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Christchurch Airport

Christchurch Airport is the main airport that serves Christchurch, New Zealand. It is located 12 km to the northwest of the city centre, in the suburb of Harewood. Christchurch (Harewood) Airport officially opened on 18 May 1940 and became New Zealand's first international airport on 16 December 1950. It is the second busiest airport in New Zealand, after Auckland and before Wellington by annual passengers, and the second busiest, after Auckland, by aircraft movements.

Christchurch and Auckland are the only airports in New Zealand that regularly handle Boeing 747 and Airbus A380 aircraft. The airport is curfew free, operating 24 hours a day.

The prevailing wind in Christchurch is from the north-east and to a lesser extent from the south-west, but the city is also affected by Canterbury's nor'wester foehn wind. As a result, the airport has two perpendicular runways: a 3288 m primary runway (02/20) oriented with the north-easterly and south-westerly prevailing winds, and a 1741 m secondary runway (11/29) oriented for use during nor'westers. The airport also has a third grass runway, parallel to the primary runway, for use by general aviation. To serve an increasing number of passengers, the airport has completed construction of a major terminal upgrade. The new construction's primary wing opened in 2011 and the upgrade was completed in 2013.

History
In 1935, the local council decided to locate a new aerodrome at Harewood as the best site for Christchurch. Development of the aerodrome at Harewood commenced in 1936 when 227 hectares of land was purchased. In 1937, a 915-metre runway and a 60 square metre terminal were constructed. In 1940, the airport became RNZAF Station Harewood. By 1946 the form of the terminal area development was established with hangars, a small terminal building, the water tower and some barracks buildings. In 1950, Christchurch Airport received clearance for international operations from the government. The two runways and parallel taxiway concept was established in 1953–runway 02/20 at 2,012 metres and 11/29 at 1,741 metres. In 1954, TEAL introduced Douglas DC-6 aircraft to its trans-Tasman services. In February 1960, a new terminal building, designed by architect Paul Pascoe, was brought into operation.

A 1400 ft southwest extension to runway 02/20 opened in November 1963, extending the runway to 8000 ft and providing for commercial jet operations. In April 1965, scheduled jet services were launched by Qantas to Sydney using the Boeing 707.

Later in 1966, an international wing was added to the domestic terminal. In October 1968, NAC operated its first Boeing 737 to the airport. SAFE Air introduced a Chatham Island air link to Christchurch in December 1969. In 1972 the north-west runway was completely resealed and repainted. The first scheduled Boeing 747 service to land in New Zealand arrived on 3 December 1972, a Qantas flight from Sydney. Air New Zealand introduced its McDonnell Douglas DC-10 aircraft to trans-Tasman services from 31 October 1973.

Extensions to the domestic terminal were completed in September 1975 with a new two level pier added, more than doubling the total floor area. In October that year, Air New Zealand began a weekly DC-8 service linking Christchurch to Nadi, Rarotonga and Papeete. Air New Zealand opened its No.1 Hangar at the airport in August 1979. In December 1980 the two Australian domestic airlines Ansett and Trans Australia Airlines commenced scheduled services from Hobart within a few days of each other.

In June 1982, the government approved an 845 m northeastern extension to runway 02/20 at the cost of $7 miliion. The extension was officially opened on 6 July 1984 by prime minister Rob Muldoon, bringing the runway to its present length of 3288 m.

In February 1985, Newmans Air started scheduled de Havilland Canada Dash 7 services on the tourist routes. The first ever Air New Zealand Boeing 767 service to Melbourne and the inaugural Air New Zealand Boeing 747–200 service to Los Angeles via Honolulu and Nadi (known as the southern connection) departed in October 1985. In October 1986, Singapore Airlines started Boeing 747 services to the city. The following month, the first British Airways Boeing 747 flight from London arrived. In July 1987, Ansett New Zealand started flying on domestic trunk routes using Boeing 737 aircraft. Also in 1987, the terminal was extended to accommodate Ansett New Zealand and new Air New Zealand lounges; and domestic airbridges were added. Thai Airways began a weekly DC-10 service from Bangkok in November 1988. In March 1989, Air New Zealand introduced a weekly Boeing 747 service from Tokyo and the following month a Boeing 767 service to Perth was introduced. Although dropped years later, the Perth route was restored on a seasonal basis in 2013 with the same aircraft until 2016, when it was upgauged to a Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

The first Concorde to visit Christchurch was British Airways Concorde G-BOAF on 9 April 1989, arriving from Tahiti on a world tour. It departed towards Sydney on 12 April, in which it lost part of its vertical stabiliser over the Tasman Sea. In September 1990, stage 1 of the International Antarctic Centre tourist attraction was officially opened.

Air Pacific (now Fiji Airways) started a weekly direct flight to Nadi, Fiji in April 1993. Korean Airlines commenced flying to Christchurch in July 1994 using MD-11 aircraft, this was a weekly service from Seoul. In April 1997 Origin Pacific Airways started operations at the airport with flights to Nelson. The Canterbury Aero Club opened a new complex to the north-west side of the airport in October 1998. In September 1998, the new international terminal building was completed, creating an additional 28,000 square metres of floor space. In 2004, expansion of the international terminal was completed to create five more international stands and four more international airbridges. Pacific Blue Airlines commenced trans-Tasman flights from Christchurch (its New Zealand base) in January 2004. Emirates started flying to Christchurch from Dubai and Melbourne with Airbus A340 aircraft in July 2004, later switching to a Sydney-Bangkok-Dubai service with a Boeing 777-300ER aircraft before upgrading to a daily Airbus A380 service while dropping Bangkok on 30 October 2016. Jetstar started serving the city with trans-Tasman flights in December 2005. Construction of the five level carpark building commenced in March 2006. Origin Pacific ceased operations in September 2006.

Airport redevelopment
Christchurch Airport underwent an extensive expansion project, beginning in March 2006 when construction commenced on a new multi-storey $13 million car park building which opened early in 2007. The new building provided 570 new covered car spaces. Once it was complete, part of the existing car park area was closed to allow for the extra space required for the expanded footprint of a new terminal building. A new 45m tall control tower, positioned close to the new car park building, opened in September 2009. A separate $20 million regional lounge was constructed in 2010 in a joint venture by Air New Zealand and CIAL.

In early 2009, work commenced on replacing the old domestic terminal with a new integrated terminal precinct (ITP) to be built over the existing one. The new terminal replaced the existing ageing domestic terminal and expanded the facilities of the much newer international terminal. Stage 1 of the new terminal, including the new check-in hall, new food/retail precinct, new single domestic security screening, and the new regional departure lounge and baggage claim of the new terminal was completed in May 2011, allowing the old international check-in and the old domestic terminal north of the main pier to be demolished to make way for Stage 2. Stage 2, which includes the new domestic baggage claim and the northern half of the new domestic departure lounge was completed in February 2012.

The old domestic terminal was completely demolished to make way for the new terminal. All construction was completed by late 2012, with some work such as demolition of the old pier continuing into 2013. Between 200 and 400 workers were active on the site each work day for almost four years. Despite 11,000 earthquakes, the terminal project was completed on budget. The new terminal was officially opened by Prime Minister John Key on 18 April 2013.

2010 onwards
In April 2011, Air Asia X commenced Airbus A330 services to Kuala Lumpur; these were short lived, ending in May 2012. China Airlines operated seasonal flights from Taipei via Sydney with Airbus A330 aircraft from December 2014 to 2018. An unusual irregular visitor is Uzbekistan Airways, which operates Boeing 767 charters from Tashkent via Kuala Lumpur carrying Russian fishing crews.

In December 2023, United Airlines began operating a seasonal service from San Francisco. This service is the only flight connecting North America with the South Island.

Kowhai Park
The airport is to build a solar farm on 400 hectares of land to power the airport. As part of its sustainability goals, it will be big enough to power 20% of Christchurch.

Runways
The preferred option by the airport company for increasing the capacity of the existing runways is by introducing independent operations. This can be achieved by adding a 300m extension to the north-eastern end of the main runway 20/02 which would give it a total length of 3,600m. When the prevailing north-easterly winds are blowing this would allow for intersection departures for most aircraft types while other aircraft land on runway 11. Large wide body aircraft would still have to use the full length of the runway. The runway 11/29 would be widened to 45m and extended by 250m to the north-west into the Harewood golf course; the airport has purchased land from the club already. This would increase the runway length to 1,981 metres and is estimated to cost $12 million, as presently some Tasman and Pacific Island flights are unable to take off fully loaded in nor'west wind conditions. A runway end safety area (RESA) will be added to each end to make it comply with ICAO standards. Eventually all the runways will have a RESA. Also Runway 11/29 may be lengthened up to 2,000m to provide for enhanced take-off capability for Code D (Boeing 767-sized aircraft) and Code E (Boeing 777, Boeing 787, Airbus A350) aircraft flying on medium and long haul routes in northwest wind operational conditions. When completed with peak operation periods both runways will be used simultaneously. Statistics indicated that Runway 02 was used 70% of the time, Runway 20 at 20%, Runway 29 at 8% and Runway 11 (predominantly for landings) at 2% of the time.

Terminal and gates
Christchurch Airport consists of a single terminal that caters for both domestic and international flights. It is 77,591m2 in size and is situated on the eastern side of the airport.

The main terminal building contains a combined check-in hall for domestic and international flights. It has 58 check-in counters, in addition to self-service check-in kiosks. A common baggage claim hall is also located on the ground floor. There is a large retail area on the first floor, with many food and retail outlets as well as waiting areas. A major feature of the terminal is a $15 million state-of-the-art baggage handling system, which is 750 metres long.

