text:
Fort Motte

Fort Motte (Fort Motte Station) was developed first as Mt. Joseph Plantation; it was commandeered in 1780 by the British and fortified as a temporary military outpost in what is now South Carolina during the American Revolutionary War. It was significant for its military use as a depot for their convoys between Camden and Charleston, which they occupied. Located along the Congaree River, it is roughly 90–95 miles from Charleston by 21st-century roadways. The British had fortified the big house and surrounds, and it became known as Fort Motte, after Rebecca Brewton Motte, who had been occupying it with her family. During the Patriot Siege of Fort Motte, the plantation mansion was set on fire. The British surrendered at this site.

After the war, this site was considered for the capital of the newly formed state of South Carolina, before Columbia was chosen. Today Fort Motte is the name of an unincorporated village at the nearby crossroads of SH 419 and State Road S-9-13.

The former area of the plantation house and grounds is known as the Fort Motte Battlefield Site. Privately owned, it was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.

History
The Cherokee Path is nearby, long used by indigenous peoples for trading and travel. The first Anglo-European colonists in the area were Scots and English traders, who established trading posts with the Cherokee and other regional Native American tribes. Some posts were fortified as early forts in the colonial period. Amelia Town was established in this area about 1735.

Mt. Joseph Plantation was built in 1767 as an up-country estate by Miles Brewton of Charleston, near the confluence of the Congaree and Wateree rivers. A slave trader, he owned several ships and plantations. He became one of the wealthiest men in the province before he and his family died when lost at sea in 1775 on their way to Philadelphia for him to serve as a delegate at the Second Continental Congress.

His sister Rebecca Brewton Motte (1737-1815) inherited some of his property, including Mt. Joseph. She was widowed in 1780, when her husband Jacob died of illness. After the British appropriated the Miles Brewton House for their headquarters in Charleston, Motte left the city and moved to the relative safety of Mt. Joseph Plantation, 95 miles away.

They were living there when the British took over this property. After the military took over the mansion, the Motte family moved to the overseer's house. The British fortified the big house and its grounds.

A British garrison of regular, Hessian and Provincial forces occupied the plantation, using it as a depot for their convoys running between Camden and Charleston. Waterways were still the key as transportation routes. Mt. Joseph plantation was near a strategic river crossing of the Congaree River, which gave the British access to an important chain of transport from Charleston to points north and west.

By May 1781 the British had constructed wood and earth fortifications at Mt. Joseph: palisades (9' tall) and ramparts (10-11' wide), were faced with a 6' deep ditch in front. 20-30' from the ditch was a row of abatis. Defending the fortified mansion were 184 British regulars, Hessians, and Provincials under the command of Capt. Lt. Donald McPherson. It became known as Fort Motte, after Rebecca Brewton Motte.

General Francis "Swamp Fox" Marion and Colonel Henry Lee laid siege to the fortified site. Rebecca Motte became known for giving him arrows from East India which would ignite on impact. His forces shot flaming arrows into the roof to set it on fire and drove the British from it, and shot artillery to prevent soldiers from putting out the fire. Captain Lt. McPherson surrendered. "The British surrender of the fort alarmed Lord Rawdon and hastened his retreat from Camden to Charleston."

The South Carolina Department of Archives and History, the South Carolina Library, and the University of South Carolina have the earliest extant maps for this area. When cultivation of short-staple cotton became profitable at the turn of the nineteenth century, after the invention of the cotton gin, this upland area was developed for cotton as a commodity crop. The battlefield site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, considered important because of the military and other history from 1750-1799.

title: Fort Motte


text: User talk:158.132.12.80

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

title: User talk:158.132.12.80


text:
William Maxwell

William Maxwell may refer to:

Arts

 * William Maxwell (engraver) (c. 1766–1809), printer of the Sentinel of the Northwest Territory newspaper in Cincinnati, Ohio
 * W. B. Maxwell (William Babington Maxwell, 1866–1938), British novelist
 * William Hamilton Maxwell (1792–1850), Scots-Irish novelist
 * William James Maxwell (1843–1903), Scottish-born sculptor in Australia
 * William Keepers Maxwell Jr. (1908–2000), American editor and writer

Education

 * William Maxwell (educator) (1784–1857), seventh President of Hampden–Sydney College
 * William Henry Maxwell (1852–1920), superintendent of public schools in New York City

Medicine

 * William Maxwell (physician) (1581–1641), Scottish physician
 * William Maxwell (physician) (1769–1826), Scottish physician

Military

 * William Maxwell (Continental Army general) (1733–1796), Irish-born American soldier from New Jersey in the American Revolutionary War
 * William C. Maxwell (1892–1920), American pilot in the United States Air Force

Politics and administration

 * Sir William Maxwell, 5th Baronet, of Monreith, British MP for Wigtownshire, 1805–1812 and 1822–1830
 * William Maxwell (Australian politician) (1867–1921), gold miner and member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly
 * William Maxwell (co-operator) (1841–1929), Scottish co-operative activist
 * William Maxwell (railroad executive) (1794–1856), American business executive and politician, president of the Erie Railroad 1842–1843
 * William Edward Maxwell, British colonial official, governor of the Gold Coast
 * George Maxwell (administrator) (William George Maxwell, 1871–1959), British naturalist and colonial administrator in British Malaya and Straits Settlements
 * William Herries Maxwell (1852–1933), British MP for Dumfriesshire, 1892–1895 and 1900–1906
 * William John Maxwell, 18th Naval Governor of Guam

Sports

 * William Maxwell (footballer) (1876–1940), Scottish footballer, manager of the Belgium national football team
 * Bill Maxwell (1882–1917), Australian rules footballer

Other

 * William Maxwell, 5th Lord Herries of Terregles (died 1603), Scottish politician
 * William Maxwell, 5th Earl of Nithsdale (1676–1744), Catholic nobleman
 * William Maxwell (journalist) (1860–1928), British journalist, soldier, writer and civil servant
 * William Sutherland Maxwell (1874–1952), Canadian architect and a Hand of the Cause in the Bahá'í Faith

title: William Maxwell


text: Template:State of Israel

title: Template:State of Israel


text:
Carmine (color)

Carmine color is the general term for some deep red colors that are very slightly purplish but are generally slightly closer to red than the color crimson is. Some rubies are colored the color shown below as rich carmine. The deep dark red color shown at right as carmine is the color of the raw unprocessed pigment, but lighter, richer, or brighter colors are produced when the raw pigment is processed, some of which are shown below.

The first recorded use of carmine as a color name in English was in 1523.

Wild watermelon
The color wild watermelon is displayed at right.

Ultra red is a color formulated by Crayola in 1972. In 1990, the name of the color was changed to wild watermelon.

With a hue code of 350, this color is within the range of carmine colors.

This color is supposed to be fluorescent, but there is no mechanism for displaying fluorescence on a computer screen.

Radical red
The Crayola crayon color radical red is displayed at right.

The color radical red was formulated by Crayola in 1990.

With a hue code of 348, this color is within the range of carmine colors.

This color is supposed to be fluorescent, but there is no mechanism for displaying fluorescence on a computer screen.

Paradise pink
Displayed at right is the color paradise pink.

The source of this color is the "Pantone Textile Paper eXtended (TPX)" color list, color #17-1755 TPX—Paradise Pink.

Since it has a hue code of 347, the color paradise pink is within the range of carmine colors.

Rich carmine
The rich carmine color tone displayed at right matches the color shown as carmine in the 1930 book A Dictionary of Color (cited below). This color is also called Chinese carmine. This is the color usually referred to as carmine in fashion and interior design.

Spanish carmine
Spanish carmine is the color that is called Carmin (the Spanish word for "carmine") in the Guía de coloraciones (Guide to colorations) by Rosa Gallego and Juan Carlos Sanz, a color dictionary published in 2005 that is widely popular in the Hispanophone realm.

Pictorial carmine
Pictorial carmine is the color that is called Carmín pictórico (Spanish for "pictorial carmine") in the Guía de coloraciones (Guide to colorations) by Rosa Gallego and Juan Carlos Sanz, a color dictionary published in 2005 that is widely popular in the Hispanophone realm.

This is a typical tone of carmine pigment used in painting.

Japanese carmine
The color Japanese carmine is shown at right.

The name of this shade of carmine in Japanese is enji-iro (臙脂色), literally "rouge color", as enji means rouge, the cosmetics. This term was later used to form the name of the New World insect, cochineal, used to make red dyes: enji-mushi (臙脂虫).

Carmine in human culture
Crime scene investigation Music Sports Television Film National flags
 * The name is often applied to descriptions of blood, because the dark carmine color of the raw pigment shown at the top of the page is the color of dried blood.
 * Carmine is one of the colors mentioned in Donovan's "Wear Your Love Like Heaven".
 * Carmine red is second of two colors mentioned in Katatonia's song "Lethean".
 * Carmine red and golden yellow are the official colors of Italian football/soccer team AS Roma.
 * Carmine red and white are the traditional colors of the Latvia national teams.
 * In Chapter 37 of House of Cards Season 3, during an interview between author Thomas Yates and Claire Underwood, during which Claire Underwood is having blood drawn, Underwood asks what color could be used to describe the color of the blood flowing through the tube, and Yates says, "carmine." Underwood responds, "You must be a writer."
 * In Dragon Ball Super: Superhero, following the naming trend of all major figures within the Red Ribbon Army, the loyal assistant to Commander Magenta, is named Carmine, who also wears a suit of the same color.
 * Carmine is the color used in the flag of Latvia.

title: Carmine (color)


text:
Møllehøj

Møllehøj is the highest natural point in Denmark at 170.86 m.

