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Black Moon

Black Moon may refer to:

 * Black moon, one of four astronomical events involving new or dark moons
 * Black Moon (person) (c. 1821–1893), Lakota (American Indian) headman
 * Black Moon or Lilith (fictitious moon), a supposed second, invisible moon of Earth

Music

 * Black Moon (group), a hip-hop group from Brooklyn
 * Blackmoon, alias of Swedish metal guitarist David Parland
 * Black Moon (album), a 1992 album by Emerson, Lake & Palmer, as well as its title track
 * "Black Moon", a song by Black Sabbath from Headless Cross
 * "Black Moon", a track on Deftones album B-Sides & Rarities
 * "Black Moon", a song by The Lacs

Visual arts

 * Black Moon (1934 film), a 1934 film, starring Fay Wray
 * Black Moon (1975 film), a surreal film from 1975, directed by Louis Malle
 * Black Moon (car), a fictional car from the 1986 action film Black Moon Rising
 * Black Moon Chronicles, a French fantasy comic book series
 * Black Moon Clan, a group of villains in the Sailor Moon franchise

title: Black Moon


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Talk:AMI

I recommend making this page a disambiguation page, and moving Alternate Mark Inversion to a new entry. Dataphile 03:47, Aug 4, 2004 (UTC)

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

title: Talk:AMI


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Talk:Horyuji temple

Moved to Horyu-ji. More Wikipedia pages linked there. Consistent with other temples. Keep redirect to help users from Google.

 * Since ji means temple "Horyu-ji Temple" is like saying "Fujiyama Mountain."

True. I suppose this is the same problem as HIV Virus, which means HI-virus virus. Unfortunately, quick googling suggests Horyuji temple is far commoner than Horyu temple. It's silly but I can't help. -- Taku 03:48, Aug 4, 2004 (UTC)

 * en: I wonder why you had not 'move'd the article. 'History' was broken off. Will somone please join Histories between "Horyuji temple" and "Horyu-ji"?.
 * ja: 何故、記事を(コピー&ペーストではなく)"移動"しなかったのか、疑問に思います. 履歴が途切れてしまいました. どなたか、"Horyuji temple"と"Horyu-ji"の履歴を統合して下さい.
 * Wandering perfect fool 21:31, 24 Aug 2004 (UTC) (Plese excuse my poor English.)

title: Talk:Horyuji temple


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Black moon

Black moon is a name recently (2016) given to various new moons or absences of them, within a year. It is not a term used in astronomy and there is no single accepted definition of it. Among the meanings ascribed to it are these: a second new moon that appears in the same month; the third new moon in an astronomical season with four new moons; the absence of a new moon in February; or the absence of a full moon in February.

Month with two new moons
One use of the term is for the occurrence of a second new moon in a calendar month. This is analogous to the by-month definition of a blue moon as the second full moon in a month. February is too short for a second new moon to occur. This event occurs about every 29 months.

The assignment of a calendar date to a new moon, and in which month a second new moon occurs, depends on the time zone. For example, the new moon of 2016-10-01T00:11 UTC occurs on 1 October for Europe, Asia and Oceania, making it the first of two new moons in October. However, for the Americas the date is still 30 September, making this the second new moon of September.

Calculated in UTC, instances of a second new moon in a calendar month between 2010 and 2020 are:

 * 2011-07-30
 * 2014-01-30
 * 2014-03-30
 * 2016-10-30
 * 2019-08-30

Season with four new moons
Another use of the term is for the third new moon in a season that has four new moons. This is analogous to the Farmers' Almanac definition of a blue moon as the third full moon in a season with four full moons. A season lasts about three months and usually has three new moons. This event occurs about every 33 months.

There is no dependency on time zones in this definition as the seasons are tied to the winter solstice. Instances of four new moons in a season are:

 * 2012-05-20
 * 2015-02-18
 * 2017-08-21
 * 2020-05-22 or 2020-08-19. This depends on the exact definition of the seasons: If northern summer is deemed to begin at the June solstice then the 2020-06-21 new moon occurs in northern summer. If the seasons are defined in quarter tropical years from the December solstice then the 2020-06-21 new moon occurs in northern spring.

Month without full moon
Another use of the term is for the absence of the full moon from a calendar month. This can occur only in February; it happens about every 19 years. When February is without full moon, then the preceding January or December and the following March or April have two full moons.

As with the case of two new moons in a month, whether a black moon by this definition occurs depends on the time zone. Calculated in UTC, instances of a month without full moon between 1990 and 2040 are:

 * February 1999
 * February 2018
 * February 2037

Month without new moon
Another use of the term is for the absence of the new moon in a calendar month. This can occur only in February; it happens about every 19 years. When February is without new moon, then the preceding January or December and the following March or April have two new moons.

As with the case of two new moons in a month, whether a black moon by this definition occurs depends on the time zone. Calculated in UTC, instances of a month without new moon between 1990 and 2040 are:
 * February 1995
 * February 2014

 * February 2033

Paganism
In some aspects of paganism, particularly amongst Wiccans, the black moon is considered to be a special time when any rituals, spells, or other workings are considered to be more powerful and effective. Others believe rituals or workings should not be conducted at these times.

Criticism of terminology

 * The term black moon is not formally established in astronomy and is used at best in the popularization of astronomy.
 * There is no single definition of the term black moon.
 * The new moon itself cannot be observed.
 * The lack of a new or full moon in February can only be assigned to the month, not to any particular date; as such, this is also not observable.
 * The event of a black moon is an artefact of how the Gregorian calendar or the seasons map onto lunations. There is no physical or geometric difference between a black moon and other instances of a new moon.

title: Black moon


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Wet moon

A wet moon (also called a Cheshire moon) is the visual phenomenon when the "horns" of the crescent Moon point up at an angle, away from the horizon, so that the crescent takes on the appearance of a bowl or smile. A wet moon occurs when the crescent Moon is low above the horizon and at a point more or less directly above the Sun's (invisible) position below the horizon. This in turn is determined by the positions of the Moon and Earth in their respective orbits, the inclinations of these orbits relative to one another and to Earth's celestial equator, and the observer's latitude on Earth. Wet moons occur routinely in the tropics (where the Sun and Moon rise and set nearly vertically), but rarely in the polar regions (where the Sun and Moon rise and set at a glancing angle or not at all).

By contrast, a dry moon is one where the crescent of the moon is at any other angle.

Name
The terms wet moon and dry moon originate from Hawaiian mythology, where it was thought that the Moon appeared as a bowl that would fill up with rainwater. The period when this is most common, January 20 to February 18, corresponds with Kaelo the Water Bearer in Hawaiian astrology and makes the Moon known as the "dripping wet moon". As summer comes, the crescent shape shifts, pouring out the water and causing the summer rains. After the "bowl" empties, it dries out and rights itself, creating the "dry moon". However, others say that this is a wet moon because it permitted the water to pour out.

The term Cheshire moon is a reference to the smile of the Cheshire Cat from Lewis Carroll's novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Explanation
The annual path that the Sun appears to follow against the background of relatively fixed stars is known as the ecliptic. Since the Moon's orbit is inclined 5.14° to the ecliptic, the Moon will always remain within about 5° north or south of the ecliptic. For half of a sidereal month (with respect to the stars), the Moon is either north or south of the ecliptic. The two points where the Moon's orbit intersects that of Earth are called the lunar nodes; at the ascending node, the Moon moves north of the ecliptic, while at the descending node, it moves south. Eclipses occur at these points, hence the name ecliptic. The nodes precess around the ecliptic axis at the rate of one circuit every 18.6 years. The ecliptic makes the steepest angle to the horizon at the equinoxes. Since the crescent Moon appears near the Sun, the crescent would appear to lie on its back when low above the horizon around the equinoxes.

title: Wet moon


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User:Pmcm

Images
I sometimes spend a bit of time making or fixing images for articles. These are made using OmniGraffle. Some of the images I've worked on are listed below. If there are any you'd like me to attend to, please drop a note on my talk page and I'll look into it.

Creations

 * Image:Dunnet head map.png
 * Image:Seatbelt.png

Cleanups/improvements
Most often changing a highly pixelated diagram into a nicer anti-aliased one. Some improvements are more complicated.

 * Image:Waspcycle.png
 * Image:Rorqual phylogenetic tree.PNG
 * Image:Interactions of Five Chinese Elements.png

title: User:Pmcm


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Wan Ok Phansa

Wan Ok Phansa (วันออกพรรษา, ; literally "day of going out of Vassa", ออก in Thai meaning exit or leave) is the last day of the Thai-Lao observance of Vassa. It occurs in October, three lunar months after the beginning of Vassa, known as Wan Khao Phansa (วันเข้าพรรษา).

The day is celebrated in the Isan province by illuminated boat processions (ไหลเรือไฟ lai ruea fai, lai huea fai ), notably in Nakhon Phanom Province on the Mekong and in Ubon Ratchathani city on the Mun River.

The main ceremonies feature boats of 8–10 metres in length, formerly made of banana wood or bamboo but now sometimes of other materials. The boats are filled with offerings such as khao tom (glutinous rice sweets wrapped in banana leaves) and decorated on the outside with flowers, candles and lamps. The boats are launched in the evening.

Additionally, some celebrants individually launch their own, smaller, vessels. Boat races also take place around this time in many places throughout the country as a way to please the Nāga spirits. Along the Mekong River, people launch little hot air balloons, acting as lanterns, around the night of Wan Ok Phansa.

Launching the boats (or the lanterns) symbolizes one's wishes but also getting rid of unnecessary negative feelings.

Etymology
"Wan" (วัน) means "day", "Ok" (ออก) means "to exit; to leave", and Phansa (พรรษา) is the Thai word for Vassa.

title: Wan Ok Phansa


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Crescent moon

Crescent moon may refer to:

Lunar phases

 * Fingernail moon, a lunar phase waxing until 7 days after or waning since 7 days before the new moon
 * Hilal (crescent moon), an Arabic term for the very slight crescent moon that is first visible after a new moon

Arts, entertainment, and media

 * Crescent Moon (comics), a fictional DC comics character
 * Crescent Moon (manga), the English title of the shōjo manga Mikan no Tsuki
 * "Crescent Moon" (song), Mika Nakashima's 2nd single
 * "Crescent Moon" (The Avengers), an episode of the television series The Avengers
 * Crescent Moon Darnel, nicknamed Cress, a character in The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer
 * The Crescent Moon, a 1913 collection of poetry by Rabindranath Tagore
 * The crescent moon featured in the logo for the English dub of Sailor Moon.

