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Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Vulch

 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   — Gwalla | Talk 22:20, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Vulch
Oh no, another lame gaming neologism. And it's transwikied to Wiktionary already. Eliot 22:46, 13 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete and/or soft redirect. Transwikied dictdef.   — Gwalla | Talk 18:03, 14 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep, notable (if antisocial) gaming tactic. Kappa 21:23, 14 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete, non notable gamecruft. Kappa's votes are becoming more and more bizarre.  RickK 21:53, Jun 14, 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete --Carnildo 21:59, 14 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete neologism. JamesBurns 05:48, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete, nn. Radiant_ >|< 09:03, Jun 15, 2005 (UTC)
 * Merge with Air_Warrior, as the term comes from there, although that article could use a subsection for online flight-sim slang --63.240.15.99 21:04, 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/Vulch


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Mansion of Hidden Souls

Mansion of Hidden Souls, called Tale of the Dream Mansion (夢見館の物語) in Japan, and Yumemi Mystery Mansion in Europe, is an adventure video game released for the Sega CD, developed by System Sacom and published by Sega in Japan and PAL regions and by Vic Tokai in North America. It has a similar format to other adventure computer games such as Myst, Uninvited and D. It was first released on December 10, 1993, in Japan and then in February 1994 in North America. The PAL version followed soon a month after North America.

A sequel was released in 1994 for the Sega Saturn.

Plot
One night, siblings Jonathan and Samantha come across a butterfly while exploring a grassy field. Enchanted by the butterfly's haunting beauty, Samantha chases after it. Johnathan follows reluctantly, repeating their grandmother's warnings about ghosts who roam the area and turn people into butterflies. The butterfly leads Samantha into a mansion, where she becomes trapped. As Johnathan, the player must explore the mansion, overcome several puzzles, and escape with his sister before the pair of them become permanent residents.

While exploring the mansion, the player encounters several ghosts, who appear in the form of butterflies:
 * A pampered young girl. She seems friendly at first, but is actually a conniving brat.
 * An Australian butterfly collector. He seems anxious for the boy to become a butterfly and join the collection.
 * A painter, who is in a perpetually dreamy, absent-minded state.
 * An Eastern European tavern wench. She cackles menacingly and seems amused by the children's predicament.
 * A piano-playing southern belle, who longs to touch the keys again.

Gameplay
The gameplay is very similar to that of D: the player travels between areas via 3D pre-rendered first-person full-motion video sequences, pressing the action button whenever they find something of interest. Doing so, sometimes reveals an important item, such as a key or matchbox, which is added to their inventory. Also like D, the number of actual puzzles is fairly small; the player spends most of the game exploring the mansion and searching for important items.

Reception
The game was met with generally positive reviews. Electronic Gaming Monthly gave it a 7.6 out of 10, calling it "An interesting first-person perspective game with fluid graphics and great sound effects." GamePro described it as a solid The 7th Guest clone, especially praising the use of sound effects to enhance the horror.

Sequel
The Mansion of Hidden Souls, titled Real Dream Mansion: Someone Behind the Door... (真説・夢見館 扉の奥に誰かが・・・) in Japan, is a sequel for the Sega Saturn. The game was developed by System Sacom and published by Sega, and was released in 1994 in Japan, and in 1995 in North America and Europe.

Reception
Compared with the original game, the Saturn sequel was met with negative reviews, as critics found it failed to capture the strong qualities of the original despite being on a more powerful system.

According to Sega Saturn Magazine, the Japanese release of the Saturn game "received a rather lukewarm reception". In a later review of the PAL release, they said that though the graphics are considerably improved from the Sega CD game, the game completely fails to pull off the intended spooky atmosphere, and is also far too easy. GamePro similarly commented that though the Saturn game has better graphics than the Sega CD game, it lacks the tension and eerie atmosphere. In particular, they remarked that the disembodied talking heads of the Saturn game "will make you chuckle instead of cower" and that the music is not as effective. A review in Next Generation was more positive, focusing on the ways in which the game improved the graphics and expanded on the content of the Sega CD original. They concluded "In spite of its shortcomings, Mansion of Hidden Souls remains intriguing and engaging - it's just not a good game for newbies to the genre." Maximum called it "a great-looking game, let down by the linear nature of the adventure".

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

title: Mansion of Hidden Souls


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Sony Music Publishing

Sony Music Publishing (US) LLC (formerly Sony/ATV Music Publishing) is the largest music publisher in the world, with over five million songs owned or administered as of end March 2021. US-based, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is itself owned by Sony Entertainment. The company was formed as Sony/ATV in 1995 by the merger of the original incarnation of Sony Music Publishing and ATV Music, which was owned by late entertainer Michael Jackson. Jackson had purchased ATV Music, which included the Lennon–McCartney song catalog, in 1985.

In 2012, an investor consortium led by Sony/ATV Music Publishing acquired EMI Music Publishing to become the largest music publishing administrator in the world, with a library of over three million songs.

In April 2019, Jon Platt became CEO/Chairman of Sony/ATV Music Publishing after the contract of longtime CEO/Chairman Martin Bandier expired. In August 2019, management of Sony/ATV Music Publishing and Sony Music Entertainment were merged under the newly formed Sony Music Group.

History of ATV Music
Associated Television (ATV) was a British television broadcasting company founded in 1955 by Lew Grade. Over the next two decades, ATV expanded through acquisitions to become an entertainment conglomerate with business lines in the record industry, music publishing and film production.

ATV entered the music industry in 1958 when it acquired 50% of Pye Records, a British record company. ATV expanded into music publishing in 1966 when it acquired 50% of New World Music and Jubilee Music, subsidiaries of Chappell & Co. ATV also acquired the other 50% of Pye Records, making it a wholly owned subsidiary of ATV, including Pye Record's publishing subsidiary Welbeck Music.

ATV acquired Northern Songs, publisher of the Lennon–McCartney song catalogue, in 1969. The catalog featured almost every song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Northern Songs was co-owned by Lennon, McCartney, Brian Epstein and Dick James, who owned a controlling interest. In 1969, James offered to sell his shares to ATV. Lennon and McCartney then attempted to gain a controlling interest in the company. Their bid to gain control, part of a long and acrimonious fight, failed. The financial clout of Grade, their adversary in the bidding war, ensured that the songs written by the two Beatles passed into the control of ATV.

In 1970, ATV formed a joint publishing venture with Kirshner Entertainment, called ATV-Kirshner Music. The partnership agreement expired at the end of 1972 at which time ATV Music was formed to manage all of ATV's publishing interests, including Northern Songs. ATV Music remained a successful organization in the music industry throughout the 1970s, largely due to the performance of Northern Songs. ATV Music also entered into co-publishing agreements with Lennon and McCartney, whose contract with Northern Songs expired in 1973.

While ATV Music was successful, its parent company, now known as Associated Communications Corporation (ACC) began experiencing financial difficulties. From 1978 to 1981, ACC's profits declined due to losses in its film division, and share prices dropped dramatically. The main television arm of ATV lost its government-granted license in its then-current form and was restructured into Central Independent Television. In 1981, Grade entertained offers for Northern Songs, drawing interest from several bidders. McCartney, with Lennon's widow Yoko Ono, offered £21 million but the offer was declined by Grade who decided not to sell Northern Songs separately after other suitors, including CBS Songs, EMI Music Publishing, Warner Communications, Paramount Pictures and the Entertainment Co. showed interest in buying ATV Music as a whole.

Meanwhile, Australian businessman Robert Holmes à Court had been acquiring shares of ACC and launched a takeover bid in earnest in January 1982. Grade resigned as chairman and was replaced by Holmes à Court who successfully acquired a controlling interest in the company. After Holmes à Court assumed control of ACC, ATV Music was no longer for sale.

Sale of ATV Music to Michael Jackson
In 1981, American singer Michael Jackson collaborated with Paul McCartney, writing and recording several songs together. Jackson stayed at the home of McCartney and his wife Linda during the recording sessions, becoming friendly with both. One evening while at the dining table, McCartney brought out a thick, bound notebook displaying all the songs to which he owned the publishing rights. Jackson grew more excited as he examined the pages. He inquired about how to buy songs and how the songs were used. McCartney explained that music publishing was a lucrative part of the music business. Jackson replied by telling McCartney that he would buy the Beatles' songs one day. McCartney laughed, saying "Great. Good joke."

Jackson was first informed that the ATV catalog was up for sale in September 1984 by his attorney, John Branca, who had put together Jackson's earlier catalogue acquisitions. Warned of the competition he would face in buying such popular songs, Jackson remained resolute in his decision to purchase them. Branca approached McCartney's attorney to query whether the Beatle was planning to bid. The attorney stated he was not; it was "too pricey." According to Bert Reuter, who negotiated the sale of ATV Music for Holmes à Court, "We had given Paul McCartney first right of refusal but Paul didn't want it at that time." Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono had been contacted as well but also did not enter bidding.

The competitors in the 1984 sale of ATV Music included Charles Koppelman and Marty Bandier's New York-based the Entertainment Co., Virgin Records, New York real estate tycoon Samuel J. LeFrak, and financier Charles Knapp. On November 20, 1984, Jackson sent a bid of $46 million to Holmes à Court. Branca suggested the amount of the bid after having spent time evaluating the earnings of the catalogue and learning of another bid for $39 million. Jackson was only interested in the music copyrights, but the package also included buildings, a recording studio and studio equipment. The two sides signed a non-binding memorandum of mutual interest in December 1984 and Jackson's team began a four-month process of verifying ATV Music's legal documents, financial reports, and every significant composition in the nearly 4000-song catalog.

