text:
4 × 400 metres relay

The 4 × 400 metres relay or long relay is an athletics track event in which teams consist of four runners who each complete 400 metres or one lap. It is traditionally the final event of a track meet. At top class events, the first leg and the first bend of the second leg are run in lanes. Start lines are thus staggered over a greater distance than in an individual 400 metres race; the runners then typically move to the inside of the track. The slightly longer 4 × 440 yards relay, on an Imperial distance, was a formerly run British Commonwealth and American event, until metrication was completed in the 1970s.

Relay race runners typically carry a relay baton which they must transfer between teammates. Runners have a 20 m box (usually marked with blue lines) in which to transfer the baton. The first transfer is made within the staggered lane lines; for the second and third transfers, runners typically line up across the track despite the fact that runners are usually running in line on the inside of the track. This prevents confusion and collisions during transfer. Unlike the 4 × 100 m relay, runners in the 4 × 400 typically look back and grasp the baton from the incoming runner, due to the fatigue of the incoming runner, and the wider margins allowed by the longer distance of the race. Consequently, disqualification is rare.

As runners have a running start, split times cannot be compared to individual 400 m performances. Internationally, the U.S. men's team has dominated the event, but have been challenged by Jamaica in the 1950s and Britain in the 1990s. The current men's Olympic champions are from the United States.

According to the IAAF rules, world records in relays can only be set if all team members have the same nationality.

Mixed-gendered 4 × 400 metres relays were introduced at the 2017 IAAF World Relays, with the IAAF first recognizing a world record in that event at the 2019 World Athletics Championships. In March 2022 World Athletics Council decided a set order – man, woman, man, woman – at future championships.

Records
Note: The IAAF rescinded a time of 2:54.20 set at Uniondale on 22 July 1998 by the United States (Jerome Young, Antonio Pettigrew, Tyree Washington, Michael Johnson) on 12 August 2008 after Pettigrew admitted to using human growth hormone and EPO between 1997 and 2003.

Note: The above world record was bettered by three teams at the 2018 NCAA Division I Championship on 10 March 2018 in College Station, United States:
 * 3:00.77 by the USC team of Zach Shinnick, Rai Benjamin, Ricky Morgan Jr., Michael Norman). This time was not record-eligible because Benjamin was a citizen of Antigua & Barbuda, and the others are United States citizens. Benjamin has since switched to represent the United States.
 * 3:01.39 by the Texas A&M team of Ilolo Izu, Robert Grant, Devin Dixon and Mylik Kerley. All four runners represent the United States, and World Athletics currently lists this as the NACAC area record, but it has not been ratified as the world record.
 * 3:01.43 by the Florida team of Kunle Fasasi, Grant Holloway, Chantz Sawyers, and Benjamin Lobo Vedel. This time was not record-eligible because Fasasi represents Nigeria, Holloway represents the United States, Sawyers represents Jamaica, and Vedel represents Denmark.

Note: The above world record was bettered in a time of 3:21.75 by the University of Arkansas team of Amber Anning, Joanne Reid, Rosey Effiong, and Britton Wilson at the 2023 NCAA Division I Indoor Championship on 11 March 2023 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States. This time was not record-eligible because Anning was a citizen of Great Britain, Reid was a citizen of Jamaica, and Effiong and Wilson were United States citizens.

Men

 * Correct as of August 2023.

Women

 * Correct as of August 2023.

Mixed

 * Correct as of June 2024

Men

 * Updated August 2023.

Note
 * A USA team ran 2:54.20 in Uniondale in 1998 but the performance was annulled due to the use of performance-enhancing drugs by Antonio Pettigrew
 * A USA team ran 2:56.35 in Sydney in 2000 but the performance was annulled due to the use of performance-enhancing drugs by Antonio Pettigrew
 * A USA team ran 2:56.45 in Seville in 1999 but the performance was annulled due to the use of performance-enhancing drugs by Antonio Pettigrew
 * A USA team ran 2:56.47 in Athens in 1997 but the performance was annulled due to the use of performance-enhancing drugs by Antonio Pettigrew
 * A USA team ran 2:56.60 in Philadelphia in 2000 but the performance was annulled due to the use of performance-enhancing drugs by Antonio Pettigrew

Women

 * Correct as of June 2024.

Note
 * A Russian team ran 3:18.82 in Beijing in 2008 but the performance was annulled due to the use of performance-enhancing drugs by Tatyana Firova

Mixed

 * Correct as of June 2024.

Men

 * Correct as of March 2024.

Women

 * Correct as of March 2024.

Men

 * Updated March 2024.

Women

 * Updated March 2024

Men
Note* Indicates athletes who ran only in the preliminary round and also received medals.
 * A USA team of Milton Campbell, Leonard Byrd, Trinity Gray and Jerome Young originally finished second in the 2001 World Indoor Championships, but was disqualified after Young was found to have used performance-enhancing drugs.
 * A USA team of James Davis, Jerome Young, Milton Campbell and Tyree Washington originally won in the 2003 World Indoor Championships, but was disqualified after Young was found to have used performance-enhancing drugs.

Women
Note* Indicates athletes who ran only in the preliminary round and also received medals.
 * A Russian team of Svetlana Pospelova, Natalya Nazarova, Kseniya Vdovina and Tatyana Firova originally finished second in the 2010 World Indoor Championships, but was disqualified after Firova was found to have used performance-enhancing drugs.
 * A Jamaican team of Bobby-Gaye Wilkins, Clora Williams, Davita Prendergast and Novlene Williams-Mills originally finished third in the 2010 World Indoor Championships, but was disqualified after Wilkins was found to have used performance-enhancing drugs.
 * A Russian team of Yuliya Gushchina, Kseniya Ustalova, Marina Karnaushchenko and Aleksandra Fedoriva originally finished third in the 2012 World Indoor Championships, but was disqualified in 2019 after Gushchina was found to have used performance-enhancing drugs.

Men

 * Herb McKenley (Jamaica) ran a 44.6 split in the 1952 Helsinki Olympic final.
 * Ron Freeman (USA) ran a 43.2 split in the 1968 Mexico Olympic final.
 * Julius Sang (Kenya) ran a 43.6 split in the 1972 Munich Olympic final.
 * Alberto Juantorena (Cuba) ran a 43.7 split in the 1977 IAAF World Cup event as part of the Americas team.
 * Quincy Watts ran a 43.1 split and Steve Lewis (USA) ran a 43.4 split in the 1992 Barcelona Olympic final.
 * Butch Reynolds ran a 43.23 split and Michael Johnson (both USA) ran a 42.91 split in the 1993 Stuttgart World Championship final; the USA team's final time of 2:54.29 is the current world record.
 * Mark Richardson (GBR) ran a 43.57 split and Davian Clarke (JAM) ran a 43.51 split in the 1997 Athens World Championship final.
 * Jeremy Wariner (USA) ran a 43.10 split in the 2007 Osaka World Championship final.
 * Jeremy Wariner (USA) ran a 43.18 split in the 2008 Beijing Olympic final.
 * Michael Norman (USA) ran a 43.06 split in the 2018 NCAA West Preliminaries final.

