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Talk:Taittinger

VfD
Article listed on Votes for deletion Apr 20 to Apr 26 2004, consensus was to keep. Discussion:

Please delete : Tattinger family and The Tattinger family ? both incorrectly spell the family name. I made a new page Taittinger family. JillandJack 15:13, 20 Apr 2004 (UTC)

 * Why did you do that instead of using the Move Page function? Delete Taittinger family, and move Tattinger family to the correct spelling before it accumulates changes. -- Cyrius|&#9998 16:49, Apr 21, 2004 (UTC)
 * Have renamed the page to conserve edit history and fixed edits so that both pages up for deletion are now redirects. Vote to keep as is. -- Graham  :) | Talk 15:32, 24 Apr 2004 (UTC)
 * Keep. Fine now. Niteowlneils 21:43, 25 Apr 2004 (UTC)

End discussion

Founding of the Taittinger champagne house
This page claims that the Taittinger champagne house was founded in 1734, and the Pierre Taittinger page claims that the founder was born in 1887. Obviously these can't both be right... Can anyone clear this up with appropriate references?

According to a visit made to Taittinger in January 2008 the firm was founded in 1734. It was then called Fourneaux-Forest. It wasn't until 1930 I believe that the firm's name was changed to Taittinger following the merger with the firm of Pierre Charles Taittinger. Cobbweb (talk) 13:42, 26 March 2008 (UTC)

I guess this could link to List of rich people who make famous stuff. Or it could be a note under Tattinger at Champagne (beverage). Wetman 13:31, 15 Mar 2004 (UTC)

French?
Taittinger actually is of german origin, Elsass was / is german populated (people living there are originally german, the region was gifted to France after WW II only). Also the name Taittinger is typical alemannian (t.i german as the Alemanni are descendant of a german tribe, reaching NOW from parts of Austria and Switzerland up to Elsass, covering complete Baden-Württemberg). One can recognise them by their special dialect (which is even gramatically different from Bavarian dialects), no other german parts seem to understand. B.t.w. it is interesting, why the Taittinger famiy has some russian names always in their lines - Vasili, Vladimir. Anyone an idea? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.112.177.58 (talk • contribs) 31 December 2014

title: Talk:Taittinger


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Michael Kadoorie

Sir Michael David Kadoorie, GBS (born 1941) is a Hong Kong billionaire businessman, and the chairman and 18% owner of CLP Group, Hong Kong's largest electricity producer. He also owns 47% of Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels. He is a member of the Kadoorie family.

Early life
Born in 1941, to the Jewish Kadoorie family, the son of business tycoon Lawrence Kadoorie (1899–1993) and his wife, Muriel Gubbay, Kadoorie was educated at Kowloon Junior School in Hong Kong, as well as Institut Le Rosey in Switzerland. His family's roots in business in the Far East go back to his grandfather Elly Kadoorie, a descendant of Iraqi Jews originally from Baghdad, who first settled in Shanghai in 1880. After a spell in Bombay, British India, his grandfather made a fortune in Shanghai, mostly lost in 1949, and later, in Hong Kong through finance, real estate and utilities. Headquartered in Hong Kong soon after 1949, Kadoorie's father and uncle Horace Kadoorie expanded the family businesses into a diversified group, led by the company flagship CLP Holdings Ltd.

Career
Kadoorie is the chairman of CLP Holdings Ltd. which his family founded in 1890 and in which they still hold a 35% stake. The utility company provides electricity to 75% of Hong Kong as sole operator (licensed through a Scheme of Control) in Kowloon and the New Territories, and has equity interests in power plants in China, Southeast Asia, Australia and India.

He is also the chairman of the family's second largest listed group, Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels, owners and operators of the Peninsula Hotel Group. He controls and is a director of Metrojet Ltd, Heliservices (HK) Ltd, and has initiated CLP Research Institute (a subsidiary of CLP Holdings which looks into renewable energy development).

He holds a number of directorships in non-Kadoorie companies. He was a member of the Council of the University of Hong Kong and, in 2000, the Kadoorie Biological Sciences Building opened at the university.

Awards
A trustee of the Kadoorie Charitable Foundation, Kadoorie was made an Officer of the Legion of Honour by the government of France and a Commander of the Order of Léopold II of Belgium. He was awarded a knighthood, as a Knight Bachelor, in the Queen's Birthday Honours List in June 2005. In 2004, the University of Hong Kong awarded him an honorary doctorate.

Car collector
A photography buff, Kadoorie is also a helicopter pilot and a collector of classic cars. He is the owner of a number of rare automobiles, including a Bugatti Type 57, a 1932 Rolls-Royce Phantom II by Thrupp & Maberly, a 1934 Hispano-Suiza J12 Vanvooren Cabriolet, a 1969 Lamborghini Miura P400 S, a 1924 Vauxhall 30–98 Tourer, a Talbot T150 CSS Pourtout coupé (ex car of race driver "Pagnibon"), a Rolls-Royce Phantom III with Gurney Nutting body, and a Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost.

In 1998, he spent two months recovering from serious injuries at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, England after an accident in his vintage Ferrari when the spokes in two of the rebuilt wheels tore through the tyres.

Personal life
Michael Kadoorie lived in Hong Kong with his Cuban-American wife, Betty Tamayo, known as "Lady Betty", until her death in Houston, Texas on 20 June 2021. They have three children: Natalie, Bettina, and Philip.

His sister, Rita Laura Kadoorie, is married to fellow Hong Kong billionaire Ronald McAulay.

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

title: Michael Kadoorie


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Talk:Readability

Possible Improvement
This article explains the formula well as the last user mentioned, but it could use improvement with the introductory section. The section should be more direct and not mention anything that is not followed up in the article. The section labeled "applications" is not well expounded upon and is not the relevant to the topic. There is also citations missing in the "Popular readability formulas" section and "Early children's readability formulas" section, which should be fixed. Also I think more recent sources can be used for the article as well. C.pinkston (talk) 00:13, 9 October 2020 (UTC)

Thank you
I find this a very good encyclopedia article. Perhaps it just happens to hit upon all my questions and concerns. It has bad links. But by moving through the experimental works historically, including summarizing their formulae, it provides excellent understanding. BrianMCoyle — Preceding unsigned comment added by 208.80.117.214 (talk) 04:21, 1 March 2016 (UTC)

I will look forward to using this encyclopedia for many future dates. Keep it interesting. Julianriverajr76 (talk) 18:29, 6 May 2017 (UTC)

I like that it is kept nice and understandable. Julianriverajr76 (talk) 18:31, 6 May 2017 (UTC)

Julianriverajr76 is very pleased. Julianriverajr76 (talk) 18:32, 6 May 2017 (UTC)

Organization
There is so much research available on readability, I propose that treatment of the formulas should take place in a separate article. Also, the Readability Tests article should be folded into a new article on Readability formulas. I hope to contribute more to this article soon.Bdubay (talk) 03:21, 27 October 2010 (UTC)

 * I agree that the amount of information dedicated to the formulas in this article would warrant a separate article. However, I plan to reduce the amount of information in these sections and expand about the general facets of readability. This would give the article a better flow and make the other sections more cohesive as they work together to create a more general background of readability. Savmanbanans (talk) 18:30, 9 November 2023 (UTC)

Accuracy
This article should link to a discussion of the readability of articles in Wikipedia.

Here is an example of a comment from one of the mathematically-oriented articles (M-theory): "the article is unreadable to non-experts and probably useless to experts".JWSchmidt 13:33, 15 Mar 2004 (UTC)

 * It would be nice to have something about how accurate / useful these are. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.111.96.65 (talk) 6 April 2006

 * Maybe there should be a readability comparison section. It could use the same passage through many of the readability algorithms.  This would really help people understand how the scores differ between them. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.216.38.83 (talk) 20 May 2006

Understandability
Why does this redirect here while related words redirect to understanding? (like understood and understandable) TheBlazikenMaster 22:28, 9 October 2007 (UTC)
 * Readability concerns itself with texts, this is different to understanding. Changing redirect.  — Dispenser 02:22, 15 June 2008 (UTC)

Understanding is part of reading comprehension. Readability--ease of reading--contributes to comprehension, but is distinct from it.Bdubay (talk) 03:18, 27 October 2010 (UTC)

Grade
When many high-school graduates read at the 8th-grade level, at which level do 8th-graders usually read? Or put in another way: how did someone come up with categorization in nth-grade levels? --Abdull (talk) 16:33, 17 November 2007 (UTC)
 * It is determined experimentally. A sample of writing is given to students in that grade, they are to read it and recall certain details of the work. A percentage indicates the number of student were able to recall the details.  — Dispenser 02:22, 15 June 2008 (UTC)

 * How often is the categorization re-calibrated? For example writing styles have changed since 1950; on the other hand a frequent re-calibration could mask a declinoe in educational standards. Philcha (talk) 08:05, 15 June 2008 (UTC)

Common measures of readability of text
I've just added this section, which contains:
 * A list of common measures.
 * Notes on computerised tools. Disclosure: I have no financial or other interest in the promotion of the tools mentioned. Philcha (talk) 10:35, 16 April 2008 (UTC)
 * I have removed these (as I've done so earlier) as it was redundant to Category:Readability tests. — Dispenser 02:22, 15 June 2008 (UTC)

In Computer Programming
Talk about the relationship between readability and programming style. Link to Programming style. Gandalfgeek (talk) 05:55, 3 July 2008 (UTC) gandalfgeek

Hard reading
I ran the intro through edit central, reading ease was 42, fog index 18. I think the whole article needs a rewrite. TonyClarke (talk) 10:20, 26 February 2011 (UTC)

Easier?
Rewrote it, definitely easier if we can write it right the first time than having to amend it sentence by sentence. ; < TonyClarke (talk) 01:30, 2 March 2011 (UTC)

Paragraph needs readability edit
I quote the following paragraph from the beginning of the article:

 * It has been long known that text which is easy to read helps people to enjoy and to learn from their reading.[5] When you pick up a book which you find too hard to read, unless you are strongly driven to read it, you will put it down and forget it. Improved understanding and knowledge is why we read, so making what we write easy to read is crucial.

For an article about ease of understanding and quality of writing, this paragraph isn't exactly great, not to mention containing the odd weasel phrase ("it has long been known"). The sentence structure is also all over the shop, more akin to a narrative than an enyclopedia entry; WP:WORDS says second person pronouns should be avoided. The flow is is pretty bad too, particularly the second sentence, which is awkward at best.

Since others seem to be maintaining this article I won't rewrite it, but can I suggest that someone else does? 94.174.54.232 (talk) 21:03, 6 March 2011 (UTC)

Lede
The lede should be a summary of the article. I expanded it a bit, but it still doesn't adequately summarize the article. --Airborne84 (talk) 03:10, 22 April 2011 (UTC)

Article should add typographic aspect of readability
As the lede correctly states, typography affects readability. However, the article discusses only text content. It says nothing about typographic readability. Perhaps the article should be renamed (i.e., moved to) Understandability, with a separate article on Readability (typographic) and a disambiguation page titled Readability that points to the two articles.—Finell 20:30, 24 January 2015 (UTC)

Use typography page
Would it not be better to include the legibility aspects under the existing 'Typography' page? That would avoid the rather clunky 'Understandability' title. That word has seven syllables, which is in itself a violation of readability!

It would also more clearly separate the different issues of being able to discern characters and letters, from the issue of ease of interpretation of words and sentences. The latter uses our understanding, the former uses our eyesight.

