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Rumaila oil field

The Rumaila oil field is a super-giant oil field located in southern Iraq, approximately 50km to the south west of Basra City. Discovered in 1953 by the Basrah Petroleum Company (BPC), an associate company of the Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC), the field is estimated to contain 17 billion barrels, which accounts for 12% of Iraq's oil reserves, estimated at 143 billion barrels. Rumaila is said to be the largest oilfield ever discovered in Iraq and one of the three largest oilfields in the world.

Under Abd al-Karim Qasim, the oilfield was nationalised by the Iraqi government by Public Law No. 80 on 11 December 1961. Since then, this massive oil field has remained under Iraqi control. The assets and rights of IPC were nationalized by Saddam Hussein in 1972, and those of BPC in 1975. The dispute between Iraq and Kuwait over alleged slant-drilling in the field was one of the reasons for Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990.

After decades of under investment, by the early 2000s, the field was suffering not only from the natural base decline of its reservoirs, but also from ageing infrastructure and equipment, compromising both production capacity, environmental protection and safety.

North Rumaila is called "the cemetery" by the locals. A local environmental scientist told the BBC that cancer in the area is so rife it is "like the flu".

The Rumaila Operating Organisation (ROO) continues to reduce gas flaring from its operated facilities at Rumaila. This reduced by a further 20% during 2022 – contributing to a reduction of more than 65% over the past seven years.

Ownership
The field is owned by Iraq (Basra Oil Company). Following bidding rounds in the first decade of the 2000s, a Technical Service Contract was signed between BOC and BP, PetroChina and the State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO) in 2009. This detailed the establishment of ROO as the operator of the oilfield and led to the introduction of new technologies and infrastructure, training and equipment for staff, and an extensive drilling and expansion programme.

In June 2022, Basra Energy Company Ltd (BECL), a company wholly owned by PetroChina and bp which manages the companies’ interests at the Rumaila oilfield, assumed the lead contractor role from bp, under the existing Technical Services Contract. BECL was established to enable continued and optimized investment in the field, including enhanced access to external financing. ROO remained as the operator. The Technical Services Contract was extended in 2014 and now runs until 2034.

Production
Transformation of the field began in 2010 and since then production has risen by 35%. During 2022, the field's reported production averaged 1421000 oilbbl/d making up around 30% of Iraq's oil production of 4.6 Moilbbl/d. As of 2019, about 550 production wells were operating at Rumaila.

Production Facilities

The field is operated by Rumaila Operating Organisation. Facilities include a headquarters, waste management centre, supply base and training academy. There are also seven operational cluster pump stations and with 14 degassing stations - seven in the North field and seven in the South field. These degassing stations provide 3-phase separation (oil, water, and natural gas). Crude oil is sent by pipeline to local refineries or ports in Basra for export. Natural gas is provided to the Basrah Gas Company, as well as being used in the recently built Rumaila Power Plant which provides electricity to various oilfield facilities. Water is disposed into disposal wells. Degassing station names:
 * North Rumaila: DS1, DS2, DS3, DS4, DS5, NIDS, SIDS
 * South Rumaila: Markazia (Rumaila), Janubia, Shamiya, Qurainat, Mishrif Shamiya, Mishrif Qurainat, Ratqa

Reserves
Rumaila reportedly holds an estimated 17 billion barrels of oil; which accounts for 12% of Iraq's oil reserves, estimated at 143.1 billion barrels. The oil sits approximately 2400 m below the surface which is considered an easy target for production. At current production rate of 1421000 oilbbl/d, the reserves-to-production ratio is just under 35 years.

Importance
Rumaila oil field was critical in the 1990 Gulf War. Iraq, after accusing Kuwait of allegedly side-drilling under Iraqi soil, launched an attack on Kuwait on 2 August 1990. In addition, Kuwait had been producing quantities of oil, which were above treaty limits established by OPEC. In fact, before the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait in 1990, Kuwait had drilled only 8 vertical wells in its part of the Rumaila field and the production was limited due to different technical problems. The issue for Kuwait was territorial more than oil. Kuwait never drilled deviated wells that crossed the Iraqi borders. After the liberation of Kuwait in 1991, the United Nation border demarcation committee went back to the historical data and shifted the Kuwaiti border toward the north which meant that Iraq was producing from Kuwaiti territory.

During the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the Iraqi Ground Forces laid an 18 km long defensive minefield across it, which contained an estimated 100,000 mines. Iraqi forces also set fire to parts of the oil field as a defensive maneuver, though these fires were later extinguished by Coalition forces.

Cancer risk
Gas, when burned openly, can produce pollutants that are linked to cancer. Iraqi law prohibits gas-burning less than 10 km from people's homes, but the BBC found in 2022 that gas was being burned as close as 350 meters from people's homes. A leaked report from the Iraqi Ministry of Health blamed air pollution for a 20% rise in cancer in Basra between 2015 and 2018; however, the Ministry of Health also prohibited its employees from speaking about the health damage. Iraqi Environment Minister Jassem al-Falahi later admitted that "pollution from oil production is the main reason for increases in local cancer rates." None of the affected locals received compensation.

The Rumaila Operating Organisation has reduced gas flaring at its operated facilities by more than 65% since 2016.

title: Rumaila oil field


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Computus Runicus

The Computus Runicus was a runic calendar produced in 1328 and found on the Swedish island of Gotland. A transcription/description of the text - called Computus Runicus - was published in 1626 by the Danish physician and antiquarian Ole Worm (Olaus Wormius) (1588–1654).

Description
The text consists of the 12 calendar pages and a series of additional pages with detailed explanations for finding information used in the medieval computus, including golden numbers and epacts.

The calendar is written in medieval runes with a gloss in Latin and some places also in Swedish added by Worm. It follows a standard layout for a Medieval calendar similar to those found in a book of hours, with Christian feasts and saint's days. Worm attempted to identify some of the unusual symbols found in the calendar, including one marking fast days and another marking the beginning of the Zodiac months which curiously start on the 18th day of each month instead of the more common 20th or 21st.

As with any medieval calendar, there is a column for the golden numbers used in the Metonic cycle (to find the date of Easter) and another column for the dominical letters (to find the date of Sunday each week). January 31 and the month of February have an additional column to be used for finding the beginning of Lent, while March and April have an additional column to assist with finding the date of Easter. The author used a similar system of rune replacements for the Latin letters and Roman numerals as those commonly found in other runic calendars, including the use of the extra runes Arlaug, Tvimadur, and Belgthor to represent the Golden Numbers 17, 18, and 19.

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

title: Computus Runicus


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Internets

"Internets", also known as "The Internets", is a Bushism-turned catchphrase used humorously to portray the speaker as ignorant about the Internet or about technology in general, or alternatively as having a provincial or folksy attitude toward technology. Former United States President George W. Bush first used the word publicly during the 2000 election campaign. The term gained cachet as an Internet humor meme following Bush's use of the term in the second 2004 presidential election debate on October 8, 2004.

Presidential usages
Bush used the word Internets in his third presidential debate against Al Gore on October 17, 2000:

"JOYCE CLEAMER, AUDIENCE MEMBER: …I'm very concerned about the morality of our country now. TV, movies, the music that our children are, you know, barraged with every day. And I want to know if there's anything that can be worked out with the—Hollywood, or whoever, to help get rid of some of this bad language and whatever, you know... BUSH: ... You bet there's things that government can do. We can work with the entertainment industry to provide family hour. We can have filters on Internets where public money is spent. There ought to be filters in public libraries and filters in public schools so if kids get on the Internet, there is not going to be pornography or violence coming in."

In the 2004 election's second debate in St. Louis, Missouri, this time opposing John Kerry, Bush used the word Internets in response to an audience question about a potential military draft:

"DANIEL FARLEY, AUDIENCE MEMBER: Mr. President, since we continue to police the world, how do you intend to maintain our military presence without reinstituting a draft? BUSH: Yes, that's a great question. Thanks. I hear there's rumors on the, uh, Internets [pause] that we're going to have a draft. We're not going to have a draft, period. The all-volunteer army works. It works particularly when we pay our troops well. It works when we make sure they've got housing, like we have done in the last military budgets."

The word "Internets" as used by Bush is capitalized in the official debate transcript.

The official transcript follows the word "Internets" with "(sic)". The transcript also omits the filler word "uh" preceding "Internets". Video footage of the quotation shows the full version.

Bush used Internets for a third time on May 2, 2007:

"Information is moving—you know, nightly news is one way, of course, but it's also moving through the blogosphere and through the Internets."

During a discussion on education at a Twitter-themed town hall meeting on July 6, 2011, at the White House, President Barack Obama used the term "Internets" and quickly corrected his statement.

Reaction
On the evening of October 9, 2004, the day following the Bush/Kerry debate, Saturday Night Live parodied Bush with Will Forte's impression of George W. Bush:

"I hear there's rumors on the Internets that we're going to have a draft. I don't know how many of these Internets are carrying these rumors, but they're just wrong. I think the problem here may be more of a question of getting rid of the bad Internets and keeping the good Internets. You know, 'cause I think we can all agree … there're just too many Internets."

The Saturday Night Live parody was replayed the following morning on CNN's Inside Politics Sunday. Numerous homages and parodies, most including an audio or video clip from the second 2004 debate, appeared on other humor and entertainment web sites, including YTMND, and spread virally on the Internet.

On his show The Colbert Report, comedian Stephen Colbert consistently referred to "the Internet" as "the Internets". During one episode Colbert's character, also named Stephen Colbert, states,

Last night, as I was surfing the Internets … literally: My backyard wave pool has Wi-Fi …

Keith Olbermann similarly made use of the term during his Oddball segment whenever viral videos are covered. The term continues to appear as a popular topic tag on both technical and political blogs.

Other use of "internets"
In general, an internet (uncapitalized) results from the connection (internetworking) of at least two computer networks by establishing a gateway (router) between them. It is proper to pluralize this term. For example, RFC 1918 refers to "Address Allocation for Private Internets". However, since the establishment of the Internet, this usage has been less common.

A much lesser-known recorded use of "internets" actually preceded Bush's use in the October 17, 2000 debate with Al Gore by about eight months. It appeared in a sketch of the comedy show Upright Citizen's Brigade in the episode entitled "Music", which was aired February 7, 2000. In the sketch, the host of a country-western music TV show tells a guest from New York City that "[t]here's a whole lot of things you can't learn in your fancy books and internets."

In 2010, in a Los Angeles Times interview, author Ray Bradbury (author of Fahrenheit 451), who was distrustful of modern technology, said "We have too many cellphones. We've got too many Internets."

title: Internets


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User:Jholland

Volunteer for wikipedia.

title: User:Jholland


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Identity (object-oriented programming)

In object-oriented programming, object-oriented design and object-oriented analysis, the identity of an object is its being distinct from any other object, regardless of the values of the objects' properties. Having identity is a fundamental property of objects.

