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To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar

'To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar' is a 1995 American road comedy film directed by Beeban Kidron and starring Wesley Snipes, Patrick Swayze, and John Leguizamo as three New York City drag queens who embark on a road trip. Its title refers to an iconic autographed photo of Julie Newmar that they carry with them on their journey. Newmar also has a cameo appearance in the film as herself.

The film was released on September 8, 1995, and was in the number one spot in the North American box office for two weeks with a worldwide gross of $47.8 million. Critical response was mixed, with particular criticism towards the plot and its familiar elements, but the performances of Swayze, Snipes, and Leguizamo were lauded. At the 53rd Golden Globe Awards, Swayze was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, and Leguizamo was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture.

Plot
After tying for the win in New York City's "Drag Queen of the Year" contest, Noxeema Jackson and Vida Boheme win a trip to Hollywood to take part in the even bigger "Miss Drag Queen of America Pageant". Before they depart, Vida persuades Noxeema to take along the inexperienced "drag princess" Chi-Chi Rodriguez as their protégé (they initially refer to him simply as a "boy in a dress" rather than as a full-fledged drag queen). To do this, they cash in their plane tickets to a friend, John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt (a "Camp" name, which in reality is the title of a song), and use the money to buy a yellow convertible 1967 Cadillac DeVille. They set off for Los Angeles in it, carrying with them an iconic autographed photo of Julie Newmar (signed "To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar") that Vida took from a restaurant wall.

While on the road, they are pulled over by Sheriff Dollard, who hurls racial slurs then forces Vida out of the car and tries to rape her. Vida strikes him, and he is knocked unconscious. He is presumed dead, and the queens drive off. At a rest stop, they recover from the incident, but their car breaks down. Bobby Ray, a young man from the nearby small town of Snydersville, happens to pass by and gives them a ride to a bed and breakfast inn. The inn is owned by Carol Ann and her abusive car repairman husband, Virgil.

They are stranded in the town for the weekend waiting for the replacement part for their car. Chi-Chi is harassed by a group of rednecks but is saved by Bobby Ray. While volunteering to help with the town's Strawberry Social, they decide the town's women need a day with them getting their hair done, picking out new outfits, and talking in a café. While searching for the new outfits, they are ecstatic to find vintage fashions from the 1960s in the town's clothing store and give the female residents (and themselves) a makeover.

Following their makeover, they are abused by the same rednecks that attempted to harass Chi-Chi. Fed up, Noxeema handles the situation in a typically New York City manner and teaches their ringleader a lesson in manners. Vida, Noxeema, and Chi-Chi do what they can to be positive, and they set out to improve the lives of the townspeople, including offering assistance in organizing the Strawberry Social. Meanwhile, Sheriff Dollard is ridiculed by his colleagues, who believe he was beaten up by a girl. He goes in search of the drag queens.

Vida becomes acutely aware of Carol Ann's abuse at the hands of Virgil and, one night, decides to intervene, beating Virgil up before throwing him out of the house. Carol Ann is able to repair their car, but they remain for the Strawberry Social. Carol Ann reveals to Vida that she knew she was a drag queen all along due to her Adam's apple.

Virgil runs into Sheriff Dollard at a bar, and they realize that the newcomers are the same people Dollard has been searching for. They head back to Snydersville, and Dollard demands that the townspeople turn them over. The other townspeople, who now realize that their new friends are not women, devise a ruse to protect them. One by one, they confront Dollard, each one claiming to be a drag queen (in a similar fashion to Spartacus). Dollard is humiliated and flees. The Strawberry Social commences with everyone dressed in vibrant red outfits. The townspeople then say goodbye to Noxeema, Vida, and Chi-Chi as they prepare to leave. In honor of their friendship, Vida gives Carol Ann the autographed photo of Julie Newmar that has accompanied them on their trip.

They eventually make it to Los Angeles where Chi-Chi, after having received many tips from Vida and Noxeema during their ordeal, wins the title of Drag Queen of the Year. The crown is presented by Julie Newmar herself.

Development
Writer Douglas Carter Beane originally envisioned the script as a stage play but changed his mind when he realized putting a car on stage might not work. Beane was inspired by an anti-gay propaganda film called The Gay Agenda. Of that film, Beane said, "There's a scene where they show drag queens going through a town, and the narrator is warning the viewers that these people will take over your town, and I thought, Well, that would be fun."

The script found its way to Mitch Kohn, then a development executive at Amblin Entertainment. Kohn passed the script along to his boss Steven Spielberg, who "loved it". Spielberg had his friend Robin Williams do a humorous cold reading of the script while on a plane, which "mesmerized" the director. Williams expressed interest in a possible role but did not want to distract from the three leads, so he opted for a small cameo appearance.

When the script officially went into development at Amblin, multiple unnamed male directors passed on directing. British director Beeban Kidron begged Spielberg to let her direct, and he accepted. Though advertising companies wanted to change the film’s title to the shorter Ladies' Night or She's a Lady, Beane's script managed to keep the original title, which came from an autographed picture of Julie Newmar that Beane saw on the wall of a Times Square Chinese restaurant in the mid-1980s. Beane said Wong Foo is meant to be a metaphor for God, "because you have to thank God for everything. You have to be grateful for life. You just have to stop where you are and say thank you for everything." A scene was filmed where the characters provide more context, but it was deleted.

Casting
When it came to casting the leading men, Wesley Snipes and John Leguizamo (for whom the role of Chi-Chi Rodriguez was specifically written) both immediately said yes. Many actors were considered for the role of Vida Boheme, including Robert Downey Jr., William Baldwin, Gary Oldman, Matthew Broderick, James Spader, John Cusack, Mel Gibson, Robert Sean Leonard, Willem Dafoe, John Turturro, Matt Dillon, Rob Lowe, Johnny Depp, Tom Cruise, and Robin Williams (who has a brief cameo in the finished film). Patrick Swayze was one of the last actors to audition for Vida. Director Beeban Kidron said that it was ultimately Swayze's walk that sealed the deal, saying "Swayze had his own makeup people transform him into a woman, and he insisted that he and Beeban take a walk around the city to prove he could pass as a woman" and "With his beauty and dancer's grace, he did just that. He had the job."

The film featured dozens of New York City's drag performers and underground stars in small roles or as featured extras. Included in the mix were RuPaul, Joey Arias, Lady Bunny, Miss Understood, Candis Cayne, Flotilla DeBarge, Miss Coco Peru, Lady Catiria, and Quentin Crisp. The three lead actors spent time in the local drag scene while researching their roles and were each given a drag mentor to work with in developing their characters. Costume designer Marlene Stewart had the leads' wardrobes, including the shoes and corsets, custom-made.

Filming
Filming took place from July to October 1994. The drag contest seen in the beginning scene was filmed at Webster Hall in New York City. The John Shaffer Phipps Estate in Old Westbury, New York, now known as Old Westbury Gardens, was the site of the Miss Drag Queen USA contest at the end of the film. Film locations in New Jersey included Jersey City (site of the Canton Restaurant in which the opening restaurant scenes were shot) and Montclair. Much of the film was shot on location in Nebraska in the areas of Loma, Lincoln, and Omaha. Though greatly faded, a "Welcome to Snydersville" outdoor mural remains in Loma.

In interviews and recollections with actors and crew after the film, the production of To Wong Foo has been described as "a tough shoot", partly due to the discomfort the male leads experienced with their extensive makeup and costumes. On location filming and a 4½-month-long shoot also contributed to friction among cast and crew.

Kidron was pregnant when she accepted the directing job. As her due date drew nearer, Spielberg offered to step in and direct for her if needed. Kidron ultimately completed principal photography and gave birth immediately after filming wrapped.

A scene involving the drag trio dining at a McDonald's was scrapped after the company told producers they did not want to be associated with drag queen culture. Coca-Cola agreed to product placement, and a billboard for the soda company is featured in a prominent scene in the film.

The Australian film The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert was released in 1994 and became an international and critical hit. To Wong Foo shares certain plot details with Priscilla, which also concerns two drag queens and a transgender woman on a road trip who manage to win over the locals of a small town. Despite the similarities, To Wong Foo had already been in production by the time Priscilla was released. The crew of Priscilla had heard about the film while shooting their own, and though a producer was initially worried the films might be too similar, after reading To Wong Foo's script, producers decided it was sufficiently different from Priscilla. The success of Priscilla, along with the popularity of drag queens like RuPaul and the 1990 documentary Paris Is Burning, is credited with helping pave the way for To Wong Foo.

