text:
Talk:1920

Radio

 * "As radio is introduced, the popularity of silent films begins to decline "

This seems to me a very dubious item for 1920; this is certainly a few years too early. In 1920 home radios were still bulky contraptions generally assembled from electronic pieces by a few eccentric hobbyists, not yet mass manufactured as a single item as they would be a few years later, and most of what was broadcast was still wireless telegraphy rather than music or entertainment. I am therefore deleting it unless someone can post a source on that claim's accuracy. -- Infrogmation

Hungary
"4 June - Hungary loses 71% of its territory and 63% of its population in Treaty of Trianon. " This edit has not enciclopedic clarity and it seems like propaganda; 63% of its population, including or not the deads of World War I?. I propose the edit: "Treaty of Peace Between The Allied and Associated Powers and Hungary". --Vasile 13:22, 4 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Year in topic
As per discussion at WikiProject_Years the year in topic paragraph is scheduled to be deleted as it largely duplicates the links in the top box, and is not consistent with other year. Any objections should be made on that page please --BozMo|talk 19:39, 4 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Calendar
I have reverted a change which removed white space. The problem was that on my screen the calendar covered a large amount of the rest of the information on this entry. This is a problem which affects a large number of Wikipedia entries with boxes. There should be a better solution to this problem, but I am at a loss to know what it is. If this is a problem with my computer, then it probably is with a lot of other people's. I appreciate that this will lead to a large amount of white space on some people's computers, but this strikes me as the lesser evil to making a large amount of information invisible on other people's.  I suggest that people should refrain from reverting this change until they have had a chance to address this problem. PatGallacher 21:52, 2005 Apr 2 (UTC)

 * 16-December-2008: The yearly articles had been too crowded for both text and calendars to be displayed together. Someone solved the problem, months ago, by having every yearly article (of thousands) simply link to shared calendars which display days as they fell on that year, rather than have 2,000+ copies of the calendars repeated in each yearly article, and crowding out the events text for each article by formerly having a large calendar included with the text.  I bet that calendar-link improvement took months to edit into the thousands of yearly articles (and some articles might have been missed during edits).  -Wikid77 17:12, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

Eh?
The issues which led to my previous change have simply not been addressed, saying "eh?" really isn't good enough. PatGallacher 12:52, 2005 Apr 3 (UTC)

French troops
In April/May we have "April 6 - French troops die". Can anybody clarify this?? --Rsimmonds01 09:50, 29 May 2006 (UTC)

Format
[See: Talk:1950. -Wikid77 16:58, 16 December 2006 (UTC)]

Snorkel, Schnorkel
An entry claiming that "The Snorkel was invented in Greenland" was added to the May 29, 1920 date without any substantiation. (The entry was added on Oct. 22, 2006 by a user with the IP address 72.136.84.190). I was intrigued, but could not find any outside evidence to back up the claim. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the snorkel (originally "schnorkel") was invented by Dutch and German submarine engineers around 1944. I have deleted this entry until someone can produce a bit of evidence. --Potosino 15:32, 4 November 2007 (UTC)

Uncertainty concerning date of first transatlantic radio broadcast
The entry "First transatlantic two-way radio broadcast?" for July 25 contains a question mark, indicating uncertainty. Should this event be deleted until its date is known with certainty? I shall endeavor to discover the truth, but in the meantime shall delete this entry, unless anyone objects. JFH78 (talk) 14:00, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

Major date discrepancy
According to my reference (see the entry dated July 24 for the details of this reference), the deposition of Feisal I and the occupation of Damascus by the French occurred on the 24th, not on July 14. It occurs to me that this might be a simple typographical error. Therefore, I've decided to delete the entry for the 14th, unless there is an objection supported by a reference. JFH78 (talk) 14:13, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

First dog racing track to employ an imitation rabbit
According to the Wikipedia page 1876 in the United Kingdom, the first such track opened in October of that year in Hendon, England. Could this entry get a citation or a clarification? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Royal Blue Jersey (talk • contribs) 09:18, 31 August 2018 (UTC)

Alexander I of Greece's death & the referendum on the return of Constantine I to the throne
Why is King Alexander of Greece's death being deleted from the events section. Also, why is the 1920 referendum being described as 'restoring' the monarchy? The Greek monarchy continued after Alexander's death in October 1920, with his 'grandmother' as regent, until Alexander's father was restored to the throne in December 1920. GoodDay (talk) 22:36, 11 June 2021 (UTC)
 * , see WP:DOYCITE and WP:V Elizium23 (talk) 23:33, 11 June 2021 (UTC)
 * Plenty of events aren't sourced in this article. Also, read up on the Greek monarchs in question at their bios. Or do those bios need to be questioned too? GoodDay (talk) 23:55, 11 June 2021 (UTC)
 * Please see WP:DOYCITE and WP:V which are policies. Elizium23 (talk) 00:04, 12 June 2021 (UTC)
 * Again, not EVERYTHING is sourced in this article. Why are you cherry picking this particular topic. GoodDay (talk) 00:26, 12 June 2021 (UTC)
 * ...and yet it's alright for Alexander's death to be listed in the "Death" section. GoodDay (talk) 14:02, 13 June 2021 (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) 19:08, 24 October 2021 (UTC)
 * Frank Herbert - 1984.jpg

title: Talk:1920


text:
Cape Fear (1991 film)

Cape Fear is a 1991 American psychological thriller film directed by Martin Scorsese. It is a remake of the 1962 film of the same name, which was based on the 1957 novel The Executioners by John D. MacDonald. The film stars Robert De Niro, Nick Nolte, Jessica Lange, Joe Don Baker, and Juliette Lewis. Robert Mitchum has a small role in the film, while Gregory Peck (in his final theatrical film role) and Martin Balsam make cameo appearances, all three having starred in the original film.

The film tells the story of a convicted violent rapist who, by using his newfound knowledge of the law and its numerous loopholes, seeks vengeance against a former public defender whom he blames for his 14-year imprisonment due to purposefully faulty defense tactics used during his trial.

Cape Fear marks the seventh collaboration between Scorsese and De Niro. The film was a commercial success and received generally positive reviews from critics. It was nominated for several awards, including the Oscars and Golden Globe Awards for Best Actor (De Niro) and Best Supporting Actress (Juliette Lewis).

Plot
In 1977, Max Cady was sentenced to 14 years in prison for the rape and battery of a 16-year-old girl. His attorney Sam Bowden was appalled by Cady's crimes and hid evidence of the victim's promiscuity, which might have reduced Cady's sentence or even secured his acquittal. Bowden assumes that Cady, who was illiterate at the time of the trial, is unaware of the shoddy defense he received. However, unbeknownst to Bowden, Cady is an intelligent and single-minded psychopath. While in prison, Cady taught himself to read and discovered the evidence that Bowden had hidden. He studied law and even attempted several unsuccessful appeals of his own case.

After finishing his sentence, Cady tracks down Bowden, who resides in New Essex, North Carolina, with his wife Leigh and 15-year-old daughter Danielle ("Danny").

Cady begins to stalk and terrorize the Bowden family. After the family dog is poisoned, Bowden tries to have Cady arrested, but Police Lieutenant Elgart reminds Bowden that there is no evidence of a crime. Cady crosses paths with Lori Davis, a courthouse clerk who has a crush on Bowden. Cady rapes, disfigures and nearly beats her to death. Davis refuses to press charges out of fear that their ongoing flirtation will become public. Dismissing Elgart's implicit suggestion to use his family as bait and as an excuse for a justifiable homicide, Bowden hires private investigator Claude Kersek to follow Cady.

Impersonating her new drama teacher, Cady approaches Danny and seduces her. When Bowden becomes aware of this, he agrees with Kersek to have Cady beaten up. Bowden gives Cady a final warning, which Cady secretly records.

Kersek's hired thugs ambush Cady; however, Cady overpowers and viciously beats them. Cady uses Bowden's recorded threats and exaggerates his injuries to file for a restraining order against Bowden. Cady's attorney petitions the ABA Ethics Committee for Bowden's disbarment, triggering a two-day emergency meeting in Raleigh.

Anticipating Cady's intention to strike while Bowden is away, Kersek and Bowden fake his departure. They wait in the Bowden house for Cady to break in to shoot him in self-defense. However, Cady sneaks in and kills the housekeeper Graciela. Donning her clothes, he ambushes and kills Kersek. Horrified after discovering the bodies, the Bowdens flee to their houseboat docked upstate along the Cape Fear River, not knowing that Cady has strapped himself to their car's undercarriage and eventually tracks down their houseboat.

On the boat, Cady incapacitates Bowden and prepares to rape Leigh and Danny in front of him. Danny sets Cady on fire by spraying him with lighter fluid while he lights a cigar, causing him to jump off the boat. Cady clings to a rope and pulls himself back on board. As the boat is rocked by a violent thunderstorm, a badly burned Cady puts Bowden on a mock trial at gunpoint. Beating Bowden and eventually getting him to confess that he hid evidence, Cady angrily scolds him for failing to do his duty as an attorney, sentencing him "to the ninth circle of hell".

