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Eugen Bleuler

Paul Eugen Bleuler (30 April 1857 – 15 July 1939) was a Swiss psychiatrist and humanist most notable for his contributions to the understanding of mental illness. He coined several psychiatric terms including "schizophrenia", "schizoid", "autism", depth psychology and what Sigmund Freud called "Bleuler's happily chosen term ambivalence".

Personal life
Bleuler was born in Zollikon, a town near Zürich in Switzerland, to Johann Rudolf Bleuler (1823–1898), a wealthy farmer, and Pauline Bleuler-Bleuler (1829–1898). He married Hedwig Bleuler–Waser, one of the first women to receive her doctorate from the University of Zurich.

Career
Bleuler studied medicine in Zürich. He trained for his psychiatric residency at Waldau Hospital under Gottlieb Burckhardt, a Swiss psychiatrist, from 1881 to 1884. He left his job in 1884 and spent one year on medical study trips with Jean-Martin Charcot, a French neurologist in Paris, Bernhard von Gudden, a German psychiatrist in Munich, and to London. After these trips, he returned to Zürich to briefly work as assistant to Auguste Forel while completing his psychiatric residency at the Burghölzli, a university hospital.

Bleuler became the director of a psychiatric clinic in Rheinau, a hospital located in an old monastery on an island in the Rhine. At the time, the clinic was known for being functionally backward and largely ineffective. Because of this, Bleuler set about improving conditions for the patients residing there.

In the year 1898, Bleuler returned to the Burghölzli and became a psychiatry professor at Burghölzli, the same university hospital at which he completed his residency. He was also appointed director of the mental asylum in Rheinau. He served as the director from the years 1898 to 1927. While working at this asylum, Bleuler cared for long-term psychiatric patients. He also implemented both psychoanalytic treatment and research, and was influenced by Sigmund Freud.

During his time as the director of psychiatry at Burghölzli, Bleuler made great contributions to the field of psychiatry and psychology that made him known today. Given these findings, Bleuler has been described as one of the most influential Swiss psychiatrists.

Relationship with Freud and Jung
Following his interest in hypnotism, especially in its "introspective" variant, Bleuler became interested in Sigmund Freud's work. He favorably reviewed Josef Breuer and Freud's Studies on Hysteria.

Like Freud, Bleuler believed that complex mental processes could be unconscious. He encouraged his staff at the Burghölzli to study unconscious and psychotic mental phenomena. Influenced by Bleuler, Carl Jung and Franz Riklin used word association tests to integrate Freud's theory of repression with empirical psychological findings. As a series of letters demonstrates, Bleuler performed a self-analysis with Freud, beginning in 1905. Bleuler laid the foundation for a less fatalistic view of the course and outcome of psychotic disorders along with C. G. Jung, who further used Bleuler's theory of ambivalence and association experiments to diagnose neurotic illnesses. Bleuler found Freud's movement to be overly dogmatic and resigned from the International Psychoanalytic Association in 1911, writing to Freud that "this 'all or nothing' is in my opinion necessary for religious communities and useful for political parties...but for science I consider it harmful". Bleuler remained interested in Freud's work, citing him favorably, for example, in his often reprinted Textbook of Psychiatry (1916). He also supported the nomination of Freud for the Nobel Prize in the late twenties.

Dementia Praecox, or the Group of Schizophrenias
Bleuler introduced the term "schizophrenia" in a Berlin lecture on 24 April 1908. However, he and his colleagues had been using the term in Zurich to replace Emil Kraepelin's term dementia praecox since 1907. He revised and expanded his schizophrenia concept in his seminal study of 1911, Dementia Praecox, oder Gruppe der Schizophrenien (Dementia Praecox, or Group of Schizophrenias). This was translated into English in 1950 (by Joseph Zinkin).

Bleuler distinguished between positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia. Positive symptoms include symptoms not found in unaffected people, such as hallucinations or delusions. Negative symptoms describe the absence of typical experiences such as social withdrawal or lack of pleasure. Bleuler also distinguished between basic and accessory symptoms as well as primary and secondary symptoms. Basic symptoms are those that are present in every case of schizophrenia, whereas accessory symptoms vary depending on the patient. Bleuler defined primary symptoms as those that are directly related to neurobiological processes. He defined secondary symptoms as behavioral reactions to primary symptoms. Differentiating these symptoms contributed to an increased understanding of schizophrenia in general.

Like Kraepelin, Bleuler argued that dementia praecox, or "the schizophrenias", was a physical disease process characterized by exacerbations and remissions. He argued that no one was ever completely "cured" of schizophrenia; there was always some sort of lasting cognitive weakness or defect that was manifest in behavior. Unlike Kraepelin, Bleuler believed that the overall prognosis was not uniformly grim. He believed "dementia" was a secondary symptom not directly caused by the underlying biological process. There were three other "fundamental symptoms" that included deficits in associations, affectivity, and ambivalence. He believed the biological disease was much more prevalent in the population due to its "simple" and "latent" forms.

Bleuler's changes to Kraepelin's dementia praecox were accepted by countries such as Switzerland and Britain. However, some countries, such as Germany, did not accept these changes at first. Bleuler's concept of schizophrenia was pushed aside due to its similarities to Kraepelin's dementia praecox. It was only widely accepted after Kraepelin's disease classification did not have direct evidence nor was it directly expressed in his patients.

In 1911, Bleuler wrote, "When the disease process flares up, it is more correct, in my view, to talk in terms of deteriorating attacks, rather than its recurrence. Of course the term recurrence is more comforting to a patient and his relatives than the notion of progressively deteriorating attacks". The eugenic sterilization of persons diagnosed with (and viewed as predisposed to) schizophrenia was advocated by Bleuler. He argued that racial deterioration would result from the propagation of "mental and physical cripples" In his Textbook of Psychiatry, Bleuler states, "The more severely burdened should not propagate themselves...If we do nothing but make mental and physical cripples capable of propagating themselves, and the healthy stocks have to limit the number of their children because so much has to be done for the maintenance of others, if natural selection is generally suppressed, then unless we will get new measures our race must rapidly deteriorate."

In 1917, Bleuler discussed the heredity involved in schizophrenia after psychiatrist Ernst Rudin published his findings. Bleuler agreed with Rudin that having a family member with schizophrenia increases an individual's chance of also having the disease. However, Bleuler found that Rudin's study did not use sufficient sampling methods, threatening the integrity of the study. While researching further, Bleuler made several conclusions that differed from Rudin's. First, that the schizophrenic gene was not a dominant trait. Second, the disease involves a dihybrid, complex gene and does not include a monohybrid gene. Bleuler also said that there may be a polymorphic aspect to schizophrenia, meaning it presents itself in different forms.

Bleuler found that in order for schizophrenia to present itself in patients, several elements must come together. He found that there are a wide variety of symptoms associated with schizophrenia that can lead to a potential diagnosis. Bleuler concluded that several aspects of the disease are not genetically inherited. These tend to be behavioral aspects and positive symptoms, including hallucinations, delusions, and strange ideas.

He believed the disease's central characteristics were the product of splitting between the emotional and the intellectual functions of the personality. He favored early discharge from hospital into a community environment to avoid institutionalization.

Further contributions
Bleuler also explored the concept of moral idiocy, and the relationship between neurosis and alcoholism. He followed Freud's perspective of seeing sexuality as a potent influence upon anxiety, pondered on the origins of the sense of guilt, and studied the process of what he defined as switching (the affective shift from love to hate, for example).

Bleuler was known for his clinical observation and willingness to let symptoms speak for themselves. He was also known for his skillful expository writings. Bleuler has never been credited with healing his patients. Like Sigmund Freud he experimented on patients in his care; many were sterilised and many committed suicide.

Later in his life, Bleuler studied and published works on psychoids. He defined the psychoid as the capacity to respond and adapt to stimuli, creating permanent changes in the brain and shaping future reactions. Bleuler believed the psychoid to be a cause of psychic development. He also proposed that social, mental, and physical aspects of life are not separate from each other but instead are seen as aspects of a sole life principle. These ideas were not particularly popular among the scientific community and did not receive a great deal of attention.

title: Eugen Bleuler


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Ram air turbine

A ram air turbine (RAT) is a small wind turbine that is connected to a hydraulic pump, or electrical generator, installed in an aircraft and used as a power source. The RAT generates power from the airstream by ram pressure due to the speed of the aircraft. It may be called an air driven generator (ADG) on some aircraft.

Operation
Modern aircraft generally use RATs only in an emergency. In case of the loss of both primary and auxiliary power sources the RAT will power vital systems (flight controls, linked hydraulics and also flight-critical instrumentation). Some RATs produce only hydraulic power, which is in turn used to power electrical generators.

In some early aircraft (including airships), small RATs were permanently mounted and operated a small electrical generator or fuel pump. Some constant-speed propellers, such as those of the Argus As 410 engines used in the Focke-Wulf Fw 189, used a propeller turbine on the spinner to power a self-contained pitch governor controlling this constant speed.

