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LaTanya Richardson Jackson

LaTanya Richardson Jackson (born October 21, 1949) is an American actress. She began her career appearing in off-Broadway productions, before playing supporting roles on television and film.

Richardson has appeared in films including Fried Green Tomatoes (1991), Malcolm X (1992), Sleepless in Seattle (1993), When a Man Loves a Woman (1994), Losing Isaiah (1995), Lone Star (1996), U.S. Marshals (1998), and The Fighting Temptations (2003). Her television credits include 100 Centre Street (2001–2002), Show Me a Hero (2015), Luke Cage (2016–2018), and Rebel (2017).

Personal life
She was born in Atlanta, Georgia. While attending Atlanta's historically Black, all-female Spelman College in 1970, she met actor Samuel L. Jackson, then a student at the historically Black, all-male Morehouse College. She and Jackson married in 1980. They have one child, freelance film and television producer Zoe Jackson, born in 1982. After her daughter's birth, Richardson stopped working regularly for family reasons.

Career
Richardson played Paulina Pritchett in the 2003 musical film The Fighting Temptations. She has appeared in four films with her husband, Samuel L. Jackson: Juice (1992), Losing Isaiah (1995), Freedomland (2006), and Mother and Child (2009).

In 2014, Richardson received a Tony Award nomination for Best Lead Actress in a Play for her performance in the play A Raisin in the Sun, her second appearance on Broadway after her debut in the 2009 revival of Joe Turner's Come and Gone. She appeared in Aaron Sorkin's adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird on Broadway in the 2018–19 season.

From 2017 to 2023, Richardson made regular appearances as Maggie Pierce’s adoptive mother, Diane, on Grey's Anatomy.

In September 2022, Richardson made her directorial debut directing the Broadway revival of August Wilson's play The Piano Lesson at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre.

title: LaTanya Richardson Jackson


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The Blue Flowers

The Blue Flowers, also known as Between Blue and Blue (original French title: Les fleurs bleues), is a French novel written by Raymond Queneau in 1965.

The English translation is by Barbara Wright, who also translated Queneau's Zazie in the Metro. The Italian translation was by Italo Calvino.

Plot introduction
The Duke of Auge dreams that he is Cidrolin, living on a barge alone with his daughter, while Cidrolin dreams that he is the Duke of Auge, travelling through the history of France. They will meet in 1964. Carl Reinecke, a critic writing for the London Times, has argued that this novel is an example of the archetypal "prodigal son" storyline.

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

title: The Blue Flowers


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Sturgeon Bay

Sturgeon Bay is an arm of Green Bay extending southeastward approximately 10 miles into the Door Peninsula at the city of Sturgeon Bay, located approximately halfway up the Door Peninsula. The bay is connected to Lake Michigan by the Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal. The Potawatomi name for Sturgeon Bay is "Na-ma-we-qui-tong".

Origin
The bay seems to represent the pre-glacial path of the Menominee River, with the valley deepened by glacial carving and then submerged into rising lakewaters.

Bridges
Three bridges cross the bay, including the historic Sturgeon Bay Bridge, and the recently finished Oregon Street Bridge.

Fish
Sturgeon Bay and Little Sturgeon (just to the south of Sturgeon Bay) are considered biodiversity hotspots because they support a large number of different fish species.

Researchers collected viral hemorrhagic septicemia viruses from 184 different fish from 2003 to 2017. Two were found from 2007 to 2010 infecting smallmouth bass within Sturgeon Bay. Each of them was a different variant of a type not found in the middle or lower Great Lakes.

Mayflies
In June 2016, an estimated several thousand mayflies hatched in Sawyer Bay (within Sturgeon Bay). This was the result of an experiment to stock millions of eggs from the species Hexagenia limbata and Hexagenia bilineata in the lower Green Bay area in an attempt to reintroduce the species. The last mayfly from the genus Hexagenia had been collected in the lower Green Bay area in 1955. As mayfly populations can be unstable and not all stocking locations appeared to be successful, as of 2017 it was not yet known whether it would be possible for populations of Hexagenia mayflies to become self-sustaining.

title: Sturgeon Bay


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Machi (hip hop group)

Machi is a Taiwanese hip hop group that has nine active members, with two additional members on a hiatus from group activities.

Current

 * Jeff, Huang Li Cheng
 * Stan, Huang Li Xing
 * Jae Chong
 * Andrew, Zhou Li Ming
 * Nicky, Li Jiu Zhe
 * Edward, Huang Li Quan
 * Mel, Yang Yun He
 * Luke, Cui Wei Kai
 * Suffa, Fei Luu Feng
 * Don P, Hong Jian Jun

Former or inactive

 * Steven, Lin Zhi Wen
 * Kenny, Zhou Yi Ming
 * Gabe, Lan Jun Tian

Founders

 * Bobby Sheng
 * Jae Chong
 * Jeffery Huang

International collaborations
MACHI collaborated with well-known hip-hop artist Missy Elliott after meeting in New York. Missy Elliott was impressed by Taiwanese rap and remixed her well-known song "Work It" with Machi's Jump 2003; resulting in the debut crossover Work it, Jump 2003. Producer Floss P, from Dr. Dre's Aftermath music label, also produced a track "You Can't Do It" for MACHI on their second album 2nd Opus in July 2004. MACHI then looked around Asia and teamed up with Asia's top Turntablist DJ TOMMY from Hong Kong on their third album Superman.

MACHI Entertainment
MACHI Entertainment is one of the largest Asian hip hop/rap record labels. It was founded in Taiwan by super music producer Jae Chong and business partners Jeffrey Huang and Bobby Sheng. The label is independent of Warner Music Taiwan. As a member of the group SOLID, Jae Chong sold millions of records in Korea and later became one of the most prolific music producers in Asia with more than 50 million albums sold all over the world. He partnered with Jeffrey Huang and Bobby Sheng who founded TheOne Technology Group back when they were still based in Los Angeles. TheOne Technology Group specialized in bridging the cultural and language barriers for Internet-based projects. Together, they acquired a stellar clientele list including IBM, Nike and Hewlett-Packard. In 2000 they orchestrated a $60,000,000, three-company merger that combined TheOne Technology group and Dynalab with DynaComware. Together, they re-structured the company in Japan and has positioned it for an IPO on the Japan Stock Exchange in 2005.

Their new venture, MACHI Entertainment is their respond to the emerging entertainment sector and the demand for urban music in the entertainment industry in Asia. In 2001, they founded Machi Entertainment Group, the leading music and television production company for the "Urban" genre in Taiwan. Machi established itself as the leader in Music production in Asia with leading talents such as Jeffrey Huang, Jay Chou, Missy Elliott, A-mei, Stanley Huang, Jolin Tsai, Vanness Wu, Elva Hsiao, Coco Lee, Brandy, Nicky Lee, Melody Yeung, and solid partnerships with Warner Music Group, Virgin EMI, and Sony. Machi Entertainment's investment in foreign distribution and television production has also established Machi as a young and innovative entertainment

Libel suit
Group founder Jeff Huang was sued by a Republic of China legislator for libel. The rap song "Retribution" released in 2005 implied possible death for corrupt legislators who may have passed laws to possibly make it easier to illegally copy and distribute music in Taiwan. The Taipei District Court found him innocent on 11 May 2007, citing no "intention of malice".

title: Machi (hip hop group)


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Talk:Wynn

Untitled
What font is needed to view the runes at ? Is there somewhere I can get it? The rune on wynn is still a ? for me instead of &x16b9; -- Merovingian ✍  Talk  01:58, Aug 11, 2004 (UTC)

Moving back to Wynn
The unicode character is not displayable using the default character sets that are widely available. Moreover, it is not a character in modern English orthography. At minimum, article titles should be visible to users without the need to load specialized software. Robert A West 18:34, 9 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Good. Septentrionalis 18:35, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

Oh, and if someone feels the need to move it back again, please take it to WP:RM. See Naming conventions (use English). The default rule on Wikipedia has been elucidated on the talk page for that policy by Jimbo Wales: "My perspective is that if I don't see it on my keyboard, and if I didn't sing it in the alphabet song, it's 'fancy' and therefore should be avoided." We should not do otherwise without consensus. Robert A West 19:34, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

Origin of Æ

 * Re: your removal of Æ from the article - Æsc "Ash" does exist in the Old English Rune Poem, although I am not certain on its etymology into English since this ligature existed in Classical /Medieval Latin and other languages. I have restored the removal - please log in and discuss the changes on the talk page. - WeniWidiWiki 19:11, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

The letter Æ æ is simply a ligature of the two latin letters a and e. See the article Æ, which explains it in details. In particular, the letteræ is, in English, just a transliteration of the rune æsc.

So, I understand (now) your confusion: the letter itself (æ) is of latin origin, but its (English) name (æsc/ash) is of runic origin --147.210.22.149 21:21, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

The roman glyph æ is indeed a ligature, but remember that in English, æ was a singular letter, as there was a singular "ash" rune, distinct from the A rune. English is not latin. Speak ENGLISH or get out!—Ƿōdenhelm (talk) 14:03, 11 November 2008 (UTC)

Wynn and LaTeX
The Thorn (letter) article has the LaTeX coding. Can this be added for the Wynn in this article here? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.90.242.55 (talk) 16:36, 16 February 2018 (UTC)

UU Digraph
The article states that "the earliest Old English texts represent [the /w/] phoneme with the digraph ⟨uu⟩". Is this information reliable? After a bit of searching the earliest text I could find was a copy of Cædmon's Hymn from the mid-8th century (seen here), which uses a single ⟨u⟩ to represent the aforementioned phoneme. 71.12.123.95 (talk) 23:05, 15 April 2018 (UTC)

Distinguishing wynn from p
From the article:
 * since the early 20th century the usual practice has been to substitute the modern ⟨w⟩ because of ƿynn's visual resemblance to P.