The storm knocks Cady off his feet, allowing Bowden to gain the upper hand. As the women jump off the boat and swim to shore, Bowden cuffs Cady to the boat with his own handcuffs. When the boat hits a rock and is destroyed, the fight continues on the shore. A tide carries Cady away, and he drowns while speaking in tongues and singing the hymn "On Jordan's Stormy Banks I Stand." Bowden washes the blood from his hands and joins the traumatized Leigh and Danny. In narration, an adult Danny states that, while the family was irreparably changed by the experience, they never spoke about it again.

Production
The film's screenplay was adapted by Wesley Strick from the original screenplay by James R. Webb, which was based on the novel The Executioners by John D. MacDonald.

Originally developed by Steven Spielberg, he eventually decided it was too violent and traded it to Martin Scorsese in exchange for Schindler's List, which Scorsese had decided not to make. Scorsese agreed to direct Cape Fear out of gratitude, as Universal had supported Scorsese during the controversy over The Last Temptation of Christ. Although Spielberg stayed on as a producer through his company Amblin Entertainment, he chose not to be credited personally on the finished film.

Although Scorsese had previously worked with Nolte in New York Stories (1989), he originally envisioned Harrison Ford in the role of Sam Bowden. However, Ford was only interested in playing Max Cady. Nick Nolte, who by contrast was more interested in playing Bowden, convinced Scorsese to cast him instead. Drew Barrymore and Reese Witherspoon both auditioned for the part of Danielle Bowden and Spielberg reportedly wanted Bill Murray to play Cady.

Nolte lost weight for the film while Robert De Niro gained muscle; this ensured that De Niro, who was noticeably shorter than Nolte, still came across as physically threatening on screen.

The work of Alfred Hitchcock was a significant influence on the style of Cape Fear. As with the 1962 film, where director J. Lee Thompson specifically acknowledged Hitchcock's influence and employed Bernard Herrmann to write the score, Scorsese also adopted Hitchcock's style, using unusual camera angles, lighting, and editing techniques. The opening credits were designed by Saul Bass, a frequent collaborator of Hitchcock, and the link to Hitchcock was further cemented by the reuse of Herrmann's original score, albeit reworked by Elmer Bernstein. Portions of Bass's title sequences were reused from the unreleased ending to his film Phase IV.

Box office
Cape Fear collected $10.5 million during its opening weekend, ranking in first place at the box office, beating out Curly Sue. It would be overtaken by The Addams Family a week later, but still made another $10 million while staying ahead of Beauty and the Beast. The film was a box-office success, making $182,291,969 worldwide on a $35-million budget.

Critical response
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an approval rating of 75% based on 57 reviews, with an average score of 6.8/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "Smart and stylish, Cape Fear is a gleefully mainstream shocker from Martin Scorsese, with a terrifying Robert De Niro performance." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 73 out of 100, based on 9 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.

Roger Ebert gave the film three stars, commenting:"Cape Fear is impressive moviemaking, showing Scorsese as a master of a traditional Hollywood genre who is able to mold it to his own themes and obsessions. But as I look at this $35 million movie with big stars, special effects and production values, I wonder whether it represents a good omen from the finest director now at work."

In popular culture
The film was parodied in the 1993 Simpsons episode "Cape Feare", with Sideshow Bob in the role of Cady stalking Bart Simpson. The episode parodies several scenes from the 1991 film. This parody was itself the basis for Anne Washburn's play Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play, which imagines post-apocalyptic theatre troupes attempting to recreate the episode, and by extension the two films and the novel.

In the 2003 film Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, the Seamus O'Grady prison introduction scene is a direct reference to Max Cady's prison-set intro.

The film was parodied as Cape Munster in the premiere episode of The Ben Stiller Show, with Ben Stiller playing an adult Eddie Munster.

The film was the inspiration for professional wrestler Dan Spivey's character Waylon Mercy in the World Wrestling Federation (now WWE) in 1995, and subsequently for professional wrestler Bray Wyatt's original The Wyatt Family character in WWE in 2013.

Seinfeld also parodied the film with the 1998 episode "The Bookstore".

Television adaptation
A television adaptation was announced on November 21, 2023, with several networks in a bidding war to air it. Spielberg and Scorsese are signed on as executive producers while the showrunner is Nick Antosca. The series will be released on Apple TV+.

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

title: Cape Fear (1991 film)


text:
User:Ryguasu/Blank Slate

...a book to try to make (more) possible/acceptable the scientific study of human nature.... There is human nature, given by biology. it is not all we might ask for, but it's ok.

Pinker compares arguments by contemporary scientists that people are not just "blank slates" to Galileo's arguments that the Sun does not revolve around the Earth. In both cases, the new ideas have to be justified by showing not only how they explain the phenomena under investigation better than their competitors, but also how they do not, as they are commonly perceived, signal the end of either human dignity or the moral order (Pinker 2002, pp. 137-8).

(part of this is combatting shoddy scholarship and misunderstandings)

Also:
 * for various reasons, some disciplines (e.g. sociology, perhaps anthropology) want to be completely severed from biology: "turf wars". artificial sealing off of disciplinary boundaries
 * misc. people rejecting things because they make them feel bad (e.g. lefties, p. 121): "people taking offense at claims about behavior that make them uncomfortable"

there is human nature: behavioral genetics, evolutionary psychology, neuroscience, and linguistics

the blank slate, the noble savage, the ghost in the machine: these issues can be settled based on scientific evidence, but politics, ideology, and tradition keep interfering.

problems include:

 * people think that morality will collapse without these things
 * people are justifying their current beliefs via "is implies ought", or "what is natural is good"
 * people think that meaning will collapse without these things

the preface likens reactions to some science as religion's reactions to heretics

p. 122: Disembodied *culture* quote

title: User:Ryguasu/Blank Slate


text:
Cape Fear (1962 film)

Cape Fear is a 1962 American psychological thriller film noir directed by J. Lee Thompson, from a screenplay by James R. Webb, adapting the 1957 novel The Executioners by John D. MacDonald. It stars Gregory Peck as Sam Bowden, an attorney and family man who is stalked by a violent psychopath and ex-con named Max Cady (played by Robert Mitchum), who is bent on revenge for Bowden's role in his conviction. The film co-stars Polly Bergen and features Lori Martin, Martin Balsam, and Telly Savalas in supporting roles.

Produced by Peck's company Melville Productions and distributed by Universal Pictures, the film includes several key cast and crew who had previously worked with director Alfred Hitchcock, including editor George Tomasini and composer Bernard Herrmann. J. Lee Thompson's direction was also strongly influenced by Hitchcock.

The film was released on June 15, 1962. It received positive reviews from critics, who highlighted Peck and Mitchum's performances. A remake of the same name was released in 1991, directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Nick Nolte and Robert De Niro in the lead roles. Peck, Mitchum, and Balsam all appeared as different characters in the remake.

Plot
In Southeast Georgia, Max Cady is released from prison after serving an eight-year sentence for rape. He promptly tracks down Sam Bowden, an attorney whom he holds personally responsible for his conviction because Bowden interrupted his attack and testified against him. Cady begins to stalk and subtly threaten Bowden's family, including his wife, Peggy, and 14-year-old daughter, Nancy. He kills the Bowden family dog, though Bowden cannot prove Cady did it. A friend of Bowden, Police Chief Mark Dutton, attempts to intervene on Bowden's behalf, but he cannot prove Cady guilty of any crime.

Bowden hires private detective Charlie Sievers. Cady brutally rapes a young woman, Diane Taylor, when he brings her home, but neither the private detective nor Bowden can persuade her to testify. While Nancy is waiting in a car one day, Cady begins to walk near her, causing her to run and end up almost getting hit by a car. Bowden hires three men to beat up Cady and coerce him to leave town, but the plan backfires when Cady gets the better of all three. Cady's attorney vows to have Bowden disbarred.

Fearing for Peggy's and Nancy's safety, Bowden takes them to their houseboat in the Cape Fear region of North Carolina. In an attempt to trick Cady, Bowden makes it seem as though he has gone to Atlanta. He fully expects Cady to follow his wife and daughter, and he plans to kill Cady to end the battle. On a dark night, Bowden and local deputy Kersek hide in the swamp nearby, but Cady realizes that Kersek is there and drowns him, leaving no evidence of a struggle. Eluding Bowden and setting the houseboat adrift down the current, Cady first attacks Peggy on the boat, causing Bowden to go to her rescue. Meanwhile, Cady swims back to shore to attack Nancy. Bowden realizes what has happened, and also swims ashore.

