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Talk:Protein Data Bank

Untitled
This is more as a word of warning: Viewing structures via the PDB seems to work best with Netscape 4.7x. I have no luck with IE and some of the Chime-dependent display programs warn you that Netscape 6 won't work either. - David M

More detail and references needed in history section
From the article: "The PDB is a key resource in structural biology and is critical to more recent work in structural genomics." Some references here for work that uses the PDB in an interesting/important way would be good.

From the article: "Countless derived databases and projects have been developed to integrate and classify the PDB in terms of protein structure, protein function and protein evolution." Such as? Give some examples for the derived databases.

From the growth section: "The growth rate of the PDB has been the subject of fairly extensive analysis." .. such as? this needs referencing, why was it subject to extensive analysis? where are these?

 * I agree that these statements should be cited, I don't agree that a lack of citation is a reason to 'dumb down' the article. I don't think any structural biologists or crystallographers would have too much trouble accepting the above facts. Nevertheless, it seems Wikipedians are always willing to take it upon themselves to dumb down an article, rather than to educate themselves! I'll try to find some references for these facts (or at least some citeable examples) and re-instate them in the article. --Dan|(talk) 15:59, 23 May 2009 (UTC)

Raw data?
Knowing the amount of modeling which goes to a structure deposited to the PDB, I would hardly call the coordinate files in PDB as 'raw data'.

Protein Data Bank (file format) needed
A new page Protein Data Bank (file format) is needed, which should cross link to Chemical file format and use also the proper category. JKW 15:58, 8 April 2006 (UTC)
 * Initial Protein Data Bank (file format) created and anything related to format discussions on the Protein Data Bank should be moved to this page. JKW 11:20, 22 April 2006 (UTC)
 * I agree we should move junk from the file format section on this article to the file format article. --Dan|(talk) 13:41, 7 March 2008 (UTC)

Rewrite
I believe all the concerns above have been considered in the revision of the article today. I think every thing is referenced, though sometimes one reference covers an entire paragraph.--Christopher King (talk) 03:59, 5 January 2009 (UTC)
 * See my comment above in the section . --Dan|(talk) 16:00, 23 May 2009 (UTC)

Not public domain
I removed from the lead paragraph the claim that all information from PDB.com PDB.org is in the public domain. This claim is simply false. RCSB is partially responsible for this confusion, but it's important to note that nowhere do they indicate that the material is in the "public domain". Much of their material comes from a large variety of sources and there's no evidence that they even have the authority (much less the resources) to place it all into the public domain.

In particular, note these restrictions detailed at "Advisory for the Use of the PDB Archive" that make the content unacceptable for Wikipedia (and Commons):
 * "Redistribution of modified data 		files using the same file name as is on the FTP server is prohibited."
 * "The user assumes all responsibility for insuring that intellectual 		property claims associated with any data set deposited in the PDB 		archive are honored."

And note these restrictions at "Policies & References" —Danorton (talk) 05:07, 15 April 2009 (UTC)
 * "By using 	the materials available in the PDB archive, the user agrees to abide by 	the conditions described in the PDB 	Advisory 		Notice."
 * "Molecule of the Month illustrations are copyrighted. They are available 	for educational purposes, provided attribution is given to David S. 	Goodsell and the RCSB PDB. Molecule of the Month articles are 	copyrighted by the RCSB PDB and the authors of the article. Text can 	only be reprinted with permission, with attribution, and without the 	right to manipulate or change its content."

 * PDB.com has nothing to do with pdb.org or RCSB (I'm sure that was just a typo). However, I think I might challenge pdb.org about those claims of copyright (not on the "Molecule of the Month" images; the actual PDB files). The have no bases for copyright over PDB files. --Thorwald (talk) 08:03, 15 April 2009 (UTC)
 * The Protein Data Bank provides data under CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication:
 * https://www.wwpdb.org/about/usage-policies
 * It is public domain. 128.6.158.89 (talk) 18:00, 27 March 2024 (UTC)
 * Reference to CC0 public domain license added. Will let this sit for some time to give others an opportunity to review, but would eventually like to delete this Talk section now that it is out-of-date.
 * Also, N.B.: It's important not to mix up the PDB with the individual member organizations such as PDBe, PDBj, and RCSB PDB. The structural data in the *PDB* is public domain. However, as pointed out above, some items on the individual member sites may be copyrighted (such as the artwork and articles). But those should not be confused with the core data in the *PDB* archive. Wdpw (talk) 16:51, 16 April 2024 (UTC)

Need expansion/section for PDB Identifier
There needs to be more information about PDB Identifiers. I am a hobbyist editor and not a biochemist so I do not know the origins of the identifier or who started this naming format. Who came up with the identifier design and method? Who gets to decide what proteins get added to the series?

Are there "reserved regions" of the identifier for certain content, or are new sequences just added serially as it arrives from researchers?

As far as I can determine, it is a base-36 naming system using numbers 0-9 and letters A-Z. If it is limited to just four powers, as currently stated in the text of this article, that is only 1,679,616 possible PDB entries.

Does anyone seriously believe that there will never be more than 1.7 million protein structures found and mapped, across the entire history of life on the planet?

It would make more sense if additional powers/digits can be added as needed. A fifth digit will allow 60,466,176 total patterns, and sixth digit alows 2,176,782,336 patterns, etc.

DMahalko (talk) 23:00, 20 May 2009 (UTC)

 * Hey DMahalko, your understanding of the code is correct. I don't know how it was decided on, but that is how it is. In the past authors picked their own codes. These days they are automatically assigned by the submission software. The limited number of codes has been discussed on and off over the years on the PDB-L mailing list https://lists.sdsc.edu/mailman/listinfo.cgi/pdb-l (where I'm sure someone would answer any questions you have on the above. You may also like to search (or even improve) the unofficial PDB FAQ here http://pdbwiki.org/index.php/PDB_FAQ HTH --Dan|(talk) 16:06, 23 May 2009 (UTC)

 * Actually PDBWiki has an article all about the "PDB code" http://pdbwiki.org/index.php/PDB_code --Dan|(talk) 16:08, 23 May 2009 (UTC)

Physical Location
The physical location deserves to be mentioned or listed as a coordinates. I may be mistaken, but I think the sole location for the repository is at Rutgers University (http://www.biomaps.rutgers.edu/index.php?option=com_content&task=section&id=1&Itemid=2 third paragraph). I've seen a wing of a building at Rutgers marked Protein Data Bank: (40.524497°, -74.461634°). Pulu (talk) 18:37, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

Growth trend
The growth trend has a link towards the official PDB site.

However had, this starts in 1976; the plot however starts in 1972. From 1972 to 1976, it would thus have 0 entries. This does not seem to make a lot of sense to me?

If SEARCH was the original database, I have another source that states that PDB started with 7 entries. Could perhaps additional verification be provided to explain why it starts at 1976, and which entries were the first one? 80.110.81.222 (talk) 21:06, 30 May 2015 (UTC)

Assessment comment
Substituted at 03:28, 30 April 2016 (UTC)

A lot, then less, then the same again?
"100 registered structures milestone in 1982, the 1,000 in 1993, the 10,000 in 1999, and the 100,000 in 2014" What? 100, 1, 10 and then 100 again? Is this correct? Or is it somebody who do not know the ISO-Standard of thousand separators who has been writing this? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.67.250.137 (talk) 19:34, 21 June 2017 (UTC)

title: Talk:Protein Data Bank


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Talk:Canadian literature

Ugly sidebar
I find these culture sidebars off-topic and in the wrong place. See Irish literature and Scottish literature for something that provides something more visually inviting. The current (ugly) style is that of a textbook. Can I get agreement for a change? Rwood128 (talk) 12:44, 5 November 2019 (UTC)

List of awards
I propose that the list of awards should be hidden. It overwhelm the article and is an appendix. Rwood128 (talk) 13:43, 5 November 2019 (UTC)
 * See Help Desk. Rwood128 (talk) 01:19, 6 November 2019 (UTC)

 * I've just looked at various articles on various national literatures, to discover that a long list is not the norm. The American literature article seems to have adopted a sensible solution and I propose that in this case their example should be followed. Rwood128 (talk) 22:19, 6 November 2019 (UTC)

 * The various provincial awards can also be included in a sub-section to "Category:Canadian literary awards". Rwood128 (talk) 22:21, 6 November 2019 (UTC)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Talk:Canadian literature


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Wikipedia talk:Arab-Israeli conflict editing project

Proposal:

I would like to move all the content except the last bullet point ("Plans for a solution") from Proposals for a Palestinian state to Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I think the bullet points under "impediments" make very good introductory links to issues which can be covered in more detail on their own pages: right of return, settlements, etc. That way, "Israeli-Palestinian conflict", which has been linked from the main page for a very long time and will probably remain there for a very long time, can become a real overview page in much the same way that our country overview pages similar to our country overview pages (See United States for an example.).

that does partly coincide with my plans for Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Lets say, I have a dream...a dream of this article giving an indepth analysis of the different levels and issues of the conflict, the question of a Palestinian state, the question of refugees, of the status of Jerusalem, of the problem of terrorism and violence, i.e. a real encyclopedia article like any political scientist would write it. Maybe I write one for the German wikipedia (in english it's too hard to overcome my language problems). --Elian


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Sexual roleplay

Sexual roleplay is roleplay that has a strong erotic element. It may involve two or more people who act out roles in order to bring to life a sexual fantasy and may be a form of foreplay and be sexually arousing. Many people regard sexual roleplay as a means of overcoming sexual inhibitions. It may take place in the real world, or via an internet forum, chat-room, video-game, or email—allowing for physically or virtually impossible erotic interests to be enacted.

How seriously the play is taken depends on the participants, and the scenario may be anywhere from simple and makeshift to detailed and elaborate, including costumes and a script. The role-play may involve a fantasy based on any social role and could incorporate any kind of sexual fetish desired by the participants. Examples include items of clothing experienced as erotic or one or more participants being nude. The role-play may involve elements of dominance and submission including sexual bondage and erotic humiliation.

