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Rendaku

Rendaku (連濁) is a phenomenon in Japanese morphophonology that governs the voicing of the initial consonant of a non-initial portion of a compound or prefixed word. In modern Japanese, rendaku is common but at times unpredictable, with certain words unaffected by it.

While kanji do not indicate rendaku, it is marked in kana with dakuten (voicing mark).

Origin
The voiced obstruent consonants of modern Japanese go back to prenasalized voiced obstruents of Old Japanese. It has been hypothesized that rendaku historically originates from fusion of a nasal derived from the genitive postposition no (の) with a following consonant.

One theory states that rendaku was originally a way to distinguish compound words from saying a word twice when comparing two words or listing things (compare ひとびと hitobito "people" – with rendaku – versus ひと、ひと hito hito "one person, another person" – without rendaku). Native Japanese words never begin with a voiced obstruent or sibilant (b, d, g, z, etc.) and so rendaku was merely an allophonic detail that did not create ambiguity.

However, after the 4th century, Japan started borrowing words and characters from Chinese, which caused the once regular process of rendaku to become less predictable. Since many Chinese words begin with voiced consonants, applying rendaku to those words would cause ambiguity (compare 試験 shiken "examination" with 事件 jiken "incident"). Therefore, compound words consisting of purely Chinese words tend not to exhibit rendaku, unlike compounds consisting of native Japanese words, but there are many exceptions.

Examples
Rendaku can be seen in the following words:
 * ひと + ひと → ひと-びと (人々) (iteration)
 * hito + hito → hitobito ("person" + "person" → "people")
 * いけ (from verb 生ける (いける)) + はな → いけばな
 * ike + hana → ikebana ("keep alive" + "flower" → "flower arrangement")
 * とき + とき → とき-どき (時々) (iteration, reduplication)
 * toki + toki → tokidoki ("time" + "time" → "sometimes")
 * て + かみ → て-がみ
 * te + kami → tegami ("hand" + "paper" → "letter")
 * おり + かみ → おり-がみ
 * ori + kami → origami ("fold" + "paper" → "paperfolding")
 * はな + ひ → はな-び
 * hana + hi → hanabi ("flower" + "fire" → "firework")
 * はな + ち → はな-ぢ
 * hana + chi → hanaji ("nose" + "blood" → "nosebleed")
 * まき + すし → まき-ずし
 * maki + sushi → makizushi ("roll" + "sushi" → "nori-wrapped sushi") (Rendaku is prevalent with words that end in sushi.)
 * やま + てら → やま-でら
 * yama + tera → Yama-dera ("mountain" + "temple")
 * こころ + つかい → こころ-づかい
 * kokoro + tsukai → kokorozukai ("heart" + "using" → "consideration" or "thoughtfulness")
 * おぼろ + つき → おぼろ-づき
 * oboro + tsuki → oborozuki ("haze" + "moon" → "hazy moon")

In some cases, rendaku varies depending on syntax. For instance, the suffix tōri (〜通り), from tōru (通る), is pronounced as -tōri (〜とおり) following the perfective verb, as in omotta-tōri (思った通り), but is pronounced as -dōri (〜どおり) when following a noun, as in yotei-dōri (予定通り) or, semantically differently – more concretely – Muromachi-dōri (室町通).

Rendaku occurs not only on single-root elements, but also "multi-root" elements, those that are themselves composed of smaller elements. These morphemes may be of Chinese origin (see kango) or more recent loanwords (see gairaigo) rather than strictly native.
 * ひら + か-な → ひら-が-な
 * hira + kana → hiragana ("plain" + "character", compare かた-か-な katakana, which does not undergo rendaku)
 * きゃく + ふ-とん → きゃく-ぶ-とん
 * kyaku + futon → kyakubuton ("guest" + "bedding" → "bedding for guests")
 * Here, futon is a kango and compound of fu + ton
 * ろ-てん + ふ-ろ → ろ-てん-ぶ-ろ
 * roten + furo → rotenburo ("outdoor" + "bath" → "outdoor bath")
 * ゆめ-み + ここ-ち → ゆめ-み-ごこ-ち
 * yumemi + kokochi → yumemigokochi ("dreaming" + "state of mind" → "dream state")
 * おぼろ + つき-よ → おぼろ-づき-よ
 * oboro + tsukiyo → oborozukiyo ("haze" + "moonlit night" → "hazy moonlit night")
 * Here, tsukiyo is a compound word, composed of tsuki ("moon") and yo ("night")
 * いろ + ちゃ-や → いろ-ぢゃ-や
 * iro + chaya → irojaya ("lust" + "teahouse" → "brothel teahouse")
 * Here, chaya is a compound word, composed of cha ("tea") and ya ("shop"); cha by itself generally doesn't undergo rendaku, but chaya frequently does
 * ぼん + ちょう-ちん → ぼん-ぢょう-ちん
 * Bon + chōchin → Bonjōchin ("Bon" + "lantern" → "Bon lantern")
 * Here, chōchin is a Chinese borrowing, composed of chō ("portable") and chin ("lamp")
 * おや + かい-しゃ → おや-がい-しゃ
 * oya + kaisha → oyagaisha ("parent" + "company" → "parent company")
 * Here, kaisha is a kango, composed of kai ("gathering") and sha ("company")
 * かぶしき + かいしゃ → かぶしきがいしゃ
 * kabushiki + kaisha → kabushikigaisha ("stock-type" + "company" → "joint-stock company")
 * あめ + カッパ → あま-ガッパ
 * ame + kappa → amagappa ("rain" + "raincoat" → "raincoat")
 * Here, kappa is a gairaigo, from the Portuguese word capa ("cloak; cape")
 * いろは + カルタ → いろは-ガルタ
 * iroha + karuta → irohagaruta
 * Here, karuta is a gairaigo, from the Portuguese word carta ("card")
 * みず + キセル → みず-ギセル
 * mizu + kiseru → mizugiseru ("water" + "pipe" → "hooka")
 * Here, kiseru is a gairaigo, from the Khmer word khsiə ("pipe")

For certain morphemes that begin with the morae chi (ち) and tsu (つ), their rendaku forms begin with the morae ji and zu, spelled in hiragana as ぢ and づ, which explains the use of these kana in contrast to the identically pronounced じ and ず (see yotsugana). This is not a strict rule, however, and is relaxed in certain older compounds or names, especially those that are not easily recognized as compounds.

Rendaku occurs not only in compound nouns, but also in compounds with adjectives, verbs or continuative/nominal forms of verbs.
 * め + ふ-く → め-ぶ-く
 * me + fu-ku → mebu-ku ("sprout" + "to blow" → "to bud")
 * おとこ + きら-い → おとこ-ぎら-い
 * otoko + kira-i → otokogira-i ("male person" + "dislike; hatred" → "dislike for men; misandry")
 * おんな + す-き → おんな-ず-き
 * onna + su-ki → onnazu-ki ("female person" + "liking; fondness" → "fondness for women; woman lover")
 * お-き + さ-り → お-き-ざ-り
 * o-ki + sa-ri → o-ki-za-ri ("putting" + "leaving" → "deserting")
 * くる-い + さ-き → くる-い-ざ-き
 * kuru-i + sa-ki → kuru-i-za-ki ("being in disarray" + "blooming" → "unseasonable blooming")
 * うす- + きたな-い → うす-ぎたな-い
 * usu- + kitana-i → usugitana-i ("faint-; light-" + "dirty" → "dirty")
 * くち + きたな-い → くち-ぎたな-い
 * kuchi + kitana-i → kuchigitana-i ("mouth" + "dirty" → "foulmouthed; scurrilous")
 * た-ち + とま-る → た-ち-どま-る
 * ta-chi + toma-ru → ta-chi-doma-ru ("standing; starting; igniting" + "to stop" → "to stop")

Rendaku in Tohoku dialects
In many Tohoku dialects, rendaku can be expressed in the form of prenasalized voicing. This prenasalized sound production was not uniform at all, and depending on the speakers and the words pronounced, significant variations were observed.

There was a relationship between the rate of prenasalized voicing and the speakers’ age: older individuals display it at a higher rate than younger individuals. On the other hand, differences in the speakers’ gender and socioeconomic status did not affect the rate of prenasalized voicing.

Examples of allophonic variation
For example, “[kata] ‘shoulder’ and [haka] ‘tomb’ are pronounced [kada] and [haga]” in Tohoku dialect.

The extensive examples of allophonic variation in the Tohoku dialect are as follows:

Properties blocking rendaku
Research into defining the range of situations affected by rendaku has largely been limited to finding circumstances (outlined below) which cause the phenomenon not to manifest.

Lyman's Law
Lyman's Law states that there can be no more than one voiced obstruent (a consonant sound formed by obstructing airflow) within a morpheme. Therefore, no rendaku can occur if the second element contains a voiced obstruent. This is considered to be one of the most fundamental of the rules governing rendaku.

 * yama + kado → Yamakado (surname), not *Yamagado やまがど ("mountain" + "gate" → place name) (* indicates a non-existent form)
 * hitori + tabi → hitoritabi, not *hitoridabi ("one person" + "travel" → "traveling alone")
 * yama + kaji → yamakaji, not *yamagaji ("mountain" + "fire" → "mountain fire")
 * tsuno + tokage → tsunotokage, not *tsunodokage ("horn" + "lizard" → "horned lizard")

There are, however, exceptions to Lyman's Law. For example, nawa + hashigo is nawabashigo, not nawahashigo. Although this law is named after Benjamin Smith Lyman, who independently propounded it in 1894, it is really a re-discovery. The Edo period linguists Kamo no Mabuchi (1765) and Motoori Norinaga  (1767–1798) separately and independently identified the law during the 18th century.

Lexical properties
Similar to Lyman's Law, it has been found that for some lexical items, rendaku does not manifest if there is a voiced obstruent near the morphemic boundary, including preceding the boundary.

Semantics
Rendaku also tends not to manifest in compounds which have the semantic value of "X and Y" (so-called dvandva or copulative compounds):

 * yama + kawa > yamakawa "mountains and rivers"

Compare this to yama + kawa > yamagawa "mountain river".

Branching constraint
Rendaku is also blocked by what is called a "branching constraint". In a right-branching compound, the process is blocked in the left-branching elements:

 * mon + (shiro + chō) > monshirochō, not *monjirochō ("family crest" + {"white" + "butterfly"} > "cabbage butterfly")

but
 * (o + shiro) + washi > ojirowashi ({"tail" + "white"} + "eagle" > "white-tailed eagle")

Cyclical application
The branching constraint analysis could be considered a violation of the Atom Condition, which states that "in lexical derivations from X, only features realized on X are accessible." An alternative view proposes that the process applies cyclically.
 * (nuri + hashi) + ire > nuribashiire (lacquered (chopstick case))
 * nuri + (hashi + ire) > nurihashiire ((lacquered chopstick) case)

This could be seen as the voicing between hashi and ire staying unrealized but still activating Lyman's Law.

