text:
Alviso, San Jose

Alviso is a district of San Jose, California, located in North San Jose on the southern shores of San Francisco Bay. Originally an independent town, founded in 1852, today Alviso is San Jose's only waterfront district, primarily residential in nature, with several Silicon Valley tech companies and recreation-oriented businesses. Alviso is named after 19th-century Californio ranchero Ignacio Alviso, who owned the area as part of his Rancho Rincón de Los Esteros.

The Guadalupe River separates Alviso from Santa Clara and Sunnyvale to the west, while Coyote Creek separates Alviso from Milpitas to the east. Alviso is the lowest point in the San Francisco Bay Area at 13 ft below sea level.

History

Alviso was first settled in the 18th century. The community was named for Ignacio Alviso, the son of Corporal Domingo Alviso, one of the original members of the de Anza expedition. Corporal Alviso lived but a short time after reaching San Francisco and was buried March 11, 1777. Alviso's descendants were granted the Rancho Rincón de los Esteros holding. In 1840 Ignacio Alviso moved from Mission Santa Clara de Asís to this 3,653 acre ranchero. From this port, beaver pelts, cattle hides and tallow went to San Francisco.

The city of Alviso was incorporated and became the first chartered city in the State of California on March 26, 1852, as the boating and shipping port of San José and the transportation hub for the Santa Clara Valley to the San Francisco Bay. Steamboats traveled regularly between San Francisco and Alviso. That usage declined with the growth in railroad transportation between San Francisco and San José. In 1864 Alviso was bypassed by the San Francisco and San Jose Railroad, (later part of the Southern Pacific Railroad). However, in the 1880s Alviso was a stop on the Newark line of Southern Pacific Railroad between San José and Oakland.

Alviso was the home to a series of several successful business ventures. Alviso Mills, founded in 1853, at its peak produced up to 300 barrels of flour a day. As wheat production in the San Joaquín Valley grew, production in the Santa Clara Valley waned and the Alviso Mills closed in 1885. In 1906, Sai Yin Chew opened the Bayside Canning Company there, and at its peak, under his son Thomas Foon Chew, was the 3rd largest cannery in the United States. During The Depression Alviso was known for its dance halls and gambling establishments. In the 1960s and 1970s a small independent boat building community developed there.

The city ceased to exist when it was consolidated with the City of San Jose on March 12, 1968, following a 189 to 180 vote in favor of consolidation. The city's final census was in 1960 when it recorded a population of 1,174. The United States Postal Service still recognizes "Alviso" as a place name. Mail is not delivered in Alviso, but must be picked up at the post office.

After the 1970s, Alviso was treated like a socioeconomic backwater of the prospering Silicon Valley business community and struggled to restore its former vitality. On October 9, 1973, 9 acre were added to the National Register of Historic Places listings in Santa Clara County, California as site 73000449 under the name Alviso Historic District. The listing cited 11 historic structures and alternative name Embarcadero de Santa Clara, although exact boundaries were not disclosed. The floods of the early 1980s were devastating to Alviso, especially because Alviso is below sea level and is on marshland. Water was as much as 10 feet (3 m) deep in some locations. A number of homes and businesses were destroyed. Some of the picturesque character of the town was lost.

Shipping and industry have left Alviso, leaving it mostly as a small residential neighborhood. Digital video recorder company TiVo and Polycom have their corporate headquarters in Alviso. Many salt evaporation ponds formerly owned by Cargill in the neighborhood are being converted to wetlands as part of the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge.

Throughout the 20th century, Alviso has been victim to severe flooding, most recently in 1983 and 1995.

As of 2021, Amtrak trains and the Altamont Commuter Express still cross through Alviso on the Coast Line (Union Pacific Railroad).

2020
The 2020 census reported that Alviso had a population of 2,251. With a total of 558 households with an average size of 4.03 people and 428 families. The racial makeup of Alviso was 539 (23.9%) White, 316 (14.0%) Asian (4.9% Indian, 3.5% Vietnamese 3.3% Chinese and 1.1% Filipino), 38 (1.7%) Native American, 1,200 (53.3%) from other races, and 109 (4.8%) from two or more races. There were 1,374 residents of Hispanic or Latino background (61%). 59.6% of the neighborhood's population was of Mexican descent.

2000 census
The U.S. Census Bureau provides demographic information for the 95002 Zip Code Tabulation Area, which includes the former City of Alviso. (See map of the 95002 Zip Code Tabulation Area.) As of the census of 2000, there were 2,128 people, 506 households, and 400 families residing in the CDP. There were 514 housing units.

The racial makeup of the CDP was 40.8% White, 0.6% African American, 1.1% Native American, 2.7% Asian, 50.5% from other races, and 4.3% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 75.4% of the population.

The median income for a household in the CDP was $87,679, and the median income for a family was $105,827. Males had a median income of $58,750 versus $56,875 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $62,452. About 3.8% of families and 5.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 11.8% of those under the age of eighteen and 10.4% of those sixty five or over.

Alviso Marina County Park

This 18.9 acre bayside park, though small in size, offers a great deal of activities within its boundaries and on into the Wildlife Refuge. The first phase of improvements, which included construction of a boardwalk, trails, observation deck, signage, picnic areas, and improvements to the parking lot, was completed in 2005. A second phase, completed in 2010, added new boat launch ramps, a parking lot for boat trailers, and wetland mitigation areas. Both the pathways and boardwalks of the County Park and trails around the ponds in the adjacent Wildlife Refuge offer fantastic views of the mountains surrounding the bay, and of the wildlife that call these ponds home.

Dogs are allowed in the County Park's pathways and picnic areas, but are not allowed on the trails, levees and boardwalks. Bicycles are allowed on all pathways and trails in the park, but should be walked when on the boardwalks. The launch ramp provides one of the few clear routes in the San Jose area through the salt marshes out to the open waters of the San Francisco Bay.

Every year on a Sunday in October Alviso celebrates Day on the Bay, a multicultural event, free for all, sponsored by Santa Clara County. Day on the Bay attracts families with music, food, booths for community organizations, Halloween pumpkins, kayak rides, and other activities.
 * Day on the Bay

Day on the Bay began on October 16, 2010, to celebrate the opening of the newly renovated Marina Park. About 5,000 people were in attendance from all around the county. The event was created to celebrate the new city attraction but also to attract a diverse crowd to the outdoor recreational setting.

Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge
Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge, the first urban National Wildlife Refuge established in the United States, is dedicated to preserving and enhancing wildlife habitat, protecting migratory birds, protecting threatened and endangered species, and providing opportunities for wildlife-oriented recreation and nature study for the surrounding communities.

As of 2004, the Refuge spans 30,000 acre of open bay, salt pond, salt marsh, mudflat, upland and vernal pool habitats located throughout south San Francisco Bay. Located along the Pacific Flyway, the Refuge hosts over 280 species of birds each year. Millions of shorebirds and waterfowl stop to refuel at the Refuge during the spring and fall migration. In addition to its seasonal visitors, the Refuge provides critical habitat to resident species like the endangered Ridgway's rail and salt marsh harvest mouse.

The Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge is part of a complex made up of six other wildlife refuges in the San Francisco Bay Area. Founded in 1974 and administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, It was renamed Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge in 1995 in recognition of Congressman Don Edwards' efforts to protect sensitive wetlands in south San Francisco Bay.

Bayside Cannery

The Bayside Cannery is a historic Mission Revival style building in Alviso, built in 1906. Originally founded as the Precita Canning Co. in San Francisco, the cannery moved to Alviso following the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Bayside Cannery grew to be the third largest canning company in the world, after Del Monte and Libby Cannery. It was closed in 1936 and the property is currently used by the San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory.

Laine Store

The Laine Store at 996 Elizabeth Street, was run by the Tilden family from 1865 to 1912. In the 1920s it became a Chinese gambling hall. After the 1983 flood, the store was abandoned and fell into disrepair. In 2017 it collapsed and the debris was removed.

Tilden–Laine House
An Italianate–Victorian home built in 1887 by Susan Tilden, and located on Elizabeth Street. The home is still occupied by the Laine family; Thomas Laine and Beverly Laine.

Wade Warehouse
The H. G. Wade Warehouse was built in 1860 and used for storage of grain and hay prior to shipment to San Francisco, and also for Wells Fargo horse-drawn carriages. It was a City of San Jose historic landmark. It was destroyed by fire in June 2021.

title: Alviso, San Jose


text:
Talk:List of human positions

Embarrassing
Along with comprehensive lists of pokemon, this article is a great example of how Wikipedia can descend into dumbfuckery.

Main Image
Why do we a have a semi-artistic photo of a man standing on the woods (quite afar from the camera), with a non-obvious posture, instead of, let's say, a diagram or picture of human physiology, etc.? Seems rather unprofessional to leave it as it is, because of the current photo, as "artsy" and nice as might be considered, does not represent the subject of the article. --190.174.77.193 (talk) 12:57, 8 January 2010 (UTC)

study says straight posture is the worst, contrary to article
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15939377/

stuff
I'm not sure this article is entirely serious, but I added "down" to

For sleeping and sexual activities one often lies

because otherwise it's really only true of the second.

