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Danny Collins (footballer)

Daniel Lewis Collins (born 6 August 1980) is a former professional footballer who played as a centre back.

Collins started his career in the Welsh leagues with Mold Alexandra and Buckley Town before joining Chester City in 1996. His first two seasons at Chester saw him make 20 appearances; during the 2002–03 season he went on loan to non-league side Vauxhall Motors. Following his return to Chester, Collins became a regular in the side and produced some fine performances which attracted the attention of Sunderland who bought him for £140,000. Collins spent five years in the North East making over 150 appearances and earning two promotions to the Premier League during that time. In August 2009 Collins joined Stoke City for £2.75 million and played at left back for the "Potters". After losing his place in the squad he joined Ipswich Town on loan in September 2011 and then West Ham United in March 2012. He signed for Nottingham Forest in July 2012 before having a short stint with Rotherham United from 2015 to 2016. His final club were Grimsby Town where he spent three seasons and became club captain rounding of his spell with the club by making 106 league appearances. He announced his retirement in December 2019 having been released by Grimsby the previous summer.

He has also been capped for England C on six occasions before being called up to the Welsh national side.

Early career
He began his career in the Cymru Alliance with local sides Mold Alexandra and Buckley Town. After having trials with Wrexham and Tranmere Rovers, he signed for Chester City in December 2001, who were playing in the Conference. Before turning professional, Collins played cricket for Wales Minor Counties during the football close season. In the 1999 season, he played two matches, taking two wickets at an average of 37.50 and scoring 14 runs at an average of 7.00.

Chester City
Collins made his debut for Chester in a 3–1 defeat against Northwich Victoria on boxing day 2001. In just under three years he made over 70 appearances for Chester. It was after a successful spell on loan at Vauxhall Motors that his career started to take off, having been converted from an unconvincing forward into a composed central defender. His time at Vauxhalls included helping them surprisingly knock Queens Park Rangers out of the FA Cup in November 2002. The following season saw Collins miss just one game as Chester won the Football Conference title and returned to the Football League after a four-year absence. Although Chester had a mixed start to the 2004–05 season, Collins continued to impress and a stoppage time goal against Macclesfield Town gave Chester their first win of the season on 4 September 2004.

Sunderland
A month later he joined Sunderland for £140,000 amid interest from other clubs including Sheffield United whose manager Neil Warnock hit out at the way Chester handled his transfer to Sunderland. He ended the 2004–05 season with another championship medal and full Welsh caps to his name, he was initially used as a backup player to defenders Gary Breen, Steven Caldwell and George McCartney, in his first season at the club, but still managed to make 14 appearances. Following promotion to the Premier League for the 2005–06 season, Sunderland signed several additional players and Collins found himself out of the first team squad early in the season. He later worked his way into the side but Sunderland endured a nightmare campaign and were comfortably relegated amassing just 15 points.

Collins started the 2006–07 season as first choice defender at Sunderland, but was dropped four games into the season after being booed by a section of the crowd following a mistake in the previous game against Plymouth Argyle. Collins later regained his place following the arrival of manager Roy Keane and won another championship medal come the end of the season. On 15 December Collins scored a late last minute goal against Aston Villa which would have led to the Black Cats victory but referee Steve Bennett denied the goal for a foul on Scott Carson, the foul was not apparent and the goal should have stood. Manager Roy Keane was very angry at the decision and said that Bennett had cheated Sunderland and went as far as to say "the players deserve better."

On 5 April 2008, Collins scored Sunderland's first goal in their 3–1 over Fulham at Craven Cottage despite again having a goal disallowed earlier in the game. He went on to firmly establish himself as a first team regular at Sunderland, starting 32 games in the 2007–08 season. On 30 January 2009, Collins was rewarded with a new two-and-a-half-year contract by Sunderland, keeping him at the club until at least the end of the 2010–11 season. He won the Fans' Player of the Year award in 2008 and 2009.

Stoke City
On 29 August it was reported that Sunderland had accepted a bid from Stoke City for Collins (despite this, he was an unused substitute when the two sides played each other the next day) As expected, he signed for Stoke on 1 September for £2.75 million rising to £3.5 million. Collins made his Stoke debut in a 2–1 defeat at home to Chelsea in the following match against Bolton Wanderers Stoke were leading up until the 88th minute when Collins fouled Sam Ricketts in the penalty area costing Stoke three points. Collins struggled to establish himself at left back during the 2009–10 season often rotating with Danny Higginbotham.

Collins begun the 2010–11 season in good form and has stated that he needs to keep performing well if he is to hold his left back position."There is a lot of competition here now in every area on the pitch, so the lads who are playing at the moment, like myself, know we have to keep performing. If we don't then there are options there for the manager to change things" However, he again struggled and was dropped back to the bench with Higginbotham and Marc Wilson being preferred at left back.

Collins was left out Stoke's 25-man Premier League squad by manager Tony Pulis for the 2011–12 season. Collins joined Ipswich Town on a three-month loan deal from Stoke City on 9 September 2011. He played in 16 Championship matches for Ipswich scoring three goals before returning to Stoke. Collins stated that he expected to leave Stoke in the 2012 January transfer window. He did not secure a transfer away from Stoke and made a rare appearance in the fifth round of the FA Cup away at Crawley Town. He also played against Valencia in the UEFA Europa League at the Estadio Mestalla.

On 9 March 2012, Collins joined West Ham United on loan until the end of the 2011–12 season. He made his debut on 10 March in a 1–1 home draw against Doncaster Rovers coming on as an 80th minute substitute for Kevin Nolan. On 17 March Collins scored on his full debut for the "Hammers" in a 1–1 draw against Leeds United.

Nottingham Forest
Collins joined Football League Championship side Nottingham Forest on 25 July 2012 for an undisclosed fee. He was appointed club captain by manager Sean O'Driscoll. He made his debut for Forest in a 1–0 win against Fleetwood Town in the League Cup on 13 August 2012. Collins played 43 times for Forest during the 2012–13 season which saw them miss out on the play-offs on the final day of the season as they lost 3–2 to rivals Leicester City. The following season, he was succeeded as captain by Chris Cohen.

Rotherham United
On 3 July 2015 Collins joined Rotherham United on a free transfer. He scored his first goal for Rotherham in the second game of the season, scoring the opening goal in a 2–1 defeat to former club Nottingham Forest.

Grimsby Town
Having been a free agent for over a month, Collins was snapped up by League Two side Grimsby Town on 12 September 2016 on a 6-month contract. He made his full debut with Grimsby on 24 September 2016, in their 1–0 win at Mansfield Town. He scored his first goal for the club on 19 November 2016 from a corner, he placed a header from close range to take the lead in their 3–0 victory at Plymouth Argyle. Having been ever-present under Paul Hurst and new manager Marcus Bignot, Collins agreed to extend his contract until the end of the season.

Collins agreed to a new one-year deal on 2 June 2017 with the club. He was offered a new contract by Grimsby at the end of the 2017–18 season.

Collins suffered a broken arm in the 3rd league game of the 2018–19 season, scans revealed he had fractured his right ulna, he underwent surgery the following Sunday. He sustained the injury after falling awkwardly winning a header in the 3rd minute against Shay McCartan, even though injured he went on to complete the full 90 minutes in a 1–1 home draw against Lincoln City on 18 August 2018.

Collins suffered a thigh strain injury on 20 December 2018 in a 2–1 win over Swindon Town, meaning he would be out until at least January 2019.

He was released by Grimsby at the end of the 2018–19 season. Collins announced his retirement from professional football in December 2019.

International career
Despite being born in England, Collins has represented Wales at international level. He made his debut on 9 February 2005 during a 2–0 win over Hungary in the first match of John Toshack's second spell as Wales' manager. His last cap came on 22 August 2007 during a 1–0 friendly win over Bulgaria. Two months after the match, Collins withdrew from the Wales squad to face Germany and Slovakia in the qualifying round of UEFA Euro 2008. Having previously fallen out with Toshack over being left on the bench during a friendly match with Paraguay in March 2006,

Following the resignation of Toshack and the appointment of Brian Flynn as Wales caretaker manager, Collins, who had not been called up since 2007, was selected in the Wales squad for the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying matches in October 2010. His first call-up as a Forest player was in the squad to face Belgium and Serbia in the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. However, Collins turned the call-up down and said, "Playing for Wales has always meant a great deal, it's a massive honour to play for your country, but at my age I feel I would be better served to stay with Forest to train and prepare for the demanding fixtures in the Championship. I'm grateful to Chris [Coleman] for considering me but I feel it's important I focus on Forest now."

Personal life
Collins now works for Sunderland as a matchday commentator and club podcaster, alongside Frankie Francis, after relocating back to the north east with his family after retiring from playing.

International
Source:

Honours
Chester City
 * Football Conference: 2003–04

Sunderland
 * Football League Championship: 2004–05, 2006–07

Stoke City
 * FA Cup runner-up: 2010–11

Individual
 * North East player of the Year: 2009

title: Danny Collins (footballer)


text:
Talk:Absorption

Untitled
no information —Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.105.19.61 (talk) 17:52, 1 October 2009 (UTC)

Psychologically, "Absorption" seems to be not totally the same as "flow"
"Absorption" can also mean losing one's contact with reality and surrounding in a negative, potentially harmful way. For example, when one is driving, he/she has to focus on the environment instead of getting lost in thoughts.

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

title: Talk:Absorption


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Sadko (opera)

Sadko (Садко, the name of the main character) is an 1898 opera in seven scenes by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. The libretto was written by the composer, with assistance from Vladimir Belsky, Vladimir Stasov, and others. Rimsky-Korsakov was first inspired by the bylina of Sadko in 1867, when he completed a tone poem on the subject, his Op. 5. After finishing his second revision of this work in 1891, he decided to turn it into a dramatic work.

The music is highly evocative, and Rimsky-Korsakov's famed powers of orchestration are abundantly evident throughout the score. According to the Soviet critic Boris Asafyev, writing in 1922, Sadko constitutes the summit of Rimsky-Korsakov's craft. From the opus 5 tone poem the composer quoted its most memorable passages, including the opening theme of the swelling sea, and other themes as leitmotives – he himself set out to "utilize for this opera the material of my symphonic poem, and, in any event, to make use of its motives as leading motives for the opera".

Performance history
The composer was closely involved in the "assiduous" rehearsals, and he "drilled the orchestra with great care, together with [the conductor] Esposito who proved a very fair musician". Rimsky also corrected errors in the score and worked hard with the chorus. Apart from the Sea Tsar singer "whom I could not endure" he approved of all the solo singers and singled out Zabyela, who "sang magnificently" and Syekar-Rozhanski.

