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Ascended Master Teachings

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Students of Ascended Master Teachings organizations (also known as “Ascended Master Activities“) believe that the Presence of Life – God – Individualizes as the “I AM” and incarnates throughout the created universes. They believe that their Teachings have been given to humanity by the Ascended Masters. These are believed to be individuals who have lived in physical bodies, acquired the Wisdom and Mastery needed to become Immortal and Free of the cycles of “re-embodiment” and karma, and attained their “Ascension”. They consider the Ascension to be the complete permanent union of the raised and purified outer self with the “I AM” Presence – that True Identity that is the unique Individualization of Almighty God for each person. This knowledge is believed to have previously been taught for millions of years only within “Ascended Master Retreats” and “Mystery Schools”. It is believed by adherents of the Ascended Master Teachings that this wisdom was partially released by the Theosophical Society beginning in 1875, and began to have more detailed public release in the 1930s by the Ascended Masters through Guy Ballard in the I AM Activity. [1] [2]

Note: This is a summary of the beliefs held by adherents of the Ascended Master Teachings and reflects their point of view. They tend to capitalize all words and terms directly relating to the Divine nature, qualities, and activities.

Universal All-Pervading Presence of Life

Students of the Ascended Master Teachings believe that there is One God, the “Universal All-Pervading Presence of Life”, “The One” , Who is the Source of all Love, Light, and Love in existence, and that all forms of existence and consciousness emanate from this “Allness of God” – “The One”. The Voice of the I AM states “All Life is One” [3] and that there is “One Substance, One Energy, One Power, One Intelligence” as the Source of all consciousness and creation. [4] This Divine Being and Mind is considered to be above and distinct from all creation (in the sense of classical theism), transcending all creation yet interpenetrating all existence. Belief in this ONE GOD stresses the essential unity of the spiritual and material components of the universe. God creates through Individualized Identities that have distinct Self-Consciousness and that make up the Spiritual Hierarchy of Creation, yet remain connected through the flow of the “River of Life” and “Lifestream” to the ONE UNDIVIDED GOD – the ALL in ALL – the GOOD – the Source from which all Life, Light, and Love come. There is always an uninterrupted Oneness that is maintained with the ALLNESS of God. From the ONE GOD all other realities, including Hierarchy, humanity and the material universe, are the result of a process of emanation. [2]

The Individualized “I AM” Presence

Adherents of the Ascended Master Teachings believe that each person is an incarnation of an “Individualized Presence” of the “Most High Living God” – the “Mighty I AM Presence” – as part of our very Nature and Being. God (as Life and Love) manifests in the 7 octaves of the created universe through individual Divine Identities. As embodied individuals, we are the outer expression of that God Self in form. It is our unique and immortal True Identity, yet always sharing in the Allness of the ONE GOD. [2]

Ascended Master Saint Germain, believed by those adherent to the Ascended Master Teachings to have previously been embodied as Plato and Proclus, was quoted as saying:

“When one individualizes within the Absolute, All-Pervading Life, he chooses of his own free will to become an intensified individual focus of Self-Conscious Intelligence. He is the conscious director of his future activities. Thus, having once made his choice, he is the only one who can fulfill that Destiny — which is not inflexible circumstance but a definitely designed Plan of Perfection.” [5] When You, the ‘Mighty I AM Presence,’ will to come forth into an Individualized Focus of Con­scious Dominion and use the Creative Word, ‘I AM,’ Your First Individual Activity is the Forma­tion of a Flame. Then you, the ‘Individualized Focus’ of the ‘Mighty I AM Presence,’ begin your Dynamic Expression of Life. This Activity, We term Self-consciousness, meaning the Individual who is conscious of his Source and Perfection of Life, expressing through himself.” [1]

Twin Flames

The Twin Flame in the spiritual heart does have a conscious intelligence, yet each soul is soverign and by divine order the I AM that I AM. Therefore, there is the disepensation and the timing for each soul to unite as a soul-mate for each soul, thus the highest level of evolution is related to the spiritual heart called the twin flame, which is the fire in the spiriutal heart and the kundalini energies, so be it more truth.

As timelines have changed since August 2008, it is the next evolutionary generation that will ascend us in forward motion into pure LOVE.

When both souls met, there is an exchange of energetics that stimulate the quick movement of changes that make for humanities changes. It can be done by remote spiritual connections, actual physical connections, or telepathics, etc.

It is true that we all are destined to become ascended. Taking care of personal responsibilities on Earth Shan within our own karma patterns and turning the karma into dharma (working Divine Order). Only the soul timing will allow for further growth, which is always ascension anyways, by different pathways as given upon Earth and the souls agreement. Thus in time the Twin Flames (each souls fire of the spiritual heart) will unite and complete the necessary evolution as designed by the lock and key of each DNA RNA of each soul as the connection is done. (reference personal experience of truth with my own spiritual fire of my heart)blog: www.ingenio.com/violet88

Self-Conscious Intelligence, the “I AM” God Flame, has Individualized from out the non-localized Universal Consciousness into a localized Immortal Being in the “Seventh Octave of Perfection”. If there arises a desire to incarnate into the lower matter planes of creation and share Love with other parts of Life, then masculine and feminine expressions, “Twin Flames”, are emanated forth into the “Sixth Octave”. [2]

Saint Germain explained:

“The ‘Almighty God Flame,’ breathing within Itself, projects Two Rays into the ‘Great Sea of Pure Electronic Light.’ This Intelligent Light-substance becomes the clothing, as it were, for these Rays of the ‘Mighty I AM Presence.’ Each Ray has all the Attributes of the Godhead within It, and no imper­fection can ever enter into or register upon It. The Individualized Flame sends down into each Ray a Focal Point, or Spark, forming a Heart Center upon which gathers the ‘Electronic Light Substance,’ cre­ating the Electronic Body.” [1]

In 1937, The Voice of the I AM article on this subject elaborated:

“When the Ascension of both has taken place, each is the complete balance of all masculine and all feminine qualities within himself. Then the Threefold Flame of Life is completely un­folded, the individual becomes Master at Cosmic Levels of creation and does work with systems of worlds, as well as in this physical world. Thus, that which came out of the Great Central Sun as One Flame becomes Three complete Flames, each of the same full Limitless Power and Activity as the Great Central Sun. This becomes the Cosmic Activity of the Power of the ‘Three times Three’. “When both Rays have made the Ascension, then the individual works with systems of worlds in­stead of just in one world. This is the way the Godhead is ever expanding the Perfection of Itself throughout Infinity and keeping order throughout interstellar space.” [6]

Beliefs about Ascended Masters

It is believed that Ascended Masters are individuals who were once embodied on Earth and learned the lessons of life in their incarnations. They gained mastery over the limitations of the matter planes, balanced at least 51% of negative karma, and fulfilled their Dharma (Divine Plan). An Ascended Master has become God-like and a source of unconditional Love to all life, and through the Ascension has united with his or her own God Self, the “I AM” Presence. It is claimed that they serve as the teachers of mankind from the realms of Spirit, and that all people will eventually attain their Ascension and move forward in spiritual evolution beyond this planet. [7] According to these teachings, they remain attentive to the spiritual needs of humanity, and act to inspire and motivate its spiritual growth. In many traditions and organizations, they are considered part of the Spiritual Hierarchy for Earth, and members of the Great Brotherhood of Light, also known as the Great White Lodge or Great White Brotherhood. [2]

Belief in the Brotherhood and the Masters is an essential part of the beliefs of various organizations that have continued and expanded the concepts released in the original Saint Germain instruction in the 1930s through The “I AM” Activity. [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] Examples of those believed by the ones proposing these teachings to be Ascended Masters would be Jesus, Confucius, Gautama Buddha, Mary the Mother of Jesus, St. Paul of Tarsus (aka Hilarion), Melchizedek, Archangel Michael, Metatron, Pope John Paul II, [13], Kwan Yin, Saint Germain and Kuthumi.”

Unveiled Mysteries records:

“Truly the Great Ascended Masters are Gods. It is no wonder in the mythology of the ancients that their activities have been brought down to us in the guise of myth and fable. They wield Tremendous God Power at all times because they hold with unwavering determination to the Great God Presence and hence all Power is given unto them for they are All-Perfection. “‘When Jesus said, All these things I have done, ye shall do and even greater things shall ye do, he knew whereof he spoke,’ continued Saint Germain. ‘He came forth to reveal the Conscious Dominion and Mastery that it is possible for every human being to attain and express while still here on Earth.” [5]

Great Sea of Universal Light, Life, and Love

Unveiled Mysteries states:

“Try to think upon this Power, which is within you. Call into use the Great Sea of Universal Substance from which you may draw without limit. It obeys, without exception, the direction of thought, and records any quality imposed upon it, through the activity of the feeling nature in mankind. Universal Substance is obedient to your conscious will at all times. It is constantly responding to humanity’s thought and feeling whether they realize it or not. There is no instant at which human beings are not giving this Substance one quality or another, and it is only through the knowledge that the individual has conscious control and manipulation of a Limitless Sea of It that he begins to understand the possibilities of his own Creative Powers, and the responsibilities resting upon him in the use of his thought and feeling.” [5]

Hierarchy

Adherents of these Ascended Master Teachings believe that the All-Pervading Presence of God does not act nor create except through Its Individualizations. All creation comes forth through These Individual Identities and is sustained by Them. This Spiritual Hierarchy is a “Universal Chain” of Individualized God Free Beings fulfilling Attributes and Aspects of God’s Infinite Selfhood. Included in this Cosmic Hierarchical scheme are Solar Logoi, Elohim, Sons and Daughters of God, Ascended Masters, Cosmic Beings, the Twelve Solar Hierarchies, Archangels, Angels, Beings of the Elements, and Twin Flames of the Alpha-Omega Polarity sponsoring Systems of Worlds and entire Galactic Systems. This Universal Order of Divine Self-Expression is the means whereby God in the Great Central Sun steps down the Presence and Essence of His Universal Being / Consciousness in order that all Life in time and space might give and receive Unconditional Divine Love. One’s placement on this “Ladder of Life” in the Spirit / Matter Universes is determined by one’s level of Spiritual Attainment – measured by Awareness and Manifestation of balanced Love, Wisdom, and Power – as well as the embodying of other Divine Qualities. [14]

Use of “I AM” in decrees, affirmations, and invocations

A characteristic of students of the Ascended Master Teachings is the use of God’s Creative Name – “I AM” – in the use of Decrees, Fiats, Adorations, and Affirmations to invoke and send forth the Light of God to Bless Life, to bring forth the Perfect Divine solution for every situation, and to fulfill the Divine Plan. It is believed to be a way of externalizing more Divine Light, Divine Love, and Divine Life into the lower planes of creation through the dynamic force of sound vibration as creative energy. [2]

The Magic Presence states:

“Only the Self-conscious Individual has ALL the Attributes and Creative Power of the ‘Mighty I AM Presence.’ Only He can know who and what He is, and express the Fullness of the Creative Power of God whenever He decrees, by the use of the Words, ‘I AM.’ The outer human part of this activity is what We call the personality. It is but the vehicle through which Perfection should be expressed into the outer substance of the Universe. “Within the ‘Pure God-Flame’ is a Breath that pulsates constantly. This `Great Fire-Breath’ is a Rhythmic Outpouring of Divine Love, Its Three Attributes being ‘Love, Wisdom, and Power in ac­tion.’ These pour out constantly, into the ‘Infinite Sea of Pure Electronic Light.’ This Light is the Uni­versal Substance or Spirit, out of which all forms are composed. It is intelligent, mark you, because It obeys law through the command of the Individual who says, or is conscious of, ‘I AM.’ These Two Words are the Acknowledgment and Release of the Power to Create and bring forth into outer existence, whatever quality follows That Acknowledgment. For Intelligence to act there must be Intelligence to be acted upon, and the Universal Substance, being like a photographic film, takes the record of what-ever quality the Individual imposes upon It through his thought, feeling, and spoken word. The Words ‘I AM’ whether thought, felt, or spoken, release the Power of Creation instantly. Make no mistake about this. Intelligence is Omnipresent, and It is within the Electronic Light.” [1]

Violet Flame

Use of the “Violet Flame of Divine Love” is considered to be the 7th Ray aspect of the Holy Spirit and the “Sacred Fire” that transmutes and consumes the “cause, effect, record, and memory” of sin or negative karma. Also called the “Flame of Transmutation”, the “Flame of Mercy”, the “Flame of Freedom”, and the “Flame of Forgiveness”. “Our God is a Consuming Fire” in Deuteronomy 4:24 (KJV) and Hebrews 12:29 (KJV) is believed to be refer to this “Sacred Fire of God”.

The “Violet Fire” is held to be a raising, transforming, purifying action of “Divine Love” from the “Heart of God” in the “Great Central Sun”. It acts to transmute and consume human creation that is not worthy of becoming Immortal, and all negative karmic causes, effects, records, and memories, without the need to individually balance that karma face-to-face with each person back to the earliest beginning of one’s individualized manifestation on this or any other world. [2]

Ascension

The Ascension is believed to be the returning to complete “Oneness with God” – “raising the outer atomic structure of the physical, emotional, and metal bodies into the Electronic Structure of the I AM Consciousness”, becoming an Ascended Master, eventually a Cosmic Being, and beyond. The Ascension into Immortality through reunion with the God Self requires the consuming of at least 51% of the records and memories of “negatively qualified karma” as well as:

Mastery of the matter planes

It is believed that the “Individualized Flames of Perfection”, emanating as lifestreams taking physical embodiment, can develop further attributes that express a unique Identity, and attain the fullness of the use of Light. This is done by mastery over matter planes that have a slower vibratory action, thus requiring more energy and concentration to externalize form. This allows for the development of greater skills of creation and “Causal Body Momentums” of various “Divine Qualities”. Physical embodiment gives each individual the opportunity to expand these attributes and faculties through matter substance, and to become a “master of energy” through thought and feeling. This allows for accomplishments and added power which one who does not ever embody on a planet does not possess. Thus an individual may expand the “Flame in the Heart”, and expand the “Perfection of the Allness of God’s Love” in the created universe, eventually becoming an Ascended Master and later a Cosmic Being.

According to the Ascended Master Teachings, gaining “mastery over matter planes” means learning to consciously use 100% of one’s Creative Power of thought, feeling, and spoken word to create greater perfection, joy, and love in the world, as opposed to using thoughts, feelings, and words to create greater limitations, bondage, and chaos in one’s own experience and in the world at large through carelessness and lack of awareness of the extent of one’s influence in the world. “Matter planes” refers to the differentiations of atomic and molecular structure in which evolution takes place, the lower planes (dimensions / wavelength frequency resonance) sometimes correlated with physical solids, liquids, and gases; the higher subplanes of the Physical Octave are sometimes referred to as “etheric” and are not normally perceivable by the physical senses. The emotional and mental octaves are also made up of electrons and atoms of feeling and thought substance and differentiated into levels of density and vibratory rate. [2]

“To understand the above explanation concerning the electron and the conscious control the individual has through his thought and feeling to govern the atomic structure of his own body is to understand the One Principle Governing form throughout Infinity. When man will make the effort to prove this to himself or within his own atomic flesh body, he will then proceed to Master Himself. When he has done that, all else in the Universe is his willing co-worker to accomplish whatsoever he wills through Love.” [5]

Fulfillment of the Divine Plan

“Within the Life of every human being is the Power by which he can express all that the Ascended Masters express every moment — if he but chooses to do so. All Life contains Will but only Self-Conscious Life is free to determine upon its own course of expression. Hence, the individual has free choice to express either in the human, limited body or the Super-Human, Divine Body. He is the chooser of his own field of expression. He is the Self-determining Creator. He has willed and chosen to live as Self-Conscious Life. . . . When one individualizes within the Absolute, All-Pervading Life he chooses of his own free will to become an intensified individual focus of Self-Conscious Intelligence. He is the conscious director of his future activities. Thus, having once made his choice, he is the only one who can fulfill that Destiny – which is not inflexible circumstance but a definitely designed Plan of Perfection. [5]

Threefold Flame

The Threefold Flame of Life is the Immortal Flame within the Heart of the children of Light and Sons and Daughters of God, and is an actual extension of the Heart of the I AM Presence of each Lifestream in embodiment on Earth. [2]

The fall of man

It is believed that since the “fall of man” during the time of the incarnation of the Fourth Root Race, imperfection, limitations and discord increasingly entered into our world. The memory body is considered to have become known as a “soul”, and this temporary personality has taken on the sense of a self that is separated and not connected to God. It is believed that a “Dictation” from Maitreya further clarified this matter through the “Messenger”, Geraldine Innocente, on September 27, 1954 when what occurred during the time of the “Fourth Root Race” was described:

“Curiosity, rebellion against holding true to the Divine Pattern and the use of thought and feeling in creation of imperfection, began the building of what you call the ’soul’. It is a consciousness apart from the full Purity of God. The first thought a man had that was imperfect and impure, energized by a secret feeling, was a cause and that, sent out into the atmosphere, created an effect. Like a boomerang, the effect came back into the consciousness and made a record. That record was the beginning of an impression. Energy sent out in a certain manner returned to affect the lifestream who had sent it forth and there began to be created a shadow between the I AM Presence and the human consciousness. Endeavoring to contact the Presence, the individual would find these ‘tramp’ thoughts and feelings flowing through that line of contact until more and more imperfect was the conscious use of them. Finally, those centers got completely away from the control of the ego and acted independently. [15]

Dictations

Within The “I AM” Activity, contact and cooperation with the Ascended Masters became a central part of each member’s life. Through the Ballards as “Messengers”, the Ascended Masters were believed to have regularly communicated with the students of The “I AM” Activity. Those Addresses (known as “Dictations”) were delivered before gatherings of members in Conclaves held throughout the United States of America, published in the monthly periodical, The Voice of The “I AM”, and some were collected and reprinted in the books of The Saint Germain Series. In all, 3,834 Dictations from the Masters were received through Guy and Edna Ballard. Other “Ascended Master Activities” believed that the Ascended Masters, Cosmic Beings, Elohim, and Archangels continued to present a program for both individual development and spiritual transformation in the world. [16] They believe that further instruction from the Ascended Masters and the rest of the Spiritual Hierarchy continued through new Dispensations with new Messengers, such as The Bridge to Freedom, [17] The Summit Lighthouse, [18] and The Temple of The Presence. [19]

Dawning Golden Age

Students of the Ascended Master Teachings believe that this world is destined to again have a Golden Age, a “Heaven on Earth”, that will be permanent, unlike previous Golden Ages millions of years ago. [2]

“In your beloved America, in the not so far distant future, will come forth a similar recognition of the Real Inner Self, and this her people will express in high attainment. She is a Land of Light, and Her Light shall blaze forth, brilliant as the sun at noonday, among the nations of the Earth. She was a Land of Great Light, ages ago, and will again come into her spiritual heritage, for nothing can prevent it.” [5] “The Divine Plan for the future of North America is a condition of intense activity in the greatest peace, beauty, success, prosperity, spiritual illumination, and dominion. She is to carry the Christ Light and be the Guide for the rest of the Earth, because America is to be the Heart Center of the ‘Golden Age’ that is now dimly touching our horizon. The greater portion of the land of North America will stand for a very long time.” [5]

Copyright (c) 2008 Dave Holowiski.

