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Christine Chapel

Christine Chapel is a fictional character who appears in all three seasons of the American science fiction television series Star Trek: The Original Series, as well as Star Trek: The Animated Series and the films Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Portrayed by Majel Barrett, she was the ship's nurse on board the Starfleet starship USS Enterprise. A younger version of Chapel appears in the 2022 series Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, portrayed by Jess Bush.

Barrett had previously been cast under her real name as Number One in the first pilot for the series, "The Cage", during her romantic relationship with the series creator Gene Roddenberry. But following feedback from network executives, she was not in the cast for the second pilot.

The character made her first appearance in "The Naked Time" following a re-write of the script by Roddenberry. He had been inspired after Barrett read a proposal for the episode "What Are Little Girls Made Of?" and bleached her hair blonde to better fit a role in that episode. The change of color caused Roddenberry to believe that NBC executives might not notice that Barrett had returned against their wishes. However, the executives immediately recognized Barrett. The character was featured in several episodes covering several broad themes, such as showing her feelings for Spock (Leonard Nimoy) and why she joined Starfleet. By the time of The Motion Picture, Chapel was a doctor and during the events of The Voyage Home, she was stationed at Starfleet Command.

Executive producer Robert H. Justman was initially critical of Barrett's performance as Chapel, but recanted this opinion after her appearance as Lwaxana Troi in the Star Trek: The Next Generation. Barrett herself was not fond of the Chapel character, and David Gerrold felt that she only served to demonstrate Spock's emotionless behavior. Critics saw the character as being a degradation for Barrett compared to her first character. While the position of nurse was seen as a stereotype, the character's promotion to doctor was praised. Certain episodes featuring her were criticized, such as "Amok Time", where the plot prevented her from having a relationship with Spock, and "What Are Little Girls Made Of?", where it was suggested she was featured to the detriment of other characters. Among fans, she was initially unpopular due to her feelings for Spock, but prior to the 2009 film Star Trek, there was a desire to see her return.

Concept and development
Prior to working on Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry had been developing a variety of television pilots for Screen Gems. One actress he auditioned was Majel Leigh Hudec, later to use the name Majel Barrett. Later when he created the drama series The Lieutenant, he cast her in the episode "In the Highest Tradition". They quickly became friends, and entered into a romantic relationship although Roddenberry was married at the time. During the development of the first pilot for Star Trek: The Original Series ("The Cage"), Roddenberry wrote the part of Number One (the ship's second in command) specifically for Barrett. There was reluctance from the NBC executives to agree to an actress who was almost unknown. Roddenberry did see other actresses for the part, but no one else was considered.

Executive producer Herbert Franklin Solow attempted to sell them on the idea that a fresh face would bring believability to the part, but they were aware that she was Roddenberry's girlfriend. Despite this they agreed to her casting, not wanting to upset Roddenberry at this point in the production. After the pilot was rejected, a second pilot was produced. While it was generally explained that the network disliked a female character as the second-in-command of the Enterprise, Solow had a different opinion of events. He explained that "No one liked her acting... she was a nice woman, but the reality was, she couldn't act." "Where No Man Has Gone Before" successfully took Star Trek to a series order. Barrett had been given the role of voicing the computer on the USS Enterprise, but was demanding that Roddenberry write her into the main cast.

After seeing the initial proposal for "What Are Little Girls Made Of?", Barrett felt that she could play the woman who went into space to find her fiancé. She dyed her hair blonde in an attempt to fit the role. Barrett sought to surprise Roddenberry at his office, but he walked right past her, not recognizing who she was. It was only when he came back out to give his secretary some papers that he realized it was Barrett. They had the idea that it might get her past the NBC executives and back onto the show. The character of Christine Ducheaux was subsequently changed to Christine Chapel by Roddenberry, as a play on the Sistine Chapel. No other actresses were considered for the role.

At the same time, story editor John D.F. Black wrote the initial script for "The Naked Time", also early in the first season. The story featured a virus being transmitted among the ship's crew, which removed their inhibitions. One element of Black's story featured the addition of a nurse in sickbay, working with Doctor Leonard McCoy. Chapel was written into both these episodes by Roddenberry. The deception did not work, with NBC executive Jerry Stanley commenting simply "Well, well – look who's back" to Solow. Roddenberry saw to it that the character of Christine Chapel would become a recurring one throughout the series, on-par with Uhura. She remained unsatisfied with the role, but appreciated that since NBC had already fired her once, Roddenberry could not expand the role.

For Star Trek: The Animated Series, Barrett was initially set to reprise the role of Chapel as well as voicing Uhura. Likewise James Doohan was to voice both his own Scotty as well as Hikaru Sulu. However, following the intervention of Leonard Nimoy, Nichelle Nichols and George Takei were both brought back to voice their own characters. Barrett returned in Star Trek: The Motion Picture as Chapel, which she described as a "very minimal role", saying that "If no one had called me Commander Chapel, the audience wouldn't really know that I was there." Barrett said in the film franchise Chapel got lost along the way, not appearing in the second or third films despite her view that she was a main character in The Original Series. Nimoy brought back the character for Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, and Barrett was grateful for his decision. The character was subsequently mentioned in the 2009 film Star Trek, which saw the characters from The Original Series re-cast. Chapel was one of the suggested possibilities for Alice Eve to play in the sequel, Star Trek Into Darkness. It was later revealed that she was portraying Carol Marcus.

In Star Trek: Strange New Worlds the Chapel-character returned to the franchise, this time played by Australian actress Jess Bush. Bush chooses not to use her native Australian accent for the performance, a choice she states that helps her get into character physically and mentally.

In speaking with The Daily Beast in mid-2023 about Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' LGBTQ+ representation—and her portrayal of a bisexual character—Bush unhesitatingly told the interviewer, "I'm queer". Bush said about the role: "I am so delighted that there's more representation for all expressions of sexuality and gender in Star Trek. That’s really exciting to me, and I’m really proud to be a part of that representation."

In 2022 Bush was nominated for her role for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Streaming Series.

Appearances
In "What Are Little Girls Made Of?", it is explained that Chapel abandoned a career in bioresearch for a position in Starfleet. She had hoped that this would reunite her with her fiancé Dr. Roger Korby (Michael Strong), incommunicado following his expedition to the planet Exo III. Five years after Korby's disappearance, Chapel is assigned to the USS Enterprise where she serves as head nurse, working under Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley).

While on board the ship, she begins to develop feelings for Spock (Leonard Nimoy), admitting as much in "The Naked Time". Her actions in that episode resulted in the Psi 2000 intoxication unwittingly being further spread among the crew. The ship reached Exo III in "What Are Little Girls Made Of?". Captain Kirk (William Shatner) and Chapel beam down and discover Korby had been exploiting a sophisticated android manufacturing technology on the planet. After Chapel is horrified to find out that Korby had transplanted his personality into an android replica, he kills himself in despair. Roddenberry later co-wrote in The Making of Star Trek that the actions of that episode resulted in Chapel breaking her ties to Earth and devoting herself to Starfleet service.

After Korby's death, Chapel doubts if she should stay aboard but elects to remain with the Enterprise throughout the five-year mission. Chapel's feelings for Spock were revisited and alluded to only a few times in the series, most notably in "Plato's Stepchildren". In the episode, the Platonians telekinetically force Chapel and Spock to kiss passionately. This humiliates Chapel despite her long-standing feelings for him. In the episode "Amok Time", she brings Spock some soup to help him through a sacred Vulcan ritual, the Pon farr. He angrily refuses the soup and throws it at the wall, but later thanks Chapel for her thoughtfulness.

Chapel appeared in two of the Star Trek films featuring The Original Series cast. In Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Chapel had become a doctor on board the Enterprise. Her second appearance was in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, where she and Janice Rand (Grace Lee Whitney) were stationed in Starfleet Headquarters in San Francisco. In the 2009 film Star Trek, a Nurse Chapel is mentioned by McCoy (Karl Urban). In the 2013 film Star Trek Into Darkness, Carol Marcus (Alice Eve) tells Kirk (Chris Pine) that after being with him, Chapel left to become a nurse.

Since the start of the Star Trek: Strange New World series in 2022, the Chapel character has appeared in all but one of the episodes in the first two seasons.

Cast and crew
Executive producer Robert H. Justman did not care for Chapel; he described her as a "wimpy, badly written, and ill-conceived character." He added that the additional camera lenses used by director Jerry Finnerman in that episode for close-ups of her quivering lip only "served to emphasize the lack of character written into the character." He had complained to Roddenberry of Barrett's acting skills, but stopped when he became aware of their relationship. It was only after Barrett's first appearance as Lwaxana Troi in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Haven", that he came to realize that it was the Chapel character he disliked, not Barrett herself, and told her that his opinion had changed. Barrett also did not care for the character of Chapel, saying "I've never been a real aficionado of Nurse Chapel, I figured she was kind of weak and namby-pamby."

Writer David Gerrold, who worked with the staff of The Original Series following his work on the episode "The Trouble with Tribbles", described Chapel as being one of a second-tier set of characters including Uhura, Scotty, and Sulu, who were not given as much exposure during the series as the main characters of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. He explained that she was the only one of the second level of characters whose motivations were explored, but her primary focus on board the ship was simply to be in love with Spock. Gerrold explained that there was a need to demonstrate the "aloofness" of the Vulcan character, and so this resulted in a character whose love of him needed to be rebuffed, thus giving Chapel her purpose. He suggested that this caused the fandom to dislike Chapel because "female fans saw her as a threat to their own fantasies and male fans saw her as a threat to Spock's Vulcan stoicism." Gerrold added that those fans were surprised when they met Barrett at science fiction conventions, as they found her likable in person. By the time of the 2009 film Star Trek, the character had become more popular among fans, who were asking if she would appear in the new films.

Critical reception
In her essay "The Audience as Auteur. Women, Star Trek and 'Vidding'" in the book Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek: The Original Cast Adventures, Francesca Coppa said that she saw the switch from Number One to Chapel for Barrett as "degradation on every level: role, status and image". The role was described as "consolation" in Cary O'Dell's book June Cleaver Was a Feminist!: Reconsidering the Female Characters of Early Television, but it was felt that Barrett "made the most of it". The position of a nurse was described by O'Dell as a traditional female role, but that Chapel would stand up to McCoy's orders when required. Her promotion to Doctor in The Motion Picture was praised by author Gladys L. Knight in her book Female Action Heroes: A Guide to Women in Comics, Video Games, Film, and Television.