The two sides began drafting contracts in January 1985 and follow-through meetings began on March 16. Jackson's team described the negotiations as frustrating, with frequent shifts of position by the seller. One Holmes à Court representative described the negotiations as a "game of poker". Jackson's team thought they had reached a deal several times, but new bidders would enter the picture or they would encounter new areas of debate. The prospective deal went through eight drafts. In May 1985, Jackson's team walked away from negotiations after having spent hundreds of hours and over $1 million. In June 1985, they learned Koppelman/Bandier had made a tentative agreement with Holmes à Court to buy the catalog for $50 million.

But in early August, Holmes à Court contacted Jackson and talks resumed. Jackson only raised his bid to $47.5 million, but he had the advantage of being able to close the deal faster, having completed due diligence of ATV Music prior to any formal agreement. He also agreed to visit Australia as a guest of Holmes à Court and appear on the Channel Seven Perth Telethon. Holmes à Court included some more assets and agreed to establish a scholarship in Jackson's name at a U.S. university. Branca closed the deal and purchased ATV Music on Jackson's behalf for $47.5 million on August 10, 1985. In October 1985, Jackson fulfilled his contract provision to visit Perth, Western Australia and appear on the telethon, where he spoke briefly and met with two children.

The only Beatles song in the Northern Songs catalog that was excluded from the sale was "Penny Lane", the rights to which were gifted by Holmes à Court to his then-teenage daughter Catherine before the sale, as it was her favorite Beatles song.

Reactions to the acquisition
Jackson went on to use the Beatles' songs in numerous commercials, feeling that it would enable a new generation of fans to enjoy the music. McCartney, who had used the Buddy Holly song catalogue in commercials, felt saddened. Privately, Jackson was reported to have expressed exasperation at McCartney's attitude; he felt that the musician should have paid for the songs he had written. At the time, McCartney was one of the richest entertainers in the world, with a net worth of $560 million and a royalty income of $41 million. Jackson stated, "If he didn't want to invest $47.5 million in his own songs, then he shouldn't come crying to me now."

Appearing on the Late Show with David Letterman shortly after Jackson died in 2009, McCartney spoke about Jackson's acquisition of the Beatles songs and the impact of it on their relationship: "And which was, you know, that was cool, somebody had to get it, I suppose. What happened actually was then I started to ring him up. I thought, OK, here's the guy historically placed to give Lennon–McCartney a good deal at last. Cuz we got signed when we were 21 or something in a back alley in Liverpool. And the deal, it's remained the same, even though we made this company the most famous… hugely successful. So I kept thinking, it was time for a raise. Well you would, you know. [David Letterman: Yes, I think so.] And so it was great. But I did talk to him about it. But he kind of blanked me on it. He kept saying, 'That's just business Paul.' You know. So, 'yeah it is', and waited for a reply. But we never kind of got to it. And I thought, mm.... So we kind of drifted apart. It was no big bust up. We kind of drifted apart after that. But he was a lovely man, massively talented, and we miss him."

Ono was pleased that Jackson had acquired Northern Songs and called it a "blessing". Speaking in November 1990, Ono stated, "Businessmen who aren't artists themselves wouldn't have the consideration Michael has. He loves the songs. He's very caring." She added that if she and McCartney were to own the songs, there would certainly be arguments. Ono explained that neither she nor McCartney needed that. "If Paul got the songs, people would have said, 'Paul finally got John.' And if I got them, they'd say, 'Oh, the dragon lady strikes again.'"

At least one Beatles song was covered by Jackson after acquiring publishing rights: "Come Together" from the album Abbey Road (primarily a Lennon composition) in 1986. The song was recorded for Jackson's 1987 album Bad but was scrapped and instead put on HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I eight years later. It was featured on the 1988 movie Moonwalker and also had an official video. It is not known if Jackson covered any other songs, as no bootlegs have been released.

History of the first incarnation of Sony Music Publishing
Sony, which sought to diversify into music, films and games, acquired CBS Records Inc. in January 1988, and was later renamed as Sony Music Entertainment Inc. in January 1991. Shortly after the acquisition by Sony a music publishing division, CBS Music Publishing, was formed. CBS Records' previous publishing division, CBS Songs, had been sold to SBK Entertainment in 1986, and SBK ended being sold to EMI in 1989. Looking for further opportunities, Sony aimed to expand its music publishing interests. CBS Records acquired the Nashville music publisher Tree International Publishing in 1989. In addition to publishing agreements with Sony Music recording artists, further acquisitions included the Fred Fisher publishing catalog of 3,000 songs and Nile Rodgers' Chic Music, Inc.

Merger of ATV Music with Sony Music Publishing
In 1995, Sony offered Jackson $110 million for a 50% stake in a combined ATV and Sony Music Publishing joint venture. Following hurriedly arranged meetings and disagreements over the selling price, a deal was sealed by Jackson during a concert in Tokyo. Jackson had essentially sold half ownership of the Beatles' and others' songs for a large profit. Jackson's own songs, grouped in the Mijac catalog, were not included in the deal; that catalog remained with Warner/Chappell Music until 2012.

The new company was named Sony/ATV Music Publishing and became the second largest music publisher in the world. Michael P. Schulhof, President and CEO of Sony Corporation of America, welcomed the merger and praised Jackson for his efforts in the venture. "Michael Jackson is not only the most successful entertainer in history; he is also an astute businessman. Michael understands the importance of copyrights and the role they play in the introduction to new technologies." He added that Jackson recognizes Sony's "leadership in developing and realizing new technologies that serve to expand the creative horizon of artists such as himself". Administrative expertise was provided by Sony, who installed Paul Russell as chairman. Jackson was a company director and attended board meetings regularly. As each party in the arrangement held the power of veto, both sides would have to agree on a decision before it could be made. If either party disagreed on decisions, they would not be implemented.

In 2006, Sony gained operational control of Sony/ATV and obtained an option to buy half of Jackson's stake in the company at any time for a fixed price of $250 million.

Catalog acquisitions (2001–2007)
Sony/ATV Music Publishing continued to acquire song catalogs in the 21st century.

In November 2001, the company signed country singer Tony Martin to an exclusive songwriting and co-publishing deal. Through the deal, they acquired Martin's Baby Mae Music catalog of 600 songs, which includes Joe Diffie's "Third Rock from the Sun" and Jeff Carson's "Not on Your Love".

In July 2002, Sony/ATV Music Publishing bought veteran country music publisher Acuff-Rose Music for $157 million. The venture included music publishing rights to 55,000 country music songs, including the music of Hank Williams, the Everly Brothers and Roy Orbison, and the master recordings of the defunct label Hickory Records. Sony/ATV revived Hickory Records as the in-house record label imprint in 2007, with distribution handled by Sony Music's RED Distribution. Sony/ATV also owns the masters of Dial Records, Four Star Records and Challenge Records.

Another company acquisition was made in 2007, when Sony/ATV purchased Famous Music, a music publishing business with song catalogue of more than 125,000 songs including "Moon River" and "Footloose", for $370 million. The deal, sought by Viacom, included the assumption of around $30 million of debt. The song catalogue also includes the hits of Eminem, Akon, Linda Perry, Björk, Shakira and Beck, as well as music from films released by Viacom divisions Paramount Pictures (which had founded Famous Music in 1928) and DreamWorks Pictures.

Notable administration and distribution deals
Digital sheet music provider Musicnotes.com announced in June 2006 that it had signed a long-term distribution agreement with Sony/ATV Music Publishing. Musicnotes.com would produce and sell digital sheet music and guitar tablature for songs from Sony/ATV's extensive catalog. "As a music publisher, we are always looking for new and innovative ways to promote our songs and songwriters," Sony/ATV chairman and chief executive David Hockman announced in a statement.

On August 4, 2008, The Orchard secured a deal to globally digitally distribute and market the music catalog by Sony/ATV which includes: Sony Tree Productions, Hickory Records, and Masters International.

On June 27, 2017, Sony/ATV agreed to administer the music publishing rights of French motion picture company EuropaCorp, soon after acquiring 1,500 music copyrights from the studio. Other major studios that rely on Sony/ATV's administration include sister studio Sony Pictures (except the studio's 1993-2012 catalogue, which is owned by Anthem Entertainment), CBS and Showtime Networks (both since the acquisition of Famous Music), Discovery, Inc., 20th Century Studios and Fox Entertainment, All3Media, Entertainment One, A+E Networks, Endemol Shine Group, and Mattel.

In 2020 Sony Music/ATV formed a partnership with music licensing platform BeatStars, resulting in BeatStars Publishing- global online administration service for independent songwriters and producers, which allows users to register their songs and collect publishing administration royalties.

Purchase of EMI Publishing in 2012 and 2018
In November 2011, Citigroup announced a deal to sell EMI in two pieces. Recorded music went to Vivendi's Universal Music Group for $1.9 billion. EMI Music Publishing went to a Sony/ATV-led consortium for around $2.2 billion. Other members of the Sony consortium included the Michael Jackson Estate (about 10% ownership), US media billionaire David Geffen, US investment firm Blackstone and Abu Dhabi state-owned investment fund Mubadala. The deal won European Union approval in April 2012, on condition that some catalogs be divested. The global publishing rights for Famous Music UK and Virgin Music were sold to BMG Rights Management in December 2012 for $150 million.