I'm not sure squatting in a moving vehicle is as bad as portrayed either; I've squat in the subway a number of times without noticing any particular stability problems. --Charles A. L. 19:27, Nov 24, 2003 (UTC)

What about sleeping posture? 70.111.251.203 13:13, 24 February 2006 (UTC)

This article is just weird. Is it serious? Devoblue 10:24, 1 March 2006 (UTC)

The info in basic human positions is obvious common sense, not encyclopedic. Needs to be replaced with biomechanics. Cayte 22:28, 7 June 2006 (UTC)Cayte

external link to Sitting Pretty book review
as a newbie, the link to the book review seems odd - uninformative advertising.

related links?
Why does this article link to lodging? Its not related at all as far as I can tell.

 * The bit about sleeping sitting etc. is related.--Patrick 22:27, 7 August 2005 (UTC)

The picture is not erect posture. It is an exaggerated arch for dramatic effect Cayte 20:38, 26 May 2006 (UTC)Cayte

i tried adding info and was "rejected" by eagle for "self-promoting." too bad, because the quality of info i linked to would have added value to this forum. furthermore, i've seen DOZENS of wiki pages with external links leading to product pages; so, apparently the policy for such matters isn't clear and/or simply not effective.

Prominent people
I think this section should be removed unless their posture can be evaluated by an expert. Being photogenic. doesn't guarantee good alignment.

Posture
Sagging, rounded shoulders and a hanging head restrict rhythm and balance and increase the oxygen debt during movement —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 124.149.49.89 (talk) 02:07, 15 April 2007 (UTC).

Editing
Fixed grammar, added verbs, removed first person, clarified some jargon, made several comments in the article; someone should take a look at them. Also, apparently, I don't know how to do comments, so I am going to try to fix that now. 22:09, 26 June 2007 (UTC)

Lying on your side
"it is a position were the body of a person is in lying movements. it also persue a body composition by its native doer or an action." What does this mean, if anything? Obviously, the capitalisation is wrong. Does anyone know what the intent of these sentences is? 86.136.219.104 15:04, 21 August 2007 (UTC)
 * Like, All your base are belong to us. Removed. `'Míkka 17:43, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

flabby/squatting/hewes etc
This article is very flabby. It would be nice if we had a better set of commons images. The work of Gordon Hewes is useful. I am starting work on the "squatting position" in my sandbox: User:Penbat/squatting position. Any feedback gratefully received. It will probably take quite a long time before it is set up as a new article. It should impact this article as well. --Penbat (talk) 09:00, 30 June 2010 (UTC)

No such Idzikowski paper
See Talk:Sleeping_positions. — MaxEnt 13:56, 5 March 2015 (UTC)

Transgender issues
User:Cassierain added the qualifer "cisgender" to the urination positions section. I've changed "cisgender" to "anatomically typical". This isn't just a matter of being fair to transgender people; this wording is more precise, as (a) many intersex people don't conform to either of the two typical human anatomical norms, but still consider themselves to be the gender they were assigned at birth; and (b) both transmen and transwomen either may or may not have had lower-body sexual reassignment surgery. -- The Anome (talk) 13:19, 31 August 2015 (UTC)

Move discussion in progress
There is a move discussion in progress on Talk:Pose (computer vision) which affects this page. Please participate on that page and not in this talk page section. Thank you. —RMCD bot 18:16, 9 October 2022 (UTC)

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

title: Talk:List of human positions


text:
Time of flight

Time of flight (ToF) is the measurement of the time taken by an object, particle or wave (be it acoustic, electromagnetic, etc.) to travel a distance through a medium. This information can then be used to measure velocity or path length, or as a way to learn about the particle or medium's properties (such as composition or flow rate). The traveling object may be detected directly (direct time of flight, dToF, e.g., via an ion detector in mass spectrometry) or indirectly (indirect time of flight, iToF, e.g., by light scattered from an object in laser doppler velocimetry). Time of flight technology has found valuable applications in the monitoring and characterization of material and biomaterials, hydrogels included.

Overview
In electronics, one of the earliest devices using the principle are ultrasonic distance-measuring devices, which emit an ultrasonic pulse and are able to measure the distance to a solid object based on the time taken for the wave to bounce back to the emitter. The ToF method is also used to estimate the electron mobility. Originally, it was designed for measurement of low-conductive thin films, later adjusted for common semiconductors. This experimental technique is used for metal-dielectric-metal structures as well as organic field-effect transistors. The excess charges are generated by application of the laser or voltage pulse.

For Magnetic Resonance Angiography (MRA), ToF is a major underlying method. In this method, blood entering the imaged area is not yet saturated, giving it a much higher signal when using short echo time and flow compensation. It can be used in the detection of aneurysm, stenosis or dissection.

In time-of-flight mass spectrometry, ions are accelerated by an electrical field to the same kinetic energy with the velocity of the ion depending on the mass-to-charge ratio. Thus the time-of-flight is used to measure velocity, from which the mass-to-charge ratio can be determined. The time-of-flight of electrons is used to measure their kinetic energy.

In near-infrared spectroscopy, the ToF method is used to measure the media-dependent optical pathlength over a range of optical wavelengths, from which composition and properties of the media can be analyzed.

In ultrasonic flow meter measurement, ToF is used to measure speed of signal propagation upstream and downstream of flow of a media, in order to estimate total flow velocity. This measurement is made in a collinear direction with the flow.

In planar Doppler velocimetry (optical flow meter measurement), ToF measurements are made perpendicular to the flow by timing when individual particles cross two or more locations along the flow (collinear measurements would require generally high flow velocities and extremely narrow-band optical filters).

In optical interferometry, the pathlength difference between sample and reference arms can be measured by ToF methods, such as frequency modulation followed by phase shift measurement or cross correlation of signals. Such methods are used in laser radar and laser tracker systems for medium-long range distance measurement.

In neutron time-of-flight scattering, a pulsed monochromatic neutron beam is scattered by a sample. The energy spectrum of the scattered neutrons is measured via time of flight.

In kinematics, ToF is the duration in which a projectile is traveling through the air. Given the initial velocity $$u$$ of a particle launched from the ground, the downward (i.e. gravitational) acceleration $$a$$, and the projectile's angle of projection θ (measured relative to the horizontal), then a simple rearrangement of the SUVAT equation

 * $$s = vt - \begin{matrix} \frac{1}{2} \end{matrix} at^2$$

results in this equation

 * $$t=\frac {2v \sin \theta} {a}$$

for the time of flight of a projectile.

In mass spectrometry

The time-of-flight principle can be applied for mass spectrometry. Ions are accelerated by an electric field of known strength. This acceleration results in an ion having the same kinetic energy as any other ion that has the same charge. The velocity of the ion depends on the mass-to-charge ratio. The time that it subsequently takes for the particle to reach a detector at a known distance is measured. This time will depend on the mass-to-charge ratio of the particle (heavier particles reach lower speeds). From this time and the known experimental parameters one can find the mass-to-charge ratio of the ion. The elapsed time from the instant a particle leaves a source to the instant it reaches a detector.

In flow meters
An ultrasonic flow meter measures the velocity of a liquid or gas through a pipe using acoustic sensors. This has some advantages over other measurement techniques. The results are slightly affected by temperature, density or conductivity. Maintenance is inexpensive because there are no moving parts. Ultrasonic flow meters come in three different types: transmission (contrapropagating transit time) flowmeters, reflection (Doppler) flowmeters, and open-channel flowmeters. Transit time flowmeters work by measuring the time difference between an ultrasonic pulse sent in the flow direction and an ultrasound pulse sent opposite the flow direction. Doppler flowmeters measure the doppler shift resulting in reflecting an ultrasonic beam off either small particles in the fluid, air bubbles in the fluid, or the flowing fluid's turbulence. Open channel flow meters measure upstream levels in front of flumes or weirs.

Optical time-of-flight sensors consist of two light beams projected into the fluid whose detection is either interrupted or instigated by the passage of small particles (which are assumed to be following the flow). This is not dissimilar from the optical beams used as safety devices in motorized garage doors or as triggers in alarm systems. The speed of the particles is calculated by knowing the spacing between the two beams. If there is only one detector, then the time difference can be measured via autocorrelation. If there are two detectors, one for each beam, then direction can also be known. Since the location of the beams is relatively easy to determine, the precision of the measurement depends primarily on how small the setup can be made. If the beams are too far apart, the flow could change substantially between them, thus the measurement becomes an average over that space. Moreover, multiple particles could reside between them at any given time, and this would corrupt the signal since the particles are indistinguishable. For such a sensor to provide valid data, it must be small relative to the scale of the flow and the seeding density. MOEMS approaches yield extremely small packages, making such sensors applicable in a variety of situations.

In physics
Usually the time-of-flight tube used in mass spectrometry is praised for simplicity, but for precision measurements of charged low energy particles the electric and the magnetic field in the tube has to be controlled within 10 mV and 1 nT respectively.

