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Uhuru (satellite)

Uhuru was the first satellite launched specifically for the purpose of X-ray astronomy. It was also known as the X-ray Explorer Satellite, SAS-A (for Small Astronomy Satellite A, being first of the three-spacecraft SAS series), SAS 1, or Explorer 42. The observatory was launched on 12 December 1970 into an initial orbit of about 560 km apogee, 520 km perigee, 3 degrees inclination, with a period of 96 minutes. The mission ended in March 1973. Uhuru was a scanning mission, with a spin period of ~12 minutes. It performed the first comprehensive survey of the entire sky for X-ray sources, with a sensitivity of about 0.001 times the intensity of the Crab nebula.

Objectives
The main objectives of the mission were:
 * To survey the sky for cosmic X-ray sources in the 2–20 keV range to a limiting sensitivity of 1.5 × 10−18 joule/(cm2-sec), 5 × 10−4 the flux from the Crab Nebula
 * To determine discrete source locations with a precision of a few square minutes of arc for strong sources and a few tenths of a square degree at the sensitivity limit
 * To study the structure of extended sources or complex regions with a resolution of about 30 arc minutes
 * To determine gross spectral features and variability of X-ray sources
 * To perform, wherever possible, coordinated and/or simultaneous observations of X-ray objects with other observers.

Instrumentation
The payload consisted of two sets of proportional counters, each with ~0.084 m2 effective area. The counters were sensitive with more than 10% efficiency to X-ray photons in the ~2–20 keV range. The lower energy limit was determined by the attenuation of the beryllium windows of the counter plus a thin thermal shroud that was needed to maintain temperature stability of the spacecraft. The upper energy limit was determined by the transmission properties of the counter filling gas. Pulse-shape discrimination and anticoincidence techniques were used to filter out emissions of particles and undesirable high-energy photons in the background. Pulse-height analysis in eight energy channels was used to obtain information on the energy spectrum of the incident photons. The two sets of counters were placed back to back and were collimated to 0.52° × 0.52° and 5.2° × 5.2° (full width at half maximum) respectively. While the 0.52° detector gave finer angular resolution, the 5.2° detector had higher sensitivity for isolated sources.

Results
Uhuru achieved several outstanding scientific advances, including the discovery and detailed study of the pulsing accretion-powered binary X-Ray sources such as Cen X-3, Vela X-1, and Her X-1, the identification of Cygnus X-1, the first strong candidate for an astrophysical black hole, and many important extragalactic sources. The Uhuru Catalog, issued in four successive versions, the last being the 4U catalog, was the first comprehensive X-ray catalog, contains 339 objects and covers the whole sky in the 2–6 keV band. The final version of the source catalog is known as the 4U Catalog; earlier versions were the 2U and 3U catalogs. Sources are referenced as, e.g., "4U 1700-37".

Naming
The satellite's name, "Uhuru", is the Swahili word for "freedom". It was named in recognition of the hospitality of Kenya from where it was launched, using the Italian San Marco launch platform near Mombasa.

title: Uhuru (satellite)


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Throne (angel)

In Christian angelology, thrones (θρόνος, pl. θρόνοι; thronus, pl. throni) are a class of angels. This is based on an interpretation of. According to 1 Peter 3:21–22, Christ had gone to Heaven and "angels and authorities and powers" had been made subject to him.

Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite in his work De Coelesti Hierarchia includes the thrones as the third highest of nine levels of angels.

Christian angelology
According to Matthew Bunson, the corresponding order of angels in Judaism is called the abalim or erelim, but this opinion is far from universal. The Hebrew word erelim is usually not translated "thrones", but rather "valiant ones", "heroes", or "warriors". The function ascribed to erelim in and in Jewish folklore is not consistent with the lore surrounding the thrones.

Thrones are sometimes equated with ophanim since the throne of God is usually depicted as being moved by wheels, as in the vision of (Old Testament). Rosemary Ellen Guiley (1996: p. 37) states that:

"The 'thrones'; also known as 'ophanim' (offanim) and 'galgallin', are creatures that function as the actual chariots of God driven by the cherubs. They are characterized by peace and submission; God rests upon them. Thrones are depicted as great wheels containing many eyes, and reside in the area of the cosmos where material form begins to take shape. They chant glorias to God and remain forever in His presence. They mete out divine justice and maintain the cosmic harmony of all universal laws.."

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

title: Throne (angel)


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Twilight

Twilight is light produced by sunlight scattering in the upper atmosphere, when the Sun is below the horizon, which illuminates the lower atmosphere and the Earth's surface. The word twilight can also refer to the periods of time when this illumination occurs.

The lower the Sun is beneath the horizon, the dimmer the twilight (other factors such as atmospheric conditions being equal). When the Sun reaches 18° below the horizon, the twilight's brightness is nearly zero, and evening twilight becomes nighttime. When the Sun again reaches 18° below the horizon, nighttime becomes morning twilight. Owing to its distinctive quality, primarily the absence of shadows and the appearance of objects silhouetted against the lit sky, twilight has long been popular with photographers and painters, who often refer to it as the blue hour, after the French expression l'heure bleue.

By analogy with evening twilight, the word twilight is also sometimes used metaphorically, to imply that something is losing strength and approaching its end. For example, very old people may be said to be "in the twilight of their lives". The collateral adjective for twilight is crepuscular, which may be used to describe the behavior of animals that are most active during this period.

Definitions by geometry
Twilight is defined according to the solar elevation angle θs, which is the position of the geometric center of the Sun relative to the horizon. There are three established and widely accepted subcategories of twilight: civil twilight (nearest the horizon), nautical twilight, and astronomical twilight (farthest from the horizon).

Civil twilight
Civil twilight is the time when the geometric center of the Sun is between the horizon and 6° below the horizon.

Civil twilight is the period when enough natural light remains that artificial light in towns and cities is not needed. In the United States' military, the initialisms BMCT (begin morning civil twilight, i.e., civil dawn) and EECT (end evening civil twilight, i.e., civil dusk) are used to refer to the start of morning civil twilight and the end of evening civil twilight, respectively. Civil dawn is preceded by morning nautical twilight and civil dusk is followed by evening nautical twilight.

Under clear weather conditions, civil twilight approximates the limit at which solar illumination suffices for the human eye to clearly distinguish terrestrial objects. Enough illumination renders artificial sources unnecessary for most outdoor activities. At civil dawn and at civil dusk sunlight clearly defines the horizon while the brightest stars and planets can appear. As observed from the Earth (see apparent magnitude), sky-gazers know Venus, the brightest planet, as the "morning star" or "evening star" because they can see it during civil twilight.

Lawmakers have enshrined the concept of civil twilight. Such statutes typically use a fixed period after sunset or before sunrise (most commonly 20–30 minutes), rather than how many degrees the Sun is below the horizon. Examples include when drivers of automobiles must turn on their headlights (called lighting-up time in the UK), when hunting is restricted, or when the crime of burglary is to be treated as nighttime burglary, which carries stiffer penalties in some jurisdictions.

The period may affect when extra equipment, such as anti-collision lights, is required for aircraft to operate. In the US, civil twilight for aviation is defined in Part 1.1 of the Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs) as the time listed in the American Air Almanac.

Nautical twilight
Nautical twilight is defined as when the geometric center of the Sun is between 12° and 6° below the horizon.

Before nautical dawn and after nautical dusk, sailors cannot navigate via the horizon at sea as they cannot clearly see the horizon. At nautical dawn and nautical dusk, the human eye finds it difficult, if not impossible, to discern traces of illumination near the sunset or sunrise point of the horizon (first light after nautical dawn but before civil dawn and nightfall after civil dusk but before nautical dusk).

Sailors can take reliable star sightings of well-known stars, during the stage of nautical twilight when they can distinguish a visible horizon for reference (i.e. after astronomic dawn or before astronomic dusk). Under good atmospheric conditions with the absence of other illumination, during nautical twilight, the human eye may distinguish general outlines of ground objects but cannot participate in detailed outdoor operations.

Nautical twilight has military considerations as well. The initialisms BMNT (begin morning nautical twilight, i.e. nautical dawn) and EENT (end evening nautical twilight, i.e. nautical dusk) are used and considered when planning military operations. A military unit may treat BMNT and EENT with heightened security, e.g. by "standing to", in which everyone assumes a defensive position.

Astronomical twilight

Astronomical twilight is defined as when the geometric center of the Sun is between 18° and 12° below the horizon. During astronomical twilight, the sky is dark enough to permit astronomical observation of point sources of light such as stars, except in regions with more intense skyglow due to light pollution, moonlight, auroras, and other sources of light. Some critical observations, such as of faint diffuse items such as nebulae and galaxies, may require observation beyond the limit of astronomical twilight. Theoretically, the faintest stars detectable by the naked eye (those of approximately the sixth magnitude) will become visible in the evening at astronomical dusk, and become invisible at astronomical dawn.

Between day and night
Observers within about 48°34' of the Equator can view twilight twice each day on every date of the year between astronomical dawn, nautical dawn, or civil dawn, and sunrise as well as between sunset and civil dusk, nautical dusk, or astronomical dusk. This also occurs for most observers at higher latitudes on many dates throughout the year, except those around the summer solstice. However, at latitudes closer than 8°35' (between 81°25’ and 90°) to either Pole, the Sun cannot rise above the horizon nor sink more than 18° below it on the same day on any date, so this example of twilight cannot occur because the angular difference between solar noon and solar midnight is less than 17°10’.

Observers within 63°26' of the Equator can view twilight twice each day on every date between the month of the autumnal equinox and the month of vernal equinox between astronomical dawn, nautical dawn, or civil dawn, and sunrise as well as between sunset and civil dusk, nautical dusk, or astronomical dusk, i.e., from September 1 to March 31 of the following year in the Northern Hemisphere and from March 1 to September 30 in the Southern Hemisphere.