Music
The film's soundtrack was released on August 29, 1995. It consists of eleven tracks:

Music and songs not included in the soundtrack:

 * "Gotta Move" – Barbra Streisand
 * "Theme From Wonder Woman" – New World Symphony
 * "Je Cherche un Homme" [I Want a Man] – Eartha Kitt
 * "Behind Closed Doors" – Charlie Rich
 * "Stand by Your Man" – David Allan Coe
 * "This is a Man's World" – Sara Hickman
 * "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me" – Johnny Mathis
 * "(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song" – B.J. Thomas
 * "1812 Overture" – Tchaikovsky
 * "Zampa Overture" – Ferdinand Herold
 * "China Girl" – Robert J. Walsh
 * "That Lady You're with Ain't No Lady" – Larry Applewhite/Gene Wisniewski

Box office
To Wong Foo was released wide in North American theaters on September 8, 1995. It opened at the number-one position with $9 million and remained at the top in its second week with a gross of $6.5 million. Its lifetime box-office gross revenue totaled US$ worldwide. Professional golfer Chi-Chi Rodríguez sued the production company and distributor over the use of his name in the film, eventually settling on undisclosed terms.

Home media
The film was released on VHS after its theatrical release and on DVD on January 7, 2003, with several deleted scenes. It was released as a special collector's edition Blu-ray by Shout! Factory on May 28, 2019. The edition includes the behind-the-scenes documentary ''Easy Rider in Dresses: A Look Back at the Making of To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar'', which features interviews with screenwriter Douglas Carter Beane, director Beeban Kidron, and John Leguizamo.

Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 48% based on 46 reviews, with an average rating of 5.4/10. The site's consensus states: "To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar seeks to celebrate individuality, but is too timid and predictable to achieve its admittedly noble aims." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 60 based on reviews from 24 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "B+" on scale of A to F.

Though critical reviews were mixed, the performances of the three leads were roundly praised. Joe Brown of The Washington Post called the film "fiercely funny" and wrote, "Three snaps up for Patrick Swayze, Wesley Snipes and John Leguizamo, who walk the walk, and work it." Emanuel Levy of Variety gave a mixed review but wrote, "Sporting blond wigs, Snipes admirably wiggles his hips while wearing high-heeled red shoes. Using a low register, Swayze also excels as a man still suffering from parental rejection. Shining throughout is the brilliant Leguizamo, as the Latino spitfire who needs to prove to his comrades that he's more than 'a mere boy in a dress.

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote, "What is amazing is how the movie manages to be funny and amusing while tippy-toeing around (a) sex, (b) controversy and (c) any originality in the plot. Credit for that belongs to Swayze, Snipes and Leguizamo, who are surprisingly good at playing drag queens." While Ebert gave the film $2 1/2$ stars out of four, his colleague Gene Siskel gave a more positive review and predicted an Oscar nomination for Swayze.

Multiple critics pointed out the film's similarities to The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and said To Wong Foo was subpar in comparison due to the predictability of its plot, script and tonal unevenness. The decision to have the leads spend most of the film in drag, even going to bed in their wigs and makeup, was also criticized as straining credulity. Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times wrote screenwriter Beane and director Kidron "don't seem to know any way to emphasize the humanity of their characters except by swaddling them in mushy cliches". Actor and writer Michael Kearns argued the film and its promotion is "eager to wink and snicker at homosexuality". The film's omission of "any hint of gay sexuality" was noted by Janet Maslin of The New York Times, as well as Brown of the Post, who decried the fact that "always in the (admittedly few) mainstream movies with gay characters, [the film's] hero-ines" do not get to partake in the film's romantic story arcs, and appear to only function as asexual fairy godmothers for the townspeople of Snydersville.

In a positive review, Edward Guthmann of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote, "It's a distant cry from the reality of gay bashings, poverty and evictions that real-life drag queens suffer—which may be part of its point. Imagine, Wong Foo suggests, a world where people stopped judging one another and simply surrendered to the silliness that's dormant inside us."

The Austin Chronicle's Alison Macor shared a similar sentiment, writing that while the film's sentimentality may go too far for some, To Wong Foo "is such a delight that it's easy to overlook the few awkward moments", adding, "The film camps it up but still allows us to believe in the characters."

Emanuel Levy concluded though the film "is not as outrageous or funny as [Priscilla]...it still offers some rewards as mainstream entertainment" and that "ultimately, the comedy comes across as a celebration of openness, alternative lifestyles and bonding, all life-affirming values that in the 1990s are beyond reproach—or real controversy".

Accolades
Swayze and Leguizamo were nominated at the 1996 Golden Globe Awards, for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy and Best Supporting Actor, respectively.

The film was nominated for Outstanding Film at the 1996 GLAAD Media Awards.

Legacy
To Wong Foo is considered groundbreaking for being the first mainstream Hollywood production to depict drag queens. Rita Kempley of The Washington Post wrote that in comparison to previous films that featured cross-dressing like Some Like It Hot or Tootsie, "The heroines [in To Wong Foo] aren't cross-dressing to escape the mob or to prove a point, they're just being true to their nature."

In a 2019 retrospective piece about the film, writer Naveen Kumar noted "the film's language and understanding of gender variance is undoubtedly limited as a product of its time" and that the film "[blended] iterations of queer experience that tend to have clearer distinctions in the real world, and for which we have more nuanced language today". Among the film's language and concepts that are now considered problematic is the terminology used by the characters to describe the differences in queer identities.

Of the leads being in drag for the duration of the film, some critics said this was an intentional part of the film's camp element. Kumar added, "That To Wong Foo's drag performances remain completely unbroken throughout the film's entirety heightens the movie's extreme emphasis on beauty and artifice" and that the film is very "conscious of its ironies [as] Swayze and Snipes were both box-office draws known for hypermasculine and romantic leading roles; the perceived incongruity of dressing them in drag is part of what fuels the comedy". In this way, Kumar wrote, "To Wong Foo plays on viewers' suspension of disbelief (Swayze and Snipes, in particular, are clearly recognizable under their women's garb)" and that the "movie's own characterizations tend to blur the lines between drag as a conscious performance and their desire to actually be seen, day and night, as women".

Of the characters staying in drag, Douglas Carter Beane said his intent was to create an illusion, saying, "It is about fantasy and the illusion. It's about the work that goes into the art form. It was never meant to be an absolutely truthful documentary look at drag." Candis Cayne, who appears in the film, said its fantasy element can also be seen as problematic, "[perpetuating] an idea that transgender identity is nothing but make-believe". Drag queen Alaska Thunderfuck said that what the film does best is "the camaraderie between the girls... the way they look out for each other and protect one another. The movie also illustrates the transformative power of drag. It helps people become empowered, no matter where they come from or what kind of life they lead".

Musical
In 2017, it was announced that Douglas Carter Beane and his husband Lewis Flinn were working on a musical adaptation for Broadway. In an interview, Beane stated that he had originally written To Wong Foo for the stage and had retained stage rights when the screenplay was produced. The musical premiered at the Hope Mill Theatre in Manchester on October 21, 2023.


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Melbourne Central railway station

Melbourne Central railway station is a commuter railway station on the Burnley, Caulfield, Clifton Hill and Northern group lines, serving the Melbourne CBD in Victoria, Australia. Melbourne Central is an underground premium station on the City Loop, featuring four platforms, two island platforms on two floors connected to street level by a shopping and commercial precinct. It opened on 24 January 1981, with station refurbishments underway as of June 2024.

Initially opened as Museum, the station was given its current name of Melbourne Central on 16 February 1996, after the Melbourne Central Shopping Centre, which it is beneath.

The station is located under La Trobe Street, between Swanston and Elizabeth Streets, on the northern edge of the central business district (CBD). It feeds into Melbourne's main metro network station, Flinders Street, and also Southern Cross, Melbourne's main regional terminus. In 2017/2018, it was the third-busiest station on the Melbourne metropolitan rail network, with 15.859 million passenger movements.

History
The station was built using cut and cover construction. In December 1973, to permit excavation of the station, La Trobe Street and its tram tracks were temporarily relocated to the south, onto the site of what is now the Melbourne Central Shopping Centre, and moved back on completion of the work in 1978. The pit was 168 m long and 22.5 m wide, 29 m deep at the Swanston Street end and 22 m deep at the Elizabeth Street end. Seven layers of struts were used to support the excavation, with 2,600 tonnes of steel temporary supports required.

The station was designed by architectural firm Perrott Lyon Mathieson, with initial layout by associate David Simpson, followed by detailed design by Graeme Butler. The design included the two pairs of platforms, a spacious concourse directly under La Trobe Street, with entries facing the Elizabeth Street and Swanston Street corners. The Swanston Street corner included a set of raised circular platforms above the entry; during a Royal Visit, Queen Elizabeth was shown around the not yet operational station on 28 May 1980, and unveiled a plaque naming it the Queen Elizabeth Plaza.