The two men engage in a final fight on the riverbank. Bowden manages to grab his gun, which he had dropped, and shoots Cady, wounding and disabling him. Cady tells Bowden, "Finish the job", but Bowden decides to do the thing that Cady earlier told him would be unbearable – put him in prison for the rest of his life, to "count the years, the months, the hours". In the morning light, the Bowden family are together on a boat, traveling with police back to port.

Cast
In addition, Edward Platt, the future "Chief" on the television series Get Smart, and November 1958 Playboy Playmate centerfold Joan Staley make brief appearances as a judge and a waitress, respectively.

Development
Cornel Wilde acquired the rights to John D. MacDonald's novel The Executioners for $30,000 in 1958. Gregory Peck had his own production company, Melville Productions, in partnership with Sy Bartlett, which had made The Big Country and Pork Chop Hill and they later purchased the rights. They planned to make it after The Guns of Navarone. Peck was impressed by J. Lee Thompson's work on that film and hired him for Cape Fear. Peck said his goal was to make "first class professional entertainment intelligently done."

Casting
Telly Savalas was screen tested for the role, but later played private eye Charlie Sievers. Robert Mitchum refused to play Max Cady when he was first offered the part, but eventually accepted it after Peck and Thompson delivered him flowers and a case of bourbon.

Thompson wanted Hayley Mills, whom he had cast in Tiger Bay, to play the daughter, but Mills was unavailable.

Polly Bergen signed in December 1960. It was her first film in eight years.

Filming
Principal photography of Cape Fear began on April 6 and ended in June 1961. Thompson envisioned the film in black and white, believing that shooting the film in color would lessen the atmosphere. As an Alfred Hitchcock fan, he wanted to have Hitchcockian elements in the film, such as unusual lighting angles, an eerie musical score, closeups, and subtle hints rather than graphic depictions of the violence Cady has in mind for the family. Hitchcock collaborators Robert F. Boyle and George Tomasini served as production designer and editor, and his regular composer Bernard Herrmann wrote the score. The outdoor scenes were filmed on location in Savannah, Georgia; Stockton, California; and the Universal Studios backlot at Universal City, California. The indoor scenes were done at Universal Studios Soundstage. Mitchum had a real-life aversion to Savannah, where as a teenager, he had been charged with vagrancy and put on a chain gang. This resulted in a number of the outdoor scenes being shot at Ladd's Marina in Stockton, including the culminating conflict on the houseboat at the end of the movie.

The scene in which Mitchum attacks Polly Bergen's character on the houseboat was almost completely improvised. Before the scene was filmed, Thompson suddenly told a crew member: "Bring me a dish of eggs!" Mitchum's rubbing the eggs on Bergen was not scripted and Bergen's reactions were real. She also suffered back injuries from being knocked around so much. She felt the impact of the "attack" for days. While filming the scene, Mitchum cut open his hand, leading Bergen to recall: "his hand was covered in blood, my back was covered in blood. We just kept going, caught up in the scene. They came over and physically stopped us."

In the source novel The Executioners, by John D. MacDonald, Cady was a soldier court-martialed and convicted on then Lieutenant Bowden's testimony for the brutal rape of a 14-year-old girl. The censors stepped in, banned the use of the word "rape", and stated that depicting Cady as a soldier reflected adversely on U.S. military personnel.

Music
Bernard Herrmann, as often in his scores, uses a reduced version of the symphony orchestra. Here, other than a 46-piece string section (slightly larger than usual for film scores), he adds four flutes (doubling on two piccolos, two alto flutes in G, and two bass flutes in C) and eight French horns. No use is made of further wind instruments or percussion.

In his 2002 book A Heart at Fire's Center: The Life and Music of Bernard Herrmann, Stephen C. Smith writes: "Yet Herrmann was perfect for Cape Fear ... Herrmann's score reinforces Cape Fear's savagery. Mainly a synthesis of past devices, its power comes from their imaginative application and another ingenious orchestration ... a rehearsal for his similar orchestration on Hitchcock's Torn Curtain in 1966. Like similar 'psychological' Herrmann scores, dissonant string combinations suggest the workings of a killer's mind (most startlingly in a queasy device for cello and bass viols as Cadey prepares to attack the prostitute). Hermann's prelude searingly establishes the dramatic conflict: descending and ascending chromatic voices move slowly towards each other from their opposite registers, finally crossing–just as Boden and Cadey's [sic] game of cat-and-mouse will end in deadly confrontation."

Censorship
Although the word "rape" was entirely removed from the script before shooting, the film still enraged the censors, who worried that "there was a continuous threat of sexual assault on a child." To accept the film, British censors required extensive editing and deleting of specific scenes.

After making around 6 minutes of cuts, the film still nearly garnered a British X rating (meaning at the time, "Suitable for those aged 18 and older", not necessarily meaning there was sexually explicit or violent content). Thompson said he had to make 161 cuts; the censor argued it was fifteen main cuts but admitted they took 5 minutes. The censor said this was primarily because the film involved threat of sexual assault against a child.

Critical response
Upon its release, the film received positive but cautious feedback from critics due to the film's content.

Bosley Crowther of The New York Times praised the "tough, tight script", as well as the film's "steady and starkly sinister style." He went on to conclude his review by saying, "this is really one of those shockers that provokes disgust and regret." The entertainment-trade magazine Variety reviewed the film as "competent and visually polished", while commenting on Mitchum's performance as a "menacing omnipresence."

Home media
Cape Fear was first made available on VHS on March 1, 1992. On May 14, 1992, it was released on laserdisc. It was later re-released on VHS, as well as DVD, on September 18, 2001. The film was released onto Blu-ray on January 8, 2013. It contains production photos and a "making-of" featurette.

Remake
A remake of the same name was released in 1991, attributing both MacDonald's novel and Webb's 1962 screenplay as source material. Directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Wesley Strick, the film stars Nick Nolte as Bowden, Robert De Niro as Cady, Jessica Lange as Bowden's wife (renamed 'Leigh') and Juliette Lewis as his daughter (renamed 'Danielle').

Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum, and Martin Balsam all make cameo appearances, and Bernard Herrmann's original score was adapted and re-orchestrated by Elmer Bernstein.

The film makes several notable changes to the story, namely by changing Sam Bowden to Cady's former defense attorney, who secretly and deliberately sabotaged his client's case to ensure a conviction. Cady's dies during the film's climax, after the houseboat sinks. The remake also combines Charlie Sievers and Deputy Kersek into a single character - Claude Kersek (played by Joe Don Baker).

Legacy
Although it makes no acknowledgement of Cape Fear, the episode "The Force of Evil" from the 1977 NBC television series Quinn Martin's Tales of the Unexpected uses virtually the same plot, merely introducing an additional supernatural element to the released prisoner.

The film and its remake serve as the basis for the 1993 The Simpsons episode "Cape Feare" in which Sideshow Bob, recently released from prison, stalks the Simpson family in an attempt to kill Bart. The episode, and both films, serve as inspiration for Anne Washburn's play Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play.

In April 2007, Newsweek selected Cady as one of the 10 best villains in cinema history. Specifically, the scene where Cady attacks Sam's family was ranked number 36 on Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments in 2004.

A consumer poll on the Internet Movie Database rates Cape Fear as the 65th-best trial film, although the trial scenes are merely incidental to the plot.

The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:
 * 2001: AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills – #61
 * 2003: AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains:
 * Max Cady – #28 Villain

title: Cape Fear (1962 film)


text:
User:Ryguasu/Evolution

comlexity
Gould: first, there isn't an increasing trend (eukaryotes are everywhere), and second, it is to be expected, given there's a lower bound but no upper bound on complexity.

Wolfram: complexity needn't be explained by natural selection. complexity is EASY. in fact, natural selection probably creates simplicity - it makes rougly separate components, like a good engineer; doing otherwise makes "small" mutations have disasterous consequences.

species -

see gradualism missing link speciation the origin of species

logical fallacy --

Is there a standard name for arguments of the form

 * Not P is very unlikely. Therefore P.

or, alternatively

 * Not P seems very unlikely. Therefore P.

Would these commonly be called "logical fallacies"?

gambler's fallacy -

"chance has no memory" (D p. 54)

algorithm --

is it really common to use algorithm for only what can be proven to terminate??

evolution --

evolution is FOR making us (D p. 56). Does anyone coherently argue this?

"Evolution is not a process that was designed to produce us, but it does not follow from this that evolution is not an algorithmic process that has in fact produced us."

-============

- Does anyone know the history of the phrase "argument from design", or when "design" came to be used in this sense? Was "design" the word used in watchmaker arguments before Neo-Darwinists like Daniel Dennett came along?

