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Alan Ball Jr.

Alan James Ball (12 May 1945 – 25 April 2007) was an English professional football player and manager. He was the youngest member of England's 1966 World Cup winning team and played as a midfielder for various clubs, scoring more than 180 league goals in a career spanning 22 years. His playing career also included a then national record £220,000 transfer from Everton to Arsenal at the end of 1971. After retiring as a player, he had a 15-year career as a manager which included spells in the top flight of English football with Portsmouth, Southampton and Manchester City.

Birth and early career at Blackpool
Ball was born in Farnworth, Lancashire, the son of (James) Alan Ball, a former professional football player and manager and later a publican, and his wife, Violet, née Duckworth. Ball started his footballing career whilst still a schoolboy, playing for Ashton United, the team his father managed, amongst the hurly burly of the Lancashire Combination. He fell out with his headmaster over missing games for his Farnworth Grammar School team due to him signing and playing for Wolverhampton Wanderers. He left Farnworth Grammar with no qualifications.

After he left school, Wolves decided not to take Ball on. The midfielder then started training with Bolton Wanderers but they too decided not to give him a professional deal, as manager Bill Ridding said he was too small.

Blackpool signed him after Ball's father called in a favour with the coach, an old friend with whom he used to play. Ball was given a trial in September 1961 and was immediately signed up as an apprentice. He turned professional in May 1962, making his Football League debut on 18 August 1962 against Liverpool at Anfield in a 2–1 victory. At age 17 years and 98 days, he became Blackpool's youngest League debutant. On 21 November 1964, Ball scored his first hat-trick as a professional, in a 3–3 draw with Fulham at Craven Cottage.

Everton
Ball's performances in the 1966 World Cup winning England team attracted the attention of a number of clubs bigger than Blackpool. He was eventually sold to Everton for a fee of £112,000 in August 1966, at the time a record transfer fee paid to an English club. At Everton, Ball settled into what became regarded as his generation's best Everton midfield trio, alongside Colin Harvey and Howard Kendall (they are still affectionately referred to as "The Holy Trinity"). Everton reached the 1968 FA Cup Final, but lost to West Bromwich Albion and were knocked out by Manchester City in the semi-finals the following year. Ball was as instrumental a player in the team as ever, as Everton took the 1970 Football League Championship title, seeing off a late challenge from Leeds United.

Back at club level, Everton again capitulated in the semi-finals of the FA Cup in 1971, with Ball's opening goal overhauled by two strikes from Merseyside rivals Liverpool, who went on to lose the final to "double"-chasing Arsenal. Ball played 259 times for the Toffees, in all scoring 79 goals.

Arsenal
On 22 December 1971, Arsenal paid a record fee of £220,000 to take Ball to Highbury. He was 26 years of age and at his peak for both form and fitness when he joined Arsenal; he made his debut against Nottingham Forest on 27 December 1971. However, Arsenal could not defend their League title in 1971–72 and also lost their grasp on the FA Cup when Leeds United beat them 1–0 in the centenary final at Wembley. Ball had continued to play for Arsenal through all this time, as a near-constant member of the first team at first, including 50 appearances in 1972–73. However, Arsenal's Double-winning side was soon dismantled and their replacements proved inadequate; Ball remained one of the few quality players in the Arsenal side, and he was made club captain in 1974. In April 1974 Ball broke his leg, resulting in his missing the start of the 1974–75 season, in which Arsenal finished 16th. Ball also missed the start of the 1975–76 season after an injury in the pre-season friendly at Crewe Alexandra, Arsenal subsequently finished in 17th place that season. Bertie Mee resigned as Arsenal manager in the summer of 1976 and it was clear new manager Terry Neill wanted to take the club in a new direction. Now aged 31, Ball continued to play for Arsenal until December 1976, when he was sold to Southampton for a fee of £60,000. In total he made 217 appearances for the Gunners, scoring 52 goals.

Southampton
Ball's move to Southampton was symmetrical in that he had arrived at clubs, namely Everton, Arsenal and Southampton in 1966, 1971 and 1976, when each were holders of the FA Cup. He helped Southampton earn promotion back to the First Division in 1978 and picked up a League Cup runners-up medal in 1979 after they were beaten 3–2 by Nottingham Forest.

Move to North America
Ball then went to play in the decade-old North American Soccer League, joining the Philadelphia Fury as a player in May 1978. He was named player-coach after former Newcastle United coach Richard Dinnis was fired in June. One season later, after he was no longer coaching, he was sold to the Vancouver Whitecaps in June 1979. Almost instantly he made a huge impact with the Whitecaps and helped lead them to the NASL Soccer Bowl title that September. He also walked away with the 1979 Playoff MVP award, scoring seven goals in nine games.

Return to Blackpool
He returned to Britain in February 1980 as player-manager of his first professional club, Blackpool, after honouring the remainder of his contract with Vancouver. Blackpool's general manager Freddie Scott substituted in the meantime. Ball's appointment was well received by the Blackpool supporters, and he returned with enthusiasm, a desire to bring back the good times to the club, and still had enough energy to take the field occasionally.

The year that followed saw Blackpool's recent ill-fortune slump even further. The club slid towards relegation, and only some determined performances (including four wins out of their final six games) ensured an 18th-placed finish and survival. During the close season, Ball brought in several new faces and was also prepared to gamble on youngsters. One of his most unpopular moves amongst the fans was the sale of Tony Kellow, a huge favourite at Bloomfield Road. The 1980–81 season began in similar fashion, with Blackpool struggling near the foot of the table. The optimism that had been in place during pre-season turned to anger as the team's performances failed to match up to Ball's promises.

After an FA Cup first-round win over Fylde Coast neighbours Fleetwood Town on 22 November, Ball publicly criticised the fans for allegedly not wanting the team to succeed as much as he did. Eventually it all became too much for manager and club, and shortly after a defeat at Brentford on 28 February 1981, Ball's contract was terminated with immediate effect and the mutual love affair had ended in ruins. Blackpool were relegated at the end of the season. In March 2005, Ball finally commented on his time as Blackpool manager. He said, "Jack Charlton, a good friend, had offered me a coaching role at Sheffield Wednesday, and with hindsight I should have done that instead: got a bit of experience under my belt. Another thing I should have done was kept Stan Ternent on. I replaced him as manager, but he was very good. I think I was a bit big-headed, a little headstrong, and I thought being a player-manager would be no problem for me. It was a lot more difficult than I thought, and not helped by dealing with the boardroom."

Back at Southampton and end of playing career
In March 1981, Ball was tempted back to Southampton to play alongside fellow veterans and former England teammates Mick Channon and Kevin Keegan. He left Southampton in October 1982 to play for Hong Kong side Eastern, before joining Bristol Rovers in January 1983, where he remained until his retirement the following season. When Ball finally retired from playing, he had played 975 competitive games in 21 years.

1966 World Cup
Despite being in a struggling Blackpool team, Ball's industry, stamina and distribution were noticed by England manager Alf Ramsey, who gave him his international debut on 9 May 1965 in a 1–1 draw with Yugoslavia in Belgrade, three days before his twentieth birthday. Ramsey was preparing for the World Cup a year later, which England was to host, and was developing a system whereby England could deploy midfielders with a defensive and industrious bent, something which was not wholly guaranteed from conventional wide men. As a result, Ball became a useful tool for Ramsey to use – able to play conventionally wide or in the centre but still in possession of the energy to help out his defence when required.

Ball was the youngest member of the squad of 22 selected by Ramsey for the tournament, aged only 21. Though England as a team emerged collectively heroic from the tournament, Ball was one of many players regarded as an individual success, especially as he was one of the more inexperienced charges with no proven record at the very highest level. Indeed, he, Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters emerged with enormous credit and eternal acclaim from the competition – and all of them were still only in single figures for caps won by the time they were named in the team for the final against West Germany.

The 98,000 crowd at Wembley witnessed a magnificent personal performance from Ball. Full of running, he continued to work and sprint and track back while teammates and opponents alike were out on their feet. With fewer than 15 minutes to go, he won a corner on the right which he promptly took. Hurst hit a shot from the edge of the area which deflected into the air and down on to the instep of Peters, who rifled England 2–1 ahead. The Germans equalised with seconds to go, meaning that the game went into extra time. Somehow, this instilled extra bounce into Ball's play and the image of his continuous running round the Wembley pitch, socks round his ankles, is one of the most enduring of the occasion. It was his chase and low cross which set up Hurst's massively controversial second goal, and England's third; he was also sprinting upfield, unmarked and screaming for a pass, as Hurst took the ball forward to smash his historic hat-trick goal with the last kick of the game. Ball returned to a civic reception in Walkden, Lancashire following the World Cup success, where he lived with his parents and sister. Ball's appearance in the final marked the last occasion on which a Blackpool player received a full England cap.

1970 World Cup
By now, Ball was one of the first names on Ramsey's England teamsheet and he was in the squad which travelled as defending champions to the altitude of Mexico for the 1970 World Cup. Ball famously hit the crossbar with a shot as England lost one of their group games 1–0 to Brazil. England won their other group games and progressed to another showdown with West Germany in the quarter finals, but the heat sapped Ball's natural industry. England lost a 2–0 lead and their reign as world champions ended with a 3–2 loss.

1974 World Cup
In a qualifier for the 1974 World Cup against Poland in Chorzów on 6 June 1973, Ball became the second England player to be sent off in a full international, after grabbing Lesław Ćmikiewicz by the throat and kneeing him in the groin during a player scuffle. As a result, he missed the return game at Wembley Stadium, which became one of the most notorious in English football history, ending in a 1–1 draw. England failed to qualify for the World Cup as a result of not winning.

