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Hamilton Hume

Hamilton Hume (19 June 1797 – 19 April 1873 ) was an early explorer of the present-day Australian states of New South Wales and Victoria. In 1824, along with William Hovell, Hume participated in an expedition that first took an overland route from Sydney to Port Phillip (near the site of present-day Melbourne). Along with Sturt in 1828, he was part of an expedition of the first Europeans to find the Darling River.

Background
Hume was born on 19 June 1797 in Seven Hills, near Parramatta, a settlement close to (and now part of Greater) Sydney. He was the eldest son of Andrew Hamilton Hume and his wife Elizabeth, née Kennedy. Andrew Hume got the appointment of Commissary-General for New South Wales, and came out to the colony in 1797. Hamilton Hume received most of his education from his mother.

Early exploration
When Hume was only 17 years of age, he began exploring the country beyond Sydney with his younger brother John and an Aboriginal boy as far to the south-west as Berrima, and soon developed into a good bushman. In 1817, Hume went on a journey with James Meehan, the deputy surveyor-general, and Charles Throsby during which Lake Bathurst and the Goulburn Plains were sighted. Subsequently, in 1818, he went with John Oxley and Meehan to Jervis Bay.

In 1822, he journeyed with Alexander Berry down the south coast of New South Wales. He travelled as far south as the Clyde River, and inland nearly as far as Braidwood. Berry came to settle in the Shoalhaven, and in June 1822 he left Hume and a party of convicts to cut a 209-yard canal between the Shoalhaven River and the Crookhaven River to allow passage of boats into the Shoalhaven. This canal was Australia's first navigable canal, and the work was completed in 12 days. The canal today forms the main water flow of the Shoalhaven River.

Hume and Hovell expedition
In 1824, Hume was seen by Governor Brisbane with reference to an expedition to Spencer Gulf. Brisbane was also in touch about this time with William Hovell on the same subject, but it is not quite clear which of the men was the first to be approached. In any event, the hoped-for government funding of the expedition was not forthcoming, so that eventually the two men decided to make the journey at their own expense, except for some packsaddles, arms, clothes and blankets, which were provided from government stores.

Hume, in a letter dated 24 January 1825, (immediately after the return of the explorers), practically claimed to have been the leader of the party. He refers to "the expedition your Excellency was pleased to entrust to my care". But Brisbane did not accept this view of it, as in a letter to the secretary, Wilmot Horton, dated 24 March 1825 he mentions the "discovery of new and valuable country . . . by two young men Messrs Hovell and Hume . . . they were directed by me to try and reach Spencer's Gulf". It may also be pointed out that in the letter to Brisbane of 28 July 1824, Hovell signed first. These facts are of interest in view of the controversy which broke out many years later.

Each of the explorers brought three assigned servants with him and between them they had five bullocks, three horses and two carts. Much of the journey was through difficult mountain country, and the party had to cross the major Murrumbidgee River, Murray River, Mitta Mitta River, Ovens River, and Goulburn River. Hovell had named the Murray River after Hume during the trip but Charles Sturt altered it to its current name in 1830.

Four days after crossing the Goulburn impassable country was reached. The party spent three days attempting to cross the Great Dividing Range at Mt Disappointment but were thwarted. Hume shifted direction to the West then reached lower land at the future township of Broadford on the 12 December where they camped. Hume headed towards low ranges to the South and found a pass in that direction next day. He led the party across the Dividing Range at Hume’s Pass, Wandong and on the 16th December, 1824 reached Port Phillip Bay at Bird Rock, Point Lillias adjacent to the future Geelong. Hovell claimed that he measured their longitude on the same day but in reality he read it off the sketch map that he and Hume had drafted themselves during the trip. Hovell admitted in 1867 that he did not take any longitude measurements and blamed Hume for it. Prior to this admission, Dr William Bland, who wrote the first book on the journey in 1831, invented the myth that Hovell made an error of one degree in longitude in order to protect him.

The party turned back towards New South Wales on the 18 December. Hume chose to travel more to the west to avoid the mountainous country and save considerable time. On 16 January 1825, just as their flour ran out, they reached the carts they had left behind them, and then two days later the safety of Hume's station at Gunning.

Hume and Hovell each received grants of 1200 acre of land, an inadequate reward for discoveries of great importance made by an expedition which, practically speaking, paid its own expenses. This expedition was the first to discover an overland route from southern New South Wales to Port Phillip, on whose shores Melbourne now stands.

Blue Mountains and Lithgow Valley
In 1827, accompanied by Lieutenant George M. C. Bowen, then an assistant surveyor, Hume explored the western part of the Blue Mountains—around the landform that he named the Darling Causeway, after Governor Ralph Darling—and found three passes through the western escarpment that would have avoided the steep Mt York route. During this period, he named the Lithgow Valley, after William Lithgow, who, at the time, was the Auditor-General of New South Wales.

Exploration of the Darling River
In November 1828, Hume journeyed with Charles Sturt into western New South Wales, where they found the Darling River, the Murray River's longest tributary. Hume was able to communicate with some Aboriginals they met early in their journey who consented to act as guides, and later, when the Aboriginals left them, Sturt speaks with appreciation of Hume's ability in tracking their animals which had strayed. Being a drought year, it was a constant struggle to find water, and only good bushmanship saved the party. Sturt would have liked Hume to go with him on his second expedition, which started at the end of 1829, but he had a harvest to get in and was unable to make arrangements. Hume had finished his work as an explorer, and spent his remaining days as a successful pastoralist.

Later life
Hume married Elizabeth Dight on 8 November 1825 at St Philip's Church in Sydney. She survived him but had no children.

Hume served as a magistrate in Yass until his death at his residence, Cooma Cottage in Yass on 19 April 1873. A double seater buggy once owned by Hume and used by him in Yass is in the National Museum of Australia collection in Canberra.

Honours
Hume is commemorated by the Hume Highway, the principal road between Sydney and Melbourne. Hume and Hovell were also commemorated by having their portraits printed on the Australian one-pound banknote between 1953 and 1966. Hume Dam and the impounded reservoir, Lake Hume, were named in his honour in 1996. The Canberra suburb of Hume was named after him, as was the federal electoral Division of Hume. The City of Hume, an outer metropolitan council in Melbourne formed in 1994, is named in his honour.

In 1976 a postage stamp bearing the portraits of Hume and Hovell was issued by Australia Post. The Hume and Hovell Track, a 440 km trail between Yass and Albury, also bears their joint names.

title: Hamilton Hume


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Critical chain project management

Critical chain project management (CCPM) is a method of planning and managing projects that emphasizes the resources (people, equipment, physical space) required to execute project tasks. It was developed by Eliyahu M. Goldratt. It differs from more traditional methods that derive from critical path and PERT algorithms, which emphasize task order and rigid scheduling. A critical chain project network strives to keep resources levelled, and requires that they be flexible in start times.

Origins
Critical chain project management is based on methods and algorithms derived from Theory of Constraints. The idea of CCPM was introduced in 1997 in Eliyahu M. Goldratt's book, Critical Chain. The application of CCPM has been credited with achieving projects 10% to 50% faster and/or cheaper than the traditional methods (i.e., CPM, PERT, Gantt, etc.) developed from 1910 to 1950s.

According to studies of traditional project management methods by Standish Group and others as of 1998, only 44% of projects typically finish on time. Projects typically complete at 222% of the duration originally planned, 189% of the original budgeted cost, 70% of projects fall short of their planned scope (technical content delivered), and 30% are cancelled before completion. CCPM tries to improve performance relative to these traditional statistics.

Details
With traditional project management methods, 30% of lost time and resources are typically consumed by wasteful techniques such as bad multitasking (in particular task switching), student syndrome, Parkinson's law, in-box delays, and lack of prioritization.

In a project plan, the critical chain is the sequence of both precedence- and resource-dependent tasks that prevents a project from being completed in a shorter time, given finite resources. If resources are always available in unlimited quantities, then a project's critical chain is identical to its critical path method.

Critical chain is an alternative to critical path analysis. Main features that distinguish critical chain from critical path are:
 * 1) Use of (often implicit) resource dependencies. Implicit means that they are not included in the project network, but must be identified by looking at the resource requirements.
 * 2) Lack of search for an optimum solution—a "good enough" solution is enough because:
 * 3) As far as is known, there is no analytical method for finding an absolute optimum (i.e., having the overall shortest critical chain).
 * 4) The inherent uncertainty in estimates is much greater than the difference between the optimum and near-optimum ("good enough" solutions).
 * 5) Identification and insertion of buffers:
 * 6) * Project buffer
 * 7) * Feeding buffers
 * 8) * Resource buffers (companies are usually reluctant to give more resources)
 * 9) Monitoring project progress and health by monitoring the consumption rate of the buffers rather than individual task performance to schedule.

CCPM planning aggregates the large amounts of safety time added to tasks within a project into the buffers—to protect the due-date performance and avoid wasting this safety time through bad multitasking, student syndrome, Parkinson's Law, and poorly synchronized integration.

Critical chain project management uses buffer management instead of earned value management to assess the performance of a project. Some project managers feel that the earned value management technique is misleading, because it does not distinguish progress on the project constraint (i.e., on the critical chain) from progress on non-constraints (''i.e., on other paths). Event chain methodology can determine the size of the project, feeding, and resource buffers.''

