarizing nature of the subject. The idea had been toyed around with as far back as Christine "Spike" Nelson's pregnancy in Degrassi Junior High, but head writer Yan Moore feared the reaction to such a storyline and felt that "there was no way we could possibly do it". As the cast matured and the producers had done further research, Moore changed his mind, and creators Linda Schuyler and Kit Hood felt that the actors were emotionally mature enough to handle the topic. They selected twin sisters Erica and Heather Farrell (Angela and Maureen Deiseach), feeling they were perfect for portraying the polarization. Linda Schuyler said in 1989 that the topic felt appropriate for ushering in the new series as the subject could be further explored throughout the season, stating, "The issue is not over with in this show. There are three or four subplots which show the angst isn't over with. You just can't put something like this at the end of your season - well, you could but I don't think it would be responsible. The issue doesn't stop and start in an hour." During the series' pre-acting workshops, the actors were given monologues concerning both sides of the issue to read "with conviction". Some of the actors expressed the opposite opinion of their character. Cathy Keenan, who played the anti-abortion Liz O'Rourke, for example, was pro-choice in real life, which co-creator Linda Schuyler commented was a "real stretch" for Keenan. The topic polarized the cast members, with some refusing to say what had been written for them in the script. Catherine Dunphy called the tension in the room during the initial readthrough "palpable". Angela Deiseach spent weeks extensively preparing for her role in the episode. She watched about a teenage girl who chose abortion, which made her cry, discussed the subject at length with Maureen, and eventually asked to visit an abortion clinic alone. There, she was recognized from the show and heckled by anti-abortion protesters. Deiseach then attended a counselling session, with nobody in the room knowing that she was an actress. After the session, Deiseach entered an elevator, where a man called her a "whore". Principal photography of the two-parter took place in the spring of 1989, wrapping on May 24. The Deiseach twins recalled later that the filming of the scene in which Erica has to face her pregnancy reduced Kit Hood and everybody in the room to tears. "A New Start" premiered in its hour-long form on CBC Television in Canada at 8:30pm, the same time slot as its predecessor, on November 6, 1989, pre-empting the American sitcom Designing Women. In Australia, the first part premiered at 5:30pm on May 15, 1991 on ABC-TV's The Afternoon Show, a day after Degrassi Junior High's series finale, "Bye-Bye, Junior High", with the second part airing the day later. Reportedly, to avoid pre-broadcast controversy, the CBC asked the media not to reveal much details of the episode, including the outcome of the storyline. ## Reception and legacy "A New Start" did not generate the level of controversy that the writers had feared, specifically in the United States. According to Yan Moore, they received no intensely negative reaction except for "the occasional postcard" from a "religious guy [..] telling us we were all going to hell in a handbasket." The episode garnered generally positive reviews from critics, who praised the handling of the topic of abortion, and generally viewed it as a strong series opener that reaffirmed Degrassi's reputation as a realistic and honest teen drama. Bob Remington, writing for the Edmonton Journal, felt the episode handled the issue of abortion responsibly, portrayed every view point on the subject, and unlike other television series which addressed the same issue, there was no "miscarriage cop-out". Lynne Heffley of the Los Angeles Times declared that the episode still proved Degrassi as being one of the "most gutsiest shows on television". Writing for The Toronto Star, Antonia Zerbisias acclaimed the episode, asserting that it was "a gutsy show, particularly in the light of the current political and emotional climate [of the 1980s]", and singled out the exploration of both sides of the abortion topic. Furthermore, she quipped that if the show was an American prime time show, "the whole thing would turn out to be a hilarious mix-up. We'd have lots of eye-rolling, sophomoric one-liners about burgeoning bellies and then ooops! Turns out the smart alec kid brother merely murdered the bunny for a school science project." Ian Warden of The Canberra Times particularly praised actress Angela Deiseach, whom he felt "exquisitely and touchingly" portrayed Erica, and suggested that the Australian Broadcasting Corporation sell video tapes of the show in their stores, as "no high school, and perhaps no home with pubescent children rattling around it, should be without them". Angela Deiseach's performance was also noted by Catherine Dunphy of the Toronto Star, who stated that when "Erica breaks down and weeps - really weeps; she is gasping for breath and her shoulders shake - it is an electric jolt. Her pain burns through even the cool medium of television." A mixed review came from The Province'''s Lee Bacchus. While agreeing that the episode continued to demonstrate the show's willingness to tackle contentious social issues, Bacchus felt that it simplified the issue of abortion to "the bumper-sticker level of righteous moralism" and "lofty platitudes". On November 11, 1989, Starweek (the entertainment section of the Toronto Star) ran a piece in which two individuals, one anti-abortion and one pro-choice, offered their opinion on the episode. The anti-abortion viewer stated Degrassi High was "fundamentally dishonest" in its portrayal of abortion, and that Erica "has no choice at all since she is totally unwilling or unable to look her situation squarely in the face". Meanwhile, the pro-choice viewer felt the episode was Degrassi's best, "poignantly presented" the emotional decisions involved and did not simplify the complexities of abortion, and that by doing so, it "did a service to compassion and tolerance". Reader's Digest Canada's Brett Walther ranked the episode and its storyline on his list of "10 Times Degrassi High Was the Best Thing on Television". Like contemporary critics, Walther shared the sentiment that the abortion plotline was "sensitively and intelligently handled", and that the episode still felt "relevant more than three decades on". Walther also singled out a quote from Spike: "It’s great to have, you know, high ideals and stuff, but when you’re in that situation, right and wrong—they can get really complicated.", as being "fantastic" and "could just as easily serve as the series’ manifesto". He concluded that the episode didn't have a happy ending, but rather the moral of the story being that "most people are inherently decent, doing the best they can in a world that’s often unfair." ## PBS scene edit controversy Though the episode did not generate the level of controversy the writers had feared, a minor spat occurred between Degrassi High's producers and PBS when the episode made its United States debut on the network in January 1990. The final scene with Erica and Heather fighting through a crowd of anti-abortion protesters to the entrance of the abortion clinic was removed, instead ending on a shot of the twins looking on at the crowd before approaching them. Kate Taylor of WGBH, who was also involved in the series' production, stated that the choice to cut the scenes was an "[a]esthetic decision", that had been undertaken to create a "more powerful, more poignant" ending to the story. The choice was done without the consent of the show's original producers. This drew a negative response from co-creator Kit Hood, who denounced PBS's changes and stated that Kate Taylor had brought a "personal bias" into the decision. Hood also remarked that they had given the episode "an American ending, happy, safe but incomplete...". In protest, he requested his name be taken out of the credits of the PBS version. Linda Schuyler noted that the removed portion included a shot of a picketer holding up a plastic fetus, something that would be referred back to in a later episode. Edmonton Journal's Bob Remington defended PBS's decision, arguing that it did not avoid the issue "or take the easy way out" as had been insinuated, and that the producers were overreacting over something arguably minor. Ivan Fecan, the programming chief for the CBC and a proponent of the show, stated that the network had no hesitations in showing the unedited episode, stating: "If you do something responsibly and well, it is fine and right to show it". He also opined that the United States did not give Degrassi the respect it deserved and that they "have no idea of what a strong show they are missing". ## See also - "It's Late", a similar episode from Degrassi Junior High involving teen pregnancy. - "Accidents Will Happen", a similar episode from Degrassi: The Next Generation'' involving teen pregnancy that was not aired in the United States until three years later.

Steorn

Irish energy company

Steorn Ltd (/ˈstjɔːrn/) was a small, private technology development company based in Dublin, Ireland. In August 2006, it announced that it had developed a technology to provide "free, clean, and constant energy" via an apparent perpetual motion machine, something which is contrary to the law of conservation of energy, a fundamental principle of physics. Steorn challenged the scientific community to investigate its claim and, in December 2006, said that it had chosen a jury of scientists to do so. In June 2009 the jury gave its unanimous verdict that Steorn had not demonstrated the production of energy. Steorn gave two public demonstrations of its technology. In the first demonstration, in July 2007 at the Kinetica Museum in London, the device failed to work. The second demonstration, which ran from December 2009 to February 2010 at the Waterways Visitor Centre in Dublin, involved a motor powered by a battery and provided no independent evidence that excess energy was being generated. It was dismissed by the press as an attempt to build a perpetual motion machine, and a publicity stunt. In November 2016, the company laid off its staff, closed its facility, and prepared for liquidation. ## History Steorn was founded in 2000 and, in October 2001, its website stated that it was a "specialist service company providing programme management and technical assessment advice for European companies engaging in e-commerce projects". Steorn is a Norse word meaning to guide or manage. In May 2006, The Sunday Business Post reported that Steorn was a former dot-com company which was developing a microgenerator product based on the same principle as self-winding watches, as well as creating e-commerce websites for customers. The company had also recently raised about €2.5 million from investors and was three years into a four-year development plan for its microgenerator technology. Steorn later stated that the account given in this interview was intended to prevent a leak regarding their free energy technology. The company's investment history shows several share allotments for cash between August 2000 and October 2005, the investments totalling €3 million. In 2006, Steorn secured €8.1 million in loans from a range of investors in order to continue its research, and these funds were also converted into shares. Steorn said that it would seek no further funding while attempting to prove its free-energy claim in order to demonstrate its genuine desire for validation. ### Liquidation In June 2016, the company informed shareholders that it had failed to meet expectations, that company founder Shaun (Seán) McCarthy was being replaced as CEO, and that operating costs were nearly €1 million per year. After investments totaling nearly €23 million over a ten-year period, in November 2016 the company shut down and laid off its staff, due to a lack of additional funding to continue operations. ## Free energy claim In August 2006, Steorn placed an advertisement in The Economist saying that it had developed a technology that produced "free, clean and constant energy". Called Orbo, the technology was said to violate conservation of energy but had allegedly been validated by eight independent scientists. Steorn claimed none of these scientists would talk to the media, and suggested that this was because they did not want to become embroiled in a controversy. ### Views on the technology No specific details of the workings of the claimed technology were made public. McCarthy stated in a 2006 RTÉ radio interview, "What we have developed is a way to construct magnetic fields so that when you travel round the magnetic fields, starting and stopping at the same position, you have gained energy". In 2011, Steorn's website was updated to suggest that the Orbo is based on magnetic fields which vary over time. Barry Williams of the Australian Skeptics has pointed out that Steorn is "not the first company to claim they have suddenly discovered the miraculous property of magnetism that allows you to get free energy" while Martin Fleischmann says that it is not credible that positioning of magnetic fields could create energy. Following a meeting between McCarthy and Professor Sir Eric Ash in July 2007, Ash reported that "the Orbo is a mechanical device which uses powerful magnets on the rim of a rotor and further magnets on an outer shell." During this meeting, McCarthy referred to the law of conservation of energy as scientific dogma. However, conservation of energy is a fundamental principle of physics, more specifically a consequence of the unchanging nature of physical laws with time by Noether's Theorem. Ash said that there was no comparison with religious dogma since there is no flexibility in choosing to accept that energy is always conserved. Rejecting conservation of energy would undermine all science and technology. Ash also formed the opinion that McCarthy was truly convinced in the validity of his invention but that this conviction was a case of "prolonged self-deception." Many people have accused Steorn of engaging in a publicity stunt although Steorn denied such accusations. Eric Berger, writing on the Houston Chronicle website, commented: "Steorn is a former e-business company that saw its market vanish during the dot.com bust. It stands to reason that Steorn has retooled as a Web marketing company and is using the "free energy" promotion as a platform to show future clients how it can leverage print advertising and a slick Web site to promote their products and ideas". Thomas Ricker at Engadget suggested that Steorn's free-energy claim was a ruse to improve brand recognition and to help them sell Hall probes, while Josh Catone, features editor for Mashable, believes that it was merely an elaborate hoax. ### Jury process In its advertisement in The Economist, Steorn challenged scientists to form an independent jury to test its technology and publish the results. Within 36 hours of the advertisement being published, 420 scientists contacted Steorn and, on 1 December 2006, Steorn announced it had selected a jury. It was headed by Ian MacDonald, emeritus professor of electrical engineering at the University of Alberta, and the process began in February 2007. In June 2009 the jury announced its unanimous verdict that "Steorn's attempts to demonstrate the claim have not shown the production of energy. The jury is therefore ceasing work". Dick Ahlstrom, writing in the Irish Times, concluded from this that Steorn's technology did not work. Steorn responded by saying that because of difficulties in implementing the technology the focus of the process had been on providing the jury with test data on magnetic effects for study. Steorn also said that these difficulties had been resolved and disputed its jury's findings. ### Demonstrations On 4 July 2007, the technology was to be displayed at the Kinetica Museum, Spitalfields Market, London. A unit constructed of clear plastic was prepared so that the arrangement of magnets could be seen and to demonstrate that the device operated without external power sources. The public demonstration was delayed and then cancelled because of technical difficulties. Steorn initially said that the problems had been caused by excessive heat from the lighting. A second demonstration ran between 15 December 2009 and February 2010 at the Waterways Visitor Centre in Dublin, and was streamed via Steorn's website. The demonstration was of a device powered by a rechargeable battery. Steorn said that the device produced more energy than it consumed and recharged the battery. No substantive details of the technology were revealed and no independent evidence of Steorn's claim was provided. On 1 April 2010 Steorn opened an online development community, called the Steorn Knowledge Development Base (SKDB), which it said would explain its technology. Access was available only under licence on payment of a fee. In May 2015, Steorn put an "Orbo PowerCube" on display behind the bar of a pub in Dublin. The PowerCube was a small box which the pub website claimed contained a "perpetual motion motor" which required no external power source. The cube was shown charging a mobile phone. Steorn claimed to be performing some "basic field trials" in undisclosed locations. ### Orbo phone charger Beginning in December 2015, Steorn began accepting orders for two products, including a phone charger, through email only. The announcement was posted only to a Facebook page titled "Orbo" and a Steorn YouTube channel. In early December, McCarthy said that he was waiting for the first shipment of the two products, the Orbo Phone and the Orbo Cube, from a manufacturer in China. Steorn described the Orbo Cube as a showcase for the technology rather than a mass-market product, with the Cube retailing at €1,200. ## See also - Pseudoscience - History of perpetual motion machines

