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Walden, Ontario

Walden (Canada 1996 Census population 10,292) was a town in the Canadian province of Ontario, which existed from 1973 to 2000. Created as part of the Regional Municipality of Sudbury when regional government was introduced, the town was dissolved when the city of Greater Sudbury was incorporated on January 1, 2001. The name Walden continues to be informally used to designate the area.

Walden now constitutes most of Ward 2 on Greater Sudbury City Council. Walden is part of the federal Sudbury electoral district, represented in the House of Commons of Canada by Paul Lefebvre of the Liberal Party of Canada, and the provincial constituency of Nickel Belt, represented in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario by France Gélinas of the Ontario New Democratic Party.

In the Canada 2011 Census, the areas of Lively, Waters, Mikkola and Naughton were grouped for the first time as the population centre (or urban area) of Lively, with a population of 6,922 and a population density of 350.9/km2. No separate population statistics were published for the more rural western portion of Walden, which was counted only as part of the city's overall census data; however, the individual census tracts corresponding to the former town of Walden had a total population of 10,664. For the Canada 2016 Census, the boundaries of the Lively population centre were revised to exclude Naughton, for a new population of 5,608 and an adjusted 2011 population of 5,584.

History
The town was created by amalgamating the township municipalities of Waters and Drury, Dennison & Graham with the unincorporated geographic townships of Lorne, Louise and Dieppe and parts of the unincorporated townships of Hyman, Trill, Fairbank, Creighton, Snider and Eden. The name "Walden" was chosen as an acronym of Waters, Lively and Denison. Other names were suggested, but the final selection process had narrowed the naming options to Walden or Makada, an Ojibwe name for the town's Black Lake (makade in contemporary spelling).

Tom Davies, who later became chair of the Regional Municipality of Sudbury, was the first mayor of Walden as a town. Later mayors included Charles White, Terry Kett, Alex Fex and Dick Johnstone. Following Davies' retirement as chair of the regional municipality in 1997, Sudbury's city hall was renamed Tom Davies Square in his honour.

Prior to the municipal amalgamation, Walden was the largest town by land area in Canada.

Lively
The administrative and commercial centre of Walden, Lively was established in the 1950s as a company townsite for employees of INCO's Creighton Mine facilities. It was named for an early settler, Charles Lively. Prior to the community's establishment, a few family farms were located in the area. The most notable of these, the Anderson Farm, is now the Anderson Farm Museum, which showcases aspects of the history of Lively, Creighton, and Waters Township. Lively's postal delivery and telephone exchange also include the Mikkola subdivision, located at the eastern terminus of Highway 17's freeway segment, and the Waters area.

From the intersection of Municipal Roads 24 and 55, Lively refers to the area extending north along MR 24, Mikkola refers to the area extending eastward along MR 55 toward the Highway 17 interchange, and Waters refers to the area extending westward along MR 55 toward Naughton.

Lively was the first area hit by the Sudbury tornado on August 20, 1970.

Lively is also home to the Walden area's branch of the Greater Sudbury Public Library.

Little Creighton
A small residential subdivision just north of Lively, long known as "Dogpatch", officially rebranded itself as Little Creighton in 2015.

Naughton
Naughton was originally established as a point along the Canadian Pacific Railway Algoma Branch and was named McNaughtonville. In 1887, the Hudson's Bay Company relocated its existing trading post from Whitefish Lake to the south, which had been established in 1824, to Naughton, so that it could be closer to the CPR line. The trading post closed in 1896, and during the 1920s and 1930s, many of the original buildings at the trading post site were demolished or burned down, though the store itself survived until at least the 1960s.

Naughton is the birthplace of Boston Bruins legend Art Ross, who was the son of Thomas B. Ross, the trading post's postmaster in 1881. In 1947, Ross donated the NHL trophy bearing his name awarded to the player scoring the most points during the season. Ross was also inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1945.

Naughton is also home to a number of historical plaques commemorating Salter's Meridian, a survey line which resulted in the first known evidence of the Sudbury area's massive mineral deposits, as well the Hudson's Bay Company's Whitefish Lake Trading Post. Naughton is also home to the Walden Cross Country Ski Club, of which sports the ParaNordic program (an organization that allows children with disabilities to cross-country ski in a familiar environment and race with others of their skill levels.) It was also home to the now-defunct Sparks AC, an affiliate of the Finnish-Canadian Amateur Sports Federation.

Whitefish

Whitefish is located approximately 14 km west of Lively, near the western terminus of the Highway 17 freeway route. Whitefish's postal delivery and telephone exchange also include the community of Den-Lou, which is named for its location straddling the boundaries of the geographic townships of Dennison and Louise, and the Lake Panache area. Currently, the Ontario Ministry of Transportation is undergoing discussion in regards to extending the freeway through Den-Lou. As of 2016, Whitefish had a population of 219 people in 100 households.

Historically, Whitefish was a postal village along the Canadian Pacific Railway's Sudbury-Soo line, which ran parallel to the south of the Algoma Eastern Railway (AER). Its station was situated along the line west of Naughton and east of Victoria Mines, where a junction and spur line connected it to the AER. In 1908, it had a recorded population of 150, and had two stores, two hotels, and telegraph and express offices. Today, the main heritage building in the community is the Penage Hotel, which after its past as a railway hotel, functioned in various capacities as a hair salon, a bar, apartments, and a convenience store.

The community was home to the Whitefish Kipinä AC (later Speed AC), a youth sports club which was an affiliate of the Finnish-Canadian Amateur Sports Federation.

Beaver Lake

The name "Beaver Lake" refers, generally, to the westernmost end of the former Town of Walden, along Highway 17 in the geographic township of Lorne, west of Whitefish. Like many communities in Northern Ontario, the modern history of Beaver Lake started with the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway through the area in the late 1880s. With the discovery of nickel deposits bringing jobs and settlers to the Sudbury area, Finnish immigrants in particular settled in the Beaver Lake area, south of the CPR line between Sudbury and Sault Ste. Marie, establishing farming homesteads centred around the lake and mostly producing milk as an export. The milk was often shipped by rail to Co-optas (in Copper Cliff) and later the Sudbury Producers and Consumers (P&C) Co-Operative Dairy, both local dairy co-operatives started and mostly operated by Finns and supported by the Finnish dairy farmers in the region. Later, the milk was processed by the Copper Cliff Dairy.

The Beaver Lake farms were hurt financially by the Great Depression and the aging group of original settlers had mostly shut down their working farms by the 1950s, with many of the lots being subdivided and sold off. Nevertheless, many of their descendants continue to live in the area, which is heavily influenced by Finnish culture, though the single-room schoolhouse and general store were both casualties of this community crisis.

The community was also known for its Jehu AC youth athletics club, which was an affiliate of the Finnish-Canadian Amateur Sports Federation (FCASF). Founded in 1921, club members won victories while competing against athletes from Sudbury, Creighton, Timmins, and South Porcupine, as well as many other communities. Jehu AC was known for its dominance in cross-country skiing, a sport which Finnish settlers had brought with them to Canada and which was popularized by Finnish athletics clubs before its general acceptance as a Canadian sport. This was evident as late as 1961, when Beaver Lake athletes won five out of nine cross-country ski events at the Port Arthur (now Thunder Bay) FCASF championship. As the population aged and youth left the community to seek economic opportunities, the club membership began to shrink. Its last event took place in 1969, after which it would sell its sports field to the Beaver Lake Sports and Cultural Club. Today, the club's grounds mark the entry point for the Beaver Lake ski trails, which loop around and exit back at the club.

Mining disaster
The Worthington Mine ore body was initially discovered in 1884 by Francis Charles Crean. In 1891, the first mine shaft was sunk, with a small community being incorporated nearby the following year which was named after the Canadian Pacific Railway construction superintendent James Worthington, notable as the person responsible for the naming of Sudbury after his wife's hometown in England. At this time, it was operated by the Dominion Mineral Company with two shafts at depths of 35 and 95 feet (roughly 11 and 29 m). In 1894, however, mining operations at the site were suspended. Development began in 1907 to modernize the mine's equipment, but was suspended in 1909. The troubled mine was acquired by the Mond Nickel Company in 1913 as Mond abandoned its previous operations at Victoria Mines. Mond quickly sank a third shaft to a depth of 200 feet (61 m), completed modernization of the mine's equipment, and built several workers' cottages at the site to help house its 110-man workforce. The mine became operational and by 1917 had shipped 172,000 tons of ore, the majority of which was sold to the CPR to be used as track ballast rather than being sent to Mond's Coniston smelter. In 1918, Mond continued its rapid development of the mine by deepening the third shaft to about 750 feet (229 m), developing existing mine shaft areas, and expanding its workforce to 220 men, while internally expanding the mine using a shrinkage stoping method. The following year, it upgraded the air compressor on the site with one originally located at the Frood Extension mine. Mond's rapid development of the mine created a pillar of natural rock. As ore was extracted, workers underground observed cracks in this pillar, which Mond addressed with timbers to brace it. Undaunted, Mond continued its plans to deepen the shaft to 1000 feet (305 m) and continued to extract ore from the upper levels.

On October 3, 1927, abnormal rock shifts were observed and management made the decision to evacuate the 46 day shift workers underground and cancel the night shift. Additionally, the town of Worthington was also evacuated as a precaution. At 5:50 a.m. on October 4, a ground fault gave way, which caused the entire underground portion of the mine to collapse down to its fifth level (the 750-foot/229 m level), creating a crater which pulled into itself the mine's power house, a worker's home, and 500 feet (152 m) of CPR mainline track. With no injuries suffered, the disaster became an overnight sensation which attracted sightseers, and the crater left by the mine quickly filled with water and became an artificial lake. The mine was no longer deemed operational and was abandoned, though some buildings were still left standing including the headframe.