Geography
Møllehøj is in the Ejerbjerge hills in Skanderborg municipality, very close to Ejer Bavnehøj. The summit is marked with a millstone, a remnant of Ejer mill which was situated on the hill from 1838 to 1917. The mill had eight sides and had an onion-shaped roof.

New measurements made in February 2005 showed that Møllehøj was higher than both Yding Skovhøj (172.66 m including a Bronze Age burial mound on its summit, 170.77 m without) in Horsens municipality and Ejer Bavnehøj, which had both been thought higher. These two high points' natural heights are, however, respectively 9 and 51 cm lower than Møllehøj. It was officially recognised as Denmark's highest point in 2005.

The place is located on private land next to a farm, but it has been made open for public visits. Parking should be made at Ejer Bavnehøj, 300 meters away.

title: Møllehøj


text:
Phạm Minh Mẫn

Jean-Baptiste Phạm Minh Mẫn (Gioan Baotixita Phạm Minh Mẫn) (born 5 March 1934) is a Vietnamese cardinal in the Catholic Church and was the Archbishop of Hồ Chi Minh City from March 1998 to March 2014.

Early life
Phạm Minh Mẫn was born in Cà Mau, Cochinchina, French Indochina. At the age of 5, his first cousin once removed, Father Francis Xavier Trương Bửu Diệp, came to visit him and his family and encouraged them to have him learn at La Salle Taberd School in Sài Gòn a year from now so that eventually he could be able to go to the minor seminary at age 10. Diệp also encouraged his mother to have him learn the Latin prayers and have him become an altar boy.

Education
The family immediately heeded Diệp's advice. His mother woke Mẫn up the next day to have him serve at Mass with Diệp alone, and he went to Taberd and eventually Cù Lao Giêng Minor Seminary until he had to stop due to the ongoing situation in the country that caused the seminary to be burned down. He was ordained a priest on 25 May 1965 by Bishop Jacques Nguyễn Ngọc Quang, for Diocese of Cần Thơ. After studying in the United States at Loyola University of Los Angeles, Mẫn taught at the Saint Quý Minor Seminary for a number of years and later appointed rector of the Minor (1974) and Major Seminary (1988) of the same name.

Episcopal career
In 1993, he was appointed Coadjutor Bishop of Mỹ Tho and promoted to Archbishop of Hồ Chí Minh City in 1998. He officiated at a mass in La Vang in 1998 for the 200th anniversary of the apparition of the Virgin Mary, the largest Vietnamese Catholic event up to that time.

Mẫn was elevated to cardinal in the consistory of 21 October 2003 by Pope John Paul II, and was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the 2005 papal conclave that selected Pope Benedict XVI.

On 7 March 2013, Mẫn was the last cardinal to arrive to attend the 2013 papal conclave to select the successor to Pope Benedict XVI. The conclave subsequently elected Pope Francis.

On 28 September 2013, Pope Francis appointed Bishop Paul Bùi Văn Đọc, previously (since 1999) serving as Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Mỹ Tho, Vietnam (one of the Archdiocese of Hồ Chí Minh City's suffragan dioceses), as Coadjutor Archbishop of the Archdiocese.

On 22 March 2014, Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Cardinal Mẫn due to age limit. Coadjutor Archbishop Paul Bùi Văn Đọc succeeded him as Archbishop of Hồ Chí Minh City.

Events

 * 5 Mar 1934: Born in Cà Mau
 * 25 May 1965: Ordained Priest
 * 22 Mar 1993: Appointed	Coadjutor Bishop of Mỹ Tho
 * 11 Aug 1993: Ordained Bishop
 * 1 Mar 1998: Appointed	Archbishop of Hồ Chí Minh City
 * 21 Oct 2003: Appointed	Cardinal-Priest of San Giustino
 * 23 Nov 2003: Installed	Cardinal-Priest of San Giustino
 * 22 Mar 2014: Retired Archbishop of Hồ Chí Minh City

title: Phạm Minh Mẫn


text: Category:Hills of Denmark

title: Category:Hills of Denmark


text:
User:Krash

Same as it ever was.

title: User:Krash


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/True-Gaming.net

 This page is an archive of the proposed deletion of the article below. Further comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or on a Votes for Undeletion nomination). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result of the debate was delete. Woohookitty 07:24, 27 July 2005 (UTC) This page is simply an advertisement for a non-noteable site. Oberiko 12:48, 19 Apr 2005 (UTC)

 * Fancruft, or should that be forumcruft? Anyway, it's basically an ad, and if we all did this, then Wikipedia would be covered in pointless advertisments. Delete
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in an undeletion request). No further edits should be made to this page.


text:
Category:Cities in Qinghai

Cities in Qinghai province include:

title: Category:Cities in Qinghai


text:
Talk:Subtangent

$$\theta = \theta_0$$?
Am I right that $$\theta$$ and $$\theta_0$$ is the same angle? BACbKA 12:52, 19 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * This section of the article has been rewritten so it's no longer an issue.

title: Talk:Subtangent


text:
PCM adaptor

A PCM adaptor is a device that encodes digital audio as video for recording on a videocassette recorder. The adapter also has the ability to decode a video signal back to digital audio for playback. This digital audio system was used for mastering early compact discs.

Operation
High-quality pulse-code modulation (PCM) audio requires a significantly larger bandwidth than a regular analog audio signal. For example, a 16-bit PCM signal requires an analog bandwidth of about 1-1.5 MHz compared to about 15-20 kHz of analog bandwidth required for an analog audio signal. A standard analog audio recorder cannot meet this requirement. One solution arrived at in the early 1980s was to use a videotape recorder, which is capable of recording signals with higher bandwidths.

A means of converting digital audio into a video format was necessary. Such an audio recording system includes two devices: the PCM adaptor, which converts audio into pseudo-video, and the videocassette recorder. A PCM adaptor performs an analog-to-digital conversion producing series of binary digits, which, in turn, is coded and modulated into a black and white video signal, appearing as a vibrating checkerboard pattern, which can then be recorded as a video signal.

Most video-based PCM adaptors record audio at 14 or 16 bits per sample, with a sampling frequency of 44.1 kHz for PAL or monochrome NTSC, or 44.056 kHz for color NTSC. Some of the earlier models, such as the Sony PCM-100, recorded 16 bits per sample, but used only 14 of the bits for the audio, with the remaining 2 bits used for error correction for the case of dropouts or other anomalies being present on the videotape.

Sampling frequency
The use of video for the PCM adapter helps to explain the choice of sampling frequency for the CD, because the number of video lines, frame rate and bits per line end up dictating the sampling frequency one can achieve. A sampling frequency of 44.1 kHz was thus adopted for the compact disc, as at the time, there was no other practical way of storing digital audio than by using a PCM adaptor and videocassette recorder combination.

It is simplest if the same number of lines are used in each field, and, crucially, it was decided to adopt a sample rate that could be used on both PAL and monochrome NTSC equipment. Since monochrome NTSC has a field rate of 60 Hz, and PAL has a field rate of 50 Hz, their least common multiple is 300 Hz, and with 3 samples per line, this yields a sample rate that is a multiple of 900 Hz. For monochrome NTSC the sample rate is 5m × 60 × 3, where 5m is the number of active lines per field, which must be a multiple of 5 (the rest used for synchronization), and for PAL the sample rate is 6n × 50 × 3, where 6n is the number of active lines per field, which must be a multiple of 6. The sampling rates that satisfy these requirements – at least 40 kHz (to encode up to 20 kHz sounds), no more than 46.875 kHz (requiring no more than 3 samples per line in PAL), and a multiple of 900 Hz (to allow encoding in both NTSC and PAL), are thus 40.5, 41.4, 42.3, 43.2, 44.1, 45, 45.9, and 46.8 kHz. The lower ones are eliminated due to low-pass filters requiring a transition band, while the higher ones are eliminated due to some lines being required for vertical blanking interval; 44.1 kHz was the higher usable rate, and was eventually chosen.

The sampling frequencies of 44.1 and 44.056 kHz were thus the result of a need for compatibility with the 25-frame (PAL countries) and 30-frame black and white (NTSC countries) video formats used for audio storage at the time.

Video format
Audio samples are recorded as if they were on the lines of a raster scan of video, as follows: analog video standards represent video at a field rate of 60 Hz (NTSC, North America – or 60/1.001 Hz ≈ 59.94 Hz for color NTSC) or 50 Hz (PAL, Europe), which corresponds to a frame rate of 30 frames per second (frame/s) or 25 frame/s – each field is half the lines of an interlaced image (alternating the odd lines and the even lines). Each of these fields is in turn composed of lines – a frame of 625 lines for PAL and 525 lines for NTSC, though some of the lines are actually for synchronizing the signal, and a field comprises half the visible lines in one vertical scan. Digital audio samples are then encoded along each line, thus allowing reuse of the existing synchronization circuitry – as video, the resulting images look like lines of binary black and white (rather, gray) dots along each scan line. The line frequency (lines per second) was 15,625 Hz for PAL (625 × 50/2), 15,750 Hz for 60 Hz (monochrome) NTSC (525 × 60/2), and 15,750/1.001 Hz (approximately 15,734.26 Hz) for 59.94 (color) NTSC, and thus to record audio at the required over 40 kHz required encoding multiple samples per line, with 3 samples per line being sufficient, yielding up to 15,625 × 3 = 46,875 for PAL and 15,750 × 3 = 47,250 for NTSC. It is desirable to minimize the number of samples per line, so that each sample can have more space devoted to it, thus making it easier to have a higher bit depth (16 bits, rather than 14 or 12 bits, say) and better error tolerance, and in practice, the signal was stereo, requiring 3 × 2 = 6 samples per line. However, some of these lines are devoted to (vertical) synchronization: specifically, the lines during the vertical blanking interval (VBI) could not be used, so a maximum of 490 lines per frame (245 lines per field) could be used in NTSC, and about 588 lines per frame (294 lines per field) on PAL (Note that, in video, PAL has (up to) 575 visible lines while NTSC has up to 485).