Conspicuous by their absence are the following: Damian Yerrick (talk) 16:02, 28 July 2019 (UTC)
 * A citation for this, such as the preface of a work explaining this substitution
 * Images of ⟨ƿ⟩ near ⟨p⟩ in the same manuscript to illustrate how manuscripts of the time approached distinguishing the letters (bonus points: find one that also uses insular ⟨r⟩)
 * Guidelines from respected type designers as to how to approach wynn, analogous to Sigurdur Armannsson's article "The Making of Thorn, thorn, Eth, eth" and Gunnlaugur SE Briem's "Design / Thorn and eth"

 * Was wondering about this question myself. I don't have a designer analysis, but I did find this blog post with an example text. The image below the badger skin clearly has p, ƿ, and r, and even one word with all of them ("⁊ sproƿ ⁊ his ƿif" written between lines, left of the hole in the page). It looks like in this hand, p's bowl is open and its stroke curls in and upwards, wynn has a closed bowl and sometimes appears flat on top, and r is like an n with a long left leg and the right one curling to the right.   --97.113.115.170 (talk) 04:42, 13 January 2021 (UTC)

title: Talk:Wynn


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New Democratic Party Socialist Caucus

The New Democratic Party Socialist Caucus is an unofficial left-wing faction within Canada's New Democratic Party.

Its manifesto maintains that the New Democratic Party has moved too far to the right, and is in danger of becoming indistinguishable from the Liberal Party. Consequently, the Socialist Caucus also opposed Tony Blair's Third Way policies and their adoption by the NDP because they "[leave] the basic class and economic structures of capitalism unchanged."

Origins
The Socialist Caucus was founded in early 1998 in Toronto by Barry Weisleder, Joe Flexer, Sean Cain, Jorge Hurtado and other political activists who had been involved in Peter Kormos's unsuccessful 1996 campaign to lead the Ontario New Democratic Party. It soon had branches in Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia, as well as supporters in Manitoba, Quebec and Nova Scotia. It is now active primarily in Ontario at the federal and provincial levels. It also has supporters in other provinces. The caucus views itself as the successor to The Waffle of the 1960s and 1970s and a number of members in the Socialist Caucus were also in the NDP's Left Caucus and the Campaign for an Activist Party or CAP of the 1980s.

The Trotskyist group Socialist Action plays a "leading role" in the Socialist Caucus.

An earlier group called the Socialist Caucus was formed around 1959 and 1960 in Vancouver. It consisted of a group of Co-operative Commonwealth Federation dissidents, "communists, Trotskyists, and fellow travellers" led by former CCF Member of Parliament Rod Young, and was involved in the CCF and then the NDP. The group published a journal called Press and then Socialist Caucus Bulletin, which was co-edited by Ernie Tate. The group eventually had branches in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, and Quebec and eventually folded into The Waffle.

Policies
The group is a socialist faction and advocates economic democracy and workers' control, full employment, the nationalization of large industries and the eradication of poverty and homelessness.

The caucus is anti-imperialist, and condemns many of the actions of the United States' government. It supports the Cuban Revolution, the withdrawal of Canada from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), the independence of Quebec, and opposes Zionism.

Leadership campaigns
In 2001, the Socialist Caucus ran Marcel Hatch in a leadership challenge against Alexa McDonough. Hatch won 120 votes out of 765 ballots cast. Bev Meslo was the Socialist Caucus' candidate in the party's 2003 leadership election, winning 1.1% of the vote in the party's first One Member One Vote leadership election, which was won by Jack Layton.

After an unsuccessful attempt to draft Peter Kormos to run for the leadership of the Ontario NDP, the Socialist Caucus endorsed Michael Prue leading up to the 2009 ONDP leadership election.

In the 2012 and 2017 NDP leadership elections, the Socialist Caucus endorsed Niki Ashton, on the latter occasion after leading an unsuccessful effort to draft former Ontario Federation of Labour president Sid Ryan as a candidate.

Other activities
In 2011, the Socialist Caucus proposed resolutions at that year's federal NDP convention to oppose the Alberta oil sands, legalize marijuana, boycott "apartheid Israel", repeal the Clarity Act, and nationalize auto, bank and insurance companies. In the wake of the NDP's breakthrough in the 2011 federal election in which they won over 100 seats and formed Official Opposition in the House of Commons for the first time, Socialist Caucus chair Barry Weisleder told The Globe and Mail that "the election on May 2 sent a very clear message: the voters rejected the Liberal Party and the NDP should not strive to become a substitute Liberal Party. That’s the road to ruin", adding that "To survive, the NDP has to turn left and offer Canadians and in particular working people, an alternative to the corporate agenda." The faction also opposed a motion to remove the phrase "democratic socialism" from the preamble of the NDP's constitution and supported an unsuccessful resolution to bar the NDP from considering merger with the Liberal Party of Canada. None of the resolutions proposed by the Socialist Caucus received enough support to reach the floor of the convention for debate.

The Socialist Caucus publishes a newspaper named Turn Left, edited by Sean Cain, for each federal and Ontario provincial NDP convention. Beginning with the 2011 NDP convention issue, the publication took the form of a magazine.

In September 2011, caucus chair Barry Weisleder won the nomination to be the Ontario NDP's candidate in Thornhill in the 2011 provincial election. Within 48 hours, the party's provincial secretary rescinded the nomination without explanation.

The Socialist Caucus opposed moves by the NDP at the 2011 and 2013 federal conventions to rewrite the preamble of the party's constitution in order to remove its commitment to socialism.

The Socialist Caucus in the Ontario New Democratic Party criticized Andrea Horwath's conduct of the party's campaign in the 2014 provincial election and unsuccessfully called for a review of her leadership at the party's subsequent convention in November 2014.

During the 2015 federal election, caucus leader Barry Weisleder was outspoken in his criticisms of the party's platform and campaign, claiming that the party had moved to the right under leader Tom Mulcair. Weisleder told the National Post that the party under Mulcair had undergone "a continuation of the movement towards conservative policies. It remains a party linked to working people and the working-class organizations in the country. But its leadership and the policies of that leadership continue to embrace the capitalist order." Subsequently, the Socialist Caucus called for the removal of Mulcair as party leader and supported a leadership review at the NDP convention held in April 2016 in Edmonton.

title: New Democratic Party Socialist Caucus


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Talk:Hopcount

Untitled
This article was listed of Votes for deletion and the consensus was to keep: see Votes for deletion/Hopcount

The title
Can the author change the title to hop_count (a space between hop and count)? I am unable to edit this. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mmeerman (talk • contribs) 00:49, 6 January 2010 (UTC)

distance
Can someone explain how hop count is a measure of distance? The number of hops has nothing to do with distance. One hop will get you from NYC to London England. One hop will get you from NYC to NYC.Vegaswikian
 * "Distance" in this case is not a physical measure (eg. metres). It is a count of the number of network nodes a packet must travel through, in order to reach its destination. The greater number of nodes, the "further" it must travel.
 * In your example, if the number of hops between the two NYC computers were 10 and the number of hops between the NYC and London computers were 5, then the two NYC computers would have the greater distance between them. (This simplistic case does not take into account other factors such as transmission medium, etc).
 * TheParanoidOne 19:51, 31 Mar 2005 (UTC)

 * "Logical distance vs. physical distance" might have summed it up more succintly than the above.
 * TheParanoidOne 20:00, 31 Mar 2005 (UTC)

 * That's the real right answer. That needs to get put into the article.  The logical distance is the more important one, all other factors being equal.  The larger the hop count, the more chance to run into an overloaded router or some other form of network delay.  Vegaswikian 07:01, 1 Apr 2005 (UTC)

title: Talk:Hopcount


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Talk:Pitt

Untitled
This page was listed on Votes for deletion and the consensus was keep: see Votes for deletion/Pitt

title: Talk:Pitt


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The Aquabats

The Aquabats are an American rock band formed in Huntington Beach, California, in 1994. Throughout many fluctuations in the group's line-up, singer the MC Bat Commander and bassist Crash McLarson have remained the band's two constant fixtures. As of 2024, the Aquabats' members include saxophonist Jimmy the Robot, drummer Ricky Fitness, guitarists Eaglebones Falconhawk and Chainsaw, the Prince of Karate, trumpeter Cat Boy and keyboardist Gorney.

Easily identified by their masks and matching costumes, the Aquabats are perhaps most recognized for their comedic persona in which they claim to be crime-fighting superheroes. This theme serves as subject for much of the band's music and as part of their theatrical stage shows, which typically feature various stunts and fight scenes with costumed villains and monsters. Musically, the Aquabats have continuously evolved over the course of their career, initially starting as a ska band before reinventing themselves in the early 2000s as a new wave–influenced rock band. The band's current musical style mixes rock and punk with elements of new wave, ska and synth-pop.

The Aquabats have released six studio albums, two extended plays, one compilation and one soundtrack album, among other recordings. To date, three of the Aquabats' albums have charted on the Billboard 200: 1997's The Fury of The Aquabats!, 2011's Hi-Five Soup! and 2019's The Aquabats! Super Show! Television Soundtrack: Volume One. The Aquabats' seventh studio album, Finally!, was released on June 21, 2024.

From 2012 to 2014, the Aquabats also created and starred in The Aquabats! Super Show!, a live-action musical action-comedy television series which aired on American cable channel The Hub. The series ran for three seasons, earning a total of eight Daytime Emmy Award nominations and ultimately winning one. Following a successful Kickstarter campaign, the series was independently revived as a YouTube series from 2019 to 2021.

Formation

In the early 1990s, musicians Christian Jacobs, Chad Larson and Boyd Terry met and befriended each other while living in Brea, California. Having all been active in various local punk and alternative rock bands, the three eventually conceived the idea of forming a joke band satirizing the Orange County punk scene, which Jacobs described at the time as being overwhelmed with "testosterone, beer and people fighting". The concept was to start an unabashedly silly punk band as a complete antithesis to the genre's more aggressive and humorless bands, with the intention of performing at punk shows to poke fun at the scene. While later attending a ska show in Orange County, Jacobs was exposed to the area's burgeoning ska scene and was impressed by its ethos: as he recalled, "No one was fighting or pushing each other but having a good time". It was then decided that they would start a ska band instead, "to be part of the fun".

