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Moondragon

Moondragon is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Bill Everett, Mike Friedrich, and George Tuska, the character first appeared in Iron Man #54 (January 1973). She has achieved her extraordinary talents strictly through extreme degrees of personal regimen, unlike most Marvel characters who have gained their paranormal abilities through birth or accident. She is one of the most powerful telepaths on earth. Her abilities also include telekinesis and the power to transform into a dragon. Heather Douglas is known under the codename Moondragon.

Publication history
Moondragon debuted in Iron Man #54 (January 1973), created by Bill Everett, Mike Friedrich, and George Tuska. She appeared in the 2007 Annihilation: Conquest series, the 2019 Guardians of the Galaxy series,  and the 2020 Guardians of the Galaxy series, by writer Al Ewing.

Origin
Heather Douglas was born in Los Angeles, California, daughter of Arthur and Yvette Steckley Douglas. When Heather was still a girl, her father was driving her and her mother through the desert when they accidentally happened to see the spaceship of Thanos land; the space villain did not want any witnesses, so he destroyed their car. Heather was thrown clear and survived, but her parents were killed. (She would later discover that her father's soul was bound into a new body, becoming Drax the Destroyer.) She was found by Thanos' father, Mentor, who took her to his home world, Titan, to be raised by the monks of Shao-Lom.

From the monks, Heather develops her body to its full potential, becoming a formidable martial artist. They teach Heather various scientific disciplines such as chemistry and genetic engineering; but most significantly, they help Heather tap into her latent psionic powers, present within all humans. Heather is able to develop her mental powers far beyond even those of her teachers, so much so that she eventually mentally contacts a powerful entity called the Dragon of the Moon. The Dragon immediately tries to corrupt and take her over, but she fights back, driving the Dragon away. This fills her with pride and an overwhelming sense of superiority. To commemorate her victory, she takes the name Moondragon. Unknown to Heather, the Dragon subtly continues to influence her on a subconscious level.

Heather's choice of the name Moondragon causes an uproar amongst the monks of Shao-Lom, so much so that Mentor has to confront her on the matter. After the confrontation, Moondragon is approached by Runner, one of the Elders of the Universe. Runner takes Moondragon on a tour of the universe, showing her its fantastic sights and wonders. Runner eventually takes Moondragon to the surface of a sun. He informs her that the sun would go nova in several years. Moondragon points out to Runner that the sun harbored an inhabited planet and that they should warn the inhabitants. Runner regretfully responds that, when he chose the path of freedom, he lost the option to interfere with others' destinies. Moondragon argues, "What good is freedom?" when it only leads to death. When Runner fails to answer her satisfactorily, she requests to be brought back home.

Sometime later, Thanos attacks Titan, destroying the monastery and the Shao-Lom monks. Moondragon escapes in her spaceship and flees to Earth.

Alliances against Thanos and Korvac
She first returns to Earth under the guise of "Madame MacEvil" to develop a means to combat Thanos. This leads to the creation of villains like Angar the Screamer, Ramrod, and the Dark Messiah. In her first appearance, she forces Iron Man to battle Namor in order to study them. She then reveals her true identity and helps the Avengers in their first confrontation with Thanos. She battles Daredevil but is nearly killed by her ex-ally Kerwin J. Broderick. She restores Daredevil's sight briefly with her alien pressure point skills and then first meets Captain Mar-Vell. She aids them against Angar, the Dark Messiah, and Terrex. She falls in love with Daredevil but then returns to outer space. She aids Captain Mar-Vell, Drax, and the Avengers against Thanos.

Moondragon is one of the three candidates to be the "Celestial Madonna", who was prophesied to give birth to a universal savior, but she loses to Mantis. She then becomes an adventurer and joins the Avengers. Although her time with the team is short ending in Avengers #151 when she meets the heroine Hellcat and takes her to Titan to train her. The following year Moondragon returns to help the Avengers in their final (until the 1990s) battle with Thanos.

Moondragon is present when the Avengers confront Korvac; her powers allow her to see into his mind while they fight, and she decides that his goal of saving the universe by ruling it is noble. She stays out of the battle until Korvac, dejected, commits suicide.

Paths of corruption and redemption
Moondragon leaves Earth with Drax and finds a planet immersed in war, so she decides to take mental control of all its inhabitants to force them to live in peace, setting herself up as their "peace goddess". Drax summons the Avengers to intervene and in the resultant confrontation, Moondragon is forced to kill her father with her mental powers. Afterwards, Thor takes her before a real god—his father, Odin, to be judged. Odin perceives within Moondragon a stalwart but tainted spirit. He condemns her to wear a magical headband that reduces her mental powers until she has overcome her arrogance and learned humility. He also assigns Valkyrie to be her guardian.

When Valkyrie rejoins the Defenders, Moondragon is forced to come along. At first, she sends out low level telepathic signals, luring threats to the vicinity of the Defenders' headquarters, hoping that one of these threats would remove her headband or force the Defenders to remove the headband so she may use her powers to aid them unhindered.

Despite the fact that Moondragon resents being with the Defenders, she wants to be accepted by them as a good person. In an encounter with Asgardian trolls, Moondragon resists the temptation of letting the trolls and the Dragon of the Moon remove her headband, thus proving herself to Odin, who promptly lets the headband fall off.

This personal victory is short-lived, for soon afterwards the Defenders have to fight the spawns of the mutated spores they fought months before. The spawns soon coalesce into a single gargantuan monster, which Moondragon vanquishes with the help of the Gargoyle. Unknown to Moondragon, in doing so, she is infected with the mutated spores. She does not find out about the infection until weeks later, when the spores have supplanted a good portion of her own internal organs. The Dragon of the Moon appears again and tells her it can save her life, but only if she agrees to be its host. Moondragon initially turns down its offer, knowing that it will use her to kill the Defenders. The Dragon then mocks Moondragon's sentimentality by showing her what the other Defenders are saying about her behind her back even though she has reformed. Finally overwhelmed with pain, she accepts. Now totally corrupted, Moondragon battles the Defenders until Andromeda, Interloper, Manslaughter, and Valkyrie sacrifice themselves to kill both her and the Dragon.

Heather's soul manages to survive, and, now free from the Dragon again, contacts her cousin Pamela; through her, she is able to obtain a new body for herself, a clone created on Titan. For a while, she and her cousin, who becomes the heroine Sundragon, adventure together in space.

Cosmic cohort
After Quasar is appointed Protector of the Universe, Moondragon insinuates herself into his life. Using the pseudonym H.D. Steckley she becomes an engineer and saleswoman for Vaughn Security Systems. She is convinced that in time Quasar will realize they are eminently qualified to form the universe's most cosmic coupling. Quasar, however, asserts that qualifications have nothing to do with feelings and rebuffs her. She persists for a time, but eventually gets the message and loses interest.

When Adam Warlock seeks people to help him safeguard the Infinity Gems, he chooses Moondragon to keep the Mind Gem—but only after erecting safeguards so Moondragon cannot exploit the gem's full power. Still, she agrees to join his team, the Infinity Watch. She eventually loses the gem when it is stolen by Rune.

Moondragon later becomes an associate of Genis-Vell (the third Captain Marvel), determined to help him control his cosmic awareness. During this time, she falls in love with Marlo Chandler, the wife of Rick Jones (whom Captain Marvel was bonded to). The two elope on a lesbian relationship to the reluctant understanding of Rick, with whom Marlo is having marital problems anyway. Sometime later, Marlo gets over her feelings for Moondragon and decides to return to Rick. Moondragon tells her she must have accidentally prodded her telepathically into the relationship, but this is a lie to make the break-up easier. In truth, Moondragon is heartbroken; she leaves shortly after with Phyla-Vell.

Annihilation
In the Annihilation miniseries, Moondragon and Phyla-Vell return, visiting the graves of Mar-Vell and Genis-Vell. At this time, Thanos appears and kidnaps Moondragon, using her as a hostage to draw out Drax the Destroyer for an unknown purpose. Also, when she is infected with the Annihilation Wave parasites, she is forced to reveal Annihilus' plan to destroy all life in the universe, which he would then rule. Thanos causes her to regurgitate the parasites, having no interest in Annihilus' plan. However, Thanos' plan for revenge is cut short as Drax rushes off to save his daughter, which he does by ripping Thanos' heart out, just before the villain was about to save the universe from Annihilus. However, Drax and Moondragon then manage to free the Silver Surfer, who in turn helps free Galactus, destroying Annihlus' plans. Galactus then teleports away Drax and Moondragon. Moondragon "loses track" of Drax and is reunited with Phyla-Vell.

Annihilation: Conquest
In Quasar: Annihilation: Conquest, the love of Phyla and Moondragon is explored in depth. Due to the Phalanx taking over the Kree Empire, Phyla and Heather have to find the 'savior' that is shown to Phyla (Quasar) in a vision. They come across the Super-Adaptoid, who was absorbed by the Phalanx and set to prevent the women from finding the savior. During the battle, Moondragon has to change into a dragon, like the 'Dragon of the Moon' she had to fight most of her life. Moondragon cannot change back into her human form. Moondragon and Phyla follow a voice Phyla hears to find the savior for the Kree race, who is being attacked by the Phalanx. In the end, it turns out the voice belongs to the Supreme Intelligence of the Kree. It helps them find a cocoon, which is restoring Adam Warlock. The cocoon breaks open and Phyla and Moondragon ask Warlock to help them fight against the Phalanx. Shortly after, the Phalanx arrives, led by the murderous android Ultron. Moondragon attempts to protect Phyla, and Ultron responds by plunging his arm into her chest. Heather dies shortly after in Phyla's arms.

Sometime later, Phyla and Drax are alerted by a prophet that Moondragon may be attempting to return. Mentor concludes that this may be the case, and so kills the two of them so that they may journey into the realm of the dead to retrieve her. Phyla saves Moondragon from the gullet of the Dragon of the Moon, and they return to life.

Guardians of the Galaxy
After her resurrection, Moondragon joins Phyla back at Knowhere and is accepted as an unofficial member of the Guardians of the Galaxy. She assists Cosmo and Mantis as part of the telepathic support team. Her resurrection leaves her mind more open than it had been before her death, so she is able to detect things before either Mantis or Cosmo do. Her increased sensitivity also leaves her more vulnerable to psychic manipulation by Starhawk, who has herself been released from confinement.

