text:
Talk:Oneida Community

Stirpiculture
I think this article should mention "stirpiculture," one of the most notable practices of Oneida Society. --Oichiro 05:37, 9 Dec 2004 (UTC)

 * I agree with Oichiro. This site: http://www.cis.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1989/1/89.01.04.x.html#h has a section on stirpiculture, which is a reproductive technique used in the Oneida Community.Dstarisbeastin 17:34, May 22, 2005 (UTC)

Growth
''There were initially some forty-five members to the community. The community grew slowly (72 members by February of 1850, 205 by February of 1851, and 306 members by 1878)''

What is the benchmark for growth rate? In other words, why is this considered "slow"? --Calieber 15:24, Nov 5, 2003 (UTC)

 * What is the source for this population data? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.245.48.161 (talk) 04:49, 12 December 2009 (UTC)

Smaller communities
And another thing.

There were smaller communities in Wallingford, Newark, Putney, Cambridge, and Manlius for a short time.

Did any or all of these smaller communities have some connection to Oneida -- offshoots, branches, consciously copying the model, that sort of thing? Otherwise it's an interesting bit of trivia but could perhaps be rephrased or moved further down the article. Also, I know off the top of my head of three towns called "Newark" between the Potomac and St. Lawrence Rivers; which one is being referred to here? --Calieber 15:32, Nov 5, 2003 (UTC)

Undesireables
My wife remembers visiting the Mansion house when she was very young. She and her classmates played in the children's house basement among shackles. During the tour, she was told of cages for holding the "undesireables" or deformed. In all the research we have done, we cannot find any record of such children being born or dying. Furthermore, the practice of sex without ejaculation had to have had it's foibles. Why are there no unwanted births whatsoever? A society of 300 should at least have one or two children who were born with defects or aberrations. This needs to be explained.IP address

 * Unlike the Pitcairn Islands this was a short-lived community lasting only a few decades. Unless the members were mostly related to begin with, I see no reason why the deleterious effects of inbreeding could not have been minimized. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.237.111.246 (talk) 09:34, 5 October 2004 (UTC)

Bias
This is an extremely bias article that portrays John Noles as some sex crazed manipulator. There is no evidence supporting this in records and a more objective point of view should be taken. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.102.23.101 (talk) 07:14, 26 June 2005 (UTC)

 * Thank you for your suggestion regarding &]]! When you feel an article needs improvement, please feel free to make whatever changes you feel are needed. Wikipedia is a wiki, so anyone can edit almost any article by simply following the  link at the top. You don't even need to log in! (Although there are some reasons why you might like to…) The Wikipedia community encourages you to be bold. Don't worry too much about making honest mistakes—they're likely to be found and corrected quickly. If you're not sure how editing works, check out how to edit a page, or use the sandbox to try out your editing skills.  New contributors are always welcome. --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 15:06, 26 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Personally I am wondering why the current article *doesn't* at least offer a view of him as a sex-crazed manipulator ... this article and the stirpiculture article are parroting the community's printed goals at face value, as if they were in fact achieved, without any alternate point of view speculating on the disparity between human nature and the ideal. The statutory rape charge is the only indicator that this cult may have been an excuse for older men to get with 14 year old girls as "wives", like the small, private communities still existing in the USA. (One was infamously "raided" years ago and the minors put in protective custody - and returned to their families when no allegations would stick, lol.) I'm guessing that more than one of these sources offers criticism - why is none of it included in the article? Ukrpickaxe (talk) 03:06, 29 January 2016 (UTC)

Pictures
I think this article needs some pictures of where this civilization was, and of the leading members of it, if they can be found. (Demon Slayer 20:48, 20 November 2005 (UTC))

Format
Noyes is mentioned several times before being introduced at all. Someone clean this up with some editing? Dean 18:13, 20 November 2006 (UTC)

Misogyny?
I take objection to the statement about it generally being accepted at the time that men were spiritually superior to women. Everything I have ever read on the Oneida community indicates that egalitarianism between the sexes was a prime motivator, including for the practices of complex marriage and male continence (via traditional marriage often being seen as a vehicle of ownership, and via women being necessarily unfree when opressed by unwanted pregnancies). Can someone please cite a source for the claim that this was a motivator in the Oneida hierarchy? Mathlaura 01:11, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

Picture
Can we have a picture of the women dress? There is a woman in bloomers and another talking about free love. Do they look as Perfectionists?

I have entered sections for previous talk postings. --Error (talk) 00:37, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

This picture would relate to the discussion of women's clothing by John Ellis. --Astute0_0 7, 5 2018

 * The woman in bloomers with a short skirt & short hair looks like she could easily have been part of Oneida. But alas, it would be original research to suppose so. Peaceray (talk) 03:23, 24 July 2020 (UTC)

Male Continence
The part about women enjoying sex lasting longer than one hour seems unnecessary at best; a complete lie at worst. The new citation at that line does not mention it. I'll give a few days for a good source there; but if nothing shows up, I will remove that line. Feels unencyclopedic... AdamChirnside (talk) 17:19, 14 November 2008 (UTC)

 * I think Wikipedia should encourage the talk-page use of emoticons so we can tell if our leg is being pulled. Assuming that your citation request for "Many women of the community found male continence to lead to the furtherment of their sexual enjoyment" is made in good faith, I've provided a citation.  It also serves as a second citation for your challenge yesterday of the rest of that sentence, "...as sexual encounters often could last for more than one hour."  In my opinion, the sentence is completely encyclopedic.  Although tempted to, I won't name any examples of tasteless and even horrifying "academic" articles in Wikipedia that are not.  --CliffC (talk) 03:57, 15 November 2008 (UTC)

 * My challenge was in good faith, make no mistake. I just found that the claim seemed based on urban legend, rather than good scientific knowledge. I'm still in the course of studying psychology, so my knowledge is limited at best, but I can vaguely recall hearing claims that run counter to these. In any event, I am probably just being hypervigilant... I really hate urban legends. Maybe we can meet somewhere in the middle with something like "...and sexual encounters often could last..." ? AdamChirnside (talk) 15:39, 15 November 2008 (UTC)

 * I'm not sure what you are suggesting -- the sentence as it stands is well-written, well supported by citations, and fits into the flow of the article; I don't see how it needs any further attention. --CliffC (talk) 02:08, 16 November 2008 (UTC)

 * Yes it is well written, but it implies causation. The source is not a research study, and is a secondary source. The rest of the sentence is fine, it's just the implication that is still unverified. AdamChirnside (talk) 18:47, 16 November 2008 (UTC)

 * I'm still confused. The Havelock Ellis citation tells us "Prolonged coitus... permitting the woman to have orgasm more than once, while the man has none... is always appreciated by the woman, while it appears to have no bad effect on the man."  If you'll tell us in one sentence exactly what it is you think is being implied but not verified, we can go on from there.   --CliffC (talk) 21:05, 16 November 2008 (UTC)

 * Although he was an expert on the subject, at that time, this is merely his opinion. There is no objective evidence here to suggest that prolonged coitus causes increased sexual enjoyment for women. AdamChirnside (talk) 04:42, 17 November 2008 (UTC)

I would agree with Adam Chirnside, in that prolonged coitus is an urban myth. Women can enjoy prolonged coitus provided they stay lubricated, and they do not always, nor am I all that certain they physically can even if they want to. As lubrication dries up, the experience becomes unpleasant for both parties, they rub themselves raw and just want it to end. So far as lubricants, a lot of women dislike them. Makes them feel greasy. So far as making a woman multiorgasmic, it's a simple technique and given in one of Mantak Chia's books. The man in fact needs do almost nothing and as such can "sit back" and watch the woman come and come and come. I've been there, I've done that. This sort of female orgasm (there seems to be others) is identical to the male's, in that it consists of rapid spastic contractions, which the male can feel directly. Is this desirable? We've all been told it's the Holy Grail, but I suspect not. First, as easy as this technique is, I have never seen it in porno, not even a trace. Second, when I tried it and made a habit of it, I got dumped at the first opportunity. It took years to figure out why. And it was simple. Straight coitus results in a rhythmic union which comes to a natural end in a natural fashion (sooner or later), which both male and female are hard wired to expect. If a woman jumps out ahead and has orgasm after orgasm, she loses track of the male, who then loses track of her and the result are two complete strangers, surprisingly enough. In point of fact, after making my partner multi-orgasmic, I became disoriented and gave up and simply came, which was a crappy ending for both of us. Mantak Chia claims a different resolution, but I am not certain it actually exists, outside of his own head. He notably does not let his wife speak for herself. I am of the opinion that women take men to bed to have the man's orgasm. (They can have theirs anytime, so why would that interest them?) I expect women are naturally curious how John is different from Paul is different from George, etc. And if that's not her primary reason for letting me have her, then I don't want anything to do with her. I've learned that lesson.