Further considerations
Despite a number of rules which have been formulated to help explain the distribution of the effect of rendaku, there still remain many examples of words in which rendaku manifests in ways currently unpredictable. Some instances are linked with a lexical property as noted above but others may obey laws yet to be discovered. Rendaku thus remains partially unpredictable, sometimes presenting a problem even to native speakers, particularly in Japanese names, where rendaku occurs or fails to occur often without obvious cause. In many cases, an identically written name may either have or not have rendaku, depending on the person. For example, 中田 may be read in a number of ways, including both Nakata and Nakada.

Voicing of preceding consonant
In some cases, voicing of preceding consonants also occurs, as in sazanami (細波), which was formerly sasa-nami. This is rare and irregular, however.

Nasal and unvoiced obstruent clusters
Native speakers usually (1.3% compared to 10% of all Sino-Japanese words) do not apply rendaku to compounds with clusters of voiced nasals and unvoiced obstruents.

title: Rendaku


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USS Donald Cook

USS Donald Cook (DDG-75) is an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer guided missile destroyer in the United States Navy named for Medal of Honor recipient Donald Cook, a colonel in the United States Marine Corps. This ship is the 25th destroyer of her class and the 14th of the class to be built at Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine. Construction began on 9 July 1996, she was launched and christened on 3 May 1997, and on 4 December 1998, she was commissioned at Penn's Landing Pier in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

On 16 February 2012, Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced Donald Cook was to be one of four ships to be homeported at Naval Station Rota, Spain. In January 2014, the Navy announced that the ship would arrive there in mid-February 2014. In Rota she forms part of Destroyer Squadron 60.

Upgrade
On 12 November 2009, the Missile Defense Agency announced that Donald Cook would be upgraded during fiscal 2012 to RIM-161 Standard Missile 3 (SM-3) capability to function as part of the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System.

In 2016, four destroyers patrolling with the U.S. 6th Fleet based in Naval Station Rota, Spain, including Donald Cook received self-protection upgrades, replacing the aft Phalanx CIWS 20 mm Vulcan cannon with the SeaRAM 11-cell RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile launcher. The SeaRam uses the same sensor dome as the Phalanx. This was the first time the close-range ship defense system was paired with an Aegis ship. All four ships to receive the upgrade were either Flight I or II, meaning they originally had two Phalanx CIWS systems when launched.

2010s
On 24 February 2012, Donald Cook was awarded the 2011 Battle Efficiency "E" award. On 9 April 2014, U.S. military officials confirmed the deployment of Donald Cook to the Black Sea, shortly after Russia's annexation of Crimea and amid the pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine. The U.S. Department of Defense's official statement said that the vessel's mission was "to reassure NATO allies and Black Sea partners of America’s commitment to strengthen and improve interoperability, while working towards mutual goals in the region". On 10 April 2014, the warship was reported to have entered the Black Sea. On 12 April 2014, an unarmed Russian Su-24 "Fencer" strike aircraft made 12 close-range passes of Donald Cook during a patrol of the western Black Sea. According to an allegation by a Pentagon spokesman, "The aircraft did not respond to multiple queries and warnings from Donald Cook, and the event ended without incident after approximately 90 minutes." Further, Donald Cook is more than capable of defending herself against a pair of Su-24s. In 2014, Russia's state-run news-media outlets ran a series of reports that falsely asserted that during that incident, the Su-24, equipped with the Khibiny electronic warfare system, had disabled the ship's Aegis combat systems. The misinformation was later picked up by British tabloid The Sun and by Fox News, and later reported as Russian propaganda by The New York Times.

On 14 April 2014, Donald Cook visited Constanta, Romania, where President Traian Băsescu had a tour of the ship. Donald Cook then conducted various exercises in concert with the Romanian Navy before departing the Black Sea on 24 April 2014. On 26 December 2014, for the second time, according to the U.S. Navy, the destroyer entered the Black Sea to reassure and demonstrate U.S. commitment to work closely with NATO allies. Donald Cook participated in exercises with the Turkish Navy, including an underway replenishment and other exercises with the Yavuz-class frigate TCG Fatih on 28 December 2014. The ship visited Constanta, Romania, on 30 December and Varna, Bulgaria, on 8 January 2015. She also participated in exercises with Ukrainian Navy ship UKRAINIAN FRIGATE Hetman Sahaydachniy on 11 January 2015, and then departed the Black Sea on 14 January 2015.

On 11 and 12 April 2016, two Russian Su-24s performed several low-altitude passes on Donald Cook while the ship was conducting exercises with a Polish helicopter in international waters in the Baltic Sea, 70 nmi off Kaliningrad. A Russian Ka-27 "Helix" antisubmarine helicopter also circled the destroyer seven times. The U.S. Navy released photos and videos of the incident on 14 April, and the U.S. government lodged a complaint with the Russian government. In response to the U.S. Secretary of State commenting on the incident and saying that "under the rules of engagement, that could have been a shoot-down", the Russian Federation Council's official Igor Morozov said that the U.S. likewise "ought to know that Donald Cook approached our borders and may already be unable to depart those." On 26 February 2019, the ship hosted U.S. diplomats Gordon Sondland, Marie Yovanovitch, Kurt Volker, the EU's Jean Christophe-Belliard, and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, among others.

2020s
On 23 February 2020, the ship entered the Black Sea, marking the seventh time a U.S. ship had entered the sea in 2020. While in the Black Sea, the ship conducted routine maritime security operations. USS Arleigh Burke (DDG-51) departed Naval Station Norfolk on 26 March, to replace Donald Cook as one of the forward destroyers located in Rota, Spain. Donald Cook 's new homeport was to be Naval Station Mayport.

On 25 April 2022, the ship returned to Mayport after a three-month deployment.

On June 12th, 2024, USS Donald Cook along with USS Truxtun, USS Delbert D. Black, Coast Guard Cutter, the Stone, and a Boeing P-8 maritime patrol aircraft were deployed to track a Russian naval flotilla sailing less than 30 miles off the coast of Key Largo, Florida. The flotilla was expected to arrive the same day in Havana, Cuba for naval and air exercises.

Shield
"The shield has background of dark blue with a light-blue trim. A reversed star hangs above a gauntlet hoisting a broken chain and crossing sword. Missiles surround the shield."The traditional Navy colors were chosen for the shield because dark blue and gold represent the sea and excellence, respectively. Red is also included to signify valor and sacrifice. The armoured gauntlet holding a broken chain represents Colonel Cook's gallantry and indomitable spirit in captivity as a prisoner of war to the Viet Cong. He put the interests of his comrades before his own life. The crossed swords denote spirit and teamwork, as well as U.S. Navy and Marine Corps heritage. The U.S. Marine Corps officers' Mameluke sword is representative of Colonel Cook's Marine service. The light-blue upside-down star symbolizes the Medal of Honor Cook earned for his spirit, sacrifice, and heroism.

Crest
"The crest consists of an eagle surrounded by red tridents."The eagle is symbolic to the principles of freedom which our country was founded, highlighting military vigilance and national defense. The trident represents sea power and her AEGIS firepower which brings the capability of conducting operations in multi threat environments.

Motto
"The motto is written on a scroll of gold that has a red reverse side."The ships motto is "Faith without Fear". The motto is a reference to both the honorable feats of Colonel Cook and the Medal of Honor he received.

Seal
"The coat of arms in full color as in the blazon, upon a white background enclosed within a dark blue oval border edged on the outside with a gold rope and bearing the inscription 'USS DONALD COOK' at the top and 'DDG 75' in the base all gold."

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

title: USS Donald Cook


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Värttinä

Värttinä (, meaning "spindle") is a Finnish folk music band that started as a project by Sari and Mari Kaasinen in 1983 in the village of Rääkkylä, in Karelia, the southeastern region of Finland. Many transformations have taken place in the band since then. Värttinä shot into fame with the release of their 1991 album Oi Dai. As of 2009, the band consists of three lead female vocalists supported by three acoustic musicians. The vocalists sing in the Karelian dialect of the Finnish language.

In August 2005, Värttinä recorded their tenth studio album called Miero at Finnvox Studios, Helsinki. It was released on 25 January 2006 in Finland, and 30 January 2006 worldwide. In 2006, Värttinä also released the Värttinä Archive Live DVD, which included material from their 20th anniversary concert and other new and archive material. Värttinä collaborated with A. R. Rahman, a notable Indian composer, in composing the music for the theatrical adaptation of the Lord of the Rings, which played in Toronto in 2006 and in London in 2007.

Värttinä has been featured in two episodes of popular animated children's show Arthur singing their hit song "Matalii ja Mustii" from the album Seleniko. The song was also featured on the show's first soundtrack, Arthur and Friends: The First Almost Real Not Live CD (Or Tape).

Old Värttinä
The birth of Värttinä was heavily influenced by two sisters, Sari and Mari Kaasinen, from Rääkkylä. Guided by their mother, they had performed poems from the 1970s as a group named Tsupukat. After the group ceased in 1983, the girls established Värttinä, which they entered into a youth arts event and made their way into the finals. The following year they changed poem reading into singing, and this time the group won that same competition. In 1985 Värttinä, now having male members as well, made its first appearance in the Kaustinen Folk Music Festival. Folk music circles became aware of the band as the one singing "korkeelta ja kovvoo" (high and loud).

Sari Kaasinen had become the leading member of Värttinä, and children in Rääkkylä were eager to join the band; at its height, the group was accompanied by 21 children. When the group finally could not be made any bigger, Sari established a band called Sirmakka for the youngest ones wanting to join.

In the beginning of 1987 Värttinä was selected as the "Ensemble of the Year" in Kaustinen. Their first record, Värttinä, was recorded in the following spring. Instruments used were kantele, acoustic guitar, double bass, violin, accordion, saxophone, flute, and tin whistle. They gained more publicity and, according to a guess by Sari Kaasinen, made over a hundred performances in one year.

Their next album Musta Lindu was released in the summer of 1989. Playing skills and confidence had improved with experience, which can well be heard on the record. The pieces were Mari songs collected by Sari Kaasinen on her journeys; one of them was her own composition. Returning home from Åland at summer's end, it seemed that Värttinä had come to the end of its journey. But the Kaasinen sisters, Janne Lappalainen, Kirsi Kähkönen, and Minna Rautiainen did not want to give up because they had just found their own way of making music, and the beginning of the new Värttinä followed.

New Värttinä
In the beginning of the 1990s, the whole aforementioned group had moved to Helsinki and started training at the Sibelius Academy. Sari started singing with the other girls, and the background line-up stabilized as consisting of Janne Lappalainen, Tommi Viksten, Tom Nyman, Riitta Potinoja, and Kari Reiman. Värttinä made a demo record which led to a recording contract with Sonet Records. The single Marilaulu, released in the autumn, increased the public interest even more, and the album Oi Dai, released in the spring of 1991, became the band's breakthrough. They had now formed their style, which consisted of strong and energetic female singing, music pieces based on Finno-Ugric music traditions, and a band playing acoustic instruments. The style they created, mixing folk music into rock, jazz and popular music, was unheard of before.

The year 1992 brought a lot of concerts and the Emma Award, and some members were changed due to the tightening pace. In the end of the year, the album Seleniko was released with more compositions by the band than before. The record rose to the top of European world music charts and stayed there for three months. The album was released also in the United States, and the next year, when Oi Dai was released in the USA, too, the band started its first North-American tour. Music from the album Seleniko (an excerpt from the track Matalii ja mustii) was featured on the American children's television show Arthur.

