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Blue Heelers

Blue Heelers is an Australian police drama series that was produced by Southern Star Group and ran for twelve years on the Seven Network, from 1994 to 2006. Although based around the policing of the town, the series generally depicted the everyday lives and relationships of the residents of Mount Thomas, a fictional small town in Victoria.

The series was one of the highest-rated and most-awarded programs in the history of Australian television, having won 25 Logie awards, and having equal standing with The Don Lane Show as the most awarded show in the history of the Logies (with five wins). It is also noted for its two main stars Lisa McCune, a four-time recipient of the Gold Logie, and John Wood, who also won Gold.

Overview
Blue Heelers was first aired on 10 September 1993, with the episode "A Woman's Place". The last episode, episode #510 titled "One More Day" aired on 4 June 2006. The series was produced by Southern Star Group for the Seven Network. During its 13-season run it won a total of 32 awards and was nominated for a further 50. This included 25 Logie Awards, five of which were the Gold Logie, the most coveted television award in Australia.

As well as everyday policing matters, the series deals with many controversial and "touchy" subjects. The series was the first to examine the stressful world of young police officers who are "thrown into the deep end where they are left to sink or swim".

Police procedurals were enormously popular in Australia in the 1960s and 1970s, but by the 1980s they had been replaced by home-grown soap operas and mini-series, like Neighbours and Home and Away.

Blue Heelers, however, was Australia's most popular television drama while it lasted. The series drew more than 2.5 million viewers every week at its peak. Along with the long-running Crawford Productions series Homicide, Blue Heelers holds the Australian record for most episodes produced of a weekly prime-time drama. It was also nearly the longest-running series, but Homicide lasted one calendar month longer and, due to five feature-length episodes, had more time on air.

Blue Heelers was sold to 108 territories and gained international recognition in the UK, Ireland, New Zealand, Canada and other countries.

The series launched the careers of many Australian actors, such as Lisa McCune, Grant Bowler, Ditch Davey, Rachel Gordon, Tasma Walton, Charlie Clausen and Jane Allsop. While many of these actors are still best known for their work on Blue Heelers, some have gone on to bigger roles. Many other actors of today also appeared in guest roles, including Hugh Jackman, Charles 'Bud' Tingwell, Peter O'Brien, John Howard and Robert Rabiah.

John Wood, alongside Julie Nihill remained the only actors with Blue Heelers to remain during its entire 12-year run, portraying Senior Sergeant Tom Croydon and publican Chris Riley respectively.

Plot

The series primarily focuses on the daily lives of police officers working at a police station in the fictional small town of Mount Thomas in the Australian state of Victoria. Each episode is presented from the perspective of the officers. This was a specific technique that creator Hal McElroy chose to employ.

The police officers, commonly referred to as "Heelers", are always active sorting out the town's many problems. These problems range from trivial complaints such as land and fencing disputes to more serious offences, such as homicides and assaults. The small town is also faced with many other significant occurrences including bank robberies, escaped criminals, police shootings, kidnappings and the acts of deluded criminals. Of these, one of the more significant events is the bombing of the police station during the show's eleventh season.

Whenever overwhelmed, the Heelers call on the assistance of the police in the larger town of St Davids, home of the resident police inspector Russell Falcon-Price. An antagonist in the series, Falcon-Price often tries to terminate the employment of the Mount Thomas sergeant or to close the entire station, which in reality would be almost entirely out of his control.

Along with their police work, aspects of the Heelers' personal lives are regularly featured, notably the relationship between Maggie and PJ, which ends with Maggie's death in one of the most watched moments on Australian television.

Production
On average, 42 episodes of Blue Heelers were broadcast per year on Australian television, with each episode comprising fifty scenes. One episode was made every week. The scripts were written to a formula which allowed one day for rehearsal, two days on location and two days in the studio. Episodes were shot eight to ten weeks ahead of their scheduled broadcast date. There were 16 episodes in various stages of production at any one time (from the conception of new storylines to post-production). In addition, there were always seven complete episodes waiting to go to air. Apart from the regular cast members, the show employed 4,300 guest actors annually, plus 30 extras every week. A total of 150 people were involved in some way with the show's production each week, including cast members, crew, wardrobe, publicists and writers.

Conception and development
Blue Heelers creator/producer, Hal McElroy, conceived the idea of Blue Heelers when he heard that an eighteen-year-old friend was planning to become a police officer. Intrigued, he inquired as to why this young boy, fresh out of school, would want to become a police officer, as opposed to the many other opportunities he had open to him. McElroy soon discovered that, at the time, a staggering 60% of Australian police officers were under the age of 26. This, coupled with McElroy's desire to create a country cop show, formed the basis of the programme. When this same young officer left the force only a year later due to the shooting death of his colleague, McElroy was even more intrigued to learn about the very fickle, yet rewarding job of policing the community. McElroy continued his quest by asking ex-police officer Michael Winter to write down what it was like to be a city cop who transferred to a country town. These became the ideas that Blue Heelers was based around. Michael Winter also conceived the name of the programme by recounting the common names for a country police officer: "tyre-biters"—referring to the fact that country cops are often involved in car chases—and "blue heelers"—referring to their blue uniforms and overall similar appearance and persona to a Blue Heeler dog, a protective and intuitive breed of Australian dog. From the time that McElroy's idea was initially conceived, to the time the programme was ready to air, three years passed.

During the early development of Blue Heelers two completely different pilots were shot: one depicting the story from the perspective of a police officer and the other from the perspective of a criminal. When these were presented to the Seven Network, the network committed to 13 episodes of the first pilot. The pilot went on to become the official first episode of Blue Heelers, telling the story of a new cop in town, Maggie Doyle, and her beginnings in Mount Thomas. Hal McElroy chose to discard the second pilot, realising it was a fatal mistake to be "with the criminals as they plotted the crime". He also conceived his rule that the producers of the show "couldn't have a camera in a room unless there was a copper there as well" (a rule shared by long-running UK Police drama The Bill). Hence, the basis of the show being from a police officer's perspective became a firm reality. (The only bending of this rule was with scenes featuring publican Chris; as she was billed with the main cast, she was given the same on-screen "rules" as the officers. In early episodes, before she worked at the station, this "rule" also applied to Wayne Patterson's wife Roz).

Hal McElroy gives his police adviser's opinion:

"He had been posted to Yass (in New South Wales) and he really loved it up there because the routine was so simple and straightforward-most often you knew the victim and sometimes you knew the culprit, and someone in charge would give them a clip behind the ear and say 'wash the police car' or 'sweep the yard' and 'don't ever do it again', rather than sending a juvenile to jail.

I loved it, and I said 'Hey this is great'. But all the writers said, 'No it's boring, we want that gritty, inner-city police stuff'. (We had Boys in Blue set up in Leichhardt in Sydney.) And I still remember the moment I was driving home up River Road and I thought, 'Then we can have two shows'. I said to this copper 'What are you called in the country? What is your nickname?' And he said they call highway patrol 'tyre biters' and coppers 'blue heelers'. And I thought 'That's the title!' So I rang [scriptwriter] Tony Morphett and said 'Let's do a show about young cops in the country. It's called Blue Heelers."

By creating the programme, McElroy and Morphett hoped to close the gap between to police and the public. They hoped to show the human side of the policing and that, like other citizens, police officers have feelings, regrets, aspirations and fears. They also hoped that the show would act as a tribute to the courage of police officers, who risk their lives everyday, never knowing if they would return home at the end of the day.

Filming locations
Only about half of the footage for each episode was shot on location. Most of the scenes, including scenes in the police station and pub, were filmed at the Seven Network studios in Melbourne. Much of the filming on location was carried out in towns such as Williamstown, and the more established parts of Werribee. The scenes of the outside of the Mount Thomas police station were actually filmed at the old, disused Williamstown police station, which was then a private residence. Scenes at Mount Thomas High School were filmed at Williamstown High School. The town of Castlemaine was most often used as the backdrop for Mount Thomas, seen in almost every episode. Although the Blue Heelers' pilot was shot in Castlemaine, the cast and crew very rarely returned there to shoot further episodes; images of Castlemaine were usually just establishing shots. Chris Riley's fictional Imperial Hotel, for example, was actually the real Imperial Hotel in Castlemaine. Mount Thomas' fictional Commercial Hotel was filmed at the Willy Tavern in Williamstown. The second Mount Thomas police station, adopted during the programme's reform of 2004, was filmed at Newport Railway workshops. The Mount Thomas Hospital was filmed at the Werribee Mercy Hospital. Sunbury railway station was commonly used as the Mount Thomas railway station. Hobson's Bay, and Wyndham, Victoria were also locations used in Blue Heelers.

2004 revamp: the station bombing
After low ratings in 2003 and 2004, the producers and executives of Blue Heelers realised that there were apparent problems which could potentially lead to the series' downfall. In 2004, Blue Heelers lost the top ratings spot to McLeod's Daughters. During 2003 and 2004, Australian television drama was also at its "lowest point in a decade" and many popular shows were cancelled. As the show remained basically unchanged from its debut ten years earlier, the production team decided that a revamp was in order.