The airport has 37 gates in total. The regional wing is located in the south-west of the terminal, and handles all Air New Zealand Link turboprop flights. It has 12 gates, numbered 3–14. The central zone handles mainline Air New Zealand and Jetstar domestic services and has eight gates (16–22a) and gates(15,15a,15b,15c); all (except Gate 15, which can be shared with turboprops) are equipped with jetbridges. The international wing is located in the north-east section of the terminal and has 13 gates (23–35), all except 31 and 33 have jetbridges. Gates 21/24 and 22/25 are shared swing gates which can be used for domestic or international flights as the need arises. Gate 30 has a dual jetbridge which is used for the Airbus A380. When available it can also accommodate two narrow body jets gate position 30R and 30L.

Airlines and destinations
As of December 2023, Christchurch airport is served by 11 airlines with scheduled services. The airport has direct flights to 18 domestic and 10 international destinations. A total of 900 scheduled domestic and 157 international flights arrive and depart each week.

Statistics

As the gateway for Christchurch and the South Island, Christchurch International Airport is New Zealand's second largest airport.

A total of 5,709,272 passengers travelled in and out of Christchurch International Airport in the 12 months to 31 July 2014, an increase of 3.6 per cent over the previous year.

A record 6.31 million passengers travelled in the 2016 year. Airline seat capacity grew 7% to 7.9 million passengers with several new services starting.

Military
Since the closure of RNZAF Base Wigram, the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) always flies to Christchurch International Airport when visiting the city. There are regular RNZAF flights between Wellington, Ohakea, Auckland.

With the development of Antarctic scientific expeditions, since the 1950s Christchurch Airport has been the base for all Antarctic flights operated by the United States Navy, the United States Air Force, the United States Air National Guard, and the Royal New Zealand Air Force as part of Operation Deep Freeze.

SOFIA
In July 2013 a Boeing 747SP modified as the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) airborne telescope landed at the airport. A spokesman said it was likely that Christchurch would be a winter base for SOFIA for twenty years. The city was chosen as a southern hemisphere base because of the long airport runway and the favourable atmospheric conditions and relatively empty airspace in southern New Zealand.

General aviation
There are several general aviation organisations operating from the airport. Garden City Helicopters operates from a base adjacent to the airport (ICAO: NZGI). It operates a medivac service using fixed-wing aircraft (NZ Flying Doctor Service), charter flights and also operates the rescue helicopter in Canterbury with a secondary helipad in Hagley Park adjacent to Christchurch Hospital (ICAO: NZJC). Christchurch International Airport Limited maintains a grass runway parallel to the primary runway for the Canterbury Aero Club. Among the general aviation companies, Mainland Air operates flights to Oamaru. Air Safaris runs a link service to Lake Tekapo Airport.

Aviation services
The Christchurch Engine Centre, established in 1953, is located at the airport and is now a joint facility run by Pratt & Whitney and Air New Zealand. A full MRO service is offered to IAE V2500 engines. Formerly, PW JT8D and Rolls-Royce Dart engines were overhauled at the facility. Air New Zealand has several maintenance facilities at the airport such as 1 Hangar (which can accommodate six Code C aircraft), 3 Hangar (one Code C aircraft) and 5 Hangar (one Code C aircraft) but no longer has a paint hangar.

Access, ground transport, and parking
The main access road into the airport connects to both Russley Road (State Highway 1) and Memorial Avenue at a diamond interchange. The distance from the airport to the city centre is roughly 10 km.

A drop off and pick up area called 'The Loop' is situated on the ground floor of the multi-level car park building. A number of different taxi and shuttle companies operate services from the airport terminals. Uber also partnered with CIAL to have a dedicated pick-up and drop-off zone for its service.

Three different city bus routes service the airport terminal: the number 3 route to the central city via Avonhead and Riccarton, continuing to Sumner; the number 29 route to the central city via Fendalton; and the number 125 on its route from Redwood to Halswell. In late August 2023, a fourth bus line was announced to be serving the Airport, the 8 Port to Port Route. With service starting September 04th, this bus travels between the Airport and the Port town of Lyttleton via the CBD.

Accidents and incidents

 * On 21 November 1957 at 11.33am a SAFE Air Bristol Freighter (registered ZK-AYH) suffered a catastrophic structural failure on a flight from Paraparaumu to Oamaru and crashed on the Russley Golf Course very near the airport with the loss of all four lives.
 * On 6 June 2003, an Air Adventures New Zealand Ltd Piper PA-31 Chieftain (registered ZK-NCA) crashed into trees and terrain 1.2 nmi short of runway 20, killing the pilot and seven of the nine passengers onboard. The aircraft was flying too low during an ILS approach in foggy weather.
 * An attempted hijacking of Eagle Airways Flight 2279 from Blenheim to Christchurch occurred on 8 February 2008. After the British Aerospace Jetstream 32EP landed, the offender, a Somalian woman, was overpowered by the two pilots and she was later arrested at the scene on Runway 29 after the aircraft came to a stop.
 * In November 2014, a New Zealand Member of Parliament, Gerry Brownlee, was fined $2000 by the Civil Aviation Authority for a breach of security that occurred at Christchurch Airport on 24 July 2014. An official inquiry found that Brownlee (then Minister of Transport) and two of his aides had evaded security screening by entering a departure lounge through an exit door while in a rush to board a domestic flight.
 * On 31 May 2024, a Jetstar Airbus A320 (registered VH-VFF) operating flight JQ225 from Auckland lost directional control while landing on runway 02 and slid off the edge of the runway. No injuries were reported, but the airport was closed while the aircraft was towed to the terminal and the runway inspected.

Demographics
The statistical area of Christchurch Airport, which includes commercial areas near the airport, covers 11.45 km2. It had an estimated population of as of  with a population density of  people per km2.

Christchurch Airport had a population of 177 at the 2018 New Zealand census, an increase of 9 people (5.4%) since the 2013 census, and a decrease of 6 people (−3.3%) since the 2006 census. There were 75 households, comprising 99 males and 75 females, giving a sex ratio of 1.32 males per female. The median age was 50.1 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 21 people (11.9%) aged under 15 years, 39 (22.0%) aged 15 to 29, 87 (49.2%) aged 30 to 64, and 30 (16.9%) aged 65 or older.

Ethnicities were 81.4% European/Pākehā, 16.9% Māori, 6.8% Asian, and 3.4% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity.

The percentage of people born overseas was 18.6, compared with 27.1% nationally.

Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 47.5% had no religion, 37.3% were Christian, 3.4% were Muslim and 1.7% had other religions.

Of those at least 15 years old, 12 (7.7%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 45 (28.8%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $29,100, compared with $31,800 nationally. 18 people (11.5%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 75 (48.1%) people were employed full-time, 33 (21.2%) were part-time, and 6 (3.8%) were unemployed.

title: Christchurch Airport


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The Vicar of Wakefield

The Vicar of Wakefield, subtitled A Tale, Supposed to be written by Himself, is a novel by Anglo-Irish writer Oliver Goldsmith (1728–1774). It was written from 1761 to 1762 and published in 1766. It was one of the most popular and widely read 18th-century novels among the British citizenry.

Publication
Dr. Samuel Johnson, one of Goldsmith's closest friends, told how The Vicar of Wakefield came to be sold for publication: I received one morning a message from poor Goldsmith that he was in great distress, and, as it was not in his power to come to me, begging that I would come to him as soon as possible. I sent him a guinea, and promised to come to him directly. I accordingly went as soon as I was dressed, and found that his landlady had arrested him for his rent, at which he was in a violent passion: I perceived that he had already changed my guinea, and had a bottle of Madeira and a glass before him. I put the cork into the bottle, desired he would be calm, and began to talk to him of the means by which he might be extricated. He then told me he had a novel ready for the press, which he produced to me. I looked into it and saw its merit; told the landlady I should soon return; and, having gone to a bookseller, sold it for sixty pounds. I brought Goldsmith the money, and he discharged his rent, not without rating his landlady in a high tone for having used him so ill.

The novel was The Vicar of Wakefield, and Johnson had sold it to Francis Newbery, nephew of publisher John Newbery. Newbery "kept it by him for nearly two years unpublished".

The 1929 edition was illustrated by Arthur Rackham (1867–1939).

Plot summary
The Vicar – Dr. Charles Primrose – lives an idyllic life in a country parish with his wife Deborah, son George, daughters Olivia and Sophia, and three other children. He is wealthy due to investing an inheritance he received from a deceased relative, and he donates the £35 that his job pays annually to the widows and orphans of local clergy. On the evening of George's wedding to wealthy Arabella Wilmot, the Vicar loses all his money through the bankruptcy of his merchant investor who has left town abruptly.

The wedding is called off by Arabella's father, who is known for his prudence with money. George, who was educated at Oxford and is old enough to be considered an adult, is sent away to town. The rest of the family move to a new and more humble parish on the land of Squire Thornhill, who is known to be a womanizer. On the way, they hear about the dubious reputation of their new landlord. Also, references are made to the squire's uncle Sir William Thornhill, who is known throughout the country for his worthiness and generosity.

A poor and eccentric friend, Mr. Burchell, whom they meet at an inn, rescues Sophia from drowning. She is instantly attracted to him, but her ambitious mother does not encourage her feelings.

Then follows a period of happy family life, interrupted only by regular visits of the dashing Squire Thornhill and Mr. Burchell. Olivia is captivated by Thornhill's hollow charm; but he also encourages the social ambitions of Mrs. Primrose and her daughters to a ludicrous degree.