I am actually very curious if Oneida relationships happened primarily around sunrise, as that would tell me much. In the Oneida community I can see similarities to sacred sex, to Communion and sex (see Caroline Myss), to priests and nuns, to tantric sex, to witches and covens, as well as to the short-lived community out in Waco. Which, if I am right, means that Oneida was a product of much broader forces. I often use Wiki as a means of primary research, which is not its intention. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.15.119.52 (talk) 21:16, 14 August 2013 (UTC)

literature
The community is the subject of Blossom Elfman's novel The Strawberry Fields of Heaven'. Perhaps there should be a section on OC in literature or in pop culture or some such category.211.225.37.54 (talk) 13:14, 1 December 2008 (UTC)

Snapshots
I'd like to release into the public domain the photos that I took a year ago, available at: http://robertvienneau.blogspot.com/2008/09/oneida-community-19th-century-commune.html. -- Robert L. Vienneau 209.217.195.168 (talk) 22:24, 29 October 2009 (UTC)

More bias
In 1993, the archives of the community were made available to scholars for the first time. Contained within the archives was the journal of Tirzah Miller, a niece of Noyes who was initiated by him into the system of complex marriage. She reveals in her journal that at the age of 26, after a decade of sexual activity, it was unclear to her whether she was obliged to engage in sex with any man who requested it, regardless of her own personal feelings.

That the archives are available is important information, as is the fact that Noyes' niece wrote a journal. However, this paragraph is biased because, among other things, everyone at Oneida was supposed to be communally married, and at the time the definition of marriage included the idea that sexual consent had been given on a woman's wedding day. The concept of rape within marriage did not even exist until the 1960s in the United States, with most states enacting laws against marital rape between then and the 1990s. That it was unclear to Miller indicates that she had some exposure to the radical feminist notion that women were not required to submit sexually to their husbands, a concept in its infancy and related primarily to women's rights activists and suffragists. The person who inserted this paragraph makes it sound like the Oneida Community was a bunch of cultists who kept their women in sexual slavery. It's ahistorical at best, and the paragraph's author fails to mention that the citation from which the assertion is from mentions that Noyes assured her that she could turn down any man she wanted. Likewise, the paragraph insinuates incest. If the paragraph's author is going to lay a claim of incest against Noyes and the Oneida community, the author should indicate whether New York law forbade marriage between an uncle and a niece. There are several periods of time in US history when states have permitted marriage between uncles/aunts and nieces/nephews or between first cousins, and periods of time in which state law has permitted marriage with people as young as 13. Because there's a biased context happening in this paragraph, and due to insufficient citation, I am removing the latter two sentences. Sandarmoir (talk) 07:37, 10 April 2010 (UTC)

Just created Redirect
Here There have apparently been two articles on this topic for five years! The Resident Anthropologist (talk) 23:30, 18 October 2010 (UTC)

Impossible
"Postmenopausal women were encouraged to introduce teenage males to sex, providing both with legitimate partners that rarely resulted in pregnancies." ...

As opposed to "couldn't have ever resulted in any pregnancies at all", I take it... Can anyone explain to me in graphic detail how a woman can become pregnant without any egg cells being involved. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.112.43.161 (talk) 23:01, 30 May 2013 (UTC)

External links modified
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Fourier influence should be discussed
The ideas of the Oneida community, including free love and dormitory living, stem in large measure from the French utopian socialist thinker Charles Fourier. This should be mentioned and discussed. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:184:4A80:F84B:2DC8:B9DC:75DF:8ADC (talk) 11:58, 28 February 2018 (UTC)
 * Methinks that would be original research; to place that in the article would require verification from reliable sources, & I do not see that you have provided any citations.

 * Indeed, when I searched for this on Google, https://www.google.com/search?q=Oneida+Fourier, I saw that most of the sources emphasized the differences between Fourier & Oneida. In particular, I would suggest you look at:

 * I do not think that Fourier had much influence on Oneida. Oneida seemed to head in a different direction entirely. Fourier seemed to be about adapting the system to humanity as it existed, whereas Oneida was more about adapting humanity to a vision, i.e., via complex marriage & stirpiculture.
 * Peaceray (talk) 18:56, 28 February 2018 (UTC)

Feedback
Hey (I know nothing about the subject matter) - strikes me that hte article needs a short summary/background on Noyes right at the top as the first section of the body of the article. Also am generally not a fan of Further reading sections (if sources are so significant, should not they be inlined somewhere?).....just first thoughts.....Cas Liber (talk · contribs) 01:20, 22 July 2020 (UTC)

 * OK, thanks for the feedback! Peaceray (talk) 03:17, 24 July 2020 (UTC)

Wallingford
The article states that the Wallingford branch was devastated by a tornado in 1878. However in Tirzah Millers diary there are a series of entries from september and october 1879 referring to people coming from and going to “Wallingford” and “W.C.” [Wallingford Community]. So while the branch in Wallingford might or might not have been damaged, it was clearly not devastated nor shut down. See Robert Fogarty: Desire and Duty at Oneida. 128.76.197.35 (talk) 13:51, 30 August 2020 (UTC)
 * I do not see that as contradictory. My understanding is that the tornado damaged several buildings integral to the operations, but not necessarily the housing. There was also more than one factor involved here. Maren Carden mentions on page 97 of Oneida : Utopian community to modern corporation that "At Wallingford (John Humphrey Noyes) built a factory that used water power to produce tin-plated spoons, but his scheme for industrial expansion was frustrated when, soon after the factory was completed, an epidemic of malaria cause almost all the Perfectionists to return to Oneida." It seems that the malaria & tornado destruction together influenced the desire to transfer to the cutlery business to Oneida in 1879. It did not appear that this was instantaneous after the tornado, but was done by 1880. That the transfer was gradual makes sense to me, especially if the Wallingford housing was intact.
 * I could not find mention of the tornado in Tirzah Millers' diary. That is unsurprising to me, given that there was no known loss of life at the branch due to the tornado, unlike the deaths that did occur from malaria. There were certainly events at Oneida that commanded greater attention, since the governance was in disarray & the plural marriage was about to end.
 * Perhaps there should be a separate section on the Wallingford branch to help capture these nuances. It appears to have played an important role in the Oneida Community, as both a place of refuge & exile, & as the origin of the cutlery business. Perhaps you would like to start it.
 * Peaceray (talk) 21:56, 30 August 2020 (UTC)

Male continence - coitus reservatus, saxonicus or both?
I've heard it described as both, including here on wikipedia on the retroglade ejaculation (coitus saxonicus) article, while the community's article says reservatus. Just wondering if they did one or the other or both, because if it was only one of them then that should be made clear as they're two different things. 24.44.73.34 (talk) 02:43, 30 March 2022 (UTC)

Shortened footnotes
There is an issue with Tower/Towner in the "Decline" section.

I wanted to add a reference but I am baffled by this system of "shortened footnotes", which seems great but not as easy to use as the usual way of adding a ref.

So... as suggested I ask for help and lacking time for now I'll leave this here:

"A branch of the community, led by James W. Towner, “minister, abolitionist, lawyer, judge, Civil War captain, and decorated hero,” took their bible communism to California in the early 1880s."

https://daily.jstor.org/oneida-community-moves-oc/

--Kai Carver (talk) 05:34, 7 November 2022 (UTC)

Suggestions from MS Copilot for improvement
As an experiment, today I asked MS Copilot about what could be improved in this article. Here was its response: "The Oneida Community article on English Wikipedia is a comprehensive overview of the history, structure, beliefs, and practices of the utopian religious society founded by John Humphrey Noyes in 1848 near Oneida, New York1. However, some possible areas of improvement or expansion are:

I would note that incorporating primary sources requires following WP:PRIMARYSOURCE. I think the above would be worthwhile. Currently this is graded as a C class using Wikipedia's content assessment, but the predicted quality from ORES rates it as FA or GA. Peaceray (talk) 19:41, 4 January 2024 (UTC)
 * The article could provide more details on the social and cultural context of the Oneida Community, such as how it interacted with other utopian movements, religious groups, and the broader society of its time.
 * The article could include more information on the legacy and impact of the Oneida Community, such as how it influenced later communal experiments, social reform movements, and religious thought.
 * The article could incorporate more primary sources from the Oneida Community members, such as their letters, diaries, publications, and artifacts, to provide a richer and more nuanced perspective on their experiences and views.
 * The article could address some of the controversies and criticisms that the Oneida Community faced, such as the legal and moral challenges to its practices of group marriage, stirpiculture, and mutual criticism.
 * The article could also update some of the references and citations to reflect the most recent and reliable sources on the Oneida Community, such as academic books, journals, and websites."

title: Talk:Oneida Community


text:
Ceremonial counties of England

Ceremonial counties, formally known as counties for the purposes of the lieutenancies, are areas of England to which lord-lieutenants are appointed. They are one of the two main legal definitions of the counties of England in modern usage, the other being the counties for the purposes of local government legislation. A lord-lieutenant is the monarch's representative in an area. Shrieval counties have the same boundaries and serve a similar purpose, being the areas to which high sheriffs are appointed. High sheriffs are the monarch's judicial representative in an area.

