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William Sears (Baháʼí)

William Bernard Sears (March 28, 1911 – March 25, 1992) was an American writer and a popular television and radio personality in various shows culminating in the 1950s with In the Park but left television popularity to promote the Baháʼí Faith in Africa and embarked on a lifelong service to the religion, for some 35 years as Hand of the Cause, the highest institution of the religion he could be appointed to. He wrote many books about the religion, with Thief in the Night and God Loves Laughter being his most popular.

Earliest life
William Bernard Sears was born March 28, 1911, in  Aitkin, Minnesota,  to the Irish American household of Frank and Ethel Sears. William was the youngest child of four, and Frank and Ethel's only son. The Sears raised their children Catholic. When young, William suffered a bout of jaundice, which affected his health later in life.

As a young adult during the Great Depression in the United States, Sears worked as a playwright under the name Bernard Sears, winning some awards in 1933. Some of his plays were published in 1935/36, including Dad Cashes In, which has many of Sears' biographical aspects, and one play which was produced.

The plays did not generate enough income for him to continue writing full-time, so Sears got what would be his first job in a long career in broadcasting, at WOMT in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. His young wife, Kathleen Sears, died during the Depression, leaving him with their two young sons, William and Michael. Sears remarried, and he and his new wife, Marguerite Reimer Sears, raised the boys together.

Second marriage and the Baháʼí Faith
William met Marguerite in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, when he attended the University of Wisconsin, and she Marquette University. She had only recently joined the Baháʼí Faith, hearing about it from her father after a meeting Mary Maxwell, wife of a prominent Baháʼís leader. Their relationship advanced but they did not immediately marry. William was working in Iowa for the now former WGRR radio station of Radio Dubuque. On the way to California for a job with KFBK (AM) the couple considered living in Utah because it was a goal area for the religion. They ended up living in Salt Lake City in spring 1939, (apparently as their contribution to Shoghi Effendi's call for Baháʼís to relocate to support the religion) where he was soon assistant manager of KUTA radio station (later KNRS (AM).)

When they decided to marry, Marguerite and William's wedding was arranged in San Francisco by Marion Holley during their visit out there for a radio broadcast Sears did in September 1940. Between them, there were two clear understandings. On her part, it was that the religion was a prominent part of her life, and he would have to work with it being a priority for her — affecting, for example, where they would live. On his side, it was that he had a year-old son with tuberculosis, and he needed someone to help care for him. Marguerite left the Baháʼí book The Dawn-Breakers out for him to read. After picking it up and setting it aside once, he read it three times in three weeks  and by December 1939 was avowedly a Baháʼí, officially joining the religion in 1940.

Sears and Marguerite moved to San Mateo, California, about the summer of 1942, where a Baháʼí Spiritual Assembly had lapsed, and he gave an especially noted talk about using radio to promote the religion. In San Mateo, they were visible giving talks on the religion as late as February 1944. He embarked on a national tour in 1945, beginning with talks in the New York City area in February. Then, after a break, he gave another 48 talks across August and September through Salt Lake City, Laramie, Denver, Omaha, Topeka, Kansas City, Independence, Milwaukee, Omaha, and into Canada in November, as well as Charlottetown. He was back in New York in December, giving a talk, and participated in a statewide conference of Baháʼís. During this period he was also on a committee that consulted on the religion's use of radio along with Mildred Mottahedeh, prominently appeared at a peace banquet with Dorothy Beecher Baker (also a future Hand of the Cause), gave talks in 1946 at a meeting back in Los Angeles with scholar Marzieh Gail, and helped produce a higher-profile radio segment in Denver. There is a gap in public coverage of any talks for the religion from 1946 until 1952, though his behind-the-scenes work continued and began to weave into his rising profile in the public eye and his service to the religion.

Rising to national awareness
As early as 1946, Sears was more noticeable in public, working for various radio and television stations. He worked at WPEN AM radio, and by 1948 at WCAU-TV, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In between, in February 1947, Marguerite led a class in radio production at Green Acre Baháʼí School in Maine for which Sears acted as narrator and consultant before it airing on WHEB, and by June Sears produced a set of radio spot announcements and national radio shows for the religion. For commercial work he did various shows including The Bill Sears Show, while at the same time, his first booklet publication came out: The Martyr-Prophet of a World Faith, a 19-page work with quotes from A. L. M. Nicholas, Francis Younghusband, E. G. Browne, and then he worked for the WCAU show Kid Gloves, while at the same time Sears taped an interview of Hand of the Cause Corinne True about her pilgrimage in 1907. In December 1951 he began to host a television show In The Park initially on WCAU as a 15-minute program, which was picked up by WCBS-TV as a 30-minute live program. It featured conversations between Sears and puppets by Paul Ritts and Mary Donnelly  with "… Sears (dressed in suit jacket, vest, string tie, and hat) as he sat leisurely on a bench and conversed with his puppet friends" in the Central Park Zoo. In July 1952 the show was advertised as costing $3250 to produce per week. At the same time as the show was coming along, Sears was included in a profile of thinkers by Edward R. Murrow in his This I Believe radio series though none of the participants were allowed to name their religion, (the series published as a book, with Sears' entry on pp. 167–8, and released on the internet c. 2005.) Sears began to give more public talks for the religion covered in the newspapers, beginning with a funeral in Maine in the summer of 1952. The Ten Year Crusade, a major initiative to bring the religion to countries around the world, was announced in October and would soon figure prominently in the Sears' plans. In the Park was noted in many newspaper stories in December 1952 related to The Ed Sullivan Show, and actually appeared twice on the show — January and March 1953. Coverage of In the Park continued into May. Meanwhile, he was attending the May 2 dedication of the Baháʼí House of Worship in Wilmette. Progress in organizing the efforts of the Ten Year Crusade included the opportunity for Marguerite to attend the February conference of Baháʼís in Uganda. When Sears asked to leave his contract so he could go to Africa he was threatened with the fact that 56 people would lose their jobs. Meanwhile, the sponsor had a strike, canceled the contract, and the family left. The puppets went on to other shows.

South Africa
Arriving about July 18, Sears, his wife, and one of their children moved near Johannesburg, South Africa,  on an initial six-month visa. They had intended to move on to Kenya, but they stayed in South Africa. This was during the period of Apartheid and just as some new laws segregating people were coming into play: Reservation of Separate Amenities Act and the Bantu Education Act. Sears suffered a heart attack a few days into their stay. After recovering, they stayed in Kampala, Uganda, at the home of Hand of the Cause Músá Banání just after Enoch Olinga left for Cameroon. In April 1954 the Sears went on Baháʼí pilgrimage, with quick stops by Marguerite in the States sharing that pioneering doesn't magically transform someone, and on return, their other son also moved to South Africa. Sears commented about what he learned on pilgrimage including that an attitude of service in pioneering: "Over and over again these general principles were reiterated: pioneers going to Africa must efface themselves, they must realize that in going to Africa they go to teach the native African people, not the Europeans or others who have migrated there. Pioneers must show by actions, not by words alone, that they love the Africans and have come to Africa to serve them and show their love for them.… and (reporting the words of Shoghi Effendi) "to select those taught carefully, teach them thoroughly, strengthen them in their understanding. Give them the message in such a way as to create in them a desire to teach. Then the task is accomplished. Then let the whites disperse."

After returning from pilgrimage, the Sears moved back to South Africa where they bought a farm. They helped elect the local assembly of Johannesburg, and he was appointed to the Auxiliary Board for Africa, under Hand of the Cause Músá Banání. Sears gained a job with the South African Broadcasting Corporation pre-recording radio programs, and using the free time for trips to support the religion. There was another brief trip to North America – Sears was in Canada possibly while adjusting passports for a longer stay, and gave a talk, while Marguerite was in Illinois. Returned in 1956, Sears was elected as chairman of the new regional assembly for the geographic region of South and West Africa. There were many trips he embarked on. Sears drove into Zulu territory seeking out a pioneer with John Quigley, and also managed a quick trip to the States for a July televised program on the religion for a Chicago educational television station where he served as an off-camera announcer as well as one of the interviewees. However, a new law in South Africa, the Industrial Conciliation Act, 1956, set a standard that organizations with membership of more than one race could only have one race governing the group. The Baháʼís chose to elect only black African leadership. While in South Africa circa September 1957, Sears finished off the preface to his first book – Release the Sun. Sears was briefly in the States in October, before returning to South Africa, and learning he was appointed a Hand of the Cause by Shoghi Effendi, along with Enoch Olinga and John Robarts, with responsibilities for West and South Africa. The telegram arrived late in October from Músá Banání, just before Shoghi Effendi died November 4.

Crisis of the death of Shoghi Effendi
With the death of Shoghi Effendi the Hands of the Cause of God, now with its newest appointees, decided a select group would be voted on to act at the Baháʼí World Centre for the interests of the religion between the period of the leadership of Shoghi Effendi and promised election of the Universal House of Justice at the end of the Ten Year Crusade in 1963. These were called Custodians. In 1958 Sears attended the election of the French national assembly. During this period the Sears were apart for about a year until she was able to live in Haifa and then they traveled further together. Meanwhile, one of their sons had married and stayed in Africa.