The station was finally opened on 24 January 1981, and opened as Museum, after the adjacent National Museum of Victoria and Science Museum of Victoria, in the State Library of Victoria complex on the opposite side of Swanston Street. It was the first station to open on the City Loop. Initially, the station was only used by trains on the Burnley and Caulfield groups, using platforms 2 and 4, with services from the Clifton Hill group beginning to use platform 1 on 31 October 1982, and trains from the Northern group beginning to use platform 3 on 1 May 1984. The Elizabeth Street entrance to the station opened on 5 April 1982.

The adjoining Melbourne Central Shopping Centre opened in 1991, being built around the existing escalators to street level, with only minor integration between the station concourse and shopping centre. The station was renamed after the shopping centre on 16 February 1997, and a few months later on 13 July, the National Museum of Victoria closed at the State Library site, in preparation for its relocation to Carlton, where it reopened as the Melbourne Museum in 2000.

The station concourse was extensively redeveloped in 2002/2003, as part of a redevelopment of the shopping centre, integrating it into the complex. The direct escalators from the concourse to Swanston Street closed in November 2003, and were replaced by escalators rising into the atrium under the cone in the centre of the shopping centre, making the path for rail passengers more convoluted. The concourse under La Trobe Street was integrated into the shopping centre with the installation of numerous shops.

In June 2025, as part of the Metro Tunnel project, the Pakenham, Cranbourne and Sunbury lines will cease to stop at Melbourne Central. However, they will use the connected State Library station when it opens with the Metro Tunnel.

Facilities
Melbourne Central has an underground concourse and two levels of platforms below it (2 island platforms with four faces and tracks). Each platform serves a separate group of rail lines that leave the Loop and radiate out into the city's suburbs. At peak times, with a train arriving every 2.5 minutes, the station has a passenger flow of 30,000 per hour. Three elevators were initially provided, as well as 21 escalators. Melbourne Central is a premium station, meaning that it is staffed from first to last train and provides extra customer services.

The concourse has two sections separated by the shopping centre food court:

 * The Elizabeth Street concourse has stairs and three escalators providing access to the street, a walkway to the Swanston Street concourse, a booking office, ticket barriers, toilets, and stairs and five escalators leading down to the platforms.
 * The Swanston Street concourse was altered in the early 2000s, when redevelopment works were carried out at the adjacent Melbourne Central Shopping Centre. Inside the ticket barriers there are toilets, and two lifts and five escalators going to the platforms. Outside is a food court, an exit to La Trobe Street and Level LG of the shopping centre (which passes under Little Lonsdale Street). There is also a lift and four escalators to the shopping centre level above. On the next level up (Level G), there is access to Little Lonsdale and La Trobe Streets via the shopping centre. Access to Swanston Street is via three escalators rising another floor (or the lift to Level 1 and a 70m walk), and a walk through the shopping centre past the shot tower.

Transport links
Yarra Trams operates thirteen services via Melbourne Central station, on Swanston, Elizabeth, and La Trobe Streets.

Swanston Street
 * Melbourne tram route 1 icon.svg: East Coburg – South Melbourne Beach
 * Melbourne tram route 3 icon.svg: Melbourne University – East Malvern
 * Melbourne tram route 5 icon.svg: Melbourne University – Malvern
 * Melbourne tram route 6 icon.svg: Moreland – Glen Iris
 * Melbourne tram route 16 icon.svg: Melbourne University – Kew
 * Melbourne tram route 64 icon.svg: Melbourne University – Brighton East
 * Melbourne tram route 67 icon.svg: Melbourne University – Carnegie
 * Melbourne tram route 72 icon.svg: Melbourne University – Camberwell

Elizabeth Street
 * Melbourne tram route 19 icon.svg: Coburg North – Flinders Street station
 * Melbourne tram route 57 icon.svg: West Maribyrnong – Flinders Street station
 * Melbourne tram route 59 icon.svg: Airport West – Flinders Street station

La Trobe Street
 * Melbourne tram route 30 icon.svg: St Vincent's Plaza – Central Pier
 * Melbourne tram route 35 icon.svg: City Circle Tram

Kinetic Melbourne operates four bus routes from Lonsdale Street (Melbourne Central side), under contract to Public Transport Victoria:
 * to Bulleen
 * to Westfield Doncaster
 * to La Trobe University Bundoora campus
 * to Northland Shopping Centre

Kinetic Melbourne operates thirteen bus routes from Lonsdale Street (Myer side), under contract to Public Transport Victoria:
 * to Queen Street
 * to Queen Street
 * to Queen Street
 * to Queen Street
 * to King Street
 * to Spencer Street (Peak Hour only)
 * to Queen Street
 * to Spencer Street
 * to Queen Street
 * SmartBus : to Spencer Street
 * SmartBus : to Spencer Street
 * SmartBus : to Spencer Street
 * SmartBus : to Spencer Street (Peak Hour only)

Kinetic Melbourne operates eleven bus routes from Swanston/Lonsdale Streets (QV), under contract to Public Transport Victoria:
 * to Box Hill station
 * to Ringwood North
 * to Westfield Doncaster
 * to The Pines Shopping Centre (Peak Hour only)
 * to Donvale
 * to Deep Creek Reserve (Doncaster East)
 * to La Trobe University Bundoora campus
 * SmartBus : to The Pines Shopping Centre
 * SmartBus : to Warrandyte
 * SmartBus : to Mitcham station
 * SmartBus : to The Pines Shopping Centre (Peak Hour only)

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

title: Melbourne Central railway station


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Timeline of SCO–Linux disputes

Beginning in 2003, The SCO Group was involved in a dispute with various Linux vendors and users. SCO initiated a series of lawsuits, the most known of which were SCO v. IBM and SCO v. Novell, that had implications upon the futures of both Linux and Unix. SCO claimed that Linux violated some of SCO's intellectual properties. Many industry observers were skeptical of SCO's claims, and they were strongly contested by SCO's opponents in the lawsuits, some of which launched counter-claims. By 2011, the lawsuits fully related to Linux had been lost by SCO or rendered moot and SCO had gone into bankruptcy. However the SCO v. IBM suit continued for another decade, as it included contractual disputes related to both companies' involvement in Project Monterey in addition Linux-related claims. Finally in 2021 a settlement was reached in which IBM paid the bankruptcy trustee representing what remained of SCO the sum of $14.25 million.

Timeline

 * June 2002
 * On 27 June 2002, Caldera International has a change in management, with Darl McBride, formerly an executive with Novell, FranklinCovey, and several start-ups, taking over as CEO from Ransom Love. Caldera International had completed its purchase of Unix assets from The Santa Cruz Operation (SCO) the previous year.  From the start of his time as CEO, McBride considers the possibility of claiming ownership of some of the code within Linux.

 * August 2002
 * On August 26, 2002, Caldera International changes its name back to SCO, in the form of the new name The SCO Group.

 * October 2002
 * McBride creates an internal organization "to formalize the licensing of our intellectual property".

 * January 2003
 * SCO retains lawyer David Boies, announcing that they would be investigating infringement on their intellectual property pertaining to their ownership of UNIX. Over the next several months, the executives of SCO issue a number of press releases and public statements alleging unspecified violations of their UNIX intellectual property rights in Linux.  They also begin to raise questions of the validity of the GPL.

 * March 2003
 * In SCO v. IBM, SCO sues IBM over its contributions to Linux, claiming that IBM stole UNIX trade secrets and gave them to Linux kernel developers. The suit was filed originally in the Utah State Court, but was immediately removed to Federal Court.

 * May 2003
 * The SCO Group says they sent letters to 1,500 of the world's largest corporations, including the Fortune 500 companies, alleging that the use of Linux may infringe a copyright they hold on the original UNIX source code. They say that the Linux kernel, the core of the operating system contains copyrighted SCO source code. In this letter they also announce the suspension of their own Linux-related activities.

 * July 2003
 * The SCO Group files an amended complaint.

 * August 2003
 * SCO announces that they intend to issue invoices to companies using Linux.
 * In Red Hat v. SCO, Red Hat files suit in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware asking for a permanent injunction blocking SCO from asserting that Red Hat infringed on SCO's intellectual property with their Linux product.
 * IBM files its counterclaims, alleging that SCO has violated the GPL, several patents, and the Lanham Act by falsely accusing IBM of violating SCO's IP rights.

 * September 2003
 * SCO CEO, Darl McBride, writes an open letter to the free software community. In this letter he accuses the free software community of being responsible for recent DDoS attacks on the SCO website and once again asserts that Linux violates SCO's intellectual properties.
 * IBM files amended counterclaims, including a claim of copyright infringement.

 * October 2003
 * BayStar Capital and Royal Bank of Canada invest $US50 million in SCO to support the legal cost of the SCOsource program.
 * SCO announces that it would not attempt invoicing Linux users after being threatened with mail fraud.