French cruiser D'Assas

Protected cruiser of the French Navy

D'Assas was the lead ship of her class of protected cruisers built for the French Navy in the 1890s. The D'Assas-class cruisers were ordered as part of a construction program directed at strengthening the fleet's cruiser force. At the time, France was concerned with the growing naval threat of the Italian and German fleets, and the new cruisers were intended to serve with the main fleet, and overseas in the French colonial empire. D'Assas was armed with a main battery of six 164 mm (6.5 in) guns, was protected by an armor deck that was 70 to 80 mm (2.8 to 3.1 in) thick, and was capable of steaming at a top speed of 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph). D'Assas initially served with the Mediterranean Squadron after entering service in 1898, and by 1901, she had been transferred to the Northern Squadron. During this period, she was occupied with routine peacetime training exercises with the rest of the main French fleets in home waters. In 1904, she was assigned to France's cruiser squadron in East Asia, and the following year, she assisted with the unsuccessful attempt to re-float the armored cruiser Sully after it ran aground. D'Assas passed the next several years uneventfully and was struck from the naval register in 1910; she was then used as a storage hulk before being sold to ship breakers in 1914. ## Design In response to a war scare with Italy in the late 1880s, the French Navy embarked on a major construction program in 1890 to counter the threat of the Italian fleet and that of Italy's ally Germany. The plan called for a total of seventy cruisers for use in home waters and overseas in the French colonial empire. The D'Assas class, which also included Du Chayla and Cassard, was ordered as part of the program. Their design was heavily drawn from that of the preceding Friant-class cruisers, being slightly longer and wider, which improved speed and stability. D'Assas was 99.64 m (326 ft 11 in) long overall, with a beam of 13.68 m (44 ft 11 in) and an average draft of 5.8 m (19 ft 0 in). She displaced 3,944.6 t (3,882.3 long tons; 4,348.2 short tons) as designed. Her crew varied over the course of her career, and consisted of 370–392 officers and enlisted men. The ship's propulsion system consisted of a pair of triple-expansion steam engines driving two screw propellers. Steam was provided by twenty coal-burning Lagrafel d'Allest water-tube boilers that were ducted into three funnels. Her machinery was rated to produce 10,000 indicated horsepower (7,500 kW) for a top speed of 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph). She had a cruising radius of 6,000 nautical miles (11,000 km; 6,900 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) and 1,000 nmi (1,900 km; 1,200 mi) at 20 knots. In service, D'Assas proved to have significant stability problems and had to be ballasted to correct the problem. The ship was armed with a main battery of six 164.7 mm (6.5 in) guns. They were placed in individual pivot mounts; one was on the forecastle, two were in sponsons abreast the forward conning tower, and the last was on the stern. These were supported by a secondary battery of four 100 mm (3.9 in) guns, which were carried in pivot mounts in the fore and aft conning towers, one on each side per tower. For close-range defense against torpedo boats, she carried ten 47 mm (1.9 in) 3-pounder Hotchkiss guns, two 37 mm (1.5 in) 1-pounder guns, and three 37 mm Hotchkiss revolver cannon. She was also armed with two 356 mm (14 in) torpedo tubes in her hull above the waterline. Armor protection consisted of a curved armor deck that was 30 to 80 mm (1.2 to 3.1 in) thick, along with 80 mm plating on the conning tower. The main and secondary guns were fitted with 54 mm (2.1 in) thick gun shields. ## Service history D'Assas was ordered on 15 November 1893 and was laid down at the Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire shipyard in Nantes on 1 April 1894. She was launched on 28 March 1896 and was commissioned to begin sea trials on 24 March 1898. These lasted just over a year, and she was placed in full commission for active service on 23 April 1898. She was the last member of her class to enter service. The ship departed Brest on 29 April, bound for Toulon on the Mediterranean coast, arriving there on 5 May. Upon arrival, she was dry-docked for repairs, which were completed by mid-July. She got underway on the 17th to join the Reserve Squadron, which was at that time taking part in the annual fleet maneuvers with the Mediterranean Squadron, France's primary battle fleet. The exercises that year had begun on 5 July and concluded on 25 July. In 1899, D'Assas was formally assigned to the Mediterranean Squadron. At that time, the unit consisted of six pre-dreadnought battleships, three armored cruisers, seven other protected cruisers, and several smaller vessels. On 3 April, D'Assas sailed from Toulon to bring Jean-Baptiste Marchand and his expedition back from Djibouti in French Somaliland; Marchand had led the French expedition that led to the Fashoda Incident the previous year. By January 1901, D'Assas had been assigned to the Northern Squadron, which was stationed in Brest, France. The squadron at that time consisted of two pre-dreadnoughts, four ironclads, four coastal defense ships, two armored cruisers, and one other protected cruiser, along with several smaller vessels. That year, the annual fleet maneuvers were conducted from 3 to 28 July. During the exercises, the Northern Squadron steamed south for joint maneuvers with the Mediterranean Squadron. The Northern Squadron ships formed part of the hostile force, and as it was entering the Mediterranean from the Atlantic, represented a German squadron attempting to meet its Italian allies. In August and September, the Northern Squadron conducted amphibious assault exercises. On 28 August, they escorted a group of troop ships from Brest to La Rochelle. The ships conducted a simulated bombardment of the port, neutralized the coastal defenses, and put some 6,000 men ashore. D'Assas remained in the unit through 1902. ### Deployment to French Indochina By 1904, D'Assas had been assigned to the Division navale d'Extrême-Orient et du Pacifique occidental (Naval Division of the Far East and Western Pacific), which also included the armored cruisers Gueydon and Sully. D'Assas got underway from Brest on 9 March, bound for Saigon, where she was to replace the protected cruiser Bugeaud. She was tasked with escorting the four destroyers Pistolet, Javeline, Mousquet, and Fronde to the East Asia station, but repeated engine problems with D'Assas forced the destroyers to proceed independently. The cruiser, meanwhile, had to stop for repairs in Algiers in French Algeria and then again at Lubang Buaya in the Dutch East Indies. After arriving in Indochina, D'Assas joined the rest of the unit. On 8 February 1905, while steaming with D'Assas and Gueydon, Sully ran aground and could not free herself. D'Assas and Gueydon took off her crew and began salvage efforts, but the cruiser could not be pulled free, and eventually broke in two. Throughout her time in East Asian waters, D'Assas was plagued with repeated machinery problems, and by early 1906 the decision was made to recall her to France. She departed Saigon on 30 January and after arrival, she was placed in special reserve on 30 May at Lorient. The French Naval Minister, Gaston Thomson, suggested that D'Assas be converted into a fast minelayer on 24 September 1907, along with her sister ship Cassard. The cost proved to be too great and the proposal came to nothing. Instead, D'Assas was decommissioned on 1 January 1908, though remained idle until being struck from the naval register on 9 September 1910. She was thereafter used as a storage hulk for waste oil at Lorient, a role she filled from 1910 to 1913. She was placed for sale that year, but was not sold until 11 April 1914 to a firm in Copenhagen, Denmark. She was the only member of her class to have been discarded before the start of World War I.

ArtRave

Promotional concert by Lady Gaga

ArtRave (stylized as artRAVE) was a two-day event hosted by Lady Gaga from November 10–11, 2013, as part of the promotional campaign for her third studio album, Artpop (2013). The event, held in a large warehouse in the Brooklyn Navy Yard in New York, served as an album release party and included a press conference and a live performance. During the press conference, Gaga revealed "the world's first flying dress", called the Volantis, confirmed plans to stage a performance in space in 2015, and introduced new works by Marina Abramović, Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, Jeff Koons, and Robert Wilson. The warehouse contained a giant statue of Gaga created by Koons on one side and other artworks, while screens all around displayed videos of Gaga's performances with Abramović. There were contortionists, a DJ booth, as well as free food and drink for the assembled crowd. The event was to have been sponsored by American Express, however they backed out at the last moment failing to come to terms regarding ArtRave's production. Gaga performed a concert which was streamed live on Vevo and later rebroadcast through the website's syndication partners. The set list consisted of songs from Artpop. On November 11, Clear Channel aired a half-hour special called Album Release Party with Lady Gaga, hosted by Ryan Seacrest on more than 150 radio stations throughout the United States. On November 19, The CW aired a television special with footage from the album release party. ArtRave received generally positive reviews from critics who noted the enormity of the production, as well as Gaga's performance and enthusiasm; the launch of Volantis was generally criticised. ## Background and conception Development of Lady Gaga's third studio album, Artpop, began shortly after the release of her second one, Born This Way in 2011. By the following year, Gaga started collaborating with producers Fernando Garibay and DJ White Shadow. In the meantime, she began presenting tracks to her record company and hoped to announce the album's working title by September 2013; a revelation that was actually disclosed one month earlier. The artist later claimed that Artpop was her first "real album" comparing herself to a "phoenix rising from the ashes", which reflected her heightened confidence in writing material for the album compared to her previous efforts. Gaga recruited artist Jeff Koons for the project in early 2013; the two had met previously at a Metropolitan Museum of Art fashion event three years earlier, where Gaga had a live performance. According to Koons, Gaga "just kind of grabbed ahold of me and gave me a big hug around my waist and replied, 'You know, Jeff, I've been such a fan of yours, and when I was a kid just hanging out in Central Park I would talk to my friends about your work'." In addition to Interscope Records notifying mainstream media outlets about upcoming releases for Artpop in July 2013, Gaga announced plans for a multimedia software application which "combines music, art, fashion, and technology with a new interactive worldwide community." A public announcement, posted on July 12, 2013, revealed plans for an ArtRave event the night before the release of Artpop, unveiling projects Gaga had been working on in collaboration with her creative team, the Haus of Gaga, Dutch photographer duo Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, avant -garde theater director Robert Wilson, performance artist Marina Abramović, and Koons. The announcement featured Gaga covering her bare breasts with her arms, with her forearm "Artpop" tattoo in plain sight, wearing a visor designed by London College of Fashion alumna Isabell Yalda Hellysaz. Another promotional image showed Gaga with long brown hair, sporting a pair of spectacles, sitting completely naked on a chair crafted from motherboards as she displays her unicorn thigh tattoo. ## Development and sponsors The event was held at the reportedly "top secret" Duggal Greenhouse, a large warehouse in the Brooklyn Navy Yard in Brooklyn, New York. It spanned two days, starting with a press conference on November 10 and extending into the morning of November 11, 2013, the album's release date in the United States. New York's OneNine Design company was responsible for the event planning and the production. Gaga also employed the Roschman Dance group to perform during the party and the event. The interior of the yard was strewn with art pieces and art works. There was a food truck and open bar, and at one end there was a white stage with a spiral staircase. Opposite the stage, across the room, stood a giant statue of Gaga depicted naked, with her hands covering the breasts, created by Koons. In between her spread legs, Koons' characteristic blue gazing ball was placed; the statue was photographed and used in the album cover design for Artpop. Between the stage and the Gaga sculpture stood four other statues created by Koons In flagrante delicto, as well as the open bars where contortionists performed their intricate moves. The area was surrounded by large video screens which displayed Gaga's work with Abramović (showing the singer stumbling through a forest naked), Inez and Vinoodh, as well as with Wilson. Adjacent to the main space, there was a side area which featured an art installation called Binary Room, by artist Benjamin Rollins Caldwell, consisting of a room with all the furniture and flooring made up of old computer parts. Another room was dedicated to the display and usage of the Artpop app, as well as the fashions created by the Haus of Gaga for the ArtRave. There were personnel dressed in matching future-esque uniforms to walkthrough the app and its uses, including "the ability to read auras, create animated 3D Gifs and remix Gaga's music." ArtRave was an "extravagant spectacle" according to Billboard's Andrew Hampp. However, he also noted that though the event did not have any sponsors, Gaga "was part of a select group of artists who have firmly thrown their branding lot in with the tech–music innovation space". Projects like Creators with Vice and Intel, as well as artists like will.i.am, Jay-Z and Björk were cited as precedents for crafting events and merging music and technology with art. Gaga, who had been named a creative director of Polaroid Corporation in 2010, had been involved in technical projects like Backplane with her former manager Troy Carter; Gaga separated from Carter a few days before the ArtRave. But Hampp believed that the explicit nature of the art works and the videos being shown had deprived Gaga of the opportunity of any "overt" sponsorship for the event. He explained that Billboard had reached out to three executives from American Express (AmEx), the company which was supposed to sponsor ArtRave but had "backed out" due to creative differences. Speaking off the record, the executives confirmed that AmEx had been slated to bear the expenses of the event as well as the live streaming. They later issued an apology statement: > American Express had been in discussions to potentially live stream Lady Gaga's performance during Sunday's ArtRave event. American Express decided not to proceed with the live stream because of an inability to reach a mutual agreement on the production of the event. However, American Express honored its commitments to Lady Gaga and her team, and the event was able to proceed without an official role for American Express. Lady Gaga is an incredible artist and we hope to work together in the future. ## Press conference Gaga hosted a press conference, where she introduced Volantis, a battery-powered vehicle described as "the world's first flying dress." The white vehicle, described by Entertainment Weekly as a "hover dress", features a central column to which the wearer is clamped by a safety harness, in turn covered by a white plastic "dress". The column also houses the batteries and other equipment. Six lifting fan units are mounted on booms in a hexagonal formation radiating from the top of the column, giving the device the ability to hover three feet above the ground. The dress was designed by TechHaus, the Haus of Gaga's technology branch, and it took them two years to create. Gaga promoted the dress by tweeting earlier in the day, "At 6pm EST today we will beta test Volantis with the world. We invite you into our creative process during her initial stages of lift off." For the demonstration, she transitioned from a white astronaut suit down to black tights and a black body wrap. According to Amy Phillips from Pitchfork Media, "[Volantis] roared to life and lurched forward a few feet, hovering. Then it did the same thing, backwards. Then it stopped. That was it." Hampp reported that "one attendee disparagingly referred to [it] as a 'Zamboni with fans'." Gaga quipped that the dress was "maybe a small step for Volantis... but a big-time step" for her. The singer also announced plans to stage the first musical performance from space, following previous reports about her singing at Zero G Colony, a music festival scheduled to occur at Spaceport America in New Mexico in 2015. The concert was later cancelled when a test flight for the project crashed. ## Concert and broadcast Following the press conference, Gaga performed a live-streamed concert that included songs from Artpop. She appeared at 12:45 a.m., more than an hour after her expected start time of 11:30 p.m. Traffic overload to the music video website Vevo, which had exclusive rights to broadcast the concert portion of the event, was given as the reason for her delay. Following the site's crash, Gaga tweeted, "We're working on fixing the Livestream, there's A LOT of traffic. If Vevo does not work in your territory, fear not, we're posting video." Subsequently, she posted of her fans: "Only little monsters can crash Vevo. \*face palm\*." The live broadcast was available on-demand through various Vevo platforms in the: United States, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Immediately following the initial broadcast, which began at 11:30 p.m. on November 10, the event was rebroadcast continuously for 48 hours. Prior to the official concert, DJs Madeon, White Shadow and Lady Starlight played for the crowd. The concert started with Gaga performing two songs, beginning with "Aura" and then "Artpop". Next she performed "Venus" followed by choreographed performances of "Manicure" and "Sexxx Dreams". She then performed "Gypsy" and "Dope" with a live band. "Applause" and "Do What U Want" served as an encore; R. Kelly's vocals from the latter song were supplied by a backing track. Koons' sculpture of Gaga served as her backdrop. The stage and the performers' costumes were solid white. Gaga wore a "clown-like" white mask with black-and-white buoys. It was designed by Gareth Pugh for his Spring/Summer 2007 collection, and was the dress that had made him famous. She also made other costume changes throughout the night, including a set of three dresses during her performance of "Applause". On November 11, Clear Channel broadcast a half-hour special called Album Release Party with Lady Gaga, hosted by Ryan Seacrest, and available on more than 150 radio stations throughout the United States. Video on demand access was available through Vevo's syndication partners, including YouTube, beginning on November 14. The CW aired a television special with footage from the album release party on November 19. ## Critical reception Amy Phillips of Pitchfork Media commended Gaga's performance saying that it was "amazing as usual – a master class in over-the-top theatrics, campy gender-bending, and cheeky fun... But it was almost beside the point. The whole Gaga machine, the whole Gaga world we were immersed in – that was the point. It was overwhelming, all consuming. Something even the best album promo cycles only dream of being." Phillips wondered how Gaga would be able to "top" the ArtRave event and listed it as an unprecedented promotional tool for an artist's album release cycle. Billboard's Andrew Hampp and Jason Lipshutz compared Gaga's outfit to a "bizarro" version of Jack Box, the mascot for Jack in the Box, and wrote that the lip-synched portion of her performance was "more pop art than artistic pop music." Hampp and Lipshutz summarized their experience by writing, "Even if the 'ARTPOP' live show still needs a bit of tinkering to fully captivate, Lady Gaga showed on Sunday night that she knows how to meld low art and high art at a party." Michael Baggs of Gigwise described the concert as "sparse but impressive" and wrote that Gaga appeared "wide-eyed and slightly manic... but impressed with live vocals and a hugely energetic performance." Writing for Rolling Stone, Marisa G. Muller noted that Gaga spoke of the artists and the personnel involved with the event continuously throughout the night, and "[despite] being more than an hour late, Gaga made her tight-knit audience of little monsters feel special... Sober, Gaga was still at her outlandish peak." David Drake of Complex found the ArtRave to be quite a production but like all things Gaga does he found it to be a "blend of the high-brow and the trashy, depth and superficiality, the thoughtful and the impulsive, and lots of other contradictions that make you think about the nature of philosophy and life and art." He gave a positive review of the main show, praising the sound system, the performances of "Gypsy" and "Do What U Want", and deduced that: "Perhaps this kind of ambition is music's future, at least for a certain breed of artist. Although Artpop doesn't sound retro per se, Lady Gaga's project as a whole does feel like a reaction to the idea that as far as the music goes, there's nothing new under the sun." Carl Swanson of New York magazine was amazed by the ArtRave, from the Volantis display to the actual party area, and added that "[the] event, mostly staged for Gaga's cameras as well as those of the feverishly Instagramming guests, was surprisingly well organized for something so manifestly difficult. The idea was clearly to be in control of it." However, he noticed a bit of "vulnerability" in Gaga as she performed onstage. Swanson relegated Gaga's lectures about Koons and their collaboration as "borderline gibberish", adding that: "It's less of a collaboration than a feeling that she is searching to attach herself to something bigger than herself, something less evanescent than pop, or maybe just something to contain herself before she flames out completely, like a hashtag in the wind." Kia Makarechi of The Huffington Post was critical of the set up when Gaga had to wade through a crowd to reach the stage, but wrote that "[o]nce Gaga took the stage, however, all was nearly forgotten. The singer worked through the new album with an impressive commitment to weirdness." Nick Murray of Spin magazine criticized the "underwhelming display" of Volantis and found that Gaga's ideas about "changing the world" with the album and the technology were "both dry and ridiculous, vaguely utopian but overly confident in the liberating power of technology, and just when the whole thing was beginning to seem more and more like a farce, [Gaga] cannily explained that beyond whether the Volantis is ever mass-produced, 'the important thing is about the possibilities'." ## Set list 1. "Aura" 2. "Artpop" 3. "Venus" 4. "MANiCURE" 5. "Sexxx Dreams" 6. "Gypsy" 7. "Dope" Encore 1. <li value=8> "Applause" 2. <li value=9> "Do What U Want" Source: ## See also - 2013 in art - 2013 in aviation - Performance art