Women

 * Jarmila Kratochvílová (CZE) ran a 47.6 split in the 1982 Athens European Championship final, a 47.75 split in the 1983 Helsinki World Championship final, and a 47.9 split in the 1983 Europa Cup in London.
 * Marita Koch (GDR) ran a 47.70 split in Erfurt 1984, a 47.9 split in the 1982 European Championship final, and a 47.9 split at the 1985 Canberra World Cup.
 * Allyson Felix (USA) ran a 47.72 split in the 2015 Beijing World Championships final, a 48.01 split in the 2007 Osaka World Championships final, and a 48.20 split in the 2012 London Olympic final.
 * Olga Nazarova and Olga Bryzgina (USSR) both ran a 47.80 split in the 1988 Seoul Olympic final; the Soviet team's final time of 3:15.17 is the current world record.
 * Sydney McLaughlin ran a 47.91 split at the 2022 World Championships in Eugene.
 * Florence Griffith Joyner (USA) ran a 48.08 split in the 1988 Seoul Olympic final.

title: 4 × 400 metres relay


text: User talk:71.109.86.140

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

title: User talk:71.109.86.140


text:
Talk:Bombing of Coventry

This is already covered at History_of_Coventry -- Kjlewis 12:31, 27 May 2005 (UTC)

title: Talk:Bombing of Coventry


text:
IBM 1360

The IBM 1360 Photo-Digital Storage System, or PDSS, was an online archival storage system for large data centers. It was the first storage device designed from the start to hold a terabit of data (128 GB). The 1360 stored data on index card sized pieces of stiff photographic film that were individually retrieved and read, and could be updated by copying data, with changes, to a new card. Only six PDSSs were constructed, including the prototype, and IBM abandoned the film-card system and moved on to other storage systems soon after. Only one similar commercial system seems to have been developed, the Foto-Mem FM 390, from the late 1960s.

Walnut
In the mid-1950s IBM's San Jose lab was contracted by the CIA to provide a system to retrieve vast numbers of printed documents. The lab was interested in using a new type of photographic film known as Kalvar. Kalvar was developed to make copies of existing microfilm stock, simply by placing the Kalvar and original together, exposing them to ultraviolet light, and then heating the Kalvar to develop it. This could be carried out in a continuous roll-to-roll process. IBM's proposal, code named "Walnut", was a mechanical system that would automate the process of copying materials in the store using the Kalvar film.

To further develop the system, in January 1958 IBM hired Jack Kuehler to head up a team exploring Kalvar-based films. He quickly concluded that Kalvar was not stable enough to store data with the sort of reliability IBM demanded, breaking down over a period of a few years and giving off corrosive gas while it did so. Kalvar is based on a diazo film and Kuehler was able to identify a similar film that would provide the reliability required, although at the price of needing to be developed in a wet lab process. He proposed a new version of Walnut that replaced the Kalvar developer with an automated diazo film developer system that developed the film in a few minutes. He was able to convince the CIA to accept this change, and the new version was announced in 1961 and delivered the next year.

The primary element in a Walnut system was a large cylindrical carousel called the document store. Each store contained 200 small boxes IBM referred to as cells, in keeping with earlier magnetic tape-based systems. Each cell contained 50 strips of film, each of these containing 99 photographs arranged in a 3 by 33 grid. In total, each document store contained images of 990,000 documents, and up to 100 document stores could be used in a single Walnut system, for a total storage of 99,000,000 pages.

A separate system was used to access pages from the Walnut system. Users would look up keywords stored on an IBM 1405 hard disk system, identifying individual documents to be retrieved. The machine produced punched cards that were inserted into the Walnut. The Walnut system retrieved the documents, copied them onto a film strip and developed it, and then inserted four such images into an aperture card. The card could be read directly on a microfilm reader, or used as negatives for full-sized printouts.

Cypress
When Walnut was successfully delivered in 1961, the San Jose lab turned its attention to commercializing the system under the project name "Cypress". A direct analog of Walnut for document storage became the 1350 Photo Image Retrieval System, while the same basic system adapted to storing computer data became the 1360 Photo-Digital Storage System. Both systems used the same photographic cards and automated film development system originally developed for Walnut, but replaced the diazo film with longer-lasting conventional silver halide films. The system used pneumatics to move the film cards between the more complex developer system, the reader/copier, and a much larger store. Jack Harker was the Program Manager for the development and delivery of the systems.

At about the same time, the Atomic Energy Commission started looking for a system able to store 1 terabit for online access by supercomputers running simulations. IBM's Thomas J. Watson Research Center proposed a new version of the 10 inch optical disk they had developed for the AN/GSQ-16 (Mark II) Russian-to-English machine translation system. San Jose instead proposed a Cypress system for the same role. Cypress won the contest, and a $2.1 million contract was awarded for two machines, one for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the other for the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The former was delivered in September 1967 and the latter in March 1968. Three more systems were eventually delivered, two for the National Security Agency and another for Los Alamos National Laboratory.

These would be the only Cypress systems delivered. By the time they were in place, IBM had developed a number of other storage systems of similar size, and started suggesting the IBM 3850 in favor of the 1360. Magnetic tape, such as the tape in the 3850, required stricter attention to humidity and temperature than the optical film of the Photostore. Its few users generally preferred the 1360, and three of the five were still being used in 1977, and the last system shut down only in 1980 when IBM stopped servicing them.

The IBM 1350 never sold a single unit. In 1966 the company started a "controlled marketing program", but after a year they realized that the system would need additional development before it would be commercially acceptable. Instead they decided to cancel its development.

Description

 * From the IBM 1360 Photo-Digital Storage System Principles of Operation

Data was stored on small 35 by 70 mm cards of stiff film known as chips, each one holding 32 data "frames" in a 4 x 8 array. Each frame contained 492 lines of about 420 bits each, 0s written as a black-clear pattern, and 1s as a clear-black (using Manchester encoding). In total each chip held about 6.6 megabits. Chips were delivered in plastic boxes known as cells, each holding 32 chips. For delivery, ten cells were stacked, wrapped in a lightproof plastic wrapper, and then placed in a box. Boxes of cells were loaded into a hopper on the 1365 Photo-Digital Recorder unit, which would cut off the wrapper and drop the cells into a queue. When a cell reached the head of the queue it was removed and opened, chips being pulled out one at a time as needed.

Data was written to the chips using an electron gun, similar to the operation of a television tube. Sensors and magnets on either side of the chip holder automatically focused the beam and corrected for focus as the filament wore down through use. The gun had eight filaments instead of one, automatically rotating a new one into position as needed to allow it to work for extended periods before replacement. After the chip had been written it was moved to an automated photo processing system similar to those found at camera shops; the chip was dipped into a series of liquid-filled stations to develop, and then pulled out to dry.