Sears next appears in news in the States is 1959 following a redistribution of responsibilities and attended the national convention of the US community along with Corinne True and Horace Holley. He then undertook a long tour of talks across the United States and into Canada through to Spring 1960. * ʻ*
 * but he didn't make them all — see
 * He interrupted his tour in September having already reached more than 2000 Baháʼís across more than a hundred meetings. Starting in June Sears wrote several telegrams reacting to the decision of fellow Hand of the Cause Mason Remey to call himself Guardian which initiated a Baháʼí division. But this claim was almost universally rejected by the body of the Baháʼís and that group later broke into several other divisions, and dwindled away. In October 1959 Sears released a number of tapes as well as scripts individuals could use to make their own presentations for a number of occasions, and a tape of his was used in an inter-racial meeting in Durham NC the same month. Meanwhile, in July 1960 Hand of the Cause Horace Holley, who had been elected to act as a Custodian, died. Sears was named by the Hands to fill his place. Sears also released his autobiographical God Loves Laughter. He then continued the tour into Latin America, Central America, the Greater Antilles and northern South American countries by July 1960.
 * He interrupted his tour in September having already reached more than 2000 Baháʼís across more than a hundred meetings. Starting in June Sears wrote several telegrams reacting to the decision of fellow Hand of the Cause Mason Remey to call himself Guardian which initiated a Baháʼí division. But this claim was almost universally rejected by the body of the Baháʼís and that group later broke into several other divisions, and dwindled away. In October 1959 Sears released a number of tapes as well as scripts individuals could use to make their own presentations for a number of occasions, and a tape of his was used in an inter-racial meeting in Durham NC the same month. Meanwhile, in July 1960 Hand of the Cause Horace Holley, who had been elected to act as a Custodian, died. Sears was named by the Hands to fill his place. Sears also released his autobiographical God Loves Laughter. He then continued the tour into Latin America, Central America, the Greater Antilles and northern South American countries by July 1960.
 * He interrupted his tour in September having already reached more than 2000 Baháʼís across more than a hundred meetings. Starting in June Sears wrote several telegrams reacting to the decision of fellow Hand of the Cause Mason Remey to call himself Guardian which initiated a Baháʼí division. But this claim was almost universally rejected by the body of the Baháʼís and that group later broke into several other divisions, and dwindled away. In October 1959 Sears released a number of tapes as well as scripts individuals could use to make their own presentations for a number of occasions, and a tape of his was used in an inter-racial meeting in Durham NC the same month. Meanwhile, in July 1960 Hand of the Cause Horace Holley, who had been elected to act as a Custodian, died. Sears was named by the Hands to fill his place. Sears also released his autobiographical God Loves Laughter. He then continued the tour into Latin America, Central America, the Greater Antilles and northern South American countries by July 1960.
 * He interrupted his tour in September having already reached more than 2000 Baháʼís across more than a hundred meetings. Starting in June Sears wrote several telegrams reacting to the decision of fellow Hand of the Cause Mason Remey to call himself Guardian which initiated a Baháʼí division. But this claim was almost universally rejected by the body of the Baháʼís and that group later broke into several other divisions, and dwindled away. In October 1959 Sears released a number of tapes as well as scripts individuals could use to make their own presentations for a number of occasions, and a tape of his was used in an inter-racial meeting in Durham NC the same month. Meanwhile, in July 1960 Hand of the Cause Horace Holley, who had been elected to act as a Custodian, died. Sears was named by the Hands to fill his place. Sears also released his autobiographical God Loves Laughter. He then continued the tour into Latin America, Central America, the Greater Antilles and northern South American countries by July 1960.
 * He interrupted his tour in September having already reached more than 2000 Baháʼís across more than a hundred meetings. Starting in June Sears wrote several telegrams reacting to the decision of fellow Hand of the Cause Mason Remey to call himself Guardian which initiated a Baháʼí division. But this claim was almost universally rejected by the body of the Baháʼís and that group later broke into several other divisions, and dwindled away. In October 1959 Sears released a number of tapes as well as scripts individuals could use to make their own presentations for a number of occasions, and a tape of his was used in an inter-racial meeting in Durham NC the same month. Meanwhile, in July 1960 Hand of the Cause Horace Holley, who had been elected to act as a Custodian, died. Sears was named by the Hands to fill his place. Sears also released his autobiographical God Loves Laughter. He then continued the tour into Latin America, Central America, the Greater Antilles and northern South American countries by July 1960.
 * He interrupted his tour in September having already reached more than 2000 Baháʼís across more than a hundred meetings. Starting in June Sears wrote several telegrams reacting to the decision of fellow Hand of the Cause Mason Remey to call himself Guardian which initiated a Baháʼí division. But this claim was almost universally rejected by the body of the Baháʼís and that group later broke into several other divisions, and dwindled away. In October 1959 Sears released a number of tapes as well as scripts individuals could use to make their own presentations for a number of occasions, and a tape of his was used in an inter-racial meeting in Durham NC the same month. Meanwhile, in July 1960 Hand of the Cause Horace Holley, who had been elected to act as a Custodian, died. Sears was named by the Hands to fill his place. Sears also released his autobiographical God Loves Laughter. He then continued the tour into Latin America, Central America, the Greater Antilles and northern South American countries by July 1960.
 * He interrupted his tour in September having already reached more than 2000 Baháʼís across more than a hundred meetings. Starting in June Sears wrote several telegrams reacting to the decision of fellow Hand of the Cause Mason Remey to call himself Guardian which initiated a Baháʼí division. But this claim was almost universally rejected by the body of the Baháʼís and that group later broke into several other divisions, and dwindled away. In October 1959 Sears released a number of tapes as well as scripts individuals could use to make their own presentations for a number of occasions, and a tape of his was used in an inter-racial meeting in Durham NC the same month. Meanwhile, in July 1960 Hand of the Cause Horace Holley, who had been elected to act as a Custodian, died. Sears was named by the Hands to fill his place. Sears also released his autobiographical God Loves Laughter. He then continued the tour into Latin America, Central America, the Greater Antilles and northern South American countries by July 1960.
 * He interrupted his tour in September having already reached more than 2000 Baháʼís across more than a hundred meetings. Starting in June Sears wrote several telegrams reacting to the decision of fellow Hand of the Cause Mason Remey to call himself Guardian which initiated a Baháʼí division. But this claim was almost universally rejected by the body of the Baháʼís and that group later broke into several other divisions, and dwindled away. In October 1959 Sears released a number of tapes as well as scripts individuals could use to make their own presentations for a number of occasions, and a tape of his was used in an inter-racial meeting in Durham NC the same month. Meanwhile, in July 1960 Hand of the Cause Horace Holley, who had been elected to act as a Custodian, died. Sears was named by the Hands to fill his place. Sears also released his autobiographical God Loves Laughter. He then continued the tour into Latin America, Central America, the Greater Antilles and northern South American countries by July 1960.

Finishing the Crusade
Sears was one of the signatories to a letter urging the Baháʼís of the west to continue the work for the crusade. Sears' travels continued from December 1960 starting in Alaska and then into California before proceeding widely through the rest of the U.S. and on into spring 1961. And taped talks of his begin to circulate.

There was special coverage of Sears helping to dedicate the Baháʼí House of Worship in Uganda in January 1961. Sears' most famous book, Thief in the Night, was then published. It followed biographical elements of his interest in the history of the Báb. His books began to be discussed at meetings; this continued through the years.

In the spring Sears visited the Panamanian Baháʼís, attended the national convention of Guatemala as well as visiting the newly elected International Baháʼí Council, a precursor to the Universal House of Justice. While there he was a co-signatory to a letter to the Baháʼís of Australia in their efforts in the concluding years of the crusade. In 1962 he visited at the University of Urbana-Champaign and then participated in a radio program on WLS (AM) in Chicago before attending that year's U. S. national convention (where he advocated for easing enrollment conditions that were then common practice and shared prayers in an African language,) and then the French Baháʼí summer school.

In 1963 he attended the conclave of the Hands of the Cause in Haifa anticipating the election of the Universal House of Justice to be the new head of the religion and sent a taped message to an all-Indian council of Baháʼís held near Tucson. Sears was in London for the first Baháʼí World Congress, which elected the Universal House of Justice. Sears spoke at the second evening giving a public address.

Under the Universal House of Justice
Sears spent some years overseas from America but in 1965 Sears was covered in various newspapers — Associated Press religion writer George W. Cornell wrote a piece on the religion including interviewing him. His book Release the Sun was included by the Baháʼís in donating to President JFK's Memorial Library, and echoed elsewhere. He was interviewed on WBBY, and present at different community meetings in the California area. In late January 1966 the Baháʼís organized a major conference in Fresno, California. Nine days, with a talk a day, were scheduled with Lisa Montell, Mildred Mottahedeh, Arthur Dahl, Florence Mayberry, William Sears, Russell Garcia, Gina Valentine, Eulalia Bobo, Sookha Winters, and Chester Khan. In February Sears released a series of tapes discussing ideals and importance about contributions to the religion. In May a conference of two Hands of the Cause, Sears and Zikr'u'llah Khadem, several of their auxiliary board members, and a representative of the national assembly, consulted in Waukesha, Wisconsin, and Sears was interviewed on the NBC Today Show on May 23.

He was overseas from America for much of 1967–8, starting with attending the election of a regional assembly in west central Africa. In 1968 Sears was at a centennial of Baháʼu'lláh's arrival at the prison of Akka in 1868 with 9 other Hands of the Cause and some 2300 Baháʼís at a conference in Palermo, Sicily before going to Haifa as a group. He then toured Baháʼí communities in the United Kingdom. In December he helped dedicate a new Baháʼí center in San Bernardino, California followed by attending several of the series of conferences arranged by the newly formed institution of the Continental Counsellors held across North America at Quebec, Ontario, Georgia, Pennsylvania, California, Missouri, Saskatchewan and British Columbia into March 1969. In April he attended the US National Baháʼí Convention, speaking several times, and in September Sears helped dedicate a new Baháʼí center at Desert Hot Springs, California. Meanwhile, God Loves Laughter was included in donations to a library and taped talks of his were used for a youth conference in Australia and Honduras in 1968.

