text:
American alligator

The American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis), sometimes referred to as a gator or common alligator, is a large crocodilian reptile native to the Southeastern United States and a small section of northeastern Mexico. It is one of the two extant species in the genus Alligator, and is larger than the only other living alligator species, the Chinese alligator.

Adult male American alligators measure 3.4 to 4.6 m in length, and can weigh up to 500 kg, with unverified sizes of up to 5.84 m and weights of 1000 kg making it the second largest member by length and the heaviest of the family Alligatoridae, after the black caiman. Females are smaller, measuring 2.6 to 3 m in length. The American alligator inhabits subtropical and tropical freshwater wetlands, such as marshes and cypress swamps, from southern Texas to North Carolina. It is distinguished from the sympatric American crocodile by its broader snout, with overlapping jaws and darker coloration, and is less tolerant of saltwater but more tolerant of cooler climates than the American crocodile, which is found only in tropical and warm subtropical climates.

American alligators are apex predators and consume fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. Hatchlings feed mostly on invertebrates. They play an important role as ecosystem engineers in wetland ecosystems through the creation of alligator holes, which provide both wet and dry habitats for other organisms. Throughout the year (in particular during the breeding season), American alligators bellow to declare territory, and locate suitable mates. Male American alligators use infrasound to attract females. Eggs are laid in a nest of vegetation, sticks, leaves, and mud in a sheltered spot in or near the water. Young are born with yellow bands around their bodies and are protected by their mother for up to one year. This species displays parental care, which is rare for most reptiles. Mothers protect their eggs during the incubation period, and moves the hatchlings to the water using her mouth.

The conservation status of the American alligator is listed as Least Concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Historically, hunting had decimated their population, and the American alligator was listed as an endangered species by the Endangered Species Act of 1973. Subsequent conservation efforts have allowed their numbers to increase and the species was removed from endangered status in 1987. The species is the official state reptile of three states: Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi.

History and taxonomy
The American alligator was first classified in 1801 by French zoologist François Marie Daudin as Crocodilus mississipiensis. In 1807, Georges Cuvier created the genus Alligator for it, based on the English common name alligator (derived from Spanish word el lagarto, "the lizard").

The American alligator and its closest living relative, the Chinese alligator, belong the subfamily Alligatorinae. Alligatorinae is the sister group to the caimans of Caimaninae, which together comprise the family Alligatoridae, which can be shown in the cladogram below:

Evolution
Fossils identical to the existing American alligator are found throughout the Pleistocene, from 2.5 million to 11.7 thousand years ago. In 2016, a Late Miocene fossil skull of an alligator dating back to approximately 7-8 Mya was discovered in Marion County, Florida. Unlike the other extinct alligator species of the same genus, the fossil skull was virtually indistinguishable from that of the modern American alligator. This alligator and the American alligator are now considered to be sister taxa, meaning that the A. mississippiensis lineage has existed in North America for 7-8 million years.

The alligator's full mitochondrial genome was sequenced in the 1990s, and it suggests the animal evolved at a rate similar to mammals and greater than birds and most cold-blooded vertebrates. However, the full genome, published in 2014, suggests that the alligator evolved much more slowly than mammals and birds.

Characteristics
Domestic American alligators range from long and slender to short and robust, possibly in response to variations in factors such as growth rate, diet, and climate.

Size
The American alligator is a relatively large species of crocodilian. On average, it is the largest species in the family Alligatoridae, with only the black caiman being possibly larger. Weight varies considerably depending on length, age, health, season, and available food sources. Similar to many other reptiles that range expansively into temperate zones, American alligators from the northern end of their range, such as southern Arkansas, Alabama, and northern North Carolina, tend to reach smaller sizes. Large adult American alligators tend to be relatively robust and bulky compared to other similar-length crocodilians; for example, captive males measuring 3 to 4 m were found to weigh 200 to 350 kg, although captive specimens may outweigh wild specimens due to lack of hunting behavior and other stressors.

Large male American alligators reach an expected maximum size up to 4.6 m in length and weighing up to 500 kg, while females reach an expected maximum of 3 m. However, the largest free-ranging female had a total length of 3.22 m and weighed 170 kg. On rare occasions, a large, old male may grow to an even greater length.

Largest
During the 19th and 20th centuries, larger males reaching 5 to 6 m were reported. The largest reported individual size was a male killed in 1890 by Edward McIlhenny on Marsh Island, Louisiana, and reportedly measured at 5.84 m in length, but no voucher specimen was available, since the American alligator was left on a muddy bank after having been measured due to having been too massive to relocate. If the size of this animal was correct, it would have weighed about 1000 kg. In Arkansas, a man killed an American alligator that was 4.04 m and 626 kg. The largest American alligator ever killed in Florida was 5.31 m, as reported by the Everglades National Park, although this record is unverified. The largest American alligator scientifically verified in Florida for the period from 1977 to 1993 was reportedly 4.23 m and weighed 473 kg, although another specimen (size estimated from skull) may have measured 4.54 m. A specimen that was 4.5 m long and weighed 458.8 kg is the largest American alligator killed in Alabama and has been declared the SCI world record in 2014.

Average
American alligators do not normally reach such extreme sizes. In mature males, most specimens grow up to about 3.4 m in length, and weigh up to 360 kg, while in females, the mature size is normally around 2.6 m, with a body weight up to 91 kg. In Newnans Lake, Florida, adult males averaged 73.2 kg in weight and 2.47 m in length, while adult females averaged 55.1 kg and measured 2.22 m. In Lake Griffin State Park, Florida, adults weighed on average 57.9 kg. Weight at sexual maturity per one study was stated as averaging 30 kg while adult weight was claimed as 160 kg.

Relation to age
There is a common belief stated throughout reptilian literature that crocodilians, including the American alligator, exhibit indeterminate growth, meaning the animal continues to grow for the duration of its life. However, these claims are largely based on assumptions and observations of juvenile and young adult crocodilians, and recent studies are beginning to contradict this claim. For example, one long-term mark-recapture study (1979–2015) done at the Tom Yawkey Wildlife Center in South Carolina found evidence to support patterns of determinate growth, with growth ceasing upon reaching a certain age (43 years for males and 31 years for females).

Sexual dimorphism
While noticeable in very mature specimens, the sexual dimorphism in size of the American alligator is relatively modest among crocodilians. For contrast, the sexual dimorphism of saltwater crocodiles is much more extreme, with mature males nearly twice as long as and at least four times as heavy as female saltwater crocodiles. Given that female American alligators have relatively higher survival rates at an early age and a large percentage of given populations consists of immature or young breeding American alligators, relatively few large mature males of the expected mature length of 3.4 m or more are typically seen.

Color
Dorsally, adult American alligators may be olive, brown, gray, or black. However, they are on average one of the most darkly colored modern crocodilians (although other alligatorid family members are also fairly dark), and can reliably be distinguished by color via their more blackish dorsal scales against crocodiles. Meanwhile, their undersides are cream-colored. Some American alligators are missing or have an inhibited gene for melanin, which makes them albino. These American alligators are extremely rare and almost impossible to find in the wild. They could only survive in captivity, as they are very vulnerable to the sun and predators.

Jaws, teeth, and snout
American alligators have 74–80 teeth. As they grow and develop, the morphology of their teeth and jaws change significantly. Juveniles have small, needle-like teeth that become much more robust and narrow snouts that become broader as the individuals develop. These morphological changes correspond to shifts in the American alligators' diets, from smaller prey items such as fish and insects to larger prey items such as turtles, birds, and other large vertebrates. American alligators have broad snouts, especially in captive individuals. When the jaws are closed, the edges of the upper jaws cover the lower teeth, which fit into the jaws' hollows. Like the spectacled caiman, this species has a bony nasal ridge, though it is less prominent. American alligators are often mistaken for a similar animal: the American crocodile. An easy characteristic to distinguish the two is the fourth tooth. Whenever an American alligator's mouth is closed, the fourth tooth is no longer visible. It is enclosed in a pocket in the upper jaw.

Bite
Adult American alligators held the record as having the strongest laboratory-measured bite of any living animal, measured at up to 13172 N. This experiment had not been, at the time of the paper published, replicated in any other crocodilians, and the same laboratory was able to measure a greater bite force of 16414 N in saltwater crocodiles; notwithstanding this very high biting force, the muscles opening the American alligator's jaw are quite weak, and the jaws can be held closed by hand or tape when an American alligator is captured. No significant difference is noted between the bite forces of male and female American alligators of equal size. Another study noted that as the American alligator increases in size, the force of its bite also increases.

Movement
When on land, an American alligator moves either by sprawling or walking, the latter involving the reptile lifting its belly off the ground. The sprawling of American alligators and other crocodylians is not similar to that of salamanders and lizards, being similar to walking. Therefore, the two forms of land locomotion can be termed the "low walk" and the "high walk". Unlike most other land vertebrates, American alligators increase their speed through the distal rather than proximal ends of their limbs. In the water, American alligators swim like fish, moving their pelvic regions and tails from side to side. During respiration, air flow is unidirectional, looping through the lungs during inhalation and exhalation; the American alligator's abdominal muscles can alter the position of the lungs within the torso, thus shifting the center of buoyancy, which allows the American alligator to dive, rise, and roll within the water.

Distribution
American alligators, being native both to the Nearctic and Neotropical realms, are found in the wild in the Southeastern United States, from the Lowcountry in South Carolina, south to Everglades National Park in Florida, and west to the southeastern region of Texas. They are found in parts of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas. Some of these locations appear to be relatively recent introductions, with often small but reproductive populations. Louisiana has the largest American alligator population of any U.S. state. In the future, possible American alligator populations may be found in areas of Mexico adjacent to the Texas border. American alligators have been naturally expanding their range into Tennessee, and have established a small population in the southwestern part of that state via inland waterways, according to the state's wildlife agency. They have been extirpated from Virginia, and occasional vagrants from North Carolina wander into the Great Dismal Swamp.

Conservation status
American alligators are currently listed as least concern by the IUCN Red List, even though from the 1800s to the mid-1900s, they were being hunted and poached by humans unsustainably.

Historically, hunting and habitat loss have severely affected American alligator populations throughout their range, and whether the species would survive was in doubt. In 1967, the American alligator was listed as an endangered species (under a law that was the precursor to the Endangered Species Act of 1973), since it was believed to be in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range.