The world premiere took place on 7 January 1898 (O.S. 26 December 1897), presented by the Russian Private Opera at the Solodovnikov Theatre in Moscow. Its conductor was Eugenio Esposito, the brother of Michele Esposito, with scenic designers Konstantin Korovin and Sergey Malyutin. The production was financed by the railway tycoon Savva Mamontov; this was the first time that one of Rimsky-Korsakov's operas was staged by a commercial theatre rather than the Imperial Theatres. The St. Petersburg premiere followed 26 January 1901 at the Mariinsky Theatre, conducted by Eduard Nápravník, with scenic design by Apollinary Vasnetsov.

In 1906, the opera was presented at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow conducted by Vyacheslav Suk, with scenic design by Konstantin Korovin. The first US performance occurred at the Metropolitan Opera in New York on 25 January 1930 in French with Tullio Serafin, followed a year later by the first performance in London in June 1931.

A truncated production was mounted in Monte Carlo in 1921, conducted by Victor de Sabata, with Dimitri Smirnov in the title role. Revivals took place at the Bolshoi in 1935, 1949 and 1963. A production at the Berlin Staatsoper in 1947 featured Ludwig Suthaus, Erna Berger and Margarete Klose. Aleksandr Ptushko directed a film of the opera in 1952 with the music but without singing. A new production by Alexei Stepaniuk for the Mariinsky Theatre in 1993 was later toured to Paris (Théâtre des Champs-Élysées) and recorded.

Sadko is rarely performed today outside the Russian Federation. However, there have been recent performances by Opera Vlaanderen and in Bratislava.

Synopsis
(Note: Instead of traditional acts, Sadko is divided in seven scenes, and, as that type of structure would suggest, is more loosely constructed than a traditional opera. The opera is usually performed in three or five acts, depending on how the scenes are grouped: Three acts – 1–2, 3–4, 5–6–7 or 1–2–3, 4, 5–6–7: Five acts – 1, 2–3, 4, 5–6, 7)

 * Time: The historical figure Sadko lived in the 12th century.
 * Place: The action takes place in Novgorod and in the legendary realm of the Sea Tsar.

The opera tells the story of Sadko, a gusli player (guslar), who leaves his wife, Lubava, and home in Novgorod and eventually returns a wealthy man. During his years of travel he amasses a fortune, weds the daughter of the Tsar and Tsarina of the Ocean and has other adventures. Upon his return, the city and Lubava rejoice.

Scene 1 – The rich mansion of a guild in Novgorod

The wealthy Novgorod merchants congratulate themselves on their prosperity. Nezhata, a gusli player from Kiev, sings an heroic song. In reply, Sadko also sings, but the merchants laugh at him when he suggests that Novgorod would be more prosperous if a river joined Lake Ilmen to the ocean.

Scene 2 – The shores of Lake Ilmen

Sadko wanders unhappily by the lakeside. His singing attracts some swans, one of which changes into Volkhova, the Sea Princess, who wishes to marry a mortal. She explains to Sadko how to catch three golden fish which will lead to his fortune after a long voyage. The Princess promises to him to wait patiently for his return. At dawn, from the lake the voice of the Sea-Tsar is heard. He calls his daughters home into the depths. The girls once again turn into white swans and swim away into the distance.

Scene 3 – An attic in Sadko's home (in Novgorod)

Sadko's wife, Lubava, is missing her husband. She is happy when he comes home at last, but distressed when he announces his intention to leave immediately in order to seek his fortune.

Scene 4 – A pier in Novgorod (on the banks of Lake Ilmen)

Merchants assemble at the quayside and Nezhata sings another gusli song. The merchants deride Sadko when he explains how he will win his fortune by catching three golden fish. Sadko bets them that he can do this, and, after he is successful in catching the fish, he wins their ships to take on his voyage. He sets about gathering a crew for his voyage. Three visiting merchants, a Viking, an Indian and a Venetian, sing in turn of their homelands (Song of India). Sadko decides to set sail for Venice.

Scene 5 – A peaceful expanse of the ocean

Sadko's fleet of ships is returning home, laden with treasure, but becomes becalmed. Sadko's crew throw treasure over the side to propitiate the Sea-Tsar, but no wind appears. Sadko is left behind, clinging to a log, when the wind suddenly picks up while he is overboard.

Scene 6 – In the depths of the sea

The scene shifts to the realm of the sea-Tsar, where Sadko sings to the Tsar and tsarina, winning the hand of their daughter, Volkhova. The wedding celebrations become so boisterous that a storm springs up, sinking ships on the surface of the sea, and the realm of the Sea-Tsar is destroyed. The end of the reign of the pagan tsar is heralded by an apparition of a Christian pilgrim (actually St Nicholas of Mozhaysk). Sadko and Volkhova escape the destruction on a sea-shell.

Scene 7 – Novogrod, a green meadow on the shores of Lake Ilmen

Sadko is asleep by the lakeside. Volkhova watches over him and sings a lullaby. Before he wakes, she bids him farewell and then disappears, becoming changed into the River Volkhova that now links Lake Ilmen with the sea. Lubava finds her husband asleep and wakes him: he believes that his voyage was nothing but a dream, but the sight of the new river and his fleet of ships convinces him that he really is now a very wealthy man.

Principal arias and numbers

 * Three arias fit into the plot as descriptions by foreign merchants of their respective countries.
 * Song of the Varangian Guest (Песня Варяжского гостя), or "Song of the Viking Guest"
 * Song of the Indian Guest (Песня Индийского гостя)
 * Song of the Venetian Guest (Песня Веденецкого гостя)
 * Volkhova's Lullaby (Колыбельная Волховы)

Recordings

 * 1950, Nikolai Golovanov (conductor), USSR Bolshoi Theatre Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra, Georgi Nalepp (Sadko), Yelizaveta Shumskaya (Volkhova), Vera Davydova (Lyubava), Sergei Krasovsky (Sea Tsar), Yelizaveta Antonova (gusli-player), Sergei Koltypin (Buffoon 1), Alexei Peregudov (Buffoon 2), Tikhon Chernyakov (Novgorod head), Stephan Nikolau (voyvode), Mark Reizen (Viking merchant), Ivan Kozlovsky (Indian merchant), Pavel Lisitsian (Venetian merchant), Ilya Bogdanov (Mighty Old Man). (Melodiya LP M10 01480, 4 records; Preiser Mono 90655, 3 discs; Naxos Classical Archives 9.80931-33).
 * 1994, Valery Gergiev (conductor), Kirov Orchestra and Chorus of the Marijinski Theater, St. Petersburg, Vladimir Galouzine (Sadko), Valentina Tsidipova (Volkhova), Marianna Tarassova (Lyubava), Sergei Aleksashkin (Sea Tsar). (Philips CD 442 138–2, 3 discs; reissued as part of Decca set Rimsky-Korsakov: 5 Operas 478 2705, 11 discs, but without text or translation).

Video

 * 1980 live performance: Yuri Simonov (conductor), Orchestra & Chorus of the Bolshoi Theatre. Vladimir Atlantov (Sadko), Tamara Milashkina (Volkhova), Irina Arkhipova (Lyubava), Boris Morozov (Sea Tsar), Alexandre Ognivstev (Viking Guest), Lev Kuznetsov (Indian Guest), Alexander Voroshilo (Venetian Merchant). Mono. 173 minutes. (DVD VAI 4512; Classound DVD CLASS 001)
 * 1994, Valery Gergiev (conductor), Kirov Orchestra and Chorus of the Marijinski Theater (artist details as for CD version listed)

Related works

 * Rimsky-Korsakov's earlier symphonic poem Sadko, Op. 5 (1867), may be regarded as a precursor to the opera, as it is based on the same story and the opera incorporates several musical ideas from the orchestral work. There are three versions:
 * 1) Episode from the Bïlina of Sadko (1867)
 * 2) Musical Tableau–Sadko (1869)
 * 3) Musical Tableau–Sadko (1892)

Adaptations
In 1922 the English composer Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji wrote a pastiche on the "Hindu Merchant's Song" as the third of his Three Pastiches for Piano. In 1953, a Russian film directed by Aleksandr Ptushko entitled Sadko based on the opera and featuring Rimsky-Korsakov's music was released. The 1953 Soviet biopic Rimsky-Korsakov features pieces of the opera. Tommy Dorsey's 1938 instrumental arrangement of the "Song of the Indian Guest" is a jazz classic, compiled on This Is Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra, Vol. 1.

title: Sadko (opera)


text:
Churchill Park

Churchill Park may refer to:

 * Churchillparken in Copenhagen, Denmark
 * Churchill Park, Lautoka, a stadium in Lautoka, Fiji
 * Churchill Park, Glendowie in Auckland, New Zealand
 * Churchill National Park in Melbourne, Australia
 * Churchill Park, St. John's, a suburb of St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada
 * Sir Winston Churchill Provincial Park, Alberta, Canada
 * Energlyn & Churchill Park railway station, a railway station in Caerphilly, Wales

title: Churchill Park


text:
GFTP

gFTP is a free and open-source multithreaded File Transfer Protocol client program. It is most used on Unix-like systems such as Linux,. It includes both a graphical user interface (GUI), which utilizes the GTK+ graphical toolkit, and a command-line interface. gFTP is released under the terms of the GPL and has been translated into 45 languages.

There is support for the FTP, FTPS (control connection only), HTTP, HTTPS, SFTP, and FSP protocols as well as FTP and HTTP proxy server support and FXP file transfers (transferring files between two remote servers via FTP).

The GUI uses a double-paned layout, with the local filesystem in the left pane and the remote filesystem in the right pane. Below there is a transfer queue that shows the real-time status of each queued or active file transfer. At the bottom is a message log, which displays the text commands and responses between gFTP and the remote server. Sites are stored in a hierarchical collection of bookmarks, though a site bar allows connections to unbookmarked sites.

Project head Brian Masney indicated in June 2013 that, with no new releases since 2008, he would like a new developer to take it over. To date no one has done so and the project remains dormant.

title: GFTP


text:
Mark Lynch (English footballer)

Mark John Lynch (born 2 September 1981) is an English former professional footballer who played as a right-back. He began his career with Manchester United and spent most of the 2001–02 season on loan with Scottish club St Johnstone, but failed to break into the Manchester United first team on a regular basis. He went on to play for Sunderland, Hull City, Yeovil Town, Rotherham United, Stockport County and Altrincham before retiring from professional football in 2012.

Career
Born in Manchester, Lynch began his career with Manchester United. To gain first-team experience, he joined Scottish Premier League side St Johnstone on loan in October 2001 and made 20 appearances for the club. He made one senior appearance for Manchester United, against Deportivo de La Coruña in the UEFA Champions League in March 2003, in which he scored an own goal. In July 2004, Lynch moved to Sunderland on a free transfer. He made 11 appearances during the 2004–05 season and was allowed to leave in June 2005.