No. 5 Airfield Construction Squadron RAAF

No. 5 Airfield Construction Squadron (5ACS) was a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) construction squadron. The unit was first formed in July 1942 and served in the New Guinea Campaign and Borneo Campaign during World War II. The squadron was one of only a few RAAF airfield construction units to be retained at the end of the war, and formed part of Australia's contribution to the occupation of Japan from 1945 until it was disbanded in June 1949. 5ACS was re-raised in August 1951 and worked on several RAAF airfields in Australia. It also provided small detachments of engineers to support RAAF deployments to South Vietnam and Thailand during the Vietnam War. The squadron was the RAAF's only airfield construction unit from 1961 onward, and was disbanded in December 1974. ## History ### World War II On 7 July 1942, 250 men of No. 1 Mobile Works Squadron were detached from the unit while it was stationed at Ascot Vale, Victoria and organised into a new squadron intended to serve in New Guinea. This unit was designated No. 1 Mobile Works Squadron (Special Works Force), and arrived at Port Moresby on 7 August after a difficult voyage during which the ship carrying it from Australia it ran aground twice. The squadron began work constructing Wards Airfield on 14 August, and the first of the airfield's runways was ready for use three weeks later. The airfield's completion was delayed until January 1943 due to shortages of personnel and equipment, however. No. 1 Mobile Works Squadron (Special Works Force) was redesignated No. 5 Mobile Works Squadron (5MWS) on 16 November. In order to support Allied offensives in New Guinea 5MWS moved to Goodenough Island between late February and March 1943 where it constructed Vivigani Airfield. This facility initially comprised a 1,524-metre (5,000 ft) fighter runway and 1,829-metre (6,001 ft) bomber runway as well as headquarters, maintenance and logistics facilities. During March and April a detachment from the squadron also assisted No. 6 Mobile Works Squadron at Milne Bay. 5MWS departed Goodenough Island on 21 November for a period of rest and reconstitution in Australia. In early 1944 5MWS became part of a force of RAAF and United States Army aviation engineer units which were selected to build airfields at Aitape in New Guinea from which air support would be provided to Allied operations around Hollandia after US Army forces landed there on 22 April. 5MWS departed Melbourne on 15 February, and eventually joined up with the main body of the airfield engineer force at Lae on 1 April where it received training in infantry tactics. The Landing at Aitape took place on 22 April, and 5MWS came ashore the next day. The airfield at Aitape was ready to be used from 25 April and was later expanded by the aviation engineers. On 6 July 5MWS landed on Noemfoor Island where it again formed part of an aviation engineer force tasked with repairing and expanding the island's airfields. Allied forces had first landed on the island on 2 July, and it was still not secure when construction work began. As a result, 5MWS personnel were required to man perimeter defences, during which they captured 12 Japanese personnel. While at Noemfoor 5MWS was redesignated No. 5 Airfield Construction Squadron (5ACS) on 18 July. As at 25 November, No. 4 Airfield Construction Squadron and 5ACS were the main units of No. 62 Wing. This wing formed part of the Australian First Tactical Air Force, which was the RAAF's main mobile force. In January 1945 4ACS and 5ACS moved to Biak island where they worked on improving facilities used by the US Army and United States Army Air Forces (USAAF). In mid-May 1945 4ACS and 5ACS traveled together to Morotai. They remained on this island until June when they departed as part of the Australian-led Battle of North Borneo. The two squadrons landed at Labuan on 11 June and worked on repairing and maintaining the island's airfield until the end of the war on 15 August. ### Occupation of Japan While most of the RAAF's airfield construction squadrons were disbanded at the end of the war, on 17 November 1945 5ACS was informed that it would form part of Australia's contribution to the British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF) in Japan. For this deployment it was assigned to No. 81 Wing. 5ACS' advance party arrived in Japan in late 1945 and the rest of the squadron arrived at Iwakuni to the east of Hiroshima on 22 February 1946. At this time the unit was under strength as only 14 officers and 189 airmen had volunteered for occupation duties, though a further 173 personnel arrived in March and April. 5ACS provided engineering support to BCOF for the next three years. Its initial priorities were to repair the airfields at Bofu, Iwakuni and Miho. By mid-1946 5ACS was engaged in work on these airfields, building small forward airstrips for army reconnaissance aircraft and maintaining another four airfields in BCOF's area of responsibility. These tasks were of great importance to the BCOF, and Australian aviation historian Alan Stephens has written that "No. 5 ACS's achievements were probably the most significant of any Australian unit—land, sea or air" during the occupation of Japan. Japanese labourers and tradesmen were employed on all of 5ACS' projects, with the squadron's personnel undertaking specialist roles. The size of BCOF was reduced in 1948 and the Australian Government decided to reduce the RAAF force in Japan to a single flying squadron. Accordingly, 5ACS' remaining responsibilities were gradually transferred to the works officer of No. 77 Squadron and the squadron was disbanded at Iwakuni on 30 June 1949. ### Cold War 5ACS was reformed on 8 August 1951 at Bankstown, New South Wales to fill the RAAF's need for engineering units and provide a nucleus for the potential formation of other airfield construction squadrons. It initially worked on projects in Sydney before moving to RAAF Base Williamtown in 1952 where it undertook a major upgrade of that base which lasted until 1955. During this period, the squadron also worked on other RAAF facilities in New South Wales. Between March and November 1952 a detachment of 30 men from 5ACS was deployed to the Montebello Islands off the coast of Western Australia to support the British nuclear weapons test in the area, Operation Hurricane. Another detachment from the squadron assisted with the construction of range facilities at the Woomera Test Range in South Australia between 1952 and 1955. Most of 5ACS moved to Darwin in 1955 to build a 13,000-foot (4,000 m)-long runway and supporting facilities at RAAF Base Darwin, though a detachment remained at Williamtown until June 1963 and two other detachments were formed to undertake engineering tasks in the Sydney region and rebuild the runway at RAAF Base Amberley. The expansion of RAAF Base Darwin was completed in 1964. Following the disbandment of No. 2 Airfield Construction Squadron on 28 April 1961, 5ACS was left as the RAAF's only construction unit and took on some of 2ACS' personnel and equipment. For a short period the remnants of 2ACS was designated Detachment C of 5ACS while it completed works on RAAF Base East Sale; this sub-unit was disbanded in September 1961. Once RAAF Base Darwin was completed 5ACS headed south to develop RAAF Base Tindal near Katherine in the Northern Territory. The squadron's advance party arrived at Tindal in October 1963 and work began on the base in late 1964. The 2,743-metre (8,999 ft) runway was opened in March 1967 and the base was ready to support RAAF units in early 1968. Work on expanding Tindal continued during 1968 and 1969. During this period detachments of 5ACS also worked on projects at Darwin and Amberley, and 5ACS' headquarters moved to Amberley on 14 September 1969. Detachments from 5ACS formed part of Australia's contribution to the Vietnam War. Following the deployment of No. 79 Squadron to Ubon Air Force Base in Thailand in June 1962, a party of 5ACS personnel was also sent to Ubon to plan and oversee the construction of facilities for the squadron. Work on these facilities was undertaken by 100 Thai civilians who had built over 50 huts and other support infrastructure for No. 79 Squadron by the time the project concluded at the end of 1962. RAAF units began to be deployed to South Vietnam in 1964, and in May 1966 Detachment A of 5ACS was formed at Vũng Tàu to improve the airfield there so it could support the UH-1 Iroquois-equipped No. 9 Squadron. The 19 members of this detachment returned to Australia on 8 October 1966. Detachment B of 5ACS was subsequently deployed to South Vietnam in January 1967 to build facilities for eight No. 2 Squadron Canberra bombers at Phan Rang Air Base. This task was completed in April, and in June Detachment B moved to Vũng Tàu to complete the construction of facilities there. Work on Vũng Tàu Airport was finished on 20 January 1968 and the detachment was disbanded on 17 February 1968. 5ACS' last major project was the development of RAAF Base Learmonth in Western Australia. Initial works began on this project in March 1970 when Detachment E of 5ACS was formed there, and the main body of the squadron arrived on 1 February 1971. 5ACS' task was to extend the existing runway at the site and build facilities to support RAAF combat aircraft in the case of a war with Indonesia. These works were undertaken in difficult climatic conditions and the living conditions provided for the airmen and their families were inadequate. Nonetheless, the runway and extensive support facilities were officially opened on 15 December 1972, though further work needed to be completed at this time. In August 1973 it was announced that 5ACS would be disbanded. The squadron's strength declined during 1974 as personnel left the RAAF or moved to other units, and it was disbanded at Learmonth on 15 December 1974. 5ACS was the last of the RAAF's airfield construction units, and since its disbandment civilian contractors have been used to build and maintain air bases. A memorial plaque commemorating 5ACS was unveiled at the RAAF Memorial Grove outside of Canberra on 21 March 2014. In 2015 No. 65 Squadron was raised to centralise the RAAF's airfield repair and recovery capabilities: the '5' in its title was selected in recognition of 5ACS.

