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Sei whale

The sei whale (, ; Balaenoptera borealis) is a baleen whale. It is one of ten rorqual species, and the third-largest member after the blue and fin whales. They can grow up to 19.5 m in length and weigh as much as 28 t. Two subspecies are recognized: B. b. borealis and B. b. schlegelii. The whale's ventral surface has sporadic markings ranging from light grey to white, and its body is usually dark steel grey in colour. It is among the fastest of all cetaceans, and can reach speeds of up to 50 km/h over short distances.

It inhabits most oceans and adjoining seas, and prefers deep offshore waters. It avoids polar and tropical waters and semi-enclosed bodies of water. The sei whale migrates annually from cool, subpolar waters in summer to temperate, subtropical waters in winter with a lifespan of 70 years. It is a filter feeder, with its diet consisting primarily of copepods, krill, and other zooplankton. It is typically solitary or can be found in groups numbering half a dozen. During the breeding period, a mating pair will remain together. Sei whale vocalizations usually lasts half a second, and occurs at 240–625 hertz.

Following large-scale commercial whaling during the late 19th and 20th centuries, when over 255,000 whales were killed, the sei whale is now internationally protected. It is listed as endangered by the IUCN Red List, despite increasing populations. The Northern Hemisphere population is listed under CITES Appendix II, which indicates they are not threatened with extinction, while the Southern Hemisphere population is listed under CITES Appendix I, indicating that they are threatened and are given the highest levels of protection.

Etymology
"Sei whale" is an anglicization of the Norwegian sejhval, meaning "pollock whale". The species was so called because it "appeared off the coast of Norway at the same time each year as the pollock that came to feed on the abundant plankton". In the Pacific, the whale has been called the Japan finner; "finner" was a common term used to refer to rorquals. It has also been referred to as the lesser fin whale because it somewhat resembles the fin whale.

Taxonomy
On 21 February 1819, Swedish-born German naturalist Karl Rudolphi initially identified a 9.8 m whale stranded near Grömitz, in Schleswig-Holstein, as Balaena rostrata (Balaenoptera acutorostrata). In 1823, the French naturalist Georges Cuvier described Rudolphi's specimen under the name "rorqual du Nord". In 1828, Rene Lesson translated this term into Balaenoptera borealis, basing his designation partly on Cuvier's description of Rudolphi's specimen and partly on a 16 m female that had stranded on the coast of France the previous year (this was later identified as a juvenile fin whale, Balaenoptera physalus). In 1846, the English zoologist John Edward Gray, ignoring Lesson's designation, named Rudolphi's specimen Balaenoptera laticeps, which others followed. In 1865, British zoologist William Henry Flower named a 14 m specimen that had been obtained from Pekalongan, on the north coast of Java, Sibbaldius (Balaenoptera) schlegelii—in 1946 the Russian scientist A.G. Tomilin synonymized S. schlegelii and B. borealis, creating the subspecies B. b. schlegelii and B. b. borealis. In 1884–85, the Norwegian scientist G. A. Guldberg first identified the sejhval of Finnmark with B. borealis.

Sei whales are rorquals (family Balaenopteridae), baleen whales that include the humpback whale, the blue whale, Bryde's whale, the fin whale, and the minke whale. Rorquals take their name from the Norwegian word røyrkval, meaning "furrow whale", because family members have a series of longitudinal pleats or grooves on the anterior half of their ventral surface. Balaenopterids diverged from the other families of suborder Mysticeti, also called the whalebone whales, as long ago as the middle Miocene. Little is known about when members of the various families in the Mysticeti, including the Balaenopteridae, diverged from each other. Whole genome sequencing suggests that sei and blue whales are closely related, with gray whales as a sister group. This study also found significant gene flow between minke whales and the ancestors of the blue and sei whale.

Two subspecies have been identified—the northern sei whale (B. b. borealis) and southern sei whale (B. b. schlegelii).

Description
The sei whale's body is typically a dark steel grey with irregular light grey to white markings on the ventral surface, or towards the front of the lower body. The whale has a relatively short series of 32–60 pleats or grooves along its ventral surface that extend halfway between the pectoral fins and umbilicus (in other species it usually extends to or past the umbilicus), restricting the expansion of the buccal cavity during feeding compared to other species. The rostrum is pointed and the pectoral fins are relatively short, only 9–10% of body length, and pointed at the tips. Sei whales have a solitary ridge extending from the tip of the rostrum to the paired blowholes that are a distinctive characteristic of baleen whales.

Its skin is often marked by pits or wounds, which after healing become white scars. These are now known to be caused by cookie-cutter sharks (Isistius brasiliensis). It has a tall, sickle-shaped dorsal fin that ranges in height from 38 - 90 cm and averages 53 - 56 cm, about two-thirds of the way back from the tip of the rostrum. Dorsal fin shape, pigmentation pattern, and scarring have been used to a limited extent in photo-identification studies. The tail is thick and the fluke, or lobe, is relatively small in relation to the size of the whale's body.

Adults have 300–380 ashy-black baleen plates on each side of the mouth, up to 80 cm long. Each plate is made of fingernail-like keratin, which is bordered by a fringe of very fine, short, curly, wool-like white bristles. The sei's very fine baleen bristles, about 0.1 mm, are the most reliable characteristic that distinguishes it from other rorquals.

The sei whale looks very similar to other large rorquals, especially to its smaller relative the Bryde's whale. Exceptional individuals may resemble a fin whale, which leads to confusion. They are usually differentiated from the fin whale by the colour of their head. Contrary to the fin whale's smooth rostrum, the sei whale's rostrum is curved.

Size
The sei whale is the third-largest balaenopterid, after the blue whale and the fin whale. Adults usually weigh between 15 - 20 MT. They exhibit sexual dimorphism, with females outweighing and being longer than their male counterparts. At birth, a calf typically measures 4.4 - 4.5 m in length.

In the Northern Hemisphere, males reach up to 17.1 m and females up to 18.6 m, while in the Southern Hemisphere males reach a maximum of 18.6 m and females of 19.5 m. The authenticity of an alleged 22 m female caught 80 km northwest of St. Kilda in July 1911 is doubted. Five specimens taken off Iceland exceeded 14.6 m in length. The longest measured during JARPN II cruises in the North Pacific were a 16.32 m female and a 15 m male.

In the North Pacific, adult males average 13.7 m and adult females 15 m. In the North Atlantic, the average length of an adult male is 14 m and of an adult female is 14.5 m. In the Southern Hemisphere, they average 14.5 m and 15 m, in males and females, respectively.

In the North Pacific, males weigh an average of 15 t and females 18.5 t. North Atlantic sei whale males average 15.5 t and females 17 t. Southern Hemisphere whales average 17 - 18.5 t in body weight.

Surface behaviours
Very little is known about the sei whale social structure. They have been documented traveling alone or in pods of up to six individuals; larger groups may assemble at particularly abundant feeding grounds. During the southern Gulf of Maine influx in mid-1986, groups of at least three sei whales were observed "milling" on four occasions – i.e. moving in random directions, rolling, and remaining at the surface for over 10 minutes. One whale would always leave the group during or immediately after such socializing bouts. The sei whale is among the fastest cetaceans. The American naturalist Roy Chapman Andrews compared the sei whale to the cheetah, because it can swim at great speeds "for a few hundred yards", but it "soon tires if the chase is long" and "does not have the strength and staying power of its larger relatives". It can reach speeds of up to 50 km/h over short distances. However, it is not a remarkable diver, reaching relatively shallow depths for 5 to 15 minutes. Between dives, the whale surfaces for a few minutes, remaining visible in clear, calm waters, with blows occurring at intervals of about 60 seconds (range: 45–90 sec.). When about to dive, the sei whale usually just sinks below the surface; only the dorsal fin and blowholes protrude. The whale is generally less active on water surfaces than other whale species; they rarely exhibit lobtail behaviour.

Feeding

This rorqual is a filter feeder, using its baleen plates to obtain its food by opening its mouth, engulfing or skimming large amounts of the water containing the food, then straining the water out through the baleen, trapping any food items inside its mouth.

The sei whale feeds near the surface of the ocean, swimming on its side through swarms of prey to obtain its average of about 900 kg of food each day. For an animal of its size, its preferred prey lies low within the food chain; this includes zooplankton and small fish. The whale's diet preferences has been determined from stomach analyses, direct observation of feeding behavior, and analyzing fecal matter collected near them, which appears as a dilute brown cloud. The feces are collected in nets and DNA is separated, individually identified, and matched with known species. The whale competes for food against different baleen whales.

In the North Atlantic, it feeds primarily on calanoid copepods, specifically Calanus finmarchicus, with a secondary preference for euphausiids, in particular Meganyctiphanes norvegica and Thysanoessa inermis. In the North Pacific, it feeds on similar zooplankton, including the copepod species Neocalanus cristatus, N. plumchrus, and Calanus pacificus, and euphausiid species Euphausia pacifica, E. similis, Thysanoessa inermis, T. longipes, T. gregaria and T. spinifera. In addition, it eats larger organisms, such as the Japanese flying squid, Todarodes pacificus pacificus, and small fish, including anchovies (Engraulis japonicus and E. mordax), sardines (Sardinops sagax), Pacific saury (Cololabis saira), mackerel (Scomber japonicus and S. australasicus), jack mackerel (Trachurus symmetricus) and juvenile rockfish (Sebastes jordani). Off central California, they mainly feed on anchovies between June and August, and on krill (Euphausia pacifica) during September and October. In the Southern Hemisphere, prey species include the copepods Neocalanus tonsus, Calanus simillimus, and Drepanopus pectinatus, as well as the euphausiids Euphausia superba and Euphausia vallentini and the pelagic amphipod Themisto gaudichaudii.

Parasites and epibiotics
Ectoparasites and epibiotics are rare on sei whales. Species of the parasitic copepod Pennella were only found on 8% of sei whales caught off California and 4% of those taken off South Georgia and South Africa. The pseudo-stalked barnacle Xenobalanus globicipitis was found on 9% of individuals caught off California; it was also found on a sei whale taken off South Africa. The acorn barnacle Coronula reginae and the stalked barnacle Conchoderma virgatum were each only found on 0.4% of whales caught off California. Remora australis were rarely found on sei whales off California (only 0.8%). They often bear scars from the bites of cookiecutter sharks, with 100% of individuals sampled off California, South Africa, and South Georgia having them; these scars have also been found on sei whales captured off Finnmark. Diatom (Cocconeis ceticola) films on sei whales are rare, having been found on sei whales taken off California and South Georgia.

Due to their diverse diet, endoparasites are frequent and abundant in sei whales. The harpacticoid copepod Balaenophilus unisetus infests the baleen of sei whales caught off California, South Georgia, South Africa, and Finnmark. The ciliate protozoan Haematophagus was commonly found in the baleen of sei whales taken off South Georgia (nearly 85%). They often carry heavy infestations of acanthocephalans (e.g. Bolbosoma turbinella, which was found in 40% of sei whales sampled off California; it was also found in individuals off South Georgia and Finnmark) and cestodes (e.g. Tetrabothrius affinis, found in sei whales off California and South Georgia) in the intestine, nematodes in the kidneys (Crassicauda sp., California) and stomach (Anisakis simplex, nearly 60% of whales taken off California), and flukes (Lecithodesmus spinosus, found in 38% of individuals caught off California) in the liver.

