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Mobile computing

Mobile computing is human–computer interaction in which a computer is expected to be transported during normal usage and allow for transmission of data, which can include voice and video transmissions. Mobile computing involves mobile communication, mobile hardware, and mobile software. Communication issues include ad hoc networks and infrastructure networks as well as communication properties, protocols, data formats, and concrete technologies. Hardware includes mobile devices or device components. Mobile software deals with the characteristics and requirements of mobile applications.

Main principles

 * Portability: Devices/nodes connected within the mobile computing system should facilitate mobility. These devices may have limited device capabilities and limited power supply but should have a sufficient processing capability and physical portability to operate in a movable environment.
 * Connectivity: This defines the quality of service (QoS) of the network connectivity. In a mobile computing system, the network availability is expected to be maintained at a high level with a minimal amount of lag/downtime without being affected by the mobility of the connected nodes.
 * Interactivity: The nodes belonging to a mobile computing system are connected with one another to communicate and collaborate through active transactions of data.
 * Individuality: A portable device or a mobile node connected to a mobile network often denotes an individual; a mobile computing system should be able to adopt the technology to cater to the individual needs and also to obtain contextual information of each node.

Devices
Some of the most common forms of mobile computing devices are as given below:

 * Portable computers, compact, lightweight units including a full character set keyboard and primarily intended as hosts for software that may be parameterized, such as laptops/desktops, smartphones/tablets, etc.

 * Smart cards that can run multiple applications but are typically used for payment, travel, and secure area access.

 * Mobile phones, telephony devices which can call from a distance through cellular networking technology.

 * Wearable computers, mostly limited to functional keys and primarily intended for the incorporation of software agents, such as bracelets, keyless implants, etc.

These classes are expected to endure and to complement each other, none replacing another completely.

Other types of mobile computers have been introduced since the 1990s, including the:
 * Portable computer (discontinued)
 * Personal digital assistant/Enterprise digital assistant (discontinued)
 * Ultra-Mobile PC (discontinued)
 * Laptop
 * Tablet computer
 * Wearable computer
 * E-reader
 * Carputer
 * Handheld PC

Limitations

 * Expandability, replaceability and modularity: In contrast to the common traditional motherboard-based PC the SoC architecture in which they are embedded makes these features impossible.
 * Lack of a BIOS: As most smart devices lack a proper BIOS, their bootloading capabilities are limited as they can only boot into the single operative system with which it came, in contrast with the PC BIOS model.
 * Range and bandwidth: Mobile Internet access is generally slower than direct cable connections, using technologies such as GPRS and EDGE, and more recently HSDPA, HSUPA, 3G and 4G networks and also the proposed 5G network. These networks are usually available within a range of commercial cell phone towers. High-speed network wireless LANs are inexpensive but have a very limited range.
 * Security standards: When working mobile, one is dependent on public networks, requiring careful use of VPN. Security is a major concern while concerning the mobile computing standards on the fleet. One can easily attack the VPN through a huge number of networks interconnected through the line.
 * Power consumption: When a power outlet or portable generator is not available, mobile computers must rely entirely on battery power. Combined with the compact size of many mobile devices, this often means unusually expensive batteries must be used to obtain the necessary battery life.
 * Transmission interferences: Weather, terrain, and the range from the nearest signal point can all interfere with signal reception. Reception in tunnels, some buildings, and rural areas is often poor.
 * Potential health hazards: People who use mobile devices while driving are often distracted from driving and are thus assumed more likely to be involved in traffic accidents. (While this may seem obvious, there is considerable discussion about whether banning mobile device use while driving reduces accidents. ) Cell phones may interfere with sensitive medical devices. Questions concerning mobile phone radiation and health have been raised.
 * Human interface with device: Screens and keyboards tend to be small, which may make them hard to use. Alternate input methods such as speech or handwriting recognition require training.

In-vehicle computing and fleet computing
Many commercial and government field forces deploy a rugged portable computer with their fleet of vehicles. This requires the units to be anchored to the vehicle for driver safety, device security, and ergonomics. Rugged computers are rated for severe vibration associated with large service vehicles and off-road driving and the harsh environmental conditions of constant professional use such as in emergency medical services, fire, and public safety.

Other elements affecting function in the vehicle:
 * Operating temperature: A vehicle cabin can often experience temperature swings from -30 - 60 C. Computers typically must be able to withstand these temperatures while operating. Typical fan-based cooling has stated limits of 35 - 38 C of ambient temperature and temperatures below freezing require localized heaters to bring components up to operating temperature (based on independent studies by the SRI Group and by Panasonic R&D).
 * Vibration can decrease the life expectancy of computer components, notably rotational storage such as HDDs.
 * Visibility of standard screens becomes an issue in bright sunlight.
 * Touchscreen users easily interact with the units in the field without removing gloves.
 * High-temperature battery settings: Lithium-ion batteries are sensitive to high-temperature conditions for charging. A computer designed for the mobile environment should be designed with a high-temperature charging function that limits the charge to 85% or less of capacity.
 * External antenna connections go through the typical metal cabins of vehicles which would block wireless reception and take advantage of much more capable external communication and navigation equipment.

Security issues involved in mobile
Mobile security has become increasingly important in mobile computing. It is of particular concern as it relates to the security of personal information now stored on the smartphone. Mobile applications might copy user data from these devices to a remote server without the users’ permission and often without the users’ consent. The user profiles automatically created in the cloud for smartphone users raise privacy concerns on all major platforms, in terms of, including, but not limited to, location tracking and personal data collection, regardless of user settings on the device.

More and more users and businesses use smartphones as a means of planning and organizing their work and private life. Within companies, these technologies are causing profound changes in the organization of information systems and therefore they have become the source of new risks. Indeed, smartphones collect and compile an increasing amount of sensitive information to which access must be controlled to protect the privacy of the user and the intellectual property of the company.

All smartphones are preferred targets of attacks. These attacks exploit weaknesses related to smartphones that can come from means of wireless telecommunication like WiFi networks and GSM. There are also attacks that exploit software vulnerabilities from both the web browser and operating system. Finally, there are forms of malicious software that rely on the weak knowledge of average users.

Different security counter-measures are being developed and applied to smartphones, from security in different layers of software to the dissemination of information to end-users. There are good practices to be observed at all levels, from design to use, through the development of operating systems, software layers, and downloadable apps.

Portable computing devices
Several categories of portable computing devices can run on batteries but are not usually classified as laptops: portable computers, PDAs, ultra mobile PCs (UMPCs), tablets, and smartphones.

 * A portable computer (discontinued) is a general-purpose computer that can be easily moved from place to place, but cannot be used while in transit, usually because it requires some "setting-up" and an AC power source. The most famous example is Osborne 1. Portable computers are also called a "transportable" or a "luggable" PC.
 * A personal digital assistant (PDA) (discontinued) is a small, usually pocket-sized, computer with limited functionality. It is intended to supplement and to synchronize with a desktop computer, giving access to contacts, address book, notes, e-mail, and other features.[[Image:PalmTX.jpg|thumb|right|A [[Palm TX]] PDA]]
 * An ultra mobile PC (discontinued) is a full-featured, PDA-sized computer running a general-purpose operating system.
 * Tablets/phones: a slate tablet is shaped like a paper notebook. Smartphones are the same devices as tablets, however, the only difference with smartphones is that they are much smaller and pocketable. Instead of a physical keyboard, these devices have a touchscreen including a combination of a virtual keyboard but can also link to a physical keyboard via wireless Bluetooth or USB. These devices include features other computer systems would not be able to incorporate, such as built-in cameras, because of their portability - although some laptops possess camera integration, and desktops and laptops can connect to a webcam by way of USB.
 * A carputer is installed in an automobile. It operates as a wireless computer, sound system, GPS, and DVD player. It also contains word processing software and is Bluetooth compatible.
 * A Pentop (discontinued) is a computing device the size and shape of a pen. It functions as a writing utensil, MP3 player, language translator, digital storage device, and calculator.
 * An application-specific computer is one that is tailored to a particular application. For example, Ferranti introduced a handheld application-specific mobile computer (the MRT-100) in the form of a clipboard for conducting opinion polls.

Boundaries that separate these categories are blurry at times. For example, the OQO UMPC is also a PDA-sized tablet PC; the Apple eMate had the clamshell form factor of a laptop but ran PDA software. The HP Omnibook line of laptops included some devices small enough to be called ultra mobile PCs. The hardware of the Nokia 770 internet tablet is essentially the same as that of a PDA such as the Zaurus 6000; the only reason it's not called a PDA is that it does not have PIM software. On the other hand, both the 770 and the Zaurus can run some desktop Linux software, usually with modifications.

Mobile data communication
Wireless data connections used in mobile computing take three general forms. Cellular data service uses technologies GSM, CDMA or GPRS, 3G networks such as W-CDMA, EDGE or CDMA2000. and more recently 4G and 5G networks. These networks are usually available within range of commercial cell towers. Wi-Fi connections offer higher performance, may be either on a private business network or accessed through public hotspots, and have a typical range of 100 feet indoors and up to 1000 feet outdoors. Satellite Internet access covers areas where cellular and Wi-Fi are not available and may be set up anywhere the user has a line of sight to the satellite's location, which for satellites in geostationary orbit means having an unobstructed view of the southern sky. Some enterprise deployments combine networks from multiple cellular networks or use a mix of cellular, Wi-Fi and satellite. When using a mix of networks, a mobile virtual private network (mobile VPN) not only handles the security concerns, but also performs the multiple network logins automatically and keeps the application connections alive to prevent crashes or data loss during network transitions or coverage loss.

title: Mobile computing


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User:MMBKG

I like music and such.

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

title: User:MMBKG


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Penha Convent

Penha Convent (Portuguese: Convento da Penha) is a convent in Vila Velha, Brazil, on the top of a high mountain overlooking the cities of Vitória and Vila Velha. Founded in approximately 1558 by Pedro Palácios, today it is home to Espírito Santo's Patron Saint, Our Mother of Penha. Many believers make pilgrimages to this site which is surrounded by a green haven of forest. Due to its location between two large urban areas, it is also a very much sought-after leisure spot on weekends and holidays. It is considered one of the main tourist attractions of the Brazilian Southeast state of Espírito Santo.