Other uses

 * Anjaneyasana, or crescent moon, an asana (body position) in yoga
 * Crescent Moon Society, a Chinese former literary society

title: Crescent moon


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Talk:DES supplementary material

Origin of data
The data in this article was derived from an HTML version of FIPS 46-2 (a PD document). Presuming it to be correct, I haven't double-checked it against another source. — Matt 04:06, 4 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Wow... If/when wikireader cryptography gets printed out, the picture of the initial permutation gets my vote for the cover page :) Arvindn 07:29, 4 Aug 2004 (UTC)

how to get vector graphics
For the graphs used in this article it's supposed to use vecor graphics rather than raster images as currently used. I hacked a small perl script that creates a simple dot file to draw those graphs with graphviz. It doesn't look as nice as the original images so some graphviz hacker might need to tune it. I'm none tough, just getting an eye for what's possible with graphviz :)

So here it is:

You probably wanna call it like this:

Where the tabular data is pasted into the file des.raw —Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.72.196.187 (talk) 19:28, 5 February 2008 (UTC)

Little or Big Endian?
Am I right to assume that the bits and bytes in this articles are supposed to be generally little endian? That is for example in the "Permuted Choice 1" section that the left half is less significiant than the right and that the 57th - that is 8th most signifiant - bit of the original 64 bit code block is to become the least signifiant bit in the left half? Could anyone clarify that? --77.178.223.118 (talk) 18:55, 13 April 2008 (UTC)

And if so, does that mean you'd have to use the right shift operator ">>" to implement the left rotations for the key schedule in a C like language (since a single left shift in C is multiplying the number with two, but meant is dividing the number by two and pushing the lost bit back in)? --77.178.223.118 (talk) 19:19, 13 April 2008 (UTC)

Alright, I managed to answer that myself. According to the referenced document http://www.aci.net/kalliste/des.htm it is _Big_ Endian. The author translates hexadecimal M = 0123456789ABCDEF to bonary M = 0000 0001 0010 0011 0100 0101 0110 0111 1000 1001 1010 1011 1100 1101 1110 1111 and then says "we read from left to right". That implies big endian.--77.178.223.118 (talk) 19:51, 13 April 2008 (UTC)

IP and IP-inv pictures swapped?
Am I the only one that thinks the (nice looking) pictures of the two permutations IP and its inverse seem to have been mistakenly swapped? I.e. the picture that is said to represent the initial permutation IP actually represent IP inverse, and vice versa? —Preceding unsigned comment added by MEngan (talk • contribs) 14:05, 8 October 2009 (UTC)

title: Talk:DES supplementary material


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Band society

A band society, sometimes called a camp, or in older usage, a horde, is the simplest form of human society. A band generally consists of a small kin group, no larger than an extended family or clan. The general consensus of modern anthropology sees the average number of members of a social band at the simplest level of foraging societies with generally a maximum size of 30 to 50 people.

Origins of usage in anthropology
'Band' was one of a set of three terms employed by early modern ethnography to analyse aspects of hunter-gatherer foraging societies. The three were respectively 'horde,' 'band', and 'tribe'. The term 'horde', formed on the basis of a Turkish/Tatar word úrdú (meaning 'camp'), was inducted from its use in the works of J. F. McLennan by Alfred William Howitt and Lorimer Fison in the mid-1880s to describe a geographically or locally defined division within a larger tribal aggregation, the latter being defined in terms of social divisions categorized in terms of descent. Their idea was then developed by A. R. Radcliffe-Brown, as a model for all Australian indigenous societies, the horde being defined as a group of parental families whose married males all belonged to the one patrilineal clan. 'Horde' from the outset bore stereotypical connotations of Australian Aboriginal societies as primitive, closed, rigid and simple, and came to be discarded not only for its implication of 'swarming savages' but also because it suggested a fixed tribal-territorial entity which compromised the actual field data, the field data allowing for a far more fluid concept of the group.

In 1936, Julian Steward reformulated Radcliffe Brown's highly restrictive definition, by proposing the idea of a band society at the hunter-gatherer level which could be patrilineal, matrilineal or a composite of both. Over time, 'band' has tended to replace the earlier word 'horde' as more extensive comparative work on hunter-gatherer societies shows they are not classifiable as simply closed patrilineal groups, and better approached in terms of a notion of a flexible, non-exclusive social band, having bilateral relations for marriage and other purposes with similar groups in a circumscribed territory.

In 1962, Les Hiatt invalidated Radcliffe-Brown's theory of the horde, demonstrating that the empirical evidence from Aboriginal societies contradicted Radcliffe-Brown's generalisations.

The word "band" is also used in North America, for example among the indigenous peoples of the Great Basin. With African hunter-gatherers, for instance among the Hadza, the term "camp" tends to be used.

Characteristics
Bands have a loose organization. They can split up (in spring/summer) or group (in winter camps), as the Inuit, depending on the season, or member families can disperse to join other bands. Their power structure is generally egalitarian. The best hunters would have their abilities recognized, but such recognition did not lead to the assumption of authority, as pretensions to control others would be met by disobedience. Judgments determined by collective discussion among the elders were formulated in terms of custom, as opposed to the law-governed and coercive agency of a specialized body, as occurred with the rise of the more complex societies that arose upon the establishment of agriculture.

Definitions and distinctions
A. R. Radcliffe-Brown defined the horde as a fundamental unit of Australian social organizations according to the following five criteria:
 * 1) It denotes people who customarily share the same camp and lifestyle.
 * 2) It is the primary landowner of a given territory.
 * 3) Each horde was independent and autonomous, regulating its social life by a camp-council, generally under the direction of a headman.
 * 4) Children pertained to the father's horde
 * 5) A unified horde identity was affirmed in all relations with external tribes.

In his 1975 study, The Notion of the Tribe, Morton Fried defined bands as small, mobile, and fluid social formations with weak leadership that do not generate surpluses, pay taxes or support a standing army.

Bands are distinguished from tribes in that tribes are generally larger, consisting of many families. Tribes have more social institutions, such as a chief, big man, or elders. Tribes are also more permanent than bands; a band can cease to exist if only a small group splits off or dies. Many tribes are subdivided into bands. On occasion hordes or bands with common backgrounds and interests could unite as a tribal aggregate in order to wage war, as with the San, or they might convene for collective religious ceremonies, such as initiation rites or to feast together seasonally on an abundant resource as was common in Australian aboriginal societies. Among the Native Americans of the United States and the First Nations of Canada, some tribes are made up of official bands that live in specific locations, such as the various bands of the Ojibwa tribe.

Examples
Band societies historically were found throughout the world, in a variety of climates, but generally, as civilisations arose, were restricted to sparsely populated areas, tropical rainforests, tundras and deserts. With the spread of the modern nation-state around the globe there are few true band societies left. Some historical examples include the Shoshone of the Great Basin in the United States, the San people of Southern Africa, the Mbuti of the Ituri Rainforest in Central Africa, and many groups of indigenous Australians, such as the Pitjantjatjara from Central Australia and the Palawa from Tasmania.

title: Band society


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Shunyi, Beijing

Shunyi District is an administrative district of Beijing, located to the northeast of the city's urban core. As of 2014, the population of the district is around 983,000, of which approximately 601,000 have local residency permits. In 2020 a population number of 1,324,044 was counted. The Beijing Capital International Airport is located in the geographical boundaries of the district, though it is technically under the jurisdiction of Chaoyang district. Shunyi borders the Beijing districts of Pinggu to the east, Tongzhou to the south, Chaoyang to the southwest, Changping to the west, Huairou to the north, and Miyun to the northeast, as well as Hebei province to the southeast.

Shunyi has large communities of foreign expatriates.

Overview
Shunyi District has an area of 1020 km2 and a long-term resident population of approximately 983,000 as of 2013. The district is divided into 5 subdistricts of the city of Shunyi, the Airport subdistrict, and 19 towns. The urban area of Shunyi (2000 Census population 104,952 in Subdistricts) has an area of 19 km2 and has an estimated urban area population of 190,000. Other important urban areas are Tianzhu/Jichang (55,000 estimated population, Jichang is an exclave of Chaoyang District surrounded by Shunyi District), Houshayu (45,000), Yangzhen (22,000), and Mapo (22,000).

The Tianzhu Development Zone region abutting the airport to the west contains the largest international exhibition centre in China, the New China International Exhibition Center.

The International School of Beijing (ISB) is located in Shunyi District in the region known as the "Beijing Central Villas District" - the area immediately to the south of the new International Exhibition Centre - and more particularly just north of Yosemite Villas. Across the road from ISB is the new campus of the British School of Beijing which moved to this location during the summer of 2009. From west to east, the villas include EuroVillage, River Garden, Le Leman Lake, Capital Paradise, Gahood, Yosemite and Dragon Bay Villa and Rose & Gingko. In addition to having many different housing complexes there are also several small shopping malls nearby including Europlaza, Pinnacle Plaza and Lakeview.

The Beijing 2008 Olympics rowing, canoeing, and kayaking events were held at the newly built Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park.

When Beijing Capital International Airport was first built, Shunyi was a subdistrict of Chaoyang. When Shunyi was promoted to full districtship, Chaoyang maintained direct control over the airport, so although the airport is completely surrounded by Shunyi district, it is not administratively in Shunyi; it pays its taxes to the Chaoyang government.

Administrative divisions
There are 6 subdistricts and 19 towns with 7 towns of which carry the "area" (地区) label within the district:

Transport
The district is linked to the city proper through a series of arterial roads. The Northern Approach Route of the Airport Expressway passes through Shunyi District. Shunyi district is served by Line 15 of the Beijing Subway.

The urban center of Shunyi is near the north-eastern 6th Ring Road.

Metro
Shunyi is currently served by two metro lines operated by Beijing Subway:

 * - China International Exhibition Center, Hualikan, Houshayu, Nanfaxin, Shimen, Shunyi, Fengbo
 * - Terminal 3

Economy
In 2017, the regional GDP of the district is 171.59 billion yuan, with GDP per capita at 152.1 thousand yuan.

Air China has its headquarters in Zone A of the Tianzhu Airport Industrial Zone (天竺空港工业区) in the Shunyi District. Okay Airways has its headquarters in a separate Air China facility.

Beijing Hyundai Motor Company, a joint-venture with Korean auto manufacturer Hyundai Motor Company and the Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co. has its head office and factory in the Linhe Industrial Development Zone (林河工业开发区) in Shunyi District.

Ritchie Bros Auctioneers (Beijing) Co. Ltd. (利氏兄弟拍卖（北京）有限公司), a subsidiary of Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers of Canada, is an investor in the Tianzhu Free Trade Zone and is the first wholly foreign-owned auction company in China.

Diplomatic missions
The warehouse of the Embassy of the United States, Beijing is located in the Beijing Tianzhu Airport Industrial Zone in Shunyi.