Reviewers were critical of her relationship with Spock, with Jan Johnson-Smith describing Chapel in American Science Fiction TV as "a woman condemned to forever lust after the elusive Vulcan" and noting that she is one of several female characters in the series who are "depicted as recognizable stereotypes". Coppa also discussed this, calling the character as being a typical damsel in distress, existing "merely to pine". But the relationship was also seen positively, with Torie Atkinson, at Tor.com, said of Chapel in "Amok Time" that "her affection is so transparent and sweet." In The Making of Star Trek by Roddenberry and Stephen E. Whitfield, her feelings toward Spock are said to not be unique since they are shared by many of the female crew on board the Enterprise. It is also further explained that McCoy is aware of her feelings, but displays "fatherly affection" towards her and never "chides" her for this.

Her appearances in episodes were commented on, with Wei Ming Dariotis critical of the single-mindedness of the plot for "Amok Time" in not allowing Spock to have sex with Chapel, or any other woman, and thus solve the problem of his Pon farr. But Eugene Myers at Tor.com praised Chapel, saying that the most interesting part of "What Are Little Girls Made Of?" was that it was based primarily on her, while Keith DeCandido said that this resulted in the episode being the "Kirk-and-Chapel show" to the detriment of the other characters.

In 2016, Nurse Christine Chapel was ranked as the 60th most important character of Starfleet within the Star Trek science fiction universe by Wired magazine, out of 100 characters.

Heavy described Jess Bush's latest interpretation of the character as "very different [...] fun, irreverent, and a bit of a live wire." On the difference between her own portrayal of Chapel and Barrett's Bush noted: "I think that when I watched Majel's performance, what I distilled most from that, what I took from that, was her candor and her humor and her wit. But those things were just little seedlings. In the 2021 rebirth of her, there's so much more to her, I think. [...] She's got this lust for life and this mischievous nature that I love to embody. She's been through some stuff, actually.

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Harry Gordon Selfridge

Harry Gordon Selfridge, Sr. (11 January 1858 – 8 May 1947) was an American retail magnate who founded the London-based department store Selfridges. The early years of his leadership of Selfridges led to his becoming one of the most respected and wealthy retail magnates in the United Kingdom. He was known as the 'Earl of Oxford Street'.

Born in Ripon, Wisconsin, and raised in Jackson, Michigan, Selfridge delivered newspapers and left school at 14 when he found work at a bank in Jackson. Selfridge eventually obtained a stock boy position at Marshall Field's department store in Chicago, where over the next 25 years, he rose to become a partner. In 1890, he married the wealthy Rose Buckingham who was from a prominent Chicago family.

In 1906, following a trip to London, Selfridge invested £400,000 to build a new department store in what was then the unfashionable western end of Oxford Street. Selfridges, Oxford Street, opened to the public on 15 March 1909, and Selfridge remained chairman until 1941. In 1947, he died in London at age 89.

Early life
Selfridge was born to Robert Oliver Selfridge and Lois Frances Selfridge (née Baxter) in Ripon, Wisconsin, on 11 January 1858, one of three boys. Within months of his birth, the family moved to Jackson, Michigan, as his father had acquired the town's general store. At the outbreak of the American Civil War, his father joined the Union Army. He rose to the rank of major, before being honorably discharged. However, he abandoned his family, not returning home after the war ended.

This left his wife Lois to bring up three young boys. Selfridge's two brothers died at a very young age shortly after the war ended, so Harry became his mother's only child. She found work as a schoolteacher and struggled financially to support both of them. She supplemented her low income by painting greeting cards, and eventually became headmistress of Jackson High School. Selfridge and his mother enjoyed each other's company and were good friends; she lived with him and his family until her death in 1924.

Career
At the age of 10, Selfridge began to contribute to the family income by delivering newspapers. Aged 12, he started working at the Leonard Field's dry-goods store. This allowed him to fund the creation of a boys' monthly magazine with schoolfriend Peter Loomis, making money from the advertising carried within.

Selfridge left school at 14 and found work at a bank in Jackson. After failing his entrance examinations to the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, Selfridge became a bookkeeper at the local furniture factory of Gilbert, Ransom & Knapp. However, the company closed four months later, and Selfridge moved to Grand Rapids to work in the insurance industry.

In 1876, his ex-employer, Leonard Field, agreed to write Selfridge a letter of introduction to Marshall Field in Chicago, who was a senior partner in Field, Leiter & Company, one of the most successful stores in the city (which soon became Marshall Field and Company). Initially employed as a stock boy in the wholesale department, over the following 25 years, Selfridge worked his way up. He was eventually appointed a junior partner, married Rosalie Buckingham (of the prominent Chicago Buckinghams) and amassed a considerable personal fortune.

After their marriage, the couple lived for some time with Rose's mother on Rush Street in Chicago. They later moved to their own home on Lake Shore Drive. The Selfridges also built an imposing mansion called Harrose Hall in mock Tudor style on Geneva Lake in Wisconsin, complete with large greenhouses and extensive rose gardens. Over the next decade, the couple had five children:
 * Chandler Selfridge (b and d 7 August 1891)
 * Rosalie Selfridge (10 September 1893 – October 1977) – she married Serge Vincent de Bolotoff, Prince Wiasemsky on 7 August 1918.
 * Violette Selfridge (5 June 1897 – 1996) – she married Jacques Jean de Sibour on 4 May 1921 and they were divorced in February 1949.
 * Gordon Selfridge (2 April 1900 – 30 November 1976) – he married Charlotte Elsie Dennis on 10 June 1940.
 * Beatrice Selfridge (30 July 1901 – 1990) – she married twice; first to Comte Louis de Sibour and then to Frank L. Lewis

Throughout their married life, Harry's mother, Lois, lived with the family. While at Marshall Field, Selfridge was the first to promote Christmas sales with the phrase "Only _____ Shopping Days Until Christmas", a catchphrase that was quickly picked up by retailers in other markets. Selfridge or Marshall Field are usually cited as the originators of the phrase "The customer is always right."

In 1904, Harry opened his own department store called Harry G. Selfridge and Co. in Chicago. However, after only two months he sold the store at a profit to Carson, Pirie and Co. He then decided to retire, and for the next two years puttered around his properties, mainly Harrose Hall. He also bought a steam yacht, which he rarely used, and played golf.

London and the Selfridges department store
In 1906, when Selfridge travelled to London on holiday with his wife, he noticed that although the city was a cultural and commercial leader, its stores could not rival Field's in Chicago or the great galleries of Parisian department stores.

Recognizing a gap in the market, Selfridge, who had become bored with retirement, decided to invest £400,000 in a new department store of his own, locating it in what was then the unfashionable western end of London's Oxford Street but which was opposite an entrance to the Bond Street tube station. The new store opened to the public on 15 March 1909, setting new standards for the retailing business.

Selfridge promoted the radical notion of shopping for pleasure rather than necessity. The store was extensively promoted through advertising. The shop floors were structured so that goods could be made more accessible to customers. There were elegant restaurants with modest prices, a library, reading and writing rooms, special reception rooms for French, German, American and "Colonial" customers, a First Aid Room, and a Silence Room, with soft lights, deep chairs, and double-glazing, all intended to keep customers in the store as long as possible. Staff members were taught to be on hand to assist customers, but not too aggressively, and to sell the merchandise. Oliver Lyttelton observed that, when one called on Selfridge, he would have nothing on his desk except one's letter, smoothed and ironed.

Selfridge also managed to obtain from the GPO the privilege of having the number "1" as its own phone number, so anybody had to just ask the operator for Gerrard 1 to be connected to Selfridge's operators. In 1909, Selfridge proposed a subway link to Bond Street station; however, contemporaneous opposition quashed the idea.

Selfridge's prospered during World War I and up to the mid-1930s. The Great Depression was already taking its toll on Selfridge's retail business and his lavish spending had run up a £150,000 debt to his store. He became a British subject in 1937. By 1940, he owed £250,000 in taxes and was in debt to the bank. In his 80s, the Selfridges board forced him out in 1941. In 1951, the original Oxford Street Selfridges was acquired by the Liverpool-based Lewis's chain of department stores, which was in turn taken over in 1965 by the Sears Group owned by Charles Clore. Expanded under the Sears group to include branches in Manchester and Birmingham, in 2003 the chain was acquired by Canada's Galen Weston for £598 million.

Personal life
In 1890, Selfridge married Rosalie "Rose" Buckingham of the prominent Buckingham family of Chicago. Her father was Benjamin Hale Buckingham, who was a member of a very successful family, with a real estate business established by her grandfather, Alvah Buckingham. At 30 years old, Rose was a successful property developer, having inherited money and expertise from her family. Rose had purchased land in Harper Ave, Hyde Park, Chicago and built 42 villas and artists cottages within a landscaped environment. The couple had five children: three girls and two boys (though their first son died soon after birth).

At the height of his success, Selfridge leased Highcliffe Castle in Hampshire, from Major General Edward James Montagu-Stuart-Wortley. In addition, he purchased Hengistbury Head, a mile-long promontory on England's southern coast, where he planned to build a magnificent castle; these plans never got off the drawing board, however, and in 1930 the Head was put up for sale. Although only a tenant at Highcliffe, he set about fitting modern bathrooms, installing steam central heating and building and equipping a modern kitchen. During World War I, Rose opened a tented retreat at Highcliffe called the Mrs Gordon Selfridge Convalescent Camp for American Soldiers on the castle grounds. Selfridge gave up the lease in 1922.

Selfridge's wife Rose died during the influenza pandemic of 1918; his mother, who lived with them, died in 1924. As a widower, Selfridge had numerous liaisons, including those with the celebrated Dolly Sisters and the divorcée Syrie Barnardo Wellcome, who would later become better known as the decorator Syrie Maugham. He also began and maintained a busy social life and entertained lavishly both at his home in Lansdowne House, located at 9 Fitzmaurice Place, Mayfair, just off Berkeley Square, and on his private yacht, the SY Conqueror, with VIP guests such as Rudyard Kipling cruising the Mediterranean. Lansdowne House displays a blue plaque noting that Gordon Selfridge lived there from 1921 to 1929.

Later life and death
During the years of the Great Depression, Selfridge's fortune rapidly declined and then disappeared—a situation not helped by his free-spending ways. He gambled frequently and often lost. He also spent money on various showgirls.