At the beginning of season 11, the revamp began with new, more modern opening credits, using an electric guitar, rather than an acoustic. Later in that season, a live episode, "Reasonable Doubt", was broadcast in hope of offering a short-term ratings boost and encourage more long-term viewers. Although an immediate success, the live episode did not bring about a sustained increase in ratings. Producers also hoped that a shift in direction, a change of mood and setting, and the addition of four cast members would cement Blue Heelers' long-term future. They also wanted the show to remain relevant and more accurately reflect today's modern world:

"Mount Thomas was created in 1993 and the world has changed... It will now be more reflective of today's country towns, not the sleepy backwater it was. It wasn't an easy task but the creative team responded brilliantly and there's a real feeling of excitement again... The old girl can still dance. And dance to new tunes."

The main plot, setting and character changes started in July 2004, with the airing of the episode "End of Innocence". In this episode, the main storyline was the bombing of the Mount Thomas police station. The blast killed popular main character Snr. Const. Jo Parrish (Jane Allsop) and recurring cast member Clancy Freeman, and injured the show's main protagonist, Senior Sergeant Croydon. After the bombing it was revealed that Croydon's wife, the Reverend Curtis, was missing. It was later revealed she had been brutally raped and murdered. These events brought about sweeping changes to the mood of not only Croydon but also the mood of the entire show. The Daily Telegraph television writer Marcus Casey commented, "Mount Thomas has become a darker, grittier place, the people and cops in it transformed by an invasion of evil". Consequently, the story changed its focus from the old Mount Thomas police station to the new one that was used until the show's cancellation in 2006. The Seven Network feared that in the modern post-9/11 world, a show about country police was no longer what audiences wanted. Storylines of the proceeding five episodes focused on the bombing of the station and the four new main characters: Rachel Gordon as Amy Fox, Geoff Morrell as Mark Jacobs, Samantha Tolj as Kelly O'Rourke, and Danny Raco as Joss Peroni. Popular former cast member William McInnes also returned to the show, temporarily reprising his role as Nick Schultz. Producers hoped the new tone of the series, the new younger actors, and McInnes's role reprisal would lure back viewers who had stopped watching the programme. This new style of programme that Blue Heelers was embracing was a sign of the show trying to keep up with other larger television shows, particularly the CSI franchise.

The revamp of the series resulted in a 25% ratings increase, bringing the series' weekly viewership to 1.6 million people. Critical response after the event was reassuring, and it appeared that critics were approving of the drastic moves by Seven and Southern Star:

"The recent shake-up at the old station has swept aside an unhealthy staleness that had settled on the place and there's some much-needed fresh energy provided by the new recruits, including Samantha Tolj as true-blue Aussie gal Kelly O'Rourke and Danny Raco as Italian stallion Joss Peroni."

Cancellation
In the hope that viewing would increase, an 11-episode season in 2006 was commissioned by the Seven Network. However, the ratings spike begun in 2004 was not sufficient for the Seven Network to commit to continuing to produce the show. In January 2006, Seven officially announced that they had cancelled Blue Heelers but would air a final shortened season of 11 episodes in mid–2006. At the time, the show was still drawing 1.2 million viewers per week on average, down from the 3.5 million it was drawing at its peak. The announcement was front-page news on nearly all of Australia's major newspapers, including The Sydney Morning Herald, The Daily Telegraph (Sydney), The Herald Sun, The Age and Brisbane's Courier Mail. Two different endings were shot for the final episode, which finished filming on 20 December 2005. The first ending wrapped up all the show's storylines, while the second left the show open for another season; the second version was used.

For Blue Heelers' final season in 2006, it was moved from its primetime Wednesday-night timeslot, to a lower-rating Saturday-night timeslot. In the Saturday timeslot, Blue Heelers competed with The Bill, a British police drama which had become quite popular in Australia on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and Saturday Night AFL Coverage on Fox Footy Channel and Network Ten. This move was slammed by leading cast member John Wood. Blue Heelers ' cancellation may also be related to Seven's AFL broadcast, which saw Seven invest $780m for the 5-year broadcasting rights of the game.

Australia
Blue Heelers originally aired on Tuesday nights at 7:30 pm on the Seven Network, thus it was limited to a PG content level restriction. When the series was hailed as a success, it began the transition from this timeslot to the 8:30 pm timeslot on the same day. After the move, writers could explore more diverse storylines, as the show was restricted to an M rating. The third and fourth season premiers aired on Monday nights during the 8:30 pm timeslot, but the show moved back to its original slot before the next episode. In its fifth season, Blue Heelers moved to the Wednesday night 8:30 pm timeslot, which it occupied for most of its run, until the end of its twelfth season. This move was made to make way for hospital drama All Saints.

Starting in 2004, the Seven Network aired Blue Heelers weekdays at 2:00 pm. All episodes aired with the final episode airing in 2007. This made way for the broadcast of early episodes of All Saints.

Seasons generally ran in Australia from early February to late November. Each season generally consisted of 41 to 42 episodes. The eleventh season however, only consisted of 39 episodes, as the Seven Network had gained the rights to televise the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. In total, 510 episodes were aired: 509-hour-long standard episodes and one live episode. The live episode, titled "Reasonable Doubts", was filmed to celebrate Blue Heelers 10th year on the air. To prepare, the cast was given six days to memorise their lines.

The final episode of the 13th season aired as a 2-hour tribute. It opened with an introduction from John Wood and concluded with a compilation of Blue Heelers moments from over its 13-season run.

Australian television quiz-show The Weakest Link, hosted by Cornelia Frances, also aired a Blue Heelers special episode on 9 August 2001. Cast members John Wood, Neil Pigot, Ditch Davey, Jeremy Kewley, Jane Allsop, Suzi Dougherty, Paul Bishop, Caroline Craig and Peta Doodson took part in this special event.

In February 2014, repeats of series 12 started airing; and, in May 2014, repeats of series 13 aired on 7two. Blue Heelers has also screened on Hallmark Channel in Australia in various time-slots.

International
Blue Heelers had a strong following not only in Australia but also worldwide; it has been sold to 108 territories and is shown in over 70 countries.

New Zealand
In New Zealand Blue Heelers screened on TV One in a popular timeslot. However, following the on-screen death of Maggie Doyle, ratings fell, and the show was moved to a 9:30 pm slot on Friday. Following that, the show moved to a late night Thursday slot where the rest of the episodes played out, with the show beginning anywhere between 11:30 pm and midnight. It aired its final episode on TV One on 20 March 2008.

Ireland
Debuted on RTÉ on 15 September 1995 and continued every Friday afternoon at 4:30 pm. In 1998, the show moved to Thursday's around 1.00am on RTE 2. In September 2001, season 5 debuted airing weekday mornings at 10:30 am on RTE 1. The 5 episode per week output meant the show quickly caught up with the Australian broadcast, and in 2004, RTÉ dropped back to single weekly episodes airing late night Thursday's, typically around 1 am. RTÉ began airing the final season on 30 May 2008 in a late night Saturday timeslot, and the final episode screened on 30 November 2008. RTÉ began re-airing Blue Heelers weekly from episode one, commencing on 24 June 2009, usually around 4 am Sunday mornings. RTÉ screened all episodes in their original unedited state. The drama proved very popular in Ireland and rated very well.

United States
Blue Heelers aired briefly in the United States of America in the early 2000s on the short-lived cable channel Trio (carried primarily by DirecTV). No episode after number 76 was ever shown in the United States, and when Trio changed their programming in 2004, Blue Heelers was dropped from the schedule. The series returned to US airwaves in September 2021 on the new digital network DigiTV, a channel devoted mainly to imported British and Australian series.

Canada
Blue Heelers was broadcast on Showcase in Canada, last airing on 15 May 1998.

United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, Blue Heelers was broadcast on most of the regional franchises of the ITV Network. At least ten out of the fourteen regional companies that formed ITV aired the first few years of the series and most initially broadcast it in the original hour-long format during the afternoon (with necessary edits to suit the time slot, usually regarding profanity). Some ITV regions edited each episode into two half-hour editions, and stripped these episodes across two or three days. This half-hour format of broadcasting Australian series was well established by ITV with A Country Practice. Very early hour-long episodes of Blue Heelers also ran unedited later in the evening, around midnight, on both Central and UTV.

Carlton Television and Westcountry Television were the first to broadcast Blue Heelers, and they began with three half-hour weekly episodes, Monday to Wednesday, 14:20-14:50, starting from 3 January 1995. Later in the year, they then switched to airing hour-long episodes, 14:20-15:20, on Mondays. Central Television were next to start in February 1995 with a late night 23.40-00:35 slot on Tuesdays, before following Carlton with the half-hour 14.20-14:50 slot on Mondays and Tuesdays from March. Central also reverted to hour long episodes in 1996, usually on Monday and Friday, 14:20-15:15, but went back down to one hourly episode per week in 1997, on Mondays, 13:50-14:45, as the gap with Australian broadcasts narrowed. By 2000, half-hour editions were being aired again, 13:30-14:00, but now on Tuesday and Wednesday, where it remained until 2002. Central were one of the most consistent ITV regions to broadcast Blue Heelers, completing series 6 by early 2002. When the three Carlton-owned ITV regions (Carlton, Westcountry and Central) started a uniform programme schedule during 2002, Blue Heelers continued to air as two half-hour episodes, and the final batch of episodes shown in these regions were from Season 7, finishing the season on Wednesday, 20 November 2002 (Australian air date: 22 November 2000).