Education
Public high schools:
 * Beijing Shunyi District No. 1 High School (北京市顺义区第一中学)
 * Niulanshan No.1 High School
 * Beijing Shunyi District Yangzhen No. 1 Middle School (zh)

International schools located in Shunyi District include:
 * International School of Beijing Shunyi Campus
 * The British School of Beijing, Shunyi
 * Dulwich College Beijing
 * International Montessori School of Beijing River Garden Campus and Champagne Cove Campus
 * Beijing New Talent Academy
 * Beijing International Bilingual Academy
 * Springboard International Bilingual School

Closed:
 * Swedish School Beijing - Gahood Villa (嘉浩别墅)
 * Beijing REGO British School

Notable areas

 * Pinnacle Plaza
 * China International Exhibition Center
 * Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park

Climate
Shunyi District has a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dwa). The average annual temperature in Shunyi is 12.3 C. The average annual rainfall is 571.3 mm with July as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in July, at around 26.3 C, and lowest in January, at around -4.0 C.

title: Shunyi, Beijing


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Rudolf Hoernes

Rudolf Hoernes (7 October 1850 – 20 August 1912) was an Austrian geologist, born in Vienna, son of Moritz Hoernes. He studied under Eduard Suess and became a Professor of geology in Graz. He was known for his earthquake studies in 1878 and proposed a classification of earthquakes into subsidence earthquakes, volcanic earthquakes and tectonic earthquakes. In 1893, he published a detailed textbook on earthquake theory (Erdbebenkunde) from a geological point of view.

title: Rudolf Hoernes


text:
Wikipedia talk:Articles for deletion/Allan Mason

This is all crap and I encourage a speedy deletion. Apologies for the rudeness- i get carried away with tricks!!


text:
Talk:American Flagg

Untitled
There already is a page for American Flagg under American Flagg!. --YoungFreud 04:16, 4 Aug 2004 (UTC)

title: Talk:American Flagg


text:
Bobcat Goldthwait

Robert Francis "Bobcat" Goldthwait (born May 26, 1962) is an American comedian, actor, director and screenwriter. He is known for his black comedy stand-up act, delivered through an energetic stage persona with an unusual raspy and high-pitched voice. He came to prominence with his stand-up specials An Evening with Bobcat Goldthwait—Share the Warmth and Bob Goldthwait—Is He Like That All the Time? and his acting roles, including Zed in the Police Academy franchise and Eliot Loudermilk in Scrooged. Since 2012, he has been a regular panelist on the radio-quiz show, Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!.

Goldthwait has written and directed a number of films and television series, most notably the black comedies Shakes the Clown (1991), in which he also starred, Sleeping Dogs Lie (2006), World's Greatest Dad (2009), God Bless America (2011), and the horror film Willow Creek (2013); episodes of Chappelle's Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live! (2004–07), and Maron (2013–15); and several stand-up specials, including Patton Oswalt: Tragedy Plus Comedy Equals Time (2014).

He has also worked extensively as a voice actor, with voice roles in Capitol Critters (1992–95), Hercules (1997), and Hercules: The Animated Series (1998–99), and has provided the voice of Pop Fizz in the Skylanders video game series since the character's debut in 2012's Skylanders: Giants.

Early life
Robert Francis Goldthwait was born on May 26, 1962, in Syracuse, New York, the son of Kathleen Ann (Welch), a department store employee, and Thomas Lincoln Goldthwait, a sheet metal worker. He was raised in a working-class Catholic family.

At an early age, Goldthwait decided on a career as a comedian, inspired by enjoying making his friends laugh. During his time at St. Matthew's Grammar School, Goldthwait would host performances for his friends regularly, among them being future voice actor Tom Kenny. Goldthwait would experiment with new content, and developed a strong liking for props.

"'I had nuns for all my grammar school, and there I was just told that I was not funny and that I was fat—it was just my first dealings with critics, actually. And I really did. I had like a nun telling me I was fat. It’s no wonder as an adult I had 'manorexia' for, like, ten years. And then in high school I still went to a Catholic school but I had these teachers that were kind of very encouraging. You know, Tom Kenny and myself were doing stand-up comedy when we were fifteen. I remember in physics class falling asleep, and the physics teacher going 'Well, you know, they did a show last night, and they’re on another journey,' and the guy was cool with it, you know? And I had an English teacher that was the same way: Santo Berlotti, who was very encouraging of me writing and stuff.'"

In 1980, Goldthwait and Kenny graduated from Bishop Grimes Junior/Senior High School in East Syracuse, New York. They formed a comedy troupe called The Generic Comics. In their mid-teens, they saw an ad for an open-mic night in Skaneateles that featured comedian Barry Crimmins with the moniker "Bear Cat". He and Kenny went to the event and performed under the monikers Bobcat and Tomcat, respectively, as a tribute to Crimmins. Early in his career, Goldthwait also co-wrote with Martin Olson, who is listed as writer on his first two comedy specials Share the Warmth and Don't Watch This Show.

In 1984 he co-starred in the George Carlin HBO TV show Apt. 2C of which only the pilot episode was ever made.

Stand-up
Goldthwait became recognized as a solo stand-up comedian and had a record "Meat Bob" and two televised concert specials in the 1980s: An Evening with Bobcat Goldthwait —Share the Warmth and Bob Goldthwait —Is He Like That All the Time? He became known for his unique brand of comedy, which combines elements of political satire and often bizarre or unsettling black comedy.

In the 1990s, Goldthwait and Robin Williams appeared on the same bill together, but not as a comedy team, using the names Jack Cheese and Marty Fromage. Later, Goldthwait used the name Jack Cheese when he appeared in Tapeheads. When Williams made a cameo as Mime Jerry in Goldthwait's Shakes the Clown, he was billed as Marty Fromage.

"'Q:Tell me a little bit about Jack Cheese and Marty Fromage. A:Well, all that was is Robin and I would perform sometimes—like, sometimes I would perform as Jack Cheese, and honestly, this is twenty years ago, when me showing up at a club would actually be something you’d have to keep on the downlow. Now, you put my real name there, and there’s still plenty of empty seats. So it's when Robin and I would go out here in the Bay Area and do comedy, and we would just be performing under fake names just because of other concert obligations and stuff. So it was just so we could go out and write, yeah.' (2009)"

During the fall of 1993, Goldthwait performed stand-up material as an opening act for Nirvana on what would be their final North American tour. He had been selected for the slot due to frontman Kurt Cobain being a fan of his comedy, and the two developed a friendship over the course of the tour. He also appeared in a promo video for the band's album In Utero and once fooled an interviewer during a phone interview, impersonating Dave Grohl. At midnight on New Year's Eve 1993, Goldthwait rappelled nude from a catwalk of the stage at the Oakland Coliseum as Kurt Cobain led a countdown.

Goldthwait filmed a half-hour HBO special in 1995, and another comedy album in 2003 I Don't Mean to Insult You, But You Look Like Bobcat Goldthwait and in 2004 his stand-up was featured in Comedy Central's animated series Shorties Watchin' Shorties.

Acting
Goldthwait has appeared in several films. His first major role was Zed in the  Police Academy franchise. He starred in One Crazy Summer, Burglar, Scrooged and Hot to Trot. In 1992, Goldthwait directed, wrote, and starred in Shakes the Clown. He also made an appearance as a writer in Radioland Murders.

In 1985, Goldthwait appeared in Twisted Sister's official video to "Leader of the Pack" and "Be Chrool to Your Scuel" from Come Out and Play.

In 1992, Goldthwait appeared as a guest-co-host of the second episode of The Ben Stiller Show. He appeared as a relative of Peggy Bundy on the Married... with Children show where he and his wife dropped one of their numerous offspring on the Bundys. Later in 1992, Goldthwait was a guest star as an excitable and peculiar psychiatrist in the second episode, season one of the sitcom, Golden Palace (starring Betty White, Rue McClanahan, Estelle Getty, Don Cheadle, and Cheech Marin).

Talk show guest appearance controversies
In 1993, Goldthwait appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, where he tossed furniture and ran around the set, then into the audience.

In April 1994, as a guest on one of the last episodes of The Arsenio Hall Show Goldthwait became demonstrably upset that the program was being cancelled. At the time, it was widely believed that Paramount Studios had refused to renew Hall's contract because Late Night with David Letterman was moving to CBS, and Goldthwait took his anger out on Paramount. He stood on the set's couch, spray-painted "Paramount Sucks" on a glass wall, and threw video equipment around the studio. Hall was forced to try to restrain Goldthwait and security was called to the set.

On May 9, 1994, Goldthwait appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, where he briefly lit the guest chair on fire. As a result, he was fined $2,700 plus the cost of the chair ($698); he was also required to tape several public-service announcements about fire safety. Despite banishment rumors, Leno invited Goldthwait to appear seven days later for a bit with Goldthwait buried up to his neck in dirt.

In August 1994, these incidents were the basis of the plot of his subsequent appearance on The Larry Sanders Show, where the fictional talk show hires him, in the hope of improving their ratings, if he does another stunt.

These incidents also inspired a MadTV pseudo-PSA on fire safety.

Later work
Goldthwait was in four episodes of Space Ghost Coast to Coast: "Bobcat", "Surprise", "Anniversary" and an uncredited appearance in the episode "Kentucky Nightmare".

One of the most recognizable features of Goldthwait's performances is his voice. He has voiced characters on the television series Capitol Critters (1992), The Moxy Show (1993–1995), Unhappily Ever After (1995–1999), The Tick (1995), Hercules, Hercules: The Animated Series (1998–1999), Lilo & Stitch: The Series (2003–2006), and Buzz Lightyear of Star Command (2000). Goldthwait has also appeared as himself hosting the comedy quiz show Bobcat's Big Ass Show (1998). Goldthwait was also a semi-regular guest in the later seasons of the Tom Bergeron-version of Hollywood Squares in 1998.

Goldthwait was a featured guest on the August 20, 2009, episode of Adam Carolla's podcast. And on August 26, 2009, he returned to guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live! with old friend Robin Williams during which he revealed a tattoo on his buttocks of an anthropomorphized cymbal with a mustache and slanted eyes (a pun on the Chinese symbol tattoo).

Goldthwait appeared in September 2010 on an episode of LA Ink, where shop owner Kat Von D gave him a tattoo of a potato, impaled on a fork, on his upper right arm. Goldthwait chose the design to remind himself of where he came from and to tell close friends and family that he had not lost his sense of humor. He also displayed his older tattoo of a cymbal with a moustache on his buttocks.

Goldthwait appeared on the May 4, 2012, episode of Real Time with Bill Maher. Goldthwait was a voice guest in Season 4 of Adventure Time, voicing Ed in the episode "Web Weirdos". Goldthwait appeared on NPR's Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! on May 12, 2012, to talk about his film God Bless America and play the game "Not My Job" (he won). He then made his debut as one of the show's panelists on the July 14, 2012.

