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Boo.com

Boo.com was a short-lived British eCommerce business, founded in 1998 by Swedes Ernst Malmsten, Kajsa Leander and Patrik Hedelin, who were regarded as sophisticated Internet entrepreneurs in Europe by the investors because they had created an online bookstore named Bokus.com, the third largest book e-retailer (in 1997), before founding boo.com.

After several highly publicized delays, Boo.com launched in the autumn of 1999 selling branded fashion apparel over the Internet. The company spent $135 million of venture capital in just 18 months, and it was placed into receivership on 18 May 2000 and liquidated.

In June 2008, CNET hailed Boo.com as one of the greatest dot-com busts in history.

Ernst Malmsten wrote about the experience in a book called Boo Hoo: A dot.com Story from Concept to Catastrophe, published in 2001.

Company vision
Boo.com was intended to become the largest online sports e-retailer in the world, planning to set up stores in both Europe and America simultaneously.

Brand name
The brand name was initially suggested as Bo.com, which was inspired by the actress Bo Derek. The final domain name, Boo.com, was bought for $2500 from a dealer as the domain Bo.com was already in use.

Strategy
The target customers of Boo.com were young, wealthy and fashionable people between 18 and 24 years old, who were expected to be attracted by sports and fashion brands offered by Boo.com. Boo.com created a virtual shopping assistant, Miss Boo, to assist customers with tips given at each step. Boo.com also developed technology that allowed online customers to put their chosen products onto 3D models and then inspect the result.

Headquarters and relaunch
The company had its headquarters along Carnaby Street in London. The company initially had 40 employees. In October 1999, it had a total of eight offices and 400 employees in Amsterdam, Munich, New York City, Paris, and Stockholm. It relaunched in the autumn of 2000 with Kate Buggeln, an ex-Bloomingdale's salesperson and Internet consultant, appointed as president. She told Women's Wear Daily that they were working to "expand beyond the portal business model into Boo products and Boo licensing."

Timing
Although there were several months of delays prior to launch and problems with the user experience when boo.com first launched, these had been largely fixed by the time the company entered receivership. Sales had grown rapidly and were around $500,000 for the fortnight prior to the site being shut down.

The fundamental problem was that the company was following an extremely aggressive growth plan, launching simultaneously in multiple European countries. This plan was founded on the assumption of the ready availability of venture capital money to see the company through the first few years of trading until sales caught up with operating expenses. Such capital ceased to be available for all practical purposes in the second quarter of 2000 following dramatic falls in the NASDAQ presaging the "dot crash" following the dot-com bubble. Boo was one of numerous similar dot-com company failures over the subsequent two years.

One Boo.com manager acknowledges that the company's failure was that global marketing and advertising costs too much, and that managers and technology invest too little. It spent $135 million of its investment in 2 years.

Problems with users experience

The boo.com website was widely criticized as poorly designed for its target audience, going against many usability conventions. The site relied heavily on JavaScript and Flash technology to display pseudo-3D views of wares as well as Miss Boo, a sales-assistant-style avatar. The first publicly released version of the site included many large pages; the home page, for example, was several hundred kilobytes which meant that many users had to wait minutes for the site to load, as broadband technologies were not widely available at the time. The site's front page contained the warning, "this site is designed for 56K modems and above".

The complicated design required the site to be displayed in a fixed-size window, which limited the space available to display product information to the customer. Navigation techniques changed as the customer moved around the site.

The site's interface was complex and included a hierarchical system that required the user to answer four or five different questions before sometimes revealing that there were no products in stock in a particular sub-section. The same basic questions then had to be answered again until results were found.

Excessive expenditure on marketing
Within 18 months, $135 million was spent on marketing by Boo.com. Boo.com spent $25 million on advertising and public relations marketing before it had even opened to sell products.

To attract consumers, the site developed a new Internet virtual technology with which consumers could drag their intended clothes onto a virtual 3D body model, and then view it from whatever angles and distance they wanted. The investment in this technology cost Boo.com over $6 million to develop and $0.5 million every month to maintain.

Burn rate
Boo.com spent £125 million in just six months. Boo.com's sales did not match expectations, due partly to a higher-than-expected rate of product returns (a service that was offered for free, but charged for by their logistics supplier Deutsche Post). Poor management and a lack of communication between departments resulted in rapid growth in costs. The effectiveness of an expensive ad campaign was limited since the website was not ready in time, resulting in curious visitors being greeted with a holding page.

Staff and contractors were recruited in large numbers, with a lack of direction and executive decision about how many people were required, resulting in high payroll costs.

Aftermath
The biggest loser among boo.com's investors was Omnia, a fund backed by members of Lebanon's wealthy Hariri family, which put nearly £20 million into the company.

Creditors, most of whom were advertising agencies, were owed around £12 million. Over 400 staff and contractors were made redundant in London and around the world, and many had not been paid for several months.

In a widely circulated article, former Interim CTO Tristan Louis broke down the problems that plagued the company, in one of the first post-mortems of a technology company posted online.

Fashionmall.com, which had been operating since 1994, bought the remains of Boo.com, which included brand, web address and advertising materials but did not include any physical assets, software or distribution channels. The deal also included the Miss Boo character. Boo's main assets, its software and technology, were sold to Bright Station, a British company run by Internet entrepreneur Dan Wagner, for $250,000 and served as the basis for Venda Inc. Wagner credited the technology he acquired as key to the success of Venda (and its eventual acquisition by NetSuite for US$50M in 2014).

Less than $2 million was earned by selling all Boo's remaining assets.

Of the original global boo.com staff only one worked for both boo.com incarnations. Bill Burley of the original boo.com staff in New York City is a retail executive in buying and merchandise planning. Burley was hired by fashionmall as the Global Fashion Director of the new boo. He reported directly to Ms. Buggeln.

In 2005 CNET called Boo.com the sixth greatest dot-com flop.

Current state of the domain
In May 2007 Web Reservations International (WRI) turned boo.com into a travel site with reviews and listings. When the new site launched, it already had more than one million user reviews which had been collected from existing WRI travel sites.

In October 2010, the new boo.com site announced that it was closing down with effect from 1 November 2010.

boo.com redirects to hostelworld.com.

title: Boo.com


text:
Unknown (magazine)

Unknown (also known as Unknown Worlds) was an American pulp fantasy fiction magazine, published from 1939 to 1943 by Street & Smith, and edited by John W. Campbell. Unknown was a companion to Street & Smith's science fiction pulp, Astounding Science Fiction, which was also edited by Campbell at the time; many authors and illustrators contributed to both magazines. The leading fantasy magazine in the 1930s was Weird Tales, which focused on shock and horror. Campbell wanted to publish a fantasy magazine with more finesse and humor than Weird Tales, and put his plans into action when Eric Frank Russell sent him the manuscript of his novel Sinister Barrier, about aliens who own the human race. Unknown's first issue appeared in March 1939; in addition to Sinister Barrier, it included H. L. Gold's "Trouble With Water", a humorous fantasy about a New Yorker who meets a water gnome. Gold's story was the first of many in Unknown to combine commonplace reality with the fantastic.

Campbell required his authors to avoid simplistic horror fiction and insisted that the fantasy elements in a story be developed logically: for example, Jack Williamson's Darker Than You Think describes a world in which there is a scientific explanation for the existence of werewolves. Similarly, L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt's Harold Shea series, about a modern American who finds himself in the worlds of various mythologies, depicts a system of magic based on mathematical logic. Other notable works included several novels by L. Ron Hubbard and short stories such as Manly Wade Wellman's "When It Was Moonlight" and Fritz Leiber's "Two Sought Adventure", the first in his Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser series.

Unknown was forced to a bimonthly schedule in 1941 by poor sales and canceled in 1943 when wartime paper shortages became so acute that Campbell had to choose between turning Astounding into a bimonthly or ending Unknown. The magazine is generally regarded as the finest fantasy fiction magazine ever published, despite the fact that it was not commercially successful, and in the opinion of science fiction historian Mike Ashley it was responsible for the creation of the modern fantasy publishing genre.

Background and publication history
In May 1923, the first issue of Weird Tales appeared, from Rural Publications in Chicago. Weird Tales was a pulp magazine that specialized in fantasy stories and material that no other magazine would accept. It was not initially successful, but by the 1930s had established itself and was regularly publishing science fiction (SF) as well as fantasy. Weird Tales was the first magazine to focus solely on fantasy, and it remained the pre-eminent magazine in this field for over a decade. In the meantime, science fiction was starting to form a separately marketed genre, with the appearance in 1926 of Amazing Stories, a pulp magazine edited by Hugo Gernsback. In 1930 pulp publisher Clayton Publications launched Astounding Stories of Super Science, but the company's bankruptcy in 1933 led to the acquisition of the magazine by Street & Smith. The title was shortened to Astounding Stories, and it became the leading magazine in the science fiction field over the next few years under the editorship of F. Orlin Tremaine. At the end of 1937, John W. Campbell took over as editor.

By 1938, Campbell was planning a fantasy companion to Astounding: Weird Tales was still the leader in the fantasy genre, though competitors such as Strange Stories were also being launched. Campbell began acquiring stories suitable for the new magazine, without a definite launch date in mind. When Eric Frank Russell sent him the manuscript of his novel Sinister Barrier, Campbell decided it was time to put his plans into action. The first issue of Unknown appeared in March 1939. It was a monthly at first, but poor sales forced a switch to a bimonthly schedule beginning in February 1941. In December 1940, the subtitle Fantasy Fiction was added, and in October 1941, the main title was changed to Unknown Worlds; both changes were intended to make the genre of the magazine clearer to potential readers. When wartime paper shortages became severe in late 1943, Campbell chose to keep Astounding monthly and cancel Unknown, rather than switch the former to a bimonthly schedule as well. The last issue was dated October 1943.