On 8 May 1947, Selfridge died of bronchial pneumonia at his home in Putney, south-west London, aged 89. His funeral was held on 12 May at St. Mark's Church in Highcliffe, after which he was buried in St Mark's Churchyard next to his wife and his mother.

Selfridge's children were Chandler, who died shortly after birth; Rosalie, who married Serge de Bolotoff, later Wiasemsky; Violette (who wrote the book Flying gypsies: the chronicle of a 10,000-mile air vagabondage and married first Vicomte Jacques Jean de Sibour and second Frederick T. Bedford); Harry Jr. "Gordon"; and Beatrice. Selfridge's grandson, Oliver, who died in 2008, became a pioneer in artificial intelligence. His grandson Ralph, who also died in 2008, was a professor of mathematics and computer science at the University of Florida from 1961 to 2002 and was called by many "the grandfather of digital simulation."

Writings
Selfridge wrote a book, The Romance of Commerce, published by John Lane—The Bodley Head, in 1918, but actually written several years prior. In it are chapters on ancient commerce, China, Greece, Venice, Lorenzo de' Medici, the Fugger family, the Hanseatic League, fairs, guilds, early British commerce, trade and the Tudors, the East India Company, north England's merchants, the growth of trade, trade and the aristocracy, Hudson's Bay Company, Japan, and representative businesses of the 20th century.

Among the more popular quotations attributed to Selfridge:

 * "People will sit up and take notice of you if you will sit up and take notice of what makes them sit up and take notice."
 * "The boss drives his men; the leader coaches them."
 * "The boss depends upon authority, the leader on goodwill."
 * "The boss inspires fear; the leader inspires enthusiasm."
 * "The boss says 'I'; the leader, 'we'."
 * "The boss fixes the blame for the breakdown; the leader fixes the breakdown."
 * "The boss knows how it is done; the leader shows how."
 * "The boss says 'Go'; the leader says 'Let's go!'"
 * "The customer is always right."

Television
The British period television drama series Mr Selfridge began its first season in 2013, starring Jeremy Piven as Harry Gordon Selfridge.

Secrets of Selfridges, produced by the independent UK company Pioneer Productions in its "Secrets of Britain" series, was an hour-long documentary about the London store and Harry Selfridge.

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

title: Harry Gordon Selfridge


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Ruby-crowned kinglet

The ruby-crowned kinglet (Corthylio calendula) is a very small passerine bird found throughout North America. It is a member of the kinglet family. The bird has olive-green plumage with two white wing bars and a white eye-ring. Males have a red crown patch, which is usually concealed. The sexes are identical (apart from the crown), and juveniles are similar in plumage to adults. It is one of the smallest songbirds in North America. The ruby-crowned kinglet is not closely related to other kinglets and was moved from Regulus to its own genus, Corthylio, in 2021. Three subspecies are currently recognized.

The kinglet is migratory, and its range extends from northwest Canada and Alaska south to Mexico. Its breeding habitat is spruce-fir forests in the northern and mountainous regions of the United States and Canada. The ruby-crowned kinglet builds a cup-shaped nest, which may be pensile or placed on a tree branch and is often hidden. It lays up to 12 eggs, and has the largest clutch of any North American passerine for its size. It is mainly insectivorous, but also eats fruits and seeds.

Taxonomy
The ruby-crowned kinglet was formally described in 1766 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the twelfth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Motacilla calendula. Linnaeus based his description on "The Ruby-crowned wren" that had been described and illustrated in 1758 by English naturalist George Edwards in his Gleanings of Natural History. Edwards had received dried specimens sent by the American naturalist William Bartram from Pennsylvania. The French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760 had also published a description based on Edwards and had coined the Latin name Calendula Pensilvanica. Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. Linnaeus specified the locality as Pennsylvania but this is now restricted to Philadelphia.

The kinglets are a small group of birds formerly included in the Old World warblers, but now given family status, especially as recent research showed that, despite superficial similarities, the crests are taxonomically remote from the warblers.

The ruby-crowned kinglet was formerly placed in the genus  Regulus. As a result of its larger size, strongly red (rather than orange or yellow) crest and lack of black crown stripes, as well as its distinctive vocalisations, the ruby-crowned kinglet is considered different enough from the Old World kinglets and the other American species, the golden-crowned kinglet, to be assigned to a separate genus, Corthylio, that was introduced in 1853 by the German ornithologist Jean Cabanis. The genus name is from the Ancient Greek korthúlos, a small wren-like bird mentioned by the Greek lexicographer Hesychius of Alexandria. Phylogenetic evidence indicates that the ruby-crowned kinglet's lineage diverged from the rest of Regulus during the mid- to late Miocene, about 10–15 million years ago.

Up to five subspecies have been described, but "cineraceus", breeding in montane western North America, and "arizonensis", breeding in Arizona, are considered to be clinal variants of the nominate subspecies.

The three subspecies are:
 * C. c. grinnellii (Palmer, W, 1897) – Breeds in Alaska, southwestern Canada and northwestern U.S. Winters in western U.S.
 * C. c. calendula (Linnaeus, 1766) – Breeds in central, eastern Canada and southwestern, west-central, eastern U.S. Winters in northern Central America
 * C. c. obscurus (Ridgway, 1876) – Guadalupe Island (off the coast of northwestern Mexico)

Description
The ruby-crowned kinglet is a very small bird, being 9 to 11 cm long, having a wingspan of 16 to 18 cm, and weighing 5 to 10 g. It has gray-green upperparts and olive-buff underparts. It has two white wingbars and a broken white eye ring. The wingbar on the greater secondary coverts (closer to the wing-tip) is wider, and is next to a dark band. The kinglet has a relatively plain face and head, although the male has a scarlet-red crown patch, which is usually concealed by the surrounding feathers. The crown patch is rarely orange, yellow, or not present. Females are identical to males (except for the crown). Immature birds are similar to adult females, since young males lack a crown patch. The kinglet usually moves along branches or through foliage with short hops, and flies with bursts of rapid wing beats. It is constantly active, and is easily recognized by its characteristic wing-flicking. Its flight has been described as "swift, jerky, and erratic".

Compared to the related golden-crowned kinglet, the ruby-crowned kinglet is slightly larger, more elongated, and has greener plumage. The bird can be mistaken for Hutton's vireo, which also displays wing-flicking, though less frequently than the kinglet. It can also be mistaken for the dwarf vireo in Mexico. However, both of the vireos are larger, have stouter bills and legs, and lack the kinglet's black bar on the wings.

Vocalization
The ruby-crowned kinglet's vocalizations are remarkably loud and complex for its size. Its song can be divided into three main parts: a series of high pitched notes (zee-zee-zee or tee-tee-tee), two to five low trills (turr or tu), and a repeated three note "galloping" phrase (tee-da-leet, tee-da-leet). However, there is variation in the songs of a given individual, and they often contain only one or two of the three parts. The third part is only sung by male birds; an abbreviated version is heard from the females. Other vocalizations of the ruby-crowned kinglet include alarm calls, simple contact calls, and begging calls produced by chicks.

The subspecies C. c. grinnellii, breeding from southeastern Alaska to British Columbia differs significantly from the nominate calendula, and so is considered to represent a valid subspecies: it is smaller and shorter-winged, its upperparts are darker and greener, its underparts are buffy rather than grayish-olive, and the vent is tinged yellow rather than dull whitish-olive.

The subspecies C. c. obscurus, from Guadalupe Island, off Baja California, is considered endangered, and may already be extinct.

Hybridization with golden-crowned kinglets has been reported to have possibly occurred.

Distribution and habitat
Their breeding habitat is coniferous forests across Canada, Alaska, northern New England and the western United States. They nest in a well-concealed hanging cup suspended from a conifer branch and may lay as many as twelve eggs in a clutch.

The recent counting indicates that the ruby-crowned kinglet population is on the rise. This is mainly due to discovery of less disturbed territory farther north. This allows more successful breeding.

These birds migrate to the southern United States and Mexico. Some birds are permanent residents in the west.

Behaviour
Ruby-crowned kinglets forage actively in trees or shrubs, mainly eating small insects and spiders, some berries and tree sap. They may hover over a branch while feeding and sometimes fly out to catch insects in flight. The red crest is raised when agitated or in display. Often, they perform a "broken-wing" act to draw predators away from their nest, which they will defend fearlessly, mobbing the intruder which may be a cat, squirrel, or human.

title: Ruby-crowned kinglet


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Joseph Hansom

Joseph Aloysius Hansom (26 October 1803 – 29 June 1882) was a British architect working principally in the Gothic Revival style. He invented the Hansom cab and founded the eminent architectural journal The Builder in 1843.

Career
Hansom was born in the parish of St Martin's (possibly on St Martin's Lane), York to a large Roman Catholic family and baptised as Josephus Aloysius Handsom(e). He was the brother of the architect Charles Francis Hansom and the uncle of Edward J. Hansom. He was apprenticed to his father, Henry, as a joiner, but showing an early aptitude for draughtsmanship and construction, he transferred his apprenticeship to a York architect named Matthew Philips, without informing the City of York. By around 1823 he had completed his apprenticeship and became a clerk in Philips' office.

About 1825 he settled in Halifax, Yorkshire, and in the same year he married Hannah Glover, the elder sister of the architect George Glover (1812-1890), at St Michael le Belfrey in York. He took a post as assistant to John Oates and there befriended the brothers John and Edward Welch, with whom he formed his first architectural partnership (Handsom & Welch) in 1828. Together they designed several churches in Yorkshire and Liverpool, and also worked on the renovation of Bodelwyddan Castle in Denbighshire and King William's College in the Isle of Man. In 1831 their designs for Birmingham Town Hall were accepted; however, the contract led to their bankruptcy, as they had stood surety for the builders. The disaster led to the dissolution of the partnership.

Hansom supported the views of social reformers Robert Owen and Thomas Attwood, and the Operative Builders Union, which was formed in 1831/3, which led to some viewing him as a socialist.

On 23 December 1834 he registered the design of a 'Patent Safety Cab' on the suggestion of his employer. Distinctive safety features included a suspended axle, while the larger wheels and lower position of the cab led to less wear and tear and fewer accidents. He went on to sell the patent to a company for £10,000; however, as a result of the purchaser's financial difficulties, the sum was never paid. The first Hansom Cab travelled down Hinckley's Coventry Road in 1835. The Hansom cab was improved by subsequent modifications and exported worldwide to become a ubiquitous feature of the 19th-century street scene.