The typography page currently has issues, but I think it is a better option to use this rather than chopping readability in two.

TonyClarke (talk) 08:18, 25 January 2015 (UTC)

Readability of Wikipedia
@Arjayay Thanks for pointing out a manual of style point that I was not aware of:

“In articles, do not link to pages outside the article namespace, except in articles about Wikipedia itself (and even in that case with care – see Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Self-references to avoid).”

Perhaps the answer is for me to start a section on the readability of Wikipedia - from which I could have a see also to User:Phlsph7/Readability Chidgk1 (talk) 11:15, 13 June 2023 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: Introduction to Technical and Professional Communication
— Assignment last updated by Savmanbanans (talk) 17:29, 7 November 2023 (UTC)

What I Edited and Changed in This Article
I was very impressed with the amount of content and information use in this article. However, a lot of it was historical research so I did find more modern sources to supplement the information. I also filtered and deleted a few sentences and sections (see in view history) in the lead and a few other sections that were either not expanded upon enough to be relevant or not supported enough by sources. I also did some face editing to both run-on and choppy sentences that I found to be distracting as the article was about readability and much of the writing needed to be more clear. Please review my edits and documentation comments and let me know what editing skills are in need of improvement. Savmanbanans (talk) 02:45, 16 November 2023 (UTC)

 * Thank you very much Chidgk1 (talk) 09:49, 22 November 2023 (UTC)

title: Talk:Readability


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Markeaton Park Light Railway

The Markeaton Park Light Railway was a gauge light railway line located within Markeaton Park in the city of Derby, Derbyshire, England. The railway was first opened in 1989, extended in 1996, and closed down in September 2016.

Description
The line was 1.4 km long. The railway was privately owned and staffed and maintained by volunteers. The main station, Markeaton Station, was located at the Ashbourne Road/Queensway entrance to the park, next to the car park, in buildings formerly occupied by the British Army. On operating days, trains ran every 25 minutes to Mundy Halt at the Mundy Play Centre. Trains ran at about 7 mph.

History
From 1989 until 1996, when the railway was purchased by John Bull, the motive power was a 4-wheeled petrol-hydraulic locomotive named "Invicta". The carriages were two open "toastrack" vehicles, largely built by the original owner. From 1996 until the summer of 2009 the railway operated a steam locomotive "Markeaton Lady" which was built by the Exmoor Steam Railway in 1996. She was a  and was purchased and operated by John Bull, the final owner of the Markeaton Park railway. It was sold in 2009 due as her boiler needed replacement and the owner could not afford to undertake the work. The locomotive now operates at Evesham Vale Light Railway, where it carries the name "Monty".

In 2002, the line purchased with a replica British Rail Baby Deltic diesel locomotive from the gauge Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway. After an overhaul the locomotive started operating on the line in 2003. The locomotive had been supplied new to the Steamtown miniature railway at Carnforth before moving to Cleethorpes. The line used three coaches built by Exmoor, and three ex-Fairbourne coaches which were modified and re-gauged.

An industrial style diesel locomotive originally built by Ruston and Hornsby and rebuilt by Alan Keef which had run at Markeaton before, named "Cromwell", was anticipated to join the railway again in 2010, but this did not take place.

During 2010 the railway was put up for sale, but this was retracted during the 2010 winter period.

Markeaton Park Light Railway operated for the last time on Sunday 18 September 2016. Major maintenance work was required to repair the engine shed and depot, which had been the responsibility of Derby City Council. The council were unable to fund the required repairs. The track was subsequently removed, with the exception of some concrete level crossings. The locomotive and carriages were sold to the Lappa Valley Steam Railway after closure.

title: Markeaton Park Light Railway


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Acala

' or Achala (अचल, "The Immovable", ), also known as ' (अचलनाथ, "Immovable Lord") or  (आर्याचलनाथ, "Noble Immovable Lord"), is a wrathful deity and dharmapala (protector of the Dharma) prominent in Vajrayana Buddhism and East Asian Buddhism.

Originally a minor deity described as a messenger or acolyte of the buddha Vairocana, Acala later rose to prominence as an object of veneration in his own right as a remover of obstacles and destroyer of evil, eventually becoming seen as the wrathful manifestation of either Vairocana, the buddha Akṣobhya, or the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī. In later texts, he is also called ' (चण्डरोषण, "Violent Wrathful One", ) or ' (चण्डमहारोषण, "Violent One of Great Wrath", ), the names by which he is more commonly known in countries like Nepal and Tibet.

In East Asian esoteric Buddhism, Acala is classed among the Wisdom Kings and is preeminent among the five Wisdom Kings of the Womb Realm. Accordingly, he occupies an important hierarchical position in the Mandala of the Two Realms. In China, he is known as Bùdòng Míngwáng (不動明王, "Immovable Wisdom King", the Chinese translation of Sanskrit Acala(nātha) Vidyārāja ), while in Japan, he is called Fudō Myōō, the on'yomi reading of his Chinese name. Acala (as Fudō) is one of the especially important and well-known divinities in Japanese Buddhism, being especially venerated in the Shingon, Tendai, Zen, and Nichiren sects, as well as in Shugendō.

Acala has been worshiped throughout the Middle Ages and into modern times in Nepal, Tibet, China and Japan, where sculptural and pictorial representations of him are most often found.

Origins and development
Acala first appears in the (不空羂索神変真言經, pinyin: Bùkōng juànsuǒ shénbiàn zhēnyán jīng, translated by Bodhiruci circa 707-709 CE ), where he is described as a servant or messenger of the buddha Vairocana: "The first from the west in the northern quadrant is the acolyte Acala (不動使者). In his left hand he grasps a noose and in his right hand he holds a sword. He is seated in the half-lotus position."

More well-known, however, is the following passage from the Mahāvairocana Tantra (also known as the Mahāvairocanābhisaṃbodhi Tantra or the Vairocana Sūtra) which refers to Acala as one of the deities of the Womb Realm Mandala:

The deity was apparently popular in India during the 8th-9th centuries as evident by the fact that six of the Sanskrit texts translated by the esoteric master Amoghavajra into Chinese are devoted entirely to him. Indeed, Acala's rise to a more prominent position in the Esoteric pantheon in East Asian Buddhism may be credited in part to the writings of Amoghavajra and his teacher Vajrabodhi.

While some scholars have put forward the theory that Acala originated from the Hindu god Shiva, particularly his attributes of destruction and reincarnation, Bernard Faure suggested the wrathful esoteric deity Trailokyavijaya (whose name is an epithet of Shiva), the Vedic fire god Agni, and the guardian deity Vajrapani to be other, more likely prototypes for Acala. He notes: "one could theoretically locate Acala's origins in a generic, but only in the sense that all Tantric deities can in one way or another be traced back to ." Faure compares Acala to Vajrapani in that both were originally minor deities who eventually came to occupy important places in the Buddhist pantheon.

Acala is said to be a powerful deity who protects the faithful by burning away all impediments and defilements (Kleshas (Buddhism)), thus aiding them towards enlightenment. In a commentary on the Mahāvairocana Tantra by Yi Xing, he is said to have manifested in the world following Vairocana's vow to save all beings, and that his primary function is to remove obstacles to enlightenment. Indeed, the tantra instructs the ritual practitioner to recite Acala's mantras or to visualize himself as Acala in order to remove obstacles.

From a humble acolyte, Acala evolved into a powerful demon-subduing deity. In later texts such as the Caṇḍamahāroṣaṇa Tantra, Acala - under the name ("Violent Wrathful One") or  ("Violent One of Great Wrath") - is portrayed as the "frightener of gods, titans, and men, the destroyer of the strength of demons" who slays ghosts and evil spirits with his fierce anger. In the Sādhanamālā, the gods Vishnu, Shiva, Brahma and Kandarpa - described as "wicked" beings who subject humanity to endless rebirth - are said to be terrified of Acala because he carries a rope to bind them.

In Tibetan Buddhism, Acala or Miyowa (མི་གཡོ་བ་, Wylie: mi g.yo ba) is considered as belonging to the  ("vajra family", Tibetan: དོ་རྗེའི་རིགས་, dorjé rik; Wylie: rdo rje'i rigs), one of the Five Buddha Families presided over by the buddha Akṣobhya and may even be regarded, along with the other deities of the kula, as an aspect or emanation of the latter. He is thus sometimes depicted in South Asian art wearing a crown with an effigy of Akṣobhya. In Nepal, Acala may also be identified as a manifestation of the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī. He has a consort named Viśvavajrī in both the Nepalese and Tibetan traditions, with whom he is at times depicted in yab-yum union.

By contrast, the sanrinjin (三輪身, "bodies of the three wheels") theory, based on Amoghavajra's writings and prevalent in Japanese esoteric Buddhism (Mikkyō), interprets Acala as an incarnation of Vairocana. In this system, the five chief vidyārājas or Wisdom Kings (明王, Myōō), of which Acala is one, are interpreted as the wrathful manifestations (教令輪身, kyōryōrin-shin, lit. ""embodiments of the wheel of injunction") of the Five Great Buddhas, who appear both as gentle bodhisattvas to teach the Dharma and also as fierce wrathful deities to subdue and convert hardened nonbelievers.  Under this conceptualization, vidyārājas are ranked superior to dharmapalas (護法善神), a different class of guardian deities. However, this interpretation, while common in Japan, is not necessarily universal: in Nichiren-shū, for instance, Acala and Rāgarāja (Aizen Myōō), the two vidyārājas who commonly feature in the mandalas inscribed by Nichiren, are seen as protective deities (外護神, gegoshin) who respectively embody the two tenets of hongaku ("original enlightenment") doctrine: "life and death (saṃsāra) are precisely nirvana" (生死即涅槃, shōji soku nehan) and "worldly passions (kleśa) are precisely enlightenment (bodhi)" (煩悩即菩提, bonnō soku bodai).

Iconography
The Caṇḍamahāroṣaṇa Tantra description of Acala is a good summary of the deity's depiction in South Asian Buddhist art.

In Nepalese and Tibetan art, Acala is usually shown either kneeling on his left knee or standing astride, bearing a noose or lasso (pāśa) and an upraised sword. Some depictions portray him trampling on the elephant-headed Vighnarāja (lit. "Ruler of Hindrances", a Buddhist equivalent to the Hindu god Ganesha, albeit interpreted negatively as one who causes obstacles), signifying his role as the destroyer of impediments to enlightenment. He may also be shown wearing a tiger skin, with snakes coiled around his arms and body.

By contrast, portrayals of Acala (Fudō) in Japan generally tend to conform to the description given in the Amoghapāśakalparāja Sūtra and the Mahāvairocana Tantra: holding a lasso and a sword while sitting or standing on a rock (盤石座, banjakuza) or a pile of hewn stones (瑟瑟座, shitsushitsuza), with his braided hair hanging from the left of his head. He may also be depicted with a lotus flower - a symbol of enlightenment - on his head (頂蓮, chōren). Unlike the South Asian Acala, whose striding posture conveys movement and dynamism, the Japanese Fudō sits or stands erect, suggesting motionlessness and rigidity. The sword he wields may or may not be flaming and is sometimes described generically as a "jeweled sword" (宝剣) or "vajra sword" (金剛剣), which is descriptive of the fact that the sword's pommel is in the shape of the talon-like vajra (金剛杵, kongō-sho). It may also be referred to as a "three-pronged vajra sword" (三鈷剣). In some cases, he is seen holding the "Kurikara sword" (倶利伽羅剣, Kurikara-ken), a sword with the dragon (nāga) king Kurikara (倶利伽羅; Sanskrit: Kulikāla-rāja or Kṛkāla-rāja) coiled around it. The flaming nimbus or halo behind Acala is commonly known in Japanese as the "Garuda flame" (迦楼羅炎, karura-en) after the mythical fire-breathing bird from Indian mythology.