 * December 2003
 * SCO sends a letter to all Unix licensees asking them to certify certain questions regarding the use of Linux.
 * SCO sends a letter claiming ownership of the Linux ABI code.

 * January 2004
 * SCO sends a letter to the United States Congress, raising issues such as the economics of open source development and the legality of the GPL.
 * In, SCO v. Novell, SCO files slander of title suit against Novell.

 * February 2004
 * The SCO Group becomes the target of the Mydoom computer worm, which was programmed to launch a denial of service attack on the company's website beginning on February 1, 2004. The Group has also been the subject of a Google bomb campaign. Google returns SCO's website as the number one hit for the phrase "litigious bastards."
 * SCO files a second amended complaint against IBM. It drops the trade secret claims, but adds claims of copyright infringement.

 * March 2004
 * In SCO v. AutoZone, SCO files suit against AutoZone in Nevada state court.
 * In SCO v. DaimlerChrysler, SCO files suit against DaimlerChrysler.
 * IBM files second amended counterclaims.

 * April 2004
 * The Red Hat v. SCO case is stayed until resolution of the SCO v. IBM case.

 * May 2004
 * IBM files a motion for partial summary judgment on a claim for declaratory judgment of non-infringement. This would confirm that IBM has not infringed on any SRVx code in its Linux activities.

 * June 2004
 * The SCO v. Novell case is dismissed due to inadequate pleading of special damages.

 * July 2004
 * The SCO v. AutoZone case is stayed pending the outcome in SCO v. IBM.
 * All claims in the SCO v. DaimlerChrysler case are dismissed except on the matter of breach of section 2.05, in that DC did not submit their response in a timely manner.
 * SCO files an amended complaint in SCO v. Novell.

 * August 2004
 * IBM files motion for partial summary judgment on breach of contract claims in SCO v. IBM. This judgment would confirm that the AT&T license agreement placed no restrictions on derivative works.
 * IBM files motion for partial summary judgment on its counterclaim for copyright infringement in SCO v. IBM. This judgment would find SCO guilty of copyright infringement of IBM's contributions to Linux.
 * Randall Davis (MIT) files his second declaration on behalf of IBM. In it, he describes his examination of SCO's claims of infringement, using both the "COMPARATOR" and "SIM" tools. He concluded that, "Despite an extensive review, I could find no source code in any of the IBM Code [including AIX, Dynix, Linux, or JFS] that incorporates any portion of the source code contained in the Unix System V Code or is in any other manner similar to such source code. Accordingly, the IBM Code cannot be said, in my opinion, to be a modification or a derivative work based on Unix System V Code."
 * Novell files a motion to dismiss.

 * December 2004
 * SCO v. DaimlerChrysler case is dismissed without prejudice based on stipulation of the parties. If SCO wishes to pursue the remaining claim (i.e. whether DaimlerChrysler replied in a timely manner) again, they must pay DaimlerChrysler's legal fees from August 9, 2004.
 * SCO appeals to Michigan Court of Appeals.

 * January, 2005
 * SCO's appeal of the DaimlerChrysler case is dismissed.

 * February, 2005
 * IBM's motions for partial summary judgment are denied without prejudice, to be refiled after the close of discovery.

 * June 2005
 * On June 20, expert Brian W. Kernighan filed a declaration on behalf of IBM. He testified that he had performed an analysis of SCO's specific claims and that there was no similarity between the portions of Linux identified by SCO and the allegedly copyrighted works.

 * July 2005
 * On July 1, U.S. Federal Judge Dale A. Kimball denied The SCO Group's motion to amend their claim against IBM again (a third amended complaint) and include new claims regarding Monterey on the PowerPC architecture. In the same decision, the five-week jury trial date was set for February 2007.
 * Novell files its answer with the court, denying SCO's claims.
 * Novell files counterclaims asking the court to force SCO to turn over the revenues it had received from UNIX licenses, less a 5% administrative fee. Additionally, Novell asks the court to place the funds in a "constructive trust" in order to ensure that SCO can pay Novell since the company's assets are depleting rapidly.
 * On July 14, Groklaw obtained an email from Michael Davidson to SCO Group senior vice president Reginald Broughton sent on August 13, 2002. In it, Davidson describes The Santa Cruz Operation's own investigation into whether or not Linux contained proprietary UNIX source code. "At the end, we had found absolutely nothing, i.e., no evidence of any copyright infringement whatsoever", Davidson concluded. At which time SCO presented as evidence an e-mail from a Robert Swartz, a consultant hired by SCO to compare UNIX and Linux source files, that copyright infringement could exist.

 * December 2005
 * Final deadline passes in SCO v. IBM to disclose allegedly misused material with specificity. SCO provides IBM with a list of 294 alleged violations.

 * January 2006
 * SCO files a second amended complaint against Novell. It adds claims of copyright infringement, unfair competition and breach of a non-compete agreement.

 * April 2006
 * SuSE (now owned by Novell) files an arbitration request with the ICC International Court of Arbitration. It asks to preclude SCO from asserting proprietary rights to any code in Linux.
 * Novell files a motion to stay the case pending the resolution of SuSE arbitration.

 * May 2006
 * SCO and IBM exchange initial expert reports.

 * June 2006
 * Most of the items on SCO's list of allegedly misused material are stricken by the magistrate judge in SCO v. IBM due to lack of specificity.

 * November 2006
 * On November 29, Judge Kimball affirmed Magistrate Judge Brooke Wells' June 28, 2006 Order striking most of SCO's claimed evidence of code misuse as being too vague to be worth adjudicating.

 * December 2006
 * On December 1, Wells ruled from the bench in accepting IBM's motion to limit SCO's claims to those supported by evidence submitted by December 22, 2005 and not rejected by the court. SCO stock subsequently lost roughly 50% of its value in three days of exceptionally heavy trading.

 * April 2007
 * SCO brings Pamela Jones of Groklaw into both SCO v. IBM and SCO v. Novell cases. They claim that they have attempted to serve Jones although she denies knowledge of any such attempts.

 * August 2007
 * On August 10, Judge Dale Kimball issued a ruling in SCO v. Novell which found that "Novell is the owner of the UNIX and UnixWare copyrights" and SCO to be in breach of its SVRX licensing agreement with Novell. The ruling also cast further doubt on SCO's claims that IBM and Linux infringe against any SCO source code, and upheld Novell's right to force SCO to waive its copyright claims against IBM and Sequent. In response, on Monday, August 13, SCO stock fell over 70%, to 44 cents a share.

 * September 2007
 * The trial in SCO v. Novell was due to start on Monday September 17, in order to determine how much money SCO owed Novell. On September 14, SCO Group filed a voluntary petition for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code. As a result of the petition for bankruptcy, all pending litigation was automatically stayed as per U.S.C. § 362. On September 27, NASDAQ issued SCO a notice of potential delisting, under their discretionary authority. SCO appealed this decision, but on September 19, it received another delisting warning for an insufficient bid price. On October 23, SCO announced that they had reached an agreement with York Capital Management. Pending Bankruptcy Court approval, York was to purchase most of SCO's business for a total of approximately $36 million, including financing. After Novell, IBM, and the United States Trustee objected to the deal, SCO withdrew the proposed sale on November 20, without prejudice.

 * November 2007
 * Novell succeeded in getting a court to lift SCO's Chapter 11 immunity from legal action and will continue with legal action against SCO.

 * December 2007
 * SCO stock is delisted from the NASDAQ stock exchange.

 * July 2008
 * Novell granted award of 2.5 million against SCO.

 * August 2009
 * On August 24, the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit partially reverses summary judgment in SCO v. Novell, deciding that an issue of fact was present that should have been reserved for a trial. It affirmed the judgment on royalties due, while reversing the summary judgments on ownership of UNIX and UnixWare copyrights, SCO's claim seeking specific performance, the scope of Novell's rights under Section 4.16 of the APA, and the application of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing to Novell's rights under Section 4.16 of the APA. The reversed judgments were remanded to trial.

 * October 2009
 * On October 14, 2009, SCO Group announced that the company had terminated CEO Darl McBride's contract.

 * March 2010
 * The SCO Group's case against Novell for slander of title is heard by a jury in Utah, which ruled in favor of Novell. The jury determines that the Unix copyrights never transferred to SCO. A lawyer for SCO responds that the court still needed to rule on whether Novell had the right to waive SCO's claims against IBM in a related suit and whether Novell is obligated by the sales contract to transfer the copyright to SCO. And SCO decides to continue the lawsuit against IBM for causing a decline in SCO revenues.

 * May 2010
 * Remaining issues in SCO v. Novell settled by the District Court in favor of Novell and against SCO.

