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Survivor Series

Survivor Series, branded as Survivor Series: WarGames since 2022, is a professional wrestling event produced annually since 1987 by WWE, the world's largest professional wrestling promotion. Held in November generally the week of Thanksgiving, it is the second longest-running pay-per-view (PPV) event in history, behind WWE's flagship event, WrestleMania. In addition to traditional PPV since the inaugural 1987 event, it has aired via livestreaming since the 2014 event. It is also considered one of the company's five biggest events of the year, along with WrestleMania, Royal Rumble, SummerSlam, and Money in the Bank, referred to as the "Big Five".

The event is traditionally characterized by having Survivor Series matches, which are tag team elimination matches that typically features teams of four or five wrestlers against each other. Stipulations have also been added to these matches, such as members of the losing team being, in storyline, fired. Only four events have not featured the match: the 1998 event, which had an elimination tournament for the vacant WWF Championship (now WWE Championship), the 2002 event, which saw the debut of the Elimination Chamber match, and both the 2022 and 2023 events, which were based around WarGames matches for the men and women.

After WWE reintroduced the brand extension in 2016, the events from 2016 until 2021 centered around competition between wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown brands for brand supremacy; NXT was also involved in 2019. In addition to Survivor Series matches between the brands, the champions of each brand faced off in non-title matches. In 2022, the brand supremacy concept was dropped and the event was rebranded as "Survivor Series: WarGames", marking WWE's first main roster event to feature the match, with the 2023 event retaining the WarGames theme; NXT had its own WarGames event from 2017 to 2021 and it was discontinued after the match was moved to Survivor Series in 2022.

Origins and changes
The first Survivor Series, held in 1987, came on the heels of the success of WrestleMania III, as the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) began to see the lucrative potential of the pay-per-view (PPV) market. The first event capitalized on the big time feud between André the Giant and Hulk Hogan, who wrestled each other at WrestleMania III. Survivor Series was originally created to counter WCW's Starrcade. The first eight Survivor Series events took place on either Thanksgiving Day (1987–1990) or Thanksgiving Eve (1991–1994). Beginning with the 1995 event, Survivor Series was held on various Sundays before Thanksgiving. The 2005 and 2006 events were held on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, while the 2022 and 2023 events were held on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. The 1997 event was notorious as it featured the Montreal Screwjob. Survivor Series was going to be discontinued and rebranded in 2010, but following fan outcry, the company decided to continue with the event. Survivor Series became the second longest running PPV event in history (behind WrestleMania), and is also regarded as one of the "Big Four" pay-per-views, along with WrestleMania, Royal Rumble, and SummerSlam, the promotion's original four annual events and their four biggest events of the year. From 1993 to 2002, it was considered one of the "Big Five", including King of the Ring, but that PPV event was discontinued after 2002. In August 2021, Money in the Bank became recognized as one of the "Big Five".

In May 2002, the WWF was renamed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) following a lawsuit with the World Wildlife Fund over the "WWF" initialism. In April 2011, the promotion ceased using its full name with the "WWE" abbreviation becoming an orphaned initialism. Also in March 2002, the promotion introduced the brand extension, in which the roster was divided between the Raw and SmackDown brands where wrestlers were exclusively assigned to perform —ECW became a third brand in 2006. The first brand extension was dissolved in August 2011, but it was reintroduced in July 2016. Survivor Series, along with the other original "Big Four" events, were the only PPVs to never be held exclusively for one brand during either brand split periods. In 2014, Survivor Series began to air on WWE's online streaming service, the WWE Network, which launched in February that year, and in 2021, the event became available on Peacock as the American version of the WWE Network merged under Peacock in March that year.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, WWE had to present the majority of its programming for Raw and SmackDown from a behind closed doors set at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida, beginning mid-March. In August, these events were relocated to WWE's bio-secure bubble, the WWE ThunderDome, hosted at Orlando's Amway Center. The 2020 Survivor Series was in turn produced from the ThunderDome and was WWE's final PPV to present the ThunderDome from the Amway Center, as in early December, the ThunderDome was relocated to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. In July 2021, WWE resumed live touring with fans.

Brand competition (2016–2021)
During the first brand extension period (2002–2011), there were only a few Survivor Series matches that were held between wrestlers of the two brands (e.g., Team Raw vs. Team SmackDown), but it was not the focus of the event. However, with the return of the brand split in 2016, Survivor Series took on the theme of direct competition between the Raw and SmackDown brands for brand supremacy, similar to the former Bragging Rights events held during the first brand split in 2009 and 2010. In addition to traditional Survivor Series matches pitting the men and women from the two brands against each (2016 and 2018 also featured matches with the brands' tag teams going against each other), there were interpromotional matches that featured the brands' champions against each other in non-title matches (e.g., the Raw Women's Champion vs. the SmackDown Women's Champion).

The 2016, 2017, and 2018 events were contested between Raw and SmackDown. The 2016 event was the genesis for what became the theme of brand supremacy that began in 2017. In 2017 and 2018, Raw won the competition with a score of 4–3 and 6–1, respectively (SmackDown's one point in 2018 occurred on the Kickoff pre-show). The 2019 event saw the addition of the NXT brand, which previously served as WWE's developmental territory but became one of WWE's three main brands in 2019, and in turn featured the first three-way Survivor Series elimination matches for men and women. NXT subsequently won that year's competition with a 4–2–1 victory, with SmackDown having 2 points, and Raw's sole win occurring on the pre-show. NXT would not compete at the 2020 event due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Outbreaks of the virus had occurred at both of NXT's home arenas, Full Sail University and the WWE Performance Center, prompting WWE to exclude NXT wrestlers from the event to avoid potential transmission of the virus to members of the Raw and SmackDown rosters. Raw would win that year's competition with a 4–3 victory over SmackDown. The 2021 event also did not include NXT as the brand reverted to its status as WWE's developmental territory in September of that year. At the 2021 event, Raw again won the competition with a 5–2 victory over SmackDown.

WarGames (2022–present)
On September 19, 2022, WWE executive Triple H announced that the 2022 Survivor Series would not be based on the brand supremacy concept. Additionally, he announced that the event would feature two WarGames matches, one each for the men and women, marking the first time for a main roster WWE event to feature the match. The 2022 event was in turn renamed as Survivor Series: WarGames, and it was also the first Survivor Series held on a Saturday. The NXT brand previously held an annual WarGames event from 2017 to 2021. With the WarGames match moving to the main roster for Survivor Series, this subsequently ended NXT's WarGames event, which was replaced by Deadline.

In an interview with The Ringer in regards to WarGames at Survivor Series, Triple H said:

"The tradition of the Survivor Series has ebbed and flowed and changed slightly over time, but this will be similar to that. This will not be Raw versus SmackDown. It will be much more story-line driven. I still look at it as a traditional component to Survivor Series in there because it's large teams of people competing. We just upped the ante a little bit with WarGames and made it evolve. Survivor Series has been an amazing event for 36 years. And it needs to evolve a little bit and this year seemed like the right time to do it."

During the Survivor Series: WarGames post-event press conference, Triple H was asked if the WarGames match would become a permanent fixture at Survivor Series and he said "we'll see", citing the success of the 2022 event. In regards to the event not including a traditional Survivor Series match, he was asked if the match was done for good and he said they "weren't done with anything", noting that this year was the time to freshen up the event but the traditional match could see a return at future events. Triple H also revealed that the 2022 event was the highest-grossing Survivor Series of all time as well as the most viewed. During Crown Jewel on November 4, 2023, WWE announced that the 2023 Survivor Series would retain the WarGames concept.

Survivor Series match
The event is traditionally characterized by having the Survivor Series match, which is a type of tag team elimination match that typically features two teams of four or five wrestlers against each other. In a Survivor Series match, each member of a team must be eliminated to win. The name of the match stems from this stipulation, as the winners are the "survivors", and in some cases, there has been only one survivor. There have sometimes been an additional stipulation placed on the Survivor Series match, such as members of the losing team being (kayfabe) fired. While typically contested between two teams, the 2019 event had three teams against each other in three-way Survivor Series matches.

The promotion had several tag team elimination matches earlier in 1987, albeit with three-man teams and the feuds loosely related. In an early break from the norm, the 1992 event had only one Survivor Series match. Only four Survivor Series events have not featured any Survivor Series matches. The 1998 event was the first without any Survivor Series matches, instead focusing on an elimination tournament for the vacant WWF Championship (now WWE Championship). The 2002 event was the second event to not include any Survivor Series matches. Instead, it had an elimination tables match and a triple threat elimination tag team match (in which only one member of a team had to be eliminated to eliminate the whole team), but most notably, the event saw the debut of the Elimination Chamber match. The 2022 and 2023 events were the most recent to not include any Survivor Series matches, or any type of elimination stipulations, as both instead featured two WarGames matches, one each for the men and women, with the 2022 event also notable for being WWE's first main roster event to feature the WarGames match.

title: Survivor Series


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Georges Eekhoud

Georges Eekhoud (27 May 1854 – 29 May 1927) was a Belgian novelist of Flemish descent, but writing in French.

Eekhoud was a regionalist best known for his ability to represent scenes from rural and urban daily life. He tended to portray the dark side of human desire and write about social outcasts and the working classes.

Early life and works
Eekhoud was born in Antwerp. A member of a fairly well-off family, he lost his parents as a young boy. When he came into his own he started working for a journal. First as a corrector, later he contributed a serial. In 1877, the generosity of his grandmother permitted young Eekhoud to publish his first two books, Myrtes et Cyprès and Zigzags poétiques, both volumes of poetry. In the beginning of the 1880s Eekhoud took part in several of the modern French-Belgian artist movements, like Les XX (The Twenty) and La Jeune Belgique (Young Belgium). Kees Doorik, his first novel was published in 1883, about the wild life of a tough young farmhand who committed a murder. The renowned free-thinking publisher Henri Kistemaeckers brought out a second edition three years later. Eekhoud received some guarded praise by famous authors like Edmond de Goncourt and Joris-Karl Huysmans who both sent Eekhoud a personal letter. For his second prose book, Kermesses (Fairs, 1884), not only Goncourt and Huysmans praised him, but also Émile Zola, about whom Eekhoud had written an essay in 1879.

In 1886 his novel Les milices de Saint-François (The Soldiers of Saint Francis Xavier) was published. By now Eekhoud's established subject was the rural Campine, a poor farmers' district east of Antwerp. He had a distinct style permeated with enthusiasm for the roguish young farm labourers and their rough-and-tumble lives. His most famous novel, La nouvelle Carthage (The New Carthage) was published in its definitive form in 1893, and many times reprinted. It has also been translated in English, German, Dutch, Russian, Romanian and Czech. The rustic Campine was in this book replaced with the brutal life of love and death in the Antwerp dockland metropolis and its dirty industry.

Eekhoud published two volumes of short stories:  Cycle patibulaire in 1892 (Brussels, Kistemaeckers), reedited in 1896 as Le Cycle patibulaire (Paris, Mercure de France) and in 1895 Mes communions (Brussels, Kistemaeckers), reedited in 1897 (Paris, Mercure de France). Many of these stories contain brazen love stories between men, and Eekhoud even defended Oscar Wilde in "Le Tribunal au chauffoir", first published in the literary periodical L’Art Jeune in September 1895, just a few months after Wilde's conviction, and then in the 1896 edition of Le Cycle patibulaire.