In 1843 Hansom founded a new architectural journal known as The Builder, another venture which was to flourish through the century; renamed Building in 1966, it continues to this day. However, neither he nor his partner Alfred Bartholomew (1801–45) profited from the enterprise, because they were compelled to retire for lack of capital.

Between 1854 and 1879 Hansom devoted himself to architecture, designing and erecting a great number of important buildings, private and public, including numerous churches, schools and convents for the Roman Catholic Church. Buildings from his designs are to be found all over the United Kingdom, as well as in Australia and South America.

Hansom practised in a succession of architectural partnerships. From 1847 to 1852 he practised in Preston, Lancashire, working briefly in association with Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin towards the end of the latter's life. After the practice moved to London, he took his brother Charles Francis Hansom into partnership in 1854. But this partnership was dissolved in 1859 when Charles established an independent practice in Bath with his son Edward Joseph Hansom as clerk.

In 1862 Joseph Hansom formed a partnership with Edward Welby Pugin, which broke up acrimoniously in 1863. Finally, in 1869, he took his son Joseph Stanislaus Hansom into partnership.

Hansom lived at 27 Sumner Place, South Kensington, London, and there is a blue plaque there in his memory.

Hansom moved to manage an estate at Caldecote Hall. He retired on 31 December 1879 and died at 399 Fulham Road, London, on 29 June 1882.

Surviving works
Hansom designed around 200 buildings, including Birmingham Town Hall; Arundel Cathedral; Oxford Oratory; Cathedral of St John the Evangelist, Portsmouth; St George's Catholic Church in York; Mount St Mary's Church, the 'Famine Church' in Leeds; St Walburge's Church in Preston (with the tallest church spire in England); Church of the Immaculate Conception, Spinkhill in 1846; St Beuno's Jesuit Theologate in North Wales (1848); St Mary's Church, Hartlepool in 1850; the Church of the Assumption of Our Lady, Torquay, St Mary's Church, Madeley, and St David's Church, Dalkeith, in 1853; Annunciation Church, Chesterfield and St Mary's Star of the Sea Church, Leith, Edinburgh in 1854; St Joseph's Roman Catholic Church, Leigh in 1855; St Duthac's, Dornie, Ross and Cromartie, 1860; St Wilfrid's Church, Ripon in 1862; Our Lady the Immaculate Conception Church in Devizes, Wiltshire (opened 1865); Our Lady Help of Christians and St Denis Church, Torquay, in 1869; St Edward King and Confessor Catholic Church, Clifford; the Church of the Holy Name of Jesus, Manchester (1871); The Roman Catholic Plymouth Cathedral (built 1856 – 1858); and Our Lady of Dolours, Chelsea with St Mary's Priory, Fulham Road (1876). The Exhibition Hall Theatre, Ushaw Historic House, County Durham (1849 - 1851) In Leicester, the Leicester Museum & Art Gallery building, formerly New Walk Proprietary School (1836), and a Baptist chapel (1845), later used as the town's central library, are in Hansom's Classical style, and he also designed Lutterworth Town Hall (1836). In Cornwall he designed the Roman Catholic churches of Falmouth and Liskeard. St Clare's Abbey, Darlington (1856).

title: Joseph Hansom


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Talk:Mass society

And what about José Ortega y Gasset?? I thought it's he who made the stuff about 'mass society'. And Orwell, and Yevgeny Zamyatin... --Ilya 12:07, 16 Dec 2003 (UTC)

Definitely José Ortega y Gasset should be included, his view of the masses was of a decultured mob who no longer respected traditional culture. This view is discussed in the 1st chapter of Bell's book, but I have not included in the article yet, feel free to do so. Fred Bauder 14:51, 16 Dec 2003 (UTC)

The new first paragraph:

Mass society is a society in which the concerns of the majority-the lower classes-play a prominent role; characterized by extension of voting rights, an improved standard of living for the lower classes and mass education

does not seem to relate to the theory of mass society as discussed by Bell. It is perhaps an attempted refutation of it, but as it stands introduces a contradictory definition into the article. Fred Bauder 05:46, Apr 5, 2004 (UTC)

--

this is missing Kornhauser .. 'politics of mass society' —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.175.244.211 (talk) 23:26, 8 March 2008 (UTC)

title: Talk:Mass society


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Berkeley Square

Berkeley Square is a garden square in the West End of London. It is one of the best known of the many squares in London, located in Mayfair in the City of Westminster. It was laid out in the mid 18th century by the architect William Kent, and originally extended further south. The garden's very large London Plane trees are among the oldest in central London, planted in 1789.

Buildings
Like most squares in British cities, it is surrounded largely by terraced houses, in this case grand townhouses. Originally these were the London residences of very wealthy families who would spend most of the year at their country house. Only one building, number 48, remains wholly residential. Most have been converted into offices for businesses typical of Mayfair, such as bluechips' meeting spaces, hedge funds, niche headhunters and wealth management businesses.

The buildings' architects included Robert Adam but 9 Fitzmaurice Place (since 1935 home of the Lansdowne Club, earlier known as Shelb(o)urne then Lansdowne House — all three names referring to the same branch of one family) is now on the south corner's approach ("Fitzmaurice Place"). The daring staircase-hall of No.44 is sometimes considered William Kent's masterpiece. Gunter's Tea Shop, founded under a different name in 1757, used to trade here.

Approach ways include Berkeley Street, Curzon Street, and Hill Street.

Gardens
The gardens of Berkeley Square are Grade II listed (are in the initial category) on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. They are plain from the horticultural point of view, with grass and paths, but dominated by a group of London Plane trees around the gardens, planted in 1789, the year of the French Revolution.

In 2008, one of the trees was said to be the "most valuable street tree in Britain" by the London Tree Officers Association, in terms of its size, health, historical significance and the number of people who live near to it. One in the south-west corner is a Great Tree of London.

The square features a sculptural fountain by Alexander Munro, a Pre-Raphaelite sculptor, made in 1865. The fountain was donated by the third Marquess of Lansdowne, and replaced a statue of George II which was removed in 1827. On the eastern side is a bronze sculpture of Velasquez' Reina Mariana by Manolo Valdes.

History
The square was originally the bottom of the large garden of Berkeley House on Piccadilly, subsequently Devonshire House. In 1696, John Berkeley, 3rd Baron Berkeley of Stratton, sold the house and much of the garden to William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Devonshire, but retained a significant area at the bottom, including the site of Berkeley Square.

The square is among those that demonstrate non-waiver of (no later agreement to forego) restrictive covenants. In 1696, with express intent to bind later owners, Berkeley undertook not to build on land retained very directly behind the house, so preserving the view from the rear of the ducal residence. The southernmost portion saw either a breach and passage of 20 years without claim (the limitation period of deeds) or a release of covenant agreement struck up – it was until about 1930 legally required green space, namely gardens of 9 Fitzmaurice Place. They became the new south side of the square.

Famous residents
Residents have included:

 * John Byng (1741), executed Vice-Admiral, Royal Navy. His home was decorated by architect Isaac Ware
 * Horace Walpole 1779 until 1797 death—at No.11
 * George Canning, Prime Minister (1827)—at No.50
 * Winston Churchill—at No.48 as a child
 * Lady Isabella Finch-at No.44 until 1771, a Lady of the Bedchamber to Princess Amelia
 * Robert Clive of India—bought No.45 in 1761, where he died in 1774
 * Sarah Child Villiers, Countess of Jersey (Lady Jersey), one of the famous patronesses of Almack's and leaders of the ton during the Regency era; heiress to the Child & Co. banking fortune—at No.38
 * Charles Rolls, co-founder of Rolls-Royce, born here 1877
 * 50 Berkeley Square used to be occupied by Maggs Brothers Antiquarian Booksellers.

At Lansdowne House, formerly on the square:

 * John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, Prime Minister (1762–63)
 * William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne (later 1st Marquess of Lansdowne), prime minister (1782–83)
 * William Pitt the Younger, prime minister (1783–1801, 1804–1806)
 * William Waldorf Astor, 1st Viscount Astor, richest man in America at the time (1891–1893)
 * Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, Liberal statesman and Prime Minister (1894–1895)
 * Harry Gordon Selfridge, founder of the Selfridges department store

Fictional residents

 * P.G. Wodehouse's character Bertie Wooster lives near Berkeley Square in a Berkeley St. flat along with his valet Jeeves, not far from the Drones Club.
 * Harry Flashman, the vicious bully of Tom Brown's School Days and anti-hero of the Flashman Papers, had a marital home here with his wife Elspeth.
 * Cathy Lane, Patty Lane's "identical cousin", is said to have lived here in the theme song to The Patty Duke Show.
 * 50 Berkeley Square is allegedly haunted.
 * "Tomlinson", the title character of Rudyard Kipling's 1891 satirical poem, "gave up the ghost at his house in Berkeley Square".
 * Peter Standish, a character from the play Berkeley Square written by John Balderston, about a Yankee who lives in a house on the square and is transported back to the 18th century. The play was produced as a movie in 1933, with Leslie Howard, and in 1951, and on television in 1959.
 * In the 1949 comedy film Kind Hearts and Coronets, Lady Agatha D'Ascogne is made to fall to her death in Berkeley Square to accommodate a clever poetic parody.
 * Lady Emily Ashton, created by author Tasha Alexander, lives primarily in her Berkeley Square residence during the Victorian period.
 * The Marquis of Alverstoke, the main male character from the novel Frederica by Georgette Heyer.
 * The 1998 television miniseries Berkeley Square focussed on three wealthy Edwardian families and their staff living in the square.
 * One of Peter Cheyney's main characters, private detective Slim Callaghan, had his office on Berkeley Square

Transport
Berkeley Square is a typical prime Central London distance from:-
 * Green Park Underground station (on the Piccadilly, Jubilee and Victoria lines)
 * Bond Street Underground station (on the Central and Jubilee lines).

London Buses route 22 passes through the square.

Berkeley Square hosts vehicle charging points supplied by Elektromotive.

title: Berkeley Square


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Anting (behavior)

Anting is a maintenance behavior during which birds rub insects, usually ants, on their feathers and skin. The bird may pick up the insects in its bill and rub them on the body (active anting), or the bird may lie in an area of high density of the insects and perform dust bathing-like movements (passive anting). The insects secrete liquids containing chemicals such as formic acid, which can act as an insecticide, miticide, fungicide, or bactericide. Alternatively, anting could make the insects edible by removing the distasteful acid, or possibly supplement the bird's own preen oil. Instead of ants, birds can also use millipedes. More than 200 species of bird are known to ant. A possibly related behaviour, self-anointing, is seen in many mammals.