Every year, there is an important celebration to the Saint. Where believers dedicate their miles praying and thanking the Saint. Some have traveled from all over Brazil in order to get there.

The men usually start their walk from the Capital Vitoria and finish at the Convent in Vila Velha. The women also pay their respects and walk from the closest Church (Santuario) up to the Convent. Inside the Convent there are millions of Thank you Notes from people that claim to have been cured by Nossa Senhora da Penha. They have left many of their notes along with their old handicapped chairs and much more. The view from the Convent is one of the most beautiful views. Being able to see the Island of Vitoria and the City of Vila Velha and one of the most beautiful beaches along the coast of Brazil called Praia da Costa. Where at the end of the beach, you can also see the house of the Governor.

Annual state meeting of the Terço dos Homens movement
Every year, in May, the Terço dos Homens movement gathers at the Convent. Thousands of men pray the Rosary and attend Mass.

title: Penha Convent


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Eurovision Song Contest 2005

The Eurovision Song Contest 2005 was the 50th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Kyiv, Ukraine, following the country's victory at the with the song "Wild Dances" by Ruslana. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster National Television Company of Ukraine (NTU), the contest was held at the Palace of Sports, and consisted of a semi-final on 19 May, and a final on 21 May 2005. The two live shows were presented by Ukrainian television presenters Maria Efrosinina and Pavlo Shylko.

Thirty-nine countries participated in the contest, three more than the previous record of thirty-six, that took part the year before. Bulgaria and Moldova made their first participation this year, while Hungary returned to the contest after a six-year absence, having last taken part in.

The winner was with the song "My Number One", performed by Helena Paparizou and written by Manos Psaltakis, Christos Dantis and Natalia Germanou. This was Greece's first victory in the contest after 31 years of participation. Malta, Romania, Israel and Latvia rounded out the top five. Malta equalled their best result from, while Romania achieved their best result in their Eurovision history. Unusually, all "Big Four" countries (France, Germany, Spain and United Kingdom) ended up as the "Last Four", all placing in the bottom four positions in the final.

Location
Kyiv is the capital and largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper. The Palace of Sports, a multi-purpose indoor arena, was confirmed by officials as the host venue on 6 September 2004. However, in order to host the contest, the facilities had been brought up to the standard required by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).

At the end of December 2004, work began on the renovation of the hall, for which approximately 4 million francs were allocated. Renovation works were to be finished by 20 April, however, they were completed at the beginning of May. The arena could accommodate over 5,000 seated spectators. Additionally 2,000 press delegates were catered for.

Hotel rooms were scarce as the contest organisers asked the Ukrainian government to put a block on bookings they did not control themselves through official delegation allocations or tour packages: this led to many people's hotel bookings being cancelled.

Organizers hoped that by hosting Eurovision, it would boost Ukraine's image abroad and increase tourism, while the country's new government hoped that it would also give a modest boost to the long-term goal of acquiring European Union membership.

Participating countries
Thirty-nine countries participated in the 2005 contest. Hungary returned to the contest after a six-year absence, last competing in 1998. Bulgaria and Moldova competed in the contest for the first time.

Active EBU members
broadcaster ČT initially applied to participate in the 2005 contest; however, the broadcaster reconsidered débuting in the contest and later withdrew their application. broadcaster Télé Liban initially confirmed Lebanon's début in the contest and selected the song "Quand tout s'enfuit" performed by Aline Lahoud as their entry; however, the broadcaster announced their withdrawal from the competition in March 2005 after finding out the obligation to broadcast all participating entries, including the Israeli one, as well as enabling their viewers to vote for them; this contravened a Lebanese law prohibiting any acknowledgement of Israel.

Visual design
The official logo of the contest remained the same from the 2004 contest with the country's flag in the heart being changed. Following Istanbul's 'Under the Same Sky', the slogan for the 2005 show was 'Awakening', which symbolised the awakening of the country and city ready to present itself to Europe. The postcards (short clips shown between performances) for the 2005 show illustrated Ukraine's culture and heritage along with a more modern and industrial side to the country.

This was the first edition to be broadcast in widescreen 16:9 format.

Presenters
The hosts of the Eurovision Song Contest in Kyiv were television presenter Maria "Masha" Efrosinina and DJ Pavlo "Pasha" Shylko. Previous winner Ruslana returned to the stage in Kyiv to perform in the interval act and to interview the contestants backstage in the 'green room'. Ruslana was also intended to be a presenter for the show, but was pulled out before the contest for numerous reasons, including her poor English skills. The Ukrainian boxers Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko opened the televoting, while a special trophy was presented to the winner by Ukraine's president, Viktor Yushchenko.

Publicity
An official CD and DVD was released and a new introduction was an official pin set, which contains heart-shaped pins with the flags of all thirty-nine participating countries. The EBU also commissioned a book "The Eurovision Song Contest – The Official History" by British/American author John Kennedy O'Connor to celebrate the contest's fiftieth anniversary. The book was presented on screen during the break between songs 12 and 13 (Serbia and Montenegro, Denmark). The book was published in English, German, French, Dutch, Swedish, Danish and Finnish.

Semi-final
The semi-final was held on 19 May 2005 at 21:00 (CET). 25 countries performed but all 39 participants voted. {{Legend|navajowhite|Qualifiers}}

Final
The finalists were:
 * the four automatic qualifiers, , and the ;
 * the top 10 countries from the 2004 final (other than the automatic qualifiers);
 * the top 10 countries from the 2005 semi-final.

The final was held on 21 May 2005 at 21:00 (CET) and was won by. {{Legend|Gold|Winner}}

Spokespersons
The order in which each country announced their votes was compiled by placing the countries that failed to qualify from the semi-final first in the running order they performed during the semi-final, followed by the finalists which voted in the order they performed in during the final. The spokespersons are shown alongside each country.

 * 1)  – Dodo Roscic
 * 2)  – Rolandas Vilkončius
 * 3)  – Isabel Angelino
 * 4)  – Anne Allegrini
 * 5)  – Elena Ponomareva
 * 6)  – Nancy Coolen
 * 7)  – Ragnhildur Steinunn Jónsdóttir
 * 8)  – Armelle Gysen
 * 9)  – Maarja-Liis Ilus
 * 10)  – Jari Sillanpää
 * 11)  – Ruth Gumbau
 * 12)  – Evgeniya Atanasova
 * 13)  – Dana
 * 14)  – Katarina Čas
 * 15)  – Maciej Orłoś
 * 16)  – Zsuzsa Demcsák
 * 17)  – Cheryl Baker
 * 18)  – Valerie Vella
 * 19)  – Berti Barbera
 * 20)  – Ingvild Helljesen
 * 21)  – Meltem Ersan Yazgan
 * 22)  – Elena Camerzan
 * 23)  – Zhani Ciko
 * 24)  – Melani Steliou
 * 25)  – Ainhoa Arbizu
 * 26)  – Dana Herman
 * 27)  – Nina Radulović
 * 28)  – Gry Johansen
 * 29)  – Annika Jankell
 * 30)  – Karolina Gočeva
 * 31)  – Maria Orlova
 * 32)  – Thomas Hermanns
 * 33)  – Barbara Kolar
 * 34)  – Alexis Kostalas
 * 35)  – Yana Churikova
 * 36)  – Ana Mirjana Račanović
 * 37)  – Cécile Bähler
 * 38)  – Marija Naumova
 * 39)  – Marie Myriam

Detailed voting results
The EBU introduced an undisclosed threshold number of televotes that would have to be registered in each voting country in order to make that country's votes valid. If that number was not reached, the country's backup jury would vote instead. This affected Albania, Andorra and Monaco in the semi-final, and Andorra, Moldova and Monaco in the final.

12 points
Below is a summary of all 12 points in the semi-final:

12 points
Below is a summary of all 12 points in the final:

Other awards
In addition to the main winner's trophy, the Marcel Bezençon Awards and the Barbara Dex Award were contested during the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest.

Marcel Bezençon Awards
The Marcel Bezençon Awards, organised since 2002 by Sweden's then-Head of Delegation and 1992 representative Christer Björkman, and 1984 winner Richard Herrey, honours songs in the contest's final. The awards are divided into three categories: Artistic Award which was voted by previous winners of the contest, Composer Award and Press Award.

Barbara Dex Award
The Barbara Dex Award is a humorous fan award given to the worst dressed artist each year. Named after Belgium's representative who came last in the 1993 contest, wearing her self-designed dress, the award was handed by the fansite House of Eurovision from 1997 to 2016 and is being carried out by the fansite songfestival.be since 2017.

Official album
Eurovision Song Contest: Kyiv 2005 was the official compilation album of the 2005 contest, put together by the European Broadcasting Union and released by EMI Records and CMC International on 2 May 2005. The album featured all 39 songs that entered in the 2005 contest, including the semi-finalists that failed to qualify into the grand final.

The original cover designed for the album was changed after 's withdrawal from the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 after announcing they would show advertisements over the Israeli entry. Had they entered, they would have been on track 4, disc 2 with the song "Quand tout s'enfuit" by Aline Lahoud.

It was reported that sales of the 2005 Eurovision merchandise reached record-breaking levels.

title: Eurovision Song Contest 2005


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Talk:2020

Scheduled event (July 17 - Planned launch of NASA's Mars 2020 mission) contradicts with cited source
On NASA's website it is said that the launch window is scheduled between July the 22th and August the 11th, yet on Scheduled it is written that the launch is scheduled for July the 17th. I want to fix that, but I don't know if the launch window should be written on there or a single date, since every other event on that article is a single date.

Collage depreciation
At Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Years, a discussion on whether to depreciate collages in general in going on. Please share your thoughts.--Marginataen (talk) 21:37, 22 October 2023 (UTC)

The images at the top need to be added back
I don’t know why DementiaGaming would think to remove the images on the page, but they shouldn’t be allowed to, we need them back! I don’t know why the user Deb decided to repeat what DementiaGaming did after a user brought back the pictures, but what Deb did is not good either. Why are many pages like 2009 and 2010 getting their images at the top removed? That shouldn’t happen, they’re informative. Chckl9999 (talk) 03:37, 18 November 2023 (UTC)

 * Each collage should have consensus, not be based on one person's opinion of what should be included. See the ongoing discussion at Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Years Deb (talk) 10:11, 21 January 2024 (UTC)

Date format
would also like to suggest changing the date format of this article to the DMY format (e.g. 6 June 2020 as opposed to June 6, 2020).The DMY format seems more international and more suitable for a "global" article like. Also DMY simply makes more sense as it goes from smallest to highest.

