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Water supply

Water supply is the provision of water by public utilities, commercial organisations, community endeavors or by individuals, usually via a system of pumps and pipes. Public water supply systems are crucial to properly functioning societies. These systems are what supply drinking water to populations around the globe. Aspects of service quality include continuity of supply, water quality and water pressure. The institutional responsibility for water supply is arranged differently in different countries and regions (urban versus rural). It usually includes issues surrounding policy and regulation, service provision and standardization.

The cost of supplying water consists, to a very large extent, of fixed costs (capital costs and personnel costs) and only to a small extent of variable costs that depend on the amount of water consumed (mainly energy and chemicals). Almost all service providers in the world charge tariffs to recover part of their costs.

Water supply is a separate topic from irrigation, the practice and systems of water supply on a larger scale, for a wider variety of purposes, primarily agriculture.

Technical overview

Water supply systems get water from a variety of locations after appropriate treatment, including groundwater (aquifers), surface water (lakes and rivers), and the sea through desalination. The water treatment steps include, in most cases, purification, disinfection through chlorination and sometimes fluoridation. Treated water then either flows by gravity or is pumped to reservoirs, which can be elevated such as water towers or on the ground (for indicators related to the efficiency of drinking water distribution see non-revenue water). Once water is used, wastewater is typically discharged in a sewer system and treated in a sewage treatment plant before being discharged into a river, lake, or the sea or reused for landscaping or irrigation.

Use
In the United States, the typical single family home uses about 138 USgal of water per day (2016 estimate) or 58.6 USgal per capita per day. This includes several common residential end use purposes (in decreasing order) like toilet use, showers, tap (faucet) use, washing machine use, leaks, other (unidentified), baths, and dishwasher use.

During the beginning of the 21st Century, especially in areas of urban and suburban population centers, traditional centralized infrastructure have not been able to supply sufficient quantities of water to keep up with growing demand. Among several options that have been managed are the extensive use of desalination technology, this is especially prevalent in coastal areas and in "dry" countries like Australia. Decentralization of water infrastructure has grown extensively as a viable solution including Rainwater harvesting and Stormwater harvesting where policies are eventually tending towards a more rational use and sourcing of water incorporation concepts such as "Fit for Purpose".

Service quality
Water supply service quality has many dimensions: continuity; water quality; pressure; and the degree of responsiveness of service providers to customer complaints. Many people in developing countries receive a poor or very poor quality of service.

Continuity of supply
Continuity of water supply is taken for granted in most developed countries but is a severe problem in many developing countries, where sometimes water is only provided for a few hours every day or a few days a week; that is, it is intermittent. This is especially problematic for informal settlements, which are often poorly connected to the water supply network and have no means of procuring alternative sources such as private boreholes. It is estimated that about half of the population of developing countries receives water on an intermittent basis.

Water quality
Drinking water quality has a micro-biological and a physico-chemical dimension. There are thousands of parameters of water quality. In public water supply systems water should, at a minimum, be disinfected—most commonly through the use of chlorination or the use of ultraviolet light—or it may need to undergo treatment, especially in the case of surface water. Water quality is also dependent of the quality and level of pollution of the water source.

Water pressure
Water pressures vary in different locations of a distribution system. Water mains below the street may operate at higher pressures, with a pressure reducer located at each point where the water enters a building or a house. In poorly managed systems, water pressure can be so low as to result only in a trickle of water or so high that it leads to damage to plumbing fixtures and waste of water. Pressure in an urban water system is typically maintained either by a pressurised water tank serving an urban area, by pumping the water up into a water tower and relying on gravity to maintain a constant pressure in the system or solely by pumps at the water treatment plant and repeater pumping stations.

Typical UK pressures are 4–5 bar (60–70 PSI) for an urban supply. However, some people can get over eight bars or below one bar. A single iron main pipe may cross a deep valley, it will have the same nominal pressure, however each consumer will get a bit more or less because of the hydrostatic pressure (about 1 bar/10 m height). So people at the bottom of a 100 ft hill will get about 3 bars more than those at the top.

The effective pressure also varies because of the pressure loss due to supply resistance, even for the same static pressure. An urban consumer may have 5 metres of 15-mm pipe running from the iron main, so the kitchen tap flow will be fairly unrestricted. A rural consumer may have a kilometre of rusted and limed 22-mm iron pipe, so their kitchen tap flow will be small.

For this reason, the UK domestic water system has traditionally (prior to 1989) employed a "cistern feed" system, where the incoming supply is connected to the kitchen sink and also a header/storage tank in the attic. Water can dribble into this tank through a 12 mm pipe, plus ball valve, and then supply the house on 22 or 28 mm pipes. Gravity water has a small pressure (say $1/4$ bar in the bathroom) so needs wide pipes to allow for higher flows. This is fine for baths and toilets but is frequently inadequate for showers. A booster pump or a hydrophore is installed to increase and maintain pressure. For this reason urban houses are increasingly using mains pressure boilers ("combies") which take a long time to fill a bath but suit the high back pressure of a shower.

Institutional responsibility and governance
A great variety of institutions have responsibilities in water supply. A basic distinction is between institutions responsible for policy and regulation on the one hand; and institutions in charge of providing services on the other hand.

Policy and regulation
Water supply policies and regulation are usually defined by one or several Ministries, in consultation with the legislative branch. In the United States the United States Environmental Protection Agency, whose administrator reports directly to the President, is responsible for water and sanitation policy and standard setting within the executive branch. In other countries responsibility for sector policy is entrusted to a Ministry of Environment (such as in Mexico and Colombia), to a Ministry of Health (such as in Panama, Honduras and Uruguay), a Ministry of Public Works (such as in Ecuador and Haiti), a Ministry of Economy (such as in German states) or a Ministry of Energy (such as in Iran). A few countries, such as Jordan and Bolivia, even have a Ministry of Water. Often several Ministries share responsibilities for water supply.

In the European Union, important policy functions have been entrusted to the supranational level. Policy and regulatory functions include the setting of tariff rules and the approval of tariff increases; setting, monitoring and enforcing norms for quality of service and environmental protection; benchmarking the performance of service providers; and reforms in the structure of institutions responsible for service provision. The distinction between policy functions and regulatory functions is not always clear-cut. In some countries they are both entrusted to Ministries, but in others regulatory functions are entrusted to agencies that are separate from Ministries.

Regulatory agencies
Dozens of countries around the world have established regulatory agencies for infrastructure services, including often water supply and sanitation, in order to better protect consumers and to improve efficiency. Regulatory agencies can be entrusted with a variety of responsibilities, including in particular the approval of tariff increases and the management of sector information systems, including benchmarking systems. Sometimes they also have a mandate to settle complaints by consumers that have not been dealt with satisfactorily by service providers. These specialized entities are expected to be more competent and objective in regulating service providers than departments of government Ministries. Regulatory agencies are supposed to be autonomous from the executive branch of government, but in many countries have often not been able to exercise a great degree of autonomy.

In the United States regulatory agencies for utilities have existed for almost a century at the level of states, and in Canada at the level of provinces. In both countries they cover several infrastructure sectors. In many U.S. states they are called Public Utility Commissions. For England and Wales, a regulatory agency for water (OFWAT) was created as part of the privatization of the water industry in 1989. In many developing countries, water regulatory agencies were created during the 1990s in parallel with efforts at increasing private sector participation. (for more details on regulatory agencies in Latin America, for example, please see Water and sanitation in Latin America and the regional association of water regulatory agencies ADERASA. )

Many countries do not have regulatory agencies for water. In these countries service providers are regulated directly by local government, or the national government. This is, for example, the case in the countries of continental Europe, in China and India.

Service provision
Water supply service providers, which are often utilities, differ from each other in terms of their geographical coverage relative to administrative boundaries; their sectoral coverage; their ownership structure; and their governance arrangements.

Geographical coverage
Many water utilities provide services in a single city, town or municipality. However, in many countries municipalities have associated in regional or inter-municipal or multi-jurisdictional utilities to benefit from economies of scale. In the United States these can take the form of special-purpose districts which may have independent taxing authority. An example of a multi-jurisdictional water utility in the United States is WASA, a utility serving Washington, D.C. and various localities in the state of Maryland. Multi-jurisdictional utilities are also common in Germany, where they are known as "Zweckverbaende", in France and in Italy.

In some federal countries, there are water service providers covering most or all cities and towns in an entire state, such as in all states of Brazil and some states in Mexico (see Water supply and sanitation in Mexico). In England and Wales, water supply and sewerage is supplied almost entirely through ten regional companies. Some smaller countries, especially developed countries, have established service providers that cover the entire country or at least most of its cities and major towns. Such national service providers are especially prevalent in West Africa and Central America, but also exist, for example, in Tunisia, Jordan and Uruguay (see also water supply and sanitation in Uruguay). In rural areas, where about half the world population lives, water services are often not provided by utilities, but by community-based organizations which usually cover one or sometimes several villages.

Sector coverage
Some water utilities provide only water supply services, while sewerage is under the responsibility of a different entity. This is for example the case in Tunisia. However, in most cases water utilities also provide sewer and sewage treatment services. In some cities or countries utilities also distribute electricity. In a few cases such multi-utilities also collect solid waste and provide local telephone services. An example of such an integrated utility can be found in the Colombian city of Medellín. Utilities that provide water, sanitation and electricity can be found in Frankfurt, Germany (Mainova), in Casablanca, Morocco and in Gabon in West Africa. Multi-utilities provide certain benefits such as common billing and the option to cross-subsidize water services with revenues from electricity sales, if permitted by law.

Ownership and governance arrangements
Water supply providers can be either public, private, mixed or cooperative. Most urban water supply services around the world are provided by public entities. As Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange (2002) stated, "The water crisis that is affecting so many people is mainly a crisis of governance—not of water scarcity." The introduction of cost-reflective tariffs together with cross-subsidization between richer and poorer consumers is an essential governance reform in order to reduce the high levels of Unaccounted-for Water (UAW) and to provide the finance needed to extend the network to those poorest households who remain unconnected. Partnership arrangements between the public and private sector can play an important role in order to achieve this objective.

Private sector participation
An estimated 10 percent of urban water supply is provided by private or mixed public-private companies, usually under concessions, leases or management contracts. Under these water service contract arrangements the public entity that is legally responsible for service provision delegates certain or all aspects of service provision to the private service provider for a period typically ranging from 4 to 30 years. The public entity continues to own the assets. These arrangements are common in France and in Spain. Only in few parts of the world water supply systems have been completely sold to the private sector (privatization), such as in England and Wales as well as in Chile. The largest private water companies in the world are Suez and Veolia Environnement from France; Aguas de Barcelona from Spain; and Thames Water from the UK, all of which are engaged internationally (see links to website of these companies below). In recent years, a number of cities have reverted to the public sector in a process called "remunicipalization".

