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ZTE

ZTE Corporation is a Chinese partially state-owned technology company that specializes in telecommunication. Founded in 1985, ZTE is listed on both the Hong Kong and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges.

ZTE's core business is wireless, exchange, optical transmission, data telecommunications gear, telecommunications software, and mobile phones. ZTE primarily sells products under its own name, but it is also an OEM.

The company has faced criticism in the United States, India, and Sweden over ties to the Chinese government that could enable mass surveillance. In 2017, ZTE was fined for illegally exporting U.S. technology to Iran and North Korea in violations of economic sanctions. In April 2018, after the company failed to properly reprimand the employees involved, the U.S. Department of Commerce banned U.S. companies (semiconductors) from exporting to ZTE for seven years. The ban was lifted in July 2018 after ZTE replaced its senior management, and agreed to pay additional fines and establish an internal compliance team for 10 years. In June 2020, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) designated ZTE a national security threat. In 2023, the European Commission banned ZTE from providing telecommunication services.

History
ZTE, initially founded as Zhongxing Semiconductor Co., Ltd in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, in 1985, was incorporated by a group of investors associated with China's Ministry of Aerospace Industry. In March 1993, Zhongxing Semiconductor changed its name to Zhongxing New Telecommunications Equipment Co., Ltd with capital of RMB 3 million, and created a new business model as a "state-owned and private-operating" economic entity. ZTE made an initial public offering (IPO) on the Shenzhen stock exchange in 1997 and another on the Hong Kong stock exchange in December 2004.

While the company initially profited from domestic sales, it vowed to use proceeds of its 2004 Hong Kong IPO to further expand R&D, overseas sales to developed nations, and overseas production. Making headway in the international telecom market in 2006, it took 40% of new global orders for CDMA networks topping the world CDMA equipment market by number of shipments. That same year also saw ZTE find a customer in the Canadian Telus and membership in the Wi-Fi Alliance.

By 2009, the company had become the third-largest vendor of GSM telecom equipment worldwide, and about 20% of all GSM gear sold throughout the world that year was ZTE branded. As of 2011, it holds around 7% of the LTE patents.

U.S. sanctions and import ban
In March 2017, ZTE pleaded guilty to illegally exporting U.S. technology to Iran and North Korea in violation of trade sanctions, and was fined a total of US$1.19 billion by the U.S. Department of Commerce. It was the largest-ever U.S. fine for export control violations.

ZTE was allowed to continue working with U.S. companies, provided that it properly reprimand all employees involved in the violations. However, the Department of Commerce found that ZTE had violated these terms and made false statements regarding its compliance, having fired only 4 senior officials and still providing bonuses to 35 other employees involved in the violations. On 16 April 2018, the Department of Commerce banned U.S. companies from providing exports to ZTE for seven years. At least 25% of components on recent ZTE smartphones originated from the U.S., including Qualcomm processors and certified Android software with Google Mobile Services. An analyst stated that it would take a significant amount of effort for ZTE to redesign its products as to not use U.S.-originated components.

On 9 May 2018, ZTE announced that, although it was "actively communicating with the relevant U.S. government departments" to reverse the export ban, it had suspended its "major operating activities" (including manufacturing) and trading of its shares. On 13 May 2018, U.S. president Donald Trump stated that he would be working with Chinese president Xi Jinping to reverse the ban. It was argued that the export ban was being used as leverage by the United States as part of an ongoing trade dispute with China. On 7 June 2018, ZTE agreed to a settlement with the Department of Commerce in order to lift the import ban. The company agreed to pay a US$1 billion fine, place an additional US$400 million of suspended penalty money in escrow, replace its entire senior management, and establish a compliance department selected by the department.

Later that month, the U.S. Senate passed a version of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 that blocked the settlement, and banned the federal government from purchasing equipment from Huawei and ZTE (citing them as national security risks due to risks of Chinese government surveillance). The settlement was criticized by Senators as being "personal favors" between Trump and the Chinese government, as the Chinese government issued a loan for an Indonesian theme park project with a Trump golf course following the May 2018 announcement. However, the House version of the bill, signed by Trump, did not include the provision blocking the settlement, but still included the ban on federal purchase of Huawei and ZTE products.

On 13 July 2018, the denial order was officially lifted.

In January 2019, it became public that ZTE has retained the services of former senator Joe Lieberman as a lobbyist.

In June 2020, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) designated ZTE as a threat to U.S. communications networks. In July 2020, the U.S. government banned companies that use ZTE from receiving federal contracts. The FCC denied the company's appeal of the decision in November 2020.

In September 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a criminal complaint against ZTE accusing it of using two shell companies named Ryer International Trading and Rensy International Trading to violate sanctions against North Korea. In December 2020, the U.S. Congress included $1.9 billion to help telecom carriers in rural areas of the U.S. to remove ZTE equipment and networks they had previously purchased.

In January 2021, Gina Raimondo, President Joe Biden's nominee for United States Secretary of Commerce, said in her confirmation hearings that she would protect U.S. networks from interference by Chinese companies including ZTE. In June 2021, the FCC voted unanimously to prohibit approvals of ZTE gear in U.S. telecommunication networks on national security grounds.

In March 2022, ZTE was accused of violating its probation from its guilty plea for sanctions violations. In November 2022, the FCC banned sales or import of equipment made by ZTE for national security reasons.

Bribery investigation
In 2020, it was disclosed that the United States Department of Justice opened an investigation into ZTE for potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

Ownership
, Zhongxing Xin (aka ZTE Holdings), an intermediate holding company, owned 27.40% stake of ZTE. The shareholders of ZTE Holdings were Xi'an Microelectronics (a subsidiary of the state-owned China Academy of Aerospace Electronics Technology) with 34%, Aerospace Guangyu (a subsidiary of the state-owned China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation Shenzhen Group) with 14.5%, Zhongxing WXT (aka Zhongxing Weixiantong) with 49%, and a private equity fund Guoxing Ruike with 2.5%. The first two shareholders are state-owned enterprises, nominating 5 out 9 directors of ZTE Holdings, while Zhongxing WXT was owned by the founders of ZTE, including Hou Weigui, which Zhongxing WXT nominated the rest of the directors (4 out 9) of ZTE Holdings.

The mixed ownership model of ZTE was described as "a firm is an SOE from the standpoint of ownership, but a POE [privately owned enterprises] from the standpoint of management" by an article in The Georgetown Law Journal. ZTE described itself as "state-owned and private-run". The South China Morning Post and the Financial Times have both described ZTE as state-owned. Other scholars have noted the links between ZTE's state-owned shareholders and the People's Liberation Army.

Subsidiaries

ZTE has several international subsidiaries in countries including Indonesia, Australia, Germany, the United States,  India, Brazil,  Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Singapore, and Romania.

ZTEsoft engages in ICT industry and specializes in providing BSS/OSS, big data products and services to telecom operators, and ICT, smart city and industry products and services to enterprises and governments.

Nubia Technology was a fully owned subsidiary of ZTE Corporation. The company has subsequently disposed of the majority of its equity in the company. In 2017 it reduced its stake to 49.9%.

Zonergy is a renewables company with interests in electricity generation through solar parks in China and Pakistan and palm oil cultivation in Indonesia to produce biofuels. ZTE is a major shareholder and was instrumental in the creation of the company in 2007 but holds a minority of the shares in the entity.

ZTE agreed to take over a 48% stake in Turkish company Netaş Telekomünikasyon A.Ş. for $101.3 million from the American private equity firm One Equity Partners in December 2016. Following the acquisition in August 2017, ZTE has become its largest shareholder while Netaş remains an independent company.

Products
ZTE operates in three business segments: carrier networks, government and corporate business, and consumer business. In October 2010, ZTE's unified encryption module received U.S./Canada FIPS140-2 security certification.

ZTE was also reported to have developed identification cards for Venezuela that were allegedly used for tracking and social control.

Customers

During the 2000s, the majority of ZTE's customers were mobile network operators that came from the developing world, but ZTE products also saw use in developed countries as well. Among ZTE's clients from the first world included Britain's Vodafone, Canada's Telus and Fido, Australia's Telstra, as well as France Telecom have all purchased equipment from ZTE.

Many Chinese telecommunications operators are also clients of ZTE, including China Netcom, China Mobile, China Satcom, China Telecom,
 * ZTE bags China Telecom's largest metropolitan NGN project  ZTE, 30 August 2006
 * ZTE Inks 1.33 billion RMB CDMA Contract with China Telecom  ZTE, 20 November 2008
 * ZTE Exclusively Awarded IPTV Project by China Telecom, Jiangsu Branch  ZTE, 2006-08-30
 * ZTE to install first polyphonic ringtone gateway for China Telecom  ZTE, 2006-08-30
 * ZTE Strengthens Competitive Position with Third China Telecom IPTV Project  ZTE, 2006-08-30
 * ZTE Helps China Telecom Achieve the Recognition as First in the World to Offer EPONbased 3G Services  ZTE, 2009-04-07
 * ZTE Collaborates with China Telecom to Build IMS Network Solution  ZTE, 30 November 2009 and China Unicom.

ZTE began to offer smartphones in the United States in 2011. The company elected to focus its efforts on low-cost products for discount and prepaid wireless carriers, including devices with premium features typically associated with high-end products, such as large high-resolution screens and fingerprint readers.

Sponsorship
In May 2016, ZTE became the co-sponsor of German soccer term, Borussia Mönchengladbach.

Since 2015, several U.S.-based National Basketball Association teams have had sponsorship deals with ZTE, including the Houston Rockets, Golden State Warriors, and New York Knicks.

Bribes for contracts

 * Norway

Norwegian telecommunications giant Telenor, one of the world's largest mobile operators, banned ZTE from "participating in tenders and new business opportunities for 6 months because of an alleged breach of its code of conduct in a procurement proceeding" during a five-month time span ending in March 2009.