Both the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and state wildlife agencies in the South contributed to the American alligator's recovery. Protection under the Endangered Species Act allowed the species to recuperate in many areas where it had been depleted. States began monitoring their American alligator populations to ensure that they would continue to grow. In 1987, the USFWS removed the animal from the endangered species list, as it was considered to be fully recovered. The USFWS still regulates the legal trade in American alligators and their products to protect still endangered crocodilians that may be passed off as American alligators during trafficking.

American alligators are listed under Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) meaning that international trade in the species (including parts and derivatives) is regulated.

Habitat
They inhabit swamps, streams, rivers, ponds, and lakes as well as wetland prairies interspersed with shallow open water and canals with associated levees. A lone American alligator was spotted for over 10 years living in a river north of Atlanta, Georgia. Females and juveniles are also found in Carolina Bays and other seasonal wetlands. While they prefer fresh water, American alligators may sometimes wander into brackish water, but are less tolerant of salt water than American crocodiles, as the salt glands on their tongues do not function. One study of American alligators in north-central Florida found the males preferred open lake water during the spring, while females used both swampy and open-water areas. During summer, males still preferred open water, while females remained in the swamps to construct their nests and lay their eggs. Both sexes may den underneath banks or clumps of trees during the winter.

In some areas of their range, American alligators are an unusual example of urban wildlife; golf courses are often favored by the species due to an abundance of water and a frequent supply of prey animals such as fish and birds.

Cold tolerance
American alligators are less vulnerable to cold than American crocodiles. Unlike an American crocodile, which would immediately succumb to the cold and drown in water at 45 F or less, an American alligator can survive in such temperatures for some time without displaying any signs of discomfort. This adaptiveness is thought to be why American alligators are widespread further north than the American crocodile. In fact, the American alligator is found farther from the equator and is more equipped to handle cooler conditions than any other crocodilian. When the water begins to freeze, American alligators go into a period of brumation; they stick their snouts through the surface, which allows them to breathe above the ice, and they can remain in this state for several days.

Basking
American alligators primarily bask on shore, but also climb into and perch on tree limbs to bask if no shoreline is available. This is not often seen, since if disturbed, they quickly retreat back into the water by jumping from their perch.

Holes
American alligators modify wetland habitats, most dramatically in flat areas such as the Everglades, by constructing small ponds known as alligator holes. This behavior has qualified the American alligator to be considered a keystone species. Alligator holes retain water during the dry season and provide a refuge for aquatic organisms, which survive the dry season by seeking refuge in alligator holes, so are a source of future populations. The construction of nests along the periphery of alligator holes, as well as a buildup of soils during the excavation process, provides drier areas for other reptiles to nest and a place for plants that are intolerant of inundation to colonize. Alligator holes are an oasis during the Everglades dry season, so are consequently important foraging sites for other organisms. In the limestone depressions of cypress swamps, alligator holes tend to be large and deep, while those in marl prairies and rocky glades are usually small and shallow, and those in peat depressions of ridge and slough wetlands are more variable.

Bite and mastication
The teeth of the American alligator are designed to grip prey, but cannot rip or chew flesh like teeth of some other predators (such as canids and felids), and depend on their gizzard, instead, to masticate their food. The attainment of adulthood enables the consumption of large mammals and the crushing of large turtles. The American alligator is capable of biting through a turtle's shell or a moderately sized mammal bone.

Possible tool use
American alligators have been documented using lures to hunt prey such as birds. This means they are among the first reptiles recorded to use tools. By balancing sticks and branches on their heads, American alligators are able to lure birds looking for suitable nesting material to kill and consume. This strategy, which is shared by the mugger crocodile, is particularly effective during the nesting season, in which birds are more likely to gather appropriate nesting materials. This strategy has been documented in two Florida zoos occurring multiple times a day in peak nesting season and in some parks in Louisiana. The use of tools was documented primarily during the peak rookery season when birds were primarily looking for sticks.

However, a 3-day experiment to reproduce the use of sticks as lures, published in 2019, failed to document the behavior. Researchers placed sticks at densities of 30-35 sticks per meter squared near 4 captive populations, 2 near rookeries and 2 at no-rookery sites. While stick-displaying behavior was observed several times, it was not more frequent near rookeries. In fact, in some comparisons, it was associated with no-rookery sites. This implies American alligators do not tailor this behavior to specific contexts, leaving the purpose, if any, of stick-displaying ambiguous.

Aquatic vs terrestrial
Fish and other aquatic prey taken in the water or at the water's edge form the major part of American alligator's diet and may be eaten at any time of the day or night. Adult American alligators also spend considerable time hunting on land, up to 50 m from water, ambushing terrestrial animals on trailsides and road shoulders. Usually, terrestrial hunting occurs on nights with warm temperatures. When hunting terrestrial prey, American alligators may also ambush them from the edge of the water by grabbing them and pulling the prey into the water, the preferred method of predation of larger crocodiles. Additionally, American alligators have recently been filmed and documented killing and eating sharks and rays; four incidents documented indicated that bonnetheads, lemon sharks, Atlantic stingrays, and nurse sharks are components of the animal's diet. Sharks are also known to prey on American alligators, in turn, indicating that encounters between the two predators are common.

Common
American alligators are considered an apex predator throughout their range. They are opportunists and their diet is determined largely by both their size and age and the size and availability of prey. Most American alligators eat a wide variety of animals, including invertebrates, fish, birds, turtles, snakes, amphibians, and mammals. Hatchlings mostly feed on invertebrates such as insects, insect larvae, snails, spiders, and worms, as well as small fish and frogs. As they grow, American alligators gradually expand to larger prey. Once an American alligator reaches full size and power in adulthood, any animal living in the water or coming to the water to drink is potential prey. Most animals captured by American alligators are considerably smaller than itself. A few examples of animals consumed are largemouth bass, spotted gar, freshwater pearl mussels, American green tree frogs, yellow mud turtles, cottonmouths, common moorhens, and feral wild boars. Stomach contents show, among native mammals, muskrats and raccoons are some of the most commonly eaten species. In Louisiana, where introduced nutria are common, they are perhaps the most regular prey for adult American alligators, although only larger adults commonly eat this species. It has also been reported that large American alligators prey on medium-sized American alligators, which had preyed on hatchlings and smaller juveniles.

If an American alligator's primary food resource is not available, it will sometimes feed on carrion and non-prey items such as rocks and artificial objects, like bottle caps. These items help the American alligator in the process of digestion by crushing up the meat and bones of animals, especially animals with shells.

Large animals
Other animals may occasionally be eaten, even large deer or feral wild boars, but these are not normally part of the diet. American alligators occasionally prey on large mammals, but usually do so when fish and smaller prey levels go down. Rarely, American alligators have been observed killing and eating bobcats, but such events are not common and have little effect on bobcat populations. Although American alligators have been listed as predators of the Nilgai and the West Indian manatees, very little evidence exists of such predation. In the 2000s, when invasive Burmese pythons first occupied the Everglades, American alligators have been recorded preying on sizable snakes, possibly controlling populations and preventing the invasive species from spreading northwards. However, the python is also known to occasionally prey on alligators, a form of both competition and predation. American alligator predation on Florida panthers is rare, but has been documented. Such incidents usually involve a panther trying to cross a waterway or coming down to a swamp or river to get a drink. American alligator predation on American black bears has also been recorded.

Domestic animals
Occasionally, domestic animals, including dogs, cats, and calves, are taken as available, but are secondary to wild and feral prey. Other prey, including snakes, lizards, and various invertebrates, are eaten occasionally by adults.

Birds
Water birds, such as herons, egrets, storks, waterfowl and large dabbling rails such as gallinules or coots, are taken when possible. Occasionally, unwary adult birds are grabbed and eaten by American alligators, but most predation on bird species occurs with unsteady fledgling birds in late summer, as fledgling birds attempt to make their first flights near the water's edge.

Fruit
In 2013, American alligators and other crocodilians were reported to also eat fruit. Such behavior has been witnessed, as well as documented from stomach contents, with the American alligators eating such fruit as wild grapes, elderberries, and citrus fruits directly from the trees. Thirty-four families and 46 genera of plants were represented among seeds and fruits found in the stomach contents of American alligators. The discovery of this unexpected part of the American alligator diet further reveals that they may be responsible for spreading seeds from the fruit they consume across their habitat.

Cooperative hunting
Additionally, American alligators engage in what seems to be cooperative hunting. One observation of cooperative hunting techniques was where there are pushing American alligators and catching American alligators and they were observed taking turns in each position. Another observation said that about 60 American alligators gathered in an area and would form a semicircle with about half of them and would push the fish closer to the bank. Once one of the American alligators caught a fish another one would enter into its spot, and it would take the fish to the resting area. This was reported to have occurred two days in a row.

In Florida and East Texas
The diet of adult American alligators from central Florida lakes is dominated by fish, but the species is highly opportunistic based upon local availability. In Lake Griffin, fish made up 54% of the diet by weight, with catfish being most commonly consumed, while in Lake Apopka, fish made up 90% of the food and mostly shad were taken; in Lake Woodruff, the diet was 84% fish and largely consists of bass and sunfish. Unusually in these regions, reptiles and amphibians were the most important nonpiscivore prey, mostly turtles and water snakes. In southern Louisiana, crustaceans (largely crawfish and crabs) were found to be present in the southeastern American alligators, but largely absent in southwestern American alligators, which consumed a relatively high proportion of reptiles, although fish were the most recorded prey for adults, and adult males consumed a large portion of mammals.

In East Texas, diets were diverse and adult American alligators took mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and invertebrates (e.g. snails) in often equal measure as they did fish.

Mechanism
An American alligator is able to abduct and adduct the vocal folds of its larynx, but not to elongate or shorten them; yet in spite of this, it can modulate fundamental frequency very well. Their vocal folds consists of epithelium, lamina propria and muscle. Sounds ranged from 50 to 1200 Hz. In one experiment conducted on the larynx, the fundamental frequency depended on both the glottal gap and stiffness of the larynx tissues. As the frequency increases, there's high tension and large strains. The fundamental frequency has been influenced by the glottal gap size and subglottal pressure and when the phonation threshold pressure has been exceeded, there will be vocal fold vibration.