In 2012, he voiced a character known as Pop Fizz, an overexcited gremlin chemist with the ability to drink his potion and become a rampaging monster, for the hit video game series Skylanders, starting with Skylanders: Giants. Pop Fizz appeared in Skylanders: SWAP Force as Super Gulp Pop Fizz, Skylanders: Trap Team as Fizzy Frenzy Pop Fizz, and Skylanders: Superchargers as Big Bubble Pop Fizz. He later reprised the role of Pop Fizz in the 2016 Netflix series Skylanders Academy. The show ended in 2018.

Directing
Goldthwait began directing Jimmy Kimmel Live! in 2004. While there, ratings for the show increased to over 2 million viewers per night, and jumped 50% with teens; however, in May 2006 Goldthwait left to pursue his film career. Goldthwait maintains contact with Kimmel and still directs for television and film. He returned to directing segments for Jimmy Kimmel Live! in the summer of 2007.

Shakes the Clown
Shakes the Clown is a dark comedy about a birthday-party clown (Goldthwait) in the grip of depression and alcoholism, who is framed for murder. Different communities of clowns, mimes and other performers are depicted as clannish, rivalrous subcultures obsessed with precedence and status. This was Goldthwait's bitter satire of the dysfunctional standup comedy circuit he knew as a performer.

Sleeping Dogs Lie
Goldthwait's third feature film Sleeping Dogs Lie (originally titled Stay) starring Melinda Page Hamilton was in the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and was part of the "Independent Dramatic Features" competition. Sleeping Dogs Lie is about a youthful, impulsive instance of oral sex performed on a dog which opens the door to a black comedy about the complexities of honesty. It was also nominated for the Grand Jury Prize in the "Dramatic Features" category. The film was bought by Roadside Attractions & Samuel Goldwyn Films at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival for the North American rights to the film, and was released on October 20, 2006. Gaumont bought the international rights to the film. It was released on February 21, 2007, by Gaumont in France, and on March 16, 2007, in the UK. On May 4, 2007, it was presented as John Waters' annual selection of a favorite film within Maryland Film Festival.

World's Greatest Dad
Goldthwait's fourth feature film, World's Greatest Dad, was released on July 24, 2009, on video-on-demand providers before its limited theatrical release on August 21. It starred Robin Williams, Daryl Sabara, and Alexie Gilmore. The web site for the 2009 Sundance Film Festival described it as a "lusciously perverse, and refreshingly original comedy that tackles love, loss, and our curious quest for infamy". Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave World's Greatest Dad 3 out of 4 stars, but commented that the material could have been even darker in its satire, and he questioned whether it was the director's intention.

God Bless America
God Bless America premiered at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival and screened within Maryland Film Festival 2012.

Willow Creek
Willow Creek premiered at the 2013 Independent Film Festival of Boston and screened within such festivals as Maryland Film Festival. The film made its debut on the West Coast at the Arcata Theatre Lounge in Arcata, California, on May 31, 2013, near its filming location of Willow Creek, California.

On July 20, 2013, Willow Creek had its international premier at the Fantasia Festival in Montreal.

In 2017, American Bigfoot, Goldthwait's short documentary about the Ohio Bigfoot Conference featured Alexie Gilmore and Bryce Johnson of Willow Creek.

Call Me Lucky
In 2015, Goldthwait premiered Call Me Lucky, his documentary on the life and work of comedian/activist Barry Crimmins, at the Sundance Film Festival.

Joy Ride
In August 2019, Goldthwait and fellow comedian Dana Gould set out to film their two-person stand-up show, but the project was postponed when the pair was in an auto accident on the way to the first performance. After recovering, they were able to film four shows in February 2020. Joy Ride was released in October 2020 and received a 100% from Rotten Tomatoes.

Misfits & Monsters
On July 11, 2018, Goldthwait's anthology television series Bobcat Goldthwait's Misfits & Monsters premiered on truTV.

Personal life
Goldthwait's marriage to his first wife Ann Luly lasted from 1986 to 1998. In 1997, he was engaged to Nikki Cox. Goldthwait was married to his second wife, Sarah de Sa Rego, from 2009 to 2014. He married Pollyanna McIntosh in 2024.

In 2011, he was the best man at Robin Williams' third wedding.

Goldthwait claims he has not consumed drugs or alcohol since he was 19.

Awards and honors
Goldthwait's film Windy City Heat won a Comedian Award for Best Comedy Film at Montreal's Just for Laughs Film Festival in 2009.

In June 2015, Bobcat Goldthwait was named "Filmmaker on the Edge" at the 17th Annual Provincetown International Film Festival. John Waters presented the prize.

Discography

 * Meat Bob (1988) Chrysalis Records
 * I Don't Mean to Insult You, but You Look Like Bobcat Goldthwait (September 23, 2003, Comedy Central Records)
 * You Don't Look the Same Either (May 8, 2012, Comedy Central Records)
 * Soldier for Christ (2023) Pretty Good Friends Records

title: Bobcat Goldthwait


text:
Bezalel Ashkenazi

Bezalel ben Abraham Ashkenazi (בצלאל בן אברהם אשכנזי) (c. 1520 – c. 1592) was a rabbi and talmudist who lived in Ottoman Israel during the 16th century. He is best known as the author of the Shitah Mekubetzet, a commentary on the Talmud. Among his disciples were Isaac Luria and Solomon Adeni.

Biography
Ashkenazi was one of the leading Oriental Talmudists and rabbis of his day. He was probably born in Palestine. Descended from a family of German scholars, most of his life was spent in Egypt where he received his Talmudic education from David ben Solomon ibn Abi Zimra and Israel de Curial. During the lifetime of his teachers, Ashkenazi was regarded as one of the highest authorities in the Orient, and counted Isaac Luria and Solomon Adeni among his pupils. In Egypt his reputation was such that he could abrogate the dignity of the nagid, which had existed for centuries and had gradually deteriorated into an arbitrary aristocratic privilege. When, in 1587, a dispute occurred in Jerusalem over the extent to which scholars not engaged in business should contribute to the taxes paid by the Jewish community to the pasha, Ashkenazi, together with several other rabbis, took the stand that Jewish scholars, being usually impelled by love alone to emigrate to Palestine, and being scarcely able to support themselves, should be relieved from all taxes.

In the same year, Ashkenazi traveled to Palestine settling in Jerusalem, where he was recognized as important by both the Sephardim and the Ashkenazim communities. The conditions in Jerusalem were at this time very critical; and it was mainly due to Ashkenazi's influence that the congregations of the city were not dissolved. German Jews, who normally did not recognize the jurisdiction of the Sephardim, and who, being largely scholars, refused to pay the Jews' tax, nevertheless recognised Ashkenazi's authority. However this arrangement between the Ashkenazim and the Sephardim seems to have been solely due to the personal influence of Ashkenazi; asvit ended immediately after his death.

Shitah Mekubezet
Ashkenazi is known principally as the author of Shitah Mekubezet (Hebrew שיטה מקובצת, Gathered Interpretation). This work, as its title indicates, is a collection of glosses on the greater part of the Talmud, in the style of the Tosafot, including much original and foreign material. The great value of the Shitah lies principally in the fact that it contains numerous excerpts from Talmudic commentaries which have not otherwise been preserved.

Ashkenazi himself wrote only short marginal annotations in his edition of the Talmud. Solomon Adeni, his student, edited the annotations into the commentary to Kodashim as it exists today (both versions), including a vast quantity of original material.

Shitah Mekubezet contains expositions of the Talmud taken from the works of the Spaniards Nahmanides, ben Adret, and Yom-Tov of Seville, and from those of the Frenchmen Abraham ben David, Baruch ben Samuel, Isaac of Chinon, etc. The study of the Shitah is particularly valuable for understanding the Tosafists, because the work contains some of the older and unedited Tosafot; besides, glosses of R. Asher ben Jehiel and of the disciples of R. Perez are partly contained in it.

Other works
Ashkenazi is also the author of a collection of responsa, which appeared after his death (Venice, 1595).

His Methodology of the Talmud, and his marginal notes to the Yerushalmi, which were still extant at the time of Azulai, are preserved in manuscript at Jerusalem.

title: Bezalel Ashkenazi


text:
Kelmscott

Kelmscott is a village and civil parish on the River Thames in West Oxfordshire, about 2 mi east of Lechlade in neighbouring Gloucestershire. Since 2001 it has absorbed Little Faringdon, which had been a separate civil parish. The 2011 Census recorded the merged parish's population as 198.

Kelmscott Manor
Kelmscott Manor is a Cotswold stone house, built in about 1570 during the Great Rebuilding of England and extended late in the 17th century. It was the country home of William Morris from 1871 until his death in 1896. He drew great inspiration from the unspoilt authenticity of the house's architecture and craftsmanship, and its organic relationship with its setting. Kelmscott Manor now belongs to the Society of Antiquaries of London. Morris renamed his London town house Kelmscott House after Kelmscott when he bought it in April 1879. He named his private press, which he started in 1891, Kelmscott Press.

Parish church
The nave of the Church of England parish church of Saint George was built in about 1190 in the transitional style between Norman and Early English, and the chancel is probably of the same date. The building has transepts that were added in about 1260. The clerestory of the nave was added in the 15th century. Many of the windows of the nave and chancel are Perpendicular Gothic additions, including the east window of the chancel. The church is a Grade II* listed building.

In the churchyard is the tomb of William Morris, designed by Philip Webb. Morris featured the church in his novel News from Nowhere, when in the final part of the book the Guest is taken there for the feast. St George's parish is now part of the Benefice of Shill Valley and Broadshire, which includes also the parishes of Alvescot, Black Bourton, Broadwell, Broughton Poggs, Filkins, Holwell, Kencot, Langford, Little Faringdon, Shilton and Westwell. In the village, next to the pub The Plough Inn, are the remains of a 14th or 15th century cross.

title: Kelmscott


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Rocket Festival

The Rocket Festival (ประเพณีบุญบั้งไฟ, ບຸນບັ້ງໄຟ) is a merit-making ceremony traditionally practiced by ethnic Lao people at the beginning of the wet season in various villages and municipalities in Northeastern Thailand and Laos. The festivities typically include music and dance performances, competitive processions of floats, dancers, and musicians on the second day, and the competitive firing of homemade rockets on the third day. Local participants and sponsors take advantage of the occasion to enhance their social prestige, as is customary at traditional Buddhist folk festivals throughout Southeast Asia.

Bun Bang Fai is celebrated in all provinces across Laos, but the most popular one used to be held along the bank of the Mekong river in the capital, Vientiane. However, because of considerable urbanization and safety measures, the festivals are now celebrated in nearby villages, including Naxon, Natham, Thongmang, Ban Kern, and Pakkagnoung.