Nearby, the Totten Mine is currently under active operation after its own history of sustained closures and periods of operation, being originally operated from 1915 to 1917 by the Canadian Nickel Company, briefly revived in the 1950s-1960s with Inco exploration work and new shafts being sunk, but developments were abandoned in 1971 and the mine was allowed to flood in 1976. In 2007, Vale Limited began to rehabilitate the existing mine, which was reopened in 2014.

Community

Worthington was established as a community in 1892 and functioned as a basic settlement with 35 dwellings, a company store, a railway station and a post office. By 1910, there were several more establishments including a hotel and social hall. Its population gradually increased to a peak of 400-500 residents after the Mond company purchased the nearby mine and expanded its workforce. After the infamous mining disaster nearby, the original townsite was abandoned and many residents left; however, a new townsite was established in alignment with the highway to the north, and throughout the 1930s and 40s, it primarily functioned as a highway service outlet. In the 1950s, the community had a brief revival due to resumed mining activity at the Kidd-Copper and Totten mines, and the highway nearby was designated Ontario Highway 658 in 1968. However, the community was bypassed to the south by Ontario Highway 17 (forming a component of the Trans-Canada Highway), and Highway 658 was transferred by the province to the Regional Municipality of Sudbury in 1973 upon amalgamation and became Municipal Road 4, also known as Fairbank Lake Road. After this, the focal point of the settlement shifted south to align with Highway 17, bringing it closer to the community of Beaver Lake, and the longtime Worthington post office was relocated to Beaver Lake, though Worthington is still today a valid postal address which includes other communities like Beaver Lake, an indication of its historical status as the primary settlement east of Nairn Centre and west of Whitefish.

Creighton Mine
Creighton Mine, also known as simply Creighton, is located near the intersection of Municipal Road 24 and Highway 144. The community, established in 1900 as an INCO company town, took its name from the geographic township in which it is located, which was named by the province of Ontario in the 1880s for MPP David Creighton.

The town had a population of around 2,200 at its peak in the 1940s, although the population slowly declined after improvements in the area's transportation networks made it easier for workers to live away from the company townsite.

In 1986, the town was closed down. and all of the town's homes and businesses were torn down or moved to Lively. Some residents initially fought the plan, but were not successful in convincing the company to change its plans. Upgrading the town's water, sewer, and road systems to contemporary standards would have cost the company over $10 million, a cost which the company deemed to be prohibitive. By 1989, most buildings had been demolished, and the town officially had no residents.

A few streets, sidewalks, and building foundations can still be found in the area. A monument was also placed in the community commemorating the people of Creighton.

The historic paymaster's cabin from Creighton was moved to the Anderson Farm Museum where an annual reunion continues to bring former residents and family together to share their memories of their former community.

The mine is also the site of the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory.

High Falls
High Falls is a ghost town located near the junction of the Spanish River with Agnew Lake, at the westernmost boundary of the city.

The town was created in 1904, when a hydroelectric dam and power plant were built on the Spanish River. This power plant, owned and operated by Vale Limited, supplied electric power to many of the area's mining towns, and is still operational today.

The town was closely connected to the nearby community of Turbine. However, in the 1960s, many families began to move away from the community for economic reasons, and by 1975 the community was virtually abandoned. Homes were demolished or relocated, and by the mid-1980s the power plant was the only remaining vestige of the community.

Victoria Mines
Victoria Mines is a ghost town. It was established by the Anglo-German chemist and industrialist Ludwig Mond as a company town for his Mond Nickel Company for workers at the smelter that processed ore from his Mond Mine. A separate townsite of Mond was established at the mine itself, and the two communities are sometimes referred to as a single settlement known variously as Mond or Victoria Mines.

Operations at the mine began in 1899 and were in full swing by 1901. Meanwhile, a smelter had been built two miles to the south of the mine, on the Canadian Pacific Railway's Sault Ste. Marie branch, which processed ore from the nearby mine site as well as from the Garson and Worthington mines. Production at the smelter initially employed 20 men, using steam power; by 1911, the workforce had grown to 200 men. In 1909, the smelter was connected to the Lorne Falls power plant and switched to electric power, leading to more than a doubling in ore capacity. Additional power arrived in 1916 from the Nairn Falls hydroelectric plant.

In these early years, the town, which was laid out to the north of the CPR line, grew rapidly, receiving a post office in 1900, a CPR passenger station in 1904 (enlarged in 1908), and an assortment of businesses and services, which included a butcher shop, barbershop, dry goods and grocery retailers, a bowling alley, a Roman Catholic church, a Presbyterian church, and public and separate schools. Housing at the town included an apartment building, three boarding houses, and fifty single dwellings, which housed anywhere from 300 to 600 people in its heyday. During this time, the CPR built a spur line along the 3 km distance to the mine site itself. Ethnic groups at Mond included Finns, Ukrainians, Poles, Italians, French, and British, and Victoria Mines had a small "Italian town".

Starting in the early 1910s, Mond Nickel had begun to expand its operations around the Sudbury area, and the Garson mine's output had outstripped the original Mond Mine's production. Mond opened a new smelter in Coniston in 1913, which was closer to the other company-owned mines, as well as having a better connection to the CPR's new Toronto-to-Sudbury line. In the same year, the Victoria Mines smelter was closed. Many buildings were dismantled and moved by rail to Coniston or Worthington (itself now another ghost town), including the Anglican and Presbyterian churches which today still stand in Coniston. The public school was closed in 1914 and children of the remaining inhabitants were forced to walk 4.2 kilometers to the Mond public school, which remained open as the mine there was still active. During this time, all of the smelter workers relocated to Coniston, leaving behind only a hundred or so residents.

The townsite continued to be inhabited by a number of people for decades, ironically surviving longer than its twin town of Mond, which became a ghost town when the mine was closed a decade later in 1923, with the last house being removed in 1936. During its lifetime, the mine produced almost 620,000 tons of ore. A few buildings survived on the site well into the 1950s, but by the 1980s there were only three structures remaining, which were two company-built houses and the separate school. As of 2017, only one structure remains standing, a two-storey company house.

In 2002, mineral rights in the area were acquired by FNX, which merged with Quadra in 2011 to form Quadra FNX Mining. Quadra FNX was in turn acquired by Polish conglomerate KGHM Polska Miedź in 2011, which inherited the claims. Construction was slated to begin on a new mine by 2015 with operations to begin in 2019, but KGHM slowed down its development at the site due to depressed metal prices. As of early 2019, the project was still at pre-environmental assessment stage.

Victoria Mines is the birthplace of Hockey Hall of Famer Hector "Toe" Blake, though he grew up largely in Coniston.

Transportation
Some of Walden's various communities are served by GOVA's 101 Lively bus, which departs Naughton Community Centre for the downtown Sudbury transit terminal approximately every 2 hours, though there is more frequent service on weekday mornings. Along the way, it stops throughout Lively, Copper Cliff, and the west end of Sudbury, before terminating at the South End transit hub. As of 2019, there is no local bus service to the communities further to the west, such as Whitefish and Beaver Lake; however, GOVA also operates an auxiliary taxi service which covers as far as Whitefish.

No intercity transit is available in the Walden area despite most of its communities being situated along the Trans-Canada Highway. The closest intercity transit to the area is in downtown Sudbury, or alternatively an Ontario Northland flag stop in Nairn Centre.

Education
Students in the English catholic stream attend St. James Catholic Elementary School and St. Benedict Catholic Secondary School. Those in the English public stream attend either Whitefish's R.H. Murray Public School or Lively's Walden Public School for elementary education, and Lively District Secondary School for middle school and high school education. Those in the French public stream attend Helene Gravel and Macdonald Cartier. Those in the French Roman Catholic stream attend St-Paul and Sacré Coeur.

Media
Walden was previously served by monthly newspapers, the Walden Observer and later Walden Today. Neither are currently in production.

Walden is otherwise served by citywide media, although its proximity to the North Shore region means that residents of Whitefish, Beaver Lake and Worthington also have access to several radio stations, including CJJM-FM in Espanola, CFRM-FM in Little Current and CKNR-FM in Elliot Lake, whose signals do not reach the main urban core of Sudbury, as well as Espanola-area rebroadcasters of Sudbury's CBCS-FM and CBON-FM.

Notable people

 * Toe Blake was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame as a coach and player.
 * Troy Crowder, drafted to the NHL in 1996, playing for the New Jersey Devils, Detroit Red Wings, Los Angeles Kings, and Vancouver Canucks from 1987–88 to 1996–97.
 * Bud Cullen, former Canadian Federal Judge and former MP for Sarnia-Lambton, was born in Creighton Mine, ON.
 * Andrew Desjardins, drafted as a free agent in 2010 by the San Jose Sharks. Desjardins went on to play for the Chicago Blackhawks, winning the Stanley Cup in 2015.
 * Meagan Duhamel, Canadian pairs figure skater, Olympic Gold Medalist-2018
 * France Gélinas, the current Member of Provincial Parliament for Nickel Belt, is a resident of Naughton.
 * Bud Germa, former MPP for Sudbury.

title: Walden, Ontario


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List of radio stations in New Jersey

The following is a list of FCC-licensed radio stations in the U.S. state of New Jersey, which can be sorted by their call signs, frequencies, cities of license, licensees, and programming formats.

Defunct

 * KE2XCC
 * W2XMN
 * WBGD
 * WDY
 * WFDS
 * WFMN
 * WHPH
 * WJDM
 * WJJZ
 * WJY (Hoboken, New Jersey)
 * WLOM
 * WMNJ
 * WPAT-FM (1949–1951)
 * WSRR
 * WUPC-LP
 * WWDX
 * WZFI-LP

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

title: List of radio stations in New Jersey


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Red Pyramid

The Red Pyramid, also called the North Pyramid, is the largest of the pyramids located at the Dahshur necropolis in Cairo, Egypt. Named for the rusty reddish hue of its red limestone stones, it is also the third largest Egyptian pyramid, after those of Khufu and Khafre at Giza. It is also believed to be Egypt's first successful attempt at constructing a "true" smooth-sided pyramid. Local residents refer to the Red Pyramid as el-heram el-watwaat, meaning the Bat Pyramid.