After Seleniko, Antto Varilo became the guitarist and Pekka Lehti the bassist. On Aitara, recorded in the autumn of 1994, Anssi Nykänen plays the drums, but Marko Timonen played them in concerts. The record made it to the charts again and it was remembered for the tracks Tumala and Outona omilla mailla. The band toured around the North America and Europe. Many were interested in the women's distinctive way of singing, and they made an appearance on a record of Maggie Reilly.

Värttinä's sixth album Kokko was released in the end of 1996. The familiar note "trad." was not found in the credits of the pieces any more as all songs were written by the band itself. After the release of Kokko, Värttinä started its first tours in Japan and Australia, even though Sari Kaasinen had to leave the band for family reasons, and only three women were left as singers.

In August 1998 their seventh album, Vihma, was released under the record company Wicklow Records, established by Paddy Moloney from the band Chieftains along with BMG. Värttinä's style can be said to have changed in Vihma. All compositions were made by the band's male members, and they contained more complex changes in time and also the singing melodies became rhythmically more diverse. Vihma made it to the charts around the world like its predecessors.

During the winter 1998–1999 Värttinä experienced yet another change of members. Susan Aho, originally joined to replace Riitta Kossi (previously Potinoja), became a permanent front-row singer, and Markku Lepistö joined to replace her as an accordionist. Riikka Väyrynen replaced the singer Sirpa Reiman.

In June 1999 Värttinä was awarded the BASF Master Award, given to artists, producers, recorders and studios for records gaining chart success and at the same time displaying high technical and artistic quality. The award has previously been given to Metallica and Shania Twain. After the award Värttinä moved to the studio to record their next album Ilmatar, released in the beginning of 2000. Ilmatar took the experimental and diverse style of Vihma even further. Äijö became the most popular song of this album, featured by singer Ismo Alanko. During the year, Värttinä toured around Japan and Europe, ending the tour in the Savoy theatre in Helsinki, where a live album of the same name was recorded on 6 December. It was released in the beginning of the next year, simultaneously with the book Korkeelta ja kovvoo by Kimmo Nevalainen.

In 2001 Ilmatar was released in Brazil, and Värttinä performed in the Rock in Rio festival in Rio de Janeiro for more than 200,000 people. Värttinä's line-up was changed again, when Johanna Virtanen joined to replace Riikka Timonen (previously Väyrynen) who had left the band, and Jaakko Lukkarinen replaced the drummer Marko Timonen.

Rebirth
In 2002, the violinist Kari Reiman, bassist Pekka Lehti and original Värttinä singer Kirsi Kähkönen left the band, too. Reiman was replaced by Lassi Logrén, who had already been in the old Värttinä in his childhood. Hannu Rantanen became the bassist. Both had performed in the band before as substitutes. Värttinä thus started its "third era" with the singer trio Kaasinen-Aho-Virtanen. The first release with this line-up was Iki in 2003, when the band also celebrated its 20th anniversary.

Later in the same year Värttinä was invited to compose music for the Lord of the Rings theatrical adaptation, based on the book by J. R. R. Tolkien. Värttinä composed music for two and a half years together with A.R. Rahman, coordinated by Christopher Nightingale. The musical, premiered in Toronto in 2006 and moved to London in May 2007.

In December 2005 Värttinä was awarded the Finland Prize, awarded yearly by the Finnish Ministry of Education for considerable artistic merits and remarkable professional achievements. In January 2006 Värttinä released their eleventh album Miero. The album was the band's first one to be made under Real World Records, established by Peter Gabriel.

In 2008, Värttinä toured Finland, Sweden, Norway, Poland, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Belgium, in support of their 25th anniversary CD. The concert in Tampere (Finland) was filmed by Filmiteollisuus Oy and was broadcast on YLE Finnish national TV.

In late 2008, a new Värttinä book "Värttinä – Mierontiellä ja punaisella matolla" covering the story of Värttinä until now was published in Finland. Janne Lappalainen and Markku Lepistö departed the band.

2010s
In late 2009, Lassi Logrén and Antto Varilo departed the band. Accordionist and keyboard player Matti Kallio joined Värttinä.

In 2010, Susan Aho and Johanna Virtanen represented Finland at the Eurovision Song Contest in Oslo as Kuunkuiskaajat. Their song Työlki ellää finished 11th in the semi-final.

In February 2012 Värttinä released their 11th studio album Utu. The album reached number one on the World Music Charts Europe in May. In October, Värttinä received the Womex Artist Award 2012 in Thessaloniki, Greece. Later it was announced, that Karoliina Kantelinen would replace Johanna Virtanen in the lineup.

Current members

 * Mari Kaasinen-Paaso (née Kaasinen) – vocals, kantele, accordion (1983–present)
 * Lassi Logrén – vocals, violin, jouhikko, Jew's harp (1985–1989, 2002–present)
 * Susan Venhovaara (née Aho) – vocals, accordion (1998–present)
 * Hannu Rantanen – violin, double bass (?–present)
 * Mikko Hassinen – drums, percussion (2012–present)
 * Karoliina Kantelinen – vocals, kantele (2012–present)
 * Matti Laitinen – guitar, mandocello (?–present)

Former members

 * Minna Haikola – vocals, violin (1983–1986)
 * Terhi Hirvonen – vocals, kantele (1983–1987)
 * Sari Kaasinen – vocals, kantele, accordion (1983–1996)
 * Kirsi Kähkönen – vocals, kantele (1983–2002)
 * Janne Lappalainen – bouzouki, saxophone, wind instruments (1983–2008)
 * Pauliina Luukkanen – vocals, violin (1983–1989)
 * Nina Mononen – vocals, kantele (1983-1989)
 * Heidi Pakarinen – vocals, kantele (1983–1989)
 * Minna Rautianen – vocals, kantele (1983–1992)
 * Sari Tyynelä – vocals, kantele (1983–1989)
 * Jaana Vänskä – vocals, kantele (1983–1989)
 * Jussi Kaasinen – vocals, kantele (1985–1989)
 * Johanna Logrén – vocals, accordion (1985–1989)
 * Tuomas Logrén – vocal, kantele, trumpet (1985–1989)
 * Matleena Pekkanen – vocals, kantele (1985–1987)
 * Saija Vänskä – vocals, kantele (1985–1989)
 * Olli Varis – mandolin (1985–1989)
 * Tapani Varis – bass, jouhikko (1985–1989)
 * Nikko Prauda – bodhrán, percussion (1988–1989)
 * Petri Hakala – mandocello (1989–1990)
 * Christer Hackman – drums, percussion (1989–1991)
 * Maria Kalaniemi – accordion (1989–1990)
 * Tom Nyman – bass (1989–1993)
 * Kari Reiman – violin (1989–2002)
 * Sirpa Reiman – vocals (1989–1999)
 * Tommi Viksten – guitar (1989–1992)
 * Riitta Kossi (née Potinoja) – accordion (1990–1997)
 * Reijo Heiskanen – guitar (1992–1993)
 * Pekka Lehti – bass (1993–2002)
 * Antto Varilo – guitar (1993–2008)
 * Anssi Nykänen – drums, percussion (1994)
 * Marko Timonen – drums, percussion (1994–2001)
 * Markku Lepistö – accordion (1998–2008)
 * Riikka Timonen (née Väyrynen) – vocals (1999–2001)
 * Jaska Lukkarinen – drums, percussion (2000–2007)
 * Johanna Hytti (née Virtanen) – vocals (2001–2012)
 * Jaska Lukkarinen – drums, percussion (2001–2007)
 * Hannu Rantanen – bass (2002–2013)
 * Toni Porthen – percussion (2007–2011)
 * Matti Kallio – keyboard (2009–2015)

Discography

 * Värttinä (1987)
 * Musta Lindu (1989)
 * Oi Dai (1991)
 * Seleniko (1992)
 * Aitara (1994)
 * Kokko (1996)
 * Vihma (1998)
 * Ilmatar (2000)
 * 6.12. (2001) released as Live in Helsinki in the United States (live album)
 * Double Life (2002) – 2-CD compilation containing all of 6.12. and tracks from studio albums.
 * iki (2003)
 * Snow Angel (2005) – compilation including songs from studio and live albums
 * Miero (2006)
 * 25 (2007) – compilation including songs from every Värttinä album throughout their career with previously unreleased Vipinäveet from the Miero sessions
 * Utu (2012)
 * Viena  (2015)

Also appear on

 * Arthur and Friends: The First Almost Real Not Live CD (or Tape), 1998 (Rounder Kids)
 * Beginner's Guide to Scandinavia, 2011 (Nascente/Demon Music Group)

title: Värttinä


text:
Atacama Desert border dispute

The Atacama Desert border dispute was a dispute between Bolivia and Chile from 1825 to 1879 for the territories of the Atacama Coast due to the different views of both countries of the territory inherited from the Spanish Empire. During the dispute, both countries signed Treaties in 1866 and 1874. The dispute occurred prior to the War of the Pacific, which settled the dispute in favor of Chile. Due to the surrender of land by Bolivia, the Puna de Atacama dispute was generated between Chile and Argentina and was settled in 1899.

Origins
The origins of the dispute came from the borders established in the Spanish empire that just defined the Atacama desert as the northern border of the General Captaincy of Chile. Bolivian and Chilean historians disagree on whether the territory of Charcas, originally part of the Viceroyalty of Peru, later of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata and ultimately of Bolivia, included access to the sea. Supporting their claims with different documents, Bolivians claim that it did while Chileans disagree. When Simón Bolívar established Bolivia as a nation in 1825, he claimed access to the sea, disregarding overlapping claims by Chile, which had gained independence 7 years before.

The border dispute between Bolivia and Chile grew slowly during most of the 19th century over the Atacama corridor, a part of the Atacama Desert which now forms northern Chile. The Atacama Desert is bordered by the Coast Range on the west and the Andes on the east. The geography of the area was a very large factor in determining how the border dispute began. Because of the mountains, the area has rains only 2 to 4 times a century, making it one of the driest places on Earth.

After the independence of Chile (1818) and Bolivia (1825) none of the following governments of both countries cared about defining its borders. National boundaries in the Atacama region had still not been definitely determined when nitrate, silver and copper deposits were discovered in the area. Both Bolivia and Chile established competing claims for the territory. Other countries' interest was drawn due to the importance of nitrates in the production of fertilizer and high explosives; Britain, Spain and the United States had a strategic and economic stake in controlling the resource granting their support to the different parties. Chile's influence grew in the disputed zone as miners, some of them backed by Chilean and foreign companies, started to advance northwards establishing mines and port facilities. Most economic exploitation of the coastal region was being conducted by Chilean companies and British interests, under the aegis of Chile's more robust economy and more stable institutions.

Boundary Treaty of 1866
National borders in the region had not been clearly agreed until 1866; the two countries had negotiated a treaty that established the 24th parallel south as their boundary, and entitled Bolivia and Chile to share in tax revenue on mineral exports out of the territory between the 23rd and 25th parallels.