Contents and reception
Campbell's plans for Unknown were laid out in the February 1939 issue of Astounding, in the announcement of the new magazine. He argued that "it has been the quality of the fantasy that you have read in the past that has made the very word anathema ... [Unknown] will offer fantasy of a quality so far different from that which has appeared in the past as to change your entire understanding of the term". The first issue, the following month, led with Russell's Sinister Barrier, the novel that had persuaded Campbell to set his plans for a fantasy magazine into motion: the plot, involving aliens who own the human race, has been described by SF historian Mike Ashley as "a strange mixture of science fiction and occult fantasy". Campbell asked Russell for revisions to the story to emphasize the fantastic elements but still demanded that Russell work out the logical implications of his premises. This became a defining characteristic of the fiction published in Unknown; in Ashley's words, Campbell "brought the science fiction rationale to fantasy". The first issue also contained Horace L. Gold's "Trouble with Water", a comic fantasy about a modern New Yorker who offends a water gnome; in its whimsicality and naturalistic merging of a modern background with a classic fantasy trope, "Trouble with Water" was a better indication than Sinister Barrier of the direction Unknown would take. Campbell commented in a letter at the time that Sinister Barrier, "Trouble with Water", and Where Angels Fear ... by Manly Wade Wellman were the only stories in the first issue that accurately reflected his goals for the magazine.

Under Campbell's editorial supervision, the fantasy element in Unknown stories had to be treated rigorously. This naturally led to the appearance in Unknown of writers already comfortable with similar rigor in science fiction stories, and Campbell soon established a small group of writers as regular contributors, many of whom were also appearing in the pages of Astounding. L. Ron Hubbard, Theodore Sturgeon, and L. Sprague de Camp were among the most prolific. Hubbard contributed eight lead novels including Typewriter in the Sky, Slaves of Sleep, and Fear, described by Ashley as a "classic psychological thriller"; SF historian and critic Thomas Clareson describes all eight as "outstanding". De Camp, in collaboration with Fletcher Pratt, contributed three stories featuring Harold Shea, who finds himself in a world where magic operates by rigorous rules. The title of one of these, "The Mathematics of Magic", is, according to SF critic John Clute, "perfectly expressive of the terms under which magic found easy mention in Unknown".

Other Astounding writers who wrote for Unknown included Robert A. Heinlein, whose "The Devil Makes the Law" (reprinted as "Magic, Inc.") depicts a world where magic is a part of everyday life. Heinlein also contributed "The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag" and "They", described by Ashley as "perhaps the ultimate solipsist fantasy". A.E. van Vogt, a frequent Astounding contributor, appeared in the final issue with "The Book of Ptath" (later expanded into a novel). Isaac Asimov, despite multiple attempts to write for Unknown, never appeared in the magazine. On his sixth attempt, he sold "Author! Author!" to Campbell, but the magazine was canceled before it could appear. It eventually appeared in the anthology The Unknown Five.

In addition to the overlap between the writers of Unknown and Astounding, there was a good deal of overlap between their readerships: Asimov records that during the war, he read only these two magazines. SF historian Paul Carter has argued that the spectrum of fantastic fiction from Weird Tales through Unknown to Astounding was far less cleanly separated than is sometimes assumed: many stories in the early science fiction magazines such as Wonder Stories were more like the works of Edgar Allan Poe than they were tales of scientific imagination.

Fritz Leiber's first published story was "Two Sought Adventure", which appeared in the August 1939 issue of Unknown; this was the first story in his long-running Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser series about a pair of adventurers in a sword and sorcery setting. Four more Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories appeared in Unknown in as many years, and Leiber's novel Conjure Wife, about a man who discovers that all women are secretly witches, was the lead story in the April 1943 issue. The protagonist, a university professor, "is forced to abandon scepticism and discover the underlying equations of magic, via symbolic logic", in critic David Langford's description. Leiber also contributed "Smoke Ghost" in October 1941, described by Ashley as "arguably the first seriously modern ghost story". Another writer whose first story appeared in Unknown was James H. Schmitz, whose "Greenface" appeared in the August 1943 issue.

Other notable stories that appeared in Unknown include Jack Williamson's "Darker Than You Think" (December 1940), which provides a scientific basis for a race of werewolves living undetected alongside human beings. Expanded into a novel in 1948, it remains Williamson's best-known fantasy, and SF historian Malcolm Edwards comments that the two protagonists' relationship is "depicted with a tortured (and still haunting) erotic frankness unusual in genre literature of the 1940s". In addition to the Harold Shea pieces, de Camp published several other well-received stories, including "The Wheels of If" (October 1940) and "Lest Darkness Fall" (December 1939), an alternate history story about a time-traveler who attempts to save the Roman Empire from the coming Dark Ages; Edwards and Clute comment that the story is "the most accomplished early excursion into history in magazine SF, and is regarded as a classic". Also highly regarded is Wellman's "When It Was Moonlight" (December 1940), a story about Poe.

The first sixteen issues of Unknown had cover paintings, but from July 1940 the cover style was changed to a table of contents, with a small ink drawing usually accompanying the summary of each story, in an attempt to make the magazine appear more dignified. The cover art came almost entirely from artists who did not contribute to many science fiction or fantasy magazines: six of the sixteen paintings were by H. W. Scott; Manuel Islip, Modest Stein, Graves Gladney, and Edd Cartier provided the others. Cartier was the only one of these who regularly contributed to SF and fantasy periodicals; he painted four of Unknown's last six covers before the change to a text-heavy design.

Influence
Unknown was, along with Weird Tales, an important early influence on the fantasy genre. In the foreword to From Unknown Worlds, in 1948, Campbell commented that fantasy before Unknown had been too much infused with "gloom and terror"; his approach in Unknown had been to assume that the "creatures of mythology and folklore" could be characters in an amusing tale as easily as they could be made part of a horror story. Horror stories, he said, had a place, but "horror injected with a sharp and poisoned needle is just as effective as when applied with the blunt-instrument technique of the so-called Gothic horror tale". Campbell insisted on the same rational approach to fantasy that he required of his science fiction writers, and in the words of Clareson, this led to the destruction of "not only the prevalent narrative tone but also most of the trappings that had dominated fantasy from The Castle of Otranto and The Monk through the nineteenth century to Weird Tales". Unknown quickly separated itself from Weird Tales, whose fantasies still primarily aimed to produce fear or shock. The closest predecessor to Unknown was Thorne Smith, whose prohibition-era "Topper" stories also mixed fantasy with humor. Before Unknown, fantasy had received little serious attention, though on occasion writers such as James Branch Cabell had achieved respectability. In Ashley's opinion, Unknown created the modern genre of fantasy, though commercial success for the genre had to wait until the 1970s.

Clareson also suggests that Unknown influenced the science fiction that appeared in Astounding after Unknown folded. According to this view, stories such as Clifford Simak's City series would not have appeared without the destruction of genre boundaries that Campbell oversaw. Clareson further proposes that Galaxy Science Fiction and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, two of the most important and successful science fiction and fantasy magazines, were direct descendants of Unknown.

Unknown is widely regarded as the finest fantasy magazine ever published: Ashley says, for example, that "Unknown published without doubt the greatest collection of fantasy stories produced in one magazine." Despite its lack of commercial success, Unknown is the most lamented of all science fiction and fantasy magazines; Lester del Rey describes it as having gained "a devotion from its readers that no other magazine can match". Edwards comments that Unknown "appeared during Campbell's peak years as an editor; its reputation may stand as high as it does partly because it died while still at its best".

Bibliographic details
Unknown was edited by John W. Campbell and published by Street & Smith Publications throughout its run. It was pulp-sized from its launch through August 1941, and then bedsheet-sized from October 1941 to April 1943. The last three issues were pulp-sized again. Street & Smith had planned to switch it to digest size with the December 1943 issue, but it was canceled before that issue appeared. The price began at 20 cents and rose to 25 cents with the change to bedsheet size; it remained at 25 cents when the size changed back to pulp. It had 164 pages when pulp-sized and 130 pages while it was bedsheet-sized. It began as a monthly and switched to bimonthly from December 1940 on. The volume numbering was regular, with six volumes of six numbers and a final volume of three numbers. The title began as simply Unknown. In December 1940 "Fantasy Fiction" was added as a subtitle, and from the October 1941 issue the title became Unknown Worlds.

The first six U.S. issues were available directly in the UK, but thereafter an abridged British reprint edition was issued by Atlas Publications, beginning in September 1939. It was pulp-sized, and priced at 9d (nine pence) throughout. It appeared on a regular monthly schedule until December 1940, after which the schedule became quite irregular, with two or three issues appearing each year until 1949. The volume numbering initially followed the corresponding U.S. editions, with some omitted numbers in 1942 and 1943, and then disappeared for four issues; from the twenty-eighth issue (Spring 1945) the magazine was numbered as if it had been given volumes of twelve numbers since the start of the run. The title was changed from Unknown to Unknown Worlds with the March 1942 issue.

Related publications
In 1948, Street & Smith reprinted several stories from Unknown in a bedsheet-sized magazine format, priced at 25 cents, with the title From Unknown Worlds. This was an attempt to determine if there was a market for a revived Unknown. Street & Smith printed 300,000 copies, against the advice of John Campbell, but although it sold better than the original, too many copies were returned for the publisher to be willing to revive the magazine. The issue was reprinted in Britain in 1952, reduced in size to 7 x and cut from 130 pages to 124; it was priced at 2/6 (two shillings and six pence). Part of the run was issued in a hardcover binding at a higher price. One story from the U.S. version was omitted: "One Man's Harp" by Babette Rosmond.

Three anthologies of stories from Unknown were published in the early 1960s. The Unknown Five includes four stories reprinted from Unknown and the first print appearance of "Author! Author!", by Isaac Asimov, which was sold to Unknown shortly before Street & Smith shut it down. Two additional Unknown anthologies were published in the late 1980s.

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

title: Unknown (magazine)


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1872 in art

Events from the year 1872 in art.

Events

 * February 20 – The Metropolitan Museum of Art opens in New York City.
 * June – American-born painter James McNeill Whistler exhibits Arrangement in Grey and Black: The Artist's Mother, painted the previous year, at the 104th Royal Academy summer exhibition in London after the curator Sir William Boxall threatens to resign from the R.A. if it is rejected.
 * November 13 (07:35) (probable date) – Claude Monet begins painting Impression, Sunrise (Impression, soleil levant) as viewed from his hotel room at Le Havre.
 * November – Edward Lear acquires his cat Foss.
 * date unknown
 * William De Morgan sets up an art pottery in Chelsea, London.
 * The first "Wallace fountains", to the design of sculptor Charles-Auguste Lebourg, are installed in Paris.
 * Lise Tréhot last models for Renoir.

