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PaRappa

PaRappa Rappa, or simply Parappa, is a fictional character created by Japanese musician Masaya Matsuura and American artist Rodney Greenblat. PaRappa first appears as the title character of the 1996 rhythm video game PaRappa the Rapper, developed by NanaOn-Sha for Sony Interactive Entertainment's PlayStation console.

Within the series, PaRappa is depicted as a paper-thin two-dimensional anthropomorphic dog with wholesome personality traits and is enthusiastic about rap music. Matsuura came up with the character's musical style and cut-out visual concept, whereas Greenblat is responsible for the character's final appearance and art style, which is similar to his prior children's books and CD-ROM projects.

After 1996's PaRappa the Rapper met with significant commercial success and critical acclaim, PaRappa was for a time considered to be a mascot for the fledging PlayStation brand in its native Japan. PaRappa's popularity spawned a media franchise that included the 1999 spin-off title Um Jammer Lammy, the 2001 sequel PaRappa the Rapper 2, and a number of media adaptations outside of video games. The character is generally well received by critics in retrospective assessments and is often cited as one of the most memorable video game characters associated with the PlayStation brand.

Development
PaRappa is presented as a square-headed dog with oversized eyes and black floppy ears sticking out from under an orange knit cap. He wears a blue sleeveless shirt, dark blue baggy pants, and red sneakers. PaRappa's co-creators are Masaya Matsuura, a musician and video game designer who founded the Japanese video game company NanaOn-Sha, and Rodney Greenblat, a graphic artist and illustrator who worked in children's books prior to his involvement in the video game industry. The name PaRappa originated as a word play meaning flat or paper thin in Japanese, which references the character's physical nature. PaRappa is voiced by hip hop artist Dred Foxx in all video game appearances, including the 2012 crossover fighting game PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale. In the Japan-exclusive anime, Miyu Irino was PaRappa's voice actor.

In an interview with Game Developer, Greenblat described Matsuura as PaRappa's "father", and himself as the character's "mother". During the early-to-mid 1990s, Greenblat was given numerous creative work opportunities by Sony Interactive Entertainment after he gained some recognition for his flair in creating cute characters that appeal to Japanese consumers. On one occasion, a Sony employee who was connected to the company's licensing group invited Greenblat to meet Matsuura's team, who were developing an experimental video game for the then-upcoming PlayStation console. At the time, Matsuura was aware of Greenblat's work from his past children's books and CD-ROM projects, and was already using placeholder characters from Greenblat's 1993 CD-ROM game Dazzeloids for the project. Greenblat noted that the team already knew they wanted to a rap music game, and they were looking for someone to handle its artistic side. Matsuura invited Greenblat to work on the project, a call and response game where different musical samples could be plugged in and played to a rhythm like a DJ box, and its characters would be animated to the rhythm.

Greenblat was commissioned by Sony to use some of his existing characters and to create a new protagonist. He described the process of character design to be collaborative by nature: he worked with both Matsuura and Gabin Ito, the project's writer, and would create sketches freely based on their suggestions or ideas for a specific character's personality. According to Greenblat, it takes a short time for him to produce character sketches by himself, but a lot more time for an entire team to decide by consensus. He recalled that character designs were sometimes accepted relatively quickly, while others may involve many attempts and revisions before it is finalized. For example, he only needed a fortnight to finalize PaRappa's design, whereas the lead character of the 1999 spin-off title Um Jammer Lammy took approximately half a year by comparison. In terms of characterization, the team wanted to pursue the concept of a player character who would consult with several mentors or instructors who would teach him how to do a rap; the teacher would say one thing, and the player character would repeat it. Greenblat was asked by Matsuura to design several variations of characters that can rap for the game's lead character, with Matsuura initially proposing an anthropomorphic shrimp as the lead character. Greenblat recalled that the team wanted a character who was "trustworthy, loyal, hardworking, romantic and a little insecure". He believed that a dog embody all of these requested traits, and decided to make several sketches of canine-themed rapper characters, and worked with the team to pick out the best design among the character's iterations.

Greenblat noted that prior to the release of PaRappa the Rapper, Sony did not yet have a strong mascot that would serve as the "face" of the company and for the PlayStation console. He believed that PaRappa's music, energy and cool factor made him "the perfect face" and that the character had the potential to be Sony's long term answer to Nintendo's Mario. With regards to PaRappa's short-lived prominence in the video game industry, Greenblat attributed the character's gradual loss of popularity to a series of decisions made by company executives which did not capitalize on the character's potential. He was frustrated with the creative direction of PaRappa the Rapper anime television series in particular: he was asked to work as the show's character designer, but was not allowed to write or be part of the show's production. Greenblat believed that the show undermined the character's appeal with the video game series' core audience, which were predominantly teenagers, as Sony wanted to pursue a marketing strategy that prioritized merchandising opportunities for young children. Greenblat noted that the show never caught on with its target audience, and that when it was cancelled by January 2002, all the involved companies decided to move on from the character and associated intellectual property altogether.

Matsuura told Engadget during a pre-Tokyo Game Show meeting in 2011 that the "possibility of remaking or rebuilding or making sequels" starring PaRappa has always been a topic of discussion. He believed that a handheld platform like the upcoming PlayStation Vita represented an incentive to revisit a video game featuring PaRappa with regards to both content and business issues. Matsuura explained that to only do handheld platforms could provide a better experience with regards to risk of latency compared to home consoles, but also a new business model could be attempted with regards to developing a new rhythm game starring PaRappa. Greenblat expressed a hope that Sony would realize PaRappa's "golden true potential" in the rhythm game genre, and that he would given further opportunities to design some new games. In 2013, Foxx led a social media campaign to persuade Sony into commissioning a new game in the rhythm action series.

Video games
The plot of 1996's PaRappa the Rapper follows PaRappa's attempts to impress his love interest, an anthropomorphic sunflower named Sunny Funny. Each of the game's stages opens with a cutscene establishing a humorous and upbeat scenario that PaRappa needs to resolve, such as learning karate from Chop Chop Master Onion in order to defend Sunny from local bullies, or learning how to drive so he could take Sunny on a trip to the beach. During each sequence, the players must tap a complex sequence of buttons to rhythmically synchronizes with the on-screen directions, while watching and listening to PaRappa's raps about his experiences and the repetition of his catchphrase, "I know...I gotta believe!"

A bonus mode was included in the 1999 spin-off title Um Jammer Lammy, which the entire game (excluding Stage 1) could be replayed with PaRappa as the protagonist, complete with his own versions of the game's stages.

PaRappa is the lead character of PaRappa the Rapper 2, which was released for the PlayStation 2 in 2001 in Japan and 2002 in North America and Europe. The sequel's plot revolve around noodles as a plot device, and features the fathers of both PaRappa and Sunny in an expanded role.

PaRappa appears as a playable character in PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, released for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita in November 2012. His quick and agile play style revolves around using his karate taught to him by Chop Chop Master Onion as well as moves inspired by his love of music and skateboarding.

PaRappa makes a cameo appearance in the PlayStation 5 launch title, 2020's Astro's Playroom, a celebration of the PlayStation brand.

In other media
In 2000, Greenblat released a standalone collection of comics called RodneyFun Comic Collection 1, which features PaRappa and several supporting characters dealing with relatable albeit eccentrically portrayed life problems. One of the storylines involve PaRappa trying to get a job to afford a new game.

PaRappa is the lead character of an eponymous 30-episode anime television series, produced by J.C. Staff and Production I.G. Directed by Hiroaki Sakurai, it aired in Japan between 14 April 2001 and 14 January 2002. The show was intended as a tie-in with the release of 2001's PaRappa the Rapper 2 and to increase merchandise sales, and marked the first instance that PaRappa was voiced in Japanese. The TV series marked the first appearance of PaRappa's sister Pinto and her pet Uee.

PaRappa appears as a supporting character in an anime series by Doga Kobo, titled PJ Berri no Mogu Mogu Munya Munya (PJベリーのもぐもぐむにゃむにゃ), which began airing in October 2016 as part of the #Hi Paul variety show, following a pilot episode which aired on 18 August 2016. It consists of a series of short segments featuring supporting character PJ Berri as its lead, which aired as part of Fuji TV’s Hi Poul programming block. It was announced to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the original PaRappa The Rapper as well as the anime’s 15th anniversary.

Promotion and merchandise
An arrangement album styled after PaRappa and PJ Berri titled PJ & Parappa – I Scream! was released to promote Um Jammer Lammy, which remixes many of the game's songs from stages and cutscenes to include full-length rap routines performed by Dred Foxx as PaRappa. Some of its tracks were performed by the game’s composers and performers for the launch party of Um Jammer Lammy at New York's The Roxy nightclub.

Sony published an interview with Rodney Greenblat on its website to promote the release of the PlayStation Portable (PSP) port of the original PaRappa The Rapper. It featured select questions provided by eu.playstation.com forum members, who were each promised a PaRappa plushie based on Greenblat's design as a reward. Sony also announced several PaRappa promotions throughout the summer of 2007 to promote the release of the first game's PSP port, including a limited edition t-shirt featuring PaRappa by Paul Frank Industries.

In a video uploaded to the Official PlayStation Europe YouTube channel which coincided with the launch of PaRappa the Rapper Remastered for PlayStation 4 in April 2017, several interviewees discuss PaRappa's cultural significance.

In 2021, Japanese skateboard brand WIND AND SEA launched a PaRappa the Rapper "capsule", a collection of clothing items like t-shirts, long sleeves, bucket hats, beanies, cushions, slippers, and keychains which feature the iconography of PaRappa as well as other series characters.

Reception
PaRappa has been featured in a number of "top" character lists by critics. In 2008 MTV named PaRappa the greatest video game canine character. GamesRadar staff ranked PaRappa number 87 in a 2012 list of the best heroes or protagonists in games. IGN ranked PaRappa 8th place in their 2019 list of the "Top 10 Dogs in Video Games".