Reproduction
Mating occurs in temperate, subtropical seas during the winter. Gestation is estimated to vary around 10$3/4$ months, 11$1/4$ months, or one year. During the breeding period, a mating pair will remain together.

A newborn is weaned from its mother at 6–9 months of age, when it is 8 - 9 m long, so weaning takes place at the summer or autumn feeding grounds. Females reproduce every 2–3 years, usually to a single calf. In the Northern Hemisphere, males are usually 12.8 - 12.9 m and females 13.3 - 13.5 m at sexual maturity, while in the Southern Hemisphere, males average 13.6 m and females 14 m. The average age of sexual maturity of both sexes is 8–10 years. The whales can reach ages up to 70 years.

Vocalizations
The sei whale makes long, loud, low-frequency sounds. Relatively little is known about specific calls, but in 2003, observers noted sei whale calls in addition to sounds that could be described as "growls" or "whooshes" off the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. Many calls consisted of multiple parts at different frequencies. This combination distinguishes their calls from those of other whales. Most calls last about a second, and occur in the 37-98 hertz range, well within the range of human hearing. The maximum volume of the vocal sequences is reported as 156 decibels relative to 1 micropascal (μPa) at a reference distance of one metre. An observer situated one metre from a vocalizing whale would perceive a volume roughly equivalent to the volume of a jackhammer operating two meters away.

In November 2002, scientists recorded calls in the presence of sei whales off Maui. All the calls were downswept tonal calls, all but two ranging from a mean high frequency of 39.1 Hz down to 21 Hz of 1.3 second duration – the two higher frequency downswept calls ranged from an average of 100.3 Hz to 44.6 Hz over 1 second of duration. These calls closely resembled and coincided with a peak in "20- to 35-Hz irregular repetition interval" downswept pulses described from seafloor recordings off Oahu, which had previously been attributed to fin whales. Between 2005 and 2007, low frequency downswept vocalizations were recorded in the Great South Channel, east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, which were associated with the presence of sei whales. These calls averaged 82.3 Hz down to 34 Hz over about 1.4 seconds in duration. This call has also been reported from recordings in the Gulf of Maine, New England shelf waters, the mid-Atlantic Bight, and in Davis Strait. It likely functions as a contact call.

BBC News quoted Roddy Morrison, a former whaler active in South Georgia, as saying, "When we killed the sei whales, they used to make a noise, like a crying noise. They seemed so friendly, and they'd come round and they'd make a noise, and when you hit them, they cried really. I didn't think it was really nice to do that. Everybody talked about it at the time I suppose, but it was money. At the end of the day that's what counted at the time. That's what we were there for."

Range and migration

Sei whales live in all oceans, although rarely in polar or tropical waters. The difficulty of differentiating them at sea from their close relatives, Bryde's whales and in some cases from fin whales, creates confusion about their range and population, especially in warmer waters where Bryde's whales are most common.

In the North Atlantic, its range extends from southern Europe or northwestern Africa to Norway, and from the southern United States to Greenland. The southernmost confirmed records are strandings along the northern Gulf of Mexico and in the Greater Antilles. It rarely enters the Mediterranean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, which are both considered to be small waterbodies. Sei whales are pelagic and are typically found in basins in oceans or open seas.

In the North Pacific, it ranges from 20°N to 23°N latitude in the winter, and from 35°N to 50°N latitude in the summer. Approximately 75% of the North Pacific population lives east of the International Date Line. , the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service estimated that the eastern North Pacific population stood at 374 whales. Two whales tagged in deep waters off California were later recaptured off Washington and British Columbia, revealing a possible link between these areas, but the lack of other tag recovery data makes these two cases inconclusive. Occurrences within the Gulf of California have been fewer. In Sea of Japan and Sea of Okhotsk, whales are not common, although whales were more commonly seen than today in southern part of Sea of Japan. There had been a sighting in Golden Horn Bay, and whales were much more abundant in the triangle area around Kunashir Island in whaling days, making the area well known as sei – ground. There had been sightings of the species off the Sea of Japan during cetacean surveys.

Sei whales have been recorded from northern Indian Ocean as well such as around Sri Lanka and Indian coasts. In the Southern Hemisphere, summer distribution based upon historic catch data is between 40°S and 50°S latitude in the South Atlantic and southern Indian Oceans and 45°S and 60°S in the South Pacific, while winter distribution is poorly known, with former winter whaling grounds being located off northeastern Brazil (7°S) and Peru (6°S). The majority of the "sei" whales caught off Angola and Congo, as well as other nearby areas in equatorial West Africa, are thought to have been predominantly misidentified Bryde's whales. For example, Ruud (1952) found that 42 of the "sei whale" caught off Gabon in 1952 were actually Bryde's whales, based on examination of their baleen plates. The only confirmed historical record is the capture of a 14 m female, which was brought to the Cap Lopez whaling station in Gabon in September 1950. During cetacean sighting surveys off Angola between 2003 and 2006, only a single confirmed sighting of two individuals was made in August 2004, compared to 19 sightings of Bryde's whales. Sei whales are commonly distributed along west to southern Latin America, including the entire Chilean coast down to the Beagle Channel. The Falkland Islands appear to be a regionally important area for the sei whale, as a small population exists in coastal waters off the eastern Falkland or Malvinas archipelago. For reasons unknown, the whales prefer to stay inland here, even venturing into large bays.

Migration
In general, the sei whale migrates annually from cool and subpolar waters in summer to temperate and subtropical waters for winter, where food is more abundant. In the northwest Atlantic, sightings and catch records suggest the whales move north along the shelf edge to arrive in the areas of Georges Bank, Northeast Channel, and Browns Bank by mid- to late- June. They are present off the south coast of Newfoundland in August and September, and a southbound migration begins moving west and south along the Nova Scotian shelf from mid-September to mid-November. Whales in the Labrador Sea as early as the first week of June may move farther northward and arrive at waters southwest of Greenland later in the summer. In the northeast Atlantic, the sei whale winters as far south as West Africa such as off Bay of Arguin, off coastal Western Sahara and follows the continental slope northward in spring. Large females lead the northward migration and reach the Denmark Strait earlier and more reliably than other sexes and classes, arriving in mid-July and remaining through mid-September. In some years, males and younger females remain at lower latitudes during the summer.

Despite knowing some general migration patterns, exact routes are incompletely known and scientists cannot readily predict exactly where groups will appear from one year to the next. A 1985 study suggested a correlation between appearances west of Greenland and the incursion of relatively warm waters from the Irminger Current into that area. Some evidence from tagging data indicates individuals return off the coast of Iceland on an annual basis. An individual satellite-tagged off Faial, in the Azores, traveled more than 4,000 km to the Labrador Sea via the Charlie-Gibbs Fracture Zone (CGFZ) between April and June 2005. It appeared to "hitch a ride" on prevailing currents, with erratic movements indicative of feeding behavior in five areas, in particular the CGFZ, an area of known high sei whale abundance as well as high copepod concentrations. Seven whales tagged off Faial and Pico from May to June in 2008 and 2009 made their way to the Labrador Sea, while an eighth individual tagged in September 2009 headed southeast – its signal was lost between Madeira and the Canary Islands.

Whaling
The development of explosive harpoons and steam-powered whaling ships in the late nineteenth century brought previously unobtainable large whales within the reach of commercial whalers. Initially, the sei whale's speed and elusiveness partially protected them, and later the comparatively small yield of oil and meat. Once stocks of more profitable right whales, blue whales, fin whales, and humpback whales became depleted, sei whales were hunted in earnest, particularly from 1950 to 1980.

North Atlantic
In the North Atlantic between 1885 and 1984, 14,295 sei whales were taken. They were hunted in large numbers off the coasts of Norway and Scotland beginning in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and in 1885 alone more than 700 were caught off Finnmark. Their meat was a popular Norwegian food. The meat's value made the hunting of this difficult-to-catch species profitable in the early twentieth century.

In Iceland, a total of 2,574 whales were taken from the Hvalfjörður whaling station between 1948 and 1985. Since the late 1960s to early 1970s, the sei whale has been second only to the fin whale as the preferred target of Icelandic whalers, with meat in greater demand than whale oil, the prior target.

Small numbers were taken off the Iberian Peninsula, beginning in the 1920s by Spanish whalers, off the Nova Scotian shelf in the late 1960s and early 1970s by Canadian whalers, and off the coast of West Greenland from the 1920s to the 1950s by Norwegian and Danish whalers.

North Pacific
In the North Pacific, the total reported catch by commercial whalers was 72,215 between 1910 and 1975; the majority were taken after 1947. Shore stations in Japan and Korea processed 300–600 each year between 1911 and 1955. In 1959, the Japanese catch peaked at 1,340. Heavy exploitation in the North Pacific began in the early 1960s, with catches averaging 3,643 per year from 1963 to 1974 (total 43,719; annual range 1,280–6,053). In 1971, after a decade of high catches, it became scarce in Japanese waters, ending commercial whaling in the country by 1975.

Off the coast of North America, sei whales were hunted off British Columbia from the late 1950s to the mid-1960s, when the number of whales captured dropped to around 14 per year. More than 2,000 were caught in British Columbian waters between 1962 and 1967. Between 1957 and 1971, California shore stations processed 386 whales. Commercial Sei whaling ended in the eastern North Pacific in 1971.

Southern Hemisphere
A total of 152,233 were taken in the Southern Hemisphere between 1910 and 1979. Whaling in southern oceans originally targeted humpback whales. By 1913, this species became rare, and the catch of fin and blue whales began to increase. As these species likewise became scarce, sei whale catches increased rapidly in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The catch peaked in 1964–65 at over 20,000 sei whales, but by 1976, this number had dropped to below 2,000 and commercial whaling for the species ended in 1977.

Post-protection whaling
Since the moratorium on commercial whaling, some sei whales have been taken by Icelandic and Japanese whalers under the IWC's scientific research programme. Iceland carried out four years of scientific whaling between 1986 and 1989, killing up to 40 sei whales a year. The research is conducted by the Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR) in Tokyo, a privately funded, nonprofit institution. The main focus of the research is to examine what they eat and to assess the competition between whales and fisheries. In a span of 15 years, around 1,453 whales were killed in the North Pacific between 2002 and 2017.

Conservation groups, such as the World Wildlife Fund, dispute the value of this research, claiming that sei whales feed primarily on squid and plankton which are not hunted by humans, and only rarely on fish. At the 2001 meeting of the IWC Scientific Committee, 32 scientists submitted a document expressing their belief that the Japanese program lacked scientific rigor and would not meet minimum standards of academic review.

In 2010, a Los Angeles exclusive sushi restaurant confirmed to be serving sei whale meat was closed by its owners after a covert investigation and protests lead to prosecution by authorities for handling an endangered/protected species.

Conservation status

The sei whale is listed by the IUCN Red List as endangered, and with an increasing population trend, as of 2018. The sei whale did not have meaningful international protection until 1970, when the International Whaling Commission first set catch quotas for the North Pacific for individual species. Before quotas, there were no legal limits. Complete protection from commercial whaling in the North Pacific came in 1976.