Works

 * Peter Nicolai Arbo – The Wild Hunt of Odin
 * Arnold Böcklin – Self-portrait with Death playing the fiddle
 * Caspar Buberl – Fulton Memorial (New York City)
 * Pierre Puvis de Chavannes
 * Hope
 * The White Rocks
 * Edgar Degas
 * Lorenzo Pagans and Auguste De Gas (completed)
 * The Ballet Scene from Meyerbeer's Opera "Robert le Diable" (original version, first shown)
 * Gustave Doré – illustrations to London: A Pilgrimage (published)
 * Frank Duveneck – The Whistling Boy (Cincinnati Art Museum)
 * William Powell Frith – The Fair Toxophilites
 * John Gast – American Progress
 * Jean-Léon Gérôme – Pollice Verso ("Thumbs Down")
 * Ivan Kramskoi
 * Christ in the Desert
 * Old Man with a crutch
 * Henri Fantin-Latour - The Corner of the Table
 * Édouard Manet
 * Berthe Morisot with a Bouquet of Violets (Musée d'Orsay, Paris)
 * Berthe Morisot with a Fan (Musée d'Orsay, Paris)
 * Berthe Morisot (Private collection)
 * Le chemin de fer ("The Railroad") (National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.)
 * Racecourse in the Bois de Boulogne (Private collection)
 * Claude Monet
 * Effet de Brouillard
 * Impression, Sunrise
 * Springtime
 * Thomas Moran – The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone (first version)
 * Berthe Morisot
 * The Cradle (Musée d'Orsay, Paris)
 * On the Balcony
 * Vasily Perov
 * Portrait of Fyodor Dostoevsky
 * Portrait of Vladimir Dal
 * Illarion Pryanishnikov – Empties
 * Pierre-Auguste Renoir
 * Claude Monet Reading
 * Parisian Women in Algerian Costume (The Harem)
 * Le Pont-Neuf
 * Woman with Parasol Seated in the Garden
 * Dante Gabriel Rossetti – Beata Beatrix (replica, commissioned by William Graham)
 * Emil Jakob Schindler – The Steamer station on the Danube opposite Kaisermühlen
 * Alfred Sisley
 * Bridge at Villeneuve-la-Garonne
 * Footbridge at Argenteuil
 * Marcus Stone – Edward II and his favourite, Piers Gaveston
 * James Tissot – Bad News
 * Wilhelm Trübner – Auf dem Kanapee ("On the Sofa") (Nationalgalerie, Berlin)
 * Frederick Walker – The Harbour of Refuge
 * James McNeill Whistler – Arrangement in Gray: Portrait of the Painter
 * Mårten Eskil Winge – Thor's Fight with the Giants

Births

 * January 16 – Edward Gordon Craig, English theatrical designer (died 1966)
 * January 25 – Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale, English painter (died 1945)
 * February 25 – Alice Bailly Swiss painter and multimedia artist (died 1938)
 * March 7 – Piet Mondrian, Dutch painter (died 1944)
 * April 18 – Beta Vukanović, Serbian painter and centenarian (died 1972)
 * August 21 – Aubrey Beardsley, English painter and illustrator (died 1898)

Deaths

 * April 2 – Samuel F. B. Morse, American inventor and painter of portraits and historic scenes (born 1791)
 * April 10 – John Mix Stanley, American painter (born 1814)
 * May 24 – Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, German painter (born 1794)
 * August 8 – Eduard Magnus, German painter (born 1799)
 * September 30 - Jakob Alt, German landscape painter (born 1789)
 * October 29 – Thomas Combe, English printer and patron of the arts (born 1796)
 * November 5 – Thomas Sully, English-born American portrait painter (born 1783)
 * November 13 - Margaret Sarah Carpenter, English portrait painter (born 1793)
 * November 25 - John Partridge, British artist and portrait painter (born 1789)
 * December 23 – George Catlin, American painter who specialized in portraits of Native Americans in the Old West (born 1796)
 * probable - Severin Roesen, American painter of still lives (born 1815)

title: 1872 in art


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Jane Avril

Jane Avril (9 June 1868 – 17 January 1943) was a French can-can dancer made famous by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec through his paintings. Extremely thin, "given to jerky movements and sudden contortions", she was nicknamed La Mélinite, after an explosive.

Biography
She was born Jeanne Louise Beaudon on 9June 1868 in Belleville, in the 20th arrondissement of Paris (though her biographer, Jose Shercliff—whose account of the dancer's life is highly romanticised—employed the surname “Richepin” in her publication). Her mother Léontine Clarisse Beaudon was a prostitute who was known as "La Belle Élise", and her father was an Italian aristocrat named Luigi de Font who separated from her mother when Avril was two years old. Avril was raised by her grandparents in the countryside until her mother took her back with the intent of turning her into a prostitute.

Living in poverty and abused by her alcoholic mother, she ran away from home as a teenager, and was eventually admitted to the Salpêtrière Hospital in December 1882, with the movement disorder known as "St Vitus' Dance", with symptoms that included nervous tics, thrashing of limbs, and rhythmic swaying. Under the care of Dr.Jean-Martin Charcot, the expert on "female hysteria", she received various kinds of treatment, and claimed in her biography that, when she discovered dance at a social ball for employees and patients at the hospital celebrating Mardi Gras, she was cured, although a modern biography of her argues that this story is unlikely, as she was discharged in June 1884, months before any Mardi Gras celebration would take place.

Regardless, she incorporated some of the mannerisms into her dance style, but it is unclear if she was actually afflicted by the condition or if it was simply a marketing strategy, as nervous conditions such as hysteria were associated with elegance by writers of the time (or both), She was certainly known for her unusual style, which was described as "an orchid in a frenzy". The Belgian author Frantz Jourdain described her as "this exquisite creature, nervous and neurotic, the captivating flower of artistic corruption and of sickly grace".

On leaving the hospital, after a failed romance with a doctor, Avril pondered committing suicide, but was taken in by Parisian prostitutes. Working at whatever day jobs were available, including as a secretary to Arsène Houssaye, as a rider or acrobat at the Hippodrome de l'Alma and as a cashier at the Exposition Universelle in 1889, at night, she pursued a career in dancing by performing at local dance halls and cafés-concerts. In 1888, she met the writer René Boylesve (1867–1926) who became her lover. Using the stage name Jane Avril, suggested by an English lover, she built a reputation that eventually allowed her to make a living as a full-time dancer. During this time, she became known by various nicknames: La Mélinite after an explosive, L'Etrange ("The Strange One"), and Jane la Folle ("Jane the Crazy").

Hired by the Moulin Rouge nightclub in 1889, within a few years, she headlined at the Jardin de Paris, one of the major cafés-concerts on the Champs-Élysées. To advertise the extravaganza, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec painted her portrait on a poster that elevated her stature in the entertainment world even further. The popularity of the can-can became such that Avril travelled with a dance troupe to perform in London in 1896.

In 1895, Louise Weber, known by her stage name La Goulue ("The Glutton") and the most famous dancer in Paris, left the Moulin Rouge, and Avril was chosen to replace her. Graceful, soft-spoken, and melancholic, Avril gave a dance presentation that was the opposite of the very boisterous La Goulue. Nevertheless, the club's patrons adored her, and she became one of the most recognizable names of the Parisian nightlife. A younger dancer, May Milton, arrived in Paris in 1895 and she and Avril had a short but passionate affair. From another liaison, she bore a son, and beginning in 1901, appeared in theatre, taking roles in Henrik Ibsen's Peer Gynt, as well as a stage adaptation of Claudine at School by Colette.

In 1905, she retired from performing altogether and married the French artist, Maurice Biais (1872–1926) in 1911, who adopted her son. They moved to a home in Jouy-en-Josas at the outskirts of Paris. However, Biais suffered from lung disease and the couple separated in the 1920s, with Biais moving to the south of France, where he died. She was bankrupted by the Great Depression and died on January 17, 1943 in poverty and obscurity. She was interred in the Biais family plot in Paris' Père Lachaise Cemetery.

Zsa Zsa Gabor portrayed Avril in the original Moulin Rouge (1952); half a century later, the semi-fictionalized character was reinterpreted by Nicole Kidman in Moulin Rouge! (2001). Avril is one of the characters in Per Olov Enquist's book The Book of Blanche and Marie, which portrays the lives of Marie "Blanche" Wittman and Marie Curie.

title: Jane Avril


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title: Template:Infobox television episode


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1997 Winchester by-election

The 1997 Winchester by-election was a by-election to the UK House of Commons in the constituency of Winchester, Hampshire. Winchester was initially declared to have been won by Mark Oaten (Liberal Democrat) with a majority of two votes at the general election on 1 May 1997, but following a legal challenge, a new election was allowed by the High Court. The by-election, held on 20 November, was won by Oaten with a majority of 21,556.

History
At the general election on 1 May 1997, Mark Oaten was originally declared the winner, with a majority of two votes over Conservative Gerry Malone, 20 hours after starting to count votes, with many recounts and haggling over spoilt ballots.

Oaten was unseated on an electoral petition on 6 October 1997. The High Court held that 54 votes declared void for want of the official mark would have changed the result if counted. The court could not be sure they were not the product of a mistake, therefore deemed that the result was uncertain. They allowed the petition and declared the election void. The writ for the new election was moved on 28 October 1997.

The by-election on 20 November resulted in a clear win by Oaten – his majority was 21,556 over second placed Malone. Campaigning had focused on Oaten's speaking record in the House of Commons after the general election, while the nature of the controversial 1 May election result was also an issue for some Liberal Democrat voters.

The Independent wrote, "Although careful not to articulate it themselves, their unofficial campaign slogan is: 'When the umpire gives you out, you should walk, alluding to the unseated Malone. The Labour Party obtained their worst ever results in a parliamentary election at the time, in part because they hardly campaigned at all and instead focused their priorities on the by-election in Beckenham held on the same day, which they also failed to win. The Winchester by-election remained Labour's worst-ever result until 2021, when they polled 1.6 per cent of the vote in the Chesham and Amersham by-election, again won by the Lib Dems.

