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Shibaura

Shibaura (芝浦) is a district of Minato ward located in Tokyo, Japan. The district is located between the eastern side of the Yamanote Line train and Tokyo Bay. Shibaura consists mostly of artificial islands created by the excavation of industrial canals in the early 20th century. Formerly a light industrial area, it became famous for its night life during the Japanese asset price bubble period and, since the early 2000s, has become a high-rise residential district.

Economy
Shibaura is the home to a number of major Japanese corporations including:
 * Toshiba (originally Tokyo Shibaura Electric)
 * SUMCO
 * Cosmo Oil Company
 * Mitsubishi Motors
 * THK
 * FamilyMart
 * Yanase
 * Bandai Namco Amusement

Rail links
The district is served by Tamachi Station on the Yamanote and Keihin-Tōhoku Lines, and by Shibaura-futō Station of the Yurikamome line. The Yokosuka Line also runs in a tunnel below the district, although there are no stops in the area.

Road links
The Tokyo Expressway system passes through the area, and the central Tokyo side of Route 11 connecting to the Rainbow Bridge terminates at Shibaura Junction.

Education
Minato City Board of Education operates public elementary and junior high schools.

Shibaura 1 chōme 6-16 ban, Shibaura 2-3 chōme, and 4-chōme 20-22-ban are zoned to Shibahama Elementary School (芝浜小学校). Shibaura 4-chōme 1-19-ban are zoned to Shibaura Elementary School (芝浦小学校). The Shibahama Elementary and Shibaura Elementary zones feed into Konan Junior High School (港南中学校). Shibaura 1 chōme 1-5-ban are zoned to Shiba Elementary School (芝小学校) and Mita Junior High School (港区立三田中学校).

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

title: Shibaura


text:
Universe (disambiguation)

The universe is all of time and space and their contents.

Universe may also refer to:

Mathematics

 * Universe (mathematics), a class large enough to contain all sets one may wish to use
 * Universal set, a mathematical set which contains all objects, including itself

Computing

 * Universe (Unix), variant of the working environment in some operating systems
 * UniVerse, a MultiValue database platform
 * Electric Image Animation System or Universe, 3D computer graphics package

Publications

 * Universe (anthology series), science fiction anthologies edited by Terry Carr
 * Universe: The Definitive Visual Guide, 2005 nonfiction book by nine British authors
 * The Universe (Catholic newspaper), British Roman Catholic newspaper
 * The Universe (student newspaper), publication at Brigham Young University
 * "Universe", 1941 novella by Robert A. Heinlein later published as the first half of Orphans of the Sky
 * Wszechświat or Universe, Polish popular-science journal

Film and television

 * Universe (1960 film), black-and-white animated documentary short
 * Universe (1976 film), documentary short
 * Universe, 1980–1982 television newsmagazine hosted by Walter Cronkite
 * The Universe (TV series), 2007–2015 documentary TV series
 * Stargate Universe, science fiction TV series
 * Stephen Hawking's Universe, 1997 documentary
 * Universe, 2021 documentary TV series by Brian Cox
 * Our Universe, a Netflix series

Music

 * Ibanez Universe, guitar by the Ibanez company
 * Universe Symphony (Ives), unfinished classical work

Albums

 * Universe (Dead Brain Cells album)
 * Universe (Hampton Hawes album), 1972
 * Universe (Koda Kumi album), 2010
 * Universe (Kyoko Fukada album), 2001
 * Universe (Modern Talking album), 2003
 * Universe (Mohombi album), 2014
 * Universe (Planet X album), 2000
 * Universe (Exo EP), 2017
 * Universe (Sarah Slean EP), 1998
 * Universe (Truckfighters album), 2014
 * Universe (NCT album), 2021
 * Universes (album), a 2008 album by Birds of Tokyo

Songs

 * "Universe" (Exo song), 2017
 * "Universe", a song by Loona from 12:00
 * "Universe" (Savage Garden song), 1997
 * "Universe" (ShuuKaRen song), 2016
 * "Universe" (Slade song), 1991
 * "Universe", a song by Alien Ant Farm from Anthology
 * "Universe", a song by Jay Sean from Neon
 * "Universe", a song by Mohombi from his album Universe
 * "Universe", a song by Scars on Broadway from Scars on Broadway
 * "The Universe!", a song by Do Make Say Think from the album You, You're a History in Rust
 * "III. Universe" and/or "V. Universe", songs by the Microphones from Mount Eerie
 * "Universe (Let's Play Ball)", a song by NCT-U from their album Universe, 2021
 * "The Universe", a song by Gregory Alan Isakov from The Weatherman, 2013
 * "The Universe", a song by Róisín Murphy from upcoming album Hit Parade, 2023

Games and video games

 * Universe (1983 video game), science fiction video game by Omnitrend Software
 * Universe (1994 video game), adventure game by Core Design
 * Universe (role-playing game), science fiction tabletop role-playing game
 * Universe, a pentomino board made by Parker Brothers

Other arts and entertainment

 * Universes (theatre ensemble), a New York City based hip hop poetic theatre ensemble
 * The World (Tarot card), a Tarot card also referred to as "The Universe"
 * Universe (Danish amusement park), a science and amusement park in Denmark

Sport

 * Frankfurt Universe, an American football team from Frankfurt, Germany
 * Universe (video game player) (Saahil Arora, born 1989), American professional Dota 2 player

Other uses

 * Universe (economics), a population to be studied or measured
 * Universe (yacht), a 2018 Dutch superyacht
 * Miss Universe, an annual beauty pageant
 * The Universe (Dubai), a man-made archipelago in Dubai, United Arab Emirates
 * Hyundai Universe, a bus produced by Hyundai Motor Company

title: Universe (disambiguation)


text: Template:GFMofWWII

title: Template:GFMofWWII


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Gaspar Noé

Gaspar Noé (, ; born 27 December 1963) is an Argentine-Italian filmmaker based in Paris. He is the son of Argentine painter, writer, and intellectual Luis Felipe Noé.

In the early 1990s, Noé co-founded the production company Les Cinémas de la Zone with his wife, Lucile Hadžihalilović. He has directed seven feature films: I Stand Alone (1998), Irréversible (2002), Enter the Void (2009), Love (2015), Climax (2018), Lux Æterna (2019), and Vortex (2021).

Early life
Noé was born on 27 December 1963 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. His father Luis Felipe Noé has Italian and Argentine ancestry, while his mother Nora Murphy is of Irish descent. He has a sister named Paula. He lived in New York City until age five, after which point his family returned to Argentina. In 1976, they emigrated to France to escape the military dictatorship occurring in Argentina at the time. Noé graduated from École nationale supérieure Louis-Lumière in France in 1982.

Artistry
His work has been strongly associated with a collection of films often described as new extreme films. Highlighting their challenging sexual and violent bodily imagery, Tim Palmer has described them as part of a cinéma du corps (cinema of the body), and a cinema of 'brutal intimacy' because of its attenuated use of narrative, generally assaulting and often illegible cinematography, confrontational subject material, a treatment of sexual behavior as violent rather than mutually intimate, and a pervasive sense of social nihilism or despair.

Noé often directly addresses the audience in confrontational ways, most notably in I Stand Alone, when an intertitle warns the audience that they have 30 seconds to leave the cinema before the final violent climax. In a different way, this can be seen in Irreversible, in which the 10-minute long single-take rape sequence has frequently been read as an assault on viewers, as well as a depiction of an assault on the female character.

Collaboration
Gaspar Noé and Lucile Hadžihalilović have repeatedly collaborated with each other on film projects. Noé operated the camera and was the cinematographer for two short films directed by Hadžihalilović: La Bouche de Jean-Pierre (1996) and Good Boys Use Condoms (1998). Similarly, Hadžihalilović produced and edited Carne (1991), edited Seul contre tous (1998) and was credited as a writer on Enter the Void (2009). The creative collaboration is made clear in the comparable stylistic choices across these early films, most clearly the credit sequences and the marketing designs.

Three of his films feature the character of a nameless butcher played by Philippe Nahon: Carne, I Stand Alone and, in a cameo, Irréversible.

The music for Irréversible was composed by Thomas Bangalter. The latter also sent Gaspar Noé a unreleased song he made circa 1995 for Climax. The song was named Sangria in reference to the movie.

In collaboration with Saint Laurent, he directed films Lux Æterna and Saint Laurent - Summer of ‘21.

Influences
Noé stated in the September 2012 edition of Sight & Sound magazine that seeing 2001: A Space Odyssey at the age of seven changed his life, without which experience he would never have become a director. A poster for the film features notably in a scene towards the end of Irreversible.

Many of his movies feature all kind of film posters, which reflects his collection and passion for them. He's believed to be the owner of one of the three known copies of the rarest poster for M (1931 film). Since Irréversible, he's kept working with French film poster designer Laurent Lufroy for all his feature films: Lufroy even appears in Love (as a policeman), Climax (as a dog-handler) and Lux Æterna (using a torch).

Noé also cites the 1983 Austrian serial killer film, Angst, by Gerald Kargl, as a major influence.

Personal life
He is married to filmmaker Lucile Hadžihalilović. Noé is a dual national of Argentina and Italy, having obtained an Italian passport through lineage. "I have never lived in Italy, I don't speak Italian," he said in an interview. "If I hadn't had an Italian passport to travel all over the world, I would have applied for a French one."

Noé suffered a near fatal brain hemorrhage in early 2020, which partly inspired the plot of his film Vortex.

Short films

 * Tintarella di luna (1984)
 * Pulpe amère (1987)
 * Carne (1991)
 * Une expérience d'hypnose télévisuelle (1995)
 * Sodomites (1998)
 * Intoxication (1998)
 * Eva (2005)
 * We Fuck Alone (2006) segment of Destricted
 * SIDA (2008) segment of 8
 * Ritual (2012) segment of 7 Days in Havana
 * Shoot (2014) segment of Short Plays
 * The Art of Filmmaking (2020)
 * Saint Laurent - Summer of '21 (2020)

Music videos

 * Animal Collective - "Applesauce"
 * Arielle – "Je Suis si Mince"
 * Bone Fiction – "Insanely Cheerful"
 * Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – "We No Who U R"
 * Placebo – "Protège-Moi"
 * SebastiAn – "Love in Motion"
 * SebastiAn – "Thirst"
 * Thomas Bangalter – "Outrage" and "Stress" (both from the Irréversible soundtrack)
 * Travis Scott – "Modern Jam" (Segment of Circus Maximus)

Cameo and appearances
Besides being a filmmaker, he is an occasional photographer: in 2013, Noé shot the cover art for American singer-songwriter Sky Ferreira's debut album Night Time, My Time. Other celebrities, such as Agnès b., Todd Solondz or Stacy Martin were shot by Gaspar Noé, as well as several models for erotic magazines.

Reception
Many of Noé's films were polarizing or controversial with viewers due to their inclusion of graphic scenes of violence and sexual violence. I Stand Alone, Irreversible, Enter the Void, We Fuck Alone, Love and Climax were all considered controversial for their challenging sexual and violent imagery.

