text:
Talk:Works Progress Administration

TVA ?
Someone might want to investigate the statement that the WPA was responsible for the TVA.

I am almost certain that the Public Works Administration (the PWA, which was *not* the WPA) was the agency involved in building projects like the Tennessee Valley Authority, Hoover Dam, etc.

Wahkeenah 13:03, 20 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Broken Houston City Hall Link
I would fix the broken link so that it would link to a picture of it available at the Houston article, but it has bad copyright status. Any ideas? Mihirgk 20:33, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

??
Wasn't the WPA set up by Congress in response to a request by Roosevelt... It's what my textbook says (A History of the United States, Boorstin and Kelley). This book has not made an error like this before, so would someone please tell me which is right?? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 205.240.146.136 (talk) 05:09, 13 April 2006 (UTC)

 * See Howard pp 106-7. Congress passed funding bills every year for the WPA, but did not lay out the structure or mission of the agency; FDR did that. Rjensen 12:22, 13 April 2006 (UTC)

PWA
I know that the PWA was declared unconstitutional in 1935 but i don't know when, was this set up as a similar Administration (they seem very similar!) with a different name to bypass Supreme Court ruling? Murdochious 09:21, 26 May 2006 (UTC)

Outdoor Ampitheaters
Hi, I'm trying to help a friend with a college project and I was wondering if anyone had a list of outdoor ampitheaters built by the WPA program. If so can someone either post it or send me a link on my talk page. Thanks for the help! --Lekogm 22:41, 9 September 2006 (UTC)

Objection
I object to the statement that the WPA was "manipulated" by left-wingers. This sounds like a Fox News cheap shot. While HUAC held hearings into communist influence in the WPA, it never found any -- the hearings were a "show trial" designed to build the political carers of a few Congresional blow-hards. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.7.65.82 (talk) 15:31, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

WPA Bird Houses
We have seen many bird houses located throughout the back roads of Kansas. It was our understanding that they were a WPA project but we cannot find any info. Does anyone know anything about a bird house WPA project? We were told that they were primarily to help maintain the blue bird population. Any help will be appreciated. janelle@cla-mar.com (please specify WPA on subject line.  Thanks 24.255.173.68 23:42, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

the WPA and the Arts
It would be very worthwhile for someone to write an article on the WPA's role with regard to the arts. The subject is barely touched on here, and yet culturally very important to the US. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.199.1.183 (talk) 21:51, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

 * and werent there a bunch of really great paintings/posters for it? they looked like dreamy utopian propaganda for american progress.  i'd like to see a few here 76.202.249.19 (talk) 15:51, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

Stone carving by WPA Workers
I am seeking information about the rectangular stone plaques that were used in stone walls built by the WPA on the road up to the summit of Bear Mountain, New York, overlooking the Hudson River. In the stone wall there remain four such plaques, each one being about 14 inches by 20 inches and containing the following deeply carved words and figures: W P A  1935. The date appears directly below the acronym. I'd appreciate any information about how these plaques came to be carved and where they were carved and by whom (i.e. WPA sculptor or stone mason,etc.). Thanks.--~ — Preceding unsigned comment added by Blongstreth (talk • contribs) 20:31, 30 March 2008 (UTC)

Date WPA was created
President Roosevelt's executive order establishing the WPA was issued on May 6, 1935 — not in April of 1935 as stated in this article. On April 8, 1935 the President signed the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935, a joint resolution that Congress passed to provide provide funding for relief purposes and which gave the President authority to establish the WPA.Joachim57 (talk) 20:05, 20 April 2008 (UTC)

Vandalism
I have just undone what appears to have been an act of vandalism by "Grandma Minnie". John Sauter (talk) 05:30, 22 November 2008 (UTC)

The definition of WPA
Back in the mid 1990s, while my wife and I were traveling through West Texas, we came across a plaque displayed on rock fence around a school yard. The plaque claimed that the rock fence and school had been built as a "World Progress Administration" project. Both my wife and I saw the plaque and we took pictures, which we cannot find. After many Google searches, I have come up with a number of definitions for WPA: Works Progress Administration, Works Projects Administration, and a very few references to World Progress Administration. Does anyone know a history for the name "World Progress Administration"? 216.244.61.187 (talk) 02:44, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

Administration and scope
To whom did the enabling legislation give the authority to decide which projects got funding? Who was eligible for a job? How were workers moved back into the private sector? Why were workers capped at 30 hours per week? -- Beland (talk) 20:51, 18 December 2008 (UTC)

delano?
umm.... delanor? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.166.219.88 (talk) 06:42, 10 March 2009 (UTC)

 * -it is actually Delano :P
 * I looked it up in "A People and a Nation" —Preceding unsigned comment added by 97.113.247.68 (talk) 05:00, 27 May 2009 (UTC)

Worker Profile
> Women in the WPA == Is it me, or does the worker profile section not actually contain much general information on the profile of workers in the WPA, but specifically information on the kinds of women in the WPA. Any objections to changing the title of that section?

Rflrob (talk) 20:50, 29 November 2009 (UTC) rflrob 2009-11-29

Questions on WPA Adminsitration
Were WPA projects managed by public employees or by private contractors? When a road or building was constructed who ordered supplies and set work schedules (i.e. decided what day to build forms, to set steel, and to pour concrete). Who designed the projects? No doubt there were qualified people around who were unemployed but could they be found and organized into design or management teams? Just because you need a job doesn't mean you have the skills to design a roof truss, calculate the gravel and asphalt needed for a mile long road, or can figure out how many workers are needed to build a hundred feet of concrete wall.

A few years later, during WWII, the military model was to designate a project administration team, then hire contractors to do the actual construction: airfield, barracks, etc. That would probably be a good model if there were a WPA in today's economy. There are many unemployed construction people and most companies have unused or mothballed capacity. All they'd have to do would be hire back their laid off workers and crank up the idle bulldozers. Tldoran (talk) 21:12, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

NPOV
Read the "Criticism" section. Apparently there's not a single criticism of the WPA where it's defenders don't have the last word. The criticism section is filled to the brim with straw men who are knocked down with ease. Surely the WPA was not a perfect program? Surely it's detractors had some valid points? Surely giving a job to everyone who needs one will prevent, to a certain extent, the private market from hiring? If wiki is to be truly NPOV it's on articles like this that it needs to start. --CptBuck (talk) 19:46, 10 April 2011 (UTC)

 * nobody would make money by hiring the bottom rung as long as there was a next-to-the-bottom rung full of unemployed people. They were trapped. We see something like this emerging in 2011--long term unemployed who send out thousands of resumes and can't get hired. Rjensen (talk) 20:12, 10 April 2011 (UTC)

 * then how did they get hired in the end? Or did I miss that the WPA is still around somewhere? Again, if the WPA wasn't perfect, it follows that some criticism of it should be valid. Good luck finding that in this article, instead all you find are straw men. CptBuck (talk) 08:16, 11 April 2011 (UTC)

 * WW2 changed everything. retraining programs began. Government cost-plus contract made it profitable to hire every possible person. The better skilled younger men were off to military. hence industry finally hired the hard core unemployed. Rjensen (talk) 14:05, 11 April 2011 (UTC)

 * And no one has ever objected to that narrative with sufficient objectivity to get any recognition on this page? If John Steinbeck can be used as a succesful retort to the "shovel leaners" can I use Louis Armstrong who sang, in 1940, ""Sleep while you work, rest while you play, lean on your shovel to pass the time away, at the WPA." Have you read the criticism section Rjensen? It's pretty objectively non-objective. A criticism section should have some, you know, criticism. --CptBuck (talk) 06:04, 12 April 2011 (UTC)

 * why is CptBuck so hostile to the WPA--perhaps he is unaware that Ronald Reagan and Milton Friedman admired it (it funded the Reagan and Friedman families in hard times). the "criticism" section includes the main criticisms levied, especially its political role. Rjensen (talk) 07:07, 12 April 2011 (UTC)

 * Am I hostile to the WPA? You have no idea. I'm hostile to the criticism section, which contains no actual criticism. And I am being debated by someone who believes that no such criticism is valid. If that's the case Rjensen, why don't you do what I was considering and just delete the criticism section, since you believe no such criticism is valid, and I believe the section is absurd. --CptBuck (talk) 09:10, 12 April 2011 (UTC)

 * There is little actual criticism there because in the almost 70 years since the WPA, there was little in the way of political criticism of the program. Yes, there was some criticism, but it was very minor compared to the massive political and popular support it had and the generally favorable view history has had of it.  At the time it was quite popular, and as was noted, even conservative icons like Ronald Reagan admired it.  It was hardly preventing the private sector from creating jobs, it was created in the peak of the Great Depression, when unemployment was around 21% (twice what it was at even the worst part of the recent economic trouble).  Jobs just plain weren't out there, and it was not because the government was keeping people from being hired.  Note that the program was ended during World War II, when the vast increase in defense spending and military recruitment meant that other jobs were available.  You're  going to find that much of the criticism of the program is revisionist history from early 21st century conservatives or '50's era McCarthyites who scream "socialism" at every government program and see "communists" behind every shadow.  --Wingsandsword (talk) 17:42, 8 June 2012 (UTC)

"The WPA hired men with the weakest work habits who could not get regular jobs." This statement is not at all warranted by the text in its footnotes, two of which only suggest that their authors believed there was a perception of laziness among contemporary employers, while the third suggests that the author believed those perceptions were not without merit "to some extent". It seems as though the editor that did this was trying to make up for the weakness of their cites with volume to justify taking a harsher tone against the WPA. I'm going to change this line so that its citations actually provide support. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.125.9.158 (talk) 10:07, 19 October 2011 (UTC)

Shoveling for 15 minutes
As a worker who shoveled this past summer for over 30 minutes at a time, multiple times per day, over several weeks, I find the propaganda about people not being able to shovel for 15 continuous minutes completely fatuous. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.85.10.83 (talk) 03:37, 17 October 2011 (UTC)

Work Projects Administration -- Work should be singular, Projects should be pluralized
The WPA changed from Works Progress Administration to Work Projects Administration -- note the plural "Projects," as opposed to the singular "Project" found in this article, and singular "Work" as opposed to plural "Works." I'll cite this National Archives page as a reference: http://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/069.html — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.196.188.212 (talk) 17:53, 8 November 2012 (UTC)