Escal-Vigor
In 1899 Eekhoud offered to his readers a new and daring novel, Escal-Vigor. This is the name of the castle of its protagonist, count Henry de Kehlmark, but it conveys the name 'Escaut', French for the river Scheldt, and 'Vigor', Latin for Power. Many of these readers were shocked, because the book is concerned with love between men. According to Eekhoud's biographer Mirande Lucien, Escal-Vigor was the book of a man who wanted to speak about himself in all freedom. Escal-Vigor is a homogeneous, linear text. The story goes without detours to its final scene of the martyrdom, the moment that the tortured bodies testify of the justness of their cause. As for its composition, Escal-Vigor is the least decadent of Eekhoud's works. Eekhoud makes much less use of the elaborate and old-fashioned words that make the reader stop and wonder.

A clear and resolute novel about homosexuality, Escal-Vigor was heading towards trouble. Although it was well received by most critics, like Rachilde and Eugène Demolder, a lawsuit was launched against it. However, a storm of protest, especially vociferous because of numerous literary celebrities, and a cunning lawyer with literary aspirations, Edmond Picard, did their part in acquitting Eekhoud.

Excal-Vigor was translated and published in English in 1909 under the title Escal-Vigor. A novel from the French of George Eekhoud, with a militant foreword, probably written by Eekhoud himself, or by his publisher Charles Carrington. This transation is subsequently published in the US under the title ''A Strange Love. A Novel of abnormal passion by Panurge Press in 1930 and in 1965 by Guild Press under the title A Strange Love. Escal-Vigor.''

Eekhoud's later years
Later novels and stories, like his 1904 novel L’Autre vue, (Paris, Mercure de France) reedited in 1926 under the title Voyous de velours ou L'autre vue (Brussels, Renaissance du Livre) and Les Libertins d'Anvers ( Antwerp libertines, 1912) also contain notions of queer love or sometimes only hints of admiration for masculinity, e.g. Dernières Kermesses (1920). Eekhoud corresponded with Jacques d'Adelswärd-Fersen and contributed to his sumptuous literary monthly Akademos (1909). He also befriended and influenced young Jacob Israël de Haan, who authored several poems on themes of his older Belgian colleague, especially La Nouvelle Carthage and Les Libertines d'Anvers. Eekhoud for his part wrote the preface of De Haan's sadomasochist novel Pathologieën (Pathologies, 1908). The two authors kept in contact by letter.

Eekhoud continued to be a well-respected author until he put on a firmly pacifistic stance in World War I that ravaged Belgium, after which his star declined. In the twenties his books started to be reprinted again, although he died in 1927 at Schaerbeek.

Eekhoud left a voluminous diary (1895–1927) of some 5000 pages, that has been bought by the Royal Library of Brussels in 1982. Various Belgian libraries contain extensive collections of correspondence.

Modern interest
Nowadays, especially the queer aspect of his works has enjoyed attention. Escal-Vigor has been reprinted in 1982, and Eekhoud's love letters to the journalist Sander Pierron were edited by Mirande Lucien and published in 1993 under the title Mon bien aimé petit Sander. Mirande Lucien also published a biography of Georges Eekhoud: Eekhoud le rauque (1999).

Works

 * Myrtes et Cyprès (poetry, 1877)
 * Zigzags poétiques (poetry, 1877)
 * Kees Doorik (novel, 1883)
 * Kermesses (1884)
 * Les Milices de Saint-François. (novel, 1886)
 * Nouvelles Kermesses.
 * La Nouvelle Carthage. (novel, 1888)
 * Les Fusillés de Malines.
 * Au Siècle de Shakespeare.
 * Le Cycle Patibulaire (1892/1896)
 * Mes Communions 1895/1897.
 * Philaster (tragédie de Beaumont et Fletcher).
 * La Duchesse de Malfi (tragédie de John Webster).
 * Edouard II (tragédie de Christopher Marlowe).
 * Escal-vigor (1899)
 * La faneuse d'amour (novel, 2nd edition 1900)
 * L'Autre Vue (1904)
 * Les Libertins d'Anvers (1912)
 * Dernières Kermesses (1920)
 * ''Voyous de Velours ou L'Autre Vue (1991 reissue, Editions Labor)
 * Mon bien aimé petit Sander: Lettres de Georges Eekhoud à Sander Pierron, suivies de six lettres de Sander Pierron à Georges Eekhoud (1993).

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

title: Georges Eekhoud


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Crescograph

A crescograph is a device for measuring growth in plants. It was invented in the early 20th century by Jagadish Chandra Bose.

The Bose crescograph uses a series of clockwork gears and a smoked glass plate to record the movement of the tip of a plant (or its roots). It was able to record at magnifications of up to 10,000 times through the use of two different levers. One lever records at 100 times magnification while the other lever takes that image and records at another 100 times magnification. Marks are made on the plate at intervals of a few seconds, demonstrating how the rate of growth varies under varying stimuli. Bose experimented with temperature, chemicals, gases, and electricity.

The electronic crescograph plant movement detector is capable of measurements as small as 1/1,000,000 of an inch. However, its normal operating range is from 1/1000 to 1/10,000 of an inch. The component which actually measures the movement is a differential transformer along with a movable core hinged between two points. A micrometer is used to adjust and calibrate the system. It can record plant growth, magnifying a small movement as much as 10,000,000 times. This machine is highly sensitive; Bose padded the legs of the table on which the Crescograph is being used with India-rubber sponges. This negated any vibration which could affect results.

title: Crescograph


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Bloch MB.150

The Bloch MB.150 (later MB.151 to MB.157) was a French fighter aircraft developed and produced by Société des Avions Marcel Bloch. It featured an all-metal construction, complete with a retractable undercarriage, low cantilever wing and a fully enclosed cockpit.

The MB.150 was originally developed to conform with the requirements of the 1934 French Air Ministry competition seeking a new fighter design. Despite the competition being won by the competing Morane-Saulnier M.S.406, it was decided to proceed with development. Initially proving unable to attain flight, the modified prototype conducted its maiden flight in October 1937. Service trials of the MB.150 determined the aircraft to hold sufficient promise to warrant further work, leading to the adoption of an expanded and strengthened wing and a more refined Gnome-Rhone 14N-7 engine. During spring 1938, following the completion of further proving trials, an order for a pre-production batch of 25 aircraft was placed.

Redesigns of the MB.150 design led to the improved MB.151 and MB.152 which entered squadron service with the Armée de l'Air. By the outbreak of the Second World War, around 120 aircraft had been delivered to the Armée de l'Air but most were not sufficiently equipped to be considered operational. An improved MB.155 had greater range. Ordered into production in 1940, only ten aircraft had been completed by the Fall of France. The MB.157, a further improved model with a heavier and more powerful engine, was completed during the Vichy era. Though it demonstrated promising performance, it did not enter production.

Origins
On 13 July 1934, the Service Technique Aéronautique (Aeronautical Technical Service) of the French Air Force issued the "C1 design" requirement for a new and completely modern single-seat interceptor fighter. Envisioned to make use of a monoplane layout and a retractable undercarriage, the prospective fighter aircraft was to serve as a replacement for the French Air Force's existing inventory of Dewoitine D.371, Dewoitine D.500, and Loire 46 aircraft. Amongst the various aviation companies who took interest in the specification, to which the potential for a large production order was attached, was French aircraft manufacturer Société des Avions Marcel Bloch.

The design team, headed by Maurice Roussel, was assembled at Bloch's Courbevoie facility in Paris. They designed an all-metal stressed skin monoplane, powered by a single 930 hp Gnome-Rhône 14Kfs radial engine and armed with a pair of wing-mounted Hispano-Suiza-built HS.404 cannon. During September 1935, construction of the type's first prototype, designated as the Bloch 150-01, commenced.

Although the C.1 competition was ultimately won by a rival design, the Morane-Saulnier M.S.406, it was decided to independently continue with the design's development. During 1936, these efforts culminated in the first attempted flight of the MB.150.01 prototype; unfortunately, the aircraft proved unable to leave the ground during the attempt. In the ensuing disappointment work on the design was temporarily halted, but development was resumed during early 1937. Following the implementation of various modifications, consisting of a strengthened wing of greater area, revised undercarriage arrangement and the installation of a 701 kW Gnome-Rhone 14N-0 radial engine with a three-blade constant speed propeller, on 29 September 1937, the MB.150 finally conducted its maiden flight.

Months later, the MB.150.01 was handed over to the Centre d'Essais du Materiel Aerien (CEMA) for service trials; during one such official test flight in December 1937, a maximum recorded speed of 434 km/h (269 mph) was attained. As a result of the CEMA flights, the prototype's performance proved to be sufficiently interesting as to warrant further development. This brought, at the beginning of 1938, a small increase in the aircraft's wing span, the replacement of the twin wing-mounted radiators by a single unit installed between the wheel wells, and the installation of an improved 14N-7 engine, which led to the prototype being re-designated as the MB.150.01M (M standing for modified). During spring 1938, further trials of the modified aircraft were performed by CEMA.

By this point, wider circumstances within France, such as the declining diplomatic situation between the European powers and the enactment of several urgent re-equipment programmes for the French Air Force, proved favourable for the MB.150. Specifically, on 15 March 1938, one such programme, referred to as Plan V, was adopted, calling for the near-unrealistic delivery of 940 modern fighter aircraft to the Air Force within the space of a year. Even the most optimistic projections saw 285 M.S.406 fighters delivered; while the MB.150 was deemed to have not yet completed development, it was decided to include the type within the production.

Accordingly, on 7 April 1938, upon the completion of trials in late spring 1938, the newly formed manufacturing consortium SNCASO received an initial order for a pre-production batch of 25 aircraft which, upon successful completion of the MB.150's development programme, was followed by the confirmation of a sizable order for 450 aircraft. Initially, 300 aircraft were to be delivered to the French Air Force by 1 April 1939; this was later cut down to 206 aircraft. In reality, only a single aircraft had been delivered by the prescribed deadline; other aircraft types also proved similarly unable to attain the tight delivery dates.

Further development
However, there was no direct production of the MB-150.01 as the aircraft having been deemed to be unsuitable for mass production. Amongst other changes needed, the structure of the airframe had to be redesigned in order to suit mass production. During early April 1938, an order was received for a three further prototypes; these were to explore the possibilities for installing more powerful engines of both French and American origins, such as the Hispano-Suiza 14AA, Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp, and further derivatives of the Gnome-Rhône 14N engine. Accordingly, this design effort led to the production of the MB.151.01 and MB.152.01 prototypes, which were developed and produced in parallel.

The first pre-production prototype, the MB.151.01, was quickly assembled at Courbevoie using the new simplified construction methods developed. This aircraft, which was fully armed, performed its first flight at Villacoublay Airfield, Île-de-France, on 18 August 1938. According to Christesco, the performance of the MB.151.01 was initially disappointing, leading to efforts to rectify performance issues. Development, and thus mass production, was delayed by the overheating of the engine (resulting in oil cooler types being tested and the most efficient of these adopted) and the aircraft being poorly balanced on its pitch axis at high speeds; neither the prototype nor the production MB.151 were able to attain 480 km/h, the design's estimated maximum speed.