On 14 June 2005, Lynch signed for Championship club Hull City on a free transfer. He suffered a knee injury in the first minute of his Hull City debut in August 2005 against Queens Park Rangers, and in his first game back against Coventry City he was sent off. He made 15 further appearances for Hull in the 2005–06 season, the last of which was in January, and at the end of the season he was made available for transfer by manager Peter Taylor.

In August 2006, Lynch moved to Yeovil Town on loan but then signed on a permanent deal before the transfer deadline. He was released in May 2008.

Lynch signed a two-year deal Rotherham United on 27 May 2008. He made his Rotherham United debut against Lincoln City, and scored twice on his third appearance for the club against Morecambe.

On 14 July 2010, he signed for Stockport County, but was released on 31 January 2012. He subsequently joined Altrincham, but was released by the club at the end of the season after making seven first-team appearances.

Career statistics
Source:

title: Mark Lynch (English footballer)


text:
Elections in Bahrain

The National Assembly is bicameral with the lower house, the Chamber of Deputies, having 40 members elected in single-seat constituencies for a four-year term. The upper house, the Shura Council, has 40 members appointed by the King of Bahrain, with the stated aim of giving a voice to minority communities and technocratic experts within the legislative process. Supporters of the system refer to long established democracies the United Kingdom and Canada operating with this bicameralism with an appointed upper chamber and an elected lower chamber. Opponents of this system point out that unlike the bicameral systems in the UK and Canada, the Bahraini system gives the unelected upper house equal or more legislative power than the elected lower house, allowing the King to control all legislation. Opponents also point out that the current system was imposed unilaterally by the King, violating the 1973 Constitution and a 2001 signed agreement with the Bahraini opposition.

Bahrain's electoral framework is unfair, with electoral districts deliberately designed to underrepresent Shiites, who form a majority of the citizen population. The government has also allegedly drawn district boundaries to put certain political societies, including leftist and Sunni Islamist groups, at a disadvantage. The government agency responsible for administering elections is not an independent and is headed by the justice minister, a member of the royal family.

Latest elections
Nine of the 40 constituencies were decided in the first round, with the other 31 going to a runoff. According to the government, voter turnout in the first round was 67%, an increase from 53% in the 2014 elections. However, the opposition claimed that the real voter turnout did not exceed 28%-30%.

title: Elections in Bahrain


text:
PICS

PICS may refer to:
 * Passive Inspection CubeSat, two nanosatellites launched in 2021
 * Platform for Internet Content Selection, a content rating specification for websites
 * Pacific Islands Central School/Pohnpei Island Central School, now Bailey Olter High School
 * Post-intensive care syndrome
 * Private investment capital subscription
 * Protocol implementation conformance statement
 * Punjab Institute of Computer Science
 * Purdue Improved Crop Storage bags
 * Phase Imaging with Computational Specificity

Pics or pics, may refer to:
 * Slang abbreviation of pictures
 * .pics, a generic top-level domain name administered by Cayman Islands-based company Uniregistry

title: PICS


text:
Penyrheol, Caerphilly

Penyrheol is a residential area (and electoral ward) of the town of Caerphilly, Wales. It is part of the community of Penyrheol, Trecenydd and Energlyn in the County Borough of Caerphilly. It is often spelt as Pen-yr-heol by the local community. At the 2011 census the population of the community was 12,537.

Penyrheol has one school, named Cwm-Ifor.

Electoral ward
Penyrheol was an electoral ward to Mid Glamorgan County Council from 1989 to 1996, subsequently becoming a ward for Caerphilly County Borough Council.

title: Penyrheol, Caerphilly


text:
Talk:William Binchy

Untitled
Does anyone think it would be useful to add Prof. Binchy's academic qualifications, list of subjects he lecturers in and a short list of his published work? I added this detail and it was removed. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Kappar (talk • contribs) 18:11, 19 Jun 2005

 * The list of qualifications, and especially the list of subjects, are unnecessary (and not given in other articles on academics, so far as I'm aware). The list of published work should go in, well, in a list of published work; they weren't in fact included in any previous edit, but if you know the details you could add them. Mel Etitis  ( Μελ Ετητης ) 18:17, 19 Jun 2005 (UTC)

title: Talk:William Binchy


text:
Panorama Tools

Panorama Tools (also known as PanoTools) are a suite of programs and libraries for image stitching, i.e., re-projecting and blending multiple source images into immersive panoramas of many types. It was originally written by German physics and mathematics professor Helmut Dersch. Panorama Tools provides a framework An updated version of the Panorama Tools library serves as the underlying core engine for many software panorama graphical user interface front ends.

History
Dersch started development on Panorama Tools in 1998, producing software available for creating panoramas and more, but had to stop development in 2001 due to legal harassment and claims of patent infringement by the company IPIX. Dersch released the core library (pano12) and some of the programs of Panorama Tools under the terms of the GNU General Public License. The rest of the applications were made available as binary executables only and for free without a copyleft license.

The development of the source code of Panorama Tools was continued by some members of the original Panorama Tools mailing list. In December 2003 they initiated a free software project which is currently hosted by SourceForge. SourceForge requires that all hosted software is released under an open source license. For this reason Dersch's unlicensed binaries are not hosted there, although they can still be found on mirror websites.

On 5 August 2007, Dersch announced his intention to relicense the Panorama Tools source code. On 9 August 2007, Dersch changed the license to a GNU Lesser General Public License.

Original release
PanoTools consists of the following components:

† Open source.
 * PTEditor: Java interactive panorama editor.
 * PTPicker: Java front end to panorama stitcher and other tools. It provides a graphical interface for feature point selection and position optimization.
 * PTCrypt: Java tool for scrambling pictures intended to be viewed on-line with PTViewer.
 * PTStitcher: Panorama stitching tool which remaps, adjusts and combines arbitrary images to panoramic views.
 * PTOptimizer†: Optimizes positions and sizes of images using control-point data.
 * PTStereo: Creates 3-dimensional objects from 2 or more stereoscopic images.
 * PTInterpolate: Physically valid true view interpolator. Given two images of the same scene taken from different positions, this tool creates views from any intermediate position.
 * PTMorpher: Morphing tool.
 * PTAverage: Averages images to reduce noise and enhance density.
 * PTStripe: Combines images into movie-stripes for viewing in object-viewers (PTMovie extension to PTViewer).
 * PanoTools Plugins:Photoshop, GraphicConverter and GIMP plug-ins for image correction and remapping. Also compatible to many other programs that can use Photoshop plug-ins.
 * pano12 library†: The underlying panorama library, currently used by several different panorama front-ends and command line programs.
 * pano13 library†: Current version of the library. No longer compatible with programs for which no source code is available.

Further developments
In 2006 the functionality of PTstitcher was reproduced by the developers of Panorama Tools. Its functionality was broken into several program, in an attempt to modularize it:

† Open source.
 * PTmender†: Remaps one image at a time
 * PTblender†: Implements the rudimentary colour correction algorithm found in later versions of PTstitcher
 * PTmasker†: Computes stitching masks. It implements the ability to increase depth-of-field by stacking images
 * PTroller†: Takes a set of images and merges them into a single one
 * PTcrop†: Crops an image to its outer rectangle.
 * PTuncrop†: Opposite of PTcrop: takes a cropped file and creates an uncropped one.
 * PTtiff2psd†: Takes a series of input images and creates a Photoshop PSD file where each input file is a layer.

Front-ends and applications
To make working with Panorama Tools easier and to add functionality, many interactive, graphical front-ends to Panorama Tools have been developed, both open source (e.g. Hugin) and commercial (e.g. PTgui and PTMac), along with a variety of other companion applications (e.g. smartblend and enblend), which in many cases make interacting directly with the programs in the original Panorama Tools toolset unnecessary.

title: Panorama Tools


text:
Talk:Absorption/to do

 * Add page for sound absorption (acoustics). ✅
 * Add page for absorption (economics). ✅
 * Add page for absorption (horticulture).

title: Talk:Absorption/to do


text:
Flower (Jody Watley album)

Flower is the sixth album by American pop singer Jody Watley, released in 1998 and her first for Atlantic Records.

Personnel

 * Jody Watley – vocals, background vocals
 * Marlon Williams – guitar
 * Neil Steubenhaus, Gene Perez – bass
 * John Scarpulla – tenor saxophone
 * Peter Daou – keyboards
 * Derrick Edmondson, Jamey Jaz – keyboards, drum programming
 * John Robinson, Cornelius Mims – drums
 * Bryce Wilson – keyboards, drum programming
 * Michael Thompson, Arthur White – guitar
 * Greg Phillinganes – piano

 * John Wheeler – trombone
 * Phil Galdston – keyboards
 * Rakim – rap vocals on "Off the Hook" (D-Dot Remix)
 * Tony Kadleck – trumpet
 * Patrick Morgan – viola
 * Darryl Brown – bass guitar
 * Vidal Davis – drums
 * Ken Lewis – guitar
 * Audrey Wheeler, Naimeh Heath, Cindy Mizelle, Lua Crofts, Paulette McWilliams, Dwayne Wiggins, Cassandra Lucas, Latina Webb, Stephani Alexander – backing vocals

 * Production
 * Producer – Derrick Edmondson, Phil Galdston, Masters at Work, Malik Pendleton, D' Wayne Wiggins, Bryce Wilson
 * Executive producers – Rich Christina, Darren Higman, Craig Kallman, Jody Watley
 * Arranger – Phil Galdston

title: Flower (Jody Watley album)


text:
Cursed (2005 film)

Cursed is a 2005 American horror comedy film directed by Wes Craven and written by Kevin Williamson, who both collaborated on the Scream film series. The film stars Christina Ricci and Jesse Eisenberg as two orphaned siblings attacked by a werewolf loose in Los Angeles.

Originally planned for 2003, the film took over two more years to be made than originally planned, during which producers Bob and Harvey Weinstein kept asking for reshoots and changes to the plot, re-edited the movie to give a PG-13 rating rather than the original intended R-rating, and fired veteran makeup artist Rick Baker to replace the werewolves he had created with computer-generated ones, even rumored to at one point to hire Disney animator Eric Goldberg to animate an opening sequence for the film  Cursed was released theatrically in the United States on February 25, 2005, by Miramax Films. The film was a box-office bomb and received generally negative reviews from critics; Craven himself was very displeased with the final result.

Plot
On a seaside pier in Los Angeles, friends Jenny Tate and Becky Morton decide to get their fortune told by Zela. Zela foretells that they will suffer a horrible fate warning about a beast that feeds off the moon. However, they do not believe her. That night, 16-year-old high-schooler Jimmy Myers is picked up on Mulholland Drive by his older sister Ellie, who returns from visiting her boyfriend Jake Taylor. Jimmy had a run-in with some bullies and his crush Brooke.

Driving home, Jimmy and Ellie collide with an animal and another car. They attempt to rescue the other driver, Becky, but a creature slashes the siblings and Becky. When interviewed by police, despite Jimmy's belief that it was a wolf or dog-type animal, the official report credits it to a bear or cougar.