Critics noted that PaRappa was created at the very moment in which Japanese hip-hop transitioned from a small subculture to a mainstream phenomenon. Noting the character's enthusiasm in spite of his goofy nature, J. C. Herz described PaRappa in an article for The New York Times in 1998 as the "Will Smith of video game characters". He observed that the character "manages to be hip by not being cool, a contrast to the sneering action heroes who have become parodies of themselves". In the 2017 publication 100 Greatest Video Game Characters, Ted Dickinson and Robert Mejia said PaRappa's design offers insight into the transnational uptake and circulation of both African American and Japanese cultures. Within the context of Japanese culture in the mid-1990s, PaRappa's exaggerated facial features and youthful appearance situate him as a product of its kawaii culture, the devotion to an aesthetic which "idolizes the presocial" as a form of escapism from the structures of society that affects the likelihood of one's success. PaRappa's kawaii presentation is also grounded in his unbridled optimism, and in his childlike interspecies love for Sunny Funny which is characterized as adorable and depoliticized. Dickinson and Mejia observed that PaRappa and his music is disconnected from the "historically oppositional politics" of African American music and is firmly on the side of the "party rap" scenes favored by Japanese record labels in the mid-1990s, which appropriates the hi-hop genre's commercial iconography. Nevertheless, they concluded that the transnational circulation of hip-hop has created a space of productive difference for Japanese youth, allowing them to think through the challenges unique to their various circumstances, and that in this instance PaRappa's character and music is a "good faith form of appropriation" which still offers significant cultural meaning to Japanese consumers of that time period.

PaRappa's appearance in PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale was met with a mixed response. Greenblat was not impressed to see the character portrayed in a weapon-filled battle game, although he was pleased that PaRappa appeared to be making a comeback with further video game appearances and he did consider Battle Royale to be a fun game. Ishaan Sahdev from Siliconera assessed PaRappa's play style as "brutal" and accessible in a similar fashion as Kratos from God of War, but is offset by his very limited range. Greg Miller from IGN had a good impression of playing with PaRappa, praising his "rad 2D-like" art style where he folds like a piece of paper to move as well as his arsenal of general uses, but felt he is held back by his "Level 3 Super" move. On the other hand, Jeff Marchiafava from Game Informer considered PaRappa to be among the game's worst characters and mocked him as being inept and out of place. Apollo Chungus from Hardcoregaming101 praised the reprisal of Dred Foxx as PaRappa and the character's overall presentation, but felt that the shading of his colors to fit in with the rest of the game ends up with a "gauche" look. He also criticized both his moveset and his campaign to be underwhelming.

In popular culture
Like Crash Bandicoot, whose debut game was released on the same day, PaRappa went on to become an iconic mascot character for the PlayStation brand due to the international commercial success of the first PaRappa the Rapper game. PaRappa has been referenced in popular culture, and as the subject of fan labor activities such as cosplay. A cast member of the webseries Mega64 appears as PaRappa in a 2008 episode. PaRappa appeared in three sketches in the Adult Swim television show Robot Chicken. In one of the segments of the show, PaRappa is picked over his competitor in a freestyle battle by 50 Cent, who appears as himself, and is signed to his G-Unit label.

title: PaRappa


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Claudia Pulchra (disambiguation)

Claudia Pulchra was the name of several women of Roman gens of Claudii during the 1st century BC and 1st century AD. The Latin pulchra (meaning 'beautiful') is the root of the English word pulchritude (meaning 'beauty').

Claudia Pulchra or Clodia Pulchra may refer to:
 * Claudia Pulchra (wife of Gracchus), daughter of Appius Claudius Pulcher (consul 143 BC)
 * Claudia Pulchra (wife of Philippus), daughter of Appius Claudius Pulcher (consul 143 BC)
 * Claudia Pulchra (wife of Lucullus), eldest daughter of Appius Claudius Pulcher (consul 79 BC)
 * Clodia Pulchra (wife of Metellus) (born Claudia, c. 95 or 94 BC), middle daughter of Appius Claudius Pulcher (consul 79 BC)
 * Claudia Pulchra Major (1st century BC), elder daughter of Appius Claudius Pulcher (consul 54 BC)
 * Claudia Pulchra Minor (1st century BC), younger daughter of Appius Claudius Pulcher (consul 54 BC)
 * Claudia Pulchra (wife of Augustus) (1st-century BC), daughter of Publius Clodius Pulcher
 * Claudia Pulchra (great-niece of Augustus) (14 BC-26), daughter of Claudia Marcella Minor
 * Clodia Pulchra (mother of Pupienus), mother of Roman emperor Pupienus

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

title: Claudia Pulchra (disambiguation)


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ReplayGain

ReplayGain is a proposed technical standard published by David Robinson in 2001 to measure and normalize the perceived loudness of audio in computer audio formats such as MP3 and Ogg Vorbis. It allows media players to normalize loudness for individual tracks or albums. This avoids the common problem of having to manually adjust volume levels between tracks when playing audio files from albums that have been mastered at different loudness levels.

Although this de facto standard is now formally known as ReplayGain, it was originally known as Replay Gain and is sometimes abbreviated RG.

ReplayGain is supported in a large number of media software and portable devices.

Operation
ReplayGain works by first performing a psychoacoustic analysis of an entire audio track or album to measure peak level and perceived loudness. Equal-loudness contours are used to compensate for frequency effects and statistical analysis is used to accommodate for effects related to time. The difference between the measured perceived loudness and the desired target loudness is calculated; this is considered the ideal replay gain value. Typically, the replay gain and peak level values are then stored as metadata in the audio file. ReplayGain-capable audio players use the replay gain metadata to automatically attenuate or amplify the signal on a per-track or per-album basis such that tracks or albums play at a similar loudness level. The peak level metadata can be used to prevent gain adjustments from inducing clipping in the playback device.

Metadata
The original ReplayGain proposal specified an 8-byte field in the header of any file. Most implementations now use tags for ReplayGain information. FLAC and Ogg Vorbis use the  Vorbis comment fields. MP3 files usually use ID3v2. Other formats such as AAC and WMA use their native tag formats with a specially formatted tag entry listing the track's replay gain and peak loudness.

ReplayGain utilities usually add metadata to the audio files without altering the original audio data. Alternatively, a tool can amplify or attenuate the data itself and save the result to another, gain-adjusted audio file; this is not perfectly reversible in most cases. Some lossy audio formats, such as MP3, are structured in a way that they encode the volume of each compressed frame in a stream, and tools such as MP3Gain take advantage of this for directly applying the gain adjustment to MP3 files, adding undo information so that the process is reversible.

Target loudness
The target loudness is specified as the loudness of a stereo pink noise signal played back at 89 dB sound pressure level or −14 dB relative to full scale. This is based on SMPTE recommendation RP 200:2002, which specifies a similar method for calibrating playback levels in movie theaters using a reference level 6 dB lower (83 dB SPL, −20 dBFS).

Track-gain and album-gain
ReplayGain analysis can be performed on individual tracks so that all tracks will be of equal volume on playback. Analysis can also be performed on a per-album basis. In album-gain analysis an additional peak-value and gain-value, which will be shared by the whole album, is calculated. Using the album-gain values during playback will preserve the volume differences among tracks on an album.

On playback, listeners may decide if they want all tracks to sound equally loud or if they want all albums to sound equally loud with different tracks having different loudness. In album-gain mode, when album-gain data is missing, players should use track-gain data instead.

Alternatives

 * Peak amplitude is not a reliable indicator of loudness, so consequently peak normalization does not offer reliable normalization of perceived loudness. RMS normalization is more accurate but does not take into account psychoacoustic aspects of loudness perception.
 * With dynamic range compression, volume may be altered on the fly on playback producing a variable-gain normalization, as opposed to the constant gain as rendered by ReplayGain. While dynamic range compression is beneficial in keeping volume constant, it changes the artistic intent of the recording.
 * Sound Check is a proprietary Apple Inc. technology similar in function to ReplayGain. It is available in iTunes and on the iPod.
 * Standard measurement algorithms for broadcast loudness monitoring applications have recently been developed by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU-R BS.1770) and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU R128). This new method has been used to measure loudness in newer ReplayGain utilities such as foobar2000 (since 1.1.6) and loudgain.

Streaming

 * Spotify

title: ReplayGain


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Ulleungdo

Ulleungdo, also spelled Ulreungdo, is a South Korean island 120 km east of the Korean Peninsula in the Sea of Japan, formerly known as Dagelet Island or Argonaut Island in Europe. Volcanic in origin, the rocky steep-sided island is the top of a large stratovolcano which rises from the seafloor, reaching a maximum elevation of 984 m at Seonginbong Peak. The island is 9.5 km in length and 10 km in width; it has an area of 72.86 km2. It has a population of 10,426 inhabitants.

The island makes up the main part of Ulleung County, North Gyeongsang Province, South Korea, and is a popular tourist destination. The main city of Ulleung-do is the port of Dodong, which serves as the main ferry port between Ulleung-do and the South Korean mainland. After tourism, the main economic activity is fishing, including its well-known harvest of squid, which can be seen drying in the sun in many places.

History
Archaeological evidence indicates that the island was first inhabited in the 1st millennium BC. The first confirmed historical reference to Ulleung-do is in the Samguk Sagi for the year 512. In that year, the Silla general Kim Isabu conquered the island, which had previously been the autonomous nation of Usan-guk. Some accounts relate that he used a number of wooden lions to intimidate the population, threatening to turn them loose unless they surrendered.

Usan-guk did not remain under the Silla rule, however, and the island did not become a permanent political part of Korea until 930, when it was annexed by Goryeo. Ulleungdo was attacked a number of times during the late Goryeo and early Joseon dynasties. It was devastated by Jurchen pirate raids in the 11th century, and by Wokou pirate raids in the 14th century. A clash with Japan over fishing rights in the 1690s was precipitated by the Korean fisherman An Yong-bok. In response to these difficulties, Joseon adopted an "empty-island" policy which however proved impossible to enforce. The empty-island policy was officially rescinded in 1881, after which the government sought to encourage additional settlement of Ulleungdo.