Depending on the play scenario, the roleplay may be before spectators, and bystanders may be unknowing participants in a roleplay. For example, the roleplay may involve house guests or may be taken out of a couple's home and into, say, a bar, street, park etc. A role may require, for example, one or both partners to flirt with a stranger, or for one partner to seduce the other partner's friend, etc. It may also call for one or both partners to, say, strip in a car or park.

The popularity of the Internet has also allowed for online sexual encounters, known as cybersex, which may involve roleplay. In a 2015 US survey, up to 22% of respondents stated that they had performed sexual role play in their lifetime.

BDSM
Many of the most common sexual roleplays involve a power differential and form part of the dominance and submission aspect of BDSM. Roles can be general designations of power positions, or very specific, detailed fantasies. Some people, such as those living the Gorean lifestyle make use of an entire imaginary world. The controlling player is often called the top or dominant while the controlled individual is called the bottom or submissive. It can be considered dangerous and therefore a safeword is advised to continue the safety of other(s) in such acts.

Examples of scenarios
Common scenarios include:
 * Burglary
 * Doctor/Nurse/Patient: medical fetishism where the participants play the roles of doctor, nurse, or patient, e.g., enema play.
 * Escort – Client: one partner assumes the role of paid escort for an encounter.
 * Executive – Secretary: one partner assumes the role of a business executive while the other takes the role of their secretary.
 * Handyman – Housewife: the tradesman enters the housewife's home initially with the intent of carrying out plumbing/maintenance work.
 * Master – Slave: the slave is required to comply with all demands of the master.
 * Photographer – Model: this allows one partner to photograph the other as a precursor to sexual interaction.
 * Stripper – Client: one participant performs a striptease for the other.
 * Teacher – Student: the student dresses for the part and must do as they are told, or are punished.
 * Circus master - Lion: the lion is given a demand and must do it for the sake of entertainment.
 * Sex doll - Doll owner: the sex doll must stay still and be obedient.
 * Pilot – flight attendant: One partner takes on the role of the pilot while the other plays a seductive flight attendant.
 * Mechanic – client: While one partner plays the mechanic the other takes on the role of the client. The client tries to pay the mechanic via seduction.
 * Soldier – girlfriend: A returning soldier is surprised by his girlfriend in a stunning lingerie set.

Other scenarios include:
 * Ageplay: where an individual acts and/or treats another as if they were a different age. The practice can be regressive, in which the goal is to re-experience childhood, or sexual, recreating a sexual relationship with people of the pretended ages. Generally this can involve someone pretending to be younger than they actually are, but more rarely can involve assuming an older role.
 * Animal roleplay: where a player is treated as a non-human animal such as a dog, pony, or cat.
 * Authority figure/Misbehaving Adult: where a player takes on the role of an authority figure and blackmails or humiliates his or her partner into sexual activity.
 * Clown kink in the manner of coulrophilia between a young person and a performing mime, jester, or circus clown
 * Gender-play: where one or more players take on roles of another gender.
 * Incest fantasy: also known as incest play, where two or more play the role of family members.
 * Owner/Inanimate object: such as the bottom being human furniture.
 * Prison fetish: situational play set in a prison environment. Given real life prisons are same-sex communities, this fetish does lend itself to male on male or female on female activities and settings. Opposite gender play is also possible between inmates and guards or when the setting includes a co-ed facility/institution. Prison play is also an expansion of the uniform fetish by use of inmate, guard, and staff uniforms.
 * Torturer/Captive prisoner: where one player is a captor who abuses the other, can also include ravishment and kidnap scenarios.
 * Uniform fetishism: one participant dresses in uniform (for instance as a school student, cheerleader, French maid, etc.), while the other participant plays an authority figure (e.g., a parent, teacher, coach, police officer). Can also include scenarios with both participants in uniforms.
 * Supernatural Seductions: One participant takes the role of a predatory vampire, incubus, succubus or witch and seduces, enthralls or claims the other participant as their victim.
 * Rape play involves acting out roles of coercive sex with communication, consent and safety being especially crucial elements.

Sexologist Gloria Brame lists a number of these scenarios, as does Trevor Jacques.

title: Sexual roleplay


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Talk:MIDI composition

I've just moved this from the misspelled MIDI compostion, but I think it ought to be merged into MIDI, really. I'll get round to it eventually, but I'd rather somebody else did... --Camembert

I just merged this into the larger Musical Instrument Digital Interface page. --Deep-fried Twinkie —Preceding comment was added at 16:36, 15 November 2007 (UTC)

title: Talk:MIDI composition


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Dan Rather

Daniel Irvin Rather Jr. (born October 31, 1931) is an American journalist, commentator, and former national evening news anchor. He began his career in Texas, becoming a national name after his reporting saved thousands of lives during Hurricane Carla in September 1961. Rather spontaneously created the first radar weather report by overlaying a transparent map over a radar image of Hurricane Carla. In his first national broadcast, he helped initiate the successful evacuation of 350,000 people. He reported on some of the most significant events of the modern age, such as the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Gulf War, 9/11, the Iraq War, and the war on terror.

Rather also famously reported from Dallas in November 1963 at the time that President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Based on such reporting, he was promoted at CBS News, where he served as White House correspondent beginning in 1964. He served as foreign correspondent in London and Vietnam over the next two years before returning to the White House correspondent position. He covered the presidency of Richard Nixon, including Nixon's trip to China, the Watergate scandal, and the president's resignation.

In 1981, Rather was promoted to news anchor for the CBS Evening News, a role he occupied for 24 years. Along with Peter Jennings at ABC News and Tom Brokaw at NBC News, he was one of the "Big Three" nightly news anchors in the U.S. from the 1980s through the early 2000s. He frequently contributed to CBS's weekly news magazine, 60 Minutes.

Rather left the anchor desk in 2005 following the Killian documents controversy, in which he presented unauthenticated documents in a news report on President George W. Bush's Vietnam War–era service in the National Guard. He continued to work with CBS until 2006, when he was abruptly fired.

In September 2007, Rather filed a $70 million lawsuit against CBS and its former parent company Viacom. Rather accused the network and its ownership and management of making him a "scapegoat" in the Killian story. An intermediate New York state appeals court dismissed the lawsuit in September 2009, and the New York Court of Appeals refused to reinstate it in January 2010.

On the cable channel AXS TV (then called HDNet), Rather hosted Dan Rather Reports, a 60 Minutes–style investigative news program, from 2006 to 2013. He also hosts several other projects for AXS TV, including Dan Rather Presents, which provides in-depth reporting on broad topics such as mental health care or adoption, and The Big Interview with Dan Rather, in which he conducts long-form interviews with musicians and other entertainers. In January 2018, he began hosting an online newscast called The News with Dan Rather on The Young Turks YouTube channel. Since 2021, he has been writing the newsletter "Steady" on the Substack platform.

In April 2024, Rather was interviewed by correspondent Lee Cowan on Sunday Morning, his first return to CBS News since the 2006 departure.

Early life
Rather was born on October 31, 1931, in Wharton County, Texas, the son of Daniel Irvin Rather Sr., a ditch digger and pipe layer, and the former Byrl Veda Page. The Rathers moved to Houston when he was a child, where Dan attended Lovett Elementary School and Hamilton Middle School. He graduated in 1950 from John H. Reagan High School in Houston.

In 1953, Rather earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from Sam Houston State Teachers College in Huntsville, Texas, where he was editor of the school newspaper, The Houstonian. He was also a member of the Caballeros, the founding organization of the Epsilon Psi chapter of the Sigma Chi fraternity. While in college, Rather worked for KSAM-FM radio in Huntsville, calling junior high, high school, and Sam Houston State football games. After obtaining his undergraduate degree, Rather briefly attended South Texas College of Law in Houston.

In January 1954, Rather enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and was sent to the Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego. He was soon discharged, however, because he was found to have had rheumatic fever as a child, a fact he had omitted during the enlistment process.

Early career
Rather began his journalism career in 1950 as an Associated Press reporter in Huntsville, Texas. Later, he was a reporter for United Press (1950–1952), several Texas radio stations, and the Houston Chronicle (1954–1955). Around 1955, Rather wrote a piece on heroin. Under the auspices of the Houston Police, he tried a dose of the drug, which he characterized as "a special kind of hell."

He worked for four seasons as the play-by-play announcer for the University of Houston football team. During the 1959 minor league baseball season, Rather was the play-by-play radio announcer for the Texas League Houston Buffs.

In 1959, Rather began his television career as a reporter for KTRK-TV, the ABC affiliate in Houston. He was subsequently promoted to the director of news for KHOU-TV, the CBS affiliate in Houston.

In September 1961, Rather covered Hurricane Carla for KHOU-TV, broadcasting from the then National Weather Center in Galveston and showing the first radar image of a hurricane on TV. He conceived of overlaying a transparent map over the radar screen, in order to show the size of Hurricane Carla to the audience. Convinced of the threat, more than 350,000 people evacuated from the area, the largest known evacuation to that time. Their actions are believed to have saved thousands of lives compared to the previous hurricane, which had killed 6,000 to 12,000 people. Rather's live coverage of Carla was broadcast by New York and national stations. Ray Miller, news director of KPRC-TV, the NBC affiliate in Houston, also mentored Rather in the early years.

On February 28, 1962, Rather left Houston for New York City for a six-month trial initiation at CBS. Rather did not fit in easily on the East Coast. His first report for CBS included radio coverage of the crash of American Airlines Flight 1 in Jamaica Bay, and a story on the accidental deaths of newborns who were served salt in their formula at Binghamton General Hospital in Binghamton, New York, referred to years later as the Salt Babies. Shortly after, Rather was made chief of CBS's Southwest bureau in Dallas. In August 1963, he was appointed chief of the Southern bureau in New Orleans, responsible for coverage of news events in the South, Southwest, Mexico and Central America.