Mahamuni Buddha Temple

Buddhist temple in Mandalay, Myanmar

The Mahamuni Buddha Temple (Burmese: မဟာမုနိရှင်တော်မြတ်ကြီး, ) is a Buddhist temple and major pilgrimage site, located southwest of Mandalay, Myanmar (Burma). The Mahamuni Image (lit. 'The Great Sage') is enshrined in this temple, and originally came from Arakan. It is highly venerated in Burma and central to many people's lives, as it is seen as an expression of representing the Buddha's life. Ancient tradition refers to only five likenesses of the Buddha made during his lifetime; two were in India, two in paradise, and the fifth is the Mahamuni Image in Myanmar. Legend holds that the Buddha himself visited the Dhanyawadi city of Arakan in 554 BC. King Sanda Thuriya requested that an image be cast of him. Once complete, the Buddha breathed upon it, and thereafter the image took on his exact likeness. ## History ### Origins According to legend, the Gautama Buddha visited Dhanyawadi, the capital city of Arakan during his travels on a missionary mission to spread Buddhism. During the 26th anniversary of the King at the time, a devout Buddhist, the Buddha accompanied by Shin Ananda and 500 disciples landed at Salagiri mountain peak near Khaukrah town. The King of Arakan, along with his Chief Queen Sandra Mala (with her retinue of 1,600 ladies in waiting), and an entourage of ministers, generals and officials, paid homage to the Buddha. They were deeply moved by his teachings and upon his departure to Thawuthi (Sravasti), the King insisted that he leave his image for people to worship. For this purpose, the Buddha then sat under a Bodhi tree for a week of meditation. During this time Sakka (in Pāli, the ruler of the Tavatimsa, in sanskrit called Trāyastriṃśa) one of the heavens in Buddhist cosmology, supported by his assistant Vissakamma (or Vishvakarman), moulded a lifelike image of the Buddha using ornaments donated by the king and his people. It is also said that Sakka and Vissakamma created a separate pavilion for the Buddha to live and enjoy during these seven days. After looking at his own lifelike image, believed at the time to have been his only true-likeness, Buddha was pleased and "imbued the image with his spiritual essence", or "enlivened and consecrated" the image, naming it "Candasara". He also stated that the image would last for five thousand years as his representative. Historian Juliane Schober has very succinctly explained this legend and the cult worship that has evolved around the "living" double image of Mahamuni Buddha: > The rich and complex mythology associated with this image includes episodes that parallel other stories about the Buddha...The rituals and myths of Mahamuni thus accomplish two aims simultaneously: they place local contexts and actors within a universal Buddhist cosmology, and they locate a continuing biography of the Buddha in the Buddhist politics of Arakan and Upper Burma. Theravada politics characteristically extended the biographical mode of recreating the Buddha's presence and associated with it the power of kings and other patrons of this image. The veneration of this Buddha image is thus informed by local conceptions of religious patronage in sociopolitical domains. Another legend narrated in the Arakanese chronicle relates to the nine phenomena that occurred when the image was consecrated in the temple and continued to occur after the Buddha had departed. These nine phenomena were: holy water used for washing the image would not overflow the collecting vessels; the water from the tank that was used for washing the Buddha's head would retain its quality throughout the year; six coloured rays appeared when the devotees worshipped the image in the evenings; the rays faded in the presence of non-believers; the space in the temple would automatically accommodate any number of devotees; the leaves of trees would tilt in the direction of the Buddha image; birds would not fly over the temple; and the stone guardians at the entrance would sense the presence of evil doers and prevent them from entering the temple. ### Image history In the ancient history of Arakan, King Anawratha of Pagan (r. 1044–1077) attempted to move the image to Bagan, without success. In 1784, the Burmese under the military leadership of Crown Prince Thado Minsaw of Konbaung dynasty conquered the Kingdom of Mrauk U. The religious relics of the kingdom, including the Mahamuni Buddha image, were confiscated and installed in the Mahamuni temple or pagoda at Amarapura. Amarapura, located within modern-day Mandalay District, had recently become the new royal capital just two years prior. As the Mahamuni image was too large to transport as a whole, it was cut into sections and later reassembled and housed in the new temple. Mandalay became the capital under King Mindon (r. 1853–1878). It was also the capital under his son Thibaw (r. 1878–1885) of the Konbaung Dynasty (1752–1885). When the British annexed Upper Burma in 1885 to prevent the French from dominating it, monarchic rule ended. However, veneration of the Mahamuni image has continued, and is visited and worshipped by many pilgrims, mainly Rakhine, Mon and Burmans peoples. Several old bronze statues that line the courtyard of the temple have a long history as war loot. They were originally Khmer statues, found at Angkor Wat in Cambodia, and were taken to Ayutthaya in 1431 by the Siamese. In 1564, the Burmese king Bayinnaung conquered Ayutthaya and took thirty such statues to Bago. In 1599, King Razagri of Mrauk U invaded Bago and brought the statues to Mrauk U. Finally, Thado Minsaw took them to Amarapura in 1785. According to local belief, many more of these statues were brought from Arakan. However, King Thibaw melted many of them to cast cannons for fortification of his palace. Of the thirty statues Bayinnaung brought from Siam, only six remain today, and are displayed in the temple complex. Another legend narrated is linked to the six Khmer bronze statues (three lions–with heads substituted later in Burmese style, a three-headed elephant known as Airavata, and two warriors in the form of Shiva), which are installed in the temple in the northern end of the courtyard. These statues were originally at the Angkor Wat temple complex in Cambodia. Devotees believe that the statues have healing qualities to rub a particular part of the body against the statues to cure themselves of various ailments and diseases. Today, they are a major attraction because of their purported healing qualities. ### Damage The Mahamuni image and its precincts suffered damage from fires in 1879 and 1884. In the fire that broke out during the reign of King Thibaw, the seven-tiered spire on the brick temple, devotional halls, causeways and others were burnt down, although the Great Image itself was saved. Gold recovered after the fire was made into a robe that currently adorns the image. In 1887, Minister Kinwun Mingyi U Kaung took charge of the site and in 1896 constructed the present temple around the original shrine built by King Bodawpaya. In 1996, the military rulers in Burma undertook renovation work on the Mahamuni Pagoda. During this period, the Mahamuni Buddha image was damaged in 1997 when a hole appeared in the belly of the Great Image. It was believed that thieves had drilled the hole in an attempt to steal jewels believed to be secreted within the image. It was reported that a military officer had requested to open the temple in the night, resulting in a meeting of all the senior monks from major monasteries in the area to discuss the matter. Whilst the meeting was in progress, attention was diverted to a purported rape incident committed by a Muslim man on a Buddhist girl. A major riot broke out but it turned out afterward that the Buddhist girl had not been raped at all. It was a coverup to divert attention away from the Buddha so it could be repaired. However, the mystery remains as to whether any jewellery did exist and was actually removed from the Great Image at all. ## Architecture ### Main Temple/Pagoda The Mahamuni Temple or Pagoda is a complex of structures located along a road from Mandalay leading to the southwest. It was originally located on A brick paved road which was constructed from the Royal Palace of King Bodawpaya to the eastern gate of the temple, although only remnants of this road can still be seen. A major teaching monastery of some 400 monks of the Thudhamma Nikaya (order), is one among the many monasteries which are adjacent to the Pagoda. The temple has a central shrine and is framed by an extensive grass lawn. The arcades leading to the main shrine have many kiosks, selling religious paraphernalia such as incense, candles, rosaries, flowers, robes, sandals etc., and various restaurants and tea shops. The sanctum sanctorum, where the large Mahamuni image is deified, is a small chamber and has a roof covering made up of seven pyatthat meaning tiered roofs (derivative of the Sanskrit word prasada). The ceiling has an ornate mosaic covering. The arcades are supported by 252 gilded and carved columns adorned with fine frescoes. ### Mahamuni image The Mahamuni Buddha image is housed in a small chamber, seated on a throne in a divine posture known as the Bhumisparsa Mudra. This posture or mudra symbolises Buddha's vanquishing of Mara). The legs are crossed with feet turned inwards, and the right hand touches the ground ritualistically, as a witness of his past deeds. The image is cast in bronze and weighs 6.5 tonnes and is erected on a 1.84 metres (6.0 ft) high pedestal and reaches a height of 3.82 metres (12.5 ft). Its shoulders measure 1.84 metres (6.0 ft) and its waist measures 2.9 metres (9.5 ft). It is draped in royal costumes with "Brahmanic cords (salwe) and regalia crossing his chest". The image is crowned, bejewelled with diamonds, rubies and sapphires. The left hand appears imprecise, unusually large, and is seen resting in the lap with an upturned palm. Gold leaves are regularly applied to the face of the Mahamuni Buddha by male devotees. Consequent to the frequent application of gold leaves, the coating of gold (thickness 15 centimetres (5.9 in)) has given a shapeless contour to the Mahamuni image. However, it is also noted that the right hand, crown and other iconographic characteristics of royalty are free of gold leaf covering, which gives an impression that these were later additions to the original image of the Mahamuni. In 1884, when the pagoda was burnt down, 91 kilograms (201 lb) of gold was recovered from the site, which represents the continued historical veneration and perpetuation of the cult of Mahamuni. ### Other features A large number of 'inscription stones' collected by King Bodawpaya are seen in a long gallery in the southeastern corner of the temple courtyard. These inscriptions, some of which are made from gilded marble and sandstone, have been collected from many regions of the country. There is also a large water tank in the southeast direction of the temple where fish and turtles are fed with rice cakes by the large number of pilgrims who visit the temple every day. Adjacent to the Buddha temple is the Mahamuni Museum, which contains displays of Buddhism throughout Asia. ## Daily rituals On 17 February 1988, the present Sayadaw of Htilin Monastery and Pitaka Kyaung initiated the ritual of daily face washing of the deity at dawn. This ritual commences every morning at 4 am or 4:30 am when monks wash the face and brush the teeth of the Buddha image. It is an elaborate ritual performed for over an hour by a senior monk dressed in monastic attire, assisted by several lay helpers, dressed in white and wearing formal headdress. As soon as the drums are struck, the senior monk residing in the adjoining monastery enters the sanctum and starts the formal face washing ritual with a succession of fresh towels, offered by devotees. He then performs the act of cleaning the Mahamuni's teeth with a large brush followed by one more sequence of cleaning with fresh towels. After this, sandalwood paste is applied to the image and it is again cleaned with towels and finally sprinkled with scented water. After the ceremony is completed, the used towels are returned to the devotees who keep these towels with reverence in their home shrines. On special occasions, such as Uposatha day, an orange stole is placed around its shoulders by the presiding monk and is fanned. A major congregation of devotees witness the rituals; some men sit in the front enclosure while others including women and children sit in the middle and rear end of the foyer. Devotees offer food and other items brought by them on a tray to the deity and chant prayers while the rituals are being performed. During the winter season, the image is covered by a cloak of the monastic order. During the reign of Burmese monarchs, offerings were made daily to the Great Image in a formal way. Food and other offerings, sheltered by a Royal white umbrella, were taken in a procession from the palace, escorted by a Minister, as an honour due to a sovereign head of the state. ## Festival A major annual pagoda festival known as the 'Mahamuni Paya Pwe' ('pwe' meaning "festival") is held in early February, at the end of the Buddhist Lent to celebrate the history of the pagoda. During this festival, aside from the daily rituals, the Paṭṭhāna from a "Book of Conditional Relations" in Abhidhamma Piṭaka is recited. This book is a philosophical text which Buddha recounted to his mother in a sermon in Tavatimsa heaven and is a sacred scripture in the Pali language. The Pattana recitation is a special feature, which continues for several days. Monks recite from the scriptures, in groups of two or three. The festivities also include various forms of entertainment programmes such as dance, music, theatre etc., and there is also a social event, allowing families and friends gather to greet each other. Given that large crowds of pilgrims are attracted during the festive season, guards are posted near the Great Image and video cameras are placed in many parts of the temple precincts to protect it. ## Gallery ## See also - Cetiya - Htilin Monastery

Walter de Lacy, Lord of Weobley and Ludlow

11th-century Anglo-Norman baron in England

Walter de Lacy (died 27 March 1085) was a Norman nobleman who went to England after the Norman Conquest of England in 1066. He received lands in Herefordshire and Shropshire, and served King William I of England by leading military forces during 1075. He died in 1085 and one son inherited his lands. Another son became an abbot. ## Early life Walter was originally from Lassy, in Normandy. He had a brother, Ilbert de Lacy. Ilbert was the ancestor of the de Lacy family of Pontefract. Both Walter and Ilbert jointly held the Norman lands that were held of the Bishop of Bayeux. ## Career in England Walter was given the lordship of Weobley in Herefordshire after the Conquest. He is already attested in the Welsh Marches by 1069, when he is recorded stopping a Welsh attack and then raiding into Wales in retribution. Walter and Ilbert may have come to England in the household of Odo of Bayeux, the Bishop of Bayeux and half-brother of King William the Conqueror. Although some historians, such as W. E. Wightman, have argued that Walter was a follower of William fitzOsbern, others, including C. P. Lewis and K. S. B. Keats-Rohan, have argued that Walter was an independent agent in England. By the time of Walter's death, he held a block of lands in Herefordshire along the border with Wales. Another group of lands was centered on Ludlow in Shropshire. These two groupings of lands allowed Walter to help defend the border of England against Welsh raids. Walter also had other lands in Berkshire, Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, and Oxfordshire. Walter kept a large number of his manors in demesne, managing them directly rather than giving them as fiefs to his knightly followers. Some of these lands in Hereford, including Holme Lacy, were held of the Bishop of Hereford through feudal tenure. In total, Domesday Book records Walter's lands as being worth £423 in income per year and as comprising 163 manors in 7 different counties. He was one of 21 individuals with land valued at more than £400 at the time of the survey. In 1075, Walter was one of the leaders of the force that prevented Roger de Breteuil from joining up with the other rebels during the Revolt of the Earls. Walter had joined forces with Wulfstan the Bishop of Worcester, Æthelwig the Abbot of Evesham Abbey, and Urse d'Abetot the Sheriff of Worcester. ## Family and death Walter married Emma or Emmelina – though some sources report these as successive wives they probably are alternative renderings of the same wife's name – and they had three sons, Roger, Hugh and Walter. Roger was the heir to Weobley and Walter became Abbot of Gloucester Abbey. Walter and Emma also had a daughter who became a nun at St Mary's Abbey, Winchester. A niece was married to Ansfrid de Cormeilles. Considerable confusion exists about Sybil, the wife of Pain fitzJohn. C. P. Lewis names her as the daughter of Walter, but W. E. Wightman calls her the daughter of Hugh, Walter's son. Yet another reconstruction, favoured by Bruce Coplestone-Crow, sees her as child of Geoffrey Talbot and his wife Agnes, whom he sees as daughter of Walter de Lacy. The elder Walter died on 27 March 1085, falling off some scaffolding at Saint Guthlac's Priory when he was inspecting the progress of the building at that monastery. He was buried in the chapter house at Gloucester Abbey. He was a benefactor to Gloucester Abbey, as well as Saint Guthlac's.