The Red Pyramid was not always red. It used to be cased with white Tura limestone, but only a few of these stones now remain at the pyramid's base, at the corner. During the Middle Ages much of the white Tura limestone was taken for buildings in Cairo, revealing the red limestone beneath.

History
The Red Pyramid was the third pyramid built by Old Kingdom Pharaoh Sneferu, and was built 2575–2563 BCE. The Red Pyramid is located approximately 1 km to the north of the Bent Pyramid. It is built at the same shallow 43-degree angle as the upper section of the Bent Pyramid, which gives it a noticeably squat appearance compared to other Egyptian pyramids of comparable scale. Construction is believed to have begun during the thirtieth year of Sneferu's reign (c. 2590 BCE). Egyptologists disagree on the length of time it took to construct. Based on quarry marks found at various phases of construction, Rainer Stadelmann estimates the time of completion to be approximately 17 years while Rolf Krauss, based on this same graffiti, suggests a period of construction of 10–11 years, an estimate later supported by John Romer.

Archaeologists speculate its design may be an outcome of engineering crises experienced during the construction of Sneferu's two earlier pyramids. The first of these, the Pyramid at Meidum, collapsed in antiquity, while the second, the Bent Pyramid, had the angle of its inclination dramatically altered from 54 to 43 degrees part-way through construction.

Some archaeologists now believe that the Meidum pyramid was the first attempt at building a smooth-sided pyramid, and that it may have collapsed when construction of the Bent Pyramid was already well under way – and that the pyramid may by then have already begun to show alarming signs of instability itself, as evident by the presence of large timber beams supporting its inner chambers. The outcome of this was the change in inclination of the Bent Pyramid, and the commencement of the later Red Pyramid at an inclination known to be less susceptible to instability and therefore less susceptible to catastrophic collapse.

Modern day
The Red Pyramid is 105 m high, and 220 m wide. Fragments of a rare pyramidion, or capstone, for the Red Pyramid was uncovered and reconstructed, and is now on display at the Red Pyramid's site at Dahshur. However, whether the fragments were actually ever part of a pyramidion is unclear, as the reconstruction's angle of inclination differs from that of the pyramid for which it was apparently intended.

The Red Pyramid, along with the Bent Pyramid, was closed to tourists for many years because of a nearby army camp. It is now usually open for tourists and a somewhat intrusive ventilation system has been installed which pipes air down the entrance shaft to the interior chambers. Visitors climb steps cut in or built over the stones of the pyramid to an entrance high on the north side. A passage, 3 ft in height and 4 ft wide, slopes down at 27° for 200 ft to a short horizontal passage leading into a chamber whose corbelled roof is 40 ft high and rises in eleven steps. At the southern end of the chamber, but offset to the west, another short horizontal passage leads into the second chamber. This passage was probably closed at one time and the offset was a measure intended to confuse potential tomb robbers.

The second chamber is similar to the first and lies directly beneath the apex of the pyramid. High in the southern wall of the chamber is an entrance, now reached by a large wooden staircase built for the convenience of tourists. This gives onto a short horizontal passage that leads to the third and final chamber with a corbelled roof 50 ft high. The first two chambers have their long axis aligned north-south, but this chamber's long axis is aligned east-west. Unlike the first two chambers, which have fine smooth floors on the same level as the passages, the floor of the third chamber is very rough and sunk below the level of the access passage. It is believed that this is the work of tomb robbers searching for treasure in what is thought to have been the burial chamber of the pyramid.

title: Red Pyramid


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User:WilliamJ

Too big please delete --- sorry WilliamJ

title: User:WilliamJ


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Cynewald

Cynewald was king of Mercia from c. 545 till c. 580. He was the son of Cnebba and the father of Creoda.

title: Cynewald


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Valley East

Valley East (Vallée-Est in French) is a district of the city of Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada.

First incorporated in 1973 as a separate town within the Regional Municipality of Sudbury, Valley East was so named because it comprised the eastern half of the Sudbury Basin. The largest of the six towns in the Regional Municipality, it was reincorporated as a city in 1997 due to continued population growth. On January 1, 2001, the city and the Regional Municipality were dissolved and amalgamated into the city of Greater Sudbury.

Before the amalgamation, Valley East was Northern Ontario's sixth-largest city, ranking after Timmins and before Kenora. According to the Canadian census of 2001, the last one that recorded Valley East as a separate entity, the city had a population of 22,374.

In the Canada 2011 Census, Valley East's main neighbourhoods were grouped as the population centre (or urban area) of Valley East, with a population of 20,676 and a population density of 368.9/km2, although the boundaries of the urban area do not correspond to those of the former municipality.

Valley East is now divided between Wards 5, 6 and 7 on Greater Sudbury City Council, and is represented by councillors Mike Parent, René Lapierre, and Natalie Labbé.

Education
Hanmer students: those in the English Catholic stream attend St-Anne School and Bishop Carter Catholic Secondary School. Those in the English public stream attend Redwood Acres Public School and Confederation Secondary School. Those in the French Catholic stream attend École Notre-Dame and École secondaire catholique l'Horizon. Those in the French public stream attend École publique Foyer-Jeunesse and École secondaire Hanmer; both of these schools are neighboured.

Val-Thérèse students: those in the English Catholic stream attend St-Anne School and Bishop Alexander Carter Catholic Secondary School. Those in the English public stream attend Redwood Acres Public School and Confederation Secondary School. Those in the French Catholic steam attend École St-Joseph Ste-Thérèse and École secondaire catholique l'Horizon those in the French public stream attend École publique Foyer-Jeunesse and École secondaire Hanmer; both of these schools are neighboured.

Val-Caron students: those in the English Catholic stream attend Immaculate Conception School and Bishop Alexander Carter Catholic Secondary School, those in the English public stream attend Valleyview Public School and Confederation Secondary School those in the French catholic stream attend École Jean-Paul II and École secondaire catholique l'Horizon. Those in the French public stream attend École publique de La Découverte and École secondaire Hanmer.

Blezard Valley students: those in the English Catholic stream attend Immaculate Conception School and Bishop Carter Catholic Secondary School. Those in the English public stream attend Valleyview School and Confederation Secondary School. Those in the French Catholic stream attend École Jean-Paul II and École secondaire catholique l'Horizon those in the French public stream attend École publique de La Découverte and École secondaire Hanmer.

Valley East Days
Valley East Days is the largest Free Family Festival in Northern Ontario, and celebrated its 43rd year in 2018. This three-day long festival has included big musical acts, such as Trooper & Chilliwack in 2017. The festival typically attracts over 25,000 patrons.

Notable people

 * Ronald Duguay, NHL hockey player

title: Valley East


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Nickel Centre

Nickel Centre (1996 census population 13,017) was a town in Ontario, Canada, which existed from 1973 to 2000.

It was created as part of the Regional Municipality of Sudbury. On January 1, 2001, the town and the Regional Municipality were dissolved and amalgamated into the city of Greater Sudbury. The town is now divided between Wards 7 and 9 on Greater Sudbury City Council, and is represented by councillors Mike Jakubo and Deb McIntosh.

In the Canada 2011 Census, the Garson-Falconbridge corridor within Nickel Centre was counted as part of the population centre (or urban area) of Sudbury, while the census tracts corresponding to the former boundaries of Nickel Centre had a population of 13,232. In the Canada 2016 Census, the boundaries of the Sudbury population centre were revised to retain Garson but exclude Falconbridge, while a new population centre was added for Coniston (population 1,814).

Coniston
Coniston was a part of the geographic Neelon Township, which was named after Sylvester Neelon. The first settlers in the Coniston area were the Butler family, who arrived in 1902. They were joined by five other families by 1904, who created their own farms. Common crops included hay, rye, and oats. The Canadian Northern Railway (a predecessor of the Canadian National Railway) arrived in 1905, with Coniston lying along its transcontinental line. It was joined in 1908 by the Canadian Pacific Railway, which constructed a new direct line linking Sudbury and Toronto via Romford Junction. The population had risen to 20 families during this period and settlers requested the establishment of a local post office, which had to be named; the name Neelon was originally considered, but Dennis O'Brien, a local settler who became the first postmaster, decided on the name Coniston after it was suggested to him by T. Johnson, a railway construction superintendent who had been reading a novel set in the village of Coniston in the Lake District of England.

The Mond Nickel Company arrived in Coniston in 1913, relocating its smelter operations from the earlier settlement of Victoria Mines (located west of Sudbury), which swiftly became a ghost town. Coniston was chosen due to its more favourable rail connections and terrain. As part of the relocation, Mond purchased five family farms totalling 3,700 acre, which "brought an end to the agricultural orientation of the community." Coniston was re-established as a Mond company town, with many existing company houses being relocated from Victoria Mines, along with the provision of a modern planned town with a street grid, sidewalks, and a water distribution system.

Coniston was subsequently incorporated under the provisions of the Municipal Act by Ontario Municipal Board Order A4741 on January 1, 1934, and remained such until the establishment of regional government. Prior to its annexation into Nickel Centre, the town's mayors were Edgar Taylor Austin (1934–46), Roy Snitch (1947–52), Walter Kilimnik (1953–57), William Evershed (1958-59), Maurice Beauchemin (1960–62) and Mike Solski (1963-72). Solski, the final mayor of Coniston as an independent town, won election to the mayoralty of the amalgamated town of Nickel Centre in 1972.

Notable residents of Coniston have included hockey players Neal Martin, Noel Price, Toe Blake, Jim Fox, Leo Lafrance, Andy Barbe and Randy Boyd as well as many other great hockey players. Coniston also includes the smaller neighbourhood of Austin, which may also be known as Old Coniston. This area borders Highway 17 and is home to a baseball field. The baseball field was abandoned and decommissioned prior to 2000 when Coniston became part of Greater Sudbury.