The War of the Pacific
On 27 November 1873 the Antofagasta Nitrate & Railway Company signed a contract with the Bolivian government that would have authorized it to extract saltpeter duty-free for 25 years.

A second treaty in 1874 superseded the 1866 treaty, entitling Bolivia to collect full tax revenue between the 23rd and 24th parallels, but stipulating that tax rates on Chilean companies could not increase for 25 years.

In February 1878, The Bolivian Congress and a National Constituent Assembly found the contract incomplete because it had not been ratified by Congress as required by the Bolivian Constitution of 1871. Subsequently, the Congress would approve the contract only if the company would pay a 10 cents tax per quintal of mineral extracted. Chile claimed that the border treaty of 1874 did not allow for such a tax hike. The company complained the increased payments were illegal. The company mounted significant pressure and demanded that the Chilean government intervene.

When the Antofagasta Nitrate & Railway Company refused to pay, the Bolivian government under President Hilarión Daza threatened to confiscate its property. Chile responded by sending a warship to the area in December 1878. Bolivia announced the seizure and auction of the company on 14 February 1879. Chile, in turn, threatened that such action would render the border treaty null and void.

In 1873 Peru and Bolivia had signed a secret Treaty of Mutual Defense. In April 1879, shortly after becoming aware of the alliance treaty between Peru and Bolivia, Chile declared war on both countries. Within four years Chile defeated the joint war efforts of Bolivia and Peru. It ultimately led to the Chilean annexation of the Peruvian Tarapacá department and Arica province, as well as the Bolivian department of Litoral, leaving Bolivia as a landlocked country.

In 1884, Bolivia signed a truce that gave control to Chile of the entire Bolivian coast, the province of Antofagasta, and its valuable nitrate, copper and other mineral deposits. The two countries signed the Treaty of Peace and Friendship in 1904, which made this arrangement permanent. Chile built a railroad connecting the Bolivian capital of La Paz with the port of Arica and guaranteed freedom of transit for Bolivian commerce through Chilean ports and territory.

Chilean proposal of 1975
In 1975, the Chilean government of Augusto Pinochet made a proposal to Bolivia consisting in a swap of a narrow continuous corridor of Chilean land from the sea to the border between Chile and Bolivia, running parallel to the border between Chile and Peru, making the Lluta River Chile's northern border, in exchange for the same amount of Bolivian territory. The proposal, known as the Charaña Accords, involved former Peruvian land and according to the treaty of Ancón, Chile could not give former Peruvian territories to other nations without Peru's agreement. The dictator of Peru Francisco Morales-Bermúdez was opposed to these changes but proposed to make Arica a territory governed by the three states. Chile responded that it could not accept this complicated shared sovereignty. Since Pinochet was likely aware that the Charaña proposals would fail in the end due to Peruvian opposition, legal and political analysts have suggested that he raised them just as a gesture towards Bolivia.

Recent history
Bolivia still wishes for an Atacama corridor, which Chile rejects. In spite of this conflict, Chile grants unrestricted access to all kinds of Bolivian merchandise through the Atacama. The territories ceded by Bolivia and Peru contain some of world's largest copper deposits. These are mined by Codelco - a state owned mining company which contributes a significant part of the Chilean state's income.

Peru has ceded a small leased territory to Bolivia for sea access called Bolivia Mar, but Bolivia is mostly uninterested in it due to repercussions of Chile being able to assert that Bolivia doesn't need any of their land for sea access.

During the Bolivian Gas War the dispute rose again as most Bolivians, including Evo Morales (who would go on to become president), opposed the future export of Bolivian gas through Chilean territory, which the government and foreign companies wanted. In 2004, the anniversary of the 1904 treaty, Bolivian claims were reignited, and the words gas-for-sea became the slogan of those who opposed exportation. The dispute became evident when the Bolivian president Carlos Mesa engaged in a public spat with the Chilean president Ricardo Lagos at the Organization of American States. Mesa, who was under pressure to speak out on Bolivia's aspirations, put the topic before all the presidents of the Americas. The Chilean president reacted by mentioning Bolivia's refusal to have diplomatic relations with Chile, and with this in mind he offered diplomatic relationships between the two countries here and now. The offer was hastily declined by Mesa who was not actually seeking an offer but intended to attract international interest to the situation.

Bolivian president Evo Morales decided to break off all dialogue with Chile on the maritime issue, opting instead to pursue the issue in litigation in international courts. He thus broke an OAS resolution in 2012 wherein the majority of member states encouraged Bolivia to pursue the issue via bilateral dialogue with Chile. Chilean president Sebastian Piñera pleaded with Evo Morales to continue with the dialogue but to no avail. The Bolivian government followed through with its determination to file a case with the International Court of Justice on 24 April 2013. Surprisingly, the case did not challenge the border treaties signed by both countries which Evo Morales has always been against. The basis of the case stemmed from two bilateral negotiations in the 1970s and 1950s where a sovereign route to the Pacific was allegedly promised by Chile but never eventuated. Bolivia argues "the rights of expectations" for their case which is a commercial law term that had never been used in the ICJ. In October 2018, the International Court of Justice issued a final and binding decision that Chile was not obliged to negotiate granting Bolivia sea access.

In March 2021, Bolivian president Luis Arce, on occasion of Día del Mar, said that the dispute is "open and pending" issue between the two countries and offered a nine-point plan to establish diplomatic negotiations with Chile to solve the dispute. The Chilean government responded that it was willing to establish dialogue but that the issue had already been settled by the International Court of Justice. During the 2021 Chilean presidential campaign, communist candidate Daniel Jadue argued in favor of a "mutually beneficial" agreement with Bolivia, in which territory would be ceded in exchange for Chile acquiring some gas and water rights. Jadue has clarified that he would only support such an arrangement were it to receive a democratic mandate through a plebiscite.

title: Atacama Desert border dispute


text:
Manuel II

Manuel II may refer to:

 * Manuel II of Trebizond (c. 1324–1333), Emperor of Trebizond
 * Manuel II Palaiologos (1350–1425), Byzantine Emperor
 * Patriarch Manuel II of Constantinople, Patriarch of Constantinople from 1244 to 1255
 * Manuel II of Portugal (1889–1932), King of Portugal
 * Manuel II, Patriarch of Lisbon (1888–1977)

title: Manuel II


text:
Aruru

Aruru may refer to:
 * Aruru, a Mesopotamian goddess of vegetation at some point conflated with Ninhursag
 * Aruru (Keroro Land), a character in the anime and manga Sgt. Frog
 * Aruruu, a character in the Japanese visual novel Utawarerumono

title: Aruru


text:
Edwin Denby (poet)

Edwin Orr Denby (February 4, 1903 – July 12, 1983) was an American writer of dance criticism, poetry, and a novel, but is perhaps now best known for his work with Orson Welles in translating and adapting the 1851 French comedy The Italian Straw Hat to the American stage in 1936 in the form of the farce Horse Eats Hat.

Early life, education and early career
The son of Charles Denby, Jr. and Martha Dalzell Orr, Edwin was born in Tianjin, China, where Charles had been appointed as chief foreign advisor to Yuan Shikai a year earlier. Edwin's grandfather, Charles Harvey Denby, who had served as the United States Ambassador to China for an unprecedented 13 years, died when Edwin was age one.

Denby spent his childhood first in Shanghai, China, then in Vienna, Austria, where his father served as consul general from 1909 to 1915, before coming to the United States in 1916.

He was educated at the Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Connecticut; and attended Harvard University, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, but failed to graduate. He also attended classes at the University of Vienna, before obtaining a diploma in gymnastics (with specialty in modern dance) at the Hellerau-Laxenburg school in Vienna in 1928.

He performed for several years, notably with the Darmstadt State Theater and celebrated triumphs alongside Claire Eckstein, a German ballerina and choreographer.

Looking for someone to take his passport photo, he encountered photographer and filmmaker Rudy Burckhardt in Switzerland in 1934, and the two remained inseparable for the rest of Denby's life. The following year, they returned to New York City, New York, and rented a loft for eighteen dollars a month in a five-story walk-up building on West 21st Street in Chelsea.

Denby's friendship with painter Willem de Kooning, who lived one floor below in the adjacent building, began shortly thereafter when de Kooning's kitten turned up on the fire-escape outside of Denby's window one evening.

Writing
In 1935, soon after Denby's return to New York City, Orson Welles and John Houseman asked him to help translate and adapt The Italian Straw Hat, by Eugene Labiche and Marc-Michel, for the Broadway stage. The resulting play, titled Horse Eats Hat, was scored by Paul Bowles, and was performed as a Works Progress Administration Federal Theatre Production in 1936. Denby also appeared in the play, playing one half of The Horse.

During his lifetime, being ambivalent about the publication of his poetry, he was known primarily as a dance critic. At the behest of Aaron Copland and Virgil Thomson, he began writing a dance column for the magazine Modern Music in 1936. In 1943, Thomson drafted Denby as the dance critic for the New York Herald Tribune.

Works
His dance reviews and essays were collected in Looking at the Dance (1949, reprinted 1968), Dancers, Buildings, and People in the Streets (1965) and Dance Writings (1986).

His small book on Willem de Kooning was published by Hanuman Books in 1988.

Denby's works of poetry include In Public, In Private (1948), Mediterranean Cities (1956), Snoring in New York (1974), Collected Poems (1975) and The Complete Poems (1986).

His English translation of Lao Tze's Chinese classic text Tao Te Ching from a German edition was published as Edwin's Tao in 1993.

Denby's only novel, Mrs. W's Last Sandwich (also released as Scream in a Cave) was published in 1972.

Guggenheim Fellow
In 1948, he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship grant in poetry and dance criticism.

Death and legacy
On July 12, 1983, at the summer house he maintained with Burckhardt in Searsmont Maine, he committed suicide by taking an overdose of sleeping pills; he had been ill and increasingly concerned about the loss of his mental powers.

Denby was inducted into the National Museum of Dance's Mr. & Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney Hall of Fame in 2002.

title: Edwin Denby (poet)


text:
Ningal

Ningal (Sumerian: "Great Queen"; Akkadian Nikkal) was a Mesopotamian goddess regarded as the wife of the moon god, Nanna/Sin. She was particularly closely associated with his main cult centers, Ur and Harran, but they were also worshiped together in other cities of Mesopotamia. She was particularly venerated by the Third Dynasty of Ur and later by kings of Larsa.

Character and iconography
Ningal's name has Sumerian origin and can be translated as "Great Queen". While she was a major deity in the Mesopotamian pantheon and the worship of her is attested from all periods of history of Mesopotamia, her character was largely "passive and supportive" according to Joan Goodnick Westenholz. She was the tutelary deity of Ur. She shared it with her husband Nanna (Akkadian Sin). She was referred to as the "lady" (NIN; Early Dynastic sources) or "mother" (AMA; Ur III sources) of Ur. She and the city could be compared to a mother and her child in literary texts. She was portrayed mourning over it in laments, such as Lament for Ur or Lament for Sumer and Ur.