History
The first scientific writings of this behaviour dates back to 1831. American ornithologist John James Audubon described wild juvenile turkeys that "wallowed" in abandoned ant hills. Another description was published by a naturalist in 1847 in a manuscript called "Bird of Jamaica". In it the author describes how ants remove parasites from a tame crow, while the crow is foraging for food. In 1934 an Alexander Hugh Chisholm described in Bird Wonders of Australia, a strange relationship birds had with ants. The behaviour was described by Erwin Stresemann in German as Einemsen in the German ornithology journal Ornithologische Monatsberichte (Volume XLIII, p. 138) in 1935. Indian ornithologist Salim Ali interpreted an observation by his cousin Humayun Abdulali in the 1936 volume of Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society and included a reference to the Stresemann's paper suggesting that the German term could be translated into English as "anting".

Active
Anting most commonly occurs on the ground but in some species, birds practice anting on tree branches. A bird will place the tip of its wing on the ground and rub its bill containing an ant from the tip of the wing up. The tail is usually tucked between the legs and under the body, which results in the bird being unstable. Birds use one ant at a time and only rub a feather once with an ant. However, there are some cases where an ant is used more than once but never exceeds three uses. There are some exceptions to this as starlings often take a ball of ants in their bills to be used for anting. Active anting happens very quickly and can often be mistaken for regular feather maintenance. This type of anting can last anywhere from just several minutes to half an hour. Most species of birds practice active anting and do this individually or in small groups. Birds may also use 'substitutes' in active anting. Birds have been seen to use snails, grasshoppers, amphipods and even larvae.

Passive
Passive anting occurs when a bird rubs its wings and tail on an anthill. Once a bird has found an anthill it will then spread both of its wings forward at the same time. It will then sit on its tails which attracts the ants. Once the ants are on their wing feathers they provoke the ants by rubbing their head or beak through their feathers where the ants are. To prevent ants from crawling onto a bird's head or beak the bird will shake its head very quickly. The birds allow the ants to roam freely around its feathers. This type of anting is less common and is mostly seen in robins and ravens.

Ridding of ectoparasites
Anting to get rid of ectoparasites is one hypothesis for anting in songbirds. This hypothesis suggests that birds use the chemical secretions that come from ants to control and rid of parasites in their feathers. Microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi can destroy a bird's feathers if their numbers get large enough. Formic acid is a commonly produced chemical by ants, and it was found to inhibit growth of feather destroying microorganisms. However, there is little evidence that chemicals from ants help to remove or deter other parasites such as feather lice and mites.

Feather grooming
The hypothesis that anting is a form of feather maintenance suggests that anting brings saliva to the bird's feathers for use in preening. This helps to remove old preen oil and other substances.

Food preparation
The food preparation hypothesis suggests that birds rub the ant in its feathers to remove a substance on the ant. Ants produce formic acid as an anti-predator adaptation. Thus, when an ant feels threatened, as when in the beak of a bird, it will spray formic acid. It is suggested that birds then rub the ants in their feathers to remove the harmful formic acid. The bird will then ingest the ant. This can be seen in European starlings, Sturnus vulgaris.

Sensory self-stimulation
Anting has been compared to human activities such as smoking and other external stimuli that serve no biological purpose and is just for self-stimulation. This hypothesis has been suggested as anting has no obvious function, it is non-adaptive, birds are said to achieve pleasure from anting and anting has characteristics of a habit. However, there is no definitive evidence that sensory self-stimulation is the purpose of anting in birds. There have been several studies that claim to prove this hypothesis while others say just the opposite.

Functions in molt
It has been found that passerine birds molt in the summer months. These birds often focus much of the anting on their wings and tails. This is where the largest feathers emerge, and it has been suggested that anting helps stimulate the growth of these feathers during molt. Not all birds that ant do so during molt.

Species of ants used
Ants that spray and produce formic acid for defense are used for anting more often than species which do not spray or produce formic acid. Species from the subfamily Formicinae are the most commonly chosen by birds. Species from Dolichoderinae and Myrmicinae subfamilies are also used for anting however, not as common as Formicinae. If given a choice a bird will choose an ant in the subfamily Formicinae over all other species. In total there are 24 ant species birds use for anting.

Substitutes of ants
Some birds participate in this anting behaviour but with other organisms and even objects. Some of the organisms birds use are garlic snails, amphipods, millipedes, dermapterans, caterpillars, grasshoppers, hemipterans, mealworm larvae, and wasps.

Related behaviours
Dusting with soil from ant-hills has been considered by some as equivalent to anting.

Some birds like antbirds and flickers not only ant, but also consume the ants as an important part of their diet. Other opportunist ant-eating birds include sparrows, wrens, grouse and starlings. European honey-buzzards have been found to gather fresh maple branches on the ground and then spread themselves over it and it has been suggested that this might be a case of tool-use to attract ants for anting.

Similar to anting may be the observed habit some birds show of picking up cigarette butts, sometimes lit, and rubbing themselves with them.

title: Anting (behavior)


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123 Democratic Alliance

123 Democratic Alliance (Chinese: 一二三民主聯盟) was a pro-Kuomintang political party in Hong Kong. Established in 1994 by a group of pro-Taiwan, pro-democracy and pro-business politicians, it aims at striving for the unification of China, to strive for a free, democratic, and wealthy China, and to establish a democratic and prosperous Hong Kong. It remained a small party until it was dissolved in 2000 due to the lack of financial support from the Taiwan government, after the Kuomintang's defeat in the presidential election.

History
The party was formed by the supporters of the Kuomintang government on Taiwan in 1994. It was represented by Sin Ling Yum in the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (LegCo) from 1995 to 1997. It was excluded from the Provisional Legislative Council, the interim body which largely controlled by the Beijing government. All candidates were defeated in the 1998 LegCo elections.

The party won six seats in the 1999 District Council elections. Due to lack of funding, the party did not file any candidates in the 2000 LegCo elections (although some of the losers continued to take part as independent participants or supporters of other parties), and was subsequently dissolved on 3 December 2000 due to the lack of financial support from the Taiwan government. The last chairman of the alliance was Tai Cheuk-yin.

title: 123 Democratic Alliance


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Koku

The koku (斛) is a Chinese-based Japanese unit of volume. 1 koku is equivalent to 10 to (斗) or approximately 180 L, or about 150 kg of rice. It converts, in turn, to 100 shō and 1000 gō. One gō is the traditional volume of a single serving of rice (before cooking), used to this day for the plastic measuring cup that is supplied with commercial Japanese rice cookers.

The koku in Japan was typically used as a dry measure. The amount of rice production measured in koku was the metric by which the magnitude of a feudal domain (han) was evaluated. A feudal lord was only considered daimyō class when his domain amounted to at least 10,000 koku. As a rule of thumb, one koku was considered a sufficient quantity of rice to feed one person for one year.

The Chinese equivalent or cognate unit for capacity is the shi or dan also known as hu, now approximately 103 litres but historically about 59.44 L.

Chinese equivalent
The Chinese dan is equal to 10 dou "pecks", 100 sheng  "pints". While the current dan is 103 litres in volume, the dan of the Tang dynasty (618–907) period equalled 59.44 litres.

Modern unit
The exact modern koku is calculated to be 180.39 litres, 100 times the capacity of a modern shō. This modern koku is essentially defined to be the same as the koku from the Edo period (1600–1868), namely 100 times the shō equal to 64827 cubic bu in the traditional shakkanhō measuring system.

Origin of the modern unit
The kyō-masu (京枡), the semi-official one shō measuring box since the late 16th century under Daimyo Nobunaga, began to be made in a different (larger) size in the early Edo period, sometime during the 1620s. Its dimensions, given in the traditional Japanese shaku length unit system, were 4 sun 9 bu square times 2 sun 7 bu depth. Its volume, which could be calculated by multiplication was:

1 koku = 100 shō = 100 × (49 bu × 49 bu × 27 bu) = 100 × 64,827 cubic bu

Although this was referred to as shin kyō-masu or the "new" measuring cup in its early days, its use supplanted the old measure in most areas in Japan, until the only place still left using the old cup ("edo-masu") was the city of Edo, and the Edo government passed an edict declaring the kyō-masu the official nationwide measure standard in 1669 (Kanbun 9).

Modern measurement enactment
When the 1891 Japanese was promulgated, it defined the shō unit as the capacity of the standard kyo-masu of 64827 cubic bu. The same act also defined the shaku length as $1/undefined$ metre. The metric equivalent of the modern shō is $1/undefined$ litres. The modern koku is therefore $10/33$ litres, or 180.39 litres.

The modern shaku defined here is set to equal the so-called setchū-shaku (setchū-jaku or "compromise shaku"), measuring 302.97 mm, a middle-ground value between two different kane-jaku standards. A researcher has pointed out that the (shin) cups ought to have used take-jaku which were 0.2% longer. However, the actual measuring cups in use did not quite attain the take shaku metric, and when the Japanese Ministry of Finance had collected actual samples of masu from the (measuring-cup guilds) of both eastern and western Japan, they found that the measurements were close to the average of take-jaku and kane-jaku.

Lumber koku
The "lumber koku" or "maritime koku" is defined as equal to 10 cubic shaku in the lumber or shipping industry, compared with the standard koku measures 6.48 cubic shaku. A lumber koku is conventionally accepted as equivalent to 120 board feet, but in practice may convert to less. In metric measures 1 lumber koku is about 278.3 L.

Historic use
The exact measure now in use was devised around the 1620s, but not officially adopted for all of Japan until the Kanbun era (1660s).

Feudal Japan
Under the Tokugawa shogunate (1603–1868) of the Edo period of Japanese history, each feudal domain had an assessment of its potential income known as kokudaka (production yield) which in part determined its order of precedence at the Shogunal court. The smallest kokudaka to qualify the fief-holder for the title of daimyō was 10,000 koku (worth ) and Kaga han, the largest fief (other than that of the shōgun), was called the "million-koku domain". Its holdings totaled around 1,025,000 koku (worth ). Many samurai, including hatamoto (a high-ranking samurai), received stipends in koku, while a few received salaries instead.