Planning
A project plan or work breakdown structure (WBS) is created in much the same fashion as with critical path. The plan is worked backward from a completion date with each task starting as late as possible.

A duration is assigned to each task. Some software implementations add a second duration: one a "best guess," or 50% probability duration, and a second "safe" duration, which should have higher probability of completion (perhaps 90% or 95%, depending on the amount of risk that the organization can accept). Other software implementations go through the duration estimate of every task and remove a fixed percentage to be aggregated into the buffers.

Resources are assigned to each task, and the plan is resource leveled, using the aggressive durations. The longest sequence of resource-leveled tasks that lead from beginning to end of the project is then identified as the critical chain. The justification for using the 50% estimates is that half of the tasks will finish early and half will finish late, so that the variance over the course of the project should be zero.

Recognizing that tasks are more likely to take more time than less time due to Parkinson's law, Student syndrome, or other reasons, CCPM uses "buffers" to monitor project schedule and financial performance. The "extra" duration of each task on the critical chain—the difference between the "safe" durations and the 50% durations—is gathered in a buffer at the end of the project. In the same way, buffers are gathered at the end of each sequence of tasks that feed into the critical chain. The date at the end of the project buffer is given to external stakeholders as the delivery date. Finally, a baseline is established, which enables financial monitoring of the project.

An alternate duration-estimation methodology uses probability-based quantification of duration using Monte Carlo simulation. In 1999, a researcher applied simulation to assess the impact of risks associated with each component of project work breakdown structure on project duration, cost and performance. Using Monte Carlo simulation, the project manager can apply different probabilities for various risk factors that affect a project component. The probability of occurrence can vary from 0% to 100% chance of occurrence. The impact of risk is entered into the simulation model along with the probability of occurrence. The number of iterations of Monte Carlo simulation depend on the tolerance level of error and provide a density graph illustrating the overall probability of risk impact on project outcome.

Execution
When the plan is complete and the project is ready to start, the project network is fixed and the buffers' sizes are "locked" (i.e., their planned duration may not be altered during the project), because they are used to monitor project schedule and financial performance.

With no slack in the duration of individual tasks, resources are encouraged to focus on the task at hand to complete it and hand it off to the next person or group. The objective here is to eliminate bad multitasking. This is done by providing priority information to all resources. The literature draws an analogy with a relay race. Each element on the project is encouraged to move as quickly as they can: when they are running their "leg" of the project, they should be focused on completing the assigned task as quickly as possible, with minimization of distractions and multitasking. In some case studies, actual batons are reportedly hung by the desks of people when they are working on critical chain tasks so that others know not to interrupt. The goal, here, is to overcome the tendency to delay work or to do extra work when there seems to be time. The CCPM literature contrasts this with "traditional" project management that monitors task start and completion dates. CCPM encourages people to move as quickly as possible, regardless of dates.

Because task duration has been planned at the 50% probability duration, there is pressure on resources to complete critical chain tasks as quickly as possible, overcoming student's syndrome and Parkinson's Law.

Monitoring
According to proponents, monitoring is, in some ways, the greatest advantage of the Critical Chain method. Because individual tasks vary in duration from the 50% estimate, there is no point in trying to force every task to complete "on time;" estimates can never be perfect. Instead, we monitor the buffers created during the planning stage. A fever chart or similar graph can be created and posted to show the consumption of buffer as a function of project completion. If the rate of buffer consumption is low, the project is on target. If the rate of consumption is such that there is likely to be little or no buffer at the end of the project, then corrective actions or recovery plans must be developed to recover the loss. When the buffer consumption rate exceeds some critical value (roughly: the rate where all of the buffer may be expected to be consumed before the end of the project, resulting in late completion), then those alternative plans need to be implemented.

History
Critical sequence was originally identified in the 1960s.

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

title: Critical chain project management


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George Robertson, Baron Robertson of Port Ellen

George Islay MacNeill Robertson, Baron Robertson of Port Ellen, (born 12 April 1946) is a British politician of the Labour Party who was the 10th Secretary General of NATO from 1999 to 2003; he succeeded Javier Solana. He was Secretary of State for Defence from 1997 to 1999, before becoming a life peer as Baron Robertson of Port Ellen, of Islay in Argyll and Bute, on 24 August 1999.

Early life
Born in Port Ellen, Isle of Islay, Scotland, the son of George Philip Robertson (1916–2002), a policeman, and Marion Isabella Robertson née MacNeill (1913–1996). His mother taught French and German. His maternal grandfather Malcolm McNeill was the police sergeant at Bowmore during World War One, and wrote about the kindness of local people in shipwreck tragedies of SS Tuscania and HMS Otranto. Robertson was educated at Dunoon Grammar School and studied economics at Queen's College, Dundee. When he was 15 years of age, he was involved with protests against US nuclear submarines docking in Scotland.

During Robertson's time at Queen's College it broke away from the University of St Andrews to become the University of Dundee, of which Robertson was one of the first graduates (MA, 1968), and one of a minority of graduates that year who opted to take a Dundee, rather than a St Andrews, degree. During his time at University he played a full part in student life. He wrote a column for the student newspaper Annasach, launched in 1967, and took an active role in student protests. Robertson used his newspaper column to back the new University and encouraged his fellow students to take a University of Dundee degree (students who had started before 1967 could opt to take a degree from either the University of Dundee or the University of St Andrews). Robertson is now the Chancellor of the University of Dundee.

In 1968, Robertson was one of a number of Dundee students to invade the pitch during a rugby match at St Andrews involving a team from the Orange Free State to protest against apartheid. The same year he organised a 24-hour work-in by students in the university library in opposition to proposed cuts by the government in student grants.

Personal life
Robertson married Sandra Wallace on 1 June 1970. They have two sons and a daughter. Robertson supports Hamilton Academical football club.

Traffic collision
Robertson survived a serious car crash on 19 January 1976 when a Navy Land Rover, which was carrying 100 lb of gelignite and a box of detonators, hit his car head-on in the Drumochter Pass, one mile south of Dalwhinnie leaving him with two injured knees and a broken jaw. In May 1976 the driver of the Land Rover was found guilty of careless driving. Robertson was wearing a seat belt at the time and attributed his survival to this.

Political career
Robertson entered the House of Commons as a Labour MP in 1978, having won the Hamilton by-election in May of that year, caused by the death of the incumbent Labour MP Alex Wilson that March. Margo MacDonald of the SNP came second. Robertson retained the constituency with an increased majority and obtained 51% of the overall vote. He was re-elected to Parliament at five subsequent general elections, was Chairman of the Labour Party in Scotland, and was appointed to the Privy Council.

After Labour won the 1997 general election, Robertson was appointed Secretary of State for Defence. He initiated the Strategic Defence Review, which was completed in 1998, presenting a coherent political and strategic narrative themed as 'a force for good'. The review created the Joint Rapid Reaction Force and inaugurated the ambitious project to build two new large aircraft carriers for force projection, the Queen Elizabeth-class, and its new warplanes, symbolising the new government's commitment to defence. However the new Labour government had come to power promising to follow the previous Conservative government's spending plans for its first two years, and this required a defence budget cut of £2 billion. Though the defence budget was subsequently expanded, it was not sufficient for the increased ambitions of the review. Tom Bower, in his book on that government, argued that "Robertson had created an unaffordable dream in 1998." In 1999, Robertson was appointed Secretary General of NATO after the German defence minister Rudolf Scharping declined to the position, and doubts were raised about the suitability of the British politician and former Royal Marine Paddy Ashdown (at that time the outgoing leader of the Liberal Democrats) due to his never having held a position in government. Robertson was the Secretary General of NATO at the time of the United States invasion of Afghanistan. In October 2001, NATO invoked Article V of the North Atlantic Treaty for the first time in its history.

In December 2002, before the US-led invasion of Iraq, Robertson declared that NATO had a "moral obligation" to support the United States if it attacked Iraq.

In September 2022, during the 7th month of the Ukraine War, interviewed by Channel 4 about his nine meetings with Vladimir Putin, Robertson said, "At the first meeting (in Moscow, Oct 2001) Vladimir Putin clearly said, 'I WANT RUSSIA TO BE PART OF WESTERN EUROPE...at the 2nd meeting (in Brussels) he said..'WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO INVITE RUSSIA TO JOIN NATO?'...I started to sort of reach out and engage them in so many activities that they basically couldn't fight with us.. but after I left NATO (in Dec 2003), the American administration, the Bush administration (during their own illegal war on Iraq opposed by Putin), lost any interest basically in doing business with Russia, they saw it as a threat..they didn't really want to make it part of the overall partnership. I think we missed an opportunity at that time because I think it's what he (Putin) wanted, and we could have grabbed hold of him!"

Quote on devolution
In 1995, Robertson, while he was Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland said, "Devolution will kill Nationalism stone dead". This quote was designed to assuage hopes that devolution would provide a greater platform for the Scottish National Party (SNP). Robertson's quote is frequently recalled, usually in a mocking fashion, since the SNP won Scottish Parliament elections in 2007, 2011, 2016 and 2021.

Dunblane libel action
Robertson's three children are former pupils of the school in Dunblane where gunman Thomas Hamilton murdered 16 children and their teacher in 1996. After the massacre, Robertson, a long-time resident of the town, acted as a spokesman for the victims' families. He was also a key figure in the subsequent campaign that led to the ban on handguns in Great Britain.