American whaleships cruised for right whales off the island between 1848 and 1892. Some went ashore nearby Jukdo to club pinnipeds.

Geography and climate
Ulleungdo is a volcanic island that rose from the seabed during the Cenozoic period, and consists of trachyte, andesite, and basalt. Hot spot volcanic activity by the General Isabu seamount, dissolved Simheungtaek seamount and Liancourt Rocks and Ulleung Island with An Yong-bok seamount was created as well. Liancourt Rocks is 4.6 million years ago estimated 2.5 million years ago, and the creation of Ulleungdo to us, 2.5 million years ago in 5,000 years ago.

The island consists primarily of trachyandesite rock. A major explosive eruption around 8000 BCE decapitated its top to form a caldera.

There is Seonginbong Peak in the center of the island. The Nari Basin is part of a caldera in the northern part of the island, and is the island's only flat surface.

Ulleung-do has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification Cfa), though it resembles the west coast of Japan much more than Korea, since in winter rainfall is heavy if less so than in such wet cities as Kanazawa or Akita. Sunshine is also very low in the winter if again not so markedly as in the previously-mentioned Japanese cities.
 * Highest Temperature: 35.4 C on August 8, 2013
 * Lowest Temperature: -13.6 C on February 26, 1981
 * Highest Daily Precipitation: 257.8 mm on September 3, 1981
 * Wettest Year: 2236.9 mm in 2003

Flora and fauna
The island and surrounding water were registered as a marine protected area to secure rich biodiversity in 2014.

As above mentioned, North Pacific right whales and pinnipeds were targeted by whalers and sealers in the adjacent waters. Fin whales were also commonly observed historically, and other cetaceans such as minke whales and dolphins may appear around the island.

Japanese sea lions, now extinct, once bred on the island.

A 2013 study estimated that 1,177 species of insects inhabit the island.

Tourism
Favorite activities for tourists are hiking, fishing, and eating hoe (a Korean raw fish dish). Sightseeing boats make regular three-hour circuits about Ulleung-do, departing from the harbor at Dodong and passing by all the points of interest along the coast, including many interesting rock formations and the small neighboring island of Jukdo. Other scenic sites are Seonginbong, the highest peak on the island (984 m); Bongnae waterfall; the "natural icehouse"; and a coastal cliff from which the Liancourt Rocks can be discerned in the distance.

An airport on the island was planned since 2013 and is under construction since 2020. The design of the new airport was revamped in 2023 for larger aircraft and is expected to open in 2025.

title: Ulleungdo


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Norton AntiVirus

Norton AntiVirus is an anti-virus or anti-malware software product founded by Peter Norton, developed and distributed by Symantec (now Gen Digital) since 1990 as part of its Norton family of computer security products. It uses signatures and heuristics to identify viruses. Other features included in it are e-mail spam filtering and phishing protection.

Symantec distributes the product as a download, a box copy, and as OEM software. Norton AntiVirus and Norton Internet Security, a related product, held a 25% US retail market share for security suites as of 2017. Competitors, in terms of market share in this study, include antivirus products from McAfee, Trend Micro, and Kaspersky Lab.

Norton AntiVirus runs on Microsoft Windows, Linux, and macOS. Windows 7 support was in development for versions 2006 through 2008. Version 2009 has Windows 7 supported update already. Versions 2010, 2011, and 2012 all natively support Windows 7, without needing an update. Version 12 is the only version fully compatible with Mac OS X Lion. With the 2015 series of products, Symantec made changes in its portfolio and briefly discontinued Norton AntiVirus. This action was later reversed with the introduction of Norton AntiVirus Basic.

Origins
In May 1989, Symantec launched Symantec Antivirus for the Macintosh (SAM). SAM 2.0, released March 1990, incorporated technology allowing users to easily update SAM to intercept and eliminate new viruses, including many that didn't exist at the time of the program's release.

In August 1990 Symantec acquired Peter Norton Computing from Peter Norton. Norton and his company developed various DOS utilities including the Norton Utilities, which did not include antivirus features. Symantec continued the development of acquired technologies. The technologies are marketed under the name of "Norton", with the tagline "from Symantec". Norton's crossed-arm pose, a registered U.S. trademark, was traditionally featured on Norton product packaging. However, his pose was later moved to the spine of the packaging, and eventually dropped altogether.

With the 1998 version 5.0 update, SAM was renamed Norton AntiVirus (NAV) for Macintosh.

Windows/DOS editions
By early 1991, U.S. computers were invaded by hundreds of foreign virus strains and corporate PC infection was becoming a serious problem. Symantec's Norton Group launched Norton AntiVirus 1.0 (NAV) for PC and compatible computers. Ads for the product, with suggested retail $129, featured Norton in his crossed-arm pose, wearing a pink shirt and surgical mask covering his nose and mouth.

Due to bug in the software, the original Norton Antivirus 1.0 does not repair infected files or boot sectors properly. This was fixed when version 1.5 was released in June 1991, along with the addition of the option of installing multiple scan levels of the Norton Antivirus Intercept (later renamed to Norton Antivirus Auto-Protect starting off with Norton Antivirus 3.0 released in September 1993.

Norton Antivirus 2.0 was released in December 1991, and introduced the feature of creating a rescue disk, which would include the partition table, CMOS settings memory information, and boot sector of a hard disk of an MS-DOS computer system. This is very handy in case a virus that its definitions do not detect, overwrite this information or move the boot sector to a different location of the hard disk.

Norton Antivirus 3.0, released in September 1993, introduced a unique feature. Unlike other antivirus software products for MS-DOS and early Windows, which will only notify you to turn off your computer, but continue anyway, Auto-Protect or the main program will scan for viruses in memory before loading themselves. If they find a virus loaded into memory, they will halt the entire computer so that you can't even perform a warm boot (Ctrl+Alt+Delete), So that you can turn off your computer from the power and turn it back on again with a clean, uninfected system disk. Most often, this can either be the rescue disk created, or the original MS-DOS system installation disk, followed by the Norton Antivirus program installation disks. This feature is the safest way to deal with any kind of virus in memory. Norton Antivirus 3.0 is also the first version for Windows 3.1.

Product activation was introduced in Norton AntiVirus 2004, addressing the estimated 3.6 million counterfeit Norton products sold. An alphanumeric code is generated to identify a computer's configuration, which ties in with the product key. Users are allowed to activate their product five times with the same product key. Spyware and adware detection and removal was introduced to the 2005 version, with the tagline "Antispyware Edition". The tagline was dropped in later releases. However, Norton AntiVirus 2009 Classic does not include spyware or adware detection. The Classic edition is marketed alongside Norton AntiVirus 2009, which does include spyware and adware detection.

Existing users of the 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009 versions can upgrade to the latest 2010 version without buying a new subscription. Upgrading will preserve the number of days left on a user's subscription.

Version 2006 (13.0)
The redesigned main graphical user interface aggregates information in a central user interface. CNET reports the Norton Protection Center, while useful, attempts to advertise additional products. To further facilitate detection of zero-day malware, Bloodhound disassembles a variety of programming languages, and scans code for malicious instructions using predefined algorithms. Internet Explorer homepage hijacking protection was introduced in this release as well; however notably missing is search engine hijacking protection. CNET highlighted Norton AntiVirus 2006's noticeable impact on system performance.

Operating system requirements call for Windows 2000 Service Pack 3 or Windows XP. 150 MB of free space and a 300 MHz processor is required under either operating system. 128 MB of RAM is required under Windows 2000, while 256 MB is required in Windows XP.

Version 2007 (14.0)
Norton AntiVirus 2007 was released on September 12, 2006. Symantec revised Norton AntiVirus with the goal of reducing high system resource utilization. Windows Vista compatibility was introduced in this release as well. Despite having about 80% of the code rewritten, CNET reports mixed results in performance testing.

Windows 2000 compatibility was dropped from this release. Compatibility with 32-bit versions of Windows Vista was added to this release with a patch from Symantec. Hardware requirements under Vista call for 150 MB free space, an 800 MHz processor and 512 MB RAM. Requirements under Windows XP similarly call for 150 MB free space, a 300 MHz processor, and 256 MB of RAM.

Version 2008 (15.0)
Norton AntiVirus 2008 was released on August 28, 2007. Emphasizing malware prevention, new features include SONAR, which looks for suspicious application behavior. This release adds real-time exploit protection, preventing attackers from leveraging common browser and application vulnerabilities.

When installed in 32-bit versions of Windows XP Service Pack 2, 300 MB of free space, a 300 MHz processor, and 256 MB of RAM is required. When installed in 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows Vista, 300 MB of free space, an 800 MHz processor, and 256 MB of RAM is needed.

Version 2009 (16.0)
Norton AntiVirus 2009 was released on September 8, 2008. Addressing performance issues, over 300 changes were made, with a "zero-impact" goal. Benchmarking conducted by Passmark Software PTY LTD highlights its 47-second install time, 32 second scan time, and 5 MB memory utilization. Symantec funded the benchmark test and provided some scripts used to benchmark each participating antivirus software.

The security status and settings are now displayed in a single main interface. A CPU usage monitor displays the total CPU utilization and Norton's CPU usage in the main interface. Other features include Norton Insight, a whitelisting technology which cuts scanning times by mapping known safe files using information from an online database. To address malware response times, updates are delivered every 5 to 15 minutes. However, such updates are not tested by Symantec, and may cause false positives, or incorrectly identify files as malicious. The exploit scanner found in the 2007 and 2008 versions was dropped from this release.

When installed in 32-bit versions of Windows XP Service Pack 2, 150 MB of free space, a 300 MHz processor, and 256 MB of RAM is required. When installed in 32-bit or 64-bit versions of Windows Vista, 150 MB of free space, an 800 MHz processor, and 512 MB of RAM is required.

Two variations on Norton AntiVirus 2009 are also marketed by Symantec. The Gaming edition provides finer control over when Norton downloads updates and allows components of the suite to be disabled either manually or automatically when the computer enters full-screen mode. The Classic edition cannot find or remove adware and spyware.