The nighttime/twilight boundary solar midnight's latitude varies depending on the certain month:

• In the months of January or July, astronomical dawn to sunrise or sunset to astronomical dusk occurs at latitudes less than 48°50' North or South, because in the months of January or July the Sun's declination is less than 23°10' from the Equator;

• In the months of February or August, astronomical dawn to sunrise or sunset to astronomical dusk occurs at latitudes less than 53°47' North or South, because in the months of February or August the Sun's declination is less than 18°13' from the Equator;

• In the months of March or September before the equinoxes, astronomical dawn to sunrise or sunset to astronomical dusk occurs at latitudes less than 63°26' North or South, because in the months of March or September before the equinoxes the Sun's declination is less than 8°34' from the Equator;

• During the equinoxes, astronomical dawn to sunrise or sunset to astronomical dusk occurs at latitudes less than 72°00' North or South, because during the equinoxes the Sun is crossing the Equator line;

• In the months of March or September after the equinoxes, astronomical dawn to sunrise or sunset to astronomical dusk occurs at latitudes less than 67°45' North or South, because in the months of March or September after the equinoxes the Sun's declination is less than 4°15' from the Equator;

• In the months of April or October, astronomical dawn to sunrise or sunset to astronomical dusk occurs at latitudes less than 57°09' North or South, because in the months of April or October the Sun's declination is less than 14°51' from the Equator;

• In the months of May or November, astronomical dawn to sunrise or sunset to astronomical dusk occurs at latitudes less than 50°03' North or South, because in the months of May or November the Sun's declination is less than 21°57' from the Equator;

• In the months of June or December, astronomical dawn to sunrise or sunset to astronomical dusk occurs at latitudes less than 48°34' North or South, because in the month of June the Sun crosses the Tropic of Cancer (about 23°26' North) and in the month of December the Sun crosses the Tropic of Capricorn (about 23°26' South).

Lasting from one day to the next
At latitudes greater than about 48°34' North or South, on dates near the summer solstice (June 21 in the Northern Hemisphere or December 21 in the Southern Hemisphere), twilight can last from sunset to sunrise, since the Sun does not sink more than 18 degrees below the horizon, so complete darkness does not occur even at solar midnight. These latitudes include many densely populated regions of the Earth, including the entire United Kingdom and other countries in northern Europe and even parts of central Europe. This also occurs in the Southern Hemisphere, but occurs on December 21. This type of twilight also occurs between one day and the next at latitudes within the polar circles shortly before and shortly after the period of midnight sun. The summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere is on June 21st, while the summer solstice in the Southern Hemisphere is on December 21st.

 * Civil twilight: between about 60°34' and 65°44' north or south. In the northern hemisphere, this includes the center of Alaska, Iceland, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Faroe Islands and Shetland. In the southern hemisphere this includes parts of the Southern Ocean and the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. When civil twilight lasts all night, this is also referred as a white night.
 * Nautical twilight: between about 54°34' and 60°34' north or south. In the northern hemisphere this includes the center of Alaska, Russia, Canada, Estonia, Latvia, Scotland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Lithuania, and Denmark. In the southern hemisphere this includes the southernmost point of South America, and Ushuaia in Argentina. When nautical twilight lasts all night, this is also referred as a white night.
 * Astronomical twilight: between about 48°34' and 54°34' north or south. In the northern hemisphere, this includes the center of Isle of Man, Aleutian Islands, United Kingdom, Belarus, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Germany, Belgium, Czech Republic, Bellingham, Washington, Orcas Island, Washington, Vancouver, British Columbia, Paris, France, Luxembourg, Guernsey, Ukraine, Slovakia and Hungary. In the southern hemisphere this includes the center of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Bouvet Island, Heard Island, Falkland Islands. It also includes El Calafate and Río Gallegos in Argentina, and Puerto Natales in Chile. When astronomical twilight lasts all night, this does not constitute a white night. This phenomenon is known as the grey nights, nights when it does not get dark enough for astronomers to do their observations of the deep sky.

Between one night and the next
In Arctic and Antarctic latitudes in wintertime, the polar night only rarely produces complete darkness for 24 hours each day. This can occur only at locations within about 5.5 degrees of latitude of the Pole, and there only on dates close to the winter solstice. At all other latitudes and dates, the polar night includes a daily period of twilight, when the Sun is not far below the horizon. Around winter solstice, when the solar declination changes slowly, complete darkness lasts several weeks at the Pole itself, e.g., from May 11 to July 31 at Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station. North Pole has the experience of this from November 13 to January 29.

Solar noon at civil twilight during a polar night: between about 67°24' and 72°34' north or south.

Solar noon at nautical twilight during a polar night: between about 72°34' and 78°34' north or south.

Solar noon at astronomical twilight during a polar night: between about 78°34' and 84°34' north or south.

Solar noon at night during a polar night: between approximately 84°34' and exactly 90° north or south.

Lasting for 24 hours
At latitudes greater than 81°25' North or South, as the Sun's angular elevation difference is less than 18 degrees, twilight can last for the entire 24 hours. This occurs for one day at latitudes near 8°35’ from the Pole and extends up to several weeks the further toward the Pole one goes. This happens both near the North Pole and near the South Pole. The only permanent settlement to experience this condition is Alert, Nunavut, Canada, where it occurs from February 22–26, and again from October 15–19.

Duration

The duration of twilight depends on the latitude and the time of the year. The apparent travel of the Sun occurs at the rate of 15 degrees per hour (360° per day), but sunrise and sunset happen typically at oblique angles to the horizon and the actual duration of any twilight period will be a function of that angle, being longer for more oblique angles. This angle of the Sun's motion with respect to the horizon changes with latitude as well as the time of year (affecting the angle of the Earth's axis with respect to the Sun).

At Greenwich, England (51.5°N), the duration of civil twilight will vary from 33 minutes to 48 minutes, depending on the time of year. At the equator, civil twilight can last as little as 24 minutes. This is true because at low latitudes the Sun's apparent movement is perpendicular to the observer's horizon. But at the poles, civil twilight can be as long as 2–3 weeks. In the Arctic and Antarctic regions, twilight (if there is any) can last for several hours. There is no astronomical twilight at the poles near the winter solstice (for about 74 days at the North Pole and about 80 days at the South Pole). As one gets closer to the Arctic and Antarctic circles, the Sun's disk moves toward the observer's horizon at a lower angle. The observer's earthly location will pass through the various twilight zones less directly, taking more time.

Within the polar circles, twenty-four-hour daylight is encountered in summer, and in regions very close to the poles, twilight can last for weeks on the winter side of the equinoxes. Outside the polar circles, where the angular distance from the polar circle is less than the angle which defines twilight (see above), twilight can continue through local midnight near the summer solstice. The precise position of the polar circles, and the regions where twilight can continue through local midnight, varies slightly from year to year with Earth's axial tilt. The lowest latitudes at which the various twilights can continue through local midnight are approximately 60.561° (60°33′43″) for civil twilight, 54.561° (54°33′43″) for nautical twilight and 48.561° (48°33′43″) for astronomical twilight. These are the largest cities of their respective countries where the various twilights can continue through local solar midnight:
 * Civil twilight (or white night) from sunset to sunrise: Tampere, Oulu, Umeå, Trondheim, Tórshavn, Reykjavík, Nuuk, Whitehorse, Yellowknife, Anchorage, Fairbanks, Arkhangelsk, Yakutsk and Baltasound. In the Southern Hemisphere, the only minor permanent settlement to experience this is Villa Las Estrellas, on the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, politically part of Chile.
 * Nautical twilight (or if brighter, white night) from civil dusk to civil dawn: Saint Petersburg, Moscow, Vitebsk, Vilnius, Riga, Tallinn, Wejherowo, Flensburg, Helsinki, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Oslo, Newcastle upon Tyne, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Belfast, Letterkenny, Petropavl, Nanortalik, Grande Prairie, Juneau, Ushuaia, and Puerto Williams.
 * Astronomical twilight (or grey night) from nautical dusk to nautical dawn: Hulun Buir, Erdenet, Nur-Sultan, Samara, Kyiv, Minsk, Alytus, Warsaw, Košice, Paris, Dublin, Zwettl, Prague, Stanley (Falkland Islands), Berlin, Hamburg, Luxembourg City, Brussels, Amsterdam, London, Cardiff, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Unalaska, Bellingham (largest in the continental USA), Rio Gallegos, and Punta Arenas.
 * Major cities that near astronomical twilight (or grey night) from nautical dusk to nautical dawn: Khabarovsk (48°29'0"N), Dnipro (48°27'0"N), Victoria (48°25'42"N), Saguenay (48°25′0"N), Brest (48°23′26"N), Thunder Bay (48°22′56″N), Vienna (48°12′30″N), Bratislava (48°8′38″N), Munich (48°8'0"N), Seattle (47°36’35"N)

Although Helsinki, Oslo, Stockholm, Tallinn, and Saint Petersburg also enter into nautical twilight after sunset, they do have noticeably lighter skies at night during the summer solstice than other locations mentioned in their category above, because they do not go far into nautical twilight. A white night is a night with only civil twilight which lasts from sunset to sunrise.

At the winter solstice within the polar circle, twilight can extend through solar noon at latitudes below 72.561° (72°33′43″) for civil twilight, 78.561° (78°33′43″) for nautical twilight, and 84.561° (84°33′43″) for astronomical twilight.

On other planets
Twilight on Mars is longer than on Earth, lasting for up to two hours before sunrise or after sunset. Dust high in the atmosphere scatters light to the night side of the planet. Similar twilights are seen on Earth following major volcanic eruptions.

Christianity
In Christian practice, "vigil" observances often occur during twilight on the evening before major feast days or holidays. For example, the Easter Vigil is held in the hours of darkness between sunset on Holy Saturday and sunrise on Easter Day — most commonly in the evening of Holy Saturday or midnight — and is the first celebration of Easter, days traditionally being considered to begin at sunset.

Hinduism
Hinduism prescribes the observance of certain practices during twilight, a period generally called sandhya. The period is also called by the poetic form of gōdhūḷi in Sanskrit, literally "cow dust", referring to the time cows returned from the fields after grazing, kicking up dust in the process. Many rituals, such as Sandhyavandanam and puja, are performed at the twilight hour. Consuming food is not advised during this time. According to some adherents, asuras are regarded to be active during these hours. One of the avatars of Vishnu, Narasimha, is closely associated with the twilight period. According to Hindu scriptures, a asura king, Hiranyakashipu, performed penance and obtained a boon from Brahma that he could not be killed during day or night, neither by human nor animal, neither inside his house nor outside. Vishnu appeared in a half-man half-lion form (neither human nor animal), and ended Hiranyakashipu's life at twilight (neither day nor night) while he was placed in the threshold of his house (neither inside nor outside).