While Sony/ATV acquired about 30% of EMI Publishing, it put up a much lower cash contribution. In exchange, it agreed to administer the entire catalog (including the former CBS Songs/SBK Entertainment music publishing catalog). Sony/ATV became the largest music publisher administrator company in the world with more than 3 million songs and estimated revenues of over US$1.25 billion per year. After the acquisition, three EMI executives joined Sony/ATV international leadership team: Guy Moot, president of UK and European creative; Susanna Ng, Asia managing director; and Clark Miller, executive VP of international business affairs and global opportunitites.

Since 2012, Sony/ATV has administered Jackson's other publishing firm, Mijac, which includes songs written by Jackson himself (and others), and which used to be administered by competitor Warner/Chappell Music.

In July 2018, Sony/ATV bought out the Jackson estate's 10% stake in EMI for $287.5 million. In November 2018, Sony acquired the Mubadala Investment Company's 60% equity interest in EMI Music Publishing for $2.3 billion, based on an enterprise value of $4.75 billion, without offering any concessions to the European Commission. The acquisitions would put the Columbia-Screen Gems catalog back under common ownership with Columbia Pictures, which had sold the rights to EMI in 1976. Following these transactions, Sony owned 100% of EMI Music Publishing.

Acquisition of Jackson's stake by Sony in 2016
In September 2016, Sony acquired the Jackson estate's stake in Sony/ATV in a deal valued at around $750 million. The Jackson estate retained its ownership of Mijac Music, which holds the rights to Michael Jackson's songs and master recordings. The revenue will be placed in trust for Jackson's children.

Ownership of the Beatles' songs
In January 2017, McCartney filed a suit in United States district court against Sony/ATV Music Publishing seeking to reclaim ownership of his share of the Lennon–McCartney song catalogue beginning in 2018. Under US copyright law, for works published before 1978 the author can reclaim copyrights assigned to a publisher after 56 years. McCartney and Sony agreed to a confidential settlement in June 2017.

Relevant value
A recent and relevant valuation is tied to Sony's acquisition of Jackson estate's stake in the company, completed on September 30, 2016 for $750 million. This values Sony/ATV at between $2.2 to $2.4 billion (including debt).

Previous estimates
Before the 2016 transaction with Sony, the reported value of Sony/ATV Music Publishing has varied across time and sources. Such valuations are uncertain, as illustrated by their wide variations, given a lack of actual transactions.
 * In 2002, Forbes magazine estimated Jackson's 50% stake in the company, along with other music publishing ventures, to be worth $450 million.
 * The organization was valued at $700 million in 2003.
 * Industry experts valued the catalogue at between $600 million and $1 billion in 2004, based on the sales of rival catalogues. Charles Koppelman, a veteran music industry executive, stated that $1 billion was more reflective of Sony/ATV Music Publishing's worth. "Buyers would be lining up around the block if it were ever put up for sale," he said. "And I'd be in the front of the line."
 * In 2005, Jackson's defense attorney, Thomas Mesereau, claimed that the song catalogue had been valued at between $4 billion and $5 billion.
 * As of 2007, Jackson's own financial documents stated that his 50% share of the catalogue was worth $390.6 million, which would have made the entire catalogue worth $781.2 million.
 * In 2009, the value of the company was further estimated by Ryan Schinman, chief of Platinum Rye, to be $1.5 billion.

title: Sony Music Publishing


text:
USS Pecos (AO-6)

USS Pecos (AO–6) was a Kanawha-class replenishment oiler of the United States Navy. She was commissioned in 1921 and sunk by Japanese aircraft south of Java on 1 March 1942.

Operational history
USS Pecos was laid down as Fuel Ship No. 18 on 2 June 1920 at the Boston Navy Yard, Massachusetts (USA). During construction the ship was reclassified AO–6 on 17 July 1920. She was launched on 23 April 1921, sponsored by Miss Anna S. Hubbard and commissioned 25 August 1921.

During the two decades before the United States entered World War II, Pecos operated in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, Pecos was in the Philippines supporting the ships of the United States Asiatic Fleet. She departed Cavite Navy Yard on 8 December 1941 for Balikpapan, Borneo arriving there on 14 December. After filling up with oil and gasoline, the tanker continued on to Makassar in Celebes, Netherlands East Indies where she refueled American warships fighting to slow the rapid advance of Japanese forces. She departed Makassar for Darwin, Australia on 22 December 1941.

She departed Darwin on 23 January 1942 headed for Soerabaja, Java early in 1942 where she fueled Allied ships until departing on 3 February after a Japanese air raid made that port untenable. Tjilatjap then became the oiler's base until her cargo fuel tanks were empty. She then got underway in late February 1942 toward Ceylon to refill, embarking the surviving crew of USS Stewart (DD-224). On 27 February, off Christmas Island, when the oiler was about to receive survivors of the seaplane tender (and former aircraft carrier) USS Langley (AV-3) from destroyers USS Whipple (DD-217) and USS Edsall (DD-219), land-based enemy bombers attacked the three ships. After fighting them off, the U.S. ships steamed south out of enemy land-based aircraft range and completed the transfer at sea in the early morning of 1 March 1942.

Whipple then proceeded towards the Cocos Islands to rendezvous with the tanker Belita, while Edsall was directed to return to Tjilatjap, carrying U.S. Army Air Force (USAAF) pilots and ground crew who had been passengers on Langley. The USAAF personnel were to assemble and fly 27 disassembled and crated P-40 fighters which had been shipped to Tjilatjap aboard the cargo ship MS Sea Witch (1940). Pecos, now carrying about 700 survivors from Langley and USS Stewart (DD-224) was ordered to Australia.

At noon that day, planes from the Japanese aircraft carrier JAPANESE AIRCRAFT CARRIER Sōryū located and attacked Pecos and struck again an hour later. For some time she sent out distress calls to any Allied ships in the area, as it was assumed the ship would probably be lost. Finally at midafternoon, a third strike sank the Pecos. According to pilot Shinsaku Yamakawa of the Imperial Japanese Navy, the final attack was conducted by dive bombers from the aircraft carrier JAPANESE AIRCRAFT CARRIER Kaga.

Executive Officer Lt. Commander Lawrence J. McPeake was posthumously awarded the Silver Star for valor for his actions aboard Pecos. After the order to abandon ship was given by the ship's Captain, Commander Abernethy, Lt. Commander McPeake was seen engaging Japanese Aichi D3A1 "Val" dive bombers, which were machine-gunning survivors in the water. By some crewmembers' accounts, he was reported to have made it off the ship after it went down. Others reported him last being seen manning the machine gun. In fact, he did swim away from the vessel with another officer as it was going down. However, his body was never recovered and he was eventually listed as Killed In Action after the war.

After Pecos was sunk, USS Whipple (DD-217) raced to the scene and rescued 232 survivors. Many of the survivors, although visible by crew members of Whipple, were unable to be picked up and were abandoned at sea, due to the detection of what was thought to be two enemy submarines in the area at extremely close range. Out of over 630 total crewmen and Langley survivors on Pecos more than 400 were left behind and died. Exact casualty numbers for the doomed ships of the United States Asiatic Fleet and American-British-Dutch-Australian Command are impossible to gather because so many Allied warships were sunk in the Dutch East Indies campaign (at least 24 total) and many of those ships had already picked up survivors of other sunken ships and then were also sunk by the Japanese hours or days later.

title: USS Pecos (AO-6)


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Soliciting Corporate Money

 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 03:17, Jun 19, 2005 (UTC)

Soliciting Corporate Money
The prose barely makes sense, and the subject (US campaign finance) is already covered properly at Federal Election Campaign Act. It seems to have been created solely to mention Tom DeLay negatively. Deus Ex 22:48, 13 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete agreed. --Xcali 23:25, 13 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete. Saying it barely makes sense is very charitable. DS1953 01:14, 14 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete: No redirect. Duplicate effort but unequal content. Geogre 02:00, 14 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete duplicate. JamesBurns 10:17, 14 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete--creator is vandalizing other pages incl. Federal Elections Campaign Act and Tom DeLay. Meelar (talk) 20:29, Jun 15, 2005 (UTC)
 * Here's newly created similar page by the same user: New bankruptcy law. I vote delete this too. Deus Ex 23:48, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete simply presenting the truth about Tom DeLay in his own article is incriminating enough, no need for articles like this. The article also makes little sense. - Jersyko talk  14:52, Jun 16, 2005 (UTC)
 * This page is now preserved as an archive of the debate and, like some other VfD subpages, is no longer 'live'. Subsequent comments on the issue, the deletion, or the decision-making process should be placed on the relevant 'live' pages.  Please do not edit this page .


text: Category:History of Merseyside

title: Category:History of Merseyside


text:
Talk:Computers and writing

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Rknottnerus.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 19:25, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Jialeijiang, Guitarhorn, Shasadolah.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 18:16, 16 January 2022 (UTC)

Expansion
Seems like there have been quite a few conferences on this so it should be a major topic. Someone who is involved should be able to add a lot more here. Vegaswikian 22:49, 13 Jun 2005 (UTC)

New to wiki but I would like to see this page expanded. I will leave some resources, and may look into expanding it myself--but I am just a grad student with a sudden interest in the topic. I also believe that a proper title for this page would be "literary computing" though I may be a spot off on that one. --128.174.155.98 (talk) 17:26, 16 February 2009 (UTC)
 * http://www.iath.virginia.edu/
 * http://www.clc.wvu.edu/
 * http://www.citeulike.org/tag/literary-computing
 * http://www.ualberta.ca/~dmiall/Computing/
 * http://www.allc.org/
 * http://lucian.uchicago.edu/blogs/dhcs2008/