Dennett (pp. 28-9) shows that Paley cannot claim primary for the idea:

 * 1) Cicero
 * 2) attributes the logic to Hume's Cleanthes (1779: Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion)

design --

OED: design (used by hume: "design, thought, wisdom, and intelligence")

This shows that classification did NOT begin with Linneus (or whatever hsi name is)

 * "by Darwin's time the work of the great taxonomists (who began by adopting and correcting Aristotle's ancient classifications) had created a detailed hierachy of two kingdoms (plants and animals), divided into phyla ... which divided into species. Species also could be subdivided, of course, into subspecies or varieties." (Dennett, p. 36)

For plato, each Earthly eagle was an imperfect copy of the Form called eagle, just as each Earthly triangle was an imperfect triangle of the Form called triangle. (Dennett, p. 36)

For Aristotle, each animal had a timeless, unchanging essense which defined which it was. (ibid)

For both, species were immutible and every animal could be correctly classified as belonging to one and only one species. (ibid)

(this doesn't imply that organisms were identical, just that they shared the same "essential" properties)

Darwin was NOT the first to suggest descend with modification:

 * "species had births in time, could change over time, and could give birth to new species in turn. The idea itself was not new; many versions of it had been seriously discussed, going back tot he ancient Greeks. But there was a powerful Platonic bias against it." (p. 38)

Before that time, Aristotle(4th century BC) speculated that the relative contributions of the female and the male  parents were very unequal—the female was thought to supply what he called the “matter” and the male the “motion.” [Britanica, Heredity, Early conceptions of heredity]

Although Aristotle recognized that species are not stable and unalterable and although he attempted to classify the animals he observed. [Britanica, the history of biology]

, Aristotle was the first to attempt a system of animal classification, in which he contrasted animals containing blood with those that were bloodless. [Britanica, the history of biology]

Further, Aristotle also believed that the entire living world could be described as a unified organization rather than as a collection of diverse groups. [Britanica, the history of biology] [what does this mean??]

Qs:

 * is species more important than other levels, e.g. animals vs. plans, or subspecies?
 * what is a species?
 * are species connected somehow?
 * can species change?
 * can speciation occur?

This article should be shorter! It might not have to cover how the species all relate...

You could move this to "History of 'species'". Or even "History of biology"

Organization(?):

 * 1) species in the ancient world (was breeding of animals known in the ancient world?)
 * 2) species before Darwin (et al?)
 * 3) species after Darwin: Dennett vs. creationists?

Art (Biologie) Especie espèceart In biology, a species is a group of organisms that have been classified together, either for having key properties in common, or for being part of the same "extended family" of organisms. Species is 7akin to the more narrow classifications commonly used by non-scientists, more along the lines of "dog" than "animal".

[oops: or for being part of the same family tree]

["species" is a particularly important concept only to some....]

(There is also an article on the mathematical concept of a combinatorial species.)

Art (Biologie) Especie espèceart Species is a biological concept that refers to a population of organisms that are in some important ways similar. What constitutes an "important similarity" is a matter of debate. In the earliest works of science, a species was simply an individual organism that represented a group of similar or nearly identical organisms. No other relationships beyond that group were implied. When early observers began to develop systems of organization for living things, they began to place the formerly isolated species into a context. To the modern mind, many of the schemes delineated are whimsical at best, such as those that determined consanguinity based on color (all plants with yellow flowers) or behavior (snakes, scorpions and certain biting ants).

In the 18th century Carolus Linnaeus classified organisms according to differences in the form of reproductive apparatus. Although his system of classification sorts organisms according to degrees of similarity, it made no claims about the relationship between similar species. At the time some believed that there is no organic connection between species no matter how similar they appear; every species was created by God, a view today called creationism. This approach also suggests a type of idealism, in other words, that each species exists as an ideal form. In fact, there are always differences (although sometimes minute) between individual organisms. Linnaeus considered such variation problematic. He strove to identify individual organisms that were exemplary of the species, and considered other non-exemplary organisms to be deviant and imperfect.

By the 19th century most naturalists understood that species could change form over time, and that the history of the planet provided enough time for major changes. As such, the new emphasis was on determining how a species could change over time. Lamarck suggested that an organism could pass on an acquired trait to its offspring. This theory is sometimes explained by positing a situation wherein an animal that repeatedly stretched its neck in order to reach the treetops would then pass on to its offspring a longer neck; such an example is, however, an oversimplification of Lamarck's ideas. Lamarck's most important insight may have been that species are at best magnificently fluid; his 1809 Zoological Philosophy contained one of the first logical refutations of creationism. With the advent of Darwin, Lamarck's reputation suffered gravely. In the late 20th century, though, his work began to be rexamined, and Lamarck's work is fundamental to the modern theory of adaptive mutation. His long-discarded ideas of the goal-oriented evolution of species, also known the teleological process, have also received renewed attention, particularly by proponents of artificial selection.

Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace provided what scientists now consider the most powerful and compelling theory of evolution. Basically, Darwin argued that it is populations that evolve, not individuals. His argument relies on a radical shift in perspective from Linnaeus: rather than defining species in ideal terms (and searching for an ideal representative and rejecting deviations), Darwin considered variation among individuals to be natural. He further argued that such variation, far from being problematic, is actually a good thing.

Following Thomas Malthus, he suggested that population would often exceed the amount of food available, and that some organisms would die. Darwin suggested that those organisms that would die would be those less adapted to their environment, and that those that survived -- and reproduced -- would be those best adapted to their environment. Variation among members of a species is important because different and changing environments favor different traits (i.e. there is no ideal trait; whether a trait is beneficial or not depends on the environment).

These survivors would not pass acquired traits on to their offspring; they would pass their inherited traits on to their offspring. But since the environment effectively selected which organisms would live to reproduce, the environment would select which traits would be passed on. This is the theory of evolution by "natural selection." For example, among a group of animals some have longer necks, others have shorter necks. If all the leaves are high up, those with shorter necks will die; those with longer necks will thrive. This process is evident today as resistant strains of bacteria evolve.

The development of the field of genetics (many years after Darwin) has revealed the mechanisms that generate variation as well as those through which traits are passed on from generation to generation.

The theory of the evolution of species through natural selection has two important implications for discussions of species -- consequences that fundamentally challenge the assumptions behind Linnaeus' taxonomy. First, it suggests that species are not just similar, they may actually be related. Some students of Darwin argue that all species are descended from a common ancestor. Second, it supposes that "species" are not homogeneous, fixed, permanent things; members of a species are all different, and over time species change. This suggests that species do not have any clear boundaries but are rather momentary statistical effects of constantly changing gene-frequencies. One may still use Linnaeus' taxonomy to identify individual plants and animals. But one can no longer think of species as independent and immutable.

The rise of a new species from a parental line is called speciation. There is no clear line demarcating the ancestral species from the descendant species.

The modern biological species concept defines a species in terms of reproductive isolation. This definition is not considered adequate by all parties - for example, it does not work so well in describing plant species as animal species. It is also problematic when dealing with extinct species.

Whether species is a concept, or whether it has reality independent of our classification systems, is also subject to debate. Answers to this question may hinge on one's understanding of epistemology as much as of biology.

The classification of species has been profoundly affected by technological advances that have allowed researchers to determine relatedness based on genetic markers. The results have been nothing short of revolutionary, resulting in the reordering of vast expanses of the phylogenetic tree (see also molecular phylogeny).

A species name can be:
 * A noun in apposition with the genus: Panthera leo. The words agree in case but not necessarily in gender.
 * An adjective, agreeing in case and gender with the genus: Allium sativum.
 * A noun or adjective in the genitive. This is common in parasites: Xenos vesparum, Anaticola phoenicopteri. Also, names of people and places are used in the genitive: Latimeria chalumnae.

There are several common species names. Most of these are adjectives.

Linnaean taxonomy discusses how the category "species" meshes with other classification categories, such as "kingdom" and "genus".

Compare with race.

title: User:Ryguasu/Evolution


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Slick Rick

Richard Martin Lloyd Walters (born January 14, 1965), better known as Slick Rick, is an English-American rapper and record producer. He rose to prominence as part of Doug E. Fresh & the Get Fresh Crew in the mid-1980s. Their songs "The Show" and "La Di Da Di" are considered early hip hop classics. "La Di Da Di" is one of the most sampled songs in history.

In 1986, Slick Rick became the third artist to sign with Def Jam Recordings. He has released four albums with the label: The Great Adventures of Slick Rick (1988), The Ruler's Back (1991), Behind Bars (1994) and The Art of Storytelling (1999). His music has been sampled and interpolated over 1,000 times, in songs by artists including Eminem, Beyoncé, Mariah Carey, Beastie Boys, TLC, Nas, Miley Cyrus, Kanye West, MF Doom, Czarface, Black Star, The Notorious B.I.G., Snoop Dogg, MC Ren, Montell Jordan, Tech N9ne and Color Me Badd. In the process, Slick Rick has become one of the most-sampled hip-hop artists of all time. Many of these songs based on Slick Rick samples went on to become hit singles. He was one of the first hip-hop artists to be covered, when Snoop Dogg (then Snoop Doggy Dogg) rapped Rick's lyrics from his record "La Di Da Di" almost in their entirety on the track "Lodi Dodi" on his debut album Doggystyle in 1993. At the time, it was uncommon for rappers to record covers of each other's material.