The ceremonial counties are defined in the Lieutenancies Act 1997, and the shrieval counties in the Sheriffs Act 1887. Both are defined as groups of local government counties.

History

The historic counties of England were originally used as areas for administering justice and organising the militia, overseen by a sheriff. From Tudor times onwards a lord-lieutenant was appointed to oversee the militia, taking some of the sheriff's functions.

Certain towns and cities were counties corporate, which gave them the right to appoint their own sheriffs and hold their own courts. Whilst in theory the counties corporate could have had separate lieutenants appointed for them, in practice all of them except London shared a lieutenant with the wider county from which they had been created. London had instead a commission of lieutenancy, headed by the Lord Mayor. The long-standing practice of appointing lieutenants jointly to the wider county and any counties corporate it contained was formalised by the Militia Act 1882.

Apart from the inclusion of the counties corporate, the counties for the purposes of lieutenancy generally corresponded to the judicial counties. The exception was Yorkshire, which was one judicial county, having a single Sheriff of Yorkshire, but from 1660 onwards each of Yorkshire's three ridings had its own lieutenant.

In 1889 elected county councils were established under the Local Government Act 1888, taking over the administrative functions of the quarter sessions. Certain towns and cities were made county boroughs, independent from the county councils. In counties where the quarter sessions had been held separately for different parts of the county, such as the Parts of Lincolnshire, each part was given its own county council. The area administered by a county council was called an administrative county. As such, some of the judicial or lieutenancy counties comprised several administrative counties and county boroughs.

The Ordnance Survey adopted the term 'geographical county' to describe the widest definition of the county. In most cases this was the lieutenancy county; the exceptions were Yorkshire, where the judicial county was larger on account of it being split into its three ridings for lieutenancy purposes, and the County of London where the administrative county was larger on account of the City of London and the rest of the county being separate for both judicial and lieutenancy purposes.

The counties lost their judicial functions in 1972, after which the main functions of the counties were the administrative functions of local government. Despite the loss of their functions, sheriffs continued to be appointed to the former judicial counties up until 1974.

In 1974, administrative counties and county boroughs were abolished, and a new system of metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties was introduced instead. Sheriffs were renamed 'high sheriffs' and both they and the lieutenants were appointed to the new versions of the counties.

The counties of Avon, Cleveland and Humberside, each of which had only been created in 1974, were all abolished in 1996. They were divided into unitary authorities; legally these are also non-metropolitan counties. As part of these reforms, it was decided to define counties for the purposes of lieutenancy differently from the local government counties in some cases, effectively reverting to the pre-1974 arrangements for lieutenancies. Whereas the lieutenancies had been defined slightly differently from the shrieval counties prior to 1974, it was decided in 1996 that the high sheriffs and lieutenants should be appointed to the same areas. Regulations amending the Sheriffs Act 1887 and specifying the areas for the appointment of lieutenants were accordingly brought in with effect from 1 April 1996.

The regulations were then consolidated into the Lieutenancies Act 1997. When Herefordshire, Rutland and Worcestershire were re-established as local government counties in 1997 and 1998 no amendment was made to the 1997 Act regarding them, allowing them to also serve as their own lieutenancy areas. The lieutenancy counties have not changed in area since 1998, although the definitions of which local government counties are included in each lieutenancy have been amended to reflect new unitary authorities being created since 1997.

In legislation the lieutenancy areas are described as 'counties for the purposes of the lieutenancies'; the informal term 'ceremonial county' has come into usage for such areas, appearing in parliamentary debates as early as 1996.

Shrieval counties
The shrieval counties are defined by the Sheriffs Act 1887 as amended, in a similar way to the lieutenancies defined by the Lieutenancies Act 1997. Each has a high sheriff appointed (except the City of London, which has two sheriffs).

Definition
The Lieutenancies Act 1997 defines counties for the purposes of lieutenancies in terms of metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties (created by the Local Government Act 1972, as amended) as well as Greater London and the Isles of Scilly (which lie outside the 1972 Act's system). Although the term is not used in the act, these counties are sometimes known as "ceremonial counties". The counties are defined in Schedule 1, paragraphs 2–5 as amended (in 2009, 2019 and 2023). Generally, each time a new non-metropolitan county is created the 1997 Act is amended to redefine the existing areas of the lieutenancies in terms of the new areas. No such amendment was made in 1997 when Rutland was made a unitary authority or in 1998 when Herefordshire and Worcestershire were re-established; those three therefore have been given their own lieutenants again since the passing of the 1997 Act. The actual areas of the ceremonial counties have not changed since 1998.

Lieutenancy areas since 1998
These are the 48 counties for the purposes of the lieutenancies in England, as currently defined:

Geographical counties 1889–1974
After the creation of county councils in 1889, there were counties for judicial and shrieval purposes, counties for lieutenancy purposes, and administrative counties and county boroughs for the purposes of local government. The 1888 Act used the term 'entire county' to refer to the group of administrative counties and county boroughs created within each judicial county. The Ordnance Survey used the term 'geographical county' to refer to this wider definition of the county.

Yorkshire had three lieutenancies, one for each riding, but was a single judicial county with one sheriff, and was counted as one geographical county by Ordnance Survey.

The counties lost their judicial functions in 1972 under the Courts Act 1971 which abolished the quarter sessions and assizes. Sheriffs continued to be appointed for each county despite the loss of the judicial functions. Certain towns and cities were counties corporate appointing their own sheriffs. The counties corporate were all included in a wider county for lieutenancy purposes, except the City of London which had its own lieutenants.

The geographical counties were relatively stable between 1889 and 1965. There were occasional boundary changes, notably following the Local Government Act 1894 which said that parishes and districts were no longer allowed to straddle county boundaries. After that most boundary changes were primarily to accommodate urban areas which were growing across county boundaries, such as when Caversham was transferred from Oxfordshire to Berkshire as a result of being absorbed into the County Borough of Reading in 1911.

The lieutenancies and judicial / shrieval counties were defined as groups of administrative counties and county boroughs, and so were automatically adjusted if the boundaries of those administrative areas changed. There were two exceptions to this rule (one only briefly). The county borough of Great Yarmouth straddled Norfolk and Suffolk for judicial and lieutenancy purposes until 1891 when it was placed entirely in Norfolk for those purposes. The county borough of Stockport straddled Cheshire and Lancashire for judicial and lieutenancy purposes - it was placed entirely in Lancashire for judicial purposes in 1956 but continued to straddle the two counties for lieutenancy purposes until 1974.

 * Geographical, shrieval, lieutenancy and administrative counties 1889–1965

More significant changes to the geographical counties were made in 1965 with the creation of Greater London and of Huntingdon and Peterborough, which resulted in the abolition of the offices of Lord Lieutenant of Middlesex, Lord Lieutenant of the County of London, and Lord Lieutenant of Huntingdonshire and the creation of the Lord Lieutenant of Greater London and of the Lord Lieutenant of Huntingdon and Peterborough.

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

title: Ceremonial counties of England


text:
House church (China)

In China, house churches or family churches are Protestant assemblies in the People's Republic of China that operate independently from the state-sanctioned Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM) and China Christian Council (CCC). They represent a tradition of independent churches that would not come under the control of the Chinese Communist Party dating back to Wang Mingdao in the 1950s. However they came into their current form of existence after the Cultural Revolution in the early-1980s.

Terminology
While these groups are sometimes described as "underground churches", this term is generally associated with Catholic assemblies who have chosen to operate independently from the state-sanctioned Catholic Patriotic Association and the Bishops Conference of Catholic Church in China.

K. H. Ting, one of the key leaders of the TSPM and the CCC for many years, did not like the term "house church" and preferred to use the term "house gathering". This was because he found designations such as "house church" and "official church" as returning to the pre-Cultural Revolution practice of denominationalism.