The kokudaka was reported in terms of brown rice (genmai) in most places, with the exception of the land ruled by the Satsuma clan which reported in terms of unhusked or non-winnowed rice (momi (籾). Since this practice had persisted, past Japanese rice production statistics need to be adjusted for comparison with other countries that report production by milled or polished rice.

Even in certain parts of the Tōhoku region or Ezo (Hokkaidō), where rice could not be grown, the economy was still measured in terms of koku, with other crops and produce converted to their equivalent value in terms of rice. The kokudaka was not adjusted from year to year, and thus some fiefs had larger economies than their nominal koku indicated, due to land reclamation and new rice field development, which allowed them to fund development projects.

As measure of cargo ship class
Koku was also used to measure how much a ship could carry when all its loads were rice. Smaller ships carried 50 koku (7.5 t) while the biggest ships carried over 1,000 koku (150 t). The biggest ships were larger than military vessels owned by the shogunate.

In popular culture
The Hyakumangoku Matsuri (Million-Koku Festival) in Kanazawa, Japan celebrates the arrival of daimyō Maeda Toshiie into the city in 1583, although Maeda's income was not raised to over a million koku until after the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600.

In fiction
The James Clavell novel Shōgun uses the Koku measure extensively as a plot device by many of the main characters as a method of reward, punishment and enticement. While fiction, it shows the importance of the fief, the rice measure and payments.

title: Koku


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Sharad Pawar

Sharadchandra Govindrao Pawar (Marathi pronunciation: [ʃəɾəd̪ pəʋaːɾ], born 12 December 1940) is an Indian politician. He has served as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra for four terms and has also served in the Union Council Of Ministers as the Minister of Defence in the Cabinet of P.V. Narsimha Rao and Minister of Agriculture in the Cabinet of Manmohan Singh. He is the first and former president of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which he founded in 1999, after separating from the Indian National Congress. His NCP was split by his nephew, Ajit Pawar. He leads his faction of the NCP delegation in the Rajya Sabha, the upper chamber of the Indian parliament. He is the chairperson of Maha Vikas Aghadi, a regional Maharashtra-based political alliance.

Pawar comes from Baramati of Maharashtra. He is the patriarch of the influential political family—the Pawar Family—and a prominent face in Maharashtra politics. Other politicians from the family include his daughter Supriya Sule, Ajit Pawar his nephew, Rohit Rajendra Pawar a nephew's son and other members of his extended family.

Outside of politics, Pawar has served as the President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) from 2005 to 2008 and as the president of the International Cricket Council (ICC) from 2010 to 2012. He was the president of the Mumbai Cricket Association from October 2013 to January 2017.

In 2017, the Indian government conferred upon him Padma Vibhushan, the second-highest civilian honour of India.

Personal life and family
Pawar is one of the eleven children born to Govindrao Pawar and Shardabai Pawar. The ancestors of Govindrao had moved to Baramati from the nearby Satara. Govindrao had a long career in Sahakari Kharedi Vikri Sangh, a Baramati Farmers' Cooperative. He also managed Shahu boarding, a students' hostel, in the 1940s. In the 1950s he was instrumental in setting up cooperative sugar mills in the Baramati region. Shardabai Pawar was elected to the district local board three times between 1937 and 1952. She looked after the family farm at Katewadi, ten kilometres from Baramati.

Pawar studied till 10th SSC (Maharashtra Board )from Maharashtra Education Society's High School Baramati.

Vasantrao, the eldest brother of Pawar and a lawyer, was murdered over a land deal by a man who was suspected to be a hired assassin. Pratap Pawar, Pawar's younger brother, runs the Marathi daily newspaper Sakal. One of Pawar's nephews, Ajit Pawar, is a politician and currently serves as one of the two Deputy Chief Ministers of Maharashtra. His grandnephew Rohit Rajendra Pawar represents the Karjat constituency in the Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha.

Pawar is married to Pratibha (née Shinde), daughter of the test cricketer Sadashiv Shinde. They have a daughter, Supriya Sule, who represents the Baramati constituency in the 17th Lok Sabha.

He is the oldest and senior most member of Pawar political dynastic family of Maharashtra. The family have 2 Members of Parliament and 2 Members of Legislative Assembly in the state assembly,. Among them, Ajit Pawar was the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra.

In 1999, Pawar was diagnosed with oral cancer and had oral surgery in April 2004. In March 2021, he underwent surgery for his gallbladder problem.

Early career
Pawar's first political activity was when he was a school-going student. He organized a protest march for Goan Independence in Pravaranagar in 1956. At college, he was active in student politics. Although his older lawyer brother belonged to Peasants and Workers Party, the young Pawar preferred the Congress party and joined Youth Congress in 1958. He later became the president of Poona district (now Pune district) youth Congress in 1962. By 1964, he was one of the two secretaries of Maharashtra youth congress and in regular contact with influential leaders of the party.

1967–1978
Early in his career, Pawar was regarded as a protégé of Yashwantrao Chavan, a highly influential politician from Maharashtra at that time. At the young age of 27 in 1967, Pawar was nominated as the candidate for the Baramati constituency of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly over more established members by the undivided Congress Party. He won the election and represented the constituency from 1967 to 1990. In 1969, when the Congress party split after the 1969 Indian presidential election he opted for the Congress(R) faction of prime minister Indira Gandhi along with his mentor Yashwantrao Chavan. As the MLA of Baramati in the early 1970s, he was instrumental in building percolation tanks during a severe drought in Maharashtra. Like most Congress party politicians from rural western Maharashtra, he was also heavily involved in the politics of the local cooperative sugar mills and other member run cooperatives societies. In the early 1970s, the then chief minister Vasantrao Naik had been power for a long time and there was jockeying for succession among different factions of the state Congress party. At that time, looking to the future leadership of the party, Yashwantrao Chavan persuaded Naik to bring Pawar into his cabinet as state home affairs minister. Pawar continued as home affairs minister in the 1975-77 government of Shankarrao Chavan, who succeeded Naik as the chief minister.

1978-1987
In the 1977 Lok Sabha elections, Congress party, under Indira Gandhi, lost power to the Janata Alliance. Taking responsibility for the loss of large number of seats in Maharashtra, chief minister Shankarrao Chavan resigned shortly afterwards and was replaced by Vasantdada Patil. Later in the year, the Congress party split, with Pawar's mentor, Yashwantrao Chavan joining one faction, Congress (U), and Indira Gandhi leading her own faction, Congress (I). Pawar himself joined Congress (U). In the state assembly elections held early in 1978, the two Congress parties ran separately but then formed an alliance to keep power under Vasantdada Patil and deny it to Janata Party which emerged as the biggest single party after the election, but without a majority. Pawar served as Minister of Industry and Labour in the Patil government.

In July 1978, Pawar broke away from the Congress (U) party to form a coalition government with the Janata Party. In the process, at the age of 38, he became the youngest Chief Minister of Maharashtra. This Progressive Democratic Front (PDF) government was dismissed in February 1980, following Indira Gandhi's return to power.

In the 1980 elections Congress (I) won the majority in the state assembly, and A.R. Antulay took over as chief minister. Pawar took over the Presidency of his Indian National Congress (Socialist) Congress (S) party in 1983. For the first time, he won the Lok Sabha election from the Baramati parliamentary constituency in 1984. He also won the state assembly election of March 1985 from Baramati and preferred to return to state politics, and resigned his Lok Sabha seat. Congress (S), won 54 seats out of 288 in the state assembly, and Pawar became the leader of the opposition of PDF coalition which included the BJP, PWP, and the Janata party.

1987–1990
His return to Congress (I) in 1987 has been cited as a reason for the rise of the Shiv Sena at that time. Pawar had stated at the time, "the need to save the Congress Culture in Maharashtra", as his reason for returning to Congress. In June 1988, Prime Minister of India and Congress President Rajiv Gandhi decided to induct then Maharashtra Chief Minister Shankarrao Chavan into his Union Cabinet as Finance Minister and Pawar was chosen to replace Chavan as the chief minister. Pawar had the task of checking the rise of the Shiv Sena in state politics, which was a potential challenge to the dominance of Congress in the state. In the 1989 Lok Sabha elections, Congress won 28 seats out of 48 in Maharashtra. In the state assembly elections of February 1990, the alliance between the Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party posed a stiff challenge to Congress. Congress fell short of an absolute majority in the state assembly, winning 141 seats out of 288. Pawar was sworn in as chief minister again on 4 March 1990 with the support of 12 independent or unaffiliated members of the legislative assembly (MLAs).

Early 1990s
During the course of the 1991 election campaign, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated. The party elected P.V. Narasimha Rao as the party president. It was expected that the party president would become the prime minister in the event of a Congress victory. However, Pawar at that time had talked about the distinction between party president and prime minister. Also since the Congress contingent from Maharashtra was the largest, Pawar felt he had a legitimate claim for the post of prime minister. However, Pawar eventually decided not to enter the contest, and the Congress Parliamentary Party (party MPs) unanimously elected P.V. Narasimha Rao as their leader, and he was sworn in as prime minister on 21 June 1991. Rao named Pawar as defence minister. On 26 June 1991, Pawar took over that portfolio, and held it until March 1993. After Pawar's successor in Maharashtra, Sudhakarrao Naik, stepped down after the disastrous handling of the Bombay riots, Rao asked Pawar to serve again as chief minister of the state. Pawar was sworn in as chief minister for his fourth term on 6 March 1993. Almost immediately, Mumbai experienced a series of bomb blasts, on 12 March 1993. Pawar's response to the blasts attracted controversy. More than a decade later, Pawar admitted that he had "deliberately misled" people following the bombings, by saying that there were "13 and not 12" explosions, and had added the name of a Muslim-dominated locality to show that people from both communities had been affected. He attempted to justify this deception by claiming that it was a move to prevent communal riots, by falsely portraying that both Hindu and Muslim communities in the city had been affected adversely. He also admitted to lying about evidence recovered and misleading people into believing that it pointed to the Tamil Tigers as possible suspects.

Mid-to-late 1990s
In 1993, the Deputy Commissioner of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, G. R. Khairnar made a series of accusations against Pawar for being involved in corruption and protecting criminals. Though Khairnar could not produce any evidence in support of his claims, it inevitably affected Pawar's popularity. Notable social worker Anna Hazare started a fast-unto-death to demand the expulsion of 12 officers of the Maharashtra state forest department who had been accused of corruption. The opposition parties accused Pawar's government of trying to shield the corrupt officers.