Based on some of Ningal's epithets it has additionally been proposed that she was in part an astral deity, much like her husband. This aspect might have been reflected in titles such as Ninantagal, Ninmulnunna, Si-iminbi and possibly Kalkal, respectively "high lady", "lady, star of the prince", "sevenfold light" and "treasured".

Ningal's iconography was not consistent. It has been proposed that she could be represented as a seated goddess accompanied by the lunar crescent, a symbol of her husband. A type of bird, u5-bi2, was possibly associated with her, though the evidence is inconclusive. Proposed identities of this animal include the greylag goose and the whooper swan, but it is assumed that even in Ur, statues of a goddess accompanied by a water bird of the genus Anserini, well known from excavations, were more likely to represent Nanshe. Ningal was also called zirru, a term which might designate a female bird. Some en priestesses of Nanna, especially Sargon's daughter Enheduanna, were also referred to as zirru. On the Ur-Nammu Stele, Ningal is depicted sitting in her husband's lap. This type of depictions was meant to display the intimate nature of the connection between the deities and highlight their ability to act in unison, and is also attested for Bau and Ningirsu.

In medical treatises the term "hand of Ningal" referred to an unidentified skin disease; analogous names of diseases are attested for various other deities, for example Sin, Adad, Shamash and Geshtinanna.

Association with other deities
Ningal's mother was Ningikuga (Sumerian: "lady of the pure reed"), as attested in a balbale composition and in an emesal love song. This goddess could be identified as a consort of Enki. The god list An = Anum identifies her with Damkina directly, though in its Old Babylonian forerunner she is a separate deity in the circle of Enki. Ningikuga could also instead function as the name of a manifestation of Ningal, addressed as "the pure one who purifies the earth".

The lunar god Nanna (Akkadian Sin) was regarded as Ningal's husband. Her role as his wife is the best attested aspect of her character. Some of her epithets underlined her connection to him, for example Ḫegalnunna ("wealth of the prince"). A derivative of Ningal were regarded as married to other moon gods in Hurrian (Kušuḫ or Umbu), Hittite (Arma) and Ugaritic (Yarikh) sources. In all of the corresponding languages her name was rendered as Nikkal, similarly as in Akkadian. The best attested children of Ningal and Nanna were Inanna (Ishtar), who represented Venus, and Utu (Shamash), who represented the sun. The view that Inanna was a daughter of Nanna and Ningal is the most commonly attested tradition regarding her parentage. The poem Agushaya refers to Inanna as Ningal's firstborn child. Due to her identification with Ishtar, the Hurrian and Elamite goddess Pinikir is referred to as a daughter of Sin and Ningal in a text written in Akkadian but found in a corpus of Hurro-Hittite rituals. Further relatively commonly attested children of Ningal and Nanna include the goddesses Amarra-uzu and Amarra-he'ea, known from An = Anum, Ningublaga (the city god of Ki'abrig) and Numushda (the city god of Kazallu). In Neo-Assyrian sources from Harran Nuska was regarded as the son of Ningal and her husband. In a Maqlû incantation, Manzat (Akkadian and Elamite goddess of the rainbow) appears as the sister of Shamash, and by extension as daughter of his parents, Ningal and her husband.

An = Anum indicates that Ningal was believed to have a sukkal (attendant deity), though the reading of their name, dMEkà-kàME, remains uncertain. Richard L. Litke argued that the gloss is unlikely to point at an otherwise unknown pronunciation of the sign ME, and assumed that the deity in mention was named Meme, while an alternate version of the list had the name Kakka in the same line instead. Manfred Krebernik proposes that this deity is identical with the divine messenger Kakka. Litke instead concluded that in this case Kakka should be understood as a deity elsewhere equated with Ninkarrak, distinct from the messenger god. A medicine goddess named Kakka, associated with Ninkarrak and Ninshubur, is attested in sources from Mari.

An association between Ningal and Ninshubur is documented in the Early Dynastic god list from Abu Salabikh. In the Old Babylonian period Nanshe was incorporated into the circle of deities associated with her in Ur, though she is overall sparsely attested in sources from this city. It is possible that the deity Nin-é.NIM.ma, best attested in texts from Larsa and the Sealand, was associated with Ningal as a member of her entourage starting with the reign of Kudur-Mabuk and his successors, though it has also been proposed that this name was her epithet.

Worship
Ningal is first attested the god lists from Early Dynastic Fara and Abu Salabikh. She is also mentioned in the Zame Hymns (from za3-me, "praise"), where she appears after Nanna as "mother Ningal" (ama Ningal).

Ur
A temple dedicated to Ningal was located in Ur, and could be referred with the ceremonial Sumerian names Egarku and Agrunku ("house, sacred boudoir"). In the earliest texts from this city, she is only attested in two theophoric names, but by the Ur III period she came to be invoked in them commonly. The Ur-Nammu Stele indicates that she was likely the highest ranked goddess in the local pantheon during his reign. A limestone bowl dedicated to Ningal by Ur-Nammu's daughter En-nirgal-ana, who served as the en priestess of Nanna, has also been discovered. Shulgi referred to Ningal as his mother. He also rebuilt the temple of Nanna in Ga’esh, Ekarzida ("house, pure quay") as a temple of Ningal in which she was known by the epithet Nin-Urimma, "lady of Ur".

The veneration of Ningal in Ur is well documented in sources from the Old Babylonian period as well. Anette Zgoll argues that her cultic importance increased compared to the preceding Ur III period. Shu-Ilishu of Isin mentions Ningal in a curse formula in an inscription found in Ur commemorating the recovery of the statue of Nanna from Anshan. Iddin-Dagan referred to himself as the "beloved of Nanna and Ningal". En-ana-tuma, en priestess of Nanna and daughter of Ishme-Dagan, dedicated a statue to Ningal. Kings of Larsa, especially Warad-Sin and Rim-Sîn I, considered Ur a city of particular religious and political importance and were active worshipers of Ningal. Sources from this period indicate that her temple was combined with the Gipar, the residence of the en priestess of Nanna, into a single complex. The ceremonial name Egarku was retained for her major sanctuary within it, and appears in inscriptions of kings such as Nur-Adad and Warad-Sin. Another shrine dedicated to her in the Gipar was Eidlurugukalamma ("house of the river ordeal of the land"), rebuilt by Silli-Adad. The work continued under the reign of his successor Warad-Sin. Sin-Iddinam mentions Ningal alongside Nanna in an inscription dealing with the construction of the walls of Ur.

In the Kassite period, Kurigalzu I built another temple of Ningal in Ur, but its name is presently unknown.

Ningal was still worshiped in Ur during the Neo-Babylonian period. Her main temple there was rebuilt by Nabonidus. Additionally a bīt ḫilṣi ("house of pressing"), assumed to be a pharmacy accompanied by a garden where the ingredients for various medicines were grown) located in the same city in this period was associated with Ningal.

Harran
In Harran Ningal was worshiped in a shrine known under the name giparu. Andrew R. George assumes it was located in the Eḫulḫul, the temple of Sin located in this city. It is attested in sources from the reign of Ashurbanipal. An inscription of this king states that Ningal and Nanna crowned him in Harran. According to inscriptions of Nabonidus, during the repairs undertaken at his orders in the Eḫulḫul the temple was provided with refurbished statues of its divine inhabitants, including Sin, Ningal, Nuska and Sadarnunna.

Harran most likely influenced the Aramaic center of the cult of Ningal, known from sources from the first millennium BCE, Nereb (Al-Nayrab) located in the proximity of Aleppo.

Other cities
Offerings to Ningal are mentioned in texts from Nippur from the Ur III period. According to the so-called Nippur Compendium, she was worshiped in this city in the local temple of Nanna, as well as in a sanctuary referred to as bīt dalīli ("house of praise") alongside Nisaba, Kusu, Shamash and Bēl-ālīya. A seal inscription from the Kassite period mentions"Ningal of Nippur" alongside the local goddess Ninimma.

From lower Mesopotamia Ningal was introduced to Mari, where she was already known in the Ur III period. In an early offering list she appears after Belet-ekallim and Lugal-Terqa ("lord of Terqa"). One masculine and one feminine theophoric name invoking her have been identified in Old Babylonian sources from this city.

A document from Old Babylonian Sippar mentions that statues of Ningal and Nanna were used as witnesses of a transaction. They were also invoked together on cylinder seal inscriptions from this city from the same period, though not as commonly as Shamash and Aya or Adad and Shala.

References to veneration of Ningal in the Old Babylonian period are also available from multiple other cities, including Babylon, Isin, Kisurra, Larsa, Tutub and Urum. A joint cult center of Ningal and her husband whose location is uncertain was also patronized by kings of the Manana dynasty of Kish.

A single attestation of Ningal is known from the archive of the First Sealand dynasty. She occurs in this context as a recipient of offerings alongside Nanna. A settlement named after her, Quppat-Ningal, is also attested a handful of times in this text corpus, for example in a letter of an official named Nūr-Bau, presumably addressed to king Pešgaldarameš or his successor Ayadaragalama.

The Canonical Temple List, which dates to the Kassite period, lists two temples of Ningal whose location remains unknown, Eangim ("house like heaven") and Eengimkuga ("house pure like heaven").

One of the inscriptions of the Assyrian king Esarhaddon commemorates the construction of a temple dedicated jointly to Ningal, Sin, Shamash and Aya in Nineveh. A shrine dedicated to her was also located in Dur-Sharrukin, a new royal city constructed during the reign of Sargon II. It was located within his palace. The king implored her in an inscription to intercede with her husband to grant him a long life and to guarantee his successors will continue to rule over "every inhabited region forever". Ningal is also attested in a number of theophoric names from Assyria.

Letters from the reign of Ashurbanipal indicate that Ningal and her husband replaced Inanna and Dumuzi as the tutelary deities of Kissig in late periods. Nabonidus restored a temple of Ningal bearing the ceremonial name Eamaškuga ("house, pure sheepfold") in this city, which according to Andrew R. George might be identical with Eamašku, attested in association with Inanna in earlier literary texts, including Inanna's Descent. This event is commemorated by an inscription on a poorly preserved cylinder dated to 546 BCE discovered during excavations in Tell al-Lahm, which might be the site of Kissik. The king asked Ningal to intercede with her husband on his behalf in it.

Ningal was also worshiped in Uruk in the Seleucid period. However, the attestations are limited to a single source, the ritual text K 7353, which shows astrological influence, but ultimately remains obscure. She is absent from earlier Neo-Babylonian sources and according to Julia Krul presumably was incorporated into the local pantheon due to her status as the wife of Sin, similarly to other spouses, children and servants of locally venerated deities who first appear in Uruk in Seleucid sources.

Outside Mesopotamia
The cult of Ningal spread from Mesopotamia to other areas, including Hurrian kingdoms such as Kizzuwatna, as well as Ugarit and the Hittite Empire, where she developed into Nikkal. In Ugarit, where she could be referred to as Nikkal-wa-Ib, she belonged both to the Ugaritic and Hurrian pantheons of the city, and is attested as the wife of both local moon god Yarikh and his Hurrian counterpart Kušuḫ. In an Ugaritic myth she is associated with an otherwise unknown god Ḫrḫb, who was possibly regarded as her father and most likely originated in Hurrian tradition. Non-Hurrian non-Ugaritic attestations of Nikkal from areas where West Semitic languages were spoken in the second and first millennia BCE are very infrequent, though it might be the result of preservation bias. According to Gina Konstantopoulos, the distinct western form of Ningal might be mentioned in the treaty between Ashur-nirari V and Mati-ilu of Arpad.