Models

The Sony PCM-1600 was the first commercial video-based 16-bit recorder. The 1600 (and its later versions, the 1610 and 1630) used special U-matic-format VCRs also furnished by Sony for transports, such as the BVU-200B (the first model of VCR optimized to work, and sold with, the PCM-1600 in 1979), BVU-800DA, VO-5630DA, and the later DMR-2000 and DMR-4000, which were based on the industrial VO-5850 and the broadcast BVU-800 video machines respectively. These were all in essence modified versions of existing Sony U-Matic video recorders adapted for use with the 1600-series adaptors by way of disabling the chroma and dropout compensator circuits of the VCRs, which would hinder the proper recording of the monochrome-video-based digital audio data from the 1600-series adaptors if enabled. The BVU-200B packaged with the PCM-1600 also was modified to have its video head switching point moved to the vertical blanking interval of the digital-audio-bearing video signal being recorded to prevent errors or interference with the digital audio data. Editing was accomplished by using a 1600-series adaptor and two or more of these VCRs with a DAE-1100 or DAE-3000 editing controller. The 1600-series were the first systems used for mastering audio compact discs in the early 1980s by many major record labels, with the final U-matic 1600-format digital audio tapes being sent to CD pressing plants to be recorded to a glass master disc used for making the replicated CDs.

Several semi-professional/consumer models of PCM adaptors were also released by Sony:

 * Sony PCM-1 (introduced in 1977)
 * Sony PCM-F1 (the first consumer-marketed model which was sold with a companion Betamax-format VCR, the Sony SL-2000, SL-F1, or SL-F1E, for recording & playback)
 * Sony PCM-100
 * Sony PCM-501ES
 * Sony PCM-601 (included SPDIF digital audio input and output)
 * Sony PCM-701

Technics also made a battery-powered portable PCM adaptor, the SV-100, a hi-fi component adapter, the SV-110, and a version with a built-in VHS videocassette transport, the SV-P100. All the Technics (Panasonic) PCM adapters are limited to 14-bit resolution. Other makes and models of PCM adaptors offered on the market were the Nakamichi DMP-100, the JVC VP-100, the Sharp RX-3, the Sansui PC-X1 and the Hitachi PCM-V300.

dbx, Inc. also manufactured a pseudo-video adaptor, the Model 700. It differed from the above-listed models in the fact that it did not use PCM, but rather delta-sigma modulation. This resulted in a higher quality digital recording with more dynamic range than what standard PCM modulation could offer. Like a standard PCM adaptor, the Model 700 also utilized a VCR for a transport.

Obsolescence
In 1987, a few years after the PCM adaptor's introduction, Sony introduced a new cassette-based format for digital audio recording called Digital Audio Tape (DAT). Since DAT did not rely on a separate video cassette recorder, it was a much more portable and less-cumbersome format to use than a PCM adaptor-based system. DAT recorders had their own built-in transport using a small cassette unique to the format. DAT used tape 4 mm in width loaded into a cassette 73 mm × 54 mm × 10.5 mm (2.87 in. x 2.12 in. x 0.41 in.) in size. The audio data was recorded to the tape by using helical scan recording, the same fashion that a VCR connected to a PCM adaptor would record to a videotape. In essence, DAT was a modernized, integrated, and miniaturized version of a PCM adaptor-based system.

Like a PCM adaptor, DAT could record only two tracks of audio at a time, but the smaller size of the equipment and media, as well as being able to accept multiple sampling rates and other flexibility, gave DAT many advantages over PCM adaptor-based systems.

Digital recorders capable of multi-track recording such as Mitsubishi's ProDigi format and Sony's DASH format also became available on the professional audio market about the same time as the introduction of PCM adaptors. Other tape-based digital audio recording systems overcame problems that made typical analog recorders unable to meet the bandwidth (frequency range) demands of digital recording by a combination of higher tape speeds, narrower head gaps used in combination with metal-formulation tapes, and the spreading of data across multiple parallel tracks.

Despite obsolescence, hobbyists are still capable of using modern-day DVDs or Blu-ray discs as a transport medium for video-based encoding of digital audio streams.

title: PCM adaptor


text:
Asahi Breweries

The Asahi Group Holdings, Ltd. (アサヒグループホールディングス株式会社) is a Japanese beverage holding company headquartered in Sumida, Tokyo. In 2019, the group had revenue of JPY 2.1 trillion. Asahi's business portfolio can be segmented as follows: alcoholic beverage business (40.5%), overseas business (32%), soft drinks business (17.2%), food business (5.4%) and "other" business (4.9%). Asahi, with a 37% market share, is the largest of the four major beer brewers in Japan followed by Kirin Beer with 34% and Suntory with 16%. In response to a maturing domestic Japanese beer market, Asahi broadened its geographic footprint and business portfolio through the acquisition of highly coveted beer businesses in Western Europe and Central Eastern Europe. This has resulted in Asahi having a large market share in many European countries, such as a beer market share of 44% in the Czech Republic, 32% in Poland, 36% in Romania, and 18% in Italy.

History
The predecessor of the company, Asahi Breweries (朝日麦酒株式会社), was established in 1889. In 1893, it was reorganized as Ōsaka Breweries (大阪麦酒株式会社). In 1906, Ōsaka Breweries merged with Nippon Breweries and Sapporo Breweries to form Dai-Nippon Breweries (大日本麦酒株式会社). During World War I, German prisoners worked in the brewery.

After World War II, the company was divided under the Elimination of Excessive Concentration of Economic Power Law by the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers. Asahi Breweries (朝日麦酒株式会社) was separated from Nippon Breweries, which is now Sapporo Breweries. In 1989, it was renamed to katakana. In 2011, it changed its name to Asahi Group Holdings, a holding company, and established Asahi Breweries Ltd as a subsidiary.

In 1990, Asahi acquired a 19.9% stake in Australian brewery giant Elders IXL which has since become the Foster's Group, later sold to SABMiller.

In 2009, Asahi acquired the Australian beverages unit Schweppes Australia, now known as Asahi Beverages.

In early 2009, Asahi acquired 19.9% of Tsingtao Brewery from Anheuser-Busch InBev for $667 million. The sale made Asahi Breweries, Ltd. the second largest shareholder in Tsingtao behind only the Tsingtao Brewery Group.

In July 2011, Asahi acquired New Zealand juice maker Charlie's and the water and juice divisions of Australian beverage company P&N Beverages.

In August 2011, Asahi acquired New Zealand's Independent Liquor, maker of Vodka Cruiser and other alcoholic beverages, for ¥97.6 billion.

In May 2013 its New Zealand operations expanded with the purchase of retail chain Mill Liquorsave. Also, Asahi acquired the Australian brands and assets of Cricketers Arms and Mountain Goat Brewery in 2013 and 2015, respectively.

The first of these transactions happened as a result of Anheuser-Busch InBev (InBev) agreeing in April 2016 to sell its Dutch business Grolsch Brewery, Italian business Peroni Brewery and the UK's craft Meantime Brewery and SABMiller Brands UK to Asahi; this €2.3 billion deal closed on 12 October 2016. After Inbev's acquisition of SABMiller in October 2016, InBev agreed to sell the former SABMiller Ltd.'s Eastern European businesses and relevant assets in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania to Asahi for US $7.3 billion. The deal closed on 21 December 2016 and included beer brands such as Pilsner Urquell, Velkopopovický Kozel, Topvar, Tyskie, Lech, Dreher and Ursus.

In 2017, the company sold its 19.9% stake of Tsingtao Brewery for $937 million.

In 2019, the company bought Fuller's beer business from Fuller, Smith & Turner plc for an enterprise value of £250 million. The assets sold comprised the entirety of Fuller's beer, cider and soft drinks brewing and production, wine wholesaling, as well as the distribution thereof and also includes the Griffin Brewery, Cornish Orchards, Dark Star Brewing and Nectar Imports.

In May 2020, the Australian Foreign Investment Review Board approved the company's $16 billion bid for Carlton & United Breweries, and the deal will see Asahi ending up with about 48.5 per cent share of the Australian beer market.

Brands
The company's primary beer, from 1957 through the late 1980s, was Asahi Gold (overtaking Asahi Draft, its original formula, which remains in production). However, Asahi Super Dry, introduced in 1987, is now the company's flagship beer brand.

Asahi Super Dry, a product that transformed the modern beer industry in Japan, is described as a highly attenuated lager without the heavier malt flavors of competitors' products, with a crisp, dry taste reminiscent of some northern German beers. This highly successful launch led to a significant rise in consumer demand for dry beer and in turn to a dramatic turnaround in Asahi's business performance, surpassing Kirin in terms of both sales and profitability.