Captaincy and retirement
Ramsey was sacked and Joe Mercer took over at a caretaker level, for whom Ball never appeared due to injury. However, Ball's relationship with his national side was enhanced and then soured beyond repair when Don Revie was appointed as Ramsey's permanent replacement. Ball was given the captaincy after the dropping of Emlyn Hughes and held it for six consecutive games, none of which England lost. They included a 2–0 victory over reigning World champions, West Germany in March 1975 and a 5–1 defeat of Scotland in May 1975.

After sustaining an injury in a pre-season friendly for Arsenal at Crewe Alexandra, Ball was not called up at all for England, let alone retained as captain, when Revie announced his squad for a game against Switzerland. Ball only found out when his wife took a call from a journalist asking for her reaction. Aged 30, Ball's international career had ended suddenly and acrimoniously after 72 appearances and eight goals. He was, however, the last of the 1966 World Cup winning team to leave the international stage (although not the last in the squad, as Ian Callaghan was unexpectedly called up by Ron Greenwood in 1977).

Style of play
Considered one of the greatest to have played for Everton, Ball was a complete and combative midfielder with good technique who possessed high levels of stamina, accurate passing abilities, and was capable of providing scoring chances for his teammates as well as scoring some spectacular goals himself. Primarily an attacking box-to-box midfielder who drove forward towards the opponents' goal, Ball would also help out the defenders of his team when they were in a pinch. Ken Rogers noted that Ball's fiery mentality was the key to his success as a footballer. Ball also stood out for being a motivator, with John Morrissey noting that whenever Ball played one-twos with any of his teammates, they would be motivated to play.

Portsmouth
Ball resumed his managerial career in May 1984 with Portsmouth and was a huge success. They just missed out on promotion to the First Division in his first two seasons as manager, and he finally guided them to the top flight in 1987. However, they were relegated after just one season back among the elite, and Ball was sacked in January 1989 for failing to mount a serious promotion challenge and because of a serious personality clash with Portsmouth's then chairman Jim Gregory.

Stoke City
The following month he joined Colchester United as assistant to Jock Wallace and in October 1989 took up a similar post under Mick Mills at Stoke City. However, Mills was sacked two weeks later and Ball was promoted to the manager's seat. He came to the conclusion that the squad he had inherited was simply not good enough and out went Chris Kamara, Dave Bamber, Leigh Palin, Carl Saunders, Gary Hackett and Nicky Morgan. Into the side came Tony Ellis, Lee Sandford, Tony Kelly, Dave Kevan, Paul Barnes and Noel Blake. It was a big gamble by Ball to change so much of the squad so quickly, and it did not pay off. Stoke stayed rooted to the bottom of the table and was relegated to the Third Division for the first time in 63 years.

Ball's next objective was to gain an instant return to the Second Division, which looked an achieveable goal as after 12 matches in 1990–91 they were one of the favourites for promotion. But Stoke's form fell off and with some embarrassing results the side dropped down the table, until after a 4–0 defeat away at Wigan Athletic Ball was sacked. Stoke went on to finish 14th, their lowest league position.

Exeter City and England
In July 1991 he was appointed as manager of Third Division Exeter City. Although Exeter struggled (their form hardly helped by a tight budget), Ball managed to keep them in the Third Division (the new Division Two from the creation of the Premier League in 1992) in 1993, though by the time he moved on they were on their way to relegation to the bottom tier. Between February and August 1992 he also worked as a coach for the England team under Graham Taylor, including the 1992 European Championships, which were not a success for England, as they failed to progress beyond the group stages of the tournament in Sweden.

Southampton
In January 1994, Ball left Exeter to take over the reins at Southampton, replacing the unpopular Ian Branfoot. At the time of his appointment, Southampton seemed doomed to relegation, having spent virtually the whole season to that point in the drop zone. Ball's first task as manager was to re-establish Matthew Le Tissier's role in the team and to ensure that the other players recognised that he was the club's greatest asset. Le Tissier responded by scoring 6 goals in Ball's first 4 games in charge, including a hat-trick on 14 February 1994 in a 4–2 victory over Liverpool. In the second half of the 1993–94 season, Le Tissier played 16 games under Ball's management, scoring 15 times.

After 3 defeats over the Easter period, the Saints remained in the relegation zone. In the final 6 games Saints scored 15 goals (8 from Le Tissier) and gained 10 points which were sufficient to confirm safety on the final day of the season.

At the start of the following season, 1994–95, Ball signed goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar but more significantly signed Le Tissier on a new 3-year deal. Despite not winning any of their first 4 games (including a 5–1 defeat at Newcastle), the Saints, assisted by 3 goals from loanee signing Ronnie Ekelund, then won 4 out of 5 games in September lifting them to 7th in the table. After this, they drifted away and only won 2 more games until mid-March, dropping into the relegation zone. On 22 March 1995, the Saints were at home to Newcastle and were trailing 1–0 with 4 minutes left, however the team scored 3 goals, including 2 in injury time, to snatch an amazing and priceless victory.

This result inspired the Saints, who won 5 of their remaining 10 games and finished the season in 10th place.

Manchester City
Despite this success, Ball was tempted away in July 1995 to become Manchester City's manager under the ownership of former England teammate Francis Lee. His departure from The Dell was rather acrimonious and for some years afterwards, Ball's return visits to the Dell were greeted by abuse from some sections of the Saints' fans.

Ball's tenure at Maine Road was controversial, in that many observers and supporters felt he was appointed for his name and friendship with the chairman rather than for any credentials as a coach (and they argued that previous manager Brian Horton, appointed by Lee's predecessor Peter Swales, had done no wrong). This is debatable, as City had finished 16th and 17th under Horton, after finishing fifth, fifth and then ninth under Horton's predecessor Peter Reid.

Ball gave Paul Walsh, who had scored 15 league and cup goals for City in 1994–95, and cash, to Portsmouth in exchange for Gerry Creaney, who scored 4 goals for City in 1995–96. But a terrible start to the 1995–96 season saw City endure eight defeats and not win one of their opening 11 games. November saw a turnaround in fortunes when City finally managed to win a league game at the 12th attempt and follow this up with a draw and two wins which saw them end the month outside the relegation zone and Ball chosen Premier League Manager of the Month for November 1995.

City's form declined after that, and the team drew 2–2 with Liverpool on the final day of the season. The other relegation-threatened teams fared better, and City were relegated on goal difference, after seven successive seasons of top-flight football. The board kept faith with Ball, but he resigned three games into the next season's Division One campaign. He felt that he had been forced to sell their best players due to City's financial plight.

Back to Portsmouth
In January 1998, Ball was contacted by Brian Howe, who informed him he was to make a takeover bid for the club and that he would like Ball to manage the club. This led to Ball returning to Portsmouth as manager in February 1998, however the take-over never came about. When he was appointed Pompey were several points adrift at the bottom of the table and enduring a near-fatal financial crisis, going into administration for over a year. In 1998, he masterminded a miraculous escape that saw two of his former sides (Stoke City and Manchester City) relegated after Pompey won 3–1 at Bradford City on the final day of the season. He also kept them up in the 1998–99 season, but his contract was terminated on 9 December 1999 with the club in the lower half of Division One. His departure came six months after the club was rescued from financial oblivion by new owner Milan Mandaric. On his retirement, 54-year-old Ball was the last remaining England World Cup winner in management.

Personal life
Ball was educated at Farnworth Grammar School. Ball's father Alan Sr., also a professional footballer and manager, died in a car crash in Cyprus in January 1982. In April 2021, Ball's son, Jimmy, became the third generation of the family to manage in the Football League after being appointed interim manager at Forest Green Rovers.

Ball was always a distinctive figure thanks to his diminutive stature, red hair, and his high-pitched voice. He wrote an autobiography, "Ball of Fire" in 1967, updated as It's All About a Ball, in 1978. His third autobiography, Playing Extra Time (2004) received critical acclaim giving insight into his highs and lows in the footballing world.

In April 2004, Ball appeared for Testwood Baptist Church in the Roger Frapwell Testimonial Match at the BAT ground, Totton, near Southampton, wearing the number 7 shirt as he did in the 1966 World Cup triumph. Also in that team were former Saints manager Dave Merrington and ex-Saints defender Francis Benali. The proceeds from the game were donated to local charity SCRATCH.

As a family man, Ball struggled privately after his wife and later his youngest daughter were both diagnosed with major illnesses. Lesley, whom he married on 21 May 1967 at the parish church of St Stephen, Kearsley, Lancashire, died on 16 May 2004, aged 57, after a three-year battle against ovarian cancer. Alan and Lesley, who had been together for five years prior to their marriage, had three children together; Mandy, Keely and Jimmy. They also had three grandchildren.

He had remained in the family home in Warsash, and from mid-2005, Ball had an ongoing relationship with childhood friend Valerie Beech, ex-wife of former Bolton player Harry Beech. In May 2005, Ball put his World Cup winner's medal and commemorative tournament cap up for auction to raise money for his family, saying "They are just trinkets that take up space, I don't think I've even looked at them for years. My memories of the World Cup are more important than those things to me, and my family are even more important." The items were sold for £140,000.

Ball is the great uncle of professional footballers John McAtee and James McAtee.

Death
Ball, aged 61, died in the early hours of 25 April 2007 at his home in Hook, Fareham, Hampshire, after suffering a heart attack while attempting to put out a blaze in his garden that had started when a bonfire – on which he had been burning garden waste – re-ignited and spread to a nearby fence. His funeral was held in Winchester Cathedral on 3 May 2007. Many of Ball's former football colleagues were in attendance, and the flat cap that he had become well known for wearing was placed on top of his coffin.