While the folks that do literary computing are certainly part of the computers and writing field, they tend to have their own venues and conferences...and their work is now generally considered as "digital humanities." The kinds of centers and organizations that are more closely tied to the field of computers and writing include the Writing in Digital Environments research center at Michigan State University (http://wide.msu.edu) and the Digital Writing and Research Lab (formerly Computer Writing Research Lab) at the University of Texas (http://cwrl.utexas.edu). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.241.149.201 (talk) 20:32, 15 October 2010 (UTC)

The pedagogy section of the article seems to be written more like an opinion essay and may contain original research such as: "Computers and writing pedagogies encourage students to think critically about the connections among composition, technology, and media. By exploring complex concepts such as visual rhetoric, issues of access, and the social implications of online writing, students learn practical applications and implications of writing using technology." Rknottnerus (talk) 14:31, 6 April 2018 (UTC)

The pedagogy section has no citations which is less than Wikipedia's recommended amount of one source per sentence. Can anyone provide sources? Rknottnerus (talk) 22:50, 29 April 2018 (UTC)

In the lead, I deleted the term "eRhetoric" and changed it to "digital rhetoric", along with a link to the digital rhetoric page. In the digital rhetoric talkpage, editors have come to a consensus on this term over eRhetoric. Lucymobe (talk) 16:58, 11 February 2020 (UTC)

title: Talk:Computers and writing


text:
Hard Rain

Hard Rain may refer to:

 * Hard Rain (Bob Dylan album), 1976
 * Hard Rain (band), a British rock band
 * Hard Rain (Hard Rain album), 1997
 * Hard Rain (film), a 1998 action film
 * Hard Rain, the name of the fourth campaign of the video game Left 4 Dead 2
 * Hard Rain (novel), a 2003 novel by Barry Eisler, since republished as A Lonely Resurrection
 * Hard Rain, a late 1980s British band on London Records

title: Hard Rain


text:
Alberta separatism

Alberta separatism comprises a series of 20th- and 21st-century movements (both historic and current) advocating the secession of the province of Alberta from Canada, either by joining the United States,   forming an independent nation or by creating a new union with one or more of Canada's western provinces. The main issues driving separatist sentiment have been the perceived power disparity relative to Ottawa and other provinces, historical grievances with the federal government dating back to the unrealized Province of Buffalo, a sense of distinctiveness with regards to Alberta's unique cultural and political identity, and Canadian fiscal policy, particularly as it pertains to the energy industry.

Foundations
Alberta was established as a province on September 1, 1905. Alberta separatism comes from the belief that many Albertans hold that they are culturally and economically distinct from the rest of Canada, particularly Central Canada and Eastern Canada, because of economic imbalances whereby Alberta is a net over-contributor to the system of equalization payments in Canada. Furthermore, the majority of Alberta's trade flows north–south with the United States and not east–west with the rest of Canada.

1930s separatism and the Alberta Social Credit Party

Separatism emerged in the 1930s within the Social Credit Party, which formed the Government of Alberta after the 1935 election. William Aberhart and Ernest Manning created the Social Credit party with the aim of bringing financial relief to Albertans who were suffering because of the Great Depression. The party's success was fuelled by a wave of resentment at the federal Liberal Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, who had said that he "would not give a five-cent piece" to non-Liberal provincial governments for unemployment relief. The federal government deemed implementing a form of social credit unconstitutional and invoked its rarely used power of disallowance under S.56 of the British North America Act, 1867, thereby voiding provincial legislation. Premier Aberhart secured provincially-owned banks and distribution of prosperity certificates. Aberhart's followers called for separation from Canada, but Aberhart himself counselled moderation and rejected secession. The separatist movement was ridiculed by the media as a fringe movement of the uneducated. Manning, however, had been a devoutly loyal supporter of Aberhart from the very beginning. He honoured Aberhart's 1935 promise to issue a prosperity certificate to Albertans twice. In 1957, his government announced a $20 oil royalty dividend and issued a $17 dividend the next year.

1940s to 1960s: after World War II, monopolies, Alberta gas

The discovery of vast reserves of oil ushered in a twenty-year period of intense exploration, new discoveries, and rapid expansion of Alberta's oil industry. In 1948, Imperial Oil discovered the Redwater oil reserve, 64 km (40 mi.) northeast of Edmonton. By 1953 the oil field supported 926 wells and was producing almost 30 percent of the entire province's output. In 1949 alone Twelve new oil fields were discovered from the Leduc-Edmonton-Redwater region to the southern Alberta and the extreme northwest Alberta. Many of the fields were found by Imperial Oil, but other major oil companies, such as British-American oil, Gulf, Anglo-Canadian, and Home Oil, also experienced incredible success. But Alberta was still was "heavily rural and bitter with western grievance. Freight rates and protectionism made economic diversification in the prairies all but impossible. It was said to be cheaper to send cows and grain to be slaughtered in Ontario than it was to ship meat."

1970s: beginnings of modern separatist ideals
The modern ideal for a separate Alberta nation began in the 1970s, as a response to Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's pursuit of bilingualism and Multiculturalism in Canada, and the National Energy Program. These programs were seen by many Albertans as an attack on oil resources; the promotion of Liberal "anti-Albertan" values were viewed as a negative influence by many Albertans.

In 1974, as Quebeckers were discussing separating from Canada, many Albertans also began to consider separation. This resulted in some Calgary-based citizens forming the Independent Alberta Association. Central to the argument was the fact that Alberta would pay billions of dollars towards Canada, but without political representation equal to that of Central and Eastern Canada. Many expressed the opinion that Trudeau would continue his hard federalist stance producing unfavorable results for Western Canada including Alberta and its natural resources. In the end, the Independent Alberta Association did not move beyond association status, and did not form a political party.

Other influences in the 1970s included two major oil crises: coinciding with the Yom-Kippur War of 1973 and the Iranian Revolution of 1979. The first was caused by the decision of the US to support Israel, which in turn caused retaliation by Egypt and Syria, bringing on an oil embargo that resulted in Alberta receiving substantially less price for oil than the global market prices dictated. Across North America, long lines could be seen at gas stations, and people started to realize the need to conserve energy resources.

The second oil crisis of 1979 was again due to decreased oil output, this time in the wake of the Iranian Revolution. In 1978, a revolutionary anti-American government headed by the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini overthrew the America-friendly government of the Shah of Iran. Gasoline prices, which had earlier stabilized somewhat since 1973, spiked again. Some members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and a few similarly minded oil-rich nations had ceased all oil exports to the United States and countries that supported Israel. The price of oil sold to North America quadrupled within months, and service stations again ran out of fuel, long lines were evident at gas stations across North America.

The Alberta government and the Canadian federal government responded politically to address oil reserves and conservation of petroleum resources. In 1971, the Alberta Social Credit Party provincial government, headed by Harry Strom, created an environmental ministry, the first of its kind, with a mandate to manage and conserve Alberta's natural resources. Federally, in 1974, the Office of Energy Conservation was created. Conflict arose between Alberta and Canada after the 1973 crisis, over the management and distribution of Alberta's oil resources, and financial wealth, setting the stage for Alberta separatism.

After Joe Clark's Progressive Conservatives won a minority government in 1979 defeating Pierre Trudeau's Liberal party Albertans were hopeful a change in federal energy policy would occur. These ideas were harnessed during Clark's unsuccessful 1980 election campaign. Clark, an Albertan, lost the election and resigned the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party in 1983 after receiving only a 67% confidence vote at a party convention.

1980s and 1990s: Liberals, NDP, Conservatives, resurgence
Copied content from National Energy Program; see that page's history for attribution.

In 1980, a Liberal majority government under Pierre Trudeau was formed. This caused the already-brewing separatist movement in western Canada to attract thousands of people to rallies. Separatist Gordon Kesler was elected to the Alberta legislature in a 1982 by-election.

Due to the high oil prices of the 1970s Alberta experienced a boom in its oil sector and the entire economy as a whole. In October 1980, the National Energy Program (NEP) was created by the federal government under Prime Minister Trudeau, and support for Alberta separatism and anger toward the federal government reached new level of popular support. Trudeau introduced a 25% tax to Alberta's oil. After the introduction of the NEP, Alberta's oil industry collapsed, with a drastic reduction in the number of oil wells drilled. Abandonment of major projects such as oilsands caused high unemployment in Alberta. The Petroleum Incentives Program, part of the NEP, was criticized for luring exploration capital away from Alberta. With natural resources falling constitutionally within the domain of provincial jurisdictions, many Albertans viewed the NEP as a detrimental intrusion by the federal government into the province's affairs. Edmonton economist Scarfe argued that for people in Western Canada, especially Alberta, the NEP was perceived to be at their expense in benefiting the eastern provinces. Particularly vilified was Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, whose Liberals had no seat west of Manitoba. Ed Clark, a senior bureaucrat in the Trudeau Liberal government, helped to develop the National Energy Program and earned himself the moniker "Red Ed" in the Alberta oil industry. Shortly after Brian Mulroney had taken office, Clark was promptly fired.

The 1980s oil glut led worldwide oil prices to tank, making Albertan oil uneconomical even in Eastern Canada, causing it to instead purchase foreign oil. This discredited the NEP – as "self-sufficiency" was one of its touted goals. Even though the NEP was often seen as an economic catastrophe, the NEP was never overturned by Trudeau's government, staying in place until 1985.