Lead image
I have at least temporarily replaced the lead image (which was File:WPA_Main_Image.jpg) because it is at claiming it is a non-free album cover (a pastiche of a WPA poster) not a copy of genuine poster. This looks plausible to me. Thincat (talk) 23:28, 20 May 2014 (UTC)

 * The poster is presented as authentic WPA art by WPA historian Richard Friswell in a scholarly article "FDR's New Deal and the Works Progress Administration" in Arttes Magazine March 8, 2011 online here Rjensen (talk) 02:14, 21 May 2014 (UTC)

 * How fascinating. Never having heard of the WPA I've had a wonderful time browsing. I had no idea the New Deal was so eclectic. I had looked at LoC here, Commons here, Google and TinEye but hadn't found anything very definite (or your source). In the Artes Magazine article this image is the only one not attributed in any way and the image is called cdcoversillustrationinspirationvector-03d2fe16e7a61004c76625fab93d3b39_h.jpg which is curious. It may well be simply alluding to the CD cover being inspired by (and copied from) an original poster. What a shame the article does not explain. As I said at PUF, I really can't judge. I see they produced "nearly 240,000 prints from 12,500 original designs" so there is a lot to look through! Thincat (talk) 08:12, 21 May 2014 (UTC)

 * I've emailed an enquiry via the band's website. Thincat (talk) 08:32, 21 May 2014 (UTC)

 * Here's quite a bit of a shock. I've had a quick reply to my email. It says the image on the WPA cover is based on the “Work Promotes Confidence” WPA poster ( http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/98518393/ ), but the cover was designed by Alphabet Arm graphic design ( http://www.alphabetarm.com/cdartdirection/wpa/ ). It clearly is creative enough to attract copyright (and in my opinion not to be suitable for this article). I didn't enquire about any licence to use the cover because I had come to assume it was a direct copy of a poster. Anyway, I don't think that is relevant here. I think deletion will be appropriate and inevitable but I won't personally rush into this immediately. Thincat (talk) 16:59, 21 May 2014 (UTC)

Background section
I contributed a "Background" section to provide context for the establishment of the WPA, which I believe is needed. I am confused at it being reverted as original research and without reliable sources. — WFinch (talk) 20:01, 28 February 2016 (UTC)

 * you don't explain anything about why Congress or FDR or Hopkins acted as they did in 1935. Please do not rely on your reading of a handful of primary sources--the Wiki rule is to use standard secondary sources like Leuchtenberg, Freidel, Schlesinger, Jason Smith. Rjensen (talk) 20:20, 28 February 2016 (UTC)

 * I'm sorry that you found that the entire section required deletion. — WFinch (talk) 20:28, 28 February 2016 (UTC)

 * It's not based on the good scholarship. For example, there's not a word on why Roosevelt federalize the program, taking it away from the state-based FERA. – let me add that Nick Taylor wrote a good popular history, but it's not based on the advanced scholarship. Rjensen (talk) 20:52, 28 February 2016 (UTC)

 * The Background section was a timeline of events leading up to the establishment of the WPA, to provide context. The chronology section of Taylor's book was one of the sources—the book was already present in the article as a reference—and those dates, names and figures are objective and verifiable elsewhere.
 * If you felt original research was present, the sentences in question should have been tagged so they could be given attention. Your noting that in contributing the Background section I "don't explain anything about …" or that "there's not a word about …" indicates that the section needed more information. Instead, you deleted it altogether. — WFinch (talk) 21:45, 28 February 2016 (UTC)

 * The background is covered in depth at New Deal. The section is scattershot dealing mostly with different topics. It ignores all the scholarship. It does not say why FERA and CWA had to be replaced. It does not mention Dem party. It does not cover PWA and the rivalry Ickes-Hopkins. It says more about 1933 and First New Deal and does not mention Second New Deal., It tells very little about the WPA.  relying on a popular book (Taylor) is unwise--he is strong on stories & human interest & weak on scholarship. I recommend reading a bio of Hopkins. Rjensen (talk) 22:23, 28 February 2016 (UTC)

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Works Progress Administration lists?
Thoughts on having lists of Works Progress Administration project for U.S. states, i.e. List of Works Progress Administration projects in Oregon? --- Another Believer ( Talk ) 04:53, 18 January 2021 (UTC)

WAP?? I don't think so.
What is your source? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jim Evans (talk • contribs) 14:47, 3 February 2021 (UTC)

title: Talk:Works Progress Administration


text:
Rohana Wijeweera

Patabendi Don Jinadasa Nandasiri Wijeweera (පටබැඳි දොන් ජිනදාස නන්දසිරි විජෙවීර; 14 July 1943 – 13 November 1989), better known as Rohana Wijeweera, was a Sri Lankan Marxist political activist, revolutionary and the founder of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP; ). Wijeweera led the party in two unsuccessful insurrections in Sri Lanka, in 1971 and 1987 to 1989.

He formed the JVP in 1965, with the intention of replacing the Dominion of Ceylon with a socialist republic. The JVP ideologically supported the Tamil militants, calling it a war for self-determination, but opposed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Following the Indo-Lanka accord, the JVP, with the leadership of Wijeweera and a secondary faction, launched a military and social campaign with the aim of overthrowing the government of Sri Lanka. This included two major insurgencies, in 1971 and 1987–1989.

In 1989, the government of Sri Lanka then launched Operation Combine with the intention of killing Wijeweera, along with Upatissa Gamanayake. While they succeeded, the JVP maintained its identity as a political party and later joined a coalition government.

Early life
Patabendi Don Jinadasa Nandasiri Wijeweera was born on 14 July 1943 (Bastille Day), to Patabendi Don Andris Wijeweera and Nasi Nona Wickramakalutota, who lived in Kottegoda, a coastal village situated close to Matara in southern Sri Lanka and mostly belonged to the Karava caste hierarchy. The eldest in the family, he had a younger brother Ananda and a younger sister Chitranie.

His father, who ran a small business, was an active member of the Ceylon Communist Party and very close to Dr. S. A. Wickramasinghe. He was disabled after an attack by thugs believed to be members of an opposing political party during the 1947 Parliamentary election campaign for the Hakmana electorate candidate Premalal Kumarasiri. Don Andris Wijeweera died in 1965.

Education
Wijeweera had his primary education at Goda Uda Government School in Kottegoda from 1947 to 1953. In 1954 he entered Goda Uda Government Senior School and was there until mid-1959. He entered Ambalangoda Dharmashoka College in July 1959 to study GCE Ordinary Level in the science stream. Although he passed the exam, gaining credit grades for some subjects, he was not able to continue his studies due to limited family finances.

Having become active in the communist party, he applied and gained a scholarship to attend the Lumumba University to study medicine and in September 1960 he went to the Soviet Union. He completed the Russian language examination within seven and a half months, obtaining a distinction, and spent his holidays travelling through the USSR. He also worked during this time as an agricultural worker in the Moldavian Republic. He worked through his medical studies well up to third year and also obtained a distinction in political economics in 1963.

In late 1963 he became ill and received medical treatment from a hospital in Moscow, but finally requested a full academic term of medical leave and returned to Ceylon. At that time the Communist Party of Ceylon was divided into two groups which were pro-Chinese and pro-Soviet. A vocal supporter of the pro-Chinese wing Ceylon Communist Party (Maoist), he did not get a visa to return to the USSR.

Political career, 1965–1971
Following his ideological dispute with the now revisionist Communist Party of Soviet Union, Wijeweera became a functionary of the Ceylon Communist Party-Peking Wing the pro-China faction of the Communist Party of Sri Lanka. There he started an admiration for Josef Stalin and also for Mao Zedong; he met with members of the Stalinist Labour Party of Albania in 1965, as they visited Ceylon.

New Left Movement
Soon Wijeweera was impatient with the CCP Maoist leaders due to what he saw as their lack of revolutionary purpose, and formed his own movement on 14 May 1965 after a discussion held in a house at Akmeemana in the Galle district with like-minded youth. He visited North Korea to broaden support for the newly formed movement.

Initially identified simply as the "New Left", this group drew on students and unemployed youths from rural areas, most of them in the 16 to 25-year-old range who felt that their economic interests had been neglected by the nation's leftist coalition governments. It became popularly known as the New Left Movement, a Marxist political party, but not Maoist.

After forming the political movement, Wijeweera named it Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP). He conducted a series of political lectures for the purpose of educating the youths according to the Marxist-Leninist doctrine. These lectures were popularly known as JVP five classes, eventually became the key manifesto of their political ideology.

 * Crisis of the capitalist system in Sri Lanka
 * The history of the left movement in Sri Lanka
 * The history of the socialist revolutions
 * Indian expansionism
 * The path of revolution in Sri Lanka

Capturing state power for the purpose of implementing the JVP's socio-economic policies in the country was the key part of Wijeweera's political agenda. During the late 1960s, Wijeweera and the JVP consisted of disillusioned youths who believed that armed struggle is the most suitable way to a socialist revolution.

1971 Insurrection
In 1970 while campaigning for the United Front of Sirimavo Bandaranaike in the general election, Wijeweera was arrested following the riot in front of the U.S embassy, but released shortly as the pro-socialist United Front won the elections.

In April 1971 JVP led an armed campaign known as the 1971 April Uprising, a failed attempt to overthrow the Dominion of Ceylon under the government of Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike. North Korean boats were arrested attempting to arm the JVP.

Wijeweera was arrested before the armed attack took place in April 1971. He was later brought before the Criminal Justice Commission (CJC) that was formed after the failed insurrection. The commission sentenced him to life imprisonment, after which he made an historic speech, stating "We May Be Killed But Our Voice Will Never Die", echoing "History Will Absolve Me" by Fidel Castro at the end of Moncada Barracks trial in 1953. On appeal the sentence was reduced to 20 years rigorous imprisonment.

Political career, 1977–1983
After the victory of the pro-United States United National Party in the 1977 elections, the new government attempted to broaden its mandate with a period of political tolerance. Wijeweera was freed. The new government also tried to destroy its opposition from the pro-Soviet Union United Front.

Presidential elections
After the ban on the party was lifted, the JVP entered the arena of legal political competition. As a candidate in the 1982 presidential elections, Wijeweera finished third, with more than 250,000 votes (4%, as compared with Jayewardene's 3.2 million).