Public water service provision
90% of urban water supply and sanitation services are currently in the public sector. They are owned by the state or local authorities, or also by collectives or cooperatives. They run without an aim for profit but are based on the ethos of providing a common good considered to be of public interest. In most middle and low-income countries, these publicly owned and managed water providers can be inefficient as a result of political interference, leading to over-staffing and low labor productivity.

Ironically, the main losers from this institutional arrangement are the urban poor in these countries. Because they are not connected to the water supply network, they end up paying far more per liter of water than do more well-off households connected to the network who benefit from the implicit subsidies that they receive from loss-making utilities.

The fact that we are still so far from achieving universal access to clean water and sanitation shows that public water authorities, in their current state, are not working well enough. Yet some are being very successful and are modelling the best forms of public management. As Ryutaro Hashimoto, former Japanese Prime Minister, notes: "Public water services currently provide more than 90 percent of water supply in the world. Modest improvement in public water operators will have immense impact on global provision of services."

Governance arrangements
Governance arrangements for both public and private utilities can take many forms (Kurian and McCarney, 2010). Governance arrangements define the relationship between the service provider, its owners, its customers and regulatory entities. They determine the financial autonomy of the service provider and thus its ability to maintain its assets, expand services, attract and retain qualified staff, and ultimately to provide high-quality services. Key aspects of governance arrangements are the extent to which the entity in charge of providing services is insulated from arbitrary political intervention; and whether there is an explicit mandate and political will to allow the service provider to recover all or at least most of its costs through tariffs and retain these revenues. If water supply is the responsibility of a department that is integrated in the administration of a city, town or municipality, there is a risk that tariff revenues are diverted for other purposes. In some cases, there is also a risk that staff are appointed mainly on political grounds rather than based on their professional credentials.

Standardization
International standards for water supply system are covered by International Classification of Standards (ICS) 91.140.60.

Comparing the performance of water and sanitation service providers
Comparing the performance of water and sanitation service providers (utilities) is needed, because the sector offers limited scope for direct competition (natural monopoly). Firms operating in competitive markets are under constant pressure to out perform each other. Water utilities are often sheltered from this pressure, and it frequently shows: some utilities are on a sustained improvement track, but many others keep falling further behind best practice. Benchmarking the performance of utilities allows the stimulation of competition, establish realistic targets for improvement and create pressure to catch up with better utilities. Information on benchmarks for water and sanitation utilities is provided by the International Benchmarking Network for Water and Sanitation Utilities.

Costs and financing
The cost of supplying water consists, to a very large extent, of fixed costs (capital costs and personnel costs) and only to a small extent of variable costs that depend on the amount of water consumed (mainly energy and chemicals). The full cost of supplying water in urban areas in developed countries is about US$1–2 per cubic meter depending on local costs and local water consumption levels. The cost of sanitation (sewerage and wastewater treatment) is another US$1–2 per cubic meter. These costs are somewhat lower in developing countries. Throughout the world, only part of these costs is usually billed to consumers, the remainder being financed through direct or indirect subsidies from local, regional or national governments (see section on tariffs).

Besides subsidies water supply investments are financed through internally generated revenues as well as through debt. Debt financing can take the form of credits from commercial Banks, credits from international financial institutions such as the World Bank and regional development banks (in the case of developing countries), and bonds (in the case of some developed countries and some upper middle-income countries).

Tariffs
Almost all service providers in the world charge tariffs to recover part of their costs. According to estimates by the World Bank the average (mean) global water tariff is US$0.53 per cubic meter. In developed countries the average tariff is US$1.04, while it is only U$0.11 in the poorest developing countries. The lowest tariffs in developing countries are found in South Asia (mean of US$0.09/m3), while the highest are found in Latin America (US$0.41/m3). Data for 132 cities were assessed. The tariff is estimate for a consumption level of 15 cubic meters per month. Few utilities do recover all their costs. According to the same World Bank study only 30% of utilities globally, and only 50% of utilities in developed countries, generate sufficient revenue to cover operation, maintenance and partial capital costs.

According to another study undertaken in 2006 by NUS Consulting, the average water and sewerage tariff in 14 mainly OECD countries excluding VAT varied between US$0.66 per cubic meter in the United States and the equivalent of US$2.25 per cubic meter in Denmark. However, water consumption is much higher in the US than in Europe. Therefore, residential water bills may be very similar, even if the tariff per unit of consumption tends to be higher in Europe than in the US.

A typical family on the US East Coast paid between US$30 and US$70 per month for water and sewer services in 2005.

In developing countries, tariffs are usually much further from covering costs. Residential water bills for a typical consumption of 15 cubic meters per month vary between less than US$1 and US$12 per month.

Water and sanitation tariffs, which are almost always billed together, can take many different forms. Where meters are installed, tariffs are typically volumetric (per usage), sometimes combined with a small monthly fixed charge. In the absence of meters, flat or fixed rates—which are independent of actual consumption—are being charged. In developed countries, tariffs are usually the same for different categories of users and for different levels of consumption.

In developing countries, the situation is often characterized by cross-subsidies with the intent to make water more affordable for residential low-volume users that are assumed to be poor. For example, industrial and commercial users are often charged higher tariffs than public or residential users. Also, metered users are often charged higher tariffs for higher levels of consumption (increasing-block tariffs). However, cross-subsidies between residential users do not always reach their objective. Given the overall low level of water tariffs in developing countries even at higher levels of consumption, most consumption subsidies benefit the wealthier segments of society. Also, high industrial and commercial tariffs can provide an incentive for these users to supply water from other sources than the utility (own wells, water tankers) and thus actually erode the utility's revenue base.

Investments needed in developing countries
Water supply and sanitation require a huge amount of capital investment in infrastructure such as pipe networks, pumping stations and water treatment works. It is estimated that in developing countries investments of at least US$200 billion have to be made per year to replace aging water infrastructure to guarantee supply, reduce leakage rates and protect water quality.

International attention has focused upon the needs of developing countries. To meet the Millennium Development Goals targets of halving the proportion of the population lacking access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015, current annual investment on the order of US$10 to US$15 billion would need to be roughly doubled. This does not include investments required for the maintenance of existing infrastructure.

Once infrastructure is in place, operating water supply and sanitation systems entails significant ongoing costs to cover personnel, energy, chemicals, maintenance and other expenses. The sources of money to meet these capital and operational costs are essentially either user fees, public funds or some combination of the two. It is also important to consider is the flexibility of the water supply system.

Metering
Metering of water supply is usually motivated by one or several of four objectives. First, it provides an incentive to conserve water which protects water resources (environmental objective). Second, it can postpone costly system expansion and saves energy and chemical costs (economic objective). Third, it allows a utility to better locate distribution losses (technical objective). Fourth, it allows suppliers to charge for water based on use, which is perceived by many as the fairest way to allocate the costs of water supply to users. Metering is considered good practice in water supply and is widespread in developed countries, except for the United Kingdom. In developing countries it is estimated that half of all urban water supply systems are metered and the tendency is increasing.

Water meters are read by one of several methods:
 * the water customer writes down the meter reading and mails in a postcard with this info to the water department;
 * the water customer writes down the meter reading and uses a phone dial-in system to transfer this info to the water department;
 * the water customer logs into the website of the water supply company, enters the address, meter ID and meter readings
 * a meter reader comes to the premises and enters the meter reading into a handheld computer;
 * the meter reading is echoed on a display unit mounted to the outside of the premises, where a meter reader records them;
 * a small radio is hooked up to the meter to automatically transmit readings to corresponding receivers in handheld computers, utility vehicles or distributed collectors
 * a small computer is hooked up to the meter that can either dial out or receive automated phone calls that give the reading to a central computer system.

Most cities are increasingly installing automatic meter reading (AMR) systems to prevent fraud, to lower ever-increasing labor and liability costs and to improve customer service and satisfaction.

History
Throughout history, people have devised systems to make getting and using water more convenient. Living in semi-arid regions, ancient Persians in the 1st millennium BC used qanat system to gain access to water in the mountains. Early Rome had indoor plumbing, meaning a system of aqueducts and pipes that terminated in homes and at public wells and fountains for people to use.

Until the Enlightenment era, little progress was made in water supply and sanitation and the engineering skills of the Romans were largely neglected throughout Europe. It was in the 18th century that a rapidly growing population fueled a boom in the establishment of private water supply networks in London. London water supply infrastructure developed over many centuries from early mediaeval conduits, through major 19th-century treatment works built in response to cholera threats, to modern, large-scale reservoirs. The first screw-down water tap was patented in 1845 by Guest and Chrimes, a brass foundry in Rotherham.

The first documented use of sand filters to purify the water supply dates to 1804, when the owner of a bleachery in Paisley, Scotland, John Gibb, installed an experimental filter, selling his unwanted surplus to the public. The first treated public water supply in the world was installed by engineer James Simpson for the Chelsea Waterworks Company in London in 1829. The practice of water treatment soon became mainstream, and the virtues of the system were made starkly apparent after the investigations of the physician John Snow during the 1854 Broad Street cholera outbreak demonstrated the role of the water supply in spreading the cholera epidemic.

title: Water supply


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Self-hatred

Self-hatred is personal self-loathing (hatred of oneself) or low self-esteem which may lead to self-harm.

In psychology and psychiatry
The term "self-hatred" is used infrequently by psychologists and psychiatrists, who would usually describe people who hate themselves as "people with low self-esteem". Self-hatred, self-guilt and shame are important factors in some or many mental disorders, especially disorders that involve a perceived defect of oneself (e.g. body dysmorphic disorder). Self-hatred is also a symptom of many personality disorders, including borderline personality disorder, as well as mood disorders like depression. It can also be linked to guilt for someone's own actions that they view as wrongful, e.g., survivor guilt.

In social groups
Self-hatred by members of ethnic groups, gender groups, and religions is postulated to be a result of internalization of hatred of those groups from dominant cultures.

Jews
Theodor Lessing, in his book, Jewish Self-Hatred (1930), identified this as a pathology, “a manifestation of an over identification with the dominant culture and internalization of its prejudices.” There have been studies from sources stated in the scholarly research, “mental illness in Jews often derived from feelings of inferiority and self-hatred resulting from persecution and their subordinate position in society.”

The term has been used to label American Jews accused of hiding their identity “by converting or intermarrying and raising their children in another faith” to overcome sociopolitical barriers due to antisemitism in the United States.