Flaws on the film, impossible to avoid, were addressed to some degree through the use of complex error correction codes, which used up about 30% of the overall storage capacity – thus in each line in a frame only 300 bits were user data, the remainder being used for data redundancy. This resulted in about 4.7 Mbit of usable space in a 6.6 Mbit chip. Error correction could correct for minor imperfections, but not for larger problems or bad developing, so after developing the chips were immediately passed to the 1364 Photo-Digital Reader to ensure they worked. A non-working chip was automatically discarded and another one made to replace it while the data was still in memory.

Data was read off the card by moving it in front of a fixed photocell. Access time was improved by laying out the data in rows that were read in both directions. The head would read off a track of data as the card moved from right to left (say), and then reverse direction and read the other side of the same track from left to right. Once it returned to its original position it would move onto the next track in the field. The term for this method of data access is boustrophedonic, from a Greek root meaning "as the ox plows." Many computer printers use the same technique to avoid delays moving the print head back across the paper.

Once processed, the chips were re-inserted into the cell they had been removed from earlier. They were then moved out of the reader and into the 1361 Cell File & Control or additional storage-only 1352 Cell File units. Note the numbering; these units were intended to be shared with the 1350 system. Each file contained 75 trays (5x5 x 3 deep) holding 30 cells each, for a total of 2,250 cells, containing 1/2 a terabit. The system installed at LLNL used one 1361 and one 1352 for a total of one terabit, but other installations typically had two more 1352's for a total of 2 terabits. Cells could be manually moved about by loading them into the front-and-bottom-most set of trays, which could be removed.

Speed of the system was fairly good, writing at about 500 kbit/s, and reading at about 2.5 Mbit/s. Cells were moved between the Files and Readers using a pneumatic tube system similar to those used to move documents around in some stores and hospitals. The system could keep up to 13 cells "in flight" around the system in order to minimize delays.

Controlling the entire system was a small computer, programmed similarly to industrial control computers with a fixed number of tasks running all the time. The controller was also tasked with translating the data to and from the host format. IBM offered the 1367 Data Controller for Control Data systems, realizing that most users with this sort of storage need had a number of CDC machines. Other Controllers were available for different host platforms.

title: IBM 1360


text:
The Gun Seller

The Gun Seller (1996) is the first novel by English actor, musician, comedian, and writer Hugh Laurie. It concerns former Scots Guards officer Thomas Lang and his reluctant involvement in a conspiracy involving international arms dealers, terrorists, the CIA, the MoD, beautiful women and fast motorcycles.

"It turns out that Mister Woolf needs Thomas help. By accepting to help Mister Woolf, Thomas ends up on a large scale conspiracy including drug and guns. After some researchs, Thomas finally met Mister Woolf and they talk a lot." (Thomacarena) Wary of becoming another "celebrity author", Laurie initially submitted his manuscript under a pseudonym, only revealing his identity after it had been accepted for publication and having been persuaded by his publicist to use his real name for the sake of publicity.

Plot summary
The Gun Seller tells the story of retired Army officer Thomas Lang, who lives a somewhat hand-to-mouth existence in London, his attention focused mainly on drinking whisky and riding his motorcycle. His income stems from a variety of bodyguard, strong-arm and mercenary jobs he undertakes, utilizing the skills he learned and contacts he made during his time in the Army.

After being approached in Amsterdam by a man asking him to assassinate American businessman Alexander Woolf, Lang attempts to warn the intended victim at his Belgravia flat, finding Woolf gone and instead clashing with (and incapacitating) a mercenary, then encountering Woolf's daughter Sarah. Afterward Lang finds himself under intense scrutiny from both the Ministry of Defence and the Central Intelligence Agency, who claim Woolf is an international drug smuggler currently under investigation. Intrigued by the sudden interest of two government agencies, Lang attempts to track down the man who approached him in Amsterdam, unexpectedly finding him in London, and even more unexpectedly discovering that the man is Alexander Woolf himself.

Eventually Woolf and his daughter agree to meet Lang at dinner and answer his questions. The elder Woolf explains that he tried to hire Lang as a hitman to see if he was a "good man", and admits he is under investigation, but not for selling drugs. Rather, Woolf is of interest because of what he knows about a next-generation light attack helicopter. More disturbingly, Woolf and Sarah claim that a conspiracy is under way to stage a terrorist attack and subsequently promote the light helicopter by sending one in to eliminate the terrorists. Lang is skeptical, but begins to believe the story after he is kidnapped and interrogated about Woolf. He frees himself, finding a heavily tortured Alexander Woolf in a nearby room. Mister Woolf is killed shortly thereafter as Lang makes his escape, killing his captors in the process.

With Sarah missing and now certain the conspiracy is real, Lang attempts to determine the main conspirators, aided by a friend of Sarah's named Ronnie. After some investigating he centers on a CIA Deputy Director named Barnes, who (forcibly) takes him to meet the head conspirator: billionaire Naimh Murdah. Murdah, owner of the company that manufactures the helicopter, openly admits to the plot and plainly states that Lang will be helping to carry out the terrorist attack, backing up his declaration with an open and explicit threat on Sarah's life. To illustrate his point, Murdah casually kills a CIA agent who accompanied Lang and Barnes to his home.

Lang is placed within a small terrorist group called the Sword of Justice as a Minnesotan named Ricky, officially to gather intelligence and minimize casualties. A Dutch politician is seemingly shot dead by Lang in Switzerland as a warm up activity by the Sword of Justice, although it was a set-up and the politician was briefed and was wearing body armour. During a brief return to London Lang encounters Sarah and confronts her regarding pictures, provided to him by his friend and handler Solomon, showing Sarah and Barnes together. Sarah admits to being a part of the conspiracy, but swears her father's death was never part of the arrangement.

Lang and Sword of Justice arrive in Casablanca and successfully take control of the American embassy there, holding a number of hostages. Barnes, Murdah, Sarah, and a number of other conspirators arrive in Casablanca to direct Lang and ensure the success of the plot. Lang covertly leaves the Embassy as directed, but as Murdah is talking to him Lang pulls a gun, slipped to him by Sarah as part of a plan they made in London. Lang forces Murdah into the Embassy at gunpoint and handcuffs him to a fire escape on the roof, then orders him to call off the helicopter attack. Murdah refuses, certain the attack will not come since he is in the line of fire, but Lang contends the greed of the remaining conspirators will ensure the attack goes as planned. Just as Lang predicted, the helicopter attacks, killing one of the terrorists, but before it can make another pass Lang shoots it down with a Javelin missile he smuggled into the embassy earlier.

Footage of the helicopter's attack and destruction is shown worldwide via news networks covering the siege, ruining any chance of any military investing in the helicopter. Lang releases a statement (via the terrorists) to CNN outlining the conspiracy, ensuring that the plot is thwarted. The Ministry of Defence flies a tired Lang and Solomon back to England. After landing Lang is greeted by Ronnie, who managed to force the Ministry to allow her to ride with him from the airport, and makes it quite clear she is happy to see him.