Slick Rick has been a VH1 Hip Hop Honors honoree, and About.com ranked him No. 12 on their list of the Top 50 MCs of Our Time, while The Source ranked him No. 15 on their list of the Top 50 Lyricists of All Time.

Early life
Walters was born in the South-West London area of Mitcham to Jamaican parents. He was blinded in the right eye by broken glass as an infant. In 1976, at the age of 11 or 12, he and his family immigrated to the United States, settling in the Baychester area of the Bronx. At Fiorello H. Laguardia High School of Music & Art, where he majored in visual art, Rick met Dana Dane. The pair became close friends and formed the Kangol Crew, performing in school contests, parks, and small local clubs.

At a 1984 talent showcase he entered, Rick met Doug E. Fresh. Impressed by Rick's talent, Doug made him a member of his Get Fresh Crew (which also included DJs Chill Will and Barry Bee). Doug's beatbox and Rick's fresh flow turned "The Show"/"La Di Da Di" into international anthems that turned rap music on its head and became the launching pad for "Hip Hop's greatest storyteller."

Initial fame
His career began in 1985; Walters first gained success in the rap industry after joining Doug E. Fresh's Get Fresh Crew, using the stage name MC Ricky D. He was featured on the single "The Show" and its even more popular B-side, "La Di Da Di", which featured Walters' rapping over Doug E. Fresh's beatbox. Both tracks gained some mainstream attention, they appeared on Top of the Pops and Soul Train with the Get Fresh Crew. Reflecting on the single in Rolling Stone magazine, Roots drummer and Tonight Show bandleader Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson said, "Point blank: Slick Rick's voice was the most beautiful thing to happen to hip-hop culture [...] Rick is full of punchlines, wit, melody, cool cadence, confidence and style. He is the blueprint."

In 1986, Slick Rick joined Russell Simmons's Rush Artist Management and became the third artist signed to Def Jam Records, the leading rap/hip-hop label at the time. Collaborating with his friend, DJ Vance Wright, Walters produced his solo debut, The Great Adventures of Slick Rick, which came out in 1988 on Def Jam. The album was very successful, reaching the No. 1 spot on Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop chart. It also featured four charting singles: "Children's Story", "Mona Lisa", "Hey Young World", and "Teenage Love". The release is known for its storytelling and vocal characterizations. "With the combination of Rick's Dick Van Dyke-on-dope accent and his unique narrative style, the record was an instant classic," wrote critic Matt Weiner. "Each of Rick's songs was an amusing, enthralling story that lasted from the first groove to the last."

Incarceration and subsequent albums
In 1989, Walters' mother, Veronica, hired his first cousin, Mark Plummer, as his bodyguard. By 1990, Plummer had become a liability, having tried numerous times to extort money from the artist. Plummer was fired and, unsatisfied with his severance package, tried to rob Walters on numerous occasions and also threatened to kill the rapper and his mother. When Walters found bullet holes in his front door, he bought guns for protection. On July 3, 1990, Walters spotted Plummer in his neighborhood, and fired at least four shots. One bullet hit Plummer; another caught a passerby in the foot. Neither suffered life-threatening injuries.

He eventually pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted murder and other charges, including assault, use of a firearm, and criminal possession of a weapon. The rapper called it an act of self-defense. He spent five years in prison, two for the then-second-degree attempted-murder charges he received for the shooting, and three for disputes with the Immigration and Naturalization Services over his residency in the U.S. He was released from prison in 1997.

After being bailed out by Russell Simmons, Walters recorded his second album, The Ruler's Back, released in 1991. Despite peaking at No. 29 on the Billboard Hot 100, the album received mixed reviews and was not as commercially successful as his debut. In the documentary film, The Show, Russell Simmons interviewed Walters while he was imprisoned on Rikers Island.

Walters' third studio album (the fourth for Def Jam) Behind Bars was released in 1994, while he was still incarcerated. It was met with lukewarm sales and reviews. Behind Bars peaked at No. 11 on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, and No. 51 on the Billboard 200.

Walters remained with the Def Jam label, and on May 25, 1999, released a fourth album, The Art of Storytelling. The Art of Storytelling was a comeback-album that paired him with prolific MCs like Nas, OutKast, Raekwon, and Snoop Dogg. The Los Angeles Times announced it as the "triumphant return of rap's premier yarn-spinner", calling the song "2 Way Street" "a much-needed alternative to rap's misogynistic slant". It charted higher than any of Slick Rick's prior releases: No. 8 on the Billboard 200; and No. 1 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.

After performing on a Caribbean cruise ship in June 2002, Walters was arrested by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) as he re-entered the United States through Florida. He was promptly told that he was being deported under a law allowing deportation of foreigners convicted of felonies. Rick was continuously refused bail, but after 17 months in prison he was released on November 7, 2003. In October 2006, the Department of Homeland Security began a new attempt to deport Walters back to the United Kingdom, moving the case from the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit based in New York to the more conservative Eleventh Circuit. The court is based in Atlanta, Georgia, but the trial was expected to proceed in Florida, where immigration agents originally arrested Walters.

On May 23, 2008, New York Governor David Paterson granted Slick Rick a full and unconditional pardon on the attempted murder charges. The governor was pleased with his behavior since the attempted murders. Slick Rick volunteered his time to mentor kids about violence.

Later career and life
Walters married his wife Mandy Aragones in April 1997, four years after the couple met at a Manhattan nightclub. The performer has two children from a previous relationship. He and his wife have donated about a dozen items from his collection to the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Slick Rick and the Soul Rebels Brass Band collaborated on June 21, 2012, in Washington, D.C. at the historic Howard Theatre which re-opened in April 2012.

In addition, Rick was a Mixx Cares Humanitarian Award recipient.

On April 15, 2016, Rick was granted U.S. citizenship, remarking, "I am so proud of this moment—and so honored to finally become an American citizen." He will also retain his UK citizenship.

On November 2, 2018, Rick released the single "Snakes of the World Today". In 2020, Rick featured on Westside Gunn's album Who Made the Sunshine. In September 2023, it was announced that Rick is finishing up work on a new solo album, his first since Art of Storytelling.

Honors
On October 6, 2008, Rick was honored on the VH1 Hip Hop Honors show. In 2018 he was added to the Bronx Walk of Fame.

Rapping style
Slick Rick's style is commended by music critics. Music journalist Peter Shapiro wrote, " 'Children's Story' was important because of its narrative structure and Rick's understanding of how crucial little sonic details—such as his use of a female voice and his yawning rap—were to hip hop style."

He is largely known for his story raps, such as "Children's Story" and "La Di Da Di". Shapiro writes that he "largely introduced the art of narrative into hip hop... none of the spinners of picaresque rhymes who followed did it with the same grace or humor." AllMusic states that he has the "reputation as hip hop's greatest storyteller." In the book Check the Technique, Slick Rick says, "I was never the type to say freestyle raps, I usually tell a story, and to do that well I've always had to work things out beforehand." Kool Moe Dee comments, "Slick Rick raised the lost art of hip hop storytelling to a level never seen again." Devin the Dude notes that Slick Rick's "Indian Girl" is a good example of the type of humor that existed in hip hop's golden era, and Peter Shapiro says that "he was funnier than Rudy Ray Moore or Redd Foxx."

Slick Rick uses very clear enunciation and retains some English pronunciations, which led Shapiro to say that he raps in the "Queen's English". O.C. states: "The Great Adventures of Slick Rick is one of the greatest albums ever... the stuff he was just saying on there, it was so clear.. the [clear] syllable dude was Slick Rick for me". He is also renowned for his unique "smooth, British-tinged flow" which contains distinct structures. In the book How to Rap, it is noted that on the song "I Own America", he "puts a rest on almost every other 1-beat so that each set of two lines begins with a rest." Kool Moe Dee stated that, "Rick accomplished being totally original at a time when most MCs were using very similar cadences." He has what is described as "singsong cadences"; Andy Cat of Ugly Duckling mentions that Slick Rick uses a melodic delivery on the track "Hey Young World". Slick Rick is also known to extensively use punch ins, especially in his story rhymes as different characters; Kool Moe Dee says Rick used "multi-voices to portray multiple characters."

Discography

 * The Great Adventures of Slick Rick (1988)
 * The Ruler's Back (1991)
 * Behind Bars (1994)
 * The Art of Storytelling (1999)

Filmography
He makes an appearance as a playable character in the video games Def Jam: Fight for NY and Def Jam Fight for NY: The Takeover.

title: Slick Rick


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August Wilson

August Wilson (né Frederick August Kittel Jr.; April 27, 1945 – October 2, 2005) was an American playwright. He has been referred to as the "theater's poet of Black America". He is best known for a series of 10 plays, collectively called  (or The Century Cycle), which chronicle the experiences and heritage of the African-American community in the 20th century. Plays in the series include Fences (1987) and The Piano Lesson (1990), both of which won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, as well as Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (1984) and Joe Turner's Come and Gone (1988). In 2006, Wilson was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.