In 2003, the Sunday Herald newspaper ran an article entitled "Should the Dunblane dossier be kept secret?", a reference to documents relating to the Cullen Inquiry into the massacre which are to remain classified for 100 years. In a discussion board on the newspaper's website, anonymous contributors claimed that Robertson had signed a recommendation for a gun licence for Thomas Hamilton in his capacity as Hamilton's MP. However, Robertson had never been the gunman's MP, and the claims were unfounded. Robertson sued the Sunday Herald and the paper settled by paying him a five-figure sum plus costs. A subsequent action by Robertson, related to the terms of the newspaper's apology, was unsuccessful. The first case became an important test case as to whether publishers can be held responsible for comments posted on their websites.

Independence referendum interventions
Robertson opposed Scottish independence in the 2014 referendum. In an article in The Washington Post, he wrote: "The residual United Kingdom would still be a major player in the world, but upon losing a third of its land mass, 5 million of its population and a huge amount of credibility, its global standing would inevitably diminish."

He said in a speech to the Brookings Institution on 8 April 2014: "The loudest cheers for the break-up of Britain would be from our adversaries and from our enemies. For the second military power in the west to shatter this year would be cataclysmic in geo-political terms." Robertson also likened the efforts of Unionists to keep Scotland tied to the UK with those of Abraham Lincoln's fight against slavery when he stated, "they might look more relevantly at the Civil War where hundreds of thousands of Americans perished in a war to keep the new Union together. To Lincoln and his compatriots the Union was so precious, so important, and its integrity so valuable that rivers of blood would be spilt to keep it together."

After NATO
Robertson has received numerous honours (including a total of 12 Honorary doctorates from various universities).

In addition, he is a Senior Counsellor at The Cohen Group, a consulting firm in Washington D.C. that provides advice and assistance in marketing and regulatory affairs.

In August 2021, he criticised the withdrawal of NATO troops from Afghanistan, saying that "We never really took Afghanistan and the conflict there with the seriousness that it demanded."

On 16 July 2024, the newly elected Labour government of Keir Starmer announced the commencement of a defence review, to be lead by Robertson.

Career

 * 1968–1978, Official of the GMB Union for the Scottish whisky industry.
 * 1978–1999, Member of the British House of Commons, member for Hamilton or Hamilton South, elected six times.
 * 1979, Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Social Services.
 * 1979–??, Opposition Spokesman on Scottish Affairs.
 * 19??–82, Opposition Spokesman on Defence.
 * 1982–93, Opposition Spokesman on Foreign Affairs.
 * 1983–93, Chief Opposition Spokesman on Europe.
 * 1993–97, Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland.
 * May 1997, Appointed to the Privy Council
 * May 1997 – October 1999, Defence Secretary of the United Kingdom
 * October 1999 – January 2004, 10th Secretary General of NATO and Chairman of the North Atlantic Council.

Other former or present posts

 * Chairman of the Labour Party in Scotland
 * Vice-chairman of the Westminster Foundation for Democracy
 * Vice-chairman of the British Council for nine years
 * Vice-chairman of the Britain-Russia Centre
 * Member of the Council of the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) seven years, now President
 * Member of the Pilgrims Society
 * Governor of the Ditchley Foundation
 * Trustee of the 21st Century Trust
 * Patron to the British-American Project
 * Currently serves on the board of Cable & Wireless International
 * Currently serves on the board of The Weir Group PLC
 * Currently serves on the board of The TNK-BP
 * Currently serves on the Global Panel Foundation|Global Panel America Advisory Board
 * Currently a member of the Top Level Group of UK Parliamentarians for Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament and Non-proliferation, established in October 2009.
 * Hon president of the Clan Donnachaidh Society
 * Chancellor of the University of Dundee

Honours and awards

 * Orders
 * 2003 Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (GCMG)
 * 🏴 30 November 2004 Knight of the Order of the Thistle (KT)

 * Foreign Honours
 * 🇩🇪 1991 Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
 * 🇷🇴 2000 Grand Cross of the Order of the Star of Romania
 * 🇳🇱 8 September 2003 Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Orange-Nassau
 * 🇵🇹 19 November 2003 Grand Cross of the Order of Christ
 * 🇺🇸 12 November 2003 Presidential Medal of Freedom
 * 🇭🇷 1 December 2003 – Grand Order of King Petar Krešimir IV
 * 🇪🇪 2004 Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana
 * 🇭🇺 1 July 2016 Order of St. George

 * Organisation
 * 🇪🇺 1993 joint Parliamentarian of the Year for his role in the Maastricht Treaty ratification
 * 🇺🇸 2000 Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement presented by General Joseph Ralston, USAF, Supreme Allied Commander Europe.
 * 🇧🇬 2003 Atlantic Solidarity Award bestowed by the Manfred Wörner Foundation
 * 🇨🇿 4th recipient of the Hanno R. Ellenbogen Citizenship Award jointly presented by the Prague Society and Global Panel Foundation
 * Elder Brother of Trinity House

 * Appointments
 * 24 August 1999 life peer as Baron Robertson of Port Ellen

Appointments

 * Personal
 * Member of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom (PC)

 * Fellowships
 * Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA)
 * 🏴 Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE)

 * Academic
 * 🏴 5 July 2006 Honorary Degree of Doctor of the University (DUniv) from the University of Paisley.
 * 🏴 Honorary Doctorate from the University of Dundee
 * 🏴 Honorary Doctorate from the University of Bradford
 * 🏴 Honorary Doctorate from Cranfield University (Royal Military College of Science)
 * 🇦🇿 Honorary Doctorate from the Baku State University

Honorary military appointments

 * Appointments
 * Honorary Regimental Colonel of the London Scottish (Volunteers)


text:
Lord Robertson

Lord Robertson may refer to:

 * Patrick Robertson, Lord Robertson (1794–1855), Scottish judge
 * James Robertson, Baron Robertson (1845–1909)
 * George Robertson, Baron Robertson of Port Ellen (born 1946), the 10th Secretary General of NATO
 * Ian Robertson, Lord Robertson (1912–2005) TD, Senator of the College of Justice in Scotland, 1966–1987, chairman of the Merchiston Board of governors, 1970–1996

title: Lord Robertson


text:
List of rivers of Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia's rivers all flow into the Atlantic Ocean through four unique watersheds: the Gulf of Maine, the Northumberland Strait, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and into the Atlantic Ocean itself.

Gulf of Maine
The Gulf of Maine system includes the Bay of Fundy, which includes the Cumberland and Minas Basins. In Nova Scotia, the system occupies the shores from Fort Lawrence to Cape St. Mary (44°05′N).

Bay of Fundy
The Bay of Fundy coastline in Nova Scotia begins at Fort Lawrence and circles Cape Chignecto eastward to Truro. It then follows west along the Annapolis Valley as far as Brier Island on the Digby Neck. Within the Bay of Fundy are two basins: Chignecto Bay which begins at Fort Lawrence and ends at Cape Chignecto, and the Minas Basin that encompasses everything east of Ramshead Point (near Diligent River) and Cape Split.

 * Apple River (Note: westernmost river on the north coast of the Bay of Fundy)
 * Fox River
 * Ramshead River
 * Diligent River (Note: easternmost river on the north coast of Bay of Fundy)
 * Annapolis River (Note: easternmost river on the south coast of Bay of Fundy)
 * Nictaux River
 * Moose River
 * Bear River
 * Little River

Minas Basin
The Minas Basin flows into the Bay of Fundy between Ramshead Point and Cape Split.

 * Habitant River
 * Gaspereau River
 * Black River
 * Avon River
 * Halfway River (Kings County)

 * Cogmagun River
 * River Hebert
 * Halfway River (Cumberland County)
 * Kennetcook River
 * St. Croix River

 * Cornwallis River
 * Walton River
 * Tennycape River
 * Noel River
 * East Noel River
 * Shubenacadie River
 * Stewiacke River
 * Five Mile River
 * Nine Mile River
 * St. Andrews River
 * Gays River
 * Salmon River
 * North River
 * Chiganois River
 * Debert River
 * Folly River
 * Great Village River
 * Portapique River
 * Bass River
 * West Bass River
 * Little Bass River
 * Economy River
 * East River
 * North River
 * Harrington River
 * Moose River
 * Farrells River

Gulf of Maine
The Gulf of Maine coastline in Nova Scotia begins at Brier Island and continues to Cape St. Mary.

 * Sissiboo River
 * Rivière Grosses Coques
 * Belliveau River
 * Meteghan River
 * Salmon River
 * Indian River
 * Chebogue River
 * Little River
 * Tusket River
 * Abrams River

Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean coastline in Nova Scotia begins at Cape Sable Island and continues to Cape Canso (45.33333°N, -61°W). The list is divided into the geographical shorelines in the province.

South Shore
The South Shore extends from Cape Sable Island to Halifax Harbour.