Irreversible
Irreversible was hugely divisive amongst critics with journals such as Sight and Sound (UK) and Positif (France) allowing critics to openly voice their disagreements about the film. It caused substantial outrage in many countries for its central scene of rape, filmed in a single take and lasting nearly ten minutes in total, with some critics comparing it to pornography because of its length and the use of a static camera, as well as considering the film as a whole to be deeply homophobic for its hellish portrayal of a gay S&M club. On the other hand, it was also frequently praised for its brutal portrayal of the horrors of rape, and its implicit challenge to viewers of the scene. Eugenie Brinkema, for instance, describes Irreversible as "ethically, generically, subjectively" disruptive: "the rape [...] is real, it is private, it is contained – it is insufferably present. [...] it interrogates vehicles of receptivity and the power and violence done to bodies by bodies".

title: Gaspar Noé


text:
HRM

HRM may refer to:
 * Ḥ-R-M, a Semitic root
 * Croatian Navy (Croatian: Hrvatska ratna mornarica)
 * Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia, Canada
 * Harrietsham railway station, England, station code
 * Hassi R'Mel Airport, Algeria, IATA code
 * Heart Rhythm Meditation
 * Hermes Airlines, a Greek airline, ICAO code
 * High-reactivity metakaolin, used in cement
 * High Resolution Melt, in molecular biology
 * High resolution manometry, a medical diagnostic system
 * His or Her Royal Majesty
 * Horned Miao language, spoken in China, ISO 639-3 code
 * Horsham railway station, Victoria, Australia, station code
 * Human Race Machine, a computerized console
 * Human resource management

title: HRM


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CBRM

CBRM may refer to:

 * CBRM-FM, a radio retransmitter (98.3 FM) licensed to Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada, retransmitting CBR
 * Cape Breton Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia
 * Chillicothe-Brunswick Rail Maintenance Authority
 * Condition Based Risk Management, a schema used to manage business running investment
 * Certified Business Relationship Manager, a professional designation offered by the Business Relationship Management Institute (BRMI)

title: CBRM


text:
A German Requiem (novel)

A German Requiem is a 1991 historical detective novel and the last in the Berlin Noir trilogy of Bernhard Gunther novels written by Philip Kerr.

Plot
After spending the latter part of World War II in a Soviet prisoner-of-war camp, 1947 sees Bernhard Gunther now married to a wife who is trading sex with U.S. Army officers for scarce goods. Berlin and Vienna were captured by the Red Army, so Germans, former Nazis, Allied occupiers, and Gunther have the Russians to contend with. An old colleague from Gunther's days in Berlin, a dirty cop, war criminal, and smuggler named Emil Becker, has been accused and jailed in Vienna for the killing of an American officer called Linden. A high-ranking MVD officer named Poroshin, who claims to be a friend of Becker, tries to recruit Gunther to investigate the case and get Becker exonerated in exchange for a large fee. According to Poroshin, after acting as a secret Vienna-Berlin courier for a certain König, Becker was framed for the murder of Linden, who Becker had met through König.

Gunther takes a train to Vienna and visits Becker in jail, where he learns that Becker's henchmen had been killed trying to find König and his girlfriend Lotte Hartmann at Becker's request. Gunther starts his investigation in Vienna, by attending Linden's funeral, where he is accosted by Roy Shields, an American MP. At approximately the same time, Gunther rescues a recent acquaintance, Veronika, a local prostitute he met as part of the investigation, from rape by two Russian soldiers. As part of the intervention, Gunther gets knocked down and is himself rescued in extremis by John Belinsky, a man bearing identification associating him with the American Counter-Intelligence Corps (CIC) that had been covertly tailing him. They fraternize, Belinsky admits to also being investigating the murder of Linden, and they agree to collaborate.

When Gunther discovers the whereabouts of Lotte Hartman, he teams up with Belinsky to organize a scheme in which Gunther and Lotte would be somehow about be arrested and jailed by the Russians, so that Gunther could ingratiate himself with her by obtaining her freedom. The scheme works and Gunther is eventually approached by König, who wants to repay him from springing Lotte. After they meet, König is impressed by Gunther's past credentials and eventually, recruits him in a secret organization of former Nazis called the "Org", which Gunther accepts to infiltrate with the knowledge of Belinsky. Gunther soon finds out that Becker was also in the Org, for which he was acting as a double agent for his friend Poroshin.

One night, Veronika finds Gunther to ask for his help getting rid of the body of a "client", Heim, who died of a heart attack in her bed. Gunther, with the help of Belinsky, oblige and as part of the operation discover that Heim was a dentist specializing in teeth extractions, visibly for the purpose of making Nazis escape identification through dental records. At that point Belinsky reveals that he is actually looking for Heinrich Müller, the former head of the Gestapo, who faked his death and is suspected of having killed Linden. Belinsky asks Gunther to find Müller, which would allow him to free Becker. As Gunther's infiltration of the Org progresses, he eventually gets to meet Arthur Nebe, who was also presumed dead. It now becomes clear that the members of the Org had all received new identities to hide their Nazi past, which involved the removal of their teeth. To catch Müller, Gunther and Belinsky organize a sting operation at the vineyard estate of Nebe in Grinzing on the occasion of a formal meeting of the Org.

Gunther shows up to the meeting early to look for Veronika, who had disappeared in the meantime, but gets intercepted by a murderous Latvian guard before being rescued by Nebe. He nevertheless gets to meet with Müller, who ends up believing his cover. As he moves around the house to signal from a window for Belinsky to storm the property, Gunther discovers that Veronika is being tortured in the cellar by König. He frees her but is taken down by the Latvian again. His cover blown, Gunther gets interrogated by Müller under threat that they will crush Veronika in a wine press. Gunther admits everything he knows but Veronika gets crushed anyway. Later, Nebe visits Gunther in his cell and tells him the complete story of Linden so he can feed it back to Müller to avoid further torture. During their conversation Nebe eats a cake poisoned by Gunther and dies, allowing Gunther to escape the property in a car which he later crashes during the ensuing pursuit. The novel ends as Gunther recovers and learns from Shield that Becker had been hanged and Belinsky was not actually a CIC officer, but an agent of Poroshin.

Major themes
The major themes of the novel includes the hardship of post-war conditions in Germany and Austria, occupation by the Allied Powers, espionage activities between them, and the secret post-war resurgence of Nazi war criminals.

Historical elements
Bernhard Gunther's investigation parallels the filming of The Third Man by a British film crew in the city and what happens to him mirrors the plot of the film in subtle ways.

Publication history

 * 1991, UK, Viking, ISBN 978-0670835164, Pub date 28 March 1991, Hardback
 * 1992, UK, Penguin, ISBN 978-0140175615, Pub date 24 September 1992, Paperback
 * 1993, UK, Penguin, ISBN 978-0140231700, Pub date 29 April 1993 (as the third part of the "Berlin Noir" paperback)

Explanation of the novel's title
The novel's front matter includes an excerpt from the poem "A German Requiem" by James Fenton.

title: A German Requiem (novel)


text:
Waterford Crystal

Waterford Crystal is a manufacturer of lead glass or "crystal", especially in cut glass, named after the city of Waterford, Ireland. In January 2009, the main Waterford Crystal manufacturing base on the edge of Waterford was closed due to the insolvency of Waterford Wedgwood PLC, and in June 2010, Waterford Crystal relocated almost back to the roots of glass-making in the city centre. The Mall location holds both a manufacturing facility that melts over 750 tonnes of crystal a year – although most Waterford Crystal is now produced outside Ireland – and a visitor centre with the world's largest collection of Waterford Crystal. As of 2015, the brand is owned by the Fiskars Corporation.

Waterford Glassworks
The origins of crystal production in Waterford date back to 1783 when George and his nephew William Penrose started their business, the Waterford Glassworks. It produced extremely fine flint glass that became world-renowned. Their Waterford company closed in June 1851, with the loss of 53–100 jobs.

Revival attempts
The Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction, led by Sir Horace Plunkett, had sponsored John St John Lyburn's experiments at replicating the Waterford Glassworks style of glass at a small glassworks built at the Greater Cork International Exhibition of 1903. Lyburn was later sent to discuss a 1912 proposal by the principal of Waterford's Central Technical Institute to provide instruction in glassmaking, which was followed by a 1913 proposal for commercial production within the school. The expert input was that it was not yet time for Waterford people to resume glassmaking, but there was discussion with an American investor seeking a glass factory location in Ireland. The Bishop of Waterford and Lismore, Richard Sheehan, was opposed to foreign investment due to the risk of "foreign influences" and the investor was not persuaded to set up in Waterford.

In 1933 a Belgian company explored opening a finishing plant in Waterford, and this was discussed with the Minister for Industry and Commerce, Seán Lemass, who was keen to secure a glass factory for Waterford. The Belgian project did not proceed but in 1935 a Dublin jeweller, Bernard J. Fitzpatrick, approached a senior official in the Department of Industry and Commerce about an Irish glass-making concept, and in 1937 a local group proposed a project to involve the German company of Otto Maetz of Düsseldorf. This latter was studied by Lemass, still Minister for Industry and Commerce, and the Irish representative in Berlin, Charles Bewley, but was not realised. Meantime, in 1938 Fitzpatrick approached a Czech friend and supplier, Karel (Charles) Bacik, who had four glass factories, about setting up in Waterford. Bacik expressed interest but could not move to Ireland due to have commitments to a young family, and further discussions were delayed by World War II.

Foundation of 1947
Bernard Fitzpatrick visited Charles Bacik shortly after World War II ended, in January 1946, and secured special permits to visit again in May. This time Bacik, his family home taken over by the USSR Armed Forces and his factories nationalised, accepted Fitzpatrick's proposal to restart glassmaking in Waterford, and they agreed on the organisation of the factory, with Bacik to secure key staff, and Fitzpatrick a site and permissions. Fitzpatrick agreed a location at Ballytruckle, by Waterford's greyhound track and a soccer ground with the City Manager, and shared the plans with the Department of Industry and Commerce. On arrival he also accommodated the Baciks, with beds provided by Denis Guiney of Clerys department store. Bacik visited Waterford in August 1946, and sought permission for the factory in October. After also exploring Carlow as a possible location, Bacik formally applied for a lease on the Ballytruckle lands in January 1947, and it was granted for 75 years. Finance was secured from various sources, including a government loan, and construction began 3 April 1947. Skilled crystal workers were not available in Ireland so continental Europeans were engaged, starting in June 1947 with Bacik's fellow countryman and former intern, the designer Miroslav Havel. A glass-cutting machine began operation for apprentice work in August 1947, but progress was limited by an explosion, and initial production was only of "soda glass". First glass blowing was on 11 September 1947, and first official cutting on 21 September.

By the early 1950s it had been taken over as a subsidiary of the Irish Glass Bottle company, owned by Joseph McGrath, Richard Duggan and Spencer Freeman of the Irish Hospitals' Sweepstake, heavy investors in Irish business at that time.

In 1970 John Aynsley and Sons was taken over by Waterford and renamed Aynsley China Ltd.

At peak operations, Waterford employed 3,000 staff in a city of 46,000.