Both the original and rerun election involved an incidence of a candidate using an attempted confusing description. Richard Huggett described himself in the general election as Liberal Democrat Top Choice For Parliament (leading to Oaten, the official Lib Dem candidate, to use the ballot paper description Liberal Democrat Leader Paddy Ashdown) and in the by election as Literal Democrat Mark Here to Win. The Registration of Political Parties Act 1998 put an end to this practice.

This was also the last election in which Screaming Lord Sutch, founder of the Official Monster Raving Loony Party, ran for a parliamentary seat. He died by suicide in June 1999.

title: 1997 Winchester by-election


text:
Talk:Samuel J. Tilden

Untitled
"In the vituperative pamphlet war of the contested election, the phlegmatic Tilden was preposterously called "a liar, a traitor, a hypocrite, a briber, a conspirator, a thief, a counterfeiter, a defrauder, a perjurer, a robber, a swindler, a railroad wrecker," a drunkard, a syphilitic, a criminal, and a disgrace— but not a sodomite. Still he confided to a friend that he had never slept with a woman in his life." This seems to have come mostly from http://www.historyhouse.com/uts/tilden_hayes/. If there is something to be asserted about Tilden's sexuality, shouldn't it just be asserted? What's the point of saying what he was not accused of? And then that "still" suggest never having slept with a woman somehow implies being a "sodomite"? 18:47, 22 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Sorry, that comment was from me, and it was a lot more peevish than it should have been. I'm editing the article. PRiis 20:04, 22 Jul 2004 (UTC)

i am kyle tilden

Tilden went to NYU Law, not Yale. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.165.2.79 (talk) 05:01, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

So, was he gay or just asexual? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.164.224.208 (talk) 22:02, 12 May 2010 (UTC)

His former residence at Greystone is now Untermeyer Park (or atleast part of it) in Yonkers. The park is named after a later owner. On one of the gates in the park he's listed as an owner. Withe respect to his sexuality, maybe he religious. Was he a devout Christian? Perhaps he chose to remain celibate.69.119.207.171 (talk) 08:58, 24 July 2010 (UTC)

Tilden Lane (etc.) in Maryland
Wondering whether Tilden Lane, and (perhaps by extension) Tilden Middle School and Tilden Woods Park were named after Samuel J. Tilden. The road is not named in 1865, but surely is by 1934. I'd appreciate any feedback. Marty Mangold (talk) 19:58, 30 August 2020 (UTC)

Following up - Montgomery History's specialist looked into the origin of the name Tilden and came up empty. Marty Mangold (talk) 21:57, 25 January 2022 (UTC)

title: Talk:Samuel J. Tilden


text:
George Hurley

George Hurley (born September 4, 1958) is a drummer noted for his work with Minutemen and fIREHOSE.

Early years
Originally from the East Coast, Hurley and his family moved to San Pedro, California, when he was six years old. Hurley was a surfer before devoting himself to music.

A self-taught musician, Hurley created his own drumsticks out of Plexiglas and wood at the Boys Club in his youth. He got his first drumkit when he was nineteen after trading a motorcycle for it.

Although he is known as a punk drummer, Hurley's musical influences are primarily jazz-based.

"I’d go see Max Roach,” he recalls, “or some other great jazz drummer, and they’d have these kits that they pulled out of the trunk of their cars, three-piece or four-pieces, and they were doing things that I couldn’t imagine. They were like magicians!"

Even though he went to the same high school as D. Boon and Mike Watt he did not meet them until around 1978. That same year, Hurley formed The Reactionaries with Boon, Watt, and Martin Tamburovich. Watt asked Hurley to join repeatedly but Hurley was reticent because they traveled in different circles and Watt was deemed "a geek". Eventually, Hurley threw caution to the wind and joined up with Watt. After The Reactionaries split, George joined a Hollywood new wave band called Hey Taxi!. In 1980, Hey Taxi! disbanded at the same time the Minutemen's then drummer Frank Tonche left the band. Hurley reunited with his two former Reactionaries bandmates in Minutemen.

Minutemen
The Minutemen played their first gig with Los Angeles band Black Flag and after their set were asked by Black Flag guitarist and SST Records founder Greg Ginn to record an album for his label. The Paranoid Time EP was followed by full length albums The Punch Line and What Makes a Man Start Fires? and two more EPs Joy and Bean-Spill before recording their magnum opus Double Nickels on the Dime, an album which appears on many music critics' lists of the all-time best rock albums, including Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Slant Magazine listed the album at on its list of "Best Albums of the 1980s".

In 1985, D. Boon died in a van accident following the release of their final full length album, 3-Way Tie (For Last) at which point Minutemen disbanded.

fIREHOSE
Watt and Hurley formed fIREHOSE in 1986, alongside newcomer Ed Crawford on guitar and lead vocals. They recorded three albums with SST Records, then joined Columbia Records for two albums and an E.P. The band dissolved in 1994 citing creative stagnation, and reformed in 2012 for an appearance at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and a short tour.

Later work
Hurley has played with The Red Krayola and Tom Watson from Slovenly. He also plays with his surviving Minutemen cohort Mike Watt on occasion, usually performing a set of Minutemen songs without a third person substituting for the late Minutemen leader D. Boon under the name George Hurley and Mike Watt. In addition, he occasionally performs with improvisational group Unknown Instructors with Watt and members of Saccharine Trust and Pere Ubu. Their first album, The Way Things Work, was released in late September 2005 by Smog Veil Records. In October 2005, they returned to the studio to record their second album, this time with Pere Ubu's David Thomas as an added participant.

Hurley has formed a drum/bass duo with Constant Llama member Joe Dean called The Wrinkling Brothers.

Personal life
Hurley has been married since 1997 and has a son, Garrett, who was born in July 2002.

Hairstyle
Hurley is known for his distinctive hairstyle that he sported in his later Minutemen and Firehose days, a protruding clump of hair that he nicknamed "The Unit". Hurley explained in the 2005 Minutemen documentary We Jam Econo that since his limbs were all busy when he played drums, he grew "The Unit" so that his head movements were more noticeable on stage.

title: George Hurley


text:
Rick Jones

Rick Jones is the name of:

 * Rick Jones (baseball coach), American former head coach of the Tulane Green Wave baseball team
 * Rick Jones (character), fictional character from the Marvel Universe
 * Rick Jones (pitcher) (born 1955), Major League Baseball pitcher
 * Rick Jones (politician) (born 1952), Republican politician from Michigan
 * Rick Jones (television presenter) (1937–2021), BBC children's programme presenter (1960s–1970s)
 * Rick Jones (voice actor) (born 1957), animation writer, director and voice actor

title: Rick Jones


text: User talk:68.81.163.154

title: User talk:68.81.163.154


text:
Allertonshire

Allertonshire or Allerton was a wapentake and liberty in the North Riding of Yorkshire, England.

Northallerton, current name of Allerton, was historically associated with the Bishopric of Durham, being an ecclesiastical peculiar and exclave until the 19th century.

The shire's central location in the North Riding (1889-1974) and its successor North Yorkshire (1974–present) allowed the town to become the administrative centre for both counties.

The contiguous part of the wapentake included the ancient parishes of:
 * Birkby
 * Kirby Sigston
 * Leake
 * Northallerton
 * Osmotherley
 * North Otterington
 * Thornton-le-Street

The wapentake also included exclaves of:
 * the extra parochial area of Hutton Conyers
 * the parish of West Rounton
 * the parish of Sessay
 * the Yorkshire part of the parish of Sockburn (townships of Girsby and Over Dinsdale)

The wapentake also included part of the parish of Kirklington, including the vill of Howgrave.

title: Allertonshire


text:
Prince William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh

Prince William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh (15 January 1776 – 30 November 1834) was a great-grandson of King George II of Great Britain and the nephew and son-in-law of King George III. He was the grandson of both Frederick, Prince of Wales (George II's eldest son), and Edward Walpole. Prince William married Princess Mary, the fourth daughter of George III.

Early life

Prince William Frederick was born on 15 January 1776 at Palazzo Teodoli in via del Corso, Rome. His father was Prince William Henry, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh, the third son of the Prince of Wales. His mother, Maria, was the illegitimate daughter of Edward Walpole and granddaughter of Robert Walpole. As a great-grandson of George II he held the title of Prince of Great Britain with the style His Highness, not His Royal Highness, at birth. The young prince was baptized at Teodoli Palace, on 12 February 1776 by a Rev Salter. His godparents were his father's cousin and cousin-in-law, the Duke and Duchess of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg; and the Duke of Gloucester's second cousin, the Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach.

During his stay in Stockholm in 1802–1803, William's interest and rumoured affair with Aurora Wilhelmina Koskull attracted a lot of attention, and he reportedly had plans to marry her. Queen Charlotte recalled that William said of Koskull: "If she was your daughter, I would marry her!"

William was admitted to the University of Cambridge (Trinity College) in 1787, and granted his MA in 1790. He set up his London home at 31 Upper Grosvenor Street, Mayfair. On 25 August 1805, Prince William's father died, and he inherited the titles Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh and Earl of Connaught.

From 1811 until his death, William was Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. He was offered the throne of Sweden in 1812 by some members of the Swedish nobility, but the British government would not allow it; the French marshal Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte was eventually selected to become King Charles XIV John.

Military career
On the outbreak of war with France in 1793, Prince William was commissioned as a captain in the 1st Regiment of Foot Guards, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the Army, backdated to March 1789. He was promoted to colonel on 24 February 1794, and served in the Flanders campaign from March to May that year. On 26 February 1795 he was promoted to major-general. From September to October 1799 he commanded a brigade of Foot Guards in the Helder Expedition, for which he was mentioned in despatches. On 13 November 1799 he was promoted lieutenant-general, and held various home commands before being promoted to general on 25 April 1808. On 26 May 1816 he was promoted field marshal.

He was colonel of the 115th Regiment of Foot (Prince William's) from 1794, then colonel of the 6th Regiment of Foot from 1795 and finally colonel of the 3rd Regiment of Foot Guards from 1806 until his death.