Film, TV, audiobook, or theatrical adaptations
In an interview found in the back of some Washington Square Press editions of the book, Laurie states that (at the time of the interview) he recently finished writing a screenplay adaptation of The Gun Seller for United Artists. An audiobook edition published by Highbridge Audio is available as of 16 October 2012, narrated by Audie Award-winner Simon Prebble, produced by Greg Lawrence at on Purpose Productions.

Possible sequel
Laurie is rumoured to have written a second book, The Paper Soldier. Amazon.com announced that this novel would be published in mid-September 2007. However, as the date came and passed, Laurie's agent announced that this was a mistake on Amazon's part and that Laurie had not even written the novel yet. Amazon then stated that Paper Soldier would be published in September 2009; it wasn't. The book is listed on Amazon but remains unpublished.

Reception
In January 2009, thirteen years after the original English publication, a French translation of the novel entitled Tout est sous contrôle ("Everything's Under Control") was published by Sonatine, and later topped book charts in March 2009 in France. Croatian translation by Ivana Ameri entitled Vrlo komplicirana trgovina ("A Very Complicated Trade") was published by the Profil publisher in 2015.

title: The Gun Seller


text:
Fingersmith (slang)

Fingersmith or finger-smith is slang for a midwife or pickpocket.

Used in a 1977 short story, "The Hitchhiker" by Roald Dahl and as the title of Sarah Waters's 2002 novel: "Fingersmith".

title: Fingersmith (slang)


text:
Talk:Yoshihiro Togashi

Links
Notes for Project Wicked: Yoshihiro Togashi. May 10, 2005 http://togashi.dtenshi.net/ Yoshihiro Togashi, the mangaka of some of the most popular, famous and classic manga including Yu Yu Hakusho and Hunter x Hunter.

Live Journal: Yoshihiro Togashi. May 18, 2005 http://www.livejournal.com/users/guan/56961.html#cutid1 When I was in middle school, I was a bright and optimistic kid, and when I was in high school, I was a dark and pessimistic young man.

The Boss Himself: Yoshihiro Togashi. May 18, 2005 http://agaru.fateback.com/information/dboss.htm Yoshihiro Togashi is the middle child with an older sister and a younger brother, who's also a cartoonist. Name: Yoshihiro Togashi Place of Birth: Yamagata, Japan Date of Birth: April 26, 1966 / April 27, 1966 Zodiac Sign: Taurus Blood type: A Social Status: Married Wife: Naoko Takeuchi (the creator of Sailormoon)

Naoko changes at Least One Title: Yoshihiro Togashi May 19, 2005 http://sm-forever.narod.ru/AvtorAnime-SailorMoon/About-NaokoTakeuchi/youngyou1.htm

"Extensive Righteousness Wealthy Oak"
Do we say the meaning of Bill Gates' name implying "an entrance which requires payments?" No. And the same goes with names written in Chinese character. It's just a name, boy. The information is useless and misleading to this article. -- G.S.K.Lee 10:10, 28 May 2006 (UTC)

 * Nu-uh, some of us copey-paste that Japanese kanji into Google Japan/Amazon Japan for look-ups & research. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.19.236.142 (talk) 14:04, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

illness
is he actually sick? if he is, what is it?

 * Illness cruft-- I vote it down. Why? Because while he did say he was sick, he was sick due to EXHAUSTION. Takeuchi drew herself sick at the same time as him. She also claimed he was flaky and irresponsible. Unless you can support this with an official statement then it does not belong until it is SUPPORTED by an article with real news and not speculation cruft. And don't spread this to other pages. *scolds* --;; You would be dehydrated and exhausted too if you had to stay up more than 72 hours in a row and in the dark. I'm deleteing this speculation cruft until someone supports it with the original translation, which says what I just said. Fan speculation does not make wikipedia pages. Support your statements. It's being deleted off of the Takeuchi website until you can get support. --Hitsuji Kinno 04:16, 28 October 2006 (UTC)

 * Hehe, artists are lazy creatures. You show me a mangaka who isn't flakey & irresponsible, & I'll show you a Joker who doesn't kill. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.19.236.142 (talk) 14:02, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

 * I heard that it is widely believed in Japan that the reason why is that he is a huge video game otaku. He spends those big advances he gets on the newest releaes, especially Final Fantasy games (although I confirmed this, it's not someone close to the person in question so it could be under speculation as another rumor). But a friend of mine told me that Jump is actually considering putting a hold (or stopping altogether) serializing Hunter x Hunter now because of his "sickness". He's been on hiatus for a long time and puts out like one tankouban per year now. Also, does this have to be in UTC? This is my first time posting in a talk page... --eri 05:26, Aug. 24 2009 (UTC)

Don't fret the haitus
A year is such a SHORT haitus for a mangaka, so don't worry too much if you're waiting for the next HxH. When his editor & SJ feel he's truely slacking (this could take several years) they'll really lay it in on him. If they give him such great privelages, there's not a chance in hell they'll let him drop the series & move on. I can think of a specific mangaka who took nearly a decade to get around to volume 20. She slowed down to 1 manga a year while others do 1 a season (3 months), but now she's on volume 33. Hunter X Hunter hasn't lost any of it's popularity in Japan; the Greed Island OVA series is on-air currently.

 * I heard that if the Chimaera Ant arc is ever wrapped up, that they will make another OAV series.

Put the manga in chronological order please
For some reason Yuu Yuu Hakusho is after Level E, but HunterxHunter is put before Level E. If someone could kindly put them in order and do a short description of what each plot is, that would help people visiting the page to figure out things like individual artist evolution... thank you. BTW, I have a feeling that list of works isn't quite complete either... I haven't seen that many of his works, and even though I have a page to him, I'd prefer that someone else do some leg work that loves this mangaka and fill in the info. --Hitsuji Kinno 02:16, 18 November 2006 (UTC)

Trouble Quartet
Hmmm...that will confirm a lot of fans' suspicions about the overfriendly relationships & surplus bishounens in YYH & HxH. Makes him seem all the more perfect for his wife, whom also used gay female characters & crossdressing; a very open-minded &/or bisexual mangaka couple ^_^ Anyways, if this series does get published, it's likely to be by a different publisher. Shounen Jump will likely never admit to either their large world-wide female fanbase nor the fact that every series they've ever published has yaoi doujinshi.... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.19.236.142 (talk) 13:57, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