This is closely related to the philosophical concept of identity.

Identity and references
A reference can be used to refer to an object with a specific identity. A reference contains the information that is necessary for the identity property to be realized in the programming language, and allows access to the object with the identity. A type of a target of a reference is a role. Typically, references are isomorphic to memory addresses. However, multiple such references can refer to the same object, if some form of address mapping is present (virtual addresses / page tables / memory segments).

Object identity is less useful as a semantic concept in environments or situations in which the structure of objects is not encapsulated, and two objects are considered to be the same object based on having identical properties, even if they are not actually the same physical instance (structural equivalence). However, object identity can nevertheless provide optimization. A function which tests whether two arguments are the same object can quickly short circuit to an affirmative answer if the two arguments have the same identity (are references to the same instance). Only if the argument are distinct objects do the individual properties need to be considered to determine equality, which is a more expensive operation. For instance, bignum integers may be heap-allocated objects such that two bignums are considered to be the same if they represent the same number. It might be a waste of machine cycles in the equality function not to take advantage of the discovery that the two arguments being compared are references to the same bignum.

Consequences of identity
Identity of objects allows objects to be treated as black boxes. The object need not expose its internal structure. It can still be referred to, and its other properties can be accessed via its external behaviour associated with the identity. The identity provides a mechanism for referring to such parts of the object that are not exposed in the interface. Thus, identity is the basis for polymorphism in object-oriented programming.

Identity allows comparison of references. Two references can be compared whether they are equal or not. Due to the identity property, this comparison has special properties. If the comparison of references indicates that the references are equal, then it's clear that the two objects pointed by the references are the same object. If the references do not compare equal, then it's not necessarily guaranteed that the identity of the objects behind those references is different. The object identity of two objects of the same type is the same, if every change to either object is also a change to the other object.

Identity and object-oriented conceptual model
Identity allows the construction of a platonic ideal world, the ontology or conceptual model, that is often used as basis of object-oriented thinking. The conceptual model describes the client side view to a domain, terminology or an API. This world contains point-like objects as instances, properties of the objects and links between those objects. The objects in the world can be grouped to form classes. The properties of the objects can be grouped to form roles. The links can be grouped to form associations. All locations in the world together with the links between the locations form the structure of the world. These groups are types of the corresponding instances of the world.

title: Identity (object-oriented programming)


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Golescu

Golescu may refer to:

Golescu family of Romania

 * Stroe Golescu, or Stroe Leurdeanu (c. 1600–1678/9), statesman and intriguer
 * Radu Golescu (1746–1818), statesman
 * Dinicu Golescu (1777–1830), politician and writer
 * Zoe Golescu (1792–1879), revolutionary
 * Ștefan Golescu (1809–1874), politician
 * Nicolae Golescu (1810–1877), politician
 * Alexandru G. Golescu (1819–1881), politician

Other uses

 * Golescu Bridge, Satu Mare, Romania

title: Golescu


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Sattahip district

Sattahip (สัตหีบ, ) is a district (amphoe) in Chonburi province, Thailand. It is at the southern tip of the province southeast of Bangkok. In 2014, the district had a population of 157,000 in an area of 348.122 km2.

Geography

Neighboring districts are Bang Lamung to the north, Ban Chang of Rayong province to the east, and the Gulf of Thailand to the south and west.

Islands
Several islands are in Sattahip District, the largest of which is Ko Khram Yai. Many of the islands are in Sattahip Bay (อ่าวสัตหีบ).

History
The history of Sattahip begins with a woman named Jang, who owned much land in Sattahip District. Admiral Prince Abhakara Kiartivongse, a son of King Rama V, was sent to create a naval base at Sattahip. He thought it was perfect owing to the many small islands that protected it from wind and waves. He asked Jang for land on the seacoast, and she donated the area that the prince needed.

In Thai, satta (สัต) means 'seven', while hip (หีบ) means 'box' or 'barrier'. Thus, Sattahip means the 'seven barriers', which are the islands that protect the coast of the district. These islands are Ko Phra, Ko Yo, Ko Mu, Ko Tao Mo, Ko Nen, Ko San Chalam and Ko Bo.

The minor district (king amphoe) Sattahip was created on 1 April 1937 by separating the sub-districts Sattahip and Na Chom Thien from Bang Lamung district. It was upgraded to a full district in 1953.

Administration
The district is divided into five tambons, or sub-districts, which are further subdivided into 41 mubans, or villages. There are three thesaban tambons, or municipalities: Sattahip, Na Chom Thian, and Bang Sare. Sattahip covers parts of tambons Sattahip and Phlu Ta Luang. Na Chom Thian and Bang Sare each parts of the same-named tambon. There are a further five tambon administrative organizations.

title: Sattahip district


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File:Golden Earring - Bloody Buccaneers.jpg

Cover for album Bloody Buccaneers by Golden Earring.

Fair use rationale for

 * It is believed that the use of this image on the English-language Wikipedia to illustrate an article on the audio recording in question falls under the "Non-profit educational" clause of the Fair Use doctrine currently upheld by United States law. (17 U.S.C. § 107)
 * The image is irreplaceable; a free analogue is impossible to produce as the original will be covered by copyright for the foreseeable future
 * Owing to the limited web-resolution of the image, only a small portion of a copyrighted work is used
 * For the same reasons, the portion of the copyrighted work used is of inherently lower quality than the original, reducing the risk of competitiveness and therefore the effects of this copy on the market for or value of versions held by the owner of the copyright


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Arthur Waskow

Arthur Ocean Waskow (born Arthur I. Waskow; 1933) is an American author, political activist, and rabbi associated with the Jewish Renewal movement.

Education and early career
Waskow was born in Baltimore, Maryland. He received a bachelor's degree from Johns Hopkins University in 1954 and a Ph.D. in American history from University of Wisconsin–Madison. He worked from 1959 to 1961 as legislative assistant to Congressman Robert Kastenmeier of Wisconsin. He was a senior fellow at the Peace Research Institute from 1961 through 1963. He joined Richard Barnet and Marcus Raskin and helped to found the Institute for Policy Studies in 1963, and he served as resident fellow until 1977.

In 1968 Waskow was elected an alternate delegate from the District of Columbia to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. His delegation was pledged to support Robert F. Kennedy, and after Kennedy's assassination, Waskow proposed and the delegation agreed to nominate Reverend Channing Phillips, chair of the delegation, for President, the first Black American to be nominated at a major party convention.

Waskow was a contributing editor to Ramparts magazine, which published his "Freedom Seder" in 1969. The "Freedom Seder" was the first widely published Passover Haggadah that intertwined the archetypal liberation of the Israelites from slavery in Ancient Egypt with more modern liberation struggles such as the Civil Rights Movement and the women's movement.

Through the 1960s, Waskow was active in writing, speaking, electoral politics, and nonviolent action against the Vietnam War. After 1963, he participated in sit-ins and teach-ins and was arrested many times for protests against racial segregation, the Vietnam War, the Soviet Union's oppression of Jews, South African apartheid, and the Iraq war. In 1967, he was the co-author, with Marcus Raskin, of "A Call to Resist Illegitimate Authority," a widely influential manifesto in support of those who resisted the military draft during the Vietnam War. In 1968, he signed the "Writers and Editors War Tax Protest" pledge, vowing to refuse tax payments in protest against U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War.

Religious initiatives
Since 1969, Waskow has taken a leadership role in the Jewish Renewal movement. In 1971, he helped found the Fabrangen Havurah in Washington, DC. He notes that his experience at Fabrangen inspired his 1978 book Godwrestling. From 1982 to 1989, Waskow was a member of the faculty of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, where he taught courses on contemporary theology and practical rabbinics. He also taught in the religion departments of Swarthmore College, Temple University, Drew University, and Vassar College.

He founded The Shalom Center in 1983 and serves as its director. At first the center primarily addressed the threat of nuclear war; as the times demanded, it turned its focus toward ecology and human rights, then opposition to attacks on American Muslims and to the US War in Iraq, and more recently the dangers of global warming and the climate crisis. In 1993, Waskow co-founded ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal. Between 1993 and 2005, he performed research, wrote, and spoke on behalf of ALEPH.

Waskow was ordained a rabbi in 1995 by a transdenominational beth din (rabbinical court) made up of Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, with Lubavitch Hasidic lineage; Rabbi Max Ticktin, ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary (Conservative); Rabbi Laura Geller, ordained by the Hebrew Union College (Reform); and feminist theologian Dr. Judith Plaskow.

Waskow's best-known books include Godwrestling, Seasons of Our Joy, Down-to-Earth Judaism: Food, Money, Sex, and the Rest of Life, and Godwrestling — Round 2: Ancient Wisdom, Future Paths. With Sr. Joan Chittister, OSB, and Murshid Saadi Shakur Chisti, he co-authored The Tent of Abraham. With Rabbi Phyllis Berman he co-authored Tales of Tikkun: New Jewish Stories to Heal the Wounded World, A Time for Every Purpose Under Heaven: The Jewish Life-Spiral as a Spiritual Journey, and Freedom Journeys: Tales of Exodus and Wilderness Across Millennia. He was the managing co-editor of Trees, Earth, and Torah: A Tu B'Shvat Anthology, and he edited Torah of the Earth: 4,000 Years of Jewish Thought on Ecology (2 vols).

Views and public honors
Waskow took pioneering roles in supporting the full presence and equality of women and of LGBTQ people in all aspects of Jewish life and religion, including same-sex marriage; in mobilizing opposition in the Jewish and general communities to the Vietnam and then the Iraq wars; beginning in 1969, after his first summer-long sojourn in Israel and visits to the Occupied Territories, urging a two-state peace settlement between Israel and Palestine; in treating the planetary climate and extinction crises as a profound concern of Torah, necessitating action by the Jewish community; and in urging the Jewish community to treat the increasing concentration of top-down power by small minorities of the ultra-rich and by giant corporations as the reappearance of "pharaoh" in modern American life. In 2011, he (with Daniel Sieradski) co-inspired the creation of "Kol Nidre in the Streets" as a part of Occupy Wall Street. Since spring 2012 he has been a member of the Coordinating Committee of the US National Council of Elders, a network of veteran activists of the crucial justice and peace movements of the mid-20th century who are continuing their nonviolent social action and are partnering with the new movements of the 21st century.