Marriage
According to letters held in the archive of the artist and barrister's clerk Anthony Crosby, the Duke married the widow, Ann Maguire (-1850), in a clandestine ceremony on 6 July 1811 conducted at the house of his friend, Ann Hamilton, at 2 Grafton Street, Mayfair, London. The ceremony was reportedly conducted by the Rev. Thomas Pettingal, Rector of Easthampstead, Berkshire, with those present including Hamilton, Lady Jane Lanesborough (the widow of Brinsley Butler, 2nd Earl of Lanesborough) and her husband John King. Maguire claims the Duke maintained a relationship with her until his death in 1834. No marriage certificate is known, and any such marriage would be invalid under the Royal Marriages Act. After the Duke's death an annuity of £200 per year was purchased for Maguire from the Duke's estate.

On 22 July 1816, Prince William married his first cousin Princess Mary, the fourth daughter of King George III. The marriage took place at St. James's Palace, London. On that day, the Prince Regent granted the Duke the style of His Royal Highness by Order in Council.

The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester lived at Bagshot Park in Surrey. They had no children together; they had married when both were 40. The Duke had been encouraged to stay single, so that there might be a suitable groom for Princess Charlotte of Wales, who was expected to succeed to the throne, if no foreign match proved suitable; she had married Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg ten weeks earlier.

Later life
William was active in many walks of life, and on 27 April 1822 he chaired the first Annual General Meeting of London's new United University Club. In politics, "the Duke generally voted with the  Whigs" but only entered the House of Lords rarely and  voted on few of the great issues of his time. He did advocate the abolition of slavery, and he supported Caroline of Brunswick and Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex, against King George IV. In a speech at the House of Lords on 5 February 1807, he stated that

"My lords, I cannot find language sufficiently strong to express my abhorrence and detestation of this abominable traffic in human blood; and I think the present question is the most momentous that ever came before your lordships: for what question can be more momentous, or come more closely home to our bosoms and our feelings of humanity, than that which concerns the welfare, the happiness, nay even the lives of myriads of our fellow creatures? Adverting to the resolution of last parliament, now on your lordships' table, declaring that the Slave Trade is contrary to justice, humanity, and policy, can you still allow British subjects to carry on what has been thus solemnly declared to be unjust, inhuman, and impolitic?"

In the 1790s, William and his friends John Opie - who had painted the Duke's portrait - and his wife Amelia Opie were regular guests  at Earlham Hall,  the seat of  the Gurney family who, like the Duke and the Opies, were Whigs and abolitionists. Upon John Opie's death, the Duke wrote a letter of sympathy to Amelia saying he was glad Royal etiquette allowed him to follow the Opie funeral procession in his carriage to St. Paul’s Cathedral where Opie would be buried.

The Duke of Gloucester kept more state than the King; he never permitted a gentleman to be seated in his presence (which King George did as an exceptional favour) and expected to be served coffee by the ladies of any party he attended, and that they would stand while he drank it. The general estimate of his capacity is given by his nickname, "Silly Billy"; he was also called "Slice of Gloucester" and "Cheese", a reference to Gloucester cheese.

Because of the unequal character of his parents' marriage, the Duke was excluded from the House of Hanover, being considered only a British prince. For instance, he and his sister Sophia were not listed in the genealogical listing of the electoral house of Hanover in the Königlicher Groß-Britannischer und Kurfürstlicher Braunschweig-Lüneburgscher Staats-Kalender. He was also not invited to sign the family compact of the house of Brunswick-Lüneburg in 1831, which means that he was not considered an agnate of the royal (electoral) house in Germany.

The Duke died on 30 November 1834 at Bagshot Park, and was buried in St. George's Chapel, Windsor.

Connaught Place, Connaught Street and Connaught Square in the Tyburnia district north of London's Hyde Park all take their name from his subsidiary title the Earl of Connaught. The area was developed in the 1820s and still features much of its original Regency architecture.

Honours

 * KG: Knight of the Garter, 16 July 1794

Arms
William was granted use of his father's arms (being the arms of the kingdom, differenced by a label argent of five points, the centre bearing a fleur-de-lys azure, the other points each bearing a cross gules), the whole differenced by a label argent (or azure).


text:
Dropping point

The dropping point of a lubricating grease is an indication of the heat resistance of the grease and is the temperature at which it passes from a semi-solid to a liquid state under specific test conditions. It is dependent on the type of thickener used and the cohesiveness of the oil and thickener of a grease. The dropping point indicates the upper temperature limit at which a grease retains its structure though is not necessarily the maximum temperature at which a grease can be used.

Dropping point is used in combination with other testable properties to determine the suitability of greases for specific applications and for use in quality control.

ASTM test procedure
The dropping point test procedures are given in ASTM standards D-566 and D-2265. The test apparatus consists of a grease cup with a small hole in the bottom, test tube, two thermometers, a container, stirring device if required and an electric heater. The inside surfaces of the grease cup are coated with the grease to be tested. A thermometer is inserted into the cup and held in place so that the thermometer does not touch the grease. This assembly is placed inside a test tube. The test tube is lowered into the container which is filled with oil in D-566 and has an aluminum block in D-2265. Another thermometer is inserted into the oil/block.

To execute a test, the oil/block is heated, while being stirred, at a rate of 8 F-change to 12 F-change per minute until the temperature is approximately 30 F-change below the expected dropping point. The heat is reduced until the test tube temperature is at most 4 F-change less than the oil/block temperature. Once the temperature has stabilized the sample is inserted. The dropping point is the temperature recorded on the test tube thermometer, plus a correction factor for the oil/block temperature, when a drop of grease falls through the hole in the grease cup. If the drop trails a thread, the dropping temperature is the temperature at which the thread breaks. D-2265 explains that the dropping point is useful to assist in identifying the type of grease, and for establishing and maintaining benchmarks for quality control. It adds that the results are not sufficient to assess service performance because dropping point is a static test.

Other test procedures
Equivalent to D566 and D2265:
 * IP 132
 * ISO 2176:1995 Petroleum products—Lubricating grease—Determination of dropping point
 * DIN 51806

Other:
 * National Standard of People’s Republic of China GB/T 4929 “Test Methods for Dropping Point of Grease”
 * S 1448(P-52)
 * GOST 7134-73, Method B
 * JIS K2220:2003 Lubricating grease
 * DIN 51801 Dropping Point of Lubricating Grease

title: Dropping point


text:
Soyuz T-13

Soyuz T-13 was a Soyuz mission, transporting personnel to the Soviet space station Salyut 7. The eighth expedition to the orbital station, the mission launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome, atop a Soyuz-U2 carrier rocket, at 06:39:52 UTC on June 6, 1985. It is of note because it marked the first time a spacecraft had docked with a 'dead' space station, and the first time such a station had been returned to operational status following repairs.

Mission highlights
Soyuz T-13 was the 8th expedition to Salyut 7.

Vladimir Dzhanibekov, having previously flown to Salyut 7 on the Soyuz T-12 mission, returned on the next flight which was to become the first to dock manually with an inert space station, as the station had been crippled by a solar array problem. For this purpose modifications were made to the Soyuz spacecraft to include control levers for proximity operations. Viktor Savinykh's and Vladimir Dzhanibekov's mission was successful and they were able to salvage the Salyut 7 station. Savinykh remained aloft for 169 days, returning to Earth in Soyuz T-14; Dzhanibekov returned to Earth in Soyuz T-13 with Grechko after spending 110 days on Salyut 7. Before deorbiting, Soyuz T-13 spent about 30 hours conducting rendezvous and docking tests.

Salvaging Salyut 7
The effort to salvage Salyut 7 was, in the words of author David S. F. Portree, "one of the most impressive feats of in-space repairs in history". As the crew approached the inert station, they saw that its solar arrays were pointing randomly as it rolled slowly about its long axis. They used a handheld laser rangefinder to judge their distance, and conducted a fly-around inspection to be certain the exterior was intact. Dzhanibekov noted that the thermal blankets on the transfer compartment had turned a dull gray from prolonged exposure to sunlight.

Dzhanibekov piloted his ship to intercept the forward port of Salyut 7, matched the station's rotation and achieved soft dock with the station. Upon achieving hard dock—the first time a Soyuz had docked with an inert space station —the crew confirmed through the electrical connectors in the docking collars that the Salyut 7 electrical system was dead. They carefully sampled the air in the station before opening the hatch. The station air was very cold, but breathable. Frost covered the walls and apparatus. The cosmonauts wore winter garb, including fur-lined hats, as they entered the station.

The first order of business was to restore electric power. Two of the eight batteries were destroyed, the rest fully discharged. Dzhanibekov determined that a sensor in the solar array pointing system had failed, preventing the batteries from recharging. A telemetry radio problem prevented the TsUP (mission control center) from detecting the problem. Salyut 7 had quickly run down its batteries, shutting down all its systems and accounting for the break in radio contact. The cosmonauts set about recharging the batteries and used Soyuz T-13 to turn the station in order to point its solar arrays to the sun.

On June 10 they turned on the air heaters. The cosmonauts relied on the Soyuz T-13 air regeneration system until they could get the Salyut 7 system back in order. On June 13 the attitude control system was successfully reactivated. This was cause for jubilation, as it meant Kosmos 1669 (a Progress supply spacecraft) bearing replacement parts could dock with Salyut 7. The station's water tanks thawed by the end of June – freezing had destroyed the water heater, so the cosmonauts used a powerful television light to heat fluids. Wall heaters were turned on only after all the frost had evaporated, in order to prevent water from entering equipment. Normal atmospheric humidity was achieved only at the end of July, nearly two months after docking.

title: Soyuz T-13


text:
City of Palaces

City of Palaces may refer to:

Places

 * Agartala, Tripura India (Manikya dynasty) & their residences
 * Mysore, Karnataka, India
 * Kolkata, West Bengal, India, because of the British Raj buildings in the 19th century
 * Udaipur, Rajasthan, India
 * Mexico City, capital of Mexico
 * Bahawalpur, Punjab, Pakistan

Others

 * City of Palaces (ship), convict ship to Western Australia in 1857

title: City of Palaces


text:
Active valve control system

The active valve control system (AVCS) is an automobile variable valve timing technology used by Subaru. It varies the timing of the valves by using hydraulic oil pressure to rotate the camshaft, known as "phasing", in order to provide optimal valve timing for engine load conditions. The system is closed loop using the camshaft sensors, crankshaft sensors, air flow meter, throttle position as well as oxygen sensors and/or Air-Fuel ratio sensors in order to calculate engine load. The ECU is programmed to operate control valves that adjust the delivery of the hydraulic pressure in order to move the camshaft into the position that will provide the engine with the best performance while meeting emissions standards.