1990s onward
Jasper Conran began designing his signature range of crystal for Waterford in 1999. The endeavour evolved into four unique lines for Waterford and a complementary tableware collection in fine bone china for Wedgwood in 2001. The Hong Kong-born Irish fashion designer John Rocha started designing a range of cut crystal stemware and vases in collaboration with glass designer Marcus Notley in 2001.

Consolidation
Due to rising competition Waterford Wedgwood announced the closure of its second Irish factory, in Dungarvan, in May 2005, in order to consolidate all operations into the main factory in Kilbarry, Waterford City, where 1,000 people were employed by the company. The move resulted in nearly 500 Dungarvan workers losing their jobs. In this period some production (20% by 2007) was outsourced to factories in the Czech Republic and Poland, and later also to Slovenia.

Waterford Crystal Limited was, until March 2009, a subsidiary of Waterford Wedgwood plc, itself formed through the acquisition by the then Waterford Glass Group of the famous pottery manufacturer Josiah Wedgwood in 1986. The last chairman was Tony O'Reilly, and the CEO John Foley. The leading shareholders of the holding company were former billionaire O'Reilly and his family, joined in the last decade by O'Reilly's brother-in-law, Greek shipping heir Peter Goulandris.

2009 receivership
Waterford Wedgwood was forced into receivership in early 2009 during the Great Recession. On 5 January 2009, news of the receivership of Waterford Wedgwood PLC was announced in Ireland and the UK.

On 30 January 2009 it was announced that the Waterford Crystal plant in Kilbarry was to shut down immediately, despite earlier promises to discuss any such move with the unions in advance. The Kilbarry operation featured a tourist centre offering guided tours of the factory, a gift shop, café, and gallery. Many of the employees performed an unofficial sit-in. The sit-in made the BBC News, hoping to prevail upon receiver Deloitte to retain those jobs. On 4 February 2009, there were protests across the city at how the workers were being treated. On 27 February 2009, the receiver, David Carson of Deloitte, confirmed US equity firm KPS Capital were to purchase certain overseas assets and businesses of the Waterford Wedgwood Group. The sit in ended in March 2009 after workers agreed to split a payment of €10m. The fight by the workers to keep the factory open is chronicled in a PBS online documentary.

Under the receivership managed by Deloitte, ownership of most of Waterford Wedgwood plc's assets was transferred to KPS Capital Partners in March 2009. Waterford Crystal, along with Wedgwood, Royal Doulton, and other brands, were transferred to the new company WWRD Holdings Ltd. The sale did not include the factory or visitor centre in Kilbary, and the visitor centre shut its doors on 22 January 2010. A new visitor and manufacturing facility opened in June 2010.

Acquisition by Fiskars
On 11 May 2015 in a deal that closed in July 2015, the Fiskars Corporation, a Finnish maker of home products, agreed to buy 100% of the holdings of WWRD. On 2 July 2015 the acquisition of WWRD by Fiskars Corporation was completed including brands Waterford, Wedgwood, Royal Doulton, Royal Albert and Rogaška. The acquisition was approved by the US antitrust authorities.

Products
Most Waterford crystal is now produced outside Ireland in countries such as Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Germany. Waterford produces many patterns of lead crystal stemware, including lines such as Adare, Alana, Colleen, Kincora, Lismore, Maeve, Tramore, and many others.

In 1966 Waterford's chandeliers were installed in Westminster Abbey for the 900th anniversary of the dedication of the abbey after Christoper Hildyard, a minor canon of the abbey for 45 years, convinced the Guinness family to pay for them. Chandeliers hang in other notable buildings, such as Windsor Castle, and the Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C. Waterford Crystal made the 2,688 crystals for the famous New Year's Eve Ball that is dropped each year in New York City's Times Square. The ball is an 11875 lb geodesic orb, 12 ft in diameter and is lit by 32,256 Lumileds Luxeon Rebel LEDs.

One of the most popular products in their collection is the "Apprentice Bowl". It requires 600 precision cuts, all done by hand. Cutters would set out to complete this bowl in their fifth and final year of apprenticeship. They were only permitted three attempts, where the cutter would then be graded and if they passed it would receive the Waterford Crystal watermark.

Sporting trophies are also crafted by Waterford, such as the Masters Series crystal shield trophies that are awarded to the winner of each of the nine men's professional tennis Masters Series tournaments, the AFCA National Championship Trophy that is awarded to the US college football team which finishes the season at the top of the Coaches Poll, and a representation of the Ashes urn that is presented to the winners of the Test cricket series between England and Australia. The trophy for the Masters snooker championship is also made by Waterford Crystal, as is the Scottish Open snooker championship trophy.

Also crafted by Waterford are the winning trophies for the French, Belgian and German Grand Prix in Formula One, a bat and ball trophy presented at the final game at Yankee Stadium to Derek Jeter and a glass tennis racket for Boris Becker. They also design the trophies for the People's Choice Awards.

title: Waterford Crystal


text:
Ulch people

The Ulch people, also known as Ulch or Ulchi, (ульчи, obsolete ольчи; Ulch: нани, nani) are an Indigenous people of the Russian Far East, who speak a Tungusic language known as Ulch. Over 90% of Ulchis live in Ulchsky District of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia. According to the 2002 census, there were 2,913 Ulchs living in Russia—down from 3,173 recorded in the 1989 census, but up from 2,494 recorded in the 1979 census, and 2,410 recorded in the 1970 census. According to the 2010 census there were 2,765 Ulchs in Russia.

History
The Ulch people descend from the autochthonous Paleolithic population of coastal Northeast Asia and were found to be very similar to ancient samples found in this region from about 8000 years ago.

The Ulch people are often classified as one of the ancient Paleosiberian peoples, which is however not an ethno-linguistic group but a term applied to various ethnic groups of Siberia which do not belong to the bigger Northeast Asian populations (such as Turkic, Mongolic and Tungusic populations). Others classify them as one of the Tungusic peoples as their language belongs to the Tungusic languages.

Lifestyle
The first mention of the Ulchi is from the Russians and dates back to the 17th century.

The Ulchi led a sedentary lifestyle in small villages of two to five houses. The villages had both winter and summer dwellings. The ancient winter dwelling, the "hagdu", was a ground frame structure made of pillars and logs with a gable roof without a ceiling, and an earthen or clay floor. The house was heated by two kanovye hearths. In extreme cold, the Ulch also used large metal braziers on three legs with burning coals. A characteristic feature of the Ulch winter dwelling is the presence of a "dog table", or uycheu - a low platform on which sled dogs were fed. Summer dwellings were of two types - quadrangular made of poles with gable roofs, covered with bark (daura) and pile letniki (gengga). While fishing, the Ulchi built small cylindrical homiran huts.

Fishing is the main branch of their traditional economic complex. Their most important food source was the anadromous salmon. The needs of their catch largely determined the settlement pattern of the Ulchi - along the right bank of the main channel of the Amur, on the main routes of the salmon returning to their spawning grounds. The traditional fishing equipment consisted of gear nets, rides, hook tackle, different types of stocks and the like. Each of them was used, depending on the season, weather conditions, water level in the river, fishing objects, and many other characteristics. Fish were caught both for daily consumption and for storage. The main method of preserving the catch was to make yukola - fish dried in the wind and sun in the form of thin long plates.

Hunting was of secondary importance, mostly fur animals, since furs were in great demand among traders. They mostly hunted Siberian rabbit, squirrel, otter, fox, and most importantly, sable.

At the end of the 19th century, sable was already rare on the Amur, so they went on long expeditions to Sakhalin, to the basins of the Amgun, Gorin River and Tumnin, on the coast of the Tatar Strait and on Hokkaido. Ungulates (elk, deer) were hunted all year round using crossbows. Hunting for sea animals also played a significant role in their economic life, and they caught seals and sea lions.

Clothing
The upper summer clothing for men and women was kimono-cut cloth capchum robes with a left hem that was fastened on the right side. Ornaments on men's clothing were rare. Winter clothing was insulated (quilted on cotton wool). In winter, fur coats were also worn, cut like a robe and covered on top with cotton or silk fabric. Winter hats looked like a hood with a top made of white dog kamuses and a fox trim around the face. In severe frosts, a devil's fur earmuffs were worn under such a hat. In the summer they used birch bark hats. Shoes were made of fish, deer and elk leather ( rovduga ), seal and sea lion leather.

The term "shaved-head people" was used to describe the Nanai people by Ulch people.

Genetics
According to Sukernik et al. (2012), the mitochondrial DNA of the present-day Ulchi population belongs predominantly to haplogroup Y1a (69/160 = 43.1%), which is shared with Nivkhs, Koryaks, Evens, and Mongolians and is estimated to have a time to most recent common ancestor of approximately 6,000 (95% CI 3,300 <-> 8,800) years before present on the basis of complete genomes or approximately 1,800 (95% CI 800 <-> 2,900) years before present on the basis of synonymous positions. Another 20% of the present-day Ulchi population belongs to mitochondrial DNA haplogroup D, which is significantly more diverse than their haplogroup Y1a mtDNA and can be resolved as follows: 12/160 = 7.5% D4o2, 4/160 = 2.5% D4h, 3/160 = 1.9% D4e4, 3/160 = 1.9% D4j, 2/160 = 1.25% D3, 2/160 = 1.25% D4c2, 1/160 = 0.6% D4a1, 1/160 = 0.6% D4b2b, 1/160 = 0.6% D4g2b, 1/160 = 0.6% D4m2, 1/160 = 0.6% D4o1, 1/160 = 0.6% D5a. Haplogroups C (20/160 = 12.5%, including 11/160 = 6.9% C5, 5/160 = 3.1% C4b, 3/160 = 1.9% C4a1, 1/160 = 0.6% C1a) and G (14/160 = 8.75%, including 12/160 = 7.5% G1b and 2/160 = 1.25% G2a1) are also well represented. The remainder of the Ulchi mitochondrial DNA pool consists of haplogroups N9b (7/160 = 4.4%), M8a (6/160 = 3.75%), F1a (5/160 = 3.1%), M7 (4/160 = 2.5%), M9a1 (1/160 = 0.6%), Z1 (1/160 = 0.6%), and B5b2 (1/160 = 0.6%).

According to a study by Balanovska et al. (2018), present-day Ulchi males belong to Y-DNA haplogroups C-M217(xM48, M407) (18/52 = 34.6%), C-M48 (18/52 = 34.6%, including 9/52 = 17.3% C-M86/F12355(xB470, F13686), 4/52 = 7.7% C-F13686, 1/52 = 1.9% C-B470, and 4/52 = 7.7% C-B93(xGG_16645386), the last of which is a deeply divergent branch belonging to C-M48(xM86)), O-M175 (8/52 = 15.4%, including 6/52 = 11.5% O-M122(xP201), 1/52 = 1.9% O-M119, and 1/52 = 1.9% O-P31), Q-M242(xM120) (3/52 = 5.8%), N-M231 (3/52 = 5.8%, including 1/52 = 1.9% N-M231(xM128, P43, M178), 1/52 = 1.9% N-M2118, and 1/52 = 1.9% N-B479), I-P37 (1/52 = 1.9%), and J–M267(xP58) (1/52 = 1.9%).