Waskow pioneered in the development of Eco-Judaism in theology, liturgy, daily practice, and activism—through his books mentioned above as well as Torah of the Earth: 4,000 Years of Ecology in Jewish Thought and his essay on “Jewish Environmental Ethics: Adam and Adamah,” in Oxford Handbook of Jewish Ethics and Morality. Other activities included the Green Menorah organizing project of The Shalom Center, the Interfaith Freedom Seder for the Earth and climate-focused public actions drawing on traditional liturgies for Tu B’Shvat, Passover, Tisha B’Av, Sukkot, and Hanukkah, and running as a candidate for the World Zionist Congress on the Green Zionist Alliance slate. In 2010, Waskow joined in founding the Green Hevra, a network of Eco-Jewish organizations, and served on its stewardship committee till 2013. In 2012 he became a member of the steering committee of Interfaith Moral Action on Climate. He is also a practitioner of nonviolent civil disobedience who has been arrested in climate protests in the US Capitol, at the White House, and at Philadelphia conclaves of fracking corporate leaders.

In 2007, Newsweek named him one of the fifty most influential American rabbis. In that year also, the Neighborhood Interfaith Movement of Philadelphia presented him its Rev. Richard Fernandez Religious Leadership Award, and the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation presented him its Peace and Justice Award. The Forward named him one of America's "Forward Fifty," creative leaders of American Jewish life. In 2014 he was honored by T'ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights with its first Lifetime Achievement Award as a Human Rights Hero. In 2015, The Jewish Daily Forward named him one of "America's most inspiring rabbis".

In 2017, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College awarded Waskow its once-a-year honorary doctorate of humane letters.

Waskow taught as a Visiting Professor in the religion departments of Swarthmore College (1982–83, on the thought of Martin Buber and on the Book of Genesis and its rabbinic and modern interpretations); Temple University (1975–76 on contemporary Jewish theology and 1985–86, on liberation theologies in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam); Drew University (1997–1998, on the ecological outlooks of ancient, rabbinic, and contemporary Judaism and on the synthesis of mysticism, feminism, and social action in the theology and practice of Jewish renewal); Vassar College (1999 on Jewish Renewal and Feminist Judaism); from 1982 to 1989 on the faculty of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (contemporary theology and practical rabbinics); and in 2005 on the faculty of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute for Religion (the first course on Eco-Judaism in any rabbinical seminary).

Beginning with his first arrest in 1963, in a walk-in to end racial segregation by a Baltimore amusement park, and continuing through his arrest at the US Capitol in 2016 in a protest calling for more democratic election processes in the US — getting what he called "Hyper-Wealth" out of election campaigns and ending voter suppression aimed at disfranchising especially racial and ethnic minorities, the poor, the young, and the old— and most recently with arrests in Philadelphia at the ICE offices in protest of US governmental hostility to refugees and immigrants—he was arrested about 26 additional times, each time for a non-violent protest against racism, militarism, polluting the Earth, or interference with democratic process. He claimed each as a public honor and religious act, in the spirit of the remark by Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel after the Selma March for voting rights: "I felt as if my legs were praying."

He continues to be a prolific writer and speaker in the public sphere on the topic of social justice through a Jewish Renewal lens. The Arthur Ocean Waskow Papers (1948-2009)] are archived at the American Jewish Historical Society. More recent papers are archived at the University of Colorado in Boulder.

title: Arthur Waskow


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Bernard Smith (organ builder)

"Father" Bernard Smith (c. 1630 – 1708) was a German-born master organ maker in England in the late seventeenth century.

Smith born as Bernhardt Schmidt in Halle, Germany, served his apprenticeship in Germany before emigrating to England in 1667. In 1681 he became the king's organ maker and, in 1699, built an organ for the Banqueting House, Whitehall, which was at that time serving as a Chapel Royal to the court of William and Mary. The organ case is now at the Chapel Royal of St Peter ad Vincula at the Tower of London. Along with his hated rival Renatus Harris he was one of the two most prominent organ builders in late seventeenth-century Britain.

The rivalry between Smith and Harris led to the famous Battle of the Organs in 1684, when both were bidding for the contract to build the new organ for the Temple Church, London. Each man erected an organ in the Temple Church and then hired prominent organists to demonstrate the superiority of their instrument. Smith hired John Blow and Henry Purcell as his organists and won the contest.

Remnants of Smith organs survive at various places in the United Kingdom, though most survivals comprise only the casework. One of the best preserved cases is in the chapel of Trinity College, Cambridge. The organ that is now contained in this case (by Metzler, 1975) contains a number of restored Smith ranks. Other notable Smith cases (this list is not exhaustive) can be found at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, Emmanuel College, Cambridge, St Mary the Great, Cambridge, St Paul's Cathedral, London, and the above-mentioned chapel of St Peter ad Vincula. The west front of the organ at Durham Cathedral is preserved in the south aisle of the nave, and the choir organ is now the organ (with some original Smith ranks in use) of the chapel of University College, Durham.

Another surviving example of his work is in St Paul's pro-cathedral, Malta. This organ originated in Chester Cathedral before being installed in Malta in 1844.

Bernard Smith was buried in St Margaret's Church, Westminster, London, on the south side of the chancel, on 20 March 1708. There is no marker or monument. In the burial register he is described as "organ maker in ordinary".

title: Bernard Smith (organ builder)


text: User talk:216.20.234.114

title: User talk:216.20.234.114


text: Category:Runestones

title: Category:Runestones


text:
Gotti (1996 film)

Gotti is a 1996 American crime drama television film directed by Robert Harmon and written by Steve Shagan, based in part on the 1996 non-fiction book Gotti: Rise and Fall by Jerry Capeci and Gene Mustain. The film stars Armand Assante in the title role as infamous Gambino crime family boss John Gotti, along with William Forsythe, and Anthony Quinn. It aired on HBO on August 17, 1996.

Assante won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Special for his performance. Assante received nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie the same year.

Plot
The film starts In 1973 in New York, and ends in 1992, with Gotti's imprisonment. Gotti's association with three mobsters is also highlighted in the film: a father-son like relationship with family underboss Aniello "Mr. Neil" Dellacroce, his deep but rocky friendship with Gotti crew member and longtime friend Angelo Ruggiero, and the respect and ultimate frustration that he felt for the man who became his underboss, Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano.

The film details Gotti's rise within the Gambino crime family and his ranks from soldier, then captain (or capo), and finally, boss. The final title was achieved through the dramatic murder in public of Gambino family boss Paul Castellano in 1985. Following the murder of Castellano, the film concentrates on the legal trials of John Gotti: one for assault and two for racketeering under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) statutes.

Gotti's famous personality, trial acquittals, and media attention are all dramatized. The film ends with Gotti's conviction and sentencing to life imprisonment at Marion Federal Penitentiary in Marion, Illinois, because Gravano turns state's evidence and agrees to testify against Gotti. The film is primarily based on the columns of reporter Jerry Capeci, who also wrote the novel that documented Gotti's rise and fall inside the Gambino crime family, and served as executive producer of the film which was based on his novel.

Production
Shooting took place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Assante put on 35 pounds to play Gotti.

Reception
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 60% rating based on five reviews, with an average rating of 5.20/10. Jeremy Girard of Variety called it "a fairly standard-issue gangster flick" that is problematic for its matter-of-fact presentation. Caryn James of The New York Times criticized its "docudrama syndrome", in which biographical dramas adhere closely to the historical record to prevent lawsuits despite the need for more characterization.

Howard Rosenberg of the Los Angeles Times called it "one of the better mob movies of the decade, and surely the best gangster portrait ever made primarily for television". TV Guide rated it 2/5 stars and described it as too detailed for casual viewers and too inaccurate for enthusiasts.

title: Gotti (1996 film)


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Shifnal

Shifnal is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire, England, about 4 mi east of Telford, 17 miles (27 km) east of Shrewsbury and 13 miles (20 km) west-northwest of Wolverhampton. It is near the M54 motorway and A5 road aka Watling Street. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 6,391, increasing to 6,776 at the 2011 census.

Etymology
Shifnal is thought to be the place named "Scuffanhalch" in a 9th-century charter, as a possession of the monastery at Medeshamstede (later Peterborough Abbey). Though this seems a dubious claim, and the ancient charter is in fact a 12th-century forgery, the full picture is more complex. Sir Frank Stenton considered that "Scuffanhalch", along with "Costesford" (Cosford) and "Stretford", formed part of a list of places which had once been connected with Medeshamstede; and the charter purports to have been issued by King Æthelred of Mercia, during much of whose reign the bishop of Mercia was Sexwulf (or "Saxwulf"), founder and first abbot of Medeshamstede.

The first part of the name "Shifnal" is reckoned to be a personal name, "Scuffa", while the second part, from "halh", means a valley, thus describing the town's topography.

Unusually, the name of the town has alternated through the centuries between Idsall and Shifnal. Idsall (said to be relating to potential Roman links) is mentioned in a 9th-century charter as "Iddeshale", meaning "Idi's nook" or corner. A nook is said to be an area of land of approximately 20 acre. It is often conjectured that the two names of Idsall and Shifnal were names of settlements on the east and west sides respectively of Wesley Brook, a brook which runs through the town, and is a tributary of the River Worfe. In the 19th century, J. C. Anderson, in his Shropshire its Early History and Antiquities, wrote that Idsall means "Hall of Ide", and that Shifnal is "Hall of Sceafa".

A Key to English Place-names has an entry for Shifnal that reads '*Scuffa's nook of land'. It was also known as Iddeshale, '*Idi's nook of land'.

Pre-Norman
The town most probably began as an Anglian settlement, established by the end of the 7th century. The oldest part of the town is said to be the area around St Andrew's Church, Church Street and Innage Road where excavations have turned up evidence of ancient buildings.

Norman
The village, as it would have been in 1086, is recorded in the Domesday Book within the hundred of Alnodestreu. The initial part of the entry states:

"Robert, son of Theobald, holds of Earl Roger Iteshale. Earl Morcar held it.'"

This entry records that possession was lost by the Saxon Earl Morcar when he rebelled against the Norman conquerors.

The church of St Andrew has a Norman chancel and was almost certainly built on the site of an earlier church. It was a collegiate church or minster with a chapter of priests ministering to the needs of congregations in outlying settlements. St Andrew's lost its collegiate status when it was given to Shrewsbury Abbey c. 1087.

Plantagenet period
In 1245 Walter de Dunstanville, the Crusader and lord of the manor, applied to King Henry III for, and was granted, a market charter for the town. Walter then laid out a broad market street that is Broadway, Bradford Street, Market Place and Park Street for the markets. This area to the east of the stream was known as Shifnal and gradually this name superseded Idsall as the town's name.

Just outside of Shifnal are the Caynton Caves, a system carved into the sandstone. Local legend has them made by followers of the Knights Templar 700 years ago, although Historic England – the government body responsible for historic monuments – believes the caves were probably excavated in the late 18th or early 19th Century.

Tudor and Stuart times
Shifnal had something of an early industrial revolution during the late 16th century with the construction of a charcoal fired blast furnace near to the Manor House.