Modern aircraft generate power in the main engines or an additional fuel-burning turbine engine called an auxiliary power unit, which is often mounted in the rear of the fuselage or in the main-wheel well. The RAT generates power from the airstream due to the speed of the aircraft. If aircraft speeds are low, the RAT will produce less power. In normal conditions the RAT is retracted into the fuselage (or wing), and is deployed manually or automatically following complete loss of power. In the time between power loss and RAT deployment, batteries are used.

Military use
RATs are common in military aircraft, which must be capable of surviving sudden and complete loss of power.

They also power pod-fitted systems such as the M61A1 Vulcan cannon. Some free-fall nuclear weapons, such as the British Yellow Sun and Red Beard, used RATs to power radar altimeters and firing circuits; these were a more reliable alternative to batteries.

Wing mount
High-powered electronics such as the AN/ALQ-99 jamming system can be self powered by a RAT in standard operation. This allows their installation on a standard hardpoint, without requiring a pod-specific power supply. As many as five AN/ALQ-99 systems with built in ram air turbines can be mounted on a Boeing EA-18G Growler, with two under each wing and one under the fuselage of the aircraft. Each AN/ALQ-99 contains two transmitters, each with its own directional antenna. They are used by the Electronic Attack Squadron 134 (VAQ-134). They are not retracted, staying deployed continuously during flight.

Civilian use
Many modern types of commercial airliners, from the Vickers VC10 of the 1960s, are equipped with RATs. A ram air turbine driving an electrical generator was chosen for the VC10 because of its use of "packaged" hydraulically-powered flying controls, rather than a centralised hydraulic system. The individual package units of the VC10 were each powered electrically and so emergency redundancy for the VC10 relied on quadruple generators and a backup RAT generator at a time when most RATs drove hydraulic pumps. The Airbus A380 has the largest RAT in the world at 1.63 m in diameter, but around 80 cm is more common. A typical large RAT on a commercial aircraft can be capable of producing $5 kW$, depending on the generator. Smaller, low airspeed models may generate as little as 400 watts. RATs have also been used to power centrifugal pumps to pressurize the spray systems on aircraft that are used as crop dusters to deliver liquid agents to cropland. The major reason for choosing a RAT is safety; using a RAT in the United States allows an FAA-certified engine and power systems on the aircraft to remain unmodified. There is no need to use an engine power takeoff to drive the pump, as the pump can be placed low or below the exterior of the airframe, greatly simplifying plumbing. Being the lowest point in the plumbing, it will have gravity feed from the spray tanks and never need to be primed. In the event of a pump failure that could result in seizure, there is no effect on the flying ability of the aircraft or its systems apart from the fact that the spray systems are non-functional.

Civilian incidents involving RAT deployment
The following aviation incidents involved the deployment of a ram air turbine:
 * 1974: British Airways Flight 910
 * 1983: Air Canada Flight 143, also known as the Gimli Glider incident
 * 1996: The hijacking of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961
 * 2000: Hapag-Lloyd Flight 3378
 * 2001: Air Transat Flight 236, also known as the Azores Glider incident
 * 2004: Pinnacle Airlines Flight 3701
 * 2009: US Airways Flight 1549
 * 2010: Cathay Pacific Flight 780
 * 2016: Air Canada Flight 361
 * 2018: SmartLynx Estonia Flight 9001
 * 2020: Pakistan International Airlines Flight 8303
 * 2022: LATAM Paraguay Flight 1325
 * 2024: Virgin Atlantic Flight 105

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

title: Ram air turbine


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User:Vanessa (usurped)

A student from Sydney, Australia.

I've contributed to a few pages, icluding
 * Isis
 * Mystery religion
 * Apuleius
 * life-death-rebirth deity
 * La Belle Dame sans Merci: A Ballad

title: User:Vanessa (usurped)


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Talk:Social constructionism

Questioning The Redirect to this page. 'social construct' --> constructivism or constructionism?
constructionism because it is an action not just the abstract ideology Why should the term0 "social construct" redirect here rather than, say, Social constructivism? FatalSubjectivities (talk) 12:08, 18 November 2022 (UTC)

 * And the page social constructs. FatalSubjectivities (talk) 01:28, 2 December 2022 (UTC)
 * Might be possible to create a WP:DABPAGE instead of a redirect. Mathglot (talk) 19:17, 8 February 2023 (UTC)
 * noted FatalSubjectivities (talk) 19:19, 8 February 2023 (UTC)
 * social constructivism is a theory by Jean Piaget about how we learn; not about the nature of reality and how we come to know it, which is social constructionism. althought this distinction is difficult to determine because most people conflate the terms, which is evidence of the state of the academy. So a social construct is an item we know through engaing as a society with the phenomenon as such it ought to re-direct here. *a cis woman growing a philosopher's beard MichelleGDyason 08:29, 21 August 2023 (UTC)
 * Disambiguation is for getting a user to the right place. Conflation and confusion are both supporting arguments for creating a DAB page, and maybe it's time to do that, now. Mathglot (talk) 08:33, 21 August 2023 (UTC)

James Heartfield
Is this really the best source available for the opening paragraph? Heartfield is an obscure figure in academia associated with the rather cranky RCP/spiked online set. 2A00:23C6:8A17:4201:68C0:6CAB:FD1D:7B6B (talk) 05:32, 11 August 2023 (UTC)

the intro paragraph
"In the fields of sociology, social ontology, and communication theory, social constructionism is a framework that proposes that certain ideas about physical reality arise from collaborative consensus, instead of the pure observation of said physical reality". Framework is a vague metaphor used here to define the doctrine or theory of social constructionism. It should be replaced with either theory or doctrine. Further, does sociology even study notions of ontology? maybe the ontology of society, but not the nature of reality. Is social ontology within sociology or philosophy? i don't know a lot about sociology, but i'd like to, so this claim that social constructionism is a framework used in sociology needs to be cited so i could learn about it, likewise communication theory.

"The theory of social constructionism proposes that people collectively develop the meanings (denotations and connotations) of social constructs". Firstly, denotations and connotations ought to be linked to their definitions, which i think you'll find within semiology, not social constructionism. Secondly, there is discussion in philosophy of who is doing the constructing: an impersonal society or particular persons. So in the quoted sentence, the discussion is solved without reference to the discussion so misleading about the absolute nature of the doctrine. Further, after that quoted sentence, a definition of what a social construct is ought to be given not what is given which i quote next below.

"Social constructionism has been characterised as a neo-Marxian theory and as a neo-Kantian theory, proposing that social constructionism replaces the transcendental subject with a societal concept that is descriptive and normative." Within this sentence is a contradiction. It states social constructionism is a theory, not the above-mentioned framework. Also, Marx and Kant are philosophers, not sociologists, which suggests that the topic is a philosophical topic first, or at least ought to be included as something philosophy discusses.

that's all i have time for presently *a cis woman growing a philosopher's beard MichelleGDyason 09:08, 21 August 2023 (UTC)

 * I would like to respond first that social constructionism is, in fact, better understood as a "framework" than either a "theory" or a "doctrine", and should also be easily referenced as a "framework". (In my own view, "theory" implies a placement of social constructionism on one side of the "falsifiable/non-falsifiable" boundary, and "doctrine" implies placement on the other side, but neither placement should be made based on the extant sourcing, especially not in wikivoice).
 * Also, in a disciplinary sense Sociology includes the speech community within social theory that is the primary site where social ontology is written about, which I hope answers that other question raised in the first paragraph.
 * To the second paragraph, I'm not sure how a definition of what a social construct is can be given in any straightforward way, since for one thing social constructionists seldom agree with their critics about what a social construct is and how such constructs can be identified and understood. On the other hand, the "has been characterized as" statements the third paragraph points to are more viable, in relation to this literature, than declarative statements in wikivoice are likely to be. At least that is my impression... Newimpartial (talk) 01:17, 22 August 2023 (UTC)
 * social constructivism is an act (actions)not a theory 82.217.10.58 (talk) 18:28, 10 March 2024 (UTC)

The lead and the Criticism section
...seem to be talking about two very different things. Would Alan Sokal and Paul Boghossian really argue that money is not a social construct? Of course not. So clearly the idea of social construction is a valid one. The actual, intellectually serious debates are rather about where one draws the line between socially constructed realities and those studied by the "hard sciences". It's therefore unfortunate to see people like Sokal and Boghossian using the term "social constructionism" to refer only to the most extreme positions of those few who would deny the validity of hard science entirely. I'm sure there are some secondary source out there that make this clear, and when I have time to hunt them down I will be conducting a rather thorough overhaul of the article. If anyone has else has knowledge of this literature and would like to help, I would welcome collaboration! Generalrelative (talk) 18:01, 16 October 2023 (UTC)