The Alan Ball Memorial Cup, a charity match between two squads of former international players, in the shape of "England vs the World", was played on 29 July 2007, with proceeds going towards the Bobby Moore Fund for Cancer Research and the Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance Service.

As a player
Everton
 * Football League First Division: 1969–70
 * FA Charity Shield: 1970
 * FA Cup runner-up: 1967–68

Arsenal
 * FA Cup runner-up: 1971–72

Southampton
 * Football League Second Division runner-up: 1977–78
 * Football League Cup runner-up: 1978–79

Vancouver Whitecaps
 * North American Soccer League Soccer Bowl: 1979
 * North American Soccer League National Conference Western Division: 1979

England
 * FIFA World Cup: 1966

Individual
 * Rothmans Golden Boots Awards: 1970, 1973
 * Southampton Player of the Season: 1977–78
 * Arsenal Player of the Season: 1973–74

As a manager
Individual
 * Premier League Manager of the Month: November 1995

Orders and inductions
In 2000, Ball and four other members of the World Cup winning team were appointed MBE for their services to football. Ball, along with Roger Hunt, Nobby Stiles, Ray Wilson and George Cohen, had to wait more than three decades for official recognition of their achievements. In 2003 Ball was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame. In 2011, the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame inducted the 1979 NASL champion Vancouver Whitecaps team. Ball was a vital member of this squad. He was also named a 2nd Team NASL All-Star (Best XI) for that season, and the MVP of the 1979 NASL playoffs. Ball was inducted into the Hall of Fame at Bloomfield Road, when it was officially opened by former Blackpool player Jimmy Armfield in April 2006. Organised by the Blackpool Supporters Association, Blackpool fans around the world voted on their all-time heroes. Five players from each decade are inducted; Ball is in the 1960s. Ball was inducted into Everton's hall of fame "Everton Giants" in 2001, and at the start of the 2003–04 season, as part of the club's official celebration of their 125th anniversary, was elected by fans as a member of the greatest ever team.

title: Alan Ball Jr.


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HMS Raglan

HMS Raglan  was a First World War Royal Navy Abercrombie-class monitor monitor, which was sunk during the Battle of Imbros in January 1918.

Design
On 3 November 1914, Charles M. Schwab of Bethlehem Steel offered Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty, the use of eight 14 in/45 cal BL MK II guns in twin gun turrets, originally destined for the Greek battleship GREEK BATTLESHIP Salamis. These turrets could not be delivered to the German builders, due to the British blockade. The Royal Navy immediately designed a class of monitors, designed for shore bombardment, to use the turrets.

Construction
Raglan was laid down at the Harland and Wolff Ltd shipyard at Govan on 1 December 1914. The ship was named Robert E Lee in honour of the CSA General Robert E Lee, however as the United States was still neutral, the ship was hurriedly renamed HMS M3 on 31 May 1915. She was then named HMS Lord Raglan on 20 June 1915 and again renamed HMS Raglan on 23 June 1915.

Career

Raglan sailed for the Dardanelles in June 1915. She remained in the Eastern Mediterranean, based at Imbros. On 29 October, Raglan took part in the Third Battle of Gaza.

On 20 January 1918, while the battleships HMS Agamemnon (1906) and HMS Lord Nelson (1906) were absent, Raglan and other members of the Detached Squadron of the Aegean Squadron were attacked by the Turkish battlecruiser Yavuz Sultan Selim (formerly German battlecruiser SMS Goeben), the light cruiser Midilli (formerly German light cruiser SMS Breslau) and four destroyers. Raglan was sunk with the loss of 127 lives. The monitor HMS M28 was also sunk in the same battle. Midilli and Yavuz Sultan Selim ran into a minefield while withdrawing; Midilli sank and Yavuz Sultan Selim was badly damaged.

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

title: HMS Raglan


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Alan Ball (screenwriter)

Alan Erwin Ball (born May 13, 1957) is an American writer and director for film and television.

Ball wrote the screenplay for American Beauty, for which he earned an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. He also created the HBO series Six Feet Under and True Blood, for which he earned an Emmy as well as awards from the Writers, Directors, and Producers Guilds of America. He was an executive producer on the Cinemax television series Banshee. He also wrote and directed the films Towelhead (2007) and Uncle Frank (2020).

Early life
Ball was born in Marietta, Georgia to Frank and Mary Ball, both of whom were aircraft inspectors. His older sister, Mary Ann, was killed in a car accident when Ball was 13; he was in the passenger seat at the time. He attended high school in Marietta and went to college at the University of Georgia and Florida State University. Ball graduated from Florida State in 1980 with a degree in theater arts.

After college, Ball began work as a playwright at the General Nonsense Theater Company in Sarasota, Florida.

Career
Ball broke into television as a writer and story editor on the sitcoms Grace Under Fire and Cybill.

Ball wrote two film scripts that ended up in development hell prior to American Beauty (1999). He won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for American Beauty. He has written two further films: Towelhead (2007) and Uncle Frank (2020), the latter of which he also produced and directed. He is also the creator, writer and executive producer of the HBO drama series Six Feet Under and True Blood. Ball was the showrunner for True Blood for its first five seasons.

In 2010 Ball began work on a television adaptation of the crime noir novel The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death by Charlie Huston, to be titled All Signs of Death. In December 2010, after several months of pre-production, HBO cancelled production.

Ball was one of the executive producers of the Cinemax series Banshee.

In July 2016, it was announced that Ball's family drama Here and Now had been ordered to series by HBO. Starring Tim Robbins and Holly Hunter, the show was cancelled in April 2018 after one ten-episode season.

Personal life
Ball has discussed his Buddhist faith in numerous interviews, noting how it has influenced his filmmaking. In an interview with Amazon.com, Ball commented on the plastic bag scene in American Beauty, stating: "I had an encounter with a plastic bag! And I didn't have a video camera, like Ricky does... There's a Buddhist notion of the miraculous within the mundane, and I think we certainly live in a culture that encourages us not to look for that." Ball also discussed how his Buddhism shaped themes in Six Feet Under and True Blood.

Ball is gay and has been called "a strong voice for [the] LGBT community". In 2008 he made Out magazine's annual list of the 100 most impressive gay men and women.

Accolades
For his work in television and film, Ball has received critical acclaim and numerous awards and nominations, including an Academy Award, an Emmy a Golden Globe, and awards from the Writers, Directors, and Producers Guilds.

 * Awards
 * 2000 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay – American Beauty
 * 2000 Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay-Motion Picture – American Beauty
 * 2000 Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay – American Beauty
 * 2002 Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in a Drama Series – Six Feet Under
 * 2002 Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series – Six Feet Under
 * 2004 Producers Guild of America Award for Dramatic Series – Six Feet Under

 * Nominations
 * 2000 BAFTA Film Award for Best Original Screenplay – American Beauty
 * 2002 Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement – Six Feet Under
 * 2004 Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement – Six Feet Under
 * 2006 Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series – Six Feet Under
 * 2006 Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series – Six Feet Under
 * 2006 Writers Guild of America Award for Best Dramatic Series – Six Feet Under
 * 2009 Writers Guild of America Award for Best New Series – True Blood
 * 2010 Producers Guild of America Award for Dramatic Series – True Blood

title: Alan Ball (screenwriter)


text: Category:Bangladeshi cricketers

title: Category:Bangladeshi cricketers


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Commission on Presidential Debates

The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) is a nonprofit corporation established in 1987 under the joint sponsorship of the Democratic and Republican political parties in the United States. The CPD sponsors and produces debates for U.S. presidential and vice-presidential candidates and undertakes research and educational activities relating to the debates. Between 1988 and 2020, the CPD organized all general election presidential debates. In 2024, the campaigns of the major-party presumptive presidential candidates, Democratic incumbent Joe Biden and Republican former president Donald Trump, circumvented the CPD and committed to two debates outside the CPD's purview. Jen O’Malley Dillon, chairwoman of Biden’s campaign, informed the Commission on Presidential Debates that Biden will not be taking part in its events.

Debates before the CPD
The first televised presidential debates were held between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy during the 1960 campaign. No general election debates were held in 1964, and Richard Nixon refused to participate in any debate in 1968 and 1972. Beginning with the 1976 election, the League of Women Voters sponsored the televised Gerald Ford–Jimmy Carter debates, followed by the John B. Anderson–Ronald Reagan and Reagan–Carter debates for the 1980 election, and Reagan and Walter Mondale in 1984.

Formation
After studying the election process in 1985, the bipartisan National Commission on Elections recommended "[t]urning over the sponsorship of presidential debates to the two major parties". The CPD was established in 1987 by the chairmen of the Democratic and Republican Parties to "take control of the presidential debates". The commission was staffed by members from the two parties and chaired by the heads of the Democratic and Republican parties, Paul G. Kirk and Frank Fahrenkopf. At a 1987 press conference announcing the commission's creation, Fahrenkopf said that the commission was not likely to include third-party candidates in debates, and Kirk said he personally believed they should be excluded from the debates.

In 1988, the League of Women Voters withdrew its sponsorship of the presidential debates after the George H. W. Bush and Michael Dukakis campaigns secretly agreed to a "memorandum of understanding" that would decide which candidates could participate in the debates, which individuals would be panelists (and therefore able to ask questions), and the height of the lecterns. The league rejected the demands and released a statement saying that it was withdrawing support for the debates because "the demands of the two campaign organizations would perpetrate a fraud on the American voter."

The CPD sponsored the debates in every presidential election from 1988 through 2020.

Washington University in St. Louis has been selected by the commission to host more presidential and vice-presidential debates than any institution in history.