Falconbridge
The geographic township of Falconbridge was named in the 1880s for William Glenholm Falconbridge, a justice of the High Court of Ontario. The original settlement in the township was a small lumber camp.

A significant ore body was discovered in 1902 by Thomas Edison near what is now Falconbridge's Centennial Park. The Edison Ore-Milling Company was unsuccessful in establishing a mining operation, and abandoned his original claim in 1903. The claim reverted to Crown land until the Longyear Drilling Company bought it in 1911. Longyear subsequently merged with other small mining companies in the area to form the basis of what would ultimately become Falconbridge Ltd., although actual mining operations in the community did not begin until 1928, when Thayer Lindsley purchased the company for $2,500,000 and finally sunk the Falconbridge deposit's first mine shaft the following year.

Falconbridge Ltd. built the Edison Building in 1969 to serve as its head office. Falconbridge Ltd. was taken over by Swiss mining company Xstrata in 2006. In 2007, Xstrata donated the Edison Building to the city to serve as the new home of the municipal archives.

Falconbridge was incorporated as a town in 1957. The town's first and only reeve, John Franklin, served until the creation of Nickel Centre in 1973.

A visual and radar UFO incident occurred in the community on November 11, 1975, later reported in a press release by NORAD. The object was tracked on radar from CFS Falconbridge and sighted in binoculars, and estimated to be a 100-ft. diameter sphere with craters. Seven OPP police officers also witnessed the UFO. Some explanations given for the sightings included Venus, clouds, and/or weather balloons.

Garson
The community is named after the geographic township of Garson, named by the Ontario Government in the 1880s for William Garson, who represented Lincoln in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1886 to 1890.

The area was first developed in 1888 as a logging camp, by the Holland and Emery Lumber Company of East Tawas, Michigan. In that year this firm constructed a narrow gauge logging railway from Wahnapitae, establishing its main operations at Headquarters Lake, near the Garson townsite. Logs from this area were taken to the Wanapitei River and driven to Lake Huron. Eventually this track was extended north into Capreol Township.

The Canadian Northern Railway was built through Garson in 1908.

Garson Mine, which is now owned by Vale Inco was first developed in 1911 by the Mond Nickel Company. The defunct Kirkwood Mine was also located in Garson.

Skead
Skead is located approximately 25 kilometres northeast of downtown Sudbury, and situated on south shore of Lake Wanapitei. Home to over 600 year round residents, Skead was settled about 1921 as a sawmill community, when the Spanish River Lumber Company relocated there from its original mill site, near the mouth of the Spanish River. It was named by the firm's general manager W. J. Bell, in honour of his late father-in-law, Canadian Senator James Skead. Skead was a stop on the Canadian Northern Railway line from Capreol to North Bay, which later became the Canadian National Railway Alderdale Subdivision, but rail service declined in the mid-20th century and was eliminated altogether in 1996.

Boland's Bay
Skead's address and telephone service also includes the smaller neighbourhood of Boland's Bay (46.65306°N, -80.76639°W), a dispersed rural community and unincorporated place, on the eponymous bay at the southwestern tip of Lake Wanapitei. The community was known as Bowlands Bay and the bay as Bowland Bay until 1975 when the present spellings were adopted. However, the old spelling continues on the local street Bowlands Bay Road. Boland's Bay (spelled Bowlands Bay in older timetables) was a milepoint on the Canadian Northern Railway line from Capreol to North Bay, which later became the Canadian National Railway Alderdale Subdivision, but rail service declined in the mid-20th century and was eliminated altogether in 1996.

Wahnapitae
The community takes its name from the Wanapitei River, which flows through Wahnapitae, and whose name in turn comes from the Ojibwe word waanabidebiing, which means "concave-tooth [shaped] water" and describes the shape of Lake Wanapitei. The correct spelling of the community's name should not be confused with the correct spelling for the water bodies.

The community of Wahnapitae is located east of Sudbury along Highway 17. It was the first settlement to be established in Nickel Centre and was supposed to be the main community within the Sudbury district because it was located along a major waterway. Originally, it was thought that Sudbury would be just a small settlement in the area, but with the discovery of ore and a shift from logging to mining, Sudbury became the focal point of the district and Wahnapitae was relegated to a smaller role.

In the early days of the town, logging was the major industry of the area. Many lumber companies established their operations along the Wanapitei River and the river itself was used to send the harvested logs to Southern Ontario for processing. Workers and their families, as well as various entrepreneurs, established a community along the river bank that was eventually known as Wahnapitae. In its heyday, Wahnapitae was a large, booming community that boasted a number of banks, general stores, clothing stores, hotels, and various other enterprises. It also possessed its own separate school (St. Peter) and public school (Wahnapitae Public School) and even had a water tower and a train station (it was located along the East West main line of the Canadian Pacific Railway).

As the number of viable trees for harvesting dwindled and mining began to take hold, the community of Wahnapitae lost its momentum. Suddenly, people were choosing mining towns over Wahnapitae and eventually the town became a shadow of its former glory. Wahnapitae remained an unorganized township until the amalgamation of the Regional Municipality of Sudbury in 1973 and in 2001, it became part of the City of Greater Sudbury. The town that began as a logging and farming settlement is today mostly a residential community.

Happy Valley
The ghost town of Happy Valley, originally known as Spruce Valley, was first inhabited in 1906 by workers from the nearby mine at Garson. Not wanting to live in a state of dependency in the company town, they built this smaller town of humble shacks with narrow streets. In 1930, the Garson Mine shut down, and the workers were transferred to the mines at Falconbridge.

However, due to temperature inversions, the smelter at Falconbridge created severe pollution problems in Happy Valley, as heavy sulphur emissions from the smelter would become trapped in the valley. For years, workers suspected that they were being poisoned by pollution, and these fears were confirmed in the 1960s and 1970s as society grew more environmentally-conscious. For several years, the community reached a deal with Falconbridge that the smelter would not operate on days when a north wind was blowing.

By the early 1970s, the roughly one hundred people who lived in Happy Valley were still suffering daily from air pollution produced by the nearby operations of Falconbridge Nickel Mines Limited (FNM). After years of pressure to do something about this situation, in the early 1970s the Ontario government facilitated the abandonment of Happy Valley in cooperation with the Regional Municipality of Sudbury and FNM. The controversial decision made headlines; it was the first instance in which the provincial government financed the relocation of an entire community because of air pollution. Most Happy Valley residents had accepted compensation for their homes and moved away by the mid-1970s, although at least one resident refused to sell his property and remained in the area until the late-1980s. Today, the ghost town is off limits to the general public and protected by a large barbed-wire fence.

Transportation
The Greater Sudbury Airport, the city's main airport, is located in Nickel Centre approximately halfway between Falconbridge and Skead, although its official mailing address is in Garson.

Highway 17, the main route of the Trans-Canada Highway, passes through Coniston and Wahnapitae. Highway 17's freeway segment in the Walden area is slated to be expanded through Nickel Centre toward Markstay, along the existing Southwest and Southeast Bypass route and thence on a new alignment past Coniston and Wahnapitae.

title: Nickel Centre


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Golden Hits of the Smothers Brothers, Vol. 2

Golden Hits of the Smothers Brothers, Vol. 2 (released July 1966) is the Smothers Brothers' first greatest hits album. There is no Volume 1, but all of the routines had been performed on earlier comedy albums by the duo. These are not the same performances contained on other albums, making it a "new" album. There was not a true hits collection for the duo until Sibling Revelry: The Best of the Smothers Brothers released in 1988.

Track listing

 * 1) "Cabbage" (10:27) version of "Boil Them Cabbage Down"- Dick asks Tom to "Take it" and Tom says "No." Also includes the idea that there are pumas in crevices in America - previously performed on The Two Sides of the Smothers Brothers
 * 2) "Church Bells" (2:58) - Song about the bells of a Catholic church, a Protestant church, and Synagogue during which Dick mistakenly describes "the little sliver bell" of the Synagogue. Previously performed on Curb Your Tongue, Knave where the mistake is "Catholic Chowers."
 * 3) "My Old Man" (4:32) - Previously performed on Think Ethnic!
 * 4) "Intermission Bit" (1:25)
 * 5) "Michael, Row Your Boat Ashore" (6:38) - The boys get the audience to sing along and then hum along, but Dick draws the line at everybody "ah-ing." Tom notes that if they sing loud enough even Ralph (the angel who was Tom's boss on the short lived situation comedy The Smothers Brothers Show) might hear them - previously performed on It Must Have Been Something I Said!
 * 6) "I Talk to the Trees" (5:05) - Dick tries to sing the showtune from Paint Your Wagon only to be stopped by Tom's declaration it is a "stupid song." Previously performed on Curb Your Tongue, Knave; a third version that plays off the others is found on Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (Album)
 * 7) "Hangman" (1:22) - Previously performed on The Two Sides of the Smothers Brothers
 * 8) "Pretoria" (5:39) - The audience gets to join in on singing the old hit by The Weavers. Previously performed on The Smothers Brothers at the Purple Onion

Personnel

 * Dick Smothers – vocals, double bass
 * Tom Smothers – vocals, guitar


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Rayside-Balfour

Rayside-Balfour (1996 census population 16,050) was a town in Ontario, Canada, which existed from 1973 to 2000. It is now part of the city of Greater Sudbury.

The town was created as part of the Regional Municipality of Sudbury and took its name from the townships of Rayside and Balfour, which fell within the boundaries of the new town; prior to the town's creation in 1973, Rayside and Balfour were separately incorporated as township municipalities.

Although the Regional Municipality of Sudbury was a very important centre of Franco-Ontarian population and culture, Rayside-Balfour was the only town in the regional municipality which had a majority francophone population. It remains as such still today.

