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Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga

Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga is a duology of role-playing video games developed by Atlus for the PlayStation 2. They are a spin-off of the Megami Tensei series. The first Digital Devil Saga was released in Japan in 2004, North America in 2005, and Europe in 2006. Its direct sequel, Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga 2, released in 2005 in Japan and North America, and 2007 in Europe and Australasia. The games were published in Europe and Australasia by Ghostlight and in other regions by Atlus and its North American subsidiary Atlus USA.

Digital Devil Saga follows the Embryon, a tribe who fights against five other tribes in a digital world called the Junkyard. After being infected with a demon virus that grants them demonic powers, the Embryon must fight with and devour the other tribes to ascend to "Nirvana". During the conflict, they shelter a woman named Sera, who has the power to calm their demonic powers. In Digital Devil Saga 2, having escaped into the devastated real world, the Embryon are caught up in the fight against the Karma Society, who are intimately linked to the source of the disaster. The gameplay of both titles feature third-person navigation of playable characters around to-scale environments, and turn-based gameplay against demonic monsters and human enemies.

Digital Devil Saga began development pre-2002 under the working title New Goddess. The game's concept and original draft were written by Japanese author Yu Godai, who collaborated with Atlus scriptwriter Tadashi Satomi until withdrawing from the project for health issues. The gameplay concept of characters transforming into demons was based on an unused idea for Shin Megami Tensei. The second game began development immediately after the first, with the main development effort going into refining and improving the gameplay. While their commercial performances varied, both games were heavily praised by critics for their story, graphics and gameplay. Since release, the game has inspired a mobile prequel, and Godai wrote a series of novels based on her original premise for the story.

Gameplay
In the Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga role-playing games, players take control of the characters Serph, Heat, Argilla, Gale and Cielo, with the characters Sera and Roland becoming playable in Digital Devil Saga 2. These characters are able to transform into a demon form, which is their main form in battle. Characters navigate to-scale environments, fighting enemies in both random encounters and story-focused boss battles. After each battle, experience points are awarded to characters. Character abilities are governed by Mantra Grids, a system where Mantras are bought using the in-game currency Macca, then mastering them using Atma Points gained from defeated enemies. The maximum number of abilities that a character can learn is eight. If two or more characters equip a certain ability, they can perform a stronger version of it through a combo. Each character can learn abilities from one of four categories: Physical, Magic, Shield and Auto.

The Digital Devil Saga games use a turn-based battle system, with three allied characters fighting in battle. Both player characters and enemies are governed by a mechanic called the Press Turn system: each character has a symbol representing a turn. The character can forfeit a turn to allow the next character an action; turns cannot be passed more than once. If an enemy's weakness is exploited or a character lands a critical hit, an extra turn is gained; if a character resists an attack, a turn is lost. In Digital Devil Saga 2, characters will sometimes enter battle in a half-transformed "berserk" mode, which increases attack power while locking away magic skills and lowering a character's defense. While battle is focused around strengthening characters' demon forms, they can also fight in their human forms using conventional weapons, and can equip ammunition. A human character can perform a combo with one in demon form. The magic system uses nine magic attributes. Ice and Lightning magic have a chance of causing the "freeze" and "stun" status, while Expel magic reduces an enemy's hit points by a certain percentage, and Death magic causes an instant kill. Status magic can inflict status effects on enemies.

Each time a character's experience level raises, they receive stat boosts. While the protagonist can assign stat points at will, the other main characters each have certain specializations. Money is also dropped, which can be used to buy supplies from merchants. Atma is gained after each battle, but a greater amount is gained from eating enemies. If an enemy is "frightened", the amount of Atma is further increased. Characters can also be afflicted with a status ailment if they overeat. In Digital Devil Saga 2, special Karma Ring items can be assigned to characters to grant stat boosts. Fitting different gems dropped from defeated enemies granting specific stat boosts and effects. Effects range from granting free status buffs on the player party to casting ailments on enemies. Importing save data from the first game enables some skills and abilities learned during the first game to be transferred to the characters that learned them.

Setting and characters
The first Digital Devil Saga takes place in the Junkyard, a combat simulator program where it always rains. Throughout the story, a conflict takes place between six tribes: the Embryon, Vanguards, Solids, Maribel, Brutes and Wolves. Each tribe holds a particular territory, and initially are devoid of emotions: the only common ground is a great tower at the Junkyard's center called the Karma Temple, which acts as a meeting place for all the tribe leaders. The following game is set on Earth, which has been devastated by a phenomenon known as the "Black Sun", a manifestation of God's anger. The survivors of humanity are ruled by the Karma Society.

The main protagonists of the Digital Devil Saga duology are silent protagonist Serph (サーフ), leader of the Embryon; and Sera (セラ), a woman who can commune with God. The other Embryon are the kind Argilla (アルジラ); the hot-tempered Heat (ヒート) the light-hearted Cielo (シエロ); and the highly logical Gale (ゲイル). The main antagonist is Angel (エンジェル), who is Sera's intersexual biological parent. In Digital Devil Saga 2, two new main characters are introduced: Roland, the alcoholic leader of the Lokapala resistance group; and Madame Margot Cuvier, head of the Karma Society. All the main characters barring Cuvier become infected with the demon virus, a condition that causes them to turn into demonic beings and lust after human flesh.

Plot
During a border skirmish between the Embryon and the Vanguards, a demon virus is introduced that infects everyone in the Junkyard: branded with a mark representing their "Atma" and gradually awakening to basic emotions, the people of the Junkyard must devour their foes to satiate their demonic hunger or risk going berserk. Sera, a so-called cyber shaman, arrives suffering from amnesia and is taken in by the Embryon, revealing herself capable of calming their hunger with her singing. The Embryon first become conscious of their new powers when they meet the surviving Vanguards: during their time there, they are forced to kill the Vanguards' leader Harley. Serph is then summoned to the Karma Temple along with the surviving tribe leaders. Once they are assembled there, a female being calling itself Angel orders the tribes to conquer their neighbors and ascend the Temple's tower to "Nirvana", bringing Sera as proof of their achievements. The Embryon decide to ally with the Maribel as a means of defeating the stronger tribes.

After gaining the trust of the Maribel's leader Jinana, they are betrayed by her second-in-command Bat, who allies with the Brutes along with the Solids' leader Mick. Jinana, having refused to eat as she needed to, goes berserk and must be killed. The Solids then capture Sera, leading the Embryon into a fight to the death against Mick. They also successfully trick the Brutes' forces and Bat into a booby-trapped ship, killing them. During this time, the Wolves are subdued by the Brutes, whose leader Varin has awakened memories of a former life where he was known as "Colonel Beck", and unsuccessfully attempted to persuade Angel to release him from the Junkyard. With help from the Wolves' deposed leader Lupa, the Embryon infiltrate the Brutes' castle, but Lupa is killed after going berserk. Later, the Embryon end up fighting Varin, who accuses Sera of being a monster before he dies. Sera regains her memories and runs to the Karma Temple with the Embryon in pursuit. There, Sera faces the human form of Angel, who threatens to delete the Junkyard with a computer virus if Sera does not return to the real world with her. The Embryon arrive and successfully fight Angel, but in the process release the computer virus. The Embryon, Sera and Angel only just escape as the Junkyard is destroyed.

In Digital Devil Saga 2, the Embryon appear in the real world, which is slowly being destroyed by the Black Sun: the only ones able to survive the sun's rays are those infected with the demon virus. Serph, Cielo, Argilla and Gale learn that Sera is the captive of Angel and Madame Cuvier at the Karma Society headquarters. With the help of Roland and a young boy named Fred, the group infiltrate the Karma Society's building. While they attempt to rescue Serah, Angel plans to subvert Cuvier and use the demon virus to create a society ruled by the strong. The Embryon are also faced by Heat, who is working with Cuvier on the promise of Sera's safety. Reaching the EGG, a man-made replica of God, the party rescue Sera, but Heat appears and seems to kill Serph. Both fall into the EGG, and God begins absorbing the Earth's data: in the chaos, Angel kills Cuvier, while the remaining Embryon and Sera, now able to assume a demon form herself, shut down the Power Plant in an unsuccessful attempt to stop the EGG. In the process, both Roland and Argilla are killed by a powerful demon. Returning to the EGG so Sera can speak with God, they are confronted by Heat, who has fused with the EGG and gone berserk. Inside the EGG, Serph is met by a higher being calling itself Schrödinger, who reveals the truth about what happened.

The Karma Society was founded to study God, who was losing faith in humanity due to their behavior. Sera was the only survivor of a group of children with the ability to communicate with God. To hide from the pain of the experiments, Sera created an artificial environment populated by benign versions of Karma Society staff: this environment was redesigned to become the Junkyard and the artificial beings would become its five tribes. The original Serph manipulated Sera and his team for his own ends while the original Heat attempted to protect her. When Sera saw Serph killing Heat while linked to the EGG, God felt her pain and attacked Earth. The original Serph was overwhelmed by a flood of data and became a demon before being killed. Now knowing the truth, Serph escapes from the EGG, killing Heat in the process. Sera then decides to head for a secondary Karma facility to communicate with God: on the way, Gale dies while killing Angel, and Cielo sacrifices himself so Sera and Serph can reach the transmission site. As Sera begins transmission, the base is destroyed, killing her and Serph. Their data travels to the sun—the physical manifestation of God—and merges into a new being called Seraph. Aided by the data avatars of the Embryon, Seraph fights God's avatar to prove humanity's worth. Upon victory, Seraph achieves enlightenment and travels with Schrödinger to new worlds, while God restores the sun and Earth. At the game's end, it is shown that the Embryon, Angel, and aspects of Sera and Serph have reincarnated, with a grown Fred acting as their caretaker.

Development
Production on the initial Digital Devil Saga started prior to the beginning of active development on Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne in 2002. During production, it was known under the working title New Goddess. The project was formed in part to make the Megami Tensei series accessible to a broader audience while staying true to its roots. The games were directed by Katsura Hashino, a new director who had worked in lesser roles in previous Megami Tensei titles. The design director was Makoto Kitano, while the movie director was Ichiroh Itano, a noted anime director. Itano was responsible for storyboarding and character movement choreography. The team was divided into multiple divisions, each in charge of different aspects of the game's design. The battle system was taken from that used in Nocturne, but with elements added to both differentiate it from other Megami Tensei games and incorporate the game's themes. During development of Digital Devil Saga, the team were faced with repeated problems with fitting the entire experience on a single DVD: the amount of data was estimated to be two times that of Nocturne.