With Phyla's death at the hands of Adam Magus, Moondragon takes it upon herself to become a field agent for the Guardians of the Galaxy. However, she becomes host to an alien parasite originating in a parallel universe across the Fault, a time-space tear created by Black Bolt's Terrigen Bomb. Worse, she is biometrically cuffed by Cynosure, leader of the Luminals (an organization of heroic alien superhumans from the planet Xarth III), who intends to have the creature tried for killing one of her fellow Luminals. To make things worse, members of the Church of Universal Truth kidnap Moondragon and Cynosure, seeing the parasite as a god, whom they intend to birth. Luckily, the Guardians and Luminals mount a joint rescue attempt and extract the two. With the help of Knowhere's medical staff, they are able to remove the organism from Moondragon. During these experiences, Moondragon has visions of a cocoon and Phyla being alive.

Powers and abilities
Heather Douglas is a human who has accessed her full psionic potential through extreme training under the Titanian monks of Shao-Lom. She is also highly educated in Titanian science and is a master martial artist.

Moondragon primarily possesses tremendous telepathic abilities, which have enabled her to control the population of an entire planet to stop an ongoing war, while enslaving the thunder god Thor as her personal lover. She has demonstrated willpower and spiritual strength rivaling that of Thanos, and the Sorcerer Supreme Doctor Strange, pierced the psionic shields of the cosmic entity Galactus to enable communication, and when borrowing her abilities, Thanos almost manages to overwhelm the Devourer. Beyond communication and control of other minds, she can induce mental illusions, cause personality changes, and erase specific memories. She can also fire bolts of psionic energy as concussive blasts that can either stun an opponent or render an opponent brain dead. She is also a low-level telekinetic, an ability that lets her move and manipulate most physical matter by using only her thoughts, levitate herself and others, create shields of psychic force, and fire concussive psychokinetic energy blasts with sufficient strength to affect steel. She has demonstrated the ability to assume the form of her namesake, a fire-breathing dragon capable of surviving in outer space, traversing interstellar distances.

Moondragon has undergone extreme levels of training in the Titanian martial arts, as well as mental disciplines allowing her near-complete control over her body, including autonomic functions such as heartbeat, bleeding, and breathing, as well as awareness of pain. She has honed her strength, speed, stamina, agility and reflexes to her highest limits. Her martial arts skills have even allowed her to beat Captain America and Mantis in hand-to-hand combat. She possesses a genius intellect and is extremely knowledgeable in various areas of advanced Titanian scientific disciplines, such as genetics and bionics, and has been able to upgrade the cyborgs Ramrod and Angar the Screamer. She restored Daredevil's eyesight. Additionally, she is also a highly skilled starship pilot.

Critical response
George Chrysostomou of Den of Geek called Moondragon one of Marvel's "fan favorites," writing, "Heather Douglas is a fascinating figure and it’s an absolute crime that she is yet to be introduced to the MCU." Deirdre Kaye of Scary Mommy called Moondragon a "role model" and a "truly heroic" female character. Jasmine Shanelle of The Mary Sue said they hoped to see Moondragon joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Mey Rude of Autostraddle stated Moondragon would be a "perfect addition" to the Guardians of the Galaxy film series. American actor Dave Bautista expressed interest in seeing Moondragon being portrayed in the MCU.

Impact
Moondragon / Heather Douglas appears as a parody character in the Mad episode "Captain America's Got Talent," voiced by Rachel Ramras.

Age of Apocalypse
An alternate version of Moondragon appears the Age of Apocalypse timeline. She has never accessed her full psionic potential and instead was approached by and joined Quentin Quire's group of low level telepaths to create a kind of "psychic pyramid scheme" known as the Overmind which Quentin uses to increase his own limited skills.

Heather Douglas along with the telepaths that compose the Overmind are later confronted and killed by the Shadow King.

Ultimate Marvel
An alternate version of Moondragon appears in the Ultimate Marvel universe, in the first issue of the Ultimate Extinction arc. She is a bald woman with a dragon tattoo and considerable martial arts prowess attacks Misty Knight. A computer database later identifies the woman as Heather Douglas aka "Heather Moon," who has been dead for decades.

This woman is revealed to be a clone of the original Heather Douglas. There are in fact hundreds of these clones (as well as a male equivalent, bald clones of an unnamed man). They were created by a cult that worships Gah Lak Tus (the Ultimate version of Galactus). They try to destroy S.H.I.E.L.D. and face the Ultimates and the X-Men while other heroes attempt to deal with the threat of Gah Lak Tus.

Marvel Zombies
An alternate version of Moondragon appears in Marvel Zombies. She is briefly seen as one of the many infected heroes.

Marvel Adventures: Fantastic Four
An alternate version of Moondragon appears in Marvel Adventures: Fantastic Four. She runs a "Hall of Magic Mirrors" in a carnival. She aids the Fantastic Four in battling Baron Mordo in this wordless tale.

Television

 * Heather Douglas / Moondragon appears in the X-Men episode "Beyond Good and Evil (Part 3)" in a non-speaking role.

Video games

 * Heather Douglas / Moondragon appears in Marvel: Avengers Alliance.
 * Heather Douglas / Moondragon appears as a non-player character in Marvel Heroes, voiced by Mary Elizabeth McGlynn.
 * Heather Douglas / Moondragon appears in Marvel Puzzle Quest.
 * Heather Douglas / Moondragon appears as a playable character in Marvel Contest of Champions.
 * Heather Douglas / Moondragon appears as a playable character in Lego Marvel's Avengers.
 * Heather Douglas / Moondragon appears as a playable character in Marvel Strike Force.

Merchandise

 * In 2020, Diamond Select Toys released a Heather Douglas / Moondragon action figure of the character.
 * In 2023, Hasbro released a Heather Douglas / Moondragon action figure of the character, as part of the Marvel Legends action figure line.

title: Moondragon


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Larry Willis

Lawrence Elliott Willis (December 20, 1942 – September 29, 2019) was an American jazz pianist and composer. He performed in a wide range of styles, including jazz fusion, Afro-Cuban jazz, bebop, and avant-garde.

Willis was born in New York City. After his first year studying music theory at the Manhattan School of Music he began performing regularly with Jackie McLean. After he graduated he made his first jazz recording, McLean's Right Now! in January 1965, which featured two of Willis' compositions. His first recording of any type, however, was as a singer with the Music and Arts Chorale Ensemble, performing an opera by Aaron Copland under the direction of Leonard Bernstein. He decided to concentrate on jazz because of the difficulties African-American musicians had in finding work in concert music.

Throughout his career he performed with a wide range of musicians, including several years as keyboardist for Blood, Sweat & Tears (beginning in 1972). He spent several years as pianist for trumpeters Nat Adderley and Woody Shaw as well as long and productive tenures with Roy Hargrove and with Jerry Gonzalez and his Fort Apache Band. His late recording with Paul Murphy, Exposé, demonstrated the fusion principles of bebop and avant-garde jazz. His composition "Sanctuary" began exploring works employing strings. After a successful performance in Frank Lloyd Wright's Annie Pfieffer Chapel at Florida Southern College's Child of the Sun Jazz Festival he was commissioned to write a full-scale orchestral work for jazz trio and orchestra. He worked with Hugh Masekela on a South African Suite of music and interpreted Miles Davis' work. He was in the Round About Midnight tour of Miles Davis' music. He received the Don Redman award in 2011, and the Benny Golson Jazz Master Award at Howard University in 2012.

He died of an aneurysm in Baltimore at the age of 76.

As leader/co-leader

 * A New Kind of Soul (LLP, 1970)
 * Inner Crisis (Groove Merchant, 1973)
 * My Funny Valentine (Jazz City, 1988)
 * Just in Time (SteepleChase, 1989)
 * Heavy Blue (SteepleChase, 1990)
 * Let's Play (SteepleChase, 1991)
 * Steal Away (AudioQuest, 1991 1992)
 * Solo Spirit (Mapleshade, 1992, [1993])
 * How Do You Keep the Music Playing? (SteepleChase, 1992)
 * Unforgettable: Piano Solos, (SteepleChase, 1992)
 * A Tribute to Someone (AudioQuest, 1993 [1994])
 * Serenade (Sound Hills, 1995)
 * If Trees Could Talk (Mapleshade, 1999) with Hamiet Bluiett
 * Sunshower (Mapleshade, 2001) with Kash Killion, Steve Novosel, Paul Murphy, Steve Berrios
 * Sanctuary (Mapleshade, 2003) with Joe Ford, Ray Codrington, Steve Novosel, Steve Berrios, Artie Sherman and the Rick Schmidt Strings
 * The Powers of Two (Mapleshade, 2004) with Paul Murphy
 * Alter Ego (Mapleshade, 2006) with Tony Pancella
 * The Big Push (HighNote, 2006)
 * Blue Fable (HighNote, 2007)
 * The Offering (HighNote, 2008)
 * This Time the Dream's on Me (HighNote, 2012)
 * I Fall In Love Too Easily (HighNote, 2020)

As sideman
With Nat Adderley With Gary Bartz With Cindy Blackman With Carla Bley With Blood, Sweat & Tears With Jerry Gonzalez and The Fort Apache Band With Roy Hargrove With Louis Hayes With Jimmy Heath With Joe Henderson With Groove Holmes With Clifford Jordan With Robin Kenyatta With Hugh Masekela With Jackie McLean With Carmen McRae With Lee Morgan With Alphonse Mouzon With Paul Murphy With David "Fathead" Newman With Valery Ponomarev With Woody Shaw With Steve Swallow With Buddy Terry With Norris Turney '''With Fred Lipsius With C. I. Williams
 * On the Move (Theresa, 1983)
 * Blue Autumn (Theresa, 1983)
 * Episode One: Children of Harlem (Challenge, 1994)
 * Arcane (Muse, 1987)
 * Night-Glo (Watt/ECM, 1985)
 * Sextet (Watt/ECM, 1987)
 * New Blood (Columbia, 1972)
 * No Sweat (Columbia, 1973)
 * Mirror Image (Columbia, 1974)
 * New City (Columbia, 1975)
 * In Concert (Columbia, 1976)
 * More Than Ever (Columbia, 1976)
 * Brand New Day (ABC Records, 1977)
 * Earth Dance (Sunnyside, 1993)
 * Crossroads (Milestone, 1994)
 * Pensativo (Milestone, 1995)
 * Fire Dance (Milestone, 1996)
 * Moment to Moment (Verve, 2000)
 * Nightfall (SteepleChase, 1991)
 * Peer Pleasure (Landmark, 1987)
 * Multiple (Milestone, 1973)
 * American Pie (Groove Merchant, 1972)
 * The Mellow Side of Clifford Jordan (Mapleshade, 1989-91 [1997])
 * Gypsy Man (Atlantic, 1973)
 * Grrr (uncredited) (1966)
 * Reconstruction (1970)
 * Home Is Where the Music Is (1978)
 * Main Event Live (1978)
 * Almost Like Being in Jazz (2005)
 * Friends (2012)
 * Right Now! (Blue Note, 1965)
 * Jacknife (Blue Note, 1965)
 * Carmen Sings Monk (1988)
 * Infinity (Blue Note, 1965)
 * The Essence of Mystery (Blue Note, 1972)
 * The Powers of Two, Volume 2 (Mapleshade, 2004 [2006])
 * Exposé (Murphy Records, 2008)
 * Excursions (Murphy Records, 2008)
 * Foundations (Murphy Records, 2009)
 * Still Hard Times (Muse, 1982)
 * Trip to Moscow (Reservoir, 1987)
 * For Sure! (Columbia, 1979)
 * Carla (Xtra Watt, 1987)
 * Lean on Him (Mainstream, 1973)
 * Big, Sweet 'n Blue – with Turney, Walter Booker, and Jimmy Cobb (Mapleshade, 1993)
 * ''Dreaming of Your Love (mja Records,1995)
 * When Alto Was King (Mapleshade, 1997)

As co-leader
With Heads of State
 * Search for Peace – with Buster Williams, Al Foster, and Gary Bartz (Smoke Sessions, 2015)

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

title: Larry Willis


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Category:Mancala

Mancala is the name given to a family of board games.

title: Category:Mancala


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That's My Bush!