2024 presidential election
In January 2022, the Republican National Committee (RNC) warned the CPD that it planned to amend the Rules of the Republican Party to prohibit Republican presidential nominees from attending CPD-sponsored debates. The RNC unanimously passed the amendment to quit to CPD in April 2022.

In November 2023, the CPD announced its plans for debate dates and sites for the 2024 presidential campaign, with three presidential debates (to be held on September 16, October 1, and October 9) and one vice presidential debate (to be held September 25). However, the campaigns of both President Joe Biden and his challenger, former president Donald Trump, criticized the CPD's plans, including over format and timing (i.e., concerns that the debates would be held too late in the campaign season). In May 2024, the Biden and Trump campaigns struck a deal to circumvent the CPD and participate in two debates (on CNN on June 27 and ABC News on September 10), breaking a longstanding tradition of debates organized under the auspices of the CPD. The CNN debate will be "open to any presidential candidate who consistently polls above 15 percent in approved public surveys and is on enough state ballots to win a majority of electoral college votes." The future of the CPD was thrown into doubt.

On June 24, 2024, the CPD announced that it was releasing the sites it had selected for its 2024 debates from their contracts, adding that "CPD stands ready to sponsor 2024 debates should circumstances change."

Leadership and funding
The commission is a nonprofit organization, led by a bipartisan board of directors. It has 501(c)(3) status.

As of 2024, the co-chairs of the Commission were Frank Fahrenkopf (a former chairman of the Republican National Committee) and Antonia Hernández. Fahrenkopf has been co-chair since the CPD was established. The other co-chair was originally Paul G. Kirk, Jr., who served as chairman of the Democratic National Committee. Kirk stepped down from the CPD in 2009, and was replaced as co-chair by Michael D. McCurry. McCurry stepped down as co-chair in January 2017, and was replaced by Dorothy S. Ridings, a past executive of the Council on Foundations and League of Women Voters. Kirk and Ridings hold the title Co-Chair Emeriti. Kenneth Wollack, former president of the National Democratic Institute, was appointed as a third co-chair in 2019. Hernandez, formerly a CPD vice-chair, was selected as co-chair in 2022.

As of 2024, the Commission's board consists of eight members: Roy Blunt (former Republican senator from Missouri), Charles Gibson (a longtime television journalist, formerly of ABC News), John Griffen (managing director of Allen & Co.); the Reverend John I. Jenkins (the president of the University of Notre Dame), Monica C. Lozano (the president and CEO of the College Futures Foundation), Richard D. Parsons (a cable executive), Rajiv J. Shah (the president of the Rockefeller Foundation and former administrator of USAID), and Olympia Snowe (former Republican senator from Maine).

Past board members include John C. Danforth (former Republican senator from Missouri), Yvonne Hao (an investor and businesswoman), Jane Harman (a former Democratic congresswoman who later became director of the Woodrow Wilson Center) and Newton N. Minow (a former member of the Federal Communications Commission during the John F. Kennedy administration). Other past board members include Shirley M. Tilghman, Richard Moe, Kay Orr, Leon E. Panetta, Mitch Daniels, and Caroline B. Kennedy.

Janet H. Brown has served as the CPD's executive director since the commission was established in 1987.

The commission's debates are sponsored by private contributions from foundations and corporations as well as fees from hosting institutions.

Complaints from third parties
Third parties have often criticized exclusion of their candidates from debates, due to the CPD's rule (established in 2000) that candidates must garner at least 15% support across five national polls to be invited to the national debates. The last candidate from outside the two major parties to participate in a CPD-sponsored debate was Ross Perot, who polled sufficiently high in his 1992 presidential campaign to debate George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton in all three debates; Perot's running mate, James Stockdale, also participated in the vice presidential debate. When Perot ran again in 1996, the CPD declined to invite him to the debates, finding that the Reform Party candidate had no "realistic chance to win" the election.

Multiple lawsuits have been filed by third-party candidates challenging the CPD's policy of requiring a candidate to have 15% support in national polls to be included in presidential debates; all have been rejected by the courts.

In October 2004, Libertarian candidate Michael Badnarik and Green Party candidate David Cobb were arrested while protesting against CPD for excluding third-party candidates from the nationally televised debates in St. Louis, Missouri. In October 2012, Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein and vice-presidential nominee Cheri Honkala were arrested for disorderly conduct while trying to take part in the second presidential debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York.

title: Commission on Presidential Debates


text:
Function-level programming

In computer science, function-level programming refers to one of the two contrasting programming paradigms identified by John Backus in his work on programs as mathematical objects, the other being value-level programming.

In his 1977 Turing Award lecture, Backus set forth what he considered to be the need to switch to a different philosophy in programming language design: "Programming languages appear to be in trouble. Each successive language incorporates, with a little cleaning up, all the features of its predecessors plus a few more. [...] Each new language claims new and fashionable features... but the plain fact is that few languages make programming sufficiently cheaper or more reliable to justify the cost of producing and learning to use them."

He designed FP to be the first programming language to specifically support the function-level programming style.

A function-level program is variable-free (cf. point-free programming), since program variables, which are essential in value-level definitions, are not needed in function-level programs.

Introduction
In the function-level style of programming, a program is built directly from programs that are given at the outset, by combining them with program-forming operations or functionals. Thus, in contrast with the value-level approach that applies the given programs to values to form a succession of values culminating in the desired result value, the function-level approach applies program-forming operations to the given programs to form a succession of programs culminating in the desired result program.

As a result, the function-level approach to programming invites study of the space of programs under program-forming operations, looking to derive useful algebraic properties of these program-forming operations. The function-level approach offers the possibility of making the set of programs a mathematical space by emphasizing the algebraic properties of the program-forming operations over the space of programs.

Another potential advantage of the function-level view is the ability to use only strict functions and thereby have bottom-up semantics, which are the simplest kind of all. Yet another is the existence of function-level definitions that are not the lifted (that is, lifted from a lower value-level to a higher function-level) image of any existing value-level one: these (often terse) function-level definitions represent a more powerful style of programming not available at the value-level.

Contrast to functional programming
When Backus studied and publicized his function-level style of programming, his message was mostly misunderstood as supporting the traditional functional programming style languages instead of his own FP and its successor FL.

Backus calls functional programming applicative programming; his function-level programming is a particular, constrained type.

A key distinction from functional languages is that Backus' language has the following hierarchy of types: ...and the only way to generate new functions is to use one of the functional forms, which are fixed: you cannot build your own functional form (at least not within FP; you can within FFP (Formal FP)).
 * atoms
 * functions, which take atoms to atoms
 * Higher-order functions (which he calls "functional forms"), which take one or two functions to functions

This restriction means that functions in FP are a module (generated by the built-in functions) over the algebra of functional forms, and are thus algebraically tractable. For instance, the general question of equality of two functions is equivalent to the halting problem, and is undecidable, but equality of two functions in FP is just equality in the algebra, and thus (Backus imagines) easier.

Even today, many users of lambda style languages often misinterpret Backus' function-level approach as a restrictive variant of the lambda style, which is a de facto value-level style. In fact, Backus would not have disagreed with the 'restrictive' accusation: he argued that it was precisely due to such restrictions that a well-formed mathematical space could arise, in a manner analogous to the way structured programming limits programming to a restricted version of all the control-flow possibilities available in plain, unrestricted unstructured programs.

The value-free style of FP is closely related to the equational logic of a cartesian-closed category.

Example languages
The canonical function-level programming language is FP. Others include FL, and J.

title: Function-level programming


text:
Marvan Atapattu

Deshabandu Marvan Samson Atapattu (born 22 November 1970) is a Sri Lankan cricket coach, commentator and former cricketer who played for 17 years for Sri Lanka. Considered one of the most technically sound batsman in his era, Atapattu has scored six double centuries in Test cricket for Sri Lanka, irrespective of five ducks in his first six innings. Atapattu also captained the Sri Lankan team which won the 2004 Asia Cup. He was a part of the Sri Lankan squad which won the 1996 Cricket World Cup.

He has previously coached the Canada and Singapore national cricket teams. From April 2014 to September 2015, he was the head coach of Sri Lankan Cricket Team.

Early life
Marvan Atapattu started his cricket career as a teenager at Mahinda College, Galle, where Major G. W. S. de Silva was his first cricket coach. Then he moved to Ananda College, Colombo, where he was subsequently coached by P. W. Perera.

International career
Making his Test debut in November 1990 just after his 20th birthday, Atapattu's first six innings yielded five ducks and a 1, and he was the first Sri Lankan batsman to be dismissed for a pair on debut. After this difficult start in his first three matches, he did not score above 29 in his next 11 innings, before hitting his first Test century in his 10th match, against India, seven years after his debut. He has 22 Test-match career ducks and four pairs (two ducks in a single Test), both records for a top-order batsman.

He made his One-Day International debut against India at Nagpur. He was appointed as captain of the one-day team in April 2003. He registered his highest Test score of 249 against Zimbabwe in 2004, sharing a 438-run partnership with Kumar Sangakkara for the second wicket. Atapattu scored a century in the first innings of the Second Test during his team's tour of Australia in 2004 in Cairns, Queensland. His third century in five innings, he made 133. A "determin[ed]" Atapattu, ESPNcricinfo wrote, "pull[ed] authoritatively ... tuck[ed] in neatly behind the ball." He finished the two-match series scoring 156 runs at an average of 39.00 and was the top-scorer for his side.