A fire swept through the town on 7 July 1591, setting alight the roof of the church. The fire is thought to have been started by a maidservant's candle that accidentally set fire to some hanging flax. The fire devastated many, if not all, of the buildings east of the Wesley Brook. The church, although damaged with its bells melted and reportedly reduced to its standing walls, and the timber-framed Old Idsall House at its foot to the east (a listed building), are said to be the only two buildings to have survived the fire that destroyed the rest of the settlement. This is now commemorated by a blue plaque fixed to the wall of the house. After the fire, Elizabeth I sent money to help rebuild the town.

A wall memorial tablet inside St Andrew's Church is for Mary Yates – known locally as Nanny Murphy – who walked to London as a teenager just after the Great Fire in 1666, married her third husband Joseph Yates when she was 92, and died at the age of 127. There is a Nanny Murphy's Lane just to the north of Shifnal. The same stone memorial tablet records that William Wakely was baptised on 1 May 1590 and was buried on 28 November 1714, after living through the reigns of eight kings and queens.

The best example of Shropshire Scroll, a 16th-century style of swirling wall painting unique to the county, was uncovered in 2010 by renovators in a Grade II listed property on Broadway. The 2 m by 2.5 m work, on display at what is now the Black Orchid hair salon, had been hidden behind a wall for more than a century.

18th and 19th centuries
Aston Hall, built about 1720 at the east side of the town, was home to tobacco plantation and slave owners, George Austin and John Moultrie, the latter rising to be acting governor of East Florida. Austin was born in the town in 1710, the son of a mercer and went to South Carolina where he became involved in developing tobacco plantations, one of which he named Shifnal, 1,415 acres next to the Ashepoo river and which had 85 slaves. Austin became one of the wealthiest men in the colonies, but following disputes with his business partner, Henry Laurens, returned to England in 1762 and settled at Aston Hall. Austin was also responsible for the first person of colour recorded as living in Shifnal. In 1766 Benjamin Priouleu "a black servant to Mr Austin" was baptised in the town. 19 years later the parish records note that Lucy Bartlet "a black woman" was buried there. In 1771, Moultrie became Lieutenant-Governor of Florida and encouraged a road-building programme. He became acting governor when his predecessor, James Grant, was invalided home in 1771 and held the position until 1774. Three of his brothers were key players on opposing sides of the American War of Independence.

Thomas Beddoes, a well-known physician, was born in 1760 at Balcony House, named for a room projecting above the roof line, on the east side of Market Place. This building later became the Star Hotel.

A Baptist church was established in Aston Street at the end of the 18th century, but it closed down before the 20th century. Thomas Telford upgraded Watling Street, the turnpike road that passed through the town, in the late 18th century. This road carried traffic from London to Shrewsbury, Chester and Holyhead for Ireland, bringing considerable prosperity to the town.

There had been a regular stagecoach service through the town from 1681, but when mail coaches began to pass through from 1785 transport became important in the local economy, rising to 18 coaches a day by 1829. Passengers could rest from their travels at three coaching inns: the Jerningham Arms, the Star Hotel and the Unicorn. At the beginning of the 19th century, the Holyhead mail coach could travel from London to Shifnal in 27 hours: by 1831 that had been reduced that to 16.5 hours, using 150 horses along the route. However traffic was already declining by 1844, when there were only nine coaches a day. When the railways reached the town in 1849 the remaining trade rapidly disappeared.

During this period of prosperity many new houses were built, lending Shifnal a Georgian air. The name Idsall was still used to distinguish the area around the St Andrew's Church and the Manor from the market and commercial area of Shifnal.

There are records of a parish workhouse in operation in Shifnal in 1777 with accommodation for up to 40 inmates. A new parish workhouse was built on Park Street in 1817. It was adopted as the workhouse for the Shifnal Poor Law Union and was enlarged in 1840–1 at about £800. The number of inmates was never more than 100. The buildings later became part of Shifnal Hospital before being turned into homes.

In 1855 a house on Broadway, used by the town's 200-odd Catholics for mass, was burnt down during an anti-Irish riot. Lord Stafford replaced it in 1860 with a combination school and church he built on land he donated at the corner of Victoria Road and Shrewsbury Road. The school closed about 1917, but the building has continued as a church. The present presbytery on Victoria Road, the original school-master's house, still has Lord Stafford's coat of arms above the door.

The railway line from London and Birmingham to Holyhead was constructed through Shifnal at high level in the late 1840s. The massive viaduct for the railway divided the town: its construction was a considerable engineering achievement, crossing the marshy valley of the Wesley Brook on foundations laid on coarse twigs and vast numbers of sheep fleeces. The original cast iron arched bridge was replaced in 1953 by a more functional but less attractive steel one. The opening of the line on 12 November 1849 brought an abrupt end to the already declining coaching traffic. The viaducts constructed were cast by Horseley Ironworks.

The Shifnal Bank Fraud
One of the biggest bank frauds in Victorian Britain took place in Shifnal when a director and staff stole almost £244,000, worth the equivalent of £16 million today. Alongside the 'insider jobs' were allegations of blackmail, cover-ups and fraudsters being helped to escape.

The Shropshire Banking Company was formed in 1836 from four local banks: in Newport, Wellington, Coalbrookdale and Shifnal. Shifnal became its head office and Abraham Darby IV, of the historic iron master dynasty, was among its first chairmen.

Initially the bank seemed to do well, paying local investors dividends of 12.5 per cent a year, and was successful enough to need new premises in Park Street, Shifnal, with heavy security measures but, in 1856, the bank was forced to write off £193,834 to cover losses through fraud. It emerged that one of the directors, John Horton, had taken an unauthorised overdraft of £10,000 "against worthless security". Horton, who was being paid £300 a year as a director, was forced to resign. However his fraud was dwarfed by the £234,000 siphoned off by the bank's manager, Allen, and his cashier Gilbert over a decade.

Although the police arrived to arrest Allen in Shifnal he managed to slip away while they were on the premises, one version has him vaulting over the counter to escape, reportedly after being tipped off by the bank's directors.

Gilbert gave information about his part of the fraud on the understanding that, if he paid back what he had stolen, he would not be prosecuted. Although he returned £53,000 in cash and £87,000 worth of securities, this was still £25,000 short of what he had taken.

Allen meanwhile had taken £159,000, and it appears that this was never returned: all the directors found were vague statements about speculation in mining and railway shares.

The incident had the air of a cover-up, with the full story suppressed by the directors: newspaper reporters were barred from a crisis shareholders' meeting at the Jerningham Arms opposite; a barrister was brought in to represent the directors and "skilfully parry" questions from angry shareholders, who were prevented from reading out statements "for some insufficient reason".

Allen was never prosecuted: a report in The Shrewsbury Chronicle says Allen "told directors he would expose them and break up the company. It would seem from the fact of him having left the neighbourhood upon the hint being given to him by some of the directors, that they are afraid of his threat".

When shareholders demanded to know why Allen had been allowed to escape the directors said "it was on best advice" and refused to reveal more on "the ground of the impolicy of telling all they knew of the past".

To cover the losses the bank's directors lent it £120,000: £100,000 from Henry Dickenson, who took over as chairman, and £5,000 each from four others: they never asked for their loans to be repaid, and their cash injection was used as a foundation to raise more money from shareholders.

The Shropshire Banking Company recovered quickly under Dickenson; six months later the directors were given a unanimous vote of thanks by shareholders and it grew steadily over the next few years, finally being bought by Lloyds Bank in 1874.

The 20th and 21st centuries
Hinckesman's Brewery Company was established at Hinnington spring, just south of the town, in 1897, and changed its name to the Shifnal Brewery Company in 1899. After closing in 1910 the name was revived in 1927 before being acquired by Broadway Brewery (Shifnal) in 1934. In turn this was acquired by Banks's of Wolverhampton in 1960.

The Star Hotel was demolished after a fire in 1911.

The Eight Bells or Ring of Bells was occupied in 1911 by the Pitchford family, descendants of the nobility who took their name from the area of Pitchford in Shropshire. Herbert James Pitchford ran the Eight Bells among other public houses. He served in the Welsh Regiment, and died in Flanders in the First World War. His name appears on the Menin Gate in Belgium and on the war memorial in St Andrew's Church, Shifnal, near the Eight Bells public house. Today the building is occupied by the Oddfellows Wine Bar.

The railway bridge over Market Place was rebuilt in 1953: the open spandrels of the original arch were replaced with a plain lined flat panel construction.

The town expanded further during the 1960s. In 2015 it was revealed that planning permission had been granted for a total of 1,167 homes across the town, meaning its population was expected to grow by 50 per cent by 2020.

The town's branch of Barclays Bank was targeted by robbers on 6 May 1991. They drilled into the strongroom and escaped with £50,000. The same bank was subject to armed robberies in March 2013 and March 2017. Its closure was announced a few weeks after the latter, leaving Shifnal without a bank for the first time since 1824.

In 2009 one of the town's biggest employers, Wrekin Construction, went into administration with the loss of 420 jobs in Shropshire, Yorkshire, Northamptonshire and Cheshire and more than £45 million to creditors. Among the business's assets was the Gem of Tanzania, valued on the business's balance sheets at £11 million. However it emerged that the 2 kg uncut stone's value had been forged and it was eventually sold for just £8,000.

In late 2018 plans for a second, far larger expansion of Shifnal, were revealed by Shropshire Council. The proposals, which caused considerable local controversy and led to a public meeting, included up to another 1,500 homes, 40 hectares of employment land and a bypass south of the town by 2036. Large areas of farmland would be needed for the development.

Culture
The Reliques of Ancient English Poetry was based on a manuscript discovered in Shifnal. The collection of collection of ballads and popular songs, collected by Bishop Thomas Percy and published in 1765, was primarily based on a folio discovered at the Shifnal home of Percy's friend Humphrey Pitt. It was on the floor, and Pitt's maid had been using the leaves to light fires. Once rescued Percy used 45 of the ballads in the folio for his book of 180, adding others from sources – broadside ballads collected by diarist Samuel Pepys and Collection of Old Ballads published in 1723, possibly by Ambrose Philips. Percy was encouraged to publish by his friends Samuel Johnson and the poet William Shenstone, who also found and contributed ballads.

Charles Dickens, whose grandmother was reputedly employed at nearby Tong Castle, visited the town on several occasions and many believe that the buildings in his book, The Old Curiosity Shop, were based on those in the town. Shifnal Historical Society report that he was very taken with the architecture of the town, and for that reason, he based The Old Curiosity Shop on the Unicorn public house, later known as Naughty Nell's.