 * Philippines

Contracts with ZTE to build a broadband network for the Philippine government reportedly involved kickbacks to government officials. The project was later cancelled.

Surveillance system sale
In December 2010, ZTE sold systems for eavesdropping on phone and Internet communications to the government-controlled Telecommunication Company of Iran. This system may help Iran monitor and track political dissidents.

Security
At least one ZTE mobile phone (sold as the ZTE Score in the United States by Cricket and MetroPCS) can be remotely accessed by anyone with an easily obtained password.

ZTE, as well as Huawei, has faced scrutiny by the U.S. federal government over allegations that Chinese government surveillance could be performed through its handsets and infrastructure equipment. In 2012, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence issued a report recommending that the government be prohibited from purchasing equipment from the firms, citing them as possible threats to national security. A ban on government purchases of Huawei and ZTE equipment was formalized in a defense funding bill passed in August 2018.

Following the 2020–2021 China–India skirmishes, India announced that ZTE would be blocked from participating in the country's 5G network for national security reasons. Sweden has also banned the use of ZTE telecommunications equipment in its 5G network on the advice of its military and security service, which said China is "one of the biggest threats against Sweden."

Operations in Russia
During the Russian invasion of Ukraine, ZTE refused to withdraw from the Russian market. Research from Yale University published on 10 August 2022 identified ZTE among the companies defying demands to exit Russia or reduce business activities.

title: ZTE


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Simon Diamond

Patrick Joseph Michael Kenney (born May 26, 1968) is an American retired professional wrestler and baseball player, better known by his ring name, Simon Diamond. He is currently working for the National Wrestling Alliance as Director of Talent Relations. Diamond is best known for his appearances with Extreme Championship Wrestling from 1998 to 2001.

Early life
Kenney attended the Salesianum School for Boys in Wilmington, Delaware, graduating in 1986. An avid baseball player as a teenager, he was approached by the San Diego Padres to play Major League Baseball as a catcher in 1986. Kenney decided not to sign the contract he was offered, opting to pursue a college education first. Kenney took a job at the Out Of Bounds sports bar as a bartender and attended Virginia Commonwealth University on a baseball scholarship, earning a bachelor's degree in English. He originally planned to play baseball professionally after graduating, but was forced to reconsider after suffering a severe shoulder injury. Kenney's prior baseball career would later be used as an angle when he would visit the training camp of the 2005 world champions, the Chicago White Sox.

Early career (1991–1998)
In 1991, while working as a marketing executive for PepsiCo, Kenney was introduced to wrestling trainer Jim Kettner. Kenney decided to become a professional wrestler, and was trained by Kettner in Salem, New Jersey. Once his training was complete, he worked for Kettner's East Coast Wrestling Association as "Lance Diamond", teaming with Steve Corino.

Extreme Championship Wrestling (1998–2001)
In May 1998, Kenney was hired by Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), and wrestled his first match against Nova in York, Pennsylvania. In August 1998, he changed his name to "Simon Diamond", taking the name "Simon" from the real surname of his mentor, Dean Malenko. Kenney was paired with Swinger in May 2000 during an ECW World Tag Team Championship tournament and the two later formed a tag team which would endure for five more years.

Diamond and Swinger joined forces with C. W. Anderson in mid-2000, and began to ascend the ranks of the promotion.

Independent circuit (2001–2003)
The impending bankruptcy of ECW in 2001 forced Diamond to seek employment elsewhere, and he began negotiations with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) employee John Laurinaitis, which fell through when WCW was purchased by the World Wrestling Federation in March 2001.

Diamond worked for various independent promotions, including USA Professional Wrestling, Border City Wrestling and World Wrestling All-Stars. In Major League Wrestling, he formed The Extreme Horsemen with his two former allies Steve Corino and C. W. Anderson. Justin Credible was also a member, and J. J. Dillon briefly managed them before MLW folded.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling and Impact Wrestling (2003–2017)
On July 9, 2003, Kenney and Swinger appeared on a Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) pay-per-view, beginning a feud with America's Most Wanted (Chris Harris and James Storm). Enlisting the services of manager Glenn Gilbertti, the duo won the NWA World Tag Team Championships on August 27, 2003, and held the titles until November 19, when the titles were held up following a controversial ending to a match with the 3 Live Kru.

Kenney and Swinger separated in 2004 and engaged in a feud, which saw Kenney turn face and embrace his Irish heritage, wrestling as "Irish" Pat Kenney. After being briefly renamed The Empire Saint, Kenney was not booked by TNA for several months, during which time he spent three weeks competing in Japan with the Zero-1 promotion.

Kenney returned to TNA on June 19, 2005, at Slammiversary as the heel Simon Diamond once more. At Slammiversary, Kenney teamed with Trytan (whom he referred to as his "insurance policy") to defeat Sonny Siaki and Apolo. The next month, Trytan was gone, and at No Surrender 2005 Diamond presented David Young, suggesting that, in Young, he had found "a diamond in the rough". Elix Skipper joined with Diamond and Young at Sacrifice on August 14.

In September 2005, Kenney spent two weeks in India, where he and fellow TNA employees Sonjay Dutt and Shark Boy visited several cities, promoting the debut of Impact! on ESPN Star Sports. On September 28 in Bhopal, a riot broke out when 1,000 fans were excluded from an event after attendance exceeded expectations. None of the three TNA wrestlers were injured.

Kenney returned to America in October 2005, and on December 8 started an angle with Chicago White Sox catcher A. J. Pierzynski. At Turning Point the Diamonds in the Rough (Diamond, Young and Skipper) were defeated in a six-man tag team match by Chris Sabin, Sonjay Dutt and Dale Torborg, who had Pierzynski in their corner. Pierzynszki returned to TNA in March 2006 and was once again confronted by Diamond, who ended up getting hit with a chair by the White Sox Manager Ozzie Guillen. Shortly thereafter Kenney became a road agent for TNA.

On November 3, 2008, Kenney was released from his contract with TNA, with them citing budgetary cuts as the reason.

On September 18, 2009, TNA Wrestling announced that Kenney had been rehired as a road agent to replace the fired Jim Cornette and B.G. James.

Kenney returned to television on the July 15, 2010, edition of Impact!, aligning himself with fellow ECW alumni Tommy Dreamer, Raven, Stevie Richards, Rhino, Brother Devon, Al Snow and Mick Foley in their invasion of TNA. The following week, TNA president Dixie Carter agreed to give the ECW alumni their own reunion pay–per–view event, Hardcore Justice: The Last Stand, as a celebration of hardcore wrestling and a final farewell to the company. At the event Kenney returned to his Simon Diamond persona and teamed with Johnny Swinger and Kid Kash in a six-man tag team match, where they were defeated by Little Guido, Tony Luke and Tracy Smothers of The Full Blooded Italians.

At May 8, 2012, Kenny substituted Taz as Color Commentator at TNA Xplosion, joining Jeremy Borash.

On June 19, 2017, Kenney left Impact Wrestling alongside Shane Helms and Al Snow.

National Wrestling Alliance (2017–present)
Kenney was seen on the NWA 73rd Anniversary Show Pay Per View during the Nick Aldis vs Trevor Murdoch match breaking up outside ring activity.

Other media
Diamond appeared as a playable character in the 2000 video game ECW Hardcore Revolution.

Personal life
Kenney began dating Dawn Marie in October 1998. Before dating, the two had been good friends for almost two years. They had planned to be married by the end of 2000 or into 2001. They did not wed, but stayed engaged for several years afterwards. After seven years together, their relationship began to come to an end. Kenney and Candice Kenney have a child born in 2010.

In 2009, Kenney filed a sexual abuse lawsuit against a former priest at Salesianum School.

Championships and accomplishments

 * East Coast Wrestling Association
 * ECWA Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
 * ECWA Mid-Atlantic Championship (1 time)
 * ECWA Tag Team Championship (2 times) — with Cheetah Master (1 time) and Steve Corino (1 time)
 * ECWA Hall of Fame (Class of 1995)
 * Super 8 Tournament (1998)

 * Independent Professional Wrestling Alliance
 * IPWA Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

 * Independent Wrestling Federation (New Jersey)
 * IWF Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
 * IWF Tournament Of Champions (2000)

 * Jersey Championship Wrestling
 * JCW Championship (1 time)
 * JCW Television Championship (2 times)

 * Major League Wrestling
 * MLW Global Tag Team Championship (1 time) — with C. W. Anderson
 * MLW Global Tag Team Championship Tournament (2002) - with C. W. Anderson

 * Maximum Pro Wrestling
 * MPW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
 * MPW Tag Team Championship (1 time) — with Johnny Swinger

 * National Wrestling Alliance
 * NWA North American Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
 * NWA United States Tag Team Championship (1 time) — with Steve Corino

 * NWA 2000
 * NWA 2000 Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

 * NWA Total Nonstop Action
 * NWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) — with Johnny Swinger

 * Pennsylvania Championship Wrestling
 * PCW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
 * PCW Tag Team Championship (1 time) — with Reckless Youth
 * PCW United States Championship (3 times)

 * Pro-Pain Pro Wrestling
 * 3PW Tag Team Championship (1 time) — with Mike Kruel

 * USA Pro Wrestling
 * USA Pro Tag Team Championship (2 times) — with Matt Striker

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

title: Simon Diamond


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User talk:Agis III

hello?

title: User talk:Agis III


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User talk:Agis I

hi

title: User talk:Agis I


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User talk:Agis II

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title: User talk:Agis II


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Oreca

ORECA (Organisation Exploitation Compétition Automobiles) is a French racing team and race car constructor, founded in 1973 and run by Hugues de Chaunac, former team manager of F1 team AGS. Oreca has had success in many areas of motorsport. Since the early 1990s the team has concentrated on running sports cars and GT cars.