The festival in Thailand also includes special programs and specific local patterns like Bang Fai (parade dance) and a Beautiful Bang Fai float such as Yasothon on the third weekend of May, and continues to Suwannaphum District, Roi Et, on the first weekend of June, and Phanom Phrai District during the full moon of the seventh month in the Lunar year's calendar each year. The Bang Fai festival is not only found in Isan, Northeasthern Thailand, North Thailand, and Laos, but also in Amphoe Sukhirin, Narathiwat.

History
These Buddhist festivals are presumed to have evolved from pre-Buddhist fertility rites held to celebrate and encourage the coming of the rains, from before the 9th century invention of black powder. This festival displays some earthy elements of Lao folklore. Bun Bang Fai originates from ancient times when ethnic Lao people believed in many gods and is mentioned in tales, such as 'The Tale of Pha Daeng–Nang Ai' (ນິທານຂອງຜາແດງ-ນາງໄອ່) and 'The Tale of Phaya Khankhak' (ນິທານຂອງພະຍາຄັນຄາກ). In the literature of Laos, such stories refer to the firing of rockets to the heavens to communicate with the God of Rain (ພະຍາແຖນ) and persuade him to send the rains to the earth in a timely fashion for cultivation.

Early European explorers who passed through Laos in the 1800s recorded witnessing the rocket festivals in the country. Louis de Carné, in 1866, described a celebration in southern Laos where bamboos loaded with powder went off, producing violent explosions. Furthermore, Etienne Aymonier, visiting Laos in 1883, described Bang Phoai (Bang Fai) as strong tubes of bamboo fretted with cords, or rattans, in which powder was stuffed.

The powder was manufactured in the country by mixing ten parts of saltpeter (potassium nitrate) with three pieces of wood charcoal and a part and a half of sulphur. These rockets were then deposited on trestles at the pagoda. The rockets were paraded around the temple before they were launched the next day. The celebration occurred in May or June.

Anthropology Professor Charles F. Keyes advises, "In recognition of the deep-seated meaning of certain traditions for the peoples of the societies of mainland Southeast Asia, the rulers of these societies have incorporated some indigenous symbols into the national cultures that they have worked to construct in the postcolonial period". Giving the "Bun Bang Fai or fire rocket festival of Laos", as one example, he adds that it remains "far more elaborate in the villages than in the cities".

In Laos
Bun Bang Fai is held over the sixth Lunar month, usually around May and June, coinciding with the plantation and the beginning of the rainy seasons. Several months before the festival, an organizing committee is formed in each future host village to discuss the festival. Weeks before the festival, bamboo rockets are built and decorated by monks and villagers.

The festival usually lasts two days and begins early in the morning with the associated religious rituals performed by the monks in the temple. Early in the afternoon, a Buddhist procession starts in which villagers carrying money trees circle the central ordination hall, in which there is a Buddha statue, three times in a clockwise rotation on the sound of traditional music (ພິທີແຫ່ຕົ້ນເງິນ). The money trees are then offered to the monks in a Buddhist ritual believed to garner religious merit. Afterwards, rockets from all involved villages are displayed in the court of the temple, followed by a celebration with traditional music and dance that can last up to the early morning of the next day.

The second day begins with a morning ceremony of food offerings from villagers to the monks in the assembly hall of the temple (ພິທີຕັກບາດ). The food usually includes sticky rice, cakes, and other sweets that the faithful line up to place in the monks’ almsbowls during the sermon. In addition, other food dishes are portioned out in small bowls and offered to the monks on rattan trays. The religious leader of the village ritually presents the food to the monks by reciting the five precepts of Buddhism. The monks, in return, offer the teachings of the Buddha by chanting sutras and sermons. During the sermon, the faithful address prayers to their ancestors and do the Yaat Nam, which consists of having water blessed by a monk before pouring it, drop by drop, on the earth. After the ceremony, a meal is shared by all participants. The faithful believe these offerings grant a long life to anyone who gives with a serene heart.

The religious ceremony is followed by a street parade through the village with pickup trucks displaying the rockets on the sound of the Khene (ແຄນ), cymbals, and long drums. Teams of contestants dance and chant traditional folksong, with the team's leader chanting first and then the others repeating (ພິທີເຊີ້ງບັ້ງໄຟ). Contestants are divided into groups based on the size of their rocket. The competition begins with the firing of the rockets skyward. For each rocket category, scores are given based on how high and far the rocket flies. Builders of failed rockets are thrown in a muddy pond and forced to drink Lao-Lao (ເຫຼົ້າລາວ).

In the United States and France
Following the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, tens of thousands of Lao people left the country as refugees who resettled in other countries, most of them in the United States and in France. The Lao built Lao Buddhist temples (ວັດລາວ) to serve as cultural centers. Traditional Lao holidays such as Lao New Year and Bun Bang Fai are celebrated in addition to the official host countries’ holidays. In France, Bun Bang Fai is celebrated in Paris and other cities; there is a community of Laotians in France. Bun Bang Fai has been celebrated in Bretignolles. In the United States, there are more than forty Wat Lao.

The celebration in both the United States and France lasts two days and proceeds as in Laos, beginning with a religious ceremony followed by a display and parade of rockets in the Wat with traditional Laoof Soeng Bang Faince on the Soeng Bang Fai music. Unlike in Laos, however, the procession does not conclude with the firing of the rockets, as they are not allowed to be launched because of safety measures. Instead, only small, handcrafted rockets are launched.

In the National Air and Space Museum
Frank H. Winter, curator of the Rocketry Division of the National Air and Space Museum, stated that: "Lao Rocket is special and unique that has a thousand years of traditional celebration associated with this great looking rocket. It would be wonderful to have a Lao Rocket on display in the National Air and Space Museum so that the public can learn from it."

In 2005, Lao Bang Fai was chosen to be displayed at the National Air and Space Museum in Chantilly, Virginia. The deputy abbot of Wat Lao Buddhavong in Virginia acknowledged that "this event is historic and brings recognition and visibility that all Laotians can be proud of". Bun Bang Fai was launched in 1994 by the Lao community and has been celebrated each year since. The religious ceremonies are performed inside the museum on the campus of the University of Washington.

In Northeastern Thailand
Villages may have floats conveying government messages. They may also include fairs. In recent years, the Tourism Authority of Thailand has promoted the events, particularly in the Thai provinces of Nong Khai and Yasothon. The Bun bang Fai celebration in the past were in Yasothorn, Roi Et, Kalasin, Srisaket, Mahasarakham, and Udon Thani.

Yasothon's festival
Since March 1, 1972, the separation of Yasothon from Ubon Ratchathani, Yasothon has staged its Rocket Festival in Thailand annually over Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in the middle of May.

The principal theme of any Hae Bangfai is the Phadaeng and Nang Ai legends. Many floats depict the couple and their retinue. Hàe typically end in a wat, where dancers and accompanying musicians may further compete in traditional folk dance. All groups prominently display the names of their major sponsors. Recalling the fertility rite origins of the festival, parade ornaments and floats often have phallic imagery. The festivities also include cross-dressing, both cross-sex and cross-generational, and alcohol. Perhaps the most popular beverage is a neutral grain spirit called Sura (สุรา), but more generally known as Lao Whiskey (เหล้าลาว, Lao lao) in Laos and Lao Khao (เหล้าขาว, white alcohol) in Thailand. Sato (สาโท) may also be on offer. On May 9, 1999, a Lan 120 kg rocket exploded 50 meters above ground, just two seconds after launch, killing four people and wounding 11.

Bang Fai (the rockets)

Bang Fai skyrockets are black-powder bottle rockets. Tiny bottle rockets are so-called because they may be launched from a bottle. In the case of the similar appearing Bang Fai, also spelled Bong Fai, the 'bottle' is a bong, and a section of bamboo culm is used as a container (and only colloquially as a pipe for smoking marijuana).

Related to the Chinese Fire Arrow, Bang Fai are made from bamboo bongs. Most contemporary ones, however, are enclosed in PVC piping, making them less dangerous by standardizing their sizes and black-powder charges. Baking or boiling a bong kills insect eggs that otherwise hatch in dead bamboo and eat it. Vines tie long bamboo tails to launching racks. The time it takes for the exhaust to burn through the vines (usually) allows a motor to build up to full thrust; then the tails impart in-flight stability. Ignition comes from a burning fuse or electric match.

Bang Fai come in various sizes, competing in several categories. Small ones are called Bang Fai Noi (น้อย). Larger categories are designated by the counting words for 10,000, 100,000, and 1,000,000: Meun (หมื่น), Saen (แสน), and the largest Bang Fai, the Lan (ล้าน). Bang Fai Lan are nine metres long and charged with 120 kg of black powder. These may reach altitudes reckoned in kilometres, and travel dozens of kilometres downrange. Competing rockets are scored for the apparent height, distance, and beauty of the vapour trail. A few include skyrocket pyrotechnics. A few also include parachutes for tail assemblies.

Nang Ai, Phadaeng, and Phangkhi

Nang Ai (นางไอ่), or in full, Nang Ai Kham (นางไอ่คำ), is the queen of pageants, and the Phadaeng is her champion. She is known as the most beautiful girl. He, an outsider, wants her, but he must win a rocket festival tournament to win her. He becomes part of a love triangle. Phangkhi and Nang Ai have been fated by their karma (กรรม, kam) to have been reborn throughout many past existences as soulmates. Stories about the couple, however, say that in many past existences, she has been a dutiful wife and that he only wanted to satisfy himself. She becomes fed up and prays never to be paired with him again. Nang Ai is reborn as the daughter of Phraya Khom (พระยาขอม, which means Lord Khmer; but even if her father was a Cambodian overlord, Nang Ai Kham is still the genuine article), while Phangki is reborn as the son of Phaya Nak, the Grand Nāga who rules the Deeps. Phangki is not invited to the tournament, and Phadaeng's rocket fizzles. Nang Ai's uncle is the winner, so her father calls the whole thing off, which is considered to be a very bad omen. Pangkhii shapeshifts into a white squirrel to spy on Nang Ai; she has him killed by a royal hunter.

Pangkhii's flesh transforms into meat equal to 8,000 cartloads. Nang Ai and many of her countrymen ate this flesh, and Phaya Nak vows to allow no one to remain living who had eaten of the flesh of his son. Aroused from the Deeps, he and his watery myrmidons rise and turn the land into a vast swamp. Nagas personify waters running both above and below ground, and nagas run amok are rivers in spate; all of Isan is flooded. Phadaeng flees the flood with Nang Ai on his white stallion, Bak Sam, but she is swept off by Naga's tail, not to be seen again. Bak Sam is seen in parades sporting his stallion's equipage; legend says that he dug a lick called Lam Huay Sam. Phadaeng escapes. His ghost then raises an army of the spirits of the air to wage war on the Nagas. The war continues until both sides are exhausted, and the dispute is submitted to King Wetsawan, king of the North, for arbitration. His decision: the cause of the feud has long since been forgotten, and all disputants must let bygones be bygone.