The original story was written by Japanese novelist Yu Godai. She was contacted in 2000 by Atlus through her then-publisher Kadokawa Shoten about collaborating on a video game scenario, something entirely new to her. Her submitted proposal for Digital Devil Saga was accepted, and she temporarily moved to Tokyo to work with Atlus on refining the project. During her time on the project, she collaborated with Tadashi Satomi, who had previously written scripts for the first three Persona games. Godai wrote her outline on the basis that both books and video games had stories broken into chapters, writing up the story up to the first boss battle in short story form to get a sense of the narrative and lore. Ultimately, due to a number of factors including health problems and disliking living in Tokyo, Godai left the project. Satomi's role as story writer for the duology necessitated discussions with other teams assigned to the game. Due to characters having dialogue in the field, the team needed to have extensive notes prepared.

Production of Digital Devil Saga 2 began immediately after the release of the first game. To tease it prior to its official announcement, a large number of unfinished plot threads and vague hints relating to the main characters' previous lives were incorporated into the first game. For Digital Devil Saga 2, the team expanded upon the systems implemented in the first game. Due to extra features added, the team sometimes felt that they could not fit it all on a single disc. The main priority was to ensure smooth motion and a quick transfer into battles and cutscenes. The game's setting was inspired in Satomi's mind by the frequent reporting of natural disasters and outbreaks of diseases around the world. Another theme he incorporated was the inherent contradiction of wanting to avoid violence while being forced to fight others in order to survive. According to Satomi, while the first game's motif was "rain", the second game's was "sun". Itano returned to his role as storyboarder and movement choreographer. A large amount of work was done to refine the gameplay experience, such as opening up the character customization system. The team used player feedback from the first game's systems to make their adjustments. For both games, Atlus received additional development support for artwork assets from Kusanagi Corporation.

Character design
The character and demon designs were done by regular series artist Kazuma Kaneko. At the start, Kaneko was given the instruction to give the characters tribal uniforms instead of normal clothes, and an Atma tattoo somewhere on their body to signify their demon power. The uniforms signified their eternal conflict within the Junkyard. To help bring individuality to the main characters, Kaneko create slight variations in them, such as giving them hoods or capes. The grey tribal uniforms were created so the main characters' key colors would stand out. Serph, as the player character and silent protagonist, was given few personality traits and designed with a stern expression. The aspect that separated him from other silent protagonist within the Megami Tensei series was that his name was spoken by the other characters rather than chosen by the player. To emphasize the fact that the world of Digital Devil Saga was unlike the typical setting for Megami Tensei titles, he gave all the characters hair and eye colors that would be naturally impossible in the real world. The only one not to have a strange hair color was Sera, signifying her unique status. The characters' demon forms were designed to be animal-like, signifying their urge to eat. They were given prominent mouths as demons, as the idea was that they would eat their foes when in demon form. Their eyes were removed as they stood out too much. Each character was designed around a specific elemental theme, which both flowed into the gameplay and matched an individual's personality: an example of this is Heat, who has an angry personality and uses Fire as his primary element.

Kaneko was the first to propose the game's concept, which was then worked on by other staff members. The initial game's themes were defined as "awakening" and "change", referenced in how the characters gradually awoke to their emotions and the static environment of the Junkyard was drastically changed. The Junkyard was designed to emphasize the desperation of the characters during their awakening. The concept behind the demon transformations originated during the development of Shin Megami Tensei. Kaneko, who worked on Shin Megami Tensei, had wanted the game's Chaos Hero to regularly switch between his human and demon forms. The idea did not appear in the finished game, but eventually reemerged and became the base for Digital Devil Saga's gameplay. The game's character models were created based on development knowledge from Nocturne. Creating the models proved difficult due to the need to extensively use level of detail while staying true to Kaneko's distinctive designs. While Nocturne was defined by its "static" feel, the team wanted Digital Devil Saga to have a feeling of motion to contrast Nocturne. Makoto Kitano was responsible for creating 3D representations of the game's demons, A noted element was the design of Cerberus, which combined elements of the three-headed version first designed for Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers and the shape of sharks. One of the additional challenges was the fact that it was the first Megami Tensei title to feature extensive voice acting, inspired by the need to fully express the game's themes and story. Before the official voice actors were cast, Atlus staff provided the characters' voices. Due to the wish to appeal to a wider audience than previous Megami Tensei games, the proposed amount of violence and graphic imagery was cut down.

Music
The music for Digital Devil Saga was composed by Shoji Meguro, who had previously worked on multiple Megami Tensei games, with some additional tracks for the first game being written by Kenichi Tsuchiya. While he had previously been restricted in his music quality by the limited storage space of the CD medium, Meguro was able to play half the tracks using real-time streaming. Using the software, Meguro was able to fit in high-quality music alongside the sound effects and voice track. Nevertheless, he needed to make some compromises on tracks.

For the first game, Meguro made heavy use of guitar-based rock music, taking his inspiration from music of the 1960s and 70s. It was meant to represent the vicious new nature of the environment, and of how the main protagonists gradually awoke to their humanity. Tsuchiya was in charge of environmental tracks that deviated from the normal layout and feel of the Junkyard. The game's battle theme, "Hunting", was originally going to be the boss theme, but its instrumentation was considered to be wrong and so it was changed to the normal battle theme. For the second game, Meguro changed the original's dark tone to give it a harsher feel and techno instrumentation, reflecting the state of the real world and clashing with the views of the main characters. He also reached out to an external firm to help with fitting in more complicated tracks with less loops, getting around some of the limitations he faced with the first game.

Multiple theme songs were created for the games. The first game's opening theme, "Pray", was sung by Sera's voice actress Houko Kuwashima. "Pray" also formed the core musical theme for the games. For the North American version, the opening theme was changed to "Danger", composed by electronic band Etro Anime. The song, described as a "melancholy track", was designed to blend with the constant rain of the Junkyard. The opening theme for Digital Devil Saga 2 was "Alive": it was written by Meguro, sung by Kayoko Momota, and had backing vocals by Yumi Kawamura. The ending theme song is "Time Capsule" by Japanese singer-songwriter As. The song was used in television commercials advertising the game in Japan, and was the singer's debut single.

Release
Digital Devil Saga was first announced in the Japanese director's cut version of Nocturne in February 2004. The game's formal title had only been decided upon shortly before its reveal. As part of the game's promotion in Japan, entertainer and model Mayuko Iwasa appeared in live-action advertisements in the role of Sera, and promoted the game at events. An eight-megabyte PlayStation 2 memory card was sold that featured artwork of Serph and his demon form. Digital Devil Saga 2 was officially announced at the 2004 Tokyo Game Show. To promote Digital Devil Saga 2, a special DVD containing selected music tracks and movie material was created as an over-the-counter giveaway for the initial print of the game. Both Digital Devil Saga games were re-released by Atlus in 2006 as part of their "Atlus Best Collection" budget release series.

Digital Devil Saga was officially announced for the west at the 2004 Electronic Entertainment Expo for release in the winter of that year. It was subsequently delayed into 2005, and a deluxe edition which would include a box for containing both Digital Devil Saga games was announced as a consolation. The second game's release window was officially announced at the 2005 Electronic Entertainment Expo, to be published in North America by Atlus USA. The game arrived in stores in North America a week earlier than originally scheduled. Both Digital Devil Saga games were published in Europe by Ghostlight.

As the original version featured a cast of well-known anime voice actors, the Atlus USA localization team sought out well-known English voice actors for the dub, and took extra care with syncing the English dialogue with the original characters' lip movements. Digital Devil Saga was the first Megami Tensei project to feature an extensive voice acting element. During localization, localization project manager Yu Namba made a spelling error during one of the early cutscenes where the name of Serph's demon form was shown: the demon's name was displayed as "Varna", when it was actually "Varuna". The error was not spotted until it was too late, and so remained in the game. One of the main concerns was to keep the characters' personalities intact when shifting from Japanese to English dialogue: a cited example of how this change was accomplished was Cielo, who was given a Jamaican accent to express the character's easy-going and friendly personality. After the release of Nocturne, the "Shin Megami Tensei" moniker was attached to the Digital Devil Saga games to help with marketing.

Reception
By the end of 2004, the first game sold 153,421 units in Japan, coming in at the 81st best-selling title in Japan for that year. The second game sold 90,812 units in Japan by the end of 2005, becoming the 144th best-selling game for 2005. Digital Devil Saga did not manage to meet its projected sales targets in Japan, and contributed to the company's console division posting a substantial loss for the 2004/2005 financial year, resulting in several staff members being laid off. According to a representative of Atlus USA, the games' sales performances in 2005 were "absolutely fabulous". In Europe, it was stated by its publisher that the first game had sold above expectations in the region. Speaking in 2013, a Ghostlight representative said that the Digital Devil Saga duology had "met with great success" in Europe. Upon their re-release on PlayStation Network, the games appeared in the top ten rankings in North America and Europe.

Digital Devil Saga received positive critical reception: aggregate sites GameRankings and Metacritic show ratings of 80% and 78/100 respectively. General praise went to the story, characters and gameplay. The high difficulty, issues with repetition and pacing, and the cliffhanger ending drew criticism. Famitsu cited the game's significant shift away from the hardcore mechanics of the main series, positively noting the freedom of character customization. The reviewer for 1UP.com, despite missing the demon fusion systems from earlier Megami Tensei titles, thoroughly enjoyed the game, calling it "a great Final Fantasy alternative". Jeremy Dunham of IGN said that "Despite its repetition and unfinished storyline, [Digital Devil Saga] still has plenty to like", citing its plot and battle system. GameSpot's Bethany Massimilla said that Digital Devil Saga's combat and world design made it a compelling title worthy of the Shin Megami Tensei moniker. RPGamer's Derek Cavin said that Digital Devil Saga "manages to be a good game, despite its flaws". Eurogamer's Rob Fahey said that players expecting a traditional role-playing game would be disappointed, while stating that Digital Devil Saga delivered a generally positive impression while avoiding many cliches of the RPG genre. John McCarroll of RPGFan generally enjoyed his time with the game despite issues with camera control, praising the positive mixture of gameplay and story elements.

Digital Devil Saga 2 received an even better reception: its aggregate scores from GameRankings and Metacritic were 83% and 83/100 respectively. While critics generally cited a necessity for knowledge of the first game, the story and gameplay were generally cited as an improvement over the original. Famitsu was again fairly positive, enjoying the story and characters, while also noting the accommodations for first-time players. Dengeki PlayStation was highly positive about the game, praising its story and gameplay additions, though saying that the two games were a little too similar, and that people who had not played the first game would be confused by the story and character relations. 1UP.com's Shane Bettenhausen said that while the game shared many similarities with its predecessor, it was not as repetitive as other games such as the .hack series, and was still a good game. Masimilla said that Digital Devil Saga 2 had managed to realize the first game's storytelling ambitions, enjoying the experience despite noting some design flaws. Fahey said that the game was "everything that an excellent sequel should be", generally praising its mechanical and narrative improvements over Digital Devil Saga. Cavin said that it improved on nearly every aspect of the original game, recommending it to players of RPGs. McCarroll said "[Digital Devil Saga 2] is easily the finest game I've had a chance to play this year and stands to be one of the great games of this generation".