Calls
Crocodilians are the most vocal of all non-avian reptiles and have a variety of different calls depending on the age, size, and sex of the animal. The American alligator can perform specific vocalizations to declare territory, signal distress, threaten competitors, and locate suitable mates. Juveniles can perform a high-pitched hatchling call (a "yelping" trait common to many crocodilian species' hatchling young) to alert their mothers when they are ready to emerge from the nest. Juveniles also make a distress call to alert their mothers if they are being threatened. Adult American alligators can growl, hiss, or cough to threaten others and declare territory.

Bellowing
Both males and females bellow loudly by sucking air into their lungs and blowing it out in intermittent, deep-toned roars to attract mates and declare territory. Males are known to use infrasound during mating bellows. Their bellowing initiates the beginning of the courtship period for American Alligators. Bellowing is performed in a "head oblique, tail arched" posture. Infrasonic waves from a bellowing male can cause the surface of the water directly over and to either side of his back to literally "sprinkle", in what is commonly called the "water dance". Large bellowing "choruses" of American alligators during the breeding season are commonly initiated by females and perpetuated by males. Observers of large bellowing choruses have noted they are often felt more than they are heard due to the intense infrasound emitted by males. American alligators bellow in B flat (specifically "B♭1", defined as an audio frequency of 58.27 Hz), and bellowing choruses can be induced by tuba players, sonic booms, and large aircraft.

Lifespan
American alligators typically live to the age of 50, and possibly over 70 years old. Males reach sexual maturity at around 11.6 years, and females at around 15.8 years. Although it was originally thought that American alligators never stop growing, studies have now found that males stop growing at around the age of 43 years, and females stop growing at around the age of 31 years.

Breeding season
The breeding season begins in the spring. On spring nights, American alligators gather in large numbers for group courtship, in the aforementioned "water dances". The female builds a nest of vegetation, sticks, leaves, and mud in a sheltered spot in or near the water.

Eggs
After the female lays her 20 to 50 white eggs, about the size of a goose egg, she covers them with more vegetation, which heats as it decays, helping to keep the eggs warm. This differs from Nile crocodiles, which lay their eggs in pits. The temperature at which American alligator eggs develop determines their sex (see temperature-dependent sex determination). Studies have found that eggs hatched at a temperature below 88.7 F or a temperature above 94.1 F will produce female offspring, while those at a temperature between 90.5 and 92.3 F will produce male offspring. The nests built on levees are warmer, thus produce males, while the cooler nests of wet marsh produce females. The female remains near the nest throughout the 65-day incubation period, protecting it from intruders. When the young begin to hatch — their "yelping" calls can sometimes even be heard just before hatching commences — the mother quickly digs them out and carries them to the water in her mouth, as some other crocodilian species are known to do.

Young
The young are tiny replicas of adults, with a series of yellow bands around their bodies that serve as camouflage. Hatchlings gather into pods and are guarded by their mother and keep in contact with her through their "yelping" vocalizations. Young American alligators eat small fish, frogs, crayfish, and insects. They are preyed on by large fish, birds, raccoons, Florida panthers, and adult American alligators. Mother American alligators eventually become more aggressive towards their young, which encourages them to disperse. Young American alligators grow 3 – a year and reach adulthood at 6 ft.

Parasites
American alligators are commonly infected with parasites. In a 2016 Texas study, 100% of the specimens collected were infected with parasites, and by at least 20 different species of parasites, including lung pentastomids, gastric nematodes, intestinal helminths. When compared to American alligators from different states there was no significant difference in prevalence.

Interactions with exotic species
Nutria were introduced into coastal marshes from South America in the mid-20th century, and their population has since exploded into the millions. They cause serious damage to coastal marshes and may dig burrows in levees. Hence, Louisiana has had a bounty to try to reduce nutria numbers. Large American alligators feed heavily on nutria, so American alligators may not only control nutria populations in Louisiana, but also prevent them spreading east into the Everglades. Since hunting and trapping preferentially take the large American alligators that are the most important in eating nutria, some changes in harvesting may be needed to capitalize on their ability to control nutria.

Recently, a population of Burmese pythons became established in Everglades National Park. Substantial American alligator populations in the Everglades might be a contributing factor, as a competitor, in keeping the python populations low, preventing the spread of the species north. While events of predation by Burmese pythons on sizable American alligators have been observed, no evidence of a net negative effect has been seen on overall American alligator populations.

Indicators of environmental restoration
American alligators play an important role in the restoration of the Everglades as biological indicators of restoration success. American alligators are highly sensitive to changes in the hydrology, salinity, and productivity of their ecosystems; all are factors that are expected to change with Everglades restoration. American alligators also may control the long-term vegetation dynamics in wetlands by reducing the population of small mammals, particularly nutria, which may otherwise overgraze marsh vegetation. In this way, the vital ecological service they provide may be important in reducing rates of coastal wetland losses in Louisiana. They may provide a protection service for water birds nesting on islands in freshwater wetlands. American alligators prevent predatory mammals from reaching island-based rookeries and in return eat spilled food and birds that fall from their nests. Wading birds appear to be attracted to areas with American alligators and have been known to nest at heavily trafficked tourist attractions with large numbers of American alligators, such as the St. Augustine Alligator Farm in St. Augustine, Florida.

Attacks on humans

American alligators are capable of killing humans, but fatal attacks are rare. Mistaken identity leading to an attack is always possible, especially in or near cloudy waters. American alligators are often less aggressive towards humans than larger crocodile species, a few of which (mainly the Nile and saltwater crocodiles) may prey on humans with some regularity. Alligator bites are serious injuries, due to the reptile's sheer bite force and risk of infection. Even with medical treatment, an American alligator bite may still result in a fatal infection.

As human populations increase, and as they build houses in low-lying areas, or fish or hunt near water, incidents are inevitable where humans intrude on American alligators and their habitats. Since 1948, 257 documented attacks on humans in Florida (about five incidents per year) have been reported, of which an estimated 23 resulted in death. Only nine fatal attacks occurred in the United States throughout the 1970s–1990s, but American alligators killed 12 people between 2001 and 2007. An additional report of alligator attacks showed a total of 376 injuries and 15 deaths recorded all from 1948 to 2004, leading this to an increase of the alligator population. In May 2006, American alligators killed three Floridians in less than a week. At least 28 fatal attacks by American alligators have occurred in the United States since 1970.

Wrestling
Since the late 1880s, alligator wrestling has been a source of entertainment for some. Created by the Miccosukee and Seminole tribes prior to the arrival of Europeans, this tourism tradition remains popular despite criticism from animal-rights activists.

Farming
Today, alligator farming is a large, growing industry in Georgia, Florida, Texas, and Louisiana. These states produce a combined annual total of some 45,000 alligator hides. Alligator hides bring good prices and hides in the 6- to 7-ft range have sold for $300 each. The market for alligator meat is growing, and about 300000 lb of meat are produced annually. According to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, raw alligator meat contains roughly 200 Calories (840 kJ) per 3-oz (85-g) portion, of which 27 Calories (130 kJ) come from fat.

Culture and film
The American alligator is the official state reptile of Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Several organizations and products from Florida have been named after the animal.

"Gators" has been the nickname of the University of Florida's sports teams since 1911. In 1908, a printer made a spur-of-the-moment decision to print an alligator emblem on a shipment of the school's football pennants. The mascot stuck, and was made official in 1911, perhaps because the team captain's nickname was Gator. Allegheny College and San Francisco State University both have Gators as their mascots, as well.

The Gator Bowl is a college football game held in Jacksonville annually since 1946, with Gator Bowl Stadium hosting the event until the 1993 edition. The Gatornationals is a NHRA drag race held at the Gainesville Raceway in Gainesville since 1970.

title: American alligator


text:
Talk:23rd century

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just added archive links to 1 one external link on 23rd century. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20080617075311/http://news.zdnet.co.uk:80/internet/0,1000000097,39228011,00.htm to http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/0,1000000097,39228011,00.htm

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true to let others know.

Cheers.—cyberbot II  Talk to my owner :Online 23:59, 5 January 2016 (UTC)

Alternate Star Trek chronology
I think it would be cleaner not to intersperse the original and alternate Star Trek chronologies. — Arthur Rubin (talk) 01:29, 6 February 2019 (UTC)

what movies will be in the 23rd century?
what movies will be in the 23rd century? i find only "films that set in the 23rd century" but i don't find films that will be in the 23rd century why? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 46.121.245.99 (talk) 13:33, 5 April 2019 (UTC)
 * You better learn proper English, unsigned editor: we say "(...) in the 23rd century?", with the article "the" clearly present. --Fandelasketchup (talk) 15:44, 14 September 2019 (UTC)

Who the F....?
Who the F.. would say "film" instead of "movie" or use British spellings like "colonises" in a clearly American website? I do not know if you knew this but, even though there are many varieties of English, given the fact the Wikimedia Foundation is based in the US, and not in the UK, American spellings such as "colonizes" are to be preferred over "colonises" or similar British spellings. You can't simply be undoing other editors' work without explanation.--Fandelasketchup (talk) 15:39, 14 September 2019 (UTC)
 * The reason why I said what I said above is because the post above mine asks "What movies (not 'films') will there be in the 23rd century?" in its subject line --Fandelasketchup (talk) 15:42, 14 September 2019 (UTC)

Why must we...?
Why must we use Arabic numbers in English to represent centuries (as in the title of this talk page) when all other languages use Roman numerals to represent them (i.e. "siglo XXIII" in Spanish)? --Fandelasketchup (talk) 18:28, 12 October 2019 (UTC)
 * That's not a Wikipedia issue, that's an English issue beyond the scope of this talk page. Ian.thomson (talk) 23:11, 12 October 2019 (UTC)

what disney movies will be in the 23rd century?
what disney movies will be in the 23rd century? i wonder what disney movies will be in the future centuries why there are only movies that set in the future centuries but not movies that will be in the future centuries? i hope there will be disney movies in the future centuries — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A00:A040:181:2CEF:7CFF:9A34:A3CE:3564 (talk) 17:21, 24 February 2020 (UTC)

Religious predictions: Judaism
Shouldn't we combine the two sentences of "According to Jewish Calendars" to be one, so that it says "According to Jewish Calendars, in 2214, Rosh Hashanah will fall on October 6 for the first time and will fall in 2260 on September 6 for the last time"? — Preceding unsigned comment added by AnanaBcinesrA (talk • contribs) 15:04, 18 May 2020 (UTC)

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

title: Talk:23rd century


text:
WGBH-TV

WGBH-TV (channel 2), branded GBH or GBH 2 since 2020, is the primary PBS member television station in Boston, Massachusetts, United States.