LGBT+ individuals
Internalized homophobia refers to negative stereotypes, beliefs, stigma, and prejudice about homosexuality and LGBT people that a person with same-sex attraction turns inward on themselves, whether or not they identify as LGBT.

Self-deprecation
Self-deprecation is the act of belittling, undervaluing, or disparaging oneself, or being excessively modest. It can be used in humor and tension release.

Self-harm
Self-harm is a condition where subjects may feel compelled to physically injure themselves as an outlet for depression, anxiety, or anger, and is related with numerous psychological disorders.

In some cases, self-harm can lead to accidental death or suicide. It is not a definitive indicator, however, of a desire either to commit suicide or even of its consideration.

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

title: Self-hatred


text: User:Apoivre/Temp

title: User:Apoivre/Temp


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Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/James Holzier

This page is an archive of the discussion surrounding the proposed deletion of the page entitled James Holzier.

This page is kept as an historic record.

The result of the debate was to delete the article.

Was flagged for speedy deletion by User:Ping, but does not look like a speedy deletion candidate to me. Ping apparently forgot to list it on the speedy deletions page, though, so I don't know what the original idea behind listing it for deletion was. Presumably because this person can be considered unimportant. IMDb page. I'm undecided myself, but lean towards keeping. Fredrik 15:01, 28 May 2004 (UTC) Wow calm down. We didn't mean to delete we just didn't know how to work this message board as all. I just don't understand why you want to delete someone who is listed on all these other celebrity sites. I mean there is no reason why he should be deleted.
 * Keep, sure. Good enough for IMDB is good enough for us. Everyking 15:16, 28 May 2004 (UTC)
 * You do know that, somewhat like Wikipedia, IMDB is contributed to by anybody who signs in? The IMDB entry reads as if it were submitted by the same person as this article.
 * Keep. Abigail 16:02, May 28, 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete: nonnotable. There is a lot of unremarkable stuff in IMDB. No need to import all that into WP. Wile E. Heresiarch 16:11, 28 May 2004 (UTC)
 * I'm going with Wile E. on this. He's simply non-notable. - Lucky 6.9 16:24, 28 May 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete. The IMDb bio makes it clear that he is not notable. Maximus Rex 16:28, 28 May 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete. He's got 2 acting roles from movies I've never heard of.  blankfaze | &#9835 17:19, 28 May 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete. OK, two films, but neither of the films appears to have been of any note. Average Earthman 18:12, 28 May 2004 (UTC)
 * NO delete!! One of the hottest up and commers in the years to come! He is already listed on some of the Top Celebrity Websites in the world. Already says enough. He already is in the Top 25 on MenCelebs.com. Which is one of the highest visited Male Celebirty sites in the world. Which is already more than enough. He is about to be listed on on a site that only spotlights the biggest stars in the world. Which is way more than enough. And already will have and Online Shrine for him. Because he is one of thre most exciting up and commers in the years to come no doubt. Plus, you haven't heard of him, well duh. Who knew who Colin Farrell was 3 years ago or Orlando Bloom, or on and on. Hello. You need to start to grasp that all these big sites have him or are adding him on there and there are reasons why. Which we will list the links soon. He has alot going on and alot coming for him and all this stuff. Stupid to delete... Geez.
 * Unsigned comment was submitted by anonymous user 152.163.253.9 who attempted to blank all other comments. Note that anonymous user 152.163.252.193 was editing the article an hour prior and removed the VfD notice.  I can't prove it's the same person but I'm suspicious. Rossami 22:44, 28 May 2004 (UTC)
 * I forgot. Delete. Rossami 22:46, 28 May 2004 (UTC)
 * Ohhh-kaaaay. This hot "up and commer in the years to come" is expecting an "online shrine."  This is turning into BJAODN fodder real quick. - Lucky 6.9 23:57, 28 May 2004 (UTC)

So sorry again because we didn't know how to work the message board and stuff. Sorry, but I just really don't understand why you want to delete someone that is listed on othe celebrity sites and directories and is only being listed on more every day that passes. It just doesn't make sense why you want to delete someone like that. I can understand deleting someone who isn't listed on other celebrity sites, but otherwise the is no reason why he should be. Because he is listed on other celebrity sites. Listen, if you want us to add all his links and change up all his infor to a more tabel of content layout so it makes more sense and then so ou can get it. We will. So you will understand. And you will, and to delete someone that has alot going on and a future that is so bright is just nothing but wrong and sad. We will list all his links and explain everything better so you can not only understand, but you will have a better grasp. We apologize again cause we didn't know how to work the message, board, but the good thing is now we do. So we will list all that and more. Bye Bye.
 * In it's present form it is a mess which needs axing. Wiki aspires to much more professional presentation/content than that. If you think HE deserves inclusion, then post an entry that demonstrates IT merits inclusion. Moriori 00:43, May 29, 2004 (UTC)

Okay. So you want us to change the content and everything. Make it more professional/understanding/ and presentable ?

The current version is exceedingly POV. It's nothing but a paean to this person's virtues. Delete with extreme prejudice. RickK 19:28, 29 May 2004 (UTC)

With extreme prejudice? Wow, that is horrible. To be prjudice is a flaw in the human spirit. Since it just baffels me that there are I mean SO many listed on this site that aren't even listed on half the celebrity sites he is. And has just only about one sentence to describe them. Yet they aren't wanted to be deleted. Explain that to me. I mean this is ridiculous. But if it is because for some reason there is a word you don't like, or whatever. Than explain it to us. So we can write it better. But it is just ridiculous to talk about deleting this person. In every way that is right and every way that is true. Stop with that, and start helping. Start helping. If you can. Please. (comment added by anon User:205.188.116.200)

Right. User:205.188116.200 Calm down, you can easily make a prat of yourself. Adopt a username, stick to it, and attempt to justify inclusion. You can try to make is NPOV which might help. Don't attempt any personal attacks. Oh, and btw, my vote is to delete Dunc Harris | Talk 22:31, 29 May 2004 (UTC)

Okay sorry. So sorry. By no way did we or would we ever mean to do a personal attack on anybody. No way would we ever. So sorry. We will adopt a username. I just want someone to explain this to us. Please. You have so. I mean so many people listed on your site. Often with nothing more than their favorite things. Things people say about them. Stuff like that. You have people listed, many. With only one sentence that describes them. Just one. Mostly just where they were born. That is it. They don't even have external links. Yet, they are "good enough" for inclusion. You even have people that in their bio's mention rumors, mention their reputation. Which all reputations are, are POV. Because you don't know the person. So, why. Why delete someone that is listed on some of the top sites in the world, or someone who is soon to be listed on a site that only spotlights the biggest stars. No reason why cause that wouldn't make sense. Okay, so that leads me to believe it must be the grammer we are writing about him. Because there is no way why what is mentioned up above wouldn't be good enough. So we will follow in the same pattern as most of the others. We will start over. Delete all his bio, down to a sentence. Then we will list his links. Not just one link like most, but alot of links. Than if you are going to delete him, you might as well delete tons and tons of other people in your database. Which wouldn't make sense. I know exactly. So instead help. Help. So, this is what we are going to do. We will start over. We will get a username. And instead of saying "delete". Try, and thank you to Dunc Harris, Moriori, try to help. Instead of just saying delete. Help.

Please list those articles that only have one sentence saying where they were born and we'll look into getting those deleted, too. RickK 23:20, 29 May 2004 (UTC)

I'm so sorry Rick. About earlier can you say that again and thanks so much for helping. Makes things so much better. Thank you.

 * Personal message: Okay. User:152.163.253.9 User:Moriori already has the name Moriori, so you need to go to Special:Userlogin and choose another one. (note user has chosen User:MelisCSA85) - then any edits you make can be viewed using e.g. for me Special:Contributions/duncharris, or selecting the page history e.g.  ; your contributions can then be tracked, and hopefully no-one gets lost.  Perhaps see clueless newbies, welcome, newcomers, familiarise yourself.  You can sign your name with ~

 * About Wikipedia Wikipedia only deals with events in the past. I might say that Harry Ellis is a young up and coming rugby player, who is pretty certain to play for England.  But he hasn't, not yet; and therefore doesn't deserve a page, yet, but if he goes on to win 50 caps, then he probably will get one.  This page will be listed here for five days, so there's no rush.  Go and find out about the project, and I hope that you can do some fruitful editing. Dunc Harris | Talk 23:26, 29 May 2004 (UTC)

Awwwww see you guys are so nce. I just registered! My username is MelisCSA85. You guys are great!

Melis (talk) has blanked the page, and also posted this to my talk page: Dunc Harris | Talk 00:00, 30 May 2004 (UTC)

Oh okay. I get it. Thank you Duncharris. Okay how about this. And you tell me what you think :) We hold off on putting him in their now, but in good time he will be, and when that comes you and we all can help eachother together. I have alot to read up on Wikipedia. Yeah maybe need to do something about the Haylie Duff entry. But either way your help, your input, is all great, and will make it better. I can't wait. It will be fixed and no worried whether it is now, or soon, or later, it will be entered. Thanks DuncHarris! =)

From ping. Since I apparantly started this debate I had better conbtribute something. I listed the article because the subject appeared to have done nothing so far with his career, a wannabe actor. I should have used Vfd but my computer or phone line was acting up and taking fifteen minutes to access while Speedy delete was still fairly speedy. Not the right place I know but it served its purpose in bringing the article to the attention of the Wikipedia community, thanks Fedrik. I would still vote to delete. ping 06:10, 30 May 2004 (UTC)

This page is now preserved as an archive of the debate and is no longer 'live'. Subsequent comments on the issue or the deletion should be placed on other relevant 'live' pages. Please do not edit this page.


text:
TI-15 Explorer

TI-15 Explorer is a calculator designed by Texas Instruments, intended for use in classes from grades 3-5. It is the successor to the TI-12 Math Explorer. For younger students, TI recommends the use of the TI-108. For older students, TI recommends the use of the TI-73 Explorer.

Features include a 2-line pixel display (as opposed to the 7-segment display of several other calculators), and a quiz-like "problem-solving" mode. It also supports limited scientific capabilities, such as parentheses, fixed decimal, fractions, pi, and exponents. It is recommended by Everyday Mathematics.

title: TI-15 Explorer


text:
USS Sacramento (1862)

The first USS Sacramento was a sloop-of-war in the United States Navy.

Sacramento was launched on 28 April 1862 at the Portsmouth Navy Yard, in Kittery, Maine; sponsored by a Mrs. Tilton of Boston; and commissioned on 7 January 1863, Commander Andrew E. K. Benham in command.