Legacy
In its reviews, RPGFan named both Digital Devil Saga games as "Editor's Choice". In 2011, Digital Devil Saga and its sequel Digital Devil Saga 2 ended up topping the site's "Top 20 RPGs of the Last Decade" list. Kurt Kalata, writing for 1UP.com in an article concerning the controversial content of the Megami Tensei series, made mention of Digital Devil Saga due to its examination of the ethics of eating others to survive.

A manga spin-off of Digital Devil Saga titled Digital Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner - Shinen no Matou was published in Japan in 2005 by Jive. The manga revolves around a separate group of characters within the Junkyard. A five-volume light novels series titled Quantum Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner (クォンタムデビルサーガ　アバタールチューナー) have been authored by Yu Godai in 2011. While she had left the project early, her contract with Atlus enabled her to write her own work based on the premise. The novels are Yu's alternate take on her own story, redone without any of the restrictions involved with a video game narrative.

Digital Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner: A's TEST Server (デジタル・デビル・サーガ アバタール・チューナー A's TEST Server), a mobile role-playing game, was developed by Interactive Brains for mobile phones and published by Atlus and Bbmf through the Megaten α service. Using gameplay systems similar to the console games, the story is an original narrative set within the Digital Devil Saga universe: when Serph awakens in an enormous tower with no memories, he and the other Embryon must explore the towers with Sera's help to recover his memories.

title: Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga


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Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Dillon doyle

 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. JeremyA 04:09, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Dillon doyle
Blatant vanity is not (unfortunately) a criterion for speedy delete, so here we are. He's a "pretty good" student and does "alright" in chemistry. Please applaud, then delete. Denni ☯ 01:49, 2005 Jun 3 (UTC)
 * applauds, Delete. NeoJustin 02:42 June 3, 2004
 * Delete, vanity. --bainer (talk) 03:03, 3 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete -- Spelling. Is spelling a criterion? Vanity then. --Tysto 03:22, 2005 Jun 3 (UTC)
 * Delete vanity. JamesBurns 09:23, 3 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete all vanity. Mgm|(talk) 11:34, Jun 3, 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete high school vanity. --Etacar11 15:32, 3 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete - His arch enamy (sic) seems to be the English language, not French. OnwardToGolgotha 15:57, 3 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete. That's right, every award!!!!11one 216.158.31.195 17:18, 3 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep Unlike others I do not see any spelling errors. I also don't think this is vanity. It is clearly an artical about a vital piece of SLP history!!!
 * (unsigned comment by Dmoney45 who has previously vandalized and blanked this page --Etacar11 04:00, 17 Jun 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 .

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


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Jack of the United States

The jack of the United States, referred to as the Union Jack  by the U.S. Navy, is a maritime jack flag flown on the bow of U.S. vessels that are moored or anchored. In addition to commissioned U.S. Navy ships, the jack is used by the U.S. Coast Guard, the Military Sealift Command, the ships of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and other U.S. government entities. While anchored or moored, the jack is flown on the bow of a ship, and the ensign (which for the U.S. Navy is the national flag) is flown on the stern. Once under way, the jack is lowered.

The Union Jack was adopted on June 14, 1777,  alongside the U.S. national flag itself. Since then, the jack has essentially consisted of the canton of the national flag, with each star added to the national flag being added to the Union Jack also.

It is widely held that, before the Union Jack, the jack of the United States was the First Navy Jack. The exact historical appearance of this flag is disputed, but it is displayed today by the Navy bearing a rattlesnake and motto. During the last several decades, the Union Jack has sometimes been temporarily removed from use—such as from 1975 to 1976, when the First Navy Jack was flown for the U.S. Bicentennial; in 2000, when submarines and submarine tenders flew a special jack for the hundredth anniversary of the first commissioned U.S. Navy submarine; and for all warships from 2002 to 2019, when the Navy flew the First Navy Jack for the Global War on Terrorism.

The oldest commissioned warship in active U.S. naval status (that is, having the longest total period in active status) that is not the USS Constitution (technically the oldest commissioned ship in the U.S. Navy but is only used for ceremonial purposes) or the USS Pueblo (captured by North Korea in 1968 and is still commissioned in the U.S. Navy; it is currently a museum ship) flies the First Navy Jack, and is the only active U.S. warship that flies a different jack than the Union Jack. Currently, this ship is USS Blue Ridge (LCC-19).

History
For most of U.S. history, the primary jack design has been the blue canton with stars (the "union") from the U.S. national ensign. The blue fielded, white-starred jack is referred to as the "Union Jack," not to be confused with the Union Jack of the United Kingdom, which has the same name but a different design. Like the U.S. ensign, the number of stars on the jack correspond with the number of constituent states the U.S. has. Rules for flying the jack are similar to the national ensign, except that the jack is only flown at the bow when the ship is anchored, made fast or alongside.

The only written description of the Navy Jack dating from the American Revolutionary war is a January 1776 document titled Signals for the American Fleet by Commodore Esek Hopkins. Hopkins discusses "the strip'd jack" and a "striped flag" as symbols of the Continental Navy. No snake nor field of stars is mentioned, though the exact appearance of these flags is not known. A print of American ships from August 1776 shows one ship flying a striped flag and another the Pine Tree Flag, both from the stern, the customary place for a national ensign.

The 48 star version of the Union Jack flag became official in 1912 after Arizona and New Mexico became states. Throughout WWI and WWII, and until 1959 the Union Jack flag consisted of 48 stars.

From September 11, 2002, the U.S. Navy made use of the so-called First Navy Jack. However, the standard U.S. jack (i.e. 50 white stars alternative in columns of four and five defacing a blue field) continued to be used as the jack by vessels of U.S. federal agencies such as the U.S. Coast Guard, the Military Sealift Command and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Corps and by U.S. civilian ships and by U.S. yachts. The majority of the U.S. Navy's warships returned to using the U.S. Union Jack on June 4, 2019.

The jack is flown from the jackstaff from 08:00 to sunset while U.S. Navy ships are moored or at anchor. It is required to be the same size as the union of the ensign being flown from the stern of the ship. It is also flown from the yardarm during a general court-martial or court of inquiry. During times when the ensign is at half mast, the jack is also at half mast. The jack is hoisted smartly and lowered ceremoniously in the same manner as the ensign, however the jack is not dipped when the ensign is dipped.

Some other exceptions to the use of the U.S. Union Jack have occurred in the case of the U.S. Navy, the most prominent being the use of the First Navy Jack by the U.S. Navy in honor of the U.S. founding's bicentennial and for other uses subsequently. For example, following the Bicentennial, in August 1980, use of the First Navy Jack was granted to the active commissioned ship having the longest total period of front-line operational service, said use to be in place of the Union Jack until that ship was decommissioned or transferred to inactive status, whereupon the next such ship in seniority inherits the honor of its use. This use is limited to the oldest "commissioned" naval vessel (i.e., an all-military United States Ship [ ship prefix USS] versus a part-military/part-civilian crewed United States Naval Ship [ship prefix USNS]) in front-line operational service.

On June 3, 1999, the Secretary of the Navy also authorized the flying of the Submarine Centennial Jack on all U.S. Navy submarines and submarine tenders during 2000.

On February 21, 2019, the Chief of Naval Operations directed that U.S. Navy warships fly the U.S. jack again beginning on June 4, 2019. The oldest active U.S. warship flies the First Navy Jack; that ship has been USS Blue Ridge (LCC-19) since 2014.

title: Jack of the United States


text:
Wikipedia:Requests for comment/68.170.0.238

In order to remain listed at Requests for comment, at least two people need to show that they tried to resolve a dispute with this user and have failed. This must involve the same dispute, not different disputes. The persons complaining must provide evidence of their efforts, and each of them must certify it by signing this page with ~. If this does not happen within 48 hours of the creation of this dispute page (which was: {insert UTC timestamp with }), the page will be deleted. The current date and time is:, 29 July 2024 (UTC).

 * (68.170.0.238 | talk | contributions) (more commonly known as the "Stop Drinking Soda" vandal)

Statement of the dispute
User:68.170.0.238, aka Andrew Lin, Andrew P Lin, KellyClarksonTV, 128.2.247.44, 128.2.247.60, 24.53.252.190 (and possibly others, I'll call him "Andrew" as that is his real name) has persistently, blatantly, and openly violated Wikipedia's NPOV policy by posting and editing articles covering a wide range of topics, but most often deal with soda, sugar, various non-existent addictions, and batteries. He has posted several vanity articles as well, and has altered and vandalized VFDs on his articles. Despite promises to Jersyko and RickK that he would stop making such edits, he has persisted, and has been blocked from editing numerous times. No amount of reasoning or blocking has changed his behavior.

Description
Andrew has been editing Wikipedia since at least April 6, 2005. He is, by his own admission, on a crusade to eradicate soda from the world (and Wikipedia, apparently) and push a fringe naturalist health diet (which somehow involves eating hundreds of bananas). His other interests include exploding batteries, non-refined sugar, MSG, various herbs, and writing songs about some poor girl in his computer science class. He has been warned multiple times to stop making POV edits to articles in these subject areas (in addition to posting new, POV articles), and the NPOV policy has been explained to him at length. He has expressed some semblance of remorse on both RickK's and Jersyko's talk pages, but has continued to ignore the policy in practice.

Evidence of disputed behavior
Vandalizing VFDs
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Article and User Page Vandalism
 * (the recurring "stop drinking soda" message)
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 * (reappears many times,, , )
 * (several similar edits, such as )
 * (has done the same to user pages,  and other talk pages)
 * (sneaky vandalism, which is what he seems to prefer)
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POV Edits
 * Many of Andrew's POV articles have been speedy deleted
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Vanity Edits
 * Created the 25 Years of Beauty article (VFD)

Applicable policies
{list the policies that apply to the disputed conduct}
 * Neutral point of view
 * No original research
 * Sock puppet

Evidence of trying and failing to resolve the dispute

 * Jersyko's attempts to explain Wikipedia policy to Andrew -, , , ,
 * Andrew's, as it turns out, insincere response to Jersyko -
 * RickK's attempts -, , , ,
 * Andrew's, as it turns out, insincere promise to RickK -

Users certifying the basis for this dispute
(sign with ~ )
 * Jersyko   talk   01:49, Jun 3, 2005 (UTC)
 * RickK 04:05, Jun 3, 2005 (UTC) User promised on his anon Talk page that he would stop posting anti-soda rants, and then turned around and did it again. I have blocked him 3 times for repeatedly creating POV articles and adding POV material to existing articles -- the first time for 24 hours, the second time for 48 hours, the third time for 4 days.