AVCS is used on the Version 7 and up EJ207 engines, the EJ204, EJ254, EJ255, EJ257, the second generation EZ30D (2005+ in the USA market) found in the Legacy Outback, Legacy 2.0R, 3.0R and the B9 Tribeca.

A dual AVCS system phases both the intake and exhaust camshafts on the EZ36 found in the 2008+ Tribeca, 2009+ Outback 3.6R, 2009+ Legacy 3.6R, and on the 2008+ STi EJ257 (W25 heads). Dual AVCS is present on the new FA20 engines in the 2015+ WRX, Forester and BRZ and the FB20 engines in the 2012+ Impreza / Crosstrek, though they actuate with a different method than those of the older engines. Dual AVCS is also found on Japanese-spec engines, notably the late model EJ207s in the WRX STI.

AVCS
The implementation of AVCS is quite different from AVLS. The latter just changes the cam profile that's operating the two valves.

In AVCS, the engine computer (ECU) can command a solenoid which advances or retards the camshaft rotation by up to 35 degrees.

By retarding the cams at idle or very low engine loads, you achieve a smoother, easier idle. From idle through medium engine loads, AVCS advances the intake valves to begin opening during the last part of the exhaust stroke, when the exhaust valves are still slightly open. Some of the pressure created during the exhaust stroke flows into the intake manifold, having the effect of exhaust gas recirculation (EGR). The intake valves also close earlier during the intake stroke. This helps with engine efficiency and fuel economy.

At very high engine loads, AVCS advances the intake valves further to open even sooner during the exhaust stroke. This produces a scavenging effect – that is, intake airflow helps clear the cylinder of exhaust gas. It also closes the intake valves sooner on the compression stroke. This results in improved volumetric efficiency, increased dynamic compression, and helps to generate higher power output.

title: Active valve control system


text:
Technical foul

In basketball, a technical foul (colloquially known as a "T" or a "tech") is any infraction of the rules penalized as a foul which does not involve physical contact during the course of play between opposing players on the court, or is a foul by a non-player. The most common technical foul is for unsportsmanlike conduct. Technical fouls can be assessed against players, bench personnel, the entire team (often called a bench technical), or even the crowd. These fouls, and their penalties, are more serious than a personal foul, but not necessarily as serious as a flagrant foul (an ejectable offense in leagues below the National Basketball Association (NBA), and potentially so in the NBA).

Technical fouls are handled slightly differently under international rules than under the rules used by the various competitions in the United States. First, illegal contact between players on the court is always a personal foul under international rules, whereas in the United States, such contact is, with some exceptions, a technical foul when the game clock is not running or when the ball is dead. Second, in FIBA play (except for the half-court 3x3 variant, in which individual personal foul counts are not kept), players foul out after five total fouls, technical and personal combined (since 2014, one technical can be included towards the total; committing another risks immediate ejection). The latter rule is similar to that in college, high school, and middle school basketball in the United States. However, in leagues that play 48-minute games such as the NBA, and in some leagues such as the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), players are allowed six personal fouls before being disqualified, and technical fouls assessed against them do not count toward this total. However, unsportsmanlike technicals in the (W)NBA carry a fine, its severity depending on the number of technicals the player has already obtained, and players are suspended for varying amounts of time after accumulating sixteen technicals in the regular season or seven in the playoffs.

In most American competitions, ejection of the offender, that of the player, coach, or otherwise, is the penalty for being assessed two technical fouls in a game, if charged directly to him/her (some technicals committed by a player are charged to the team only). In addition, any single flagrant technical foul, or a disqualifying foul in FIBA and NCAA women's play, incurs ejection. FIBA rules do not provide for ejection for any number of non-flagrant technicals (known as unsportsmanlike fouls under that body's rules; the term is also used in NCAA women's rules) against a player, except in 3x3, in which two unsportsmanlike fouls result in ejection. FIBA rules call for ejection when a coach draws two technicals, or a third is called on the bench.

Infractions

Many infractions can result in the calling of a technical foul. One of the most common is the use of profane language toward an official or another player. This can be called on either players who are currently active in the play of the game, or seated on a team's bench. It can also be assessed to a coach or another person associated with the team in an official capacity such as a trainer or an equipment manager. Additionally, coaches or players can be assessed a technical foul for disputing an official's call too vehemently, with or without the use of profanity. This verbal unsporting technical foul may be assessed regardless of whether the ball is dead or alive.

Other offenses can result in technical fouls, such as:
 * Allowing players to lock arms in order to restrict the movement of an opponent (usually a team technical)
 * Baiting or taunting an opponent
 * Disrespectfully addressing or contacting an official or gesturing in such a manner as to indicate resentment
 * Faking being fouled (flopping). In NCAA women's basketball, effective in 2023–24, the first offense is a warning, with subsequent offenses being technical fouls assessed as team personal fouls, but not as individual personal fouls.
 * Fighting or threatening to fight
 * Goaltending a free throw
 * Grasping either basket during pre-game or halftime warm-ups during the time of the officials' jurisdiction, including attempting to dunk or stuff a dead ball (whether successful or not) prior to or during the game or during any intermission of the game. Beginning in 2015–16, dunking is permitted during warmup periods in NCAA play, although hanging on the rim remains illegal.
 * Illegal substitution or entering the game at an impermissible time
 * Intentionally hanging on the basket at any time (except to prevent an injury)
 * Kicking or striking the basketball at any time using the foot (in an unsportsmanlike manner; unintentional kicking is a violation only)
 * Knowingly attempting a free throw or accepting a foul to which the player was not entitled
 * Lifting or jumping onto a teammate to gain a height advantage
 * Remaining out of bounds to gain an advantage
 * Removing the jersey or pants within the visual confines of the playing area
 * Shattering the backboard or rim of a goal.
 * Use of television monitoring or replay equipment, computers, or electronics such as megaphones for coaching purposes during the game
 * Using tobacco or smokeless tobacco

Violations of the rules for delaying the game (in the NBA, NCAA, and NFHS) usually incur a team warning for a first offense, followed by a team technical, or sometimes a player technical, if the same team delays a second time. From 2023–24, NCAA women's rules explicitly call for delay of game to be a team warning on the first offense and a team technical thereafter. This includes:
 * Going out of bounds during an opponent's throw-in without contact (warning, then a technical foul), or touching an opposing thrower-in (intentional foul on the violator in NFHS, and is the warning for being out-of-bounds) or the ball (a technical on the offender in NFHS, and is the warning for being out-of-bounds) as it is held entirely in out-of-bounds
 * In the (W)NBA, or since 2022, FIBA, during the last two minutes of any playing period (quarter or overtime), contact by a defensive player against a player throwing the basketball in before the ball is released is not considered delay of game. It is instead a special class of personal foul known as a "throw-in foul" (FIBA) or "away from the play foul" (W(NBA)), and is penalized by one free throw and possession.
 * Huddling at the foul line for an excessive time (warning, then a technical in NFHS)
 * Not being ready to start play after a time-out, or to begin a quarter or half, or to shoot a free throw(s) at such times (a special protocol, known as the "resumption-of-play procedure", is used in NFHS, where violations instead of technicals are initially called in some such situations)
 * Refusing to immediately pass the ball to the nearest official when a whistle blows
 * Failing as the free thrower to be in the free-throw semicircle when the official is ready to administer the free throw (unless the resumption-of-play procedure is in effect in NFHS, supra)
 * Throwing the ball into the stands or otherwise preventing a ball from being made live promptly after a made goal to allow one's team to set up on defense (if a blatantly unsportsmanlike act, a technical foul against the player; otherwise, a warning to that team and team technicals thereafter). This includes throwing the ball to an official when such act is not required—such would likely incur a warning. In addition, throwing the ball at an opponent's head may also be considered a technical foul.

and more technical issues, such as:
 * Beginning the game with a starting player not so designated
 * Failure to supply the scorer with names and numbers of team players prior to the start of the scheduled contest, or at least 10 minutes prior to the contest in some jurisdictions
 * Having too many players on the court, or too few (NBA; NCAA and NFHS if intentional)
 * If the coach leaves his box, especially to argue. There are times when a coach may go to the scorer's table to correct a game error.
 * Failing, as the coach, to replace a disqualified player within the allotted time (charged to the coach)
 * (NBA only) playing a "scratched" player (a rule adopted in 2005 where up to two "scratches" are permissible on a 14-man roster)
 * Refusing to occupy the proper bench
 * Remaining in or returning to the game after being disqualified
 * In the NBA, there must be five players on the court at all times. A Player Foul Penalty situation exists if a player is assessed a sixth or subsequent personal foul and must remain in the game because there are no eligible players on the bench, or if after an injury or ejection, the last player to be disqualified for his sixth personal foul must return to the game.  The penalty is a technical foul (with one free throw) for each extra personal foul or returning to the game after disqualification.
 * Requesting an excess time-out
 * Uniform violations, including illegal insignia or numbers; having 2 or more players with the same number; or having the wrong number for a player in the official scorebook

The NBA has an Illegal Defense rule. Until 2001, it was designed to stop defenders from dropping back into a zone and thus preventing drives to the basket. The penalty, after a warning, was a technical foul charged to the offending team and one shot for the offense, except that if the first violation occurred within 24 seconds of the end of a period, the technical was assessed without warning.

Beginning with the, the rule, now known as "Defensive Three Seconds," prohibits a defender from being in the shooting lane for three seconds, unless guarding an opponent within arm's reach (or the player with the ball, regardless of distance). The penalty is the same as it was for an illegal defense, except that no warning is issued. The WNBA implemented this rule in 2013.

Additionally, home teams can be assessed technical fouls resulting from their partisans' misconduct for excessive use of artificial noise, the playing of music by their band, or for dangerous offenses such as throwing items (particularly ice or coins) onto the court.