Some scholars prefer to use terms such as "unregistered church" to speak about the Protestant phenomenon, because these groups can reach several hundred and do not always literally meet in someone's home. Others suggest the need to discard the "house church" vs. "TSPM church" dichotomy as there is a lot that blurs these divisions, including the relationship between the two groups themselves.

Moreover, as a result of the rapid urbanization of China since the 1990s, there has been a growing development within urban Christianity. Some congregations have preferred to self-identify as being part of a "third church" to differentiate from both traditional house churches and TSPM churches.

History
In 1949, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) gained control of mainland China and established the People's Republic of China (PRC). Shortly thereafter, well-known Christian leader Y. T. Wu authored and published "The Christian Manifesto", which publicly supported the CCP's policy of overseeing the church for the sake of national unity and progress and called on all Protestant Christians to follow suit. In the 1950s, Wu successfully oversaw the signing of "The Christian Manifesto" by roughly half of the Protestant population across China. He also played a key role in creating and leading the Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM), a state-sanctioned governing body for Protestant Christianity in China.

However, China's independent churches, championed by Wang Mingdao, strongly resisted the TSPM both for its allegiance to a political entity and its liberal theological leanings. As a result of their refusal to join with the TSPM, an entire generation of China's independent pastors were severely persecuted and their churches forced to close. These resistant churches often began meeting in undisclosed locations, such as individual homes or fields, thus gaining the name "house church". Despite the TSPM's efforts to maintain a good relationship with the CCP, it too was eventually dismantled and persecuted during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) so that all Christian practice in China became persecuted and hidden. During the period from the 1950s to 1970s, the strongest house church networks could be found in China's countryside.

Due to the changes in religious policy after the end of the Cultural Revolution, in 1980, the Three-Self Patriotic Movement would be reinstated and the China Christian Council would be formed. Protestant congregations that wished to worship publicly registered with the TSPM, but those that did not would eventually be termed house churches.

Since the 1990s, a number of developments have resulted from the rapid urbanization experienced in Chinese society. While house churches originated as being quite independent of one another, a number of house church networks have developed, with some headquartered in Henan and Zhejiang provinces. These networks have sent missionaries all over the country and have even started sending them abroad to neighboring states.

The rapid urbanization has also resulted in migration to China's urban centers and the rise of urban house churches. Some of these have developed through migrant worker communities and university students. Other new communities can be seen among urban intellectuals and entrepreneurs, the latter termed "boss Christians".

The house church has grown by some estimations to tens of millions of Christians. They had demonstrated national-level influence when Christians organized to provide relief to the deadly 2008 Sichuan earthquake, a disaster which the government was slow to handle. In 2018, the CCP began to introduce a series of new religious regulations. It closed Zion Church in Beijing and Early Rain Covenant Church in Chengdu, whose pastor, Wang Yi, was given a jail sentence of 9 years, the longest given to a pastor in several decades.

Legality
House churches in China are generally considered illegal, yet smaller house churches of less than 25 members tend to be tolerated by the government. However, some have grown to a fairly large size, such as the Shouwang Church which reached 1,000 members at its height. House churches today still experience persecution, though the situation tends to differ depending on the region. American political scientist Carsten T. Vala argues that house churches are subject to persecution when they cross red lines, which include, apart from size, rapid growth, active proselytization, the attempt to form national networks, contacts with foreign Christian organization, and criticism of the government.

House churches are often reluctant to become official by joining the state-sanctioned Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM). In addition to accepting the worrying institutional memory of government use of the TSPM to suppress churches during the 1950s, groups joining the TSPM would have to agree to limits on the time and location of religious activities, among other restrictions. Further, some Christians find certain TSPM teachings inconsistent with their personal faith. All churches submit to government monitoring as a condition of state approval; the government has direct oversight over TSPM congregations and can insist that Christians honor the government, in addition to traditional Christian theological teachings. Many Chinese Christians choose to attend house churches to practice their faith without government interference.

Some house churches, however, submit their activities for government approval in an attempt to follow the law as closely as possible while remaining independent. In some instances, authorities have allowed such house churches to continue to operate. In others, officials have arrested pastors, congregants, and others affiliated with the targeted congregations, and have even gone so far as the destruction of buildings used for worship.

Pentecostal characteristics
The first Pentecostal missionaries arrived in China shortly after the Azusa Street Revival as part of groups such as the Christian and Missionary Alliance, the China Inland Mission, the Pentecostal Missionary Union, and the Assemblies of God. These groups would also be instrumental in inspiring the creation of indigenous Pentecostal groups, such as the True Jesus Church and the Jesus Family.

Today, Chinese house churches are commonly described as being Pentecostal or charismatic. This is often the case due to the experience of miraculous healing. According to some surveys, 90% of converts to Protestant Christianity, in both house churches and TSPM churches, cite healing as a reason for their conversion.

However, a number of scholars have attempted to reconsider this description, using phrases such as "Pentecostal-like" or "Pentecostal characteristics" to indicate this ambiguity.

The Assemblies of God theologian Simon Chan argues that "an adequate definition of Pentecostalism cannot be restricted to phenomenological description" – that is, based on experiences. Chan continues to explain that classical Pentecostal beliefs such as Spirit-baptism and speaking in tongues are not prevalent in Chinese churches, when compared with miraculous healing.

Edmond Tang has pointed out that only a few groups, like the True Jesus Church and the Jesus Family, can trace themselves back to missionaries coming from Pentecostal denominations. Many of the Pentecostal characteristics in Chinese churches are seen to have parallels with Chinese folk religion, such as trances, ancestral worship, and the use of talismans. Some have described this as a folk religionization of Christianity.

Robert Menzies disputes these views, arguing, "The common thread that unites Pentecostals in China with other Pentecostals around the world is their sense of connection with the apostolic church as reflected in the book of Acts."

The hymnal Canaan Hymns, rich in pneumatological themes, is widely used.

Similar organization in other religions
While foreign media often focus discussion about house churches mainly with relation to Protestantism, other religious traditions in China have chosen a similar form of organization. These include house assemblies of Han Chinese following Tibetan Buddhism, led by lamas and tulkus, Buddhist and Baháʼí Faith study groups, unregistered Zhengyi and vernacular forms of Taoism, and various folk religious groupings such as Yiguandao.

title: House church (China)


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Die Hard with a Vengeance

Die Hard with a Vengeance is a 1995 American action thriller film directed by John McTiernan and written by Jonathan Hensleigh, which is based on the screenplay Simon Says by Hensleigh and the characters created by Roderick Thorp for his 1979 novel Nothing Lasts Forever. Die Hard with a Vengeance is the third film in the Die Hard film series after Die Hard 2 and was later followed by Live Free or Die Hard and A Good Day to Die Hard.

The film stars Bruce Willis as NYPD Lieutenant John McClane and Samuel L. Jackson as McClane's reluctant partner Zeus Carver. McClane and Carver team up to stop an East German terrorist group headed by "Simon" (Jeremy Irons), who have planted bombs across New York City and plot to steal the gold bullion of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The film was released on May 19, 1995 to mixed reviews and became the highest-grossing film of the year.

Plot
The Bonwit Teller department store in New York City is blown up by a bomb during the morning commute. A man identifying himself as "Simon" telephones the New York City Police Department (NYPD) and claims responsibility. Making demands in the form of a 'Simon Says' game, he threatens to detonate another bomb unless policeman John McClane is sent to Harlem wearing a sandwich board with a racist slur on it. The NYPD comply and send McClane to Harlem, where he is confronted by an electrician and shop owner named Zeus Carver. McClane explains his situation before a group of gang members also confront McClane over his sign. Carver intervenes and saves McClane, and they escape in a taxi.

They arrive at 1 Police Plaza, where Simon demands that the pair follow a timed challenge or he will set off more bombs. They agree and McClane eventually boards the 3 train heading towards the Wall Street station in order to defuse a bomb that Simon planted on it. Carver arrives at the station before McClane finds the bomb and throws it on the tracks just as it explodes. McClane and Carver regroup with the NYPD and meet some FBI and CIA agents, who initially inform the pair that Simon is "Peter Krieg", a mercenary and former colonel in the National People's Army. They then reveal that Krieg's real name is Simon Peter Gruber, the brother of Hans Gruber, who McClane killed years earlier in Los Angeles.