The diarist Hannah Cullwick (26 May 1833 – 9 July 1909) was born in Shifnal. Cullwick revealed less-known aspects of the relations between Victorian servants and their masters. Working in domestic service, she caught the attention of Arthur Munby, a prominent barrister and philanthropist, who was making a close study of the conditions of working women. To escape poverty, she married him reluctantly and secretly in 1873, and her diaries provide detailed information on the lives of working-class Victorian servant women. She is buried, under her married name, Munby, in St Andrew's churchyard.

Mary Arnold, later known as the writer Mrs Humphry Ward, went to boarding school in the town at Rock Terrace. Her schooldays gave background for one of her later novels, Marcella (published 1894).

It is widely believed that Shifnal had some inspiration for P. G. Wodehouse's fictional town Market Blandings – or rather, the town is mentioned numerous times in the Blandings Castle saga.

In 1968, the Shifnal Carnival was launched, a revival of the Shifnal Club Day – itself deriving from an annual parade by the 'Dove Club' friendly society. Taking place on the last Saturday of June, a funfair is set up on the main street, as well as the usual procession.

In 2010, after research as part of the town plan, the Shifnal Festival was revived due to residents expressing interest for a festival of arts, culture and entertainment. It ran for three years, spawning groups such as an amateur dramatics company and a children's manga society.

Media
Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC West Midlands and ITV Central. Television signals are received from either the Wrekin or Sutton Coldfield TV transmitters. Local radio stations are BBC Radio Shropshire, Free Radio Black Country & Shropshire, Greatest Hits Radio Black Country & Shropshire, and Capital North West & Wales. The town is served by the local newspaper, Shropshire Star.

Transport
Hourly buses are provided by Banga Bus service 891 Monday to Saturday, providing links to Telford, Cosford and Wolverhampton. Arriva Midlands provide links to Bridgnorth.

The main railway station is on the Wolverhampton–Shrewsbury line with services to Shrewsbury, Telford, Wolverhampton and Birmingham New Street.

Churches
It also has, through Churches Together in Shifnal, its own Christian bookshop and drop-in centre, Oasis.
 * Church of England: St Andrew's Church on Church Street has a Norman chancel, extended in about 1300, with an Elizabethan double-hammerbeam roof and was almost certainly built on the site of an older Saxon church.
 * Methodist: Trinity Church, Victoria Road
 * Roman Catholic: St Mary's Church, Shrewsbury Road

Communal services
A community library run by the council is located on Broadway.

The Shifnal War Memorial club, on Priorslee Road, is used by a variety of organisations and for many social events. It was opened in 1921 with an extensive recreation ground alongside, and completely rebuilt after a disastrous fire in 1982.

The Millennium Sensory Garden lies between St Andrew's Church and Innage Road. It contains a memorial erected by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission of 13 soldiers of the First World War and 4 of the Second World War, who are all buried in the churchyard. The garden is voluntarily maintained by a dedicated group of committee members and friends and obtained the Queen's Golden Jubilee Award 2003 and Green Pennant Award 2007–08.

Shifnal Police Station, behind the library, was closed in 2013, but re-opened in August 2019 as a community cafe and gardens.

Sports
There are several sporting facilities in Shifnal, including the Idsall Sports Centre, which is attached to Idsall School; the school, in the past, receiving a number of prominent football celebrities from the nearby FA School of Excellence at Lilleshall.

The town is also home to sporting clubs including:

 * Table tennis
 * Rugby
 * Football
 * Tennis
 * Cricket
 * Basketball

Shifnal Town FC currently compete in the, whilst Shifnal United are in the lower Mercian Regional Football League (Premier Division).

Shifnal formerly had a squash club and swimming pool for 35 years, but these have closed, replaced with a housing development.

Shifnal Golf Club was opened in 1913. Initially its course was nine holes on Lodge Hill, to the south of the town, where seven winds are said to meet. The clubhouse was then a room in a private house, Sunnyside.

Education
There are several pre-school nursery and day centres in the town, as well as two primary schools: Shifnal Primary School, on Curriers Lane; and St. Andrew's Church of England Primary School, on Park Lane. The town has two further schools, Idsall School, in Coppice Green, a comprehensive secondary school; and Young Options College, in Lamledge Lane, an independent specialist secondary school.

Notable people

 * George Talbot, 4th Earl of Shrewsbury KG, KB, PC (c. 1468 in Shifnal – 1538) son of John Talbot, 3rd Earl of Shrewsbury and Lady Catherine Stafford, daughter of the Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham
 * Edward Bromley (1563–1626), judge and politician, lived at mansion called 'Shiffnal Grange'
 * Thomas Brown (1662–1704) satirist poet, of "facetious memory" born son of farmer in Shifnal.
 * Thomas Beddoes (1760 in Shifnal – 1808) physician and scientific writer, a reforming practitioner and teacher of medicine and worked to treat tuberculosis
 * William Hollins (1763 in Shifnal – 1843) architect and sculptor
 * Henry Hill Hickman (1800–1830) surgeon and pioneer of anaesthetics, lived and practiced in Shifnal in 1824.
 * Hannah Cullwick (1833 in Shifnal – 1909) nursemaid and diarist.
 * Mary Augusta Ward CBE (1851–1920) novelist used her married name, Mrs Humphry Ward, brought up in Shifnal
 * Captain Basil Brooke DSO & Bar (1882 in Shifnal – 1929) a Royal Navy mine clearance officer.
 * Sir Thomas Ingram Kynaston Lloyd GCMG KCB (1896 in Shifnal – 1968) Permanent Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies from 1947 to 1956
 * Peter Reynolds (1939 in Shifnal – 2001), archaeologist, the first director of Butser Ancient Farm
 * Kevin Mulligan (born 1951 in Shifnal) philosopher, working on ontology, the philosophy of mind, and Austrian philosophy
 * Andrew Burn (born 1954 in Shifnal) professor and media theorist, developed the theory of the Kineikonic Mode
 * Stephen Harris (born 1968, Shifnal) music producer and mixer.

Sport

 * William Kenyon-Slaney (1847–1908) Footballer, cricketer, soldier, politician. First person to ever score in an international football match. Lived nearby at Hatton Grange.
 * Charlie Athersmith (1872–1910), international footballer mainly for Aston Villa and Small Heath, died at Shifnal.
 * Edwin Bennett (1893 in Shifnal – 1929) an English cricketer, who played four first-class matches
 * Bert Williams MBE (1920–2014) international football goalkeeper at Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C., lived near Shifnal
 * Reg Attwell (1920 in Shifnal – 1986) professional footballer mainly for Burnley F.C.
 * Jack Taylor OBE (1930–2012) referee at 1974 FIFA World Cup final, lived at Shifnal
 * Peter Alan Baker (born 1967 in Shifnal) is an English professional golfer
 * Peter Lamsdale (born 1971 in Shifnal) an English cricketer, played for Berkshire

title: Shifnal


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Cantacuzino family

The House of Cantacuzino (Cantacuzène) is a Romanian aristocratic family of Greek origin. The family gave a number of princes to Wallachia and Moldavia, and it claimed descent from a branch of the Byzantine Kantakouzenos family, specifically from Byzantine Emperor John VI Kantakouzenos (reigned 1347–1354). After the Russo-Ottoman War of 1710–11, a lateral branch of the family settled in Russia, receiving the princely (Knyaz, as opposed to Velikij Knyaz) status. In 1944, Prince Ștefan Cantacuzino settled in Sweden, where his descendants form part of the unintroduced nobility of that country.

Origin of the family

Members of the family claim that the genealogical links between the original House of Kantakouzinos and the subsequent House of Cantacuzino have been extensively researched. The family first appears among the Phanariotes in the late 16th century, with Michael "Şeytanoğlu" Kantakouzenos, after a gap of over a century from the Fall of Constantinople. Whether the family is indeed linked to the Byzantine imperial house of Kantakouzenos is disputed, as it was usual among wealthy Greeks of the time to assume Byzantine surnames and claim descent from the famous noble houses of their Byzantine past. The first member of the family to publicly stress his imperial descent on an international level was the adventurer and pretender Radu Cantacuzino (1699–1761), who produced a genealogy linking himself to Emperor John VI Kantakouzenos, though it contained several invented figures. Radu also changed his coat of arms from the earlier arms depicting an eagle holding a cross, to a new rendition with more shields representing various families and regions, a version still in use by the family today.

The eminent Byzantinist Steven Runciman considered the latter-day Kantakouzenoi "perhaps the only family whose claim to be in the direct line from Byzantine Emperors, as authentic", but according to the historian Donald Nicol, "Patriotic Rumanian historians have indeed labored to show that ... of all the Byzantine imperial families that of the Kantakouzenos is the only one which can truthfully be said to have survived to this day; but the line of succession after the middle of the fifteenth century is, to say the least, uncertain."

The origin of the Byzantine family can be traced to Smyrna. The Greek scholar Konstantinos Amantos suggested that "Kantakouzenos" derives from κατὰ-κουζηνᾶν or κατὰ-κουζηνόν, ultimately from the locality of Kouzenas, a name for the southern part of Mount Sipylon near Smyrna. Donald Nicol agrees with this theory, and lists some connections the Kantakouzenoi had with the locale in the 11th and 13th centuries.

Origin of the Romanian branch

The Greek Kantakouzenos family had been active in Constantinople and Greece during the Greek War of Independence, but several branches of the original Greek family were created via the migrations and establishment of Kantakouzenos family members to different parts of Europe. Two of those new branches were the Romanian (Wallachian and Moldavian) Cantacuzino branch as well as the Russian branch (which is an offshoot of the Wallachian-Moldavian one). As a consequence of the Russian Revolution and the Soviet occupation of Romania after World War II, (between 1944 and 1947) the last two branches now mostly live in Western Europe and North America.

According to Jean-Michel Cantacuzène and Mihail Sturdza, the origin of the Cantacuzino family in Romania is traced to Andronikos Kantakouzenos (1553–1601; also known as Andronik), a Greek financier from Constantinople, son of the "Prince of the Greeks" Michael "Şeytanoğlu" Kantakouzenos. Andronikos had among his several sons two who became "boyars" in what today is Romania and founded the yet-surviving new branches of Cantacuzino:
 * "boyar" Georgios 'Iordaki' Kantakouzenos became forefather of the Moldavian branch, which soon branched to Cantacuzino-Deleanu and Cantacuzino-Pasceanu.
 * "boyar" Konstantinos 'Kostaki' Kantakouzenos married an heiress (daughter) of the late reigning prince Radu Șerban, onetime ruler of Wallachia, and they founded the Wallachian branches which soon clashed against the Ghica family over power.