Finally, Olivia is reported to have fled. First Burchell is suspected, but after a long pursuit Dr. Primrose finds his daughter, who was in fact deceived by Squire Thornhill. He planned to marry her in a mock ceremony and leave her shortly after, as he had done with several women before.

When Olivia and her father return home, they find their house in flames. Although the family has lost almost all their belongings, the evil Squire Thornhill insists on the payment of the rent. As the vicar cannot pay, he is brought to prison.

A series of dreadful developments follows. The vicar's daughter, Olivia, is reported dead, Sophia is abducted, and George too is sent to prison in chains and covered with blood, as he had challenged Thornhill to a duel when he had heard about his wickedness.

Then Mr. Burchell arrives and solves all problems. He rescues Sophia, Olivia is not dead, and it emerges that Mr. Burchell is in reality the worthy Sir William Thornhill, who travels through the country in disguise. In the end, there is a double wedding: George marries Arabella, as he originally intended, and Sir William Thornhill marries Sophia. Squire Thornhill's servant turns out to have tricked him, and what the Squire thought to be a sham marriage of himself and Olivia is in fact valid. Finally, even the wealth of the vicar is restored, as the bankrupt merchant is reported found.

Structure and narrative technique
The book consists of 32 chapters which fall into three parts:
 * Chapters 1–3: beginning
 * Chapters 4–29: main part
 * Chapters 30–32: ending

Chapter 17, when Olivia is reported to be fled, can be regarded as the climax as well as an essential turning point of the novel. From chapter 17 onward it changes from a comical account of eighteenth-century country life into a pathetic melodrama with didactic traits.

There are quite a few interpolations of different literary genres, such as poems, histories or sermons, which widen the restricted view of the first person narrator and serve as didactic fables.

The novel can be regarded as a fictitious memoir, as it is told by the vicar himself by retrospection.

Charles Primrose
He is the vicar in the title, and the narrator of the story. He presents one of the most harmlessly simple and unsophisticated yet also ironically complex figures ever to appear in English fiction. He has a mild, forgiving temper, as seen when he forgives his daughter Olivia with open arms. He is a loving husband and a father of six healthy, blooming children. However, though he usually has a sweet, benevolent temper, he can sometimes be a bit silly, stubborn, or vain. For instance, he is obsessed with a particularly obscure, and not very important, matter of church doctrine. One of his "favourite topics", he declares, is matrimony, and explains that he is proud of being "a strict monogamist" (in the sense that he is opposed to remarriage of any sort and believes scripture allows only one marriage partner for a person's lifetime). He tactlessly adheres to his "principles" in the face of a violent disagreement with the neighbour who was soon to become his son's father-in-law (who is about to be married a fourth time). He "...was called out by one of my relations, who, with a face of concern, advised me to give up the dispute, at least till my son's wedding was over." However, he angrily cries that he will not "relinquish the cause of truth", and hotly says, "You might as well advise me to give up my fortune as my argument." This is ironic, as he immediately finds out that his fortune has been unexpectedly reduced to almost nothing. This makes Mr. Wilmot break off the intended marriage with Mr. Primrose's son George and Miss Arabella Wilmot, and thus his son's happiness is almost shattered. He is sometimes proud of what he fancies is his ability at arguing, and often misjudges his family's supposed friends and neighbours. However, despite all his faults, he is affectionate, faithful, loving, patient and essentially good-natured.

Deborah Primrose
Dr Charles Primrose's wife. She is faithful, if still rather independent-minded. She has some vanity of her own, however: she has a "passion" for clothes, and is seen making a "wash" for her girls. She is also eager to see her daughters splendidly married, and this ambition sometimes blinds her. Dr Charles Primrose refers to her wife as "a good-natured notable woman; and as for breeding, there were few country ladies who could shew (show) more. She could read any English book without much spelling, but for pickling, preserving, and cookery, none could excel her." She is even prouder of her children than her husband, especially her beautiful girls.

Olivia and Sophia Primrose
Their father originally wished to name each after their aunt Grissel, but other considerations prevented him. They are affectionate, generally dutiful daughters. Of his daughters, the vicar claims, "Olivia...had that luxuriancy of beauty with which painters generally draw Hebe; open, sprightly, and commanding ... Sophia's features were not so striking at first; but often did more certain execution; for they were soft, modest, and alluring. The one vanquished by a single blow, the other by efforts successfully repeated...Olivia wished for many lovers, Sophia to secure one. Olivia was often affected from too great a desire to please. Sophia even represt [repressed] excellence from her fears to offend." They both alike reflect their father's nature of being good-hearted, though prone to occasional fault; Olivia runs away with Mr. Thornhill in a rush of impetuous passion, and even the more sensible Sophia joins in with making "a wash" for herself and dressing up in fancy clothes.

Reception
In literary history books, The Vicar of Wakefield is often described as a sentimental novel, which displays the belief in the innate goodness of human beings. But it can also be read as a satire on the sentimental novel and its values, as the vicar's values are apparently not compatible with the real "sinful" world. It is only with Sir William Thornhill's help that he can get out of his calamities. Moreover, an analogy can be drawn between Mr. Primrose's suffering and the Book of Job. This is particularly relevant to the question of why evil exists.

The novel is mentioned in "The Romance of Certain Old Clothes" by Henry James, George Eliot's Middlemarch, Stendhal's The Life of Henry Brulard, Arthur Schopenhauer's "The Art of Being Right", Jane Austen's Emma, Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities and David Copperfield, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Sarah Grand's The Heavenly Twins, Charlotte Brontë's The Professor and Villette, Louisa May Alcott's Little Women and in Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther, as well as his Dichtung und Wahrheit. Goethe wrote:

“Now Herder came, and together with his great knowledge brought many other aids and the later publications besides. Among these he announced to us the Vicar of Wakefield as an excellent work, with a German translation of which he would make us acquainted by reading it aloud to us himself. … A Protestant country clergyman is, perhaps the most beatific subject for a modern idyl; he appears, like Melchizedek, as priest and king in one person.” The Autobiography of Johann Goethe, p. 368 ff.

Adaptations
A play The Vicar of Wakefield: A drama in 3 parts (1850) by Joseph Stirling Coyne. Silent film adaptations of the novel were produced in 1910, in 1913, and in 1916.

In 1959 an Italian television series The Vicar of Wakefield was broadcast.

Composer Liza Lehmann composed a 1906 comic light opera The Vicar of Wakefield to a libretto by Laurence Housman.

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

title: The Vicar of Wakefield


text:
Meridian (astronomy)

In astronomy, the meridian is the great circle passing through the celestial poles, as well as the zenith and nadir of an observer's location. Consequently, it contains also the north and south points on the horizon, and it is perpendicular to the celestial equator and horizon. Meridians, celestial and geographical, are determined by the pencil of planes passing through the Earth's rotation axis. For a location not on this axis, there is a unique meridian plane in this axial-pencil through that location. The intersection of this plane with Earth's surface defines two geographical meridians (either one east and one west of the prime meridian, or else the prime meridian itself and its anti-meridian), and the intersection of the plane with the celestial sphere is the celestial meridian for that location and time.

There are several ways to divide the meridian into semicircles. In one approach, the observer's upper meridian extends from a celestial pole and passes through the zenith to contact the opposite pole, while the lower meridian passes through the nadir to contact both poles at the opposite ends. In another approach known as the horizontal coordinate system, the meridian is divided into the local meridian, the semicircle that contains the observer's zenith and the north and south points of their horizon, and the opposite semicircle, which contains the nadir and the north and south points of their horizon.

On any given (sidereal) day/night, a celestial object will appear to drift across, or transit, the observer's upper meridian as Earth rotates, since the meridian is fixed to the local horizon. At culmination, the object contacts the upper meridian and reaches its highest point in the sky. An object's right ascension and the local sidereal time can be used to determine the time of its culmination (see hour angle).

The term meridian comes from the Latin meridies, which means both "midday" and "south", as the celestial equator appears to tilt southward from the Northern Hemisphere.

title: Meridian (astronomy)


text:
Talk:Acupressure

Please stop removing new scientific information from the last 10 years and reverting to quackwatch
Quackwatch is not a reliable up to date source of scientific information on the existence of acu points.

If we need to improve the citations somehow, we can do that, but recent studies are not irrelevant because they aren't on quackwatch.

If this article is going to be thorough and unbiased, we cannot ignore recent studies. If CT scans demonstrate the existence of acupoints as structures in the body, then we have to accept those images.

I am not interested in starting a back and forth edit conflict, if we want to share quackwatch view as opposed to modern scienctific views, we can do that and show both sides, perhaps that is best, but simply undoing additions to the article to reflect recent science is not unbiased or in the spirit of education. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.246.15.110 (talk • contribs)

 * It's not a matter of "Quackwatch views". There is a large body of scientific investigation into acupuncture/pressure. A single study alleging that spots on CT scans are acupuncture points doesn't change that.  Pepper Beast    (talk)  14:46, 25 November 2020 (UTC)
 * I am not interested in starting a back and forth edit conflict apparently you're not interested in actual science either. Praxidicae (talk) 14:59, 25 November 2020 (UTC)

 * Please define actual science and who gets to decide what actual science is?