Version 2010 (17.0)
Version 17.0 was released on September 9, 2009. Several features have been updated in this release, including SONAR, now dubbed SONAR 2. It now uses more information to determine if an application is truly malicious. Norton Insight can present users with information about the origins, activities, and performance of applications along with reputation data. A new feature codenamed Autospy helps users understand what Norton did when malware was found. Previous releases removed threats on sight and quietly warned users, potentially confusing when users are deceived in downloading rogue security software. Much of this information is placed on the back of the main window; a toggle button switches between the sides. Symantec has also added Windows 7 support. Aside from that, Symantec has also added the Norton Download Insight to prevent drive by drive downloads.

Lack of 2015 version
Symantec briefly discontinued the standalone Norton AntiVirus product in 2015 instead replacing it with Norton Security.

FBI cooperation
The FBI confirmed the active development of Magic Lantern, a keylogger intended to obtain passwords to encrypted e-mail and other documents during criminal investigations. Magic Lantern was first reported in the media by Bob Sullivan of MSNBC on 20 November 2001 and by Ted Bridis of the Associated Press. The FBI intends to deploy Magic Lantern in the form of an e-mail attachment. When the attachment is opened, it installs a trojan horse on the suspect's computer, which is activated when the suspect uses PGP encryption, often used to increase the security of sent email messages. When activated, the trojan will log the PGP password, which allows the FBI to decrypt user communications. Symantec and other major antivirus vendors have whitelisted the Magic Lantern trojan, rendering their antivirus products, including Norton AntiVirus, incapable of detecting it. Concerns around this whitelisting include uncertainties about Magic Lantern's full surveillance potential and whether hackers could subvert it and redeploy it for purposes outside of law enforcement.

Graham Cluley, a technology consultant from Sophos, said "We have no way of knowing if it was written by the FBI, and even if we did, we wouldn't know whether it was being used by the FBI or if it had been commandeered by a third party". Another reaction came from Marc Maiffret, chief technology officer and co-founder of eEye Digital Security who states: "Our customers are paying us for a service, to protect them from all forms of malicious code. It is not up to us to do law enforcement's job for them so we do not, and will not, make any exceptions for law enforcement malware or other tools."

Proponents of Magic Lantern argue the technology would allow law enforcement to efficiently and quickly decrypt time-sensitive messages protected by encryption schemes. Implementing Magic Lantern does not require physical access to a suspect's computer, unlike Carnivore, a predecessor to Magic Lantern, since physical access to a computer would require a court order. FBI spokesman Paul Bresson, in response to a question about whether Magic Lantern also needed a court order to deploy, would only say "Like all technology projects or tools deployed by the FBI it would be used pursuant to the appropriate legal process."

Update disables legitimate software
On January 28, 2010 Symantec Anti-virus update marked Spotify as a Trojan Horse disabling the software across millions of PCs.

Product support
Retail customers report slow and indifferent service on bugs. Examples include a faulty error message stating current subscriptions had expired. Users received an error stating "Your virus protection cannot be updated." This error occurred after an update to the software and refused to allow daily updates. Though the bug was reported in 2004, it was not corrected for the 2005 or 2006 versions.

Another incident occurred in May 2007, when Norton AntiVirus flagged components of the Pegasus email client as malicious, rendering the program corrupted. Symantec customer service addressed the problem by running through a checklist of troubleshooting steps which were not always successful.

Faulty update
On July 25, 2006, Symantec released a faulty update for Norton AntiVirus 2006 users. Users reported an onscreen message stating "Norton AntiVirus 2006 does not support the repair feature. Please uninstall and reinstall.". Symantec claimed the faulty update was downloaded to customers between 1:00 PM and 7:00 PM on July 25, 2006. Symantec developed a workaround tool and has listed troubleshooting steps, available here. The company released a statement, stating they expected to deliver a repair patch to affected users by Monday, July 31, 2006."

Uninstallation
Norton AntiVirus has been criticized for refusing to uninstall completely, leaving unnecessary files behind. Another issue is versions prior to 2009 installed LiveUpdate, which updates Norton-branded software, separately. The user must uninstall both Norton AntiVirus and the LiveUpdate component manually. The LiveUpdate component is purposely left behind to update other Norton-branded products, if present. In response, Symantec developed the Norton Removal Tool (SymNRT) to remove leftover registry keys and values along with files and folders. However, neither route of uninstallation will remove subscription data, preserved to prevent users from installing multiple trial copies.

SymNRT can only remove these Norton programs: Once SymNRT has started the removal process, it cannot be stopped. It is recommended to close all running programs prior to running SymNRT. ACT! and WinFax users are recommended to back up their databases before running SymNRT.
 * Norton AntiSpam 2004 and 2005
 * Norton Antivirus 2003 through 2012
 * Norton Ghost 2003,9.0,10.0,12.0,1 A.O and 15.0
 * Norton GoBack 3.1 through 4.2
 * Norton Internet Security 2003 through 2012
 * Norton Password Manager
 * Norton Personal Firewall 2003 through 2006
 * Norton SystemWorks 2003 through 2009
 * Norton Confidential Online 2007
 * Norton Add-on Pack 1.0 – 4.0
 * Norton Save and Restore 1.0 through 2.0
 * Norton 360/Security Suite/Business Suite 1.0 – 5.0
 * Norton Safety Minder 1.0
 * Norton Safe Web 3.2

Incompatibilities with ZoneAlarm
Norton AntiVirus 2007 will not install alongside ZoneAlarm. This incompatibility has caused annoyance for Norton customers who purchased Norton AntiVirus 2007 with no prior warning or notice of the incompatibility. Symantec recommends removing ZoneAlarm, then reinstalling it with its Internet Worm Protection feature disabled, which controls what applications can access the Internet and which protocols they can use to do so.

PIFTS.exe
On March 9, 2009, some users of Norton AntiVirus 2006 and 2007 experienced a firewall warning stating a Norton-associated file, "PIFTS.exe", was trying to connect to the Internet. Although this file was revealed to be a harmless diagnostic patch, the program gained attention in the media when Symantec removed posts from their forum concerning PIFTS. With no information available about the purpose of the program there was speculation that the program was malware or a backdoor.

The SANS Internet Storm Center claimed to have spoken to a Symantec employee who has confirmed that "the program is theirs, part of the update process and not intended to do harm." Graham Cluley, a consultant from antivirus vendor Sophos found PIFTS connected to a Symantec server, forwarding product and computer information.

On March 10, Symantec made an official response to the PIFTS program, claiming posts in the support forum were deleted due to forum spam rules; however the deletion of PIFTS-related posts began before the spam attacks. Symantec stated PIFTS itself was a diagnostic patch. Cole stated the purpose of the update was to help determine how many customers would need to be migrated to Windows 7-compatible versions of Norton AntiVirus. PIFTS apparently was released without a digital signature to verify its identity, causing firewalls to prompt for permission when it attempted to connect to the Internet.

Consumer complaints
Symantec has been criticized by some consumers for perceived ethical violations, including allegations that support technicians would tell customers that their systems were infected and needed a technician to resolve it remotely for an extra fee, then refuse to refund when the customers alleged their systems had not actually been infected.

Macintosh edition
Norton AntiVirus 11 for Mac introduced support for Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard platform, with the capability to detect both Macintosh and Windows malware. Other features include a vulnerability scanner, which blocks attackers from leveraging software exploits. Norton AntiVirus 11 also includes the ability to scan within compressed or archived files, such as Time Capsule volumes. Operating requirements call for Mac OS X Tiger. A PowerPC or an Intel Core processor, 128 MB of RAM, and 100 MB of free hard disk space are also required. Norton AntiVirus Dual Protection for Mac is intended for Macintosh users with Windows running on their systems, using Boot Camp or virtualization software such as VMware Fusion. It provides a license for both Norton AntiVirus 11 with Norton AntiVirus 2009.

Comparison with other software
From the 2009 to 2012 editions, Symantec made huge changes to their products' speed and performance. Norton products now have only 2 running processes, using about 24 MB of RAM. As soon as a virus is recognized, information in regards to the virus (a virus signature) is stored in a pandemic definitions file, which contains the vital know-how to become aware of and get rid of the virus. According to tests sponsored by Symantec, PassMark Security Benchmark 2012 Norton AntiVirus and Norton Internet Security are the lightest suites available. Av-comparatives.org also tested these products and gave similar results. PCMag recognises 2011 and 2012 lines as the fastest and strongest in protection. PCWorld's tests of security software put Norton Internet Security 2009 in the 1st place. In 2011, in a test of PCWorld, Norton Internet Security was the winner. Dennis Technology Labs (in tests sponsored by Symantec) confirms the performance and effectiveness of Norton 2011 and 2012 lines.

Norton AntiVirus vs. GCSB Amendment Bill
On 14 August 2013 the Prime Minister of New Zealand John Key addressed what he identified as "misinformation" surrounding the GCSB Amendment Bill, claiming that the actions of the Government Communications Security Bureau were analogous to Norton AntiVirus.

title: Norton AntiVirus


text:
Ovillers-la-Boisselle

Ovillers-la-Boisselle is a commune in the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France.

Geography
The commune of Ovillers-la-Boisselle is situated 22 km northeast of Amiens and extends to the north and south of the D 929 Albert–Bapaume road.

The constituent village of Ovillers-la-Boisselle (commonly shortened to "Ovillers") lies on the north of the D 929 road, north-east of Aveluy and south-west of Pozières.

The constituent village of La Boisselle, which had 35 houses in 1914, lies across the D 929, to the south-west of Ovillers at the junction of the D 104 to Contalmaison.

History
The village of La Boisselle is a settlement dating back to pre-Roman times, and the D 929 Albert–Bapaume road follows the course of a Roman road. During the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871), the area suffered serious damage after the Battle of Bapaume.

