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Witold Małcużyński

Witold Małcużyński (August 10, 1914 – July 17, 1977 ) was a distinguished Polish pianist who specialized in the works of Frédéric Chopin.

Biography
Małcużyński was born in 1914. He was the older brother of Karol Małcużyński, a Polish politician and journalist. He began playing piano at the age of 5, starting regular lessons four years later. Originally, he intended to study law but his innate love of music overcame his initial decision and he switched to music and enrolled at the Warsaw Conservatory from which he graduated with high honours, studying under Józef Turczyński. In 1936, he received an invitation to study under Marguerite Long and Isidor Philipp in Paris. He won the third prize at the III International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw in 1937. At the same time, he met his future wife, the French pianist Colette Gaveau.

When World War II began, he was in France. There, he joined the artistic-propaganda section of the Polish Army and visited military camps. After the capitulation of France, he and his new wife escaped in a sealed traincar to Portugal, where he met the conductor Grzegorz Fitelberg, who offered him a tour of South America. Małcużyński went to Argentina in October 1940. In April 1942 he relocated to the United States. Essential to his American career was the violinist Yehudi Menuhin, who initially helped him with management issues. After the war, he moved to Switzerland.

He was a member of the jury of the International Chopin Competition in 1960 and 1970, the Queen Elisabeth Music Competition (Belgium) in 1960, and the Paloma O'Shea International Piano Competition in 1976.

He was conferred an Officer's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta. He died in 1977 in Majorca, Spain, and was buried in the Powązki Cemetery, Poland.

Selected discography (CD)

 * 1989 Witold Małcużyński Plays Chopin (Polskie Nagrania)
 * 1993 Witold Małcużyński - Fantasies-Nocturnes-Scherzos (Allegro Corporation)
 * 1993 Malcuzynski Plays Chopin - Grand Polonaise, Volume 2 (Allegro Corporation)
 * 1994 Malcuzynski: Artist Profile (Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 2/Piano Sonata No. 3/Waltzes/Mazurkas) (EMI Classic)
 * 1999 Witold Małcuzynski - Chopin-Rachmaninov (Dante)
 * 2000 Witold Malcuzynski Plays Chopin, Liszt and Szymanowski (Piano Masters) (Pearl)
 * 2001 Witold Malcuzynski - Brahms-Beethoven-Chopin (Aura Classics)
 * 2001 Witold Malcuzynski Plays Great Romantic Piano Music (2CD) (Royal Long Players)
 * 2003 Witold Małcużyński Brahms-Franck-Bach-Busoni (Polskie Nagrania)
 * 2006 Witold Małcużyński - Johannes Brahms Piano Concerto No.1 in D minor op.15 (Polskie Nagrania)
 * 2007 Witold Małcużyński - Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 2; Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 3 (nagr. 1946-1949) (Guild)
 * 2007 Witold Malcuzynski Intermezzo (Fabula Classica)
 * 2010 Witold Małcużyński - Chopin (digipack) (Polskie Radio)

title: Witold Małcużyński


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User:Farbenfreude~enwiki

de:Benutzer:Farbenfreude

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

title: User:Farbenfreude~enwiki


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Talk:Sazae-san

Longest running
Is this actually the longest running animated television series in the world? It is still being produced, isn't it? --Zilog Jones 23:04, 9 Jun 2005 (UTC)

 * It is still being produced, in new installments, as of 2005. Mike H (Talking is hot) 03:59, 26 October 2005 (UTC)

 * yes it is, so far65.174.247.78 (talk) 23:34, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

Request for comment on articles for individual television episodes and characters
A request for comments has been started that could affect the inclusion or exclusion of episode and character, as well as other fiction articles. Please visit the discussion at Wikipedia_talk:Notability_(fiction). Ikip (talk) 10:59, 3 February 2009 (UTC)

About the characters
Should someone add a picture next to the description of the character so people could understand who's who if they plan on watching the anime? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Saunek the Hedgjehoag (talk • contribs) 05:01, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

Popularity
Something should be said about the fact that the anime almost always gets higher ratings than any other televised anime of the week, and usually well above the #2 (typically Chibi Maruko-chan). Not sure where to put it, though. --Shay Guy (talk) 09:07, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

title: Talk:Sazae-san


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User:Peter J M

I am Peter M. My middle name begins with J.

I started a Wiki account more or less because I was bored and use it often enough to see it every day or so.

I have thus far made 1 contribution regarding Mimico, but not while logged in.

Last updated June 9 2005

title: User:Peter J M


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Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Calchrn

 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. Golbez 08:23, Jun 18, 2005 (UTC)

Calchrn
The alias of some forum troll on a marginally notable website. Troll vanity? CDC  (talk)  23:05, 9 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * He is known on numerous sites and new members never know what people are talking about, and searching for Calchrn would point them to this site, Its better to have the article than to not have it. Who is it harming? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.255.0.4 (talk • contribs) 23:29, 9 Jun 2005
 * Delete. It's harming me. -R. fiend 23:59, 9 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete non notable. JamesBurns 06:25, 10 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete Fine then, just delete it already — Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.255.0.4 (talk • contribs) 21:06, 10 Jun 2005
 * Delete — Non-notable & non-encyclopedic. I reverted back to the version with the deletion notice. — RJH 21:40, 15 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 .

title: Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Calchrn


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Kristaq Antoniu

Kristaq Antoniu (25 December 1907 – 17 March 1979), also known as Cristache Antoniu in Romanian, was an Albanian-Romanian operetta tenor, baritone, and actor. He was a People's Artist of the People's Republic of Albania.

Biography
Born in Bucharest, the capital of Romania, to an ethnic Albanian family, he lived in Romania, graduating from the Mimic Drama College of Bucharest and the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome. He acquired much of his celebrity by acting in Romanian cinema roles during the late 1920s and early 1930s.

As a concert master and operetta singer, he toured Europe with a group of musicians. He settled in Albania in 1935, and started to expand on his artistic reputation, being widely esteemed for his accomplished interpretation of classical arias and folk songs. A recording of folk songs done for the Columbia society in 1942 was largely arranged by Pjetër Dungu. Antoniu was the director of the first Albanian opera, Mrika, composed by Prenk Jakova.

Antoniu died in Tirana.

Personal life
In 1941 he married Albania's first professional woman artist, Androniqi Zengo Antoniu.

title: Kristaq Antoniu


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Timoci Silatolu

Timoci Qiolevu Silatolu, sometimes known by his chiefly title of Ratu, is a former Fijian politician. A telecommunications engineer by profession, he originates from the Chiefly village of Lomanikoro in the province of Rewa. He is married to Salome Silatolu, a school teacher. They have four children.

Political career
As a candidate of the Fijian Association Party, Silatolu was elected to represent the Rewa Fijian Communal Constituency in the House of Representatives in the general election of 1999. Although his party formed part of the People's Coalition government that was subsequently formed, Silatolu was not appointed to the Cabinet.

Silatolu was appointed Assistant Minister of Health in the interim government organized by Laisenia Qarase in July 2000. He contested the general election held to restore democracy in September 2001 as a candidate of the Conservative Alliance, comprising mostly Speight-sympathizers, but lost his seat to his cousin, Ro Teimumu Kepa of the Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua.

Support for Unity Bill
Silatolu said that he supported the Reconciliation, Tolerance, and Unity Bill, a controversial piece of legislation promoted by Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase and Attorney-General Qoriniasi Bale. The legislation would have established a Commission empowered to compensate victims and pardon perpetrators of coup-related offenses.

Coup
Silatolu was convicted of involvement in the 2000 Fijian coup d'état and was sentenced to imprisonment. At one time he was facing a death sentence. As of 2015, Silatolu is still serving his sentence.

title: Timoci Silatolu


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Mic Mac Mall

Mic Mac Mall is Atlantic Canada's largest enclosed shopping mall located in the community of Dartmouth, across the harbour from Halifax, Nova Scotia. It is owned and managed by Mic Mac Mall Limited Partnership.

With stores on three levels, Mic Mac Mall is a major shopping destination for the Maritimes and the only location for Decathlon east of Quebec. The mall is located in a suburban area south of Lake Micmac and northwest of the Micmac Parclo interchange. It hosts a Halifax Transit bus terminal.

History
The mall was announced on 13 July 1971 by the developer, Micmac Shopping Centre Limited, which was jointly owned by Simpsons, Eaton's, and a Dartmouth development company called MacCulloch and Company Limited. It was built in Micmac Village, a housing development being constructed by MacCulloch and Co. following the opening of nearby Highway 111. A Sobeys supermarket was initially planned, but Dominion ended up winning the tender to establish a store in the complex.

Construction was carried out by Robert MacAlpine Ltd. Originally anchored by Simpsons and Eaton's, the mall was officially opened in November 1973 by Nova Scotia premier Gerald Regan, Mi'kmaq grand chief Donald Marshall, and Dartmouth mayor Eileen Stubbs. It underwent major expansions in 1978 and 1981. In 1976, Simpsons and MacCulloch jointly bought Eaton's share of the mall, increasing their equity to 50 per cent each.

Simpson's was acquired by the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) in 1978, and by the mid-1980s, Mic Mac Mall was wholly owned by Markborough Properties, a subsidiary of HBC. In 1996, Markborough sold its interest in the mall to Cambridge Shopping Centres Limited. Ownership passed to the newly formed Ivanhoé Cambridge when Cambridge merged with Ivanhoe Corporation in February 2001.

Mic Mac Mall Opened a Arcade in 1994 called sparkles, following the relocation of the food court where it was in the same location where they only had 7 restaurants before they renovated and relocated to the other corner of the third floor.

In June 2018, Ivanhoé Cambridge announced that they planned to spend over $55 million renovating the property. The common areas were extensively refurbished and the food court was renovated. The company sold the property to Halifax developer Joe Ramia and an unnamed group of investors in 2021.

Christmas tree
Over the years, Mic Mac Mall had either delighted or frightened children with a talking Christmas tree named Woody. Woody would be set up in the centre court along with Santa where children would get the chance to talk to him. Woody had become a Christmas tradition at Mic Mac Mall and was around for over 25 years. In 2007, Mic Mac Mall decided to retire Woody due to safety concerns and extensive repairs needed to Woody's frame.

Following the shopping centre's 2021 sale, the new owners promised to bring Woody back to the mall. On November 19, 2021, Woody returned after a 15-year absence with a makeover to his appearance. Local Radio host Lee Rodgers is the main voice. Hundreds of people turned up to witness the unveiling of the tree. The tree gained national and international attention after it was shown on the November 23, 2021 episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Woody's return was subsequently covered by several international news outlets including CNN.