 * Is a CT scan image science if doctors rely upon it for diagnoses in hospitals? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.246.15.110 (talk • contribs)
 * Sign your edits. And WP:V and WP:MEDRS decide what is reliable and actual science and not whatever woo-woo quackery you're here to promote. Praxidicae (talk) 15:09, 25 November 2020 (UTC)

Is the journal of electron spectroscopy and related phenomena a reliable secondary source? https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-electron-spectroscopy-and-related-phenomena

the fact that you are calling my additions woo woo quackery reveals your bias. me being promotional would have led me to re-write the entire article and remove cochrane information etc.. not interested in that, just adding new discoveries. i don't see any attempt on your part to allow others to participate by adding new information that sheds credibility on the existence of acupoints, so if this is your attempt and mediation or discussion, i suggest the next avenue is some dispute resolution, sadly. you could even write a disclaimer...

While recently published research suggests a physical basis for acupoints, more study is needed to confirm their existence before acceptance by the larger scientific community. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.246.15.110 (talk • contribs)
 * Yes, my bias being toward science and against pseudoscience. Once more, WP:SIGN your edits. Praxidicae (talk) 15:21, 25 November 2020 (UTC)

 * it's my understanding i don't need to sign edits to be a contributing member of wikipedia, but i'll look into that further. And ct scans, x-rays, and other medical imaging is not pseudoscience. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2604:6000:E6CF:C600:793F:A30A:223C:FF27 (talk • contribs)
 * Actually, it is required to engage in discussion. Sign them. Switching IPs isn't going to fool anyone either. Praxidicae (talk) 16:40, 25 November 2020 (UTC)

 * didn't realize the talk page was different, sorry --2604:6000:E6CF:C600:793F:A30A:223C:FF27 (talk) 16:42, 25 November 2020 (UTC)
 * Good instrumentation doesn't make good science on its own.  Pepper Beast    (talk)  16:44, 25 November 2020 (UTC)

who gets to evaluate whether the recent studies demonstrating the existence of acupoints are science? again, this gets back to my point. i don't expect to change your mind or opinion, but on wikipedia, we are all supposed to be allowed to contribute. what i feel is valid science and worthy of report, you don't. National Geographic, the New York Times, and such have shared recent studies demonstrating either the efficacy of acupuncture (different than acupressure), or the existence of acupuncture points vs non-points, but couch them in language to suggest more study is still needed...  it's open to debate. more scientists need to publish the same results, etc... that's all fine, but that doesn't mean we get to censor information we don't like. you already believe acupoints are quackery. that's ok. but i don't think you should decide that for everyone. so, in what manner of presentation would you allow the inclusion of any new scientific study that supports the existence of acupoints, as points on the body which can be distinguished through medical technology by researchers?

While some recent studies (citations) suggest a physical basis for acupoints, further study is needed to confirm whether these results were tampered with or manipulated??

remember these are just scientists looking at the body and finding things and reporting them, and just because acupoints exist doesn't mean acupressure is effective, that's a separate issue. but we have nerve endings. areas on the body that are more inflamed, and more oxygenated, that respond to stimulation in animal models with predictable results suggests something exists. --2604:6000:E6CF:C600:793F:A30A:223C:FF27 (talk) 16:55, 25 November 2020 (UTC)

i'm surprised that you allow quackwatch on there, that's just one guy's opinion, and last i checked he thinks chiropractic is quackery, but i can tell you from experience, and those of family members, that when someone adjusts a misalignment in your spine and you suddenly feel better after days or weeks of months, you know it's real. it's quite simple really, nerves get impinged, muscles spasms, when we are out of alignment, and getting adjusted can relieve the issue, especially after a sudden injury. so i don't find quackwatch to have any credibility, and yet that's cited on here, seems unfair to cite quackwatch and not a reputable scientific journal -- 2604:6000:E6CF:C600:793F:A30A:223C:FF27 (talk) 17:02, 25 November 2020 (UTC)

 * Anecdotal evidence. Tgeorgescu (talk) 07:23, 26 November 2020 (UTC)
 * A 'reputable scientific journal' is not a description I feel can be uncontroversially applied to Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine. Any addition based on stuff published in it would warrant wider discussion. Girth Summit  (blether)  18:15, 28 November 2020 (UTC)

Supposed Oracle bone attestation
The oracle bones don't talk about treatments like that. Maybe I've not read the bone in question, but if so, there needs to be citation for where pressure point treatment appears in the corpus. (I'm not saying it was invented in India, just that I've read enough oracle bones to doubt that the claim being made in the article is reliable.) 69.242.110.62 (talk) 05:54, 28 November 2023 (UTC)

title: Talk:Acupressure


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Meridian (geography)

In geography and geodesy, a meridian is the locus connecting points of equal longitude, which is the angle (in degrees or other units) east or west of a given prime meridian (currently, the IERS Reference Meridian). In other words, it is a line of longitude. The position of a point along the meridian is given by that longitude and its latitude, measured in angular degrees north or south of the Equator. On a Mercator projection or on a Gall-Peters projection, each meridian is perpendicular to all circles of latitude. A meridian is half of a great circle on Earth's surface. The length of a meridian on a modern ellipsoid model of Earth (WGS 84) has been estimated as 20,003.93 km.

Pre-Greenwich
The first prime meridian was set by Eratosthenes in 200 BC. This prime meridian was used to provide measurement of the earth, but had many problems because of the lack of latitude measurement. Many years later around the 19th century there were still concerns of the prime meridian. Multiple locations for the geographical meridian meant that there was inconsistency, because each country had their own guidelines for where the prime meridian was located.

Etymology
The term meridian comes from the Latin meridies, meaning "midday"; the subsolar point passes through a given meridian at solar noon, midway between the times of sunrise and sunset on that meridian. Likewise, the Sun crosses the celestial meridian at the same time. The same Latin stem gives rise to the terms a.m. (ante meridiem) and p.m. (post meridiem) used to disambiguate hours of the day when utilizing the 12-hour clock.

International Meridian Conference
Because of a growing international economy, there was a demand for a set international prime meridian to make it easier for worldwide traveling which would, in turn, enhance international trading across countries. As a result, a Conference was held in 1884, in Washington, D.C. Twenty-six countries were present at the International Meridian Conference to vote on an international prime meridian. Ultimately the outcome was as follows: there would be only one prime meridian, the prime meridian was to cross and pass at Greenwich (which was the 0°), there would be two longitude direction up to 180° (east being plus and west being minus), there will be a universal day, and the day begins at the mean midnight of the initial meridian.

"There were two main reasons for this. The first was that the USA had already chosen Greenwich as the basis for its own national time zone system. The second was that in the late 19th century, 72% of the world's commerce depended on sea-charts which used Greenwich as the Prime Meridian. The recommendation was based on the argument that naming Greenwich as Longitude 0º would be of advantage to the largest number of people."

Geographic
Toward the ending of the 12th century there were two main locations that were acknowledged as the geographic location of the meridian, France and Britain. These two locations often conflicted and a settlement was reached only after there was an International Meridian Conference held, in which Greenwich was recognized as the 0° location.

The meridian through Greenwich (inside Greenwich Park), England, called the Prime Meridian, was set at zero degrees of longitude, while other meridians were defined by the angle at the center of the Earth between where it and the prime meridian cross the equator. As there are 360 degrees in a circle, the meridian on the opposite side of the Earth from Greenwich, the antimeridian, forms the other half of a circle with the one through Greenwich, and is at 180° longitude  near the International Date Line (with land mass and island deviations for boundary reasons). The meridians from Greenwich (0°) west to the antimeridian (180°) define the Western Hemisphere and the meridians from Greenwich (0°) east to the antimeridian (180°) define the Eastern Hemisphere. Most maps show the lines of longitude.

The position of the prime meridian has changed a few times throughout history, mainly due to the transit observatory being built next door to the previous one (to maintain the service to shipping). Such changes had no significant practical effect. Historically, the average error in the determination of longitude was much larger than the change in position. The adoption of World Geodetic System 84" (WGS84) as the positioning system has moved the geodetic prime meridian 102.478 metres east of its last astronomic position (measured at Greenwich). The position of the current geodetic prime meridian is not identified at all by any kind of sign or marking at Greenwich (as the older astronomic position was), but can be located using a GPS receiver.

Effect of Prime Meridian (Greenwich Time)
It was in the best interests of the nations to agree to one standard meridian to benefit their fast growing economy and production. The disorganized system they had before was not sufficient for their increasing mobility. The coach services in England had erratic timing before the GWT. United States and Canada were also improving their railroad system and needed a standard time as well. With a standard meridian, stage coach and trains were able to be more efficient. The argument of which meridian is more scientific was set aside in order to find the most convenient for practical reasons. They were also able to agree that the universal day was going to be the mean solar day. They agreed that the days would begin at midnight and the universal day would not impact the use of local time. A report was submitted to the "Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada", dated 10 May 1894; on the "Unification of the Astronomical, Civil and Nautical Days"; which stated that:
 * civil day- begins at midnight and ends at midnight following,
 * astronomical day- begins at noon of civil day and continue until following noon, and
 * nautical day- concludes at noon of civil day, starting at preceding noon.

Magnetic meridian
The magnetic meridian is an equivalent imaginary line connecting the magnetic south and north poles and can be taken as the horizontal component of magnetic force lines along the surface of the Earth. Therefore, a compass needle will be parallel to the magnetic meridian. However, a compass needle will not be steady in the magnetic meridian, because of the longitude from east to west being complete geodesic. The angle between the magnetic and the true meridian is the magnetic declination, which is relevant for navigating with a compass. Navigators were able to use the azimuth (the horizontal angle or direction of a compass bearing) of the rising and setting Sun to measure the magnetic variation (difference between magnetic and true north).