The next day at work, Ellie finds herself attracted to the scent of a coworkers blood, but dismisses it. At a party, Jenny interrupts a conversation between Ellie and Jake. Annoyed that Jenny is flirting with Jake, Ellie leaves the party early. Later, while heading to the parking garage, she is chased and killed by a wolf-like creature. Jimmy does research about wolves and starts to believe that the creature was a werewolf, sharing his thoughts with a disbelieving Ellie. To ease Jimmy's concerns, she touches a silver picture frame without getting burned.

Jimmy is becoming stronger and more aggressive, as shown when a bully named Bo coerces him to join the wrestling team. He easily defeats three wrestlers, including Bo, and calls Bo out for constantly making gay jokes towards him, saying that Bo himself is repressing his own homosexuality.

Ellie starts to believe the werewolf hypothesis when she meets Zela. Zela warns about the effect the coming full moon will have and says that the only way to cure herself is to end the line of the werewolf who cursed her. Jimmy proves they have been cursed when he holds a silver cake server and gets burned, discovering that the picture frame Ellie touched earlier was actually stainless steel. The siblings' dog Zipper, who has become afraid of his owners, bites Jimmy, becoming infected with the curse, and goes on a rampage. Realizing what is happening, Jimmy goes to warn Ellie with Bo, who showed up at their house to confess that he is gay and has feelings for Jimmy. Bo is rejected by Jimmy who believes the attraction to be his werewolf pheromones, but Bo still helps Jimmy.

Ellie has deduced that Jake is a werewolf, and he confirms it. However, he reveals that he did not attack her and Jimmy as he was born a werewolf and can control his transformations. When another werewolf attacks the two, Bo and Jimmy try to help, but Bo is knocked out. The werewolf turns back into Joanie, who was cursed after a one-night stand with Jake and committed all of the previous murders. She now wants to kill all potential rivals so Jake will be hers.

When Jake offers to let Joanie kill him to protect Ellie, she refuses, knowing that killing him would break her curse. After knocking him out, she turns into her werewolf form and goes after Ellie and Jimmy. The siblings fight her, and when the police arrive, the two draw her out by insulting her. The police open fire, eventually killing her when a policeman shoots her in the head. Bo is okay, but Jake has disappeared.

Jimmy and Ellie return to a wrecked home. As Jimmy works to restore the power, Jimmy and Ellie begin transforming. Jake arrives, revealing that as he caused Joanie's curse; the only way to cure Ellie is to kill him. He wants to be with her, but also kill Jimmy so only he is the alpha male. Jake fights her, and ends up havingthe upper hand. Werewolf Jimmy joins in, climbing across the ceiling and biting Jake, allowing Ellie to stab and badly injure Jake with the cake server. Ellie decapitates Jake with a shovel and breaks the curse on the two siblings (and Zipper). Jake's body bursts into flames.

Bo, Brooke, and Zipper arrive at the house. Bo and Jimmy are now friends; Jimmy kisses Brooke and walks her home along with Bo. Ellie is stuck with the clean-up of the messy house.

Development
The first draft of the script was written by Kevin Williamson in August 2000 and followed the exploits of a New York City serial killer who discovers that his lethal tendencies are due to his lycanthrope nature. Both screenwriters Sean Hood and Tony Gayton did rewrites of Williamson's original script during the development process. Director Wes Craven had previous been attached to direct Bad Moon Rising, a werewolf film for Dimension Films in 1997 about a series of murders in a small West Virginia town, but the film was never made. Dimension Films co-founder Bob Weinstein announced in October 2002 that Cursed would "reinvent the werewolf genre," and that Craven would direct, with the movie being officially released on August 8, 2003. Craven was in the final stages of pre-production with the movie Pulse when Weinstein abruptly pulled the movie from the schedule ten days before shooting and cut through all the slow lanes, getting Cursed off and running. Craven was reportedly not pleased so Weinstein doubled his pay in order for him to do the werewolf film. The director deemed the script too tonally similar to his film Vampire in Brooklyn, but felt pressured by the studio, leading him to ultimately sign on. "Wes and Kevin are a dynamic team, and we are confident that their collaboration will prove to be a winner," Weinstein stated. In December 2002, a press release for the project described Cursed as a "modern, hip twist on the classic werewolf tale" and Dimension Films also announced that Academy Award winner makeup effects designer Rick Baker would be in charge of the overall design of the werewolves. Baker had originally turned down the offer due to the very limited time he had to create all the designs and eventually accepted at the only condition to be able to work without any studio interference.

Casting
The first of the three leads to be cast was 19-year-old Jesse Eisenberg, star of the critically acclaimed indie Roger Dodger, who was announced on March 3, 2003. It was also reported that Kristina Anapau and Judy Greer had joined the cast in supporting roles.

On March 13, 2003, it was reported that Christina Ricci had signed on to play the leading role of Ellie Harper, an associate producer on The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn who is attacked by a werewolf after a car accident on Mulholland Drive. The same day, Scott Foley and Omar Epps were also cast as Ellie's boyfriend Kyle and the chief of the animal control department Ben Taft, respectively.

On March 17, 2003, Skeet Ulrich (who previously starred in Craven's Scream as Billy Loomis) joined the cast as Vince Winston, the burnout son of a millionaire who gets bitten and cursed by the beast. Other cast members included Milo Ventimiglia (Bo, a high school bully), James Brolin (Tyler Winston, Vince's estranged billionaire father), Shannon Elizabeth (Becky Morton, a party girl who gets brutally murdered under the Santa Monica Pier), Illeana Douglas (Zela, an atypical fortune teller) and Robert Forster (Detective Harzel). Scott Baio himself along with Corey Feldman were cast as themselves. Pop singer and actress Mandy Moore was cast as Jenny Taylor, the opening victim who gets killed by the werewolf during a costume party sponsored by PETA. A Nightmare on Elm Street star Heather Langenkamp joined the cast in a small, supporting role as a TV reporter and John C. McGinley took part in the production as Jimmy's abusive dad. James Kallahan and Michelle Krusiec rounded out the main cast as Ellie's co-workers Mark and Debbie.

When production shut down and resumed with a new script, new roles were added and others were re-written. Skeet Ulrich was unsatisfied with his character's transformation and chose to drop out of the film. On December 1, 2003, Joshua Jackson was cast as the new male lead (renamed Jack and retooled as Ellie's boyfriend), along with Portia De Rossi (who replaced Illeana Douglas as Zela), Smallville regular Michael Rosenbaum (taking over James Callahan as Ellie's assistant, now named Kyle) and R&B singer Mýa as Jenny, previously played by Mandy Moore. Lance Bass of *NSYNC joined the cast in a cameo appearance as himself. Scott Foley was originally supposed to reprise the role of Kyle (now turned into Ellie's assistant) but ultimately dropped out as well. James Brolin, Robert Forster, Corey Feldman, Omar Epps, Heather Langenkamp and John C. McGinley were all written out from the new version of the script and couldn't reprise their roles.

Filming
Principal photography was supposed to start on January 27, in order to meet the already-locked August 8, 2003 release date, but delays in pre-production forced Dimension Films to push the start date back to mid March. On late January, a new release date was therefore announced and set on February 4, 2004.

With a budget of $35 million, Cursed commenced shooting on March 17, 2003, in Los Angeles, on a scheduled 15-weeks shoot. The set used for the high school is Torrance High School, the same used for Sunnydale High on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and West Beverly High on Beverly Hills, 90210 and its spin-off 90210. Filming also occurred at Verdugo Hills High School for the scenes involving Jimmy Myers, Jesse Eisenberg's character Mandy Moore's opening scene was shot over a 2-night period on the roof of The Bel Age Hotel in Hollywood. Singer Sheila E. appeared in this scene as herself, playing with her band at the costume ball for PETA. The car accident was shot on Mulholland Drive and some interiors were built inside the L.A. Center Studios. More scenes were filmed at the Santa Monica Pier and in Hollywood Boulevard. Entertainment Tonight did interviews with Ulrich and Ricci when original version was being filmed, and their report included behind the scenes footage of some scenes from it, like Ulrich's character Vince walking near the pier at night, another scene in same location showing him jumping down on beach and landing on all fours, scene where he and Ricci's character Ellie are running out of her house and another scene after that one where they jump down to the streets which based on the original script, was the beginning of the scene where werewolf chases after them but they get to Vince's limousine and ultimately manage to escape.

In early June 2003, after 54 days of filming and with only about six days left to shoot the final confrontation at the Hollywood Wax Museum, Dimension Films decided to put the movie on hold because top executives at the company weren't happy with the film's ending or how the special effects were progressing, specifically the look of the film's lead lupine. Rick Baker was preparing the final transformation effects when production stopped and asked Weinstein to let his team finish the work in order for it to be ready for the reshoot. "We were doing some really cool transformation stuff [but] it wasn’t quite done so I said, ‘Listen, if you ever think the film’s gonna pick up again, if you can keep a number of my people on for another month we can have this transformation stuff, wel’ll put it in a box and we’ll be ready to go. If they disperse now it’s gonna be like starting again because I need to have the same people." Weinstein eventually refused.

Editor Patrick Lussier, a frequent collaborator of Craven, had just finished working on re-shoots of Darkness Falls when he was brought in to work on Cursed, which was nearing the end of its principal photography. According to Lussier, the unfinished original version of the film ran about 90 minutes long, and the only thing it was missing, besides the ending, was the score and all the visual effects. The movie was put back into a development phase during which all parties discussed on the outcome. Several options were considered, including shooting the final confrontation as it was originally written or transform the script into something different, saving as much filmed footage as possible. One alternative was to turn the characters of Jesse Eisenberg and John C. McGinley into werewolf hunters. Ultimately, the original screenplay went under a major rewrite that turned Ellie and Jimmy into estranged siblings and morphed Vince into Ellie's mysterious boyfriend Jake. From those 90 minutes, the new version only included about 12 minutes of the original footage.

After a tentative September restart, the movie officially went back into production on November 17, 2003. "Quite an extraordinary amount of new material is going to be shot, and a lot of material is going to be thrown away," Craven said at the time. Rick Baker, who had created the original werewolf design, left the project because of scheduling conflicts and KNB EFX Group came on board to oversee all the new makeup effects. The exteriors for Jake's new club Tinsel were shot in Vine Street, next to The Capitol Records Tower, Hollywood and Jimmy and Ellie's house was built on the Universal Studios backlot. In the film, Ellie works among the crew of The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn, with Kilborn making a cameo appearance and Scott Baio, as himself, being booked to appear on the show. Kilborn left the show a few months after shooting wrapped, in August 2004, before the film's release, and was replaced by Craig Ferguson. Originally, Bob Weinstein wanted an animated opening sequence for the film & wanted Disney animator Eric Goldberg to animate & direct the sequence, but Goldberg declined, Weinstein tried again with a signed copy of Aladdin, but again, Goldberg declined & the sequence was scrapped.