Major stores

 * Hudson's Bay (151,303 sq ft.)
 * Zellers (Pop-up)
 * Old Navy (19,234 sq ft.) * Does Not Have A Mall Entrance
 * H&M (20,780 sq ft.)
 * Shoppers Drug Mart (10,773 sq ft.)
 * Decathlon (33,046 sq ft.)
 * LinenChest (17,466 sq ft.)
 * Chapters (25,752 sq ft.) * Free Standing
 * Urban Planet (16,989 sq ft.)
 * Winners (25,976 sq ft.)

Former major stores

 * Eaton's - Opened October 13th 1973 as a single level store. Closed in 1997 as part of six store closures by the chain that year due to Eaton's ongoing financial difficulty.
 * Simpsons - Opened 1973 as a single level 90,000 sq ft store. Simpsons was purchased by the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) in 1978. In 1981, HBC renovated and expanded the Simpsons store to two levels. Converted  to Hudson's Bay (The Bay) in August 1986 as HBC decided to focus Simpsons in the metro Toronto and Montreal markets.
 * Zellers - Former Eaton's - Opened 1999 rebuilt as a two level store and mall expansion. This Zellers location was the only two level store in the Maritimes having replaced two smaller locations. Closed in 2013 as part of lease sale to Target by HBC. But in 2023, Zellers reopened in Hudson's Bay as a pop-up.
 * Target - Former Zellers - Opened Fall 2013 - Closed 2015 as part of liquidation of Target Canada assets. Space has been redeveloped into several retailers.
 * Toys "R" Us - Opened 1994 only location in Nova Scotia - Relocated to a nearby shopping center, Dartmouth Crossing in 2012.
 * Forever 21 - Former Toys "R" Us - Closed 2019 and replaced with Decathlon
 * Dominion - Opened 1974. Later converted to IGA, which closed in 2002 and was replaced with a Winners/HomeSense.
 * HomeSense - Opened 2005 paired with Winners. Separated from Winners and Relocated to a stand alone store in Dartmouth Crossing May 2020.
 * Future Shop - Opened in the 1990s as a free standing store along with Chapters, Starbucks and Kent. In December 2008 it relocated to a free standing store in Dartmouth Crossing which closed early 2015 due to liquidation).
 * Mark's - (formerly Mark's Work Warehouse) moved to Penhorn Mall in 1989.
 * Kent - The opening date is currently unknown the Kent was a free standing store but it was relocated to Dartmouth Crossing in 2018 as of today it became an Indigo Distribution Centre.
 * Designer Depot
 * GAP
 * IGA

Transit terminal
Mic Mac Mall is home to the Micmac Terminal, a major hub for Halifax Transit buses. It is served by the following routes:

 * 10 Dalhousie
 * 54 Montebello
 * 55 Port Wallace
 * 56 Dartmouth Crossing
 * 67 Baker
 * 72 Portland Hills

title: Mic Mac Mall


text:
NWA United States Tag Team Championship (Florida version)

The Florida version of the NWA United States Tag Team Championship was a major professional wrestling tag team championship. The title was defended sporadically in the National Wrestling Alliance affiliated Championship Wrestling from Florida from 1961 to 1962, 1978 to 1980, and then 1983 until 1986. While its name suggests it was defended throughout the United States, the title was actually a regional championship that was only defended throughout the Florida territory. The 1978-80 version of the United States Tag Team Championship belt inspired the current design for the NWA United States Tag Team Championship, upon reactivation in 2022.


text: Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Log/2005 June 10


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Tony Garnier (architect)

Tony Garnier (13 August 1869 – 19 January 1948) was a noted French architect and city planner. He was most active in his home city of Lyon, where he notably designed the Halle Tony Garnier and Stade de Gerland. Garnier is considered one of the forerunners of 20th-century French architects.

Biography
After learning painting and drafting at the École Technique de la Martinière in Lyon (1883-86), Garnier studied architecture at the École nationale des beaux-arts de Lyon (1886-89) and the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris (1890-99). In 1899 he won the Prix de Rome for a design of a national bank. The prize enabled him to reside at the Villa Medici in Rome for four years, until 1904. During his stay in Rome he began working on the project of an industrial city that became his main contribution to town planning.

In 1901, after extensive study of sociological and architectural problems, he began to formulate an elaborate solution to the perceived issues concerning urban design. His basic idea included the separation of spaces by function through zoning into several categories: industrial, civic, residential, health related, and entertainment. Garnier's drawings for an ideal industrial city called Une cité industrielle were initially exhibited in 1904, but only published later in 1918.

Une Cité Industrielle was designed as an utopian form of living, for 35,000 inhabitants. It was located between a mountain and a river to facilitate access to hydroelectric power. This plan was highly influenced by the writings of Émile Zola, in particular his socialist utopian novel Travail (1901). The plan allowed schools and vocational-type schools to be near the industries they were related to, so that people could be more easily educated. There were no churches or law enforcement buildings, in hope that man could rule himself. The idea of functional separation was later taken up by the members of CIAM, and would ultimately influence the design of cities like Brasilia.

In 1904 Garnier returned to Lyon, where he received a commission for a livestock market and slaughterhouse (1906-24), later named Halle Tony Garnier. In 1910 he was commissioned for the design of the Édouard-Hérriot Hospital, completed in 1927. Further projects included several villas, the Stade de Gerland (Gerland stadium) (1914-18) and the low-cost housing Quartier des Etats-Unis (1919-35) on United-States avenue in the 8th arrondissement of Lyon.

In the 1920s Garnier continued the work on several major projects started before the war. In 1939 he moved from Lyon to Roquefort-la-Bédoule, where he died in 1948. He is buried in the Croix-Rousse cemetery.

Selected projects

 * Cité Industrielle, project for an ideal city, 1904
 * Rothschild Foundation Housing, Paris (competition entry), 1905
 * Slaughterhouse and Stockyard, later named after him Halle Tony Garnier, Lyon, 1905-1924 (now a music venue, where coincidentally another Tony Garnier performed in 2010 as part of Bob Dylan's band)
 * Vacherie du Parc, Lyon, 1904-1905.
 * Grange-Blanche Hospital (now H. Edouard Herriot Hospital), Lyon, 1910-27
 * Villa Tony Garnier, Saint-Rambert, Lyon, 1911
 * Stade de Gerland municipal stadium, Lyon, 1914-18
 * Quartier des Etats-Unis housing, Lyon, 1919-35
 * Villa Gros, Saint-Didier, 1921
 * Sanatorium, Saint-Hilaire de Touvet, 1923
 * Lyon and Saint-Etienne Pavilions, International Exposition of Modern Industrial and Decorative Arts, Paris, 1925
 * Hotel de Ville town hall, Boulogne-Billancourt (with Jacques Debat-Ponsan), 1934

Publications

 * 1918 Une Cité Industrielle: Etude pour la construction des villes
 * 1920 Les grands travaux de la ville de Lyon

Related articles

 * War memorial on Île du Souvenir

title: Tony Garnier (architect)


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Nam Theun 2 Dam

The Nam Theun 2 Hydropower Project, or simply NT2, is a hydroelectric dam on the Nam Theun River in Laos. Commercial operation of the plant began in April 2010. The scheme diverts water from the Nam Theun, a tributary of the Mekong River, to the Xe Bang Fai River, enabling a generation capacity of 1,075 MW, from a 350 m difference in elevation between the reservoir and the power station.

It is the largest hydroelectric project so far in Laos, exporting power to Thailand as well as supplying the local area with electricity. At the time of signing in 2005, NT2 was the largest foreign investment in Laos, the world's largest private sector cross-border power project financing, the largest private sector hydroelectric project financing, and one of the largest internationally financed IPP projects in Southeast Asia. The dam also marked a return by the World Bank to funding large-scale infrastructure, after a decade-long hiatus.

According to the government of Laos, "the project is an essential part of the country's development framework and the project's implementation is likely to be the first real possibility for (Laos) to reduce gradually its dependence on Official Development Assistance".

The project has significant environmental and social impacts, and comprehensive measures have been designed to mitigate these. According to a group of social and environmental experts who advise on the project, these measures could become a global model. Although Newsweek referred to it as a "kinder and gentler dam", the project has also attracted criticism.

By 2015, it was possible to see the effect of the dam and criticism mounted. A group of non-governmental organisations said: "Ten years after the start of the construction of the Nam Theun 2 Dam in Central Laos, it is clear that this mega project has disastrous impacts on people and their environment."

History and current status
The Nam Theun 2 project was identified in the 1980s and a concession was awarded in 1993. It was subjected to a long anti-dam campaign. The project was frozen after the 1997 Asian financial crisis, but preparation resumed in 1999. In October 2002 a concession contract between the Nam Theun 2 Power Company (NTPC) and the government of Laos was signed, followed by the signing of power purchase agreements (PPA) in November 2003 between NTPC on the one hand and, Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) and the Laotian state-owned power company Electricite du Laos (EDL) on the other. Financial closing was reached in June 2005. The Nam Theun River diversion was begun in March 2006 and then closed in April 2008 following completion of the Nakai Dam wall. Impoundment of the Nakai Reservoir occurred over the 2008 wet season and the reservoir was close to full supply level by the end of 2008. Test hydro power generation began in mid-2009 and the commercial operation date was achieved in April 2010.

Technical features
NT2 enables Laos to export 995 MW of electrical energy to the EGAT. The project also supplies 75 MW of capacity for domestic use in Laos.

Nam Theun 2 is a trans-basin diversion power plant that uses water from the Nam Theun River and releases the water into the Xe Bang Fai River. The project site is in Khammouane and Bolikhamxay Provinces in central Laos, about 250 kilometers east of Vientiane. It stretches from the Nakai Plateau to the lower Xe Bang Fai River confluence with the Mekong.

The main features of the project include:
 * 39 m high gravity dam
 * 450 km2 reservoir
 * Pressure shaft, pressure tunnel and a powerhouse
 * 8000000 m3 artificial regulating pond, and a 27 km artificial downstream channel leading to the Xe Bang Fai River
 * 130 km long, double-circuit 500 kV transmission line to the Thai grid
 * 70 km long, single-circuit 115 kV transmission line to the Lao domestic grid.

Institutional arrangements
The project is structured as a build-operate-transfer (BOT) project. It has a concession period of 31 years, of which the operating period is 25 years. At the end of the concession period, the project facilities will be transferred to the government free of charge.

