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Wikipedia:Village pump/June 2003 archive 4

This has probably been noticed before, but there are some words that apparently confuse the search engine of Wikipedia. For example, a search (using the "Search button") for the phrase "logical not" returns the following:

 * A database query syntax error has occurred. The last attempted database query was: "SELECT cur_id,cur_namespace,cur_title,cur_text FROM cur,searchindex WHERE cur_id=si_page AND ( (MATCH (si_title) AGAINST ('logical')) NOT ) AND cur_namespace IN (0) LIMIT 0, 20" from within function "SearchEngine::showResults". MySQL returned error "1064: You have an error in your SQL syntax. Check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near ') AND cur_namespace IN (0) LIMIT 0, 20' at line 1".

Obviously the word "not" is the culprit here. Using the "Go" button solves this problem, and correctly goes to Logical not (which redirects to Negation). Similar problems with "and" and "or", as expected. -- Wapcaplet 15:39 14 Jun 2003 (UTC)

I'm having trouble. I want to upload a picture for use on the wiki Team Rocket (I'm Not a pokemon fan, whatever you say), and it's copyright to nintendo (or whatever(, but i found the picture on another site, and I don't think there's a copyright notice. Should I play it safe and not upload it? Ilyanep

 * Sorta depends on what the source of the photo is, I guess. I personally would play it safe, but you may be able to get away with it under Fair use doctrine. Just because copyright is not explicitly stated does not mean there is no copyright; if it's a commercial illustration, it's pretty likely there is a copyright. If you want to contribute to that article, maybe it'd be good to write a little bit more on the subject - the one-sentence description that is there was written by an anonymous user who apparently was not interested enough to come back and make a proper article out of it. -- Wapcaplet 21:37 14 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Regarding the previous discussion on Fieldism, just an idea on how to prevent "invented" articles: Is it technically possible to create a "new articles" list with a number of Google hits for every new Article title? This could help to spot Articles that "test" Wikipedia's reaction to nonsense ;-)  Fantasy 11:22 15 Jun 2003 (UTC)

 * It would seem that the greatest potential for unrecognized patent nonsense (UPN?) is with obscure topics that no one recognizes. Few among us is enough of a student of history to discard with confidence an article on a bogus lesser personality or social movement from centuries past.  But then, it may not matter much.  There is plenty of UPN on Google, in that it indexes web sites full of such material.  That doesn't make Google less valuable.

 * A mechanism for users to note that they have reviewed a page and made no changes might help somewhat.  Kat 19:03 15 Jun 2003 (UTC)

 * "Fieldism" was an oversight, it did not "survive", it was missed because of its virtual orphancy. Nobody serious searched for Fieldism, nobody active looked for it, so nobody Wikipedian had the opportunity to rectify the problem.

 * It was created when active maintainers were busy with something else, in the meatspace or composing new articles. "Fieldism" explicitly mentions a ridiculous ritual of "believers of Fieldism must sit naked in a field." This is blantant and extremely obvious sign, no, not sign, evidence of nonsensical crap.

 * By the time maintainers looked at the RecentChanges, it's gone already.

 * This is not the maintainers' fault. The RecentChanges system can be improved: New articles should've stayed on RecentChanges longer than copyedits (minor or not) by registered users of more than 3 months. And new articles made by Anons should stay even longer.

 * --Menchi 20:14 15 Jun 2003 (UTC)

If you're interested in catching new pages of junk, there is Special:Newpages... Evercat 20:21 15 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Whenever I create a page which has a multiple word title, someone comes along behind and replaces the spaces with uderbars, like this should be written in VBA. I can't find this in the conventions (and where do those come from?). Can someone point me to the correct reference page? -- Rich J 22:18 15 Jun 2003 (UTC)
 * The wikipedia makes spaces into _ in the url b/c there shouldn't be spaces in filenames. This shouldn't affect the page title.  MB 22:44 15 Jun 2003 (UTC)
 * url (ur real location) I understand. What is b/c? -- Rich J 23:05 15 Jun 2003 (UTC)
 * Actually URL is Uniform Resource Locator. b/c is because. Evercat 23:11 15 Jun 2003 (UTC)
 * That was a joke, son -- Rich J 01:23 17 Jun 2003 (UTC)

 * We tried not to abbreviate informally too much (and almost never in real articles). But MB has a colourful vocabulary. :-) They're fine as shorthands in Talks (Discussion pages).
 * The truth is that underscored Wikification links (Wikilinks) are actually quite hard to type (with shift keys and all that). Plus, it's kind to read, sort of LikeThisStickedTogether. Not that bad, but not very good either. We try to do it naturally. Make it appear simple. --Menchi 23:19 15 Jun 2003 (UTC)

When I entered Graveyard I got a page with 1 REDIRECT Cemetary. When I went into the page to correct the spelling, I got #REDIRECT Cemetery. (ie, when I got to the page I get an unlinked wrong spelling. When I try to edit, I get a different correct spelling.) I did this four times just to make sure I had not made a mistake somewhere, but the same thing happens. Wrong spelling when I see the page, right spelling when I hit edit. BTW when I went to the recent changes page to add it in to the new server madness page, that page had gone. What is going on? (After Friday 13th was a few days ago!) FearÉIREANN 00:07 16 Jun 2003 (UTC)

 * If you look at the PageHistory:Graveyard you'll see that it was created then edited 2 minutes later. You probably looked at it in that time period. Or you may have a browser cache issue... especially if you used the back button to go back - this doesn't always refresh the page to the latest version in all browsers... Try going to the page and hitting reload. Evercat 00:12 16 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Try Ctrl-F5 if reloading doesnt seem to resolve the issue. Pizza Puzzle

Thanks folks. Whatever it was everything is working fine now. :-) FearÉIREANN 00:55 16 Jun 2003 (UTC)

-

Gray's Anatomy illustrations
I have never seen the illustrations of Gray's Anatomy until User:Tristanb scanned some. They are actually very detailed and modern, except the font. :-) But Bartleby.com has also scanned many unaltered diagrams from Gray's, such as the cervical vertebra. We cannot use Bartleby's because those ancient diagrams was uploaded thru their modern scanner? --Menchi 04:56 16 Jun 2003 (UTC)

 * IANAL but I do know that a photocopy of a public domain work does not create a new copyright for the photocopy. So if all they did was scan-in the public domain images then they cannot legally claim to have copyright over those images. But any changes they may have done to the photo may be considered to be under copyright.... I say we can use them as public domain and not worry about it. --mav 05:38 16 Jun 2003 (UTC)

 * I've wondered about that too, but no-one seems to know anything definite. The problem with the Bartleby pics, to me, is that they've been coloured in, and probably clarified, by them. This is their original design.

 * Obviously Bartleby's have no power at all to stop me scanning the originals from Gray's, but whoever made the veins blue and the arteries red, and even the guy that removed the scanning artefacts, might be able to claim copyright. ??? They've got a much better original source than me, and a better scanner :( so it's very tempting to steal them.

 * Aside from this, we don't really need another copy of Gray's Anatomy on the net. The pictures were designed as engravings, so a century of graphic development is lost by using them too much. Also some of the terms are outdated. (They're better than nothing though, and provide a nice stencil for lineart.) Tristanb 04:35 17 Jun 2003 (UTC)

 * The scans look great to me.
 * Gray's illustrations do more than adequate. Without them, we have to endure the geometric horror such as that on Circulatory system. Mwahahaha!....
 * Which reprint is your copy? --Menchi 11:21 17 Jun 2003 (UTC)

 * hahaha, your diagram shows the double circulation nicely :-) It reminds me of my Spinal nerve pic.
 * I'm using a 1994 reprint of Gray's. It's probably been reduced in size slightly, and the printing and the paper aren't really optimal. (The paper looks like it's been in a fire.) I want to have a go at colouring some pics in nicely, using Gray's drawings as a plan, but i'm really no artist :-) Tristanb

Watchlist Coloured Links
My watch list is growing and growing (as is yours, probably ;-). I just thought, it could sometimes be of help, if the links on a page that are already on my watch list, would show up in a different color. Would this make sense / be helpful / did someone already think of something like that? Thanks, Fantasy 06:44 16 Jun 2003 (UTC)

 * But isn't old-new distinction relative and not absolute? How do you draw the line? --Menchi 09:51 16 Jun 2003 (UTC)

 * I did not mean old or new, I meant watched links and not watched links on any article. Would be nice to differentiate. Is that possible? Fantasy

 * So this has nothing to do with watchlist really. Just about Wikilinks which you have watched. And when you look at the RecentChanges, those that you watched will be a different colour? They already are, in a twisted sense. They appear bold on RecentChanges. Is that what you were getting at? If not, give it another shot if you're not tired. :-) --Menchi 11:10 16 Jun 2003 (UTC)
 * p.s. I'm not a developer, so I cannot tell if it's possible or not. Just trying to clarify the suggestion here.

Sorry, seems that I had not used the right words. Maybe an example helps: Take the article Patent. This article contains links to government and inventor. I have just inventor on my watchlist, but not government. But how will I find that out? I have to go to both of them, to be sure, that I am watching both. There is no other way to find out, if I watch an article, as far as I know. If they would be of different colors (watched/not watched), I could just go to the article that is missing on my watchlist and add that one. Does this example help to understand my question? Thanks for your patience, Fantasy

"As of 2003"
Why is As of 2003 a Wikilink of its own, instead "As of 2003"? --Menchi 09:51 16 Jun 2003 (UTC)

 * Have you considered checking its talk page? ;) -- John Owens 09:59 16 Jun 2003 (UTC)

 * Thanks for the directions. --Menchi 11:13 16 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Hey guys, I've done a little something with As of... please visit its talk page and discuss whether that was a good idea or not. --Nelson 20:44 16 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Citing content in an editable website
Hey there. I run The Athenaeum (www.the-athenaeum.org), which is a user-editable humanities site. I have read the text of the license, but I'm still a little foggy on it. How should I cite articles when I use them on my site? Furthermore, what are the restrictions that places on my users when they are editing the articles (on my site)? If they change the articles "enough," does that remove the attribution requirement(s)? If so, what constitues "enough"? I'd like to be able to use some of the articles, and to point users here for source material, but not if the licensing/attribution issues are complex enough to be a barrier to entry. Any pointers or FAQ's I can use as a guide?"