1987–1989 Insurrection
In 1987, the JVP launched a second insurrection. Unlike in 1971, this was not an open revolt, but a low intensity conflict with subversion, assassinations, raids, and attacks on military and civilian targets.

Capture and death
In October 1989, following the arrest and interrogation of two leading JVP members, Wijeweera was arrested, having been living on a tea estate in Ulapane, masquerading as a planter under the name of Attanayake.

On 13 November 1989 Wijeweera was shot dead, but the actual circumstances remain a subject of speculation. Several versions of his death were circulated following the incident. The Sri Lankan Army stated that he had been shot in a confrontation between members of the JVP and the Army when he was taken under custody to help look at a JVP safe house. A rumour circulated that he was taken to a cemetery, shot in the leg and then summarily executed by being burnt alive in the crematorium, The official line from Minister of State Defence Ranjan Wijeratne's press brief was that Wijeweera and a fellow JVP member H.B. Herath had been taken to the safe house to help the Army locate part of the JVP's "treasure", while the search was in progress Herath had pulled out a gun and shot Wijeweera dead. It is widely believed that it was politically motivated assassination and that the Army, at the behest of the Government, was responsible for his death. Indeed, the Government itself gave conflicting answers, Foreign Minister A. C. S. Hameed corroborated Defence Minister Wijeratne's account that Herath had shot at Wijeweera, but states that the Army subsequently opened fire upon the two, killing both.

Works
In 1971 Wijeeweera wrote the book A Few Experiences (ISBN 978-955-8696-25-5) regarding his experiences during the first JVP insurgency. It was originally written in Sinhala Wijeweera wrote "What is the answer for the Eelam Question" following the beginning of the Sri Lankan Civil War.

Family
Wijeweera married Srimathi Chitrangani, with whom he had four daughters and two sons. After his death in 1989, his widow and children handed themselves over to the Army Headquarters and the government assured protection for the family. They were housed at the staff quarters in SLN Dockyard in Trincomalee and later in 1992 were moved to staff quarters in the naval barracks at SLNS Gemunu in Welisara where they have lived under state patronage. In February 2015, the Security Council decided that there was no security threat and requested the family to vacate the naval quarters that they were occupying.

In popular media
The biographical film of Wijeweera's late life titled Ginnen Upan Seethala was made in 2019. The film was directed by Anurudha Jayasinghe and popular actor Kamal Addararachchi played Wijeweera's role.

News media (Sinhala)

 * Rohana Wijeweera 1
 * Rohana Wijeweera 2
 * Rohana Wijeweera 3
 * Rohana Wijeweera 4
 * Rohana Wijeweera 5

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

title: Rohana Wijeweera


text:
Doctor in the House (film)

Doctor in the House is a 1954 British comedy film directed by Ralph Thomas and starring Kenneth More, Donald Sinden, Donald Houston and James Robertson Justice. It was produced by Betty Box. The screenplay, by Nicholas Phipps, Richard Gordon and Ronald Wilkinson, is based on the 1952 novel of the same name by Gordon, and follows a group of students through medical school.

It was the most popular box office film of 1954 in Great Britain. Its success spawned six sequels, and also a television and radio series entitled Doctor in the House.

It made Dirk Bogarde one of the biggest British stars of the 1950s. James Robertson Justice appeared as the irascible chief surgeon Sir Lancelot Spratt, a role he would repeat in many of the sequels.

Plot summary
The story follows the fortunes of Simon Sparrow starting as a new medical student at the fictional St Swithin's Hospital in London. His five years of student life, involving drinking, dating women, and falling foul of the rigid hospital authorities, provide many humorous incidents.

When he has to leave his first choice of lodgings to get away from his landlady's amorous daughter, he ends up with three amiable but less-than-shining fellow students as flatmates, Richard Grimsdyke, Tony Benskin and Taffy Evans. Towering over them all is the short-tempered, demanding chief surgeon, Sir Lancelot Spratt, who strikes terror into everyone.

Simon's friends cajole him into a series of disastrous dates, first with a placidly uninterested "Rigor Mortis", then with Isobel—a woman with very expensive tastes—and finally with Joy, a nurse at St Swithin's. After a rocky start, he finds he likes Joy a great deal. Richard is living on a small but adequate annuity that ends once he graduates, so he deliberately fails his exams every year. However, he is given an ultimatum by his fiancée Stella: graduate or she will leave him. He buckles down.

The climax of the film is a rugby match with a rival medical school during Simon's fifth and final year. After St Swithin's wins, the other side tries to steal the school mascot, a stuffed gorilla, resulting in a riot and car chase through the streets of London. Simon and his friends are almost expelled for their part in this by the humourless Dean of St Swithin's. When Simon helps Joy sneak into the nurses' residence after curfew, he accidentally falls through a skylight. This second incident gets him expelled, even though he is a short time away from completing his finals. Sir Lancelot, however, has fond memories of his own student days, particularly of the Dean's own youthful indiscretion (persuading a nurse to re-enact Lady Godiva's ride). His discreet blackmail gets Simon reinstated. In the end, Richard fails (as does Tony), but Stella decides to enrol at St Swithin's herself so there will be at least one doctor in the family. Simon and Taffy graduate.

Cast

 * Dirk Bogarde as Simon Sparrow
 * Muriel Pavlow as Joy Gibson
 * Kenneth More as Richard Grimsdyke
 * Donald Sinden as Tony Benskin
 * Kay Kendall as Isobel Minster
 * James Robertson Justice as Sir Lancelot Spratt
 * Donald Houston as Taffy Evans
 * Suzanne Cloutier as Stella
 * George Coulouris as Mrm William Briggs
 * Jean Taylor Smith as Sister Virtue
 * Nicholas Phipps as magistrate
 * Geoffrey Keen as Dean
 * Martin Boddey as lecturer at pedal machine
 * Joan Sims as "Rigor Mortis"
 * Gudrun Ure as May
 * Harry Locke as Jessup
 * Cyril Chamberlain as policeman
 * Ernest Clark as Mr. Parrish
 * Maureen Pryor as Mrs. Cooper
 * George Benson as lecturer on drains
 * Shirley Eaton as Milly Groaker
 * Eliot Makeham as elderly examiner
 * Joan Hickson as Mrs. Groaker
 * Brian Oulton as medical equipment salesman
 * Shirley Burniston as Barbara
 * Mark Dignam as examiner at microscope
 * Felix Felton as examiner
 * Lisa Gastoni as Jane
 * Geoffrey Sumner as forensic lecturer
 * Amy Veness as Grandma Cooper
 * Mona Washbourne as midwifery sister

Production
Producer Betty Box picked up a copy of the book at Crewe during a long rail journey and saw its possibility as a film. The film rights had been optioned to Associated British Picture Corporation (ABPC) but they decided not to make the movie, and Box bought the rights. She and Ralph Thomas had a job convincing the Rank Organisation to make the movie because of the lack of a central story. But Box said "I think I know how to do it. I take my four students through three or four years of medical training and make that the story."

She later said she was "very lucky" to get Nicholas Phipps to write the script. "There wasn't a great deal of the book in it, except for the characters", she said.

"I'd never made comedies before but I reckoned I wanted to make it both real and funny and so I wouldn't deal with comedians."

Rank executives thought that people would not be interested in a film about medicine, and that Bogarde, who up to then had played spivs and Second World War heroes, lacked sex appeal and could not play light comedy. As a result, the filmmakers got a low budget and were only allowed to use available Rank contract artists.

"They didn't really have any funny actors to work with; they were all straight actors. Dirk Bogarde... had never played a funny line in his life", said Thomas.

"Not one of them ever did anything because they wanted to make it funny", Thomas added. "They played it within a very strict, tight limit of believability. Dirk was able to do that, he got away with it and it stopped him from being just another bright, good looking leading man and made him a star."

St Swithin's Hospital is represented by the front of University College London, and is thought to be based upon Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, the medical school attached to St Bartholomew's Hospital, where Richard Gordon was a student.

Kenneth More had just made Genevieve (1953) when he signed to appear in the cast, but Genevieve had not been released yet. Accordingly, his fee was only £3,500. Robert Morley was approached to play the surgeon but his agent insisted on a fee of £15,000 so they cast James Robertson Justice instead at a fee of £1,500.

Filming started in September 1953.

Box office
The film was a success at the box office. Betty Box estimated it recouped its budget in the first six weeks of release. Thomas says it paid for itself in two weeks and claims it was the first "purely British picture without any foreign involvement to make a million pounds' profit within two years". It became the most successful film in Rank's history and had admissions of 15,500,000 – one third of the British population. The movie turned Bogarde, More, Kendall and Sinden into stars.

Thomas put its success down to the fact that "it was about something which, until that time, had been treated with about as much reverence as you would treat your confessor. People used to hold medicine in great awe ... In our film, people liked and identified with the funny situations they had seen happen or which had happened to themselves as patients, doctors or nurses."

Critical
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Doctor in the House ... works its way with determined high spirits through the repertoire of medical student jokes. The jerky, hit-or-miss narrative style (the film resolves itself in effect into a series of anecdotes), keeps the action moving at a fair pace, and, although much of the humour is obvious and repetitious, Kenneth More, as the resourceful Grimsdyke, has some very amusing moments. The other players – notably James Robertson Justice as the surgeon and Geoffrey Keen as the dean – for the most part efficiently present familiar"

British film critic Leslie Halliwell said: "The original is not bad, as the students, though plainly over age, constitute a formidable mass of British talent at its peak."

The Radio Times Guide to Films gave the film 4/5 stars, writing: "This film launched the popular St Swithin's series and made a matinée idol out of Dirk Bogarde. Following a class of students through their training, it delights in the dark side of hospital humour, with the medical misadventures providing much better entertainment than the romantic interludes. Kenneth More, Donald Sinden and Donald Houston are on top form as the duffers doing retakes, while Bogarde oozes charm and quiet comic flair. But stealing all their thunder is James Robertson-Justice as Sir Lancelot Spratt. Followed by Doctor at Sea and Doctor at Large."

Variety noted "A topdraw British comedy ... bright, diverting entertainment, intelligently scripted ... and warmly played."

TV Guide wrote "Shot with the appropriate lighthearted touch in bright, shiny color, with fine performances all around (Kenneth More is particularly good), this sometimes hilarious film started the series off on a high note."