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document

under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2

or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;

with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.

A copy of the license is included in the section entitled “GNU

Free Documentation License”.

The full license can be viewed here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_the_GNU_Free_Documentation_License#2._VERBATIM_COPYING

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Case Closed Trading Card Game

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Case Closed Trading Card Game is a collectible trading card game based on the Case Closed (aka Detective Conan) anime and manga. It was released in June 2005 by Score Entertainment.

Game summary

Players compete to be the first to successfully solve three cases using their detectives and appropriate clues, while simultaneously attempting to stop their opponent from doing so. Rather than taking alternating turns, each player plays through each of the five steps of a full turn at the same time.

The game is played using three decks per player, as follows:

• Draw Deck – A deck made up of detectives, events and gadgets, which are drawn into the hand.
• Problem Deck – A deck consisting of clues and criminals. Cards are drawn to a problem row and stored face-down.
• Case Deck – A deck which stores potential unsolved cases. Three cases are drawn to make up the case row.

Turn sequence

Turns are made up of the following steps:

1. Ready Step – Each player readies expended criminals, detectives, gadgets, and problem cards. Players then replace any missing cards in the problem row or case row, and finally draw two cards from their draw deck.
2. Main Step – Players receive 3 job points and 3 crime points. In this step, players play detectives and attach clues and gadgets to them. Any leftover points carry over to the next turn.
3. Movement Step – Players move their face-down problem cards to their cases and the cases of their opponent. Each player can have a maximum of 2 problem cards assigned to any given case.
4. Sleuth Step – Players assign detectives to cases and attempt to solve these cases. Players also use their characters’ talents to challenge other characters, in order to force the loser to be discarded.
5. End Step – Players can discard any single case, if and only if it has no problem cards assigned to it. Players may also discard any number of cards from their problem row.

All of the steps are done more or less simultaneously by players, except the Sleuth Step, which requires that one player act as the lead player while the other acts as the follower (since case resolution requires further player interaction).

Card types

• Characters – Criminals and detectives. Detectives can be played from the hand to their owner’s headquarters during the Main Step by paying the appropriate number of job points. Criminals are played as problem cards, and can be flipped face-up by paying their crime point cost during the Sleuth Step.

• Gadgets – Weapons and useful equipment which can be attached to characters during the Main Step. Doing so requires that the indicated job point cost be paid, and each character can only have one gadget attached at a time.

• Cases – The mysteries and crimes which detectives attempt to solve. Cases can only be solved by having enough detectives with the right talents at the case. Additionally, in order to solve a case, the detectives must have either the correct clues attached, or must have a certain (higher) number of total clues attached.

• Clues – Pieces of evidence needed to solve cases. Clues are problem cards which can attached to detectives during the Main Step by paying the indicated crime point cost. Detectives may not have more clues attached to them than their total intelligence talent value. Clues can also be used face-down as bluffs (in place of criminals).

• Events – Events which take place. These cards can be played during different steps, as indicated by the text on the card.

Sleuthing

The Sleuth Step is further broken down into the 3 sub-steps. Each player goes through all of these sub-steps in order before the next player. In each of the first 2 sub-steps, players can pay the crime point cost to flip a criminal face-up at any time (although there is a limit of 1 face-up criminal per case). Choosing to reveal a clue card which is being used as a bluff has no effect other than discarding the card. The sub-steps are as follows:

• Assignment Sub-step – For each detective the lead player controls, he or she may chose to assign that detective to one of the cases (or leave the detective unassigned at the headquarters). Multiple detectives can be assigned to a single case, but each detective may only be assigned to one case at a time.

• Conflict Sub-step – Characters can challenge the characters of other players who are at the same case. This challenge typically takes the form of a detective challenging a criminal or vice versa. However, challenges can only be initiated through an event or a card effect. The challenge is executed by comparing one of the talents on the two cards; the card with the lower number is the loser and is discarded.

• Solve Sub-step – In this step, the lead player can expend detectives to use their talents to temporarily reduce the required talent values at the case. The other player can expend criminals to increase the required talent values. If all 3 of the talent values are at or below 0, the next step portion of the Solve Sub-step can proceed (otherwise, the case cannot be solved at the moment). After the talent check, the clue requirements are checked, and if these are met, the case is solved. If the case is solved, all problem cards, criminal cards at the case, as well as any clues used to solve it, are discarded.

Regardless of the outcome of the Solve Sub-step, all of the detectives at the case automatically return to that player’s headquarters. After all cases of the lead player have been processed, the role of the lead player passes to the next player, until each player has had a chance to be a lead for that turn.

Deck composition

As noted above, each player must provide three separate decks. The requirements for each deck are as follows:

Deck composition requirements

Hence, players need at least 65 cards (of various types) to play, with a number of restrictions on both the minimum and maximum number of these cards. Because of these, a single starter deck does not yield a fully legal play deck.

Products and sets

Case Closed: One Truth Prevails base set starter decks contain 40 randomized draw cards, 20 randomized problem cards, and 12 fixed cards (including 4 cases). The package, which has an MSRP of US $10.99, also includes a demo poster, and a rulebook.

The expansion set, Case Closed: Crime & Punishment, introduces 129 new cards, as well as a new card type, obstacles. Booster packs for both sets contain 10 cards (6 commons, 3 uncommons, and 1 foil rare).

Copyright (c) 2008 Dave Holowiski.

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document

under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2

or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;

with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.

A copy of the license is included in the section entitled “GNU

Free Documentation License”.

The full license can be viewed here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_the_GNU_Free_Documentation_License#2._VERBATIM_COPYING

Get your piece of the internet. Seven dollar and forty nine cent domain names from go daddy. 

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Hackney Central

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the central district of Hackney. For the Borough, see London Borough of Hackney. For the former constituency, see Hackney Central (UK Parliament constituency). For the railway station, see Hackney Central railway station.

Coordinates: 51.543307°N 0.059486°W

Hackney Central is the central district of the London Borough of Hackney in East London. It comprises the area roughly surrounding, and extending north from Mare Street. It is situated 4 miles (6.4 km) north east of Charing Cross. It is also the name of a council ward.

Hackney Central is the area that once would have been known as Hackney Village. This was a place that flourished from the Tudor period, when principal members of the Court had their houses in the surrounding area, and Henry VIII had a palace (located near the modern Lee Bridge Road roundabout). Hackney Central remained a popular resort for Londoners until the end of the Georgian period, when this suburb of London began to be completely built up. Railways, trams and factories brought an end to Hackney’s rural atmosphere during the Victorian era, and its fortunes declined.

The industries of nearby Homerton and the Lee Valley have largely disappeared, leaving the NHS and local council as the largest employers. Successive waves of immigrants, both from abroad and within the UK, make modern Hackney a vibrant inner city area of London, with both the benefits and problems that this brings.

Extensive post-war redevelopment has replaced much of the housing stock, but the Georgian housing and Victorian terraces that remain have become popular again[1].

Definition of Hackney

This district is the historical core of Hackney, and in fact, before the 1899 London County Council reorganisation, it was what many would have understood to be Hackney, although the term Hackney Proper was often used to distinguish it from other local settlements such as South Hackney, West Hackney and Hackney Wick[2].

However, in terms of parish boundaries, up until 1835 the areas of Hackney Proper, Homerton, Upper and Lower Clapton, Dalston, De Beauvoir Town, Stamford Hill, and Kingsland all constituted the Parish of Hackney.

Since then, the term has been vastly extended to mean, firstly the 1899 Metropolitan Borough, then, after 1965, the current London Borough.

Cultural quarter

The refurbished Hackney Empire is one of the oldest surviving music halls in Britain. (September 2005)

South of Hackney Central railway station Mare Street slices through Hackney’s ‘cultural quarter’ of Town Hall Square. Its north side is dominated by Frank Matcham’s Grade II* listed 1901 Hackney Empire music hall, on whose stage appeared Charles Chaplin and Marie Lloyd – who lived in nearby Graham Road.[3]

On the west side of Town Hall Square is the 1934-7 Grade II Hackney Town Hall in Portland Stone, fronted by an open space created when its predecessor, the Hackney Vestry Hall of 1860 was demolished.[4] A new town hall complex is being constructed behind the existing building. Opposite on the East side, is the 2001 refurbishment of the Central Library and Methodist Hall, combined to form the Ocean Music Venue.

The square is completed by the 2002 Learning and Technology Centre. This houses the new Hackney Central Library, the Hackney Archive, the local museum and the offices of the Hackney Learning Trust.

The Clowns’ archive used to be housed behind the Town Hall. It has now moved, elsewhere in Hackney, to the All Saints Centre, Haggerston (see link below).

Historical Hackney

St Augustine’s Tower. Dating back to the 13th century, this is Hackney Central’s oldest building. It is all that remains of the original medieval parish church, which was demolished in 1798 (September 2005)

In 1727, Daniel Defoe said of the villages of Hackney

Early origins

Central Hackney was largely unchanged by Roman times, with Ermine Street passing to the west. The land was covered with open oak and hazel woodlands, with marshland around the rivers and streams that crossed the area. Hackney lay in the Catevallauni tribal territory.

The name Hackney derives from a 5th or 6th century Saxon settlement known as Haca’s ey – or raised ground in marshland[6]. This was due to the proximity of Hackney Brook, and was probably located on the higher ground around the later St Augustine’s Tower. Hackney is not specifically mentioned in the Norman Domesday Book, as at that time it formed a part of the manor of Stepney.

The medieval village was centred on the 13th century Templar church of St Augustine, which gave Church Street its name – the modern Narrow Way – where it crossed Hackney Brook and met with the north end of Mare Street (originally near the site of the modern town hall). In common with much of Hackney, it developed along a single street – meeting Homerton and Clapton in the north; and along the line of Mare Street in the south. Where it crossed Cambridge Heath towards Bethnal Green.

Tudor village

Little remains of early Hackney, except the Tudor St Augustine’s Tower, which survives as Hackney’s oldest building; and the positively medieval road network. The churchyard, Hackney Brook, and the surrounding villages prevented Hackney’s expansion, and by 1605 the village had a lower rateable value than the other divisions of the parish. In Tudor times, there were a number of fine houses along Church Street, but many Tudor courtiers lived in nearby Homerton[7]. On the site of Brooke House college, in Clopton was sited one of Henry VIII’s palaces, infamously where his daughter Mary took the Oath of Supremacy. Her guardian was a Bryck Place Homerton resident, Ralph Sadleir who was also Henry’s Principal Secretary of State.

A further cluster of houses existed in medieval times, where Well Street enters Mare Street. It was on open ground, to the north-east of here that the Loddiges family founded their extensive nursery business in the 18th century[8].

Georgian period

By 1724, while still consisting of a single street, there is an unbroken line of buildings, except by the churchyard and by the brook, with large gardens behind for the finer houses and inns. The 16th century church, despite galleries being installed, became too small for the needs of the parish, and parliament was petitioned in 1790 for a modern larger church to be built. This began in 1791 on a field to the north east of the old church, but was bedeviled by builders’ bankruptcies and not finally completed until 1812–13 when the tower and porches were added. Further disaster struck in a fire of 1955.

1830 print of St John-at-Hackney

In the churchyard stands the tomb of Francis Beaufort, devisor of the Beaufort scale; and that of John Hunter, the second governor of New South Wales. The Loddiges family also has a tomb in the churchyard, and memorials within the church. The parish burial register records the death of Anthony, a poore old negro, aged 105 in 1630. This is all that is known of Anthony, but he is the first recorded Black resident of Hackney.

Loddiges‘ family vault in St John’s Church Gardens

The villages of Hackney, Lower Clapton and Homerton remained separated by fields into the 19th century. The fine houses remained, with large gardens behind. Artisans and labourers lived in cottages established in these gardens. There was not the room, or the will, for major rebuilding in the village. By 1800, St Thomas’ Square, a Georgian square was laid out on the southern end of Mare Street. By the 20th century, these buildings had declined and were replaced with public housing[9]. An early 18th century mansion, now the New Landsdown Club, but once the headquarters of Elizabeth Fry’s British Ladies’ Society for Promoting the Reformation of Female Prisoners remains at 195 Mare Street. It is Grade II* listed, but in poor condition and on the English Heritage register of buildings at risk[10]. In neighbouring Homerton, (to the east of the churchyard) Sutton Place was built by 1806, near to Sutton House.

The rebuilding of the Church, on a field to the north of the village altered the course of the road and allowed the establishment of Clapton Square in 1816, in nearby Lower Clapton. Much of the area to the north and east of the churchyard now forms the Clapton Square Conservation Area, designated in 1969.

Victorian Hackney

1830 Map of Hackney village

During the Victorian era, many of the old buildings were swept away and the estates broken up to form streets of terraced housing. The change from rural suburb to firmly urban, was marked by the arrival of the railway in 1850, with a great iron rail bridge crossing Mare Street. Trams began to make their appearance on the streets in the 1870s, and a tram depot opened in 1882 on Bohemia Place[11].

Increased access and the culverting of Hackney Brook in 1859-60, brought about the present road layout. Many older buildings were pulled down to intensify development and to make room for street widening and the railway. In 1802, The Old Town Hall was built on the site of the vestry house, by the tower. This was re-fronted in a baroque style in 1900. In turn, this building was replaced as being too small for the needs of the borough, the political centre moving to the front of today’s Town Hall (1937). Only St Johns Gardens, and Clapton Square, the areas around the 1791 church, remained as public open space.

Today

The Narrow Way (Church Street) remains a vibrant shopping area, and there is a large Tesco supermarket in nearby Morning Lane (Money Lane). This international store group was founded in Hackney, from a market stall in Well Street market in 1919. The Hackney Tesco site is currently subject to planning consultation that will see a multi-storey shopping centre (with parking beneath, and housing above) erected on the site, planned to open in 2011. A former Burberry factory building is also located off Morning Lane, with a ‘factory outlet’ that is considered to be Hackney’s most visited tourist attraction. This site is currently being redeveloped, in two phases, that will see the retention of the showroom, but add housing above.

Transport and locale

Districts within the London Borough of Hackney.

Neighbouring areas of London.

Nearest stations

Church of St John-at-Hackney

The area is close to the City with frequent trains from Hackney Downs railway station to Liverpool Street. Hackney Central railway station is a part of London Overground with westbound trains to Richmond, via Dalston Kingsland railway station and eastbound trains to Stratford, via Homerton railway station.

The existing connection to the Victoria line at Highbury and Islington tube station and Stratford railway station will be supplemented by a link to the extended East London line at Dalston.

 The nearest London Overground station is Hackney Central.

Education

For details of education in Hackney Central, see List of schools in the London Borough of Hackney.

Copyright (c) 2008 Dave Holowiski.

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History of ITV

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Modern ITV logo used by ITV plc and Channel Television

The history of ITV, the United Kingdom “Independent Television” commercial network, goes back to 1954.

The early years: 1954–1963

The ITV regions after the network was completed in 1962.

After much debate both in the British Parliament and the British Press, the Television Act became law in 1954. This Act paved the way for the establishment of a commercial television service in the UK, creating the Independent Television Authority (ITA). The ITA’s responsibility was to regulate the new service, ensuring that the new service did not follow the same path taken by American television networks (which were perceived as ‘vulgar’ by some commentators). For example, it was made obligatory that commercials be clearly distinguishable from programmes. At the time, American shows were normally sponsored by a single company, so it was not uncommon for a game show host to step away from his podium after a round to sell cars or The Flintstones to segue into an ad for cigarettes with no perceived change from show to advert.