Castle Rising Castle

12th-century castle in Norfolk, England

Castle Rising is a ruined medieval fortification in the village of Castle Rising, Norfolk, England. It was built soon after 1138 by William d'Aubigny II, who had risen through the ranks of the Anglo-Norman nobility to become the Earl of Arundel. With his new wealth, he constructed Castle Rising and its surrounding deer park, a combination of fortress and palatial hunting lodge. It was inherited by William's descendants before passing into the hands of the de Montalt family in 1243. The Montalts later sold the castle to Queen Isabella, who lived there after her fall from power in 1330. Isabella extended the castle buildings and enjoyed a regal lifestyle, entertaining her son, Edward III, on several occasions. After her death, it was granted to Edward, the Black Prince, to form part of the Duchy of Cornwall. During the 15th century, the castle became increasingly valued for its hunting facilities rather than its military defences. It fell into disrepair and, despite the construction of new living quarters and service facilities, by the middle of the 16th century it was derelict. Henry VIII sold the property to Thomas Howard, the Duke of Norfolk, and most of the castle buildings were demolished. It was not until the 19th century, when Mary and Fulke Greville Howard inherited the property, that the castle was renovated and restored. Victorian scholars examined the site, and it was opened to the public. In 1958 the castle passed into the custody of the state, which carried out further stabilisation work and a programme of archaeological investigation. In 1998 English Heritage passed the management of the site back to its current owner, Baron Howard of Rising, who continues to operate the castle as a tourist attraction. Castle Rising comprises three baileys, each defended by large earthworks, covering a total area of 5 hectares (12 acres), which archaeologists Oliver Creighton and Robert Higham consider to be among the most impressive in Britain. In the inner bailey is the great keep, probably modelled on that of Norwich Castle. It features extensive Romanesque designs, including pilaster buttresses and arcading. Historians Beric Morley and David Gurney believe this to be "one of the finest of all Norman keeps", and its military utility and political symbolism have been extensively discussed by academics. The castle was originally surrounded by a carefully managed landscape, from the planned town in front of the castle, to the deer park and rabbit warrens that stretched out behind it, intended to be viewed from the lord's chamber in the great keep. ## History ### 12th – 13th centuries Castle Rising was built soon after 1138 by William d'Aubigny II, an upwardly mobile Anglo-Norman noble who owned the surrounding manor of Snettisham. William married Adeliza of Louvain, the widow of King Henry I in that year, and became the Earl of Arundel in 1139. This transformed his social position, and one chronicler at Waltham Holy Cross complained how he "became intolerably puffed up ... and looked down upon every other eminence in the world except the King". With his new wealth, William built Castle Rising and New Buckenham Castle in Norfolk, and expanded Arundel Castle in West Sussex. The castle was located 5 miles (8.0 km) from the port of King's Lynn. In the 12th century it would have typically have been reached by boat, through a channel in the marshy Babingley River that ran nearby. Following the Norman conquest of England, the land had been granted to Bishop Odo, the Earl of Kent, who may have used it as an administrative centre; there were many Saxo-Norman buildings on the site of the later castle. Although Norfolk was a prosperous region during this period, the location of the castle was not strategically important: its only militarily significance would have been as a regional muster point, and the surrounding lands were thinly populated, with poor, acidic agricultural soil. The attraction of the site to William is believed to have been that it was a relatively cheap and easy place in which to build a substantial new building and establish a large hunting park. Historian Richard Hulme argues that William essentially built "a palatial hunting lodge" on the site. Massive resources were required to construct Castle Rising, which included three baileys with large earthwork defences and a stone keep, with an adjacent deer park just behind the castle. As part of the project, the existing settlement was moved away to the north, where it became a planned settlement adjacent to the new castle. A pre-existing Norman chapel on the site, built around 1100, was encircled by the castle defences, and the new parish church of St Lawrence was built in the town instead, although it is possible that this church also pre-dates the castle. William received permission from King Stephen to open a mint at the castle in 1145 and, probably linked to this development, settled a community of Jews in the town. It is uncertain how often William actually stayed at his new castle. He and his wife probably preferred to reside in their estates around Arundel in the south of England, and both William and his descendants chose New Buckenham Castle, rather than Castle Rising, to serve as the caput, or main castle, for their Norfolk landholdings. A prolonged civil war known as the Anarchy broke out in England from 1138 until 1154, between the followers of King Stephen and the Empress Matilda, only ending when Matilda's son, Henry II, finally inherited the kingdom. Despite William having backed Stephen during the war, after the end of the conflict he proved a loyal supporter of Henry and was allowed to retain his possessions. Henry clamped down on the operation of the regional mints, however, and closed the facility at Castle Rising; the local Jews resettled in King's Lynn. A second, rapid phase of construction work on the castle then occurred, probably in the 1170s in response to a major rebellion against Henry II. William supported the King, and fought against the rebels at the Battle of Fornham in neighbouring Suffolk. Around this time the height of the earth defences was doubled and the internal level of the west bailey raised to form a platform. The castle was inherited by William d'Albini III, and in turn by his son, William IV, and grandson, William V. William V died in 1224, leaving it to his brother Hugh. Probably by this time the chapel inside the castle walls had fallen out of use as a religious building, and was instead employed for secular purposes. The top 3.7 metres (12 ft) of the keep's walls are distinctively different from the rest of the building, and one theory to explain this is that the castle keep was not in fact completed during William II's lifetime, and that the final work on walls was carried out between 1200 and 1230 by his descendants. Hugh died childless in 1243, and the castle then passed to Roger de Montalt. ### 14th century The Montalts were a prominent baronial family, but they had few other estates in the region and their family fortunes declined. In 1327, Roger de Montalt's younger brother, Robert, who was childless, sold the reversion of his rights in the castle to the Crown in 1327 for 10,000 marks – effectively selling it to the Crown with a life-time lease for him and his wife Emma. An alternative theory to explain the different style of stonework along the top of the keep is that the building was completed under William d'Albini II, but had become dilapidated by the start of the 14th century, requiring extensive repairs by Robert. The forebuilding of the keep was raised in height at one end around this time and a new, peaked roof added to it, and an imposing, timber-framed, brick kitchen was built in the inner bailey. At the time of Robert's agreement with the Crown, the government of England was controlled by Roger Mortimer and Queen Isabella of France, who was ruling as regent in the name of her young son, Edward III. Isabella fell from power when Edward toppled Mortimer in a coup d'état in 1330, but after a short period of house arrest she led a relatively normal life, enjoying considerable status as the King's mother. Edward granted Isabella several royal castles in England, including Castle Rising. Robert had died in 1329 and in 1331 Emma sold her rights to the castle to Isabella for £400. From then on, Isabella used Castle Rising as one of her main residences until her death in 1358. Isabella was a wealthy woman, as the King granted her a yearly income of £3,000, which by 1337 had increased to £4,000. She enjoyed a regal lifestyle in Norfolk, maintaining minstrels, huntsmen and grooms, and received visits from Edward and the royal household on at least four occasions. Despite her large income, Isabella ran up long-standing debts with the local merchants near the castle. Around the time that she took over the castle, a new set of buildings were constructed in the central bailey, including a west range containing a residential suite, a new private chapel, and a south range linking to various service buildings; the existing kitchen was reused. The great hall was reroofed, although Isabella lived in the west range, using the keep only for formal occasions or as accommodation for very senior guests. A brick wall around the outside of the inner bailey may have been built around this time to provide additional security. The castle then passed to Isabella's grandson, Edward the Black Prince. Edward III had decreed in 1337 that his son would inherit the castle after Isabella's death, complete with the surrounding manor and the right to part of the tolls from King's Lynn, although these brought in only a relatively modest £100 a year. As part of this arrangement, the King declared the castle to be a permanent part of the Duchy of Cornwall, an estate traditionally assigned for the use of the Prince of Wales. The Prince undertook repairs to the castle during the 1360s, including spending £81 on repairing the "Nightegale Tower" in 1365, although it is uncertain which part of the castle this refers to. The Prince died in 1376, returning the Duchy of Cornwall to the control of the Crown, and during this time Castle Rising appears to have been maintained in good condition. It was ordered on several occasions during the 1380s to raise local forces to counter the threat of a French invasion, and may have been equipped with two cannons. If not built by Isabella, the brick wall around the inner bailey may have been constructed during this period. Under Richard II, the rights to the castle changed hands several times, despite Edward's charter having made it a permanent part of the Duchy. Richard's government gave the castle to John, the Duke of Brittany, in 1378, in exchange for the Château de Brest. Richard subsequently gave the reversion of the castle first to his uncle Thomas, Duke of Gloucester, in 1386, and then to another uncle, Edmund, Duke of York in 1397. Shortly after Richard was overthrown, the courts declared these grants to have been illegal, and returned the castle to the Duchy in 1403, then in the possession of the future Henry V. ### 15th – 18th centuries In the 15th and early 16th centuries, Castle Rising continued to be owned by the Duchy of Cornwall. Although the castle's military defences were mobilised by Henry VI in 1461 during the Wars of the Roses, it became increasingly more prominent as a hunting facility. The role of the constable of the castle was often combined with that of the surveyor or ranger of Rising Chase, the parkland around the castle. The castle may have been a prestigious location during this period, although its facilities were not as extensive as those of other castles and manors known for their hunting. Senior visitors to the castle included Mary Tudor, Queen of France, and Charles Brandon, the Duke of Suffolk, and its constables included nobles such as Lord Ralph de Cromwell and John de Vere, the Earl of Oxford. Minor repairs on the castle were carried out during the period, including to the castle bridge, but the state of the property gradually declined. The old kitchens were removed in the early 15th century, and a new, larger facility constructed in their place. Once built, however, the new kitchens, along with the rest of the buildings in the inner bailey, were left to deteriorate. Reports in 1482 stated that the buildings were no longer weatherproof, and a survey carried around between 1503 and 1506 described the castle as "evyll repayred", and noted that the roof of the keep was rotten. This last survey urged that existing repair works on the buildings in the bailey be completed, but suggested that it might not be worth repairing the keep because of the excessive cost. Despite these challenges, fresh construction work was carried out around this time. The southern range and the kitchen were pulled down, and replaced with a new set of lodgings for guests, complete with stables, although the resulting buildings were not particularly robust. Problems reappeared, and a survey between 1542 and 1543 noted that, with the exception of the new lodgings, the castle was in "greate ruin and decaye". The roof of the keep had by now collapsed, as probably had the floors of the great hall and chamber. The survey costed the necessary repairs to the crumbling walls around the inner bailey at £100. At around this time, the forebuilding of the keep was adapted to form a separate, smaller, set of chambers, and at some point after this a passageway was dug out of the walls to link these to the kitchens in the keep, by-passing the now floor-less rooms of the keep. In 1544 Henry VIII bequeathed the castle to Thomas Howard, the Duke of Norfolk, but the property continued to decline. By the 1570s the castle and its earthworks had been allowed to become infested with rabbits, whose warrens caused extensive damage; a survey suggested that fully renovating the castle would cost £2,000, and that even if it were pulled down and sold for the value of its materials, it would only realise £66. At the end of the century, the inner bailey was finally cleared of most of its buildings; the new lodgings were pulled down, along with most of the west range and the old Norman chapel, leaving only the ruined keep, alongside the latrines and the newer chapel, although what these last two were then used for is uncertain. The foundations of the old chapel