His works delve into the African-American experience as well as examine the human condition. Other themes range from the systemic and historical exploitation of African Americans, race relations, identity, migration, and racial discrimination. Viola Davis said that Wilson's writing "captures our humor, our vulnerabilities, our tragedies, our trauma. And he humanizes us. And he allows us to talk." Since Wilson's death, two of his plays have been adapted into films: Fences (2016) and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020). Denzel Washington has shepherded the films and has vowed to continue Wilson's legacy by adapting the rest of his plays into films for a wider audience. Washington said, "the greatest part of what's left of my career is making sure that August is taken care of".

Early life
Wilson was born Frederick August Kittel Jr. in the Hill District of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the fourth of six children. His father, Frederick August Kittel Sr., was a Sudeten German immigrant, who was a baker/pastry cook. His mother, Daisy Wilson, was an African-American woman from North Carolina who cleaned homes for a living. Wilson's anecdotal history reports that his maternal grandmother walked from North Carolina to Pennsylvania in search of a better life. Wilson's mother raised the children alone until he was five in a two-room apartment behind a grocery store at 1727 Bedford Avenue; his father was mostly absent from his childhood. Wilson later wrote under his mother's surname.

The economically depressed neighborhood where he was raised was inhabited predominantly by Black Americans and Jewish and Italian immigrants. Life was tough for the Kittel siblings as they were biracial. August struggled with finding a sense of belonging to a particular culture and did not feel that he truly fit into African-American culture or White culture until later in life. Wilson's mother divorced his father and married David Bedford in the 1950s, and the family moved from the Hill District to the then predominantly White working-class neighborhood of Hazelwood, where they encountered racial hostility; bricks were thrown through a window at their new home. They were soon forced out of their house and on to their next home.

The Hill District went on to become the setting of numerous plays in the Pittsburgh Cycle. His experiences growing up there with a strong matriarch shaped the way his plays would be written.

In 1959, Wilson was one of 14 African-American students at Central Catholic High School but dropped out after one year. He then attended Connelley Vocational High School, but found the curriculum unchallenging. He dropped out of Gladstone High School in the 10th grade in 1960 after his teacher accused him of plagiarizing a 20-page paper he wrote on Napoleon I of France. Wilson hid his decision from his mother because he did not want to disappoint her. At the age of 16 he began working menial jobs, where he met a wide variety of people on whom some of his later characters were based, such as Sam in The Janitor (1985).

Wilson's extensive use of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh resulted in its later awarding him an honorary high school diploma. Wilson, who said he had learned to read at the age of four, began reading Black writers at the library when he was 12 and spent the remainder of his teen years educating himself through the books of Ralph Ellison, Richard Wright, Langston Hughes, Arna Bontemps, and others.

1960s
Wilson knew that he wanted to be a writer, but this created tension with his mother, who wanted him to become a lawyer. She forced him to leave the family home and he enlisted in the United States Army for a three-year stint in 1962, but he was discharged after a year and went back to working various odd jobs as a porter, short-order cook, gardener, and dishwasher.

Frederick August Kittel Jr. changed his name to August Wilson to honor his mother after his father's death in 1965. That same year, he discovered the blues as sung by Bessie Smith, and he bought a stolen typewriter for $10, which he often pawned when money was tight. At 20, he decided he was a poet and submitted work to such magazines as Harper's. He began to write in bars, the local cigar store, and cafes—longhand on table napkins and on yellow notepads, absorbing the voices and characters around him. He liked to write on cafe napkins because, he said, it freed him up and made him less self-conscious as a writer. He would then gather the notes and type them up at home. Gifted with a talent for catching dialect and accents, Wilson had an "astonishing memory", which he put to full use during his career. He slowly learned not to censor the language he heard when incorporating it into his work.

Malcolm X's voice influenced Wilson's life and work (such as The Ground on Which I Stand, 1996). Both the Nation of Islam (NOI) and the Black Power movement spoke to him regarding self-sufficiency, self-defense, and self-determination, and he appreciated the origin myths that Elijah Muhammad supported. In 1969 Wilson married Brenda Burton, a Muslim, and became associated with the NOI, though he reportedly did not convert. He and Brenda had one daughter, Sakina Ansari-Wilson. The couple divorced in 1972.

In 1968, along with his friend Rob Penny, Wilson co-founded the Black Horizon Theater in the Hill District of Pittsburgh. Wilson's first play, Recycling, was performed for audiences in small theaters, schools and public housing community centers for 50 cents a ticket. Among these early efforts was Jitney, which he revised more than two decades later as part of his 10-play cycle on 20th-century Pittsburgh. He had no directing experience. He recalled: "Someone had looked around and said, 'Who's going to be the director?' I said, 'I will.' I said that because I knew my way around the library. So I went to look for a book on how to direct a play. I found one called The Fundamentals of Play Directing and checked it out."

1970s
In 1976, Vernell Lillie, who had founded the Kuntu Repertory Theatre at the University of Pittsburgh two years earlier, directed Wilson's The Homecoming. That same year Wilson saw Athol Fugard's Sizwe Banzi is Dead, staged at the Pittsburgh Public Theater, the first time he attended professionally produced drama. Wilson, Penny, and poet Maisha Baton then founded the Kuntu Writers Workshop to bring African-American writers together and to assist them in publication and production. Both organizations remain active.

In 1978, Wilson moved to Saint Paul, Minnesota, at the suggestion of his friend, director Claude Purdy, who helped him secure a job writing educational scripts for the Science Museum of Minnesota. In 1980 he received a fellowship for The Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis. He quit the museum in 1981, but continued writing plays. For three years, he was a part-time cook for the Little Brothers of the Poor. Wilson had a long association with the Penumbra Theatre Company of St. Paul, which was initially funded by a federal Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) grant and which premiered some of his plays. He wrote Fullerton Street, which has been unproduced and unpublished, in 1980. It follows the Joe Louis/Billy Conn fight in 1941 and the loss of values attendant on the Great Migration to the urban North.

1980s
Throughout the 1980s, Wilson wrote the majority of his work including Jitney (1982), Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (1984), Fences (1985), Joe Turner's Come and Gone (1986), and The Piano Lesson (1987).

In 1987, St. Paul's mayor George Latimer named May 27 "August Wilson Day". He was honored because he is the only person from Minnesota to win a Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

1990s
In 1990, Wilson left St. Paul after getting divorced and moved to Seattle. There he developed a relationship with Seattle Repertory Theatre, which produced his entire 10-play cycle and his one-man show How I Learned What I Learned.

Though he was a writer dedicated to writing for theater, a Hollywood studio proposed filming Wilson's play Fences. He insisted that a Black director be hired for the film, saying: "I declined a White director not on the basis of race but on the basis of culture. White directors are not qualified for the job. The job requires someone who shares the specifics of the culture of Black Americans." The film remained unmade until 2016, when Denzel Washington directed the film Fences, starring Washington and Viola Davis. It earned Wilson a posthumous Oscar nomination.

Wilson received many honorary degrees, including an honorary Doctor of Humanities from the University of Pittsburgh, of which he was a trustee from 1992 until 1995.

Wilson maintained a strong voice in the progress and development of the (then) contemporary Black theater, undoubtedly taking influences from the examples of his youth, such as those displayed during the Black Arts Movement. One of the most notable examples of Wilson's strong opinions and critiques of what was Black theater's state in the 1990s, was the "On Cultural Power: The August Wilson/Robert Brustein Discussion" where Wilson argued for a completely Black theater with all positions filled by Blacks. Conversely, he argued that Black actors should not play roles not specifically Black (e.g., no Black Hamlet). Brustein heatedly took an opposing view.

2000s
In 2005, Wilson's final installment in his ten-part series The Century Cycle, titled Radio Golf, opened. It was first performed in 2005 by the Yale Repertory Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut and had its Broadway premiere in 2007 at the Cort Theatre. It would become known as Wilson's final work.

Post–Black Arts Movement
Although Wilson's work is not formally recognized within the literary canon of the Black Arts Movement, he was certainly a product of its mission, helping to co-found the Black Horizon Theatre in his hometown of Pittsburgh in 1968. Situated in Pittsburgh's Hill District, a historically and predominantly Black neighborhood, the Black Horizon Theatre became a cultural hub of Black creativity and community building. As a playwright of what is considered the Post–Black Arts Movement, Wilson inherited the spirit of BAM, producing plays that celebrated the history and poetic sensibilities of Black people. His iconic Century Cycle successfully tracked and synthesized the experiences of Black America in the 20th century, using each historical decade, from 1904 to 1997, to document the physical, emotional, mental, and political strivings of Black life in the wake of emancipation.