The work function homogeneity of the tube can be controlled by a Kelvin probe. The magnetic field can be measured by a fluxgate compass. High frequencies are passively shielded and damped by radar absorbent material. To generate arbitrary low frequencies field the screen is parted into plates (overlapping and connected by capacitors) with bias voltage on each plate and a bias current on coil behind plate whose flux is closed by an outer core. In this way the tube can be configured to act as a weak achromatic quadrupole lens with an aperture with a grid and a delay line detector in the diffraction plane to do angle resolved measurements. Changing the field the angle of the field of view can be changed and a deflecting bias can be superimposed to scan through all angles.

When no delay line detector is used focusing the ions onto a detector can be accomplished through the use of two or three einzel lenses placed in the vacuum tube located between the ion source and the detector.

The sample should be immersed into the tube with holes and apertures for and against stray light to do magnetic experiments and to control the electrons from their start.

title: Time of flight


text:
E. G. Daily

E.G. Daily or Elizabeth Daily is an American actress and singer.

Daily is best known for her animation voice roles as Tommy Pickles on Rugrats and its spin-off All Grown Up, Buttercup on The Powerpuff Girls, Rudy Tabootie on ChalkZone, and Julius on Julius Jr. She also voiced the title character in the live-action film Babe: Pig in the City and Bamm-Bamm Rubble in the live-action film The Flintstones.

Daily is also known for her roles in a variety of live-action films such as Valley Girl, Dogfight, No Small Affair, Fandango, Streets of Fire, The Devil's Rejects, My Sister's Keeper, and Pee-wee's Big Adventure.

As a singer, Daily has released four studio albums: Wild Child (1985), Lace Around the Wound (1989), Tearing Down the Walls (1999), and Changing Faces (2008).

Voice acting
Daily has voiced animated characters such as Tommy Pickles in Rugrats, a role that she reprised for its revival on Paramount+, and Freefall / Roxy Spaulding in the film Gen13 and Private Isabel "Dizzy" Flores in Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles. She provided the voice for the lead role in the live-action feature film Babe: Pig in the City, replacing Christine Cavanaugh. More recently from 2013 to 2015, she played the title character on the Nick Jr. Channel TV show Julius Jr., and was recently Hinoka from Fire Emblem Fates.

Live-action roles
Besides doing voice-overs, Daily has acted in film and on TV. She played Sandy Burns on the PBS series The Righteous Apples from 1980 to 1981. In the mid-1980s, she starred as Dottie in Pee-wee's Big Adventure, as Loryn in Valley Girl, and as a singer in the comedy Better Off Dead. She also appeared on such television shows as Laverne & Shirley, CHiPs, Fame and Friends. She was also in the music video for Rod Stewart's song "Young Turks" as Patti, one of the runaway teens. She has been cast in several Rob Zombie films, most recently in 2015 as Sex-Head in Rob Zombie's 31, the woman on the side of Torsten Voges, who plays Death-Head.

Music
Daily signed with A&M Records in 1985, working with Madonna's frequent collaborators John "Jellybean" Benitez and Stephen Bray. In 1986, that label released the R&B/Rock single "Say It, Say It". The song made it to No. 70 on the Billboard Hot 100, and the No. 1 spot on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart. (Other versions of the song appeared as early as 1981). Her songs "Shake It Up" and "I'm Hot Tonight" were included in the soundtrack to the film Scarface. Those same songs were later included in the lineup of fictional radio station Flashback 95.6 FM in the Grand Theft Auto III video game. They were also included in the Scarface: The World Is Yours video game, based on the 1983 film. Her hit "Love in the Shadows" was featured in the films Thief of Hearts and Circuit.

Also in 1985, she provided backup vocals for The Human League frontman Philip Oakey's debut solo album, Philip Oakey & Giorgio Moroder. That same year, she appeared in the comedy film Better Off Dead, singing the songs "One Way Love (Better Off Dead)" and "A Little Luck" as a member of a band performing at a high school dance. Both songs were included on the soundtrack album credited to E. G. Daily. She performed a song on The Breakfast Club soundtrack called "Waiting".

In 1987, she released the song "Mind over Matter", which is featured in the film Summer School. Daily plays guitar, harmonica, keyboards, and percussion instruments. In her 1989 song, "Some People", from her Lace Around the Wound album, produced by Lotti Golden and Tommy Faragher, she plays guitar and harmonica. In 1999, she released her third studio album Tearing Down the Walls.

Daily released a song titled "Changing Faces" in 2003. The song was used on the end credits of Rugrats Go Wild. She also released a single titled "Beautiful" which she made available through iTunes on April 29, 2008. She also sang the song "Dawn's Theme", which was used at the end of the movie Streets. From 2003 to 2011, Daily did the voice-over of Jake Harper singing the Two and a Half Men song.

Her genres are country, dance, pop, and rock.

In fall 2013, Daily sang as a contestant on the fifth season of the NBC reality show The Voice. In the blind audition broadcast on September 24, 2013, she sang "Breathe" from Faith Hill. Two of the four judges on the show, Blake Shelton and CeeLo Green, turned around their chairs for her. She chose to be on Team Blake. Daily proceeded to win her battle in the show's battle rounds singing the song "Something to Talk About". She lost in the Knockout Rounds, with a performance of Bonnie Raitt's "I Can't Make You Love Me".

Personal life
Daily previously dated actor Jon-Erik Hexum, and was his girlfriend at the time of his accidental death in 1984. She subsequently spent a short time living with her Valley Girl co-star Deborah Foreman for emotional support.

Daily married poker player Rick Salomon in 1995. They had two daughters before divorcing in 2000.

She is Jewish.

title: E. G. Daily


text:
User talk:Mazkore

Hello, welcome to Wikipedia. Here are some useful links in case you haven't already found them;

 * How to edit a page
 * How to write a great article
 * Naming conventions
 * Manual of Style

If you have any questions, see the help pages, add a question to the village pump or ask me on my talk page. I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian!

snoyes 19:31, 24 Nov 2003 (UTC)

Hi. Could you please creating articles like the ones you've created? They aren't really very encyclopedia-like, and would be hard to make read such. Morwen 20:10, Dec 18, 2003 (UTC)

title: User talk:Mazkore


text:
METI

METI or Meti or variant, may refer to:

 * Meti (Gambela), Ethiopia, the town in southwestern Ethiopia
 * Meti (Oromia), Ethiopia, the town in west-central Ethiopia, see Ambo Zuria
 * Meti (sex), a Nepalese word for transgender people, see List of transgender-related topics
 * Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Japan
 * Messaging to Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (METI or Active SETI), the sending of interstellar messages
 * METI (Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence), a non-profit organization for sending interstellar messages
 * The METI Handmade School in Bangladesh.
 * The Middle Eastern Texts Initiative at Brigham Young University's Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship.
 * METİ (EOD vehicle), explosive ordinance disposal vehicle of the Turkish Army

title: METI


text:
Battle of Rio Hill

The Battle of Rio Hill was a skirmish in the American Civil War in which Union cavalry raided a Confederate camp in Albemarle County, Virginia.

In the early afternoon of February 28, 1864, Union Brig. Gen. George A. Custer and 1,500 Union soldiers advanced towards Charlottesville. This raid was an attempt by the Union to divert attention toward Charlottesville while a separate attempt was made to free prisoners of war being held in Richmond.

Custer's orders were to destroy a railroad bridge across the Rivanna River. His only opposition came from Confederate Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart's "Horse Company" stationed in a camp near the Rivanna River at Carrsbrook. Custer's men raided the camp under fire from Confederate forces commanded by Capt. R. Preston Chew and Captain Marcellus N. Moorman. The Federal troopers looted the camp and set fire to it, after capturing two Confederate soldiers. During the raid, one of the Confederate caissons exploded, and Custer became confused believing that the explosion was actually the reopening of enemy artillery fire. His men fired into each other and then fled from the camp. The Confederate troops regrouped and chased Custer out of Albemarle.

Custer and Philip Sheridan returned to Charlottesville in 1865 and occupied the town from March 3 to March 7, a month before the Army of Northern Virginia surrendered at Appomattox.

Background
After the Mine Run Campaign, Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia withdrew from northern Virginia and set up winter quarters in Orange County. Four batteries of Major General J.E.B. Stuart's horse artillery battalion encamped in nearby Albemarle County. The artillerymen began constructing winter huts just west of the Earlysville Road about 4 mi north of Charlottesville, just south of the South Fork of the Rivanna River and Rio Mills. After the harsh campaigning of 1863, the Confederate gunners rested easily in their camp through the early weeks of 1864.

Northern forces, however, were busily at work. In early 1864, Union commanders devised a multi-objective raid on the Confederate capital of Richmond. While Judson Kilpatrick led the raid on Richmond (which included the infamous Dahlgren Affair), Brigadier General George A. Custer was tasked with leading a diversionary raid into Albemarle County. Charlottesville had long been a Union target. Custer's mission was twofold: Destroy Confederate supplies stockpiled in Charlottesville and destroy the Virginia Central Railroad bridge just east of town over the Rivanna River (the Railroad had longed served as a pipeline of supplies from the Shenandoah Valley to Lee's army). Custer was detached several regiments from different divisions and set out with his hodgepodge force from Mount Pony at 2:00 PM on February 28.