were slowly covered up by the earth defences. During the 17th century, the ground floor of the keep – made of hardened gravel – was dug up, probably to reuse for surfacing roads or pathways. The apartments in the forebuilding were abandoned and this part of the keep fell into decay as well. In 1644, the lands surrounding the castle were disparked, bringing an end to Castle Rising Chase. In 1705 stone was stripped from the castle to help repair a nearby sluice gate. ### 19th – 21st centuries Castle Rising continued to be owned by the Howard family, and in the 19th century it was inherited by Mary Howard, and her husband Fulke Greville Howard. Fulke began to undertake restoration work, excavating the basement of the keep in 1822 and repairing some of the stonework. The ground level of the inner bailey, which had built up over the years, was lowered by about 1 metre (3 ft 3 in): according to the contemporary archaeologist Henry Harrod, this process required thousands of loads of earth to be dug out and removed. A great deal of medieval archaeological evidence was destroyed in the process, but the work uncovered the old Norman chapel and Harrod excavated the building in 1851. Mary continued the excavation work on the castle site after Fulke's death, and restored the stonework of the chapel. Initially the chapel was believed to be of Anglo-Saxon origin and to have been buried under the earthworks when they were first constructed. An argument then ensued between the antiquarian William Taylor, who championed the Anglo-Saxon dating for the site, and Harrod, who insisted that the chapel was in fact Norman in origin; the issue was not settled until later in the 20th century, when the Norman date was confirmed. By 1900 the castle was open to the public, overseen by a caretaker who lived in one corner of the keep, the section of which had been reroofed and turned into an apartment. By 1958 the castle's condition had deteriorated and the Ministry of Works took legal custody of the site, although it continued to be owned by the Howard family. Conservation work took place during the 1960s, stabilising the stonework of the keep. Archaeological investigations were then carried out, focusing on the keep in 1970, the church and the earthwork defences during 1971 and 1972, and the inner bailey from 1973 to 1976. This research centred on archaeological excavations and the recording of remains; as with similar castles investigated during this period, the site was then preserved as a monument, and grass lawns laid down around the remaining stonework and foundations. Further excavations were carried out in 1987 during the construction of the ticket office beside the castle. English Heritage took over control of the castle in 1983 and continued to operate it as a tourist attraction. In the 21st century the castle is protected by UK law as an ancient monument and a Grade I listed building. It remains in the custody of English Heritage, but since 1998 has been managed by its owner, Baron Howard of Rising. ## Architecture and landscape ### Landscape The fortification of Castle Rising was constructed in a carefully designed landscape. In front of the castle was the town of Castle Rising, moved to its new site when the castle was built. The settlement appears to have been laid out to a grid-plan design, possibly bounded by ditches; with the castle positioned just behind it, in a similar fashion to that at New Buckenham and Malton Castle. A dovecot and a religious house were founded nearby; both of these were important symbols of lordship at the time, and were considered essential parts of a properly established castle. The castle's deer park, which merged into the larger Rising Chase, was positioned behind the castle in a similar way to that at Devizes Castle. The castle effectively formed an interface between the town and the park; the great hall in the keep faced the settlement, and the lord's chamber overlooked the park, creating a symbolic divide between the public and private aspects of the building. Rising Chase was around 16 miles (26 km) in circumference, enclosing around 20 square miles (52 km²). It utilised marginal farm-land, which may have contributed to its design; the heathland and light woodland south of the castle would have been ideal for grazing deer. The park was also designed with aesthetics in mind, being shaped so that its boundaries stretched beyond the horizon when viewed from the keep, in a similar design to that at Framlingham, Ludgershall and Okehampton Castles. Indeed, while the park would originally have provided the castle venison and other products, it was probably more ornamental than practical in character, including a space of open grazing in the centre of the park, designed to be visible from the castle chamber. The castle also incorporated a large rabbit warren, an important source of food and fur in this period, which stretched 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) away south-west from the castle. ### Architecture #### Baileys Castle Rising is made up of two rectangular baileys to the west and east, and an oval inner bailey in the middle, each with their own substantial earthwork defences and ditches. The earthworks of Castle Rising cover a total area of 5 hectares (12 acres), and are considered by archaeologists Oliver Creighton and Robert Higham to be among the most impressive in Britain. The interior of the western bailey has been levelled up to form a platform, and is no longer directly connected to the rest of the castle. The eastern bailey is 82 metres (269 ft) by 59 metres (194 ft) across, and formed a protective buffer, covering the entrance way to the inner bailey. A stone bridge connects the eastern bailey to the inner bailey, and is 24 metres (79 ft) across, still retaining some of its original stonework at its base, although the remainder of it has since been rebuilt many times. The bridge leads onto a stone gatehouse, dating from around 1138; when it was first built it was substantially taller and longer than today. It was originally equipped with a portcullis, and a stone barbican was later built outside it for additional protection. Beyond the gatehouse is the inner bailey, which forms a ringwork 73 metres (240 ft) by 60 metres (200 ft) in size, with a circumference of 320 metres (1,050 ft); the banks are now 18 metres (59 ft) high from the bottom of the defensive ditch, although they were originally only half this height. It is uncertain what was placed around the top of this bank when it first built; there may have been a wooden palisade, or possibly a timber revetment. Some of the remains of the 14th-century brick wall, built on an additional 1 metre (3 ft 3 in) layer of limed sand for stability, have survived along part of the bank. There were three towers built along the walls during the medieval period, two of which have left their mark in the earth banks; the location of the third is uncertain. The main architectural focus of the inner bailey was the great keep, but it also contained a Norman chapel and, from at least the 14th century onwards, a complex of smaller residential and service buildings. The visible stone foundations on the north side of the keep belong to the chapel and range built for Queen Isabella around 1330. The bailey well can also still be seen. On the north side of the bailey are the remains of the Norman chapel, which comprised a nave, a square tower and an apsidal chancel, 12.7 metres by 6 metres (42 ft by 20 ft), 4 metres square (13 ft square) and 4.6 metres by 4 metres (15 ft by 13 ft) respectively. It was built from local grey sandstone, and Roman tiles from one of the nearby villas were used to construct its roof and incorporated into the walls. Originally the tower would have had a church bell, and the casting pit for this is buried under the floor of the nave. A stone bench runs around the base of the walls, and in the 19th century there was also a stone base for a font in the nave, but this has since been lost. A piece of early medieval graffiti, possibly depicting a Norman soldier, has survived on the south exterior wall. A fireplace was added to the chapel during the Tudor period, although this was only in use for a few years before being abandoned. #### Keep Historians Beric Morley and David Gurney consider Castle Rising to have "one of the finest of all Norman keeps". It is an early example of the longer, oblong form of these buildings, called a hall-keep, and would have taken huge resources to erect. Externally, it resembles Henry I's keeps at Norwich and Falaise, although Norwich appears to have inspired the latter design, and Rising's internal layout was probably based on that at Norwich as well. In imitating Norwich, which was then the only royal castle in the county, Castle Rising may have been intended to symbolise D'Albini's loyalty to the Crown during the troubled years of the Anarchy. The keep is built from courses of local, brown carrstone rubble with oolite ashlar facings, and is strengthened with intramural timbers, laid down within the stone walls to reinforce the structure. Its main body is 24 metres (79 ft) by 21 metres (69 ft) wide, with walls approximately 15 metres (49 ft) high, with a forebuilding running along the east side. It has prominent pilaster buttresses, giving the keep what Sidney Toy describes as an "impression of strength and dignity"; the corners have clasping buttresses, forming four turrets. There is extensive Romanesque detail on the outside of the keep, including arcading along the west side and decorative stonework on the forebuilding. The interior of the keep is divided by an internal wall to improve its structural strength, the division running north–south through the building. The basement of the keep has two main sections, the north room 18 metres (59 ft) by 8 metres (26 ft), with pillars supporting the great hall above, and the south chamber 18 metres (59 ft) by 5 metres (16 ft) in size. The forebuilding leads from the ground to the first floor, up a passageway 2.4 metres (7 ft 10 in) wide with 34 steps and through three arched doorways. At the top is a waiting room; the glazed windows are a mixture of Tudor and more modern insertions. On the first floor is the great hall, 14 metres (46 ft) by 7 metres (23 ft), now floorless and open to the sky. Its original entrance way was blocked up by a chimney when the forebuilding was converted into a separate apartment in the Tudor period, and an additional entrance way inserted into the castle wall. The fireplace itself was later filled in with Tudor tiles around 1840. A mural passageway, dug out in the Tudor period, leads through to the kitchen and service quarters. On the southern side is the great chamber with a large, original 12th-century fireplace, and a mixture of original tri-lobed windows and 19th-century additions. At the far end of the great chamber is an ornate chapel, with Norman arcading and arching. The keep was originally built to have been relatively self-contained, and would not have needed many additional outbuildings to function as a residence. The second floor of the keep is limited in space, and contains only one small room above the chapel which was possibly used the chaplain or by castle guards. The forebuilding was later equipped with an additional room on this level, 4.8 metres (16 ft) by 4.8 metres (16 ft), which remained inhabited longer than the rest of the castle keep, and which contains a 19th-century fireplace. The upper 3.7 metres (12 ft) of the keep's walls are different in design to the main body of the building; as described above, this may be the result of either a final phase of construction between 1200 and 1230, or a period of repair and renovation shortly after 1300. ### Utility and symbolism Many 20th-century historians have stressed the potential military strength of Castle Rising; R. Allen Brown, for example, concluded that "defence ... was the overwhelming consideration in [its] design and construction", and argued that the keep would have been used as a final refuge in the case of attack during a siege. Beric Morley and David Gurney believe that the military strength of the castle could not have failed to impress contemporaries. Sidney Toy suggested that the forebuilding would have made an effective defensive feature, enabling the defenders to attack intruders as they made their way up the stairs, with Morley and Gurney describing it as "a deadly and near impregnable approach to the castle's interior". Despite this, the defensive qualities of Castle Rising have since been extensively debated. The historian Robert Liddiard argues that the large windows at Castle Rising would have been a significant weakness, as it would have been easy to fire arrows through them from the bailey, and George Garnett has questioned the utility of the defensive arrow slits, which he suggests were not well positioned or designed. The whole site was also overlooked by higher ground, which Liddiard considers would have been a key defensive weakness. Great keeps such as Castle Rising's were also important ceremonially and symbolically in the 12th century, however, and historian Thomas Heslop has described Castle Rising as "a fortress palace", with the keep forming the palace, and the surrounding earthworks the more practical defences. They reflected lordly status: typically their owners had recently advanced up the social scale, as with William d'Aubigny, and were keen to impress others with their new authority. With this in mind, the positioning of Castle Rising may have exposed it to higher ground, but it also made it strikingly prominent across the valley. The whole entrance to the castle was also designed to communicate to a visitor the status of the castle lord. As they came through the gatehouse and past the earthworks into the bailey, the south side of the forebuilding - deliberately facing the entrance - would have been revealed, covered in fashionable carving and decorative features. Visitors would then have walked up the stairs of the forebuilding, have paused in a waiting room, originally largely open to the elements, before being allowed through a decorative entrance door. The doorway led into the great hall, from where the lord, possibly sat in a throne alcove to the left, would have met the visitor. ### Ceremonial entrance ## See also - Castles in Great Britain and Ireland - List of castles in England