 * June 2010
 * Judge Ted Stewart decides that SCO is obligated to recognize Novell's waiver of SCO's purported claims against IBM and Sequent. The Court also judges in favor of Novell and against SCO on SCO's claim for breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, ordering the case to be closed.

 * December 2010
 * SCO files an appeal of SCO v. Novell, scheduled to be heard on January 20, 2011.

 * April 2011
 * Having sold off its operating assets other than the lawsuits, The SCO Group, Inc. then renames itself TSG Group, Inc.

 * August 2011
 * On August 30, 2011, the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit affirms SCO's loss to Novell in the second jury/bench trial. SCO's appellate brief had argued that there were evidentiary errors and other issues at trial.  The affirmed verdict held that Novell did not transfer the UNIX copyrights to SCO in the amended asset purchase agreement, and that Novell has the right to waive certain alleged license violations.

 * August 2012
 * TSG Group, Inc. files to convert from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to Chapter 7 liquidation stating "There is no reasonable chance of rehabilitation" and that it is looking to reduce bankruptcy costs on itself while continuing to pursue the SCO v. IBM suit.

 * June 2013
 * On June 14, 2013, Judge David Nuffer rules on SCO v. IBM motions, granting SCO's motion for reconsideration and reopening the case.

 * June 2015
 * Magistrate Judge Paul M. Warner was added to the case, to oversee settlement discussions.

 * February 2016
 * On February 26, 2016, SCO and IBM filed a joint motion for final entry of judgement against SCO. This enables SCO, if it wishes, to appeal the partial summary judgements in favor of IBM. Due to its bankruptcy, its only remaining asset is its right to appeal the failure of its legal claims against IBM.

 * October 2017
 * On October 30, 2017, the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit issues a ruling partially in favor of the SCO Group, saying that SCO's claims that, as part of Project Monterey, IBM misappropriated SCO's proprietary code in relation a "sham" version of Monterrey for IBM AIX for PowerPC, could go forward. The case is remanded to Judge Nuffer in U.S. federal court.

 * February 2018
 * SCO and IBM restate their remaining claims before Judge Nuffer and discuss a plan to move toward final judgement.

 * May 2020
 * Magistrate Judge Warner was no longer assigned to overseeing settlement discussions.

 * March 2021
 * On March 31, 2021 Xinuos, Inc., the company that develops and markets the Unix-based OS's previously maintained by SCO, filed a copyright infringement and antitrust lawsuit against International Business Machines Corp. and Red Hat, Inc. in the United States District Court of the Virgin Islands, St. Thomas and St. John Division alleging that IBM and Red Hat, using wrongfully copied software code, have engaged in additional, illegal anti-competitive misconduct to corner the billion-dollar market for Unix and Linux server operating systems. IBM rejected the claims as "without merit" and "defying logic".

 * August 2021
 * Word came of a possible final settlement in the SCO v. IBM case, wherein documents filed in the case indicated that the bankruptcy trustee for TSG Group and IBM appeared to be on the verge of settling the outstanding, Project Monterey-based, claims in the matter for $14.25 million. As part of this, the trustee would give up any future related claims against IBM.

 * November 2021
 * The settlement was made under those terms, with IBM paying the TSG bankruptcy trustee $14.25 million and the trustee giving up all future claims and with each party paying their own legal costs.

title: Timeline of SCO–Linux disputes


text:
UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll

The UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll is the popular name for an online poll conducted in 2004 by UEFA as part of their Golden Jubilee celebrations, celebrating the best European footballers from the fifty previous years. The poll, available on UEFA's website, asked respondents to pick their ten favorite players from each of the five previous decades, from a shortlist of 250 players. Over 150,000 people responded, producing over seven million votes. Zinedine Zidane topped the poll narrowly from Franz Beckenbauer. Italian players featured most frequently with ten nominations, edging out German players with eight nominations.

title: UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll


text:
Federally Qualified Health Center

A Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) is a reimbursement designation from the Bureau of Primary Health Care and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. This designation is significant for several health programs funded under the Health Center Consolidation Act (Section 330 of the Public Health Service Act).

An FQHC is a community-based organization that provides comprehensive primary care and preventive care, including health, oral, and mental health/substance abuse services to persons of all ages, regardless of their ability to pay or health insurance status. Thus, they are a critical component of the health care safety net. FQHCs are called Community/Migrant Health Centers (C/MHC), Community Health Centers (CHC), and 330 Funded Clinics. FQHCs are automatically designated as health professional shortage facilities.

Funded programs
Health programs funded include:

 * Community Health Centers which serve a variety of federally designated Medically Underserved Areas/Populations (MUA or MUP).
 * Migrant Health Centers which provide culturally competent and primary preventive medical care to migrant and seasonal agricultural workers.
 * Health Care for the Homeless Programs which reach out to homeless individuals and families and provide primary and preventive care and substance abuse services and
 * Public Housing Primary Care Programs that serve residents of public housing and are located in or adjacent to the communities they serve.

Leadership
FQHCs operate under a consumer Board of Directors governance structure and function under the supervision of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), which is part of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). FQHCs were originally meant to provide comprehensive health services to the medically underserved to reduce the patient load on hospital emergency rooms.

Their mission has changed since their founding. Their mission now is to enhance primary care services in underserved urban and rural communities. In particular, they serve underserved, underinsured, and uninsured Americans, including migrant workers and non-U.S. citizens.

FQHCs provide their services to all persons regardless of ability to pay, and charge for services on a community board approved sliding-fee scale that is based on patients' family income and size. FQHCs must comply with Section 330 program requirements.

In return for serving all patients regardless of ability to pay, the centers receive from the Federal government cash grant, cost-based reimbursement for their Medicaid patients, and malpractice coverage under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA).

Look-Alikes
The government also designates a category of health centers as "FQHC Look-Alikes." These health centers do not receive grants under Section 330 but are determined by the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to meet the requirements for receiving a grant based on the Health Resources and Services Administration recommendations. Also, FQHC Look-Alikes receive cost-based reimbursement for their Medicaid services, but do not receive malpractice coverage under FTCA or a cash grant. Look-Alikes also qualify as health professional shortage areas (HPSA) automatically.

Services under Medicare
FQHC benefit under Medicare became effective October 1, 1991, when Section 1861(aa) of the Social Security Act was amended by Section 4161 of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990. FQHCs provide Medicare beneficiaries with preventive primary health services such as immunizations, visual acuity and hearing screenings, and prenatal and post-partum care. However, eyeglasses, hearing aids, and preventive dental services are not covered under the FQHC preventive primary services. A FQHC Prospective Payment System (PPS) was scheduled to be implemented in 2014. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) mandates that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) collect and analyze health services data prior to developing and implementing the new payment system. This requires that the appropriate revenue code and Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS) code be listed with each service provided. Currently, Medicare pays FQHC directly based on an all-inclusive per visit payment.

Advanced Primary Care Practice demonstration project
In June 2011, the Department of Health and Human Services announced the Federally Qualified Health Center Advanced Primary Care Practice (FQHC APCP) demonstration project. This demonstration project is conducted under the authority of Section 1115A of the Social Security Act, which was added by section 3021 of the ACA and establishes the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (Innovation Center). The CMS and Innovation Center in partnership with HRSA will operate the demonstration. This initiative was designed to evaluate the impact of the advanced primary care practice (APCP) model, also referred to as the patient-centered medical home (PCMH) on improving health, quality of care and lowering the cost of care provided to Medicare beneficiaries. The ACA will pay an estimated $42 million over three years (November 1, 2011 to October 31, 2014) to 500 FQHCs to coordinate care for 195,000 Medicare patients. Participating FQHCs agree to adopt care coordination practices set by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) and are expected to achieve Level 3 patient-centered medical home recognition.

President Bush launched the Health Centers Initiative to significantly increase access to primary health care services in 1,200 communities through new or expanded health center sites. Between 2001 and 2006, the number of patients treated at health centers increased by over 4.7 million, representing a nearly 50 percent increase in just five years. In 2006 the number of patients served topped the 15 million mark for the first time.

Throughout the United States there are over 1,000 health centers that operate approximately 6,000 sites. In 2010, the health centers served an estimated 20 million patients. The data collected via the Uniform Data System (UDS) reports that of those patients served, 62 percent were members of a racial or ethnic minority (predominantly Hispanic), 93 percent lived at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level, 72 percent lived at or below 100 percent of the federal poverty level, and 38 percent were uninsured. In particular, during 2010 health centers served 862,775 migrant and seasonal farm workers and their families; more than 1 million individuals experiencing homelessness; and 172,731 residents of public housing.