Union
Custer's force of about 1,500 men contained cavalry regiments from at least two divisions of the Army of the Potomac's Cavalry Corps, and a section of Parrott rifles from Battery E, 1st U.S. Artillery under First Lieutenant David Essex Porter to provide artillery support.

Confederate
The only cohesive Confederate forces in the immediate area of Custer's targets were the four batteries of Stuart's horse artillery encamped on Rio Hill, directly in Custer's intended path. The four batteries, of four guns each, were commanded by Captain Marcellus Newton Moorman, Captain Roger Preston Chew, Captain James Breathed, and Captain William Morrell McGregory. Moorman, as senior officer, served as acting commander for the entire battalion. The 16 cannons were manned by approximately 200 Confederate artillerymen.

Preparations for battle
After departing from Mount Pony at 2:00 PM on February 28, Custer's men arrived at Madison Court House at about 6:00 PM that evening. Custer rested his men for the evening; at 2:00 AM the next morning, Custer's men continued towards Stanardsville. Not long after departing, Custer's men drove off Confederate pickets along the road. Upon arriving at Stanardsville, Custer's men drove off a score of mounted Confederate vedettes in the direction of Orange Court House. Custer's men continued to Earlysville; along the way, they learned from captured Confederate soldiers and sympathizers that Fitzhugh Lee's cavalry division was encamped near Charlottesville (a fabrication and exaggeration of the Confederates' real strength).

Moorman and his men were entirely unaware of the approaching Union column until about 12:30 PM, when a lieutenant in the 1st Virginia Cavalry reported that enemy cavalry had been detected 2 mi south of Stanardsville and were moving towards Moorman's encampment. Moorman dispatched pickets to guard the bridge across the Rivanna at Rio Mills, but the pickets discovered the fast-moving Federal column had already seized the crossing point. There is some speculation that Moorman initially did not believe the report of approaching Federal cavalry; he received the warning at 12:30 PM, yet his pickets insisted that Rio Mills Bridge was occupied by Union forces when they arrived. Since Custer's men did not reach the bridge until 3:00 PM and Moorman's pickets had only 1.5 mi to travel from their camp to the bridge, it seems probable that Moorman was initially reluctant to accept the warning or lethargic in carrying out preparations.

Battle
One of Custer's officers recalled that just as the Union cavalry began crossing the bridge over the Rivanna at Rio Mills, four trains were heard moving into Charlottesville. It was assumed that this signified Confederate reinforcements arriving in Charlottesville. Moving quickly, Custer dispatched Captain Joseph P. Ash with sixty men of the 5th U.S. Cavalry to cross about a mile downstream at Cook's Ford to attack the Confederate camp from the east and south while Custer's main force attacked from the north and west.

Even with the warning given almost two and half hours before Custer's men crossed the bridge, Moorman's men were apparently still largely unprepared to defend their camp. To buy time, Moorman ordered several pieces from each battery to engage Custer's main force advancing down the Earlysville Road while the rest of his cannon limbered up and withdrew to safety. After the first half of his cannon were limbered up and withdrawn from immediate danger, the rest of the cannons were hitched up and pulled out of the camp as Custer's main body reached the camp's northern outskirts. At the same time, Captain Ash's squadrons, having completed their crossing at Cook's Ford, rode towards the Confederate camp from the east. Desperate for more time, Moorman ordered four cannons deployed into battery on a ridge just south of the camp; as the four guns fired ordnance into their own camp, now swarming with Federal cavalry, a skirmish line was deployed to support the battery. The thin line, armed only with pistols, were tasked with guarding the guns until Moorman could gather forces against Custer's horsemen.

Moorman, recognizing the grave nature of the situation, ordered his artillerymen to mount their battery horses and form into line. Splitting the pseudo-cavalrymen into two groups (one under Captain Chew, the other under Captain Breathed), Moorman ordered his men to simulate cavalry reinforcements arriving on the field. Armed with pistols and sticks picked up off the ground, the mounted artillerymen rode about the four guns still firing into the reforming Federals in the camp. Incredibly, the ruse worked. Custer's men stalled at the sight of what was apparently a substantial cavalry reinforcement for the enemy. As they moved forward through the camp, Custer's main force ran head-on into Captain Ash's detachment, which at that moment was riding into the Confederate camp from the east; surprised and disoriented, the two groups of Union soldiers began firing into one another. Just then, a Confederate caisson, left behind in the Confederate camp, exploded. In the mounting chaos, Custer's men withdrew entirely from the camp. Seeing the line of Confederate horsemen arriving on the scene, Custer assumed he was now outnumbered and ordered a retreat across the Rivanna. As his forces withdrew in some confusion into Rio Mills, Federal soldiers burned the bridge over the river behind them to delay the expected Confederate counterattack. After burning the namesake mill in the small community, Custer's men withdrew back the way they had come towards Stanardsville. The whole skirmish, from the arrival of Federal forces at the Rivanna bridge to their burning of that structure, lasted barely an hour.

Aftermath
At 9:00 PM, still 8 mi south of Stanardsville, Custer's men bivouacked for about an hour and a half. 500 men mistakenly continued their retreat through the night, thus reducing Custer's force to 1,000 men. The next morning, March 1, Custer's men engaged Confederate forces in what became known as the Battle of Stanardsville. After that battle, Custer's men withdrew to their original pre-raid positions beyond Madison, arriving there by dusk that evening.

Custer reported of that, over the course of his expedition, his men "marched upwards of 150 mi, destroyed the bridge over the Rivanna River, burned 3 large flouting mills filled with grain and flour, captured 6 caissons and 2 forges, with harness complete; captured 1 standard bearing the arms of Virginia, over 50 prisoners, and about 500 horses, besides bringing away over 100 contrabands. A large camp of the enemy was also captured and destroyed near Charlottesville." Incredibly, Custer suffered only one casualty during the raid and skirmish at Rio Hill (one trooper slightly wounded).

Confederate Captain Moorman recorded his losses as such ": Moorman's battery, 2 men and 2 horses captured; Chew's battery, 10 sets harness, 1 limber with canteens, 1 forge, 6 tents, 5 tent-flies, 4 tarpaulins, 60 pounds axle grease, 15 curry-combs and brushes, 3 public horses, 40 Government bags; Breathed's battery, 9 tents, 2 horses, 3 1\2 sets harness; McGregor's battery, 6 sets harness, 3 tent-flies, 12 bridles, 6 saddles and blankets, 4 halters, 2 mules, 4 skillets, 2 camp-kettles, 4 water-buckets. In addition to the losses enumerated I would state that the battalion suffered heavily in private effects, especially Chew's and Breathed's batteries." The partial destruction of the Confederate camp was quickly repaired.

Thus, the only casualties of the battle were one Federal slightly wounded and two Confederates captured.

Legacy
Though remembered with some sense of local pride as the only noteworthy Civil War engagement in Albemarle County, no effort was made to preserve the location of the camp and the surrounding battleground. Archaeological digs and research were conducted, but were limited, often carried out solely by curious locals with metal detectors. In 1988, a shopping center was built on the precise location of the Confederate camp; subsequent development covered virtually the entirety of the battlefield. In 1989, a Virginia Highway Marker, entitled "Skirmish at Rio Hill", was placed in the shopping center to commemorate the event. A display case several yards away, erected by the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society, containing additional information about the battle was erected with support by the shopping center when it was built. The display was updated in February 2014 on the 150th anniversary of the event by the Historical Society.

On March 1, 2014, the 150-year anniversary of the skirmish, reenactors from the 7th Virginia Infantry, Company F, and the 19th Virginia Infantry, Company B, set up a living history display in the shopping center parking lot; the commemoration included the unveiling of an updated display case.

title: Battle of Rio Hill


text:
The Tales of Hoffmann

The Tales of Hoffmann (French: Les contes d'Hoffmann) is an opéra fantastique by Jacques Offenbach. The French libretto was written by Jules Barbier, based on three short stories by E. T. A. Hoffmann, who is the protagonist of the story. It was Offenbach's final work; he died in October 1880, four months before the premiere.

Composition history and sources
Offenbach saw a play, Les contes fantastiques d'Hoffmann, written by Barbier and Michel Carré and produced at the Odéon Theatre in Paris in 1851.

After returning from America in 1876, Offenbach learned that Barbier had adapted the play, which had now set to music at the Opéra. Salomon handed the project to Offenbach. Work proceeded slowly, interrupted by the composition of profitable lighter works. Offenbach had a premonition, like Antonia, the heroine of Act 2, that he would die prior to its completion.

Offenbach continued working on the opera throughout 1880, attending some rehearsals. On 5 October 1880, he died with the manuscript in his hand, just four months before the opening. Shortly before he died, he wrote to Léon Carvalho: "'Hâtez-vous de monter mon opéra. Il ne me reste plus longtemps à vivre et mon seul désir est d'assister à la première.' ('Hurry up and stage my opera. I have not much time left, and my only wish is to attend the opening night.')"

The stories in the opera include:

 * "Der Sandmann" ("The Sandman"), 1816.
 * "Rath Krespel" ("Councillor Krespel", also known in English as "The Cremona Violin") 1818.
 * "Das verlorene Spiegelbild" ("The Lost Reflection") from Die Abenteuer der Sylvester-Nacht (The Adventures of New Year's Eve), 1814.