Islam
Twilight is important in Islam as it determines when certain universally obligatory prayers are to be recited. Morning twilight is when morning prayers (Fajr) are done, while evening twilight is the time for evening prayers (Maghrib prayer). Also during Ramadhan, the time for suhoor (morning meal before fasting) ends at morning twilight, while fasting ends after sunset. There is also an important discussion in Islamic jurisprudence between "true dawn" and "false dawn".

Judaism
In Judaism, twilight is considered neither day nor night; consequently it is treated as a safeguard against encroachment upon either. It can be considered a liminal time. For example, the twilight of Friday is reckoned as Sabbath eve, and that of Saturday as Sabbath day; and the same rule applies to festival days.

title: Twilight


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Talk:Bronze Age

Huh?
How can the Copper Age replace the Stone Age? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.0.233.134 (talk) 21:18, 1 March 2016 (UTC)

 * That’s weird. I have never heard of the “Copper Age”. Should this be replaced? 2001:569:5657:1000:EC90:F2E8:7CC2:86DE (talk) 22:35, 9 March 2024 (UTC)
 * It's a term used in some periodizations of some regions. Remsense  诉  02:24, 10 March 2024 (UTC)

This article is forged.
This article has been copied and pasted from an unknown source. This needs fixed. 38.43.22.44 (talk) 19:44, 1 April 2024 (UTC)

 * This seems not to be the case:
 * The only page as far as I can tell that mirrors much of the page's prose verbatim is this slide deck, which was clearly copying from Wikipedia, and was published after all the edits originally adding to the article.
 * The page's edit history does not seem nefarious, I don't see any copyvio editing patterns looking through it.
 * But, that's what I've ascertained from checking known sources. I couldn't say anything about whether it's been copied from an unknown source—no one could say that, oh no! Remsense  诉  19:56, 1 April 2024 (UTC)
 * So this forge was forged from a website that forged wikipedia? 38.43.22.44 (talk) 22:04, 3 April 2024 (UTC)
 * As far as I know, nothing in this Wikipedia article has been plagiarised from another source. Remsense  诉  22:10, 3 April 2024 (UTC)
 * I.e., there's no evidence found to indicate that this article was copied from some other source.
 * Instead, at least one other article was found that copied from this article. See Copyright violations (and see citogenesis, too).
 * (And what you're describing isn't forgery, it's copyright infringement.) Guy Harris (talk) 07:01, 4 April 2024 (UTC)
 * Forgery is a white-collar crime, plagiarism is for the hoi polloi. Remsense  诉  10:04, 4 April 2024 (UTC)
 * Ok. I think I know why now. Thanks. 38.43.22.44 (talk) 18:08, 4 April 2024 (UTC)
 * ok 38.43.22.44 (talk) 18:07, 4 April 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Bronze Age


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Shareholder activism

Shareholder activism is a form of activism in which shareholders use equity stakes in a corporation to put pressure on its management. A fairly small stake (less than 10% of outstanding shares) may be enough to launch a successful campaign. In comparison, a full takeover bid is a much more costly and difficult undertaking. The goals of shareholder activism range from financial (increase of shareholder value through changes in corporate policy, cost cutting, etc.) to non-financial (disinvestment from particular countries, etc.). Shareholder activists can address self-dealing by corporate insiders, although large stockholders can also engage in self-dealing to themselves at the expense of smaller minority shareholders.

Shareholder activism can take any of several forms: proxy battles, publicity campaigns, shareholder resolutions, litigation, and negotiations with management. Daniel Loeb, head of Third Point Management, is notable for his use of sharply written letters directed towards the CEOs of his target companies.

Activism may help to address the principal-agent problem where the management (agents) do not adequately respond to the wishes of the principals (investors) of publicly traded companies. In the 2010s, investments in the activist asset class grew, with activists receiving coverage by the media and positive attention from investors. Activists have typically engaged in adversarial campaigns, but have also in some cases been able to acquire board seats with a formal proxy context.

Shareholder activists are making their mark on mergers and acquisitions as well – a 2015 survey of corporate development leaders found that 60% of respondents saw shareholder activism affecting transaction activity in their industry. Increasingly, however, the non-financial form of shareholder activism is affecting companies in a range of sectors. Shareholders, often with a comparatively small stake in a company, are seeking to influence the company's environmental and social performance.

Some of the recent activist investment funds include: California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS), Icahn Management LP, Santa Monica Partners Opportunity Fund LP, State Board of Administration of Florida (SBA),   and Relational Investors, LLC.

Due to the Internet, smaller shareholders have also gained an outlet to voice their opinions. In 2005, small MCI Inc. shareholders created an online petition to protest the MCI/Verizon merger.

History
Corporations in 18th-century Europe were privileged and relatively uncommon, but in the United States became much more common, starting with 300 in the 1790s and expanding by around 26,000 between 1790 and the 1860s, resulting in about 15 times the corporations in Great Britain by 1830. These early corporations contained various provisions for corporate governance, including restricted charters, bylaws, prudent-mean voting rules, dividend payments, and press coverage.

From 1900 to 1950, about 1.22 "offensive" activist initiatives occurred per year, with more occurring in the 1940s and 1950s. Notable investors included Cyrus S. Eaton, Phoenix Securities Corporation, Benjamin Graham, J. Paul Getty, and Malcolm Chace. Activism was likely limited by the lack of ownership dispersion, meaning that many corporations had large shareholders with sizable blocks (10 to 20% of total shares) who already exerted significant control over the corporation.

Notable investors
Notable activist investors include: Isaac Le Maire (1558–1624), Carl Icahn, Nelson Peltz (Trian Partners), Bill Ackman (Pershing Square), Daniel Loeb (Third Point Management), Barry Rosenstein, Larry Robbins (Glenview), David Einhorn, Gregg Hymowitz (EnTrust Global), Christer Gardell (Cevian Capital), and Ryan Cohen.

During the 1980s, activist investors such as Carl Icahn and T. Boone Pickens gained international notoriety and were often perceived as "corporate raiders" for acquiring an equity stake in publicly owned companies, like Icahn's investment in B.F. Goodrich, and then forcing companies to take action to improve value or rid themselves of rebel intruders like Icahn by buying back the raider's investment at a fat premium, often at the expense of the other shareholders. More recently, activist investor Phillip Goldstein suggested that the role of the activist investor has moved from green mail to one of being a catalyst to unlock value in an underlying security, and says that the public perception of activist investors as "corporate raiders" has dissipated.

In 2019, notable activist investors included Starboard Value, Icahn Enterprises, Elliot Management, and Third Point. In 2019, mutual funds such as Wellington Management Company had begun to show signs of activism.

Examples of activist investors in Asia include Oasis Management.

Outreach strategies
Activist investors advertise their message out in various ways including postal mail, websites, and social media.

Statistics
As of 2018, there had been an average of 272 activist campaigns per year in the United States, including 47 proxy contests. About 47% of targeted companies were outside of the United States.

Proxy advisory
As of 2020, passive investors such as index funds by Vanguard as well as non-activist but still active management investors such as mutual funds play a significant role in corporate governance. These firms use proxy advisory firms such as Institutional Shareholder Services to receive recommendations on how to vote on shareholder proposals.

Funding
Activist investors are often hedge funds funded by accredited investors and institutions. In 2019, institutions were demanding more upfront explanation of the activist ideas before funding, and in some cases requiring that the funds be placed into special purpose vehicles specifically for the project. Activist hedge funds, which are hedge funds that "take concentrated positions in the equity of public corporations and actively engage with corporate managers" can address the principal-agent problem and limit self-dealing by providing management with high-powered incentives to increase value.

Offensive versus defensive
Shareholder activism can be categorized as "offensive" or "defensive"; in the latter case, an existing shareholder attempts to correct some deficiency, while offensive activists build a position with the intention to agitate for change. Shareholders can also initiative a derivative suit to force action by the corporation. Shareholders can also engage in a securities class action but these are typically not associated with activism.

Laws
In the United States, acquisition of over 5% of beneficial ownership in a company with the intention to influence leadership must be accompanied by a Schedule 13D filing; investors who do not intend to become activists may file a Schedule 13G instead.

Proxy access
Historically, investors were required to mail separate ballots when trying to nominate someone of their own to the board, but beginning in 2015, proxy access rules began to spread driven by initiatives from major institutional investors, and as of 2018, 71% of S&P 500 companies had a proxy access rule.

Voting
Votes for the board may be "straight" or "cumulative". In straight voting (aka statutory voting), shareholders get one vote per share on all ballot questions (e.g., candidates for the board of directors or shareholder proposals). In cumulative voting, a shareholder receives a general vote for however many number of ballot questions there are. The votes can then be all cast for (or against) a single ballot question, which makes it easier for minority shareholders to elect candidates. There has also been a movement toward "majority" voting, where a candidate must receive the majority of votes. Most large corporations are incorporated in Delaware due to the well-developed Delaware General Corporation Law; in Delaware, cumulative voting is optional, but exceptions exist; for example, a California-based but Delaware-registered corporation may be "pseudo-foreign" under California law and therefore have to comply with California law.

Performance
Taking an activist approach to public investing may produce returns in excess of those likely to be achieved passively. A 2012 study by Activist Insight showed that the mean annual net return of over 40 activist-focused hedge funds had consistently outperformed the MSCI world index in the years following the global financial crisis in 2008. Activist investing was the top-performing strategy among hedge funds in 2013, with such firms returning, on average, 16.6% while other hedge funds returned 9.5%.

Research
Shareholder activism directed at both European and American companies has been surging. A 1996 study found that larger firms with higher institutional holdings made firms more likely to be targeted by activist investors. Researchers also try to understand what makes company a desirable target for an activist investor. Lately, both scholars and practitioners started using machine learning methodologies to predict both targets and activists.

Retail involvement
Any shareholder, including a non-institutional retail investors, may submit a shareholder proposal in the United States, and between 1934 and the mid-1980s these shareholders typically submitted proposals. One estimate placed institutional owners at 68% of shares and retail at 32% of shares, but 98% of institutional owners vote and only 28% of retail owners vote. Institutional shareholders, however, often vote automatically upon the advice of proxy advisory firms; allowing retail shareholders to vote based upon a guideline ("standing voting instructions") has been proposed to increase their involvement.