On the project page, I've presented a similar proposal to use DMY in general for articles on "generic" years, but would also like it create consensus for it specifically on this article about 2020 and all other nine articles about the 2020s Marginataen (talk) 19:41, 27 November 2023 (UTC)

 * It has now been more than a week since I posted my proposal about changing the date format for 2020 to DMY and no one has responded. If one more weeks passes without any response as well, I will consider it consensus and change it to the DMY format. By then, people would have had more than two weeks to respond. Should someone later on object, please discuss it here on the talk page before reverting. Marginataen (talk) 08:56, 5 December 2023 (UTC)
 * I'm pasting the same reply at all the 2020s talk page sections on this topic, with the exception of 2023. As of about a month ago, we had a situation in which all generic year articles had a consistent date format. Since both date styles are considered appropriate per the Manual of Style, it's unusual to see such solid consistency. Since I value consistency, I appreciated that rare situation.
 * As of last month, only 2023 was changed via local consensus to be different than the rest. If this proposal passes for this article, it would join a tiny minority of articles that do not match the overall consistent style. I oppose for that reason.
 * I would be fine with all generic year articles changing to consistently use a different style, and that is the proposal on the table at WP:VPR. Currently, it seems we're at the tail end of a pre-RfC discussion with plans to move forward with an RfC in the next week or so. I would much prefer to keep discussing the overarching change rather than have individual discussions at each year article. Firefangledfeathers (talk / contribs) 13:06, 5 December 2023 (UTC)

title: Talk:2020


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Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Reelin

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

This page is kept as an historic record.

The result of the debate was to keep the article.

Orphaned, author self-describes as questionable content. Listed on Cleanup for some time with no attention given.

 * Keep and stubify. I will when I have time, no hurry IMO, the article is substandard but not scandalously so and we have lots that are scandalous and survive those OK. Reelin appears to be on the level, so a good topic. Andrewa 00:34, 16 May 2004 (UTC)
 * Comment: Refactored and stubified. Andrewa 19:50, 17 May 2004 (UTC)
 * It needs alot of work, the conjecture needs to be edited out. But it does look like a valid topic.  I'm gonna agree with Andrewa, keep and stubify; there apears to be potential for a good article. --Starx 15:09, 16 May 2004 (UTC)

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

title: Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Reelin


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Jiang Kui

Jiāng Kuí (c. 1155 Poyang – c. 1221 Hangzhou), courtesy name Yaozhang (堯章), Art name Baishi Daoren (白石道人). Also known as "Jiang Baishi" (姜白石) was a famous Chinese poet, composer, poetry theorist and calligrapher of the Song Dynasty, particularly famed for his ci (song lyric poetry). He composed numerous poems, including the famous "He Bei Lai" and the more well known "San Wan Yue."

Life
Jiang was born in Poyang (in today's Jiangxi province). His family was of mediocre social status and Kui himself did not obtain any post in the government throughout his life. His father was a county magistrate during the reign of Emperor Gaozong of Song.

Jiang made multiple attempts on the imperial exam but was not able to pass them. He traveled extensively between the regions of Hubei, Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangsu and Fujian. He had close contacts with his contemporary poets and literati. Jiang Kui moved to Huzhou from Poyang before finally settling down in Hangzhou where he died.

Poetry
Jiang's poetic style is notably influenced by Zhou Bangyan but his own style was distinct from other poets. In his early years as an abecedarian of poetry, his mentor was Xiao Ju (蕭𣂏). According to his own biography, Jiang values the originality of his poems more than the following of established poetic theories from the past. In the eyes of 13th century artist and art theorist Chen Yu, the poetry of Jiang Kui is marked by his candidness(as a lack of overly ink-horn words) and originality. Chen noted that Jiang's poetry was not influenced by his contemporaries. As a result, Jiang was able to establish his own school at the time and influence other poets that admired his works.

Another 13th-century Ci poet Zhang Yan (張炎) described Jiang's poetic style as "Clouds that leave or stay without a trace", underlining the unpredictability of Jiang's poems.

Musicology
Aside from being a poet, Jiang was also a musicologist of classical Chinese musics. He was best known for his lyric poems. Jiang tried to restore the lost tunes of ancient times but was scoffed by the officials of Taichang Si (Office of Great constancy, a government department of ancient China in charge of ritualistic affairs as well as classical musics).

title: Jiang Kui


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Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Heterogeneity

I assume this could never be more than a dicdef. (Alternatively, this could be kept if Heterogeneous goes. One should be a redirect to the other.) -- Jao 22:49, 15 May 2004 (UTC)
 * I added this page becaus I used the term in another article and did not know how to refer to Heterogeneous properly (I am not a pro yet). Maybe, making it a redirect to Heterogeneous will do the job. -- netlad
 * Comment: I initially thought delete, dicdef pointing to heterogeneous which is itself another dicdef. But then I looked at homogeneous and homogeneity. Lots of good links to both of these. The mystery thickens: If this is kept, my gut feeling was also that heterogeneous should IMO become a redir to it, but with these other two it's the opposite, I suspect homogeneneity should redirect to homogeneous. Hmmmm? Suggest no need to list heterogeneous here until we sort this one out, anyway. There have been no talk page discussions (yet) for any of the four. Andrewa 00:22, 16 May 2004 (UTC)
 * Should use move heterogenous to heterogeneity as that is the former is an adjective whilst the latter is the noun, i.e. the name of the phenomenon. Whilst you're at it, there's a similar problem with heredity and hereditary where the latter adjective is used, when it should be a redirect to the former. Duncharris 20:36, May 16, 2004 (UTC)
 * Original poster concurs. I should have listed Heterogeneous in stead. Or I should just have listed them for merging. Thanks for setting my thoughts straight. -- Jao 20:45, 16 May 2004 (UTC)
 * I agree that merging the more useful text for heterogenous into heterogeneity and keep the noun would be the best solution here. I think this should be common practice for any such case where an adjective and a noun is present. --Netlad 22:22, 16 May 2004 (UTC)
 * Comment: I think you're right on all points. Perhaps homogeneous is an exception to this rule? Andrewa 11:52, 19 May 2004 (UTC)


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John Rocker

John Loy Rocker (born October 17, 1974) is an American former professional baseball relief pitcher who played six seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his major league debut in 1998 with the Atlanta Braves, for whom he played parts of four seasons. He was later a member of the Cleveland Indians, Texas Rangers, and Tampa Bay Devil Rays. He last played professionally for the Long Island Ducks of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball in 2005.

Rocker received notoriety during his career for making controversial statements, which began with a 1999 Sports Illustrated interview and continued after his retirement. Following the conclusion of his baseball career, Rocker competed on Survivor: San Juan del Sur with girlfriend Julie McGee, placing 16th.

Baseball career
In high school, he was a pitcher for First Presbyterian Day School in Macon, Georgia. He threw three no-hitters during his high-school career. He initially committed to play college baseball for the Georgia Bulldogs. The Atlanta Braves selected Rocker in the 18th round (516th overall) of the 1993 Major League Baseball draft.

In 1998, the Braves promoted Rocker to the major leagues. In his first season in the major leagues, he was 1–3 with a 2.13 ERA in 38 innings pitched. The following year, an injury put Atlanta closer Kerry Ligtenberg on the disabled list, moving Rocker into the role of closer, where he was 4–5 with 38 saves and a 2.49 ERA. In 2000, he was 1–2 with 24 saves, posting a 2.89 ERA, but in June 2000, Rocker was demoted after threatening a reporter.

Rocker started to receive intense taunting from opposing teams' fans due to his negative behavior, and his pitching performance began to decline. On June 22, 2001, Rocker, along with minor-league infielder Troy Cameron (Atlanta's first-round draft pick in 1997), was traded to the Cleveland Indians for right-handed relievers Steve Karsay and Steve Reed, along with cash. In Cleveland, his record that year was 3–7 with a 5.45 ERA and four saves. Rocker pitched in the ALDS against the Seattle Mariners. After the season, the Indians traded him to the Texas Rangers for pitcher David Elder. In Texas, he refused designation to the minor leagues. In 2002, he again struggled at 2–3 with a 6.66 ERA and was released. In 2003, Rocker signed with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays but was released after two appearances and an ERA of 9.00.

He took the 2004 season off to recover from surgery on his left shoulder. In 2005, he signed with the Long Island Ducks of the independent Atlantic League. In April 2005, he asked New Yorkers to "bury the hatchet." After going 0–2 with a 6.50 ERA in 23 games, he was released on June 27, 2005.

Controversial statements
In a story published in the December 27, 1999, issue of Sports Illustrated, Rocker made a number of allegations stemming from his experiences in New York City and answering a question about whether he would ever play for the New York Yankees or the New York Mets:

"I'd retire first. It's the most hectic, nerve-wracking city. Imagine having to take the 7 Train to the ballpark looking like you're riding through Beirut next to some kid with purple hair, next to some queer with AIDS, right next to some dude who just got out of jail for the fourth time, right next to some 20-year-old mom with four kids. It's depressing... The biggest thing I don't like about New York are the foreigners. You can walk an entire block in Times Square and not hear anybody speaking English. Asians and Koreans and Vietnamese and Indians and Russians and Spanish people and everything up there. How the hell did they get in this country?" During the interview, he also spoke of his opinion of the New York Mets and their fans:

"Nowhere else in the country do people spit at you, throw bottles at you, throw quarters at you, throw batteries at you and say, "Hey, I did your mother last night—she's a whore." I talked about what degenerates they were and they proved me right."

The interview was conducted while driving to a speaking engagement in Atlanta. The reporter, Jeff Pearlman, wrote that during the interview session, Rocker spat on a Georgia State Route 400 toll machine and mocked Asian women. Also, Rocker referred to Curaçaoan teammate Randall Simon as a "fat monkey".

Although Rocker later apologized after speaking with Braves legend and Hall of Famer Hank Aaron and former Atlanta mayor and congressman Andrew Young, he continued to make controversial remarks. For his comments, Commissioner Bud Selig suspended Rocker without pay for the remainder of spring training and the first 28 games of the 2000 season, which on appeal was reduced to 14 games (without a spring-training suspension).