Performance history

The opera was first performed in a public venue at the Opéra-Comique on 10 February 1881, without the third (Venice) act. It was presented in an abridged form at Offenbach's house, 8 Boulevard des Capucines, on 18 May 1879, with Madame Franck-Duvernoy in the soprano roles, Auguez as Hoffmann (baritone) and Émile-Alexandre Taskin in the four villain roles, with Edmond Duvernoy at the piano and a chorus directed by Albert Vizentini. Besides Léon Carvalho, director of the Opéra-Comique, the director of the Ringtheater in Vienna, Franz von Jauner, was also present. Both men requested the rights, but Offenbach granted them to Carvalho.

A four-act version with recitatives was staged at the Ringtheater on 7 December 1881, conducted by Joseph Hellmesberger Jr., although a gas explosion and fire occurred at the theatre after the second performance.

The opera reached its hundredth performance at the Salle Favart on 15 December 1881. The fire at the Opéra-Comique in 1887 destroyed the orchestral parts, and it was not seen again in Paris until 1893, at the Salle de la Renaissance du Théâtre-Lyrique, when it received 20 performances. A new production by Albert Carré (including the Venice act) was mounted at the Opéra-Comique in 1911, with Léon Beyle in the title role and Albert Wolff conducting. This production remained in the repertoire until World War II, receiving 700 performances. Following a recording by Opéra-Comique forces in March 1948, Louis Musy created the first post-war production in Paris, conducted by André Cluytens. The Paris Opera first staged the work in October 1974, directed by Patrice Chéreau with Nicolai Gedda in the title role.

Outside France, the piece was performed in Geneva, Budapest, Hamburg, New York, and Mexico in 1882, Vienna (Theater an der Wien), Prague, and Antwerp in 1883, and Lvov and Berlin in 1884. Local premieres included Buenos Aires in 1894, St Petersburg in 1899, Barcelona in 1905, and London in 1910.

Prologue
A tavern in Nuremberg: The Muse appears and reveals to the audience her purpose is to draw Hoffmann's attention, and make him abjure all other loves, so he can be devoted to her: poetry. She takes the appearance of Hoffmann's closest friend, Nicklausse. The prima donna Stella, performing Mozart's Don Giovanni, sends a letter to Hoffmann, requesting a meeting in her dressing room after the performance. The letter and the key to the room are intercepted by Councillor Lindorf ("Dans les rôles d'amoureux langoureux" – In the languid lovers' roles), the first of the opera's incarnations of evil, Hoffmann's nemesis. Lindorf intends to replace Hoffmann at the rendezvous. In the tavern, students wait for Hoffmann. He finally arrives, and entertains them with the legend of Kleinzach the dwarf ("Il était une fois à la cour d'Eisenach" – Once upon a time at the court of Eisenach). Lindorf coaxes Hoffmann into telling the audience about his three great loves.

Act 1 (Olympia)
This act is based on a portion of "Der Sandmann".

Parlor of a scientist, Paris: Hoffmann's first love is Olympia, an automaton created by the scientist Spalanzani. Hoffmann falls in love with her, not knowing Olympia is a mechanical doll ("Allons! Courage et confiance...Ah! vivre deux!" – Come on! Courage and trust... Ah! to live together!). To warn Hoffmann, Nicklausse, possessing the truth about Olympia, sings a story of a mechanical doll with the appearance of a human, but Hoffmann ignores her ("Une poupée aux yeux d'émail" – A doll with enamel eyes). Coppélius, Olympia's co-creator and this act's incarnation of Nemesis, sells Hoffmann magic glasses to make Olympia appear as a real woman ("J'ai des yeux" – I have eyes).

Olympia sings one of the opera's most famous arias, "Les oiseaux dans la charmille" (The birds in the bower, nicknamed "The Doll Song"), during which she runs-down and needs to be wound-up before she can continue. Hoffmann is tricked into believing his affections are returned, to the bemusement of Nicklausse, subtly attempting to warn his friend ("Voyez-la sous son éventail" – See her under her fan). While dancing with Olympia, Hoffmann falls on the ground and his glasses break. At the same time, Coppélius appears, tearing Olympia apart to retaliate against Spalanzani after cheating him of his fees. With the crowd ridiculing him, Hoffmann realizes he loved an automaton.

Act 2 (Antonia)
This act is based on "Rath Krespel".

Crespel's house, Munich: After a long search, Hoffmann finds the house where Crespel and his daughter Antonia are hiding. Hoffmann and Antonia loved each other, but were separated after Crespel decided to hide his daughter from Hoffmann. Antonia inherited her mother's talent for singing, but her father forbids her to sing because of her mysterious illness. Antonia wishes her lover would return to her ("Elle a fui, la tourterelle" – "She fled, the dove"). Her father also forbids her to see Hoffmann, who encourages Antonia in her musical career, and therefore, endangers her without knowing it. Crespel tells Frantz, his servant, to stay with his daughter, and after Crespel leaves, Frantz sings a comical song about his talents "Jour et nuit je me mets en quatre" – "Day and night, I quarter my mind."

After Crespel leaves his house, Hoffmann takes advantage of the occasion to sneak in, and the lovers are re-united (love duet: "C'est une chanson d'amour" – "It's a love song"). After Crespel returns, he receives a visit from Dr Miracle, the act's Nemesis, forcing Crespel to let him heal her. Eavesdropping, Hoffmann learns Antonia may die if she sings too much. He returns to her boudoir, and makes her promise to give up her artistic-dreams. Antonia reluctantly accepts her lover's will. After she is alone, Dr Miracle enters Antonia's boudoir to persuade her to sing and follow her mother's path to glory, stating Hoffmann is sacrificing her to his brutishness, and loves her only for her beauty. With mystic powers, he raises a vision of Antonia's dead mother and induces Antonia to sing, causing her death. Crespel arrives just in time to witness his daughter's last breath. Hoffmann enters, and Crespel wants to kill him, thinking he is responsible for his daughter's death. Nicklausse saves his friend from the old man's vengeance.

Act 3 (Giulietta)

This act is loosely-based on Die Abenteuer der Silvester-Nacht (A New Year's Eve Adventure).

A gallery in a palace, Venice. The act opens with the barcarolle "Belle nuit, ô nuit d'amour" – "Beautiful night, oh night of love". Hoffmann falls in love with the courtesan Giulietta, and thinks she returns his affections ("Amis, l'amour tendre et rêveur" – "Friends, tender and dreamy love"). Giulietta is not in love with Hoffmann, but seducing him under the orders of Captain Dapertutto, who promises her a diamond if she steals Hoffmann's reflection from a mirror ("Scintille, diamant" – "Sparkle, diamond"). The jealous Schlemil (cf. Peter Schlemihl for a literary antecedent), a previous victim of Giulietta and Dapertutto (he gave Giulietta his shadow), challenges the poet to a duel, but is killed, thanks to the magic sword Hoffmann was supplied with by Dapertutto. Nicklausse wants to take Hoffmann away from Venice, and goes looking for horses. Meanwhile, Hoffmann meets Giulietta, and cannot resist her ("O Dieu! de quelle ivresse" – "O God! of what intoxication"): he gives her his reflection, only to be abandoned by the courtesan, to Dapertutto's great pleasure.

Note: In the original version, Hoffmann, furious at being betrayed, tries to stab Giulietta but - blinded by Dapertutto - mistakenly kills his dwarf Pittichinaccio; in Richard Bonynge's version, Giulietta is poisoned and dies, by accidentally drinking the philter Dapertutto prepares for Nicklausse.

Epilogue
The tavern in Nuremberg: Hoffmann, drunk, swears he will never love again, and explains Olympia, Antonia, and Giulietta are three facets of the same person, Stella. They represent, respectively, the young girl's, the musician's, and the courtesan's side of the prima donna. After Hoffmann says he doesn't want to love any more, Nicklausse reveals she is the Muse and reclaims Hoffmann: "Be reborn a poet! I love you, Hoffmann! Be mine!" – "Renaîtra un poète! Je t'aime, Hoffmann! Sois à moi!" The magic of poetry reaches Hoffmann as he sings "O Dieu! de quelle ivresse – "O God! of what intoxication" once more, ending with "Muse, whom I love, I am yours!" – "Muse que j'aime, je suis à toi!" At this moment, Stella, tired of waiting for Hoffmann to come to her rendezvous, enters the tavern and finds him drunk. The poet tells her to leave ("Farewell, I will not follow you, phantom, spectre of the past" – "Adieu, je ne vais pas vous suivre, fantôme, spectre du passé"), and Lindorf, waiting in the shadows, comes forth. Nicklausse explains to Stella that Hoffmann does not love her anymore, but Councillor Lindorf is waiting for her. Some students enter the room for more drinking, while Stella and Lindorf leave together.