JFK assassination to Watergate
In his autobiography, Rather noted that he was in Dallas in November 1963 to return film from an interview in Uvalde at the ranch of former Vice President John Nance Garner, who celebrated his 95th birthday on November 22. He happened to be "on the other side of the railroad tracks, beyond the triple underpass, thirty yards from a grassy knoll that would later figure in so many conspiracy theories." His job was to fetch a film drop from a camera truck at that location, and take it to the station for editing. He did not witness the shooting of Kennedy, and knew nothing of the events until he reached KRLD, having run through Dealey Plaza. He later wrote: "The moment I cleared the railroad tracks I saw a scene I will never forget. Some people were lying on the grass, some screaming, some running, some pointing. Policemen swarmed everywhere and distinctly above the din, I heard one shout, 'DON'T ANYBODY PANIC.' And of course, there was nothing but panic wherever you looked."

In his autobiography, Rather said he was one of the first to view the Zapruder film showing the assassination, and the first to describe it on television. Rather reported the fatal headshot as forcing Kennedy's head forward, but it was thrown backward.

Later, he reported that some Dallas schoolchildren had applauded when they were notified of the president's death. Administrators said they had announced that school was to be dismissed early, and did not mention the assassination. However, teacher Joanna Morgan confirmed that students had cheered at the news that Kennedy was shot. This story infuriated local journalists at then-CBS affiliate KRLD-TV (now Fox-owned-and-operated KDFW-TV).

Rather's reporting during the national mourning period following the Kennedy assassination and subsequent events impressed CBS News management. In 1964, they selected him for the network's White House correspondent position. When White House correspondent, he contributed to the subsequent events following the Kennedy assassination. In 1965, he contributed to the reporting of return to Washington from Dallas by Charles von Fremd during a conversation that NBC Director Max Schindler, who directed the coverage of the arrival for the networks, did with President Lyndon B. Johnson, at the White House for the TV networks.

In 1965, Rather served as a foreign correspondent for CBS in London, and in 1966 in Vietnam. He served again as White House correspondent during the presidency of Richard Nixon. In 1970, he was also assigned as anchor for the CBS Sunday Night News (1970–73; 1974–75), and later for the CBS Saturday Evening News (1973–76). Rather was among those journalists who accompanied Nixon to China. He later covered the Watergate investigation, as well as the impeachment proceedings against Richard Nixon in Congress.

CBS Evening News anchor
After President Nixon's resignation in 1974, Rather became chief correspondent for the documentary series CBS Reports. In December 1975, he became a correspondent of the long-running Sunday night news show 60 Minutes—at the time the program was moved from a Sunday afternoon time-slot to primetime. Success there helped Rather pull ahead of longtime correspondent Roger Mudd, who was in line to succeed Walter Cronkite as anchor and Managing Editor of The CBS Evening News.

"Good evening. President Reagan, still training his spotlight on the economy, today signed a package of budget cuts that he will send to Congress tomorrow. Lesley Stahl has the story."

Rather succeeded to the news anchor position after Cronkite's retirement, making his first broadcast on March 9, 1981. Rather had a significantly different style of reporting the news. In contrast to the avuncular Cronkite, who ended his newscast with "That's the way it is," Rather searched to find a broadcast ending more suitable to his tastes. For one week in September 1986, with CBS the target of potentially hostile new ownership, Rather tried ending his broadcasts with the word "courage," and was roundly ridiculed for it. For nearly two decades, Rather ended the show with: "That's part of our world tonight."

Rather also held other positions during his time as anchor. In January 1988, he became host of the newly created 48 Hours, and in January 1999, Rather joined the new 60 Minutes II as a correspondent.

Ratings for the Evening News with Rather at the helm fluctuated wildly, at a time when more alternatives to TV news were developing. After a dip to second place, Rather regained the top spot in 1985 until 1989, when he ceded the ratings peak to rival Peter Jennings at ABC's World News Tonight. By 1992, however, the Evening News had fallen to third place of the three major networks. It rose in rankings in 2005, when Bob Schieffer became the interim anchor between Rather and Katie Couric. It briefly moved ahead of ABC World News Tonight in the wake of the death of Peter Jennings, but remained behind NBC Nightly News. Rather was a frequent collaborator with CBS News producer Susan Zirinsky, a leading member of the news division's staff.

In 1987, new CBS owner Laurence Tisch oversaw layoffs of hundreds of CBS News employees, in a major shake-up of the network. Among those to go were correspondents such as David Andelman, Fred Graham, Morton Dean, and Ike Pappas. Fewer videotape crews were dispatched to cover stories, and numerous bureaus were closed. Critics cited the cutbacks as a major factor in CBS News' fall into third place in the ratings. For a short time from 1993 to 1995, Rather co-anchored the evening news with Connie Chung. Chung had been a Washington, DC correspondent for CBS News, and anchored short news updates on the West Coast during her time as a newscaster for KNXT (now KCBS-TV) in Los Angeles. On joining the CBS Evening News, she reported "pop news" stories. In one widely cited case, she aggressively pursued Tonya Harding, who was accused of a plot to injure fellow Olympic ice skater Nancy Kerrigan. After Chung left the network, Rather went back to doing the newscast alone. By the 2005–06 season, the end of Rather's time as anchor, CBS Evening News lagged behind NBC Nightly News and ABC World News Tonight in the ratings. But it still drew approximately 5.5 million viewers a night. Criticism of Rather reached a fever pitch after 60 Minutes II ran his 2004 report about President Bush's military record. Numerous critics questioned the authenticity of the documents upon which the report was based. Rather subsequently admitted on the air that the documents' authenticity could not be proven. In the aftermath, CBS fired several members of CBS News staff but temporarily retained Rather, until his contract was up for renewal the following year, whereupon he was completely ousted.

Nixon
During Richard Nixon's presidency, critics accused Rather of biased coverage against him. At a Houston news conference in March 1974, Nixon fielded a question from Rather, still CBS's White House correspondent, who said, "Thank you, Mr. President. Dan Rather, of CBS News." The room filled with jeers and applause, prompting Nixon to joke, "Are you running for something?" Rather replied, "No, sir, Mr. President. Are you?" He questioned whether Nixon was cooperating with the grand jury investigation and House Judiciary Committee in relation to the Watergate scandal.

NBC's Tom Brokaw has said the network considered hiring him to replace Rather as its White House correspondent, but dropped it after word was leaked to the press. Rather was believed to have provided tough coverage of the Watergate scandal, raising his profile.

Space Shuttle Challenger disaster
In January 1986, NASA faced repeated delays in the preparations to launch the Space Shuttles Columbia and Challenger in close sequence. Rather described the January 10 delay of Columbia as: "star-crossed space shuttle Columbia stood ready for launch again today, and once more, the launch was scrubbed. Heavy rain was the cause this time. The launch has been postponed so often since its original date, December 18, that it's now known as mission impossible." This was considered an example of the "biting sarcasm" the media used related to NASA's scheduling. Columbia launched on January 12.

On January 27, Rather's reporting of the expected Challenger launch began as follows: "Yet another costly, red-faces-all-around space-shuttle-launch delay. This time, a bad bolt on a hatch and a bad-weather bolt from the blue are being blamed. What's more, a rescheduled launch for tomorrow doesn't look good either. Bruce Hall has the latest on today's high-tech low comedy."

On January 28, Challenger's explosion and destruction occurred 73 seconds after launch.

Afghanistan, Reagan, and George H. W. Bush
During the Soviet–Afghan War, Rather was filmed reporting near the front lines while wearing a traditional mujahideen headdress and garments. Rather attracted an Evening News audience (and was nicknamed "Gunga Dan"). The American comic strip Doonesbury spoofed his actions.

Rather's reports were later revealed to have influenced Congressman Charlie Wilson (D-Texas), who led an effort to help the mujahideen which included the Taliban. The Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan in the late 1980s, shortly before the collapse of the USSR.

Rather was promoted to the anchor spot on the Evening News. He was competing with Roger Mudd, a more senior correspondent and a frequent substitute anchor for Walter Cronkite on Evening News. Mudd had also anchored the Sunday evening broadcast, but Rather traveled through Afghanistan when news led there. A few years into his service as anchor, Rather began wearing sweaters beneath his suit jacket to soften his on-air appearance for viewers.

During the 1980s, Rather gained further renown for his forceful and direct reporting of the Iran–Contra affair. He questioned Vice President George H. W. Bush in an on-air interview during the latter's presidential campaign. Bush referred to Rather's "dead air incident" saying: "I want to talk about why I want to be President, why those 41 percent of the people are supporting me. And I don't think it's fair to judge my whole career by a rehash on Iran. How would you like it if I judged your career by those seven minutes when you walked off the set in New York?"

Shortly after Iraq invaded Kuwait, Rather secured an interview with Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. "There is no powerful and quick strike that a people could deliver, whatever their overall power. The United States depends on the Air Force. The Air Force has never decided a war in the history of wars."

On February 24, 2003, Rather conducted another interview with Hussein before the United States' 2003 invasion of Iraq. In the interview, Hussein invited Rather to be the moderator of a live television debate between himself and George W. Bush. The debate never took place.

The Wall Within
On June 2, 1988, Rather hosted a CBS News special, The Wall Within. In it, he interviewed six veterans, each of whom said he had witnessed horrible acts in Vietnam. Two of the men said that they had killed civilians, and two others said that they had seen friends die. Each talked about the effects the war had upon their lives—including depression, unemployment, drug use, and homelessness.

In 2004, National Review ran an article by Anne Morse entitled "The First Rathergate." She said that almost nothing claimed by participants in The Wall Within was true. Citing the self-published book Stolen Valor (1998) by veteran B. G. Burkett, and investigative journalist Glenna Whitley, Morse said that military records revealed that the six former servicemen had lied about their experiences. Only one served in combat, and two had never been in Vietnam.

Killian documents
On September 8, 2004, Rather reported on 60 Minutes Wednesday that a series of memos critical of President George W. Bush's Texas Air National Guard service record had been discovered in the personal files of Lt. Bush's former commanding officer, Lt. Col. Jerry B. Killian. Once copies of the documents were made available on the Internet, their authenticity was quickly called into question. Much of this was based on the fact that the documents were proportionally printed and displayed using other modern typographic conventions usually unavailable on military typewriters of the 1970s. The font used on the documents has characteristics that exactly or almost exactly match standard font features of Microsoft Word. This led to claims that the memos were forgeries. The accusations then spread over the following days into mainstream media outlets, including The Washington Post, The New York Times, and The Chicago Sun-Times.