In 2002, while with the Rangers, Rocker again made national headlines for his views after directing slurs towards patrons of a Dallas restaurant at which he was dining, located in the predominantly gay neighborhood of Oak Lawn.

In June 2006, Rocker defended former teammate Ozzie Guillén, at the time the manager of the Chicago White Sox, for referring to Chicago Sun-Times sports columnist Jay Mariotti as a "fag". Guillen, a native of Venezuela, claimed it was not a derogatory term and that, in Venezuela, the term only questions another man's courage rather than his sexual orientation.

"This is a free country. If he wants to use a lewd term, he should be able to use a lewd term," Rocker told the Chicago Tribune. "Can't you use a lewd term in America if you want?" Referring to sensitivity training, he was quoted as saying: "It was a farce, a way for the scared little man, Bud Selig, to get people off his ass." Rocker stated that when he attended mandatory sensitivity training he would seldom remain longer than 15 minutes. He also claimed he never paid the $500 fine that was levied against him.

In late 2006, Rocker was interviewed by the sports blog Deadspin, along with fitness model and then-girlfriend Alicia Marie. In the interview, Rocker discussed his "Speak English" campaign, as well as his upcoming book, Rocker: Scars & Strikes. Rocker stated that the book would not be used to try to repair his reputation, but would rather be "more conservative Republican rantings". Also during the interview, Rocker lambasted John Schuerholz, his former general manager with the Braves, calling him "a piece of shit".

On Survivor, during an argument with fellow castaway Natalie Anderson, Rocker told her, "If you were a man, I'd knock your teeth out."

Steroid use
In March 2007, Rocker was implicated in a steroid ring that included Applied Pharmacy of Mobile, Alabama. Rocker initially denied the reports that he had used somatropin but a spokesperson later claimed that Rocker had been prescribed human growth hormone following a shoulder surgery. In December 2011, he admitted to using steroids, saying "Yeah, of course I was [using steroids]. I mean who wasn't? Let’s be honest here, who wasn't?"

Movie and television appearances
The comments made by Rocker about New York City would be lampooned by the MTV animated series Celebrity Deathmatch in their episode "Celebrity Deathmatch: North vs. South"; befitting the theme, his opponent was New York Yankees icon Derek Jeter, with an elderly announcer reciting some of his dialogue in-universe before the match to rile the crowd against Rocker (though he would not portray himself in the episode, being impersonated by a worker on the show, Sean Lynch). Jeter, thoroughly infuriated by his comments, wins the match by throwing a tomahawk into his pitching shoulder (so deeply it forces his arm into an upright position), then electrocuting Rocker by hooking a car battery to his tongue, with his charred body resembling the Statue of Liberty.

Rocker made his screen-acting debut in the 2002 horror comedy The Greenskeeper as a murderous golf-club groundskeeper.

In 2006, Rocker appeared on the Spike TV network's Pros vs. Joes, a program that pits retired professional athletes against amateurs.

In August 2014 it was announced that Rocker would appear on the 29th season of the competitive reality series Survivor alongside his girlfriend Julie McGee. He was the third person voted out, finishing in 16th place after he became the center of negative attention. He was immediately recognized by some of the other players who were aware of his controversial statements. He was voted out of the game with an immunity idol in his pocket on Day 8. McGee made it to the merge phase of the game, but quit in 12th place after suffering an emotional breakdown, citing the negativity surrounding Rocker earlier in the game as one of the multiple reasons that she decided to withdraw from the competition.

Though not directly based on Rocker, Danny McBride said that Kenny Powers, the main protagonist of the HBO series Eastbound and Down that the pitcher was "more or less an inspiration" for the character.

Other media activity
In December 2011, Rocker released his autobiography, Scars and Strikes. As of 2012, he writes a column for WorldNetDaily, a conservative political site.

title: John Rocker


text:
Wikipedia:Local Embassy

''This is the local embassy on the English Wikipedia. More embassies in other languages may be found at Wikimedia Embassy.''

 Welcome to the embassy of the English-language Wikipedia! This page is for discussing Wikipedia-related multilingual coordination. If you have any announcements or questions regarding international issues or the English Wikipedia, you are invited to post them here or to the talk page for this page. Message the embassy

مرحبا بكم في سفارة ويكيبيديا الإنجليزية. إذا كان عندك إعلانات أو أسئلة في ما يتصل بالمسائل العالمية أو بويكيبيديا الإنجليزية، يمكنك أن تكتبها هنا أو في صفحة نقاش هذه المقالة. [ رسالة إلى السفارة]

স্বাগতম! এটি হলো ইংরেজি ভাষায় উইকিপিডিয়ার দূতাবাস পৃষ্ঠা। এই পৃষ্ঠাটি উইকিপিডিয়া সংক্রান্ত বহুভাষী সমন্বয় নিয়ে আলোচনা করার উদ্দেশ্যে তৈরি। যদি আপনার আন্তর্জাতিক বিষয় কিংবা ইংরেজি উইকিপিডিয়া সম্বন্ধিত বিষয়ে কোনো ঘোষণা করবার থাকে বা কোনো ধরনের প্রশ্ন থেকে থাকে, তাহলে আপনাকে তা এই পৃষ্ঠায় কিংবা এই পৃষ্ঠার আলোচনা পাতায় লেখার জন্য আমন্ত্রণ জানানো হচ্ছে। [ দূতাবাসকে বার্তা পাঠান]

Willkommen auf der Botschaft der englischsprachigen Wikipedia. Diese Seite dient der Koordination von mehr-/vielsprachigen Angelegenheiten auf Wikipedia. Fragen und Vorschläge zu internationalen Themen oder zur englischsprachigen Wikipedia können hier oder auf der Diskussionsseite zur Botschaft gepostet werden. [ Mitteilung an die Botschaft]

¡Bienvenidos a la embajada de la Wikipedia en inglés! Si tienen algún anuncio o alguna pregunta con respecto a temas internacionales o a la Wikipedia en inglés, pueden publicar sus comentarios aquí o en la página de discusión de este artículo. [ Mensaje a la embajada]

به سفارتخانهٔ ویکی‌پدیای انگلیسی خوش آمدید! این صفحه برای بحث پیرامون هماهنگی‌های چندزبانهٔ مرتبط با ویکی‌پدیا در نظر گرفته شده‌است. اگر هرگونه اعلان یا پرسشی دربارهٔ مشکلات بین‌المللی یا دربارهٔ ویکی‌پدیای انگلیسی دارید، از شما دعوت می‌کنیم که آن‌ها را در اینجا یا صفحهٔ بحث همین صفحه ارسال کنید. [ پیامی برای سفارتخانه بفرستید]

Bienvenue à l'ambassade de la Wikipédia en anglais ! Si vous avez une annonce ou une demande concernant les questions internationales ou la Wikipédia en anglais, vous pouvez la formuler ici ou sur la page de discussion de cette page. [ Consulter des ambassadeurs]

ברוכים הבאים לשגרירות של ויקיפדיה האנגלית! אם יש לכם שאלות או הודעות לגבי הויקיפדיה האנגלית או בעיות בינלאומיות, אתם מוזמנים להעלות אותן פה או בעמוד הדיון של ערך זה. תודה! [שלחו הודעה לשגרירי ויקיפדיה ]

स्वागत है आपका अंग्रेज़ी भाषा विकिपीडिया दूतावास में! यह पृष्ठ विकिपीडिया से सम्बन्धित बहुभाषी तालमेल के लिए है। यदि आपको कोई घोषणा करनी हो या अन्तर्राष्ट्रीय मुद्दों या अंग्रेज़ी विकिपीडिया से सम्बन्धित प्रश्न पूछने हो, तो आप उन्हें इस लेख के 'वार्ता पृष्ठ' पर लिखने के लिए आमन्त्रित हैं। '''[ दूतावास को सन्देश भेजिए]

英語版ウィキペディアの大使館へようこそ！このページはウィキペディア関連の異なる言語での連携について議論を行う場として利用されています. 異なる言語での議論や英語版ウィキペディアに関する発表や質問がありましたら、このページかトークページに投稿してください. '''[ メッセージを投稿]

영어 위키백과의 대사관에 오신 것을 환영합니다! 이 페이지는 위키백과 관련 다언어 코디네이션에 대한 토론 페이지입니다. 국제 문제 또는 영어 위키백과에 관한 공지 사항이나 질문이 있으면 여기에 게시하거나 문서의 토론 페이지에 글을 남겨주세요. '''[ 대사관에 글 남기기]

स्वागत छ यहाँलाई अङ्ग्रेजी भाषा विकिपिडिया दूतावासमा । यो पृष्ठ विकिपिडियासँग सम्बन्धित बहुभाषी व्यवस्थापनको लागि हो । यदि तपाईँलाई केही घोषणा गर्नु छ वा अन्तर्राष्ट्रिय मुद्दा र अङ्ग्रेजी विकिपिडियासँग सम्बन्धित प्रश्न सोध्नु छ भने तपाईँ यस लेखको 'वार्ता पृष्ठ' मा लेख्न सक्नुहुन्छ । '''[ दूतावासलाई सन्देश पठाउनुहोस्]

Bem-vindo à embaixada da Wikipédia inglesa! Se tem qualquer anúncio ou perguntas sobre temas internacionais ou sobre a Wikipédia inglesa, pode publicar os seus comentários aqui ou na página de discussão desta página. '''[ Envie uma mensagem à embaixada]

Välkommen till engelskspråkiga Wikipedias ambassad! Denna sida är till för att diskutera flerspråkig samordning som har att göra med Wikipedia. Om du har några nyheter eller frågor om internationella ämnen eller engelskspråkiga Wikipedia får du gärna skriva om dem här eller på denna artikels diskussionssida. '''[ Meddela ambassaden]

 అందరికీ నమస్కారములు ! అంగ్ల వీకీపీడియా దూతవాసానికీ స్వాగతం.ఇక్కడ మీ భాషలో ఆంగ్ల వీకీపీడియా పై ఉస్న సందేహాలను తీర్చబడును.దూతలు కీ మీ సందేహాలను పంపగలరు. '''[ సందేశం పంపన్డి]

انگریزی ویکیپیڈیا کے سفارت خانے میں خوش آمدید! اِس سفارت خانہ میں اردو ویکیپیڈیا سے کچھ صارفین موجود ہیں، آپ اُن صارفین سے اردو زبان اور ویکیپیڈیا کے متعلق اپنی مشکلات اور مسائل بیان کرسکتے ہیں۔ '''[ سفارت خانے میں پیغام دیں]

欢迎来到英语维基百科的大使馆！本页是用作讨论关于维基百科的跨语言协调. 如果您有任何关于跨语言或英语维基百科的提议或问题，请在此处或条目的讨论页提出. '''[ 添加留言]

歡迎來到英語維基百科的大使館！本頁是用作討論關於維基百科的跨語言協調. 如果您有任何關於跨語言或英語維基百科的提議或問題，請在此處或條目的討論頁提出. '''[ 添加留言]

Local embassies
Here, visitors can ask one of the editor-ambassadors below for help directly in their own language or regarding topics of said language/region. In the List of official languages by country and territory you can check the region or country where a language is spoken. If you are bilingual and have the desire to volunteer, feel free to add your name in your language section.