With Jacobs assuming vocal duties, Larson on bass guitar and Terry on trumpet, the trio recruited several more musician friends from other local bands to piece together a full ensemble. Each member of the original line-up had musical backgrounds in various genres, including ska, punk, surf and new wave, all elements which were incorporated into the band's music and aesthetic: for example, the name "The Aquabats" was created to sound like a classic surf band, while a shared admiration of Devo inspired the idea of matching costumes. Jacobs simply recalled in a 2013 interview, "We wanted to combine Devo with surf music and ska". Rehearsing only once in a house Jacobs and Larson shared at the time, The Aquabats played their first show a mere week after forming at a house party in August 1994. Larson remembered this show as merely "a joke...we weren't trying to be a band. We were trying to have fun". Nevertheless, encouraged by a positive audience reception, The Aquabats started performing more local shows, soon becoming familiar faces within the Orange County underground.

1994–1996: early years
With professionalism far from foremost concern, The Aquabats' earliest band line-ups changed with almost every concert, occasionally featuring as many as twelve to fourteen musicians at a time onstage, with the majority typically playing brass instruments. As they gradually developed a steady following and began playing shows with more regularity, the band settled into a tighter and more manageable unit consisting of around eight to nine musicians, filled out by a horn section, two guitarists and a keyboardist. It was with this type of line-up that The Aquabats began recording, independently producing the demo tapes The Revenge of the Midget Punchers in 1994 and Bat Boy in 1995.

Initially, The Aquabats intended to make each of their performances unique by wearing a different set of matching costumes for every concert, ranging from chef's uniforms to grass skirts and fezzes, all with an individual persona — during one show wearing chef outfits, for instance, the band hosted an actual onstage barbecue. When the group's props and get-ups soon became more cumbersome to transport than their musical equipment, it was ultimately decided a singular costume was required. Terry, a future apparel designer who was employed by the wetsuit manufacturing company Aleeda at the time, acquired a large amount of spare rubber and neoprene and fashioned together a set of helmets and rashguards for the band members. The addition of customized vinyl belts, donated to the band by then-unknown artist Paul Frank, effectively completed the style The Aquabats would maintain for the rest of their career.

To accompany their distinct new uniforms, The Aquabats constructed a backstory which alleged they were actually superheroes hailing from the distant island of "Aquabania", though Larson admits the entire mythology was simply made up piece by piece as they went along from one interviewer to the next. As their mythology grew, the members soon adopted superhero stage names and identities, and began tailoring their live shows around a comic book aesthetic by incorporating onstage stunts and mock battles with costumed villains, antics which were originally ploys to get the band's friends into shows for free. Jacobs' brothers Parker and Tyler, a cartoonist and graphic artist, respectively, were brought in to help develop the band's cartoon-influenced visual style, designing their logos and promotional material as well as playing characters in The Aquabats' stage shows and mythology.

In 1995, The Aquabats independently produced and recorded their debut album, The Return of The Aquabats, pressing the CDs themselves. Having already amassed a sizable cult following for their increasingly eccentric live shows, the band managed to sell a respectable 20,000 copies of their album without any marketing or distribution. With the growing mainstream popularity of ska music, The Aquabats quickly rose to prominence within Orange County's booming ska scene, regularly touring alongside the likes of such commercially successful bands as No Doubt, Sublime and Reel Big Fish and bringing them to the brink of achieving mainstream recognition.

1997–1998: The Fury of The Aquabats! and mainstream breakthrough

By late 1996, propelled by the multi-platinum success of No Doubt and Sublime, ska had broken through into the American mainstream to become one of the most popular forms of alternative music. With record labels now turning their attention towards ska bands, The Aquabats were promptly signed to Goldenvoice Records and released their second album, The Fury of The Aquabats!, in October 1997 through Time Bomb Recordings. While still predominantly a ska album, The Fury showcased a more ambitious musical streak than The Return, incorporating stronger elements of punk and surf, as well as featuring instrumentals, parodies of ragtime and tango music, and a variety of unconventional instruments including sousaphones and banjos. Released at the commercial height of the American ska revival, The Fury earned The Aquabats minor mainstream success, peaking at number 172 on the Billboard 200 and number 12 on its Top Heatseekers, while lead single "Super Rad!" found regular airplay on MTV and Los Angeles' influential KROQ-FM. On July 25, 1998, they fought the alien rock band Gwar during The Ska Parade.

The Aquabats spent 1997 and 1998 touring extensively behind The Fury, carrying out both supporting and headlining tours of the United States and traveling internationally as part of the 1998 Warped Tour. By this time, the band had settled into a stable touring line-up of Jacobs (The Bat Commander), Larson (Crash McLarson), Terry (Catboy), drummer Travis Barker (The Baron Von Tito), guitarists Charles Gray (Ultra Kyu) and Courtney Pollock (Chainsaw, the Prince of Karate), trumpeter Adam Deibert (Prince Adam) and keyboardist/saxophonist James Briggs (Jaime the Robot, later Jimmy the Robot). This line-up would last The Aquabats up until 1998, when, in the middle of a tour with pop punk trio Blink-182, Blink unexpectedly fired their drummer Scott Raynor and recruited Barker as a last-minute replacement to sit in for the rest of the tour. By the tour's close, the band was so impressed with Barker's performance that they invited him to join Blink-182 as a full-time member, an offer which Barker accepted, amicably parting ways with The Aquabats. Barker was succeeded by Gabe Palmer (Doctor Rock), solidifying a line-up which would last the remainder of the decade.

With the band now finding enough success to generate both an adequate income and media visibility, Jacobs — a former child actor with ties in the entertainment industry — began to conceive the idea of adapting The Aquabats' superhero mythology into a television series. After pitching the concept to several networks, Buena Vista Television eventually agreed to help produce a short live-action pilot in 1998, directed by comedian Bobcat Goldthwait. Titled simply The Aquabats!, the pilot followed the fictional misadventures of the eight band members in an intentionally campy style similar to Saturday morning cartoon shows. The pilot, which has yet to be made available for public viewing, failed to attract any network interest and was later openly disowned by the band themselves.

1999–2004: change in genre, career decline and semi-hiatus
By the time The Aquabats began writing new material for their next studio album in 1998, the group had begun to feel pigeonholed by their public status as a "cheesy ska band" and consciously decided to start exploring more diverse musical styles rather than merely returning to a ska-based sound. As such, the band's third album, The Aquabats vs. the Floating Eye of Death!, marked an abrupt stylistic shift, completely abandoning the ska rhythms which dominated their previous albums in favor of more punk and new wave-influenced textures, emphasizing guitar and synthesizer-driven melodies over brass and woodwinds. With the total absence of The Aquabats' formerly marketable ska sound, Goldenvoice expressed mixed feelings over Floating Eye, reportedly telling the band that the album had no potential single material and would be difficult to promote. In a 2005 interview, Larson retrospectively lamented upon Floating Eye's lack of a commercial sound, noting that while he and the band felt the material was strong, it "probably wasn't the record we should have put out at that time".

True to their predictions, Floating Eye failed to match the commercial success of its predecessor, charting only at a mere 35 on Billboard's Top Heatseekers. Despite the album's underwhelming performance, Goldenvoice nevertheless granted The Aquabats a small budget for a music video, which the band instead used to film a five-minute promotional video as another prospective television pilot, The Aquabats! In Color!, an action-oriented series styled similarly to Japanese tokusatsu shows. Despite potential interest from the Fox Family Channel prior to their acquisition by Disney which cancelled all development deals, the pilot again failed to generate any interest, bringing The Aquabats' career to a standstill. Following the huge financial losses Goldenvoice suffered from the inaugural Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in 1999, the company was eventually forced to cease operations, leaving the Aquabats without a record label. After an unsuccessful search for a new label, the band eventually turned to the Internet to independently manage and promote themselves while the members resumed their day jobs to continue funding the band. Jacobs likened the experience to a superhero's alter ego, working by day and fighting crime [read: being an Aquabat] by night. While The Aquabats could not secure a proper recording contract, the band did negotiate a distribution deal with Fearless Records, releasing a collection of outtakes and demos from the Floating Eye sessions entitled Myths, Legends, and Other Amazing Adventures, Vol. 2 before slipping back into a period of relative inactivity.

With a lack of label support leaving the band to finance themselves entirely out of pocket, The Aquabats indefinitely postponed all plans for future recording or extensive touring, limiting their activity primarily to sporadic shows in the southwest United States. The loss of touring income, coupled with the band members' return to their jobs and families, eventually contributed to the departure of several key members: in 2000, guitarist Gray left the band, followed by Palmer and co-founder Terry in 2002. To avoid the financial constraints of hiring two new members, Adam Deibert assumed a dual role as trumpeter and guitarist for the band's live shows, while Palmer was replaced by former Assorted Jelly Beans drummer Ricky Falomir (Ricky Fitness). With this more stable and compact line-up, The Aquabats returned to the studio to record original music for Evan Dorkin's Welcome to Eltingville, a 2002 animated television pilot which aired on Adult Swim but was ultimately not picked up as a series. The following year, the band would release their first DVD, Serious Awesomeness!, featuring a full live performance filmed in Pomona, California, and numerous clips spanning their entire career.

In 2004, with almost five years passed since having released any official studio material, The Aquabats independently recorded and released the five-track EP Yo! Check Out This Ride! as an attempt to both satisfy the band's fanbase and serve as a potential demo to attract interest from record labels. As their first recording with only six members and no use of a horn section, ''Yo! Check Out This Ride!'' marked the most drastic shift yet in The Aquabats' sound, taking the band even further into keyboard-driven rock and new wave-influenced songwriting. This would also mark Deibert's final recording with the band, as he would officially retire from the group later in the year, reducing The Aquabats to a quintet.

2005–2009: Charge!! and renewed success

In the summer of 2004, The Aquabats were signed to independent label Nitro Records and began work on a new studio album in the fall. Despite this fortuitous turn of events, the group were still uncertain of their future following their semi-hiatus and radical shift in line-up; Jacobs later admitted that the band spent the recording sessions under the belief that it could possibly be their last album. After several months of production and much online hype, The Aquabats released their fourth album, Charge!!, on July 7, 2005. Continuing with the direction set by ''Yo! Check Out This Ride!, Charge!!'' was a bold introduction to The Aquabats' new musical style of guitar-driven, new wave-influenced rock.