Rather and CBS initially defended the story, insisting that the documents had been authenticated by experts. CBS was contradicted by some of the experts it originally cited, and later reported that its source for the documents—former Texas Army National Guard officer Lt. Col. Bill Burkett—had misled the network about how he had obtained them.

On September 20, 2004, CBS retracted the story. Rather stated, "If I knew then what I know now, I would not have gone ahead with the story as it was aired, and I certainly would not have used the documents in question." The controversy has been referred to by some as "Memogate" and "Rathergate."

Following an investigation commissioned by CBS,  CBS fired story producer Mary Mapes, and asked three other producers connected with the story to resign. Many believe Rather's retirement was hastened by this incident. On September 20, 2007, Rather was interviewed on Larry King Live commenting, "Nobody has proved that they were fraudulent, much less a forgery. ... The truth of this story stands up to this day."

Departure from the CBS Evening News
"We've shared a lot in the 24 years we've been meeting here each evening, and before I say 'Good night' this night, I need to say thank you. Thank you to the thousands of wonderful professionals at CBS News, past and present, with whom it's been my honor to work over these years. And a deeply felt thanks to all of you, who have let us into your homes night after night; it has been a privilege, and one never taken lightly.

Not long after I first came to the anchor chair, I briefly signed off using the word, 'Courage.' I want to return to it now, in a different way: to a nation still nursing a broken heart for what happened here in 2001, and especially to those who found themselves closest to the events of September 11; to our soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines, in dangerous places; to those who have endured the tsunami, and to all who have suffered natural disasters, and must now find the will to rebuild; to the oppressed and to those whose lot it is to struggle in financial hardship or in failing health; to my fellow journalists in places where reporting the truth means risking all; and to each of you, Courage.

For the CBS Evening News, Dan Rather reporting. Good night."

Rather retired as the anchorman and Managing Editor of the CBS Evening News in 2005; his last broadcast was Wednesday, March 9, 2005. He had worked as the anchorman for 24 full years, the longest tenure of anyone in American television history, and for a short time, continued to work as a correspondent for 60 Minutes. Bob Schieffer, a fellow Texan and host of Face the Nation, took over Rather's position on an interim basis, with Katie Couric replacing Schieffer in 2006. Since retiring, Rather has spoken out about what he perceives as a lack of courage by American journalists. On January 24, 2006, Rather spoke to a Seattle audience. Before the speaking engagement, he told a newspaper reporter, "In many ways on many days, [reporters] have sort of adopted the attitude of 'go along, get along.'"

"What many of us need is a spine transplant," Rather added. "Whether it's City Hall, the State House, or the White House, part of our job is to speak truth to power."

Fired from CBS News
In June 2006, reports surfaced that CBS News would most likely not renew Dan Rather's contract. According to a Washington Post article, sources from CBS said that executives at the network decided "there is no future role for Rather."

On June 20, 2006, CBS News and Sports President Sean McManus announced that Rather would leave the network after 44 years. Rather issued a separate statement which accompanied the news of the departure:

"I leave CBS News with tremendous memories. But I leave now most of all with the desire to once again do regular, meaningful reporting. My departure before the term of my contract represents CBS's final acknowledgement, after a protracted struggle, that they had not lived up to their obligation to allow me to do substantive work there. As for their offers of a future with only an office but no assignments, it just isn't in me to sit around doing nothing. So I will do the work I love elsewhere, and I look forward to sharing details about that soon."

Lawsuit over ouster from CBS Network
On September 19, 2007, Rather filed a $70 million lawsuit against CBS, its former parent company Viacom; CBS President and CEO Leslie Moonves; Sumner Redstone, chairman of both Viacom and CBS; and Andrew Heyward, former president of CBS News. Rather accused the network and its ownership and management of making him a "scapegoat" in the Killian story. A CBS spokesman claimed that the lawsuit was "old news" and "without merit." On September 21, 2009, Rather's lawyers claimed that Bush's military service would be proven to be a sham, and Rather would be vindicated. On September 29, 2009, a New York state appeals court dismissed Rather's lawsuit against CBS. On January 12, 2010, New York's top court refused to reinstate Rather's $70 million breach-of-contract lawsuit against CBS Corp. In his book titled Rather Outspoken, Rather claims that the lawsuit "took a big whack out of my time, my psyche and my bank balance, but even so, it was worth it." On May 18, 2012, Rather appeared on Real Time With Bill Maher, and claimed he had been fired for reporting a story about George W. Bush's year of absence from the reserve unit he served with, and that the news corporations had been "very uncomfortable" with running the story.

Post-CBS career
Following his departure from CBS, Dan Rather joined Mark Cuban's cable network AXS TV (then called HDNet) to host and produce the weekly one-hour news show Dan Rather Reports from 2006 until 2013.

Since 2013, Rather has hosted and produced the hour-long series The Big Interview with Dan Rather on AXS TV, where he sits down for in-depth interviews with influential figures in music and entertainment, such as: Gregory Allman, Robert Plant, John Fogerty, Quentin Tarantino, Simon Cowell, Aaron Sorkin, and Sammy Hagar. He has also produced several documentary specials for the network under the banner Dan Rather Presents, including specials about "America's Mental Health Crisis," the United States Secret Service, and "The Shameful Side of International Adoption."

Rather also appears frequently on a number of news shows, including MSNBC's The Rachel Maddow Show and The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell and on CNN. He has also written for The Huffington Post and Mashable.

On May 28, 2007, Rather compared historical events to events in the Star Wars films in the History Channel special titled Star Wars: The Legacy Revealed.

In 2012, Rather published an autobiography titled Rather Outspoken: My Life in the News.

In 2015, Rather launched an independent production company called News and Guts Media, through which he produces The Big Interview among other projects.

In 2015, Rather also began actively posting on Facebook. He credits young staffers at News and Guts Media with pushing him to try social media. While his posts were considerably longer than typical social media posts, they resonated with the audience, which soon grew to more than two million followers. Even late night TV noticed Rather's unusual but effective Facebook presence. Subject matter has covered a range of topics, including: current political events, journalism, and childhood memories.

On September 23, 2016, SiriusXM Radio announced a new hour-long weekly program, Dan Rather's America, airing Tuesday mornings at 10am Eastern on Radio Andy channel 102, debuting on September 27.

In the fall of 2017, the Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas completed a digital humanities project dedicated to the long career of the journalist that was titled Dan Rather: American Journalist. The culmination of three years of research conducted at the Briscoe Center, the site uses materials from a dozen archives and libraries, and draws from over 25 of the Briscoe Center for American History's news media and photojournalism collections. The website features over 2,000 digitized documents, 300 excerpts from twelve oral history interviews, and 1000 video clips, enabling visitors to dive deep into the history of the last 60 years through the lens of Dan Rather's career.

On January 21, 2018, it was announced that Rather would be launching a weekly 30-minute newscast on The Young Turks. Titled The News with Dan Rather, it aired on Mondays at 5:30pm Eastern Time until that June.

Personal life

Rather married Jean Goebel in 1957. They have a son and daughter, and maintain homes in New York City and Austin, Texas. Their daughter Robin is an environmentalist and community activist in Austin. Their son Dan is an assistant district attorney in the District Attorney's office in Manhattan, New York.

Sam Houston State University renamed its mass communications building after Rather in 1994. The building houses The Houstonian and KSHU, the student-run radio and television stations. In May 2007, Rather received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Siena College in Loudonville, New York, for his lifetime contributions to journalism.

A columnist whose work is distributed by King Features Syndicate, Rather continues to speak out against alleged influence in journalism by corporations and governments. At a 2008 conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota, sponsored by the group Free Press, Rather criticized both local and national news organizations, stating—according to reports—that there is no longer incentive to do "good and valuable news."

Books

 * The Palace Guard, with Gary Paul Gates, 1974. ISBN 9780060135140.
 * I Remember, with Peter Wyden, 1991. ISBN 978-0316734400.
 * The Camera Never Blinks Twice: The Further Adventures of a Television Journalist, with Mickey Herskowitz, 1994. ISBN 978-0688097486.
 * , 1999. ISBN 978-0788193491.
 * The American Dream: Stories from the Heart of Our Nation, 2001. ISBN 978-0688178925.
 * , with Digby Diehl, 2013. ISBN 978-1455502400.
 * What Unites Us: Reflections on Patriotism, with Elliot Kirschner, 2017. ISBN 978-1616207823.
 * What Unites Us: The Graphic Novel, with Elliot Kirschner, illustrated by Tim Foley, 2021. ISBN 9781250239945.
 * What Unites Us: The Graphic Novel, with Elliot Kirschner, illustrated by Tim Foley, 2021. ISBN 9781250239945.

Awards
He has received numerous Emmy Awards, several Peabody Awards, and various honorary degrees from universities.

In addition to these awards, Rather was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 2004. In 2001, he received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.

In 2023, Rather was inducted into the SXSW Hall of Fame.

Criticism
As one of the last broadcast news journalists from the era of the "Big Three" network news primacy, Rather was generally regarded highly within his profession by long-serving journalists; however, he has been accused of having a liberal bias.

Claims of bias
Rather's on-screen comments and election-night reporting have come under attack dating back to Richard Nixon's presidency. In a June 2002 interview with Larry King, his long-time co-worker (and self-described liberal), Andy Rooney stated that Rather is "transparently liberal."

During the weeks following the Killian documents stories, Rather received widespread criticism from other journalists and historians. In an interview with commentator Bill Maher, Rather accused Fox News Channel of receiving "talking points" from the Republican-controlled White House. Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly, who had defended Rather during the Killian documents incident, criticized Rather for not offering any evidence to support the claim.

In 2002, Bernard Goldberg published a book with the title Bias, alleging a liberal bias in print and broadcast news organizations. In the book, Goldberg used Dan Rather as a primary example of a news anchorman with a liberal bias. He also criticized the anchor for his criticisms of President George W. Bush's and Vice President Dan Quayle's service in the National Guard, rather than the Active Duty military during the Vietnam War, and questioned Rather's own service.

Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting has accused Rather of having "an unwillingness to challenge official power and policy" in his reporting. Investigative reporter Mark Hertsgaard characterized Rather as a "stern anti-Communist" during the Reagan administration, for allegedly having "reported the pronouncements of public officials with considerable respect."

In April 2001, according to a front-page story in The Washington Post, Rather spoke at a Democratic party fundraiser in Austin, where he was the featured speaker. One of the official hosts for the fundraiser was Rather's daughter, Robin Rather; Rather said that he did not realize that his daughter was a host of the fundraiser. Rather also said that he did not realize that the event was a partisan fundraiser, although he did realize that after he arrived at the event.

From Walter Cronkite
During an appearance on CNN's American Morning in 2005, former CBS anchor Walter Cronkite said about Rather: "It surprised quite a few people at CBS and elsewhere that, without being able to pull up the ratings beyond third in a three-man field, that they tolerated his being there for so long." Cronkite also said that he would like to have seen Bob Schieffer in Rather's position sooner.

From Dallas CBS news director Eddie Barker
In the aftermath of the Kennedy assassination while Rather was a Dallas reporter, he interviewed a minister, who said some local schoolchildren had cheered upon learning of the President's shooting. The Associated Press later confirmed the story. A teacher at the school backed up the Rather story, confirming that some students at the school had cheered at the principal's news about Kennedy. Eddie Barker, local Dallas-area news director for CBS, said that Rather had in fact been aware that the children were merely happy about being sent home early, and they had not been given a reason for early school closure (Barker's children attended the school, as he informed Rather). He stated that Rather had deliberately misrepresented the facts by indicating that the children were happy about the shooting. Barker attempted to fire Rather, but was overruled by the national CBS News management.

1968 Democratic convention
During live coverage of the 1968 Democratic National Convention, Rather attempted to interview a delegate from Georgia who appeared as though he was being forcibly removed by men without identification badges.

As Rather approached the delegate to question the apparent strong-arm tactics of the Chicago political machine under Mayor Daley, he was punched in the stomach by one of the men, knocking him to the ground. "He lifted me right off the floor and put me away. I was down, the breath knocked out of me, as the whole group blew on by me ... In the CBS control room, they had switched the camera onto me just as I was slugged." Walter Cronkite, viewing the incident, added on-air, "I think we got a bunch of thugs here Dan!"

Chicago cab ride
On November 10, 1980, Rather landed at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport and got into a cab. He asked the cab driver to take him to the home of writer Studs Terkel, whom he was interviewing for 60 Minutes. A police spokesman said that the cab driver refused to go to the address and instead "wildly drove through the city streets," with Rather shouting out the window asking for help. The driver was charged with disorderly conduct. Rather called the incident "a rather minor thing." By the time the case was about to come to trial, he was about to add anchoring the CBS Evening News to his 60 Minutes role at CBS News. Rather declined to press charges, citing a "mounting schedule of reporting assignments."

Galloway lawsuit
In 1980, Rather and CBS were taken to court when Carl Galloway, a California doctor, claimed that a report on 60 Minutes wrongfully implicated him in an insurance fraud scheme. CBS stated Galloway had signed the bogus report and was suing Rather because he was upset at being caught. The jury sided with CBS and Rather, and they won the case. During the trial, Galloway's side used outtakes from the TV report showing that one interview was rehearsed.

"Courage"
For one week in September 1986, Rather signed off his broadcasts to CBS with the word "courage." He said that it was just a signature line, and had nothing to do with the news at the time. Other newscasters ridiculed and parodied Rather, and he dropped it.

"Kenneth, what is the frequency?"
On October 4, 1986, while walking along Park Avenue to his New York apartment, Rather was attacked and punched from behind by a man who demanded to know "Kenneth, what is the frequency?" while a second assailant chased and beat him. As the assailant pummeled and kicked Rather, he kept repeating the question. In describing the incident, Rather said "I got mugged. Who understands these things? I didn't and I don't now. I didn't make a lot of it at the time and I don't now. I wish I knew who did it and why, but I have no idea." Until the crime was resolved years later, Rather's description of the bizarre crime led some to doubt the veracity of his account, although the doorman and building supervisor who came to Rather's aid fully confirmed his version of events.

The assault remained unsolved for some time, and the phrase "What's the frequency, Kenneth?" became a popular culture reference over the years, such as in a scene in the graphic novel Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron by Daniel Clowes. The opening track of the 1987 album Lolita Nation by California power pop group Game Theory is titled "Kenneth, What's the Frequency?" In 1994, the band R.E.M. released the song "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" on their album Monster. Rather later sang with R.E.M. during a sound check prior to a gig at New York's Madison Square Garden, which was shown the following night on the Late Show with David Letterman.

In 1997, a TV critic writing in the New York Daily News solved the mystery, publishing a photo of the alleged assailant, William Tager, who received a 12.5-to-25-year prison sentence for killing NBC stagehand Campbell Montgomery outside The Today Show studio in 1994. Rather confirmed the story: "There's no doubt in my mind that this is the person." New York District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau said "William Tager's identity as the man who attacked Mr. Rather was established in the course of an investigation by my office." Tager claimed he thought television networks were beaming signals into his brain. When he murdered the stagehand, Tager was trying to force his way into an NBC studio with a weapon, in order to find out the frequency the networks were using to attack him, so that he could block it. Tager was paroled in October 2010.

Dead air
On September 11, 1987, Pope John Paul II was in Miami, beginning a rare U.S. tour. Rather was scheduled to anchor Evening News remotely. A U.S. Open tennis match broadcast ran long, extending into the timeslot for the Evening News. Rather walked off the set in anger just before he was to anchor the newscast. He was upset and informed CBS Sports that it should fill the half hour if the "Evening News" did not begin on time. The Steffi Graf–Lori McNeil tennis coverage ended sooner than expected at 6:32 p.m., but Rather had disappeared by then and could not be located. (CBS Sports agreed to break away immediately after the match without commentary.) More than 100 CBS affiliate stations were forced to broadcast six minutes of dead air. Some stations aired syndicated programming, such as reruns of game shows or sitcoms, and others displayed graphics explaining that they were experiencing technical difficulties.

Phil Jones, the chairman of the CBS affiliation board and general manager of Kansas City's KCTV, demanded an apology from Rather. Miami CBS affiliate WTVJ dropped the newscast episode entirely and aired a syndicated rerun of a game show instead. The next day, Rather apologized for abandoning the anchor desk.

The following year, when Rather asked Vice President George H.W. Bush about his role in the Iran–Contra affair during a live interview, Bush responded, "Dan, how would you like it if I judged your entire career by those seven minutes when you walked off the set in New York?" Bush's media consultant Roger Ailes had a "mole" at CBS who alerted him that Rather's goal was to "take Bush out of the race" with a tough interview about Iran-Contra. Ailes alerted Bush during the cab ride to the studio and suggested the reply. Bush was running for president in 1988, and his polling favorability benefited in Iowa and New Hampshire after the interview aired.

In his 2013 book, Rather denied being angry or upset but only misinformed about the timing of the match.

"Ratherisms"
Rather is known for his many colorful analogies and descriptions during live broadcasts. Similar to those used by baseball announcer Red Barber, cycling commentator Phil Liggett, and Formula 1 commentator Murray Walker, these "Ratherisms" are also called "Texanisms" or "Danisms" by some. A few of the more colorful ones, several of which were used throughout the 2008 HBO made-for-TV movie Recount about the 2000 Election, include:
 * "This race is shakier than cafeteria Jell-O."
 * "This thing is as tight as the rusted lugnuts on a '55 Ford."
 * His characterization of the Republican Party's assessment of President Obama: "[He] couldn't sell watermelons if you gave him the state troopers to flag down the traffic."

In popular culture
Rather has been referenced in the television shows Saturday Night Live and Family Guy and many films. An animated caricature of him made a cameo appearance in the JibJab political cartoon, Good to Be in D.C. In 1971, he had a cameo in an episode of the number one hit comedy series All in the Family. Entitled The Man in the Street, series star Carroll O'Connor's Archie Bunker character excitedly awaits the viewing of a videotaped interview he gave earlier that day for the CBS Evening News. At the last minute, to his dismay, the segment is preempted by the telecast of a Richard Nixon presidential address from the Oval Office. Rather appears, as himself, delivering post-speech analysis from actual news footage. Jean Stapleton, as Archie's scatterbrained wife Edith Bunker, says of Rather how he's there to "...tell us what Mr. Nixon just said."

In 2004, he was featured in the documentary film Barbecue: A Texas Love Story by Austin-based director Chris Elley. Two years later, Rather and Elley educated a group of New Yorkers in Madison Square Park about the true meaning of BBQ, and its significance to the identity of the Lone Star State.

In the 2006–07 graphic novel Shooting War, which is set in the year 2011, an 80-year-old Dan Rather is shown to be one of the last journalists still reporting from Iraq. He had a cameo in the premiere of the Fall 2007 drama Dirty Sexy Money on ABC television. He guest-starred as himself in The Simpsons episode, "E Pluribus Wiggum."

Rather appeared on The Daily Show in May 2009, wearing an Afro wig and mutton-chop sideburns to narrate a segment about the late former President Nixon eating a burrito, as a parody of MSNBC's extensive coverage of President Obama and Vice President Biden's hamburger lunch. He appears in the 2008 award-winning documentary Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story.

A skit on the 38th season of Sesame Street featured Anderson Cooper interviewing two grouches, "Walter Cranky" and "Dan Rather Not," who, when asked to answer questions, demurred with the phrase "I'd rather not."

Robert Redford portrayed Rather in the 2015 film Truth. Rather appeared in the documentary series Facing in the episode "Facing Saddam", providing his views on Saddam Hussein.

The 1998 mashup song "Rocked by Rape" by the Evolution Control Committee parodied TV news by selecting hundreds of phrases uttered by Rather on the air, focusing on bad, evil, terrible things. CBS sent them a "cease-and-desist" letter in 2000, claiming copyright violation, but after fair use responses from the Committee and others, desisted. The recording was played at a Rather roast and on C-SPAN.