Various websites have been created to facilitate retail involvement, including Moxy Vote, Shareowners.org, United States Proxy Exchange and ProxyDemocracy.org, but over time these generally shut down.

Political and labor involvement
Labor unions, including through pension funds such as CalPERS coalitions such as the Change to Win Federation often engage in shareholder proposals. The Shareholder Rights Group is a coalition of shareholder proposal advocates.

Socially responsible investing
Organizations such as the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), As You Sow and Ceres use shareholder resolutions, and other means of pressure, to address issues such as sustainability and human rights.

For an analysis of the hundreds of annual shareholder resolutions, see Proxy Preview.

title: Shareholder activism


text:
White Night

White night, White Night, or White Nights may refer to:

 * White night (astronomy), a night in which it never gets completely dark, at high latitudes outside the Arctic and Antarctic Circles
 * White Night festivals, all-night arts festivals held in many cities worldwide in the summer
 * White Nights Festival, an annual arts festival in St. Petersburg, Russia during the season of the midnight sun

Literature

 * White Night (The Dresden Files), a 2007 book by Jim Butcher
 * White Night, a 2004 novel by Keigo Higashino
 * White Nights (book), an autobiographical memoir by Menachem Begin, the sixth Prime Minister of Israel
 * "White Nights" (short story) by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Film and TV

 * White Night (1968 film), a 1968 South Korean film
 * White Night (2009 film), a South Korean mystery thriller
 * White Night (2012 film), a South Korean romantic drama
 * White Night (2017 film), a Canadian comedy-drama anthology
 * White Nights (1916 film), directed by Alexander Korda
 * White Nights (1957 film), by Luchino Visconti
 * White Nights (1985 film), a 1985 film starring Mikhail Baryshnikov and Gregory Hines
 * Night Light, South Korean TV series also known as White Nights

Music

 * White Nights (soundtrack), the soundtrack for the 1985 film, White Nights
 * White Night (album), 2017, Taeyang's third studio album
 * "White Night", a song by Amorphis from the 2015 album Under the Red Cloud
 * "White Nights" (song), a 2011 song by Oh Land
 * White Nights (radio), 2006 series
 * White Night World Tour, a 2017 concert tour by South Korean singer Taeyang

Other uses

 * White Night (Jonestown), practice at Peoples Temple Agricultural Project, aka Jonestown
 * White Nights (badminton), an open international badminton tournament in Russia
 * White Night riots, unrelated to the astronomical phenomenon
 * White Night (video game), a 2015 video game by Activision

title: White Night


text:
Józef Kostrzewski

Józef Kostrzewski (25 February 1885 - 19 October 1969) was a Polish archaeologist.

Kostrzewski was born in Węglewo (now in Poznań County). He studied first in Kraków, then from 1910 onwards with Gustaf Kossinna at Berlin and graduated in 1914. Back in Poland, he was to turn Kossinna's settlement-archaeological method ("Siedlungsarchäologische Methode") against its creator and to try to prove a Slavonic autochthonism in Poland from at least the Bronze Age (Lusatian culture) onwards.

Kostrzewski became professor of prehistory at the newly founded University of Poznań in 1919, and from 1934 conducted the excavation of the Iron Age settlement of Biskupin, which he continued after the war.

After 1918, Kostrzewski became involved in bitter polemics about the ethnic ascription of the Lusatian and Pomeranian cultures with the German archaeologist Bolko von Richthofen.

During the German occupation of Poland during World War II, Polish universities and museums were closed, the finds were often transported to Germany, and many scholars were arrested, tortured and detained, or murdered.

Kostrzewski hid from the Gestapo during the war, but returned to his Poznań chair in 1945. He died in Poznań in 1969, aged 84.

Publications

 * Gród prasłowiański w Biskupine w powiecie żnińskim (Poznań 1938).
 * Kultura prapolska (1947)
 * with W. Chmielelewski and K. Jażdżewski, Pradzieje Polski (Wrocław 1965)

title: Józef Kostrzewski


text:
Ditsong National Museum of Cultural History

The Ditsong National Museum of Cultural History is a museum that showcases the various stages and forms of culture in South Africa. It is part of the Ditsong Museums of South Africa. The museum is located in Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa.

History
The Ditsong National Museum of Cultural History is housed in the old South African Mint building. The museum was amalgamated with the Pretoria-based Transvaal Museum for Natural History (now the Ditsong National Museum of Natural History and the Johannesburg-based South African National Museum of Military History on 1 April 1999 to form the Northern Flagship Institution (NFI).

In April 2010 the new name was launched, and the NFI became Ditsong Museums of South Africa. Ditsong is managed by a chief executive officer and a board, which replaced the three separate previous museum boards.

Exhibits
The collection of the museum includes objects such as excavated archaeological material and artworks, historical documents, archives, various current and historical audiovisuals, Stone Age, Iron Age and historic archaeology sites, historical buildings, and early domesticated animals.


text:
List of grammatical cases

This is a list of grammatical cases as they are used by various inflectional languages that have declension.

This list will mark the case, when it is used, an example of it, and then finally what language(s) the case is used in.

Location and movement
Note: Most cases used for location and motion can be used for time as well.

Morphosyntactic alignment
For meanings of the terms agent, patient, experiencer, and instrument, see thematic relation.

title: List of grammatical cases


text: User:Hephaestos/Pictures

title: User:Hephaestos/Pictures


text:
Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical

The Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical is an honor presented at the Tony Awards, a ceremony established in 1947 as the Antoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Theatre, to actresses for quality leading roles in a musical play, whether a new production or a revival. The awards are named after Antoinette Perry, an American actress who died in 1946.

Honors in several categories are presented at the ceremony annually by the Tony Award Productions, a joint venture of The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing, to "honor the best performances and stage productions of the previous year."

The award was originally called the Tony Award for Actresses—Musical. It was first presented to Grace Hartman at the 2nd Tony Awards for her portrayal of various characters in Angel in the Wings. Before 1956, nominees' names were not made public; the change was made by the awards committee to "have a greater impact on theatregoers".

In 1965, Liza Minnelli, age 19, became the youngest actress to win the award. She is followed by Lea Salonga, age 20, in 1991. In 2017, Bette Midler, age 71, became the oldest actress to win the award. She is followed by Victoria Clark, age 63, in 2023.

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

Most wins
• ; 4 wins

• Angela Lansbury

• ; 3 wins

• Mary Martin

• Gwen Verdon

• ; 2 wins

• Lauren Bacall

• Victoria Clark

• Christine Ebersole

• Sutton Foster

• Patti LuPone

• Liza Minnelli

• Donna Murphy

• Bernadette Peters

• Chita Rivera

Most nominations
• ; 8 nominations

• Chita Rivera

• ; 7 nominations

• Sutton Foster

• Kelli O'Hara

• ; 6 nominations

• Bernadette Peters

• ; 5 nominations

• Patti LuPone

• Donna Murphy

• Gwen Verdon

• ; 4 nominations

• Carol Channing

• Angela Lansbury

• Mary Martin

• ; 3 nominations

• Julie Andrews

• Jessie Mueller

• Christine Ebersole

• Dee Hoty

• Dorothy Loudon

• Audra McDonald

• Ethel Merman

• Liza Minnelli

• Faith Prince

• ; 2 nominations

• Lauren Bacall

• Stephanie J. Block

• Georgia Brown

• Carolee Carmello

• Kristin Chenoweth

• Victoria Clark

• Carmen Cusack

• Sandy Duncan

• Nanette Fabray

• Dolores Gray

• Barbara Harris

• Judy Kuhn

• LaChanze

• Beth Leavel

• Beatrice Lillie

• Rebecca Luker

• Marin Mazzie

• Patina Miller

• Idina Menzel

• Eva Noblezada

• Laura Osnes

• Tonya Pinkins

• Maryann Plunkett

• Alice Ripley

• Sherie Rene Scott

• Alexis Smith

• Elaine Stritch

• Inga Swenson

• Nancy Walker

Character win total

 * 3 wins
 * Anna Leonowens from The King and I
 * Rose from Gypsy

 * 2 wins
 * Desiree Armfeldt from A Little Night Music
 * Celie Harris Johnson from The Color Purple
 * Dolly Gallagher Levi from Hello, Dolly!

Character nomination total
• ; 5 nominations

• Rose from Gypsy

• ; 4 nominations

• Mrs. Lovett from Sweeney Todd

• Peter Pan from Peter Pan and Jerome Robbins' Broadway

• ; 3 nominations

• Anna Leonowens from The King and I

• Charity Hope Valentine from Sweet Charity

• Phyllis Rogers Stone from Follies

• ; 2 nominations

• Amalia Balash from She Loves Me

• The Baker's Wife from Into the Woods

• Bess from Porgy and Bess

• Caroline Thibodeaux from Caroline, or Change

• Celie Harris Johnson from The Color Purple

• Desiree Armfeldt from A Little Night Music

• Dolly Gallagher Levi from Hello, Dolly!

• Dot / Marie from Sunday in the Park with George

• Eliza Doolittle from My Fair Lady

• Ella Peterson from Bells Are Ringing

• Ensign Nellie Forbush from South Pacific

• Fiona MacLaren from Brigadoon

• Kim from Miss Saigon

• Lilli Vanessi / Katharine from Kiss Me, Kate

• Lily Garland / Mildred Plotka from On the Twentieth Century

• Lizzie Curry from 110 in the Shade

• Lucille Frank from Parade

• Marian Paroo from The Music Man

• Mother from Ragtime

• Reno Sweeney from Anything Goes

• Ruth Sherwood from Wonderful Town

• Sally Bowles from Cabaret

• Sarah Brown from Guys and Dolls

• Velma Kelly from Chicago

Characters nominated for both the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play and the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical
• Joan of Arc from Goodtime Charley, Saint Joan, Joan of Lorraine and The Lark

• Countess Aurelia from The Madwoman of Chaillot and Dear World

• Sally Bowles from I Am a Camera and Cabaret

• Leona Samish from The Time of the Cuckoo and Do I Hear a Waltz?

• Dolly Gallagher Levi from The Matchmaker and Hello Dolly!