 * IANAL, but it's all in copyrights and indeed in the GNU Free Documentation License. The key section for you will be "4. MODIFICATIONS", since you want to allow users to edit the article. Have a read through - come back if you have any questions. It's simpler than it looks! Martin 23:32 16 Jun 2003 (UTC)

I have a cunning idea! There seem to be no public domain pics available for personalities such as Princess Diana or Picasso. However, many famous people are portrayed on postage stamps. If stamps can be freely used in Wikipedia as illustrations, is this a source of such pics? In short, are stamps public domain? Adrian Pingstone 17:48 16 Jun 2003 (UTC)

 * Not in the United States at least. In the US the copyright for stamp designs is held by the US Post Office which hasn't been a US Department since the mid-1970s IIRC. And illustrating an article on a person only with their postage stamp is not a good idea - but allowable under fair use me thinks (IANAL). --mav 18:01 16 Jun 2003 (UTC)

 * Go to List of people on stamps of the United Kingdom. The stamp I put there has an excellent pic of Princess Diana. Do I have to remove it? Does anyone know the copyright situation for UK stamps?
 * Adrian Pingstone 18:12 16 Jun 2003 (UTC)

 * In the UK they would be copyright the Royal Mail, who issue the stamps and comission the images. I think the profile of Her Majesty (which is used on both stamps and coins) is Crown copyright. CGS 18:17 16 Jun 2003 (UTC).

 * Images of stamps are pretty clear-cut cases of fair use, since they're like album or book covers, they're "visual quotations" of the actual objects. From a practical point of view, a postal administration would be insane to turn down the free advertising - they're always hoping to sell stamps to people who will never use them, it's like free money. :-)  Stan 02:25 17 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Where can I find a list of all the 'variables' such as the "CURRENTTIME" or "NUMBEROFARTICLES" Variables? Ilyanep

Hey folks, I was wondering, is it possible to download the software that the Wikipedia uses anywhere? I'd like to put up a Wiki, but I despise CamelCase, I much prefer Wikipedia's links. --Nelson 20:47 16 Jun 2003 (UTC)

http://wikipedia.sourceforge.net

You may also want to try out UseMod, which is much smaller and easier to install (Wikipedia originally used UseMod, but UseMod's search and scalability are limited because it doesn't require a database). It can be configured not to use CamelCase. The infoAnarchy wiki is based on it. --Eloquence

Math formula background transparency
Hello! I try to color the statement of math theorems or conjectures in order to improve readability. However, I have discovered that the image generated by <math>-tag is not transparent and so the effect turns out to be ugly: see Riemann hypothesis. Could anyone give me a helping hand? -- Wshun

 * colour does not improve readability. -- Tarquin 21:41 16 Jun 2003 (UTC)

 * but it does improve visibility. FearÉIREANN 03:09 17 Jun 2003 (UTC)

 * Then why are links shown in a different colour to other text in all web browsers? :) CGS 21:44 16 Jun 2003 (UTC)

 * yes, it does. It helps when we want to emphasis something but Bold  and italics are already used heavily on a page; and it helps if someone just wants to get the theorem without really reading the article. -- Wshun

Transparency is more practical in a long shot. What if one day, WP decides to change white -> say, sky blue, for a day, during certain occasion/holiday/festival/celebration. (Just a hypothetical.)

In any case, when you print, it doesn't matter if the background is white (like now) or transparent (like Wshun's suggestion).

I assume to keep nice alias smoothing-outs (as opposed to the coarse antialias) is why the background is white now, but if set transparency barrier to over 50% but under 95%, it'd make no visible difference on lighy backgrounds. Unless you are a graphic artist who strives for the perfection of beauty. WP will win many awards, I doubt graphic design will be one of them any time soon. So a little "flawed" is an acceptable compromise. --Menchi 03:41 17 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Menchi said "What if one day, WP decides to change white -> say, sky blue, for a day". That would be very difficult. It would be easy enough to change the our TeX markup system to display a different background colour, but that's not the main problem. Do you know how many images we have with white backgrounds? Surely it must be in the thousands. They'd have to be automatically converted. That's an idea... Can a command in TeX change the background colour, now or in the conceivable future? That would solve the current problem. Transparent PNGs are difficult because IE doesn't support them. -- Tim Starling 07:30 17 Jun 2003 (UTC)

 * Of course, ideally, in the future we won't need the math PNGs at all, because all our browsers will support MathML :-) Meanwhile, I'd suggest using a colored border instead of a colored background. -- Wapcaplet 11:33 17 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Closely related to the above, there have been some different approaches to demonstrating samples of Wikipedia code (and the resulting output) on Alternate text for images. These are partly an attempt to make such demonstration clearer, and stand out more clearly from the explanatory text around it; they might also serve to work around the problem of having TeX markup on a yellow background. Finally, and probably most importantly, they are possibly a better solution than the use of tables for showing example code. See Wikipedia talk:Alternate text for images for an example of how one of the tables that used to be here turned out in Lynx (bad, to say the least). It is possible that other how-to pages (such as How to edit a page) might benefit from similar formatting. Clearly, by the above discussion on highlighting mathematical theorems and the like, this approach may be applicable to other areas as well. Discussion, criticisms, suggestions, etc. welcome at the above talk page, or at my talk page. (If this has already been covered elsewhere, please point me in the right direction.) Thanks! -- Wapcaplet 17:52 17 Jun 2003 (UTC)

I wanted to post that "Donald Duck" : page is 36 KB long, but the Villagepump is also too big to post there. So could someone split these pages ?

 * Get a better browser. -- Tim Starling 11:09 17 Jun 2003 (UTC)

"Watched" links in articles with different colour
I try to reformulate my question:
 * I open an Article.
 * The Article contains links to other Articles.
 * I would like to know, if the linked Articles are already on my watchlist.

Currently I have to follow every single link to the corresponding Article to check the "watch this page" button. I think it would be helpful to show (e.g. by colour) if a link is watched or not. Would something like this be possible / helpful? Fantasy 12:25 17 Jun 2003 (UTC)

 * This reformulation is very clear. So it's in the actual viewing content (not editing, not in Watchlist) of an article. Get it.
 * Another colour may be helpful, but it should be a neighbour colour (i.e., steelblue, cyan, moss green, or navy blue, in addition to the current cobalt blue or whatever it is). Colours that differ too much would make the page like a clown face. :o)
 * I think bolding can be used here, but that'd potentially be confused by viewers as alternative title though. However, I have not yet come across an alternative title having its own Wikilink, since it's usually explained in the article where it is.
 * --Menchi 12:39 17 Jun 2003 (UTC)

I've just changed the Text of the GNU Free Documentation License to version 1.2. I've mentioned this on the village pump (a couple of times) before now, and nobody raised any objections. Mentioning it again, though, just in case... :) Martin 12:20 17 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Somebody just redirected or moved the talkpage of John Dee to Arthur Dee (probably erasing the stuff written on the talkpage in the process). I am not sure it can be fixed, but maybe one of the old hands knows how to minimize the damage? -- Cimon Avaro on a pogo stick 16:23 17 Jun 2003 (UTC)

 * I think I kept it minimal. I've moved the talk page back, and reverted from the added text, the history is still intact for that page.  I had to replace the Arthur Dee article by c&p, but put an explanation of the source in my edit comment.  I hope all this was the best way of doing it - I don't think the two edit histories could be separated at this point. -- sannse 16:38 17 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Generally we only link to the first occurence of a word in an article. What is policy for lists/tables? EG see Formula One lists at end of article. -- SGBailey 2003-06-17

My personal policy is to only like the thing being listed, leaving dates and any comments unlinked. However, in some cases, like the tabled list at Formula 1, it doesn't look bad to link everything; on the other hand, the untabled lists at the same page, do look pretty bad with everything linked. Basically, if u link a bunch of stuff in a list, its "hard" to actually find the list and click on it. Pizza Puzzle

 * I took the question as being not so much about whether or not to link, e.g., the years at all, but rather whether, for instance, you link 1969 every time it appears or just the first, ditto for Finland, etc. I consider this a bit of a judgment call; in a short list, where the linked occurrence is easily found, I'll link only the first, per standard operating procedure, but in a long list like that, it's obnoxious to have to go back and find the first 1969, so it seems appropriate. More of a grey area would be when France won two years in a row, for example; I might not link the second appearance in a row myself, or even repeated appearances within one of the shorter lists, but I just might, and I certainly wouldn't think it wrong to link them, in a case like that. -- John Owens 20:42 17 Jun 2003 (UTC)

I think it can sometimes be a good idea to link multiple times, for two reasons. Firstly, for aesthetic reasons. If you have a list or a table and you think it looks better with an entire column linked rather than an entire column minus two entries, by all means go with your instincts. The second reason is when you have a very long article, and a concept is briefly mentioned at the top and then discussed in more detail much further down, it can be a good idea to link to it again. This is again a stylistic choice. I find it makes articles easier to skim through rather than read end-to-end. There are also a number minor/technical reasons for linking multiple times, which I won't go into here. Suffice to say it's a rule not written in stone. -- Tim Starling 01:08 18 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Multiple wikilinking is desirable in both alphabetized tables and lists, because is the first reference could easily become the second, the third,..., when new items are inserted with before that the current 1st reference. --Menchi 01:31 18 Jun 2003 (UTC)

asethetically, I think its best to link either all or none of an occurrence. Linking occasional dates here and there, makes for a spattering of blue links which is distracting to the eye. On the other hand, linking all the dates/etc makes it harder to see the list itself (unless its in a proper table). It should be noted that in any case where we have a list, any of the "further information" like dates is pretty much guaranteed to be linked to from the listed article. Pizza Puzzle

142.177.etc
move to user talk:142.177.etc when done

On Wikipedia talk:What it thinks it is I find myself inadvertantly talking to hard banned user 142.177.etc. Surprisingly, mav condones my breach of Wikipedia protocol. I'm happy to bow to the consensus of the Wikipedia community here, whatever it may be. Should I:
 * 1) Continue to engage 142.177.etc in discussion
 * 2) Move all of 142.177.etc's edits to user talk:142.177.etc
 * 3) Revert all of 142.177.etc's edits
 * 4) Essentially ignore 142.177.etc.
 * 5) As one of the above, but additionally apply IP blocks.