Awards
At the 1955 BAFTA awards:
 * Kenneth More won Best British Actor.
 * The film was nominated for Best British Film and Best Film from any Source.
 * Nicholas Phipps was nominated for Best British Screenplay.

Sequels
Doctor in the House was the most popular film at the British box office in 1954. Its success resulted in six sequels, three starring Bogarde, one with Michael Craig and Leslie Phillips, and the other two with Phillips, as well as a successful television series from London Weekend Television.

title: Doctor in the House (film)


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Sylvia Llewelyn Davies

Sylvia Jocelyn Busson Llewelyn Davies (née du Maurier; 25 November 1866 – 27 August 1910) was the mother of the boys who were the inspiration for the stories of Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie. She was the daughter of cartoonist and writer George du Maurier and his wife Emma Wightwick, the elder sister to actor Gerald du Maurier, the aunt of novelists Angela and Daphne du Maurier, and a great-granddaughter of Mary Anne Clarke, royal mistress of Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany.

She met the young barrister Arthur Llewelyn Davies at a dinner party in 1889 and they became engaged shortly thereafter. She married him in 1892, and they had five children, all boys: George (1893–1915), Jack (1894–1959), Peter (1897–1960), Michael (1900–1921), and Nicholas (Nico) (1903–1980).

In 1898, Llewelyn Davies met Barrie at a dinner party, discovering he was already friends with her three sons from their regular visits to Kensington Gardens. She and Barrie became close (he called her by her middle name "Jocelyn") and the family accompanying Barrie and his wife on holidays.

Her husband died in 1907 of a sarcoma in his cheek. She welcomed Barrie's financial and emotional support, both for herself and for her boys. Following Barrie's divorce in 1909, he and Sylvia remained close, but did not marry. She became ill with an inoperable cancer in her chest, and died in 1910. Shortly before her death, she wrote that she wanted her boys' nurse Mary Hodgson to continue caring for them, and that she knew Barrie would continue providing for them, which he did. She named him, along with her mother Emma du Maurier, her brother Guy du Maurier, and Arthur's brother Crompton Llewelyn Davies as their guardians. Barrie told the boys after her death that she had been engaged to him, but Jack and Peter later expressed scepticism of this report.

Her son Peter was the publisher of her niece Daphne du Maurier's book about their grandfather, The Young George du Maurier: A Selection of His Letters, 1860–67 (1951).

She was portrayed by Ann Bell in the miniseries The Lost Boys (1978) and Kate Winslet in the film Finding Neverland (2004). Winslet was nominated for a British Academy Film Award and a Critics' Choice Movie Award for her performance. She was also portrayed by Rosalie Craig, Laura Michelle Kelly, and Christine Dwyer in the 2010s stage musical adaptation of the film.

title: Sylvia Llewelyn Davies


text:
X∞Multiplies

×∞Multiplies (増殖) is a mini-album and the third studio album by Yellow Magic Orchestra released in 1980. It contains a mixture of songs and instrumentals by YMO (including a humorous reworking of Archie Bell & the Drells' "Tighten Up"), interspersed with comedy sketches. These sketches are performed by Snakeman Show in both Japanese and English, with YMO participating in some of them.

Reception
Upon release, the US version was well received by the Stereo Review, which described the recording as "terrific" and the performance as "Techno-pop fun." The magazine stated that the "time is right" for the band's "highly technological blend of dance rhythms, heavy metal, and pop melodies" while noting that "Rydeen" in particular "sprints by at a fast clip, ticking off a sprightly tune against a continuous bass-and-drum texture," though the "more rock-style efforts" were not as well received, with the magazine stating that "YMO's electronic tricks" and "the rock sensibility just don't seem to mix." AllMusic later reviewed the Japanese version, describing the record as a "bizarre album" and scoring it 2.5 out of 5 stars.

Release history
×∞Multiplies was released in several formats worldwide. The original Japanese pressing came on 10" vinyl. The United States pressing compiled tracks from both this record and from Solid State Survivor, which had not been released there, while dropping the comedy sketches; the United Kingdom released ×∞Multiplies with additional tracks culled from Yellow Magic Orchestra. All re-issues from 2003 onward reverted to the original Japanese track list (the version with the American track list had been re-issued various times over the years until 1999, when both Japanese and American issues were remastered under Haruomi Hosono's supervision and each received a new set of liner notes—the Japanese by Fantastic Plastic Machine and the American by Derrick May).

The tracks differ slightly between the Japanese and US versions: In the original release Nice Age has an abrupt ending and other tracks crossfade between the Snakeman Show sketches; in the US version these have clean intros and endings and Jingle 'YMO' is listed as part of the Nice Age track.

American version
Some pressings included "Tighten Up" as the opening track for side one.

European version
On this pressing, the first "Snakeman Show" is actually "Jingle “Y.M.O.”", while the second "Snakeman Show" is the "Mister Ōhira" skit from the Japanese pressing. "Tighten Up" does not include the "Here We Go Again" section on vinyl, but this is featured on the cassette.

Personnel

 * Yellow Magic Orchestra – arrangements, electronics, directors, mixing engineers
 * Haruomi Hosono – bass, synth Bass, keyboards, production
 * Ryuichi Sakamoto – keyboards
 * Yukihiro Takahashi – vocals, drums, electronic drums, percussion, mannequin costume design

Snakeman Show – counterparts
 * Moichi Kuwahara – voice on "Jingle “Y.M.O.”", script supervisor
 * Katsuya Kobayashi – voice on "Tighten Up" & "Here We Go Again"
 * Masato Ibu – voice on "Tighten Up" & "The End of Asia"

Guest musicians
 * Hideki Matsutake – microcomposer programming
 * Chris Mosdell – lyrics, voice on "Citizens of Science"
 * Kenji Ōmura – electric guitar
 * Sandii – vocals on "Nice Age"
 * Mika Fukui – voice on "Nice Age"
 * The Studio Doo Wap – script supervisors

Staff
 * Shōrō Kawazoe – executive producer
 * Mitsuo Koike – recording and mixing engineer
 * Norio Yoshizawa, Atsushi Saito, Yasuhiko Terada & Michitaka Tanaka – recording engineers
 * Takahisa Kamijyo – art director
 * Kiichi Ichida (Cinq Art) – mannequin modeling
 * Masayoshi Sukita – photography

US/Europe versions alternative staff
 * Sakamoto – vocoded vocals, piano, electric piano, percussion, orchestration
 * Makoto Ayukawa – electric guitar on "Day Tripper" and "Solid State Survivor"
 * Sandii – vocals on "Absolute Ego Dance"
 * Kunihiko Murai and Kawazoe – executive producers
 * Yoshizawa – recording engineers, remix
 * Saito & Koike – recording engineers
 * Al Schmitt – mixing engineer
 * Mike Reese – mastering engineer
 * Shunsuke Miyasumi, Masako Hikasa & Akira Ikuta – recording coordinators
 * Tommy LiPuma – supervisor

Charts
×∞Multiplies was the eighth best selling album of 1980 in Japan – the best selling was Solid State Survivor as sales continued from the previous year.

title: X∞Multiplies


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Rick Wagoner

George Richard "Rick" Wagoner Jr. (born February 9, 1953) is an American businessman and former chair and chief executive officer of General Motors. Wagoner resigned as chairman and CEO at General Motors on March 29, 2009, at the request of the White House. The latter part of Wagoner's tenure as CEO of General Motors found him under heavy criticism as the market valuation of GM went down by more than 90% and the company lost more than US$82 billion. He is a board member of ChargePoint, an electric vehicle infrastructure company.

Family and education
Wagoner was born in Wilmington, Delaware and grew up in Richmond, Virginia. He graduated from John Randolph Tucker High School there, where he was named "Best All Around" student in his graduating class. He received a BA in Economics from Duke University in 1975. He then attended Harvard Business School, from which he received an MBA in 1977. He is married and has three adult sons.

While at Duke, he became a member of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity. Wagoner is a member of the boards of trustees of Duke University, Detroit Country Day School, the Board of Dean's Advisors of the Harvard Business School, and the board of directors of Catalyst. He is a member of The Business Council, The Business Roundtable, Detroit Renaissance Executive Committee, and the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board.

General Motors
After Harvard, he joined GM as an analyst in the treasurer's office. In 1981, he became treasurer of GM's Brazil subsidiary and later served as managing director.

In 1992, he was named GM's chief financial officer, in 1994 he became executive vice president and/or president of North American Operations, and in 1998 he was named president and chief operating officer.

After GM lost $30 billion during a single three-year stretch in the early 1990s, Wagoner and chairman John F. "Jack" Smith Jr. forced GM "back to basics" to battle "30 years of management mistakes" that left him with little room to maneuver.

Chief Executive Officer
Wagoner became president and chief executive officer in June 2000 and was elected chairman on May 1, 2003. Under his leadership, GM suffered more than $85 billion in losses.

In an interview, Wagoner stated that the worst decision of his tenure at GM was "axing the EV1 electric car program and not putting the right resources into hybrids. "It didn't affect profitability," Wagoner claimed, "but it did affect image".

In April 2005 Wagoner took back personal control of GM's North American car division from GM North American chairman Bob Lutz and GM North American President Gary Cowger in light of its poor performance. In early June 2005 Wagoner announced that GM in the United States would close several plants and shed 25,000 employees (17% of GM's U.S. workforce) by 2008. The cuts will result in GM production reducing output by one million cars and trucks (from 6 million to 5 million).

In the Automotive industry crisis of 2008–10, Wagoner came under renewed pressure as GM sought financial support from the U.S. government in an attempt to avoid bankruptcy. During the latter half of 2008, Wagoner and GM maintained that bankruptcy was "not an option that GM is considering," despite rapidly running out of capital. This stance was called "presumptuous" by some observers. Within 9 months, GM was to declare bankruptcy.

During hearings for government loans to the Big Three Automakers, Wagoner, Alan Mulally and Robert Nardelli were criticized for flying to Washington, D.C. in corporate jets. For a subsequent meeting, the three CEOs drove from Detroit to Washington by hybrid cars.

The BBC reported that Wagoner was popular among GM employees and reporters. However, it cites that he lacked the "ruthless streak needed to make the tough decisions required to bring GM back from the brink of bankruptcy." While analysts have praised Wagoner for operational improvements, cost-cutting moves and an increased focus on vehicle quality, with the appointment of Bob Lutz to oversee product execution, others criticized him for his incremental approach to change, largely as he resisted making the drastic cuts demanded by the US government. Throughout the first months of 2009, Wagoner argued that a bankruptcy would be more costly than a government bailout. However, there remained lingering doubts that he was implementing the restructuring moves necessary to remain viable in the future without further government loans.