Released to a largely positive critical reception with many critics praising the band's shift in genre, Charge!! effectively revitalized The Aquabats' career as the band recommitted themselves to regular touring. Days after the album's release, The Aquabats headlined a successful 34-city tour of the United States with similarly theatrical bands The Epoxies and The Phenomenauts, followed by tours of the United Kingdom and Japan, the latter supporting Nitro Records founders The Offspring. On September 23, 2005, The Aquabats made their national television debut on the G4 program Attack of the Show, performing Charge!!'s lead single, "Fashion Zombies!".

While the following year would present even more lucrative touring opportunities for The Aquabats, the band's renewed success would also have its drawbacks. In May 2006, it was announced that guitarist Pollock had reluctantly departed the group after 12 years, claiming the band's increased touring activity was conflicting with his business schedule. Pollock was succeeded by former Death by Stereo member Ian Fowles (Eaglebones Falconhawk), though he would continue to contribute guitar tracks to The Aquabats' studio albums and perform with the band as a second guitarist for their southern California concerts and major festival shows. After releasing a limited-print tongue-in-cheek "One Year Anniversary Edition" of Charge!!, The Aquabats carried out another national tour before announcing a brief hiatus in January 2007 to focus on writing their next album.

During this period, Jacobs had been pursuing a career in television production with his creative partner and longtime Aquabats collaborator Scott Schultz, independently filming prospective pilots for family television shows. In 2007, Jacobs and Schultz successfully sold one of their pilots, a preschooler show called Yo Gabba Gabba!, to Viacom's Nick Jr. Channel. As a musically oriented program, Yo Gabba Gabba! featured several guest appearances by The Aquabats, appearing onscreen performing both old and new songs and starring in various sketches. The series went on to become an award-winning international sensation, bringing a generous amount of media attention towards both Jacobs and The Aquabats, just enough to persuade Gabba's production company Wild Brain to help produce a new pilot again based on the band.

Shot on location throughout California in early 2008, The Aquabats' third television pilot, titled The Aquabats! Super Show!, was a fully realized half-hour episode featuring both live-action and animated storylines starring and featuring original music by the band. The Aquabats spent the remainder of 2008 heavily promoting the Super Show! pilot through extensive viral advertising and further touring, including appearances at the 2008 San Diego Comic-Con International, where the pilot was publicly debuted for fans, high-profile festivals including the Bamboozle Left and Groezrock in April 2009, and opening for Blink-182 on two dates of their 2009 reunion tour.

Though The Aquabats continued to be a popular touring draw, the band experienced a tumultuous period of pre-production on their proposed fifth studio album lasting for nearly two years. Though a July 2007 news update announced that preliminary recording had already begun, no new material ever surfaced from these sessions or was ever performed live. As the band resumed touring throughout the United States and Europe, fewer updates were reported on the album's progress until all plans were abruptly ceased in April 2009, when The Aquabats were dropped from Nitro Records due to "trying economic times and a struggling musical landscape", according to Jacobs. With a glum confirmation of "no record company, no record", The Aquabats' future seemed once again shadowed in doubt.

2010–2013: Hi-Five Soup! and The Aquabats! Super Show!
Despite the lack of a record label, The Aquabats continued to tour internationally throughout 2010 and 2011, headlining tours of the United States and the United Kingdom, as well as appearing at the 2010 Soundwave festival in Australia — the band's first ever visit to the continent. In August 2010, The Aquabats suddenly announced on their website that they would be independently releasing their next studio album in November of that year. However, following a last-minute distribution deal with Fearless Records, the album's release date was postponed to 2011 to provide for proper marketing and promotion, and an EP containing its first single, Radio Down!, was released in its place. Hi-Five Soup!, The Aquabats' fifth full-length album, was released on January 18, 2011, becoming the band's highest-charting album since The Fury, debuting at number 181 on the Billboard 200 and number 5 on Top Heatseekers. In promotion of the album, the band embarked on a 21-city national tour supporting Reel Big Fish, followed by a performance at the 2011 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

On March 24, 2011, it was formally announced via press release that The Aquabats! Super Show! had been acquired as a series by family cable channel The Hub, a joint venture between Hasbro and Discovery which launched in 2010 as a replacement for Discovery Kids. Created and produced by Jacobs, Schultz and Jason deVilliers, the series followed the fictionalized adventures of The Aquabats in a deliberately campy style inspired by the 1960s Batman TV series, mixing live-action storylines with cartoon shorts, parody commercials and musical interludes featuring new original music and songs written and performed by the band.

After spending the majority of 2011 in production, the first season of ''The Aquabats! Super Show! ran for thirteen episodes from March 3, 2012, to June 16, 2012, meeting with a largely positive critical reception and consistently high ratings for the modestly sized channel, eventually earning a Daytime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Children's Series, which it ultimately lost to fellow Hub series R. L. Stine's The Haunting Hour''. In October 2012, production began on the series' second season, which premiered on June 1, 2013, with a short run of five episodes. The following October, three additional episodes were filmed, though The Hub later explicitly referred to these episodes as "specials" rather than a continuation of season two. These three specials aired from December 21, 2013, to January 14, 2014.

In a Huffington Post feature on the band prior to the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con, Jacobs revealed that The Hub had opted not to renew ''The Aquabats! Super Show!'' for another season following extensive network rebranding by Hasbro and Discovery, effectively canceling the series. Jacobs admitted he was surprised by this turn of events, noting "Everything we heard was that the show has been a real Cinderella story for the Hub and that it was rating really well with viewers. We just assumed that we'd eventually go back into production or at least get picked up for Season 3", but ultimately concluded "it is what it is" in regard to the network's decision.

2014–2018: continued touring and anniversary shows
Since the 2012 premiere of ''The Aquabats! Super Show!'', The Aquabats largely cut back on extensive touring in order to accommodate their television production schedule, once again limiting their live shows to occasional performances within the Southwestern United States. In April 2013, the band carried out a six-show tour of Europe and the United Kingdom, concluding with an appearance at the Groezrock punk rock festival in Belgium. The following June, The Aquabats were once again featured on the Warped Tour, though only played eight shows in the Southwest region. Despite playing a limited portion of the tour, the band were regularly featured on the second season of Fuse's Warped Roadies, a reality series documenting the road crew of the Warped Tour, where they were most notably the subject of one episode in which they incur the wrath of a stage manager for repeatedly playing over their set times.

On March 17, 2014, in celebration of their 20th anniversary as a band, The Aquabats announced the first leg of their "20th Anniversary Tour" for May, their first extensive headlining United States tour in years, covering fifteen shows in nine states on the East Coast. The following July, the band carried out five more dates across California, Washington and Oregon, then announced eleven more dates covering six states across the western half of the country.

Following another stretch of relative inactivity for most of 2015 and 2016, The Aquabats announced a 13-date tour of the American Midwest and East Coast in May 2017, supported by Reggie and the Full Effect, C. J. Ramone and Kepi Ghoulie, subsequently followed by a six-date tour of the West Coast in October with Dog Party. Ticket options for these shows included "Super Rad Packages" with bonus exclusive merchandise, most notably a split 7" single of full-length versions of the Super Show! songs "Burger Rain" and "Beat Fishin'", The Aquabats' first new studio recordings since 2011's Hi-Five Soup. In mid-February 2018, The Aquabats played nine dates in the United Kingdom with Army of Freshmen supporting Bowling for Soup on their "Get Happy!" tour.

In celebration of the 20th anniversary of 1997's The Fury of The Aquabats!, the band worked with veteran producer and engineer Cameron Webb on a complete remaster of the album which was independently released on vinyl and CD with bonus material on April 6, 2018. The following day, The Aquabats played two sold-out shows at Los Angeles' Fonda Theater where they performed The Fury of The Aquabats! in its entirety, joined by former members Pollock, Terry and Deibert. Notably, Travis Barker appeared during the evening show to play three songs as his Baron von Tito persona, marking the first time Barker had performed with the band since 1998. Three weeks later on April 28, this extended line-up performed as part of Barker and John Feldmann's Back To The Beach ska festival in Huntington State Beach, where Barker again joined the band for three songs.

2019-present: The Aquabats! RadVentures!, Kooky Spooky...In Stereo, and Finally!
On July 31, 2018, after several weeks of teasing a major band announcement, The Aquabats launched a high-profile Kickstarter campaign with the goal of raising a minimum of $1.1 million to help finance an entire return season of ''The Aquabats! Super Show!, as well as the production and release of three albums: a new studio album, a Super Show!'' soundtrack and a re-recorded greatest hits compilation. The campaign video featured a slew of celebrity cameos voicing support for the band, though most prominently featured actor and musician Jack Black, who was confirmed by Billboard to serve as executive producer for the series' return. Along with the launch of the Kickstarter, The Aquabats began releasing a series of metafictional Super Show! "mini-episodes" exclusively to their YouTube channel, depicting the MC Bat Commander's quest to reunite the estranged Aquabats following their show's cancellation.

By August 28, mere days before the campaign's end date of September 1, the Kickstarter had only raised $601,629 of the band's desired $1.1 million goal. The funding was voluntarily cancelled and the campaign was significantly restructured, resurrected the same day with a new goal of $100,000 for a new album and continuing production of Super Show! "mini-episodes". The $100,000 mark was met within minutes and the project ultimately raised over $600,000, which was stated to be used to independently produce "at least twelve" mini-episodes of Super Show!, two new Aquabats studio albums, one live album, and two Super Show! soundtrack albums.

Throughout 2019, The Aquabats worked resolutely to fulfill their Kickstarter-funded projects. In March, the band simultaneously released The Aquabats! Super Show! Television Soundtrack: Volume One, a soundtrack compilation of songs from Super Show!'s first season, and ''The Fury of The Aquabats! Live at The Fonda!, a live recording of a 2018 performance of The Fury of The Aquabats!'', as exclusive digital downloads for Kickstarter backers. In June, preceded by the release of the single "Cobraman Theme!", ''The Aquabats! Super Show! Television Soundtrack: Volume One was given a wide physical release on The Aquabats' self-operated label Gloopy Records, premiering at 165 on the Billboard'' 200 and number one on Top Heatseekers, the band's highest placement on each chart to date. Starting September 28, 2019, ''The Aquabats! Super Show! was officially relaunched as a biweekly YouTube-exclusive web series entitled The Aquabats! RadVentures!''.