Team
In the 1970s and 1980s, drivers including Alain Prost, Jacques Laffite and Jean Alesi won the French Formula Three Championship for the team a record 11 times.

In the 1990s, Oreca ran a BMW operation in the French Supertouring Championship. It also won the FIA GT Championship and the Le Mans 24 Hours in the GT2 class with a Chrysler Viper GTS-R and overall with a Mazda 787B in 1991, on their second attempt and first after a decade.

Also, the team prepared the Renault Clio S1600 for rallying and won the ice racing Andros Trophy with a Toyota Corolla driven by Alain Prost.

In the 2000s, Oreca assisted Renault Sport in building the new Mégane V6 for the Renault Eurocup Mégane Sport and fielding an Audi R8 in the 2005 Le Mans 24 Hours with support from Audi France. Also for 2006 Oreca ran the Saleen S7R in the Le Mans Series. The Oreca Saleen S7R had already won the 2006 Spa-Francorchamps Le Mans race.

Oreca worked closely with Dodge on the Dodge Viper Competition Coupe, producing well over 100 customer cars in the period 2006–2007 to GT3 specification.

Oreca entered a customer-specification Peugeot 908 HDi FAP with 'Semi-works' help for the 2010 Le Mans 24 Hours, as well as for the rest of the Le Mans Series races, taking overall honours at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve and the overall championship ahead of the factory Peugeot teams.

In 2011, Oreca won the 12 Hours of Sebring race despite still using the Peugeot 908 HDi-FAP, a model retired at the end of the previous season.

In 2012 Oreca was selected to run the Toyota TS030 Hybrid LMP1 car with support from Toyota Motorsport GmbH in the FIA World Endurance Championship (including the 24 Hours of Le Mans). The car showed promising speed but did not finish at Le Mans due to a large crash involving one car and mechanical problems sidelining the other.

Manufacturer
On September 14, 2007, Oreca announced their plans to purchase sports prototype manufacturer Courage Compétition. Its first project was the Oreca 01, made for the LMP1 class. It was first raced at the 2009 1000 km of Spa with two entries.

During 2009, Oreca started producing the Formula Le Mans 'FLM09'. This was initially run in its own series named the Formula Le Mans Cup until 2010 when it was adapted to allow it to be run three other endurance series including the American Le Mans Series which gave the car its own category (LMPC). The idea was to give an affordable platform for smaller teams to get into endurance racing.

The Oreca 03 was launched to accommodate the new LMP2 regulations for 2011. In 2015, the Oreca 05 was unveiled, winning the LMP2 class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Oreca was selected as one of the four 2017 LMP2 manufacturers, and launched the Oreca 07. A variation of the 07, the Acura ARX-05, was created for IMSA's WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Prototype class under the Daytona Prototype international (DPi) regulations, in partnership with Honda Performance Development.

title: Oreca


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North West Leicestershire (UK Parliament constituency)

{{Infobox UK constituency main |name       = North West Leicestershire |parliament = uk |image       = {{maplink|frame=yes|frame-align=center|plain=yes|raw={{Wikipedia:Map data/North West Leicestershire (UK Parliament constituency)}}|frame-height=200|frame-width=250}} |caption    = Boundaries since 2024 |image2     = |caption2   = Boundary of North West Leicestershire in the East Midlands} |year       = 1983 |abolished  = |type       = County |elects_howmany = One |previous   = Bosworth and Loughborough |next       = |electorate = 75,373 (2023) |mp         = Amanda Hack |party      = Labour |towns = Coalville and Ashby-de-la-Zouch |region     = England |county     = Leicestershire }}

North West Leicestershire is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by Amanda Hack of the Labour Party. It had previously been held by Andrew Bridgen since 2010, as a Conservative from 2010 until 2023, a Reclaim Party member between May and December 2023 and as an Independent for the remainder of his term.

History
The constituency was contested for the first time in 1983, and Conservative candidate David Ashby became its first MP that year. He stood down in 1997 and Labour's David Taylor won the seat, holding it until he died of a heart attack in December 2009. Taylor had already announced that he would stand down at the 2010 general election. With the next election being due on 6 May 2010, it was considered uneconomic and (based on precedent) unnecessary to arrange a by-election. In the 2010 election, Andrew Bridgen took the seat for the Conservatives, with a swing of 12% from Labour to the Conservatives and with a smaller Labour–Liberal Democrats swing. Bridgen's majority was 7,511 or 14.5% of the total votes cast.

Constituency profile
North West Leicestershire's main settlements are the small towns of Coalville and Ashby-de-la-Zouch. The population is divided between Labour-inclined former mining areas with high rates of employment and low social housing dependency, and Conservative-inclined rural villages, with most people focused close to the two towns named. The seat has been a bellwether since 1983, as the winning party has formed the government.

In 2011 Coalfield Resources plc were given permission to develop an opencast coal mining pit on the site of the former Minorca colliery on the outskirts of Measham, in the seat, which will be 1 mi across and extract 1,250,000 tonnes (1,230,000 tons) of coal over five years, and 250,000 tonnes (about 245,000 tons) of clay. This will be one of three large mines all operated by the main UK coal-extracting company.

Historic
North West Leicestershire constituency was created in 1983 from parts of the seats of Bosworth to the south and Loughborough to the east.

1983–1997: The District of North West Leicestershire, and the Borough of Charnwood wards of Shepshed East and Shepshed West.

1997–2024: The District of North West Leicestershire.

Current
Following the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, which came into effect for the 2024 general election, the size of the constituency was reduced to bring the electorate within the permitted range by transferring the two small wards of Appleby, and Oakthorpe and Donisthorpe to the newly named constituency of Hinckley and Bosworth.

Members of Parliament
Bosworth and Loughborough prior to 1983


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William Henry Hornby (1805–1884)

William Henry Hornby (1805–1884) an English cotton spinner, industrialist and politician. He became the first Mayor of Blackburn in Lancashire and national chairman of the Conservative Party.

Life
He was the son of the cotton spinner John Hornby (1763–1841) and his wife Alice Kendall Backhouse, daughter of Daniel Backhouse, born in Blackburn.

During the 1820s the Hornby family business, a partnership with John Birley, expanded with the construction of a cotton spinning mill out of the centre of Blackburn, in the Brookhouse area on the River Blakewater. The original water mill was phased out, with power looms introduced in 1830, and a steam engine in 1841. The partnership with Birley ended in 1830, and William Henry Hornby brought in new partners.

The business grew and prospered. Hornby was a paternalist, an Anglican Tory who supported the Ten Hours Bill. His younger brother John Hornby was elected to parliament for Blackburn in 1841. Elections in Blackburn at that period involved some violence and intimidation. William himself represented Blackburn from 1857 to 1865, having been the first mayor in 1852 and failing to be elected in an 1853 by-election. In 1868 he had the most votes, but an inquiry into intimidation meant he was denied the seat. His son Edward Hornby took the seat in the further election held in 1869.

Hornby died at Poole Hall in Poole, Cheshire, on 5 September 1884.

Family
Hornby married in 1831 Margaret Susannah Birley, daughter and sole heir of Edward Birley of Kirkham. They had seven sons and four daughters.

Of the sons, Edward Hornby and Harry, were also MPs for Blackburn from 1869 to 1874, and from 1886 to 1910 respectively. Another son, Albert, was the England cricket captain who lost the Test match which gave rise to the Ashes, at home against the Australians in 1882. Edward and another son Cecil also played first class cricket.

title: William Henry Hornby (1805–1884)


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User talk:Agis IV

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title: User talk:Agis IV


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Veratrum viride

Veratrum viride, known as Indian poke, corn-lily, Indian hellebore, false hellebore, green false hellebore, or giant false-helleborine, is a species of Veratrum native to eastern and western (but not central) North America. It is extremely toxic, and is considered a pest plant by farmers with livestock. The species has acquired a large number of other common names within its native range, including American false hellebore, American white hellebore, bear corn, big hellebore, corn lily, devil's bite, duck retten, itchweed, poor Annie, blue hellebore and tickleweed.

Description
V. viride is a herbaceous perennial plant reaching 0.7 to 2 m tall, with a solid green stem. The leaves are spirally arranged, 10 to 35 cm long and 5 to 20 cm broad, elliptic to broad lanceolate ending in a short point, heavily ribbed and hairy on the underside. The flowers are numerous, produced in a large branched inflorescence 30 to 70 cm tall; each flower is 5 to 12 mm long, with six green to yellow-green tepals. The fruit is a capsule 1.5 to 3 cm long, which splits into three sections at maturity to release the numerous flat 8 to 10 mm diameter seeds. The plant reproduces through rhizome growth as well as seeds.

Varieties and similar species
There are two recognized varieties of V. viride:
 * Veratrum viride var. viride is found in eastern North America. It is differentiated by the erect or spreading side branches of the inflorescence.
 * Veratrum viride var. eschscholzianum is found in western North America. It is differentiated by the drooping side branches of the inflorescence.

The related western North American Veratrum californicum (white false hellebore, corn lily) can be distinguished from sympatric var. eschscholzianum by its whiter flowers and the erect side branches of the inflorescence.

Linguistics
Anatoly Liberman believes that the reconstructed Proto-Slavic term for the genus Veratrum, *čemerъ, is probably cognate with the English word hemlock, a plant similarly used for poison in antiquity.

Distribution and habitat
In eastern North America, var. viride occurs from southwestern Labrador and southern Quebec south to northern Georgia. In the west, var. eschscholzianum occurs from Alaska and Northwest Territory south through Yukon, British Columbia, Alberta, Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Oregon to northwestern California (Del Norte, Siskiyou, Trinity, and Humboldt Counties).