In 2024, Netflix aired the documentary film Rather, directed by Frank Marshall, a biography of Rather.

Ratings
Under Rather's predecessor, Walter Cronkite, the CBS Evening News was a strong #1 in the ratings, which Rather maintained through much of the 1980s. However, Tom Brokaw and his NBC Nightly News, and Peter Jennings of ABC News' World News Tonight, increasing in popularity, eventually cut deep into the Rather broadcast's numbers.

title: Dan Rather


text:
Meiko Scientific

Meiko Scientific Ltd. was a British supercomputer company based in Bristol, founded by members of the design team working on the Inmos transputer microprocessor.

History
In 1985, when Inmos management suggested the release of the transputer be delayed, Miles Chesney, David Alden, Eric Barton, Roy Bottomley, James Cownie, and Gerry Talbot resigned and formed Meiko (Japanese for "well-engineered") to start work on massively parallel machines based on the processor. Nine weeks later in July 1985, they demonstrated a transputer system based on experimental 16-bit transputers at the SIGGRAPH in San Francisco.

In 1986, a system based on 32-bit T414 transputers was launched as the Meiko Computing Surface. By 1990, Meiko had sold more than 300 systems and grown to 125 employees. In 1993, Meiko launched the second-generation Meiko CS-2 system, but the company ran into financial difficulties in the mid-1990s. The technical team and technology was transferred to a joint venture company named Quadrics Supercomputers World Ltd. (QSW), formed by Alenia Spazio of Italy in mid-1996. At Quadrics, the CS-2 interconnect technology was developed into QsNet.

, a vestigial Meiko website still exists.

Computing Surface
The Meiko Computing Surface (sometimes retrospectively referred to as the CS-1) was a massively parallel supercomputer. The system was based on the Inmos transputer microprocessor, later also using SPARC and Intel i860 processors.

The Computing Surface architecture comprised multiple boards containing transputers connected together by their communications links via Meiko-designed link switch chips. A variety of different boards were produced with different transputer variants, random-access memory (RAM) capacities and peripherals.

The initial software environments provided for the Computing Surface was Occam Programming System (OPS), Meiko's version of Inmos's D700 Transputer Development System. This was soon superseded by a multi-user version, MultiOPS. Later, Meiko introduced Meiko Multiple Virtual Computing Surfaces (M²VCS), a multi-user resource management system let the processors of a Computing Surface be partitioned into several domains of different sizes. These domains were allocated by M²VCS to individual users, thus allowing several simultaneous users access to their own virtual Computing Surfaces. M²VCS was used in conjunction with either OPS or MeikOS, a Unix-like single-processor operating system.

In 1988, Meiko launched the In-Sun Computing Surface, which repackaged the Computing Surface into VMEbus boards (designated the MK200 series) suitable for installation in larger Sun-3 or Sun-4 systems. The Sun acted as front-end host system for managing the transputers, running development tools and providing mass storage. A version of M²VCS running as a SunOS daemon named Sun Virtual Computing Surfaces (SVCS) provided access between the transputer network and the Sun host.

As the performance of the transputer became less competitive toward the end of the 1980s (the follow-on T9000 transputer being beset with delays), Meiko added the ability to supplement the transputers with Intel i860 processors. Each i860 board (MK086 or MK096) contained two i860s with up to 32 MB of RAM each, and two T800s providing inter-processor communication. Sometimes known as the Concerto or simply the i860 Computing Surface, these systems had limited success.

Meiko also produced a SPARC processor board, the MK083, which allowed the integration of the SunOS operating system into the Computing Surface architecture, similarly to the In-Sun Computing Surface. These were usually used as front-end host processors for transputer or i860 Computing Surfaces. SVCS, or an improved version, called simply VCS was used to manage the transputer resources. Computing Surface configurations with multiple MK083 boards were also possible.

A major drawback of the Computing Surface architecture was poor I/O bandwidth for general data shuffling. Although aggregate bandwidth for special case data shuffling could be very high, the general case has very poor performance relative to the compute bandwidth. This made the Meiko Computing Surface uneconomic for many applications.

MeikOS
MeikOS (also written as Meikos or MEiKOS) is a Unix-like transputer operating system developed for the Computing Surface during the late 1980s.

MeikOS was derived from an early version of Minix, extensively modified for the Computing Surface architecture. Unlike HeliOS, another Unix-like transputer operating system, MeikOS is essentially a single-processor operating system with a distributed file system. MeikOS was intended for use with the Meiko Multiple Virtual Computing Surfaces (M²VCS) resource management software, which partitions the processors of a Computing Surface into domains, manages user access to these domains, and provides inter-domain communication.

MeikOS has diskless and fileserver variants, the former running on the seat processor of an M²VCS domain, providing a command line user interface for a given user; the latter running on processors with attached SCSI hard disks, providing a remote file service (named Surface File System (SFS)) to instances of diskless MeikOS. The two can communicate via M²VCS.

MeikOS was made obsolete by the introduction of the In-Sun Computing Surface and the Meiko MK083 SPARC processor board, which allow SunOS and Sun Virtual Computing Surfaces (SVCS), later developed as VCS to take over the roles of MeikOS and M²VCS respectively. The last MeikOS release was MeikOS 3.06, in early 1991.

CS-1 Interconnect
This was based on the transputer link protocol. Meiko developed its own switch silicon on and European Silicon Systems, ES2 gate array. This application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) provided static connectivity and limited dynamic connectivity and was designed by Moray McLaren.

CS-2
The CS-2  was launched in 1993 and was Meiko's second-generation system architecture, superseding the earlier Computing Surface.

The CS-2 was an all-new modular architecture based around SuperSPARC or hyperSPARC processors and, optionally, Fujitsu μVP vector processors. These implemented an instruction set similar to the Fujitsu VP2000 vector supercomputer and had a nominal performance of 200 megaflops on double precision arithmetic and double that on single precision. The SuperSPARC processors ran at 40 MHz initially, later increased to 50 MHz. Subsequently, hyperSPARC processors were introduced at 66, 90 or 100 MHz. The CS-2 was intended to scale up to 1024 processors. The largest CS-2 system built was a 224-processor system installed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

The CS-2 ran a customized version of Sun's operating system Solaris, initially Solaris 2.1, later 2.3 and 2.5.1.

Elan-Elite Interconnect
The processors in a CS-2 were connected by a Meiko-designed multi-stage packet-switched fat tree network implemented in custom silicon.

This project, codenamed Elan-Elite, was started in 1990, as a speculative project to compete with the T9000 Transputer from Inmos, which Meiko intended to use as an interconnect technology. The T9000 began to suffer massive delays, such that the internal project became the only viable interconnect choice for the CS-2.

This interconnect comprised two devices, code-named Elan (adapter) and Elite (switch). Each processing element included an Elan chip, a communications co-processor based on the SPARC architecture, accessed via a Sun MBus cache coherent interface and providing two 50 MB/s bi-directional links. The Elite chip was an 8-way link crossbar switch, used to form the packet-switched network. The switch had limited adaption based on load and priority.

Both ASICs were fabbed in complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) gate arrays by GEC Plessey in their Roborough, Plymouth semi-conductor fab in 1993.

After the Meiko technology was acquired by Quadrics, the Elan/Elite interconnect technology was developed into QsNet.

Meiko SPARC FPU
Meiko had hired Fred (Mark) Homewood and Moray McLaren both of whom had been instrumental in the design of the T800. Together, they designed and developed an improved, higher performance FPU core, owned by Meiko. This was initially targeted at the Intel 80387 instruction set. An ongoing legal battle between Intel, AMD and others over the 80387 made it clear this project was a commercial non-starter. A chance discussion between McLaren and Andy Bechtolsheim while visiting Sun Microsystems to discuss licensing Solaris caused Meiko to re-target the design for SPARC. Meiko was able to turn around the core FPU design in a short time and LSI Logic fabbed a device for the SPARCstation 1.

A major difference over the T800 FPU was that it fully implemented the IEEE 754 standard for computer arithmetic. This including all rounding modes, denormalised numbers and square root in hardware without taking any hardware exceptions to complete computation.

A SPARCstation 2 design was also developed together with a combined part targeting the SPARCstation 2 ASIC pinout. LSI fabbed and manufactured the separate FPU L64814, as part of their SparKIT chipset.

The Meiko design was eventually fully licensed to Sun which went on to use it in the MicroSPARC family of ASICs for several generations in return for a one-off payment and full Solaris source license.

title: Meiko Scientific


text:
Island of the Sequined Love Nun

Island of the Sequined Love Nun is a novel by American absurdist writer Christopher Moore, published in 1997. It is based partly on the author's personal experiences in Micronesia.

Plot
Tucker (Tuck) Case is a pilot for a cosmetics company, who crashes the company plane while having sex. This event causes Tuck to be blacklisted from flying in the United States, so he accepts a lucrative offer from a doctor-missionary on a remote Micronesian island to transport cargo to and from the island and Japan.

Tuck moves to the island with a Filipino trans woman navigator and a talking fruit bat. There Tuck eventually uncovers a horrible secret harbored by the doctor and his wife, who capitalized on the fact that the island natives are under the influence of a cargo cult that developed as a result of establishment by Allies of an air runway there during World War II.

Shakespearean allusions
In chapter 8, "The Humiliation of the Pilot as a Passenger", Moore alludes to Shakespeare's Hamlet. Tuck is the heir to the Denmark Silverware Corporation, much like Hamlet being the prince. Later Tuck's mother marries his uncle after her husband has a not-so-accidental riding accident resulting in his death.