"Skeleton Inside!", the first single from The Aquabats' sixth studio album, premiered on the band's YouTube channel on October 25, 2019, though did not make mention of an album title or a tentative release date beyond "later this year". The album's official title, Kooky Spooky...In Stereo, was revealed in February 2020, followed by the album's second single, the couch potato-themed "Pajamazon!", on April 10. Inspired by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, which necessitated mass self-quarantining and social distancing, "Pajamazon!" was promoted by a music video primarily made up of self-submitted videos of fans and friends of The Aquabats dancing to the song in their homes, marking The Aquabats' first music video since "Fashion Zombies!" in 2005. While Kooky Spooky...In Stereo was originally scheduled for a June 20 release date, manufacturing delays resulting from the coronavirus pandemic as well as political tensions from the ongoing George Floyd protests which began in late May 2020 prompted the band to postpone the album's release; in an uncharacteristically serious public statement, The Aquabats acknowledged that "There will always be time for goofy, rowdy rock...but it doesn't feel right to us to be loud and self-promoting at this moment in time", encouraging open discussion about race and racism and linking to resources from the National Museum of African American History and Culture and confirming a new digital release date of August 21, 2020.

On February 29, 2024, the band announced their seventh album, Finally!, as well as the return of Chainsaw The Prince of Karate and Catboy and introducing Gorney. The album dropped on June 21st.

Musical style
Over the course of their career, The Aquabats have experienced several radical evolutions in their sound and musical style.

Having originally formed as a part of Orange County's burgeoning third wave ska scene, much of the band's early material was rooted in the genre. Boasting an eight-piece line-up featuring two lead guitarists, a keyboardist and a horn section consisting of two trumpets and a saxophone, The Aquabats' style of ska was primarily driven by brass and guitar, incorporating elements of surf rock and punk rock. Their second album, 1997's The Fury of The Aquabats!, while still predominantly ska-based, found the band starting to expand their sound into newer territory, featuring more pronounced punk and surf influences and tongue-in-cheek experimentalism, including several instrumentals, pastiches of ragtime and tango music and the utilization of such unconventional instruments as clarinets, electric sitars and even manualism.

In 1999, The Aquabats underwent a significant shift in style for their third studio album, The Aquabats vs. the Floating Eye of Death!, and its companion piece Myths, Legends, and Other Amazing Adventures, Vol. 2, further exploring the multi-genre eclecticism which had been hinted at with The Fury. A conscious decision by the band to write more diverse material, these albums saw a near-complete forfeit of the brass-driven ska of their previous albums in favor of more guitar and synthesizer-structured songwriting, embracing a punk rock and new wave sound greatly influenced by Devo and Oingo Boingo, two of The Aquabats' biggest inspirations. The band also began widening their genre experimentation to encompass such disparate styles as electronica, synthpop and even hip-hop, elements which persist in their sound to present day.

During The Aquabats' career lull in the early 2000s, several of the band's key members departed from the line-up, eventually reducing the former octet down to a mere quintet of vocals, guitar, keyboards, bass, and drums. This inevitably had a profound impact on The Aquabats' sound, in particular the complete loss of their once characteristic horn section. 2005's Charge!!, the first release featuring this reduced line-up, marked an abrupt shift from the eclecticism of their previous records, firmly establishing The Aquabats' current rock-based musical style, mixing elements of punk, new wave and ska, a style which has also been described as some publications as "nerd rock" owing to the band's lyrical emphasis on pop culture.

In recent years, The Aquabats have introduced an increased presence of keyboards and synthesizers into this style, with critics noting their 2011 album Hi-Five Soup! as featuring more noticeable elements of synthpop and electronica.

Departure from ska genre
Although the band continues to incorporate occasional elements of ska into their music, The Aquabats have since distanced themselves from their association with the ska genre after having moved away from an overtly ska-based sound in the early 2000s, having since labeled themselves as simply a "rock band" in their official press biographies. In a 2012 interview, singer Christian Jacobs stated "I don't think we ever considered ourselves a ska band. We were just The Aquabats. And some of the songs we happened to play were ska", noting elsewhere, "It was never a deliberate thing [to stop playing ska], but I think it just naturally happened because there's a lot of different styles of music that we play. I've always been into bands like Ween and things like that, that can chameleon-like drift from genre to genre and play whatever music they want...there's no boundaries. If you set yourself up as a punk band, then you pretty much just have to play punk. Or if you're a ska band, you just play ska". Chad Larson, speaking on the same matter, explained "Having the same guitar rhythm for every song gets kind of boring...even on the earlier albums that had ska rhythms we were focusing more on the 'adventure' songs than really 'ska' songs. So as we grew as musicians, we wanted to experiment with different rhythms", adding "we were never really a good ska band anyway".

Live performances
Since the earliest days of the band, The Aquabats have earned a reputation for their theatrical live performances featuring a variety of comedic stunts and antics based around their superhero-themed persona.

During the 1990s, when their concerts were at their most elaborately staged, a typical Aquabats performance would often include choreographed fight scenes with costumed villains, the use of numerous props, acrobatic stunts and varying degrees of pyrotechnics, ranging from small fireworks to The MC Bat Commander fire breathing. While many of these elements were eventually phased out of the live shows in the early 2000s, the one consistent staple of every Aquabats concert has remained the band's onstage "battles" with villains and monsters. These villains, typically played by The Aquabats' road crew, will crash the stage at one or two moments in the show and exchange humorous banter with the band before engaging each other in mock combat. These fights have ranged from short, improvised fistfights to fully choreographed stage combat utilizing breakable props, maneuvers such as flying kicks and back flips, and sometimes spreading out into the audience, with The Aquabats ultimately winning most—but not all—encounters. For some performances, in place of a villain, The Aquabats will feature a sketch with one of their "allies": for example, to segue into their song "Magic Chicken", the titular character— a man in a chicken suit— will come onstage to hand out fried chicken to audience members. Audience participation is a common element of The Aquabats' stage shows. Both the band and their onstage characters regularly interact with the crowd, including initiating mass games of beach ball volleyball or spraying them with substances like Silly String and fire extinguishers. Additionally, a few of The Aquabats' enemies are known only to be "defeated" by fans by being pelted with projectiles supplied by the band, usually large quantities of plastic balls. Acknowledging the younger members of their fanbase, The Aquabats often incorporate any children in the venue as part of their shows, inviting them to dance onstage with the band at the end of their sets. With parents' permission, children can also take part in onstage games and activities with the aid of the audience. The most common of these have included "pool floatie races", where two selected children mount inflatable rafts or pool toys and race across the venue via crowd surfing, and assisted stage diving, in which between songs the MC Bat Commander will gently throw children into a waiting audience so they may experience their "first punk rock moment".

On the visual end of these performances, keeping in line with their cartoon and pop culture-inspired aesthetic, The Aquabats' stage shows are accompanied by a large video screen backdrop which plays montage clips of various cartoons, movies, TV shows, and stock footage specifically edited to match each song. This screen also plays prerecorded comedy videos starring the band which introduce and close each show, as well as fake commercials for fictional Aquabats-brand products which serve as impromptu "commercial breaks" between songs. These visuals, along with the band's props and costumes, are regularly changed to accommodate special seasonal performances, in particular The Aquabats' annual holiday shows.

Superhero mythology
Perhaps even more so than for their music, The Aquabats are widely recognized for their eccentric superhero identity which adheres to a comprehensive mythology reflected in the band's music, stage shows and promotional material in which the members are in fact a team of musical crimefighters on a quest to save the world.

Detailed in their lyrics, liner notes, website and television series, The Aquabats have developed a small but elaborate fictional universe surrounding this mythology, describing the band's fictitious history and outlandish adventures as well as conceiving an extensive roster of enemies and allies, many of whom are the subjects of specific songs and have appeared as part of The Aquabats' stage shows in mock fight scenes or comedic skits. Over the years, this mythology, and in particular the fictional backstory regarding their origins, has continually changed, evolved and occasionally been retconned to explain changes in the band's line-up.

The Aquabats' origin story can be separated into two distinct eras. For the first half of their career, the band maintained a consistently canonical backstory established over the course of their first two albums, alleging the band members were actually humanoid bat creatures hailing from a distant tropical island called Aquabania. According to legend, Aquabania had been invaded by the villainous Space Monster "M", forcing the surviving inhabitants to flee into the ocean where they eventually washed ashore in California and were taken in by Professor Monty Corndog, a mad scientist who used "chemicals" to give them superpowers. Donning costumes including such accessories as "radioactive rashguards", "power belts", and "anti-negativity helmets", The Aquabats chose to channel their powers through music in order to "take over the world" by attracting legions of fans to aid them in combating Space Monster "M" and reclaiming their homeland, fighting the numerous villains and monsters who'd attempt to thwart their musical quest along the way.

With the heavy line-up changes in the early-to-mid 2000s which left only two of the original members remaining, The Aquabats eventually dropped the Aquabania elements out of their backstory, reestablishing themselves as a group of freelance superheroes of indeterminate origin who travel the countryside, fighting evil and "destroying boredom". This loose framework would later serve as the basis for the band's television series, The Aquabats! Super Show!, where each member's character was further developed to showcase their own individual powers and personalities, transitioning the Aquabats' mythology from a story arc to a character ensemble. While the series' first season left the band's origins intentionally vague, several episodes of the second season feature each member of The Aquabats recounting the band's history in animated flashback sequences; while one of these sequences recalls the original Aquabania mythos, each member's flashbacks directly contradict one another, leaving it unknown which could be considered officially canonical.

Aquacadets and The Aquabats Cadet Faction
Fans of The Aquabats are referred to by the band as Aquacadets or the more casual "Cadets", a title which has held alternately official and unofficial status among their fanbase for most of the band's career.