 * Barrington River
 * Clyde River
 * Round Bay River
 * Roseway River
 * Jordan River
 * Sable River
 * Broad River
 * Five Rivers
 * Mersey River
 * Shelburne River
 * Medway River
 * Petite Rivière
 * LaHave River
 * Mushamush River
 * Martins River
 * Vaughns River
 * Gold River
 * Middle River
 * East River
 * Little East River
 * Ingram River
 * Prospect River
 * Terence Bay River

Eastern Shore
The Eastern Shore extends from Halifax Harbour to the Strait of Canso.
 * Tillmann Brook
 * Sackville River
 * Little Sackville River
 * Little Salmon River
 * Chezzetcook River
 * Musquodoboit River
 * West River Sheet Harbour
 * East River Sheet Harbour
 * Salmon River
 * Quoddy River
 * Moser River
 * Ecum Secum River
 * Liscombe River
 * St. Mary's River
 * Indian River
 * Country Harbour River
 * Isaacs Harbour River
 * Costley River
 * Garry River
 * New Harbour River
 * Larrys River
 * Salmon River
 * Milford Haven River
 * Roman Valley River
 * Clam Harbour River
 * St. Francis Harbour River

Gulf of Saint Lawrence
The Gulf of Saint Lawrence coastline in Nova Scotia begins at Cape Canso (45.33333°N, -61°W) and continues to Cape George Point.

Cape Breton Island

 * Aspy River
 * Ingonish River
 * North River
 * Sydney River
 * Mira River
 * Framboise River
 * Grand River
 * Graham River
 * Broad Cove River
 * Margaree River
 * Chéticamp River
 * Mackenzie River
 * Grand Anse River

Bras d'Or Lake

 * River Denys
 * Middle River
 * Baddeck River
 * Skye River
 * Georges River

St. George's Bay

 * Wrights River
 * Little Tracadie River
 * Tracadie River
 * Afton River
 * Pomquet River
 * Black Avon River
 * Alder River
 * South River
 * West River

Northumberland Strait
The Northumberland Strait coastline in Nova Scotia begins at Cape George Point and continues to the Tidnish River.

 * Ohio River
 * James River
 * Rights River
 * North River
 * Barneys River
 * French River
 * Sutherlands River
 * boat harbour (out fall)
 * East River of Pictou
 * Middle River of Pictou
 * West River of Pictou
 * Big Caribou River
 * Caribou River
 * Toney River
 * River John
 * Waughs River
 * Black River
 * French River
 * Dewar River
 * Wallace River
 * Pugwash River
 * River Philip
 * Little River
 * Goose River
 * Shinimicas River
 * Tidnish River

title: List of rivers of Nova Scotia


text:
Talk:List of artists who died of drug-related causes

Um... George Harrison? You're going to include everyone who smoked and died of cancer? Sort of makes it a bizarre list. I think listing everyone who died of heart troubles and had used drugs in the past is a little suspect too, as is listing everyone with AIDS who used drugs. Better, I would think, to restrict the list to people where drug use was listed as the proximate cause of death, rather than as a contributory cause.-- Someone else 01:35 Feb 15, 2003 (UTC)
 * I wasn't going to, but George Harrison states outright that the cancer developed because of smoking. Most diseases aren't immediately traceable to something like smoking, but some are -- I don't know if Harrison's is or not, but whoever wrote his article didn't leave any ambiguity. Tokerboy
 * Almost no disease is due to a single factor. 85% of lung cancers occur in smokers. 15% occur in non-smokers. So the article has an 85% chance of being right :) .  -- Someone else 02:17 Feb 15, 2003 (UTC)
 * True, and the vast majority of the time it is impossible to tell whether a smoker got cancer due to random chance or due to smoking, but not all cancers are created equal. In a small minority of cases, deaths can be said as unambiguously as anything in medicine to have been caused by drug use; I'm more familiar with alcohol, so to use that as an example, a particular type of liver scarring that can lead to cirrhosis only occurs from alcohol ingestion.  I suppose the question is where to draw the line -- Dennis Wilson, an expert long-distance swimmer, drowned when he was drunk and hopped up on Quaaludes.  I think that's pretty unambiguously a death caused by drugs.  Would you include that, or do you want to include only overdoses?  (Really, I'm willing to go either way, though the websites I collected the names from were often vague, hence I decided to judge it rather liberally)  What about drunk-driving, contracting AIDS from shooting up with dirty needles, accidentally and drunkenly shooting oneself... Maybe the list should be divided into sections for direct overdoses, illnesses exacerbated by drugs, drug-related accidents (and I'd like to add suicides, either in a re-named article or a different one, as I think people often group them together when thinking about this subject). I kind of lean towards sections, as it doesn't delete information, it just organizes it in a more informative way.Tokerboy

The page would be much better if the drug-related causes were listed for each individual. The inclusion of tobacco and alcohol, it seems to me, makes giving the actual causes pretty much imperative. Ortolan88

 * Would you favor including it in captions, or separating in sections? Tokerboy

I think the alphabetical procession with the drug or other cause attached to each name is dramatic, interesting, and moving. I think a separate list of heroin deaths, alcohol deaths, would be depressing. Ortolan88

The cause of death, or comments on the likely cause of death (and reason for inclusion in this list) should always be given, it seems to me. Putting George Harrison in with Lenny Bruce (and they both meant a lot to me) just doesn't seem right without the explanation included. Also, if the article on a person lists one cause of death, or none, and we say drug-related here, it is going to look fishy, regardless of which article is right. So, if you add some information here, you owe it to the Wikipedia to go to the main article to check what it says too. Ortolan88

 * I guess I asked for this, but anyway, here is an excerpt (adapted slightly) from something I put in Talk:Jimi Hendrix:
 * BTW, I really paused and repaused over "choked on his own vomit". Romantics love that stuff, but in fact what happens, as I understand it, is more like drug-induced paralysis of the central nervous system and you die, vomit or not. Take enough barbiturates or other drugs, including alcohol, and you can die hanging over the rail. Wouldn't it be enough to say "died in a barbiturate-induced coma"? "Died in a drug-induced coma?"

 * Ortolan88 04:53 Feb 16, 2003 (UTC)

 * You can die lots of ways from overdosing: aspirating one's vomit is one of them, and decreased respiratory drive is another. The difference (to the dier) is that in the first instance, he'd be trying to breathe, but unable to get air to his lungs, while in the second instance, he'd just stop "trying" to breathe. The difference would be clear at autopsy, but short of that, there may be some "guess-work" involved.  I'm tempted to think, with Ortolan, that this may be a case of "too much info", but if not, it should only be added where we know it's right. (Dunno about Jimi). -- Someone else 05:07 Feb 16, 2003 (UTC)
 * I changed it to respiratory arrest caused by drugs. Anything more specific should be at Jimi Hendrix, not here. Tokerboy
 * It's not just Jimi, it's all those "choked on vomit" entries in this article. I already took care of it for Hendrix, but I thought the note was worth duplicating here, after I removed the Hendrix-specific information.  Still do.  Ortolan88

How about just a "list of dead people" - like a necrology? or a geneology, tree. Then we can subdivide categories, like List:Gun fatalities. (Remember, anyone that Time (Newsweek?) magazine that listed everyone who died of handguns in the USA for 1 week? Like 1100 entries!) Sounds daunting, to say the least. At least, we hope, this list isnt as long as the protonecromicon: A list of people yet to be born and die. Just silly thoughts.-Stevert


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Talk:Channel Tunnel

Improve history
There is a much more detailed history of tunneling and the modern tunnel needed to allow for previous technically successful starts but politically stalled projects.

This article has great detail which could even warrant a separate article

https://www.subbrit.org.uk/sites/channel-tunnel-1880-attempt/ Jack Nunn Jacknunn ([]) 16:05, 17 April 2022 (UTC)

Chunnel name
I recently reverted the addition of this change, because the wording introduced gave the impression that this name "Chunnel" was no longer used. A quick search online shows that this is very clearly not the case. Nevertheless it was reverted with a request for sources. So I have provided a source. However to allay any concerns that this is a one-off anomaly, I wanted to provide additional sources here which further contradict the assertion that the name is something that was only used when the Channel Tunnel first opened: Bloomberg, May 2022; History Channel, May 2022; Business Insider, August 2021; Time, January 2015; USA Today, August 2015; the Connecticut Examiner, June 2022; CBS News, January 2019; The Telegraph, October 2021; The Independent, October 2021; UPI, May 2019; The Times, April 2019. I could keep going but I hope that's a sufficient number of sources that show that this name is still current, therefore the wording "also referred to in the early days by the media" is inappropriate as it is very clearly contradicted by the multitude of reliable sources which still use this name. - Aoidh (talk) 00:21, 22 July 2022 (UTC)

I agree. Plus “also referred to in the early days by the media as” seems like an overly verbose way of saying “also known as” RickyCourtney (talk) 02:17, 22 July 2022 (UTC)
 * It was, and still is, only used by sections of the press. It never caught on with the general public and current reports of the problems at Dover refer to it as Eurotunnel. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Murgatroyd49 (talk • contribs) 15:12, 23 July 2022 (UTC)
 * The sources I linked above are a wide variety of sources not a "section". That it is only used by "sections of the press" is a claim, do you have sources that support this claim? One article using one alternative name does not validate the idea that this name is only used by "sections of the press". Is this a no true scotsman thing? Are you saying no one calls it this, except for all the sources that do? - Aoidh (talk) 20:06, 23 July 2022 (UTC)

 * I disagree that Chunnel is used in normal speech. The cited BBC articile uses Chunnel only a couple of times, and always in inverted commas, but uses Channel Tunnel many times, without inverted commas. The inverted commas signify that Chunnel is not intended as a formal word by the BBC. Furthermore, most of Aoidh's sources listed above are American. Given that the Channel Tunnel is British (and French), I dispute the relevance of what some American authors may think is the appropriate name. So the consensus here seems to agree in qualifying the "Chunnel" term as being a rare usage.31.52.90.201 (talk) 18:55, 30 December 2023 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion
The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion: Participate in the deletion discussion at the. —Community Tech bot (talk) 09:37, 8 September 2022 (UTC)
 * Fresque Eurotunnel Navettes.jpg

The map of all of the stations on the 'line' is pretty bad
Everything has all been compressed into one area and there is measurements in yards on the English side but no measurements on the French side. I am not well versed in making such diagrams so I hope someone can clean it up. (and if you are worried about space then just set it to collapse automatically) GarethBaloney (talk) 22:29, 20 October 2023 (UTC)

Concession radio?
Please define this term. 2001:8003:303D:BC00:C49D:973A:5FC6:30C2 (talk) 21:28, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
 * Radio communication system used inside the area used by the tunnel operating concession. Murgatroyd49 (talk) 22:03, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
 * I had a go at improving the wording. Wire723 (talk) 19:07, 10 February 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Channel Tunnel


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The Urethra Chronicles

The Urethra Chronicles is a 1999 documentary film about the American pop punk band Blink-182. The film, directed by former manager Rick DeVoe, is a behind-the-scenes look at the band's history featuring their usual toilet humor. The documentary includes exclusive live performance footage and music videos.