The project was developed by NTPC, which is owned by a consortium composed of EDF (40%), Electricity Generating PCL (EGCO) of Thailand (35%), and the Government of Laos (25%). Governments and government-owned enterprises own a majority of NTPC. This arrangement is atypical of an IPP. Normally the power generating company is privately owned.

Laos is a People's Democratic Republic (PDR) with a one-party system under the Lao People's Revolutionary Party. It is one of the few communist states in the world.

The government has multiple roles related to NT2, some of which may be conflicting: It partially owns NTPC and thus has an interest in the financial profitability of the project; it is supposed to monitor compliance with environmental and social safeguards under the concession contract; and it buys some of the electricity generated from the project through the state-owned power company EDL and thus has an interest in low electricity prices.

Some of the owners of NTPC are also contractors engaged in the construction of the dam. For example, EDF International is the lead contractor for the project under a turnkey contract. It has engaged various sub-contractors for specific parts of the project.

Project costs and financing
Construction costs were initially estimated at US$1,250 million plus US$331.5 million for contingencies. More recently construction costs have been given as US$1.3 billion.

The project base cost is funded through US$330 million of equity and US$920 million of debt. It is financed through equity, loans and guarantees from 26 financial institutions, including
 * four multilateral development banks (the World Bank Group, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the European Investment Bank (EIB), and the Nordic Investment Bank),
 * three export credit agencies (Coface of France, EKN of Sweden, and GIEK of Norway),
 * three bilateral financing agencies (French Development Agency, PROPARCO, and the Export-Import Bank of Thailand),
 * nine international commercial banks providing finance in hard currencies (grouped together in a "lead arrangers group" including BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole Indosuez, ANZ from Australia, Société Générale, Fortis Bank, and Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi), and
 * seven Thai commercial banks providing finance in Thai baht.

All financing in hard currencies is guaranteed through political risk insurance provided by the above-mentioned three export credit agencies, the ADB (US$50 million), the International Development Association (IDA) of the World Bank Group (US$50 million), and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) of the World Bank Group (US$91 million). Specifically, MIGA has provided a US$86 million guarantee to Fortis Bank of Belgium against the risks of expropriation, breach of contract, war and civil disturbance, as well as transfer inconvertibility in both Laos and Thailand. According to MIGA, its guarantee "was key to lowering the project's risk profile, which in turn enabled the government and developers to attract commercial financing at better rates and gave the investor the assurance needed to go ahead with the deal".

The government's initial equity contribution of US$83 million (25%) was largely funded by donors, including a US$20 million grant from the International Development Association of the World Bank Group, the ADB (US$20 million), France, and the EIB.

Increase in government revenue and contribution to poverty alleviation
According to the government "the Project is an essential part of the country's development framework and the Project's implementation is likely to be the first real possibility for (Laos) to reduce gradually its dependence on Official Development Assistance." In the same vein, the then Managing Director of the World Bank, Shengman Zhang, said in 2003 "We see Nam Theun 2 not as a project per se, but as a vehicle through which to make a considerable progress in the effort of poverty reduction."

The project generates three forms of revenue:
 * dividends
 * taxes
 * royalties, i.e., concession fees.

Government revenue is estimated at US$1.9bn to US$2bn in nominal terms over 25 years. It has been estimated that at a 10% discount rate the net present value of the revenues will be six times higher than the net present value from the debt service, if all government equity was funded through concessionary lending. Revenues are expected to increase progressively from approximately US$10M in 2009 to US$110 to 150M per year at the end of the concession period in 2033. Thereafter the government will receive all revenues accruing to the project.

The power purchase agreement (PPA) between EGAT and NTPC was designed as to stabilize the cash flow despite hydrological variation and consequently variation in power output. Revenues will be partially in USD and partially in Thai baht. Power demand from Thailand is expected to be strong. In December 2007, Thailand and Laos signed an agreement increasing the total power to be supplied by Laos to Thailand from all sources in 2015 from 5,000 MW to 7,000 MW.

The World Bank works with the Lao government to improve public financial management practices and increase transparency in order to increase the likelihood that revenues will be used to benefit the poor, including through investment in health and education. The government has agreed with the World Bank to implement a Poverty Reduction Fund that is being initially sourced from International Development Association funds, and then from the government's taxes, royalties, and dividends once the project commences operation. Special administrative units are being established to deal with the effective management and allocation of the funds earned by the project.

In 2007 Laos was ranked on the Corruption Perception Index by Transparency International 168 out of 179 countries assessed, making it one of the most corrupt countries on the index.

Environmental and social impacts
Environmental and social impacts of the project include downstream impacts, impacts on biodiversity, resettlement, and reservoir sedimentation. More details can be found in the Environmental and Social Impact assessment, and in the summary provided for the various impacts below.

Monitoring and Evaluation NT2 has a multi-layer environmental and social monitoring and evaluation mechanism consisting of the following elements:

 * The Panel of Environmental and Social Experts) (POE) reports to the government. The POE normally visits Laos at least once per year.
 * An International Advisory Group (IAG), advising the World Bank. The IAG normally visits Laos at least once per year.
 * Independent Monitoring Agencies, reporting to the government. The Independent Monitoring Agencies were in the process of being assembled in December 2006.
 * The Lenders' Engineer

The comprehensive environmental and social measures designed to mitigate potential environmental and social impacts could become a "global model", according to a group of social and environmental experts who advise on the project.

According to the NGO International Rivers, there have been substantial shortcomings in the mitigation of impacts. According to the organization, compensation payments and replacement land for villagers affected by construction activities have been "inadequate, unfair or non-existent". Poor resettlement planning has led to housing and infrastructure delays. Plans to restore the livelihoods of villagers on the Nakai Plateau and along the Xe Bang Fai have yet to be finalized. And the budget for the downstream program in particular is said to be inadequate.

Bruce Shoemaker, editor of Dead in the Water, claims that the scientific consensus is that the dam's costs outweigh its benefits and that the dam represents a "complete failure of water governance in [the] Mekong region."

According to data in the World Bank publication "Good dams, bad dams", the ratio of area flooded and people resettled per megawatt of installed electricity generating capacity (flooded area of 41 hectare per MW and five persons resettled per MW) is neither very high nor very low, compared to 48 other large dams analyzed. Using this specific analytical framework, Nam Theun 2 could neither be considered a "good" or a "bad" dam.

Downstream impacts in Xe Bang Fai River
The flow of water in the Xe Bang Fai (XBF), which received the water diverted through NT2, increased significantly, thus affecting the population living downstream of the release point.

The exact number of people affected is disputed. While NTPC speaks of 40,000 affected people, the NGO Environmental Defense speaks of up to 150,000 people. The impacts have been widely studied and have been discussed with local communities. Negative impacts on the downstream population include the washing away of river bank gardens, changes in water quality, and impacts on fisheries.

NTPC promised to stop power production when floods occur on the Xe Bang Fai. However, it is as yet unknown exactly how long this flooding period will last for each year. The length of the period affects the project's profitability.

Water quality is negatively impacted through fouling of biomass in the reservoir. Because the impacts are unknown, monitoring systems are included and a commitment has been made to "adaptive management".

Livelihood development programs were put in place for the villagers living downstream on the Xe Bang Fai, in districts such as Mahaxai. The programs are focused on agriculture, fish ponds, and handicrafts to help them generate income beyond that derived from fishing. The objective is to help villagers generate money from a variety of different sources to compensate for any changes in fishing catches after the river diversion. Affected communities receive irrigation systems to allow for a second, dry season rice crop, drinking water systems, and access to electricity. The provision of this infrastructure is not the responsibility of NTPC, but of the government.

According to a joint progress report issued by the World Bank and the ADB in December 2007, implementation of the downstream program – particularly on implementing livelihood programs – was a challenge. Lessons from the 20 villages where the programs have been piloted in a participatory manner are being applied as other villages were included. Micro-credit schemes that are being developed were not yet on a sustainable financial footing.

Downstream impacts on the Nam Theun River
There is relatively little information on downstream impacts on the Nam Theun River, where water flows will be significantly reduced. No permanent villages lie along the Nam Theun some 50 km downstream below the dam. Fishermen and hunters, however, do use this stretch of the river. Fish diversity and abundance is expected to be affected by reduced water flows and sediment content. Monitoring of the villages along the river conducted by NTPC has not yet detected any significant impacts to the fishery.

Biodiversity and forests
Three existing protected areas on the Nakai plateau (the Nakai-Nam Theun, the Hin Nam Nor, and the Phou Hin Poun National Biodiversity Conservation Areas), together nine times larger (4,106 km2) than the flooded area, are expected to be better managed through significant resources made available under the project – more than 60 times what the government has spent on its entire national parks system so far. The flooded areas are not considered critical natural habitat. Formerly there was significant illegal logging in the protected areas, which the government claims has now been largely brought under control despite growing evidence that villagers are using logging to supplement falling incomes.

Detailed fish surveys showed that there are no fish species living only in the stretch of the river that will be inundated. A management plan for the Asian elephants in the area has been drawn up. A Watershed Management Protection Authority (WMPA) has been established with the specific purpose of protecting the watershed of the reservoir and the protected areas in it. WPMA will receive US$1M annually from NTPC through the concession period.

Resettlement
Seventeen villages and their 6,300 inhabitants moved from the area that became the NT2 reservoir on the Nakai Plateau to custom-built villages built in consultation with the resettled communities. NTPC and the Lao Government have committed to doubling the income of resettled villagers, through livelihood programs, five years after they have been relocated. This means that people who used to make US$410 per household a year in 2005 should make at least US$820 per household a year by 2012.

Construction of the villages and major facilities (new roads, water pumps, toilets, schools, mills, and electricity) was completed by mid-2008. Consultations on house design, location, and construction materials were held and continue to ensure the outcomes reflect the needs of the local people. According to a World Bank report, the health of villagers who have already been resettled has significantly improved due to better water and sanitation, regular health check-ups and the provision of mosquito nets, as documented by various assessments. Experts are helping the resettled villagers to adopt improved practices to increase agricultural and income productivity. The report stresses that the pace of the development of the livelihood activities must be accelerated including engaging additional technical assistance to help villagers develop the most effective cropping systems possible.