In the east Ningal is attested in Akkadian theophoric names from Susa in Elam, with the oldest examples occurring in sources from the Sargonic period. Additionally, a chapel dedicated to her was maintained there by an Akkadian-speaking family, possibly originally brought to the city as prisoners of war after the Elamite conquest of Ur. They maintained it over the course of four generations.

In Egypt Ningal (or Nikkal) is only attested once, in a single magical papyrus, in which she appears as a foreign deity implored to heal a disease.

title: Ningal


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Satsang

Satsang (सत्सङ्ग) is an audience with a Satguru for the purpose of spiritual or yogic instruction. The satsanga is a gathering of good people for the performance of devotional activities.

Meanings
The word is derived from the Sanskrit sat meaning "purity or truth", and sanga meaning "in group or association". Thus the literal meaning of satsang is "the company of Truth", but it holds multiple meanings within the Sant and Bhakti traditions of northern India. Charlotte Vaudeville defines Sant as a distinct tradition because of its emphasis on devotion to the Divine Name (satnam), the Divine Guru (satguru), and the importance of the company of devotees (satsang). "Sat" (truth) in Indian traditions refers to that which is eternal and changeless. Along with "Cit" (consciousness) and Ānanda (bliss), it is a quality of Brahman (supreme being). In this context, Satsang represents an experience of Brahman, particularly as the personal Lord residing within the human heart.

In bhakti traditions, Satsang takes on a communal aspect, signifying gatherings of devotees for inspiration and focus amidst worldly distractions. It includes listening to spiritual discourses and singing praises of the divine.

The main purpose of conducting satsanga by any organisation is for marking an important event in its history. Participating in any satsanga is considered pious in Yogic sciences due to its benefits in spiritual upliftment of an aspirant. Satsangs are generally conducted by any non-religious or spiritual organisations in large groups.

Activities
The following activities may take place in a satsanga:

 * Spiritual discourse
 * Bhajans
 * Chanting of mantras
 * Meditation
 * Tree planting
 * Cleanliness programmes
 * Spiritual stories
 * Weddings

title: Satsang


text:
Anthony Heinrich

Anthony Philip Heinrich (March 11, 1781 – May 3, 1861) was the first "full-time" American composer, and the most prominent before the American Civil War. He did not start composing until he was 36, after losing his business fortune in the Napoleonic Wars. For most of his career he was known as "Father Heinrich," an emeritus figure of America's small classical music community. He chaired the founding meeting of the New York Philharmonic Society in 1842.

Life
Born in modest circumstances in Schönbüchel (now Krásný Buk, part of Krásná Lípa), Bohemia, Heinrich was given into the care of a rich uncle, whose thriving business empire he inherited in 1800. In 1810 he became stranded in Boston by the loss of his entire fortune in the Napoleonic Wars and the ensuing economic crash. Penniless, he resolved to take up his long-time avocation and become a professional violinist and conductor.

A formative experience for him was a 700-mile journey, on foot and by boat, into the wilderness of Pennsylvania and then along the Ohio River into Kentucky. The sights and sounds of the new American frontier inspired some of the most original, if not strange, program music of the nineteenth century. Settling in a log cabin near Bardstown, Kentucky (1818), he began to produce a body of work unlike anything being written in Europe at the time. Some of his works include: The Dawning of Music in Kentucky, or the Pleasures of Harmony in the Solitudes of Nature (Philadelphia, 1820); The Columbiad, or Migration of American Wild Passenger Pigeons (1858); The Ornithological Combat of Kings, or the Condor of the Andes and the Eagle of the Cordilleras (1836); The Minstrelsy of Nature in the Wilds of North America; The Wild Wood Spirits' Chant (ca. 1842); The Treaty of William Penn with the Indians (1834; a rare 19th century concerto grosso).

Shortly after his arrival in Kentucky in 1817, he conducted a performance of Beethoven's First Symphony—only the second time a Beethoven symphony had been performed in the United States. He was identified as the "Beethoven of America" by one critic (1822).

Stylistically Heinrich's music has more in common with other early American music than with the models of his European contemporaries. He shunned development, preferring episodic forms, especially the theme with variations, which he used to impressive expressive effect. He occasionally wrote passages of startling, even jarring, chromaticism, usually in an attempt to express an extra-musical idea. Often his music has an improvisatory quality (much of his music may be notated improvisation, considering its copious quantity). His generous allowances for performer interpretation are arguably the beginning of indeterminacy in American music.

Heinrich was successful in his European tours, undertaken because of a lack of competent orchestras in the United States in the period before the American Civil War. He nevertheless died neglected, in 1861 in New York City, in the poverty he had fled.

Occasionally Heinrich's music is revived.

title: Anthony Heinrich


text:
Butch Warren

Edward Rudolph "Butch" Warren Jr. (August 9, 1939 – October 5, 2013) was an American jazz bassist who was active during the 1950s and 1960s.

Biography
Warren's mother was a typist at the CIA. His father, Edward Sr., was an electronics technician who played piano and organ part-time in clubs in Washington, D.C; his uncle, Quentin — actually the same age as Butch — played guitar. The Warren home was often visited by jazz musicians Billy Hart, Jimmy Smith, and Stuff Smith. The first time Butch Warren played bass was at home on an instrument left by Billy Taylor, who had played bass for Duke Ellington. Warren has cited Jimmy Blanton, the innovative and virtuoso bassist with Ellington from 1939 to 1941, as his biggest inspiration.

Warren began playing professionally at age 14 in a Washington, D.C. band led by his father. He later worked with other local groups, including that of Stuff Smith, as well as with altoist and bandleader Rick Henderson at the Howard Theatre.

When he was 19, he sat in with Kenny Dorham to substitute for an absent bassist. A few days later, Dorham invited him to New York City, where he spent the next six months as a sideman at a club in Brooklyn. He appeared on his first recording in January 1960 with Dorham, saxophonist Charles Davis, pianist Tommy Flanagan, and drummer Buddy Enlow. Through his friendship with Sonny Clark, he recorded for Blue Note Records in 1961 on Clark's album Leapin' and Lopin'. Alfred Lion, producer at Blue Note, hired Warren to fill the vacancy of staff bassist. During this job he played on "Watermelon Man" with Herbie Hancock. As sideman, he also recorded with Miles Davis, Hank Mobley, Donald Byrd, Dexter Gordon, Joe Henderson, Jackie McLean, and Stanley Turrentine.

Mental illness and heroin addiction created problems for Warren. In 1963, his friend Sonny Clark died of an overdose. Months later, Thelonious Monk hired the 23-year-old Warren. Monk's band was surrounded by drugs and Warren quit after a yearlong tour. Moving back to D.C., he admitted himself to St. Elizabeths Hospital. He was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.

Following the onset of his illness he played professionally only occasionally, including a regular gig at the jazz club Columbia Station in Washington D.C.

His only solo effort was captured on "Butch's Blues" but he was better known as a sideman on many albums, including Dexter Gordon's Go.

He died of lung cancer in Silver Spring, Maryland at the age of 74.

As leader

 * 2011: Butch Warren French Quintet - with Pierrick Menuau (saxophone), Pierre Christophe (piano), Mourad Benhammou (drums) and Jean Philippe Bordier (guitar)
 * 2021: Butch Warren & Freddie Redd: Baltimore Jazz Loft- with Matt Wilson (drums) and Brad Linde (tenor saxophone) Bleebop Records (recorded 2013)

As sideman
With Donald Byrd
 * 1961: Royal Flush
 * 1961: Free Form
 * 1963: A New Perspective

With Kenny Dorham
 * 1960: The Kenny Dorham Memorial Album
 * 1960: Jazz Contemporary
 * 1963: Una Mas

With Dexter Gordon
 * 1962: Go
 * 1962: A Swingin' Affair

With Jackie McLean
 * 1959: Vertigo
 * 1961: A Fickle Sonance
 * 1962: Tippin' the Scales
 * 1967: Hipnosis

With Hank Mobley
 * 1963: No Room for Squares
 * 1963: The Turnaround
 * 1963: Straight No Filter

With Thelonious Monk
 * 1963: Miles & Monk at Newport
 * 1963: Big Band and Quartet in Concert
 * 1963: Monk in Tokyo
 * 1964: It's Monk's Time

With others
 * 1961: Leapin' and Lopin' – Sonny Clark
 * 1961: High Hope! – Elmo Hope
 * 1962: Takin' Off – Herbie Hancock
 * 1962: Preach Brother! – Don Wilkerson
 * 1962: Jubilee Shout!!! – Stanley Turrentine
 * 1962: Feelin' the Spirit – Grant Green
 * 1962: Exodus – Slide Hampton
 * 1963: Happy Frame of Mind – Horace Parlan
 * 1963: Exultation! – Booker Ervin
 * 1963: Page One – Joe Henderson
 * 1964: Holiday Soul – Bobby Timmons
 * 1965: The Walter Bishop Jr. Trio / 1965 – Walter Bishop, Jr.

title: Butch Warren


text:
Cīvaka Cintāmaṇi

Civaka Cintamani (சீவக சிந்தாமணி), also spelled as Jivaka Chintamani, is one of the five great Tamil epics. Authored by a Madurai-based Jain ascetic Tiruttakkatēvar in the early 10th century, the epic is a story of a prince who is the perfect master of all arts, perfect warrior and perfect lover with numerous wives. The Civaka Cintamani is also called the Mana Nool (மண நூல்). The epic is organized into 13 cantos and contains 3,145 quatrains in viruttam poetic meter. Its Jain author is credited with 2,700 of these quatrains, the rest by his guru and another anonymous author.

The epic begins with the story of a treacherous coup, where the king helps his pregnant queen escape in a peacock-shaped flying machine but is himself killed. The queen gives birth to a boy. She hands him over to a loyal servant to raise, becoming a nun herself. The boy, Jivaka, grows up into a man, rather a superman, one who is perfect in every art, every skill, every field of knowledge. He excels in war and erotics, kills his enemies, wins over and marries every pretty girl he meets, then regains the kingdom his father had lost. After enjoying power, sex and begetting many sons with his numerous wives, the epic ends with him renouncing the world and becoming a Jain ascetic.

The Tamil epic Civakacintamani is probably a compilation of many older, fantasy-filled unreal Tamil folk stories. The poet skillfully couples the martial adventures of the extraordinarily talented superman with graphic sexual descriptions of his affairs, along with lyrical interludes of his virtues such as kindness, duty, tenderness and affection for all living beings. The epic's love scenes are sensuous and loaded with double entendre and metaphors. The poetic style of the Civakacintamani epic is found in Tamil poetic literature that followed among Hindu and Jain scholars, attesting to its literary significance.