Atapattu was a skilful fielder with an accurate throw. A report prepared by ESPNcricinfo in late 2005 showed that since the 1999 Cricket World Cup, he had effected the second highest number of run-outs in ODI cricket of any fieldsman, with the seventh-highest success rate. He was controversially left out of the squad for the 2007 Cricket World Cup, and as a result, asked for his removal from the list of Sri Lanka contracted players. Atapattu was to miss the 2007–08 tour of Australia, but was added to the squad after the intervention of Sri Lankan Sports Minister Gamini Lokuge. Atapattu played solidly in the First Test, but subsequently angrily labelled the selectors: "A set of muppets, basically, headed by a joker," at a post-stumps press conference.

After Sri Lanka lost the series 2–0, Atapattu announced his international retirement after the second Test at Hobart. He finished with 5,502 Test runs at an average of 39.02 in 90 Tests with a One-day International average of 37.57 after hitting 8,529 runs in 268 matches. Atapattu scored six double centuries and sixteen centuries in his Test cricket career. He has scored centuries against all Test-playing nations.

International centuries
Atapattu scored his first test century in 1997, seven year after his debut, against India, and in that cricket match he made 108 runs as the match was played at the Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali.

His highest Test score of 249 came against Zimbabwe in 2004 at Bulawayo. His score of 127 in 2005 against New Zealand was his last Test century. As of August 2015, Atapattu is sixth in the list of most double hundreds scored in Test matches.

Atapattu scored his first ODI century in 1997 when he scored 118 in 2-run victory against India at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. At Lord's in 1998, Atapattu scored 132 not out against England, his highest score in this format of the game. He also scored two centuries in the 2003 Cricket World Cup: against Zimbabwe he scored 103 not out and against South Africa, only the 19th tied ODI in cricket history, he made 124. He was selected as man of the match on both occasions. His innings of 111 against Pakistan in 2004 was his last ODI century.

Coaching career
In 2009, Atapattu had a coaching stint with the Fingara Cricket Academy, a coaching facility in Sri Lanka. He had a short stint as Canada's batting coach in early 2009, subsequently helping them qualify for the 2011 World Cup. In 2010, he was named as head coach of the Singaporean cricket team for a one-year period, which was his first full-time assignment of a coach of a national side. His first task was World Cricket League Division 5 in Nepal where the team finished third in the group stage and remained in division 5 for 2012 World League.

In April 2011, after the World Cup, Atapattu was named as the batting coach of Sri Lankan national team and joined interim coach Stuart Law, Champaka Ramanayake and Ruwan Kalpage for the tour of England. Meanwhile, he was considered for the head coach job of the team, which eventually went to Paul Farbrace, in 2013. Atapattu was promoted to the post of an assistant coach. Following Farbrace's early unexpected exit in 2014, he was appointed as interim head coach of the team. During this period, Sri Lanka won its first Test series in England in 16 years, with a 1–0 win in its 2014 tour. He officially took over as head coach in September 2014, and was the team's first local coach in 15 years. A 5–2 ODI series win during England's 2014 tour of Sri Lanka was the only series win for Sri Lanka after he formally took over. After consecutive Test series defeats against India and Pakistan, he resigned in September 2015.

title: Marvan Atapattu


text:
Armin van Buuren

Armin Jozef Jacobus Daniël van Buuren OON (, ; born 25 December 1976) is a Dutch DJ and record producer. Since 2001, he has hosted A State of Trance (ASOT), a weekly radio show, which is broadcast to nearly 40 million listeners in 84 countries on over 100 FM radio stations. According to the website DJs and Festivals, "the radio show propelled him to stardom and helped cultivate an interest in trance music around the world".

Van Buuren has won a number of accolades. He has been ranked the number one DJ by DJ Mag a record of five times, four years in a row. He was ranked fifth on the DJ Mag Top 100 DJs list in 2022, as well as fourth in 2015, 2016, 2019 and 2020, and third in 2017. In 2014, he was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording for his single "This Is What It Feels Like" featuring Trevor Guthrie, which makes him the fourth trance artist ever to receive a Grammy Award nomination. In the United States, he holds the record for most entries, twenty-one, on the Billboard Dance/Electronic Albums chart.

Personal life
Armin van Buuren was born in Leiden, on 25 December 1976, and grew up in Koudekerk aan den Rijn. He was inspired by French electronic music composer Jean-Michel Jarre and Dutch DJ and Remixer Ben Liebrand. Van Buuren graduated from the Stedelijk Gymnasium Leiden in 1995, and studied law at Leiden University. He began working as a DJ in Club Nexus in 1996, playing multiple sets a week, most of which lasted six or more hours. In 1999, he met Dave Lewis who introduced him as a DJ in England and the United States. As his musical career began to take off, he put his law degree on hold, but he did return to graduate from law school in 2003.

On 18 September 2009, van Buuren married Erika van Thiel. Their daughter Fenna was born in July 2011. van Buuren announced just hours before he was due to headline the main stage at Tomorrowland (27 July 2013) that his wife had given birth to a son, Remy.

On 16 February 2018, van Buuren explored his family history in an episode of the TV series Verborgen verleden, the Dutch version of the UK series Who Do You Think You Are?.

1996–1999: Early career and success
In 1996, van Buuren released EP and Push on Timeless Records. van Buuren had his first success with a track called "Blue Fear", which was released under the Cyber Records label in 1997. Another successful track, "Communication", was released under the same label and became popular in Ibiza, Spain in the summer of 1999. After being signed to AM PM Records, this track entered the UK Singles Chart at No. 18 in 2000.

In the beginning of 1999, van Buuren started his label Armind together with United Recordings. The first release, Gig – "One", was well received. The second release, "Touch Me" under the name Rising Star, was signed to Ministry of Sound in the UK, before the record was released. By the time of his third release, Gimmick – "Free" was signed to R&S Records. During this year, he remixed the first two singles of Gouryella (Gouryella and Walhalla) and, under the guise of Rising Star, produced a remix of L'Esperanza, a song by Airscape.

2000–2004: 76 and A State of Trance series
In 2000, Van Buuren started his own Armin van Buuren compilation series, a mix of progressive house and vocal trance styles of music. His first compilation album, A State of Trance (not to be confused with his weekly A State of Trance radio shows), sold 10,000 copies and contains Van Buuren's remix of Moogwai, "Viola". Teaming up with Tiësto, two new projects were born: Major League – "Wonder Where You Are?" was released on Black Hole Recordings and Alibi – "Eternity" was released on Armind. "Eternity" received club and chart success and was signed to Paul van Dyk's imprint Vandit Records. Another major collaboration followed this. Together with Ferry Corsten, Van Buuren recorded a riff titled "Exhale " for the System F album, Out of the Blue. Released as a single, this track reached Gold status. Under the pseudonym Gaia he released "4 Elements" on Captivating Sounds, a sub-label of Warner Brothers.

His second album, Basic Instinct featured a new track: Perpetuous Dreamer – "The Sound of Goodbye". This track entered the Dutch charts in June 2001 at number 26. Later in the year, the track hit No. 1 on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart. The third album, In Motion was released 6 August 2001. A fourth album, Transparence, followed in 2002. In 2003, he worked with such artists such as DJ Seth Alan Fannin throughout a global tour on Dance Revolution in Europe, selling out to crowds of 20,000 people in the Netherlands.

In March 2001, Van Buuren started his own radio show on ID&T Radio (traditionally broadcast in Dutch and later English since ASOT 183). In this weekly two-hour show, entitled A State of Trance, he plays the latest popular trance music tracks, and publishes the artists and track titles on his website. When ID&T Radio changed genres in 2004, Van Buuren moved A State of Trance to Fresh FM and later SLAM!FM, two Dutch radio stations. It is now a weekly feature on Radio 538, the Dutch radio station, DI.FM, an online radio station, and on XM Satellite Radio, channel 52 in the United States and Canada. A complete list of stations that broadcast A State of Trance can be found at the ASOT section of Armin's website.

In 2002, he had a residency at Glow in Washington D.C., and played across North America. He regularly appeared at Amnesia on the island of Ibiza, Balearic Islands, Spain. In October that year, Van Buuren was voted number 5 in the DJ Mag.

In June 2003, Van Buuren celebrated the 100th episode of A State of Trance at Bloomingdale, Bloemendaal aan Zee, Netherlands and released his debut studio album, 76, a 76-minute album divided into 13 tracks. In the same year he was voted No. 3 in the DJ Mag and held third place for the next two years (2004, 2005). Also in 2004, Van Buuren remixed the 24 theme song into a trance hit.

2005–2006: Shivers
On 2 June 2005, he celebrated the 200th episode of A State of Trance at the Museumplein of Amsterdam. On 8 August 2005, Van Buuren released his second studio album, Shivers. On the album Van Buuren worked with artists such as Pakistani-American singer Nadia Ali, English singer Justine Suissa and American trance duo Gabriel & Dresden. On 25 May 2006, he celebrated with various artists the 250th episode of A State of Trance at Asta, The Hague, Netherlands. He was voted number two in the 2006 DJ Mag. On 17 May 2007, he celebrated with various artists the 300th episode of A State of Trance at Pettelaarse Schans, 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands.

2007–2009: Imagine
Van Buuren was elected best DJ in the world in the 2007 DJ Mag edition. On 12 January 2008, Van Buuren was given the "Buma Cultuur Pop Award," the most prestigious Dutch music award. On 17 April 2008, Van Buuren released his third studio album, Imagine. It features collaboration with singers such as Jacqueline Govaert of Krezip. The album debuted at number one on the Dutch Albums Chart. The second single released from the album, "In and Out of Love", featuring Sharon den Adel from the band Within Temptation, has spawned a music video that has been viewed over 304 million times on YouTube. Since the release of Imagine, Van Buuren has been working with Benno de Goeij of Rank 1 on solo productions and remixes. On 1 May 2008, he celebrated with various artists the 350th episode of A State of Trance at Noxx, Antwerp, Belgium. He was voted No. 1 in the 2008 DJ Mag again.