Blue Heelers also aired on Anglia Television, Meridian Television and Channel Television, typically Mondays at 14:20-15:15. During the summer school holidays, it was broadcast daily in a morning slot, usually from 11:05, until late 1998. Granada Television and Border Television also screened the series from 1995 in the hour long format but by 1998, these regions had dropped the series. Ulster Television (UTV) began airing Blue Heelers in early 1995. The show initially screened 3 times a week, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons at 13:50-14:20. They then moved it to an hourly 14:20-15:20 slot later in the year. A few episodes also ran at 23:40 on Thursday nights, as they were considered unsuitable for daytime viewing. UTV cancelled Blue Heelers in 1998.

Scottish Television began aired hour-long episodes from 1995, airing on Fridays, and then later on Tuesdays from mid 1996, until episode 106, when the series was replaced by Murder She Wrote. The series then reappear on most Saturday afternoon during 1998 until 19 December. During 1999 From April until early August the series was broadcast at 04.30 most weekday morning before being dropped completely.

Grampian Television, HTV, Yorkshire Television, and Tyne Tees Television all chose not to purchase Blue Heelers, opting for locally made programming instead.

When the English ITV contractors reformatted as one company in late 2002, regionally-run programmes such as Blue Heelers and Shortland Street (which were at different points of the series in each region) disappeared from the schedules. No ITV region ever screened the series in full. Blue Heelers also aired on an early UK digital and cable channel, Carlton Select, in the late 1990s. Early episodes aired daily, and then in a weekly slot on Fridays at 20.00 as episodes became more recent. Episodes to the later part of the 1997 season were shown before the series was dropped, along with the entire channel shortly afterwards.

Home media overview

 * 2005–2011: Paramount Pictures released each season of Blue Heelers on DVD.
 * July 2013: The show's production company, Endemol Australia (formerly Southern Star Productions), stated there are no plans at this stage to re-release.
 * November 2015: Channel 7 said that there are still no plans to re-release Blue Heelers on DVD or Blu-ray.
 * May 2017: Via Vision Entertainment stated they would be re-releasing Blue Heelers on DVD.
 * 2017–2018: Via Vision Entertainment released four collectable box sets of Blue Heelers which featured all 510 episodes.
 * 2018: Via Vision Entertainment released Blue Heelers: The Complete Collection.
 * August 2018: 7plus (Channel 7 Streaming Service) started releasing all episodes.

Critical response
Described by critics before its launch as "A Country Practice meets Cop Shop", and as "the contemporary cousin of British cop show, Heartbeat", Blue Heelers was not anticipated by critics to become a hugely popular programme.

Viewership
It became a hit TV show soon after it began airing. During most of its broadcast, Blue Heelers was very popular in Australia, regularly attracting up to 2.5 million viewers, and up to 3.5 million viewers at its peak. Throughout the show's broadcast it continually drew a strong audience, regularly appearing among the top-rating prime time programmes on Australian television. Viewership of Blue Heelers never dropped below 1 million viewers. The episodes "Gold" and "Fool's Gold" (episodes 140 and 141), which aired during the programme's fourth season, were two of the most popular Blue Heelers episodes. Each drew 2.5 million viewers, considered a huge achievement in 1997.

Blue Heelers '  executive producer, Gus Howard believed the show's popularity was due mainly to the quality of the cast.

"Much of the success of Blue Heelers has been attributed to one of the best ensemble casts of any drama on television, with most every cast member becoming a household name... The basic vocation for the show has always been about shedding a little light on the human condition, something Australian audiences have readily identified with. The show epitomises and represents the Australian ethos in a way that truly reflects Australian life."

Much of the show's sixth season, as well as the first 10 episodes of its seventh season, were the most watched episodes of the series. These episodes focus of the death of Maggie Doyle (played by Lisa McCune). Maggie's being shot and left for dead during episode 255, "One More Day", was ranked by TV Week as the third most memorable moment of a drama series on Australian television.

Awards and nominations
In terms of awards, Blue Heelers is regarded as one of the most successful programmes on Australian television. Blue Heelers has been the recipient of many awards, including 25 Logie Awards, five of which are the prestigious Gold Logie, 3 AFI Television Awards, 3 People's Choice Awards, and 1 AWGIE Awards. Blue Heelers was nominated for a further twelve Gold Logies. Blue Heelers has also won multiple Silver Logies, including numerous Most Popular Actor, Most Popular Actress and Most Popular Programme awards, as well as many Outstanding Awards. Many Blue Heelers cast members have also presented awards at the Logies. In the 2005 50 Years 50 Shows poll, Blue Heelers was voted 37th greatest show on Australian television and ranked within the top ten dramas.

Merchandise
A CD Album titled Music From Blue Heelers was released in 1995. It included the Blue Heelers theme music, plus other songs related to the program, many of them country songs.

The first full Blue Heelers novel, Maggie's Story, was written by Roger Dunn and released in 1997 by Coronet Books. In August 1998, a second novel, Tom's Story, written by Cassandra Carter was released by Bolinda Publishing.

title: Blue Heelers


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Talk:Makoto Shinkai

MAKOTO Shinkai Interview Notes
Here are my notes from watching the interview with Makoto on ADV's Voices disc. — Chris

Influences?
Inspired by the manga, anime, and novels he read as a kid in middle school, including Dracula movies, Laputa, and the like. He decided that he wanted "to make something like that himself, definitely."

Began designing Hoshi no Koe while employed at a game company. Realized that digital hardware and software tools are now within the reach of individuals. This was around the time of DVDs and the PS2. His friends were beginning to feel excited that "maybe from now on individual production images could happen."

He thought, "there isn't a reason not to make something, right?" And around then he boldly quit the company and began to create Voices.

From about when did you start?
In 2000 he received the grand prize for Kanoujou to Kanoujou no Neko in the "DoGA CG Animation Contest." In 2000 cell phone mail was getting prevalent; around June 2000 he decided to play with that and create a story. He drew one image, the one of a girl with her cell phone in a cockpit.

He created homepage in about a year and presented it to the public little by little. The plot wouldn't progress so...

... he created KtKnN. 5min in monochrome. But Voices is 25 minutes and color, so he thought "this won't end!" He was contacted by Mangazoo and the like and they said, "Let's work together with the goal of selling it." then in May 2001 he quit.

Hoshi no Koe production was about seven months of real work.

What did you pay attention to?
Not much of a career or experience in narratives. He hadn't done a 25-minute work, so "in respect to necessity, it becomes a low-level reply, but first, anyhow, is to compete it." "This, no matter how many good cuts are in it, unless you finish the work itself, nothing will come out of it -- so that is of number one importance, and I pushed that."

He had to cut the "parts that one wants to be particular about" so the anime was actually finished.

"The operation of software, is something apart from things like that, so I think that unless the work is completed, that kind of skill cannot be obtained. There were times when I was working that I was experiencing that kind of thing. First of all, I made its competion important."

Working alone, your personality comes out 100%. It's often said that the animation industry has hard labor at its core. Manga however has more of a private feel to it. Like a novel, like a manga, like music. Those "have become a large aspect that broadens the market." Maybe Voices has significance in the history of that, because the production of anime with just a few people, or even by an individual, is now possible.

What about the future?
He'd like to create something that will remain in peoples' hearts for as long as possible. There are difficulties though... something like that will connect with me, a novelistic, well, if I go too far in that direction, it's a bit, it'll become a free for all with everything, so it'll become that any kind of work would be okay.

He'd like to concentrate as much as possible, on something that will pay him money, and not necessarily anime. It could be manga, or music, or a novel. He really admires those kind of things, say if it were music, that one could listen to in an electric train. Or manga or a novel that could be secretively read during class. Something "really intertwined with daily life." Something that even if it's only five minutes will still remain in your soul. You can "lightheartedly embrace it" and it'll remain "close to you all the time."