Alberta still initially enjoyed an economic surplus due to high oil prices, but the surplus was heavily reduced by the NEP, which, in turn, stymied many of Lougheed's policies for economic diversification to reduce Alberta's dependence on the cyclical energy industry, such as the Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund, and also left the province with an infrastructure deficit. In particular, the Alberta Heritage Fund was meant to save as much of the earnings during high oil prices to act as a "rainy day" cushion if oil prices collapsed because of the cyclical nature of the oil and gas industry. The NEP was one reason that the fund failed to grow to its full potential. According to Mary Elizabeth Vicente, an Edmonton librarian who wrote an article on the National Energy Program in 2005, the popular western slogan during the NEP, appearing on many bumper stickers, was "Let the Eastern bastards freeze in the dark." Other bumpers stated "I'd rather push this thing a mile than buy gas from PetroCan."

So great was the hatred towards Trudeau that anything associated with him was destroyed in the province. The Alberta Liberal Party lost thousands of members, and won no seats in the provincial legislature in the 1982 Alberta general election. This led to a centre-right-controlled legislature for decades. The Alberta Liberals never held any sizable legislative power again. Many prominent citizens were inspired to push forward Alberta separatist principles. This sentiment gave rise to the Western Canada Concept (WCC) and West-Fed which held well-attended meetings across Alberta. Many of the people attracted to these parties were not necessarily advocating for independence but were advocating for the fair treatment of Alberta and its resources.

In 1980, Doug Christie, a British Columbia lawyer, formed the WCC in an effort to promote Western separatism. In 1980 2700 people gathered for a rally at the Jubilee Auditorium in Edmonton, to listen to a speech from Christie. in which he said "[The Liberals] are begging Quebec: 'Please vote for us!' No more begging,". In 1982, Gordon Kesler was elected to the Alberta legislature in a by-election in Olds-Didsbury as a candidate of the WCC and attracted national attention.

In addition, West-Fed was founded, led by Edmonton businessman Elmer Knutson, who was credited with inspiring the transformation of Western alienation ideas into a political movement. Knutson denied being a separatist, but West-Fed was widely regarded as a separatist organization. In 1983, Knutson attempted but failed, to win the leadership of the Social Credit Party of Canada. A year later in 1984, Knutson founded the Confederation of Regions Party to advocate for a new Canadian constitution that would provide Alberta with more regional autonomy. The Confederation of Regions Party of Canada (CoR) was based on the premise that Canada consists of four regions, each of which should have equal representation in Parliament. By mid-1983 it was registered as an official provincial party in Alberta and by 1984 it was registered federally and ran 54 candidates but none were elected. Major platform initiatives included opposition to compulsory bilingualism and metrication, abolishing the Senate, and equal representation to the four regions. A year later Knutson resigned, but in all had significantly inspired many Albertans to join Doug Christie's Western Canada Concept, which was running candidates in elections.

Before 1980, separatism was a very fringe idea; for example, a 1977 survey by the Calgary Herald found that 2.7 per cent supported independence. Support for separatism spiked sharply after Pierre Trudeau became prime minister; in a 1981 poll by the Canada West Foundation, 49% agreed that "Western Canadians get so few benefits from being part of Canada that they might as well go it on their own."

In response, Premier Peter Lougheed called a snap election in which the party nominated 78 candidates in the province's 79 ridings (electoral districts). Highlighted was major infighting and structural leadership problems within the WCC.

Although WCC won almost 12% of the popular vote (over 111,000 votes), Kesler was defeated after changing ridings, and no other candidate was elected. The WCC still managed a strong third-place showing in another by-election, in Spirit River-Fairview, held in 1985, following the death of Grant Notley.

The party's popularity declined after the Progressive Conservative Party, led by Brian Mulroney won a majority government, defeating Prime Minister John Turner in the 1984 federal election. Under Mulroney, the NEP was rapidly dismantled, and Albertans had new hope for achieving a better-negotiated resource wealth distribution. This caused the Alberta separatist movement to dissipate significantly. Yet, the Mulroney government was a disappointment since the majority of MPs were elected from central Canada, and Alberta's concerns largely ignored. By the time he left office in 1993, Mulroney was perhaps the most hated prime minister due to various allegations of corruption pertaining to the sale of Canadian assets. Mulroney awarded the contract for maintenance of CF-18 fighter jets to the Montreal-based Bombardier Aerospace company, a decision that engendered so much anger in Western Canada, since Western Canada produced a better bid, that it directly led to the formation of the Reform Party of Alberta.

After this, the WCC experienced a resurgence, and in 1987 ran candidate Jack Ramsay, who in 1982 had become the leader of the party. Ramsay notably and significantly argued for the Triple-E Senate as an alternative to Alberta separation, until 1986 when he reverted his opinion back to the previous separatist position of the WCC. In 1987 Ramsay joined the Reform Party of Alberta and ran in a by-election where he finished second. This would be the last time the party would run a candidate.

Alberta prominent citizen Preston Manning would take the Reform Party of Canada, a right-wing populist federal party, along the lines of non-separatist sentiments and significant popularity. Manning would attract many Albertans that were separatists. The Reform Party existed from 1987 to 2000 when it merged into the Canadian Alliance. In 2003, it merged with the Progressive Conservative Party to form the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada. These mergers left a void to those interested in furthering separatist principles.

2000s Reform to Conservative
Without the existence of the Reform Party to articulate Alberta's concerns, the separatist movement in the early twenty-first century began to organize meaningfully for the first time since the 1980s. Again though, separatism would place faith in a favourable federal government, only to again be disappointed.

In the 2004 federal election, the governing Liberal Party of Canada was returned with a minority government despite allegations of corruption. 61.7% of Alberta voters voted for the opposition Conservative Party – 22% supported the Liberals, although how many of these Conservative voters were separatist can only be guessed.

There was significant opposition within Alberta to the Kyoto Protocol as the Kyoto treaty was believed to have negative effects on the provincial economy, which is based to a large degree on the oil and gas industry. (Alberta had the world's second largest proven reserves of oil, behind only Saudi Arabia. )

In the 2004 general election, the Separation Party of Alberta nominated 12 candidates who won 4,680 votes, 0.5% of the provincial total. No candidates were elected. This was less support than the Alberta Independence Party attracted in the 2001 election, when 15 candidates attracted 7,500 votes.

Albertan Stephen Harper succeeded against the odds of the Canadian First-past-the-post voting system and in 2006 became Prime Minister of Canada in a minority government in the 2006 federal election. Harper had been a significant figure in the Reform Party, became leader of the Canadian Alliance in 2002, then merged with the PC Party in 2003, forming the Conservative Party of Canada. Due to Harper's Reform roots, Albertans held faith that he would be the trusted figure to protect Alberta's interests. As a result, Alberta's separatist movement sat on the side-lines, with uncertain prospects. Some pundits predicted that this result would cause support for separatism to ebb away.

The notion of Alberta secession from Canada gained sympathy from some figures within Alberta's conservative parties. Mark Norris, who was one of the contenders to succeed Ralph Klein as the Alberta premier, told the Calgary Sun in March 2006 that under his leadership, if a future federal government persisted in bringing in policies harmful to Alberta such as a carbon tax, "(Alberta is) going to take steps to secede."

Also, some politicians believe, and at least one poll indicated that a much larger portion of the Alberta population may be at least sympathetic to the notion of secession than was indicated by election results. In January 2004, Premier Ralph Klein told the Canadian edition of Reader's Digest that one in four Albertans were in support of separation. An August 2005 poll commissioned by the Western Standard pegged support for the idea that "Western Canadians should begin to explore the idea of forming their own country." at 42% in Alberta and 35.6% across the four Western provinces

Late 2010s to early 2020s resurgence

Support for Albertan separatism has increased significantly with the Canadian federal election victory of Justin Trudeau's Liberal Party on October 19, 2015. Trudeau, the son of Pierre Trudeau, became prime minister with a majority government, and re-inspired the Alberta separatist movement. While speaking at a town hall in Peterborough, Ontario, on January 13, 2017, Trudeau said, "We can't shut down the oilsands tomorrow. We need to phase them out. We need to manage the transition off of our dependence on fossil fuels. That is going to take time," The next day at a Calgary vs Edmonton hockey game in Edmonton, Mr. Trudeau was loudly booed by the crowd. His unpopularity in Alberta is a significant rallying point for Alberta separatists. The topic of Alberta separating from Canada is the subject of a number mainstream media reports.

The geopolitical analyst Peter Zeihan in his 2014 book The Accidental Superpower presented the reasons why he believed both Alberta and the U.S. would benefit from Alberta joining the United States as the 51st state. Quote from page 263 of book:

"The core issue is pretty simple. While the Québécois—and to a slightly lesser degree the rest of Canada—now need Alberta to maintain their standard of living, the Albertans now need not to be a part of Canada in order to maintain theirs."

Zeihan also stated that "Right now, every man, woman and child in Alberta pays $6,000 more into the national budget than they get back. Alberta is the only province that is a net contributor to that budget — by 2020, the number will exceed $20,000 per person, $40,000 per taxpayer. That will be the greatest wealth transfer in per capita terms in the Western world." Per Statistics Canada, in 2015 Alberta paid $27 billion more into the federal treasury than it received back in services. And that "Anywhere else in the world, this would be a secessionist crisis... There is no other place in the world where you have one province that is lightly populated but very rich, that doesn't have a certain degree of rebellion. The redistribution system that Canada has with the transfer payments, anywhere else would have social instability. But to be blunt, Canadians are just too damn polite."