There are two main variations in the iconography of Acala / Fudō in Japan. The first type (observable in the earliest extant Japanese images of the deity) shows him with wide open, glaring eyes, straight hair braided in rows and two fangs pointed in the same direction; a lotus flower rests above his head. The second type (which first appeared in the late 9th century and became increasingly common during the late Heian and Kamakura periods), by contrast, portrays Acala with curly hair, one eye wide open and/or looking upwards, with the other narrowed and/or looking downwards, an iconographic trait known as the tenchigan (天地眼), "heaven-and-earth eyes". Similarly, one of his fangs is now shown as pointing up, with the other pointing down. In place of the lotus flower, images of this type may sport seven topknots.

Although the squinting left eye and inverted fangs of the second type ultimately derives from the description of Acala given in the Mahāvairocana Tantra and Yi Xing's commentary on the text ("with his lower [right] tooth he bites the upper-right side of his lip, and with his left [-upper tooth he bites] his lower lip which sticks out"), these attributes were mostly absent in Chinese and earlier Japanese icons.

Acala's mismatched eyes and fangs were allegorically interpreted to signify both the duality and nonduality of his nature (and of all reality): the upward fang for instance was interpreted as symbolizing the process of elevation towards enlightenment, with the downward fang symbolizing the descent of enlightened beings into the world to teach sentient beings. The two fangs also symbolize the realms of buddhas and sentient beings, yin and yang, and male and female, with the nonduality of these two polar opposites being expressed by Acala's tightly closed lips.

Acala is commonly shown as having either black or blue skin (the Sādhanamālā describes his color as being "like that of the atasī (flax) flower," which may be either yellow or blue ), though he may be at times portrayed in other colors. In Tibet, for instance, a variant of the kneeling Acala depiction shows him as being white in hue "like sunrise on a snow mountain reflecting many rays of light". In Japan, some images may depict Acala sporting a red (赤不動, Aka-Fudō) or yellow (黄不動, Ki-Fudō) complexion. The most famous example of the Aka-Fudō portrayal is a painting kept at Myōō-in on Mount Kōya (Wakayama Prefecture) traditionally attributed to the Heian period Tendai monk Enchin. Legend claims that Enchin, inspired by a vision of Acala, painted the image using his own blood (thus explaining its red color), though recent analysis suggests that the image may have been actually created much later, during the Kamakura period. The most well-known image of the Ki-Fudō type, meanwhile, is enshrined in Mii-dera (Onjō-ji) at the foot of Mount Hiei in Shiga Prefecture and is said to have been based on another vision that Enchin saw while practicing austerities in 838. The original Mii-dera Ki-Fudō is traditionally only shown to esoteric masters (ācārya; 阿闍梨, ajari) during initiation rites and is otherwise not shown to the public, though copies of it have been made. One such copy, made in the 12th century, is kept at Manshu-in in Kyoto.

The deity is usually depicted with one head and two arms, though a few portrayals show him with multiple heads, arms or legs. In Japan, a depiction of Acala with four arms is employed in subjugation rituals and earth-placating rituals (安鎮法, anchin-hō); this four-armed form is identified in one text as "the lord of the various categories [of gods]." An iconographic depiction known as the "Two-Headed Rāgarāja" (両頭愛染, Ryōzu Aizen or Ryōtō Aizen) shows Acala combined with the wisdom king Rāgarāja (Aizen).

Acolytes
Acala is sometimes described as having a retinue of acolytes, the number of which vary between sources, usually two or eight but sometimes thirty-six or even forty-eight. These represent the elemental, untamed forces of nature that the ritual practitioner seeks to harness.

The two boy servants or dōji (童子) most commonly depicted in Japanese iconographic portrayals are Kiṃkara (矜羯羅童子) and Ceṭaka (吒迦童子), who also appear as the last two of the list of Acala's eight great dōji. Kiṃkara is depicted as white in color, with his hands joined in respect, while Ceṭaka is red-skinned and holds a vajra in his left hand and a vajra staff in his right hand. The two are said to symbolize both Dharma-essence and ignorance, respectively, and is held to be in charge of good and evil. Kiṃkara and Ceṭaka are also sometimes interpreted as transformations or emanations of Acala himself. In a sense, they reflect Acala's original characterization as an attendant of Vairocana; indeed, their servile nature is reflected in their names (Ceṭaka for instance means "slave") and their topknots, the mark of banished people and slaves. In other texts, they are also described as manifestations of Avalokiteśvara (Kannon) and Vajrapāṇi or as transformations of the dragon Kurikara, who is himself sometimes seen as one of Acala's various incarnations.

Two other notable dōji are Matijvala (恵光童子, Ekō-dōji) and Matisādhu (恵喜童子, Eki-dōji), the first two of Acala's eight great acolytes. Matijvala is depicted as white in color and holds a three-pronged vajra in his right hand and a lotus topped with a moon disk on his left, while Matisādhu is red and holds a trident in his right hand and a wish-fulfilling jewel (cintāmaṇi) on his left. The eight acolytes as a whole symbolize the eight directions, with Matijvala and Matisādhu representing east and south, respectively.

Texts
As noted above, Acala appears in the Amoghapāśakalparāja Sūtra and the Vairocanābhisaṃbodhi Sūtra. As Caṇḍaroṣaṇa or Caṇḍamahāroṣaṇa, he is the primary deity of the Caṇḍamahāroṣaṇa Tantra and is described in the Sādhanamālā.

The Japanese esoteric Buddhist tradition and Shugendō also make use of the following apocryphal sutras on Acala:

 * Sūtra of the Great Wrathful King Āryācala's Secret Dhāraṇī (聖無動尊大威怒王秘密陀羅尼経, Shō-Mudō-son daiifunnuō himitsu darani kyō)
 * A sūtra consisting of a discourse on Acala given by the bodhisattva Vajrasattva (identified here with Samantabhadra) to Mañjuśrī, set in "Vairocana's great assembly." The sutra describes Acala as being identical with the all-pervading dharmakāya, "[having] no fixed abode, but [dwelling] within the hearts of sentient beings" (無其所居、但住衆生心想之中).

 * Āryācala Sūtra (仏説聖不動経, Bussetsu Shō-Fudō kyō)
 * A summarized version of the above sutra. Translated into English, it runs as follows:

 * To this text is often appended two litanies of the names of Acala's young acolytes (童子, dōji), the 'thirty-six dōji (三十六童子, sanjuroku dōji) and the 'eight great dōji (八大童子, hachi daidōji).
 * To this text is often appended two litanies of the names of Acala's young acolytes (童子, dōji), the 'thirty-six dōji (三十六童子, sanjuroku dōji) and the 'eight great dōji (八大童子, hachi daidōji).

 * Sūtra on Reverencing the Secret Dhāraṇī of Āryācala (稽首聖無動尊秘密陀羅尼経, Keishu Shō-Mudō-son himitsu darani kyō)

Bīja and mantra
The bīja or seed syllables used to represent Acala in Japanese Buddhism are ' (हां / हाँ) and hāmmāṃ (हाम्मां / हाम्माँ), the latter being a combination of the two final bīja in his mantra: hāṃ māṃ (हां मां'). Hāṃ is sometimes confounded with the similar-looking (हूं), prompting some writers to mistakenly identify Acala with other deities. The syllables are written using the Siddham script and is conventionally read as kān (カーン) and kānmān (カーンマーン).

Three mantras of Acala are considered to be the standard in Japan. The most widely known one, derived from the Mahāvairocana Tantra and popularly known as the "Mantra of Compassionate Help" (慈救呪, jikushu or jikuju), goes as follows: The "Short Mantra" (小呪, shōshu) of Acala - also found in the Mahāvairocana Tantra - is as follows:

The longest of the three is the "Great Mantra" of Acala, also known as the "Fire Realm Mantra" (火界呪, kakaishu / kakaiju):

Another mantra associated with the deity is Oṃ caṇḍa-mahāroṣaṇa hūṃ phaṭ, found in the Siddhaikavīra Tantra. The text describes it as the "king of mantras" that dispels all evil and grants "whatever the follower of Mantrayāna desires".

Japan
Fudō Myōō (Acala), was never popular in Indian, Tibetan or even Chinese Buddhism, but in Japan it became the object of a flourishing cult with esoteric overtones.

The cult of Acala was first brought to Japan by the esoteric master Kūkai, the founder of the Shingon school, and his successors, where it developed as part of the growing popularity of rituals for the protection of the state. While Acala was at first simply regarded as the primus inter pares among the five wisdom kings, he gradually became a focus of worship in his own right, subsuming characteristics of the other four vidyarājas (who came to be perceived as emanating from him), and became installed as the main deity (honzon) at many temples and outdoor shrines.

Acala, as a powerful vanquisher of evil, was regarded both as a protector of the imperial court and the nation as a whole (in which capacity he was invoked during state-sponsored rituals) and the personal guardian of ritual practitioners. Many eminent Buddhist priests like Kūkai, Kakuban, Ennin, Enchin, and Sōō worshiped Acala as their patron deity, and stories of how he miraculously rescued his devotees in times of danger were widely circulated.

At temples dedicated to Acala, priests perform the Fudō-hō (不動法), or ritual service to enlist the deity's power of purification to benefit the faithful. This rite routinely involves the use of the Homa ritual (護摩) as a purification tool.

Lay persons or monks in yamabushi gear who go into rigorous training outdoors in the mountains often pray to small Acala statues or portable talismans that serve as his honzon. This element of yamabushi training, known as Shugendō, predates the introduction of Acala to Japan. At this time, figures such as Zaō Gongen (蔵王権現), who appeared before the sect's founder, En no Gyōja, or Vairocana, were commonly worshiped. Once Acala was added to list of deities typically enshrined by the yamabushi monks, his images were either portable, or installed in hokora (outdoor shrines). These statues would often be placed near waterfalls (a common training ground), deep in the mountains and in caves.

The daimyo Takeda Shingen is known to have taken Fudō Myōō as his patron (particularly when he transitioned to being a lay monk in his later years), and has commissioned a statue of Fudō that is supposedly modelled after his face.

Acala also tops the list of Thirteen Buddhas. Thus Shingon Buddhist mourners assign Fudō to the first seven days of service. The first week is an important observance, but perhaps not as much as the observance of "seven times seven days" (i.e. 49 days) signifying the end of the "intermediate state" (bardo).

Literature on Shingon Buddhist ritual will explain that Sanskrit "seed syllables", mantras and mudras are attendant to each of the Buddhas for each observance period. But the scholarly consensus seems to be that invocation of the "Thirteen Buddhas" had evolved later, around the 14th century and became widespread by the following century, so it is doubtful that this practice was part of Kūkai's original teachings.

China
Bùdòng Míngwáng (Acala) worship in China was first introduced into China during the Tang dynasty after the translation of esoteric tantras associated with him by monks such as Amoghavajra and Vajrabodhi. Iconography of Acala has been depicted infrequently in some temples and grottoes from the Tang through to contemporaneous times, usually as part of a set depicting the Eight Wisdom Kings or Ten Wisdom Kings, In modern times, he is revered as one of the eight Buddhist guardians of the Chinese zodiac and specifically considered to be the protector of those born in the year of the Rooster. He is also frequently invoked during Chinese Buddhist repentance ceremonies, such as the Liberation Rite of Water and Land, along with the other Wisdom Kings where they are given offerings and intreated to expel evil from the ritual platform.