The “Independent Television” service, so-called because of its independence from the BBC (which previously had held a monopoly on broadcasting in the UK), was to be made up of regions, with each region run by different companies. The three largest regions (London, the Midlands and the North of England) were subdivided into weekday and weekend services, with a different company running each. Space for commercials, shown during and between programmes was always sold on a region-by-region basis by each ITV company, and not on a nation-wide basis throughout the United Kingdom. The reason for this seemingly over-complicated arrangement was to fulfil the 1954 Act’s requirement for competition within the ITV system (as well as against the BBC) and also to help prevent any individual company obtaining a monopoly on commercial broadcasting.

The ITV companies were required, by the terms of their licences from the ITA, to provide a local television service for their particular region, including a daily local news bulletin and regular local documentaries. However, national news bulletins, covering events in the UK and the rest of the world, were (and still are) produced by Independent Television News (ITN). Until 1990 ITN was jointly owned by all the ITV companies.

Each company also produced programming that would be shown across the network (although the decision as to when or if to show each programme remained with the individual contractors), with the four largest franchise operators (known as the “Big Four” —Associated Rediffusion (London weekday), ATV (Midlands weekday and London weekend), Granada (North of England weekday) and ABC (North of England and Midlands weekend) producing the bulk of this output. Each regional service had its own on-screen identity to distinguish it from other regions, since there was often a sizeable overlap in reception capability within each region.

The first ITV contractor to begin broadcasting was the London Weekday contractor Associated-Rediffusion, on 22 September 1955 beginning at 19.15hrs local time. On the first night of telecasts, the BBC, who had held the monopoly on broadcasting in Britain, aired a melodramatic episode of their popular radio soap opera The Archers on the Home Service. In the episode, core character Grace Archer was fatally injured in a fire, and it was seen as a ploy to keep loyal viewers and listeners away from the new station. The first full day of transmissions was 23 September 1955 when Britain’s first female newsreader Barbara Mandell appeared.

The weekend London contractor, ATV London (initially known as “ABC” until the Midlands’ and North’s weekend contractor, Associated British Corporation, complained), began two days later. The other regions all launched later:

The ITV regions initially broadcast on 405-line VHF. During the 1960s, some commercial companies proposed the introduction of colour on the 405-line system, but the General Post Office insisted that colour should wait until the higher-definition 625-line UHF system became standard. ITV eventually introduced PAL colour on this system from 15 November 1969, simultaneous with BBC1 and two years after BBC2. This did not, however, spread immediately across the UK; some regions had to wait a few more years before colour was available. Colour was available to nearly 100% of the UK from 1976, with the Channel Islands being the last region to be converted. This enabled the 405-line system to be phased out between 1982 and 1985.

In general, usually a few years after their launch, the regional companies made a profit; the largest regions especially so. Roy Thomson, the Canadian founding Chairman of Scottish Television, famously described the ownership of an ITV franchise as ‘a licence to print money’. However, this was not the case with Wales (West and North) Television (WWN). Problems with the construction of their transmitter network, as well as strict provisions in their contract to produce a large amount of Welsh-language programming, meant that WWN lost a lot of money. Although WWN did receive some help from other ITV contractors, it was not enough; the company declared itself bankrupt in 1964—the only ITV company to have ever done so. The name “Teledu Cymru” and studio facilities were taken over by TWW, who continued to broadcast in North and West Wales using that name until 1968.

1964-1968

The ITV regions after the minor change in contracts in 1964.

Contracts to run an ITV region are not permanent. Contracts were renewed by the ITA every few years, but it was not guaranteed that the incumbent contractor would win an extension; a new company could take over instead.

The ITA’s new chairman, former Postmaster General Lord Hill of Luton, undertook a licence review in September 1963 before the legal limit of 10 years for an ITV contract was reached. The purpose of this review was to look at the ITV system in the light of the Pilkington Report into broadcasting in the UK, which had roundly and, it was felt, unfairly, criticised ITV; the review also took into account the promised ITV2 UHF channel, due to be launched if the Conservative Party won the 1964 General Election.

The review also had the effect of showing the Authority’s teeth in the face of perceived arrogance from the contractors.

However, no company lost its position as the local ITV contractor for their region and all licences were extended for another three years (starting July 1964), although several of the major companies were instructed to strengthen the regional emphasis of their on-screen identities.

1968-1974

The ITV regions after the major change in contracts in 1968.

Unlike the ‘roll-over’ of contracts in 1963, the 1967 review (for contracts running from the end of July 1968) was to create dramatic changes to the structure of the ITV network. The purpose of this review was to ensure the ITV system was ready for the arrival of colour broadcasting in 1969, and also to again allow for the potential start of ITV2, should the Conservatives win any election held after 1970.

Additionally, Lord Hill of Luton had failed to temper the ‘arrogance’ of the contractors when he made no changes between 1963 and 1964. Indeed, it was felt by many inside the ITA that the arrogance of the companies had grown — especially Rediffusion London, whose department managers also popped up in similar roles for rival applicants, and TWW, who reapplied for their contract under both their own name and that of WWN/Teledu Cymru as a tax dodge.

Lord Hill had made it clear in 1966 that ‘all bets were off’ on the next franchise round, and that the regions themselves would be likely to change. Therefore, in the period between the interviews of each applicant and the announcement of the changes, the newspapers speculated wildly about the likely changes; suggestions were made of Scottish Television exiting the system, Rediffusion moving to replace Southern and various other wild ideas (although it seems clear that Scottish would indeed have exited, had TWW not been the sacrificial company chosen).

In the end, the ITA made the following changes to the ITV region map:

• any split weekday/weekend licences were removed in all regions, except London.
• the London split was moved from Friday/Saturday to Friday at 7pm.
• the North of England region was split into the North West and Yorkshire.

There were also changes to the companies running each region:

• Granada, the existing weekday contractor for the North of England region, was given a seven-day licence for the new North West region.
• Lord Thomson of Fleet was required to divest himself of most of his holding in Scottish Television.
• a new company, Telefusion Yorkshire, later renamed Yorkshire Television, was given the licence to broadcast in the newly created Yorkshire region.
• ATV won the new seven-day Midlands licence, replacing ABC at the weekend.
• ABC and Rediffusion, London were asked to form a joint company to take the London weekday franchise previously held by Rediffusion alone; the result, Thames Television, was 51% controlled by ABC.
• The London Television Consortium, put together by David Frost won the London weekend contract, which now included Friday evenings from 7pm. They went on air initially using the name London Weekend Television but then adopted the name London Weekend before reverting to London Weekend Television (often abbreviated to LWT) in 1978. LWT replaced ATV in London.
• most controversially, TWW lost its franchise for Wales and the West of England to Harlech Television, which became known as HTV on the arrival of UHF.

Finally, the local programme guides produced in each region (except the Channel Islands) were abolished and a new company, Independent Television Publications was formed, taking over the London TV Times magazine and producing it as national magazine with regional editions.

Before the changes were implemented, Harold Wilson made the surprise move of sending Lord Hill to the chairmanship of the BBC Board of Governors and replacing him with Herbert Bowden, the Secretary of State for the Commonwealth Office, who was elevated to the peerage under the title Lord Aylestone. He reviewed the changes Hill had made, but allowed them to stand.

The implementation of the ITV changes led to industrial unrest in the companies. Although there were no job losses in the system – this was an ITA stipulation – people were forced to move from Manchester to Leeds, from London to Cardiff and, perhaps less troublesome, from one part of London to another. Many staff stayed in the same jobs in the same locations, but now had a different employer.

Since this meant that staff were being made redundant (albeit with a guaranteed job to go to), the unions required redundancy payments. However, these payments led to problems in staff not receiving them, who were changing company (for instance, from Rediffusion to Thames) but not location. The unions asked for payments to also be made in those cases; the companies responded by drawing the line, and wildcat strikes broke out in the weeks before and after the changes came into effect.

By the Friday after the changes, a mixture of strike action and management lock-outs had taken ITV off the air, and for most of August 1968 the regional network was replaced with an ITV Emergency National Service run by management. By September 1968, with both sides claiming victory, all workers had returned to work. However, the strike left a legacy of bitterness across the ITV system that would continue to boil up occasionally during the next decade.

The transition to colour broadcasting began on 15 November 1969.

1974-1982

The ITV regions after the minor change in contracts in 1974.

Much like 1964, and very much unlike 1968, the review of contracts in 1974 produced a ‘roll-over’ with almost no changes.

The IBA (Independent Broadcasting Authority) – which replaced the ITA when it was given the responsibility of regulating the new commercial “Independent Local Radio” (ILR) stations under the Sound Broadcasting Act 1972 – took the opportunity of reassigning the Belmont transmitter in Lincolnshire from Anglia to Yorkshire Television, almost doubling the area served by the smallest of the ‘Big Five’ companies; YTV’s non-overlap region had been eroded to just West and South Yorkshire, when the new Bilsdale UHF transmitter was assigned to Tyne Tees Television.[1]

A degree of consolidation was allowed into the system by the IBA (for instance joint, advertising sales operations). One of these, Trident Management, which handled sales for Tyne Tees Television and Yorkshire Television, was allowed to perform a reverse takeover on the two companies, creating a new entity, Trident Television. Both YTV and TTTV, however, retained their own identities, boards and local management.[2]

The teletext service ORACLE was fully launched in 1974—one of the first of its kind (along with the BBC’s CEEFAX).

Possibly one of the most notable events for ITV during this period was a 10-week industrial dispute in 1979, which led to the subsequent shutdown of almost all ITV broadcasts and productions. Trouble first occurred at London’s Thames Television when electricians refused to accept what they considered a derisory pay increase. Management attempted to operate a normal service but other transmission staff refused to co-operate. When Thames’ management ordered the striking staff to ‘return or else’ the broadcasting union ACTT instructed members at 13 other ITV stations to walk out in support. (However, the smallest ITV company Channel Television was allowed to continue as the unions realised action there could force the station out of business.)

Viewers were greeted with blank television screens on the morning of 10 August 1979, and were left without regular morning chat shows, and, most importantly, the highly-rated British soap opera, Coronation Street, as well as various televised sporting events. The strike ended with victory for the unions in a dispute estimated to have cost the companies £100 million in lost revenue, and programming resumed at 5.38pm on 24 October 1979. Most of the nation learned through rival BBC that programming had resumed over on ITV. When viewers switched over, they were greeted with the new jingle, “Welcome home to ITV” as sung by the Mike Sammes Singers. To date the dispute was the longest in the history of British television.

When the strike ended, ITV had the daunting task of luring back viewers from BBC. This proved difficult as production of original programming had yet to occur, and wouldn’t even be available for several months. ITV’s solution was to air episode after episode of 3-2-1, which lead to ITV being continuously hammered in the ratings by BBC. Two and a half months after ITV began broadcasting again, they were finally ready to air additional original programming, and viewers quietly began switching back. This strike was to be the last major strike for ITV as the power of the broadcasting unions began to wane, even though minor disputes plagued the television industry in the 1980s.

1982-1993

The ITV regions after the major change in contracts in 1982.

At the end of 1980 the IBA reviewed the ITV broadcasting licences again, for contracts beginning on 1 January 1982. As a result, the following changes occurred:

• ATV was considered by the IBA to have not focused on their region enough, and were ordered to change in order to keep their licence. The renamed Central Independent Television took over from ATV on 1 January 1982.
• Southern Television lost their licence for the South of England, in favour of Television South (TVS).
• Westward Television also lost their licence (for South West England), being replaced by Television South West (TSW).
• The new nation-wide breakfast television service was awarded to TV-am, with a provisional start date of May 1983.. The breakfast station (originally TV-am) broadcast between the hours of 6am and 9.25am every morning. The somewhat obscure 9.25 close time came about in order to allow time to switch transmitters from the breakfast broadcaster over to the regional ITV stations; today this transition is seamless, though the anomaly remains for legal reasons.

• Trident Television was ordered to sell the majority of its holdings in Yorkshire and Tyne Tees, and the two companies became independent of each other again.

Along with the new franchises, the IBA introduced new ‘dual regions’ where one region would be divided into two for different news coverage, as was already the practice with HTV in the “Wales” and “West” regions. The Midlands would be divided into Central West and Central East, and the south of England into TVS South and TVS South East. The Bluebell Hill transmitter was also handed over from Thames Television and London Weekend Television to the new TVS South-East region. Other dual regions would later follow.

2 November 1982 saw the launch of Channel 4, which built on the ITV network for its funding. The ITV companies sold Channel 4’s airtime until 31 December 1992, after which a ‘funding formula’ continued, whereby the ITV companies would subsidise Channel 4 if it fell into losses. However, it never did, and the funding formula was withdrawn in 1998. During the period 1982-98, Channel 4 and ITV would regularly cross-promote each other’s programming, free of charge. Whilst this was clearly in everyone’s interest prior to 1993, after this date the two channels were effectively competing, and as part of the funding formula they were required to cross-promote a certain number of prime-time programmes each day. (The broadcasters usually chose the least attractive programmes to cross-promote, such as Channel 4 News, and preferred to play the generic (non-programme-specific) promotions over those that were specific, wherever possible.)

The Broadcasting Act of 1990

ITV’s Logo September 1989 – 4 October 1998

Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government spent much of the 1980s privatising and deregulating British industry, and commercial broadcasting was no exception. The Broadcasting Act 1990 paved the way for the deregulation of the British commercial broadcasting industry, which was to have many consequences for the ITV system.

As a result of this Act, the Independent Broadcasting Authority was abolished, and replaced by two new ‘light-touch’ regulators: the Independent Television Commission (otherwise known as the ITC) and the Radio Authority. The small Cable Authority was also abolished, its powers transferred to the ITC.

The main change caused by the Act was to the system of licence allocation: the ‘beauty contest’, where applicants needed to show good programming ideas and fine financial controls, was replaced by highest-bidder auctions to determine the winner of each ITV regional franchise. This element of the ITV franchising process was very controversial; the press and the existing ITV companies lobbied to have it changed and the ITC agreed to introduce a ‘quality threshold’ to prevent high bidders with poor programme plans from joining the system.

ITN, the news provider for ITV, was no longer to be exclusively owned by ITV companies. The legal name of the ITV network was changed to Channel 3, although the network is still generally referred to as ‘ITV’ by the general public and the media.

Additionally, Channel 4, which had previously been an independent subsidiary of the IBA, was now to become a Government-owned corporation, patterned after the BBC. It would also begin to sell its own advertisement space — a function previously provided by each ITV company as a return for subsidising the channel.

One further change in the 1990 Act related to the way the ITV networking system was run. Since the 1960s, the Independent Television Companies’ Association’s Programme Controllers’ Committee, representing the ‘Big 5′ network companies (Thames, LWT, Central, Granada, and Yorkshire) had decided which programmes had aired in network programme timeslots. This had the effect of excluding other ITV companies, as well as independent production companies. Following lobbying by independent producers, as well as TVS, the Act required that ITV’s scheduling be performed by a nominated person independent of the regional companies, and that a 25% threshold of independent production be required. This led to the creation in 1992 of the ITV Network Centre, a central body in charge of the network schedule, with, for the first time, a single ITV Director of Programming.

Ahead of the 1990 Act, ITV had introduced its first official corporate logo and national on-air identity in September 1989; however, Anglia, Channel, Ulster, TVS, and TSW refused to use the generic idents that were designed for their regions, preferring to stay with their distinctive on-screen branding. A whole branding package was designed around this logo. In addition to the idents, there was also a clock, trailer style, font, break bumpers and various other elements. Some regions took some elements, but not others, and they were slowly dropped over time. The regions to have the longest use of the generic ident were Yorkshire, who kept it on until October 1994, and Grampian who continued to use the 1989 generic ident right up until ITV’s new corporate logo was introduced in 1998. In addition, Tyne Tees, Border and Grampian continued to use an edited version of the 1989 ident’s music in their first idents after dropping the generic ident from use, whereas LWT used a re-recorded version.

1993-Present

The ITV regions after the major change of contracts in 1993.

The results of the Channel 3 franchise auction in 1991 for licences beginning 1 January 1993 were:

• TSW lost the South West England franchise to Westcountry Television.
• Thames Television lost the London weekday franchise to Carlton Television. However, Thames continues to produce programmes for ITV and other channels, such as The Bill and most recently the successful reality television programme Pop Idol.
• TVS lost the South of England franchise to Meridian Broadcasting.
• TV-am lost the national breakfast television franchise to Sunrise Television, which changed its name to GMTV before launch due to a dispute with BSkyB over the name ‘Sunrise’.
• ORACLE lost the National Teletext franchise to Teletext Ltd.

All other existing ITV companies retained their regional franchises.

TSW and TVS attempted to obtain a judicial review of the ITC’s decisions, and of the wording of the 1990 Act. Accordingly, the ITC held off awarding the contract to Westcountry until the review was completed. As the contract with Meridian had already been agreed, the court felt unable to conduct a review of that decision. The review of the south-west franchise process took several months, but was decided in favour of the ITC (and therefore against TSW).