Civil War, 1863-1865
Sacramento's first assignment was blockade duty off the North Carolina coast as part of the effort to eliminate Confederate shipping operations at Wilmington. During her cruising off the Western Bar at Wilmington on 1 May 1863, she captured the British blockade runner Wanderer. Ordered to European waters after refitting, Sacramento departed Boston on 2 February 1864, calling at the Azores, Cape Town, and the Canary Islands before arriving at Cherbourg, France on 5 July. Subsequently, she cruised off the British and French coasts in the search for Confederate vessels engaged in both commerce raiding and blockade running operations. On 16 August, she collided with and sank the Norwegian brig Ceres in the English Channel 9 nmi south south west of Plymouth, Devon. Sacramento rescued her crew. She collided with, and severely damaged, the Swedish schooner Victor on 22 August and subsequently put in to Vlissingen, Zeeland, Netherlands. Sacramento assisted in blockading the Confederate gun vessel CSS Rappahannock detained at Calais, France, in early 1865, and in March joined USS Niagara (1855) off Ferrol, Spain, to observe the movements of the formidable Confederate casemate turret ram Stonewall bound for Cuba from Bordeaux, France. Departing Queenstown, Ireland on 25 July, after the conclusion of hostilities in home waters, Sacramento arrived at Boston on 12 August. Decommissioned on 21 August at the Boston Navy Yard, she remained inactive into 1866.

Voyage to East Asia, 1866-1867
Recommissioned on 17 September 1866, Sacramento was assigned to special service in Chinese and Japanese waters. Outward bound via the Cape of Good Hope, the sloop called at Madeira before arriving at Monrovia, Liberia. Sacramento embarked President Warner of Liberia, members of his government, and Maryland Senator John Marshall at Monrovia on 15 January for passage down the African coast to Cape Palmas. Subsequently, Sacramento proceeded southward, calling at St. George del Mina, Dutch Guinea; St. Thomas; St. Paul Loando; Cape Town; and Madras, India. Soon after departing Madras, Sacramento grounded on 19 June 1867 on reefs at the mouth of the Godavari River, now in the state of Andhra Pradesh. Although battered into a total wreck, all hands from Sacramento were saved and eventually embarked aboard SS General Caulfield which arrived in New York on 19 November.

title: USS Sacramento (1862)


text:
Talk:Hainish Cycle

Planets of the Hainish Cycle Deleted
It appears that the Planets of the Hainish Cycle article has been deleted. The contents of that article were originally part of this article before they got moved out to a separate article. If Planets of the Hainish Cycle is to be deleted, can we at least move the information back into this article again? It is a pity to loose all that detail - I used to refer to it quite frequently while reading some of these books. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 37.228.248.6 (talk) 14:49, 27 July 2020 (UTC)

 * It's a good idea. But you may be disappointed. In the past, I have found some contributors obsesses with throwing away useful information.  And in some cases, obsessed with preserving spoilers for television series, rather than applying the common-sense rule that people will consult the Wiki before seeing all episodes.--GwydionM (talk) 06:17, 28 July 2020 (UTC)

Problems With The "Timeline" section
I'm busy re-reading the whole cycle at present (have a box set of four of the novels here on my desk). And I'm certain the time line suggest by Ian Watson is wildly optimistic. In "The Dispossessed", the Urrasis talk about "Eight and a half millennium of history" and one of the Hainish ambassadors talks about Hain having "A thousand millennium of history". Plus the amount of action which has taken place before the stories even begin - humans colonize then lose touch with a number of planets, then re-discover them. Not to mention the evolution of "semi-human" species. The proposed dates don't even begin to have this kind of scope - the earliest date is only three hundred years in the future. I am reading the dates correctly?

I actually think trying to assign actual dates to the novels is pointless, given they'd have to be in the form of "100,000 AD" etc. I'd be happy if we just dumped this section.

maxcelcat 11:24, 22nd November 2007. —Preceding comment was added at 00:33, 22 November 2007 (UTC)

 * The time-line does link to near-future Earth, so I think it is worth keeping. Le Guin's idea is that Earth was settled from Hain, perhaps displacing some locally evolved hominids.  So it's not 100,000 years in our future.

 * Qualifying the dates as speculative might be justified. --GwydionM (talk) 18:22, 22 November 2007 (UTC)

"The Telling" must take place long before "City of Illusion", since Terra described in "The Telling" is much more similar to the Earth as we know it, than it is in "City of Illusion".Kavring (talk) 13:31, 11 April 2012 (UTC)

Ancestry of Alterrans
The article states that Alterrans are human alien hybrids, and also states them to be interfertile with humans, which if true would be a major scientific howler. My recollection is that the Alterran culture was human descended, but their biological ancestry was strictly alien. They had culturally assimilated to a now extinct human settlement, the human settlement being the more advanced culture, but no interbreeding had occurred, implying no interbreeding possible. They were culturally human, the way that the German descended invaders who conquered the Roman Empire in the west became culturally classic Greek.

To my recollection, the human settlement from which the Alterrans were culturally descended was described as dying out, not as being biologically absorbed in the Alterran majority, living on culturally, but not biologically. James A. Donald 20:47, 23 July 2007 (UTC)

 * Sorry, you misremembered. It is stated that the dwindling Terran population has adapted and can now interbreed.  In City of Illusions there are individuals of mixed descent.--GwydionM 16:47, 24 July 2007 (UTC)

 * I had a question about this part too. In Rocanon's World the people of the coastal settlements, of which 'Landing' is the last one, are already called 'Alterra' by the local HILFs, which leads me to the thought that Alterra is another planet where the mixing of Terrans and whatever local HILF form was there happened, thus giving all Alterrans black skin and black eyes. And as such hybrids have the Alterrans arrived on the Werel world, and although initially being unable to breed with the local HILFs, by the end it is hinted that Jacob and Rolery will have offspring (just as the Alterrans became vulnerable to the local virii). Thus my guess is that Alterra and Werel are two different planets, and Alterrans are a mix of Terrans and some local HILF form on Altera, while Werelians (after the time in Planet of Exile) are a mix of Alterrans (who are a mix themselves) and the local HILF forms on Werel, thus Werelians are twice removed from the Terrans. I just re-read Planet of Exile and Rocanon's World a week ago:) Capricornis (talk) 18:21, 24 November 2008 (UTC)

 * They are called "Alterran" because that means "From Terra (Earth)". And Alterra doesn't feature in Rocannon's World, only in Planet of Exile and (tangentially) in City of Illusions. The big jeweled mural on the Offworlder's wall shows the Earth planetary system (the third planet out is the one they revere), so they clearly come from Earth. They've named the planet Alterra, despite the natives already having a name for it (Werel). Alohasoy (talk) 21:39, 24 November 2008 (UTC)

 * You are right, I am just reading the 'City Of Illusions' and they mention there that it was an expedition of mainly Earth colonists that went to Werel (with other races apparently to follow, which never happened) and that their first settlement was called 'Alterra' . I am wondering though why in 'Planet of Exile' Le Guin describes all the Alterrans with black skin and black (all-black?) eyes. Capricornis (talk) 19:54, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

 * Well, genetic drift can easily account for the same-color skin (if the colonists were a mixed bag of races then after a few generations of mixing they would be roughly the same color, it just happened to be black) and the eyes might be dark brown, but the Werelian HILFs would see that as black compared to their own bright-colored eyes. Alohasoy (talk) 21:19, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

A separate page for a 'Timeline of Hainish history'?
This article is getting big. I'd like to do a separate page, leaving the sequence of the books but moving the rest. Also adding reasons. E.g. the ansible is made possible by the discoveries in The Dispossessed, is new in The Word for World is Forest and well-established in Planet of Exile. In The Left Hand of Darkness the 'Age of the Enemy' is over and no Gethenian has yet left their world. Later works featuring Gethenians must come afterwards. Short stories can also be fitted in on this basis.

Incidentally, what is the basis for putting The Telling after Four Ways to Forgiveness? Both mention Gethenians as part of the Ekumen, but what other clues are there?

--GwydionM 16:28, 2 June 2007 (UTC)

Move to Hainish Cycle?
The first three stories (Rocannon's World, Planet of Exile and City of Illusions) speak of a League of All Worlds. The term Ekumen appears for the first time in The Left Hand of Darkness, which is also after the 'Age of the Enemy'.

Those four are in chronological order. But then she goes back to a time before Rocannon's World in The Dispossessed and The Word for World is Forest. There is no mention of any Ekumen: it is the League of All Worlds that is suggested in the first book and which exists in the second.

All later books contain references to Gethenians and take place after The Left Hand of Darkness. The sequence would seem to be:
 * Original Hainish expansion (references but so far not shown directly)
 * Early Contact
 * League of All Worlds
 * Age of the Enemy (disunity)
 * Ekumen Era

All of these would fit as part of a 'Hainish Cycle' - Rocannon comes from Hain, etc. If it's OK with others, I'd like to move the page to Hainish Cycle and fix the various references. Put a small entry here, which would be valid for the stories and novels set in that period.--GwydionM 17:02, 22 June 2007 (UTC)
 * I agree with this, but there should not be a small entry here; the Hainish Cycle page should just have an Ekumen section. -- Evertype·✆ 20:14, 23 June 2007 (UTC)

Did the move, 1st July. I'll wait for people's reaction before changing the secondary links.--GwydionM 17:00, 1 July 2007 (UTC)

Hilf
Various humans in UKL space stories (such as Planet of Exile) refer to indigenous sapient species as "hilfs": Highly Intelligent Life Forms. It is a category or descriptor rather than a specific species. - Frankie (talk) 19:05, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

 * This is correct, that's why I usually write it as HILFs, as it is a shortcut that refers to ALL High Intelligence Life Forms on any planet/galaxy Capricornis (talk) 18:22, 24 November 2008 (UTC)

Proposals
This article is way too long. I have started the League of All Worlds article and am planning to move all League and Ekumen information in there and out of this one. Also the planets of the Ekumen shoudl be moved out of this article and into it's own, so that the length of this article is finally managable. What do other people think? I also started an article on the Shing_(Hainish) and MindSpeach if anyone wants to expand them further. Cheers Capricornis (talk) 21:44, 3 January 2009 (UTC)

 * I agree there should be a separate page for the planets. --GwydionM (talk) 19:01, 4 January 2009 (UTC)

 * It makes sense to me to split this page. For one thing, the "Hainish Cycle" is a name for the novels and stories by Le Guin that feature the Ekumen. It is not "a setting" for the books (no one in the books ever refers to a "Hainish Cycle"). There used to be a separate article titled Ekumen, which made this distinction clear, but someone merged it into this one. I think that was a mistake. I don't think mind speech warrants its own article, as there just isn't a lot of information about it in any of the Hainish stories (plus, you spelled it wrong in your article title). I don't think the Shing warrant their own article, either. --JLeland (talk) 14:37, 17 March 2009 (UTC)

 * I fixed the title, but I'm not taking the time to merge the article. No one has touched the article in 2 1/2 years, except for Buistr, who fixed the spelling in the text. --Thnidu (talk) 22:23, 3 July 2011 (UTC)

 * A majority of the novels are pre-Ekumen, with The Dispossessed happening before even the League of All Worlds gets started. 'Hainish Cycle' is the best name.