In 1970 Sears attended a statewide conference in February in Bradenton, Florida, and another tape of a talk of his was sent to a youth conference in Indiana and a summer school in Seattle in June, however Sears was actually out of the country. In May he attended the French national convention and in August an (Indian) oceanic conference in Mauritius on the way to a task assigned by the Universal House of Justice. It had requested that Sears tour Iran with Marguerite, and their travels were aided by the Iranian National Spiritual Assembly, several of whom were to disappear in a few years. They were able to visit many sites important in the History of the Baháʼí Faith — the homes of the Báb and Baháʼu'lláh, the site of the Conference of Badasht, the Siyah-Chal, the fortress of Maku, the site of the Battle of Fort Tabarsi, and the place of the Báb's execution — all despite various levels of harassment. Sears published The Prisoner and the Kings following this trip. His next Baháʼí event was the Naw-Ruz opening of the Baháʼí new year celebration in a number of events in Los Angeles in March, despite the troubles of the February 1971 San Fernando earthquake, drawing participants from New Mexico, Nevada and Arizona. The talks and slides of the event were recorded. While he was away in Iran a taped message was presented at the US national convention, a general discussion tape on spiritual assemblies as an institution of the religion was released, again Sears' God Loves Laughter was donated to a library and a tape of a talk of his was used in a public meeting in Indiana.

In Spring 1971 he sent a taped message to the US national convention while he was aboard ship underway to the national convention of Jamaica, and another for the May conference of the Caribbean in Jamaica while he was at the national convention in Germany, and then a German national youth symposium. Following events in South Carolina, wherein thousands of people were beginning to join the religion Sears released a pair of hour-long taped discussions on the subject of mass engagement with and response of the public. He appeared personally in December at an awards program in California. In 1972 he again sends a tape to the US national convention, a letter to the national convention in Chad, and one to the combined convention of Swaziland and Mozambique – this time he was away for the election of the new national assembly of Ireland. In October he sent a taped message to the dedication of the new institute named after Louis G. Gregory in South Carolina.

1973 represents an active year again – he published a biography of Lua Getsinger, gave talks at several meetings around South Carolina in January at the Louis Gregory Institute, addressed the delegates to the third international convention, the US national convention, and the third annual youth convention of the US (held in June in Oklahoma at which some 4000 Baháʼís attended.) In December he helped set up the first officially Baháʼí television series, appearing in it as well as Mr. and Mrs. Russell Garcia. It was carried by an ABC affiliate in Hawaii. In Spring 1974 he attended the national convention in Japan and met Baháʼís in South Korea at a conference. In July he attended the dedication of the Bosch Baháʼí School in Santa Cruz, California. In August he had two major appearances: in early August he appeared an international youth conference in Hilo, Hawaii and in late August he was at a musical program with Russell Garcia and Seals and Crofts in Illinois.

In 1975 he started in January in New York, and then the US national convention in April. However he was unable to attend a conference in Montreal due to deterioration in his health such that he had to stop his appearances for a time. He sent a letter to an Alaskan conference in September. He was able to appear at one of the two conferences of Baháʼís in California in December.

The television series he had worked on in Hawaii in 1973 had been taped and was made available in 1976 and was aired in Alaska. He attended the Canadian national convention of Baháʼís, bringing to the US convention a gift of roses in honor of Charlotte Linfoot who had just sustained a serious stroke, and then an Alaskan conference in July. In October he was in Nairobi Kenya for an international conference of Baháʼís.

Following the Islamic Revolution in Iran and the treatment of Baháʼís Sears wrote A Cry from the Heart: The Baháʼís in Iran. Meanwhile, some of his earlier books were donated to libraries or given away. His A Cry from the Heart was included in testimony to the US Congress about events in Iran and donated to a library in 1982. In 1983 George Plagenz took an interest in the analysis Sears did of Christian prophecies (without naming Thief in the Night) and it is carried in a few cities over time. He addressed the US national convention and his comments were recorded.

Final years
The Sears moved to Tucson in 1985 in part for his health as the climate was better for him. He published All Flags Flying to tell anecdotes from his travels. In 1986 he attended the dedication of the Lotus Temple and gave a talk that has been recorded. The Sears' then began a project establishing Desert Rose Baháʼí School which had its first meetings in 1988. Despite having developed prostate cancer, in 1991 Sears initiated his last major project – he began to tour five cities of the United States and then extended the tour to nine more. But Sears died before reaching the eighth goal city, on the morning of March 25, 1992. Along the way he published Run to Glory! with anecdotes of his life fictionalized and humorous. He also had notes of works not published that were finished and published – In Grandfather's Barn and The Half-Inch Prophecy. He is buried in East Lawn Palms Cemetery in Tucson, Arizona.

Marguerite died in 2006.

Thief in the Night
Sears' book Thief in the Night, or, The Strange Case of the Missing Millennium deals with the history and understandings of prophecies in relation to the Báb and includes references to number of issues from the 1844 Edict of Toleration, William Miller's work on prophecy and the Millerism movement, the resulting Great Disappointment as it was understood in the West, and the history of the Bahá'í Faith in Persia. It provides an alternate understanding of Christian Scriptures that challenges current Christian thought on each of the issues brought up (it can be considered that there is a unanimity about such matters within the Christian faith), while the book presents a Baháʼí understanding on these various themes.

Between 1961 and 1997 it was reprinted 20 times and is still labeled "a classic", if popular, book and is still listed in modern PhD's as a resource. It "has remained one of the best selling of all Baha'i books since it was first published in 1961." The book has been noted by many Baháʼís: Dizzy Gillespie and friends including Flora Purim, and several writers on diverse themes. *

Remembrances

 * Edward R. Murrow said of him:"…who, we venture to emphasize, hasn't limited his talents to the coverage of a ball game or tennis match, but has put in some fruitful time studying the struggle of life itself and the rules it is best played by."
 * On the Rooftop with Bill Sears play about the life of Sears.

 * In 2010, he was honored at the Dawn Breakers International Film Festival for achieving excellence as a professional media personality.

Plays

 * Dad Cashes in (under "Bernard Sears")
 * The Cardigan kid; a comedy in 1 act ( under "William B. Sears")

Books

 * (revised from )
 * (revised from )

 * (post-humously)

 * (post-humously)

title: William Sears (Baháʼí)


text:
Talk:Cyclomatic complexity

Alternative Way is not helpful
The "Alternative Way" section is not helpful, as it uses the undefined term "number of closed loops". The author might be getting at the reason behind the term "clclomatic", which is that if the (directed) control flow graph is viewed as an undirected graph, the cyclomatic number is the minimum number of edges that must be removed to remove all loops from the undirected graph. However, this calculation is hardly any easier than counting the number of branches (conditionals). I recommend removing the "Alternative Way" section or replacing it by describing the connection to the cyclomatic number in undirected graphs. Greg sullivan 19:52, 23 August 2006 (UTC)
 * Alternative way seems to have been removed but the second example still refers to it. It uses a formula that doesn't have a 2 in it. X10 (talk) 15:13, 21 June 2018 (UTC)

Material merge
Ok, I merged in the material that was in the erroneously named Cyclometric complexity. I didn't do it all too perfectly, partly because I am not all that familiar with the subject. Some of it seems to conflict a bit, possibly the definitions, so if someone knowledgeable could properly fact check it using the external links or other good resources that would be great. But I thought I should at least do what I can. - Taxman 22:50, Feb 24, 2005 (UTC)

Clarifications
http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?CyclomaticComplexityMetric has the definition:

E = number of edges in the graph. N = number of nodes in the graph. P = number of nodes that are exit points (last instruction, return, exit, etc.) Then Cyclomatic complexity = E - N + P

That's a simpler explanation of 'P' than 'connected nodes'. It really means 'ways in which this module can branch to out to other modules'.

The article says, "It directly measures the number of linearly independent paths through a program's source code.". Wouldn't it be better to say that it gives an upper bound on the number linearly independent paths? For example, in the first control flow graph given in the margin, there are as few as two or as many as three linearly independent paths.

75.87.186.225 (talk) 17:15, 23 October 2009 (UTC)

Rule of thumb
That rule of thumb is a bit unbelievable. I have a simple frame of C code with 4 functions: main, parse_options, print_version and print_usage. There are only two available options: "help" and "version". The file is 89 lines long, but only 67 of them are real lines of code. Cyclomatic number for such a simple file is equal to 8, according to measure done by cccc. So is the file close to be "error-prone"? Is article wrong, rule of thumb is wrong, cccc is wrong or maybe I don't understand something? Could someone explain this, please? LukMak 18:20, 28 March 2006 (UTC)

Your code is only error prone if you have not handled all conditionals. We use cyclomatic complexity for two purposes.

During the initial development cycle, when designing test frames using decision tables all pathways must be addressed. Cyclomatic complexity use at this point provides the point that test frames are needed, and also highlights consitions that the programmer or arhcitect has missed.

The second purpose is to identify functions (and programs) that use conditionals nested very deeply. This is not good because most humans have a problem reading deeply nested conditionals and may add code during the maintenance cycle that does not address all pathways.

Hope this helps.

--Bill Buckels 12:26, 6 November 2007 (UTC)

Discuss: Merge article with "essential complexity"

 * Against
 * My two cents: merging this article ("cyclomatic complexity") with "essential complexity" doesn't make sense, because cyclomatic complexity is a method of measuring complexity (of a body of code / instructions), and the complexity which this method measures isn't implicitly categorized as either "essential" or "accidental". That's one of the strengths of cyclomatic complexity measurement, frankly: it's just one objective measurement of complexity, and it doesn't try to assert whether anything can or should be done about the complexity that it measures.  Cyclomatic complexity and essential complexity are effectively in different categories that I would name something like "measures of complexity" and "interpretation / meaning of complexity", respectively. Mlibby 16:20, 17 March 2007 (UTC)

 * Against
 * Cyclomatic complexity is one measure of the total complexity of a computer program; essential complexity is a kind of complexity found in a problem. Sometimes people write programs to solve problems, and in that case the essential complexity of the problem often finds its way into the program, but there's always other complexity involved as well.  In short, cyclomatic complexity is very different from essential complexity, and the two are only loosely related. Kragen Sitaker 02:34, 1 April 2007 (UTC) Update: McCabe's paper defining cyclomatic complexity also defines a concept called "essential complexity", but it is also unrelated to the concept in the Essential Complexity Wikipedia page. Perhaps this explains how this otherwise bizarre proposal for merging arose.  Kragen Sitaker 03:46, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

I agree that this proposal is bizarre. The Essential Complexity article is clearly talking about the notion from Fred Brooks' "No Silver Bullet" paper; that and cyclomatic complexity are very distinct concepts. Glv 19:30, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

Also signed for against; the two articles are a different focus. --BlueNovember 16:17, 20 May 2007 (UTC)

I am STRONGLY against merging this article with the Essential Complexity Wikipedia page and I am actually shocked that this was suggested. This comment should be removed from this page altogether because it makes no sense to anyone wanting a conscise definition of Cyclomatic Complexity as I have understood in my last 12 years as a Software Developer.