It is found in wet soils in meadows, sunny streambanks, and open forests, occurring from sea level in the north of its range up to 1600 m in the southeast and 2500 m in the southwest.

Medicine
The plant is highly toxic, causing nausea and vomiting. If the poison is not evacuated, cold sweat and vertigo appear. Respiration slows, while cardiac rhythm and blood pressure fall. The toxic effects of veratrum alkaloids are directly induced by antagonism of adrenergic receptors.

It is used externally by several Native American nations. Although is rarely ever used in modern herbalism due to its concentration of various alkaloids, it has been used in the past against high blood pressure and rapid heartbeat; a standardized extract of V. viride alkaloids known as alkavervir was used in the 1950s and 1960s as an antihypertensive. The root contains even higher concentrations than the aerial parts.

Anecdote
Various sources mention its use by some Native Americans people to elect a new leader. This story appears to originate from an anecdote told by John Josselyn in his 1674 "An Account of Two Voyages to New-England". It is noteworthy that Josselyn's "Account of Two Voyages" have been met with skepticism since their first publication. "'The English in New-England take white Hellebore, which operates as fairly with them, as with the Indians, who steeping of it in water sometime, give it to young lads gathered together a purpose to drink, if it come up they force them to drink again their vomit, (which they save in a Birchen-dish) till it stayes with them, & he that gets the victory of it is made Captain of the other lads for that year.'"The anecdote entered medical literature 161 years afterward, when retold by Osgood C. in an 1835 paper on Veratrum viride. While quoting Josselyn, Osgood introduces a political connotation (election of their chiefs/entitled to command the rest) which is unclear in the original version. "' Its use in the election of their chiefs, is noticed by Joselin, an early visiter to this country, who calls it 'white hellebore.' According to this writer, that individual whose on the Veratrum Viride. stomach was least susceptible to its deleterious effects, was regarded as the 'strongest of the party, and entitled to command the rest.'"

title: Veratrum viride


text:
User talk:Agoracritus

.

title: User talk:Agoracritus


text:
Mattawan

Mattawan may refer to:

 * Mattawan, Michigan, United States
 * Mattawan High School, in Mattawan, Michigan
 * Mattawan, Ontario, Canada

title: Mattawan


text:
Talk:List of colleges in Mumbai

Roshan baladhanvi 13:57, 27 June 2006 (UTC)

Untitled
The list of Engineering colleges and Management Colleges in Mumbai, has been removed. Can someone restore it?

TO GET AN ADMISSION FOR 11th STANDARD
WRITE TO ME ABOUT PROCEDURE ABOUT GETTING ADMISSION ON LINE —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.212.209.221 (talk) 11:44, 1 June 2009 (UTC)

Top 5 Commerce Colleges
The Top 5 Commerce Colleges section needs to link/quote its sources, and maybe if possible also include something about the basis for the ranking/ratings used. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.182.124.30 (talk) 19:16, 2 March 2010 (UTC)

External links modified
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title: Talk:List of colleges in Mumbai


text:
Template talk:Fletcher class destroyer

Confusion
There seems to be a bit of confusion here. DD-754 is the USS Frank E. Evans, sunk in June 1969. yet USS Evans is listed as DD-752, and USS Franks as DD-754.

I have redirected the link to the USS Evans to the Frank E. Evans ... USS Frank E. Evans (DD-754) -ts- 15:07, 23 Apr 2005 (UTC)

 * Checking DANFS, I find

 * USS Evans (DD-78) Wickes class
 * USS Evans (DD-552) Fletcher class
 * USS Evans (DE-1023) Evans class
 * USS Frank E. Evans (DD-754) Allen M. Sumner class
 * USS Franks (DD-554) Fletcher class

 * USS Evans is an index page for the Evanss; I've added USS Frank E. Evans.
 * —wwoods 21:16, 23 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Sort by name rather than by hull number?
It's incredibly hard to locate a particular Fletcher destroyer in the list. It really needs to be sorted alphabetically by ship's name, rather than hull number. The number isn't displayed, and most people don't know the hull number at all. Even people familiar with Fletchers probably only know the hull numbers of a few, small handful, of ships.  — sbb (talk) 17:15, 17 May 2021 (UTC)

 * I went ahead and made the edit, wrapping the list of ships with . This works nicely, producing an alphabetical-sorted list of ships in the navbox, but still having the list sorted by hull number in wikitext, for ease of list maintenance. I also did this for most of the other US Navy destroyer classes, so far.  — sbb (talk) 02:22, 18 August 2021 (UTC)

title: Template talk:Fletcher class destroyer


text:
Zofia Albinowska-Minkiewiczowa

Zofia Albinowska-Minkiewiczowa (November 16, 1886 – June 30, 1971) was a Polish-Ukrainian artist, painter and engraver tied to the Lvov circle of artists. For many years she was president of the General Union of Polish Artists. After Lvov was annexed by the Soviet Union, Albinowska-Minkiewiczowa joined the Union of Soviet Artists of Ukraine. She signed her paintings with her maiden name, Zofia Albinowska.

Biography
Albinowska-Minkiewiczowa was born in Klagenfurt, Duchy of Carinthia, Austria-Hungary. She started her education in 1901, first in private schools in Vienna, where she took lessons first from Heindrich Strehblow, then starting in 1902 from Franz Hohenberg and Ferdinand Kruis. During 1906–1912 she studied in Paris in Académie Colarossi and École des Beaux Arts. Studying in Paris she was in close relationship with Olga Boznańska and received many artistic leads from her. During this period she traveled to France, England, Belgium, Netherlands, and Italy.

From 1909–1912 Albinowska studied at the k. k. Kunstgewerbeschule in Vienna. After graduating, she returned to Lvov permanently, where she remained for the rest of her life. At this time Lvov, then known as Lemburg, belonged to Austrian Galicia, which was later ceded to independent Poland and the Ukrainian SSR. In 1922 she married Witold Minkiewicz, professor of architecture in Lvov and Wrocław.

For many years between World War I and World War II, Zofia Albinowska-Minkiewiczowa was the president of the General Union of Polish Artists. She participated in many domestic and international exhibitions, including in Prague, Paris, and New York.

Her early works are usually portraits, but after 1920 she painted mainly small compositions showing room interiors, still life and flowers. Her works are sometimes described as being painted in a post-impressionist manner. She refused to paint the Soviet commanders saying that she can paint only the flowers.

She died in Lvov in 1971.

Selected paintings

 * Kwiaty na oknie (Flowers in the Window), 1912
 * Kwiaty w dwóch wazonach (Flowers in Two Vases)
 * Bukiet kwiatów (Bouquet of Flowers)
 * Bukiet róż z winogronami (Rose Bouquet With Grapes)
 * Martwa natura z kwiatami (Still Life With Flowers)
 * Wnętrze saloniku (Parlor Interior)
 * Martwa natura (Still Life)
 * Róże (Roses)
 * Martwa natura z hiacyntem i porcelanowym wschodnim talerzem (Still Life With Hyacinth and Porcelain Eastern Plate)

title: Zofia Albinowska-Minkiewiczowa


text:
Scion

Scion may refer to:

Horticulture

 * Scion (grafting), in horticulture, the upper part of a combined plant

Characters

 * Scion, a playable class in the game Path of Exile (2013)
 * Atlantean Scion, a device in the Tomb Raider video game series
 * Scions, an alien race in the video game Battlezone 2 (1999)
 * Scions, an alien race in James Goss's Torchwood novel First Born (2011)

Other uses in arts, entertainment, and media

 * Scion (comics), a comic book published 2000–2004 by CrossGen Comics
 * Scion (role-playing game)
 * "Scion", an episode from season 10 of the TV series Smallville
 * Scion Rock Fest, an annual heavy metal music festival (2009–2014)
 * Scion Audio/Visual, a record label of the Scion automobile marque

Brands

 * Scion (automobile), a former brand of small cars by Toyota for the United States and Canada
 * Scion Hotels, a brand once proposed by The Trump Organization
 * Short Scion, 1930s monoplanes

Other uses

 * Scion (Crown Research Institute), a forest research organisation in New Zealand

 * SCION (Internet architecture), a proposed redesign for the Internet

title: Scion


text: User talk:69.14.185.74

title: User talk:69.14.185.74


text:
Little Earthquakes (video)

Little Earthquakes is a VHS video released by singer/songwriter Tori Amos in 1992, which serves as Amos' first video release. The release contains all four music videos released in conjunction with Amos' debut solo album of the same name interspersed with live performances and interview footage.

The video, out of print as of 2005, is packaged in a regular cardboard video box and was released by A*Vision Videos, a subsidiary of Atlantic Records, with a catalogue number of 50335-3.

The contents are:

 * 1) Silent All These Years (Music Video)
 * 2) Leather (Live)
 * 3) Precious Things (Live)
 * 4) Crucify (Music Video)
 * 5) Me and a Gun (Live on Japanese Television)
 * 6) Little Earthquakes (Live)
 * 7) China (Music Video)
 * 8) Happy Phantom (Live)
 * 9) Here. In My Head (Live)
 * 10) Winter (Music Video)
 * 11) Song for Eric (Live)

title: Little Earthquakes (video)


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Neon river

 This page is an archive of the discussion about the proposed deletion of the article below. This page is no longer live. Further comments should be made on the article's talk page rather than here so that this page is preserved as an historic record. The result of the debate was delete. — Xezbeth 07:09, May 2, 2005 (UTC)

Neon river
Not notable enough
 * delete - not notable Samw 15:12, 23 Apr 2005 (UTC)

 * Delete. Unwikified garagebandcruft from a newbie, an anon with no other edits. Andrewa 16:32, 23 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete, Wikipedia is not a proving ground for bands that haven't made it yet. Sorry bro, that's showbusiness for ya! Master Thief Garrett 02:41, 24 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete, not notable, band vanity. Megan1967 04:24, 24 Apr 2005 (UTC)

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


text:
Laney Amplification

Laney Amplification is a British designer and manufacturer of guitar amplifiers, bass guitar amplifiers, cabinets, and public address systems, selling them exclusively through a network of distributors and retailers.