A September 2018 poll by Ipsos indicated that 62% of Albertans believe that Alberta "does not get its fair share from Confederation" (up from 45% in 1997), 46% feel "more attached to their province than to their country" (up from 39% in 1997), 34% "feel less committed to Canada than I did a few years ago" (up from 22% in 1997), 18% believe "the views of western Canadians are adequately represented in Ottawa" (down from 22% in 2001), and 25% believe "My province would be better off if it separated from Canada" (up from 19% in 2001).

A February 2019 poll from Angus Reid found 50% of Albertans would support secession from Canada but also found the likelihood that Alberta would separate to be "remote."

After Justin Trudeau's re-election on October 21, 2019, in the Canadian federal election, #Wexit (a wordplay on "Brexit", the United Kingdom's departure from the European Union) trended on social media. However, experts and an analysis from Hill+Knowlton Strategies, demonstrated that part of the push was due to disinformation and bots. On November 4, 2019, the separation group "Wexit Alberta" applied for federal political party status. On November 6, 2019, a poll conducted by Ipsos show a historic high of interest of secession from Canada in both Alberta and Saskatchewan provinces by 33% and 27%, respectively. On January 12, 2020, Wexit Canada was granted eligibility for the next federal election.

A May 2020 poll by Northwest Research for the Western Standard found that 41% of respondents would support independence in a referendum, 50% would be opposed, and 9% weren't sure. Removing undecideds, 45% would support and 55% would be opposed. Respondents were also asked if they would support a referendum if "the federal government is unwilling to negotiate with Alberta on a new constitutional arrangement", 48% said yes, while 52% said no. Support for independence was higher outside of Alberta's two biggest cities, with Edmonton being the most opposed.

Legality of separation in Canada
In Canada the Clarity Act, which has been approved by the Supreme Court of Canada, governs the process a province should follow to achieve separation. The first step is a province-wide referendum with a clear question. The size of majority support required by referendum is not defined.

Registered Alberta political parties

 * Independence Party of Alberta
 * Wildrose Independence Party of Alberta (formed through a merger of the Freedom Conservative Party of Alberta and Wexit Alberta)

Registered federal political parties

 * Maverick Party

title: Alberta separatism


text:
User:Smileyrepublic

I've taken this page off as it was woefully out-of-date. I'm sorting a new one out when I get round to it! For now:

 * location: near Manchester
 * occupation: broadcast journalism student
 * speaks: English, German
 * interests: radio, photography, film, technology

title: User:Smileyrepublic


text:
Ori (Stargate)

The Ori are fictional characters in the science fiction television series Stargate SG-1. Within the storyline, there are fictional beings described as "ascended" because of their use of advanced technology and knowledge of the universe. The Ori are an example of such beings. A significant part of the storyline in the ninth season of Stargate SG-1 involves the Ori's attempt to trick humans into worshipping them as gods.

The Ori first appeared in the ninth season of Stargate SG-1, replacing the Goa'uld as the TV series's primary antagonists. While the Goa'uld relied solely on stolen technology from other civilizations to pose as gods, the Ori were conceived as having paranormal abilities in addition to advanced technology. As ascended beings, they live on a higher plane of existence with great power and knowledge and are as close to being "gods" as any non-deific being can be. The Ori fabricated a religion called Origin, which they use in an attempt to control non-ascended beings. Those who reject Origin risk getting their civilization–or even their planet–wiped out by the Ori.

Genesis
Since the eighth season of Stargate SG-1 was intended to be the last, the producers finished it with the defeat of the Goa'uld and Replicators. When the Sci Fi Channel renewed the series, however, the producers had grown tired of writing creative endings. Having had good experiences with the first season of Stargate Atlantis, they decided to revamp the series by introducing new villains and missions. Thus they considered the beginning of Season 9 as the pilot of a new show.

Season Nine was about wiping the slate clean and resetting the story to where Stargate SG-1 was in its first season. The reason was that the SG-1 team was now winning every time, having already defeated the main enemies the previous season. Since SG-1 had always been grounded in Earth mythology, the producers chose the legend of King Arthur for the new season. Merlin, as a famous magical figure, became an Ancient, leading to the Ancients' enemies named the Ori. The Ori are thus "a natural extension of where the Ancient mythology had gone." Up until that point, the story of the Ancients had been kept at arm's length because the show was not about the aliens but "human beings going out into this unexplored, fantastical universe." The producers also stated that a premature full revelation of the Ancients would have caused their story to be less interesting.

Producer Brad Wright believed the Ori were still within the overriding theme of Stargate, as they are "aliens playing gods" in their relationship with ordinary human folk. The introduction of the Ori was to prepare the viewer for their invasion that would occur later in the show. The Ori also served as a challenge for the new heroes in the SG-1 team (Mitchell, Landry, Vala). The writers believed that new bad guys and new obstacles for the characters to overcome would make for a more interesting story.

The name "Ori" comes from the word "origin," as in the origin of the Ancients. When executive producer Robert C. Cooper looked at the root of "origin," he retcon-invented the word "Origin" as the name of the Ori religion. Cooper said it was an interesting idea for him to address the philosophical arguments with various religious people, seeing the whole challenge as "how do you prove whose God exists or whether God exists at all?" Unlike the Goa'uld, who were quickly proven to not be gods after killing them and figuring out their technology, it would be hard to present the same argument to the Ori followers because the Ori were essentially ascended gods. Even if their gods were dead, it would not make much difference to them, as their followers would continue to believe; without the "magic powers" of the Ori, their followers and the Priors (the Ori's missionaries) could still use the technology and their ships. Cooper said that "it's not necessarily wrong to believe in something [...] what's wrong is to murder somebody because they don't believe the way you do." Although Cooper was reluctant to get too serious about the meaning behind the Ori as Stargate should "first and foremost [...] entertain people," he considered it representative of television and the media "mak[ing] people believe whatever the people in charge of that magic box–whatever they want you to believe–they can pretty much convince you, or convince the vast majority of people." For Cooper, "the followers of the Ori were the interesting part," and he "wanted to do a story that was in some way reflective of the differences between people's beliefs that we see around us in our society, and how conflicts arise as a result of that." Cooper was particularly interested in the interaction between Ori followers and other normal human beings and the resulting "mysterious aspect and quality to religious belief and the passion that it invokes." The producers therefore inserted the Ori into the story's background, similar to the way there was very little direct interaction between the actual deities of the religion and mankind in real life.

Cooper was concerned that the distinction between the Ori and their followers was often overlooked, and that the SG-1 team dealt with the followers, not the ascended gods. If, as "The Shroud" suggested, the Ori were actually destroyed by the Merlin's Ancient weapon, the real issue for the SG-1 teams became the followers. Brad Wright pointed to power corruption, the catch of the Ori killing unbelievers.

Story ideas
In the original pitch for "Beachhead," Brad Wright had intended to let the Ori build and come through the Supergate. It was then decided among the writers to only let the threat of the Ori come through the Priors, and to postpone the actual arrival of the Ori until the end of the season.

The last ten minutes of "Camelot" should serve as a "great, ominous harbinger of the foe" SG-1 is up against. In Season 10, the Ori sweep through the Milky Way galaxy, forcing SG-1 to start from scratch again in finding technology, resources, and allies to fight against them.

If Stargate SG-1 had continued, the producers would have considered the search for the Ark (of Stargate: The Ark of Truth) as the overriding story for the eleventh season, similar to the Sangraal in seasons nine and ten. The producers did not explore more detailed ideas after the show's cancellation.

Design
Art director James Robbins designed the Ori and the Priors from scratch. At the beginning, he knew a basic description of them and their powers, and that their weapon of choice would look like a staff. The art department looked at Samurai to design their costumes. Inspired by the rituals of remote jungle tribes, Robbins came up with the idea of scarification for the Priors and the Doci (a chief Prior who acts as a mediator or mouthpiece for the Ori). The Priors have scarifications on the chin and the cheek; the Doci have the same scarifications as the Priors with added ones on their foreheads. Scarification would therefore be a symbol of high establishment. Originally, it was also considered for the Priors to have scarification on the hands, along with finger extensions, but this was deemed impracticable. When the Prime Jaffa (a subspecies of humans enslaved by the Goa'Uld) Gerak became a Prior in "The Fourth Horseman," the golden Jaffa tattoo on his forehead was replaced with a Prior scarification, and his makeup was made to look like the gold had melted and become part of the new mark.

Each Prior was given his own unique symbol, which he would wear on his wardrobe and also on his staff weapon. The art department built each staff to have a little orb encased in natural wood, which glows when the actor pushes a little button on the handle.

Music
Composer Joel Goldsmith's inspiration for the Ori themes had "certain parallels to what's happening today, in modern day." He admits that the music of the Ori was intentionally given a Gothic, Gregorian and Christian feel. He tried to meld a few different styles.

Mythology of the Ori and the Ancients
The Ori backstory is elaborate. It is explained throughout Seasons 9 and 10 and in the film Stargate: The Ark of Truth. Robert C. Cooper considered the backstory "pretty complicated" but felt the show gave the answers to the audience members who wanted to delve deeper.

Part of this story returns to the Ancients, whose backstory began in the Season 1 episode "The Torment of Tantalus." Early in Season 9, Brad Wright explained that the Ori are the original Ancients, who would disagree with the Alterans (later to relocate and be known as the Ancients of the Milky Way galaxy) that they shouldn't interfere because interference would mean playing god, which these beings hadn't quite achieved.