That's My Bush! is an American television sitcom that aired on Comedy Central from April 4 to May 23, 2001. The show was created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, a comedy-duo best known for creating South Park.

Despite the political overtones, the show itself was more a broad lampoon of American sitcoms, including jokes, a laugh track, and stock characters such as klutzy secretary Princess (Kristen Miller), know-it-all maid Maggie (Marcia Wallace), and supposedly helpful next door neighbor Larry (John D'Aquino).

The series was conceived in the wake of the 2000 presidential election, between George W. Bush and Al Gore. Parker and Stone were sure that Gore would win the election, and tentatively titled the show Everybody Loves Al. However, due to the controversy regarding the election's outcome, the series was pushed back. Instead, the show was then plotted around Bush at the workplace.

The show received positive reviews from critics, with The New York Times commenting, "That's My Bush! is a satire of hero worship itself; it is the anti-West Wing and the first true post-Clinton comedy. [...] This politically astute criticism is embedded in so much hysterical humor that the series never seems weighty."

Plot
The series centers on the fictitious personal life of President George W. Bush, played by Timothy Bottoms. Carrie Quinn Dolin played Laura Bush, and Kurt Fuller played Karl Rove.

Episodes dealt (with deliberate heavy-handedness) with the topics of abortion, gun control, the war on drugs, drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and the death penalty. Every episode ended with George saying "One of these days, Laura, I'm gonna punch you in the face!", a parody of Jackie Gleason's line from The Honeymooners, "One of these days, POW!!! Right in the kisser!"

The show was more of a spoof of the banality of television sitcoms in general, rather than a cutting political satire. As The A.V. Club put it: "[That's My] Bush!'s irresistibly gimmicky premise—a workplace sitcom centering on Bush and his wife Laura—represents a perverse act of extended misdirection. While audiences waited for Parker and Stone to tear into the Bush administration, they instead attacked the hoary conventions of the 1970s and 1980s sitcoms, which proved a surprisingly apt target for satire and pop-culture riffing."

Cast

 * Timothy Bottoms as President George W. Bush
 * Carrie Quinn Dolin as First Lady Laura Bush
 * Kurt Fuller as Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove
 * Marcia Wallace as Maggie Hawley
 * Kristen Miller as Princess Stevenson
 * John D'Aquino as Larry O'Shea

Development
Parker and Stone stated before the 2000 presidential election that they would create a satire about whoever won. According to their DVD commentary, they were "95% certain that Gore would win" and began developing the series under the title Everybody Loves Al. When the final election results were in limbo, production was delayed until the winner was determined. With Bush's election, the title became the entendre That's My Bush! The final episode involves Dick Cheney forcing Bush to step down, and featured an alternate title music called That's My Dick! which, later in the episode, changed to What a Dick!

Writing
The entire idea behind the series was to parody sitcoms. The premise developed into one of the U.S. President in office. Parker recalled the idea came about three months before the 2000 presidential election. The duo were "95 percent sure" that Democratic candidate Al Gore would win, and tentatively titled the show Everybody Loves Al. It was, essentially, the same show: a lovable main character, the sassy maid, the wacky neighbor. Parker said the producers did not want to make fun of politics, but instead lampoon sitcoms. The duo watched a lot of Fawlty Towers in preparation.

The duo signed a deal with Comedy Central to produce a live-action sitcom, titled Family First, scheduled to debut on February 28, 2001. They threw a party the night of the election with the writers, with intentions to begin writing the following Monday and shooting the show in January 2001 with the inauguration. With the confusion of who the President would be, the show's production was pushed back. The duo wanted to write a "family sitcom", with the Bush family.

Comedy Central, however, prohibited Parker and Stone from including the Bush twins (Jenna Bush and Barbara Pierce Bush). The writers then turned the Bush twins character into Princess. "An Aborted Dinner Date" was the show's pilot episode. The episode features Felix the Fetus, made and operated by the Chiodo Brothers, who later worked with Parker and Stone on Team America: World Police (2004). They also created the cat Punk'kin in "The First Lady's Persqueeter". The show's producers consider the second episode aired, "A Poorly Executed Plan", the true first episode.

This was Parker and Stone's first live-action production in association with the Writers Guild of America, West. The show's writers got a big dry-erase board and on one side, they would write down political ideas (abortion, capital punishment) and on the other side would be typical sitcom stories (frat buddies show up, trapped in a small space). They would then combine the two ideas, in what Stone described as "a Three's Company mix-up kind of thing."

Pre-production
That's My Bush! was filmed at Sony Pictures Studios, the first time Parker and Stone shot a show on a production lot. It was not shot in front of a live audience, so as to maintain control and by necessity, thanks to various shots they would be unable to do in a normal show. They had built several rooms from the White House in their studio (bedroom, dining room) and were allowed "one new, rotating set" per week.

Parker described the sets as "amazing," and they were in fact packaged up after the show's run and sent to other White House-related productions. The show's producers gained inspiration by going on a private tour of the White House thanks to Anne Garefino, executive producer, who once worked at the White House for PBS. A White House usher showed the producers various rooms not allowed on normal tours, which allowed them to detail each set effectively.

Casting
Casting was relatively simple; Parker and Stone came across a photo of Timothy Bottoms in Variety for a play he was doing in Santa Barbara. Parker and Stone called him in, and they found he was "perfect" for the role. The plan was not to viciously "rip on" Bush or make him out to be a monster; in accordance with sitcom stereotypes, Bush was made a sweet and lovable oaf. Kurt Fuller was the last to be cast. Jeff Melman directed all eight episodes. This was the first time Parker was only writing, not directing.

Filming
Each episode was shot in two days. The weeks were spent in writing and pre-production while the cast rehearsed. Like South Park, in which Parker would be able to write a scene and see it animated a short time later, he and Stone could walk to rehearsals and see the cast rehearsing their script. Each episode commenced with a cold open, with a "cheesy" joke that segued into the theme song. The duo recalled that, with stupid titles, these scenes were often the hardest to write.

The episode "SDI-Aye-AYE!" features the first utterance of the word "Lemmiwinks", which Parker and the writers intended to be a parody of The Lord of the Rings. The word was later famously used in the South Park episode "The Death Camp of Tolerance". The show's first episode set a Comedy Central ratings record (at the time) for highest debut with over 2.9 million viewers tuning in; however, ratings dropped after this, with an average of 1.7 million viewers.

During the production of "Fare Thee Welfare", the series finale, producers knew the end was near as it would be very expensive. For example, for the episode "Eenie Meenie Miney Murder", Parker and Stone used a live bear, an animatronic bear, an actor in a bear suit, and a puppet bear, which ended up breaking their budget. Although the show received a fair amount of publicity and critical notice, according to Stone and Parker, the budget was too high, "about $1 million an episode."

Cancellation
Comedy Central officially axed the series in August 2001, as a cost-cutting move; Stone was quoted as saying "A super-expensive show on a small cable network...the economics of it were just not going to work." The series continued via reruns, considering it a creative and critical success. Parker believed the show would not have survived after the September 11 attacks anyway, and Stone agreed, saying the show would not "play well." There was talk of a spin-off feature film for the series entitled George W. Bush and the Secret of the Glass Tiger. The concept extended the series' bait and switch gag: it would have to do with a Chinese invasion foiled by the President. Parker and Stone intended to develop it during the summer of 2002.

Retrospective
Parker recalls That's My Bush! "a great time in our lives," and "the most fun we've had in our careers." That's My Bush! has had an effect on the structure of South Park: prior to 2001, each South Park episode was broken up into four acts. While producing That's My Bush!, Parker and Stone found the three act structure provided a better story, and South Park has continued to use it in recent years. Stone called the show one of the most pleasant experiences in his life.

Bottoms went on to portray George W. Bush in two later films: in a comedic context in The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course, and in a serious context in the television film DC 9/11: Time of Crisis.

Home media
A DVD set containing the entire series, plus commentaries by cast and crew, titled ''That's My Bush! The Definitive Collection'', was released in North America on October 24, 2006.

title: That's My Bush!


text:
Mordecai Bartley

Mordecai Bartley (December 16, 1783 – October 10, 1870) was a Whig politician from northeastern Ohio. He served as the 18th governor of Ohio. Bartley succeeded his son, Thomas W. Bartley as governor, one of few instances of this happening in the United States in high offices.

Biography
Bartley was born in Fayette County, Pennsylvania. After attending the local school in Virginia, he married Elizabeth Welles in 1804 and moved to Jefferson County, Ohio.

Bartley served as a captain, and then an adjutant during the War of 1812. Following his service under General William Henry Harrison in the War, Bartley moved to Richland County, Ohio, near Mansfield.

While farming, he was elected and served one term in the Ohio State Senate from 1816 to 1818. Elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1822, Bartley served four terms before declining to be renominated in 1830.

Bartley was an Ohio Whig Party Presidential elector in 1836 for William Henry Harrison.

He ran for governor in 1844 as a Whig after David Spangler, the original nominee, declined to run. Bartley served a single term from 1844 to 1846 before retiring again. While he was Governor, Ohio raised forty companies and 7,000 men for the Mexican–American War.

title: Mordecai Bartley


text: User talk:81.77.112.64

title: User talk:81.77.112.64


text:
Pip the Troll

Pip the Troll is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

He made his live-action debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Eternals (2021), voiced by Patton Oswalt.