Reservoir sedimentation
At current sedimentation rates, the reservoir has a lifetime of more than five centuries. If substantial logging occurred in the upstream basin, the lifetime would be accordingly reduced and could affect the financial and economic viability of the project. This would especially be the case if sediments remained in the active storage area in the upper part of the reservoir instead of being washed into the dead storage area closer to the dam in the lower part of the reservoir. The establishment of the relatively well-funded Watershed Management Protection Authority is expected to protect forest cover and thus limit erosion in the watershed of the reservoir.

title: Nam Theun 2 Dam


text:
The Light in the Piazza (musical)

The Light in the Piazza is a musical with music and lyrics by Adam Guettel, and a book by Craig Lucas.

Based on the 1960 novella by Elizabeth Spencer, the show is set in the 1950s and tells the story of Margaret Johnson, a wealthy woman from the American South, and Clara, her daughter, who is developmentally disabled due to a childhood accident. The two spend a summer together in Florence, Italy. When Clara falls in love with a young Italian man, Fabrizio, Margaret is forced to reconsider not only Clara's future, but her own deep-seated hopes and regrets as well.

The score breaks from the 21st century tradition of pop music on Broadway by moving into the territory of Neoromantic classical music and opera, with unexpected harmonic shifts and extended melodic structures, and is more heavily orchestrated than most Broadway scores. Many of the lyrics are in Italian or broken English, as many of the characters are fluent only in Italian.

Original production
The Light in the Piazza was developed as a musical at the Intiman Playhouse in Seattle in June 2003 and then at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago in early 2004. Victoria Clark starred as Margaret Johnson, Celia Keenan-Bolger played Clara Johnson, and Steven Pasquale played Fabrizio Naccarelli. Kelli O'Hara also played Franca Naccarelli. When the show transferred to Broadway, Pasquale stepped away due to a conflict with the television series Rescue Me. In addition, O'Hara assumed the role of Clara.

Broadway production and national tour
After 36 previews, the Broadway production opened on April 18, 2005, at the Vivian Beaumont Theater in Lincoln Center, where it ran for 504 performances and closed on July 2, 2006. The musical was directed by Bartlett Sher, choreographed by Jonathan Butterell, with lighting by Christopher Akerlind, set by Michael Yeargan and costumes by Catherine Zuber. The cast featured Clark, O'Hara, Matthew Morrison, Michael Berresse and Sarah Uriarte Berry. Chris Sarandon joined the cast as Signor Naccarelli later in the run, Aaron Lazar was a replacement in the role of Fabrizio and Katie Rose Clarke was a replacement in the role of Clara.

On June 15, 2006, shortly before its closing night, the show was broadcast on the PBS television series Live from Lincoln Center, and drew more than two million viewers. The cast consisted of Victoria Clark (Margaret), Katie Rose Clarke (Clara), Aaron Lazar (Fabrizio), Chris Sarandon (Signor Naccarelli), Patti Cohenour (Signora Naccarelli), Michael Berresse (Giuseppe), Sarah Uriarte Berry (Franca), and Beau Gravitte (Roy).

A United States national tour starring Christine Andreas as Margaret, Elena Shaddow as Clara, and David Burnham as Fabrizio started at the Orpheum Theatre in San Francisco, California, in August 2006 and ended in Chicago on July 22, 2007.

Other productions
A Japanese production of the musical was produced in December 2007, having a limited engagement of about a month. It starred Kaho Shimada as Margaret Johnson.

An Australian concert version had a one-night presentation at the Lyric Theatre, Star City in Sydney on August 17, 2008. The cast consisted of members of the Australian company of The Phantom of the Opera, with Jackie Rees as Margaret, Kathleen Moore as Clara and James Pratt as Fabrizio. The production was directed by John O'May.

In the summer of 2008, Guettel reconfigured the musical as a smaller chamber piece for the Weston Playhouse Theatre Company in Vermont, where Sarah Uriarte Berry reprised her role as Franca.

The show had its opera house premiere in October 2008 at Piedmont Opera in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. It starred Jill Gardner as Margaret and Sarah Jane McMahon as Clara, directed by Dorothy Danner and conducted by James Allbritten.

The first Los Angeles area local premiere was seen at the Covina Center for the Performing Arts in 2009. It starred Christopher Callen as Margaret, Brooke Tansley as Clara, and Craig D' Amico as Fabrizio (all Broadway veterans) under the direction of Brady Schwind.

The Lethbridge Symphony Orchestra in Alberta presented the musical at the Genevieve E. Yates Memorial Centre October 19–21, 2009, which was the Canadian première. Directed by Fran Rude and musical direction by Ken Rogers this production starred Diane Llewelyn-Jones as Margaret, Nicole Higginson as Clara and Steven Morton as Fabrizio.

The Berkeley Street Theatre in Toronto saw the Canadian première by Acting Up Stage running in February 2010.

The Arena Stage (Washington, DC) production ran from March 5, 2010 through April 11, 2010, with Hollis Resnik as Margaret.

The European premiere was directed by Paul Kerryson at the Curve theatre, Leicester, UK, in May 2009, starring Lucy Schaufer as Margaret and Caroline Sheen as Clara, with design by George Souglides, musical direction by Julian Kelly, lighting design by Giuseppe di Iorio, sound design by Paul Groothuis.

A highly acclaimed production at Theo Ubique Cabaret Theater in Chicago opened on March 11, 2012, starring Kelli Harrington as Margaret and Rachel Klippel as Clara. Harrington's performance won the Jeff Award for Best Actress. The run was extended through June.

The 2013 Shaw Festival production ran in rep at the Court House Theatre in Niagara on the Lake, Ontario, Canada. Previews began July 4, 2013 with the official opening July 26, 2013; the show closed on October 13. The musical was directed by Jay Turvey and starred Patty Jamieson as Margaret Johnson.

Front Porch Theatricals (Pittsburgh) staged a performance in August 2015. It received rave reviews from both local and national critics with BroadwayWorld hailing the overall production and Josh Grosso in the role of Fabrizio. The cast included Becki Toth as Margaret and Lindsay Bayer as Clara. It was directed by Stephen Santa.

On April 4, 2016, the entire original Broadway cast reunited for a benefit concert version of the musical at the Vivian Beaumont Theater, where it originally played.

The work was presented by Life Like Company at the Arts Centre Melbourne from October 28, 2016 to November 6, 2016, directed by Theresa Borg and starring Chelsea Plumley (Margaret Johnson), Genevieve Kingsford (Clara Johnson) and Jonathan Hickey (Fabrizio Naccarelli).

The musical was produced in London at Royal Festival Hall from June 14, 2019 to July 6, starring Renée Fleming as Margaret Johnson and Dove Cameron as Clara. Daniel Evans directed. This production then moved to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles in October, the Lyric Opera of Chicago in December with Solea Pfeiffer taking over as Clara.

A semi-staged Encores! production ran at New York City Center from June 21–25, 2023. It starred Ruthie Ann Miles as Margaret, Shereen Ahmed as Franca, Andréa Burns as Signora Naccarelli, Rodd Cyrus as Giuseppe, James D. Gish as Fabrizio, Ivan Hernandez as Signor Naccarelli and Anna Zavelson as Clara. Directed by Chay Yew, it "reexamined the musical ... from an Asian American perspective.

Act 1
In the early morning of their first day in Florence, Margaret reads to Clara from her guide book as the piazza around them wakes up and comes to life ("Statues and Stories"). A breeze carries Clara's hat off her head and across the square. A young Italian man, Fabrizio, catches it, mid-air, and returns it to her. The two are instantly smitten, but Margaret steers her daughter away from the encounter, bringing her to the Uffizi Gallery where the marble statues and reaching figures in the paintings speak to Clara of her own yearnings ("The Beauty Is"). Fabrizio appears, hoping to arrange a time to meet with Clara, but Margaret intervenes again.

Fabrizio, alone, declares his love for Clara, along with a heartfelt cry of fear that she could never love anyone as lost and without position as he ("Il Mondo Era Vuoto"). Fabrizio begs his father, Signor Naccarelli, and his brother, Giuseppe, to help him appear more presentably for Clara. Giuseppe attempts to teach Fabrizio some dance steps as well ("American Dancing").

At the Duomo, Fabrizio catches up with Margaret and Clara, this time with Fabrizio's father, who is able to help penetrate Margaret's resistance to any further involvement. They all agree to meet later that day at sunset to take a walk and admire the view of the city from above at the Piazzale Michelangelo ("Passeggiata").

Margaret and Clara are invited to have tea at the Naccarelli home. Giuseppe's wife, Franca, takes Clara on a tour of the apartment, and alone in a separate room, she warns Clara about how quickly love can stale in marriage ("The Joy You Feel"). Though the Naccarellis are universally impressed with Clara, Margaret tries without success to share her deep reservations. When she looks in Fabrizio's eyes and sees the love there, she cannot bring herself to disappoint him, as much as she feels she must; for there is something about Clara that none of these people know. Clara secretly makes plans to meet Fabrizio at midnight near the hotel.

Margaret calls her husband Roy, who is back in the states. She tries to tell him what is happening with Clara and Fabrizio, but he is brusque and not very understanding, cutting short the conversation. Margaret, alone in her hotel room, reflects on the loneliness in her marriage ("Dividing Day"). She checks in Clara's room and finds that she is missing.

On her way to meet Fabrizio, Clara becomes lost in the maze-like streets of Florence. She loses all poise and control, becoming hysterical and screaming like a child ("Hysteria"). Her mother takes her back to the hotel and, as Clara sleeps, reveals the source of her disquiet to the audience. When Clara was a young girl, she was kicked in the head by a Shetland pony, and the accident has caused her mental and emotional abilities to develop abnormally. Margaret feels that she must take Clara away from Florence at once, and she steps down into the lobby to have a drink. While she is away, Fabrizio comes to the room, distraught; he cannot find the right words to express his feelings, and Clara urges him to use any other means; Clara accepts Fabrizio's proposal of marriage, and the two are embracing, half undressed, as Margaret walks in on them ("Say It Somehow").

Act 2
Margaret takes Clara to Rome to distract her and put an end to the affair. Back in Florence, the Naccarelli household is in complete chaos. As the family despairs, Signora Naccarelli translates in an aside; Fabrizio believes he has ruined everything with Clara, his father attempts to comfort him, and Giuseppe and Franca desire finer details ("Aiutami").

No matter what Margaret tries, her daughter refuses to give her an inch, culminating in a painful confrontation wherein Margaret slaps Clara across the face. Clara erupts with a torrent of feeling, centered on Fabrizio and the nature of love ("The Light in the Piazza"). This causes Margaret to relent, to set aside her doubts and considerations, and to no longer stand in the way of the wedding. The two return to Florence.