Wilson's best-known plays are Fences (1985) (which won a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award), The Piano Lesson (1990) (a Pulitzer Prize and the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award), Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, and Joe Turner's Come and Gone.

Wilson stated that he was most influenced by "the four Bs": blues music, the Argentine writer and poet Jorge Luis Borges, the playwright Amiri Baraka and the painter Romare Bearden. He went on to add writers Ed Bullins and James Baldwin to the list. He noted:

"From Borges, those wonderful gaucho stories from which I learned that you can be specific as to a time and place and culture and still have the work resonate with the universal themes of love, honor, duty, betrayal, etc. From Amiri Baraka, I learned that all art is political, although I don't write political plays. From Romare Bearden I learned that the fullness and richness of everyday life can be rendered without compromise or sentimentality."

He valued Bullins and Baldwin for their honest representations of everyday life.

Like Bearden, Wilson worked with collage techniques in writing: "I try to make my plays the equal of his canvases. In creating plays I often use the image of a stewing pot in which I toss various things that I'm going to make use of—a black cat, a garden, a bicycle, a man with a scar on his face, a pregnant woman, a man with a gun." On the meaning of his work, Wilson stated:

"I once wrote this short story called 'The Best Blues Singer in the World', and it went like this—'The streets that Balboa walked were his own private ocean, and Balboa was drowning.' End of story. That says it all. Nothing else to say. I've been rewriting that same story over and over again. All my plays are rewriting that same story."

The Pittsburgh Cycle
Wilson's Pittsburgh Cycle, also often referred to as his Century Cycle, consists of ten plays—nine of which are set in Pittsburgh's Hill District (the other being set in Chicago), an African-American neighborhood that takes on a mythic literary significance like Thomas Hardy's Wessex, William Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha County, or Irish playwright Brian Friel's Ballybeg. The plays are each set in a different decade and aim to sketch the Black experience in the 20th century and "raise consciousness through theater" and echo "the poetry in the everyday language of Black America". His writing of the Black experience always featured strong female characters and sometimes included elements of the supernatural. In his book, he wrote "My mother's a very strong, principled woman. My female characters . . . come in a large part from my mother"

As for the elements of the supernatural, Wilson often featured some form of superstition or old tradition in plays that came down to supernatural roots. One of his plays well known for featuring this is The Piano Lesson. In the play, the piano is used and releases spirits of the ancestors. Wilson wanted to create such an event in the play that the audience was left to decide what was real or not. He was fascinated by the power of theater as a medium where a community at large could come together to bear witness to events and currents unfolding.

Wilson told The Paris Review:"I think my plays offer (White Americans) a different way to look at Black Americans. For instance, in Fences they see a garbageman, a person they don't really look at, although they see a garbageman every day. By looking at Troy's life, White people find out that the content of this Black garbageman's life is affected by the same things – love, honor, beauty, betrayal, duty. Recognizing that these things are as much part of his life as theirs can affect how they think about and deal with Black people in their lives."

Although the plays of the cycle are not strictly connected to the degree of a serial story, some characters appear (at various ages) in more than one of the cycle's plays. Children of characters in earlier plays may appear in later plays. The character most frequently mentioned in the cycle is Aunt Ester, a "washer of souls". She is reported to be 285 years old in Gem of the Ocean, which takes place in her home at 1839 Wylie Avenue, and 349 in Two Trains Running. She dies in 1985, during the events of King Hedley II. Much of the action of Radio Golf revolves around the plan to demolish and redevelop that house, some years after her death. Aunt Ester is a symbolic and recurring figure that represents the African-American struggle. She is "not literally three centuries old but a succession of folk priestesses... [s]he embodies a weighty history of tragedy and triumph". The plays often include an apparently mentally impaired oracular character (different in each play)—for example, Hedley Sr. in Seven Guitars, Gabriel in Fences, Stool Pigeon in King Hedley II, or Hambone in Two Trains Running.

Chicago's Goodman Theatre was the first theater in the world to produce the entire 10-play cycle, in productions which spanned from 1986 to 2007. Two of the Goodman's productions—Seven Guitars and Gem of the Ocean—were world premieres. Israel Hicks produced the entire 10-play cycle from 1990 to 2009 for the Denver Center Theatre Company. Geva Theatre Center produced all 10 plays in decade order from 2007 to 2011 as August Wilson's American Century. The Huntington Theatre Company of Boston has produced all 10 plays, finishing in 2012. During Wilson's life he worked closely with The Huntington to produce the later plays. Pittsburgh Public Theater was the first theater company in Pittsburgh to produce the entire Century Cycle, including the world premiere of King Hedley II to open the O'Reilly Theater in Downtown Pittsburgh.

TAG – The Actors' Group, in Honolulu, Hawaii, produced all 10 plays in the cycle starting in 2004 with Two Trains Running and culminating in 2015 with Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. All shows were Hawaii premieres, all were extremely successful at the box office and garnered many local theatre awards for the actors and the organization. The Black Rep in St. Louis and the Anthony Bean Community Theater in New Orleans have also presented the complete cycle.

In the years after Wilson's death the 10-play cycle has been referred to as The August Wilson Century Cycle and as The American Century Cycle.

Two years before his death in 2005, Wilson wrote and performed an unpublished one-man play entitled How I Learned What I Learned about the power of art and the power of possibility. This was produced at New York's Signature Theatre and directed by Todd Kreidler, Wilson's friend and protégé. How I Learned explores his days as a struggling young writer in Pittsburgh's Hill District and how the neighborhood and its people inspired his cycle of plays about the African-American experience.

Personal life
Wilson was married three times. His first marriage was to Brenda Burton from 1969 to 1972. They had one daughter, Sakina Ansari, born 1970. In 1981, he married Judy Oliver, a social worker; they divorced in 1990. He married again in 1994 and was survived by his third wife, costume designer Constanza Romero, whom he met on the set of The Piano Lesson. They had a daughter, Azula Carmen Wilson. Wilson also was survived by siblings Freda Ellis, Linda Jean Kittel, Richard Kittel, Donna Conley and Edwin Kittel.

Death
Wilson reported that he had been diagnosed with liver cancer in June 2005 and been given three to five months to live. He died at age 60 on October 2 of that year at Swedish Medical Center in Seattle, and was interred at Greenwood Cemetery, Pittsburgh, on October 8. He reportedly requested a "Black funeral" at Saint Paul Cathedral, but permission for a non-Catholic funeral was not granted by the diocese. A memorial service was instead held at the University of Pittsburgh.

Legacy and honors
The childhood home of Wilson and his six siblings, at 1727 Bedford Avenue in Pittsburgh, was declared a historic landmark by the State of Pennsylvania on May 30, 2007. On February 26, 2008, Pittsburgh City Council placed the house on the List of City of Pittsburgh historic designations. On April 30, 2013, the August Wilson House was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

In Pittsburgh, there is an August Wilson Center for African American Culture. The center includes a permanent exhibition on Wilson's life in Pittsburgh's Hill District, "August Wilson: A Writer's Landscape."

On October 16, 2005, fourteen days after Wilson's death, the Virginia Theatre in New York City's Broadway Theater District was renamed the August Wilson Theatre. It is the first Broadway theatre to bear the name of an African-American. The theatre has run many shows, including Jersey Boys, Groundhog Day, and Mean Girls.

In 2007, the August Wilson Monologue Competition was founded by Kenny Leon and Todd Kreidler. High school students, supported by professional actors, mentors, local drama teachers and others learn a monologue from one of Wilson's plays, and perform it in front of a professional jury. This tribute to Wilson's work is an official contest in many American cities including, as of 2020, Atlanta, Boston, Buffalo, Chicago, Dallas, Greensboro, Los Angeles, New Haven, New York, Norfolk, Pittsburgh, Portland, San Diego, and Seattle. The national winner of the contest gets the chance to perform on Broadway.

In Seattle, Washington, along the south side of the Seattle Repertory Theatre, the vacated Republican Street between Warren Avenue N. and 2nd Avenue N. on the Seattle Center grounds has been renamed August Wilson Way.

In September 2016, an existing community park near his childhood home was renovated and renamed August Wilson Park.

In 2020, the University Library System at the University of Pittsburgh acquired Wilson's literary papers and materials to establish the August Wilson Archive.

In 2021, the United States Postal Service honored Wilson with a Forever stamp featuring him as part of the Black Heritage series of stamps. It was designed by Ethel Kessler with art from Tim O'Brien.