Simon then places another call to the NYPD, informing them that he has planted an explosive in one of the city's elementary schools which is set to explode once class ends and can be triggered by the same radio frequencies utilized by law enforcement. Simon offers to give the authorities the school's location if McClane and Carver follow another timed challenge, warning that he will detonate the explosive if any evacuation attempts are carried out. While the pair solve Simon's next challenge, the NYPD begin to search all elementary schools in the city. McClane realizes that Simon is attempting to distract the NYPD away from Wall Street, which has no schools, and travels to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Building. He discovers that Simon's men have stolen $140 billion of gold bullion from its vault using dump trucks. He follows the trucks into a water tunnel while Carver continues Simon's challenges.

Simon blows up a cofferdam to flood the tunnel, but McClane escapes and reunites with Carver. Surviving a car chase with Simon's men, the pair find all the men were carrying exactly enough money to pay a bridge toll. The pair sneak aboard a tanker docked in the Long Island Sound, but Simon's associates capture them and tie them up next to a bomb. Simon explains that his school threat was fake and broadcasts a message claiming that he is planning on destroying the tanker filled with the bullion to destabilize the Western world's economy. After he leaves, Carver and McClane free themselves and escape the tanker just before the bomb detonates. As McClane and Carver are debriefed by the NYPD, McClane informs them that none of the bullion Simon's men stole was in the tanker's cargo hold, having deduced that Simon had intended to keep all of it for himself, using his knowledge of the Gruber family's modus operandi.

While attempting to place a call to his estranged wife Holly, McClane glances at a bottle of aspirin given to him by Simon onboard the tanker and notices that it was purchased at a truck stop in the Canadian province of Quebec on the Canada–United States border. McClane informs the NYPD of his discovery, and joins them and Carver as they rush towards a warehouse near the truck stop where Simon and his men are redistributing the bullion and planning their escape. The rest of Simon's men are quickly apprehended by law enforcement personnel, though Simon and his girlfriend Katya attempt to escape in a helicopter, attacking McClane. McClane shoots at an overhead power line which falls onto the helicopter, causing it to crash and explode, killing Simon and Katya. While they are celebrating their triumph, Carver persuades McClane to place another call to Holly.

Development and writing
Like most of the films in the series, the premise of this film was repurposed from a stand-alone project. Various scripts were written for Die Hard 3; a number of them were ultimately rejected by Bruce Willis on the grounds that they felt like retreads of the action movies that came in the wake of the first film. One script, originally titled Troubleshooter, had McClane fighting terrorists on a Caribbean cruise line, but was rejected for being too similar to Under Siege. Troubleshooter was later repurposed for Speed 2: Cruise Control.

The script ultimately used was intended for a film entitled Simon Says, originally positioned as a Brandon Lee vehicle and the character of Zeus was written with an actress in mind. Warner Bros. bought the script and rewrote it as a Lethal Weapon sequel. Warner Bros. later put the script in turnaround, only to be purchased by 20th Century Fox and rewritten as a Die Hard film.

Andy Vajna replaced Joel Silver and Larry Gordon as the producer on the film due to a fall-out with Willis. As a result, Vajna's company, Cinergi, acquired foreign rights to the film. In most regions, the film rights were acquired by Disney and Summit Entertainment, while Fox retained domestic and Japan rights. In July 1997, Cinergi sold its 50% stake in the film to Fox for $11.25 million.

Casting
Laurence Fishburne was originally offered the co-starring role of Zeus Carver, a part also written for him, but wanted a higher fee. Producer Andy Vajna held out on the deal. Fishburne had earlier turned down the role of Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction, which was eventually played by Samuel L. Jackson. Fishburne was talked out of playing Jules by his representatives who wanted him to only accept leading parts, otherwise he would be stuck career-wise as a supporting actor. Subsequently, Pulp Fiction premiered at the Cannes Film Festival during the same time as Fishburne's pay negotiations. Vajna also attended the event to support Willis who was appearing in the Quentin Tarantino film. Tarantino recalled that Vajna was so impressed by Jackson's performance that he offered him the part of Carver instead. Fishburne later filed a lawsuit against Vajna's company Cinergi for reneging on a verbal agreement. The lawsuit took two years and Fishburne received a settlement.

Soundtrack
Michael Kamen returned to score the third film, again incorporating other material into his score (most notably "When Johnny Comes Marching Home", not included on the soundtrack album). Excerpts from his scores for Die Hard and Die Hard 2 were also included in the new film. The soundtrack was released by RCA Victor. In 2012, La-La Land Records released an expanded version of the soundtrack, containing music that Kamen had composed but went unused in the final film.

Theatrical
Unlike its predecessors, Die Hard with a Vengeance did not take place during Christmas, instead being set during the late summer. It opened in theaters on May 19, 1995, five years after Die Hard 2. Despite concerns about the film portraying bomb threats and terrorism with the Oklahoma City bombing having occurred the previous month, the film was released as originally scheduled.

Home media
Die Hard with a Vengeance was released on VHS on December 19, 1995 in the United States by Fox Video with a THX certified version, while it was released in international countries by Touchstone Home Entertainment and released in South Africa on VHS by Ster-Kinekor Home Video. It was then released on LaserDisc on January 17, 1996, and on DVD on March 9, 1999. A special edition was released on DVD on July 10, 2001 and then re-released in February 2005 and 2007. The film was released on Blu-ray in 2007 and 2013.

Alternative ending
An alternative ending to the one shown in the final movie was filmed with Jeremy Irons and Bruce Willis, set some time after the events in New York. It can be found on the Special Edition DVD. In this version, it is presumed that the robbery succeeds, and that McClane was used as the scapegoat for everything that went wrong. He is fired from the NYPD after more than 20 years on the force and the FBI has even taken away his pension; it is also mentioned that McClane and his wife Holly have divorced. Nevertheless, he still manages to track Simon using the batch number on the bottle of aspirins and they meet in a bar in Hungary. In this version, Simon has double-crossed most of his accomplices, gotten the loot to a safe hiding place somewhere in Hungary, and has the gold turned into statuettes of the Empire State Building in order to smuggle it out of the country. McClane is keen to take his problems out on Simon, who he invites to play a game called "McClane Says". This involves a form of Russian roulette with a small Chinese rocket launcher that has had the sights removed, meaning it is impossible to determine which end is which. McClane then asks Simon some riddles similar to the ones he played in New York. When Simon gets a riddle wrong, McClane forces him at gunpoint to fire the launcher, which fires the rocket through Simon, killing him.

In the DVD audio commentary, screenwriter Jonathan Hensleigh claims that this version was dropped because the studio thought it showed a more cruel and menacing side to McClane, a man who killed for revenge rather than in self-defense. The studio was also displeased with the lack of action in the scene, feeling that it did not fit as a "climax" and therefore chose to reshoot the finale as an action sequence at a significant monetary cost. Hensleigh's intention was to show that the events in New York and the subsequent repercussions had tilted McClane psychologically. This alternative ending, set some time after the film's main events, would have marked a serious break from the Die Hard formula, in which the plot unfolds over a period of roughly 12 hours.

According to the DVD audio commentary, a second alternative ending had McClane and Carver floating back to shore on a makeshift raft after the explosion at sea. Carver says it is a shame the bad guys are going to get away; McClane tells him not to be so sure. The scene then shifts to the boat where the terrorists find the briefcase bomb they left in the park and which Carver gave back to them (in this version it was not used to blow up the dam). The film would end on a darkly comic note as Simon asks if anyone has a four-gallon jug. This draft of the script was rejected early on – possibly due to the similarity of the ending to Die Hard 2, where all the villains board a plane that later explodes – so it was never actually filmed. The rocket-launcher sequence was the only alternative ending to be filmed.

Box office
Die Hard with a Vengeance opened in the United States on May 19, 1995 and earned $22,162,245 in its opening weekend. The film ranked number one at the box office, beating Crimson Tide. In Japan, it set a record opening for 20th Century Fox with a five-day gross of $13.5 million, beating Return of the Jedi and ranking number one for five consecutive weeks, grossing over $81 million. Its opening in France set a summer record with a gross of $8.8 million in its first 8 days. The film went on to gross $100,012,499 in the United States and Canada, and $266,089,167 in other markets, giving it a total worldwide gross of $366,101,666 and making it the highest-grossing film of 1995.

Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 59% based on 78 reviews, with an average rating of 6.20/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Die Hard with a Vengeance gets off to a fast start and benefits from Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson's barbed interplay, but clatters to a bombastic finish in a vain effort to cover for an overall lack of fresh ideas." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 58 out of 100, based on 19 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.

Roger Ebert of Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three stars out of four, praising the action sequences and the performances of Willis, Jackson, and Irons, concluding: "Die Hard with a Vengeance is basically a wind-up action toy, cleverly made, and delivered with high energy. It delivers just what it advertises, with a vengeance." Entertainment Weekly's Owen Gleiberman disliked the film, stating that while "[John] McTiernan stages individual sequences with great finesse... they don't add up to a taut, dread-ridden whole".

