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Talk:Exploit (computer security)

Extend privileges
An exploit may or may not 'extend privileges'. It could cicumvent access control, or entend it to provide or extends access to a feature _or_ allows a feature to be used in a manner not intended by the softwares developers. --MartinSpamer 18:03, 27 January 2003 (UTC)

 * there are always such misfeatures, bugs, holes, whatever you wanna call 'em. It's best not to distinguish but imagine software itself as swiss cheese that one grabs onto by fumbling fingers in the dark, some of which give access to the center and let you grab the whole cheese, take it out of the dark, adn eat it. --142.177.104.164 18:10, 27 January 2003 (UTC)

This is supposed to be an encyclopedia, its whole premises is centered on completeness and accuracy. --MartinSpamer 17:21, 2 February 2003 (UTC)

This is not computer science
The term "exploit" as defined here is not a computer science term. It is a term from computer security operations. I propose that this article be moved to Exploit (computer security). Any objections? --FOo 14:29, 18 August 2004 (UTC)

 * Well, nobody objected in a few months, so moved it is. --FOo 04:24, 4 February 2005 (UTC)

Numerious problems
I really feel that this article could be brought up to the level of wikipedia's other computer related articles, but as I am not a hacker or person skilled in computer security, I do not feel comfortable attempting to do this myself. A number of problems that concerned me about this article follow. I have restrained myself to improving the initial definition to be a bit more broad and complete.

The first problem is the distinction between a remote and local exploit. While these are terms that should be discussed, as they are in common usage, not all exploits will fall into one of these two catagories and is therefore not a universal classification.

I feel that a more general description of an exploit should include that an exploit is something that "exploits" a programming bug, setup bug, or abuses a feature. Does anyone have any comments on this? Immediately talking about common types of exploits misses that these are all types of bugs, and that exploit finding is really a subset of bug finding.

It's pedantic of me to point this out, but the term super-user is unix/linux/bsd/*nix specific. Going back to my broader definition, I would like to use a hypothetical example. Many (all?) elevators in the United States have telephones in them for communication with the elevator's users durring an emergency. An unintended or incidental behavor exists however, in that in some elevators it is possible, given the correct phone number, to call the phone inside the elevator and listen to people inside. I would consider this an unintended use of an elevator feature, and therefore an exploit. This does not include getting extra access to a computer, any of the vulnerablity types mentioned, and appears to be outside the current stated scope of the article. Would this be considered an exploit?

I really think that this article could be brought up to the level of one of wikipedia's computer science articles, include broad examples, and include a holistic aproach to viewing exploits as a subset of bug finding.

Lastly, return to libc is not an attack, it is a technique used when control of a return address on the stack has been obtained. Please correct me if I am wrong about this.

-- Unfortunetly not anonymous user, November 7, 2006

Comments on numerous problems
The typical problem with any computer/information security discussion on wikipedia is nobody agrees on (and fewer people have a correct understanding of the nomenclature). This article confuses exploits, vulnerabilities and threats. I'd suggest dropping all the unsourced statements and start again. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 142.46.212.114 (talk) 19:55, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

Requested move 25 March 2018

 * The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the move request was: consensus not to move the pages at this time, per the discussion below. Dekimasu よ! 18:33, 31 March 2018 (UTC)

– This article makes sense as the WP:PRIMARYTOPIC. It gets 290 views daily with the video game article only getting 33 views daily, and while Exploitation of natural resources gets a lot of views, nobody would type in "Exploit" to look up that article, they would more likely type Exploitation. As the clear winner in terms of pageviews and precedence for the term "Exploit", it should be primary. ZXCVBNM (TALK) 12:54, 25 March 2018 (UTC)
 * Exploit (computer security) → Exploit
 * Exploit → Exploit (disambiguation)

 * Oppose Per WP:PTOPIC: "no single criterion for defining a primary topic, two major aspects that are commonly considered are [usage] and [long-term significance]"..."consensus may be useful in determining which topic, if any, is the primary topic." My input is it remain how it is, the term "exploit" has been used to describe labor and resources far longer than video games and computers. Also note PTOPIC's mention of Apple vs Apple Inc. Internet clicks is irrelevant, it doesn't give the whole picture. Having the disambiguation as the primary is a fair compromise already. DA1 (talk) 17:09, 25 March 2018 (UTC)
 * You are talking about the word "exploitation". "Exploit" on its own is not used to describe labor and resources, hence why it's called "labor exploitation" and not "labor exploits". There is a difference, which is why this should point to the subject that uses "Exploit". A hatnote can clear up any confusion.ZXCVBNM (TALK) 20:25, 25 March 2018 (UTC)
 * Oppose exploit is a common noun, and verb. This obscure computer security use would be WP:ASTONISHing. So far from a WP:PT surprised to see an RM In ictu oculi (talk) 08:36, 26 March 2018 (UTC)
 * Oppose – does not make sense as primarytopic. Dicklyon (talk) 02:52, 27 March 2018 (UTC)
 * Oppose. Oh please! Clearly no primary topic for this common English word. -- Necrothesp (talk) 13:31, 28 March 2018 (UTC)

 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

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

title: Talk:Exploit (computer security)


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Talk:Cement mixer

So that's why my house fell down... maybe we need something on the device the mixes cement as well as the docktail

I'll clear this article up... for a fairly common phrase, this is a very poorly written article. I'm going to split the two things into separate articles DoomBringer 23:36, 9 Jun 2005 (UTC)

The correct term for the truck is readi-mix truck or mixer truck. The term "cement mixer" is incorrect and should be changed to Concrete mixer. Cement is only one ingredient of concrete, the others being flyash, sand, rock, air entrainment, water reducer, and sometimes fibers, retarder, calcium, and plasticizer.

Should be Concrete mixer
...cant get the page moved.... should be moved to Concrete mixer. Did a edit on cement->concrete.....

finally figured it out.... moved page to Concrete mixer

Fair use rationale for Image:CementMixer.jpg
Image:CementMixer.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.

BetacommandBot 12:10, 26 October 2007 (UTC)

Just wondering
Has anyone ever tried one of these drinks? I used to win bar-bets with this one, as it is almost impossible to keep one in your mouth for 60 seconds. Qazox (talk) 05:54, 5 April 2010 (UTC)

Vodka and Milk
"In some places, vodka is used instead of lime juice, and, occasionally, milk is substituted for Bailey's. The vodka and milk version curdles more quickly and has a more cottage cheese-like consistency." This makes no sense to me, primarily because of: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Russian_%28cocktail%29

Can we get some clarity/citations on this part? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.113.195.119 (talk) 05:04, 25 February 2011 (UTC)

title: Talk:Cement mixer


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Talk:Parallel universes in fiction

quantism

 * In The Number of the Beast, Heinlein quantizes that the many parallel, fictional universes - in terms of works of fiction.

This usage of quantize is new to me. What, if anything, does it mean? (The sentence was more coherent but equally puzzling before the last change.) —Tamfang (talk) 04:01, 23 October 2023 (UTC)

The title doesn't reflect the content of the article.
The title suggests a conclusion. "It's all just fiction, not to be taken as a serious possibility." A better title would be "Parallel universe hypothesis." 2600:8801:BE01:2500:1499:78DB:4944:F113 (talk) 00:12, 29 March 2024 (UTC)

 * We also have articles like Mars in fiction. Does that imply the nonexistence of the planet Mars? —Tamfang (talk) 06:58, 3 May 2024 (UTC)

facsimiles

 * In some later retellings of Peter Pan, facsimiles of the characters created by J. M. Barrie ...

Does this mean the characters are impostors? Are they contrasted with the real ones, perhaps in backstory? —Tamfang (talk) 00:18, 30 April 2024 (UTC)

 * —Tamfang on your question: The characters depicted in these retellings are those created by J. M. Barrie but have been somewhat altered; They may have been re-named or their genders or ethnicities changed, been aged up or down or given different described appearances, different personalities or different roles. So essentially those authors have borrowed or copied these characters from J. M. Barrie but then have gone and made them their own to fit into their own interpretation of the story they've done! So they are based on J. M. Barrie's creations but are ever so slightly not! So what else would you call them but facsimiles? Please request the right word for them so I can rectify it!For example the character of John Darling in Nevermor is renamed Henry and aged up into a pre-teen while in Everland said character of John Darling is aged up into a teenager and changed into a girl called Joanna — Preceding CSOOCS comment added by CSOOCS (talk • contribs) 15:40, 30 April 2024 (UTC)

 * I would use a phrase like "Barrie's characters, though often somewhat altered". A facsimile is a copy as faithful as the medium allows. —Tamfang (talk) 16:52, 1 May 2024 (UTC)
 * We have a word count to think about how about pastiche? — Preceding CSOOCS comment added by CSOOCS (talk • contribs) 20:20, 1 May 2024 (UTC)
 * Funny you should mention word count … 😜 —Tamfang (talk) 06:42, 3 May 2024 (UTC)
 * I don't see where pastiche implies alteration. —Tamfang (talk) 06:44, 3 May 2024 (UTC)
 * When The Magicians was adapted for television, the main characters were aged from college freshman to grad student, one was renamed (from Janet to Margo, to reduce confusion with Jane and Julia) and her role greatly expanded, and two names of omitted minor characters were reused for new unrelated major characters. To calibrate my thinking, as it were, I wonder how you would summarize these changes. —Tamfang (talk) 06:57, 3 May 2024 (UTC)
 * I am now reminded of some similarities between the two characters called Penny. —Tamfang (talk) 03:15, 4 May 2024 (UTC)
 * Shall we just settle on alternative versions then? — Preceding CSOOCS comment added by CSOOCS (talk • contribs) 20:20, 1 May 2024 (UTC)
 * I'm cool with that. —Tamfang (talk) 03:13, 4 May 2024 (UTC)

an alternate history is not necessarily a parallel universe story
I see some muddling of parallel worlds, like Oz, with alternate timelines. I would not include the latter here unless the different forks are equally real and somehow coexist, allowing communication between them. That of It's a Wonderful Life is temporary and perhaps illusory. In It Happened Here, is there any mention of our timeline? —Tamfang (talk) 03:50, 11 June 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Parallel universes in fiction