Quotas on sei whales in the North Atlantic began in 1977. Southern Hemisphere stocks were protected in 1979. Facing mounting evidence that several whale species were threatened with extinction, the IWC established a complete moratorium on commercial whaling beginning in 1986. In the late 1970s, some "pirate" whaling took place in the eastern North Atlantic. There is no direct evidence of illegal whaling in the North Pacific, despite the acknowledged misreporting of whaling data by the Soviet Union.

Northern Hemisphere populations are listed in CITES Appendix II, indicating they are not immediately threatened with extinction, but may become so if they are not listed. Populations in the Southern Hemisphere are listed in CITES Appendix I, indicating they are threatened with extinction if trade is not halted. The sei whale is listed on both Appendix I and Appendix II of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS). It is listed on Appendix I as this species has been categorized as being in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant proportion of their range and CMS parties strive towards strictly protecting these animals, and also on Appendix II. The species is listed as endangered by the U.S. government National Marine Fisheries Service under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.

Population estimates
As of 2018, the global population is estimated to be 50,000 mature individuals, with an increasing population trend. In the North Atlantic, 12,000 whales were estimated. As of 1983, around 10,000 whales were estimated in the Southern Hemisphere, and by 2011, approximately 35,000 individuals inhabited the North Pacific.

Sei whales were said to have been scarce in the 1960s and early 1970s off northern Norway. One possible explanation for this disappearance is that the whales were overexploited. The drastic reduction in northeastern Atlantic copepod stocks during the late 1960s may be another culprit. Surveys in the Denmark Strait found 1,290 whales in 1987, and 1,590 whales in 1989. Nova Scotia's 1977 population estimates were between 1,393 and 2,248, with a minimum of 870.

A 1977 study estimated Pacific Ocean totals of 9,110, based upon catch and CPUE data. Japanese interests claim this figure is outdated, and in 2002 claimed the western North Pacific population was over 28,000, a figure not accepted by the scientific community. In western Canadian waters, researchers with Fisheries and Oceans Canada observed five seis together in the summer of 2017, the first such sighting in over 50 years. In California waters, there was only one confirmed and five possible sightings by 1991 to 1993 aerial and ship surveys, and there were no confirmed sightings off Oregon coasts such as Maumee Bay and Washington. Prior to commercial whaling, the North Pacific hosted an estimated 42,000. By the end of whaling, the population was down to between 7,260 and 12,620. In the Southern Hemisphere, population estimates range between 9,800 and 12,000, based upon catch history and CPUE. The IWC estimated 9,718 whales based upon survey data between 1978 and 1988. Prior to commercial whaling, there were an estimated 65,000.

Mass death events for sei whales have been recorded for many years and evidence suggests endemic poisoning (red tide) may have caused mass deaths in prehistoric times. In June 2015, scientists flying over southern Chile counted 337 dead sei whales, in what is regarded as the largest mass beaching ever documented. The cause is not yet known; however, toxic algae blooms caused by unprecedented warming in the Pacific Ocean, known as the Blob, may be implicated.

title: Sei whale


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1972 Rugby League World Cup

The sixth Rugby League World Cup was held in France in October and November 1972. Australia started as the favourites to retain the trophy they had won just two years previously. New Zealand had beaten all three of the other nations in 1971 and France were expected to be tough opponents on their home soil. In the event Great Britain confounded most expectations by running out worthy winners and levelling their tally of World Cup wins at 3–3 with the Australians.

The final was held at Stade Gerland in Lyon. Great Britain played Australia and in the end, with scores level and unchanged after extra time, claimed the cup on league placing.

This was the last World Cup to be played under the four-tackle rule.

Final
The French public seemed uninterested in a final that did not involve the home team, as just over 4,200 spectators turned up. The game will always be remembered by the British for their captain Clive Sullivan's wonderful long distance try and by the Australians for perhaps "the greatest try never scored", later shown on TV to be legitimately scored by Australian fullback Graeme Langlands but disallowed by French referee Georges Jameau. Mike Stephenson scored the 73rd-minute try that helped Great Britain level the scores and secure the World Cup. Had Aussie winger Ray Branighan succeeded with a 79th-minute penalty or Bob Fulton landed one of three drop goal attempts in the last five minutes, the cup could easily have gone to Australia. But for the first time in the competition's history the scores were level at full-time. An additional twenty minutes extra time was played, but no further score resulted, and Great Britain were awarded the cup by virtue of a better position in the table.

Try scorers

 * 5

 * 🇦🇺 Bob Fulton

 * 4

 * 🇬🇧 Clive Sullivan

 * 3

 * 🇬🇧 John Atkinson
 * 🇬🇧 Phil Lowe
 * 🇬🇧 Mike Stephenson

 * 2

 * 🇦🇺 Mark Harris
 * 🇦🇺 John O'Neill
 * 🇦🇺 Paul Sait
 * 🇫🇷 Jean-Marie Bonal
 * 🇫🇷 Andre Ruiz
 * 🇬🇧 John Holmes
 * 🇳🇿 Phillip Orchard
 * 🇳🇿 John Whittaker

 * 1

 * 🇦🇺 Arthur Beetson
 * 🇦🇺 Tommy Raudonikis
 * 🇦🇺 Elwyn Walters
 * 🇦🇺 Dennis Ward
 * 🇬🇧 Paul Charlton
 * 🇬🇧 Chris Hesketh
 * 🇬🇧 David Jeanes
 * 🇬🇧 Steve Nash
 * 🇬🇧 George Nicholls
 * 🇬🇧 Dennis O'Neill
 * 🇳🇿 Mocky Brereton
 * 🇳🇿 Bill Burgoyne
 * 🇳🇿 Tony Coll
 * 🇳🇿 Murray Eade
 * 🇳🇿 Dennis Williams

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

title: 1972 Rugby League World Cup


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Nabataeans

The Nabataeans or Nabateans (ٱلْأَنْبَاط) were an ancient Arab people    who inhabited northern Arabia and the southern Levant. Their settlements—most prominently the assumed capital city of Raqmu (present-day Petra, Jordan) —gave the name Nabatene (Ναβατηνή) to the Arabian borderland that stretched from the Euphrates to the Red Sea.

The Nabateans emerged as a distinct civilization and political entity between the 4th and 2nd centuries BCE, with their kingdom centered around a loosely controlled trading network that brought considerable wealth and influence across the ancient world.

Described as fiercely independent by contemporary Greco-Roman accounts, the Nabataeans were annexed into the Roman Empire by Emperor Trajan in 106 CE. Nabataeans' individual culture, easily identified by their characteristic finely potted painted ceramics, was adopted into the larger Greco-Roman culture. They converted to Christianity during the Later Roman Era. They have been described as one of the most gifted peoples of the ancient world and one of the "most unjustly forgotten".

Hellenistic period
The Nabataeans were an Arab tribe who had come under significant Babylonian-Aramaean influence. The first mention of the Nabataeans dates from 312/311 BCE, when they were attacked at Sela or perhaps at Petra without success by Antigonus I's officer Athenaeus in the course of the Third War of the Diadochi; at that time Hieronymus of Cardia, a Seleucid officer, mentioned the Nabataeans in a battle report. About 50 BCE, the Greek historian Diodorus Siculus cited Hieronymus in his report, and added the following: "Just as the Seleucids had tried to subdue them, so the Romans made several attempts to get their hands on that lucrative trade."

They wrote a letter to Antigonus in Syriac letters, and Aramaic continued as the language of their coins and inscriptions when the tribe grew into a kingdom and profited by the decay of the Seleucids to extend its borders northward over the more fertile country east of the Jordan River. They occupied Hauran, and in about 85 BCE their king Aretas III became lord of Damascus and Coele-Syria.

Nabataean Kingdom

Petra was rapidly built in the 1st century BCE, and developed a population estimated at 20,000.

The Nabataeans were allies of the first Hasmoneans in their struggles against the Seleucid monarchs. They then became rivals of the Judaean dynasty, and a chief element in the disorders that invited Pompey's intervention in Judea. According to popular historian Paul Johnson, many Nabataeans were forcefully converted to Judaism by Hasmonean king Alexander Jannaeus. It was this king who, after putting down a local rebellion, invaded and occupied the Nabataean towns of Moab and Gilead and imposed a tribute of an unknown amount. Obodas I knew that Alexander would attack, so was able to ambush Alexander's forces near Gaulane destroying the Judean army (90 BCE).

The Roman military was not very successful in their campaigns against the Nabataeans. In 62 BCE, Marcus Aemilius Scaurus accepted a bribe of 300 talents to lift the siege of Petra, partly because of the difficult terrain and the fact that he had run out of supplies. Hyrcanus II, who was a friend of Aretas, was despatched by Scaurus to the King to buy peace. In so obtaining peace, King Aretas retained all his possessions, including Damascus, and became a Roman vassal.

In 32 BCE, during King Malichus I's reign, Herod the Great, with the support of Cleopatra, started a war against Nabataea. The war began with Herod plundering Nabataea with a large cavalry force, and occupying Dium. After this defeat, the Nabataean forces regrouped near Canatha in Syria, but were attacked and routed. Cleopatra's general, Athenion, sent Canathans to the aid of the Nabataeans, and this force crushed Herod's army, which then fled to Ormiza. One year later, Herod's army overran Nabataea.

After an earthquake in Judaea, the Nabateans rebelled and invaded Judea, but Herod at once crossed the Jordan river to Philadelphia (modern Amman) and both sides set up camp. The Nabataeans under Elthemus refused to give battle, so Herod forced the issue when he attacked their camp. A confused mass of Nabataeans gave battle but were defeated. Once they had retreated to their defences, Herod laid siege to the camp and over time some of the defenders surrendered. The remaining Nabataean forces offered 500 talents for peace, but this was rejected. Lacking water, the Nabataeans were forced out of their camp and battled but were defeated.

Aretas, IV king of Nabatea, defeated Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great, in a battle after he intended to divorce his daughter Phasaelis

Roman period
An ally of the Roman Empire, the Nabataean kingdom flourished throughout the 1st century. Its power extended far into Arabia along the Red Sea to Yemen, and Petra was a cosmopolitan marketplace, though its commerce was diminished by the rise of the Eastern trade-route from Myos Hormos to Coptos on the Nile. Under the Pax Romana, the Nabataeans lost their warlike and nomadic habits and became a sober, acquisitive, orderly people, wholly intent on trade and agriculture. The kingdom was a bulwark between Rome and the wild hordes of the desert except in the time of Trajan, who reduced Petra and converted the Nabataean client state into the Roman province of Arabia Petraea. Five Greek-Nabataean bilingual inscriptions are known dating to 165–169, known as the Ruwafa inscriptions. They are ascribed to an auxiliary military unit drawn the Roman-allied Thamud tribe and were built to describe the temple they were inscribed in and to recognize the authority of the emperors Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus.

By the 3rd century, the Nabataeans had stopped writing in Aramaic and begun writing in Greek instead. By the 5th century they had converted to Christianity. The new Arab invaders, who soon pressed forward into their seats, found the remnants of the Nabataeans transformed into peasants. Their lands were divided between the new Qahtanite Arab tribal kingdoms of the Byzantine vassals, the Ghassanid Arabs, and the Himyarite vassals, the Kingdom of Kinda in North Arabia. The city of Petra was brought to the attention of Westerners by the Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt in 1812.