History
Laney Amplification was founded in 1967 by Lyndon Laney while playing bass guitar in Band of Joy. Lyndon's intense interest in electronics, paired with his lack of funds to purchase a proper amplifier, led to his building what would become the first Laney amp in his father's garage. As word spread of the tone supplied by Lyndon's amplifiers, he was able to supplement his income with amp sales to many local musicians, including Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath.

When the Laney signature tone was heard on Black Sabbath's debut album in 1970, demand became too high for the new company's manufacturing facilities. Laney began manufacturing in the Digbeth quarter of Birmingham temporarily, but ultimately settled in Cradley Heath, where they stayed until 2004 when they again moved to larger facilities in Halesowen.

From the late ‘60s through much of the ‘70s, Laney focused primarily on their flagship LA100BL model amplifier and their KLIPP series amplifiers. The KLIPP series integrated a treble booster, similar to the Dallas Rangemaster used by countless rock and blues guitarists of the day.

As the 1980s began, there was an increased demand for overdrive and gain from amplifier manufacturers. Laney entered the market with their AOR (Advanced Overdrive Response) series, offering an extra gain stage built in. This was particularly innovative as competitors such as Marshall would require extensive modification to achieve this sound. These amps were popular with such players as Randy Rhoads, Vinnie Moore, George Lynch, and Ace Frehley. Since the early ‘90s, these AOR amps have become a staple of the stoner rock and doom metal tone palette.

The 1990s found Laney building on their reputation for innovation with such products as the VC line of amps, which were combo units reminiscent of the Vox AC series, but with built in effects and advanced features. Their now classic VH100R, as well as the GH50L and GH100L head units were also introduced during this time period, gaining acclaim with such devotees as Paul Gilbert, Andy Timmons, John 5, and Joe Satriani. Laney also introduced Tony Iommi’s first signature amplifier, the GH100TI, in 1995.

Since 2000, Laney has introduced several new products, including the TT series, which combined the sounds of their classic rock heads with modern MIDI integration. Also introduced were the NEXUS series bass amplifiers, the retro styled Lionheart range, and the CUB series of lower wattage, economy amplifiers.

In 2012 Laney introduced the new Tony Iommi signature amplifier series, which includes a 100-watt head, 4x12” cabinet, and a 15-watt 1x12” combo unit. They also unveiled their Ironheart series, which caters to metal guitarists.

In early 2016 Laney Amplification produced several reproductions of its flagship LA100BL amplifier at the request of Tony Iommi and his guitar Tech Mike Clement. 13 amplifiers were reproduced in honor of Black Sabbath's 13 album. These reproduction amplifiers were used on Black Sabbath's "The End" Tour in 2016 for the older songs that were originally recorded using the Laney LA100BL amplifiers.

title: Laney Amplification


text:
At Home with the Braithwaites

At Home with the Braithwaites is a British comedy-drama television series, created and written by Sally Wainwright (except for the final four episodes). The storyline follows a suburban family in Leeds, whose life is turned upside down when the mother of the family wins £38 million on the lottery. It was broadcast on ITV and produced by Yorkshire Television for 26 episodes, from 20 January 2000 to 9 April 2003.

At the beginning of the first series, each member of the Braithwaite family has an issue. Mother Alison has to decide what to do with the winnings, and when to tell her family; father David is having an affair with Elaine, his secretary; eldest daughter Virginia is on the verge of dropping out of university; middle daughter Sarah has a crush on her drama teacher; and youngest daughter Charlotte suspects that Alison may be the mystery lottery winner.

Series One
In the first series of six episodes Alison decides, for the time being, to not tell her family about the lottery win as she worries it may have a negative effect on them. In an attempt to do something good with the money, she starts a charity with the help of her good friend, Marion, and an idealistic out-of-work accountant, Pauline. David begins to regret having started an affair. Virginia falls in love with their new next door neighbour, the selfish and manipulative Megan. A group of journalists attempt to track down and reveal the identity of the mystery lottery winner. Sarah has her advances toward her drama teacher rejected, and she reacts by sleeping with Phil, the boy next door, and becomes pregnant. By the end of the series, the truth comes out regarding Alison's lottery win and David's affair.

Series Two
In the second series of eight episodes, the Braithwaites have moved into a mansion in the countryside. Alison and David struggle to rebuild their marriage and end up separating. Alison then has a romance with David's brother, Graham, much to David's dismay, until she realises that Graham is still seeing his wife. Sarah gives birth to a son and secretly marries Phil. Charlotte starts getting bullied at school because of her family's newfound wealth. Virginia is going out with Tamsin, a kind and sensible girl, but is still obsessed with Megan. By the end of the series, Alison and David decide to give their marriage another go.

Series Three
In the third series of six episodes, Alison is awarded a damehood by the Queen for her charity work, and discovers that she is pregnant with Graham's baby. David suggests that they pretend he is the father, until it comes out that Graham actually is. Tamsin is also pregnant, as the result of a one night stand with a guy from university. She and Virginia decide to raise the child together, until Tamsin realises that Virginia is still infatuated with Megan. A newspaper prints a story saying that it was 12-year-old Charlotte who purchased the winning lottery ticket, and the lottery company take the family to court, claiming back all £38 million as it was illegal for an under-16 to enter the lottery. A heavily pregnant Alison cracks and confesses during the trial, forcing the Braithwaites back to their old home and their old lives. Sarah starts seeing a married teacher. By the end of the series, Alison gives birth to a baby girl, Katherine 'Kate/Katie', and the family manage to retrieve their fortune following a legal technicality and a retrial.

Series Four
In the fourth and final series of six episodes, Alison and David start divorce proceedings. Alison has a romance with her gardener, Nick. David starts seeing Elaine again. Sarah quits college, and starts a business as a wedding planner. She also discovers that Phil, the father of her child, still has feelings for her. Charlotte starts going out with Jordan, Elaine's son, and the pair hatch a plan to get rid of the lottery winnings that Charlotte believes has caused all of the problems within her family. Virginia has finally to choose between Tamsin, who now has a baby girl, Rowena, and Megan. Disapproving of her recent actions, Virginia, Sarah, and Charlotte all struggle to get along with Alison. The final scene of the series sees the whole family, and their friends, arguing with each other, as Charlotte announces that she thinks she might be pregnant.

Sally Wainwright wrote the first two episodes of this series while Jonathan Harvey wrote the next two with the final episodes written by Katie Baxendale.

Dame Alison Jane Braithwaite DBE
Alison is the matriarch of the family. She is upstanding and unselfish. She cares for her family; however, through her deception, she often hurts them. After winning the lottery, she adopts a new Dynasty-resembling look; however, her taste "leaves a lot to be desired" as one character puts it. She has extramarital affairs with her brother-in-law and even her gardener, who is 20 years her junior.

David Braithwaite
David is the patriarch of the family. He is not as close to his children as Alison, and has a stormy relationship with eldest daughter Virginia; however, she is the only one he ever confides in. He has been having an affair for some time with his PA. He loathes his younger brother, Graham, who has an affair with Alison.

Virginia Rowena Braithwaite
Virginia is the eldest daughter. She is wanton, feckless and usually entirely selfish. She is closest to her mother, but has the confidences of both her parents. She is an open lesbian and has an ongoing relationship with Tamsin and an on-off affair with Megan. She works as a mechanic occasionally and studies at the University of York. She is described by sister Sarah as being her 'chain-smoking, screwed-up dyke of a sister'.

Sarah Elizabeth Braithwaite
The middle daughter, Sarah is immature, needy and promiscuous. She becomes pregnant by a neighbour in series one, marries and divorces him in series two, and has an affair with a teacher in her sixth form in series three. She is often the only daughter not to know family secrets, as one parent usually entrusts Virginia with the truth, while Charlotte's investigative nature usually uncovers it.

Charlotte Braithwaite
Charlotte is the youngest daughter. Still in her teenage years, she is a gawky loner. She is a quiet child and usually finds out secrets through her inquisitive nature. She is occasionally capable of sociopathic behaviour.

Megan Hartnoll
Megan is originally a neighbour of the Braithwaites and lives with husband Mike. She is spiteful, manipulative and a constant threat to the happiness of the Braithwaites, especially Virginia, with whom she has an affair. She is electrocuted in the fourth series.

Mike Hartnoll
Mike is the husband of Megan and is strongly attracted to Alison. While Alison feels sorry for him because of his loneliness, the rest of the family find him an annoyance. He is self-pitying, self-righteous, self-indulged and prone to making long drunken diatribes. As David describes him, he is the sort of man whom you invite to a party in the hope he cannot come.

Graham Braithwaite
Graham is David's brother. After Alison and David split, he lies to Alison telling her he's separated, and the two begin an affair. When she finds out it's adulterous, she leaves him, but he refuses to leave her alone and his behaviour becomes obsessive. Alison falls pregnant with his baby, and she and David try to pass the baby off as theirs. Graham, however, finds out. He is devious, calculating and manipulative, yet intelligent and articulate, which enables him to deceive others easily.

Overseas
The series was shown on ABC and UK.TV in Australia; TV3 in Ireland; TV One and Prime in New Zealand; NRK in Norway; RTV Slovenija in Slovenia; BBC America in the United States; TVB Pearl in Hong Kong; YLE in Finland; and Yes Plus in Israel.