Musical numbers
Prologue

 * 1. Prélude.
 * 2. Introduction et Couplets: "Glou! Glou!... La vérité, dit-on, sortait d'un puits" (La Muse, Chorus).
 * 3. Récitatif: "Le conseiller Lindorf, morbleu!" (Lindorf, Andrès).
 * 4. Couplets: "Dans les rôles d'amoureux langoureux" (Lindorf).
 * 5. Scène et Choeur: "Deux heures devant moi... Drig, drig" (Lindorf, Luther, Nathanaël, Hermann, Wilhelm, Wolfram, Chorus).
 * 6. Scène: "Vrai Dieu! Mes amis" (Hoffmann, Nicklausse, Lindorf, Luther, Nathanaël, Hermann, Wilhelm, Wolfram, Chorus).
 * 7. Chanson: "Il était une fois à la cour d'Eisenach!" (Hoffmann, Lindorf, Luther, Nathanaël, Hermann, Wilhelm, Wolfram, Chorus).
 * 8. Scène: "Peuh! Cette bière est détestable" (Hoffmann, Nicklausse, Lindorf, Luther, Nathanaël, Hermann, Wilhelm, Wolfram, Chorus).
 * 9. Duo et Scène: "Et par où votre Diablerie" (Hoffmann, Nicklausse, Lindorf, Luther, Nathanaël, Hermann, Wilhelm, Wolfram, Chorus).
 * 10. Final: "Je vous dis, moi" (Hoffmann, Nicklausse, Lindorf, Luther, Nathanaël, Hermann, Wilhelm, Wolfram, Chorus).

Act 1: Olympia

 * 11. Entracte.
 * 12. Récitatif: "Allons! Courage et confiance!" (Hoffmann).
 * 13. Scène et Couplets: "Pardieu! J'étais bien sur" (Nicklausse, Hoffmann).
 * 14. Trio: "C'est moi, Coppélius" (Coppélius, Hoffmann, Nicklausse).
 * 15. Scène: "Non aucun hôte vraiment" (Hoffmann, Nicklausse, Cochenille, Olympia, Spallanzani, Chorus).
 * 16. Chanson: "Les oiseaux dans la charmille" (Olympia, Chorus).
 * 17. Scène: "Ah! Mon ami! Quel accent!" (Hoffmann, Nicklausse, Cochenille, Olympia, Spallanzani, Chorus).
 * 18. Récitatif et Romance: "Ils se sont éloignés enfin!" (Hoffmann, Olympia).
 * 19. Duo: "Tu me fuis?" (Hoffmann, Nicklausse, Coppélius).
 * 20. Final: "En place les danseurs" (Hoffmann, Nicklausse, Coppélius, Cochenille, Olympia, Spallanzani, Chorus).

Act 2: Antonia

 * 21. Entracte.
 * 22. Rêverie: "Elle a fui, la tourterelle" (Antonia).
 * 23. Couplets: "Jour et nuit" (Frantz).
 * 24. Récitatif: "Enfin je vais avoir pourquoi" (Hoffmann, Nicklausse).
 * 25. Air du Violon: "Vois sous l'archet frémissant" (Nicklausse).
 * 26. Scène: "Ah! J'ai le savais bien" (Hoffmann, Antonia).
 * 27. Duo: "C'est une chanson d'amour" (Hoffmann, Antonia).
 * 28. Quatuor: "Pour conjurer le danger" (Hoffmann, Crespel, Miracle, Antonia).
 * 29. Trio: "Tu ne chanteras plus?" (Miracle, Antonia, Le Fantôme)
 * 30. Final: "Mon enfant, ma fille! Antonia!" (Crespel, Antonia, Hoffmann, Nicklausse, Miracle).

Act 3: Giulietta

 * 31. Entracte.
 * 32. Barcarolle: "Messieurs, silence!... Belle nuit, ô nuit d'amour" (Hoffmann, Nicklausse, Giulietta, Chorus).
 * 33. Chant Bacchique: "Et moi, ce n'est pas là, pardieu!... Amis, l'amour tendre et rêveur" (Hoffmann, Nicklausse).
 * 34. Mélodrame (Musique-de-scène).
 * 35. Chanson du Diamant: "Tourne, tourne, miroir" (Dappertutto).
 * 36. Mélodrame (Musique-de-scène).
 * 37. Scène de Jeu: "Giulietta, palsambleu!" (Hoffmann, Nicklausse, Dappertutto, Pittichinaccio, Giulietta, Schlémil, Chorus).
 * 38. Récitatif et Romance: "Ton ami dit vrai!... Ô Dieu, de quelle ivresse" (Hoffmann, Giulietta).
 * 39. Duo de Reflet: "Jusque-là cependant" (Hoffmann, Giulietta).
 * 40. Final: "Ah! Tu m'as défiée" (Hoffmann, Nicklausse, Dappertutto, Pittichinaccio, Giulietta, le capitaine des sbires, Chorus).

Epilogue: Stella

 * 41. Entracte.
 * 42. Chœur: "Folie! Oublie tes douleurs!" (Luther, Nathanaël, Hermann, Wilhelm, Wolfram, Chorus).
 * 43. Chœur: "Glou! Glou! Glou!" (Hoffmann, Nicklausse, Lindorf, Luther, Nathanaël, Hermann, Wilhelm, Wolfram, Chorus).
 * 44. Couplet: "Pour le cœur de Phrygné" (Hoffmann, Chorus)
 * 45. Apothéose: "Des cendres de ton cœur" (Hoffmann, La Muse, Lindorf, Andrès, Stella, Luther, Nathanaël, Hermann, Wilhelm, Wolfram, Chorus).

The aria "Chanson de Kleinzach" (Song of little Zaches) in the prologue is based on the short story "Klein Zaches, genannt Zinnober" ("Little Zaches, called cinnabar"), 1819. The barcarolle, "Belle nuit, ô nuit d'amour" in the Venetian act, is the opera's famous number, borrowed by Offenbach from his earlier opera Rheinnixen (French: Les fées du Rhin).

Editions
Offenbach died four months before the premiere, having completed the piano score and some orchestration. As a result of this and the practical demands of the Opéra-Comique director, different editions of the opera emerged, some bearing little resemblance to his conception, with cuts or the addition of music he did not sketch or compose. The version performed at the opera's premiere was by Ernest Guiraud, after completing Offenbach's scoring, but without the Giulietta act, some of its music being moved to the Antonia act and epilogue. Choudens published at least four divergent scores of the opera in 1881 and 1882. At the Opéra-Comique in Paris dialogue between musical numbers would be spoken; for productions outside France he would have composed recitatives to replace it.

The work was the object of considerable further rewriting for a 1904 production in Monte Carlo by the theatre director Raoul Gunsbourg and André Bloch with new words by Barbier's son Pierre. The air "Scintille, diamant", based on a theme from the overture to Offenbach's A Journey to the Moon was added for Dapertutto, and a sextet (sometimes called septet, counting the chorus) containing elements of the barcarolle, to make a climax to the final scene. Much of this was reproduced in 1907 by Choudens in performance materials, which also gave Dapertutto's original air to Coppélius and added a passage where Hoffmann realizes that he has lost his reflection. This edition held sway for many years around the world, while the practice arose of assigning the soprano roles to different singers, a basic denial of the dramatic unity of the work. Offenbach intended the four soprano roles be taken by the same singer, for Olympia, Giulietta, and Antonia are three facets of Stella, Hoffmann's unreachable love. Similarly, the four villains (Lindorf, Coppélius, Miracle, and Dapertutto) would be the same bass-baritone, as they all represents the evil forces against which he is pitted. There were a few attempts to return to Offenbach's original intentions, including a “pioneering version” by the conductor Arthur Hammond for the Carl Rosa Opera Company in 1952. Richard Bonynge tried to revert to Offenbach's conception for his 1971 complete recording, despite the major lack of source material at that time.

Since the 1970s new performing editions appeared, particularly after the discovery of manuscript sources by conductor Antonio de Almeida, used in editions by Fritz Oeser in 1976 and Michael Kaye in 1988. While compiling a thematic catalogue of Offenbach's works, de Almeida went to the house in Saint-Mandé of the heir of one of the composer's daughters, containing Offenbach's piano, and discovered a folder containing the manuscript parts (in the hand of Offenbach's copyists, but with autograph annotations), including those used in May 1879. The 1,250 manuscript-page find comprised parts of autograph vocal score, fragments of libretto and the Venice act orchestrated by Guiraud. de Almeida considered the main improvement was “the emergence of Nicklausse/Muse as the most important character after the title-role” giving meaning to the overall narrative and the Muse–Hoffmann relationship. “When the Muse at the end sings to Hoffmann that it is to her he has to turn, the main thread of the work is made clear”. This version also allowed Act 1 (Olympia) to flow directly from the Prologue (so the minuet is reserved for the entrance of the guests later); there is also a seamless transition from Act 3 (Giulietta) into the Epilogue. French Offenbach scholar Jean-Christophe Keck comments that Oeser in fact reorchestrated around three-quarters of the score, introducing new instruments, adding more from Die Rheinnixen and added back cuts made by the composer. The Oeser version was given in full for the first time in Reims in 1983 and recorded by EMI in 1988.