On January 17, 2004, the extensive reshoot wrapped. The new ending of the film was much more emotional and tragic, and featured Jackson's character begging his girlfriend Ellie to kill him to end the curse. An article about the film in Fangoria #241 included pictures of a head prop for Jake's original death scene. From all versions of the film which were test screened to audiences (excluding the original version, which was never test screened), this one scored the highest, but Dimension Films was dissatisfied with it and demanded a new one. Actor Jesse Eisenberg, who, along with Christina Ricci, was one of the few actors to work in all the different versions, stated: “The crazy part is that after we filmed the whole second version of the film, we had to go back for a third re-shoot which lasted about 20 days. That's like the length of an independent movie. And then we had to go back a fourth time for like 10 days and they made shirts that said Cursed 4: Back for More." The new ending depicted Jake as the main villain, willing to kill both Ellie and Jimmy. According to Patrick Lussier, the final budget for the film was close to $90–100 million. In the final round of reshoots, werewolf actor Derek Mears improvised the infamous shot of the werewolf flipping off Ellie and Jimmy during rehearsal with Craven. Scott Nimerfro was at one point brought in during reshoots to script new scenes, including an opening sequence of the werewolf jumping through the Hollywood sign that was scrapped due to budget limits. In 2014, Judy Greer spoke of the film in an interview: "I don't know why that movie got so fucked up. I don't understand it. I thought the script was fine. Honest to god, I didn't get the big deal. I don't know who kept making them fuck with it. Then we shot the movie for, like, seven years. I think they said we had four movies worth of footage. It was so fun, but so weird. I don't get it. I couldn't figure it out." In 2018, Christina Ricci also spoke briefly about the film in an interview: "It was one of those studio movies that just got horribly screwed up." In 2019, Jesse Eisenberg gave his thoughts about the troubled production and the film: "The first movie was more interesting and provocative. I don't know why it wasn't working. Now that we know the behind-the-scenes of the Weinstein company, it makes sense as to why it was so chaotic." About the troubled production he said: "They filmed 90% of the bigger budget version… the first movie was this very splashy thing. The second version was definitely cutting corners in a lot of different ways. And the plot? I thought it was so stupid. I thought the plot was so cliché. They made us brother and sister? The things that they kept [from the original film] were little snippets. Like a car rolling down a hill. They kept that shot."

Post-production
Editor Patrick Lussier was supposed to work on the film for only six weeks in summer 2003, but ended up working on it for 19 months. He also worked as a second unit director during the extensive reshoots. All Rick Baker's designs were cut and most of KNB practical effects were replaced by CGI, including Judy Greer's transformation. Nevertheless, Rick Baker's name was displayed in the opening credits as the sole special makeup effects designer and creator.

In the fall of 2004, Dimension Films cut the film to a PG-13 rating instead of the planned R rating. Speaking to the New York Post, Craven commented, "The contract called for us to make an R-rated film. We did. It was a very difficult process. Then it was basically taken away from us and cut to PG-13 and ruined. It was two years of very difficult work and almost 100 days of shooting of various versions. Then at the very end, it was chopped up and the studio thought they could make more with a PG-13 movie, and trashed it ... I thought it was completely disrespectful, and it hurt them too, and it was like they shot themselves in the foot with a shotgun." Jenny's death scene in the elevator was originally much gorier, her dead body shown with her belly ripped apart, although not even the R-rated DVD version included this scene. A picture of her mutilated body was, however, shown in a Fangoria article published before the film's release covering the infamously troubled production. Craven and Lussier would move on to Red Eye, and during that film's post-production they would learn that Cursed would be edited down to accommodate a PG-13 rating. A nightmare sequence featuring Jake's throat getting ripped out by Ellie was redone without Craven, instead with Joel Soisson serving as director. In 2008, Craven was quoted saying, "...the Cursed experience was so screwed up. I mean, that went on for two-and-a-half years of my life for a film that wasn't anything close to what it should have been. […] I did learn from the Cursed experience not to do something for money. They said, 'We know you want to do another film, we'll pay you double.' And we were 10 days from shooting, and I said fine. But I ended up working two-and-a-half years for double my fee, but I could have done two-and-a-half movies, and done movies that were out there making money. In general, I think it's not worth it and part of the reason my phone hasn't rung is that that story is pretty well known."

In July 2021, Brian Collins from Screamfest blog did a review and comparison between the final film and both the Craven's original unfinished cut and first reshot version, which were surfaced from VHS workprints, and both versions were praised as superior to the final film. This is not the first time when news about alternate versions of Cursed existing were reported. Some years ago when he was asked by fans about the film, Patrick Lussier mentioned how he still has copies of three unreleased versions of the film (Craven's unfinished cut, first reshot version, and fully uncut reshot version with all the deleted gore and practical effects by KNB from before most of their work was cut as well), and in October 2018, former Dimension COO Cary Blanat confirmed that all original and deleted footage from Cursed still exists.

Theatrical
The original target release date was August 8, 2003, but delays in getting the production ready in time pushed the target date back six months to February 13, 2004. When the movie was sent back to development and three different reshoots were scheduled, the release date was pushed back again. In December 2004 Fangoria reported that the movie was scheduled to open nationwide February 25, 2005 with a PG-13 rating.

Christina Ricci's face served as the backdrop in the movie's key art, that evoked Drew Barrymore’s close-up in Scream’s iconic official poster. The tagline for the movie was “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”. The first official trailer premiered on January 7, 2005.

Home media
When released on DVD in the US on June 21, 2005, two versions were available: the original theatrical version (rated PG-13; 97 minutes), and also an unrated version which contains the footage cut to obtain a PG-13 rating and runs approximately two minutes longer than the original release. The film received its Blu-ray release on September 11, 2012, through Echo Bridge Entertainment, in a double feature with another Wes Craven film, They (2002). The disc only contains the theatrical cut. The film was released individually for the first time in the United States on blu-ray by Shout Factory, featuring both the theatrical and extended cut, in April 2022.

In Canada, Alliance Atlantis released the unrated (marketed as "Uncensored") version only on DVD (as opposed to Dimension Home Video in the US) and the DVD cover was changed to match the original theatrical poster.

Box office
Cursed opened theatrically on February 25, 2005, in 2,805 theatres, taking $9,633,085 in its opening weekend and averaging a mild $3,434 per site. It placed fourth on the box office rankings, following Diary of a Mad Black Woman (opening that weekend as well), Hitch and Constantine. The following weekend, the movie crumbled 60%, grossing $3,867,052 and finishing seventh in the box office charts, with a 10-day sum of $15.3M. Box Office Guru dubbed the film's performance as "disappointing”. On its third week, the film placed tenth, falling 60% to $1,564,363 for a $17.7 total, marking its last week in the national top ten. Box Office Guru predicted a final gross of about $21 million.

Cursed ended its theatrical run after 11 weeks on May 12, 2005, with a cumulative domestic gross of $19,294,901. An additional $5.8-$10.3 million internationally brought the worldwide total to between $25.1 and $29.6 million worldwide (sources differ slightly).

Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an approval rating of 15% based on 98 reviews, with an average rating of 3.70/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "A predictable plot and cheesy special effects make Cursed a less-than-scary experience." Metacritic reports a weighted average score of 31 out of 100 based on 21 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C−" on an A+ to F scale.

The San Francisco Chronicle wrote, "Cursed is a third-rate effort, with a weak script, cheap-looking effects and no genuine frights." Film Threat stated, "Not that it doesn't make movie history. Until this past Friday, the worst werewolf film ever made was, hairy hands down, Mike Nichols' Wolf. Cursed now assumes that dubious distinction and someone is going to have to try very hard to wrestle it away."

Rafe Telsch of Cinema Blend, giving the film 2 out of 5 stars, felt that "Cursed isn't a bad film, and actually takes a unique approach to modern day genre movies by styling itself as an older one... The film is a fun little romp in the werewolf world, although Cursed never really sets any rules for the creatures themselves, leaving itself open to keep cute faces like Ricci's uncovered by makeup, but leaving the audience unsatisfied that there aren't really many werewolves in this werewolf movie."

#ReleaseTheCravenCut campaign
On October 30, 2018, former Dimension COO Cary Blanat revealed in an interview with Bloody Disgusting that the original footage still exists, which inspired Twitter users and the Sight & Sound podcast calling for Craven's cut using the hashtag #ReleaseTheCravenCut, with Bloody Disgusting and YouTuber Cody Leach calling it the most anticipated horror movie director's cut.

Editor Patrick Lussier commented on the movement in July 2021, stating that a release of the original cut of the film was very unlikely due to the ending never being shot, and also due to a lack of popularity, as opposed to a film like Zack Snyder's Justice League. Lussier claimed he had no idea who owned the rights to the film due to various Miramax properties reverting to other companies, leaving any future of an alternate cut in doubt.

title: Cursed (2005 film)


text:
Sound attenuator

A sound attenuator, or duct silencer, sound trap, or muffler, is a noise control acoustical treatment of Heating Ventilating and Air-Conditioning (HVAC) ductwork designed to reduce transmission of noise through the ductwork, either from equipment into occupied spaces in a building, or between occupied spaces.

In its simplest form, a sound attenuator consists of a baffle within the ductwork. These baffles often contain sound-absorbing materials. The physical dimensions and baffle configuration of sound attenuators are selected to attenuate a specific range of frequencies. Unlike conventional internally-lined ductwork, which is only effective at attenuating mid- and high-frequency noise, sound attenuators can achieve broader band attenuation in relatively short lengths. Certain types of sound attenuators are essentially a Helmholtz resonator used as a passive noise-control device.

Configuration
Generally, sound attenuators consist of the following elements:

 * An inner perforated layer of light gauge sheet metal (baffle)
 * The baffle is then filled with sound-absorptive insulation
 * In high velocity systems, or when there is a concern for particulate matter in the air stream, a bagged or mylar-faced insulation is used.
 * Packless sound attenuators do not include sound-absorptive insulation. As a result, the high-frequency insertion loss of a packless sound trap is greatly reduced. Bagged insulation or packless sound attenuators are typically referred to as "hospital grade" attenuators.
 * An outer non-perforated layer of sheet metal. The outer layer is typically heavy gauge sheet metal (18ga or stiffer) to minimize duct break-out and break-in noise.
 * The gauge of circular sound attenuators is typically less of a consideration, as circular ductwork is considerably stiffer than rectangular ductwork and less prone to duct breakout noise.

Sound attenuators are available in circular and rectangular form factors. Prefabricated rectangular sound attenuators typically come in 3, 5, 7, or 9-ft lengths. The width and height of the sound attenuators are often determined by the surrounding ductwork, though extended media options are available for improved attenuation. The baffles of rectangular sound attenuators are commonly referred to as splitters, whereas circular sound attenuators contain a bullet-shaped baffle.