Tuck is then summoned by an old girlfriend named Zoophilia (similar to Ophelia). While approaching the house in a rage he runs over Zoophilia's father. Zoophilia meets her demise by taking a handful of Prozac and a mouthful of water then drowns in her hot tub, grief-stricken. Before Tuck leaves he is threatened by Zoophilia's brother.

title: Island of the Sequined Love Nun


text:
Talk:Spirited Away

Merge from Chihiro Ogino
Please merge relevant content, if any, from [ Chihiro Ogino] per Articles for deletion/Chihiro Ogino. (If there is nothing to merge, just leave it as a redirect.) Thanks. —Quarl (talk) 2007-03-17 09:16Z  —09:16, March 17 2007 (UTC)

Regarding "Japanese culture in the film"
According to the section, it says In the scene during which Chihiro squashes with her foot the small black slug that inhabited Haku (a spell laid by Yubaba), Kamajii tells Chihiro to "Cut the line!" "Cutting the line" is a Japanese good-luck charm performed by making a chopping gesture through another person's connected index fingers. However, I wonder whether "good-luck charm" is a negative mean in English. This is because the original, Japanese, word is "en-gacho" which can be directly translated to "I cut our friendship with you", means "I don't want to talk to you anymore" or "Don't come any closer". Although this is a relatively old-fashioned expression, it is usually used to make fun of a friend who accidentally involved some dirty trouble. I don't think "good-luck" is an appropriate translation. I recommend the editors to change it to a better expression. --- 12:23 (UTC) December 27 2007 isida1028 —12:23, December 27 2007 (UTC)

About the plot summary again
Hey 101.119.152.63, thanks for your additions to the article! Unfortunately, your changes to the plot summary take it over the 700-word limit recommended by WP:FILMPLOT. Would you be able to condense the content so it is once again below this threshold? —TechnoSquirrel69 (sigh) 08:41, 4 September 2023 (UTC)

genre of the material viewed 49.146.42.170 (talk) 12:37, 2 October 2023 (UTC)
 * ? —TechnoSquirrel69 (sigh) 14:48, 2 October 2023 (UTC)
 * If the plot is too long then I suggest reverting back further to a version that is shorter. -- 109.76.138.72 (talk) 01:25, 5 November 2023 (UTC)
 * Five paragraph long lead section also seems excessive. The WP:LEAD section is supposed to summarize. -- 109.76.138.72 (talk) 01:28, 5 November 2023 (UTC)

About the reverts
Hey Nyxaros, your rollback of the IP editor's changes was not appropriate. They had made good-faith contributions with descriptive edit summaries, which cannot be indiscriminately reverted as "vandalism". I've restored their edits for now, and I'd recommend that you have a discussion with them here if you disagree with them on any of the changes. Thanks! —TechnoSquirrel69 (sigh) 17:47, 29 October 2023 (UTC)
 * Next time read the article before writing responses like this. ภץאคгöร 06:34, 30 October 2023 (UTC)
 * I read through every diff; it seems they went back on their decision for the lead once, but their changes were constructive overall, and certainly not vandalism worthy of a rollback. I would still appreciate an explanation from you. —TechnoSquirrel69 (sigh) 06:41, 30 October 2023 (UTC)

title: Talk:Spirited Away


text:
The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove

The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove is a novel by American writer Christopher Moore, published in 1999. It is set in the same fictional town of Pine Cove, California, as his first novel, Practical Demonkeeping, and also brings back some of the same characters.

Plot summary
Pine Cove suffers a major crisis when the town psychiatrist, Val Riordan — who has been haphazardly issuing prescriptions instead of dealing with the real mental problems of her patients — suffers a sudden bout of guilt and substitutes all of her patients' anti-depressants with placebos. At this same time, by coincidence, human-generated environmental activity stirs a prehistoric sea-beast from its underwater keep to come ashore.

In addition to its ability to change form, the beast exudes a pheromone that inspires uncontrollable lust among the residents of Pine Cove and also lures some of them as prey. After mistakenly trying to mate with a fuel truck (causing an explosion), the beast hides in a trailer park, attracting the curiosity of local crazy lady and former B-movie star Molly Michon, who builds a rapport with the injured beast.

Meanwhile, Theophilus Crowe, the town constable, investigates a strange suicide, the activities of his corrupt boss, and his adversely affected marijuana habit. When the beast (whom Molly has named "Steve") starts eating residents of Pine Cove and interfering with Theo's boss's methamphetamine business, Molly (who has become romantically involved with the beast) and Theo band together to make possible the beast's safe escape and to take down the boss at the same time.

Reception
James Sallis praised Lust Lizard, saying that Moore's novel provides "[like] all the best comic writing, something beyond jokes, caricature, spinning plates and crazy-tilt towers, something intangible that vanishes whenever we try to look directly at it: some sense, perhaps, that we're still able to rescue from the ever-increasing detritus of our culture a decent, simple humanity."

title: The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove


text:
Absurdist fiction

Absurdist fiction is a genre of novels, plays, poems, films, or other media that focuses on the experiences of characters in situations where they cannot find any inherent purpose in life, most often represented by ultimately meaningless actions and events that call into question the certainty of existential concepts such as truth or value.

The absurdist genre of literature arose in the 1950s and 1960s, first predominantly in France and Germany, prompted by post-war disillusionment. Absurdist fiction is a reaction against the surge in Romanticism in Paris in the 1830s, the collapse of religious tradition in Germany, and the societal and philosophical revolution led by the expressions of Søren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche.

Common elements in absurdist fiction include satire, dark humor, incongruity, the abasement of reason, and controversy regarding the philosophical condition of being "nothing". Absurdist fiction in play form is known as Absurdist Theatre. Both genres are characterised by a focus on the experience of the characters, centred on the idea that life is incongruous, irreconcilable and meaningless. The integral characteristic of absurdist fiction involves the experience of the struggle to find an intrinsic purpose in life, depicted by characters in their display of meaningless actions in the futile events they take part in.

Absurdism as a philosophical movement is an extension of, or divergence from, Existentialism, which focuses on the pointlessness of mankind and specifically the emotional angst and anxiety present when the existence of purpose is challenged. Existentialist and agnostic perspectives are explored in absurdist novels and theatre in their expression of plot and characters. Major absurdist authors include Franz Kafka, Albert Camus, Samuel Beckett, and Eugène Ionesco.

Characteristics
A great deal of absurdist fiction may be humorous or irrational in nature. The absurdist humor is described as a manner of comedy that relies on non-sequiturs, violation of causality, and unpredictable juxtapositions. However, the hallmark of the genre is neither comedy nor nonsense, but rather, the study of human behavior under circumstances (whether realistic or fantastical) that appear to be purposeless and philosophically absurd. Absurdist fiction posits little judgment about characters or their actions; that task is left to the reader. Also, the "moral" of the story is generally not explicit, and the themes or characters' realizations — if any — are often ambiguous in nature.

Additionally, unlike many other forms of fiction, absurdist works will not necessarily have a traditional plot structure (i.e., rising action, climax, falling action, etc.). The conventional elements of fiction such as plot, characterization, and development tend to be absent. Some scholars explain that this fiction entails a "going away from" a norm. There is also the case of the questioning of the validity of human reason, from which perceptions of the natural laws arise.

The absurdist fiction also does not seek to appeal to the so-called collective unconscious as it is fiercely individualistic and almost exclusively focuses on exploring an individual's or a being's subjective feelings of its existence.

Overview
The absurdist genre grew out of the modernist literature of the late 19th and early 20th century in direct opposition to the Victorian literature which was prominent just prior to this period. It was largely influenced by the existentialist and nihilist movements in philosophy, and the Dada and surrealist movements in art. Existential and nihilistic philosophical influences on absurdist fiction were resultant of the post-war disillusionment. Absurdist fiction novelists and composers demanded freedom from the conventions prevalent in the 1940 philosophical movement in France. Other historical events that impacted the literary movement's style and philosophy include the atomic bomb and the Cold War.

Psychologists at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the University of British Columbia published a report in 2009 showing that reading absurdist tales improved test subjects' ability to find patterns. Their findings summarized that, when people have to work to find consistency and meaning in a fragmented story, it increases "the cognitive mechanisms responsible for implicitly learning statistical regularities".

Context and origins
Franz Kafka, Jean-Paul Sartre, Samuel Beckett, Eugène Ionesco, Albert Camus, Saul Bellow, Donald Barthelme and Cormac McCarthy are considered to be the most well-known composers of absurdist fiction. Kafka (1883–1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist, and a notorious absurdist. Writers that influenced Kafka include Friedrich Nietzsche, Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Dickens and more. Kafka's most popular fictional stories include "The Judgment", published in 1912; The Metamorphosis, published 1915; "In the Penal Colony", published 1919; and "A Hunger Artist", published 1922. The Trial, written between 1914 and 1915, is recognised as Kafka's most well-known fiction. In its "mythic symbolism of a world gone berserk", Kafka's use of mythology, comedy, aphorism and surrealism epitomise the distinctive features of absurdist fiction. Franz Kafka's influence on absurdism was so great that he is referred to by some as the "King of the Absurd" and a leader of the absurd movement. Others argue that Kafka was predominantly a Surrealist, however Kafka clarifies his unique style as "the blend of absurd, surreal and mundane which gave rise to the adjective 'Kafkaesque'". Samuel Beckett was also an early absurdist; an Irish novelist, playwright, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. Beckett's well-known Waiting for Godot, premiered in 1953, is classified within absurdist theatre using techniques of tragicomedy. The characteristics introduced by Beckett included bitter humour and despair, and a vivid and spontaneous improvisation on the absurdity of theatre (Dickson, Andrew, 2017). Eugène Ionesco was a Romanian French playwright, one of the foremost composers of French avant-garde theatre and a leader of absurdism. Ionesco's The Chairs (1952) was branded as a "tragic farce" by Ionesco himself in its experimentation of absurdist motifs, existentialism and nonsensical verse, of which elaborates on incommunicability in our human lives.