In 1984 a London auction sold manuscripts of 300 pages found at the Château de Cormatin, which had belonged to Gunsbourg, consisting of virtually all the cuts from the initial rehearsal period. American researcher Michael Kaye learnt about these and set about making his own edition of 1992 (first performed on stage at the Los Angeles Opera in 1988), but, then, additional authentic music was found, and published in 1999. In 2011 a critical joint edition ('Kaye-Keck') was released reflecting and reconciling the research of recent decades and productions drawing on this edition (including prior to its publication) have been premiered from 1988 (US), followed by France (1993), Germany (1995), UK (1998), China (2005) and Russia (2011).

A version including the authentic music by Offenbach was reconstructed by the Offenbach scholar Jean-Christophe Keck. A performance of this version was produced at the Lausanne Opera (Switzerland). In early 2016, Jean-Christophe Keck announced that he had traced and identified the full manuscript of the Prologue and the Olympia act, with vocal lines by Offenbach and instrumentation by Guiraud. The Antonia act and epilogue are in the Bibliothèque nationale de France, while the Giulietta act is in Offenbach family archives.

Writing in 1997, Andrew Lamb observed that “the original order of acts, a single soprano heroine and single baritone vilain, identification of Nicklause with the Muse” as well as removal of accretions by Barbier and Bloch “give a faithful representation of Offenbach's conception".

Recordings
The opera is frequently recorded. Well-regarded recordings include:
 * a 1964–65 recording conducted by André Cluytens with the Paris Conservatoire Orchestra and Nicolai Gedda
 * a 1971 recording by Richard Bonynge with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Plácido Domingo, Joan Sutherland, Huguette Tourangeau and Gabriel Bacquier
 * a 1972 recording by Julius Rudel with the London Symphony Orchestra, Stuart Burrows, Beverly Sills, Norman Treigle, and Susanne Marsee.
 * a 1988 recording by Sylvain Cambreling, Brussels Opéra National du Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie; EMI, Cat: 358613–2, studio recording based on the Oeser version
 * a 1986 recording by Seiji Ozawa, French National Orchestra, ; Deutsche Grammophon label Cat: 427682; with Plácido Domingo and Edita Gruberová
 * a 1996 studio recording by Kent Nagano, Chorus and Orchestra of the Opéra National de Lyon and Roberto Alagna as Hoffmann; Erato, Cat: 0630-14330-2. This recording is based on the Kaye-Keck version of the opera.

Film

 * Hoffmanns Erzählungen (1916), a silent German film adaptation directed by Richard Oswald
 * The Tales of Hoffmann (1923), an Austrian silent film directed by and starring Max Neufeld
 * The Tales of Hoffmann (1951), a British film adaptation written, produced, and directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
 * Hoffmanns Erzählungen (1970 film) (1970), a German film adaptation directed by Walter Felsenstein and Georg F. Mielke

Dance
Peter Darrell choreographed a ballet, Tales of Hoffmann, to Offenbach's works, mostly from the latter's opera.

title: The Tales of Hoffmann


text:
Sandi Toksvig

Sandra Birgitte Toksvig (born 3 May 1958) is a Danish-British writer, comedian and broadcaster on British radio, stage and television. She is also a political activist, having co-founded the Women's Equality Party in 2015. She has written plays, novels and books for children. In 1994, she came out as a lesbian.

Toksvig took over from Stephen Fry as host of the BBC television quiz show QI in 2016 (series 'N'), having been a guest a number of times and spent ten years hosting The News Quiz on BBC Radio 4. From 2017 to 2020 she was co-presenter of The Great British Bake Off, alongside comedian Noel Fielding. In 2020, she stepped down and was replaced by Matt Lucas.

Toksvig was the president of the Women of the Year Lunch from 2015 to 2017.

Early life
Toksvig was born in Copenhagen, Denmark. Her father, Claus Toksvig, was a Danish journalist, broadcaster, and foreign correspondent; as a result, Toksvig spent most of her youth outside Denmark, mostly in New York City. Her mother, Julie Anne Toksvig (née Brett), is British. She has an older brother, Nick, who is a journalist, and a younger sister, Jenifer, a librettist, who was born when Sandi was 12. When Sandi was 24, she was appointed Jenifer's legal guardian. In 1969, her father covered the landing of the first man on the moon from mission control; she was holding the hand of Neil Armstrong's secretary during the landing. While her father was based in London, she attended Tormead School, an independent girls' school near Guildford. Her first job, at the age of 18, was as a follow spot operator for the musical Jesus Christ Superstar.

She read law, archaeology and anthropology at Girton College, Cambridge, graduating with a first-class degree and receiving two prizes (The Raemakers and the Theresa Montefiore Awards) for outstanding achievement. One of her law supervisors was Lord Denning.

Beginnings
Toksvig began her comedy career at Girton, where she wrote and performed in the first all-woman show at the Footlights. She was there at the same time as Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Tony Slattery, and Emma Thompson, and wrote additional material for the Perrier award-winning Cambridge Footlights Revue. She was also a member of the Cambridge University Light Entertainment Society.

She started her television career on children's television, presenting No. 73 (1982–1986), the Sandwich Quiz, The Saturday Starship, Motormouth, Gilbert's Fridge, for Television South, and factual programmes such as Island Race and The Talking Show, produced by Open Media for Channel 4. In 2000, she appeared as a guest presenter on Time Team, at a dig in York (season 7 episode 13).

Comedy
In the comedy circuit, Toksvig performed at the first night of the Comedy Store in London, and was once part of their Players, an improvisational comedy team.

In television, she appeared as a panellist in comedy shows such as Call My Bluff (a regular as a team captain), Whose Line Is It Anyway?, Mock the Week, QI, and Have I Got News for You, where she appeared on the first episode in 1990. She was also the host of What the Dickens, a Sky Arts quiz show.

On radio, she is a familiar voice for BBC Radio 4 listeners, having appeared on I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, The Unbelievable Truth, and as the chair of The News Quiz, where she replaced Simon Hoggart in September 2006, but left in June 2015 in order to enter politics to champion women's rights. Her final show was first broadcast on 26 June 2015. She presented Radio 4's travel programme Excess Baggage until it was axed in 2012.

Drama and factual
In 1993, Toksvig wrote a musical, Big Night Out at the Little Sands Picture Palace, for Nottingham Playhouse, co-starring with Anita Dobson and Una Stubbs. In 2002, it was re-written, with Dilly Keane, for the Watford Palace Theatre, in which they appeared with Bonnie Langford. Toksvig and Elly Brewer wrote a Shakespeare deconstruction, The Pocket Dream, which Toksvig performed at the Nottingham Playhouse and which transferred to the West End for a short run. The pair also wrote the 1992 TV series The Big One, in which she also starred. She has appeared in a number of stage plays, including Androcles and the Lion, Much Ado About Nothing, and The Comedy of Errors.

In 1996, she narrated the Dragons! interactive CD-ROM published by Oxford University Press and developed by Inner Workings, along with Harry Enfield. The software was primarily aimed at children and featured songs and poems about dragons. She also narrated the Winnie the Witch CD-ROM. She appeared in the Doctor Who audio drama Red by Big Finish Productions, released in August 2006. In December 2006, she hosted and sang at the London Gay Men's Chorus sold-out Christmas show, Make the Yuletide Gay, at the Barbican Centre. Over Christmas and New Year 2007/2008, she narrated the pantomime Cinderella at the Old Vic Theatre. In October 2011, she narrated the new musical Soho Cinders at the Queen's Theatre, London. In 2011, she hosted a second season of BBC Two's Antiques Master.

Toksvig wrote a play entitled Bully Boy which focused on post-traumatic stress among British servicemen. The play premièred at the Nuffield Theatre in Southampton in May 2011, and starred Anthony Andrews. The play then launched the debut season of St James Theatre in September 2012, the first new West End theatre to open in 30 years.

In the 2013 Christmas Special of BBC's Call the Midwife, Toksvig made a cameo appearance as grumpy ward nurse Sister Gibbs.

On 28 April 2015, it was announced that Toksvig would leave BBC Radio 4's The News Quiz in June at the end of the 28th series, which was scheduled to begin on 15 May of that year. She said: "I have decided it is time to move on and, of course, I feel sad but I think it's the right moment. The show is in great shape and, like a good house guest, you should always depart when people still wish you'd stay a bit longer." The BBC said Toksvig had made the "difficult decision" to leave in order "to embark on a new and exciting stage of her career". On 30 April 2015, Toksvig announced that her decision to quit The News Quiz had been made in order to allow her to help set up a new political party named the Women's Equality Party.

In November 2015, Toksvig was a guest of BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs. Her choices included Joe Nichols ("What's a Guy Gotta Do"), Gustav Winckler, The Weather Girls, Barbra Streisand, and Bonnie Langford. Her book choice was The Ashley Book of Knots, and her luxury item was an endless supply of the Daily Mail for use as clothing, insulation and toilet paper.

Her most recent play Silver Lining opened at the Rose Theatre Kingston on 11 February 2017, before touring to Portsmouth, Oxford, Cambridge, Ipswich, Keswick, York, and Salford. It centres around five elderly ladies and a young carer in a retirement home which is about to be flooded by a storm. It stars Rachel Davies, Keziah Joseph, Maggie McCarthy, Joanna Monro, Sheila Reid, and Amanda Walker. Toksvig's son, Theo Toksvig-Stewart, made his professional stage debut in the play.