Publication history
Pip the Troll was introduced by Jim Starlin in Strange Tales vol. 2 #179 (February 1975) to be a comic foil to the story's protagonist, Adam Warlock. Pip returned in Strange Tales vol. 2 #180-181 (March–April 1975) and Warlock vol. 1 #9-12 (October 1975-Jan 1976) before his death in Avengers Annual #7 (March 1977).

Starlin revived the character years later in Silver Surfer vol. 3 #46 (December 1990). Pip played a role in the 1991 Infinity Gauntlet crossover before joining the titular team of Warlock and the Infinity Watch in issue two (March 1992). He appeared in the title until its cancellation in 1995 with issue 42. During its run, the character was also featured in the Infinity War, Infinity Crusade, and Blood and Thunder crossovers.

After a brief appearance in a back-up feature in Cosmic Powers Unlimited #4 (1996), the character was not seen again until 2002 when Starlin used him in Infinity Abyss #1-6. He returned in Marvel: The End #5-6 (2003) and Thanos #3-4 (2004), She-Hulk #12-13 (2005), and X-Factor #207-213 (2010–2011).

Fictional character biography
Pip is originally known as Prince Gofern of the planet Laxidazia, in the Dolenz System, in the Milky Way galaxy. He is originally an alien of the Laxidazian race who enjoys painting pictures of the night sky. Pip becomes physically and psychologically mutated into a morally degenerate, stunted, satyr-like form known as a "troll" during a bout of drunkenness brought on by a mutagenic hallucinogenic ale. Like all Laxidazian trolls, Pip has four digits (including opposable thumb) on each hand, hooflike feet, and large pointed ears; apparently, normal Laxidazians are nearly identical to Earth humans. After his transformation, his people, also sick of his lewd, lecherous, and hedonistic behavior, strip him of his office and rank. He stows away on a spaceship and continues his life of debauchery. Pip begins his habit of dressing in a pair of maroon, ripped pants and nothing else.

Missionaries from the Universal Church of Truth visit Pip's home planet and discover the trolls are resistant to the church's conversion process. As a result, all trolls are ordered to be killed. Pip himself is caught after making trouble on dozens of planets, many controlled by the church. He ends up on a ship full of men and women who were to be executed. There he meets Adam Warlock, whose alternate future self the Magus will become the leader of the Church of Truth. Pip teams up with Warlock to escape and go on adventures. Pip then meets Gamora. Pip meets Thanos, and alongside Warlock, Gamora, and Thanos, he battles the Magus and the Universal Church. He encounters Starfox and Heater Delight, and battles Pro-Boscis the Procurer. Eventually the threat of the Magus is neutralized and Pip parts company with Adam on the world of Sirus X.

After getting into much more trouble, Pip decides to look for Adam again. Pip explores one of Thanos' old hideouts and discovers not Adam, but Thanos himself. Thanos destroys Pip's mind, but Adam manages to absorb Pip's soul into the Soul Gem (killing his mindless body, but restoring full mental function to his soul), reuniting him with the spirits of Gamora and eventually Adam Warlock in Soulworld within the Soul Gem.

Pip resides in Soulworld for some time. While there, he accompanies the Silver Surfer and Captain Autolycus in search of Warlock. He witnesses a battle between Warlock and Drax the Destroyer.

Infinity Watch
Pip, Gamora, and Warlock return to the corporeal world during the Infinity Gauntlet incident by taking over bodies of three crash victims. Pip, in possession of the body of Ralph Bunker, and Gamora are both shown to have significantly increased physical strength in their new bodies. However, soon after returning to life, Gamora disappears. Alongside Warlock, Pip confers with Doctor Strange, Rintrah, Doctor Doom, and the Silver Surfer regarding Thanos and the Infinity Gauntlet. Alongside Doctor Strange, Clea, and Rintrah, Pip battles Silver Dagger. Alongside Rintrah, Pip time-travels to Earth's Jurassic era to rescue Firelord and Drax the Destroyer. Alongside Warlock and Gamora, Pip visits Thanos after his defeat. With Gamora, Pip summons Doctor Strange to deal with the seemingly power-mad Warlock, but is reconciled with Warlock.

Afterwards, Pip is given the Space Gem by Warlock, keeping it between his toes for safekeeping. Pip joins Warlock's Infinity Watch. With the Infinity Watch, Pip is captured by the Man Beast, but rescued by Warlock. Pip and his friends end up setting shop on Monster Island. Pip takes too much as usual and abuses the hospitality of Mole Man. In a dispute over the sovereignty of the island, forces of the United Nations invade. Pip and the others hang back as Gamora cleans house, killing no one. The group makes bets on the fight.

Around this time, the Infinity War happens. When Warlock has control of the Infinity Gauntlet, he forces out the good and evil sides of himself. The evil side returns as the Magus. Pip is drawn into the fight when Thanos recruits the Watch. As most of Earth's heroes do not trust Thanos, Pip and his friends are forced to battle them as well. Eventually both sides work together to take down the Magus.

Infinity Crusade
Pip becomes involved in the Infinity Crusade. He manages to be a capable 'leader' of the remnants of the Infinity Watch when various events take most of them away. Moondragon, for example, is brainwashed and taken by the Goddess, the 'good' side of Adam Warlock. She is using a Cosmic Egg, the merging of several Cosmic Cubes, to implement her plans, which involve brainwashing dozens of superheroes. Left on Monster Island with Maxam and Drax the Destroyer, the three argue over who should lead. Pip decides to go outside the group for help and kidnaps Mister Fantastic. The leader of the Fantastic Four soon realizes what is going on and pitches in to help. This, and the kidnapping of other superheroes, brings everyone together, Pip included, at Avengers Mansion and actually spurs on the heroic efforts of the rest of the super-powered community. Pip is spurred to create a new, 'super-heroic' costume, but fails to wash himself while changing. His body odor is so offensive the Hulk forcibly bathes him.

After Infinity Watch
Professor X proceeds to make telepathic contact with one of the Goddess' thralls, Pip's former ally, Moondragon. Pip secretly touches Xavier and his powers make contact through the link, allowing him to know the location of the Goddess because Moondragon knows it.

Pip teleports to it, in the center of the Goddess' planet, a new form of Counter-Earth. By touching the Cosmic Egg, Pip gains access to its near-infinite powers. He turns the Goddess into salt. He manifests a throne and sits upon it, musing as to what to do with his newfound powers. He reflects on many plans for Earth, such as making super-powered beings wash his car and changing all the females, including the overweight and elderly, into shapely, twenty-something women. One of his goals is to gain revenge on the Hulk for forcibly bathing him; however, he realizes none of this will make him truly happy, and therefore decides on something that will: a simple birthday party thrown for him by his friends. Before he can implement this, he is subdued by the brainwashed guardian of the Egg, the female New Warriors member Silhouette. She had been hiding in a nearby container, for just this sort of situation.

Pip also appears in Marvel: The End #5–6 and She-Hulk (2005 series) #12–13. Pip assists Thanos in his first quest after his experience in Marvel: The End in Thanos #1–6.

X-Factor Investigations
Pip is next seen when Hela, Norse goddess of death, appears in disguise and hires X-Factor Investigations to find a missing pendant of Thor's hammer. When Jamie Madrox and Banshee track it down and take it off of the neck of a drunken bar patron, he reverts to Pip the Troll. Without the pendant hiding him, Hela is able to track down Pip, whom she captures. This angers X-Factor leader Madrox, who feels responsible, and the team travels to Las Vegas and saves the troll with the help of Thor. Pip follows X-Factor back to New York and joins the team, serving as receptionist, out of gratitude for their actions; however, a mysterious phone call Pip receives reveals that Pip has other, as-yet-unknown reasons for joining the group.

A woman Pip previously helped later shoots him in the head after claiming that "X-Factor will fall". The injury, however, is not fatal due to his non-human physique: Laxidazians's brains are in their chest, next to the heart. While recovering from the gunshot, Pip's mind borrows the body Monet St.Croix.

Powers and abilities
When in possession of the Space Gem, Pip could theoretically access virtually incalculable powers, but chose to use it merely for transportation and teleportation. The gem gave him the ability to teleport to places he knows of. This he often used for his own ends, stealing the Fantasticar and other objects. When forced into battle, he tends to appear directly above his adversary's head, intending to deliver a powerful blow. He has since lost the Space Gem, but his long-term exposure to it has given him the innate ability to teleport.

Television

 * Pip the Troll appears in Silver Surfer, voiced by Robert Bockstael. This version was previously created by the Kree to act as slave labor, but escaped with the Silver Surfer's help. Afterwards, he accompanies him on his quest to return to his home planet of Zenn-La.

Film

 * Pip makes a non-speaking cameo appearance in Planet Hulk.
 * Pip appears in the mid-credits scene of Eternals, voiced by Patton Oswalt.

Video games

 * Pip appears in Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy.

title: Pip the Troll


text:
User:DarkHorizon/CID

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title: User:DarkHorizon/CID


text:
User:MacGyverMagic/Contributions/May

May 5, 2004

 * Common garter snake - complete overhaul.
 * Lynching - redefined
 * List of films by gory death scene - added A View to a Kill and Lord of the Flies
 * Made redirect at Post-it to point to Post-it note

May 10, 2004

 * Colchicine - Rewritten, moved picture.

May 11, 2004

 * Patrolled Newpages, did some minor edits
 * Richard Simpkin - wikif., bld name, bulleted bibliography.
 * Watching: Monkeydoodle's Contributions

May 12, 2004

 * Another small patrol of Newpages, minor edits
 * Voted on Featured Picture Candidates
 * Labelled Coronene for expansion, started research. Done

May 14, 2004

 * Coronene - Added intro, properties table and thumbnail of structure diagram.
 * Camphor - Thumbnailed the large structure diagram.
 * Mary-Kate Ashley Olsen - researched possible redirect.
 * Newpages patrol (selection of activities):
 * Formatted Telefunken, added stub notice.
 * Listed Rajputana for speedy deletion.
 * Hongkou -fmt. and wikified
 * Listed Miron Bialoszewski for speedy deletion.
 * Listed Kuzu Kuzu and Dudu on Pages needing translation into English
 * Joel Goldsmith - formatted + copy edited
 * Lee Huiso - listed for SD, only contained 1 word
 * Listed Pilsner Urquell for deletion - ad.