 * Not sure I have deep knowledge of the topic. I'd just point at medical diagnosis as quite an interesting area since you have constructs that move in and out of socially constructed and biomedical over time due to culturally change and more scientific evidence (e.g. gulf war syndrome, chronic fatigue syndrome etc). Tal pedia 13:27, 17 October 2023 (UTC)
 * Yup, there is really so much to say about this topic (and the related topic of Conventionalism, which is another article that is in a sorry state). It is, for instance, one of the central issues that occupied Einstein his entire life. Suffice it to say, the relationship between socially constructed conventions and objective reality is a far, far more intellectually serious question than one might suspect looking at the present state of the article. Generalrelative (talk) 17:44, 17 October 2023 (UTC)
 * Interesting stuff. Do you think some web building might be a good starting point - as it's quite easy to to do, lets readers explore the full topic, and lays the ground work for other editors to see the connections and add material. I did this sort of stuff on questions of self (Template:Self_sidebar) Tal pedia 18:00, 17 October 2023 (UTC)
 * Hmm, I'll look into it. Meanwhile, I see that the SEP has a completely adequate article on the topic: "Naturalistic Approaches to Social Construction". That's just the kind of WP:TERTIARY source we should be referencing when determining what is DUE here. Generalrelative (talk) 05:23, 18 October 2023 (UTC)
 * Seems like a good addition :thumbsup: Tal pedia 09:04, 18 October 2023 (UTC)
 * Rather than attacking this article head-on (which I may yet do at a later date), I went ahead an BOLDly created a stub on the less controversial topic Social construct. Generalrelative (talk) 21:18, 25 October 2023 (UTC)
 * Interesting. I guess the Social construct can be quite "interdisciplinary". One thing I'm sort of aware of is that few things are actually "social constructs" it feels more like... everything is constrained physically and socially (sometimes over constrained) and then people pick the theory and the "ontology" that best balances these various constraints... so in a sense I don't think there *are* pure social constructs. Tal pedia 10:16, 26 October 2023 (UTC)
 * I would suggest checking out Searle's book. It's about as middle-of-the-road mainstream as one can get and it deals squarely with what you're thinking about. Or if you're unconvinced that even my "simple" examples are in fact social constructs, see the first 10 pages of Elder-Vass's book. Cheers, Generalrelative (talk) 14:41, 26 October 2023 (UTC)
 * Will have a look. I guess my take is that *everything* is a social construct and there are no natural kinds Tal pedia 15:03, 26 October 2023 (UTC)
 * Yeah, look at Searle. Rereading for this has reminded me why he was the dominant voice of his generation in American philosophy. Doesn't mean I always agree either, but he's a masterful writer. Generalrelative (talk) 15:10, 26 October 2023 (UTC)

political struggles
how to make social constructivism visible for all entities involved and how can we make all entities feel like they belong to a bigger group and make them feel seen and heard and felt. and show the actions 82.217.10.58 (talk) 18:26, 10 March 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Social constructionism


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Wedding breakfast

A wedding breakfast is a feast given to the newlyweds and guests after the wedding, making it equivalent to a wedding reception that serves a meal. The phrase is still used in British English.

Nowadays the wedding breakfast is not normally a morning meal, nor does it look like a typical breakfast, so its name can be confusing.

Origin of the name

The name is claimed to have arisen from the fact that in pre-Reformation times, the wedding service was usually a Eucharistic Mass and that the newlyweds would therefore have been fasting before the wedding in order to be eligible to receive the sacrament of Holy Communion. After the wedding ceremony was complete, the priest would bless and distribute some wine, cakes, and sweetmeats, which were then handed round to the company, including the newlyweds. This distribution of food and drink was therefore a literal "break fast" for the newly married couple, though others in attendance would not necessarily take Communion and therefore would not necessarily have been fasting. Since usage of the phrase cannot be shown to date back earlier than the first half of the 19th century however, a pre-16th-century origin seems unlikely.

The Oxford English Dictionary does not record any occurrences of the phrase "wedding breakfast" before 1850, but it was used at least as far back as 1838.

The author of Party-giving on Every Scale (London, 1880) suggests the phrase may have evolved fifty years earlier:

"The orthodox "Wedding Breakfast" might more properly be termed a "Wedding Luncheon," as it assumes the character of that meal to a great extent; in any case it bears little relation to the breakfast of that day, although the title of breakfast is still applied to it, out of compliment to tradition. As recently as fifty years ago luncheon was not a recognised meal, even in the wealthiest families, and the marriage feast was modernised into the wedding breakfast, which appellation this entertainment still bears."

- Unknown

Current use
The Compact Oxford Dictionary lists the phrase as only "British", and the Merriam-Webster online dictionary does not list it at all.

The custom of the wedding breakfast is occasionally spotted in non-English-speaking countries that market themselves as wedding destinations, e.g. Poland.

title: Wedding breakfast


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Viceroy of Norway

The Viceroy of Norway (Constitutional Danish: Vice-Konge) was the appointed head of the Norwegian Government in the absence of the King, during the era of the Union between Sweden and Norway. The role was essentially the same as that of the Governor-general, which has led to confusion as to who filled which office. Decisive, however, is that the title of Viceroy could only be held by the crown prince, or his oldest son, when he had come of age. Commoners with a similar mandate were merely styled Statholder (Governor-general).

History
On 9 November 1814 the King appointed Crown Prince Carl Johan to the office, but it was vacated eight days later. Crown Prince Carl was the longest-serving Viceroy, sitting for about a year. The office was vacant most of the time, and it was ultimately abolished on 30 June 1891.

During the Kalmar Union, Christian II was viceroy from 1506 to 1513.

title: Viceroy of Norway


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Nuu-chah-nulth

The Nuu-chah-nulth (Nuučaan̓uł: ), also formerly referred to as the Nootka, Nutka, Aht, Nuuchahnulth or Tahkaht, are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast in Canada. The term Nuu-chah-nulth is used to describe fifteen related tribes whose traditional home is on the west coast of Vancouver Island.

In precontact and early post-contact times, the number of tribes was much greater, but the smallpox epidemics and other consequences of contact with Europeans resulted in the disappearance of some groups and the absorption of others into neighbouring groups. The Nuu-chah-nulth are related to the Kwakwaka'wakw, the Haisla, and the Ditidaht First Nation. The Nuu-chah-nulth language belongs to the Wakashan family.

The governing body is the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council.

Contact with Europeans
When James Cook first encountered the villagers at Yuquot in 1778, they directed him to "come around" (Nuu-chah-nulth nuutkaa is "to circle around") with his ship to the harbour. Cook interpreted this as the First Nation's name for the inlet, now called Nootka Sound. The term was also applied to the indigenous inhabitants of the area.

The Nuu-chah-nulth were among the first Pacific peoples north of California to encounter Europeans, who sailed into their area for trade, particularly the Maritime fur trade. Tensions flared up between Spain and Great Britain over control of Nootka Sound, which led to a bitter international dispute around 1790 known as the Nootka Crisis. It was settled under the Nootka Convention, in which Spain agreed to abandon its exclusive claims to the North Pacific coast. Negotiations to settle the dispute were handled under the aegis and hospitality of Maquinna, a powerful chief of the Mowachaht Nuu-chah-nulth.

A few years later, Maquinna and his warriors captured the American trading ship Boston in March 1803. He and his men killed the captain and all the crew but two, whom they kept as slaves. After gaining release, John R. Jewitt wrote a classic captivity narrative about his nearly 3 years with the Nuu-chah-nulth and his reluctant assimilation to their society. This 1815 book is titled Narrative of the Adventures and Sufferings of John R. Jewitt;, Only Survivor of the Crew of the Ship Boston, during a Captivity of Nearly Three Years among the Savages of Nootka Sound: With an Account of the Manners, Mode of Living, and Religious Opinions of the Natives. In the end, Jewitt escaped with the help of Wickaninnish, a chief from an opposing group.

In 1811 the trading ship Tonquin was blown up in Clayoquot Sound. Tla-o-qui-aht warriors had attacked the ship in revenge for an insult by the ship's captain. The captain and almost all the crew were killed and the ship abandoned. The next day warriors reboarded the empty ship to salvage it. However, a hiding crew member set fire to the ship's magazine and the resulting explosion killed many First Nation peoples. Only one crew member, a pilot / interpreter hired from the nearby Quinault nation, escaped to tell the tale.

From earliest contact with European and American explorers up until 1830, more than 90% of the Nuu-chah-nulth died as a result of infectious disease epidemics, particularly malaria and smallpox. Europeans and Americans were immune to these endemic diseases but the First Nations had no immunity to them (see Native American disease and epidemics). The high rate of deaths added to the social disruption and cultural turmoil resulting from contact with Westerners. In the early 20th century, the population was estimated at 3,500.

20th century
In 1979, the tribes of western Vancouver Island chose the term Nuu-chah-nulth (nuučaan̓uł, meaning "all along the mountains and sea"), as a collective term of identification. This was the culmination of the 1958 alliance forged among these tribes in order to present a unified political voice to the levels of government and European-Canadian society. In 1985, the Government of British Columbia signed an agreement to delegate authority for the delivery of Child Welfare Services to the Nuu-Chah-Nulth, making the Nuu-Chah-Nulth the first delegated aboriginal agency in British Columbia. The Makah of northwest Washington, located on the Olympic Peninsula in their own reservation, are also Nuu-chah-nulth.

Research
In the 1980s scientists from outside the community recruited Nuu-chah-nulth people as research participants in genetic studies. Those studies used participant blood and other material for purposes which the community did not approve. In 2013 the community had those materials destroyed.