 * But by all means split off the list of planets.--GwydionM (talk) 18:32, 17 March 2009 (UTC)
 * I think the list of planets is the best choice to split. It would also make it possible to merge some of the extremely skimpy planet articles (even Hain doesn't really have much to go on as a standalone) without making this one ungainly.--otherlleft 18:28, 31 January 2010 (UTC)
 * I went ahead and made the split.--otherlleft 18:41, 31 January 2010 (UTC)

Merge everything back here?
This has been suggested by SmackBot. I can't see the logic. This section serves OK as a general reference, but is already quite large. The individual pages on planets, Shing etc. have extra details it would be a pity to lose. Better hope that more might be added. --GwydionM (talk) 12:32, 5 November 2009 (UTC)

 * Agree. I think that the various specific subject pages are best left as stand-alone articles - with the appropriate links and cross references already in place. The "Hamish Cycle" article is a very good piece of work but, by the nature of the subject, it does sprawl across large tracts of topic, time and space. Shing, planets etc would easily be lost sight of in such a jungle. Buistr (talk) 00:33, 26 November 2009 (UTC)

 * Planets of the Hainish Cycle was deleted since it had too much non-notable detail. The "Planets" section here, on the other hand, has very little detail. Should this section be expanded to include at least the names of the planets? Perhaps a brief description of each? Goustien (talk) 07:02, 28 November 2019 (UTC)

The majority decision - which I disagreed with - was to throw away the page giving details. So if someone can recover all of that carefully-researched data, it would be good to place it here.

Giving the determination of a majority of active members to throw away useful data that somehow offends their notion of an "Ideal Encyclopedia", I am not going to spend my own time on something that may then be wasted.

I am doing other serious work, but have given up any hope of curing the Wiki majority of its destructive obsessions. Looking at discussions, it seems many other useful lists have been deleted. And members are enormously proud of themselves for doing so! --GwydionM (talk) 08:53, 28 November 2019 (UTC)

Proposal to merge "Shing" here
There's a flag on the article Shing right now suggesting that it might be merged here, but there's no mention of it on the talk page as I write this. I'd just like to say that if Shing must be merged, it's less appropriate to merge it with Hainish_Cycle and more appropriate to merge it with City_of_Illusion, as the Shing are only fleshed out in that book, and merely mentioned or alluded to in other works. KASchmidt (talk) 22:58, 6 March 2011 (UTC)

 * Definitely not here. There is an unnamed enemy in her first two books and also in The Left Hand of Darkness.  In her later works the background assumptions have shifted and all humans are offshoots of Hain, also no interstellar wars.  That begins with the short story Vaster than Empires and More Slow.  --GwydionM (talk) 18:36, 7 March 2011 (UTC)
 * With no other discussion on the proposed merger, and the fact that it had been sitting on Shing since 2009, I went ahead and took the flag off. KASchmidt (talk) 02:51, 16 June 2011 (UTC)

Merge, redux
League of All Worlds should be merged back here. This article, as it stands now, is nowhere near long enough to justify subarticles, particularly on minor points. the standard for separate articles is significant coverage outside the series themselves (or among fans). if the league of all worlds was used by other writers, or propsed as a model for a new inter-govt agency by a serious thinktank, it could have a separate article.Mercurywoodrose (talk) 06:11, 13 January 2012 (UTC)
 * merged content, including this talk page comment:

League of all worlds
Instead of nominating this article for deletion, maybe people should work on expanding it, and moving out all the content related out of the Hainish Cycle and into this article (both Ekumen and League material), as the Hanish Cycle is way too long. Capricornis (talk) 21:41, 3 January 2009 (UTC)

Telling
Apart from the discussion above, I think some kind of contextual comments re 'The Telling' are needed in the the primary article. (Braka2) (talk) 20:34, 9 September 2012 (UTC)).

Birthday of the World short story
According to the introducution to the collection of the same name, The Birthday of the World "may or may not" be an Ekumen universe story. I think it would be good to add this to the page in some way. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.12.149.177 (talk) 23:31, 12 October 2012 (UTC)

Fate of Earth
I corrected the statement that Earth is never directly seen. City of Illusions is set on Earth. In Rocannon's World, The Telling and The Left Hand of Darkness, the viewpoint-chatacter comes from Earth and some background is given. The idea that Earth civilisation has collapsed is found only in the later works - background assumptions shift a lot. --GwydionM (talk) 07:58, 28 August 2016 (UTC)

Removed a note about the ansible
The ansible is first mentioned in Rocannon's World, and again in The Left Hand of Darkness. But The Word for World Is Forest is set before those, with the ansible appearing during the story. So I removed the note complaining about this. --GwydionM (talk) 08:56, 9 July 2019 (UTC)

Chronological list
A list of all the books and stories in the chronological order of the fictional universe would be a useful addition to this article. A comment above suggested more or less the same thing in 2007 but nothing came of it. -- 198.176.82.33 (talk) 12:23, 17 August 2020 (UTC)

Alternate history ?
The opening line describes it as alternate history / future history. I don't see any further mention of alternate history, nor source. Is there anything to justify that description ? -- Beardo (talk) 00:33, 15 March 2022 (UTC)

 * I agree. Nothing in any of the books suggests that history on her version of Earth is different from recorded history.  Nothing except the claim that we are one of many worlds settled from Hain, rather than evolved here.  So it should be changed just to Future History.  --GwydionM (talk) 09:01, 15 March 2022 (UTC)

title: Talk:Hainish Cycle


text:
Doink the Clown

Doink the Clown is a professional wrestling persona originally and most popularly portrayed by Matt Osborne, who debuted the Doink persona in the World Wrestling Federation (now WWE) in 1992. Doink is a clown wearing traditional clown makeup (or a mask decorated to resemble such) and brightly colored clothes. In addition to Borne, Doink has been portrayed occasionally by other wrestlers in the WWE and unofficially on the independent circuit.

World Wrestling Federation (1992-1995, 1997)
Former WWE producer Bruce Prichard said in an interview on The Steve Austin Show that Michael Hegstrand had originally conceived the idea of a miserable clown character.

After making appearances in late 1992 in the crowd and at ringside, playing tricks on the fans and wrestlers, the Doink character made his in-ring debut in the WWF in 1993, originally wrestling as a technically sound heel. Doink played cruel jokes on both fans and wrestlers to both amuse himself and catch his victims off-guard. Some of his villainous pranks included tripping Big Boss Man with a tripwire, "accidentally" poking Tatanka in the eye with a mop, dumping water on Marty Jannetty and attacking Crush with a loaded prosthetic arm. He clashed with Crush at WrestleMania IX, a match which he won after the appearance of an identical Doink (played by Steve Keirn) from underneath the ring. Doink also wrestled Randy Savage on Monday Night Raw, and substituted for Jerry Lawler, who faked an injury, against Bret Hart at SummerSlam in 1993.

Shortly after SummerSlam, Doink slowly began showing signs of a face turn, on the September 13 episode of Raw, he threw a bucket of water on Bobby Heenan resulting in Heenan suffering a (kayfabe) cold. He also turned on Lawler on the September 26 episode of WWF Wrestling Challenge in Lawler's The King's Court segment, making Burger King jokes to amuse the crowd and eventually emptied a bucket of water over Lawler.

Later in September 1993, he officially turned face by throwing confetti and water on Bam Bam Bigelow and his on screen girlfriend Luna Vachon starting a comedy feud. At Survivor Series Doink got The Bushwhackers and Men on a Mission and their manager Oscar disguised as him and defeated Bigelow, Bastion Booger and The Headshrinkers in a comedy elimination match.

Around this time Matt Borne who played the heel version of Doink (also appeared a few times as babyface Doink) was fired due to failing a drug test and Steve Lombardi took over for Doink at house shows and at Survivor Series, Ray Apollo officially debuted as Doink over the video wall teasing Bigelow and Vachon.

After Survivor Series, Doink was paired with a midget sidekick named Dink who was given to him by Santa Claus and Doink continued his feud with Bigelow with which ended at WrestleMania X where he and Dink lost to Bigelow and Vachon in a mixed tag team match.

After the feud with Bigelow ended, Doink was placed in a short feud with Jeff Jarrett where Jerry Lawler interviewed Dink and told everyone that Doink was on vacation but Doink came out nowhere and attacked Dink which many people thought Doink was turning heel again but Doink removed his green hair and revealed himself to be Jarrett.

In summer 1994, Doink restarted his feud with Lawler where he and Dink got two more midget sidekicks Wink and Pink and formed "Clowns R Us" (a play on toy store Toys "R" Us) and Lawler got his own midget sidekicks Queasy, Sleezy and Cheesy and formed "The Royal Family" and the two teams faught at Survivor Series in which The Royal Family won.

In early 1995, Doink became a jobber to the stars and Dink was released from the WWF in June 1995. Doink was losing to big stars such as Waylon Mercy and Hunter Hearst-Helmsley and the WWF decided to stop using Doink in October 1995 and Ray Apollo was officially released after his loss to Helmsley.

At The Slammy Awards in 1997, Doink (this time played Steve Lombardi) made a surprise return and was attacked by Stone Cold Steve Austin and The New Blackjacks.

Midwest Territorial Wrestling (1994)
Doink (Matt Osborne) also had a few matches in 1994 in southeast Michigan. He faced off against Bastion Booger on July 14, 1994, in Port Huron, Michigan. He also wrestled alongside some other now known names such as Al Snow and Terry Funk when wrestling for MTW.

Extreme Championship Wrestling (1994)
Following his departure from the WWF, Osborne appeared (as Matt Borne) in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) for several matches as Doink in a blue and green clown suit, setting up an angle where ECW champion Shane Douglas criticized Vince McMahon for turning a talented wrestler like Borne into a comic relief character, and claimed that he knew how to bring out Borne's full potential. Borne then made a few appearances with Douglas as "himself", sporting his face half-painted with the Doink makeup. His ring name under this gimmick was "Borne Again".

World Wrestling Entertainment (2001–2012)
Since 1997, Doink has appeared sporadically in WWE. Ray Apollo returned to play him in the Gimmick Battle Royal at WrestleMania X-Seven. On December 10, 2007, Doink, played by Matt Borne for the final time, participated in a battle royal of 15 WWE alumni for the Raw 15th anniversary special episode.