In popular culture

 * Gary Snyder's 1969 poem Smokey the Bear Sutra portrays Smokey Bear (the mascot of the U.S. Forest Service) as an incarnation of Vairocana (the "Great Sun Buddha") in a similar vein as Acala. Indeed, Acala's Mantra of Compassionate Help is presented in the text as Smokey's "great mantra."
 * Sailor Mars from the Sailor Moon series invokes Acala through the Sanskrit chant of the Mantra of Compassionate Help during her "Fire Soul Bird" attack. Acala is flashed multiple times as a shadowed figure in flames, consistent with Japanese iconography, and in line with Sailor Mars's element of fire.

title: Acala


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Sander, from the Swedish Wikipedia.

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Julian Casablancas

Julian Fernando Casablancas (born August 23, 1978) is an American musician. He is the lead vocalist and primary songwriter of the rock band the Strokes, with whom he has released six studio albums since their founding in 1998. Casablancas released a solo studio album, Phrazes for the Young, in 2009, and has released two albums with the experimental rock band the Voidz.

A native New Yorker, he was born to businessman John Casablancas. His mother, Jeanette Christiansen, married a man who introduced him to the band the Doors, introducing him to rock music. He met bassist Nikolai Fraiture at the age of six, and attended a Swiss boarding school where he met guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. He did not complete high school, but received a GED.

After meeting guitarist Nick Valensi and drummer Fab Moretti at Manhattan's Dwight School, the group began experimenting with music together. After adding Hammond Jr., the Strokes were formed. Their debut album Is This It was critically acclaimed, and launched Casablancas and the band to rock stardom. Casablancas was the primary songwriter and creative voice behind the band's early albums, including 2003's Room on Fire and 2005's First Impressions of Earth. After a six-year hiatus, the Strokes released Angles in 2011 and Comedown Machine in 2013 with the band taking a more collaborative approach to these projects. Casablancas would not record another record with the band until 2020's Grammy-winning The New Abnormal, the first such nomination or win for the band.

During a five-year hiatus for the band, Casablancas released his debut solo album, Phrazes for the Young. That same year he founded the independent record label Cult Records, which has represented artists the Growlers, Rey Pila and Karen O.

Since 2013, he has been the frontman of experimental rock band the Voidz. The band has released two studio albums, Tyranny (2014) and Virtue (2018). The band represents an ambition of Casablancas to make less commercial music and explore new themes.

Early life
Julian Fernando Casablancas was born in New York City on August 23, 1978, the son of American-Spanish businessman John Casablancas, the founder of Elite Model Management, and Jeanette Christiansen (née Christjansen), a Danish model and the 1965 Miss Denmark who later became an artist. When Casablancas was eight, his parents divorced. He once stated that he wanted to be closer to his father, which "translated into teenage rebelliousness". His mother later married Ghanaian painter Sam Adoquei, who helped shape Casablancas' early musical taste by exposing him to music such as the Doors, which was markedly different from the mostly Phil Collins-influenced music he listened to as a child. He has several half-siblings, including an elder sister from his father's first marriage, and three other siblings from his father's third marriage.

Casablancas met future Strokes bassist Nikolai Fraiture when they were six years old, while both were attending the bilingual French school Lycée Français de New York. When he was 13, his father sent him to the Institut Le Rosey boarding school in Switzerland, to improve his grades, where he met future Strokes guitarist Albert Hammond, Jr. He later returned to New York and attended Dwight School with two other future Strokes bandmates: guitarist Nick Valensi and drummer Fabrizio Moretti. He never finished high school, but took a GED and continued to take music classes at Five Towns College, which he later said was the first time he enjoyed himself in class.

The Strokes (1998–present)
Upon meeting future guitarist Nick Valensi and drummer Fab Moretti at Dwight School in Manhattan, the three began to play music together. He reconnected with guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. when the latter moved to New York. The band was formed in 1998 when Hammond was accepted into the band, with Casablancas as the lead vocalist and main songwriter and Nikolai Fraiture on bass.

The band began rehearsing a fourteen-song set which included "Alone, Together", "Barely Legal", "Last Nite", "The Modern Age", "New York City Cops", "Soma", "Someday", "Take It or Leave It" and "This Life" (an early version of "Trying Your Luck"). Most of these songs now feature different lyrics. A demo sent to the newly reformed Rough Trade Records in the UK sparked interest there, leading to their first release via the website of the UK magazine NME, who gave away a free mp3 download of "Last Nite" a week prior to the physical release as part of The Modern Age EP in 2001. The EP sparked a bidding war among record labels, the largest for a rock and roll band in years. Shortly after, the Strokes' critically acclaimed debut album Is This It was released.

The band has received the highest of praise for Is This It, and it set the stage for what people expected to "save rock" in the new millennium. Though some would argue that such statements left unreasonably sized shoes to fill, the Strokes are still highly recognized as one of the most influential garage rock bands of the early 2000s, paving the way for many new alternative bands to come.

However, the group found it difficult to replicate their early critical success. In an excerpt from Lizzie Goodman's Meet Me in the Bathroom: Rebirth and Rock and Roll in New York City, 2001–2011 – named after the Strokes' track – Strokes guitarist, Albert Hammond Jr., comments, "With Room on Fire [2003], people were giving us shit because they said we were sounding too much the same. With the third album [First Impressions of Earth], we were getting shit that we don't sound like Room on Fire. We got fucked by the same thing twice!"

After the release of the two other albums and several major tours, the band took a five-year break, then returned with their fourth album Angles in 2011. The five-year hiatus was said to be the result of conflicting solo projects, sobriety issues, and unspoken emotions. The Strokes' drummer Fab Moretti said the band struggled to process such "subconscious volcanic emotions", partly because they were still "children" at the time.

Although their creative processes has been critiqued by outside observers as "a democracy under a dictator", Casablancas stated in 2010 that the band was moving "more in the direction of everyone being equal." Commenting on Casablancas' creative process, guitarist Nick Valensi has said, "his ear is so sharp. He's the one with the ear for detail in this band. Creatively, he is a force to be reckoned with." The 2011 release, Angles, is said to reflect the beginning of the more collaborative nature of the band's creative process.

The album release was followed by several headlining appearances at musical festivals, including Reading, Coachella, Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits. The band released Comedown Machine in 2013, as their last album under the contract with long-time label RCA, for which they did no promotion. The band released an EP, Future Present Past, on Casablancas' own label Cult Records in 2016.

In December 2018, it was announced that the band would headline at Bilbao BBK Live in 2019, kicking off their global comeback. Numerous dates for festivals and shows were subsequently announced, including a show at the Governors Ball Music Festival, marking the band's return to New York City.

Starting May 14, 2019, the Strokes teased some new songs, starting with "The Adults are Talking", live at The Wiltern in Los Angeles, suggesting that the Strokes might release a new album. On December 31, 2019, at Brooklyn NYE, they performed "Ode to the Mets" as an offer from Casablancas to sing live instead of singing songs from Angles as requested by fans. "I don't remember Angles. What's Angles?" Casablancas responded before suggesting that the band play the new song and later confirming the release of a new project.

The band released the album The New Abnormal in April 2020, though work on the album started as early as 2016. The album won the band their first Grammy Award, receiving the award for Best Rock Album. The album received positive reviews from critics, suggesting that the band came back with more maturity and better cohesion among the bandmates.

Solo projects (2009–present)
As a solo artist, Casablancas set out with an intention to say what was on his mind, both musically and lyrically. Speaking on his experience as a solo artist versus releasing music with the Strokes, the singer has put it simply, "it's like touring with me or with five of me," meaning that each member has their own opinionated state of mind. While such statements raised much concern for the relations between the band members, Casablancas says that in pursuit of a solo career, he is protecting the integrity of the [Strokes] vibe. In having a musical project separate from the Strokes, he is able to "chase down any idea [he] wants", which he would refrain from doing with the band.

His first solo album, Phrazes for the Young (inspired by the Oscar Wilde book "Phrases and Philosophies for the Use of the Young"), was released on November 2 in the UK and November 3, 2009, in the United States. Recorded in Omaha, Nebraska, and New York, the album was produced by Jason Lader, with additional production from Bright Eyes' Mike Mogis. The album was strongly influenced by new wave and electronica, with Casablancas utilizing synthesizers for many songs. He discussed his new influences by saying "I would've gone weirder with the music, but I wanted to be smart. I didn't want people to say, 'Okay, this is his weird abstract thing,' and dismiss the album. I worked too hard on it for that to happen... I wanted to be crazy original and bridge the gap between traditional music and modern music."

Julian Casablancas made his live solo debut for a private party for fashion brand Opening Ceremony in Tokyo, Japan. To celebrate the release of the EP, Casablancas performed a series of shows in October 2009 at The Downtown Palace Theatre in Los Angeles with his live show band, the Sick Six. Members of the Sick Six include Jeff Kite (keyboard), Nelson London (synthesizer), JP Bowersock (guitar), Danielle Haim (percussion) and Alex Carapetis (drums). Casablancas then toured with the Sick Six in Europe, United States, Australia and Japan from November 2009 until July 2010.

Casablancas composed the original song "I Like the Night" as part of his endorsement deal to represent Azzaro's new men's fragrance Decibel, dB. The Azzaro Decibel television commercial featuring Julian aired in France on September 1, 2011.

Casablancas also hosted a monthly music show Culture Void on Sirius XMU between May 2016 and February 2017, where the singer curated and shared some music across genres.

The Voidz (2013–present)
The Voidz, formerly known as Julian Casablancas + the Voidz, was formed in 2013. Along with Casablancas as lead vocalist, the band consists of Jeramy "Beardo" Gritter and Amir Yaghmai on guitar, Jacob "Jake" Bercovici on bass (as well as synthesizer), Alex Carapetis on drums and percussion, and Jeff Kite on keyboard. Wanting to earn a greater sense of respect as a band, rather than be perceived as a "side-project" of Julian's, the band officially changed their name from "Julian Casablancas + the Voidz" to simply "the Voidz" during an 'initiation' video on the band's YouTube page on December 8, 2017. Julian performed with Carapetis and Kite throughout the tour for his solo album, Phrazes for the Young. Through Carapetis, Casablancas met Gritter and Bercovici. Bercovici, having played music with Yaghmai for several of years, then connected him to Casablancas, forming what is now known as the Voidz.

Though the band's sound has not always been well received, the Voidz aim to "bridge the gap" between music that is both aggressive and complex. They share the goal of "representing things unseen" and "exploring [music] from the margins", as Jake [Bercovici] has said. Inspired by the complex nature of Middle Eastern music scales, Casablancas says he is more interested in "the in between notes" than the traditional seven note scale of Western music. The band is bound by a mutual love for powerful music that does not gain much attention in mainstream media, which is embodied in Julian's record company, Cult Records, as well. Casablancas says his work with the Voidz is simply an "evolution of the same mission" [as with the Strokes], but the Voidz are more aligned with the type of music with which he would like to experiment, moving forward. Though the Voidz remain a more active musical entity, both bands are still currently represented under Cult Records.