Portions of the epic were ceremonially recited by members of the Tamil Jain community in the 19th century. Rare copies of its palm-leaf manuscripts were preserved by Tamil Hindus. U V Swaminatha Aiyar – a Shaiva pundit and Tamil scholar, discovered two copies of it in 1880 at the encouragement of the chief abbot of a Shaiva Hindu monastery in Kumbhakonam, one copy given by Tamil enthusiast Ramaswami Mutaliyar and the other by the monastery. Aiyar studied the epic's manuscripts under oil lamps, with guidance from Appasami Nayinar – a Jaina community leader, established a critical edition and published the first paper version of the epic in 1887.

Author and date
Civaka Cintamani – as it has survived into the modern era – is an epic of 3,145 stanzas, each stanza of four highly lyrical lines. According to the final verses of the epic, it consists of 2,700 (86%) verses. According to the 14th-century Naccinarkkiniyar commentary, the 2,700 verses were composed by Thiruthakkadevar (Tiruttakkatevar) of the Chola race who in his youth became a Jain ascetic and moved to Madurai. The authorship of the remaining quatrains is unknown. According to a Jain tradition, 2 of the quatrains were composed by the teacher and counselor of Thiruthakkadevar, while the rest were anonymously added. The larger Tamil tradition believes that 445 quatrains were composed by Kantiyar, a poetess and inserted into the original. The entire epic is sometimes credited to just Thiruthakkadevar by casual writers.

Some non-Jaina Tamil poets, states Zvelebil, have questioned whether Thiruthakkadevar was really a Jain ascetic, since one of the mandatory five mahāvratas (great vows) for ascetics in Jainism is strict abstinence from sex in "action, words and thought", but the epic is loaded with sexually-explicit verses. According to the tradition, Thiruthakkadevar proved his ascetic purity by an ordeal.

According to a note in 1857 by the colonial-era missionary P Percival, his acquaintances informed him that Thiruthakkadevar, also called Tirudevar, was a learned Jain scholar who lived 2,000 years ago, and who was acquainted with Akattiyam and Tolkappiyam, the celebrated Tamil grammar works. He is also believed to have deep acquaintance in Sanskrit and Vedas. His epic, said Percival, was quoted by Tamil grammarians because it was believed to be of "undoubted authority" on Tamil language.

Later Tamil literature scholarship places Thiruthakkadevar about 1,000 years later than Percival's colonial-era note. The story in Civakacintamani, states Kamil Zvelebil, is the story found in the older Sanskrit text Kshattracudamani by Vadibhasinha, which itself was based on Gunabhadra's Uttarapurana. The latter text can be firmly dated to 897–898 CE (derived from Hindu calendar) based on the notes in its prasasti. Therefore, the epic was composed after 898 CE. It is now broadly accepted by scholars that the Civakacintamani epic was composed in the early 10th century on a foundation of the 9th-century Sanskrit originals.

Contents
The work contains 3147 quatrains and is divided into 13 cantos called illambakams (Skt: lambaka). The 13 cantos were summarized in 1857 by the Christian missionary Peter Percival as follows:

 * Namagal Ilambagam contains 408 verses detailing the story prior to the birth of the hero, Jivakan. It also details his birth, his mother fleeing from the assassin who murdered her husband, the king and the rescue of baby Jivakan from the forest by a merchant Chitty.
 * Kovindiyar Ilambagam relates to the exploits of young Jivakan; his bravery detailed when he attacks the gang of freebooters who loot the city; his marriage to Kovindeyar, the daughter of a citizen in the city named Pasukavalam who gets impressed by his bravery. The section has 84 stanzas.
 * Kandarvatatteyar Illambagam is derived from the celebrated musician, Tatteyar whose skill on Veena, an Indian string instrument was almost unrivalled. She was resolute not to marry anyone until her challenge is surpassed. Jivaka won the competition. She and Jivaka marry. The events are accounted in 358 stanzas in this section.
 * Gundmaleyar Ilambagam contains 415 stanzas and presents two young women namely Gunamelai and Churamanjiri of high family contended for their superiority in possessing scented powders. The identical scents were difficult to differentiate and when Jivagan did it, Gunamelai agreed to marry him. Sudarshana Jakshadeva, who got transformed to a dog due to a sin is restored to his former form by Jivaka.  Chirumanji is rescued by Jivaka from an angry charging elephant.
 * Pathumeiyar Ilambagam narrates the travel of Jivaka to foreign lands in 246 verses. Jivaka saves Pathumai when she was bitten by a serpent while collecting flowers. They get married.
 * Kemasariyar Ilambagam contains 145 verses and it describes the visit of Jivaka to Kshemadesam where he performs austerities that gains him admiration from the king. Kshema Sundari and Jivaka get married.
 * Kanagamaleyar Ilambagam depicts the hero in a place called Susandesam where the king suspends on a high mark, promising to give his daughter in marriage to the person who succeeds in displacing the mark with an arrow. Jivaka wins the competition and marries the king's daughter namely Chisanti. The heroics is depicted in 30 stanzas.
 * Kimaleyar Ilambagam has 107 stanzas, where Jivaka proceeds to Nanaadu where he meets his mother in Tandakarenyam and salutes her. When he returns to the city, a merchant, who gets wealthy on account of Jivaka bestows his daughter Vimalei in marriage.
 * In the ninth ilambagam, Jivaka marries Suramanjari, who once vowed not to marry anyone during the perfume episode.
 * Manamagal Ilambagam contains 358 stanzas and narrates the victory of Jivaga in marrying the daughter of his maternal uncle, the king of Videkam. Jivaka wins the competition of hitting the target with arrow and his fame spreads across. The assassin who killed Jivaka's father plans to seize him and put him to death, but Jivaga wins and ascends the throne of his ancestors.
 * Purmagal Illambagam contains 51 stanzas that narrates the conquest of Jivaka of the dominions of his father's assassin. The country was called Emangadesam.
 * Ilakaneiyar Illambagam contains 221 verses describing the nuptials of Jivaga and his maternal uncle's daughter, Illakanei.
 * Mutti Illambagam is the last canto of the epic. Jivaka renounces, partitions his dominions to his sons, and becomes an ascetic.

Percival noted that the Jivaka story is also found in the older Sanskrit Jaina text, called Maha Purana and that the Jains did not consider it to be a part of their 18 celebrated Puranas.

Story
The epic begins with the story of a treacherous coup by a minister of the king. The king had given temporary responsibility for the capital while the king and queen were traveling. The king helps his pregnant queen escape in a peacock-shaped flying machine but gets himself killed by the minister's army. The queen gives birth to a boy as she hid in a remote cremation grounds. She hands over her baby she named Jivaka to a loyal servant to raise, becoming a nun herself. The boy grows up into a man, rather a superman, one who is perfect in every art, every skill, every field of knowledge. Jivaka the superhero excels in war and erotics, kills his enemies, wins over and marries every beautiful girl he meets, then regains the kingdom his father had lost. After enjoying power, sex and begetting many sons with his numerous wives, the epic ends with Jivaka renouncing the world and converting into a Jaina ascetic.

The epic concludes that all the worldly pleasures Jivaka enjoyed was nothing but illusions distracting him from the path of spiritual salvation.

Significance
The epic is unusual in many respects. Authored by a Jain ascetic, it presents a story that is unlike the generally accepted view of historic Jainism being an "austerely ascetic" religious tradition. The hero the epic, Jivaka, indulges in a life of sensual pursuits with numerous women, marries many women and carries out a sexual affair with a dancing girl without marrying her, violently kills his enemies including those who had participated or supported the coup against his father, seeks and enjoys power. Thus, his life is anything but one of non-violence, sexual fidelity, restraint and non-possessiveness – some of the traditionally understood virtues for householders in Jainism. Ultimately, the hero converts into a Jain ascetic, yet the epic writer is generally accepted to be a Jaina ascetic. The epic has explicit and lyrical descriptions of sensual gratifications and sex. According to David Shulman, the epic questions the long-held scholarly views of Jainism and the teachings of its most celebrated historic scholars. According to James Ryan, a proposed explanation is that the Digambara Jains were living with Hindus, the epic was influenced by the Hindu beliefs and outlook on life, and it reflects a synthetic work that fused the values and virtues of Hinduism and Jainism. An alternate explanation, states Ryan, is that the epic includes explicit eros and graphic descriptions of sex not to praise or recommend such values or practices in the way some early Hindu texts do, the epic includes this so as to examine and criticize it from the Jain perspective.

According to Arathoon, the work stands as a proof of secular outlook of Chola kings during the period. Though they were Hindus, they encouraged the Jain education and arts. The epic was influential on other Tamil poets, and it "may have served as a poetic model for both Kamban Ramayana and Cekkilar", states David Shulman.

The epic hints of no persecution or violence between the Tamil Shaiva and Jaina community. Its composition, reception, and influence in the Hindu community suggest that the Jain–Hindu relations in the Tamil region were cordial and collaborative at least through the 10th century.

The Tamil epic is notable for the high number of Sanskrit loan words, likely because it is a late medieval text. It is also notable, according to Vaidyanathan for chronologically being the first Tamil text where the caste-related term Shudra appears (Tamil: cūttiraṇ) in verse 1287, line 4.

It is considered one of the five great Tamil epics according to later Tamil literary tradition, the others being Manimekalai, Silappadikaram, Valayapathi and Kundalakesi. In its form, it anticipates the Ramayana of Kambar. Cīvaka Cintāmaṇi was much appreciated by the Chola king who was its patron and was well received at his Chola court. It has been admired for its poetic form, appealing story-line, and theological message.

Manuscripts and translations
U. V. Swaminatha Iyer (1855-1942 CE) – a practicing Shaiva Brahmin and Tamil scholar, discovered two copies of the epic in 1880 at the encouragement of his guru, the chief abbot of a Shaiva Hindu monastery in Kumbhakonam. The first copy came from Tamil enthusiast Ramaswami Mutaliyar whom the abbot had introduced to Iyer (also spelled Aiyar), and the other came from the monastery's large collection of ancient texts. The palm-leaf manuscripts decay and degrade relatively quickly in the tropical climate of south India, and must be re-copied every few decades or about a century, a step that introduces scribal errors. The two copies of the manuscripts were different, and one included commentary from the 14th century. Aiyar studied the two versions of the manuscripts under oil lamps. With help from Appasami Nayinar – a Jaina community leader, Aiyar established a critical edition and published the first paper print of the epic in 1887.

Between 2005 and 2019, James Ryan and G Vijayavenugopal published the English translation of Civaka Cintamani in three volumes.

title: Cīvaka Cintāmaṇi


text:
Precious Images

Precious Images is a 1986 short film directed by Chuck Workman. It features approximately 470 half-second-long splices of movie moments through the history of American film. Some of the clips are organized by genre and set to appropriate music; musicals, for example, are accompanied by the title song from Singin' in the Rain. Films featured range chronologically from The Great Train Robbery (1903) to Rocky IV (1985), and range in subject from light comedies to dramas and horror films.

Production
Precious Images was commissioned by the Directors Guild for its 50th anniversary. Workman had previously produced two documentaries, The Director and the Image (1984) and The Director and the Actor (1984), for the Guild. Editing took two or three months to complete.