May 15, 2004

 * Newpages patrol (selection of activities):
 * Listed Southwest University for Nationalities for SD, ad-like link.
 * USKBA - fmt. and rewrite.
 * Jon Toogood - fmt./wikif./ merge edit conflict info.
 * Math animation - listed for SD, vanity.
 * Kyla Brettle - fmt.,stub notice, subhead
 * Martigues - fmt./wikif.
 * Keep an eye on User_talk:62.99.78.136 for copyvios
 * Elfstone - cleanup notice (context)
 * ICR - Put up for SD.
 * Toby Spence - format
 * Indentation - fmt def.
 * Konnie Huq - wikified and formatted

May 17, 2004

 * X-Play - Rewritten for tone. Wikified.
 * Contrail - added subheadings

May 24, 2004

 * Troglodyte - created disamb.
 * Short Cuts - (1993 film) rewritten.

title: User:MacGyverMagic/Contributions/May


text:
Silly season

In the United Kingdom, silly season is a period in the summer months known for frivolous news stories in the mass media. The term was first attested in 1861, and listed in the second (1894) edition of Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. The 15th edition of Brewer's defined the silly season as "the part of the year when Parliament and the Law Courts are not sitting (about August and September)". In North America, the period is often referred to as the slow news season.

In Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, the silly season has come to refer to the Christmas/New Year festive period (which occurs during the summer season in the Southern Hemisphere).

Origin
The first attestation in the Oxford English Dictionary is an article titled "The Silly Season" in the Saturday Review edition of 13 July 1861. The article is specifically about an alleged reduction in the quality of the editorial content of The Times newspaper:

"during the months of autumn [, w]hen Parliament is no longer sitting and the gay world is no longer gathered together in London, something very different is supposed to do for the remnant of the public from what is needed in the politer portions of the year. The Times's great men have doubtless gone out of town, like other great men. ... The hands which at other times wield the pen for our instruction are now wielding the gun on a Scotch moor or the Alpenstock on a Swiss mountain. Work is left to feebler hands. ... In those months the great oracle becomes —what at other times it is not—simply silly. In spring and early summer, the Times is often violent, unfair, fallacious, inconsistent, intentionally unmeaning, even positively blundering, but it is very seldom merely silly. ... In the dead of autumn, when the second and third rate hands are on, we sink from nonsense written with a purpose to nonsense written because the writer must write either nonsense or nothing."

Motivation
Typically, the latter half of the summer is slow in terms of newsworthy events. Newspapers as their primary means of income rely on advertisements, which rely on readers seeing them, but historically newspaper readership drops off during this time. In the United Kingdom, Parliament takes its summer recess, so that parliamentary debates and Prime Minister's Questions, which generate much news coverage, do not happen. This period is also a summer school holiday, when many families with children choose to take holidays, and there is accordingly often a decline of business news, as many employers reduce their activity. With law courts not sitting, there is a lack of coverage of court cases. Similar recesses are typical of legislative bodies elsewhere. To retain (and attract) subscribers, newspapers would print attention-grabbing headlines and articles to boost sales, often to do with minor moral panics or child abductions. For example, the extensive British press coverage devoted to Operation Irma, a humanitarian airlift during the Siege of Sarajevo, was critiqued as a "silly season" tactic.

Other names
Other countries have comparable periods, for example the Sommerloch ("summer [news]hole") in German-speaking Europe; French has la morte-saison ("the dead season" or "the dull season") or la saison des marronniers ("the conker tree season"), and Swedish has nyhetstorka ("news drought").

In many languages, the name for the silly season references cucumbers (more precisely: gherkins or pickled cucumbers). Komkommertijd in Dutch, Danish agurketid, Icelandic gúrkutíð, Norwegian agurktid (a piece of news is called agurknytt or agurknyhet, i.e., "cucumber news"), Czech okurková sezóna ("pickle season"), Slovak uhorková sezóna, Polish Sezon ogórkowy, Hungarian uborkaszezon, and Hebrew עונת המלפפונים (onat ha'melafefonim, "season of the cucumbers") all mean "cucumber time" or "cucumber season". The corresponding term in German is Sauregurkenzeit and in Estonian hapukurgihooaeg ("pickled cucumber season"); the same term is also used in Croatian as sezona kiselih krastavaca and in Slovene as čas kislih kumaric.

The term "cucumber time" was also used in England in the 1800s to denote the slow season for tailors.

A silly season news item is called rötmånadshistoria in Sweden and mätäkuun juttu in Finland, both literally meaning "rotting-month story".

In Spain the term serpiente de verano ("summer snake") is often used, not for the season, but for the news items. The term is a reference to the Loch Ness Monster and similar creatures, who are reputed to get more headlines in summer.

Sports
Silly season also refers to periods outside traditional season-long competitive sporting competitions. In team sports such as association football and professional ice hockey, and leagues such as Formula One, NASCAR, the NBA, or the NFL, the final weeks of the season leading into off-time between one season and the next is filled with speculation regarding possible changes involving players, staff, and teams. Regardless of whether the speculation remains just that or indeed bears fruit, the moves and the discussions they generate help build interest in the leagues, their teams, and their upcoming seasons. For Major League Baseball, the term hot stove league describes that league's off-season.

Silly season is also used in professional golf to describe tournaments that are not official PGA Tour or LPGA Tour events. Normally scheduled at or near the end of the calendar year, when PGA and LPGA tournaments are not usually scheduled, these events also employ formats of play not normally seen on those tours. The Shark Shootout and the Skins Game are two such examples of silly season events.

title: Silly season


text:
Yuko Aoki

Yuko Aoki (青木 裕子) (born on February 5, 1977, in Takahata, Yamagata Prefecture, Japan) is a former Japanese bikini model and singer.

Career
She first started modeling in 1995, and became a "Visual Queen of the Year" at Fuji TV for 1996. She was a frequent cover girl on Japanese bikini photo magazines in the late 1990s. She appeared in the advertising campaign for Suntory's Milpower (ミルパワー) product.

Aoki stopped modeling in 1998, and officially retired from modeling in 2000 to focus on a music career.

In February 1998, Aoki held a healing music concert at Casals Hall, near Ochanomizu Station in Tokyo. In June 1999, she sought to raise money through her singing for the refugees in Kosovo. On December 16, 2002, Aoki revealed a chocolate covered statue of David Beckham in Tokyo to generate publicity. In 2003 she released an album titled Blue on the Universal Japan label. She is currently the lead vocalist for the band Icy Blue. She has been the cover model for (and subject of major articles in) nearly fifty issues of various magazines in Japan, including Weekly Playboy's March 12, 1996 issue.

Aoki started appearing for professional wrestling promotion Hustle in 2005, acting primarily as an announcer. In February 2006, Yuko got in a storyline in which she would audition for a full-time job in Hustle, but general manager Hiroko Suzuki verbally attacked her and made her cry until Wataru Sakata came to her rescue. Aoki became Sakata's valet, and helped him to win a match against Hiroko's husband Kenzo Suzuki.

Private life
In 2010, she retired from the entertainment industry after getting married. After her retirement, while raising children, she worked at her parents' conveyor belt sushi restaurant in Yonezawa.

title: Yuko Aoki


text:
Eternal Tears of Sorrow

Eternal Tears of Sorrow (commonly abbreviated to EToS) is a Finnish symphonic/melodic death metal band formed in Pudasjärvi.

Biography
The band was formed in 1994 by Jarmo Puolakanaho, Altti Veteläinen and Olli-Pekka Törrö, after various projects that featured people who became members of Eternal Tears of Sorrow. Andromeda, a first death/doom/thrash metal project, had been put on hold in late 1992 because the rehearsal place had burned down. They could not find a new rehearsal place in their hometown, so the three members started a new side-project (M.D.C.) and recorded a demo tape, Beyond the Fantasy, in autumn 1993.

In spring 1994, they recorded a new demo, The Seven Goddesses of Frost. Then the band decided to change their name to something they felt more appropriate opting for Eternal Tears of Sorrow. Between 1994 and 1996 the band had a couple of songs on some compilation CDs in Europe and Canada, and recorded their debut, Sinner's Serenade. It took more than a year for the debut album to get released by X-Treme Records, a small underground label from Gothenburg in Sweden. After they recorded their second album, Vilda Mánnu, Spinefarm Records approached the band and soon they signed a deal with the label.

Their third album, Chaotic Beauty (on which the band had three new members since Olli-Pekka Törrö had left the band), led to a European tour with Nightwish and Sinergy. Their fourth album, A Virgin and a Whore, went to the Finnish Album Top 40 charts. After releasing four albums, the band announced they were taking a break just after the release of A Virgin and a Whore; however, they broke up in January 2003.

In February 2005, the band announced they were going to make a comeback. Their fifth album, Before the Bleeding Sun, was released in April 2006 (excluding releases in Russia and Japan that were released later). This album also went to the Finnish Album Top 40 charts, to No. 26. The band added two session members since Petri Sankala and Janne Tolsa were unavailable at that time.

In late 2008, the band announced that Jarmo Kylmänen (who had been part of the band's song-writing team since 2005) had joined the band as an official member. Soon after that, their long-time drummer Petri Sankala left because of back pain. In early April 2009, it was reported that Risto Ruuth had left the band. They found a replacement, Mika Lammassaari, and started rehearsing for the postponed live shows originally planned for May.

The band's sixth album, Children of the Dark Waters, came out in May 2009 through Suomen Musiikki in Finland, Massacre Records in the rest of Europe, and Marquee/Avalon in Asia. A new single, "Tears of Autumn Rain," was released in Finland and Japan as well as on the band's MySpace page. The other track on the single was a re-recorded version of "Vilda Mánnu" from their second album. Children of the Dark Waters charted at No. 19 at the Finnish Album Top 40 charts.

The seventh album, Saivon Lapsi, was released in February 2013.

Mika Lammassaari left the band in 2018 and Risto Ruuth joined the band again. Currently, the band is writing new material.