According to Christesco, the MB.152.01 was "the first true aircraft" of the series. This model was equipped with a more powerful 1,030 hp Gnome-Rhône 14N-21 engine, capable of a speed of 520 km/h and equipped with a revised armament arrangement. On 15 December 1938, the MB.152.01 prototype performed its maiden flight. During January 1939, it was refitted with a more production-representative 1,000 hp Gnome-Rhône 14N-25 engine; various alternative engine cowlings and propellers were also tested to address engine overheating. To prevent further delays to the production aircraft, a large cowling was adopted, which increased drag and reduced the MB.152's flight performance.

The manufacturing of the fighter was divided amongst the various branches comprising SNCASO. Aside from a handful that were assembled at Courbevoie early on, roughly half of all aircraft produced were manufactured at Châteauroux, Berry while the other half were built at Bordeaux–Merignac, Nouvelle-Aquitaine. From January 1940 onwards, production was centered at Châteauroux alone. During December 1938, the first of the pre-production aircraft were completed; on 7 March 1939, the first production fighter was delivered to the French Air Force. By mid-May 1939, only 22 aircraft, a combination of MB.151s and MB.152s, had been dispatched; of these, only 10 had been accepted by the Air Force.

The MB.153 and MB.154 were intended as testbeds for American engines but only the MB.153 flew and when it crashed a few days later as damaged beyond repair, pursuit of these alternatives also ceased. Attention shifted to extending the range of the MB.152 by moving the cockpit aft to make room for a new fuel tank; other modifications included a slightly broader wing and revised aerodynamics around the cowling. The resulting MB.155, performed favourably in flight tests and was ordered into production in 1940 but only 10 aircraft had been completed by the Fall of France. Under the terms of the armistice, the remaining 25 on the production line were completed and delivered into Vichy service. From there, some eventually made their way into the Luftwaffe after 1942.

The final member of the family, the MB.157 had a far more powerful engine and eventually became a very different aircraft as the design evolved from the MB.152 to accommodate the larger and heavier 1,590 hp Gnome-Rhône 14R-4 motor. Unfinished at the time of the armistice, it was ordered to be completed and flown under German supervision. Demonstrating superb performance, it was taken to Orly where the power plant was removed for testing within a wind tunnel. The excellence in the design was confirmed by Germans when they completed and tested it in 1942, reaching up to 710 km/h flat speed. It was later destroyed in an Allied air raid.

Operational history
Upon evaluation, early deliveries were deemed unsuitable for combat operations, principally due to issues with the tailplane; thus, plans were laid for the first 157 production fighters to be stored awaiting modification, while additional production examples were built with the correction made. Furthermore, the type was initially confined to performing training duties alone; prior to the outbreak of the Second World War, only a single squadron, allocated to the 1st Escadre de Chasse, received the type. Upon the eve of the conflict, around 249 aircraft had been manufactured; of these, roughly 123 aircraft had been accepted by the Armée de l'Air. However, few of these were considered to be flyable, the majority missing their gunsights and propellers.

On 26 September 1939, the first modified MB.152s were delivered to the French Air Force; the first of these fighters were allocated to active squadrons by early October and, by mid-November 1939, two separate Groupes de Chasse (fighter groups) had been equipped with 26 MB.152s each. At this point, the type still demonstrated some unfavourable flight characteristics, such as during steep dives. Meanwhile, increasing numbers of MB.151 aircraft were being delivered to be squadrons for training purposes in advance of their anticipated conversion to the MB.152. During the initial stage of the conflict, known as the Phoney War, very few engagements between the MB.152 and the aircraft of the Luftwaffe occurred; in this period, only a single kill of a Junkers Ju 88 was recorded.

During the Battle of France, a mixture of MB.151s and MB.152s equipped nine Groupes de Chasse; the MB.152 was the most numerous aircraft remaining in service during the final weeks prior to the signing of the Armistice of 22 June 1940. They proved to be tough aircraft, able to withstand considerable battle damage, rapidly reach high speeds during a dive, and functioned well as a gunnery platform. In air combat they were outmatched by the Messerschmitt Bf 109E on almost every count and proved slower than the twin-engined Messerschmitt Bf 110. All Bloch units suffered heavy losses. In the week of heavy air fighting between 10 and 17 May, it was almost commonplace for a Bloch squadron to take off with eight or nine aircraft and come back with only two or three. On their side, the pilots of Bloch MB.152s claimed at least 188 enemy aircraft, for the loss of about 86 Blochs. In the third week in May the Bloch units had suffered severe losses and were pulled back to the Paris area to reform.

In comparison with its French contemporaries, according to aviation author Michel Cristesco: "the MB.152 was the least successful in combat and the one that suffered the heaviest losses". The type had numerous shortcomings; these problems included lack of manoeuvrability, unreliable guns, a relatively low range (600 km compared to 660 km for the Bf 109E) and being considerably underpowered. Writing of its faults, Cristesco attributed two major points for its performance shortcomings; its inadequate manoeuvrability and its range.

Following the Armistice, six groups continued to fly in the Vichy French Air Force until this was disbanded on 1 December 1942, the aircraft being passed over to the Royal Romanian Air Force by the Germans. By April 1941, the German Armistice Commission had agreed with a proposal to standardise the Vichy Air Force onto the Dewoitine D.520, resulting in all other single-engine fighters being phased out. The Germans seized around 173 fighters, 83 of which being reportedly serviceable, which were pressed into service with the Luftwaffe. Chrisesco alleged that around 95 MB.152s were secretly modified during late 1941 – early 1942 with a rear-fuselage fuel tank, giving them the range to cross the Mediterranean Sea to freedom.

Though the Greek government had ordered 25 MB.151s, actually only nine of these were actually exported to Greece by the time of the Armistice being signed. Those that were delivered were still in the process of working up when the Greco-Italian War broke out, leading to the wider Balkan Campaign between the major European fighters. The MB.151 fighters flew with the 24th Moira Dioxis (Fighter Squadron) of the Hellenic Royal Air Force, stationed at Elefsina against the Italians and Germans, scoring several air-to-air victories until 19 April 1941, when the last of Greece's MB.151s was shot down. At one stage, the Bulgarian government was in the process of negotiating the acquisition of MB.152 fighters with the Vichy government. During February 1943, a contract for delivery of 20 aircraft was signed, but this was vetoed by the German authorities, which by now had a controlling say within Vichy French politics. Instead, Bulgaria later received a series of Dewoitine D.520s to meet their needs.

Variants

 * MB.150
 * Single MB.150.01 prototype powered by a single Gnome-Rhône 14N-07

 * MB.151
 * MB.151.01 prototype and MB.151.C1 initial production versions powered by 920hp Gnome-Rhône 14N-35 engines (144 built)

 * MB.152
 * MB.152.01 prototype and MB.152.C1 up-rated production versions produced in parallel with 151.C1, powered by 1,050hp Gnome-Rhône 14N-25 engines. (482 built)

 * MB.153
 * Single MB.153.01 prototype with Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp engine

 * MB.154
 * Proposed version with Wright R-1820 Cyclone engine. Not built.

 * MB.155
 * MB.155.01 prototype converted from a MB.152 and MB.155.C1 production versions powered by Gnome-Rhône 14N-49 engines (35 built)

 * MB.156
 * Proposed version with Gnome-Rhône 14R engine. Not built.

 * MB.157
 * Single prototype of advanced version, converted from the MB.152 and equipped with a 1,590hp Gnome-Rhône 14R-4 engine.

Operators

 * Armée de l'Air
 * Armée de l'Air

 * Groupe de Chasse I/1
 * Groupe de Chasse II/1
 * Groupe de Chasse II/6
 * Groupe de Chasse I/8
 * Groupe de Chasse II/8
 * Groupe de Chasse II/9
 * Groupe de Chasse III/9
 * Groupe de Chasse II/10
 * Groupe de Chasse III/10
 * Escadrille de Chasse I/55
 * Aéronavale

 * Escadrille AC2
 * Escadrille AC3
 * Nazi Germany
 * Luftwaffe

 * EJG 26 (at Cognac)
 * JG 103 (at Bad Aibling)
 * Jagdlehrer Staffel (at Guyancourt-Orange)
 * 🇬🇷 Greece
 * Royal Hellenic Air Force

 * 24th Pursuit Squadron
 * undefined
 * Polish Air Forces in exile in France

 * I/145 Polish Fighter Squadron Varsovie
 * Kingdom of Romania
 * Royal Romanian Air Force

 * 🇫🇷 Vichy France
 * Armée de l'Air de l'Armistice

 * Groupe de Chasse I/1 (at Lyon-Bron, reserve unit)
 * Groupe de Chasse II/1 (at Luc)
 * Groupe de Chasse I/8 (at Montpellier-Fréjorgues)
 * Groupe de Chasse II/8 (at Marignane)
 * Groupe de Chasse II/9 (at Aulnat, reserve unit)
 * Groupe de Chasse III/9 (at Salon-de-Provence)
 * Groupe de Chasse I/13 (at Nîmes-Garons)
 * Groupe de Chasse III/13 (at Nîmes-Garons)
 * United Kingdom
 * Royal Air Force

 * Following the Battle of France Polish ace pilot Zdzislaw Henneberg and his two wingmen flew their MB.152C.1s to England, the aircraft were repainted in RAF roundels and used briefly for local air defence and technical evaluation before being grounded due to a lack of spares.

title: Bloch MB.150


text:
1860 in art

Events from the year 1860 in art.