Other users who endorse this summary
(sign with ~ )
 * I'm not sure an RfC will help here, but by all means let's give it a try. --W(t) 19:29, 2005 Jun 4 (UTC)
 * Probably not. But I just want to add my agreement and support of blocks as necessary. — Knowledge Seeker দ 06:25, 6 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * This seems accurate to me. --Xcali 19:05, 6 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * I've encountered this user, and it's uniformly frustrating. Blocks are appropriate. Meelar (talk) 19:09, Jun 6, 2005 (UTC)
 * Support blocks, or whatever can be done to prevent the same inane articles reappearing and being speedied. Summary accurate to what I've seen. --Kiand 19:26, 6 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * 68.170.0.238 is now editing as User:128.2.247.44. --Kiand 17:06, 13 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * And 128.2.247.60. Please please, will a sysop block this guy?  My talk page can't take it anymore. - Jersyko  talk  17:40, Jun 13, 2005 (UTC)
 * Both of these IP's come from the Carnegie Mellon University netblock. I've contacted their registed abuse manager, as these kind of edits almost certainly break CMU's computer usage policy. --Kiand 17:48, 13 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * This seams accurate to me as well. Vandalised vfd's = no-no. Blocks now and long. gtabary 23:44, 7 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Yes, this seems accurate to me. This user appears to be completely uncooperative. I support blocking if no improvement is made in behavior. -- Karada 17:29, 8 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * I have no personal experience with this user, but the edits, additions and other contributions of this user are uncalled for. Dealing with this user is an unnecessary waste of precious editor and admin time. Aecis 13:03, 10 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * I feel the same. I limit my contribs to WP, for this kind of user drives me away. Why do we have to deal long and long with this behaviour? I feel sometime restrictive rules would be good in WP. I understand I could well be the "victim" of such rules. Well... that's a risk. Gtabary 22:45, 14 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * And it continues ... Fructose Addiction ... Banana Addiction ... --Tabor 01:13, 16 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Extremely persistent pushing of a POV. Somehow I suspect this will all end up in arbitration. Andrew Lenahan - St ar bli nd  13:18, Jun 16, 2005 (UTC)
 * This nutrition kookery needs to stop. Klonimus 06:44, 21 July 2005 (UTC)
 * I've seen POV-pushing, but this is ridiculous. — Phil Welch 05:16, 9 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Block please. Fenice 05:48, 12 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Dmcdevit·t 08:45, August 15, 2005 (UTC)
 * Block for extreme POV, disruption and just plain tinfoil hattery. I've personally blown off at least three of this guy's entries since becoming an admin about two weeks ago. - Lucky 6.9 23:56, 24 August 2005 (UTC)
 * POV pushing, please block. Andrew pmk | Talk 02:28, 28 August 2005 (UTC)

Response
This is a summary written by the user whose conduct is disputed, or by other users who think that the dispute is unjustified and that the above summary is biased or incomplete.

{Add summary here, but you must use the endorsement section below to sign. Users who edit or endorse this summary should not edit the other summaries.}

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Outside view
This is a summary written by users not directly involved with the dispute but who would like to add an outside view of the dispute.

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Discussion
All signed comments and talk not related to a vote or endorsement, should be directed to this page's discussion page.
 * Okay, this has been sitting around for a while, and he's still out there undeterred. So what's the next step? Is there any long-term solution besides commenting on it? Dmcdevit·t 08:45, August 15, 2005 (UTC)


text:
Mosè in Egitto

Mosè in Egitto ("Moses in Egypt") is a three-act opera written by Gioachino Rossini to an Italian libretto by Andrea Leone Tottola, which was based on a 1760 play by Francesco Ringhieri, L'Osiride. It premièred on 5 March 1818 at the recently reconstructed Teatro San Carlo in Naples, Italy.

In 1827 Rossini revised and greatly enlarged the work to a four-act French libretto: Moïse et Pharaon, ou Le passage de la Mer Rouge ("Moses and Pharaoh, or The Crossing of the Red Sea"). This was written by Luigi Balocchi and Victor-Joseph Étienne de Jouy. The première took place in the Salle Le Peletier of the Paris Opera on 26 March that year.

Riccardo Muti and many scholars consider Moïse et Pharaon, along with Guillaume Tell, to be among Rossini's greatest achievements:
 * I prefer it because Rossini himself preferred it. Don't get me wrong. Mosè in Egitto is a wonderful opera, but it remains very much a mere sketch for Moïse et Pharaon. And it's not just me who says that, but the great Rossini himself.

Composition history
Mosè in Egitto, 1818

The opera was loosely based on the Exodus from Egypt of the Israelites, led by Moses, rendered agreeable to the opera stage by introducing a love theme, in which the Pharaoh's son Amenophis plans to prevent their departure, since he loves the Israelite Anaïs.

The 1818 opera opens as the plague of darkness is dispelled by Moses' prayer, and it ends with the spectacle of the parting of the Red Sea and the drowning of Pharaoh's host, which "elicited howls of derision" at the clumsy machinery of its staging at the premiere, though the opera surmounted its technical failings and was a hit. Billed in 1818 as an azione tragico-sacra, the sacred drama with some features of the oratorio circumvented proscriptions of secular dramatic performances during Lent.

Rossini slightly revised the opera in 1819, when he introduced Moses' prayer-aria "Dal tuo stellato soglio", which became one of the most popular opera pieces of the day and which inspired a set of variations for violin and piano by Niccolò Paganini. Both survive in concert performance.

Moïse et Pharaon, 1827

The greatly enlarged work set to a French libretto was composed with so much additional music, including a substantial ballet, as to warrant a new title, Moïse et Pharaon, ou Le passage de la Mer Rouge (Moses and Pharaoh, or The Crossing of the Red Sea), and was seen to be a separate and new opera alongside its Naples progenitor.

Performance history
French audiences had already seen Mosè in Egitto – given its Parisian premiere by the Théâtre-Italien at the Salle Le Peletier on 20 October 1822 – before Rossini revised it again, this time in French, for the Paris Opéra.

The French version, in four acts with a ballet, premiered on 26 March 1827 under the title Moïse et Pharaon, ou Le Passage de la Mer Rouge. The first libretto from Naples was translated and augmented by Luigi Balocchi and Victor-Joseph Étienne de Jouy, who would later co-write the libretto for Rossini's final opera Guillaume Tell. As is noted on Expatica, "this second version proved such a runaway box-office success that it was performed no less than 100 times between its premiere in 1827 and 1838".

20th century and beyond

The Rossini Opera Festival, in Rossini's home town of Pesaro, has presented the opera periodically since 1980, beginning with a 1983 production by Pier Luigi Pizzi and revived in 1985. It did not re-appear until 2011 when it was seen in a production by Graham Vick. There had, however, been concert performances of various versions of the opera in New York by the Collegiate Chorale and the Sacred Opera Society.

Mosè had "remained virtually unheard in Britain since a concert in 1822", until a production was staged by Welsh National Opera in the 1964/5 season in Cardiff, Llandudno and London. London's Royal Opera House gave it in May/June 1994.

Welsh National Opera staged it again in autumn 2014 in Cardiff and on tour. Opinions were mixed.

In the US, Mosè in Egitto had not been heard in Chicago since 1865, but it was presented in that city by Chicago Opera Theater in 2010 and given by New York City Opera in April 2013.

As Moise et Pharaon it was given at La Scala in 2003, and again as part of the 2009 Salzburg Festival under Muti.

Instrumentation
The score calls for: 2 flutes/2 piccolos, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, serpent, timpani, bass drum, cymbals, triangle, Banda Turca, harp, strings.

Stage band: piccolo, quartino, 4 clarinets, 2 horns, 4 trumpets, 2 trombones, serpent, bass drum

Synopsis

 * Place: Egypt
 * Time: Around 1230 B.C.

Act 1
Darkness envelopes Egypt. It has been brought about by God in order to punish the Pharaoh and his people because he has failed to allow the Hebrews to leave the country for the Promised Land across the Red Sea. Moses is brought in and the Pharaoh declares that, when the sun shines again, he will release the captives. Cautioned by his brother Aaron not to believe the Egyptian leader, nevertheless Moses pleads to God and light returns.

However, because the Pharaoh's son Osiride is in love with the Hebrew girl Elcia and does not want to see her leave with her people, he persuades the High Priest, Mambre, to help him. The Priest does not believe in Moses' powers and he agrees to find a way to prevent the exodus by encouraging the Egyptians to revolt against allowing the Hebrews to depart. The Pharaoh then withdraws his promise and warns Moses that any Hebrew who tries to escape will be killed. Amaltea, Pharaoh's wife, has secretly converted and she tries to intervene, but to no avail. Moses then threatens further punishment and is set upon by Osiride's soldiers, intent upon killing him, but Pharaoh arrives in time to prevent it. Moses then prays for fire to rain down upon the country.

Act 2
Pharaoh orders the Hebrews to leave at once, so as to avoid the curse placed on his people. Then, telling his son that he has negotiated a treaty whereby Osiride will be married to the Princess of Assyria, he does not understand why his son hears his announcement with little enthusiasm.

Shortly afterwards, Moses learns that Osiride has kidnapped Elcia, but Aaron knows where they are hiding. Amaltea is warned and accompanies him to find the lovers. Together in the cave, Osiride tells Elcia of his father's plans for him and he suggests that they can live together in hiding in the countryside. The Queen with her guards and Aaron interrupt the two lovers, but they refuse to separate and Osiris declares that he intends to give up the throne.

Meanwhile, the Pharaoh once again reverses himself and states that he will not allow the captives to leave, fearing that the Hebrews will support Egypt's enemies. Outraged, Moses declares that the Crown Prince and all the firstborn males of the country will be hit by a divine lightning strike. Pharaoh orders Moses to be put in chains, and, to protect his son from the prophecy, declares Osiride to be his co-ruler and that he will be the one to proclaim the death sentence on Moses. Elcia then comes forward revealing her relationship with Osiride and begging him to free Moses and his people. She tries to persuade him to accept his destiny and marry the royal princess of Assyria. But Osiride remains adamant and immediately orders that Moses be killed. As he does so, he falls dead from being struck by a bolt of lightning.