Full-length albums

 * Sinner's Serenade (1997)
 * Vilda Mánnu (1998)
 * Chaotic Beauty (2000)
 * A Virgin and a Whore (2001)
 * Before the Bleeding Sun (2006)
 * Children of the Dark Waters (2009)
 * Saivon Lapsi (2013)

Singles

 * Sacrament of Wilderness (split single with Nightwish and Darkwoods My Betrothed) (1998)
 * The Last One for Life (Finland only) (2001)
 * Tears of Autumn Rain (2009)
 * Dark Alliance (2013)

Current members

 * Altti Veteläinen – vocals, bass, 1994–present
 * Jarmo Kylmänen – clean vocals, 2008–present
 * Jarmo Puolakanaho – guitar, 1994–present
 * Risto Ruuth – guitar, 2005–2009, 2018–present
 * Janne Tolsa – keyboards, 2005–present
 * Juho Raappana – drums, 2008–present

Former members

 * Olli-Pekka Törrö – guitar, 1994–1999 (For My Pain..., also in all the previous pre-EToS projects)
 * Pasi Hiltula – keyboards, 1999–2003 (Kalmah, Scenery Channel, Burning Point), session tour musician 2009–2010
 * Antti-Matti Talala – guitar, 1999–2000 (To/Die/For, Soulrelic, Kalmah)
 * Antti Kokko – guitar 2000–2003, bass as a session tour musician 1997–1998 (Kalmah)
 * Petri Sankala – drums 1999–2008, session tour musician 1997–1998 (For My Pain..., Kalmah, also in Andromeda 1992–93)
 * Mika Lammassaari – guitar, 2009–2018, (Wolfheart, Mors Subita)

Guest musicians on albums

 * Heli Luokkala – guest vocals on Vilda Mánnu
 * Kimberly Goss – guest vocals on Chaotic Beauty (Sinergy, Therion)
 * Juha Kylmänen – guest vocals on A Virgin and a Whore (For My Pain..., Reflexion)
 * Miriam Elisabeth Renvåg – guest vocals on Before the Bleeding Sun, Children of the Dark Waters and Saivon Lapsi (Ram-Zet, For My Pain...)
 * Tony Kakko – guest vocals on Before the Bleeding Sun (Sonata Arctica)
 * Marko Hietala – guest vocals on Before the Bleeding Sun (Tarot, Nightwish, Sinergy)
 * Heidi Parviainen – guest vocals on Children of the Dark Waters (Amberian Dawn)

Session tour musicians

 * Pekka Kokko – bass guitar, 1999 (Kalmah)
 * Heidi Määttä – keyboards, 2000 (Embraze, The Man-Eating Tree), temporarily replacing Pasi Hiltula.
 * Juha Kylmänen – clean vocals, 2001 (For My Pain..., Reflexion, To/Die/For)
 * Veli-Matti Kananen – keyboards, 2006–2007, 2010 (Tacere), temporarily replacing Janne Tolsa
 * Tuomo Laikari – drums, 2006–2007, temporarily replacing Petri Sankala

title: Eternal Tears of Sorrow


text:
Thomas W. Bartley

Thomas Welles Bartley (February 11, 1812 – June 20, 1885) was an American Democratic politician from the U.S. state of Ohio. He served as the 17th governor of Ohio. Bartley was succeeded in office by his father, Mordecai Bartley, one of only a few instances of this occurring in high elected office in the United States.

Biography
Bartley was born in Jefferson County, Ohio on February 11, 1812. As a child, he moved to Mansfield, Ohio with his family. Bartley attended Jefferson College and graduated in 1829. He studied law with Jacob Parker in Mansfield, Ohio, and studied law with Elijah Hayward in Washington, D.C.. Bartley was admitted to the bar in 1833, and began practice in Mansfield.

Career
Bartley served in the Ohio House of Representatives from 1839 to 1841 and then in the Ohio State Senate from 1841 to 1845. He was elected Speaker of the Senate in 1843.

When Wilson Shannon resigned as governor on April 15, 1844, to take a diplomatic appointment as United States ambassador to Mexico, Bartley became Governor while concurrently remaining in the Senate. He served out the remainder of Shannon's term until December 3. Bartley sought renomination under the Democratic Party, but lost at the state convention by a single vote - avoiding a contest against his father, who accepted the Whig nomination. Bartley later served a contentious term on the Ohio State Supreme Court from 1852 to 1859.

Bartley lived in Mansfield, Ohio, and moved to Cincinnati, Ohio to practice law in 1863, and in 1867 to Washington, D.C., where he died in 1885. He was interred at Glenwood Cemetery.

Family life
On October 9, 1837, Bartley married his first wife, Julia Maria Larwill, in Wooster, Ohio. Bartley married his second wife, Susan D. Sherman (October 10, 1825– January 10, 1876), sister of John Sherman and General William Tecumseh Sherman, on November 7, 1848,. Ellen McCoy, widow of one of General Sherman's staff officers, was his third wife.

Death
Bartley was buried at Glenwood Cemetery in Washington, D.C.

title: Thomas W. Bartley


text: User talk:Safety Cap

title: User talk:Safety Cap


text:
Eastern wolf

The eastern wolf (Canis lycaon or Canis lupus lycaon or Canis rufus lycaon), also known as the timber wolf, Algonquin wolf and eastern timber wolf, is a canine of debated taxonomy native to the Great Lakes region and southeastern Canada. It is considered to be either a unique subspecies of gray wolf or red wolf or a separate species from both. Many studies have found the eastern wolf to be the product of ancient and recent genetic admixture between the gray wolf and the coyote, while other studies have found some or all populations of the eastern wolf, as well as coyotes, originally separated from a common ancestor with the wolf over 1 million years ago and that these populations of the eastern wolf may be the same species as or a closely related species to the red wolf (Canis lupus rufus or Canis rufus) of the Southeastern United States. Regardless of its status, it is regarded as unique and therefore worthy of conservation with Canada citing the population in eastern Canada (also known as the "Algonquin wolf") as being the eastern wolf population subject to protection.

There are two forms, the larger being referred to as the Great Lakes wolf, which is generally found in Minnesota, Wisconsin, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, southeastern Manitoba and northern Ontario, and the smaller being the Algonquin wolf, which inhabits eastern Canada, specifically central and eastern Ontario and southwestern Quebec, with some overlapping and mixing of the two types in the southern portions of northeastern and northwestern Ontario. The eastern wolf's morphology is midway between that of the gray wolf and the coyote. The fur is typically of a grizzled grayish-brown color mixed with cinnamon. The nape, shoulder and tail region are a mix of black and gray, with the flanks and chest being rufous or creamy. It primarily preys on white-tailed deer, but may occasionally hunt moose and beavers.

In the third edition of Mammal Species of the World published in 2005, the mammalogist W. Christopher Wozencraft listed the eastern wolf as a gray wolf subspecies, which supports its earlier classification based on morphology in three studies. This taxonomic classification has since been debated, with proposals based on DNA analyses that includes a gray wolf ecotype, a gray wolf with genetic introgression from the coyote, a gray wolf/coyote hybrid, a gray wolf/red wolf hybrid, the same species as the red wolf, or a separate species (Canis lycaon) closely related to the red wolf. Commencing in 2016, two studies using whole genome sequencing indicate that North American gray wolves and wolf-like canids were the result of ancient and complex gray wolf and coyote mixing, with the Great Lakes wolf possessing 25% coyote ancestry and the Algonquin wolf possessing 40% coyote ancestry.

In the US, gray wolves including the timber wolf are protected under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, although the protections were removed at the federal level in 2021 before being reinstated in 2022. In Canada, the eastern wolf is listed as Canis lupus lycaon under the Species At Risk Act 2002, Schedule 1 - List of Wildlife at Risk. In 2015, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada recognized the eastern wolf in central and eastern Ontario and southwestern Quebec as Canis cf. lycaon (Canis species believed to be lycaon) and a threatened species worthy of conservation. The main threat to this wolf is human hunting and trapping outside of the protected areas, which leads to genetic introgression with the eastern coyote due to a lack of mates. Further human development immediately outside of the protected areas and the negative public perception of wolves are expected to inhibit any further expansion of their range. In 2016, the Committee on the Status of Species at Risk in Ontario recognized the Algonquin wolf as a Canis sp. (Canis species) differentiated from the hybrid Great Lakes wolves which it found were the result of "hybridization and backcrossing among Eastern Wolf (Canis lycaon) (aka C. lupus lycaon), Gray Wolf (C. lupus), and Coyote (C. latrans)".

Taxonomy

The first published name of a taxon belonging to the genus Canis from North America is Canis lycaon. It was published in 1775 by the German naturalist Johann Schreber, who had based it on the earlier description and illustration of one specimen that was thought to have been captured near Quebec. It was later reclassified as a subspecies of gray wolf by Edward Goldman.

In the third edition of Mammal Species of the World published in 2005, the mammalogist W. Christopher Wozencraft listed the eastern wolf as a gray wolf subspecies, which supports its earlier classification based on morphology in three studies. This taxonomic classification has since been debated.

In 2021, the American Society of Mammalogists considered the eastern wolf as its own species (Canis lycaon).

Taxonomic debate
When European settlers first arrived to North America, the coyote's range was limited to the western half of the continent. They existed in the arid areas and across the open plains, including the prairie regions of the midwestern states. Early explorers found some in Indiana and Wisconsin. From the mid-1800s coyotes began expanding beyond their original range.

The taxonomic debate regarding North American wolves can be summarised as follows: "There are two prevailing evolutionary models for North American Canis:
 * (i) a two-species model: that identifies grey wolves (C. lupus) and (western) coyotes (Canis latrans) as distinct species that gave rise to various hybrids, including the Great Lakes-boreal wolf (also known as Great Lakes wolf), the eastern coyote (also known as coywolf / brush wolf / tweed wolf), the red wolf and the eastern wolf;

or

 * (ii) a three-species model: that identifies the grey wolf, western coyote, and eastern wolf (C. lycaon) as distinct species, where Great Lakes-boreal wolves are the product of grey wolf × eastern wolf hybridization, eastern coyotes are the result of eastern wolf × western coyote hybridization, and red wolves are considered historically the same species as the eastern wolf, although their contemporary genetic signature has diverged owing to a bottleneck associated with captive breeding."

The evolutionary biologist Robert K. Wayne, whose team is involved in an ongoing scientific debate with the team led by Linda K. Rutledge, describes the difference between these two evolutionary models: "In a way, it is all semantics. They call it a species, we call it an ecotype."

Archaeological evidence
Some of the earliest Canis specimens were discovered at Cripple Creek Sump, Fairbanks, Alaska, in strata dated 810,000 years old. The dental measurements of the specimens clearly match historical Canis lycaon specimens from Minnesota.

Genetic evidence
Mitochondrial DNA (mDNA) passes along the maternal line and can date back thousands of years.

In 1991, a study of the mitochondrial DNA (mDNA) sequences of wolves and coyotes from across North America found that the wolves of the Minnesota, Ontario and Quebec regions possessed coyote genotypes. The study proposes that dispersing male gray wolves were mating with coyote females in deforested areas bordering wolf territory. The distribution of coyote genotypes within wolves matched the phenotypic differences between these wolves found in an earlier study, with the larger Great Lakes wolf found in Minnesota, the smaller Algonquin (Provincial Park) type found in central Ontario, and the smallest and more coyote-like tweed wolf or eastern coyote type occupying sections of southeastern Ontario and southern Quebec.