On 11 June 2019, Toksvig appeared on former Prime Minister of Australia Julia Gillard's podcast. Notably, Toksvig stated "Wikipedia is a marvellous idea and the idea is that it is a crowd-sourced encyclopaedia of knowledge, what a fantastic notion. But what's happening is that women are disappearing, so 90% of Wikipedia's content is about men and their achievements, and 9% is about women. 1% are still making up their mind. So that proportion is completely out of kilter and we desperately need to do something about it. Part of the problem is that it is edited by volunteers but there are about 350,000 "uber" volunteers that tend, no offence to them, to be the same kind of guy who has the time to sit and do it and doesn't have laundry to do and are actively editing women out. There are two issues: 1) women's achievements are not being inputted and 2) women are actively being edited out... I am intent on trying to change this if we can."

During the COVID-19 lockdown period in 2020, Toksvig created and performed "Vox Tox", a YouTube mini-series, from her home. These 10-minute sessions promoted the activities of women across the ages, being inspired by items from Toksvig's own library of books and biographies.

Writing
Toksvig has written more than twenty fiction and non-fiction books for children and adults, starting in 1994 with Tales from the Norse's Mouth, a fiction tale for children. In 1995, she sailed around the coast of Britain with John McCarthy, who had been held hostage in Beirut. In 2003, she published Gladys Reunited: A Personal American Journey, about her travels in the USA retracing her childhood. She writes regular columns for Good Housekeeping, the Sunday Telegraph and The Lady. In October 2008, she published Girls Are Best, a history book for girls.

In 2009, her collected columns for The Sunday Telegraph were published in book form as The Chain of Curiosity. In 2012, she published her book, Valentine Grey, an historical novel set in the Boer War. Her 2006 young adult book, Hitler's Canary is a Holocaust story told by a boy named Bamse and his family. The characters are based on Toksvig's own father and grandmother; the family heroism in the story closely resembles the author's father's own experiences during the war. Her memoir Between the Stops: The View of My Life from the Top of the Number 12 Bus was published on 29 October 2019.

In 2020, Toksvig wrote and presented a podcast series called We Will Get Past This which aimed to provide "virtual chicken soup for the soul" during the COVID-19 lockdown in the UK, by sharing stories of notable women from her book collection.

Television presenter
In 2012–13 Toksvig presented 1001 Things You Should Know for Channel 4 daytime. Toksvig began presenting the revival edition of the daytime game show Fifteen-to-One in April 2014. It is an hour-long instead of the original half-hour edition presented by William G. Stewart. After two series had been broadcast, in June 2015, Channel 4 announced that a further eight series would be made, hosted by Toksvig until the revived series ended on 28 June 2019.

Toksvig took over from Stephen Fry as host of QI, making her "the first female presenter of a British mainstream TV comedy panel show", a fact she found extraordinary in 2016. Her first appearance as host (or Bantermeister) was the first episode of the show's series "N", which was broadcast on 21 October 2016.

On 16 March 2017, she was announced as the new co-presenter of The Great British Bake Off on Channel 4, alongside Noel Fielding. They replaced the previous hosts, Sue Perkins and Mel Giedroyc. In January 2020, she announced she was leaving the show to focus on other work commitments, and was replaced by Matt Lucas.

Toksvig presented Channel 4's four-part travel series Extraordinary Escapes with Sandi Toksvig, which premiered on 10 February 2021. In December 2021, Channel 4 renewed the series for a second series, which premiered on 17 February 2022. Series three premiered on 7 June 2023.

Politics and activism
Toksvig first came to wider public prominence in 1994 because the charity Save the Children dropped her services as compere of its 75th anniversary celebrations after she came out. The decision led to a direct action protest by the Lesbian Avengers, and the charity apologised.

Toksvig supports the charity and pressure group Liberty, hosting its 2012 awards ceremony. She was appointed president of the Women of the Year Lunch. An atheist and humanist, Toksvig is a patron of Humanists UK.

In October 2012, as the scale of the Jimmy Savile sexual abuse scandal became apparent, and amid claims that during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, there was a culture within the BBC which tolerated sexual harassment, Toksvig stated that she was groped by a "famous individual" on air in the 1980s. Toksvig said the allegations of inappropriate behaviour at the BBC "did not surprise me at all". In September 2018, as the BBC gender pay gap controversy continued to unfold, Toksvig reported that she was only paid 40% of what Fry, her predecessor, had received. Toksvig had earlier told the Radio Times it would be "absurd" if she did not receive the same salary as him for chairing QI.

In 2003, she stood as a candidate in the election for the Chancellorship of the University of Oxford, supporting a campaign against student fees. She was defeated in the first round of voting, achieving 1,179 first-place votes out of about 8,000 cast. The election was won by Chris Patten. Almost a decade later she succeeded Sheila Hancock as Chancellor of the University of Portsmouth.

Toksvig's party-political sympathies have developed over the years. She was part of Red Wedge's comedy tour in the 1980s, which supported the Labour Party. By the 2004 elections, she was a high-profile celebrity supporter of the Liberal Democrats. She has received some criticism for joking about the Tories in 2011 (they've "put the 'N' into cuts" to child benefit), but had said Prime Minister Theresa May is "a good person". She has also joked about UKIP leader Nigel Farage. In 2012, she said in an interview that "I don't think there's a party that represents anything I believe in".

In 2023, Toksvig stated the reluctance of the Church of England to accept same sex marriage was harming gay people. Toksvig stated "The problem is there is only one side that is impinging on the lives of others. And I'm afraid the very conservative people who interpret the Bible with less love than I would hope are causing severe mental health problems for the LGBTQ+ community. My wife works in mental health with the queer community and the figures are shocking for a young LGBT person committing suicide, or attempting suicide, not because they feel bad about who they are, but because of the way society stigmatises them. So it's not an equal battle that we're having here." Toksvig is campaigning to end 26 Church of England bishops sitting in the House of Lords. Later that year, she spoke with Louis Staples for the i newspaper about this, saying "They don’t deal with gay people or women in an equitable manner. And they aren’t some sort of obscure organisation – this is our state church. ... This is our parliament and it’s not OK. Be a bigot if you want to, in your own back yard – but don’t come and play in mine." She also spoke of her "distress" at "people who call themselves 'radical feminists' but are anti-trans", saying that "When the feminist movement started in the 60s and 70s, lesbians were often excluded, because we were told that we would make the movement less palatable. I have been excluded myself, so how could I do that to someone else? It fills me with rage."

Women's Equality Party
In April 2015, Toksvig chaired the first, informal, conference of a new political party, the Women's Equality Party, and then left her job as presenter of The News Quiz to formally co-found it. She later explained that she had decided that it was "not too late to fight the good fight, after all". In September the same year, she announced the dates for a comedy tour to raise funds for the party. The party's full set of policies was launched at Conway Hall, 20 October 2015.

Personal life
Toksvig is the mother of two daughters and a son, born in 1988, 1990 and 1994 respectively. The children were carried by her partner, Peta Stewart, and were conceived through artificial insemination by donor Christopher Lloyd-Pack, younger brother of the actor Roger Lloyd-Pack.

It was having three young children that made her decide to come out, because, to the best of her knowledge, there were no out lesbians in British public life, and she did not want her children to grow up ashamed of having two mothers. Toksvig was warned she might never work again, and the family faced death threats and had to go into hiding.

Toksvig and Stewart separated in 1997. Toksvig now lives on a houseboat in Wandsworth with psychotherapist Debbie Toksvig, whom she joined in a civil partnership in 2007. They renewed their vows on 29 March 2014, the day same-sex marriage was introduced in England and Wales, and in December 2014, their civil partnership was converted into a marriage.

Toksvig became a British citizen in 2013. She describes her "posh" accent as being the result of a deliberate attempt to copy the voice of Celia Johnson in Brief Encounter, after being ostracised at boarding school for having an American accent.

In her late 50s, she lost a significant amount of weight on medical advice and credits this with giving her the confidence to go back to television.

In late 2022, Toksvig was hospitalised in Australia with bronchial pneumonia, and was forced to cancel her upcoming New Zealand tour dates. On 6 December 2022, she announced that she had left hospital, but was still not well enough to travel. On 15 December, it was reported that she had returned to the UK.

Honours and awards

 * 1997 – The Grand Order of Water Rats Show Business Personality of the Year
 * 2007 – Political Humourist of the Year at the Channel 4 Political Awards and 2007 – Radio Broadcaster of the Year by the Broadcasting Press Guild
 * 2007 – Read it or Else Award from Coventry Inspiration Book Awards for Hitler's Canary
 * 2008 – Broadcaster of the Year at the Stonewall Awards
 * 2009 – Voice of the Listener & Viewer Award for Individual Contribution to Radio
 * 2013 – Voice of the Listener & Viewer Award for Excellence in Broadcasting (Roberts Radio Special Award)
 * 2017 – CoScan (Confederation of Scandinavian Societies) International Award

National honours

 * Decorations and medals

Scholastic

 * University degrees

 * Chancellor, visitor, governor, rector and fellowships

 * Honorary degrees

title: Sandi Toksvig