The legend is retold in many regional variations. One 3000-word poem translated to English "is especially well known to the Thai audience, having been designated as secondary school supplementary reading by the Thai Ministry of Education, with publication in 1978. There is even a Thai popular song about the leading characters." The original was written in a Lao-Isan verse called Khong saan; it has sexual innuendo, puns, and double entendre.

Keyes on page 48 wrote that "Phra Daeng Nang Ai" is a version of Kaundinya, the legendary founder of Funan, and Soma, the daughter of the king of the Nāga. Keyes also wrote that such legends may prove a valuable source of toponyms.

Toad King
Some said that Bang Fai is launched to bring rain, as in the Tourism Authority of Thailand link. However, a reading of the underlying myth, as presented in Yasothon and Nong Khai, implies the opposite: the rains bring on the rockets. Their version of the myth:

When the Lord Buddha was in his Bodhisattva (Pali) incarnation as King of the Toads Phaya Khang Khok, and married to Udon Khuruthawip (Northern Partner-Knowing-Continent), his sermons drew everyone away from Phaya Thaen (พญาแถน), King of the Sky). Phaya Thaen then withheld life-giving rains from the earth for seven years, seven months, and seven days. Acting against the advice of the Toad King, Phaya Naga, King of the Nāga (and personification of the Mekong), declared war on Phaya Thaen and lost.

Persuaded by Phaya Naga to assume command, King Toad enlisted the aid of termites to build mounds reaching to the heavens, and of venomous scorpions and centipedes to attack Phaya Thaen's feet, and of hornets for air support. Previous attempts at aerial warfare against Phaya Thaen in his own element had proved futile; but even the Sky must come down to the ground. On the ground, the war was won, and Phaya Thaen sued for peace. Naga Rockets fired in the air at the end of the dry season are not to threaten Phaya Thaen, but to serve as a reminder to him of his treaty obligations made to Lord Bodhisatta Phaya Khang Khok on the ground. Phaya Nak was given the duty of Honor Guard at most Thai and Lao temples.

After the harvest of the resulting crops, Wow thanoo, man-sized kites with a strung bow, are staked out in winter monsoon winds. They are also called Túi-tiù from the sound of the bowstring singing in the wind, which sings all through the night, to signal Phaya Thaen that he has sent enough rain. All participants (including a wow thanoo) were depicted on murals on the front of the former Yasothon Municipal Bang Fai Museum, but were removed when it was remodeled as a learning center.

An English-language translation of a Thai report on Bang Fai Phaya Nark Naga fireballs at Nong Khai gives essentially the same myth (without the hornets and wow) from Thai folk.

Etymology

 * Bun (ບຸນ, บุญ) merit is from Pali Puñña merit, meritorio (पुण्य), ion, virtue, and Sanskrit पुण्य, puṇya, meritorious, good, or virtuous works.
 * Bang (ບັ້ງ, บั้ง (alternative spelling: บ้อง, bong)) is a cutting, specifically of bamboo.
 * Fai (ໄຟ, ไฟ) is Fire.
 * Prapheni (ประเพณี) is from Sanskrit परंपर, parampara, meaning an uninterrupted series, regular series, succession 'to be'handed down in regular succession'; from Pali paraṁparā 7795 paraṁparā series, tradition.

In popular culture
The 2006 Thai martial arts film, Kon Fai Bin, depicts the Rocket Festival. Set in 1890s Siam, the movie's hero, Jone Bang Fai ("Fireball Bandit"), is an expert at building the traditional bamboo rockets, which he uses in conjunction with Muay Thai martial arts to defeat his opponents.

Thai political protests in April 2010 similarly had Red Shirts firing bang fai in downtown Bangkok.

In 2013, Vangvieng's Bun Bang Fai was featured in the 2013 film, The Rocket. In the film, a young boy named Ahlo wanted to enter the rocket-making contest, hoping to win a big cash prize and prove that he was not cursed.

Videos
A video and a brief description about the Rocket Festival in Northeast Thailand (Issan, Esarn) can be seen from http://www.spatz-darmstadt.de (section "Asian Cultures" / "Ethnographic Videos" / "Thai,Lao Cultural Festivals" )

title: Rocket Festival


text:
Overmind

Overmind may refer to:

In science fiction

 * Overmind, an interstellar hive mind that dominates the Milky Way Galaxy in the novel Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke
 * Zerg Overmind, one of the antagonists in the StarCraft series
 * Overmind (comics), a supervillain in the world of Marvel Comics
 * Overmind, a group of three powerful aliens in the Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood video game
 * Overmind, a villainous artificial intelligence in the GURPS Reign of Steel roleplaying setting

In transpersonal psychology

 * Overmind, a concept in Sri Aurobindo's Integral psychology
 * Overmind, the highest level of consciousness in the eight-circuit model of consciousness

title: Overmind


text: User talk:66.168.213.5

title: User talk:66.168.213.5


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Talk:Investment (military)

Merge with contravallation
I have just written an article called investment (military), Perhaps all three articles should be merged together. But I am equally happy for them to remain separate articles --Philip Baird Shearer 09:24, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
 * having thought about it I have decided to merge them both into investment (military) --Philip Baird Shearer 13:45, 16 May 2007 (UTC)

Siege
Isn't "investment" simply an archaic term for "siege"? If there is a distinction between the two, please indicate what that is.77Mike77 (talk) 14:30, 31 January 2013 (UTC)

 * OED besiege To sit down before (a town, castle, etc.) with armed forces in order to capture it; to lay siege to, beleaguer, invest.
 * OED invest: To enclose or hem in with a hostile force, so as to cut off approach or escape; to lay siege to; to besiege, beleaguer;
 * I.e. invest is a specific form of besieging where (as this article describes) the town or fortress is completely enveloped. There are other types of besieging where the town or fortress is not invested. To see an example of where both were tactics were used see the article siege of Basing House -- PBS (talk) 20:35, 31 January 2013 (UTC)

title: Talk:Investment (military)


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Surin Elephant Round-up

The Surin Elephant Round-up is a cultural festival held every year in Surin Province, Isan, Thailand. Usually the event is organized during the third week of November on the weekend. The festival has its origins in the royal hunts which were conducted in Surin Province during medieval times. The indigenous residents of Surin, the Kuy, have been traditional practitioners of corralling elephants and training them as working animals. When the Ayutthaya Kingdom came into power these hunts were converted into a public extravaganza and wild elephants were replaced with tame ones. The festival, in its contemporary form, was first organized in the 1960s when civil war in Cambodia and the steady decline in economic value of elephants forced the elephant handlers (mahouts) to seek occupations in the entertainment and tourism industry.

The modern two-day event includes a variety of shows displaying the physical prowess and skill of the animals, such as soccer games and tugs of war with the Royal Thai Army. Elephants painting pictures, playing polo, and whirling hula hoops on their trunks are also incorporated into the show. Numerous floats are put on display. The venue for the event, Si Narong Stadium, has been dubbed the "world's largest domestic elephant village" by the Tourism Authority of Thailand.

Ancient tradition
Since ancient times wild elephants, believed to number in the thousands, roamed freely in the forests around Thailand. In Surin these elephants were rounded up, corralled and captured in hunts which were highly ritualistic and involved many mythological aspects. These hunts also served an economic purpose, as the captured elephants were tamed and used as pack animals or sometimes as war animals. These ritual hunts were noted by historians as ancient as Strabo, Arrian, and Megasthenes. The hunters, who mainly came from the tribe of Kuy people, performed several rituals before, during and after performing the actual hunt. These included divination from bones, wearing special clothes believed to possess protective powers, praying to the lassos for the strength to restrain the elephants and praying to ancestors. They also prayed to terrestrial and woodland spirits to grant success to the hunt.

14th to 18th century
While the Ayutthaya Kings were in power, the elephant hunts were converted into a public spectacle and lost much of their ritualistic element. The round-ups became a royally sponsored event where local dignitaries and overseas guests were invited to savour the spectacle. Among these notable foreign dignitaries, who attended the event through royal invitation was François-Timoléon de Choisy. He wrote in his diary that the king had arranged a special round-up for his foreign guests even though the real event date had not arrived.

Late-19th century to 1960s

As the post-war era neared its end, the elephant round-up became progressively more staged and less of a real hunt. It became common to use tame or even trained elephants during the event. The round-ups were enacted primarily for the entertainment of royal guests. For example, King Chulalongkorn, also called Rama V, had a round-up specially staged for the Russian Prince Nicholas II in 1891 during the latter's world tour as a crown prince. Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore visited Thailand and its provinces during 1903 and was bestowed with a royal invitation to see the round-up as an envoy of the NGS. She wrote about her experience, titling the story "The Greatest Hunt in the World". In her printed story she related that the monarch of Siam and his entourage came to stay at the summer palace for the roundup which they sponsored. Dignitaries came by cruiser or rail, and locals mostly arrived by boat. She said that hunters worked for many hours and used various tactics to herd elephants numbering in their hundreds towards the "kraal". The krall was an enclosure, the broadness of whose walls was about two meters and it had an inner enclosure made out of thick teak logs which measured up three and half meters in height. Iron bands buttressed the wooden walls. According to her account, more than 250 elephants were rounded up that year. Some were unintentionally hurt as they stomped and trumpeted during the round-up, but these received immediate care.

Over time, the round-ups grew progressively staged. The elephants utilized in the round-ups were often tame, who had to play the role of wild animals. This move from actual to artifice preceded the influx of tourism and therefore tourists never witnessed a real hunt. By 1938, the round-up had transitioned so far into a staged event that ladies in the audience were asked to choose which elephant ought to be captured next. The round-ups were abandoned in 1938, although a special "last" round-up was officially sponsored by the monarchy in 1962. It was staged in honour of King Frederik IX of Denmark and his wife Ingrid, who visited Thailand in early-1962.

Re-emergence as a contemporary cultural festival
Less than 34 years after the event lost royal patronage, it re-emerged as a prominent social festival with less ritual and more flair. According to some sources the first such round-up was organized and celebrated in 1955, while according to others the first event was celebrated in the 1960s. Either way, the first modern event was held on a modest scale in the Tha Tum subdistrict of Surin Province.

The festival was then moved to Surin proper. Nowadays, elephants and their trainers travel 100 km to Surin to participate in the festival. The ritualistic elements and traits of the festival have all but disappeared and the festival has become a pure tourist festival.

Preparation
The Kuy hunters who are singled out to perform in the round-up perform a morning ritual called the "Pak Kum Luang" almost an entire week before the festival. This ritual includes praying at the Pakam shrine, which is sacred to the lasso, as their elders had done in ancient times and then offering pigs heads, chickens, wine, jos sticks and herbs. When the required sign is obtained, the elders blow the hunters horn which signals that the 60 km long trek to the festival can commence. The journey is usually undertaken using trucks. The elephants and their mahouts arrive with at least five days to spare and spend this time roaming the streets while offering rides and practicing for their performance. The wives of the mahouts travel alongside them.