Act 3
On the shores of the Red Sea

Having crossed the desert, the Hebrews arrive on the shores of the Red Sea, but find themselves unable to continue their journey to the Promised Land. Leading his people and telling them to wait for God's action, Moses prays. As the advancing Egyptians appear, the Hebrews are panicking, but Moses touches the waters with his staff and the Red Sea opens to provide a pathway to the opposite shore. Following closely behind, the Egyptians, led by Mambre and Pharaoh, enter the gap in the waters but they are swamped by the waves which close over them.

title: Mosè in Egitto


text:
Cheikh Anta Diop

Cheikh Anta Diop (29 December 1923 – 7 February 1986) was a Senegalese historian, anthropologist, physicist, and politician who studied the human race's origins and pre-colonial African culture. Diop's work is considered foundational to the theory of Afrocentricity, though he himself never described himself as an Afrocentrist. The questions he posed about cultural bias in scientific research contributed greatly to the postcolonial turn in the study of African civilizations.

Diop argued that there was a shared cultural continuity across African people that was more important than the varied development of different ethnic groups shown by differences among languages and cultures over time. Some of his ideas have been criticized as based upon outdated sources and an outdated conception of race. Other scholars have defended his work from what they see as widespread misrepresentation.

Cheikh Anta Diop University (formerly known as the University of Dakar), in Dakar, Senegal, is named after him.

Early life
Born in Thieytou, Diourbel Region, Senegal, Diop belonged to an aristocratic Muslim Wolof family in Senegal where he was educated in a traditional Islamic school. Diop's family was part of the Mouride brotherhood, the only independent Muslim fraternity in Africa according to Diop. He obtained the colonial equivalent of the metropolitan French baccalauréat in Senegal before moving to Paris to study for a degree.

Studies in Paris
In 1946, at the age of 23, Diop went to Paris to study. He initially enrolled to study higher mathematics, but then enrolled to study philosophy in the Faculty of Arts of the University of Paris. He gained his first degree (licence) in philosophy in 1948, then enrolled in the Faculty of Sciences, receiving two diplomas in chemistry in 1950.

In 1948 Diop edited with Madeleine Rousseau, a professor of art history, a special edition of the journal Musée vivant, published by the Association populaire des amis des musées (APAM). APAM had been set up in 1936 by people on the political left wing to bring culture to wider audiences. The special edition of the journal was on the occasion of the centenary of the abolition of slavery in the French colonies and aimed to present an overview of issues in contemporary African culture and society. Diop contributed an article to the journal: "Quand pourra-t-on parler d'une renaissance africaine" (When we will be able to speak of an African Renaissance?). He examined various fields of artistic creation, with a discussion of African languages, which, he said, would be the sources of regeneration in African culture. He proposed that African culture should be rebuilt on the basis of ancient Egypt, in the same way that European culture was built upon the legacies of ancient Greece and Rome.

In 1949, Diop registered a proposed title for a Doctor of Letters thesis, "The Cultural Future of African thought," under the direction of Professor Gaston Bachelard. In 1951 he registered a second thesis title "Who were the pre-dynastic Egyptians" under Professor Marcel Griaule.

In 1953, he first met Frédéric Joliot-Curie, Marie Curie's son-in-law, and in 1957 Diop began specializing in nuclear physics at the Laboratory of Nuclear Chemistry of the College de France which Frederic Joliot-Curie ran until his death in 1958 , and the Institut Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris. He ultimately translated parts of Einstein's Theory of Relativity into his native Wolof.

According to Diop's own account, his education in Paris included History, Egyptology, Physics, Linguistics, Anthropology, Economics, and Sociology. In Paris, Diop studied under André Aymard, professor of History and later Dean of the Faculty of Letters at the University of Paris and he said that he had "gained an understanding of the Greco-Latin world as a student of Gaston Bachelard, Frédéric Joliot-Curie, André Leroi-Gourhan, and others".

In his 1954 thesis, Diop argued that ancient Egypt had been populated by Black people. He specified that he used the terms "negro", "black", "white" and "race" as "immediate givens" in the Bergsonian sense, and went on to suggest operational definitions of these terms. He said that the Egyptian language and culture had later been spread to West Africa. When he published many of his ideas as the book Nations nègres et culture (Negro Nations and Culture), it made him one of the most controversial historians of his time.

In 1956 he re-registered a new proposed thesis for Doctor of Letters with the title "The areas of matriarchy and patriarchy in ancient times." From 1956, he taught physics and chemistry in two Paris lycees as an assistant master, before moving to the College de France. In 1957 he registered his new thesis title "Comparative study of political and social systems of Europe and Africa, from Antiquity to the formation of modern states." The new topics did not relate to ancient Egypt but were concerned with the forms of organisation of African and European societies and how they evolved. He obtained his doctorate in 1960.

Career
Diop served as a member of the UNESCO International Scientific Committee for the Drafting of a General History of Africa in 1971 and wrote the opening chapter about the origins of the ancient Egyptians in the UNESCO General History of Africa. In this chapter, he presented anthropological and historical evidence in support of his hypothesis that Ancient Egyptians had a close genetic affinity with Sub-Saharan African ethnic groups, including a shared B blood group between modern Egyptians and West Africans, "negroid" bodily proportions in ancient Egyptian art and mummies, microscopic analysis of melanin levels in mummies from the laboratory of the Musée de L'Homme in Paris, primary accounts of Greek historians, and shared cultural linkages between Egypt and Africa in areas of totemism and cosmology. At the symposium Diop's conclusions were met with an array of responses, from strong objections to enthusiastic support.

Reception
Diop's work has been both extensively praised and extensively criticized by a variety of scholars.

Positive reception
African-American historian John Henrik Clarke called Diop "one of the greatest historians to emerge in the African world in the twentieth century", noting that his theoretical approach derived from various disciplines, including the "hard sciences". Clarke further added that his work, The African Origin of Civilization: Myth or Reality, challenged contemporary attitudes "about the place of African people in scholarly circles around the world" and relied upon "historical, archaeological and anthropological evidence to support his thesis". He later summarised that Diop contributed to a new "concept of African history" among African and African-American historians.

S.O.Y. Keita (né J.D. Walker), a biological anthropologist, contended that "his views, or some of them, have been seriously misrepresented" and he argued that there was linguistic, anthropological and archaeological evidence which supported the views of Diop. The author also stated "Diop, though he did not express it clearly, thought in terms of biogeography and biohistory for his definitions. He also defined populations in an ethnic or ethnogeographical fashion. Nile Valley populations absorbed "foreign genes", but this did not change their Africanity".

Stuart Tyson Smith, Egyptologist and professor of anthropology at University of California, Santa Barbara regarded his work, The African Origin of Civilization, published in 1974 as "A highly influential work that rightly points out the African origins of Egyptian civilization, but reinforces the methodological and theoretical foundations of colonialist theories of history, embracing racialist thinking and simply reversing the flow of diffusionist models".

Guyanese educator and novelist Oscar Dathrone credits Diop as a "unique unifier" in countering the "built-in prejudices of the scholars of his time" and presenting a more comprehensive view of African historical development.

Bethwell Allan Ogot, a Kenyan historian and editor of UNESCO General History of Africa Volume 5, stated that "Cheikh Anta Diop wrested Egyptian civilization from the Egyptologists and restored it to the mainstream of African history".

Esperanza Brizuela Garcia, professor of history, wrote that he "was most persuasive among intellectuals of African descent in the diaspora" and among Afrocentric scholars who had criticised the omission of Africa in the works of world historians. Garcia also added that his work, The African Origin of Civilization, best represented "Afrocentric critique" but "it does so without a serious engagement with the diversity and complexity of the African experience and offers only a limited challenge to the Eurocentric values it aims to dislodge".

Toyin Falola, a Nigerian historian, called Diop's work "passionate, combative, and revisionist" and "demonstrated the black origins of Egyptian civilisation" in his view.

Firinne Ni Chreachain, an academic in African literature, described him as "one of the most profoundly revolutionary thinkers francophone Africa had produced" in the twentieth century and his radio-carbon techniques had "enabled him to prove, on the contrary to the claims of European Egyptologists, many of the ruling class of ancient Egypt whose achievements Europeans revered had been black Africans".

Helen Tilley, Associate professor of history at Northwestern University, noted that the academic debates over "The African Origin of Civilizations" still continued but that the "more general points that Cheikh Anta Diop" sought to establish "have become commonplace" and "no one should assume a pure lineage" can be attributed to "any intellectual genealogy because entanglements, appropriations, mutations and dislocations have been the norm, not the exception".

Dawne Y. Curry, Associate Professor of History and Ethnic Studies stated that "Diop's greatest contribution to scholarly endeavours lies in his tireless search for physiological and genetic evidence to support his thesis. Using mummies, bone measurements and blood types to determine age and evolution, Diop revolutionized scientific enquiry" but she noted that his message was not initially well-received but "more and more scholarship began to support Diop's conclusions, earning him international acclaim".

Josep Cervello Autuori, Associate Professor and Lecturer of Egyptology assessed the cultural tradition established by Diop and noted that "the West had failed to consider its contributions, sometimes ignoring them completely, and sometimes considering them as the fruits of the socio-political excitement in the era of African independence". Autuori argued that the academic contributions of Diop should be recognised as "a recontextualisation and a rethinking of the Pharaonic civilisation from an African perspective" due to the continued parallels between Egypt and Africa.

Diop was awarded the joint prize of most influential African intellectual along with W.E.B. Du Bois at the first World Festival of Black Arts in 1966. He was awarded the Grand prix de la mémoire of the GPLA 2015. The Cheikh Anta Diop University (formerly known as the University of Dakar), in Dakar, Senegal, is named in his honor.

Negative reception
According to Andrew Francis Clark, Associate Professor of History at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington and Lucie Colvin Phillips, Professor of African Studies in the University of Maryland, "although Diop's work has been influential, it has generally been discredited by historians".

Robert O. Collins, a former history professor at University of California, Santa Barbara, and James M. Burns, a professor in history at Clemson University, have both characterized Diop's writings on Ancient Egypt as "revisionist".

Diop's book Civilization or Barbarism was described as Afrocentric pseudohistory by professor of philosophy and author Robert Todd Carroll. According to Marnie Hughes-Warrington, Diop's works were criticised by leading French Africanists who opposed the radical movements of African organizations against imperialism, but they (and later critics) noted the value of his works for the generation of a propaganda program that would promote African unity. Likewise, Santiago Juan-Navarro, a professor of Spanish at Florida International University described Diop as having "undertaken the task of supporting this Afrocentric view of history from an equally radical and 'mythic' point of view".

Historian Robin Derricourt, in summarizing Diop's legacy, states that his work "increased francophone black pride, though trapped within dated models of racial classification". Stephen Howe, professor of the history of colonialism in Bristol University, writes that Diop's work is built mostly upon disagreements with Victorian-era thinkers like J.J. Bachofen, Lewis Henry Morgan and Friedrich Engels, and criticizes him for "failing to take modern research into account."