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Talk:Caucasian

(( Moved text to Talk:Caucasian race ))

"Caucasian" has several distinct meanings in different contexts, and none seems universaly more important than others. In particular, the linguistic sense and the strict geographic sense(s) seem to be the most important ones among *I vote to make "Caucasian race" the main article here with a link at the top to the disambiguation. There are really only two things we need to disambiguate here, "Caucasian race" and "Caucasian languages". "Caucasian race" is really what people are looking for when they search for "Caucasian." ☞spencer195 05:24, 9 May 2004 (UTC)

I dispute that assertion. To many people, Caucasian languages and Caucasian peoples are much more important subjects than Caucasian race. The latter was considered a scientific concept in the pre-DNA era, but became meaningless in the light of modern genetics. Now we know that even people of supposedly "pure races" are more genetically mixed than even the most radical skeptics would have guessed; and that each gene (e.g. for eye color) diffuses and get selected quite independently of other genes. So it seems odd to put an obsolete concept, whose interest is only historical, as the main article of an encyclopedia; and leave those concepts that do have scientific (and political) relevance hidden behind a disambig. Moreover, even people who come here looking for "Caucasian race" will probably benefit from knowing that there are at least three distinct senses of "Caucasian", not to mention the linguistic and geographical ones. Note that "Caucasian type" in government forms is very different from "Caucasian race" in racial politics, from the "Caucasian race" of various Caucasus nationalist movements, and from the "Caucasian race" of 19th century anthopologists. Jorge Stolfi 18:49, 12 May 2004 (UTC)

Regarding "common usage, especially in North America"
I would like to take issue with the statement that "in common usage and political political contexts, especially North America, Caucasian usually means a white person of northern, eastern and western European descent, excluding people with southern European descent (which are often called "Latins"), or with Asian, African, or Mediterranean origin." This statement is simply incorrect and does not reflect common usage in the United States.

I am Italian-born, therefore a southern European, who has lived in the United States for over thirty years, and I know this country very well. I assure you that southern Europeans are not referred to as "Latins" in this country, for the simple reason that this term is used to refer specifically to Latin-Americans (or Hispanics). It may be that in Northern Europe the term "Latin" is frequently applied to Italians and other southern Europeans, but not in the United States.

Personally, I have no axe to grind. I would have no problem with being labeled a "Latin" as I feel totally comfortable with the "Latin" (i.e. Latin-American) culture, and speak both Spanish and Portuguese fluently. As a matter of fact, in the United States, I can "pass" for "Latin" culturally, but I know full well that what I am doing is "passing" (an important term in North-American anthropology, meaning "to appear to belong to another racial/cultural/ethnic group than one's own").

Furthermore, having been an anthropology maven since the tender age of fourteen, I have always known that "Caucasian" is not synonymous with either "white" or "European" in traditional physical anthropology, and that, for example, Ethiopians or South Indians are as Caucasian as the Swedes and Finns, even if their skin tone is jet-black. (While the classifications of traditional physical anthropology have been rendered nearly meaningless by more recent genetic studies, as Jorge Stolfi correctly points out, they still maintain a certain degree of broad usefulness.)

For better or for worse, Americans have traditionally been obsessed with separating whites from blacks (remember the "one-drop rule" or the "paperbag test" and other such racist yardsticks), but not so much with creating too many distinctive categories. Only in recent decades, such terms as "Asian/Pacific Islander" (a broad category including East Asians, South-East Asians, plus all the native people of Oceania) or "Hispanic" (a cultural category, spanning any combination of Native American, European, and African genetic descent) have become common. But the increasing numbers of people of North-African, Southwest Asian, and South Asian descent continue to defy easy classification. And as for the term "Mediterranean," you hear Americans apply it to a cuisine, a diet, a lifestyle, but never in opposition to "Caucasian."

In conclusion, without getting lost in too many details, I would like to propose amending the above passage as follows:

in common usage and political contexts, especially in North America, Caucasian usually means a white person of European descent, excluding people with Asian, African, or Middle-Eastern origin.

(NOTE: An analogous correction should be made in the article "Caucasian race".}

Pasquale 22:09, 2 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Following a couple of recent contributions, the wording of the paragraph referred to above has changed, although not necessarily for the better. A rather wordy paragraph now claims that "in common usage and political contexts, Caucasian refers to light-complexioned people indigenous to, or descended from Europe, northern Africa, southwest Asia, and the Indian subcontinent. In North America, Caucasian usually means a white person of northern, eastern and western European descent, excluding people with significant Asian, African, or American Indian ancestry." This paragraph brings together the meaning from traditional physical anthropology (in the first half) with the common meaning of "white" (in the second half). However, in the second half, southern Europeans are again left out, although the last sentence does not specifically excludes them. With all due respect, I would say this rewording actually adds to the confusion.

Also, the word "censitary" used in the third bullet (and linked to "Census") is not an English word.

And, finally, the reference to "a Latin designation such as "Varietes Caucasia," (sic)" in the second bullet is truly puzzling. I looked back at the history and suspect this term was first introduced by Levzur, who, however, correctly spelled the first word as "Varietas" (a later editor must have accidentally changed that to "Varietes" which is not Latin). The second word should be "Caucasica" (this is the correct Latin adjective, as in the bacterial species "Borrelia caucasica"), however "Caucasia" is conceivable (the Latin Wikipedia, for example, includes a reference to "Linguae Ibero-Caucasiae" with no further information), although it would indeed warrant the use of "(sic)" after it. This is all rather puzzling and hardly neutral encyclopedia information.

P.S. I did some additional research. Although the more correct Latin adjective would have been "Caucasica" (widely attested since antiquity), J. F. Blumenbach apparently used the term "Varietas Caucasia" (or "Caucasia Varietas") for his definition of the "Caucasian race."

Pasquale 20:48, 6 Jul 2004 (UTC)

 * Well, the original Latin adjective appears to be Caucasius (the feminine Caucasia agrees with 'varietas'). Caucasica would be something that appeared after the Roman period. Don't trust everything you read in taxonomic species names: Biologists will say just about anything ;p  The adjective ending in -ius/-ia/-ium appears in some other national adjectives, such as Armenius (Armenian), Aegyptius (Egyptian), and Atropatius (Azerbaijani).  —Muke Tever (la.wikipedia and la.wiktionary sysop) 23:28, 3 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Circular link
This page had a circular link (Caucasian type is a redirect back to Caucasian). I have left it unlinked, since it seems to be a term distinct from Caucasian race. — Danc 14:07, 28 Aug 2004 (UTC)

user: title_nation@mail.ge 29 June 2005 CAUCASIAN is an inapropreate term for practices inumerated above.The term derives from a village called Cauc-meaning simply 'snow', 'snow-clad' in Kartuli.Caucasian language group is a fiction,introduced by alien war-mongers in the 19-th century. Prof. Ivane Javakhishvili used to call them SO CALLED Caucasian languages stressing that they are not what they seem. He was poisoned and an unworthy man was placed at the top of the Academy of the Sciences of the Republic of Sakartuelo.That term and the corresponding activity was imposed by the Russian Tsarist and the subsequent Soviet Imperialistic policy.During the last decade there is talk on the disqualification of all the pseudoscientific Soviettime works and their indecent authors.

Caucasian(Russian use)
"In Russia, the term is used in it's literal sense of 'from the Caucasus', but more specifically for a physique that is most typical of that region, namely small and dark skinned. So this is in the direct opposition to the common colloquial English language meaning of "Caucasian" as the "white race". Typically, the term is used with negative connotations nearly identical to the Anglo-Saxon prejudice of "darkness". Some people from the Caucaus refute these prejudices; others ignore them. See also "Caucasophobia"."

I disagree. The term "кавказец" is used to describe a person who is (or thought to be) or has some kind of ethnic background from the Caucusus region. Small and dark-skinned people from Southeast Asia, for example, would not qualify as "кавказцы". It might be added the usage of "Caucasian" in the US has led to some humorous translation errors in mystery novels and some badly-translated movies. People with a "Caucasian" look about them may be mistaken for "кавказцы", but the term would no longer apply if it was revealed that they were not actually from the Caucusus. At any rate the term itself is not inherently racist(though there is another commonly used one which is); it is used simply to describe people of this ethnicity, who are encountered more often in Russia than in the English-speaking world(where there is no such similar word in widespread usage). The prejudice against Caucasian people in Russia is a different matter. --Pravit 6 July 2005 17:58 (UTC)

-- I removed the picture which had nothing to do with the subject, and could even make people think this article was not following Wikipedia's neutral attitude. -- 5 Sept 2005

Usage in Australia
In Australia the word Caucasian is used to refer to those people who have Anglo-Saxon background, this happens in the media as well as in official documents. There is an important number of Australians who are of Greek, Italian or other European descent which are not regarded as Caucasians. The Australian government refers to them as the ethnic communities along with other racial minorities.--tequendamia 11:08, 16 September 2005 (UTC)

 * In my experience, "Caucasian" applies to any white person whether Anglo-Saxon or other white European. The difference is, as you say, Southern Europeans (ie, Greeks, Southern Italians, Spaniards etc), are not always considered white in the purist sense. Hangover from the White Australia days, I suppose. But Nords and Germans (Saxons afterall) would be considered "Caucasian".--Cyberjunkie | Talk 11:50, 16 September 2005 (UTC)

Race is a myth
With DNA analysis, "race" has been shown to be a total myth. Humans come in all colors of beige, from light shades to dark browns, but we are essentially all the same. We should entitle this article "Caucasian" not "Caucasian race". MathStatWoman 00:59, 24 January 2006 (UTC)

 * Caucasian and Caucasian race are indeed separate articles. Maybe you got confused because Caucasian Race (caps) was a redirect to Caucasian instead of Caucasian race (uncap). It is fixed now. As for having an article on Caucasian race, it doesn't matter whether concept of race is scientifically meaningful or not. The concept is terribly important in politics, sociology, history of philosophy, etc., so it deserves an article, just as psychic surgery or Mu (lost continent). All the best, Jorge Stolfi 04:17, 28 January 2006 (UTC)