In June 2014, Casablancas announced he would be releasing the debut album Tyranny. The album was released on his own label Cult Records and coincided with his move to Upstate New York. On September 23, 2014, the album was released, followed by a tour in the United States and United Kingdom. The album features the 11-minute single "Human Sadness", a song whose demo was originally composed for the soundtrack of The Unseen Beauty, a short documentary film which profiled Casablancas' stepfather, artist Sam Adoquei. The group revealed dates for a South American tour in August 2017.

On March 30, 2018, the Voidz released their second album, titled Virtue. The album takes on a more political stance, dissecting universal concepts such as the paradox between what is perceived as "truth" and "lies", when taking multiple perceptual view points into consideration. The album features track, "Pyramid of Bones", which was featured on Adult Swim in April 2018, along with their single "Coul as a Ghoul" on the Adult Swim's Singles Program.

Collaborations
Casablancas, along with the Strokes, provided vocals on a cover of Marvin Gaye's "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" with Joshua Homme on drums and Eddie Vedder on backup vocals. The cover was released in 2006 as the B-side to "You Only Live Once". Casablancas also provided bass guitar and backing vocals on Albert Hammond, Jr.'s "Scared" on his solo album Yours to Keep. He subsequently played a Casio guitar and provided backing vocals on "Sick, Sick, Sick" by Queens of the Stone Age.

In 2008, he recorded a song with Santigold (then known as Santogold) and Pharrell of N*E*R*D titled "My Drive Thru" for a Converse advertising campaign. During his solo phase, he recorded "Boombox" with Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone, and Akiva Schaffer of the Lonely Island for their 2009 debut album Incredibad, and was featured in an SNL Digital Short for the same song. In addition, he also recorded "I Wish It Was Christmas Today", a festive song based on a Saturday Night Live skit made popular by Jimmy Fallon, Horatio Sanz, Chris Kattan and Tracy Morgan. Casablancas performed the song live on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on December 21, 2009, together with the Roots, Horatio Sanz and Jimmy Fallon. He also appeared in the 100th Digital Short, which aired on May 12, 2012.

Casablancas also collaborated with Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse on the song "Little Girl" on the 2010 album, Dark Night of the Soul, contributing the lyrics, lead and backing vocals, and guitar solo. Aside from vocal collaborations, he also contributed to the song "Forrest Gump" on Digitalism's sophomore album I Love You, Dude in 2011. The electronica duo initiated a collaboration with Casablancas through his manager, and Casablancas contributed 'a 30-second recording with him on guitar' via email.

Casablancas also lent his vocals to the title track, "Rave On", on a 2011 tribute album to Buddy Holly, Rave On Buddy Holly. In 2016, Casablancas contributed three specially recorded the Velvet Underground and Lou Reed covers – Venus in Furs, Run Run Run and White Light/White Heat, under the title White Light White Heat (rock n roll animal live era version) – to the HBO television series, Vinyl. The songs were subsequently released on various soundtracks to the series by Atlantic Records.

Casablancas worked with Daft Punk on their 2013 album Random Access Memories by contributing lyrics, vocals, and a guitar solo to their song "Instant Crush". The album won the 2013 Grammy Award for Album of the Year, with Casablancas as one of the co-recipients of the award. Another collaboration between Casablancas and Daft Punk written during the recording sessions of Random Access Memories was spoken about by Casablancas in several interviews following the album's release. This song "Infinity Repeating (2013 Demo)", also featuring the Voidz, would eventually release on the 10th anniversary edition of the album.

In April 2015, it was revealed that Casablancas had worked on a song with Savages' Jehnny Beth. The collaboration was later announced to be a cover of "Boy/Girl," a 1983 duet by Danish punk band Sort Sol and Lydia Lunch. The music video, directed by Warren Fu, was released on December 4, 2015. The 7" was released through both Cult Records and Pop Noire Records on December 18, 2015. Casablancas also wrote the song "Youth Without Love" for Har Mar Superstar's 2016 album Best Summer Ever, and is featured on "No One There", a song by Indian-born musician, Hammarsing Kharhmar (Exhibition).

In 2015, Julian also made an appearance on Leftöver Crack's album, Constructs of the State. His vocals can be heard on the song Vicious Constructs. The song is sung by both Casablancas and Leftöver Crack lead singer Stza Crack(Scott Sturgeon).

Cult Records
In 2009, Casablancas founded Cult Records, the creative imprint for his solo album Phrazes for the Young. The label signed a partnership agreement with Kobalt Label Services in 2014, which includes representation and product management, physical distribution across multiple territories, digital distribution through AWAL, marketing and sync licensing services. Cult currently represents the Growlers, Har Mar Superstar, Songhoy Blues, Rey Pila, Karen O, Promiseland, the Strokes, the Voidz, Exhibition and Cerebral Ballzy. The label has also released works of Albert Hammond Jr., the Virgins, Reputante, INHEAVEN, Exclamation Pony and Nelson London (C O L O R).

Casablancas served as a co-producer on Rey Pila's album released on Cult, The Future Sugar. In August 2016, Cult Records announced a new album with the Growlers, a Southern California-based band. It was also announced that Casablancas himself was producing the album, later known as City Club.

Musical influences and legacy
Casablancas cites the Doors as one of his earliest musical influences, though he specifies that he was influenced by their musical style rather than the public image of their vocalist and frontman Jim Morrison. He has also cited Lou Reed of the Velvet Underground as a major influence on his lyrics and singing style. He stated in a Rolling Stone interview, "The way Lou Reed wrote and sang about drugs and sex, about the people around him — it was so matter-of-fact. He could be romantic in the way he portrayed these crazy situations, but he was also intensely real. It was poetry and journalism." Additionally, he has stated that Bob Marley, Nirvana, and Pearl Jam are major influences on his work, even referring to the Pearl Jam song "Yellow Ledbetter" as the reason he started making music. He also, in agreement with several of his Voidz bandmates, named Stevie Wonder as a composer with a "next level mind".

Casablancas has served as inspiration for several other musicians including Alex Turner of the Arctic Monkeys and the painter Elizabeth Peyton. Courtney Love's song "But Julian, I'm a Little Bit Older Than You" from her debut solo album America's Sweetheart (2004) was written about Casablancas.

Personal life
In 2005, Casablancas married Juliet Joslin, who was the assistant manager of the Strokes at the time. Their son, Cal, was born in January 2010. Their second son, Zephyr, was born on March 27, 2015. The couple divorced in 2019. Casablancas maintained a teetotal lifestyle from 2009 until 2022, stating that he was once "hungover for five years" during his drinking days. He is a lifelong fan of the New York Mets, although he says the New York Jets' selection of Sam Darnold over Josh Allen in the 2018 NFL Draft inspired him to "quit sports".

In the early 2010s, Casablancas and his family moved to Upstate New York from Greenwich Village in Manhattan. As of 2020, Casablancas lives in Los Angeles.

Politics
Throughout the 2010s, Casablancas became increasingly vocal about his political interests and has said that "whoever's propaganda's the loudest" determines popularity within music and politics alike. He has overtly explored this link in his work with the Voidz, although he says the re-election of George W. Bush was what initially inspired his political interest. He named Oliver Stone, Chris Hedges, Noam Chomsky, Jesse Ventura, and Howard Zinn as political influences. He cites Martin Luther King Jr. as his favorite philosopher, and considers Paul Robeson a role model for politically engaged musicians.

In 2016, he interviewed Henry Giroux, with whom he discussed whether or not the average American understands their existing struggles and unresolved conflicts. In September 2018, he appeared on Lee Camp's show Redacted Tonight on Russian state-funded network RT America. The following month, Camp opened for the Voidz at a show in Houston, Texas. Casablancas endorsed Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders for the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries, and on the eve of the 2020 New Hampshire primary, the Strokes performed in support of Sanders at the University of New Hampshire. That October, a few days before the 2020 United States elections, Rolling Stone announced and released the first episode of Casablancas's interview series, S.O.S. – Earth is a Mess. The show featured Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman and Andrew Yang as early guests, with Casablancas focusing much of his questioning on democratic reform and the influence of special interest groups on politics and the media; he interviewed Noam Chomsky in 2021 for the show.

On February 10, 2020, the Strokes performed a get-out-the-vote concert rally with 2020 presidential candidate Sanders at the Whittemore Center Arena in Durham, New Hampshire. The Strokes performed their song "New York City Cops" which is a critique of New York City law enforcement and contains lyrics like "New York City cops, they ain't too smart", as they were being ushered off the stage by police.

In spring of 2021, Casablancas showed his support for the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

On June 12, 2021, the Strokes held an in-person concert at New York's Irving Plaza to support New York City mayoral candidate Maya Wiley.

Discography
Solo discography

With the Voidz
 * Phrazes for the Young (2009)

With the Strokes
 * Tyranny (2014)
 * Virtue (2018)
 * Like All Before You (2024)

 * Is This It (2001)
 * Room on Fire (2003)
 * First Impressions of Earth (2005)
 * Angles (2011)
 * Comedown Machine (2013)
 * The New Abnormal (2020)

title: Julian Casablancas


text:
Robert Stewart, Duke of Albany

Robert Stewart, Duke of Albany (c. 1340 – 3 September 1420) was a member of the Scottish royal family who served as regent (at least partially) to three Scottish monarchs (Robert II, Robert III, and James I). A ruthless politician, Albany was widely regarded as having murdered his nephew, the Duke of Rothesay, and brother to the future King James I of Scotland. James was held in captivity in England for eighteen years, during which time Albany served as regent in Scotland, king in all but name. He died in 1420 and was succeeded by his son, Murdoch Stewart, Duke of Albany, who was executed for treason when James returned to Scotland in 1425, almost causing the complete ruin of the Albany Stewarts.

Early life and ancestry
Robert Stewart was the third son of the future King Robert II of Scotland (1316–1390) and of Elizabeth Mure of Rowallan. His parents' marriage was deemed uncanonical at first, which, in some circles, gave their children and descendants the label of illegitimacy, but the granting of a papal dispensation in 1349 saw their remarriage and their children's legitimisation. Robert's grandfather was Walter Stewart, 6th High Steward of Scotland (1293–1326) and his father was the first monarch of the House of Stewart. His maternal great-grandfather was Robert the Bruce (1274–1329), legendary victor of the Battle of Bannockburn.

Robert Stewart was raised in a large family with many siblings. His older brother John Stewart (1337–1406) became Earl of Carrick in 1368 and would later be crowned King of Scotland under the name Robert III.

In 1361 Stewart married Margaret Graham, Countess of Menteith (1334–1380), a wealthy divorcee who took Robert as her fourth husband. His sister-in-law's claim to the Earldoms of Menteith and Fife allowed him to assume those titles, becoming Earl of Menteith and Earl of Fife. In 1362 the couple had a son and heir, Murdoch Stewart (1362–1425), who would in time inherit his father's titles and estates.

Stewart was responsible for the construction of Doune Castle, which remains largely intact today. When Stewart became Earl of Menteith, he was granted the lands on which Doune Castle now stands. Building may have started any time after this, and the castle was at least partially complete in 1381 when a charter was sealed here.

Politics and war

Scottish politics in the late fourteenth century was unstable and bloody, and much of Albany's career was spent acquiring territory, land and titles, often by violent means.