• Lena Younger from A Raisin in the Sun and Raisin

• Mame Dennis from Auntie Mame and Mame

• Eliza Gant from Look Homeward, Angel and Angel

• Claire Zachanassian The Visit (play) and The Visit (musical)

• Sister Margaret Alexander from The Amen Corner and Amen Corner (musical)

• Eliza Doolittle from Pygmalion and My Fair Lady

• Lizzie Curry from The Rainmaker and 110 in the Shade.

• Lily Garland / Mildred Plotka from Twentieth Century and On the Twentieth Century

• Madame Arcati from Blithe Spirit and High Spirits

• Anna Christopherson from Anna Christie and New Girl in Town

Productions with multiple nominations
boldface=winner
 * New Girl in Town – Thelma Ritter and Gwen Verdon (tie)
 * Company – Susan Browning and Elaine Stritch
 * Follies – Dorothy Collins and Alexis Smith
 * Chicago – Chita Rivera and Gwen Verdon
 * Annie – Dorothy Loudon and Andrea McArdle
 * Dreamgirls – Jennifer Holliday and Sheryl Lee Ralph
 * The Rink – Liza Minnelli and Chita Rivera
 * Black and Blue – Ruth Brown and Linda Hopkins
 * Guys and Dolls – Josie de Guzman and Faith Prince
 * Urinetown – Nancy Opel and Jennifer Laura Thompson
 * Wicked – Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel
 * War Paint – Christine Ebersole and Patti LuPone
 * The Prom – Caitlin Kinnunen and Beth Leavel

Multiple awards and nominations

 * Actresses who have been nominated multiple times in any acting categories


text:
Lune

Lune may refer to:

Rivers

 * River Lune, in Lancashire and Cumbria, England
 * River Lune, Durham, in County Durham, England
 * Lune (Weser), a 43 km-long tributary of the Weser in Germany
 * Lune River (Tasmania), in south-eastern Tasmania, Australia

Place names

 * Lune Aqueduct, east of the city of Lancaster in Lancashire, England
 * Lune Forest, Site of Special Scientific Interest in Cumbria, England
 * Lune River, Tasmania, Australia, a town near the mouth of the river of the same name
 * Lüne, a former village near Lüneburg in Saxony where Charlemagne mustered his troops against the Avars

Mathematics

 * Lune (geometry), a 2-dimensional arc-defined convex-concave area
 * Lune of Hippocrates, in geometry, a plane region bounded by arcs of circles and amenable to quadrature
 * Spherical lune, a 3-dimensional lune

People

 * Ted Lune (1920–1968), British actor, played Private Len Bone in the TV series The Army Game
 * Dragutin Jovanović-Lune (1892–1932), nicknamed Lune (Луне), Serbian guerrilla fighter, officer, politician, delegate and mayor of Vrnjci

Films

 * Moon (2020 film) (Lune), a short film by Zoé Pelchat
 * Lune (2021 film), a 2021 feature film by Arturo Pérez Torres and Aviva Armour-Ostroff

Ships

 * French ship Lune (1641), 38-gun ship of the line of the French Royal Navy
 * PS Lune (1892), paddle steamer passenger vessel operated from 1892 to 1913

Fictional places and characters

 * Lhûn or River Lune in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium
 * Gulf of Lune, also from J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium
 * King Lune, a fictional character in The Horse and His Boy in The Chronicles of Narnia
 * Misha Arsellec Lune, a fictional character from Ar tonelico: Melody of Elemia

Other uses

 * Lune (poetry), a fixed-form variant of haiku in English
 * La Lune, a former French newspaper
 * LuneOS, a Linux-based mobile operating system

title: Lune


text:
Wardrobe (disambiguation)

A wardrobe is a cabinet used for storing clothes.

Wardrobe or Wardrobes may also refer to:
 * Wardrobe (clothing), a full set of multiple clothing items, particularly in the acting professions
 * Wardrobe (government), part of royal administration in medieval England
 * Wardrobe (museum), a military museum in Salisbury
 * Wardrobe stylist, someone who picks out the clothing worn by celebrities, models or other public figures
 * Wardrobe supervisor, in theatre, the person responsible for supervising all wardrobe related activities
 * Royal Wardrobe, a building destroyed in the Great Fire of London of 1666
 * Mick Wardrobe (born 1962), English association football player
 * Papa Bouba Diop (born 1978), Senegalese football player nicknamed "The Wardrobe"
 * Wardrobe, a character in Disney's 1991 animated film Beauty and the Beast
 * The Wardrobe (video game), a 2017 video game
 * Wardrobes, a hamlet in Lacey Green, Buckinghamshire, England

title: Wardrobe (disambiguation)


text:
Talk:Basket

Which technique came first, basketry or weaving? Wetman 16:56, 14 Mar 2004 (UTC)

This page needs a picture—Trevor Caira 22:41, 22 Dec 2004 (UTC)

 * It's got a wonderful one now! -- Chris 22:24, 1 November 2006 (UTC)

The page seems to be weighed towards describing baskets as historical or tribal objects instead of a long-lived contemporary craft. Maybe the views could be separated or made more neutral somehow?

Where did the Gift Basket Originate?
"Since the beginning of mankind, man has woven grasses, straw, twigs and branches to create baskets. Early uses for the basket were to store dry goods and to transport food and materials. In biblical times, larger baskets were used for transporting people and goods on the water. Always a useful, sturdy container, it was a tool of man for tens of thousands of years."

The First American Gift Baskets

When the Mayflower landed on the shores of America, the European settlers were greeted with the first gift baskets. Dried fish and meats, corn, beans and other vegetables were presented to the settlers, by the American Indians, to welcome their arrival. In the 1700 and 1800’s, individuals created baskets full of fruits, foods and candies for Christmas, Easter and other holidays. Today’s gift baskets are crafted to the individual recipients tastes for holidays, special occasions or “just because” gift giving. Fruits, foods and candies now share space in gift baskets with “useable” items for the baby, the bath, the kitchen or for play. The baskets or boxes themselves are designed to be creatively used as well by the recipient once they’ve enjoyed the contents of the gift basket. Many baskets, of all different styles and themes, can be found at websites such as [Giftbaskey.com] and [GiftBaskets.com].

Article by: L Flynn —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Torree (talk • contribs) 12:39, 9 February 2007 (UTC).

Baskets as Art
Someone might want to tackle the issue of baskets as art, such as the following contemporary basket collections. I'm sure there are historic collections as well. I'm upgrading the article on the Erie Art Museum in Erie, Pennsylvania. They have a contemporary basket collection as part of the permanent holdings of the museum, but it seems useless to link the article to the basket page. If I've missed the internal link to collectible art baskets, let me know.--Pat 03:14, 25 June 2007 (UTC)
 * Arkansas Arts Center
 * Sylvia White Collection
 * Sara and David Lieberman Collection
 * del Mano Gallery

External links modified
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Infobombing for the moment here...

Basket Age

 * ''There are two reasons, according to Jim Adovasio, we don’t think of baskets or textiles when we think of the Stone Age. One is that stones and bones, being far more durable, are far more common at archeological sites than artifacts made of fiber. But the other reason, says Adovasio, an archeologist at Mercyhurst College in Erie, Pennsylvania, is a bias on the part of archeologists who study the era. The Upper Paleolithic record has largely been interpreted by males who are closet macho hunters of the steppes--if not explicit ones, he says. Their emphasis has been on stone technology, large-animal hunting, and the accoutrements of machismo. Weaving isn’t as exciting as running around sticking things into mammoths.

 * ''And yet it has been around a long time, as four small pieces of clay described by Adovasio this past year make clear. Found at a site called Pavlov in the Czech Republic, they are 27,000 years old--and impressed with patterns that could only have been created by woven fibers. These artifacts push back the date of the earliest known weaving by 10,000 years.

 * "The conventional wisdom has been that a time-consuming task like weaving would only be practiced by sedentary, agrarian cultures. The people of Pavlov were hunter-gatherers, but technologically sophisticated ones-- the world’s oldest known ceramics were also discovered at the site. University of Illinois archeologist Olga Soffer was looking for more ceramics when she happened upon a few pieces of fired clay with regular impressions. I had no idea what it was, Soffer recalls, but I knew I was dealing with something important.

 * Pavlovian culture

The Gravettian of Moravia – The Pavlovian and the Willendorf-Kostenkian
http://www.anthropark.wz.cz/pavlova.htm

Textile impressions in fragments of fired and raw clay

 * The scientists noticed unusual regular parallel lines in the fired clay unearthed in the Pavlov Hills sites. James M. Adovasio (working together with Olga Soffer), a specialist in prehistoric textiles, who studies Palaeolithic Indian sites in America, was the first to evaluate these lines as textile impressions. He even proved various types of twining and manufacturing of ropes. The Pavlovian sites yielded the oldest proof of the existence of textile in the past of the Homo sapiens. Fibres from nettles were probably utilized, but import of plants giving finer fibres from warmer regions could also be possible. In eastern Europe there exists a calvary unearthed near the Skhodnya River, which also bears a surface structure reminding of an imprint of a coarse textile. The calvary was studied by O.N.Bader, who was also involved in the excavations of the Sungir site. It is still unclear if it is an impression of textile made deliberately by people.

 * Kortoso (talk) 05:05, 22 June 2020 (UTC)

Another type of basket
See Talk:Inca road system for another type of basket. Peter Horn User talk 01:17, 13 May 2021 (UTC)

"Bakset" listed at Redirects for discussion
A discussion is taking place to address the redirect Bakset. The discussion will occur at Redirects for discussion/Log/2021 May 26 until a consensus is reached, and readers of this page are welcome to contribute to the discussion. -- Tamzin (she/they, no pref.) | o toki tawa mi. 22:26, 26 May 2021 (UTC)

Basket materials
See relevant information at

Garden furniture - materials section

Resin wicker

78.149.120.57 (talk) 15:41, 2 July 2023 (UTC)

title: Talk:Basket


text:
Ditsong National Museum of Natural History

The Ditsong National Museum of Natural History, formerly the Transvaal Museum, is a natural history museum situated in Pretoria, South Africa. It is located on Paul Kruger Street, between Visagie and Minnaar Streets, opposite the Pretoria City Hall. The museum was established in 1895 by the former South African Republic, also known as the Transvaal. In 2010 it was one of the founding museums of Ditsong Museums of South Africa.