Kevin MacDonald, a doctor of archeology, was critical of what he saw as Diop's "cavalier attitude" in making "amateur, non-statistical comparison of languages" between West Africa and Egypt. MacDonald also felt that such attitude showed "a disrespect for the discipline" and for the "methodology of linguistics". He did however state that Diop had asked "appropriate and relevant questions" regarding possible relations between Egypt and the African continent beyond Nubia.

Historian Clarence E. Walker criticizes Diop's claim that Ramses II was black, as being without qualification, a futile exercise and "probably the single most unsuccessful effort on the part of a scholar to determine the racial origins of an Egyptian notable".

Mary Lefkowitz, scholar of Classics, accuses Diop of supplying his readers only with selected and, to some extent, distorted information. She criticizes his methodology, stating that his writing allows him to disregard historical evidence, especially if it comes from European sources.

Historian and classicist Frank M. Snowden Jr. states that Diop misinterprets the classical usage of color words, distorts classical sources and omits Greek and Roman authors, whom he claimed, make a clear distinction between Egyptians and Ethiopians.

Publications

 * Rousseau, Madeleine and Cheikh Anta Diop (1948), "1848 Abolition de l'esclavage – 1948 evidence de la culture nègre", Le musée vivant, issue 36–37. Special issue of journal "consacré aux problèmes culturels de l'Afrique noire a été établi par Madeleine Rousseaux et Cheikh Anta Diop". Paris: APAM, 1948.
 * (1954) Nations nègres et culture, Paris: Éditions Africaines. Second edition (1955), Nations nègres et culture: de l'antiquité nègre-égyptienne aux problèmes culturels de l'Afrique noire d'aujourd'hui, Paris: Éditions Africaines. Third edition (1973), Paris: Présence Africaine, ISBN 978-2-7087-0363-6, ISBN 978-2-7087-0362-9. Fourth edition (1979), ISBN 978-2-7087-0688-0.
 * (1959) L'unité culturelle de l'Afrique noire: domaines du patriarcat et du matriarcat dans l'antiquité classique, Paris: Présence Africaine. Second edition (c. 1982), Paris: Présence Africaine, ISBN 978-2-7087-0406-0, ISBN 978-2-7087-0406-0. English edition (1959), The Cultural Unity of Negro Africa Paris. Subsequent English edition (c. 1962), Paris: Présence Africaine. English edition (1978), The Cultural Unity of Black Africa: the domains of patriarchy and of matriarchy in classical antiquity, Chicago: Third World Press, ISBN 978-0-88378-049-7. Subsequent English edition (1989) London: Karnak House, ISBN 978-0-907015-44-4.
 * (1960) L' Afrique noire pré-coloniale. Étude comparée des systèmes politiques et sociaux de l'Europe et de l'Afrique noire, de l'antiquité à la formation des états modernes, Paris: Présence africaine. Second edition (1987), ISBN 978-2-7087-0479-4. (1987), Precolonial Black Africa: a comparative study of the political and social systems of Europe and Black Africa, from antiquity to the formation of modern states. Translated by Harold J. Salemson. Westport, Conn.: L. Hill, ISBN 978-0-88208-187-8, ISBN 978-0-88208-188-5, ISBN 978-0-88208-187-8, ISBN 978-0-88208-188-5.
 * (1960) Les Fondements culturels, techniques et industriels d'un futur état fédéral d'Afrique noire, Paris. Second revised and corrected edition (1974), Les Fondements économiques et culturels d'un état fédéral d'Afrique noire, Paris: Présence Africaine.
 * (1967) Antériorité des civilisations nègres: mythe ou vérité historique? Series: Collection Préhistoire-antiquité négro-africaine, Paris: Présence Africaine. Second edition (c. 1993), ISBN 978-2-7087-0562-3, ISBN 978-2-7087-0562-3.
 * (1968) Le laboratoire de radiocarbone de l'IFAN. Series: Catalogues et documents, Institut Français d'Afrique Noire No. 21.
 * (1974) The African Origin of Civilization: Myth or Reality (translation of sections of Antériorité des civilisations négres and Nations nègres et culture). Translated from the French by Mercer Cook. New York: L. Hill, ISBN 978-0-88208-021-5, ISBN 978-0-88208-022-2
 * (1974) Physique nucléaire et chronologie absolue. Dakar: IFAN. Initiations et études Africaines no. 31.
 * (1977) Parenté génétique de l'égyptien pharaonique et des langues négro-africaines: processus de sémitisation, Ifan-Dakar: Les Nouvelles Éditions Africaines, ISBN 978-2-7236-0162-7.
 * (1978) Black Africa: the economic and cultural basis for a federated state. Translation by Harold Salemson of Fondements économiques et culturels d'un état fédéral d'Afrique noire. Westport, Conn.: Lawrence Hill & Co, ISBN 978-0-88208-096-3, ISBN 978-1-55652-061-7. New expanded edition (1987) ISBN 978-0-86543-058-7 (Africa World Press), ISBN 978-0-88208-223-3.
 * UNESCO Symposium on the Peopling of Ancient Egypt and the Deciphering of Meroitic Script. Cheikh Anta Diop (ed.) (1978), The peopling of ancient Egypt and the deciphering of Meroitic script: proceedings of the symposium held in Cairo from 28 January to 3 February 1974, UNESCO. Subsequent edition (1997), London: Karnak House, ISBN 978-0-907015-99-4.
 * (c. 1981) Civilisation ou barbarie: anthropologie sans complaisance, Présence Africaine, ISBN 978-2-7087-0394-0, ISBN 978-2-7087-0394-0. English edition (c. 1991), Civilization or Barbarism: an authentic anthropology Translated from the French by Yaa-Lengi Meema Ngemi, edited by Harold J. Salemson and Marjolijn de Jager. Brooklyn, NY: Lawrence Hill Books, c1991. ISBN 978-1-55652-048-8, ISBN 978-1-55652-048-8, ISBN 978-1-55652-049-5.
 * (1989) Nouvelles recherches sur l'égyptien ancien et les langues négro-africaines modernes, Paris: Présence Africaine, ISBN 978-2-7087-0507-4.
 * (1989) Egypte ancienne et Afrique Noire. Reprint of article in Bulletin de l'IFAN, vol. XXIV, series B, no. 3–4, 1962, pp. 449 à 574. Université de Dakar. Dakar: IFAN.
 * (c. 1990) Alerte sous les tropiques: articles 1946–1960: culture et développement en Afrique noire, Paris: Présence africaine, ISBN 978-2-7087-0548-7. English edition (1996), Towards the African renaissance: essays in African culture & development, 1946–1960. Translated by Egbuna P. Modum. London: Karnak House, ISBN 978-0-907015-80-2, ISBN 978-0-907015-85-7.
 * Joseph-Marie Essomba (ed.) (1996), Cheikh Anta Diop: son dernier message à l'Afrique et au monde. Series: Sciences et connaissance. Yaoundé, Cameroun: Editions AMA/COE.
 * (2006) Articles: publiés dans le bulletin de l'IFAN, Institut fondamental d'Afrique noire (1962–1977). Series: Nouvelles du sud; no 35–36. Yaoundé: Silex. ISBN 978-2-912717-15-3, ISBN 978-2-912717-15-3, ISBN 978-9956-444-12-0, ISBN 978-9956-444-12-0.

title: Cheikh Anta Diop


text:
Category talk:Student television stations

My feeling is that this should be converted to a list, the category being deleted.

Courtland 01:53, 2005 Jun 3 (UTC)


text:
School's Out (album)

School's Out is the fifth studio album by American rock band Alice Cooper, released in June 1972. Following on from the success of Killer, School's Out reached No. 2 on the US Billboard 200 chart and No. 1 on the Canadian RPM 100 Top Albums chart, holding the top position for four weeks. The single "School's Out" reached No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100, No. 3 on the Canadian RPM Top Singles Chart and went to No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart.

Packaging
The original album cover (designed by Craig Braun) had the sleeve opening in the manner of a wooden school desk, similar to Thinks: School Stinks, by Hotlegs, released two years earlier. The vinyl record inside was wrapped in a pair of panties, though this was later discontinued as the paper panties were found to be flammable. The desk photographed for the album cover is on display in the Hard Rock Cafe in Las Vegas.

Reception
Ian Chapman has put forward a theory that it was a concept album about youth lost when leaving school.

Live performances
Although the title track remains the most-performed song in Alice Cooper's live shows, in accordance with the conceptual nature of School's Out, the album has overall a smaller representation in his live setlist than Love It to Death, Killer, Billion Dollar Babies, or Welcome to My Nightmare, accounting for only 6.8 percent of the songs Cooper has played live. "Gutter Cat Vs. The Jets" and "Public Animal #9" were the only other School's Out songs played on the supporting School's Out For Summer '72 tour, but neither became a permanent part of setlist and "Gutter Cat" was last performed in 2004 on the Eyes of Alice Cooper tour. Short instrumental "Street Fight" was never performed until the 1980 Flush the Fashion tour, and was last played on the School's Out for Summer '97 tour, whilst "My Stars" was a regular part of setlists on the 1973–1974 Billion Dollar Babies Tour but never played again until 2019 when it became a regular on the Ol' Black Eyes Is Back Tour. "Blue Turk", "Alma Mater" and "Grand Finale" have never been performed live, and "Luney Tune" only once, during the Psychodrama Tour at Grand Canyon University on May 9, 2009 with Cooper tribute band Halo of Flies.

Personnel
Alice Cooper band
 * Alice Cooper – vocals
 * Glen Buxton – lead guitar
 * Michael Bruce – rhythm guitar, keyboards, backing vocals
 * Dennis Dunaway – bass guitar, backing vocals
 * Neal Smith – drums, backing vocals

Additional musicians
 * Bob Ezrin – keyboards
 * Dick Wagner – guitar
 * Wayne Andre – trombone on "Blue Turk"

title: School's Out (album)


text:
The Academy Is...

The Academy Is... are an American rock band from Chicago, Illinois, formed in 2003. Before temporarily disbanding, they were signed by the Decaydance imprint of the Fueled by Ramen label. They were originally known as "The Academy", but added the "Is..." in 2004 to avoid legal complications with other established bands already under that name. The band has released three studio albums: Almost Here (2005), Santi (2007) and Fast Times at Barrington High (2008), along with four EPs. The band announced their disbandment on October 8, 2011. In May 2015, lead singer William Beckett announced that the band would reunite at Riot Fest 2015 in Chicago. In addition, the core members of the band, being Beckett, Mike Carden, Adam Siska, and Andy Mrotek, as well as Jamie Reed Schefman and Ian Crawford (both of whom had not originally been part of the band), reunited for a farewell tour that took place during December 2015. They announced that they would be reuniting again on May 11, 2022, alongside the announcement of their participation in the 2022 Riot Fest. They have since played shows opening for Fall Out Boy and in When We Were Young (festival), however have yet to announce new musical endeavors.