The film was released on November 30, 1999 on VHS and May 2, 2000 for DVD. A sequel, The Urethra Chronicles II: Harder Faster Faster Harder, was released in 2002.

Background
The film explores the lives of Blink-182 members Mark Hoppus, Tom DeLonge, and Travis Barker. The film features footage shot over many years: for example, stunts shot by Hoppus and DeLonge during the recording of sophomore effort Dude Ranch in 1996 open up the film. The film was completed in fall of 1999, shortly before Blink-182 set off on tour with Silverchair. The original title of the documentary was The Diary of the Butt. Hoppus, in a 1999 interview with the MTV Radio Network, described the production as "...a look back, and also a look ahead."

Contents
The DVD includes all of the official music videos of the singles from the Dude Ranch and Enema of the State albums.

 * 1) "Dammit" (Directed by Darren Doane)
 * 2) "Josie" (Directed by Darren Doane)
 * 3) "What's My Age Again?" (Directed by Marcos Siega)
 * 4) "All the Small Things" (Directed by Marcos Siega)
 * 5) "Adam's Song" (Directed by Liz Friedlander)

Two songs were performed live and filmed at the Electric Ballroom in London, England, on November 30, 1999, and are included in the documentary.

 * 1) "What's My Age Again?"
 * 2) "All the Small Things"

Bonus features include individual interviews with DeLonge, Hoppus and Barker, and a photo gallery.

title: The Urethra Chronicles


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Mark Hoppus

Mark Allan Hoppus (born March 15, 1972) is an American musician and record producer. He is the bassist and co-lead vocalist for the rock band Blink-182 and the only member to appear on every album.

Hoppus became interested in skateboarding and punk rock in junior high, and received a bass guitar from his father at the age of 15. After he moved to San Diego in 1992 to attend California State University San Marcos, his sister introduced him to Tom DeLonge, and they formed the band Blink-182 with drummer Scott Raynor. The band produced several rock recordings and toured exhaustively before signing to major label MCA to co-distribute their sophomore effort, 1997's Dude Ranch, which featured the Hoppus-penned hit "Dammit".

After replacing Raynor with Travis Barker, Blink-182 recorded Enema of the State (1999), which launched them to multi-platinum success. Two more records followed—the heavier Take Off Your Pants and Jacket (2001) and the more experimental untitled fifth album (2003)—before the band split in 2005 following internal tension. Hoppus continued playing with Barker in +44 in the late 2000s. Blink-182 subsequently reunited in 2009 and continue to record and tour worldwide.

Aside from his musical career, Hoppus has had multiple successes behind the recording console, producing records for groups such as Idiot Pilot, New Found Glory, The Matches, Motion City Soundtrack, and PAWS. He has previously co-owned two companies, Atticus and Macbeth Footwear, and created a new clothing line in 2012 named Hi My Name is Mark. Hoppus hosted a weekly podcast in 2005 through 2006, which returned in 2015, and he hosted his own television talk show, Hoppus on Music, from 2010 to 2012 on Fuse. He also was part of the pop rock duo Simple Creatures from 2019 until 2020.

Early life
Mark Allan Hoppus was born on March 15, 1972, in Ridgecrest, California. He was raised near Washington, D.C., before his family settled in Ridgecrest, a place he later described as "geniuses, scientists, physicists, and then just complete strung-out meth-heads". His maternal great-grandparents, Aaron and Lempi Orrenmaa, were Finnish immigrants from Laihia. His father Tex, like many in Ridgecrest, worked for the U.S. Department of Defense, designing missiles and bombs for the town's Navy testing center.

Hoppus describes himself as "pretty mellow" until his parents divorced when he was eight, which had a "drastic, unsettling effect" on him. He said, "When my parents argued, it was always behind closed doors. I remember sitting outside my parents' room when I was seven years old, hearing the dulled voice of anger behind the door. It upset me a lot." Following these events, he spent two years shuffling between his parents' homes with sister Anne, until he and his father moved to Monterey. His father was often away earning a postgraduate degree in college. He later would describe his childhood as lonely, remarking, "[I] was living by myself in the fifth grade." His father introduced him to the music of The Beatles, Elton John and Billy Joel.

Hoppus describes himself as "pretty straight" until junior high, when he began skateboarding and listening to punk rock. In his early high school years, he lived in Fairfax, Virginia, attending nearby Annandale High School during his second year; he received his first bass guitar during this time and attended his first concert, They Might Be Giants, at the 9:30 Club shortly before his 16th birthday. He recalled, "I didn't know where I should stand or what I should do, so my friends and I bought some menthol cigarettes and smoked for the first time and tried to look as cool as we could. We probably looked like idiots." He received his first bass (a Mako) as a gift from his father, purchased at a local music shop in Annandale. He earned money for a set of amplifiers by helping him paint his house. Hoppus never took bass lessons, instead teaching himself by playing to bands such as the Descendents, The Cure, and Bad Religion. He has remarked that "Silly Girl" by the Descendents was the "song that made [him] fall in love with punk rock music [...] that song changed [his] life forever". He borrowed a cassette tape of The Cure's album Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me from his friend Wendy Franklin the summer following junior high school, and was taken with the song "Just Like Heaven".

Hoppus began to dress like Cure frontman Robert Smith, donning eyeliner and "occasionally bright red lipstick" to his high school classes; he later quipped, "This all went over exceedingly well with the faculty and staff in the small desert town where I grew up." Beginning in his first year, he gained solace through music of both The Cure and The Smiths. He played by himself and sang in the band Pier 69, primarily covering songs by The Cure, and recorded a live demo with a group named The Attic Children in 1988, featuring covers of The Cure songs. Hoppus returned to Ridgecrest in 1989, completing high school at Burroughs High School. In his teen years, a friend stole his mother's car in the middle of the night to pick him up; the two would sneak out to the desert and burn trees and any objects they could find.

After graduating from Burroughs High School in 1990, he began playing in a band called of All Things he formed with two friends, covering songs by Descendents, Social Distortion, and Bad Religion, as well as writing original punk numbers. The group primarily performed at friend's parties and bonfires, and once played Oasis, the local music venue. Hoppus left Ridgecrest in summer 1992 to attend college and get a job at a local music store in San Diego. He continued playing gigs with of All Things, returning on weekends. Eventually, his manager became suspicious of his weekend activities, as Hoppus had told him he worked with mentally disabled children in Ridgecrest, and refused to give him any time off on weekends. His "short-lived attempt" at college, studying at California State University, San Marcos, revolved around plans to become an English teacher. He recalls he "hated" college and his reasoning behind becoming a teacher involved sights set for educational reform. He dropped out in the early 1990s after "things began to take off with Blink-182" and lived with his mother for many of the early years of the band. Hoppus describes his mother as always supportive in his decisions to drop out of college and tour with Blink-182; however, he describes his father as "more realistic, [...] he said, 'Have something to fall back on.'" "I'm really fortunate that my mom always completely supported me, even to the point that I dropped out of college and lived at her house for five years before our band started to catch on," said Hoppus.

Early career
After moving to San Diego in the summer of 1992, Hoppus was reunited with his sister Anne Hoppus, to whom he expressed his desire to be in a band. Anne attended Rancho Bernardo High School, and had become friends with new student Tom DeLonge over the summer. In August 1992, Anne introduced the two, and Hoppus and DeLonge immediately began performing music in DeLonge's garage. To impress DeLonge, Hoppus climbed to the top of a streetlight outside of DeLonge's home – however, he broke both ankles on the way down, resulting in being on crutches for the next few weeks. DeLonge recalled the meeting in 2000: "When I first met Mark, we were running around naked, doing weird stuff. We were up skateboarding until late hours of the morning, antagonizing security guards, and we were just always having fun." DeLonge recruited old friend Scott Raynor from his days at Poway to become the drummer for the new band, named blink.