Clara is instructed in the Latin catechism in preparation for converting to Catholicism while around her everyone in the extended family sings of their feelings, stirred up by the immediate presence of such intense, young love ("Octet Part 1"). Franca, in an attempt to arouse her husband's jealousy, kisses Fabrizio right on the mouth, and Clara witnesses it, breaking into a furious rant that ends with her throwing a drink on Franca ("Clara's Tirade"). As Clara breaks down, Franca commends her for her bravery and declares her own desire to fight for Giuseppe. She toasts the upcoming union and is joined by the rest of the family ("Octet Part 2").

At the wedding rehearsal, Clara and Fabrizio are filling out the necessary forms when Signor Naccarelli sees something on Clara's form that causes him to call off the wedding and take his family away at once. Clara wants to know what is wrong with her, but her mother says there is nothing at all wrong. With Clara sobbing and broken, alone in one of the pews of the church, Margaret reveals her worst fears and her shame at having been the source of her daughter's lifelong suffering. She resolves to do whatever it takes to give Clara a chance for happiness ("The Beauty Is (Reprise)").

Margaret tries to reason with Signor Naccarelli, who saw Clara's childlike handwriting as she completed her marriage form. Seemingly unconcerned with her immaturity or her handwriting, Signor Naccarelli admits that he saw Clara write her age on the forms – 26 – and that this makes her an unsuitable bride for his son who is only 20. Relieved that he has not discovered their secret, Margaret begs him to change his mind, but he will not. She invites him to take a walk with her, and the two wander from one end of Florence to the other as the sun slowly sets and the night comes on ("Let's Walk"). By giving him time to mull things over and by not pressuring him, Margaret succeeds in putting the wedding back on track. They share a kiss and Signor Naccarelli promises his family will meet the Johnsons at the church the following morning, as originally planned.

From the hotel room, Margaret calls Roy to tell him about the wedding. As might be predicted, he insists that Clara cannot handle the responsibilities of marriage. Clara, in her wedding dress, stands in the shadows, overhearing her mother's side of the conversation. Margaret says, "Just because she isn't normal, Roy, doesn't mean she's consigned to a life of loneliness. She mustn't be made to accept less from life just because she isn't like you or me." Shattered, Clara slips out of the hotel room and runs once more through Florence ("Clara's Interlude"), meeting Fabrizio at the church in order to tell him that she cannot marry him; she won't allow herself to cause him any pain. However, Fabrizio assuages all of her fears ("Love to Me").

Moments before the wedding, Clara tells Margaret she can't leave her; Margaret assures her she can. Left alone, Margaret breaks open all the repressed doubts and yearnings that she has carried for years on end about love, realizing at last that the chance of love somehow outweighs the terrible risks, and joins the wedding ceremony ("Fable").

Musical numbers

 * Act 1
 * "Overture" – Orchestra
 * "Statues and Stories" – Margaret Johnson, Clara Johnson and Ensemble
 * "The Beauty Is" – Clara
 * "Il Mondo Era Vuoto" – Fabrizio Naccarelli
 * "American Dancing" – Orchestra
 * "Passeggiata" – Fabrizio and Clara
 * "The Joy You Feel" – Franca Naccarelli
 * "Dividing Day" – Margaret
 * "Hysteria / Lullaby" – Clara and Margaret
 * "Say It Somehow" – Clara and Fabrizio

†=Not on the Broadway Cast Album
 * Act 2
 * "Entr'acte" – Orchestra†
 * "Aiutami" – The Naccarelli Family
 * "The Light in the Piazza" – Clara
 * "Octet / Clara's Tirade" – Company
 * "The Beauty Is (Reprise)" – Margaret
 * "Let's Walk" – Signor Naccarelli and Margaret
 * "Clara's Interlude" – Clara
 * "Love to Me" – Fabrizio
 * "Fable" – Margaret

Instrumentation
The score is more heavily orchestrated than most musicals that were emerging at the start of the 21st century. The full orchestration that won Guettel, Ted Sperling, and Bruce Coughlin the 2005 Tony Award was originally performed by a 15 piece pit.

 * Strings: 6 violins, 2 cellos, 1 bass, 1 harp
 * Guitar (1 player): steel-string acoustic, nylon-string acoustic, mandolin, suspended cymbal
 * Keyboards: piano/celesta
 * Woodwinds:
 * Reed 1: clarinet, English horn, oboe
 * Reed 2: bassoon, contrabassoon
 * Percussion (1 player): timpani, marimba, vibes (motor off always), chimes, orchestra bells, crotales, snare drum, bass drum, low tom tom, suspended cymbal, splash cymbal, choke cymbal, finger cymbals, triangle, mark tree, cowbell, slapstick, big gong, small gong

The licensed version of the show also offers a five-piece orchestration:

 * Strings: 1 violin, 1 cello, 1 bass, 1 harp
 * Keyboards: piano

Broadway replacements

 * Aaron Lazar replaced Morrison as Fabrizio Naccarelli on September 2, 2005
 * Chris Sarandon replaced Harelik as Signor Naccarelli on September 13, 2005
 * Katie Rose Clarke replaced O'Hara as Clara Johnson on December 15, 2005

Critical response
CurtainUp called the musical a "gorgeously staged and musically sophisticated adaptation... the Guettel sound is nevertheless plush and enjoyable with a genuine musical theater sensibility.... Lucas has made room for the young lovers' voices and retained enough of the psychological complexities to prevent this from being the dated soap opera it could easily have been." Michael Feingold, in his review for the Village Voice, commented: "It has some considerable shortcomings...but its main distinction is that its humanity separates it from the bulk of current musical theater."

Critic John Simon, in New York magazine, wrote: "Anyone who cares about the rather uncertain future of this truly American genre should – must – see the show, think and worry about it, and reach his or her own conclusions ... Craig Lucas's book seems perfectly adequate to me, but the emphasis must be on Adam Guettel's music and lyrics ... the music, though fluctuating between the Sondheimesque and offbeat but still Broadwayish and the art-songlike and even operatic, is steadily absorbing, even if only intermittently melodious. One duet, "Let's Walk", is an unqualified hit, but the rest, without fully cohering, is also arresting. Ted Sperling and Guettel's jaunty orchestrations add to the slightly disorienting but wholly fascinating harmonies and instrumentation."

Ben Brantley, in The New York Times, deemed the show "encouragingly ambitious and discouragingly unfulfilled... the production comes into its own only in the sweetly bitter maternal regrets and dreams of Margaret Johnson." He further made special mention of the "gorgeous autumn-leaf-strewn set", the "lush golden lighting" and "the delectable period costumes".

In reviewing the revival starring Renee Fleming in 2019, Chris Jones said the show employed, "the most soul-satisfying score written for Broadway so far this century." He concluded, "'Piazza' is still very much alive and, in this staging, as vital as ever."

title: The Light in the Piazza (musical)


text:
Karel Absolon

Karel Absolon (16 June 1877 – 6 October 1960) was a Czech archaeologist, geographer, paleontologist, and speleologist. He was born in Boskovice.

Absolon was the grandchild of paleontologist Jindřich Wankel. During his studies at Charles University in Prague he started with speleological research in the caves of Moravský kras (Moravian Karst) in the Moravia of what is now the Czech Republic. In 1907 he became the custodian of the Moravian museum in Brno and a professor of paleoanthropology at the Charles University in Prague in 1926.

His most known works are the paleoanthropologic discoveries at Dolní Věstonice which include a Venus figurine. He worked on the systemic mapping of the Moravský kras, including the Macocha Abyss and the Pekárna, Punkevní and Kateřinská caves. He also explored karstic caves in the Balkans, France, and England. Absolon was very skilled in promoting himself and in popularizing his discoveries as a way to lure sponsors.

Absolon died on 6 October 1960 in Brno. In 1961 a cave on the foot of Mt. Maggiore in the Italian Apuan Alps was discovered and named after Absolon.

title: Karel Absolon


text:
Euphausia pacifica

Euphausia pacifica, the North Pacific krill, is a euphausid that lives in the northern Pacific Ocean.

In Japan, E. pacifica is called isada krill or tsunonashi okiami (ツノナシオキアミ). It is found from Suruga Bay northwards, including all of the Sea of Japan and the south-western part of the Sea of Okhotsk. E. pacifica is fished from Cape Inubō north. The annual catch of krill in Japanese seas is limited to 70,000 metric tonnes by government regulations. E. pacifica is also fished, albeit on a smaller scale, in the waters of British Columbia, Canada.

E. pacifica is a major food item for various fish, including Pacific cod, Alaska pollock, chub mackerel, sand lance, North Pacific hake, Pacific herring, dogfish, sablefish, Pacific halibut, chinook salmon and coho salmon.

title: Euphausia pacifica


text:
HKFS

HKFS may refer to:

 * Hong Kong Federation of Students, a student organisation by the student unions of four higher education institutions in Hong Kong
 * Hong Kong Flower Show, an annual exhibition presented by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department of Hong Kong

title: HKFS


text:
Tachikoma

Tachikoma (タチコマ) are fictional walker robots endowed with artificial intelligence (AI) that are featured in the Ghost in the Shell universe. They appear in the manga created by Masamune Shirow (as Fuchikoma) and in the Stand Alone Complex sub-universe. Nine of them are initially deployed to Section 9. They are spider-like, multi-legged combat vehicles, and are equipped with adaptive artificial intelligence. The spider design appears in other places in Shirow's work such as the Appleseed manga. Shirow is noted to keep numerous spiders as pets.

Production I.G was unable to use the Fuchikoma design in the 2002 Stand Alone Complex anime television series due to copyright conflicts. However, Masamune Shirow was able to design a legally safe equivalent to the spider-tanks for the new show, which he named the "Tachikoma". There are distinct differences in the design, most significantly in the eye-equivalents and the vertically oriented abdomen. Still, the tanks are easily recognizable as descendants of the original Fuchikoma. Their AI personalities and roles in the SAC series are indistinguishable from their predecessors in the manga.

Design
Tachikoma are as large as an average sedan, are painted blue and have four "eyes" fitted on the surface of their bodies. Three are on the "head" and one is beneath the "abdomen". Each eye has three pinholes, loosely resembling a bowling ball. These eyes sometimes become expressive in the typical anime style. Tachikoma are controlled by individual AIs, are capable of speech and generally exhibit a childish, curious, joyful and active personality, although they are consummate professionals in the field. They normally operate as independent units and receive orders from human agents, but they can also be directly piloted from a cockpit in their abdomen. The Tachikoma's design is implicitly based on that of the jumping spider in terms of bio-mechanical modelling, and system technical design was based on the Fuchikoma.