Proposal for name swap
I propose that this be moved to Caucasian (disambiguation) and that this redirects to Caucasian race as it is actually the primary topic. Arenlor (talk) 10:41, 23 January 2010 (UTC)

title: Talk:Caucasian


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Talk:Indirect bandgap

Is this entirely correct: "Indirect bandgap semiconductors can absorb light, however this only occurs for photons with significantly more energy than the bandgap."
 * wull, there's a slope there. I'd put it: "Indirect bandgap semiconductors do absorb light, however they do so weakly for photons with only slightly more energy than the bandgap.  The absorption rate (i.e., in %/micrometer) increases a few orders of magnitude as the photon energy becomes significantly more than the bandgap."  Remember distance matters: black glass sliced very thin looks mostly clear, and a 10-mile ball of your clearest quartz would probably look black. jimswen 10:16, 8 March 2007 (UTC)

Couldn't an indirect semiconductor absorb a photon with the bandgap energy, if the momentum vector of the photon was just right? --User:Dgrant

 * No, because the momentum of a photon is very small compared to the momentum offset between CB and VB. Radiative transitions appear as very nearly vertical lines on the E-k diagram. Radiative recombination and emission is possible with the help of a well-placed phonon, but such events are very unlikely. In practice, conduction band electrons in silicon are de-excited via traps. -- Tim

E-k space
Can someone explain what the E-k space / k-vector is? I don't get it. Thanks, --Abdull 12:14, 30 May 2005 (UTC)

 * k-vector is about the same as velocity vector, except it doesn't follow the same square-law E vs v curve as a free electron in a vaccum. Inside the crystal the atoms make a bumpy potential field, somewhat like driving over a dirt road with wash-board ripples. So there are energy components dependent on velocity, adding to classical kinetic energy. Parts of the E-k curve near k=0 (standing still) are parabolic, about like kinetic energy (E=1/2mv^2). jimswen 09:56, 8 March 2007 (UTC)

 * Words do not constitute an explanation. That also seems to be the problem with this article. Graft | talk 21:35, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

Absorption Spectrum (Silicon comment)
Recommend revision to include: "visible wavelengths correspond to photons with energy greater than that of silicon's bandgap." Perhaps with a link to Planck's constant, Silicon's bandgap energy, etc. It currently is not immediately obvious that the statement applied to Silicon (Eg = 1.14) is true.

application
Do such semiconductors make good sound-emitting diodes? :) -lysdexia 02:43, 3 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Not usually. They don't emit well straight away from the face, and they don't expand or contract much with temperature, and any phonons generated are unlikely to be coherent with each other. I did read somewhere that lateral current in a surface layer could cause travelling-wave amplification of surface-waves, which could couple to grazing-emission sound. jimswen 10:04, 8 March 2007 (UTC)

Image
I've made an image of an indirect band gap which shows it as the combination of the optical transition with phonon assistance to create the necessary change in momentum. Anyway it matches the one of the Direct bandgap page. Does anyone think this would be a better image?

Profjohn 20:09, 2 May 2007 (UTC)

 * This is much clearer than the trio of images included, which don't even have a legend. What are they for? Who knows. Your figure is much clearer... I am going to put it in. Graft | talk 21:36, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

title: Talk:Indirect bandgap


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Paradigm

In science and philosophy, a paradigm is a distinct set of concepts or thought patterns, including theories, research methods, postulates, and standards for what constitute legitimate contributions to a field. The word paradigm is Greek in origin, meaning "pattern."

Etymology
Paradigm comes from Greek παράδειγμα (paradeigma); "pattern, example, sample"; from the verb παραδείκνυμι (paradeiknumi); "exhibit, represent, expose"; and that from παρά (para); "beside, beyond"; and δείκνυμι (deiknumi); "to show, to point out".

In classical (Greek-based) rhetoric, a paradeigma aims to provide an audience with an illustration of a similar occurrence. This illustration is not meant to take the audience to a conclusion; however, it is used to help guide them to get there.

One way of how a paradeigma is meant to guide an audience would be exemplified by the role of a personal accountant. It is not the job of a personal accountant to tell a client exactly what (and what not) to spend money on, but to aid in guiding a client as to how money should be spent based on the client's financial goals. Anaximenes defined paradeigma as "actions that have occurred previously and are similar to, or the opposite of, those which we are now discussing".

The original Greek term παράδειγμα (paradeigma) was used by scribes in Greek texts (such as Plato's dialogues Timaeus [c.  360 BCE] and  Parmenides) as one possibility for the model or the pattern that the demiurge supposedly used to create the cosmos.

The English-language term paradigm has technical meanings in the fields of grammar (as applied, for example, to declension and conjugation – the 1900 Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the technical use of paradigm only in the context of grammar) and of rhetoric (as a term for an illustrative parable or fable). In linguistics, Ferdinand de Saussure (1857–1913) used paradigm to refer to a class of elements with similarities (as opposed to syntagma – a class of elements expressing relationship. ).

The Merriam-Webster Online dictionary defines one usage of paradigm as "a philosophical and theoretical framework of a scientific school or discipline within which theories, laws, and generalizations and the experiments performed in support of them are formulated; broadly: a philosophical or theoretical framework of any kind."

The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy (2008) attributes the following description of the term in the history and philosophy of science to Thomas Kuhn's 1962 work The Structure of Scientific Revolutions: "Kuhn suggests that certain scientific works, such as Newton's Principia or John Dalton's New System of Chemical Philosophy (1808), provide an open-ended resource: a framework of concepts, results, and procedures within which subsequent work is structured. Normal science proceeds within such a framework or paradigm. A paradigm does not impose a rigid or mechanical approach, but can be taken more or less creatively and flexibly."

Scientific paradigm
The Oxford English Dictionary defines a paradigm as "a pattern or model, an exemplar; a typical instance of something, an example". The historian of science Thomas Kuhn gave the word its contemporary meaning when he adopted the word to refer to the set of concepts and practices that define a scientific discipline at any particular period of time. In his book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (first published in 1962), Kuhn defines a scientific paradigm as: "universally recognized scientific achievements that, for a time, provide model problems and solutions to a community of practitioners, i.e.,
 * what is to be observed and scrutinized
 * the kind of questions that are supposed to be asked and probed for answers in relation to this subject
 * how these questions are to be structured
 * what predictions made by the primary theory within the discipline
 * how the results of scientific investigations should be interpreted
 * how an experiment is to be conducted, and what equipment is available to conduct the experiment.

In The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Kuhn saw the sciences as going through alternating periods of normal science, when an existing model of reality dominates a protracted period of puzzle-solving, and revolution, when the model of reality itself undergoes sudden drastic change. Paradigms have two aspects. Firstly, within normal science, the term refers to the set of exemplary experiments that are likely to be copied or emulated. Secondly, underpinning this set of exemplars are shared preconceptions, made prior to – and conditioning – the collection of evidence. These preconceptions embody both hidden assumptions and elements that Kuhn describes as quasi-metaphysical. The interpretations of the paradigm may vary among individual scientists.

Kuhn was at pains to point out that the rationale for the choice of exemplars is a specific way of viewing reality: that view and the status of "exemplar" are mutually reinforcing. For well-integrated members of a particular discipline, its paradigm is so convincing that it normally renders even the possibility of alternatives unconvincing and counter-intuitive. Such a paradigm is opaque, appearing to be a direct view of the bedrock of reality itself, and obscuring the possibility that there might be other, alternative imageries hidden behind it. The conviction that the current paradigm is reality tends to disqualify evidence that might undermine the paradigm itself; this in turn leads to a build-up of unreconciled anomalies. It is the latter that is responsible for the eventual revolutionary overthrow of the incumbent paradigm, and its replacement by a new one. Kuhn used the expression paradigm shift (see below) for this process, and likened it to the perceptual change that occurs when our interpretation of an ambiguous image "flips over" from one state to another. (The rabbit-duck illusion is an example: it is not possible to see both the rabbit and the duck simultaneously.) This is significant in relation to the issue of incommensurability (see below).

An example of a currently accepted paradigm would be the standard model of physics. The scientific method allows for orthodox scientific investigations into phenomena that might contradict or disprove the standard model; however grant funding would be proportionately more difficult to obtain for such experiments, depending on the degree of deviation from the accepted standard model theory the experiment would test for. To illustrate the point, an experiment to test for the mass of neutrinos or the decay of protons (small departures from the model) is more likely to receive money than experiments that look for the violation of the conservation of momentum, or ways to engineer reverse time travel.

Mechanisms similar to the original Kuhnian paradigm have been invoked in various disciplines other than the philosophy of science. These include: the idea of major cultural themes, worldviews (and see below), ideologies, and mindsets. They have somewhat similar meanings that apply to smaller and larger scale examples of disciplined thought. In addition, Michel Foucault used the terms episteme and discourse, mathesis, and taxinomia, for aspects of a "paradigm" in Kuhn's original sense.

Paradigm shifts
In The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Kuhn wrote that "the successive transition from one paradigm to another via revolution is the usual developmental pattern of mature science" (p. 12).

Paradigm shifts tend to appear in response to the accumulation of critical anomalies as well as in the form of the proposal of a new theory with the power to encompass both older relevant data and explain relevant anomalies. New paradigms tend to be most dramatic in sciences that appear to be stable and mature, as in physics at the end of the 19th century. At that time, a statement generally attributed to physicist Lord Kelvin famously claimed, "There is nothing new to be discovered in physics now. All that remains is more and more precise measurement." Five years later, Albert Einstein published his paper on special relativity, which challenged the set of rules laid down by Newtonian mechanics, which had been used to describe force and motion for over two hundred years. In this case, the new paradigm reduces the old to a special case in the sense that Newtonian mechanics is still a good model for approximation for speeds that are slow compared to the speed of light. Many philosophers and historians of science, including Kuhn himself, ultimately accepted a modified version of Kuhn's model, which synthesizes his original view with the gradualist model that preceded it. Kuhn's original model is now generally seen as too limited.

Some examples of contemporary paradigm shifts include:
 * In medicine, the transition from "clinical judgment" to evidence-based medicine
 * In social psychology, the transition from p-hacking to replication
 * In software engineering, the transition from the Rational Paradigm to the Empirical Paradigm
 * In artificial intelligence, the transition from classical AI to data-driven AI

Kuhn's idea was, itself, revolutionary in its time. It caused a major change in the way that academics talk about science; and, so, it may be that it caused (or was part of) a "paradigm shift" in the history and sociology of science. However, Kuhn would not recognize such a paradigm shift. Being in the social sciences, people can still use earlier ideas to discuss the history of science.