Culture
Many examples of graffiti and inscriptions—largely of names and greetings—document the area of Nabataean culture, which extended as far north as the north end of the Dead Sea, and testify to widespread literacy; but except for a few letters no Nabataean literature has survived, nor was any noted in antiquity. Onomastic analysis has suggested that Nabataean culture may have had multiple influences. Classical references to the Nabataeans begin with Diodorus Siculus. They suggest that the Nabataeans' trade routes and the origins of their goods were regarded as trade secrets, and disguised in tales that should have strained outsiders' credulity.

Diodorus Siculus (book II) described them as a strong tribe of some 10,000 warriors, preeminent among the nomads of Arabia, eschewing agriculture, fixed houses, and the use of wine, but adding to pastoral pursuits a profitable trade with the seaports in frankincense, myrrh and spices from Arabia Felix (today's Yemen), as well as a trade with Egypt in bitumen from the Dead Sea. Their arid country was their best safeguard, for the bottle-shaped cisterns for rain-water which they excavated in the rocky or clay-rich soil were carefully concealed from invaders.

Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq's Kitab al-Tabikh, the earliest known Arabic cookbook, contains a recipe for fermented Nabatean water bread. The yeast-leavened bread is made with a high quality wheat flour called samidh that is finely milled and free of bran and is baked in a tandoor.

Women in Nabatean culture
Based on coins, inscriptions and non-Nabatean contemporary sources, Nabataean women seem to have had many legal rights. Inscriptions on tombs demonstrate the equality of property rights between man and woman and women's rights in matters of inheritance and also their ability to make decisions about their own property. That set the Nabateans apart from the attitudes on a woman's role in society by their neighbours in the region. Women also participated in religious activities, and had a right to visit the temples and make sacrifices.

Archeological evidence strongly suggest that the Nabataean women had a role in the social and political life by the first century AD, which is shown by the fact that Nabatean queens were depicted on coins, both independentely and together with their spouse the king. The assumption to be made from this were that they ruled together and that the Nabatean queens and other female members were given or already had political importance and status. One can surmise other Nabatean women also benefited from this by extension.

Though admittedly Nabatean culture seems to have favored male succession rather than female or equal succession, it seems plausible that like their neighbouring Ptolemaic dynasty and the Seleucids, marrying a female member of the Nabatean royal family reinforced a ruler's position or one whose claim to the throne was not as strong as his wife's. The Nabatean royal house like the Ptolemaic and Seleucids later adopted sibling marriage.

Nabatean women lost many of the rights they had, when the kingdom of Nabatea came under the influence – both political and cultural – of the Roman empire and Roman law.

Fashion
Not much is known for certain about the fashions of ancient Nabateans and before the Hellenization and Romanization of the region but based on extant clothes and textiles found in graves and tombs on Nabatean territory, the clothing worn by the Nabateans during the first and second century were not unlike their neighbour Judaeans. Its hard to say with any certainty what the Nabateans wore in more ancient times since their art before this period was non-figurative. That is based on finds of similar clothing and textiles being found in both places. Among the most common colors were yellow made from saffron and a bright red produced from madder. Blue textiles were also found.

When it comes to the types of clothing and what can be surmised from these finds are that Nabatean men wore a tunic and a mantle both made of wool.The tunic in a Roman style (sleeveless) and with the mantle cut in a Greek style. This, as stated before, reflects a popular style rather than an ethnic style exclusive to the Nabateans.

Nabataean women wore long tunics along with scarves and mantles. These scarves were loosely woven and sported fringes at the bottom. The upper class of Nabataean society, what can be seen on coins, show an even stronger Greek and Roman influence. The kings are depicted clean-shaven with long curled hair while queens are depicted wearing headcoverings with curled hair and long tunics and highnecked garments. Purple cloth seems to have been associated with the king based on Strabo's account of Nabatean men going outside "without tunics girdles about their loins, and with slippers on their feet – even the kings, though in their case the colour is purple."

Language
Historians such as Irfan Shahîd, Warwick Ball, Robert G. Hoyland, Michael C. A. Macdonald, and others believe Nabataeans spoke Arabic as their native language. John F. Healy states that "Nabataeans normally spoke a form of Arabic, while, like the Persians etc., they used Aramaic for formal purposes and especially for inscriptions." Proper names on their inscriptions suggest that they were ethnically Arabs who had come under Aramaic influence, and the Nabataeans had already some trace of Aramaic culture when they first appear in history. Some of the authors of Safaitic inscriptions identified themselves as Nabataeans.

Religion

The extent of Nabataean trade resulted in cross-cultural influences that reached as far as the Red Sea coast of southern Arabia. The major gods worshiped at Petra were notably Dushara and Al-‘Uzzá. Dushara was the supreme deity of the Nabataean Arabs, and was the official god of the Nabataean Kingdom who enjoyed special royal patronage. His official position is reflected in multiple inscriptions that render him as "The god of our lord" (The King).

The name Dushara is from the Arabic "Dhu ash-Shara": which simply means "the one of Shara", a mountain range south-east of Petra also known as Mount Seir. Therefore, from a Nabataean perspective, Dhushara was probably associated with the heavens. However, one theory which connects Dushara with the forest gives a different idea of the god. The eagle was one of the symbols of Dushara. It was widely used in Hegra as a source of protection for the tombs against thievery.

Nabataean inscriptions from Hegra suggest that Dushara was linked either with the sun, or with Mercury, with which Ruda, another Arabian god, was identified. "His throne" was frequently mentioned in inscriptions, certain interpretations of the text consider it as a reference for Dhushara's wife, goddess Harisha. She was probably a solar deity. Dusharas consort at Petra is considered to have been al-Uzza and the goddess has been associated with Temple of Winged Lions on the basis that if the divine couple of Petra was Dushara and al-Uzza and the Qasr al Bint i temple was dedicated to  Dushara then the other major temple must have been al-Uzzas. This is just a theory however, based on conjecture, and it can only be said that the temple is likely dedicated to the supreme goddess figure of the Nabateans, but the exact identity of this goddess is uncertain. Excavated from The Temple of the Winged Lions was the "Eye Baetyl" or "Eye-Idol". Numerous Nabatean bas-relief busts of the Northern Syrian goddess Atargatis were identified by Nelson Glueck at Khirbet et-Tannû. Atargatis was amalgated into the worship of Al-‘Uzzá.

However, when the Romans annexed the Nabataean Kingdom, Dushara still had an important role despite losing his former royal privilege. The greatest testimony to the status of the god after the fall of the Nabataean Kingdom was during the 1000th anniversary of the founding of Rome where Dushara was celebrated in Bostra by striking coins in his name, Actia Dusaria (linking the god with Augustus victory at Actium). He was venerated in his Arabian name with a Greek fashion in the reign of an Arabian emperor, Philip.

Other gods worshipped in Nabatea during this period were Isis, Balshamin and Obodat

Sacrifices of animals were common, and Porphyry's De Abstenentia, written in the 3rd century, states that in Dūmah, a boy was sacrificed annually and was buried underneath an altar. Some scholars have extrapolated this practice to the rest of the Nabataeans, but this view is contested due to the lack of evidence.

The Nabataeans used to represent their gods as featureless pillars or blocks. Their most common monuments to the gods, commonly known as "god blocks", involved cutting away the whole top of a hill or cliff face so as to leave only a block behind. However, over time the Nabataeans were influenced by Greece and Rome and their Gods became anthropomorphic and were represented with human features.

Language

The Nabataeans spoke an Arabic dialect but, for their inscriptions, used a form of Aramaic that was heavily influenced by Arabic forms and words. When communicating with other Middle Eastern peoples, they, like their neighbors, used Aramaic, the region's lingua franca. Therefore, Aramaic was used for commercial and official purposes across the Nabataean political sphere.

The Nabataean alphabet itself also developed out of the Aramaic alphabet, but it used a distinctive cursive script from which the Arabic alphabet emerged. There are different opinions concerning the development of the Arabic script. J. Starcky considers the Lakhmids' Syriac form script as a probable candidate. However, John F. Healey states that: "The Nabataean origin of the Arabic script is now almost universally accepted".

In surviving Nabataean documents, Aramaic legal terms are followed by their equivalents in Arabic. That could suggest that the Nabataeans used Arabic in their legal proceedings but recorded them in Aramaic.

The name may be derived from the same root as Akkadian nabatu, to shine brightly.

Agriculture
Although not as dry as at present, the area occupied by the Nabataeans was still a desert and required special techniques for agriculture. One was to contour an area of land into a shallow funnel and to plant a single fruit tree in the middle. Before the 'rainy season', which could easily consist of only one or two rain events, the area around the tree was broken up. When the rain came, all the water that collected in the funnel would flow down toward the fruit tree and sink into the ground. The ground, which was largely loess, would seal up when it got wet and retain the water.

In the mid-1950s, a research team headed by Michael Evenari set up a research station near Avdat (Evenari, Shenan and Tadmor 1971). He focused on the relevance of runoff rainwater management in explaining the mechanism of the ancient agricultural features, such as terraced wadis, channels for collecting runoff rainwater, and the enigmatic phenomenon of "Tuleilat el-Anab". Evenari showed that the runoff rainwater collection systems concentrate water from an area that is five times larger than the area in which the water actually drains.

Another study was conducted by Y. Kedar in 1957, which also focused on the mechanism of the agriculture systems, but he studied soil management, and claimed that the ancient agriculture systems were intended to increase the accumulation of loess in wadis and create an infrastructure for agricultural activity. This theory has also been explored by E. Mazor, of the Weizmann Institute of Science.

Architects and stonemasons

 * Apollodorus of Damascus - Greek-Nabataean architect and engineer from Damascus, Roman Syria, who flourished during the 2nd century CE. his massive architectural output gained him immense popularity during his time. He is one of the few architects whose name survives from antiquity, and is credited with introducing several Eastern innovations to the Roman Imperial style, such as making the dome a standard.
 * Wahb'allahi - a first century stonemason who worked in the city of Hegra. Wahb'allahi was the brother of the stonemason 'Abdharetat and the father of 'Abd'obodat. He is named in an inscription as the responsible stonemason on the oldest datable grave in Hegra in the ninth year of the Nabataean king Aretas IV (1 BCE-CE).
 * 'Abd'obodat son of Wahballahi - a 1st-century Nabatean Stonemason who worked in the city of Hegra. He is named by inscriptions on five of the grave facades typical of Hegra as the executing craftsman. On the basis of the inscriptions, four of the facades can be dated to the reigns of kings Aretas IV and Malichus II. 'Abd'obodat was evidently a successful craftsman. He succeeded his father Wahb'allahi and his uncle 'Abdharetat in at least one workshop in the second generation of Nabatean architects. 'Abd'obodat is considered to be the main representative of one of the two main schools of the Nabataean stonemasons, to which his father, his uncle belonged. Two more grave facades are assigned to the school on the basis of stylistic investigations; 'Abd'obodat is probably to be regarded as the stonemason who carried out the work.
 * 'Aftah - a Nabatean stonemason who became prominent in the beginning of the third decade of the first century. 'Aftah is attested in inscriptions on eight of the grave facades in Hegra and one grave as the executing stonemason. The facades are dated to the late reign of King Aretas IV. On one of the facades he worked with Halaf'allahi, on another with Wahbu and Huru. A tenth facade without an inscription was attributed to the 'Aftah sculpture school due to technical and stylistic similarities. He is the main representative of one of the two stonemason schools in the city of Hegra.
 * Halaf'allahi - Nabatean stonemason who worked in the city of Hegra in the first century. Halaf'allahi is named in inscriptions on two graves in Hegra as the responsible stonemason in the reign of the Nabataean king Aretas IV. The first grave, which can be dated to the year 26-27 CE, was created together with the stonemason 'Aftah. He is therefore assigned to the workshop of the 'Aftah. Nabataean architects and sculptors were in reality contractors, who negotiated the costs of specific tomb types and their decorations. Tombs were therefore executed based on the desires and financial abilities of their future owners. The activities of Halaf'allahi offer an excellent example of this, as he had been commissioned with the execution of a simple tomb for a person who apparently belonged to the lower middle class. However, he was also in charge of completing a more sophisticated tomb for one of the local military officials.