Affiliated stations and facilities
WGBH-TV is the flagship property of the WGBH Educational Foundation, which also owns Boston's secondary PBS member WGBX-TV (channel 44) and Springfield, Massachusetts PBS member WGBY-TV (channel 57, operated by New England Public Media), Class A Biz TV affiliate WFXZ-CD (channel 24) and public radio stations WGBH (89.7 FM) and WCRB (99.5 FM) in the Boston area, and WCAI radio (and satellites WZAI and WNAN) on Cape Cod.

WGBH-TV, WGBX-TV, and the WGBH and WCRB radio stations share studios on Guest Street in northwest Boston's Brighton neighborhood; WGBH-TV's transmitter is located on Cabot Street (east of I-95/MA 128) in Needham, Massachusetts, on the former candelabra tower, which is shared with Fox affiliate WFXT and serves as a full power backup facility for sister station WGBX-TV as well as CBS owned-and-operated station WBZ-TV, ABC affiliate WCVB-TV, NBC O&O WBTS-CD (which itself shares spectrum with WGBX) and independent station WSBK-TV.

Organization and first broadcasts (1951–1955)
The WGBH Educational Foundation received its first broadcast license for radio in April 1951 under the auspices of the Lowell Institute Cooperative Broadcasting Council, a consortium of local universities and cultural institutions, whose collaboration stems from an 1836 bequest by textile manufacturer John Lowell, Jr. that called for free public lectures for the citizens of Boston. WGBH (FM) first signed on the air on October 6, 1951, with a live broadcast of a performance by the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) originally awarded a construction permit to Waltham-based electronics company Raytheon to build a television station that would transmit on VHF channel 2 in Boston. Raytheon planned to launch a commercial television station using the call letters WRTB-TV (for "Raytheon Television Broadcasting"). However, after some setbacks and the cancellation of the construction permit license, WRTB never made it on the air, paving the way for the FCC to allocate channel 2 for non-commercial educational use. WGBH subsequently applied for and received a license to operate on that channel. The WGBH Educational Foundation obtained initial start-up funds for WGBH-TV from the Lincoln and Therese Filene Foundation.

The station's callsign refers to Great Blue Hill (the highest point in the Boston area at an elevation of 635 ft), a location in Milton that served as the original location of WGBH-TV's transmitter facility and where the transmitter for WGBH radio continues to operate to this day (the callsign is occasionally jokingly referred as "God Bless Harvard", although the station's connections with the university are at best indirect; Harvard was one of several Boston-area universities which took part in the Lowell Institute Cooperative Broadcasting Council and rented space to WGBH on Western Avenue in Allston for the station's studio operations).

WGBH-TV first signed on the air at 5:20 pm on May 2, 1955, becoming the first public television station in Boston and the first non-commercial television station to sign on in New England. The first program to air on the station was Come and See, a children's program hosted by Tony Saletan and Mary Lou Adams, which was filmed at Tufts Nursery Training School. Channel 2 originally served as a member station of the National Educational Television and Radio Center (NETRC), which evolved into National Educational Television (NET) in 1963; for its first few years on the air, channel 2 only broadcast on Monday through Fridays between 5:30 and 9 p.m.

First studios near MIT (1956–1961)
For the first six years, operations were based out of studio facilities located at 84 Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge, Massachusetts, directly across from the Rogers Building main entrance to MIT. The first television studios were located in second-floor space which originally had housed a roller skating rink. The uneven and rippled maple floors caused difficulties moving the heavy TV cameras, and loud creaking noises plagued the sound engineers.

In 1957, Hartford N. Gunn Jr. was appointed general manager of WGBH; he would later earn the Corporation for Public Broadcasting's Ralph Lowell Award for his achievements in programming development. Under Gunn, who would serve until February 1970, WGBH made significant investments in technology and programming to improve the station's profile, and set out to become a major producer of public television.

In February 1957, WGBH expanded its programming to weekends for the first time, adding a four-hour schedule on Sunday afternoons from 2:30 to 6:30 p.m. (its sign-on time on Sundays was later extended to 11 a.m. that May). In March 1958, channel 2 began offering academic instructional television programs, with the debut of eight weekly science programs aimed at students in the sixth grade, which were televised "in some 48 separate school systems in and around the Boston area". In November of that year, the station installed a new full-power transmitter donated by Westinghouse, which increased channel 2's transmitting power to 100,000 watts.

Fire and recovery (1961–1969)
During the early morning hours of October 14, 1961, a large fire devastated the Cambridge studios of WGBH-TV and WGBH radio. WGBH was only off the air for one day after the fire. Before the conflagration, WGBH had purchased a used Greyhound bus, and had begun refitting it as a mobile TV studio. It was parked behind the 84 Massachusetts Avenue building but somehow survived the disaster, and became a vital temporary facility for continued operations.

Until the WGBH Educational Foundation was able to build a new studio complex to replace the destroyed former building, the two stations arranged to operate from temporary offices, and had to produce their local programming from the studio facilities of various television stations in the Boston area and southern New Hampshire. WGBH-TV maintained a splintered operation, basing its master control operations at Newman Catholic Center at Boston University, production facilities (for which it was reserved to use late nights and on weekends) at the studios of then CBS affiliate WHDH-TV (channel 5, now defunct; allocation as of March 1972 operated by ABC affiliate WCVB-TV) on Morrissey Boulevard in Boston's Dorchester section, and its film and tape library (including those which were salvaged from the fire) was housed at the studios of fellow NET station WENH-TV (channel 11) in Durham, New Hampshire.

Several area universities also chipped in to temporarily house other operations displaced by the fire: WGBH's scenic department was relocated to Northeastern University, its arts department was set up on the Boston University campus, and programming and production offices were based in Cambridge's Kendall Square neighborhood. WHDH, NBC affiliate WBZ-TV (channel 4, as of January 1995 a CBS owned-and-operated station) and ABC affiliate WNAC-TV (channel 7, now defunct; allocation now occupied by independent station WHDH that is unrelated to the above-mentioned WHDH-TV, which its channel is now used by WCVB-TV) also provided technical and production assistance to the WGBH television and radio stations until a permanent facility was built to reintegrate the stations' operations.

On August 29, 1963, WGBH-TV and WGBH radio both began operating from a new studio facility for the stations that was built at 125 Western Avenue in Boston's Allston neighborhood (the post office box address that the station adopted at that time – P.O. Box 350, Boston, MA 02134 – would become associated with a jingle used on the WGBH-produced children's program, ZOOM, both in its 1972 and 1999 adaptations, exhorting viewers to send in ideas for use on the show ).

On June 18, 1966, WGBH-TV relocated its transmitter to a broadcast tower in Needham, Massachusetts, The following year on September 25, 1967, WGBH-TV gained a sister television station in the Boston area, WGBX-TV (channel 44), which has transmitted its signal from the Needham site since the station signed on (WGBX's digital signal on UHF channel 32 shares the master antenna at the very top of the tower with several commercial stations in the market, while WGBH-TV's channel 5 digital transmitter operates from a different tower on Cabot St, also in Needham).

The launch of WGBX was one facet of a plan developed by the WGBH Educational Foundation in the late 1960s to operate a network of six non-commercial television stations around Massachusetts. However, these plans never materialized in their intended form; besides WGBX, the only other station that ultimately made it on the air was WGBY (channel 57) in Springfield, which launched in 1971. Three additional WGBH-owned stations were to have launched, all of which were slated to use the letters "WGB" for the first three letters in their callsigns; these included WGBW, which was to broadcast on channel 35 in Adams (the "W" in its callsign was to stand for "West"; the callsign has since been reassigned to a radio station in Two Rivers, Wisconsin), along with two stations in New Bedford and Worcester.

On the night of April 5, 1968, WGBH-TV (at roughly three hours' notice) broadcast a James Brown concert from the Boston Garden, the night after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. Boston Mayor Kevin White, who was worried that the concert would set off a riot, and certain that cancellation would be worse, contacted WGBH to air the concert on TV, and told the public to stay home and watch, helping prevent boycotts in the region. The concert would later be seen numerous times in the following days, helping the Boston area stay in peace.

PBS affiliation and expansion (1970–2006)
In 1970, longtime WGBH general manager Hartford N. Gunn Jr. resigned, to become founding President of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). This new organization was launched as an independent entity to supersede NET (which itself was integrated into its Newark, New Jersey outlet, WNDT (now WNET), per request by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting) and assumed many of the functions of its predecessor network. WGBH itself joined the new network. Over time, WGBH became a pioneer in public television, producing many programs that were seen on NET and later, PBS, that either originated at the station's studio facilities or were otherwise produced by channel 2.

On October 31, 2003, WGBH launched Boston Kids & Family TV, a PBS Kids Channel-affiliated local cable service that was developed in partnership with the City of Boston. Available to Comcast and RCN subscribers, the service took over channel space previously occupied by one of the city's cable access channels, which carried a mix of public affairs programs, footage of city-sponsored events, and mayoral press conferences (some of the aforementioned content was moved to the city-managed Educational Channel). Boston Kids & Family carried a mix of children's programs produced by WGBH and other distributors—which were scheduled to avoid simulcasts with WGBH-TV or WGBX-TV—daily from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., and a repeating block of telecourse programs aimed at adults from 8 p.m. to 7 a.m. The channel intended to affiliate the subchannel with the planned PBS Kids Go! network, which was scheduled to launch in October 2006; however, PBS scuttled plans to launch the Kids Go! network prior to its launch (opting only to launch the brand as an afternoon-only sub-block within PBS's existing children's program lineup). After PBS Kids ceased network operations, Boston Kids & Family was replaced by The Municipal Channel, which carried much of the programming offered by the service prior to the WGBH partnership.

As WGBH's operations grew, the 125 Western Avenue building proved inadequate to support it and its sister stations; some administrative operations were moved across the street to 114 Western Avenue, with an overhead pedestrian bridge connecting the two buildings. By 2005, WGBH had facilities in more than a dozen buildings in the Allston area. The station's need for more studio space dovetailed with Harvard Business School's desire to expand its adjacent campus; Harvard already owned the land on which the WGBH studios were located, which the university had donated to WGBH for use to construct the Western Avenue facility in 1962 at a value of $250,000.