Impact of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
The health center program's annual federal funding has grown from $1.16 billion in fiscal year 2001 to $1.99 billion in fiscal year 2007. The passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) in March 2010 resulted in provisions that increased federal funding to FQHCs to help them meet the anticipated health care demand of millions of Americans who will gain health care coverage as result of the health reform law. The ACA set aside $11 billion for community health centers over a period of five years to meet this goal.

title: Federally Qualified Health Center


text:
K's Choice

K's Choice is a Belgian rock band from Antwerp, formed in 1994. The band's core members are brothers Sam (lead vocals, guitar) and Gert Bettens (guitar, keyboard, vocals). Since 2014, the Bettenses have been joined by Bart van Lierde (bass), Tom Lodewyckx (lead guitar), Reinout Swinnen (keys) and Wim van der Westen (drums). The band have released seven studio albums to date, several of which have been certified Gold and Platinum by the Belgian Entertainment Association.

Band history
In the early 1990s, Sam and Gert Bettens played in a band together called The Basement Plugs. During this time, Sam appeared on several movie soundtracks as a vocalist including "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" (originally by Hank Williams) for the movie Vrouwen Willen Trouwen ("Women Want To Marry") and a duet with Frankie Miller, "Why Don't You Try Me", (originally by Ry Cooder) for the movie Ad Fundum. He was offered a recording contract, and formed a new band with Gert in order to fulfil it. The band was originally named The Choice, recording and releasing their debut album The Great Subconscious Club in 1994.

During the initial formation of the band, the Bettens were joined by Jan van Sichem, Jr. (guitar), Bart van der Zeeuw (drums) and Erik Verheyden (bass). This iteration of the band toured Germany and the United States in support of the Indigo Girls. While in the U.S., the band discovered another identically-named act and changed their name to avoid legal problems. They decided upon "K's Choice" by going through the alphabet to see which letter would sound best in front of the word "choice". Since they thought they needed a story behind the new name, they initially claimed that the K referred to Joseph K. from Franz Kafka's novel The Trial, but later the band revealed the arbitrariness of choosing the "K".

Paradise in Me and "Not An Addict"
In 1995, they released Paradise in Me. "Not an Addict", the first single taken from this album, was successful and brought international fame. For the next year (1996–1997) they toured supporting Alanis Morissette, who heard the band playing on a European festival and handpicked them as her support band.

Cocoon Crash, Almost Happy and split
In 1998, the band released their third studio album Cocoon Crash. Meanwhile, American Eric Grossman had become the permanent bass player. In 1999, the band appeared on Buffy the Vampire Slayer in the episode "Doppelgängland" performing their song "Virgin State Of Mind". The song appeared on the soundtrack Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Album. It was at this point that their drummer Bart van der Zeeuw had been replaced by Koen Lieckens. In 2000, their next studio album Almost Happy was finished and released in Europe in September.

In 2001, Live (a 2-CD collection of live recordings) was in stores in Europe while Almost Happy was released in the US with another cover and a second CD of some songs from Live. In 2003, Ten (a collection of ten years of singles and songs that did not appear on their albums, plus the brand new single "Losing You") was released, accompanied by a DVD bearing the same name.

In October 2002, the band decided to go on a sabbatical. Gert and Sam both wanted to try out some solo work. Gert produced an album for a Belgian band, Venus in Flames, and Sam recorded a solo mini-CD Go and appeared on several movie soundtracks with songs of his own ("All of This Past" for Underworld and "Someone to Say Hi To" for Zus and Zo). In addition to four full albums, a live album, and a best-of, they also produced four limited edition and fan club CDs: Extra Cocoon, 2000 Seconds Live, Home and Running Backwards.

More solo projects
In 2005, Sam released his solo album Scream in both Europe and the U.S., accompanied by a tour. Gert, having flirted for a while with the band name Moon Brigade, announced his new band is called Woodface (which is also the name of one of his favorite albums from Crowded House). Woodface released its first album Good Morning Hope on 19 September 2005. Sam released another solo album called Shine and Gert another Woodface Album Comet in 2007. In 2008, Sam released another album, Never Say Goodbye. Gert and his band Woodface opened at several of Sam's shows in 2007 and 2008.

In an 7 October 2008, interview with Austin Sound Check, Sam confirmed plans for a new album in 2009. On 8 June 2009, six years after K's Choice announced their indefinite hiatus, the band's official website announced they will perform at the 35th edition of Folk Dranouter on 7 August 2009. In 2009, to celebrate the return of K's Choice on the international level, Sony Music released the compilation album The Essential K's Choice.

Return and Echo Mountain
K's Choice recorded their fifth studio album Echo Mountain in the Echo Mountain Studios in Asheville, North Carolina. On 22 February 2010, they confirmed on their website that the new album will be released on 26 March 2010. "When I Lay Beside You" and "Come Live The Life" were released as singles. In 2011, Sam and Gert recorded a follow-up to Echo Mountain in the form of an acoustic CD called Little Echoes. For this album and the following tour, the both of them were only joined by pianist Reinout Swinnen.

In 2013, Sam and Gert returned to Echo Mountain Studios to record an album as a side project under the name "Bettens" for a 3D documentary about an expedition to Antarctica, Beyond the Challenge. The album titled, Waving at the Sun was eventually released under the K's Choice name in the U.S. and other countries in 2014.

Private Revolution
On 6 February 2015, K's Choice released the first single "Private Revolution" of their latest studio album ''The Phantom Cowboy. A'' teaser video for "Private Revolution" was released to YouTube on 5 February 2015. The video features concert and prior video footage of Sam and Gert. A video for the track "Bag of Concrete" was released on 12 June 2015. The album was released on 5 February 2015 in much of Europe by Wallaby Records, LLC and distributed by Sony, and on 18 September 2015 in the US, UK, Canada, and Ireland by MPress Records. In September 2015 the band released "Perfect Scar" as a single and video. The album was a Top 3 hit in Belgium.

In March 2016, K's Choice embarked on their first US tour in a decade in support of The Phantom Cowboy with longtime friends and, more recently, labelmates A Fragile Tomorrow.

The Backpack Sessions, Liefde Voor Muziek and 30th anniversary
In late 2016 the band released The Backpack Sessions, as a companion album to the tour of the same name. It featured acoustic re-workings of songs from albums like The Great Subconscious Club, Cocoon Crash and The Phantom Cowboy. The album also featured cover versions of Aretha Franklin's "(You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman" and Justin Bieber's "Love Yourself".

In January 2017, the band released a stripped-back re-recording of "Not an Addict." It featured Skin of Skunk Anansie as a guest vocalist, who had previously performed the song live with the group on several occasions.

On 24 March 2017, the band released an album entitled 25 as a retrospective of their 25 years as a group. The album included new song "Resonate" and the new version of "Not an Addict". The album went to #4 on The Belgian album charts.

On 16 March 2018, the band released a concert album entitled Live at the Ancienne Belgique, a double live album recorded in Brussels on 13 December 2017 during the 25th Anniversary tour.

In 2018 Sam and Gert participated in the popular Belgian TV show Liefde Voor Muziek, in which they performed songs by Jasper Steverlinck, Within Temptation and Helmut Lotti a.o. Belgian singer Niels Destadsbader sang K's Choice's "Believe" on the show, re-worked to "Verover Mij", which became a top-five single nationally. At the same time the album Love = Music was released, featuring all Liefde Voor Muziek covers, which reached the top 10 on Belgium's album charts.

In December 2022 the band announced a 30th anniversary tour, a vinyl box-set and a brand new single Time Is A Parasite, which was pronounced Catch Of The Day on Studio Brussel on the day of release.

After an impressive series of sold-out birthday concerts on national and international rock stages in 2023, K's Choice are returning to an acoustic setting in theatres in 2024 where their voices and melodies are even more appreciated.

Members

 * Current members
 * Sam Bettens – lead vocals, rhythm guitar (1994–2002, 2009–present)
 * Gert Bettens – rhythm guitar, keyboards, backing vocals (1994–2002, 2009–present)
 * Reinout Swinnen – keyboards (2009–present)
 * Bart Van Lierde – bass (2014–present)
 * Tom Lodewyckx – lead guitar (2014–present)
 * Wim Van Der Westen – drums (2014–present)

 * Former members
 * Erik Verheyden – bass (1994–1997)
 * Bart Van Der Zeeuw – drums, backing vocals (1994–1999)
 * Jan van Sichem, Jr. – lead guitar (1994–1997, 1999–2002)
 * Eric Grossman – bass (1997–2002, 2009–2014)
 * Koen Lieckens – drums (1999–2002, 2009–2014)
 * Thomas Vanelslander – lead guitar (2009–2014)

 * Timeline

Studio albums

 * The Great Subconscious Club (1994)
 * Paradise in Me (1996)
 * Cocoon Crash (1998)
 * Almost Happy (2000)
 * Echo Mountain (2010)
 * The Phantom Cowboy (2015)
 * Love = Music (2018)

Compilation and concert albums and fan club-only CDs

 * Extra Cocoon (1998)
 * 2000 Seconds Live (1998) (fanclub only)
 * Live (2001)
 * Home (2001) (fanclub only)
 * Running Backwards (2003) (fanclub only)
 * 10: 1993-2003 - Ten Years Of (2003)
 * The Essential K's Choice (2009)
 * Little Echoes (2011) (acoustic album)
 * Waving at the Sun (2013) (under the name "Bettens")
 * The Backpack Sessions (2016) (acoustic album)
 * 25 (2017)
 * Live at the Ancienne Belgique (2018)

title: K's Choice


text:
José López (infielder)

José Celestino López Echevarria (born November 24, 1983) is a Venezuelan former professional baseball infielder. López played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Seattle Mariners, Colorado Rockies, Florida Marlins, Cleveland Indians, and Chicago White Sox and for the Yomiuri Giants and Yokohama DeNA BayStars of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB).