Other beers produced include:
 * Asahi Draft – Lager (first produced in 1892)
 * Asahi Gold – Lager (former flagship product; first produced in 1957)
 * Asahi Stout
 * Asahi Z – Dry lager
 * Asahi Black – a 5% ABV dark lager
 * Asahi Prime Time – German Pilsener style lager (only available in Japan)
 * Asahi Super Dry - Dry Crystal – a version of Asahi Super Dry with a 3.5% ABV as opposed to the 5% ABV of the original (available in Japan since October 2023)
 * Asahi Dry Zero – alcohol-free version of Asahi Super Dry

Brands acquired from Anheuser-Busch InBev:
 * Grolsch Brewery
 * Peroni Brewery
 * Meantime Brewery
 * Gambrinus
 * Pilsner Urquell
 * Radegast
 * Velkopopovický Kozel
 * Tyskie
 * Lech
 * Dreher
 * Ursus
 * Carlton & United Breweries

Asahi Beer Hall
Asahi Breweries' headquarters in Tokyo were designed by French designer Philippe Starck. The Beer Hall is considered one of Tokyo's most recognizable modern structures.

title: Asahi Breweries


text:
Talk:Pinguicula

Revision/Translation
Unless someone objects, I am going to attempt to translate the German language version of this page into English, as it is much more well-developed. This will take some time, and so the page will be in various stages of development over the next few days. NoahElhardt 17:05, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

 * I've completed the translation/revision. Any and all comments on how to improve the page are welcomed. I'm thinking that the introduction could probably stand being longer, although I'm not sure what information I should use to flesh it out. NoahElhardt 14:45, 29 March 2006 (UTC)

 * I'd suggest reducing the number of headers - several short paragraphs could be combined under single headers. As a general tip, avoid using separate headers for paragraphs with less than 20 lines or so - MPF 23:07, 31 March 2006 (UTC)

Species List
I'm considering moving the list of Pinguicula species to a seperate page, since this is a rather long page already and the list is over 80 members long. Yay or Nay? NoahElhardt 06:13, 28 March 2006 (UTC)
 * No problem. I appreciate the work you're doing in this article. JoJan 18:09, 28 March 2006 (UTC)

Big white spaces between blocks of text in this article
Does anyone know how to get rid of them? Kotare 08:20, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

Zarutian: Is this the plant which bears the common name "Lyfjagras" in Icelandic?

title: Talk:Pinguicula


text:
Category:Cities in Ningxia

Cities in Ningxia autonomous region include:

title: Category:Cities in Ningxia


text: Category:Sport in Oxfordshire

title: Category:Sport in Oxfordshire


text:
Lay preacher

A lay preacher is a preacher who is not ordained (i.e. a layperson) and who may not hold a formal university degree in theology. Lay preaching varies in importance between religions and their sects.

Overview
Some denominations specifically discourage or disallow lay ministers or lay preachers from assuming certain titles. For example, the Unitarian Universalist Association reserves the title of "the reverend" for ordained ministers.

The United Methodist Church authorized the role of "certified lay minister" (CLM) at its 2004 General Conference as a non-clergy leadership role, stating that CLMs should not use the title of "pastor"; be addressed as "reverend"; or wear clerical garb (i.e., the robe, stole or collar).

Lay ecclesial ministry is a similar practice in the Catholic Church. Lay ecclesial ministers serve the church in many ways, assisting priests, but are not ordained.

Examples of lay preachership
Specific groups of lay preachers, and other groups that encourage lay preachership, include:
 * Awakening (Lutheran movement; especially see Hans Nielsen Hauge, Paavo Ruotsalainen, and lay preachers organized by Lars Levi Laestadius)
 * Methodist local preachers (Great Britain)
 * Lay readers, also called licensed lay ministers (Anglicanism)
 * Lay speakers (United Methodist Church)
 * Plymouth Brethren
 * United Reformed Church preachers (Great Britain)
 * Unitarian and Free Christian accredited preachers (Great Britain)

title: Lay preacher


text:
Embedded Java

Embedded Java refers to versions of the Java program language that are designed for embedded systems. Since 2010 embedded Java implementations have come closer to standard Java, and are now virtually identical to the Java Standard Edition. Since Java 9 customization of the Java Runtime through modularization removes the need for specialized Java profiles targeting embedded devices.

History
Although in the past some differences existed between embedded Java and traditional PC based Java, the only difference now is that embedded Java code in these embedded systems is mainly contained in constrained memory, such as flash memory. A complete convergence has taken place since 2010, and now Java software components running on large systems can run directly with no recompilation at all on design-to-cost mass-production devices (such as consumers, industrial, white goods, healthcare, metering, smart markets in general)

CORE embedded Java API for a unified Embedded Java ecosystem
In order for a software component to run on any Java system, it must target the core minimal API provided by the different providers of the embedded Java ecosystem. Companies share the same eight packages of pre-written programs. The packages (java.lang, java.io, java.util, ... ) form the CORE Embedded Java API, which means that embedded programmers using the Java language can use them in order to make any worthwhile use of the Java language.

Old distinctions between SE embedded API and ME embedded API from ORACLE
Java SE embedded is based on desktop Java Platform, Standard Edition. It is designed to be used on systems with at least 32 MB of RAM, and can work on Linux ARM, x86, or Power ISA, and Windows XP and Windows XP Embedded architectures.

Java ME embedded used to be based on the Connected Device Configuration subset of Java Platform, Micro Edition. It is designed to be used on systems with at least 8 MB of RAM, and can work on Linux ARM, PowerPC, or MIPS architecture.

title: Embedded Java


text:
Telecommunication control unit

A telecommunication control unit (TCU), line control unit, or terminal control unit (although terminal control unit may also refer to a terminal cluster controller) is a Front-end processor for mainframes and some minicomputers which supports attachment of one or more telecommunication lines. TCUs free processors from handling the data coming in and out of RS-232 ports. The TCU can support multiple terminals, sometimes hundreds. Many of these TCUs can support RS-232 when it is required, although there are other serial interfaces as well.

The advent of ubiquitous TCP/IP has reduced the need for telecommunications control units.

title: Telecommunication control unit


text:
Talk:André Citroën

Untitled
Did the Citroen family use the diacritic or not? --SFoskett 12:59, Apr 19, 2005 (UTC)

That I am actually not sure of, but using an educated guess I would say no. --AyrtonSenna 18:02; May 5, 2005 (EST)

'Citroen' means lemon in Dutch, whereas 'Citroën' doesn't have a meaning. Since it's a Dutch family, I guess they didn't use the diacritic. --21:33, 14 November 2006 (UTC)
 * One of André's grandfathers was a market merchant selling lemons, he was called "limoenman" (lemmonman) and later took the name Citroen, another Dutch word for 'limoen'. Even today, the telephone directory lists several people named Citroen in Amsterdam. 217.121.157.116 19:18, 14 March 2007 (UTC)
 * Unfortunately the above is only correct by approximation. I have corrected the story within the article, also explaining the history of the trema. 77.167.212.162 (talk) 22:30, 11 March 2013 (UTC)

Mothers name
There is some confusion about the mothers name. She is sometimes referred to as Masza Amelia Kleinman (confirmed by many sources) but also as Macha Kleinan (also confirmed by many sources). In the Polish Wikipedia she is named Masza Amelia Kleinman. I have no idea what is correct. 77.167.212.162 (talk) 22:30, 11 March 2013 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 1 one external link on André Citroën. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20040624152827/http://www.insecula.com:80/contact/A010130.html to http://www.insecula.com/contact/A010130.html

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true or failed to let others know (documentation at ).

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 13:33, 13 October 2016 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified one external link on André Citroën. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20160316073227/http://www.automotivehalloffame.org/inductee/andre-citroen/27/ to http://www.automotivehalloffame.org/inductee/andre-citroen/27/

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 16:17, 29 November 2017 (UTC)

Life and carrer - Name
The "diaeresis" was not added "upon arrival" in Paris, when André was not even born, and not by a teacher of his, but by a school secretary (clerk) when he was registered at Lycée Condorcet, a well-renowned high school in Paris; also writes Jacques Wolgensinger in his biography of André Citroën. --Gallograph (talk) 17:31, 31 August 2019 (UTC)

title: Talk:André Citroën


text:
Bud Flanagan

Bud Flanagan, (born Chaim Reuben Weintrop, 14 October 1896 – 20 October 1968) was a British music hall and vaudeville entertainer and comedian, and later a television and film actor. He was best known as being one half of the comedy and music act Flanagan and Allen with his partner Chesney Allen. Flanagan was famous as a wartime entertainer and his achievements were recognised when he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1959.

Family background
Flanagan was born in Whitechapel, in the East End of London. His parents, Wolf Weintrop (1856–1932) and Yetta (Kitty) Weintrop (1856–1935) were Polish Jews who were married in the city of Radom, Poland, and fled to Łódź on their wedding day to avoid a pogrom. Wolf and Yetta Weintrop intended to escape to the "New World" from Eastern Europe – they paid for a ticket to New York, but a dishonest ticket agent gave them a ticket to London.

In London, Wolf learned to be a shoe and bootmaker, earning extra money singing as a part-time cantor (Hazzan) and by singing in pubs on Saturday nights. Wolf and Yetta Weintrop had ten children, all born in London. At the time of the 1881 UK Census, Wolf "Wienkopf" and family lived in Brick Lane, and by the 1891 UK Census, the family had moved on to 12 Hanbury Street, Spitalfields.

Early life

At the time of the 1901 census, the Weintrop family were still at Hanbury Street, with Reuben aged four living with six of his siblings and his parents over a fried fish shop. They later owned a barber shop and tobacconist in Whitechapel. Weintrop attended school in Petticoat Lane, and by the age of 10 was working as call boy at the Cambridge Music Hall. In 1908, he made his début in a talent contest at the London Music Hall in Shoreditch, performing conjuring tricks as Fargo, the Boy Wizard.

Weintrop was born with a sense of adventure and was keen to see the world. In 1910, aged 14, he decided to leave home and walked all the way to Southampton where he claimed to be an electrician aged 17 to get a job aboard ship. He sailed with the SS Majestic to New York, and jumped ship when it arrived in the US. Reuben got various jobs selling newspapers, delivering telegrams for Western Union, and harvested wheat in Fargo, North Dakota. He joined a vaudeville show that toured across the US, whilst in October 1914, he sailed with a show to perform in New Zealand and Australia. He travelled to perform on stage in South Africa, where he met his brother Alec (Alexander), who was living there at the time.