True meridian
The true meridian is the chord that goes from one pole to the other, passing through the observer, and is contrasted with the magnetic meridian, which goes through the magnetic poles and the observer. The true meridian can be found by careful astronomical observations, and the magnetic meridian is simply parallel to the compass needle. The arithmetic difference between the true and magnetic meridian is called the magnetic declination, which is important for the calibration of compasses.

Henry D. Thoreau classified this true meridian versus the magnetic meridian in order to have a more qualitative, intuitive, and abstract function. He used the true meridian since his compass varied by a few degrees. There were some variations. When he noted the sight line for the True Meridian from his family's house to the depot, he could check the declination of his compass before and after surveying throughout the day. He noted this variation down.

Meridian passage
The meridian passage is the moment when a celestial object passes the meridian of longitude of the observer. At this point, the celestial object is at its highest point. When the Sun passes two times an altitude while rising and setting can be averaged to give the time of meridian passage. Navigators utilized the Sun's declination and the Sun's altitude at local meridian passage, in order to calculate their latitude with the formula.

Latitude = (90° – noon altitude + declination)

The declination of major stars are their angles north and south from the celestial equator. The meridian passage will not occur exactly at 12 hours because of the Earth orbit excentricity (see Equation of time).

Standard meridian
A standard meridian is a meridian used for determining standard time. For instance, the 30th meridian east (UTC+02:00) is the standard meridian for Eastern European Time. Since the adoption of time zones – as opposed to local mean time or solar time – in the late 19th century and early 20th century, most countries have adopted the standard time of one of the 24 meridians closest to their geographical position, as decided by the International Meridian Conference in 1884. Although, a few time zones are offset by an additional 30 or 45 minutes, such as in the Chatham Islands, South Australia and Nepal.

Measurement of Earth rotation
Many of these instruments rely on the ability to measure the longitude and latitude of the Earth. These instruments also were typically affected by local gravity, which paired well with existing technologies such as the magnetic meridian.

title: Meridian (geography)


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Hughes Tool Company

Hughes Tool Company was an American manufacturer of drill bits. Founded in 1908, it was merged into Baker Hughes Incorporated in 1987.

History
The company was established in December 1908 as Sharp-Hughes Tool Company when Howard R. Hughes Sr. patented a roller cutter bit that dramatically improved the rotary drilling process for oil drilling rigs. He partnered with longtime business associate Walter Benona Sharp to manufacture and market the bit. Following her husband's death in 1912, Sharp's widow Estelle Sharp sold her 50% share in the company to Howard Hughes Sr. in 1914. The company was renamed Hughes Tool Company on February 3, 1915.

After Hughes Sr. died of a heart attack in 1924, his son Howard Jr. inherited the majority interest in the company, and then convinced his relatives to sell their shares to him as well. Legally emancipated at the age of 18, Howard began using the profits from Hughes Tool to fund his other ventures. Toolco paid Hughes an annual salary of $50,000, and Hughes charged all major expenses such as planes, automobiles, and houses, to the company. In 1937, Hughes used Hughes Tool to buy a controlling interest in TWA.

In 1932, Hughes formed Hughes Aircraft Company as a division of the Hughes Tool Company. Hughes Aircraft thrived on wartime contracts during World War II (though not on the only two contracts it received to actually build airplanes), and by the early 1950s was one of America's largest defense contractors and aerospace companies with revenues far outpacing the original oil tools business. In 1953, Hughes Aircraft became a separate company and was donated to the Howard Hughes Medical Institute as its endowment. Hughes Aircraft's helicopter manufacturing business was retained by Hughes Tool Co. as its Aircraft Division until 1972.

At the end of Prohibition in the United States, Hughes agreed to construct a brewery on company property. Gulf Brewing Co. brewed Grand Prize beer for a number of years.

For a period of time in the 1940s to late-1950s, Hughes Tool owned the RKO companies, including RKO Pictures, RKO Studios, RKO Theatres, and the RKO Radio Network.

In 1946, Hughes gave Noah Dietrich "full charge at Toolco." Dietrich hired Fred Ayers to bring order to the production line, and Dietrich invested more than $5,000,000 of the company reserves modernizing the plant. Automation replaced handiwork, and the company standardized on drill bit sizes, while embarking on an advertising campaign. The company also opened plants in Ireland and West Germany, taking advantage of cheaper labor, and lower transportation costs to clients in Saudi Arabia and Russia. Profits for the next 8 years amounted to $285,000,000.

During the early 1960s, a wholly owned subsidiary Hughes Dynamics was created, that offered consulting and services in data processing, information technology, credit information processing, and advanced business techniques and management methods. After some $9.5 million of Hughes Tool money was invested in it, results were deemed not acceptable, and it was quickly shut down.

For a brief period in the early-1960s, Hughes Tool held a minority stake in Northeast Airlines. Hughes Tool's majority stake in TWA was sold off in 1966. Two years later, in 1968, Hughes Tool Company purchased the North Las Vegas Air Terminal.

In the late-1960s, Hughes Tool ventured into the hotel and casino business with the acquisition of the Sands, Castaways, Landmark, Frontier, Silver Slipper, and Desert Inn, all in Las Vegas. Hughes Tool also purchased KLAS-TV, Las Vegas' CBS affiliate. In the early-1970s, Hughes Tool ventured back into the airline industry with the takeover of the largest regional air carrier in the western United States: Air West, renamed Hughes Airwest following the purchase. Hughes Tool also briefly owned Los Angeles Airways, a small airline operating a commuter service with a fleet of helicopters.

In 1968, Hughes Tool purchased Sports Network Incorporated and renamed it the Hughes Television Network, with Dick Bailey continuing as president.

The huge main plant for Hughes Tool located in Houston, Texas, fronting Harrisburg Blvd., had grown to be one of the biggest oil tool manufacturers in the world. It had the latest, largest, and most automated equipment for foundries, forging, heat treating, and machining anywhere. At its peak during the Texas oil boom, it was a center for manufacturing, design, research, metallurgy, and engineering for oil field technologies. This included the drill bit (well) and tool joint product lines critical for oil and gas drilling, some of the first technologies for ram blast bits for drilling in mines, geothermal drilling, and a hydraulic powered jackhammer known as the Hughes Impactor. It also manufactured a line of truck and crane-mounted earth augering machines ("diggers") that were most commonly used to produce holes up to a depth of about 120 ft for building and bridge foundations. It even had a fully functioning drilling simulator inside its main research lab where production or prototype drill bits could be tested on any kind of rock at temperatures and pressures normally encountered in actual drilling operations.

In 1972, Howard Hughes sold the Hughes Tool Company; it had been the consistently profitable part of his empire, and produced the profits that built all the rest from the very beginning. This became the "new" Hughes Tool Company while the remaining divisions of the business were placed in a new holding company, the Summa Corporation.

During the 1979 visit by Deng Xiaoping to the United States, Deng visited the company's Houston plant.

Hughes Tool Company merged with Baker International to form Baker Hughes Incorporated in 1987.

title: Hughes Tool Company


text:
Axel Möller

Didrik Magnus Axel Möller (16 February 1830 – 25 October 1896) was a Swedish astronomer.

He matriculated as a student at Lund University in 1846, received his Ph.D. in 1853 and was Professor of Astronomy there from 1863 until 1895.

He calculated the orbits of comets and asteroids. He notably calculated the orbit of the periodic comet 4P/Faye, as well as the perturbations of the asteroid 55 Pandora.

He was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1869 and won the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1881.

title: Axel Möller


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Three Sisters (play)

Three Sisters (Три сeстры́) is a play by the Russian author and playwright Anton Chekhov. It was written in 1900 and first performed in 1901 at the Moscow Art Theatre. The play is often included on the shortlist of Chekhov's outstanding plays, along with The Cherry Orchard, The Seagull and Uncle Vanya.