The 1994 Gowari stampede occurred at Nagpur, during the winter session of the state assembly, and killed 114 people. Nagpur Police were trying to disperse almost 50,000 Gowari and Vanjari protesters using baton charges but the police created panic and triggered a stampede amongst protesters. Allegations were made that the mishap occurred because welfare minister Madhukarrao Pichad did not meet with the delegation of the Vanjari people in time. Though Pichad, accepting moral responsibility for the mishap, stepped down, this incident was another setback to Pawar's government.

After 16 years of protest by the Namantar Andolan (Name-change Movement), the state government finally renamed Marathwada University as Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University on 14 January 1994, the compromise new name being an expansion of the old name (Namvistar) rather than a complete change of name (Namanatar). As chief minister, Pawar announced few developments in university departments.

New elections to the Vidhan Sabha were held in 1995. The Shiv Sena-BJP coalition was leading Congress in the polls, and there was widespread rebellion in the Congress party. Shiv Sena-BJP won 138 seats while Congress retained only 80 seats in the state assembly. Pawar had to step down and Shiv Sena leader Manohar Joshi took over as chief minister on 14 March 1995. Until the Lok Sabha elections of 1996, Pawar served as the Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly. In the 1996 General elections, Pawar won the Baramati seat in the Lok Sabha and left the state assembly.

In June 1997, Pawar unsuccessfully challenged Sitaram Kesri for the post of President of the Indian National Congress. In the mid-term parliamentary elections of 1998, Pawar not only won his constituency, Baramati, but also led Congress to a win by a large majority of Maharashtra Lok Sabha constituencies. Congress was aligned with the Republican Party of India (Athvale) and Samajwadi Party for the Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra. The Congress party won 33 Lok Sabha seats outright, and the allied Republican Party of India won 4 more, for a total of 37 out of 48 in the state. Pawar served as Leader of Opposition in the 12th Lok Sabha.

Formation of Nationalist Congress Party
In 1999, after the 12th Lok Sabha was dissolved and elections to the 13th Lok Sabha were called, Pawar, P. A. Sangma, and Tariq Anwar demanded that the party needed to propose someone native-born as the prime ministerial candidate and not the Italian-born Sonia Gandhi, who had entered party politics and replaced Kesri as Congress president. In response, the Congress working committee (CWC) expelled the trio for six years from the party. In response Pawar and Sangma founded the Nationalist Congress Party in June 1999. Despite the falling out, the new party aligned with the Congress party to form a coalition government in Maharashtra after the 1999 state assembly elections to prevent the Shiv Sena-BJP combine from returning to power. Pawar, however, did not return to state politics and Vilasrao Deshmukh of Congress was chosen as chief minister, with Chagan Bhujbal representing the NCP as deputy chief minister.

Minister of agriculture in UPA government

After the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, Pawar joined the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as the Minister of Agriculture. He retained his portfolio when the UPA coalition government was reelected in 2009. He faced several crisis and controversies during his tenure as Agriculture minister. Critics also point out that during his tenure as the minister agriculture, he spent time on cricket in his role as the president of BCCI than on his ministerial duties.

Wheat imports
In 2007, the BJP asked for Pawar's resignation after alleging he was involved in a multi-crore Indian rupee (INR) scam involving wheat imports. In May 2007, a tender floated by the Food Corporation of India (FCI) for procurement of wheat was cancelled when the lowest bid received was for US$263/ton. The government subsequently allowed private traders to purchase wheat directly from farmers that year resulting in a paucity of wheat to stock FCI granaries. By July 2007 the shortage at FCI was large enough to require import of wheat at a much higher price of 320–360 USD/ton. Taking advantage of this, traders who had domestically purchased wheat at 900 INR/ton earlier, were now offering the same to FCI at 1,300 INR/ton.

Agricultural produce prices
As the Minister of Agriculture, Pawar was consistently accused of colluding in the extreme hike in prices of agricultural produce:
 * Wheat import in 2007 – The Bombay High Court issued notices to Union agriculture minister Pawar, questioning the decision to import defective red wheat, and asking for a directive to submit details of procurement of the crop from different states and the exact process of importing it.
 * Sugar prices in 2009 – Opposition parties, including the BJP and the CPI(M) accused Pawar of engineering a steep rise in the price of sugar to the advantage of hoarders and importers.
 * Wheat, Sugar, Rice, and Bean prices in 2009–2010 – The opposition accused Pawar to be responsible on the issue of spiraling prices.

Farmer suicides
Since the 1990s there had been a high number of farmer suicides in India: in excess of 10,000 per year, and totalling over 200,000 between 1997 and 2010. Pawar, as the agricultural minister, in 2006 had underplayed the rate of farmer suicide in India. However, he claimed at that time that his department was taking the necessary steps to reduce the numbers. His ministry initiated a series of government inquiries to look into the causes of farmers' suicides in 2012. In 2013 Pawar admitted that the suicides was a serious issue with many factors being responsible, and he said the government was increasing investment in agriculture and raising minimum prices of crops to increase farmers' income.

Promotion of endosulfan
Even though the pesticide endosulfan has been banned, India is slow to phase it out. In spite of its known negative health effects, Pawar made a remark that endosulfan is not yet proved dangerous. This remark prompted activist Dr. Vandana Shiva to call him a corrupt minister.

Other issues
In 2012, Pawar gave up the chairmanship of the Empowered Group of Ministers investigating the 2G spectrum case, days after his appointment by the prime minister, fearing that his association with the decision-making process would drag him into the 2G Spectrum controversy. In 2011, he also decided to resign from the committee that was reviewing the draft of the anti-corruption Lokpal bill after his inclusion in the committee was criticized by the anti-corruption campaigner, Anna Hazare.

Career since 2014
In January 2012, Pawar announced that he will not contest the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, in order to make way for young leadership. Pawar is at present a member of the Rajya Sabha. He was elected to the body in April 2014 for a six-year term. He lost his ministerial position when the BJP-led NDA defeated the ruling UPA government, in which Pawar was the minister of agriculture, in the general elections of 2014. Pawar's NCP also lost power in Maharashtra after the 2014 assembly elections. The BJP had won a plurality of seats in the new assembly and initially formed a minority government with the NCP. The BJP's estranged ally, the Shiv Sena later joined the BJP-led government, and that government then did not need the support of the NCP. In May 2017, Pawar ruled out being a candidate for the June 2017 Indian presidential election.

In the 2019 elections to the Lok Sabha, Pawar's NCP and the Congress party had a seat-sharing arrangement. Similarly, despite their differences, the BJP and Shiv Sena once again contested the elections together under the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) banner. The election gave a landslide victory to Narendra Modi's BJP. Out of the 48 seats in Maharashtra, the Congress party won only one seat in the state, whereas the NCP won five seats from its stronghold of western Maharashtra.

The 2019 Lok Sabha elections were soon followed by elections to the Vidhan Sabhaa in October 2019. Predictions for the state's ruling BJP–Shiv Sena alliance to win by a large margin led to a steady stream of defections from the NCP to the ruling alliance. Pawar was the star campaigner for the NCP-Congress alliance in the state.His campaigning during the assembly election was credited with helping not only the NCP but also the leaderless Congress party. Against predictions, the actual voting left the ruling alliance with fewer seats than in 2014. After the election, Pawar thought that his party would remain in opposition in the new assembly. However, differences between the Shiv Sena and the BJP led to a month of political drama, with Pawar and his family playing a pivotal roles. The drama ended with the NCP coming back into power on 28 November 2019, as part of a coalition between Shiv Sena, Congress, and the NCP, led by the Shiv Sena chief, Uddhav Thackeray, as the new chief minister of Maharashtra.

In June 2020, Pawar was re-elected to the Rajya Sabha.

Sharad Pawar, the founder and chief of NCP since 1999, announced his decision to step down from his post and also his unwillingness to contest election in future,at the launch of the second edition of his political memoirs ' Lok Maze Sangati' ('People Accompany Me'). Sharad Pawar has had a long period of public life from 1 May 1960, to 1 May 2023.

Sharad Pawar took back his decision to step down as national leader of National Congress Party, citing "strong sentiments" his resignation had evoked among the party workers as well as leaders across the country. The octogenarian leader clarified that he would focus on assigning new responsibilities, through organizational changes and creating new leadership.

2023 Ajit Pawar's rebellion
In July 2023, Ajit Pawar rebelled against Sharad Pawar and joined ruling BJP-Shiv sena government and took oath as Deputy Chief minister of Maharashtra, majority of NCP's sitting MLAs deserted the party in support of A. Pawar. He claimed to election commission that he's the president of NCP, later in his followers first public meeting, he claimed the ownership of party including its name, election symbol. This rebellion results in to two factions in the party: Sharad Pawar loyalist and Ajit Pawar's supporters, causing the 2022 Shiv sena like political crisis for Sharad Pawar.

Member of coordination committee of Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance
Pawar has been appointed as a member of the Coordination Committee of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance at its Mumbai convention on 1 September 2023. The coordination committee will decide the national agenda, common campaign issues and common program of the country's main opposition alliance (I.N.D.I.A.).

Sports administration
Pawar has interests in cricket, kabbadi, kho kho, wrestling and football. He has served as the head of various sports organisations, including Pawar served as the president of Pune International Marathon Trust, which has hosted Pune International Marathon for last 22 years.
 * Mumbai Cricket Association
 * Maharashtra Wrestling Association
 * Maharashtra Kabbadi Association
 * Maharashtra Kho Kho Association
 * Maharashtra Olympics Association
 * Board of Control for Cricket in India President 2005–2008
 * International Cricket Council Vice President
 * International Cricket Council President

Educational institutions
Early in his public career in 1972, Pawar founded "Vidya pratishthan" for serving the educational needs of the rural poor. The organisation now runs a number of schools at all levels, and colleges specialising in subjects such as information technology, and Biotechnology in Baramati and other locations. Pawar is associated with the Hon. Sharad Pawar Public School, under the Shree Gurudatta Education Society; Sharad Pawar International School, Pune and the Sharad Pawar Cricket Academy, near Mumbai. Pawar is the current president of the century-old educational organisation Rayat Shikshan Sanstha.