Tachikoma have two arms and four legs. They can move by walking, or they can drive at high speed by using the wheeled footpads on each of their four legs. Each wheel appears to be angled and omnidirectional, allowing the Tachikomas to move in any direction with their drive system, which can control all degrees of freedom in its task space. Other abilities of the Tachikoma include jumping great distances, sticking to vertical or inverted surfaces, engaging a thermoptic camouflage mechanism, and grappling/rappelling using their adhesive string launchers. Tachikoma maintain control of their legs while using wheels to drive down a road, and shift their weight around turns. They can also roll briefly on to two legs while driving to avoid an obstacle or pass through a narrow space. To make balance easier, they can move their heavy abdomens with a ball joint.

Standard Tachikoma equipment includes a 7.62×51mm light machine gun mounted in the right arm, a secondary weapon hardpoint in the "snout" (a 50 mm grenade launcher, capable of launching both explosive and gas grenades which can be replaced by a six-barrelled 12.7×99mm Gatling gun), a universal cybernetic connector on an extensible, prehensile cable in the left arm, liquid wires that can be used for grappling, rappelling or for restraining purposes and a built-in thermoptic camouflage system. As seen several times in the anime, they are lightly armored, resisting small-caliber firearms, though heavier automatic weapons or explosives can easily wreck them.

Description
Though they possess individual artificial intelligence, every night they are synchronized, so they start the next day with identical consciousnesses that are each the sum of their total collective experience and development. This leads to identity confusion, since each Tachikoma has the same memories. Though the Tachikoma have identical memories, their personalities and opinions are distinct. It is explained in the last episode of the first season that it is their curiosity that lets them be different from each other.

These individual personalities are distinct among Tachikoma. One considers itself Batou's personal Tachikoma, which has the personality of a hyperactive child. It is special, given that Batou pampers it with natural oil and refuses to operate any other while on assignments. The second Tachikoma is more logical, acting as the straight man to the first. The third Tachikoma appears somewhat slower than the others, and at times has difficulty keeping up with the other Tachikomas when discussing such in-depth topics as what it means to be "alive". There is also a fourth Tachikoma with a distinctive personality, who is a bookworm and an intellectual. Its body was taken apart during the experimentation incident, but its AI has presumably been saved for further analysis. During finale of the first S.A.C. season, while all but three of the Tachikomas are either locked away in a lab or dismantled for study, three surviving Tachikoma units abandon their civilian posts to assist the Major and Batou.

Dr. Asuda is the government researcher who single-handedly developed the neurochip used in the Tachikomas' AI and is considered by the Tachikomas to be their father. In the episode "Afternoon of the Machines – PAT," Asuda tries unsuccessfully to defect from Japan, because as a state-funded scientist, he is not allowed to hold patents on his inventions. Following his re-capture, the Tachikoma who is with The Major and Batou asks whether Dr. Asuda is its father. Desiring to leave a record of his achievement, Asuda inserted a trace of himself in the Tachikomas' memory during their reconstruction post-season 1. To prevent another collapse in the AI structural integrity, he decided to delete this last bit of sentimentality.

Stand Alone Complex
In episode 12 of the Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, one slightly malfunctioning Tachikoma goes on a joy-ride through the city, where it meets a young girl named Miki who is looking for a lost dog. The episode is mostly comedy but turns serious, with the Tachikoma attempting to understand sadness and death. In a later episode, the Tachikomas argue among themselves over which met Miki, since they all have the same memory. Yet when Batou calls for his Tachikoma only his actual Tachikoma raises its hand. As it leaves with Batou, it suddenly remarks with quiet surprise that it indeed must have been the one that met Miki.

Batou has the most affection for the tanks, picking out one tank as his "personal unit" and spoiling it with natural oil instead of synthetic. This is what causes his to go haywire later, when the natural oil dissolves some of the proteins in the Tachikoma's AI neurochip. On the other hand, Togusa, the least cyberized of the Section 9 staff, holds a less idealist view: "they're just machines." Aside from leading to an indignant outburst from the Tachikomas (who accuse Togusa of bigotry), it sets up something of an antagonistic relationship between Togusa and the tanks, which is revisited in an episode in season two. Major Motoko Kusanagi holds the most pragmatic view of all. Her only regret following the Tachikomas' suicide attack is that she didn't get a chance to dive their AI, and discover whether or not what they had acquired was really a "ghost". In the manga, she expresses concern over the evolution of the Tachikomas' AI and orders it monitored to catch any undesired emotional developments or an unwanted "rise of the robots."

By the end of the series, the Tachikoma fleet start approaching sapience; all are sent back to the lab for dissection, amidst fears that they are no longer fit for combat duty. It is the use of natural oil in Batou's personal Tachikoma (all other units used synthetic lubricant) that acted as a catalyst for the behavioral anomalies that began to manifest as sapience. Major Kusanagi subsequently bans the use of natural oil prior to the later decision to halt deployment of Tachikomas in field ops.

Three Tachikoma survive the mandatory decommissioning, (one blue, calling itself "Batou's Personal Tachikoma", and two others, repainted yellow and silver) and prove their worth when they abandon their new civilian jobs to save their imperiled comrades, without explicit orders to do so. The silver Tachikoma is destroyed on sight after it rescues Batou from attack by an Armed Suit, a bipedal power-actuated armored exoskeleton. The blue and yellow Tachikoma combine their efforts to save him, and conduct a desperate and ultimately suicidal attack against the Umibozu, while Batou watches from a nearby terrace with a stricken look on his face. This selfless act is the last thing they ever do. Those sent to the lab for structural analysis were restored from backups, their AI given a slew of upgrades and loaded into a new fleet, which appears in the second season.

S.A.C. 2nd GIG
In the second season, S.A.C. 2nd GIG, the enforced synchronizations among Tachikomas are limited to essential data only. Motoko Kusanagi allows them to maintain their own personality after the events in the first season. They can still share information and sensation via synchronization should they choose to. The Tachikomas are also outfitted to perform complex networking tasks including net-diving to aid Section 9. Several episodes featured the Tachikomas operating in the net using a representational avatar, instead of their map symbol of a triangle in a circle. It is indicated that while operating within the net, they could not inhabit their physical units.

It is hinted that Tachikoma units developed ghosts. During the finale of 2nd GIG, while ordered to create a repository in cyberspace for the memories (and hopefully, ghosts) of all refugees of Dejima, they secured instead their own memories within the netspace and sacrificed their AI satellite to prevent a nuclear explosion. A fellow AI, the bioroid Proto, saw this and announced to the viewers that Tachikomas do indeed have ghosts.

Solid State Society
During the early portion of the film Solid State Society, the Uchikomas are seen being used by Section 9 in a way similar to the way the un-learned Tachikomas had been used. It was revealed that the engineers at Section 9 failed to reproduce the phenomenon whereby the AI develops an advanced state of self-awareness. However, the reappearance of the Major also brings the return of the Tachikomas. Initially they are seen in their cyberspace avatar forms, sporting different decals and individual names such as Max, Musashi, Loki, and Conan (names directly lifted from the Major's AI partners in the Man-Machine Interface manga). Eventually they are reintroduced to physical bodies, and rejoin Section 9 as full members.

Tachikomatic Days
Tachikomatic Days (タチコマな日々), also known as Tachikoma Specials or Tachikoma Days, are a series of shorts attached to the end of every episode of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. Each short takes features the antics of the Tachikoma think tanks of Section 9 and involves plot points from the episodes. Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. 2nd GIG also has Tachikomatic Days at the end of each episode and most of the DVD and iTunes releases of both series.

Tachikomatic Days did not air on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim broadcast of Stand Alone Complex and 2nd GIG. However, they are shown on Adult Swim's free webcast programming service Adult Swim Video. On Australia's Cartoon Network's Adult Swim, the Tachikomatic Days shorts are broadcast with each episode. The UK's AnimeCentral broadcasts Tachikoma Days with each episode.

Merchandise
Numerous Tachikoma merchandise items have been released by various companies, including a 1/24-scale plastic model kit released by Wave in December 2005, and a 1/35-scale model produced by Kotobukiya in 2014.

title: Tachikoma


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Category:Politically motivated migrations

This category contains articles relating to migrations that were motivated, at least in part, by a desire to achieve political goals.


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McKinnon Park Secondary School

McKinnon Park Secondary School is a high school in the town of Caledonia, Ontario. It replaced Caledonia High School for the school year 1992/1993, which was converted into River Heights Public School. It temporarily served as a home to the new population of River Heights Public School in fall 1991 while renovations and an expansion were created. It is home to the SHSM (Specialist High Schools Major) program offering red seals (upon completion of the requirements) at graduation in hospitality, green industries, and construction.

The 2022/2023 academic year saw over 700 students enrolled. The school is home to the largest Indigenous student body in the Grand Erie School District, at 29% or 260 students as of 2018/19. Most of these students come from the nearby Six Nations of the Grand River. Due to the large number of Indigenous students attending the school, classes such as Cayuga language, native history, and native arts are offered.

title: McKinnon Park Secondary School


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Tony Garnier (musician)

Tony Garnier (born May 10, 1955) is an American bassist, best known as an accompanist to Bob Dylan, with whom he has played since 1989.

Biography
Garnier was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota on May 10, 1955. His grandfather, D'Jalma "Papa" Garnier, was a New Orleans jazz trumpeter and bandleader. Garnier's brother, also named D'Jalma, is a Creole fiddler. Garnier grew up in southern California.

Garnier joined Dylan's Never Ending Tour band in 1989, and has sometimes been characterized as his musical director.

In addition to his work with Dylan, Garnier has recorded with such artists as Tom Waits, Loudon Wainwright III, Paul Simon, Marc Ribot, Eric Andersen, Asleep at the Wheel, The Lounge Lizards, Buster Poindexter, and Michelle Branch. Garnier has also played with the Saturday Night Live Band, occasionally substituting for bassist T-Bone Wolk.

title: Tony Garnier (musician)


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Richard Seigler

Richard Joseph Seigler (born October 19, 1980) is an American former professional football linebacker who played in the National Football League (NFL) and Canadian Football League (CFL). He was drafted out of Oregon State University in 2004 by the San Francisco 49ers. In November 2005, he was acquired by the Pittsburgh Steelers, and was on the Super Bowl XL-winning Steelers team. He finished up his playing years with the Toronto Argonauts of the CFL.