PS2 and DVD
" around the time of PlayStation 2 and the introduction of DVDs"

Why is this relevant? It helps to put things in context, but did he work on the PS2 or DVDs at the time? Some other reason? GunnarRene 00:40, 9 December 2006 (UTC)
 * Not that I know of. _dk 01:41, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

Unlisted Music Video
He also is credited with the animation of a music video by Hiromi Iwasaki: "Egao (The Smile)" CFLeon (talk) 20:35, 14 April 2009 (UTC)

Interview
From http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interview/2011-08-16/interview-makoto-shinkai

ANN: Hoshi o Ou Kodomo features a cat-like creature named Mimi, and your first work (1999's She and Her Cat) also predominantly featured a cat. Would you call yourself a "cat person"? Do you own any cats? MS: (chuckling) Ever since I was a child I always had cats with me. I'm from the Nagano prefecture, and while living there I had cats, and after I came to Tokyo I also picked up some strays and started raising them. So I definitely always had cats with me. If you ask whether I'm a dog-type person or a cat-type person, I never really thought about it...but I'd say I'm more of a cat-type person. ...ANN: Has your creative process changed at all since you first started developing your own works? MS: When I first debuted, I basically self-produced my works, so compared to that my current work style is totally different. It has changed a lot! ANN: Where do you stand on the balance between traditional hand-drawn animation (even fed into a computer) and computer-generated animation? MS: I definitely think that the world is definitely heading towards 3D [computer-generated] animation, whether made by Pixar or Dreamworks... maybe Disney will keep making 2D productions. But definitely, the world is going to 3D, and even in Japan there are fewer and fewer people drawing by hand. It might be unavoidable, and there might be nothing we can do about that trend, but personally I still prefer hand-drawn works. So even if the day comes that Japan doesn't make that much 2D animation, I would still like to keep doing it. ...What are your literary and film influences? MS: First of all, as in anime, I get a lot of inspiration from Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki's works. If I had to pick one specifically it would be Laputa: Castle in the Sky. For literary influences, I get a lot of inspiration from [novelist] Haruki Murakami. ...Unlike a lot of other animators today you started animating on computers rather than hand-drawn animation. What do you think of computer animation as opposed to hand-drawn animation? MS: It's been frequently said that I started working with computer animation, but in reality when I started out I drew my characters with pencil and pen and scanned them into the computer. So my method is actually the same as traditional 2D animation. But as you say, it's totally different from what companies like Pixar and Dreamworks are doing, and it's true that those are more of a trend today. I feel that if that's the direction that we're generally going, and even if traditional 2D disappears, that may be unavoidable. Personally I love the 2D style; it's what I'm more familiar with, having grown up watching it, and it's what I want to keep on drawing myself. You studied literature in college in Japan, and there is a very literary quality to your work— such as voice-over narration. Are there particular authors or film directors who inspired you? And would you ever like to work in live-action? MS: I go to see live-action films and enjoy them, but I go just as as an audience member, just to enjoy it. I'll go see movies like Batman or whatnot. But if you ask me if I'm ever inspired by a particular director, it would be Shunji Iwai. His way of using light and shadow is very inspiring. ...Your movies tend to have ambiguous endings. Is this intentional? What feeling do you want audiences to get at the end of your films? MS: Yes, as you say my past works had endings were purposely left questionable as to whether they were happy or sad endings. But that's because I wanted to have the audience think about the ending themselves. In Japan that isn't the major style of how films end, and for my films I wanted to make something unique. On the other hand, Hoshi o Ou Kodomo's ending is a little more clear compared to my past works. ...Your work typically centers around a theme of communication between humans. What draws you to this particular theme? Is there any particular aspect of humanity or society that you get inspiration from? MS: Simply put, in most of the world today people are interested in communication. They don't watch TV or play games that much; communication is becoming more of an entertainment form in itself. So when the society in which I live has this tendency that communication is so important, it has naturally become a central point of interest for my works.

--Gwern (contribs) 03:22 17 August 2011 (GMT)

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

title: Talk:Makoto Shinkai


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Wikipedia:Today's featured article/July 15, 2004

A paradox is an apparently true statement that seems to lead to a logical self-contradiction, or to a situation that contradicts common intuition. The identification of a paradox based on seemingly simple and reasonable concepts has often led to significant advances in science, philosophy and mathematics. In moral philosophy, paradox plays a particularly central role in debates on ethics, particularly in the form of ethical dilemmas. Common themes in paradoxes include direct and indirect self-reference, infinity, circular definitions, and confusion of levels of reasoning. (more...)

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Wikipedia:Today's featured article/July 14, 2004

Éire is the name given in Article 4 of the 1937 Irish constitution to the twenty-six county Irish state that was created under the 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty and which had been known between 1922 and 1937 as the Irish Free State. The name Éire is the dative form in modern Irish Gaelic of the name for the goddess Eriu, a mythical figure who aided the Gaels conquer Ireland as described in the Book of Invasions. Since 1949, the term Republic of Ireland has generally been used in preference to Éire, to clarify that the state rather than the whole island is under discussion. (more...)

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Wikipedia:Today's featured article/July 13, 2004

A vampire is a mythical or folkloric creature said to subsist on human or animal blood. Usually the vampire is the corpse of a recently dead person, reanimated or made undead by one means or another. Some cultures have myths of non-human vampires, such as demons or animals like bats, dogs, and spiders, or even plants such as vampire watermelons. Vampires are often described as having a wide variety of additional powers and character traits, extremely variable in different traditions, and are a frequent subject of folklore, cinema, and contemporary fiction. (more...)

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Expedition 1

Expedition 1 was the first long-duration stay on the International Space Station (ISS). The three-person crew stayed aboard the station for 136 days, from November 2000 to March 2001. It was the beginning of an uninterrupted human presence on the station which continues as of 2024. Expedition 2, which also had three crew members, immediately followed Expedition 1.

The official start of the expedition occurred when the crew docked to the station on 2 November 2000, aboard the Russian spacecraft Soyuz TM-31, which had launched on 31 October 2000 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. During their mission, the Expedition 1 crew activated various systems on board the station, unpacked equipment that had been delivered, and hosted three visiting Space Shuttle crews and two uncrewed Russian Progress resupply vehicles. The crew was very busy throughout the mission, which was declared a success.

The three visiting Space Shuttles brought equipment, supplies, and key components of the space station. The first of these, STS-97, docked in early December 2000, and brought the first pair of large U.S. photovoltaic arrays, which increased the station's power capabilities fivefold. The second visiting shuttle mission was STS-98, which was docked in mid-February 2001 and delivered the US$1.4 billion research module Destiny, which increased the mass of the station beyond that of Mir for the first time. Mid-March 2001 saw the final shuttle visit of the expedition, STS-102, whose main purpose was to exchange the Expedition 1 crew with the next three-person long-duration crew, Expedition 2. The expedition ended when Discovery undocked from the station on 18 March 2001.

The Expedition 1 crew consisted of an American commander and two Russians. The commander, Bill Shepherd, had been in space three times before, all on shuttle missions which lasted at most a week. The Russians, Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei K. Krikalev, both had previous long-duration spaceflights on Mir, with Krikalev having spent over a full year in space.

Crew
The commander, Bill Shepherd, was a former Navy SEAL, whose only spaceflights were on shuttle missions, and at the beginning of the mission his total time in space was about two weeks. Questions had been raised by the Russian space agency about the choice of Shepherd as mission commander due to his lack of experience. Flight engineer Sergei Krikalev had spent over a year in orbit, mostly on Mir, and would become the first person to visit the ISS twice. He had felt excitement to have been one of the first people to enter the Zarya module (the first component of the space station) in 1998, during STS-88, and was looking forward to returning. Yuri Gidzenko was designated commander and pilot of the two-day Soyuz mission to the station, had one previous spaceflight, which was a 180-day stay aboard Mir.

Shepherd was only the second U.S. astronaut to be launched in a Russian spacecraft, the first being Norman Thagard, who launched on Soyuz TM-21 to visit Mir in 1995. Shepherd expected one of the biggest challenges for the ISS would be the compatibility of technologies between Russian and U.S.

Background
The first component of the space station was the Zarya module, which was launched uncrewed in November 1998. Following this launch, and prior to Expedition 1, there were five crewed Space Shuttle flights and two uncrewed Russian flights to the ISS. Some of these flights delivered large modules, such as the pressurized Unity and Zvezda modules, and the first piece of the Integrated Truss Structure. The crewed flights were used for partial assembly of the ISS, as well as to start unpacking the supplies and equipment that were being delivered. Prior to Expedition 1, Krikalev expected the ISS to be very similar to his experience on Mir ten years previous, due to the physical similarities of the stations' components.

The launch of the Expedition 1 crew occurred a week before the United States presidential election, so it got little attention in the United States. At the time of the mission, the station was expected to be completed in 2006, and be continuously inhabited until at least 2015. Due to several delays, including the fallout from the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, the station was not completed until 2021, with the arrival of the Nauka laboratory.

Mission highlights
The crew of three were on board the International Space Station for four and a half months, from early November 2000 to mid-March 2001. Major events during this time include the three-week-long Space Shuttle visits, which occurred in early December, mid-February, and at the end of the expedition in March.

Launch and docking
The three-member Expedition 1 crew successfully launched on 31 October 2000, at 07:52 UTC, atop a Soyuz-U rocket on Soyuz TM-31 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan; they used launch pad Gagarin's Start, from which the first human to fly in space, Yuri Gagarin, was launched in 1961. After 33 orbits of the Earth, and a series of rendezvous maneuvers performed by Gidzenko, they docked the Soyuz capsule to the aft port of the Zvezda Service Module on 2 November 2000, at 09:21 UTC. Ninety minutes after docking, Shepherd opened the hatch to Zvezda and the crew members entered the complex.

Alpha

At the end of the first day on the station, Shepherd requested the use of the radio call sign "Alpha", which he and Krikalev preferred to the more cumbersome "International Space Station". The name "Alpha" had previously been used for the station in the early 90s, and following the request, its use was authorized for the whole of Expedition 1. Shepherd had been advocating the use of a new name to project managers for some time. Referencing a naval tradition in a pre-launch news conference he had said: "For thousands of years, humans have been going to sea in ships. People have designed and built these vessels, launched them with a good feeling that a name will bring good fortune to the crew and success to their voyage." Yuriy Semenov, the President of Russian Space Corporation Energia at the time, disapproved of the name "Alpha"; he felt that Mir was the first space station, and so he would have preferred the names "Beta" or "Mir 2" for the ISS.