Paradigm paralysis
Perhaps the greatest barrier to a paradigm shift, in some cases, is the reality of paradigm paralysis: the inability or refusal to see beyond the current models of thinking. This is similar to what psychologists term confirmation bias and the Semmelweis reflex. Examples include rejection of Aristarchus of Samos', Copernicus', and Galileo's theory of a heliocentric solar system, the discovery of electrostatic photography, xerography and the quartz clock.

Incommensurability
Kuhn pointed out that it could be difficult to assess whether a particular paradigm shift had actually led to progress, in the sense of explaining more facts, explaining more important facts, or providing better explanations, because the understanding of "more important", "better", etc. changed with the paradigm. The two versions of reality are thus incommensurable. Kuhn's version of incommensurability has an important psychological dimension. This is apparent from his analogy between a paradigm shift and the flip-over involved in some optical illusions. However, he subsequently diluted his commitment to incommensurability considerably, partly in the light of other studies of scientific development that did not involve revolutionary change. One of the examples of incommensurability that Kuhn used was the change in the style of chemical investigations that followed the work of Lavoisier on atomic theory in the late 18th century. In this change, the focus had shifted from the bulk properties of matter (such as hardness, colour, reactivity, etc.) to studies of atomic weights and quantitative studies of reactions. He suggested that it was impossible to make the comparison needed to judge which body of knowledge was better or more advanced. However, this change in research style (and paradigm) eventually (after more than a century) led to a theory of atomic structure that accounts well for the bulk properties of matter; see, for example, Brady's General Chemistry. According to P J Smith, this ability of science to back off, move sideways, and then advance is characteristic of the natural sciences, but contrasts with the position in some social sciences, notably economics.

This apparent ability does not guarantee that the account is veridical at any one time, of course, and most modern philosophers of science are fallibilists. However, members of other disciplines do see the issue of incommensurability as a much greater obstacle to evaluations of "progress"; see, for example, Martin Slattery's Key Ideas in Sociology.

Subsequent developments
Opaque Kuhnian paradigms and paradigm shifts do exist. A few years after the discovery of the mirror-neurons that provide a hard-wired basis for the human capacity for empathy, the scientists involved were unable to identify the incidents that had directed their attention to the issue. Over the course of the investigation, their language and metaphors had changed so that they themselves could no longer interpret all of their own earlier laboratory notes and records.

Imre Lakatos and research programmes
However, many instances exist in which change in a discipline's core model of reality has happened in a more evolutionary manner, with individual scientists exploring the usefulness of alternatives in a way that would not be possible if they were constrained by a paradigm. Imre Lakatos suggested (as an alternative to Kuhn's formulation) that scientists actually work within research programmes. In Lakatos' sense, a research programme is a sequence of problems, placed in order of priority. This set of priorities, and the associated set of preferred techniques, is the positive heuristic of a programme. Each programme also has a negative heuristic; this consists of a set of fundamental assumptions that – temporarily, at least – takes priority over observational evidence when the two appear to conflict.

This latter aspect of research programmes is inherited from Kuhn's work on paradigms, and represents an important departure from the elementary account of how science works. According to this, science proceeds through repeated cycles of observation, induction, hypothesis-testing, etc., with the test of consistency with empirical evidence being imposed at each stage. Paradigms and research programmes allow anomalies to be set aside, where there is reason to believe that they arise from incomplete knowledge (about either the substantive topic, or some aspect of the theories implicitly used in making observations).

Larry Laudan: Dormant anomalies, fading credibility, and research traditions
Larry Laudan has also made two important contributions to the debate. Laudan believed that something akin to paradigms exist in the social sciences (Kuhn had contested this, see below); he referred to these as research traditions. Laudan noted that some anomalies become "dormant", if they survive a long period during which no competing alternative has shown itself capable of resolving the anomaly. He also presented cases in which a dominant paradigm had withered away because its lost credibility when viewed against changes in the wider intellectual milieu.

In social sciences
Kuhn himself did not consider the concept of paradigm as appropriate for the social sciences. He explains in his preface to The Structure of Scientific Revolutions that he developed the concept of paradigm precisely to distinguish the social from the natural sciences. While visiting the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences in 1958 and 1959, surrounded by social scientists, he observed that they were never in agreement about the nature of legitimate scientific problems and methods. He explains that he wrote this book precisely to show that there can never be any paradigms in the social sciences. Mattei Dogan, a French sociologist, in his article "Paradigms in the Social Sciences", develops Kuhn's original thesis that there are no paradigms at all in the social sciences since the concepts are polysemic, involving the deliberate mutual ignorance between scholars and the proliferation of schools in these disciplines. Dogan provides many examples of the non-existence of paradigms in the social sciences in his essay, particularly in sociology, political science and political anthropology.

However, both Kuhn's original work and Dogan's commentary are directed at disciplines that are defined by conventional labels (such as "sociology"). While it is true that such broad groupings in the social sciences are usually not based on a Kuhnian paradigm, each of the competing sub-disciplines may still be underpinned by a paradigm, research programme, research tradition, and/ or professional imagery. These structures will be motivating research, providing it with an agenda, defining what is and is not anomalous evidence, and inhibiting debate with other groups that fall under the same broad disciplinary label. (A good example is provided by the contrast between Skinnerian radical behaviourism and personal construct theory (PCT) within psychology. The most significant of the many ways these two sub-disciplines of psychology differ concerns meanings and intentions. In PCT, they are seen as the central concern of psychology; in radical behaviourism, they are not scientific evidence at all, as they cannot be directly observed.)

Such considerations explain the conflict between the Kuhn/ Dogan view, and the views of others (including Larry Laudan, see above), who do apply these concepts to social sciences.

Handa, M.L. (1986) introduced the idea of "social paradigm" in the context of social sciences. He identified the basic components of a social paradigm. Like Kuhn, Handa addressed the issue of changing paradigm; the process popularly known as "paradigm shift". In this respect, he focused on social circumstances that precipitate such a shift and the effects of the shift on social institutions, including the institution of education. This broad shift in the social arena, in turn, changes the way the individual perceives reality.

Another use of the word paradigm is in the sense of "worldview". For example, in social science, the term is used to describe the set of experiences, beliefs and values that affect the way an individual perceives reality and responds to that perception. Social scientists have adopted the Kuhnian phrase "paradigm shift" to denote a change in how a given society goes about organizing and understanding reality. A "dominant paradigm" refers to the values, or system of thought, in a society that are most standard and widely held at a given time. Dominant paradigms are shaped both by the community's cultural background and by the context of the historical moment. Hutchin outlines some conditions that facilitate a system of thought to become an accepted dominant paradigm:
 * Professional organizations that give legitimacy to the paradigm
 * Dynamic leaders who introduce and purport the paradigm
 * Journals and editors who write about the system of thought. They both disseminate the information essential to the paradigm and give the paradigm legitimacy
 * Government agencies who give credence to the paradigm
 * Educators who propagate the paradigm's ideas by teaching it to students
 * Conferences conducted that are devoted to discussing ideas central to the paradigm
 * Media coverage
 * Lay groups, or groups based around the concerns of lay persons, that embrace the beliefs central to the paradigm
 * Sources of funding to further research on the paradigm

Other uses
The word paradigm is also still used to indicate a pattern or model or an outstandingly clear or typical example or archetype. The term is frequently used in this sense in the design professions. Design Paradigms or archetypes comprise functional precedents for design solutions. The best known references on design paradigms are Design Paradigms: A Sourcebook for Creative Visualization, by Wake, and Design Paradigms by Petroski.

This term is also used in cybernetics. Here it means (in a very wide sense) a (conceptual) protoprogram for reducing the chaotic mass to some form of order. Note the similarities to the concept of entropy in chemistry and physics. A paradigm there would be a sort of prohibition to proceed with any action that would increase the total entropy of the system. To create a paradigm requires a closed system that accepts changes. Thus a paradigm can only apply to a system that is not in its final stage.

Beyond its use in the physical and social sciences, Kuhn's paradigm concept has been analysed in relation to its applicability in identifying 'paradigms' with respect to worldviews at specific points in history. One example is Matthew Edward Harris' book The Notion of Papal Monarchy in the Thirteenth Century: The Idea of Paradigm in Church History. Harris stresses the primarily sociological importance of paradigms, pointing towards Kuhn's second edition of The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Although obedience to popes such as Innocent III and Boniface VIII was widespread, even written testimony from the time showing loyalty to the pope does not demonstrate that the writer had the same worldview as the Church, and therefore pope, at the centre. The difference between paradigms in the physical sciences and in historical organisations such as the Church is that the former, unlike the latter, requires technical expertise rather than repeating statements. In other words, after scientific training through what Kuhn calls 'exemplars', one could not genuinely believe that, to take a trivial example, the earth is flat, whereas thinkers such as Giles of Rome in the thirteenth century wrote in favour of the pope, then could easily write similarly glowing things about the king. A writer such as Giles would have wanted a good job from the pope; he was a papal publicist. However, Harris writes that 'scientific group membership is not concerned with desire, emotions, gain, loss and any idealistic notions concerning the nature and destiny of humankind...but simply to do with aptitude, explanation, [and] cold description of the facts of the world and the universe from within a paradigm'.

title: Paradigm


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Bobbin

A bobbin or spool is a spindle or cylinder, with or without flanges, on which yarn, thread, wire, tape or film is wound. Bobbins are typically found in industrial textile machinery, as well as in sewing machines, fishing reels, tape measures, film rolls, cassette tapes, within electronic and electrical equipment, and for various other applications.