He collaborated with his brother, guitarist Eller van Buuren, at Together As One in Los Angeles, U.S., on New Year's Eve 2009, as well as on Armin's 2008 studio album Imagine. His performance with his brother at Together As One was also the last event of his Armin Only: Imagine world tour. To celebrate the 400th episode of A State of Trance, he performed at three shows with various artists in April, 2009 at Club Butan, Wuppertal, Germany, AIR, Birmingham, United Kingdom and Maassilo, Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Also in 2009, Foreign Media Games announced the production of Armin van Buuren: In the Mix, a music video game being produced in collaboration with Cloud 9 Music and Van Buuren's Armada Music label. The title was released on 12 November 2010 exclusively for the Wii console. He was voted number one DJ in the 2009 DJ Mag for the third consecutive year.

2010–2012: Mirage and appointment to the Order of Orange-Nassau
On 3 March 2010, Van Buuren was awarded with the Golden Harp for his musical work and contribution to Dutch music, by Buma/Stemra at the 2010 Buma Harpen Gala in Hilversum, Netherlands. To celebrate the 450th episode of A State of Trance, he performed with various artists at five shows across two continents. The locations were: The Guvernment, Toronto, Canada on 1 April 2010, Roseland Ballroom, New York City on 2 April and on 3 April again, Expo Arena, Bratislava, Slovakia on 9 April and Centennial Hall, Wroclaw, Poland on 24 April.

On 23 June 2010, it was announced that Van Buuren's fourth studio album, Mirage was due to be released on 10 September. The first single "Full Focus", was released through iTunes Store on 24 June. The song peaked at number 60 in the Netherlands. One of the confirmed tracks from the album is a collaboration with English singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor called "Not Giving Up on Love", which was released as a single from Bextor's fourth studio album, Make a Scene. Armin also wrote a song for English singer Seal, but due to the release of his greatest hits album, Hits, the collaboration never came together. On 12 September 2010, Van Buuren launched "A State of Sundays", a new weekly 24-hour radio show aired on Sirius XM Radio. On 20 October 2010, Van Buuren won the award for Most Popular International DJ presented by The Golden Gnomes. A week later he was announced, for the fourth year running, as the number one DJ in DJ Mag.

The 2010 edition of Armin Only: Mirage kicked off in November 2010, in Utrecht, Netherlands, and was followed by shows in Saint Petersburg, Kyiv, Buenos Aires, Melbourne, Beirut, Poznań, Moscow and Bratislava.

In March and April, 2011, celebrating the 500th episode of his radio show, Van Buuren performed five live shows along with various artists; the first was in Johannesburg, South Africa at MTN Expo Centre, and the second in Miami's Ultra Music Festival. He then performed in Argentina at GEBA in Buenos Aires, followed by a large event at Brabanthallen in Den Bosch, Netherlands which included more than 30 DJs from countries all over the world and was attended by over 30,000 people. The final show was held in Sydney on 16 April at Acer Arena. In 2011, Van Buuren was appointed Officer of the Order of Oranje-Nassau for services to Dutch dance and music economy. That year he also received the Key to (Freedom) of Leiden from the City Mayor, as well as being voted No. 2 in the 2011 DJ Mag.

To celebrate the 550th episode of A State of Trance, he performed with various artists on two different continents during fourth weeks. The show was called A State of Trance 550: Invasion. The first event was celebrated at Ministry of Sound in London on 1 March 2012. On 7 March, Moscow held the second event at Expocentre. Kyiv's show was performed at International Exhibition Centre on 10 March. On 17 March, as part of the Beyond Wonderland festival in Los Angeles and on 25 March at the Ultra Music Festival in Miami. On 31 March, the biggest and final edition of ASOT 550 took place in the Brabanthallen of Den Bosch, Netherlands. On 19 October 2012, Van Buuren was announced for a fifth non-consecutive year as the world's number one DJ according to DJ Mag.

To celebrate the 600th episode of A State of Trance, Van Buuren announced that he would perform with various artists all around the world in early 2013. The show was called A State of Trance 600: The Expedition. It was announced that the show would tour the world, including stops in Madrid, Mexico City, São Paulo, Minsk, Sofia, Beirut, Kuala Lumpur, Mumbai, Miami, Guatemala City, New York City, and Den Bosch.

2013–2014: Intense
The first single of Van Buuren's fifth studio album, Intense, titled "This Is What It Feels Like", featured Canadian singer and songwriter Trevor Guthrie, and was released on 5 April 2013. The single nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording. The tour for the album, Armin Only: Intense, was announced on 17 October 2013.

30 April 2013 saw the abdication of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands in favor of her son, King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, who was sworn in and inaugurated that day, which was Queen's Day as well. Van Buuren was the headline act in a performance to a live audience celebrating the King's crowning in Amsterdam. While he was performing live together with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in the Amsterdam Harbor on Java-eiland, King Willem-Alexander, Queen Máxima and their three daughters made an unplanned visit on stage.

On 19 October 2013, Armin van Buuren was ranked number two DJ in the world by DJ Mag. On 26 January 2014, Armin van Buuren attended the 56th Grammy Awards, in relation to his Grammy Award nomination for the single featuring Trevor Guthrie, "This Is What It Feels Like" in the category of Best Dance Recording.

2015–2018: Embrace
On 8 May 2015, Armin van Buuren released the first single from his sixth studio album, Embrace, which was released on 29 October 2015. The single is titled "Another You" featuring Mr Probz. Three weeks after releasing "Another You", Van Buuren also debuted another remix from Game of Thrones official theme which is originally made by composer Ramin Djawadi.

On 16 October 2015 Armin van Buuren released the next single from Embrace called "Strong Ones" featuring Cimo Fränkel. This was followed by the release of his collaboration with Cosmic Gate "Embargo" on 22 October 2015. To accompany the album's release, Van Buuren announced the return of the Armin Only series of parties.

This edition of the tour was titled Armin Only: Embrace and took place throughout both 2015 and 2016. As the title of the tour suggests, it was based around the collection of music that he showcased on his new album.

On 2 February 2017, Armin van Buuren officially opened a new A State of Trance radio show studio in Amsterdam as part of his celebrations for the 800th episode of the radio show. The studio is located in the Armada headquarters. With the new accommodations made possible by the studio, he introduced a new segment of the radio show called Service for Dreamers where he invites fans to send in their favorite trance tracks that have a special meaning to them. Every week one track gets chosen to be featured live on the show and introduced by the fans of the radio show live, either by a walk-in, phone call, Skype or other means of contact.

In 2017, Armin van Buuren announced he will be releasing an online MasterClass sharing his expertise in electronic music production. On 13 April 2017, Armin van Buuren performed at the Heineken stage in Shanghai, in the first Formula 1 Festival along with Angela Zhang.

Armin performed a seven-hour-long set at the Romania Untold Festival on 6 August 2018, clocking from 2:00 a.m. to after 9:00 a.m. This outlasted his previous 2017 ASOT performance, which had gone on for five hours.

2019–2023: Balance
On 6 October 2019, he performed at Republic Square, Yerevan, Armenia as an opening act for the World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT).

On 25 October 2019, Armin released his seventh studio album, Balance.

In January 2021, Armin celebrated the 1000th episode of A State of Trance with a 7-day long livestream, where he, co-host Ruben de Ronde and monthly show resident Ferry Corsten presented a list of the top 1000 songs played during A State of Trance radio shows, as voted on by listeners of the show. The livestream ran from January 14 to January 21, and the top song was Shivers, from Armin's 2005 album. As has been done for previous radio show milestones, a major ASOT1000 festival was planned in Utrecht, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it has since been repeatedly delayed. The festival was held on March 4-5, 2023, by which point the weekly radio show have already surpassed 1100 episodes.

2023–2024: Breathe In
On 12 January 2024, Armin released his eighth studio album, Breathe In.

Discography

 * 76 (2003)
 * Shivers (2005)
 * Imagine (2008)
 * Mirage (2010)
 * Intense (2013)
 * Embrace (2015)
 * Balance (2019)
 * Feel Again (2023)
 * Breathe In (2024)

Filmography
Documentary and concert films
 * This Is Me (2022) - Co-directed by Sander Reneman, Nicolas Caeyers, and James Barnes, 'This Is Me' is an "exploration of the creative process" behind the concert, as well surveying "Armin’s journey of self-discovery to connect with himself and others again".

Orders
In 2011, van Buuren was appointed Officer of the Order of Orange Nassau for his services to music.

title: Armin van Buuren


text:
User talk:J crit

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User talk:Spuckupine

Hello and welcome to Wikipedia! Hope you like it here, and stick around.

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title: User talk:Spuckupine


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Sussex Golden Ginger Ale

Sussex Golden Ginger Ale is a "golden" ginger ale originally bottled in the town of Sussex, New Brunswick, Canada. It is produced by Canada Dry Motts, a subsidiary of Keurig Dr Pepper. The beverage is retailed in Canada's Maritime Provinces and northern areas in the state of Maine.

Ginger ales generally come in two varieties: golden ginger ale, which is dark-coloured and more strongly flavoured; and dry ginger ale, which is more common today. Dry ginger ale was developed during Prohibition when ginger ale was used as a mixer for alcoholic beverages, which made the stronger flavour of the golden variety undesirable. Dry ginger ale quickly became more popular than golden, and today golden ginger ales like Sussex are an uncommon and usually regional drink.

Variants
Other soft drinks with the Sussex name have been Sussex Pale Dry Ginger Ale, Sussex Red Oval Ginger Ale, Sussex Old English Ginger Beer and Sussex Cola.