New studios in Brighton and Back Bay (2007–present)
WGBH built a new studio and headquarters complex, designed by James Polshek & Partners, in the nearby Brighton neighborhood of Boston. The building, inaugurated in June 2007, spans the block of Market Street from Guest Street to North Beacon Street (1 Guest Street, where the lobby entrance of the new studio building is located, is the building's postal address), with radio studios facing pedestrian traffic on Market Street. The outside of the building carries a 30 x "digital mural" LED screen, which displays a different image each day to automotive and rail commuters along the nearby Massachusetts Turnpike.

Television and radio programs continued to be recorded at the Western Avenue studios until the WGBH stations completed the migration of their operations into the new facility in September 2007. The old Western Avenue studios were renovated by Harvard University in 2011 to house the Harvard Innovation Lab.

WGBH-TV ended regular programming on its analog signal, over VHF channel 2, on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 19, using virtual channel 2. The FCC allowed WGBH-TV to run a DTV nightlight service until June 26, 2009. The DTV nightlight program consisted of an episode of This Old House which provided information regarding the digital television transition, which looped until the analog signal was turned off. However, the nightlight service had actually continued to run until around 12:07 a.m. on July 13, 2009, when its analog signal was turned off permanently.

In 2016, WGBH opened a new remote television and radio studio on the first floor of the newly-renovated Johnson Building of the Boston Public Library, located in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston. The facilities included a dedicated area of approximately 800 sqft for a news desk, three TV cameras, nine video monitors, radio microphones, and a news ticker, all open to public view. The remainder of the 4500 sqft space is shared with the "Newsfeed Cafe", a fast-casual restaurant which is open during and outside of studio operational hours. The facility is believed to be the first collaboration between a library and a permanent on-site news organization studio. The space is used for twice-weekly live broadcasts of Boston Public Radio with Jim Braude and Margery Eagan, weekly taping of Greater Boston, and various special events, such as live music performances, poetry recitals, and interviews with book authors. Events are generally open to the public and free of charge.

Logo and soundmark
On August 27, 2020, it was announced that the WGBH Educational Foundation would re-brand all of its operations as "GBH", with WGBH-TV subsequently re-branding from "WGBH 2" to "GBH 2". The organization felt that the inclusion of the "W" prefix was too synonymous with terrestrial broadcasting, and did not reflect its current multi-platform operations. WGBH also cited that "GBH" was already commonly-used as a shorthand name for the station. Along with the rebrand came a modified version of its iconic wordmark logo, in use since 1974.

Since the early 1970s, WGBH has used a distinctive soundmark created by composer Gershon Kingsley in conjunction with Creative Director Sylvia Davis and General Manager Michael Rice. It is an electronic sound using a Moog synthesizer described as a crescendo. The sound has been updated periodically by manipulating the original recording with modern tools through the years, most recently in 2020.

Programming
As a PBS member station, much of WGBH-TV's program schedule consists of educational and entertainment programming distributed by PBS to its member stations, including non-WGBH productions such as the PBS NewsHour, the Nightly Business Report, Sesame Street, Peg + Cat, and Nature; it also carries programs distributed by American Public Television and other sources to fill its schedule, alongside programs produced for exclusive local broadcast in the Boston market.

WGBH features a mix of live-action and animated children's programs produced by the station and other distributors between 6 a.m. and 5 p.m., as well as on Saturday and Sunday mornings. The remainder of its weekday lineup includes a two-hour block of news and travel programs leading into prime time, with documentary, arts and entertainment programs provided by PBS shown Sunday through Fridays during prime time (encores of WGBH national productions typically air on Saturday evenings). Programming on Saturday afternoons focuses heavily on cooking and home improvement how-to shows (at one point, the station's Saturday afternoon lineup was branded as "How 2 Saturday"), while Sunday afternoons focus mainly on travel shows along with some how-to programs.

Original productions
For the better part of its history, WGBH-TV has been a major producer of programming for PBS and its predecessor, NET. Channel 2 produces more than two-thirds of the programs that PBS distributes nationally to its member stations. Among them are longstanding PBS mainstays such as NOVA, Frontline, Masterpiece, American Experience, The Victory Garden, and This Old House.

Other notable programs originated by WGBH have included The French Chef (a pioneering cooking show featuring Julia Child), and The Scarlet Letter (a major costume drama miniseries produced on-location that was the first challenger to the British dominance in such programming in America, and was PBS's highest-rated series for many years). The station has co-produced many other period dramas in conjunction with British production companies. Broadcasts of concerts by the Boston Symphony established the genre as a staple on television.

WGBH has also engaged in several experiments in programming and technology that have become standard in television, including:
 * Nam June Paik's wild morphing of the television image, and antic adventures in narrative story-telling (What's Happening, Mr. Silver?, Nine Heroes)
 * Ron Hayes' use of slit-scan imagery inspired by the yearning, driving themes of Wagner's Liebestod
 * The two-screen color stereo dance program CITY/motion/space/game.
 * Arts series produced in collaboration with Boston's Museum of Fine Arts (Museum Open House, Images, Eye-to-Eye) set the bar for the medium and were a major contributing force in "video art".
 * The Workshop for New Television developed works in dance (Dan Wagoner's George's House) and in drama (Mary Feldhaus-Weber's RED, BLUE, GOLD).

Notable general-audience programs produced by WGBH

 * Adventure
 * Africans in America (1998–1999; PBS)
 * America's Ballroom Challenge
 * American Experience (1988–present; PBS)
 * Andre's Mother
 * Antiques Roadshow (1997–present; PBS)
 * Antiques Roadshow FYI
 * Ask This Old House (2002–present)
 * The Art of Logos
 * Basic Black
 * Beat the Press, a weekly program of media criticism airing Friday evenings, hosted by Emily Rooney
 * A Biography of America (2000–2001)
 * Camera Three
 * The Captioned ABC News (1973–1982)
 * Conspiracy of Kindness (2005; PBS)
 * Commanding Heights: The Battle for the World Economy (2002; PBS)
 * Culture Shock (2000; PBS)
 * Destinos: An Introduction to Spanish (1992–1993)
 * Discover: The World of Science
 * Discovering Psychology
 * Endgame: Ethics and Values in America (2002; PBS, produced with Scott Goldstein Productions)
 * Evening at Pops (1970–2005; PBS)
 * Evolution (2001; PBS, produced with Clear Blue Sky Productions, Inc.)
 * Eye-to-Eye
 * 50 Years War: Israel and the Arabs (January 24–25, 1999; PBS)
 * The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship
 * The French Chef (1963–1973)
 * French in Action (1987)
 * Frontline (1983–present; PBS)
 * Frontline/World (PBS)
 * Gourmet's Diary of a Foodie
 * Greater Boston, a public affairs program on issues of local interest, airing Monday–Thursday on WGBH-TV and repeated later on WGBX-TV, hosted by Jim Braude
 * High School Quiz Show
 * Joyce Chen Cooks (1967)
 * Lidia's Italy (from 2009)
 * Lidia's Kitchen (2013–present)
 * Long Ago & Far Away
 * Making Things Grow (1966–1969)
 * Masterpiece (formerly known as Masterpiece Theatre; 1971–present, PBS)
 * Mill Times (2002; PBS)
 * The Mind of a Chef (2012–present; PBS)
 * Misunderstood Minds (2002; PBS)
 * MIT Science Reporter
 * Moveable Feast with Fine Cooking Magazine (2013–present)
 * Mr. Tornado (2020; PBS)
 * Neighborhood Kitchens (2011–present; created, written, directed and produced by Patricia Alvarado Nuñez)
 * The New Yankee Workshop
 * Nova (1974–present; PBS)
 * Nova ScienceNow
 * Odd Job Jack (2017–present; PBS)
 * Old Settler (2001–2004; PBS)
 * PBS Millennium 2000
 * People's Century (1995, April 19, 1998 – July 5, 1999; PBS, produced in conjunction with the BBC)
 * Religious America (1974, 13 episodes; PBS)
 * The Scarlet Letter
 * Simply Ming
 * Skinwalkers (2002; PBS)
 * Stories from the Stage (2017–present; World)
 * The Ten O'Clock News
 * They Made America (2004; PBS)
 * This Old House (1979–present; PBS)
 * The Victory Garden (1975–present; PBS)
 * War and Peace in the Nuclear Age
 * Weekends with Yankee (2017–present)
 * The Western Tradition
 * Woof! It's A Dog's Life

Notable children's programs produced by WGBH

 * All About You (1974; produced for the Agency for Instructional Television)
 * Arthur (1996–2022; PBS, produced with Cookie Jar Group seasons 1–15 (seasons 1–8 as CINAR, seasons 9–15 as Cookie Jar Entertainment), seasons 16–19 with 9 Story Media Group, seasons 20–25 with Oasis Animation)
 * Between the Lions (2000–2010, PBS; with Sirius Thinking Ltd. and Mississippi Public Broadcasting)
 * Curious George (2006–2024, PBS; with Imagine Entertainment and Universal Animation Studios)
 * Design Squad (2007–2011)
 * Don't Look Now (1983, PBS; short-lived clone of You Can't Do That on Television by the same producers)
 * Fetch! with Ruff Ruffman (2006–2010, PBS)
 * Martha Speaks (2008–2014, PBS; produced with Studio B Productions seasons 1–4, seasons 5 and 6 with Oasis Animation)
 * Molly of Denali (2019–present; PBS, co-production with Atomic Cartoons)
 * Peep and the Big Wide World (2004–2011, PBS; co-produced with 9 Story Media Group for PBS Kids)
 * Plum Landing (2014–present; PBS)
 * Pinkalicious & Peterrific (2018–present; PBS, co-production with Sixteen South)
 * Postcards from Buster (2004–2012, PBS; produced with Marc Brown Studios, Cookie Jar Group seasons 1–2, seasons 3 and 4 with 9 Story Media Group)
 * Rebop (1976–1979, PBS)
 * Sara Solves It (failed pilot for Amazon Video; 2013, co-production with DHX Media Vancouver and Out of the Blue Enterprises)
 * Time Warp Trio (2005–2006, co-production with Soup2Nuts for Discovery Kids)
 * Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego (1991–1995, PBS; in partnership with WQED in Pittsburgh)
 * Where in Time Is Carmen Sandiego (1996–1997, PBS; in partnership with WQED in Pittsburgh)
 * Work It Out Wombats! (2023–present, PBS, co-production with Pipeline Studios)
 * ZOOM (1972–1978 and 1999–2005, PBS)