The population genetics of the Ulchi are linked to 7,700 year old remains from Chertovy Vorota Cave ("Devil's Gate") and are also genetically similar to an East Asian genetic component within Native Americans. The Ulchi do not appear to have originally possessed the "Ancient North Eurasian" (ANE) genetic component found in low frequency in Native Americans and Central Asian, as well as in higher percentage in South Asian, and West Eurasian (European and Middle Eastern) populations; and thus are suggested to represent the East Asian component of Native Americans.

Language
The Ulch language belongs to the southern (Amur) branch of the Tungusic languages. Along with the languages of the Nanai people and the Oroks, it contains relics of the ancient pre-Tungusic "Amuric" vocabulary, which makes it possible to consider the ancestors of the Ulchi as one of the most ancient inhabitants of the Amur region.

Religion
The traditional religion of the Ulchi, as well as of other peoples of the Amur region, is expressed by animism and shamanism. A large role in the social life of the Ulchi is their system of cults of family and ancestors (ancestor worship). Their religion bears similarities to the religion of the Nivkh people and Ainu people.

title: Ulch people


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Lem E Tweakit

This page is an archive of the discussion surrounding the proposed deletion of the page entitled Lem E. Tweakit.

This page is kept as an historic record.

The result of the debate was to delete the article.

A localized joke of limited encylopedicality. RickK 04:02, 20 May 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete. Article fails to be an adequate stub in that it doesn't say why this deserves an article. Andrewa 09:18, 20 May 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete. It's not even funny. -- Cyrius|&#9998 02:53, May 21, 2004 (UTC)

I must say I'm hurt. People make fun because I mis-type garbage as garage, but nobody gives me props for spelling "encylopedicality". :) RickK 03:47, 21 May 2004 (UTC)

 * When I was just a newbie
 * And I scarce know what to do,
 * My father gave me lectures
 * On the Neutral Point of View;
 * And then one day I learned a word
 * That's really awfully long
 * The biggest word you've ever heard
 * And now I'm never wrong! Oh,

 * Wikipedic-ichthyo-encyclopedicality!
 * Even though the name of it brings thoughts of immorality!
 * If you say it fast enough you'll garner immortality—
 * Wikipedic-ichthyo-encyclopedicality! -- Poppins 03:44, 01 Apr 1934

 * If I had any idea what "Wikipedic-ichthyo-encyclopedicality" was supposed to mean, I'd try to find somewhere to copy this for posterity. Something to do with fish? -- Cyrius|&#9998 01:26, May 25, 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:
Brethren, Michigan

Brethren is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in the U.S. state of Michigan. The community is located within Dickson Township, Manistee County, and is in the Northern Lower Peninsula of Michigan. The community had a population of 331 at the 2020 census, down from 410 in 2010. The community is located in the Manistee National Forest, 18 mi northeast of Manistee. Brethren has a post office with ZIP code 49619.

History
Brethren was founded in 1900 by Samuel S. Thorpe as a colony of the German Baptist Brethren Church. A post office was established in 1901 with Thorpe as the first postmaster. The Pere Marquette Railway established a station here in 1901.

Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the community has an area of 1.31 mi2, of which 1.28 mi2 are land and 0.035 mi2 are water. Boswell Creek forms the northern edge of the community, flowing west to the Manistee River. Lake Eleanor and Center Lake are small water bodies on the east side of the community.

Notable resident

 * James Earl Jones, actor and original voice of Darth Vader in the Star Wars franchise.

title: Brethren, Michigan


text:
Shannon Wright

Shannon Wright is an American singer-songwriter. She was born in Jacksonville, Florida, United States, where she spent her childhood.

Former member of the band Crowsdell, Shannon Wright moved from New York to Chapel Hill, North Carolina in 1998, and while in Chapel Hill, Wright started writing songs and playing them for friends. With their encouragement she sent a 4-track cassette tape to a friend of a friend who started Overcoat Records. They released her first 7" A Tin Crown for the Social Bash. Later that year, Wright signed with Touch and Go Records in 1999 from Chicago, releasing six albums. Wright signed with Vicious Circle (France) in 2003 and continues to release records with them. In 2012, Wright signed with Ernest Jennings and released Secret Blood and In Film Sound in the States.

Recording career
FlightSafety Wright's first record received critical acclaim for her lyrics and songwriting abilities. FlightSafety consists of simple guitar and piano chord progressions with vocal melodies. Wright plays almost all the instruments on this release and all other releases following FlightSafety.

Maps of Tacit Recorded with Andy Baker and Steve Albini. "Overall, Maps of Tacit finds Wright growing more adventurous both as a composer and performer; it's a dark and challenging work, yet it isn't off-putting or overly harrowing, and its bracing experimentalism and originality suggest even greater things to come." – AllMusic review by Steve Huey.

Perishable Goods was a limited mini-album compiled of appearances by: Alan Sparhawk of Low, Crooked Fingers, and Rachel Grimes and Christian Fredrickson from Rachel's.

Dyed in the Wool, recorded with Andy Baker and Steve Albini. Appearances on the album include label-mates Shipping News, Rachel's and Heather Macintosh.

Over the Sun recorded with Steve Albini; although Wright had recorded with Albini before on several occasions (Maps of Tacit & Dyed in the Wool), this was the first time Wright and Albini completed a full-length record together. This album comes closest to capturing her raw live-performances.

Yann Tiersen and Shannon Wright; Sharing 50–50 songwriting credits with French musician and composer Yann Tiersen.

Let in the Light recorded with Andy Baker. Wright moves back to her slightly simpler instrumentation and recording styles, exploring experimental and unorthodox piano melodies with a bit of classical influence. "Shannon Wright is an example of that shocking, spooky thing: a natural." – The New York Times

Honeybee Girls Piano, organ, guitars, violin, cello with indistinct tones.

Secret Blood

In Film Sound was recorded in 2013 with Kevin Ratterman in Louisville, Kentucky. Recorded mostly live as a three-piece with Todd Cook on bass and Kyle Crabtree on drums. "It's emblematic of the tense, discomforting oeuvre Wright favors from terse noisy bursts of guitar to moody minor key elegies." – Creative Loafing

Division – 2017 album recorded in Paris and Rome at KML Studios with David Chalmin. "Wright's songwriting reaches a new perfection in the most tenuous murmurs, where it is still a tear that works, an evil that clings, a fermenting poison. The nuances are all here: less guitar and more piano give the impression of chamber music – but flooded – or aquarium – but overturned. This frightened indecision, this trouble of the eyes too wide open, is the very art of Shannon Wright, very pure singer, too rare." – Les Inrocks Paris, France

Filmscores

 * Original score for the film Les Confins du Monde – "To the Ends of the World". Directed by: Guillaume Nicloux. Starring Gaspard Ulliel. Screened at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival in the Directors' Fortnight section.
 * Original score by Shannon Wright for the documentary Homemade.

Other works

 * Wright provided songs for The Key (French: La Clef), a 2007 French thriller film directed by Guillaume Nicloux and starring Guillaume Canet.
 * Wright provided vocals for "Last Things Last" on Systems/Layers for the band Rachel's.
 * Wright covered the Bee Gees song "I Started a Joke" on Perishable Goods E.P.
 * Wright covers The Smiths song "Asleep" on both A Junior Hymn / Asleep and Honeybee Girls
 * Wright played All Tomorrow's Parties in 2002 UK curated by Shellac, 2003 ATP/PACIFIC curated by Matt Groening, 2007 UK curated by Dirty Three and the 2012 UK ATP curated again by Shellac
 * "Hinterland" from Wright's Dyed in the Wool was used in Julien Levy's movie The Shape of Art to Come (2011).

Album discography

 * Flightsafety (1999)
 * Maps of Tacit (2000)
 * Perishable Goods (2001)
 * Dyed in the Wool (2002)
 * Over the Sun (2004)
 * Let in the Light (2007)
 * Yann Tiersen & Shannon Wright (2007)
 * Honeybee Girls (2009)
 * Secret Blood (2010)
 * In Film Sound (2013)
 * Division (2017)
 * Providence (2019)

title: Shannon Wright


text:
Video news release

A video news release (VNR) is a video segment made to look like a news report, but is instead created by a PR firm, advertising agency, marketing firm, corporation, government agency, or non-profit organization. They are provided to television newsrooms to shape public opinion, promote commercial products and services, publicize individuals, or support other interests. News producers may air VNRs, in whole or in part, at their discretion or incorporate them into news reports if they contain information appropriate to a story or of interest to viewers.

Critics of VNRs have called the practice deceptive or a propaganda technique, particularly when the segment is not identified to the viewers as a VNR. Firms producing VNRs disagree and equate their use to a press release in video form and point to the fact that editorial judgement in the worthiness, part or whole, of a VNR's content is still left in the hands of journalists, program producers or the like. The United States Federal Communications Commission is currently investigating the practice of VNRs.

Details
Most VNRs feature a professional news reporter, someone with on-air news experience, or an actor. VNRs also often include interviews with experts (who often have legitimate, if biased, expertise); so called "man on the street" interviews with "average" people; and pictures of celebrities, products, service demonstrations, corporate logos and the like, where applicable. In some cases the "man on the street" segments feature persons randomly selected and interviewed spontaneously, and in other cases actors are hired and directed by VNR producers to deliver carefully scripted comments. In addition, regardless of whether real people or professional actors appear, VNR producers and directors, just like journalists, have complete discretion to excerpt and edit these "interviews" into 'sound bites' that help make the point they are trying to make.

Media broadcasting
Commercial television stations and other media outlets often broadcast only portions of a VNR. Sometimes they use the script provided by the VNR producer but frequently they write their own script.

In a report released on April 6, 2006, the Center for Media and Democracy listed detailed information on 77 television stations that it said had broadcast VNRs in the prior 10 months, and which VNRs had been broadcast. Most of these VNR uses were of partial feeds. However, CMD said that in each case the television station actively disguised the VNR content to make it appear to be its own reporting, and that more than one-third of the time, stations aired the pre-packaged VNR in its entirety.

Business production in the United States
VNRs have been used extensively in business since at least the early 1980s. Corporations such as Microsoft and Philip Morris, and the pharmaceutical industry generally, have all made use of the technique.

According to the trade-group Public Relations Society of America, a VNR is the video equivalent of a press release. and presents a client's case in an attractive, informative format. The VNR placement agency seeks to garner media attention for the client's products, services, brands or other marketing goals. The VNR affords local TV stations free broadcast quality materials for use in reports offered by such stations.

Public Relations agencies have their video tapes encoded allowing very accurate tracking of where such video is used. (see: SIGMA (verification service) for additional information).

One critic of the VNR technique, John Stauber, an observer and critic of the Public Relations business says, "These fellows are whistling past the graveyard, assuring themselves that this all is no big deal. There was no hint of shame, certainly no apologizing, just apparent disdain for having their business practices dissected on the front page of the New York Times. They are proud of their work."