Industrial textiles
Bobbins are used in spinning, weaving, knitting, sewing, and lacemaking. In these practices, bobbins were invented to "manage the piles of thread and yarn that would be mechanically woven into cloth," which would have originally been wound through the use of human power, but which eventually became machine-driven. In these applications, bobbins provide storage, temporary and permanent, for yarn or thread. Historically, bobbins were made out of natural materials such as wood, or bone. While not in principle an invention of the Victorian era—bobbins in the production of textiles were in earlier use—the machinery introduced in that era "were some of [its] greatest inventions" in that they "helped to revolutionize textile manufacturing". In the machines used in such manufacturing,"The automated weaving machines would have hundreds of spindles operating simultaneously, with each spindle holding a bobbin that either released or collected the thread. Most mills had wooden bobbins made specifically for their machinery, which accounts for the many varied shapes and sizes of these spools." In more modern times, natural bobbin materials such as wood are no longer used in textile manufacturing, instead having been replaced by metal and plastic. The traditional bobbins made, for instance, of hardwoods such as ash and birch are unsuitable for the machinery of modern manufacturing, given the higher speeds involved, and the synthetic materials that are used in weaving; as well, bobbins were relatively customised parts made for the specific machines of each mill (and so of varying designs, each uniquely shaped of wood, with metal parts in places of high wear), thus requiring "a great deal of handwork" such that the cost of continuing to make them was unfavorable to modern textile business.

Since the retirement of the machinery involved, such bobbins and related parts have become items used in craft productions, given the numbers of distinct types, and the fact that "[e]ach... has its own 'battle scars' that give it unique character".

Sewing
The lockstitch sewing machine, invented and developed in the 18th and 19th centuries, forms a stitch with two threads: one passed through a needle and another from a bobbin. Each thread stays on the same side of the material being sewn, interlacing with the other thread at each needle hole thanks to the machine's movement. Tension of the bobbin thread is maintained with a bobbin case, a metal enclosure with a leaf spring which keeps the thread taut. The bobbin case has to be free-floating (not attached to an axle) in order to allow the top thread to pass around the bobbin completely and hook the bobbin thread.

Bobbins vary in shape and size, depending on the style of bobbin driver in the machine for which they are intended to be used. Long, narrow bobbins are used in early transverse shuttle and vibrating shuttle machines. These earlier movements were rendered obsolete by the invention of the rotary hook and the shuttle hook, which run faster and quieter with less air resistance. These shorter, wider bobbins are familiar to modern sewers, as the rotary/shuttle hook remains in use on modern machines essentially unchanged.

Lacemaking
Bobbin lace requires the winding of yarn onto a temporary storage spindle made of wood (or, in earlier times, bone) often turned on a lathe. Exotic woods are extremely popular with contemporary lacemakers. Many lace designs require dozens of bobbins at any one time.

Both traditional and contemporary bobbins may be decorated with designs, inscriptions, or pewter or wire inlays. Often, bobbins are 'spangled' to provide additional weight to keep the thread in tension. A hole is drilled near the base to enable glass beads and other ornaments to be attached by a loop of wire. These spangles provide a means of self-expression in the decoration of a tool of the craft. Antique and unique bobbins, sometimes spangled, are highly sought-after by antiques collectors.

Electrical
In electrical applications, transformers, inductors, solenoids, and relay coils use bobbins as permanent containers for the wire to retain shape and rigidity, and to ease assembly of the windings into or onto the magnetic core. (Such coils of wire carrying current create the induced currents and magnetic fields required in these devices.)

Bobbins in these applications may be made of thermoplastic or thermosetting materials (for example, phenolics). This plastic often has to have a TÜV, UL, or other regulatory agency flammability rating for safety reasons.

Miscellaneous applications
Bobbins are also used for fly tying and tidy storage without tangles.

title: Bobbin


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Wavetable synthesis

Wavetable synthesis is a sound synthesis technique used to create quasi-periodic waveforms often used in the production of musical tones or notes.

Development
Wavetable synthesis was invented by Max Mathews in 1958 as part of MUSIC II. MUSIC II “had four-voice polyphony and was capable of generating sixteen wave shapes via the introduction of a wavetable oscillator.”

Hal Chamberlin discussed wavetable synthesis in Byte's September 1977 issue. Wolfgang Palm of Palm Products GmbH (PPG) developed his version in the late 1970s and published it in 1979. The technique has since been used as the primary synthesis method in synthesizers built by PPG and Waldorf Music and as an auxiliary synthesis method by Ensoniq and Access. It is currently used in hardware synthesizers from Waldorf Music and in software synthesizers for PCs and tablets, including apps offered by PPG and Waldorf, among others.

It was also independently developed by Michael McNabb, who used it in his 1978 composition Dreamsong.

Principle
Wavetable synthesis is fundamentally based on periodic reproduction of multiple arbitrary, single-cycle waveforms. In wavetable synthesis, some method is employed to vary or modulate the selected waveform in the wavetable. The position in the wavetable selects the single cycle waveform. Digital interpolation between adjacent waveforms allows for dynamic and smooth changes of the timbre of the tone produced. Sweeping the wavetable in either direction can be controlled in a number of ways, for example, by use of an LFO, envelope, pressure or velocity.

Many wavetables used in PPG and Ensoniq synthesizers can simulate the methods used by analog synthesizers, such as pulse-width modulation by utilising a number of square waves of different duty cycles. In this way, when the wavetable is swept, the duty cycle of the pulse wave will appear to change over time. As the early Ensoniq wavetable synthesizers had non resonant filters (the PPG Wave synthesizers used analogue Curtis resonant filters), some wavetables contained highly resonant waveforms to overcome this limitation of the filters.

Confusion with sample-based synthesis (S&S) and Digital Wave Synthesis
In 1992, with the introduction of the Creative Labs Sound Blaster 16 the term "wavetable" started to be (incorrectly) applied as a marketing term to their sound card. However, these sound cards did not employ any form of wavetable synthesis, but rather PCM samples and FM synthesis.

S&S (Sample and Synthesis) and Digital Wave Synthesis was the main method of sound synthesis utilised by digital synthesizers starting in the mid 1980s with synthesizers such as Sequential Circuits Prophet VS, Korg DW6000/8000 (DW standing for Digital Wave), Roland D50 and Korg M1 through to current synthesizers.

Ableton addressed some confusion in an article: "Wait, so isn't this just sampled synthesis? Let's pause here to address a common confusion. While sampled synthesis involves the use of a static digital sample, wavetable synthesis allows for the (optional) evolution of a waveform; this is to say, while wavetable synths can sound like sampled synthesis, the evolving option (which is enabled by default on most classic wavetable sounds) differentiates it."

Often they now have displays showing a real time 3d graphs of the wave table being played back with the current waveform highlighted which is the signature feature common in modern wavetable synths.

User wavetables
The creation of new wavetables was previously a difficult process unless supported by specialized editing facilities and (near) real-time playback of edited wavetables on the synthesizer. Such editors often required the use of extra hardware devices like the PPG Waveterm or were only present in expensive models like the Waldorf WAVE. More commonly, pre-computed wavetables could be added via memory cards or sent to the synthesizer via MIDI. Today, wavetables can be created more easily by software and auditioned directly on a computer. Since all waveforms used in wavetable synthesis are periodic, the time-domain and frequency-domain representation are exact equivalents of each other and both can be used simultaneously to define waveforms and wavetables.

Practical use
During playback, the sound produced can be harmonically changed by moving to another point in the wavetable, usually under the control of an envelope generator or low frequency oscillator but frequently by any number of modulators (matrix modulation). Doing this modifies the harmonic content of the output wave in real time, producing sounds that can imitate acoustic instruments or be totally abstract, which is where this method of sound creation excels. The technique is especially useful for evolving synth pads, where the sound changes slowly over time.

It is often necessary to 'audition' each position in a wavetable and to scan through it, forwards and backwards, in order to make good use of it, though selecting random wavetables, start positions, end positions and directions of scan can also produce satisfying musical results. It is worth noting that most wavetable synthesizers also employ other synthesis methods to further shape the output waveform, such as subtractive synthesis (filters), phase modulation, frequency modulation and AM (ring) modulation.

Table-lookup synthesis
Table-lookup synthesis (or Wavetable-lookup synthesis ) is a class of sound synthesis methods using the waveform tables by table-lookup, called "table-lookup oscillator" technique. The length of waveforms or samples may be varied by each sound synthesis method, from a single-cycle up to several minutes.

Terminologies
The term "waveform table" (or "wave shape table" as equivalent) is often abbreviated to "wavetable", and its derived term "wavetable oscillator" seems to be almost the same as "table-lookup oscillator" mentioned above, although the word "wave" (or "waveform", "wave shape") may possibly imply a nuance of single-cycle waveform.

However, the derived term "wavetable synthesis" seems slightly confused by the later developments of derived algorithm.

 * (1) Wavetable synthesis :Its original meaning is essentially the same as "table-lookup synthesis",  and possibly several actions on waveform(s) may be expected. ⇒See (2), (3)

 * (2) Wavetable-modification algorithm :For example, Karplus–Strong string synthesis is a simple class of "wavetable-modification algorithm" known as digital waveguide synthesis.

 * (3) Multiple wavetable synthesis :In the late-1970s, Michael McNabb and Wolfgang Palm independently developed the multiple wavetable extension on the table-lookup synthesis which was typically used on PPG Wave and known as wavetable sweeping. Later, it was referred as "multiple wavetable synthesis" by.

 * (4) Sample-based synthesis:Simultaneously, since the late-1970s, sample-based synthesis using relatively long samples instead of single-cycle waveforms has become pervasive due to the introduction of the Fairlight CMI and E-mu Emulator.

Background
On the above four terminologies for the classes of sound synthesis methods — i.e., (1) Wavetable synthesis, (2) Wavetable-modification algorithm, (3) Multiple wavetable synthesis, and (4) Sample-based synthesis — if these had been appropriately used to distinguish each other, any confusions could be avoided, but it seems failed historically. In the 1990s at the latest, several influential sample-based synthesis products were marketed under the trade names similar to "wavetable synthesis" (including Gravis Ultrasound wavetable card, Creative Wave Blaster wavetable daughterboard, and Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth), and these confusions have further affected industry standards (including MPEG-4 Structured Audio algorithmic and wavetable synthesis, and AC97 optional hw acceleration wavetable synth ). In the mid-2000s, confusion in terminology cropped up yet-again. A subclass of generic wavetable synthesis, i.e. McNabb and Palm's multiple wavetable synthesis, tends to be erroneously referred as if it was a generic class of whole wavetable synthesis family, exclusively.