Once back in San Francisco, Reuben decided to return to the United Kingdom to enlist to fight for Britain in the First World War. He returned to Britain in 1915 and enlisted as "Robert" Weintrop; he joined the Royal Field Artillery, and was sent with his unit to fight in France. In the Army, he worked as a driver and entertained the troops with his singing and impersonations. Here he met the anti-Semitic Sergeant-Major Flanagan, on whom Reuben later had his revenge when he adopted the name "Flanagan" as his stage name. In 1919 he formed a comedy double act, Flanagan and Roy, and they had a "black and white" act. Newspaper reports indicate that Flanagan had gone solo by 1924 and was gaining an increasing audience.

Showbusiness career
Bud Flanagan is best remembered as part of a double act with Chesney Allen, billed as Flanagan and Allen. They had first met on active service in Flanders, but did not work together until 1926, touring with a Florrie Forde show called "Here's to You". They established a reputation and were booked by Val Parnell at the Holborn Empire. As music hall comedians they would often feature a mixture of comedy and music in their act and this led to a successful recording career as a duo and roles in film and television. Flanagan and Allen were both also members of The Crazy Gang, appearing in the first show at the London Palladium in 1931, and continued to work with the group, concurrently with their double-act career.

Flanagan and Allen's songs featured the same, usually gentle humour for which the duo were known in their live performances, and during World War II reflected the experiences of ordinary people during wartime. Songs like "We're Going to Hang out the Washing on the Siegfried Line" mocked the German defences (the Siegfried Line), while others like "Miss You" sang of missing one's sweetheart during enforced absences. Other songs such as their most famous "Underneath the Arches" (which Flanagan co-wrote with Reg Connelly) had universal themes such as friendship, which, again, helped people relate to the subject matter. The music was usually melodic, following a binary verse, verse chorus structure, with a small dance band or orchestra providing the backing. The vocals were distinctive because, while Flanagan was at least a competent singer and sang the melody lines, Allen used an almost spoken delivery to provide the harmonies.

Allen semi-retired in 1945 and Flanagan increasingly became a solo performer, although the two of them still appeared together on occasion, including for the 1957 TV series Together Again. In 1959, Flanagan was awarded the OBE, and received the award from the Duke of Edinburgh at Buckingham Palace. By the 1960s, and with his career on the wane, Flanagan used his wealth to invest in betting shops. Flanagan was a member of the entertainment charitable fraternity, the Grand Order of Water Rats.

Flanagan's last recording was Jimmy Perry and Derek Taverner's theme for the British sitcom Dad's Army, "Who Do You Think You Are Kidding, Mr Hitler?", recorded by Pye shortly before his death in 1968, and for which he was paid 100 guineas (£105). The song was an affectionate pastiche of the sort of songs Flanagan had sung during the war.

In tribute, Flanagan's fellow comedian Charlie Chester said, "No artist born was more loved by his brothers. No man gave more in human happiness".

Personal life
He met his wife Anne (known as "Curly"), daughter of Irish comedian Johnny Quinn ("The Singing Clown"), who was a dancer in "Mrs. Stacey's Young Ladies". They married in 1925 and their son Buddy was born the following year. He went on to become an actor and a night club entertainer. Buddy died of leukaemia in Los Angeles in 1956.

Flanagan died on 20 October 1968. After his death, the estate of Bud Flanagan started a charity to promote cancer research. A primary aim of the Bud Flanagan Leukaemia Fund is to support the Leukaemia/Myeloma Unit at the Royal Marsden Hospital in Sutton, Surrey.

title: Bud Flanagan


text:
Talk:DCA

Unless you live in the DC area, which I assume SNIyer12 does, DCA isn't so obviously referring to the airport. Besides, s/he created a separate disambiguation page without even having the courtesy of providing a link to it from the airport page. I see this person has a history of moving/changing things without discussion. This is all bad Wikipedia etiquette. I've reverted the page to a disambiguation.

Lazytiger 13:01, 19 Apr 2005 (UTC)

 * In agreement with the first above sentiment, I've changed the redirect to the disambiguation page. I think this is clearly the right course to go down since the creation of the Department of Constitutional Affairs in the UK government, which is vastly more like to be referred to as DCA than an airport that has no 'DC' in it's name or acronym.

Dichloroacetate anti-cancer drug
I removed the addition of dichloroacetate because it is already redirected to dichloroacetic acid, but added the alternative name up there. I did not like including that it is an anti-cancer compound because by default it will induce people to think that it cures human cancer. There is an appropriate explanation about the current status of research of the therapeutic properties of this compound in the dichloroacetic acid entry. Miguel Andrade 20:44, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

title: Talk:DCA


text:
User:FentonGlass

An Australian experimental plasma physicist, currently working back in Australia after time in Germany and the USA.

title: User:FentonGlass


text:
Big Brutus

Big Brutus is the nickname of the Bucyrus-Erie model 1850-B electric shovel, which was the second largest of its type in operation in the 1960s and 1970s. Big Brutus is the centerpiece of a mining museum in West Mineral, Kansas, United States, where it was used in coal strip mining operations. The shovel was designed to dig from 20 to 69 ft down to unearth relatively shallow coal seams, which would then be mined with smaller equipment.

Description
The fabrication of Big Brutus was completed in May 1963, after which it was shipped on 150 railroad cars to be assembled in Kansas. It operated until 1974, when coal was uneconomic to mine at the site. At that time, it was considered too big to move and was left in place.

Big Brutus, while not the largest electric shovel ever built, is the largest electric shovel still in existence. The Captain, at 28 e6lb – triple that of Big Brutus – was the largest shovel and one of the largest land-based mobile machines ever built, only exceeded by some dragline and bucket-wheel excavators. It was scrapped in 1992, after receiving extreme damage from an hours-long internal fire.

Museum
The Pittsburg & Midway Coal Mining Company donated Big Brutus in 1984 as the core of a mining museum which opened in 1985. In 1987, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers designated Big Brutus a Regional Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2018.

The museum offers tours and camping.

Fatal accident
On January 16, 2010, Mark Mosley, a 49-year-old dentist from Lowell, Arkansas, died attempting to base-jump from the top of the boom. Climbing the boom had been prohibited years earlier; after the accident, the attraction's board of directors considered additional restrictions on climbing. During the accident's investigation, examiner Tom Dolphin determined that Mosley had accidentally fallen off the boom while preparing to jump.

title: Big Brutus


text:
DMFAS

The Debt Management and Financial Analysis System (DMFAS) Programme is a technical assistance programme managed by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), in Geneva. The objectives of the DMFAS Programme are to assist countries to develop administrative, institutional and legal structures for effective debt management; to provide technical assistance to government offices in charge of debt management; to deploy and advance debt analysis and management systems; and to act as a focal point for discussion and exchange of experiences in debt management. The Programme's debt management software system is currently installed in over ninety government institutions, almost exclusively ministries of finance and/or central banks.

Background
In 1975, the inter-sessional oversight body of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the Trade and Development Board (TDB), endorsed a recommendation of an UNCTAD Ad hoc Group of Governmental Experts which were that UNCTAD “be invited to participate in the multilateral debt negotiations on the same basis as the representatives of other international organizations”.

The intention was that UNCTAD–formally in the capacity of an observer–help the debtor countries present their case to the creditors. However, the resolution did not specify which negotiations. The fourth UNCTAD Conference, UNCTAD IV, in May 1976, requested the UNCTAD Secretary-General to convene a new “Ad hoc Intergovernmental Group of Experts on Debt and Development Problems”. This group met on a regular basis from 1976 to 1983.

The Expert's Group worked to produce a draft on sovereign debt renegotiation and retroactive terms of aid. In March 1978, the TDB in its Special Session IX at Ministerial level, adopted by consensus Resolution 165 S-IX, which said that sovereign debt problems should be addressed in “an appropriate multilateral framework consisting of interested parties” (paragraph 10-b). This was understood to be an implicit reference to the Paris Club as the only “appropriate multilateral framework”, and opened the door to UNCTAD participation to this forum based on TDB Resolution 132 (XV).

In the negotiation of Resolution 165 (S-IX), OECD countries made substantial concessions on debt relief (Part A of the Resolution) but resisted the formal introduction of a debt restructuring mechanism (Part B of the Resolution). This resolution also implicitly introduced the Paris Club as the “appropriate multilateral framework” for international consideration of debt problems of developing countries, as noted earlier. Part A of the resolution contained an agreement on “retroactive terms adjustment” on aid for a group of 30 least developed countries (i.e. repayment obligations on outstanding aid loans were changed to the easier terms that donors were now offering these countries). Some OECD countries that had decided to give aid exclusively as grants implemented this resolution by cancelling old debts, making this a precursor of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative.

The debate ended in September 1980 when TDB Resolution 222 (XXI) was adopted by consensus. Part B of the resolution contains the “Detailed Features for Future Operations Relating to the Debt Problems of Interested Developing Countries”. The Resolution was adopted without dissent, albeit with France abstaining to emphasise its strict neutrality, being the host of the debt renegotiations, as this time the resolution made explicit reference to the Paris Club as the recognised multilateral forum for bilateral debt rescheduling. Part B of resolution 222 (XXI), the “Detailed Features for Future Operations Relating to the Debt Problems of Interested Developing Countries”, were in fact an agreed “code of conduct” for official debt rescheduling as only governments (UNCTAD constituency) were represented when it was adopted.