First month
In their first weeks on board, the Expedition 1 crew members activated critical life support systems and computer control, as well as unpacked supplies left behind for them by previous supply missions. At this time the station did not have enough electricity to heat all three pressurized modules, so Unity was left unused and unheated. Unity had been used for the past two years to allow U.S. flight controllers to command ISS systems and read station system data.

The Russian uncrewed resupply spacecraft Progress M1-4 docked to the station on 18 November. The Progress spacecraft's automatic docking system failed, necessitating a manual docking controlled by Gidzenko using the TORU docking system. Although manual dockings are routine, they have caused some concern among flight controllers since an attempt in 1997 which resulted in the spacecraft colliding with Mir, causing significant damage.

The astronauts had a heavy workload in the first month, as Shepherd told reporters in a space-to-ground interview: "To me, the biggest challenge is trying to pack 30 hours into an 18-hour work day." Some of the early tasks took longer than scheduled. For example, the activation of a food warmer in Zvezda's galley was scheduled for 30 minutes, but it took the astronauts a day and a half to turn it on.

STS-97

Endeavour docked with the ISS on 2 December 2000, on mission STS-97, bringing four more Americans and a Canadian temporarily to the station. The shuttle also brought the first pair of U.S. provided photovoltaic arrays, which would provide crucial electricity for further development of the station. In total, STS-97 brought 17 tons of equipment to the ISS, which also included expandable metal girders, batteries, electronics and cooling equipment.

Three spacewalks were conducted by the crew of STS-97, all of which were completed prior to opening the hatch between shuttle and station. On 8 December, the hatch between the two was opened and the two crews greeted each other for the first time. It had remained closed to maintain their respective atmospheric pressures. The Expedition 1 crew took this opportunity to leave the station and tour the inside of the space shuttle, which was thought to be good for their psychological well-being.

Progress M1-4

Prior to Endeavour docking, the Russian resupply spacecraft Progress M1-4, which came to the station in mid-November, was undocked to make room for the space shuttle. This Progress spacecraft remained undocked for the duration of STS-97, parked in orbit about a mile away from the station. It docked manually again with the station on 26 December by Gidzenko, after Endeavour left. The automatic docking system for this Progress spacecraft had failed on the first docking in November. The crew spent much of the following week unloading the Progress spacecraft.

Christmas and New Year

On Christmas Day, the Expedition 1 crew were given the day off work. They opened presents delivered by Endeavour and the Progress supply ship. They also each took turns speaking to their families. In the following days they did several video downlinks, some with Russian TV stations. The crew had a quiet New Year. Citing a Naval tradition, for the New Year's entry of the station's log, Shepherd provided a poem on behalf of the crew.

STS-98

On 9 February 2001, Space Shuttle Atlantis docked to the ISS, bringing the five American crew members of STS-98 temporarily to the station. The mission was originally planned for mid-January, but was delayed due to NASA's concerns about some cables on the shuttles. This mission brought the U.S. built Destiny laboratory, which has a mass of 16 short tons. It was installed with the use of the shuttle's robotic Canadarm, controlled by Marsha Ivins. Astronauts Thomas D. Jones and Robert L. Curbeam helped with the installation during a spacewalk. The Destiny module had a cost of US$1.4 billion, and would be used primarily for scientific research. During the spacewalk an ammonia coolant leak created a contamination scare, which happened when Curbeam was hooking up coolant lines to Destiny. The other two spacewalks went ahead without any problems. While the Shuttle was docked, the control of the station's orientation was switched from propellants to electrically powered gyroscopes, which had been installed in September 2000. The gyroscopes had not been used earlier due to the lack of key navigational electronics.

By the end of STS-98, the crew of Expedition 1 had been on the station for over three months, and Shepherd stated that he was "ready to come home". NASA used several techniques to prevent the three crew members from suffering the effects of the "three-month wall" psychological barrier, which had caused depression in previous astronauts. For example, they allowed more time for the crew to speak to their families via videophone, and they also encouraged them to watch movies and listen to music they like.

Progress M-44

On 28 February the third Progress spacecraft to visit the ISS, Progress M-44, docked to the Zvezda module. It brought air, food, rocket fuel and other equipment. It remained docked until Expedition 2, when it was intentionally burnt up during atmospheric reentry, like all Progress spacecraft.

STS-102
Space Shuttle Discovery docked on 10 March 2001, bringing to the ISS the new long-duration three-person crew of Expedition 2, as well as four short-term crew members of STS-102. A few hours after docking, the hatch opened, and all ten astronauts greeted each other, setting a new record for the number of people simultaneously in the ISS. The day after docking, American astronauts Jim Voss and Susan Helms began a spacewalk which ended up being nearly nine hours long, and still holds the record for the longest spacewalk ever performed, as of August 2010. The length of the spacewalk was partially due to some mistakes, including Voss accidentally releasing a small tool. Unable to retrieve it, NASA engineers tracked the tool, and decided to use Discovery's thrusters on 14 March to boost the station four kilometers higher, to ensure the ISS would not collide with the piece of space debris.

Transferring expedition crews

By 14 March, the expedition crews had completed the change over, but until the shuttle undocked, Shepherd officially remained commander of the station. The morning of the 14th the astronauts' wake-up call was the song "Should I Stay or Should I Go" by The Clash, at the request of Shepherd's wife. Shepherd, a former Navy SEAL, said during the change over ceremony: "May the good will, spirit and sense of mission we had enjoyed on board endure. Sail her well." The commander of Discovery, Jim Wetherbee, said "For Captain Shepherd and his crew, we hold you in admiration as we prepare to bring you home. This has been an arduous duty for you. This ship was not built in a safe harbor. It was built on the high seas."

Undocking and landing
The crew's four and a half-month tour aboard the ISS officially ended on 18 March 2001, when Discovery undocked. The Expedition 1 crew returned home to Earth on STS-102, landing on 21 March 2001, on a rare night landing at 2:30 am local time. Two days after the landing, coincidentally, Mir was intentionally burned up during atmospheric reentry, ending its 15 years in orbit.

Daily activities
In a typical day, each crew member divided his time between physical exercise, station assembly and maintenance, experiments, communications with ground personnel, personal time, and bio-needs activities (such as rest and eating). The crew's daily schedule usually operated on UTC; for example, a typical morning had been scheduled to begin with an electronic wake-up tone at about 05:00 UTC. But during the expedition, a more typical wake-up time was actually between 06:00 and 07:00 UTC. The crew's sleep habits were sometimes shifted to accommodate the schedules of visiting shuttles or resupply vehicles.

Following the wake-up call, the crew was given some time to clean up, have breakfast, and read e-mail which had been uplinked to them from flight controllers. Their work day included a lunch break at midday (UTC), and ended with a mid-afternoon planning session with flight controllers, regarding the next day's activities. Most days ended with some entertainment, with the crew watching all or part of a movie; this was thought to be good for crew bonding as well as their psychological well-being. After watching 2010, the sequel to 2001: A Space Odyssey, Shepherd commented, "[There is] something strange about watching a movie about a space expedition when you're actually on a space expedition".

An important part of the crew's schedule was regular exercise. They had three pieces of equipment for this: a stationary bicycle, a treadmill (TVIS), and a resistance device (IRED) for weight-lifting. The bicycle malfunctioned in mid-December 2000, and wasn't fixed until March. The treadmill, which used bungee cords to keep the crew member in place, was designed to reduce the vibrations caused by running. A normal treadmill would have produced enough vibrations to shake the station, and potentially affect the sensitive science experiments on board. The treadmill malfunctioned near the end of February, but some in-flight maintenance fixed the problem within a week.

Ground communications
Until the Unity module was available for use a month into the mission, the astronauts used the Russian VHF communications gear (also called the "Regul radio link") in Zvezda and the Zarya module to communicate with the Russian Mission Control Center (known as "TsUP") in Korolev, outside Moscow. The Russian technology didn't have the use of satellites, so they were restricted to ground passes (called a "comm pass") which lasted for only 10–20 minutes. With the arrival of the solar arrays on STS-97, they activated the S-band Early Communication gear in the Unity Module, allowing for more continuous communication with Mission Control in Houston via NASA's network of Tracking and Data Relay Satellites.

During STS-106 in September 2000, the equipment for a ham radio was delivered to the station. The first 'ham' contact with the ground by the Expedition 1 crew was on 13 November 2000 on a pass over Moscow, shortly followed by contact with Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The crew reported that "Voice quality of ham radio continues to be well above any of our other links."

The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station project had the crew of the station to make brief windows to radio contact with schools and clubs on the ground. The first school to be contacted by the ISS was Luther Burbank School in southwest Chicago. The contact had been planned for 19 December 2000, but due to technical problems, it was delayed to 21 December 2000. Due to the speed of the space station, the window of radio contact only lasted for 5–10 minutes, which was usually enough for 10 to 20 questions.

Science activities
Unlike subsequent expeditions, the crew of Expedition 1 had a somewhat modest amount of science experiments to conduct, due to the priority placed on station construction. The plasma crystal experiment, known as PKE-Nefedov, was one of the first natural science experiments conducted on the space station. It was a collaboration between the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Germany, and the Institute for High Energy Densities (part of the Russian Academy of Sciences).