You may confer... Martin 23:32 17 Jun 2003 (UTC)

 * Just view this as one last chance to reform this person. As soon as I see that 142.177 is up to his old tricks then I'll reinstate the hard ban. Call this an experiment. --mav 01:53 18 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Is there a limit to how many pages can be listed on a "what links here" page? I noticed that I just linke to Native American on my new Aztalan State Park article, but it doesn't seem to show up on the "What links here" page, which is rather large. -- John Owens 00:05 18 Jun 2003 (UTC)

How can I enclose a block of text, such as -100, such that it wont be broken into two halves when at the end of a line? Pizza Puzzle

 * You can use non-breaking spaces in place of normal spaces: . I'm not clear on what you mean by "-100" though... does that get broken? -- Wapcaplet 13:22 18 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Yes, the negative gets left behind on the top line. Pizza Puzzle

 * Yuck! It doesn't do that on my browser, fortunately (Mozilla 1.3.1). Which browser are you using? Apparently, some browsers interpret the dash in front of a negative number as a hyphenated word (the HTML specification says something about this, too). Anyhow, it looks like maybe you can use the entity references:  or  . Of course, that'll make it a pain to edit... hmm, I'll see if I can find something better for ya. -- Wapcaplet 13:34 18 Jun 2003 (UTC)

 * Try the minus entity:  -- Wapcaplet 13:41 18 Jun 2003 (UTC)

User:troubadour has a question :

in which way is it perceived interesting to be able to see what other people have on their watchlist? (if they let you) or be noticed in some way when other people have/put the same article on their watchlist as you

in which way is there an interest to 'define' contributions better for example : simple information gatherer role and writing role that way a lot of people that know some true info but don't like to write would also be able to contribute

things like this

something else: could i get in direct contact with a person who really has a clue about wikipedia policy and technical background i am writing my thesis on awareness and would like to ask some specific questions if so : mail me troubadour77@yahoo.com

thanks

 * I think it would be nice to know what other people have on their watchlist. That way you can judge whether or not a user is likely to notice a talk page entry, or an article change. Sysops can view other people's watchlists, and I've done this a number of times since I became one. I hope no-one sees this as a privacy violation. The SQL query is on my user page, if anyone's interested. -- Tim Starling 03:35 19 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Anyone seen User:Timwi's recent additions, to wit: New York Times stories of the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack? Seem rather more like primary source material, not encyclopedic, and there may be copyright concerns. Kat 18:06 18 Jun 2003 (UTC)

 * Check votes for deletion. -- Notheruser 18:12 18 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Would using TechTVs logo be a copyright violation? Would it be covered by the fair use doctrine? ilyanep 00:10 19 Jun 2003 (UTC)

 * We generally dislike the use of logos since they are covered both by copyright and trademarks, and their use may therefore be also interpreted as "trademark dilution". --Eloquence 00:39 19 Jun 2003 (UTC)

HI! Does anybody know about copyrights in France? The question i easy: Can I post on Internet images printed in France in 1912? -User:Dixi
 * Aren't the copyrights international? Especially since France is one of the more "open" societies of Europe. Sigg3.net 09:19 19 Jun 2003 (UTC)

They differ from USA to Europe, there may be some specifics... Since I want to publish images from 1912 Larousse, I need to know exactly, in order not to put Wikipedia on any risk...

I think I can help you:. France is interesting in that copyright expiry was suspended for a few years during the world wars, so it can be up to life+84 years. I have a feeling that if the copyright is held by a corporation, or if there is no one single author, or something like that, then it's just 70 years from the date of publication, plus war time. I know this because we discussed it here and here. -- Tim Starling 10:21 19 Jun 2003 (UTC)
 * Thank you, Tim, for your help. Since my Larousse was published 1912, I assume what simple arithmetics tells me: 1912 + 14 + 70 = 1996 so I can publish those images without any risk for Wikipedia. (It already gives me 7-year safety margin.) Thank you again, I've gone through the addresses you gave me, and it seems 84 years after publication should be OK for French images. I will post your answer on my Talk page on Polish Wikipedia, for good of other users, Wikipedia and... owners of copyrights, I guess.

 * If you've not already been asked, please could you also put the date+place of publication, etc, on the image description page :) It's good to cite your visual sources... Martin 11:17 19 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Could someone update the snapshot of the lonely pages list - It is May 13, over a month old (and incomplete then). -- SGBailey 2003-06-19

Whenever I am on RC (far too often), I get the impression that the input to the encyclopedia is rather unbalanced: lots on computer stuff (surprise!), science, pop music, sci-fi/fantasy, bits of geog/hist. The impression is that the typical user is a young male with computer qualifications and stereotypically geeky interests. (How many Tolkien or D&D articles do we need?). I'm not sure what can be done to redress the balance, but at least we should be aware of it. jimfbleak 12:17 19 Jun 2003 (UTC)

 * I brought this up over 12 months ago, and I don't think I was the first. Seems like we still have a long way to go! -- Tarquin 12:26 19 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Wikipedia is heavily biased towards computer generated articles on US towns and cities. Surely they must outweight the Tolkein and D&D areas combined! I don't think balance matters because we've got good organisation and no space limit. I prefer to think of the missing articles as the problem, not the ones we have in quantity. -- Tim Starling 12:28 19 Jun 2003 (UTC)

 * The inclusiveness is part of the project's culture, though I believe it detracts from the overall value of the effort. I myself believe that the project would have better balance if we made an effort to keep article length proportional among topics of similar importance.  For example, Tolkein's literature does not deserve a more lengthy writeup than Dickens' or Steinbeck's books.  D&D should not enjoy a more lengthy writeup than contract bridge, dominos, or mah jong--all of which have subtleties and histories rivaling that of D&D.  And the Dead Kennedys should not enjoy a more detailed treatise than does Franz Liszt, who left a greater and far more enduring mark upon musical history.

 * The numerous articles on various fictional universes, particularly, do not appear to me to be encyclopedic in nature. What reader will turn to an encyclopedia for an entry like Bree (Middle-earth) or Aragorn?  I'm not trying to pick on Tolkien, as I enjoy his writing immensely; the Star Trek articles have the same characteristics as do many others. These articles pollute the namespace and have far less potential to become encyclopedic than the geographical stubs from the census data.

 * IMO, for a fictional work, character, or setting to be encyclopedic, there must be references to it elsewhere in art or literature. Consider the Greek and Roman mythological pantheons.  Portions of them appear throughout literature, sculpture, painting, and so on; an article on Aphrodite is unquestionably encyclopedic.  Where are the sculptures of Aragorn or the literary references to Sarek outside the series of works where they originally appear?  Now, perhaps we can do with an article on Mr._Spock owing to the inseperability of that character from pop culture of the 1970s.  But Sarek?  Kat 16:19 19 Jun 2003 (UTC)

 * Are you seriously proposing to delete all the articles about Star Trek, Middle-earth and other large-scale fictional universes? Perhaps most encyclopedias (like EB) don't contain an article about Sarek, but why is that reason for us not to have one? Perhaps encyclopedias are not normally considered a place to look up facts about fictional universes, but there's no reason for Wikipedia not to change that. I don't see why the articles aren't "encyclopedic in nature". I also object to your argument that they "pollute the namespace" (we can move pages and disambiguate; it's never been a problem), as do I object to your claim they have little potential to become non-stubs (see Vulcan (Star Trek) for an example I de-stubbed).

 * Also, how do you define "references to it elsewhere" -- Sarek is referenced in several of the Star Trek series and movies ;-). I also remember reading (though I forgot where) that there exists a full-size model of a Vulcan space ship in one of the various places called "Vulcan" in North America. Is that a "reference elsewhere"?

 * All this aside, I really don't see the problem with those articles simply existing. I mean ... you don't have to read them, do you? It's a bit like saying a program that has atrocious stability and limited usefulness should be deleted from the Internet. -- Timwi 17:22 19 Jun 2003 (UTC)

There could be a strict policy of banning users for rudeness. One ad hominem remark and poof, you're gone. Would get rid of a lot of geeky young males in a hurry, plus make it a much more enjoyable place. I am serious about this BTW - it's acceptable to call an act of editing "stupid", but wrong to characterize the whole person as such. Witness the "ignoramus" comment by RK quoted just below, and the well-meaning but misguided tolerance of this by Evercat. Stan 14:27 19 Jun 2003 (UTC)

 * *sigh* Because banning has proved so effective in the past?
 * I suggest that if you see an ad hominem attack that you find objectionable, you replace it with a link to no personal attacks, or delete it, or move it onto the user's talk page. They're rarely helpful in our goal of writing a collaborative encyclopedia. Martin 14:43 19 Jun 2003 (UTC)

 * I don't know, Stan, isn't your characterization of such posters as geeky in itself an ad hominem remark? The younger members have their contribution to make as well, and I don't see what gender has to do with it.  Besides, they are more likely to learn forebearance by example than through an attempt by others to apply force.  Kat 16:19 19 Jun 2003 (UTC)

From Talk:Anti-Zionism:

 * Dear ignoramus. Please stop lying about historical facts...the fact you are using anti-Semitic historical revisionism to hide this fact makes me question your motives. RK 13:03 19 Jun 2003 (UTC)

 * This seems a bit much...Does anyone have any comments? Pizza Puzzle

Oh, lots of arguments get like this. I would let it drop. Evercat 13:30 19 Jun 2003 (UTC)

 * heh...Pizza Puzzle

That is RK's normal style of discussion. If you continue to discuss with him, he will sooner or later call you a vandal and a troll. It is always the same, and he will never learn to change his behaviour. So, follow Evercat's advice, and stop discussing with RK. It is absolutely useless. -- Cordyph 13:37 19 Jun 2003 (UTC)

 * Congrats, Pizza the Hutt - you're now part of the club of folks that RK has called anti-Semitic. It's not a very exclusive club - create user:MyRedDice/Wikipedians insulted by RK if you like. Martin


text: User:Samvak

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

title: User:Samvak


text:
Talk:John Sayles

Directing
The write up has a surprisingly good discussion of Sayle's work as a screenwriter, his background with Corman, and his continued work as a writer and script doctor for films we normally wouldn't think to associate him with. What it leaves out is any discussion of his primary career as a director. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.232.29.106 (talk) 16:28, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

That POV bit I just removed about genre films was one that I added way back in the mists of UseModWiki history. I remember adding that, thinking it was important; but this time I'm reading it, wondering why I should assume anyone would agree with that assessment. LOL. Koyaanis Qatsi 17:53 19 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Isn't "Straight Talk" with Dolly Parton also a JS film?
 * It's not listed among his credits on imdb.RoyBatty42 17:29, 2 November 2006 (UTC)

I removed a listing for Jurassic Park IV from the list of "John Sayles'" films, as it is only a writing credit. Sayles is well known to do a fair amount of script doctoring or straight up script assignment work simply for the payday. These are not "his" films, but jobs he takes to pay the bills and/or help finance his own work. As is noted in the article RoyBatty42 17:29, 2 November 2006 (UTC)