Ratings
Episode viewing figures from BARB.

VHS release
The complete first series of At Home with the Braithwaites was released on VHS in the UK on 2 February 2001 from 2Entertain.

DVD releases
The entire series is available on DVD on Region 2 in the UK, both in individual sets and a complete boxset from distribution company, Network. The first two series have been released on Region 1 DVD in the United States and Canada via Acorn DVD. The entire series is also available on Region 4 in Australia and New Zealand through Shock Records. The third and fourth series on Region 4 DVDs are missing segments from episodes, whereas the Region 2 sets are complete and uncut. All four series were re-released individually on Region 4 via Roadshow Entertainment.

title: At Home with the Braithwaites


text:
Reg Freeson

Reginald Yarnitz Freeson (24 February 1926 – 9 October 2006) was a British Labour politician. He was a Member of Parliament for 23 years, from 1964 to 1987, for Willesden East and later Brent East, with 14 years on the front bench. He became a junior minister in the Ministry of Power in 1967, and then led his party on housing policy for 10 years, from 1969 to 1979, serving as Minister of State for Housing from 1969 to 1970 and then again from 1974 to 1979, and being his party's housing spokesman in the intervening period. He continued as health and social security spokesman until 1981. His soft-left opinions made him vulnerable to the hard left in the early 1980s, and he was deselected in 1985, leaving Parliament at the 1987 general election to be succeeded by hard-leftwinger and future London mayor Ken Livingstone.

Early and private life
Freeson was born in St Pancras and raised in the Jewish orphanage in West Norwood from the age of 5. His grandparents were Jews who came to the UK to escape the pogroms in Poland and Russia in the 1890s, but he was abandoned by his parents.

After a successful school career, he volunteered to join the RAF Volunteer Reserve aged 16, but was posted to the Rifle Brigade for training in 1944 and then passed on to the Royal Engineers in Egypt. He spent some time working for the Inter Services Publications Unit.

He worked as a journalist in the Middle East for one year after being demobbed in 1947, and his experiences made him a convinced Zionist. He continued his print career in Fleet Street, where he worked on publications including John Bull, Everybody's Weekly, London Illustrated, News Review, Today, Education, The Daily Mirror and the News Chronicle. He was later an assistant press officer at the Ministry of Works and the British Railways Board.

He was married twice. He first married in 1971, but was divorced in 1983. He remarried in 1983, and is survived by his second wife, and a son and daughter from his first marriage.

Political career
Freeson joined the Labour Party after returning to England in 1948. He became active in local politics, and was elected to Willesden Borough Council in 1952 and became an alderman in 1955. He served as the council leader from 1958 until the post was abolished in 1965. He chaired the shadow council of the London Borough of Brent from 1964 to 1965, and was an alderman of Brent until 1968.

He was elected as the MP for Willesden East with a majority of less than 2,000 votes at the 1964 general election, gaining the seat from sitting Conservative MP, Trevor Skeet. Harold Wilson's Labour government was elected with a slim majority of only five seats, which was quickly reduced to three. Within weeks, he was appointed as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Tom Fraser, the Minister of Transport, from 1964 to 1967, and then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Power from 1967 to 1969. He served as Minister of Housing and Local Government from 1969 until the 1970 general election the following year.

He remained as Housing Spokesman in opposition, and his mastery of the subject made him a fearsome opponent to the incumbent Conservative ministers. With Eric Heffer, he led a Commons protest over the guillotine of the controversial bill which was to become the Industrial Relations Act 1971.

Freeson's seat was renamed Brent East in 1974, and he returned as Minister for Housing and Construction in the new Department of the Environment after the February 1974 general election, in a period of high interest rates and rapidly rising house prices. He later added responsibility for new towns, planning, land and local government to his portfolio. He retained his ministerial office when James Callaghan succeeded Harold Wilson as Prime Minister in 1976, becoming a privy counsellor that year, and retained his office until Labour's defeat at the 1979 general election. He remained on the Labour frontbench in opposition, as spokesman on Health and Social Security, but was demoted by Michael Foot in 1981. He later served on the Environment Select committee.

He was a member of the Fabian Society, supported the Irish nationalist cause, fought racism, opposed the Korean War and the Vietnam War, was a founder member of CND in 1957, and was one of five Labour MPs on the first Aldermaston March in 1958. He wrote for Tribune, and edited the anti-fascist magazine Searchlight from 1964 to 1967. He was co-chair of the socialist Zionist Poale Zion (Great Britain), but was critical of Israeli policy (e.g. he opposed the 1982 invasion of Lebanon). He attacked the British Nationality Act 1981, and criticised Conservative policy on Northern Ireland.

He was a committed left-winger, but his soft-left views made him vulnerable to the hard left in the early-1980s. He was able to retain his seat at the 1983 general election, but was deselected in 1985 after a bitter struggle, described as "political 'murder'" in his Guardian obituary, and replaced as Labour candidate in Brent East by Ken Livingstone at the 1987 general election. "His support for Israel, said Freeson after his deselection, had led him to be branded 'that bloody Zionist and Jew'."

Later life
After leaving Parliament, Freeson became a consultant on housing and planning issues. He was editor of Jewish Vanguard from 1987 to 2006, and served as chairman of Poale Zion (Great Britain).

Freeson again became a councillor in Brent at the 2002 election, but lost his Queens Park seat to the Liberal Democrats in the 2006 local elections. He died in Salisbury, Wiltshire.

title: Reg Freeson


text:
File:WHHornby.jpg

Portrait of William Henry Hornby.

title: File:WHHornby.jpg


text:
User talk:Earendill~enwiki

Welcome to the Wikipedia
I noticed you were new, and wanted to share some links I thought useful:

 * Tutorial
 * Help desk
 * Foundation issues
 * Policy Library

For more information click  here . You can sign your name by typing 4 tildes, like this: ~.

Sam Spade 15:11, 23 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Speedy deletion of Rasim ozan
A tag has been placed on Rasim ozan, requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done for the following reason:

Non-notable, incorrect wiki formatting and unsourced

Under the criteria for speedy deletion, articles that do not meet very basic Wikipedia criteria may be deleted at any time. Please see the guidelines for what is generally accepted as an appropriate article, and if you can indicate why the subject of this article is appropriate, you may contest the tagging. To do this, add  on the top of the page and leave a note on the article's talk page explaining your position. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag yourself, but don't hesitate to add information to the article that would confirm its subject's notability under the guidelines.

For guidelines on specific types of articles, you may want to check out our criteria for biographies, for web sites, for bands, or for companies. Feel free to leave a note on my talk page if you have any questions about this. ≈  The Haunted Angel  (The Forest Whispers My Name) 23:34, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

Your account will be renamed
Hello,

The developer team at Wikimedia is making some changes to how accounts work, as part of our on-going efforts to provide new and better tools for our users like cross-wiki notifications. These changes will mean you have the same account name everywhere. This will let us give you new features that will help you edit and discuss better, and allow more flexible user permissions for tools. One of the side-effects of this is that user accounts will now have to be unique across all 900 Wikimedia wikis. See the announcement for more information.

Unfortunately, your account clashes with another account also called Earendill. To make sure that both of you can use all Wikimedia projects in future, we have reserved the name Earendill~enwiki that only you will have. If you like it, you don't have to do anything. If you do not like it, you can pick out a different name. If you think you might own all of the accounts with this name and this message is in error, please visit Special:MergeAccount to check and attach all of your accounts to prevent them from being renamed.

Your account will still work as before, and you will be credited for all your edits made so far, but you will have to use the new account name when you log in.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Yours, Keegan Peterzell Community Liaison, Wikimedia Foundation 23:35, 19 March 2015 (UTC)

Renamed
 This account has been renamed as part of single-user login finalisation. If you own this account you can |log in using your previous username and password for more information. If you do not like this account's new name, you can choose your own using this form after logging in: . -- Keegan (WMF) (talk) 12:24, 22 April 2015 (UTC)

title: User talk:Earendill~enwiki


text:
User talk:Aristides

Welcome to the Wikipedia
I noticed you were new, and wanted to share some links I thought useful:

 * Tutorial
 * Help desk
 * Foundation issues
 * Policy Library

For more information click  here . You can sign your name by typing 4 tildes, like this: ~.

Sam Spade 15:12, 23 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Debunk
Hi, nice job on debunk, I knew it had potential. Do try to sign your name in Vfd discussions. Kappa 23:21, 12 May 2005 (UTC)

Steve Harris
Hey, it's Greg Mitchell from Westview. Never expected I'd run into somebody I knew on Wikipedia. Gregmitch 10:10, 29 August 2006 (UTC)

ArbCom elections are now open!
MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 12:55, 23 November 2015 (UTC)

title: User talk:Aristides


text:
Talk:Scion xB

Merge discussions 2005-2007
It should not merge with the Toyota counterpart. User:NewGuy4

There were significant changes made when it was "Americanized" to the xB so that it would comply with our highway and safety standards. In the same vein, there are factory options available for the bB that aren't available for the xB, AWD, for example. In short, they shouldn't be merged.

OTOH, the significant changes were making it LHD, installing bucket seats, availability of a 5-speed transmission and the addition of a spare tire and jack. The cars roll off of the same production line and most of the parts are interchangeable between the xB and bB. You could take an xB and, given access to Toyota's parts bin, convert it to a bB simply by unbolting and rebolting. I don't see any problem with it being merged.

I disagree with it not being merged
I disagree, as I think it should be merged as they are still the same car, if there is any difference, it should be included in the page

I'm in the 'Don't Merge' Camp
The Scion (car) page isn't merged, nor is the Scion xA. Subterrane 16:37, 26 October 2005 (UTC)

The bB and xB pages should not be merged.
There are many differences between the vehicles, they each should have their own pages.