On March 29, 2009, Wagoner agreed to immediately resign his position as GM chairman and CEO, as part of the Obama administration deal to provide GM with further short-term financing. The following day, the US government rejected GM's initial restructuring plan and gave the company 60 days to come with a new proposal or be forced into bankruptcy. He was replaced as CEO by Fritz Henderson, who had been serving as GM's President and chief operating officer.

After 32 years at GM, Wagoner retired with an exit package of over $10 million: $1.65 million in benefits per year for his first five years of retirement, $74,030 per year pension for the rest of his life, and a $2.6 million life insurance policy that can be cashed out at any time.

In 2017, Wagoner was appointed a director at ChargePoint Inc., a Silicon Valley company that makes electric-vehicle charging stations.

in 2018, Wagoner made an investment into YourMechanic, a Silicon Valley startup which connects owners with a group of certified mechanics, currently offering more than 800 repair services.

title: Rick Wagoner


text:
John FitzGibbon, 1st Earl of Clare

John FitzGibbon, 1st Earl of Clare PC (Ire) (1748 – 28 January 1802) was Attorney-General for Ireland from 1783 to 1789 and Lord Chancellor of Ireland from 1789 to 1802.

He remains a deeply controversial figure in Irish history, being described variously as an old fashioned anti-Catholic Whig political party hardliner and an early advocate of the Act of Union between Ireland and Great Britain (which finally happened in 1801, shortly before his death). He is said to have been an early and extremely militant opponent of Catholic Emancipation (the end of religious persecution, and the limited relaxation of both the religious discrimination and civil disabilities placed upon Catholics throughout the British Isles and the British Empire). The Earl may also have been the first person to suggest to King George III that granting Royal Assent to any form of Catholic Emancipation would violate his coronation oath.

Early life
FitzGibbon was born near Donnybrook, Dublin, the son of John FitzGibbon of Ballysheedy, County Limerick and his wife Isabella Grove, daughter of John Grove, of Ballyhimmock, County Cork. His father had been born a Catholic but converted to the state religion in order to become a lawyer, and amassed a large fortune. He had three sisters, Arabella, Elizabeth, and Eleanor.

He was educated at Trinity College Dublin and Christ Church, Oxford. He entered the Irish House of Commons in 1778 as Member for Dublin University, and held this seat until 1783, when he was appointed Attorney General. From the same year, he represented Kilmallock until 1790. He was appointed High Sheriff of County Limerick for 1782.

When appointed Lord Chancellor for Ireland in 1789, he was granted his first peerage as Baron FitzGibbon, of Lower Connello in the County of Limerick, in the Peerage of Ireland that year. This did not entitle him to a seat in the British House of Lords, only in the Irish House of Lords. His later promotions came mostly in the Peerage of Ireland, being advanced to a Viscountcy (1793) and the Earldom of Clare in 1795. He finally achieved a seat in the British House of Lords in 1799 when created Baron FitzGibbon, of Sidbury in the County of Devon, in the Peerage of Great Britain.

FitzGibbon as Lord Chancellor
John FitzGibbon, first Earl of Clare was a renowned champion of the Protestant Ascendancy and an opponent of Catholic emancipation. He despised the Parliament of Ireland's popular independent Constitution of 1782. He was also personally and politically opposed to the Irish politician Henry Grattan who urged a moderate course in the Irish Parliament, and was responsible for defeating Grattan's efforts to reform the Irish land tithe system (1787–1789) under which Irish Catholic farmers (and all non-Anglican farmers) were forced to financially support the minority Anglican Church of Ireland. These were not fully repealed until 1869, (when the Church of Ireland was finally disestablished), although Irish tithes were commuted after the Tithe War (1831–1836). FitzGibbon opposed the Irish Roman Catholic Relief Act 1793 personally, but apparently recommended its acceptance in the House of Lords, being forced out of necessity when that Act had been recommended to the Irish Executive by the British Cabinet led by William Pitt the Younger. Pitt expected Ireland to follow the British Roman Catholic Relief Act 1791 and allow Catholics to vote again and hold public offices. At the same time, FitzGibbon apparently denounced the policy this Act embodied, so it is probably safe to say that FitzGibbon's own beliefs and principles conflicted with his obligations as a member of the Irish executive of the time.

FitzGibbon's role in the recall, soon after his arrival, of the popular pro-Emancipation Lord Lieutenant, Lord Fitzwilliam is debatable. Although FitzGibbon was probably politically opposed to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Fitzwilliam was apparently recalled, because of his own independent actions. Fitzwilliam was known to be friendly to the Ponsonby family (he was married to one of their daughters), and was generally a Foxite liberal Whig. His close association with and patronage of Irish Whigs led by Grattan and Ponsonby during his short tenure, along with his alleged support of an immediate effort to secure Catholic emancipation in a manner not authorized by the British cabinet is probably what led to his recall. Thus, if any is to blame in the short-lived 'Fitzwilliam episode' it is the great Irish politician Henry Grattan and the Ponsonby brothers - presumably William Ponsonby, later Lord Imokilly and his brother John Ponsonby—not to mention Lord Fitzwilliam himself. Irish Catholics at the time and later naturally saw things very differently and blamed hardline Protestants such as FitzGibbon.

Irish Catholics and FitzGibbon agreed on one point apparently - Irish political and economic union with Great Britain (which eventually took place in 1801). Pitt had wanted Union with Ireland concomitantly with Catholic emancipation, commutation of tithes, and the endowment of the Irish Catholic priesthood. Union was opposed by most hardline Irish Protestants, as well as liberals such as Grattan. FitzGibbon had been a strong supporter of the Union since 1793 but refused to have Catholic emancipation with the Union.

"In a speech to the Irish House of Lords on 10 February 1800, Lord Fitzgibbon elucidated his point of view on union:
 * I hope and feel as becomes a true Irishman, for the dignity and independence of my country, and therefore I would elevate her to her proper station, in the rank of civilised nations. I wish to advance her from the degraded post of mercenary province, to the proud station of an integral and governing member of the greatest empire in the world."

In the end, FitzGibbon's views won out, leading to the Union of Ireland with Great Britain to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland without any concessions for Ireland's Catholic majority (or for that matter, Catholics in the rest of the new United Kingdom). FitzGibbon later claimed that he had been duped by the way in which the Act was passed (by the new Viceroy Lord Cornwallis promising reforms to Irish Catholics), and was bitterly opposed to any concessions during the short remainder of his life.

FitzGibbon as Lord Chancellor in the Irish Rebellion of 1798
FitzGibbon's role as Lord Chancellor of Ireland during the period of the 1798 rebellion is questionable. According to some, he supported a hardline policy which used torture, murder and massacre to crush the rebellion, or that as Lord Chancellor, he had considerable influence on military affairs, and that martial law could not have been imposed without his consent. Others allege that as Lord chancellor, he had no say in military affairs and the Encyclopædia Britannica states that he was "neither cruel nor immoderate and was inclined to mercy when dealing with individuals", however the same source also states that "(Fitzgibbon).. was a powerful supporter of a repressive policy toward Irish Catholics". Fitzgibbon's former side was displayed by sparing the lives of the captured United Irish leaders, 'State prisoners', in return for their confession of complicity and provision of information relating to the planning of the rebellion. However, this willingness of the prisoners to partake of the agreement was spurred by the execution of the brothers John and Henry Sheares on 14 July 1798.

In contrast to the leniency shown to the largely upper-class leadership, the full weight of military repression was inflicted upon the common people throughout the years 1797–98 with untold thousands suffering imprisonment, torture, transportation and death. Fitzgibbon was inclined to show no mercy to unrepentant rebels and in October 1798 he expressed his disgust upon the capture of Wolfe Tone that he had been granted a trial and his belief that Tone should have been hanged as soon as he set foot on land.

He was quick to recognise that sectarianism was a useful ally to divide the rebels and prevent the United Irishmen from achieving their goal of uniting Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter, writing in June 1798; "In the North nothing will keep the rebels quiet but the conviction that where treason has broken out the rebellion is merely popish".

Another anecdote is to the effect of his callousness. Supposedly, upon being informed during a debate in the Irish Parliament that innocent as well as guilty were suffering atrocities during the repression, FitzGibbon replied "Well suppose it were so..", his callous reply purportedly shocking William Pitt.

FitzGibbon as a Landlord
FitzGibbon, or Clare, was noted by some as a good, improving landlord to both his Protestant and Catholic tenants. Some claim that the tenants of his Mountshannon estate called him "Black Jack" FitzGibbon. There is however no evidence to support this claim, although there is little to no evidence on his dealings as a landlord. Irish nationalists and others point out that while he might have been interested in the welfare of his own tenants on his own estate, he treated other Irish Catholics very differently. Without further evidence, FitzGibbon's role as a Protestant landowner in mainly Catholic Ireland is of little importance against his known dealings as Lord Chancellor.

Apocryphal story about his funeral
Lord Clare died at home, 6 Ely Place near St. Stephen's Green, Dublin on 28 January 1802 and was buried in St. Peter's Churchyard. A hero to Protestant hardliners, but despised by the majority Catholic population, his funeral cortege was the cause of a riot and there is a widespread story that a number of dead cats were thrown at his coffin as it departed Ely Place.

Summary
FitzGibbon appears to have made little mark in British political history, as compared to Irish parliamentary history. His adversary Henry Grattan and the aristocratic rebel Lord Edward FitzGerald (with the other rebels of 1798) are better remembered. FitzGibbon was apparently a hardline Protestant, a landlord and a member of the Protestant Ascendancy, who naturally supported those political measures that would preserve Protestant domination of Ireland and the continued suppression of the numerically dominant Catholics in Ireland. He won his point in 1801 and its immediate aftermath, when the Irish Parliament was dissolved and Union with Great Britain was achieved - without any concessions to Catholics. In the long run, his views lost out, as subsequent British Cabinets were forced to concede full rights to Catholics in 1829 (while imposing new voting restrictions in Ireland and thus disenfranchising poorer Catholics). The Union with Great Britain, so bitterly opposed by Henry Grattan, was eventually dissolved partially more than a century later.