--Bill Buckels 12:17, 6 November 2007 (UTC)

What about functions?
This article neglects to explain how functions are handled. If a function is called from ten places, then control flow can flow from each of those ten places to the beginning of that function, and from the function's end back to the point after each of those ten places. Are these 20 arcs part of the control-flow graph being analyzed, or not?

Consider, for example, this Python program to calculate a sum of some squares: total = 0 for ii in [2, 4, 8, 10]: total += ii * ii   print total

This program clearly has cyclomatic complexity of M = E - N + P = 4 - 4 + 1 = 2, which is unsurprising since it contains one loop and no conditionals.

Now, we can rewrite this with a function as follows:

total = 0 def n(ii): global total total += ii * ii   n(2); n(4); n(8); n(10) print total

If we treat the "def n(ii):" line as a compile-time declaration, as it is in most languages, rather than a run-time statement, which it is in Python, then we can get a couple of different measures. There are 8 statements (7 if you exclude "global") and either 6 edges and 2 connected components, if we exclude the edges from the calls to n to the top of the body of n and from the bottom of the body back to the next statement after the call, or 14 edges and 1 connected component, if we include those edges. This gives 6 - 8 + 2 = 0 or 14 - 8 + 1 = 7, both of which seem like implausible answers.

I'm reading McCabe's paper now to see what he says about this (if anything!), and then perhaps I can clarify the article.

Update: McCabe's paper uses the formula M = E - N + 2P throughout most of it, although it states the M = E - N + P version up front; 6 - 8 + 4 = 2 and 14 - 8 + 2 = 8, and change the original version to 4 - 4 + 2 = 2, and at least the first of those numbers seems like a plausible value, not changing the essential complexity of the program.

So far I haven't run across anything in the paper about functions, but maybe Section IV explains it. What about methods or higher-order functions, I wonder? The first formula could treat them consistently; the second would be even more completely hosed.

Update: Section III suggests limiting each module (in FORTRAN, a subroutine) to a cyclomatic complexity of 10, and, as I had suspected, section IV explains that McCabe treats separate subroutines as independent graphs. This is sensible. There's an error on p.310 where a straight-line program is claimed to have V(G) = 2 instead of 1 (would be 0 by E - N + P), but so far the other values I've seen are consistent. I also cleaned up my code above a bit.

Kragen Sitaker 03:09, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

Update: Although the basic idea seems good, and the paper is still better than the current version of this Wikipedia entry, this is really rather a poor paper, aside from the errors I pointed out above, some of which seem to have caused some long-lasting confusion (e.g. the error of omitting the 2 in the formula the first time it's presented).

The author debases Dijkstra's term "structured", which Dijkstra coined to describe programs that were comprehensible and had mathematically provable behavior, to mean "using only alternation, iteration, and sequencing as control-flow operations," and indeed at one point (p.315, section VI, second paragraph) characterizes Knuth's article "Structured Programming With GO TO Statements" as advocating the use of "unstructured goto", which is exactly the opposite of Knuth's point in that article, which is that a slightly wider range of control structures are needed to structure programs comprehensibly --- that is, that structured programming is occasionally mutually exclusive with the debased meaning of "structured programming" being used by McCabe in this paper. (I've read Knuth's article, but you can begin to see the problem just from its title. It's currently available at http://pplab.snu.ac.kr/courses/adv_pl05/papers/p261-knuth.pdf)

It's possible that the error on p.310 is a result of a problem in the digitization --- perhaps an arrow is missing.

There are several other errors:
 * the diagram of "if" in footnote 4 on p.315 has an arrow going the wrong way;
 * the diagrams of the "following four control structures" on p.315 is missing one of the four;
 * the descriptions of those control structures on p.316 exchanges (c) and (d), or at any rate it disagrees with the diagram above about which ones they are;
 * the references misspell Henry Ledgard's name as "Legard" and "genealogy" (in the title of Ledgard and Marcotty's paper) as "generalogy";
 * they also misspell the name of Knuth's paper slightly.

This is not an exhaustive list.

Kragen Sitaker 04:09, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

 * A couple of points re McCabe's paper: first, in 1976 the term "structured programming" was a very specific term that doesn't have the broad meaning we tend to read it with today. The meaning McCabe used was a common interpretation of the phrase.  Knuth's article was, effectively, advocating a broadening of this definition.  It was therefore reasonable for McCabe to describe what he was advocating as "unstructured": his ideas had not become mainstream at that point.  Programs with breaks from loops were not considered structured at the time.  Neither were programs that contained functions with multiple returns. Some of the uses of go to that Knuth suggested were acceptable are still today not considered to be part of structured programming (e.g. using goto to jump to error handlers).
 * The "+P" rather than "+2P" appears to be due to the suggestion of adding an additional edge from the exit to the entrance of the function. This additional edge, of which there will be one for each connected subset of the graph, eliminates the necessity to use 2P.  The graph shown on the first page includes such an edge; most of the rest of the graphs do not, hence the use of 2P in the rest of the article.  This could have been explained better, but is not an error.
 * You appear to have a rather poor scan of the article. The copy I've linked to shows the program you refer to on p310 has a loop from block 2 back to itself, and does have all four control structures on p.315. JulesH (talk) 20:48, 24 March 2009 (UTC)

Functional vs Imperative Programming
Is it possible to apply cyclomatic complexity to code written in a functional programming language, or otherwise? If not, then the article should specify the paradigms to which cyclomatic complexity applies. If something similar is possible with functional programming language, it would be interesting if the article discussed it. Mgsloan 04:37, 2 October 2007 (UTC)

Exceptions anyone?
In the presence of exceptions, featured by many modern languages, those need to be treated as possible exit points, too. Looking at the example code provided, it means that you can not test all code with two test cases. Rather, you need Some people might argue that f3 or f4 throwing or returning doesn't change anything, so they shouldn't be treated as different cases. However, I wouldn't do that, because they exit the containing function through different exit points. Question remains what the official definition has to say on that topic.
 * c1==true, f1 throws
 * c1==true, f1 returns
 * c1==false, f2 throws
 * c1==false, f2 returns
 * c2==true, f3 throws
 * c2==true, f3 returns
 * c2==false, f4 throws
 * c2==false, f4 returns

Attempting to improve clarity of the article
But have a few concerns that I can't really answer myself. First: the "formal definition" section goes beyond my understanding of this topic by straying into a field of mathematics that I know little about. But, I can find no sources that discuss the topic in these terms. A google search for '"cyclomatic complexity" "relative homology"' turns up nothing except wikipedia mirrors. Is this original research?
 * There appears to be more than one formal definition of cyclomatic complexity: for example see Henderson-Sellers .  Henderson-Sellers claims that one metric is better suited to module-level testing while the other is more appropriate for system-level, integration testing.  The article should at least mention other definitions.  Here are some more relevant articles:
 * Baker, A.L. and Zweben, S.H. (1980) A comparison of measures of control flow complexity. IEEE Transactions of Software Engineering, 6(6), 506–512.
 * Feghali, I. and Watson, A.H. (1994) Clarification concerning modularization and McCabe's cyclomatic complexity. Communications of the ACM, 37(4), 91–92.
 * Henderson-Sellers, B. (1992) Modularization and McCabe's cyclomatic complexity. Communications of the ACM, 35(12), 17–19.
 * Shepperd, M. (1988) A critique of cyclomatic complexity as a software metric. Software Engineering Journal, 3, 30–36.
 * Weyuker, E.J. (1988) Evaluating software complexity measures. IEEE Transactions of Software Engineering, 14(9), 1357–1365.
 * Hope that helps. pgr94 (talk) 22:34, 24 March 2009 (UTC)

 * Well, the original McCabe proposal for the CC, resided on the definition of Cyclomatic Number in the graph theory. Berge defined it in Graphs and Hypergraphs. But the same number could also be defined in a branch of that theory called topological graph theory and, if so, that definition is exactly the same as reported in the wiki page. Of course the first is simpler and more pratically useful, but this is the subtle relation between them. --Ciosbel (talk) 20:30, 8 January 2010 (UTC)

As for the "prediction ability" of CC, are we talking about predicting number of defects in a module based on its complexity, or something else? Is there a paper associated with this keynote speech? I've seen a set of slides for it, but can find nothing about CC in those. JulesH (talk) 19:23, 24 March 2009 (UTC)
 * I think that the meaning "prediction ability" is intended as predicting the future program failures (or defects) from its complexity. I've found the slides you mention and only slide 17 matters. I've also found an article by Les Hatton about comparing defects against a wide varierty of well-known static measures (and of course also CC) looking for correlations. The analysis was done on the NAG Fortran library already cited in the slides. As it turned out, he found there were a correletion between CC and the number of executables lines of code; Quoting from the article: "[...] it is extremely likely that there will be a decision about every 3-4 executables lines of code [...]" and he stated even an equation for that. So i think the original author ment that for "CC has the same prediction ability as lines of code".Here there's the article. Ciosbel (talk) 19:21, 8 January 2010 (UTC)