Played by Nick Dinsmore, he showed up in the A.P.A. Bar Room Brawl at Vengeance in 2003. He was selected by Rhino to face Chris Benoit on the July 31, 2003 Smackdown!.

Played by Steve Lombardi, he wrestled Rob Conway on an October 2005 episode of Raw. On June 2, 2007, Doink, Eugene and Kane defeated Umaga, Viscera and Kevin Thorn on Saturday Night's Main Event XXXIV. On the July 12, 2010 Raw, Doink teamed with William Regal, Primo and Zack Ryder to lose to Santino Marella, Goldust, Vladimir Kozlov and The Great Khali, when he was pinned by Khali. On the July 2, 2012 Raw, he made a surprise return and lost to Heath Slater. He reappeared on July 23, alongside several other WWE alumni, to help Lita take down Slater on WWE Raw 1000, the one thousandth episode of Raw. This is, to date, Doink's final official appearance on WWE television.

Independent circuit (2010–present)
In early 2010, Osborne reinvented the Doink character to resemble Heath Ledger's portrayal of the Joker in The Dark Knight, nicknaming the incarnation 'Reborne Again'. The new character debuted on March 27 for ISPW in New Jersey. On May 23, 2010, Doink the Clown, portrayed by Dusty Wolfe, interfered against Skandor Akbar and his men Dr. Knuckles and Rommel. This caused them to lose the Wrecking Ball Wrestling tag titles. In retaliation Akbar called on the original Doink Matt Borne. Wolfe and Borne were scheduled to meet on August 15, but Wolfe never arrived at the event. On August 8, 2010, Borne, as Doink the Clown, won the Wrecking Ball Wrestling Championship.

Portrayers

 * Matt Osborne (1992—2013) – Borne was the original Doink in the WWF, but left the promotion in December 1993. He made one final WWE appearance as Doink on the 15th anniversary episode of Monday Night Raw in 2007, losing in a battle royal. He died on June 28, 2013.
 * Steve Keirn (1993—94, 1997, 2000) – Keirn wrestled as the "illusion" Doink at WWF WrestleMania IX and occasionally the "real" Doink at house shows.
 * Steve Lombardi (1993—96, 1998, 2005, 2007, 2010, 2012, 2016) – Lombardi occasionally wrestled as Doink at house shows and later dressed as Doink for various WWE appearances. He is the last person to wrestle as Doink on WWE television, losing to Heath Slater on a 2012 episode of Monday Night Raw.
 * Men on a Mission and The Bushwhackers (1993) – The two teams wrestled as "The Four Doinks" at the 1993 Survivor Series.
 * Ray Licameli (Ray Apollo) (1993—2010, 2014) – Apollo wrestled as Doink in the WWF in 1993 to 1995 after Osborne left the company, and once more at 2001's WrestleMania X-Seven in the gimmick battle royal. He continued to use the gimmick on the independent circuit until his retirement in 2014.
 * Mark Starr (1994) – Starr wrestled as Doink against Greg Valentine in October 1994 for the National Wrestling Conference.
 * Jeff Jarrett (1994) – Jarrett once dressed up as Doink in the WWF during an angle with Dink the Clown.
 * Ace Darling (1994—95) – Darling wrestled five matches as Doink for National Wrestling Alliance New Jersey and Smoky Mountain Wrestling.
 * Dusty Wolfe (1995—99, 2002—10, 2012) – Wolfe wrestled as Doink in the NWA and on the independent circuit.
 * Chris Jericho (2001) – Jericho disguised himself as Doink in the WWF, in order to attack William Regal on the last Monday Night Raw before their WrestleMania X-Seven match.
 * Nick Dinsmore (2003) – Dinsmore wrestled as Doink in WWE on their 2003 Vengeance pay-per-view, unsuccessfully competing in the APA Invitational Bar Room Brawl, and later in the year on an episode of SmackDown!, losing to Chris Benoit.
 * Dwaine Henderson (2000s—2018) — wrestled as "Alabama Doink" on the independent circuit, notably competing in a battle royal at Game Changer Wrestling's Spring Break event in April 2018. Henderson died on June 19, 2018, at 40 years old.
 * An unknown person portrayed Doink at the 2020 Money in the Bank pay-per-view, appearing during the men's Money in the Bank match.
 * Numerous other wrestlers have portrayed the gimmick on the independent circuit.

Other media
Doink is a playable character in Acclaim's 1994 video game, WWF Raw, Midway's WWF WrestleMania: The Arcade Game (1995), and THQ's SmackDown vs. Raw 2009 (2008, as a DLC character). Doink was also revealed as a post-launch superstar for WWE 2K Battlegrounds (2020) and headlined the "Clowning Around Pack" DLC in WWE 2K22 (2022) (the latter in his heel persona); this version of Doink also appeared in WWE 2K23 and WWE 2K24.

Championships and accomplishments

 * Allied Powers Wrestling Federation
 * APWF Television Championship (1 time)
 * International Wrestling Association
 * IWA United States Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
 * NWA Southwest
 * NWA Southwest Television Championship (1 time)
 * Pro Wrestling Illustrated
 * PWI ranked him #26 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 1992
 * Regional Championship Wrestling
 * RCW United States Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Jay Love
 * Wrecking Ball Wrestling
 * WBW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
 * Wrestling Observer Newsletter
 * Most Embarrassing Wrestler (1994)
 * Worst Feud of the Year (1994) vs. Jerry Lawler
 * Worst Worked Match of the Year (1994) with Dink, Pink and Wink vs. Jerry Lawler, Sleazy, Queasy and Cheesy at Survivor Series

title: Doink the Clown


text:
Gérard de Vaucouleurs

Gérard Henri de Vaucouleurs (25 April 1918 – 7 October 1995) was a French astronomer best known for his studies of galaxies.

Life and career
Gerard de Vaucouleurs was born on April 25, 1918 in Paris, he took the maiden name of his mother as his last name. He had an early interest in amateur astronomy and received his undergraduate degree in 1939 at the Sorbonne in that city.

After military service in World War II, he resumed his pursuit of astronomy. He was married to fellow astronomer Antoinette de Vaucouleurs on October 31, 1944, and the couple would frequently collaborate on astronomical research.

He was fluent in English and spent 1949-51 in England and 1951–57 in Australia at Mount Stromlo Observatory. He was at Lowell Observatory in Arizona from 1957-1958 and at Harvard from 1958-60.

In 1960 he was appointed to the University of Texas at Austin, where he spent the rest of his career. He was one of the first five faculty in the newly formed astronomy department there. His wife Antoinette died in 1987. In 1995 he died of a heart attack in his home in Austin at the age of 77. At the time of his death he had a second wife named Elysabeth.

Research
His earliest work had concerned the planet Mars and while at Harvard he used telescope observations from 1909 to 1958 to study the areographic coordinates of features on the surface of Mars. His later work focused on the study of galaxies and he co-authored the Third Reference Catalogue of Bright Galaxies with his wife Antoinette (1921-1987), a fellow UT Austin astronomer and lifelong collaborator.

His specialty included reanalyzing Hubble and Sandage's galaxy atlas and recomputing the distance measurements utilizing a method of averaging many different kinds of metrics such as luminosity, the diameters of ring galaxies, brightest star clusters, etc., in a method he called "spreading the risks." During the 1950s he promoted the idea that galactic clusters are grouped into superclusters.

The de Vaucouleurs modified Hubble sequence is a widely used variant of the standard Hubble sequence.

De Vaucouleurs was awarded the Henry Norris Russell Lectureship by the American Astronomical Society in 1988. He was awarded the Prix Jules Janssen of the Société astronomique de France (Astronomical Society of France) in the same year. He and his wife and longtime collaborator, Antoinette, together produced 400 research and technical papers, 20 books and 100 articles for laymen.

title: Gérard de Vaucouleurs


text: User talk:68.88.185.178

title: User talk:68.88.185.178


text:
Nargis

Nargis Dutt (born Fatima Rashid, also known as Nirmala Dutt; 1 June 1929 – 3 May 1981) was an Indian actress and politician who worked in Hindi cinema. Regarded as one of the finest and greatest actresses in the history of Indian cinema, Nargis often portrayed sophisticated and independent women. Her work was in a range of genres, from screwball comedy to literary drama, and earned her various accolades.

In a career spanning three decades, Nargis made her screen debut in a minor role at the age of six with Talash-E-Haq (1935), but her acting career actually began with the film Tamanna (1942). Nargis had her first leading role with Taqdeer (1943). Nargis had her breakthrough with the romance film Andaz (1949) and the musical Barsaat (1949). Following this she starred in Raj Kapoor's crime drama Awaara (1951), which was a major critical and financial success. After a brief setback in the early 1950s, she reemerged with the comedy-drama Shree 420 (1955) and the romantic comedy Chori Chori (1956). Nargis starred in Mehboob Khan's Oscar-nominated epic drama Mother India (1957), the highest-grossing film in India at that point of time, for which she won Filmfare Award for Best Actress. She would appear infrequently in films during the 1960s. Some of her films of this period include the drama Raat Aur Din (1967), for which she received the inaugural National Film Award for Best Actress.

Nargis married her Mother India co-star Sunil Dutt in 1958. Together they had three children, including the actor Sanjay Dutt. Along with her husband, Nargis formed the Ajanta Arts Culture Troupe which hired several leading actors and singers of the time and held stage shows at border areas. In the early 1970s, Nargis became the first patron of The Spastic Society of India and her subsequent work with the organisation brought her recognition as a social worker and later a Rajya Sabha nomination in 1980.

Nargis died in 1981 of pancreatic cancer, only three days before her son Sanjay Dutt made his debut in Hindi films with the film Rocky. In 1982, the Nargis Dutt Memorial Cancer Foundation was established in her memory. The award for Best Feature Film on National Integration in the Annual Film Awards ceremony is called the Nargis Dutt Award in her honour. In 2011, Rediff.com listed her as the greatest Indian actress of all time.

Early life

Nargis was born on 1 June 1929 as Fatima Rashid in Calcutta, Bengal Presidency, British India (now Kolkata, West Bengal, India). Her father Abdul Rashid, formerly Mohanchand Uttamchand ("Mohan Babu"), was originally a wealthy heir from Rawalpindi who had converted from Hinduism to Islam. Her mother was Jaddanbai Hussain, from Benares City, Benares State, who was born into a Muslim family of Hindu Brahmin origin which had converted to Islam; and was a Hindustani classical music singer and one of the early pioneers of Indian cinema. Nargis' family then moved from Punjab to Allahabad, United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, before settling in Calcutta, Bengal Presidency. She introduced Nargis into the movie culture unfolding in India at the time. Nargis' maternal half-brother, Anwar Hussain, was also a film actor.