FitzGibbon's most significant achievement (historically speaking) was probably his convincing King George III that any concessions to Catholics, whether in Great Britain or in Ireland, would mean that the King was violating his Coronation Oath. Thus, the King and his second son became staunch opponents of pro-Emancipation measures, which had to wait until both had died. In thus convincing the King (probably between 1793 and 1801), FitzGibbon's policy of repression towards Irish Catholics achieved its finest hour; in doing so, he also defeated all that Grattan and his party had worked to obtain. Furthermore, he also brought about Pitt's downfall, because Pitt had staked his own reputation on obtaining Catholic emancipation concurrently with the Act of Union. No other British Prime Minister would make such efforts for a long time. FitzGibbon thus had a negative role not only in Irish parliamentary and political history, but also in British political history.

By negating all of Grattan's efforts 1787-1789 and those of Pitt in the late 1790s to 1801, FitzGibbon allowed conditions to develop that would benefit sectarian leaders and political philosophies from both religious communities. It is unclear if FitzGibbon's support of Grattan, or support for Pitt's proposals would have made much difference, given that many hardline Protestants probably felt the same way as FitzGibbon. Furthermore, the British Cabinet (not to mention the Royal Family, then far more influential politically) was itself divided on the issue for most of the period. But just as Catholic Emancipation was brought about by a Tory Prime Minister in 1829, or substantial voting reforms brought about by Disraeli and the Conservatives, thus winning support from a crucial minority of those originally opposed to either, the support of a prominent hardline Protestant leader for Catholic Emancipation might have made all the difference to Irish history.

Sir Jonah Barrington's estimate of Fitzgibbon:- "His political conduct has been accounted uniform, but in detail, it will be found to have been miserably inconsistent. In 1781 he took up arms to obtain a declaration of Irish independence; in 1800, he recommended the Introduction of a military force to assist in its extinguishment; he pro¬claimed Ireland a free nation in 1783, and argued that it should be a pro¬vince in 1799; in 1782 he called the acts of the British Legislature toward* Ireland “ a daring usurpation on the rights of a free people,"* and in 1800 he transferred Ireland to the usurper. On all occasions his ambition as despotically governed his politics, as his reason invariably sunk before his prejudice." 'The Rise and Fall of the Irish Nation' (1853)(p. 9)

Titles

 * Baron FitzGibbon, of Lower Connello in the County of Limerick, in the Peerage of Ireland on appointment as Lord Chancellor of Ireland in 1789,
 * Viscount FitzGibbon, of Limerick in the County of Limerick, in the Peerage of Ireland in 1793,
 * Earl of Clare in the Peerage of Ireland in 1795.
 * Baron FitzGibbon, of Sidbury in the County of Devon, in the Peerage of Great Britain, in 1799.

title: John FitzGibbon, 1st Earl of Clare


text:
Progressive jackpot

A progressive jackpot is a jackpot (a gambling grand prize or payout) which increases each time the game is played but the jackpot is not won. When the progressive jackpot is won, the jackpot for the next play is reset to a predetermined value, and resumes increasing under the same rule.

Many slot machines and video poker machines feature a progressive jackpot. The jackpot increases by a small predetermined amount each time the game is played. Often multiple machines are pooled or linked together to form a larger progressive jackpot which grows more quickly because more non-winning plays can be counted toward it.

Many lotteries feature progressive jackpots. After each drawing in which the jackpot is not won, a large amount of money is "carried forward" to the jackpot for next drawing. Various television game shows have also featured progressive jackpots.

History
Progressive jackpots were first introduced in large casinos in 1986. The first progressive slot machine was Megabucks, developed by International Game Technology (IGT). Every time a player participated in the jackpot but did not hit it, a part of the winnings was accumulated to the main jackpot, growing without limit. On February 1, 1987, a player won the first progressive jackpot, which amounted to the sum of $4,988,842.17.

Progressive jackpot meter
The amount of the jackpot increases by a small amount for every play on any connected machine. The amount by which the jackpot advances is set by the casino ("the house"). A machine offering a progressive jackpot usually displays the amount of the jackpot, rather boldly, to attract players. After a player wins the jackpot, the jackpot resets to a preset minimum level.

For example, on a machine whose house edge is 5%, a generous jackpot contribution might be 1% (one fifth of the expected profit). The house is prepared to contribute some of the profit of a jackpot linked machine because players are attracted by the:
 * relative novelty of progressive jackpots (generally, only a small fraction of the house's gaming machines will be connected to a progressive jackpot)
 * constantly changing meter, often displayed on large LCD or LED displays
 * large amount of the jackpot, which eventually motivates more players to play the game.

Qualifying
Usually the progressive jackpot is only offered to players who wager the maximum number of credits per play. All wagers, whether or not they are maximum-credit bets, contribute to the jackpot. As a result, a game which requires a 10-credit wager to qualify for the progressive jackpot tends to have its progressive jackpot rise to higher levels (relative to its break-even level) than a game that requires only a 5-credit wager to qualify.

Usually the jackpot can only be won by winning the combination with the highest payoff, e.g. a royal flush at a video poker game, or five of the most valuable symbols (lemons, cherries, alligators, etc.) on a slot machine.

Often, the displayed amount of such jackpots includes a base payout which is often simply the regular payout for the winning combination multiplied by the minimum qualifying bet. If the jackpot is "reset" to this amount each time it is won then in essence the house is not providing any "seed money" for the jackpot since the minimum that can be won in such a case would simply be the amount the player would normally be awarded for the jackpot-winning combination.

"Mystery" or "must-hit-by" jackpots
A variation of the standard progressive jackpot is the "must-hit-by" jackpot, which has substantial differences compared to traditional jackpots.

The value of every "must-hit-by" jackpot is determined immediately after the preceding jackpot is won by a random number generator and stored within an encrypted computer connected to a gaming machine (or, more commonly, a network of machines) and is publicly disclosed to be within a certain range (for example, a small jackpot might be programmed to pay out at between $1,000 and $3,000). The jackpot pays on the wager that causes the jackpot to reach or exceed the threshold, with the maximum value within this range being the "must-hit-by" amount.

Often such jackpots encompass a variety of games, with each game contributing a small percentage of wagers to the jackpot. Thus, these jackpots are often billed as "mystery jackpots" since the conditions that cause them to be paid do not depend on achieving any specific result in the main game. Furthermore, it is not usually necessary to bet the maximum amount possible (or, often, to even bet any minimal amount above the minimum wager allowed by the software) in order to win a "mystery jackpot" - although since it is a percentage of each wager that goes into the jackpot the odds of winning on a particular spin are usually in proportion to the amount of the bet. Or, to put it another way, one spin for twenty dollars would have the same odds of winning the mystery jackpot as twenty spins for one dollar each would, and also the same odds of winning the jackpot as would four hundred spins for five cents each.

Often, such games have several "mystery jackpots" that usually differ by at least an order of magnitude both in terms of magnitude and frequency of payout, which can ensure that jackpots are seen to be won frequently (often, many times per day in the case of relatively small jackpots). One variation of this scheme (most often used by gaming corporations serving brick-and-mortar establishments over a large geographic footprint) is to have one main jackpot, several intermediate jackpots paid at the regional level, smaller jackpots paid at the site level and/or the smallest jackpots tied to each individual machine.

From the house perspective, a key financial consideration of such jackpots is that the portion of players' wagers directed to the jackpot are, in essence, only funding the portion of the jackpot within its specified "range." The gaming operator needs to fund each jackpot's minimum amount from the house edge of the main game, which is usually at least a third of the "must-hit-by" amount especially in games with multiple jackpots as this creates an assurance that each jackpot will always be several times the value of the jackpot "below" it. If the random number generator gives each value within the jackpot "range" an equal chance of being the "winning" value then under these conditions "seed money" from the house would likely account for over half of the jackpot's total funding, for which the house would presumably need to compensate by increasing the house edge of the main game.

To counteract this issue and increase the average amount wagered before each jackpot is won, the mathematical formula used to calculate each jackpot is often skewed in such a way that makes it likely the actual average and median jackpots will be well above the average of the published minimum and maximum values. A simple example formula that would achieve this (expanding on the aforementioned example) would be simply to calculate the jackpot as being $1,000 plus the square root of a random number between zero and four million, which would result in a 75% probability of each jackpot being between $2,000 and $ 50,000 and a 25% probability of a jackpot being between $1,000 and $2,000.

Break-even point
In some games such as video poker, blackjack, or Caribbean Stud Poker, it is possible to compute an optimal playing strategy based on the average payoff (the amount of payoff times the chance of payoff). Because the jackpot of a progressive game constantly grows, it sometimes exceeds the break-even point for players, such that the jackpot wager becomes a "positive expectation bet" for the player, with an average return to player (RTP) of greater than 100%. When the progressive jackpot is less than the break-even point, there is a negative expected value (house edge) for all players.

In the long run, with optimal strategy, a player can profit by only playing progressive games when their jackpots are above the break-even point, although the "long run" can be quite long, tens of thousands of plays.

The break-even point cannot be easily calculated on a slot machine game, because the payback percentage for the game is normally unknown to the player. The break-even point in poker-based games can be calculated because the payback percentage for the game is a function of the paybacks and odds of the poker hands, which is based on a standard 52-card deck. The return of a slot machine is based on the published paytable, but also on the normally unpublished reels. For a five-reel slot machine, the player would need to know each symbol on each of the slot machine's five reels in order to calculate the odds. For a three-reel slot, the reels are normally weighted, and this would not be possible. However, in some circumstances the manufacturer may publish the payout of their machines.

Many online casinos allow the same game to be played in multiple currencies, in which case the break-even point and average return to player can change depending on the player's currency choice. This is because the jackpot amount may be converted between currencies so that the same amount is paid out to the winner no matter their currency choice, but the wager required to qualify for the jackpot is not. For example, consider a game that pays a $1000 / €900 / £700 jackpot, but requires a fixed $1 / €1 / £1 wager to qualify for the jackpot. In such cases, it is beneficial for the player to play in dollars, as the qualifying wager is a smaller proportion of the jackpot. Thus the break-even point will always be lower and the return to player will always be higher while betting dollars.

Advantage play
Those who only play when the progressive jackpot provides them with a positive expectation situation, still generate revenue for the casino. Even though the player has an advantage over the house, the casino still profits from each play, because the bulk of the progressive jackpot has been pre-paid by the prior non-winning players.