During the reign of their infirm father as King Robert II (1371–1390), Robert Stewart and his older brother Lord Carrick functioned as regents of Scotland, kings in all but name, with Albany serving as High Chamberlain of Scotland. He also led several military expeditions and raids into the Kingdom of England. Fife ensured at the December 1388 council meeting that the guardianship of Scotland would pass from Carrick (who had recently been badly injured from a horse-kick) to Fife. There was general approval of Fife's intention to properly resolve the situation of lawlessness in the north and in particular the activities of Alexander, Earl of Buchan, Lord of Badenoch and Ross, his younger brother. Buchan was stripped of his position of Justiciar North of the Forth, which would soon be given to Fife's son, Murdoch Stewart. Father and son would now work together to expand their family interest, bringing them into violent confrontation with other members of the nobility such as Donald McDonald, Lord of the Isles.

The Earl of Carrick acceded to the throne as King Robert III in 1390. His "sickness of the body" caused control of the kingdom to eventually devolve in 1399 to his son and heir apparent, David. In 1398 David had been created Duke of Rothesay and Robert had been created Duke of Albany, the first two dukedoms created in the Scottish Peerage. Power had begun to shift away from Albany and towards his nephew.

Murder of the Duke of Rothesay
However, the English soon invaded Scotland, and serious differences emerged between Albany and Rothesay. In 1401, Rothesay was accused of unjustifiably appropriating sums from the customs of the burghs on the east coast and confiscating the revenues of the temporalities of the vacant bishopric of St Andrews. Rothesay had also in conjunction with his uncle, Alexander Stewart, Earl of Buchan, confronted Albany's influence in central Scotland — as soon his lieutenancy expired in 1402 Albany acted swiftly and ruthlessly. Rothesay was arrested and imprisoned in Albany's Falkland Castle where he died in March 1402. Rothesay's death probably lay with Albany and Douglas who would have looked upon the possibility of the young prince acceding to the throne with great apprehension. Albany certainly fell under suspicion but he was cleared of all blame by a general council, which found that'' "by divine providence and not otherwise, it is discerned that he [Duke Rothesay] departed from this life". ''

However, even though Albany was exonerated from blame, suspicions of foul play persisted, suspicions which never left Rothesay's younger brother the future James I of Scotland, and which would eventually lead to the downfall of the Albany Stewarts. John Debrett, writing in 1805, was in no doubt of Duke Robert's motives and guilt:
 * "This Robert, Duke of Albany, having obtained the entire government from his brother, King Robert, he caused the Duke of Rothesay to be murdered, thinking to bring the Crown into his own family".

After Rothesay's death, the King began to fear for his second son, James, who fled Scotland for his own safety. Debrett continues:
 * "to avoid the like fate, King Robert resolved to send his younger son James, to France, then about nine years old, who being sea-sick, and forced to land on the English coast ... was detained a captive in England eighteen years. At these misfortunes, King Robert died of grief in 1406."

Regent of Scotland

After the death of his brother, King Robert III, Albany ruled Scotland as regent. His young nephew, the future James I of Scotland, remained in exile and imprisonment in England for 18 years. Albany made little effort to secure the young Prince's ransom and return to Scotland, focusing his energies instead on securing his own power and interest.

Albany's political triumph did not settle his differences with the other members of the nobility, in particular Donald Macdonald, Lord of the Isles, who in 1411 led an army of clansmen from the Isles and Northwest Highlands into open battle with the Stewarts. This conflict began when Albany had attempted to secure the Earldom of Ross for his second son, John, despite Macdonald's superior claim. At the Battle of Harlaw (known as "Red Harlaw" on account of its savagery) on 24 July 1411, losses were heavy on both sides, though Macdonald left with 9,000 men and the Earl of Mar and his lesser forces lay bleeding on the battlefield. The Lord of the Isles eventually prevailed in his claim to the Earldom of Ross.

The Stewart army was led by Albany's nephew, Alexander Stewart, Earl of Mar, who later sat on the jury of knights and peers which convicted Albany's son Murdoch Stewart, Duke of Albany and two of his sons of treason, virtually annihilating the Albany Stewarts.

Marriage and family

Albany married twice. Firstly, in 1361, he married Margaret Graham, Countess of Menteith (1334–1380), a wealthy divorcee who took him as her fourth husband. His sister-in-law's claim to the Earldoms of Menteith and Fife allowed him to assume those titles after marriage. The couple had eight children, seven daughters and a son:
 * Lady Janet Stewart (married Sir David de Moubray);
 * Lady Mary Stewart (married Sir William Abernathy, 6th of Saltoun);
 * Lady Margaret Stewart (married to Sir John Swinton, 14th of that Ilk and had descendants);
 * Lady Joan Stewart (married Sir Robert Stewart, 1st Lord of Lorne and had descendants);
 * Lady Beatrice Stewart (married Sir James Douglas of Balveny);
 * Lady Isobel Stewart (married to Alexander Leslie, 7th Earl of Ross and later to Sir Walter de Haliburton, 1st Lord Haliburton of Dirleton and had descendants);
 * Murdoch Stewart, Duke of Albany (1362–1425) (Married Joan Douglas and later to Isabel, Countess of Lennox);
 * Lady Margery (married Sir Duncan Campbell, 1st Lord Campbell and had descendants).

Margaret died in 1380 and Albany subsequently married Muriella Keith, with whom he had three children:
 * John Stewart, 2nd Earl of Buchan (1381–1424); he fought in France against the English during the Hundred Years War, serving with distinction, but was killed at the Battle of Verneuil on 17 August 1424;
 * Robert Stewart, died without issue. (When his brother, John, Earl of Buchan, died in France in 1424, King James prevented Robert from inheriting Buchan's lands, including Ross. Because he accepted his fate, he was one of the few Albany Stewarts to survive the fall of his kinsmen under James I.);
 * Lady Elizabeth Stewart (married to Malcolm Fleming, ancestor of Malcolm Fleming, 3rd Lord Fleming).

Death and legacy

The Duke of Albany died in 1420 in Stirling Castle and lies buried in Dunfermline Abbey in Fife. He was succeeded as Duke of Albany and Regent of Scotland by his son, Murdoch Stewart, Duke of Albany. But Murdoch would not enjoy his power for long. In 1425, the exiled King James, captive in England for 18 years, finally returned to Scotland and executed Murdoch and most of his family for treason, causing the almost complete ruin of the Albany Stewarts.

Murdoch Stewart's sole surviving male heir was his youngest son, James the Fat, who fled to Ireland after a brief rebellion against the King over the arrest of his father and brothers. James remained in Ireland, unable to return, and died there in 1429. He was never able to inherit his father's titles, since they had been declared forfeit.

Albany's great-grandson, James "Beag" Stewart (c. 1410–1470), would eventually secure a pardon from the King and return to Scotland, though the family would never recover their lost estates. James "Beag" Stewart is the ancestor of the Stewarts of Ardvorlich on Lochearnside, whose family history is recounted by Sir Walter Scott in A Legend of Montrose.

Albany in fiction
Nigel Tranter's Stewart Trilogy covers the period when Albany was an important figure in Scotland.

The Strongest Heart by Regan Walker, set between 1386 and 1412, covers the period when Donald of Islay, Lord of the Isles, fought Albany for the earldom of Ross.

title: Robert Stewart, Duke of Albany


text:
List of birds of the Maldives

The following is a list of birds recorded in the Maldives. The small size and isolation of this Indian Ocean republic mean that its avifauna is extremely restricted. Most of the species are characteristic of Eurasian migratory birds, with only a few typically associated with the Indian subcontinent. The avifauna of the Maldives includes a total of 205 species, of which 4 have been introduced by humans. Four species are globally threatened.

The taxonomy (designation and sequence of orders, families, and species) and nomenclature (common and scientific names) of this list follow the conventions of The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World, 2022 edition. The family accounts at the beginning of each heading reflect this taxonomy, as do the species counts found in each family account. Introduced and accidental species are included in the total counts for the Maldives.

The following tags have been used to highlight several categories. The commonly occurring native species do not fall into any of these categories.

 * (A) Accidental - a species that rarely or accidentally occurs in the Maldives
 * (I) Introduced - a species introduced to the Maldives as a consequence, direct or indirect, of human actions

Ducks, geese, and waterfowl
Order: AnseriformesFamily: Anatidae

Anatidae includes the ducks and most duck-like waterfowl, such as geese and swans. These birds are adapted to an aquatic existence with webbed feet, flattened bills, and feathers that are excellent at shedding water due to an oily coating.

 * Lesser whistling-duck, Dendrocygna javanica (A)
 * Cotton pygmy-goose, Nettapus coromandelianus (A)
 * Garganey, Spatula querquedula
 * Northern shoveler, Spatula clypeata
 * Northern pintail, Anas acuta
 * Green-winged teal, Anas crecca
 * Ferruginous duck, Aythya nyroca (A)
 * Tufted duck, Aythya fuligula

Pheasants, grouse, and allies
Order: GalliformesFamily: Phasianidae

The Phasianidae are a family of terrestrial birds. In general, they are plump (although they vary in size) and have broad, relatively short wings.

 * Common quail, Coturnix coturnix (A)
 * Red junglefowl, Gallus gallus (I)

Flamingos
Order: PhoenicopteriformesFamily: Phoenicopteridae

Flamingos are gregarious wading birds, usually 3 to 5 ft tall, found in both the Western and Eastern Hemispheres. Flamingos filter-feed on shellfish and algae. Their oddly shaped beaks are specially adapted to separate mud and silt from the food they consume and, uniquely, are used upside-down.

 * Greater flamingo, Phoenicopterus roseus

Pigeons and doves
Order: ColumbiformesFamily: Columbidae

Pigeons and doves are stout-bodied birds with short necks and short slender bills with a fleshy cere.

 * Rock pigeon, Columba livia (I)
 * European turtle-dove, Streptopelia turtur (A)
 * Oriental turtle-dove, Streptopelia orientalis
 * Zebra dove, Geopelia striata (I)

Cuckoos
Order: CuculiformesFamily: Cuculidae

The family Cuculidae includes cuckoos, roadrunners and anis. These birds are of variable size with slender bodies, long tails and strong legs.

 * Chestnut-winged cuckoo, Clamator coromandus (A)
 * Asian koel, Eudynamys scolopacea
 * Gray-bellied cuckoo, Cacomantis passerinus (A)
 * Indian cuckoo, Cuculus micropterus (A)
 * Common cuckoo, Cuculus canorus

Nightjars and allies
Order: CaprimulgiformesFamily: Caprimulgidae

Nightjars are medium-sized nocturnal birds that usually nest on the ground. They have long wings, short legs and very short bills. Most have small feet, of little use for walking, and long pointed wings. Their soft plumage is camouflaged to resemble bark or leaves.

 * Jungle nightjar, Caprimulgus indicus (A)

Swifts
Order: CaprimulgiformesFamily: Apodidae

Swifts are small birds which spend the majority of their lives flying. These birds have very short legs and never settle voluntarily on the ground, perching instead only on vertical surfaces. Many swifts have long swept-back wings which resemble a crescent or boomerang.

 * White-throated needletail, Hirundapus caudacutus
 * Indian swiftlet, Aerodramus unicolor
 * Himalayan swiftlet, Aerodramus brevirostris (A)
 * Common swift, Apus apus
 * Pallid swift, Apus pallidus (A)
 * Blyth's swift, Apus leuconyx
 * Little swift, Apus affinis

Rails, gallinules, and coots
Order: GruiformesFamily: Rallidae

Rallidae is a large family of small to medium-sized birds which includes the rails, crakes, coots and gallinules. Typically they inhabit dense vegetation in damp environments near lakes, swamps or rivers. In general they are shy and secretive birds, making them difficult to observe. Most species have strong legs and long toes which are well adapted to soft uneven surfaces. They tend to have short, rounded wings and to be weak fliers.