Throughout the late 1990s and into the mid-2000s, The Aquabats operated an official fan club known as The Aquabats Cadet Faction, selling membership packages which typically offered a variety of exclusive merchandise, access to exclusive web content, a subscription to an official newsletter written by members of the band and entrance into occasional semi-private "secret shows" held at smaller venues. Most significantly, enrollment into The Aquabats Cadet Faction granted card-carrying members admission into official fan conventions known as Cadet Summits, where fans could meet and interact with The Aquabats through Q&A panels, games and award shows where fans received trophies in categories including "Cadet of the Year". The Aquabats held five such Cadet Summits throughout Southern California from 1997 to 2006:

 * October 25, 1997, Fountain Valley: The Aquabats hosted a day for fans at Bullwinkle's Family Fun'N'Food family entertainment center, which featured the premiere screening of the "Super Rad!" music video.
 * December 5, 1998, Pomona: the band performed an exclusive show at The Glass House concert venue alongside screenings of various videos including the only public showing of The Aquabats! 1998 television pilot.
 * April 6, 2000, Santa Ana: advertised as "The Third Sorta-Annual 1999/2000 Aquacadet Summit", The Aquabats performed an extended awards show-themed concert at The Galaxy Theatre, featuring additional performances by side projects The Moon Monkeys, Digital Unicorn and Le Pigbat.
 * January 18, 2002, Huntington Beach: The Aquabats hosted a picnic gathering on the beach, highlighted by an acoustic singalong set made up entirely of fan requests. This performance was recorded and later released as an officially sanctioned bootleg cassette in 2014.
 * June 6, 2006, in San Diego: hosted at the Concourse Meeting Hall during San Diego Comic-Con weekend, the band celebrated the 10th anniversary of The Return of The Aquabats by performing the album in its entirety with former member Prince Adam.

Following the 2006 Cadet Summit, The Aquabats Cadet Faction lapsed into an extended period of complete inactivity, upon which fans independently carried on unofficial fan club operations through social media, most notably the formation of numerous splinter factions based around certain themes, shared interests or geographic location: while most of these groups were small sub-sections within online fan communities such as Tumblr, some factions like "Piratebats" and "Ninjabats" cultivated a small real-world presence by attending The Aquabats' concerts in accordingly themed costume attire. In 2018, The Aquabats temporarily resurrected The Aquabats Cadet Faction as part of the Bring Back The Aquabats! Kickstarter campaign, again issuing personalized ID cards and exclusive merchandise and web content. As of 2020, however, Cadet Faction packages are no longer available, and there are no current plans for a future Cadet Summit.

In 2019, independent record label Related Records, who had previously released the officially sanctioned 2014 bootleg of The Aquabats' acoustic performance at the 2002 Cadet Summit, compiled and released No Singles: A 20 Year Anniversary Tribute to The Aquabats vs. The Floating Eye of Death, a fourteen-track tribute album covering the entirety of the band's 1999 Floating Eye of Death album by various underground punk, electronica and experimental musicians.

Side bands and related projects
The roots of The Aquabats are usually traced back to GOGO13, a ska band founded by Christian Jacobs' brothers Parker and Tyler while they were living in St. George, Utah, in 1993. Following their abrupt disbandment in 1994, several of GOGO13's members moved on to play in The Aquabats' earliest line-ups, during which time the band's performances consisted of several GOGO13 songs, most notably "Idiot Box!", which was later recorded for The Aquabats' first two albums. Parker Jacobs permanently reformed GOGO13 in 2001 and continues to tour with a rotating line-up of musicians which, among others, have included original Aquabats trumpeter Boyd Terry and guitarist Ben "The Brain" Bergeson.

From 1993 to 1995, Adam Deibert, Charles Gray, Corey Pollock and Pat "Patbat" McDonald were all members of the Huntington Beach ska band The Goodwin Club, recording only one full-length album before disbanding in April 1995, playing their final show opening for The Aquabats. The Goodwin Club reunited in 2015 with Deibert, Pollock and McDonald returning from the original line-up and continue to sporadically perform throughout Southern California, including as support for The Aquabats and GOGO13. Prior to forming The Aquabats, Christian Jacobs sang in a shoegazing duo called The Moon Men with future Aquabats and Yo Gabba Gabba! collaborator Scott Schultz, while Chad Larson was the bass guitarist for the hardcore punk band B.H.R. until their break-up in 1997.

In 1997, Parker Jacobs formed The Sandfleas as a side project to perform as openers at The Aquabats' shows, based on the gang of masked villains who had become a staple of The Aquabats' mythology and onstage rogues' gallery. Consisting anonymously of Parker Jacobs on vocals and a rotating line-up of musicians including Christian and Tyler Jacobs, Larson and Pollock, The Sandfleas played deliberately sloppy punk rock songs which were humorously antagonistic and insulting towards their audience, intending to be the musical "bad guy" equivalent to The Aquabats' "good guys". The Sandfleas released an EP entitled Four Songs Four Jerks on The Aquabats' Horchata Records label in 1999 before breaking up shortly afterwards. During their time in The Aquabats, Deibert and Gray both joined the Long Beach indie pop band Bikeride in 1999 as bassist and guitarist, respectively, recording on three of the band's studio albums, all of which featured James Briggs' guest contributions on saxophone and clarinet. Gray left Bikeride in 2002, though Deibert remained a member until lead singer-songwriter Tony Carbone's death from cancer in 2008. Shortly before Carbone's death, The Aquabats hosted a benefit show for Carbone in Pomona, California, where Deibert joined the band onstage during their encores. From 1999 to 2010, Deibert was also active in the two-man electronic project Digital Unicorn, which he had originally created as a last-minute replacement for an opening band who had dropped off a tour with The Aquabats. Digital Unicorn eventually progressed into a solo endeavor, culminating in the studio album Theirs Travel Began and Loaded the Dream, which was released on Horchata Records in 2001.

After leaving The Aquabats in 1996, Ben Bergeson founded the instrumental surf rock band The Moon Monkeys, playing numerous shows with The Aquabats and GOGO13 before releasing their sole studio EP So Far, Far Out! in 1999 on Horchata Records. Corey Pollock, following his own departure from The Aquabats in 2006, joined the Costa Mesa pop punk trio and longtime Aquabats tourmates Supernova in August 2008, playing with them under his Aquabat stage name of "Chainsaw" until their hiatus in January 2010.

As professional musicians, current guitarist Ian Fowles and drummer Ricky Falomir have performed and recorded with many bands and musicians of note, though are best known as original members of the punk rock bands Death by Stereo and Assorted Jelly Beans, respectively. In relation to The Aquabats, Fowles was a guest bassist for Hunter Burgan's Hunter Revenge and – in costume as EagleBones – Kepi Ghoulie's band during both groups' tours with The Aquabats, and in 2014, became an official member of My Chemical Romance singer Gerard Way's solo band after the two had become acquainted working together on ''The Aquabats! Super Show!, recording and co-writing on Way's 2014 debut Hesitant Alien''. In June 2015, both Fowles and Falomir made up ex-Ramones bassist C. J. Ramone's backing band for an East Coast tour with Japanese band Shonen Knife. Ricky also toured playing drums for LA reggae band The Aggrolites in 2009.

The band's original instrumental version of "Sequence Erase!", recorded with Parry Gripp, was used as the title theme for the band's original television pilot, ''The Aquabats! In Color!''. From 2004 to 2010, this recording was used as the theme song to the main series of Mega64, a video game-themed comedy series produced by a comedy troupe of the same name. As longtime friends and associates of The Aquabats, the main cast and crew of Mega64 would later go on to produce interstitial sketches for ''The Aquabats! Super Show!'' television series.

Discography
Studio albums
 * The Return of The Aquabats (1996)
 * The Fury of The Aquabats! (1997)
 * The Aquabats vs. the Floating Eye of Death! (1999)
 * Charge!! (2005)
 * Hi-Five Soup! (2011)
 * Kooky Spooky...In Stereo (2020)
 * Finally! (2024)

Current members

 * The M.C. Bat Commander (Christian Jacobs) – vocals (1994–present)
 * Crash McLarson (Chad Larson) – bass, backing vocals (1994–present)
 * Jimmy the Robot (James Briggs) – keyboards, saxophone and woodwinds, backing vocals (1997–present)
 * Ricky Fitness (Richard Falomir) – drums, percussion, backing vocals (2002–present)
 * Eaglebones Falconhawk (Ian Fowles) – guitar, backing vocals (2006–present)
 * Catboy (Boyd Terry) – trumpet, various brass instruments, backing vocals (1994–2002, 2024–present)
 * Chainsaw the Prince of Karate (Courtney Pollock) – guitar (1995–2006, 2024–present)
 * Gorney (Matthew Gorney) – piano, keyboards (2024–present)

Former members

 * Gumby (Matt Van Gundy) – guitar (1994–1995)
 * Nacho (Chad Parkin) – keyboards (1994–1996)
 * Roddy B. (Rod Arellano) – drums (1994–1996)
 * Ben the Brain (Ben Bergeson) – guitar (1994–1996)
 * Creedle (Wendall Creed) - guitar (1995)
 * E. Hauser - (1995)
 * Big Harold -saxophone (1995)
 * Captain Croxall (Brian Croxall) – trombone (1996)
 * The Baron von Tito (Travis Barker) – drums, percussion (1996–1998)
 * Ultra Kyu/The Mysterious Kyu (Charles Gray) – guitar, various string instruments, synthesizer, backing vocals (1996–2000)
 * Doctor Rock (Gabe Palmer) – drums, programming (1998–2002)
 * Prince Adam (Adam Deibert) – trumpet, synthesizer, guitar, backing vocals, hand accompaniment (1994–2004)
 * Popeye (Michael Vogelsang) – guitar (2005)

title: The Aquabats


text:
Sparky Adams

Earl John "Sparky" Adams (August 26, 1894 – February 24, 1989) was a professional Major League Baseball player who played with the Chicago Cubs, Pittsburgh Pirates, St. Louis Cardinals, and Cincinnati Reds. At 5 ft, Adams was the smallest Major League player during his career.