Brand ownership
The brand has had various owners, including Sussex Mineral Spring Co., Sussex Ginger Ale Ltd., Maritime Beverages Ltd., Great Pacific Industries Inc., Canadian 7up, and Crush Canada Inc. Sussex Golden Ginger Ale is now owned by Keurig Dr Pepper (formerly the Dr Pepper Snapple Group).

title: Sussex Golden Ginger Ale


text:
Babyland

Babyland was an American performance-based independent electronic junk punk band from Los Angeles, California, featuring Dan Gatto performing vocals and electronics and Michael Smith on percussion. The band released six studio albums before disbanding in 2009: You Suck Crap (1992), A Total Letdown (1994), Who's Sorry Now (1995), Outlive Your Enemies (1998), The Finger (2004), Cavecraft (2008).

History
Babyland was formed in 1989 by vocalist and programmer Dan Gatto and percussionist Michael Smith out of Los Angeles, California. They were advocates of the DIY punk ethic and part of the musical underground culture and well regarded in Industrial music, punk rock, indie rock and electronic music communities. Gatto and Smith met while in college, their first collaboration being a project for a musical culture class. The duo created an audio-visual work for the class which provided the seed for starting the band.

In 1991, the band released their debut EP 1991 and later that year the single Reality Under Smrow-Toh on the Los Angeles Punk rock label Flipside. In 1992 the song "Mindfuck" was provided to the If It Moves... compilation The Cyberflesh Conspiracy and the following year the band produced a cover of Madonna's "Burning Up" for the Shut Up Kitty: A Cyber-Based Covers Compilation by Re-Constriction Records.

Recordings prior to 1996 continued to be released by Flipside, including the band's first three albums: You Suck Crap (1992), A Total Letdown (1994) and Who's Sorry Now (1995). These albums were positively received by critics, with Alternative Press crediting the band with embodying "all the confusion, resentment, anger, and frustration felt by an entire generation." The band released their fourth studio album Outlive Your Enemies on Mattress Recordings in 1998. The band also participated in several of Flipside's Mojave Desert events. Subsequent material has been released by the band's own label, Mattress.

The fifth full-length The Finger and a compilation of earlier songs Decade One was released in Europe by dependent. Most recently, a deal with Metropolis Records has resulted in the wider commercial release of the sixth album Cavecraft. A post to the band's Myspace site on October 9, 2009, confirmed the long-lived group's breakup. In 2013 the live album LIVE EXECUTION was released and documented a live performance made on January 1, 2009 at The Smell in Los Angeles.

Live performances
Known for their live performances, Babyland shared the stage with bands such as The Offspring, Ethyl Meatplow, Grotus, Legendary Pink Dots, Dystopia, Foetus, Add N to (X), Nitzer Ebb, VNV Nation, and Psychic TV. Most of their live performances occurred in underground locations that have included places like LA's Jabberjaw, Kontrol Faktory, The Smell, Long Beach's Bogart's and 924 Gilman in Berkeley. Many of their shows integrated a canonical industrial music ethic that involved building sets with items like scaffolding and functional televisions, which the band destroyed with hand and power tools over the course of the show.

Other projects
In between recording for Babyland, vocalist Dan Gatto formed Recliner with Vampire Rodents composer Daniel Vahnke and produced the song's "Trilobite" and "Nosedive", which appeared on the 1993 compilation Rivet Head Culture. Both compositions appeared on Vampire Rodents' third studio album Lullaby Land later that year. Another collaboration by Recliner was recorded and titled "Zygote", released on the 1994 compilation Scavengers in the Matrix and later on Vampire Rodents' fourth album Clockseed in 1995. In 2012 vocalist Dan Gatto released a synthpop project called Continues.

Discography
Studio albums
 * You Suck Crap (Flipside, 1992)
 * A Total Letdown (Flipside, 1994)
 * Who's Sorry Now (Flipside, 1995)
 * Outlive Your Enemies (Mattress, 1998)
 * The Finger (Dependent/Mattress, 2004)
 * Cavecraft (Mattress, 2008)

Extended plays
 * 1991 (Flipside, 1991)
 * The Dogsnatcher EP (Flipside, 1992)
 * 2002 (Mattress, 2002)
 * Past Lives (Mattress, 2004)
 * Not Modern (Mattress, 2008)

Live albums
 * LIVE EXECUTION (Mattress, 2013)

Compilation albums
 * Decade One (Dependent, 2001)

Singles
 * Reality Under Smrow-Toh (Flipside, 1992)
 * Stomach (Flipside, 1993)

title: Babyland


text:
Peshmerga

The Peshmerga (پێشمەرگه, ) comprise the standing military of Kurdistan Region, an autonomous political entity within the Republic of Iraq. According to the Constitution of Iraq, the Peshmerga and their security subsidiaries are solely responsible for the security of Kurdistan Region, chiefly due to the fact that the Iraqi Armed Forces are forbidden to enter Iraqi Kurdistan. These subsidiaries include Asayish (intelligence agency/security forces), Parastin û Zanyarî (assisting intelligence agency), and Zêrevanî (the gendarmerie). The Peshmerga's history dates back to the 18th century, when they began as a strictly tribal pseudo-military border guard under the Ottoman Turks and the Safavid Iranians. By the 19th century, they had evolved into a disciplined and well-trained guerrilla force.

Formally, the Peshmerga are under the command of the Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs of the Kurdistan Regional Government. In practice, however, the Peshmerga's structure is largely divided and controlled separately by the two Iraqi Kurdish political parties: the Democratic Party of Kurdistan and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. Though unifying and integrating the Peshmerga has been on the Kurdistan Region's public agenda since 1992, the individual forces remain divided due to factionalism, which has proved to be a major stumbling block.

Following the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the Peshmerga played a key role in helping the United States on the mission to capture deposed Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. In 2004, they captured Saudi-born Pakistani terrorist Hassan Ghul, who was operating for al-Qaeda in Iraq. Ghul was turned over to American intelligence officers shortly afterwards, and revealed the identity of several key al-Qaeda figures during his interrogation, which eventually led to the killing of Osama bin Laden in a covert American military operation in Pakistan in 2011. One year later, in 2012, Ghul was assassinated by an American drone strike in northwestern Pakistan.

Etymology
The word "Peshmerga" can be translated to "to stand in front of death",  and Valentine states it was first used by Qazi Muhammad in the short-lived Mahabad Republic (1946–47). The word is understandable to Persian speakers.

History
The Kurdish warrior tradition of rebellion has existed for thousands of years along with aspirations for independence, and early Kurdish warriors fought against the various Persian empires, the Ottoman Empire and the British Empire.

Historically the Peshmerga existed only as guerrilla organizations, but under the self-declared Republic of Mahabad (1946–1947), the Peshmerga led by Mustafa Barzani became the official army of the republic. After the fall of the republic and the execution of head of state Qazi Muhammad, Peshmerga forces reemerged as guerrilla organizations that would go on to fight the Iranian and Iraqi governments for the remainder of the century.

In Iraq, most of these Peshmerga were led by Mustafa Barzani of the Kurdistan Democratic Party. In 1975 the Peshmerga were defeated in the Second Iraqi–Kurdish War. Jalal Talabani, a leading member of the KDP, left the same year to revitalize the resistance and founded the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. This event created the baseline for the political discontent between the KDP and PUK that to this day divides Peshmerga forces and much of Kurdish society in Kurdistan.

After Mustafa Barzani's death in 1979, his son Masoud Barzani took his position. As tension increased between KDP and PUK, most Peshmerga fought to keep a region under their own party's control while also fighting off Iraqi Army incursions. Following the First Persian Gulf War, Iraqi Kurdistan saw the Kurdish Civil War between the two major parties, the KDP and the PUK, and Peshmerga forces were used to fight each other. The civil war officially ended in September 1998 when Barzani and Talabani signed the Washington Agreement establishing a formal peace treaty. In the agreement, the parties agreed to share revenue and power, deny the use of northern Iraq to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), and not allow Iraqi troops into the Kurdish regions. By then, around 5,000 had been killed on both sides, and many more had been evicted for being on the wrong side. In the years after, tension remained high, but both parties moved towards each other, and in 2003 they both took part in the overthrowing of the Baathist regime as part of the Iraq War. Unlike other militia forces, the Peshmerga were never prohibited by Iraqi law. In 2014, the Peshmerga withdrew from the Nineveh Plains which was said by the locals as being a contributing factor of the quick Islamic State victory in the invasion, and the widespread massacre of Yazidis, who were rendered defenseless.

Structure and capabilities
The Peshmerga are mostly divided among forces loyal to the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and those loyal to the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), while other, minor Kurdish parties such as the Kurdistan Socialist Democratic Party also have their own small Peshmerga units. The KDP and PUK do not disclose information about the composition of their forces with government or media. Thus there is no reliable number of how many Peshmerga fighters exist. Media outlets have speculated that there are between 150,000 and 200,000 Peshmerga, but this number is highly disputed. Peshmerga have divided Kurdistan Region into a KDP-governed "yellow" zone covering Dohuk Governorate and Erbil Governorate and a PUK-governed "green" zone covering Sulaymaniyah Governorate and Halabja Governorate. Each zone has its own branch of Peshmerga with their own governing institutions that do not coordinate with the other branch.