Original Post
The bB and the xB are different cars; in my opinion, they have enough differences to warrant separate articles. As someone pointed out earlier, the factory options on the two are vastly different, with the bB having many more. Along the same lines, the xB has aftermarket options from Toyota, TRD and third parties that are significantly different from what is available for the xB. Finally, the marketing and sales strategy of the Scion and Toyota brands are very, very different. Just because the article is somewhat of a stub, and the differences aren't apparent from the current article doesn't mean the two are the same - I think the articles need to be expanded, yes, but not merged. I'd expand the xB article, but I'm a tC guy, myself. Just my $0.02. -JoshW 01:32, 20 December 2005 (UTC)

A Few More Thoughts
I have to disagree that this is similar to the 3000GT/GTO situation. The 3000GT and the GTO are the same car, sold by the same company, under the same banner/name, using the same sales tactics. The car is sold in the US as a "Mitsubishi 3000GT". The car is sold in Japan as a "Mitsubishi GTO" (source: Mitsubishi_3000GT). If the car was sold as a Mitsubishi GTO in Japan and a "Brand X" 3000GT in the US, then it would be similar to the xB versus bB situation, in my opinion.

While Scion is a 'marque' of Toyota, it is a separate brand, just as Lexus is. Even if the physical differences between the bB and the xB seem minor, the entire concept of the car, from the accessories to the marketing and sales strategies, etc. are completely different. Preserving the separate articles allows for a more in-depth discussion of the various approaches Scion is taking to marketing and selling the xB, and the subculture they've created via their fairly revolutionary marketing of the xB. Believe it or not, Scion's approach to marketing the xB is being discussed in management and marketing classes at my alma mater. If the bB and xB pages were merged, the 'differences' section would most likely consume most of the article, which would probably only result in arguments over if the article should be split into 2 separate articles or not.

Furthermore, Scion has not ruled out the possibility of making body changes or other changes to the xB in future model years that Toyota does not make on the bB. The target audience of the bB and the xB is different, and as such, Scion and Toyota are maintaining them as separate cars so they can make changes to one and not the other, or take the two in different, but complementary, directions.

JoshW 20:44, 20 December 2005 (UTC)

In the merge camp
The Xb are still the same model as the Bb body wise, so thats still makes them the same car. Just like saying the Mitsubishi 3000GT are different from the GTO, there is a similar arguments as this on the discussion page WilliRennen 17:37, 20 December 2005 (UTC)

Second generation of Toyota bB and Scion xB
The first versions of bB and xB are the same model. But the new Toyota bB(launched Dec.26, 2005) is based on the Daihatsu Sirion(a.k.a.Boon and Toyota Passo), and upcoming new Scion xB will be based on the next generation of Toyota Corolla. -- Anonymous 08:15, 26 December 2005 (UTC)

Merge makes things simpler
This vehicle is a Toyota bB. It was made by Toyota, in a Toyota factory. Scion is just a name, a badge. It doesn't make cars. It is simply a brand to remove American customers away from the idea that they are buying a Japanese car. The articles need to be merged and the title needs to be Toyota bB. If we keep these two separate, and follow that precedent, we will end up with millions of car pages instead of thousands. Imagine if the Toyota Camry were to be split according to badge engineering; we would be faced with over twenty different pages including Gracia, Scepter, Windom, CS-X, Vista... the list goes on. Also it is important that the page is listed under the actual manufacturers name as the precedent set by this would lead to things like the Chevrolet Suburban being listed as a Holden Suburban, simply because in some arbitrary country (Australia) it was released with the Holden badge. It was made by Chevrolet. The bB is a Toyota. Merge for simplicity, badge engineering is complicated enough for consumers without wikipedia jumping on the bandwagon. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Drunkenduncan (talk • contribs) 02:45, 1 November 2007 (UTC)

Merge Conclusion
The conclusion of the merge discussion seems to have been to leave the articles seperate. Accordingly, I have removed the merge tag. Kcordina 15:57, 17 March 2006 (UTC)

Image copyright
The current image in the table is marked as copyrighted and its use is marked as fair use. Apparently, a better alternative copyright-wise can be found here:

; and the same link here in Wikipedia Commons: -Mardus 11:35, 10 May 2006 (UTC)

Transformers
Ha ha, why is this mentioned in the main portion of the article? I'm as big a Transformers nut as anyone, but I hardly think it's relevant to note every vehicle that's had a Transformers toy based on it in that vehicle's description on Wikipedia.

Hey sign your posts and finally the Car appeared everywhere in the Transformers 2007 Film.(TougHHead 01:18, 31 October 2007 (UTC))

I think that it transforms into a refrigerator. Wikifan21century (talk) 03:57, 30 March 2008 (UTC)

Drivetrain
In the American xB, since it isn't AWD... is it FWD or RWD? The page doesn't seem to say, and it's entirely possible for it to be either. Ahanix1989 13:21, 31 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Front Wheel Drive.  ren0  talk 15:39, 31 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Thanks. One more question, just how screwed would someone be in this little plastic box if they were to, say, run a red light and I end up hitting them at 40MPH with my van? ( Pictured:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Dodge_Ram_Van.JPG ) Ahanix1989 04:33, 27 February 2007 (UTC)

Formatting question
Twice now I have tried to fix the 4 edit buttons in the Marketing section. I can't seem to pare them down to one edit link. Anyone (better with wiki obviously) able to fix this? JohnCub 16:10, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

Mini MPV?
It's my understanding that "mini MPV" is a European classification. Why, then, are we applying it to a US-only model? The article already cites a reliable source saying that the car is classed as a small station wagon in the US; shouldn't we follow that classification? Doctor Whom 17:47, 27 February 2007 (UTC)

Has the 2nd Gen xB retained its shape?
I know this may sound crazy, but has it still kept its boxy shape?

 * 1st gen or 2nd gen, that's one UGLY vehicle!

Interwikis
Given the new xB is no longer a rebadged bB, I think it's better to remove the current Japanese interwiki to jp:トヨタ・bB.-- Samuel di  Curtisi  di  Salvadori  21:19, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

Base audio unit
The base unit doesn't offer the option of changing the backlight colors. I don't want to edit the article because I'm not sure about the upgraded unit. I think I read that it has three backlight colors, rather than ten. But I own the car with the base audio unit and the color cannot be changed. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.203.233.54 (talk) 00:09, 22 October 2007 (UTC)

xB nickname is X-Box
I live in L.A. and there are many xBs running around with LCD screens and x-box and playstations plugged into them. Plus doesnt the name xB really stand for xBOX? B for BOX? Anyone else heard this nickname used somewhere else? If there is enough people that heard of the nickname we should put it on the article.

--Neoking (talk) 07:47, 20 March 2008 (UTC)

2004-2007 xb mpg needs to be updated
Because this article compares the fuel consumption of the two xB models, we need to update the 2004-2007 models to 2008 standards. You can find the revised mpg estimates on www.fueleconomy.gov- which rates the 2004-2007 xb as 27/32 (city/hwy, manual transmission) and 26/31 (city/hwy, automatic transmission). The rates listed on this article reflects old standards that cannot be compared to the new xB's. ~estraka —Preceding unsigned comment added by Estraka (talk • contribs) 01:27, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

MPV or Wagon
So is it a combination or something else ? Retroqqq (talk) 15:50, 10 July 2008 (UTC)
 * According to the EPA, it's a station wagon. Doctor Whom (talk) 16:03, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Un-merged articles
I had the Toyota bB and Scion xB articles separated back out. While the 1st Gen vehicles are essentially the same, the 2nd gen vehicles under each name are completely different. Trying to keep clear to the reader that the 2nd gen cars share nothing at all would be needlessly complex. Look at Ford Focus for an example of cars in different markets that started the same and diverged. Improbcat (talk) 20:15, 5 August 2009 (UTC)

no tyre size
information on the tyre size should be in the article. thank you.

2011 Redesign
The xB was somewhat redesigned for the 2011 model year release. It's not as major of a change as the 2008 redesign, but it certainly seems worth noting. I'm going to see if I can rustle something up, but may not get to it for a day or two. IF someone else starts something before then, I'll just add on. Vanyel (talk) 02:58, 14 July 2010 (UTC)
 * There is already a sub-section titled "2011 Refresh." Feel free to modify or add to that section. Bdc101 (talk) 23:08, 14 July 2010 (UTC)

discontinuation
Any truth to rumor discontinuation will occur ?--RichardMills65 (talk) 01:02, 25 April 2012 (UTC)

Initially, it was to be discontinued (http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2012/04/scion-xb-and-xd-to-be-discontinued.html), but recently the new Scion chief has said that the xB and xD will live on (http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2012/12/scion-xb-xd-to-live-on-says-new-brand-boss.html).

Also, does anyone have an update as to when the Scion plants resumed production in the wake of the Fukushima disaster? I'm seeing 2012 and 2013 xBs all over the place (you can tell the 2013s by the clear light lenses where the black fake front fascia vents used to be on the "jowls") in the news, and even quite a few 2012s on the roads. Boomshadow talk contribs 18:44, 19 December 2012 (UTC)

related vs aka
The Toyota bB, Scion xB, Subaru Dex and Daihatsu Materia are all based on the same basic platform. Should these be regarded as variants of the same car (ie list them in the 'aka' field in the infobox) or as merely close relatives (ie list them in the 'related' field in the infobox)? Please answer at Talk:Toyota bB, not here.  Stepho  talk 04:26, 25 July 2012 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just added archive links to 3 one external links on Scion xB. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20130201091102/http://www.iihs.org:80/ratings/tsp_2012.aspx to http://www.iihs.org/ratings/tsp_2012.aspx
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20101106054019/http://www.iihs.org:80/ratings/roof/detailsbyclass.aspx?40 to http://www.iihs.org/ratings/roof/detailsbyclass.aspx?40
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20130412230353/http://autos.sympatico.ca/auto-news/13649/scion-killing-off-xb-xd-models to http://autos.sympatico.ca/auto-news/13649/scion-killing-off-xb-xd-models

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true to let others know.