Events

 * February 28 – The Artists Rifles is established as a volunteer corps of the British Army with headquarters at Burlington House in London.
 * May 23 – Dante Gabriel Rossetti marries his model Elizabeth Siddal in Hastings and they depart on honeymoon to Paris.
 * December 30 – Towarzystwo Zachęty do Sztuk Pięknych ("Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts") holds its first meeting in Warsaw.
 * Founding of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

Awards

 * Grand Prix de Rome, painting: Ernest Michel
 * Grand Prix de Rome, sculpture: Barthélemy Raymond
 * Grand Prix de Rome, architecture: Joseph Louis Achille Joyau
 * Grand Prix de Rome, music: Emile Paladilhe

Works

 * Lawrence Alma-Tadema – A Bargain: Brabant Women
 * Paul-Jacques-Aimé Baudry – Charlotte Corday
 * Edward Burne-Jones – Clara von Bork and Sidonia von Bork
 * Paul Cézanne - The Four Seasons
 * Edgar Degas – Young Spartans Exercising (begun about this date)
 * William Dyce
 * The Man of Sorrows
 * Pegwell Bay, Kent – a Recollection of October 5th 1858
 * Francesco Hayez
 * Massimo d'Azeglio
 * Self-portrait at the age of 69
 * Hiroshige II – Iwatake mushroom gathering at Kumano in Kishū
 * William Holman Hunt – The Finding of the Saviour in the Temple
 * Daniel Huntington – Chocorua Peak, New Hampshire
 * Friedrich Kaulbach – Elisabet Ney
 * Édouard Manet
 * Portrait of M. and Mme. Auguste Manet (Musée d'Orsay, Paris)
 * The Spanish Singer (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)
 * John Everett Millais – The Black Brunswicker
 * Clark Mills – Equestrian statue of George Washington, Washington, D.C.
 * William Bell Scott – Ailsa Craig
 * Rebecca Solomon – Peg Woffington's Visit to Triplet
 * Simeon Solomon – The Mother of Moses
 * John Roddam Spencer Stanhope – Robin of Modern Times
 * G. F. Watts – Alice Prinsep
 * Canova Lions (bronze castings)

Births

 * January 1
 * John Cassidy, Irish sculptor and painter (died 1939)
 * Jan Vilímek, Czech illustrator and painter (died 1938)
 * January 29 – William Jacob Baer, American miniature painter (died 1941)
 * February 21 - Goscombe John, Welsh sculptor (died 1952)
 * February 27 – Vardges Sureniants, Armenian painter (died 1921)
 * April 6 – René Lalique, French glass designer (died 1945)
 * May 30 – Archibald Thorburn, Scottish-born wildlife painter (died 1935)
 * May 31 – Walter Sickert, English Impressionist painter (died 1942)
 * June 1 – Hugh Thomson, Irish-born illustrator (died 1920)
 * June 18
 * George Frampton, English sculptor (died 1928)
 * Laura Muntz Lyall, Canadian Impressionist painter (died 1930)
 * June 25 – Sutherland Macdonald, English tattoo artist (died 1942)
 * August 5 – Louis Wain, English cat portrait painter (died 1942)
 * August 18 – Iso Rae, Australian Impressionist painter (died 1940)
 * September 7 – Grandma Moses (born Anna Mary Robertson), American folk artist (died 1961)
 * September 16 – Solomon Joseph Solomon, English portrait painter (died 1927)
 * September 30 – Vincenzo Irolli, Italian painter (died 1949)
 * October 4 – Sidney Paget, British illustrator (died 1908)
 * date unknown – Iris Nampeyo, Hopi potter and ceramic artist (died 1942)

Deaths

 * January 20 – William Charles Ross, British painter of historical paintings, miniatures and portraits (born 1794)
 * February 16 – Denis Auguste Marie Raffet, illustrator and lithographer (born 1804)
 * March 28 – Jean-Pierre Franque, French historical subjects and portraiture painter (born 1774)
 * April 28 – Jakob Guttmann, sculptor (born 1811)
 * June 15 – Juan Antonio Ribera, Spanish Neoclassical historical painter (born 1779)
 * June 20 – Joseph Willibrord Mähler, German portrait painter (born 1778)
 * August 22 – Alexandre-Gabriel Decamps, painter (born 1803)
 * September 21 – Antoine Maurin, French lithographer (born 1793)
 * October 2 – Louis Hersent, French painter (born 1777)
 * October 3
 * Alfred Edward Chalon, Swiss portrait painter (born 1780)
 * Rembrandt Peale, American artist (born 1778)
 * date unknown
 * Julien-Honoré-Germain d'Aubuisson, French portrait and miniature painter (born 1786)
 * Dai Xi, Chinese painter of the 19th century and representative of the academic manner (born 1801)
 * Louis Stanislas Marin-Lavigne, French painter and lithographer (born 1797)
 * Ernestine Panckoucke, French botanical illustrator and flower painter (born 1784)

title: 1860 in art


text:
Enciclopedia universal ilustrada europeo-americana

The Enciclopedia universal ilustrada europeo-americana (also called Enciclopedia Espasa, or Enciclopedia Espasa-Calpe, after its publisher, founded by José Espasa Anguera) is a Spanish encyclopedia. It comprises 72 volumes (numbered from 1 to 70, with parts 18 and 28 consisting of two volumes each) published from 1908 to 1930 plus a ten-volume appendix published 1930–33. Between 1935 and 2003, 33 supplemental volumes were published plus an index, another A–Z appendix, and an atlas, for a total of 118 volumes. Each of the volumes vary in length. As of 1986, it is the longest printed encyclopedia with 105,000 pages and 165,200,000 words.

Encyclopaedias: Their History Throughout The Ages regards the Espasa as one of the greatest encyclopedias, along with the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition and the Enciclopedia Italiana (p. 147). "This work is remarkable for its detail: maps and plans of even remote and obscure places; reproductions and descriptions of works of art entered under their titles; lengthy bibliographies, international in scope; full dictionary treatment of individual words with, in many cases, foreign equivalents; and usually affording full scope to lengthy treatment of important subjects." (201) The authors of the work, as an example of its scope, mentioned in the preface (vii) that all botanical genera known at the time were covered in the work. Common words (not proper names) are translated into English, French, German, Esperanto and other languages.

The aim of the publishers was to produce an encyclopedia reference book in Spanish that covered scientific and technological knowledge as well as history, biographies, geography, arts, and the literature of Spain and Latin America.

According to calculations made by its publishers, the encyclopaedia has more than 165,000 pages and 200 million words. The 82-volume version is also estimated to have over 1,000,000 articles (Kister 450).

Only minor revisions have been made to the original volumes, such as the rewrite of a part of the 1910 "bicicleta" (bicycle) article which had enumerated a "pistol or revolver" as one of the things to be taken on a bicycle tour.

In 2003 a repackaged version was published in 90 volumes, consisting of the original 82 volumes plus a new 8-volume Complemento Enciclopédico 1934–2002 update. The old supplements will not be republished.


text:
1866 in art

Events from the year 1866 in art.

Events

 * July 28 – 18-year-old Vinnie Ream is commissioned by the United States Congress to make a marble statue of Abraham Lincoln for the United States Capitol rotunda in Washington, D.C.
 * Nationalmuseum opens in new premises in Stockholm, Sweden, under this name.
 * Théophile Thoré-Bürger publishes the first catalogue raisonné of Vermeer's paintings, in the Gazette des Beaux-Arts, bringing him to international prominence after nearly two centuries.

Works

 * Albert Bierstadt – A Storm in the Rocky Mountains, Mt. Rosalie
 * Carl Bloch – In a Roman Osteria
 * Odoardo Borrani – At the Chorus
 * Edward Burne-Jones – The Princess Sabra Led to the Dragon
 * Julia Margaret Cameron – photographs
 * The Mountain Nymph Sweet Liberty
 * Series of Life Sized Heads
 * Paul Cézanne – Portrait of Louis-Auguste Cézanne, Father of the Artist, reading l'Evénement (National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.)
 * Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot – Agostino (National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.)
 * Gustave Courbet
 * L'Origine du monde
 * Le Sommeil
 * Edgar Degas – Scene from the Steeplechase: The Fallen Jockey (reworked in 1880-1881 and again c. 1897)
 * Gustav Doré (woodcuts)
 * Illustrations for La Grande Bible de Tours
 * Illustrations for Milton's Paradise Lost
 * Giovanni Fattori – La Rotonda di Palmieri
 * Jean-Léon Gérôme
 * Cleopatra and Caesar
 * The Slave Market (approximate date)
 * Francesco Hayez – Odalisque with Book
 * David Octavius Hill – The First General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland, Signing the Act of Separation and Deed of Demission at Tanfield, Edinburgh 23 May 1843 (completed)
 * Winslow Homer – Prisoners from the Front (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)
 * Sir Edwin Landseer – The Arab Tent (Wallace Collection, London; approximate date)
 * August Malmström – Dancing Fairies
 * Édouard Manet
 * The Fifer (Musée d'Orsay, Paris)
 * A King Charles Spaniel (National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.)
 * Still Life with Melon and Peaches (National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.)
 * Woman with a Parrot (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)
 * Jan Matejko – Rejtan, or the Fall of Poland
 * Claude Monet
 * Camille (The Woman in the Green Dress)
 * Le déjeuner sur l’herbe
 * Women in the Garden (begun)
 * Albert Joseph Moore
 * The Last Supper and The Feeding of the Five Thousand (on chancel walls of church of St. Alban's, Rochdale; completed)
 * The Shunamite relating the Glories of King Solomon to her Maidens
 * Dante Gabriel Rossetti – The Beloved
 * Rebecca Solomon – A Wounded Dove
 * Simeon Solomon – Love in Autumn
 * Bertalan Székely – The Battle of Mohács
 * Frederick Walker – Wayfarers
 * John Quincy Adams Ward – Indian Hunter (bronze)

Births

 * January 17 – Joseph Bernard, French sculptor (died 1931)
 * January 23 – Lydia Field Emmet, American painter and designer (died 1952)
 * March 17 – Alice Austen, American photographer (died 1952)
 * June 13 – Aby Warburg, German art historian (died 1929)
 * June 16 – Joaquín Clausell, Mexican impressionist landscape painter, lawyer and political activist (died 1935)
 * July 3 – Ambroise Vollard, French art dealer (died 1939)
 * July 14 – Juliette Wytsman, Belgian painter (died 1925)
 * July 19 – John Duncan, Scottish painter (died 1945)
 * July 28 – Beatrix Potter, English writer and illustrator (died 1943)
 * August 9 – Emil Fuchs, Austrian-born sculptor and painter (died 1929)
 * August 13 – Jadwiga Golcz, Polish photographer (died 1936)
 * August 31 – Georg Jensen, Danish silversmith (died 1935)
 * October 2 – Charles Ricketts, English designer (died 1931)
 * unknown date – Milly Childers, English painter (died 1922)

Deaths

 * January 15 – Massimo d'Azeglio, Italian statesman, novelist and painter (born 1798)
 * January 17 – George Petrie, Irish painter, musician, antiquary and archaeologist (born 1790)
 * January 27 – John Gibson, Welsh-born sculptor (born 1790)
 * January 30 – Léon Bonvin, French painter an watercolorist (born 1834)
 * March 23 – Ferdinand von Arnim, German architect and watercolour painter (born 1814)
 * April 1 – Chester Harding, American portrait painter (born 1792)
 * April 3 – Frederick William Fairholt, English engraver (born 1814)
 * April 7 – Thomas Musgrave Joy, English portrait painter (born 1812)
 * April 17 – Carl Georg Enslen, Austrian painter (born 1792)
 * April 24 – Giuseppe Tominz, Austrian portrait painter (born 1790)
 * April 26 – Hermann Goldschmidt, German-born painter and astronomer (born 1802)
 * June 8 – William Bewick, English portrait painter (born 1795)
 * June 14 – John Hayes, English portrait-painter (born 1786)
 * August 9 – Raffaello Sernesi, Italian painter and medallist (born 1838)
 * September 10 – David Hay, British interior decorator (born 1798)
 * November 23 – Paul Gavarni (Sulpice Guillaume Chevalier), French caricaturist (born 1801/1804)
 * December 20 – Jacobus Cornelis Gaal, Dutch painter and etcher (born 1796)
 * date unknown – Jean Henri De Coene, Belgian painter of genre and historical subjects (born 1798)

title: 1866 in art


text:
Talk:Meggers (crater)

Untitled
From VfD:

This is a non-notable crater on the moon. The connection to its namesake is established here: List_of_craters_on_the_Moon and I don't see much point in copying the positional data from the primary source ( http://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/moon/mooncrat.html ) into an extra article; this could be put on List_of_craters_on_the_Moon too. For reference, a notable moon crater would be the Giordano_Bruno_crater. Ianb 21:47, 21 Jul 2004 (UTC)

 * I don't really see the problem with this; it does contain more information than the table you reference (the fact that more information could be inserted into the table doesn't mean it will be); I'd venture that any named crater is by definition notable. Moreover, it sure doesn't hurt anything by being here or violate any policy.  Keep.  Jgm 22:46, 21 Jul 2004 (UTC)

 * There's quite a lot of craters on the moon, aren't there? A page on its own telling you where it is.. well, if that information isn't in the List_of_craters_on_the_Moon, it should be. The crater doesn't need a page, although I think William Meggers probably does, he was a fairly notable spectroscopist. The crater named after him doesn't appear to be that notable. DeleteAverage Earthman 12:42, 22 Jul 2004 (UTC)
 * Articles on divots next? :-) Seriously, I actually think this should be a keep, even if it duplicates information.  I understand that a redirect might take care of the issues, but having this as a placeholder for a future article with more depth, so to speak, about the crater is not, I think, fundamentally misleading or unhelpful. Geogre 13:49, 22 Jul 2004 (UTC)
 * Future information? I may be being dense here, but how much more can we say at the moment about this specific crater? If all we have is name, position and size of these craters, that is best served in one table, rather than 40 stub articles. If the Chinese stick a base there in 30 years time, we can add it then... Average Earthman 17:59, 23 Jul 2004 (UTC)
 * Concur- the named craters are few enough, and large enough, that they may well each merit their own entry when someone gets around to writing them. Keep. -FZ 18:02, 22 Jul 2004 (UTC)
 * A slippery slope. Not only is there the Moon to consider, but there are many other bodies - especially Mercury, Venus, Mars and even the Earth - with millions of named and (as yet) unnamed craters. I'll abstain from voting, but not even my social life is dismal enough to get me started on such a project! Fire Star 22:12, 23 Jul 2004 (UTC)

 * Unless Meggers crater is notable for other than its location and size, I vote to delete. Such data are more conveniently and practically kept on a table. Denni ☯ 05:04, 2004 Jul 25 (UTC)
 * Well as a far-side crater it's very unlikely to receive much additional material in the near future. But there's a bunch of Lunar craters in the same category. Would it make sense to just have a page about the Moon's far side, with a table of features, and then link all the corresponding far side craters to that page? There's probably only going to be a few far side that ever get much attention in the next couple of decades. RJH 02:50, 14 Sep 2004 (UTC)

end moved discussion

Okay I have added a bunch more information concerning this crater. Not sure what else could be added until we actually go there. RJH 16:46, 25 Sep 2004 (UTC)
 * thanks, much appreciated. If anyone's got a spacecraft capable of heading in that direction and is looking for crew, count me in ;-). --Ianb 18:03, 25 Sep 2004 (UTC)

title: Talk:Meggers (crater)


text:
Party for Freedom and Progress

The Party for Freedom and Progress (Partij voor Vrijheid en Vooruitgang; Parti de la Liberté et du Progrès; Partei für Freiheit und Fortschritt, PVV-PLP) was a liberal political party in Belgium which existed from 1961 until 1992. The party was the successor of the Liberal Party, which had roots dating back to 1846. It was succeeded in the Flemish Community of Belgium by the Flemish Liberals and Democrats (VLD) and in the French Community by the Liberal Reformist Party, Parti des Réformes et des Libertés de Wallonie and the current-day Reformist Movement. In the German-speaking Community, it continued to exist as the Party for Freedom and Progress up to 2023.

Foundation of a new party
In 1961, Omer Vanaudenhove, leader of the Liberal Party, reorganised it into the Partij voor Vrijheid en Vooruitgang/Parti de la Liberté et du Progrès (PVV/PLP). The new party, among other things, jettisoned the Liberals' traditional anti-clericalism. In 1965, the party obtained a victory in the general elections with 21.6% of the votes. In 1966, the PVV joined the government of Paul Vanden Boeynants. The liberal ministers during this period were Willy De Clercq, Jacques Van Offelen, Frans Grootjans, Herman Vanderpoorten, Charles Poswick and August De Winter.

Separation between PVV and PRL
On 27 June 1971, the party was split up in a Flemish (PVV) and Walloon party (the Liberal Reformist Party, PRL). Only a few months later, on 24 September 1971, the parliament was dissolved. In the elections which followed The Flemish PVV gained votes, but the Walloon PRL lost in the elections.

In this period (1971–1992), the PVV ministers in the government were: Willy De Clercq, Herman Vanderpoorten, Herman De Croo, Karel Poma, Alfred Vreven, André Kempinaire, Guy Verhofstadt, Louis Waltniel, Jean Pede, Patrick Dewael, Ward Beysen, and Jacky Buchmann.

The PRL ministers in the government were: André Damseaux, François-Xavier de Donnea, Jean Gol, Louis Olivier, Charles Poswick, and Michel Toussaint.

Flanders: VLD
In Flanders, the PVV ceased to exist in 1992. On 15 November 1992, the Flemish Liberals and Democrats (VLD) was founded.

French-speaking Community: MR
In 1976, the name of the party was changed into Parti des Réformes et des Libertés de Wallonie|Parti de Réformes et de la Liberté en Wallonie (PRLW). In 1979, the name was changed to Liberal Reformist Party (PRL) after the merger with the Liberal Party of Brussels. In March 2002, the PRL merged with the German-speaking Party for Freedom and Progress (PFF) of the East Cantons, the Democratic Front of Francophones (FDF) and the Citizens' Movement for Change (MCC) into the Reformist Movement (MR).

Presidents PVV-PLP

 * 1961 – 1968 : Omer Vanaudenhove
 * 1968 – 1969 : Norbert Hougardy and Milou Jeunehomme (co-presidency)
 * 1969 – 1972 : Pierre Descamps

Presidents PVV

 * 1972 – 1973 : Willy De Clercq
 * 1973 – 1977 : Frans Grootjans
 * 1977 – 1982 : Willy De Clercq
 * 1982 – 1985 : Guy Verhofstadt
 * 1985 – 1989 : Annemie Neyts
 * 1989 – 1992 : Guy Verhofstadt

Notable members

 * Lucienne Herman-Michielsens (1926–1995)
 * Jean Rey (1902–1983), President of the European Commission
 * Jules Audent (1834-1910)

Federal Parliament
Chamber

title: Party for Freedom and Progress


text:
Yves Michaud (politician)

Yves Michaud (February 13, 1930 – March 19, 2024) was a Canadian politician in Quebec who was a sovereigntist and pur et dur supporter of the Parti Québécois.

Background
Yves Michaud was born in Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec, Canada on February 13, 1930. In 1959, he received a Canada Council grant to study journalism in France at the Université de Strasbourg. He then began a career as a journalist for the Clairon in Saint-Hyacinthe. He was later chief editor of La Patrie and also had a chronicle for the magazine 7 jours.

Michaud died in Montreal on March 19, 2024, at the age of 94. No official cause of death was given, but it was reported in 2022 that he had Alzheimer's disease.

Member of the legislature
Michaud joined the ranks of the Liberal Party of Quebec and was elected in the Gouin riding in the 1966 provincial election, which the Liberals lost. He became friends with fellow Liberals René Lévesque and Robert Bourassa, who would both later become Premiers of Quebec.

In 1969, Michaud left the Liberal Party and sat as an Independent to protest against the passage of Bill 63, a controversial language legislation. He ran for re-election as a Liberal candidate in the 1970 election, but was defeated by 12 votes by Parti Québécois candidate Guy Joron.

Parti Québécois supporter
Michaud joined the Parti Québécois in the subsequent years and ran as a candidate of this party in the district of Bourassa in 1973 Quebec general election. He lost against Liberal Lise Bacon.

Michaud then founded Le Jour, the first daily newspaper promoting Quebec independence. In 1979, he was in charge of the Quebec Government House of Paris.

Michaud called the English language a scar and disfigurement on the face of Montreal. He also described the language situation in Quebec as a cancer that occasionally goes into remission.

Robin Hood of the banks
Often called Robin des banques (Robin Hood of the banks), Yves Michaud is known by the people of Quebec for his crusade against the practices of large corporations. In 1993, he founded the Association des petits épargnants et investisseurs du Québec (Association of small savers and investors), and won a number of victories in court.

The Michaud Affair
In December 2000 Yves Michaud announced that he would seek the Parti Québécois nomination for a by-election in the district of Mercier. However, his candidacy was plagued with controversy, after he made sensitive comments about the Jewish community in a radio interview.

One recollection of his comments, amongst other things, was that he stated that the Jewish people had suffered, but that other peoples had also endured great tragedies. ("The Jews weren't the only people to have suffered.") However, as the affair went along, due notably to Michaud's open defence of Quebecker nationalism, he was increasingly portrayed by some as an anti-semite and denier of the Shoah, which he always categorically said he was not.

It culminated in a motion of censure from the National Assembly of Quebec. Lucien Bouchard is also said to have been influenced by the weight of the affair (which received extremely negative coverage in the international press) to resign as Premier of Quebec in 2001 (although he did not admit it). Michaud fought to the end for recognition of the motion of censure as an "anti-democratic mistake".

Also, Bouchard announced that he would block Michaud's candidacy. Claudel Toussaint received the nomination. Michaud's faction ran its own candidate: Paul Cliche. Both sovereigntist candidates lost the by-election against Liberal nominee Nathalie Rochefort.

title: Yves Michaud (politician)


text:
Saab 105

The Saab 105 is a Swedish high-wing, twinjet trainer aircraft developed in the early 1960s as a private venture by Saab AB. The Swedish Air Force, which had opted to procure the type for various roles, issued the aircraft with the designation Sk 60. The Sk 60 entered service in 1967, replacing the ageing De Havilland Vampire fleet.

The Swedish Air Force bought 150 aircraft and another 40 were exported to Austria, designated Saab 105Ö. The Saab 105 is the aircraft used by Swedish Air Force display team Team 60 and was formerly used by two display teams of the Austrian Air Force, "Karo As" and "Silver Birds".

Development
In 1959, development of the Saab 105 was initiated by Saab. The company decided to develop the aircraft as a private venture and intended for the type to be capable of serving in a wide variety of military and civil capacities. In a military capacity, the 105 can be operated as a jet trainer, conduct aerial reconnaissance and ground attack, and a limited interceptor capability. Amongst the diverse roles planned for the aircraft, Saab proposed a four-to-five seat business jet cabin configuration which was intended to be used by corporate customers.

At the time, the 105 was one of the only small European aircraft to be equipped with turbofan, which was reported as of interest to prospective business customers. The 105 was intended to launch Saab into the business jet market. Ultimately no such customers emerged for the type and thus Saab elected to focus its interest upon military customers instead.