On January 1, 2001, the town and the Regional Municipality were dissolved and amalgamated into the city of Greater Sudbury. The Rayside-Balfour area is now divided between Wards 3 and 4 on Greater Sudbury City Council, and is represented by councillors Gerry Montpellier and Geoff McCausland.

In 2006, there was interest in the deamalgamation of the former town of Rayside-Balfour from the City of Greater Sudbury. However, as any referendum on the matter would require the consent of the provincial government, any such move is not likely to take place.

In the Canada 2011 Census, the entire main populated core of Rayside-Balfour was counted as part of the population centre (or urban area) of Sudbury, with no separate population statistics published for the Rayside-Balfour area alone. However, the four census tracts corresponding to the former Rayside-Balfour had a total population of 14,557. For the Canada 2016 Census, Chelmsford and Azilda were removed from the Sudbury population centre and each aggregated as their own new population centres, with Azilda having a population of 4,663 and Chelmsford having a population of 6,215. The latest population trend is increasing in Azilda, but relatively stable in Chelmsford.

Azilda
Azilda gets its name from Azilda Bélanger (née Brisebois), the first female pioneer of the area and wife of Joseph Bélanger, mayor of Rayside from 1899–1900 and again in 1905. She was well-known in the town, especially for her healing abilities. The town had originally applied for the name Ste-Azilda until it was realized that there was no saint with that name.

The community borders the shores of Whitewater Lake, except for its most western portion.

Municipal Road 35, linking Azilda to downtown Sudbury, has been increased from two lanes to four lanes, which has improved the commute for Azilda's workers, who are mostly employed in the city's urban core. In addition, it shortens the travel time for tourists hoping to visit Sudbury Downs, which is located in the outskirts of Azilda. There are plans to complete the widening of Municipal Road 35 between Azilda and Chelmsford, on which construction began in 2019 and is scheduled to be completed in 2020.

On September 12, 1906, Azilda was the site of a train wreck.

While the population is still growing, there are no industries other than basic agriculture (corn, potatoes, beans) and horticulture. Much of the workforce travels to Sudbury to work, often in the primary industries such as mining.

Azilda's telephone and postal service also includes the smaller local neighbourhood of Bélangerville.

Azilda has its own flag that was revealed in 2021.

Its offices are in the Former École Secondaire Rayside building

Chelmsford
Founded in 1868, Chelmsford started out as an outpost on the Canadian Pacific Railway. Some say Chelmsford was named by a Canadian Pacific Railway engineer from the United Kingdom. As with many communities in Northern Ontario, logging and fur trapping were the first industries. Having depleted the lumber in the early 1900s, Chelmsford turned to mining and agriculture to support the town's economy. Errington Mine and Nickel Offset mine were two of the largest mines in Chelmsford and both closed in the 1930s.

In 1909, Chelmsford was separately incorporated as a town. It retained this status until 1968, when it was reamalgamated with the township of Balfour.

Today, Chelmsford has no major industries and is mostly a residential community. Although there are still some farms producing mostly potatoes, small fruits and corn, it is mostly supported by the mining activities in the nearby communities of Onaping Falls and Copper Cliff.

Postal delivery and telephone service in Chelmsford also includes the smaller neighbourhoods of Boninville and Larchwood.

Chelmsford is host to an annual fiddle festival, Fiddle Works, in May.

Its offices are on Highway 144 beside Petro-Canada.

Boninville
Boninville is located on the border with Valley-East in the Rayside Township. The name was created from two prominent farming families in the area: Bonin and Rainville. The main intersection is at Montée Rouleau and Rue St-Laurent. The area is known for potato farming. The families are French-Canadian and worship at the Roman Catholic Church Notre-Dame-du-Très-Saint-Rosaire in Blezard Valley.

Its offices are between Val Caron and Chelmsford

Languages
The towns have different languages. However, Chelmsford has a stronger francophone population with 53% speaking French at home and the 47% remaining speaking English at home and Azilda on the other hand has a slight anglophone population with 52% speaking and 48% French speaking.

Politics
Rayside-Balfour had two mayors prior to the amalgamation of Greater Sudbury: Gilles Pelland (1972–1988) and Lionel Lalonde (1988–2000). As part of the city, it is divided between Ward 3 (Chelmsford and the former town of Onaping Falls) and Ward 4 (Azilda and the northwestern portion of the former city of Sudbury) on Greater Sudbury City Council, represented by city councillors Gerry Montpellier and Geoff McCausland since October 2018 respectively.

The Rayside-Balfour area is in the federal riding of Nickel Belt, represented in the Canadian House of Commons by Marc Serré of the Liberal Party of Canada, and in the provincial riding of Nickel Belt, represented by France Gélinas of the Ontario New Democratic Party. As tradition goes, the area itself generally votes NDP both provincially and federally.

Transportation
Chelmsford and Azilda are served by Greater Sudbury Transit's 702 Azilda/Chelmsford bus, which departs approximately every 2 hours. Both communities are also connection points for Greater Sudbury Transit's transcab service, which connects passengers along Municipal Road 15 to Blezard Valley at Azilda, and Dowling, Onaping, and Levack at Chelmsford respectively.

For intercity transit, both communities are flag stops for Via Rail's Sudbury–White River route, as well as Ontario Northland's coach service.

Education
Azilda Students: those in the English Catholic stream attend St Charles School in the neighbouring community of Chelmsford and Bishop Carter Alexander Catholic Secondary School in Hanmer for boys and Marymount Academy for girls in nearby Uptown Sudbury. Those in the English public stream attend Chelmsford Public School and Chelmsford Valley District Composite School. Both of these schools are in the neighbouring community of Chelmsford. Those in the French Catholic stream attend École Ste-Marie in Azilda and École secondaire catholique Champlain in the neighbouring community of Chelmsford or Collège Notre-Dame in Sudbury. Those in the French public stream attend Franco-Nord and École secondaire Macdonald-Cartier. Chelmsford Students: those in the English catholic stream attend St Charles School and Bishop Alexander Carter Catholic Secondary School for boys and Marymount Academy for girls. Both of those schools in the neighbouring communities of Hanmer and Uptown Sudbury. Those in the English public stream attend Chelmsford Public School and Chelmsford Valley District Composite School. Those in the French Catholic stream attend École Alliance-St-Joseph and École secondaire catholique Champlain or Collège Notre-Dame. Those in the French public stream attend École Pavilion de L'Avenir and École secondaire Macdonald-Cartier

Notable people

 * Robert Campeau, financier
 * Randy Carlyle, NHL hockey player
 * Chuck Labelle, musician
 * Stéphane Paquette, musician and actor

title: Rayside-Balfour


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Sonic Spinball

Sonic the Hedgehog Spinball, also known as Sonic Spinball, is a 1993 pinball video game developed by Sega Technical Institute and published by Sega. It is a spinoff of the Sonic the Hedgehog series. Players control Sonic the Hedgehog, who must stop Doctor Robotnik from enslaving the population in a giant pinball-like mechanism. The game is set in a series of pinball machine-like environments with Sonic acting as the pinball.

It was developed by the American staff of Sega Technical Institute, as the Japanese staff was occupied with developing Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Sonic & Knuckles. When Sega management realized that Sonic 3 would not be completed in time for the 1993 holiday shopping season, they commissioned another Sonic game. After a hasty nine-month development, Sonic Spinball was released for the Sega Genesis in November 1993 and for the Game Gear and Master System in 1994.

Sonic Spinball received mixed reviews, with critics praising the novelty and graphics but criticizing the controls. A second pinball game, Sonic Pinball Party, was released in 2003, and a Sonic Spinball spinning rollercoaster opened in Alton Towers theme park, in 2010. Spinball has been ported to various consoles and included in Sega compilations.

Gameplay
Sonic Spinball is a pinball game in which the player controls Sonic the Hedgehog, who acts as the pinball. The majority of the game takes place within the "Pinball Defense System", which resembles a series of large pinball machines. The game comprises four levels, each containing numerous flippers that can be used to aim Sonic's trajectory and launch him through the level. Sonic can be maneuvered while airborne with input from the directional pad, which can be used for better positioning following an impact with a bumper or target or when Sonic is descending toward the drain, bumpers or flippers.

The goal of each level is to collect all the Chaos Emeralds and subsequently defeat the newly accessible boss located at the top of the level. Some Chaos Emeralds are blocked off by obstacles that require Sonic to hit certain switches or bumpers in order to create a clear path. The boss at the top of each level requires a specific strategy to defeat. A "status strip" at the top of the screen provides hints for defeating bosses, as well as encouraging messages when the player makes progress. The strip also tells the player how many Chaos Emeralds are left to collect in a level. Following the defeat of an boss enemy, a bonus round is initiated. These rounds are shown as Sonic playing a regular pinball machine. The player is given three balls to shoot around the board, the object being to accumulate points by hitting as many bumpers and targets as possible. At any point in the bonus round, the player may trigger a tilt shake that rattles the table and affects the ball's trajectory. If the tilt shake is used too often, however, all flippers will lock out, leaving the ball to fall down the drain. When the goal of the bonus round is fulfilled, or if all three balls fall through the flippers, the bonus round will end, and the next level will begin. When all the game's Chaos Emeralds are collected and all four boss enemies are defeated, the player wins.

Sonic starts the game with three lives. A life is lost when Sonic falls through a drain. An extra life can be earned by accumulating 20,000,000 points, which can be accumulated by hitting bumpers, navigating through loops, collecting rings and destroying enemy characters.

Plot
The evil scientist Doctor Robotnik has built a fortress on top of a volcano to transform the animals of planet Mobius into robot slaves. The volcano's magma fuels the fortress and the pinball machine-like defense systems. The volcano is kept in stable condition with Chaos Emeralds. Sonic the Hedgehog and his friend Tails mount an aerial assault on the fortress. Sonic is knocked into the waters that surround the volcano, but surfaces in the caves below the fortress. He infiltrates the defenses, absconds with the Chaos Emeralds, and frees the animals. Without the Chaos Emeralds, an eruption begins to destroy the fortress. Sonic destroys Robotnik's escape ship. Tails rescues Sonic, while Robotnik falls into the volcano, which sinks into the ocean and explodes.