Family tree of notable members

 * Michael Kantakouzenos Şeytanoğlu (1510–1578)
 * Andronikos Kantakouzenos (1553–1601)
 * Mihai
 * Dumitrașcu Cantacuzino (died 1686), Prince of Moldavia
 * Iordache (died 1663)
 * Toderascu (died 1685)
 * Ionitsa (1664–1692)
 * Iordache (1688–1758)
 * Ionitsa (1721–1789)
 * Matei (1750–1817)
 * Alexandros Kantakouzinos (1787–1841), magnate and politician
 * Alexandru Cantacuzino (1811–1884), government minister
 * Iordache (died 1700)
 * Iordache (died 1740)
 * Constantin (died 1740)
 * Iordache Cantacuzino (1740–1826)
 * Constantin (1778–1843)
 * Lascar (1805–1885)
 * Constantin Cantacuzino-Pașcanu (1856–1927), politician
 * Nicolas (1811–1840), married to Lucía Palladi (1821–1860)
 * Pulcheria (1840–1865), married to Prince Emil zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (1824-1878)
 * Lucia zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Beleburg (1859-1903), married Prince Otto Victor von Schönburg-Waldenburg (1856-1888)
 * Princess Sophie von Schönburg-Waldenburg (1885-1936), married Wilhelm, Prince of Albania
 * Grigore (1779–1809)
 * Elisabeta Știrbey (1805–1874), Princess of Wallachia
 * Alexandru (1786–1832)
 * Ioan Alexandru Cantacuzino (1829–1897)
 * Constantin Cantacuzino (died 1663) (1598–1663); married to Elena Cantacuzino
 * Drăghici Cantacuzino (1630–1667)
 * Parvu (died 1696)
 * Parvu (1689–1751)
 * Ioan (died 1749)
 * Iordache (1747–1803)
 * Constantin Cantacuzino (1793–1877)
 * Ion C. Cantacuzino (1825–1878), politician
 * Ioan Cantacuzino (1863–1934), physician and scientist
 * Adolf (1839–1911)
 * Scarlat Cantacuzino (1874–1949), poet and diplomat
 * Grigore (1800–1849)
 * Gheorghe Grigore Cantacuzino (1833–1913), Prime Minister of Romania
 * Mihail G. Cantacuzino (1867–1928), Mayor of Bucharest and Justice Minister
 * Constantin Cantacuzino (1905–1958), World War II flying ace
 * Grigore Gheorghe Cantacuzino (1872–1930), Mayor of Bucharest; married to Alexandrina Cantacuzino (1876–1944), political activist
 * Alexandru Cantacuzino (1901–1939), politician
 * Matei (died 1742)
 * Pârvu Cantacuzino (died 1769), Ban of Oltenia, the leader of an anti-Ottoman rebellion in 1769
 * Constantin (died 1761)
 * Ioan (1756–1828)
 * Nicolae (1790–1857)
 * Vasile (1818–1906)
 * Matei B. Cantacuzino (1855–1925), Mayor of Iași, Education Minister and Justice Minister
 * Nicolae (1864–1948)
 * George Matei Cantacuzino (1899–1960), architect
 * Serban Cantacuzino (1928–2018), architect
 * Marie Cantacuzène (1820–1898), painter's model
 * Rodion Cantacuzino (1725–1774)
 * Nikolai Rodionovich Cantacuzène (1761–1841)
 * Rodion (1812–1880)
 * Mikhail Rodionovich Cantacuzène-Speransky (1847–1894)
 * Prince Mikhail Cantacuzène (1875–1955), Russian diplomat; married to Julia Dent Cantacuzène Spiransky-Grant (1876–1975), granddaughter of Ulysses S. Grant and author
 * Alexander (1813–1857)
 * Olga Cantacuzène-Altieri (1843–1929), novelist
 * Ivan (1816–1888)
 * Pavel (1852–1922)
 * George (1881–1950)
 * Pierre (1922–1975)
 * Ambrose (1947–2009), Bishop of Vevey
 * Șerban Cantacuzino (1634–1688), Voivode of Wallachia 1678–1688
 * Gheorghe Cantacuzino (Ban of Oltenia) (1673–1739)
 * Toma (1714–1762)
 * Matei (1745–1817)
 * Iordache (1775–1827)
 * Constantin (1811–1876)
 * Gheorghe Cantacuzino-Râfoveanu (1845–1898), Minister of Finance
 * Constantin (1847–1920), married to Sabina Brătianu-Cantacuzino (1863–1944), writer
 * Gheorghe (1815–1890)
 * Ioan (1847–1911)
 * Gheorghe Cantacuzino-Grănicerul (1869–1937), politician
 * Ioan Radu (1885–1950), married to Maria Filotti (1883–1956), actress
 * Ion Filotti Cantacuzino (1908–1975), writer and film producer
 * Gheorghe I. Cantacuzino (1937–2019), historian
 * Șerban Cantacuzino (1941–2011), actor
 * Ioana Cantacuzino (1895–1951)
 * Casandra Cantacuzino (1685–1713), Princess of Moldavia
 * Stanca Brâncoveanu (1637–1699)
 * Constantin Cantacuzino (1639–1716), high official in Wallachia
 * Ștefan Cantacuzino (1675–1716), Voivode of Wallachia 1714–1716; married to Păuna Greceanu-Cantacuzino (died 1740)
 * Radu Cantacuzino (1699–1761)
 * Mihai Cantacuzino (1640–1716)
 * Matei (died 1685)
 * Toma Cantacuzino (died 1721)
 * Ioannis (born 1570)
 * Bella Rosetti (Cantacuzino), wife of Lascaris Rosetti, high chancellor of the Patriarchate of Constantinople and mother of Constantin Rosetti and Prince Antonie Ruset

title: Cantacuzino family


text:
Battle of Fort Stevens

The Battle of Fort Stevens was an American Civil War battle fought July 11–12, 1864, in Washington County, D.C. in present-day Northwest Washington, D.C., during the Valley campaigns of 1864 between forces under Confederate Lieutenant General Jubal Early and Union Major General Alexander McDowell McCook.

Early's attack, less than 4 mi from the White House, caused consternation in the U.S. government, but reinforcements under Maj. Gen. Horatio G. Wright and the strong defenses of Fort Stevens minimized the threat. Early withdrew after two days of skirmishing after attempting no serious assaults. Then U.S. President Abraham Lincoln personally observed the battle's fighting.

Background
In June 1864, Lt. Gen. Jubal Early was dispatched by Gen. Robert E. Lee with the Second Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia from the Confederate lines around the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, with orders to clear the Shenandoah Valley of Federals and, if practical, to invade Maryland; disrupt the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad; and, if possible, threaten Washington, D.C. The hope was that a movement into Maryland would force Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant to send troops to defend Washington against the threat and reduce his strength to take the Confederate capital of Richmond.

After driving off the Army of West Virginia under Maj. Gen. David Hunter after the Battle of Lynchburg on June 18, the Second Corps marched northward through the valley, entering Maryland on July 5 near Sharpsburg. They then turned east towards Frederick, where they arrived on July 7. Two days later, as the Second Corps prepared to march on Washington, Maj. Gen. Lew Wallace, leading a small Union force composed mostly of garrison troops, bolstered by the eleventh-hour addition of two brigades of the VI Corps sent from Richmond under Maj. Gen. James B. Ricketts, attempted to resist the Confederate advance at the Battle of Monocacy.

The July 9 battle lasted from about 6 a.m. to around 4 p.m. Early's corps ultimately drove off the Union troops, the only substantial force between it and the capital. Still, the battle cost Early precious time that would have been better spent in advancing the 40 mi toward Washington City. After the battle, Early resumed his march on the District of Columbia and arrived at its northeast border near Silver Spring around noon on July 11. Because of the battle and then the long march through the stifling summer heat, and unsure of the strength of the Union position in front of him, Early decided not to send his army against the fortifications around Washington until the next day.

Early's invasion of Maryland had the desired effect on Grant, who dispatched the rest of the VI Corps and XIX Corps under Maj. Gen. Horatio G. Wright to Washington on July 9. As Lee wrote to James Seddon, the Confederate Secretary of War, on July 19:

"It was believed that the Valley could then be effectually freed from the presence of the enemy and it was hoped that by threatening Washington and Baltimore, Gen. Grant would be compelled to weaken himself so much for their protection as to afford an opportunity to attack him, or that he might be induced to attack us."

The steamships carrying the Union force started to arrive in Southeast Washington around noon on July 11, about the same time that Early reached the outskirts of Fort Stevens with the lead elements of his troops.

Defense of Washington
The Washington City, D.C., prepared for the Confederate assault amid one of the worst hot spells in its history. It lasted 47 days without rain, with temperatures exceeding 90 °F. The U.S. Congress and prominent residents left town to escape the heat as much as the impending Confederate advance. However, President Lincoln remained near the city, staying with his family at the Soldier's Home in present-day Northwest Washington, although a steamer waited on the Potomac to evacuate them if the situation became dire. Meanwhile, refugees from surrounding counties began to enter the relative safety of the city.

Overall command for defense of the District was given to Major General Christopher C. Augur as commander of the XXII Corps. Major Generals Quincy Gillmore and Alexander McCook commanded the Northeast sector and the reserve post at Blagden Farm, respectively. Augur commanded 31,000 troops and 1,000 artillery pieces in 160 fortifications, batteries, and trenches. Eighty-seven fortifications were north of the Potomac (facing Early's approach) with 484 heavy guns and 13,986 men. Land was cleared surrounding the city to create open fields of fire. Six companies of the 8th Illinois Cavalry were stationed in front of the northern defenses.

Despite the impressive array, Washington's defenses were unformidable. General John G. Barnard, Grant's engineering officer, noted that many of the troops were not actually fit for duty because they were new recruits, untried reserves, recovering from wounds, or worn-out veterans. Bernard estimated that instead of 31,000, the actual number of usable troops was around 9,600. The capital was more vulnerable to Confederate attack than it seemed since with around 10,000 troops, the Confederate army matched the effective Union troop strength.

Union command structure
The arrival of the VI Corps, about 10,000 men, brought desperately needed veteran reinforcements. It also added another high-ranking officer into a jumbled Union command. The Washington defenses played host to a number of generals ejected from major theaters of the war or incapacitated for field command by wounds or disease. Maj. Gen. Alexander M. McCook, who had been relieved of command after the 1863 Battle of Chickamauga, was placed in command of the Defenses of the Potomac River & Washington, superseding Christopher Columbus Augur, who commanded the Department of Washington. Augur also commanded the XXII Corps, whose troops manned the capital's defensive works. Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck called upon Maj. Gen. Quincy A. Gillmore in New York City to take command of a detachment from the XIX Corps. The Union Army's Quartermaster General, Brig. Gen. Montgomery C. Meigs, took command of an "Emergency Division," composed of federal employees who were armed during the raid, directly under the command of McCook. Even Lincoln personally arrived at the battlefield. McCook tried to sort out the problem of too many high-ranking generals in the face of Early's advance. He was unable to rid himself of the generals, and their attempts to gain leverage over one another, but a somewhat-workable command structure was established. With McCook in overall command, Gillmore commanded the northeast line of fortresses (Fort Lincoln to Fort Totten), Meigs commanded the northern line of forts (Fort Totten to Fort DeRussy—including Fort Stevens) and Augur's First Division commander, Martin D. Hardin, commanded the northwest line of forts (Fort DeRussy to Fort Sumner). Wright and the VI Corps were initially to be held in reserve but McCook immediately decided against it and stated that he felt veteran troops needed to take the front lines against Early's troops.