Bands

In the 20th century, recognised Nuu-chah-nulth band governments are:
 * 1) Ahousaht First Nation: (population over 2,000) formed from the merger of the Ahousaht and Kelthsmaht, Manhousaht, Qwatswiaht and Bear River bands in 1951;
 * 2) Ehattesaht First Nation; (population 294)
 * 3) Hesquiaht First Nation; (population 653)
 * 4) Kyuquot/Cheklesahht First Nation; (population 486)
 * 5) Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nations: (population 520) formerly the Nootka band;
 * 6) Nuchatlaht First Nation; (population 165)
 * 7) Huu-ay-aht First Nation: (formerly Ohiaht); (population 598)
 * 8) Hupacasath First Nation (formerly Opetchesaht); (256)
 * 9) Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations: (formerly Clayoquot); (population 881)
 * 10) Toquaht First Nation; (population 117)
 * 11) Tseshaht First Nation; (population 1002)
 * 12) Uchucklesaht First Nation; (population 181)
 * 13) Yuułuʔiłʔatḥ (Ucluelet First Nation); (population 606)

Total population for the 13 tribes in the Nuuchahnulth nation is 8,147, according to the Nuuchahnulth Tribal Council Indian Registry of February 2006.

The Ditidaht First Nation (population 690), while politically and culturally affiliated with the Nuu-chah-nulth, are independently referred to. In addition, the Pacheedaht First Nation are not politically affiliated with the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council.

Whaling
The Nuu-chah-nulth were one of the few Indigenous peoples on the Pacific Coast who hunted whales. Whaling is essential to Nuu-chah-nulth culture and spirituality. It is reflected in stories, songs, names, family lines, and numerous place names throughout their territories.

Carbon dating shows that the Nuu-chah-nulth peoples hunted whales over 4000 years ago for both blubber and meat. The Nuu-chah-nulth peoples hunted whales of different species due to the range of territory that they reside in and the migration pattern of the whales. Those most often caught would be either grey or humpback whales due to their more docile nature and how close they would come to the shore.

There is evidence that occasionally members of the Nuu-chah-nulth nations would hunt an orca despite the danger and difficulty as a way of showing bravery. Although it was a hazardous undertaking, those that ate “killer whale” regarded both its meat and blubber to be of higher quality than that of the larger whales.

While whaling provided the Nuu-chah-nulth nations with an important source of food and blubber - which could be rendered into oil - it also played an important role in social life as well. The chief would lead a whale hunting party that was made up of other prominent members of the community. The traditional whaling practices of the fourteen different Nuu-chah-nulth nations vary as each community has their own distinct traditions, ceremonies, and rituals. Some simplified examples of Nuu-chah-nulth whaling traditions include ceremonial bathing, abstinence, prayer, and ceremony which were to be performed before and after the hunt. These rituals were performed by the chief leading the hunt as well as his wife; the ceremonies were seen as a key factor in determining the outcome of the hunt. Social status didn't just affect who was allowed to join the whaling hunt, it also affected the distribution of the whales’ meat and the blubber.

Perhaps the most famous Nuu-chah-nulth artifact in modern years is the Yuquot Whalers' Shrine, a ritual house-like structure used in the spiritual preparations for whale hunts. Composed of a series of memorial posts depicting spirit figures and the bones of whaling ancestors, it is stored at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, having been taken there by European Americans. It was the subject of the film The Washing of Tears, directed by Hugh Brody. It recounts the rediscovery of the bones and other artifacts at the museum and the efforts by the Mowachaht First Nation, the shrine's original owners, who have been seeking to regain these sacred artifacts.

Food
While the Nuu-chah-nulth nations did rely on whaling as an important food and oil resource, the territories they lived had many other food sources.

The Nuu-chah-nulth peoples gathered food from marine environments including fish species such as halibut, herring, rockfish, and salmon which were caught along the coast while along the shoreline other sea inhabitant like clams, sea urchins, and mussels were harvested at low tide. Salmon streams were tended to ensure their continued strength and the fish were either cooked in large wooden vessels using water and hot stones or dried to be consumed during the winter.

Nuu-chah-nulth nations also gathered resources from the land as food sources. Some of these edible plants include camas root, rhizomes from ferns and many different variety of berries such as blueberry and huckleberry to name a few examples. Some of the Nuu-chah-nulth nations also tended the growth of camas root and Crabapple trees in order to maintain them as a source of food.

Within Nuu-chah-nulth nations individuals passed down their extensive knowledge of when and where to find these marine and land based foods through the generations from elders to youth. This is done both through comprehensive oral histories and through actively teaching children these important skills and having them participate in the collection of resources at a young age.

In an effort to revive traditional diets, the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council and sixteen tribes have contributed to recipes in a traditional wild food cookbook. The 90-page cookbook focuses on traditional recipes and seasonal ingredients from the west coast of Vancouver Island and Northern Washington. It explores First Nations cuisine and adds cooking tips, cultural observations, and oral history anecdotes. Čamus (chum-us) features traditional and wild ingredients.

Čamus explores the art of how to butterfly a salmon and how to can fish, also providing recipes for marinated seaweed, steam pit cooking, and Nuu-chah-nulth upskwee. Čamus illuminates a traditional way of eating while promoting a healthy lifestyle. The First Nations of Vancouver Island's west coast and northern Washington link family and community in their respectful treatment of their territories' freshest ingredients.

Cedar tree use
Nuu-chah-nulth nations also used the wood and bark of red and yellow cedar trees as both a building material and to produce many different objects. Artists and wood workers within a nation would carve full logs into totem poles and ocean going canoes, and the bark would be torn into strips and softened in water until malleable enough to be woven into baskets, clothing, and ceremonial regalia.

Social hierarchy
Due to the abundance of resources throughout the territories of the Nuu-chah-nulth nations, social life became more structured and a visible hierarchy formed within the communities. These consisted of the commoner class, and the chiefs that controlled the region. While members of the commoner class had autonomy they still required the consent of the chief to fish, hunt, and forage within the communities’ territory.

While being in control of ceremonial and territorial rights, chiefs were also responsible for the redistribution of wealth within their communities. This redistribution of wealth was a key societal factor for the Nuu-chah-nulth nations. A chief's status is realized and maintained by their ability to provide for the members of their nation. By dictating the use of resources, chiefs could maintain social structure, and ensure the continued viability and strength of those resources.

Potlatch
The Nuu-chah-nulth and other Pacific Northwest cultures are famous for their potlatch ceremonies, in which the host honours guests with generous gifts. The term 'potlatch' is ultimately a word of Nuu-chah-nulth origin. The purpose of the potlatch is manifold: redistribution of wealth, maintenance and recognition of social status, cementing alliances, the celebration and solemnization of marriage, and commemoration of important events.

Notable people

 * George Clutesi, artist, actor, writer
 * Samuel Haiyupis, carver

title: Nuu-chah-nulth


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Talk:Bridegroom/old version

The edit history of this page contains an old version of the Bridegroom article.

title: Talk:Bridegroom/old version


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Chloral hydrate

Chloral hydrate is a geminal diol with the formula Cl3C\sCH(OH)2. It was first used as a sedative and hypnotic in Germany in the 1870s. Over time it was replaced by safer and more effective alternatives but it remained in usage in the United States until at least the 1970s. It sometimes finds usage as a laboratory chemical reagent and precursor. It is derived from chloral (trichloroacetaldehyde) by the addition of one equivalent of water.

Hypnotic
Chloral hydrate has not been approved by the FDA in the United States nor the EMA in the European Union for any medical indication and is on the FDA list of unapproved drugs that are still prescribed by clinicians. Usage of the drug as a sedative or hypnotic may carry some risk given the lack of clinical trials. However, chloral hydrate products, licensed for short-term management of severe insomnia, are available in the United Kingdom. Chloral hydrate was voluntarily removed from the market by all manufacturers in the United States in 2012. Prior to that, chloral hydrate may have been sold as a "legacy" or "grandfathered" drug;" that is, a drug that existed prior to the time certain FDA regulations took effect and therefore, some pharmaceutical companies have argued, has never required FDA approval. New drugs did not have to be approved for safety until Congress passed the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (the "FD&C Act") in 1938. Further, a new drug did not have to be proven effective until 1962, when Congress amended the Act. Manufacturers contend that such "legacy drugs", by virtue of the fact that they have been prescribed for decades, have gained a history of safety and efficacy.

Chloral hydrate was used for the short-term treatment of insomnia and as a sedative before minor medical or dental treatment. It was largely displaced in the mid-20th century by barbiturates and subsequently by benzodiazepines. It was also formerly used in veterinary medicine as a general anesthetic but is not considered acceptable for anesthesia or euthanasia of small animals due to adverse effects. It is also still used as a sedative prior to EEG procedures, as it is one of the few available sedatives that does not suppress epileptiform discharges.

In therapeutic doses for insomnia, chloral hydrate is effective within 20 to 60 minutes. In humans it is metabolized within 7 hours into trichloroethanol and trichloroethanol glucuronide by erythrocytes and plasma esterases and into trichloroacetic acid in 4 to 5 days. It has a very narrow therapeutic window making this drug difficult to use. Higher doses can depress respiration and blood pressure. Tolerance to the drug develops after a few days of use.

In organic synthesis
Chloral hydrate is a starting point for the synthesis of other organic compounds. It is the starting material for the production of chloral, which is produced by the distillation of a mixture of chloral hydrate and sulfuric acid, which serves as the desiccant.