Usually a fight or lesser altercation between players results in a "double technical", in which a technical foul is issued to both players involved. If any player leaves the team bench during a fight, he can be charged with a technical foul and ejected, as can any coach that does so without the beckoning of an official. Rules against fighting vary from high school to college to the (W)NBA, but all levels penalize severely for such conduct, to include suspensions and (in the [W]NBA) heavy fines. NFHS and NCAA require the automatic ejection of bench personnel leaving the team area during a fight, whether or not these players actually participate in the fight.

Beginning with the, the NBA began to crack down on general complaining. Technical fouls can now be issued for the following:
 * Making aggressive gestures anywhere on the court
 * Disagreement in which a player demonstrates how he was fouled
 * Running toward an official to complain about a call
 * Excessive inquiries about a call

Penalty
In college basketball, NFHS, and lower divisions, the penalty for technical fouls has increased over the years. Initially, the opposing team was awarded one free throw. This later increased to one free throw and possession of the ball. For a while, "bench technicals" assessed on a non-active player, assistant coach, or anyone else on the team bench were considered more serious and resulted in the award of two shots. (Coaches have their own technical fouls, although they may be ejected and/or suspended if they have a mix of technicals totaling two or three fouls, depending on seriousness.)

Today, high school basketball (NFHS in the United States) provides for two free throws and possession of the ball at the division line opposite the scorer's table, regardless of circumstances, for a technical foul. International basketball provides a similar penalty. Before the 2015–16 season, college basketball awarded two shots for all technical fouls, with the ball then put in play at the point of interruption (POI), the spot and circumstances where play was stopped for the technical. Since 2015–16, the NCAA awards only one free throw for so-called "Class B" technicals, such as hanging on the rim or delay of game; "Class A" technical fouls still result in two free throws. In the (W)NBA, the penalty remains one free throw for the opposing team, with play resuming from the point of interruption. The shot clock is reset to 14 seconds if it read less than such at the time of the foul. The team awarded the foul shots for a technical may select the player(s) to shoot them (this rule differs slightly from level to level and internationally), as opposed to personal fouls, where the player fouled, unless injured, must shoot his own foul shots.

In the (W)NBA, technical fouls are split into two classes, unsportsmanlike and non-unsportsmanlike. A player assessed an unsportsmanlike technical foul is fined, and accumulating sixteen unsportsmanlike technical fouls during the regular season will result in a one-game suspension. For every two technical fouls received thereafter during that regular season, the player or coach's suspension increases by one game. Penalties for unsportsmanlike technical fouls are even higher for playoff games. Players and coaches will be fined for every unsportsmanlike technical foul they receive. Those who accumulate seven unsportsmanlike technical fouls will be suspended for one game. For every two unsportsmanlike technical fouls received thereafter, the player or coach's next suspension increases by one game.

Non-unsportsmanlike conduct technical fouls are defined per NBA Rule 12, Section V, Paragraph c, and none count towards a fine, ejection or suspension. These fouls are assessed for excessive time-outs, defensive three seconds, scratched player dressing and playing, a player foul penalty situation, shattering backboards, or delay of game. An offensive player who intentionally hangs on the backboard, unless it is legal for safety reasons, is fined $500 but is only assessed a non-unsportsmanlike conduct technical foul. Technical fouls assessed for a player foul penalty situation caused by an offensive foul still result in one free throw.

The league can reclassify an unsportsmanlike conduct technical foul as a non-unsportsmanlike conduct technical foul after a game following review. For example, the NBA changed the technical foul by DeMarcus Cousins for clearing Jeremy Lamb's loose shoe off the playing court in a Golden State Warriors v. Charlotte Hornets game on February 25, 2019, from unsportsmanlike to non-unsportsmanlike, rescinding the fine and the foul count, primarily over safety issues.

Notable instances
One of the most famous technical fouls ever assessed was called on Chris Webber of the University of Michigan late in the 1993 NCAA championship game. Down by two points to North Carolina with only seconds remaining, Webber called a time-out when Michigan had none left. The resulting excessive time-out technical foul, for which North Carolina guard Donald Williams made both foul shots, ended any hopes Michigan had of claiming the championship.

In what has been called the greatest game ever played, Game 5 of the 1976 NBA Finals between the Phoenix Suns and Boston Celtics, the Suns found themselves one point down with one second left in double overtime, no time-outs remaining and possession of the ball under their defensive basket after a John Havlicek bucket. Faced with the near-impossibility of sinking an 80-foot desperation shot, Suns guard Paul Westphal hit upon an unusual solution. He intentionally called a time-out the Suns did not have. While this gave the Celtics a free throw, which Jo Jo White successfully converted to increase the lead to two, it gave the Suns possession at halfcourt, and enabled Gar Heard to sink an 18-footer as time expired to force a third overtime. NBA rules were changed the following year to prevent a repeat occurrence.

An instance where many technical fouls could have been called, but were not (instead, the game was abandoned, a remedy available to the officials when too many players would have or have been disqualified or ejected for the game to continue, or when a team continually commits technical fouls in order to make a travesty of proceedings), was the Pacers–Pistons brawl involving players and spectators on November 19, 2004, in an NBA game between the Indiana Pacers and Detroit Pistons. Ron Artest of the Pacers and Ben Wallace of the Pistons began scuffling after Artest fouled Wallace hard. This escalated into a brawl where players from both teams became involved, and grew worse after Artest retreated to the scorer's table and was hit by a cup thrown by a spectator. Artest and several teammates and opponents then ran into the stands and fought with fans. Had technical fouls been formally assessed, the result would likely have been the ejection of both teams' entire squads (except for Pistons player Tayshaun Prince, who was the only player from either team to remain on the bench for the entire incident). In the end, nine players were suspended for a total of 146 games, including Artest for the remainder of the season.

In a 2007 game against the Dallas Mavericks, San Antonio Spurs' power forward Tim Duncan was charged a technical foul by referee Joe Crawford for laughing at him while sitting on the bench ("gesturing in such a manner as to indicate resentment," as indicated above). As he had already picked up a technical foul on the previous play, also while sitting on the bench, this led to his ejection. Upon further review it was determined that this technical foul was inconsistent with the league's game management, and NBA commissioner David Stern suspended Crawford for the rest of the season. Duncan was fined $25,000 for the incident.

On October 25, 2022, the Golden State Warriors and the Phoenix Suns set the record for most combined technical fouls in a quarter with 7 technicals in the 3rd quarter.

Rasheed Wallace holds the record for the most technical fouls received during one season in the NBA. In the 2000–01 season, he received 41 technical fouls in 80 regular season and postseason games played. Karl Malone holds the all-time mark for most technical fouls by a player in a career with 332, a record previously held by Dennis Rodman.

There have been a few instances in the NBA when a team's entire bench has either been injured or fouled out, and one of the five remaining eligible players fouls out, resulting in the technical foul that effectively acts as a bonus free throw situation. The Atlanta Hawks' Cliff Levingston (fouled out, but one of the five remaining players was ejected) and the Los Angeles Lakers' Robert Sacre (fouled out) have both taken advantage of the disqualified player rule. Under NBA Rule 3-I-a (player fouls out) and 3-I-b (player injured or ejected), the player was assessed with a technical foul for remaining in the game or returning to the game after fouling out.

title: Technical foul


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Lina Cavalieri

Natalina "Lina" Cavalieri (25 December 1874 – 7 February 1944) was an Italian operatic dramatic soprano, actress, and monologist.

Biography
Lina Cavalieri was born on Christmas Day at Viterbo, some 80 km north of Rome. She lost her parents at the age of fifteen and became a ward of the state, sent to live in a Roman Catholic orphanage. The vivacious young girl was unhappy under the strict discipline of the nuns, and at the first opportunity she ran away with a touring theatrical group.

At a young age, she made her way to Paris, France, where her appearance opened doors and she obtained work as a singer at one of the city's café-concerts. From there she performed at a variety of music halls and other such venues around Europe, while still working to develop her voice. She took voice lessons and made her opera debut in Lisbon, Portugal, in 1900 (as Nedda in Pagliacci). The Russian Prince Alexander Bariatinsky was deeply in love with Lina, and they had an open affair, but never became husband and wife as his parents and Tsar Nicholas II himself strongly opposed this marriage. In 1904, she sang at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo then in 1905, at the Sarah Bernhardt Theatre in Paris, Cavalieri starred opposite Enrico Caruso in the Umberto Giordano opera Fedora. From there, she and Caruso took the opera to New York City, debuting with it at the Metropolitan Opera on 5 December 1906.

Cavalieri remained with the Metropolitan Opera for the next two seasons, performing again with Caruso in 1907, in Puccini's Manon Lescaut. She became one of the most photographed stars of her time. Frequently referred to as the "world's most beautiful woman", she was part of the tightlacing tradition that saw women use corsetry to create an "hour-glass" figure.

During the 1909–10 season she sang with Oscar Hammerstein's Manhattan Opera Company. Her first marriage long over, she had a whirlwind romance with Robert Winthrop Chanler (1872–1930), a member of the Astor family and Dudley–Winthrop family. They married on 18 June 1910 but separated by the end of their honeymoon, and their divorce became final in June 1912.

After the divorce, Cavalieri returned to Europe where she became a much-loved star in pre-revolutionary St. Petersburg, Russia. Other operas in her repertoire included La bohème, La traviata, Faust, Manon, Andrea Chénier, Thaïs, Les contes d'Hoffmann (as the courtesan Giulietta), Rigoletto, Mefistofele (as both Margarita and Elena), Adriana Lecouvreur, Tosca, Hérodiade (as Salomé), Carmen (the title role), Siberia, and Zazà.