Two points of interest concerning Matewan - both the movie and the town in West Virginia: 1. Massey Energy Company, West Virginia's #1 coal operator and a notoriously anti-union company, has funded a museum housed inside a train depot replica - a sort of visitor center in downtown Matewan, WV. The museum includes an exhibit on what is referred to as the "Matewan Massacre." The museum sells bootleg DVD's of Sayles' movie - copies made from what appears to be a VHS original - very shabby indeed and possibly illegal. Does Sayles know about this? 2. Sadly, a far better place to get the story of what happened in Matewan, the Matewan Depot Restaurant closed down this summer. Judging from the signed 8x10 glossies of actors like James Earl Jones not to mention restaurant proprietor Donna May's high regard for the film, it seems Sayles might be interested. Don't know how to contact him directly, so hopefully Wikipedia will suffice. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.59.143.41 (talk) 18:59, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

Research, Anyone?
I'm wondering why no mention is made here of Sayles as a writer of fiction, the career he pursued successfully throughout his twenties with a series of short stories, a collection or two, and some short novels (as well as essays and reviews). Sensei48 (talk) 16:58, 18 October 2008 (UTC)

deleted: The Fugitive
John Sayles, live on BookTV http://www.booktv.org/Program/12562/2011+Chicago+Tribune+Printers+Row+Lit+Fest+LIVE+Saturday+Coverage.aspx (the video will be up later), jokes about inaccuracy on IMDB and Wikipedia, citing his alleged work on The Fugitive as an example. He enjoyed the movie, he says, but he did not write it. He brings it up at least once again as a joke. --Davecampbell (talk) 18:57, 4 June 2011 (UTC)

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Mommie Dearest

Mommie Dearest is a memoir and exposé written by Christina Crawford, the adopted daughter of Academy Award winning actress Joan Crawford. Published in 1978, it attracted much controversy for its portrayal of Joan Crawford as a cruel, unbalanced, and alcoholic mother, with Crawford's other twin daughters, household staff, and family friends denouncing it as sensationalized fiction. It was turned into a 1981 film of the same title starring Faye Dunaway.

Synopsis
In the book, Christina alleges that Joan Crawford placed far more importance on her cinematic career than her family life, and that Joan later was an alcoholic in the 1960s. She also claims that Joan had sexual affairs with various men, whom Christina was required to call "Uncle." Christina claimed that Joan's controlling behavior continued throughout Christina's adulthood, asserting that Joan was jealous of Christina's acting career in the 1960s, to the point of taking over Christina's role in the soap opera The Secret Storm while Christina was in the hospital recovering from an operation to remove an ovarian cyst. The book culminates with Christina learning that she and her brother, Christopher, were intentionally disinherited upon the death of their mother for "reasons which are well known to them."

Reactions
The book's publication in 1978 created an enormous amount of attention. Some of Crawford's friends disputed the version of events presented in Mommie Dearest. Among them were Van Johnson, Katharine Hepburn, Cesar Romero, Bob Hope, Barbara Stanwyck, Sydney Guilaroff, Ann Blyth, Gary Gray, and Myrna Loy.

Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Crawford's first husband, stated, "The Joan Crawford that I've heard about in Mommie Dearest is not the Joan Crawford I knew back then." Crawford's other daughters, Cindy and Cathy, have stated many times that they did not witness or experience any of the events described in the book. Christopher Crawford, while never stating Joan outright abused him, did state, "I honestly to this day do not believe that she ever cared for me."

Bette Davis, longtime rival of Crawford, denounced the book, stating, "I was not Miss Crawford’s biggest fan, but, wisecracks to the contrary, I did and still do respect her talent. What she did not deserve was that detestable book written by her daughter. I’ve forgotten her name. Horrible."

Liz Smith, writing in The Baltimore Sun and other newspapers that carried her syndicated column, said, "I was inclined to believe Joan was misguided in her attempts to 'mold' her children—and was vain and self-absorbed like most great stars—but the stories of beatings and near-madness were over the top."

Joan Crawford's secretary for nearly 50 years, Betty Barker, also stated that while Joan was strict, Christina and Christopher were never abused.

On May 28, 1981, Christina's sister, Cathy Crawford LaLonde, appeared on Good Morning America to deny the allegations made by Christina. She said on air '' My mother was a very warm person. She was always there when we needed her. She was a working mother, but she always had time for us, and as far as Mommie Dearest, it 's a great work of fiction. Christina must have been in another household.''

In October 1981, People magazine published an article titled "Was She Devil or Doting Mom?: 'Dearest' Stirs A Row Among Joan Crawford's Adopted Kids". During the interview, Cathy Crawford LaLonde, stated "Christina says Joan was rotten, and I say she was a good person," further going on to say, "I just can't feel for anybody who would do that to their own mother. It's very immoral."

Crawford's other daughter, Cindy Crawford Jordan, told reporters in 1979, "I can't understand how people believe this stupid stuff Tina has written."

In her 1987 autobiography, Myrna Loy stated "She [Christina] wanted to be Joan Crawford. I think that’s the basis of the book she wrote afterward and everything else. I saw what Christina's mind created, the fantasy world she lived in."

Christina's husband, producer Harvey Medlinksy, said in response to Christina's memoir, "I have only good things to say about Joan Crawford. She was always nice to me and Christina while we were married."

The Secret Storm producer Gloria Monty, countered Christina's allegation that Joan "stole" Christina's role on the television show when she fell ill in 1968. According to Monty, Christina lied regarding this situation. Monty stated that she and CBS asked Joan to substitute for her daughter on the show, and that Joan agreed only in the interest of not allowing Christina to be permanently replaced by another actress until she could return to the show. Monty added, "I'll tell you that I saw Joan Crawford do everything she could to save that girl's life and job."

Helen Hayes, June Allyson, and Vincent Sherman stated they had witnessed strict discipline. For example, Hayes and Sherman both stated in their autobiographies that they felt Joan was too strict a parent. Allyson stated in her autobiography that she witnessed Joan put Christina in "time-out", and did not let her go to a friend's birthday party as a punishment. However these people never stated they witnessed any outright abuse.

On July 20, 1998, Cathy Crawford LaLonde filed a lawsuit against her sister Christina Crawford for defamation of character. LaLonde stated in her lawsuit that during the 20th-anniversary book tour of Mommie Dearest, Christina publicly claimed to interviewers that LaLonde and her twin sister, Cynthia, were not biological sisters and that their adoption was never legal. Lalonde stated neither claim by Christina was true and attached copies of the twin girls' birth certificates and adoption documentation to the lawsuit. The lawsuit was later settled out of court for $5,000 plus court costs. Lawyer Richard Orloski, representing the twins at the time, said, “We proved our point, and her adopted sister should now be careful in the future, knowing she’ll be held accountable for her words".

Epilogue
In 1981, the book was adapted into a movie, starring Faye Dunaway. Christina gave negative feedback about the film. For example, Christina never alleged to have been beaten by her mother; specifically, that she was never hit with a wire hanger, or that her mother chopped down a tree with an axe.

The last pages of Christina's book suggest that she was not about to let her mother have the "last word" by omitting her daughter from her will. Biographer Fred Laurence Guiles later reported that Christina began writing her book before Crawford's death. He has suggested that Joan's knowledge of its contents may have been a factor in her cutting her daughter from her will.

Christina later released a "20th Anniversary Edition", which included 100 pages of new material and omitted about 50 pages of original material. The second edition names specific individuals not named in the original book and focuses more on Christina's relationship with her mother from high school graduation until the 1970s. It also reveals what became of her brother and describes several incidents involving him.

Released by a smaller publishing company, the second edition included some novel promotional methods. This included Christina appearing at presentations of the Mommie Dearest film (based on the first edition of her book), where Christina lectured about the new edition of her book. Christina also appeared at readings with drag entertainer Lypsinka, who has made numerous appearances as Joan Crawford during stage acts.

In 2017 Crawford worked with lyricist and composer David Nehls on a stage musical adaptation of Mommie Dearest, which was produced by Out of the Box Theatrics in New York City.

References in other media
Saturday Night Live featured a sketch parodying Mommie Dearest on the ninth episode of its fourth season, airing on December 16, 1978. Jane Curtin portrayed Joan Crawford as mercurial, ill-tempered, and micromanaging. Gilda Radner played an exaggerated version of young Christina as mute and possibly mentally handicapped, puffing her cheeks out and crossing her eyes as she sauntered around the set. This sketch, which took place around Christmas, also featured Dan Aykroyd as Clark Gable, Bill Murray as Cary Grant, Laraine Newman as Katharine Hepburn, and guest host Elliott Gould as fictional character Archer Armstrong.

Victoria Beckham referenced the famous wire hangers scene in her music video for "Let Your Head Go".

An episode of the PBS Kids American-Canadian television series Arthur featured an episode titled "Caught In the Crosswires" in which the character Muffy Crosswire, who is extremely wealthy, shouts at her butler, Bailey, for hanging her clothes on wire hangers. She shouts out, "wire hangers? Wire hangers!?" before proceeding to tear her clothes from the hangers and squish the hangers with her bare hands; the scene was a reference to the infamous "wire hangers" scene from the Mommie Dearest book and its film adaptation.

Four years after Joan Crawford's death, Blue Öyster Cult released the song "Joan Crawford" as part of their album Fire of Unknown Origin (1981). In the final third of the song, there is a voice calling "Christina" with the lines "Mother's home" and "Come to mother". In the background, the word "No" is repeated over and over. This is in reference to parts described in the book.

The 1989 book Daddy's Boy: A Son's Shocking Account of Life with a Famous Father, is a comedic account of Chris Elliott's childhood, with rebuttals from his father, comedian Bob Elliott. It is an obvious parody of Mommie Dearest.

Editions

 * Mommie Dearest, Christina Crawford, William Morrow & Co., 1978, ISBN 0-688-03386-5, hardcover
 * Mommie Dearest, Christina Crawford, Seven Springs Press, 1997, ISBN 0-9663369-0-9, expanded edition. The book's 20th Anniversary Edition restored approximately 100 pages previously cut from the original 1978 printing.  Christina Crawford bought back the book rights.

title: Mommie Dearest


text:
Erma Bombeck

Erma Louise Bombeck (née Fiste; February 21, 1927 – April 22, 1996) was an American humorist who achieved great popularity for her newspaper humor column describing suburban home life, syndicated from 1965 to 1996. She published fifteen books, most of which became bestsellers.