Notably, it is used to synthesize isatin. In this synthesis, chloral hydrate reacts with aniline and hydroxylamine to give a condensation product which cyclicizes in sulfuric acid to give the target compound:

 * Synthesis of isatin.svg

Moreover, chloral hydrate is used as a reagent for the deprotection of acetals, dithioacetals and tetrahydropyranyl ethers in organic solvents.

The compound can be crystallized in a variety of polymorphs.

Hoyer's mounting medium
Chloral hydrate is also an ingredient used for Hoyer's solution, a mounting medium for microscopic observation of diverse plant types such as bryophytes, ferns, seeds, and small arthropods (especially mites). Other ingredients may include gum arabic and glycerol. An advantage of this medium includes a high refractive index and clearing (macerating) properties of small specimens (especially advantageous if specimens require observation with differential interference contrast microscopy).

Because of its status as a regulated substance, chloral hydrate can be difficult to obtain. This has led to chloral hydrate being replaced by alternative reagents in microscopy procedures.

Melzer's reagent
Chloral hydrate is an ingredient used to make Melzer's reagent, an aqueous solution that is used to identify certain species of fungi. The other ingredients are potassium iodide, and iodine. Whether tissue or spores react to this reagent is vital for the correct identification of some mushrooms.

Safety
Chloral hydrate was routinely administered in gram quantities. Prolonged exposure to its vapors is unhealthy, with an LD50 for 4-hour exposure of 440 mg/m3. Long-term use of chloral hydrate is associated with a rapid development of tolerance to its effects and possible addiction as well as adverse effects including rashes, gastric discomfort and severe kidney, heart, and liver failure.

Acute overdosage is often characterized by nausea, vomiting, confusion, convulsions, slow and irregular breathing, cardiac arrhythmia, and coma. The plasma, serum or blood concentrations of chloral hydrate and/or trichloroethanol, its major active metabolite, may be measured to confirm a diagnosis of poisoning in hospitalized patients or to aid in the forensic investigation of fatalities. Accidental overdosage of young children undergoing simple dental or surgical procedures has occurred. Hemodialysis has been used successfully to accelerate clearance of the drug in poisoning victims. It is listed as having a "conditional risk" of causing torsades de pointes.

Production
Chloral hydrate is produced from chlorine and ethanol in acidic solution.
 * 4 Cl2 + CH3CH2OH + H2O → Cl3C\sCH(OH)2 + 5 HCl

In basic conditions the haloform reaction takes place and chloral hydrate is decomposed by hydrolysis to form chloroform.

Pharmacodynamics
Chloral hydrate is metabolized in vivo to trichloroethanol, which is responsible for secondary physiological and psychological effects. The metabolite of chloral hydrate exerts its pharmacological properties via enhancing the GABA receptor complex and therefore is similar in action to benzodiazepines, nonbenzodiazepines and barbiturates. It can be moderately addictive, as chronic use is known to cause dependency and withdrawal symptoms. The chemical can potentiate various anticoagulants and is weakly mutagenic in vitro and in vivo.

Chloral hydrate is structurally and somewhat pharmacodynamically similar to ethchlorvynol, a pharmaceutical developed during the 1950s that was marketed as both a sedative and a hypnotic under the trade name Placidyl. In 1999, Abbott, the sole manufacturer of the drug in the United States at the time, decided to discontinue the product. After Abbott ceased production, the drug remained available for about a year. Despite the fact that it could have been manufactured generically, no other company in the United States chose to do so.

Legal status
In the United States, chloral hydrate is a schedule IV controlled substance and requires a physician's prescription. Its properties have sometimes led to its use as a date rape drug. The phrase, "slipping a mickey," originally referred specifically to adding chloral hydrate to a person's (alcoholic) drink without the person's knowledge.

History
Chloral hydrate was first synthesized by the chemist Justus von Liebig in 1832 at the University of Giessen. Liebig discovered the molecule when a chlorination (halogenation) reaction was performed on ethanol. Its sedative properties were observed by Rudolf Buchheim in 1861, but described in detail and published only in 1869 by Oscar Liebreich; subsequently, because of its easy synthesis, its use became widespread. Through experimentation, physiologist Claude Bernard clarified that the chloral hydrate was hypnotic as opposed to an analgesic. It was the first of a long line of sedatives, most notably the barbiturates, manufactured and marketed by the German pharmaceutical industry. Historically, chloral hydrate was utilized primarily as a psychiatric medication. In 1869, German physician and pharmacologist Oscar Liebreich began to promote its use to calm anxiety, especially when it caused insomnia. Chloral hydrate had certain advantages over morphine for this application, as it worked quickly without injection and had a consistent strength.

The compound achieved wide use in both asylums and the homes of those socially refined enough to avoid asylums. Upper- and middle-class women, well-represented in the latter category, were particularly susceptible to chloral hydrate addiction. After the 1904 invention of barbital, the first of the barbiturate family, chloral hydrate began to disappear from use among those with means. It remained common in asylums and hospitals until the Second World War as it was quite cheap. Chloral hydrate had some other important advantages that kept it in use for five decades despite the existence of more advanced barbiturates. It was the safest available sedative until the middle of the twentieth century, and thus was particularly favored for children. It also left patients much more refreshed after a deep sleep than more recently invented sedatives. Its frequency of use made it an early and regular feature in The Merck Manual.

Chloral hydrate was also a significant object of study in various early pharmacological experiments. In 1875, Claude Bernard tried to determine if chloral hydrate exerted its action through a metabolic conversion to chloroform. This was not only the first attempt to determine whether different drugs were converted to the same metabolite in the body but also the first to measure the concentration of a particular pharmaceutical in the blood. The results were inconclusive. In 1899 and 1901 Hans Horst Meyer and Ernest Overton respectively made the major discovery that the general anaesthetic action of a drug was strongly correlated to its lipid solubility. However, chloral hydrate was quite polar but nonetheless a potent hypnotic. Overton was unable to explain this mystery. Thus, chloral hydrate remained one of the major and persistent exceptions to this breakthrough discovery in pharmacology. This anomaly was eventually resolved in 1948, when Claude Bernard's experiment was repeated. While chloral hydrate was converted to a different metabolite than chloroform, it was found that it was converted into the more lipophilic molecule 2,2,2-trichloroethanol. This metabolite fit much better with the Meyer–Overton correlation than chloral had. Prior to this, it had not been demonstrated that general anesthetics could undergo chemical changes to exert their action in the body.

Chloral hydrate was the first hypnotic to be used intravenously as a general anesthetic. In 1871, Pierre-Cyprien Oré began experiments on animals, followed by humans. While a state of general anesthesia could be achieved, the technique never caught on because its administration was more complex and less safe than the oral administration of chloral hydrate, and less safe for intravenous use than later general anesthetics were found to be.

Society and culture
Chloral hydrate was used as one of the earliest synthetic drugs to treat insomnia. In 1912, Bayer introduced the drug phenobarbital under the brand name Luminal. In the 1930s, pentobarbital and secobarbital (better known by their original brand names Nembutal and Seconal, respectively) were synthesized. Chloral hydrate was still prescribed, although its predominance as a sedative and a hypnotic was largely eclipsed by barbiturates.

Chloral hydrate is soluble in both water and ethanol, readily forming concentrated solutions. A solution of chloral hydrate in ethanol called "knockout drops" was used to prepare a Mickey Finn.

In 1897, Bram Stoker's epistolary novel Dracula, one of its characters, Doctor John Seward, recorded his use and his molecular formula in his phonographic diary:

"I cannot but think of Lucy, and how different things might have been. If I don't sleep at once, chloral, the modern Morpheus — C2HCl3O*H2O! I should be careful not to let it grow into a habit. No I shall take none to-night! I have thought of Lucy, and I shall not dishonor her by mixing the two."

In the conclusion of Edith Wharton's 1905 novel The House of Mirth, Lily Bart, the novel's heroine, becomes addicted to chloral hydrate and overdoses on the substance: "She put out her hand and measured the soothing drops into a glass; but as she did so, she knew they would be powerless against the supernatural lucidity of her brain. She had long since raised the dose to its highest limit, but to-night she felt she must increase it. She knew she took a slight risk in doing so; she remembered the chemist's warning. If sleep came at all, it might be a sleep without waking."