Ideology
The term "absurd" has roots in the Latin "absurdus", meaning "contrary to reason" or "inharmonious". The term elaborates on the concept of the modern word corresponding to the identification of the irrational and incongruous nature of everyday life. The ideology and philosophy behind the absurdist fiction genre stems from nihilism and existentialism extracted from the 20th-century world. Søren Kierkegaard (1813–1855), known as the "father of existentialism", was a prolific Danish writer who opposed conventional boundaries of philosophy, psychology, theology, fiction and literary criticism. Kierkegaard's philosophy contends with the plausibility of Christendom, and inherently disputes the sense of purpose it prompts in personal life. The concept of the absurd was used by Kierkegaard to term the point in which faith becomes indefensible, yet valid for those who employ it, and it alone. Kierkegaard heavily influenced the work of Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus. Existentialism as a philosophical approach or theory emphasises the single individual's existence and the concept of an individual as a free agent in determining their own meaning or purpose in life. On the other hand, nihilism is the recognition that life has no intrinsic meaning. Absurdist fiction in relation to existentialism expresses what happens when human existence has no meaning or purpose, therefore all communication breaks down. Eugène Ionesco's The Bald Soprano (1950) is an absurdist fiction text which emphasises in depth the notion of mankind's inability to communicate with each other. Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) was a cultural critic, composer, poet, philologist, and a Latin and Greek egg scholar who also yielded profound inspiration in Western philosophy and modern intellectual history. Nietzsche is another primary influencer on the philosophy and ideology behind the absurd. His interest in nihilism, in particular his views on Christianity and God, alludes to the traditions of the Western world in their reliance on religion as a "moral compass" and source of meaning. Nietzsche claimed that this dependence is now unviable, appearing in his novel The Gay Science, published 1882, translated in 1974. The writings of Nietzsche influenced absurdist fiction in the influence on Sartre and Albert Camus. Particularly, Camus' understanding of nihilism was heavily motivated by the conception that Nietzsche put forth of life and death and the nihilistic perspectives of such.

Absurdist fiction in novels
French writer Albert Camus is the novelist that most literary critics date the concept of absurdist fiction to, with Camus' most famous novel, L'Étranger (The Stranger, 1942), and his philosophical essay "The Myth of Sisyphus" (1942). The Bohemian, German-speaking, Franz Kafka is another absurdist fiction novelist. Kafka's novel The Trial was published in 1925 after Kafka's death in 1924. Kafka's novel encompasses mankind's inability to engage in communication in a purposeless world.

Examples
Examples of absurdist fiction writers include:
 * John Swartzwelder
 * Edward Albee
 * Samuel Beckett (e.g., Waiting for Godot, The Unnamable)
 * Albert Camus
 * Fyodor Dostoevsky
 * Jean Genet (e.g., The Maids)
 * Nikolai Gogol
 * James Kelman (e.g., How Late It Was, How Late)
 * Franz Kafka (e.g., The Metamorphosis, The Trial, The Castle)
 * Haruki Murakami
 * Jean-Paul Sartre
 * Philip K. Dick (e.g., A Scanner Darkly)
 * Maccio Capatonda
 * Kurt Vonnegut
 * Kōbō Abe
 * Daniil Kharms
 * Osamu Dazai
 * Boris Vian (e.g., Froth on the Daydream)
 * Terry Pratchett (e.g., Discworld)

Individual absurdist works include:
 * Dino Buzzati's The Tartar Steppe
 * Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man
 * Muriel Spark's The Driver's Seat and The Hothouse by the East River
 * Edward Albee's Seascape and The American Dream
 * Joseph Heller's Catch-22
 * Thomas Pynchon's V. and The Crying of Lot 49
 * John Irving's The World According to Garp
 * Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove
 * Plays by Eugène Ionesco (e.g., The Bald Soprano; The Lesson, etc.)
 * Some early plays of Harold Pinter
 * Some works by Tom Stoppard (e.g., Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead)
 * Alexander Sukhovo-Kobylin's Tarelkin's Death
 * Witold Gombrowicz's Cosmos
 * Netflix TV series BoJack Horseman
 * Lars von Trier's Riget
 * Brian Patrick Butler's Friend of the World
 * Noah Baumbach's White Noise

Examples of notable absurdist filmmakers include:
 * Ingmar Bergman
 * Luis Buñuel
 * Daniels (e.g., Swiss Army Man and Everything Everywhere All at Once)
 * Werner Herzog
 * Harmony Korine
 * Coen brothers
 * Charlie Kaufman
 * Yorgos Lanthimos
 * David Lynch
 * Roman Polanski (e.g., Knife in the Water, Repulsion, Cul-de-sac, Carnage, etc.)
 * Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim
 * Quentin Dupieux

Characteristics and techniques
Albert Camus' The Myth of Sisyphus (1942) extracts from the Greek fable of a man forced to continuously roll a rock up a mountain only for it to roll back down the mountain due to its own weight, a dilemma that lasts for eternity. Camus elucidates his own symbolism as a representation of the human condition in a world where we face the universal difficulty of making sense of events; however instead of turning to suicide that we must reconcile with the "elusive feeling of absurdity" and endure it to the best of our abilities. Franz Kafka's The Trial (1925) follows the tale of Josef K., a man who is arrested and prosecuted by an authority that is remote and inaccessible; both him and the reader are not told the nature of his crime or why he was prosecuted. Kafka uses restrained prose throughout the novel to add dramatic irony as well as the illogical and inconsistent line of events of the arrest and court case of Joseph K. Kafka's novel can be perceived to imply a gap in the rational world as a result of hyper-rationalization consuming society, an example highlighted by Kafka being the judiciary. Kafka employs erroneous alliteration and literary manipulation to compose a nonsensical, existentialist novel that exemplifies the inhumanity, alienation and absurdity persisting in the modern world alongside the impacts of totalitarianism, injustice and bureaucracy as a whole.

Theatre of the Absurd
The Theatre of the Absurd is termed as a post-World War One designation for absurdist fiction plays, specifically those written by primarily European playwrights in the late twentieth century, also as one for the style of theatre which has evolved from their work. Martin Esslin, a literary critic, coined the term "Theatre of the Absurd" in his 1960 essay Theatre of the Absurd. Esslin related these selected plays based on the broad theme of the absurd, similar to the way Camus used the term in his 1942 essay The Myth of Sisyphus. The ideology of the Theatre of the Absurd is drawn from existentialism and expresses the result of human existence becoming deprived of meaning or purpose and the result of all communication thus breaking down. Logical construction and argument within absurdist theatre gave way to characteristics of irrational and illogical speech and the ultimate conclusion of silence. The Theatre of the Absurd involves a fascination with absurdity in a range of forms; the existential, philosophical, emotional and dramaturgical. The Theatre of the Absurd as a dramatic form inherently pushes theatre to the extreme, while posing questions about what both reality and unreality truly look like. Martin Esslin named the four defining playwrights of the Theatre of the Absurd movement as Samuel Beckett, Arthur Adamov, Eugène Ionesco, and Jean Genet. In later editions of his essay he included a fifth playwright, Harold Pinter. Other writers that are also associated with this movement by Esslin and other critics are Tom Stoppard, Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Fernando Arrabal, Edward Albee, Boris Vian, and Jean Tardieu.

Characteristics
The Theatre of the Absurd subverts conventional theatrical form audiences have come to expect when viewing a play. Movement of the plot is arbitrary; characters of absurdist theatre are mostly unfamiliar and strangely motivated, scenery is often unrecognizable and sometimes unchanging or desolate, and dialogue appears to be nonsense. To absurdist playwrights, chaos and irrationality represent reality better than rationality and order. Plays can be both tragic and comic in nature, characteristic of the tragicomedy genre in theatre.

Examples

 * Alliteration
 * Repetition
 * Lists
 * Allusion
 * Dramatic devices
 * Neologism
 * Convolution
 * Stream of consciousness
 * Irony
 * Satire

Theatre of the Absurd plays
Eugène Ionesco's The Bald Soprano (1950) is a memorable absurdist theatre play. Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot (1953) is an absurdist theatre play with two acts using dramatic techniques. Other examples include Jean-Paul Sartre's play No Exit (1944), Max Frisch's play The Firebugs (1953) and Ezio D'Errico's play The Anthill and Time of the Locusts (1954). Thornton Wilder's The Long Christmas Dinner (1931) and Jean Tardieu's Underground Lovers (1934) are earlier examples.

Techniques and devices examples
Romanian-French playwright Eugène Ionesco's The Bald Soprano (1950) is a dominating play central to the Theatre of the Absurd, its "dreamlike symphony of nonsensical speech and disjointed associations expose how hopeless human communication is". The "nonsensical speech" and "disjointed associations" are key elements of the Theatre of the Absurd. Most of the dialogue in Ionesco's play has little meaning and frequently there is outright gibberish in the actors' speeches. The satire and nonsensical discourse present throughout Ionesco's text serves his purpose in presenting how nonsensical mundane life can be. Ionesco's engagement with existentialism is also characteristic of absurdist theatre, and distinct in the utilisation of the seemingly ridiculous English language and society's unwillingness to communicate with each other. Ionesco's The Bald Soprano encompasses mankind's inability to engage in communication in a purposeless world, reiterating the influence of Existentialism on Absurdist Fiction and how this presents in texts within the Theatre of the Absurd literary genre.

Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot (1953), an originally French text, is an absurdist theatre drama that is described as one of the most important plays of the 20th century despite its early reception. The play was first performed on January 5, 1953, at Theatre de babylone in Paris. The reception of the play in the 1950s can be interpreted by critics reviews. Literary critic Vivian Mercer claimed that the play was "a play in which nothing happens, twice", alluding to the two acts that take a cyclical form. Alfonso Sastre, another literary critic reviewing Beckett's text, described the play as "a death certificate for hope"; he continues, "what is so fascinating about waiting for Godot; [is] that nothing happens. It is a lucid testimony of nothingness." Beckett’s desolate universe in his play is rendered by Absurdist techniques; an unchanging landscape, characters subjected to random and whimsical acts of violence with cyclical discourse. Beckett captures the sense of perpetual anticipation for meaning in humanity in the portrayal of the relationship between ‘Gogo’ and ‘Didi’, a strong interdependence mixed with irritability. The tragicomedy element to Beckett's absurdist fiction play adds a comic futility that can be compared to slapstick comedy and cartoon characters such as the characters Tom and Jerry. The relationship between the two characters in Waiting for Godot (Vladimir and Estragon) is whimsical, interdependent yet irritable. Their nature, dialogue and interactions are reminiscent of familiar comical duos such as Laurel and Hardy and Tom and Jerry.

title: Absurdist fiction