Results of 1993 franchise auction

1. ^  The ‘quality threshold’ was a subjective evaluation by the ITC of the application submitted with the bid. The ‘threshold’ worked in one direction – high bidders could be disqualified for not reaching it, but low bidders could not be ‘promoted’ for having passed it. The ITC did not announce if the lower bidders had passed the threshold or not.
2. ^  CPV-TV was a consortium led by Sir David Frost and Richard Branson. It bid for the East, London weekday and South franchises, aiming to offer a centralised single service.
3. ^  The ITC at first considered disqualifying the Tyne Tees bid, on business plan grounds.
4. ^  North East was backed financially by Granada Television.
5. ^  North West Television was a consortium led by Phil Redmond of the independent producer Mersey Television, and backed financially by Yorkshire Television and Tyne Tees Television.
6. ^  The ‘business plan’ test was a subjective evaluation by the ITC of the business plan submitted with each bid. The evaluation tested whether the bidder could afford its programme plans and also, more importantly, afford to pay the amount it had bid. The ITC did not announce if the lower bidders had passed the business plan evaluation.
7. ^  TVS sought a judicial review of this decision, but the High Court decided it could not look into the matter as the ITC had already awarded the contract to Meridian.
8. ^  TSW sought a judicial review of this decision. The ITC held off from awarding the contract to Westcountry until the High Court had ruled. After four months, the High Court ruled that the ITC had no case to answer, and ITC confirmed the award of the contract to Westcountry.
9. ^  The ITC at first considered disqualifying the HTV bid on business plan grounds.
10. ^  The ITC at first considered disqualifying the Yorkshire bid on business plan grounds.

• Source for table: ITC, quoted in Encouraging Bidding In The Single Licence National Lottery Framework report, UK National Lottery Commission, 19 November 2004.
• Source for notes: Cherry, Simon ITV: The People’s Channel Richmond, UK: Reynolds & Hearn Ltd 2005, pp204–207.

Consolidation since 1992

The relaxation in the franchise ownership rules, as a result of the 1990 Act, meant that mergers between ITV companies were now possible (even more after the Broadcasting Act 1996, which relaxed the rules even further). This was quickly taken advantage of by the larger companies—Carlton Communications, Granada and (to a lesser extent) Scottish Television:

• 1992:
  • Yorkshire Television and Tyne Tees re-merged, creating Yorkshire–Tyne Tees Television plc. (The two companies were permitted to merge before their existing arrangements expired in June 1992 [3], due to the marginal nature of both companies’ finances, and a need to rationalise the two companies before the franchise handover date).
• 1994:
  • Carlton Television bought Central Independent Television.
  • MAI (later United News and Media—UNM), owners of Meridian Broadcasting, bought Anglia Television.
  • Granada Television’s takeover of LWT took place.
• 1996:
  • Carlton bought Westcountry Television.
  • United News and Media purchased HTV.
• 1997:
  • Granada acquisition of Yorkshire–Tyne Tees Television plc.
  • Scottish Media Group (SMG) acquired Grampian Television.
• 1999:
  • Carlton dropped the Central and Westcountry names from their on-air presentation.
• 2000:
  • Granada acquired Anglia, Meridian and HTV from UNM; Granada then sold HTV to Carlton to comply with the then-current regulatory requirements.
• 2001;
  • Granada acquired Border Television from Capital Radio Group who bought it in 2000 to obtain the portfolio of radio stations then owned by Border.
• 2004 Granada and Carlton merge into ITV plc.
  • Floated on the London Stock Exchange under symbol ‘ITV’ in February 2004.[4]

ITV’s Logo 1998—2006

In 1998 the Independent Television Association and Network Centre formally merged, becoming “ITV Network Limited”. A new lower-case ITV network logo was introduced at the same time.

Carlton and Granada attempted to merge twice in the 1990s, creating a new company that would own all the Channel 3 licences in England and Wales (and the English-Scottish Border). In October 2003, the Government announced that it would no longer prevent a merger from taking place, subject to safeguards being set in place to ensure the continued independence of the Scottish Media Group, UTV and Channel Television. The merger of the two companies finally took place at the end of January 2004, and the new company—named ITV plc—started trading on 2 February, with former Carlton shareholders owning 32% and Granada shareholders owning 68% of the new shares in the company.

The choice of the name “ITV plc” was controversial, since it could imply that the company runs the entire network, and an agreement had to be reached with SMG, UTV and Channel before the name could be used. Granada and Carlton have also been criticised, in the past, for using the ITV name to brand their failed pay television service, ITV Digital, and the ITV Sports Channel.

Adapting to multi channel television

Although still the major force in UK commercial television, ITV’s share of the TV viewing audience has been falling for years, particularly since the start of competition by satellite television and cable, and more recently Digital Terrestrial Television. As a result, the ITV companies have tried to adapt by launching several extra channels.

ITV plc has launched several channels using the “ITV” brand: ITV2 in 1998, carrying a mix of imported and homemade programming; ITV3 in 2004, showing ‘classic’ programming; ITV4 in 2005, targeting a ‘male’ audience, including some classic 1960s ITC series; the CITV Channel in 2006; and ITV Play also in 2006. Subsidiaries of ITV plc also include the Men & Motors channel, a broadband television trial called “ITV Local” and stakes in GMTV, ITN and Irish broadcaster TV3. UTV has launched several radio channels (UTV Radio) and SMG plc have bought Virgin Radio. Both SMG and UTV launched their own versions of ITV2, called S2 and UTV2, but these were closed in 2001 and 2002. An ITN-founded ITV News Channel was later acquired by ITV, although this too closed down, on 23 December 2005, having lost half of its broadcasting hours on the Freeview platform when ITV4 was launched.

In recognition of the fact that there was an ITV2, the ITV network (in the Carlton- and Granada-owned areas) was branded ITV1 in 2001. From October 2002, regional branding in these regions (and later in June 2006, Channel Television) was dropped altogether, except before regional programming, with all ITV plc regions now being controlled from a reduced number of transmission centres. This has led to a number of job cuts and scaled-back operations at regional centres, with some studios being sold off altogether. In view of the national audiences they serve, Scottish, Grampian and UTV have all decided not to adopt the ITV1 brand, and kept use of their own individual identities at all times. In March 2006, both Grampian and Scottish were renamed as STV.

In June 2005, Ofcom, the channel’s regulator since the demise of the Independent Television Commission, announced huge reductions in the licence fees payable by the Channel 3 contractors (and Five). This move reflects the significant shift towards digital viewing in the UK, and the British government’s desire to switch off analogue television signals altogether by 2012. Licence fees will fall further as the shift to digital continues. Ofcom has also significantly relaxed most of the remaining public service requirements on the ITV contractors; regional non-news output has been a significant casualty of these cutbacks, with most regions now broadcasting no more than two hours a week in this category. Following digital switchover, it remains unclear whether Ofcom or the British government will be able to insist that ITV maintains any public service commitments.[clarification needed —what is the connection?]

ITV50’s logo.

In September 2005, the ITV network celebrated its fiftieth anniversary with a season of ITV50 programming that was run on the network, including a run down of ITV’s 50 top programmes, a World of Sport retrospective, a seven-week Gameshow Marathon presented by Ant & Dec, the launch of an “Avenue Of The Stars”, and most notably a five-part documentary series made by Melvyn Bragg, which chronicled ITV’s history. The Post Office issued special ITV50 postage stamps. The regional companies owned by ITV plc also aired special regional retrospectives (even though none of them were themselves fifty years old), as well as using special ITV50 station identification. While Scottish Television, Grampian Television, and UTV aired the network ITV50 programming, they did not themselves air regional programmes of this sort, nor did they use the special identification. ITN also celebrated its fiftieth anniversary with special features in its programming.

On 9 January 2006, ITV plc unveiled a new corporate identity [11] and generic ITV logo (already used for ITV4), with new on-air identities to be used on screen across all Channel 3 franchises owned by ITV plc (plus Channel Television), as well as ITV2, ITV3, and the ITV News programming, from 16 January 2006. This has replaced the logo in use since 1998.

In March 2006, it was announced by SMG plc that Grampian Television would become the latest ITV region to lose its own regional identity, as it adopts the brand name STV, used by Scottish Television. This brand, which will work similarly to the ITV1 brand in England, had previously been used by Scottish Television from 1969 until 1985.

List of former ITV franchise holders

• ABC Weekend TV (Associated British Corporation): North and Midlands weekend franchise (1956–1968)
• Associated-Rediffusion: London weekday franchise (1955–1968)
• Associated TeleVision/ATV Network: Midlands weekday franchise and London weekend franchise (1956–1968); Midlands (7 day) (1968–1981)
• Southern Television: South and South East England franchise (1958–1981)
• Thames Television: London weekday franchise (1968–1992)
• TSW (Television South West): SW England franchise (1982–1992)
• TVS (Television South): South and South East England franchise (1982–1992)
• TWW (Television Wales and the West): Wales and West of England franchise (1958–1968). See also ITSWW (March–May 1968)
• Westward Television: SW England franchise (1961–1981)
• WWN (Wales West and North Television): North and West Wales franchise (1962–1964)

• TV-am: National Breakfast Television franchise (1983–1992)
• ORACLE: National Teletext franchise (1977–1992)

Slogans

“Welcome Home” (1979 after industrial dispute)

“Get Ready” (1989)

“Television From The Heart” (1998)

“‘Britain’s favourite button” [5] (1990s)

Copyright (c) 2008 Dave Holowiski.

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document

under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2

or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;

with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.

A copy of the license is included in the section entitled “GNU

Free Documentation License”.

The full license can be viewed here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_the_GNU_Free_Documentation_License#2._VERBATIM_COPYING

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Deanna Favre

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Deanna Tynes Favre (born December 28, 1968, Kiln, Mississippi)[1] is an American activist and the wife of former New York Jets quarterback Brett Favre.

After being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004, she became an activist in the fight against the disease and started the Deanna Favre Hope Foundation to raise money and awareness for women around the country.

Family life

Deanna was the daughter of a single mother. She was adopted by Kerry Tynes when he married Deanna’s mother, Ann. Deanna has a sister, Christie, and a brother, Casey.[1]

Deanna met Brett Favre while growing up in the small town of Kiln, Mississippi. They had attended school together since early childhood and began dating in high school during Deanna’s sophomore and Favre’s freshman year. After graduating from high school in 1986, she attended community college in Poplarville, Mississippi on a basketball scholarship. She then transferred to the University of Southern Mississippi to finish her degree.[1]

Aged 20, Deanna became pregnant and gave birth to Favre’s daughter, Brittany Nicole, on February 6, 1989.[2][1] As a single mother, she put herself through college while working various jobs, including working for a collection agency.[3] She graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi in December 1994 with a degree in exercise science.[1]

Deanna moved to Green Bay, Wisconsin to live with Favre in 1995. Their relationship was strained during this time, which may have been related to Favre’s newfound fame as an NFL quarterback and his addiction to Vicodin. Deanna said that Favre often ignored her and Brittany, and she described him as “loud, rough, and often hateful.”[1] Deanna said she considered leaving Favre but worried that his addiction might become worse if she left.[4] Favre, with Deanna at his side, publicly announced his addiction on May 14, 1996.[4] Following his recovery, he credited Deanna as the reason he overcame the addiction.

During his recovery, Favre proposed to Deanna. She questioned it at first, but agreed when Favre went to get a marriage license and was told she needed to come in and sign it. Deanna Tynes and Brett Favre were married on July 14, 1996 at St. Agnes Catholic Church in Green Bay.[2][1]

In 1999, Deanna realized Brett had a drinking problem. After Brett’s younger brother’s wedding, they fought and Favre went out for two nights, not returning to their home until Monday. Deanna had packed his bags and had them sitting in the courtyard, and told him “I’m done.” Deanna had to call Brett’s agent, and tell him to come pick up Brett or she was going to call 911. After this incident, Brett entered rehab for a second time. He has allegedly not had a drink since.[1]

Today, Deanna describes her relationship with Favre as stronger than ever. “All the stuff we’ve been through over the years has molded us into two different people. It’s awesome to think where we started and where we are now,” she said. “Our relationship has gotten to a much stronger point, a deeper love; we have so much respect and love for each other.” [5]

“Brett is a completely different person and I can see the power of prayer in just that. It’s changed our lives, our family.” [5]

Deanna and Favre’s second daughter, Breleigh Ann was born on July 13, 1999.[1][2]

During the football season, Deanna and Breleigh Ann Favre live in Morristown, New Jersey with Favre. Elder daughter Brittany has a permanent home in Mississippi; she attends the College of Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina. During the off-season the family lives together in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.[2]

Family Tragedies

Deanna and Brett Favre, 2nd and 3rd from the left, attend a ribbon cutting ceremony with First Lady Laura Bush in Kiln, Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina

On October 6, 2004, Deanna’s 24-year-old brother, Casey Tynes, was killed in an all-terrain vehicle accident on Favre’s Mississippi property.[6] Then just 8 days later on October 14, 2004, Deanna was diagnosed with breast cancer.[2]

More recently, in late August 2005, Favre’s family suffered another setback. Brett and Deanna’s home in Hattiesburg, Mississippi was damaged by Hurricane Katrina. No family members were injured. Brett and Deanna housed 50 family members in their Mississippi home during Hurricane Katrina.[3]

Breast Cancer Patient/Activist

Deanna made headlines in October 2004 after being diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 35. As she began treatment, she began receiving letters from women throughout the country saying how they were motivated to get breast examinations after hearing her story. Following a lumpectomy and 5 months of chemotherapy, she is expected to make a complete recovery. Stepping into the national spotlight wasn’t something that she wanted to do following her cancer diagnosis. She resented her diagnosis making front page headlines because of the husband’s superstar status.[7] The experience has brought her closer to her husband and her faith. [5] The Favres are members of St. Agnes Parish in Green Bay and St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.[7] In 2005, Deanna Favre began selling pink Green Bay Packers hats to raise money and awareness for breast cancer. The hats outsold regular Packer hats during the first half of 2005.

The Deanna Favre Hope Foundation

Deanna created The Deanna Favre Hope Foundation which supports breast cancer education, women’s breast imaging and diagnosis services for all women, including those who are medically underserved. She has the organization focus on underinsured and uninsured women after thinking about what it would have been like being diagnosed with cancer during the six years when she was a single mom.[8] The foundation has raised around $500,000 as of October 2007.[7]

Even before she started her own foundation, Deanna Favre ran the Brett Favre Fourward Foundation, which raised more than $3 million for disadvantaged or disabled children in Wisconsin and Mississippi.[8]

Favre was featured during the opening on ESPN’s Monday Night Football broadcast of the October 29, 2007 Green Bay Packers/Denver Broncos game. She was interviewed live during the game. She talked about her struggles with breast cancer; Brett, and Brett’s performance on Monday Night Football right after his father’s death.

Book

• Don’t bet against me (October 1, 2007; Tyndale House Publishers; ISBN 978-1414319070) Favre’s autobiography.

Copyright (c) 2008 Dave Holowiski.

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document

under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2

or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;

with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.

A copy of the license is included in the section entitled “GNU

Free Documentation License”.

The full license can be viewed here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_the_GNU_Free_Documentation_License#2._VERBATIM_COPYING

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Ellen Pompeo

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ellen Kathleen Pompeo (born November 10, 1969) is a Golden Globe-nominated and Screen Actors Guild award-winning American actress, known for playing the title role of Meredith Grey on the ABC medical drama Grey’s Anatomy.

Biography

Early life

Ellen Kathleen Pompeo was born in Everett, Massachusetts, the daughter of Joseph, a salesman, and Kathleen Pompeo.[1] Pompeo is of Irish and Italian descent and was raised Catholic.[2][3] Her grandfather was born in Gesualdo, a village in Province of Avellino, Italy.[citation needed] Her mother passed away when she was four years old due to an overdose, and her father remarried soon after her mother’s death. She was nicknamed the pencil and Straciatella (which translated from Italian to “little rags” or “strings”)[4] for her thin frame.

For more than two years, she served cocktails in Miami where she met then-boyfriend, fashion photographer Andrew Rosenthal. In 1996, she was bartending at the SoHo Bar & Grill in New York City’s Upper West Side when an agent approached her to appear in commercials. Subsequently, she appeared in commercials for Citibank and L’Oréal. She began her career with minor roles on television shows like Strangers with Candy and Law & Order and a handful of films.

Career

Determined to succeed in acting, Pompeo moved to Los Angeles in 2001. A turning point came when she was selected by director Brad Silberling in 2002 for a role in his film Moonlight Mile playing Jake Gyllenhaal’s sympathetic love interest. She also appeared in the film Daredevil playing Matt Murdock’s (Ben Affleck) secretary Karen Page, but most of her scenes were deleted from the theatrical version of the film. In 2002 and 2003, Pompeo appeared in Catch Me If You Can and Old School. Television guest roles include two episodes of Law & Order and an episode of Friends. She portrayed Jim Carrey’s ex-girlfriend, Naomi, in the 2004 film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Although her scenes were cut from the film, she felt grateful that director Michel Gondry chose her to appear in his film.[5]

Pompeo landed her first major role in the ABC medical drama Grey’s Anatomy, as the title character, Meredith Grey, a surgical intern at a prestigious hospital. The show became the highest-rated on network TV in its fifth season. In 2007, Pompeo was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Drama Series. That year, she also signed a new contract for Grey’s Anatomy that increased her salary to $200,000 per episode. She is contracted with the show for seven seasons.[6]

On October 13, 2007, Pompeo was honored by the National Italian American Foundation for her achievement in entertainment at a black-tie gala in Washington, D.C.[7]

Personal life

Pompeo married record producer Chris Ivery on November 9, 2007 at the Manhattan Marriage Bureau near New York’s City Hall, with Mayor Michael Bloomberg serving as their witness.[8] They met in 2003 when mutual friends introduced them at a Whole Foods Market, and began dating six months later. They later discovered that they grew up in Boston 10 miles from each other.[9] They now reside in Los Angeles with their pet dog chappy.[citation needed]

Filmography

Film

Television

Copyright (c) 2008 Dave Holowiski.

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document

under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2

or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;

with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.

A copy of the license is included in the section entitled “GNU

Free Documentation License”.