Cheers.—cyberbot II  Talk to my owner :Online 20:16, 8 January 2016 (UTC)

title: Talk:Scion xB


text:
Reference table

A reference table (or table of reference) may mean a set of references that an author may have cited or gained inspiration from whilst writing an article, similar to a bibliography.

It can also mean an information table that is used as a quick and easy reference for things that are difficult to remember such as comparing imperial with metric measurements. This kind of data is known as reference data.

In the context of database design a reference table is a table into which an enumerated set of possible values of a certain field data type is divested. It is also called a domain table because it represents the domain for the columns that reference it. For example, in a relational database model of a warehouse the entity 'Item' may have a field called 'status' with a predefined set of values such as 'sold', 'reserved', 'out of stock'. In a purely designed database these values would be divested into an extra entity or Reference Table called 'status' in order to achieve database normalisation. The entity 'status' in this case has no true representative in the real world but rather would an exceptional case where the attribute of a certain database entity is divested into its own table. The advantage of doing this is that internal functionality and optional conditions within the database and the software which utilizes it are easier to modify and extend on that particular aspect. Establishing an enterprise-wide view of reference tables is called master data management.

title: Reference table


text:
San Miguel District

San Miguel District may refer to:

 * San Miguel District, Lima, in Peru
 * San Miguel District, San Miguel, Peru
 * San Miguel District, Manila
 * San Miguel District, Paraguay, in Misiones Department, Paraguay
 * San Miguel District, Cañas, in Cañas (canton), Guanacaste province, Costa Rica
 * San Miguel District, Desamparados, in Desamparados (canton), San José province, Costa Rica
 * San Miguel District, Naranjo, in Naranjo (canton), Alajuela province, Costa Rica
 * San Miguel District, Santo Domingo, in the Santo Domingo canton, Heredia province, Costa Rica

title: San Miguel District


text:
Webcor Builders

Webcor is a commercial construction contractor with headquarters in San Francisco, California. The firm also has regional offices in Alameda, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, and Hawaii, and is among the largest builders in California with clients including Google, Apple Inc., Samsung, Genentech, Brookfield Properties, University of California, Oracle Corporation, the California Academy of Sciences, eBay and Electronic Arts. It has been part of Obayashi since 2007.

History
1971: Webcor was founded by Bill Wilson, Ross Edwards, Dave Boyd, and Miller Ream (the CO comes from "company") in San Mateo, California. For the entirety of their tenure, Ross Edwards and Dave Boyd would take turns being President and CEO.

1972: Webcor built its first project POP1 in San Mateo.

1985: Rich Lamb (who would eventually go on to become the COO before retiring at the end of 2014) was hired to lead self-performed interior construction. His work would eventually solidify Webcor's reputation as a self-performing general contractor.

1987: Webcor built its first high-rise project with condominium project Museum Parc in San Francisco.

1991: Webcor entered public works with a new theater at Watsonville High School and the parking garage at the Hayward BART station.

1994: The founders merged with AJ Ball in to solidify financial strength and diversify their resume for future higher-profile project pursuits.

1996: Oracle World HQ in Redwood City, California - the company's first project with a high-profile, visible client.

1999: Webcor Concrete was formed as a separate division that could take on work as a concrete subcontractor. Webcor Concrete’s first project, Seaport Plaza in Redwood City, was completed in December 2000.

2000: Andy Ball became CEO after the founders retired, and began to expand the business beyond the Bay Area. Webcor opened offices in Los Angeles and San Diego.

2002:The Lucas Digital Arts campus for Star Wars filmmaker George Lucas was, at the time, the largest and most complex project Webcor ever undertook, located in the Presidio of San Francisco.

2005: The California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco was built, becoming the first LEED Double-Platinum museum in the world, as well as the largest Double-Platinum building.

2007: Webcor was acquired by the Japanese construction giant Obayashi for even more financial stability and opportunities to pursue larger and more complex work.

2010: Webcor-Obayashi JV broke ground on the Transbay Transit Center. Once completed, the Center will revolutionize public transit in the Bay Area. The City of San Francisco also hopes that the Center will eventually be a stop on the proposed California high-speed rail system.

2012: Jes Pedersen was promoted to CEO with a plan to diversify and expand Webcor's portfolio and continue growth into new markets, broader product types, and a wider range of clients.

2013: Webcor became the only California-based General Contractor to have its quality management systems certified against the ISO 9001 quality standards.

Notable projects
Webcor has built or is building many notable projects throughout California and has been featured on the Discovery Channel's Extreme Engineering series for the California Academy of Sciences replacement project in Golden Gate Park. The firm's portfolio includes:

 * SFMOMA Expansion, San Francisco
 * California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco
 * Cathedral of Christ the Light, Downtown Oakland
 * Moscone Center Expansion, San Francisco
 * Salesforce Transit Center, San Francisco
 * The Century, Century City
 * Millennium Tower (San Francisco), San Francisco
 * The Infinity, San Francisco
 * Foundry Square, San Francisco
 * Hollywood Park Retail Development, Los Angeles
 * Columbia Square Living, Hollywood
 * Metropolis, Los Angeles
 * 960 W 7th Street, Los Angeles (scheduled completion 2022)
 * The W Hotel & Residences, Hollywood
 * The Hotel & Residences at L.A. Live, Los Angeles
 * InterContinental Hotel San Francisco
 * W Hotel San Francisco
 * St. Regis Museum Tower, San Francisco
 * San Francisco General Hospital Rebuild Program, San Francisco
 * Guam Naval Hospital Replacement Project, Guam
 * UCSF Wayne and Gladys Valley Center for Vision on Block 33, San Francisco
 * California Memorial Stadium seismic and program improvement project, Berkeley
 * University of California, Merced Expansion, Merced
 * Letterman Digital Arts Center, Presidio of San Francisco
 * Symantec campus, Culver City, California
 * IMax Corporation Headquarters, Playa Vista

title: Webcor Builders


text:
Caught Up (Usher song)

"Caught Up" is a song by American singer Usher. It was written by Ryan Toby, Andre Harris, Vidal Davis and Jason Boyd, and produced by Dre & Vidal for Usher's 2004 album, Confessions. The song was released as the fifth and final single from the album on January 3, 2005. The single peaked at number eight in the United States, the only single released from Confessions not to top the Billboard Hot 100, and number nine on in the United Kingdom. "Caught Up" also reached the top 20 in Australia, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, and New Zealand. It received positive reviews from contemporary critics.

Background and release
Although Usher "didn't look too far" when starting working on his fourth studio album Confessions and decided to "continue building" with previous producers, he branched out with several musical collaborators. Usher enlisted Philadelphia producers Andre "Dre" Harris and Vidal Davis of Dre & Vidal, along with other musical collaborators. During the sessions, Usher asked them to create a "real up-tempo beat". When they worked on the track, they partied the whole time which Dre considered a "partly record". He recalled, "We had some women, some drinks, some music." After Dre created the beat, they decided to "make sure the mood was inspiring during recording." They went to club to take a break, and played the song in Usher's truck while on the way. Usher felt the collaboration was pleasing, seeing other people responded positively to the song.

"Caught Up" was the fifth and final single from Confessions. The song impacted US rhythmic contemporary and urban radio on January 3, 2005, and it was added to contemporary hit radio on January 11, 2005, alongside a remix featuring rapper Fabolous. It was also released in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom on February 21, 2005, and on March 8 in Germany. The Germany release contains the album version of the song, three of its remixes and the single's music video.

Reception
"Caught Up" received positive reviews from contemporary critics. Andrew McGregor of BBC called the song "meaty" and "hip-grinding". Jon Caramanica of Blender magazine referred to the song like a "Southern marching band performing late-'80s R&B". He characterized Usher's voice playing like a rhythm instruments. Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine complimented Dre and Vidal for producing an old-sounding music without sampling records, calling it "super-tight" alongside "Follow Me", another song from the album. Andy Kellman of Allmusic complimented the song as one of Usher's best moments in the album, together with "Burn". Kelefa Sanneh of The New York Times called it a "thunderous song" from the album, adding that it gave Usher "a chance to do two of the things he does best: strut and pander".

Chart performance
"Caught Up" did not live up to the chart-topping performances of Confessions' previous four releases. In the United States, the single debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 76. It peaked at number eight for two non-consecutive weeks, 15 weeks after its release. "Caught Up" was the only single to not top the Hot 100 compared to the album's four previous releases. The single stayed on the Hot 100 for 27 weeks.

Outside the United States, responses from music markets were relatively similar. "Caught Up" debuted and peaked at number nine on the United Kingdom, remaining on the chart for also nine weeks. It reached number 10 in the Netherlands and under top ten on the rest of European countries; much lesser in Finland where it only stayed for one week compared to other charts, remaining for several weeks. In Australia and New Zealand, the single reached numbers 15 and 12, respectively.

Music video
The music video for "Caught Up" was directed by Mr. X, who was behind the laser light treatment of Usher's 2004 video "Yeah!". The video shows Usher and friends riding a car while heading to his live performance. On the way, they fist fight after Usher saves a woman from an antagonist. Usher realizes he is supposed to perform, and finally goes to the venue. The video ends with Usher performing the song in front of a large crowd. The music video debuted on MTV's Total Request Live on January 10, 2005, at number 10. The video remained on the countdown for thirty-four days.

The music video on YouTube has received over 40 million views as of May 2024.

title: Caught Up (Usher song)