Collections
The museum curates large collections of Plio-Pleistocene fossils, including hominids from Sterkfontein, Swartkrans and Kromdraai in the UNESCO World Heritage Site; the Cradle of Humankind, as well as late Permian therapsids (proto-mammals from the Karoo). The most complete skull of an Australopithecus africanus specimen, Mrs Ples, is on display in the museum. In addition, the Transvaal museum houses extensive collections of mammals, birds, reptiles, and invertebrates.

History

It was founded as the Staatsmuseum (Afrikaans for "State Museum") of the ZAR on 1 December 1892, and J. W. B. Gunning was appointed as its first director. For the first two years after it was founded, the museum was located in the Ou Raadsaal parliament building.

The Transvaal Museum was amalgamated with the Pretoria-based National Cultural History Museum (also called the African Window) and the South African National Museum of Military History (situated in Johannesburg) on 1 April 1999 to form the Northern Flagship Institution. The NFI was officially renamed Ditsong Museums of South Africa in April 2010. The Transvaal Museum was renamed Ditsong National Museum of Natural History on the same date. Ditsong is managed by a chief executive officer and a board, which replaced the three separate previous museum boards.


text:
Explorer Plate

The Explorer Plate is an oceanic tectonic plate beneath the Pacific Ocean off the west coast of Vancouver Island, Canada, which is partially subducted under the North American Plate. Along with the Juan de Fuca Plate and Gorda Plate, the Explorer Plate is a remnant of the ancient Farallon Plate, which has been subducted under the North American Plate. The Explorer Plate separated from the Juan de Fuca Plate roughly 4 million years ago. In its smoother, southern half, the average depth of the Explorer plate is roughly 2400 m and rises up in its northern half to a highly variable basin between 1400 m and 2200 m in depth.

Boundaries
The eastern boundary of the Explorer Plate is being subducted under the North American Plate. The southern boundary is a collection of transform faults, the Sovanco Fracture Zone, separating the Explorer Plate from the Pacific Plate. To the southeast is another transform boundary, the Nootka Fault, which separates the Explorer Plate from the Juan de Fuca Plate and forms a triple junction with the North American Plate. To the northwest is a divergent boundary with the Pacific Plate forming the Explorer Ridge, and the Winona Basin located within the northwest boundaries and the Pacific continental shelf. The Queen Charlotte triple junction is located where the Pacific Plate and North American Plate meets with the Explorer Plate.

Formation and evolution
Upon breaking apart 4 million years ago, the Juan De Fuca Plate continued moving northeast at 26 mm/year (1 in/year) while the Explorer Plate's velocity changed, stalling or moving slowly north up to 20 mm/year. The Nootka Fault boundary between the Juan De Fuca Plate and the Explorer Plate has varied in length and direction since their separation. The formation of the Nookta Fault and the shearing of plate boundaries has caused a clockwise rotation, reorienting the Sovanco Fracture Zone northwards along the North American Plate and slowing the Explorer Plate's subduction. The Sovanco Fracture Zone originated as a spreading center offset more than 7 million years ago which shows southward movement from the influence of the Explorer ridge and results in uneven spreading eastward unto the Explorer Plate.

Current state of subduction
The subducted portion of the plate extends downward to more than 300 km (186 mi) depth, and laterally as far as mainland Canada. The relative buoyancy of the subducting plate and the underlying mantle may be inhibiting the Explorer Plate's ability to descend further into the mantle.

There is an ongoing debate regarding the process of subduction of the Explorer Plate and how the boundary between the Explorer plate and the North American Plate are defined:
 * 1) The Explorer Plate has stopped and may eventually accrete, fusing with the North American plate as the subduction has fully stopped and will eventually become a plate boundary between the North American Plate and Pacific Plate rather than continuing its subduction.
 * 2) The Explorer Plate consists of two parts with half being fused to the North American Plate and the other half remaining a microplate system.
 * 3) The Explorer Plate has slowed to a terminal speed of 20 mm/year, and will continue until the entire plate is subducted.

Seismic activity
As a part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, the Explorer Plate has a high level of seismic activity. However, the activity consists of low-magnitude events; no earthquake above magnitude 6.5 has been recorded in the region, though a swarm of several dozen magnitude 5–6 earthquakes occurred just north of the Seminole Seamount in 2008. The Explorer Plate is the most seismically active area of Canada, but is anomalous as a subduction zone since most of the seismic activity occurs around the plate's perimeter rather than at the subduction interface. Events are generally centered around the southern and north-western areas where the borders of the plate are in contact with other plates; however, the newer ocean crust created at Explorer ridge and Juan de Fuca ridge reduces the rigidity of the region and contributes to the low magnitude of events in the region.

title: Explorer Plate


text:
Tin Toy

Tin Toy is a 1988 American animated short film produced by Pixar and directed by John Lasseter. The short film, which runs for five minutes, stars Tinny, a tin one-man band toy, trying to escape from Billy, a human baby. The third short film produced by the company's small animation division, it was a risky investment: due to the low revenue produced by Pixar's main product, the Pixar Image Computer, the company was under financial constraints.

Lasseter pitched the concept for Tin Toy by storyboard to Pixar owner Steve Jobs, who agreed to finance the short despite the company's struggles, which he kept alive with annual investment. The film was officially a test of the PhotoRealistic RenderMan software and proved new challenges to the animation team, namely the difficult task of realistically animating Billy. Tin Toy later gained attention from Disney, who sealed an agreement to create Toy Story starring Tom Hanks and Tim Allen, which was primarily inspired by elements from Tin Toy.

The short film debuted in a completed edit at the SIGGRAPH convention in August 1988 to a standing ovation from scientists and engineers. The film went on to claim Pixar's first Academy Award with the 1988 Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, becoming the first animated film made using computer-generated imagery to win an Academy Award. With the award, Tin Toy went far to establish computer animation as a legitimate artistic medium outside SIGGRAPH and the animation-festival film circuit. In 2003, Tin Toy was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Plot
In a living room, a toy one-man band player named Tinny looks around, and sees a baby named Billy arrive. At first, Tinny is delighted at the prospect of being played with by Billy until he sees how destructive the infant can be. When Tinny tries to walk out of Billy's reach, the musical instruments on the former's back begin to play, attracting Billy's attention. Tinny begins to run, but is pursued by Billy. During a pursuit with the excited Billy pursuing him, Tinny soon finds cover under a couch, there finding a collection of toys in hiding, similarly terrified of Billy, because they have gone through the same experience. Unaware of this, Billy accidentally trips, but falls over on the hardwood surface floor face first while searching for Tinny, and begins to cry. Feeling sorry for the baby, Tinny sees this, and leaves his couch sanctuary, and begins to play near Billy to calm him down. Upon seeing this, Billy stops crying and picks up Tinny to play with, the latter fearing the worst. However, Billy soon lets go of the toy, more interested in his packaging, but ignores Tinny, and then plays with his box because Tinny came in with it. This annoys Tinny, who again plays music, tries following around Billy in hopes of being noticed, and goes to pursue him, but is still mad and ignored, and ends up trying to stop him no matter where Billy goes with Tinny pursuing him. Eventually, Billy, whose face is now covered in a shopping bag, leaves the room, followed by Tinny. The newly optimistic toys from underneath the couch are safe to come out.

Background
Pixar, purchased in 1986 by entrepreneur and former Apple Computer head Steve Jobs, received many accolades for films produced by its small animation division, headed by former Disney animator John Lasseter. Lasseter's primary role, as defended to Jobs by company founders Edwin Catmull and Alvy Ray Smith, was to produce short films to promote the company's own Pixar Image Computers. The department was never meant to generate any revenue as far as Jobs was concerned, but after the release of two shorts, Luxo Jr. (1986) and Red's Dream (1987), some of the engineers working on the company's products wondered whether it made sense to keep the animation group going at all. Pixar was losing money every year and Jobs was supporting the cash-strapped company SO through a line of credit with his personal guarantee.

The engineers felt they were working hard to make money for Pixar while Lasseter's group was only spending it. Their passion was for building computers and software, not entertainment. Eventually, they discerned, to their chagrin, the reason why the company was supporting the division: the real priority of Catmull and Smith was to make films. The engineers were not alone in wondering about the value of Lasseter's short films. On repeated occasions in the late 1980s, Catmull barely dissuaded Jobs from shutting down the animation division due to financial constraints. At this same time, Jobs was clashing with Alvy Ray Smith, which would eventually lead to his resignation from Pixar after a heated argument during a meeting. Things were by no means well at the company and Lasseter and his team of animators knew this, and were afraid to ask for money to finance another short, which they storyboarded as Tin Toy.

Production
In the spring of 1988, cash was running so short that Jobs convened a meeting to decree deep spending cuts across the board. When it was over, Lasseter and his animation group were almost too afraid to ask Jobs about authorizing some extra money for another short. Finally, they broached the topic and Jobs sat silent, looking skeptical. Tin Toy would require close to $300,000 more out of his pocket. After a few minutes, he asked if there were any storyboards. Catmull took him down to the animation offices, and Lasseter started his show. With the storyboards pinned on his wall, Lasseter did the voices and acted out the shots—just as story men had done on the Disney lot for decades—and thereby showed his passion for the project. The stakes here were much higher than before, however. Ralph Guggenheim, manager of the animation unit, recalled, "We knew that he wasn't just pitching for the film, he was pitching for the survival of the group." Jobs warmed up to the project and agreed to provide the money. "I believed in what John was doing," Jobs later said. "It was art. He cared, and I cared. I always said yes." His only comment at the end of Lasseter's presentation was, "All I ask of you, John, is to make it great." That fall, after completion of Red's Dream, most members of the company gathered at Stillwater Cove, near Fort Ross, to design new software that was designed completely for the work of an animator. From the meeting came Menv software ("modeling Environment"), the first program specifically designed to facilitate the workflow of an animator, separating the various phases of the animation (modeling, animation and lighting), later renamed Puppets. To show the application of the new program, it was approved the production of a short. Inspired by the birth of his daughter Julia, William Reeves proposed the idea to create a human baby. Lasseter had an inspiration for the new opera based on the observation of his nephew, intent to put any toy in the mouth on the way. Lasseter said, "In terms of toys the child must have seemed a terrible monster!"