The full license can be viewed here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_the_GNU_Free_Documentation_License#2._VERBATIM_COPYING

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Music of India

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The music of India includes multiple varieties of folk, popular, pop, and classical music. India’s classical music tradition, including Carnatic and Hindustani music, has a history spanning millennia and, developed over several eras, it remains fundamental to the lives of Indians today as sources of religious inspiration, cultural expression and pure entertainment. India is made up of several dozen ethnic groups, speaking their own languages and dialects, having very distinct cultural traditions.

Classical music

Main article: Indian classical music

The two main traditions of classical music which have been Carnatic music, found predominantly in the peninsular regions and Hindustani music, found in the northern and central parts. While both traditions claim Vedic origin, history indicates that the two traditions diverged from a common musical root since c. 13th century.

Further information: Indian classical music, Hindustani music, and Carnatic music

Hindustani music (hindusth?n?)

Main article: Hindustani classical music

Hindustani music is an Indian classical music tradition that goes back to Vedic times, and further developed circa the 13th and 14th centuries AD with Persian influences and from existing religious and folk music. The practice of singing based on notes was popular even from the Vedic times where the hymns in Sama Veda, a sacred text, was sung as Samagana and not chanted. Developing a strong and diverse tradition over several centuries, it has contemporary traditions established primarily in India but also in Pakistan and Bangladesh. In contrast to Carnatic music, the other main Indian classical music tradition (originating from the South), Hindustani music was not only influenced by ancient Hindu musical traditions, Vedic philosophy and native Indian sounds but also enriched by the Persian performance practices of the Mughals. Besides pure classical, there are also several semi-classical forms such as thumri and tappa.

Carnatic music (karn??t?ic)

Main article: Carnatic music

The present form of Carnatic music is based on historical developments that can be traced to the 15th – 16th centuries AD and thereafter. From the ancient Sanskrit works available, and the several epigraphical inscriptional evidences, the history of classical musical traditions can be traced back to about 2500 years. Carnatic music is completely melodic, with improvised variations. The main emphasis is on vocal music; most compositions are written to be sung, and even when played on instruments, they are meant to be performed in a singing style (known as g?yaki). Like Hindustani music, Carnatic music rests on two main elements: r?ga, the modes or melodic formulæ, and t??a, the rhythmic cycles.[1]

Purandara Dasa is credited with having founded today’s Carnatic Music. He systematized the teaching method by framing a series of graded lessons such as swaravalis, janta swaras, alankaras, lakshana geetas, prabandhas, ugabhogas, thattu varase, geetha, sooladis and kritis. He introduced the Mayamalavagaula as the basic scale for music instruction. These are followed by teachers and students of Carnatic music even today. Another of his important contributions was the fusion of bhava, raga and laya in his compositions.

Purandara Dasa was the first composer that started commenting on the daily life of the people in compositions. He incorporated in his songs popular folk language and introduced folk ragas in the mainstream. The most important contribution he made was the fusion of bhava, raga and laya into organic units.

He also composed a large number of lakshya and lakshana geetas, many of which are sung to this day. His sooladis exhibit his mastery of the techniques of music, and are considered an authority for raga lakshana. Scholars attribute the standardization of varna mettus entirely to Purandaradasa.

Purandaradasa’s era was probably the beginning of Carnatic music’s movement towards krithi based classical music (one of its distinguishing characteristics compared to Hindustani). The peripatetic dasas who followed him are believed to have followed the systems he devised, as well as orally passing down his compositions.

Purandaradasa was a performer, a musicologist and the father of Carnatic musical pedagogy. He is credited with having elevated Carnatic music from religious and devotional music into the realm of a performing art. For all these reasons and the enormous influence that he had on Carnatic music, musicologists call him the “Sangeeta Pitamaha” or the grandfather of Carnatic music.

Popular Carnatic vocalists of today include M. Balamuralikrishna, Nithyashree Mahadevan, Sudha Ragunathan, P. Unni Krishnan, Aruna Sairam, Priya Sisters, S. Sowmya, Sanjay Subrahmanyan, Sreevalsan J. Menon, Bombay Jayashri Ramnath, Ranjani & Gayatri, Vijay Siva, O. S. Arun, O. S. Thyagarajan, T. M. Krishna, Malladi Brothers – Sriram Prasad & Ravikumar, Sriram Parasuram & Anuradha Parasuram, Sikkil C. Gurucharan, Vishakha Hari, S. Kasthurirangan and Singapore V.S.Hari.

Folk music

Bauls

The Bauls of Bengal were an order of musicians in 18th, 19th and early 20th century India who played a form of music using a khamak, ektara and dotara. The word Baul comes from Sanskrit batul meaning divinely inspired insanity. They are a group of mystic minstrels. They are thought to have been influenced greatly by the Hindu tantric sect of the Kartabhajas as well as by Sufi sects. Bauls travel in search of the internal ideal, Maner Manush (Man of the Heart).

Bhangra

Main article: Bhangra

Bhangra is a lively form of music and dance that originated in the Punjab region. As many Bhangra lyrics reflect the long and often tumultuous history of the Punjab, knowledge of Punjabi history offers important insights into the meaning of the music. While Bhangra began as a part of harvest festival celebrations, it eventually became a part of such diverse occasions as weddings and New Year celebrations. Moreover, during the last thirty years, Bhangra has enjoyed a surge in popularity worldwide, both in traditional form and as a fusion with genres such as hip-hop, house, and reggae, and in such forms it has become a pop sensation in the United Kingdom and North America.

Bhavageete

Main article: Bhavageete

Bhavageete (literally ‘devotional song’) is a form of expressionist poetry and light music. Some notable Bhavageete performers include Gantasala, P. Kalinga Rao, Mysore Ananthaswamy, C. Aswath, Shimoga Subbanna, Archana Udupa, and Raju Ananthaswamy.

Dandiya

Main article: Dandiya

Dandiya is a form of dance-oriented folk music that has also been adapted for pop music. The present musical style is derived from the traditional musical accompaniment to the folk dance.

Lavani

Main article: Lavani

Lavani comes from the word Lavanya which means beauty. This is one of the most popular forms of dance and music that is practiced all over Maharashtra. It has in fact become a necessary part of the Maharashtrian folk dance performances. Traditionally, the songs are sung by female artistes, but male artistes may occasionally sing Lavanis. The dance format associated with Lavani is known as Tamasha. Lavani is a combination of traditional song and dance, which particularly performed to the enchanting beats of ‘Dholak’, an drum like instrument. Dance performed by attractive women wearing nine-yard saris. They are sung in a quick tempo. The verve, the enthusiasm, the rhythm and above all the very beat of India finds an expressive declaration amidst the folk music of India, which has somewhat, redefined the term “bliss”. Lavani originated in the arid region of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.

Popular music

The biggest form of Indian popular music is filmi, or songs from Indian musical films. The film industry of India supported music by according reverence to classical music while utilizing the western orchestration to support Indian melodies. Music composers like Naushad, Vasant Desai, Shankar Jaikishan, C. Ramchandra, Salil Chowdhary and S.D. Burman employed the principles of harmony while retaining classical and folk flavor. Reputed names in the domain of Indian classical music like Pt. Ravi Shankar, Ustad Vilayat Khan, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan and Pt. Ramnarayan have also composed music for films. Independent pop acts such as Asha Bhosle, Alisha Chinai, Shaan, Madhushree, Shreya Ghoshal, Nihira Joshi, Kavita Krishnamurthy, Sonu Nigam, Sukhwinder Singh, Kunal Ganjawala, Sunidhi Chauhan, Alka Yagnik and rock bands like Indus Creed, Indian Ocean, and Euphoria exist and have gained mass appeal with the advent of cable music television.

Qawwali

Main article: Qawwali

Qawwali is a Sufi form of devotional music based on the principles of classical music. It is performed with one or two lead singers, several chorus singers, harmonium, tabla, and dholak.

Rabindra Sangeet

Rabindranath Tagore was a towering figure in Indian music. Writing in Bengali, he created a library of over 2,000 songs now known by Bengalis as ‘rabindra sangeet’ whose form is primarily influenced by Hindustani classical, sub-classicals, Karnatic, western, bauls, bhatiyali and different folk songs of India. Many singers in West Bengal, and Bangladesh base their entire careers on the singing of Tagore musical masterpieces. The national anthem of India and national song of Bangladesh are Rabindra Sangeets.

Rajasthan

Rajasthan has a very diverse cultural collection of musician castes, including Langas, Sapera, Bhopa, Jogi and Manganiyar. Rajasthan Diary quotes it as a soulful, full-throated music with Harmonious diversity. The haunting melody of Rajasthan evokes from a variety of delightfully primitive looking instruments. The stringed variety include the Sarangi, Rawanhattha, Kamayacha, Morsing and Ektara. Percussion instruments come in all shapes and sizes from the huge Nagaras and Dhols to the tiny Damrus. The Daf and Chang are a big favourite of Holi (the festival of colours) revellers. Flutes and bagpipers come in local flavours such as Shehnai, Poongi, Algoza, Tarpi, Been and Bankia.

The essence of Rajasthani music is derived from the creative symphony of string instruments, percussion instruments and wind instruments accompanied by melodious renditions of folk singers. It enjoys a respectable presence in Bollywood music as well.

Interaction with non-Indian music

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, rock and roll fusions with Indian music were well-known throughout Europe and North America. Ali Akbar Khan’s 1955 performance in the United States was perhaps the beginning of this trend.

Jazz pioneers such as John Coltrane—who recorded a composition entitled ‘India’ during the November 1961 sessions for his album Live At The Village Vanguard (the track was not released until 1963 on Coltrane’s album Impressions)—also embraced this fusion. George Harrison (of the Beatles) played the sitar on the song “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)” in 1965, which sparked interest from Shankar, who subsequently took Harrison as his apprentice. Jazz innovator Miles Davis recorded and performed with musicians like Khalil Balakrishna, Bihari Sharma, and Badal Roy in his post-1968 electric ensembles. Virtuoso jazz guitarist John McLaughlin spent several years in Madurai learning Carnatic music and incorporated it into many of his acts including Shakti which featured prominent Indian musicians. Other Western artists such as the Grateful Dead, Incredible String Band, the Rolling Stones, the Move and Traffic soon incorporated Indian influences and instruments, and added Indian performers. Legendary Grateful Dead frontman Jerry Garcia joined guitarist Sanjay Mishra on his classic cd “Blue Incantation” (1995). Mishra also wrote an original score for French Director Eric Heumann for his film Port Djema (1996) which won best score at Hamptons film festival and The Golden Bear at Berlin. in 2000 he recorded Rescue with drummer Dennis Chambers (Carlos Santana, John McLaughlin et al) and in 2006 Chateau Benares with guests DJ Logic and Keller Williams (guitar and bass).

Though the Indian music craze soon died down among mainstream audiences, diehard fans and immigrants continued the fusion. In the late 1980s, Indian-British artists fused Indian and Western traditions to make the Asian Underground. Since the 90’s, Canadian born musician Nadaka who has spent most of his life in India, has been creating music that is an acoustic fusion of Indian classical music with western styles. One such singer who has merged the Bhakti sangeet tradition of India with the western non-India music is Krishna Das and sells music records of his musical sadhana.

In the new millennium, American hip-hop has featured Indian Filmi and Bhangra. Mainstream hip-hop artists have sampled songs from Bollywood movies and have collaborated with Indian artists. Examples include Timbaland’s “Indian Flute”, Erick Sermon and Redman’s “React”, Slum Village’s “Disco”, and Truth Hurts‘ hit song “Addictive”, which sampled a Lata Mangeshkar song, and the Black Eyed Peas sampled Asha Bhosle’s song “Yeh Mera Dil” in their hit single “Don’t Phunk With My Heart“. In 1997, the British band Cornershop paid tribute to Asha Bhosle with their song Brimful of Asha, which became an international hit. British-born Indian artist Panjabi MC also had a Bhangra hit in the U.S. with “Mundian To Bach Ke” which featured rapper Jay-Z. Asian Dub Foundation are not huge mainstream stars, but their politically-charged rap and punk rock influenced sound has a multi-racial audience in their native UK. Recently international star Snoop Dogg appeared in a song in the film Singh Is Kinng.

Sometimes, the music of India will fuse with the traditional music of other countries. For example, Delhi 2 Dublin [1], a band based in Canada, is known for fusing Indian and Irish music, and Bhangraton is a fusion of Bhangra music with reggaeton, which itself is a fusion of hip hop, reggae, and traditional Latin American music. [2]

Modern music

Indi-pop music

Main article: Indian pop

Indian pop music, often known as Indipop or Indi-pop, is based on an amalgamation of Indian folk and classical music, and modern beats from different parts of the world. Indian popular music began initially with root-grass efforts made by Pakistani famous singers Nazia Hassan and Zohaib Hassan.The indian pop music is largely catered by indian filmy music and the Pakistani famous pop music.In fact almost all Pakistani artists and bands are extremely popular among indians like Vital sign, Junoon, fusion, strings, Reath, Jal are some famous bands from Pakistan while famouse pop artists are Junaid jamshed, Nazia and Zohaib Hassan, Ali Hyder, Sajjad Ali, Atif Aslam, Shehzad Roy, Ali Azmat, Ali Zafar, Hadiqa Kiani, Najum Sheraz, Saleem Javed and many more.

Much of Indian Pop music comes from the Indian Film Industry, and until the 1990s, few singers like Usha Uthup, Sharon Prabhakar, and Peenaz Masani outside it were popular. Since then, pop singers in the latter group have included Baba Sehgal, Alisha Chinai, Shantanu Mukherjee aka Shaan, Sagarika, Colonial Cousins (Hariharan, Leslie Lewis), Lucky Ali, and Sonu Nigam, and music composers like Jawahar Wattal, who made top selling albums with, Daler Mehndi, Shubha Mudgal, Baba Sehgal, Swetha Shetty and Hans Raj Hans [2]

Besides those listed above, popular Indi-Pop singers include Zubeen Garg,Daler Mehndi, Raghav Sachar Rageshwari, Devika Chawla, Bombay Vikings, Asha Bhosle, Sunidhi Chauhan, Bombay Rockers, Anu Malik, Jazzy B, Malkit Singh, Hans Raj Hans, Raghav, Jay Sean, Juggy D, Rishi Rich, Sheila Chandra, Bally Sagoo, Punjabi MC, Bhangra Knights, Mehnaz, and Sanober.

Recently, Indian pop has taken an interesting turn with the “remixing” of songs from past Indian movie songs, new beats being added to them.

Rock & Metal music

Main article: Indian rock

The rock music “scene” in India is extremely small when compared to filmi or fusion music “scenes” but has of recent years come into its own, achieving a cult status of sorts. Rock music in India has its origins in 1960s and 70’s when international stars such as The Beatles visited India and brought their music with them. These artistes’ collaboration with Indian musicians such as Ravi Shankar and Zakir Hussain have led to the development of Raga Rock. However Indian Rock Bands began to gain prominence only much later, around the late 1980s. It was around this time that the rock band Indus Creed formerly known as The Rock Machine got itself noticed on the international stage with hits like Rock N Roll Renegade. Other bands quickly followed. As of now, the rock music scene in India is quietly growing day by day and gathering more support. With the introduction of MTV in the early 1990s, Indians began to be exposed to various forms of rock such as grunge and speed metal. This influence can be clearly seen in many Indian bands today. The cities of Kolkata, Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore have emerged as major melting pots for rock and metal enthusiasts. Some prominent bands include Indian Ocean,Parikrama, Pentagram, Hologram, Thermal and a Quarter,No Idea(indian band), Zero, Half step down, Scribe, Indus Creed, Demonic Resurrection, PRITHVI, Agni, Exiled, Cassini’s Division, The Supersonics, Span, Camouflage, Five Little Indians and Nexus. The future looks encouraging thanks to entities such as DogmaTone Records, Eastern Fare Music Foundation, that are dedicated to promoting and supporting Indian Rock.

One of the most famous rock musicians in the world is the late Freddie Mercury of Queen. Born Farrokh Bomi Bulsara to Indian parents in Zanzibar, he was raised in Panchgani near Mumbai. Mercury was influenced early on by the Bollywood playback singer Lata Mangeshkar along with western influences such as Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon and The Beatles.

Dance music

Main article: Goa Trance

Western classical music

The spread and following of Western Classical Music in India is almost entirely non-existent. It is mainly patronized by the Indian Zoroastrian community and small esoteric groups with historical exposure to Western Classical Music. There are practically no conservatories, opera companies or working symphonies that cater to Western Classical music. Western Music education is also severely neglected and pretty rare in India. Western piano education being an exception as it has found some interest; mainly in an effort to create pianists for contemporary popular Indian music. Also, the difficulty in importing Western Musical instruments and their rarity has also contributed to the obscurity of Classical Western music. Many reasons have been citied for the obscurity of Western Classical Music in India, a country rich in its musical heritage by its own right, however the two main reasons are an utter lack of exposure and a passive disinterest in what is considered esoteric at best.

Despite more than a century of exposure to Western classical music and two centuries of British colonialism, classical music in India never gained more than a ‘fringe’ popularity. Many attempts to popularize Western Classical Music in India have failed in the past due to disinterest, most notably the setting up of the Bombay Symphony Orchestra by Mehli Mehta in the 1930s. In 2006 at Mumbai (Bombay), the National Centre for the Performing Arts was established with a grant of Rs 4 million from the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust (an eminent Indian-Zoroastrian entrepreneur) and the collaboration of other corporate houses to promote Western Classical music and visual arts. It was designed to accommodate performance of symphony orchestras and Operas. However, there are still no schools of repute that train musicians in Western classical music or vocalists in Opera to this day. Most Indians in Western classical music reside outside India in countries with adequate training and performance opportunities.