Notable alumni of WGBH productions

 * Norm Abram – host of New Yankee Workshop
 * Liliana Abud – host of Destinos: An Introduction to Spanish
 * Russell Baker – host of Masterpiece Theatre
 * Jim Braude – co-host of daily Boston Public Radio and weekly Greater Boston TV program
 * Pierre Capretz – host of French in Action
 * Julia Child – host of The French Chef
 * Bud Collins – announcer for Tennis: US Pro; National Doubles
 * Alistair Cooke – host of Masterpiece Theatre
 * James Underwood Crockett – host of The Victory Garden
 * Steve Curwood – anchor for The Ten O'Clock News
 * Michael Dukakis – host of The Advocates
 * Margery Eagan – co-host of daily Boston Public Radio program and weekly Greater Boston TV program
 * Roger Fisher – host of The Advocates
 * Michael Kolowich – anchor for The Ten O'Clock News
 * Robert Krulwich – host of NOVA scienceNOW
 * Robert J. Lurtsema (known as "Lurtz") – NOVA
 * Christopher Lydon – anchor for The Ten O'Clock News
 * Will Lyman – Frontline narrator and announcer
 * Louis M. Lyons - anchor of The Ten O'Clock News during the 1960s and 1970s
 * Thomas J. MacDonald – host of Rough Cut - Woodworking with Tommy Mac
 * Dodge Morgan - host of Adventure
 * Elliot Norton – host of Elliot Norton Reviews
 * Vincent Price – host of Mystery!
 * Diana Rigg – host of Mystery!
 * Emily Rooney – Greater Boston and Beat the Press
 * William A. Rusher – host of The Advocates
 * David Rutstein – host of Facts of Medicine
 * Gene Shalit – host of Mystery!
 * Neil deGrasse Tyson – host of Nova ScienceNOW
 * Bob Vila – host of This Old House
 * Judy Woodruff – Frontline host from 1984 to 1990

WGBH alumni maintain a website where stories and photographs are shared; reunions were held in 2000 and 2006.

Subchannels
{{legend|#E6FFF7|Simulcast of subchannels of another station}} {{legend|#DFEBF6|Broadcast on behalf of another station}} Note that due to WGBX's channel share agreement with NBC's WBTS-CD, WGBH instead carries the high definition feed identified as channel 44.1.

In 2010, WGBH-TV became the first television station in the Boston market to provide a mobile DTV signal. It transmits two free-to-air channels using the ATSC-M/H standard, at 2.75 Mbit/s, with its first subchannel labelled as "WGBH CH 2".

WGBH-DT2
WGBH launched a digital subchannel on virtual channel 2.2 in December 2005, which initially served as an affiliate of the PBS World news and documentary service (the subchannel was branded as "WGBH World"). In 2007, World programming was moved to the 44.2 subchannel of WGBX; WGBH replaced the network with a standard definition simulcast of its analog feed. The station discontinued the SD simulcast of channel 2.1 on April 17, 2012, when WGBH-DT2 re-assumed the local affiliation rights to World, which was simulcast on WGBX-DT2 for several months after the switch, before the former subchannel became its exclusive Boston outlet.

WGBH-DT3
WGBH launched a tertiary subchannel on virtual channel 2.3 in 2005, which offered high definition program content separate from that seen on the station's analog signal via the PBS-HD satellite feed; in 2008, the subchannel switched to a high-definition simulcast of the analog signal, with standard-definition programming presented in a windowboxed or letterboxed format. WGBH decommissioned the DT3 feed in 2010.

Spectrum auction repacking
In a list announcing the winning bids for stations which participated in the 2016 United States wireless spectrum auction released by the FCC on April 13, 2017, WGBH-TV was disclosed to have agreed to sell a portion of the broadcast spectrum allocated to its UHF channel 19 digital signal for a bid of $161,723,929; in a statement, the station said it would "use the proceeds to expand its educational services to children and students, further its in-depth journalism, and strengthen its modest endowment." The station also consigned to move its digital allocation to a low-band VHF channel; the FCC assigned VHF channel 5 (the former analog channel allocation of WCVB-TV) as the post-repack digital allocation to which WGBH was reassigned once the repacking of auction and repack participant stations were occurred on August 2, 2019. WGBH-TV's post repack facility on VHF 5 is located at the nearby American Tower owned facility on Cabot Street, also in Needham.

Because the VHF channel 5 signal was significantly weaker than the prior UHF channel 19 signal, the repack initially left many over-the-air viewers in the Greater Boston area unable to receive the station's primary broadcasts on WGBH 2.1 and WGBX 44.1. A notice posted on the station's website in August 2018 stated that a power upgrade was forthcoming which would boost the signal from 6.9 kW to 34.5 kW, but that the upgrade was "temporarily on hold, pending the mitigation of the COVID-19 pandemic". In the spring of 2021, the upgrade to 34.5 kW was finally completed, but a VHF antenna specifically designed to receive low-band signals (channels 2-6), such as an FM dipole antenna, is now required for most viewers.

Former translator
WGBH formerly operated a low-power translator in Hyannis, W08CH (channel 8), which later ceased operations. The translator's license and callsign were deleted by the FCC in 2004.

WGBX-TV
WGBH-TV operates a secondary station in the Boston market, WGBX-TV (channel 44), which signed on the air on September 25, 1967. The station's schedule focuses on program genres not covered by WGBH-TV. Reruns of programs aired the previous evening on WGBX and WGBH-TV also make up a portion of the station's programming schedule. WGBX also maintains several digital subchannels that rebroadcast programs produced by WGBH and other PBS member stations, and serves as a multiplex station which also rebroadcasts NBC station WBTS-CD throughout the entire Boston market.

WGBY-TV
GBH also owns WGBY (channel 57), the PBS member station for the Springfield, Massachusetts, market, which signed on the air on September 26, 1971. It was run separately from the Boston operations of WGBH television and radio and WGBX-TV.

In 2019, the station became part of New England Public Media, a joint venture with the local NPR station WFCR.

Media Access Group
Since its creation in 1990, WGBH's Media Access Group is a leading provider of accessible media services to television producers, home video, websites, and movie theaters throughout the United States. The unit originated with the founding of The Caption Center in 1972, which invented the method of closed captioning to improve access to television programs for the deaf and hard-of-hearing (The French Chef was the first program to offer captioning provided by the unit), and created the Rear Window Captioning System for films. Along with providing closed captions for television programs seen on channel 2 and its sister stations, the Media Access Group is a major captioning provider for programs on other broadcast television networks and several cable channels. It also developed the Descriptive Video Service, and is the main provider for audio description soundtracks that give blind and low-vision viewers details about events occurring on-screen within an individual program, which can be found on streaming services as well as PBS stations, select broadcast networks and cable channels.

Online resources
The internet is WGBH's third platform; all radio and television programs produced by the stations have web components that are available at wgbh.org. The WGBH website also incorporates "web-only" productions:
 * WGBH Forum Network – a service offering free online public lecture videos and podcasts, produced in partnership with Boston's leading cultural and educational organizations
 * WGBH Podcasts – available at wgbh.org/podcasts, the service provides exclusive podcasts as well as podcasts related to WGBH original productions (such as Morning Stories, produced for WGBH radio and WGBH.org, The Scrum and Security Mom) available for mobile download
 * WGBH Media Library and Archives – available at openvault.wgbh.org, the site features archived WGBH program content.
 * FFFBI (The Fin, Fur and Feather Bureau of Investigation) – an interactive website aimed at children that was developed through a partnership with National Geographic; the site features interactive games themed in the style of a detective story that are designed to help children learn science and engineering principles.
 * PBS LearningMedia – a partnership with PBS, which provides digital content and solutions for use in grade school instruction.
 * The WGBH Lab – a partnership with the World network, which incorporates featured content produced by independent and public media filmmakers.
 * Engineer Your Life – a partnership with the National Science Foundation, the Northrop Grumman Foundation, Stephen D. Bechtel, Jr. and the United Engineering Foundation, featuring stories and vocational information about careers in the engineering field, aimed at high school girls ages 14 to 17.
 * American Archive of Public Broadcasting—a collaboration between the Library of Congress and WGBH to coordinate a national effort to digitally preserve and make accessible historically significant public radio and television collections created over the past 70+ years.

title: WGBH-TV


text:
Israel Prize

The Israel Prize (פרס ישראל; pras israél) is an award bestowed by the State of Israel, and regarded as the state's highest cultural honor.

History
The Israel Prize is awarded annually, on Israeli Independence Day, in a state ceremony in Jerusalem, in the presence of the President, the Prime Minister, the Speaker of the Knesset (Israel's legislature), and the Supreme Court President. The prize was established in 1953 at the initiative of the Minister of Education Ben-Zion Dinor, who himself went on to win the prize in 1958 and 1973.

Awarding the prize
The prize is awarded in the following four areas, with the precise subfields changing from year to year in a cycle of 4 to 7 years, except for the last area, which is awarded annually:
 * the humanities, social sciences, and Jewish studies
 * life and exact sciences
 * culture, arts, communication and sports
 * lifetime achievement and exceptional contribution to the nation (since 1972)

The recipients of the prize are Israeli citizens or organizations who have displayed excellence in their field(s) or have contributed strongly to Israeli culture. The winners are selected by committees of judges, who pass on their recommendations to the Minister of Education. Prize winners are elected by ad-hoc committees, appointed by the minister of education for each category each year. The decisions of the committee must be unanimous. The prize money was NIS 75,000 as of 2008.

Recipients
Prominent winners include Shmuel Yosef Agnon, Martin Buber, Abba Eban, A. B. Yehoshua, Israel Aumann, Golda Meir, Amos Oz, Ephraim Kishon, Naomi Shemer, David Benvenisti, Leah Goldberg (posthumously) and Teddy Kollek, and organizations such as Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Jewish Agency, Yad Vashem and Jewish National Fund. Though the prize is generally awarded to Israeli citizens only, in exceptional cases it can be awarded to non-Israelis who have held Israeli residency for many years. Zubin Mehta received a special award of the Israel Prize in 1991. Mehta is originally from India and was music advisor and later the music director of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra for 50 years until his retirement in 2019.