In 2000, a study looked at red wolves and eastern wolves from both eastern Canada and Minnesota. The study agreed that these two wolves readily hybridize with the coyote. The study used 8 microsatellites (genetic markers taken from across the genome of a specimen). The phylogenetic tree produced from the genetic sequences showed a close relationship among the red wolves and the eastern wolves from Algonquin Park, southern Quebec, and Minnesota such that they all clustered together. These then clustered next closer with the coyote and away from the gray wolf. A further analysis using mDNA sequences indicated the presence of coyote in both of these two wolves, and that these two wolves had diverged from the coyote 150,000–300,000 years ago. No gray wolf sequences were detected in the samples. The study proposed that these findings are inconsistent with the two wolves being subspecies of the gray wolf, that red wolves and eastern wolves (eastern Canadian and Minnesota) evolved in North America after having diverged from the coyote, and therefore they are more likely to hybridize with coyotes.

In 2009, a study of eastern Canadian wolves – which was referred to as the "Great Lakes" wolf in this study – using microsatellites, mDNA, and the paternally-inherited yDNA markers found that the eastern Canadian wolf was a unique ecotype of the gray wolf that had undergone recent hybridization with other gray wolves and coyotes. It could find no evidence to support the findings of the earlier 2000 study regarding the eastern Canadian wolf. The study did not include the red wolf. This study was quickly rebutted on the grounds that it had misinterpreted the findings of earlier studies that it relied upon, nor did it provide a definition for a number of the terms that it used, such as "ecotype".

In 2011, a study compared the genetic sequences of 48,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms (mutations) taken from the genomes of canids from around the world. The comparison indicated that the red wolf was about 76% coyote and 24% gray wolf with hybridization having occurred 287–430 years ago. The eastern wolf – which was referred to as the "Great Lakes" wolf in this study – was 58% gray wolf and 42% coyote with hybridization having occurred 546–963 years ago. The study rejected the theory of a common ancestry for the red and eastern wolves. However the next year, a study reviewed a subset of the 2011 study's Single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data and proposed that its methodology had skewed the results and that the eastern wolf is not a hybrid but a separate species. The 2012 study proposed that there are three true canis species in North America – the gray wolf, the western coyote, and red wolf/eastern wolf with the eastern wolf represented by the Algonquin wolf, with the Great Lakes wolf being a hydrid of the eastern wolf and the gray wolf, and the eastern coyote being a hybrid of the western coyote and the eastern (Algonquin) wolf.

Also in 2011, a scientific literature review was undertaken to help assess the taxonomy of North American wolves. One of the findings proposed was that the eastern wolf, whose range includes eastern Canada and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan plus Wisconsin and Minnesota is supported as a separate species by morphological and genetic data. Genetic data supports a close relationship between the eastern and red wolves, but not close enough to support these as one species. It was "likely" that these were the separate descendants of a common ancestor shared with coyotes. This review was published in 2012.

Another study of both mDNA and yDNA in wolves and coyotes by the same authors indicates that the eastern wolf is genetically divergent from the gray wolf and is a North American evolved species with a long-standing history. The study could not dismiss the possibility of the eastern wolf having evolved from an ancient hybridization of gray wolf and coyote in the Late Pleistocene or Early Holocene. Another study by the same authors found that eastern wolf mDNA genetic diversity had been lost after their culling in the early 1960s, leading to the invasion of coyotes into their territory and introgression of coyote mDNA.

In 2014, the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis was invited by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to provide an independent review of its proposed rule relating to gray wolves. The Center's panel findings were that the proposed rule was heavily dependent upon the analysis contained in a scientific literature review conducted in 2011 (Chambers et al.), that this work was not universally accepted and that the issue was "not settled", and that the rule does not represent the "best available science". Also in 2014, an experiment to hybridize a captive western gray wolf and a captive western coyote was successful, and therefore possible. The study did not assess the likelihood of such hybridization in the wild.

In 2015, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada changed its designation of the eastern wolf from Canis lupus lycaon to ''Canis cf. lycaon (Canis species believed to be lycaon'') and a species at risk.

Later that year, a study compared the DNA sequences using 127,000 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (mutations) of wolves and coyotes, but did not include red wolves and used Algonquin wolves as the representative eastern wolf, not wolves from the western Great Lakes states (usually referred to as Great Lakes wolves). The study indicated that Algonquin wolves were a distinct genomic cluster, even distinct from the Great Lakes states' wolves, which it found were actually hybrids of the gray wolf and the Algonquin wolf. The study's results did not exclude a possibility that the Great Lakes states' wolf (the gray wolf x eastern wolf hybrid (C. l. lycaon)) historically inhabited southern Ontario, southern Quebec and the northeastern United States alongside the Algonquin wolf, as there is evidence to suggest both inhabited those areas.

In 2016, a study of mDNA once again indicated the Eastern wolf as a coyote–wolf hybrid.

In 2018, a study looked at the Y-chromosome male lineage of canines. The unexpected finding was that the one Great Lakes wolf specimen included in this study showed a high degree of genetic divergence. Previous studies propose the Great Lakes wolf to be an ancient ecotype of the gray wolf that had experienced genetic introgression from other types of gray wolves and coyotes. The study called for further research into the Y-chromosomes of coyotes and wolves to ascertain if this is where this unique genetic male lineage may have originated from.

Genomic evidence
In 2016, a whole-genome DNA study proposed, based on the assumptions made, that all of the North American wolves and coyotes diverged from a common ancestor less than 6,000–117,000 years ago, including the coyote diverging from Eurasian wolf about 51,000 years ago (which matches other studies indicating that the extant wolf came into being around this time), the red wolf diverging from the coyote between 55,000–117,000 years ago, and the eastern wolf (Great Lakes region and Algonquin) wolf diverging from the coyote 27,000–32,000 years ago, and asserts that these do not qualify as an ancient divergences that justify them being considered unique species.

The study also indicated that all North America wolves have a significant amount of coyote ancestry and all coyotes some degree of wolf ancestry, and that the red wolf and eastern wolf are highly admixed with different proportions of gray wolf and coyote ancestry. The study found that coyote ancestry was highest in red wolves from the southeast of the United States and lowest among the Great Lakes wolves.

The study also determined how unique each type of canids alleles were compared to Eurasian wolves, all of which had no coyote ancestry. It found the following proportion of unique alleles: coyotes 5.13% unique; red wolf 4.41%; Algonquin wolves 3.82%; Great Lakes wolves 3.61%; and gray wolves 3.3%. They asserted that the amount of unique alleles in all wolves was lower than expected and does not support an ancient (greater than 250,000 years) unique ancestry for any of the species.

The authors contended that the proportion of unique alleles and ratio of wolf / coyote ancestry findings matched the south to north disappearance of the wolf due to European colonization since the 18th century and the resulting loss of habitat. Bounties led to the extirpation of wolves initially in the southeast, and as the wolf population declined wolf–coyote admixture increased. Later, this process occurred in the Great Lakes region and then eastern Canada with the influx of coyotes replacing wolves, followed by the expansion of coyotes and their hybrids. The Great Lakes and Algonquin wolves largely reflect lineages that have descendants in the modern wolf and coyote populations, but also reflect a distinct gray wolf ecotype which may have descendants in the modern wolf populations.

As a result of these findings, the American Society of Mammalogists recognizes Canis lycaon as its own species.

The proposed timing of the wolf/coyote divergence conflicts with the finding of a coyote-like specimen in strata dated to 1 million years before present.

In 2017 a group of canid researchers challenged the 2016 whole-genome DNA study's finding that the red wolf and the eastern wolf were the result of recent coyote–gray wolf hybridization. The group asserts the three-year generation time used to calculate the divergence periods between different species was lower than empirical estimates of 4.7 years. The group also found deficiencies in the previous study's selection of specimens (two representative coyotes were from areas where recent coyote and gray wolf mixing with eastern wolves is known to have occurred), the lack of certainty in the ancestry of the selected Algonquin wolves, and the grouping of Great Lakes and Algonquin wolves together as eastern wolves, despite opposing genetic evidence. As well, they asserted the 2016 study ignored the fact that there is no evidence of hybridization between coyotes and gray wolves.

The group also questioned the conclusions of genetic differentiation analysis in the study stating that results showing Great Lakes, Algonquin and red wolves, plus eastern coyotes differentiated from gray and Eurasian wolves were actually more consistent with an ancient hybridization or a distinct cladogenic origin for the red and Algonquin wolves than of a recent hybrid origin. The group further asserted that the levels of unique alleles for red and Algonquin wolves found the 2017 study were high enough to reveal a high degree of evolutionary distinctness. Therefore, the group argues that both the red wolf and the eastern wolf remain genetically distinct North American taxa. This was rebutted by the authors of the earlier study.

Wolf genome
Genetic studies relating to wolves or dogs have inferred phylogenetic relationships based on the only reference genome available: that of the dog breed called the Boxer. In 2017, the first reference genome of the wolf Canis lupus lupus was mapped to aid future research. In 2018, a study looked at the genomic structure and admixture of North American wolves, wolf-like canids, and coyotes using specimens from across their entire range that mapped the largest dataset of nuclear genome sequences and compared these against the wolf reference genome. The study supports the findings of previous studies that North American gray wolves and wolf-like canids were the result of complex gray wolf and coyote mixing. A polar wolf from Greenland and a coyote from Mexico represented the purest specimens. The coyotes from Alaska, California, Alabama, and Quebec show almost no wolf ancestry. Coyotes from Missouri, Illinois, and Florida exhibit 5–10% wolf ancestry. There was 40%:60% wolf to coyote ancestry in red wolves, 60%:40% in eastern wolves, and 75%:25% in the Great Lakes wolves. There was 10% coyote ancestry in Mexican wolves, 5% in Pacific Coast and Yellowstone wolves, and less than 3% in Canadian archipelago wolves.

The study indicates that the genomic ancestry of red, eastern and Great Lakes wolves were the result of admixture between modern gray wolves and modern coyotes. This was then followed by development into local populations. Individuals within each group showed consistent levels of coyote to wolf inheritance, indicating that this was the result of relatively ancient admixture. The eastern wolf as found in Algonquin Provincial Park is genetically closely related to the Great Lakes wolf as found in Minnesota and Isle Royale National Park in Michigan. If a third canid had been involved in the admixture of the North American wolf-like canids, then its genetic signature would have been found in coyotes and wolves, which it has not.