Between 1965 and April 17, 1996 – five days before her death – Bombeck wrote over four thousand newspaper columns, using broad and sometimes eloquent humor, chronicling the ordinary life of a Midwestern suburban housewife. By the 1970s, her columns were read semi-weekly by 30 million readers of the nine hundred newspapers in the United States and Canada. Her work stands as a humorous chronicle of middle-class life in America after World War II, among the generation of parents who produced the Baby Boomers.

Early life
Erma Fiste was born in Bellbrook, Ohio, to a working-class family, and was raised in Dayton. Her parents were Erma (née Haines) and Cassius Edwin Fiste, who was the city crane operator. Young Erma lived with her elder paternal half-sister, Thelma. She began elementary school one year earlier than usual for her age, in 1932, and became an excellent student and an avid reader. She particularly enjoyed the popular humor writers of the time. After Erma's father died in 1936, she moved, with her mother, into her grandmother's home. Her mother remarried in 1938, to Albert Harris (a moving van owner). Erma practiced tap dance and singing, and worked for a local radio station for a children's revue for eight years.

Formative years
Erma entered Emerson Junior High School in 1940, and began writing a humorous column for its newspaper, The Owl. In 1942, she entered Parker (now Patterson) Vocational High School, where she wrote a serious column, mixing in bits of humor. That same year she began work at the Dayton Herald as a copygirl, sharing her full-time assignment with a girlfriend. In 1944, for her first journalistic work, she interviewed Shirley Temple, who visited Dayton, and the interview became a newspaper feature.

Having completed high school in 1944, Erma sought to earn a college scholarship fund; for a year she worked as a typist and stenographer, for the Dayton Herald and several other companies, and also did minor journalistic assignments (obituaries, etc.) for the Dayton Herald. Using the money she earned, Erma enrolled in Ohio University at Athens, Ohio, in 1946. However, she failed most of her literary assignments and was rejected for the university newspaper. She left after one semester when her funds ran out.

Erma later enrolled in the University of Dayton, a Catholic college. She lived in her family home and worked at Rike's, a department store, where she wrote humorous material for the company newsletter. In addition, she worked two part-time jobs – as a termite control accountant at an advertising agency and as a public-relations person at the local YMCA. While she was in college, her English professor, Bro. Tom Price, commented to Erma about her great prospects as a writer, and she began to write for the university student publication, The Exponent. She graduated in 1949 with a degree in English, and became a lifelong active contact for the university — helping financially and participating personally — and became a lifetime trustee of the institution in 1987. In 1949, she converted to Catholicism, from the United Brethren church, and married Bill Bombeck, a former fellow student of the University of Dayton, who was a veteran of the World War II Korean front. His subsequent profession was that of educator and school supervisor. Bombeck remained active in the church for the rest of her life.

Housewife (1954–1964)

The Bombecks were told by doctors that having a child was improbable, so they adopted a girl, Betsy, in 1953. Bombeck decided to become a full-time housewife and relinquished her career as a journalist. During 1954, Bombeck nevertheless wrote a series of humorous columns in the Dayton Shopping News.

Despite the former difficult diagnoses, Bombeck gave birth to her first son, Andrew, in 1956 and had her second son, Matthew, in 1958. The Bombeck family moved in 1959 to Centerville, Ohio, into a tract housing development, and were neighbors of Phil Donahue. The Bombeck home was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2015.

"At Wit's End" (1965)
Bombeck resumed her writing career for the local Kettering-Oakwood Times in 1964, with weekly columns that yielded $3 each. She wrote in her small bedroom. The following year the Dayton Journal Herald requested new humorous columns as well, and Bombeck agreed to write two weekly 450-word columns for $50. After three weeks, the articles went into national syndication through the Newsday Newspaper Syndicate, into 36 major U.S. newspapers, with three weekly columns under the title "At Wit's End".

Bombeck quickly became a popular humorist nationwide. Beginning in 1966, she began doing lectures in the various cities where her columns appeared. In 1967, her newspaper columns were compiled and published by Doubleday, under the title At Wit's End. And after a humorous appearance on Arthur Godfrey's radio show, she became a regular radio guest on the show.

Success (1970s)
Aaron Priest, a Doubleday representative, became Bombeck's agent. By 1969, five hundred U.S. newspapers featured her "At Wit's End" columns, and she was also writing for Good Housekeeping, Reader's Digest, Family Circle, Redbook, McCall's, and Teen magazines. Bombeck and her family moved to Phoenix, Arizona, to a lavish hacienda on a hilltop in Paradise Valley.

By 1978, nine hundred U.S. newspapers were publishing Bombeck's column.

McGraw-Hill (1976)
In 1976, McGraw-Hill published Bombeck's The Grass Is Always Greener Over the Septic Tank, which became a best-seller. In 1978, Bombeck arranged both a million-dollar contract for her fifth book, If Life Is a Bowl of Cherries, What Am I Doing in the Pits? and a 700,000-copy advance for her subsequent book, Aunt Erma's Cope Book (1979).

Television
At the invitation of television producer Bob Shanks, Bombeck participated in ABC's Good Morning America from 1975 until 1986. She began doing brief commentaries, which were recorded in Phoenix, and eventually did both gag segments and serious interviews.

For several years, Bombeck was occupied with multiple writing and TV projects. In 1978, she attempted a television pilot of The Grass Is Always Greener on CBS. In 1981, Bombeck wrote and produced her own show, the also unsuccessful Maggie, for ABC. It aired for just four months (eight episodes) to poor reviews. Bombeck was quickly becoming overworked, returning from Los Angeles to Phoenix only during weekends. Bombeck was offered a second sitcom attempt but she declined.

Equal Rights Amendment (1978)
In 1978, Bombeck was involved in the Presidential Advisory Committee for Women, particularly for the final implementation of the Equal Rights Amendment, with the ERA America organization's support. Bombeck was strongly criticized for this by conservative figures, and some U.S. stores reacted by removing her books. In 1972, the Equal Rights Amendment was proposed by the United States Congress to the states. Congress specified a seven-year period for ratification. Under Article V of the United States Constitution, ratification by at least three-fourths of the states is necessary, but at the end of the seven-year period, only 35 states had ratified, three less than the requirement. Of the 35 states that ratified the proposed amendment, five rescinded their ratifications prior to the deadline. Bombeck expressed dismay over this development..

Great popularity (1980s)
By 1985, Bombeck's three weekly columns were being published by 900 newspapers in the United States and Canada, and were also being anthologized into a series of best-selling books. She was also making twice-weekly Good Morning America appearances. Bombeck belonged to the American Academy of Humor Columnists, along with other famous personalities. During the 1980s, Bombeck's annual earnings ranged from $500,000 to $1 million a year.

She was the grand marshal for the 97th Tournament of Roses Parade held on January 1, 1986. The parade theme was "A Celebration of Laughter".

Death
Bombeck was diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease (an incurable and untreatable genetic condition) when she was twenty years old. She survived breast cancer and a mastectomy and kept secret the fact that she had kidney disease, enduring daily dialysis. She went public with her condition in 1993. After she spent years on a waiting list for a transplant, one kidney had to be removed, and the remaining one ceased to function. On April 3, 1996, she received a kidney transplant. She died on April 22, 1996, aged sixty-nine, from complications of the operation. Her remains are interred in the Woodland Cemetery, Dayton, Ohio. She was survived by her husband, Bill Bombeck (1927–2018), and their three children.

Books

 * At Wit's End, Doubleday, 1967.
 * Just Wait Until You Have Children of Your Own, Doubleday, 1971. Written with Bil Keane.
 * I Lost Everything in the Post-Natal Depression, Doubleday, 1974.
 * The Grass Is Always Greener Over the Septic Tank, McGraw-Hill, 1976.
 * If Life Is a Bowl of Cherries, What Am I Doing in the Pits?, McGraw-Hill, 1978.
 * Aunt Erma's Cope Book, McGraw-Hill, 1979.
 * Motherhood: The Second Oldest Profession, 1983.
 * Family — The Ties That Bind ... and Gag!, 1987.
 * I Want to Grow Hair, I Want to Grow Up, I Want to Go to Boise: Children Surviving Cancer, 1989. American Cancer Society's Medal of Honor in 1990. (Profits from the publication of this book were donated to a group of health-related organizations.)
 * When You Look Like Your Passport Photo, It's Time to Go Home, 1991.
 * A Marriage Made in Heaven ... or Too Tired for an Affair, 1993.
 * All I Know about Animal Behavior I learned in Loehmann's Dressing Room, ISBN 0060177888 HarperCollins 1995.
 * Forever, Erma: Best-Loved Writing from America's Favorite Humorist, Andrew McMeel Publishing, 1996.

Legacy
The Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop started in 2000 at the University of Dayton as a one-time event to commemorate the Bombeck family's gift of her papers to the university. The event proved so popular that it has been held every other year since then. The two-day, three-night workshop includes keynote speakers and breakout sessions on the topics of humor writing, human-interest writing, the publishing process, marketing for authors, and blogging, among other areas. Past keynote speakers have included Art Buchwald, Nancy Cartwright, Dave Barry, Garrison Keillor, Mike Peters, Bil Keane and Phil Donahue. More than 350 writers from around the country attend each workshop, which is held on the University of Dayton campus.

In 2004, University of Dayton alumnus Ralph Hamberg and his wife, Cindy, gave a $100,000 gift to start an endowment fund for the workshop, in memory of her cousin, Tom Price, a University of Dayton English professor who told Bombeck, "You can write!" The endowment helps keep the workshop affordable for writers. In addition, the University of Dayton's Alumni Association underwrites the cost of scholarships that allow University of Dayton students to attend for free.

The workshop has spawned a blog, Humorwriters.org; a documentary produced by ThinkTV and distributed nationally through American Public Television; an international writing competition hosted by the Washington-Centerville Public Library; an Ohio historical marker on the University of Dayton's campus; a monthly e-newsletter; a Facebook page; a Twitter feed; and an active online discussion group.

In 2006, the workshop created the world's longest Mad Lib. In 2010, CBS Sunday Morning With Charles Osgood aired a Mother's Day tribute to Bombeck, using the workshop as a backdrop. In 2013, AAA Journeys magazine traced Dayton's literary heritage and pointed to the University of Dayton's efforts to keep Bombeck's legacy alive through a workshop in her name. In 2014, Parade magazine featured a series of pieces about the workshop and Bombeck's enduring appeal.