Formation and early years (2003–2004)
William Beckett and Adam T. Siska decided to start a band together on March 4, 2003, after becoming friends during their time attending Barrington High School, recruiting Mike Carden (guitar) after his former band, Jodie, broke up. Next they added AJ LaTrace as a lead guitarist and Michael DelPrincipe (Little Mike) as a drummer. They recorded their self-titled debut EP, The Academy (2004), for the Chicago-based label LLR Recordings. LLR Recordings had previously released Beckett's solo project Remember Maine's debut album The Last Place You Look in 2002 and Mike Carden's solo folk album in 2003. The EP was recorded in Villa Park, IL at The Gallery of Carpet by producer Brian Zieske. Pete Wentz from Fall Out Boy heard it and was impressed. The label Fueled by Ramen immediately signed the band. In July and August, the group went on tour with Fall Out Boy, Bayside, Name Taken, and Armor for Sleep.

Almost Here (2005–2006)
In 2004 the band headed to Florida to record their Fueled by Ramen debut Almost Here, produced by James Paul Wisner, who has worked with Dashboard Confessional, Something Corporate, Further Seems Forever, and Underoath. After recording the album and doing a summer tour, the band underwent a lineup change. Thomas Conrad, formerly of Chicago local band 5o4plan, replaced LaTrace as the second guitarist/backing vocalist, and Andy Mrotek, formerly of Last Place Champs, replaced DelPrincipe as the drummer. Andy Mrotek and Thomas Conrad are listed in the liner notes but were added to the band after the recording of Almost Here to replace DelPrincipe and LaTrace, respectively. The band toured extensively in support of the album, touring with Fall Out Boy, Something Corporate, Midtown, Matchbook Romance, Motion City Soundtrack and Armor for Sleep. The album was released on February 8, 2005 and the following summer, the band embarked on their first headlining tour alongside Plain White T's, Days Away and June. On Billboard's charts Almost Here peaked at No. 7 on Top Heatseekers, No. 16 on Independent Albums, and No. 185 on The Billboard 200. Later on in 2005, while Pete Wentz was finishing up work on Fall Out Boy's second album From Under the Cork Tree and his "latest side project" with John Janick of Fueled by Ramen, he discovered Panic! at the Disco and helped them release their debut album A Fever You Can't Sweat Out through his label Decaydance. The Academy Is... was also signed to Decaydance that year.

Santi (2007)

While touring as a main act on the 2006 Warped Tour, the band began the process of writing songs for their second album. Once finished, the band flew to Los Angeles to record their record with Butch Walker. As of December 23, 2006, the band had officially finished the recording process and the album, entitled Santi, was released April 3, 2007 on the Fueled By Ramen label. The release of this album was listed on Blender's 25 reasons to love 2007. On January 26, 2007 a sample of "LAX to O'Hare" was released on the band's AbsolutePunk profile. The album peaked at No. 32 on the Billboard 200.

The band went on to release the song "We've Got a Big Mess on Our Hands" as the album's first single, before releasing the album on April 3, 2007. Fall Out Boy, +44, Cobra Starship, and Paul Wall all joined the band on the 2007 Honda Civic Tour, after which the band moved on to the "Sleeping With Giants" tour with support from The Rocket Summer, Armor for Sleep and Sherwood. Partly through the tour, labelmates Cobra Starship were added to the support. The tour ended on November 24, 2007, in Chicago.

Fast Times at Barrington High (2008)
The band's third studio album, Fast Times at Barrington High, was released on August 19, 2008, through Fueled by Ramen. The title refers to the high school William Beckett, Adam Siska, and videographer Jack Edinger attended. The first single, "About a Girl," was added to the band's MySpace page on July 15, 2008, and was subsequently made available from various download sites. The lead model in the official music video for "About a Girl", Brittany Moser, also went to Barrington at the same time Adam and William were in high school. On August 25, 2008 "About a Girl" was played on The Hills (season 4, episode 2). The album made it onto Rolling Stone Magazine's 50 Best Albums of the Year ranked as No. 46. It peaked at No. 17 on The Billboard 200.

Lost in Pacific Time EP and breakup (2009–2011)
On William Beckett's Twitter page, it was said The Academy Is... have finished recording their new EP, Lost in Pacific Time: The AP/EP. It was released on September 22, 2009 on iTunes, and was sold on the AP Fall Ball Tour. A limited number were also sold on their webstore The track "I'm Yours Tonight" was released on the band's Myspace page. Another track, "Days Like Masquerades" was played at an anti-suicide benefit at Barrington High School, in Barrington, Illinois. On September 29, 2009, Pete Wentz announced via Twitter that TAI would replace The All-American Rejects for the St. Louis date of the Blink-182 tour, due to an injury to The All-American Rejects lead singer Tyson Ritter.

On May 24, 2011, the band made an announcement on their official website that said that bandmates, Andy Mrotek and Michael Guy Chislett, were leaving the band to pursue their own musical careers. There has reportedly been no hard feelings during this decision. William Beckett also stated that the three remaining members would be entering the studio soon to record their fourth full-length album. On October 8, 2011, the band announced their disbanding on their official Facebook page, stating that they had "decided to go their separate ways" but "though we may not be together, you can look forward to hearing new music from each of us".

Andy Mrotek has been continuing his artistry and his solo project, The Animal Upstairs. Adam Siska has become the touring bassist for Say Anything and Carly Rae Jepsen. Lead singer William Beckett announced he would be releasing his debut solo EP in 2012. On March 13, 2012 he released his first solo single "Compromising Me" and on April 17, 2012 he released his new EP Walk the Talk. Beckett released his sophomore EP, Winds Will Change and his third, What Will Be, on 30 October 2012. Genuine & Counterfeit is the debut solo full-length album by William Beckett. The album is the first full-length released by William since the break-up of his band The Academy Is.... It was released by the NY based independent record label Equal Vision Records on August 20, 2013 and it was produced by Marc McClusky. The Academy Is...'s website (www.theacademyis.com) currently redirects to the band's Facebook page and is occasionally updated by their former label, Fueled By Ramen.

Reunions and Almost Here Tenth Anniversary Tour (2015–present)
On September 12, 2015, The Academy Is... reunited to play their album Almost Here cover-to-cover at Riot Fest Chicago, an annual outdoor music festival. Former lead guitarist Michael Guy Chislett was the only final member who did not join the reunion. Ian Crawford, known for his roles in The Cab, Panic! at the Disco and Never Shout Never filled in for Chislett. In December 2015, the band embarked on a sixteen-date tour throughout the United States, in which they played Almost Here in its entirety and five additional songs from their back catalog. The band had their final show at The Observatory North Park in San Diego, California on December 30, 2015.

On May 11, 2022, the band's Facebook page announced they would be playing Riot Fest 2022, alongside the comment "We're back" in reference to the band's future career plans.

On July 8, 2022, former lead guitarist AJ LaTrace announced on Twitter that he and former drummer Michael DelPrincipe would return to the band for a short guest appearance during their set at Riot Fest.

Just under a year later, The Academy is... Travelled to England to Play three shows, a solo date at The Dome in London on 26 May 2023, as well as two consectutive dates at Slam dunk Festival in Hatfield and Leeds respectively on 27 and 28 May.

Shortly after, The Academy is... Played two sets opening for Fall out Boy at their North American So Much For (Tour) Dust Leg, specifically in Chicago and on their second show in Los Angeles

TAITV
TAITV was a video podcast series created by the band. The show, whose initials stand for The Academy Is... TV, was created to allow fans a peek into the offstage life of the band. TAITV episodes are available on iTunes and YouTube, and new episodes aired every Sunday night at 9/8c at the band's website. Guy Ripley, played by Ryland Blackinton (of Cobra Starship) has his own show on TAITV called "Guy Ripley's True Things". The third season of TAITV premiered June 1, 2008. TAITV episodes are made by the band's photographer and friend, Jack "the Camera Guy" Edinger. Jack has appeared in many episodes as cameos, does all voice overs, co-writes, edits, and shoots each episode. He took a break from TAITV to tour with Cobra Starship filming their podcast, CobraCam.Tv, until their new album, Hot Mess, was released. No new episodes have been released since mid-2009. However, on December 5, 2009, bassist Adam Siska stated via his Twitter account that "TAITV is not dead. It's like Han Solo in the carbon tomb between Empire and Jedi. Sooner or later Luke will come kick Jabba's fat ass..."

Because of their disbandment, TAITV was discontinued.

Bill & Trav's Bogus Journey Tour
On October 1, 2008, the band embarked on their fall co-headlining tour with good friends We the Kings, named "Bill & Trav's Bogus Journey Tour". The name refers to the 1991 movie Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey. Carolina Liar and fellow Decaydance band, Hey Monday also performed on the tour. On November 6, 2008 at House Of Blues in Chicago, Illinois, William Beckett debuted a new song called "Winter Passing" that the band had written only days before. Beckett has said the song is about winter time in the Midwest. He has since incorporated the song into other show sets. The track was released on December 2, 2008 on iTunes.

Band members
Current members
 * William Beckett — lead vocals, piano, additional guitar (2003–2011, 2015, 2022–present)
 * Adam T. "Sisky Business" Siska — bass (2003–2011, 2015, 2022–present)
 * Mike Carden — rhythm guitar, backing vocals (2003–2011, 2015, 2022–present)
 * Andy "The Butcher" Mrotek — drums, percussion, backing vocals (2004–2011, 2015, 2022–present)

Touring members
 * Ian Crawford – lead guitar, backing vocals (2015, 2022–present)
 * Jamie Reed Schefman – guitar, backing vocals (2011, 2022–present)

Past members
 * Michael DelPrincipe — drums, percussion (2003–2004, 2022)
 * AJ LaTrace – lead guitar, backing vocals (2003–2004, 2022)
 * Thomas Conrad – lead guitar, backing vocals (2004–2006)
 * Michael Guy Chislett — lead guitar, backing vocals (2006–2011)

Timeline

EPs

 * The Academy (2004, later rereleased as The Academy Is...)
 * From the Carpet (2006)
 * Warped Tour Bootleg Series (2006) (only in Rhapsody)
 * Lost in Pacific Time: The AP/EP (2009)

Almost Here

 * "Checkmarks" (2005), No. 115 UK
 * "Slow Down" (2006)
 * "The Phrase That Pays" (2006)

Santi

 * "We've Got a Big Mess on Our Hands" (2007)
 * "Neighbors" (2007)
 * "Everything We Had" (2007)
 * "Sleeping with Giants (Lifetime)" (2007)
 * "Same Blood" (2007)

Fast Times at Barrington High

 * "About a Girl" (2008), No. 88 US Pop
 * "Summer Hair = Forever Young" (2008)
 * "His Girl Friday" (2009)
 * "The Test" (2009)

Winter Passing

 * "Winter Passing" (2008)

Lost in Pacific Time: The AP/EP

 * "I'm Yours Tonight" (2009)
 * "Sputter" (2009)

Original compilation appearances

 * MySpace Tribute to The Smashing Pumpkins (2007), contributed "Mayonaise"
 * Sound of Superman (2006), contributed "Superman"
 * When in Rome (Music from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2010), contributed "Fox on the Run"

title: The Academy Is...


text:
Lorain Correctional Institution

The Lorain Correctional Institution is a state prison in Grafton, Ohio, United States. It is run by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction as a reception & distribution center for the northern half of the state. It stands adjacent and to the north of Ohio's Grafton Correctional Institution.