Sound attenuators are typically classified as "Low," "Medium," or "High" based on performance characteristics and/or duct velocity. An example classification scheme is listed below.

Properties
The acoustical properties of commercially available sound attenuators are tested in accordance with ASTM E477: Standard Test Method for Laboratory Measurements of Acoustical and Airflow Performance of Duct Liner Materials and Prefabricated Silencers. These tests are conducted at NVLAP-accredited facilities and then reported by the manufacturer in marketing or engineering bulletins. Outside of the US, sound attenuators are tested in accordance with British Standard 4718 (legacy) or ISO 7235.

Dynamic insertion loss
The dynamic insertion loss of a sound attenuator is the amount of attenuation, in decibels, provided by the silencer under flow conditions. While flow conditions in typical low velocity duct systems rarely exceed 2000–3000 ft/min, sound attenuators for steam vents must withstand airflow velocities in the 15,000-20,000 ft/min. range. The acoustic performance of a sound attenuator is tested over a range of airflow velocities, and for forward and reverse flow conditions. Forward flow is when the air and sound waves propagate in the same direction. The insertion loss of a silencer is defined as

$$IL\ (dB)=10\log( \frac{W_0}{W_m})$$

where:

$$W_0$$= Radiated sound power from the duct with the attenuator

$$W_m$$= Radiated sound power from the duct without the attenuator

Some manufacturers report the static insertion loss of the silencer, which is typically measured with a loudspeaker in lieu of a fan to represent a zero flow condition. These values can be useful in the design of smoke evacuation systems, where sound attenuators are used to attenuate exterior noise that breaks into the exhaust ductwork.

The insertion loss of a sound attenuator is sometimes referred to as transmission loss.

Regenerated noise
The internal baffles of a sound attenuator constrict airflow, which in turn generates turbulent noise. Noise generated by a sound attenuator is directly related to the airflow velocity at the constriction, and changes proportionally with the face area of the sound attenuator.

The change in generated noise can be expressed as

$$Generated\ Noise\ (dB)=10\log( \frac{A_1}{A_0})$$

where:

$$A_1$$= The new face area of the sound attenuator

$$A_0$$= Reference face area of the sound attenuator

For example, if the attenuator doubles in width, while maintaining a constant airflow velocity, the generated noise will increase by 3 dB. Conversely, if the attenuator shrinks by a factor of 10, while keeping the airflow velocity constant, the generated noise will decrease by 10 dB. Since turbulence generated noise caused by duct fittings changes at a rate of $$50log$$, airflow velocities are a critical component of attenuator sizing.

Regenerated noise should always be reviewed, but it is usually only a concern in very quiet rooms (e.g. concert halls, recording studios, music rehearsal rooms) or when the ductwork velocity is greater than 1500 ft/m.

There is a prediction formula that can be used to estimate duct silencer regenerated noise if no data exists

$$Lw=55log(V/V_0)+10log(N)+10log(H/H_0)-45$$

where:

$$Lw$$ = sound power level generated by the sound attenuator (dB)

$$V$$ = velocity at the constricted cross-area (ft/min)

$$V_0$$ = reference velocity (196.8 ft/min)

$$N$$ = number of air passages (number of splitters)

$$H$$ = height or circumference of the sound attenuator (in)

$$H_0$$ = reference dimension (0.0394 in)

Pressure drop
Similar to other duct fittings, sound attenuators cause pressure drop. Catalog pressure drop values obtained through ASTM E477 assume ideal, laminar airflow, which is not allow always found in field installations. The ASHRAE Handbook provides pressure drop correction factors for different inlet and outlet conditions. These correction factors are used whenever there's a turbulent wake within 3 to 5 duct diameters upstream or downstream of the attenuator.

Where sound attenuator dimensions differ from surrounding duct dimensions, transitions to and from the sound attenuator should be smooth and gradual. Abrupt transitions cause the pressure drop and regenerated noise to significantly increase.

The pressure drop through a sound attenuator is typically higher than the pressure drop for an equivalent length of lined duct. However, significantly longer lengths of lined duct are required to achieve equal attenuation, at which point the pressure drop of large extents of lined duct is significantly greater than incurred through a single sound attenuator.

Friction losses due to dissipative sound attenuators can be expressed as

$$ Friction\ Loss=\frac{P}{A}l(K_f\frac{1}{2}\rho v_p^2), \ N/m^2 $$

where:

$$ \frac{P}{A} $$ = ratio of the sound attenuator perimeter and area

$$l$$ = length of the duct

$$K_f$$ = The friction loss coefficient

$$ \rho $$ = density of air

$$ v_p^2 $$ = passage velocity

The perimeter, area, and length of the sound attenuator are also parameters which affect its pressure drop. Friction loss at the sound attenuator is directly proportional to its noise attenuation performance, whereby greater attenuation usually equates to greater pressure drop.

Design variations
Prefabricated sound attenuators rose to prominence in the late 1950s-early 1960s. Several manufacturers were among the first to produce and test prefabricated sound attenuators: Koppers, Industrial Acoustics Company, Industrial Sound Control, and Elof Hansson.

Though rectangular dissipative attenuators are the most common variant of attenuators used today in architectural acoustics noise control, other design options exist.

Reactive silencers
Reactive silencers are very common in muffler design of automobiles and trucks. Attenuation is primarily achieved through sound reflection, area change, and tuned chambers. The design of reactive silencers from scratch is mathematically intensive, so manufacturers often have a number of prefabricated designs.

Dissipative silencers
Dissipative silencers attenuate sound by transferring sound energy to heat. Dissipative silencers are used when broadband attenuation with low pressure drop is desired. In typical ductwork, high frequencies propagate down the duct as a beam, and minimally interact with the outer, lined edges. Sound attenuators with baffles that break the line of sight or elbow attenuators with a bend provide better high frequency attenuation than conventional lined ductwork. Generally, longer attenuators with thicker baffles will have a greater insertion loss over a wider frequency range.

These types of attenuators are commonly used on air handling units, ducted fan coil units, and at the air intake of compressors, gas turbines, and other ventilated equipment enclosures. On certain air handling unit or fan applications, it is common to use a co-planar silencer—a dissipative silencer that is sized for the fan and mounted directly to the fan outlet. This is a common feature in fan array design.

Crosstalk silencers
Purpose-built sound attenuators to prevent crosstalk between two closed, private spaces. Their design typically incorporates one or more bends to form a "Z" or "U" shape. This bend increases the efficacy of the sound attenuator without significantly increasing its overall length. Crosstalk attenuators are passive devices and should be sized for extremely low pressure drops — typically less than 0.05 inches w.g.

Exhaust registers
In the early 1970s, American SF Products, Inc. created the KGE Exhaust Register, which was an air distribution device with an integral sound attenuator.

Noise control implementation
First, the project noise control engineer (or acoustician), mechanical engineer, and equipment representative select the quietest possible equipment which meets the mechanical requirements and budget constraints of the project. Then, the noise control engineers will typically calculate out the path, without the attenuator first. The required sound attenuator insertion loss is the difference between the calculated path and the target background noise level. If no attenuator selection is feasible, the noise control engineer and mechanical must re-evaluate the path between the equipment and the sound attenuator. When space constraints do not allow for a straight attenuator, an elbow or transitional attenuator can be used.

Duct silencers are prominently featured in systems where fiberglass internal duct liner is prohibited. While fiberglass's contribution to air quality is insignificant, many higher education projects have adopted a limit on internal fiberglass liner. In these situations, the project acoustician must rely on duct silencers as the primary means of fan noise and duct-borne noise attenuation.

Sound attenuators are typically located near ducted mechanical equipment, to attenuate noise which propagates down the duct. This creates a trade-off: the sound attenuator should be located near the fan and yet the air is typically more turbulent closer to fans and dampers. Ideally, sound attenuators should straddle the wall of the mechanical equipment room provided there are no fire dampers. If a sound attenuator is located over occupied space, the noise control engineer should confirm that duct breakout noise is not an issue prior to the attenuator. If there is significant distance between the attenuator and the mechanical room penetration, additional duct cladding (such as external fiberglass blanket or gypsum lagging) may be required to prevent noise from breaking into the duct and bypassing the attenuator.

Sound attenuators can also be used outdoors to quiet cooling towers, air intake of emergency generators, and exhaust fans. Larger equipment will require an array of sound attenuators, otherwise known as an attenuator bank.

title: Sound attenuator


text:
Johnny Ace

John Marshall Alexander Jr. (June 9, 1929 – December 25, 1954), known by the stage name Johnny Ace, was an American rhythm-and-blues singer. He had a string of hit singles in the mid-1950s. Alexander died of an accidental self-inflicted gunshot wound at the age of 25.

Life and career
John Alexander was born in Memphis, Tennessee to Leslie Newsome and preacher John Marshall Alexander, and grew up near LeMoyne-Owen College. He dropped out of high school to join the United States Navy. Alexander was reportedly AWOL for much of his duty. After he was discharged, Alexander joined Adolph Duncan's Band as a pianist, playing around Beale Street in Memphis. The network of local musicians became known as the Beale Streeters, which included B. B. King, Bobby Bland, Junior Parker, Earl Forest, and Roscoe Gordon. Initially, they weren't an official band, but at times there was a leader and they played on each other's records.

In 1951, Ike Turner, a talent scout and producer for Modern Records, arranged for Alexander and other Beale Streeters to record for Turner's label. Alexander played piano on some of King's records for RPM Records and backed King during broadcasts on WDIA in Memphis. When King departed for Los Angeles and Bland left the group, Alexander took over both Bland's vocal duties and King's radio show on WDIA.

David James Mattis, program director at WDIA and founder of Duke Records, claimed that he gave Alexander the stage name of Johnny Ace: "Johnny" for Johnny Ray and "Ace" for the Four Aces, but Alexander's younger brother St. Clair Alexander claimed that the singer himself came up with the name Ace when Mattis changed his first name from John to Johnny.

Ace signed to Duke in 1952 and released his first recording, "My Song", an urbane "heart ballad" which topped the R&B chart for nine weeks beginning in September. He began heavy touring, often with Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton. In the next two years, Ace had eight hits in a row, including "Cross My Heart", "Please Forgive Me", "The Clock", "Yes, Baby", "Saving My Love for You", and "Never Let Me Go".

After Ace had success as a solo artist, the Biharis brothers at Modern released the single "Mid Night Hours Journey" on their subsidiary label Flair Records in September 1953. The flip side was "Trouble and Me" by Forest.