Criminal links
In 1992–93, the then Maharashtra Chief Minister Sudhakarrao Naik made a statement that the state leader of Indian National Congress party and erstwhile-Chief Minister Pawar, had asked him to "go easy on Pappu Kalani", a well known criminal-turned-politician. Shiv Sena chief, Bal Thackeray, later concurred with these allegations. Further, Chief Minister Naik also alleged that it was possible that Kalani and Hitendra Thakur, another criminal-turned-politician from Virar, had been given tickets to contest election for the Maharashtra State Legislature at the behest of Pawar, who also put in a word for Naik with the police when the latter was arrested for his role in post-Demolition of the Babri Masjid riots in Mumbai.

Pawar is also alleged to have close links with the underworld don Dawood Ibrahim through Ibrahim's henchman Lakhan Singh based in the Middle East and close relationship with Shahid Balwa, also a suspect in the 2G spectrum case. These allegations were strengthened by the revelation about the involvement of Vinod Goenka, Balwa's business partner, in a controversial commercial project in Yerwada, Pune, which was being constructed under the same survey number as Pawar's family friend, Atul Chordia, had constructed the Panchshil Tech Park. BJP leader Eknath Khadse alleged that it was Balwa who had applied for environmental clearance for the two projects, a charge that Chordia refuted. Coincidentally, Chordia's Panchshil Pvt. Ltd. has Pawar's daughter, Supriya Sule, and her husband Sadanand as investors. The state government's decision to hand over a 3-acre plot of the Yerwada police station for "re-development" to Balwa was retracted following Balwa's arrest.

For several years, confusion existed about the number of blasts in the 1993 Bombay Bombings, whether they were 12 or 13 in number. This was because Pawar, the then chief minister of Maharashtra, stated on television that day that there had been 13 blasts, and included a Muslim-dominated locality in the list. He later revealed that he had lied on purpose, and that there had been only 12 blasts, none of them in Muslim-dominated areas; he also confessed that he had attempted to mislead the public into believing that the blasts could be the work of the LTTE, a Sri Lankan militant organization, when in fact intelligence reports had already confirmed to him that Mumbai's Muslim underworld (known as the "D-Company," a reference to Dawood Ibrahim) were the perpetrators of the serial blasts.

Land allotment
On 27 October 2007, the Bombay High Court served notices to institutions headed by Pawar, Ajit Pawar, and Sadanand Sule (Pawar's son-in-law), along with a corresponding notice served to the Maharashtra Krishna Valley Development Corporation (MKVDC) on why special privileges were given to Pawar and his family. This was done in consideration of Public Interest Litigation No. 148 of 2006, filed by Shamsunder Potare alleging that the said 2002 land allocations in Pune were illegal. The institutions and properties mentioned include:
 * Two 141.15 acre plots given allotted to Vidya Pratishthan, an educational society headed by Sharad Pawar
 * A 2 acre plot allotted to Anant Smriti Pratishthan, headed by Ajit Pawar, the Maharashtra state minister for irrigation and Pawar's nephew
 * A 32.12 acre plot allotted to Lavasa Corporation, owned by Sule. Sule handed over his share in 2006.
 * A 1 acre plot allotted to Shivajinagar Agriculture College
 * A 3 acre plot allotted to Sharadchandraji Scout and Guide Training Institute.

These allocations were allegedly made by NCP leader and minister Ramraje Naik Nimbalkar who was in charge of MKVDC at the time. Pawar was served a contempt of court notice on 1 May 2008 in connection with this case for issuing statements to the press even though the matter was subjudice at the time. Also in connection with the case, the respondents were directed not to create third-party interests in the property under dispute and to undertake any developments at their own risk.

IPL exemption from tax controversy
In 2010, in the case of tax exemptions of the Indian Premier League (IPL), Shiv Sena MLA Subhash Desai alleged that the state cabinet decided in January to impose the tax, before the year's IPL season started, but the decision was not implemented because of NCP chief Pawar's association with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Bombay High Court in August 2010 said there was "nothing on record" to show that the Union Minister influenced the Maharashtra government's decision to exempt Indian Premier League matches from entertainment tax.

Asset declaration
In 2011, Pawar declared his assets to be worth inr 120000000 as part of a mandatory disclosure, but his critics claimed that his wealth far exceeded the stated amount. In 2010, it was alleged that the Pawar family indirectly held a 16% stake in the City Corporation, which had bid inr 11760000000 for the Pune franchise of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Pawar and his family denied the allegations, but the bidders board of the IPL contradicted their claims.

Nira Radia's allegations
In 2011, under investigation of the 2G spectrum case Nira Radia told the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) that agriculture minister Pawar may be controlling the controversial DB Realty. According to the reports, she also told the investigative agency that Pawar may have spoken with former telecom minister A. Raja about the allocation of spectrum and licence to Swan Telecom. Radia also said that she had no documentary proof to back up her allegations. Pawar has denied any link with former DB managing director Shahid Balwa who is now in CBI custody.

Lavasa
Pawar is alleged to have demanded compensation for allowing the planned-city Lavasa to be constructed. When Lavasa Corporation was receiving necessary clearances from the government of Maharashtra, relatives of Pawar had part-ownership of the company developing the project. Pawar's daughter and son-in-law had more than 20% ownership between 2002 and 2004, and they later sold their stakes. A nephew of his was chairman of Maharashtra Krishna Valley Development Corporation (MKVDC) when the MKVDC signed off on lease agreements for Lavasa and allowed it to store water and build dams.

Comments on the 2010 Pune bombing
After the 2010 Pune bombing of German Bakery, Pawar appeared to take the incident lightly. He said to the reporters, "It is not alright to arrive at a conclusion that the entire Pune city has been targeted. The place where the blast took place is an isolated area", adding "when I was Chief Minister, Mumbai saw 11 simultaneous blasts but everything returned to normal soon."

Slapping incident
Pawar was slapped by a youth named Harvinder Singh at the New Delhi Municipal Corporation centre while leaving the premises after attending a literary function on 24 November 2011. The attacker, who previously is said to have assaulted former telecom minister Sukh Ram, was later arrested.

Turban controversy
In 2018, Pawar asked party members to felicitate him with the pagadi (turban) of social reformer Mahatma Phule, instead of the usual Puneri Pagadi worn by peshwas (prime ministers) of the Maratha Empire. In response to criticism that he was trying to stir up anti-Brahmin sentiment and appeal to Dalits, Pawar said that he wasn't rejecting any section of society but honoring his idols Phule, Babasaheb Ambedkar, and Shahu Maharaj.

Awards and honours

 * Padma Vibhushan (2017) – In 2017, Pawar was honored with the Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian award, on the recommendation of the Narendra Modi-led BJP government. The timing of the award was questioned by observers and some attributed it to political motivations of the BJP.
 * Newsmakers Achievers Awards 2022

title: Sharad Pawar


text:
The Parson's Tale

"The Parson's Tale" seems, from the evidence of its prologue, to have been intended as the final tale of Geoffrey Chaucer's poetic cycle The Canterbury Tales. The "tale", which is the longest of all the surviving contributions by Chaucer's pilgrims, is in fact neither a story nor a poem, but a long and unrelieved prose treatise on penance. Critics and readers are generally unclear what rhetorical effect Chaucer may have intended by ending his cycle in this unlikely, extra-generic fashion.

Framing narrative
In the prologue to the tale, the host asks the Parson for a fable (the form used earlier with such apparent success by the Nun's Priest) but the Parson refuses with a round condemnation of fable stories, saying instead that he will tell an improving tale in prose since he can neither rhyme nor alliterate. It is also of interest that the host seems to be in some doubt as to the identity of the Parson, since he asks him to introduce himself:

"Sire preest," quod he,, "artow a vicary? Or arte a person? Sey, sooth, by thy fey! Be what thou be, ne breke thou nat oure pley; For every man, save thou, hath toold his tale. ("Parson's Prologue", lines 22–25)

Some idea of Chaucer's intended structure for the Canterbury Tales may be gleaned from this "final" prologue. The host speaks of al myn ordinaunce (being) almoost fulfild and says that the company lakketh...no tales mo than oon. Since known tales do not exist for all of the pilgrims, and since none reach the projected total of four tales each outlined in the "General Prologue", the host's remarks give a further indication of the way in which Chaucer's ultimate scheme for the cycle either was not realised or has not survived.

The Tale
The subject of the parson's "tale" (or rather, treatise) is penitence. It may thus be taken as containing inferential criticism of the behaviour and character of humanity detectable in all the other pilgrims, knight included. Chaucer himself claims to be swayed by the plea for penitence, since he follows the Parson's Tale with a Retraction (the conceit which appears to have been the intended close to the entire cycle) in which he personally asks forgiveness for any offences he may have caused and (perhaps) for ever having deigned to write works of worldly vanitee at all (line 1085).

The parson divides penitence into three parts; contrition of the heart, confession of the mouth, and satisfaction. The second part about confession is illustrated by referring to the seven deadly sins and offering remedies against them. The Seven Deadly Sins are pride, envy, wrath, sloth, greed, gluttony, and lust; they are "healed" by the virtues of humility, contentment, patience, fortitude, mercy, moderation, and chastity.

Chaucer's text seems for the most part to be a combination, in English translation, of the texts of two Latin works on penitence popular at the time; the Summa casuum poenitentiae of Raymond of Peñafort, and the Summa vitiorum of William Perault. This is mingled with fragments from other texts. It is not known whether Chaucer was the first to combine these particular sources, or whether he translated an existing combined edition, possibly from French. If the latter is the case, any direct source has been lost.

Character of the Parson
The Parson is considered by some to be the only good member of the clergy in The Canterbury Tales, while others have detected ambiguities and possible hints of Lollardy in the portrait. Chaucer, in the General Prologue calls him a povre Persoun of a Toun. His depiction of a man who practices what he preaches seems to be positive:

He was a shepherde and noght a mercenarie. And thogh he hooly were and vertuous, He was to synful men nat despitous, Ne of his speche daungerous ne digne, But in his techyng discreet and benynge. (Lines 514–518)

if also rather forbidding; for instance, Chaucer's parson is no respecter of persons in demanding ultimate adherence to moral principles:

But it were any person obstinat, What so he were, of heigh or lough estat, Hym wolde he snybben sharply for the nonys. (Lines 521–523)

None of the explicit criticism of clergy that marks many of the other tales and character sketches is obvious here. The Parson is throughout depicted as a sensible and intelligent person. Chaucer is not uncritical of other clergy; in the paragraph headed "Lat us now touche the vice of flateryng", he describes flatterers – those who continuously sing placebo – as "develes chapelleyns".

title: The Parson's Tale