In World War I, the area was the site of intense and sustained fighting between German and Allied forces. Between 1914 and 1916, the Western Front ran through the commune, and its villages were completely destroyed. In 1916, the commune was the site of particularly heavy fighting during the Battle of the Somme (see Ovillers-la-Boisselle in World War I). After the Armistice of 11 November 1918, the former inhabitants returned and gradually rebuilt most of the infrastructure as it had been before the war.

In 2011, British researchers around Peter Barton started the La Boisselle Project, a long-term archaeological, historical, technological and genealogical study with special focus on L'îlot de La Boisselle, a 3.12 hectare historic site on the south-western tip of La Boisselle which was known during World War I as L'îlot to the French, Granathof to the Germans and Glory Hole to the British. The site still holds mine craters as well as traces of trenches, shelters and tunnels related to underground warfare, but is private property and not open to the public.

Places of interest

 * Ovillers British Military Cemetery
 * The Gordon Dump Cemetery
 * Lochnagar Crater, one of the sites of the mines exploded on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.

title: Ovillers-la-Boisselle


text:
Moon Mullican

Aubrey Wilson Mullican (March 29, 1909 – January 1, 1967), known professionally as Moon Mullican and nicknamed "King of the Hillbilly Piano Players", was an American country and western singer, songwriter, and pianist. He was associated with the hillbilly boogie style which influenced rockabilly. Jerry Lee Lewis cited him as a major influence on his own singing and piano playing.

Mullican once stated, "We gotta play music that'll make them goddamn beer bottles bounce on the table".

Early life
Mullican was born to Oscar Luther Mullican (1876–1961) and his first wife, Virginia Jordan Mullican (1880–1915), near Corrigan, Polk County, Texas, United States. They were a farming family of Scottish, Irish and Eastern European ancestry. His Scots-Irish immigrant ancestor, James Mullikin, was born in Scotland, arriving in Maryland, United States in the 1630s from Northern Ireland. His paternal grandfather was Pvt. Wilson G. Mullican, who served in the 6th Mississippi Infantry Regiment, Confederate States Army, at the Battle of Shiloh. Mullican's parents, stepmother, and grandparents are all buried in Stryker Cemetery, Polk County, Texas.

Beginnings in music
As a child Mullican began playing the organ, which his religious father had purchased in order to better sing hymns at church. However, Moon made friends with Joe Jones, a black sharecropper on the family farm, who introduced him to the country blues. Moon's parents did not always approve, and he was torn between playing religious and secular music. After making his mark as a local piano player, Mullican left home at age 16, going to Houston, where he performed and sang in local clubs.

By the 1930s, Mullican had acquired his nickname "Moon". Although published sources suggest it is short for "moonshine" or possibly from his all-night performances; his family says it was because he loved to play "Shoot the Moon", a variation of the dominoes game "42". It is also highly likely the widely popular syndicated comic strip Moon Mullins, which debuted in 1923, played a role in the similar nickname and alliteration sticking to Mullican.

Early career
His earliest influences were popular blues artists of the day such as Bessie Smith, Blind Lemon Jefferson and Leroy Carr, together with country musicians including Jimmie Rodgers, and Bob Wills. In 1936, he covered Cab Calloway's "Georgia Pine" and also sang his own compositions "Ain't You Kinda Sorry" and "Swing Baby Swing" for Leon Selph's Western swing band, The Blue Ridge Playboys. He played and recorded with Cliff Bruner's Texas Wanderers, the Sunshine Boys, and Jimmie Davis. By the end of the 1930s, he had become a popular vocalist with a warm, deep, vocal delivery. Mullican frequently met up with another pianist, Black Boy Shine, when performing around Houston. Combining nicknames, for a short time in the 1930s, they performed as a duo called "Moonshine".

In the early 1940s, he returned to the Texas Wanderers as lead singer and pianist, sang on the hits "Truck Driver's Blues" and "I'll Keep On Loving You". However, after leaving the band in 1942, he became a session musician playing on the songs of Floyd Tillman, Ernest Tubb, and Red Foley.

The Showboys
In 1945, he put together his own band, The Showboys, who quickly became one of the most popular outfits in the Texas-Louisiana area with a mix of country music, Western swing, Cajun music, and Mullican's wild piano playing and singing. Although their style was highly eclectic and included country ballads, some of their music clearly foreshadowed what would later be called rock and roll. In September 1946, Mullican cut 16 recordings as band leader, for King Records in Cincinnati. His first release, "The Lonesome Hearted Blues" b/w "It's a Sin to Love You Like I Do" sold quite well, but did not chart. His second release, "New Jole Blon" in December 1946 (later recorded by Doug Kershaw), reached number 2 on the Country and Western chart, sold one million copies and was the beginning of a long string of hits. He became a member of the Grand Ole Opry in 1951.

Mullican was one of the highest-selling artists on King Records. Though not a major chart success, he was popular in the southeastern United States with records such as "The Leaves Mustn't Fall", "Hey Shah", "You Don't Have to Be a Baby to Cry", "Nine Tenths of the Tennessee River", and "I Was Sorta Wonderin'".

In the mid-1950s, many artists, such as Lefty Frizzell and George Jones experimented with rock and roll as its popularity began to gain ground on traditional country-and-western in the mid-1950s. Seeking some of that success, Mullican recorded four rock sides with Boyd Bennett and His Rockets, including "Seven Nights to Rock". However, both singles failed to chart. Before he signed to Coral in 1958, he had three other hits with King, including "Hey Shah".

Later career
In 1958, Mullican was signed by country music producer Owen Bradley to Decca Records' subsidiary label Coral Records, and recorded more rock songs including "Moon's Rock" and "Sweet Rockin' Music". Devastated by the failure of his rock sides, Owen Bradley convinced Mullican to record his original songs in the burgeoning new more lush style of country music, the Nashville sound. However, Bradley was frustrated with Mullican; he reportedly said himself, "There was nothing I could do with him." Mullican, whose style was largely in traditional honky tonk, found it difficult to make such a large adjustment to his style and was dropped from Coral in 1959.

In the early 1960s, Mullican was a largely forgotten figure nationally, but based himself in Texas and carried on performing, recording then for the Starday and Spar labels. The decade saw him record country songs such as "I'll Pour the Wine" and "Love Don't Have a Guarantee", together with less notable novelties including "I Ain't No Beatle, But I Wanna Hold Your Hand". One of his last records was "Love That Might Have Been".

Death
In spite of having a heart condition Mullican continued to perform regularly. On New Year's Eve 1966 he suffered a heart attack in Beaumont, Texas, and died early in the morning on January 1, 1967, aged 57. He is buried in Magnolia Cemetery, Beaumont, Texas, the epitaph on his tombstone reading "I'll Sail My Ship Alone", the name of one of his many hits.

His wife Eunice (d. 1973) survived him; the couple was childless.

Influence
During the late 1940s and early 1950s, Mullican influenced many other country artists. He had defined a style of country balladeering not hinted at in his 1930s work. This style of music influenced Jim Reeves (a band member for a while), Hank Williams (who named Mullican as a favorite artist), Hank Snow, Bill Haley, Elvis Presley, and especially Jerry Lee Lewis, who covered many of Mullican's songs. It was in the realm of hillbilly boogie, however, that Mullican had his greatest influence. Many of his songs, such as "Pipeliners Blues", "Hey! Mister Cotton-Picker" and "Cherokee Boogie" (his biggest hit, in 1951) foreshadowed a style adopted with widespread popularity by Haley and later rock and rollers. Mullican also influenced many others, including the Western swing band Asleep at the Wheel, which recorded his song "Cherokee Boogie" on their 1973 album Comin' Right At Ya, with several recording tribute CDs to mark Mullican's 100th birthday in 2009

Mullican is also believed to have co-written "Jambalaya," a song made famous by Hank Williams that could not be credited to Mullican because of his contract with King Records. Mullican's recording of the song was released in July 1952, the same month as Williams' version, but differs significantly in having a different order of verses and extra rhyming couplets.

Legacy
In 1976, Mullican was posthumously inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. There have been many posthumous compilations of his music, on various labels including Ace and Bear Family.

CD compilations

 * Moon's Rock (Bear Family, 1992)
 * Moonshine Jamboree (Ace, 1993)
 * The EP Collection (See For Miles, 2000)
 * Showboy Special: The Early King Sides (1946-1947) (Westside, 2000)
 * Moon's Tunes: The Chronological King Recordings, Vol. 2 (1947-1950) (Westside, 2002)
 * I'll Sail My Ship Alone (Proper, 2002) 2CD
 * Seven Nights To Rock (More King Classics 1950-1956) (Ace, 2004)
 * I Done It! The Uptempo Moon Mullican 1949-1958 (Jasmine, 2019)

title: Moon Mullican


text:
User:Ta bu shi da yu/Latham articles

Not much poison in columnists' venom]
 * Labor was rolled over Gold - The Courier Mail.
 * [http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/printpage/0,5942,11064080,00.html
 * Howard says he's in winning position - Sydney Morning Herald
 * Media Watch: ABC gossip
 * On the trail of a bucks' video
 * Media gets feral, then gets booed

title: User:Ta bu shi da yu/Latham articles


text: User talk:4.65.146.93

title: User talk:4.65.146.93


text:
Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys

Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys is an American rockabilly and Western swing band from California composed of Robert Williams, alias Big Sandy, Ashley Kingman, Frankie Hernandez and Russell Scott. The band is known for its eclectic style, which encompasses rockabilly, Western swing, folk, bluegrass, Cajun, mariachi, rock and roll, folk rock, swing and country.

Robert Williams grew up listening to jump blues records from his parents' collection, and subsequently performed with neo-rockabilly bands in southern California in the 1980s before forming the Fly-Rite Boys band as a trio in 1988. After recording two albums as Big Sandy & the Fly-Rite Trio, the band expanded its line-up and released its official debut studio album, Jumping from 6 to 6, in 1994. Swingin' West, the band's second album, was released the following year, and featured more prominent Western swing influences than the band's debut. After releasing a more eclectic sounding album, Feelin' Kinda Lucky, in 1997, the band went on hiatus, and released the instrumental album Big Sandy Presents the Fly-Rite Boys in 1998, followed by the Big Sandy solo album Dedicated to You, a cover album consisting of R&B and doo-wop songs, before the band reunited in 1999 to record the EP Radio Favorites.