Festival
On Friday morning, a marching procession of approximately 300 elephants starts moving through Surin city from the railway station toward the elephant roundabout on Prasat Road in the southernmost neighborhood of the city.

The elephants carry dignitaries who dismount their steeds on arrival. Some elephants carry mahouts in authentic replicas of battle outfits from the Thai–Khmer–Laos battles. Intermingled with the elephant procession are students of local schools and their teachers in traditional dress, who are dancing and playing music.

Once all the elephants have arrived, the banquet begins. The tables for the banquet measure 400 meters in length and are customarily decorated with traditional silk cloth.

The food is presented before the elephants; leftovers are taken home by the local people. On 14 November 2003, the buffet set a Guinness World Record for "largest elephant buffet" when 269 Asian elephants came together to devour over 50 t of fruit and vegetables.

On Saturday, the entire company of elephants and their mahouts congregate at the Elephant Stadium just after daybreak. The ceremony at the stadium begins with a speech from the chairperson of the ceremony, after which baby elephants are paraded through the stadium. Then the processional march of bull elephants takes place. Next, the Kuy hunters pray to the lasso and showcase their skills at capturing elephants. They display how elephants were captured by hunters working alone, and how sometimes elephant riders were used to capture other elephants. Tame elephants which could be utilized to corral wild ones have been bred by the Kuy people since ancient times and are called Khonkies or Koomkies.

After the elephant capture technique displays, there are displays of acrobatics, matches of soccer and polo, and displays of tasks performed by tamed elephants, such as logging. Another event which displays the raw strength of Surin's elephants is the elephant vs. army tug of war contest. The contest starts with 50 army personnel against the biggest bull elephant. As the bull beats the soldiers, 15 more are added until there are 100 soldiers matched against a single bull, and even then the bull usually wins.

The finale of the show is re-enactment of a historical battle between Siamese and Burmese forces. The forces are dressed in traditional colours with red for Siam and blue for Burma. They take up positions according to traditional battle tactics, with a front row of foot soldiers, central portion of elephants protecting the "king" elephant in the middle and a rear guard. The battle ends with Siamese victory.

Along with the elephant show the stadium hosts a mini-half marathon called "Mueang Chang". The Red Cross Society also holds a cultural performance with the elephant show. The elephant show is repeated on Sunday morning.

title: Surin Elephant Round-up


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Talk:International Criminal Police Organization – Interpol

the article states: employed a staff of 384, representing 54 different countries. Of those, 112 were police officers, 112 civilians

so what are the other 160 staff? --dblandford 20:28, 10 Jun 2005 (UTC)

The Euro to USD exchange on this page appears to be extremely out of date. Maybe the exchange should be removed entirely, anyone wanting to see the amount in USD can just look up the current rates? I'm didn't put these statistics on here, so I'm not sure if that would cause an inaccuracy or even if the 30 million euro mark is still as accurate as it was then. I think the statistics should be dated. (I speak of this line: "...which total about EUR €30 million (USD $28 million).")

Confusion about relative size of international organizations
the article states:
 * Interpol is the world's second largest international organization, after the United Nations; it currently has 181 member countries. It is financed by annual contributions from its member countries, which total about EUR €30 million (USD $28 million). Interpol has €25 million when Europol has €50 million.

Does this mean that Interpol is actually the third largest int'l organization? What criteria is being used here? Andyabides 11:50, 18 Dec 2004 (UTC)

 * Most probably the criteria is number of members. --Pouya 20:56, 18 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Renaming
I propose that this article be moved to Interpol. Nobody calls it the International Criminal Police Organization; everyone calls it Interpol. It is by far the most common name. Interpol already redirects here. And no other uses of the word Interpol (bands deriving their names from it etc) are anywhere near as well-known as Interpol itself. -- Necrothesp 19:16, 11 August 2005 (UTC)


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George Albert Boulenger

George Albert Boulenger (19 October 1858 – 23 November 1937) was a Belgian-British zoologist who described and gave scientific names to over 2,000 new animal species, chiefly fish, reptiles, and amphibians. Boulenger was also an active botanist during the last 30 years of his life, especially in the study of roses.

Life
Boulenger was born in Brussels, Belgium, the only son of Gustave Boulenger, a Belgian public notary, and Juliette Piérart, from Valenciennes. He graduated in 1876 from the Free University of Brussels with a degree in natural sciences, and worked for a while at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Brussels, as an assistant naturalist studying amphibians, reptiles, and fishes. He also made frequent visits during this time to the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle in Paris and the British Museum in London.

In 1880, he was invited to work at the Natural History Museum, then a department of the British Museum, by Dr. Albert C. L. G. Günther and assigned to the task of cataloguing the amphibians in the collection. His position in the British Museum meant that he had to be a civil servant of the British Empire, so became a naturalized British subject. In 1882, he became a first-class assistant in the Department of Zoology and remained in that position until his retirement in 1920.

After his retirement from the British Museum, Boulenger studied roses and published 34 papers on botanical subjects and two volumes on the roses of Europe. He died in Saint Malo, France.

According to biographical accounts, he was incredibly methodical and had an amazing memory that enabled him to remember every specimen and scientific name he ever saw. He also had extraordinary powers of writing, seldom made a second draft of anything he wrote, and his manuscripts showed but few corrections before going to the publisher.

Boulenger also played the violin, could speak French, German, and English apart from reading Spanish, Italian and a bit of Russian. As a zoologist, he also had a working knowledge of both Greek and Latin.

By 1921, Boulenger had published 875 papers totaling more than 5,000 pages, as well as 19 monographs on fishes, amphibians, and reptiles. The list of his publications and its index of species covers 77 printed pages.

He described 1,096 species of fish, 556 species of amphibians, and 872 species of reptiles. He was famous for his monographs on amphibians, lizards and other reptiles, and fishes, for example, his monographs on the fishes of Africa.

He was a member of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists and was elected its first honorary member in 1935. In 1937, Belgium conferred on him the Order of Leopold, the highest honor awarded to a civilian.

His son, Edward George Boulenger (1888–1946), was also a zoologist and held the post of Director of the London Zoo Aquarium.

Work on cave-dwelling fish
In 1897, King Leopold II of Belgium started to recruit naturalists to help create the Congo museum. Boulenger was named chairman for this commission.

His main discovery in 1921 was a strange fish from the Congo. It was eyeless and lacked pigmentation. He recognized it as new and unrelated to any extant epigean (eyed, surface) species of Africa. He wrote a brief paper describing this new species of cave fish, the first ever described from Africa. He called it Caecobarbus geertsii, from caeco = blind, barbus = barb, and geertsii, honoring a mysterious person, M. Geerts, who provided him with the specimen. Today, it is known as the Congo blind barb or African blind barb.

Honours

 * 1912: Member of the Royal Academy of Science, Letters and Fine Arts of Belgium.

Species
Boulenger described hundreds of reptile taxa; 587 species described by him are still recognised today. He also described many amphibians and fishes.

These 26 reptile species, recognised today, bear George Boulenger's name in the specific name, as boulengeri, boulengerianus, boulengerii, or georgeboulengeri :

 * Agama boulengeri Lataste, 1886 – Boulenger's agama
 * Anolis boulengerianus Thominot, 1887 – Tehuantepec anole
 * Atractaspis boulengeri Mocquard, 1897 – Boulenger's burrowing asp
 * Atractus boulengerii Peracca, 1896 – Boulenger's centipede snake
 * Brachymeles boulengeri Taylor, 1922 – Boulenger's short-legged skink
 * Chalcides boulengeri Anderson, 1892 – Boulenger's sand skink
 * Cnemaspis boulengerii Strauch, 1887 – Con Dao rock gecko
 * Compsophis boulengeri (Peracca, 1892) – Boulenger's forest snake
 * Cylindrophis boulengeri Roux, 1911 – Timor pipesnake
 * Dendragama boulengeri Doria, 1888 – Boulenger's tree agama
 * Elapsoidea boulengeri Boettger, 1895 – Boulenger's gartersnake
 * Feylinia boulengeri Chabanaud, 1917 – gabon legless skink
 * Hebius boulengeri (Gressitt, 1937) – Tai-Yong keelback
 * Enyalius boulengeri Etheridge, 1969 – Brazilian fathead anole
 * Epacrophis boulengeri (Boettger, 1913) – Lamu blindsnake
 * Gonyosoma boulengeri (Mocquard, 1897) – rhinoceros ratsnake
 * Chersobius boulengeri Duerden, 1906 – Karoo padloper
 * Liolaemus boulengeri Koslowsky, 1898 – Boulenger's tree lizard
 * Morethia boulengeri (Ogilby, 1890) – Boulenger's snake-eyed skink
 * Nucras boulengeri Neumann, 1900 – Ugandan savanna lizard
 * Pareas boulengeri (Angel, 1920) – Boulenger's slug snake
 * Xenoxybelis boulengeri (Procter, 1923) – southern sharp-nosed snake
 * Rhampholeon boulengeri Steindachner, 1911 – Boulenger's pygmy chameleon
 * Scolecoseps boulengeri Loveridge, 1920 – Moçambique legless skink
 * Trachyboa boulengeri Peracca, 1910 – northern eyelash boa
 * Trachylepis boulengeri (Sternfeld, 1911) – Boulenger's skink

In the above list, a binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than the genus to which it is currently assigned.

The water cobra genus Boulengerina was named for G.A. Boulenger, but it is now treated as a subgenus of Naja  containing four species: Naja annulata  (water cobra), Naja christyi  (Congo water cobra), Naja melanoleuca  (forest cobra), and Naja multifasciata  (burrowing cobra).

Fish species named after Boulenger

 * The catfish Heterobranchus boulengeri Pellegrin
 * Hyphessobrycon boulengeri (Eigenmann, 1907)
 * Lepidiolamprologus boulengeri (Steindachner, 1909)
 * Xenophysogobio boulengeri (T. L. Tchang, 1929) was named for Boulenger, who provided "some guidance" (translation) in the completion of Tchang's paper.

title: George Albert Boulenger


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Addams Family Values

Addams Family Values is a 1993 American supernatural black comedy film directed by Barry Sonnenfeld and written by Paul Rudnick, based on the characters created by Charles Addams. It is the sequel to The Addams Family (1991). The film features almost all the main cast members from the original film, including Anjelica Huston, Raul Julia, Christopher Lloyd, Christina Ricci, Carel Struycken, Jimmy Workman, and Christopher Hart. Joan Cusack, Carol Kane, and David Krumholtz joined the cast for this film.