Advantage gamblers sometimes organize teams of players to play machines where the progressive jackpots generate a positive expectation situation. Such teams often displace ordinary players, making the machines unavailable just when they are the most attractive to gamblers generally. Team members often have cell phones and work in shifts, calling a teammate to replace them when they're ready for a break. Some casinos have a policy of "no team play", and will eject players suspected of playing on such teams. Such tactics do not work at online casinos because there are effectively an unlimited number of duplicate machines for players to play at, so the game cannot be monopolised by one player or small group.

Player's clubs
Most casinos offer slot clubs, which pay back a percentage of a gambler's wagers on their games in the form of cash rebates or other perks with a monetary value. Participating in a slot club can reduce the break-even point of a progressive jackpot game because of the value of the rebate on each wager.

Other jackpot games
Progressive jackpots are not limited to slot machines and video poker. Poker games sometimes include a progressive bad beat jackpot. Caribbean stud poker is another casino game which often has a progressive jackpot available, and some online casinos offer progressive versions of blackjack, roulette, and other casino games. Many lotteries feature progressive jackpots.

Progressive blackjack
A progressive blackjack game usually does not differ from conventional blackjack, apart from the addition of an optional side bet which gives the player a chance to win a progressive jackpot. The side bet wins if the player is dealt one of several specific card combinations such as four suited aces. The awards can range from several dollars up to 100% of the jackpot depending on the different card combinations, and the winning hand paytable can differ between casinos.

title: Progressive jackpot


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Expo Express

The Expo Express was a rapid transit system consisting of five stations and a 5.7 km route, running from Cité du Havre to La Ronde in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Built for the 1967 World's Fair (Expo 67) at a cost of around CAD$18 million, the trains carried 1,000 passengers each and ran approximately every five minutes.

In 1968, the cars were sold to the City of Montreal for $1.8 million and operated by the Montreal Transit Commission (now the STM). The train remained in limited service for Man and His World for six additional years, however, on a shortened route from 1969-onwards when tracks were cut back to Saint Helen's Island. Service ended in 1973.

Vehicles
Not to be confused with the Minirail monorail which ran within the perimeters of the Expo Site, the Expo Express used standard railway technology, with two running rails and a third electrified rail identical to those of the Toronto subway. In fact, the trains used were a modified version of the Hawker Siddeley H series used by the Toronto Transit Commission with one fewer door on each side, 3 instead of 4 and streamlined ends. Consequently, unlike the Montreal Metro with rubber tires, the Expo Express used traditional steel-wheeled trains. The Expo Express also featured fully air-conditioned passenger cars, also unlike Montreal's underground Metro (a deficiency that still exists to present day).

The fleet of rolling stock consisted of 48 cars in total, with the name of a sponsoring Canadian city or local municipality inscribed in large lettering on both sides of each car (e.g. "Richmond, B.C.", "Town of Mount Royal", "Point Claire, Quebec", "Cornwall, Ontario"). The 16 streamlined end cars all had motor-generator (MG) sets but no air compressors; 8 of them also had ATO equipment. Of the 32 intermediate cars, 24 had compressors and 8 had MG sets. Typical consists were: one end car with ATO equipment; 3 intermediate cars with compressors; one intermediate car with MG; and one end car without ATO equipment.

Background
The Expo Express was the first fully-automated rapid transit system in North America, utilizing an Automatic Train Operation (ATO) system based on audio frequency track circuits furnished by the Union Switch & Signal division of Westinghouse Air Brake Company. This fact, however, was not widely publicized during the fair, as it was felt the public would not readily board a train controlled entirely by a computer. Operators from Montreal's transit union were placed in cabs at the front and given mundane tasks such as opening and closing the doors of the train to reduce boredom.

This resulted in a minor incident during the fair, at La Ronde station. The conductor had pressed the button to close the doors and proceed, but his train had already sensed an oncoming express from Notre Dame Island and automatically delayed the go command to let it roll in. In the meantime, the driver realized he had forgotten his lunch. However, he could not exit through the passenger doors because his train was in a "wait" state and would not allow the doors to open. Instead, he crawled through the small cab window. By the time he had fetched his lunch, however, the oncoming train had pulled in and his train had taken off on its own. It crossed the bridge over the Le Moyne Channel, proceeded along the seaway, and came to a smooth stop at Notre Dame Island station where an Expo official was waiting. This person crawled back through the cab window and pressed the button to open the doors and let the passengers disembark.

Route
The route had 5 stations: Place d'accueil, Habitat '67, Place des Nations, Ile Notre-Dame and La Ronde.

The line started at the southern end of Cite du Havre, with the Place d'accueil station adjacent to the Bonadventure Expressway. It headed north, where a half-mile down was the Habitat '67 station (eliminated early on, due to low use) after which it turned east and crossed over the Saint Lawrence river by means of the Concordia Bridge. The next stop was on Saint Helen's island, with the Place des Nations station situated on the Concordia bridge, between Places Des Nation and Swan Lake. It was followed by a crossing over the Moyne Channel to Notre-Dame Island, with the Ile Notre-Dame station further up on the Pont des Iles bridge, next to the Man the Producer pavilion. From there, the line turned north and traveled alongside the Saint Lawrence seaway until crossing the Moyne Channel again, via a westwards train bridge to La Ronde station–the terminus at the fairground entrance.

The line was double-track throughout, except for a single-track section at Cité du Havre, where people exited on one side of the train and boarded on the other. Shortly after Expo opened, due to unexpected visitor congestion, the Cité du Havre line was changed to double-track to accelerate passenger movement. All the Maintenance facilities were located northwest of La Ronde station: past that point service tracks extended to the Expo Express' maintenance yard and its rolling stock storage tracks.

In 1969, the Cite du Havre line was permanently closed and the starting point was cut back to Place des Nations on Saint Helen's Island (initially single-tracked). That same year the Habitat '67 station (closed in early 1967) was physically relocated to Notre Dame Island, near the Man and Agriculture pavilion, and renamed Notre-Dame East station. The Habitat '67 station (outbound only), and its eventual replacement, the Notre-Dame East station (inbound only), only allowed for bordering trains in one direction.

In 1972, all stations on Notre Dame Island closed, making the route direct from Place des Nations to La Ronde station with no stops in between.

History
The Expo Express ran from April 1967 to October 1973. After Expo, when service continued during the early days of Man and his World, the Express only ran for two months during the summer each year.

In 1968, the New York City Transit Authority looked into the feasibility of modifying the cars for use on the Staten Island Railway, but this plan never came to fruition. That same year, the Societe des Transports Rapides Incorporated made a bid to modify the cars for a monorail system running from Laval to Montreal, but that plan also fell through. In the end, the Montreal Transit Commission (now the STM) purchased the cars for $1.8 million and took over operation of the train–simply renamed The Express, and kept its rolling stock, route and stations unmodified throughout 1968.

In 1969, service at Cite du Harve was ceased, and the line south-west of St. Helen's Island was demolished along with its two stations. That same year St.Helen's Island became the new starting point for the train and the Notre-Dame East station opened.

In 1972, both stations on Notre-Dame Island closed (Notre Dame Island was inaccessible to the public that year onward), making it a non-stop ride to La Ronde.

In 1973, the Express saw its final year of operations. At season's end, the trains were moved and put in storage on Pont des Iles bridge, between Saint Helen's and Notre Dame Islands.

In 1974, the line north of Notre-Dame Island was demolished for the construction of the Olympic basin, leaving the trains stranded on the bridge with the line now cut in both directions.

In 1979, the trains were sold to a Montreal business man for $380,000 and that summer the trains were moved again, to the Port of Montreal via a temporary track, and stored at the nearby CN Point St-Charles Shops.

In 1984, unable to resale the trains, and concerns about returns on the investment, they were sold to Pemik Enterprises and the cars were moved from Point St-Charles to an outdoor field storage facility in Les Cèdres.

In 1988, after four years of failed plans, including a reported sale to the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, Pemik proposed the Government of Quebec renovate the cars and use them for a new commuter train route between St Hilaire and Montreal, with Bombardier interested in renovating the cars, but this too failed.

In 1995, after several unrealized schemes and the deteriorated state of the rolling stock, the cars were finally scrapped.

Virtually nothing remains of the Expo Express today. The only evidence is at La Ronde, where a train bridge deteriorates in the river and remnants of the La Ronde station have been converted into the main park entrance. The area where Place d'Accueil stood is now a parking lot, and part of the track route is a paved bicycle path.

title: Expo Express


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EuroAir

EuroAir was an airline based in Athens, Greece, which operated business charter flights using its own and wet leased aircraft. Its main base was Athens International Airport. It ceased operations when its air operator's certificate (AOC) was suspended on 16 March 2009.

History
EuroAir began in 1995, providing air taxi, charter flights, helicopter flights and air ambulance services until its AOC suspension on 16 March 2009.

Destinations
In 2007, EuroAir operated an MD-83 on behalf of On Air (Pescara), a twice-weekly service from Pescara to Brussels Charleroi, Bucharest, Heraklion, Paris CDG and Split.

Fleet
EuroAir owned two McDonnell Douglas MD-83s, a Let L-410 Turbolet and an Embraer EMB-110.

title: EuroAir


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Vigilante 8: 2nd Offense

Vigilante 8: 2nd Offense is a vehicular combat game developed by Luxoflux and published by Activision for PlayStation, Dreamcast and Nintendo 64. It is the sequel to Vigilante 8.

Gameplay
As in Vigilante 8, players control a vehicle and eliminate all other vehicles in the arena with the use of weapons and upgrades. The player can choose to play through a story mode, Quest Mode, or play with an assorted number of bots in Arcade mode. The game also offers a new two-player cooperative mode and a Grand Melee Deathmatch mode, wherein the player endures attacks by multiple AI opponents. Second Offense introduced the "Salvage Points" system, which allows the player to upgrade their vehicle by collecting Salvage Points from destroyed opponents, improving the vehicle's offense, defense, speed, and targeting abilities. The vehicle's external appearance is altered with more Salvage Points and turns into a completely different design when it is fully upgraded. Special icons scattered over the game zone allows the player to improve mobility over certain environments, such as hover pods, skis, and outboard motors. The original game's five standard weapons – mines, rockets, autocannons, homing missiles, and mortars – are now supplanted by flamethrowers, with each weapon now capable of performing three special attacks using movements on the control pad. The Totaling and Whammy combat modes from the first game are also retained, as is the concept of stages with interactive features.