The Prozorovs

 * Olga Sergeyevna Prozorova (Olga) – The eldest of the three sisters, she is the matriarchal figure of the Prozorov family, though at the beginning of the play she is only 28 years old. Olga is a teacher at the high school, where she frequently fills in for the headmistress whenever the latter is absent. Olga is a spinster and at one point tells Irina that she would have married "any man, even an old man if he had asked" her. Olga is very motherly even to the elderly servants, keeping on the elderly nurse/retainer Anfisa, long after she has ceased to be useful. When Olga reluctantly takes the role of headmistress permanently, she takes Anfisa with her to escape the clutches of the heartless Natasha.
 * Maria Sergeyevna Kulygina (Masha) – The middle sister, she is 23 at the beginning of the play. She married her husband, Kulygin, when she was 18 and just out of school. When the play opens she has been disappointed in the marriage and falls completely in love with the idealistic Lieutenant-Colonel Vershinin. They begin a clandestine affair. When he is transferred away, she is crushed, but returns to life with her husband, who accepts her back despite knowing what she has done. She has a short temper, which is seen frequently throughout the play, and is the sister who disapproves the most of Natasha. Onstage, her directness often serves as a tonic to the melodrama, and her ironic wit comes across as heroic She provides much of the humour. She was trained as a concert pianist.
 * Irina Sergeyevna Prozorova – The youngest sister, she is 20 at the beginning of the play. It is her "name day" at the beginning of the play and though she insists she is grown-up she is still enchanted by things such as a spinning top brought to her by Fedotik. Her only desire is to go back to Moscow, which they left eleven years before the play begins. She believes she will find her true love in Moscow, but when it becomes clear that they are not going to Moscow, she agrees to marry the Baron Tuzenbach, whom she admires but does not love. She gets her teaching degree and plans to leave with the Baron, but he is shot and killed by the psychopath Solyony in a pointless duel. She decides to leave anyway and dedicate her life to work and service.
 * Andrei Sergeyevich Prozorov (Andrey) – The brother of the three sisters. In Act I, he is a young man on the fast track to becoming a faculty professor in Moscow. However, his inertia, weak-willed indecisiveness, and poor judgment (all of which will become apparent throughout the play) put paid to those dreams. In Act II, he still longs for his old days as a bachelor dreaming of life in Moscow, but is now, due to his fatefully ill-conceived wedding to Natasha, stuck in a provincial town with a baby and a job as secretary to the County Council. In Act III, his debts have grown to 35,000 rubles and he is forced to mortgage the house, but does not tell his sisters or give them any shares in the family home. Act IV finds Andrei a pathetic shell of his former self, now the father of two (although he may not be the biological father of the younger child). He acknowledges he is a failure and laughed at in town for being a member of the village council whose president, Protopopov (never seen onstage), is cuckolding him.
 * Natalia Ivanovna Prozorov (Natasha) – Andrei's love interest, later his wife. She begins the play as an awkward young woman who dresses poorly and is ridiculed and teased by Andrei's sisters. Much fun is made of her ill-becoming green sash and she bursts into tears. She apparently has no family of her own, although not known to be an orphan (a signal that she cares for no one but herself) and the reader never learns her maiden name. She agrees to marry Andrei despite seemingly being surprised by the proposal. Act II finds a very different Natasha. She has grown bossy and flagrantly carries on an affair with Protopopov, the president of the council on which her husband sits bureaucratic superior, and who may well be the biological father of her younger child, especially since she has bustled Andrei out of their bedroom into more modest quarters. In Act III, she has become even more controlling. She is determined, among other things, to expel the sisters' now elderly former family retainer, Anfisa, who is no longer fit for hard work, and still throws temper tantrums whenever she doesn't get her way, an increasingly rare event. Act IV finds that she has control of the house, and, as the châtelaine, is planning to radically change the grounds to her liking. Inarguably, she is the victor by the end of the play — caring for no one besides her own children, Bobik and Sofia, upon whom she dotes. The only woman in the play with children, she rules the Prozorov's now mortgaged (to pay for her husband's debts and her expensive tastes) former family home with an iron fist. She orders the trees on the property be cut down because they are ugly at night.
 * Fyodor Ilyich Kulygin – Masha's older husband and the Latin teacher at the high school. Kulygin is a jovial, kindly man, who truly loves his wife, and her sisters, although he is very much aware of her infidelity. In the first act he seems almost foolish, giving Irina a gift he has already given her, and joking around with the doctor to make fun of Natasha, but begins to grow more and more sympathetic as Masha's affair progresses. During the fire in Act 3, he confesses to Olga that he might have married her – the fact that the two would probably be very happy together is hinted at many times during the play. Throughout the play, often at the most serious moments, he often tries to make the other characters laugh in order to relieve tension, and while that doesn't always work, he is able to give his wife comfort through humour in her darkest hour at the climax of the play. At the end of the play, although knowing what Masha has done, he takes her back and accepts her failings.

The soldiers

 *  Aleksandr Ignatyevich Vershinin – Lieutenant colonel commanding the artillery battery, Vershinin is a true philosopher. He knew the girls' father in Moscow and they talk about how when they were little they called him the "Lovesick Major". In the course of the play, despite being married, he enters into an affair with Masha but must end it when the battery is transferred. He frequently mentions how his wife regularly attempts suicide (and he has two daughters), but he seems to not care. His first act speech about the hope he has for civilization speaks directly to Masha's melancholic heart, and, upon hearing it, she declares "I'm staying for lunch."
 * Baron Nikolaj Lvovich Tuzenbach – A lieutenant in the army and not deemed handsome, Tuzenbach often tries to impress Irina, whom he has loved for five years. He quits the Army to go to work in an attempt to impress her. He is repeatedly taunted by Solyony and between Acts III and IV, he retaliates and prompts Solyony to declare a duel. He is killed in the duel, thus his and Irina's union is forlorn.
 * Staff Captain Vassily Vasilyevich Solyony – A captain in the army, Solyony is a borderline psychotic social misfit and a rather modern type of antihero. Infatuated with Irina, he tries to put down the Baron to make himself look better, but Irina finds him crude and unappealing. He spends much of his time mocking the Baron, who is the closest thing he has to a friend, and ends up killing him in a pointless duel because he has sworn to kill any successful suitor for Irina even though he knows it will not win him her hand. (He has fought at least two previous duels, although the details and fates of his previous dueling opponents is not specified.) He claims to have a remarkable resemblance to the poet Lermontov in both face and personality, often quoting him, although Lermontov was killed in a duel by refusing to fire at his opponent, Nikolai Martynov, who aimed at Lermontov's heart. Thus, Solyony turns out to be the polar opposite of Lermontov in actual character and closer to Martynov. He always carries a small perfume bottle which he frequently (almost pathologically) sprinkles his hands and body with; it is later revealed that he does it to mask the smell of corpses on him.
 * Ivan Romanovich Chebutykin – Sixty years old and an army doctor, Chebutykin starts off as a fun, eccentric old man who exults in his place as family friend and lavishes upon Irina the expensive but inappropriate gift of a samovar. Later on in Act III, while drunk, he suffers an existential crisis and reveals to all about Natasha's and Protopopov's affair. In Act IV however, he seems to have come to terms with his crisis or perhaps been broken by it. He was in love, apparently unrequitedly, with the Prozorov siblings' mother, a married woman.
 * Alexei Petrovich Fedotik – A sub-lieutenant, Fedotik hangs around the house buying many gifts for the family. He also is an amateur photographer, and takes photos of the group. In Act III, he loses all his belongings in the fire, but retains his cheerful nature.
 * Vladimir Karlovich Rode – Another sub-lieutenant, Rode is a drill coach at the high school.

Others

 * Ferapont – Door-keeper at the local council offices, Ferapont is an old man with a partial hearing loss. He repeatedly blurts out random facts, usually relating to Moscow.
 * Anfisa – An elderly family retainer and former nurse, Anfisa is 81 years old and has worked forever for the Prozorov family. Natasha begins to despise her for her feebleness and threatens to throw her out but Olga rescues her, taking her to live at Olga's teacher's flat.

Unseen characters
The play has several important characters who are talked about frequently, but never seen onstage. These include Protopopov, head of the local Council and Natasha's lover; Vershinin's suicidal wife and two daughters; Kulygin's beloved superior the headmaster of the high school, and Natasha's children (Bobik and Sofia). JL Styan contends in his The Elements of Drama that in the last act Chekhov revised the text to show that Protopopov is the real father of Sofia: "The children are to be tended by their respective fathers" — Andrey pushes Bobik in his pram, and Protopopov sits with Sofia.

Act I
Olga (the eldest sister) has worked as a schoolteacher and after school tutor for four years. Masha, middle sister and artist of the family (trained as a concert pianist), is married to Feodor Kulygin, a schoolteacher. Masha, younger than he, was enchanted by his wisdom but seven years later she sees through his pedantry and attempts to compensate for the emptiness between them. Irina, the youngest sister, is still full of expectation, speaking of going to Moscow and meeting her true love. The sisters grew up in Moscow, and they all long to return to the happiness of that time. Andrei is the only young man in the family; his sisters adore him. He falls in love with Natalia Ivanovna ("Natasha"), who is rather "common" compared to the sisters and regarded by them with disdain. The play begins on the first anniversary of the death of their father, Sergei Prozorov. It is also Irina's name-day, and everyone, including the soldiers (led by Vershinin) bringing with them a sense of noble idealism, come together to celebrate it. At the close of the act, Andrei confesses his feelings to Natasha, and proposes.

Act II
Almost a year later, Andrei and Natasha are married with their baby (offstage), a son named Bobik. Natasha is having an affair with Protopopov, Andrei's superior, who is never seen onstage. Masha comes home flushed from a night out, and it is clear that she and her companion, Lieutenant-Colonel Vershinin, are giddy with their mutual love for one another. Natasha manipulatively quashes the plans for a party in the home; the resultant quiet suggests that happiness is being quashed as well. Tuzenbach and Solyony both declare their love for Irina.

Act III
About a year later in Olga and Irina's room—a clear sign that Natasha is taking over the household, as she asked them to share a room so that Bobik could have a separate room. There has been a fire in the town, and people are passing in and out, carrying materials to give aid. Olga, Masha and Irina are angry with Andrei for mortgaging their home without their knowledge or consent, keeping the money to pay off his gambling debts and ceding all power over the household to Natasha. Natasha is cruel to the aged family retainer, Anfisa, but Olga's best efforts to counter this fail. Masha, alone with her sisters, tells them of her romance with Vershinin. At one point, Kulygin blunders into the room, doting foolishly on Masha, and she leaves. Irina despairs at the turn her life has taken, the life of a municipal worker, and rails at the folly of her aspirations. Supported by Olga's realistic outlook, Irina decides to accept Tuzenbach's offer of marriage although she does not love him. Andrei vents his self-hatred, acknowledges his awareness of his folly and his disappointment in Natasha, and begs his sisters' forgiveness for everything.

Act IV
The soldiers are preparing to leave the area. A photograph is taken. There is tension because Solyony has challenged Tuzenbach to a duel. Solyony had told Irina that he would kill any successful suitor for her hand, but she still agreed to marry Tuzenbach, notwithstanding which she confesses that she cannot love him. Tuzenbach, having left the Army, is under no obligation to agree to the duel but does so anyway, losing his life for what would have been a loveless marriage. As the soldiers are leaving, a shot is heard, and Tuzenbach's death in the duel is announced shortly before the end of the play.