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Esperanto
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title: Wikipedia:Local Embassy


text:
User:Goodralph/old stuff

Pages I've started or contributed to

 * Note: I've stopped updating this list.

 * 5-1-1
 * AC Transit
 * André Tanneberger
 * Ariba
 * Berkeley, California
 * British Petroleum
 * Bulgogi
 * Caltrans
 * Cornerback
 * Diebold
 * Edward DeBono
 * Emeryville, California
 * Fastrak
 * Fresh Air
 * Fritz Kolbe
 * Froogle
 * Irvine Company
 * Jerry Rice
 * Jetblue Airways
 * John Harsanyi
 * John Wayne Airport
 * Jon Burgstone, Burgstone was a great professor at Cal, I've lost touch with Prof. Burgstone, I wonder where he is these days? If you can help me get in touch with Prof. Burgstone, I'd really appreciate it.  I searched for Burgstone on the CET page and saw the Burgstone entry, but no Burgstone email.
 * Ken Ribet
 * Lemon theory
 * Market liquidity
 * Mathematical Sciences Research Institute
 * Miroslav Klose
 * Newman's Own
 * Newport Beach, California
 * Newport Coast, California
 * Oersted Medal
 * Orange County, California
 * Ralphs
 * Rick Pitino
 * San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge
 * San Francisco Muni
 * Hayward-San Mateo Bridge
 * Social networking
 * Star Wars Galaxies
 * Success is a Choice
 * Team Fortress Classic
 * Terry Gross
 * The All-Seeing Eye
 * The Market for Lemons
 * The Tavis Smiley Show
 * UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism
 * University of California, Berkeley

title: User:Goodralph/old stuff


text:
Cowboy Junkies

Cowboy Junkies are an alternative country and folk rock band formed in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in 1985 by Alan Anton (bassist), Michael Timmins (songwriter, guitarist), Peter Timmins (drummer) and Margo Timmins (vocalist). The three Timminses are siblings, and Anton worked with Michael Timmins during their first couple of bands. John Timmins was a member of the band but left the group before the recording of their debut studio album. The band line-up has never changed since, although they use several guest musicians on many of their studio albums, including multi-instrumentalist Jeff Bird who has performed on every album except the first.

Cowboy Junkies' 1986 debut studio album, produced by Canadian producer Peter Moore, was the blues-inspired Whites Off Earth Now!!, recorded in the family garage using a single ambisonic microphone.

The band gained wide recognition with their second studio album, The Trinity Session (1988), recorded in 1987 at Toronto's Church of the Holy Trinity. Their sound, again with Peter Moore using the ambisonic microphone, and their mix of blues, country, folk, rock and jazz earned them both critical attention and a strong fan base. The Los Angeles Times named the recording one of the 10 best albums of 1988.

Cowboy Junkies have gone on to record 16 studio albums and five live albums, with tour dates booked into 2024.

Early history
Alan Anton and Michael Timmins, lifelong friends who met in kindergarten, formed their first band in high school. In 1979, influenced by post-punk bands such as Siouxsie and the Banshees and Joy Division, they recruited drummer Geoff Railton and vocalist Liza Dawson-Whisker, and formed Hunger Project in Toronto. They moved to Manhattan's Lower East Side and performed at a variety of clubs. In early 1981, the Hunger Project embarked on a multi-city tour of the United States. After that, Hunger Project moved to the United Kingdom, where they toured for three months and released the single "The Same Inside/Assembly" on their independent label, Latent Recordings.

When Hunger Project disbanded, Alan Anton and Michael Timmins remained in London and started an improvisational band named Germinal. The members – Michael Timmins on guitar, Alan Anton on bass, a drummer, and saxophonist, played whatever they wished on their instruments at the same time. Germinal released two studio albums: Germinal 1 (1983) and Din (1984). The music newspaper New Musical Express said Germinal "ranks among the most innovative and aggressive sounds to emerge from the independent scene this year." Alan Anton and Michael Timmins had a somewhat different take, saying, "It was the ultimate release for us. But for the audience, it was quite a chore." In London, they developed journeyman skills as musicians, and expanded their knowledge of music history — Michael Timmins worked in a record store for a year to make ends meet while with Germinal. Among those who were to influence Michael Timmins and Alan Anton were jazz musicians Cecil Taylor, Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, along with the sound of early blues musicians Lightnin' Hopkins, John Lee Hooker, Bukka White, and Robert Johnson. Germinal broke up after three years in autumn of 1984. Alan Anton moved to Berlin and Michael Timmins returned to New York City.

Upon their return to Toronto in 1985, Alan Anton and Michael Timmins rented a house, insulated the tiny garage, and, with younger brother Pete Timmins sitting in on drums, began exploring a new musical direction. Margo was drafted to join and recalls, "I was contemplating going on to graduate school, staying in school. That was safe. I never wanted to be a musician or be onstage." Nevertheless, Michael Timmins began to hear something in what they were doing with their initial jams, realizing that a female voice was what the band needed. Michael Timmins said, "I thought if you had this female voice on top of it, you could do anything you wanted."

However, the slow musical tempos and whispery, hushed tones that defined their early work was not just musical inspiration, but came about by necessity. Their recording studio was their repurposed garage, which was just behind the house and bordered closely with their neighbours. On their first jam session, the police showed up due to a noise complaint from the neighbour. According to Michael Timmins, "We realized we had to tone down. One thing fed into the other: Margo began to realize that her singing voice was more effective quiet. We began to realize, if we can get down underneath Margo, the sound will be more effective. Pete picked up brushes – he was just learning to play drums at that point. Everything sort of came down. We learned to play with less volume."

When the unnamed band was preparing for its first gig, the members considered various names before choosing Cowboy Junkies. During their early gigs the band would perform at The Rivoli which had a small space in the back. The group would perform a rhythmic groove while Margo sang improvised vocal melodies and portions of old blues songs. Many times the Junkies entire performance would be a single jam session.

Peter Moore, a recording enthusiast who had ambitions of becoming a producer, was at their first show. According to Moore, "I was mesmerized by Margo. The very first show, people weren't paying attention to them, because they were playing so softly and quietly. Margo had her back to the audience a lot of the time."

1980s
When the Cowboy Junkies were ready to record a studio album the band sought a like-minded recording engineer. They met Peter Moore at a dinner party, and when they began talking about recording equipment and techniques, they found that Moore's interest in single-microphone recording meshed with their desire to capture the intimate sound of their rehearsal garage. Moore had just purchased a Calrec Ambisonic microphone at the wholesale price of $9,000. The Cowboy Junkies and Moore came together at the rehearsal space on June 26, 1986, and turned the garage into a recording studio. Moore arranged the group around his Calrec, jury-rigged a control room in the kitchen, and started recording.

The Cowboy Junkies shopped their material but were unable to find a label to distribute their work, so they revived the indie label Latent Recordings that Michael Timmins and Anton had used for their Hunger Project and Germinal works, and released Whites Off Earth Now!! in October 1986. They sold 3,000 copies. The band then toured the US. Michael Timmins described the experience: "While touring Whites we had spent a lot of time in the Southern states, especially Virginia, Georgia and the Carolinas. For some reason the club owners down there took a liking to what we were doing so we spent a lot of time crossing the kudzu choked highways that ran through the heart of the old Confederacy. Those were the days when having to spend a night in a hotel room would mean the difference between eating the next day or paying for the gas to get us to the next town, so we spent a lot of our time sleeping on the floors of friendly promoters, fans, waitresses and bartenders."

The band's next project, The Trinity Session (1988), became their breakthrough. Peter Moore again produced the album. They approached the project as a reaction against the MIDI–dominated musical styles of the '80s. Moore said, "I was angry that music had gotten into drum machines and MIDI. No humanity, no nothing. I'm listening to these recordings from the '50s with two or three mics and I'm going, 'Man that's real music.'" He chose the Church of the Holy Trinity in Toronto for its natural reverb. To better persuade the officials of the historic church, Moore claimed "The Timmins Family Singers" were recording a Christmas special. The session began early on November 27, 1987. Songs with the fewest instruments were recorded first, and then the songs with gradually more complex arrangements. In this way Moore was able to solve acoustic problems one by one. To better balance Margo's vocals against the electric guitars and drums, she was recorded through a PA system left behind by a previous group. By making subtle changes in volume and placement relative to the microphone over six hours, Moore and the band finally reached the distinctive sound of the album.

Music critic for Rolling Stone magazine, Anthony DeCurtis, summed up the result of the group's efforts in a four-star review of the album: "The Trinity Session is in the great tradition of albums that establish a mood and sustain it so consistently that the entire record seems like one continuously unfolding song. The mood in this instance is hypnotic and introspective – an intense, melancholic longing that blends the elemental emotions of country music and the blues with the poetic world-weariness of the Velvet Underground. [...] Having good songs, the skill to convey what they have to say and, most important, a vision, the Cowboy Junkies dispensed with high-tech trumpery and made their record simply and seriously. That attitude helped make the album as important as it is inspiring."