Notable users

 * King Chulalongkorn of Thailand (1853–1910) used the drug for a period after 1893 to relieve what may have been a mix of depression and unspecified illnesses. He was reported by his doctor to have been taking one bottle per day during July 1894 although this was reduced after this time.
 * Montgomery Clift (1920–1966), American actor.
 * André Gide (1869–1951) was given chloral hydrate as a boy for sleep problems by a physician named Lizart. Gide states in his autobiography If It Die... that "all my later weaknesses of will or memory I attribute to him."
 * William James (1842–1910), psychologist and philosopher, used the drug for insomnia and sedation due to chronic neurosis.
 * The Jonestown mass murder-suicides in 1978 involved the communal drinking of Flavor Aid poisoned with diazepam, chloral hydrate, cyanide, and promethazine.
 * Mary Todd Lincoln (1818–1882), wife of American president Abraham Lincoln, became addicted in the years after her husband's death and was committed to an asylum.
 * Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962) died from an overdose of chloral hydrate and pentobarbital (Nembutal).
 * Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) regularly used chloral hydrate in the years leading up to his nervous breakdown, according to Lou Salome and other associates. Whether the drug contributed to his insanity is a point of controversy.
 * Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828–1882) became addicted to chloral, with whisky chasers, after the death of his wife Elizabeth Siddal from a laudanum overdose in 1862. He had a mental breakdown in 1872. He lived out the last ten years of his life addicted to chloral and alcohol, in part to mask the pain of botched surgery to an enlarged testicle in 1877.
 * Oliver Sacks (1933–2015) abused chloral hydrate in 1965 as a depressed insomniac. He found himself taking fifteen times the usual dose of chloral hydrate every night before he eventually ran out, causing violent withdrawal symptoms.
 * Anna Nicole Smith (1967–2007) died of "combined drug intoxication" with chloral hydrate as the "major component".
 * John Tyndall (1820–1893), an Irish physicist, died of an accidental overdose of chloral administered by his wife.
 * Evelyn Waugh (1903–1966), insomniac for much of his adult life, for which "in later life ... he became so deleteriously dependent on chloral". Waugh's novel, The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold, is largely a fictionalised account of an episode Waugh himself experienced as a result of excessive use of chloral in combination with bromide and alcohol. Waugh's friend and biographer Christopher Sykes observed that Waugh's description of D. G. Rossetti's demise under the effects of excessive use of chloral in his 1928 biography of the artist "is a fairly exact description of how [Waugh's own] life ended in 1966".
 * Hank Williams (1923–1953) died from a combination of chloral hydrate, morphine and whiskey.
 * Renée Vivien (1877-1909), a prominent lesbian poet during the Belle Époque, abused chloral hydrate for much of her life.

Environmental
It is, together with chloroform, a minor side-product of the chlorination of water when organic residues such as humic acids are present. It has been detected in drinking water at concentrations of up to 100 micrograms per litre (μg/L) but concentrations are normally found to be below 10 μg/L. Levels are generally found to be higher in surface water than in ground water.

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Portia de Rossi

Portia Lee James DeGeneres (born Amanda Lee Rogers; 31 January 1973), known professionally as Portia de Rossi, is an Australian-American retired actress. She played Nelle Porter on the American drama series Ally McBeal (1998–2002), for which she won a Screen Actors Guild Award; Lindsay Bluth Fünke on the American television sitcom Arrested Development (2003–2006, 2013, 2018–2019), and Elizabeth North on the American political thriller series Scandal (2014–2017). She is the founder and CEO of the art company General Public.

She also portrayed Olivia Lord on the American television drama series Nip/Tuck (2007–2009) and Veronica Palmer on the American television sitcom Better Off Ted (2009–2010). De Rossi is married to comedian, actress, and television host Ellen DeGeneres.

Early life
Portia de Rossi was born Amanda Lee Rogers in Horsham, Victoria, Australia, the daughter of Margaret, a medical receptionist, and Barry Rogers. Her father died when she was nine years old. She grew up in Grovedale, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria, and modelled for print and some TV commercials as a child. In 1988, at age 15, she adopted the name Portia de Rossi. In 2005, she said that she had done so to reinvent herself, using the given name of Portia, a character from William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, and an Italian last name. She was educated at Geelong Grammar School, Melbourne Girls Grammar and the University of Melbourne, where she studied law.

Career
De Rossi's first significant role was as a young and impressionable maid in the Australian 1994 film Sirens. Soon afterward, she moved to Los Angeles and won guest roles on several TV shows and a permanent role in Nick Freno: Licensed Teacher, before landing a part in the film Scream 2. During her time in the United States, de Rossi worked to drop her Australian accent.

De Rossi garnered international attention when she joined the main cast of Ally McBeal in 1998, playing lawyer Nelle Porter. She remained with the show until its end in 2002. In 2001, she starred in Who Is Cletis Tout? alongside Christian Slater. From 2003 to 2006, de Rossi starred as Lindsay Bluth Fünke on Fox Television's Arrested Development. She next portrayed John F. Kennedy, Jr.'s wife, Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, in the made-for-TV movie America's Prince: The John F. Kennedy Jr. Story in 2003. That same year, she portrayed an Australian reporter who inspires a protest against Frank Sinatra during a concert tour in The Night We Called It a Day.

In 2005 de Rossi portrayed Zela, a fortune-teller, in the Wes Craven thriller Cursed. From 2007 to 2008, de Rossi appeared in Nip/Tuck's fifth season as Julia McNamara's girlfriend, Olivia Lord.

In 2009 and 2010, de Rossi played the high-strung and controlling Veronica Palmer on the ABC show Better Off Ted. In 2011, she appeared in Better Off Ted cast member Malcolm Barrett's music video for "Revenge of the Nerds", spoofing her character in a cameo alongside other cast members of the series.

She ranked 69th in Stuff Magazine's 100 Sexiest Women, 31 in Femme Fatales' Sexiest Women of 2003 list, and 24 in Maxim's 100 Sexiest Women List in 2004; in late 2006, the magazine Blender listed her as one of the hottest women of film and TV. In May 2007, she was featured as one of 100 Most Beautiful in a People special edition. TV Guide included her and Ellen DeGeneres in their Power A-List couples in 2007.

In February 2012, it was announced that ABC had ordered a pilot for a new drama series The Smart One, one of whose executive producers was Ellen DeGeneres, and which featured de Rossi in a leading role. The actress was to star as a "brilliant and successful woman who begrudgingly goes to work for her less-brainy but more popular sister – a former beauty queen, weather girl and now big-city Mayor." But The Smart One was not picked up for the 2012–2013 season.

Six years after the series was canceled by Fox, filming for a revived fourth season of Arrested Development began in August 2012, and de Rossi reprised her role as Lindsay Bluth Fünke. This fourth season consisted of 15 new episodes, which debuted on Netflix on 26 May 2013. Each episode focused on one particular character, with de Rossi's Lindsay featured in episode 3, "Indian Takers", and Episode 8, "Red Hairing", and also appearing in several other episodes of the season.

In July 2014, ABC confirmed that de Rossi was joining season 4 of Scandal, in the role of Elizabeth North. Her recurring role was upgraded to a series regular for the fifth season. In April 2017, in season six, de Rossi's character was killed off in a golf club attack. De Rossi herself made the decision to depart the series.

In May 2018, de Rossi announced on The Ellen DeGeneres Show that she would be retiring from acting, though she later elaborated that she would make an exception for future seasons of Arrested Development.

Personal life
De Rossi was married to documentary filmmaker Mel Metcalfe from 1996 to 1999, initially part of a plan to get a green card, though she did not go through with the plan. She said about the marriage that "it just obviously wasn't right for me." In a 2010 interview on Good Morning America, she said that as a young actress, she was fearful of being exposed as a lesbian.

From 2000 to 2004, de Rossi dated director Francesca Gregorini, the daughter of Barbara Bach and the stepdaughter of Ringo Starr. She said that most of her family and Ally McBeal castmates did not know she was a lesbian until tabloid pictures of the couple were published. She declined to publicly discuss the relationship or her sexual orientation at the time.

De Rossi and Gregorini broke up in late 2004 because de Rossi began dating DeGeneres, whom she met backstage at an awards show. In 2005, she opened up publicly about her sexual orientation in interviews with Details and The Advocate. She and DeGeneres became engaged when DeGeneres proposed in 2008. They were married at their Beverly Hills home on 16 August 2008, witnessed by their mothers and 17 other guests. On 6 August 2010, de Rossi filed a petition to legally change her name to Portia Lee James DeGeneres. The petition was granted on 23 September 2010. She became a United States citizen in September 2011.

In 2010, de Rossi published her autobiography, titled Unbearable Lightness: A Story of Loss and Gain, within which she wrote about the turmoil that she had experienced in her life, including suffering from anorexia nervosa and bulimia and being misdiagnosed with lupus. She had struggled with the eating disorders for four years while filming Ally McBeal. To promote the book, she appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show and The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

DeGeneres and de Rossi both became vegans in 2008, though DeGeneres said in December 2018 that she is no longer vegan. The couple have adopted several rescue animals.

In 2017, de Rossi tweeted that actor Steven Seagal had exposed himself to her while she was auditioning for one of his films.

Philanthropy
De Rossi supports a variety of charitable organizations, including Locks of Love, a group that provides human hair wigs for children with alopecia and other medical conditions that cause hair loss.

She has also supported fundraising efforts for FXB International, an African AIDS relief organization, and The Art of Elysium, an art foundation for terminally ill children. De Rossi also supports Alley Cat Allies, an organization dedicated to protecting and improving the lives of cats. De Rossi and DeGeneres are supporters of The Gentle Barn, a California sanctuary for abused animals.

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Courtney Thorne-Smith

Courtney Thorne-Smith (born 1967 (age 33)) is an American actress. She is known for her starring roles as Alison Parker on Melrose Place, Georgia Thomas on Ally McBeal, and Cheryl Mabel on According to Jim, as well as her recurring role on Two and a Half Men as Lyndsey McElroy.