 * The New York Times reported in March 2005 that "In all, at least 20 federal agencies, including the Defense Department and the Census Bureau, have made and distributed hundreds of television news segments in the past four years, records and interviews show. Many were subsequently broadcast on local stations across the country without any acknowledgement of the government's role in their production."
 * A VNR financed by the Department of Health and Human Services was aired on a number of local news programs around the country, as conventional journalism when in fact, it was produced to promote the new Medicare plan. The creation of the Karen Ryan video, named so because of the on-screen "reporter," was ruled in May 2004 to be in violation of federal law by the General Accounting Office (GAO), the investigative arm of the U.S. government.
 * In September, 2005, the GAO concluded that the Department of Education had violated the law when it distributed a similar video news release using Karen Ryan as a "reporter" touting the No Child Left Behind program of the Bush administration. In May 2003 the Department had hired the Ketchum public relations firm; the contract specified, among other things, that the firm create "audio products, videos and some print materials that present clear, coherent, targeted messages regarding ED’s programs and that relate to the Department’s legislative initiatives".
 * A website of the Census Bureau informs visitors: "U.S. Census Bureau Video News Feeds are available for creation of state-specific news reports. Targeted comments are provided by Census Bureau Redistricting Data Office Chief, Marshall Turner. Companion notification material includes references to websites for the newly released information. Please contact...Homefront Communications for hardcopies on Betacam SP and faxed/email notification copy."
 * In May 2020, multiple television stations aired a PR piece produced by Amazon.com that defended its response to the COVID-19 pandemic, with anchors reading off an identical script vertabatim.

VNRs and U.S. law

 * In January 1948, the U.S. Information and Educational Exchange Act of 1948, also known as the Smith-Mundt Act, was passed by Congress and signed into law by U.S. President Harry Truman, placing international overseas information activities, including VOA, under an Office of International Information at the Department of State.
 * In February 2005, the "Stop Government Propaganda Act" was introduced in the U.S. Senate. It was referred to the Judiciary Committee and no further action occurred.
 * In April 2005, the Federal Communications Commission warned television stations that they could be fined for airing news stories provided by the government and by companies without disclosing who made them.
 * In May 2006, FCC chairman Kevin Martin ordered a review of airing of VNRs by television stations, following the April 2006 report by the Center for Media and Democracy.
 * In August 2006, the FCC mailed letters to the owners of 77 television stations, asking for information regarding agreements between the stations and the creators of VNRs. The letters also asked whether there was any "consideration" given to the stations in return for airing the material. Stations were given 60 days to respond.

Video and audio links

 * A New Age of "Fake News", WBUR 17 March 2005
 * Audio and video coverage of the issue from Democracy Now!
 * PBS report on U.S. Government using VNRs as covert propaganda
 * Judge Jeanine - Owning a gun is my God given right!
 * Here's how Conan O'Brien Gets News Anchors to Say The Same Thing

title: Video news release


text:
Translink (Northern Ireland)

Translink is the brand name of the Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company (NITHCo), a public corporation in Northern Ireland which provides the public transport in the region. NI Railways, Ulsterbus and Metro are all part of Translink. It is led by CEO Chris Conway.

Translink provides services all over Northern Ireland and also to Dublin, in a partnership deal with its counterpart in the Republic of Ireland, Córas Iompar Éireann (CIÉ), through its subsidiary Iarnród Éireann / Irish Rail. It also provides local bus services in many towns and cities all over Northern Ireland including Bangor, Derry, Ballymena, Omagh, Craigavon and Antrim. The Metro service operates throughout Belfast, right out to the suburbs.

NITHCo was established in 1967 to take over the railway and bus services of the Ulster Transport Authority (UTA), namely Northern Ireland Railways (NIR) and Ulsterbus. In 1996 the Translink organization was created to integrate the services of the Ulster Transport Authority as well as Citybus Limited (Belfast only – successor to the Belfast Corporation Transport Department). Citybus is now known as Metro.

Northern Ireland Railways

Northern Ireland Railways (NIR), formerly and briefly called Ulster Transport Railways (UTR), is responsible for running the railway network in Northern Ireland. The Northern Irish railway network is currently 330.58 km.

The main passenger line operates from Portadown to Bangor. In addition to this, Translink also provides rail services between Belfast and Derry to the north and Newry to the south, continuing across the border, which is part of the fast Enterprise service between Belfast and Dublin. Also operated are services to Larne and Portrush, which is a branch off the Belfast-Derry railway line, at Coleraine.

In 2014, Translink announced that they were looking at proposals for a service operating from Belfast International Airport to Belfast city centre. These included proposals to reopen the Lisburn-Antrim railway line, which was closed to passenger trains in June 2003 in favour of the Bleach Green line which provides a direct line between Belfast and Derry. The Lisburn-Antrim line passes Belfast International Airport and could be used to provide services to it. However, despite general political support from the Northern Ireland Assembly, there has been no movement on these proposals to date.

Ulsterbus
Ulsterbus is responsible for most of the bus services in Northern Ireland. They operate around 20 bus stations which include: Armagh, Antrim, Lisburn, Bangor, Newtownards, Downpatrick, Newry, Craigavon, Dungannon, Omagh, Enniskillen, Derry, Coleraine, Ballymena, Magherafelt, Larne and Newcastle and others within Belfast and 1,100 buses. Ulsterbus is charged with transporting over 65,000 children per day to school.

Goldliner
Goldliner is the name given to the key Inter-urban bus services operated by Ulsterbus linking major cities in the Northern Ireland and cross-border services into the Republic of Ireland. Amongst these are the flagship Service 212/X212 'Maiden City Flyer' from Belfast to Derry & the X1 from Belfast to Dublin/Dublin Airport.

There are is a cross channel (North Channel) service 923 Belfast – Glasgow & Edinburgh via Belfast Harbour and Stranraer.

Urby
On 7 August 2018, Translink launched the new Urby bus service. This service makes use of double deck buses built by Wrightbus and feature free Wi-Fi, leather seats and USB charging ports, with buses running on improved schedules. Two Urby networks were launched, with the first introduced along commuter routes such as in June 2018 to operate in Ballyclare, Bangor, Newtownards and Dromore, and another introduced to Ballygowan, Comber and Moneyreagh in September 2019.

Contract hire and tours
Translink provides a number of hire services to the public. Ulsterbus formerly operated "Day Tours" through Ulsterbus Tours to other parts of Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and Great Britain mainly for shopping and visits to tourist attractions. Ulsterbus Tours was closed in September 2020 due to the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Translink.

Metro

The Translink Metro service (previously Citybus) operates bus services within the Greater Belfast Area. Metro operates 12 bus corridors (QBCs) in Belfast, plus a number of additional routes.

The service began as the Belfast Corporation Transport Department. In 1973, these services were transferred to the Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company as Citybus Limited, becoming part of the "Translink" integrated network in 1995. In 2004, Translink/NITHC announced that Citybus would be completely rebranded & reorganised into 12 QBCs and integrated with Ulsterbus services in the Greater Belfast area. Citybus was re-branded as Metro on 7 February 2005.

Foyle Metro
Foyle Metro is a division of Translink that operates bus services in Derry. The service was opened in August 2017 following a 3m investment to update the city's bus routes and replace some of the older buses. 38 battery electric buses, including Wright GB Kites and Wright StreetDeck Electroliners, were delivered to convert the Foyle Metro fleet to zero emission in May 2023.

Foyle Metro operates across 13 key corridors from the city centre, with an additional route 14A/B/C orbiting the city's north side from Ballymagroarty to Currynierin via Altnagelvin Hospital.

Belfast Rapid Transit System – Glider
The Belfast Rapid Transit System, which became operational on 3 September 2018, is a bus service run by Translink. The routes are served by 34 18-metre bendy buses, branded as Glider, built by Van Hool and specifically designed for Belfast.

They feature real time passenger information, destination announcements, CCTV, free Wi-Fi, USB charging facilities, air conditioning, and operate every 7–8 minutes throughout the working day. Route G1 links the Park and ride facility at Dundonald in East Belfast with the McKinstry Road roundabout in West Belfast whereas Route G2 connects the Titanic Quarter with the city centre.

The service is expected to help meet the future transport needs of Belfast.

Translink Future Ticketing System
In 2018, Translink announced a new payments and ticketing system to be used across all of its public transport services in Northern Ireland. The scheme includes the installation of 4500 ticket vending machines, 300 of which will be inside of train and bus stations and in Belfast City Centre, and passengers would be able to pay for journeys either using a contactless credit or debit card, or an "Oyster-Style" 'ePurse' prepaid smartcard, which can be topped up online or via a mobile app, though paper tickets will still remain available. The first part of the system had been initially rolled out alongside introduction of the Glider Bus Rapid Transit system in 2018. The new ticketing system is expected to be fully rolled out by the end of 2022, and is expected to have cost £43 million upon completion. When completed, the new fare system would become the largest of its type in the United Kingdom outside of Greater London.

Criticisms
Translink received criticism in 2008 from Consumer Council Chief Executive, Eleanor Gill for providing inadequate service despite raising fares at a greater rate than inflation. She told BBC News that "passengers will rightly ask why average fare increases on Ulsterbus and Metro are above inflation while punctuality and reliability are below their target."

In February 2020 a senior civil servant issued a stark warning on the future of Northern Ireland's public transport network due to funding concerns. The civil servant said if Translink's funding problems got to the level of closing railway lines and non-profitable bus routes, any cuts would need to be agreed by Infrastructure Minister Nichola Mallon.

In 2021, Translink spent around £15,000 on a new logo design which led to public spending campaigners criticising the "costly redesign" at a time when Translink was facing serious funding pressures and cuts to services. Translink said the new design helps to "modernise and simplify the brand presence", confirming the cost of the rebrand in response to a Freedom of Information request from Belfast Live.

title: Translink (Northern Ireland)


text:
Francis Place

Francis Place (3 November 1771, London – 1 January 1854, London) was an English social reformer described as "a ubiquitous figure in the machinery of radical London."

Background and early life
He was an illegitimate son of Simon Place and Mary Gray. His father was originally a journeyman baker. He then became a Marshalsea Court officer, and ran a sponging-house in Vinegar Yard, off Brydges Street, opposite the south side of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Francis Place was born there on 3 November 1771, and baptised at St Martin-in-the-Fields, on 1 December 1771. His older sister, Hannah, had been born there on 17 April 1770. Shortly the family moved to a house in Ship and Anchor Court, near Temple Bar, London. His younger brother George was born there in August 1773, and then a younger sister Ann, in June 1775.

In June 1780, Simon Place became a publican and moved his family to the Kings Arms, in Arundel Street, off the Strand.

Marital status of Simon Place
In Place's autobiography, he stated that his mother's maiden surname was Gray but he did not know where his parents had met, or when they married. His mother said that she had married Simon at age 25, which Place presumed was in 1755 or 1756.