A Chinese language translation of one of her works about her stepfather Albert Harris, "Father's Love", is included as one of the sixty oral reading passages in China's Putonghua Proficiency Test.

Awards and honors

 * 1978, Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement
 * 1978, Honorary Doctor of Letters, Rosary College
 * 1980, Ohio Women's Hall of Fame
 * 2018, Arizona Women's Hall of Fame

title: Erma Bombeck


text:
Tack (sailing)

A tack is a nautical term both for the lower, windward corner of a sail and, separately, for the windward side of a sailing craft (side from which the wind is coming while under way—the starboard or port tack. Generally, a boat is on a starboard tack if the wind is coming over the starboard (right) side of boat with sails on port (left) side. Similarly, a boat is on a port tack if the wind is coming over the port (left) side of boat.

Sail corner
The tack is the corner on a fore-and-aft sail where the luff (the forward edge) and foot (the bottom edge) connect and, on a mainsail, is located near where the boom and mast connect. On a square sail or a spinnaker, the tack is the windward clew (lower corner) and also the line holding down that corner; when the vessel changes course to have the other vertical edge of the sail to the wind, the other clew becomes the tack.

Wind direction on sailing vessel

As a point of reference, tack is the alignment of the wind with respect to a sailing craft under way. If the wind is from the starboard side of the sailing craft, it is on starboard tack, and if from port, on port tack. The International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea for vessels underway declare that when the courses of two sailing vessels converge, the vessel on port tack must give way to a vessel on starboard tack. The maneuver of changing a sailing craft's course from one tack to the other during which the wind direction is brought across the bow is called tacking; with the wind direction brought across the stern, it is called jibing for fore-and-aft rigged sailing craft, or wearing ship for square-rigged vessels.

When a boat is running with the wind coming directly from astern and the mainsail and jib are on opposite sides of the vessel, the windward side is considered to be that opposite to the site on which the mainsail is being carried. On a starboard tack the mainsail is on the port side; on a port tack the mainsail is on the starboard side.

title: Tack (sailing)


text:
User:Hal9500

'i'm a member of s.e.t. (society for the eradication of television). i do not have a working tv set in my home and encourage others to do the same.'

a student of social sciences (sozial-wissenschaften) at a pathetic german university.

title: User:Hal9500


text:
User talk:Hal9500

Hello Hal, welcome to Wikipedia!

I hope you have a lot of fun here.There are lots of resources around to help guide you. be sure to check out:

 * Naming conventions
 * Manual of Style

Also check out
 * image use policy before uploading any images

If you need any help try
 * Help
 * Village pump
 * My talk page User_talk:Jimfbleak.

Don't be afraid of making the odd mistake, there are any number of others eagerly waiting for a chance to correct it!

thx, i just hope i don't make all mistakes... well as long as i'm able to read your lips (e.g. correct your mistakes) everything should turn out both fine and funny.

title: User talk:Hal9500


text:
Carol Burnett

Carol Creighton Burnett (born April 26, 1933) is an American comedian, actress, and singer. Her comedy-variety show The Carol Burnett Show, which originally aired on CBS, was one of the first to be hosted by a woman. She has performed on Broadway, on television, and in film of varying genres, including dramatic and comedic roles. She has received numerous accolades, including seven Primetime Emmy Awards, a Tony Award, a Grammy Award, and seven Golden Globe Awards. Burnett was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005, the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2013, and the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2015.

Burnett was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas, until her family moved to Hollywood, living a block away from Hollywood Boulevard. She attended Hollywood High School and eventually studied theater and musical comedy at UCLA. Later, she performed in nightclubs in New York City and had a breakout success on Broadway in 1959 in Once Upon a Mattress, for which she received a Tony Award nomination. She soon made her television debut, regularly appearing on The Garry Moore Show for the next three years, and won her first Emmy Award in 1962. In July 1963 Burnett starred as Calamity Jane in the Dallas State Fair Musicals production of Calamity Jane and had her television special debut in 1963 when CBS aired that production on November 12, 1963.

Eventually, Burnett moved back to Los Angeles and began an 11-year run as star of The Carol Burnett Show on CBS television from 1967 to 1978. With its vaudeville roots, The Carol Burnett Show was a variety show that combined comedy sketches with song and dance. The comedy sketches included film parodies and character pieces. Burnett created many memorable characters during the show's run, and both she and the show won numerous Emmy and Golden Globe Awards. During and after her variety show, Burnett appeared in many television and film projects.

Burnett’s film roles include Pete 'n' Tillie (1972), The Front Page (1974), A Wedding (1978), The Four Seasons (1981), Annie (1982), Noises Off (1992), and Horton Hears a Who! (2008). She has acted in the dramas 6 Rms Riv Vu (1974) and Friendly Fire (1979); in guest roles such as in Mad About You, for which she won an Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series; and in various specials with Julie Andrews, Dolly Parton, and Beverly Sills. She returned to Broadway in Moon Over Buffalo (1995), receiving another Tony Award nomination. Recent acting roles include the AMC drama series Better Call Saul (2022) and the Apple TV+ comedy series Palm Royale (2024).

Burnett has written and narrated several memoirs, earning Grammy nominations for almost all of them, including a win for In Such Good Company. In 2019, the Golden Globes named an award after her for career achievement in television, the Carol Burnett Award, and Burnett received her first award. She was honored with an NBC special Carol Burnett: 90 Years of Laughter + Love celebrating her 90th birthday.

Early life and education
Carol Creighton Burnett was born on April 26, 1933, at Nix Hospital in San Antonio, Texas, the daughter of Ina Louise (née Creighton), a publicity writer for movie studios, and Joseph Thomas Burnett, a movie theater manager. Her maternal grandparents were William Henry Creighton (1873–1918) and Mabel Eudora "Mae" Jones (1885–1967). Her parents divorced in the late 1930s. Subsequently, both parents independently moved to Hollywood and Burnett moved with her grandmother to a one-room apartment near her mother. They lived in an impoverished area of Hollywood, California, in a boarding house with Burnett's younger half-sister Chrissie.

When Burnett was in second grade, she briefly invented an imaginary twin sister named Karen, with Shirley Temple-like dimples. She later recalled that, motivated to further the pretense, she "fooled the other boarders in the rooming house where we lived by frantically switching clothes and dashing in and out of the house by the fire escape and the front door. Then I became exhausted and Karen mysteriously vanished." When Burnett was nine, she taught herself how to do the "Tarzan yell", which she realized years later was a good vocal exercise for volume, and it became a fan favorite. Burnett's first experiences with singing were with her family. Her grandmother was a trained musician who could play the piano (although they did not have one at the time), and her mother played the ukulele, so they sometimes sang popular songs in harmony together around the kitchen table. Her grandmother frequently took Burnett and her sister to the movies. They would take a few rolls of toilet paper home from the theater. The movies she saw in her youth influenced the sketch content in The Carol Burnett Show.

She worked as an usherette at the Warner Brothers Theater (now the Hollywood Pacific Theatre). When the cinema screened Alfred Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train (1951), having already seen and enjoyed the film, she advised two patrons arriving during the last five minutes of a showing to wait until the beginning of the next showing to avoid spoiling the ending for them, but the couple insisted on being seated. The manager observed Burnett not letting the couple in and fired her, stripping the epaulettes from her uniform on the spot. Years later in the 1970s after achieving TV stardom, when the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce offered her a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, they asked her where she wanted it. She replied "Right in front of where the old Warner Brothers Theater was, at Hollywood and Wilcox", which is where it was placed, at 6439 Hollywood Blvd.

After graduating from Hollywood High School in 1951, she received an anonymous envelope containing $50 for one year's tuition at UCLA, where she initially planned on studying journalism. During her first year of college, she switched her focus to theater arts and English, with the goal of becoming a playwright. She found she had to take an acting course to enter the playwright program. On the subject, she later reflected: "I wasn't really ready to do the acting thing, but I had no choice." During her first performance, she got a sudden impulse to speak her lines in a new way. "Don't ask me why, but when we were in front of the audience, I suddenly decided I was going to stretch out all my words and my first line came out 'I'm baaaaaaaack!'" The audience response moved her deeply:They laughed and it felt great. All of a sudden, after so much coldness and emptiness in my life, I knew the sensation of all that warmth wrapping around me. I had always been a quiet, shy, sad sort of girl and then everything changed for me. You spend the rest of your life hoping you'll hear a laugh that great again.

During this time, she performed in several university productions, garnering recognition for her comedic and musical abilities. Her mother disapproved of her acting ambitions:She wanted me to be a writer. She said you can always write, no matter what you look like. When I was growing up she told me to be a little lady, and a couple of times I got a whack for crossing my eyes or making funny faces. Of course, she never, I never, dreamed I would ever perform.

The young Burnett, always insecure about her looks, responded many years later to her mother's advice of "You can always write, no matter what you look like" by noting "God, that hurt!" in her memoir One More Time (1986).

During her junior year at UCLA in 1954, a professor invited Burnett and some other students to perform at a party in place of their class final that had been canceled (which required a performance in front of an audience). Afterwards, a man and his wife approached her while Burnett was stuffing cookies in her purse to take home to her grandmother. Instead of reprimanding her, the man complimented her performance and asked about her future plans. When he learned that she wanted to travel to New York in order to try her luck in musical comedy but could not afford the trip, he offered her and her boyfriend (Don Saroyan) each, on the spot, a $1,000 interest-free loan; the man, who was a millionaire from La Jolla, California, wasn't affiliated with showbusiness and had earned his wealth from the shipbuilding industry. His conditions were simply that the loans were to be repaid within five years, his name was never to be revealed, and if she achieved success, she would help other aspiring talents to pursue their artistic dreams. Burnett took him up on his offer, and she and Saroyan left college and moved to New York to pursue acting careers. That same year, her father died of causes related to his alcoholism.

1955–1966: Rise to prominence
After spending her first year in New York working as a hat-check girl and failing to land acting jobs, Burnett, along with other girls living at the Rehearsal Club (a boarding house for women seriously pursuing acting careers), put on The Rehearsal Club Revue on March 3, 1955. They mailed invitations to agents, who showed up along with stars like Celeste Holm and Marlene Dietrich. Such attendance opened doors for several of the girls.