Controversy
The decision to award the prize to specific individuals has sometimes led to impassioned political debate. In 1993, the opposition of then Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin to the nomination of Yeshayahu Leibowitz led Leibowitz to decline the prize. In 2004, Education and Culture Minister Limor Livnat, sent the decision to award the prize to the sculptor Yigal Tumarkin back to the prize committee. The decision was brought before the Supreme Court of Israel in the case of publicist Shmuel Shnitzer, politician Shulamit Aloni, professor Zeev Sternhell and Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball club chairman Shimon Mizrahi.

In February 2015, Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu vetoed the appointment of two members of the selection panel for the Israel Prize in Literature, prompting the other three members, including Ziva Ben-Porat, to resign in protest. Netanyahu explained that "[t]oo often, it seemed that the extreme panel members were bestowing the prizes on their friends". One of the prize candidates Yigal Schwartz of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev withdrew his nomination and called on other candidates to do the same. Over the next few days, members of the committees for the literary research and film prizes also resigned, leaving only two members of the original 13, and many other candidates withdrew their nominations. David Grossman withdrew his candidature saying that "Netanyahu's move is a cynical and destructive ploy that violates the freedom of spirit, thought and creativity of Israel and I refuse to cooperate with it".

In August 2021 the Supreme Court of Israel unanimously overturned a decision in June by former Education Minister Yoav Gallant to overrule the award of the Israel Prize in mathematics and computer science to Oded Goldreich because of Goldreich's stated views on the occupied territories. Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit had refused to defend in court Gallant's withholding of the prize, which Mendelblit said "deviated from the range of reasonableness and was not legal." The court's majority opinion ruled that Yifat Shasha-Biton, Gallant's successor as Education Minister, should decide whether to award the prize to Goldreich, while a minority opinion called for Goldreich to receive it without further review. In November 2021, Shasha-Biton announced that she would block Goldreich from receiving the prize. In an editorial, the Jerusalem Post wrote that Goldreich's "[c]alling for the boycott of professional colleagues... is a red line that shouldn't be crossed". A Haaretz editorial said that Shasha-Biton's decision meant "the most prestigious prize awarded by Israel will not be the mark of scientific excellence but of loyalty to the government". The Supreme Court eventually ruled in Goldreich's favour and he received the prize.

In 2024, Education Minister, Yoav Kish announced that the traditional Israel Prize will not be awarded in 2024, and - instead - because of the Oct. 7th massacre - there will be a single category of awards, recognizing Civil Heroism and Mutual Responsibility. The decision caused a lot of resistance, especially since it was seen as a way to avoid giving the prize to Eyal Waldman, an Israeli activist whose daughter was murdered by the Hamas. Following a petition to the High Court of Israel, and the refusal of the Attorney General to defend Minister Kish in front of the Court, the decision was reversed, and the awards and the ceremony were conducted as usual.

In popular culture

 * In the film Footnote, father and son scholars compete for the Israel prize, straining their already complex relationship.

Venue

 * International Convention Center
 * Jerusalem Theatre

title: Israel Prize


text:
Papa Westray

Papa Westray (Papa Westree), also known as Papay, is one of the Orkney Islands in Scotland, United Kingdom. The fertile soil has long been a draw to the island.

Attractions on the island include Holland House with an associated folk museum and the Knap of Howar Neolithic farmstead run by Historic Scotland.

It is the ninth largest of the Orkney Islands with an area of 918 ha. The island's population was 90 as recorded by the 2011 census, an increase of over 35% since 2001 when there were only 65 usual residents. During the same period, Scottish island populations as a whole grew by 4% to 103,702.

Infrastructure
Orkney Ferries sail MV Golden Mariana from Papa Westray to Pierowall's Gill Pier. Twice a week - on Tuesday and Friday - the MV Earl Sigurd or MV Earl Thorfinn provides a direct service to and from Kirkwall on the Orkney Mainland, also serving either Rapness on Westray, or North Ronaldsay. There are also occasional summer Sunday excursions. Britten-Norman Islander aircraft operated by Loganair fly from Papa Westray Airport to Westray, North Ronaldsay, and Kirkwall; the hop from Papa Westray to Westray is the world's shortest scheduled flight, at approximately 2 minutes.

Wildlife
At the northern tip of the island lies North Hill. At 49 m, it is the island's highest point and an RSPB nature reserve. Many seabirds breed on the island, including Arctic terns and Arctic skuas. It was one of the last places where the great auk was found; the last individual was killed in 1813. The reserve is also home to the rare and tiny purple-flowered Scottish primrose Primula scotica.

The sea around most of the island is a Nature Conservation Marine Protection Area, in place to protect the feeding grounds of the island population of black guillemot. More than 500 breeding birds visit these seas each year, with many nesting on the offshore islet of the Holm of Papa.

History
The Knap of Howar Neolithic farmstead (Historic Scotland; accessible at all times) is the oldest preserved house in northern Europe, dating from around 3500 BC. The homestead, which consists of two roughly rectangular stone rooms side by side, linked by an internal door, and with doors to the outside at the west end, is partially subterranean, and virtually complete to roof height. Examples of the round-bottomed Unstan ware have been found here, and provided the key to dating the settlement. According to tradition, in the 8th century AD, the Pictish King Nechtan attempted to seduce a young woman from the island named Triduana, who in response gouged her own eyes out. She later became abbess of a nunnery at Restalrig, now part of Edinburgh, and was in due course canonised as St Tredwell. A chapel was consecrated to her on Papa Westray and became a place of pilgrimage for people with eye complaints.

The island is one of the 'Papeys' or 'islands of the papar'. Joseph Anderson noted that:

"The two Papeys, the great and the little (anciently Papey Meiri and Papey Minni), [are] now Papa Westray and Papa Stronsay ... Fordun in his enumeration of the islands, has a 'Papeay tertia' [third Papey], which is not now known. There are three islands in Shetland called Papey, and both in Orkney and in Shetland, there are several districts named Paplay or Papplay, doubtless the same as Papyli of Iceland."

William Thomson suggests that "perhaps Papay Tercia was the Holm of Papay — not a separate papar-site but a holm subsidiary to Papa Westray".

Also on the island is the 12th-century St Boniface's Church (recently restored; open in summer) with a carved Norse "hogback" gravestone (probably also 12th century) in the churchyard. This stands on a substantial and largely unexcavated 9th century, or earlier, Pictish religious site – possibly including a bishop's residence. Remains of a heavily eroded broch can be seen on the shore. Early Christian carved stones, which may date from as early as the 7th century AD, found at this site are on display in The Orkney Museum in Kirkwall and the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. These may be the earliest evidence for Christianity to survive in the Northern Isles.

Another ancient monument that can be visited is a well-preserved Neolithic chambered cairn on the small island of Holm of Papa Westray, a little east of Papay itself (and readily visible from the larger island). The long, stalled cairn, built of local stone, was once a communal burial place for the bones of an ancient community. It is protected by a modern roof and entered by a man-hole from above. This can be seen at any time of day, but visitors must arrange privately for a boat through the local co-op.

Papa Westray was the birthplace of the Orcadian educator and man of letters, John D. Mackay (1909 – 1970).

St Tredwell's Chapel
The remains of St Tredwell's Chapel stand on a conical mound on a small peninsula (about 4.5 m high and 35 m across in St Tredwell's Loch. The remains of the late medieval walls can be seen, built over Iron Age remains, including a tunnel leading to a circular building or broch. The thick walls of the chapel and records of tracery work indicate an important and well-founded establishment.

The chapel was surveyed by Sir Henry Dryden in 1870 when its walls, of variable thickness, were still up to 6 feet high and the interior measured 20 ft 3in by 13 ft 10ins. The chapel was cleared of rubble by William Traill around 1880. He found 30 copper coins dating between the reigns of Charles II and George III under the chapel floor, along with a female skeleton.

In The Archaeological Sites and Monuments of Papa Westray and Westray, R.G. Lamb (1983:19) notes: "Immediately outside the W wall Traill broke into a subterranean passage which he followed N then NW for some 10m, passing several sets of door-checks and a side-chamber and entering a 'circular building'. Finds from this structure, including a stone ball, are in NMAS (...); others are in Tankerness House Museum (...). The opening into the passage is now blocked by rubble; it is likely that this was part of a complex of late Iron Age buildings, on the wreckage of which the chapel was built. It is possible that that a broch lies at the core of the mound, on the lower SE slope of which a revetment-wall, 1.9m high and traceable for 11m, may be part of an outer wall or ringwork. A few metres to the N of the chapel are the footings of two small subrectangular buildings of indeterminate date. A cross-slab is said to have been seen some years ago in the deep water besides the islet, but an attempted recovery was unsuccessful"

Miraculous cures are associated with St Tredwell, particularly in those suffering from eye afflictions. Pilgrims travelled to Papay from all of Orkney and the north seeking a cure. Marwick, in a paper written in 1925, cites John Brand in his Brief Description of Orkney (1700) as having much to say of the chapel:

"People used to come to it from other isles; before the chapel door was a heap of small stones, 'into which the Superstituous People when they come, do cast a small stone or two for their offering, and some will cast in Money'; the loch is 'held by the People as Medicinal'; 'a Gentleman in the Countrey, who was much distressed with sore Eyes, went to this Loch and Washing there became sound and whole...with both which persons he who was Minister of the place for many years was well acquainted and told us that he saw them both before and after the Cure: The present minister of Westra told me that such as are able to walk use to go so many times about the Loch, as they think will perfect the cure before they make any use of the water, and that without speaking to any... not long since, he went to this Loch and found six so making their circuit...' 'As for this Loch's appearing like Blood, before any disaster befal the Royal Family, as some do report, we could find no ground to believe any such thing."

In the 19th century the Minister of Westray, John Armit, noted that: "Such was the veneration entertained by the inhabitants for this ancient saint, that it was with difficulty that the first Presbyterian minister of the parish could restrain them, of a Sunday morning, from paying their devotions at this ruin, previous to their attendance on public worship in the reformed church. Wonders, in the way of cure of bodily disease, are said to have been wrought by this saint, whose fame is now passed away and name almost forgotten."

title: Papa Westray


text:
Feels like Home (Norah Jones album)

Feels like Home is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter Norah Jones, released on February 10, 2004, through Blue Note Records. It serves as the follow-up to Jones' 2002 breakthrough album, Come Away with Me.

At the 47th Annual Grammy Awards the album was nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album. "Sunrise", the album's lead single, won the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. "Creepin' In", featuring Dolly Parton, was also nominated for a Grammy, in the category of Best Country Collaboration with Vocals.