James Berardinelli thought that the explosions and fights were "filmed with consummate skill, and are thrilling in their own right". Samuel L. Jackson's performance in the film was also praised by critics. Desson Howe of The Washington Post thought that "the best thing about the movie is the relationship between McClane and Zeus," saying that Jackson was "almost as good as he was in Pulp Fiction." For Variety, Brian Lowry wrote the film was the "least accomplished" of the Die Hard series, but "even a subpar adventure won't kill this series, as the pic's built-in audience will make it a major summer attraction, if perhaps one lacking quite the stamina of the first two movies".

Empire magazine's Ian Nathan gave the film a three out of five stars review, stating that "Die Hard with a Vengeance is better than Die Hard 2, but not as good as the peerless original. Though it's breathless fun, the film runs out of steam in the last act. And Jeremy Irons' villain isn't fit to tie Alan Rickman's shoelaces."

In the Crime Time Filmbook, which archives various UK film reviews, the film was given a five out of five star review citing it as "...simply the best Action film of the decade, leaving imitators like Bad Boys, Executive Decision, The Rock and Chain Reaction in varying depths of shadow.

Retrospective rankings have called the film the best sequel in the franchise. Empire considered it to be one of the 50 greatest film sequels in 2009. Ben Sherlock of Screen Rant regarded it as the best sequel of the franchise. Johnny Hoffman from Movieweb considered it a step up from the previous film and praised Willis and Jackson's chemistry and the action scenes.

title: Die Hard with a Vengeance


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User:Aplank~enwiki/grandad

Where would you go in History? By Alex Plank Mrs. Goodwin’s class

My grandfather(who was a child during the 20s and remembers a lot), and whose father was alive during the time when the West only consisted of miles of farms and beautiful land, always told me stories about life growing up in Missouri on a ranch, explaining how he rode to school on his horse during wintry blizzards, talked to Indians, herded cattle across the state, tried to catch prairie dogs, and did many other exciting things that could have only taken place during that time of History. The 1920s weren’t very long ago, yet in Montana, they were extremely different from the 90s, the decade in which I grew up. (Areas such as Baltimore were much similar to today’s life.) Indians still freely roamed the great plains back then, and there were no shopping-marts, one hour photo-places, or fast food restaurants defiling the beautiful terrain of Missouri and Montana. My grandfather always shares stories about living next to Charles Marion Russell, the famous painter of the Wild West. Russell’s paintings showed many exciting scenes depicting Indians, and true cowboys and my Grandfather has them all over his house. If I could choose to go back to any time in History, I would go back to this time period. The time when the West was young was indeed a very exciting time in history.

title: User:Aplank~enwiki/grandad


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Talk:Mythological figures named Thebe

(Not a Dab)
I deliberately chose not to make this a disambiguation page because there is no content behind it. If or when the content grows enough that we should consider breaking this page into sub-pages (more than a paragraph on each person?), please add this page to the list of Links to disambiguating pages. Rossami 15:35, 5 Nov 2003 (UTC) --Jerzy•t 05:30, 11 August 2011 (UTC)
 * Yes, it looks like a incomplete Dab'n. No, it isn't one. It can be renamed, and make that a little clearer.

--Jerzy•t 09:26, 11 August 2011 (UTC)
 * IMO it's now already more usable, and clearly an SIA. And it took less than 8 years to get this far.

title: Talk:Mythological figures named Thebe


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The Band Concert

The Band Concert is a 1935 American animated short film produced in 3-strip Technicolor by Walt Disney Productions and released by United Artists. The 73rd short film in the Mickey Mouse series, it was the second release of the year, and notable as the first in the series to be produced in color.

Directed by Wilfred Jackson, with music adapted by Leigh Harline, the action follows a small music band, conducted by Mickey Mouse, which struggles through a distraction-filled public performance. Clarence Nash provides the voice of Donald Duck, the only speaking character. The film remains among the most highly acclaimed of the Disney shorts.

Plot
Mickey Mouse's concert band is performing a concert in a park. As the film opens, they are being applauded for having just played music from Louis Joseph Ferdinand Hérold's Zampa. They next begin Gioacchino Rossini's William Tell overture.

Mickey's performance is first disrupted by Peter Pig's vibrato trumpet and Paddy Pig's tuba playing Prelude: Dawn from the William Tell overture. Meanwhile, Donald Duck rolls a vendor cart through the audience selling popcorn, lemonade, peanuts, and ice cream, which further causes a distraction to Mickey.

While the band is playing the "Finale" segment, Donald plays "Turkey in the Straw" at the same tempo as the band. Overhearing Donald, the entire band absent-mindedly find themselves playing Donald's song. Realizing his mistake, Mickey gets mad over his performance being disrupted in this manner and splits Donald's flute in half, only for Donald to get another one out. They play the song once more and Donald is stopped by Mickey, who splits the flute again. The band resumes the segment and Donald pulls out a third flute and plays "Turkey in the Straw" again, but before Mickey can stop him again, Donald breaks the flute himself. An angry trombonist grabs Donald by the neck, shakes out several of his flutes and forces him off the stage, knocking him backwards into the vendor cart.

While Donald tries to play the song again, a hornet harasses him. When the hornet lands on Mickey's hat, Donald throws ice cream at the hornet, but it flies into Peter Pig's trumpet; he shoots it out, accidentally hitting Mickey with it. The ice cream slides under Mickey's uniform, making him shake around, causing the band to briefly play The Streets of Cairo until it falls out and he kicks it away. Mickey has the band play Ranz des Vaches and swats his baton at the hornet, temporarily causing the band to briefly play notes more drastically different than the song. Percussionist Horace Horsecollar tries to kill the hornet by squishing it with his cymbals and with a hammer, but accidentally hits Goofy's head instead, driving his head down into his jacket. He continues playing his clarinet from inside it while Horace leaves in shame.

When the band comes to the "Storm" segment of the overture, it summons an actual tornado, prompting the audience and Donald to run away. The benches that the audience members were sitting on come to life (each wearing a hat that fell off an audience member) and also begin running for their lives as well. Donald tries to take shelter in some trees only for the tornado to tie them in knots with Donald in the middle. The tornado sucks up and destroys everything in its path, even the pavilion on which the band is playing, but the band is so used to distractions at this point that they continue to play from inside the tornado, in which Mickey floats through the remains of a wrecked house, Peter Pig gets spanked by a fence, and Clarabelle gets hit by a coat and an umbrella that turns her flute inside out. The tornado suddenly freezes when Mickey takes a pause conducting and goes in reverse as the band finishes the last part of the song. As the storm passes, the band is thrown into a tree and they finish the overture. By this time, the only remaining audience member is Donald Duck who applauds enthusiastically. Witnessing Donald playing "Turkey in the Straw" as an encore, the angry band members throw their instruments at him, which ends with a tuba being thrown on top of him. Donald's hands appear out of the tuba's blowpiece and plays a final flutter of notes.

The Band

 * Mickey Mouse - Conductor
 * Goofy - Clarinet
 * Unnamed Dog - Trombone
 * Clarabelle Cow - Flute
 * Horace Horsecollar - Percussion
 * Peter Pig - Trumpet
 * Paddy Pig - Tuba

Cast

 * Clarence Nash as Donald Duck
 * Pinto Colvig as miscellaneous noises

Reception
The Band Concert has become one of the most highly acclaimed Disney short films. Esquire magazine cultural critic Gilbert Seldes wrote that "[none of] dozens of works produced in America at the same time in all the other arts can stand comparison with this one." The Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini was such a fan of The Band Concert that he saw it six times in the theater and later invited Walt Disney to his home in Italy.

In The Disney Films, Leonard Maltin said that The Band Concert is "one of the best cartoons ever made anywhere... There are nuances of expression in Mickey's character throughout this film that had seldom been explored in earlier shorts. The pacing is also entirely different from the standard Mickey Mouse comedies of the early thirties. Instead of trying to pack in a thousand gags a minute, The Band Concert takes its time and builds to a crescendo."

The Band Concert was rated third in the 1994 book The 50 Greatest Cartoons, as rated by members of the field of animation. As a result, it was the highest-ranked Disney cartoon on the list, and the only one in the top 5 not produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons.

Home media
The short was released on December 4, 2001, on Walt Disney Treasures: Mickey Mouse in Living Color.

Legacy
According to Leonard Maltin, the 1942 Mickey Mouse film Symphony Hour was somewhat of a remake of The Band Concert.