As a result of the split nature of the Peshmerga forces, there is no central command center in charge of the entire force, and Peshmerga units instead follow separate military hierarchies depending on political allegiance. Multiple unification and depoliticizing efforts of the Peshmerga have been made since 1992. But so far all deadlines have been missed, reforms have been watered down, and most of the Peshmerga are still under the influence of the KDP and the PUK, who also maintain their separate Peshmerga forces. Following the events of the Iraqi Civil War in 2014, the United States and several Europe nations pressured the PUK and KDP to set up mixed brigades of Peshmerga as a condition for aid and funding. The PUK and KDP united 12 to 14 brigades under the Regional Guard Brigades, which were then placed under the command of the Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs. However, officers continue to report to and take orders from their party leaders who also control the deployment of forces loyal to them and appoint front-line and sector commanders.

Both the KDP and the PUK rely heavily on irregulars in times of conflict to increase their ranks. However, both maintain several professional military brigades. The following units have been identified within the Peshmerga force:

Due to limited funding and the vast size of the Peshmerga forces, the KRG has long planned to downsize its forces from large numbers of low-quality forces to a smaller but much more effective and well-trained force. Consequently, in 2009, the KRG and Baghdad engaged in discussions about incorporating parts of the Peshmerga forces into the Iraqi Army in what would be the 15th and 16th Iraqi Army divisions. However, after increasing tension between Erbil and Baghdad regarding the disputed areas, the transfer was largely put on hold. Some Peshmerga were already transferred but reportedly deserted again, and there are allegations that former Peshmerga forces remained loyal to the KRG rather than their Iraqi chain of command; regardless, thousands of members of the 80 Unit of KDP and the 70 Unit of PUK are based in Baghdad, and they have good cooperation with other Iraqi forces in Baghdad.

The Peshmerga forces are secular with a Muslim majority and Assyrian and Yazidi units.

Peshmerga forces largely rely on old arms captured from battles. The Peshmerga captured stockpiles of weapons during the 1991 Iraqi uprisings. Several stockpiles of weapons were captured from the old Iraqi Army during the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, in which Peshmerga forces were active. Following the retreat of the new Iraqi Army during the June 2014 Islamic State offensive, Peshmerga forces reportedly again managed to get hold of weapons left behind by the Army. Since August 2014, Peshmerga forces have also captured weapons from the Islamic State. In 2015, for the first time, Peshmerga soldiers received urban warfare and military intelligence training from foreign trainers, the Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve.

The Peshmerga arsenal is limited and confined by restrictions because the Kurdish Region has to purchase arms through the Iraqi government. Due to disputes between the KRG and the Iraqi government, arms flows from Baghdad to Kurdistan Region have been almost nonexistent, as Baghdad fears Kurdish aspirations for independence. After the Islamic State offensive of August 2014, multiple governments armed the Peshmerga with some light equipment such as light arms, night goggles, and ammunition. However, Kurdish officials and Peshmerga stressed that they were not receiving enough. They also stress that Baghdad was blocking all arms from reaching the KRG, emphasizing the need for weapons to be sent directly to the KRG and not through Baghdad. Despite this, the United States has maintained that the government of Iraq is responsible for the security of Iraqi Kurdistan and that Baghdad must approve all military aid.

The Peshmerga lack a proper medical corps and communication units. This became apparent during the Islamic State offensive in 2014 where the Peshmerga found itself lacking ambulances and frontline field hospitals, forcing wounded fighters to walk back to safety. There is also a lack of communication tools, as Peshmerga commanders are forced to use civilian cellphones to communicate with each other. Under the guidance of the US-led coalition the Peshmerga has started to standardize its weapons systems, replacing Soviet-era weapons with NATO firearms.

Issues
The Peshmerga forces are plagued by frequent allegations of corruption, partisanship, nepotism, and fraud. A common result of corruption in the Peshmerga are "ghost employees" which are employees on paper who either do not exist or do not show up for work but receive a salary. Those setting up such a scam split the salary of these employees.

In addition the KDP and PUK have used the Peshmerga to exert or attempt to exert a monopoly on the use of force within their zones. In 2011 KDP Peshmerga fired on anti-government protesters in Sulaymaniyah, and the PUK later used its own security forces to break up these protests, leading to criticism from all of the opposition parties in the parliament. In 2014 the KDP used its Peshmerga to stop ministers from the Gorran Movement to enter Erbil and attend parliament.

Outside of Kurdistan Region the Peshmerga has been criticized for using force to exert control of local Arab, Yazidi and Assyrian communities, particularly after taking control of areas officially outside of Kurdistan Region during the Iraqi Civil War.

Role of women
Women have played a significant role in the Peshmerga since its foundation. The Kurdish Zand tribe was known for allowing women in military roles. During the Iraqi–Kurdish conflict the majority of women served within the Peshmerga in supporting roles such as building camps, taking care of the wounded, and carrying munitions and messages. Several women brigades served on the front lines. Margaret George Malik was an iconic Assyrian guerilla fighter who was given a leading position in important battles such as the battle of Zawita Valley. The PUK started recruiting women during the Kurdish Civil War. Women were given a 45-day basic training that included parade drills and basic marksmanship with various rifles, mortars, and RPGs.

In the months leading up to the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, the United States launched Operation Viking Hammer which dealt a huge blow to Islamic terrorist groups in Iraqi Kurdistan and uncovered a chemical weapons facility. The PUK later confirmed that female Kurdish fighters had participated in the operation. The modern Peshmerga is almost entirely made up of men, while having at least 600 women in their ranks. In the KDP, these Peshmerga women have been refused access to the frontline and are mostly used in logistics and management positions, but PUK Peshmerga women are deployed in the front lines and are actively engaged in combat.

title: Peshmerga


text:
Dan Gatto

Dan Gatto (born Dan Merrick Gatto; September 21, 1970) is an American musician best recognized as the vocalist for synth punk band Babyland. He also collaborated with Vampire Rodents composer Daniel Vahnke on a project called Recliner. After Babyland dissolved in 2009, Gatto founded Continues as an outlet for his solo work.

Biography
Gatto was born on September 21, 1970, and raised in the San Francisco Bay area. He became passionate about music at the age of twelve when he discovered The Human League's Dare album. By fifteen he had begun to compose electronic music and in 1989 formed the synth punk group Babyland with percussionist Michael Smith. They released six full-length albums between 1992 and 2008: You Suck Crap, A Total Letdown, Who's Sorry Now, Outlive Your Enemies, The Finger and Cavecraft. In 1992, Gatto met Daniel Vahnke, vocalist and composer for Vampire Rodents, and together they started the project Recliner. They collaborated on three songs together, "Trilobite", "Noise Dive" and Zygote, all of which appear on Vampire Rodents' Lullaby Land and Clockseed albums. In 2009, Michael Smith announced that he had become dissatisfied with the direction Babyland had headed and the duo parted ways in October of that year. Still eager to pursue music, Gatto began composing under the moniker Continues and released a self-titled solo album under the name in 2012.

Discography
Babyland
 * You Suck Crap (1992)
 * A Total Letdown (1994)
 * Who's Sorry Now (1995)
 * Outlive Your Enemies (1998)
 * The Finger (2004)
 * Cavecraft (2008)

Continues
 * Continues (2012)

Guest appearances
 * Vampire Rodents: Lullaby Land (1993)
 * Vampire Rodents: Clockseed (1995)
 * Philipp Münch: Mondo Obscura (2012)

title: Dan Gatto


text:
Fudgets

In computing, Fudgets is a graphical user interface toolkit for the functional programming language Haskell and the X Window System. Fudgets makes it easy to create client–server applications that communicate via the Internet.

Most of the work on Fudgets was done in 1991-1996 by Thomas Hallgren and Magnus Carlsson.

The authors claim that many of the advantages of Fudgets come from the fact that they are programmed in a lazy functional programming language.

The main entity of toolkit is fudget (implemented on low level through stream processors) which has its own input and output. Fudgets can be composed in parallel or sequence yielding new fudget which can be used in code as any other fudget.

Example
factorialF = stdoutF >==< mapF (show . factorial . read) >==< stdinF factorial  :: Integer -> Integer factorial n = product [1..n]

The code is self-describing considering that >==< is sequential fudget plumbing and mapF is fudget that takes a function of one argument and makes a fudget which output is input applied to that function. Note that fudget composition must be read from right to left, as a simple function composition. Now you can simply write

main = fudlogue factorialF

compile and run. For every given integer value it will print its factorial.

License
The license of Fudgets claims that this software is free for non-commercial use only.

title: Fudgets


text: Template:Subdivisions of Manitoba

title: Template:Subdivisions of Manitoba


text:
User:Dcljr/Characters

'''Please do not edit this page. Comments should go on my talk page. Thanks.'''

Characters interpreted as markup
The characters below have special meanings as wiki (or HTML) markup anywhere they occur in the course of regular text. To make the symbols themselves appear in the text of a page, you can use the corresponding character entities (e.g., "&amp;") or numeric codes ("&#38;"). For most, you can also use the special markup "<nowiki>", which is preferred in Wikipedia articles since future editors can then see the target character in the page source. (The use of character entities and numeric codes should probably be restricted to Talk pages and User pages, where your text will generally not be edited by others.)

¹ Use of the entity "&apos;" is not recommended.

² For another use of the left curly brace character, see the next section.

 * Thanks to Patrick for pointing out a mistake in my original table.

Markup at the beginning of a line
The following characters have special meanings as wiki markup only when positioned as the first character on a line. Again, to get the character itself to appear, use the numeric reference, character entity or "<nowiki>".

¹ The use of a space as the first character on a line is discouraged, but if you must have it you should probably use "&#160;" or "&nbsp;" to get a non-breaking space (more browsers understand the numeric form).

² Within definition lists, a colon has a different meaning as markup; see definition lists below.

³ For other uses of left curly braces, see the previous section.

Note also that in table markup, other characters (and sequences of characters) have special meanings. See tables.

title: User:Dcljr/Characters