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title: Talk:Yoshihiro Togashi


text: Talk:Lean manufacturing

title: Talk:Lean manufacturing


text: Category:Hydrides

title: Category:Hydrides


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User:Kaleratnakar

RATNAKAR ASHOK KALE
B. Com. Website Developer R/o. Nashik Maharashtra India

title: User:Kaleratnakar


text:
Talk:Innocenti De Tomaso

Untitled
I would call this page "Innocenti 90" and redirect "Innocenti 110" and "Innocenti 3C" to it. It was never really called the "De Tomaso", right? --SFoskett 12:38, May 27, 2005 (UTC)
 * No, it wasn't, De Tomaso was the performance model only, but 90 referred only to the 1.0 L version using the BMC engine. I've seen magazines from the late 70s and early 80s refer to the car generally as Innocenti 90/120. When the car adopted the Daihatsu engines in place of the BMC, the model became officially known as the 3C. But 3C is wrong because the BMC versions used four-cylinder engines. Either 90/120 or 3C with 90, 120 and De Tomaso as redirects. --Pc13 14:39, 2005 May 27 (UTC)

 * How (if at all) does this material relate to the De Tomaso article - neither links to the other - but they are both about Italian car stuff...weird. SteveBaker 19:53, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

title: Talk:Innocenti De Tomaso


text:
File:A Certain Trigger.jpg

summary
Album Cover For A Certain Trigger

Fair use in A Certain Trigger
Though this image is subject to copyright, its use is covered by the U.S. fair use laws because:
 * 1) It's a low resolution copy of a CD/album cover.
 * 2) It doesn't limit the copyright owner's rights to sell the CD/album in any way, in fact, it may encourage sales.
 * 3) Because of the low resolution, copies could not be used to make illegal copies of the album artwork on another CD.
 * 4) The image is itself a subject of discussion in the article or used in the infobox thereof.
 * 5) The image on the cover is significant because it was made by a famous artist.

Source

 * 1) Derived from a digital capture (scan/photo) of the album/CD cover (creator of this digital version is irrelevant as the copyright in all equivalent images is still held by the same party). Copyright held by the record company or the artist. Claimed as fair use regardless.

title: File:A Certain Trigger.jpg


text:
File:AnthraxStateOfEuphoria Improved.jpg

Summary
Anthrax - State of Euphoria album cover.

Copyright 1988 Island Records


text:
John Hamilton-Leslie, 9th Earl of Rothes

John Hamilton-Leslie, 9th Earl of Rothes (1679–1722), was a Scottish nobleman who fought on the side of George I during the Jacobite rising of 1715.

Biography
John Hamilton-Leslie, born in 1679, was the eldest son of Charles Hamilton, 5th Earl of Haddington, and Margaret Leslie, 8th Countess of Rothes. In 1701, Hamilton-Leslie succeeded his mother as Earl of Rothes, the chief of Clan Leslie. His younger brother became Thomas Hamilton, 6th Earl of Haddington.

On 29 April 1697, Hamilton-Leslie married Lady Jean Hay, the daughter of John Hay, 2nd Marquess of Tweeddale. The couple had eight sons and four daughters.

In 1704, Hamilton-Leslie was appointed Keeper of the Privy Seal of Scotland. In 1707, after the passage of the Acts of Union by the English and Scottish Parliaments, Hamilton-Leslie was appointed as one of the 16 Scottish representative peers to sit in the English House of Lords. He served as representative peer until 1722. In 1714, George I appointed Hamilton-Leslie as vice admiral of Scotland.

In the Jacobite rising of 1715, Hamilton-Leslie fought for George I in Scotland against the pretender James Francis Edward Stuart. In a skirmish at Kinross, Hamilton-Leslie led a troop of the Scots Greys that defeated the Jacobites and took Sir Thomas Bruce captive. At the Battle of Sheriffmuir, he led a group of volunteer fighters. Hamilton-Leslie raised a militia group in Fife that he led against the forces of Rob Roy MacGregor in Falkland, Fife. Hamilton-Leslie turned his own house into a garrison.

In 1716, after the defeat of the Jacobites, George I appointed Hamilton-Leslie as governor of Stirling Castle to compensate him for his property losses during the insurgency. Hamilton-Leslie held this command until 1722. He was also named chamberlain of Fife and Strathearn.

John Hamilton-Leslie died on 9 May 1722 at Leslie House.


text:
Talk:Straight man (disambiguation)

N/s
Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, like the Two Ronnies, cannot be classified as straight man and buffoon like the others in this list. In a famous sketch involving the double act where Pete plays a psychiatrist and Dud his patient, Pete is very much the straight man and Dud the buffoon. In fact, I consider Peter Cook to assume the straight-man role in the majority of their routines.

-- Nicander

Fictional vs. non-fictional
Interesting that Chandler from Friends shows up under the fictional characters list, but Gary Sandy of WKRP is on the real people list. I suggest that if an actor plays the straight man in more than one role, s/he be listed on the main list. Otherwise, list the character on the fictional list. This would place Chandler, Mindy McConnell and Andy Travis on the character list. Does this make sense? -Freekee 06:07, 30 October 2005 (UTC)

Let's fix this semantic dilution
Hey hey, aren't we getting into semantic dilution? I mean, this straight man article actually is a subarticle about the larger phenomena of the double act/comedy duo. See, what's important is the paradox of the dumb/smart partnership. In some very special cases --like with the Three Stooges-- it could be said that it is still a comedy duo, just with an extra player. However the group is still very limited.

The situation with Jane from 3rd Rock or Chandler from friends is out of control, firstly, they aren't really straight, they have their own quirks (specially Chandler), then, in a situation with 6 main characters plus special guests... where is the comedy duo?

I suggest we restrict this list to only those in a smart/dumb partnership, and move the rest to an article titled List of comic foil charactes?

If no one complains in a week I'm making the changes... --Requiem18th 01:54, 1 November 2005 (UTC)

 * Interesting. I wasn't aware of the connection to the double act entry. Odd, though that the comic foil idea is barely touched upon.

 * I agree that duos should be separated from groups, but I'm not sure they should be split into different pages. It really is the same job, whether the actor is the foil for one person or several. Where it breaks down is the level of goofiness portrayed by the supposedly "straight" man. (Quirks do not make someone "the dumb one.") Where do you draw the line? Strictly speaking, I'd only include about six of these duos. In practice, I'd like to see the list a little more inclusive, to give people a more examples so that they have a better chance of being familiar with them, and understand what this is all about. Personally, I'd like to see this page expanded, with short descriptions of each person/duo, instead of simply a bulleted list.

 * Can we call it Comic foil and do a redirect from this one, keeping them on the same page in separate lists? And what about the straight man characters with no actors? Do we still include them on their own list(s)? Call it a list of "other characters of interest, who play the role of a comic foil"?
 * --Freekee 05:09, 1 November 2005 (UTC)

Well, when I first arrived at this article (Revision as of 15:53, 27 August 2005 |) to add "Viruta and Capulina" the article was exclusively about comedy duos, the straight men of comedy duos.