Burnett was cast in a minor role on The Paul Winchell and Jerry Mahoney Show in 1955. She played the girlfriend of a ventriloquist's dummy on the popular children's program. This role led to her starring role opposite Buddy Hackett in the short-lived sitcom Stanley from 1956 to 1957. After Stanley, Burnett found herself unemployed for a short time. A few months later she bounced back, becoming highly popular as a performer on the New York circuit of cabarets and night clubs, most notably for a hit parody number called "I Made a Fool of Myself Over John Foster Dulles" (Dulles was Secretary of State at the time). In 1957, she performed this number on both The Tonight Show and The Ed Sullivan Show. Dulles was asked about her on Meet the Press and joked, "I never discuss matters of the heart in public." Around this time she also worked as a regular on one of television's earliest game shows, Pantomime Quiz. On January 10, 1958, just as she was achieving her first small successes, her mother died. In October 1960, Burnett debuted at New York City's Blue Angel Supper Club, where she was discovered by scouts for The Jack Paar Show and The Ed Sullivan Show.

Burnett's first true taste of success came with her appearance on Broadway in the 1959 musical Once Upon a Mattress, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award; in the same year, she paid back her mysterious benefactor "to the day" after agreeing to her non-obligatory unsecured loan of $1,000. The same year, she became a regular player on The Garry Moore Show, a job that lasted until 1962. She won an Emmy Award that year for her "Outstanding Performance in a Variety or Musical Program or Series" on the show. She portrayed a number of characters, most memorably the put-upon cleaning woman. The character later became her signature alter-ego. With her success on the Moore Show, Burnett finally rose to headliner status and appeared in the special Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall (1962), co-starring with her friend Julie Andrews. The show was produced by Bob Banner, directed by Joe Hamilton and written by Mike Nichols and Ken Welch. Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Program Achievement in the Field of Music, and Burnett won an Emmy for her performance. She also guest-starred on a number of shows during this time, including The Twilight Zone episode "Cavender Is Coming".

In 1964, Burnett starred in the Broadway musical Fade Out – Fade In but was forced to withdraw after sustaining a neck injury in a taxi accident. She returned to the show later but withdrew again to participate in a variety show, The Entertainers, opposite Caterina Valente and Bob Newhart. The producers of Fade Out – Fade In sued the actress for breach of contract after her absences from the popular show caused its failure, but the suit was later dropped. The Entertainers ran for only one season. Around the same time, Burnett became good friends with Jim Nabors, who was enjoying great success with his series Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. As a result of their close friendship, she played a recurring role on Nabors' show as a tough corporal and later as a gunnery sergeant (starting with the episode "Corporal Carol"). Later, Nabors would be the first guest on her variety show each season, as she considered him to be her good-luck charm.

In 1959, Lucille Ball became a friend and mentor to Burnett. After having guested on Burnett's highly successful CBS-TV special Carol + 2 (1966) and having the younger performer reciprocate by appearing on The Lucy Show (1966-1967), it was rumored that Ball offered Burnett a chance to star on her own sitcom. In truth, Burnett was offered (but declined) Here's Agnes by CBS executives. The two women remained close friends until Ball's death in 1989. Ball sent flowers every year on Burnett's birthday. When Burnett awoke on the day of her 56th birthday in 1989, she discovered via the morning news that Ball had died. Later that afternoon, flowers arrived at Burnett's house with a note reading, "Happy Birthday, Kid. Love, Lucy."

In 1963 she made her feature film debut in comedy Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed? starring opposite Dean Martin and Elizabeth Montgomery. Burnett said of her role in the film, "I should have been given the award for “Worst Performance Ever Given in Movies by an Actress.” I was confused, bored and I missed the [live] audience. Nothing was spontaneous." During this time she acted in the CBS variety show The Entertainers alongside Bob Newhart and in an episode of the Mel Brooks and Buck Henry created spy comedy series Get Smart in 1966.

1967–1978: The Carol Burnett Show

In 1967, after CBS offered Burnett Here's Agnes, she exercised a stipulation in her ten-year contract with CBS that said she had five years from the date The Garry Moore Show ended to "push the button" on hosting thirty one-hour episodes of a music/comedy variety show. As a result, the hour-long Carol Burnett Show was born and debuted in September 1967, eventually garnering 23 Emmy Awards and winning or being nominated for multiple Emmy and Golden Globe Awards every season it was on the air. Its ensemble cast included Tim Conway (who was a guest player until the ninth season), Harvey Korman, Lyle Waggoner and the teenaged Vicki Lawrence, whom Burnett discovered and mentored. The network initially did not want her to do a variety show because it believed only men could be successful at variety, but her contract required that it give her one season of whatever kind of show she wanted to make. She chose to carry on the tradition of past variety show successes. During this time Burnett was the first celebrity to appear on the children's series Sesame Street, appearing on that series' first episode on November 10, 1969. She also made occasional returns to the stage in the 1970s and 1980s. In 1974, she appeared at the Muny Theatre in St. Louis, Missouri, in I Do! I Do! with Rock Hudson.

A true variety show, The Carol Burnett Show struck a chord with viewers. Among other subjects, it parodied films (Went with the Wind! for Gone with the Wind), television (As the Stomach Turns for the soap opera As the World Turns) and commercials. There were also frequent musical numbers. Burnett and her team struck gold with the original sketch "The Family", which eventually was spun off into the television show Mama's Family, starring Vicki Lawrence. She opened most shows with an impromptu question-and-answer session with the audience, lasting a few minutes, during which she often demonstrated her ability to humorously ad lib. On numerous occasions, she obliged when asked to perform her trademark Tarzan yell. She ended each show by tugging on her left ear, which was a message to her grandmother. This was done to let her know that she was doing well and that she loved her. During the show's run, her grandmother died. On an Intimate Portrait episode about Burnett, she tearfully recalled her grandmother's last moments: "She said to my husband Joe from her hospital bed 'Joe, you see that spider up there?' There was no spider, but Joe said he did anyhow. She said 'Every few minutes a big spider jumps on that little spider and they go at it like rabbits!!' And then she died. There's laughter in everything!" She continued the tradition of tugging her ear. The show ceased production in 1978. Four post-script episodes were produced and aired on ABC during the summer of 1979 under the title Carol Burnett & Company. The productions used essentially the same format and, with the exception of Harvey Korman and Lyle Waggoner, the same supporting cast. Beginning in 1977, the comedy sketches of her series were edited into half-hour episodes for syndication entitled Carol Burnett and Friends, which for many years proved to be extremely popular in syndication. In the digital age, the series began airing on MeTV in January 2015. Burnett starred in a few films while her variety show was running, including Pete 'n' Tillie (1972) and The Front Page (1974). She was nominated for an Emmy in 1974 for her role in the drama 6 Rms Riv Vu. The show's enduring popularity surprised many when a 2001 retrospective containing outtakes and discussions with the cast, and a tribute to Bob Mackie, drew in 30 million viewers, topping the Emmy Awards as well as all but the final game of that year's World Series. Her Grammy-winning memoir In Such Good Company is about the show, and Burnett tells about how it was developed, with anecdotes about improvisations, the cast, crew, and guests.

1979–1999: Film roles and return to Broadway
After her show ended, she assumed a number of roles that departed from comedy. She appeared in several dramatic roles, most notably in the television movie Friendly Fire. She appeared as Beatrice O'Reilly in the film Life of The Party: The Story of Beatrice, a story about a woman fighting her alcoholism. Her other film work includes Robert Altman's comedy-drama A Wedding (1978), Alan Alda's romantic comedy The Four Seasons (1981), John Huston's musical film Annie (1982), and Peter Bogdanovich's comedy Noises Off (1992). She took the supporting role of Carlotta Campion in the 1985 concert performance of Stephen Sondheim's Follies. In 1995, after an absence of 30 years, she was back on Broadway in Moon Over Buffalo, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play. Four years later, she appeared in the Broadway revue Putting It Together.

In the 1980s and 1990s, she made several attempts at starting a new variety program. She also appeared briefly on The Carol Burnett Show's "The Family" sketches' spinoff, Mama's Family, as her stormy character, Eunice Higgins. She played the matriarch in the cult comedy miniseries Fresno, which parodied the primetime soap opera Falcon Crest. In 1987 she starred in a variety sketch special, Carol, Carl, Whoopi and Robin alongside Carl Reiner, Whoopi Goldberg, and Robin Williams. That same year she starred in the TV movie Plaza Suite with Dabney Coleman and Hal Holbrook. She reunited with Julie Andrews in the ABC special Julie & Carol: Together Again which they performed at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood. She returned to television with the comedy series Carol & Company from 1990 to 1991. She guest starred as herself in The Larry Sanders Show in 1992 and in the sitcom Mad About You, playing Theresa Stemple, the mother of main character Jamie Buchman (Helen Hunt), for which she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series.

She made frequent appearances as a panelist on the game show Password, an association she maintained until the early 1980s (Mark Goodson awarded her his Silver Password All-Stars Award for best celebrity player; she's also credited with coming up with the title Password Plus, when it was originally titled Password '79). Burnett had long been a fan of the soap opera All My Children and realized a dream when Agnes Nixon created the role of Verla Grubbs for her in 1983. Burnett played the long-lost daughter of Langley Wallingford (Louis Edmonds), causing trouble for her stepmother Phoebe Tyler-Wallingford (Ruth Warrick). She made occasional appearances on the soap opera in each decade thereafter. She hosted a 25th-anniversary special about the show in 1995 and made a brief cameo appearance as Verla Grubbs on the January 5, 2005, episode which celebrated the show's 35th anniversary. She reprised her role as Grubbs in September 2011 as part of the series' finale. She also starred in television films such as Seasons of the Heart (1994).

2000–present: Pause and return to acting
Burnett's first voice role was in The Trumpet of the Swan in 2001. In 2008, she had her second role as an animated character in the film Horton Hears a Who! In 2012, she had another voice role as the character Hara in the US Disney-dubbed version of The Secret World of Arrietty. In 2019, she voiced a talking chair, named Chairol Burnett, in Toy Story 4. Burnett similarly returned to film in 2005 to star in a different role as Queen Aggravain in the movie version of Once Upon a Mattress. She guest-starred in season two episodes of Desperate Housewives as Bree's stepmother, Elanor Mason. In 2009, she made a guest appearance on the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, for which she was nominated for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series. In November 2010, she guest-starred on an episode of Glee as the mother of cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester. In 2014, Burnett joined two-time Tony Award Winner, Brian Dennehy, on Broadway in A. R. Gurney's Love Letters. She appeared on the reboot of Hawaii Five-0 as Steve McGarrett's Aunt Debbie. Her appearances, traditionally on Thanksgiving-themed episodes, were featured from 2013 until the character died of cancer in the January 15, 2016, episode.