Early 1980s
Since 1979, based on TDB Resolutions 132 (XV) and 165 S-IX, UNCTAD has attended practically all Paris Club meetings that involved developing countries or economies in transition. The UNCTAD Division that was nominated to attend the Paris Club was the “Money, Finance and Development Division” (presently “Globalization and Development Strategies”), lead at the time by Mr Gerasimos Arsenis (Greece). This division had in charge, among other duties, the economic forecasts for the Trade and Development Report, one of UNCTAD's flagship reports. The quantitative team of this division belonged to the Trade and Projections Branch, which officers were commissioned since 1979 to help countries in debt difficulties to present their cases to the Paris Club. The reason for this was that the staffs of that branch maintained a set of econometric models for major developing countries around the world, and had the quantitative skills for calculating additional flows needed to close the balance of payment gap, either through new flows or/and through rescheduling of debt. This team was composed by Kenneth Ruffing (United States) team leader; Enrique Cosío-Pascal (Mexico) in charge of Latin America; Valery Prokohrenkov (USSR) in charge of North Africa and the Middle East; Sam Chan-Tung (Mauritius) in charge of Asia and Oceania; Kombo Moyana (Zimbabwe) in charge of Sub-Saharan Africa; and Jacques Baert (Belgium) statistical assistant of the Branch. When UNCTAD started to support countries attending debt rescheduling negotiations in 1979, data were needed to make calculations. The first difficulty the Trade and Projections Branch staffs encountered was the lack of information on external debt of debtor countries: they did not know how much they owed, to what countries and what creditors, in what currencies the loans had to be repaid, when the payments were falling due and who the national debtors were. The idea of creating a Computer-Based Debt Management System (CBDMS) came out very naturally after this experience. The Branch staffs representing UNCTAD at the Paris Club in the early 1980s confirmed this lack of information as a general situation in developing countries. The question that came up at this stage was: why debtor countries did not have a CBDMS?

There were two major reasons why the debtor countries did not have accurate debt data and a performing CBDMS. The first one was the lack of centralisation of information on foreign debt and inefficient legislation on public guarantees. The second one was the lack of availability of debt managers to produce comprehensive specifications for computer specialists. The urgent nature of the problems that a debt manager had to solve at the time would lead him to address specific punctual problems, for instance preparing the Paris Club and then preparing the negotiations with private banks. This will imply the collection of data in two different databases and the development of two different computer systems. These two systems once developed they would be interfaced, the outcome being an inflexible and unpractical computer patchwork inefficient and expensive to maintain.

DMFAS First Version
In 1981, Kombo Moyana left UNCTAD to join Mr Bernard Chidzero, former Deputy Secretary-General of UNCTAD and Minister of Finance in Zimbabwe at the time. Other members of the Branch had to cover Sub-Saharan Africa waiting for the replacement of Mr Moyana. In particular, Mr Cosío-Pascal covered Liberia, Madagascar and Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo). Four countries, in 1981, agreed to form the initial DMFAS pool—contributing from their national United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) funds to a common technical cooperation fund with UNCTAD—that allowed the development of the first version. Those countries were two from Latin America: Bolivia and Costa Rica and two from Africa: Liberia and Madagascar. These resources allowed hiring a systems analyst, Pekka Sankala Finland and a programmer, Ms Cameron Turkey. These two persons, jointly with Mr Cosio-Pascal, team leader, and Mr Baert, formed the first DMFAS Programme team.

The first DMFAS version, finalised in early 1982, was developed in COBOL and designed to run on an IBM System/370 mainframe computer. This very first version was installed at the National Institute of Statistics of Bolivia, which was the only institution in Bolivia owning an IBM 370 computer. However, at the time, the country was governed by a Military Junta, the Head of State being General Luis García Meza, and it was decided by the Bolivian authorities that external debt data was classified information, and no one should be able to access it, with the exception of the authorised persons belonging to the International Department of the Central Bank of Bolivia. Therefore, it was requested to UNCTAD to develop a DMFAS version for Personal Computer (PC) that should be at the Central Bank with limited access to authorised staffs. This was a very fortunate request, because PC's prices subsequently went down, is by far less expensive than mainframe computers, and since all DMFAS versions have been created to run on PCs. The second version of DMFAS, the PC version, was installed at the Central Bank of Bolivia, the Central Bank of Costa Rica and the Central Bank of Madagascar. It was never installed in Liberia due to the recrudescence of civil war.

Expansion of the DMFAS Programme and the DPS: a Debt Analysis Tool
The 1980s decade was characterised by a series of defaults and debt rescheduling negotiations by developing countries and some communist countries at the time. As a consequence, the demand for DMFAS increased very rapidly. The demand for the system was huge and the DMFAS team's staff number growth fast as well. By end of the 1980s, the team was of around 20 persons and the number of countries benefiting from DMFAS technical co-operation around 30 to 40. The demand was so high that around 1984 the Commonwealth Secretariat started to develop a CBDMS for its member countries, the CS-DRMS. However, the CS-DRMS is primarily targeted to English speaking countries, albeit there is a French version for some Sub-Saharan French-speaking countries. In comparison, DMFAS was created independently of the language the users would speak, which means that the “vocabulary” of the system is independent of the computer codes. Presently, the system can be set up to run in Arabic, English, French, Russian or Spanish. In addition to that, in a country running DMFAS in other languages than English, the system's administrator can switch momentarily the language to English to produce reports for the international financial community and switch it back to the users’ language.DMFAS Programme The creation of DMFAS was a step forward for user debtor countries in improving their public debt management, in particular, external debt. However, the final goal at the time was to help countries pleading their case in negotiations, first with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to reach an agreement on an economic adjustment programme, and second at the debt rescheduling meeting with the creditor countries belonging to the Paris Club. It came out that a tool that would gather the aggregated figures of external debt and combine those with the balance of payments scenarios was necessary. Therefore, the DMFAS Programme, in the second half of the 1980s decade, assigned a team to develop the Debt Projections and Balance of Payments System (DPS). The team was composed by Mr Cosío-Pascal, Mr Baert and an external consultant Mr David Nathan (UK). The DPS was developed in Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheets, which implied transportability and simplicity. The functionalities of the DPS included the combination of balance of payments scenarios with different “old debt” rescheduling scenarios and “new money” scenarios. The algorithm used by DPS to close the gap was the “net transfer approach”. In fact, the DPS was a precursor of a debt sustainability analysis template.

The DPS was a major breakthrough in the field of debt negotiations at the time because as it was developed in Lotus 1-2-3, it was suitable for portable computers that started to appear in the second half of the 1980s. Therefore, the negotiation team of many debtor countries—not only DMFAS countries, but any country attending the Paris Club—used DPS in the back of the negotiation room in order to assess the different proposals during a debt rescheduling meeting, which was a considerable advantage for the negotiators. The DPS was used intensively in Paris Club negotiations as well as in the major negotiation between the Mexican government and the private bank's steering committee chaired by William R. Rhodes in New York in 1988.

DMFAS 5: Co-operation with the World Bank and UNDP Financing
By the end of the 1980s, the DMFAS version 4 was a stable and fully-fledged computer-based debt management system (CBDMS). However, the computer and software techniques had evolved and it was more and more evident that a new platform for DMFAS was needed. Notwithstanding, a considerable amount of resources were needed to upgrade DMFAS from COBOL, which used indexed files, to a relational database system. At the time, two major technical cooperation providers were helping indebted developing countries: the World Bank and UNCTAD. UNDP agreed to finance the upgrade of DMFAS under the condition that UNCTAD and the World Bank coordinated their technical activities on public debt management. Negotiations were undertaken between the two institutions and finally it was agreed that UNCTAD would have responsibility for the database with DMFAS and the World Bank would have responsibility for the analytical tool, which was DPS. The World Bank improved the DPS, which become the Debt Sustainability Model Plus (DSM+), and upgraded it from Lotus 1-2-3 to Microsoft Excel. Later, the government budget was also included in DSM (DSM+) in which the budget gap was also closed with the same algorithm.

With the UNCTAD/World Bank agreement to work hand-in-hand providing technical assistance to developing countries, UNDP agreed to finance upgrading DMFAS to a relational database system. The resources came from the Inter-regional UNDP funds and the amount was around US$5 million. The relational database chosen was ORACLE Database. The work and arrangements for choosing the relational database provider, hiring consultants and other organisational matters made that the development of DMFAS 5, to pass from COBOL to ORACLE started in 1992.

Financing from Client Countries and Bilateral Donors
Unfortunately, an unprecedented event arrived beginning of 1993: UNDP discovered that their resources were not enough to maintain the original pledge of US$5 million and requested UNCTAD to reimburse the unspent balance. This situation forced the DMFAS Programme and UNCTAD to make a call to the international financial community in order to continue with the work schedule.

At this time, the beginning of the 1990s, the insolvency problem by the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) was becoming more and more acute. The main objective that the HIPC Initiative addressed was debt relief, and the beneficiary countries had to take in hand their daily debt management responsibilities, among those, to maintain an accurate database of all public, domestic and external, public debt. Many DMFAS user countries were HIPCs, and this fact made that developed donor countries responded with alacrity to UNCTAD/DMFAS call: Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the U.K. responded positively to support the DMFAS Programme, either by depositing resources with UNCTAD technical cooperation trust funds or by putting at the disposal of the Programme Junior Professional Officers (JPOs), and in some cases, senior officers as well. Therefore, in spite of UNDP financing withdrawal, the upgrading to version DMFAS 5 in ORACLE was carried over.

Since that very first call to donor countries, the DMFAS Programme has been financed through regular UNCTAD budget, contribution from the beneficiary countries and contribution from donor countries.

DMFAS Version 6
After several versions of DMFAS 5, a new major upgrading operation was undertaken by the DMFAS Programme in the second half of the 2000s decade. This new version, DMFAS 6, is an application for public debt management using the latest information technology.