The story was about Lasseter's love, classic toys, and was inspired by a visit made in 1987 at the Tin Toy Museum in Yokohama, Japan. It was told from the perspective of a toy one-man band named Tinny, who meets a baby that charms and terrorizes him. Escaping under the couch, Tinny finds other frightened toys, but when the baby hits his head and cries, Tinny goes back out to cheer him up. Tin Toy was inspired much like Luxo Jr., namely, Lasseter's observations of a friend's baby. This time, he opted for a more ambitious task, attempting to mimic a human baby in its appearance, the movement of its arms, and its fickle moods.

The short film was officially a test of the PhotoRealistic RenderMan software. This was the only Pixar short rendered on the RM-1, a RenderMan specific computer that was never sold to the public. As with Luxo Jr. and Red's Dream, it was also a chance for Lasseter to one-up his earlier efforts, taking his animation and storytelling to another level. The baby proved difficult to model and animate; "it just became an incredible burden," remembered Flip Phillips, a new member of the team at the time. In early attempts at a model of the baby's head, he appeared to have the face of a middle-aged man. The final version of the baby (known to the team as Billy) had a much-improved face with 40 separate facial muscles, but his skin had the look of plastic. When he moved, moreover, his body lacked the natural give of baby fat and his diaper had the solidity of cement—compromises made necessary by lack of time and the still-developing technology.

The picture on the table is a photograph of director John Lasseter.

Release
Lasseter and his technical directors slept under their desks at times to get Tin Toy finished before SIGGRAPH in Atlanta in August 1988, but to no avail. What the SIGGRAPH audience saw was the first three-fifths or so of the film, ending a cliffhanger moment with Tinny running into his box and watching in horror through the box's cellophane as Billy advances towards him. "Even though it wasn't complete, people were wowed by it," producer Ralph Guggenheim remembered. The audience of scientists and engineers to which it was shown at SIGGRAPH greeted it with a standing ovation. These praises were joined over the years, positive assessments of public and critics, who praised the innovation and technology in it. Luke Bonanno called it "One of the best Pixar short films," while other critics wrote that the film was "A fascinating glimpse of a fledgling art form." and many praised the ability to move in just a few minutes and have been able to "encompass the full range of emotions you feel when a toy is used by a child." Some criticisms were leveled at the character of Billy, who was called "the most frightening and disturbing piece of animation in the history of this art form." Dario Floreano stated that the uncanny valley concept was taken seriously by the film industry because of negative audience reactions to Billy. It is unknown when this short was first released in its entirety.

Tin Toy went on to take the Academy Award for Best Animated Short in 1989 at the 61st Academy Awards, it was the third CGI short film to get nominated for the Academy Award (Behind Hunger and Luxo Jr.) and was the first CGI animated short film to receive an Academy Award. With the award, Tin Toy went far to establish computer animation as a legitimate artistic medium outside SIGGRAPH and the animation-festival film circuit. A member of the Academy's board of governors, animator William Littlejohn, saw in Tin Toy a window into the potential of the young medium. "There is a realism that's rather astonishing," he told The New York Times. "It emulates photography, but with artistic staging." Robert Winquist, head of the character animation program at CalArts, went further, predicting that computer animation was "going to take over in a short time." He publicly advised animators, "Put down your pencil and your paintbrush and do it another way."

The short film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" in 2003. Tin Toy garnered some home media releases via inclusion on Tiny Toy Stories in 1996, the VHS and DVD releases of Toy Story in 2000, and the Pixar Short Films Collection, Volume 1 (2007). Tin Toy is also available for streaming on Disney+.

Academy Award
1988 – Best Animated Short Film

Other awards
1989 – Seattle International Film Festival – Best Short Film 1989 – World Animation Celebration – Best Computer-Assisted Animation 2003 – National Film Registry

Merchandising
Apart from the home video editions of the short film, Tin Toy was not the subject of any type of merchandise, like all of the other short films that have been produced by the company. The only exception is the reproduction of vinyl Tinny, produced by MINDStyle in 2010. Pixar, in fact, sold the license to the manufacturer of Tin Toy MINDStyle objects, which created a maquette of the vinyl character Tinny inside of the line Art Toy Collectible limited Edition of 500 pieces, the price of ninety dollars. The box, which is a faithful reproduction of the packaging of the toy view in short, in addition to containing the model of Tinny, presents a certificate of authenticity printed on a card showing the storyboard in pencil of a scene from the short.

Cancelled holiday special
The success of Tin Toy gained attention from Disney CEO Michael Eisner and Walt Disney Studios chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg, who approached Pixar to produce a computer-animated film. In the early 1990s, Pixar began to make arrangements with Disney to produce the first computer-animated film. The project went through, but considering the abrupt transition from shorts to feature a few minutes to an hour and a half, Pixar set out to create a special half-hour to see if they could manage a production that was similar to that of an actual film. Driven by the victory at the Oscars that year, a sequel to Tin Toy called "A Tin Toy Christmas," was originally planned as a half-hour-long television special to be used to convince film studios that Pixar was capable of producing a feature film. This idea was brought to the table at the initial talks with Disney for Toy Story. The basic idea was that Tinny was part of a set of toy players who are not successful and remain unsold for years. Separated from other components, Tinny ends up by mistake in a toy shop of our age where he meets several characters, including a soft pink bear named Lotso.

The project was abandoned because the television network that would have produced the film could not afford the fees required (according to director Pete Docter, the special would have required a sum of eighteen times higher than the allowed budget). Disney was uninterested in the concept and urged Pixar to produce a feature immediately, which became a critical and commercial success. The character of Lotso, however, was adapted for Toy Story 3, as the main villain.

Tinny himself makes a cameo in Toy Story 4, appearing when Woody and Bo Peep enter a pinball machine to meet Duke Caboom.

title: Tin Toy


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River Lune

The River Lune (archaically sometimes Loyne) is a river 53 mi in length in Cumbria and Lancashire, England.

Etymology
Several elucidations for the origin of the name Lune exist. Firstly, it may be that the name is Brittonic in genesis and derived from *lǭn meaning "full, abundant", or "healthy, pure" (c.f. Old Irish slán, Welsh llawn). Secondly, Lune may represent Old English Ēa Lōn (ēa = "river") as a phonetic adaptation of a Romano-British name referring to a Romano-British god Ialonus who was worshipped in the area.

Springs
The river begins as a stream at Newbiggin, in the parish of Ravenstonedale, Cumbria, at St. Helen's Well (elevation of 238 m above sea level) and some neighbouring springs. On the first two miles of its course, it is joined by four streams, two of them as short as itself, but two much longer. These are the Bessy Beck (short), the Dry Beck of 4.9 kilometres' (three miles) length at 0.32 mi from St. Helen's Well, the Sandwath Beck (short) at 0.37 mi, and the Weasdale Beck (5.58 km = 3½ mls) at 1.6 miles from the well. Weasdale Beck is the uppermost headwater of River Lune recorded in Environment Agency's Catchment Data Explorer.

Course and valleys
It then passes the remnants of a Roman fort near Low Borrowbridge at the foot of Borrowdale, and flows through south Cumbria, meeting the Irish Sea at Plover Scar near Lancaster, after a total journey of about 53 mi.

The valley of the Lune has three parts. The northern part between its source and Tebay is called Lunesdale. Below this is the spectacular Lune Gorge through which both the M6 motorway and the West Coast Main Railway Line run. Below the gorge, the valley broadens out into Lonsdale.

Bridges over the Lune include the Devil's Bridge near Kirkby Lonsdale and the Lune Millennium Bridge in Lancaster. At Caton, about 5 mi upstream from Lancaster, there is a cluster of three bridges (one stone road bridge and two disused iron rail bridges now used as foot/cyclepaths) at the Crook o' Lune. Here in a 180-degree right-hand bend the Lune turns back on itself; this is followed by a 90-degree left-hand bend forming the shape of a shepherd's crook and creating a beauty spot which was painted by J. M. W. Turner. The M6 motorway crosses the Lune near Tebay and Halton-on-Lune; in 2015 it was joined by the Heysham to M6 Link Road. The Ingleton branch line, a railway operational between 1861 and 1967, followed the Lune between Tebay and Kirkby Lonsdale, crossing the river twice on viaducts which still stand.

Estuary
The river is a County Biological Heritage Site. Near the end of the non-tidal reach of the river stands the Lune Aqueduct, which carries the Lancaster Canal. The Lune is now tidal only below Skerton Weir in Lancaster. Four bridges in close proximity cross the estuary in Lancaster: Skerton Bridge (road), Greyhound Bridge (built as rail but now carries a road), Lune Millennium Bridge (pedestrian and cycle) and Carlisle Bridge (carrying the West Coast Main Line railway, and with a public walkway on the eastern side) which is the furthest downstream of the bridges.

This part of the Lune is also the site of the old Port of Lancaster, probably a port from Roman times; the Lancaster Port Commission was established in 1750 to improve navigation on the estuary. Between 1750 and 1767, St George's Quay and New Quay were built in Lancaster and in 1779 the port facilities were extended closer to the Irish Sea at Glasson Dock. In 1847 the Commissioners built a pair of lighthouses near Cockersand Abbey to help guide ships into the port. The lower lighthouse, known as the Plover Scar Lighthouse, (sometimes called Abbey lighthouse) still stands on Plover Scar, and it remains operational. The old high light, a square wooden tower, was demolished in 1954; but the former keepers' cottage, built alongside the high light, can still be seen.

Lancaster, in turn Lancashire, is named after the Lune. The dale gave its name to the ancient Lancashire hundred of Lonsdale and the ancient Westmorland ward of Lonsdale.

In literature
An engraving of a picture by J. Henderson entitled 'The Vale of Lonsdale' appears in Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1832 together with a poetical illustration by Letitia Elizabeth Landon. The plate shows Ingleborough in the background.

Jane Edmondson original title for Quaker Pioneers in Russia was "From the Lune to the Neva" ie from the Lune river where her parents (George & Anne Edmondson) came from, to the River Neva, in St Petersburg where she was born as part of the Quaker experiment by Daniel Wheeler who went with 32 Quakers to St Petersburg at the request of Emperor Alexander I, in order to drain the marshes so that the then capital of Russia could expand. Publication date 1902 Religious Society of Friends, Publisher London, Headley Bros.