Hoppus and his girlfriend at this time lived in a basement apartment, barely scraping together funds to pay rent. With money in savings, Hoppus went out and bought his first professional equipment: a new amp and bass cabinet. He came home and his girlfriend proceeded to argue with him, angry that he spent money on something they did not need. "I just kept telling her that this was what mattered to me, this was my life," Hoppus recalled. She demanded he make a choice between the band and her, which resulted in Hoppus leaving the band shortly after formation. Shortly thereafter, DeLonge told Hoppus he had borrowed a four track recorder from a friend and was preparing to record a demo tape, which prompted Hoppus to break up with his girlfriend and return to the band. Flyswatter—a combination of original songs and punk covers—was recorded in Raynor's bedroom and landed the band their first shows. Three more demos were recorded over the course of 1993 and the band began performing its irreverent live show at local all-ages venue SOMA, which alerted local independent label Cargo Music. Cargo signed the band on a trial basis, and Hoppus was the only member to sign the contract, as DeLonge was at work at the time and Raynor was still a minor. During this time, Hoppus lived at home in San Diego at his mother's, where the band would prepare cassette demos and the entire family would fold cassette inserts. Raynor, whose parents moved to Reno, Nevada, stayed with Hoppus in summer 1994.

Blink's first album, Cheshire Cat (1995), was a strong seller for the independent band and would come to be regarded as iconic within the skate punk scene. In 1995, the band signed on for their first national tour, which extended as far as the East Coast. The band purchased their own tour van and embarked on the GoodTimes tour with Unwritten Law, Sprung Monkey and 7 Seconds. The band slowly built a young, devoted following with indie recordings and an endless series of performances and various clubs and festivals. MCA Records signed the band in 1996 and would co-distribute their next release, the sophomore effort Dude Ranch. Hoppus penned the record's lead single, "Dammit", which became a nationwide rock radio hit single as the band toured on the Vans Warped Tour.

Multi-platinum success and +44
Hoppus grew increasingly lonely on these tours, having no significant other while other band members did. The exhaustive schedule created tensions within the band, who would fire Raynor in the summer of 1998 in mysterious circumstances never fully explained. With new drummer Travis Barker behind the kit, the trio hit the studio with producer Jerry Finn and recorded Enema of the State, which launched the band's career, catapulting them into the "stratosphere of pop music" and solidifying them as the biggest pop punk act of the era. Three singles were released from the record—"What's My Age Again?", "All the Small Things", and "Adam's Song"—that crossed over into Top 40 radio format and experienced major commercial success. Hoppus got married in 2000 (see Personal life) just before the band prepared to record their highly anticipated follow-up, Take Off Your Pants and Jacket (2001). Hoppus felt complacent creatively but DeLonge felt otherwise, creating post-hardcore side project Box Car Racer to experiment with ideas he deemed unsuitable for blink.

Hoppus felt betrayed (Barker was also in Box Car Racer) and a rift developed between Hoppus and DeLonge that would carry on into the band's future. When the band regrouped to record their next record in 2003, all of the members had become fathers (or, in the case of Barker, becoming one) and the trio took a darker, more "mature" direction with their untitled fifth studio album, infusing experimentalist elements into their usual pop punk sound partially inspired by Box Car Racer. Unresolved feelings from that project would arise in late 2004 when the band began to argue regarding their future and recording process. The February 2005 breakup of blink-182 affected Hoppus greatly: "I had no idea what to do. After blink broke up I had such a loss of identity and purpose. I just had a giant sense of void." Hoppus then began to work on even darker, electronic demos with Barker in his kitchen. He also turned to producing, hitting the studio with Motion City Soundtrack to record Commit This to Memory (2005). In October 2005, Hoppus and Barker purchased a studio together (named Opra Music), where they would bring together a full band to expand upon those electronic demos, creating +44's When Your Heart Stops Beating (2006).

The record, by all accounts, sold poorly and received mixed reviews in the music press. Hoppus and Barker continued touring on the Honda Civic Tour and commenced work on a second +44 album. The August 2008 death of friend and producer Jerry Finn deeply affected Hoppus, who referred to Finn as a lifelong friend and mentor. The following month, Barker and collaborator Adam Goldstein (aka DJ AM), were involved in a plane crash that killed four people, leaving Barker and Goldstein the only survivors. Hoppus immediately boarded a plane to the burn unit, and DeLonge reconnected with the duo under the tragic circumstances. When the band regrouped in the studio for a day, past acrimony vanished with near immediacy. Regarding these experiences, Hoppus wrote, "The events of the past two months supersede everything that happened before. Life is too short." In February 2009, the band's official website was updated with a statement: "To put it simply, We're back. We mean, really back. Picking up where we left off and then some. In the studio writing and recording a new album. Preparing to tour the world yet again. Friendships reformed. 17 years deep in our legacy."

Reunion and recent events
The band reconnected musically and emotionally on the reunion tour, but were still "on eggshells" throughout the recording of their comeback album. The recording's delay was due to the way the band chose to work – in bits and pieces, alone and together, in a pair of California studios – in addition to each member's busy schedules. The band struggled to record juggling individual priorities; in the case of Hoppus, his new television show Hoppus on Music required him flying to New York once a week. Hoppus moved to London with his family late in the recording process, also complicating matters. The band's comeback album, Neighborhoods (2011), debuted high but undersold label expectations, and Blink-182 parted with Interscope Records in 2012, going independent for their next release, the EP Dogs Eating Dogs.

The band toured Australia in February 2013 without Barker, who did not attend due to his fear of flying (Brooks Wackerman of Bad Religion filled in for him). The band toured the United States in September 2013, where they planned to begin writing songs for their seventh studio album. "We're hoping to head into the studio next year [and to have the] album out in late spring/early summer," Hoppus told Kerrang!. In the interim, Hoppus began recording songs with frequent engineer and producer Chris Holmes that the duo plan to release by the end of the year. "We probably have seven or eight songs in various stages of completion," Hoppus remarked in August 2013. "I still haven't chosen a name [for the project] yet; we still have to figure that out. It's like guitar mixed with electronics…. at this point." Hoppus will share lead vocals with Holmes on the tracks. On April 25, 2014, Hoppus announced, via Twitter, the name of the band as Nothing and Nobody. Their first album is expected to be released in the "not-too-distant future". In 2015, blink-182 played three shows in California. With the departure of Tom DeLonge from the band, Matt Skiba of Alkaline Trio, filled in. It was the first time Hoppus performed under the name "blink-182" without DeLonge by his side. The shows were on March 18, March 20, and March 22. Hoppus later hired Skiba full-time, and blink-182 recorded two albums with him, 2016's California and 2019's Nine before DeLonge returned to the band in 2022.

Hoppus has also performed DJ sets at Emo Nite in Los Angeles on several occasions from 2015 to 2017.

In non-musical endeavors, Hoppus launched his own clothing line, Hi My Name is Mark (stylized as "HiMyNameIsMark"), in July 2013.

Simple Creatures
On January 24, 2019, Hoppus announced he was forming a new group with Alex Gaskarth of All Time Low called Simple Creatures. A debut song called "Drug" was released in January, followed by their first EP, Strange Love, on March 29, 2019. Their second EP, Everything Opposite, was released on October 11, 2019. Since 2020 the project has been on hiatus.

Songwriting
Hoppus primarily writes most of his songs on an acoustic guitar. He is self-taught, "and consequently I don't have the best technique", he remarked in 2004. "I think you would learn how to paint by painting, rather than reading books about painters or painting and I think it's the same with music. You learn by doing and getting influences from other artists."

Bass guitars
For Blink-182's earliest concerts and demo recordings, Hoppus used a standard Fender Precision Bass. On the albums Cheshire Cat and Dude Ranch and their respective tours, he switched to using a Music Man StingRay as his primary bass. While recording Enema of the State, Hoppus used his StingRay as well as a Fender Precision and Jazz Bass. In a 2021 livestream on Twitch, he revealed he stopped using the StingRay as he thought they sounded too "clanky".

After primarily recording with the two Fender basses, Hoppus merged the designs together for the Fender Mark Hoppus Signature Jazz Bass, which debuted in 2000. On the initial model, the pickup, a Seymour Duncan Quarter Pound (SPB-3), was in its standard position with the E and A pole pieces on top and the D and G pole pieces on the bottom. However, when Fender updated the model in 2006, the pole pieces were reversed, giving it a fuller sound.

In 2015, Hoppus switched to Fender Jaguar Basses with the same configuration as his 2006 model. However, he still occasionally used his original signature Jazz Basses and has used them extensively alongside his Jaguar Basses upon Tom DeLonge's return to the band on One More Time... and its supporting tour.

In 2022, Hoppus teamed up with Fender to release a signature Jaguar Bass sold exclusively through his website Hi My Name Is Mark. To date, it has been released in his signature hot pink color as well as Daphne Blue, with each color being released in limited runs based on customer demand.

Hoppus has been a longtime user of Ernie Ball strings and his instruments are strung with Super Slinky Bass strings (.45-.100).

Amps
For live sound, Hoppus originally plugged his basses into three Ampeg SVT Classic bass heads running into two Ampeg 8x10 SVT bass cabs. Prior to the use of the all-tube SVT Classic heads, Hoppus used two Ampeg SVT-4 Pro heads which only feature a tube preamp. After the Neighborhoods album release, Hoppus used New Vintage amplifiers and cabinets, specifically the Undertow 300 amplifier and NW 8x10 bass cabinets. In 2016, he began using Kemper Profiler amps in concert.

Non-musical endeavors
Hoppus and Tom DeLonge co-owned two companies, Atticus and Macbeth Footwear, Hoppus has since sold his share in both companies; as well as loserkids.com.