Early on, the Swedish Air Force had formed a commitment with Saab that, contingent upon satisfactory performance of the prototype during flight testing, that an order for at least 100 aircraft would be placed. In December 1961, the Swedish Government authorized the Swedish Air Force to sponsor the development and manufacture of a single prototype Saab 105 in a training configuration. On 29 June 1963, this first prototype conducted its maiden flight. The flight test program soon revealed the type's good handling qualities and a capability of performing aerobatic maneuvers. In March 1965, a single prototype was dispatched to Turbomeca's facilities in Pau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Aquitaine, France, for further flight testing of its Turbomeca Aubisque powerplant.

On 6 March 1965, the Swedish Air Force received authorisation from the Swedish Government to place an order for an initial quantity of 130 Saab 105 aircraft. The Swedish aircraft were divided into three principal variants, these being the Sk 60A for training and liaison duties using a four-seat configuration, the Sk 60B for light attack missions in a twin side-by-side seating configuration, and the Sk 60C dual-role attack and reconnaissance aircraft, equipped with various cameras in the aircraft's nose for the latter role.

An improved version, designated as the Saab 105Ö, was procured by Austria as a lightweight multi-role aircraft, with the intention to deploy them in trainer, reconnaissance, interception and ground attack roles. In order to meet the requirements specified by the Austrian Air Force, the 105Ö features several key differences, which includes some avionics changes, the adoption of a strengthened wing for carrying greater quantities of munitions and equipment upon the underwing hardpoints, and a more powerful version of the Turbomeca Aubisque powerplant, which provided superior performance when operated from air bases at high altitude.

Design

The Saab 105 was developed to function as a small and inexpensive multirole aircraft, which has been most typically used in a training capacity. It is an all-metal twin-jet aircraft with a pressurized cabin. It features a T-tail configuration, modestly swept wings, and a pair of engines mounted on either side of the fuselage just underneath the wing.

The 105 can be outfitted with various armaments and equipment to perform a wide range of duties, mostly installed upon the aircraft's six underwing hardpoints. In a ground-attack/close air support capacity, the 105 can employ a combination of 135 mm, 127 mm, and 75 mm unguided rockets, air-to-ground missiles and assorted bombs, including napalm bombs. A pair of 30 mm cannon or 7.62 mm guns may be installed via gun pods.

In the air defense role, AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles can be employed in addition to the cannons. For the purpose of carrying a maximum of two passengers, smaller ejector seats can be installed for the pilot and co-pilot, while a small bench directly behind them can be used by passengers. Generic and more specialized surveillance/reconnaissance missions can be performed by the Saab 105, having the option of being fitted with radiation detection equipment for atmospheric sampling. With suitable equipment, the 105 could be readily converted between trainer and light attack roles.

As built, the Saab 105 was typically powered by a pair of Turbomeca Aubisque low-bypass turbofan engines, licence-manufactured by Volvo Flygmotor as the RM9. The Aubisque engine reportedly provided favourable engine-out characteristics, allowing the aircraft to successfully takeoff in the event of a single engine failing at the critical point. This has not been the sole powerplant for the type, as a number of 105 aircraft have been powered by the General Electric J85 engine instead. Swedish Air Force aircraft were remanufactured during the 1990s to use the newer Williams International FJ44, which was designated as the RM15.

Operational history

In July 1967, the first Swedish Air Force student pilots started training on the Saab 105. In July 1970, Austrian Air Force pilot training activities on the type began. In August 2010, 22 of Austria's Saab 105 aircraft remained operational, attaining a combined total flight time of roughly 1,500 flying hours per year.

During the 1990s, by which point the existing engines of the Swedish Air Force's Sk 60 fleet were considered to be towards the end of their technical and economic lifespan, it was decided to replace the Turbomeca Aubisque engines with newly built Williams International FJ44 engines, which are lighter and less costly to operate. In November 1993, a contract was signed for the re-engining of 115 aircraft. The number of aircraft to be upgraded was subsequently reduced as a result of cuts to the defence budget. The replacement was performed as a low-cost measure to fulfill the Swedish Air Force's continuing requirement for a primary trainer aircraft. In September 1996, the first of these upgraded aircraft, which was redesignated as the Sk 60W, was re-delivered to the Swedish Air Force.

In June 2007, Saab signed a long term service agreement with the Austrian Air Force to provide logistics and technical support for their Saab 105Ö fleet for a further 10–15 years. Austria retired the Saab 105 in December 2020. In December 2008, Saab received a SKr900 million ($115 million) contract to support extended operations of Sweden's 105 trainer fleet up to mid-2017. In September 2009, a SKr130 million ($18.8 million) contract to deliver a package of cockpit and system upgrades for the Sk 60 aircraft was signed. One goal of this modernisation was increased compatibility with the Saab JAS 39 Gripen, the primary combat aircraft of the Swedish Air Force.

In October 2009, Saab proposed replacing the Swedish Air Force's Sk 60 trainers with the Embraer Super Tucano. In March 2014, the Swedish Air Force publicly acknowledged that it was to begin studying replacement options for the Saab 105. Major General Micael Bydén observed that multinational training opportunities were being examined and that prospective replacement aircraft included the Alenia Aermacchi M-346, BAE Systems Hawk and Pilatus PC-21. In March 2014, Saab and Pilatus Aircraft signed a memorandum of understanding to offer the PC-21 to the Swedish Air Force.

In April 2015, a request for information (RFI) was issued by the Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) for a new Military Flying Training System, to provide long term basic and advanced training fleet functions. The advanced trainer requirements specify the presence of an embedded training capability, including simulated radar and weapons use, as well as tactical displays in both cockpit positions resembling fourth and fifth-generation jet fighter aircraft.

In 2020, Saab signed a new service agreement with the Swedish Armed Forces to provide support for the Saab 105 to 2025, with one year option to 2026. However, the type was officially retired 18th June 2024.

In May 2021, the Grob G 120TP was chosen as the new basic trainer for the Swedish Air force, with first airplanes to be operational in 2023.

Variants

 * Saab 105
 * Prototype. Two built.

 * Sk 60A
 * Two-seat jet trainer, liaison aircraft for the Swedish Air Force. 149 built as Sk 60A.

 * Sk 60B
 * Two-seat attack version for the Swedish Air Force, modified from Sk 60A with new weapons sight.

 * Sk 60C
 * Two-seat ground attack/reconnaissance version for the Swedish Air Force with extended camera nose. One new-build prototype and 29 conversions from Sk 60A.

 * Sk 60D
 * Saab had also designed the Saab 105 for use as a four-seat liaison transport: the two ejection seats could be removed and quickly replaced with four airline-type seats, with no provision for wearing a parachute, or four more austere seats that allowed the wearing of parachutes. In the mid-1970s, ten SK 60A aircraft were permanently configured as transports and given the designation of "SK 60D". Some were painted in the light green/dark green/tan "splinter" camouflage associated with the Saab Viggen fighter.

 * Sk 60E
 * This variant was a similar four-seat SK 60A conversion, but featured commercial-type instruments, including an instrument landing system. It was used to help train Flygvapnet reserve pilots in flying commercial aircraft. The Sk 60E machines were eventually used as Sk 60D liaison transports.

 * Sk 60W
 * In 1993, another upgrade program was initiated to modernize the Sk 60, the most important improvement being fit of twin Williams Rolls FJ44 turbofans with 8.45 kN (861 kgp/1,900 lbf) each and digital engine controls. The new engines provide more thrust, and are quieter, cleaner, and easier to maintain. The first Williams-powered Sk 60—known informally as the "Sk 60(W)"—performed its initial flight in August 1995. About 115 conversions of Sk 60A, 60B, and 60C aircraft were performed in the late 1990s. No conversions were performed of the Sk 60D/E, with all such aircraft grounded and used as spares hulks.

 * Saab 105XT
 * Export demonstrator. An improved version of the Sk 60B, re-engined with 12.68 kN (2,850 lbf) General Electric J85 turbojets. Prototype converted from second Saab 105 prototype.

 * Saab 105D
 * A refined business jet variant was considered, but the idea was out of date and there were no takers.

 * Saab 105G
 * Revised version of 105XT with new avionics, including precision nav/attack system, more powerful J85 engines and modified wing. One converted from 105 XT prototype.

 * Saab 105H
 * Proposed version for the Swiss Air Force. Never built.

 * Saab 105Ö
 * Variant of the 105XT for the Austrian Air Force, first delivered to Austria in July 1970. 40 built, delivered 1970–72, replacing the de Havilland Vampire and Saab 29 Tunnan.

 * Saab 105S
 * In the mid-1970s, Saab proposed yet another demonstrator, the "Saab 105S" for a Finnish trainer requirement, but the Finns decided to buy the BAe Hawk instead.

Operators

 * 🇸🇪 Sweden
 * Swedish Air Force Historic Flight: 4.

Former operators

 * 🇸🇪 Sweden
 * Swedish Air Force: 150. All retired on 19th of June 2024 after 57 years of service

 * 🇦🇹 Austria
 * Austrian Air Force: 40. All retired in December 2020 after 50 years of service

title: Saab 105


text:
Last Christmas

"Last Christmas" is a song by British pop duo Wham! Written and produced by George Michael, it was released on 3 December 1984 via CBS Records internationally and as a double A-side via Epic Records with "Everything She Wants" in several European countries. The song has been covered by many artists since its original release, most notably by Whigfield, Crazy Frog, Billie Piper, Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande.

Upon its initial release in 1984, "Last Christmas" spent five consecutive weeks at number two in the UK Singles Chart—it was held off the top spot at Christmas by Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?" (on which Michael also performed). After many chart runs in subsequent years, which included three more weeks at number two, and which saw the recording become part of RCA Records' catalogue, the song finally reached number one in the UK Singles Chart on New Year's Day 2021 (chart week ending date 7 January 2021), more than 36 years after its initial release; in doing so, it became the fifth UK number one single for the duo. Prior to it reaching number one, "Last Christmas" had for many years held the record as the highest-selling single never to top the charts by the Official Charts Company (OCC) with 1.9 million copies sold (not including streams). This record is now held by "Mr Brightside" by The Killers. The song reached number one in the UK after it was streamed 9.2 million times in the last week of 2020 and sold 1,555 downloads, resulting in a total of 40,149 combined sales. Having been the Christmas number two again in 2022, "Last Christmas" finally achieved the accolade of Christmas number one in 2023, 39 years after its initial release. Combining sales and streams, it also became the third biggest song of all time in the UK.

Outside the United Kingdom, the song topped the charts in Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Slovenia and Sweden, and peaked within the top ten of the charts in several countries including Australia, Canada and the United States. Wham! donated all of their royalties to relief efforts for the Ethiopian famine. In a UK-wide poll in December 2012, it was voted eighth on the ITV television special The Nation's Favourite Christmas Song and was voted most popular song of the 1980s in Channel 5's Christmas 2020 countdown Britain's Favourite 80's Songs. It was the most-played Christmas song of the 21st century in the UK until it was overtaken by "Fairytale of New York" in 2011.

Development
"Last Christmas" had its beginnings in 1983, while George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley were visiting Michael's parents. It was written by Michael in his childhood bedroom. Michael played Ridgeley the introduction and chorus melody to "Last Christmas", which Ridgeley later called "a moment of wonder".