As a result, the difficulty of maintaining consistency between concepts and terminology during rapid technological development is noteworthy. For this reason the term "Table-lookup synthesis" is explained at length in this article.

title: Wavetable synthesis


text:
Moonwalk

Moonwalk may refer to:

Space travel

 * Moonwalk, an excursion on the Moon, see Moon landing
 * For a specific event, see List of spacewalks and moonwalks 1965–1999
 * For a specific person, see List of people who have walked on the Moon
 * Extravehicular activity on the moon

Places

 * Moon Walk (New Orleans), a scenic boardwalk in Jackson Square
 * Moonwalk, Parañaque, one of the 16 Barangays in Parañaque, Philippines

Arts, entertainment, and media

 * Moonwalk (dance), a dance move popularized by Michael Jackson
 * Moonwalk (book), a 1988 autobiography by Michael Jackson
 * Moonwalk (album), a 2011 album by JPM
 * "Moonwalkin", a song by Roddy Ricch from Please Excuse Me for Being Antisocial
 * "Moonwalk", a song by Earth, Wind & Fire from the album Electric Universe
 * "Moonwalk", a song by WayV from the album Take Over The Moon

Other uses

 * Moonwalk (bounce house) or inflatable castle, a temporary inflatable structure used for entertainment
 * MoonWalk (charity event), an annual nocturnal marathon in London and Edinburgh
 * Moonwalk (cocktail), a drink invented for the first walk on the Moon in 1969

title: Moonwalk


text:
Unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine

Unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH; 1,1-dimethylhydrazine, heptyl or codenamed Geptil) is a chemical compound with the formula H2NN(CH3)2 that is used as a rocket propellant. It is a colorless liquid, with a sharp, fishy, ammonia-like smell typical for organic amines. Samples turn yellowish on exposure to air and absorb oxygen and carbon dioxide. It is miscible with water, ethanol, and kerosene. In concentration between 2.5% and 95% in air, its vapors are flammable. It is not sensitive to shock. Symmetrical dimethylhydrazine (1,2-dimethylhydrazine) is also known but is not as useful. UDMH can be oxidized in air to form many different substances, including toxic ones.

Production
UDMH is produced industrially by two routes. Based on the Olin Raschig process, one method involves reaction of monochloramine with dimethylamine giving 1,1-dimethylhydrazinium chloride:
 * (CH3)2NH + NH2Cl → (CH3)2NNH2 ⋅ HCl

In the presence of suitable catalysts, acetylhydrazine can be N-dimethylated using formaldehyde and hydrogen to give the N,N-dimethyl-N'-acetylhydrazine, which can subsequently be hydrolyzed:
 * CH3C(O)NHNH2 + 2CH2O + 2H2 → CH3C(O)NHN(CH3)2 + 2H2O
 * CH3C(O)NHN(CH3)2 + H2O → CH3COOH + H2NN(CH3)2

Uses
UDMH is often used in hypergolic rocket fuels as a bipropellant in combination with the oxidizer nitrogen tetroxide and less frequently with IRFNA (inhibited red fuming nitric acid) or liquid oxygen. UDMH is a derivative of hydrazine and is sometimes referred to as a hydrazine. As a fuel, it is described in specification MIL-PRF-25604 in the United States.

UDMH is stable and can be kept loaded in rocket fuel systems for long periods, which makes it appealing for use in many liquid rocket engines, despite its cost. In some applications, such as the OMS in the Space Shuttle or maneuvering engines, monomethylhydrazine is used instead due to its slightly higher specific impulse. In some kerosene-fueled rockets, UDMH functions as a starter fuel to start combustion and warm the rocket engine prior to switching to kerosene.

UDMH has higher stability than hydrazine, especially at elevated temperatures, and can be used as its replacement or together in a mixture. UDMH is used in many European, Russian, Indian, and Chinese rocket designs. The Russian SS-11 Sego (aka 8K84) ICBM, SS-19 Stiletto (aka 15A30) ICBM, Proton, Kosmos-3M, R-29RMU2 Layner, R-36M, Rokot (based on 15A30) and the Chinese Long March 2F are the most notable users of UDMH (which is referred to as "heptyl" (codename from Soviet era) by Russian engineers ). The Titan, GSLV, and Delta rocket families use a mixture of 50% hydrazine and 50% UDMH, called Aerozine 50, in different stages. There is speculation that it is the fuel used in the ballistic missiles that North Korea has developed and tested in 2017.

Safety
Hydrazine and its methyl derivatives are toxic but LD50 values have not been reported. It is a precursor to dimethylnitrosamine, which is carcinogenic. According to scientific data, usage of UDMH in rockets at Baikonur Cosmodrome has had adverse effects on the environment.

title: Unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine


text:
David Hampton

David Hampton (April 28, 1964 – July 18, 2003) was an American con artist and robber who became famous in the 1980s after he convinced a group of wealthy Manhattanites to give him money, food, and shelter under the pretense that he was the son of Sidney Poitier. David Hampton's story became the inspiration for a play titled Six Degrees of Separation and a film titled by the same name. David Hampton died of AIDS-related complications in 2003.

Background
Hampton was born in Buffalo, New York, and was the eldest son of an attorney. He moved to New York City (NYC) in 1981 and stumbled upon his now-famous ruse in 1983 when he and another man were attempting to gain entry into Studio 54. After the club denied Hampton and his partner entry, Hampton's partner decided to pose as Gregory Peck's son while Hampton assumed the identity of Sidney Poitier's son. They were ushered in as celebrities. Thereafter, Hampton adopted the persona of "David Poitier" to obtain free meals in restaurants. He also persuaded at least a dozen people into letting him stay with them and give him money, including Melanie Griffith, Gary Sinise, Calvin Klein, John Jay Iselin, the president of WNET; Osborn Elliott, the dean of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism; Leonard Bernstein, and a Manhattan urologist. He convinced some that he was an acquaintance of their children, some that he had just missed a plane to Los Angeles with his luggage still on it, and some that his belongings had been stolen.

In October 1983, Hampton was arrested and convicted of fraud and ordered to pay restitution of $4,469 to his various victims. After refusing to comply with these terms, he was sentenced to a term of 18 months to four years in prison.

Six Degrees of Separation
Playwright John Guare became interested in Hampton's story through his friendship with Inger McCabe Elliott and Osborn Elliott, who had been outraged to find "David Poitier" in bed with another man the morning after they let him into their home. Six Degrees of Separation opened at the Lincoln Center in May 1990 and became a long-running success.

Hampton attempted to parlay the play's success to his benefit, giving interviews to the press, gate-crashing a producer's party, and beginning a campaign of harassment against Guare that included phone calls and death threats. The harassment campaign prompted Guare to apply for a restraining order in April 1991. The restraining order was denied. In the fall of 1991, Hampton filed a $100 million lawsuit, claiming that the play had infringed on the copyright on his persona and his story. The lawsuit was eventually dismissed.

Death
David Hampton died of AIDS-related complications while being treated for his illness at Beth Israel Medical Center (BIMC) in Manhattan.

title: David Hampton


text:
Forty-seven rōnin

The revenge of the forty-seven rōnin (四十七士), also known as the Akō incident (赤穂事件) or Akō vendetta, is a historical event in Japan in which a band of rōnin (lordless samurai) avenged the death of their master on 31 January 1703. The incident has since become legendary. It is one of the three major adauchi vendetta incidents in Japan, alongside the Revenge of the Soga Brothers and the Igagoe vendetta.

The story tells of a group of samurai after their daimyō (feudal lord) Asano Naganori was compelled to perform seppuku (ritual suicide) for assaulting a powerful court official named Kira Yoshinaka after the court official insulted him. After waiting and planning for a year, the rōnin avenged their master's honor by killing Kira. Anticipating the authorities' intolerance of the vendetta's completion, they were prepared to face execution as a consequence. However, due to considerable public support in their favor, the authorities compromised by ordering the rōnin to commit seppuku as an honorable death for the crime of murder. This true story was popular in Japanese culture as emblematic of the loyalty, sacrifice, persistence, and honor (qualities samurai follow called bushidō) that people should display in their daily lives. The popularity of the tale grew during the Meiji era, during which Japan underwent rapid modernisation, and the legend became entrenched within discourses of national heritage and identity.

Fictionalised accounts of the tale of the forty-seven rōnin are known as Chūshingura. The story was popularised in numerous plays, including in the genres of bunraku and kabuki. Because of the censorship laws of the shogunate in the Genroku era, which forbade portrayal of current events, the names were changed. While the version given by the playwrights may have come to be accepted as historical fact by some, the first Chūshingura was written some 50 years after the event, and numerous historical records about the actual events that predate the Chūshingura survive.

The bakufu's censorship laws had relaxed somewhat 75 years after the events in question during the late 18th century when Japanologist Isaac Titsingh first recorded the story of the forty-seven rōnin as one of the significant events of the Genroku era. To this day, the story remains popular in Japan, and each year on 14 December, Sengakuji Temple, where Asano Naganori and the rōnin are buried, holds a festival commemorating the event.

Name
The event is known in Japan as the Akō incident (赤穂事件), sometimes also referred to as the Akō vendetta. The participants in the revenge are called the Akō-rōshi (赤穂浪士) or Shi-jū-shichi-shi (四十七士) in Japanese, and are usually referred to as the "forty-seven rōnin". Literary accounts of the events are known as the Chūshingura (忠臣蔵).

Story
For many years, the version of events retold by A. B. Mitford in Tales of Old Japan (1871) was generally considered authoritative. The sequence of events and the characters in this narrative were presented to a wide popular readership in the West. Mitford invited his readers to construe his story of the forty-seven rōnin as historically accurate; and while his version of the tale has long been considered a standard work, some of its details are now questioned. Nevertheless, even with plausible defects, Mitford's work remains a conventional starting point for further study.

Whether as a mere literary device or as a claim for ethnographic veracity, Mitford explains: "In the midst of a nest of venerable trees in Takanawa, a suburb of Yedo, is hidden Sengakuji, or the Spring-hill Temple, renowned throughout the length and breadth of the land for its cemetery, which contains the graves of the forty-seven rônin, famous in Japanese history, heroes of Japanese drama, the tale of whose deed I am about to transcribe."