Other awards and honors by year:
 * 1985: New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best American Play Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
 * 1986: Whiting Award for Drama
 * 1987: Artist of the Year by Chicago Tribune
 * 1988: Literary Lion Award from the New York Public Library
 * 1988: Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement
 * 1988: New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play – Joe Turner's Come and Gone
 * 1990: Governor's Awards for Excellence in the Arts and Distinguished Pennsylvania Artists
 * 1990: New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play – The Piano Lesson
 * 1991: Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame award
 * 1991: St. Louis Literary Award from the Saint Louis University Library Associates
 * 1992: American Theatre Critics' Association Award – Two Trains Running
 * 1992,2007: New York Drama Critics Circle Citation for Best American Play – Two Trains Running
 * 1992: Clarence Muse Award
 * 1996: New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play – Seven Guitars
 * 1999: National Humanities Medal
 * 2000: New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play – Jitney
 * 2001:Outer Critics Circle Award for John Gassner Playwriting Award – Fences
 * 2002: Olivier Award for Best new Play – Jitney
 * 2004: The 10th Annual Heinz Award in Arts and Humanities
 * 2004: The U.S. Comedy Arts Festival Freedom of Speech Award
 * 2005: Make Shift Award at the U.S. Confederation of Play Writers
 * 2006: American Theatre Hall of Fame.
 * 2013: Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Revival – The Piano Lesson

Interviews

 * August Wilson on Blackness, Bill Moyers, A World of Ideas, October 20, 1988.
 * NPR Intersections: August Wilson, Writing to the Blues, March 1, 2004, audio interview (6 mins).
 * Interview with Wilson, The Believer, November 2004.
 * Putting Up Fences, article with video, BU Today, September 17, 2009.
 * Interview with Wilson, The Believer, November 2004.
 * Putting Up Fences, article with video, BU Today, September 17, 2009.

Obituaries

 * "Theater Is to Be Renamed for a Dying Playwright", The New York Times, September 2, 2005.
 * Pittsburgh Post-Gazette obituary, October 3, 2005
 * "August Wilson, Theater's Poet of Black America, Is Dead at 60", The New York Times, October 3, 2005.
 * Margaret Busby, "August Wilson – Distinguished black American playwright who reclaimed the stories of his people", The Guardian, October 4, 2005.

title: August Wilson


text:
Wikipedia talk:Volunteer Fire Department

Older talk is here

I removed the following since it no longer applies after the name change.

The Wikipedia Pacifists
As some people already mentioned, such military wording is likely to scare newcomers, and this 'Militia' thing won't serve any purpose above and beyond simply posting a call to action for everyone to the mailing list and placing a notice at the top of RecentChanges. I'd also add that it has really bad communist feel for me. So here is a list of Wikipedia Pacifists.

A User:Andre Engels - So, what is this Wikipedia Militia to do? When a large number of newbies come, they can be called on to look through new articles and improve or (if they're complete rubbish) delete them. That's something that I already do without being in the Militia, and I see no reason to change that.

 * Doesn't that mean you are de facto in the militia/fire dept/whatever silly label some people like to put on it? --Brion 19:46 Jan 23, 2003 (UTC)

 * Yes that does seem very strange. --mav

M User:Malcolm Farmer - Yes, the "Wikipedia gardening club": once the big parade is over, and the horses, elephants and camels have gone, we follow along with brooms, buckets and shovels, and put the results where it will keep the Wiki fertile Fortunately it's never yet got bad enough for the "Augean stable boys".

T User:Taw

I have put the list back, but without the introductory part - at least my reason to not join the militia has not been changed by the name change (it has however changed by other issues, the main reason I'm not in the fire department now is that I don't come over much, but live in WikipediaNL nowadays). Andre Engels 19:23 Jan 23, 2003 (UTC)

 * OK so then why make an issue over this? I don't like the Teletubbies but I don't add my name to an Anti-Teletubbies list. --mav

Well, you just invite the Wikipedia militants to start arguing it should be 'militia' again. Certainly 'militia' was more honest, and would let Jimbo have his musket.

 * No - Calling this a "Militia" was always a joke - but some pigheaded people without senses of humor who just love to be oppressed and fight against perceived oppressors never got the joke. --mav

 * If it's a "community" then it needs "defense", so the "militia" was always the right name. However if it's not a "community" it doesn't need "defense".  A corporate office building probably needs fire volunteers, that's about right.

 * Please consider the name IP Death Squad for the nastier functions above.

 * If you don't think that volunteer firefighters don't defend anything then you need serious help. --mav

 * No, as usual you fall for your own propaganda. It's not defense if there is no risk to bodies - and hacking up text here carries no such risk.  Therefore your metaphor is entirely inappropriate.

 * It is ensuring the health and well-being of the encyclopedia by repairing damage done by either careless or malicious people. It is also about helping newcommers get the hang of the place. Inanimate objects are defended all the time BTW. The analogy is a good one. --mav

Wow, in order to oppose this cabal, I now have to speak in defense of arson!!!!

Good job cabal, at least a militia could have pacifists. A fire can only be "put out", and it can't speak for itself, unlike oh say an Internet troll.

"Cabal cabal cabal cabal cabal cabal cabal, Cabal cabal cabal cabal cabal cabal cabal," (sung to the tune of "Battle Hymn of the Republic")

 * Speaking of trolls, I'm going to stop feeding you. --mav

The page needs updating a little bit;

In the near future, for example, we might break 100,000 articles,

I can't think of anything particularly eloquent to replace it with and as its a nicely written page I think I'll avoid making any clumsy changes. Perhaps the person who wrote it would like to change it? Ams80

Would anyone object if I Martin 00:10 May 15, 2003 (UTC)
 * 1) stripped the list of military references (they look rather weird with the new name - people are even less likely to get the joke!)
 * 2) removed any Wikipedians who've not edited in the past six months (retired them, if you will)

--mav 00:39 15 May 2003 (UTC)
 * 1) Please do
 * 2) Please create a new section to put them in (retired members).

We are reaching our 150000th article soon. I predict we will be Slashdotted when that happens. Do you think we will need to "put out any fires" when this happens? How bad was it last time we were Slashdotted, at 100,000 articles? dave 07:18, 14 Aug 2003 (UTC)

 * Personalized Welcoming moved to Wikipedia talk:Welcoming committee

While this page is an interesting piece of Wikipedia history, I believe it has lost its relevance. I boldly disbanded the fire department in a recent edit but was reverted, so I make my case here instead:
 * the main reason something should be done is that the page mischaracterizes the nature of the Wikipedia community as it stands at present, which is confusing to visitors and, especially, new contributors. Wikipedia has so many interest groups (mailing list, meta, irc, committees, cleanup) and statuses (steward, bureaucrat, admin) that actually matter, that the artifical distinction of the "volunteer fire department" is a distraction and a source of confusion.
 * the incremental growth we have experienced over the last two years has made this an anachronism, since we now have enough editors to deal handily with even a relatively large influx of new contributors
 * that WP is more popular than many of the websites likely to be referrers here, based on the Alexa ratings

While I don't suggest deletion, I think we should update the page to make it clear that the "fire department" is inactive and remove the list of "members." UninvitedCompany 19:00, 15 Apr 2004 (UTC)

 * I agree but if it's going to be kept just for historical reasons, it should be on meta, not here. Angela. 19:30, Apr 15, 2004 (UTC)

 * Well, yes, and I was thinking of suggesting that, but I was afraid that there are a fair number of people who would oppose it. Does the "transwiki" bot retain history?  If not, it probably should stay here, since the page history is much of the value. UninvitedCompany 19:50, 15 Apr 2004 (UTC)

 * It doesn't retain the history yet, but when MediaWiki 1.3 is released, it will be possible to copy page histories over. One of the benefits of having a log of all transwiki'd pages is that their histories will be able to be undeleted and moved over when this becomes possible. Angela. 20:27, Apr 15, 2004 (UTC)

 * Yikes, I just stumbled across this whole thing, signed up, and now you're telling me it no longer exists? There's a hole in my reality!  I just fell down a virtual elevator shaft!  And besides, I'm an actual member of an actual Volunteer Fire Department, and there ought to be a _real_ article about the real thing, with its real name.  The euphemistic use of the term VFD is kinda pissing in the soup, don't you think? ;Bear 06:38, 2004 Apr 16 (UTC)

In the absence of any objections or discussion, I made it clear that the page is inactive. I leave it to others to decide whether it should be moved to the meta. UninvitedCompany 23:15, 19 Apr 2004 (UTC)

 * Well, I can't really object, but I do want to raise the fact that during the User:Bird attack in mid-March, people listed as VfD members were "called out" to fight that fire and were helpful. So I wonder if it might be too soon to declare it moribund and relegate it to the dustbin of historical pages on Meta?

BCorr | Брайен 00:47, Apr 21, 2004 (UTC)

Ok. I wasn't aware that the VFD was actually "called out" for that as there's no mention here and nothing on the mailing list or people's talk pages or anyplace that links here that I can see. In what fashion was the call issued? My real point is that when something like that happens now, our usual response is to put something on the "announcements" page, or bring it up on IRC, or in extreme cases add it to the recent changes page. People help out, or not, to the extent of their abilities, time, and interest, and VFD membership would appear to have little to do with it. Unless I'm missing something. UninvitedCompany 18:26, 21 Apr 2004 (UTC)