In the 1942 wartime cartoon, All Together, Mickey and his whole band from the cartoon is seen in the parade.

In the video game Kingdom Hearts II, in the Garden area of Disney Castle, there is a topiary sculpture of all characters in the band besides Mickey, Donald, and Goofy.

The Band Concert serves as the basis for a projector level in the game Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two.

The Band Concert was also the basis for, and title of the secret level in the game, Mickey Mania: The Timeless Adventures of Mickey Mouse (in the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, Sega CD and PlayStation versions only).

The Band Concert is one of the parade units that was featured in the Tokyo Disneyland parade Disney on Parade: 100 Years of Magic, which depicts a large inflatable rendition of Mickey from the cartoon. It was later reused for Hong Kong Disneyland's Disney on Parade.

This cartoon was also the inspiration for the Walt Disney World Resort Magic Kingdom show Mickey's PhilharMagic.

The short was one of the many featured in Donald Duck's 50th Birthday. Donald remembers it in a psychiatric session with Dr. Ludwig Von Drake and says that Mickey "invited" Donald to play with his band.

The Band Concert is the theme for the Silly Symphony Swings attraction at Disney California Adventure Park.

This cartoon was featured in Disney's Magical Mirror Starring Mickey Mouse.

Mickey's music stand and a drum are on display as props from the short in the queue of the Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway attraction at Disneyland.

title: The Band Concert


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World of Darkness

World of Darkness is a series of tabletop role-playing games, originally created by Mark Rein-Hagen for White Wolf Publishing. It began as an annual line of five games in 1991–1995, with Vampire: The Masquerade, Werewolf: The Apocalypse, Mage: The Ascension, Wraith: The Oblivion, and Changeling: The Dreaming, along with off-shoots based on these. The series ended in 2004, and the reboot Chronicles of Darkness was launched the same year with a new line of games. In 2011, the original series was brought back, and the two have since been published concurrently.

The games in the series have a shared setting, also named the World of Darkness, which is a dark, gothic-punk interpretation of the real world, where supernatural beings such as vampires and werewolves exist in secrecy. The original series' setting has a large focus on lore and overarching narrative, whereas Chronicles of Darkness setting has no such narrative and presents the details of its setting as optional.

The series has been well received critically for its setting, writing, and art direction, and has won or been nominated for awards including the Origins Award. It has also been commercially successful, with millions of game books sold; by 2001, Vampire: The Masquerade was the second highest selling tabletop role-playing game after TSR, Inc.'s Dungeons & Dragons. The series has been adapted into other media, including the television series Kindred: The Embraced, actual play web series, novels and anthologies, comic books, card games, and a line of video games.

Games

The original World of Darkness series consists of eight core lines of role-playing games which were originally released from 1991 to 2002:

 * Vampire: The Masquerade
 * Werewolf: The Apocalypse
 * Hunter: The Reckoning
 * Mage: The Ascension
 * Mummy: The Resurrection
 * Demon: The Fallen
 * Wraith: The Oblivion
 * Changeling: The Dreaming

As well as off-shoots based on these, such as the Asia-themed Kindred of the East and the historical Vampire: The Dark Ages.

The 2004 reboot series, Chronicles of Darkness, consists of eleven game lines: Vampire: The Requiem, Werewolf: The Forsaken, Mage: The Awakening, Promethean: The Created, Changeling: The Lost, Hunter: The Vigil, Geist: The Sin-Eaters, Mummy: The Curse, Demon: The Descent, Beast: The Primordial, and Deviant: The Renegades. Most of these are based on concepts from the original series, directly as with Vampire: The Requiem and Vampire: The Masquerade, or indirectly as with Geist and Wraith, which both deal with spirits.

Both series are supported with supplementary sourcebooks detailing backgrounds and character types, which can be used when creating adventures for one's players; pre-made adventure modules have also occasionally been published. The Chronicles of Darkness sourcebooks in particular present the information as optional and something one may choose whether to include in one's game. The supplements often take the form of a book describing a location as it is portrayed in the setting, such as Vampire: The Masquerade series of By Night books and Werewolf: The Apocalypse Rage Across series. Several splatbooks – sourcebooks detailing character classes or organizations – have also been published, such as the Clanbook series, describing vampire clans, and the Kithbook line, covering types of fae.

Common elements
The games in the original series are set in a shared universe, also named the World of Darkness, which is a dark, gothic-punk interpretation of the real world, rife with corruption. In it, supernatural beings such as vampires, mages, and werewolves exist in secrecy, influencing humanity and clashing against each other; players take the roles of these beings, who belong to various classes such as Vampire: The Masquerade vampire clans, and Werewolf: The Apocalypse werewolf tribes. The series as a whole is themed around personal horror, while individual games have their own themes, such as redemption and humanity in Vampire: The Masquerade, and hubris in Mage: The Ascension. The series is known for its focus on metaplot – an overarching story for the setting that advances as new game books are released.

Whereas the original series has a large focus on lore and background information for its setting, the urban horror Chronicles of Darkness setting does not to the same extent; it does not have a metaplot, and it presents any setting information as strictly optional to include in campaigns. With its lesser focus on lore and less defined world, Chronicles of Darkness also streamlines the character types, stripping the many vampire clans and werewolf tribes from the original series down to five each.

The person leading campaigns – a role called gamemaster or dungeon master in other games – is called a storyteller in World of Darkness, highlighting how the series is more focused on collaborative storytelling than on combat or on players overcoming the game leader's challenges; the rules exist to give players a framework for telling stories, and players are rewarded by being part of the setting rather than by escalating power levels. Chronicles of Darkness has a larger focus on making the gameplay systems work together, enabling easier cross-over play between the games.

1990–2006: White Wolf Publishing

The World of Darkness series began development in 1990 by game designer Mark Rein-Hagen at White Wolf Publishing, as his next major role-playing game project after 1987's Ars Magica. Designed as the first in a planned series of five annual games, Vampire: The Masquerade was released in 1991, and was followed by Werewolf: The Apocalypse (1992), Mage: The Ascension (1993), Wraith: The Oblivion (1994), and Changeling: The Dreaming (1995), all set in the same world and using the Storyteller rule system. This rapid expansion with new games, although successful and capturing players' and the industry's interest, led to often flawed first editions, prompting several revised, new editions of the core rulebooks between 1992–2000, resulting in Mage: The Ascension morphing a lot between its editions as its themes changed. Ars Magica was initially tied to World of Darkness and used as a historical backdrop: its House Tremere was reused as a vampire clan in Vampire: The Masquerade, and its Order of Hermes as a mage tradition in Mage: The Ascension. The rights to Ars Magica were sold to Wizards of the Coast in 1994, and the histories of the games were separated.

Rein-Hagen constantly moved on to designing new games after finishing one, designing all the original five games except Mage: The Ascension, which was designed by White Wolf Publishing's founders, brothers Stewart and Steve Wieck, and Chris Earley; as such, new staff were brought in to manage the game lines, including Andrew Greenberg for Vampire and Bill Bridges for Werewolf, who came to define the look and feel of the series. An economic downturn for White Wolf Publishing in 1995–1996, caused in part by bookstore returns for World of Darkness novelizations, led to a falling out between Rein-Hagen and the Wieck brothers, after which Rein-Hagen left the company. As the original planned five annual games had already been published, White Wolf Publishing next devised a new model of role-playing games with a historical setting based on previous games, resulting in Vampire: The Dark Ages (1996), Werewolf: The Wild West (1997), and Mage: The Sorcerers Crusade (1998), of which only Vampire: The Dark Ages sold well. This led to the cancellation of the underperforming Wraith line, with the release of the historical-setting Wraith: The Great War and the 1999 supplement Ends of Empire, which functioned as a finale to the game's metaplot.

In 1997, White Wolf Publishing developed another model, where they would release a game that required another World of Darkness rule book to play, which thereby would get the same attention as a new stand-alone core game without requiring them to further support it with supplements; this was used for 1997's Mummy Second Edition and its 2001 re-release Mummy: The Resurrection, and 1998's Kindred of the East. The two final major modern-day-setting World of Darkness role-playing games, Hunter: The Reckoning and Demon: The Fallen, followed in 1999 and 2002, after which White Wolf Publishing returned to historical-setting games with Victorian Age: Vampire and Dark Ages: Vampire, a new edition of Vampire: The Dark Ages, and a line of Dark Ages games based on other World of Darkness games that, like Kindred of the East and Mummy, required a main game's rule book to be played. A final game, Orpheus, was released in 2003 as a sequel to Wraith.