Archeological sites

 * Jordan
 * Raqmu (Petra) and Little Petra/Siq al-Barid
 * Khirbet edh-Dharih, settlement and sanctuary
 * Khirbet et-Tannur, temple
 * Sela (Edom), mountaintop site
 * Wadi Rum, temple
 * Syria
 * Bosra
 * Northwest Saudi Arabia
 * Dumah (Dumat al-Jandal/Jawf), trade hub at southeastern end of Wadi Sirhan corridor
 * Hegra (Mada'in Saleh)
 * Jabal al-Lawz
 * Negev Desert, Israel
 * Incense Route – Desert Cities in the Negev:
 * Obodas (Avdat), city with Nabataean temple
 * Elusa (Haluza), town, road station
 * Mampshis (Mamshit), road station
 * Shivta, Byzantine agricultural town with contested Nabataean, Roman precursor
 * South Sinai, Egypt
 * Dahab: excavated Nabataean trading port

title: Nabataeans


text:
Samson Chiu

Samson Chiu Leung-chun (趙良駿) is a Hong Kong-based film director, film writer and newspaper columnist. He is a member of the Hong Kong Directors' Guild.

Filmography

 * News Attack (1989) - director/writer, starring Andy Lau as a news photographer
 * Rose (1992) - director, Maggie Cheung and Roy Cheung
 * Yesteryou, Yesterme, Yesterday (1993) - director
 * New Age of Living Together (1994) - director/writer
 * Lost Boys in Wonderland (1995) - director/writer
 * What a Wonderful World (1996) - starring Andy Lau
 * When I Fall in Love... with Both (2000) - starring Fann Wong and Michelle Reis
 * Golden Chicken (2002) - director/writer, starring Sandra Ng as a prostitute
 * Golden Chicken 2 (2003) - director
 * McDull, The Alumni (2006) - director

title: Samson Chiu


text:
1975 Rugby League World Cup

The 1975 Rugby League World Cup (officially known as the 1975 Rugby League World Championship ) was the seventh  World Cup for men’s rugby league national teams and ran from 2 March to 12 November. Australia were the winners for a fourth time after topping the group table.

Unlike previous World Cups, there was no one host country, with the five participating nations hosting matches over eight months. Each team had to play the others on a 'home and away' basis. For the first time Great Britain didn’t compete and instead England and Wales entered to participate for the first time, taking advantage of a glut of Welsh talent in the British game at the time.

Venues
14 venues across the five competing countries hosted games of the 1975 Rugby League World Cup. Wales used their own home venue at Swansea, but also played home games in England in both Salford and Warrington. England also played a 'home' game against Wales at Lang Park in Brisbane, Australia.

Results
In this match Mick Cronin kicked nine goals.

England winger Keith Fielding created a new record by scoring four tries against a hapless French team at Bordeaux.

Kangaroo wing prodigy Ian Schubert also scored a hat-trick tries.

English stand-off Ken Gill ran in three tries.

In this match Jim Mills, the Wales prop, was banned for the rest of the season after an altercation. The ban was eventually lifted on 2 January 1976.

Final challenge match
As Australia had not beaten England to win the World Cup (a draw and a loss), a one off challenge match was arranged, although this was not officially classed as a Final as Australia had already been crowned Champions after topping the group.

The Kangaroos showed they were worthy World Champions with a comprehensive 25–0 win at Headingley in front of a disappointing crowd of 7,680 which was over 11,000 less than had attended the 1970 World Cup final, between Great Britain and Australia, at the same venue. England had shown little interest in playing the game.

Try scorers

 * 7

 * 🇦🇺 Ian Schubert
 * 🏴 Keith Fielding

 * 5

 * 🇦🇺 Mick Cronin

 * 4

 * 🇦🇺 Bob Fulton
 * 🏴 Ken Gill
 * 🏴 John Holmes
 * 🏴 Bill Francis

 * 3

 * 🇦🇺 Mark Harris
 * 🇦🇺 Graeme Langlands
 * 🇦🇺 John Peard
 * 🇦🇺 Terry Randall
 * 🏴 Ged Dunn
 * 🏴 Eric Hughes
 * 🇳🇿 Bob Jarvis
 * 🇳🇿 Phillip Orchard

 * 2

 * 🇦🇺 Ray Higgs
 * 🇦🇺 John Lang
 * 🇦🇺 Lew Platz
 * 🇦🇺 Tommy Raudonikis
 * 🇦🇺 Steve Rogers
 * 🇫🇷 Patrick Chauvet
 * 🏴 George Fairbairn
 * 🇳🇿 Tony Gordon
 * 🇳🇿 Ken Stirling
 * 🇳🇿 Dennis Williams
 * 🏴 Peter Banner
 * 🏴 John Bevan
 * 🏴 David Willicombe

 * 1

 * 🇦🇺 Ray Branighan
 * 🇦🇺 Graham Eadie
 * 🇦🇺 Tim Pickup
 * 🇦🇺 John Quayle
 * 🇦🇺 Johnny Rhodes
 * 🏴 John Atkinson
 * 🏴 Colin Forsyth
 * 🏴 Jeff Grayshon
 * 🏴 Brian Hogan
 * 🏴 Thomas Martyn
 * 🏴 Roger Millward
 * 🏴 Mick Morgan
 * 🏴 Steve Norton
 * 🏴 Stuart Wright
 * 🇫🇷 Bernard Curt
 * 🇫🇷 René Terrats
 * 🇳🇿 Tony Coll
 * 🇳🇿 Tom Conroy
 * 🇳🇿 Murray Eade
 * 🇳🇿 John Greengrass
 * 🇳🇿 Lyndsay Proctor
 * 🇳🇿 John Smith
 * 🇳🇿 John Whittaker
 * 🏴 Kel Coslett
 * 🏴 Tony Fisher
 * 🏴 Brian Gregory
 * 🏴 John Mantle
 * 🏴 Jim Mills
 * 🏴 Clive Sullivan
 * 🏴 David Treasure
 * 🏴 Frank Wilson

title: 1975 Rugby League World Cup


text:
Spinal Tap

Spinal Tap may refer to:
 * Spinal tap (medical procedure), a procedure in which a needle is inserted into the spinal canal
 * This Is Spinal Tap, 1984 mockumentary about a fictional heavy metal band
 * Spinal Tap (band), the fictional band from the film

title: Spinal Tap


text:
Boom operator (media)

A boom operator (or First Assistant Sound) is a core role in the sound department of a film production, who works with the production sound mixer and utility sound technician. The principal responsibility of the boom operator is microphone placement, usually using a boom pole (or "fishpole") with a microphone attached to the end (called a boom mic), their aim being to hold the microphone as close to the actors or action as possible without allowing the microphone or boom pole to enter the camera's frame.

Invention of the boom mic
The first noted instance of a prototype boom mic was on The Wild Party (1929). To allow Clara Bow to move freely on the set, director Dorothy Arzner had technicians rig a microphone onto a fishing rod.

Another instance of a boom mic was on the set of Beggars of Life (1928) when director William A. Wellman wanted a tracking shot of two actors walking down a street, and the sound man refused, telling the director that the actors had to be static and the microphone had to be hidden in a flowery vase. Wellman said "that's crazy" and instructed the sound man to put the microphone on a broom-handle and walk along the actors just outside of the frame. According to David O. Selznick, "I was also present on the stage when a microphone was moved for the first time by Wellman, believe it or not. Sound was relatively new and at that time the sound engineer insisted that the microphone be steady. Wellman, who had quite a temper in those days, got very angry, took the microphone himself, hung it on a boom, gave orders to record—and moved it."

A patent was filed a year later for a very similar sound-recording device by Edmund H Hansen, a sound engineer at the Fox Film Corporation.

Applications
Often in television studios, the boom operator will use a Fisher boom, which is a more intricate and specialized piece of equipment on which the operator stands, allowing precise control of the microphone at a greater distance from the actors. They will also attach wireless microphones to persons whose voice requires recording. Boom poles are usually manufactured from several lengths of aluminum or carbon fibre tubing, allowing the boom to be extended and collapsed as the situation requires.

Some poles have a microphone cable routed through the inside of the pole, which may be a regular cable protruding at the bottom end, or a coiled cable that can extend with the pole, connecting to a socket at the base into which the operator plugs the microphone cable. The ideal boom pole is lightweight and strong, supporting the weight of the microphone on the end while adding as little weight as possible.

Frequently, a wind-attenuating cover, called a "blimp" or "mic-blimp", is used to enclose the microphone. A blimp covered with sound-absorbing fuzzy fabric is usually nicknamed a windmuff or a "dead cat". In film crew jargon, the gruesome-sounding phrase dead cat on a stick is simply a boom microphone fitted with a fuzzy wind-screen.

On feature films and TV drama boom operators will have another sound assistant working under them who will assistant in various ways; including with boom operating out of vision dialogue, applying radio microphones and rigging other pieces of equipment.

The boom operator and production sound mixer can sometimes be combined into a job performed by one person on lower budget productions, usually when the crew number is to be kept minimal, or for documentaries or news collecting. The one-man unit is often known simply as a "sound recordist" or "sound man", and would perform all on set sound duties.

The boom operator must decide where to place the microphone based on a combination of factors, including the location and projection of any dialogue, the frame position of the camera, the source of lighting (and hence shadows) and any unwanted noise sources. Often the boom operator will need to be as familiar with the script as are the actors, as they may be required to tilt or move the microphone according to who is speaking.

In productions with a bigger budget, more than one boom operator may be used, with each operator focusing on a different actor.

Having the boom mic or its shadow appear on the screen in a completed picture is considered a sign of poor film-making. Notable examples include the mic's shadow appearing above two crewmen flying a plane in Plan 9 from Outer Space and the mic itself dipping into the frame numerous times in Rudy Ray Moore's film Dolemite. Pastiches of bad film-making may also use boom mic visibility to spoof their material.