Around 1785, Simon Place was involved in a suit in the ecclesiastical court of St Clement Danes parish: a woman named Anna Place had come to the Overseers and claimed parish aid, as the wife of Simon Place of Arundel Street. She had a daughter named Mary, who was by then the wife of Henry Kitchin of Clerkenwell. The Parish Officers advised Simon to make a weekly allowance for her, but Simon refused, saying that Anna was not his wife. Anna claimed that she was the wife of Simon from a Fleet marriage which had occurred around 40 years earlier to this. The case lasted for some years, and was lost by Simon, with heavy costs. It established that Simon Place (surname as "Plaise" in the register) had married Anna Peters at Fleet Prison, on 29 October 1747. This was only four days after Mary Place, daughter of Simon, was baptised at St Anne's Church, Soho.

Career as tailor
Francis Place was schooled in London until 1785, on his own account mostly in the three Rs. At the end of his school time he was head boy in the school of Mr Bovis. On 20 June 1785, he was apprenticed to Joseph France, a leather-breeches maker in Temple Bar. At 18, Place was an independent journeyman. His apprenticeship with France was terminated early, an outcome attributed to a quarrel with Simon Place.

In 1799 Place became the partner with Richard Wild in a tailor's shop at 29 Charing Cross. A year later he set up his own successful tailoring business at 16 Charing Cross. He retired as a tailor in 1817, still drawing an income from his shop which was carried on by his children.

Activist
In 1793 Place became involved in and eventually the leader of a strike of leather-breeches makers, and was refused work for several years by London's master tailors; he exploited this time by reading. He went on to participate widely in the next four decades of reform activity, often consulted by other reformers. He had as rival William Cobbett, according to G. D. H. Cole "quite as much of an egotist as Place himself". Edward Pearce wrote:

"The point so rarely grasped is how difficult it was to be Paine, Cobbett, Place, Hunt, Carlile and Attwood."

Place dropped out of political activities at times. He withdrew into family life for six years from 1799 while he established his own business. His experiences in 1814 saw him pull back. In 1817 he stayed for a visit of several months with Jeremy Bentham and James Mill at Forde Abbey. But he was absent from the radical agitation of 1816 to 1818. He worked in the early 1820s as a mentor to Joseph Hume, closely and effectively but not without some friction.

London Corresponding Society
In 1794, Place joined the London Corresponding Society (LCS), a reform club. He was introduced by the shoemaker John Ashley (c. 1762–1829), a friend, who had taken over from Thomas Hardy as the society's secretary. Hardy had been arrested in connection with the 1794 Treason Trials, and the radical reformers had been infiltrated by spies. Place came in as an organiser, and for several years was prominent in the LCS. Among the LCS members was the gunmaker Richard Fenton, who became a friend. It was Fenton who introduced Place to his business partner Richard Wild.

Place resigned his post as chairman of the general committee in 1797. He left the LCS as one of a Godwinite group who wished to proceed by publication and discussion of reformist ideas, rather than political agitation. Arrests in 1798, however, of LCS members Thomas Evans and Alexander Galloway saw Place organise subscriptions of support for Janet Evans, sister of Galloway and married to Evans. John Fenwick (died 1823), a journalist and "literary mentor" to Place, was another LCS member, husband of Eliza Fenwick and an associate of Godwin and Thomas Holcroft.

Radical contacts
Place established a library of reform literature at 16 Charing Cross, and it became a meeting place for radicals. He came into contact with James Mill. Through Mill, he met Jeremy Bentham in 1812. With Bentham, Place contacted Thomas Hodgskin, William Thompson and John Wade. He knew also Robert Owen and John Stuart Mill.

Education
Place had some experience with the Lancasterian method of teaching. The West London Lancasterian Association, however, became an unfortunate experience for him: he and his ally John Richter were pushed off the committee by Francis Burdett in 1814, in a high-handed move with some Spenceans accusing them of being spies.

At the time of the founding of the London Mechanics' Institution in 1823, Place was involved with George Birkbeck, in fund-raising. His proposals were unpopular with the radicals Hodgskin and Joseph Clinton Robertson, who looked for greater autonomy, but were carried through.

Malthusian
In the early 1820s, Place also became a Malthusian and believed that population increase would outstrip the food supply. He advocated the use of contraception. He published Illustrations and Proofs of the Principles of Population, in 1822, engaging with the views of both Thomas Malthus and William Godwin. In 1823, with Benthamite volunteers and anonymous backers, he launched a handbill campaign, concentrating on London's Spitalfields area. He advocated forms of contraceptive sponge, as well as coitus interruptus. The effort tarnished his reputation for many years, but provoked further pioneering works in English by Richard Carlile, Robert Dale Owen and Charles Knowlton.

Labour law
Place, working with Joseph Hume, lobbied successfully for the 1824 repeal of the Combination Act. The change in legislation had the effect of removing legal obstacles to strikes in much of the economy. It also meant that trade union organisation was no longer a common law criminal offence. Many strikes followed. In 1825 the common law status of trade unionism was reversed.

Later life

In 1830, Place helped support Rowland Detrosier, a working class radical activist who also sought to distance himself from socialism. Through Place, Detrosier would be introduced to figures such as Bentham and J.S. Mill, who in turn introduced him to Thomas Carlyle. Detrosier's activities and writings would be influential amongst Manchester Radicals and the later Chartists. He was also active in the agitation that led to the Reform Act of 1832, holding up the recent revolution in Paris as an example of what could happen if reform was not allowed by legal means.

Having financial troubles in 1833, Place had to move from Charing Cross to Brompton Square. He worked against the stamp tax. In the London Working Men's Association, he and William Lovett in 1838 drafted the document that became the People's Charter. Some Chartists were willing to use violent means, and when Feargus O'Connor replaced Lovett as the effective leader of the movement, Place dropped Chartist activities. He then became involved in the movement to repeal the Corn Laws. In later life he wrote his autobiography and organised the collections he had made: notes, pamphlets, newspapers and letters. He suffered a stroke in 1844, that left him partially disabled. Francis Place died around midnight on New Year's Day, 1854. He was buried on 7 January, at Brompton Cemetery.

Views
An early formative influence on Place's political opinions was Enquiry Concerning Political Justice (1793) by William Godwin. He took from it a type of Radical utilitarianism, and also a distrust of "abstract rights". He later could be considered a follower of Jeremy Bentham. He came to prefer the utilitarian ideas of James Mill.

Place was a Burdettite—an active supporter of Francis Burdett, with whom he shared the aim of an extension of the franchise—at least for periods 1807 to 1812, and 1818 to 1820. His support was largely expressed in organisational work for Burdett's electoral committee in the constituency.

Place's efforts on labour law were in a context assuming collective bargaining was effective. Place himself regarded trade unionism as a delusion that workers would soon forget about if they were allowed to try it.

Family
On 7 March 1791, Place was married to Elizabeth Chad at St Mary's Church, Lambeth. At the time, Place was 19, and his bride was three weeks short of her seventeenth birthday. They moved to a house near the Strand. The couple had 15 children, of whom 8 reached adulthood.

In 1827, Place entered a long period of depression after the death of his wife from cancer. On 13 February 1830, in Kensington, he married, secondly, Louisa Chatterley, a London actress. He separated from his wife in 1851. He then went to live in Hammersmith for two years with his daughter Annie, the wife of John Miers, and their family. He brought a house at 6, Foxley Terrace, Earls Court, Kensington, and lived there with his two unmarried daughters, Mary and Jane. Francis Place died at this address on the morning of 1 January 1854.

Legacy
Place's pamphlets, letters, magazine and newspaper articles throw light on the social and economic history of the nineteenth century. His hoarding of documents created a major archive. The British Library currently holds these documents in fifty-four reels of micro-film as the Francis Place Collection. A diary he kept from 1825 to 1836 was published in 2007. Place is listed on the Reformers' Memorial in Kensal Green Cemetery in London.

title: Francis Place


text:
Sodor

Sodor may refer to:

 * Sodor (fictional island), the setting for the Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends series
 * Diocese of Sodor and Man of the Church of England
 * Bishop of Sodor and Man
 * Diocese of the Isles, pre-Reformation; also known as Diocese of Sodor
 * Bishop of the Isles
 * Kingdom of the Isles, a medieval kingdom

title: Sodor


text:
Agunua

Agunua (alternate name Hatuibwari) is the cosmic serpent god of the people of San Cristobal Island (now better known as Makira) of the Solomon Islands, He is the chief god, and all other gods are only an aspect of him. The first coconut from each tree is sacred to Agunua. He is also the god of the sea.

title: Agunua


text: File:Tom Cochrane X-Ray Sierra.jpg

title: File:Tom Cochrane X-Ray Sierra.jpg


text:
Crowsdell

Crowsdell was an indie-pop band from Jacksonville, Florida. The members included Shannon Wright (guitar and vocals), Paul Howell (bass), and Laurie Anne Wall (drums). They released singles on two different labels before signing with Big Cat in 1994. They recorded their first full-length CD, Dreamette, with Stephen Malkmus of Pavement. After Big Cat merged with a larger record label, their second full-length CD was dropped before ever hitting the shelves. The band subsequently broke up and Shannon Wright went on to produce numerous solo albums.

Discography

 * Meany (single)
 * Lickety Split (single)
 * Darren (single)
 * Down/Bubbles (single)
 * Sugar-Coated/Trunk (single)
 * Dreamette (1995)
 * The End of Summer (EP) (1995)
 * Within the Curve of an Arm (1997)

Sources and External Links

 * Quilt of Demand
 * MSN Music: Crowsdell

title: Crowsdell


text:
Coccydynia

Coccydynia is a medical term meaning pain in the coccyx or tailbone area, often brought on by a fall onto the coccyx or by persistent irritation usually from sitting.

Synonyms
Coccydynia is also known as coccygodynia, coccygeal pain, coccyx pain, or coccalgia.

Structure
Coccydynia occurs in the lowest part of the spine, the coccyx, which is believed to be a vestigial tail, or in other words the "tail bone". The name coccyx is derived from the Greek word for 'cuckoo' due to its beak-like appearance. The coccyx itself is made up of three to five vertebrae, some of which may be fused together. The ventral side of the coccyx is slightly concave whereas the dorsal aspect is slightly convex. Both of these sides have transverse grooves that show where the vestigial coccygeal units had previously fused. The coccyx attaches to the sacrum from the dorsal grooves, with the attachment being either a symphysis or as a true synovial joint, and also to the gluteus maximus muscle, the coccygeal muscle, and the anococcygeal ligament.

Orientations of the coccyx
There are four different orientations for the coccyx, as described by Postacchini and Massobrio. In type I the coccyx is curved anteriorly with its apex facing downward and caudally. In type II this forward curvature is more dramatic and the apex extends forward. Type III is where the coccyx angles forward sharply. Lastly, type IV is characterized by the coccyx being subluxated at the sacrococcygeal joint.

Pathophysiology
There are common pathophysiological ways that a person may develop coccydynia. The two main causes for this condition are sudden impact due to fall, and coccydynia caused by childbirth pressure in women. Other ways that coccydynia develops are partial dislocation of the sacrococcygeal synchondrosis that can possibly result in abnormal movement of the coccyx from excessive sitting, and repetitive trauma of the surrounding ligaments and muscles, resulting in inflammation of tissues and pain.