DMFAS and a New Approach to Technical Cooperation
The development of a CBDMS is a complex matter and the reasons are multiple; for instance, each creditor has its own methodology to calculate accrual interest, fees and the rounding for the principal repayments. Second, the imagination of financial engineers is boundless and the CBDMS has to be enhanced in function of new financial products coming to the market.

There are three major comparative advantages regarding the central development of a system like DMFAS. The first one is the huge economies of scale created by the DMFAS Programme. Regarding the economies of scale, the core of the system is common to all countries and this avoids repeating the same development in each country. The development and enhancements of the DMFAS are demand-driven so that the system reflects all the functionalities that the users requested. The DMFAS staffs produce specifications that will lead to a comprehensive and coherent CBDMS. The final product is then a user-friendly, flexible and efficient tool. The second one is that rotation of personnel within Debt Management Offices (DMO) is a real problem, and in many countries, no permanent solution has been found for hiring and retaining qualified personnel. DMOs are very often understaffed, but also its personnel are hired on temporary assignments or with provisional salary arrangements. The rate of turnover is often alarmingly high, without a corresponding capacity for in-service training in order to upgrade the knowledge of the remaining staff to quickly render new employees fully operational. This situation was identified very soon, actually within a report requested by UNDP at the end of the 1980s, and unfortunately, this situation has not changed very much in a large number of countries. Therefore, the DMFAS Programme has performed as a repository of technical knowledge being able to re-train new personnel and re-installing DMFAS when necessary.

The third one is that installing DMFAS is less expensive than developing a wholly new system for reasons of cost and workability. Compared with designing, programming, and maintaining an entirely new system, packages can be relatively inexpensive. DMFAS designers with the help of users have debugged the available systems to the point where they are likely to have fewer operating problems than custom-made systems. They can be implemented quickly, and the maintenance is centralised, creating high economies of scale: the implementation of DMFAS, for instance, varies from 6 months to 3 years, in order to cover the full database depending on its complexity; this is fast compared to in-house development. The maintenance of a system is of vital importance; it has been proven that the personnel turnover in the IT Department—which is an observed characteristic of a developing country DMO as pointed out above—makes domestically developed systems very vulnerable. Choosing a standard software package like DMFAS also decreases the need to maintain a full group of developers within the DMO's IT department, there are only needs for maintenance and service for daily work, database management, and security procedures like regular backups.

The traditional conception for technical cooperation implied that an external team financed by external donors would help the beneficiary country to start a specific activity, and once the local team mastered the techniques and was able to obtain an income from the supported activity, the technical assistance came to an end.

The three points enumerated above implied a new approach for technical cooperation provided by DMFAS. The DMFAS Programme changed the philosophy of technical assistance, from the approach described in the previous paragraph, to a permanent service to “client countries”— no longer “beneficiaries” in the sense given by the traditional technical assistance approach—, which accepted to pay an annual fee and share system development costs in exchange of a continuous technical support for their public debt management responsibilities. Mid-2012 DMFAS was installed in 69 countries and more than 100 institutions: Ministries of Finance, Central Banks and other General Government institutions.DMFAS Programme

The UNCTAD Debt Management Conference
Since 1992 the DMFAS Programme organised annual meetings for the DMOs beneficiaries of UNCTAD technical assistance on this matter, which was carried out in parallel with the "Debt Management Offices Network". However, in 1997 the DMFAS Programme launched the UNCTAD-DMFAS Debt Conference opened to all interested countries, not only for those that benefited from the DMFAS Programme technical assistance. The Conference was a full success, to such an extent, that the meeting room assigned by the Conference Services was too small for the number of delegates attending, people were standing in the room corridors. The Conference moved to one of the four largest Conference rooms in the new building of the Palais des Nations, and since, held in one of those large conference rooms.

UNCTAD invited the Bretton Woods institutions to the event, the regional development banks as well as NGOs from very different horizons. The World Bank Treasury found the event very interesting, and to some extent, regretted not having first the idea of such an event. Therefore, in 1998, the World Bank Treasury launched the Sovereign Debt Management Forum. UNCTAD and the Bank agreed on holding the events on a bi-annual basis, UNCTAD on odd years and the Bank on even years. Since then, the event is held regularly by the two institutions.

Presently, the Public Debt Management Network (PDM), composed by the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance, the OECD and the World Bank, organises in more or less regular basis a Public Debt Management Conference. The last one was held in Paris in September 2019.

The latest UNCTAD Debt Management Conference and DMFAS Advisory Group Meeting were held in Geneva, Switzerland from 18 to 22 November 2019.

title: DMFAS


text:
Kirkby Overblow

Kirkby Overblow is a village and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. It is situated between Wetherby and Harrogate and lies to the west of Sicklinghall and the east of Leeds Bradford International Airport. It has a church called All Saints and a Church of England primary school affiliated with the church. Kirkby Overblow has a bus stop, but no railway station or post office.

In January 2023, The Daily Telegraph, based on research by Savills, listed Kirkby Overblow as one of Britain's "54 poshest villages".

History
The first written reference to Kirkby Overblow appears in the Domesday Book, where it appears as Cherchebi. The Kirkby part of the name is a common prefix, simply meaning a settlement by a church, while Overblow is a corruption of Oreblow, a reference to the village's iron-smelting past.

Kirkby Overblow was a large ancient parish, which included the townships of Kearby with Netherby (including the hamlets of Kearby and Netherby), Rigton (which later became North Rigton), Sicklinghall and Stainburn. All these places became separate civil parishes in 1866. It was part of the West Riding of Yorkshire until 1974.

There are two pubs in Kirkby Overblow, the Shoulder of Mutton, which boasts a large beer garden, and the Star and Garter:

Climate
Climate in this area has mild differences between highs and lows, and there is adequate rainfall year-round. The Köppen Climate Classification subtype for this climate is "Cfb" (Marine West Coast Climate/Oceanic climate).

title: Kirkby Overblow


text:
Battle of Novara (1513)

The Battle of Novara (also known as the battle of Ariotta) was a battle of the War of the League of Cambrai fought on 6 June 1513, near Novara, in Northern Italy. A French attacking force was routed by allied Milanese–Swiss troops. As a consequence, France was forced to withdraw entirely from Italy.

Prelude
The French had been victorious at the Battle of Ravenna the previous year. Nevertheless, the French under King Louis XII were driven out of the city of Milan the following month by the Holy League.

Following the French removal from Milan, Swiss mercenaries installed Maximilian Sforza as Duke of Milan on 29 December 1512.

In June 1513, the French army, consisting of more than 20,000 under Louis de la Trémoille, besieged the city of Novara, which was held by Swiss mercenaries.

Battle
By June 1513, most of the western part of the duchy of Milan had been occupied by the French. After marching to Novara the night before, the French were surprised at dawn by a Swiss relief army of some 12,000 troops. The German Landsknechte, pike-armed like the Swiss, were able to form up into heavy squares and offered stiff resistance to the Swiss attack, while the French were able to deploy some of their artillery. Despite this, the Swiss onslaught, sweeping in from multiple directions due to forced marches that achieved encirclement of the French camp, took the French guns, pushed back the Landsknecht infantry regiments, and destroyed the Landsknecht squares. Caught off guard, the French heavy cavalry was unable to properly deploy, fled the field, and left the baggage train to the Swiss.

Aftermath
The battle was particularly bloody, with at least 5,000 casualties on the French side, and 1,500 for the Swiss pikemen, mostly suffered from the French artillery as the Swiss forces moved into the attack. Additionally, after the battle, the Swiss executed the hundreds of German Landsknecht mercenaries they had captured who had fought for the French. Having routed the French army, the Swiss were unable to launch a close pursuit because of their lack of cavalry, several contingents of Swiss mercenaries did follow the French withdrawal to Dijon before the French paid them off to leave France. The Swiss captured 22 French guns.

The French defeat forced Louis XII to withdraw from Milan and Italy.

title: Battle of Novara (1513)


text:
Billy and Chuck

Billy and Chuck were a professional wrestling tag team of Billy Gunn and Chuck Palumbo who performed in World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment (WWF/WWE) from 2001 to 2002. They were two-time WWE World Tag Team Champions. The two men were depicted as a same-sex couple leading to controversy from hate groups, but praise from equality groups.

World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment
Near the end of the Invasion storyline, Chuck (Palumbo) was kicked out of the Alliance. In response, he defected to the WWF where he began teaming with Billy (Gunn) in an affront to the Alliance. After the Invasion ended, the duo was turned heel.

A storyline began in which Billy and Chuck became increasingly affectionate toward each other, showing evidence of a homosexual relationship. The duo adopted matching red ring gear and bleached their hair with Chuck beginning to wear pigtails, although Chuck would later cut his hair short due to the bleach affecting his hair negatively. Developmental talent Rico was placed in the role of their crafty "personal stylist". Billy and Chuck would win the WWF Tag Team Championships on two occasions, and primarily feud with the APA and the Hardy Boyz.

In September 2002, Chuck proposed life partnership to Billy, and Billy accepted. Their ceremony was aired on the September 12 episode of SmackDown!. During the commitment ceremony, Gunn and Palumbo revealed that the ceremony was merely a publicity stunt that had gone too far, and they admitted they were strictly hetero. Eric Bischoff, who had disguised himself as the priest officiating the wedding, and 3-Minute Warning from Raw then led an attack on Stephanie McMahon, the General Manager of SmackDown! who was also present at the ceremony. Following this incident, Rico defected to Raw and managed 3-Minute Warning. Billy and Chuck remained a team, turning face and dropping all facets of their gay-sweetheart gimmick.