1935 - 1948: Film debut and breakthrough
Fatima made her first film appearance in the 1935 film Talashe Haq when she was six years old, credited as Baby Nargis. Nargis (نرگس ) is a Persian word meaning Narcissus, the daffodil flower. She was subsequently credited as Nargis in all of her films.

Nargis appeared in numerous films after her debut. In 1943 at the age of 14, she appeared in Mehboob Khan's Taqdeer, opposite Motilal. The film was a box office success, and she was extensively praised for her performance. Filmindia referred to it as "an excellent debut". Following Taqdeer, Nargis starred in the 1944 film Anban. Nargis next starred in the 1945 period drama Humayun, opposite the leading actor of those times, Ashok Kumar and the mythological film Ramayani. In 1946 she starred in Nargis. These films were moderately successful.

In 1948, she made her first collaboration with Raj Kapoor, the drama Aag, in which she portrays a homeless woman who becomes an actress. The film was not a major success and did average business at the box office. However this marked the first of more than a dozen films in which Raj Kapoor and Nargis appeared together. She also starred in highly successful tragedy film Mela, the editor of Filmindia, Baburao Patel praised her performance, but in her role of mother found her "unconvincing" and "synthetic", The reported box office gross for the film according to IBOS was ₹50 lakhs in 1948. The adjusted gross as of 2015 is roughly estimated at ₹340.44 crores. Her last film of the year was Anokha Pyar, which was not a success.

1949 - 1954: Rise to prominence, success and setback

In 1949, Nargis starred in Mehboob Khan's critically acclaimed drama Andaz. The film saw her playing Neena, whose husband Rajan (Raj Kapoor) suspects of her having an affair with her friend Dilip (Dilip Kumar). It had a slow start at the box office, but as soon as positive word-of-mouth spread, it emerged as a major commercial success and the highest-grossing film of all time. The film was first hit in Kapoor's career, and a breakthrough for Nargis and Kumar. Following this she starred in Barsaat, directed by Kapoor starred Nargis as a village belle and Kapoor as a poet. The film was the debut of Nimmi, who would later become a well-known actress. Its release was already hyped due to the huge success of Andaz, and therefore it became another major box office success. Barsaat was the highest-grossing film of 1949, as well as of all time, breaking the record of Andaz.

She followed this with roles in the 1950 films Meena Bazaar, the romantic drama Jogan, Jan Pahechan, the musical drama Babul, and Aadhi Raat. Both Jogan and Babul were box office hits and her performance in Babul was specially noticed. Following this she starred in the drama films Hulchul and Deedar (both 1951). Due to the success of Andaz and Barsaat, Raj Kapoor was impressed by Nargis' onscreen charm and presence. He therefore chose her to play a character in Awaara (1951) (often written as Awāra). Although it revolved around a father and his estranged son, Nargis played the pivotal role of a lawyer who knows the truth that Raj (played by Kapoor) and Raghunath (played by Prithviraj Kapoor) are son-father. Unlike the roles played by other actresses of those times, Nargis portrayed an outspoken woman-lawyer who criticises the people who regard woman as a "thing made for household chores". She was also seen donning a swimwear in a scene from Awaara, a bold outfit for an Indian woman to wear in that era. The film was released on 14 December 1951, receiving universal acclaim for the performances of Prithviraj, Raj and Nargis. Not only in India, the film was a blockbuster overseas too, making Nargis and Raj well-known stars in countries such as Greece and the United States. Grossing ₹12.5 million in India, it became the highest-grossing film of all time, breaking the record of Barsaat.

In 1952, Nargis starred in the romance film Bewafa, which was not a major success. Following this, she also starred in the psychological drama Anhonee Nargis was highly appreciated for enacting a dual role and her performance garnered critical acclaim. Furthermore, rediff commented "The ethereal actress is equally adept at bringing out the conflicting qualities of both -- the gregarious courtesan Mohini as well as her dignified half-sister and heiress, Roop". She then starred in the adventure film Amber. Out of her releases of 1952, only Anhonee was a success. Following this was the 1953 film Dhoon, which was not a major success. Her last film of the year was the romantic drama Aah, which too was not major success, despite this it is often regarded as a cult classic. Her only film of 1954 was Angarey.

1955 - 1958: Resurgence and stardom

Nargis revived her career with Raj Kapoor's social drama Shree 420 (1955). In the film, Nargis portrays a school teacher who becomes Raj's (played by Kapoor) love interest. It was Nargis' last under Raj Kapoor's direction. Commenting on the performance, rediff said that "The perfromances help the film's endorsement of ethical living and high thinking. Nargis' quiet demeanour in the film contrasted with Raj Kapoor's flamboyance". The film was a major blockbuster, emerging as the highest grossing film in India at the time.

She once again collaborated with Kapoor for the box office success Chori Chori (1956), which revolves around a girl (Nargis) who runs away from her house in order to marry a gold digger pilot (Pran), but ends up falling for a news reporter (Kapoor) whom she meets in a bus. Described by theprint which praised the lead's chemistry. The film was also a major box office success emerging as one of the highest grossing films of the year. In the same year, she did a special appearance in Kapoor's Jagte Raho. The film was her last to co-star Raj Kapoor.

In 1957, she appeared in Mehboob Khan's Oscar-nominated epic drama Mother India, which won her the Filmfare Award for Best Actress. Baburao Patel of the film magazine, Filmindia, in December 1957, described Mother India as "the greatest picture produced in India" and wrote that no other actress would have been able to perform the role as well as Nargis. Mother India is generally regarded as Nargis's best performance. Box Office India gave the film's net collection as ₹40 million and its gross as ₹80 million, the highest for an Indian film up until Mughal-e-Azam (1960), while estimating that Mother India 's inflation-adjusted net would be equivalent to ₹1.173 billion in January 2008. Box Office India later estimated in 2017 that Mother India had over 100 million footfalls at the domestic box office, making it one of the highest-grossing Indian films of all time when adjusted for inflation. Nargis won the Filmfare Best Actress Award in 1958 and became the first Indian to receive the Best Actress award at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in present-day Czech Republic. Also in 1957, she acted in the Pardesi (marketed as Journey Beyond Three Seas in English), which was an Indo-Soviet co-production. After her marriage to Sunil Dutt in 1958, Nargis gave up her film career to settle down with her family, after her last few films were released. From 1951 to 1957, Box Office India ranked Nargis as the top actress.

1960 - 1968: Final films
She made her last film appearance in the psychological drama Raat Aur Din (1967), being convinced to act after 15 years. The film was well received and Nargis' performance as a woman who has dissociative identity disorder was critically acclaimed. For her performance in the film, she received a nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actress, and won the inaugural National Film Award for Best Actress.

Nargis was also nominated to the Rajya Sabha (upper house of Indian Parliament) from 1980 to 1981, but due to cancer she fell ill and died during her tenure.

Personal life

Nargis had a long-time relationship with actor Raj Kapoor, who was her co-star in the films Awaara and Shree 420. Raj Kapoor was married and had children. After he refused to divorce his wife, Nargis ended their nine-year-long relationship.

Nargis married actor Sunil Dutt; who was a Hindu, also of Punjabi Mohyal descent, on 11 March 1958. Prior to their marriage, Nargis converted to Hinduism and adopted the name Nirmala Dutt. Reportedly, Dutt had saved her life from a fire on the sets of Mother India. She had also reportedly helped Dutt's sister and mother. They had three children: Sanjay Dutt, Namrata Dutt, and Priya Dutt. Sanjay went on to become a successful film actor. Namrata married actor Kumar Gaurav, son of veteran actor Rajendra Kumar who had appeared alongside Nargis and Sunil Dutt in Mother India. Priya became a politician and a Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha).

With her husband, Nargis formed the Ajanta Arts Cultural Troupe, which involved several leading actors and singers of the time, and performed at remote frontiers to entertain the Indian soldiers at border. It was the first troupe to perform in Dhaka, after the liberation war of Bangladesh in 1971. Later, Nargis worked for the cause of spastic children. She became the first patron of the Spastics Society of India. Her charitable work for the organisation got her recognition as a social worker.

Nargis loved wearing white saris, speaking over the telephone and eating panipuris sold on the streets. She was an excellent swimmer and enjoyed playing cricket with her brothers. The founder of the Spastic Society of India, Mithu Alur, stated in an interview that Nargis had a dream of pursuing medicine that she could never fulfill.

Illness and death
On 2 August 1980, Nargis fell ill during a session of the Rajya Sabha, with the initial cause assumed to be jaundice. She was rushed home and admitted to Breach Candy Hospital in Bombay. After 15 days of tests, during which her condition kept worsening and she rapidly lost weight, she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 1980 and underwent treatment for the disease at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.

Upon her return to India, her condition deteriorated and she was admitted at Breach Candy Hospital. Nargis went into a coma on 2 May 1981 after she became seriously ill and died the next day, aged 51. Because she feared fire, she wanted to be buried in accordance with the Muslim customs. Her body was carried on a bier according to Hindu customs. Sunil and Sanjay offered Namaz along with other mourners. She was buried at Bada Qabrastan Mumbai. On 7 May 1981, at the premiere of her son's debut film Rocky, one seat was kept vacant for her.

One year after her death, the Nargis Dutt Memorial Cancer Foundation was established by Sunil Dutt in her memory. Although Nargis' death is attributed to pancreatic cancer, her daughter, Namrata Dutt Kumar, claimed her mother had successfully fought the cancer but died from a urinary tract infection. Nargis's son, Sanjay Dutt, added that her lowered immunity levels made her susceptible to the infection.

Public image

Nargis is regarded as one of the greatest and finest actress of Indian cinema. Rediff.com placed her in its "Bollywood's Best Actresses of all time" list, and later in 2011, listed her as the greatest actress of all time, stating: "An actress with range, style, grace and an incredibly warm screen presence, Nargis is truly a leading lady to celebrate." In 2022, she was placed in Outlook India's "75 Best Bollywood Actresses" list. One of the highest paid actress of the 1950s, Nargis appeared in Box Office India's "Top Actresses" list from 1948 to 1957, and topped the list for eight years (1951-1957).

Nargis's sarees were a major style statement in the 1950s. Yahoo! placed her 3rd in its "Ten most iconic beauties of Hindi cinema" list, In 2000, she was honoured with "Best Actress of the Millennium" by Hero Honda and film magazine Stardust. and was listed in the 25 greatest Asian actors in history by CNN in 2010. In 2021, Time Out placed her 2nd in its "Ten best Bollywood actresses" list. Her films Awaara and Mother India, are both considered as one of the greatest films ever made in polls by British Film Institute and News18.