The album was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

1990s
The band's third studio album was more challenging, requiring three attempts to get the sound the band desired. Yet despite the problems with the making of it, the band considers it a very exciting and turbulent time in their career and state that The Caution Horses (1990) remains one of their favourite albums. The band rented a small recording studio in the docklands of Toronto with the intention of using the room like the garage their debut studio album was recorded in, instead of a room with live acoustics like the church room they used for The Trinity Session (1988). The session went badly because the group had just come off the road after a gruelling tour and were tired, particularly Margo Timmins who had a terrible head cold. After a few hours they realized the session wasn't working out, and they left.

The second attempt was made on April 21 of 1987 when Peter Moore rented the Sharon Temple, an historic landmark located in the village of Sharon, Ontario. Michael Timmins recalls, "The arrangements that we had developed for this new set of songs were at times so full and lush, unlike the spareness of most of Trinity's songs, that we were immediately confronted with the problem of how to control this swirl of sound so that it didn't just turn to mush on tape. Another problem was that the Temple was a lot more acoustically lively than any of us had imagined. As a result when the music swelled it would often spill over into Margo's vocal mic and feedback." At the end of three days during which the temperature would drop below freezing, Michael Timmins states, "When we packed up and left Sharon that day I don't think that any of us felt that we had captured anything special. It had been a difficult three days and I think that we were all just happy that on that third day we had at least made some decent recordings of the songs if not necessarily memorable ones." Over the next several months the band were touring and playing songs on the Sharon tape. As the band listened, new ideas for them evolved. They also wrote additional songs. Although the band truly loved the recordings, the songs continued to develop on stage, and they believed the session no longer accurately represented where they were as a band. In 2022, however, they released the Sharon session as a special edition vinyl album as well as in streaming formats.

At the end of the tour, they decided to go into Eastern Studios in downtown Toronto and reinvent how they recorded themselves. The Caution Horses sessions went quickly and smoothly, and were recorded over several days in December 1989. Michael Timmins believes: "The beauty of the recording and one of the reasons it remains one of our favourites is that it captures the essence of the band which magically fell together during the recording of The Trinity Session and which forged its own voice, under the glare of a very intense spotlight, in the clubs and concert halls of the world."

With their next studio album, Black Eyed Man (1992), Michael Timmins wanted to explore music structure, specifically time shifts and tempo shifts; while Margo Timmins wanted to expand her singing style and her range. Several musicians from previous albums showed up during the rehearsal sessions, along with about twenty five other Toronto players that were known to the band, or recruited because of their skills with instruments the band wanted to include in the album. Realizing he needed a theme to hold the album together what Michael Timmins decided upon was "love found, love lost and love betrayed - it was to be the journey of the faceless, nameless and haunted Black Eyed Man."

The band's fifth studio album, Pale Sun, Crescent Moon (1993) is a song cycle about male-female relationships. Margo Timmins describes the theme of the album as "there is love and there is all that conspires to steal love away." Michael Timmins says, "It is a very dense and complex work both lyrically and musically." Music critic, Mike Boehm, summed the album up this way: "By the album's end, Margo Timmins, the singer known for her preternatural hush, can be heard declaring herself with assertive bite: 'It's a (expletive) ole world, but this ole girl, well she ain't giving in.' While it hasn't exactly turned into a hard-rock band (the closely drawn, highly literate, mood-conscious internal monologue remains the signature of the band's style), those aggressive opening and closing moments do signal a desire to avoid being typecast as that whispering band that found success by recording in an echoing church."

The Cowboy Junkies' sixth studio album, Lay It Down (1996), was one in which the group wanted to make the music outside of Toronto and away from usual routines, so they searched for a place that was a comfortable drive away from Toronto, but would feel remote. Alan Anton recalls, "We found Rock Island, named not for music but for geology. It is actually one big rock with stuff growing on it and has one small house with a great stone fireplace. We went there for a week at a time and between chopping wood, cooking, boating, whittling, hiking and staring into the fire, worked up some songs that were as laid back and sparse as the setting." When the Junkies went to record the songs, they felt that their chosen songs would come together if they could "find a studio which would approximate the vibe of Rock Island in the sense of a relaxed but focused mood and its remoteness from the music industry mainland." They found a big-porched southern house in Athens, Georgia that fit their needs. The Junkies moved into the rented home in the suburbs of Athens in June 1995. The producer and engineer John Keane had built a homey but state-of-the-art studio, and the band settled in quickly.

The Cowboy Junkies' last studio album of the decade is an alternative country album, Miles from Our Home (1998). Wanting to repeat the process of writing and creating used for Lay It Down, Michael Timmins found a house near a gristmill on a pond, a couple hours drive from Toronto, where he spent six months writing songs. During that time, Margo and Peter Timmins and Alan Anton would come down to work on songs. Then Michael wrote more, until the songs were worked out and ready to record. On New Year's Day in 1997, just as Timmins was planning the album, the band heard that Townes Van Zandt had died. Van Zandt was a friend of the band, had toured with them in their bus in 1990, and was perhaps the biggest influence as a songwriter on Michael. On the day that Michael Timmins had heard that Van Zandt had died he wrote the first draft of "Blue Guitar", "as a tribute to the man who had the bluest guitar that I had ever heard."

2000s
Throughout their career, Cowboy Junkies have approached each studio album to see where they can change or improve. Open, which was released on May 15, 2001, follows in that tradition. While they were on a tour to support their live album Waltz Across America, which lasted nine months and had many breaks in the schedule, they began working on new material. They added two to three new songs a month into their performances, allowing the songs to evolve on stage. During breaks, they would go to sound engineer Daryl Smith's studio, Chemical Sound, to live record material they had created. Being able to set up in a couple hours, record some tracks, and be done by the end of the day was a departure from their habit of trying to complete an album's worth of songs in a set recording period. On each visit, they would record two or three songs. They also took the opportunity to re-record songs. After the band had recorded fifteen tracks, they listened and decided they had the songs they needed, with two additional songs recorded at Peter Moore's home studio.

One Soul Now (2004) was recorded over the course of a year, from October 2002 to October 2003. Its central idea is that everyone is interconnected. When the band returned home after their Open Tour, they decided to turn their rehearsal area into a recording studio which they dubbed The Clubhouse. This new arrangement changed the process of how they created their tracks. Previously, they would start in the rehearsal space, determine how the songs would work, then go to a studio. Now, the band recorded everything as they worked through the rehearsal process.

The Cowboy Junkies next project was Early 21st Century Blues, which was recorded February through March 2005, and released in August of that year. It was begun a few months after their previous tour. The theme for the album was war, violence, fear, greed, ignorance, or loss, and everybody had to bring two or three songs written by other people. This album was unique in that John Timmins recorded with his siblings, playing guitar.

At the End of Paths Taken was released on April 9, 2007. Michael Timmins wrote songs that "reflect the complex, frustrating, edifying, and conflict-ridden web of relationships that constitute the family, from nuclear to extended to global. He is a parent, and a son with aging parents. He plays with his siblings in the Cowboy Junkies." Timmins blends his alternative country music sound with ferocious guitar work on "My Little Basquiat" and "Mountain". At times Timmins sounds as if he has lost control of his guitar playing, "until you realize there's not a stray note to be found. . . . Timmons' [sic] guitar playing has grown more aggressive over the years."

For the twentieth anniversary of their breakthrough studio album, The Trinity Session (1988), the Cowboy Junkies reinterpreted the album to highlight what twenty years of performing experience brought to the songs. In order to expand upon the goal of reinterpreting, the Cowboy Junkies invited three guest musicians whose work has affected the Cowboy Junkies, and whose work and lives were affected by the album. Guest musicians on the 2007 album include Natalie Merchant, Vic Chesnutt, and Ryan Adams. Each does lead vocal on one of the album's songs (Merchant on "To Love Is to Bury", Chesnutt on "Postcard Blues", and Adams on "200 More Miles"). They also perform on other tracks. Jeff Bird, a session musician who has appeared on virtually every Cowboy Junkies album, is also included in the project. In order to create the same atmosphere, they kept rehearsal to a minimum, getting together for a few hours a day before the recording. The guest musicians worked with the band to re-imagine the songs, making suggestions, trying out fresh nuances. The album contains a performance film, Trinity Revisited, and a documentary film, Trinity Session Revisited. Directors Pierre and François Lamoureux, produced and recorded the album and the films. Although the album was not recorded with a single microphone like the original album, the directors placed the musicians in a circle and used a surround microphone, augmented the recording with ten close-mics to record them.

2010s
The Nomad Series (2017) is a set of four studio albums that was released over three years from 2010 to 2012. The Nomad Series is not based on a particular theme regarding music, but are based on a set of paintings by their friend, artist Enrique Martinez Celaya. The group found the name appropriate, since they have been touring for over 30 years. The Junkies had no recording contract when they created the Nomad Series, which freed them up to be experimental with their music, to avoid categorizing the planned releases.

The first album in the series is Renmin Park (2010), which is based on ideas the band's principal songwriter, Michael Timmins, got while living in China for three months with his wife and three children. Two of his children were adopted from China, and during their stay they visited the birth village of his adopted daughters. Most of their time was spent in Jingjiang, situated on the Yangtze River about two hours' drive from Shanghai. The music that inspired Timmins most during the visit was found at Renmin Park, where a variety of musicians would gather throughout the day, bringing their erhus, pipas, shangxians, various percussion instruments; and a mix of singers performed. Timmins found most of the musicians outstanding, he thought the singers were good because they all performed with passion. About halfway through the visit, Timmins was introduced to Eric Chen, who was passionate about music, and became Timmins' friend. Chen brought Timmins a variety of CDs and videos that showcased the Chinese rock scene.

Michael asked his brother, Peter Timmins, to send him a high-end portable recorder, which he carried everywhere he went, and recorded music, conversations, exercise classes, badminton games, traffic, students chatter in classrooms, street hawkers, and more. He sent the recordings to Joby Baker in British Columbia with instructions to create loops of the sounds, and to use his imagination. The core of the album is built around a fictional love story between two people who live in different worlds that always keep them apart. Renmin Park is also a thank-you letter to the people of the city that so kindly welcomed him and his family.

