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Michael Praetorius

Michael Praetorius (probably 28 September 1571 – 15 February 1621) was a German composer, organist, and music theorist. He was one of the most versatile composers of his age, being particularly significant in the development of musical forms based on Protestant hymns.

Life
Praetorius was born Michael Schultze, the youngest son of a Lutheran pastor, in Creuzburg, in present-day Thuringia. After attending school in Torgau and Zerbst, he studied divinity and philosophy at the University of Frankfurt (Oder). He was fluent in a number of languages. After receiving his musical education, from 1587 he served as organist at the Marienkirche in Frankfurt. From 1592/3 he served at the court in Wolfenbüttel, under the employ of Henry Julius, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg. He served in the duke's State Orchestra, first as organist and later (from 1604) as Kapellmeister (court music director).

His first compositions appeared around 1602/3. Their publication primarily reflects the care for music at the court of Gröningen. The motets of this collection were the first in Germany to make use of the new Italian performance practices; as a result, they established him as a proficient composer.

These "modern" pieces mark the end of his middle creative period. The nine parts of his Musae Sioniae (1605–10) and the 1611 published collections of liturgical music (masses, hymns, magnificats) follow the German Protestant chorale style. With these, at the behest of a circle of orthodox Lutherans, he followed the Duchess Elizabeth, who ruled the duchy in the duke's absence.

When the duke died in 1613 and was succeeded by Frederick Ulrich, Praetorius retained his post in Wolfenbüttel. But he also began working at the court of John George I, Elector of Saxony at Dresden as Kapellmeister von Haus aus (nonresident music director). There he was responsible for festive music and was exposed to the latest Italian music, including the polychoral works of the Venetian School. His subsequent development of the form of the chorale concerto, particularly the polychoral variety, resulted directly from his familiarity with the music of such Venetians as Giovanni Gabrieli. The solo-voice, polychoral, and instrumental compositions Praetorius prepared for these events mark the high period of his artistic creativity. Gottfried Staffel's detailed eyewitness account of Praetorius's music directing at the 1614 Princes’ Convention (Fürstentag) in Naumburg and Matthias Hoë von Hoënegg’s epigram describing the impression Praetorius's music made on Emperor Matthias and other princes during a visit to Dresden in the summer of 1617 provide some sense of Praetorius's fame at the time. In Dresden Praetorius also worked and consulted with Heinrich Schütz from 1615 to 1619.

It seems that Praetorius's appointment in Wolfenbüttel was no longer being renewed by Trinity Sunday of 1620. He was probably already lying sick in bed in Wolfenbüttel by that time. There he died on 15 February, 1621, at age forty-nine. His body was entombed in a vault beneath the organ of the Marienkirche on 23 February.

Name
His family name in German appears in various forms including Schultze, Schulte, Schultheiss, Schulz and Schulteis. Praetorius was the conventional Latinized form of this family name, Schultze meaning "village judge or magistrate" in German. The Latin Praetorius means "magistrate-related or one with the rank of a magistrate."

Works

Praetorius was a prolific composer; his compositions show the influence of Italian composers and his younger contemporary Heinrich Schütz. His works include the 17 volumes of music published during his time as Kapellmeister to Duke Heinrich Julius of Wolfenbüttel, between 1605 and 1613. His nine-part Musae Sioniae (1605–10) was a collection of chorales and vernacular music for the Lutheran service for 2 to 16 voices; he also published an extensive collection of Latin music for the church service (Liturgodiae Sioniae). Terpsichore, a compendium of more than 300 instrumental dances is his most widely known and recorded work today; it is his sole surviving secular work from a projected multi-volume collection (Musae Aioniae).

Many of Praetorius' choral compositions were scored for several smaller choirs situated in several locations in the church, in the style of the Venetian polychoral music of Gabrieli.

Praetorius composed the familiar harmonization of Es ist ein Ros entsprungen (Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming) and the motet "En natus est Emanuel", both published in 1609 in Musae Sioniae VI.

Published works

 * Musae Sioniae I (Lutheran chorales, 8 voices, 1605)
 * Motectae et Psalmi Latini (Latin motets and psalms, 8 voices, 1607)
 * Musae Sioniae II (Lutheran chorales, 8 voices, 1607)
 * Musae Sioniae III (Lutheran chorales, 8–12 voices, 1607)
 * Musae Sioniae IV (Lutheran chorales, 8 voices, 1607)
 * Musae Sioniae V (Lutheran chorales, 2–8 voices, 1607)
 * Musae Sioniae VI (Lutheran chorales for church festivals, cantionale style hymnal, 4 voices, 1609)
 * Musae Sioniae VII (Lutheran chorales for everyday use, including four organ chorales, cantionale style, 4 voices, 1609)
 * Musae Sioniae VIII (Lutheran chorales for the Christian life including chorales suitable for death and Tischgesange for use at home, cantionale style, 4 voices, 1609)
 * Musae Sioniae IX (Lutheran chorales for use in church or home, 2–4 voices, 1610)
 * Missodia Sionia (Latin mass settings, 1611)
 * Hymnodia Sionia (Latin hymn settings, 2–8 voices, several organ verses, 1611)
 * Eulogodia Sionia (Latin settings, including the Salve Regina, Rex Christe etc., 2–8 voices, 1611)
 * Megalynodia Sionia (Magnificat settings, Latin with some vernacular interpolation, 1611)
 * Terpsichore (Courtly dances, 1612)
 * Urania (chorales set for congregation and up to 4 choirs, 1613)
 * Polyhymnia caduceatrix (Lutheran chorales for choir, soloists and instrumentalists in the new Italianate style; 1619)
 * Polyhymnia exercitatrix (Latin Halelujah settings and Lutheran chorales for choir, soloists and instrumentalists in the Italianate style, 1620)
 * Puericinium (settings for children, 1621)

Organ works

 * 1) Christ, unser Herr, zum Jordan kam – Fantasia (Musæ Sioniæ VII, 1609)
 * 2) Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott – Fantasia (Musæ Sioniæ VII, 1609)
 * 3) Wir glauben all an einen Gott – Fantasia (Musæ Sioniæ VII, 1609)
 * 4) Nun lob, mein Seel, den Herren – 2 Variationen (Musæ Sioniæ VII, 1609)
 * 5) Alvus tumescit virginis – Advent-Hymnus « Veni redemptor gentium » (Hymnodia Sionia, 1611)
 * 6) A solis ortus cardine – Weihnachts-Hymnus (Hymnodia Sionia, 1611)
 * 7) Summo Parenti gloria – (v8. A solis ortus cardine) (Hymnodia Sionia, 1611)
 * 8) Vita sanctorum – Oster-Hymnus (Hymnodia Sionia, 1611)
 * 9) O lux beata Trinitas – Dreifaltigkeits-Hymnus (Hymnodia Sionia, 1611)
 * 10) Te mane laudum carmine – (v2. O lux beata Trinitas) (Hymnodia Sionia, 1611)

Musical writings
Praetorius was a music academic whose writings were well known to other 17th-century musicians. Although his original theoretical contributions were relatively few compared to other 17th-century German writers, like Johannes Lippius, Christoph Bernhard or Joachim Burmeister, he compiled an encyclopedic record of contemporary musical practices. While Praetorius made some refinements to figured-bass practice and tuning practice, his importance to scholars of the 17th century derives from his discussions of the normal use of instruments and voices in ensembles, the standard pitch of the time, and the state of modal, metrical, and fugal theory. His meticulous documentation of 17th-century practice was of inestimable value to the early-music revival of the 20th century.

His expansive but unfinished treatise, Syntagma Musicum, appeared in three volumes (with appendix) between 1614 and 1620. The first volume (1614), titled Musicae Artis Analecta, was written mostly in Latin, and regarded the music of the ancients and of the church. The second (De Organographia, 1618) regarded the musical instruments of the day, especially the organ; it was one of the first theoretical treatises written in the vernacular. The third (Termini Musicali, 1618), also in German, regarded the genres of composition and the technical essentials for professional musicians. An appendix to the second volume (Theatrum Instrumentorum seu Sciagraphia, 1620) consisted of 42 woodcuts depicting instruments of the early 17th century, all grouped in families and shown to scale. A fourth volume on composition was planned, with the help of Baryphonus, but was left incomplete at his death. Gustave Reese, an American musicologist specializing in medieval and Renaissance music, said that the Syntagma Musicum was one of the most important sources of seventeenth century musical history.

Praetorius wrote in a florid style, replete with long asides, polemics, and word-puzzles – all typical of 17th-century scholarly prose. As a lifelong committed Christian, he often regretted not taking holy orders but did write several theological tracts, which are now lost. As a devout Lutheran, he contributed greatly to the development of the vernacular liturgy, but also favored Italian compositional methods, performance practice and figured-bass notation.

title: Michael Praetorius


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XxxHolic

xxxHolic (stylized as ×××HOLiC; pronounced "Holic") is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by the manga group Clamp. The series, which crosses over with another Clamp work, Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, revolves around Kimihiro Watanuki, a high school student who is disturbed by his ability to see the supernatural, and Yūko Ichihara, a powerful witch who owns a wish-granting shop. When Watanuki asks Ichihara to remove his ability to see spirits, she grants it on the condition that he pay for his wish by working for her. Clamp created xxxHolic to link the supernatural and fantasy series.

xxxHolic was serialized in Kodansha's manga magazine Weekly Young Magazine periodically from February 2003 until March 2010. It then moved to the manga magazine Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine in June 2010, where it ended serialization in February 2011; its chapters were collected in 19  volumes. A sequel, xxxHolic: Rei, started in 2013. It was first published in the United States by Del Rey Manga and in the United Kingdom by Tanoshimi in 2004, then was later published in a series of omnibuses by Kodansha Comics as of 2014. In 2005, Production I.G adapted the manga into an animated film, which was followed by two anime television series, and various original video animations ( OVAs ). Funimation licensed the film and the first TV series in North America, and released both of them in DVD as well as Blu-ray Disc. A light novel and a video game have also been released based on the series.

The manga has been well received by both Japanese and English readers and has appeared in various rankings of bestselling books. Critics have generally praised the series for its illustrations and its portrayal of supernatural elements.

Plot
Kimihiro Watanuki is a high school student plagued by ayakashi spirits which are invisible to everyone else but him. The series begins when Watanuki stumbles, seemingly by chance, into a shop that grants wishes. The shop is owned by Yūko Ichihara, a mysterious witch of many names and esoteric renown. For a price, she offers to grant Watanuki's wish to be rid of the spirits. The price, according to Yūko, must be of equal value; so, as payment, he must become Yūko's temporary, part-time cook and housekeeper. While his established job consists of household chores, Yūko increasingly sends him on errands of a supernatural or spiritual nature as the series develops. Himawari Kunogi, Watanuki's love interest, and Shizuka Dōmeki, a classmate whom Watanuki initially detests, occasionally join him in his work as per Yūko's request. The three become increasingly close, and though Watanuki is often annoyed with Dōmeki, he grows to value the new friendships he makes and his life at the wish shop. At the same time, though, he begins to worry about Yūko, wondering if she who grants wishes to others ever has anything to wish for herself. Eventually, he makes a promise to try and grant her a wish, should she have one.

With each supernatural encounter, Watanuki becomes more familiar with and connected to the spiritual world. A crossing plotline with the concurrent series Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle reveals that Yūko is actually on the verge of death, and she is only alive now because her personal time was accidentally frozen long ago by the powerful wizard Clow Reed. As the magic binding her in time begins to dissolve, Yūko's ability to maintain the shop's magical existence fades, and she eventually passes on, telling Watanuki that he will finally be free of his ability to see demons. However, Watanuki chooses to retain his ability to see spirits in order to maintain Yūko's shop and take over her role of shopkeeper. Further cross-over plotlines reveal that Watanuki was born as a result of a wish to turn back time by a shop client, Syaoran of Tsubasa. Since Syaoran was able to go back in time (at the cost of being removed from his timeline and becoming imprisoned by the sorcerer Fei-Wang Reed), Watanuki was born to replace the void in timespace Syaoran left behind, and thus while they are different people, they share an "existence". As the series reaches its conclusion, Syaoran and Watanuki become trapped in a void by Fei-Wang and must pay a price to become free and continue existing. While Syaoran decides to keep traveling through dimensions, never stopping in a single place, Watanuki chooses to stay inside the shop and act as its owner, granting wishes until the day he sees Yūko again. As time progresses, Watanuki continues working in the shop without aging. Dōmeki, his assistant, frequently visits him, and the tradition continues with Dōmeki's descendants. After 100 years pass, Watanuki has a dream of Yūko, who tells him that he has finally become powerful enough to leave the shop. Despite this, he decides to continue waiting inside the shop for the day that they meet again.

Background
xxxHolic was conceived when the group Clamp wanted to link the supernatural and fantasy series they made with a realistic one. This idea was further worked with the creation of the character of Yūko Ichihara who would bridge the stories from xxxHolic and Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle. Clamp proposed the idea of writing xxxHolic to Young Magazine after Chobits. In the end they decided to publish both xxxHolic and Tsubasa in weekly magazines to make serialization easier. The manga's title was originally going to be "addicted" but it was changed for the less ambiguous "holic." Like Clamp's previous work Tokyo Babylon, xxxHolic focuses on social pathologies but with a more esoteric tone. The "xxx" before the holic is the Japanese way of saying of "fill in the blank." Therefore, the title itself gives a hint about what the series are about. It is talking about the people with the problems such as an alcoholic, or a workaholic. Being a fantastical series, these "---holics " can have very different pathologies.

The art style of the manga draws on the influence of ukiyo-e wood prints. When making a chapter composed of about twenty pages, Clamp takes around two days to make the artwork, the time differing with the ones from other series they made. The script of the series made by Nanase Ohkawa, who the other Clamp members ask her about any confusion they have before starting drawing the chapters. The illustrations and character designs are mainly done by Tsubaki Nekoi with assistance from Mokona, although Satsuki Igarashi also draws various parts. For the series, they decided to use Japanese and Chinese themes, but avoided using tones. Mokona is mainly in charge of designing the female characters, while Nekoi draws the male ones and all the spirits featured. The artwork is also inspired by Alphonse Mucha who Mokona is a fan of. This leads to all the tankobon covers being gold or silver and then color printed over it. The series was retitled xxxHolic Rō ever since volume 16 because of how Watanuki replaced Yuko as the shop's owner.

When first presenting the idea of running xxxHolic linked with Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, although Ohkawa expressed concerns for the strain the weekly pace of such a series would place on the artists, she whole-heartedly approved. In accordance with Ohkawa's desire for each to have a well-organized story, Clamp avoids putting references between the two stories too frequently. The reasons for linking these two series was because Clamp wanted to have two protagonists from two different manga with different personalities and design, yet during the ending they would be stated to be same person, and had to go on different paths. Because Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle was more focused on action scenes, Clamp sometimes took breaks from xxxHolic or create autoconclusive stories so that the storyline between the two series would always be linked. In April 2010, Clamp stated that the xxxHolic was taking longer than what they expected, causing delays to some of their other works. When the manga finished serialization, Clamp felt it was more the ending from xxxHolic Rō, pointing that xxxHolic had already ended. Regarding the series' finale, Clamp wanted to express that while Watanuki's decision to stay in the shop may seem sad for readers, for Watanuki it was his happiness. Clamp was satisfied with people's reaction to the last chapter, as when discussing Watanuki's fate, they were also thinking what is happiness for them.

Themes
Clamp places emphasis on the importance of words when writing the manga. Yuko's dialogues always affect the other characters due to how direct and secure she is when speaking. In early chapters, while she worries a woman addicted to the internet by labeling her husband and child as "other people," Yuko is transmitting the philosophy of individualism and the power her client has. In contrast to Yuko, another client has a tendency to lie which brings her misfortunes.

Manga
Written and illustrated by Clamp, xxxHolic started in Kodansha's manga magazine Weekly Young Magazine on February 24, 2003. The series finished its publication in the magazine on March 20, 2010, and was transferred to Kodansha's manga magazine Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine on May 8 of the same year; a special 26-page one-shot chapter was also published in Weekly Shōnen Magazine on May 19 of the same year. The series finished on February 9, 2011. Kodansha collected its 213 chapters in 19 volumes; the numbers of chapters for such release was reduced by combining the ones from the original serialization. Starting volume 16, the series is retitled xxxHolic Rō (×××HOLiC ◆ 籠), but the number of chapters follow the previous ones. The first volume was released on July 25, 2003, and the last one on March 9, 2011.

xxxHolic was one of the first four manga series licensed for English release in North America by Del Rey Manga, and was acquired together with Mobile Suit Gundam SEED, Negima!: Magister Negi Magi, and Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle in January 2004. Del Rey published its first volume on April 27, 2004, and on February 21, 2012, the nineteenth and final volume was released. Kodansha USA re-released it in 3-in-1 omnibus format in 2014. The series has also been licensed for an English-language release by Tanoshimi, who released the first nine volumes in the United Kingdom with the first one on August 3, 2006.

A second xxxHolic manga series, titled xxxHolic Rei (XXXHOLiC ◆ 戻) was announced at The CLAMP Festival 2012 event. It was scheduled to be published in Weekly Young Magazine in February 2013, however a month's delay in the magazine's issue release dates changed this to March 4, 2013. The series has had various hiatuses; its latest chapters were published from June 2016 to March 2017. In April 2022, it was announced that Clamp was planning to resume the series in 2023. Kodansha released the first volume on October 23, 2013. As of October 6, 2016, four volumes have been released.

Kodansha USA announced in July 2013 they licensed the manga for English release, releasing the first volume in 2014.

Film
Production I.G produced an animated film of the series titled xxxHolic: A Midsummer Night's Dream (×××HOLiC: 真夏ノ夜ノ夢 - xxxHOLiC: Manatsu no Yoru no Yume) which premiered on August 20, 2005 alongside Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle the Movie: The Princess in the Birdcage Kingdom. The DVD version was released on November 24, 2006. In the film, Yūko receives a request from a woman to help her back into her mansion, which does not allow her to enter. Yūko says that since Watanuki was the one who brought the client to her, he should be the one to grant her wish and therefore is brought along with her and Dōmeki. Yūko also attends because she has been invited to the mansion with many other famous collectors by the same letter, with the mansion filled with strange rooms and mysterious letters telling its guests what to do in place of a host.

The film was selected as a finalist for the Annecy International Animated Film Festival 2006 in the Feature Films category with other four nominees: Asterix and the Vikings, Origin: Spirits of the Past, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, and the award winner, Renaissance.

Anime television series
The anime adaptations of xxxHolic were produced by Production I.G. The first season of anime television adaptation of xxxHolic was broadcast for 24 episodes on TBS from April 6 to September 28, 2006. Both the film and the anime series are directed by Tsutomu Mizushima. Ageha Ohkawa, Clamp's director and main scriptwriter, served as executive producer and co-served as the series composition writer of the TV series. The second season, xxxHolic: Kei (xxxHOLiC◆継), was broadcast for 13 episodes on TBS from April 3 to June 26, 2008. The main staff and cast remains the same as in the first season. The first season's episodes were also collected in eight DVD volumes published between July 26, 2007 and February 21, 2008, while two DVD boxes were released on August 25, 2010 and October 27, 2010. The second's ones were released in seven DVD volumes between June 25, 2008 and December 17, 2008, a DVD box was released on January 26, 2011.

The first season is licensed by Funimation (now known as Crunchyroll) in July 2007. Six DVDs were released between March 25, 2008 and October 21, 2008 featuring the first season while a DVD box was released on July 28, 2009. On January 26, 2009, the series made its North American debut on the Funimation Channel. As of October 2022, the series migrated to the Crunchyroll streaming service from the FunimationNOW video streaming app.

Original video animations
A two-DVD original video animation, entitled xxxHOLiC Shunmuki (xxxHOLiC 春夢記) was also released by Production I.G. The first DVD for this OVA was released on February 17, 2009 with the 14th volume of the Japanese manga. The second one was released alongside volume 15 on June 26, 2009. Its story focuses on how Haruka Domeki tells Watanuki and Domeki to search for four items, which lead Watanuki to enter into the Dream World. The OVA was rereleased in Blu-ray format alongside the first volume of xxxHolic Rei on October 23, 2013.

Another OVA titled xxxHolic Rō (×××HOLiC・籠) was shipped with the 17th volume of the xxxHolic manga on April 23, 2010. It is set ever since Yūko's death, and follows Watanuki's life as the new shop's owner. Another OVA titled xxxHolic: Rō Adayume (×××HOLiC・籠 あだゆめ) was released on March 9, 2011 as included with a special edition from volume 19. In the OVA, Watanuki sees various parts of Domeki's life, including his childhood and the events that happened across the series.

Live-action TV series
It was announced on September 7, 2012, that xxxHolic will be adapted into a live action TV series for airing at February 24, 2013 on WOWOW, titled CLAMP Drama xxxHOLiC (CLAMPドラマ ホリック〜xxxHOLiC〜). Anne Watanabe plays the role of Yuko Ichihara, while Shota Sometani plays the character Kimihiro Watanuki. The series is directed by Keisuke Toyoshima. It ran for eight episodes. It features "Aitai" from Suga Shikao as its opening theme song. The series was collected in a box released in both DVD and Blu-ray format on November 6, 2013.

Live-action film
On November 22, 2021, Shochiku and Asmik Ace announced that a live-action film adaptation was in the works for xxxHolic, with Ko Shibasaki and Ryūnosuke Kamiki playing Yuko Ichihara and Kimihiro Watanuki respectively. Mika Ninagawa directed the film, while Erika Yoshida provided the screenplay. The film was released in Japanese theaters on April 29, 2022.

Other
There were also several other releases in the franchise. A novel titled ×××HOLiC ANOTHERHOLiC Landolt-Ring Aerosol (×××HOLiC アナザーホリック ランドルト環エアロゾル), was written by Nisio Isin and published in Japan on August 1, 2006. It features four stories with the first one being an adaptation of the series' first chapter. The novel includes original artwork by Clamp. Del Rey published an English translation of xxxHOLiC: AnotherHOLiC, released on October 28, 2008.

Several fanbooks have been released in Japan. The first is Gekijōban ×××HOLiC Official Fanbook (劇場版 ×××HOLiC OFFICIAL FANBOOK) and was released on August 17, 2005. TV Animation ×××HOLiC Extra Official Guide was released on May 17, 2006, and focused in information from the anime adaptation. Another manga guidebook is "Brand New ×××HOLiC Reading-book" (新版 ×××HOLiC読本), which was released on November 17, 2006. It was released in English by Del Rey on October 27, 2009 as "The Official xxxHOLiC Guide". On March 17, 2011, Kodansha published another guidebook titled xxxHolic Complete Book (×××HOLiC全書). Another related book is Soel and Larg: The Adventures of Mokona Modoki (ソエルとラーグ　モコナ＝モドキの冒険) which was released by Kodansha on July 17, 2004. It is set prior to the events of xxxHolic and Tsubasa and tells the lives from the two Mokona Modoki ever since their creation by Clow Reed and Yūko Ichihara. In January 2013 Kodansha will also release a xxxHolic artbook.

An adventure game by Marvelous Entertainment for the PlayStation 2 video game console was released in Japan on August 9, 2007, named "Watanuki's Sixteen-day-old Moon Grass Story" (×××HOLiC 〜四月一日の十六夜草話〜).

Two soundtrack albums were released for the franchise. The first one is xxxHolic: A Midsummer Night's Dream Original Soundtrack which was released on August 18, 2005 by Pony Canyon. It contains over twenty tracks from the series' film. The second soundtrack, titled xxxHolic Sound File, was released August 22, 2008 by S.E.N.S. PROJECT. The CD includes thirty-five soundtracks (including a hidden bonus track), various of them from the PlayStation 2 game as well as from the TV series. xxxHolic also makes a crossover with Tsubasa in the drama CDs series 'Private High School Holitsuba (「私立堀鐔学園」) which was released in three volumes.

An all-male stage play of xxxHolic (also known as xxxHOLiC Theater style (演劇調異譚「xxxHOLiC」)) began showing on September 17, 2021 in Tokyo. The play is directed by Fumiya Matsuzaki, written by Masafumi Hata, planned by Nanase Ohkawa, and produced by Nelke Planning. The play stars Motohiro Ota and Shōgo Sakamoto as Yūko Ichihara and Kimihiro Watanuki respectively.

Sales
The series has sold well in Japan with its thirteenth volume being 43rd in the top 50 manga sold in Japan in 2008. In May 2015, Kodansha announced the manga has 13.7 million copies in print. The series' debut in North America was also successful with its first volume ranking sixth in Nielsen Bookscan's list of bestselling volumes during its first week. Volume 13 also hit No. 6 on the New York Times list of bestselling manga shortly after its launch in April 2009. According to the New York Times, xxxHolic was the sixth best-selling manga in the United States in 2009. In Mania Entertainment's "Best Manga Awards For 2005", xxxHolic was the winner in the category "Best Mature".

Manga
The xxxHolic manga series has also been well received by various publications with Mania Entertainment's Megan Lavey praising its focus on the people's thoughts, as well as its comedy. She also found its connection with Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle appealing due to events being depicted from different points of view, persuading readers to read both series. Michael Aronson from Manga Life stated the series' introduction had potential to be worth reading due to its episodic nature and found some of its characters to be "gripping", though Dan Polley, also from Manga Life, commenting that Watanuki "does seem a little bit weak to be the lead character". On the other hand, Matthew Alexander from Mania Entertainment stated that Watanuki's character was well developed across the series, becoming more appealing. Joy Kim, another writer from Manga Life, praised how despite its episodic nature, the narrative brought by Watanuki's interactions with other characters made every panel "loaded with significance". Carlo Santos of Anime News Network liked how later volumes of the series "[outdid] itself by breaking into the world of dreams", compared to initial volumes that focused on the interaction between humans and spirit. Active Anime found its emotional tension as well as its connection with Tsubasa some of the main reason why the series is worth reading. Not having read Tsubasa, Matthew Alexander felt that the addition of elements from the series into xxxHolic was well-made, as it started to suggest a connection between the two series' protagonists. However, Santos found the series' connection with Tsubasa to be confusing to the point that only readers from both series would understand some explanations.

Regarding events happening from volume 15 onwards, Active Anime's Holly Ellingwood called them "tragic, inspiring, and beautifully, breathtakingly sad", enjoying the way Yuko's fate was revealed, but wondering how it would continue. Carlo Santos stated that although the series lost its "star performer", it kept being appealing due to the fact that Watanuki replaced her and found most of volume 16 as "an exercise in getting back on one's feet after a heartbreaking loss, and it is all the more inspirational for that." Matthew Alexander from Mania was more critical to these events due to the how it became "an ultra serious downer" due to Yuko's loss and the lack of its recurring comedy. Additionally, he cited the events regarding Yuko's disappearance and later death were not explained in xxxHolic, stating that only readers from Tsubasa would understand such events. The artwork has been praised because of its "striking designs and patterns built into the images", various notable traits from Clamp, as well as for being "equally memorable and evocative". On the other hand, it has also been criticized for being "less visually busy than Tsubasa" due to some pages lacking backgrounds, though critic Michael Aronson for Manga Life stated that the panels' composition is able to make up for such issues. Rebecca Silverman review the opening volume of xxxHolic: Rei gave the sequel a B+ rating, praising the way the story now flowed and the artwork, but said that the story was, "a little too mysterious in places".

Anime
The anime adaptation of xxxHolic has received mixed reception from different publications, with Anime News Network's Casey Brienza liking how its first season is faithful to the original material. However, she found that some of Funimation's subtitles in its first episodes to be confusing, advising people to watch the English dubbed version instead. In a bigger overview of the first season, Carlo Santos found issues with the animation's unintentional "super deformed" moments in which the characters' limbs became notably longer. He also criticized some of its episodes' storytelling as it "falls flat" due to trivial issues discussed. Holly Ellingwood from Active Anime called the series "one of the most distinctly imaginative" because of the combination of supernatural elements and comedy. Pointing to the animation quality, Ellingwood found each character distinctive and the animation issues to be comical. DVD Talk's Todd Douglass Jr. gave praise to the themes touched upon in the anime series. Despite giving disapproval to its episodic nature, Douglass found the characters appealing due to their development over the series. IGN writer Jeff Harris found its start "tolerable", stating that fans from action series may not be interested by xxxHolic despite its potential. Like Santos, he commented on its animation, citing similar issues with the design, noting some moments lacked the fluidity seen in other parts of the series. He also criticized the blank background choices, questioning if they were truly artistic decisions or done to save on animation costs. Chris Beveridge of Mania gave a mixed review for the animation, agreeing with Santos and Harris, but still enjoyed the animation style, concluding that "everything about the visual design of the show is very appealing." Analyzing its episodic nature, Beveridge enjoyed the format, and praised the series' ability to strike a balance between light and dark parts of its stories.

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

title: XxxHolic


text: Template:Complexity classes

title: Template:Complexity classes


text:
Rho factor

A ρ factor (Rho factor) is a bacterial protein involved in the termination of transcription. Rho factor binds to the transcription terminator pause site, an exposed region of single stranded RNA (a stretch of 72 nucleotides) after the open reading frame at C-rich/G-poor sequences that lack obvious secondary structure.

Rho factor is an essential transcription protein in bacteria. In Escherichia coli, it is a ~274.6 kD hexamer of identical subunits. Each subunit has an RNA-binding domain and an ATP-hydrolysis domain. Rho is a member of the RecA/SF5 family of ATP-dependent hexameric helicases that function by wrapping nucleic acids around a single cleft extending around the entire hexamer. Rho functions as an ancillary factor for RNA polymerase.

There are two types of transcriptional termination in bacteria, rho-dependent termination and intrinsic termination (also called Rho-independent termination). Rho-dependent terminators account for about half of the E. coli factor-dependent terminators. Other termination factors discovered in E. coli include Tau and nusA. Rho-dependent terminators were first discovered in bacteriophage genomes.

Function
A Rho factor acts on an RNA substrate. Rho's key function is its helicase activity, for which energy is provided by an RNA-dependent ATP hydrolysis. The initial binding site for Rho is an extended (~70 nucleotides, sometimes 80–100 nucleotides) single-stranded region, rich in cytosine and poor in guanine, called the rho utilisation site (rut), in the RNA being synthesised, upstream of the actual terminator sequence. Several rho binding sequences have been discovered. No consensus is found among these, but the different sequences each seem specific, as small mutations in the sequence disrupts its function. Rho binds to RNA and then uses its ATPase activity to provide the energy to translocate along the RNA until it reaches the RNA–DNA helical region, where it unwinds the hybrid duplex structure. RNA polymerase pauses at the termination sequence, which is because there is a specific site around 100 nt away from the Rho binding site called the Rho-sensitive pause site. So, even though the RNA polymerase is about 40 nt per second faster than Rho, it does not pose a problem for the Rho termination mechanism as the RNA polymerase allows Rho factor to catch up.

In short, Rho factor acts as an ATP-dependent unwinding enzyme, moving along the newly forming RNA molecule towards its 3′ end and unwinding it from the DNA template as it proceeds.

Mutations
A nonsense mutation in one gene of an operon prevents the translation of subsequent genes in the unit. This effect is called mutational polarity. A common cause is the absence of the mRNA corresponding to the subsequent (distal) parts of the unit. Suppose that there are Rho-dependent terminators within the transcription unit, that is, before the terminator that usually is used. Normally these earlier terminators are not used, because the ribosome prevents Rho from reaching RNA polymerase. But a nonsense mutation releases the ribosome, so that Rho is free to attach to and/or move along the RNA, enabling it to act on RNA polymerase at the terminator. As a result, the enzyme is released, and the distal regions of the transcription unit are never transcribed.

Evolution
Rho factor has not been found in Archaea.

title: Rho factor


text:
Dharma & Greg

Dharma & Greg is an American television sitcom that originally aired on ABC from September 24, 1997, until April 30, 2002, for 119 episodes over five seasons.

The show starred Jenna Elfman and Thomas Gibson as Dharma and Greg Montgomery, a couple who married on their first date despite being polar opposites. The series was co-produced by Chuck Lorre Productions, More-Medavoy Productions and 4 to 6 Foot Productions in association with 20th Century Fox Television for ABC. The show's theme song was written and performed by composer Dennis C. Brown.

Created by executive producers Dottie Dartland and Chuck Lorre, the comedy took much of its inspiration from culture-clash "fish out of water" situations. The show earned eight Golden Globe nominations, six Emmy Award nominations, and six Satellite Award nominations. Elfman earned a Golden Globe in 1999 for Best Actress.

Show summary
Free-spirited yoga instructor/dog trainer Dharma Finkelstein and strait-laced lawyer Greg Montgomery marry on their first date despite being complete opposites. Their conflicting views lead to comical situations. Greg is an Ivy League graduate who was raised by wealthy, conservative parents. After graduation from Harvard and Stanford, he went to work with the U.S. Attorney's Office as a federal prosecutor in San Francisco. He then meets Dharma, who was raised by hippie parents. They fall in love immediately and elope. Despite being totally different, their parents eventually learn to tolerate each other.

Main

 * Jenna Elfman as Dharma Freedom Montgomery, née Finkelstein, Greg's wife, a flower child and somewhat hippie. She is overly cheerful and sensitive, and more compassionate and forgiving than many people. Despite her trust in the goodness of people and persistent good intentions, Dharma is not naive. She understands the real world, employs sarcasm and receives it well. Dharma perseveres in expressing her personality and her identity even in the sometimes opposing world. Dharma encourages Greg to seek happiness rather than fret about practical issues like money. She was named after the concept of dharma in Indian philosophy. A Native American friend of her father gave her the name "Crazy Man's Daughter". She addresses both of her parents by their first names. A somewhat darker side of her personality is revealed during episodes in which she plays pranks on people without appearing to show any concern for how her behavior might be affecting them. According to Chuck Lorre's eleventh vanity card (see below), he and Dottie Dartland originally conceived Dharma & Greg as "a series revolving around a woman whose personality is not a neurotic product of societal and parental conditioning, but of her own free-flowing, compassionate mind".
 * Thomas Gibson as lawyer Gregory Clifford "Greg" Montgomery, Dharma's husband. He is somewhat uptight, decent, though surprisingly open-minded at times. Greg grew up in a conservative Republican family. Greg's life was hopelessly banal before he met Dharma, and married her on their first date. Since then, he has played the straight man to the antics of his eccentric wife. Though his relationship with Dharma has its challenging moments, Greg has never regretted his marriage to Dharma. He is also very educated; an alumnus of elite schools Phillips Exeter Academy, Harvard University, and Stanford Law School. Mostly in season 1 he was a federal prosecutor aka US attorney in California justice department.
 * Susan Sullivan as Katherine "Kitty" Montgomery, Greg's extravagant mother. In the beginning of the first season, Kitty was generally represented as a manipulative, controlling woman who only had high aspirations for her son Greg. As an elite socialite, Kitty was initially displeased to have Dharma and her parents join the family, but over the course of the series, Kitty broadens her world to become part of a larger family, becoming a major part of Dharma's life, while remaining lovingly manipulative. Despite their vast differences, she recognizes Dharma's place in their family's life, once telling her "We both know you're not the girl I would have picked for Greg. What matters is that you are the girl that Greg did pick."
 * Mitchell Ryan as Edward Montgomery, Greg's eccentric father. His philosophy for dealing with his wife Kitty involves remaining as uninvolved as possible. Head of Montgomery Industries (though he keeps working only because he can see little tugboats through the window) and at odds with Dharma's father, who calls him "Ed", but whom in return he calls "Finkelstein". Edward is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame, of which he is fiercely proud, and partially resents Greg for considering Notre Dame to not be "good enough" for him. Ed is often seen drinking martinis and Scotch. Edward was formerly a US Senator.
 * Mimi Kennedy as Abigail Kathleen "Abby" O'Neil, Dharma's free-spirited, caring mother, who encourages her daughter and son-in-law to produce children, stating, "Feel free to have sex anywhere." Although they have a grown daughter (Dharma) and later a son, Abby and Dharma's father Larry are not married. She and Larry were engaged and held the wedding ceremony, but still did not marry to "stay under the radar". Unlike her "lifemate" Larry, she immediately accepted Greg, though she still constantly annoys and conflicts with his parents. She is a militant vegan, which is a never-ending source of trouble. During her pregnancy in season 4, however, she did make exceptions because of her food cravings. It is mentioned in the episode "Invasion of the Buddy Snatcher" that she has a degree in ornithological psychology from Berkeley.
 * Alan Rachins as Myron Lawrence "Larry" Finkelstein, Dharma's hippie father. He is a stereotypical 1960s radical who frequently rants about various conspiracies, a lot of which revolve around Richard Nixon. He also thinks he's wanted by the FBI, but when Greg discovers he's not, his family goes to great lengths to prove to him that he still is because this is a source of great pride to him. Despite this, he manages to get along with Edward, often when both are sick of dealing with their wives. He homeschooled Dharma in American history, passing on his conspiracy theories, such as the latest Apollo mission secretly burying the missing minutes of the Watergate tapes on the moon. It is often alluded to that Larry is a chronic user of marijuana, though never shown. In the season 4 episode "Mother Daughter Reunion", Dharma mentions that Larry has a resistance against most drugs after frequent use. In the pilot episode Abby introduces his usual cluelessness with "he blew out his short term memory back in 1972". He sometimes becomes a "pothead savant" and reveals skills such as his talent for carpentry and his music.
 * Shae D'lyn as Jane Deaux (seasons 1–4; guest season 5), Dharma's friend, a Canadian who frequently changes her hair color, going from black to red to blonde over the course of the show. Jane often joins Dharma in playing pranks on people around them, including their neighbors and clerks at shopping malls. She considers all men more or less evil, yet she married Pete Cavanaugh in Season 2, attempting to divorce him after only six weeks. They eventually divorced in the premiere of the fourth season. D'lyn, while still listed in the opening credits of the show, began making fewer and fewer appearances as Jane in the second half of the fourth season, appearing in only 5 of that season's final 13 episodes. D'lyn was then dropped from the starring cast, and made only one appearance in season five (during the second episode of the season). After that, the character of Jane disappeared without explanation.
 * Joel Murray as Peter James "Pete" Cavanaugh, Greg's friend and colleague at the Justice Department. A particularly bad, lazy lawyer, he was married to Jane for a time. His entire life can be summed up by the interior of his apartment: a massage chair surrounded by empty take-out containers, next to which is a small refrigerator and a stack of porno tapes. A high-class entertainment center is in front of this. It is said he wears adult diapers to football games. Greg once said of his friend: "Pete went to law school in Barbados; he failed the Bar eight times. The last time because he threw up on the exam." In season 1, he mentions that he worked as a plumber's assistant during college. Pete marries Jane in the second season because neither of them wants to be alone on Valentine's Day.
 * Helen Greenberg as Marcie (season 5; guest seasons 3–4), one of Dharma's co-op friends. Marcie is a good-hearted, nasal-voiced and somewhat nervously mousy receptionist whose vocabulary seems to primarily consist of the words "I'm sorry". Marcie was seen on a sporadically recurring basis starting near the end of season 3. In season five, Greenberg's name was added to the main cast list for episodes in which she appeared, although she was only seen in about a third of the season's episodes. Greenberg also played a different character in the episode "Drop Dead Gorgeous".
 * Susan Chuang as Susan Wong (season 5; guest seasons 3–4), another one of Dharma's friends from the co-op, often (though not always) seen in tandem with Marcie. Unlike Marcie, Susan is much more self-confident and take-charge—sometimes to excess. Susan also pulls a "Dharma & Greg" with a lawyer, Darrell Gottlieb, hired by Kitty in a community garden spat (her wedding, along with Dharma's accident, was the Season 4 finale). The character of Susan was seen on a sporadically recurring basis starting near the end of season 3. In season five, Chuang's name was added to the main cast list for episodes in which she appeared—but like Greenberg, she was only seen in about a third of the season's episodes. Also like Greenberg, Chuang debuted on D&G playing a different character, in this case in the episode "Looking for the Goodbars".

Recurring

 * Lillian Hurst as Celia: Kitty and Edward's Hispanic maid. She is given constant support from Larry, who views her as "oppressed". When Kitty and Edward are out of town, Celia and her family move into the Montgomerys' mansion and invite their friends over, pretending it is their house.
 * Yeardley Smith as Marlene: Greg's legal secretary whom he fired and then re-hired. She is snide, rude, and a bad secretary in general, though a better "lawyer" than Pete.
 * Floyd Westerman as George Littlefox: an elderly Native American, who came to live with Dharma and Greg in the episode "Indian Summer"; he died at the end of the episode, but his ghost sometimes appears to Dharma to offer her advice.
 * Kathryn Joosten as Claire: an elderly woman who works in Dharma's co-op, along with Susan and Marcie. Seen only in seasons 3 and 4.
 * J. D. Walsh as Donald: a high school (later college) student who lives in Dharma and Greg's building. He is often given (occasionally unsolicited) advice from Dharma, and sometimes Greg. Seen in seasons 2–5.
 * Kevin Sorbo as Charlie: a university professor going through a divorce who falls in love with Dharma. His affections, particularly a love letter and offering to drive Dharma home on a rainy day, causes Greg to briefly move in with Pete. The season 4 story-line was considered a risk and creator Lorre said that "while they won't destroy the marriage, they will threaten it", possibly alienating fans and destroying the show.

Awards and nominations
In 1998, the Online Film & Television Association Awards  nominated Elfman for Best Actress in a Comedy Series and the series itself as Best New Comedy Series.

Jenna Elfman was nominated three times for Best Television Actress – Musical/Comedy Series at the Golden Globes and won in 1999. Thomas Gibson and Susan Sullivan were both nominated for Golden Globes but neither ever won the award. The show itself was nominated for Best Best Musical/Comedy Series in 1998 and 1999.

Ratings and cancellation
The series was a top-25 fixture in the US during its first three seasons, first airing Wednesday at 8:30 p.m., then at 8:00. It was moved to Tuesdays at 9 p.m. during its third season where it experienced a dramatic ratings lift thanks to a lead-in of the then red-hot Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. As ratings for that series waned in 2000/2001, Dharma & Greg suffered a similar fate, compounded by NBC moving Frasier into the same time slot. As Millionaire fell even further and was moved off the night in the fall of 2001, ABC tried to rebuild a Tuesday night comedy block consisting of Dharma & Greg, What About Joan?, Bob Patterson, and Spin City. Bob Patterson and What About Joan? were quickly cancelled while Dharma & Greg and Spin City shared the 8 p.m. hour for the rest of the season.

The final episode aired on April 30, 2002, to 6.8 million viewers, compared to the 20 million the series had peaked two years previously. Along with Ally McBeal and Dawson's Creek, Dharma & Greg was one of the last three surviving shows to debut during the 1997–98 season (Dawson's Creek would remain for one more season in 2002–03).

Home media
Season 2 was released in Australia as a Region 4 PAL on January 22, 2008, with a picture of Dharma and Greg dancing on the cover. It is available in Japan as a Region 2 NTSC format with a picture of them sitting down for the cover art. In the spring of 2008, the second season was released in Europe (Netherlands) as a Region 2 PAL as well. All countries have different covers, and all are using the "dance shot".

On November 11, 2014, 20th Century Fox released season 2 in Region 1 via Amazon.com's CreateSpace program. This is a Manufacture-on-Demand (MOD) release, available exclusively through Amazon.com.

Vanity cards
The vanity card for Chuck Lorre Productions at the end of each episode included a message written by producer and show co-creator Chuck Lorre, expressing his personal views on a variety of subjects. Because the card only appeared on the screen for a brief moment, it was usually readable only by those who recorded the program and paused it (although the complete collection of cards has now been posted on Lorre's website).

Messages were also included on the vanity cards for later Chuck Lorre Productions shows, such as Two and a Half Men, The Big Bang Theory, and Mike & Molly.

Crossovers
Elfman and Gibson had a cameo appearance in the ninth season premiere of Two and a Half Men, "Nice to Meet You, Walden Schmidt". Their characters are not named either in the dialogue or the credits (possibly for legal reasons due to Mens being produced by a different studio), but they appear to be based on Dharma and Greg. While the couple remain married, Greg seems overly tired of his responsibilities and marriage, even going so far as to sarcastically hint at divorce to Evelyn Harper (along with a self-inflicted gunshot gesture) when leaving. Joel Murray also makes a cameo appearance in the episode, although not as Pete but as a character named "Doug". Elfman had also previously appeared on that show in its first season as the free-spirited Frankie in the two-part episodes "Round One to the Hot Crazy Chick" and "That Was Saliva, Alan."

title: Dharma & Greg


text:
Penguin (disambiguation)

A penguin is a flightless bird from the Southern Hemisphere.

Penguin or penguins may also refer to:

Arts and entertainment

 * Penguin (album), by Fleetwood Mac
 * Penguin (book), a children's picture book by Polly Dunbar
 * Penguin (character), a villain in the Batman comic books
 * Penguin (film), a 2020 Indian film
 * Penguins (film), a 2019 Disney nature documentary film
 * The Penguin King, a 2012 nature documentary, also released as Penguins and Penguins 3D
 * The Penguin (TV series), an upcoming TV series on Max
 * The Penguins, an American doo-wop band
 * The Penguins of Madagascar, or simply Penguins!, an animated television series
 * "Penguins", an episode of the television series Teletubbies
 * Nickname for the nun who ran the Catholic orphanage in The Blues Brothers (film)
 * Opus the Penguin, from the comic strip Bloom County by Berkeley Breathed
 * "Penguin", a 2011 song by Christina Perri from Lovestrong

Businesses

 * Penguin (restaurant), a restaurant in Nahariya, Israel
 * Penguin Group, a publishing company
 * Penguin Books, the British arm of the Penguin Group
 * Penguin Software, a 1980s video game publisher
 * The Penguin, a Wilmington, North Carolina radio station brand that has broadcast on WGHJ, WFBT (FM), and WUIN (FM)
 * Original Penguin, an American clothing brand

Food

 * Penguin Mints, a brand of caffeinated mints
 * Penguin (biscuit), a brand of chocolate biscuit

Military

 * HMS Penguin, various Royal Navy ships
 * USS Penguin, three United States Navy ships
 * HMAS Penguin, various Royal Australian Navy ships and shore installations
 * Penguin (missile), an anti-ship missile in service since 1972

People

 * Parit Chiwarak, Thai democracy activist
 * George Mitchell (Irish criminal)

Places

 * Penguin, Tasmania, Australia, a town
 * Penguin Island (disambiguation)
 * Penguin Islands, Namibia
 * Penguin Islands (Newfoundland and Labrador), Canada
 * Penguin River, South Georgia Island
 * Penguin Bay, South Georgia Island
 * Penguin Bight, Seymour Island
 * Penguin Heights, Queen Maud Land, Antarctica
 * Penguin Point (disambiguation), three points in the Antarctic

Sports

 * Pittsburgh Penguins, a National Hockey League team
 * Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, an American Hockey League team
 * Fischtown Pinguins, a German ice hockey team based in Bremerhaven
 * Krefeld Pinguine, a German ice hockey team also known as the Krefeld Penguins
 * Penguin Football Club, an Australian rules football club based in Penguin, Tasmania
 * Dominican Penguins, the sports teams of Dominican University of California
 * Youngstown State Penguins, the sports teams of Youngstown State University
 * Penguin (dinghy), a class of racing sailboat
 * Ron Cey (born 1948), American retired Major League Baseball player nicknamed "The Penguin"
 * Penguins Cup, an ice hockey tournament for over 80 high school teams from western Pennsylvania

Transportation

 * MV Penguin, a cargo liner in commission with the United States Bureau of Fisheries from 1930 to 1940 and with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service from 1940 to 1950
 * MV Penguin II, a United States Fish and Wildlife Service ship in commission from 1950 to 1963
 * SS Penguin, a New Zealand ferry which sank near Wellington in 1909
 * MacCready Gossamer Penguin, a solar-powered experimental aircraft
 * Antarctic Snow Cruiser, a 1930s vehicle designed for transport in Antarctic, also known as "The Penguin" and "Penguin 1"

Other uses

 * Penguin (solitaire), a card game
 * Google Penguin, an update to natural search engine rankings by Google
 * Penguin Award, an annual award given for excellence in broadcasting by the Television Society of Australia
 * Penguin High School, Penguin, Tasmania
 * An archaic name for the great auk

title: Penguin (disambiguation)


text:
User:Line

I am a scientist. Born in China, I have studied and worked in several western countries and acquired citizenship in a western country. Gradually I developed a broad range of interest including literature, history, music, art, travel, etc.

If any of you have significant comments regarding my writing, please do not hesitate to write it in the space below. I might be able to answer your questions.

title: User:Line


text:
Jimmy Ernst

Hans-Ulrich Ernst (June 24, 1920 – February 6, 1984), known as Jimmy Ernst, was an American painter born in Germany.

Early life
Jimmy Ernst was born in 1920 in Cologne, Germany, the son of German Surrealist painter Max Ernst and Luise Straus-Ernst, a well-known art historian and journalist. His parents separated in 1922 and divorced in 1926 and Ernst remained with his mother in Cologne. He visited his father in France in 1930, where he met many artists, including Luis Buñuel, Salvador Dalí, Alberto Giacometti, André Masson, Joan Miró, Man Ray and Yves Tanguy, as well as his father's lover Leonora Carrington. In February 1933, a month after Hitler became Chancellor of Germany, the SS searched Luise Straus' apartment. As a noted intellectual and a Jew she was regarded as suspect by the new regime. Ernst was sent to live with his grandfather, Luise's father, while his mother moved to Paris. In June 1938, Jimmy sailed to New York from Le Havre on the liner SS Manhattan.

There he met many European exiles and the city's avant-garde. In 1940, he petitioned the Emergency Rescue Committee (ERC) to secure the release of his father from internment. The ERC secured his release in 1941 and Max Ernst arrived in New York from Nazi occupied France. In 1944, unknown to Jimmy, his mother was killed in Auschwitz concentration camp after being sent there from the Drancy internment camp in France.

Career
In 1941 Jimmy Ernst became the assistant/secretary to Peggy Guggenheim (who was also his stepmother). Shortly afterwards Ernst became director of The Art of This Century Gallery in 1942. A year later he had his first one-person exhibition. During the late 1940s he became a member of The Irascible Eighteen, a group of abstract painters who protested against the Metropolitan Museum of Art's policy towards American painting of the 1940s, and who posed for a famous picture in 1950. Members of the group included: Willem de Kooning, Adolph Gottlieb, Ad Reinhardt, Hedda Sterne, Richard Pousette-Dart, William Baziotes, Jimmy Ernst, Jackson Pollock, James Brooks, Clyfford Still, Robert Motherwell, Bradley Walker Tomlin, Theodoros Stamos, Barnett Newman, and Mark Rothko. These artists are part of the New York School they were referred to as The Irascibles in an article featured in an issue of Life where the infamous Nina Leen photograph was published.

In 1951 Jimmy was granted the post of an instructor at Department of Design, Brooklyn College.

In 1969 he moved to East Hampton. He also built a winter home in Florida in 1980.

Awarded Guggenheim Fellowship in 1961, a Carnegie Foundation grant in 1967, and an honorary degree by the Long Island University (Southampton College) in 1982. Also elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 1977, he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate Academician.

Personal life
Ernst married Edith Dallas Bauman Brody (known as Dallas), a talent scout for Warner Brothers, on January 3, 1947. They had two children, Amy Louise (1953) and Eric Max (1956), both of whom are artists.

His memoir, A Not-So-Still Life, dealing with his youth and early years in the United States, was published shortly before his death in 1984.

Dallas Ernst established the Jimmy Ernst Award in memory of her husband. The award of $10,000 is given to a painter or sculptor "whose lifetime contribution to his or her vision has been both consistent and dedicated". The American Academy of Arts and Letters has presented the award annually since 1990.

title: Jimmy Ernst


text:
Westbrook Pegler

Francis James Westbrook Pegler (August 2, 1894 – June 24, 1969) was a Pulitzer Prize-winning U.S. journalist described as "one of the godfathers of right-wing populism". He was a newspaper columnist popular in the 1930s and 1940s for his opposition to the New Deal, labor unions, and anti-lynching legislation.

As an ardent proponent of States' rights, Pegler criticized a variety of targets whom he saw as extending the reach of the federal government, including Herbert Hoover, FDR ("moosejaw"), Harry Truman ("a thin-lipped hater"), and John F. Kennedy. He also criticized the Supreme Court, the tax system, labor unions, and any federal intervention on the issue of civil rights. In 1962, he lost his contract with King Features Syndicate, owned by the Hearst Corporation, after he started criticizing Hearst executives. His late writing appeared sporadically in publications that included the John Birch Society's American Opinion.

Background
James Westbrook Pegler was born on August 2, 1894, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the son of Frances A. (Nicholson) and Arthur James Pegler, a local newspaper editor.

Journalism career
Westbrook Pegler was the youngest American war correspondent during World War I, working for United Press Service. In 1918, he joined the United States Navy. In 1919, he became a sports writer for United News (New York).

In 1925, Pegler joined the Chicago Tribune. In 1933, he joined the Scripps Howard syndicate (through 1944 ), with his inaugural column opposing the passage of an anti-lynching bill that was before Congress, in which he first coined the term "bleeding heart liberal" to describe the proponents of the bill attempting to outlaw lynching at the federal level.

Pegler worked closely with his friend Roy Howard. He built up a large readership for his column "Mister Pegler" and elicited this observation by Time magazine in its October 10, 1938 issue:      "At the age of 44, Mr. Mister Pegler's place as the great dissenter for the common man is unchallenged. Six days a week, for an estimated $65,000 a year, in 116 papers reaching nearly 6,000,000 readers, Mister Pegler is invariably irritated, inexhaustibly scornful. Unhampered by coordinated convictions of his own, Pegler applies himself to presidents and peanut vendors with equal zeal and skill. Dissension is his philosophy." In 1941, he won a Pulitzer Prize for exposing criminal racketeering in labor unions. The same year, he finished third (behind Franklin Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin) for Time‘s "Man of the Year".

In 1944, Pegler moved his syndicated column to the Hearst's King Features Syndicate. He continued there to 1962.

Contempt for Franklin Roosevelt
Pegler supported President Franklin Delano Roosevelt initially but, after seeing the rise of fascism in Europe, he warned against the dangers of dictatorship in America and became one of the Roosevelt administration's sharpest critics for what he saw as its abuse of power. Thereafter he rarely missed an opportunity to criticize Roosevelt, his wife Eleanor Roosevelt, or Vice President Henry A. Wallace. The New York Times stated in his obituary that Pegler lamented the failure of would-be assassin Giuseppe Zangara, whose shot missed FDR and killed the mayor of Chicago instead. He "hit the wrong man" when gunning for Franklin Roosevelt.

Pegler's views became more conservative in general. He was outraged by the New Deal's support for labor unions, which he considered morally and politically corrupt.

Opposition to the New Deal
At his peak in the 1930s and 1940s, Pegler was a leading figure in the movement against the New Deal and its allies in the labor movement, such as the National Maritime Union. He compared union advocates of the closed shop to Hitler's "goose-steppers." The NMU sued Hearst and Associated Press for an article by Pegler, settled out of court for $10,000. In Pegler's view, the corrupt labor boss was the greatest threat to the country.

By the 1950s, Pegler was advocating government dissolution of the AFL–CIO federation of unions, admitting that while such an act would be fascistic in nature, he could, in his words, "see advantages in such fascism."

Support for removal of Japanese and Japanese-Americans from the West Coast
At the beginning of World War II, Pegler expressed support for moving Japanese-Americans and Japanese citizens out of California, writing "The Japanese in California should be under guard to the last man and woman right now and to hell with habeas corpus until the danger is over."

Feud with Eleanor Roosevelt

After 1942 Pegler assailed Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt regularly, calling Mrs. Roosevelt "La boca grande", or "the big mouth". The Roosevelts ignored his writings, at least in public.

Recent scholars (including Kenneth O'Reilly, Betty Houchin Winfield, and Richard W. Steele) have reported that Franklin Roosevelt used the FBI for the purposes of wartime security, and ordered sedition investigations of isolationist and anti-New Deal newspaper publishers (such as William Randolph Hearst and the Chicago Tribune's Robert R. McCormick). On December 10, 1942, Roosevelt, citing evidence Eleanor Roosevelt had gathered, asked the FBI's J. Edgar Hoover to investigate Pegler, which it did; the bureau eventually reported that it had found no sedition. In the end, nothing came of it except Pegler's lifelong distaste for Eleanor Roosevelt, often expressed in his column.

Pulitzer Prize and anti-union activism
In 1941 Pegler became the first columnist to win a Pulitzer Prize for reporting, for his work in exposing racketeering in Hollywood labor unions, focusing on the criminal career of Willie Bioff and the link between organized crime and unions. Pegler's reporting led to the conviction of George Scalise, the president of the Building Service Employees International Union who had ties to organized crime. Scalise was indicted by New York District Attorney Thomas E. Dewey, charged with extorting $100,000 from employers from three years. Convicted of labor racketeering, Scalise was sentenced to 10–20 years in prison.

As historian David Witwer has concluded about Pegler, "He depicted a world where a conspiracy of criminals, corrupt union officials, Communists, and their political allies in the New Deal threatened the economic freedom of working Americans."

In the winter of 1947, Pegler started a campaign to draw public attention to the 'Guru Letters' of former Vice-President Henry A. Wallace, claiming they showed Wallace's unfitness for the office of President he had announced he would seek in 1948. Pegler characterized Wallace as a "messianic fumbler," and "off-center mentally." There was a personal confrontation between the two men on the subject at a public meeting in Philadelphia in July 1948. Several reporters, including H. L. Mencken, joined in the increasingly aggressive questioning. Wallace declined to comment on the letters, while labelling some of the reporters "stooges" for Pegler. At the conclusion of the meeting, H. L. Mencken acidly suggested that every person named "Henry" should be put to death, offering to commit suicide if Wallace was executed first.

Controversy in later career
In the 1950s and 1960s, as Pegler's conservative views became more extreme and his writing increasingly shrill, he earned the tag of "the stuck whistle of journalism." He denounced the civil rights movement and in the early 1960s wrote for the John Birch Society. He aligned himself with the white supremacist White Citizens Council. He was ultimately expelled from the John Birch Society because of his extreme views. However, the Society did put his picture on the cover of its magazine, American Opinion, when he died.

President Harry S. Truman in his famous letter to Paul Hume, music critic for The Washington Post, referred to Pegler as a guttersnipe, and yet a gentleman compared to Hume, for the latter's criticizing his daughter Margaret's singing.

His attack on writer Quentin Reynolds led to a costly libel suit against him and his publishers, as a jury awarded Reynolds $175,001 in damages. In 1962, he lost his contract with King Features Syndicate, owned by Hearst, after he criticized Hearst executives. His late writing appeared sporadically in various publications.

In 1965, referring to Robert F. Kennedy, Pegler wrote: "Some white patriot of the Southern tier will spatter his spoonful of brains in public premises before the snow flies." Kennedy was assassinated three years later, though by a Palestinian Arab.

Personal life and death
On August 28, 1922, Pegler, a Roman Catholic, married Julia Harpman, a onetime New York Daily News crime reporter, who was from a Jewish family in Tennessee. She died on November 8, 1955. In 1961, he married his secretary Maude Wettje.

Pegler died age 74 on June 24, 1969, in Tucson, Arizona of stomach cancer. He is interred in the Cemetery of the Gate of Heaven in Hawthorne, New York.

Awards

 * 1941: Pulitzer Prize for coverage of labor racketeers

Parodies
Pegler's distinctive writing style was often the subject of parody. In 1949, Wolcott Gibbs of The New Yorker imagined a Peglerian tirade to a little girl asking whether there was a Santa Claus (parodying the famous "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus" letter). In the Gibbs/Pegler version, "Santa Claus" was actually Sammy Klein of Red Hook, Brooklyn, and had raped a six-year-old as a deliberate strategy to avoid being drafted into World War I. After joining the Communist Party, he adopted his alias and began his Christmas racket by hijacking trucks with toy shipments. Gibbs' parody opens:     "You're damn right there is a Santa Claus, Virginia. He lives down the road a piece from me, and my name for him is Comrade Jelly Belly, after a poem composed about him once by an admiring fellow-traveller now happily under the sod." Mad Magazine ran a Pegler parody in its February 1957 issue (#31), using the actual title of Pegler's own column from 1944 on, "As Pegler Sees It". Starting with a report on a little kid stealing a bike, it devolved into a long tirade against, among other targets, Roosevelt, Truman, the Falange, organized labor, municipal corruption and Abeline's Boy Scout Troop 18 (AKA the Abraham Lincoln Brigade). Every third sentence or so ended with some variation on “And you know what I think of Eleanor Roosevelt”. The mock column concluded with:    "...which brought together such Commie-loving cronies as you know what I think of Eleanor Roosevelt. It stinks. The whole thing stinks. You stink." Mad also parodied him as "Westbank Piglet" in one panel (p. 2) of its first comic book parody Superduperman (issue #4).

Quotes
Interest in Pegler was briefly revived when a line originally written by him appeared in Republican Vice-Presidential nominee Sarah Palin's acceptance speech at the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota. "We grow good people in our small towns, with honesty and sincerity and dignity", she said, attributing it to "a writer." The speech was written by Matthew Scully, a senior speech writer for George W. Bush.

In a column about Palin's use of the quote, Wall Street Journal columnist Thomas Frank described Pegler as "the all-time champion of fake populism".

Writings
Pegler's literary agent was George T. Bye, who was also Eleanor Roosevelt's agent.

Pegler published three volumes of his collected writings:
 * T'ain't Right, 1936
 * The Dissenting Opinions of Mister Westbrook Pegler, 1938
 * George Spelvin, American and Fireside Chats, 1942

title: Westbrook Pegler


text:
Ostiarius

An ostiarius, a Latin word sometimes anglicized as ostiary but often literally translated as porter or doorman, originally was an enslaved person or guard posted at the entrance of a building, similarly to a gatekeeper.

In the Roman Catholic Church, this "porter" became the lowest of the four minor orders prescribed by the Council of Trent. This was the first order a seminarian was admitted to after receiving the tonsure. The porter had in ancient times the duty of opening and closing the church-door and of guarding the church, especially to ensure no unbaptised persons would enter during the Eucharist. Later on, the porter would also guard, open and close the doors of the sacristy, baptistry and elsewhere in the church.

The porter was not a part of holy orders administering sacraments but simply a preparatory job on the way to the major orders: subdiaconate (until its suppression, after the Second Vatican Council by Pope Paul VI), diaconate and the priesthood. Like the other minor orders and the subdiaconate, it is retained in societies such as the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter.

History
In the Roman period, an ostiarius was an enslaved person whose duty was to guard the entrance of an upper-class citizen's house, sometimes being chained to the doorway to prevent flight. A basilica originally served as a Roman court of law, and it was the duty of the ostiarius to regulate the approach of litigants to the judge.

When, from the end of the second century, the Christian communities began to own houses for holding church services and for purposes of administration, church ostiaries are soon mentioned, at least for the larger cities. They are first referred to in the letter of Pope Cornelius to Bishop Fabius of Antioch written in 251, where it is said that there were then at Rome 46 priests, 7 deacons, 7 subdeacons, 42 acolytes, and 52 exorcists, lectors, and ostiaries, or doorkeepers. According to the statement of the Liber Pontificalis, an ostiary named Romanus suffered martyrdom in 258 at the same time as St. Lawrence.

In Western Europe the office of the ostiary was the lowest grade of the minor clergy. In a law of 377 of the Codex Theodosianus intended for the Vicariate of Italy, the ostiaries are also mentioned among the clergy who have a right to personal immunity. In his letter of 11 March 494, to the bishops of southern Italy and Sicily, Pope Gelasius says that for admission into the clergy it was necessary that the candidate could read (must, therefore, have a certain amount of education), for without this prerequisite an applicant could, at the most, only fill the office of an ostiary.

In Rome itself this office attained to no particular development, as a large part of these duties, namely the physical work necessary in the church building, what is now probably the duty of the sexton, was at Rome performed by the mansionarii. The clergy of the three lower grades (minor orders) were united at Rome into the Schola cantorum (choir) and as such took part in the church ceremonies. There are no special prayers or ceremonies for the ordination of the lower clergy in the oldest liturgical books of the Roman Church.

For the Gallican Rite, short statements concerning the ordination of the lower orders, among them that of the ostiaries, are found in the "Statuta ecclesiæ antiqua" a collection of canons which appeared at Arles about the beginning of the sixth century. The "Sacramentarium Gelasianum" and the "Missale Francorum" contain the same rite with the prayers used on this occasion.

According to these the ostiaries are first instructed in their duties by the archdeacon; after this he brings them before the bishop who takes the keys of the church from the altar and hands them to the candidate for ordination with the words: "Fulfil thine office to show that thou knowest that thou wilt give account to God concerning the things that are locked away under these keys." Then follows a prayer for the candidate and a prayer for the occasion that the bishop pronounces over him. This ceremony was also at a later date adopted by the Roman Church in its liturgy.

In Latin Western Europe, outside of Rome, in the late Roman era and the one following, the ostiaries were still actually employed as guardians of the church buildings and of their contents. This is shown by the epitaph of one Ursatius, an ostiary of Trier. An ostiary of the church of Salona is also mentioned in an epitaph. Later, however, in the Latin Church the office of ostiary universally remained only one of the degrees of ordination and the actual work of the ostiary was transferred to the laity (sacristans, sextons, etc.).

In the ordination of ostiaries their duties are thus enumerated in the Pontifical: "Percutere cymbalum et campanam, aperire ecclesiam et sacrarium, et librum ei aperire qui prædicat" (to ring the bell, to open the church and sacristy, to open the book for the preacher). The forms of prayer for the ordination are similar to those in the old Gallican Rite.

In the East there were also doorkeepers in the service of the Church. They are enumerated as ecclesiastical persons by the Council of Laodicea (c. 343–381). Like the acolytes and exorcists, they were only appointed to serve the church, but received no actual ordination and were not regarded as belonging to the ecclesiastical hierarchy. According to the "Apostolic Constitutions" belonging to the end of the fourth century the guarding of the door of the church during the service was the duty of the deacons and subdeacons. Thus the doorkeepers exercised their office only when service was not being held.

The minor order no longer exists officially in the Eastern Catholic Churches and was abolished in the Roman Catholic Church by Pope Paul VI in his apostolic letter, Ministeria quaedam of August 15, 1972.

title: Ostiarius


text:
African Lion Safari

African Lion Safari is a family-owned safari park in Southern Ontario, Canada, located between the cities of Hamilton and Cambridge, located 100 km west of Toronto. Guests may tour seven game reserves, with a total area of about 740 acre, on tour buses or in visitors' own vehicles, where animals roam freely in contained areas. Accompanying the game reserves is a walking section where exotic birds and primates, as well as the park's herd of Asian elephants, are on display.

African Lion Safari is an accredited member of the Canadian Association of Zoos and Aquariums, and is also a member of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA), the International Elephant Foundation (IEF) as well as the International Association of Avian Trainers and Educators (IAATE).

History
This safari park was founded by Gordon Debenham "Don" Dailley, a retired Canadian Army colonel, and opened its doors on August 21, 1969. Dailley initially partnered with the Chipperfield family from England to purchase four farms in the Rockton, Ontario area totaling 250 ha. He bought out the Chipperfields in the early 1970s. It remains privately owned, and the only significant feature was the drive-through reserve. In 1971, the park began working with Asian elephants, and in 1985 they started to make a concentrated effort to breed Asian elephants. Over the years, successful breeding of 30 endangered species and 20 threatened species has occurred in the park.

Reserves
On any of the seven reserves, visitors are caged in their car and the animals roam in large enclosures that range from 2 to 20 ha.

In the Nairobi Sanctuary, visitors can see Ankole-Watusi cattle, llamas, European white storks, Egyptian geese, and grey crowned cranes on a large open field with a pond.

Between the Nairobi Sanctuary and the Simba Lion Country is the cheetah breeding centre, which is home to cheetahs. There are several enclosures in the preserve where the cheetahs live either separately or grouped.

Simba Lion Country is home to African lions. In it exists a structure made out of rocks for the lions to rest or play on.

Timbavati Lion Country is home to white lions, also known as Timbavati lions. Much like Simba Lion Country, it too has a rock structure.

Wankie Bushland Trail is home to olive baboons, bongo, zebu, and Malayan tapirs. The baboons' tower is a house and a playground for them.

The Rocky Ridge Veldt includes Rothschild's giraffes, Grant's zebras, wildebeest, Common eland, Barbary sheep, ostrich, white rhinoceroses, addax, and scimitar oryx. Inside this open field are shelters, shade structures, and several piles of rocks for animals to climb on.

The Australasia reserve includes Himalayan tahr, yak, nilgai, Indian rhinoceroses, western grey kangaroos, red kangaroos, red-necked wallabies, and Sicilian donkeys. In smaller fenced areas on the periphery of this reserve are enclosures for Turkmenian (Bukharan) markhor and Sichuan takin. This reserve is a mix of trees, grass and pond.

The North America reserve is home to American Bison, Elk, Fallow Deer, and Markhor. There are two feeding areas on this large open field.

Breeding programs
The park is involved in the International Species Survival Plans for Asian elephants, cheetahs, White rhinos, and Cinereous vultures. It has provided captive bred Barn owls, Burrowing owls, Trumpeter swans, Ferruginous Hawks, and a Bald eagle to reintroduction programs for release into the wild.

The park currently claims to have the most successful Asian elephant breeding program in North America, and in 2008 became home to the first third generation Asian elephant in North America. It has received several CAZA awards, including those recognizing outstanding achievements in the care of both cheetahs and giraffes.

In 2010, "Jake" became African Lion Safari's first successful Asian elephant birth from an artificial insemination, and the first birth of this kind in Canada.

Controversies
A demonstration was held at African Lion Safari on Saturday, May 4, 2013. Animal rights activists from the Grassroots Ontario Animal Liberation Network staged a protest during the Safari's opening day to raise awareness about issues surrounding the use of exotic animals for entertainment and to expose the park as a for-profit business based on animal exploitation. Activists also claimed that the use of bull hooks during elephant shows at the park were cruel and archaic.

In March 2021, animal protection organization In Defense of Animals named African Lion Safari as the worst zoo for elephants in its annual report, citing cruel training methods, exposure to Hamilton's harsh winter climate, constant zoo transfers, and breeding processes. Concerns were also expressed towards a plan to sell two elephants to Fort Worth Zoo - which ranked second on the said report - for $2,000,000.

Incidents
In November 1989, Omar Norton, a 21-year-old part-time employee and biology student at McMaster University was crushed to death by a five-tonne bull elephant named Tusko while trying to break up a fight between it and another elephant.

In April 1996, a couple driving through the game reserve were mauled by a Bengal tiger (which the zoo no longer exhibits). They later launched a lawsuit against the park which took several years to resolve. Finally in January 2005, a court awarded them and their families $2.5 million.

In June 2019, a trainer was airlifted to hospital after being attacked by one of the safari's elephants.

title: African Lion Safari


text:
Penza

Penza (Пенза, ) is the largest city and administrative center of Penza Oblast, Russia. It is located on the Sura River, 625 km southeast of Moscow. As of the 2010 Census, Penza had a population of 517,311, making it the 36th-largest city in Russia.

Etymology
The city name is a hydronym and means in Пенза from pen 'end of (genitive)' and sa(ra) 'swampy river'.

Urban layout
This central quarter occupies the territory on which the wooden fortress Penza was once located, therefore it is sometimes called the Serf. The architectural concept of the old fortress, erected on the eastern slope of the mountain above the river, predetermined the direction of the first streets. The direction and location of the first streets were set by the passage towers of the fortress and the orientation of its walls. This is how the first six streets of the city were formed. Subsequently, the names were fixed to them: Governor's, Lekarskaya, Moscow, Nikolskaya, Sadovaya and Teatralnaya.

An important element of the urban development of the city is that the square of the fortress created a network of streets converging at right angles. Initially, there was no proper harmony in them. Often the difficult terrain of the area forced the direction and width of the road to change. Here and there, spontaneous development took shape. Nevertheless, the urban planning matrix was created and predetermined the development of the city for several centuries. During the reign of Empress Catherine the Great, the first general plan of Penza was drawn up, it was approved on October 6, 1785. The city was rebuilt anew in accordance with the rectilinear structure of St. Petersburg. The plan of the city, in its central part practically did not change, as it fully complied with the new norms of Russian urban planning. The mutually perpendicular orientation of the streets and the accompanying division of the urban environment into standard quarters was the original and distinctive feature of Penza. Perhaps Penza owes this to its first builders, who are well acquainted with the European urban planning trends of the 17th century - the German Joseph von Sommer (Lieutenant Colonel of the Moscow Service Osip Zumerovsky) and the Polish nobleman Yuri Kotransky. At the end of the next 18th century, in the process of implementing Catherine's master plan for Penza, only some sections of the old streets were straightened, the standard width of the roadway and sidewalks was set. The redevelopment of the city was preceded by the resettlement of the serving suburban population from the center to suburban villages and wastelands. Newly carved quarters of the Upland part of the city, more comfortable for living, were inhabited by the nobility and eminent merchants. Initially, the fortress was not only a defense complex, but also the administrative center of a vast region. On that place the governor, archives, treasury, prison, arsenal and other instruments of the regional statehood were settled. In the fortress there was the main cathedral of the region – Spassky and the main square of the city – Cathedral. In accordance with the General Plan of 1785, the dilapidated fortress, trading rows and philistine buildings adjacent to its walls were dismantled. As a result of clearing, the posadskaya Nikolskaya church came out of the environment of spontaneous buildings and acquired a harmonious look, becoming a true decoration of the city.

For several years, on the territory of the central quarter and adjacent streets, state-owned stone buildings were complexly erected: the bishop's courtyard, the governor's residence, the assembly of the nobility and two buildings of public places (7.1 and 7.4).) By the beginning of the 20th century, private residential There are no buildings left in the Fortress Quarter of the city. In the Fortress Quarter there is also a special administrative street of the city – the Line of Public Places, passing from Sadovaya to Moskovskaya, bypassing the Spassky Cathedral. It has never had and still does not have residential buildings. the eastern earthen rampart of the old Penza fortress The ancient defensive rampart runs along the western side of Kirov Street (on this section, Kirov Street was formerly called Teatralnaya Street).

The Cathedral was destroyed by the Communists in 1934, and rebuilt between 2010 and 2022.

Paleontology
In 1927, a fragmentary skull of the giant marine reptile Mosasaurus hoffmanni was found in the Late Maastrichtian (Late Cretaceous) deposits near Mironositskoe cemetery, within Penza. This specimen became the first unequivocal record of this species in Russia. The exact place where fossil was collected is unknown, but, most likely, Prolomnaya Street is located there now. Belemnites Belemnitella lanceolata and B. americana were also collected from Maastrichtian layers along the banks of the Sura River in Penza area. Tsaregradskii (1926) reports about the oyster Ostrea praesinzowi from the same deposits. In addition, these layers contain a mixed complex of microfaunal characteristics of the Turonian (Bolivinita couvigeriniformis), Santonian (Reussia subrotundata) and Maastrichtian (Bolivina incrassata) ages, indicating that all of these deposits were eroded and redeposited.

History
Penza was founded as a Russian frontier fortress-city, and to this day, remnants of the Lomovskaya sentry line built in 1640 have been preserved at the western edge of the city, and remains of earth ramparts dating from the mid-16th century are preserved in the city center. Until 1663, Penza was a wooden stockade with only a small settlement. In May 1663, the architect Yuri Kontransky arrived in Penza on the Tsar's orders to direct the construction of a fortress city, as part of a wider fortress building program to protect Russia from attacks by Crimean Tatars. The initial construction consisted of a wooden Kremlin, a village, and quarters for the nobility, small tradesmen, and merchants. The Muscovite government placed the Cossacks here, who constructed a fortress and called it "Cherkassy Ostroh", from which the regional city of Penza has developed, thanks to the arrival of new settlers, particularly Russians. The Cossack roots of the city and its first settlers are now remembered in the names of Cherkasskaya street, along with the "Cherkassy" historical district.

In 1774, the insurgent army led by Yemelyan Pugachev occupied Penza after the citizens of the city welcomed the rebellious Cossacks. The first stone houses started to appear after 1801, and by 1809 Penza's population had grown to more than 13,000 people.

In 1918, Vladimir Lenin sent a telegram to communists in the Penza area, complaining about the "insurrection of five kulak districts". He urged the public hanging of 100 "landlords, richmen, bloodsuckers", grain seizure, and hostage-liberation. This telegram has been used in several historical works on the period and on Lenin. During the Russian Civil War, the Czechoslovak Legions launched an anti-Bolshevik uprising in Penza.

During the Soviet period, the city developed as a regional industrial center. The Ural mainframe was made here between 1959 and 1964.

Administrative and municipal status
Penza is the administrative center of the oblast. Within the framework of administrative divisions, it is incorporated as the city of oblast significance of Penza—an administrative unit with a status equal to that of the districts. As a municipal division, the city of oblast significance of Penza is incorporated as Penza Urban Okrug.

Transportation
Penza is a major railway junction and lies on the M5 highway linking Moscow and Chelyabinsk. Penza Airport serves domestic flights. Local public transport includes buses, trolleybuses and marshrutkas (routed taxis).

Education and culture
Currently, the city of Penza is seen as a regional center for higher education. It has six universities (the Penza State University, the Pedagogic University, the Academy of Agriculture, the Technology Institute, the University of Architecture and Construction, and the Artillery and Engineering Institute), 13 colleges and 77 public schools. Penza's largest repertoire theatre is Penza Oblast Drama Theater named after A. V. Lunacharsky. Another prominent and unique theater is the Theater of Doctor Dapertutto, founded by Natalia Kugel and located in the former home of Russian theater director Vsevolod Meyerhold. Besides this, Penza is home to four museums, and three art galleries including The Museum of One Painting named after G. V. Myasnikov.

Facilities of higher education include:
 * Penza State University
 * Penza State Pedagogical University (unified with Penza State University in 2012)
 * Penza State University of Architecture and Construction
 * Penza Artillery Engineering Institute
 * Penza State Technological Academy
 * Penza State Agricultural University
 * Penza branch of the Moscow's Institute of Economics, Management and Law
 * Penza branch of the Russian State University of Innovative Technologies and Entrepreneurship

Climate
Penza has a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dfb) with long, cold winters and warm summers. Due to the vast landmass, the summer is much warmer than its 53°N latitude would suggest. The same factors also result in very cold winters by upper mid-latitude European standards. A heat wave in the months of June, July, and August 2010, raised temperatures from previous norms often by 15 C-change in Penza. Some of the higher fluctuations in temperatures were recorded with seven straight days of temperatures +40 C and higher compared to the previous year where the higher temperatures for the same period were, on average, 20 C-change lower.

Sports
Penza first hosted the Russian Sidecarcross Grand Prix in 2009, and did so again in 2010, on August 15.

Dizel Penza is Penza's professional hockey team, playing in the VHL. Dizelist Penza is a junior club playing in the NMHL.

The city football team FC Zenit Penza was established in 1918 but now plays in the Russian Second League. Penza has also a professional rugby union club, Lokomotiv Penza, from Russia's Rugby Championship.

Honors
A minor planet, 3189 Penza, discovered by Soviet astronomer Nikolai Chernykh in 1978, is named after the city.

People
• Denis Ablyazin, world and Olympic medalist in artistic gymnastics

• Sergey Andronov, ice hockey player

• Aleksandr Golikov, ice hockey player

• Vladimir Golikov, ice hockey player

• Nikolai Ishutin, utopian socialist

• Victor Karpov, diplomat

• Pyotr Kochetkov, ice hockey player

• Klim Kostin, ice hockey player

• Alexander Kozhevnikov, ice hockey player

• Egor Kreed, singer, rapper

• Anna Kuznetsova, politician

• Natalia Lavrova, world and Olympic champion in rhythmic gymnastics

• Aristarkh Lentulov, avant-garde artist

• Mikhail Lermontov, poet, grew up in nearby manor of Tarkhany

• Maria Lvova-Belova, children deporter, politician

• Andreï Makine, author

• Alexander Medvedkin, film director

• Yuri Moiseev, ice hockey player

• Vsevolod Meyerhold, actor and directоr

• Ivan Mozzhukhin, silent film actor

• Vasily Pervukhin, ice hockey player

• Maria Sittel, journalist

• Peter Hermann Stillmark, scientist, founder of lectinology

• Sergei Svetlov, ice hockey player

• Sergei Yashin, ice hockey player

• Lavrenty Zagoskin, explorer of Alaska

Twin towns – sister cities
Penza is twinned with:
 * 🇭🇺 Békéscsaba, Hungary (1970)
 * 🇰🇷 Busan, South Korea (2007)
 * 🇨🇳 Lanzhou, China
 * 🇮🇱 Ramat Gan, Israel (2007)
 * 🇧🇾 Mogilev, Belarus (2008)

title: Penza


text:
Ströbeck

Schachdorf Ströbeck is a village in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, which since 1 January 2010 is part of the town of Halberstadt in the Harz district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Located about 8 km west of the city centre, the Schachdorf ("chess village") is known for its long historic connection with chess.

History
The first mention of Strebechi dates back to 995, when King Otto III of Germany dedicated the estate in the Eastphalian Harzgau to his sister Abbess Adelaide of Quedlinburg. In 1004 his successor King Henry II granted it to Drübeck Abbey. Ströbeck was a fief of the Bishopric of Halberstadt, later held by the comital House of Regenstein, from 1343 by the Counts of Wernigerode.

Chess
The main activity for which the village is known, occurred possibly in 1011. According to legend, Bishop Arnulf of Halberstadt had imprisoned Gunzelin of Kuckenburg, the deposed Margrave of Meissen, in the Wartturm, a tower in Ströbeck, and ordered the local farmers to guard him. Due to the boredom in his prison, Gunzelin created a chess set and taught his guards the game. The game was first mentioned in a 1515 deed, when it had become a tradition among the local people, even though at that time chess was only played elsewhere by nobles and clerics. The Ströbeck tradition was described by Duke Augustus II of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel alias Gustavus Selenus in his 1616 book Chess or the King's Game. Ströbeck is also mentioned in H. J. R. Murray's 1913 work A History of Chess.

In 1651, Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg awarded a chess board to the townspeople for their proficiency in the game. It is preserved in a local museum.

Chess continued to be a strong part of Ströbeck's culture and when they village issued its own currency (Notgeld) during the First World War, it featured images of chessboards.

Chess traditions
An international chess tournament is annually held. Since the late 17th century, famous chess matches are regularly illustrated by human chess performances with actors in the guise of pieces. The local elementary school, named after Emanuel Lasker, is the only public school in Germany which teaches chess as part of the curriculum, and it had done so since 1823; just as the Ströbeck secondary school, which was closed in 2004, due to too few pupils.

A local chess museum opened in 1991. Among the exhibits are an elaborate chess set, donated by the "Great Elector" Frederick William of Brandenburg in 1651, as well as several 12 x 8 boards for Courier Chess.

Notable residents

 * Edward Salomon (1827–1909), politician. governor of Wisconsin
 * Frederick Salomon, general in the American Civil War

title: Ströbeck