I removed "However there are certain types of modules that one would expect to have a high complexity number, such as user interface (UI) modules containing source code for data validation and error recovery.". Obviously the author is not familiar with the humble view design pattern: http://martinfowler.com/eaaDev/OrganizingPresentations.html

Example where P>1
The article about Connected component does not deal with directed graphs very well. If it is applicable to interpret the flow graph as undirected, there can almost never be a P > 1 (a function use to have only one entry point, and all nodes are reachable from that). Can anyone give an example where P > 1? -- 130.236.56.173 (talk) 11:00, 12 January 2010 (UTC)

 * Yes, one should consider the flow graph as undirected for purposes of computing the cyclomatic number. A case with $$P>1$$ could be if one considers a code library rather than a program, as each exported function then has its own entry point. Multithreaded programs is perhaps another (although, now that I think about it, that is perhaps more properly dealt with by forming a product of the flow graphs for the different threads). 130.239.119.132 (talk) 13:02, 11 February 2011 (UTC)

The definition of P is unclear: with a simple case , according to Formutation1: N=3 E=2, so and Formulation2: N=3 E=4, so. if  then P=2 (the number of return) (-> M=3), but it is not the number of connected component (which is necessary 1 in formulation 2... that means that P2=1 -> M=2 -> P1=3/2 ?! ) Jarod42 (talk) 12:12, 26 October 2013 (UTC)

Example at the end of "Implications for Software Testing" misleading
The example of a function that requires more than simply branch coverage to test accurately at the end of "Implications for Software Testing" is a bit misleading.

It first shows that two tests can mis a bug. Then it says that by increasing the number of tests to the cyclomatic complexity, the bug is always caught. It is true in this case that the cyclomatic complexity and the number of tests required to always find that bug are equal. However, the example suggests that there is a link between the cyclomatic complexity and the number of test required to always catch that bug.

As the purpose of the example is to show that branch coverage is not always enough, I suggest to scrap everything after "Neither of these cases exposes the bug.".

Homotopy
The fundamental group of a 1-dimensional CW complex should be the free group on n generators, not Z^n, unless I'm very much mistaken. Additionally, are we including the loop from end to start when computing the fundamental group? In the example under Implications For Software Testing, it gives the complexity as 3, but using the graph next to it (with end->start connection) would give the free group on 3 generators as homotopy- and it says earlier that the value is then one more than that. I think it is more intuitive to use the looped graph and say that if pi-1(X) is the free group on n generators, then n is the cyclomatic complexity; either way, what we're taking the fundamental group of should be made more clear, I believe. Cyrapas (talk) 22:10, 7 May 2013 (UTC)

Etymology/Naming section contains confusing statements
This statement:

A better name for popular usage would be conditional complexity, as "it has been found to be more convenient to count conditions instead of predicates when calculating complexity".[6]

is confusing. Cyclomatic complexity can be easily calculated by counting number of branches, not conditions or predicates. The formula is then:

CC = 1 + sum_{nodes n: n has outdegree > 1} (outdegree(n)-1)

In fact, if you don't use switch-case-type instrucions (you can always change it to a sequence of IF statements), the cyclomatic complexity is: one plus number of places where the decision (that is: PREDICATE!!!) is made. Decision is a predicate, not condition! Condition is a part of a predicate and has nothing to do with cyclomatic complexity. In fact, it is more convenient to use predicates, not conditions when calculating CC (you can argue the quoted McCabe's statement!)

Someone should change this fragment, as it's very confusing. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.72.75.243 (talk) 22:05, 25 November 2013 (UTC)

Symmetric Difference wikipedia entry linked is for sets, not graphs
Re this line:

The set of all even subgraphs of a graph is closed under symmetric difference

The symmetric difference of subgraphs of a graph is not discussed in the wikipedia page for symmetric difference that is linked. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Scott Allen Brown (talk • contribs) 00:09, 13 December 2013 (UTC)

The immediately preceding paragraph identifies an Eulerian subgraph with the set of its edges, so symmetric difference would seem to apply here. What I do not understand is the phrase: "which is equivalent to only considering those even subgraphs which contain all vertices of the full graph." I cannot understand why this phrase (which seems to have been there since the beginning) is there, nothing seems to reply upon it (in fact it seems to be an error, since it would spoil the closure of the Eulerian subgraphs under symmetric difference if it were true). Zteve (talk) 15:19, 28 August 2015 (UTC)

The symmetric difference is an operation on the set of edges, in this context (according to the preceding paragraph). When taking such a symmetric difference, the vertex set doesn't change. It always includes all vertices of the original graph. Equivalently, we can completely ignore the vertices. None of the mathematical definitions actually need a vertex set. 205.189.0.108 (talk) 07:48, 3 September 2019 (UTC)

Wrong CC number in example in "Implications for software testing"
The example shown has cyclomatic complexity 3, not 4 (9 - 7 + 1 for strongly connected graph) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 169.145.89.205 (talk) 00:17, 27 June 2014 (UTC)

"Conditional complexity" OR??
I thought I found a book that calls it this way but it turns out they are citing this Wikipedia page!!! 188.27.81.64 (talk) 22:03, 16 July 2014 (UTC)

It was a "new name proposal" made via Wikipedia. 188.27.81.64 (talk) 22:35, 16 July 2014 (UTC)

The very first example is wrong
"M = E − N + 2P" and "This graph has 9 edges, 8 nodes, and 1 connected component, so the cyclomatic complexity of the program is 9 - 8 + 2*1 = 3."

In reality, the cyclomatic complexity of the first graph is 4 as there are four "linearly independent paths through a program's source code":

1-2-3-4-5-6 / 1-2-3-7-2-3-4-5-6 / 1-2-3-4-8-5-6 / 1-2-3-7-2-3-4-8-5-6

I don't know what is wrong with your formula, but it gives wrong result.

 * There's no explanation of "linearly independent". I believe it might refer to paths that have at least one edge found in no other path.  In your example, the first path "1-2-3-4-5-6" contains no edges that aren't also found in "1-2-3-7-2-3-4-5-6", so the first path isn't linearly independent of the others.  --Doradus (talk) 15:04, 11 August 2019 (UTC)

 * The example is not wrong. "paths that have at least one edge found in no other path" is not the correct definition of "linearly independent paths", and the correct definition has since been explained on this talk page in a message added 07:38, 3 September 2019 (UTC). The incorrect definition was added to the article on 13:48, 22 January 2020, and a second incorrect edit was made on 09:20, 31 March 2021, so I intend to remove these changes and possibly replace them with a more accurate definition.
 * The way I personally like to think of "linearly independent" as a software engineer is representing the path as a vector where each scalar element of the vector is a boolean, and boolean addition and multiplication is used, though that's not necessarily the explanation the article has to use.
 * The paths 1-2-3-4-5-6 / 1-2-3-7-2-3-4-5-6 / 1-2-3-4-8-5-6 / 1-2-3-7-2-3-4-8-5-6, would be
 * v1 = [1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0]
 * v2 = [1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0]
 * v3 = [1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1]
 * v4 = [1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1]
 * v4 is not linearly independent because it can be formed as a linear combination of the other 3.
 * Keeping in mind that in boolean algebra, 1+1=0
 * And that 1+1+1 = (1+1)+1 = 0+1 = 1
 * v1 + v2 + v3 = [(1+1+1) (1+1+1) (1+1+1) (1+1+1) (1+1+1) (1+1+1) (0+1+0) (0+0+1)] = [1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1]
 * This also shows why "paths that have at least one edge found in no other path" cannot be correct. v2 and v3 both clearly contain every edge in v1, so by that definition there could be at most 2 linearly independent paths.
 * Worse yet, if v4 is chosen, it already contains every edge, so this definition incorrectly implies the number of linearly independent paths depends on the choice of paths, and led to another incorrect edit on 09:20, 31 March 2021 adding the word "maximum" to say "maximum number of linearly independent paths", when in reality there is only one number of linearly independent paths, no minimum or maximum.
 * --RitchieThai (talk) 9:15, 10 November 2021 (UTC)
 * v1 + v2 + v3 = [(1+1+1) (1+1+1) (1+1+1) (1+1+1) (1+1+1) (1+1+1) (0+1+0) (0+0+1)] = [1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1]
 * This also shows why "paths that have at least one edge found in no other path" cannot be correct. v2 and v3 both clearly contain every edge in v1, so by that definition there could be at most 2 linearly independent paths.
 * Worse yet, if v4 is chosen, it already contains every edge, so this definition incorrectly implies the number of linearly independent paths depends on the choice of paths, and led to another incorrect edit on 09:20, 31 March 2021 adding the word "maximum" to say "maximum number of linearly independent paths", when in reality there is only one number of linearly independent paths, no minimum or maximum.
 * --RitchieThai (talk) 9:15, 10 November 2021 (UTC)
 * Worse yet, if v4 is chosen, it already contains every edge, so this definition incorrectly implies the number of linearly independent paths depends on the choice of paths, and led to another incorrect edit on 09:20, 31 March 2021 adding the word "maximum" to say "maximum number of linearly independent paths", when in reality there is only one number of linearly independent paths, no minimum or maximum.
 * --RitchieThai (talk) 9:15, 10 November 2021 (UTC)
 * --RitchieThai (talk) 9:15, 10 November 2021 (UTC)
 * --RitchieThai (talk) 9:15, 10 November 2021 (UTC)

What are linearly independent paths?
This article uses the phrase "linearly independent paths" several times without defining it. What does it mean? --Doradus (talk) 14:56, 11 August 2019 (UTC)

I agree wholeheartedly. A quick search for "graph linearly independent path" only brings up articles about software testing and this page itself. It would appear that "linearly independent paths" are not a thing. However, once I read past the Definition section, the Explanation in terms of algebraic topology section actually does define them, in three different ways. I think this section might be better called Formalization in mathematical terms, and it should be reworded from "this is another way to look at it" to "these are formal definitions of linearly independent paths". 205.189.0.108 (talk) 07:38, 3 September 2019 (UTC)
 * 1) First the graph theory / linear algebra definition describes how linearly independent paths form a basis for the vector space for the even subgraphs, where the addition operation is symmetric difference of the edge set. This definition is the easiest to comprehend, which is kind of sad.
 * 2) Next the homology definition, which I admit to not comprehending.
 * 3) Finally the fundamental group definition, which could use more color. It's cool to think of constructing a homotopy equivalence from a control flow graph to a set of loops, all connected at a single point. Also the n+1 only makes sense if the exit node is not connected to the entry node, which is an essential part of the graph theory definition.