On December 25, 2009, at the age of 45, Cowboy Junkies friend, Vic Chesnutt, died from an overdose of muscle relaxants. Chesnutt was generally a friendly and cheerful man, but he sometimes suffered bouts of severe depression. Demons, released January 18, 2011, is the Cowboy Junkies tribute to him. The band had included him in their twentieth anniversary celebration of The Trinity Session when they made Trinity Revisited (2007). Chesnutt sang lead vocals on the song, "Postcard Blues." He had also toured with the group several times, starting with the tour supporting Lay It Down (1996). Michael Timmins stated, "One of the hopes of this album is that it inspires people to seek out the originals and keep his music alive. We had intended to do an album where he would write the songs, and we would be the band. Now we're trying to fulfil a bit of that desire." The Cowboy Junkies managed to turn an album born from grief into an assertion of life.

On October 14, 2011, music critic Jason Lent began his review of Sing in My Meadow with this observation, "When R.E.M. called it quits, the band talked about walking away having maintained their artistic integrity throughout a 30-year career. As Cowboy Junkies pass the quarter century mark, the Toronto band must rest well at night. The band's consistent work flies under the radar more times than not and the band sounds content with keeping it that way." He continues, "One of the band's live staples in recent years is "Hunted" from 1994's Pale Sun Crescent Moon. Revisiting the song here, the original sounds frail and timid in comparison. Margo belts out the lyrics with the dry bitterness of someone who has witnessed first-hand the arrows that fly between men and women. As the band shakes the rafters, Bird delivers a mandolin solo that redefines the possibilities of the instrument."

The Wilderness was released on March 27, 2012, and is the fourth and final entry of The Nomad Series. The album reflects the introspective nature of winter. The album is a return to the folk vibe the band played with in the late 80s and early 90s. Songwriter Michael Timmins states: "I started to think in terms of an album of songs reflecting on the lives of characters I'd written about early in the bands career and bringing those characters . . . into the future to see where their lives were at now." About his lyrics, Timmins says: "Some of those songs have little touch points where . . . you can see how they connect to earlier songs -- even character's names and stuff pops into them, and that's intentional." The style of the songs on the album comes closer to the typical Cowboy Junkies music, more than the other albums in The Nomad series.

The Cowboy Junkies studio album, All That Reckoning, was released on July 13, 2018. In an interview about the upcoming album with Billboard, guitarist and songwriter Michael Timmins said, "There's a lot of pressures and a lot of crumbling of institutions, very little foundation to put one's feet on again, especially at an older age. You sort of expect things to be there and realize, 'My God, what I thought was a standard, whether it be an institution or a way of dealing with people in our society, is disappearing." In 2019, they joined the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.

2020s
The Cowboy Junkies' eighteenth studio album, Ghosts, was released digitally on March 30, 2020.

The band contributed a cover version of Bob Dylan's 2020 song "I've Made Up My Mind to Give Myself to You" to the Dylan Revisited compilation album in 2021. Variety ranked it the 17th best Dylan cover of all time the month after it premiered.

Their nineteenth studio album, a cover album, Songs of the Recollection, was released on March 25, 2022. Such Ferocious Beauty followed in 2023.

Concerts and television performances
Michael Timmins states that "By the Spring of 1990 we had been on the road for close to two years straight, trying to stay right-side-up in the whirlwind of attention that was created by the release of The Trinity Session (1988) and the subsequent release of The Caution Horses (1990). We had accumulated, literally, trunks full of press clippings from around the world, but most importantly we had built up our confidence on stage. Margo was emerging as a true front-person and we were gelling as band. In May of that year we landed in the London for our first full fledge UK tour and were greeted with much adulation and interest. The tour was a tremendous success on all levels and thankfully the BBC was there to record one of the shows at The Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester."

The Cowboy Junkies have performed on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The David Letterman Show, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Later... with Jools Holland, Saturday Night Live, at Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, when they were inducted in 2015, and many other venues. Among their recorded and commercially available concerts is the June 25, 2002 documentary Open Road, a four-hour DVD/CD documentary of performances from 2001. The DVD contains their Quebec City Summer Festival concert. In June 2007, they performed alongside the Boston Pops at Boston Symphony Hall conducted by Keith Lockhart. On January 1, 2017, Cowboy Junkies were part of CBC's The Strombo Show's Hip 30. Canadian bands covered songs from the Tragically Hip to commemorate the Hip's 30th anniversary. Including the compilation albums Open Road and The Radio One Sessions (both 2002), the Junkies have published seven of their live performances.

Personnel
There are four band members, all siblings except Anton, who created and performed in two prior bands with Michael Timmins.
 * Margo Timmins (vocals, born January 27, 1961, Montreal)
 * Michael Timmins (guitar and chief songwriter, born April 21, 1959, Montreal)
 * Peter Timmins (drums, born October 29, 1965, Montreal)
 * Alan Anton (bass, born June 22, 1959, Montreal)

Since their second studio album the band has performed and recorded with multi-instrumentalist Jeff Bird, whose current role includes acoustic and electric mandolins, harmonica, percussion, and samples.

Singles

 * A"A Common Disaster" also peaked at No. 11 on the Canadian Rock Singles chart.

Compilation appearances

 * It Came from Canada, Vol. 4, 1988 ("Blue Moon Revisited (Song for Elvis)")
 * Pump Up the Volume, 1990 ("Me and the Devil Blues")
 * The Cities' Sampler Vol. 2: Collectibles, 1990 ("Decoration Day")
 * Deadicated 1991 ("To Lay Me Down")
 * Born to Choose, 1993 ("Lost My Driving Wheel")
 * Upfront! Canadians Live from Mountain Stage, 1994 ("Misguided Angel")
 * Natural Born Killers, 1994 ("Sweet Jane")
 * Borrowed Tunes: A Tribute to Neil Young, 1994 ("Tired Eyes")
 * Oh What a Feeling: A Vital Collection of Canadian Music, 1996 ("Misguided Angel")
 * The Truth About Cats & Dogs, 1996 ("Angel Mine")
 * Cities' Sampler Vol. 10, 1998 ("Miles from Our Home")
 * WXRV Presents: Live from the River Music Hall Vol. 1, 1998 ("Come Calling")
 * Return of the Grievous Angel: A Tribute to Gram Parsons, 1999 ("Ooh Las Vegas")
 * Poet: A Tribute to Townes Van Zandt, 2001 ("Highway Kind")
 * 107.1 KGSR Radio Austin - Broadcasts Vol.10, 2002 ("Something More Besides You")
 * WYEP Live and Direct: Volume 4 - On Air Performances, 2002 ("Thousand Year Prayer")
 * Beautiful: A Tribute to Gordon Lightfoot, 2003 ("The Way I Feel")
 * This Bird Has Flown – A 40th Anniversary Tribute to the Beatles' Rubber Soul, 2005 ("Run for Your Life")
 * Northern Songs: Canada's Best and Brightest, 2008 ("Sweet Jane")
 * The Rounder Records Story, 2010 ("Small Swift Birds")
 * Flight, 2012 ("Sweet Jane")
 * The Kennedy Suite, 2013 ("Disintegrating")
 * God Don't Never Change: The Songs of Blind Willie Johnson, 2016 ("Jesus is Coming Soon")

title: Cowboy Junkies


text:
User:Aidan W

A student at the Institute of Technology, Tralee, and living in Killarney. Currently studying Computer programming and Multimedia. Regular contributer at GameDev and Boards.ie under the alias "doodle_sketch".

title: User:Aidan W


text:
Regions of Europe

Europe, the westernmost portion of Eurasia, is often divided into regions and subregions based on geographical, cultural or historical factors. Since there is no universal agreement on Europe's regional composition, the placement of individual countries may vary based on criteria being used. For instance, the Balkans is a distinct geographical region within Europe, but individual countries may alternatively be grouped into South-eastern Europe or Southern Europe.

Regional affiliation of countries may also evolve over time. Malta was considered an island of North Africa for centuries, but is now generally considered a part of Southern Europe. The exact placement of the Caucasus has also varied since classical antiquity and is now regarded by many as a distinct region within or partly in Europe. Greenland is geographically a part of North America but has been politically and culturally associated with Northern Europe for more than a millennium. As such, several regions are often included as belonging to a Greater Europe, including Anatolia, Cyprus, the South Caucasus, Siberia, Asian Kazakhstan (the part of Kazakhstan located east of European Kazakhstan), Greenland, as well as the overseas territories of EU member states.

Subregions
Groupings by compass directions are the hardest to define in Europe, since there are a few calculations of the midpoint of Europe (among other issues), and the pure geographical criteria of "east" and "west" are often confused with the political meaning these words acquired during the Cold War era.

Some typical geographical subregions of Europe include:

 * Central and Eastern Europe
 * Central Europe
 * Eastern Europe
 * Northern Europe
 * North-central Europe
 * North-eastern Europe
 * North-western Europe
 * Southern Europe
 * South-central Europe
 * South-eastern Europe
 * South-western Europe
 * Western Europe

Note: There is no universally agreed definition for continental subregions. Depending on the source, some of the subregions, such as Central Europe or South-eastern Europe, can be listed as first-tier subregions. Some transregional countries, such as Romania or the United Kingdom, can be included in multiple subregions.

Common geopolitical subregions of Europe include:

Two Europes
 * Old Europe and New Europe

Three Europes
 * East-Central Europe
 * Eastern Europe
 * Western Europe

Historical divisions
Europe can be divided along many differing historical lines, normally corresponding to those parts that were inside or outside a particular cultural phenomenon, empire or political division. The areas varied at different times, and so it is arguable as to which were part of some common historical entity (e.g., were Germany or Britain part of Roman Europe as they were only partly and relatively briefly part of the Empire—or were the countries of the former communist Yugoslavia part of the Eastern Bloc, since it was not in the Warsaw Pact).

 * Greek East and Latin West: those parts that fell into the eastern (Byzantine) and Western Roman Empires.
 * Catholic and Eastern Orthodoxy in Europe: those parts on either side of the Great Schism.
 * After Reformation: countries of Western Christianity (Catholic and Protestant Churches) and Eastern Christianity (Eastern Orthodox Church, Assyrian Church of the East, Oriental Orthodox churches and the Eastern Catholic Churches)
 * Protestant and Catholic Europe: those parts that, in the main, left the Catholic Church during the Reformation contrasted with those that did not.
 * Communist Europe (Eastern Bloc), Capitalist Europe (Western Bloc): those parts on either side of the Iron Curtain and third world countries (neutral and non-aligned during the Cold War).