Development
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 boosted sales of the Sega Genesis in the 1992 holiday shopping season. When Sega of America's management realized that Sonic the Hedgehog 3 would not be ready until next year, they commissioned another game that could be completed in time for the 1993 holiday season. Sonic Spinball was developed by mostly American staff from Sega Technical Institute while the Japanese staff were producing Sonic 3.

Sega's research suggested that the Casino Night Zone was one of the most popular levels in Sonic the Hedgehog 2. This provided designer Peter Morawiec with a direction for the new game. Morawiec drew inspiration from the 1992 Amiga game Pinball Dreams to combine pinball mechanics with the gameplay of Sonic the Hedgehog. Collaborating with three colleagues, Morawiec designed basic animations depicting Sonic as a pinball. The animations were demonstrated to Sega's senior management, who approved the project.

The game would have to be completed in under a year to be ready in time for the 1993 holiday season. Morawiec considered this a "tight" schedule for a game that would capitalize on the series' popularity in North America. To speed up production, Sega sent veteran staff from Japan to assist, including regular Sonic the Hedgehog artist Katsuhiko Sato. Despite the transfer of these staff, the game was still not predicted to be complete in time. As a result, Sega Technical Institute staff changed the programming language from assembly to C, an unusual choice for Genesis games at the time. Morawiec said the choice caused frame rate and optimization problems, but greatly accelerated development. A large part of the game's development happen in June and August 1993, the project evolved from a roughly playable build to a completed game.

Immediately before the game was due to ship, the team was informed that Sega did not own the rights to the Sonic the Hedgehog theme tune. Morawiec recalled uproar among the team after Hirokazu Yasuhara, the lead designer on Sonic Team, explained that the tune was owned by the Japanese band Dreams Come True, whose member Masato Nakamura composed the soundtrack for the first two Sonic games. Morawiec tasked lead composer Howard Drossin to write a new theme within two hours.

Release

Morawiec believed that the game would face "acceptance challenges" from both fans and the gaming media, as Sonic the Hedgehog Pinball strayed away from the traditional platforming genre. After returning to the United States from Europe, Morawiec was surprised to find that the game had sold well, and was pleased that it benefited from the franchise's popularity. Nonetheless, he regretted that the team had lacked time to "polish" the game.

After the Game Gear game Sonic Drift received poor reviews in Japan, Sega released an 8-bit port of Sonic Spinball for the Game Gear in its place worldwide in late 1994. It was also released for the Master System in Brazil and Europe in 1995. The 8-bit version is mostly identical to the Genesis game, with downgraded visuals and different, more platforming-oriented bonus stages. The Master System version was released near the end of the console's lifetime and did not sell well, and became a valuable collector's item.

Sonic Spinball has been rereleased on 11 different platforms. The Genesis version of the game has been rereleased on the Sonic Mega Collection compilation for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox and Microsoft Windows, Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, and multiple iterations of the Sega Smash Pack series of compilations, including a port to Game Boy Advance. The Game Gear version appears as an unlockable game in Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut for the GameCube and Windows, as well as Sonic Gems Collection for the GameCube and PlayStation 2. The game was intended to be included in the Sonic Classic Collection for the Nintendo DS, but was cut for unknown reasons. The Genesis version was released on the Wii's Virtual Console on March 12, 2007, in North America and April 5, 2007, in Europe. An emulated form of the game was also made available for iOS devices via Apple's App Store in 2010, but was later removed along with other Sega games in 2015. It was released on Steam in 2010 and on the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack in 2022.

Reception
The Genesis version received generally positive reviews upon release. Laurie Yates of Electronic Games gave it a highly positive review, with scores of 90% for graphics and sound, and 95% for playability and replayability. Scary Larry of GamePro gave it a positive review, calling it "a fun, fast, and frenetic" pinball game.

The visuals were generally well received. Ed Semrad of Electronic Gaming Monthly thought that the game being set inside a pinball machine was a novel idea, and also labelled the game's visuals, music, and sound effects as "top-notch". Al Manuel of the same publication opined that the graphics were not as "sharp" as other Sonic the Hedgehog titles, and also thought the sound was unimpressive.

Bob Strauss of Entertainment Weekly felt that the game initially boasted a terrific concept, but had an ultimately flawed execution, saying that Sonic, acting as a pinball, often moved like a "leaden marble". Rich Leadbetter from Mean Machines also expressed concern over the game's lack of replay value, saying that despite its addictive gameplay, the four levels were not enough, especially given the price.

Andromeda of GamePro, in a mixed review of the Game Gear version, criticized the control configuration and felt that the game was a mediocre example of a pinball game, but admitted that it had a similar feel to previous Sonic the Hedgehog titles.

Retrospective
Retrospectively, Sonic Spinball received mixed reviews, holding a score of 61% at the video game review aggregator GameRankings.

In a retrospective review, Lucas Thomas from IGN felt that the game's graphics matched those of later Sonic games on the Genesis, and considered Spinball minigames to be "visually distinct and well-done." A reviewer from Jeuxvideo.com thought the graphics were "generally good", but indicated that there were other visually superior games for the Genesis. In similar vein, William Avery of GameSpot noticed that the game contained some slowdown. Eurogamer Dan Whitehead criticized the game's sluggish frame rate and slowdown that occurred when "things threaten to get hectic" in-game, noting that it suffered from "the old Mega Drive problem".

Various aspects of the gameplay garnered a mixed reception from critics, though the game's control scheme received the most criticism. Jeuxvideo.com's reviewer enjoyed how Sonic himself acted as a pinball, but noticed that the controls were less precise and responsive when compared to other platformers. Dan Whitehead asserted that the game's controls were "muddled by the half-and-half approach", and criticized its "clunky" game engine, saying that the game's control scheme ruined the pinball environments. Thomas stated, "There are aspects of the control that could have been tighter, and its difficulty level may be a bit too extreme for new players." Damien McFarren from Nintendo Life said that the game comes across as both a poor platformer and a poor pinball game due to its unconvincing ball physics and frustrating platform elements.

Legacy
A second pinball game in the series, Sonic Pinball Party, was released for the Game Boy Advance in 2003 to generally favorable reviews.

In 2010, a spinning rollercoaster, Sonic Spinball, opened in the Alton Towers theme park in Staffordshire. Although the rollercoaster was not originally designed with a Sonic the Hedgehog theme, the ride became part of a sponsorship deal between Sega and Alton Towers. A Sonic the Hedgehog-themed hotel room was later made available at Alton Towers Hotel, which featured various playable Sonic the Hedgehog games, as well as wallpaper based on Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I.

title: Sonic Spinball


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Onaping Falls

Onaping Falls (1996 census population 5,277) was a town in the Canadian province of Ontario, which existed from 1973 to 2000. It was created as part of the Regional Municipality of Sudbury, and took its name from the waterfalls (High Falls) on the Onaping River.

On January 1, 2001, the town and the Regional Municipality were dissolved and amalgamated into the city of Greater Sudbury. The town is now part of Ward 3 on Greater Sudbury City Council.

In the Canada 2011 Census, the main communities in Onaping Falls were listed for the first time as two of six distinct population centres (or urban areas) in Greater Sudbury: Dowling (population 1,690, density 475.0 km2) and Onaping-Levack (population 2,042, density 251.3 km2). In the Canada 2016 Census, Onaping-Levack was dropped from the city's list of population centres, due to its population density falling below the 400/km2 standard, but Dowling was recorded as having a population of 1,466.

Communities
Onaping Falls is an amalgamation of three local communities: Dowling, Onaping, and Levack. Dowling is located 11 km from Onaping along Highway 144, while Levack is located north of the highway along Municipal Road 8. The smaller subdivisions of Levack Station and Phelans are also located along Highway 144 between Dowling and Onaping.

The area is known for its recreational abundance; fishing, hunting, snowmobiling, cross-country and downhill skiing and most other recreational sports are common activities of the residents.

It has become famous for High Falls, where the Onaping River drops 55 metres in a single plunge. The town is at the point where the Canadian Shield meets the Sudbury Nickel Irruptive, caused by a meteorite strike two billion years ago. There is a lookout off Highway 144 called the A. Y. Jackson Lookout, for the famous Group of Seven artist who memorialized the view on his canvas.

The town is also home to Windy Lake Provincial Park.

History
Prior to the early 1970s, Levack and Onaping were company towns with no direct municipal government. Dowling was part of Dowling Township, which was already incorporated as a municipality.

With the advent of regional government in 1973, the town of Onaping Falls became a part of the Regional Municipality of Sudbury, which also included the towns of Rayside-Balfour, Nickel Centre, Walden, Valley East and Capreol. The name "Onaping Falls" was chosen electorally between three contentious names: "Mountainvale" submitted by Levack resident Mary Carol McLellan, "Onaping Falls", submitted by Onaping resident Ted Cunningham and "Dowling", submitted by Dowling council. Mr. Cunningham received $25 for submitting the chosen name.

The first mayor of Onaping Falls was Jim Coady, for whom the ice arena in Levack is named. Other mayors of Onaping Falls between 1973 and absorption into the City of Greater Sudbury were Bob Parker, Shirley Mirka and Jean Guy "Chummy" Quesnel.

Politics
Onaping Falls is currently part of Ward 3 on Greater Sudbury City Council, along with much of the former town of Rayside-Balfour. A Community Solutions team was established in April 2006  to deal with challenges to the amalgamation of the former towns into one City of Greater Sudbury. The Community Solutions Team was made up with representatives from across the new city (Jack Oatway, Marc Tasse, Martha Cunningham Closs, Keir Kitchen, Barry Brett, France Belanger-Houle, Gisele Chretien) and chaired by Floyd Laughren. The final report called the Constellation City listed many improvements to Greater Sudbury's municipal governance The committee visited and spoke to citizens in several corners of the city and all former towns. The report completed in 2007, recommended the former Onaping Falls be reconstituted as its own ward on city council, although this has not occurred to date.