Early life
Seigler was born and raised in Las Vegas and attended Chaparral High School. Seigler was the oldest of 9 children, having 5 brothers and 3 sisters. Seigler was selected First-team All-Sunrise Conference as a linebacker and wide receiver as a senior. Seigler was also a basketball player, and was selected All-Conference at Forward while leading his team in scoring and rebounding.

 * Highlights
 * 1998:
 * High School All-Conference Defensive MVP Award
 * 1st Team All-Star Linebacker and Wide receiver (Sunrise 4A Region - Las Vegas)

College career
Commenting on Seigler's natural leadership ability and selection as an OSU Team Captain, Brooks Hatch of the Corvallis Gazette-Times wrote, "It's a rare honor for an underclassman. In the past 30-odd years only 4 other non-senior Beavers have earned that distinction." Seigler played under the tutelage of National Championship Head Coach Dennis Erickson and Mike Riley in the college ranks.

College career statistics

 * 356 tackles (#4 Best Mark Ever at Oregon State)
 * 53 Tackles-For-Loss Career (7 TFL in a single game against Arizona State October 20, 2001. #1 on Oregon State All-Time List)
 * 7 sacks
 * 4 recovered fumbles
 * 17 pass breakups
 * 9 interceptions (1 INT returned for 65-yard Touchdown)
 * 49 consecutive starts (2nd All-Time at Oregon State)

Highlights and awards

 * 2010:
 * Pac-10 All-Decade Team
 * Oregon State All-Decade Team
 * 2009:
 * Selected #7 Best Player of the 2000s for Oregon State
 * 2004:
 * Invited to play in 79th Annual East-West Shrine Game
 * 2003:
 * Oregon State Beavers Co-MVP (along with Dwan Edwards and Steven Jackson)
 * 1st Team Defense All-Star LB (Pac-10)
 * Surpassed All-American Inoke Breckterfield to become OSU's All-Time Defensive Point Record Holder with 1,344
 * Bronko Nagurski Trophy Watch List
 * Rotary Lombardi Award Watch List
 * Las Vegas Bowl champion
 * OSU Football Team Captain
 * 2002:
 * 1st Team Defense All-Star LB (Pac-10)
 * Butkus Award Watch List
 * OSU Football Team Captain
 * 2001:
 * Fiesta Bowl champion (Only Freshman starter on Championship Team)
 * 2nd Team All-Star LB (Pac-10)
 * 2000:
 * Freshman All-American LB
 * Oregon State University "Male Newcomer of the Year" Award

Coaching career
Seigler was the defensive line assistant coach of the Portland State Vikings college football team.

2007 investigation
Although the case was dismissed and Seigler was innocent, in May 2007, a Las Vegas news affiliate learned that Seigler was under investigation in connection to a prostitution ring operating in the city. He was released from the Pittsburgh Steelers. Seigler surrendered himself to Pittsburgh police and U.S. Marshals and was accused of pandering and providing transportation for a prostitute. All charges were dismissed in March 2008, and he expressed a desire to play in the NFL again. The Steelers did not reacquire Seigler after all charges were dropped. Seigler then ventured to play in the CFL for the Toronto Argonauts and work his way back into the NFL. In 2010 Nigel Burton, Head Coach of the Portland State Vikings, offered Seigler a spot on the coaching staff. Burton told the Portland Tribune, "It's unfortunate his name got dragged through the mud. I believe in second chances, but to be honest, this isn't even a second chance for the guy. He is working hard. You can't kick him out of the office. He wants to be a great coach. He and I are a lot alike in that regard. We love a challenge. You question me and my character, I'll show you. You question my ability to coach, I'll show you. That's how he is. That's why I love him, and I'm glad he is here."

title: Richard Seigler


text: Category:Computer graphics stubs

title: Category:Computer graphics stubs


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Nichols plot

The Nichols plot is a plot used in signal processing and control design, named after American engineer Nathaniel B. Nichols.

Use in control design
Given a transfer function,

 * $$ G(s) = \frac{Y(s)}{X(s)} $$

with the closed-loop transfer function defined as,

 * $$ M(s) = \frac{G(s)}{1+G(s)} $$

the Nichols plots displays $$ 20 \log_{10}(|G(s)|) $$ versus $$ \arg(G(s))$$. Loci of constant $$ 20 \log_{10}(|M(s)|) $$ and $$ \arg(M(s))$$ are overlaid to allow the designer to obtain the closed loop transfer function directly from the open loop transfer function. Thus, the frequency $$ \omega $$ is the parameter along the curve. This plot may be compared to the Bode plot in which the two inter-related graphs - $$ 20 \log_{10}(|G(s)|) $$ versus $$ \log_{10}(\omega) $$ and $$ \arg(G(s))$$ versus $$ \log_{10}(\omega) $$) - are plotted.

In feedback control design, the plot is useful for assessing the stability and robustness of a linear system. This application of the Nichols plot is central to the quantitative feedback theory (QFT) of Horowitz and Sidi, which is a well known method for robust control system design.

In most cases, $$ \arg(G(s))$$ refers to the phase of the system's response. Although similar to a Nyquist plot, a Nichols plot is plotted in a Cartesian coordinate system while a Nyquist plot is plotted in a Polar coordinate system.

title: Nichols plot


text: Template:Compu-graphics-stub

title: Template:Compu-graphics-stub


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Meet the Robinsons

Meet the Robinsons is a 2007 American animated science-fiction comedy-drama film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is loosely based on the 1990 children's book A Day with Wilbur Robinson by William Joyce. The film was directed by Stephen J. Anderson (in his feature directorial debut) and produced by Dorothy McKim, from a screenplay that Anderson co-wrote with Don Hall, Nathan Greno, Joe Mateo, Jon Bernstein, Michelle Spitz, and Aurian Redson. The film stars the voices of Daniel Hansen and Jordan Fry, Wesley Singerman, Angela Bassett, Tom Selleck, Harland Williams, Laurie Metcalf, Nicole Sullivan, Adam West, Ethan Sandler, Tom Kenny, and Anderson. It follows an orphaned 12-year-old inventor, Lewis, who is desperate to be adopted. He meets Wilbur Robinson, a young time-traveler who takes him to the year 2037 to visit his eccentric family. They must prevent a mysterious bowler-hatted man from changing Lewis's fate, and, by proxy, the future.

Development began in 2002, with production underway starting in 2004, under the working title A Day with Wilbur Robinson, with a release initially slated for 2006. Anderson developed a personal connection to the main character Lewis, as he himself grew up an orphan and was later adopted. Disney originally planned to adapt Joyce's style, before it was decided to slightly rework the style due to his involvement stylistically in Blue Sky Studios' Robots. The animation crew had the challenge to animate CG humans, being inspired by Pixar's The Incredibles, while the inspiration for the film came from Disney animated classics, such as Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, and Peter Pan, as well as Warner Brothers cartoons, to capture a 1950s aesthetic. Disney's acquisition of Pixar in early 2006 led to nearly 60% of the film, including the villain and the ending, being scrapped and reworked. Danny Elfman provided the film's score, while artists such as Rufus Wainwright, Rob Thomas, The All-American Rejects and They Might Be Giants contributed to the film's soundtrack.

Meet the Robinsons premiered at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles on March 25, 2007, and was released in standard and Disney Digital 3-D formats in the United States on March 30. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, with praise directed towards the animation and story. However, it was a box office failure, grossing $170.5 million against a budget of $150 million.

Plot
Lewis is an aspiring 12-year-old inventor living in an orphanage. His energy, eccentricity, and malfunctioning inventions have been scaring off potential parents, so he works all night on a machine to scan his memory to locate his birth mother, who left him at the orphanage when he was a baby. While taking the scanner to his school's science fair, Lewis meets 13-year-old Wilbur Robinson, a mysterious boy claiming to be a time cop from the future. Wilbur needs to recover a time machine that a man wearing a bowler hat has stolen. Lewis tries to demonstrate the scanner, but it has been sabotaged by the Bowler Hat Guy and falls apart, throwing the science fair into chaos. Lewis leaves while the Bowler Hat Guy, with the help of his robotic bowler hat named Doris, steals the scanner. He plans to pitch it as his own to an invention company, but fails when he cannot figure out how to turn it on.

Wilbur meets Lewis at the orphanage and asks him to repair the scanner. Lewis demands proof that Wilbur is telling the truth. Wilbur does so by taking them in a second time machine to the year 2037, which is highly advanced technologically. When they arrive, Lewis realizes he can simply use the time machine to meet his mother; the resulting argument makes them crash. Wilbur asks Lewis to fix the time machine, and Lewis agrees on the condition that Wilbur has to take him to visit his mother afterwards. Reluctantly, Wilbur agrees and hides Lewis in the garage. Lewis accidentally ends up meeting the rest of the Robinson family except for Cornelius, Wilbur's father and the inventor of the time's technologies, who is away on a business trip. Having followed Lewis, the Bowler Hat Guy tries to kidnap him by bringing a Tyrannosaurus from the past, but the Robinsons incapacitate it. The Robinsons offer to adopt Lewis, but change their mind when they learn that he is from the past. Wilbur admits to lying to Lewis about taking him back to see his mom, causing Lewis to run off in disgust.

The Bowler Hat Guy approaches Lewis, and offers to take him to his mother if he fixes the memory scanner. Once he does, the Bowler Hat Guy reveals that Cornelius Robinson is Lewis's future self, and that the Bowler Hat Guy is an adult version of Lewis's roommate, Michael "Goob" Yagoobian. Because he was kept awake by Lewis's work on the scanner, Goob fell asleep during a Little League baseball game and failed to make an important catch, costing his team the championship. Goob became so withdrawn and bitter that he was never adopted and remained in the orphanage long after it closed. Doris is a prototype "Helping Hat", a failed and abandoned Robinson invention. They both blamed Lewis for their misfortunes and decided to ruin his life. Leaving Lewis in the future, they return to the past and enact their plan, successfully pitching the memory scanner and subsequently mass-producing Helping Hats. However, it is revealed that Doris tricked Goob, using the Helping Hats to dispose of him and enslave humanity, turning the future around Lewis dystopian. Lewis repairs the second time machine, confronts Doris in the past, and destroys her by vowing to never invent her, restoring the future to its utopian state.

Back in Wilbur's time, Wilbur attempts to ask the adult Goob to join the family, but he flees in shame. Lewis finally meets Cornelius face to face. Cornelius explains how the memory scanner started their successful career, and persuades Lewis to return to the science fair. Wilbur takes Lewis in the time machine, but surprises him by stopping at the night when his mother left him at the orphanage. Lewis decides not to interact with her, content with the knowledge of his future family.