Mitford appended what he explained were translations of Sengaku-ji documents the author had examined personally. These were proffered as "proofs" authenticating the factual basis of his story. These documents were:
 * 1) ...the receipt given by the retainers of Kira Kōtsukē no Sukē's son in return for the head of their lord's father, which the priests restored to the family.
 * 2) ...a document explanatory of their conduct, a copy of which was found on the person of each of the forty-seven men, dated in the 15th year of Genroku, 12th month.
 * 3) ...a paper which the Forty-seven Rōnin laid upon the tomb of their master, together with the head of Kira Kôtsuké no Suké.

(See Tales of Old Japan for the widely known, yet significantly fictional narrative.)

Background
In 1701, two daimyō, Asano Takumi-no-Kami Naganori, the young daimyō of the Akō Domain (a small fiefdom in western Honshū), and Lord Kamei Korechika of the Tsuwano Domain, were ordered to arrange a fitting reception for the envoys of Emperor Higashiyama at Edo Castle, during their sankin-kōtai service to the shōgun.

Asano and Kamei were to be given instruction in the necessary court etiquette by Kira Kozuke-no-Suke Yoshinaka, a powerful official in the hierarchy of Tokugawa Tsunayoshi's shogunate. He allegedly became upset at them, either because of the insufficient presents they offered him (in the time-honored compensation for such an instructor), or because they would not offer bribes as he wanted. Other sources say that he was naturally rude and arrogant or that he was corrupt, which offended Asano, a devoutly moral Confucian. By some accounts, it also appears that Asano may have been unfamiliar with the intricacies of the shogunate court and failed to show the proper amount of deference to Kira. Whether Kira treated them poorly, insulted them, or failed to prepare them for fulfilling specific bakufu duties, offence was taken.

Initially, Asano bore all this stoically, while Kamei became enraged and prepared to kill Kira to avenge the insults. However, Kamei's quick-thinking counselors averted disaster for their lord and clan (for all would have been punished if Kamei had killed Kira) by quietly giving Kira a large bribe; Kira thereupon began to treat Kamei nicely, which calmed Kamei.

However, Kira allegedly continued to treat Asano harshly because he was upset that the latter had not emulated his companion. Finally, Kira insulted Asano, calling him a country boor with no manners, and Asano could restrain himself no longer. At the Matsu no Ōrōka, the main grand corridor that interconnects the Shiro-shoin (白書院) and the Ōhiroma of the Honmaru Goten (本丸御殿) residence, Asano lost his temper and attacked Kira with a dagger, wounding him in the face with his first strike; his second missed and hit a pillar. Guards then quickly separated them.

Kira's wound was hardly serious, but the attack on a shogunate official within the boundaries of the shōgun's residence was considered a grave offence. Any kind of violence, even the drawing of a katana, was completely forbidden in Edo Castle. The daimyō of Akō had removed his dagger from its scabbard within Edo Castle, and for that offence, he was ordered to kill himself by seppuku. Asano's goods and lands were to be confiscated after his death, his family was to be ruined, and his retainers were to be made rōnin (leaderless).

This news was carried to Ōishi Kuranosuke Yoshio, Asano's principal counsellor, who took command and moved the Asano family away before complying with bakufu orders to surrender the castle to the agents of the government.

Attack
After two years, when Ōishi was convinced that Kira was thoroughly off his guard, and everything was ready, he fled from Kyoto, avoiding the spies who were watching him, and the entire band gathered at a secret meeting place in Edo to renew their oaths.

The Ako Incident occurred on 31 January 1703 when the rōnin of Asano Naganori stormed the residence of Kira Yoshinaka in Edo. (While the attack was carried out on 31 January, the event is commemorated annually on 14 December in Japan.) According to a carefully laid-out plan, they split up into two groups and attacked, armed with swords and bows. One group, led by Ōishi, was to attack the front gate; the other, led by his son, Ōishi Chikara, was to attack the house via the back gate. A drum would sound the simultaneous attack, and a whistle would signal that Kira was dead.

Once Kira was dead, they planned to cut off his head and lay it as an offering on their master's tomb. They would then turn themselves in and wait for their expected sentence of death. All this had been confirmed at a final dinner, at which Ōishi had asked them to be careful and spare women, children, and other helpless people.

Ōishi had four men scale the fence and enter the porter's lodge, capturing and tying up the guard there. He then sent messengers to all the neighboring houses, to explain that they were not robbers but retainers out to avenge the death of their master, and that no harm would come to anyone else: the neighbors were all safe. One of the rōnin climbed to the roof and loudly announced to the neighbors that the matter was an act of revenge (katakiuchi, 敵討ち). The neighbors, who all hated Kira, were relieved and did nothing to hinder the raiders.

After posting archers (some on the roof) to prevent those in the house (who had not yet awakened) from sending for help, Ōishi sounded the drum to start the attack. Ten of Kira's retainers held off the party attacking the house from the front, but Ōishi Chikara's party broke into the back of the house.

Kira, in terror, took refuge in a closet in the veranda, along with his wife and female servants. The rest of his retainers, who slept in barracks outside, attempted to come into the house to his rescue. After overcoming the defenders at the front of the house, the two parties led by father and son joined up and fought the retainers who came in. The latter, perceiving that they were losing, tried to send for help, but their messengers were killed by the archers posted to prevent that eventuality.

Eventually, after a fierce struggle, the last of Kira's retainers were subdued; in the process, the rōnin killed 16 of Kira's men and wounded 22, including his grandson. Of Kira, however, there was no sign. They searched the house, but all they found were crying women and children. They began to despair, but Ōishi checked Kira's bed, and it was still warm, so he knew he could not be far away.

Death of Kira
A renewed search disclosed an entrance to a secret courtyard hidden behind a large scroll; the courtyard held a small building for storing charcoal and firewood, where two hidden armed retainers were overcome and killed. A search of the building disclosed a man hiding; he attacked the searcher with a dagger, but the man was easily disarmed. He refused to say who he was, but the searchers felt sure it was Kira, and sounded the whistle. The rōnin gathered, and Ōishi, with a lantern, saw that it was indeed Kira—as a final proof, his head bore the scar from Asano's attack.

Ōishi went on his knees, and in consideration of Kira's high rank, respectfully addressed him, telling him they were retainers of Asano, come to avenge him as true samurai should, and inviting Kira to die as a true samurai should, by killing himself. Ōishi indicated he personally would act as a kaishakunin ("second", the one who beheads a person committing seppuku to spare them the indignity of a lingering death) and offered him the same dagger that Asano had used to kill himself. However, no matter how much they entreated him, Kira crouched, speechless and trembling. At last, seeing it was useless to continue asking, Ōishi ordered the other rōnin to pin him down and killed him by cutting off his head with the dagger. They then extinguished all the lamps and fires in the house (lest any cause the house to catch fire and start a general fire that would harm the neighbors) and left, taking Kira's head.

One of the rōnin, the ashigaru Terasaka Kichiemon, was ordered to travel to Akō and report that their revenge had been completed. (Though Kichiemon's role as a messenger is the most widely accepted version of the story, other accounts have him running away before or after the battle, or being ordered to leave before the rōnin turned themselves in.)

Aftermath
As day was breaking, they quickly carried Kira's head from his residence to their lord's grave in Sengaku-ji temple, marching about ten kilometers across the city, causing a great stir on the way. The story of the revenge spread quickly, and everyone on their path praised them and offered them refreshment.

On arriving at the temple, the remaining 46 rōnin (all except Terasaka Kichiemon) washed and cleaned Kira's head in a well, and laid it, and the fateful dagger, before Asano's tomb. They then offered prayers at the temple and gave the abbot of the temple all of the money they had left, asking him to bury them decently and offer prayers for them. They then turned themselves in; the group was broken into four parts and put under guard of four different daimyō. During this time, two of Kira's friends came to collect his head for burial; the temple still has the original receipt for the head, which the friends and the priests who dealt with them had all signed.

The shogunate officials in Edo were in a quandary. The samurai had followed the precepts by avenging the death of their lord; but they had also defied the shogunate's authority by exacting revenge, which had been prohibited. In addition, the shōgun received a number of petitions from the admiring populace on behalf of the rōnin. As expected, the rōnin were sentenced to death for the murder of Kira; but the shōgun finally resolved the quandary by ordering them to honorably commit seppuku instead of having them executed as criminals. Each of the assailants ended his life in a ritualistic fashion. Ōishi Chikara, the youngest, was only 15 years old on the day the raid took place, and only 16 the day he committed seppuku.

Each of the 46 rōnin killed himself in Genroku 16, on the 4th day of the 2nd month (元禄十六年二月四日). This has caused a considerable amount of confusion ever since, with some people referring to the "forty-six rōnin"; this refers to the group put to death by the shōgun, while the actual attack party numbered forty-seven. The forty-seventh rōnin, identified as Terasaka Kichiemon, eventually returned from his mission and was pardoned by the shōgun (some say on account of his youth). He lived until the age of 87, dying around 1747, and was then buried with his comrades. The assailants who died by seppuku were subsequently interred on the grounds of Sengaku-ji, in front of the tomb of their master. The clothes and arms they wore are still preserved in the temple to this day, along with the drum and whistle; their armor was all home-made, as they had not wanted to arouse suspicion by purchasing any.

The tombs at Sengaku-ji became a place of great veneration, and people flocked there to pray. The graves at the temple have been visited by a great many people throughout the years since the Genroku era.