Like previous missions, the astronauts took many photos of Earth from the station, over 700 in total, which have been made freely available. These Crew Earth Observations, are intended to record dynamic events on the Earth's surface such as storms, fires, or volcanoes. For example, a photo of 1 January 2001 shows Mount Cleveland, Alaska, with a plume of smoke, prior to its eruption the following month. On 23 January 2001, the crew observed a unique perspective of a plume of volcanic ash coming from Popocatépetl, an active volcano 70 kilometres southeast of Mexico City.

An example of a low-maintenance experiment was the protein crystal growth experiment, which had also been flown on previous shuttle missions. The goal was to produce better protein crystallizations than those produced on the Earth, and hence allowing for a more accurate model of protein structures. Of the 23 proteins and viruses attempted during Expedition 1, only four resulted in successful crystallizations, which was a lower success rate than predicted. Of those successful was the low-calorie sweetener Thaumatin, whose crystals diffracted at a higher resolution than Earth-grown crystal, which resulted in a more accurate protein structure model.

Another research activity was measuring the crew's heart rates and the station's carbon dioxide levels to determine the effect of exercise on the station.

IMAX filming
Throughout the mission the Expedition 1 crew filmed footage for use in the IMAX documentary film, Space Station 3D. Highlights of the footage include the first entry into the Destiny module, during STS-98; the Expedition 1 crew showering and shaving in zero gravity; and the docking of STS-102, followed by the change over to the Expedition 2 crew.

title: Expedition 1


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Fuchsia (color)

Fuchsia is a vivid pinkish-purplish-red color, named after the color of the flower of the fuchsia plant, which was named by a French botanist, Charles Plumier, after the 16th-century German botanist Leonhart Fuchs.

The color fuchsia was introduced as the color of a new aniline dye called fuchsine, patented in 1859 by the French chemist François-Emmanuel Verguin. The dye was renamed magenta later in the same year, to celebrate a victory of the French army at the Battle of Magenta on 4 June 1859 near the Italian city of that name.

The first recorded use of fuchsia as a color name in English was in 1892.

In print and design
In color printing and design, there are more variations between magenta and fuchsia. Fuchsia is usually a more pinkish-purplish color, whereas magenta is more reddish. Fuchsia flowers themselves contain a wide variety of purples. Fuchsia was a very popular aesthetic for fashion during the 2000s.

Fuchsine
The first synthetic dye of the color fuchsia, called fuchsine, was patented in 1859 by François-Emmanuel Verguin. It was later renamed magenta, and became highly popular under that name.

Fuchsia (web color)

In the system of additive colors, the RGB color model used to create all the colors on a computer or television display, the colors magenta and fuchsia are exactly the same, and have the same hex number, #FF00FF. The name fuchsia is used on the HTML web color list for this color, while the name magenta is used on the X11 web color list. They are both composed the same way, by combining an equal amount of blue and red light at full brightness, as shown in the image on the left.

French fuchsia

At right is displayed the color French fuchsia, which is the tone of fuchsia called fuchsia in a color list popular in France.

Fuchsia rose
Fuchsia rose is the color that was chosen as the 2001 Pantone color of the year by Pantone.

Red-purple
Red-purple is the color that is called Rojo-Púrpura (the Spanish word for "red-purple") in the Guía de coloraciones (Guide to colorations) by Rosa Gallego and Juan Carlos Sanz, a color dictionary published in 2005 that is widely popular in the Hispanophone realm.

Although red-purple is a seldom-used color name in English, in Spanish it is regarded one of the major tones of purple.

Fuchsia purple
The color fuchsia purple is displayed at right.

The source of this color is the "Pantone Textile Paper eXtended (TPX)" color list, color #18-2436 TPX—Fuchsia Purple.

Deep fuchsia
Deep fuchsia is the color that is called fuchsia in the List of Crayola crayon colors.

Fandango
Displayed at right is the color fandango. The first recorded use of fandango as a color name in English was in 1925.

Antique fuchsia
Displayed at right is the color antique fuchsia.

The first recorded use of antique fuchsia as a color name in English was in 1928.

The source of this color is the Plochere Color System, a color system formulated in 1948 that is widely used by interior designers.

Crayola color fuchsia
In 1949, the color names of Crayola crayons were reformed and became more scientific, more of the names of the colors of the crayons being based on the names of colors in the original 1930 edition of the Dictionary of Color and the color names of the Munsell color system. Crayola crayons set up a color naming system similar to that used in the Munsell Color Wheel, except that violet instead of purple was used as the secondary color on the color wheel between red and blue. The web color fuchsia is equivalent to the pure chroma on Munsell Color Wheel of the Munsell color system that is designated as "5RP" (reddish purple) i.e., a purple that is shaded toward red (the color we can achieve today with computers is a much more saturated pure color wheel chroma hue than the original color chip shown on the Munsell color wheel diagram in the Munsell color system article). In 1972, a new Crayola crayon color was introduced called hot magenta which is the closest equivalent to the web color fuchsia in Crayola crayons. (See List of Crayola crayon colors.)

The color shown in the color box above is the color "fuchsia" in A Dictionary of Color. That is why the name fuchsia was chosen as the equivalent to one of the three secondary additive primary colors, electric magenta, because A Dictionary of Color was the primary reference on color names (besides the Munsell Book of Color) before the introduction of personal computers. The color shown above is somewhat brighter than most actual flowers of the fuchsia plant. The color shown as magenta in A Dictionary of Color is a somewhat different color than the color shown in that book as fuchsia—it is the original color magenta now called rich magenta or magenta (dye) (see the article on magenta for a color box displaying a sample of this original magenta).

title: Fuchsia (color)


text: Template:Constitution of the United States


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Wikipedia:Today's featured article/July 12, 2004

City status in the United Kingdom is granted by the British Monarch to a select group of communities. The status does not apply automatically on the basis of any particular criteria, although it was traditionally given to towns with diocesan cathedrals. Normally, city status is conferred by Royal Charters, but there are some British cities which predate the historical monarchy and have been regarded as cities since "time immemorial." There are currently sixty-six officially designated cities in the UK, of which eight have been created since 2000 in competitions to celebrate the new millennium and the Queen's Golden Jubilee. (more...)

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Wikipedia:Today's featured article/July 11, 2004

The saxophone is a musical instrument of the woodwind family, usually made of brass and with a distinctive loop bringing the bell upwards. It was invented by Adolphe Sax in the mid-1840s. The saxophone is most commonly associated with popular music, big band music, and jazz, but it was originally intended as both an orchestral and military band instrument. The inspiration for the instrument is unknown, but there is good evidence that fitting a clarinet mouthpiece to an ophicleide is the most likely origin. The majority of saxophones produced today are made from brass. However, several manufacturers offer additional coatings that can be applied over the brass, such as silver, gold, nickel and lacquer. (more...)

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Wikipedia:Today's featured article/July 10, 2004

Weather lore is the body of informal folklore related to the prediction of the weather. Prior to the invention of the mercury barometer, it was very difficult to gather numerical data of any predictive value. Even though there were devices such as the weather stick which gave some indication of moisture changes, the only instrument of any reliability was human experience. Oral and written history is full of rhymes, anecdotes and adages meant to guide the uncertain in determining whether the morrow will bring weather fair or foul. For the farmer wanting to plant his crop or the merchant about to send his ships on trade, foreknowledge of tomorrow's circumstances might mean the difference between success and failure. (more...)

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Wikipedia:Today's featured article/July 9, 2004

The separation of powers, in the United States Constitution, is a doctrine whereby the legislative, executive and judicial branches are kept distinct in the hope of precluding each of them from abusing power. The phrase itself never appears in the United States Constitution, but is clearly implied by the structure of the Constitution. The Constitution, however, does provide for limited interference by each branch in the affairs of another. This system, called checks and balances, is designed to prevent any one branch from becoming too powerful or abusive of power. (more...)

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Wikipedia:Today's featured article/July 8, 2004

Mark Antony was a Roman politician and general. He was an important supporter of Julius Caesar as a military commander and administrator. When Caesar became dictator, Antonius was made master of the horse — the second most important political office — and in this condition he remained in Italy in 47 BC, while Caesar was fighting the last Pompeians, hidden in the African provinces. After Caesar's assassination, Antonius allied with Octavian and Lepidus. The second triumvirate ended in 33 BC, and he later committed suicide a few days before Cleopatra did. (more...)

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Monel

Monel is a group of alloys of nickel (from 52 to 67%) and copper, with small amounts of iron, manganese, carbon, and silicon. Monel is not a cupronickel alloy because it has less than 60% copper.

Stronger than pure nickel, Monel alloys are resistant to corrosion by many aggressive agents, including rapidly flowing seawater. They can be fabricated readily by hot- and cold-working, machining, and welding.

Monel was created in 1905 by Robert Crooks Stanley, who at the time worked at the International Nickel Company (Inco). Monel was named after company president Ambrose Monell, and patented in 1906. One L was dropped, because family names were not allowed as trademarks at that time. The trademark was registered in May 1921, and the name is now a trademark of Special Metals Corporation.