Early life, family and education
Thorne-Smith grew up in Menlo Park, California, a suburb south of San Francisco. Her father, Walter Smith, was a computer market researcher, and her mother, Lora Thorne, was a therapist. They divorced when Courtney was seven years old, and she lived with both parents at different stages. She has an older sister, Jennifer, who is an advertising executive.

Courtney attended Menlo-Atherton High School, in Atherton, California, but she graduated from Tamalpais High School, in Mill Valley, California, in 1985. She performed with the Ensemble Theater Company in Mill Valley while attending high school.

Films
Thorne-Smith made her first film appearance in the 1986 feature film drama Lucas, alongside Winona Ryder, Corey Haim, and Charlie Sheen. She was also involved in a number of movies in the late 1980s, such as Welcome to 18 (1986), Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise (1987), Summer School (1987), and Side Out (1990). In 1998, she starred in the box office flop Chairman of the Board with Carrot Top. In 2009, she appeared in Sorority Wars.

Television
She appeared on a few mid-1980s television series such as Growing Pains and the short-lived Fast Times, as well as made-for-television movies including The Thanksgiving Promise and Infidelity before landing a regular role in the 1988-1989 sitcom Day by Day with Douglas Sheehan, Linda Kelsey and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. In 1990, she was featured in six episodes of L.A. Law as Laker Girl Kimberly Dugan.

Her first notable starring television role was as Alison Parker on Melrose Place from 1992 to 1997. During this time, in 1995, she starred in a made-for-television movie Beauty's Revenge which was also marketed in CD and DVD form as "Midwest Obsession". Following this, she went on to play Georgia Thomas on Ally McBeal from 1997 to 2000. Thorne-Smith originally auditioned for the title role in the show, which ultimately went to Calista Flockhart. Her character was written out of Ally McBeal at the beginning of season four in 2000, though she returned for occasional guest appearances afterwards. She later said that she left the show in part because of the pressure to stay thin. "I started undereating, overexercising, pushing myself too hard and brutalizing my immune system," she told US Weekly. "The amount of time I spent thinking about food and being upset about my body was insane."

From 2001 to 2009, she starred as Cheryl on According to Jim. In 2007, her real-life pregnancy was hidden on the show at first, but was then written into the plot. On February 18, 2010, she signed on to play Alan Harper (Jon Cryer)'s girlfriend, Lyndsey McElroy, in season seven of Two and a Half Men. She appeared in 52 episodes from season seven through twelve.

Starting in 2017, Thorne-Smith has starred in a series of television films, the Emma Fielding Mysteries based on the novels by Dana Cameron. Three entries have been telecast on the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries channel as of 2019.

Writing
On September 18, 2007, Thorne-Smith's novel, Outside In, was published by Broadway Books in New York.

Other ventures
In 1997, she became a spokesperson for cosmetics brand Almay, being the face of their new "Skin Stays Clean" line of make-up. She appeared for Almay's print ads and television commercials until 2001. In 2003, Thorne-Smith appeared on Kellogg's Special K cereal boxes as part of a breast cancer awareness campaign with Kelloggs and the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

During her career, she has graced the cover of numerous magazines such as Shape, Parade, Self, InStyle Weddings, Entertainment Weekly, TV Guide, Vogue Knitting and Fit Pregnancy.

Personal life
In the early 1990s, Thorne-Smith dated her Melrose Place co-star Andrew Shue.

In June 2000, she married geneticist Andrew Conrad; the couple divorced in January 2001.

On January 1, 2007, she married Roger Fishman, president of the marketing firm the Zizo Group and author of the book What I Know. On January 11, 2008, she gave birth to their son, Jacob Emerson Fishman.

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The Sand Reckoner

The Sand Reckoner (Ψαμμίτης, Psammites) is a work by Archimedes, an Ancient Greek mathematician of the 3rd century BC, in which he set out to determine an upper bound for the number of grains of sand that fit into the universe. In order to do this, Archimedes had to estimate the size of the universe according to the contemporary model, and invent a way to talk about extremely large numbers.

The work, also known in Latin as Arenarius, is about eight pages long in translation and is addressed to the Syracusan king Gelo II (son of Hiero II). It is considered the most accessible work of Archimedes.

Naming large numbers
First, Archimedes had to invent a system of naming large numbers. The number system in use at that time could express numbers up to a myriad (μυριάς — 10,000), and by utilizing the word myriad itself, one can immediately extend this to naming all numbers up to a myriad myriads (108). Archimedes called the numbers up to 108 "first order" and called 108 itself the "unit of the second order". Multiples of this unit then became the second order, up to this unit taken a myriad-myriad times, 108·108=1016. This became the "unit of the third order", whose multiples were the third order, and so on. Archimedes continued naming numbers in this way up to a myriad-myriad times the unit of the 108-th order, i.e., (108)^(108)

After having done this, Archimedes called the orders he had defined the "orders of the first period", and called the last one, $$(10^8)^{(10^8)}$$, the "unit of the second period". He then constructed the orders of the second period by taking multiples of this unit in a way analogous to the way in which the orders of the first period were constructed. Continuing in this manner, he eventually arrived at the orders of the myriad-myriadth period. The largest number named by Archimedes was the last number in this period, which is
 * $$\left(\left(10^8\right)^{(10^8)}\right)^{(10^8)}=10^{8\cdot 10^{16}}.$$

Another way of describing this number is a one followed by (short scale) eighty quadrillion (80·1015) zeroes.

Archimedes' system is reminiscent of a positional numeral system with base 108, which is remarkable because the ancient Greeks used a very simple system for writing numbers, which employs 27 different letters of the alphabet for the units 1 through 9, the tens 10 through 90 and the hundreds 100 through 900.

Law of exponents
Archimedes also discovered and proved the law of exponents, $$10^a 10^b = 10^{a+b}$$, necessary to manipulate powers of 10.

Estimation of the size of the universe
Archimedes then estimated an upper bound for the number of grains of sand required to fill the Universe. To do this, he used the heliocentric model of Aristarchus of Samos. The original work by Aristarchus has been lost. This work by Archimedes however is one of the few surviving references to his theory, whereby the Sun remains unmoved while the Earth orbits the Sun. In Archimedes's own words:

"His [Aristarchus'] hypotheses are that the fixed stars and the Sun remain unmoved, that the Earth revolves about the Sun on the circumference of a circle, the Sun lying in the middle of the orbit, and that the sphere of fixed stars, situated about the same center as the Sun, is so great that the circle in which he supposes the Earth to revolve bears such a proportion to the distance of the fixed stars as the center of the sphere bears to its surface."

The reason for the large size of this model is that the Greeks were unable to observe stellar parallax with available techniques, which implies that any parallax is extremely small and so the stars must be placed at great distances from the Earth (assuming heliocentrism to be true).

According to Archimedes, Aristarchus did not state how far the stars were from the Earth. Archimedes therefore had to make the following assumptions: This assumption can also be expressed by saying that the stellar parallax caused by the motion of the Earth around its orbit equals the solar parallax caused by motion around the Earth. Put in a ratio:
 * The Universe was spherical
 * The ratio of the diameter of the Universe to the diameter of the orbit of the Earth around the Sun equalled the ratio of the diameter of the orbit of the Earth around the Sun to the diameter of the Earth.

$$\frac{\text{Diameter of Universe}}{\text{Diameter of Earth orbit around the Sun}} = \frac{ \text{Diameter of Earth orbit around the Sun}}{ \text{ Diameter of Earth}}$$

In order to obtain an upper bound, Archimedes made the following assumptions of their dimensions: Archimedes then concluded that the diameter of the Universe was no more than 1014 stadia (in modern units, about 2 light years), and that it would require no more than 1063 grains of sand to fill it. With these measurements, each grain of sand in Archimedes's thought-experiment would have been approximately 19 μm (0.019 mm) in diameter.
 * that the perimeter of the Earth was no bigger than 300 myriad stadia (5.55·105 km).
 * that the Moon was no larger than the Earth, and that the Sun was no more than thirty times larger than the Moon.
 * that the angular diameter of the Sun, as seen from the Earth, was greater than 1/200 of a right angle (π/400 radians = 0.45° degrees).

Calculation of the number of grains of sand in the Aristarchian Universe
Archimedes claims that forty poppy-seeds laid side by side would equal one Greek dactyl (finger-width) which was approximately 19 mm (3/4 inch) in length. Since volume proceeds as the cube of a linear dimension ("For it has been proved that spheres have the triplicate ratio to one another of their diameters") then a sphere one dactyl in diameter would contain (using our current number system) 403, or 64,000 poppy seeds.

He then claimed (without evidence) that each poppy seed could contain a myriad (10,000) grains of sand. Multiplying the two figures together he proposed 640,000,000 as the number of hypothetical grains of sand in a sphere one dactyl in diameter.

To make further calculations easier, he rounded up 640 million to one billion, noting only that the first number is smaller than the second, and that therefore the number of grains of sand calculated subsequently will exceed the actual number of grains. Recall that Archimedes's meta-goal with this essay was to show how to calculate with what were previously considered impossibly large numbers, not simply to accurately calculate the number of grains of sand in the universe.