In 2004, following dwindling sales, White Wolf Publishing ended the series with the major event Time of Judgment: a line of books that ended the overarching narratives of Vampire: The Masquerade, Werewolf: The Apocalypse, Mage: The Ascension, Changeling: The Dreaming, Demon: The Fallen, Hunter: The Reckoning, Kindred of the East, and Mummy: The Resurrection. Following this, White Wolf Publishing rebooted the series with the 2004 rulebook The World of Darkness, and released new games with updated Storytelling System gameplay rules and a new setting, beginning with Vampire: The Requiem in 2004 and Werewolf: The Forsaken and Mage: The Awakening in 2005.

2006–2015: CCP Games

In 2006, the Icelandic video game developer CCP Games acquired White Wolf Publishing and their intellectual properties, with the intention of developing an online video game based on World of Darkness. Business continued as usual until 2009, when CCP Games started transferring White Wolf Publishing staff to video game development and slowed down tabletop game production.

The CCP Games incarnation of White Wolf Publishing published its last print products for distribution in 2011, with Vampire: The Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition, an update of the pre-reboot game. Amid mass layoffs at CCP Games the same year, leaving few resources to produce tabletop games, White Wolf Publishing's creative director Rich Thomas formed Onyx Path Publishing and licensed both of the World of Darkness series, continuing support for them and producing new material. This included further anniversary editions, and new games like Mummy: The Curse (2013) and Demon: The Descent (2014); these projects were frequently financed through crowdfunding.

2015–present: Paradox Interactive
White Wolf Publishing and its intellectual properties were sold again in 2015, to the Swedish video game publisher Paradox Interactive. Following this, the rebooted World of Darkness series was renamed Chronicles of Darkness, while the original series remained as World of Darkness. This was done to prevent confusion among players over there being two series and settings with the same name: Prior to the renaming, the two had been distinguished from each other by being referred to as the Old or Classic World of Darkness and the New World of Darkness. Onyx Path Publishing's in-development Vampire: The Masquerade 4th Edition, which they had announced only a few months earlier, was cancelled following this, as Paradox Interactive planned to publish their own fifth edition.

The Paradox Interactive incarnation of White Wolf Publishing released the fifth edition of Vampire: The Masquerade in 2018, which included references to neo-Nazis and a character interpreted as being a pedophile, leading to accusations that they were catering to neo-Nazi groups. White Wolf Publishing denied that this was their intention, and apologized. Following the use of the real-world anti-gay purges in Chechnya as the backdrop for fictional events in Vampire: The Masquerade sourcebooks, in what Paradox Interactive's vice president of business development described as a "crude and disrespectful" way, Paradox Interactive integrated White Wolf Publishing directly into the parent company, made changes to its leadership, suspended sales and printings of the books, and halted its development and publishing of World of Darkness games. The material was removed from the books, and Vampire: The Masquerade development was moved to the licensee Modiphius Entertainment and collaborators including Onyx Path Publishing.

Starting with the 2020 book Vampire: The Masquerade Companion, Paradox Interactive introduced further changes to the handling of the series: headed by creative lead Justin Achilli, they would develop core game books internally, while collaborator Renegade Game Studios would develop other game material. Along with this reorganization, Paradox Interactive announced that World of Darkness development from then on would involve sensitivity reviewers to ensure respectful portrayal of themes and topics. In addition to tabletop game development, the World of Darkness team at Paradox Interactive plans the setting's overarching narrative, and coordinates with external developers, such as those of World of Darkness video game adaptations, to ensure cohesion.

Related media
In addition to the tabletop games, the series has expanded into other media, including video games, card and board games, the Mind's Eye Theatre series of live action role-playing games, novels, fiction anthologies, comics, the 1996 television series Kindred: The Embraced, the actual play web series L.A. by Night (2018), Seattle by Night (2019), Vein Pursuit (2020), and The Nightlife (2021), and an in-development film and television franchise. Although World of Darkness multimedia projects slowed down under CCP Games, production began anew after Paradox Interactive acquired the series.

A collectible card game based on Vampire: The Masquerade was released by Wizards of the Coast in 1994 as Jyhad, before being re-launched a year later as Vampire: The Eternal Struggle; Wizards of the Coast continued publishing it until 1996, and then White Wolf took over, publishing it in 2000–2010. In 2018, Black Chantry Productions licensed The Eternal Struggle, reprinting old cards and continuing production of the game. Following The Eternal Struggle, White Wolf also published a collectible card game on their own, Rage, based on Werewolf: The Apocalypse, from 1995 to 1996, which was even more successful than The Eternal Struggle; Five Rings Publishing licensed it, and continued producing it in 1998–1999. Two other Vampire: The Masquerade card games, Vendetta and Rivals, were released in 2021 by Horrible Guild and Renegade Game Studios, respectively. A story-based board game, Vampire: The Masquerade – Chapters, is in development by Flyos Games.

A large number of World of Darkness novels and anthologies have been published, starting with the Werewolf: The Apocalypse anthology Drums Around the Fire in 1993, and were described by ''What Do I Read Next? A Reader's Guide to Current Genre Fiction'' as "old-fashioned adventures" in the style of pulp fiction. The books were popular and helped White Wolf Publishing grow, and were described as leading among horror novelizations by The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror in 1996, but were in the end not financially successful, due to book chains closing mall stores in 1995–1996 and returning a large amount of unsold books to the publisher. By 1998, What Do I Read Next? considered the novelizations to have improved in quality, citing White Wolf's move to commissioning established horror and fantasy writers; in 2002, Black Gate considered Andrew Bates's Year of the Scarab Trilogy a standout compared to previous "lackluster" World of Darkness novels. New World of Darkness novelizations started to disappear around 2006, but have since resumed.

The series has been adapted into comics, sometimes published in the World of Darkness tabletop game books, but also as comic books, including Vampire: The Masquerade and Werewolf: The Apocalypse lines published by Moonstone Books in the early 2000s, and a Vampire: The Masquerade series published by Vault Comics since 2020.

There are several video game adaptations of the series, based on Vampire: The Masquerade, Hunter: The Reckoning, Mage: The Ascension, Werewolf: The Apocalypse, and Wraith: The Oblivion. Critical reception of the games has varied, ranging from average to positive, with 2004's Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines standing out, being described by video game publications as a cult classic  and a "flawed masterpiece";   when Paradox Interactive acquired the series, they had considered Bloodlines the "crown jewel" of World of Darkness, and something they knew from the start that they wanted to bring back with a sequel.

Reception
World of Darkness has been critically well received, with several of its games having won or been nominated for awards, and with Vampire: The Masquerade having been inducted into the Origins Award hall of fame. The series has also been highly successful financially, primarily in the United States, with over three million game books sold by the late 1990s; around 1995, new World of Darkness releases were frequently top sellers, making White Wolf the second biggest publisher of tabletop role-playing games at the time after TSR, Inc., and by 2001, Vampire: The Masquerade was the second best selling tabletop role-playing game after TSR, Inc.'s Dungeons & Dragons. Onyx Path Publishing's crowdfunding campaigns for World of Darkness games and material have also been successful, particularly those for the original series, such as the anniversary editions of Werewolf: The Apocalypse and Mage: The Ascension.

The series' setting, plot, and art direction have been well received, with Rue Morgue describing the series' "fabulous artwork" as one of its major strengths, Fenix praising the series' mood and the quality of the writing, and Realms of Fantasy appreciating the broad scope and the familiarity to players due to being based on the real world. Shadis described the setting as "truly unique", bringing something never before seen to games. Some publications found the setting too crowded or defined, however; Diehard GameFan thought this took away from opportunities for horror, and Tor.com thought it left little room to tell new stories, often choosing to ignore the metaplot when running games. In his book series Designers & Dragons, Shannon Appelcline considered the series' focus on metaplot to likely be what had caused sales to dwindle prior to the reboot, as players would have stopped playing the games when feeling they could not keep up with the story. Reactions to the Chronicles of Darkness setting have been divided, with some preferring the original series' setting for being more fantastical and grand in scale, and some the reboot's more grounded setting.

The original series' rules were criticized by Arcane as, although generally easy to understand, often having confusing and unclear combat rules, while Tor.com described them as having a recurring problem with statistical anomalies. The updated gameplay rules of Chronicles of Darkness were however generally seen as a big improvement, and seen by critics as fluid, elegant and open-ended, to the point where Tor.com and Backstab recommended using them even when running non-Chronicles of Darkness games. Fenix appreciated the speed of creating characters and of playing, comparing the system of dice pools and dots favorably to number-based role-playing game systems.

title: World of Darkness