Former members include Joe Perez, Jeff West, Bobby Trimble, TK Smith, Carl Leyland, Lee Jeffriess, and Wally Hersom. The band has been inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.

Robert William (aka Big Sandy) is the voice of Romeo McGrowl (originally named Liver Lips McGrowl in the original Country Bear show) at the re-vamped Country Bear Musical Jamboree at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom.

 * Studio albums
 * Jumping from 6 to 6 (Hightone Records, 1994)
 * Swingin' West (Hightone, 1995)
 * Feelin' Kinda Lucky (Hightone, 1997)
 * Night Tide (Hightone, 2000)
 * It's Time! (Yep Roc Records, 2003)
 * Turntable Matinee (Yep Roc, 2006)
 * What A Dream It's Been (Razor & Tie, 2013)

 * Other albums
 * Fly Right with Big Sandy & the Fly-Rite Trio (Dionysus, 1990)
 * On the Go (No Hit Records, 1993; re-released on Jeems Records, 2002)
 * Big Sandy Presents the Fly-Rite Boys (Hightone, 1998)
 * Dedicated to You (Big Sandy only; Hightone, 1998)
 * Radio Favorites (EP; Hightone, 1999)

title: Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys


text:
Cell death

Cell death is the event of a biological cell ceasing to carry out its functions. This may be the result of the natural process of old cells dying and being replaced by new ones, as in programmed cell death, or may result from factors such as diseases, localized injury, or the death of the organism of which the cells are part. Apoptosis or Type I cell-death, and autophagy or Type II cell-death are both forms of programmed cell death, while necrosis is a non-physiological process that occurs as a result of infection or injury.

The term "cell necrobiology" has been used to describe the life processes associated with morphological, biochemical, and molecular changes which predispose, precede, and accompany cell death, as well as the consequences and tissue response to cell death. The word is derived from the Greek νεκρό meaning "death", βìο meaning "life", and λόγος meaning "the study of". The term was initially coined to broadly define investigations of the changes that accompany cell death, detected and measured by multiparameter flow- and laser scanning- cytometry. It has been used to describe the real-time changes during cell death, detected by flow cytometry.

Programmed cell death
Programmed cell death (PCD) is cell death mediated by an intracellular program. PCD is carried out in a regulated process, which usually confers advantage during an organism's life-cycle. For example, the differentiation of fingers and toes in a developing human embryo occurs because cells between the fingers apoptose; the result is that the digits separate. PCD serves fundamental functions during both plant and metazoa (multicellular animals) tissue development.

Apoptosis
Apoptosis is the processor of programmed cell death (PCD) that may occur in multicellular organisms. Biochemical events lead to characteristic cell changes (morphology) and death. These changes include blebbing, cell shrinkage, nuclear fragmentation, chromatin condensation, and chromosomal DNA fragmentation. It is now thought that – in a developmental context – cells are induced to positively commit suicide whilst in a homeostatic context; the absence of certain survival factors may provide the impetus for suicide. There appears to be some variation in the morphology and indeed the biochemistry of these suicide pathways; some treading the path of "apoptosis", others following a more generalized pathway to deletion, but both usually being genetically and synthetically motivated. There is some evidence that certain symptoms of "apoptosis" such as endonuclease activation can be spuriously induced without engaging a genetic cascade, however, presumably true apoptosis and programmed cell death must be genetically mediated. It is also becoming clear that mitosis and apoptosis are toggled or linked in some way and that the balance achieved depends on signals received from appropriate growth or survival factors. Certain key proteins primarily employed in the repair of DNA damage can also induce apoptosis when DNA damage exceeds the cell’s repair capability. These dual role proteins protect against proliferation of unstable damaged cells that might lead to cancer.

Autophagy
Autophagy is cytoplasmic, characterized by the formation of large vacuoles that eat away organelles in a specific sequence prior to the destruction of the nucleus. Macroautophagy, often referred to as autophagy, is a catabolic process that results in the autophagosomic-lysosomal degradation of bulk cytoplasmic contents, abnormal protein aggregates, and excess or damaged organelles. Autophagy is generally activated by conditions of nutrient deprivation but has also been associated with physiological as well as pathological processes such as development, differentiation, neurodegenerative diseases, stress, infection and cancer.

Other variations of PCD
Other pathways of programmed cell death have been discovered. Called "non-apoptotic programmed cell-death" (or "caspase-independent programmed cell-death"), these alternative routes to death are as efficient as apoptosis and can function as either backup mechanisms or the main type of PCD.

Some such forms of programmed cell death are anoikis, almost identical to apoptosis except in its induction; cornification, a form of cell death exclusive to the eyes; excitotoxicity; ferroptosis, an iron-dependent form of cell death and Wallerian degeneration.

Plant cells undergo particular processes of PCD similar to autophagic cell death. However, some common features of PCD are highly conserved in both plants and metazoa.

Activation-induced cell death (AICD) is a programmed cell death caused by the interaction of Fas receptor (Fas, CD95)and Fas ligand (FasL, CD95 ligand). It occurs as a result of repeated stimulation of specific T-cell receptors (TCR) and it helps to maintain the periphery immune tolerance. Therefore, an alteration of the process may lead to autoimmune diseases. In the other words AICD is the negative regulator of activated T-lymphocytes.

Ischemic cell death, or oncosis, is a form of accidental, or passive cell death that is often considered a lethal injury. The process is characterized by mitochondrial swelling, cytoplasm vacuolization, and swelling of the nucleus and cytoplasm.

Mitotic catastrophe is an oncosuppressive mechanism that can lead to cell death that is due to premature or inappropriate entry of cells into mitosis. It is the most common mode of cell death in cancer cells exposed to ionizing radiation and many other anti-cancer treatments.

Immunogenic cell death or immunogenic apoptosis is a form of cell death caused by some cytostatic agents such as anthracyclines, oxaliplatin and bortezomib, or radiotherapy and photodynamic therapy (PDT).

Pyroptosis is a highly inflammatory form of programmed cell death that occurs most frequently upon infection with intracellular pathogens and is likely to form part of the antimicrobial response in myeloid cells.

PANoptosis is a unique inflammatory cell death pathway that integrates components from other cell death pathways. The totality of biological effects in PANoptosis cannot be individually accounted for by pyroptosis, apoptosis, or necroptosis alone. PANoptosis is regulated by multifaceted macromolecular complexes termed PANoptosomes.

Phagoptosis is cell death resulting from a live cell being phagocytosed (i.e. eaten) by another cell (usually a phagocyte), resulting in death and digestion of the engulfed cell. Phagoptosis can occur to cells that are pathogenic, cancerous, aged, damaged or excess to requirements.

Necrotic cell death
Necrosis is cell death where a cell has been badly damaged through external forces such as trauma or infection and occurs in several different forms. In necrosis, a cell undergoes swelling, followed by uncontrolled rupture of the cell membrane with cell contents being expelled. These cell contents often then go on to cause inflammation in nearby cells. A form of programmed necrosis, called necroptosis, has been recognized as an alternative form of programmed cell death. It is hypothesized that necroptosis can serve as a cell-death backup to apoptosis when the apoptosis signaling is blocked by endogenous or exogenous factors such as viruses or mutations. Necroptotic pathways are associated with death receptors such as the tumor necrosis factor receptor 1. Identification of cell death was previously classified based on morphology, but in recent years switched to molecular and genetic conditions.

title: Cell death


text:
Wikipedia talk:WikiProject World music/Phase 2

I think the goals for Phase 2 should be expanded, and will probably add to it over the next few days. If someone else would like to, please do so. Tuf-Kat 05:34, Oct 14, 2004 (UTC)

Irish-Americans
There is a significant body of music produced by Irish-Americans. There is no mention of Solas in Wikipedia. There is a brief mention of Ileen Ivers and Cherish The Ladies, but only by me. Does anyone else support such a category? If so, is it part of "Music of America" or "Music of Ireland", or out on its own? Or should we have a category such as "International Celtic"?
 * Irish American music is part of the Celtic music series. The link is to a section on Ireland in music of immigrant communities in the United States.  Add info about Irish-American music there, at least for now.  Once the section gets overly long, then create an article on Irish-American music. Tuf-Kat 08:59, Dec 16, 2004 (UTC)

Redo
Just a note: I'm going to redo these goals. Since no one else seems to be participating, I'm treating these as personal goals for now. By all means, let me know if you want to give some input and we can work together. Tuf-Kat 22:59, Dec 26, 2004 (UTC)
 * That's pretty ambitious for one guy, but I went ahead and created The Tannahill Weavers as my own contribution to the effort.--Craig Stuntz 17:16, 11 August 2005 (UTC)
 * I just created Frankie Kennedy. --Craig Stuntz 18:04, 10 January 2006 (UTC)

Davey/Davy Graham
His name is included twice, under different spellings. Ooops Browsing the web I see both spellings are frequent. His best known album uses the spelling "Davy" so I'd go with that. Leo Rowesome/ Leo Roswome is listed twice, the second is an anagram. Willie Clancy/Willy Clancy is listed twice. again both spelling are frequent, but I think Willie is the one most often used on albums. Hey Tuf-Kat you're not totally alone. I'm planning an Arish-American bit. Ogg 08:55, 7 Jan 2005 (UTC)
 * Great! I once found a really great web source on Irish-American music, but forgot to bookmark it, and now I can't find it anywhere...  Oh well, I suppose it will turn up eventually. Tuf-Kat 22:07, Jan 7, 2005 (UTC)
 * WRT spelling, by all means, go with the correct spelling if that can be determined. I recommend making liberal use of redirects as well.  If you're feeling plucky, I took all the links on this page more or less directly from the respective music of article, so any typos here could be fixed there as well. Tuf-Kat 22:08, Jan 7, 2005 (UTC)


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Versatile

Versatile was proposed for deletion. This page is an archive of the discussion about the proposed deletion. This page is no longer live. Further comments should be made on the article's talk page rather than here so that this page is preserved as an historic record. The result of the debate was

Versatile
Shouldn't be an encyclepedia article. Merge with internet dating. --Masterhomer 05:38, 14 Oct 2004 (UTC)

 * Widowed VfD. I doubt this can be more than a dicdef, and this is certianly not the most common meaning of the word. Has few link-to's, so I think we should delete it. Cool Hand Luke  03:25, 2 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete: Silly thing. Improper dictdef and pointless, given the existence of the list of gay slang. Geogre 16:57, 2 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete. Strange dicdef (no pun intended) --Improv 17:14, 2 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete. Dicdef. Andrewa 00:43, 8 Nov 2004 (UTC)

This page is now preserved as an archive of the debate and, like other '/delete' pages is no longer 'live'. Subsequent comments on the issue, the deletion or on the decision-making process should be placed on the relevant 'live' pages. Please do not edit this page.


text: File:Cherry Poppin' Daddies - Zoot Suit Riot.jpg


text:
DOSEMU

DOSEMU, stylized as dosemu, is a compatibility layer software package that enables DOS operating systems (e.g., MS-DOS, DR-DOS, FreeDOS) and application software to run atop Linux on x86-based PCs (IBM PC compatible computers).