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title: Talk:Cyclomatic complexity


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Talk:1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games

earlier comments
Was this the first time that the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland has competed? The reason that I ask is because Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia), Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and Nyasaland (now Malawi) formed this Federation in 1953. However, it seems that in the two previous British Empire and Commonwealth Games (as they were known then) that the members competed under their former names? Can anyone shed any light on this? Ianblair23 16:59, 16 Apr 2005 (UTC)

I'm not sure whether the team competed together or not, however, in looking at the official site - The Commonwealth Games Federation has re-allocated the medals to whichever successor nation is appropriate. In fact, on the official site they just call Rhodesia/Southern Rhodesia Zimbabwe the whole way through. jkm 09:12, 11 March 2006 (UTC)

Proposed merge
See Talk:All-time medal tally of Commonwealth Games for discussion on this and other related merges. Kevin 05:03, 20 May 2006 (UTC)

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Talk:Harvey Flaumenhaft

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User talk:Fresnosparrow

The problems you've encountered
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I saw your note on the Village Pump, and on John Fader's talk page. There's not much we can do about negative comments on Sandbox pages; it's an area for people to experiment, and we try not to get heavy with people there unless they're really abusive. Comments there generally don't last very long. You're very welcome to remove any material from the sandbox that you think is inappropriate; it's a free-for-all.

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Talk:Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation

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The European influence "theories" on the Mandan tribe are highly speculative and at least a little racist. Any mention of them in this article should not advance them as anything but a marginal theory. --Alexwcovington (talk) 23:02, 24 Feb 2005 (UTC)

The European theories are highly speculative. I have rewritten this article several times to downplay them. Someone keeps changing it to give those theories more importance AND to add racism to the article, which is misleading. Why not leave the article as factual and neutral as possible?

 * It does not necessarily build more import into the paragraph to state the fact that racism played a role in the theories. I wouldn't call "See Kensington Runestone and Madoc" downplay... but that's my personal thought.
 * There are many ways to go about it. I choose an approach that attempts to be as descriptive as possible as to why the theories are incorrect and misleading.  You seem to be looking from the perspective that as little page space should be dedicated to it as possible.  IMO your approach might be more appropriate once a larger amount of information has been added to the article, so there is something for the paragraph to get lost in -- but right now the article is three paragraphs long, and what little information we have up there should be as inclusive as possible.  I'll avoid making more changes until this has been discussed a bit more, though. --Alexwcovington (talk) 20:36, 28 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Take a look at the change I made today. The problem I had with your wording was that it said the Mandan/Madoc theory was advanced due to racism. I can't find that anywhere in any of the readings I've done, and, in fact, the article we've been playing with was the only one mentioning racism. I have no problem saying the theory is speculative and unproven, which it is.

Hidatsa+Atsina->Gros Ventres
Just curious about Mandan/Arikara re Hidatsa; I found this page by looking up Gros Ventres, of which the Hidatsa are one part (the other are the Atsina). Also wanted to comment that at some point there's got to be a different "Hidatsa" article, as that's also the name of one of the initiatory longhouse secret societies in Pacific Northwest Coast cultures; I think the word is Kwak'wala, I'm not sure.Skookum1 05:45, 10 May 2006 (UTC)
 * The Atsina and Hidatsa are separate groups that were called by the same name in French as far as can see - not that they are related to each other. Rmhermen 22:30, 19 May 2006 (UTC)

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Black Mesa (Apache-Navajo Counties, Arizona)

Black Mesa (also called Big Mountain) is an upland mountainous mesa of Arizona, north-trending in Navajo County, west and southeast-trending in Apache County. In Navajo it is called ('Black Mountain') and during Mexican rule of Arizona it was called Mesa de las Vacas (Spanish for 'mesa of the cows'). It derives its dark appearance from its pinyon-juniper and mixed conifer woodlands.

Geography
The mesa is located on the Colorado Plateau near Kayenta, Arizona, and rises to over 8168 ft. Its highest peak is located on Black Mesa's northern rim, a few miles south of the town of Kayenta. Reliable springs surfacing at several locations mean the mesa is more suitable for continuous habitation than much of the surrounding desert area. It is now split between the Hopi and Diné (Navajo) tribal reservations.

Black Mesa is also the name of a small Navajo community off BIA-8066, which lies 17 miles west of Rough Rock, 20 miles north of Blue Gap and 25 miles northeast of Pinon. In the area is a local Chapter House and a community school.

The mesa is located within, and gives its name to, the Black Mesa Basin.

Mining
Since the 1960s the mesa has been strip mined for coal by the Peabody Western Coal Company, stirring a controversy over Peabody Energy's use of groundwater to transport coal.

In 2013, the Climate Justice Alliance (CJA), collaborating with the Black Mesa Water Coalition, held their first national gathering in opposition to the strip mining of the mesa. The gathering had an attendance of 100 members.


text: User talk:64.230.146.26

title: User talk:64.230.146.26


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Proverde

 This page is an archive of the discussion about the proposed deletion of the article below. This page is no longer live. Further comments should be made on the article's talk page rather than here so that this page is preserved as an historic record. The result of the debate was delete. Joyous 01:18, Mar 3, 2005 (UTC)

Proverde
No vote as of yet. This looks like an advertisement, but since I don't read Dutch, I'm having a tough time determining whether or not this company is notable enough for inclusion. Android79 23:16, Feb 24, 2005 (UTC)

Comment Ha! That company is located about a minute's walk from where I live, so I could take a look if you wish. ;-) By the way, their website is in English, so you should be able to read it.--Plek 00:21, 25 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Most of the hits on Google come up in Dutch. I'd rather not rely solely on the company's website to determine its notability. That's where you multi-lingual folks come in. :o) Android79 02:02, Feb 25, 2005 (UTC)
 * Go Dutch! But no, this is company vanity, and not particularly notable (400 googles). As such, delete. Radiant! 09:15, Feb 25, 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete. Advert.--Firsfron 05:13, 27 Feb 2005 (UTC)

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


text: User talk:67.70.129.188

title: User talk:67.70.129.188


text:
Chronicon Roskildense

Chronicon Roskildense (Danish: Roskildekrøniken English: Roskilde Chronicle) is a small Danish historical work, written in Latin. It is one of the oldest known attempts to write a coherent account of Danish history by a Danish author, spanning from the introduction of Christianity in Denmark to the author's own time in the middle of the 12th century.

History
The original chronicle covers the time frame of 826 to c. 1143. A later addition from the reign of King Valdemar I of Denmark, of a few more pages, takes the chronicle to 1157 when King Valdemar I gains the throne of Denmark; these additional pages are mostly direct quotes from other sources.

The author is unknown, but has been assumed to have had some connection to Roskilde Cathedral. The author is very confident with matters dealing with Roskilde. Churchly matters are not of special interest to the author who writes vividly about all kinds of local matters. Events themselves are only briefly covered while people taking part in them or even causing them are throughout covered with great passion.

Unlike Saxo's Gesta Danorum or Aggesen's Brevis Historia Regum Dacie, Chronicon Roskildense often covers the 'losing' side in these very same events as told by Saxo Grammaticus and Svend Aggesen. At times the author can seem very bitter and blinded by politic; however, this fact also makes this chronicle a very interesting piece of work. The early part of the work is in many cases based on Adam of Bremen's Descriptio insularum Aquilonis, sometimes even using direct quotes. However, the author only takes what is needed and the meaning is not always the same.

As with many Danish chronicles, the exact time of writing is not known with certainty. The original chronicle ends very suddenly. The last subject written about concerns the quarrel between Bishop Rike of Schleswig and Bishop Eskil of Lund over the Archbishop seat of Lund between 1137 and 1138. Olaf "II" Haraldsen, the son of Harald Kesja who is killed in 1143, is still alive as of the writing. With these in mind, the book must have been finished c. 1143.

The original manuscript is lost today and the chronicle exists now only in copies made in the 13th, 16th and 17th centuries. Copies in Latin reside in:
 * University Library, Kiel, S. H. 8 A.8° (13th century). Known as Codex Kiloniensis.
 * Den Arnamagnæanske Samling, Copenhagen, AM 107 8o (16th century).
 * Uppsala University Library, De la Gardie XXV-XXIX (17th century).

Other sources

 * Jørgen Olrik (1888) Den Ældeste Danmarkskrønike (Roskildekrøniken) (Copenhagen: Nielsen & Lydiche) (with Danish translation)
 * "Chronicon Roskildense" in: Scriptores Minores Historiæ Danicæ, Vol. 1, ed. M.CL. Gertz, Copenhagen 1917–18
 * Lotte Fang (1979) Roskildekrøniken - Den ældeste Danmarkshistorie (Viborg: Forlag Sesam A/S)  ISBN 87-7324-517-8

Related reading

 * DuBois, Thomas Andrew (2008) Sanctity in the North: Saints, Lives, and Cults in Medieval Scandinavia (University of Toronto Press) ISBN 978-0802091307

title: Chronicon Roskildense


text: User talk:199.50.29.41

title: User talk:199.50.29.41


text:
Talk:ComputerLand

This page was voted on for deletion at Votes for deletion/Vanstar. There was no consensus. dbenbenn | talk 23:22, 24 Feb 2005 (UTC)

The page was again nominated for deleted on February 24 which resulted in 5 votes to keep. (Votes for deletion/ComputerLand) Mgm|(talk) 09:25, Mar 15, 2005 (UTC)

Why this page should NOT be deleted
ComputerLand is related to an important part of computing history: the retail and personalization of computers (Intel 8080 and later computers).