But I wonder, shouldn't we list the dumb/werid/quirky ones too? Is there an special term for them? Shouldn't the list of straight and d/w/q men (and women) be merged into a single couples list?.-- Requiem the 18th (email) 02:12, 3 November 2005 (UTC)

 * If there's a specific term for them, there should be an entry. And it sounds like you're asking whether there should be a list of comedy duos on the comedy dous page. Hmm, I wonder if there should be a category. --Freekee 04:05, 3 November 2005 (UTC)

Well I moved the duos to the double act page (and made some edits, go check) and created a redirect from here. I guess whe should create a comic foil page now, but i'm letting this for someone with more interestin the subject so I left out the entries below, let's see how this works...

Animated characters:
 * Allan Jones - straight man of the Marx Brothers in Night at the Opera and A Day at the Races
 * Gary Sandy - straight man to most of the cast of WKRP in Cincinnati
 * Jane Curtin - comic foil to the aliens on 3rd Rock from the Sun and very often on Saturday Night Live
 * Margaret Dumont - comic foil of the Marx Brothers, especially Groucho
 * Brian Griffin - Family Guy
 * Chandler Bing - Friends

 * Looks pretty good, except there are still three groups on there - The Three Stooges, The Marx Brothers and the Rat Pack. - Freekee 16:36, 13 November 2005 (UTC)
 * I realize so but I can't move myself to delete those entries, firstly I didn't know a hack about the rat pack. And the Three Stooges... they may be three but two of them are so alike, ohhh well i guess you're right would you move them to the comic foil page?
 * Never mind I'll do it my self... -- Requiem the 18th (email) 03:15, 15 November 2005 (UTC)

Move discussion in progress
There is a move discussion in progress on Talk:Straight man (stock character) which affects this page. Please participate on that page and not in this talk page section. Thank you. —RMCD bot 01:16, 2 March 2018 (UTC)

title: Talk:Straight man (disambiguation)


text:
Talk:A Certain Trigger

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Talk:Alfred A. Taylor

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text: User talk:205.252.23.18

title: User talk:205.252.23.18


text:
Category:Beggars Group

Record labels that are part of the Beggars Group of labels.

title: Category:Beggars Group


text:
King Albert (card game)

King Albert is a patience or card solitaire using a deck of 52 playing cards of the open packer type. It is a conventional building game, and is said to be named after Albert I of Belgium and is a variant of Somerset. It is the best known of the three games that are each called Idiot's Delight because of the low chance of winning the game (the other two are Aces Up and Perpetual Motion).

Rules

The aim, as in most patience or solitaire games, is to release the aces to the foundations and build each of them up by suit to Kings.

First, the cards are dealt into nine columns in such a way that the first column contains nine cards, the second having eight cards, the third seven, and so on until the ninth column has a single card. The seven left over cards form the reserve, sometimes known as "the Belgian Reserve."

Building on the tableau is down by alternating colors and only one card can be moved at a time. Only the top card of each column and all cards in the reserve are available for play as well as the top cards in the foundation. Furthermore, an empty column can be filled with any available card.

Once an ace is released, it can be built upon immediately.

The game is out when all cards end up in the foundations.

Variants
Raglan is a popular variant of King Albert, and makes the game easier and achievable by starting with the Aces on the foundations. Other variant games include Somerset, Bath, Usk, and Morehead, the latter being named after Albert H. Morehead.

title: King Albert (card game)


text:
Talk:Amos Lawrence

Untitled
The first wiki to William Lawrence directs one to a disambiguation page. Please consider putting up an article about this William Lawrence, brother of Amos. (The second directs one to William Lawrence (Massachusetts), grandson of Amos and an Episcopalian bishop.) -SwissCelt 12:49, 27 May 2005 (UTC)

title: Talk:Amos Lawrence


text:
Odeon Cinemas

Odeon Cinemas Limited, trading as Odeon (stylised in all caps), is a cinema brand name operating in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Norway, which along with UCI Cinemas and Nordic Cinema Group is part of the Odeon Cinemas Group subsidiary of AMC Theatres. It uses the famous name of the Odeon cinema circuit first introduced in Great Britain in 1930. As of 2016, Odeon is the largest cinema chain in the United Kingdom by market share (although the Irish cinemas were also included within this figure).

The first Odeon cinema was opened by Oscar Deutsch in 1928, in Brierley Hill, Staffordshire (now West Midlands), England, although initially called "Picture House". The first cinema to use the Odeon brand name was Deutsch's cinema at Perry Barr, Birmingham in 1930. The brand's flagship cinema, the Odeon, Leicester Square in London, opened in 1937. Odeon then became part of the Rank Organisation who continued their ownership of the circuit for a further sixty years. Through a number of sales and acquisitions in the early 2000s the company was purchased by Terra Firma, which merged Odeon and UCI Cinemas to form Odeon UCI Cinemas Group. Most UCI cinemas then took the Odeon brand name in 2006. Terra Firma/UCI sold the company to AMC Theatres in November 2016. Ironically, UCI was originally formed through the merger of AMC UK and Cinema International Corporation in 1989.

Establishment

Odeon Cinemas was created in 1928 by Oscar Deutsch. Odeon publicists liked to claim that the name of the cinemas was derived from his motto, "Oscar Deutsch Entertains Our Nation", but it had been used for cinemas in France and Italy in the 1920s, and the word is actually Ancient Greek ᾨδεῖον, Ōideion, meaning "a place for singing". The word "Nickelodeon" was coined in 1888 and was widely used to describe small cinemas in the United States starting from 1905.

The first cinema opened by Deutsch was located in Brierley Hill, Staffordshire, England in 1928. The building has long since been demolished, but as of 2006, the former UCI cinema (built in the 1980s as an AMC multiplex) at the Merry Hill Shopping Centre in Brierley Hill was refurbished as an Odeon cinema. However, its style is more functional than that of original Odeon cinemas.

The first cinema that opened under the Odeon brand was in 1930, located in Perry Barr, Birmingham. It was designed by Harry Weedon using maritime-inspired Art Deco architecture. The frontage was remodelled following damage sustained during the Second World War and, having been a bingo hall, has since been converted into a conference venue.

Expansion
In 1932, Deutsch acquired more sites and planned the construction of a chain of cinemas; commissioning Weedon to design his future buildings, with five opening in 1933. Each Odeon cinema had a character different from most other cinemas in the UK, often having a unique and spectacular interior.

George Coles was also one of their principal architects, remodelling a partially complete assembly hall in Portslade and designing his first purpose-built cinema in Upper Wickham Lane, Welling, Kent which opened on 22 October 1934 and closed on 22 October 1960. It is currently a bingo club in the Mecca chain. It featured central linear lighting, a feature that became characteristic of his work. 15 other Odeon cinemas opened in 1934.

In 1935, Deutsch commissioned John Maltby (1910–80), a professional photographer, to photograph every cinema in the Odeon chain at that time. The resulting collection, of internal and external photographs, is held in the public archive of English Heritage and can be seen online. 13 more Odeon cinemas opened in 1935. The same year, United Artists took a stake in the company for a nominal sum plus the supply of its films to the chain. UA eventually owned 50% of Odeon Cinema Holdings.