Grace Prendergast

New Zealand rower

Grace Elizabeth Prendergast MNZM (born 30 June 1992) is a former New Zealand sweep rower. She is a 15-time national champion in the premier category, an Olympic champion, a five-time world champion and the current (2022) world champion in the coxless pair. She grew up in Christchurch, where she started rowing for the Avon Rowing Club in 2007. She competed at the Tokyo Olympics in two boat classes and won gold in the coxless pair and a silver in the eight and set a new world's best time in the pair. Various parties, including the World Rowing Federation, expected her to win medals in Tokyo. She was the highest ranked female rower in the world twice in a row in 2019 and 2021. Since 2014, her rowing partner in the coxless pair has been Kerri Gowler. Prendergast is also a Boat Race winner, having competed as part of Cambridge University Boat Club's (CUBC) women's crew in 2022. She retired from professional rowing in October 2022. ## Early life Prendergast was born in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 1992. Her parents are Tim and Sally Prendergast. Her first year of primary school was at Duvauchelle School in the small Banks Peninsula settlement of Duvauchelle, followed by Halswell School in the Christchurch suburb of Halswell. She attended Villa Maria College, where she started rowing in 2007. She studied at Massey University and graduated first with a bachelor and then a master's in business studies, and is currently studying at Queens' College, Cambridge. Prendergast describes her temperament as "calm" and reserved. ## Career ### Junior rowing Prendergast started rowing for Villa Maria College in 2007 and, due to the school's affiliation, joined the Avon Rowing Club after she left school. In 2010, she was chosen for New Zealand's junior team and she competed with the junior women's four at the 2010 World Rowing Junior Championships in Račice, Czech Republic, where they won gold; Eve MacFarlane was part of the team. A sweep rower, she cannot row stroke side (also known as port side) due to her scoliosis. Once she was a member of Avon, Prendergast first competed at the New Zealand rowing championships in 2011, when they were held on Lake Ruataniwha. She competed in two U21 boat classes (coxless four and eight) and one premier boat class (eight) and won gold in all three events. There was no international rowing for Prendergast in 2011. At the February 2012 New Zealand rowing championships held on Lake Karapiro, Prendergast competed in four boat classes. She won gold with the U21 coxless four, and silver with the U21 pair and U21 quad scull. In the premier class, she defended her national championship title in the eight. At the 2012 World Rowing U23 Championships in Trakai, Lithuania, she came fourth in the four; Georgia Perry was in the same boat. At the February 2013 New Zealand rowing championships, Prendergast competed in three premier boat classes, gaining one silver medal (coxless four) and two national championships (coxless pair and eight). She was picked for the New Zealand elite team to compete in the eight. The 2013 World Rowing Cup I was held in Sydney, Australia, where they came fifth. The team then travelled to World Rowing Cup III, which was held on the Rotsee in Switzerland, where they came sixth. At the 2013 World Rowing Championships on the Tangeum Lake in Chungju, South Korea, they missed the A-final but came first in the B-final (seventh overall). ### Senior rowing At the February 2014 New Zealand rowing championships, Prendergast competed in one U22 and three premier boat classes. She won gold with the U22 eight. In the premier quad scull and the premier coxless pair (with Eve MacFarlane), she won silver medals. In the premier eight, she defended her national title. During the trials for the national team selection shortly afterwards, she first teamed up with Kerri Gowler in the coxless pair. She travelled with a New Zealand squad to the 2014 World Rowing Cup III at the Rotsee, where she won a silver medal in the coxless pair with Gowler. They had started as NZII, with NZI made consisting of Louise Trappitt and Rebecca Scown, but they beat the higher-rated team by five seconds and displaced them to the bronze medal position. They themselves were beaten by Helen Glover and Heather Stanning from Great Britain, then the reigning Olympic and (in Glover's case) world champions. Prendergast and Gowler then went to the 2014 World Rowing U23 Championships in Varese, Italy, where they won gold with a massive 13-second lead over an American pair. Based on this performance, Rowing New Zealand formed a coxless four for the 2014 World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam in the following month, where Gowler and Prendergast were joined by Kayla Pratt and Kelsey Bevan. They won the world championship title in a world-best time. At the February 2015 New Zealand rowing championships, Prendergast competed in two premier boat classes and took out two national titles. She defended her title in the eight for a fifth year and also won gold in the coxless pair partnered with Kristen Froude. Internationally, she continued rowing with Gowler in the coxless pair. At the 2015 World Rowing Cup II in Varese, Italy, they won bronze. At the World Rowing Cup III on the Rotsee, they won silver. At the same event, they both joined the women's eight and won another silver. The same approach was used at the 2015 World Rowing Championships in Aiguebelette, France, where they won silver in both boat classes. Those silver medals qualified both boat classes for the 2016 Rio Olympics. At the February 2016 New Zealand rowing championships, Prendergast competed in three premier boat classes and won one national title. She lost her title in the eight as the boat came second. She was also second with the coxless four. Teamed up with Emma Dyke, she retained her national title in the coxless pair. When the Olympic rowing team got announced in March 2016, it came as a big disappointment to Gowler and Prendergast that they were not picked for the coxless pair (this was given to Rebecca Scown and Genevieve Behrent) but were chosen for the women's eight instead. Not picking world championship silver medallists was described by The New Zealand Herald as demonstrating the "depth and competitiveness" of New Zealand's female squad in 2016. The eight squad went to the 2016 World Rowing Cups II and III in Switzerland and Poland in preparation for the Olympics, and they came third and first, respectively. At the August 2016 Rio Olympics they came fourth. At the 2017 New Zealand rowing nationals at Lake Ruataniwha, she once again partnered with Dyke in the premier women's pair and they retained their national championship. She also won national titles in the coxless four and the eight. As Behrent wanted to take 2017 off, Gowler and Prendergast were chosen for the coxless pair for international rowing in 2017. They dominated in the boat class and won gold at 2017 World Rowing Cups II and III, and in between the inaugural race for the Hambleden Pairs Challenge Cup as part of the Henley Royal Regatta. At the 2017 World Rowing Championships in Sarasota, Florida, United States, they became world champions with a comfortable margin of nearly four seconds over a team from the United States. At the 2018 New Zealand rowing nationals at Lake Karapiro, she retained her national title with Dyke in the coxless pair and also won the coxless four. With the eight, she won silver. Continuing to row with Gowler internationally, they won the 2018 World Rowing Cups II and III, but were beaten by the Canadian team of Caileigh Filmer and Hillary Janssens at the 2018 World Rowing Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. At the 2019 New Zealand rowing nationals at Lake Ruataniwha, she came second in both the coxless pair and the eight. Gowler and Prendergast were reconfirmed for the women's pair in April 2019. At the 2019 World Rowing Cup II in Poznań, Poland, they won gold. At Henley, they won races with both the eight (Remenham Challenge Cup) and the coxless pair (Hambleden Pairs Challenge Cup). At the World Rowing Cup III in Rotterdam, Netherlands, they competed in both the eight (gold) and in the coxless pair (silver, beaten by the Australian team of Jessica Morrison and Annabelle McIntyre). At the 2019 World Rowing Championships in Linz–Ottensheim, they regained the coxless pair world championship title, with the Australians in second place (some two seconds behind) and the Canadians in bronze position. They also competed with the eight and gained a second gold medal at the event, beating the Australian team by nearly three seconds. These results qualified both boat classes for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. At the 2020 New Zealand rowing nationals at Lake Karapiro, Prendergast competed in two boat classes. In the coxless pair with Dyke, she regained her national title. In the coxless four she came second. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there was no international rowing during 2020. In early February 2021, Rowing New Zealand announced the elite women's team for the Olympic year, with Prendergast and Gowler nominated for the coxless pair as well as being part of the eight. Two weeks later at the 2021 New Zealand rowing nationals at Lake Ruataniwha, Prendergast competed in three boat classes. In the coxless four, the team did not finish the race. In the coxless pair (with Dyke) and the eight, she won national titles. When New Zealand's Olympic team was announced in June 2021, Prendergast and Gowler were confirmed to start with both the coxless pair and the eight. In November 2020, the World Rowing Federation predicted that New Zealand and Australia are currently so dominant that their teams would compete in the eight for gold and silver, with the remaining nations fighting over bronze. Former Olympian Sarah Cowley Ross, who will commentate from Tokyo for TVNZ, expects the eight and the coxless pair to both get medals. Sports bookmaker Pinnacle offers very low odds for the women's eight and the coxless pair to win gold. As of 9 July, for every dollar paid in, they would pay out \$2.07 and \$2.67 for the eight and the coxless pair winning gold, respectively. At the Sea Forest Waterway in Tokyo, Prendergast and Gowler won their heat, the semi-final in a new world best time (beaten ten minutes earlier by Greece in the first semi-final), and the A final, for Olympic gold. They also won the heat in the eight, just three hours after their pair's heat. In the final, the New Zealand eight won silver behind Canada. In 2022, Prendergast rowed in the 7-seat of the Cambridge women's eight in the 2022 Boat Race, a crew which went on to win in a record time of 18 minutes and 22 seconds. She announced her retirement from professional rowing on 27 October 2022. ### National titles National titles for senior rowers are known as Red Coats in New Zealand. She last competed at the national championships in 2021. During her career, Prendergast won 15 premier Red Coats. ## Ranking, honours and awards The World Rowing Federation publishes an annual Top 10 Ranking for both men and women, with the ranking based on performance at international events over the previous three years. Prendergast was first included in the list in 2018 ranked in sixth place, with Gowler in ninth place. In 2019, Prendergast was the highest-ranked female rower in the world, with Gowler in second place. No ranking was done in 2020 as the international events had all been cancelled. Prendergast and Gowler remained their rankings in 2021. At the November 2019 World Rowing Awards, Prendergast and Gowler won World Rowing Women’s Crew of the Year. Their coach, Gary Hay (he also coaches the women's eight), won World Rowing Coach of the Year. At the 2020 Sport Canterbury Awards, Prendergast won the Supreme Sportsperson of the Year title, breaking shot putter Tom Walsh's dominance. Hay won the coach of the year award at the same event. In the 2022 Queen's Birthday and Platinum Jubilee Honours, Prendergast was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to rowing.

Army of Me (Christina Aguilera song)

2012 song by Christina Aguilera

"Army of Me" is a song recorded by American singer-songwriter Christina Aguilera for her seventh studio album, Lotus (2012). It was co-written by Aguilera with Jamie Hartman, David Glass and Phil Bentley, with production done by Hartman and Tracklacers. Described by Aguilera as part two to her 2003 single "Fighter", she decided to record the song so that her newer, younger fans would have an empowering song to listen in case they were unfamiliar with her previous work. The song combines dance-pop and Eurodance genres; its instrumentation incorporates drum beats and rock guitars. "Army of Me" garnered mixed reviews from music critics. Many praised Aguilera's strong delivery of the song's message and branded it a potential single, while others criticized it for being too similar to "Fighter". Upon the release of Lotus, the song debuted on the South Korea international singles chart at number 103 with digital download sales of 2,689. Aguilera has performed the song at the 40th American Music Awards in the United States. ## Background and recording Following the release of her sixth studio album, Bionic (2010), Aguilera filed for divorce from her husband Jordan Bratman, starred in the film Burlesque, and recorded the accompanying soundtrack. She then became a coach on NBC's singing competition show The Voice and appeared as a featured artist on Maroon 5's single "Moves like Jagger" (2011), which spent four weeks atop the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. Following these events, Aguilera announced that had plans to begin production of her seventh album, stating that she wanted high quality and "personal" songs for the record. Regarding the creative direction, she revealed that the album would be a "culmination of everything I've experienced up until this point ... I've been through a lot since the release of my last album, being on ('The Voice'), having had a divorce ... This is all sort of a free rebirth for me." She further said "I'm embracing many different things, but it's all feel-good, super-expressive [and] super-vulnerable." Aguilera continued to say that the album would be about "self–expression and freedom" because of the personal struggles she had overcome during the last couple of years. Speaking about her new material during an interview on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in 2012, Aguilera said that the recording process for Lotus was taking a while because "I don't like to just get songs from producers. I like them to come from a personal place ... I'm very excited. It's fun, exciting, introspective, it's going to be great". Recorded at Henson Recording Studios, Hollywood, California, and Radley Studios, Los Angeles, California, by Justin Stanley, "Army of Me" was co-written by Aguilera with Jamie Hartman, David Glass and Phil Bentley. It was produced by Tracklacers and it was co-produced by Hartman. Aguilera's vocals were recorded by Oscar Ramirez at The Red Lips Room in Beverly Hills in California. Programming was carried out by Steve Daly and John Keep, while strings were composed by Hartman. In an interview with Andrew Hampp for Billboard, Aguilera explained how her role on The Voice has allowed her to reach a new generational audience who may not be familiar with her past work, including songs such as her 2002 single, "Fighter". When asked if some of the songs on Lotus feature themes which are similar to that of her 2002 album, Stripped, Aguilera responded by saying that "Army of Me" is what she describes as "Fighter 2.0". > Absolutely. There's a song called 'Army of Me,' which is sort of a 'Fighter 2.0.' There is a new generation of fans from a younger demographic that might not have been with me all the way but that watch me on the show now. I feel like every generation should be able to enjoy and have their piece of 'Fighter' within. This time, the way it musically came together it just felt right for this time and this generation. There's always going to be a fighter in me getting through some obstacle and some hurdle. All these 6-year-olds who know me from pushing my button and turning around in a big red chair who weren't around for the actual 'Fighter,' this is my chance to recharge it, rejuvenate it and do something modernized for them. In her 2012 interview with The Advocate'''s Diane Anderson-Minshall Aguilera said that "Army of Me" is a song about "people that are maybe misunderstood or don’t fit into the norm but deserve a voice", and added that it is dedicated to them. ## Composition and lyrics "Army of Me" is an up-tempo dance-pop and Eurodance song which lasts for a duration of (three minutes and twenty-six seconds). Instrumentation consists of a "pounding" drum beat and "rocky" guitars. Aguilera presents herself as a fighter and tells her ex-boyfriend that she is stronger than he is in the lyrics "So how does it feel to know that I beat you?/ That I can defeat you?" Although Aguilera is heartbroken by the decision to split up with her ex-boyfriend, she is not a broken person. The lyrics "One of me is wiser/ One of me is stronger/ One of me's a fighter/ And there's a thousand faces of me/ We're gonna rise up for every time you broke me/ You're gonna face an army of me" are similar to those performed by Aguilera on "Fighter", although of "Army of Me" does not sample any of the song. Aguilera sings "Now that I'm wiser/ Now that I'm stronger/ Now that I'm a fighter/ There's a thousand faces on me" over a "thumping" beat, and belts the line "We're gonna rise up for every time you broke me" on the chorus. In 2015, the song was covered by recording artist Anastacia for her compilation album Ultimate Collection. ## Critical reception "Army of Me" garnered mixed reviews from music critics. Diane Anderson-Minshall of Pride Media noted that the song "makes a great LGBT anthem." Andrew Hampp for Billboard and Chris Younie for 4Music both thought that "Army of Me" could have been a potential single, the latter of whom writing "This track must be a future single." Younie continued to write that the song "captivates and excites right from the very start", has a "euphoric" energy and is the type of "angry" pop song that Kelly Clarkson "would give her right arm for". Sarah Rodman of The Boston Globe described it as a "Gloria Gaynor-meets-Depeche Mode dance of anger." Mike Wass for Idolator wrote that although "Army of Me" is a "quality" song, it is an album filler. Writing that it sounds as though it would have been a good song to include on her previous studio album, Bionic, Wass thought that Aguilera was "not exaggerating" when she refers to it as "Fighter 2.0". He concluded his review by saying that although her vocals are sparse, it is a "quirky" addition to Lotus. The A.V. Club's Annie Zaleski described Aguilera as a "playful" and "sassy techno diva" on "Army of Me". Kitty Empire of The Observer also thought that it shares similarities with "Fighter". She cited the Björk song of the same name as another influence, due to its "emotional territory" Robert Copsey for Digital Spy described the song as "nothing we haven't heard from her before, but there's an urgency to it that suggests Christina needed to get it out of her system", while Matthew Horton of Virgin Media wrote that Aguilera sounds as though she is declaring war. Michael Gallucci for PopCrush was critical of the song, writing that it sounds like a Cher disco song which features Aguilera "overworking" her vocal cords. Melissa Maerz of Entertainment Weekly found the song's lyrics to be defensive and bitter. Responding to the lyrics "And we're gonna rise up.../ For every time you wronged me/ Well, you're gonna face an army, army of me.' Maerz writes "Rise up against whom? Is the whole world really out to get her, or is this just an excuse to wear camouflage hot pants?" ## Live performances Aguilera performed "Let There Be Love" for the first time at the 40th American Music Awards on November 18, 2012, held at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, California. Aguilera sang "Army of Me" as part of a medley with two other tracks from Lotus: "Lotus Intro" and "Let There Be Love". During an interview with MTV News, Aguilera revealed what the performance would be like and the creative direction behind it: > It's very exciting. It's definitely going to be a reflection of what Lotus means to me. If you take that album cover and give it a little performance twist, I'll bring that album cover to life, so it's going to be really fun. I can't give too much away about the songs, but it's definitely going to represent the album because the album is very multilayered. It doesn't represent 'Your Body' as a single tone. It has its ballads; and everything comes from a very sincere, deep–rooted place whether it's having fun or being vulnerable. Bruna Nessif for E! Online described the performance as "interesting," and noted that the theme "to celebrate everyone for who they are" was similar to the moral content presented on Gaga's album Born This Way (2011). As Aguilera finished her set, she was joined on stage by Pitbull to perform his song "Feel This Moment", on which she is a featured artist. ## Credits and personnel Recording - Recorded at Henson Recording Studios, Hollywood, California; Radley Studios, Los Angeles, California. - String, Bass and Piano recorded at Henson Recording Studios, Hollywood, California. - Acoustic Guitars, Synth Piano and Synth Strings recorded at Radley Studios, Los Angeles, California. - Vocals recorded at The Red Lips Room, Beverly Hills, California. Personnel - Songwriting – Christina Aguilera, Jamie Hartman, David Glass, Phil Bentley - Production – Tracklacers, Jamie Hartman (co-producer) - Vocal production – Christina Aguilera - Vocal recording – Oscar Ramirez - String arrangement – Jamie Hartman - String, Bass and Piano recording – Justin Stanley - Acoustic Guitars, Synth Piano and Synth Strings recording – Jamie Hartman - Assistant – Zivi Krieger - Drum programming, Keyboards and Synths – Steve Daly, Jon Keep - Synth Strings – Jamie Hartman, The Professor - Live Strings – Songa Lee, Rodney Wirtz, Alisha Bauer, Marisa Kuney - Live Piano – Jeff Babko, Jamie Hartman - Synth Piano – Jamie Hartman, The Professor - Live Bass – Tyler Chester, Steve Daly - Acoustic Guitars – Jamie Hartman Credits adapted from the liner notes of Lotus, RCA Records. ## Charts Upon the release of Lotus, "Army of Me" debuted on the South Korean singles chart at number 103 during the week of November 11 to 17, 2012, due to digital download sales of 2,689. ## Anastacia version American recording artist Anastacia covered the song for her second greatest hits album Ultimate Collection'' (2015). The song was released as album's second single on 23 October 2015 by Sony Music Entertainment. ### Track listings and formats Digital Download 1. "Army of Me" – 3:25 ### Release history ## Merwan Rim version French singer-songwriter and artist Merwan Rim included a French version of the song, Tous Les Hommes En Un, on his debut album, L'échappée, released in 2012 by Mercury Records. His first performance and release of the song took place several months before Aguilera's.