Economic and political

 * European Union (EU)
 * Countries that are member states of the political and economic bloc (27 as of 2023):
 * Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden.

 * EU Med Group
 * An alliance of Mediterranean countries within EU:
 * Croatia, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Slovenia, and Spain.

 * Eurozone
 * Countries that have adopted the euro as their currency:
 * Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, the Netherlands, Portugal, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Vatican City.

 * European Free Trade Association (EFTA)
 * A free trade organisation that operates in parallel with, and is linked by treaties to, the EU:
 * Liechtenstein, Iceland, Norway, and Switzerland.

 * Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA)
 * A free trade agreement among non-EU members:
 * Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo (represented by UNMIK), Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia.

 * Schengen Area
 * A borderless zone created by the Schengen Agreements, comprising:
 * Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden; in addition, by separate agreements Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Switzerland fully apply the provisions of the Schengen acquis.

 * European Union Customs Union
 * A customs union of all the member states of the European Union (EU) and some neighbouring countries:
 * Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden. Andorra, San Marino, and Turkey are each in customs union with the EU's customs territory.

 * Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU)
 * An economic union of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia. Moldova and Uzbekistan hold observer status.

 * Commonwealth of Independent States Free Trade Area
 * A free trade agreement among the members of the Commonwealth of Independent States: Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, and Tajikistan.

 * Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation
 * A forum of regional economic cooperation:
 * Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Turkey, and Ukraine.

Other political

 * Council of Europe
 * An international organisation whose stated aim is to uphold human rights, democracy, and the rule of law in Europe, and to promote European culture.
 * It has 46 member states, with approximately 820 million people.

 * Eastern European Group
 * One of five United Nations regional groups
 * Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Ukraine.

 * Eastern Partnership and the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly
 * A group of former Soviet Eastern European countries cooperating with the EU:
 * Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine.

 * European Political Community
 * An intergovernmental forum for political and strategic discussions about the future of Europe, with participants from 47 European countries.

 * OECD Europe countries
 * European countries that are a part of the OECD:
 * Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and the United Kingdom.

 * Central European Initiative
 * A forum of regional cooperation including:
 * Albania, Austria, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Ukraine.

 * Community for Democracy and Rights of Nations
 * A group of former Soviet disputed states in Eastern Europe:
 * Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and Transnistria.

 * Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
 * The world's largest security-oriented intergovernmental organization, with 57 participating states mostly in the Northern Hemisphere.

 * Visegrád Group
 * A cultural and political alliance of four Central European states for the purposes of furthering their European integration, as well as for advancing military, economic and energy cooperation with one another:
 * Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary.

 * Centrope
 * An Interreg IIIA project to establish a multinational region in Central Europe encompassing four European countries: Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, and the Czech Republic.

 * Middleeuropean Initiative
 * Promotes Central European cooperation.

 * Three Seas Initiative

Peninsulas

 * Apennine Peninsula (Italian Peninsula)
 * Located in the south of Europe, the Apennine Peninsula contains the states of Italy, San Marino, and Vatican City

 * Balkan Peninsula
 * The Balkan Peninsula is located in Southeastern Europe and the following countries and territories occupy land within the Balkans either exclusively or partially:
 * Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia (approximately the southern half), Greece, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania (the Dobrudja region), Serbia, Slovenia (the coastal section), and Turkey (East Thrace)

 * Fennoscandian Peninsula
 * Located in the north of Europe, including Finland, Norway, Sweden, and part of Russia

 * Iberian Peninsula
 * Located in Southwestern Europe, this peninsula contains Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal, Spain, and a small part of France

 * Jutland Peninsula
 * Jutland of Denmark (main part of the country excluding its islands) and the Schleswig-Holstein region of Germany

 * Scandinavian Peninsula
 * Located in the north of Europe, including Norway, Sweden, and part of Finland

Regional

 * Baltic Rim region
 * Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, and Sweden
 * The term Baltic states generally applies to Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania

 * British Isles
 * Guernsey, The Isle of Man, the Republic of Ireland, Jersey and the United Kingdom

 * Carpathian states
 * Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, and Ukraine

 * Caucasus
 * Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Russia; also the disputed territories of Abkhazia, and South Ossetia

 * Channel Islands
 * Guernsey and Jersey

 * Low Countries
 * Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, parts of France, and parts of Germany
 * Benelux: Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg

 * Nordic countries
 * Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Greenland, and Iceland
 * Scandinavia: Sweden, Norway, Denmark
 * Fennoscandia: Finland, Sweden, Norway and Karelia; a geological region defined by the Fennoscandian shield

 * Alpine countries
 * States that occupy the Alps:
 * Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Slovenia, Germany, France, and Italy

 * Danubian countries
 * States that lie along the River Danube:
 * Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Moldova, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, and Ukraine

 * Balkans
 * Overlaps with Southeastern Europe:
 * Bulgaria, Greece, Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro
 * Countries occupying land on and off the Balkans are Romania, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, and Turkey (East Thrace).

 * Dinaric Alps
 * Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania
 * Serbia, Kosovo and Italy occupy a small portion of the Dinaric Alps.

 * Macaronesia
 * Chain of Islands in the North Atlantic
 * Azores, Canary Islands, Madeira; also including Cape Verde, an independent African nation.

 * Mediterranean countries
 * Mediterranean nations are European countries on the Mediterranean Basin:
 * Portugal, Spain, France, Monaco, Italy, Slovenia, San Marino, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, Greece, Turkey, Cyprus, Malta, and the British territory of Gibraltar
 * Adriatic region: Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania

 * Pannonian countries
 * The Panonnian nations are:
 * Austria, Croatia, Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Ukraine

 * Black Sea region
 * The Black Sea nations (although some sections lie within Asia) are:
 * Abkhazia (de facto state), Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine

 * Caspian Sea region
 * The world's largest lake which forms a section of the Asian-European border has five countries occupying its shore. Iran and Turkmenistan lie entirely within Asia while the following countries are transcontinental and have sovereignty over the Caspian Sea's European sector:
 * Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Russia

Other groupings

 * Blue Banana: describing the concentration of the wealth/economic productivity of Europe in a banana-shaped band running from north west England, London, through Benelux, eastern France, western Germany to northern Italy.

title: Regions of Europe


text:
Nuno Gonçalves

Nuno Gonçalves (c. 1425 – c. 1491, fl. 1450–71) was a Portuguese artist whose work initiated the Portuguese Renaissance in painting. He was court painter for Afonso V of Portugal from 1450 to 1471, and in 1471 he was appointed the official painter for the city of Lisbon. His surviving masterpiece is the polyptych known as the Saint Vincent Panels.

Life
The details of his life are almost completely unknown. As a painter, Nuno Gonçalves was active between 1450 and 1472. In 1450 he was appointed court painter by King Afonso V and in recognition of his contributions, he was knighted by Afonso in 1470. In 1471, Gonçalves was appointed the official painter for Lisbon. There is no information regarding his birth, family, or education.

Although his history is obscure now, Gonçalves was recognized in his time as an important and talented artist. Francisco de Holanda, a 16th-century artist and art historian, called Gonçalves one of the foremost painters of his era. Today, the only work that can be assigned to him with any confidence is the polyptych, Saint Vincent Panels, originally presented to the Cathedral of Lisbon by Afonso V to commemorate his victories in Morocco. A few other works have been tentatively attributed to Gonçalves based on similarities of style; and others, such as the Flagellation of Christ have been referred to historically but are now lost. In addition to painting, he probably drew the scenes for the Pastrana Tapestries.

There is no record of where Gonçalves trained as a painter but art historians offer various possible influences on his work. His style represents a break from earlier Portuguese art. He has been compared to early Florentine fresco painters or possibly the Dutch artist Jan van Eyck who worked in Portugal around 1428.

He is depicted, among several other historic figures, on the Padrão dos Descobrimentos, a monument to the Portuguese Age of Discovery in Belém, Lisbon.

Saint Vincent Panels
The only reference that art historians can use to support his authorship of the Saint Vincent Panels is by Francisco de Holanda, in the 16th century. It mentions a great work of art made by him that is inferred to be the Panels. It is also speculated that the father of Hugo van der Goes collaborated in the painting of the panel but there is no concrete proof. Since their discovery in late 19th century there has been great dispute over the identity of the painter and the characters shown in the Panels. Even the claim that Prince Henry the Navigator appears in the third panel is still under debate. Nevertheless, the "Saint Vincent Panels" is seen as the highest peak of Portuguese antique art.

List of works
These paintings are the most usually attributed to the painter:
 * Saint Vincent Panels, c. 1470–1480, National Museum of Ancient Art, Lisbon
 * São Paulo, National Museum of Ancient Art, Lisbon
 * São Francisco, National Museum of Ancient Art, Lisbon
 * Saint Vincent Tied to a Column, National Museum of Ancient Art, Lisbon
 * São Teotónio, National Museum of Ancient Art, Lisbon
 * São Pedro, National Museum of Ancient Art, Lisbon
 * Portrait of Princess Saint Joana, Aveiro

title: Nuno Gonçalves


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User:Beginning

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Bedrock

In geology, bedrock is solid rock that lies under loose material (regolith) within the crust of Earth or another terrestrial planet.

Definition
Bedrock is the solid rock that underlies looser surface material. An exposed portion of bedrock is often called an outcrop. The various kinds of broken and weathered rock material, such as soil and subsoil, that may overlie the bedrock are known as regolith.

Engineering geology
The surface of the bedrock beneath the soil cover (regolith) is also known as rockhead in engineering geology, and its identification by digging, drilling or geophysical methods is an important task in most civil engineering projects. Superficial deposits can be very thick, such that the bedrock lies hundreds of meters below the surface.

Weathering of bedrock
Exposed bedrock experiences weathering, which may be physical or chemical, and which alters the structure of the rock to leave it susceptible to erosion. Bedrock may also experience subsurface weathering at its upper boundary, forming saprolite.

Geologic map
A geologic map of an area will usually show the distribution of differing bedrock types, rock that would be exposed at the surface if all soil or other superficial deposits were removed. Where superficial deposits are so thick that the underlying bedrock cannot be reliably mapped, the superficial deposits will be mapped instead (for example, as alluvium).

title: Bedrock