As it was, Hardin's troops engaged in some light skirmishing, but as McCook intended, it was to be Wright's veterans who bore the brunt of the fighting.

Battle

At about the time Wright's command was arriving in Washington, Early's corps began to arrive at the breastworks of Fort Stevens, yet Early delayed the attack because he was still unsure of the federal strength defending the fort, much of his army was still in transit to the front, and the troops he had were exhausted due to the excessive heat and the fact that they had been on the march since June 13. Additionally, many of the Confederate troops had looted the home of Montgomery Blair, the son of the founder of Silver Spring, Maryland. They found barrels of whiskey in the basement of the mansion, called Blair Mansion, and many troops were too drunk to get a good start in the morning. This allowed for further fortification by Union troops.

Around 3 p.m., with the bulk of their force present, the Confederates commenced skirmishing, probing the defense maintained by Brig. Gen. Martin D. Hardin's division of the XXII Corps with a line of skirmishers backed by artillery. Near the start of the Confederate attack the lead elements of the VI and XIX Corps arrived at the fort, reinforcing it with battle-hardened troops. The battle picked up around 5 p.m. when Confederate cavalry pushed through the advance Union picket line. A Union counterattack drove back the Confederate cavalry and the two opposing lines confronted each other throughout the evening with periods of intense skirmishing. The Union front was aided by artillery from the fort, which shelled Confederate positions, destroying many houses that Confederate sharpshooters used for protection.

President Lincoln, his wife Mary, and some officers rode out to observe the attack, either on July 11 or July 12, and were briefly under enemy fire that wounded a Union surgeon standing next to Lincoln on the Fort Stevens parapet. Lincoln was brusquely ordered to take cover by an officer, possibly Horatio Wright, although other probably apocryphal stories claim that it was Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., Private John A. Bedient of the 150th Ohio Infantry, the fort commander, other privates of the Ohio National Guard, or Elizabeth Thomas.

Additional Union reinforcements from the VI and XIX Corps arrived overnight and were placed in reserve behind the line. The skirmishing continued into July 12, when Early finally decided that Washington could not be taken without heavy losses which would be too severe to warrant the attempt. Union artillery from Fort Stevens attempted to clear out Confederate sharpshooters hidden in the buildings and fields in front of the fort; when the artillery fire failed to drive them off, the VI Corps brigade of Daniel Bidwell, supported by Oliver Edwards' brigade and two Veteran Reserve Corps regiments, attacked at about 5 p.m. The attack was successful, but at the cost of over 300 men. VI Corps member Elisha Hunt Rhodes recalled:

"We marched in the line of battle into a peach orchard in front of Fort Stevens, and here the fight began. For a short time it was warm work, but as the President and many ladies were looking at us, every man tried to do his best. Without our help the small force in the forts would have been overpowered. Jubal Early should have attacked earlier in the morning, but Early was late."

Aftermath
Early's force withdrew that evening, headed back into Montgomery County, Maryland, and crossed the Potomac River on July 13 at White's Ferry into Leesburg, Virginia. The Confederates successfully brought the supplies they seized during the previous weeks with them into Virginia. Early remarked to one of his officers after the battle, "Major, we didn't take Washington but we scared Abe Lincoln like hell." Wright organized a pursuit force and set out after them during the afternoon of the 13th.

Battlefield and cemeteries
Fort Stevens is now maintained by the National Park Service under the administration of the Civil War Defenses of Washington. The fort is located near 13th Street NW between Rittenhouse and Quackenbos Streets NW and is the only part of the battlefield currently preserved; the remainder was developed following 1925. The Battleground National Cemetery was established two weeks after the battle and is located nearby, at 6625 Georgia Avenue NW, containing the graves of 40 Union soldiers killed in the battle; 17 Confederate soldiers are buried on the grounds of Grace Episcopal Church, slightly north of current downtown Silver Spring, Maryland, at the intersection of Georgia Avenue and Grace Church Road.

The Rev. James B. Avirett, the pastor at Grace Church, was instrumental in interring the Confederate soldiers at Grace Episcopal Church.

title: Battle of Fort Stevens


text:
Bloody Buccaneers

Bloody Buccaneers is an album by Dutch hard rock band Golden Earring, released in 1991 (see 1991 in music).

Track listing
All songs written by Hay and Kooymans except where noted.

 * 1) "Making Love to Yourself" (Hay, Kooymans, Zuiderwijk) – 4:52
 * 2) "Temporary Madness" – 3:33
 * 3) "Going to the Run" – 3:53
 * 4) "Joe" – 4:37
 * 5) "Planet Blue" – 4:21
 * 6) "Bloody Buccaneers" – 4:49
 * 7) "One Shot Away from Paradise" (Gerritsen) – 3:45
 * 8) "When Love Turns to Pain" (Gerritsen) – 4:47
 * 9) "In a Bad Mood" – 5:23
 * 10) "Pourin' My Heart Out Again" – 3:59

Personnel

 * Rinus Gerritsen - bass, keyboard
 * Barry Hay - vocals
 * George Kooymans - guitar, vocals
 * Cesar Zuiderwijk - drums

Production

 * Producers: Golden Earring, John Sonneveld
 * Engineer: John Sonneveld
 * Design: Sander F. Van Hest
 * Cover design: Koos O.
 * Artwork: Koos O., Sander F. Van Hest
 * Illustrations: Koos O., Sander F. Van Hest
 * Photography: Kees Tabak(nl)

Cover versions
Russian heavy metal band Aria covered the song "Going to the Run" with adapted lyrics in Russian ("Беспечный ангел" by Margarita Pushkina). It was first released in 1999 and then in 2004 (on the eponymous ballad compilation).

title: Bloody Buccaneers


text: Talk:Bloody Buccaneers

title: Talk:Bloody Buccaneers


text: Category:People from New Jersey

title: Category:People from New Jersey


text:
Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis

Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis is a construction and management simulation video game based on the Jurassic Park series developed by Blue Tongue Entertainment and published by Universal Interactive, with the console versions being co-published with Konami in Japan. It was released for Windows, Xbox, and PlayStation 2. The game's primary goal is to construct a five-star rated dinosaur theme park named Jurassic Park on custom-generated islands by hatching dinosaurs, building attractions, keeping visitors entertained, and ensuring the park's safety.

Development began in 2001, and lasted 22 months. The game was announced in February 2002, with its release initially scheduled for late 2002. Ultimately, the game was released in North America and the PAL region in March 2003, followed by a Japanese release later that year. According to Metacritic, the Windows and Xbox versions received "Mixed or average" reviews, while the PlayStation 2 version received "Generally favorable" reviews.

Gameplay
The player's main objective is to create an animal theme park featuring dinosaurs, make it popular, and make it safe with a 5-star rating. Gameplay functions are very similar to the SimCity and Zoo Tycoon game models. It is necessary to build feeding stations where herbivores can get bales of plant feed, while carnivores are fed live cows and goats. However, herbivores become unhappy if they don't have enough trees around them or enough nearby dinosaurs to socialize with. Likewise, carnivores have an innate desire to hunt other dinosaurs, so even a constant stream of livestock will not keep them happy.

To create a dinosaur, fifty percent (50%) of the particular dinosaur's DNA is needed. The higher the percentage of DNA, the longer that dinosaur will live, unless it dies by unnatural causes, such as malnutrition or being attacked by another dinosaur. To obtain a dinosaur's DNA, the player must extract it through fossils or amber. Higher quality specimens will yield more DNA.

To obtain fossils and amber, the player must send a fossil-hunting team to dig in one of nine dig sites around the world. Additional dig teams can be purchased later in the game. Each dig site contains fossils from three particular dinosaurs. Fossils of some dinosaurs, such as Brachiosaurus, can be found in more than one dig site. The chance of finding fossils depends on the quality of the site. There are 6 classifications on the quality of a dig site, ranging from "excellent" to "exhausted." It is still possible to find fossils and amber at sites that have been exhausted, although they are often of low quality with little DNA to provide. Valuable items such as silver, gold, or opal are also discovered infrequently by the dig team(s), and can be sold for profit.

Attractions help make the park popular, and increase its rating power and income when correctly configured. Attractions must be researched before they can be constructed, and include the Balloon Tour, Safari Adventure and Viewing Dome. Viewing Vents and Viewing Platforms do not need to be researched. The Safari Tour and Balloon Tour attractions allow for the player to "take over" the ride for the purpose of park exploration and photography, but only when a visitor in the game is using it. The player may also observe the dinosaurs from the Viewing Dome, Viewing Vent, and Viewing Platform by selecting the "View" option after clicking on the building.

Amenities such as restrooms and restaurants are needed for visitors. Additional buildings such as a gift shop and a resting area must be researched before the player can add them into the park. Vaccines for diseases–such as tick infestation, gastric poisoning, rabies (though only mammals are significantly affected by rabies in real life), and the fictional Dino Flu (possibly a nod to bird flu)–must be researched before a sick dinosaur can be treated for a particular illness.

Dinosaurs
There are a total of 25 species of dinosaurs featured in the game, some of which were featured in the films. The dinosaurs are divided into four main sub-groups. Small herbivores such as Gallimimus and Pachycephalosaurus are easy to care for and do not take up much space, but are not as popular with guests. Large Herbivores such as Brachiosaurus and Triceratops are very popular with visitors and do not require expensive fences, but need large spacious exhibits. Small carnivores such as Dilophosaurus and Velociraptor do not generally need tight security like their larger counterparts, but can still harm guests if they escape. Large carnivores such as Spinosaurus and Tyrannosaurus rex are the most popular dinosaurs in the game, but require large exhibits with high security fences and are prone to rampaging when stressed.

Missions
The game has 10 missions the player can complete. There are about three or four general types of missions, including taking photographs of dinosaurs to try to rack up a certain number of points from the photos in a safari mission and dinosaur control missions where the player has to retire the carnivores (preferably large ones) to protect the herbivores.

Site B
After all the missions are completed, the "Site B" mode is unlocked, which allows the player to create an island without any fences or buildings for people. Visitors are not allowed on the island. The player can place up to eight hatcheries and create up to sixty dinosaurs, which live on the island without diseases or the possibility of becoming stressed. As long as they have food, water and living space, the player can simply watch the dinosaurs interact and live out their lives.