In 1936, 35 more Odeons opened and in 1937, the Odeon Leicester Square opened in Leicester Square, London, which became the chain's flagship cinema. Another 35 Odeons also opened in 1937, with the chain concentrating on bigger cities. They also took over County Cinemas and George Singleton Cinemas in Scotland. Odeon Theatres Limited was formed to consolidate the chain of 250 cinemas into one public company.

In 1938, Deutsch sold an interest in the business to J. Arthur Rank, who was in the process of forming the Rank Organisation. In 1939, they acquired most of the small UK cinema operations of Paramount Pictures, including key sites in Birmingham, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool and Newcastle upon Tyne.

By the time of Deutsch's death in December 1941, the chain had 258 cinemas throughout Britain, including 142 specially built. After his death, his wife sold his shares to Rank, giving Rank control of both Odeon and the rival Gaumont-British chain, which the Rank Organisation had acquired earlier in the year. In July 1942, Odeon acquired a second tranche of the Paramount chain, including the Paramount Theatre in Tottenham Court Road, later renamed the Odeon Tottenham Court Road.

In 1948, Rank merged the management and booking operations of Odeon and Gaumont.

In 1953, Odeon brought 3D films, widescreen and CinemaScope to the UK. The Odeon Marble Arch showed Bwana Devil in 3D in March 1953. Later in the year, Odeon showed Tonight We Sing in widescreen at the Odeon Leicester Square and demonstrated CinemaScope at the Odeon Tottenham Court Road to the trade and to the public with The Robe at the Odeon Leicester Square.

In January 1959, Rank restructured its exhibition operation and combined the best Gaumonts and the best Odeons for a new "Rank" release, while the rest of their cinemas were given a new "National" release. With the continuing decline in attendance and cinema numbers, the National release died on its feet and henceforth there were two release patterns, Rank and ABC. There was no reason to perpetuate the Gaumont name, and in towns that lost their Odeon, the Gaumont was usually renamed Odeon within a couple of years of the latter's closure. Even so, the Gaumont name continued to linger until, in January 1987, the last Gaumont, in Doncaster, was renamed Odeon.

A smaller number of Odeon cinemas opened in the post-war years (Odeon Marble Arch and Odeon Elephant & Castle being notable instances), but many single-screen cinemas either closed, sub-divided into smaller screens or were converted into other uses, such as bingo. In 1965, Odeon opened their first multiplex converting their site in Nottingham into a twin-screened cinema. In 1989, they built their first multiplex with an 8-screen site in Stoke-on-Trent.

International expansion
In 1944, Rank acquired a 50% interest in a Canadian chain and built Odeon cinemas there. It partnered with Hoyts in Australia in 1945 and bought chains in Ireland, New Zealand and South Africa in 1946. By 1956, Rank Odeon had expanded to the West Indies, British Malaya and Ceylon and had an interest in 585 cinemas overseas. In 1957, they opened a cinema in New York City.

Odeon eventually operated a wholly owned Canadian subsidiary, Odeon Theatres (Canada) Ltd., with more than a hundred cinemas in Canada, coast-to-coast. The head office of Odeon Theatres of Canada was in Toronto, and later, the north Toronto suburb of Willowdale. This business was sold in 1978 to the Canadian Theatres chain and became Canadian Odeon Theatres, then was sold again in 1984 to Cineplex Corporation, forming Cineplex Odeon, then later became known as Loews Cineplex Entertainment.

It also owned fifty per cent of an Australian subsidiary, Greater Union Organisation, based in Sydney, with dozens of cinemas across Australia. The Rank Organisation's share of Greater Union Organisation was sold to Amalgamated Holdings Ltd., an Australian company, also in 1984. Greater Union is now known as Event Cinemas.

Present day
Since the turn of the century, Odeon has undergone a series of sales after the Rank Group needed cash injections to reduce their debt, firstly to Cinven in February 2000 for £280 million which merged Odeon, with 75 cinemas at the time, with Cinven's ABC Cinemas, which comprised 60 cinemas. In 2004, the chain was purchased by Terra Firma and merged with United Cinemas International to produce the largest cinema chain in Europe. As a condition of the merger (imposed by the Office of Fair Trading), Odeon's Newcastle upon Tyne, Sutton Coldfield, Poole, Quinton, Hemel Hempstead and Bromley cinemas were sold to Empire Cinemas. Many smaller, older cinemas such as Odeon Grimsby on Freeman Street were closed to keep market share within legal limits. The remaining UCI cinemas, including Thefilmworks brands, were rebranded as Odeon on 4 November 2005.

UCI cinemas in Ireland have also joined the Odeon chain, and while they initially retained the UCI brand name, evidence of the merger became apparent, for example when booking tickets by credit card, the name "Odeon" appeared. The Odeon in-house film review magazine, Onscreen, was now also distributed in the UCI cinemas, retaining the Odeon logo font throughout. In August 2007, UCI launched a new Irish website with an identical layout to odeon.co.uk. This website stated that the Irish cinemas were sold to an Irish group, Entertainment Enterprises, in September 2006. This transaction went unreported in the Irish media. It also stated that the cinemas remained part of the Odeon chain under a management contract. Rank/Odeon previously ran cinemas in Ireland (including the flagship, the Savoy Cinema in O'Connell Street) until 1982, when they were purchased by Ward Anderson. In April 2008, Entertainment Enterprises announced that it purchased the Irish assets of Storm Cinemas, and as with the existing UCI chain, would be contracting the running of the cinemas to Odeon. On 31 May 2011, Odeon announced that it had bought back the UCI chain in Ireland (including the Storm Cinemas-branded locations) from Entertainment Enterprises. Odeon rebranded all of its Irish cinemas under the Odeon brand during 2012; the first rebranded cinema reopened on 27 March 2012.

In February 2007, the UK became home to Europe's first DCI-compliant fully digital multiplex cinemas with the launch of Odeon Hatfield and Odeon Surrey Quays (in London), with a total of 18 digital screens. In 2007 Odeon acquired ten cinemas in Italy. It is now the largest cinema chain in Europe. In March 2012, the Odeon and UCI Cinemas Group under Terra Firma's control reported a £70 million loss for the year 2011, as posted on Companies House. In 2015, Terra Firma announced that it planned to sell Odeon and UCI Cinemas for around £1 billion. In April 2015, the company agreed to sell its cinemas in Gerrards Cross, Esher, Muswell Hill and Barnet to its smaller rival Everyman Cinemas for £7.1 million.

In July 2016, the company was bought for $921 million by the American company AMC Theatres, which is owned by Chinese conglomerate Wanda Group. The deal received approval from the European Commission on 17 November 2016, and was completed on 30 November 2016. In 2018, AMC Theatres bought Norwegian chain SF Kino and renamed it Odeon Kino.

On 17 March 2020, Odeon closed all of its theatres due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On 11 December 2020, Odeon revealed they were losing $125 million a month due to the closure, and that the emergency funds that had been provided were running out.