As an expensive alloy, its use is limited to those applications where it cannot be replaced with cheaper alternatives. For example, in 2015 Monel piping was three times more expensive than the equivalent piping made from carbon steel.

Properties
Monel is a solid-solution binary alloy. As nickel and copper are mutually soluble in all proportions, it is a single-phase alloy. Compared to steel, Monel is very difficult to machine as it work-hardens very quickly. It needs to be turned and worked at slow speeds and low feed rates. It is resistant to corrosion and acids, and some alloys can withstand a fire in pure oxygen. It is commonly used in applications with highly corrosive conditions. Small additions of aluminium and titanium form an alloy (K-500) with the same corrosion resistance but with much greater strength due to gamma prime formation on aging. Monel is typically much more expensive than stainless steel.

Monel alloy 400 has a specific gravity of 8.80, a melting range of 1300–1350 °C, an electrical conductivity of approximately 34% IACS, and (in the annealed state) a hardness of 65 Rockwell B. Monel alloy 400 is notable for its toughness, which is maintained over a considerable range of temperatures.

Monel alloy 400 has excellent mechanical properties at subzero temperatures. Strength and hardness increase with only slight impairment of ductility or impact resistance. The alloy does not undergo a ductile-to-brittle transition even when cooled to the temperature of liquid hydrogen. This is in marked contrast to many ferrous materials which are brittle at low temperatures despite their increased strength.

Aerospace applications
In the 1960s, Monel metal found bulk uses in aircraft construction, especially in making the frames and skins of experimental rocket planes, such as the North American X-15, to resist the great heat generated by aerodynamic friction during extremely high speed flight. Monel metal retains its strength at very high temperatures, allowing it to maintain its shape at high atmospheric flight speeds, a trade-off against the increased weight of the parts due to Monel's high density.

Monel is used for safety wiring in aircraft maintenance to ensure that fasteners cannot come undone, usually in high-temperature areas; stainless wire is used in other areas for economy. In addition some fasteners used are made from the alloy.

Oil production and refining
Monel is used in the section of alkylation units in direct contact with concentrated hydrofluoric acid. Monel offers exceptional resistance to hydrofluoric acid in all concentrations up to the boiling point. It is perhaps the most resistant of all commonly used engineering alloys. The alloy is also resistant to many forms of sulfuric and hydrochloric acids under reducing conditions.

Marine applications
Monel's corrosion resistance makes it ideal in applications such as piping systems, pump shafts, seawater valves, trolling wire, and strainer baskets. Some alloys are completely non-magnetic and are used for anchor cable aboard minesweepers or in housings for magnetic-field measurement equipment. In recreational boating, Monel is used for wire to seize shackles for anchor ropes, for water and fuel tanks, and for underwater applications. It is also used for propeller shafts and for keel bolts. On the popular Hobiecat sailboats, Monel rivets are used where strength is needed but stainless steel cannot be used due to corrosion that would result from stainless steel being in contact with the aluminum mast, boom, and frame of the boat in a saltwater environment.

Because of the problem of electrolytic action in salt water (also known as Galvanic corrosion), in shipbuilding Monel must be carefully insulated from other metals such as steel. The New York Times on August 12, 1915 published an article about a 215-foot yacht, "the first ship that has ever been built with an entirely Monel hull," that "went to pieces" in just six weeks and had to be scrapped, "on account of the disintegration of her bottom by electrical action." The yacht's steel skeleton deteriorated due to electrolytic interaction with the Monel.

In seabird research, and bird banding or ringing in particular, Monel has been used to make bird bands or rings for many species, such as albatrosses, that live in a corrosive sea water environment.

Musical instruments
Monel is used as the material for valve pistons or rotors in some higher-quality musical instruments such as trumpets, tubas and French horns. RotoSound introduced the use of Monel for electric bass strings in 1962, and these strings have been used by numerous artists, including Steve Harris of Iron Maiden, The Who, Sting, John Deacon, John Paul Jones and the late Chris Squire. Monel was in use in the early 1930s by other musical string manufacturers, such as Gibson Guitar Corporation, who continue to offer them for mandolin as the Sam Bush signature set. Also, C.F. Martin & Co. uses Monel for their Martin Retro acoustic guitar strings. The Pyramid string factory (Germany) produces 'Monel classics' electric guitar strings, wound on a round core. In 2017, D'Addario string company released a line of violin strings using a Monel winding on the D and G string.

Other
Good resistance against corrosion by acids and oxygen makes Monel a good material for the chemical industry. Even corrosive fluorides can be handled within Monel apparatus; this was done in an extensive way in the enrichment of uranium in the Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant. Here most of the larger-diameter tubing for the uranium hexafluoride was made from Monel. Regulators for reactive cylinder gases like hydrogen chloride form another example, where PTFE is not a suitable option when high delivery pressures are required. These will sometimes include a Monel manifold and taps prior to the regulator that allow the regulator to be flushed with a dry, inert gas after use to further protect the equipment.

In the early 20th century, when steam power was widely used, Monel was advertised as being desirable for use in superheated steam systems. During the world wars, Monel was used for US military dog tags.

Monel is often used for kitchen sinks and in the frames of eyeglasses. It has also been used for firebox stays in fire-tube boilers.

Parts of the Clock of the Long Now, which is intended to run for 10,000 years, are made from Monel because of the corrosion resistance without the use of precious metals.

Monel was used for much of the exposed metal used in the interior of the Bryn Athyn Cathedral in Pennsylvania, religious seat of the General Church of the New Jerusalem. This included large decorative screens, doorknobs, etc. Monel also has been used as roofing material in buildings such as the original Pennsylvania Station in New York City.

The 1991–1996 Acura (Honda) NSX came with a key made of Monel.

Oilfield applications include using Monel drill collars. Instruments which measure the Earth's magnetic field to obtain a direction are placed in a non-magnetic collar which isolates them from the magnetic pull of drilling tools located above and below the non-magnetic collars. Monel is now rarely used, usually replaced by non-magnetic stainless steels.

Monel is also used as a protective binding material on the outside of western style stirrups.

Monel is used by Arrow Fastener Co., Inc. for rustproof T50 staples.

Monel has also been used in Kelvinator refrigerators.

Monel was used in the Baby Alice Thumb Guard, a 1930s-era anti-thumb-sucking device.

Monel is used in motion picture film processing. Monel staple splices are ideal for resisting corrosion from use in continuous-run photochemical tanks.

Monel was latterly widely used to manufacture firebox stays in steam locomotive boilers.

Alloys
Monel is often traded under the ISO standards 6208 (plate, sheet and strip) 9723 (bars) 9724 (wire) 9725 (forgings) and the DIN 17751 (pipes and tubes).

Monel 400
Monel 400 shows high strength and excellent corrosion resistance in a range of acidic and alkaline environments and is especially suitable for reducing conditions. It also has good ductility and thermal conductivity. Monel 400 typically finds application in marine engineering, chemical and hydrocarbon processing, heat exchangers, valves, and pumps. It is covered by the following standards: BS 3075, 3076 NA 13, DTD 204B and ASTM B164.

Large use of Monel 400 is made in alkylation units, namely in the reacting section in contact with concentrated hydrofluoric acid.

Monel 401
This alloy is designed for use in specialized electric and electronic applications. Alloy 401 is readily autogenously welded by the gas-tungsten-arc process. Resistance welding is a very satisfactory method for joining the material. It also exhibits good brazing characteristics. It is covered by standard UNS N04401.

Monel 404
Monel 404 alloy is used primarily in specialized electrical and electronic applications. The composition of Monel 404 is carefully adjusted to provide a very low Curie temperature, low permeability, and good brazing characteristics.

Monel 404 can be welded using common welding techniques and forged but cannot be hot worked. Cold working may be done using standard tooling and soft die materials for better finish. It is covered by standards UNS N04404 and ASTM F96. Monel 404 is used in capsules for transistors and ceramic to metal seals and other things.

Monel 405
Monel alloy 405, also known as Monel R405, is the free-machining grade of alloy 400. The nickel, carbon, manganese, iron, silicon & copper percent remains the same as alloy 400, but the sulfur is increased from 0.024 max to 0.025-0.060%. Alloy 405 is used chiefly for automatic screw machine stock and is not generally recommended for other applications. The nickel–copper sulfides resulting from the sulfur in its composition act as chip breakers, but because of these inclusions the surface finish of the alloy is not as smooth as that of alloy 400. Monel 405 is designated UNS N04405 and is covered by ASME SB-164, ASTM B-164, Federal QQ-N-281, SAE AMS 4674 & 7234, Military MIL-N-894, and NACE MR-01-75.

Monel 450
This alloy exhibits good fatigue strength and has relatively high thermal conductivity. It is used for seawater condensers, condenser plates, distiller tubes, evaporator and heat exchanger tubes, and saltwater piping.

Monel K-500
Monel K-500 combines the excellent corrosion resistance characteristic of Monel alloy 400 with the added advantages of greater strength and hardness. The increased properties are obtained by adding aluminum and titanium to the nickel–copper base, and by heating under controlled conditions so that submicroscopic particles of Ni3 (Ti, Al) are precipitated throughout the matrix.