Rescue incidents and agencies
The River Lune over the years has been subject to many rescue incidents, some fatal. The majority of incidents occur below Skerton Weir in the tidal area, or around the weir itself. HM Coastguard have operational primacy over incidents up to the high water mark, with their nearest team based in Morecambe. Flanking teams at Knott End and Arnside will often assist.

Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service Fire appliance at Lancaster maintains a water rescue service, with specially trained swiftwater rescue personnel. The nearest fire service boat is based at Preston fire station and this is often called to assist the swiftwater rescue personnel in carrying out rescues or providing safety cover for the crews.

In 2018 Lancaster Area Search and Rescue established themselves within the city. Part of the Surf Lifesaving Great Britain (SLSGB) family, their main role is to provide water rescue personnel and resources to flood and other water incidents within the Lancaster district at times when the statutory services require assistance. The team is equipped with rescue sleds and a powered inflatable boat for use on the river.

The RNLI can also be seen on the river fairly regularly, including both the D class and their Hovercraft, The Hurley Flyer. Rather than transit to scene from the Lifeboat station, the RNLI will often drive to the scene, often launching at Snatchems Golden Ball pub.

title: River Lune


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Walter Murch

Walter Scott Murch (born July 12, 1943) is an American film editor, director, writer and sound designer. His work includes THX 1138, Apocalypse Now, The Godfather I, II, and III, American Graffiti, The Conversation, Ghost and The English Patient, with three Academy Award wins (from nine nominations: six for picture editing and three for sound mixing).

For his work on Apocalypse Now, Murch was the first person to receive a credit as "Sound Designer." Murch was also the editor and re-recording mixer of Apocalypse Now Redux. In 1998, producer Rick Schmidlin chose Murch as his editor for the restoration of Orson Welles's Touch of Evil. Murch is the author of a popular book on film editing, In the Blink of an Eye, and is the subject of Michael Ondaatje's book The Conversations. Famed movie critic Roger Ebert called Murch "the most respected film editor and sound designer in the modern cinema." David Thomson calls Murch "the scholar, gentleman and superb craftsman of modern film", adding that in sound and editing, "he is now without a peer."

Early life
Murch was born in New York City, New York, the son of Katharine (née Scott) and Canadian-born painter Walter Tandy Murch (1907–1967). He is the grandson of Louise Tandy Murch, a music teacher who was the subject of the 1975 documentary film At 99: A Portrait of Louise Tandy Murch and of Mary Elizabeth MacCallum Scott, a Canadian physician, educator and Christian medical missionary, who with her husband Thomas Beckett Scott MD, established the Green Memorial Hospital in Manipay, Sri Lanka (then Ceylon).

As a boy, he began to experiment with sound recording, taping unusual sounds and layering them into new combinations. He attended The Collegiate School, a private preparatory school in Manhattan, from 1949 to 1961. In the summer of 1961 he worked as a music librarian and production assistant at Riverside Church's newly founded radio station WRVR, now WLTW. He assisted with the July 29th 1961 live broadcast of a 12-hour folk music Hootenanny produced by Izzy Young. This featured, among many other acts, the first radio performance of the 20-year-old Bob Dylan. Murch then attended Johns Hopkins University from 1961 to 1965, graduating Phi Beta Kappa in Liberal Arts. Murch spent the university school year 1963–1964 in Europe, studying Romance Languages and the History of Art in Italy at Perugia and in France at the Sorbonne.

While at Johns Hopkins, he met future director/screenwriter Matthew Robbins, cinematographer Caleb Deschanel, and philosopher Andrew Feenberg, with whom he staged a number of happenings. In 1965, Murch and Robbins enrolled in the graduate program of the University of Southern California's film school, encouraging Deschanel to follow them. There all three encountered, and became friends with, fellow students such as George Lucas, Hal Barwood, Robert Dalva, Willard Huyck, Don Glut and John Milius; all of these men would go on to be successful filmmakers. Not long after film school, in 1969, Murch and others joined Francis Ford Coppola and Lucas at American Zoetrope in San Francisco. Murch and his family settled in Bolinas, California, in 1972.

Career
Murch started editing and mixing sound with Francis Ford Coppola's The Rain People (1969). Subsequently, he worked on George Lucas's THX 1138 and American Graffiti and Coppola's The Godfather before editing picture and mixing sound on Coppola's The Conversation, for which he received an Academy Award nomination in sound in 1974. Murch also mixed the sound for Coppola's The Godfather Part II which was released in 1974, the same year as The Conversation. He did sound design work on Apocalypse Now, for which he won his first Academy Award in 1979 and he was also significantly involved in the re-editing work that resulted in the extended Apocalypse Now Redux in 2001.

In 1985 he directed his only feature film, Return to Oz, which he co-wrote with Gill Dennis. After the film failed at the box office and displeased many critics with its dark tone and themes, he never directed another film.

In 1988 Murch was one of the editors on The Unbearable Lightness of Being, directed by Philip Kaufman.

Murch edits in a standing position, comparing the process of film editing to "conducting, brain surgery and short-order cooking" since all conductors, cooks, and surgeons stand when they work. In contrast, when writing, he does so lying down. His reason for this is that where editing film is an editorial process, the creative process of writing is opposite that, and so he lies down rather than sit or stand up, to separate his editing mind from his creating mind.

Murch has written one book on film editing, In the Blink of an Eye (1995), which has been translated into many languages including Chinese, Italian, Hebrew, Spanish, French, German, Hungarian and Persian. His book describes many of his notable techniques used in his film editing. One of his most praised techniques he refers to as "the rule of six" referring to the 6 criteria in a film that he examines when making a cut. In his book, Murch also describes editing as more of a psychological practice with a goal of anticipating and controlling the thoughts of the audience.

Before this, he wrote the foreword to Michel Chion's Audio-Vision: Sound on Screen (1994). He was also the subject of Michael Ondaatje's book The Conversations (2002), which consists of several conversations between Ondaatje and Murch; the book emerged from Murch's editing of The English Patient, which was based on Ondaatje's novel of the same name.

In 2007 the documentary Murch premiered at the San Francisco International Film Festival, which centered on Murch and his thoughts on filmmaking.

In 2012, Murch's translations of short stories by the Italian writer Curzio Malaparte were published as The Bird That Swallowed Its Cage.

Innovations and awards
While he was editing directly on film, Murch took notice of the crude splicing used for the daily rough-cuts. In response, he invented a modification which concealed the splice by using extremely narrow but strongly adhesive strips of special polyester-silicone tape. He called his invention "N-vis-o".

In 1979, he won an Oscar for the sound mix of Apocalypse Now as well as a nomination for picture editing. The movie was among the first stereo films to be mixed using an automated console. Additionally, the film is the first to credit anyone as Sound Designer, a professional designation that Murch is widely attributed to have coined as a means to help legitimize the field of post-production sound, much in the way William Cameron Menzies coined the term "Production Designer" in the 1930s.

Apocalypse Now was also notable for being the second film released in a Dolby sound system that has come to be known as 5.1, with three screen speaker channels, low-frequency enhancement, and two surround channels (one more channel than standard surround sound arrangements at the time). The movie was initially seen and heard in this 70mm six-track format in only 17 theaters, some of which also featured prototypes of the Model 650 subwoofer developed by John and Helen Meyer. In recent years, Murch has asserted that the Meyer Sound subwoofers were more "emotionally significant" to the film's presentations than were the two surround channels.

In 1996, Murch worked on Anthony Minghella's The English Patient, which was based on Michael Ondaatje's novel of the same name. Murch won Oscars both for his sound mixing and for his editing. Murch's editing Oscar was the first to be awarded for an electronically edited film (using the Avid system), and he is the only person ever to win Oscars for both sound mixing and film editing.

In 2003, Murch edited another Anthony Minghella film, Cold Mountain on Apple's sub-$1000 Final Cut Pro software using off the shelf Power Mac G4 computers. This was a leap for such a big-budget film, where expensive Avid systems were usually the standard non-linear editing system. He received an Academy Award nomination for this work; his efforts on the film were documented in Charles Koppelman's 2004 book Behind the Seen.

In 2006, he was awarded an honorary doctorate of letters by the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design in Vancouver, Canada.

In 2009, Murch's work was the subject of a tribute, "The Art of Walter Murch," a program in "The Professionals," a series by the California Film Institute at the Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center.

In 2012, Murch was invited to serve as a mentor for the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative, an international philanthropic program that pairs masters in their disciplines with emerging talents for a year of one-to-one creative exchange. Out of a gifted field of candidates, Murch chose Italian film editor Sara Fgaier as his protégée. Previous film mentors for the initiative include Mira Nair (2004), Stephen Frears (2006), Martin Scorsese (2008) and Zhang Yimou (2010).

Murch is the 2012 recipient of the Nikola Tesla Award given by the International Press Academy Satellite Awards for "Visionary Achievement in Filmmaking Technology". Previous recipients have included Douglas Trumbull, James Cameron, Roger Deakins, Dennis Muren and George Lucas.

In 2015, Murch was presented with the Vision Award Nescens, at the 68th Locarno Film Festival, for his contributions to cinema. The two previous recipients of the award, initiated in 2013, were Douglas Trumbull and Garrett Brown. In 2016, he was awarded an honorary doctorate of media by the Southampton Solent University in Southampton, England along with Anne Coates who received an honorary Doctorate of Arts.

In 2018, Murch was awarded an honorary doctorate of arts by the University of Hertfordshire, for his contribution to the film industry in the county of Hertfordshire and his contribution towards The Elstree Project and the Film and Television Production degrees. There is a dedicated post-production lab on the Hertfordshire campus named for Murch which opened in 2015.

He is the only film editor to have received Academy Award nominations for films edited on four different systems:
 * Julia (1977) using upright Moviola
 * Apocalypse Now (1979), Ghost (1990), and The Godfather Part III (1990) using KEM flatbed
 * The English Patient (1996) using Avid
 * Cold Mountain (2003) using Final Cut Pro 4

Murch is also Honorary Associate of London Film School.

Personal life
Murch married Muriel Ann "Aggie" Slater at Riverside Church, New York City on August 6, 1965. Directly after marrying, the couple took a motorcycle trip across the United States. They have four children and have lived in Bolinas, California since 1972.

title: Walter Murch