Development
Operation Genesis was developed by Blue Tongue Entertainment, based in Australia. Universal had been impressed with the company's previous game, Starship Troopers: Terran Ascendancy (2000). Blue Tongue was among five other international companies considered. Development of the game began in 2001, and lasted 22 months. Early in development, a total of 40 dinosaurs were planned for inclusion in the game. This number was later reduced to 25 due to scheduling issues, as well as the developers choosing to focus more on fewer dinosaurs that were well known from the Jurassic Park films. Marine reptiles and pterosaurs were among those removed from the game. The developers conducted research into the behavior of dinosaurs whose behavior had not been specified in the films. Bird sounds were used for some dinosaurs that did not appear in the films.

The game was first announced as Jurassic Park: Project Genesis on February 19, 2002, with the game's release set for the fourth quarter of 2002. On May 22, footage was shown at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), where the game was titled as Jurassic Park: The Game. Blue Tongue Entertainment pushed for that to be the final title. In June, the game's release date was set for December 2002.

Baby dinosaurs were being planned midway through development. They were scrapped for scheduling reasons; implementing them would have required the creation of new models and A.I. This ended plans for a dinosaur petting zoo. Buildings such as a hotel, a hunting platform and a dinosaur vet station were removed from the final game due to design decisions, as well as memory constraints presented on the console versions. The number of missions was also reduced, with 12 originally planned.

Stephan Schütze worked on the game's music, and was tasked with composing a score that sounded similar to those by John Williams, who had composed Jurassic Park and The Lost World: Jurassic Park. Ten original music tracks were written for the game; they were performed by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. It was the first orchestral video game score to be recorded in Australia. Two tracks from Williams were also included in the game.

In October, the game's official title was unveiled, with the release date being pushed back to the first quarter of 2003. At that time, a Nintendo GameCube version of the game was planned for release in the third quarter of 2003. In April 2003, Blue Tongue confirmed that the GameCube version had been cancelled, as the development team chose to focus on the PC, PlayStation 2, and Xbox versions instead.

Reception
Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis sold in excess of 400,000 copies worldwide by 2008. It ultimately received a "Silver" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), indicating sales of at least 100,000 copies in the United Kingdom.

According to Metacritic, the Windows and Xbox versions received "Mixed or average" reviews, while the PlayStation 2 version received "Generally favorable" reviews.

Electronic Gaming Monthly offered praise for the game's missions, but also wrote that the game "may be too complex for some [...] getting e-mail notices and warnings every 10 seconds doesn't help [...] you can see the long-term fun is doomed for extinction. Sure, you get a lot to do, but not many ways to do it. You raise all the dinos the same way; you have the same limited park amenities and research options game after game; and you won't experience anything new after playing through an open-ended game once."

Matt Helgeson of Game Informer called the PlayStation 2 version "one of the best console business sims I’ve ever played." Matthew Kato, also from Game Informer, wrote a positive review of the Xbox version, but criticized the game's dinosaurs and humans for a lack of intelligent AI, as well as the lack of a faster game speed. GamePro and Entertainment Weekly praised the game's use of John Williams' Jurassic Park theme.

GameSpot praised the PC version's detailed dinosaur models, weather effects, and camera angles, but criticized the game's imprecise mouse control and complained that the game often locked up when advanced graphics settings (such as reflective water) were turned on. GameSpy criticized the console versions for their "spotty control" and short mission mode, and considered the PC version to be superior because of its lack of freezing.

Reviewing the PC version, GameZone was critical of the game's repetitive player requests and short mission mode. GameZone praised the graphics, but felt the game was too similar to other simulation games. GameZone praised the PlayStation 2 version for its dinosaur animations, but noted its "awkward" camera views.

Reviewing the PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions, IGN praised the game's camera system, but criticized the ability to control the game's Land Cruisers and helicopters, saying they "aren't as engaging as they should be." IGN also noted the graphics to be, "Repetitive and bland". Joe Rybicki of Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine wrote, "I have exactly one complaint: It only took me about eight hours or so to get a 5-star rating, effectively beating the main area of the game. So, it may be a bit too easy for veterans of the genre. But with so much else to do, that's hardly a serious issue."

title: Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis


text:
Saraburi

Saraburi City (thesaban mueang) is the provincial capital of Saraburi Province in central Thailand. In 2020, it had a population of 60,809 people, and covers the complete tambon Pak Phriao of the Mueang Saraburi district.

Location
Saraburi sits on the banks of the Pa Sak River, around 60 km upstream from the confluence with the Chao Phraya River and around 60 km downstream from the Pasak Chonlasit Dam.

The city is around 100 km northeast of Bangkok, 40 km northeast of Phra Nakhon Sri Ayutthaya, and 50 km west of Khao Yai National Park.

History
Saraburi was founded in 1549 as a base for troop recruitment by King Maha Chakkraphat due to the threat of the growing Burmese Toungoo Dynasty.

In 1624, Wat Phra Phutthabat was built by King Songtham of Ayutthaya on the city.

The royal decree established the Saraburi Municipality on 10 December 1835 with an area of 5 square kilometers.

Demographics
Since 2005, the population of Saraburi has been fluctuating up and down, however, the city's population in 2005 is greater than what it is as of 2020.

title: Saraburi


text: User talk:24.91.249.231

title: User talk:24.91.249.231


text:
File:Thrillington album cover.jpg

Summary
Album cover for Thrillington, by Percy "Thrills" Thrillington, aka Paul McCartney. Source:.

title: File:Thrillington album cover.jpg


text:
Arthur Jones (inventor)

Arthur Allen Jones (November 22, 1926 – August 28, 2007) was the founder of Nautilus, Inc. and MedX, Inc. and the inventor of the Nautilus exercise machines, including the Nautilus pullover, which was first sold in 1970. Jones was a pioneer in the field of physical exercise i.e. weight and strength training. He was born in Arkansas, and grew up in Seminole, Oklahoma.

Accomplishments
Jones's ideas tried to move the public's notion of bodybuilding and strength-training exercise away from the Arnold Schwarzenegger school of training, which involved hours in the gym using free weights, to high intensity training. This involves short, single sets, with each set taken to the point of complete muscular failure with a frequency of once or at most twice a week with the intention to maximize muscular hypertrophy and strength increases. Jones said: “The secret, if there is one, is high intensity. And when you actually train with high-intensity, you don’t need a lot of volume.”

Famous individuals who trained under Jones's supervision include Casey Viator (who participated in the Colorado Experiment), Eddie Robinson (who worked with and participated in and trained under Jones's Nautilus leverage line), IFBB professional bodybuilders Mike and Ray Mentzer (both won the Mr. America IFBB and AAU respectively), Sergio Oliva (winner of every major bodybuilding contest and was also the only individual to win the Mr. Olympia over Arnold Schwarzenegger who placed 2nd), Boyer Coe (Mr. America, Mr.International, Mr.Universe etc.) and Dorian Yates (6x Mr. Olympia).

Jones's publications included the Nautilus Bulletins, which dispelled contemporary myths of exercise and resistance training. He also wrote and published "The Cervical Spine, Lumbar Spine And The Knee," which provided for the first time a complete description of the function of the lumbar spine and its true range of motion.

Additional publications included the results of Jones's studies on the differing responses of muscular structures exposed to varying amounts of exercise throughout limited and unlimited range of motion. Jones labeled these responses as type S response for specific and type G for general. He was among the first researchers to experiment with exclusively eccentric training on test subjects and among the first to suggest the superiority and importance of eccentric training for strength. He was the inventor of infimetric and akinetic exercise equipment. He was the first exercise machine designer to utilize cams, as opposed to pulleys, in exercise machines, making possible for the first time resistance that varied along the force curves generated by human muscular structures.

It was the advent of Nautilus machines that made resistance training appealing to the general public, fueling the fitness boom of the 1970s and 80s and resulting in Nautilus gyms in strip malls across America.

Nautilus, Inc. markets the Bowflex, Stairmaster and Nautilus product lines. These new product lines are not affiliated with Jones. The Bowflex "power rod" bending technology is in part based on Jones's ideas due to its use of variable resistance.

The Nautilus machines and the company he formed to sell them made Jones a multimillionaire and landed him on the Forbes list of the 400 richest people. At one point, financial analysts estimated that Nautilus was grossing $400 million annually. He sold Nautilus Inc. in 1986 for $23 million. He also sold MedX Corporation in 1996 and then retired.

Death
On August 28, 2007, Jones died from natural causes at his home in Ocala, Florida, at age 80. He was survived by two daughters and two sons.

Inventions
Arthur Jones was a prolific inventor, holding numerous patents (many of which were assigned to Nautilus or MedX), most notably the elliptical cam (which replaces the pulley) to provide variable resistance through the range of motion.

Other interests
Jones often prided himself on being a generalist, something which he describes as a move away from the stubbornness and short-sightedness of 'specialists'. He attributed this in part to his upbringing in a family of physicians, as he found their attitudes toward medicine revolved around what they were taught and nothing else. One of his favorite quotes was Robert A. Heinlein's "specialization is for insects." He often cited that his observations gained from flying allowed him to understand the requirements for developing exercise machines. He believed in the competent man, that, as Heinlein also said, "a man should be able to put food on the table, build a house, tan a hide and deliver a baby."

Jones traveled and 'adventured' widely, occasionally with friend and fellow adventurer Roy Pinney (Jones's cameraman for a syndicated TV series called Wild Cargo), setting up camp for two years or so at a time in different places such as Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and Mexico City. His motto was "younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles." Jones's Lake Helen, Florida, Nautilus building was the home of Gomek, an 18-foot salt water crocodile that Jones was trying to grow to world record size. He was also an aficionado of venomous spiders and reptiles, a large collection of which was also housed in the Nautilus building. He ran a business that involved the importation of a variety of wild animals, ranging from tropical fish to snakes, parrots and monkeys. Jones's household included a jaguar named "Gaylord" that had free run of the house and even slept on the bed with his daughter. He once retrofitted several of his jumbo jets in order to transport 63 baby elephants, that had been orphaned in Africa, to his Jumbo Lair compound in Florida. Jones filmed the entire operation for television and entitled it Operation Elephant.

Jones was the creator of the "Jumbolair" estate, originally created as a haven of 350 acres (1.4 km2) for orphaned African elephants and other wildlife. He also kept two rhinos and a 600 lb male silverback gorilla that he named Mickey on the Jumbo Lair compound.

After WWII, he developed and owned a zoo in Slidell, Louisiana where he provided animals for the 1956 Roger Corman movie Swamp Women.

He also founded MedX Corporation, in which he invested 120 million dollars, to develop medical-based exercise and testing equipment for the cervical spine, lumbar spine and the knee.

In 1962, he wrote, produced, and directed the movie Voodoo Swamp.

title: Arthur Jones (inventor)