 * Eurasian moorhen, Gallinula chloropus (A)
 * Eurasian coot, Fulica atra (A)
 * Watercock, Gallicrex cinerea
 * White-breasted waterhen, Amaurornis phoenicurus

Stilts and avocets
Order: CharadriiformesFamily: Recurvirostridae

Recurvirostridae is a family of large wading birds, which includes the avocets and stilts. The avocets have long legs and long up-curved bills. The stilts have extremely long legs and long, thin, straight bills. .

 * Black-winged stilt, Himantopus himantopus (A)

Oystercatchers
Order: CharadriiformesFamily: Haematopodidae

The oystercatchers are large and noisy plover-like birds, with strong bills used for smashing or prising open molluscs.

 * Eurasian oystercatcher, Haematopus ostralegus (A)

Plovers and lapwings
Order: CharadriiformesFamily: Charadriidae

The family Charadriidae includes the plovers, dotterels and lapwings. They are small to medium-sized birds with compact bodies, short, thick necks and long, usually pointed, wings. They are found in open country worldwide, mostly in habitats near water.

 * Black-bellied plover, Pluvialis squatarola
 * Pacific golden-plover, Pluvialis fulva
 * Sociable lapwing, Vanellus gregarius (A)
 * Lesser sand-plover, Charadrius mongolus
 * Greater sand-plover, Charadrius leschenaultii
 * Caspian plover, Charadrius asiaticus (A)
 * Kentish plover, Charadrius alexandrinus
 * Common ringed plover, Charadrius hiaticula
 * Little ringed plover, Charadrius dubius

Sandpipers and allies
Order: CharadriiformesFamily: Scolopacidae

Scolopacidae is a large diverse family of small to medium-sized shorebirds including the sandpipers, curlews, godwits, shanks, tattlers, woodcocks, snipes, dowitchers and phalaropes. The majority of these species eat small invertebrates picked out of the mud or soil. Variation in length of legs and bills enables multiple species to feed in the same habitat, particularly on the coast, without direct competition for food.

 * Whimbrel, Numenius phaeopus
 * Eurasian curlew, Numenius arquata
 * Bar-tailed godwit, Limosa lapponica
 * Black-tailed godwit, Limosa limosa (A)
 * Ruddy turnstone, Arenaria interpres
 * Ruff (bird), Calidris pugnax
 * Curlew sandpiper, Calidris ferruginea
 * Temminck's stint, Calidris temminckii
 * Long-toed stint, Calidris subminuta
 * Sanderling, Calidris alba (A)
 * Dunlin, Calidris alpina
 * Little stint, Calidris minuta
 * Common snipe, Gallinago gallinago
 * Pin-tailed snipe, Gallinago stenura
 * Swinhoe's snipe, Gallinago megala (A)
 * Terek sandpiper, Xenus cinereus
 * Common sandpiper, Actitis hypoleucos
 * Green sandpiper, Tringa ochropus (A)
 * Spotted redshank, Tringa erythropus (A)
 * Common greenshank, Tringa nebularia
 * Marsh sandpiper, Tringa stagnatilis
 * Wood sandpiper, Tringa glareola
 * Common redshank, Tringa totanus

Crab-plover
Order: CharadriiformesFamily: Dromadidae

The crab-plover is related to the waders, but is the only member of its family. It resembles a plover but has very long grey legs and a strong black bill similar to that of a tern. It has black-and-white plumage, a long neck, partially webbed feet, and a bill designed for eating crabs.

 * Crab-plover, Dromas ardeola

Pratincoles and coursers
Order: CharadriiformesFamily: Glareolidae

Glareolidae is a family of wading birds comprising the pratincoles, which have short legs, long pointed wings and long forked tails, and the coursers, which have long legs, short wings and long, pointed bills which curve downwards.

 * Collared pratincole, Glareola pratincola (A)
 * Oriental pratincole, Glareola maldivarum

Skuas and jaegers
Order: CharadriiformesFamily: Stercorariidae

The family Stercorariidae are, in general, medium to large birds, typically with grey or brown plumage, often with white markings on the wings. They nest on the ground in temperate and arctic regions and are long-distance migrants.

 * South Polar skua, Stercorarius maccormicki
 * Brown skua, Stercorarius antarcticus (A)
 * Pomarine jaeger, Stercorarius pomarinus
 * Parasitic jaeger, Stercorarius parasiticus
 * Long-tailed jaeger, Stercorarius longicaudus

Gulls, terns, and skimmers
Order: CharadriiformesFamily: Laridae

Laridae is a family of medium to large seabirds, the gulls, terns, and skimmers. They are typically grey or white, often with black markings on the head or wings. They have stout, longish bills and webbed feet. Terns are a group of generally medium to large seabirds typically with grey or white plumage, often with black markings on the head. Most terns hunt fish by diving but some pick insects off the surface of fresh water. Terns are generally long-lived birds, with several species known to live in excess of 30 years. Skimmers are a small family of tropical tern-like birds. They have an elongated lower mandible which they use to feed by flying low over the water surface and skimming the water for small fish.

 * Black-headed gull, Chroicocephalus ridibundus (A)
 * Brown-headed gull, Chroicocephalus brunnicephalus (A)
 * White-eyed gull, Ichthyaetus leucophthalmus (A)
 * Sooty gull, Ichthyaetus hemprichii (A)
 * Pallas's gull, Ichthyaetus ichthyaetus (A)
 * Lesser black-backed gull, Larus fuscus
 * Brown noddy, Anous stolidus
 * Lesser noddy, Anous tenuirostris
 * White tern, Gygis alba
 * Sooty tern, Onychoprion fuscatus
 * Bridled tern, Onychoprion anaethetus
 * Little tern, Sternula albifrons
 * Saunders's tern, Sternula saundersi
 * Gull-billed tern, Gelochelidon nilotica
 * Caspian tern, Hydroprogne caspia (A)
 * White-winged tern, Chlidonias leucopterus
 * Whiskered tern, Chlidonias hybrida (A)
 * Roseate tern, Sterna dougallii
 * Black-naped tern, Sterna sumatrana
 * Common tern, Sterna hirundo
 * White-cheeked tern, Sterna repressa (A)
 * Great crested tern, Thalasseus bergii
 * Sandwich tern, Thalasseus sandvicensis (A)
 * Lesser crested tern, Thalasseus bengalensis

Tropicbirds
Order: PhaethontiformesFamily: Phaethontidae

Tropicbirds are slender white birds of tropical oceans, with exceptionally long central tail feathers. Their heads and long wings have black markings.

 * White-tailed tropicbird, Phaethon lepturus
 * Red-billed tropicbird, Phaethon aethereus
 * Red-tailed tropicbird, Phaethon rubricauda

Southern storm-petrels
Order: ProcellariiformesFamily: Oceanitidae

The southern storm-petrels are relatives of the petrels and are the smallest seabirds. They feed on planktonic crustaceans and small fish picked from the surface, typically while hovering. The flight is fluttering and sometimes bat-like.

 * Wilson's storm-petrel, Oceanites oceanicus
 * White-faced storm-petrel, Pelagodroma marina

Northern storm-petrels
Order: ProcellariiformesFamily: Hydrobatidae

The northern storm-petrels are relatives of the petrels and are the smallest seabirds. They feed on planktonic crustaceans and small fish picked from the surface, typically while hovering. The flight is fluttering and sometimes bat-like.

 * Leach's storm-petrel, Hydrobates leucorhous (A)
 * Swinhoe's storm-petrel, Hydrobates monorhis
 * Band-rumped storm-petrel, Hydrobates castro (A)
 * Matsudaira's storm-petrel, Hydrobates matsudairae

Shearwaters and petrels
Order: ProcellariiformesFamily: Procellariidae

The procellariids are the main group of medium-sized "true petrels", characterised by united nostrils with medium septum and a long outer functional primary.

 * Trindade petrel, Pterodroma arminjoniana
 * Bulwer's petrel, Bulweria bulwerii
 * Jouanin's petrel, Bulweria fallax
 * Streaked shearwater, Calonectris leucomelas
 * Flesh-footed shearwater, Ardenna carneipes
 * Wedge-tailed shearwater, Ardenna pacifica
 * Sooty shearwater, Ardenna grisea
 * Short-tailed shearwater, Ardenna tenuirostris (A)
 * Tropical shearwater, Puffinus bailloni
 * Persian shearwater, Puffinus persicus (A)

Frigatebirds
Order: SuliformesFamily: Fregatidae

Frigatebirds are large seabirds usually found over tropical oceans. They are large, black-and-white, or completely black, with long wings and deeply forked tails. The males have coloured inflatable throat pouches. They do not swim or walk and cannot take off from a flat surface. Having the largest wingspan-to-body-weight ratio of any bird, they are essentially aerial, able to stay aloft for more than a week.

 * Lesser frigatebird, Fregata ariel
 * Great frigatebird, Fregata minor

Boobies and gannets
Order: SuliformesFamily: Sulidae

The sulids comprise the gannets and boobies. Both groups are medium to large coastal seabirds that plunge-dive for fish.

 * Masked booby, Sula dactylatra
 * Brown booby, Sula leucogaster
 * Red-footed booby, Sula sula
 * Abbott's booby, Papasula abbotti (A)

Anhingas
Order: SuliformesFamily: Anhingidae

Anhingas are often called "snake-birds" because of their long thin neck, which gives a snake-like appearance when they swim with their bodies submerged. The males have black and dark-brown plumage, an erectile crest on the nape and a larger bill than the female. The females have much paler plumage especially on the neck and underparts. The darters have completely webbed feet and their legs are short and set far back on the body. Their plumage is somewhat permeable, like that of cormorants, and they spread their wings to dry after diving.

 * Oriental darter, Anhinga melanogaster (A)

Cormorants and shags
Order: SuliformesFamily: Phalacrocoracidae

Phalacrocoracidae is a family of medium to large coastal, fish-eating seabirds that includes cormorants and shags. Plumage colouration varies, with the majority having mainly dark plumage, some species being black-and-white and a few being colourful.

 * Little cormorant, Microcarbo niger (A)
 * Indian cormorant, Phalacrocorax fuscicollis (A)

Pelicans
Order: PelecaniformesFamily: Pelecanidae

Pelicans are large water birds with a distinctive pouch under their beak. As with other members of the order Pelecaniformes, they have webbed feet with four toes.

 * Great white pelican, Pelecanus onocrotalus
 * Spot-billed pelican, Pelecanus philippensis

Herons, egrets, and bitterns
Order: PelecaniformesFamily: Ardeidae

The family Ardeidae contains the bitterns, herons and egrets. Herons and egrets are medium to large wading birds with long necks and legs. Bitterns tend to be shorter necked and more wary. Members of Ardeidae fly with their necks retracted, unlike other long-necked birds such as storks, ibises and spoonbills.