Wilbur drops Lewis off in his own time and leaves. Lewis heads to the fair, pausing en route to wake Goob up at the baseball field just in time for him to make the winning catch, averting his future. Back at the fair, Lewis asks for one more chance to demonstrate his scanner, which this time succeeds. He is adopted by Lucille, one of the science fair judges, and her husband Bud, who nicknames him "Cornelius" and takes him to a new house.

The film ends with a quote from Walt Disney, stating on how we should "keep moving forward", meaning that we should not look back on the past, and on how we must pursue our dreams.

Cast and characters

 * Jordan Fry and Daniel Hansen as Lewis, a 12-year-old boy genius who struggles to be adopted.
 * Tom Selleck as Cornelius Robinson, Franny's husband and Wilbur's father who is Lewis's future self.
 * Wesley Singerman as Wilbur Robinson, the 13-year-old son of Franny and Cornelius Robinson who is a young time-traveler.
 * Stephen Anderson as:
 * Bowler Hat Guy, a man with a personal vendetta against Cornelius.
 * Matthew Josten as Mike "Goob" Yagoobian, the Bowler Hat Guy's younger self and Lewis' roommate.
 * Bud Robinson, Lewis' adoptive father, Fritz and Joe's older brother, and Wilbur's grandfather.
 * Cousin Tallulah, Fritz and Petunia Robinson's daughter and Laszlo's sister.
 * Harland Williams as Carl, the Robinson family's robot.
 * Nicole Sullivan as Franny Robinson, Cornelius's wife, Wilbur's mother, and Gaston and Art Robinson's sister. She trains her frogs to sing and is in charge of the family when Cornelius is not around.
 * Michaela Jill Murphy as young Franny
 * Angela Bassett as Mildred, the head of the Sixth Street Orphanage.
 * Adam West as Art, a pizza delivery man with a superhero persona. He is Gaston and Franny's brother and Wilbur's uncle.
 * Laurie Metcalf as Lucille Krunklehorn-Robinson, a scientist at InventCo. Labs. She is Lewis' adoptive mother, Bud's wife, and Wilbur's grandmother.
 * Ethan Sandler as:
 * Doris, a bowler hat designed by Cornelius Robinson to be a helping hat, but expanded beyond its intelligence and now seeks revenge.
 * Fritz Robinson, Petunia Robinson's husband, Bud and Joe Robinson's brother, and Laszlo and Tallulah Robinson's father.
 * Aunt Petunia, a hand puppet who is Fritz Robinson's wife and Laszlo and Tallulah Robinson's mother.
 * Uncle Spike and Uncle Dimitri, twins who sit in potted plants in front of the Robinson household. It is unknown who they are related to.
 * Cousin Laszlo, Fritz and Petunia Robinson's son and Tallulah's brother.
 * The unnamed CEO of InventCo
 * Don Hall as:
 * Gaston, a stunt performer who is Franny and Art Robinson's brother and Wilbur's uncle.
 * Gym Coach
 * Tom Kenny as Mr. Willerstein, Lewis' teacher.
 * Kelly Hoover as Aunt Billie, Joe Robinson's wife who likes trains.
 * Tracey Miller-Zarneke as Lizzy, a student from Lewis’ school who presents her fire ants at the science fair.
 * Joe Mateo as Tiny, a Tyrannosaurus brought to the future by the Bowler Hat Guy who later becomes the Robinson family's pet dinosaur.
 * Aurian Redson as Frankie the Frog, the lead singer of Franny's musical band of frogs.
 * Jamie Cullum as the singing voice of Frankie the Frog
 * Paul Butcher as Stanley, a student from Lewis’ school who presents a volcano at the science fair.
 * Dara McGarry as:
 * InventCo Receptionist
 * Mrs. Harrington
 * John H. H. Ford as Mr. Harrington
 * Nathan Greno as Lefty, a one-eyed octopus and the Robinson family's butler.
 * Joe Whyte as a reporter who interviews Lewis.

In addition, Joe Robinson is Wilbur's obese uncle, Billie's wife, and Bud and Fritz' brother who rides in an easy chair, his whimpers are provided by an uncredited actor. Also in the Robinson family is their dog, Buster, who wears glasses.

†Note: Lewis was voiced by both Daniel Hansen and Jordan Fry. Daniel Hansen voiced Lewis at the beginning of the film's production, and when the studio needed Lewis' lines changed, they had Jordan Fry re-dub many segments.

Production

Originally titled A Day with Wilbur Robinson, production began in June 2004, and was scheduled for a 2006 release. During the film's production, Walt Disney Animation Studios' storyboard artist Stephen Anderson decided to direct the film due to his personal connection to Lewis, since they both grew up adopted.

The studio planned to adapt Joyce's style to the film, but due to his involvement stylistically in Blue Sky Studios' Robots, the style was slightly reworked. While still taking cues from his retro style, influenced by everything from Technicolor movies to '40s architectural design, the crew also took inspiration from the company Apple. Unlike their previous film Chicken Little, a film starring CG animals, the animation crew had the challenge to animate CG humans. They took inspiration from Pixar's The Incredibles when animating the characters. They also took inspiration from Disney animated classics, such as Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, and Peter Pan, and from Warner Brothers cartoons to capture the 1950s aesthetic.

While the film was in production, The Walt Disney Company announced on January 24, 2006, that it would be acquiring Pixar, and as a result, John Lasseter became the chief creative officer of both Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios. When he saw an early screening for the movie, he told Anderson that he did not find the villain scary or threatening enough, and suggested that he make some changes. Ten months later, almost 60% of the film had been scrapped and redone. The villain had improved and was given a new sidekick, a dinosaur chase had been added, and the ending was changed.

Jim Carrey was originally offered the role of Bowler Hat Guy, but he turned it down to star in The Number 23.

Release
Over 600 REAL D Cinema digital 3D-equipped theaters presented Disney Digital 3-D version of the film. In all theatrical showings, the standard version of the film was preceded by the 1938 Mickey Mouse short film Boat Builders and the 3D version was preceded by the 1953 Chip 'n Dale 3D short Working for Peanuts. The final credits of the 3D version were left two-dimensional, except for the names of those who converted the film to 3D.

Home media
The DVD and Blu-ray versions were both released on October 23, 2007. Both versions feature 1.78 widescreen aspect ratio and Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound, plus music videos, the "Family Function 5000" game, deleted scenes, and other bonus features. The DVD's audio commentary contains Anderson's narration, occasionally interrupted by himself as the Bowler Hat Guy. The Blu-ray also includes uncompressed 5.1 audio and a BD-J game, Bowler Hat Barrage!. A 3D Blu-ray was released on November 8, 2011.

As of January 2008, the DVD had sold approximately 4 million copies.

Critical reception
Metacritic reported the film had a weighted average score of 61 out of 100 based on 27 critic reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale.

Realmovienews stated that it has "a snappy plot that demands close attention as it whizzes back and forth in the space-time continuum, touching on serious ideas and proposing some rather disturbing alternate realities. And the witty story twists are handled with rare subtlety and intelligence. In the end it may get a little weepy and inspirational. But it's so charming that we don't mind at all". Danny Minton of the Beaumont Journal said that "The Robinsons might not be a family you want to hang out with, but they sure were fun to meet in this imaginative and beautiful 3-D experience". Andrew L. Urban of Australian Urban Cinefile said that "Walt Disney stood for fantasy on screen and this is a loving tribute to his legacy". Kyle Smith of the New York Post named it the 10th best film of 2007.

Conversely, A. O. Scott of The New York Times wrote: "Meet the Robinsons is surely one of the worst theatrically released animated features issued under the Disney label in quite some time", while Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a "C" and said "This is one bumpy ride".

Box office
Meet the Robinsons grossed $25,123,781 on its opening weekend, ranking in second place behind Blades of Glory. Over its theatrical run, it grossed $97,822,171 in the United States of America and $72,730,548 in other territories, grossing $170,552,719 worldwide.

Soundtrack
The soundtrack album was released by Walt Disney Records on March 27, 2007. It includes four original songs written for the film, performed by Rufus Wainwright, Jamie Cullum, and Rob Thomas. Contributors to the album beyond the Danny Elfman score include another track by Wainwright ("The Motion Waltz (Emotional Commotion)"), The All-American Rejects ("The Future Has Arrived"), They Might Be Giants ("There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow"), and the Jonas Brothers ("Kids of the Future", a parody of "Kids in America"). The track "Little Wonders", recorded by Thomas, reached number 5 on the Billboard AC chart and the top 20 in Australia and Canada.

The song "This Much Fun" by Cowboy Mouth, which was featured in the trailer, was not featured in the film or on the soundtrack. The song "There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" was originally from the Disneyland attraction General Electric's Carousel of Progress which was located in Tomorrowland.

The Japanese version uses "Hitomi Hiraite" by Mitsuki as the theme song.

Video games
A Meet the Robinsons video game was published by Buena Vista Games for PlayStation 2, Xbox 360, Wii, GameCube, Nintendo DS, and Microsoft Windows. England-based Climax Group developed their own adaption for the Game Boy Advance.

Bowler Hat Guy appears as a playable character in the mobile game Disney Heroes Battle Mode.

Cancelled sequel
Disneytoon Studios originally planned to make a direct-to-video sequel to the film, tentatively titled Meet the Robinsons 2: First Date. However, when Lasseter became Walt Disney Animation Studios' new chief creative officer, he cancelled all sequels in development at Disneytoon, including Meet the Robinsons 2, and ordered the studio to shift its focus towards spin-off films and original productions.

Legacy
A limited edition MagicBand bracelet was also released by the company to commemorate the 15th anniversary.

The characters of Lewis, Wilbur, Bowler Hat Guy, Carl, and Lucille (in her young scientist judge appearance) appeared in Disney's 2023 short film Once Upon a Studio, in which they were recreated using new CGI models. This was due to the original models not being animated for over a decade, as well as updates made to animation technology since the original film's release, with rigging and rendering being reworked so they could be used with modern technology.

title: Meet the Robinsons


text:
Talk:List of dynamical systems and differential equations topics

untitled
I've changed the title to use plural nouns. I suspect that whoever named this page with singulars failed to understand the contexts in which the phrase differential equations is singular, and similarly dynamical systems. Michael Hardy 23:16, 9 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Delay Differential Equations
Delay differential equations or retarded functional differential equations should be added to the list of topics. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.220.16.199 (talk) 23:43, 7 February 2016 (UTC)