Precious Images features half-second-long splices from approximately 470 American films. Chuck Workman described the film's editing structure as "a sprint. You take a breath and you go." "'Of course, I had so many movies I wanted to include that the time constraint forced me to compress the film more and more. The cutting got faster and faster, but I realized that the film was still working. And I was moving things around, and it was still working. I started finding these wonderful little combinations of shots, the kind of edits that I'd been doing for years in other things, but suddenly in this film I wasn't selling anything. It was a wonderful moment for me.'"

Release
Precious Images won the Oscar for Live Action Short Film during the 1987 ceremony, where it was featured in its entirety. In 1996, the film was reissued with new scenes from more contemporary films up to that point. It was also shown every 15 minutes within London's Museum of the Moving Image since its 1988 opening, but this very popular attraction was closed in 1999.

The film was screened out of competition at the 1986 Cannes Film Festival.

Recognition
In 2009, Precious Images was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

title: Precious Images


text:
Virgin Gorda

Virgin Gorda is the third-largest island (after Tortola and Anegada) and second-most populous of the British Virgin Islands (BVI).

Geography
Located at about 18 degrees, 48 minutes North, and 64 degrees, 30 minutes West, it covers an area of about 8 sqmi.

The main commercial and residential area is Spanish Town on the southwestern part of the island.

An unusual geologic formation known as "the Baths" located on the southern end of the island makes Virgin Gorda one of the BVI's major tourist destinations. At the Baths, in spite of evidence of the island's largely volcanic origins, huge granite boulders lie in piles on the beach, forming scenic grottoes that are open to the sea. Granite is an intrusive igneous rock, thus not volcanic. It did form from magma, however, at great depth. Granite becomes exposed at the Earth's surface only after geologic ages of erosion removes the overburden. At the surface, weathering has broken the granite into large boulders and rounded their surfaces. North of the Baths is the Virgin Gorda Yacht Harbor, formerly owned by Little Dix Bay. The most notable ruin on Virgin Gorda is the old Copper Mine.

One of the great harbors of the world, North Sound, and historically Gorda Sound, lies at the northeast end of the island. It is bordered by four islands and connecting reef systems that keep the sound calm, creating one of the world's great watersports meccas, with over 3000 acres of protected waters. At the eastern end of the sound is the premier anchorage, in the lee of Biras Hill (elevation 435 ft). The village, resort, and marina at this point (Jon'O'Point) is called the Bitter End Yacht Club, and runs for about a mile of coastline.

History
Christopher Columbus is said to have named the island "the Fat Virgin", because the island's profile on the horizon looks like a fat woman lying on her side.

Historically renowned, the anchorage off Bitter End was the site of Sir Francis Drake and Sir John Hawkins' 1595 fleet rendezvous, two Elizabethan British admirals who led Britain's ascendance into naval supremacy. Twenty-six ships anchored in the sound and used the large hill at Bitter End to practice for their attack on San Juan, to wrest Puerto Rico from Spain. With both admirals dying on the 1595/1596 voyage, the land at Bitter End may be the last place that these legendary mariners set foot on British soil.

Transportation
Marine ferry services from Tortola, St. Thomas, and St. John, as well as small commuter airlines, serve the island. In January 2010, Virgin Gorda Airport was restricted to a very small list of airlines by Air Safety Support International, the territory's aviation regulatory agency, which demanded that the airport be brought in line with international safety standards. The airport reopened in December 2010.

Tourists travel from neighboring islands such as Tortola and St. Thomas by boat and then return to these islands by boat in order to travel on scheduled passenger airlines flights operated into the Tortola Terrance B. Lettsome International Airport and St. Thomas Cyril E. King Airport.

Education
The BVI operates several government schools. Virgin Gorda residents are served by Robinson O'Neal Memorial Primary School and Bregado Flax Educational Centre, a combined primary and secondary school that opened in 1982. In 2000 the government created plans to create a primary school on the island.

Churches

 * St. Ursula's Church, The Valley

Trivia

 * A map with the outline of Virgin Gorda appears as the map of the Republic of Corte Maltese in the movie The Suicide Squad.

title: Virgin Gorda


text:
Unplugged (Alice in Chains album)

Unplugged is a live album by the American rock band Alice in Chains, released on July 30, 1996, by Columbia Records. It was recorded on April 10, 1996, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Majestic Theatre for the television series MTV Unplugged. The show was directed by Joe Perota and first aired on MTV on May 28, 1996. Home video releases of the MTV broadcast were released on VHS in October 1996, and on DVD in October 1999. The MTV Unplugged was Alice in Chains' first concert in two and a half years, and contains live, acoustic versions of the band's biggest hits and lesser-known songs.

A new song, "The Killer Is Me", was performed for the first time during the concert. The acoustic version of "Over Now" (originally released on Alice in Chains' 1995 self-titled album) was released as a single. The album debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 chart, and has been certified platinum by the RIAA. The performance was released on DVD on October 26, 1999, and re-released as a CD/DVD package featuring unaired footage on September 18, 2007. The home video release has received gold certification by RIAA.

Background and recording
On April 10, 1996, Alice in Chains resurfaced to perform their first concert in two and a half years for MTV Unplugged, a program featuring all-acoustic set lists. The band was offered to do the segment numerous times prior to the actual taping before finally accepting. The show was recorded at the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Majestic Theatre and first aired on MTV on May 28, 1996. It was Layne Staley's idea to have big candles decorating the stage to keep it dark and moody, as the band never liked bright lights on stage, so Staley himself bought the candles at Seattle's Pike Place Market.

The performance was one of Alice in Chains' final appearances with vocalist Layne Staley and featured some of the band's highest charting singles, including "Rooster", "Down in a Hole", "Heaven Beside You", and "Would?", and introduced a new song, "The Killer Is Me". The show marked Alice in Chains' first appearance as a five-piece band, adding second guitarist Scott Olson.

Jerry Cantrell has attested to being fairly ill during the performance as a result of food poisoning from a hot dog consumed before the gig. Mike Inez's bass had the phrase "Friends Don't Let Friends Get Friends Haircuts..." written on it, directed at the members of Metallica who were in the audience and had recently cut their hair short. Inez and drummer Sean Kinney did pay tribute to Metallica, however, playing the intro to their hit song "Enter Sandman" just before "Sludge Factory". Before "Angry Chair," Jerry Cantrell paid further tribute by playing the intro to "Battery" going into the Hee Haw song, "Gloom, Despair, and Agony on Me". This was omitted from the CD but can be found on the VHS and DVD. On the CD version of the MTV Unplugged concert, as Staley says "Okay, that's it," at the end of the song, booing can be heard (presumably due to the performance concluding). Staley responded to the heckler by shouting, "Hey, fuck you, man!" which was greeted by laughter from the audience.

Cantrell has stated that the band was considering playing the songs "Love, Hate, Love" and "We Die Young" for the set, but ultimately chose not to, chiefly as a result of limited time. Moreover, a few songs such as "Got Me Wrong" and "Sludge Factory" had to be replayed numerous times due to error. Accordingly, the taping took approximately three hours to finish.

Cantrell said that one of his favorite things from the concert was when Staley said at the end of the show, "I wish I could hug you all, but I'm not gonna".

Release and reception
A live album of the performance was released in July 1996, which debuted at number three on the Billboard 200, and was accompanied by a home video release. The album has received platinum certification by the RIAA and the home video release has received gold certification by the RIAA. A full length DVD of the concert was also later released on October 26, 1999. The songs "Angry Chair", "Frogs", and "The Killer Is Me" were cut from the original MTV broadcast but are included on both the CD and home video releases. The album was re-released as a CD/DVD package on September 18, 2007.

The album initially received mixed reviews from critics. AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote in his review of the album: "It doesn't offer anything that the albums don't already. The acoustic arrangements of the harder songs sound like novelties, and the rest sound like rehashes of their previous work, only without much energy." Sandy Masuo of Rolling Stone wrote in her review "Unplugged certainly reaffirms the emotional range and technical prowess of Alice in Chains. But it lacks electricity in more ways than one. The concentrated catharsis in Alice in Chains' music is still best heard with the amps cranked up to 11." Despite this, the album eventually gained more recognition and praise after the death of vocalist Layne Staley, mainly due to his powerful performance despite his condition, and is now considered an iconic live album. Alice Pattillo of Metal Hammer considers Alice in Chains' MTV Unplugged as the best live album ever made.

Track listing

 * "Angry Chair", "Frogs" and "The Killer Is Me" were removed from the original broadcast, but are included in rereleases.

DVD release

 * The DVD release shows another take of "Sludge Factory," in which Layne Staley mixes up the lyrics at the beginning of the song which is ended shortly after. They then go into the "formal" take which was used on the CD. The DVD's introduction to "Sludge Factory" also contains portions of "Enter Sandman", written by James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, and Kirk Hammett.
 * On the DVD, the final song's title is listed onscreen as "Killer Is Me", right after Jerry Cantrell introduced it as "The Killer Is Me." Note that while the CD and the vinyl also list the final song as "Killer Is Me", the DVD's track list lists the song as "The Killer Is Me." The song was also released in the Music Bank box set, where the title is again listed as "The Killer Is Me."

Personnel

 * Alice in Chains
 * Layne Staley – vocals; acoustic rhythm guitar on "Angry Chair"
 * Jerry Cantrell – acoustic lead guitar, vocals
 * Mike Inez – acoustic bass; acoustic rhythm guitar on "The Killer Is Me"
 * Sean Kinney – drums, percussion
 * Additional performer
 * Scott Olson – acoustic rhythm and solo guitar; acoustic bass on "The Killer Is Me"
 * Production
 * Produced by Toby Wright and Alice in Chains
 * Produced for MTV by Alex Coletti
 * Recorded by Toby Wright and John Harris, assisted by Brian Kingman, John Bates, and Rich Lamb
 * Mixed by Toby Wright, assisted by John Bleich and John Seymour
 * Digitally edited by Don C. Tyler
 * Mastered by Stephen Marcussen
 * DVD audio by John Alberts, Toby Wright, and Mike Fisher
 * Directed by Joe Perota
 * Line producer – Audrey Morrissey
 * Art direction – Mary Maurer
 * Design – Doug Erb
 * Photography – Danny Clinch
 * Management – Susan Silver

title: Unplugged (Alice in Chains album)


text: User talk:217.117.14.167

title: User talk:217.117.14.167


text:
Misere, Wisconsin

Misere (also spelled Misiere ) is an unincorporated community in Door County, Wisconsin, United States, within the town of Brussels. The community is located at the intersection of Misere Road And County Highway J, 3 miles south of Brussels and 2 miles northeast of Rosiere.

It is located at 44.699 latitude and -87.600 longitude at an elevation of 820 feet above sea level.

Misiere was founded in the later part of the 1850s by settlers from Belgium. It attained it largest size and population in the late 1800s and early 1900s when it was the site of St Michael's Catholic Church  and its cemetery, post office, two saloons, a dance and social hall, a general store, a cheese factory, blacksmith shop, and a number of personal residences and barns. Previous short lived names for the community include; Leccia, and Minor, as these were names of early post offices there.

title: Misere, Wisconsin