Members
Below are the names of the 47 rōnin in the following form: family name – pseudonym (kemyō) – real name (imina). Alternative readings are listed in italics. • # Ōishi Kuranosuke Yoshio/Yoshitaka (大石 内蔵助 良雄)

• # Ōishi Chikara Yoshikane (大石 主税 良金)

• # Hara Sōemon Mototoki (原 惣右衛門 元辰)

• # Kataoka Gengoemon Takafusa (片岡 源五右衛門 高房)

• # Horibe Yahei Kanamaru/Akizane (堀部 弥兵衛 金丸)

• # Horibe Yasubei Taketsune (堀部 安兵衛 武庸)

• # Yoshida Chūzaemon Kanesuke (吉田 忠左衛門 兼亮)

• # Yoshida Sawaemon Kanesada (吉田 沢右衛門 兼貞)

• # Chikamatsu Kanroku Yukishige (近松 勘六 行重)

• # Mase Kyūdayū Masaaki (間瀬 久太夫 正明)

• # Mase Magokurō Masatoki (間瀬 孫九郎 正辰)

• # Akabane Genzō Shigekata (赤埴 源蔵 重賢)

• # Ushioda Matanojō Takanori (潮田 又之丞 高教)

• # Tominomori Sukeemon Masayori (富森 助右衛門 正因)

• # Fuwa Kazuemon Masatane (不破 数右衛門 正種)

• # Okano Kin'emon Kanehide (岡野 金右衛門 包秀)

• # Onodera Jūnai Hidekazu (小野寺 十内 秀和)

• # Onodera Kōemon Hidetomi (小野寺 幸右衛門 秀富)

• # Kimura Okaemon Sadayuki (木村 岡右衛門 貞行)

• # Okuda Magodayū Shigemori (奥田 孫太夫 重盛)

• # Okuda Sadaemon Yukitaka (奥田 貞右衛門 行高)

• # Hayami Tōzaemon Mitsutaka (早水 藤左衛門 満尭)

• # Yada Gorōemon Suketake (矢田 五郎右衛門 助武)

• # Ōishi Sezaemon Nobukiyo (大石 瀬左衛門 信清)

• # Isogai Jūrōzaemon Masahisa (礒貝 十郎左衛門 正久)

• # Hazama Kihei Mitsunobu (間 喜兵衛 光延)

• # Hazama Jūjirō Mitsuoki (間 十次郎 光興)

• # Hazama Shinrokurō Mitsukaze (間 新六郎 光風)

• # Nakamura Kansuke Masatoki (中村 勘助 正辰)

• # Senba Saburobei Mitsutada (千馬 三郎兵衛 光忠)

• # Sugaya Hannojō Masatoshi (菅谷 半之丞 政利)

• # Muramatsu Kihei Hidenao (村松 喜兵衛 秀直)

• # Muramatsu Sandayū Takanao (村松 三太夫 高直)

• # Kurahashi Densuke Takeyuki (倉橋 伝助 武幸)

• # Okajima Yasoemon Tsuneshige (岡島 八十右衛門 常樹)

• # Ōtaka Gengo Tadao/Tadatake (大高 源五 忠雄)

• # Yatō Emoshichi Norikane (矢頭 右衛門七 教兼)

• # Katsuta Shinzaemon Taketaka (勝田 新左衛門 武尭)

• # Takebayashi Tadashichi Takashige (武林 唯七 隆重)

• # Maebara Isuke Munefusa (前原 伊助 宗房)

• # Kaiga Yazaemon Tomonobu (貝賀 弥左衛門 友信)

• # Sugino Jūheiji Tsugifusa (杉野 十平次 次房)

• # Kanzaki Yogorō Noriyasu (神崎 与五郎 則休)

• # Mimura Jirōzaemon Kanetsune (三村 次郎左衛門 包常)

• # Yakokawa Kanbei Munetoshi (横川 勘平 宗利)

• # Kayano Wasuke Tsunenari (茅野 和助 常成)

• # Terasaka Kichiemon Nobuyuki (寺坂 吉右衛門 信行)

Criticism
The rōnin spent more than 14 months waiting for the "right time" for their revenge. It was Yamamoto Tsunetomo, author of the Hagakure, who asked the well known question: "What if, nine months after Asano's death, Kira had died of an illness?" His answer was that the forty-seven rōnin would have lost their only chance at avenging their master. Even if they had claimed, then, that their dissipated behavior was just an act, that in just a little more time they would have been ready for revenge, who would have believed them? They would have been forever remembered as cowards and drunkards—bringing eternal shame to the name of the Asano clan. The right thing for the rōnin to do, writes Yamamoto, was to attack Kira and his men immediately after Asano's death. The rōnin would probably have suffered defeat, as Kira was ready for an attack at that time—but this was unimportant.

Ōishi was too obsessed with success, according to Yamamoto. He conceived his convoluted plan to ensure that they would succeed at killing Kira, which is not a proper concern in a samurai: the important thing was not the death of Kira, but for the former samurai of Asano to show outstanding courage and determination in an all-out attack against the Kira house, thus winning everlasting honor for their dead master. Even if they had failed to kill Kira, even if they had all perished, it would not have mattered, as victory and defeat have no importance. By waiting a year, they improved their chances of success but risked dishonoring the name of their clan, the worst sin a samurai can commit.

In the arts
The tragedy of the forty-seven rōnin has been one of the most popular themes in Japanese art and has lately even begun to make its way into Western art.

Immediately following the event, there were mixed feelings among the intelligentsia about whether such vengeance had been appropriate. Many agreed that, given their master's last wishes, the rōnin had done the right thing, but were undecided about whether such a vengeful wish was proper. Over time, however, the story became a symbol of loyalty to one's master and later, of loyalty to the emperor. Once this happened, the story flourished as a subject of drama, storytelling, and visual art.

Plays
The incident immediately inspired a succession of kabuki and bunraku plays; the first, The Night Attack at Dawn by the Soga, appeared only two weeks after the ronin died. It was shut down by the authorities, but many others soon followed, initially in Osaka and Kyoto, farther away from the capital. Some even took the story as far as Manila, to spread the story to the rest of Asia.

The most successful of the adaptations was a bunraku puppet play called Kanadehon Chūshingura (now simply called Chūshingura, or "Treasury of Loyal Retainers"), written in 1748 by Takeda Izumo and two associates; it was later adapted into a kabuki play, which is still one of Japan's most popular.

In the play, to avoid the attention of the censors, the events are transferred into the distant past, to the 14th century reign of shōgun Ashikaga Takauji. Asano became En'ya Hangan Takasada, Kira became Kō no Moronao and Ōishi became Ōboshi Yuranosuke Yoshio; the names of the rest of the rōnin were disguised to varying degrees. The play contains a number of plot twists that do not reflect the real story: Moronao tries to seduce En'ya's wife, and one of the rōnin dies before the attack because of a conflict between family and warrior loyalty (another possible cause of the confusion between forty-six and forty-seven).

Opera
The story was turned into an opera, Chūshingura, by Shigeaki Saegusa in 1997.

Cinema and television
The play has been made into a movie at least six times in Japan, the earliest starring Onoe Matsunosuke. The film's release date is questioned, but placed between 1910 and 1917. It has been aired on the Jidaigeki Senmon Channel (Japan) with accompanying benshi narration. In 1941, the Japanese military commissioned director Kenji Mizoguchi, who would later direct Ugetsu, to make Genroku Chūshingura. They wanted a ferocious morale booster based on the familiar rekishi geki ("historical drama") of The Loyal 47 Ronin. Instead, Mizoguchi chose for his source Mayama Chūshingura, a cerebral play dealing with the story. The film was a commercial failure, having been released in Japan one week before the attack on Pearl Harbor. The Japanese military and most audiences found the first part to be too serious, but the studio and Mizoguchi both regarded it as so important that Part Two was put into production, despite lukewarm reception to Part One. The film wasn't shown in America until the 1970s.

The 1962 film version directed by Hiroshi Inagaki, Chūshingura, is most familiar to Western audiences. In it, Toshirō Mifune appears in a supporting role as spearman Tawaraboshi Genba. Mifune was to revisit the story several times in his career. In 1971 he appeared in the 52-part television series Daichūshingura as Ōishi, while in 1978 he appeared as Lord Tsuchiya in the epic Swords of Vengeance (Akō-jō danzetsu).

Many Japanese television shows, including single programs, short series, single seasons, and even year-long series such as Daichūshingura and the more recent NHK Taiga drama Genroku Ryōran, recount the events. Among both films and television programs, some are quite faithful to the Chūshingura, while others incorporate unrelated material or alter details. In addition, gaiden dramatize events and characters not in the Chūshingura. Kon Ichikawa directed another version in 1994. In 2004, Mitsumasa Saitō directed a nine-episode mini-series starring Ken Matsudaira, who had also starred in a 1999 49-episode TV series of the Chūshingura entitled Genroku Ryōran. In Hirokazu Koreeda's 2006 film Hana yori mo nao, the story was used as a backdrop, with one of the ronin being a neighbour of the protagonists.

A comedic adaptation was presented in a 2002 episode of the Canadian television series History Bites titled "Samurai Goodfellas", mingling the story with elements from The Godfather film series.

Most recently, it was made into a 2013 American movie titled 47 Ronin, starring Keanu Reeves, and then again into a more stylized 2015 version titled Last Knights.

Woodblock prints
The forty-seven rōnin is one of the most popular themes in woodblock prints, or ukiyo-e and many well-known artists have made prints portraying either the original events, scenes from the play, or the actors. One book on subjects depicted in woodblock prints devotes no fewer than seven chapters to the history of the appearance of this theme in woodblocks. Among the artists who produced prints on this subject are Utamaro, Toyokuni, Hokusai, Kunisada, Hiroshige, and Yoshitoshi. However, probably the most widely known woodblocks in the genre are those of Kuniyoshi, who produced at least eleven separate complete series on this subject, along with more than twenty triptychs.

Literature

 * The earliest known account of the Akō incident in the West was published in 1822 in Isaac Titsingh's posthumously-published book Illustrations of Japan.
 * The first book of the juvenile Samurai Mystery series by Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler, The Ghost in the Tokaido Inn (2005), weaves the kabuki play The Forty-Seven Ronin into the plot.
 * The incident is the subject of Jorge Luis Borges' short story "The Uncivil Teacher of Court Etiquette Kôtsuké no Suké", included in the 1935 collection A Universal History of Infamy.
 * The legend of the forty-seven rōnin was adapted into two graphic novels published by Dark Horse Comics. The first is 47 Ronin, a 2014 faithful retelling written by Mike Richardson and illustrated by Stan Sakai. The second Dark Horse Comics adaption is Seppuku, the second part of Víctor Santos' 2017 graphic novel Rashomon: A Commissioner Heigo Kobayashi Case, which also adapts In a Grove, the Ryūnosuke Akutagawa short story the 1950 film Rashomon is based on.

title: Forty-seven rōnin