Masha has to be pulled, sobbing, from Vershinin's arms, but her husband compassionately asks that they start again. Olga has reluctantly accepted the position of permanent headmistress of the school where she teaches and is moving out. She is taking Anfisa with her, rescuing the elderly woman from Natasha.

Irina's fate is uncertain but, even in her grief at Tuzenbach's death, she wants to persevere as a teacher. Natasha remains as the chatelaine, in charge of everything. Andrei is stuck in his marriage with two children, unwilling and unable to do anything for his wife or himself. As the play closes, the three sisters stand in a desperate embrace, gazing off as the soldiers depart to the sound of marching music. As Chebutykin sings Ta-ra-ra-boom-di-ay to himself, Olga's final lines seek an end to the confusion the sisters feel at life's sufferings and joy: "If we only knew... If we only knew."

Premiere
The play was written for the Moscow Art Theatre and it opened on 31 January 1901, under the direction of Konstantin Stanislavski and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko. Stanislavski played Vershinin and the sisters were Olga Knipper (for whom Chekhov wrote the part of Masha), Margarita Savitskaya as Olga and Maria Andreyeva as Irina. Maria Lilina (Stanislavski's wife) was Natasha, Vsevolod Meyerhold appeared as Tusenbach, Mikhail Gromov as Solyony, Alexander Artyom as Artem Chebutykin, Ioasaf Tikhomirov as Fedotik, Ivan Moskvin as Rode, Vladimir Gribunin as Ferapont, and Maria Samarova as Anfisa.

Reception was mixed. Chekhov felt that Stanislavski's "exuberant" direction had masked the subtleties of the work and that only Knipper had shown her character developing in the manner the playwright had intended. In the directors' view, the point was to show the hopes, aspirations and dreams of the characters, but audiences were affected by the pathos of the sisters' loneliness and desperation and by their eventual, uncomplaining acceptance of their situation. Nonetheless the piece proved popular and soon it became established in the company's repertoire.

Notable productions

 * John Gielgud's 1936–37 landmark season at the Queen's Theatre included a well-received production with Peggy Ashcroft as Irina and Michael Redgrave as Tusenbach.
 * In 1942, Judith Anderson portrayed Olga, Katharine Cornell portrayed Masha, Gertrude Musgrove portrayed Irina, and Ruth Gordon portrayed Natasha on Broadway. The production was significant enough to land the cast on the cover of Time on 21 December 1942, which proclaimed it "a dream production by anybody's reckoning – the most glittering cast the theatre has seen, commercially, in this generation".
 * The 1963 inaugural season of the Guthrie Theater included a production with Jessica Tandy as Olga.
 * There is a filmed record of a mid-1960s production by The Actors Studio with Kim Stanley and Geraldine Page as Masha and Olga, respectively, supported by Sandy Dennis's Irina and Shelley Winters as Natasha.
 * American Film Theatre in 1970 filmed a version with a witty Masha from Joan Plowright opposite Alan Bates as Vershinin, with Ronald Pickup as Tusenbach and Laurence Olivier, who co-directed, playing Chebutykin. The film was based on a theatre production that Olivier directed at the National Theatre in 1967.
 * Rosemary Harris, Ellen Burstyn and Tovah Feldshuh played, respectively, Olga, Masha and Irina at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in the 1970s with René Auberjonois as Solyony.
 * A 1982 production at Manhattan Theatre Club, had Dianne Wiest as Masha, Lisa Banes as Olga, Mia Dillon as Irina, Christine Ebersole as Natasha, Sam Waterston as Vershinin, Jeff Daniels as Andrei, Bob Balaban as Tusenbach, and Jack Gilford as Chebutykin.
 * Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company put one together under the direction of Austin Pendleton, with Molly Regan as Olga, Joan Allen as Masha, Rondi Reed as Natasha, and Kevin Anderson as Solyony.
 * In 1985 Casper Wrede directed a production at the Royal Exchange, Manchester with Cheryl Prime as Natasha, Emma Piper as Olga, Janet McTeer as Masha, Niamh Cusack as Irina and Espen Skjonberg as Dr Chebutykin.
 * The Roundabout Theatre in New York had Jerry Stiller as Chebutykin, Billy Crudup as Solyony, Eric Stoltz as Tuzenbach, Lili Taylor as Irina, Paul Giamatti as Andrei, Amy Irving as Olga, Jeanne Tripplehorn as Masha, Calista Flockhart as Natasha, and David Strathairn as Vershinin.
 * In 1990, the Irish theatrical dynasty, the Cusacks, were cast in the play, in a new version by Frank McGuinness, which opened at the Gate Theatre in Dublin with the three award-winning sisters Sinéad Cusack (Masha), Sorcha Cusack (Olga) and Niamh Cusack (Irina) in the title rôles and their father Cyril Cusack as Dr. Chebutykin. This is the only production ever to cast three 'real' sisters, professional actors in their own right, in the title rôles. The production, which was directed by the then newly appointed Artistic Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, Adrian Noble, transferred to London's Royal Court Theatre for a sell-out season in 1991.  Amongst the supporting cast were Lesley Manville as Natasha and Finbar Lynch as Tusenbach.
 * In 1991, sisters Vanessa Redgrave (Olga) and Lynn Redgrave (Masha) made their first and only appearance together onstage in this, with niece Jemma Redgrave as Irina at the Queen's Theatre, London.
 * In 1999, The Thrie Sisters, a translation into Scots by David Purves was produced by Theatre Alba at Lauriston Halls on the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
 * In 2003, Romanian director Radu Afrim adapted the play in a controversial production at the Andrei Mureşanu theatre in Sfantu-Gheorghe, highly criticized by Michael Billington, but praised by other critics, leading to a local controversy in the Romanian press which would catapult Afrim to national superstardom in Romanian theatre.
 * The play was produced in 2010 at the Lyric Hammersmith by Filter with a cast including Poppy Miller, Romola Garai and Clare Dunne.
 * In 2010, the play was adapted by for Theatre Na Fidlovačce, Prague as Tři sestry. The sisters played Andrea Černá, Zuzana Vejvodová and Martina Randová and other actors were Otakar Brousek ml. as Vershinin, Tomáš Töpfer as Doctor Chebutykin
 * In 2012, the play was staged at the Young Vic, directed by Benedict Andrews in his own new version. The cast included Vanessa Kirby, Mariah Gale and Sam Troughton.
 * In 2014, the play was staged at the Southwark Playhouse, directed by Russell Bolam. The cast included Olivia Hallinan, Holliday Grainger and Paul McGann.
 * In 2017, the play was staged at the Studio Theatre directed by Jackson Gay in conjunction with a modern adaption called No Sisters directed by Aaron Posner.
 * In 2017, the play was staged by Sydney Theatre Company at the Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House from 6 November — 16 December. The new adaptation was by Andrew Upton and the cast included Alison Bell as Olga, Miranda Daughtry as Irina and Harry Greenwood as Tusenbach.
 * In 2019, the play was staged at the Almeida Theatre in London, with Alan Williams playing Ivan Romanovich Chebutykin.

Adaptations

 * Three Sisters has been adapted into a full-length opera by Hungarian composer Péter Eötvös and Claus H. Henneberg, as Tri sestry (Three Sisters). It was premiered at the Opéra National de Lyon in 1998, directed by Ushio Amagatsu, and conducted by Kent Nagano and the composer.
 * Three Sisters on Hope Street, a 2008 British play co-written by Diane Samuels and Tracy Ann Oberman, reinterprets Chekhov's play by transferring events to Liverpool after World War II and re-casting the Pozorov sisters as three Jewish Englishwomen. It opened at the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool on 25 January 2008 before beginning a second run at the Hampstead Theatre in London.
 * In 2011, the play was adapted by Blake Morrison for Northern Broadsides as We Are Three Sisters, drawing out parallels with the lives of the Brontë sisters.
 * Track 3, a 2013 adaptation of the play created by Theatre Movement Bazaar co-founders, Tina Kronis and Richard Alger. It premiered in Los Angeles and has played in the UK, China, and in 2017 was the first US production in over 25 years to play in the Chekhov International Theatre Festival in Moscow.
 * In 2014, an adaptation by John Byrne, set in Dunoon, Scotland, in the middle of the 20th Century, was produced by the Tron Theatre Company, Glasgow.
 * Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow, a stage adaptation by Halley Feiffer that approaches the story through a contemporary lens, originally premiering in 2017.
 * In 2020, an adaptation by Inua Ellams, set in Owerri, Nigeria during the Nigerian Civil War between 1967 and 1970, was staged at the Lyttelton Theatre in London.

title: Three Sisters (play)


text:
Louise d'Épinay

Louise Florence Pétronille Tardieu d'Esclavelles d'Épinay (11 March 1726 – 17 April 1783), better known as Mme d'Épinay, was a French writer, a saloniste and woman of fashion, known on account of her liaisons with Friedrich Melchior, Baron von Grimm, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who gives unflattering reports of her in his Confessions, as well as her acquaintanceship with Denis Diderot, Jean le Rond d'Alembert, Baron d'Holbach and other French men of letters during the Enlightenment. She was also one of many women referenced in Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex as an example of noble expansion of women's rights during the 18th century.