On 5 May 2023 Odeon announced the closure on 5 June of five sites, including two of the dwindling number of original Odeons, Ayr and Weston-Super-Mare and also the 1998 10-screen multiplex in Blackpool. There remain six "Oscar Deutsch" Odeons in operation:- Bristol (totally rebuilt internally), Exeter, Harrogate, London Leicester Square, Swiss Cottage and Worcester.

Rank Screen Advertising
They also ran their own advertising company, called Rank Screen Advertising, in competition with the UK market leader Pearl & Dean, which it eventually overtook. Rank Screen Advertising was later rebranded as Cinema Media before being taken over by Carlton Communications and became Carlton Screen Advertising. In 2008, Odeon, along with rival chain Cineworld, bought back the company and today it is known as Digital Cinema Media.

Services
The company operates a website and mobile apps for iOS and Android, allowing customers to book tickets in advance of performances. They ceased a telephone booking service in 2014. They run their own Guest Service Centre, based in Stoke-on-Trent, sharing the building with the cinema, but operating separately. The company has a support office in Manchester and a smaller office in London.

"Limitless" is a nationwide scheme, which, on a twelve-month contract basis, allows members to see regular (not 3D) screenings as often as they want for a monthly fee.

Odeon offers premium services for customers who are 18 years or older. It provides a fine dining experience and was formerly a gallery offering (this has since closed in all locations), offering a premium service, at six locations.

Refusals to screen certain films
In 2008, Odeon made a controversial move by refusing to screen Rambo on any of its UK screens, blaming it on "commercial differences". In 2010 Odeon proposed a boycott of Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland at its cinemas in the UK, Ireland and Italy, over a plan by Disney to show the film for a shorter period to allow it to release the film on DVD earlier. Following individual negotiations with Disney; Odeon, Cineworld and Vue reached agreements.

Public customer complaint
On 24 August 2012, a customer named Matt Pledger posted a complaint on Odeon's Facebook wall about his experience with the cinema, citing high ticket prices, high food prices, inattentive staff, sound bleeding through from the cinema next door, and displaying adverts on how piracy was killing film. The complaint eventually went viral, with over 275,000 'Likes' and over 23,000 comments as of 3 September 2012, as well as receiving attention from the national media,  including a programme feature on BBC Radio 4.

Ban on Universal Pictures films
On 29 April 2020, Odeon Cinemas, alongside its parent company AMC Theatres, announced a ban on all films distributed by Universal Pictures after the latter announced that it would skip releasing some films in cinemas and distribute them directly on streaming and on-demand services during the COVID-19 pandemic. Adam Aron, chief executive of AMC Theatres, said that the ban would apply to all 1,000 outlets worldwide after the coronavirus lockdown. The dispute was resolved in July 2020, with AMC agreeing that Universal could stream films 17 days after theatrical release.

title: Odeon Cinemas


text:
National Press Foundation

The National Press Foundation is a nonprofit journalism training organization. It educates journalists on complex issues and trains them in reporting tools and techniques. It recognizes and encourages excellence in journalism through its awards.

NPF programs are held in Washington, D.C., and other U.S. and international cities. It has recently produced trainings on vaccine development, poverty and inequality in America, international trade, and the 2020 election.

History
The National Press Foundation was incorporated in the District of Columbia on Aug. 5, 1975, as part of the National Press Club. In 1980, under the leadership of Donald R. Larrabee, it became an independent organization. Its first educational program was a 1981 conference at Princeton University aimed at improving business and economics reporting, held at a time when journalism schools had few programs to prepare business writers. NPF expanded to offer training programs on other topics around the United States, as well as internationally.

With a grant from Evelyn Y. Davis and The Evelyn Y. Davis Foundation, the National Press Foundation built a broadcast studio in 2014, called Studio works | The Evelyn Y. Davis Studio.

During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, NPF began offering its training online.

Organization and leadership
NPF is managed by an executive committee and is governed by a volunteer board of directors.

The organization's current president is Anne Godlasky. The chairman of the board is Amos Snead. Past presidents of NPF include Sandy K. Johnson, Bob Meyers, Robert Alden, Frank Aukofer, Joseph Slevin, and David Yount, all former journalists.

Programs
In 2010, NPF offered a training program called Cancer Issues 2010, underwritten by Pfizer. The advertised goal was to train journalists to “understand the latest research” on various cancers, including the role of pharmaceutical products and vaccines. MicroRNA (miRNA) was also a listed topic.

Funding
NPF is funded by sponsors of individual training programs, an annual awards dinner, and an endowment. Sponsors include media organizations, foundations, corporations, and individuals.

Some of NPF’s current and recent funders include Arnold Ventures, the Hinrich Foundation, the David & Lucile Packard Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, CNN, Toyota, Twitter, Johnson & Johnson, Fondation Ipsen, Bayer, the Evelyn Y. Davis Foundation, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, GlaxoSmithKline, Heising-Simons Foundation, American Association for Cancer Research, American Society of Addiction Medicine and Honda.

NPF has previously been funded by Pfizer, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Eli Lilly and Company, the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise, World Health Organization, TB Alliance, Business Roundtable, Mayo Clinic, Prudential Financial, AdvaMed, Huawei, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), the United States Chamber of Commerce, and Verizon Communications.

Awards
In 1984, NPF created its first award to honor Sol Taishoff, the late founder of Broadcasting Magazine. The foundation now offers a slate of journalism awards to celebrate work that represents the highest standards of journalism. NPF awards are made by a vote of individual committees and ratified by the board of directors.

Since 1989, the NPF has presented the Clifford K. and James T. Berryman Award annually for editorial cartooning. Winners have included Chip Bok (1993), Jim Morin (1996), Rex Babin (2000), Signe Wilkinson (2001), Kevin Kallaugher (2002), Ann Telnaes (2003), Steve Sack (2006), Matt Wuerker (2010), Nick Anderson (2011), Adam Zyglis (2013), Clay Bennett (2014), Darrin Bell (2016), Ruben Bolling (2021), Ward Sutton (2022), and Jen Sorensen (2023).

NPF award pages

 * Clifford K. and James T. Berryman Award for Editorial Cartooning
 * Benjamin C. Bradlee Editor of the Year Award
 * Chairman’s Citation — issued at the discretion of the board chair
 * Everett McKinley Dirksen Award for Distinguished Reporting of Congress
 * The Feddie Reporting Award — for coverage of the impact of federal rules and regulations on local communities
 * Hinrich Foundation Award for Distinguished Reporting on Trade
 * Innovative Storytelling Award
 * W.M. Kiplinger Distinguished Contributions to Journalism Award
 * Carolyn C. Mattingly Award for Mental Health Reporting
 * Poverty and Inequality Awards
 * Thomas L. Stokes Award for Best Energy and Environment Writing
 * Sol Taishoff Broadcaster of the Year Award

title: National Press Foundation