Later in 2018, a study based on a much smaller sample of 65,000 SNPs found that although the eastern wolf carries regional gray wolf and coyote alleles (gene variants), it also exhibits some alleles that are unique and therefore worthy of conservation.

In 2023, a genomic study indicates that eastern wolves have evolved separately from grey wolves for the past 67,000 years and had experienced admixture with coyotes 37,000 years ago. The Great Lakes wolves were the result of admixture between eastern wolves and grey wolves 8,000 years ago. Eastern coyotes were the result of admixture between eastern wolves and "western" coyotes during the last century.

Ancestor
The software that is currently used to conduct whole genome analysis for evidence of hybridization does not distinguish between past and present hybridization. In 2021, an mDNA analysis of modern and extinct North American wolf-like canines indicates that the extinct Late Pleistocene Beringian wolf was the ancestor of the southern wolf clade, which includes the Mexican wolf and the Great Plains wolf. The Mexican wolf is the most ancestral of the gray wolves that live in North America today. The modern coyote appeared around 10,000 years ago. The most genetically basal coyote mDNA clade pre-dates the Last Glacial Maximum and is a haplotype that can only be found in the Eastern wolf. This implies that the large, wolf-like Pleistocene coyote was the ancestor of the Eastern wolf. Further, another ancient haplotype detected in the Eastern wolf can be found only in the Mexican wolf. The authors propose that Pleistocene coyote and Beringian wolf admixture led to the Eastern wolf long before the arrival of the modern coyote and the modern wolf.

Description
Charles Darwin was told that there were two types of wolf living in the Catskill Mountains, one being a lightly-built, greyhound-like animal that pursued deer, and the other being a bulkier, shorter-legged wolf. The eastern wolf's fur is typically of a grizzled grayish-brown coloration, mixed with cinnamon. The flanks and chest are rufous or creamy, while the nape, shoulder and tail region are a mix of black and gray. Unlike gray wolves, eastern wolves rarely produce melanistic individuals. The first documented all-black eastern wolf was found to have been an eastern wolf–gray wolf hybrid. Like the red wolf, the eastern wolf is intermediate in size between the coyote and gray wolf, with females weighing 23.9 kg on average and males 30.3 kg. Like the gray wolf, its average lifespan is 3–4 years, with a maximum of 15 years. Their physical sizes that sets them intermediate between gray wolves and coyotes are actually believed to be more related to their adaptations to an environment with predominately medium-sized prey (similar to the case with the Mexican wolf in the southwestern US) rather than their close relationship to red wolves and coyotes.

Ecology and behaviour
The eastern wolf primarily targets small to medium-sized prey items like white-tailed deer and beavers, unlike the gray wolf, which can effectively hunt large ungulates like caribou, elk, moose and bison. Despite being carnivores, packs in Voyageurs National Park forage for blueberries in much of July and August, when the berries are in season. Packs carefully avoid each other; only lone wolves sometimes enter other packs' territories. The average territory ranges 118-185 km2, and the earliest age of dispersal for young eastern wolves is 15 weeks, much earlier than gray wolves.

Distribution
The past range of the eastern wolf included southern Quebec, most of Ontario, the Great Lakes states, New York State and New England. Today, the Great Lakes wolf is generally found in the northern halves of Minnesota and Wisconsin, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, southeastern Manitoba and northern Ontario, and the Algonquin wolf inhabits central and eastern Ontario as well as southwestern Quebec north of the St. Lawrence River. Algonquin wolves are particularly concentrated in Algonquin Provincial Park and other nearby protected areas, such as Killarney, Kawartha Highlands and Queen Elizabeth II Wildlands Provincial Parks and recent surveys also reveal small numbers of Algonquin wolves in the southern areas of northeastern Ontario and northwestern Ontario as far west as the Lake of the Woods near the border with Manitoba, where there is some mixing with Great Lakes wolves, and into southcentral Ontario, where there is some mixing with eastern coyotes. There are some reports of eastern wolf sightings and of wolves being shot by hunters in Quebec south of the St. Lawrence River, New Brunswick, New York State, northern Vermont and Maine. For example, DNA results of a canid killed near Cherry Valley, New York, in 2021 initially pointed to it being an eastern coyote, but a recent statement by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) confirms the animal was a wolf, with most of its ancestry matching wolves in Michigan; the DEC also has not confirmed or denied a breeding population within the state. Certain proponents of wolf recolonization state that wolves are already established in New York and New England, and have naturally dispersed from Canada by crossing the frozen St. Lawrence River.

History, hybridization and conservation

Mitochondrial DNA indicates that before the arrival of Europeans, eastern wolves may have numbered at 64,500 to 90,200 individuals. In 1942 it was believed that, before European settlement, the wolf had ranged throughout the wooded and open areas of eastern North America from what is now southern Quebec westward to the Great Plains and towards the Southeastern Woodlands (the southern extent was uncertain, but was believed to around what is now Kentucky, Tennessee and North Carolina). The region's indigenous human populations did not fear eastern wolves, though they did occasionally catch them in traps, and their bones occur in native shell heaps.

Early European settlers often kept their livestock on eastern wolf-free outer islands, though animals kept in pasture on the mainland were vulnerable, to the point that a campaign against eastern wolves was launched in the early years of the Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay Colonies, in which both settlers and natives participated. A bounty system was put into effect, offering higher rewards for adult wolves, with their heads exposed on hooks in meetinghouses. Nevertheless, wolves were still plentiful enough in New England in the early 18th century to warrant the settlers of Cape Cod discussing the building of a high fence between Sandwich and Wareham to keep them out of grazing lands. The scheme failed, though the settlers continued to utilize wolf pits, a wolf trapping technique learned from the region's indigenous peoples. Eastern wolf numbers declined noticeably shortly before and after the American Revolution, particularly in Connecticut, where the wolf bounty was repealed in 1774. Eastern wolf numbers, however, were still high enough to cause concern in the more sparsely populated areas of southern New Hampshire and Maine, with wolf hunting becoming a regular occupation among settlers and natives alike. By the early 19th century, few eastern wolves remained in southern New Hampshire and Vermont.

Prior to the establishment of Algonquin Provincial Park in 1893, the eastern wolf was common in central Ontario and the Algonquin Highlands. It continued to persist throughout the late 1800s, despite extensive logging and efforts by park rangers to eliminate it, largely due to the sustaining influence of plentiful prey items like deer and beaver. By the mid-1900s, there were as many as 55 eastern wolf packs in the park, with an average of 49 wolves being killed annually during 1909–1958, until they were given official protection by the Ontario government in 1959, by which time the eastern wolf population in and around the park had been reduced to 500–1,000 individuals. Nevertheless, during 1964–1965, 36% of the park's wolf population was culled by researchers trying to understand the reproduction and age structure of the population. This cull coincided with the expansion of coyotes into the park, and lead to an increase in eastern wolf–coyote hybridization. Introgression of gray wolf genes into the eastern wolf population also occurred across northern and eastern Ontario, into Manitoba and Quebec, as well as into the western Great Lakes states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Despite protection within the park boundaries, there was a population decline in the east side of the park during 1987–1999, with an estimated number of 30 packs by 2000. This decline exceeded annual recruitment, and was attributed to human-caused mortality, which mostly occurred when dispersing animals left the park in search of deer during the winter months, and when pack ranges overlapped with park boundaries. By 2001, protection was extended to eastern wolves occurring in the outskirts of the park. By 2012, the genetic composition of the park's eastern wolves was roughly restored to what it was in the mid-1960s than in the 1980s–1990s, when the majority of wolves had large amounts of coyote DNA.

In 2013, an experiment which produced hybrids of coyotes and northwestern gray wolves in captivity using artificial insemination contributed more information to the controversy surrounding the eastern wolf's taxonomy. The purpose of this project was to determine whether the female western coyotes are capable of bearing hybrid western gray wolf-coyote pups, as well as to test the hybrid theory surrounding the origin of the eastern wolves. The resulting six hybrids produced in this captive artificial breeding were later transferred to the Wildlife Science Center of Forest Lake in Minnesota, where their behaviors were studied.

In Algonquin folklore
The wolf is prominently portrayed in Algonquin mythology, where it is referred to as ma-hei-gan or nah-poo-tee in the Algonquian languages. It is the spirit brother of the Algonquian folk hero Nanabozho, and assisted him in several of his adventures, including thwarting the plots of the malicious anamakqui spirits and assisting him in recreating the world after a worldwide flood.

Howling
Since the discovery in 1963 that eastern wolves answered human imitations of their howls, Algonquin Provincial Park began its Public Wolf Howls attraction, where as many as 2,500 visitors are led on expeditions into areas where eastern wolves were sighted the night before and listen to them answering the park staff's imitation howls. By 2000, 85 Public Wolf Howls had been held, with over 110,000 people having participated. The park considers the attraction as the cornerstone of its wolf education program and credits it with changing public attitudes towards wolves in Ontario.

Attacks on humans
Since the early 1970s, there have been several incidents of bold or aggressive behavior towards humans in Algonquin Provincial Park. Between 1987 and 1996, there were four instances of wolves biting people. The most serious case occurred in 1998 when a male wolf that had been long noted to be unafraid of humans stalked a couple walking their four-year-old daughter in September that year, losing interest when the family took refuge in a trailer. Two days later, the wolf attacked a 19-month-old boy, causing several puncture wounds on his chest and back before being driven off by campers. After the animal was killed later that day, it was found to not be rabid.

title: Eastern wolf


text:
Pablo Falconer

Ray "Pablo" Falconer (b. circa 1960 — 1987) was an English reggae producer from Birmingham, England, active in the 1970s and 1980s. Brother to Earl Falconer from UB40, Falconer produced many singles and albums for that band.

Falconer died in a car crash in Birmingham in 1987. Earl Falconer, who was driving the car where his brother died, was sentenced at the time to six months' imprisonment for drunk driving, in June 1988.

Influence on UB40
In an 2013 interview for A Taste Of Dawn magazine UB40's founding member Jimmy Brown described the impact of Pablo Falconer's life and work on the band's music during their early years (and onwards):

Discography (partial)

 * UB40 - "Red Red Wine", 20 August 1983
 * UB40 - Labour of Love LP, 24 September 1983
 * UB40 - "Please Don't Make Me Cry", 15 October 1983
 * UB40 and Chrissie Hynde - "I Got You Babe", 3 August 1985
 * UB40 - Baggariddim LP, 14 September 1985
 * UB40 - "Don't Break My Heart", 26 October 1985
 * UB40 - Live at Hammersmith

title: Pablo Falconer