Features
It uses a combination of hardware-assisted virtualization features and high-level emulation. It can thus achieve nearly native speed for 8086-compatible DOS operating systems and applications on x86 compatible processors, and for DOS Protected Mode Interface (DPMI) applications on x86 compatible processors as well as on x86-64 processors. DOSEMU includes an 8086 processor emulator for use with real-mode applications in x86-64 long mode.

DOSEMU is only available for x86 and x86-64 Linux systems (Linux 3.15 x86-64 systems cannot enter DPMI by default. This is fixed in 3.16).

DOSEMU is an option for people who need or want to continue to use legacy DOS software; in some cases virtualisation is good enough to drive external hardware such as device programmers connected to the parallel port. According to its manual, "dosemu" is a user-level program which uses certain special features of the Linux kernel and the 80386 processor to run DOS in a DOS box. The DOS box, relying on a combination of hardware and software, has these abilities:
 * Virtualize all input-output and processor control instructions
 * Supports the word size and addressing modes of the iAPX86 processor family's "real mode", while still running within the full protected mode environment
 * Trap all DOS and BIOS system calls and emulate such calls as needed for proper operation and good performance
 * Simulate a hardware environment over which DOS programs are accustomed to having control.
 * Provide DOS services through native Linux services; for example, dosemu can provide a virtual hard disk drive which is actually a Linux directory hierarchy.
 * API-level support for Packet driver, IPX, Berkeley sockets (dosnet).

title: DOSEMU


text: User talk:83.226.120.175

title: User talk:83.226.120.175


text:
Ashtarak

Ashtarak (Աշտարակ ) is a town in the Ashtarak Municipality of the Aragatsotn Province of Armenia, located on the left bank of Kasagh River along the gorge, 20 kms northwest of the capital Yerevan. It is the administrative centre of the province and an important crossroad of routes for the Yerevan–Gyumri–Vanadzor triangle.

The town plays a great role in the national economy as well as the cultural life of Armenia through several industrial enterprises and cultural institutions. It has developed as a satellite town of Yerevan. The nearby village of Mughni is part of the Ashtarak municipality.

As of the 2011 census, the population of the town was 18,834. However, as per the 2016 official estimate, the population of Ashtarak is 18,000.

The prelacy of the Diocese of Aragatsotn of the Armenian Apostolic Church is headquartered in Ashtarak.

Etymology
The name of "Ashtarak" is the Armenian word for tower or fortress. However, according to linguist Grigor Ghapantsyan, the name of Ashtarak is derived from Ishtar (Ashtar); the Assyrian and Babylonian goddess of fertility. Contrary, the latest historical researches proved that the name of Ishtar was never used in the Armenian mythology during the ancient times. Instead, the goddess of fertility was known as Shardi or Sardi in the ancient kingdom of Urartu, and later became known as Astghik among the Armenian monks.

Other linguists suggest that the name of Ashtarak is related either with the legendary figure in the Armenian history Shidar; the son of king Artavasdes I of Armenia, or with Sarduri II; the king of Urartu.

Early history and Middle Ages
The Bronze Age necropolises of Nerkin and Verin Naver are located just outside of modern Ashtarak. Archaeologist Hakob Y. Simonyan believes that they were constructed by an Indo-European culture, potentially early Armenians.

According to Movses Khorenatsi, Armanak, the son of the patriarch and founder of the Armenian nation Hayk, along with his clan, settled in the area of modern-day Aragatsotn.

Historically, the area of modern-day Ashtarak was part of the Aragatsotn canton of Ayrarat province of the ancient Kingdom of Armenia. The town is one of the oldest settlements in Armenia with many historical and cultural monuments that demonstrate the unique aspects of Armenian architecture.

In the history of the Armenian highland, Ashtarak was mentioned as a rural settlement for the first time during the 9th century. However, the importance of Ashtarak has declined during the following centuries under the rule of the foreign powers. Between the 11th and 15th centuries, the entire region of Aragatsotn along with the rest of the historic territories of Armenia suffered from the Seljuk, Mongol, Ag Qoyunlu and Kara Koyunlu invasions, respectively.

Modern history
At the beginning of the 16th century, Ahtarak became part of the Erivan Beglarbegi within the Safavid Persia. During the 17th century, the town was entirely rebuilt. During the first half of the 18th century, Ashtarak became part of the Erivan Khanate under the rule of the Afsharid dynasty and later under the Qajar dynasty of Persia. Ashtarak was the site of the Battle of Oshakan in August 1827, which resulted in a Persian victory, during the Russo-Persian War of 1826-1828. It remained under the Persian rule until 1827-1828, when Eastern Armenia was ceded to the Russian Empire as a result of the same Russo-Persian War of 1826–28 and the signing of the Treaty of Turkmenchay. After the fall of the Russian Empire in 1917, Ashtarak was included within the First Republic of Armenia declared on 28 May 1918. However, after 2 years of brief independence, Armenia became part of the Soviet Union in December 1920. From 1930 until 1995, Ashtarak was the centre of the Ashtarak raion. During that period, Ashtarak was granted the status of a town in 1963.

After the independence of Armenia in 1991, Ashtarak became the capital of the newly-formed Aragatsotn Province as a result of the territorial administration reform of 1995.

Geography
Ashtarak is located on the left bank of Kasagh River, 13 km to the northwest of the capital Yerevan, at an approximate height of 1110 meters above sea level.

The town occupies the central point between the Ararat plain from the south and the mountains of Aragats from the north. The area is rich with water resources. The fountains of Saghmosavan, Nazrevan and Shroshor are the main sources of drinking water for the town.

The town is divided into 4 districts: Old Ashtarak on the right bank of Kasagh river, Dzakhap (literally meaning left bank) on the left side of Kasagh, Gitavan and Bagavan. The village of Mughni -included within the municipality of Ashtarak- is located to the north of the town. The valley of Ashtarak commonly known as Ashtaraki dzor is a major destination for visitors from Yerevan and other nearby settlements.

Climate
Ashtarak has a hot-summer humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dsa). The city has a hot and dry weather in summers, especially in August and September, the driest months. Spring is the wettest time of the year. Hail is a rare event which can happen in warmer months.

Culture
Ashtarak has a cultural palace, 4 schools of art, and many public libraries, including the Aragatsotn regional library named after Vardges Petrosyan. The town is also home to the house-museum of novelist Perch Proshyan founded in 1948, located at the centre of town within the Proshyan family house. It was last restored in 2008. The 17th-century bridge of Ashtarak on Kasagh River is among the interesting sites of the town. It is located in the gorge just below the church of Saint Sarkis. It was built in 1664 by the efforts of Mahdesi Khoja Grigor; a wealthy merchant from Kanaker. The bridge features 3 arches that are unequal in size.

Churches of Spitakavor, Karmravor and Tsiranavor
According to a legend, 3 sisters lived in Ashtarak, all of whom fell in love with the same man, prince Sarkis. The elder 2 sisters decided to commit suicide in favour of the youngest one. One wearing an apricot-orange dress and the other wearing a red dress, they threw themselves into the Ashtarak gorge. When the youngest sister found out, she put on a white dress and also threw herself into the gorge. Sarkis then became a hermit and three small churches appeared at the edge of the gorge, named after the sisters' dress colours.

The best preserved one among the three churches is the Karmravor Church (meaning reddish for its dome colour), dating back to the 7th century, dedicated to the Holy Mother of God (Surp Astvatsatsin). It has a small cruciform central-plan, with a reddish/apricot colored dome, and an octagonal drum. Other churches include, Tsiranavor (meaning apricot-colored) dating back to the 5th century, and Spitakavor (meaning whitish) dating back to the 13th century, both are located along the edge of the gorge.

Saint Marianeh Church
The largest church of the town is the Saint Marianeh Church located at the center of Ashtarak. It was built in 1271 and has a rectangular plan from outside and a cruciform type plan from inside with an octagonal drum above. A belfry was added in 1838.

Saint Sarkis Church
The 19th-century church of Surp Sarkis built on an old foundation, is situated on an attractive point at a promontory overlooking the gorge and offers a fine view to the above-mentioned three churches. The external walls of the structure were almost completely restored recently while the interior walls remain the same. Some pieces of the outer walls remain sitting next to the church with carvings on them.

Ashtarak Walnut Festival
The Ashtarak Walnut Festival is taking place every year during the month of October to promote the fame of the delicious walnut of Ashtarak. It was first celebrated in 2012. The festival is organized by the French-Armenian owners of the local Pascal & Diodato café.