 * Great bittern, Botaurus stellaris
 * Yellow bittern, Ixobrychus sinensis
 * Cinnamon bittern, Ixobrychus cinnamomeus
 * Black bittern, Ixobrychus flavicollis
 * Gray heron, Ardea cinerea
 * Purple heron, Ardea purpurea
 * Great egret, Ardea alba (A)
 * Intermediate egret, Ardea intermedia
 * Little egret, Egretta garzetta (A)
 * Western reef-heron, Egretta gularis (A)
 * Cattle egret, Bubulcus ibis
 * Indian pond-heron, Ardeola grayii
 * Striated heron, Butorides striata
 * Black-crowned night-heron, Nycticorax nycticorax (A)

Ibises and spoonbills
Order: PelecaniformesFamily: Threskiornithidae

Threskiornithidae is a family of large terrestrial and wading birds which includes the ibises and spoonbills. They have long, broad wings with 11 primary and about 20 secondary feathers. They are strong fliers and despite their size and weight, very capable soarers.

 * Glossy ibis, Plegadis falcinellus
 * Black-headed ibis, Threskiornis melanocephalus (A)
 * Eurasian spoonbill, Platalea leucorodia

Osprey
Order: AccipitriformesFamily: Pandionidae

The family Pandionidae contains only one species, the osprey. The osprey is a medium-large raptor which is a specialist fish-eater with a worldwide distribution.

 * Osprey, Pandion haliaetus (A)

Hawks, eagles, and kites
Order: AccipitriformesFamily: Accipitridae

Accipitridae is a family of birds of prey, which includes hawks, eagles, kites, harriers and Old World vultures. These birds have powerful hooked beaks for tearing flesh from their prey, strong legs, powerful talons and keen eyesight.

 * Black-winged kite, Elanus caeruleus (A)
 * Oriental honey-buzzard, Pernis ptilorhynchus (A)
 * Eurasian marsh-harrier, Circus aeruginosus
 * Pallid harrier, Circus macrourus
 * Montagu's harrier, Circus pygargus
 * Shikra, Accipiter badius (A)
 * Black kite, Milvus migrans (A)
 * Brahminy kite, Haliastur indus (A)

Owls
Order: StrigiformesFamily: Strigidae

The typical owls are small to large solitary nocturnal birds of prey. They have large forward-facing eyes and ears, a hawk-like beak and a conspicuous circle of feathers around each eye called a facial disk.

 * Pallid scops-owl, Otus brucei (A)
 * Short-eared owl, Asio flammeus

Hoopoes
Order: BucerotiformesFamily: Upupidae

Hoopoes have black, white and orangey-pink colouring with a large erectile crest on their head.

 * Eurasian hoopoe, Upupa epops (A)

Kingfishers
Order: CoraciiformesFamily: Alcedinidae

Kingfishers are medium-sized birds with large heads, long, pointed bills, short legs, and stubby tails.

 * Common kingfisher, Alcedo atthis

Bee-eaters
Order: CoraciiformesFamily: Meropidae

The bee-eaters are a group of near passerine birds in the family Meropidae. Most species are found in Africa but others occur in southern Europe, Madagascar, Australia and New Guinea. They are characterised by richly coloured plumage, slender bodies and usually elongated central tail feathers. All are colourful and have long downturned bills and pointed wings, which give them a swallow-like appearance when seen from afar.

 * Blue-cheeked bee-eater, Merops persicus
 * Blue-tailed bee-eater, Merops philippinus
 * European bee-eater, Merops apiaster (A)

Rollers
Order: CoraciiformesFamily: Coraciidae

Rollers resemble crows in size and build, but are more closely related to the kingfishers and bee-eaters. They share the colourful appearance of those groups with blues and browns predominating. The two inner front toes are connected, but the outer toe is not.

 * European roller, Coracias garrulus (A)
 * Indian roller, Coracias benghalensis (A)

Falcons and caracaras
Order: FalconiformesFamily: Falconidae

Falconidae is a family of diurnal birds of prey. They differ from hawks, eagles and kites in that they kill with their beaks instead of their talons.

 * Lesser kestrel, Falco naumanni
 * Eurasian kestrel, Falco tinnunculus
 * Amur falcon, Falco amurensis
 * Eurasian hobby, Falco subbuteo
 * Oriental hobby, Falco severus (A)
 * Peregrine falcon, Falco peregrinus

Old World parrots
Order: PsittaciformesFamily: Psittaculidae

Characteristic features of parrots include a strong curved bill, an upright stance, strong legs, and clawed zygodactyl feet. Many parrots are vividly coloured, and some are multi-coloured. In size they range from 8 cm to 1 m in length. Old World parrots are found from Africa east across south and southeast Asia and Oceania to Australia and New Zealand.

 * Rose-ringed parakeet, Psittacula krameri (I)

Cuckooshrikes
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Campephagidae

The cuckooshrikes are small to medium-sized passerine birds. They are predominantly greyish with white and black, although some species are brightly coloured.

 * Large cuckooshrike, Coracina macei (A)

Old World orioles
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Oriolidae

The Old World orioles are colourful passerine birds. They are not related to the New World orioles.

 * Indian golden oriole, Oriolus kundoo

Woodswallows, bellmagpies, and allies
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Artamidae

The woodswallows are soft-plumaged, somber-coloured passerine birds. They are smooth, agile flyers with moderately large, semi-triangular wings.

 * Ashy woodswallow, Artamus fuscus (A)

Monarch flycatchers
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Monarchidae

The monarch flycatchers are small to medium-sized insectivorous passerines which hunt by flycatching.

 * Indian paradise-flycatcher, Terpsiphone paradisi (A)

Shrikes
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Laniidae

Shrikes are passerine birds known for their habit of catching other birds and small animals and impaling the uneaten portions of their bodies on thorns. A typical shrike's beak is hooked, like a bird of prey.

 * Brown shrike, Lanius cristatus (A)
 * Long-tailed shrike, Lanius schach (A)

Crows, jays, and magpies
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Corvidae

The family Corvidae includes crows, ravens, jays, choughs, magpies, treepies, nutcrackers and ground jays. Corvids are above average in size among the Passeriformes, and some of the larger species show high levels of intelligence.

 * House crow, Corvus splendens

Larks
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Alaudidae

Larks are small terrestrial birds with often extravagant songs and display flights. Most larks are fairly dull in appearance. Their food is insects and seeds.

 * Mongolian short-toed lark, Calandrella dukhunensis

Grassbirds and allies
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Locustellidae

Locustellidae are a family of small insectivorous songbirds found mainly in Eurasia, Africa, and the Australian region. They are smallish birds with tails that are usually long and pointed, and tend to be drab brownish or buffy all over.

 * Common grasshopper-warbler, Locustella naevia (A)

Swallows
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Hirundinidae

The family Hirundinidae is adapted to aerial feeding. They have a slender streamlined body, long pointed wings and a short bill with a wide gape. The feet are adapted to perching rather than walking, and the front toes are partially joined at the base.

 * Bank swallow, Riparia riparia
 * Barn swallow, Hirundo rustica
 * Red-rumped swallow, Cecropis daurica (A)
 * Streak-throated swallow, Petrochelidon fluvicola (A)
 * Common house-martin, Delichon urbicum

Sylviid warblers, parrotbills, and allies
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Sylviidae

The family Sylviidae is a group of small insectivorous passerine birds. They mainly occur as breeding species, as the common name implies, in Europe, Asia and, to a lesser extent, Africa.

 * Garden warbler, Sylvia borin (A)

Starlings
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Sturnidae

Starlings are small to medium-sized passerine birds. Their flight is strong and direct and they are very gregarious. Their preferred habitat is fairly open country. They eat insects and fruit. Plumage is typically dark with a metallic sheen.

 * European starling, Sturnus vulgaris (A)
 * Rosy starling, Pastor roseus (A)
 * Common myna, Acridotheres tristis (I)

Thrushes and allies
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Turdidae

The thrushes are a group of passerine birds that occur mainly in the Old World. They are plump, soft plumaged, small to medium-sized insectivores or sometimes omnivores, often feeding on the ground. Many have attractive songs.

 * Eyebrowed thrush, Turdus obscurus (A)

Old World flycatchers
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Muscicapidae

Old World flycatchers are a large group of small passerine birds native to the Old World. They are mainly small arboreal insectivores. The appearance of these birds is highly varied, but they mostly have weak songs and harsh calls.

 * Indian robin, Copsychus fulicatus (A)
 * Northern wheatear, Oenanthe oenanthe (A)
 * Isabelline wheatear, Oenanthe isabellina
 * Pied wheatear, Oenanthe pleschanka

Waxbills and allies
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Estrildidae

The estrildid finches are small passerine birds of the Old World tropics and Australasia. They are gregarious and often colonial seed eaters with short thick but pointed bills. They are all similar in structure and habits, but have wide variation in plumage colours and patterns.

 * Red-cheeked cordonbleu, Uraeginthus bengalus (A)

Old World sparrows
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Passeridae

Old World sparrows are small passerine birds. In general, sparrows tend to be small, plump, brown or grey birds with short tails and short powerful beaks. Sparrows are seed eaters, but they also consume small insects.

 * House sparrow, Passer domesticus (I)

Wagtails and pipits
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Motacillidae

Motacillidae is a family of small passerine birds with medium to long tails. They include the wagtails, longclaws and pipits. They are slender, ground feeding insectivores of open country.

 * Forest wagtail, Dendronanthus indicus (A)
 * Gray wagtail, Motacilla cinerea
 * Western yellow wagtail, Motacilla flava
 * Citrine wagtail, Motacilla citreola (A)
 * White wagtail, Motacilla alba (A)
 * Tree pipit, Anthus trivialis (A)
 * Red-throated pipit, Anthus cervinus

Finches, euphonias, and allies
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Fringillidae

Finches are seed-eating passerine birds, that are small to moderately large and have a strong beak, usually conical and in some species very large. All have twelve tail feathers and nine primaries. These birds have a bouncing flight with alternating bouts of flapping and gliding on closed wings, and most sing well.

 * Common rosefinch, Carpodacus erythrinus (A)

Old World buntings
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Emberizidae

The emberizids are a large family of passerine birds. They are seed-eating birds with distinctively shaped bills. Many emberizid species have distinctive head patterns.

 * Ortolan bunting, Emberiza hortulana (A)

title: List of birds of the Maldives


text:
Ariarathes

Ariarathes (Ἀριαράθης, Ariaráthēs) was the name of ten Hellenistic kings of Cappadocia in Anatolia, between the 4th and 1st centuries BC. They are:

 * Ariarathes I of Cappadocia, ruled 331 or 330–322 BC, son of the Cappadocian satrap Ariamnes I
 * Ariarathes II of Cappadocia, ruled 301–280 BC, satrap and king of Cappadocia, son of Holophernes and adopted son of Ariarathes I
 * Ariarathes III of Cappadocia, reigned 262 or 255–220 BC, son of Ariamnes
 * Ariarathes IV of Cappadocia, reigned 220–163 BC, son of Ariarathes III
 * Ariarathes V of Cappadocia, reigned 163–130 BC or 126 BC, son of Ariarathes IV
 * Ariarathes VI of Cappadocia, 130–111 BC, youngest son of Ariarathes V
 * Ariarathes VII of Cappadocia, reigned 116–101 BC or 111 BC–100 BC), son of Ariarathes VI
 * Ariarathes VIII of Cappadocia, reigned c. 101 – c. 96 BC and 95 BC–95 BC), king of Cappadocia, second son of Ariarathes VI
 * Ariarathes IX of Cappadocia, reigned c. 101–89 BC or 96 BC–95 BC, made king of Cappadocia by his father Mithridates VI, king of Pontus
 * Ariarathes X of Cappadocia, reigned c. 42 BC – 36 BC, became king after his brother Ariobarzanes III Philoromaios

title: Ariarathes