Boom operators therefore need to have a high level of skill to perform their jobs to a high standard. Knowledge of various types of microphones and their applications is essential. A knowledge of camera lenses is also necessary as well a good overall technical understanding of all the varied equipment modern sound departments use. Because boom operators are required to liaise with actors and multiple departments they need to be diplomatic and have good people skills. They also need a good level of physical fitness, strength and stamina.

title: Boom operator (media)


text:
User talk:Gragfox

Hi - you shouldn't tag new articles as minor. A minor edit is something like a chnage to a spelling. Secretlondon 10:34, Nov 24, 2003 (UTC)

title: User talk:Gragfox


text:
1977 Rugby League World Cup

The 1977 Rugby League World Cup was the eighth World Cup held for men’s national rugby league teams and hosted in Australia and New Zealand and ran between 29 May and 25 June. Australia were Champions after beating Great Britain in the Final at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

Final
After their 19–5 win over Great Britain a week earlier at Lang Park in Brisbane (which actually drew 2,543 more fans than the Final), the Australians went into the Final as warm favourites. However, led by experienced captain Roger Millward, the Lions managed to dominate possession throughout the game, and it took a last minute try from Australian halfback John Kolc (playing his only international game for Australia) to secure the Cup in front of 24,457 spectators at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

1st Half
The Australian's opened the scoring through Allan McMahon who scored in the Paddington corner. Michael Cronin kicked the sideline conversion and Australia led 5–0. Great Britain soon his back with a try to Steve Pitchford. George Fairbairn converted the try to lock the scores at 5–5. The match was then highlighted by a 60-metre try to Australian centre Russel Gartner who pounced on a dropped ball from Lions fullback Fairbairn after a Great Britain scrum win to race away and score. Only converging defence from Gartner's opposite number Les Dyl kept him from scoring closer to the posts, giving Cronin a difficult conversion from midway between the posts and the touch line. Cronin missed the attempt and the Australian's led 8–5. Fairbairn then kicked a penalty goal to make the scores 8–7 closing in on half time.

Late in the first half the gritty and determined Lions were considered unlucky not to score when they were denied what would have been a certain try to winger Stuart Wright by English referee Billy Thompson. Wright had intercepted a pass from Cronin to Mark Harris 15 metres from the Australian line and was racing downfield with no one near him when Thompson called play back for an obstruction penalty to Great Britain rather than play advantage. Had Wright scored, and likely under the posts, it could have given the visitors a 12–8 lead going into the break. Instead, soon after Cronoin kicked a penalty goal from in front of the posts to make the score 10–7 going into half time.

2nd Half
Australia took the lead out to 13–7 after a try to John Kolc in the Randwick corner in front of the Bradman Stand. Fairbairn had dropped a downfield kick by Cronin and the ball was pounced upon by Allan McMahon. From acting half, Kolc then dummied which fooled Fairbairn and Bill Francis and he raced away to score in the corner. Cronin missed the difficult kick from the sideline and the score remained at 13–7.

The Lions then hit back with a try under the posts to replacement back Ken Gill which was converted by Fairbairn to bring the scores to 13–12. After Kolc was penalised for using an elbow on Roger Millward who was chasing his own chip-kick, Fairbairn then had a late chance to give Great Britain the lead with a penalty goal from 45 metres out, though his went just to the right of the posts into the waiting arms of Australian fullback Graham Eadie who took full advantage of the Lions defence line still being near halfway to run the ball back outside the Australian quarter line.

Try scorers

 * 4

 * 🇦🇺 Graham Eadie
 * 🇦🇺 Allan McMahon

 * 3

 * 🇬🇧 Roger Millward
 * 🇬🇧 Stuart Wright

 * 2

 * 🇫🇷 Jean-Jacques Cologni
 * 🇳🇿 Kevin Fisher
 * 🇳🇿 John Smith

 * 1

 * 🇦🇺 Denis Fitzgerald
 * 🇦🇺 Russel Gartner
 * 🇦🇺 Mark Harris
 * 🇦🇺 John Kolc
 * 🇦🇺 John Peard
 * 🇦🇺 Terry Randall
 * 🇦🇺 Mark Thomas
 * 🇦🇺 Greg Veivers
 * 🇫🇷 Jacques Guigue
 * 🇫🇷 Christian Laskawiec
 * 🇫🇷 Joël Roosebrouck
 * 🇬🇧 Eddie Bowman
 * 🇬🇧 Les Dyl
 * 🇬🇧 Ken Gill
 * 🇬🇧 Phil Hogan
 * 🇬🇧 George Nicholls
 * 🇬🇧 Steve Pitchford
 * 🇳🇿 Mark Graham
 * 🇳🇿 Chris Jordan
 * 🇳🇿 Alan Rushton
 * 🇳🇿 John Whittaker

title: 1977 Rugby League World Cup


text:
Camera operator

A camera operator, or depending on the context cameraman or camerawoman, is a professional operator of a film camera or video camera as part of a film crew. The term "cameraman" does not necessarily imply that a male is performing the task.

In filmmaking, the cinematographer or director of photography (DP or DoP) is responsible for bringing Director's vision to life on screen. The Cinematographer or Director of Photography handles all the technical aspects of visual storytelling and is the head of the camera crew and light crew on the set. The DP may operate the camera themselves, or enlist the aid of a camera operator or second cameraman to operate it or set the controls. The first assistant cameraman (1st AC), also known as a focus puller, is responsible for maintenance of the camera, such as clearing dirt from the film gate and adjusting the follow focus. A second assistant cameraman (2nd AC), also known as a clapper loader, might be employed to load film, slate scenes, or maintain the camera report (a log of scenes, takes, rolls, photographic filters used, and other production data).

A camera operator in a video production may be known by titles like, , or , depending on the context and technology involved, usually operating a professional video camera. As of 2016, there were approximately 59,300 television, video, and motion picture camera operators employed in the United States.

Important camera operator skills include choreographing and framing shots, knowledge of and the ability to select appropriate camera lenses, and other equipment (dollies, camera cranes, etc.) to portray dramatic scenes. The principles of dramatic storytelling and film editing fundamentals are also important skills. The camera operator is required to communicate clearly and concisely on sets where time and film budget constraints are ever present.

title: Camera operator


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Sound board (music)

A soundboard (occasionally called a sounding board) is the surface of a string instrument that the strings vibrate against, usually via some sort of bridge. Pianos, guitars, banjos, and many other stringed instruments incorporate soundboards. The resonant properties of the soundboard and the interior of the instrument greatly increase the loudness of the vibrating strings. "The sound board is probably the most important element of a guitar in terms of its influence on the quality of the instrument's tone [timbre]."

"When the [guitar] top (or soundboard) vibrates, it generates sound waves, much like a loudspeaker. As the soundboard moves forward, the air that is in front of it is compressed and it moves away from the guitar. As the soundboard moves back, the pressure on the air in front of the guitar is reduced. This is called a "rarefaction," and air rushes in to fill the rarefied region. Through this process, an alternating series of compression and rarefaction pulses travel away from the soundboard, creating sound waves."

The soundboard operates by the principle of forced vibration. The string gently vibrates the board, and despite their differences in size and composition, makes the board vibrate at exactly the same frequency. This produces the same sound as the string alone, differing only in timbre. The string would produce the same amount of energy without the board present, but the greater surface area of the soundboard moves a greater volume of air, which produces a louder sound. "Generally, stiffer boards will give a brighter edge to the sound than softer, more flexible boards....A good, dry soundboard has a certain 'live' tone while a poor one will have a relatively dead response", which may be tested during construction by thumping the board and listening for, "brighter, more noticeable ring[ing]", as one works the board, "to the appropriate thinness".

Soundboards are traditionally made of wood (see tonewood), though other materials are used. Skin or plastic are found on instruments in the banjo family, and harpsichord makers have experimented with metal soundboards. Wooden soundboards, with the exclusion of those found on keyboard instruments, typically have one or more sound holes of various shapes. Round, oval, or F-holes appear on many plucked instruments, such as guitars and mandolins. F-holes are usual in violin family instruments. Lutes commonly have elaborate rosettes.

The soundboard, depending on the instrument, is called a soundboard, top, top plate, resonator, table, sound-table, or belly. It is usually made of a softwood, often spruce.

More generally, any hard surface can act as a soundboard. An example is when someone strikes a tuning fork and holds it against a table top to amplify its sound.

Production and material
Wood for woodworking must be specially prepared. Ideally, it should be naturally dried. The natural drying process takes at least one year, but it is the only process that preserves the natural structure of the fibres and pores of the wood, which determine the resonance and frequency characteristics of the material. Not only is this process lengthy, but it is also expensive. It would be far quicker and cheaper to subject the wood to artificial drying, although the quality of the material would be compromised. The acoustic properties of an instrument are also influenced by the wood's cutting profile, the direction of its fibres and the lack of knots.

title: Sound board (music)


text:
Golden mean

Golden mean may refer to:
 * Golden mean (philosophy), the felicitous middle between the extremes of excess and deficiency
 * Golden mean (Judaism), a philosophy pertaining to body and soul in Jewish belief
 * Golden ratio, a specific mathematical ratio (sometimes called golden mean)
 * Golden ratio (mathematics and visual art)
 * The Golden Mean (1993), third novel in The Griffin and Sabine Trilogy by Nick Bantock
 * The golden-mean fallacy, another name for the argument to moderation
 * Doctrine of the Golden Mean, a chapter in Li Ji, one of the Four Books of Confucianism

title: Golden mean


text:
Game of skill

A game of skill or game of wits is a game where the outcome is determined mainly by mental or physical skill, rather than chance.

Alternatively, a game of chance is one where its outcome is strongly influenced by some randomizing device, such as dice, spinning tops, playing cards, roulette wheels, or numbered balls drawn from a container.

While a game of chance may have some skill element to it, chance generally plays a greater role in determining its outcome. A game of skill may also have elements of chance, but skill plays a greater role in determining its outcome.

Some commonly played games of skill include: collectible card games, contract bridge, backgammon and mahjong.

However, most games of skill also involve a degree of chance, due to natural aspects of the environment, a randomizing device (such as dice, playing cards or a coin flip), or guessing due to incomplete information. Some games where skill is a component alongside gambling and strategy such as poker may involve the application of such methods as mathematical probability and game theory, bluffing, and other forms of psychological warfare.

Legal meaning
The distinction between "chance" and "skill" has legal significance in countries where chance games are treated differently from skill games. The legal distinction is often vague and varies widely from one jurisdiction to the next.

In Germany, whether a game is considered of skill has legal implications with respect to whether money bets on the game's outcome are considered gambling or not. For example, poker is legally considered a game of chance in Germany (thus only allowed in casinos), whereas a tournament of skat is considered a game of skill and competitions with money prizes are allowed. Alternatively, poker has been ruled by a United States federal judge as a game of skill rather than chance.