Recording
The song was recorded in August 1984, at Advision Studios, London, England. George Michael wrote, performed, produced and played every single instrument on the track. With a LinnDrum drum machine, a Roland Juno-60 synth and sleigh bells, they began recording the song in the summer, Michael having "plastered [the studio] in Christmas decorations to set the mood". The only other people in the studio were engineer Chris Porter and two assistants, Paul Gommersal and Richard Moakes. According to Porter, lyrically "you've got the happiness of the rhythm track, but against that you've got the sadness of the unrequited love".

United Kingdom
Wham! already had two number one singles on the UK Singles Chart during 1984, and news that they were planning a Christmas single meant that a battle for the coveted Christmas number one spot in Britain seemed set to be between Wham! and the year's other big act, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, who had achieved a third No. 1 in early December with "The Power of Love". However, the Band Aid single written by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure, produced the No. 1 single "Do They Know It's Christmas?", while Wham!'s offering peaked at No. 2 for much of the period. Wham! donated all "Last Christmas" / "Everything She Wants" royalties, the former of which exceeded £250,000, to the Ethiopian famine relief fund.

In subsequent years, the song entered the UK Top 40 on 15 occasions, reaching the Top 10 no fewer than six times (including a run of five consecutive years between 2016 and 2020). In 1985 and 2017 it equalled its best ever chart position of number two, before finally topping the charts on 1 January 2021, 36 years after its original 1984 release. In the process, "Last Christmas" achieved the chart record for the longest time taken for a single to peak at the top of the UK Singles Chart after its first release, a feat that had previously been held by "(Is This The Way To) Amarillo? by Tony Christie, which topped the chart in March 2005, 33 years and four months after its initial release in November 1971. The record has since been surpassed in June 2022 by Kate Bush with "Running Up That Hill", which took 37 years.

, "Last Christmas" had sold over 1.90 million copies, being at that time the biggest-selling single in UK chart history not to reach number one, and the 10th best-selling UK single overall. As of December 2023, "Last Christmas" has sold over 1.93 million physical copies and downloads, becoming the eighth best-selling single of all time in the UK overall. It was certified sextuple platinum in December 2023.

In December 2019, it peaked at No. 1 on both the UK Official Vinyl Singles Chart and on the Official Video Streaming Chart. The following week, the song set a new UK chart record and was streamed 17.1 million times, the most number of plays in a week. It became the UK's best-selling vinyl single release in 2019. In December 2023, for the first time in the song's history, it won the coveted Christmas number 1 spot on The Official Chart Show with Jack Saunders.

Other territories
In Germany, the song is the most successful Christmas single of all time, having spent 169 weeks on the German Singles Chart and attained a peak position of No. 1 on 24 December 2021. It has charted every year since 1997. In January 2008, the song fell from No. 4 to No. 64 there, also making it the biggest fall out of the top 10 on the singles chart.

In Ireland the single went to number one for one week in December 1984 before being replaced at the top by Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?". It also went back to number one in Ireland at the end of December 2022.

The single was originally released in two different formats in Japan with different cover art, a 7-inch and 12-inch vinyl (Long version) both with "Credit Card Baby" as their B-side. The former entered the top 20 of the Oricon Singles Chart peaking at No. 15, while the latter reached No. 47. The single was released in 1993 on CD single in the country and peaked at No. 17, selling nearly 40,000 copies that week. It was reissued in November 2001 and 2004 as a two-track CD with the single edit and the "pudding mix". As a result of the success, "Last Christmas" is the eighth best-selling single of all time in Japan released by a non-Japanese act, with total physical sales of 683,000 units.

In the Netherlands, the song never reached No. 1, peaking at No. 2 in January 1985 (behind Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?"). In the Dutch Singles Top 100 (one of three charts in the Netherlands that claims to be the "official" chart, but it is the only one that is not broadcast and remains unpublished except on its own official web page), the song has now entered on 16 different occasions, including every year since 2006. Its highest position after 1984 was No. 4 (during the 2016 and 2018 Christmas season). In the Dutch Mega Top 50 (which was first published in 1993), the song re-appeared in 1997, 2000, 2007, 2008, and 2013.

"Last Christmas" was not released commercially as a single in the United States until November 2014, when it was made available on 12" vinyl as a Record Store Day exclusive. Since then, the song has re-entered the Billboard Holiday Songs Chart on a regular basis, peaking at No. 3 on 7 December 2019.

In November 2016, total US sales of the digital track stood at 751,000 downloads according to Nielsen SoundScan, placing it 10th on the list of best-selling Christmas/holiday digital singles in US SoundScan history. The song debuted at No. 50 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the chart dated 7 January 2017, after George Michael died. In December 2018, the song re-entered the Hot 100, reaching No. 25 in January 2019, and then a new peak of No. 11 in the first issue of 2020. On the issue dated 2 January 2021, "Last Christmas" reached No. 9 on the Hot 100, its first foray into the top 10 and returning Wham! to the top 10 after a 35-year break. The following year, on the issue dated 1 January 2022, the song reached No. 7. On the issue dated 24 December 2022, the song reached a new peak of No. 6 on the Hot 100. On the year's last issue of the Billboard Hot 100, dated 31 December 2022, "Last Christmas" reached top five. On Billboard's first issue of 2023, dated 7 January, the song reached a new peak of No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), it was certified double platinum in December 2019 and has sold 2 million digital units.

In 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2021, "Last Christmas" reached No. 1 in the Swedish singles chart.

Music video
The music video to "Last Christmas" directed by British commercial, film and music video director Andrew Morahan, shows Wham! members Michael and Ridgeley accompanying girlfriends to see friends at an unspecified ski resort cottage; the cable-car that is visible in two shots is from Saas-Fee, Switzerland, where the video was filmed on 21 November 1984. It becomes clear early on that the character of Ridgeley's girlfriend (played by model Kathy Hill) was previously in a relationship with Michael and that the song is aimed at her. She can be spotted throughout the video by the fact that she is usually wearing red, but everyone else is wearing more muted colours.

There is a brief flashback to a prior Christmas, showing Michael's character presenting Kathy Hill's character with a jewelled brooch. In the present time, Ridgeley is wearing the brooch, suggesting that Hill gave the same gift (perhaps by regifting it) to her new love after she and Michael parted ways. When Hill wears the brooch after receiving it from Michael's character, it is "right side up", and when Ridgeley's character wears it, he wears it "upside down". On numerous occasions, Michael presents a thoughtful expression, suggesting his conflicting emotions. As Michael is decorating the Christmas tree some decoration falls to the floor where Michael's ex-girlfriend is sitting and the ex-couple shares a few seconds of a knowing look at each other.

At the end of the video, everyone leaves the cottage and when the group get out of the cable-car, they are all properly "paired off" with Michael and his new girlfriend looking happy.

The video also featured the duo's backing singers Pepsi and Shirlie, and Spandau Ballet's Martin Kemp.

Restoration
The music video, originally shot on 35mm film, was released on 13 December 2019 in 4K Ultra HD resolution. The music video's original film director Andy Morahan had found seven out of the eight rolls of original 35mm rushes and worked with teams at Cinelab London and VFX artist Russ Shaw at Nice Biscuits post production to recreate the video using the higher-resolution film.

Personnel

 * George Michael – lead and backing vocals, Roland Juno-60 synthesizer, LinnDrum programming, sleigh bells
 * Andrew Ridgeley – backing vocals, electric guitar (not credited)
 * Tommy Eyre – key bells
 * Deon Estus – bass
 * Trevor Murrell – drums

In other media
The film Last Christmas (2019) prominently features the music of George Michael, including this song.

The song is featured in the movie, Diary of a Wimpy Kid Christmas: Cabin Fever which was played twice.

Plagiarism allegations
On behalf of the writers of the song "Can't Smile Without You", made popular by Barry Manilow, publishing company Dick James Music sued Michael for plagiarism in the mid-1980s, claiming that "Last Christmas" lifted its melody from the former. The case was dismissed when a musicologist presented 60-odd songs from the past century that had a comparable chord sequence and melody.

Whigfield version
Italian dance act Whigfield covered "Last Christmas" and released it as a double A-side with "Big Time" in the UK in December 1995. The single was also released as a double A-side single in Germany with "Close to You". In other countries, "Last Christmas" was released on its own with various remixes. The single was produced by Larry Pignagnoli and reached number 21 in the UK, which was Whigfield's final release on Systematic Records. It also appears on various Special Edition versions of her debut album, Whigfield (1995), and also on Whigfield II (1997). The accompanying music video for Whigfield's cover was directed by Italian director Giacomo De Simone, featuring the singer performing the song in a winter landscape.

Chart performance
Whigfield's cover of "Last Christmas" climbed into the top 10 in both Denmark and Spain, peaking at numbers six and five, respectively. It was also a top-20 hit in Finland and a top-30 hit in Ireland and the United Kingdom. In the latter country, "Last Christmas" / "Big Time" peaked at number 21 during its first week on the UK Singles Chart, on 10 December 1995. It was additionally a top-40 hit in Belgium, as well as on the European Hot 100 Singles, on which the song reached number 38.

Critical reception
John Perry from NME named "Last Christmas" by Whigfield Single of the Week, writing, "Gird your loins and don that silly party hat, pop-pickers, because what we have here is the classic Christmas single. [...] The Whigster has taken what was a definitive Christmas song and given it a monster 'I Feel Love' hi-NRG fuel-injection that will have the nation stomping those accursed parsnips into Auntie Mabel's best rug in front of The Queen..."

Ashley Tisdale version
"Last Christmas" was recorded in 2006 for Warner Bros. Records by Ashley Tisdale. The song was released to US radios on 11 November 2006 and as a digital download on 21 November 2006. This song was the first single released by Ashley Tisdale in her deal with Warner Bros. Records and became her official first holiday single. Tisdale performed the single in 2007 on Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and Christmas in Rockefeller Center, and in 2009 in the Citadel Outlets of Los Angeles, California. The song was one of the B-sides on the European CD singles of Tisdale's first single "Be Good to Me" and Tisdale's second single "He Said She Said", from the album Headstrong. The song has been included on several compilation albums, including Disney Channel Holiday and A Very Special Christmas 7.

Crazy Frog version
"Last Christmas" was covered in 2006 by Crazy Frog and released as a Christmas single.

Cascada version
"Last Christmas" was recorded in 2007 by Cascada. It was released on iTunes in November 2007. The single had only a digital release but six days later, it was released on the single "What Hurts the Most" which was the first single from their second album. It was also released as part of their Christmas album, It's Christmas Time.

Glee cast version
The song was covered by the cast of Glee, led by Lea Michele, Cory Monteith with Amber Riley, and was released in 2009 exclusively on iTunes as a charity single, then in 2010 on Glee: The Music, The Christmas Album. The song entered the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the first time a cover version of the song appeared on that chart.

Joe McElderry version
British singer Joe McElderry covered the song in 2011. This version was released as a single on 19 December 2011, an EP was also released digitally in Ireland on 4 November 2011, and in the UK on 7 November 2011. Joe McElderry's version is taken from his third studio album, Classic Christmas, released 28 November 2011. 7th Heaven Remix & Production have done a remix for the song.