Transportation
Ashtarak is a satellite of Yerevan and connected with the capital through the Ashtarak highway. The M-1 Motorway connects Ashtarak with northwestern Armenia, including the city of Gyumri, while the M-3 Motorway connects the town with northeastern Armenia up to the Georgian border.

Taxi services are available in the town while public vans locally-known as marshrutka, operate regular trips between Ashtarak and Yerevan throughout the day.

Economy
Ashtarak is one of the major industrial centre of Aragatsotn Province. The industrial sector of the town is based on food-processing, dairy products and beverages, mainly processing the domestic raw materials and grapes.

Ashtarak is home to the "Ashtarak-Kat" company (founded in 1995), the leading ice-cream and dairy products manufacturer in Armenia. The town is also home to the "Gourmet Dourme" chocolate factory founded in 2007, the "P & D Group Armenia" for plastic containers founded in 2007, as well as the "Milen Art" plant and the "Kharam Cooperative" for building materials production.

With several restaurants and recreation areas, the valley of Kasagh river -locally known as Ashtaraki dzor- is a major destination for visitors from Yerevan and other areas.

Education
Ashtarak is home to 7 public education schools and 6 pre-school kindergartens. It is also home to the Ashtarak State Vocational School, which is an intermediate technical college.

2 major scientific research institutions of Armenia are based in Ashtarak:
 * Institute of Radiophysics and Electronics: founded in 1960 as the research and development branch of the Armenian National Academy of Sciences, in the fields of radio engineering, automatic control, theoretical physics, solid state physics, semiconductors and superconductivity.
 * Mikael Ter-Mikaelian Institute for Physical Research: founded in 1967 as the physical research organization of the National Academy of Sciences, involved in the fields of laser physics, material science and related areas.

Sport
FC Mika was founded in 1999 on the basis of the merger of 2 football clubs: Mika Ashtarak and Kasagh Ashtarak Under the merger, the name of the new club became Mika-Kasagh Ashtarak. However, the merger only lasted for 1 year; until 2000. Kasagh Ashtarak restored its original name, keeping their logo, history and statistics, while FC Mika settled for being a new club. In 2007, Mika was relocated from Ashtarak to Yerevan. The only stadium of the city is Kasaghi Marzik Stadium with a capacity of 3,500 spectators.

The sport school of Ashtarak is regulated by the Sevan sports public organization. The centre was entirely renovated and opened in July 2017, with an approximate cost of US$1 million. The school has around 350 young athletes specialized in Olympic wrestling, weightlifting, boxing, martial arts, volleyball, basketball, football and chess.

Ashtarak is also home to the "Ayrudzi" horse racing club.

Twin towns – Sister cities
Ashtarak is twinned with:
 * Blason Alfortville 94.svg Alfortville, France (since 1993).

Notable people

 * Nerses V Ashtaraketsi (1770–1857), Catholicos of all Armenians
 * Perch Proshyan (1837–1907), novelist
 * Smbat Shahaziz (1840–1908), poet
 * Norair Sisakian (1907–1966) Soviet Armenian biochemist and one of the founders of space biology
 * Gevorg Emin (1918–1998), poet
 * Emil Gabrielian (1931-2010), Armenian physician
 * Vardges Petrosyan (1932–1994), playwright and novelist
 * Vazgen Muradian (1921-2018), composer

title: Ashtarak


text:
Talk:Zither

Untitled
The Estonian Kannel links to a page about something to do with WAP. It's likely that this is not what is wanted. I assume that it's something vaguely like the finnish instrument, but I have no real clue, or I'd write something myself.

This article has no mention of how the zither is played or tuned, or what it sounds like. To someone unfamiliar with the instrument (like me) we're given no information beyond historical background.

Some possible background
The following was a "note" left in by a non-registered poster in the main article - I have not verified the validity or reliability of the information, but am posting it here in case someone can do that.

ˈDear Sir. I have two remarks about the citera.1. All kinds of citera are coming from Iran, Irak and the east of Turkey. Even the 'cimbalom, kanteke or dulcimer, the all com from there. Later the form changed a bit in the different countries and got an other name, like humel or langlijk. The first citera was only a string over a plan followed by more stings. After that the plank was changed by a box to have more resonance. 2. The hungarian page gives a better idea about the basic form of the citera. The English and the Dutch page gives mainly information about the concert zither. The both are from the same category or family and it would be more complete to inform about both. Jan ten Hove, citera teacher and painter. 84.2.98.242 (talk) 12:00, 22 November 2010 (UTC)tenhove@t-online.hu ---I am Dutch living in Hungary.

—Preceding unsigned comment added by Cae prince (talk • contribs)

Yangqin
Isn't the Yangqin a dulcimer rather than a zither?

--CharlieHuang 12:48, 23 December 2005 (UTC)

Reformatting
Shouldn't some content from the intro be moved into the actual article?

Playing
How does one play the zither?

You pluck the strings. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.20.126.64 (talk) 00:50, 10 June 2008 (UTC) I can't see how to start a new section in the main article. To play the zither, you put a thumb ring (like a guitar fingerpick) on the right thumb. You use your right thumb to pick out the melody on the five fretboard strings, which are stopped by the left hand like a guitar. Meanwhile, you use the remaining fingers of the right hand to play accompanying chords on the open strings. Typically, these are grouped as follows: the first twelve strings after the fretboard are accompanying strings, then the next twelve are bass strings. All these are tuned according to the circle of fifths. After that, there may be some contrabass strings tuned chromatically. As few as two or three, or as many as thirteen, depending on the type of zither. The zither is always played while lying flat on a table, which acts as a resonator to amplify the sound.Pavel (talk) 00:23, 3 January 2012 (UTC)

Jadagan
The cultural information related to the Khakass people contained in this section, while very interesting, is not directly related to the instrument and should be moved to an article about Khakass culture. Having a hyperlink in this section, however, to the related cultural information would be desireable.

146.142.69.212 (talk) 15:10, 30 September 2008 (UTC)

Looks like there's an article, under the (preferred?) spelling "Khakas." I'll link that as a stopgap, but leave the merging to someone with more of a clue. --207.178.110.185 (talk) 03:34, 15 October 2008 (UTC)

Zither main Stream Exposure
No discussion of the Zither can be complete without mention of the score for the movie The Third Man and its hitting the pop charts as " the Third Man Theme. All of the Zither music in the movie and the rcord was by Anton Karas.

Joel I. Beeler — Preceding unsigned comment added by JBeeler125 (talk • contribs) 01:16, 24 October 2012 (UTC)

History and development
The first line currently states "The term zither is mentioned in Daniel during the Jewish exile of 606 BC". Daniel purports to have been written at this early date but biblical critics counter that the book was written during the reign of Antiochus IV during the 2nd century B.C. as propaganda to incite the Maccabean revolt. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.237.40.42 (talk) 21:02, 19 January 2013 (UTC)

Ambiguity
The article notes that the term "zither" can refer both to a class/family of instruments, and also to certain specific members of that class. It is then asserted that this article will be about the second of these uses. All this seems reasonable.

It is a bit jarring, therefore, to suddenly encounter passages about the guqin and the koto. These seem out of place here, and more properly placed in a article about the first use of "zither" -- as the name of a family of instruments (both instruments also have separate Wiki articles).

I moved the koto information to what seems to me a more logical place, but it still jumps out at me as not really belonging in this article. I didn't want to just delete it without discussion, so it's still there, but I would suggest that a "See Also" link to koto should be sufficient. How the koto is played isn't really relevent to how the concert and alpine zithers are played.

Also, I changed one thing in the koto information: the bridges are not moved "while playing". There are located before playing, and remain in place throughout any performance. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.95.43.249 (talk) 22:47, 31 October 2014 (UTC)

Cleaned up ambiguity
I beefed the article up, particularly the "history" section; added a bunch of references; put some items in the empty bibliography; added some notes on contemporary use; added a list of notable players. In the process I fixed the logical flow of some sections, made the "history" a bit more chronological and specific. Finally, based on the assumption that this article is supposed to be primarily about the instrument known as the "zither", and not the zither family at large, I removed irrelevant detail about kotos, autoharps, etc., leaving it in only where it filled an information gap in the history or usage of the instrument "the zither".

Hope it's been an improvement. Have at it. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.95.43.249 (talk) 01:40, 24 January 2015 (UTC)

Sound Clip
Can someone please reformat the sample sound clip into a standard audio format like .WAV or .MP3? Virtually every modern computer supports both of these formats; I've yet to encounter any system that supports "OGG". Thanks. 67.206.183.236 (talk) 07:00, 14 August 2015 (UTC)
 * Hi . wav, ogg (and .ogv, .oga, .ogx, .ogm), and flac for royalty reasons are the only three audio file types that Wikimedia supports. Cheers!  08:54, 17 February 2016 (UTC)
 * Cool. Since you mention WAV as one of the supported formats, how about reformatting the "OGG" clip into a WAV file?  Thanks.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.89.176.249 (talk) 23:27, 19 March 2019 (UTC)

Is it possible to add information on what type of zither is audible in the clip? We are describing so many subtypes in the article and it would be cool to particularize this. I don't know what zither it is, but I find the piano-like sound quite interesting

External links modified
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History of the zither
This section needs a better flow. It mentions Chinese, Japanese and Indonesian zither-like instruments, and then suddenly jumps to 19th century Europe. But did the zither come from China? Or did it originate in Europe and spread to China? Or did it originate somewhere else, and spread to both, creating distinct traditions? Probably the last one is correct, but this needs to be explicit. The reason I noticed is because I was reading about the Norwegian zither Langeleik, which has existed since at least the 16th century - what kind of tradition does this instrument come from? Surely it only has very distant connections to the Japanese Koto?

Ornilnas (talk) 20:05, 6 July 2016 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 1 one external link on Zither. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive http://web.archive.org/web/20110612052901/http://www.zitherbau-wuensche.de:80/zitherhistorie.htm to http://www.zitherbau-wuensche.de/zitherhistorie.htm

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text: Category:Extremophiles

title: Category:Extremophiles