Games of skill requiring special equipment (selection)

 * Air hockey
 * Billiards
 * Pinball machine
 * Skee ball
 * Snooker
 * Table football
 * Table ice hockey
 * Whac-A-Mole

With the increasing spread of computer games, a lot of software of this genre was also created. Originally, these were mainly so-called jump'n'run games. However, the range has long since expanded and now also includes games with a greater strategic component, for example the various Tetris variants. In contrast to the non-virtual skill game, which usually involves the entire body, eye-hand coordination is required here. Encouraging player responsiveness and imagination is controversial. Nevertheless, various online skill games and jump'n'run adventures also find a place in child psychotherapeutic work.

title: Game of skill


text:
1985–1988 Rugby League World Cup

The 1985–1988 Rugby League World Cup (sometimes shortened to 1988 Rugby League World Cup) was the ninth edition of the Rugby League World Cup. Unlike previous World Cups that were held over a couple of months, this World Cup was held over the course of three years with teams playing each other on a home and away basis.

World Cup games were fitted into the normal international programme of three-match test series between the nations, with a pre-designated match from each series counting as the world cup fixture. The tournament culminated in the 1988 Rugby League World Cup final.

France were unable to fulfil their 1987 tour of Australasia due to financial difficulties, and had to forfeit away fixtures against Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea, who were invited to participate for the first time. .

At the end of four years, Australia finished top of the table, and, through a victory over Great Britain in Christchurch, the Kiwis qualified to join them in the final. Despite finishing top of the table, poor international attendances since the mid-1970s meant the Australians declined to host the final, and asked New Zealand Rugby League to host the World Cup final at Eden Park in Auckland; Cup organisers and New Zealand officials accepted this request.

In front of a record New Zealand attendance of over 47,000 the Kiwis lost 25–12 to the Australians.

Final
The World Cup final was held at Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand.

1986
This match was the third Test of the 1986 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France's Ashes series.

This was the final Test match of the 1986 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France.

1988
The victory lifted Great Britain above New Zealand into second place on the World Cup table on eight points – one ahead of the Kiwis.

This was the end of a 15-match winning streak for the Australians, and Great Britain's first Test victory over the Kangaroos since their 18–14 win at Odsal during the 1978 Kangaroo tour, as well as their first win in Australia for 18 years. It also put Great Britain on top of the World Cup points table.

The last group stage match for both teams turned out to be a sudden death battle for a spot in the final. For New Zealand nothing less than a win would get them to the Final while Great Britain only needed a draw. It was also the last Test match of the 1988 Great Britain Lions tour. The Kiwis victory meant they qualified to face Australia in the final at Eden Park, Auckland.

Australia's 62-point win set a new record for largest winning margin in international rugby league. Winger Michael O'Connor also set a new record for most points scored by an individual in international rugby league. The sellout crowd of 11,685 also set a ground attendance record at Wagga Wagga's Eric Weissel Oval.

World Cup final
The 1985–1988 Rugby League World Cup saw New Zealand play Australia in the World Cup final, the culmination of four years of competition. The Final was played at the spiritual home of rugby union in New Zealand, Auckland's Eden Park. It was the first time that rugby league had been played at the ground since 1919. The final attracted the highest ever crowd for a rugby league match in New Zealand of 47,363 (only 672 less than had attended the 1987 Rugby World Cup final at the venue). Australia had won the right to host the final, but in the interests of promoting the game, and because attendances for internationals played in Australia had been dwindling for over a decade due to the Kangaroos dominance, the ARL agreed to move the game to New Zealand. Prior to kick-off Graham Brazier performed the New Zealand national anthem.

Despite Australia's successful Ashes defence against Great Britain earlier in the year, the inexperience of the Australian World Cup final team (and because NZ had defeated Australia in their previous encounter in a one-off test in Brisbane in 1987), saw the hosts actually go into the match as favourites in the eyes of many critics. However, the Wally Lewis led Kangaroos, boasting veteran test players Garry Jack, Dale Shearer, Michael O'Connor, Steve Roach, Paul Dunn, Wayne Pearce, and Terry Lamb, along with 1986 Kangaroos Ben Elias and Paul Sironen, mixed with newer international players Mark McGaw, Allan Langer, Gavin Miller, Andrew Farrar and David Gillespie, triumphed over the ill-disciplined Kiwis, who at least made sure the victorious Australians were bloodied and bruised for their victory lap. For the Kiwis, the Iro brothers Tony and Kevin, Gary Freeman, Clayton Friend, Mark Graham, Adrian Shelford, Kurt Sorensen and captain Dean Bell dished out the punishment.

Despite Queensland having won the State of Origin series 3–0 over New South Wales earlier in the year, the Maroons only supplied three of Australia's 15 players for the World Cup final. Captain Wally Lewis (who broke his right forearm in the 15th minute of the game while tackling Tony Iro), Dale Shearer and Allan Langer. Lewis later claimed that it was the same as had been the case since Origin started in 1980, Qld wins the series but it was mainly NSW players picked for Australia.

Try scorers

 * 8

 * 🇦🇺 Michael O'Connor

 * 6

 * 🇦🇺 Dale Shearer

 * 5

 * 🇦🇺 Garry Jack
 * 🇦🇺 Wally Lewis

 * 4

 * 🇦🇺 Alan Langer
 * 🇬🇧 Shaun Edwards
 * 🇬🇧 Henderson Gill
 * 🇬🇧 Mike Gregory
 * 🇬🇧 Ellery Hanley
 * 🇬🇧 Garry Schofield
 * 🇳🇿 Kevin Iro
 * 🇵🇬 Dairi Kovae

 * 3

 * 🇳🇿 Shane Horo
 * 🇳🇿 Hugh McGahan
 * 🇳🇿 Darrell Williams

 * 2

 * 🇦🇺 Noel Cleal
 * 🇦🇺 Brett Kenny
 * 🇦🇺 Les Kiss
 * 🇦🇺 Bob Lindner
 * 🇦🇺 Mal Meninga
 * 🇦🇺 Gavin Miller
 * 🇦🇺 Gene Miles
 * 🇫🇷 David Fraisse
 * 🇬🇧 Phil Ford
 * 🇬🇧 Joe Lydon
 * 🇬🇧 Paul Medley
 * 🇳🇿 Gary Freeman
 * 🇳🇿 Clayton Friend
 * 🇳🇿 Mark Graham
 * 🇳🇿 Gary Mercer
 * 🇳🇿 Wayne Wallace
 * 🇵🇬 Darius Haili
 * 🇵🇬 Bal Numapo

 * 1

 * 🇦🇺 Sam Backo
 * 🇦🇺 Greg Conescu
 * 🇦🇺 Tony Currie
 * 🇦🇺 Steve Folkes
 * 🇦🇺 Wally Fullerton-Smith
 * 🇦🇺 Des Hasler
 * 🇦🇺 Chris Mortimer
 * 🇦🇺 Bryan Niebling
 * 🇦🇺 Steve Roach
 * 🇦🇺 Peter Sterling
 * 🇫🇷 Gilles Dumas
 * 🇫🇷 Cyril Pons
 * 🇫🇷 Hugues Ratier
 * 🇬🇧 Mark Forster
 * 🇬🇧 Andy Goodway
 * 🇬🇧 Andy Gregory
 * 🇬🇧 David Hulme
 * 🇬🇧 Paul Loughlin
 * 🇬🇧 Martin Offiah
 * 🇬🇧 David Stephenson
 * 🇳🇿 Peter Brown
 * 🇳🇿 Tony Iro
 * 🇳🇿 Gary Kemble
 * 🇳🇿 A'au James Leuluai
 * 🇳🇿 Joe Ropati
 * 🇳🇿 Adrian Shelford
 * 🇳🇿 Kurt Sorensen
 * 🇵🇬 Bobby Ako
 * 🇵🇬 Lauta Atoi
 * 🇵🇬 Arnold Krewanty
 * 🇵🇬 Michael Matmillo
 * 🇵🇬 Mea Morea
 * 🇵🇬 Isaac Rop

title: 1985–1988 Rugby League World Cup


text:
Talk:Sound board (music)

Do pianos have one too, or does it have a different name?

 * I don't know. In Russian they both have the same name and it's obviously an acception from Italian (or French or some other Latin-based language). What's about English - I don't know. You shoud probably ask Google for this =) Arseni

 * Yes, pianos definitely have soundboards. How else do you think their sound is produced? +ILike2BeAnonymous 02:41, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

Clean up article
I removed the fluff/nonsense about "resonance", which has little, if anything, to do with how a soundboard works. Resonance is a specific aspect of sound mechanics which has to do with the frequency of maximum amplitude of a system. What happens with a soundboard is actually much simpler: it has a larger surface area than a string alone, and therefore can move a larger volume of air, hence a higher volume of sound.

Also removed this business of instruments having "two soundboards". While it's true that the back of an instrument (say, guitar or violin family) has a profound effect on the sound, the back isn't a soundboard per se, but rather just another part of the instrument that happens to vibrate. (Here, resonance does play a part, although the physics involved aren't simple at all.) +ILike2BeAnonymous 02:41, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

Plate vs. Soundboard
The "plate" in a piano is not the soundboard, it's the heavy cast-iron frame that maintains the tension of the strings. (See Piano). 151.201.225.237 (talk) 19:57, 10 January 2009 (UTC)

 * And hence the word "plate" shouldn't be used to describe what the sound board in a piano is. Who would like to fix that sentence? —Wegesrand (talk) 12:52, 6 February 2012 (UTC)

A soundboard is not an amplifier
An amplifier is a device that adds energy to a signal. A soundboard is passive, it does not add any energy (indeed, a bad soundboard robs the signal of energy). A soundboard makes a vibrating thing (e.g., a string or a tuning fork) sound louder because it provides an effective path to couple the vibrational energy of the thing to the air. 151.201.225.237 (talk) 20:00, 10 January 2009 (UTC)

Interwiki Link
The interwiki link to the German article Korpus (Musikinstrument) is not correct. "Korpus" is the term for the whole body of an instrument. This article should link to Decke (Saiteninstrument) instead. --91.34.45.85 (talk) 07:25, 4 November 2021 (UTC)

"Decke" listed at Redirects for discussion
An editor has identified a potential problem with the redirect Decke and has thus listed it for discussion. This discussion will occur at Redirects for discussion/Log/2022 March 5 until a consensus is reached, and readers of this page are welcome to contribute to the discussion. ev iolite  (talk)  23:40, 5 March 2022 (UTC)

title: Talk:Sound board (music)


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Anatolian rock

Anatolian rock (Anadolu rock), or Turkish psychedelic rock, is a fusion of Turkish folk music and rock. It emerged during the mid-1960s, soon after rock groups became popular in Turkey. Most known members of this genre includes Turkish musicians such as Barış Manço, Cem Karaca, Erkin Koray, Selda Bağcan, Fikret Kızılok alongside bands such as Moğollar, Kurtalan Ekspres, 3 Hürel, and Altın Gün.

Background (1930s-1960s)
Anatolian rock has a long history that dates back to the founding of the Turkish Republic decades ago. Atatürk pushed extensive changes to build a national form of music from the early 1930s forward. He believed that the changes in music to be based on national and modern foundations and musicians should work on Turkish melodies and make them polyphonic according to the rules of Western harmonic music. As a result, Anatolian folk music began to spread and people began to listen to Anatolian folk tunes instead of Ottoman music.