Compared to its predecessor, which retained something of the madcap approach of the 1960s sitcom, Addams Family Values is played more for very dark and macabre laughs. The film revolves around the family's adjustments to the birth of new baby Pubert. Subplots include Fester Addams marrying Pubert's nanny Debbie Jellinsky, who is a serial killer intending to murder him for his inheritance; and teenagers Wednesday and Pugsley Addams being sent to summer camp.

The film was released by Paramount Pictures on November 19, 1993. In contrast to its predecessor's mixed reception, the film was well received by critics; however, it was not as financially successful, with a box office gross of $111 million against a budget of $47 million. In the decades since its release, the film has become acclaimed for its humor and performances. This would be Julia's final theatrical film released during his lifetime; he would appear posthumously in one more film, Street Fighter (1994).

Plot
Gomez and Morticia Addams hire a nanny named Debbie Jellinsky to take care of their newborn son Pubert after a number of failed attempts by his siblings Wednesday and Pugsley to kill him, for which Gomez and Morticia gently rebuke them. Unbeknownst to them, Debbie is a serial killer who marries and then murders rich bachelors to collect their inheritances. After Debbie seduces Uncle Fester, Wednesday becomes suspicious of her intentions. In an effort to maintain her cover, Debbie tricks Gomez and Morticia into believing Wednesday and Pugsley want to go to summer camp.

Wednesday and Pugsley are sent to Camp Chippewa, managed by the always cheerful and lively Gary and Becky Granger, where they are singled out by the counselors and popular and snobbish girl Amanda Buckman for their macabre appearance and behavior. Joel Glicker, a nerdy bookworm and fellow outcast, becomes attracted to Wednesday. Debbie and Fester become engaged.

At her bachelorette party, Debbie is repulsed by the Addams family and their relatives. At their wedding, Fester passionately and with great emotion declares his everlasting devotion, while Debbie offers a lackluster response. On their honeymoon, she tries unsuccessfully to kill Fester by throwing a boombox into the bathtub. Frustrated, Debbie forces him to cut ties with his family; when they try to visit Fester and Debbie at their home, they are removed from the premises. The Addamses are alarmed to find that Pubert has transformed into a blue-eyed, rosy-cheeked and blond-haired baby. Grandmama diagnoses this as a result of his disrupted family life, and Gomez becomes horribly depressed.

Back at Camp Chippewa, the counselors cast Wednesday as Pocahontas in Gary's Thanksgiving play, "A Turkey Named Brotherhood". When she refuses to participate, she, Pugsley, and Joel are all sent to the camp's "Harmony Hut" and forced to watch hours of wholesome family entertainment movies and television shows. Afterwards, the three feign cheerfulness, and Wednesday agrees to take part. However, during the performance, she reveals her deception and returns to being her true self. With help from Joel, Pugsley, and the other outcast campers, they capture Amanda, Gary, and Becky by igniting the pilgrim set. Later, Wednesday and Joel share their first kiss before they begin separating, with Joel staying behind to lead their friends to ensure the camp's permanent destruction. Pugsley and Wednesday return home in the campsite's stolen van.

Debbie tries to kill Fester by blowing up their mansion, but he survives its destruction. She then pulls a gun and reveals that she never loved him and was only interested in his money. Thing helps Fester escape by knocking Debbie aside with her own car. Fester apologizes to Gomez upon his return to the Addams mansion, and Wednesday and Pugsley return, successfully reuniting the family at last. Just then, Debbie arrives in another car, holds the family at gunpoint, and straps them into electric chairs with the intent of killing them all. As the Addams family members listen to her sympathetically, she admits that as a child and young (self-proclaimed) ballerina, she killed her parents, Sharon and Dave, after they gave her a Malibu Barbie doll on her 10th birthday rather than her desired ballerina Barbie, and then, when she grew up, murdered her first two husbands for incredibly frivolous and materialistic reasons. Meanwhile, Pubert, now restored to his normal, pale and mustachioed self, escapes from his crib with a knife and reaches the rest of the family via a series of improbable events. As Debbie pushes the switch down to electrocute the Addamses, Pubert connects two loose wires that route the electrical current through her instead, burning her body to ashes and leaving only her shoes and credit cards intact, thereby rescuing the rest of his family members from their ultimate death sentences planned by Debbie.

Some time later, the Addamses and their relatives gather to celebrate Pubert's first birthday, with Joel also attending. Fester laments Debbie's loss, but soon becomes smitten with Dementia, a new nanny whom Cousin Itt and his wife Margaret Alford have hired to care for their child. Out in the family graveyard, Wednesday tells Joel that Debbie was a sloppy killer, and that Wednesday would have scared her victim to death and made sure not to be caught. As Joel lays flowers on Debbie's grave, a hand emerges from the earth and grabs him, prompting Wednesday to smile as he screams in the end.

Cast

 * Anjelica Huston as Morticia Addams
 * Raul Julia as Gomez Addams
 * Christopher Lloyd as Fester Addams
 * Christina Ricci as Wednesday Addams
 * Christopher Hart as Thing
 * Carel Struycken as Lurch
 * Jimmy Workman as Pugsley Addams
 * Carol Kane as Grandmama Addams (replacing Judith Malina)
 * John Franklin as Cousin Itt
 * Joan Cusack as Debbie Jellinsky
 * Dana Ivey as Margaret Alford-Addams (wife of Cousin Itt Addams)
 * David Krumholtz as Joel Glicker
 * Kaitlyn and Kristen Hooper as Pubert Addams
 * Peter MacNicol as Gary Granger
 * Christine Baranski as Becky Martin-Granger
 * Mercedes McNab as Amanda Buckman, a camper at Camp Chippewa (McNab played the Girl Scout in the first film)

Cameo roles

 * Director Barry Sonnenfeld and Julie Halston as the parents of Joel Glicker.
 * Nathan Lane as the police desk sergeant. Lane would eventually go on to play Gomez in the Addams Family Broadway musical.
 * David Hyde Pierce as the delivery room doctor
 * Peter Graves as America's Most Disgusting Unsolved Crimes anchorman
 * Sam McMurray and Harriet Sansom Harris as Amanda's parents
 * Ian Abercrombie as a driver
 * Chris Ellis as a furniture delivery driver
 * Tony Shalhoub as Jorge
 * Cynthia Nixon as Heather, a nanny interviewee

Production
The "family values" in the film's title is a tongue-in-cheek reference by writer Paul Rudnick to a 1992 speech ("Reflections on Urban America") made by then-vice presidential candidate Dan Quayle. In the speech, Quayle controversially blamed the 1992 Los Angeles riots on a breakdown of "family values".

Production of Addams Family Values began in Los Angeles on February 8, 1993. According to Anjelica Huston, it became increasingly clear during filming that Raul Julia's health was deteriorating. He had trouble eating and was losing weight as a result. He died in October 1994, less than a year after the film was released. Sequoia National Park, particularly Sequoia Lake, in the Sierra Nevada of California, was the site of the movie's "Camp Chippewa".

Michael Jackson's involvement
Singer Michael Jackson was supposed to feature a song in the film called "Addams Groove/Family Thing". The song is mostly rumored to have been removed due to the child sexual abuse allegations against Jackson; in reality, it was because of contractual differences with Paramount Pictures. The song has since been leaked online. Jackson is referenced in the film via a poster in the Harmony Hut advertising his 1992 single "Heal the World", which horrifies Joel.

Box office
Addams Family Values opened at number 1 at the US box office in its opening weekend with a reported gross of $14,117,545. In its second week, the film dropped to number 2 behind Mrs. Doubtfire, and in its third week to number 3 behind Mrs. Doubtfire and A Perfect World. Its final box office gross in the United States and Canada was $48,919,043, a significant decline from the previous film's domestic total of $113,502,426. Internationally it grossed $62 million, for a worldwide total of $110.9 million.

Critical response
Addams Family Values was well received, receiving significantly better reviews than the first film. On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film received an approval rating of 75% based on 114 reviews, with an average rating of 6.7/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "New, well-developed characters add dimension to this batty satire, creating a comedy much more substantial than the original". On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 61 out of 100 based on 21 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, a grade up from the "B" earned by the previous film.

Janet Maslin of The New York Times wondered if "the making of this sequel was sheer drudgery for all concerned", then answered herself by writing: "There's simply too much glee on the screen, thanks to a cast and visual conception that were perfect in the first place and a screenplay by Paul Rudnick that specializes in delightfully arch, subversive humor". Leonard Klady of Variety was slightly less enthusiastic than Maslin: "It remains perilously slim in the story department, but glides over the thin ice with technical razzle-dazzle and an exceptionally winning cast". Richard Schickel, writing for Time, was even less enthusiastic than Klady, calling the film "an essentially lazy movie, too often settling for easy gags and special effects that don't come to any really funny point". Both Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert had disliked the first film. Siskel gave Addams Family Values a mixed review and accused Sonnenfeld of caring more about how the film looks than how the jokes play. Ebert, however, gave the film three stars out of four and thought that, unusually for a sequel, it improved upon its predecessor. He enjoyed the various subplots and recommended the film.

Accolades
The film was nominated for an Academy Award in the category Best Art Direction (Ken Adam, Marvin March), but lost to Schindler's List; and Huston was nominated for the 1993 Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for her performance as Morticia, a reprise of her Golden Globe-nominated performance in the 1991 original. The film won also a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Original Song for the Tag Team track "Addams Family (Whoomp!)". Addams Family Values was nominated for AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs. In 2016, James Charisma of Playboy ranked the film #15 on a list of 15 Sequels That Are Way Better Than The Originals.

Home media
The Addams Family Values video game was produced by Ocean Software.

The film was released on VHS and DVD in 2000 with only two theatrical trailers as special features. It was re-released in 2006 with the first film on a single disc, with no new features.

In October 2019, the film debuted on the Blu-ray format when Paramount Pictures released double feature of Addams Family and Addams Family Values on Blu-ray in the United States, along with standalone releases. In Australia, the film was released on VHS by Paramount Home Entertainment (Australasia) in 1994. In 2002, the film was released on DVD with theatrical trailers in the extra features.

Legacy
In retrospect, Barry Sonnenfeld recalled: "I was disappointed in the box office for the second film. I think the first film is more romantic and the second film is funnier. Part of the reason it didn't do as well is that the marketing of the movie was so similar to the first one that people didn't think it was going to be any value-added and I really wanted to push the Pubert of it all and the Fester of it all. Instead, the whole campaign was back with the original Addams Family, so it wasn't really promising anything new. I think that's in part why it didn't do as well. Many people love it as much or more as the first one".

In the decades since its release, the film has been reassessed with retrospective acclaim. Once a source of mixed reception, the film's dark humor and satire has become lauded. Ricci and Cusack's performances have also received praise, with Cusack's role in particular becoming the source of several memes and tribute videos on YouTube dedicated to her performance.

title: Addams Family Values