Seattle Mariners
In 2001 López was named the Everett AquaSox Most Valuable Player by the Mariners player development department. Later that season he participated in the Arizona Fall League. He was also named the Mariners' minor league "Player of the Year."

He was named Mariners' minor league "Player of the Year" with the San Bernardino Stampede in 2002, marking the second time he won this award. He led the California League with 169 hits and 39 doubles. His .324 average was second-highest among all Marines minor leaguers while his 31 steals ranked fourth. Later that year selected to play with the World Team at the 2002 MLB Future's Game in Milwaukee.

López played three different infield positions (second base, shortstop and third base) in 132 games with the Double-A San Antonio Missions in 2003. He was third in the Texas League with 35 doubles. He had 41 multi-hit games, including four 4-hit games. At the all-star break he was selected to start for the Texas League. At the end of the season he was named to Texas League Postseason All-Star Team. López hit .391 with 3 runs, 2 home runs, a steal and 5 RBIs in five postseason games. He again played with Lara in the Venezuelan Winter League.

He hit .295 with 13 home runs, 39 RBIs in 74 games with the triple-A Tacoma Rainiers in 2004 before being called up on July 31. López made his major league debut on July 31, 2004. At the end of the season he hit .311 with 11 doubles, 10 HR, 29 RBI in 46 games with Lara in the Venezuelan Winter League, making this the third time he played for Lara.

In 2005, López battled extensive injury, going on the disabled list twice. In 44 games with Tacoma he hit .319 with five home runs and 31 RBIs.

He hit .232 with five home runs and 22 RBI in 57 games. López was selected as a replacement for the 2006 All-Star Game due to an injury to Robinson Canó. During this game, Lopez pinch-ran for Paul Konerko in the 9th inning and went on to score the game-tying run.

On May 27, 2008, López helped end a seven-game Mariner losing skid with a walk-off single off Boston reliever Mike Timlin to score Wladimir Balentien. The Mariners won 4–3 and López was later quoted saying jokingly, "I wanted to run to center field...I knew the team was coming to kill me."

On May 1, 2009, López hit a walk-off single in a 14-pitch at bat off of Oakland A's reliever Russ Springer. López fouled off nine consecutive pitches before hitting his walk-off single.

In 2009, he had the lowest range factor of all starting major league second basemen (4.27).

During spring training for the 2010 season, López was converted to a third baseman replacing teammate Chone Figgins who in turn took over the second base position.

In a game against the Chicago White Sox on April 23, 2010, López hit his first career grand slam home run against former Mariner J. J. Putz. López hit his second career grand slam off of Joba Chamberlain on July 10, 2010, in the bottom of the 8th inning leading the Mariners to a 4–1 victory over the New York Yankees.

On July 27, 2010, while running to first base in the 1st inning, López strained his left hamstring. He missed the following six games, returning on August 4. In his first at bat back, he hit a 2 RBI single against the Texas Rangers with the bases loaded and 2 outs in the first inning.

On September 22, 2010, López hit 3 home runs in one game. He was the first Mariner to do this since Mike Cameron in 2002 when he hit 4 against the Chicago White Sox.

Colorado Rockies
López was traded to the Colorado Rockies for minor league pitching prospect Chaz Roe prior to the non-tender deadline.

On May 26, 2011, López was designated for assignment. He was later released on June 7.

Florida Marlins
On June 9, 2011, just days after being released by Colorado, López inked a minor league deal with the Florida Marlins. He had his contract purchased on June 15. He was designated for assignment on July 2, after making 31 plate appearances for the Marlins, hitting just .103. He showed remarkable improvement in August and September, returning to the Marlins and raising his batting average from over 100 points to .231.

Cleveland Indians
López signed a minor league contract with the Cleveland Indians on December 16, 2011. He also received an invitation to spring training. On April 1, 2012, it was announced that López had made the major league roster as a reserve infielder. López was designated for assignment on May 1, 2012, to make room on the 40-man roster for Johnny Damon. After being subsequently outrighted to Triple-A Columbus, López's contract was purchased by the Indians again on May 12, 2012.

López was designated for assignment on August 7, 2012. He was released from the Indians August 12.

Chicago White Sox
The Chicago White Sox signed López to a minor league contract on August 14, 2012. López was assigned to the Triple-A Charlotte Knights of the International League.

Yomiuri Giants
On January 7, 2013, López signed with the Yomiuri Giants of the NPB. López finished with a .303 average, 18 home runs and 55 RBI in 121 games for Yomiuri. Besides, he posted a .993 fielding percentage while playing 136 games at first base and was honored with the Golden Glove Award. He had a subpar season in 2014, hitting .243 with 22 homers and 57 RBI in 134 games.

Yokohama DeNA BayStars
On December 12, 2014, López signed with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars of the NPB. He made 140 game appearances In 2015, batting .291 with 25 home runs and 73 RBI.

In the 2016 season, López hit .263 and slugged .534 in 123 games, while collecting career-best marks with 34 home runs and 95 RBI. In addition, he committed only two errors in 1,106 total chances at first base, leading NPB first basemen with a .998 fielding percentage and winning his second Golden Glove Award, becoming just the third Latin American player to add more than one Golden Glove in Japanese baseball history. His countryman Robert Marcano continues to lead the group with four awards and the also Venezuelan Roberto Petagine is in second place with three.

In 2017, López was named most valuable player of the 2017 Central League Climax Series. The BayStars lost to the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks in the 2017 Japan Series.

In 2018, he was selected 2018 NPB All-Star game. On November 18, 2019, López signed a 1-year extension to remain with the BayStars.

On October 31, 2020, López recorded his 1,000th hit in NPB and at the same time he became the first (non-Japanese) player in history to record more than 1,000 hits in both NPB and MLB. On December 2, he became a free agent.

After spending two seasons out of baseball, López announced his retirement from professional baseball on October 24, 2022.

International career
López, along with teammates Félix Hernández and Carlos Silva was a member of Team Venezuela in the 2009 World Baseball Classic. In Round 1 against the Netherlands, he hit a solo home run to give Venezuela a two-run lead and the victory later with a 3–1 win.

Personal life
Before the Mariners' game against the Chicago Cubs on June 13, 2007, López was informed that his brother Gabriel died in a motorcycle accident in Venezuela. López still played in the game because his family told him he would not be able to make it home in time for the funeral and they wanted him to stay with the team and keep playing. He went 0-for-4 with an RBI in the game.

On June 16, 2009, he was put on the bereavement list again to visit his cancer-stricken sister but she died before he got there. López remained in Venezuela for his sister's funeral and did not play for about a week.

López and his wife, Katerine, have two children, José López Jr. and Valentina López.

title: José López (infielder)


text:
Villas

Villas may refer to:

Places

 * Villas, Florida, United States
 * Villas, Illinois, United States
 * Villas, New Jersey, United States
 * Las Villas, a region of Spain
 * Las Villas (Cuba), a former Cuban Province
 * The Villas, a housing estate in Stoke-upon-Trent, England

Other uses

 * Villa, a type of house
 * Villa (fly), a genus of insects
 * The Villas (band), an American rock band
 * Violetta Villas (1938–2011), Belgian-born Polish singer, actress, and songwriter

title: Villas


text: File:Devil Girl From Mars poster.jpg

title: File:Devil Girl From Mars poster.jpg


text: Category:Carnatic music

title: Category:Carnatic music


text:
User:Cataphract

My name is Gustavo Lopes. I was born in 1986 in Lisbon, Portugal, where I am currently living.

I am an undergraduate student of Biomedical Engineering on Instituto Superior Técnico.

title: User:Cataphract


text:
Tachograph

A tachograph is a device fitted to a vehicle that automatically records its speed and distance, together with the driver's activity selected from a choice of modes. The drive mode is activated automatically when the vehicle is in motion, and modern tachograph heads usually default to the other work mode upon coming to rest. The rest and availability modes can be manually selected by the driver whilst stationary.