Completing secondary objectives in Quest Mode would also help unlock secret characters. Aside from being able to play music CDs, the player can also access the Vigilante 8 levels for multiplayer matches by inserting the game disc.

Plot
The game is set in September 1977, two years after the events of Vigilante 8. The southwestern United States has become peaceful in the wake of the Coyotes' defeat, but the Oil Monopoly Alliance Regime (OMAR) continues to dominate most of the world's petroleum market, well into the 21st century. With new Coyotes leader Slick Clyde leading OMAR during the twilight of his life by 2017, Clyde thinks that a failure to conquer America (which has adopted nuclear and sustainable energy) would be his biggest mistake. He plans to change history by stealing prototype time machines from Stanford University's quantum physics lab, travel back to the 1970s, and eliminate the Vigilantes to ensure OMAR's supremacy.

Characters
Many of the characters who previously appeared in Vigilante 8 return in the game, and are joined by a cast of new characters. However, not all playable characters have their own Quest Mode campaigns.

The game's protagonists are the Vigilantes, which had been all but disbanded following the events of the first game. Their leader, Convoy, has married ex-Coyote Houston and now runs a trucking business, but is apparently killed in an ambush on September 17, 1977, presumably by the Coyotes. Also returning from the first game as members of the Vigilantes are gambler-turned-bounty hunter John Torque and Convoy's niece Sheila. The Vigilantes are joined by the Flying All-Star Trio (Team FAST), black stunt performers in search of their missing sister, and Dave's Cultsmen, a trio of hippie followers idolizing Vigilante 8 character Dave.

The game's main antagonist is ex-Vigilante Slick Clyde, who has become the Coyotes' new leader after finding Houston's old mind-control armband. His underlings are Japanese orphan Obake, whose real name is Keiko Uzumi, and cyborg Dallas 13, who is in fact Uzumi's close friend Darius, who disappeared after a mistake during the Stanford University heist. Sid Burn's former lover, arms smuggler Nina Loco, is a new addition to the Coyotes, having safeguarded most of the advanced weapons they stole in the first game. Boogie and Molo are the only returning Coyotes from the first game; Nina breaks Boogie out of jail, while Clyde frees Molo, who is being transported to a correctional center by a prison bus, giving him the bus as his personal vehicle.

The game also introduces a third faction: the Drifters, individuals who somehow get caught in the Vigilante-Coyote war, but are not affiliated with either faction. They include Chrono Police (ChronoPol) agent R. Chase, who is investigating Clyde and OMAR's activities; former FBI agent Chassey Blue, whose Hollywood career is in shambles following a scandal the Bureau engineered to put her back on the job; former NASA astronaut Bob O; Native American shaman Dusty Earth; doomsday preacher Padre Destino; and The Garbage Man.

Ending
As with the previous game, all playable characters with a Quest Mode campaign have their own endings, and each of these endings is connected to tell the whole story.

Dallas 13 captures Houston, who fights back and kills him. Using Dallas 13's time-machine, Houston goes back to stop Convoy from driving off a cliff as the Coyotes attack. Convoy activates special cannons in his truck and goes into battle. The Team FAST siblings reunite with their sister Houston, whom they have never seen since 1973, when she was abducted from a gymnastics class (presumably by OMAR agents).

Later, Agent R. Chase corners a defiant Slick Clyde. The Coyote leader fights back and is on the verge of killing him until Obake incapacitates Clyde and leaves with him through the time warp. Now back in 2017, Slick wakes up in his car with Obake on the wheel. Having discovered the truth about Dallas 13's real identity and how Clyde killed her parents, she maneuvers the bomb-laden car on a collision course with OMAR headquarters, where Slick dies in the explosion. OMAR's collapse prompts Uzumi to step up and unveil her father's clean energy technology to the world. Sulking over his failure to arrest Clyde, Chase smashes his ChronoPol badge and finally meets his childhood crush, Chassey Blue (who also threw away her FBI ID). Since his ChronoPol badge is destroyed, Chase is declared AWOL, and he drives off with Chassey as other ChronoPol agents go after them.

Sheila enters the FBI Academy with Chassey's blessing and graduates. Her first assignment is to take down Molo, who thought Chassey was chasing him.

Under the guise of a road accident victim, the Garbage Man runs off with Bob O's lunar rover. The Garbage Man is revealed to be Vigilante 8 secret character Y The Alien, who then cannibalizes the rover to get parts for his spaceship. Bob O, revealed to be a NASA lab chimp, joins Y and jumps into the spaceship as it is about to launch.

Padre Destino is vaporized when a portal appears in the course of his prayers and shoots a blast of flame at him.

With the second defeat of the Coyotes, Nina decides to give the remaining Site 4 heavy weapons to a Mexican gang and rendezvous with them for the payoff. However, the shipment is actually a bomb that destroys the gang's limousine. Expecting to get away, Nina stops when she encounters John Torque, who has blocked the road and is about to capture her. After stashing Nina in the trunk of his car, Torque goes to the nearest jail to collect his bounty. He later changes his mind and heads to an island paradise for a vacation, with Convoy and Houston joining them.

Development
Vigilante 8: 2nd Offense was announced in 1998, initially with the title Vigilante 12, referring to the game's additional four characters compared to eight characters in its predecessor. A school bus was featured in the game during development, but Activision expected to replace it with a prison bus because of "sensitivity to violence". The Nintendo 64 version had production issues in its development, moving the release date to January, then February 2000.

Printed media
Brady Games released an official strategy guide on December 6, 1999. Written by Bart Farkas, the guide features all character information, walkthroughs, and cheat codes for all three releases of the game.

In addition, Chaos! Comics joined forces with Activision to release a Second Offense comic book. The comic further details plot elements that were barely tackled in the game, such as the aftermath of the Stanford University heist and Nina's rescue of Boogie. Although there was a preview issue, the series did not advance after issue #1.

Reception
The PlayStation and Dreamcast versions received "favorable" reviews, while the Nintendo 64 version received "average" reviews, according to the review aggregation website GameRankings. IGN said that the PlayStation version has improved in terms of car and environment variety, the physics engine, and gameplay, but the missions seem trite, adding that the game also bested Twisted Metal 4. Joe Fielder of GameSpot lauded the same console version's upgrade system and the variety of songs in the game soundtrack, but was not as approving of the "aggravated" physics model and the graphics, which are just the same as the first game. GameSpot and Game Informer gave the Nintendo 64 version positive reviews while it was still in development. However, Greg Orlando of NextGen summed up the review of the Dreamcast version in just three words: "We take offense." In Japan, where the PlayStation version was localized and published by Syscom under the name Vigilante 8: 2nd Battle (ヴィジランテ8 〜セカンドバトル〜) on February 24, 2000, followed by the Dreamcast version on March 23, Famitsu gave it a score of 29 out of 40 for the former, and 25 out of 40 for the latter.

Four-Eyed Dragon of GamePro said, "As the first of its kind in the vehicle combat genre on the Dreamcast, Vigilante 8: 2nd Offense tears up the road with extreme and fun automobile mayhem. Don't miss this game—it's the car battle of champions." In one review, Dan Elektro said of the Nintendo 64 version, "When it comes to fast driving and faster shooting, Vigilante 8: 2nd Offense succeeds like no other N64 game. It's well worth the ride." In another review, The Freshman said of the same console version, "The first V8 was revolutionary, and the DC version of Second Offense looks very nice, but this particular incarnation could use a little work. If you must have every car-combat game out there, get this one, but most gamers will find other games that better satisfy their urge to destroy." In one review, Dan Elektro said of the PlayStation version, "With a mix of old and new characters, wild new levels, and the advantage of hindsight, Vigilante 8: 2nd Offense pours on the power. This year, it's enough to take the car combat crown." In another review, iBot said of the same console version, "In the battle of vehicular combat games, Vigilante 8: Second Offense puts up some stiff competition to Twisted Metal 4, and V8's superior controls and futuristic extras will keep you coming for seconds."

Despite positive reviews, Vigilante 8: 2nd Offense failed to sell well against its competitor, Twisted Metal 4. In October 2000, Activision declined to comment on a report that it had no plans to continue the series on the PlayStation 2 or any other new consoles.

title: Vigilante 8: 2nd Offense


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Talk:Credit note

Merge
Is anyone going to go ahead with this merger??

If I receive no reply in 7 days I will do it.Misterx2000 (talk) 09:19, 12 November 2009 (UTC)

title: Talk:Credit note


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Gerard de Jode

Gerard de Jode (also known as Petrus de Jode; c. 1511 – 5 February 1591) was a Netherlandish cartographer, engraver, and publisher who lived and worked in Antwerp.

In 1547, De Jode was admitted to the Guild of St. Luke, and began his work as a publisher. He frequently printed the works of other cartographers, including Giacomo Gastaldi's world map in 1555, Jacob van Deventer's map of the Duchy of Brabant in 1558, and Ortelius' eight-sheet world map in 1564.

Background
His most outstanding work is a two volume atlas Speculum Orbis Terrarum published in 1578. It was aimed at competing with another atlas, Theatrum Orbis Terrarum by Ortelius, published eight years earlier in 1570. The competing atlas had become so popular by the time he finally published his own atlas however, that his version never sold well, despite his outstanding reputation. Only about a dozen examples have survived.

De Jode made plans for another enlarged edition, which was uncompleted at his death in 1591. His son Cornelis de Jode took over and published the Speculum Orbis Terrae in 1593. This never sold well either. Scholars consider many of De Jode's maps to be superior to those of Ortelius, both in detail and style.

In constructing his world map, Hemispherium Ab Æquinoctiali Linea, Ad Circulum Poli Antarctici, published in 1593, De Jode was strongly influenced by Guillaume Postel's 1581 polar planisphère, Polo aptata Nova Charta Universi. De Jode was probably the maker of a globe made in Antwerp that also owes much to the cosmographic ideas of Guillaume Postel.

Speculum Orbis Terrarum was once the object of an attempted theft from the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, by rare map thief Forbes Smiley. Smiley was caught and arrested after a library staff member found his X-Acto knife on the floor.

title: Gerard de Jode