In the 1960s, Rock and roll began to be played and rock groups such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Yes, Status Quo and Omega became popular especially in Istanbul. It began to spread and became popular among the elite youth of the city. In Istanbul, high school and university students began forming their own bands and performing covers of rock'n'roll and twist music in 1957. Students which will become famous singers later, such as Barış Manço from Galatasaray High School and Erkin Koray from German High School, they both performed at an amateur concert they have organized, which is known as the first rock'n roll concert of Turkey. Turkish singers such as Erol Büyükburç began to release English-language cover versions of American songs, as well as their own songs.

Golden age of Anatolian rock and Turkish psychedelic rock (1960s-1980s)
In 1957, Turkish radio stations played surf rock by The Tornados or The Ventures and films with Elvis Presley and Bill Haley were shown in Turkish cinemas. This inspired musicians like Erkin Koray to start already in 1957 with cover versions of rock’n’roll tunes, using the new electric guitar. By the early 1960s, Turkish groups began to perform instrumentals, such as those by The Shadows and The Ventures. Although often locally popular performers, these Turkish groups were rarely recorded. The first original Turkish-language pop song was "Ayrılanlar İçin", released in 1964 by Timur Selçuk. Other singers also emerged, including Barış Manço, who first recorded in the early 1960s before later spearheading the growth of Turkish rock music in the 1970s with albums such as 2023 (1975) and become "the father of Anatolian Rock". At the same time, Turkish society began to undergo significant cultural changes, including the growth of multi-party democracy.

The domestic rock music scene in Turkey expanded rapidly in the mid- and late 1960s. In 1963, guitarist Erkin Koray published "One September Night" (Bir Eylül Akşamı) which is regarded as the first rock'n roll song in Turkish language and opened a new era, the Turkish psychedelic rock. From 1968 to about 1975, psychedelic rock became popular in Turkey, notably the work of Koray, regarded as a "hugely influential figure on the Istanbul music scene". The band Moğollar are credited with "changing the landscape of Turkish rock by incorporating elements of Anatolian folk music," and, after recording in France as Les Mogols, named their musical genre Anadolu Pop. Another pioneer, Fikret Kızılok, combined the style of Anadolu Pop with overtly political lyrics, and experiments with electronic music.

Turkish musicians also regularly performed at competitive European music festivals. In 1964, Tülay German performed the song "Burçak Tarlası" at the Balkan Music Festival, in a bossa nova style, and became immediately popular. As a direct result, the newspaper Hürriyet organized a "Golden Microphone" (Altın Mikrofon) competition, to encourage the development of new songs in Turkish blending folk tune and Western style. This helped identify a new generation of musicians, including the groups Mavi Işıklar, Silüetler, and musicians Cem Karaca, Edip Akbayram, Selçuk Alagöz, and his sister Rana Alagöz. Finalists were awarded with an opportunity to record a 45rpm-disc, and a tour across the country. As a result, it caused people outside the big cities to be exposed to this genre.

The end of Anatolian rock era (1980)
Anatolian Rock remained popular until the late 1970s. During these times, some musicians have taken a stand in support of the common people. One such person was Selda Bağcan. For young, popular music became synonymous with leftist thinking, protests for greater equality, freedom and worker's rights. The left-wing views of these artists did not endear them to the authorities. By 1970s went on, economic recession and social unrest has arisen across Turkey and on 12 September 1980, military coup brought the Anatolian rock genre to an end. Left-wing rockers faced repression, while the gloomy political atmosphere boosted the popularity of the melancholic Arabesque genre during the 80s.

After the coup, rock musicians were banned from performing, many artists had to flee abroad such as Cem Karaca and some were imprisoned.

Era of Turkish rock (After 1990s)
As other rock genres gained popularity in Turkey, Anatolian rock also began to diversify and Turkish rock that came out of this period, was far from its traditional roots, Anatolian style and has no connection with folk music.

In last decades, there has been a growth of Turkish rock bands such as Duman, Mor ve Ötesi, Gece Yolcuları, Almora, Kurban, Kargo, Vega, Çilekeş, Redd, Gripin and maNga, the latter having won the "Best Rock Band" award in almost all polls in 2005. Besides, due to the Turkish migration to Germany, several Turkish-rooted bands also evolved in Germany – e.g. In the 1980s as alternative groups: Ünlü (from 1981 on, at the beginning named Fahrstuhl) and The Trial (from 1985 on). The influences acting upon all these bands fall into a wide range of genres, from the Seattle Sound to heavy or doom metal and rapcore. Hence, Anatolian rock refers to a fusion of a wide selection of western rock subgenres with either a traditional Turkish sound or even rock music with Turkish lyrics. Such cultural fusion led the way for rock music to develop in Turkey.

There are also individual rock performers who have gained success such as Ayna, Murat Göğebakan, Haluk Levent, Şebnem Ferah, Barış Akarsu, Ogün Sanlısoy, Demir Demirkan, Hayko Cepkin, Aslı Gökyokuş, Nev, Aylin Aslım, Emre Aydın, Kıraç, Özlem Tekin and Teoman. By the end of the 1980s, several metal groups formed in Turkey such as Mezarkabul (Pentagram), and Diken.

2010s
In late 2010s, some rock musicians and bands appeared that harmonizes the folk tunes with rock, such as singer Gaye Su Akyol, and bands like Palmiyeler, Ayyuka, Makas, Dutch Anatolian rock band Altın Gün and UK based Anatolian rock band Kit Sebastian. In 2014, Anatolian Rock Revival Project has started with the vision of preserving the culture of Anatolian rock and transferring it to future generations.

Related musicians and bands
Key members of the Anatolian rock are Barış Manço, Cem Karaca, Erkin Koray, Selda Bağcan, Fikret Kızılok, Selçuk Alagöz, Edip Akbayram, Erol Büyükburç, Özdemir Erdoğan, Zafer Dilek, Tülay German, Bülent Ortaçgil, Alpay, Erkut Taçkın, Cahit Oben, Ersen Dinleten and most known bands are Moğollar, Kardaşlar, Apaşlar, Kaygısızlar, Ersen ve Dadaşlar, Haramiler, Harmoniler, Mavi Işıklar, Silüetler, Mazhar ve Fuat, 3 Hürel, Kurtalan Ekspres, Hardal, Grup Çağrışım and Modern Folk Üçlüsü.

title: Anatolian rock


text:
Francesco Canova da Milano

Francesco Canova da Milano (Francesco da Milano, also known as Il divino, Francesco da Parigi, etc.) (18 August 1497 – 2 January 1543) was an Italian lutenist and composer. He was born in Monza, near Milan, and worked for the papal court for almost all of his career. Francesco was heralded throughout Europe as the foremost lute composer of his time. More of his music is preserved than of any other lutenist of the period, and his work continued to influence composers for more than a century after his death.

Life
Francesco da Milano was almost certainly born in Monza, a small city some 15 km north-northeast of Milan. His father Benedetto was a musician, as was his elder brother Bernardino. According to Luca Gaurico's Tractatus astrologicus (1552), Francesco studied under Giovanni Angelo Testagrossa, but today this is considered somewhat unlikely. By 1514 Francesco was a member of the papal household in Rome. From that time for most of his career he was closely associated with the papal court. He and his father became private musicians to Pope Leo X in October 1516; Francesco's father kept this position until December 1518, but Francesco stayed until Leo's death in 1521. Little is known about his subsequent career in Rome, but he was still living in the city in early 1526: on 16 January 1526 he and one other lutenist performed for Pope Clement VII and Isabella d'Este.

Details of Francesco's later life are sketchy. He may have served at the Parisian court for a short time, since some sources refer to him as Francesco da Parigi. In 1528 he obtained a canonry in S Nazaro Maggiore in Milan, which he would cede to his brother in 1536. He may have travelled to Murano in 1530. Between 1531 and 1535 he served Cardinal Ippolito de' Medici, who died in 1535. In the same year Francesco worked as lute teacher to Ottavio Farnese, grandson of Pope Paul III. In a document dated 1 January 1538 Francesco is listed as a member of the household of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, a famous patron of the arts. In July Francesco married one Clara Tizzoni, a Milanese noblewoman, and moved to Milan, where the couple lived at least until September. By early 1539 Francesco and his father were once again employed by the papal court.

Nothing is known about Francesco's last years and his death, except that he probably did not die in Milan. The exact date of death, 2 January 1543, was recorded only by Luca Gaurico. Francesco's brother outlived him by at least 19 years, and died sometime after 1562. Francesco's father probably outlived his son as well; he died at some point before 1555.

Works
Already by 1530 Francesco's music was widely known and studied. A few of his works were published in France by Pierre Attaingnant in 1529, five volumes of lute music comprising mostly Francesco's works were published in Milan in 1536. There are many 16th- and 17th-century manuscript sources for his works, as well. Today, more than a hundred ricercars and fantasias (two terms used interchangeably in Francesco's oeuvre), some 30 intabulations and a few other pieces by Francesco are known. His music represents the transition from the loose improvisational style of his predecessors to the more refined polyphonic textures of later lute music. One of the defining characteristic features of Francesco's style is the manipulation and development of short melodic motifs within a "narrative" formal outline. Francesco was drawing on techniques found in contemporary vocal music, e.g. works by Josquin des Prez and composers of his generation. Aside from his influence on the development of lute music, he is also important for being among the first composers to create monothematic ricercars. Francesco's reputation today rests on his ricercars and fantasias, but contemporaries apparently held his intabulations of vocal works by other composers to be the best part of his œuvre.

The collected extant lute music of Francesco, edited by Arthur Ness, was published by Harvard University Press in 1970 (ISBN 0-674-53955-9). As such, the organizing number, akin to the Opus number and other such devices, is Ness.

"Canzona"
A composition called "Canzona by Francesco da Milano" (better known as the song "The City of Gold") is commonly misattributed to da Milano. It is actually a musical hoax by lutenist and famous mystificator Vladimir Vavilov, who composed this tune and credited it to Francesco da Milano. After being released by rock band Aquarium in 1987, the song became a big hit in the Soviet Union and beyond and raised questions about the actual credit. It was not until the 2000s that mystification was revealed and the credit for the hit went posthumously to Vavilov.

Recordings

 * Christopher Wilson and Shirley Rumsey, "Francesco Canova da Milano - Fantasias, Ricercars and Duets", Naxos (1994)
 * Ben Salfield, "Fantasie: 21 Fantasias by Francesco Canova da Milano", Red C (2004)
 * Hopkinson Smith, "Francesco da Milano: Fantasias, Intabulations, Ricercari, Dances, Reconstructions", Naïve (2008)
 * Tsiporah Meiran, Francesco da Milano : Research for lute, Band of Hippies (2010)
 * Paul O'Dette, "Francesco di Milano 'Il divino'", Harmonia Mundi (2013)
 * Nigel North "Dolcissima Et Amorosa: The Lute Music of Il Divino, Francesco Canova da Milano Vol. 1" RGS (2014)
 * Nigel North "A Decoration of Silence: The Lute Music of Il Divino, Francesco Canova da Milano Vol. 2 " RGS (2015)
 * Sandro Volta, "Francesco da Milano: Music for lute" Brilliant Classics (2015)
 * Siro Pillosu, "Fantasie Divine, lute music by Francesco da Milano", Ibé (2019)

title: Francesco Canova da Milano