1973 Railway disaster
On November 9, 1973, Onaping Falls was the site of a truck - train collision which caused more than a 1,000 gallon spill at the New Cobden Road crossing off Highway 144 about 2 miles northwest of Dowling. Traces of PCB's were found in the water table four years  after the crash.

Notable people
Notable people from the Onaping Falls area include Olympian Joe Derochie (Canoe, 1960 Rome), National Hockey League players Dave Taylor (Los Angeles Kings), Dave Hannan (Pittsburgh Penguins) and Troy Mallette (Ottawa Senators), Olympic cyclist Eric Wohlberg, Paralympian (rowing) Steven Daniel and author Mark Leslie (Lefebvre). Recording artist and singer/songwriter Kevin Closs has made his home in Onaping Falls since 1990.

title: Onaping Falls


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Talk:Futura International Airways

What the hell is a 'holiday-maker'? I'm from the US, and have never encountered this phrase. Kent Wang 03:58, 31 May 2004 (UTC)

I don't know if this word is used in any other countries but it's certainly used in the UK and means "tourist". I've changed the article. - Adrian Pingstone 09:21, 31 May 2004 (UTC)

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It's great that people want to contribute and improve this article on Futura International Airways, but why do people just add innacurate and re-phrased sentences that are already written?

Somebody added:

"Futura International Airways is an charter airline based in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. It operates inclusive-tour charters to destinations in Europe"

But further down it already said:

"today it operates...an independent route structure and ad-hoc flights on behalf of varius tour operators and airlines in Europe, North and South America, Africa and South East Asia."

What are "inclusive-tour charters" anyway?? I've heard of "charter flights" and "all-inclusive holidays" but never that.

The new addition is simplistic and innacurate. Futura has many bases and destinations outside of Europe, and besides it also operates amongst other things football charters, relief/aid flights to disaster zones, and more importantly, it's own scheduled flights, which is already mentioned in the article! I've changed the introduction to make it a little less misleading. Miguel Rodriguez Gorman 19:05, 1 November 2005 (UTC)

Is it still owned by Aer Lingus
Just wondering if it is still owned by Aer Lingus or if its independant or owned by another airline now

Yes Aer Lingus still has a stake in Futura --Splash15hotel 09:46, 28 April 2007 (UTC)

Aer Lingus sold its stake in 2007 —Preceding unsigned comment added by Andreorban (talk • contribs) 11:21, 17 June 2008 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Futura International Airways logo.png
Image:Futura International Airways logo.png is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.

BetacommandBot 20:27, 6 November 2007 (UTC)

Administration
Have they ceased operations? The link given on the page seems to suggest they will resume flights on the 9th

82.11.155.43 (talk) 17:36, 8 September 2008 (UTC)

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title: Talk:Futura International Airways


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Larch family

The Larch family of formal specification languages are intended for the precise specification of computing systems. They allow the clean specification of computer programs and the formulation of proofs about program behavior.

The Larch family was developed primarily in the United States in the 1980s and 1990s, involving researchers at Xerox PARC, DEC Systems Research Center (DEC/SRC), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and other places. Unlike the Z notation, the Larch family has one language for algebraic specification of abstract data types (the Larch Shared Language (LSL)), and a separate interface language tailored to each language in which programs are to be written, such as C, Modula-3, Smalltalk, etc. The Larch project also developed tools to support the use of formal specifications, including the Larch Prover (LP).

title: Larch family


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User:Progoth

Hi

My Website

title: User:Progoth


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Hussain al-Shahristani

Hussain Ibrahim Saleh al-Shahristani (born 1942) is an Iraqi politician who served in different cabinet posts, including as Iraq's Minister of Higher Education.

Early life and education
Al-Shahristani was born in 1942 in Karbala, Iraq. He hails from the al-Shahristani family. In addition to his native Arabic he has strong command of English and Persian as second languages. Shahristani showed an exceptional aptitude for science in Secondary School,

He earned a BSc in Chemical Engineering from Imperial College London in 1965, and an MSc from the University of Toronto in 1967, from where he also received a PhD in Chemical Engineering in 1970. He specialised in the design and building of nuclear reactors. Part of his education was also in Russia.

Career
He was tipped to be the Iraqi Prime Minister during the 2004 discussions, a position which he refused to take it and stated "I have always concentrated on serving the people and providing them with their basic needs, rather than party politics."

A senior member of the State of Law alliance, he was previously the deputy speaker of the Iraqi National Assembly under the Iraqi Transitional Government and was considered for the post of Prime Minister in both the current government and the interim government.

He was appointed oil minister in May 2006 after the withdrawal of the Islamic Virtue Party Minister, which was also a Shia from the government coalition. By August, however, he was under pressure as there was a fuel crisis.

In December 2012 he was named the head of the committee responsible for receiving and addressing the demands of the demonstrators. He has made some significant achievements in period of December 2012 to February 2013.

From 2006 to 2010, Shahristani was Iraq's minister of oil, and he served as acting minister of electricity in 2010.

Before his arrest and imprisonment Shahristani served as Chief Scientific Advisor to the Iraqi Atomic Energy Commission. Prior to that, he was a lecturer at Mosul University (1973), an assistant professor at Baghdad University (1974), Chief of Baghdad University's Radioisotope Production Department from 1975 to 1977, and Chief of the Nuclear Chemistry Department from 1977 to 1979.

He is recognised as the architect of Iraq's oil future and during his time Iraq oil output reached a 20-Year high.

Imprisonment
Former government officials, including Khidir Hamza his successor, have claimed Hussain al-Shahristani was imprisoned for his refusal to cooperate with Saddam's WMD program and his intentions to build nuclear weapons. He was imprisoned personally by Saddam Hussein and was threatened directly by him too. "While imprisoned and tortured at Abu Ghraib prison for 11 years under Saddam Hussein he refused to help build a nuclear weapon for the country."

He was later sentenced to death in an effort to terrorize him but the sentence was reduced to lifetime imprisonment as the regime always hoped it could benefit from his skills and expertise one day—a false hope which never materialized for Saddam's regime. He was put in a solitary confinement prison cell for 8 years and was not allowed to make any communication with his family or the outside world during that period.

In his memoir, Escaping to Freedom, he mentions that "the sound of a defective neon light was the highlight of his time during that period since silence was all he could listen to". He could not have a conversation even with his prison guards and food was passed to him through the gap under the prison cell's door. He escaped from Abu Ghraib during the 1991 Gulf War and went to Iran, where he left for UK. He obtained his freedom in an extremely daring 'Hollywood' style escape plan which was conceived, orchestrated and implemented by him. He went on to set up humanitarian aid organisations for the millions of Iraqi refugees during the Saddam era.

Having spent more than a decade (1979–1991) as a political prisoner in the infamous Abu Ghraib prison under the regime of Saddam, he escaped during an allied bombing raid on Baghdad during the First Gulf War. H.E. al-Shahristani fled to Iran where he served as head of the Gulf War Victims Organization from 1991 to 1995. He later continued his support for the victims of Saddams's regime and the Gulf War as head of the Iraqi Political Prisoners Union (2003) and as Chief of the Iraqi Refugees Relief Committee (1998–2003).

Other positions
Shahristani is a Visiting Professor at the University of Surrey United Kingdom.

In 2004, he taught as a professor at Baghdad University, and from 2002 to 2004 he was concurrently a visiting professor at Surrey University in the United Kingdom. In 2003 he was Head of the Iraqi National Academy of Sciences, and prior to his role there, from 1998 to 2002 was an advisor to the International Technical Research Centre, London, United Kingdom.

Awards
Shahristani was awarded Roosevelt Freedom from Fear Award 2012. In a Prof. al-Shahristani was presented the award by Maria van der Hoeven, executive director of the International Energy Agency IEA.

In his speech during the award ceremony he said "I confronted my fear in December 1979 when I had to make a choice: either to work on Saddam’s nuclear weapon program, or pay a price. The choice was simple, and the price turned out to be 11 years and 3 months in prison."

Conversation with Saddam's half-brother
After seven months in jail, Shahristani was taken in front of Saddam's half-brother, Barzan al-Tikriti, who offered to free him if he would work on Iraq's secret nuclear weapons programme. "Anybody who refuses to serve his country does not deserve to be alive," Shahristani quoted Tikriti as telling him.

"I agree with you that the person must serve his country but what you are asking me is not a service to the country," Shahristani replied, he said in his book Escaping to Freedom (1999). He was eventually sentenced to 20 years and spent 11 in prison, some in solitary confinement.

His reaction – Saddam's Trial
"This is the day that the Iraqis have been waiting for. There are tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of families who have lost their dear ones. They have been waiting for justice to be executed, and I think that Iraqis have received the news that they've been waiting for too many years."

2014 Prime Minister To-Be
He has been tipped by analysts close to decision makers in Iraq as a serious contender for the PM job. On 11 July 2014 he assumed the role of acting foreign minister in addition to his deputy prime ministership, after Kurdish politicians including former Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari withdrew from the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

title: Hussain al-Shahristani


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Category:Japanese actors

This category lists actors and actresses either of Japanese ethnicity or primarily working in Japan. See also List of Japanese actors.

title: Category:Japanese actors


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Pactolus

Pactolus (Πακτωλός), also called Chrysorrhoas (Χρυσορρόας), now named Sart Çayı, is a river near the Aegean coast of Turkey. The river rises from Mount Tmolus, flows through the ruins of the ancient city of Sardis, and empties into the Gediz River, the ancient Hermus. The Pactolus once contained electrum that was the basis of the economy of the ancient state of Lydia, which used the naturally occurring alloy of gold and silver to forge the first coins under Alyattes of Lydia.