A Greek stadium had a length of 600 Greek feet, and each foot was 16 dactyls long, so there were 9,600 dactyls in a stadium. Archimedes rounded this number up to 10,000 (a myriad) to make calculations easier, again, noting that the resulting number will exceed the actual number of grains of sand.

The cube of 10,000 is a trillion (1012); and multiplying a billion (the number of grains of sand in a dactyl-sphere) by a trillion (number of dactyl-spheres in a stadium-sphere) yields 1021, the number of grains of sand in a stadium-sphere.

Archimedes had estimated that the Aristarchian Universe was 1014 stadia in diameter, so there would accordingly be (1014)3 stadium-spheres in the universe, or 1042. Multiplying 1021 by 1042 yields 1063, the number of grains of sand in the Aristarchian Universe.

Following Archimedes's estimate of a myriad (10,000) grains of sand in a poppy seed; 64,000 poppy seeds in a dactyl-sphere; the length of a stadium as 10,000 dactyls; and accepting 19mm as the width of a dactyl, the diameter of Archimedes's typical sand grain would be 18.3 μm, which today we would call a grain of silt. Currently, the smallest grain of sand would be defined as 50 μm in diameter.

Additional calculations
Archimedes made some interesting experiments and computations along the way. One experiment was to estimate the angular size of the Sun, as seen from the Earth. Archimedes's method is especially interesting as it takes into account the finite size of the eye's pupil, and therefore may be the first known example of experimentation in psychophysics, the branch of psychology dealing with the mechanics of human perception, whose development is generally attributed to Hermann von Helmholtz. Another interesting computation accounts for solar parallax and the different distances between the viewer and the Sun, whether viewed from the center of the Earth or from the surface of the Earth at sunrise. This may be the first known computation dealing with solar parallax.

Quote
"There are some, king Gelon, who think that the number of the sand is infinite in multitude; and I mean by the sand not only that which exists about Syracuse and the rest of Sicily but also that which is found in every region whether inhabited or uninhabited. Again there are some who, without regarding it as infinite, yet think that no number has been named which is great enough to exceed its magnitude. And it is clear that they who hold this view, if they imagined a mass made up of sand in other respects as large as the mass of the Earth, including in it all the seas and the hollows of the Earth filled up to a height equal to that of the highest of the mountains, would be many times further still from recognizing that any number could be expressed which exceeded the multitude of the sand so taken.

But I will try to show you by means of geometrical proofs, which you will be able to follow, that, of the numbers named by me and given in the work which I sent to Zeuxippus, some exceed not only the number of the mass of sand equal in magnitude to the Earth filled up in the way described, but also that of the mass equal in magnitude to the universe."

- Archimedis Syracusani Arenarius & Dimensio Circuli

title: The Sand Reckoner


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Bridesmaid

Bridesmaids are members of the bride's party at some Western traditional wedding ceremonies. A bridesmaid is typically a young woman and often the bride's close friend or relative. She attends to the bride on the day of a wedding or marriage ceremony. Traditionally, bridesmaids were chosen from unwed young women of marriageable age.

The principal bridesmaid, if one is designated, may be called the chief bridesmaid. She may also be called the maid of honor if she is unmarried, or the matron of honor if she is married. A junior bridesmaid is a girl who is clearly too young to be married but who is included as a bridesmaid anyway. In the United States, typically only the maid or matron of honor and the best man are the official witnesses for the wedding license.

Often there is more than one bridesmaid: in modern times the bride chooses how many to ask. Historically, no person of status went out unattended, and the size of the retinue was closely calculated to be appropriate to the family's social status. A large group of bridesmaids provided an opportunity for showing off the family's social status and wealth. Today, the number of bridesmaids in a wedding party is dependent on many variables, including a bride's preferences, the size of her family, and the number of attendants her partner would like to have as well.

The male equivalent is the groomsman, also known in British English as an usher; in the United States, the role of attending to the groom has diverged from that of escorting guests to their seats, and the two positions are no longer synonymous and are often if not usually filled by different persons.

In some cultures, such as in Norway, the Netherlands, France and Victorian Britain, it is (or has been) customary for bridesmaids to be small girls rather than grown women. They may carry flowers during the wedding procession and pose with the married couple in bridal photos. In modern English-speaking countries, this role is separate from that of the bridesmaid, and the small child performing it is known as a flower girl.

Duties
Although many exceed the minimum, the bridesmaids' required duties are very limited. They are required to attend the wedding ceremony and to assist the bride on the day of the wedding. Bridesmaids in Europe and North America are often asked to assist the bride with planning the wedding and a wedding reception. In modern times, a bridesmaid often participates in planning wedding-related events, such as a bridal shower or bachelorette party, if there are any. These, however, are optional activities; according to etiquette expert Judith Martin, "Contrary to rumor, bridesmaids are not obliged to entertain in honor of the bride, nor to wear dresses they cannot afford." If it is customary in the bride's area to have a bridesmaids luncheon, then it is hosted, and therefore organized and paid for, by the bride. A junior bridesmaid has no responsibilities beyond attending the wedding.

The duties and costs of being a bridesmaid are parsed out between a bride and her attendants in a variety of ways. Since modern bridesmaids, unlike their historical counterparts, can no longer rely on having their clothes and travel expenses paid for by the bride's family, and are sometimes even told they must pay for parties that the bride wants to have before the wedding, it has become customary for the bride to present the bridesmaids with gifts as a sign of gratitude for the support and financial commitment that comes with their roles. It has become equally customary for women who are invited to serve as bridesmaids to first ask about the amount of time, energy, and money that the bride expects from them before accepting this position, and to decline or resign if this is more than they will be able to give. In some American weddings, each bridesmaid may be asked to spend US$1,700 or more, with travel to destination weddings and pre-wedding parties usually being the biggest expense.

Maid of honor
In the United Kingdom, the term "maid of honour" originally referred to the female attendant of a queen. The term 'bridesmaid' is normally used for all bridal attendants in the UK. However, when the attendant is married, or is a mature woman, the term 'matron of honour' is often used. The influence of American English has led to the chief bridesmaid sometimes being called the maid of honour.

In North America, a wedding party might include several bridesmaids, but the 'maid of honor' is the title and position held by the bride's chief attendant, typically her closest friend or sister. In modern-day weddings, some brides opt to choose a long-time male friend or brother as their head attendant, using the title 'best man' or 'man of honor'.

The activities of the principal bridesmaid may be as many or as varied as she allows the bride to impose upon her. Her only required duty is to participate in the wedding ceremony. Typically, however, she is asked for help with the logistics of the wedding as an event, such as addressing invitations, and for her help as a friend, such as attending the bride as she shops for her wedding dress.

Aside from being the bride's right hand, the maid of honor is responsible for leading the rest of the bridal party through the planning of any pre-wedding events. For example, the principal bridesmaid will be the one to make the arrangements for the bridal shower, including invitations, decorations, food, and any games or activities that will be played. He or she will also be in charge of planning the bachelorette party, including any travel or lodging accommodations that must be arranged.

On the day of the wedding, her principal duty is to provide practical and emotional support. She might assist the bride with dressing and, if needed, help the bride manage her veil, a bouquet, a prayer book, or the train of her wedding dress during the day. In a double-ring wedding, the chief bridesmaid is often entrusted with the groom's wedding ring until it is needed during the ceremony. Many brides ask bridesmaids if they are adults, to be legal witnesses who sign the marriage license after the ceremony. If there is a reception after the wedding, the maid of honor may be asked to offer a toast to the newlywed.

Origin and history
The origin of the Western bridesmaid tradition likely arose from a combination of many factors. The most-likely factors include, but are not limited to, socioeconomic class and status, family size, socialization standards of the day, and religion.

Others cite the Biblical story of Jacob, and his two wives Leah and Rachel, who both literally came with their own maids as detailed in the Book of Genesis (29:24, 46:18) as the origin of bridesmaids. These women were handmaidens (servants or slaves) instead of social peers.

In ancient times, originally the bride and all the bridesmaids wore exactly the same dress and veiled their faces heavily, for the purpose of confusing jealous suitors and evil spirits.

In China during the feudal era, brides were susceptible to kidnapping at weddings by rival clans and hooligans. Shouldering the responsibility to protect the bride, bridesmaids were dressed up like the bride to lower the risk that she might be identified and taken. As legal protections for marriage were established, this was no longer necessary, and the role of bridesmaid took a more symbolic turn.

In the Victorian era, white was the official color for both male groomsmen and female bridesmaids. This trend originated with Queen Victoria when she married Prince Albert wearing a long white wedding dress, and her bridesmaids matched the color of her gown.

title: Bridesmaid


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Quiscalus

The avian genus Quiscalus contains seven of the 11 species of grackles, gregarious passerine birds in the icterid family. They are native to North and South America.

The genus was named and described by French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot in 1816. The type species was subsequently designated as the common grackle (Quiscalus quiscula) by English zoologist George Robert Gray in 1840. The genus name comes from the specific name Gracula quiscula coined by Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus for the common grackle. From where Linnaeus obtained the word is uncertain, but it may come from the Taíno word quisqueya, meaning "mother of all lands", for the island of Hispaniola.

The genus contains six extant species and one extinct species:

title: Quiscalus