Diagnosis
A number of different conditions can cause pain in the general area of the coccyx, but not all involve the coccyx and the muscles attached to it. The first task of diagnosis is to determine whether the pain is related to the coccyx. Physical rectal examination, high-resolution X-rays and MRI scans can rule out various causes unrelated to the coccyx, such as Tarlov cysts and pain referred from higher up the spine. Note that, contrary to most anatomical textbooks, most coccyxes consist of several segments: 'fractured coccyx' is often diagnosed when the coccyx is in fact normal or just dislocated at an intercoccygeal joint.

A simple test to determine whether the coccyx is involved is injection of local anesthetic into the area. If the pain relates to the coccyx, this should produce immediate relief.

If the anesthetic test proves positive, then a dynamic (sit/stand) X-ray or MRI scan may show whether the coccyx dislocates when the patient sits.

Use of dynamic X-rays on 208 patients who gave positive results with the anesthetic test showed:

 * 31% not possible to identify the cause of pain
 * 27% hypermobility (excessive flexing of the coccyx forwards and upwards when sitting)
 * 22% posterior luxation (partial dislocation of the coccyx backwards when sitting)
 * 14% spicule (bony spur) on the coccyx
 * 5% Anterior luxation (partial dislocation of the coccyx forwards when sitting)

This study found that the pattern of lesions was different depending on the obesity of the patients: obese patients were most likely to have posterior luxation of the coccyx, while thin patients were most likely to have coccygeal spicules.

Angle of incidence
Sagittal coccygeal movement is measured using the angle of incidence—or the angle at which the coccyx strikes the seat when an individual sits down. A smaller angle indicates the coccyx being more parallel to the seat, resulting in flexion (or "normal" movement) of the coccyx. A larger angle indicates the coccyx being more perpendicular to the seat, causing posterior subluxation (or "backward" movement) of the coccyx.

Causes
One way of classifying coccydynia is whether the onset was traumatic versus non-traumatic. In many cases the exact cause is unknown and is referred to as idiopathic coccydynia.

Coccydynia is a fairly common injury which can often result from falls, particularly in sports such as cycling, skateboarding, skating or ice hockey. Coccydynia is often reported following a fall or after childbirth. In some cases, persistent pressure from activities like bicycling may cause the onset of coccyx pain. Coccydynia due to these causes usually is not permanent, but it may become very persistent and chronic if not controlled. Coccydynia may also be caused by sitting improperly thereby straining the coccyx.

Rarely, coccydynia is due to the undiagnosed presence of a sacrococcygeal teratoma or other tumor in the vicinity of the coccyx.

Prevalence
A study of 2000 cases of back pain referred to hospital found that 2.7% were diagnosed as coccydynia. This type of pain occurs five times more frequently in women than in men. It can occur at any age, the mean age of onset being around 40. There are no ethnicity or race associations with coccydynia.

Clinical features
Activities that put pressure on the affected area are bicycling, horseback riding, and other activities such as increased sitting that put direct stress on the coccyx. The medical condition is often characterized by pain that worsens with constipation and may be relieved with bowel movement. Rarely, even sexual intercourse can aggravate symptoms.

Non-surgical treatment
Since sitting on the affected area may aggravate the condition, a cushion with a cutout at the back under the coccyx is recommended. If there is tailbone pain with bowel movements, then stool softeners and increased fiber in the diet may help. Anti-inflammatory medications such as NSAIDS may be prescribed.

If the pain persists, other treatments may be applied. Manual treatment is carried out by repeated massage of the muscles attached to the coccyx, via the anus. Such treatment is usually given by an intimate partner, chiropractor, osteopath or physical therapist. Thiele applied this treatment to a series of 169 coccydynia patients, and reported 63% cured.

Orthopaedic surgeons commonly inject corticosteroids into the painful joint. Maigne and Tamalet applied this treatment to 86 patients under fluoroscopic guidance. Two months after the injection, 50% of the patients with luxation or hypermobility were improved or healed, but only 27% of the patients with no visible abnormality improved. Where an abnormality had been found, and injection relieved the pain, the abnormality remained but ceased to be painful.

Temporary or permanent nerve blocks are sometimes applied in cases of coccydynia. Foye et al. reported that repeated temporary nerve blocks by injection at the ganglion impar could give relief in a number of cases, and occasionally a single injection was sufficient.

Surgical treatment
If non-surgical treatments fail to relieve the pain, or in cases of cancer, surgery to remove the coccyx (coccygectomy) may be required. In cases where pain persists after surgery, standard drugs for chronic pain, such as tricyclic antidepressants, may help alleviate the pain.

Prevention or to ease coccyx pain
Body positioning and alignment is significant for producing less stress in the coccyx region. Bad posture can influence coccyx pain. People may not realize that they are over-stressing their coccyx while doing daily activities. Pain in the coccyx can be caused from many incidents like falling, horseback riding, or even sitting on hard surfaces for a long period of time. The main focus is to prevent coccyx pain from occurring by correcting everyday activities that contribute to tailbone pain. Hot or cold water baths may help. Running a stream of hot or cold water down the back continuously may help if pain becomes unbearable. Cold water can be used if pain persists, with the procedure repeated in intervals of 5–6 minutes.

Proper equipment used to preventing coccyx pain
There is no definite way to fully prevent coccyx pain because an accident can occur at any given time. However, people who are obese are at a higher risk for developing coccyx pain. Carrying excessive weight contributes to more stress on the coccyx while sitting down causing increased chances of pain. Prevention of carrying excessive weight gain can help reduce the tension and pressure on the coccyx. In other words, the coccyx for obese people may be more posteriorly outward when they are sitting down. Avoidance of contact sports like basketball, football, and or hockey can decrease the risks of coccyx pain, because it can help reduce the chances of falling. Another method is proper safety equipment for sports is to prevent coccyx pain. For example, hockey pants that provide extra cushion to protect the thigh, coccyx, and buttocks are available.

Stretches and strengthening exercises for prevention
A kneeling groin stretch can help prevent coccyx pain from occurring after long periods of sitting. The adductor magnus is involved in the kneeling groin stretch, and when it is tight it can contribute to tailbone pain, so stretching can help prevent tailbone pain. Other stretches like piriformis stretch, and hands to feet stretch, can relieve stress from the muscles around the coccyx after sitting for a long time. These release tension built up around the muscles in the coccyx.

title: Coccydynia


text:
HMS Ambuscade

Nine Royal Navy ships have borne the name HMS Ambuscade:

 * HMS Ambuscade (1746) was a 40-gun fifth rate, formerly the French ship Embuscade, captured in 1746. She fought off Cape Finisterre, captured the privateer Vainqueen and fought with Boscawen against de la Clue off Lagos. She was sold at Deptford in 1762.
 * HMS Ambuscade (1773) was a 32-gun fifth rate frigate launched in 1773, captured by the French corvette FRENCH CORVETTE Bayonnaise in the action of 14 December 1798 and renamed Embuscade. She was recaptured by the British in 1803 and broken up in 1810.
 * HMS Ambuscade was the 40-gun French frigate FRENCH FRIGATE Embuscade, which the Royal Navy captured in 1798. She was renamed HMS Seine when the previous Ambuscade was recaptured in 1803. She was broken up in 1813.
 * HMS Ambuscade was the 32-gun Dutch frigate Embuscade, which the Royal Navy captured 30 August 1799 by Mitchell's squadron in the Vlieter. Foundered 9 July 1801 at Sheerness, but salved. Initially added as Ambuscade, but renamed Helder on 25 March 1803 before entering service with the RN.
 * HMS Ambuscade was a 38-gun French frigate FRENCH FRIGATE Pomone, which the Royal Navy captured in 1811. She was broken up in 1812.
 * HMS Ambuscade was originally laid down in 1830 as a fifth rate, but was renamed HMS Amphion (1846) before finally being launched in 1846 as the first Royal Navy steam-powered frigate.
 * HMS Ambuscade (1913), launched in 1913, was an Acasta-class destroyer that served in World War I and was scrapped in 1921.
 * HMS Ambuscade (D38), launched in 1926, was a prototype destroyer which served in World War II and was sold for scrap in 1946.
 * HMS Ambuscade (F172) was a Type 21 frigate launched in 1973 that fought in the Falklands War. In 1993 she was sold to Pakistan and renamed PNS Tariq.

Battle honours
Ships named Ambuscade have earned the following battle honours:
 * Finisterre, 1747
 * Lagos, 1759
 * Jutland, 1916
 * Atlantic, 1940−44
 * Arctic, 1942
 * Falkland Islands, 1982

title: HMS Ambuscade


text:
Xray Sierra

Released in February 1999, Xray Sierra is the critically acclaimed fourth solo studio album by Red Rider frontman Tom Cochrane. It featured the hits "I Wonder", "Willie Dixon Said", "Heartbreak Girl" and "Stonecutters Arms". Cochrane received a Best Male Vocalist Juno nomination for Xray Sierra. The album was recorded at Metalworks Studios in Toronto and Hipposonic Studios in Vancouver and was produced by Cochrane and John Webster.

title: Xray Sierra


text:
Talk:Xray Sierra

Dead external links to Allmusic website – January 2011
Since Allmusic have changed the syntax of their URLs, 1 link(s) used in the article do not work anymore and can't be migrated automatically. Please use the search option on http://www.allmusic.com to find the new location of the linked Allmusic article(s) and fix the link(s) accordingly, prefereably by using the Allmusic template. If a new location cannot be found, the link(s) should be removed. This applies to the following external links: --CactusBot (talk) 10:12, 2 January 2011 (UTC)
 * http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=Ajy3zefqkogf5

title: Talk:Xray Sierra


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Brad-Beacham

This page is an archive of the discussion surrounding the proposed deletion of the page entitled Brad Beacham.

This page is kept as an historic record.

The result of the debate was to delete the article.