Name
Pseudo-Plutarch in the De fluviis write that the river was initially called Chrysorrhoas (Χρυσορρόας; meaning "streaming with gold") because according to the legend, Chrysorrhoas (the son of Apollo) threw himself into the river.

Later it was called Pactolus, from Pactolus, the son of Leucothea, who during a festival of Aphrodite failed to recognize his own sister, Demodice, and ravished her. Upon realizing what he had done, overwhelmed with grief, he threw himself into the river. Because of this the name of the river changed from Chrysorrhoas to Pactolus.

Legend
As a river-god, Pactolus was said to be the brother of another river Hydaspes, and thus, offspring of the Titans Oceanus and Tethys. He was the father of Euryanassa, one of the possible mothers of Tantalus’ children.

The only myth where Pactolus was an active participant is recounted in Nonnus’ Dionysiaca detailing the young god, Dionysus, in his Indian campaign.According to legend, King Midas divested himself of the golden touch by washing himself in the river. The historian Herodotus claimed that the gold contained in the sediments carried by the river was the source of the wealth of King Croesus, son of Alyattes.

In Sophocles' Philoctetes, the chorus recognizes Gaia as ruler of the "golden stream Pactolus."

Propertius 1.6
The river is mentioned in Sextus Propertius' Elegy 1.6.

"at tu seu mollis qua tendit Ionia, seu qua Lydia Pactoli tingit arata liquor..."

("But wherever either soft Ionia extends, or wherever the water of the Pactulus stains the Lydian fields...")

title: Pactolus


text: Category:Japanese athletes

title: Category:Japanese athletes


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Category:Japanese artists

Japanese artists either artists of Japanese ethnicity or primarily working in Japan.

title: Category:Japanese artists


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Category:Emperors of Japan

This category contains the Emperors of Japan. For ruling empresses see Category:Japanese empresses regnant.

title: Category:Emperors of Japan


text: Category:Japanese educators

title: Category:Japanese educators


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Category:Japanese military leaders

This category is intended to encompass leaders of the Japanese military, as it existed during the imperial period (1868-1945).

 * For pre-imperial war commanders, see Category:Japanese warriors, Category:Samurai, Category:Daimyo.
 * For post-imperial war commanders, see Category:Japan Self-Defense Forces.

title: Category:Japanese military leaders


text: Category:Japanese historians

title: Category:Japanese historians


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Category:Japanese musicians

Musicians from the Asian country of Japan.

title: Category:Japanese musicians


text: Category:Japanese politicians

title: Category:Japanese politicians


text: Category:Japanese religious leaders

title: Category:Japanese religious leaders


text: Category:Japanese scientists

title: Category:Japanese scientists


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Maneki-neko

The maneki-neko (招き猫, lit. 'beckoning cat') is a common Japanese figurine which is often believed to bring good luck to the owner. In modern times, they are usually made of ceramic or plastic. The figurine depicts a cat, traditionally a calico Japanese Bobtail, with a paw raised in a beckoning gesture. The figurines are often displayed in shops, restaurants, pachinko parlors, dry cleaners, laundromats, bars, casinos, hotels, nightclubs, and other businesses, generally near the entrance, as well as households. Some maneki-neko are equipped with a mechanical paw which slowly moves back and forth.

Maneki-neko come in different colors and styles and vary in degrees of detail. Common colors are white, black, red, and gold. In addition to statues, maneki-neko can be found in the form of keychains, piggy banks, air fresheners, pots, and numerous other media. Maneki-neko are sometimes referred to simply as "lucky cats" or "calling cats".

Common features
Maneki-neko are traditionally depicted seated, holding a koban coin, with one paw raised in a beckoning gesture. To some Westerners (Italians, Spaniards and Greeks are notable exceptions) it may seem as if the maneki-neko is waving rather than beckoning. This is due to the difference in gestures and body language recognized by some Westerners and the Japanese. The Japanese beckoning gesture is made by holding up the hand, palm down, and repeatedly folding the fingers down and back, thus the cat's appearance. Some maneki-neko made specifically for some Western markets will have the cat's paw facing upwards, in a beckoning gesture that is more familiar to most Westerners.

Maneki-neko can be found with either the right or left paw raised (and sometimes both). The significance of the right and left raised paw differs with time and place. A statue with the left paw raised is to get more customers, while the right paw raised is to get more money. Hence it is also said that the one with left paw is for business and the right is for home.

Battery- and solar-powered maneki-neko are a modern iteration. Those sources power a simple circuit that regulates a current going through a coil, whose electromagnetic field subsequently "pushes" a magnet mounted to the end of the waving arm.

Composition
Antique examples of maneki-neko may be made of carved wood, stone and metal, handmade porcelain or cast iron.

Colors
Originally, maneki-neko were white, but over the years with the combination of Feng Shui, different color variations were born. The original white color is to get good luck and overall good fortune, while black is to ward off evil, red is for good health, yellow or gold is for wealth, and pink is for romance.

History
It is commonly believed that maneki-neko originated in Tokyo (then named Edo) or, sometimes, Kyoto. It is a common theory that maneki-neko as figurines originated from Imado ware sold in Asakusa during the Edo period (1603–1868). During the Tenshō era (1573–1592) of the Azuchi-Momoyama period (1573–1592), clay suitable for pottery was discovered in Imado in Asakusa, and local people began to make Imado ware. In the Edo period, potters from the Mikawa Province moved to Imado in Asakusa and further developed Imado ware, and in the Genroku era (1688–1704), Imado dolls were made, which is thought to have given rise to maneki-neko. The earliest known record of maneki-neko as figurines is the marushime-neko, a variation of maneki-neko made of Imado ware in the late Edo period.

One of the earliest records of maneki-neko appear in the Bukō nenpyō's (a chronology of Edo) entry dated 1852. Utagawa Hiroshige's ukiyo-e "Joruri-machi Hanka no zu," painted also in 1852, depicts the marushime-neko, a variation of maneki-neko, being sold at Sensō-ji Temple, Tokyo. In 1876, during the Meiji era, it was mentioned in a newspaper article, and there is evidence that kimono-clad maneki-neko were distributed at a shrine in Osaka during this time. A 1902 advertisement for maneki-neko indicates that by the turn of the century they were popular.

There are various folklore in Japan about the origin of maneki-neko. Several Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines that appear in folklore, such as Gōtoku-ji, Jishōin Shrine and Imado Shrine, are known as the birthplaces of the maneki-neko.

The most famous folklore concerns Ii Naotaka during the Kan'ei era (1622–1624) of the Edo period. On their way back from the falconry, Naotaka's party stopped at Gōtoku-ji Temple to rest after being beckoned by a cat at the temple gate. A violent thunderstorm soon followed, and they marvelled at the cat's good fortune and thanked the temple priest for his hospitality. As a result, Gōtoku-ji became the family temple of the Ii clan, and the temple prospered under their patronage. In honour of the cat that brought prosperity to the temple, maneki-neko was created in later generations.

The second folklore concerns Ōta Dōkan, a warlord of the Muromachi period (1336–1573) who later became the first to build Edo Castle. During the Battles of Ekodahara and Numabukuro against the Toshima clan, Dōkan was outnumbered and lost his way. It was then that a cat appeared and beckoned him to enter the Jishōin Temple, where he was later able to turn the tide and win the war. Dōkan was so grateful to the cat that he donated a sculpture of the cat to the temple, and the maneki-neko was created in later generations.

The third folklore concerns an old woman who lived near the Imado Shrine. She had abandoned her cat out of poverty. One day, the cat came to her in a dream and told her that if she made an ornament of the cat, she would be blessed with good luck. The old woman made an ornament of the cat out of Imado ware, a local speciality, and sold it at the Asakusa Shrine, where it became very popular and made her rich, and the maneki-neko was created.

The fourth folklore concerns an oiran (courtesan) named Usugumo in Yoshiwara during the Genroku era of the Edo period. Usugumo was an oiran who worked in Miuraya and always carried a cat with her. People rumoured that Usugumo was a woman bewitched by a demonic cat, and the owner of Miuraya, believing the rumour, cut off the cat's head and killed it. The cat's severed head bit a giant snake lurking in the toilet, saving Usugumo's life. A regular customer gave Usugumo, who was grieving over the cat's death, a wooden carving in the shape of a cat, which was imitated and sold in Asakusa, giving rise to maneki-neko.

According to a folktale, the operator of an impoverished shop (or inn, tavern, temple, etc.) took in a starving stray cat despite barely having enough to feed himself. In gratitude, the cat sat in the front of the store beckoning customers, thus bringing prosperity as a reward to the charitable proprietor. Ever after, the "beckoning cat" has been a symbol of good luck for small business owners.

Beliefs
Superstitions about the maneki-neko include it being able to "beckon...customers into shops" and "bring good fortune and prosperity into households", and it being an embodiment of "fertile, life-enhancing feline energies."

In popular culture
Because of its popularity in Chinese communities (including Chinatowns in the United States), the maneki-neko is frequently mistaken for being Chinese in origin rather than Japanese, and is therefore sometimes referred to as a "Chinese lucky cat" or jīnmāo ("golden cat"). This cat is also prevalent in China domestically, and is usually referred to as.

Hikone City's mascot, Hikonyan, a famous mascot in Japan, was created based on the folklore of Ii Naotaka and the maneki-neko of Gōtoku-ji Temple. Hikone City is home to Hikone Castle, a National Treasure that was the base of the Ii clan for generations.

For the 2015 Trinidad and Tobago general election, won by the then opposition People's National Movement (PNM), a maneki-neko was utilized by the PNM in its campaign advertising days before election day, featuring a maneki-neko waving goodbye to then Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar alongside headlines of scandals linked to her People's Partnership administration taken from the front page of local newspapers.

title: Maneki-neko