Some prominent Indians in Western classical music are:

• A. R. Rahman, Music Director, Composer, Singer. Specialized in Western Classical from Trinity University(OXFORD).
• Zubin Mehta, Renowned music conductor.
• Mehli Mehta, Father of Zubin, violinist and founding conductor of the Bombay Symphony Orchestra.
• Naresh Sohal, British Indian-born composer.
• Param Vir, British Indian-born composer.
• Sandee Bhagwati, German Indian-born composer.

Further reading

• Killius, Rolf. Ritual Music and Hindu Rituals of Kerala. New Delhi: B.R. Rhythms, 2006..
• Manuel, Peter.. Thumri in Historical and Stylistic Perspectives. New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1989..
• Manuel, Peter.. Cassette Culture: Popular Music and Technology in North India. University of Chicago Press, 1993. ISBN 0-226-50401-8.
• Maycock, Robert and Hunt, Ken. “How to Listen – a Routemap of India”. 2000. In Broughton, Simon and Ellingham, Mark with McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.), World Music, Vol. 2: Latin & North America, Caribbean, India, Asia and Pacific, pp 63-69. Rough Guides Ltd, Penguin Books. ISBN 1-85828-636-0
• Hunt, Ken. “Ragas and Riches”. 2000. In Broughton, Simon and Ellingham, Mark with McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.), World Music, Vol. 2: Latin & North America, Caribbean, India, Asia and Pacific, pp 70-78. Rough Guides Ltd, Penguin Books. ISBN 1-85828-636-0.

Copyright (c) 2008 Dave Holowiski.

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document

under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2

or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;

with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.

A copy of the license is included in the section entitled “GNU

Free Documentation License”.

The full license can be viewed here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_the_GNU_Free_Documentation_License#2._VERBATIM_COPYING

New Brunswick Route 11

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Route 11 is one of the most important highways in northeastern New Brunswick, Canada. The 430-kilometre long road runs from Shediac to the Quebec border near Campbellton at the Interprovincial Bridge , following the province’s eastern and northern coastlines. Between Shediac and Miramichi, and between Bathurst and Campbellton, it is a two-lane road with some sections designed as a Super 2 expressway. The highway is twinned for 2 kilometres in the Shediac region near the Route 15 interchange.

The highway’s southern terminus is at the interchange with Route 15 in Shediac. It runs northward as a Super 2 controlled-access highway, several kilometres inland from the Gulf of St. Lawrence, passing the towns of Bouctouche and Richibucto as well as Kouchibouguac National Park. The highway reverts to a 2-lane uncontrolled access highway between the national park and the city of Miramichi to the northwest. The highway crosses the Miramichi River in the Miramichi borough of Chatham on the Centennial Bridge (New Brunswick).

Immediately after crossing the Miramichi River, Route 11 interchanges with Route 8 (which turns north toward Bathurst on the direct route off the bridge). To follow Route 11, one must take the exit at the interchange and then continue on a 2-lane uncontrolled access highway northeast along the coast of Miramichi Bay and the Gulf of St. Lawrence as it runs around the perimeter of the Acadian Peninsula. Through this region, Route 11 typically forms the main street through most of the coastal towns and settlements such as Neguac, Caraquet, Bertrand and Grande-Anse. The only exception is a recently opened Super 2 controlled access bypass of the town of Tracadie-Sheila.

Route 11 interchanges again with Route 8 at Bathurst where Route 8 has its northern terminus. Route 11 becomes a Super 2 controlled access highway from Bathurst, running northwest several kilometres inland from the coast of Chaleur Bay to the village of Tide Head several kilometres west of the city of Campbellton. At Tide Head, Route 11 interchanges in a T-intersection with Route 17 (Route 17 is a continuation of the direct Route 11 right-of-way).

To follow Route 11 further west to its northern terminus, one must turn at the intersection onto a 2-lane uncontrolled access local road which runs north to the Restigouche River, then turn west and follow the river to the Interprovincial Bridge which crosses the river at Matapedia, Quebec.

History

Since the late 1960s, Route 11 has received several upgrades and re-designations as it progresses toward eventually becoming an expressway.

The most significant upgrade to the entire highway route along the east coast of New Brunswick was the opening of the Centennial Bridge which replaced a ferry service and bypassed the town of Chatham in 1967.

In 1972 a new 4-lane expressway opened between Moncton and Shediac, which was then referred to as the Shediac Four-Lane Highway or Shediac Expressway (it was subsequently numbered Route 15 and is known as the Veterans Memorial Highway). Prior to this new expressway, Route 11 followed the Shediac Road from Shediac to Moncton, terminating at Route 2, the Trans-Canada Highway in Lakeville. Route 11’s southern terminus was then changed to the current interchange at Route 15 in Shediac.

Controlled access Super 2 expressway sections on Route 11 were completed during the 1970s in Bathurst and the Campbellton-Dalhousie area, as well as between Shediac and Bouctouche.

During the 1980s and into the early 1990s, two long stretches of Super 2 expressway were completed on Route 11; one running from Bouctouche to Kouchibouguac National Park (bypassing Richibucto), and another running between Bathurst and Charlo, where the existing Super 2 section running east from Campbellton ended. The Super 2 section in Bathurst was also extended eastward past Salmon Beach at the city’s east end.

A bypass of Tracadie-Sheila opened to traffic in 2002. Also, an extension to that existing bypass should be done by 2009, linking the northern end and Six-Roads, near Pokemouche.

Route 11 has recently been identified for major upgrades following completion of the twinning project on the Trans-Canada Highway (Route 2) in 2007. Initial design work is being done for upgrading the existing 4-lane section from Route 15 to Shediac Bridge (2 km), followed by construction of a new 4-lane section from Shediac Bridge to Bouctouche (twinning the existing Super 2 section).

Twinning advocates wish to have Route 11 upgraded as a 4-lane expressway for the entire section between Miramichi and Moncton, although this project will be competing for priority with similar upgrades being planned for Route 8 between Fredericton and Miramichi, Route 1 between Lepreau and St. Stephen, and Route 7 between Grand Bay-Westfield and Oromocto.Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document

under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2

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OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb is a ‘super-Earth‘ extrasolar planet orbiting the star OGLE-2005-BLG-390L, which is situated 21,500 ± 3,300 light years away from Earth, near the center of the Milky Way galaxy. On January 25, 2006, Probing Lensing Anomalies NETwork/Robotic Telescope Network (PLANET/Robonet), Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (OGLE), and Microlensing Observations in Astrophysics (MOA) made a joint announcement of the discovery. The planet does not appear to meet conditions presumed necessary to support life.[1]

Physical characteristics

OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb orbits around its star at an average distance of 2.0 to 4.1 AU, or an orbit that would fall between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter in our own solar system. The variation in distance is the range of error in measurement and calculation; it does not represent its orbital eccentricity, as the planet’s orbital elements are not known. Until this discovery, no small exoplanet had been found farther than 0.15 AUs from a main sequence star. The planet takes approximately 10 Earth years to orbit its star, OGLE-2005-BLG-390L.[2]

OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb’s sun (located in the constellation Scorpius, RA 17:54:19.2, Dec ?30°22?38?, J2000, 6.6 ± 1.0 kpc distance)[3] is thought to likely be a cool red dwarf (95% probability), or a white dwarf (4% probability), with a very slight chance that it is a neutron star or black hole (<1% probability). No matter which of these OGLE-2005-BLG-390L is, the radiant energy output would be significantly less than that of the Sun.

OGLE-2005-BLG-390L’s location in the night sky

The planet is estimated to be about five times Earth’s mass (5.5^+5.5

_?2.7

M_E). Some astronomers have speculated that it may have a rocky core like Earth, with a thin atmosphere. Its distance from the star, and the star’s relatively low temperature, means that the planet’s likely surface temperature is around 50 K (?220 °C; ?370 °F). If it is a rocky world, this temperature would make it likely that the surface would be made of frozen volatiles, substances which would be liquids or gases on Earth: water, ammonia, methane and nitrogen would all be frozen solid. If it is not a rocky planet, it would more closely resemble an icy gas planet like Uranus, although much smaller.[4]

The planet is not so much notable for its size, or possible composition — although these are unusual — but for the fact that such a relatively small exoplanet was detected at such a relatively large distance from its star. Prior to this, “small” exoplanets, such as Gliese 876 d which has a “year” of less than 2 Earth-days, were detected very close to their stars. OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb shows a combination of size and orbit which would not make it out of place in Earth’s own solar system.

“The team has discovered the most Earthlike planet yet,” said Michael Turner,[5] assistant director for the mathematical and physical sciences directorate at the National Science Foundation, which supported the work. At 5.5 Earth masses, the planet is less massive than the previous candidate for lowest-mass extrasolar planet around a main sequence star, the 7.5 Earth mass Gliese 876 d. Earth-sized or smaller planets have been detected, but as of January 2006, only around millisecond pulsars like PSR B1257+12.

Discovery

An illustration of gravitational microlensing. Light from a distant star is bent due to the gravitational field of an intervening foreground star and its orbiting planet, resulting in at least three (unresolved) distorted images. The change of their solid angle subtained on the sky corresponds to an observable brightening of the observed source star.

OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb’s signature was first detected on August 10, 2005 by observations at the Danish 1.54-m telescope at ESO La Silla Observatory in Chile. The telescope was part of a network of telescopes used by the PLANET/RoboNet gravitational microlensing campaign. Much of the follow-up observational data was gathered by a 0.6-m telescope at the Perth Observatory in Western Australia.

Gravitational lensing occurs when light from a distant star is bent and magnified by the gravitational field of a foreground star. A gravitational microlensing event occurs when a planet accompanying this foreground star can cause an additional small increase in the intensity of magnified light as it passes between the background star and the observer as well.

The PLANET/RoboNet campaign regularly investigates promising microlensing event alerts that are issued by the Polish OGLE or the Japanese-New Zealand MOA survey.[6] The observation of just such an event led to the discovery of OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb. OGLE detected the microlensing effect produced by the star OGLE-2005-BLG-390L, and it was the PLANET team’s follow up observations and analysis which uncovered evidence of the planet itself.

The PLANET team conducted close observation of the OGLE-2005-BLG-390 microlensing event over a period of about two weeks. During this series of observations, a 15% “spike” in intensity occurred, lasting approximately 12 hours long. From the intensity of the increase, and its length, the PLANET astronomers were able to derive the planet’s mass, and its approximate displacement from the star.[1]

The paper submitted to Nature bears the names of all members of PLANET, RoboNet, OGLE, and MOA.Copyright (c) 2008 Dave Holowiski.

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document

under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2

or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;

with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.

A copy of the license is included in the section entitled “GNU

Free Documentation License”.

The full license can be viewed here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_the_GNU_Free_Documentation_License#2._VERBATIM_COPYING

New Wave Theatre

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cover of The Best of David Jove’s New Wave Theatre, Volume 2

New Wave Theatre was a television program broadcast locally in the Los Angeles area on UHF channel 18 and eventually on the USA Network as part of the late night variety show Night Flight during the early 1980s. The show was created and produced by David Jove, who also wrote the program with Billboard magazine editor Ed Ochs. It was noted for showcasing rising punk and New Wave acts, including Fear, The Dead Kennedys, 45 Grave, and The Circle Jerks.

Peter Ivers, a Harvard-educated musician with a gregarious personality and a flair for the theatric, was the host for the entire run of the show. The format was extremely loose, owing partly to the desire to maintain the raw energy of the live performances and partly to the limited production budget. The program was presented in a format dubbed “live taped”, in which the action was shot live and the video was then interspliced with video clips, photos, and graphics of everything from an exploding atomic bomb to a woman wringing a chicken’s neck.

The show started with a montage of clips from punk/new wave acts while the title appeared and the theme song, an abrupt mixture of Fear’s “Camarillo” and The Blasters‘ “American Music”, played. Ivers would appear at the beginning and end of each show wearing dark glasses, spouting a stream of consciousness spiel about life, art and music. Besides the top-billed music acts, short skits were shown, including Sri Maharooni, a chain-smoking Indian fakir speaking about the meaning of life, and Chris Genkel (played by actor Robert Roll), a pitchman hawking bizarre products for “gherkins” from his company, Genkel Wax Works, in Adonai, Illinois. Celebrities, including Debra Winger and Beverly D’Angelo, were known to show up at NWT’s tapings.

New Wave Theatre came to an end in 1983 when Ivers was found bludgeoned to death in his LA apartment. Ivers’ friend, movie producer/director/writer Harold Ramis offered Jove help and the result was a pilot show for local TV (KTLA) called The Top directed by Jove, produced by the then prolific music video producer Paul Flattery (he and Jove first collaborated on “Stop In The Name Of Love”, a video for The Hollies, which incorporated many of Jove’s signature public domain footage montages) and executive produced by Harold Ramis. Ramis basically lent his name (as well as industry clout, contacts and credibility) to the show which was conceived partially to continue the spirit of New Wave Theatre, but also to take advantage of the then-emerging music video scene. (Flattery’s music video resume was a who’s who of the 80’s). Chevy Chase was the initial host, but during the taping of his monologue at the head of the show, he went off-script and invited a heckling (and drunk) audience member on stage with him. After hurling the guy off-stage, a fight broke out between Chase and the audience and Chase walked off the show. Shooting continued and then a week later, inserts were shot with Andy Kaufman as the host (in his last public appearance). The Top got good ratings but despite enlisting Rodney Dangerfield, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Cyndi Lauper, and The Romantics to perform during the pilot, the relationship between all of the parties – Jove, Flattery, Ramis and the KTLA executives – was so damaged by Jove’s often bizarre and erratic behaviour that no more episodes were produced.

Rhino Video released two volumes of the best of New Wave Theatre in 1991 (Rhino Video numbers RNVD 2903 and RNVD 2904). Both are out of print, but used copies are not hard to find.

Copyright (c) 2008 Dave Holowiski.

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document

under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2

or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;

with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.

A copy of the license is included in the section entitled “GNU

Free Documentation License”.

The full license can be viewed here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_the_GNU_Free_Documentation_License#2._VERBATIM_COPYING

Southcourt

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Southcourt is a housing estate in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England. Building commenced in the early 1920s through to the mid-1930s and only stopped because of the Second World War. It was turned into a post war housing estate during the years of 1946 and 1955. The area is named after the pig farm over which the housing estate was built.

The oldest house in Southcourt is in Cottesloe Road on the junction of Clover Lane. This was the original farmhouse built at the start of the 20th century. The first sod for the rest of the estate was cut in 1922 by The Duke of York: hence one of the first roads of the estate was named York Place in his honour. At the time the housing was publicised as “Homes for Heroes”, and the first houses on the estate were reserved solely for veterans of the First World War.

Until 1967, there used to be a ‘Halt’ at what is now the present pedestrian crossing from Southcourt to Stoke Road. The ‘Aylesbury South Halt’ as it used to be known, was on the ex GWR (originally broad gauge) line to Princes Risborough and High Wycombe, a stop for the train into Aylesbury to pause for any passengers who wanted a short train journey into the centre of town. It comprised a small wooden platform and shelter.

The pre-war part of the estate consists of terraced and semi-detached redbrick and rendered houses, as well as blocks of low rise flats. The post war houses are built at a higher density and of brick, concrete and steel with timber (now plastic) cladding.

The estate gained national notoriety in 2001, when it became one of the areas across the country to be affected by racial riots. This included a stand-off involving armed police, national front supporters, and a 60-strong gang of Asian and black youths.

The secondary school located in Southcourt is Mandeville Upper School. The primary school is Oak Green School, which is a mixed community school that takes approximately 430 pupils from the age of four through to the age of eleven. In the 2001 census the population of Southcourt was 5,849 people.

As of the 2001 UK census, the Southcourt electoral ward had a population of 5,849. The ethnicity was 86.2% white, 2.3% mixed race, 9% Asian, 1.9% black and 0.6% other. The place of birth of residents was 90.2% United Kingdom, 1.2% Republic of Ireland, 1.2% other Western European countries, and 7.4% elsewhere. Religion was recorded as 62.9% Christian, 0.1% Buddhist, 0.7% Hindu, 0.3% Sikh, 0.1% Jewish, and 8% Muslim. 19.6% were recorded as having no religion, 0.3% had an alternative religion and 8% did not state their religion.[1]

The economic activity of residents aged 16–74 was 43.9% in full-time employment, 13.3% in part-time employment, 4.8% self-employed, 4.4% unemployed, 2.3% students with jobs, 2.9% students without jobs, 9.9% retired, 8.4% looking after home or family, 6.6% permanently sick or disabled and 3.5% economically inactive for other reasons. The industry of employment of residents was 23.7% retail, 14.3% manufacturing, 7.5% construction, 10.7% real estate, 12.7% health and social work, 5.3% education, 8.1% transport and communications, 3.8% public administration, 4.8% hotels and restaurants, 2.6% finance, 0.9% agriculture and 5.6% other. Compared with national figures, the ward had a relatively high proportion of workers in retail and health and social work. There were a relatively low proportion in agriculture and finance. Of the ward’s residents aged 16–74, 8.9% had a higher education qualification or the equivalent, compared with 19.9% nationwide.[1]

Copyright (c) 2008 Dave Holowiski.

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document

under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2

or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;

with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.

A copy of the license is included in the section entitled “GNU

Free Documentation License”.