Early life
Louise d'Épinay was born at the fortress of Valenciennes. She was the daughter of Tardieu d'Esclavelles, a brigadier of infantry and commanding officer, and Florence-Angélique Prouveur. After her father was killed in battle when she was ten, she was sent to Paris in the care of her aunt Marie-Josèphe Prouveur who was married to Louis-Denis de La Live de Bellegarde, an immensely wealthy fermier-général, a collector-general of taxes; treated to the stultifying education that was a girl's lot, on 23 December 1745 she married her cousin Denis Joseph de La Live d'Épinay, who was made a fermier-général. The marriage was at once an unhappy one; and the prodigality, dissipation and infidelities of her husband justified her in obtaining a formal separation of assets in May 1749. She settled in the Château of La Chevrette in the valley of Montmorency, a few miles north of Paris, and there received a number of distinguished visitors.

Liaisons
Conceiving a strong attachment for Jean-Jacques Rousseau, she furnished for him in 1756 in the valley of Montmorency a cottage which she named the Hermitage, and in this retreat he found for a time the quiet and natural rural pleasures he praised so highly. Rousseau, in his Confessions, asserted that the inclination was all on her side; but as, after her visit to Geneva (1757–59), Rousseau became her bitter enemy, little weight can be given to his statements on this point. Her intimacy with Grimm, which began in 1755, marks a turning-point in her life, for under his influence she escaped from the somewhat compromising conditions of her life at La Chevrette. In 1757–1759 she paid a long visit to Geneva, where she was a constant guest of Voltaire. In Grimm's absence from France (1775–1776), Madame d'Épinay continued, under the superintendence of Diderot, the correspondence he had begun with various European sovereigns. She spent most of her later life at La Briche, a small house near La Chevrette, in the society of Grimm and of a small circle of men of letters. One notable guest was Mozart who stayed at the home for two months in 1778 where he was welcomed by both Grimm and d’Epinay.

L'Histoire de Madame de Montbrillant
Her pseudo-memoires are written in the form of a sort of autobiographic romance, L'Histoire de Madame de Montbrillant, begun when she was thirty but never published in her lifetime. It intersperses fictionalized set pieces exhibiting the sensibilité of the earliest generation of Romantics, with genuine letters and autobiographical material. Bequeathed to Baron Grimm, a mangled version of the manuscript was edited by J. P. A. Parison and J. C. Brunet (Paris, 1818) as Mémoires et correspondance de Madame d'Épinay with all the names changed to identify the supposed originals: Madame d'Épinay figures in it as Madame de Montbrillant, and René is generally recognized as Rousseau, Volx as Grimm, Gamier as Diderot, who is sometimes credited with major interventions in the text. The work has had a checkered career since. The only accurate edition is George Roth, ed. Les Pseudo-mémoires de Madame d'Épinay, 3 vols., 1951.

Other works
Her Conversations d'Émilie, a dialogue recollecting the education of her granddaughter, Émilie de Belsunce, was published in 1774. The ''Mémoires et Correspondance de Mme d'Épinay, renfermant un grand nombre de lettres inédites de Grimm, de Diderot, et de J.-J. Rousseau, ainsi que des details, &c.'', was published at Paris (1818) from a manuscript which she had bequeathed to Grimm.

Many of Madame d'Épinay's letters are contained in the Correspondance de l'abbé Galiani (1818), which provided material for Francis Steegmuller's joint biography, and have since appeared in a definitive redaction. Two anonymous works, Lettres à mon fils (Geneva, 1758) and Mes moments heureux (Geneva, 1759), are also by Madame d'Épinay.

In January 1783, three months before her death, she was awarded the Prix Monyon, recently established by the Académie to honour the author of the "book published in the current year that might be of most benefit to society"; it was her Conversations d'Émilie (1774).

Issue

 * Louis-Joseph de La Live d'Épinay (25 September 1746 - 10 April 1813), a militar, editor and musician.
 * Françoise-Suzanne-Thérèse de La Live d'Épinay (24 August 1747 - 3 June 1748), died in infancy.
 * Angélique-Louise-Charlotte de La Live d'Épinay (1 August 1749 - 1 June 1824), recognized by Denis d'Épinay as his own, but she probably was a product of her mother's affair with Louis Dupin de Francueil.
 * Jean-Claude Leblanc de Beaulieu (29 May 1753 - 13 July 1825), also a child of Louis Dupin, he was sent to the countryside and entered in church. He later was Bishop of Soissons and Arles.

title: Louise d'Épinay


text:
Brad Davis (basketball)

Bradley Ernest Davis (born December 17, 1955) is an American former professional basketball player who spent the bulk of his National Basketball Association (NBA) career with the Dallas Mavericks. He has been associated with the Mavericks for the team's entire existence as either a player, assistant coach or broadcaster.

Early years
Born in Monaca, Pennsylvania, Davis graduated from Monaca High School and played basketball there under head coach Dave Nichol. As a senior, he received Class B all-Pennsylvania honors. Davis also tried out for the Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball.

College career
Davis accepted a basketball scholarship from the University of Maryland, to play under head coach Lefty Driesell. As a freshman, he was named the starter at point guard, playing alongside guard John Lucas, while averaging 12.6 points, 4.6 assists and 3.3 rebounds.

As a junior, he averaged 12.4 points, 4.9 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 0.9 steals. He declared for the NBA draft after the season, finishing with an average of 12.2 points and 5.1 assists per game during his three-year stint in college.

Professional career
Davis was selected by the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round (15th pick overall) of the 1977 NBA draft. As a rookie, he missed eight weeks with a broken hand and was passed on the depth chart by fellow rookie Norm Nixon. In his second season, he was waived after 10 games on October 27, 1978.

In 1978, he played with the Montana Sky of the Western Basketball Association. Although he was a teammate of Cazzie Russell, the squad finished in last place.

On February 12, 1979, he signed as a free agent with the Indiana Pacers, to provide depth after Kevin Stacom was traded. He was released eighteen games into the 1979–80 season on October 20. In 1979, he signed with the Anchorage Northern Knights of the Continental Basketball Association, where he helped them win the league championship.

On February 29, 1980, he was signed as a free agent by the Utah Jazz. The coaching staff didn't feel that he was going to make the team, so the organization gave the Pistons permission to invite Davis to their camp, by making him a free agent.

On April 24, 1980, he was invited to a two-day tryout camp by the Detroit Pistons. On July 11, he signed a free agent contract with the Detroit Pistons. He was cut on October 8. He played with the Anchorage Northern Knights of the Continental Basketball Association during the 1979–80 basketball season.

On December 2, 1980, Davis signed as a free agent with the NBA expansion team Dallas Mavericks, when the franchise was nearly two months into the 1980–81 season and became the starting point guard. On March 27, 1981, he signed a contract extension. In the 1982–83 season, set a team record with 7.2 assists per game, set an NBA record for a guard with a .572 field goal percentage and tied for the team lead with 80 steals. On June 23, 1983, he signed a contract extension. He became a fan favorite and spent the rest of his NBA career (12 seasons) with the Mavericks. In the 1984–85 season, he ranked third in the league in 3-point shooting and free-throw percentage. In the 1987–88 season, he was a part of a team that reached the Western Conference Finals only to lose to the eventual champion Los Angeles Lakers in seven games. On August 1, 1992, he announced his official retirement. He averaged 8.6 points, 5.1 assists, 1.9 rebounds and 24.2 minutes per game during his career.

Davis was the final Maverick remaining from the team's first season, the franchise leader in assists, games played and minutes played. On November 14, 1992, Davis was the first Maverick to have his number retired when his #15 jersey was raised to the rafters of Reunion Arena.

Personal life
In 1993, Davis became an assistant for the Mavericks under head coach Dick Motta. At the same time, he took a position as the color commentator for Mavericks televised games. He later moved to radio broadcasts.

Davis was the radio analyst until the 2007–08 season, when he swapped positions with Mavericks TV commentator Bob Ortegel. They later switched back to their original roles and Davis remained the color commentator on Mavericks' radio broadcasts. He also serves as the Mavericks' player development coach and a community services representative for the team.

He is the brother of former NBA player Mickey Davis. He is married to Kelli Davis and father to three children: son Michael and daughters Erin and Cara Davis.

title: Brad Davis (basketball)


text:
Zhao Mausoleum (Tang dynasty)

Zhao Mausoleum (昭陵; pinyin: Zhāolíng; "Zhao" means the light of the sun) is the mausoleum of Emperor Taizong of Tang (599–649).

It is located in Jiuzong Mountain, Shaanxi, China, it is the biggest mausoleum of the Tang dynasty. Besides being the last resting place of Emperor Taizong of Tang it has additional 200 accompanied tombs around.

The famous stone reliefs Six Steeds of Zhao Mausoleum are exhibited in the Stele Forest Museum of Xi'an (4 steeds) and Museum of the University of Pennsylvania, U.S. (2 steeds) separately. They were probably designed by the court painter and administrator Yan Liben, who is recorded as making other works for the mausoleum, and may have designed the whole mausoleum.

Planning began in 636 after the death of the Empress Zhangsun, who requested a simple burial.

title: Zhao Mausoleum (Tang dynasty)


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Shelia the Kangaroo

Article Shelia the Kangaroo listed on WP:VFD May 1 to May 7 2004, consensus was to delete. Discussion:

I'm pretty sure the title is spelled wrong, but also I can't find any reference to this character in Sesame Street, only as a video game character. Deb 16:05, 1 May 2004 (UTC)
 * Title is spelled wrong. Sources say that the episode referenced is about Elmo trying to start a band, and make no reference to Grover or kangaroos. -- Cyrius|&#9998 16:55, May 1, 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete. Not notable for a character that appears in one episode, if it happened at all... Alcarillo 15:24, 3 May 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete. Not notable, possibly non-existent. - Lucky 6.9 21:50, 4 May 2004 (UTC)

End discussion