Critical reception
Feels like Home received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 74 out of 100, which indicates "generally favorable reviews" based on 19 reviews.

Writing for Yahoo! Music, Ken Micallef gave the album a favorable review and said, "Recalling Come Away With Me only for Jones's sultry voice, the album has its share of pleasant throwaways, but those are balanced by a handful of starkly beautiful and excellently arranged songs." The A.V. Club's Keith Phipps also gave it a favorable review and stated that the album "should neither shock old fans nor disappoint those hoping to hear [Jones] reach for more." E! Online gave it a B+ and said, "Instead of making any stupid concessions to her sudden celebrity... the Home girl plays it cool, carrying on with the same smooth vibes that made her a star." Spin also gave it a B+, calling it "A better record than Come Away--less piano bar, more honkey-tonk." Mojo gave it four stars out of five and said the album was "similar to the debut.... But there's a more vivid light-and-shade to the textures and a craft and depth to the compositions that represent a welcome distillation of Jones' art." The Village Voice gave the album a positive review and stated, "If the choice of songs and beat and instrumentation were sometimes restrictive, still the piano and the voice endured." Blender gave it three-and-a-half stars out of five and said that its mood was "more or less the same, if slight friskier."

Other reviews are average, mixed or negative: Uncut gave the album three stars out of five and stated that, "Yes, it's an unchallenging and even deeply conservative record. But its class is positively aristocratic." The Austin Chronicle gave it two stars out of five and said, "Material is everything to a chanteuse, and in contrast to Come Away With Me, the problem here is that Jones wrote/co-wrote almost half of the Home's 13 tracks." The Guardian only gave it one star out of five and said that the album was "so inoffensive you have trouble remembering whether you put it on."

Commercial performance
Feels like Home sold 1,022,000 copies in its first week of release in the U.S. It sold 395,000 copies in its second week and spent its first six weeks of release atop the Billboard 200. It was the second best-selling album of 2004 in the U.S., selling 3,842,920 copies. It stands as the tenth largest first-week sales for a female artist, behind Adele's 25, Taylor Swift’s 1989 (Taylor’s Version) and Midnights, Britney Spears' Oops...! I Did It Again, Taylor Swift's 1989, Reputation, Red, and Speak Now, and Lady Gaga's Born This Way. In the Netherlands, it was the year's best-selling album and the twenty-fourth best-selling album of the 2000s.

Track listing
Writing credits from AllMusic.

Deluxe Edition (CD and DVD)

DVD Contents
 * 1) "In the Morning" (live)
 * 2) "She" (live)
 * 3) "Long Way Home" (live)
 * 4) "Creepin' In" (live)
 * 5) "Sunrise" (music video)
 * 6) "What Am I to You?" (music video)
 * 7) Interview with Norah

Personnel
Musicians

 * Norah Jones – vocals, piano (1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12, 13), Wurlitzer electronic piano (2, 5, 10) , pump organ (9)
 * Garth Hudson – Hammond organ (2), accordion (6)
 * Rob Burger – pump organ (3, 7)
 * Kevin Breit – acoustic guitar (1, 3, 6, 7, 11, 12), resonator guitar (5, 8–10) , banjolin (1) , electric guitar and foot tapping (10) , backup vocal (6)
 * Jesse Harris – acoustic guitar (3, 4)
 * Adam R. Levy – electric guitar (6, 8, 10, 11), acoustic guitar (5) , backup vocal (1, 6, 7)
 * Tony Scherr – electric guitar (2)
 * Lee Alexander – acoustic bass (1–3, 5–12), electric bass (5) , lap steel (12)
 * Brian Blade – drums (12)
 * Andrew Borger – drums (5, 6, 8, 10), slit drum (1) , box (3, 11) , snare drum (7)
 * Levon Helm – drums (2)
 * Dolly Parton – vocal (7)
 * Daru Oda – backup vocals (1, 2, 5–8, 10–12), flutes (11)
 * Jane Scarpantoni – cello (4)
 * David Gold – viola (4)
 * Arif Mardin – string arrangement (4)

Technical

 * Producers: Arif Mardin, Norah Jones
 * Recording and mixing engineer: Jay Newland
 * Assistant engineers: Matthew Cullen, Dick Kondas, Steve Mazur, Aya Takemura
 * Mastering: Gene Paul
 * Mastering assistant: Jamie Polaski
 * A&R: Eliott Wolf
 * A&R Assistant: Danny Markowitz
 * Product manager: Zach Hochkeppel
 * Creative director: Gordon Jee
 * Design production assistant: Burton Yount

title: Feels like Home (Norah Jones album)


text:
Saturn Award for Best Actress

The Saturn Award for Best Actress is one of the annual Saturn Awards given by the American professional organization, the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. The Saturn Awards are the oldest film-specialized reward of achievements in science fiction, fantasy, and horror (another award, the Hugo Award is older but includes other genres and media). The Saturn Award included the Best Actress category for the first time in the 1974 film year.

The Saturn Award for Best Actress is the oldest prize to reward actresses in science fiction, fantasy, and horror films: other awards such as the Academy and Golden Globe Awards, despite supposedly disregarding the genre, gave little recognition to acting quality at the time. In 1996 the Saturns began to reward both film and television acting, and created the Saturn Award for Best Actress on Television. For the first two years it was awarded there were no nominees announced.

The actresses with the most nominations are Jamie Lee Curtis, Jodie Foster, Natalie Portman, Naomi Watts and Sigourney Weaver, who are all tied with five. Curtis, Foster, Portman, Watts and Sandra Bullock are the only actresses to have won it twice. Portman and Michelle Yeoh are the only actresses to win both the Saturn Award and the Academy Award for Best Actress for the same film, while Weaver holds the record for most nominations for playing the same character (Ellen Ripley) with four. Foster is the youngest winner in this category, winning her first award in 1977 at age 13.

Winners and nominees
Legend: {{legend|#B0C4DE|indicates the winner}}

Multiple nominations

 * 6 nominations
 * Natalie Portman

 * 5 nominations
 * Emily Blunt
 * Jamie Lee Curtis
 * Jodie Foster
 * Nicole Kidman
 * Naomi Watts
 * Sigourney Weaver

 * 4 nominations
 * Cate Blanchett
 * Angelina Jolie
 * Jennifer Lawrence

 * 3 nominations
 * Jessica Chastain
 * Margot Kidder
 * Julianne Moore
 * Michelle Pfeiffer
 * Daisy Ridley
 * Ally Sheedy
 * Jessica Tandy
 * Charlize Theron

 * 2 nominations
 * Amy Adams
 * Karen Allen
 * Nancy Allen
 * Kathy Bates
 * Kate Beckinsale
 * Helena Bonham Carter
 * Sandra Bullock
 * Ellen Burstyn
 * Neve Campbell
 * Geena Davis
 * Melinda Dillon
 * Kirsten Dunst
 * Carrie Fisher
 * Linda Hamilton
 * Anjelica Huston
 * Catherine Keener
 * Jennifer Lopez
 * Frances McDormand
 * Penelope Ann Miller
 * Lupita Nyong'o
 * Rosamund Pike
 * Margot Robbie
 * Winona Ryder
 * Zoe Saldaña
 * Sharon Stone
 * Meryl Streep
 * Uma Thurman
 * Mia Wasikowska
 * Michelle Yeoh

Multiple wins

 * 2 wins
 * Sandra Bullock
 * Jamie Lee Curtis
 * Jodie Foster
 * Natalie Portman
 * Naomi Watts

title: Saturn Award for Best Actress


text:
Wrap

Wrap, WRAP or Wrapped may refer to:

Storage and preservation

 * Gift wrap or wrap paper, used to enclose a present
 * Overwrap, a wrapping of items in a package or a wrapping over packages
 * Plastic wrap, a thin, clear, flexible plastic used to cover food
 * Shrink wrap, a polymer used to bundle boxes on a pallet for transport
 * Vehicle wrap, a coloured polymer used to cover a car's paintwork, for advertising purposes or as a cost-effective alternative to a re-spray

Filmmaking

 * Wrap (filmmaking), the end of filming on a movie set
 * "That's a wrap!", an idiom often used by a director on a film set

Music

 * wRAP (album), 2002 album from Finnish rapper Kana
 * "Wrapped" (Gloria Estefan song), the lead single from Gloria Estefan's album Unwrapped
 * "Wrapped" (Bruce Robison song), a Bruce Robison song; covered by Kelly Willis in 1998 and George Strait in 2006
 * Spotify Wrapped, viral marketing campaign by Spotify

Radio

 * WRAP (Florida), defunct Central Florida, USA radio station, which held the WRAP call sign from 1922 until 1923,
 * WVXX Norfolk Virginia, USA radio station, which operated under the WRAP call sign from 1952 until 1954
 * WTAR Norfolk Virginia, USA radio station, which held the WRAP call sign from 1954 until 1987
 * WGPL Portsmouth Virginia, USA radio station, which held the WRAP call sign from 1987 until 1989
 * WRAP (Norfolk), review of three Hampton Roads, Virginia, USA radio stations which operated with the WRAP call sign and related format from 1952 until 1989.

Other arts, entertainment, and media

 * Gallery wrap, a method of mounting an artist's canvas onto a frame
 * Line wrap and word wrap, how text is continued onto the next line
 * Wrapped (magazine), an alternative lifestyle magazine from Africa
 * TheWrap, American news website

Marketing and finance

 * Wrap account, a financial product/platform in which a brokerage manages an investor's portfolio for a flat quarterly or annual fee
 * Wrap advertising, a method of advertising on vehicles
 * Service wrap, a set of non-core services which are bundled with a core service

Organisations

 * Waste & Resources Action Programme, a nonprofit organisation in the United Kingdom
 * Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production, a not-for-profit organization in the United States

Products and services

 * Wrap (clothing), a skirt-like garment
 * Wrap (food), a food item where an outer shell is wrapped around another food item, often a standard sandwich filling or vegetables
 * Mud wrap, a type of spa treatment

Technology

 * .wrap, computer video file format
 * Web Resource Authorization Protocol, an IETF draft for the OAuth protocol; see User-Managed Access
 * Wireless Router Application Platform, a very small form factor personal computer
 * Wire wrap, electric/electronic connections

Other uses

 * Wellness Recovery Action Plan, a therapeutic method and series of self-help books

title: Wrap