Mark Hoppus has made several acting appearances in films and television, often as part of blink-182. He first appeared as a member of a garage band in the hugely successful teen comedy American Pie (1999) with bandmates Tom DeLonge and Travis Barker, (Though the film's credits list Barker as Scott Raynor.) He appeared again with DeLonge, singing a cover of Jan and Dean's "Dead Man's Curve" in the CBS television movie Shake, Rattle and Roll: An American Love Story (1999). Hoppus and DeLonge hosted the MTV show You Idiot! in 1999. The band appeared in the Two Guys and a Girl episode "Au Revoir, Pizza Place" in 1999, as well as an animated cameo in The Simpsons episode "Barting Over" in 2003. The band made a guest appearance on MADtv in 2002, in a segment titled "Leave It to Blink-182", spoofing 1950s-era sitcoms. Hoppus was a guest actor on an episode of the show Haunted in 2002. In 2011, he appeared in the documentary film The Other F Word. Hoppus was featured as a panelist on the comedy show Never Mind the Buzzcocks in 2012.

He also wrote columns for Risen Magazine's March/April and May/June 2005 issues entitled "Beyond Us". Mark Hoppus has been confirmed to be a part of a documentary about modern punk music entitled One Nine Nine Four. The film was due to be released in 2009 but has been delayed.

In 2010, he joined the 9th annual Independent Music Awards judging panel to assist independent musicians' careers.

Mark Hoppus worked to help relief efforts in Japan after the devastating earthquake and tsunami Tōhoku. He announced that his group Blink-182, will be auctioning off items to benefit the American Red Cross on EBay. "So sad for what's happening in Japan. Gonna dig in the bins & find some old blink-182 items to auction for the Red Cross" said Mark. The items auctioned off included the original lyrics sheet to the group's hits "The Rock Show" and "Adam's Song", Bad Religion autographed cymbal, hand-painted 1.5 FT tall Bunny, blink-182 tour backstage pass, stickers, postcard/magnets, trading cards, the band's dressing room sign from the 2000 VMAs, and Hoppus orange sweater from the "Dammit" music video. Among the 33 items auctioned off for charity he totaled 4,318 dollars.

HiMyNameIsMark (2005, 2012–present)
"HiMyNameIsMark" is a podcast that was set up in the wake of the Blink-182 hiatus by Hoppus, and can be found at HiMyNameIsMark.com. Every few weeks he released a show of songs by underground bands, interviews with band members and/or friends, and reminisces about happenings in his life. He is often joined on the show by his friends Chris Holmes (+44's engineer) and James Ingram (+44's assistant engineer). Hoppus has also created various side projects including "Hopp on Popp" where he reviews one of his favorite up and coming artists, some of which have been Matt & Kim, fun., and Japandroids. In late 2014, the podcast returned from a hiatus.

In 2012, "HiMyNameIsMark" rebranded itself as a clothing company, selling apparel and accessories branded with an octopus logo.

Hoppus on Music (2010–2012)
On June 22, 2010, Fuse announced that Hoppus would be hosting his own weekly, one-hour television series entitled A Different Spin with Mark Hoppus. In relation to the press release, Hoppus stated "I am stoked to join the Fuse family and have a show where I can talk about a topic that I'm passionate about, music. More importantly, I'm excited to force millions of people to watch me on a weekly basis on national television." According to Fuse senior vice president of programming and development Sal LoCurto, "A Different Spin with Mark Hoppus was developed to complement the wide variety of music programming on Fuse – including live concerts, festival coverage and in-depth interview series with the biggest names in music. On August 5, Hoppus revealed the co-host of the show would be comedian Amy Schumer."

The show focuses on music news, fun panel discussions and special reports from the show's correspondents. The show also features musical performances by both mainstream and emerging bands. The show officially premiered on September 16, 2010, on Fuse. The show's second season premiered in March 2011 and the show was re-titled Hoppus on Music.

After School Radio (since 2020)
On August 18, 2020, the first episode of Hoppus's newest podcast entitled After School Radio would premiere on Apple Music. The podcast is hosted weekly by Hoppus, where he focuses on the artists, music, and culture that have defined the alternative genre.

Most notably, the August 3, 2021, episode titled "The Mark and Tom Show" reunited Hoppus with then former bandmate Tom Delonge.

Personal life
Hoppus met former MTV talent executive Skye Everly in August 1999, at a rehearsal for the music video of "All the Small Things", and they later married on December 2, 2000. According to a 2004 interview, she initially refused to date him. Hoppus elaborated, "Tom [DeLonge] always used to embarrass me. Any girl he'd talk to, he'd say, 'Hey, you wanna go on a date with Mark?' He asked Skye, my wife, who looked at me and said, 'No.' That's how it all started." Their son, Jack, was born in 2002.

Hoppus is 6ft 2in tall. In 2004, he revealed that he votes for the Libertarian Party. He said, "To me, it means to respect other people and let them do their own thing. The government is there to help people but not control them." A 2000 Rolling Stone profile noted that he "pray[s] every night", and he said of his religious views in 2005, "It's amazing to me that anyone can say that one thing is right. [...] To draw lines over something that none of us on earth could possibly comprehend seems like a waste of time."

In 2011, Hoppus and his family relocated to the Mayfair area of London, as Blink-182 were in the process of completing their sixth album, Neighborhoods. They remained in London until 2014, when they moved to Beverly Hills, California. As a resident of London, he enjoyed jogging in the city's parks and became a fan of Chelsea F.C. Hoppus is also a devout fan of the Los Angeles Rams of the NFL.

Hoppus was a vegan for many years, though he returned to eating meat at his doctor's recommendation following his cancer diagnosis in 2021.

Health issues
On June 23, 2021, Hoppus revealed that he was undergoing treatment for cancer after accidentally sharing a picture of himself undergoing chemotherapy treatment to his public Instagram Story. On July 11, he said that he was experiencing stage 4 diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. On September 29 of the same year, Hoppus announced that he was declared cancer-free, but would continue to be screened every 6 months in case the cancer returns.

Discography

 * With blink-182

 * Cheshire Cat (1995)
 * Dude Ranch (1997)
 * Enema of the State (1999)
 * Take Off Your Pants and Jacket (2001)
 * blink-182 (2003)
 * Neighborhoods (2011)
 * Dogs Eating Dogs EP (2012)
 * California (2016)
 * Nine (2019)
 * One More Time... (2023)

 * With +44
 * When Your Heart Stops Beating (2006)

 * With Simple Creatures
 * Strange Love (EP) (2019)
 * Everything Opposite (EP) (2019)

 * Collaborations
 * "Until the Stars Fall" (with Richard Gibbs) on the soundtrack Fired Up! (2009)
 * "Amoeba" (with Travis Barker) on the soundtrack Endless Bummer (2009)
 * "In Transit" (with Pete Wentz) on the compilation Almost Alice (2010)

 * Guest appearances
 * "My So Called Life" and "That Special Girl" on the album Look Forward to Failure by The Ataris (1998)
 * "I'd Do Anything" on the album No Pads, No Helmets...Just Balls by Simple Plan (2002)
 * "Elevator" on the album Box Car Racer by Box Car Racer (2002)
 * "The Empire" on the compilation The Passion of the Christ: Songs by MxPx (2004)
 * "Hangman" on the album Commit This to Memory by Motion City Soundtrack (2005)
 * "Wrecking Hotel Rooms" on the album Panic by MxPx (2005)
 * "Paper Doll" on the album White Heat by Renee Renee (2006)
 * "Nightmare" on the album Changes by Vanilla Sky (2007)
 * "Bitter Sweet Symphony", a cover of The Verve song, by Ace Enders and A Million Different People (2008)
 * "Thank You & Goodnight" on the album What Are You So Scared Of? by Tonight Alive (2011)
 * "Dementia" on the albumThe Midsummer Station by Owl City (2012)
 * "Hate Your Guts" on the album McBusted by McBusted (2014)
 * "Tidal Waves" on the album Future Hearts by All Time Low (2015)
 * "Ready and Willing II" on the album Resurrection: Ascension by New Found Glory (2015)
 * "Impermanent" on the album "No Grace" by PAWS (2016)
 * "December (Again)" on the album December EP by Neck Deep (2016)
 * "See You Around" on the album The Knife by Goldfinger (2017)
 * "Not Every Dog Goes to Heaven (National Lampoon's Vacation)" on the album Dog Songs (2017)
 * "Time Machine" on the album Living Proof by State Champs (2018)
 * "Psycho" on the album Love Monster by Amy Shark (2018)
 * "The Lighthouse" on the album Heartwork by The Used (2020)
 * "Carhartts & Converse" by Super Whatevr (2020)
 * "Growing Up" on the album Young Dumb Thrills by McFly (2020)
 * "Find My Own Way" on the album Nonfiction by Arrested Youth (2021)
 * "Parasocial" by Ricky Himself (2021)
 * "Re-Entry" by A Day to Remember (2022)
 * "Adding Up" on the album It's Fine by Smrtdeath (2022)
 * "All I Wanted" on the album Love Sux by Avril Lavigne (2022)

title: Mark Hoppus


text:
Scott Raynor

Scott William Raynor Jr. (born May 23, 1978) is an American musician and police officer. He is best known as the original drummer of the rock band Blink-182. Born in Poway, California, Raynor first approached the drums in his preteens; he joined Blink-182 at only 14 years old, and played with the band for six years. With Raynor, the group recorded their first demo, Buddha (1994), their debut album, Cheshire Cat (1995), as well as the gold-certified Dude Ranch (1997). Raynor was dismissed from the group in 1998, and was replaced by Travis Barker.