The full license can be viewed here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_the_GNU_Free_Documentation_License#2._VERBATIM_COPYING

The Raab Collection

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Raab Collection is a Philadelphia-based dealer of autographs, historical documents and manuscripts, publisher of the Liberty Bell newsletter [1] and host of The Collector: An Autograph Forum.

Founded in 1989, the firm buys, sells and loans manuscripts both nationally and internationally, and assists private and institutional clients in building historically significant collections.[1] Additionally, it is one of the nation’s principle consultants on authenticity, and is often called upon by colleagues and auction houses to provide definitive opinions.

The Raab Collection also maintains an active grant and lending program with Philadelphia area and national non-profit institutions, including the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.[2]

The Raab Collection display at The Rittenhouse Hotel in Philadelphia.

Over the years, the firm has handled some of the most important historical manuscripts to reach the market, including Abraham Lincoln’s signed order to blockade the Confederacy,[3] Theodore Roosevelt’s letter coining the phrase “Speak softly and carry a big stick,”[4] John Brown’s will written the morning of his execution, Napoleon’s order to invade the Iberian peninsula, Meriwether Lewis’ signed pay receipt for the Lewis and Clark Expedition and William McKinley’s order ending the Spanish-American War, among many others. Many descendents and relatives of famous historical figures, among them Thomas Jefferson and Dwight D. Eisenhower, have come to The Raab Collection to sell their family archives.[5]

Steven Raab, founder of The Raab Collection, is a former Penn Ambassador for the Pennsylvania Museum Commission and is presently a member of the Board of Trustees of the Rosenbach Museum & Library [2] in Philadelphia.[6] He was instrumental in establishing, and was for years Executive Vice President, of the Professional Autograph Dealers Association (PADA) [3]. The firm, a two-generation business, is also a member of the Universal Autograph Collectors Club [4] and The Manuscript Society [5].

Copyright (c) 2008 Dave Holowiski.

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document

under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2

or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;

with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.

A copy of the license is included in the section entitled “GNU

Free Documentation License”.

The full license can be viewed here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_the_GNU_Free_Documentation_License#2._VERBATIM_COPYING

Woozy (Oz)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Woozy is a four-legged fictional creature from the pages of L. Frank Baum’s 1913 Oz book The Patchwork Girl of Oz.[1]

The Woozy was described as being dark blue in color and made up of all squares, flat surfaces and edges. Its head is an exact cube and its body is in the shape of a box twice as long as it is wide and high. All four of the Woozy’s legs are four-sided, as is its stubby tail. The Woozy hears via two openings in the upper corners of its head, has a flat nose and a mouth formed by an opening on lower edge of its head. When the Woozy gets angry, it has the ability to flash fire with its eyes.

The Woozy lived in the Munchkin country in Oz and survived primarily on a diet of honey bees. The Munchkin farmers who raised the honey bees nearby drove the Woozy into the forest and confined it with a fence. Since the Woozy couldn’t climb, he could not escape his prison. (The Woozy does mention in the text that he can jump very high, but also mentions that he has a ferocious roar, which turns out to be completely untrue).

The creature is entirely hairless except for three stiff, stubby hairs on the end of its tail. Those three hairs were one of five required ingredients to the antidote for the Liquid of Petrification that Ojo, Scraps the Patchwork Girl, and Bungle set out to retrieve during the story. In return for some scraps of bread and cheese that Ojo fed him, the Woozy agreed to give his hairs to the party. When it became clear that the hairs could not be removed from his tail, Ojo freed the Woozy and allowed the creature to accompany the group.

Copyright (c) 2008 Dave Holowiski.

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document

under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2

or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;

with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.

A copy of the license is included in the section entitled “GNU

Free Documentation License”.

The full license can be viewed here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_the_GNU_Free_Documentation_License#2._VERBATIM_COPYING

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Foreign espionage in New Zealand

Copyright (c) 2008 Dave Holowiski.

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document

under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2

or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;

with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.

A copy of the license is included in the section entitled “GNU

Free Documentation License”.

The full license can be viewed here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_the_GNU_Free_Documentation_License#2._VERBATIM_COPYING

Clean room design

Copyright (c) 2008 Dave Holowiski.

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document

under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2

or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;

with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.

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Free Documentation License”.

The full license can be viewed here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_the_GNU_Free_Documentation_License#2._VERBATIM_COPYING

Roosevelt Elementary School (Florida)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Theodore Roosevelt Elementary School
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location:	Tampa, Florida  United States
Added toNRHP:	May 31, 2006
NRHP Reference#:	06000443

Theodore Roosevelt Elementary School
Location
Tampa, Florida
Information
Type	Public
Established	1925
School district	Hillsborough County Public Schools
Principal	Colleen V. Faucett
Color(s)	Khaki and Navy
Mascot	Rough Riders
Website	Roosevelt Elementary School (HCPS)

The Roosevelt Elementary School is a historic U.S. school in Tampa, Florida. It is located at 3205 South Ferdinand Avenue and was constructed in 1925. On May 31, 2006, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.

School History

Roosevelt Elementary was constructed in 1925 and officially opened to students in 1926. The original complex comprised of only the main, two-story building and its adjacent wings. The main building included a small cluster of offices, a cafeteria, and the present-day auditorium. There were also 12 classrooms (6 in each wing) within the original campus.

In 1946, as the South Tampa area grew, the original wings were expanded, adding six additional classrooms. Later in the 1950s, Obispo Street between Concordia and Ferdinand Avenues was closed to create parking for teachers and faculty. A few years later, an eight-classroom wing was built alongside Obispo St. In 1961, the current cafeteria building was added at the western end of the original wings.

In 1990, the entire campus was renovated. Among the improvements, the original lower floor of the main building was reconfigured to create offices for school administration. A media center and faculty lounge were also created. Several classrooms were also added, and a computer lab would follow in 1994. The school’s auditorium was dedicated to former US Congressman and Roosevelt alumni Sam Gibbons in 2001.

In 2004, with the population growth in South Tampa continuing, Roosevelt Elementary began making changes for its future. The 1955 wing was expanded to create four more classrooms and entire campus was updated with new technology to thrust the school into the 21st century. Roosevelt was added to National Register of Historic Places in 2006.

In 2007, the school underwent yet another expansion with an eight classroom building on the southwest corner of the campus, bringing the total number of classrooms to 35. A covered pavilion was also built along Concordia Ave.

References

• Roosevelt Elementary School HistoryHillsborough County Public Schools.

External links

• Weekly List Of Actions Taken On Properties: 5/29/06 Through 6/02/06at National Register of Historic Places

Retrieved from “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roosevelt_Elementary_School_(Florida)“

Copyright (c) 2008 Dave Holowiski.

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document

under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2

or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;

with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.

A copy of the license is included in the section entitled “GNU

Free Documentation License”.

The full license can be viewed here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_the_GNU_Free_Documentation_License#2._VERBATIM_COPYING

Leader of the Pack (musical)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Leader of the Pack
Original Cast Album
Music	Ellie Greenwich
Lyrics	Ellie Greenwich Jeff Barry Phil Spector Shadow Morton Jeff Kent Ellen Foley
Book	Anne Beatts
Based upon	The life of Ellie Greenwich
Productions	1984 Off-Broadway 1985 Broadway

Leader of the Pack is a musical with liner notes by Anne Beatts and additional material by Jack Heifner, music by Ellie Greenwich, and lyrics by Greenwich, Jeff Barry, Phil Spector, George “Shadow” Morton, Jeff Kent, and Ellen Foley.

Based on an original concept by Melanie Mintzwith, this jukebox musical (created before the term was coined) celebrates the life and times of the Brooklyn-born Greenwich, whose doo-wop sounds skyrocketed to the top of the pop charts in the early to mid-1960s. Beatts’ “liner notes” serve as the book that link the songs and provide a look into the songwriter’s professional triumphs and personal misfortunes.

The initial presentation of Leader of the Pack: The Songs of Ellie Greenwich (as it originally was titled), with a cast of six, had a brief run at Greenwich Village’s Bottom Line in the winter of 1984. After 53 previews, the much-expandedproduction, boasting a cast of nineteen directed and choreographed by Michael Peters, opened on April 8, 1985 at theAmbassador Theatre, where it ran for 120 performances. The cast included Dinah Manoff, Patrick Cassidy, and Jasmine Guy, with Annie Golden and Darlene Love portraying themselves. Greenwich appeared as her contemporary self in the finale.

The production was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Musical but lost to Big River. A 2-LP original cast recordingwas released by Elektra Records. Frank Rich, reviewing the show in the New York Times, called it an “embarrassment” and later wrote that upon closing, the show’s producers engaged each other in litigation that “entertained Broadway for far longer than their show had.” [1]

Leader of the Pack is a popular choice for high school productions.

Synopsis

As a teenage member of the Jivettes during the late 1950s, Ellie dreams of hearing her songs played on the radio, but her plans are put on the back burner by a mother who insists she finish high school and pursue a degree in education so she’ll have a means of supporting herself. While attendingQueens College, she finds work in the music industry’s temple, Manhattan’s Brill Building, where she meets Gus Sharkey (a thinly-veiled caricature of Phil Spector) and fellow aspiring songwriter Jeff Barry. After a whirlwind courtship, the two wed and begin to churn out hits for the Ronettes, the Crystals, the Shangri-Las, Darlene Love,Connie Francis, and Lesley Gore, among others. In 1965, at the pinnacle of their partnership, Jeff wants to start a family, whereas Ellie would rather keep working than settle down as a housewife/mother, so he divorces her. They remain professional partners for another year, but when her ex-husband remarries, Ellie falls into a downward spiral ofdepression and eventually suffers a nervous breakdown. The show then fast-forwards to the mid-1980s, showing off a self-confident and successful Ellie who is in control of her life.

Song list

Act I Be My Baby Wait ’til My Bobby Gets Home A . . . My Name Is Ellie Jivette Boogie Beat Why Do Lovers Break Each Other’s Hearts Today I Met the Boy I’m Gonna Marry I Wanna Love Him So Bad Do Wah Diddy And Then He Kissed Me Hanky Panky Not Too Young To Get Married Chapel Of Love The Songwriter’s Medley

Act II Baby I Love You Leader of the Pack Look of Love Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) I Can Hear Music Rock of Rages Keep It Confidential Da Doo Ron Ron What a Guy Maybe I Know River Deep, Mountain High We’re Gonna Make It After All

External links

• Leader of the Packat the Internet Broadway Database
• New York Times review

Retrieved from “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leader_of_the_Pack_(musical)“

Copyright (c) 2008 Dave Holowiski.

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document

under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2

or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;

with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.

A copy of the license is included in the section entitled “GNU

Free Documentation License”.

The full license can be viewed here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_the_GNU_Free_Documentation_License#2._VERBATIM_COPYING

Myrmica rubra

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Common Red Ant
Two Red Ant (M. Rubra) workers
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropoda Class: Insecta Order: Hymenoptera Family: Formicidae Genus: Myrmica Species: M. rubra
Binomial name
Myrmica rubra (Linnaeus, 1758)

Myrmica rubra, also known as the European fire ant or common red ant, is a species of ant of the subgenus Myrmica, found all over Europe and in some parts of North America and Asia. ^[1] They are mainly red in colour, with slightly darker pigmentation on the head. The ants live under stones, fallen trees, and in soil. They are aggressive ants, often attacking rather than running away, and are equipped with a stinger, though lack the ability to spray formic acid like the genus Formica.^[2]

Mainly originating from central Europe, this species is currently invading Japan and North America, where they are considered a nuisance as it is an invasive species.

They are polygynous, and can have up to one hundred queens per nest. ^[3] They are also polydomous, with many nest sites per individual colony.^[1] These queens will have gathered together after their nuptial flight and will have formed a nest and laid their eggs in it. The queens can live up to fifteen years. Nuptial flights take place normally in late July to mid-August in Europe. Hundreds of young queens and males take to the air to mate together. Afterwards, the males die and the queens shed their wings to make a new colony. No nuptial flights have been witnessed yet from this species where it is living in North America

They are very common in Europe, and meadows and gardens. They live on a diet of honeydew excreted by aphids, and, being very aggressive like to eat many types of insect and other invertebrates. They will attack any creature that disturbs their nest, but are not as aggressive as the red imported fire ant.

It is very similar to M. ruginodis, and the differences are very hard to tell. However, Myrmica rubra is the commonest of the two.

The Swedish populations of the larvae of the butterfly Maculinea alcon (Alcon Blue) use Myrmica rubra as their primary host.

References

1. ^ ^a b ”European fire ant“. UF/IFAS. Retrieved on 2008-06-25.
2. ^ ”Myrmica rubra (insect)“. issg.org. Retrieved on 2008-06-25.
3. ^ ”Species of ant“. antnest.co.uk. Retrieved on 2008-06-25.

External links

• AntBlog has further information on Myrmica rubra.
• Brief reportfrom the University of Maine on the management ofMyrmica rubra in the U.S., with extensive additional references
• European fire anton the UF / IFAS Featured Creatures Web site

 

This ant–related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

Retrieved from “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myrmica_rubra“

Copyright (c) 2008 Dave Holowiski.

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document

under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2

or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;

with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.

A copy of the license is included in the section entitled “GNU

Free Documentation License”.

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Château de Lusignan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry, March: the Château de Lusignan

The Château de Lusignan (in Lusignan, Vienne département, France) was the seat of the Lusignan family, PoitevinMarcher Lords, who distinguished themselves in the First Crusade and held the crowns of two Crusader kingdoms, theKingdom of Jerusalem and the Kingdom of Cyprus, and even claimed the title King of Armenia.

Lusignan was constructed in the region of Poitou, occupying a natural strongpoint: a narrow promontory that overlooked steep valleys on either side. It was already so impressive in the 12th century that a legend developed to the effect that its founder had faery aid, in the guise of the water spirit Melusine, who built it and its church through her arts, as a gift for her husband Raymondin.

Lusignan at its height, just as it was in the early 15th century, is illustrated in the Très Riches Heures of Jean, duc de Berri, for whom it was a favorite residence until his death in 1416. It rises in the background of the miniature for the month of March (see illustration), clearly shown in perspective, with its barbican tower at the left, the clock tower — with the exterior chute of the garderobe to its right — and the Tour Poitevine on the right, above which the gilded dragon flies, the protective spirit of Marc Lacombe. After the duc de Berri’s death, Lusignan became briefly the property of John, Dauphin (died May 1417) and then passed to his brother, Charles, the future Charles VII.

First the village, then the town of Lusignan, grew up beneath the castle gates, along the slope; it formed a further enceinte(surrounding fortification) when it too was later enclosed by walls. Lusignan remained a strategically important place in Poitou, in the heart of France: during the French Wars of Religion, about 1574, a plan was made of the castle’s defenses; it is in the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris. In the following century Lusignan was reinforced in the modern manner byLouis XIV’s military architect, Vauban. Thus it was a natural structure to be used as a prison. Later it housed a school.

The château was long used as a local quarry of pre-cut stone before it was razed by the comte de Blossac in the 19th century, to make a pleasure ground for the town of Lusignan. What remains today are largely parts of the foundations, some built into steep hillside, part of the keep, the base of the Tour Poitevine, cisterns and cellars, and remains of a subterranean passage that probably once led to the church.

See also

• List of castles in France

External links

• Ministry of Culture database entry for Château de Lusignan(French)
• Ministry of Culture photos(French)

Coordinates: 46°26?14?N 0°7?40?E

Retrieved from “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C3%A2teau_de_Lusignan“

Copyright (c) 2008 Dave Holowiski.

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document

under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2

or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;

with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.

A copy of the license is included in the section entitled “GNU

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The Amazing Transparent Man

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Amazing Transparent Man

A promotional lobby card for “The Amazing Transparent Man.”

The Amazing Transparent Man is a 1960 science fiction film starring Marguerite Chapman. It is an American B-moviewhich follows the story of an insane ex U. S. Army major who uses an escaped criminal to steal materials to improve the invisibility machine his scientist prisoner made. It was one of two sci-fi films shot back to back by director Edgar G. Ulmer (the other being Beyond the Time Barrier). The combined filming schedule for both films was only two weeks. The film was later featured in an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000.

The film has received very poor reviews and suffered in popularity as a result of its low budget. Leading science fiction author David Wingrove commented in his Science Fiction Source Book that “Its cheap-budget origins show throughout.Amazing claims too much for what is essentially a thriller involving an escaped criminal…”

Plot

Former U. S. Army major, Paul Krenner (James Griffith), plans to conquer the world with an army of invisible soldiers and will do anything to achieve that goal. With the help of his hired muscle, Julian (Red Morgan), Krenner forces Dr. Peter Ulof (Ivan Trisault) to perfect the invisibility machine Ulof invented. He keeps Ulof’s daughter, Maria (Carmel Daniel) imprisoned to keep Ulof in line.

The nuclear materials Ulof needs to better his invisibility machine are extremely rare and kept under guard in government facilities. Krenner arranges the prison break of notorious safecracker, Joey Faust (Douglas Kennedy), to steal the materials he needs. Of course Faust will do the jobs invisible. Krenner offers Faust money for the jobs and Faust expresses his grievances against working for him. Faust tells him that he’ll sing like a canary if he’s returned to prison. Krenner tells Faust that he’s wanted alive or dead. Faust reluctantly complies. However, when he meets Faust’s woman, Laura Matson (Marguerite Chapman), he slowly charms her into a double cross.