Chicago Cubs
Adams made his Major League debut with the Cubs on September 18, 1922. He played 11 games during the 1922 season. He spent the following two seasons as the team's shortstop, splitting time at the position with Charlie Hollocher. In the 1923 season, he hit four home runs in 311 at-bats for the season, then went on to hit only five the following 5,246 at-bats of his career. The 1925 season became his breakthrough, as he became a second baseman as a result of a trade that sent George Grantham to Pittsburgh, leaving the second base position open. As a hitter, he finished the season with 26 stolen bases, eight triples, and 627 at-bats, which led the National League. As a fielder, he led all second basemen in putouts, assists, and fielding average for the season.

In 1926, Adams increased his batting average to .309, and stole a career-high 27 bases, second-best in the National League. He also played all 154 games of the season, finished first in at-bats for the second year in a row with 624, and finished first in plate appearances with 700. The 1927 season saw Adams being used mainly as a utility infielder, although he started nearly every game. He played 60 games at second base, 53 at third base, and 40 at shortstop. He led the league in at-bats for the third year in a row with 647, and stole 26 bases for the third year in a row.

Pittsburgh Pirates
The 1927 season marked the end of Adams' time in Chicago. On November 28, 1927, Adams was traded, along with Pete Scott, to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Kiki Cuyler. Manager Joe McCarthy was criticized for the move, as the Cubs has plenty of outfield strength, but lacked a solid infield presence. It was also considered a good move for Pittsburgh, with sportswriters picking the Pirates to finish first the National League in 1928. He was given the starting second baseman job for the 1928 season. Adams took the place of George Grantham, so was moved to first base, the second time that Adams forced Grantham to another infield position. However, his batting average began to decline, and by the 1929 season, Adams was being used as a utility infielder. At the end of the season, the St. Louis Cardinals purchased his contract from the Pirates after two seasons of playing in Pittsburgh.

St. Louis Cardinals
As the 1930 season began, Adams was given the starting third baseman job. He went on to have a career high batting average of .314, and hit a career high nine triples. Adams played all six games in the 1930 World Series, hitting .143 as the Cardinals ended up losing the series. That season, every Cardinals player with over 300 at-bats had a batting average over .300, the only time in history this has happened. The 1931 season ended up being a career year for Adams. He was first in the league in doubles with 46, and had over 600 at-bats for the fourth season. Adams also placed in MVP voting, finishing ninth with 18 votes. He played 143 games over the season; however, an injury in September caused him to miss postseason time. Adams was injured on September 20 when, after winning a bunting and running contest before the game, he sprained his ankle while taking part in the baserunning challenge. He played two games as the Cardinals won the 1931 World Series. Adams was the last surviving member of the 1931 World Champion Cardinals. The following season, he only played 31 games due to injury.

Cincinnati Reds
On May 7, 1933, Adams was traded along with Paul Derringer and Allyn Stout to the Cincinnati Reds for Leo Durocher, Dutch Henry, and Jack Ogden, after playing only eight games for the Cardinals that season. He became the starting leadoff man during the 1933 season, as he had been for the other teams he played for. During the 1934 season, as primarily a backup to Mark Koenig, Adams was used as the backup second baseman and third baseman. At the end of the season, Adams was released, then retired at the end of the 1935 season.

After his retirement, he became a farmer and a service station operator in Tremont, Pennsylvania.

When he died in Pottsville, Pennsylvania on February 24, 1989, he was the last remaining player of the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1931 World Series.

Career statistics
In 1,424 games over 13 seasons, Adams posted a .286 batting average (1,588-for-5,557) with 844 runs, 249 doubles, 48 triples, 9 home runs, 394 RBI, 154 stolen bases, 453 bases on balls, .343 on-base percentage and .353 slugging percentage. He finished his career with a .963 fielding percentage playing at second base, third base, shortstop and several games in the outfield. In the 1930 and '31 World Series, he was unproductive, hitting only .160 (4-for-25) with only one RBI.

title: Sparky Adams


text:
D. S. Senanayake

Don Stephen Senanayake PC (දොන් ස්ටෙෆන් සේනානායක; டி. எஸ். சேனநாயக்கா; 20 October 1884 – 22 March 1952) was a Ceylonese statesman. He was the first Prime Minister of Ceylon having emerged as the leader of the Sri Lankan independence movement that led to the establishment of self-rule in Ceylon. He is considered as the "Father of the Nation".

Born to an entrepreneur from the village of Botale, Senanayake was educated at S. Thomas' College, Mutwal before briefly working as a clerk in the Surveyor General's Department. Joining the family business, he managed the family own estates and the Kahatagaha Graphite Mine. Long with his brothers, Senanayake became active in the temperance movement which grew into the independence movement following 1915 Sinhalese-Muslim riots, in which the Senanayake brothers were imprisoned without charges for 46 days. He was elected unopposed in 1924 to the Legislative Council of Ceylon from Negombo, becoming the Secretary of the unofficial members group of the Legislative Council. In 1931, he was elected to the State Council of Ceylon, where he served as Minister of Agriculture and Lands. He was elected to the first Parliament of Ceylon forming a government and serving as Ceylon's first Prime Minister from 1947 until his death in 1952.

Early life and education

He was born in the village of Botale in the Hapitigam Korale (currently known as Mirigama) on 20 October 1884 to Don Spater Senanayake (1847–1907) and Dona Catherina Elizabeth Perera Gunasekera Senanayake (1852–1949). Spater Senanayake had made his fortune in graphite mining and at the time he was expanding into plantations and investments in the arrack renting franchise. Later he would be awarded the title of Mudaliyar for his philanthropy. Stephen Senanayake had two elder brothers, Don Charles "D. C." Senanayake and Fredrick Richard "F. R." Senanayake; and one sister, Maria Frances Senanayake who married F. H. Dias Bandaranaike.

Brought up in a devout Buddhist family, he entered the prestigious Anglican school S. Thomas' College, Mutwal. Never a studious student, he excelled in sports playing cricket and played in the Royal-Thomian. He later played cricket for the Sinhalese Sports Club and Nondescripts Cricket Club. His contemporaries at S. Thomas's includes D. R. Wijewardena, Sir Paul Pieris, Sir Arthur Wijewardena and Sir Francis Molamure.

Early career

After completing schooling, he worked as a clerk in the Surveyor General's Department but left after a period of apprenticing. He joined his brother D. C. Senanayake in running his father's extensive business holdings. He worked as a planter, introducing the new commercial crop of rubber to the family plantations. He managed the Kahatagaha Graphite Mine, which was owned by his brother F. R. Senanayake wife's family. F. R. Senanayake had married the youngest daughter of Mudaliyar Don Charles Gemoris Attygalle. He was a member of the Low-Country Products Association and of the Orient Club. In 1914, he was appointed as a member of a government commission sent to Madagascar to study and report on their graphite mining industry.

Early political activism

The three Senanayake brothers were involved in the temperance movement formed in 1912. When World War I broke out in 1914 they joined the Colombo Town Guard. The brothers were arrested and imprisoned without charges during the 1915 riots. They faced the prospect of execution, since the British Governor Sir Robert Chalmers considered the temperance movement as seditious. He was released on a bail bound after 46 days at the Welikada Prison without charges. The heavy-handed suppression of the riots by the British colonial authorities initiated the modern independence movement led by the educated middle class. Don Stephen and Don Charles were prominent members of the political party Lanka Mahajana Sabha. Fredrick Richard and Don Charles were committed supporters of the Young Men's Buddhist Association. D. S. Senanayake played an active role in the independence movement, initially in support of his brother Fredrick Richard.

Legislative Council
In 1924, Senanayake was elected unopposed to the Legislative Council of Ceylon from Negombo. He became the Secretary (similar to a whip) of the unofficial members group of the Legislative Council, activity engaged in proceedings with a particular interest in subjects related to agriculture, lands, and irrigation. He questioned in the Legislative Council the biased policies of the colonial administration in the plantain industry, the cost overruns of the Batticaloa line and the Trincomalee line, the delays in the Norton Bridge Dam, and advocated for the establishment of the first university in the island close to Kandy. In 1927, he acted on behalf of Gerard Wijeyekoon in the Executive Council. When his brother F.R. died on a pilgrimage to Buddha Gaya in 1925, Don Stephen assumed his leadership of the independence movement.

State Council of Ceylon

In 1931 he was elected to the newly formed State Council of Ceylon representing the Ceylon National Congress. At the first siting of the State Council, he was elected as Minister of Agriculture and Lands to chair the state council committee on Agriculture and Lands.

Minister of Agriculture and Lands
As Minister of Agriculture and Lands, he initiated a policy that effectively combated Ceylon's agricultural problems, established the Land Development Ordinance, and introduced an agricultural policy to counter Ceylon's rice problems. This policy earned him respect of many, and he continued to be a minister for fifteen years, having been re-elected in 1936. He also enforced a productivity programme of "Agricultural Modernisation". He introduced the Land Bill, expanded the co-operative movement in Ceylon, and assisted in the founding of the Bank of Ceylon. In 1938, he introduced the Flora and Fauna Protection Ordinance, establishing the Yala National Park. In 1940, following a heated discussion with the Governor which resulted from the Inspector General of Police refusing to follow a request by the Minister of Home Affairs, Senanayake gave his resignation, which was followed by the other Ministers. The resignations were withdrawn shortly following settlement with the Governor.

World War II

At the onset of World War II in the far east, on 1 December 1941 a Civil Defence Department was formed with Oliver Goonetilleke as Commissioner. D. S. Senanayake, as Minister of Agriculture and Lands and a member of the Ceylon war council took an active role in food supply and control. He was tasked with many defence projects, including rapid construction of an airfield at the Colombo Racecourse, which he achieved, making it available for the defence of Ceylon during the Easter Sunday Raid.

During this time a close relationship developed between Senanayake and the deputy commissioner of civil defence, Dr. Ivor Jennings, who was the principal of the Ceylon University College. Dr. Jennings, an expert on constitutional law, subsequently became Senanayake's adviser on constitutional reforms aimed at gaining independence for the island.