The Ori and the Alterans were one race millions of years ago and lived in a single society on an evolutionary path to ascension. The Ark of Truth shows flashbacks to human Ancients coexisting with the people who eventually became the Ori. However, a philosophical division emerged. The Ori grew more and more fervent in their religious belief, while the Alterans adopted a more scientific/rational outlook to become a more progressive society. The Ancients were well known for their fierce belief in free will and had a code to be "fairly non-violent." As such, they do not interfere on lower planes of existence at all, not even to save their own kind from being exterminated by the Ori, or to prevent all life in the Milky Way galaxy from being exterminated by Anubis. In contrast, the Ori constantly interfere. For example, Origin states that failure to share the secrets of the universe with those on the lower planes of existence is an evil act and that anyone not following it must be eliminated; by this definition, every ascended Ancient was evil and must be destroyed. They also have no rules against taking direct control of living beings or completely changing the living beings to behave as the Ori desire. With the Ori outnumbering the Alterans, their viewpoints ultimately diverged so much that the two groups split apart and began to actively oppose each other, with the Ori attempting to kill the Alterans.

Their fundamentally different beliefs in regards to science led the Alterans to hide their level of scientific belief so that they would not get into a conflict. Eventually, the Ancients decided to build a spaceship and leave rather than to use their technology, like the Ark of Truth, to defeat the Ori. Though they had the ability to stop the Ori, they thought it to be philosophically and morally wrong. The film thus addresses the non-interference policy of the Ancients under the Ori threat, and how they act millions of years later, when SG-1 succeeds in killing the Ori.

After much time, believed by Daniel Jackson to be thousands of years, the Alterans discovered the Milky Way, where they eventually seeded life and built their empire. However, even after the Ori had forced the Alterans to leave their galaxy, the two factions remained bitter enemies. Eventually, the Alterans were afflicted with a terrible plague that wiped out most of their civilization and forced them to relocate again. It would later be discovered that what was known of this plague is very similar to the disease used by Priors against non-believers, which had led Daniel Jackson to speculate that the pre-ascended Ori might have been responsible for this plague.

After millions of years, both the Alterans and the Ori learned how to ascend and evolved, forming two groups that continued to oppose each other, even at the higher planes of existence. According to the Orici Adria, the Ori-Ancient war on the Ascended plane is due to the Ancients' intolerance for those who do not comply with their rules about non-interference. According to Orlin, a de-ascended Ancient, the conflict arises from the Ori's ultimate wish to destroy the Ancients once and for all as they seek to eliminate all who oppose them.

When the Ori ascended, they re-created humanity (the second generation of humans) to worship them in the Ori galaxy, and gave their followers the knowledge and technology to essentially enslave others and to force them to believe as the Ori desired. The Ancients shielded the humans in the Milky Way, preventing the Ori from finding out about and enslaving them to "Origin," as they had in their own galaxy. The Ancients do not view this action as a violation of their non-interference policies, as the Ori are at a level equal to themselves. However, as the Ancients will not interfere in the lower planes of existence, the Ori are allowed to send their human followers to the Milky Way in order to convert it, and anyone who wishes to worship the Ori will not be prevented from doing so.

According to Orlin, ascended beings can be empowered by massive numbers of humans worshipping them. The Ori fabricated an entire "Origin" religion, based on the false promise of ascension in order to take power from their human followers. The Ancients refrain from interfering in the lower planes of existence because manipulating and aligning lower life forms could result in exactly this type of corruption. According to the Ancient Myrddin, the Ori had the best intentions when they began. Even after the Ori were destroyed, their followers and Priors continued acting in their name to oppress thousands of people since, for the most part, they were ignorant to the demise of their "gods."

Characteristics
The Ori impose a religion called Origin on sentient beings, promising a guide towards enlightenment that is also known in the series as Ascension. The faith comes with a holy book called The Book of Origin, and the Priors spread the Word of Origin. The Book of Origin contains tales of how the followers of the Ori returned to the path of enlightenment and achieved Ascension, although some skeptics consider these merely "fables meant to fill a soul bereft of hope with purpose." Several lines from the Book of Origin, or otherwise repeated mantras, are heard on the show. These include variations of "Hallowed are the Ori." The central icon of this religion is fire because it is something that gives off light and warmth. The fact that on Earth fire has some evil or Satanic associations in many modern religions prompted Daniel to posit that the Ancients had influenced this negative connotation in order to identify the threat the Ori pose. Among the populations of natives in the Ori home galaxy are groups of heretics who believe they are being suppressed, and seek to discover forbidden historical knowledge to show others that the Ori, despite their power, are not gods.

Ori military tactics varied during the initial incursions into the Milky Way galaxy and the full-scale invasion that was later achieved through the Supergate. The initial incursions were achieved through lone Priors who were sent to worlds in the Milky Way galaxy, preaching to the populace and distributing copies of the Book of Origin. When the people failed to comply, more drastic measures were taken, eventually to the point of destroying the population. The show features powerful Ori weapons in "Ethon," ships in "Camelot," control chairs like that in "Counterstrike" and Supergates in "Beachhead." The Ori can be killed by Merlin's Sangraal weapon, which nullifies ascended beings. As seen in The Ark of Truth, there is also an Ark that Cooper considered "a truly fascinating centerpiece" and "mass brain-washing device" which causes people to see the truth in any given situation. Comparing the Ark to television as it is "a box that light comes out of, and you believe what it says," Cooper left it open whether the choice to do it without guns was ultimately the better method.

Doci

The Doci (Latin docere, "to teach"), played by Julian Sands, represents the Ori in their home galaxy and leads the Priors. He appears in "Origin," "The Fourth Horseman, Part 1" and Stargate: The Ark of Truth. The Doci is essentially a chief Prior who acts as a mediator or mouthpiece for the Ori. The Doci has brown hair and colored eyes, pale skin and facial markings of a Prior. The Doci was introduced in "Origin," where he was shown to reside in the city of Celestis, with his chambers next to the Ori's Flames of Enlightenment. In one instance, the Ori possessed the Doci to speak to Daniel. Had Julian Sands not been able to come back as the Doci for the direct-to-DVD film The Ark of Truth, the producers had planned to hire another actor as a different Doci in charge in Celestis. Although Sands' availability eventually was a hindrance in The Ark of Truth, the producers felt it was better to include the Doci than to completely forego the character.

Priors
The Ori are served by so-called Priors, highly evolved human beings who act as missionaries of the Ori by traveling to different planets to spread the religion of Origin. As the Ori are incapable of directly affecting the material universe in the Milky Way Galaxy due to the protection of the ascended Ancients, they send the Priors as their representatives to circumvent this rule. Cooper said the Priors have "these incredible, superhuman powers," which allow them to perform deeds which they convince people are miracles, attack enemies, and resurrect the dead. They also unleash plagues as punishment for not following the Ori. The Priors believe fervently in their mission, and essentially offer a real religion with big promises. Priors have been encountered on various worlds, trying to convert the local population and fight anyone who tried to stop them, including the Tau'ri and the Jaffa.

As shown in the series, priors are normal humans whom the Ori transform into an evolved state of human to serve as missionaries as a reward for loyalty and devoted service. This process drastically alters their appearance: albino skin and hair, a tracery of raised lines on the chin and cheeks, and indentation of the skull just above and behind the eyes. Their eyes appear as a misty gray pupil without an iris. In "The Fourth Horseman" and The Ark of Truth, SG-1 was able to temporarily disable a Prior's abilities by using ultrasonic sounds to deny Priors access to the advanced areas of their brains.

 * Damaris (played by William B. Davis) is a Prior who makes contact with the Sodan in "Babylon." SG-1 challenges him in "The Fourth Horseman," where Damaris is killed in self-defense.
 * Daniel Jackson (played by Michael Shanks) is turned into a Prior by Adria in "The Shroud" as part of her plan to convert the Tau'ri to the path of Origin. However, because Merlin had previously downloaded his memories into him, Daniel is able to maintain his own personality and, after exploiting his Prior powers to finish constructing and activating the Sangraal, reverts to his normal form.
 * Gerak (played by Louis Gossett Jr.) is a Jaffa introduced in "Origin" who, after becoming interested in the promised path of ascension, turns into a Prior in "The Fourth Horseman." He dies later on in the same episode after turning against Origin. Daniel Jackson speculated that the Ori had included a kill switch when they transformed him into a Prior, to prevent disloyalty.
 * Prior #1 (played by Mark Houghton) visits the village of Ver Eger and revives Vala after her Trial of Fire in "Avalon." He then brings Vala and Daniel to the Doci in the city of Celestis and back to the village to find more heretics in "Origin."
 * Prior #2 (played by Larry Cedar) is the first Prior to be sent to the Milky Way after the Ori learns of the existence of humans in this galaxy. Cameron Mitchell brings him to Stargate Command in "Origin," where the Prior eventually bursts into flames after learning that he would never again leave the planet.
 * Prior #3 (played by Greg Anderson) is the governor of the village of Ver Eger and is introduced in "Avalon" when Daniel and Vala first came to the village. As a reward for doing his duties and putting Vala through a Trial by Fire, he is transformed into a Prior in "Origin." He is later sent to the Milky Way and makes appearances in "The Powers That Be" (unleashing a plague in a defiant village), in "The Fourth Horseman" (turning Gerak into a Prior), and in "Line in the Sand" (ordering the destruction of a village by spaceship). He also appears in Stargate: The Ark of Truth, in which he is killed.
 * Prior #4 (played by Ian Butcher) tries to convert the people of Kallana in "Beachhead" and later transforms the planet into a micro black hole to power a Supergate.
 * Prior #5 (played by Morris Chapdelaine) visits the Sodan homeworld in "Arthur's Mantle" and causes Volnek to turn on his fellow Jaffa and kill them.
 * Prior #6 (played by Doug Abrahams) is a Prior introduced in "Crusade" who visits Ver Isca and cures Tomin of his limp, also informing him that he is unable to father children. Prior #6 is on board one of the Ori battlecruisers invading the Milky Way in "Camelot" and is present during Adria's birth in "Flesh and Blood" and informs her parents of her divine purpose. He also appears in "The Quest," accompanying Adria in the search of the Sangraal. He made an appearance in Stargate: The Ark of Truth.
 * Prior #7 (played by Peter Nicholas Smyth) accompanies Adria in "Counterstrike" and is killed in an attack by the Jaffa with the Dakara Superweapon.