A short music video was made using footage which was filmed for the Classic Christmas's album advertising, it features McElderry outside in the snow, collecting logs and taking them to a large house preparing for a Christmas party, a similar video was made for McElderry's version of "O Come All Ye Faithful". The advert and both videos were directed by Steve Lucker.

Ariana Grande version
"Last Christmas" was covered by American singer Ariana Grande, and serves as the lead single from Grande's Christmas Kisses. It was released on 19 November 2013 in the iTunes Store.

Grande's cover draws primarily from pop music, contemporary R&B and soul and also includes newly written lyrics in place of some of the originals. The verses have been described as having a more poppy and R&B vibe than the original.

Carly Rae Jepsen version
"Last Christmas" was covered by Canadian singer Carly Rae Jepsen in 2015 and was released to digital retailers on 20 November 2015 through 604 Records (in Canada) and Interscope Records and School Boy Records (internationally). Jepsen's rendition was praised by critics for combining stylistic elements similar to the original with modern production. She performed the song live at the annual NBC television special Christmas in Rockefeller Center airing on 2 December 2015, and on the episode of The Late Late Show with James Corden airing on 16 December 2015.

Bianca Gracie of Idolator described the song as "quintessential Carly" for highlighting Jepsen's unique vocals and synth production and wrote that her cover will "charm your... socks off". Nolan Feeney of Time echoed those sentiments, noting that "Last Christmas" is "the kind of brokenhearted yet warm and sweet song [Jepsen] excels at". Jackson McHenry of Vulture applauded Jepsen for her straightforward approach to the song and avoiding the "vocal gymnastics" that bog down some Christmas covers.

A more critical review came from music blog Popcrush, who deemed the cover overproduced, saying "The slick production is a disservice to both Jepsen's vocals and the original's emotional heft.".

Other notable cover versions

 * Billie Piper originally recorded a cover of the song as a B-side of her 1998 single "She Wants You". It was released as a CD single in limited areas of Europe, charting at No. 47 in Sweden. The single was released as a promotional vinyl single in the UK, limited to 500 copies, and therefore could not chart there.
 * Hilary Duff covered the song for her 2002 debut album, Santa Claus Lane. This version peaked at number 68 on the South Korean Gaon Chart in 2012.
 * Taylor Swift covered "Last Christmas" for her 2007 EP, The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection. Swift's cover peaked at number 28 on the US Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in January 2008 and at number 46 on the Hot Digital Songs chart in December 2008. On Billboard 's Greatest of All Time Holiday 100 chart, which measured chart data 1958–2016, Swift's "Last Christmas" charted at number 56.
 * A cover version by Santa Clones is featured in the video game Just Dance 2017 as a duet between two dancers, one of whom is dressed as Santa Claus.
 * James TW's version in 2018 peaked at number 22 on the New Zealand Hot Singles Chart, and at number 38 on Sverigetopplistan, the official Swedish singles chart.
 * Backstreet Boys released a cover of the song on September 6, 2022, as a part of their first Christmas album, A Very Backstreet Christmas. It was accompanied by a music video on November 1 the same year and reached number 1 on the Billboard Holiday AC chart.
 * Lauren Spencer-Smith released a cover of the song on November 11, 2022. Her version peaked at number 81 on the Billboard Hot 100 in December 2022.
 * One, who represented Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2002, adpated the song in Greek as "Οι καμπάνες χτυπούν" (Bells are ringing) in their 2003 album Όνειρα (Dreams).
 * Remi Wolf covered the song, releasing it along with a cover of "Winter Wonderland" in November 2022.
 * The cast of The Only Way Is Essex covered the song in 2011. It peaked at number 33 in the UK Singles Chart Christmas chart, a place higher than the original.
 * Alanis Morissette released the cover of the song on the EP of the same name in November 2023.
 * Finnish soprano Tarja Turunen covered the song on her 2023 Christmas album entitled Dark Christmas.
 * Meghan Trainor released the cover of the song in 2021, on A Very Trainor Christmas.

title: Last Christmas


text: Category:Defunct computer companies of the United States


text:
Liberalno demokratska stranka

Liberalno demokratska stranka (Liberal Democratic Party) may refer to:

 * Liberal Democratic Party (Bosnia and Herzegovina), a defunct political party in Bosnia and Herzegovina
 * Liberal Democratic Party (Serbia, 1989), a defunct political party in Serbia

title: Liberalno demokratska stranka


text:
User:Prisonblues/Colleges/Downing College, Cambridge

Downing College, Cambridge


text:
Partido Liberal

Partido Liberal may refer to:

 * Liberal Party of Corrientes (Argentina)
 * Liberal Party (Bolivia)
 * Liberal Party (Brazil)
 * Liberal Party (Brazil, 1831)
 * Liberal Party (Brazil, 1985)
 * Liberal Party (Brazil, 2006)
 * Liberal Party (Chile, 1849–1966)
 * Liberal Party (Chile, 2007–)
 * Colombian Liberal Party
 * Liberal Party (Honduras)
 * Liberal Party (Paraguay)
 * Liberal Party (Peru)
 * Liberal Party (Philippines)
 * Liberal Party of Puerto Rico
 * Liberal Party (Spain, 1880), 1880–1931 - liberal political party of the Restoration
 * Liberal-Conservative Party, 1876–1931 - conservative political party of the Restoration
 * Liberal Party (Spain, 1976) - political party created in 1976, revived in 1983 and merged into the People's Party in 1989
 * Liberal Party (Uruguay)
 * Great Liberal Party of Venezuela (Venezuela)

title: Partido Liberal


text:
Chenopodium album

Chenopodium album is a fast-growing annual plant in the flowering plant family Amaranthaceae. Though cultivated in some regions, the plant is elsewhere considered a weed. Common names include lamb's quarters, melde, goosefoot, wild spinach and fat-hen, though the latter two are also applied to other species of the genus Chenopodium, for which reason it is often distinguished as white goosefoot. Chenopodium album is extensively cultivated and consumed in Northern India, and Nepal as a food crop known as bathua.

Distribution
Its native range is obscure due to extensive cultivation, but includes most of Europe, from where Linnaeus described the species in 1753. Plants native to eastern Asia are included under C. album, but often differ from European specimens. According to Plants of the World Online, the species' natural distribution includes temperate Eurasia from western Europe to China and the Russian Far East, the Indian subcontinent, North Africa, Ethiopia, and the eastern and central United States.

It is widely naturalized elsewhere, such as in Africa, Australasia, North America, and Oceania, and now occurs almost everywhere (except Antarctica) in soils rich in nitrogen, especially on wasteland.

Description
It tends to grow upright at first, reaching heights of 10–150 cm (rarely to 3 m), but typically becomes recumbent after flowering (due to the weight of the foliage and seeds) unless supported by other plants. The leaves are alternate and varied in appearance. The first leaves, near the base of the plant, are toothed and roughly diamond-shaped, 3–7 cm long and 3–6 cm broad. The leaves on the upper part of the flowering stems are entire and lanceolate-rhomboid, 1–5 cm long and 0.4–2 cm broad; they are waxy-coated, unwettable and mealy in appearance, with a whitish coat on the underside. The small flowers are radially symmetrical and grow in small cymes on a dense branched inflorescence 10–40 cm long. Further, the flowers are bisexual and female, with five tepals which are mealy on outer surface, and shortly united at the base. There are five stamens.

Taxonomy
Chenopodium album has a complex taxonomy and has been divided into numerous microspecies, subspecies and varieties, but it is difficult to differentiate between them. The following varieties are accepted by Plants of the World Online:
 * Chenopodium album var. album – temperate Eurasia and Indian subcontinent, North Africa, and Ethiopia
 * Chenopodium album var. missouriense (Aellen) Bassett & Crompton (synonym Chenopodium missouriense Aellen) – eastern and central United States
 * Chenopodium album var. reticulatum (Aellen) Uotila (synonym Chenopodium reticulatum Aellen) – France and Great Britain

Regions
The species are cultivated as a grain or vegetable crop (such as in lieu of spinach), as well as animal feed in Asia and Africa, whereas in Europe and North America, it is commonly regarded as a weed in places such as potato fields, while in Australia it is naturalised in all states and regarded as an environmental weed in New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia and the Northern Territory. While var. album is considered invasive in some regions of the USA, var. missouriense is native.

Potential impact on conventional crops
It is one of the more robust and competitive weeds, exceptionally capable of colonizing new areas. It may produce up to 50 million seeds per hectare, its seeds remain viable 30 to 40 years in the soil, and it exhibits high phenotype plasticity, modifying its growth form for the conditions it is in. It may be controlled by dark tillage, rotary hoeing, or flaming when the plants are small. Crop rotation of small grains will suppress an infestation. It is easily controlled with a number of pre-emergence herbicides. Its pollen may contribute to hay fever-like allergies.

Pest control
Chenopodium album is vulnerable to leaf miners, making it a useful trap crop as a companion plant. Growing near other plants, it attracts leaf miners which might otherwise have attacked the crop to be protected. It is a host plant for the beet leafhopper, an insect which transmits curly top virus to beet crops.

Nutrition
Raw lamb's quarters are 84% water, 7% carbohydrates, 4% protein, and 1% fat (table). In a 100 gram reference amount, lamb's quarters provide 43 calories, and are a rich source (20% or more of the Daily Value, DV) of vitamin C (96% DV), vitamin A (73% DV), riboflavin (37% DV), vitamin B6 (21% DV), manganese (37% DV), and calcium (31% DV), with several other dietary minerals in lesser amounts (table).

Culinary use

The leaves and young shoots may be eaten raw or cooked as a leaf vegetable.

The flower buds and flowers can also be eaten cooked. Each plant produces tens of thousands of black seeds. Quinoa, a closely related species, is grown specifically for its seeds. The Zuni people cook the young plants' greens.

Archaeologists analysing carbonized plant remains found in storage pits and ovens at Iron Age, Viking Age, and Roman sites in Europe have found its seeds mixed with conventional grains and even inside the stomachs of Danish bog bodies.

In India, the plant is called bathua and is found abundantly in the winter season. The leaves and young shoots of this plant are used in dishes such as soups, curries, and paratha-stuffed breads, common in North India. The seeds or grains are used in phambra, gruel-type dishes in Himachal Pradesh, and in mildly alcoholic fermented beverages such as soora and ghanti. In Haryana state, the "bathue ka raita" i.e. the raita (yogurt dip) made with bathua, is commonly eaten in winters.

In Nepal, it is known as bethe or bethu. It is used to make a dish known as saag. The leaves are stir-fried with spices, chilli and diced garlic. A fermented dish known as masaura is also made by dipping the leaves in a lentil batter with spices and then dried in sun for some days. The fermented masaura can be made into a curry and served with rice.

Animal feed
As some of the common names suggest, it is also used as feed (both the leaves and the seeds) for chickens and other poultry.

Construction
The juice of this plant is a potent ingredient for a mixture of wall plaster, according to the Samarāṅgaṇa Sūtradhāra, which is a Sanskrit treatise dealing with Śilpaśāstra (Hindu science of art and construction).

Ayurveda
In Ayurveda traditional medicine, bathua is thought to be useful for treating various diseases, although there is no clinical evidence such uses are safe or effective.

title: Chenopodium album