A tachograph system comprises a sender unit mounted to the vehicle gearbox, the tachograph head and a recording medium. Tachograph heads are of either analogue or digital types. All relevant vehicles manufactured in the EU since 1 May 2006 must be fitted with digital tachograph heads. The recording medium for analogue heads are wax coated paper discs, and for digital heads there are two recording mediums: internal memory (which can be read out with one of a variety of download devices into a so-called .ddd file) and digital driver cards containing a microchip with flash memory. Digital driver cards store data in a format that can later also be read out as a .ddd file. These files – both those read from internal memory with a download device, and those read from the driver cards – can be imported into tachograph analysis/archival software.

Drivers and their employers are legally required to accurately record their activities, retain the records (files from internal memory and from driver cards must both be retained) and produce them on demand to transport authorities who are in charge of enforcing regulations governing drivers' working hours.

They are also used in the maritime world, for example through the Central Commission for Navigation on the Rhine.

Origins
The tachograph was originally introduced for the railways so that companies could better document irregularities. The inventor was Max Maria von Weber, a civil servant, engineer and author. The Daniel Tachometer has been known in the railway industry since 1844. The Hasler Event recorder was introduced in the 1920s.

Regulations
For reasons of public safety, many jurisdictions have limits on the working hours of drivers of certain vehicles, such as buses and trucks. A tachograph can be used to monitor this and ensure that appropriate breaks are taken.

In Germany (historical)
The Verkehrs-Sicherungs-Gesetz (German Traffic Safety Law) of 19 December 1952, made tachographs mandatory in Germany for all commercial vehicles weighing over 7.5 tonnes. Since 23 March and 23 December 1953, all new commercial vehicles and buses must be equipped with the device per law Straßenverkehrs-Zulassungs-Ordnung § 57a.

Tachographs are mandatory for vehicles allowed to carry a total weight of over 3.5 tonnes and vehicles built to carry at least 9 passengers, if the vehicle is used for commercial purposes. They are used to review the driving and rest time of drivers during reviews by traffic standards organizations or accident investigation. A driver must carry the tachograph records with him for all days of the current week and the last day of the previous week that he drove. Companies must keep the records for 1 year. In Germany, § 16 of the work time regulations lengthens this time to 2 years if the records will be used as proof of work time.

In the EU
EEC regulation 3821/85 on recording equipment in road transport from 20 December 1985 made tachographs mandatory throughout the EEC as of 29 September 1986. (Regulation 1463/70 amended by regulation 2828/77 made tachographs mandatory by 1 July 1979, reference to these regulations can be found in Regulation 3821/85).

A "European arrangement in regard to the work of driving personnel engaged in international traffic" (AETR, from French "Accord Européen sur les Transports Routiers") became effective on 31 July 1985.

Regulation 561/2006/EC of the European Union, adopted on 11 April 2007, specified the driving and rest times of professional drivers. These time periods can be checked by the employers, police and other authorities with the help of the tachograph. Regulation (EU) 165/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council on tachographs in road transport, issued on 4 February 2014, repealed Regulation 3821/85 and amended Regulation 561/2006. The 2014 regulation introduced the specification for a so-called "smart" tachograph. A "smart" tachograph records the position of a vehicle automatically via a global navigation satellite system at the places where the daily working period begins and ends, and at every three hour interval of accumulated driving.

Analogue tachographs
Most tachographs produced prior to 1 May 2006 were of the analogue type. Later analogue tachograph head models are of a modular design, enabling the head to fit into a standard DIN slot in the vehicle dashboard. This would enable a relatively easy upgrade to the forthcoming digital models, which were manufactured to the same physical dimensions.

The analogue tachograph head uses styli to trace lines on a wax coated paper disc that rotates throughout the day, where one rotation encompasses a 24-hour period. If the disc is left in the head over 24 hours, a second trace will be written onto the first, and so on until the disc is removed. It is an infringement of EU Regulation 561/2006 to use a disc for a period longer than it is designed for. Multiple overlapping traces may still be deciphered in the speed and distance fields, but it is far more difficult for the activity field where one trace can easily be obliterated by another. Analogue tachograph heads provide no indication to the driver of the need to change the disc.

Analogue data is retrieved visually, and can be assisted by manual analysis tools. Analogue discs can also be electronically scanned and analysed by computer, although this analogue to digital conversion process still requires human expert interpretation for best results, due to imperfections in the source disc such as dirt and scratch marks in the wax surface that can be incorrectly read as trace marks.

The analogue chart (EU)
The analogue chart must be EU type approved. The country of type approval can be found on the rear of the chart, i.e. a mark of E11 would indicate the chart to have been approved in the UK for use in the EU. The chart is manufactured out of heavyweight paper with a black printed face that is thinly coated with a white wax, upon which is printed a number of features. The surface can be scratched or rubbed to reveal the black paper underneath. This enables the traces to be made without the use of ink. The chart features a pear-shaped aperture in the centre, ensuring it is perfectly aligned upon insertion into the tachograph head. There is no facility to prevent it being inserted back to front, where the styli would be prevented from making contact with the wax surface.

The centrefield is used by the driver to store certain handwritten information. This includes the drivers name, the date(s) the disc refers to, the start and end odometer readings and the registration mark of the vehicle.

Three traces are made in the wax surface by the head. These traces are either made by three separate styli or a single multipurpose stylus.

The trace closest to the centrefield is the distance trace. The stylus moves up and down with distance travelled, producing a zig-zag pattern, often referred to as a 'V' trace. A complete deflection is created every 5 kilometres, and therefore each completed 'V' represents 10 kilometres travelled. By counting the zig-zags, the total distance travelled can be calculated and compared against the stated odometer readings in the centrefield. By comparing the end position of the trace for a particular day against the start position for the following day, it can be seen if the vehicle has moved in the intermediate period.

The trace in the central area is the mode trace. The driver's activity is displayed in this area, and is always displayed as either drive, other work, availability or rest. Earlier tachograph heads displayed the mode as a thin line in one of four concentric tracks within the activity band. These heads are known as manual heads as the activity was manually selected using the mode switch. Automatic heads succeeded manual heads, and differ from them in two main areas. Firstly, the automatic head will always display the drive mode when the vehicle is in motion, regardless of the setting of the mode switch. For this reason, the drive mode is no longer available to be selected by the mode switch. Secondly, the activity is displayed on the chart as a sequence of block traces of differing thickness. The rest mode appears as a thin line, availability as a slightly thicker line, other work as slightly thicker again and the drive trace being the thickest.

The trace closest to the outer edge is the speed trace. The disc is preprinted with a speed scale and the stylus produces a mark corresponding with the speed of the vehicle at any given time. It is important that the maximum speed (Vmax) specification of the chart matches that of the tachograph head for the speed to be correctly recorded. It can be expected that a high speed trace will correlate with a tightly spaced zig-zag pattern within the distance trace.

The disc is preprinted with a 24-hour scale that completes the outer circumference.

The rear face of the chart is printed with a grid that enables the driver to make handwritten additions or amendments to the information on the front.

Its use in accident investigation
Apart from enforcing regulations, tachographs are often used in Germany to investigate and punish speeding. This practice was approved by the German high regional court in the 1990s. Also, after an accident, the discs are often examined with a microscope to discover the events that took place at a collision site.

Tampering
Tachographs can be tampered with in various ways, such as slightly twisting the marker, blocking the path of the arm with a piece of rubber or foam, short-circuiting the unit for short periods, intentionally preventing the detection of gear movement with a magnet, or interrupting the (older analogue) tachograph's power supply with a blown fuse to stop operation completely thus recording no information whatsoever. There is also "forgetting to insert" the chart when beginning duty. Unauthorized changing of the discs (and then discarding one of the two, so that some activities are "forgotten") is well known throughout Europe. "Ghosting" is another common trick when false driver information is entered onto a second chart to give the appearance that there is a second driver present in the cab for long-distance runs that cannot be completed within a single driver's daily driving period.

Introduction of the digital tachograph in the EU
Digital tachographs make tampering much more difficult by sending signals in an encrypted manner. EU regulation 1360/2002 makes digital tachographs mandatory for all vehicles described in the above section Regulations and manufactured after 1 August 2005. Digital tachographs have been required as of 1 May 2006 for all new vehicles for which EWG regulation VO(EWG)3820/85 applies, as was published in the official newsletter of the European Union L102 from 11 April 2006.

Digital tachographs have been implemented in Mexico since 1994, but this is not a federal regulation. The last implementations developed in Mexico have GPS capabilities such as mapping, altitude and location-activated video triggering.

title: Tachograph