Acting style and reception
Nargis was known for her female characters that stood "shoulder-to-shoulder" with the male characters. Along with Madhubala, she also had large fan following in Greece. She is regarded among the finest and versatile actresses of Indian cinema. She was especially noted for her portrayal of strong, independent woman in her films.

Samriddhi Patwa of Filmfare termed Nargis an "iconic actresses" and noted, "Known for her portrayal as a sophisticated and independent woman in her films, Nargis is regarded as one of the greatest actresses in the history of Indian cinema." Writing for Indian Express, Sampada Sharma stated, "With her work, Nargis left an impression that still remains unmatched." M.L. Dhawan from The Tribune said, "In almost all her films Nargis created a woman who could be desired and deified. The charisma of Nargis's screen image lay in that it oscillated between the simple and the chic with equal ease." Surendra Kumar of The Sunday Guardian stated, "She was a versatile actor who could carry off serious roles, light roles and even comic roles with the same élan. She could be urbane and sophisticated, as in Awaara, Chori Chori and Andaz; simple and ordinary, as in Sri 420; and every inch a traditional village woman, as in Mother India." Dinesh Raheja of Rediff.com said, "Whereas most actors have one definitive forte, Nargis won over the 1950s audiences and critics with strikingly versatile characterisations."

Legacy
A scene from the 1949 film Barsaat, featuring Raj Kapoor holding Nargis in one arm and a violin in the other, was chosen as the basis for the logo of R. K. Films. Praising her and Kapoor's pair, India Times wrote: "Whenever Raj Kapoor and Nargis came together on screen, sparks flew. Their chemistry was electrifying and it crackles with raw passion in Raj Kapoor's Awaara. Nargis's wild and carefree sensuality pulsates and Raj Kapoor's scruffy hair-rebellious persona only adds fuel to the fire". In November 1956, Nargis was sent to the Soviet Union by the Government of India, as a part of delegate - consisting of Raj Kapoor, Suraiya and Kamini Kaushal, where her films were screened. Filmfare later included Nargis's performances in Raat Aur Din and Mother India in its list of "80 Iconic Performances" of Bollywood, placing them 65th and 36th respectively.

Tributes and honors

A street in Bandra, Mumbai, is named Nargis Dutt Road in her memory. A postal stamp of face value 100 paise was issued by India Post was issued in Nargis' honour on 30 December 1993. The National Film Awards honoured Dutt by instituting the Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration upon her achievement in Hindi Cinema. Her name was removed from the awards in 2024, for unknown reasons.

Nargis was inducted into the Walk of the Stars, at Bandra Bandstand, where her autograph was preserved under the name Nargis Dutt. In 2015, Google celebrated Nargis's 86th birthday with a doodle and noted, "Nagris lifted her ghoonghat headpiece and blazed the silver screen with her portrayal of strong women protagonists". In 2016, Bhaichand Patel wrote about Nargis in his book "Bollywood's Top 20: Superstars of Indian Cinema". In 2023, an exhibition at Kiran Nadar Museum of Art in Noida, named "Sitaare Zameen Par", had portraits of Nargis that were captured by JH Thakkar. Her souvenirs were auctioned online, along with that of other actresses, in the same year.

Biographies

 * In 1994, T. J. S. George wrote the first biography on Nargis, titled The Life and Times of Nargis.
 * In 2007, Nargis' daughters Priya and Namrata published a book about the lives of their parents, titled, Mr. and Mrs. Dutt: Memories of our Parents. Also that year, Darlingji: The True Love Story of Nargis and Sunil Dutt was released by Kishwar Desai.

In film

 * Priyanka Chopra parodied Nargis, Madhubala and Meena Kumari in the 2007 film Salaam-e-Ishq.
 * In Aditya Chopra's 2008 film Rab Ne Bana Di Jodis song "Phir Milenge Chalte Chalte", Kajol dressed herself as Nargis, as a tribute to her look in Shree 420s song "Pyar Hua Iqrar Hua".
 * In 2018, actress Manisha Koirala played Nargis, in her son's biopic Sanju. The film is ranked as one of the highest grossing Indian films of 2018.
 * Feryna Wazheir, portrayed Nargis in the 2018 film Manto.

title: Nargis


text:
Echoes

Echoes may refer to:
 * Echoes (acoustic phenomenon), a reflection of sound

Film and television

 * Echoes (2014 film), an American supernatural horror film
 * Echoes (miniseries), a 2022 Netflix original drama series
 * "Echoes" (Fear Itself), an episode of Fear Itself
 * "Echoes" (Stargate Atlantis), a 2006 episode of Stargate Atlantis
 * "Echoes" (Dollhouse), an episode of Dollhouse
 * Echoes (Boogiepop), a character in Boogiepop
 * "Echoes", an episode of the television series Hawkeye
 * Echoes, a TV series based on the novel by Maeve Binchy
 * Echoes, the 2007 series finale episode of Code Lyoko
 * Echoes, a film starring Mercedes McCambridge

Literature

 * Echoes (Binchy novel), a 1985 novel by Maeve Binchy
 * Echoes (Steel novel), a 2005 novel by Danielle Steel
 * Echoes (Time Hunter), a Time Hunter novella
 * Echoes (comics), a comic book limited series by Top Cow Productions

Music

 * Echoes (magazine), a British music monthly
 * Echoes (radio program), an American radio program
 * The Echoes (American group), an American vocal trio
 * The Echoes (English group)
 * Echoes, Billy Joel's earliest musical group
 * Echoes, a 1965 composition for string quartet by Bernard Herrmann

Albums

 * Echoes (Anggun album) (2011)
 * Echoes (Joshua Breakstone album), 1987
 * Echoes: The Retrospective, a 1993 compilation album by Camel
 * Echoes, alternative title of Gene Clark with the Gosdin Brothers (1967)
 * Echoes, 2013 album by Creep
 * Echoes (Front Line Assembly album) (2014)
 * Echos (Lacrimosa album) (2003)
 * Echoes (Modern Jazz Quartet album) (1984)
 * Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd, 2001 compilation
 * Echoes (the Rapture album) (2003) or its title track
 * Echoes (Maggie Reilly album) (1992)
 * Echoes (Livingston Taylor album) (1979)
 * Echoes (Will Young album) (2011)
 * Echoes (Young Guns album) (2016)
 * Echoes, a 2002 album by Matt Bianco
 * Echos, Chapter One, a 2005 album by Les Nubians
 * Echoes, a 2019 extended play by Modestep

Songs

 * "Echoes" (Pink Floyd song), 1971
 * "Echoes" (Klaxons song), 2010
 * "Echoes" (1950 song), by Bennie Benjamin and George David Weiss
 * Echoes (Uncle Waffles song)
 * "Echoes", a 2013 song by August Burns Red from Rescue & Restore
 * "Echoes", a 1978 song by Camel from Breathless
 * "Echoes", a 2019 song by the Cat Empire from Stolen Diamonds
 * "Echoes", a 2004 song by Cult of Luna from Salvation
 * "Echoes", a 2015 song by Disclosure on Caracal
 * "Echoes", a 1967 song by Gene Clark on Gene Clark with the Gosdin Brothers
 * "Echoes", a 2008 song by God Is an Astronaut on their self-titled album
 * "Echoes", a 2014 song by Miss May I from Rise of the Lion
 * "Echoes", a 1984 song by P-Model from Another Game
 * "Echoes", a 2011 song by Riot from Immortal Soul
 * "Echoes", a 2006 song by Set Your Goals from Mutiny!
 * "Echoes", a 1995 song by Susumu Hirasawa from Sim City
 * "Echoes", a 2023 song by Tesseract from War of Being
 * "Echoes", a 2017 song by Theory of a Deadman from Wake Up Call

Other uses

 * (((Echoes))) or triple parentheses, an antisemitic symbol
 * Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, a 2004 video game on the Nintendo GameCube
 * Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, a 2017 video game for the Nintendo 3DS, a remake of Fire Emblem Gaiden
 * Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age, a 2017 role-playing game

title: Echoes


text:
Mail Boxes Etc.

Mail Boxes Etc. (MBE) is an Italian third-party provider of shipping, fulfilment, printing, and marketing services through a network of franchised locations. MBE is an Italian family-owned holding company headquartered in Milan, Italy. It ranks among the world's largest networks of service centres, offering shipping, logistics, printing, marketing, and design services to both businesses and private customers.

History
Mail Boxes Etc. was founded in the United States in 1980 by Gerald Aul, Pat Senn, and Robert Diais. By the year 2000, MBE had expanded to include 4,000 locations worldwide, including South Korea and Sweden.

MBE operates a network of retail centres providing packing and shipping services, logistics support, communications, and marketing services to both business and private customers. The majority of the centres are owned by franchisees, both individual and master franchisees.

Acquisition by UPS
In 2001, United Parcel Service (UPS) acquired Mail Boxes Etc., Inc. locations in the United States and Canada. On April 7, 2003, UPS began converting the 3,000 Mail Boxes Etc. locations in the United States and Canada (at the time, nearly 90% of the domestic U.S. network) to The UPS Store and started offering lower UPS direct shipping rates, with an average reduction of around 20%.

These centres remain locally owned and operated, continuing to offer a wide range of services, including packing, shipping, freight, postal services, printing, and business services.

MBE Worldwide Group
In 2009, MBE Worldwide was established to acquire the existing Mail Boxes Etc. network from UPS worldwide, excluding the United States and Canada. MBE Worldwide subsequently expanded across Western Europe, establishing a direct presence in France in 2012, Poland in 2014, and the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland in 2021.

As of 31 December 2016, MBE Worldwide had nearly 1,600 locations in 30 countries, with total sales of €427 million in 2016.

Acquisitions
In 2017, MBE Worldwide acquired two U.S. companies, PostNet International Franchise and AlphaGraphics Inc. With these acquisitions, the MBE network expanded to approximately 2,500 service centres, including 500 in the US and 2,000 in 43 countries worldwide. In 2021, MBE Worldwide also acquired Pack & Send, a leading brand in Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom in the Shipping and Logistics service industry, as well as MultiCopy, a leading brand in the Netherlands that provides Print and Marketing Solutions including signs, printing, and websites. In addition, Prestashop joined the MBE Worldwide group in November 2021, furthering MBE Worldwide's transition into a fully integrated digital and physical commerce platform for business growth. In 2022, MBE Worldwide purchased a majority stake in the United Kingdom company World Options Ltd. and an Italian tech platform dedicated to proximity logistics, GEL Proximity.

title: Mail Boxes Etc.