Billy and Chuck's final match together occurred on SmackDown! in the first round of a tournament for the newly created WWE Tag Team Championship. They lost the match to the team of Ron Simmons and Reverend D-Von. Gunn received a shoulder injury during the match, and was taken off television. The team quietly separated with Chuck going into singles competition and later the Full Blooded Italians; and Billy returned with his Mr. Ass gimmick.

Reception
The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, which had consulted with WWE on the storyline and helped the angle secure mainstream media coverage, denounced WWE for securing GLAAD's assistance under false pretenses. "The WWE lied to us two months ago when they promised that Billy and Chuck would come out and wed on the air." The gimmick would be in sharp contrast to then-current WWE performer Darren Young legitimately coming out over a decade later to TMZ, which was received with open arms and also led to other openly LGBT wrestlers in mainstream wrestling including Sonya DeVille, Anthony Bowens, Nyla Rose, Sonny Kiss, Kiera Hogan, and Mercedes Martinez.

In a shoot interview in 2013, Billy Gunn stated that he had no regrets over the Billy and Chuck storyline, feeling that it was his job to perform the gimmick as presented to him, and would do it again if asked to do it.

Echoing Gunn's comments, in 2021 Chuck Palumbo revealed to Chris Van Vliet that he had no problem with the gimmick, unlike some of his cohorts. Palumbo told those cohorts that all wrestlers are actors in some capacity and had no issue with the gimmick whatsoever. He did admit, however, that his then-six year old daughter was confused with what was going on, and also revealed that Gunn's sons, the Ass Boys Colten and Austin (both of whom were aware of kayfabe at that point) did have an issue with the gimmick.

However, on an episode of CCV with Chris Van Vliet, Austin and Colton revealed they loved the gimmick.

Championships and accomplishments

 * Pro Wrestling Illustrated
 * PWI Tag Team of the Year (2002) – Billy and Chuck
 * World Wrestling Federation / World Wrestling Entertainment
 * WWF/E Tag Team Championship (2 times)

title: Billy and Chuck


text:
Flanagan and Allen

Flanagan and Allen were a British singing and comedy double act most active during the 1930s and 1940s. Its members were Bud Flanagan (1896 – 1968, born Chaim Weintrop) and Chesney Allen (1894–1982). They were first paired in a Florrie Forde revue, and were booked by Val Parnell to appear at the Holborn Empire in 1929.

Career
As music hall comedians, they would often feature a mixture of comedy and music in their act; this led to a successful recording career as a duo and roles in film and television. Just prior to and throughout the Second World War they appeared in several films helmed by Marcel Varnel and John Baxter. Flanagan and Allen were both also members of the Crazy Gang and worked with that team for many years concurrently with their double-act career.

Flanagan and Allen's songs featured the same, usually gentle, humour for which the duo were known in their live performances, and during the Second World War they reflected the experiences of ordinary people during wartime. Songs such as "We're Going to Hang out the Washing on the Siegfried Line" mocked the German defences (Siegfried Line), while others including "Miss You" sang of missing one's sweetheart during enforced absences. Other songs, such as their most famous, "Underneath the Arches" (which Flanagan co-wrote with Reg Connelly), and the song "Umbrella Man" (which was used in many Merrie Melodies and Looney Tunes cartoons), had universal themes such as friendship. The music was usually melodic, following a binary verse, verse chorus structure, with a small dance band or orchestra providing the accompaniment. The vocals were distinctive because, while Flanagan was at least a competent singer and sang the melody lines, Allen used an almost spoken delivery to provide the harmonies and bass line. The duo appeared at the London Palladium at the first Royal Variety Performance in 1932.

The recordings of Flanagan and Allen and the duo are still impersonated by professionals and amateurs. Royal Variety Performances have sometimes featured people 'doing a Flanagan and Allen', notably Roy Hudd and Christopher Timothy, Bernie Winters and Leslie Crowther. In 1980, the latter two featured in a one-off musical drama called Bud & Ches, about the duo produced by ATV for the ITV network. Allen himself appeared in 1980 with Billy Dainty playing the Bud Flanagan part.

In 1971, the later comedy team Morecambe and Wise, who often expressed their admiration for Flanagan and Allen, recorded a tribute album, Morecambe and Wise Sing Flanagan and Allen (Phillips 6382 095), in which they performed some of the earlier team's best known songs in their own style, without attempting to imitate the originals.

Flanagan sang the main theme song, "Who Do You Think You Are Kidding Mr. Hitler?" for the 1968–1977 BBC Television comedy Dad's Army, a show about the wartime Home Guard.

Flanagan and Allen's song "Run, Rabbit, Run" had a surprising revival in 2016–17, featuring prominently in two films: Get Out and Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.

Selected list of Flanagan and Allen songs

 * "Run, Rabbit, Run"
 * "Underneath the Arches"
 * "Where the Arches Used To Be"
 * "We're Going to Hang out the Washing on the Siegfried Line"
 * "The Umbrella Man"
 * "Shine on Harvest Moon"
 * "Miss You"
 * "Are You Havin' Any Fun?"
 * "I Don't Want to Walk Without You"
 * "The Galloping Major"
 * “What More Can I Say”
 * "If a Grey Haired Lady Says "How's Your Father?" (That's Mademoiselle from Armentieres)"

Selected filmography

 * A Fire Has Been Arranged (1934)
 * Underneath the Arches (1937)
 * Alf's Button Afloat (1938)
 * Gasbags (1940)
 * We'll Smile Again (1942)
 * Theatre Royal (1943)
 * Here Comes the Sun (1946)

title: Flanagan and Allen


text:
My Story (Ayumi Hamasaki album)

My Story (Stylized in all caps) is the sixth studio album by Japanese singer-songwriter Ayumi Hamasaki, released on December 15, 2004, by Avex Trax. The album's lyrics were written in their entirety by Hamasaki herself, with composition on the album handled by a team of composers including Kazuhito Kikuchi, Bounceback, Tetsuya Yukumi, and, on some songs, Hamasaki, under the pen name Crea.

Lead single "Moments" was released on March 31, 2004, to positive reviews from critics, who praised its rock influences. It was a commercial success too, debuting at number one, selling over 300,000 copies, and receiving a platinum certification. The second single, "Inspire", was successful as well, reaching number one and being certified platinum; it sold over 329,000 units, becoming the highest-selling single from My Story. Similarly, "Carols" topped the charts in Japan and was certified Platinum.

My Story was positively received by critics, who appreciated its aggressive style compared to Western pop music at the time and its alternative sound. A commercial success, it became Hamasaki's sixth consecutive number-one album in Japan, debuting at the top spot with first week sales of 574,321 copies. In its 43-week chart run, My Story sold 1,132,444 copies and became the seventh best-selling album of the year in Japan. Combined with the sales of its three singles, My Story sold 2,073,640 copies which makes it the 222nd best-selling album in Japan of all time.

Background
By the end of her 2004 arena tour, Hamasaki became dissatisfied with her position at Avex. She felt that the company was treating her as a product rather than a human being and artist. After her two previous efforts, I Am… and Rainbow, which she felt had been rushed, Hamasaki decided that on her next record she would not write to "give people hope" or write "something good"; instead, she simply wrote "freely and honestly" with no set theme. These writing sessions resulted in autobiographical lyrics, exploring Hamasaki's own emotions and reminisces about her career. The music of My Story reflects the free theme of the lyrics; its noticeable rock overtones expressed Hamasaki's liking for rock music. Pleased with its sound, Hamasaki declared that My Story was the first album of her career with which she felt truly satisfied.

Promotion
The album includes the three singles: "Moments", "Inspire", and "Carols". During its first release, four different limited edition covers were released for fans to choose from. There were also two versions released, the first that included the CD only and a second that included a DVD that contained music videos to some (including the singles) of the tracks from the album. For promotional purposes, Ayumi Hamasaki Arena Tour 2005 A: My Story was scheduled from January to April. During the concert tour, My Story was released again in two more formats, SACD and in DVD Audio. All of the lyrics on the album were written by Hamasaki and three of the tracks, "Wonderland", "Winding Road" and "Humming 7/4", were composed by her under the pen name "Crea". It topped the Oricon charts for several weeks (the Japanese equivalent of Billboard). It is currently certified four times platinum in Japan. My Story is the 222nd best-selling album in Japan to date.

Since the single "Moments", her singles have been released in at least two versions, CD and CD+DVD format. "Carols" featured four versions of the single: CD, CD+DVD, SACD, and DVD Audio.

My Story Classical
My Story Classical is a compilation with classical versions of the songs from Ayumi Hamasaki's album My Story. My Story Classical was released on March 24, 2005. Most of the tracks were recorded with the Lamoureux Orchestra of France.

title: My Story (Ayumi Hamasaki album)


text:
Stand down

Stand down means to go off duty or relax from a state of readiness, particularly in a military situation.

Stand down may also refer to:
 * Irish Stand Down, a form of bare-knuckle boxing
 * "Stand Down", a 2013 song by Little Mix from Salute

title: Stand down


text:
Good-bye, Chunky Rice

Good-bye, Chunky Rice is a 1999 graphic novel about friendship written by Craig Thompson. It was originally published by Top Shelf Productions.

Publication history
Good-bye, Chunky Rice was originally published by Top Shelf Productions. It would be re-released in a new format by Pantheon Books in May 2006. Before this, the graphic novel had six printings with Top Shelf.

Plot
The book tells the story of Chunky Rice, a small turtle who leaves his familiar surroundings, including his deer mouse best friend, to enter the next phase of his life. Other side characters in the novel also experience similar losses of friendship through tragedy or their own choice.

Critical reception
Good-bye, Chunky Rice won Thompson the 2000 Harvey Award for Best New Talent.

title: Good-bye, Chunky Rice