As of August 2013 Lorain was called one of the state's most overcrowded prisons. In a facility designed for 1089 prisoners, Lorain housed 1473 and stood at 135% capacity, reflecting overcrowded conditions in all of Ohio's state prisons.

title: Lorain Correctional Institution


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Drag Race Devils

 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. JeremyA 04:19, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Drag Race Devils
Vanity, unfortunately, is not a criterion for speedy delete. Delete Denni ☯ 01:55, 2005 Jun 3 (UTC)
 * Delete NeoJustin 02:48 June 3, 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete -- More than just vanity; it serves only as a spam for their web site. Grandma Ruth would be ashamed. --Tysto 03:25, 2005 Jun 3 (UTC)
 * Delete club vanity. JamesBurns 09:24, 3 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete as vanity. Jamyskis 10:29, 3 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete vanity/self-promotion. --Etacar11 15:39, 3 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete. And by "87 Buick Regal," they mean plastic-covered Honda Civic. 216.158.31.195 17:18, 3 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep. Obviously needs to be cleaned-up, but this club is of potential interest to hundreds of people. Vanity alone is not enough reason to delete. ··gracefool |☺ 01:13, 4 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Merge to Arizona State University or Delete. Vegaswikian 06:29, 4 Jun 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:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Gary May

 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. JeremyA 04:22, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Gary May
Vanity. JYolkowski // talk 01:59, 3 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete. Vanity page.--The Grza  01:56, Jun 3, 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete NeoJustin 02:36 June 3, 2004
 * Delete -- Good luck to Gary in all his future endeavors. --Tysto 03:35, 2005 Jun 3 (UTC)
 * Delete. Article itself explains that he is not notable. jni 06:33, 3 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete vanity. JamesBurns 09:24, 3 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete What, no picture? Vanity. --Etacar11 15:43, 3 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete. What, a guy? 216.158.31.195

 * 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:
Lick-Wilmerding High School

Lick-Wilmerding High School is a private college-preparatory high school located in San Francisco, California, United States.

History
Lick-Wilmerding High School was founded on September 21, 1874, as the California School of Mechanical Arts, at Sixteenth and 17th Street and Potrero Avenue and Utah streets, in the Mission District, by a trust from James Lick. George Merrill was hired to manage the school as the first director, and Lick, as the school was informally known, officially opened in January, 1895. George Merrill was the director of Lick until 1939, and later also the director of the (Jellis Clute) Wilmerding School of Industrial Arts and the (Miranda) Lux School for Industrial Training for Girls, which were both located immediately adjacent to the Lick campus. In the early 1950s, The California School of Mechanical Arts and the Wilmerding School of Industrial Arts merged to become Lick-Wilmerding High School. The Lux School later closed, and its students joined Lick-Wilmerding. Lick-Wilmerding High School moved to a new campus at 755 Ocean Avenue in 1956.

Curriculum
Each student must be enrolled in a minimum of six five‐unit courses per semester, regardless of grade level. A total of 30 units per semester are required. Every student is required to complete two semesters of technical arts courses (such as wood, metal, jewelry, or electronics), one semester of performing arts, and two semesters of visual arts. Additionally, students must complete three semesters of health class (BME).

Technical courses include Metal, Woodworking, Robotics, Electronics and Jewelry. LWHS also has several year-long Architecture courses and an introduction to design course, entitled Contemporary Media and Art that is compulsory for all freshmen.

LWHS' Performing Arts Department has a choir, jazz band, orchestra, and two a cappella vocal ensembles. There is also a dance program comprising four classes: Dance 1, Dance 2, Dance Ensemble, and Dance Company. The Ehrer Theatre (named after Marcel Roy Ehrer, an American of French and Alsatian origin) Program presents plays, musicals, and a festival of original one-act plays written and directed by students. Theatre class offerings include: Acting 1, Acting Intensive, Improv, Playwriting, Stagecraft, and Directing.

Community
As of the 2021–2022 school year, the student body is 9% South Asian, 6% Southeast Asian, 11% African-American, 18% Latino, 29% East Asian, and 62% Caucasian. Overall, 35% of the student body identifies as multiethnic, which explains why the sum of these percentages is more than 100%.

Test scores
In 2014, the Huffington Post reported that students at LWHS had the 8th-highest SAT scores in the nation.

Averages for the class of 2018:

ACT

 * ACT Average Composite 32 (52 takers).

SAT Reasoning Test

 * SAT Average Score: 1420 (85 takers)

SAT Subject Tests (and number of test takers)

 * Biology Ecology: 593 (7)
 * Biology Molecular: 645 (2)
 * Chemistry: 689 (25)
 * Chinese with Listening: 587 (3)
 * English Literature: 665 (71)
 * French: 651 (10)
 * French with Listening: 710 (1)
 * Korean with Listening: 800 (1)
 * Math Level I: 599 (13)
 * Math Level II: 708 (73)
 * Physics: 672 (9)
 * Spanish: 685 (6)
 * Spanish with Listening: 695 (6)
 * US History: 595 (6)
 * World History: 640 (1)

Advanced Placement Scores

 * In spring of 2018, 38 students took 44 Advanced Placement exams; 93% of the scores 3 or higher

Admissions
On average, Lick-Wilmerding receives approximately 950 applications each year for 139 seats in the incoming 9th grade class. Full Tuition for the 2018–2019 school year is $47,209, with Flexible Tuition ranging from $700 to $47,000. This includes books, lunch, and all course materials and supplies

Aim High Program
Aim High was founded in 1986, with 50 students and 12 teachers, on the campus of Lick-Wilmerding High School in San Francisco.

The program has evolved into a collaboration with several educational institutions: Lick-Wilmerding High School, The Urban School of San Francisco, the San Francisco Unified School District and St. Paul's Episcopal School. Additional partners include the Bay Area Teachers Center, the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and the Exploratorium."

Technical Arts Courses
The following courses were available during the 2021–22 school year.

 * 3D-Printing and Parametric Design
 * Circuits and Electronics: Analog and Digital
 * Circuits and Electronics: Device Invention
 * Community Computing PPP
 * Design & Technology
 * Graphics and Game Design (formerly Computing 1)
 * Jewelry 1
 * Jewelry 2
 * Private Skills for a Public Purpose (PPP)
 * Rethinking Furniture
 * Sewing and Textile Arts Level 1
 * Sewing and Textile Arts Level 2 PPP
 * Wood: Joinery and Turning

Athletics

 * Fall Teams:
 * Boys and Girls Cross Country
 * Girls Varsity, Junior Varsity and Frosh/Soph Volleyball
 * Girls Varsity and Junior Varsity Tennis
 * Girls Varsity Field Hockey
 * Boys and Girls Water Polo
 * Flag Football/Ultimate Frisbee (Club)
 * Sailing (Club)
 * Winter Teams:
 * Boys Varsity, Junior Varsity, and Frosh/Soph Basketball
 * Girls Varsity, Junior Varsity, and Frosh/Soph Basketball
 * Boys Varsity, Junior Varsity, and Frosh/Soph Soccer
 * Girls Varsity and Junior Varsity Soccer
 * Boys and Girls Wrestling
 * Spring Teams:
 * Boys and Girls Track and Field
 * Boys and Girls Badminton
 * Boys Varsity Lacrosse
 * Girls Varsity Lacrosse
 * Boys Varsity Baseball
 * Girls Varsity Softball
 * Boys and Girls Varsity and Junior Varsity Swimming
 * Boys Varsity and Junior Varsity Tennis
 * Former
 * Rugby

Awards
Alternet.com has also designated Lick-Wilmerding as the 6th top high school in the United States utilizing Green Architecture

California Music Education Association Honors

 * Chamber Singers: Unanimous Superior, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007.
 * Big Band: Unanimous Excellent, two years running, and Unanimous Superior, two years before.
 * Advanced Jazz Combo: Unanimous Superior, for four years
 * Orchestra: Unanimous Superior, for one year

Anaheim Heritage Festival Honors

 * 2004: Chamber Singers and Chamber Orchestra: Gold

Notable alumni

 * Andres Amador — artist
 * Dan the Automator — DJ/Producer
 * Willard W. Beatty — faculty, San Francisco State Normal School
 * John Lane Bell — mathematician and philosopher
 * Nathan Chan — Assistant Principal Cello, Seattle Symphony
 * Wayne M. Collins — civil rights attorney
 * John D. Goldman — philanthropist (class of '67)
 * C. J. Goodell — Associate Justice, Court of Appeal of California, First Appellate District (1945–1953)
 * Luca Iaconi-Stewart — model aircraft builder
 * Jonathon Keats — conceptual artist
 * Rafael Mandelman — attorney, politician, and current member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors
 * Gerek Meinhardt — fencer at the 2008 Summer Olympics, youngest American Olympian fencer
 * mxmtoon — Singer-songwriter
 * Albert Overhauser — National Medal of Science winner (class of '42)
 * Lionel Pries — University of Washington faculty member and noted Seattle architect
 * Harold W. Roberts — WWI Congressional Medal of Honor recipient
 * Ned Segal — businessperson
 * Frederick Seitz — physicist, National Medal of Science winner
 * Arlo Smith — former San Francisco District Attorney's Office (1980–1996)
 * Teresa Strasser — radio and television personality, writer
 * Laura Sullivan — Investigative Correspondent for NPR, winner of three Peabody Awards
 * Francis Tapon — author, public speaker, global nomad
 * Noe Venable — singer, songwriter
 * Kate Weare — dancer / choreographer / founder and artistic director of Kate Weare Company
 * Peter J. Weber — architectural designer, works include portions of Mission Inn, Riverside, California
 * Benjamin Wildman-Tobriner — 2008 Gold Medal Olympic swimmer and former world record holder

title: Lick-Wilmerding High School