In its entirety, says "Brad Beacham is the Executive Director of Sigma Nu Fraternity." If this is a national role, it's worth a redirect to Sigma Nu. If not, it's not even worth that. Delete, expand, or merge. -- Jmabel 02:25, 21 May 2004 (UTC)
 * [Redir]I looked it up, it appears he is. I'd mention him in Sigma Nu and make this one a redirect. - Hephaestos|§ 02:26, 21 May 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete it along with Sigma Nu which is a horrid mess of a listing of it's chapters and no more. Unless someone can come up with a dicent stub on the history of the place delete them both. --Starx 02:35, 21 May 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete - I tried briefly to write a biog-stub, there's just not enough info online to do so. - TB 09:03, 21 May 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete. I cleaned the Sigma Nu page a bit, but he is probably not important enough to get his own article. Marcika 02:05, May 23, 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete - we don't create redirects for everyone of every officer of some campus fraternity. - Tεx τ urε 02:46, 24 May 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete, do not redirect. Wile E. Heresiarch 05:20, 24 May 2004 (UTC)
 * [Keep] Do not delete. Rude people.  Stephanie7
 * I'm not rude. I'm nice.  And, I still say delete [Vote copied to below]. - Lucky 6.9 17:41, 26 May 2004 (UTC)
 * She "love[s] love being an editor!", & sometimes spells her first name without the H; 2 of her 4 edits (made within a 9-minute period) are reflected in the entry that this one is subordinate to. Another is her user page, and the remaining one was reverted after 11 minutes by User:Camembert. Presumed sock-puppet or personal friend. --Jerzy(t) 00:08, 2004 May 27 (UTC)
 * I'm not rude. I'm nice.  And, I still say delete. - Lucky 6.9 17:41, 26 May 2004 (UTC)
 * [Keep]I am 100% in support of keeping Brad Beacham. He's the leader of a large non-profit organization, not an officer "of some campus fraternity."  Cavaliercardinal 18:08 26 May 2004 (UTC)
 * First edit by this user; presumed sock-puppet or personal friend. --Jerzy(t) 00:08, 2004 May 27 (UTC)
 * Del, in absence of a more compelling reason to keep. --Jerzy(t) 00:08, 2004 May 27 (UTC)
 * BTW, I'm not Brad Beacham nor am I a close personal friend. If Sigma Nu is worth having a link, so should the person who basically oversees the national fraternity and its chapters.  Cavaliercardinal 22:16 26 May 2004 (UTC)
 * This distant personal friend edited as an IP, 68.201.55.188; i see no reason to assume deception, but rather probably having forgotten their password, and trying to simulate a registered edit (without awareness of the difference between EDT and UTC).
 * Delete. Maximus Rex 02:29, 27 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:
Iron Flag

Iron Flag (titled as  Wu-Tang Iron Flag on streaming platforms) is the fourth studio album by American East Coast hip hop collective Wu-Tang Clan, released on December 18, 2001, on Loud Records. It was certified gold in sales by the RIAA. Iron Flag served as the group's second lowest-selling album (687,000 copies), as their record label, Loud, was on the verge of shutting down at the time. The album debuted at No. 32 on the Billboard 200 with 153,000 copies sold in its first week of release. It has sold over half a million copies in the United States and certified Gold by the RIAA. Rapper Ol' Dirty Bastard is completely absent from the album.

Background
A gap of four years separated both the first and second albums; and three years between the second and third albums; with those gaps being filled by a myriad of solo projects. It was consequently surprising to many when the Clan reformed for a new LP only a year after their well-received 2000 album The W, with only RZA's Digital Bullet and Ghostface Killah's Bulletproof Wallets released in between. The album's promotion was also quite low-key, particularly in comparison to the fanfare, hype and expensive videos that had preceded the release of the group's two previous albums. Unusual for hip hop albums of the time, Iron Flag only consists of twelve tracks (which contain thirteen songs plus a short introduction) with no interludes or skits between songs. This is similar to The W, which only consisted of thirteen tracks (though unlike Iron Flag it did feature interludes and skits).

Artwork
The album cover is inspired by the 1945 photograph Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima.

Absences
Ol' Dirty Bastard's contributions to the Wu-Tang's group albums continued to decrease with each successive album: after being one of the main stars of Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), he was by far the least prolific Clan member on the group's follow-up album Wu-Tang Forever. He then made only one appearance on The W (on the song "Conditioner") due to being engulfed in legal troubles; which in the year separating The W and Iron Flag had only gotten worse. Consequently, Ol' Dirty Bastard does not appear on Iron Flag at all, making The W the final Wu-Tang album to feature him. He does, however, appear on 8 Diagrams posthumously.

Another absentee is Cappadonna who after being merely a very close affiliate of the group on Wu-Tang Forever, he appeared to have become absorbed into the group itself as a full member on The W (tracks with his contributions no longer being marked as "featuring Cappadonna"). In the year following the release of The W Cappadonna had become dissatisfied with being in the group (RZA has said he felt unhappy that people outside of the group did not respect him as much as the original nine members) and had also been in dispute with the group over the revelation that his manager Michael Caruso was a police informant. Whatever the case, he only appears once on the album in a bridge for the hidden song, "The Glock". He appears on the original cover of the album but was air brushed out. The original cover appears on the back of the "Wu-Tang Manual" by RZA. This suggests that he might have been removed from the album in post production.

Revisiting old sounds
Rather than stick to one unified sound for most of the album's tracks, as with previous Clan albums, much of Iron Flag returns to many different individual sounds and styles that the Wu-Tang had visited over the years:
 * "Chrome Wheels" uses the synthesizer-heavy "digital orchestra" sound of RZA's Bobby Digital In Stereo (RZA also raps in the song as his Bobby Digital persona, and Bobby Digital is name checked in the bridge (sung by Madame D). "Dashing (Reasons)" also uses the Bobby Digital sound, with the Digital trademarks of the off-kilter keyboard riff, a high-pitched portamento sine wave synthesizer, and prominent synthesized hi-hats.
 * "Radioactive (Four Assassins)" is firmly in the gritty, foreboding style of the Wu-Tang's debut album Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers): it has a recurring dialogue sample from a martial arts movie, short and indistinct one-note samples buried in the mix, a quickly looping ascending bassline, and hard, pounding drums. The beat also incorporates the sound of shuriken throwing blades, which are "launched" with a single B note, before the sound effect pans from right to left then back again before dissipating. The repeated horn blare at the start of every bar is also reminiscent of Public Enemy, particularly "Night of the Living Baseheads."
 * "Iron Flag" has all the hallmarks of the Wu-Tang Forever sound: string samples coupled with subtle keyboards and a sped-up vocal sample (a technique which was pioneered by the RZA on Wu-Tang Forever but which by the time of Iron Flag's release had been widely imitated by many, most notably Just Blaze and Kanye West).
 * "Uzi (Pinky Ring)" recalls The W's murky blaxploitation-influenced atmosphere with its dramatic horn riffs and gritty drums. "Soul Power (Black Jungle)" is also reminiscent, albeit to a lesser extent, of The W.

Wu-Elements contributions
Many of the remaining tracks sound little like much the Clan had done before, and little like each other. This may be a result of the collaborators involved: all of the above tracks are produced by the RZA, whereas of the remaining six, only two are RZA produced. Two are produced by in-house Wu-Elements producers True Master and Mathematics:

 * True Master's "Y'all Been Warned" is a simple one-bar composition with a funky guitar riff over a steady rhythm and a deeply buried piano sample. The advance copy of Iron Flag featured a slightly different version of this song which featured a synthesizer line over the top of the guitar riff. It is not known why this was changed for the final release.
 * Mathematics' "Rules" features a pattern of one bar repeated three times then a one-bar turnaround. The repeated bar features four samples layered in a vaguely call-and-response structure: an initial horn sample is answered by a James Brown grunt, which is answered by a two-chord piano sample, which is answered by another James Brown grunt. The horn sample is highest in the mix and effectively "leads" the other samples. The turnaround bar has two descending chords with a high-pitched picked guitar riff, bringing the four-bar pattern to the start once again. With its intro of scratched samples of various Wu-Tang lyrics, this track can be viewed as reminiscent of hip-hop producer DJ Premier's distinctive style.

Though these two producers are known for their distinctly traditional Wu-Tang sound, these two beats do not particularly resemble much of the Clan's previous output, at least not as a group. If anything, they resemble some of the sharp 1970s soul-influenced funk tracks from the Wu-Tang's 1999–2000 solo albums (U-God's "Dat Gangsta" and "Soul Dazzle" from Golden Arms Redemption, Inspectah Deck's "Word on the Street" and "Movers and Shakers" from Uncontrolled Substance).

Outside collaborators
There had been some discontent among fans and critics when The W included non-Wu Tang affiliated hip hop crossover superstars Busta Rhymes and Snoop Dogg. Nevertheless, Iron Flag also makes use of non-Wu artists well known in their own right: Flavor Flav of Public Enemy provides the chorus for "Soul Power (Black Jungle)", and "Back in the Game" features both pop-rap hitmakers Trackmasters and soul legend Ronald Isley. Nick "Fury" Loftin also produces "One of These Days", sampling Donny Hathaway's rendition of Ray Charles' "I Believe to My Soul" for its hook and using a fairly generic coupling of muffled horn stabs and soul guitar.

"Back in the Game" opens with the same vocal sample ("if what you say is true, the Shaolin and the Wu-Tang could be dangerous!") as 36 Chambers, but it sounds little like anything the Clan had done before; it also sounds little like well-known Trackmasters hits of the time, such as R. Kelly's "Fiesta" (apart from its use of bongos). A delicate piano melody is layered over a heavy organ vamp and a stumbling, complex rhythm.

A number of critics, such as the NME's Ted Kessler and The A.V. Club Nathan Rabin, saw Flavor Flav's appearance as a way to temporarily fill the clownish role of the absent Ol' Dirty Bastard. Flav sings the call-and-response chorus of "Soul Power (Black Jungle)" with U-God, and has a long conversation with Method Man in the song's outro about growing up in Long Island, where Flav hails from.

Track listing
Credits were adapted from the official liner notes and Tidal.

Notes
 * "Chrome Wheels" and "Babies" feature background vocals by Madame D.
 * "One of These Days" features additional guitars by E-Bass.
 * "Babies" features drums by Ramsey Jones.
 * "In the Hood", "Rules", "One of These Days" and "Ya'll Been Warned" feature uncredited raps by Streetlife.
 * "Chrome Wheels" features uncredited raps by 12 O'Clock and Prodigal Sunn as Two On Da Road.
 * "Da Glock" contains uncredited background vocals by Cappadonna.
 * "In the Hood" contains uncredited vocals by Suga Bang Bang.
 * "Iron Flag" and "Da Glock" are available as separate tracks on streaming services.

title: Iron Flag


text:
Talk:Waterford (disambiguation)

Untitled
Complete list for locations in US named Waterford, per maps.yahoo.com: WATERFORD, CA, WATERFORD, CT, WATERFORD, GA, WATERFORD, IN, WATERFORD, KY, WATERFORD, LA, WATERFORD, ME, WATERFORD, MD, WATERFORD, MI, WATERFORD, MN, WATERFORD, MS, WATERFORD, NY, WATERFORD, NC, WATERFORD, OH, WATERFORD, PA, WATERFORD, RI, WATERFORD, SC, WATERFORD, VT, WATERFORD, VA, WATERFORD, WA, WATERFORD, WI

I'd imagine that as Waterford city, Ireland was the first Waterford to exist as far as any of those listed and it could be argued that many of the place names in the USA and Australia, etc that use the name Waterford may have been thus named by persons originating in Waterford, Ireland. Likewise, Waterford Crystal is merely a product manufactured in Waterford city, Ireland.

It is obviously the case that the word Waterford is probably derived from the Viking expression Vater Fjord but as there is no proof that Vikings visited Australia or California then it's likely that the Waterford disambiguation page should list Waterford city, Ireland as the first item with every other reference being secondary.

"Waterford, disambiguation" listed at Redirects for discussion
An editor has asked for a discussion to address the redirect Waterford, disambiguation. Please participate in the redirect discussion if you wish to do so. DannyS712 (talk) 06:16, 2 January 2020 (UTC)

title: Talk:Waterford (disambiguation)


text: User talk:210.11.188.16

title: User talk:210.11.188.16