Gaining independence

In December 1942, Senanayake became the Leader of the House and Vice Chairman of the Board of Ministers in the State Council, upon the retirement of Sir Baron Jayatilaka, Minister of Home Affairs. On 26 May 1943, the British Government made the Whitehall Declaration of 1943 on Ceylon constitutional change, which enabled ministers to make submissions. This bypassed the Governor, who called for a commission from the colonial office to halt the activities of the ministers. Senanayake resigned from the National Congress disagreeing with its resolution on independence and instead approached the commission with his proposal of dominion status and they accepted the ministers' submissions, publishing these in the Sessional Paper XIV of 1944. In 1944, the Soulbury Commission was formed. In 1945, he proceeded to London to meet the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Oliver Stanley. On his arrival in London, he met instead the newly appointed George Hall, who had succeeded Stanley following Labour's win in the 1945 general election. He resigned his ministry in 1946 to push for full independence. That year he formed the United National Party (UNP) by amalgamating three right-leaning pro-Dominion parties.

The granting of independence to India in 1947 and the appointment of Arthur Creech Jones as Colonial Secretary gave a new window for Senanayake to push for his case, using the new constitution that was recommended by the Soulbury Commission. In the negotiations that followed, the British government accepted Senanayake's proposals for constitutional change and self-rule. Senanayake presented the Soulbury Constitution to the State Council which voted it in, with only three votes against it.

Parliamentary elections were held from 23 August – 20 September 1947. Senanayake was contested for the first time in the Mirigama electorate, having been elected uncontested in all previous elections. He won the seat by a majority of over 16,000 votes against Edmund Samarakkody of the Bolshevik–Leninist Party of India, Ceylon and Burma. Senanayake's party, the UNP, fell short of a majority at the general election but was able to form a government in coalition with the All Ceylon Tamil Congress.

On 24 September 1947 he was invited by the Governor General of Ceylon Sir Henry Moore to form the island's first cabinet as its first Prime Minister. On 11 November 1947, Senanayake and Sir Henry signed agreements between Ceylon and Britain including a defence pact and public service agreements that paved the way for independence of Ceylon. The "Independence Bill of Ceylon" was passed in December 1947. On 4 February 1948, Ceylon marked its independence with a ceremonial opening of parliament.

First prime minister

With his accession, Senanayake began the process of establishing institutions needed for an independent state. While most domestic institutions existed, Ceylon remained dependent on Britain for trade, defence and external affairs. He turned down a knighthood but maintained good relations with Britain and was the first Ceylonese to be appointed to the Privy Council in 1950.

National development
He boldly made plans to spread out the population, and his Gal Oya scheme relocated over 250,000 people. He expanded the agrarian policies he had initiated during his tenure as Minister of Agriculture and Lands, a post now held by his son Dudley Senanayake. With a rapidly expanding population and food shortages faced during the war, Senanayake aimed to increase local food production to be self-sustainable. Renovation of sites of historic importance in Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa took place at this time. Senanayake also proposed expansion of hydro-electric power in the island.

Citizenship
Senanayake's government introduced the Ceylon Citizenship Act which was passed by parliament on 20 August 1948 and became law on 15 November 1948. Only about 5,000 Indian Tamils qualified for citizenship. More than 700,000 people, about 11% of the population, were denied citizenship and made stateless. The bill had been opposed fiercely in Parliament by the Ceylon Indian Congress, which represented the Indian Tamils, and the Sinhalese leftist parties, as well as the All Ceylon Tamil Congress, which represented the Sri Lankan Tamils, including its leader G.G. Ponnambalam. This was followed by the  Indian and Pakistani Residents (Citizenship) Act No.3 of 1949 and the Ceylon (Parliamentary Elections) Amendment Act No.48 of 1949

Foreign policy
Senanayake held the portfolio of Ministry of External Affairs and Defence. He developed Ceylon's post-independence foreign policy, establishing formal relations with foreign nations. Initially gaining membership of the Commonwealth and establishing diplomatic ties other member countries, he established diplomatic relations with the United States and Japan. He established the Ceylon Overseas Service to build a cadre of career diplomats. He hosted the Commonwealth Conference of Foreign Ministers, held in Colombo in January 1950. One of the significant outcomes of this conference was the establishment of the Colombo Plan.

Defence

Although Ceylon had maintained a small volunteer force for the defense of colony, Senanayake introduced the Army Act (1949), Navy Act (1950), and the Air Force Act (1951) establishing the Armed forces of Ceylon. Having engaged in Defence Agreement with Britain when gaining independence, Senanayake retained British bases in Ceylon and gained her assistance in training and arming its new military.

Political challenges
In the early years of Senanayake's premiership he faced opposition and a lot of criticism from many of the leftist parties. He soon had difficulties with one of the strongest members of his cabinet and leader of the largest factions of his party, S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike. Bandaranaike joined his Sinhala Maha Sabha in forming the UNP in 1947, having given the impression that Senanayake would soon retire and he would succeed him. With no signs of Senanayake retiring and conflicts with Senanayake on hardline nationalist policies he had, in 1951, Bandaranaike resigned from his posts, dissolved the Sinhala Maha Sabha, and established the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). Senanayake assumed the portfolio of Health and Local Government held by Bandaranaike and began countering his break in parliament for the next few months.

Death
On the morning of Friday, 21 March 1952, Don Stephen Senanayake took his usual pre-breakfast ride on Galle Face Green, a short distance from his official residence Temple Trees. He was riding one of his favorite horses, Chitra, a mare belonging to the mounted police. Accompanying him on that day was Sir Richard Aluwihare, the IGP; G.G. Ponnambalam, a cabinet minister, and Inspector Eddie Grey. The horse broke into a gallop from a canter and went on for a mile, when suddenly the Prime Minister fell off the saddle.

He was taken to a nursing home where he remained unconscious for the next thirty-two hours. It was believed that he had suffered a stroke. He was treated by Dr. M. V. P. Pieris, Ceylon's seniormost surgeon, and a team of Professors from the University of Manitoba who had been visiting Ceylon as part of a WHO medical mission. A radio message was sent for Sir Hugh Cairns, who decided to fly out to Ceylon to attend the Prime Minister. Winston Churchill ordered an RAF Hastings with a double crew to take Sir Hugh. However, the aircraft, with three more doctors and two nurses, was taxiing to take off when the message was received that it was too late, as the Prime Minister's situation was deteriorating. Two more neurosurgeons from India and Pakistan had reached Colombo too late to make a difference. Senanayake died at 3:30 pm on 22 March 1952.

His remains were taken to Temple Trees, where they lay until the next morning, when they were moved to the House of Representatives to lay in state, with over half a million persons showing their respects. His state funeral followed with over 32,000 people taking part in the funeral procession and with the stage barring the coffin drawn by sailors of the Royal Ceylon Navy. The procession ended at Independence Square where the remains were cremated in accordance with Sinhalese Buddhist rites.

Personal life

Senanayake cared for animals and owned a wide range of pets such as elephants, horses, pigs, cattle; many kept at his estate and at the Bothale Walawwa. A keen horticulturist, he grew orchids and would typically wear an orchid in the lapel of his suit. He suffered from diabetes most of his later life.

Marriage and children
D. S. Senanayake married Molly Dunuwila in 1910. She was the daughter of R. R. Dunuwila, then secretary of the Colombo Municipal Council and Grace Jayatilaka, daughter of Frederick Jayatilaka of the Ceylon Civil Service and District Judge of Kalutara. They had two sons, Dudley Shelton Senanayake (19 June 1911 – 13 April 1973) and Robert Parakrama Senanayake (8 April 1913 – 26 April 1986). His eldest son, Dudley Shelton Senanayake, succeeded him as Prime Minister in 1952, followed by his nephew, Sir John Kotelawala (1897–1980) in 1953, but this nine-year family dynasty ended with the landslide victory of Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike in 1956, campaigning under the "Sinhala Only" slogan. Dudley Senanayake regained the premiership brefly in 1960, and served again from 1965 to 1970. Rukman Senanayake, one of his grandsons, served as a cabinet minister and member of parliament. Two of his great-grandsons, Vasantha Senanayake, and Ruwan Wijewardene, served as state ministers and members of parliament.

Legacy

D. S. Senanayake is respected by Sinhalese and some Muslims. However, Tamils were not happy with his citizenship laws, which disenfranchised virtually all Tamils of recent Indian origin living in the central highlands. His bold agricultural plans and pro-Western policies drew criticism for their modern and untraditional nature. Under his family's leadership, Sri Lanka's economy flourished, and he is still known as "The Father of Sri Lanka".

Statues of D. S. Senanayake have been erected in many parts of the island, including one at the Independence Memorial Hall and at the Old Parliament Building, Colombo. The lake created by the Gal Oya Dam has been named as the Senanayake Samudraya after him. Many schools, libraries and public buildings have been named in his honor and the Rt Hon D S Senanayake Memorial Shield is awarded at the Royal–Thomian in which he played for S. Thomas' in 1901 and 1902.

title: D. S. Senanayake


text:
Romance of Atlantis

The Romance of Atlantis is a fantasy novel by Taylor Caldwell about the ancient, erudite, and very advanced civilisation of Atlantis.

Caldwell wrote this novel when she was twelve years old, and had attempted to publish it through her grandfather's publishing company, but he accused her of plagiarism because it seemed impossible that a twelve-year-old could have written such an advanced book, and it was not published until 1975, when Caldwell revised it with the assistance of Jess Stearn, and it was finally actually published. Caldwell based this book on a recurring dream she was having every night for about 2 years, each night the dream beginning where it ended the previous night. The dream was so real, that she began to believe that it was her real life.

Plot summary
Atlantis is ruled by the beautiful and intelligent Empress Salustra. The fate of the Empire will be decided by an arranged marriage with the ruler of a less advanced, semi-barbarian northern kingdom, as the advanced technology of Atlantis is powerless against strange environmental and ecological disasters.

title: Romance of Atlantis


text:
Boubou Macoutes

Les Boubou Macoutes was the popular nickname of special inspectors who investigated and visited the homes of suspected "welfare cheats" in the Canadian province of Quebec during the second government of Premier Robert Bourassa, in the 1990s.

The phrase derives from a combination of Boubou, the popular nickname of Robert Bourassa, and the Tonton Macoutes – the secret police of Haiti under Papa Doc (François Duvalier) and Baby Doc (Jean-Claude Duvalier).

title: Boubou Macoutes