In November 1954, Ace ranked No. 16 on the Billboard 1954 Disk Jockey Poll for R&B Favorite Artists. In December 1954, he was named the Most Programmed Artist of 1954, according to the results of a national poll of disc jockeys conducted by the U.S. trade weekly Cash Box. Ace's recordings sold very well during those times. Early in 1955, Duke Records announced that three of his 1954 recordings, along with Thornton's "Hound Dog", had sold more than 1,750,000 copies.

Personal life
Ace met Lois Jean Palmer, a freshman at Booker T. Washington High School, in 1949. His parents did not know they were dating until she became pregnant. Ace and Palmer were married in Earle, Arkansas, on July 17, 1950; she was 16 and he was 21. Their son, Glenn Alexander, was born later that year. Ace moved Palmer into his parents' home in Memphis. Ace was barred from the home for playing blues music, so he mostly took residence at the Mitchell Hotel, owned by Sunbeam Mitchell, in Memphis. He had another child with his wife, daughter Janet Alexander, but the couple were rarely together due to his womanizing lifestyle, and by 1953 he had abandoned his family. He also had another son named Larry Saunders, who became a singer. Ace is also the biological grandfather of singer Ledisi.

Death
After touring for a year, Ace had been performing at the City Auditorium in Houston, Texas, on Christmas Day 1954. During a break between sets, he was playing with a .32 caliber revolver. Members of Ace's band said he did this often, sometimes shooting at roadside signs from their car.

It was widely reported that Ace killed himself playing Russian roulette. However, Thornton's bass player, Curtis Tillman, who witnessed the event, said, "I will tell you exactly what happened! Johnny Ace had been drinking and he had this little pistol he was waving around the table and someone said ‘Be careful with that thing…’ and he said ‘It’s okay! Gun’s not loaded… see?’ and pointed it at himself with a smile on his face and ‘Bang!’ — sad, sad thing. Big Mama ran out of the dressing room yelling ‘Johnny Ace just killed himself!'"

Big Mama Thornton said in a written statement (included in the book The Late Great Johnny Ace) that Ace had been playing with the gun but not playing Russian roulette. According to Thornton, Ace pointed the gun at his girlfriend and another woman who were sitting nearby but did not fire. He then pointed the gun toward himself, bragging that he knew which chamber was loaded. The gun went off, shooting him in the side of the head. According to his biographer Nick Tosches, Ace shot himself with a .32 pistol, not a .22, and it happened little more than an hour after he had bought a new 1955 Oldsmobile.

Ace's funeral was held on January 2, 1955 at Clayborn Temple AME church in Memphis. It was attended by an estimated 5,000 people. His remains were buried at New Park Cemetery in Memphis.

"Pledging My Love" was a posthumous R&B number 1 hit for ten weeks beginning February 12, 1955. As Billboard bluntly put it, Ace's death "created one of the biggest demands for a record that has occurred since the death of Hank Williams just over two years ago." Thus Johnny Ace became the first act to reach the Billboard pop charts only after death. His single recordings were compiled and released as The Johnny Ace Memorial Album.

Legacy
Rock-and-roll historian Harry Hepcat noted that "Johnny Ace was a crooner who sounded like Johnny Mathis with soul... Soon after the death of Johnny Ace, Varetta Dillard recorded 'Johnny Has Gone' for Savoy Records in early 1955. She incorporated many of Ace's song titles in the lyrics. This was the first of the many teen tragedy records that were to follow in the later 50s and early 1960s."

In addition to Dillard's "Johnny Has Gone", at least four other tribute records to Ace were released in 1955: Frankie Ervin's "Johnny Ace's Last Letter"; The Rovers' "Salute To Johnny Ace"; Linda Hayes' "Why, Johnny, Why?"; and The Five Wings’ "Johnny's Still Singing".

Bob Dylan and Joan Baez performed "Never Let Me Go" on tour with the Rolling Thunder Revue in 1975. Luther Vandross covered this song in 1993 as the title track to his eighth studio album. Elvis Presley recorded "Pledging My Love" in his last studio session, in 1976; the song appeared on the album Moody Blue in 1977.

Paul Simon wrote and performed the song "The Late Great Johnny Ace" (1983), in which a boy, upon hearing of the death of Ace, orders a photograph of the deceased singer: "It came all the way from Texas/With a sad and simple face/And they signed it on the bottom/From the Late Great Johnny Ace." The song develops a touching counterpoint with the death of two other Johnnies – John Lennon and John F. Kennedy. Simon also performed "Pledging My Love" on his tour of Europe and North America in 2000.

David Allan Coe covered "Pledging My Love", introducing the song with his own recollections of hearing the news of Ace's death.

Ace is mentioned in "House Band in Hell", by Root Boy Slim, and in the song "Johnny Ace", by Dash Rip Rock.

"Pledging My Love" was used in the 1973 film Mean Streets, directed by Martin Scorsese; the 1983 film Christine, directed by John Carpenter; the 1985 film Back to the Future, directed by Robert Zemeckis; and the 1992 film Bad Lieutenant, directed by Abel Ferrara.

The Teen Queens' song "Eddie My Love", originally entitled "Johnny My Love", was written in memory of Ace.

The Swiss singer Polo Hofer and the Schmetterband wrote the song "Johnny Ace" in 1985; it was released on the album Giggerig. Will Oldham noted Ace's death in the lyrics of his song "Let the Wires Ring", on his 2000 album Guarapero/Lost Blues 2.

Dave Alvin's 2011 album Eleven Eleven, contains the song "Johnny Ace Is Dead", about Ace's death.

The Squirrel Nut Zippers' Christmas album, Christmas Caravan (1998), contains the song "A Johnny Ace Christmas", a love song about Ace killing himself on Christmas.

Singles
Original singles, all issued simultaneously on 78- and 45-rpm discs by Duke Records One split single, issued on 78- and 45-rpm discs by Flair Records
 * "My Song" / "Follow the Rule" (1952)
 * "Cross My Heart" / "Angel" (1953)
 * "The Clock" / "Aces Wild" (1953)
 * "Saving My Love for You" / "Yes, Baby" (the B-side is a duet with Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton) (1954)
 * "Please Forgive Me" / "You've Been Gone So Long" (1954)
 * "Never Let Me Go" / "Burley Cutie" (instrumental) (1954)
 * "Pledging My Love" / "Anymore" / "No Money" (1955), #1 on U.S. R&B chart for 10 weeks, peaked at #17 on U.S. Pop chart
 * "Anymore"/ "How Can You Be So Mean" (1955)
 * "So Lonely" / "I'm Crazy Baby" (1955)
 * "Don't You Know" / "I Still Love You So" (1956)
 * "Mid Night Hours Journey" (Johnny Ace) / "Trouble and Me" (Earl Forest) (1953)

Albums
Studio albums and compilations containing only or mostly recordings by Ace
 * Johnny Ace Memorial Album, Duke (1955)
 * Johnny Ace: Pledging My Love, Universal Special Products (1986)
 * Johnny Ace: The Complete Duke Recordings, Geffen (2004)
 * The Chronological Johnny Ace: 1951–1954, Classics (2005)
 * Johnny Ace: Essential Masters, Burning Fire, digital download (2008)
 * Johnny Ace: Aces Wild! The complete solo sides and sessions, Fantastic Voyage (2012)

title: Johnny Ace


text:
Jean-François Paillard

Jean-François Paillard (12 April 1928 – 15 April 2013) was a French conductor.

He was born in Vitry-le-François and received his musical training at the Conservatoire de Paris, where he won first prize in music history, and the Salzburg Mozarteum.

He also earned a degree in mathematics at the Sorbonne.

In 1953, he founded the Jean-Marie Leclair Instrumental Ensemble, which in 1959 became the Orchestre de Chambre Jean-François Paillard. The ensemble has made recordings of much of the Baroque repertoire for Erato Records and has toured throughout Europe and the United States. It has also recorded with many leading French instrumentalists, including Maurice André, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Pierre Pierlot, Lily Laskine, Jacques Lancelot, Michel Arrignon.

A 1968 recording by the orchestra of the "Canon and Gigue for 3 violins and basso continuo" by Johann Pachelbel, familiarly known as Pachelbel's Canon, nearly single-handedly brought the piece from obscurity to great renown. The recording was done in a more Romantic style, at a significantly slower tempo than it had been played at before, and contained obligato parts, written by Paillard, that are now closely associated with the piece. It was released on an Erato Records album, and was also included on a widely distributed album by mail-order label Musical Heritage Society album in 1968. The recording began to get significant attention in the United States, particularly in San Francisco, during the early 1970s. By the late 1970s various renditions of it were topping classical music charts in the U.S., including Paillard's own. The Paillard Chamber Orchestra's recording was also prominently featured in the soundtrack of the 1980 film Ordinary People.

Paillard released 307 records.

He also appeared frequently as a guest conductor with other orchestras and was active as an author. He edited the series Archives de la Musique Instrumentale and published La musique française classique in 1960.

He died on 15 April 2013, three days after his 85th birthday.

title: Jean-François Paillard


text:
Talk:Liberalism and centrism in Estonia

Untitled
I've deleted Koonderakond and Keskkerakond, because no serious political scientist or even journalist has ever called them "Liberal". The word is certainly abiguous, but not that ambiguous. Keskkerakond is populist (and several commentators call it "left"); Koonderakond was really centrist, but never Liberal in any sense either. Clossius 11:36, 10 Apr 2005 (UTC)

 * Re-added the Coalition Party. The party internationally claimed to be a liberal party when it applied for affiliation to the Liberal Internationa;. Electionworld 12:31, 10 Apr 2005 (UTC)

 * Nearly nothing can be done against a committed author in wikipedia if the article isn't read. I think not a single article can be found in the quite large literature on Estonian parties, be it scholarly or journalistic, who would substantiate that claim (not of the application, because it's immaterial what a party claims, but of the correct label of Liberalism), so I guess it's enough to have the point here. Clossius 18:20, 10 Apr 2005 (UTC)

 * CPE is by the way wanting to join with Liberal International, but indeed is more centre-left aganda with some right-winging ponits (for example, CPE is ignoring social partnership between employers, labour unions and state)

I don't know who wrote the Liberalism and Centrism page in Estonia, or who contrbuted to it, but the Keskerakond or "Center Party" figures prominently there. There is a qualifying statement on the page: "The liberal character of the centrist Estonian Centre Party (Eesti Keskerakond, member LI), ELDR) can be disputed." Wikipedia should in fact strike the Center Party from this page completely, at the risk of otherwise discrediting itself.

You will find that most political analysts in Estonia will dispute not only the liberal character of the Center Party, which it definitely is lacking in, but also its claim to a centrist position. The Center Party is ideologically left of center. Perhaps not radically, but it is unquestionably more of a left-leaning party than one situated midway between left and right. Even left-centrist does not seem like a totally on-the-money categorization of the so-called Center party. It is not an outspoken champion of the free market. It believes in redistribution of wealth much more than it believes in creating capital. There is practically no emphasis on individual freedom in the program of the Center Party of Estonia. Its leader Edgar Savisaar has a nearly authoritarian reputation. The segments of society that the Center party draws upon are the disenfranchised, and it constantly tries to appeal to the Russians and other nationalities who were settled in Estonia during the occuaption period. I am not saying no one should be the champion of the poor, but that has classically been the territory claimed by social-democratic, socialist and communist parties, not centrists, who try to do more of a straddling act.