The corrosion resistance of Monel alloy K-500 is substantially equivalent to that of alloy 400 except that, when in the age-hardened condition, alloy K-500 has a greater tendency toward stress-corrosion cracking in some environments. Monel alloy K-500 has been found to be resistant to a sour-gas environment. The combination of very low corrosion rates in high-velocity sea water and high strength make alloy K-500 particularly suitable for shafts of centrifugal pumps in marine service. In stagnant or slow-moving sea water, fouling may occur followed by pitting, but this pitting slows down after a fairly rapid initial attack.

Typical applications for alloy K-500 are pump shafts and impellers, doctor blades and scrapers, and oil-well drill collars, instruments, and electronic components.

Monel 502
Monel 502 is a nickel–copper alloy and its UNS no is N05502. This grade also has good creep and oxidation resistance. Monel 502 can be formed in different shapes. Monel 502 can be machined similar to austenitic stainless steels.

title: Monel


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List of rulers of the Akan state of Dwaben

List of rulers of the Akan state of Dwaben (Juaben)


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Wikipedia:Today's featured article/July 7, 2004

Analogue disc record is a term for what is commonly called a gramophone record in British English or a phonograph record in American English. Analogue disc recording was the main technology used for storing recorded sound in the 20th century. An analogue disc record is a flat disc with inscribed spiral grooves, in which the playback process begins with the direct mechanical motion of a stylus riding within the groove as the disc rotates. The record spins at a certain fixed speed, while the needle is held on a mobile arm, which gradually moves toward the centre of the record as it follows the spiral. Since the late 1910s, both sides of the record have usually been used for playing surfaces. By the early 1990s digital media such as the compact disc surpassed the analogue disc in popularity, but analogue discs continue to be made (in limited quantities) into the 21st century. (more...)

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Wikipedia:Today's featured article/July 6, 2004

Sir Ian McKellen is a highly acclaimed British actor on both stage and screen, regarded by many as the greatest living British actor. His roles have spanned genres from serious Shakespearean and modern theatre to popular action movies. He is also well known as a campaigner for gay rights. His breakthrough role for mainstream American audiences came with the modestly-acclaimed Apt Pupil, based on a story by Stephen King. Since then, McKellen has become a major star in the U.S., playing Magneto in X-Men and its sequel X2, and Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, a role for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. (more...)

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Wikipedia:Today's featured article/July 5, 2004

100px|none|Historic upper-quadrant BNSF wigwags in Point Richmond, California.

Wigwag is the nickname given to a type of early 20th century railroad grade crossing signal, so named due to the pendulum-like motion it used to signal the approach of a train. It is generally credited to Albert Hunt, a mechanical engineer at Southern California's Pacific Electric interurban railroad who invented it in 1909 out of the necessity for a safer railroad grade crossing. Today, a surprisingly large number of these simple, rugged signals remain in place more than six decades after their use in new installations was outlawed, though that number is rapidly dwindling as crossings are upgraded and spare parts become ever more scarce. (more...)

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List of giant sequoia groves

This is a list of giant sequoia groves. All naturally occurring giant sequoia groves are located in the moist, unglaciated ridges and valleys of the western slope of the Sierra Nevada range in California, United States. They can be found at elevations between 1400 and 2400 m.

While many groves are within national park boundaries, such as Sequoia National Park and Yosemite National Park, most of the giant sequoia groves are under the care of the United States Forest Service, placing them outside the legislative mandate that excludes commercial timber harvest. Logging of non-sequoia timber continued as recently as the 1980, especially old-growth ponderosa and sugar pine, which have been logged almost to extinction amongst the groves.

Groves in the northern half of the range (north of the Kings River) are widely scattered and host smaller collections of giant sequoias than groves found within and south of the Kings River watershed. The total area of all the groves combined is approximately 14,416 ha. The groves are listed from north to south in the list below.

This list is based on five different sources, with slightly varying views on what constitutes a discrete grove; the differing interpretations are noted in italics. The lists of groves were compiled by Rundel (1972; recognizing 75 groves), Flint (1987; recognizing 65 groves), Willard (1994; recognizing 65 groves), the Giant Sequoia National Monument Visitor's Guide (2003), and the Draft Giant Sequoia National Monument Plan 2010. Currently, the U.S. National Park Service cites Rundel's total of 75 groves in its visitor publications. The updated lists from Willard and Flint are now known to be more accurate, therefore some of Rundel's 75 groves have been removed from this list. Below compiles a list of 81 giant sequoia groves.

North of the Kings River
The 7 groves north of the Kings River watershed are in Tahoe National Forest, Calaveras Big Trees State Park, Yosemite National Park, or Sierra National Forest (listed north to south):

Kings River watershed
The 18 groves in the Kings River watershed are in Kings Canyon National Park, the northern section of Giant Sequoia National Monument, or Sequoia National Forest, in southern Fresno County and northern Tulare County (listed north to south):

Kaweah River watershed
The 31 groves in the Kaweah River watershed are all in Sequoia National Park or in mixed BLM and private ownership, except the northernmost in Sequoia National Forest & Kings Canyon National Park (listed north to south):

Tule River, Kern River, and Deer Creek watersheds
The 25 groves in the Tule River, Kern River, and Deer Creek watersheds are mostly in Giant Sequoia National Monument, with some areas in Sequoia National Park, Mountain Home Demonstration State Forest, and Tule River Reservation; all are in southern Tulare County (listed north to south):

title: List of giant sequoia groves


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Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Child maltreatment

Already covered in an existing article. Claims to be a superset of child abuse to include neglect. However, the first sentence of Child abuse clearly indicates neglect is considered abuse in and of itself. SWAdair | Talk 07:32, 6 Aug 2004 (UTC)
 * Redirect child abuse. -Sean Curtin 08:05, 6 Aug 2004 (UTC)
 * Redirect Cutler 10:08, Aug 6, 2004 (UTC)
 * Redirect. It's too bad, really, because "maltreatment" should be the master term.  Alas, it isn't. Geogre 13:44, 6 Aug 2004 (UTC)


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Pannonian Sea

The Pannonian Sea was a shallow ancient sea, where the Pannonian Basin in Central Europe is now. During its history it lost its connections with the neighbouring seas and became a lake. The Pannonian Sea existed from about 10 Ma (million years ago) until 1 Ma, during the Miocene and Pliocene epochs, when marine sediments were deposited to a depth of 3-4 km in the Pannonian Basin.

History
The Pannonian Sea, for most of its history, was part of the Paratethys Sea, until about 10 million years ago, when a Miocene uplift of the Carpathian Mountains isolated the sea from the rest of Paratethys.

During its first historical phase, the Pannonian Sea had a western connection with the Mediterranean Sea through the territories of the modern Ligurian Sea, Bavaria, and Vienna Basin. Through the Đerdap Strait, the Pannonian Sea was linked to the Paratethys in the Wallachian-Pontic Basin. The Pannonian Sea was also attached to the Aegean Sea through the modern Preševo Valley.

The Pannonian Sea existed for about 9 million years. Throughout its diverse history the salinity of the sea often shifted. The decrease of salinity resulted in endemic fauna. Eventually, the sea lost its connection to the Paratethys and became a lake permanently (Pannonian Lake). Its last remnant, the Slavonian Lake, dried up in the Pleistocene epoch. The remnants of the former islands of the Pannonian Sea are the modern Pannonian island mountains (Mecsek, Papuk, Psunj, Krndija, Dilj, Fruška Gora, and Vršac Mountains). Despite their location, Lake Balaton and Lake Neusiedl, which appeared during the last 20,000 years, have no relation to the ancient sea.

title: Pannonian Sea


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Wikipedia:Today's featured article/July 4, 2004

The Olympic Flame is a symbol of the Olympic Games. Its origins lie in ancient Greece, when a fire was kept burning throughout the celebration of the ancient Olympics. The fire was reintroduced at the Olympics in 1928, and it has been part of the modern Olympic Games ever since. The Olympic Flame is nowadays ignited several months before the opening celebration of the Olympic Games at the site of the ancient Olympics, Olympia, Greece. Eleven priestesses (played by actresses) light the fire with a parabolic mirror which concentrates rays from the Sun. The torch is then transported to the host city of the upcoming Olympics by means of a torch relay. Traditionally, the fire is carried on foot, but other means of transportation have been used as well. (more...)

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Wikipedia:Today's featured article/July 3, 2004

The Eureka Stockade was a miners' revolt in 1854 in Victoria, Australia, against the officials supervising the gold-mining regions of Ballarat. The roots of the Eureka Stockade uprising lay in the inability of a fledgling colonial government to cope with the new demographics of the colony. It is to Australian history what the storming of the Bastille is to French history and the Battle of the Alamo is to American history. Although the revolt failed, it was a watershed event in Australian politics, and is often characterised as the nation's "Birth of Democracy". (more...)

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Wikipedia:Today's featured article/July 2, 2004

The GNU/Linux naming controversy is a conflict over what the operating system commonly called "Linux" should be named. The Free Software Foundation promotes the term "GNU/Linux", while most people simply use the term "Linux" for the whole system. The main argument for GNU/Linux is that the Linux kernel was only the final small part of an otherwise complete system, GNU, written and assembled over many years with the explicit goal of creating an integrated free operating system. On the other hand, Linux is the most widespread name, and most people therefore simply adopt this usage. (more...)

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