The article relates to the founder, who is likewise important for being one of the pioneers of personal computing, along with the other more well-known individuals, such as Michael Dell (Dell), Hewlett and Packard (Hewlett-Packard), Bill Gates, Steve Jobs.

The founder is cited on CompTIA's website in their section "Previously Inducted IT Hall of Fame Members". http://www.comptia.org/news/IT_HOF/HOF_Members.aspx

If you delete this article, you had better merge its contents into the article for the founder, Bill Millard. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Rj.amdphreak (talk • contribs) 22:08, 9 January 2011 (UTC)

ComputerLand's website
Why is ComputerLand's website still in service? And why is there not a notice on their site that points out that ComputerLand doesn't exist any more??

External links modified
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I have just modified one external link on ComputerLand. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
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title: Talk:ComputerLand


text:
William Clarke (apothecary)

William Clarke (c. April 1609 – 1682) was an apothecary who provided lodgings for a young Isaac Newton whilst he attended the King's School in Grantham.

Biography
William was baptised on 23 April 1609. According to his will, he had a brother Joseph, but little else is known about his early life. William Clarke was married twice, first to an unknown woman who bore him two children - Joseph and William. His second marriage was to Katherine Babington, widow, who was from the same line as Anthony Babington. Katherine had several children from a previous marriage to Edward Storer, including daughters Katherine and Anne as well as sons Edward and Arthur Storer. Together, Katherine and William had two more children named John and Martha. All of his sons except John followed him into the trade of apothecary. Clarke eventually retired to Loughborough in Leicestershire, leaving his business to his son, William.

During the English Civil War, William sided with the parliamentarians. The town of Grantham was captured by Royalists on 23 March 1643 and on 11 April he was indicted for high treason. On 11 May 1643, however the town was recaptured by Oliver Cromwell and Clarke was released. Following the war William attained wealth and landholdings, but lost much of his fortune following the restoration.

Association with Isaac Newton
In 1654, William provided boarding to Isaac Newton as he would be attending the King's School with Edward and Arthur Storer. Newton's mother remained in Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth, which was about eight miles away from the Clarke residence. Many of Newton's biographers have noted that it was the lessons learned from Clarke that sparked Newton's interest in chemistry.

According to the Clarke's grandson, Ralph Clarke, also an apothecary in Grantham, Newton left signs of his presence in the garret where he slept in the apothecary's house on Grantham's High Street: he carved his name into the boards, and drew charcoal drawings of birds and beasts, men and ships, and abstract shapes on the walls. Newton was said to have had 'a passion' for Clarke's step-daughter, Katherine Storer (later Mrs. Vincent).

title: William Clarke (apothecary)


text: User talk:65.33.153.218

title: User talk:65.33.153.218


text:
1984 Republican National Convention

The 1984 Republican National Convention convened on August 20 to August 23, 1984, at Dallas Convention Center in downtown Dallas, Texas. The convention nominated President Ronald W. Reagan and Vice President George H. W. Bush for reelection.

It was the thirty-third GOP presidential nominating convention, the first Republican convention held in Texas (the first Republican convention in the South outside Florida), and the only convention of either party held in Dallas.

Reagan's popularity had rebounded after the early 1980s recession, and he became the first incumbent president since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964 to run without serious opposition in the primary. The keynote address on August 20 was delivered by Katherine Ortega, Treasurer of the United States. Other speakers included Elizabeth Dole, United States Secretary of Transportation; Jeane Kirkpatrick, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (who delivered her now-famous "Blame America First" speech ); and Representative Jack Kemp of Buffalo, New York.

The convention also included a valedictory address by U.S. Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona, who would retire in 1987. Goldwater was widely credited as the political founder of the New Right in the United States, of which Reagan was the political heir, and Reagan had gained notice for his "A Time for Choosing" speech supporting Goldwater in October 1964. Vice President George H.W. Bush gave a powerful address, some believing it debuted him as the de facto nominee of the GOP in 1988. President Reagan spoke after, and addressed the nation and the party on the future and highlighted the "Morning in America". Country singer Lee Greenwood was also featured, and sang "God Bless the U.S.A.," which had been released earlier that year.

Site selection
In early 1982, bids to host the convention were received from Dallas and several other cities, including Houston, Kansas City, and San Francisco. President Reagan had made it known that he preferred the party meet in Dallas, and the party selected accordingly. The choice of Dallas was finalized on June 18, 1982, by a voice vote of the Republican National Committee. Dallas Mayor Jack Wilson Evans pledged that the Dallas Convention Center would be a sufficient venue and that the Dallas-Fort Worth area would be able to provide 29,000 hotel rooms for the convention.

Nomination tallies
The Balloting:

To save time, the vice presidential vote was held simultaneously, with Vice President Bush receiving 2,042 votes and Jack Kemp and Anne Armstrong receiving one vote each. This would be the last vice presidential tally at a Republican Convention during the 20th century.

Security
The Dallas Police Department, under Police Chief Billy Prince, was charged with providing security for the convention, including that of the delegates, President Ronald Reagan, and Vice President George H.W. Bush. Security planning, preparations and training for the event began in the police department a year in advance of the convention. President Reagan and Vice President Bush were scheduled to be housed in separate towers of the Anatole Hotel complex near downtown. Key commanders of the security plan included:
 * Convention Security Commander - Assistant Chief Leslie Sweet
 * Field Operations Commander - Deputy Chief William Newman
 * Headquarters Hotel Commander - Captain Doug Sword
 * Intelligence Commander - Captain Greg Holliday
 * Convention Center Commander - Captain Dwight Walker
 * Detention Services Commander - Captain Frank Hearron
 * Dignitary Protection Commander - Captain John Holt
 * Traffic Control Commander - Captain T.D. Tolleson
 * Demonstration Management Commander - Captain Ray Hawkins
 * Support Services Commander - Captain John Squier
 * Presidential Hotel Response Team Commander - Lieutenant Rick Stone

The only incident of any consequence to occur during the convention was when the Yippies made headlines. On Wednesday, August 22, 1984, a group of protesters calling itself the "Corporate War Chest Tour" conducted a minor theft and vandalism spree against businesses in downtown Dallas. Under the security plan, various police response teams were mobilized consisting primarily of the Demonstration Management teams under the command of Captain Hawkins and the Presidential Hotel Response Teams, commanded by Lieutenant Stone, which were held in reserve on the eastern perimeter of downtown. Dozens of protesters were peacefully arrested including, Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade member Gregory Lee Johnson, who burned a U.S. flag, which had been stolen from a flagpole in front of a downtown building. Johnson was charged with Desecration of Venerated Object, a misdemeanor violation of the Texas Penal Code. He was later convicted and his conviction was upheld at the state level. Johnson appealed the conviction to the federal courts, arguing that burning the flag was protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. The case of Texas v. Johnson was appealed to the United States Supreme Court, which ruled on June 21, 1989, in Johnson's favor and invalidated flag desecration statutes throughout the country.

title: 1984 Republican National Convention


text:
Talk:Nauvoo, Illinois

Disputed Neutrality
Needs citations - a lot of the history here is disputed, especially references to "secrets" and "denial" that come from POV-heavy sources. Re: the whistling and whittling brigade, "vigilantes" seems a bit much (in view of the lack of any actual violent acts) and the article's text makes it sound as though the 'brigade' actually held their knives up to civilians in a threatening manner. Obviously there would have been an implied threat in a bunch of men with knives, but I've never heard of any accounts of them "holding knives near" and non-Mormons...

Basically, this article needs:

 * Accuracy checks
 * Citations
 * Neutral POV rewrite

Another example: the Mormons supposedly threatened "any non-Mormon who dared enter" the city. The Council of Fifty article claims at least three of this supposedly secret ruling council were not members of the Mormon church. Contradictory?

 * The Mormon War part was very much incomplete, I agree. More mention needed to be made of non-Mormon vigilantes.  That's been added with the "wolf hunt."  One of many references to the operation of the Whistling and Whittling Brigade that you'd never heard of has been added.  The Council of the Fifty was a secret and it had non-Mormon members.  I agree that references need to be added throughout and I'll dig into them --John Hamer 03:12, 11 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Neutrality Tag Needed?
Do we really have to have the neutrality tag here still? I am going to remove it. If anybody has a good reason for it to stay then please, please feel free to revert me. Thanks. Banes 14:51, 14 August 2005 (UTC)

Wikipedia requirements
Having been born and raised in western Illinois -- I thought the trivalization of the Icarian presence at Nauvoo was unwarranted. When you examine the WIU collection of the Icarian movement and documents - and the original entry "Subsequent history" - yes the Neutrality Tag was there for a reason. G. Beat 15:45, 17 March 2006 (UTC)

Breakout required?
There is sufficent material to support a new article just for the 1939 - 1846 period (Mormon presence and events). The Nauvoo, Illinois entry - when compared to other city/town entries is far too large - but a main article reference could then be supported.G. Beat 15:43, 17 March 2006 (UTC)

The history subsections have continued to grow. I suggest a comprehensive breakout entitled Nauvoo History, with no more than a paragraph or two left behind in the main article, with a blurb pointing to the new history article.Rockford1963 19:01, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

In the article, did the mob lynch or assassinate Joseph Smith?