The attempt to cast (miscast) itself as occupying centrist and liberal territory has been a scam of the Center Party from the beginning. It is more of a pose, a fig leaf, an obfuscation, and a Potemkin Village than an approximation of the truth. Such a thing is only possible in the relatively cluttered post-Soviet landscape of Central and Eastern Europe. Beware! All that glitters is not centrist and certainly not liberal.

Just because someone lays claim to a swath of territory does not mean that we shouldn't be critical, or that we should cede it to them simply because they say so. Journalists, for example, are expected to "get it right" and to "check their facts". The same ought to apply to an encylopedia - even a gratis one - but even more stringently.

Juri Estam Tallinn

 * Thank you, mr. Estam, I'm having the same dispute on the Wikipedia page on the Estonian Centre Party rigth now. Constanz 16:59, 16 November 2005 (UTC)

 * I agree that the Centre Party is a left of centre party, but that does not mean it cannot be a liberal party. When I visit the website of the party (English version), the party claim to be a liberal and centrist party. At their last congress I spoke with some (young) representatives of the party. Those people had clearly a liberal attitude. It might not be a strongly ideological liberal party and not a market liberal party, but i am not convinced that the party is not a social liberal party. I re-introduced the Centre Party in the scheme, but mentioned that the liberal character of the party is disputed. Electionworld 21:48, 16 November 2005 (UTC)

 * I can only repeat what I said above: "Nearly nothing can be done against a committed author in wikipedia if the article isn't read. I think not a single article can be found in the quite large literature on Estonian parties, be it scholarly or journalistic, who would substantiate that claim (not of the application, because it's immaterial what a party claims, but of the correct label of Liberalism), so I guess it's enough to have the point here." Once again, it's not personal impressions that matter; it's not overly obscure what "liberal" can mean. In no normal, used sense, in no political science essay is the Center Party called liberal. This does not speak against it by any means (why should it), but to list the Center Party here is surely cranky. Clossius 22:09, 27 November 2005 (UTC)

title: Talk:Liberalism and centrism in Estonia


text: Talk:Flower (Jody Watley album)

title: Talk:Flower (Jody Watley album)


text:
User talk:NDC777

Please stop vandalizing Votes for deletion/Sollog. Deleting comments is absolutely pointless, since they will be immediately restored. Thank you. --MarkSweep 22:06, 7 Dec 2004 (UTC)

 * It's a little disappointing that your recent blocking does not appear to have taught you anything. Your recent edit to Talk:Sollog was disruptive and inappropriate. Be warned that your next piece of vandalism will see you banned for 1 month. --Rlandmann 12:01, 10 Dec 2004 (UTC)

 * If you have a legitimate complaint, post it to the appropriate mailing list. Creating offensive articles is definitely not the way. Any more trolling and you're blocked. End of message. Kosebamse 14:55, 11 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * For the record, NDC777 just created a page Jim Wales, content (now deleted) was: "Jim "Jimbo" Wales is the owner of Wikipedia. The financing for Wikipedia has come from Bomis.com. What most people don't know is that Bomis is a SEX SEARCH ENGINE. Wales has ADMITTED that Wiki financing has come from selling PORN. Wikipedia has another scam up its sleeve: Its moderators are biased and regularly delete LEGITIMATE, TRUTHFUL information and ban IP adresses of those posting the FACTS. Here's the link to the MAJOR WIKI EXPOSÉ by investigative journalist D.E. Alexander of 247News.net:" plus a link to http://www.247news.net/2004/20041211-wikipedia.shtml . Kosebamse 15:00, 11 Dec 2004 (UTC)

 * NDC777, please reread No legal threats. Your post here contained more talk about "a court case against" Wikipedia. --MarkSweep 20:11, 11 Dec 2004 (UTC)

title: User talk:NDC777


text:
Talk:Conger (syndicate)

Untitled
Another aspect of the Conger's operations, ended with the Statute of Queen Anne, has considerable contemporary relevance. The Conger also functioned as a copyright syndicate operation. Thus, Smith had purchased from Shakespeare or his company the copyright to the plays. Successors and assigns to that right still existed ca 1700 claiming the exclusive right (80 years after Bill's death) to publish his plays. And were upheld in that claim by the courts. Until passage of the Statute canceled the claim and established a limited term for copyright and thus for exclusive exploitation of creative work (at least for literary work) for commercial or other reasons. The application to the the contemporary scene is obvious (see Digital Rights Managment.

Someone who is better familiar with the legal history than I should have a whack at revising this article to reflect the copyright angle. A reasonable place to start is Lessig's Free Culture, from an expert on intellectual property and its history. His coverage of the Conger is in re copyright will be a good place to begin.

ww 22:06, 7 Dec 2004 (UTC)

title: Talk:Conger (syndicate)


text: Talk:Duct

title: Talk:Duct


text:
Colin Healy

Colin Healy (born 14 March 1980) is an Irish football manager and former player. He was appointed manager of Cork City F.C. in late 2020, and held the post until May 2023.

He started his senior career at Celtic, spending five years with the Scottish club before joining English side Sunderland in 2003, where he spent three years. He returned to Scotland in 2006 to sign for Livingston. After a short spell with Livingston he returned to England to join Barnsley. After leaving Barnsley in 2007, he joined Irish side Cork City, where he spent two years before joining English side Ipswich Town. He spent two years with Ipswich before returning to the Republic of Ireland to sign for former club Cork City. Healy represented the Republic of Ireland at youth and senior level. He made his senior debut for his country in 2002, going on to win 13 caps, scoring once.

Early career
Healy was born in Ballincollig, County Cork. He came from a sporting family, with his grandfather Paddy Healy having been a Gaelic footballer and hurler who won All-Ireland Senior Football Championship and All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship medals with the Cork inter-county football and hurling teams respectively in 1945 and 1946. Healy played local soccer with Ballincollig and then Wilton United. He attended the FAS/FAI course in Cork run by former Celtic and Cork City midfielder Mike Conroy and from here he was taken to Celtic Park. He would go on to score three goals for Celtic, his first coming in a league game against Dundee in February 2000. His other two goals came in Scottish League Cup ties against Hearts and Stirling Albion. With Celtic he won a Scottish League Cup medal, playing in the team that beat Kilmarnock 3–0 at Hampden on 18 March 2001.

Sunderland
Sunderland signed Healy from Celtic in 2003. In December 2003 he broke his leg in a match against a former loan club, Coventry City after a challenge by Moroccan international Youssef Safri.

In October 2004, he broke his leg again soon after resuming training with Sunderland, after a tackle from then manager Mick McCarthy. In January 2006, it was announced that Healy's contract with Sunderland had expired, and the midfielder left the club.

Livingston and Barnsley
Healy joined SPL club Livingston on 10 March 2006 until the end of the season. On 10 August 2006 Healy signed a one-year contract with Barnsley. Having made only 10 appearances for Barnsley, he had his contract cancelled by mutual consent.

Cork City and FIFA case
On 20 February 2007 he signed a two-year contract with hometown League of Ireland club Cork City, alongside former international colleague Gareth Farrelly. FIFA ruled both players to be unable to play for the club, citing a rule forbidding players from transferring between clubs more than twice in a 12-month period between July and June. FIFA rejected appeals made by both players. On 1 July 2007 both Healy and Gareth Farrelly became eligible to play for Cork City. On this date, they both played for the club's under-21 team against Lifford of Ennis, Co Clare, winning the game 2–0.

Healy made his full Cork City debut against Bohemians when they were beaten in extra time in the Eircom League Cup Quarter Final held at Dalymount Park on 3 July 2007.

Healy signed a two-year contract for Cork in 2009. In April 2009, Healy scored his first goal for Cork at Tallaght Stadium.

Ipswich Town
On 16 July 2009, it was confirmed that Cork City had accepted a £100,000 bid from Hartlepool United to take Healy and fellow Cork City teammate Denis Behan to Victoria Park, Hartlepool. However, five days later, Hartlepool United manager Chris Turner confirmed that the deal had not happened due to late interest from Ipswich Town. Healy subsequently signed for Ipswich for an undisclosed fee. In January 2010, he signed on-loan with Scottish Premier League club Falkirk. At Falkirk he scored once against Aberdeen.

Returning to Ipswich from the on-loan spell in Scotland, during the League Cup Semi-Final 2011 first leg win by Ipswich Town over Arsenal, it was commented that "Colin Healy made Cesc Fabregas look like Colin Healy". In February 2011 Healy scored his first goal for Ipswich against Doncaster Rovers. His contract was terminated by mutual consent in November 2011.

Return to Cork City
In 2013, Healy returned to Cork City on a three-year deal. His most memorable moment came against St Patrick's Athletic in 2014 when he scored a late over head kick against a fellow title rival. He and Cork finished runners up behind Dundalk for three years in a row and Healy lost the 2015 FAI Cup to Dundalk before finally winning a trophy in March 2016 in the Presidents Cup and the 2016 FAI Cup final where he came off the bench. He retired from playing in April 2017.

Coaching career
After retirement from playing he was Cork City's "head of academy" for a number of seasons before being appointed "first team head coach" in December 2020. He resigned the post in May 2023. On 13 February 2024, he was named as Eileen Gleeson's assistant manager of the Republic of Ireland women's national team alongside Emma Byrne on a permanent basis, having been in the role since 2023 while Gleeson was originally in interim charge of the team.

International career
Healy played and scored a goal against Australia at the FIFA World Youth Championship finals in Nigeria in 1999.

He represented his country at the UEFA U-19 Championship in Sweden in 1999, and won a bronze medal.

During the Saipan incident between Mick McCarthy and fellow Cork man Roy Keane at the 2002 FIFA World Cup, Healy was called upon by McCarthy as the replacement should Keane be dropped from the squad. A succession of changes-of-heart by the Manchester United player led to the call-up being delayed and the deadline passing, with Healy unable to join the World Cup squad.

Club

 * Source:

International

 * Source:

International goals

 * Source:

Republic of Ireland score listed first, score column indicates score after each Healy goal.

Honours

 * Celtic
 * Scottish Premier League: 2000–01
 * Scottish League Cup: 2000–01
 * Cork City
 * FAI Cup: 2007, 2016
 * Setanta Sports Cup: 2008
 * FAI President's Cup: 2016
 * Manager
 * League Of Ireland First Division: 2022
 * Individual
 * PFAI Team of the Year: 2014 Premier Division
 * League of Ireland Player of the Year: 2014

title: Colin Healy