Since then, Raynor has performed with a wide variety of groups, including post-punk band the Wraith, and contributed to the charity StandUp for Kids. As of 2023, he works for the city of San Diego as a police officer.

Life and career
Raynor began playing drums at a young age, forming a group with friend Ryan Kennedy at age 11 to perform at a school competition – "a kind of 'show and tell' thing," Raynor later recalled. The duo were initially inspired by Metallica, but found their material far too technical; they instead played "Twist of Cain" by Danzig and "London Dungeon" by the Misfits. Raynor's first legitimate performance consisted of a cover of "Vlad the Impaler" by Gwar.

Beginnings of music career
Raynor attended Rancho Bernardo High School (RBHS). RBHS often arranged Battle of the Bands competitions, and Raynor participated: his band, The Necropheliacs, played a cover of Metallica's "Creeping Death". While at the competition, new transfer student Tom DeLonge, who had been expelled from Poway High School for attending a basketball game while drunk, performed an original song titled "Who's Gonna Shave Your Back Tonight?" to a packed auditorium. Raynor was introduced to DeLonge at a party by Paul Scott, founding member of The Necropheliacs, shortly before he moved out of state. The two found they had plenty in common, and DeLonge was searching for a more permanent band to create music with. The two began writing songs at Raynor's parents' home – "a strange mix of metal and Descendents-style punk" – and tried out a variety of bass players, according to Raynor.

DeLonge later met Mark Hoppus in August 1992 through friend Kerry Key and his girlfriend, Anne Hoppus. "I thought they were hilarious when I met them. I mean, I didn't have a driver's license yet, so I gained a lot of agency through hanging with them and their group of friends," said Raynor. The trio began to practice in Raynor's room (amid complaints from neighbors), which was soundproofed with empty egg cartons. The trio spent time together constantly, attending punk shows and movies and playing practical jokes. The trio first operated under a variety of names, including Duck Tape and Figure 8, until DeLonge rechristened the band "Blink". Hoppus' girlfriend later led him to depart from the group for a time, but he returned when Raynor and DeLonge began recording a demo tape on a four track recorder with friend and collaborator Cam Jones. The band soon became part of a circuit that also included the likes of Ten Foot Pole and Unwritten Law, and they found their way onto the bill as the opening band for local acts at SOMA, a local all-ages venue which they longed to headline. "It's difficult to describe, in words, the nauseous mix of fear and excitement that would hit me when I first started seeing lines of people wanting to hear us play," said Raynor. The three eventually were playing concerts at local venues such as SOMA, which alerted local independent record label Cargo Music. Hoppus was the only member to sign the contract, as DeLonge was at work at the time and Raynor was still a minor. The Cheshire Cat sessions were to be the last performance with the band for Raynor, whose family had moved to Reno, Nevada. Raynor stayed with his sister for the summer of 1993 in order to rehearse for the recording of their debut album. Raynor moved to Reno following the recording and was briefly replaced by school friend Mike Krull. The band saved money and began flying Raynor out to shows, but eventually Raynor would move back to San Diego to live with Hoppus and his family. His parents allowed him to drop out of full-time school to move back and play with the band, but he would continue to finish his diploma by bringing homework on tour. "I think Mark and his sister Anne and I stayed up watching old TV shows until morning that whole summer," he recalled.

"The summer I lived with Mark and his family was probably the greatest summer of my life so far," said Raynor in 2001. "I left home at 17, came to San Diego, we bought a van, finished our first video… I had all kinds of dreams in my head and they were all coming true."

Mainstream success and dismissal from Blink-182
By March 1996, the trio began to accumulate a genuine buzz among major labels, resulting in a bidding war between Interscope, MCA, and Epitaph. MCA's persistence and sincerity won the band over, as well as their promise of complete artistic freedom. The band began recording their sophomore effort Dude Ranch that winter. The record hit stores the following summer and the band headed out on the Warped Tour, which Raynor described as "one of the most unequivocally positive experiences of my time with the band." When lead single "Dammit" began rotation at Los Angeles-based KROQ, other stations took notice and the single was added to rock radio playlists across the country. Desperate for a break due to extended touring, the overworked band began to argue and tensions formed, centering largely around Raynor.

Raynor had planned from the earliest days of the band to one day attend college, as he said in a partially tongue-in-cheek remark in a 1994 interview: "I don't want to be 30 and still in a punk-rock band. That seems kind of scary to me." Shortly after the band released Dude Ranch, Raynor began to think outside of the situation, viewing the major label experience as nothing like he had hoped. He had only been half invested in the band since signing to MCA, as he felt it offered less creative freedom, especially in comparison to Epitaph, which had been pursuing the band and was Raynor's first choice. "I mean, I was intellectually invested, I recognized it as a smart move financially. But it's like that song says, 'I Left My Heart in San Francisco'; I left my heart in the office at Epitaph. After that compromise I found it difficult to make further ones, and I felt like I was asked to make a lot. Eventually, there was not enough of my heart in the band to justify my sticking around. I backed away, I was dead weight."

The tension came to a head in February 1998 as the band embarked on SnoCore, described as "a winter version of the Warped Tour." Sharing the stage with Primus, the band was enjoying more success than ever before, but the drama between the musicians had grown substantially. Relations reached a low point when the band engaged in a fight on a Nebraska date after SnoCore's conclusion. Shortly after the conclusion of SnoCore was a short mini-tour along the western coast, most notably Southern California, the band's favorite place to play. The tour ended with the band headlining a sold-out show at the Palladium in Hollywood, where the band had dreamed of performing for years.

Raynor suffered a "tragic loss" during the West Coast mini-tour and flew home, forcing the band to find a fill-in drummer: Travis Barker of the ska punk support band The Aquabats. Barker learned the drum tracks for the band's set in only 45 minutes prior to his first show. Raynor returned for the band's Hollywood Palladium performance, and the band became increasingly uneasy and arguments grew worse. To offset personal issues, Raynor began to drink heavily and it began to affect the band's performances. Following a largely successful Australian tour in the spring, Hoppus and DeLonge presented an ultimatum: quit drinking or go to an in-patient rehab. Raynor agreed to both and informed the band of his decision after taking the weekend to mull options. According to Raynor, he was fired through a phone call despite his agreement to rehab. Despite this, he felt no malice toward his former bandmates and conceded they were "right" to fire him. The band minimized the impact of the situation in future interviews and remained vague regarding his departure. The band later worked Raynor's departure into a song, "Man Overboard", which makes reference to his alcohol abuse.

Later work
Raynor has kept a low profile since exiting Blink-182; he has taken part in few interviews, aside from a 2004 AbsolutePunk piece and portions for Joe Shooman's unauthorized 2010 biography of the band, Blink-182: The Bands, The Breakdown & The Return. In his immediate years after leaving the group, Raynor kept himself busy with various musical projects, including a band called The Axidentals. Raynor played guitar for the group, which recorded an extended play and a full-length that was left unreleased when Vagrant Records showed interest in signing the band. By the time the deal went through, Raynor was having disputes with the group and quit; the band later released their debut album as Death on Wednesday through Vagrant in 2000. Raynor later went on to perform with the group Grimby from 2000 to 2001, which recorded an extended play at Doubletime Studios. Recorded live over the course of a day, Raynor has described it as dark comedy, "a Black Sabbath, Ramones, and "Weird Al" Yankovic milkshake." Raynor fulfilled a long-held ambition to work with Nirvana producer Jack Endino on an extended play recorded with The Spazms in 2004. "The language of the whole record really speaks for me. It's deskilled, nihilistic, and posits, by default not intention, a Franco-feminism", he said.

In the 2000s, he began contributing to a charity called StandUp for Kids, an outreach organization that helped street and homeless youth. He also taught music to teens in trouble with the law under the Street of Dreams program. In 2003, a rumor circulated on the Internet that Raynor had been shot dead; he addressed the hoax via a letter he e-mailed to the sites in question, that instead directed the attention to the StandUp for Kids organization. He continued to play music; in 2017, Raynor joined the Los Angeles post-punk band The Wraith, with whom he released the extended play Shadow Flag. He left the band some time after, but re-joined in 2019. Raynor appears in the music video for the song "Wing of Night", although he didn't take part in the writing process. In January 2020, Raynor left The Wraith again; the band continued with a new drummer.

As of 2023, Raynor had joined the San Diego Police Department.

With Blink-182
Albums
 * Buddha (1994, Filter Records)
 * Cheshire Cat (1995, Cargo/Grilled Cheese)
 * Dude Ranch (1997, Cargo/MCA)

EPs
 * They Came to Conquer... Uranus (1996, Grilled Cheese)

Singles
 * "M+M's" (1995, Cheshire Cat, promo)
 * "Wasting Time" (1996, Cheshire Cat)
 * "Apple Shampoo" (1997, Dude Ranch)
 * "Dammit" (1997, Dude Ranch)
 * "I Won't Be Home for Christmas" (1997, Cargo/MCA, promo)
 * "Dick Lips" (1998, Dude Ranch)
 * "Josie" (1998, Dude Ranch)

title: Scott Raynor