Faust continues attempting to escape and tries to get one over on Krenner. It looks like he may have the edge on Krenner when Faust attacks Krenner while invisible. However, Dr. Ulof’s guinea pig dies and, during the second time he’s invisible, Faust uncontrollably reverts from invisible to visible and back again. Despite these drawbacks Faust forges ahead intent on breaking free from Krenner’s control.

 

Cast

Actor	Role
Marguerite Chapman	Laura Matson
Douglas Kennedy	Joey Faust
James Griffith	Maj. Paul Krenner
Ivan Triesault	Dr. Peter Ulof
Boyd ‘Red’ Morgan	Julian
Carmel Daniel	Maria Ulof
Edward Erwin	Drake
Jonathan Ledford	Smith
Norman Smith	Security guard
Patrick Cranshaw	Security guard
Kevin Kelly	Woman
Dennis Adams	State Police officer
Stacy Morgan	State Police officer

References

Bibliography

• Wingrove, David. Science Fiction Film Source Book (Longman Group Limited, 1985)

External links

• The Amazing Transparent Manat the Internet Movie Database
• The Amazing Transparent Manat Google Video
• Online Trailerat Internet Archive
• The complete filmto download or watch at Internet Archive

Retrieved from “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Amazing_Transparent_Man“

Copyright (c) 2008 Dave Holowiski.

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document

under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2

or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;

with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.

A copy of the license is included in the section entitled “GNU

Free Documentation License”.

The full license can be viewed here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_the_GNU_Free_Documentation_License#2._VERBATIM_COPYING

The randomwikicast brings you a random wikipedia article with each new episode. 

ABC Movie of the Week

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The ABC Movie of the Week was a weekly television anthology series, featuring made-for-TV movies, that aired on the ABC network in various permutations from 1969 to 1976.

Contents 1 History 2 Original airtime 3 Theme music 4 TV series pilots 5 End 6 Filmography 7 Watch 8 External links

History

The series was the brainchild of young executive Barry Diller, then head of prime time programming at ABC (and later a cofounder of the Fox network). Operating on a small budget but featuring the work of talented producers like Aaron Spelling and David Wolper (both of whom later developed hit series of their own), the Movie of the Week helped energize the made-for-TV movie format with fresh story concepts, veteran TV actors and potent production values. The attention-grabbing opening titles were animated with a groundbreaking slit-scanprocess.

The Movie of the Week provided ABC (long a distant third in the ratings) with a bona fide hit and, along with Monday Night Football, helped establish the network as a legitimate competitor to rivals CBS and NBC. The films themselves varied in quality and were often escapist or sensationalistic in nature (suspense, horror and melodramawere staples), but some were critically well-received. Duel (1971), based on a Richard Matheson short story from Playboy, was director Steven Spielberg’s first feature film, catapulting his career and enabling him to move from television to theatrical films.

The “alphabet network” earned five Emmys, a prestigious Peabody Award and citations from the NAACP and American Cancer Society for an airing of Brian’s Song in 1972. The 1971-1972 season of the series finished as the fifth highest rated series of the year.

Original airtime

The cover shows the Zuni Doll fromTrilogy of Terror.

The Movie of the Week originally aired on Tuesday nights at 8:30 pm ET. Beginning with the 1971 season, ABC added a secondMovie of the Week on Saturday night and adjusted the titles of the shows to the Movie of the Week and Movie of the Weekend. The following season, the Saturday installment was moved to Wednesday night, and the titles were adjusted to Tuesday Movie of the Week and Wednesday Movie of the Week.

TV promo for “The Devil and Miss Sarah”.

The opening for the Saturday Movie of the Weekend featured footage of a silhouetted ”rotatingcameraman” operating a 35 mm movie camera ([1]). This footage would later be incorporated into the opening of ABC’s New York City television station WABC-TV’s various movie umbrellas beginning around 1972-73, including and especially their weekday afternoon movie showcase The 4:30 Movie.

Theme music

The Movie of the Week theme music was an instrumental version of “Nikki”, a song composed by Burt Bacharach and named for his daughter.

TV series pilots

The series was often used as a platform to show pilots for possible series for the network. Shows such as The Six Million Dollar Man, Starsky and Hutch, Longstreet and Marcus Welby, M.D. premiered here.

End

The series proper ended in 1976. After that, ABC’s made-for-TV movies were either aired as stand-alone specials or shown in series that included both original and theatrical movie presentations. The series was documented by Michael Karol in his 2005 book, The ABC Movie of the Week Companion(ISBN 0-595-35836-5).

Watch

• Opening of ABC Movie of the Week

External links

• ABC Movie of The Week

Retrieved from “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABC_Movie_of_the_Week“

Copyright (c) 2008 Dave Holowiski.

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document

under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2

or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;

with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.

A copy of the license is included in the section entitled “GNU

Free Documentation License”.

The full license can be viewed here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_the_GNU_Free_Documentation_License#2._VERBATIM_COPYING

Michel de Castelnau

Copyright (c) 2008 Dave Holowiski.

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document

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The full license can be viewed here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_the_GNU_Free_Documentation_License#2._VERBATIM_COPYING

Dicksonia squarrosa

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

New Zealand tree fern (wheki)
Scientific classification

The New Zealand tree fern, or wheki in Maori, Dicksonia squarrosa, is a medium-sized tree fern with a tall, slender brown trunk.

This fern produces few fronds, all of which sprout in almost horizontal fashion. The fronds reach 1.5 – 3 m in length, much smaller thanCyathea varieties, and are quite crisp to touch. They form a small “umbrella” on top of the trunk. It has a fast growth rate of up to 10 cm (5 in) a year, growing up to 6 m tall.

They are sometimes found sprouting from apparently dead pieces of trunk. The trunks are often used for fencing or edging and fronds will sometimes sprout from the side if top is dead.

The New Zealand tree fern is quite hardy and tolerant to sun and some wind, but is best suited to a site with partial shade and minimal wind. It will tolerate some exposure to the elements – but can look quite scruffy in such a situation. Some protection should be considered over the winter months in climates with temperatures below 4-5 C, e.g. shadecloth cover or straw packed in the crown. The fronds are small and compact, making this fern an ideal container or garden plant where space is limited.

Also known as wheki in Maori, Dicksonia squarrosa is very common and native to New Zealand. Other common names include the rough tree fern and the brown tree fern.

 

This tree-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

Retrieved from “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dicksonia_squarrosa“

Copyright (c) 2008 Dave Holowiski.

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document

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or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;

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A copy of the license is included in the section entitled “GNU

Free Documentation License”.

The full license can be viewed here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_the_GNU_Free_Documentation_License#2._VERBATIM_COPYING

Fountain Chapel

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Fountain Chapel was a church located at 823 Jackson Avenue in Vancouver, British Columbia from 1918 until 1985. It was the local chapter of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME) and was co-founded by Nora Hendrix (grandmother of guitarist Jimi Hendrix) to serve Vancouver’s black community. Although not officially designated a heritage structure, the building is the sole remnant of the black community that once flourished in this part of Vancouver.

Prior to the establishment of the Fountain Chapel, black Christians held services in rented halls around town, and eventually a small group decided they should have a permanent church of their own. They set out to raise funds for the project and arranged for AME to match the amount raised locally. Once financing was secured, they purchased the building on Jackson Avenue that was built in 1903 and had served as a Lutheran church for German and Scandinavian immigrants.^[1]

AME is a well-established Christian denomination that was founded in 1816 by African Americans in response to the racism they encountered in non-segregated churches. As such, AME was an important institution for black opposition toantebellum slavery and anti-black racism generally.

AME’s activist tradition continued in Vancouver. The church was the locus for organizing against racism on more than one occasion. In the 1922-1923 trial of Fred Deal, a railroad porter charged with murdering Vancouver police constable and Victoria Cross recipient Robert McBeath, the congregation of the Fountain Chapel mobilized to ensure that the likelihood Deal was racially targeted by police was accounted for in the verdict. Consequently, the case was re-tried and Deal’s original death sentence was reduced to life in prison.^[2] In another case in the 1950s, the Fountain Chapel was used to voice the black community’s demands for an inquiry into the police beating of Clarence Clemons, a black longshoreman, who died shortly after the incident in question.^[3]

The black community that had geographically coalesced around the Fountain Chapel in the city’s East End was displaced during the city’s slum clearance programs of the 1950s and 1960s. In 1985, not long after Nora Hendrix’s death, AME sold the building, which has since housed the Basel Hakka Lutheran Church. The building is situated at the eastern edge of what was once Hogan’s Alley. Although it is not designated a heritage building, the former Fountain Chapel building is the sole structural marker that there was ever a vibrant black community in Vancouver’s East End (today’s Strathcona neighbourhood).

References

1. ^ Daphne Marlatt and Carole Itter, eds., Opening Doors: Vancouver’s East End, Victoria, BC: Aural History Program, 1979. An online excerpt of Nora Hendrix’s description of the Chapel’s origins can be read here.
2. ^ Lani Russwurm, “Black and Blue, Life and Death,” Republic of East Vancouver, nos. 181 and 182 (February 2008) Part Iand Part II.
3. ^ Ross Lambertson, “The Black, Brown, White, and Red Blues: The Beating of Clarence Clemons,” Canadian Historical Review 85, no. 4 (December 2004): 755-776.

 

Retrieved from “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fountain_Chapel“

Copyright (c) 2008 Dave Holowiski.

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document

under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2

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A copy of the license is included in the section entitled “GNU

Free Documentation License”.

The full license can be viewed here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_the_GNU_Free_Documentation_License#2._VERBATIM_COPYING

Roosevelt Elementary School District

Copyright (c) 2008 Dave Holowiski.

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document

under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2

or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;

with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.

A copy of the license is included in the section entitled “GNU

Free Documentation License”.

The full license can be viewed here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_the_GNU_Free_Documentation_License#2._VERBATIM_COPYING

Toronto St. Patricks

Copyright (c) 2008 Dave Holowiski.

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document

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World Water Week in Stockholm

D.O.C. (Lost)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In the study of paranormal phenomenon Plant perception, or biocommunication in plant cells, has come to mean a belief thatplants are sentient, that they experience pain, pleasure, or emotions such as fear and affection, and that they have the ability tocommunicate with humans and other forms of life in a recognizable manner.^[1] While plants can communicate through chemical signals, and certainly have complex responses to stimuli, the belief that they possess advanced affective or cognitive abilities receives recent support.^[2] In contrast to these results of biological research this is believed also in the parapsychology studies community and among believers in the Gaia hypothesis.

Research

The notion that plants are capable of feeling emotions was first recorded in 1848, when Dr. Gustav Theodor Fechner, a German professor, suggested the idea in his bookNanna. He believed that plants are capable of emotions, just like humans or animals, and that one could promote healthy growth by showering plants with talk, attention, and affection.[1]

One of the first to research the concept was the Indian scientist Sir Jagdish Chandra Bose, who began to conduct experiments on plants in the year 1900. He found that every plant and every part of a plant appeared to have a sensitive nervous system and responded to shock by a spasm just as an animal muscle does. One visitor to his laboratory, the vegetarian playwright George Bernard Shaw, was intensely disturbed upon witnessing a demonstration in which a cabbage had violent convulsions as it boiled to death.Bose found that the effect of manures, drugs, and poisons could be determined within minutes, providing plant control with a new precision. In addition, Bose found that plants grew more quickly amidst pleasant music and more slowly amidst loud noise or harsh sounds. He also claimed that plants can “feel pain, understand affection etc.,” from the analysis of the nature of variation of the cell membrane potential of plants, under different circumstances. According to him, a plant treated with care and affection gives out a different vibration compared to a plant subjected to torture. In conclusion, he said: “Do not these records tell us of some property of matter common and persistent? That there is no abrupt break, but a uniform and continuous march of law?”

Bose’s experiments stopped at this conclusion, but Cleve Backster, an American scientist, conducted research that led him to believe that plants can communicate with other lifeforms. Backster’s interest in the subject began in February 1966, when Backster wondered if he could measure the rate at which water rises from a philodendron’s root area into its leaves. Because apolygraph or ‘lie detector’ can measure electrical resistance, and water would alter the resistance of the leaf, he decided that this was the correct instrument to use. After attaching a polygraph to one of the plant’s leaves, Backster claimed that, to his immense surprise, “the tracing began to show a pattern typical of the response you get when you subject a human to emotional stimulation of short duration”.

Led by curiosity, Backster went in search of other reactions, and decided to burn a leaf of the plant. Apparently, while he was musing upon this, there was a dramatic upward sweep in the tracing pattern. He had not moved or even touched the plant. Backster was certain that he had somehow inspired fear in the plant with his decision to burn it. He came to the resolution that, if he was correct, plants can not only feel things, but can also, in effect, perceive a persons intent as it relates to the plant itself.
In 1975, three scientists (K.A. Horowitz, D.C. Lewis, and E.L. Gasteiger) published an article in Science with their results when repeating Backster’s investigation of plant response to the killing of brine shrimp in boiling water. In this investigation, the researchers took into consideration control factors such as grounding the plants to reduce electrical interference and rinsing the plants to remove dust particles. Three of five pipettes contained brine shrimp while the remaining two only had water. These acted as a control because the pipettes were delivered to the boiling water at random. In addition, this investigation used a total of 60 brine shrimp deliveries to boiling water while Backster’s investigation had 13. While this experiment did show a few positive correlations, they did not occur at a rate great enough to be considered statistically viable. These experimental conditions were more rigorous from a traditional scientific paradigm and did not produce the same results, however Backster himself criticized them for misunderstanding certain fundamentals of primary perception (e.g. the time spent rinsing the plants affected their relationship to the experimenters).

More recently, the television show MythBusters performed an experiment aiming to either verify or disprove the concept. The tests were done by connecting plants to a polygraph’s galvanometer, and then employing both actual and imagined harm upon the plants, or upon others in the plant’s vicinity. The galvanometer showed some readings which surprised the researchers initially, showing some kind of reaction about one third of the time. However, the experimenters were in the room with the plant and noted that the vibrations inherent to either their actions or the room could have had an effect on the polygraph. After leaving the room and performing the same experiments, the polygraph showed a response one third of the time again. The results were inconclusive as to whether the experiment or external influences were causing the results. Later experiments, which used an EEG for greater accuracy, failed to detect anything unusual. When the presenters used a machine that dropped eggs randomly into boiling water, the plant had no reaction whatsoever. The show concluded that the theory was not true. Further, the anonymous readings were unable to be repeated during their tests, and stated that “if it’s not repeatable, it’s not science.”

Skepticism

In the scientific community as a whole, paranormal biocommunication has been subjected to much criticism, and is largely regarded as a pseudoscience. Overall, there is little concrete, universally verified evidence suggesting that there is any truth to the theory, and it is therefore apt to receive a great deal of contempt among scientific circles, often disdainfully called ‘the Backster Effect’. Skeptics typically criticize the fact that many experiments into ‘plant perception’ are not taken in controlled conditions and that therefore their results are not verifiable evidence of its existence. Many skeptics of the theory also state that, since plants lack nervous or sensory systems, they are not capable of having feelings, or perceiving human emotions or intentions, which would require a complex nervous system. [2][3]The primary emotional center in the animal brain is believed to be the limbic system which is absent in plants, just like the rest of the nervous system. ^[3]

Miscellaneous

• English author Roald Dahl wrote a short story entitled The Sound Machine dealing with the theory, in which the protagonist develops a machine that enables him to hear the sound of plants, especially when they are under pain. With the machine he hears the scream of roses being cut, and the moan of a tree when he strikes it with an axe.

• Stevie Wonder sang of Bose findings in the song “Same Old Story” on the Secret Life of Plants album for the movie of the same name. The lyrics are as follows: “for most felt it was mad to conceive/that plants thought, felt, and moved quite like we/but with instruments Bose would devise/would take science itself by surprise.” The song also includes references to George Washington Carver and his advocacy of crop rotation.

References

1. ^ Baluska F, Mancuso s, Volkmann D. (2006) Communication in Plants. Neuronal Aspects of Plant Life. Springer, Berlin
2. ^ Trewavas A. (2005). Green plants as intelligent organisms. Trends in Plant Science 10: 413-419.
3. ^ Tortora, Gerard J. Principles of Human Anatomy – Tenth Edition, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2005.

• The Reader’s Digest, Wonders of the Natural World, The Reader’s Digest Association Ltd., 1975
• Stone, Robert The Secret Life of Your Cells, Whitford Press, 1994
• Jensen, D., The Plants Respond: An Interview with Cleve Backster, 2006, www.derrickjensen.org/backster.html, Accessed 30 Nov 2006
• Horowitz, K.A., Lewis, D.C, and Gasteiger, E.L. Plant ‘Primary Perception’: Electrophysiological Unresponsiveness to Brine Shrimp Killing, Science, New Series, Vol. 189, No. 4201 (Aug 8, 1975), pp. 478-480
• Carey, S.S. A Beginner’s Guide to Scientific Method – Third Edition,Thomson-Wadsworth, 2004
• Carroll, R.T. Plant Perception (a.k.a The Backster Effect), 2005, www.skepdic.com/plants.html, Accessed 30 Nov 2006
• Tortora, Gerard J. Principles of Human Anatomy – Tenth Edition, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2005.

See also

• The Secret Life of Plants
• Cleve Backster
• Fruitarianism

External links

• Interview with Cleve Backster
• Plant Perception at the Skeptic’s Dictionary
• Primary Perception.com
• An article on the subject from Sunrise Magazine
• Episode of The Outer Limit and telephone conversation with Cleve Backster

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia