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Awilda

Awilda, also known as Alwilda, was a female pirate. The story of Awilda is doubted by some historical scholars and considered to be a legend.

Legend
Awilda was the daughter of a 5th-century Scandinavian king; referred to in one source as Synardus and a "Gothic king". It is said that the King, her father, had arranged a marriage for her to Alf, the crown prince of Denmark, whose father was King Sygarus of Denmark. However, Awilda refused her father's choice. She and some of her female friends dressed like sailors and commandeered a ship. While sailing, they came across a pirate ship that had recently lost its captain, and the pirates elected Awilda as their captain. The King of Denmark sent his son and a navy ship to battle with the "irksome" pirates. Prince Alf and his men were able to board their ship and gain the upper hand in the battle. Apparently, Awilda was so impressed with the prince's courage that she revealed her true identity, and agreed to marry Alf. They married on board, and lived happily ever after as King and Queen of Denmark.

Modern versions
Italian poet Torquato Tasso writes his most famous tragedy on her story, called Re Torrismondo, where Alwida is promised in marriage to the king of Sweden, Germondo, but falls in love with Torrismondo, so she decides to commit suicide in order not to choose between love and honor.

Mention in 1769 dictionary
Passage from William Falconer's Dictionary of the Marine - under entry for Pirate:

"'Amongst the most celebrated pirates of the north is recorded Alvilda, daughter of a king of the Goths, named Sypardus. She embraced this occupation to deliver herself from the violence imposed on her inclination, by a marriage with Alf, fon of Sigarus, king of Denmark. She drest herself as a man, and composed her band of rowers, and the rest of her crew, of a number of young women, attired in the same manner. Amongst the first of her cruizes she touched at a place where a company of pirates bewailed the death of their captain. The strangers were captivated with the agreeable manners of Alvilda, and chose her for their chief. By this reinforcement she became so formidable upon the sea, that prince Alf came to engage her. She sustained his attacks for a considerable time; but, in a vigorous action, Alf boarded her vessel, and having killed the greatest part of her crew, feized the captain, namely herself; whom nevertheless he knew nor, because the princess had a casque which covered her visage. Being master of her person, he removed the casque, and in fpite of her disguise, instantly recognized her, and offered her his hand in wedlock. See Hist. Denmark, by Saxo Grammaticus."

title: Awilda


text:
Górnik Konin

Klub Sportowy Górnik Konin is a Polish football club based in Konin, Poland. They currently play in the V liga.

Its biggest successes came under the unpopular  Klub Sportowy Aluminium Konin name in the 1997–98 season, when they finished runners-up in the second division and very controversially lost the Polish Cup final that year to Amica Wronki. Despite this success, the club has had a long history of financial mismanagement and turbulent ownership stemming from that era, as a result of which the club has struggled to recover from ever since.

Beginnings and rise
Football in Konin can be traced back to the early 20th century. The current club's predecessors have been active since 1945, after many mergers till 1954 when the Koło Sportowe Górnik was founded, which 3 years later, in 1957 became today's Klub Sportowy Górnik Konin, its registration is officially recognised as its founding date. The club spent the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s oscillating between the voivodeship-level leagues and the third tier of Polish football. In the 1991–92 season, Górnik finally gained the long-awaited promotion to the second division for the first time, despite coming close several times before.

Name change and the 1998 Cup Final
In 1996–97, the main sponsor of the club, the local coal mine "Konin" withdrew its funding, and the club was transferred under the wing of the local aluminium foundry. The new owners however made the very unpopular decision to change the club name to Aluminium Konin, despite many fan-protests. The following 1997–98 season was the most successful in its history, however considering the amount of funding the club received and the fact that its ultimate aim was promotion to the top tier, the season was still classed as disappointing.

Even reaching the Polish Cup final did little to please fans, as despite Aluminium being by far the better team, Amica Wronki won in controversial circumstances, with many officiating mistakes made by the referee Marek Kowalczyk. Aluminium players initially refused to start the second half. Impartial observers, such the manager of Lech Poznań Adam Topolski, chairman of Olimpia Poznań (a top flight club at the time) Bolesław Krzyżostaniak, the chief of Zawisza Bydgoszcz Edward Potok and former Górnik Konin manager Janusz Białek were all highly critical of the match they have witnessed. Over 7000 Górnik fans were present at Bułgarska Street Stadium in Poznań, additionally supported by local Lech Poznań fans. Despite the PZPN match observer Alojzy Jarguz inexplicably giving the referee a high note for his performance, Kowalczyk was later given a 3-month ban.

In the aftermath of the match, Ryszard F., known as "Fryzjer", the leader of an organised crime group involved in fixing matches all around the country, was the director of Amica Wronki at the time. He later admitted to fixing the match in his autobiography. The 1998 cup final however was never investigated, with trophy still belonging to the now defunct Amica Wronki team, and remains a sore point for Górnik fans to this day.

Mismanagement & scandals
The following 1998–99 season was greeted with financial troubles, after the privatisation of the aluminium foundry meant that it was taken over by the company "Impexmetal SA", who withdrew their support for the club. Despite issues, they still finished the first half of the season in first place. The owners of the club, the aluminium works, also created a complicated structure whereby there was one club, but the reserve teams and junior sides played under a different name, resulting in one club, two boards, and two names, and made each section a separate legal entity. Piotr Nowak became the chairman of the club, but the then manager Jerzy Kasalik was surprisingly sacked for an unexplained reason, despite their first place in the league, and appointed a little-known manager Jarosław Kotas. The team soon started to lose matches at an alarming rate and only just managed to escape relegation, only thanks to their good start.

The 1999–2000 campaign proved to be a disaster. The owners decided to rename the senior team KP Konin, whilst the reserve and junior teams used the old Aluminium Konin name. The club finished dead last after abysmal performances. It then turned out that in the second half of the season plans to relocate the team to Bydgoszcz were put in place, but still to play under the name KP Konin. In the end, the relocation never came to fruition, but the team which only amassed 8 points the entire season, was disbanded, with the club management and the chairman Piotr Nowak, who played professional football in the USA on a daily basis at the time, widely held responsible. The reserve team, which that same season was relegated from the third division, became the first team, and a season later (2000–01 season) managed to gain promotion, going straight back up.

Under the lead of Jerzy Kasalik, the team achieved a back-to-back promotion to the second division, restoring the club's place after the first team was disbanded. The success however was short-lived, after in the 2003–04 season the club finished last once again. Following their relegation, many of the Aluminium players were involved in the large corruption scandal in Polish football which shook the country that season, which had a major impact on the club sponsors who all withdrew. This meant that the new club couldn't even afford to play in the then regional III liga, and the senior team was disbanded.

New start
The only team left was the Aluminium junior team, which played in the local A-klasa, the sixth tier of Polish football. The ambitious team won promotion in the 2005. In the 2006–07 season, the restructuring of the league by the Polish FA meant that despite winning the fourth division, the club would need a play-off against GKS Tychy to gain promotion, which they lost. In April 2008, a new sponsor was found, white goods and consumer electronics retail chain Avans, and after 12 years of waiting to drop the very unpopular Aluminium name, the club finally reverted to its historical name Górnik, initially at first with the one season-long sponsor name in the form of KS Avans Górnik Konin. The club was still burdened with debts and various managerial problems which were left after the "Aluminium" era.

Fans
Górnik organised fan movement started in the late 1980s, and took off in the 90's, however the club was always very popular among locals. The club has had a constant number of loyal supporters regardless of the division the team happened to be in (which varied from local amateur division to nationwide leagues). Their nickname is Łańcuchy (The Chains).

Their number one enemy has always been fans of KKS Kalisz. Other strong rivalries have been with Legia Chełmża, with an infamous riots between the two hitting major headlines in 2010,    and with Amica Wronki (now re-founded as Błękitni Wronki) due to the 1998 Polish Cup final shrouded in scandal, although due to vast gap in the league pyramid there has not been many matches with the latter.

Like many teams in the Greater Poland region, at first Górnik fans were also fans of the local powerhouse Lech Poznań, and it was Lech fans which were the inspiration and precursors of the fan movement in Konin. Although presently the two sets of fans have no connection with each other, many Górnik fans still sympathise with Lech. The fans used to have friendly relations in the 90's with fans of Górnik Wałbrzych. Fans of Ostrovia Ostrów Wielkopolski are also warmly welcomed, as like Górnik, also sympathise with Lech and have a strong rivalry with KKS Kalisz. Presently the fans have friendly relations with fans of Gwardia Koszalin, officially since 18 April 2009.

Honours

 * II liga
 * Runners-up: 1997–98
 * Polish Cup
 * Finalists: 1997–88

Naming history
Like most Polish clubs during the Polish People's Republic era, the club has undergone many name changes. The club was also officially known as Aluminium Konin for 12 years:
 * (1957) – KS Górnik Konin
 * (18.03.1968) – MZKS Zagłębie Konin
 * (19.11.1979) – KS Górnik Konin
 * (20.01.1997) – KS Aluminium Konin
 * (19.02.1999) – KS Aluminium SSA
 * (June 1999) – KP Konin SSA (first team only – junior and reserve team were called "KS Aluminium SSA")
 * (2000) – KS Aluminium Konin ''("KP Konin SSA" disbanded)
 * (June 2008) – KS Górnik Konin
 * (2008–09) – KS Avans Górnik Konin (1 season-long sponsorship name)
 * (2009) – KS Górnik Konin

Notable players
Internationally capped players
 * Radosław Cierzniak, goalkeeper, player of Poland U-21 and Poland national football team
 * Ryszard Jankowski, goalkeeper, player of Poland national football team

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

title: Górnik Konin


text:
Stal Gorzyce

Gorzycki Klub Sportowy Stal Gorzyce is an association football club based in Gorzyce, Poland. Between 1992 and 2014, the club was known as Tłoki Gorzyce.

History
The club was founded in 1951 as Koło Sportowe Stal Gorzyce. They have also performed under various other names, adding Tłoki to its name in 1992. The club spent a dozen seasons in the third division. In 2000–2004 they participated in the second league – in 2000–01 and 2001–02, they ended both seasons in 10th place, the club's greatest finish to date.

The fans still identified with the name Stal, and in 2014 the club reverted to its historical name – Gorzycki Klub Sportowy Stal Gorzyce.

Naming history

 * July 1951 – KS (Koło Sportowe) Stal Gorzyce
 * 6 April 1957 – ZKS (Zakładowy Klub Sportowy) Stal Gorzyce
 * 1992 – ZKS Stal-Tłoki Gorzyce
 * ? – ZKS Tłoki Gorzyce
 * 2007 – Gorzycki Klub Sportowy Tłoki Gorzyce
 * 2014 – Gorzycki Klub Sportowy Stal Gorzyce

Honours

 * 10th place in the second division - 2001–02

title: Stal Gorzyce


text: Wikipedia:WikiProject Classical music

title: Wikipedia:WikiProject Classical music


text:
Polar Wrocław

Polar Wrocław is a Polish sports club based in the Zakrzów district of Wrocław, Poland, named after the local electronics company "Polar". The women's field hockey team exists since 1967. The men's football team is currently competing in the amateur divisions. The club used to be called "ZKS Polar" (Zakładowy Klub Sportowy Polar Wrocław) but after being in the centre of a huge corruption scandal in 2004 the club was dissolved. On 11 March 2005, the club "MKS Polar Wrocław-Zawidawie" was founded which continues the clubs traditions.

Current squad
As of 8 April 2015

Honours

 * Quarter Final Polish Cup – 2002/03.
 * 9th place in Second Division - 1999/2000, 2001/02

title: Polar Wrocław


text:
Student Environmental Action Coalition

The Student Environmental Action Coalition (SEAC) was a student-run, student-led US national environmental group that originated in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. In the beginning it focused primarily on conserving, protecting, and restoring the natural environment, but later its member student environmental organizations took on a broader definition of the environment that includes racism, sexism, militarism, heterosexism, economic justice, and animal rights.

By challenging the power structure that threatens these conditions, SEAC worked to create progressive social and environmental change on both the local and global level. It took a hard-line stance on the issues it addressed. It went through several different stages of organization, and ended up as a bottom-up organization so that the headquarters took its direction from the individual chapters around the country. The national organization was wound up in 2014, but dozens of campus environmental groups still bear its name.

History and past accomplishments
In 1988, students placed an ad in Greenpeace magazine about networking with other young environmentalists. Later, their first action was a letter writing campaign to support a Global Warming Protection Act. In early 1989, they set about organizing a national student environmental conference with the aim of launching a new, united, national student environmental movement in the United States. Called Threshold, this historic conference on the weekend of October 27–29, 1989, was a success, attracting more than 1,700 students from 225 universities and schools from 43 states and several countries. The conference effectively brought the organization to life, and its participants voted to make SEAC's first national campaign saving old-growth forest and reforming the U.S. Forest Service. The next time SEAC members met in Champaign, Illinois, a year later, they were 7,000 strong from every U.S. state, plus others from 11 countries.

At a summer 1991 meeting of the SEAC National Council, the group agreed on 2 major new projects: another national conference (called Common Ground, held in Boulder Colorado), and an international effort to influence outcome of the Earth Summit being held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992. The Council also approved a field-organizing program.

The work on the Rio Summit was conducted under the banner Action for Solidarity, Equality, Environment and Development (A SEED), and involved youth organizations from around the world. A SEED grew into SEAC’s largest project, including a speaker’s tour, educational events, and coordinated conferences in three states and 23 countries over a single weekend and connected together by email and fax. In March 1992, SEAC organized demonstrations at the United Nations and by June, a SEAC member had been added as an official observer on the US delegation to the Summit. SEAC became the North American arm of the ASEED network, which operated in 62 countries.

At its peak SEAC employed 13 full-time staff in 1991, split between the national office, work on A SEED, and field organizing. In 1992, SEAC’s staff was cut to five amidst a loss of funding. 1992 also witnessed changes in the governance of the group as the National Council meeting agreed to the demand from a SEAC People of Color Caucus (POCC) to give the POCC equal representation on the Council. In 1993, SEAC campaigned on fighting the North America Free Trade Agreement and held its first summer Training Program. It also joined the Free Burma Campaign. In 1994, SEAC started a project, proposed by the POCC, called the Environmental Justice Initiative (EJI). The EJI sought to educate and empowering youth and high school students, and part of this initiative evolved into Youth United for Community Action, which became its own organization in 1996.

In the summer of 1996, SEAC's Coordinating Committee decided to cut a program that held activist training sessions at different schools in order to save money, but this precipitated a loss of philanthropic funding. Amid an internal struggle of staff, leadership and members, ultimately all the national staff quit and the national office closed. Meanwhile regional and local organizing continued, though the emergence of large and well-funded student networks as offshoots of mainstream national environmental organizations such as Sierra Student Coalition and student PIRGs, undermined SEAC's position at the center of student environmental activism. In 1997 volunteers reopened a much scaled down national office in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Some of the accomplishments of SEAC chapters include:

January 1991- As SEACers protested the war in Iraq and at the same time launched the Energy Independence Campaign.

1992 - The New York chapter brought together 120 schools to protest the Hydro-Québec II dam in Canada. This dam would have flooded an area 1000 kilometers and damaged land of the indigenous Cree tribe. SEAC and the Cree challenged the two billion dollar Rupert River hydroelectric project again in 2005. Originally, the Cree had agreed on payment for this over 50 years summing $70 million at the hand of Grand Chieft Ted Moses. However, Matthew Mukash is the person now challenging it. In August 2005,  “federal and provincial environmental review panels said Hydro-Québec's impact study was deeply flawed and sent the provincial utility back to the drawing board.”

1994 - Pitt & Michigan State removed themselves from the Mt. Graham Telescope project in Arizona which was endangering red squirrel habitat and sacred Apache land. Judge Alfredo Marquez oversaw the case in court stated the "risks of irreparable injury to the endangered red squirrels which live on the site" violated the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act.

At a University of Wisconsin, Madison Greens, Madison’s own annual Earth Day was created. Frances Moore Lappe (social change activist and one of Earth Days founders), Dana Lyons (environmentalist), and Road Rage (anti-GMO road show) visited the celebration. Part of the event was also a protest against the Agracetus Campus, a subsidiary Monsanto known for its genetically engineered Roundup as well as transgenic corn, cotton and soy. Roundup, a pesticide applied to crops, has glyphosates, which had varying results regarding carcinogenicity.

Miami Dade, Florida - A Student Organization for Animal Rights from the Miami-Dade Community College successfully pushed a bill through its General Assembly regarding the situation of factory-farmed pigs. This was a first nationwide.

Late 2002 – Berea, Kentucky – a joint effort observed a leap forward when the Pentagon released information stating “neutralization and supercritical water oxidation -- not incineration -- is its preferred recommended technology for destruction of chemical weapons stored at the Blue Grass Army Depot.”

November 2002 - After a two-year campaign, SEAC successfully convinced office supply company Staples to stop offering products that came from endangered forests and start offering recycled paper products.

Shepherdstown, West Virginia - A student won an election on the town council which was “a huge role in fighting gentrification as well as signing the town onto the US Mayors' Climate Protection Agreement”

“No Coal Days of Action” exposed Citibank and Bank of America’s support of destructive coal companies when SEACers performed a “die-in” and effectively shut down the Citibank branch in Washington, D.C.

March 2007 - Students protested mountaintop coal removal at “Mountain Justice Spring Break”, West Virginia.

October 2007 – “No War No Warming,” a war and global warming protest congregated at Capitol Hill on Independence Avenue.

SEAC’s principles
SEAC has published 14 organizational principles:

 * 1) Fight environmental degradation
 * 2) Recognize the impact of the environment on human individuals and communities.
 * 3) Support human rights.
 * 4) Support animal rights.
 * 5) Demand corporate responsibility.
 * 6) Fight class inequalities.
 * 7) Fight racism.
 * 8) Fight sexism.
 * 9) Fight homophobia and heterosexism.
 * 10) Fight imperialism and militarism.
 * 11) Have a diverse membership.
 * 12) Develop an activist rather than a volunteer approach.
 * 13) Link our issues to local, community concerns.
 * 14) SEAC National exists to empower the grassroots through training and education.  We view national campaigns as one of the tools to accomplish these goals.

Last projects
At the end of its life, SEAC had one national campaign, Campus Climate Challenge, and three initiatives: Tampaction, Militarism and the Environment, and Mountain Justice.

The Campus Climate Challenge

SEAC was one of 30 organizations from the United States and Canada that was a part of Campus Climate Challenge, their primary campaign. Climatechallenge.org is a partner in fighting global warming. 1, 10

Tampaction

Those participating in Tampaction believe that tampons and menstrual pads oppress people who menstruate. The products themselves are thought to be detrimental to the environment. The companies that make the products are suspected of dumping toxins into the ecosystem. Participants of Tampaction want to embrace their body and all that that implies and return to a more natural mindset, like herbal for example.

Militarism and the Environment

SEAC also fought military conflicts since in military conflicts bombs are dropped and/or dangerous chemicals are used, such as in napalm and chemical weapons. SEAC believed no war can be considered good. “No War No Warming” was an active project due to this concern. SEAC aimed for complete nuclear disarmament and a complete dismantling of nuclear arsenals.

Mountain Justice Spring Break

Mountain Justice Spring Break was an ongoing project supported by SEAC. Mountaintop mining economically benefits very few (including employment), and has disproportionally far-reaching environmental impacts, including soil erosion and flooding. When the mountaintop removal blasts ignite, dust particulates of materials in the soil become airborne and are having a negative impact on human health. In addition, when the blast site is too close to residential areas, the structural stability of the residential buildings is adversely affected.

Schools with SEAC chapters
By state and alphabetized:

 * San Francisco Bay (CA)
 * University of Colorado, Boulder (CO)
 * American University (DC)
 * Bradley University (IL)
 * Illinois State University (IL)
 * Southern Illinois University (IL)
 * Ball State University (IL)
 * Indiana University (IN)
 * St. Mary's College of Maryland (MD)
 * University of Massachusetts Boston (MA)
 * University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (MA)
 * Central Michigan University (MI)
 * Eastern Michigan University (MI)
 * Grand Valley State University (MI)
 * Michigan State University (MI)
 * University of Michigan (MI)
 * Wayne State University (MI)
 * Hastings College (NE)
 * University of New Hampshire, Durham (NH)
 * Drew University (NJ)
 * Spaulding High School (NH)
 * Binghamton University (NY)
 * Hofstra University (NY)
 * The New School (NY)
 * State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Fredonia (NY)
 * Stuyvesant High School (NY)
 * Syracuse University (NY)
 * Federal University of Technology Owerri (Nigeria)
 * Central Carolina Community College (NC)
 * University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (NC)
 * Wake Forest University (NC)
 * Warren Wilson College (NC)
 * Hiram College (OH)
 * Ohio State University, Columbus (OH)
 * University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati (OH)
 * University of Toledo (OH)
 * Carnegie Mellon University (PA)
 * Mercyhurst University (PA)
 * Shippensburg University (PA)
 * Temple University (PA)
 * University of Pittsburgh (PA)
 * Providence College (RI)
 * University of Regina (SK)
 * Claflin University (SC)
 * Clemson University (SC)
 * College of Charleston (SC)
 * Furman University (SC)
 * University of South Carolina, Columbia (SC)
 * Winthrop University (SC)
 * Wofford College (SC)
 * Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro (TN)
 * Tennessee Technological University, Cookeville (TN)
 * Tusculum College (TN)
 * The College of William and Mary (VA)
 * James Madison University (VA)
 * Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (VA)
 * University of Virginia's College at Wise (VA)
 * Virginia Tech (VA)
 * Anstead Middle School (WV)
 * Gilbert High School (WV)
 * Glenville State College (WV)
 * Fairmont State University (WV)
 * Marshall University (WV)
 * Midland Trail High School (WV)
 * Shepherd University (WV)
 * South Charleston High School (WV)
 * University of Vermont (VT)
 * West Virginia State University (WV)
 * West Virginia Wesleyan College (WV)
 * University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh (WI)

title: Student Environmental Action Coalition


text:
Focolare Movement

The Focolare Movement is an international organisation and Christian new religious movement that promotes the ideals of unity and universal brother/sisterhood. It was founded by then elementary school teacher Chiara Lubich in 1943 in Trento, Northern Italy as a Roman Catholic lay movement; it remains largely Roman Catholic but has strong links and has member of many major Christian denominations, other religions and non-religious people.

The Focolare Movement operates in more than 180 nations, has over 140,440 members and more than 4 million sympathisers. The word "Focolare" is Italian for "family fireside". While the term Focolare is the common sobriquet of the international organisation, its official name by the International Association of the Faithful of Pontifical Right, approved only in 1990, was "Opus Mariae" (Work of Mary).

Beginnings
In the Northern Italian city of Trento in 1943, in the climate of violence and hatred of the Second World War and Nazi Occupation of Northern Italy (under the puppet state known as Republic of Salò), the young elementary school teacher Chiara Lubich saw God's Love as the only thing that was not fallen in rubble. With the Gospel in hand while sheltering during air raids, she claimed she felt deeply Jesus' prayer "that they all may be one". A group of young girls and many others sequentially joined in helping those in the shelters and in the poorest parts of town, sharing her vision that was later called "Ideal".

Starting already in 1945, criticisms, misunderstandings and accusations began to spread against this new community in Trento. Living the Gospel, communicating experiences, sharing their few possessions and making unity their ideal, aroused suspicions of Protestantism or a new form of communism. Their radical way of living the Gospel that Chiara proposed attracted the accusation of "fanaticism", and the word "love", not customarily used in the Catholic sphere at that time, was likewise misunderstood.

In 1948, the Italian politician and journalist Igino Giordani, a member of the Italian Parliament and pioneer of ecumenism joined the group, bringing social unity and politics as new dimensions of the Ideal. Giordani is one of the co-founders, also with Fr. Pasquale Foresi, who would do a great work thanks to his theological background, known expecially as the founder of New City Press in 1964.

The Movement spread rapidly throughout Italy in the post-war period. It initially spread in Northern Italy and across Europe, then worldwide. In 1958, members of the Movement began to travel to other continents at the request of people who wanted to know more about it. In 1958, it reached various countries in South America, in 1961 North America, in 1963 Africa, in 1966 Asia and 1967 Australia.

It has 140,440 members in more than 180 countries. People more broadly involved in the movement are estimated by the Vatican at 4.5 million.

Focolare towns

After 1949, summer vacations together in Fiera di Primiero in the Dolomite Mountains led to the desire to share—materially, culturally, and spiritually. Numbers increased for these retreats, including priests and religious with a variety of spiritualities, and by 1955 this gathering took on the name "Mariapolis", a model of peace for the world under Mother Mary's patronage. In 1962 Chiara's visit to the Benedictine Einsiedeln Abbey in Switzerland made her dream of permanent towns of brother/sisterhood, "simple houses, workplaces, schools—just like an ordinary town". In 1964 Loppiano, the first permanent Mariapolis was built on land donated by Vincenzo Folonari, near Florence. It has grown to include 900 people of worldwide origins and diverse occupations, married and single, priests and religious, who work and study together and strive to live in exemplary Christian charity.

According to the data published by the Focolare Movement, twenty four other such towns have sprung up worldwide. Some have specific emphases: ecumenism (Ottmaring, Germany; Welwyn Garden City, Great Britain); ecology (Rotselaar, Belgium); interreligious dialogue (Tagaytay, Philippines); multi-ethnic harmony (Luminosa, New York; Križevci, Croatia); or inculturation (Fontem, Cameroon; Kenya; Ivory Coast). In these towns religious and cultural differences are respected, to exemplify Jesus' dream: "Father, may they all be one, as you and I are one."

Development
In November 1956, an uprising of the Hungarian people was brutally suppressed. Chiara responded by calling for an army of volunteers for the cause of God, “volunteers of God”: "A certain society has attempted to erase the name of God, the reality of God, the providence of God and the love of God from people’s hearts. There has to be a society that can put God back in his rightful place (…). A society that witnesses to only one name: God." Thus, the "volunteers of God" came to life, the first of 18 branches within the Focolare Movement.

Groups met according to their area of engagement and, with Chiara's inspiration, began centers for politics, economy, medicine, and art. These later developed into a wider movement that Chiara launched in 1968 with the name “For a New Society” and later changed to “New Humanity.

The Focolare Movement has branched out to address a variety of groups including families, youth, and different religions. Special projects have sprung up within the movement, such as the "Abba" school, Young People for a United World (now Youth for a United World), Teens4unity, Economy of Communion (involving 800 companies), evangelism within small cities, social work, the Igino Giordani Centre, and 27 publishing houses. Pope Francis in praising Economy of Communion called on it to change "the rules of the game of the socio-economic system." John L. Allen Jr. has observed that it is hard to "pick a fight with a focolarino. ...They tend to be open, ego-free, and just relentlessly nice."

The president of the Focolare Movement, who is always a Catholic lay woman, is Maria Voce, first elected in 2008.

Renewal
At a reorganizational meeting in 2014 newly elected council members had an average age 16 years younger than that of the previous council, and the 30 council members came from 20 different countries. In Pope Francis' address to the reorganizational meeting, he said: "The Work of Mary, that everyone knows as the Focolare movement, was a little seed in the Catholic Church’s womb, that in the course of the years has brought to life a tree which now extends its branches in all the expressions of the Christian family and also among members of different religions and among many who cultivate justice and solidarity together with the search for truth." Francis went on to describe elements of the movement as contemplation, going out to engage in dialogue and formation of youth. Of contemplation he said: “We need to contemplate God and the beauty of his love,” keeping in mind that “to contemplate means to live together with brothers and sisters, breaking with them the bread of communion and fraternity,” since “contemplation that leaves people outside is a lie, it is narcissism.”

Les Jours, an online investigative news site, published a series of articles concerning abuse within the movement. In light of allegations of sexual abuse brought against Jean-Michel Merlin, a consecrated member in France, the Focolare Movement contracted with GCPS Consulting to look into the matter. In October 2020, three senior officials of the movement stepped down amid questions regarding their handling of complaints. Focolare subsequently initiated an internal invetigation into the number of cases of claimed abuse.

Publications
The Focolare magazine, entitled Città Nuova ("new city"), began at the 1956 Mariapolis from the desire of people to stay connected to the spirituality and the movement as a whole. In one of its first editorials, Chiara expressed her vision for it: "We would like to collect all the various experiences of people who are bringing unity all over the world (…) so that the good that one person does will become the common good and the common good will belong to each individual."

New City Press, established in 1964, is the official publishing house for the Focolare Movement, publishing books, periodicals, and e-books. Among its publications are the Spirituality of Unity series, featuring the works of founder Chiara Lubich, and Understanding the Scriptures, Bible commentaries by scholars such as Daniel J. Harrington, Dianne Bergant, Robert Karris, and Ronald Witherup. NCP publications include: the academic journal Sophia twice a year; three quarterlies – Gen's on ecclesial commitment as well as New Humanity, and Unity and Charisms; the bimonthly Teens for children; and the monthly periodicals Città Nuova (published in 38 different national or regional formats; known as New City in the UK, and as Living City in the US, where its editor is Jon M. Sweeney) with opinion and dialogue, Big Smart Kids including inserts for educators, and Gospel of the Day. Focolare also publishes Economy of Communion, a quarterly magazine and website.

Members proposed for Sainthood
During the short life of the Focolari Movement, many Catholic members have been proposed for sainthood status to the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints.

Blesseds

 * Chiara Badano [Luce] – (1971–1990), Young Layperson of the Diocese of Aqui Terme; Member (Italy)

Venerables

 * Jerzy Ciesielski – (1929–1970), Married Layperson of Archdiocese of Kraków; Member (Poland-Egypt)
 * Maria Orsola Bussone – (1954–1970), Young Layperson of Archdiocese of Turin; Member (Italy)
 * Daniela Zanetta – (1962–1986), Young Layperson of the Diocese of Novara; Member (Italy); declared "Venerable": 23 March 2017
 * Nguyễn Văn Thuận – (1928–2002), Bishop of Nha Trang; Cardinal; Associate (Vietnam-Italy)

Servants of God

 * Chiara Lubich [Silvia] – (1920–2008), Layperson of the Diocese of Frascati; Founder of the Focolare Movement
 * Igino Giordani [Foco] – (1894–1980), Married Layperson of the Diocese of Frascati; Cofounder (Italy)
 * Albertina Violi Zirondoli – (1901–1972), Married Layperson of the Diocese of Fiesole; Consecrated Member (Italy)
 * Alberto Michelotti – (1958–1980), Young Layperson of the Archdiocese of Genoa; Member (Italy)
 * Carlo Grisolia [Vir] – (1960–1980), Young Layperson of the Archdiocese of Genoa; Member (Italy)
 * Maria Cecilia Perrin de Buide – (1957–1985), Married Layperson of the Archdiocese of Bahia Blanca; Member (Argentina)
 * Margarita Bavosi [Luminosa] – (1941–1985), Layperson of the Archdiocese of Madrid; Consecrated Member (Argentina-Italy)
 * Renata Borlone – (1930–1990), Layperson of the Diocese of Fiesole; Consecrated Member (Italy)
 * Santa Scorese – (1968–1991), Young Layperson of the Diocese of Bari-Bitonto; Associate; Martyr (Italy)
 * Dario Porta – (1930–1996), Priest of the Diocese of Parma; Member (Italy)
 * Manuel Pascual Perrin – (1925–2000), Married Layperson of the Archdiocese of Bahia Blanca; Member (Argentina)
 * Ginetta Calliari – (1918–2001), Layperson of the Diocese of Osasco; Consecrated Member (Italy-Brazil)
 * Domenico Antonio Mangano – (1938–2001), Married Layperson of the Diocese of Albano; Member of the Volunteers of God – Focolare Movement (Italy)

title: Focolare Movement


text:
SEAC

SEAC may refer to:

 * SEAC (computer), a first-generation electronic computer built in 1950
 * Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Chairman, an advisor to the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff
 * Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Chiefs of Staff Committee, the senior other ranks advisor of to the British Chiefs of Staff Committee
 * SESAR European Airports Consortium, a participant in the reform of the fragmented European air traffic management system
 * The Society for Electroanalytical Chemistry
 * Society for Ethics Across the Curriculum
 * South East Asia Command, a World War II Allied military command
 * South East Atlantic Conference
 * Southeastern Athletic Conference, an intercollegiate athletic conference of historically black colleges and universities in the United States (1929–1961)
 * Student Environmental Action Coalition, a coalition of environmental groups in the United States and Canada
 * Radio SEAC, see Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation
 * South Eastern Agricultural College, later Wye College

title: SEAC


text:
Me and Mr. Johnson

Me and Mr. Johnson is the fifteenth solo studio album recorded by Eric Clapton, released in March 2004 by Reprise Records. It consists of covers of songs written and originally recorded by Robert Johnson. The album cover was painted by Sir Peter Blake, using a series of photographs of Clapton. Clapton had planned to record an album of new material, but by the time of the recording sessions there were not enough new songs written, so the band instead recorded a series of Johnson songs.

Me and Mr. Johnson sold more than two million albums worldwide and reached the Top 10 in more than 15 countries. A companion album and video release entitled Sessions for Robert J was released on 7 December 2004, and featured different versions of each of the songs from the studio album.

Background
At the beginning of 2004, Clapton set out to record a new album, working with his long-time collaborator Simon Climie on several songs that Clapton wrote about love, peace and happiness. However, when it came time to record in the studio, there were not enough finished songs for an album, so Clapton suggested the band play some songs composed by Delta blues great Robert Johnson. In just two weeks, Clapton and his studio band – Andy Fairweather Low, Billy Preston, Steve Gadd, Doyle Bramhall II, and Nathan East – recorded an entire album consisting of Johnson cover songs. Clapton was very pleased with the recordings, as was Warner Bros. Records and Reprise Records manager Tom Whalley. Clapton eventually finished his original material, which was released on the album Back Home in 2005.

In February 2004, Clapton was interviewed about his new studio album: "'It is a remarkable thing to have been driven and influenced all of my life by the work of one man', Clapton said. 'And even though I accept that it has always been the keystone of my musical foundation, I still would not regard it as an obsession; instead, I prefer to think of it as a landmark that I navigate by, whenever I feel myself going adrift. I am talking, of course, about the work of Robert Johnson. Up until I heard his music, everything I had ever heard seemed as if it was dressed up for a shop window somewhere, so that when I heard him for the first time, it was like he was singing only for himself, and now and then, maybe God. At first, it scared me in its intensity, and I could only take it in small doses. Then I would build up strength and take a little more, but I could never really get away from it, and in the end, it spoiled me for everything else. Now, after all these years, his music is like my oldest friend, always in the back of my head, and on the horizon. It is the finest music I have ever heard. I have always trusted its purity, and I always will'."

Critical reception
AllMusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine notes Clapton sounds very "comfortable and relaxed" on the album, "as if he was having fun making music". Erlewine calls the album "simply the most enjoyable record he's made" since From the Cradle with the possible exception of Riding with the King. Comparing the album to From the Cradle, the music critic notes: "in some respects it's a better blues album than that since it never sounds as doggedly serious as that guitar-heavy affair". Erlewine finishes his review liking the album: "Some [...] may find the album too slickly produced – admittedly, blues albums should never boast a credit for Pro Tools, as this does – but this is a heartfelt tribute that's among Clapton's most purely enjoyable albums". He awarded the release three and a half out of five possible stars. Rolling Stone critic David Fricke felt that "Clapton [goes] back to blues school on [this] cover [album], but [does] so with mutual fealty and honest delight". He notes that Clapton limits his guitar solos to "a blistering chorus or two" in some of the songs, "to better show off the dirty-rubber swing of Clapton's longtime road-and-studio band". The journalist finishes his review finding "Clapton pays broad tribute to Johnson as a composer and public-domain synthesist". The British Uncut magazine liked the background work of Clapton's studio band, as they seem to be an "authentic, bottomless thump" to the Johnson tunes and leave Clapton enough space to play "devastating" guitar and sing "like a man who has faced down more than a few canine devils of his own". The magazine awarded the release four out of five points.

Journalist Edna Gundersen from USA Today calls the 2004 studio album a "homage to the genre's godfather in 14 electric versions of acoustic blueprints that laid the groundwork for the '60s rock explosion" and rates the album with three and a half out of four possible stars, calling the songs "greasy as they are graceful, conveying an earthy intensity". Critic Robert Gauthier from Entertainment Weekly opined that Me and Mr. Johnson "will likely become a coffee-table album" and notes "Clapton sounds reinvigorated in these 14 songs by "Crossroads" soul-salesman Robert Johnson, with phlegm in his throat and (relative) fire in his belly". He also liked Billy Preston's work on keyboards and awarded the release a "B+" rating, meaning "very good". Rob Webb from BBC Music feels that: "Clapton is no longer God: he now plays the Devil. For him to take on Johnson's catalogue makes perfect sense. With both wailing electric guitar and acoustic-slide under his arm, Eric runs through 'When You Got a Good Friend', 'Milkcow's Calf Blues', 'Come On In My Kitchen' and a dozen other tried and tested Johnson tunes. They are all delivered with sincerity, love and respect. The band are as tight as a bottle-stop, the recording is as clear as a bell and Clapton's singing and playing sound just fine. Me and Mr Johnson will appeal to his AOR audience after a bit of authentic as much as it will to staunch blues fans hungry for digital-age renditions of Johnson standards". Billboard critic Christopher Walsh thinks that on Me and Mr. Johnson "Clapton is in fine form, setting aside the slick instrumentation and production that have marked much of his more recent work in favor of a smaller ensemble", creating as the result "a sparse sound, allowing Clapton's usual outstanding lead and slide guitar work to shine. Clapton and the stellar musicians behind him are obviously passionate about the music". Although Walsh liked the music on the album, he would like Clapton to "let it loose" more.

Personnel

 * Eric Clapton – vocals, guitars, slide guitar
 * Billy Preston – acoustic piano, Hammond organ
 * Andy Fairweather Low – guitars
 * Doyle Bramhall II – guitars, slide guitar
 * Nathan East – bass (1–4, 6–14)
 * Pino Palladino – bass (5)
 * Steve Gadd – drums (1–4, 6–14)
 * Jim Keltner – drums (5)
 * Jerry Portnoy – harmonica

Production

 * Producers – Eric Clapton and Simon Climie
 * Recording Engineer – Alan Douglas
 * Second Assistant Engineer – Bea Henkel
 * Assistant Engineers – Philippe Rose and Tom Stanley
 * Mixed by Mick Guzauski
 * Mix Assistant – Tom Bender.
 * Pro Tools Engineer – Simon Climie
 * Additional Pro Tools – Joel Evenden and Jonathan Shakhovsky
 * Mastered by Bob Ludwig at Gateway Mastering (Portland, ME).
 * Guitar Technician – Lee Dickson
 * Project Coordinator – Mick Double
 * Album Cover Concept and Liner Notes – Eric Clapton
 * Cover Illustration – Peter Blake
 * Design – Catherine Roylance
 * Photography – Toru Moriyama

North America and Asia
When the album was officially announced, experts from the American Billboard magazine concluded Me and Mr. Johnson would sell more than 100,000 copies in its first week on the U.S. Billboard 200 album chart. As it turned out, the blues cover album sold 128,000 copies in its first week in the U.S., peaking at number six on the Billboard chart in 2004. The album reached the same position on the magazine's Top Internet Albums chart and topped the Billboard Blues albums chart for a total of eleven weeks and stayed 90 weeks on the chart. While charting on the Top 200 albums chart in its twelfth week, Me and Mr. Johnson became the week's greatest gainer with sales of 17,000 copies in July 2004. On 7 July the same year, the album was certified with a gold disc by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) commemorating sales of 500,000 copies in the U.S. The album stayed a total of 18 weeks on the Billboard 200 albums chart. Overall in 2004, Me and Mr. Johnson was the 137th best-selling album as well as the 21st most-purchased album over the Internet and the best-selling blues album in the United States for this period. In 2005, the album was the 5th best-selling blues album in North America. In Canada, the album peaked at number three on the Canadian Albums Chart, compiled by the Billboard magazine and was later awarded a Gold presentation by the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA), selling more than 50,000 copies in the country. However, the album went on to sale more than 60,000 units. In Japan, the album peaked at number eight on the Oricon albums chart in 2004 and went on to become the 84th best-selling album in Japan in 2004. It was also certified with a Gold disc in that region by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) for sales exceeding 100,000 copies and had sold more than 150,000 copies in the nation. In South Korea, the album sold about 2,500 copies and peaked at number seven on the Gaon albums chart for international releases. The album reached position 22 in the state of Hong Kong.

Africa, South America and Oceania
In South Africa, the album peaked at number three on the charts, compiled by the Recording Industry of South Africa (RiSA). Me and Mr. Johnson was also successful in South America, as it went to number nine on the Mexican albums chart and stayed a total of 32 weeks on the official albums chart compiled by Asociación Mexicana de Productores de Fonogramas y Videogramas (AMPROFON) for the nation. A little less successful was the release in Brazil, where the album only peaked at number 49 on the album charts and stayed just two weeks on the Associação Brasileira dos Produtores de Discos (ABPD) compilation. In Oceania, the album was slightly more successful as it peaked at number 23 on the ARIA charts in Australia, where it stayed three weeks on chart. For the year-ending of 2001, Me and Mr. Johnson was the 11th best-selling Jazz/Blues album in the country. In New Zealand however, the album was certified with a Platinum disc by the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ), exceeding sales figures of more than 15,000 copies in the country as Me and Mr. Johnson peaked at number 14 and stayed four weeks on chart.

Sessions for Robert J
Sessions for Robert J is the sixteenth solo studio album by the British rock guitarist and singer-songwriter Eric Clapton and was released on 7 December 2004 through Reprise Records. The release is a companion project to his previously released album Me and Mr. Johnson. A DVD shows Clapton and his band traveling around the United Kingdom and United States just before and after his 2004 Crossroads Guitar Festival, recording some takes of Johnson's songs on video. Songs that were not included on the first album include: "From Four 'Til Late", "Terraplane Blues", "Ramblin' on my Mind", "Sweet Home Chicago", and "Stones in My Passway". Several songs are performed in duet by Clapton on steel-string acoustic guitar and Doyle Bramhall II on steel string acoustic and dobro guitars. Between sessions, Clapton discusses Johnson's profound influence on him and other musicians. One notable segment features Clapton performing in the 508 Park Avenue building in Dallas, Texas, that served as a makeshift studio in 1937 for Johnson to cut his legendary recordings.

Background
In his 2007 autobiography, Clapton wrote that he asked his long-time friend Hiroshi Fujiwara to direct a video which would accompany some tracks from his then-new studio release Me and Mr. Johnson for either TV or Internet broadcasting, (but not for commercials). Fujiwara agreed to work with Clapton on the project but also suggested that his friend Stephen Schible, the producer of the movie Lost in Translation, work with him and Clapton. When Schible got to the scene, he quickly decided to go beyond the idea of doing some short-form videos that Clapton had suggested and film a whole documentary about why Clapton loved Robert Johnson and how Johnson influenced him, as well as other musicians and the blues in general. When Clapton agreed and finished filming for the video release, he was amazed by the recordings and consented to release them. With Sessions for Robert J, Clapton felt he had paid his dues to Robert Johnson.

Critical reception
Canadian music journalist Darryl Sterdan from Jam! magazine liked both the compact disc and DVD video release, noting that Clapton "picked up where he left off with last spring's Me and Mr. Johnson, covering more classics by Delta blues pioneer Robert Johnson in assorted settings". Sterdan awarded the release four out of five possible stars, especially enjoying the recordings from 508 Park Avenue, where several blues icons had recorded their music more than 60 years ago. AllMusic critic Thom Jurek liked Sessions for Robert J and awarded the release three out of possible five stars. For his review for the AllMusic website, Jurek notes:

"It appears that Eric Clapton had more Robert Johnson in his blood than he thought – or perhaps it was planned this way. This DVD/CD set […], showcases Clapton mining the Robert Johnson vein ever more deeply in no less than four different settings. The DVD features 19 acoustic and electric performances recorded in rehearsal spaces in Dallas and in England, as well as in the 508 Park Avenue in Dallas, a studio Johnson himself recorded in, in 1937. There is one more segment, a recorded solo acoustic in a hotel room in California. The band that joins Clapton in the rehearsal studios is composed of guitar master Doyle Bramhall II, organist Billy Preston, Steve Gadd on drums, pianist Chris Stainton and Nathan East on bass. The electric performances, particularly 'Milkcow's Calf Blues', 'Stop Breakin' Down Blues', and especially 'I Wish I Had Possession Over Judgment Day', have some real life and stomp in them. Of the acoustic tracks, 'Terraplane Blues' works best. The DVD also contains a selection of behind-the-scenes footage that will be of interest only to those fans who need to see everything. The CD contains 11 cuts culled from the DVD and the sequencing is in some ways preferable."

Chart performance
Sessions for Robert J was not very successful on the album charts, possibly due to its predecessor released earlier in Spring of 2004. However, the compact disc album peaked at number 74 on the official Austrian album charts where it stayed for one week on the chart in 2004. In France, the album reached number 120 on the album charts, compiled by the Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique and spent a total of six weeks on the chart, reaching even into the next year. In Japan, Sessions for Robert J sold about 6,000 units in its first week on the chart, peaking at number 189. By the end of 2011, however, the release sold 60,000 copies in the Asian country. In Canada, the album did not reach the music charts, but was a medium success, selling about 20,000 copies in the country. In the United Kingdom, the album also did not reach the official albums chart, however, it sold close to 25,000 copies. In the United States, both the album and the video release were most successful, reaching position 172 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, where the album stayed for two weeks. The release also topped the Billboard magazine's Blues albums chart, and spent a total of 49 weeks on the genre chart until 2006. The video DVD release reached number 21 on the American Top Music Video charts, also compiled by Billboard magazine. In the United States alone, the album sold more than 230,000 copies. In total, Sessions for Robert J has sold more than 400,000 copies worldwide. For the year-ending of 2005, Sessions for Robert J was the 3rd best-selling blues album in the United States.

title: Me and Mr. Johnson


text:
Talk:Me and Mr. Johnson

The following was posted on the "Me & Mr Johnson" page (before it became a redirect):

Eric has been quoted speaking this tribute to his inspiration (if you like):

 * "ITS A REMARKABLE THING...to have been driven and influenced all of my life by the work of one man. And even though I accept that it has always been the keystone of my musial foundation, I still would not regard it as an obsession, instead, I prefer to think of it as a landmark that I navigate by, whenever I feel myself going adrift.

 * "I'M TALKING OF COURSE, ABOUT THE WORK OF ROBERT JOHNSON, Up until I heard his music, everything I had ever heard seemed as if It was dressed up for a shop window somewhere, so that when I heard him for the first time, it was like he was singing only for himself, and now and then, maybe God...At first it scared me in its intensity, and I could only take it in small doses. Then I would build up strength and take a little more, but I could never really get away from it, and in the end, it spoiled me for everything else...

 * "NOW, AFTER ALL THSESE YEARS, his music is like my oldest friend, always in the back of my head, and on the horizon. Its the finest music I have ever heard.  I have always trusted its purity, and I always will"   ERIC.C

RedWolf 21:28, May 24, 2004 (UTC)

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title: Talk:Me and Mr. Johnson


text:
User:Loriendeva

Loriendeva literally is (in Tolkien's fictional language Quenya) Lady of the Golden Land. This most likely refers to Galadriel, or perhaps (not too likely) to Varda, also called Elbereth. She is mentioned in Valinorenna, the farewell poem between Celebrian and Elrond. Obviously, my name is not Loriendeva, but you'll have to get over that. As is obvious, i am OBSESSED with The Lord of the Rings. My favorite characters change frequently, but they most often are Aragorn, Galadriel, Sam, Smeagol/Gollum, and Eowyn. More on me later. MY BIRTHDAY IS TOMORROW!!!!

title: User:Loriendeva


text:
Far Cry (video game)

Far Cry is a 2004 first-person shooter game developed by Crytek and published by Ubisoft. It is the first installment in the Far Cry franchise. Set on a mysterious tropical archipelago, the game follows Jack Carver, a former American special operations forces operative, as he searches for journalist Valerie Constantine, who accompanied him to the islands but went missing after their boat was destroyed by mercenaries. As Jack explores the islands, he begins to discover the horrific genetic experiments being conducted on the local wildlife and must confront the mad scientist behind them.

The game was the first to use Crytek's CryEngine, and was designed as an open-ended first-person shooter, though it lacks most of the freedom its successors would offer to the player. While players can freely explore the game's world like in later Far Cry titles, they are most often discouraged from doing so due to the linear structure of missions and the lack of side content. Despite this, the gameplay formula established in Far Cry—placing the player in a foreign environment occupied by enemy forces where they must use various weapons and tools, as well as their surroundings to overcome any threat—would prove essential in defining the series' identity going forward.

Far Cry was released for Microsoft Windows in March 2004 to generally positive reviews, being praised for its visuals, gameplay mechanics, and the level of freedom given to players. The game was also a commercial success, selling over 730,000 units within four months of release and over 2.5 million units in its lifetime. The success of Far Cry led to a series of standalone sequels developed by Ubisoft, starting with Far Cry 2 in 2008. A remake of the game with a different storyline and new mechanics, Far Cry Instincts, was released for the Xbox in 2005, and for the Xbox 360 in 2006 as part of the Far Cry Instincts: Predator compilation. A loose film adaptation was released in 2008. The original version of Far Cry, updated with HD graphics, was re-released under the title Far Cry Classic for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2014.

Gameplay
Far Cry is a standard first-person shooter set in an open-ended environment: an unidentified archipelago in the South Pacific. The tropical rain forest provides cover and concealment, of which both the player and enemies can take advantage. Enemies react dynamically to the player's tactics and actions. If a lone mercenary spots a player, he occasionally runs for help, signaling reinforcements through use of flareguns. Enemies will work together to outmaneuver, outflank, surround, and provide suppressive fire, providing them a tactical advantage over the player, who, in turn, is able to spot and mark enemies on their minimap through use of special binoculars, which also grant the player the ability to listen to enemy conversations from afar, merely by pointing the binoculars in the direction of the enemies. Later in the gameplay, thermo binoculars can be used to locate the heat signatures of enemies, that would be otherwise concealed by foliage or darkness.

The environment includes land, water, indoor and outdoor structures, all during various times of the day. The player has the ability to jump, run, crouch and lie down, and look about in all directions. Sound plays an important part in the overall gameplay. For example, the general location of enemies can often be identified by hearing their footsteps or conversations. Throughout the game, the player encounters a variety of weapons from which to choose, including automatic weapons and grenades.

The open maps allow the player to complete their objectives in several different manners. When outdoors, the player is usually presented with a fairly simple set of possible routes to their objective, but these do not necessarily have to be used. Outdoor map level designs are constructed in a way that allows the player to try different angles for assaults, or even completely circumvent enemies (given enough time to maneuver). However, during the indoor sections of the game, level design tends to lose this attribute in favor of a more traditional, linear gameplay.

Multiplayer
The game included three multiplayer modes: Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, and 'Assault' - An attack/defend mode where one team must guard three bases and the other must capture them. Ubisoft closed the online servers in October 2015.

Setting
The game's story follows a retired U.S. Army Special Forces soldier stranded on a mysterious archipelago. He is searching for a female journalist named Valerie Constantine, after she went missing when their boat was destroyed by mercenaries. The game includes thematic elements relating to the dangers of weaponizing genetic engineering and the genocide of local islanders as can be seen by the deformed creatures created by a mad scientist named Krieger.

The terrain in Far Cry varies greatly. Set on a South Pacific archipelago, the landscape includes beaches, dense rain forests, towering canyons, mines, swamps, and even volcanic forests. Many of the interiors range from simple beach huts and army camps to elaborate complexes, an underground temple, and ultra-modern research labs. Several of these mazes use the remains of Japanese World War II-era fortifications and bunkers.

Plot
Jack Carver has left his mysterious and bitter past behind him and dropped out of society to run a boat-charter business in the South Pacific. He is hired by a female journalist named Valerie Constantine to take her secretly to an uncharted island in Micronesia. After Val takes off on her own with a jet ski, Jack's boat is blown apart by a rocket, but he survives by diving into the water. With the help of a man named Doyle, Jack travels across the various islands, battling mysterious mercenaries in search for Val. Through encounters with Trigens (genetically altered beasts) and information from Doyle, Jack soon discovers that the island is part of an experiment involving genetic modification, funded by the genetic company Krieger Corp. and led by its CEO, Dr. Krieger.

As the game progresses, it becomes clear that the Trigens, who are running loose, are becoming too large a problem for the mercenaries to handle, and that the experiments are not limited to just primate mutations, but have moved on to mutating humans (possibly mercenaries). When Jack finally catches up with Val, she is being taken to another area by a helicopter which is stopped by Jack. After a brief struggle on board the helicopter, Val tells Jack to jump for it, kicking him in the face and they both fall from the helicopter as it explodes. After they both swim to shore, Val reveals that she is an undercover CIA agent investigating Krieger's operations. After further exploration, Jack must again search for and rescue Val while the human Trigens have escaped (freed by Jack) and have begun a revolt against the mercenaries on the island. After rescuing Val, they split up again and reunite when Jack has killed the mercenary commander, Crowe. Information Crowe had with him indicates Krieger has a tactical nuke on the island, which he intends to use as a last resort in covering his tracks should his projects be investigated.

After the Department of Defense has supposedly analyzed the situation, Jack and Val steal the nuclear weapon, despite Jack's protests. Before entering the factory, Doyle warns that the mutagen might infect them when the blast goes off, and advises them to take a mutagen-resistant serum before arming the nuke. Inside the factory, they do so and arm the nuke, which detonates directly behind Jack and Val as they exit the factory, leaving them unconscious. While the pair are unconscious, Krieger captures them before leaving to his main base in a helicopter. Jack, kicked off the helicopter, has to fight through the Trigen-infested area to rescue Val and escape the islands with his life. Upon reaching a mercenary weapons cache, Jack notices his arm is turning green. Doyle responds that the mutagen concentration on the air might be too strong for the antidote, but Krieger is working on a cure in a laboratory nearby. Jack is thus directed to find Krieger, who has injected himself with the mutagen but is ultimately defeated.

With his dying breath, Krieger reveals that there is no cure for the mutagen. Doyle reveals the "antidote" they took earlier was the very mutagen they were trying to protect themselves from and reveals that he plans to sell the mutagen formula on the black market before fleeing. After battling through a horde of Trigens, Jack catches up with Doyle and kills him. Jack then escapes just before the volcano, in which Krieger's main offices are located, erupts. Both he and Val are cured from the mutagen and manage to sail off on a boat.

Development and release
Crytek developed a game engine called CryEngine for Far Cry. Reportedly, the game was born out of a technology demo called X-Isle: Dinosaur Island made by Crytek to showcase the capabilities of the Nvidia GeForce 3.

On June 10, 2013, Ubisoft announced Far Cry Classic would come to XBLA as part of Microsoft's 2013 Summer Arcade releases. The game was delayed to February 12, 2014. Far Cry Classic is an HD remake for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The game is available as a standalone and part of a compilation called Far Cry: The Wild Expedition.

In June 2023, the game's source code was leaked online.

Reception
Far Cry received "generally favorable" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic. The game received runner-up placements for GameSpot's 2004 "Best Shooter" and "Best Graphics, Technical" awards across all platforms. It received multiple awards at the Deutscher Entwicklerpreis 2004, including "Best Full-Price Game".

Sales
Far Cry was a commercial success, with sales above 730,000 units after four months of release. It received a "Gold" certification from the Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland for its performance through the end of June 2004. This indicated sales of at least 100,000 units across Germany, Switzerland and Austria. In the United States, Far Cry sold 350,000 copies and earned $11 million for Crytek by August 2006. At the time, this led Edge to declare it the country's 49th-best-selling computer game released since January 2000. It also earned a "Gold" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), for sales of at least 200,000 copies in the United Kingdom. In 2010, Crytek announced that the PC version of the game had sold over 2.5 million units overall.

Legacy
On April 8, 2004, Ubisoft announced Far Cry Instincts for the Xbox. Far Cry Instincts is not a direct port of the original, being designed specifically for consoles. The game uses a similar premise to the original PC version, and the same game engine, but by comparison Instincts is less open-ended and more linear, due to the console's reduced processing power which prevents the full rendering of the PC version's vast islands and landscape. Additionally, Instincts features a significantly altered storyline, and new multiplayer modes, weapons, dual wielding and "feral abilities". PlayStation 2 and GameCube were also planned but were cancelled. Far Cry Instincts was exclusive to the Xbox and was released to acclaim in North America on September 27, 2005.

On March 28, 2006, Ubisoft released a sequel to Instincts, Far Cry Instincts: Evolution for the Xbox, which was met with less enthusiasm than the first versions of Far Cry. On the same day, for the Xbox 360, Far Cry Instincts: Predator was released, which essentially contains updated versions of Instincts and Evolution that can run in 720p or 1080i high-definition. Evolution includes a new single-player campaign, although it is considerably shorter than that of Far Cry Instincts. The storyline focuses on Jack Carver's work for a woman named Kade, which leads him to be hunted by local governments due to a frame-up during a botched arms deal. Jack again meets up with Doyle, who is practicing damage control, and eventually must battle a native warrior named Semeru who possesses the same "feral abilities" as Jack.

A remake of Far Cry Instincts: Evolution, titled Far Cry Vengeance, was released as part of Ubisoft's launch lineup for the Wii. In this version, the Wii Remote is used for many of the tasks assigned to buttons in previous iterations of the game, including driving vehicles, shooting, and running.

Crytek was commissioned by Electronic Arts to continue development on the Crytek engine, which led to their series of games, Crysis. As Crytek was locked into its contract with Electronic Arts, Ubisoft negotiated to hold the rights to Far Cry as well as a perpetual license for the CryEngine, which they continued to modify with their Dunia Engine. In 2008, Far Cry 2 was released, developed by Ubisoft Montreal. Far Cry 2 centers around the activities of a gun smuggler named The Jackal. Fan theories, based on the appearance of the Jackal as well as game files, claim that the Jackal was an aged Jack Carver. Far Cry 2's director, Clint Hocking, confirmed this was intentional in a 2021 interview, with the trauma of events of Far Cry leading Carver to turn to criminal smuggling ten years later. Several more Far Cry sequels have been released by Ubisoft since.

On October 2, 2008, a live-action film based on the video game was released in Germany and later on December 17, 2008, in American theaters, receiving overwhelmingly negative reviews. A reboot was planned in 2013, and later adapted into a Netflix series instead.

title: Far Cry (video game)


text:
Hecatomb

In ancient Greece, a hecatomb (ἑκατόμβη hekatómbē) was a sacrifice of 100 cattle (hekaton "one hundred", bous "bull") to the Greek gods. In practice, as few as 12 could make up a hecatomb.

Although originally the sacrifice of a hundred oxen in the religious ceremonies of the Greeks and Romans; later "hecatomb" came to describe a large number of any kind of animals devoted to sacrifice. Figuratively, "hecatomb" is used to describe the sacrifice or destruction by fire, tempest, disease, or the sword of any large number of persons or animals; and also of the wholesale destruction of inanimate objects, and even of mental and moral attributes.

Ancient Greece
Hecatombs were offered to Greek gods Hera, Athena, and Apollo during special religious ceremonies. At the end of the Olympic Games, a hecatomb was also offered to Zeus at Olympia.

In the Iliad, hecatombs are described formulaically. The following is one instance, from Samuel Butler's translation:

"[T]hey arranged the holy hecatomb all orderly round the altar of the god. They washed their hands and took up the barley-meal to sprinkle over the victims [cattle], while [the priest] lifted up his hands and prayed aloud on their behalf.

...

When they had done praying and sprinkling the barley-meal, they drew back the heads of the victims (Cattle) and killed and flayed them. They cut out the thigh-bones, wrapped them round in two layers of fat, set some pieces of raw meat on the top of them, and then [the priest] laid them on the wood fire and poured wine over them, while the young men stood near him with five-pronged spits in their hands. When the thigh-bones were burned and they had tasted the inward meats, they cut the rest up small, put the pieces upon the spits, roasted them till they were done, and drew them off: then, when they had finished their work and the feast was ready, they ate it, and every man had his full share, so that all were satisfied. As soon as they had had enough to eat and drink, pages filled the mixing-bowls with wine and water and handed it round, after giving every man his drink-offering.

Thus all day long the young men worshipped the god with song, hymning him and chaunting the joyous paean, and the god took pleasure in their voices[.]"

title: Hecatomb


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Power of the purse

The power of the purse is the ability of one group to control the actions of another group by withholding funding, or putting stipulations on the use of funds. The power of the purse can be used positively (e.g. awarding extra funding to programs that reach certain benchmarks) or negatively (e.g. removing funding for a department or program, effectively eliminating it). The power of the purse is most often utilized by forces within a government that do not have direct executive power, but have control over budgets and taxation.

Canada
In colonial Canada, the fight for "responsible government" in the 1840s centered on question of whether elected parliaments or appointed governors would have control over the purse strings, mirroring earlier fights between Parliament and the Crown in Britain.

After confederation, the phrase "power of the purse" took on a particular meaning. It now primarily refers to the federal government's superior tax-raising abilities compared to the provinces, and the consequent ability of the federal government to compel provincial governments to adopt certain policies in exchange for transfer payments. Most famously, the Canada Health Act sets rules that provinces must follow to receive health transfers (the largest of all such transfers). Opponents of this arrangement refer to this situation as the "fiscal imbalance", while others argue for the federal government's role in setting minimum standards for social programs in Canada.

United Kingdom
The power of the purse's earliest examples in a modern sense occurred in the English Parliament, which gained the exclusive power to authorise taxes and thus could control the nation's cash flow. Through this power, Parliament slowly subverted the executive strength of the crown; King Charles II was limited in his powers to engage in various war efforts by a refusal by Parliament to authorise further taxes and by his inability to secure loans from foreign nations, making him much less powerful.

In recent years as a result of devolution, funding for devolved issues to the Scottish Parliament, Welsh Parliament and the Northern Ireland Assembly has been determined through the Barnett Formula. This formula determines the overall budget of the devolved parliaments for devolved issues proportionally relative to spending on those issues in England. As a result, while responsibility for funding of devolved matters rests with the devolved bodies themselves, they in effect must enact policies of a broadly similar cost to those decided by the UK parliament for England and maintain that broad proportionality in order to ensure the long-term financial viability of such policies.

United States
In the federal government of the United States, the power of the purse is vested in the Congress as laid down in the Constitution of the United States, Article I, Section 9, Clause 7 (the Appropriations Clause) and Article I, Section 8, Clause 1 (the Taxing and Spending Clause).

The power of the purse plays a critical role in the relationship of the United States Congress and the President of the United States, and has been the main historic tool by which Congress has limited executive power. One of the most prominent examples is the Foreign Assistance Act of 1974, which eliminated all military funding for the government of South Vietnam and thereby ended the Vietnam War. Other recent examples include limitations on military funding placed on Ronald Reagan by Congress, which led to the withdrawal of United States Marines from Lebanon.

The power of the purse in military affairs was famously subverted during the Iran-Contra scandal in the 1980s. Congress denied further aid to the Contras in Nicaragua. Unwilling to accept the will of Congress, members of the Reagan administration solicited private donations, set up elaborate corporate schemes and brokered illegal arms deals with Iran in order to generate unofficial funds that could not be regulated by Congress.

More recently, budget limitations and using the power of the purse formed a controversial part of discussion regarding Congressional opposition to the Iraq War. On March 23, 2007, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a supplemental war budget that imposed a timeline on the presence of American combat troops in Iraq, but the legislation was not passed.

The power of the purse has also been used to compel the U.S. states to pass laws, in cases where Congress does not have the desire or constitutional power to make it a federal matter. The most well-known example of this is regarding the drinking age, where Congress passed a law to withhold 10% of federal funds for highways in any state that did not raise the age to 21. The law was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in the South Dakota v. Dole case. Congress was not allowed to change the drinking age directly because the 21st Amendment (which ended Prohibition in the U.S.) gave control of alcohol to the states. In 2009, Congress considered similar legislation regarding texting while driving.

This power was curtailed somewhat in a case regarding the Affordable Care Act, in which the Supreme Court ruled in June 2012 that the law's withholding of all existing Medicaid funding for states that failed or refused to expand their Medicaid programs to cover the uninsured poor was "unduly coercive", despite the fact that the federal government would pay the entirety of the states' expansion for the first years, and 90% thereafter. It was left unclear what percentage would be considered acceptable.

Other uses
In the US House or Senate, the chair of a legislative committee may refuse to give funding to a senator or other delegate or representative, or deny their appropriations bill or amendment a vote, because they refused to support a bill which the chair wanted (a tit-for-tat retaliation). While typically applied to "pork barrel" spending for special interests, it may also block funding for genuine needs of a constituency or the general public.

The administration or student government at a college or university may revoke some or even all funding for a student newspaper or student radio station, because it has printed or aired an editorial or a news article or segment critical of it. This is also an example of censorship.

title: Power of the purse


text:
User:RockBandit

My name is Dave. I was born and raised in Redlands, California.

I'm 23 years old. At the moment, I am going for a Bachelor of Science degree, studying geology and physics at San Francisco State University. I want to do field camp in New Zealand before I graduate. Hopefully that will work out.

In September 2004, I completed an internship in seismology at UCLA, working for the Southern California Earthquake Center. Awesome!

Things I enjoy

 * geology
 * guitar
 * hiking
 * camping
 * volleyball
 * reading
 * music
 * computers

Also creating and modifying articles for Wikipedia. =]

Articles I've created

 * Bishop tuff
 * Fort Tejon earthquake
 * Metrolink (Southern California)
 * Mt. San Gorgonio
 * Old Fire
 * Parkfield earthquake
 * Salt dome
 * San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth
 * Santa Ana River
 * Seven Oaks Dam
 * Southern California Earthquake Center
 * Vladimir Keilis-Borok

Pictures I've uploaded

 * Seven Oaks Dam - Pic taken by my dad.
 * Old Fire in the San Bernardino Mountains

title: User:RockBandit