During her career, Cavalieri sang with other prominent singers, including Giuseppe Anselmi, Mary Garden (the world premiere of Massenet's Chérubin, 1905), Mattia Battistini, Titta Ruffo, Feodor Chaliapin, Nikolay Figner, Antonio Scotti, Vanni Marcoux, Giovanni Zenatello, Tito Schipa, and the French tenor Lucien Muratore, whom she married in 1913 after his divorce from soprano Marguerite Bériza. After retiring from the stage, Cavalieri ran a cosmetic salon in Paris. In 1914, on the eve of her fortieth birthday – her beauty still spectacular – she wrote an advice column on make-up for women in Femina magazine and published a book, My Secrets of Beauty. In her Parisian Institut de Beauté, she licensed Parfums Isabey Paris and not only sold Isabey perfumes, but developed in 1926 a range of beauty products. The same year, she launched her own perfume, called "Mona Lina", apparently inspired by Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa. In 1915, she returned to her native Italy to make motion pictures.

When that country became involved in World War I, she went to the United States, where she made four more silent films. The last three of her films were the product of her friend, the film director Edward José. Almost all of her films are considered lost.

After marrying her fourth husband, Paolo d'Arvanni, she returned to live with her husband in Italy. Well into her sixties when World War II began, she nevertheless worked as a volunteer nurse.

Cavalieri was killed on 7 February 1944 during an Allied bombing raid that destroyed her home in Florence near Poggio Imperiale, where she had been placed under police surveillance because of her foreign husband. Hearing an American bomber nearby, Cavalieri, her husband, and the servants ran to the air-raid shelter in the grounds, but Cavalieri and her husband were delayed because they were collecting her valuable jewellery from the house. Both Cavalieri and her husband were killed running to the air-raid shelter, while the servants inside the shelter all survived.

Legacy
Lina Cavalieri's discography is rather slim. In 1910, for Columbia, she recorded arias from La bohème, Tosca, Manon Lescaut, Carmen, Mefistofele, and Faust, as well as "Maria, Marì! (Ah! Marì! Ah! Marì!)." In 1913, also for Columbia, she recorded Italian songs. In 1918, for Pathé, the soprano recorded two songs, the aria from Hérodiade, and three duets with Muratore.

Her portrait was painted by the Italian artist Giovanni Boldini (acquired by Maurice de Rothschild) and by the Swiss-born American artist Adolfo Müller-Ury. The latter painting is now the property of the Metropolitan Opera, the gift of Nicholas Meredith Turner in memory of his wife, the soprano Jessica Dragonette. Hers is the inspiring beauty that appears in several works by Piero Fornasetti.

In 1955, Gina Lollobrigida portrayed Cavalieri in a movie of Cavalieri's life, Beautiful But Dangerous (also known as The World's Most Beautiful Woman). In 2004, a book was published, written by Paul Fryer and Olga Usova, titled Lina Cavalieri: The Life of Opera’s Greatest Beauty, 1874–1944.

Family
From her relationship to Alexandre Bariatinsky, Lina had one son, Alexandre Bariatinsky, Jr. He was serving in the Italian Army early in WW1 when she went to the authorities trying to find him.

Films

 * Manon Lescaut (1914)
 * Sposa nella morte (1915)
 * The Shadow of Her Past (1915)
 * The Rose of Granada (1916)
 * The Eternal Temptress (1917)
 * Love's Conquest (1918)
 * A Woman of Impulse (1918)
 * The Two Brides (1919)
 * The Crushed Idol (1920)
 * Mad Love (1920)

Iconography

 * Antonio de La Gandara – Portrait of Lina Cavalieri
 * Piero Fornasetti – 'Tema e Variazioni' series

title: Lina Cavalieri


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Rick Jones (television presenter)

Frederick Joseph Jones (7 February 1937 – 7 October 2021) was a Canadian-born television presenter and folk musician, best known for his work in BBC children's television programmes Play School (1964–1973) and Fingerbobs in 1972.

Life and career
Jones was born on 7 February 1937, in London, Ontario, Canada. His father was Frederick Jones, who served in the Canadian Army, and his mother was Agnes (née Hanson), who had both emigrated from Britain. He had an older sister who died in 2020 from COVID-19. A cousin whose parents had died also lived with them.

He moved to the UK at the age of 18 to study at the Webber Douglas School of Singing and Dramatic Art. He began his television career as one of the original co-presenters of Play School, a daily programme for pre-school-age children, in which he played guitar and sang. While Jones was appearing in Spoon River at the Royal Court Theatre in 1964, the programme's producer Joy Whitby invited him to join the cast. In 1972, he became the host of Fingerbobs, another show for younger children, in which he created characters from finger puppets made of paper. He also wrote and performed the English theme for the French TV series The Aeronauts.

He was one of several entertainers who took turns to present We Want To Sing, a musical variety series made by BBC Manchester, in which a young live audience was invited to sing along with songs performed by the host and various guests such as The New Seekers, The Settlers, and cabaret trio The New Faces. Other BBC TV programmes in which he appeared included Watch and Play Away.

His 1972 song Saskatchewan Sunrise reached #26 on the Canadian charts, May 20, 1972.

In 2012 Jones revealed the widespread use of marijuana on the show Play School after Johnny Ball, another presenter, alleged that Jones and Lionel Morton, were "stoned out of their minds" before filming in the 1970s. In an interview for The Sun Jones said that the BBC was "really liberal" at the time, explaining "Once you were in all laws were forgotten. I had a wonderful time... Marijuana was like cornflakes." Having been fired by the BBC, after a fan sent him two cannabis spliffs at the corporation's address, Jones subsequently had success as a musician (keyboards/vocals) fronting the British country rock band Meal Ticket. Songs featuring him included "Snow", "Last Port of Call", and "Laughing Daughter". The song "Better Believe it Babe" featured as the theme for the BBC television Play for Today episode The Flipside of Dominick Hide (1980) and its sequel Another Flip for Dominick (1982). After Meal Ticket broke up, Jones wrote and appeared in the musical Flash Fearless vs. The Zorg Women in Los Angeles. In 2001, he reunited with Meal Ticket for a one-off gig at a London pub.

Jones latterly lived in San Francisco, United States, with his wife, Valerie. In collaboration with Roger Penycate, he wrote a stage musical based on the songs and lyrics of Meal Ticket (originally written by Rick Jones and Dave Pierce) entitled Laughing Daughter. It had a three-week run at the Indian Head Center for the Arts, Southern Maryland, United States, from 3 September 2009.

Illness and death
He died from oesophageal cancer on 7 October 2021 at the age of 84, in San Francisco, California. He is survived by his wife and daughters.

title: Rick Jones (television presenter)


text: User talk:205.188.117.19

title: User talk:205.188.117.19


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Pathfinder Badge (United States)

The Pathfinder Badge is a military badge of the United States Army awarded to soldiers who complete the U.S. Army Sabalauski Air Assault School's Pathfinder Course or the Army National Guard, Warrior Training Center, Mobile Training Team's Pathfinder Course at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

To be awarded the Pathfinder Badge, the soldier must complete Pathfinder instruction in advanced land navigation, advanced scouting, tactical air traffic control in the field, and the control of parachute operations; the badge is awarded on completing several examinations under field training exercise (FTX) conditions. Examinations include proficiency in sling load rigging and execution, planning and execution of helicopter landing zones (HLZ), air traffic control operations, aerial delivery of troops and supplies, and several others.

The first Pathfinder Badge was designed by Lt. Prescott, a navigator in the 9th Troop Carrier Pathfinder Group (Provisional), in May 1944. Besides the paratroopers who earned it, the Pathfinder Badge was worn by IX Troop Carrier Command air crews who guided paratrooper transports and towed gliders. It was worn four inches above the left sleeve cuff on the service coat.

The current Pathfinder Badge, originally made of felt, was approved on 22 May 1964. The badge began being made of enameled metal on 11 October 1968. The badge's wings symbolize flight and airborne capabilities, while the torch represents leadership and guidance. The torch traces back to the Olympians who carried the torch each year of the event to its location. US Army Pathfinders traditionally were the first to arrive ahead of larger elements to scout and designate areas in which aviation assets could perform their operations during combat.

title: Pathfinder Badge (United States)


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Grace Murray Hopper Award

The Grace Murray Hopper Award (named for computer pioneer RADM Grace Hopper) has been awarded by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) since 1971. The award goes to a computer professional who makes a single, significant technical or service contribution at or before age 35.

Recipients

 * 1971 Donald Knuth
 * 1972 Paul H. Dirksen
 * 1972 Paul H. Cress
 * 1973 Lawrence M. Breed
 * 1973 Richard H. Lathwell
 * 1973 Roger Moore
 * 1974 George N. Baird
 * 1975 Allan L. Scherr
 * 1976 Edward H. Shortliffe
 * 1977 no award
 * 1978 Ray Kurzweil
 * 1979 Steve Wozniak
 * 1980 Robert M. Metcalfe
 * 1981 Daniel S. Bricklin
 * 1982 Brian K. Reid
 * 1983 no award
 * 1984 Daniel Henry Holmes Ingalls, Jr.
 * 1985 Cordell Green
 * 1986 William Nelson "Bill" Joy
 * 1987 John Ousterhout
 * 1988 Guy L. Steele Jr.
 * 1989 W. Daniel Hillis
 * 1990 Richard Stallman
 * 1991 Feng-hsiung Hsu
 * 1992 no award
 * 1993 Bjarne Stroustrup
 * 1994–1995 no award
 * 1996 Shafrira Goldwasser
 * 1997–1998 no award
 * 1999 Wen-mei Hwu
 * 2000 Lydia Kavraki
 * 2001 George Necula
 * 2002 Ramakrishnan Srikant
 * 2003 Stephen W. Keckler
 * 2004 Jennifer Rexford
 * 2005 Omer Reingold
 * 2006 Dan Klein
 * 2007 Vern Paxson
 * 2008 Dawson Engler
 * 2009 Tim Roughgarden
 * 2010 Craig Gentry
 * 2011 Luis von Ahn
 * 2012 Martin Casado and Dina Katabi
 * 2013 Pedro Felipe Felzenszwalb
 * 2014 Sylvia Ratnasamy
 * 2015 Brent Waters
 * 2016 Jeffrey Heer
 * 2017 Amanda Randles
 * 2018 Constantinos Daskalakis and Michael J. Freedman
 * 2019 Maria-Florina Balcan
 * 2020 Shyam Gollakota
 * 2021 Raluca Ada Popa
 * 2022 Mohammad Alizadeh
 * 2023 Prateek Mittal

title: Grace Murray Hopper Award