Burnett has mostly stayed away from the spotlight, yet she still earns honorary awards for her groundbreaking work in comedy. For instance in 2013, she received the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor at the Kennedy Center. Those who were there to honor Burnett included her longtime friends and collaborators Julie Andrews, Vicki Lawrence and Tim Conway, as well as Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Rashida Jones and Martin Short. In 2017, CBS aired The Carol Burnett Show: 50th Anniversary Special. The event featured Burnett, original cast members Vicki Lawrence and Lyle Waggoner, costume designer Bob Mackie and special guests Jim Carrey, Kristin Chenoweth, Stephen Colbert, Harry Connick Jr., Bill Hader, Jay Leno, Jane Lynch, Bernadette Peters, Maya Rudolph and Martin Short. Burnett spoke about the adversity she endured, saying "They said it was a man's game—Sid Caesar, Dean Martin, Milton Berle—because it hadn't been done. But that doesn't mean it couldn't be done."

In 2019, the Golden Globes created an award in Burnett's name, the Carol Burnett Award, for career achievement in television. Burnett was also announced as the first recipient of the award. The Hollywood Foreign Press said in a statement, "For more than 50 years, comedy trailblazer Carol Burnett has been breaking barriers while making us laugh". Steve Carell presented the award to Burnett. In June 2022, Burnett guest starred in the second half of the sixth and final season of American drama series Better Call Saul, a spin-off, prequel, and sequel to Breaking Bad. Burnett was announced to be portraying a character named "Marion" on June 27, 2022, by AMC. Of how she got the role Burnett stated, "I was a big fan of Breaking Bad and I knew Vince Gilligan...When they started Better Call Saul, I got hooked on that and he said, ‘you know, maybe I’ll write something for you for Saul.’ I said, I don’t care if it’s one sentence. I’ll be there. Because I just love their writing. I spent two and a half months in New Mexico doing that and it was just a delight." Upon Burnett missing out on an Emmy nomination for her role, Daniel Feinberg of The Hollywood Reporter praised Burnett, lamenting the outcome and describing her performance "as a subtle symphony of world-weary nuance, a characterization that simultaneously matches the spirit-draining black-and-white texture of the series’ Omaha interludes and ties in perfectly with one of the most colorful chapters in the life of Bob Odenkirk’s Jimmy McGill/Saul Goodman."

On April 26, 2023, Burnett was honored for her music, film, television, and theatre roles by her friends and fellow actors and singers on her 90th birthday in the NBC special Carol Burnett: 90 Years of Laughter + Love, which was filmed at the Avalon Hollywood Theatre Numerous stars came out to pay tribute to Burnett including Julie Andrews, Cher, Ellen DeGeneres, Lily Tomlin, Amy Poehler, and Kristin Wiig. The special won the Emmy for Outstanding Variety Special (pre-recorded) at the 75th Creative Emmy Arts Emmy Awards. As an executive producer of the special, Burnett accepted the Emmy on behalf of the special's team. Burnett also presented the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series to Quinta Brunson for Abbott Elementary at the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards. Upon accepting the Emmy from Burnett, Brunson started to choke up saying, "I don’t even know why I’m so emotional. I think, like, the Carol Burnett of it all".

In March 2024, Burnett co-starred alongside Kristen Wiig, Allison Janney, and Laura Dern in the Apple TV+ comedy series Palm Royale. Her performance earned praise from critics with Tom Gliatto of People highlighted Burnett as the series "strongest" performance" adding, "Burnett plays Norma with an unforgiving toughness — even when she’s comatose — and, by some miracle, she projects the slapstick kick of her old CBS comedy show." Judy Berman of Time wrote "the legendary Carol Burnett [plays] the funniest convalescent you'll ever meet."

Acting credits and accolades
Burnett has received 23 Primetime Emmy Award nominations with 6 wins for her work in The Garry Moore Show, Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall, The Carol Burnett Show and Mad About You. She also received 18 Golden Globe Award nominations, winning 7 Awards, for her work on The Carol Burnett Show. She also received 3 Tony Awards and 3 Grammy Awards nominations, winning one of each.

Burnett also received various honors including 2 Peabody Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award and a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2003, she was honored with the Kennedy Center Honor. In 2005, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, awarded to her by President George W. Bush. In 2013, she received the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. In 2019 she became the first recipient of the Carol Burnett Lifetime Achievement Award for Television, which was named in her honor.

On her 90th birthday she was honored with an NBC variety special entitled, Carol Burnett: 90 Years of Laughter + Love where various collaborators and performers paid tribute to her. This included Julie Andrews, Vicki Lawrence, Lily Tomlin, Steve Carell, Amy Poehler, Ellen DeGeneres, Bob Odenkirk, and Cher among many others.

Marriages and family
Burnett married her college sweetheart Don Saroyan on December 15, 1955. They divorced in 1962.

On May 4, 1963, Burnett married television producer Joe Hamilton, a divorced father of eight and brother of actress Kipp Hamilton who had produced her 1962 Carnegie Hall concert. He later produced The Carol Burnett Show, among other projects. The couple had three daughters:
 * Carrie Hamilton (December 5, 1963 – January 20, 2002), who died at the age of 38 from pneumonia as a complication of lung and brain cancer. She was a writer and an actress.
 * Jody Hamilton (born January 18, 1967), a film producer and, as of 2023, the executive producer of The Stephanie Miller Show and an occasional actress.
 * Erin Hamilton (born August 14, 1968), a singer.

In early 1965 she had a miscarriage while in her ninth week of pregnancy.

Their marriage ended in divorce in 1984. The challenge of coping with Carrie's drug problems was mentioned as part of the reason for the separation, but the couple took the opportunity to inform other parents about handling such problems and raised money for the clinic in which Carrie was treated. In 1988, Burnett and Carrie took a trip to Moscow to help introduce the first Alcoholics Anonymous branch in the Soviet Union. Joe Hamilton died of cancer in 1991. Also in the 1980s, Burnett participated in a publicity campaign for MedicAlert, of which she is symbolically the one millionth member with the one millionth bracelet.

On November 24, 2001, Burnett married drummer Brian Miller who is 23 years her junior.

Burnett has enjoyed close friendships with Lucille Ball, Beverly Sills, Jim Nabors (who became the godfather to her daughter Jody), Julie Andrews and Betty White. She is the acting mentor to Vicki Lawrence. They share a close friendship, as noted by Lawrence in a testimonial speech during her appearance at Burnett's 2013 Mark Twain Award in Washington, D.C. (recorded and broadcast on PBS Television).

In August 2020, Burnett and her husband petitioned to receive guardianship of Burnett's teenage grandson. Burnett is already "educational rights holder", meaning that she is the one who makes decisions about her grandson Dylan’s schooling. Burnett and Miller subsequently held temporary guardianship of the child from September 2020 to November 2021, at which point Dylan’s case worker assumed the role.

Philanthropy
In keeping with her promise to the anonymous benefactor who assisted her in 1954, she has contributed to scholarship programs at UCLA and the University of Hawaii to help people in financial need.

Discography
Recording appearances as a singer:

Solo/duet albums

 * Carol Burnett Remembers How They Stopped the Show (1961). Decca. LP, digital.
 * Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall – Julie Andrews and Carol Burnett (1962). Recording from Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall TV special. Columbia Masterworks. LP, CD, digital.
 * Let Me Entertain You: Carol Burnett Sings (1964). Decca. LP, CD, digital.
 * Carol Burnett Sings (1967). RCA. LP, CD, digital.
 * Here's Carol! Carol Burnett Sings (1968). Vocalion. LP, digital.
 * Together Again for the First Time – Carol Burnett and Martha Raye (1968). Tetragrammaton Records. LP.
 * Julie and Carol at Lincoln Center – Julie Andrews and Carol Burnett (1971). Recording from Julie and Carol at Lincoln Center TV special. Columbia Masterworks. LP, CD, digital.
 * Carol Burnett Featuring 'If I Could Write a Song' (1972). Columbia. LP, CD, digital.
 * Julie Andrews and Carol Burnett: The CBS Television Specials – Julie Andrews and Carol Burnett (2012). Compilation of albums Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall and Julie and Carol at Lincoln Center. Masterworks Broadway. CD, digital.

Other recordings

 * Once Upon a Mattress – Original Cast Recording (1959). Kapp Records. LP, CD, digital.
 * Three Billion Millionaires – Various Artists (1963). United Nations. LP.
 * Fade Out – Fade In – Original Broadway Cast (1964). ABC-Paramount. LP, CD, digital.
 * Annie: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack – Various Artists (1982). Columbia. LP, CD, digital.
 * Follies: In Concert – Various Artists (1985). RCA. LP, CD, digital.
 * Sherry! The Broadway Musical – Studio Cast (2004). Angel Records. CD, digital.
 * Annie: The Broadway Musical – 30th Anniversary Production – Various Artists (2008). Time Life. CD, digital.

Litigation
Burnett v. National Enquirer, Inc.

In 1976, a false report in the tabloid newspaper The National Enquirer incorrectly implied that Burnett had been drunk and boisterous in public at a restaurant with U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in attendance. The fact that both of her parents suffered from alcoholism made this a particularly sensitive issue to her. Through years of persistent litigation, she won a judgment against the Enquirer in 1981. Though the initial jury award of $1.6 million was reduced to $200,000 after a series of appeals, and the final settlement was out of court, the event was widely viewed as a historic victory for libel victims of tabloid journalism.

Carol Burnett and Whacko, Inc. vs. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

In 2007, Burnett and Whacko, Inc. brought a suit against 20th Century Fox demanding at least $2 million in damages after an animated likeness of Burnett appeared in the 2006 episode "Peterotica" of the animated sitcom Family Guy. In the episode, the characters discuss the cleanliness of a porn shop, with one character stating that it is so clean because Burnett works there as a janitor. Burnett is then shown as her well-known charwoman character, mopping the floor in the porn shop, while a modified version of "Carol's Theme", the theme song used in The Carol Burnett Show, plays. The characters subsequently discuss Burnett's ear tug and make a crude comment about it. The lawsuit alleged copyright infringement, violation of publicity rights and misappropriation of Burnett's name and likeness. In addition to damages, Burnett and her company demanded that Fox remove all references to her, the theme and the character. The studio refused. The court ruled in favor of the defendant because the bit was a parody, which is protected by the First Amendment, particularly by Fair Use doctrine.

title: Carol Burnett