Vaillancourt Fountain

Fountain in San Francisco, California, U.S.

Vaillancourt Fountain, sometimes called Quebec libre!, is a large fountain in Embarcadero Plaza in San Francisco, designed by the Québécois artist Armand Vaillancourt in 1971. It is about 40 feet (12 m) high and is constructed out of precast concrete square tubes. Long considered controversial because of its stark, modernist appearance, there have been several unsuccessful proposals to demolish the fountain over the years. It was the site of a free concert by U2 in 1987, when lead singer Bono spray painted graffiti on the fountain and was both praised and criticized for the action. ## Location The fountain is in a highly visible spot on the downtown San Francisco waterfront, in Justin Herman Plaza, where Market Street meets The Embarcadero. The Hyatt Regency Hotel is at the edge of the plaza, adjacent to the other four highrise towers of the Embarcadero Center. Across The Embarcadero is the Ferry Building, and the eastern end of the California Street cable car line is on the other side of the Hyatt Regency Hotel. When Vaillancourt designed the fountain, the elevated Embarcadero Freeway or Interstate 480, was still in existence along the Embarcadero. The fountain was designed with the freeway environment in mind, but it was built to bring people to an expansive public space, as San Francisco Chronicle architecture critic John King calls it "an act of defiant distraction until the freeway came down in 1991". ## Design and construction Vaillancourt Fountain was a product of the redevelopment of San Francisco that took place in the 1950s and 1960s. The Transamerica Pyramid was constructed from 1969-1972. BART was also being constructed; the Embarcadero Station would eventually open in 1976, three years after the other stations along Market. Justin Herman, for whom the plaza was named, was a leading figure in this process and the executive director of the redevelopment agency in charge. The plaza was one of several plazas proposed in the 1962 redevelopment analysis What to do About Market Street, including Hallidie Plaza and United Nations Plaza, which were also completed in the mid-1970s. That 1962 analysis was written by planners Livingston and Blayney, landscape architect Lawrence Halprin, architects Rockrise & Watson, and Larry Smith Co. real estate consultants. Plans for Embarcadero Plaza were drawn up by Mario Ciampi, John Savage Bolles, and Halprin. In August 1966 a committee consisting of those three, plus sculptor and Art Commission member Sally Hellyer, invited six sculptors to submit models for a loosely defined "monumental abstract sculpture". By December five had responded: Jacques Overhoff, Reuben Nakian, Alicia Penalba, James Melchert, and Vaillancourt. The committee chose 38-year-old Vaillancourt but his second model, meant to show development of the design, did not even resemble the first model. By November 1968 Hellyer had been replaced by Ruth Asawa, who rejected the design, saying in part, "I for one, am not willing to remain silent while we play the old game of the emperor's new clothes on the unsuspecting people of this city." For his part, Halprin was quoted as saying that if the fountain didn't prove to be among the "great works of civic art ... I am going to slit my throat". The fountain is about 40 feet (12 m) high, weighs approximately 700 short tons (640 t), and is constructed out of precast concrete square tubes. The fountain is positioned in a pool shaped like an irregular pentagon, and is designed to pump up to 30,000 US gallons (110,000 L) of water per minute. The fountain looks unfinished, like concrete that has not been completely mixed. Up close, it is very rough and textured. There are several square pillars or cubed tubes that form a semi circle inside a pentagon shaped pool. The natural colored pillars jut out and crisscross from the corner of the plaza "like the tentacles of some immense geometrical octopus. ... breaking open." There are two bridges, or walk ways (with stairs), that allow the public to stand between the tubes and have a view overlooking the plaza and city. A series of platforms at pool level permit pedestrian entry into the fountain and behind the falling water. The fountain and plaza are easily accessible to the public at all times and in all conditions, rain or shine. The fountain's budget was US \$310,000. It was dedicated on April 22, 1971. The Los Angeles Times reported that its cost was US \$607,800. ## History Just before the dedication, the slogan "Quebec Libre" (a reference to the Quebec sovereignty movement) was painted on the fountain at night, and the graffiti was erased. During the dedication, attended by Thomas Hoving, director of New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, a rock band played, and Armand Vaillancourt himself painted "Quebec Libre" on the fountain in as many places as he could reach. A redevelopment agency employee started to paint over the slogans during the ceremony, but Herman stopped him, saying it could be done later. When asked about why he defaced his own fountain with graffiti he responded, "No, no. It's a joy to make a free statement. This fountain is dedicated to all freedom. Free Quebec! Free East Pakistan! Free Viet Nam! Free the whole world!" Vaillancourt said his actions were "a powerful performance" intended to illustrate the notion of power to the people. "Quebec Libre" has been an alternate name for the fountain since. Flamin' Groovies performed there, on the 19th September, 1979, and the concert was broadcast on KSAN (FM). ### 1987 U2 concert On the first leg of The Joshua Tree Tour by the rock band U2 in 1987, they performed concerts at the Cow Palace just south of San Francisco on April 24 and April 25, 1987. On the third leg of the tour, concerts had been announced for November 14 and 15, 1987, across the San Francisco Bay, at the Oakland Coliseum. On the morning of November 11, 1987, local radio stations announced that U2 would hold a free-admission concert that day in Justin Herman Plaza, with the stage set up in front of the Vaillancourt Fountain. Within a few hours, a crowd estimated at 20,000 people gathered in the plaza. The concert was jokingly called "Save the Yuppies", in reference to the 1987 stock market crash that had taken place three weeks earlier. The band closed their nine-song performance with their hit "Pride (In the Name of Love)". During the instrumental portion in the middle of the song, Bono, lead singer of the band, climbed onto the sculpture and spray painted graffiti on it, reading "Rock N Roll Stops The Traffic". Mayor Dianne Feinstein, who had been waging a citywide campaign against graffiti that had resulted in over 300 citations during the year, was angry and criticized Bono for defacing a San Francisco landmark. She said, "I am disappointed that a rock star who is supposed to be a role model for young people chose to vandalize the work of another artist. The unfortunate incident marred an otherwise wonderful rock concert." Bono was issued a citation for misdemeanor malicious mischief. U2 manager Paul McGuinness said, "This is clearly not an act of vandalism. This act was clearly in the spirit of the artwork itself." The numerous callers to Ronn Owens' radio talk show on KGO-AM were evenly split, with younger listeners defending the singer's action and older ones not. Bono soon apologized, saying "I really do regret it. It was dumb." The singer explained that he thought that he was honoring the artist's work and that the artist had agreed, but later Bono realized that the city owned the fountain. The group covered the cost of removal of the graffiti. Armand Vaillancourt flew from Quebec to California after the incident, and spoke in favor of Bono's actions at U2's Oakland performance several days later. Vaillancourt said, "Good for him. I want to shake his hand. People get excited about such a little thing." The sculptor spray-painted a slogan of his own on the band's stage, "Stop the Madness". The episode received further attention when it was featured in U2's 1988 documentary film Rattle and Hum. There, footage of it was shown over, and interspersed with, the band's opening number, "All Along the Watchtower", a song by Bob Dylan that had been a big hit for Jimi Hendrix. This has led some people to misidentify the song being played when the spray painting occurred. In any case, the fountain and plaza ended up on one U2 fan site's list of recommended group-related places in the U.S. to visit. ### Demolition proposals Following the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, the elevated Embarcadero Freeway was so badly damaged that it was torn down, and was replaced by a boulevard at ground level. An architect hired by the city also proposed demolition of the fountain, but no decision was made. In 2004, San Francisco Supervisor Aaron Peskin renewed the call to demolish the fountain. The water supply to the fountain had been turned off for several years, because of California's energy crisis of those years. Armand Vaillancourt immediately pledged that he would "fight like a devil to preserve that work". Debra Lahane, a member of the San Francisco Arts Commission, said that "it succeeds as a work of art if it provokes dialogue and discussion. Art that engages the public has had a measure of success." Within a few months, the water was flowing again, and plans to tear down the fountain were abandoned. ### On and off At the fountain's opening in 1971, both the water flow and human participation were considered integral to the work. Alfred Frankenstein, writing for the San Francisco Chronicle, noted "the heart of the idea is the unique one of public entry into and intimate exploration of the fountain's innards; in this it is unique and decidedly a success. It is not a great work of sculpture, which is like observing that an automobile is not much of a success as a horse." The water was turned off at the fountain from 2001 until 2004, reopening on August 2, 2004. San Francisco estimated the cost of electricity was approximately US \$200,000 per year to operate the fountain. Peskin negotiated a public-private partnership where the city would pay for the operating costs (at a revised estimate of US \$76,000 per year) and Boston Properties would pay for maintenance (estimated at US \$20,000 per year). The fountain was shut off again during the winter of 2007–08 starting in November 2007 so that skaters at the Justin Herman Plaza ice rink would not be splashed. It reopened on January 21, 2008. In reaction to the 2011–17 California drought, all of San Francisco's public fountains were shut off in order to conserve water. Vaillancourt Fountain was turned off in 2014 for the drought, but after that drought ended, the Recreation and Park department cited lack of funds to make repairs to the Vaillancourt Fountain as the reason it had not been reactivated. The estimated cost of rehabilitation to allow water to flow again was approximately US \$500,000. Charles Desmarais, the current art critic of the San Francisco Chronicle echoed Frankenstein's comments from 1971, calling for the water to return in an August 2017 opinion article: > [T]he water is as essential to [Vaillancourt Fountain] as it was superfluous to [the nearby Mechanics Monument]. Vaillancourt is a sprawling, lifeless skeleton in its current dry state, with a chain-link fence blocking the two sets of stairs that once allowed people to peer down into the roiling maelstrom below. The chain of island-like steppingstones that made visitors feel they were walking on water is now a gantlet of precarious pedestals several feet above a rock-hard floor. The site is littered with trash. ... > It makes little sense to spend money to add even a single new object to our civic art collection if we allow the virtual eradication, through neglect and obliviousness to its original intention, of our city's most visible public work. We are the heirs to a memorial that, encountered as it was designed to be, animates a moment in art and history that cannot be re-created. If our city agencies can understand that, their priorities should be as clear as the waters of a healthy Vaillancourt Fountain. On August 15, 2017, water was restored to the fountain as a test run, with the intention that it will stay on until November, when the ice rink reopens. The water has been dyed with the 'Blue Lagoon' aquatic dye to control the growth of algae and bacteria. The nontoxic aquatic dye attenuates the penetration of light into the water, and tints the water blue. ## Critical reaction The fountain has been considered controversial since its construction, and criticism of it has continued over the years. Hoving, in his dedication speech, said of the fountain had some of the daring of Baroque sculpture and that "A work of art must be born in controversy." Herman himself said it was "one of the greatest artistic achievements in North America." At the time of its dedication, the San Francisco chapter of the National Safety Council said that the fountain "may be a safety hazard". Opponents of the work handed out leaflets at the dedication of the fountain describing it as a "loathsome monstrosity", a "howling obscenity", an "obscene practical joke", "idiotic rubble", and a "pestiferous eyesore". Art critic Alfred Frankenstein of the San Francisco Chronicle responded that "its very outrageousness and extravagance are part of its challenge" and therefore, it "can't be all bad." He added that the fountain was intended to be participated in rather than just observed. An early comment by architecture critic Allan Temko, often repeated over the years, describes "technological excrescences" that had been "deposited by a giant concrete dog with square intestines". Another pithy remark that gained press attention, from critic Lloyd Skinner, was that the fountain was "Stonehenge, unhinged, with plumbing troubles". Artists have been critical of the work as well. Sculptor Benny Bufano called it "a jumble of nothing", artist Willard Cox likened it to "dynamited debris", and sculptor Humphrey Diaquist said it had been created by "a figure of deranged talent". Ruth Asawa noted in 1989 that "In the attempt to provide a disguise and diversion from the freeway, the goal of the fountain as a work of art was lost." The fountain has been called the "least revered modernist work of art" in San Francisco. Due to its size, it has been said that it "dominates the landscape" of the north side of Justin Herman Plaza. It has also been said that the design intent was "to mock and mirror the clumsy, double-decked roadway", referring to the elevated Embarcadero Freeway which separated the fountain from the waterfront at the time of construction. Charles Birnbaum, noted Halprin expert, stated the architect "always wanted people to interact with his water features" and that Justin Herman Plaza "was intended as a total environment, a space animated by people as well as water", so the fountain was designed to attract the public to an area otherwise cut off from the waterfront by the Embarcadero Freeway. ## Gallery ## See also - Vive le Québec libre