 * I agree. The entire history section should be created on a page History of Nauvoo, Illinois. Please see Detroit as an example of a FA city.--Kranar drogin 23:11, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

 * Even though cluebot didn't like it the history section has been placed on it's own page. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Frehmann (talk • contribs) 16:34, 21 March 2008 (UTC)

Commerce / Industry
I added this new subsection. Information about the Nauvoo Blue cheese company, and a mention of the wine industry included. Yes, the industry is very small scale, but interesting, and beyond what one would expect to find in a city of this size.Rockford1963 18:00, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

Info box appearance
The info box has an awkward looking map of the U.S. with Nauvoo pinpointed. A map is not a bad idea, but it should look better, maybe one using only Illinois? Also, a suitable picture above the map would be appropriate. The Nauvoo temple, old or new, comes to mind, or it could be something else. suggestions?Rockford1963 02:17, 12 July 2007 (UTC)

 * Give me a min here, and I will have it fixed with better appearance.--Kranar drogin 02:43, 12 July 2007 (UTC)

 * Ok, upgraded the rating, and have added a geobox. I hope that looks a bit better.--Kranar drogin 02:52, 12 July 2007 (UTC)
 * Looks much better, thank you.Rockford1963 12:08, 12 July 2007 (UTC)

Is this Historically correct?
This page states: "In early 1846, the majority of the Latter Day Saints left the city.  After the departure of the Mormons, the temple stood until destroyed by arsonists on November 19, 1848."

Yet the article for the Mormon Pioneers states:

"The journey was taken by about 70,000 people beginning in April 1847."

"In 1846, religious tension reached their peak, and in 1848 mobs burned the Latter-day Saint temple in Nauvoo."

Both versions cannot be correct. These should be fact-checked and corrected. Nowax 20:11, 12 March 2008 (UTC)Nowax

 * They really don't contradict each other. The majority of Latter-day Saints did leave Nauvoo, Illinois in 1846, when religious tensions reached their peak.  They traveled across the river to seek sanctuary in Nebraska.  There they stayed until 1847 when a series of pioneer companies began to move west.  Ultimately about 70,000 people traveled west to Utah.  And, is not a mob that burns a building a group of arsonists?  So, what are your concerns?  Does the material need to be expanded?  WBardwin (talk) 04:22, 13 March 2008 (UTC)

City designation
Due to the fact that the state congress of Illinois declared Nauvoo a city in the 1840's and has never changed its status it is still technically a city.--12.219.220.95 (talk) 12:46, 8 January 2009 (UTC)

 * Ah, different meaning of 'city.' Fair enough in an American article. Mdw0 (talk) 23:52, 8 January 2009 (UTC)

You know the church of jesus christ of latter day saints isnt the only church in nauvoo —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.138.25.225 (talk) 18:58, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

Difficult to reach?
User:Rockford1963, two editors disagreed with you. Your last revert, with no added supporting evidence for your claim, violates both Neutral point of view and No original research. If you revert for a third time, you will be in violation of WP:3RR.

The potentially negative assertion about the town needs Verifiability in order to pass WP:NPoV. Provide a citation here that we can all assess and that you think proves your case, and I will be more than happy to add the information back myself. -- D kriegls  ( talk to me! ) 20:31, 4 June 2012 (UTC)

Provide a citation that say it is not difficult to reach, please. I have been there multiple times and I am always able to reach it, but not after taking a series of alternating county roads. The closest bridges across the Mississippi are not that close. In this sense it it is an out of the way town off the beaten path, as much as any could be in the area.Rockford1963 (talk) 02:25, 5 June 2012 (UTC)
 * Rockford1963, you are now in violation of WP:3RR and I am recommending your account for a temporary block from editing. I suggest you read Guidelines before engaging in edit warring.
 * All information in Wikipedia must be verifiable, and is not based on your personal experience. The default with this article is not to say anything about how easy or hard it is to drive to Nauvoo, without providing a citation. Otherwise the text is in violation of WP:No original research. -- D kriegls  ( talk to me! ) 03:00, 5 June 2012 (UTC)
 * I'm guessing Rockford has decided not to continue this discussion? So I will remove the uncited claim, unless anyone objects. -- D kriegls  ( talk to me! ) 21:33, 8 June 2012 (UTC)

title: Talk:Nauvoo, Illinois


text: User talk:68.239.25.68

title: User talk:68.239.25.68


text:
Galant music

In music, galant refers to the style which was fashionable in the upper-class societies of Western Europe from the 1720s to the 1770s.

Music styles
This movement featured a return to simplicity and immediacy of appeal after the complexity of the late Baroque era. This meant simpler, more song-like melodies, decreased use of polyphony, short, periodic phrases, a reduced harmonic vocabulary emphasizing tonic and dominant, and a clear distinction between soloist and accompaniment. C. P. E. Bach and Daniel Gottlob Türk, who were among the most significant theorists of the late 18th century, contrasted the galant with the "learned" or "strict" styles.

The German empfindsamer Stil, which seeks to express personal emotions and sensitivity, can be seen either as a closely related North-German dialect of the international galant style, or as contrasted with it, as between the music of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, a founder of both styles, and that of Johann Christian Bach, who carried the galant style further and was closer to classical.

This musical style was part of the wider galant movement in art at the time.

The word "galant" derives from French, where it was in use from at least the 16th century. In the early 18th century, a galant homme described a person of fashion, who was elegant, cultured and virtuous. The German theorist Johann Mattheson appears to have been fond of the term. It features in the title of his first publication of 1713, Das neu-eröffnete Orchestre, oder Universelle und gründliche Anleitung wie ein Galant Homme einen vollkommenen Begriff von der Hoheit und Würde der edlen Music erlangen. (Instead of the Gothic type rendered here in italics, Mattheson used Roman to emphasize the many non-German expressions.

Mattheson was apparently the first to refer to a "galant style" in music, in his Das forschende Orchestre of 1721. He recognized a lighter, modern style, einem galanten Stylo and named among its leading practitioners Giovanni Bononcini, Antonio Caldara, Georg Philipp Telemann, Alessandro Scarlatti, Antonio Vivaldi and George Frideric Handel. All were composing Italian opera seria, a voice-driven musical style, and opera remained the central form of galant music. The new music was not as essentially a court music as it was a city music: the cities emphasized by Daniel Heartz, a recent historian of the style, were first of all Naples, then Venice, Dresden, Berlin, Stuttgart and Mannheim, and Paris. Many galant composers spent their careers in less central cities, ones that may be considered consumers rather than producers of the style galant: Johann Christian Bach and Carl Friedrich Abel in London, Baldassare Galuppi in Venice and Georg Philipp Telemann in Hamburg.

Not every contemporary was delighted with this revolutionary simplification: Johann Samuel Petri, in his Anleitung zur praktischen Musik (1782) spoke of the "great catastrophe in music".

The change was as much at the birth of Romanticism as it was of Classicism. The folk-song element in poetry, like the singable cantabile melody in galant music, was brought to public notice in Thomas Percy's Reliques of Ancient Poetry (1765) and James Macpherson's "Ossian" inventions during the 1760s.

Some of Telemann's later music and of Bach's sons, Johann Joachim Quantz, Johann Gottlieb and Carl Heinrich Graun, Franz and Georg Anton Benda, Frederick the Great, Johann Adolph Hasse, Giovanni Battista Sammartini, Giuseppe Tartini, Baldassare Galuppi, Johann Stamitz, Domenico Alberti, and early Haydn and Mozart are exemplars of galant style. Some of the works of the Portuguese composer Carlos Seixas are firmly in the galant style.

This simplified style was melody-driven, not constructed on rhythmic or melodic motifs as so much classical music was to be: "It is indicative that Haydn, even in his old age, is reported to have said, 'If you want to know whether a melody is really beautiful, sing it without accompaniment. This simplification also extended to harmonic rhythm, which is generally slower in galant music than is the case in the earlier baroque style, thus making lavish melodic ornamentation and nuances of secondary harmonic colorings more important.

The affinities of galant style with Rococo in the visual arts are easily overplayed, but characteristics that were valued in both genres were freshness, accessibility and charm. Watteau's fêtes galantes were rococo not merely in subject matter, but also in the lighter, cleaner tonality of his palette, and the glazes that supplied a galant translucency to his finished pictures often compared to the orchestrations of galant music.

title: Galant music


text:
Nikki Ziering

Natalie "Nikki" Ziering (née Schieler; born August 9, 1971) is an American model and actress. Ziering was Playboy's Playmate of the Month for September 1997.

Early life
Natalie Schieler was born in Norwalk, California. She is of Norwegian and German descent.

Career
Schieler(ex-wife of actor Ian Ziering) was Playboy's Playmate of the Month for September 1997. She appeared on the cover twice, first in August 1997, then in July 2003, along with a feature pictorial. Prior to Playboy, Schieler was a swimwear model usually modeling for Venus Swimwear and Frederick's of Hollywood. She appeared as a Barker's Beauty on The Price Is Right from 1999 to 2002.

Her television work includes the reality television series Celebrity Love Island, I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!, Celebrity Boot Camp, Celebrity Paranormal Project, and Hulk Hogan's Celebrity Championship Wrestling; being a sideline reporter for the CBS tournament blackjack series Ultimate Blackjack Tour; and co-hosting the comedy show The Grill with Vernon Kay. She has also appeared on The Howard Stern Show, and she was the team captain of the 2004 Los Angeles Temptation squad for the Lingerie Bowl. Her work in film includes American Wedding, National Lampoon's Spring Break, and National Lampoon's Gold Diggers.

Personal life
Schieler converted to Judaism before marrying actor Ian Ziering on July 4, 1997. They divorced in 2002.

With then-boyfriend Rick Reynolds, she has a daughter, Tatum Ella Reynolds, (b. March 27, 2009).

Partial filmography

 * Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002)
 * Serving Sara (2002)
 * American Wedding (2003)
 * National Lampoon's Gold Diggers (2003)
 * Standing Still (2005)
 * National Lampoon's Spring Break (2007)
 * Crazy Girls Undercover (2008)
 * American High School (2009)

title: Nikki Ziering