Tomin and the Ori warriors

The Ori warriors are conscripted men, who were trained to fight non-believers as foot soldiers and take over the Milky Way. Introduced in "Crusade," they are shown wearing metallic plate armor and armed with powerful staff weapons. They are first seen in combat in Season 10. Cooper wrote "Crusade" with the intention to show that the Ori warriors are not two-dimensional, even though their strength of belief and single-mindedness makes them fight for what they want to fight for. According to Cooper, the Ori warriors are a fictional mirror of the events in the real world, but he wanted people to try and understand "why people want to go to war with us, or blow up our buildings, or our airplanes." Cooper also wanted to show that "there's really no winner to the argument" when it comes to "religion and belief, and gods;" according to Cooper, there is a line when a society takes up arms instead of finding a more civilized way of dialogue.

Tim Guinee played Tomin, a devout Ori follower of the village of Ver Isca, who becomes an Ori commander in Season 10. He appears in "Crusade," "Flesh and Blood," "Line in the Sand," and Stargate: The Ark of Truth. Tomin is intended as a representation of the Ori warriors, and Cooper described Guinee as a "fabulous actor who instantly creates that humanity and empathy ... while he's mass-murdering people." Tomin is introduced in flashbacks in "Crusade," having found Vala after she was transported to the Ori home galaxy. Tomin had been crippled since childhood, and was therefore looked down on by his fellow villagers. Tomin married Vala and accepted her pregnancy as his child, not knowing that it was a miraculous conception set by the Ori. A little later, a Prior visited the village and cured Tomin of his limp, allowing him to become a warrior for the Ori. The prior also told Tomin the truth about the child as "the will of the Ori," who would later be the Orici. Tomin is later able to forgive Vala. Tomin and Vala depart aboard the first wave of Ori vessels entering the Milky Way, and they go separate ways in "Flesh and Blood". Tomin rises to the rank of commander within the Ori warrior armies, and he and Vala meet again in "Line in the Sand." Because a Prior twists the words of the Book of Origin, Tomin begins to doubt the Priors and their interpretations of Origin's teachings, and helps Vala escape. Tomin plays an important role in the film Stargate: The Ark of Truth, in which, after seeing a Prior's death with his own eyes, he learns the truth about the Ori.

Adria the Orici
In Season 10, the primary antagonist switched from the Priors and the Doci to the Orici, also known by the name Adria. The story presents her as a genetically advanced human infused with Ori knowledge, created to circumvent the Ancients' rules that the Ori cannot directly use their powers to conquer the Milky Way galaxy. Adria is one step higher than the Doci, but equal in terms of her role in the Milky Way galaxy, which is to lead the armies of the Ori in the Milky Way galaxy, converting the galaxy to Origin in the process. Adria possesses several Prior-like superhuman abilities, and leads the armies of the Ori until her Ascension in the penultimate episode of Stargate SG-1. From a creative standpoint, Adria's character was created to give Vala Mal Doran a story and personality arc as a member of the SG-1 team.

Adria's story begins shortly after the events of "Beachhead," when Vala is impregnated by the Ori in the Ori home galaxy. Vala eventually returns to the Milky Way aboard one of the Ori battlecruisers invading the Milky Way galaxy. In "Flesh and Blood," Vala gives birth to a baby girl, the Orici. Within hours of being born, the child reaches the apparent age of four and heals her mother's pain, knowing that Vala is not a believer in Origin. By the child's apparent age of seven, Vala gives her the name Adria, after her stepmother, a "witch of a woman." Vala escapes when Adria is at the apparent age of twelve. Adria only starts to have an impact in the second quarter of the season, when she has grown "into a beautiful but deadly young woman."

When Vala, who has joined the SG-1 team, meets adult Adria in "Counterstrike," Adria foreshadows her plans with Daniel. In "The Quest," Adria tricks SG-1 into obtaining the Sangraal for her. Adria captures Daniel before he can complete the device. Hoping to convert both Earth and Vala, Adria attempts to convert Daniel to the path of Origin and makes him a Prior. In "The Shroud," however, Daniel betrays her and uses the weapon on the Ori galaxy. In "Dominion," Adria is briefly implanted with a cloned Ba'al symbiote. Although the symbiote is removed, the procedure almost kills Adria and she ascends. Being the only surviving Ori after the events of "The Shroud," Adria alone controls the power generated by the followers of Origin–becoming the closest thing the Stargate universe has seen to a true god. She continues the Ori's assault on the Milky Way in Stargate: The Ark of Truth. After an Ancient device known as the Ark of Truth affects her galaxy's believers, Adria is last seen in Stargate: The Ark of Truth in a battle with the Ancient Morgan le Fay, which in Cooper's view started as a fight in the human realm of existence and continues on the ascended level similar to what happened with Anubis and Oma Desala in "Threads." Adria is thus "eternally distracted from being able to continue her evil ways."

Young Adria was played by three child actresses–Adria at age four was played by Robert C. Cooper's daughter Emma, who replaced the originally cast child who suffered from stage fright. Adria at age seven was played by Jodelle Ferland, and at age twelve by Brenna O'Brien. Morena Baccarin was offered the role of adult Adria in a phone call by the producers, who were Firefly fans. The orange contact lenses that the actress had to wear made her feel nearly blind and irritated her eyes, so the lenses were dropped during the shooting of "The Quest." Baccarin enjoyed "the whole experience [...] incredible" as she got to play a character she could learn from. In her words, "Adria was a complex character and I loved trying to make her sweet as well as totally bad." Brad Wright called Adria "an interesting character because she's the Ori cheating," and compared her to the Ori equivalent of a Harcesis. Cooper considered Adria becoming host to a Goa'uld "the marriage of the old villains and the new villains" and compared it to the episode "Enemies," the first where both the Replicators and the Goa'uld first appeared together. Morena Baccarin was only available for one day during the filming of Stargate: The Ark of Truth, worth six pages of script. Cooper had written more scenes between her, Julian Sands ("Doci") and the SG-1 team, but the only other option to what ended up in the film was to cut the character.

Anti-Ori underground
In the second episode of season 9, it is shown that not all Humans in the Ori Home Galaxy believe their gods to be benevolent as is seen in the case of the Anti-Ori Underground. This group of humans live a dangerous life in hiding from purges and the fanatical followers. Their purpose is simply to collect enough evidence to prove to their brethren that the claims of the Ori are false. Despite this, they do believe that the Ori are very powerful; it is only their intentions they doubt. Even though the group lives in the shadows of Ori society, they have collected a number of artifacts that they have kept hidden, since such pieces of technology contradict the book of Origin and thus would be destroyed if discovered. The group also has a number of followers in high positions even within the City of the Gods. All known members of this movement–Harrid (played by Stephen Park), Sallis (April Amber Telek), Fannis (Paul Moniz de Sa), Seevis (Michael Ironside), and Denya (Daniella Evangelista)–die shortly after their introduction. Another member is introduced in Stargate: The Ark of Truth: Hertis (Chris Gauthier). Tomin somehow finds him and takes him to meet with Daniel and Vala in order to find the location of Ortus Malum where the team believes the Ark of Truth to be. He is somewhat suspicious of Daniel and Vala as they are unaware that the fires of Celestis are out (an indication that the Ori are dead) which should have spread very far. Apparently, Tomin told him they were from far away but just not how far (another galaxy). In order to give him proof of their story, Daniel, Vala and Tomin take him to the Odyssey which is in orbit. He tells them what is believed to be the location: a mountain high above the Plains of Celestis on another planet. Presumably he is then returned to his home planet as he is not seen again.

Reception
In reviewing the first part of Season 9, Steven Graves of TV Zone was concerned that "mining Arthurian mythology for season 9 may prove to be a mistake for Stargate," comparing scenes of "Avalon" to "a god-awful Merri Olde England pastiche straight out of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, complete with unwashed peons, an overbearing church and witch-burning." He however commented about "Origin" that "Stargate SG-1 seems to be establishing an interesting set of themes this season, providing a timely commentary on religious evangelism and intolerance with its new villains, the Ori." By "The Powers That Be," Graves was sure that "the Ori are a force to be reckoned with." Regarding "The Fourth Horseman," he thought it was "doubly nice" to see an SG-1 story where the apocalyptic events have an effect on contemporary Earth instead of on alien planets.

title: Ori (Stargate)


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User:McCF~enwiki

User account for a few random edits from home. Linked to McCart42 but are generally edits by another person.

title: User:McCF~enwiki


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Quality Street

Quality Street can refer to:

 * Quality Street (play), a play by J. M. Barrie
 * Quality Street (1927 film), a 1927 film based on the play starring Marion Davies
 * Quality Street (1937 film), a 1937 film based on the play, starring Katharine Hepburn
 * Quality Street (confectionery), now manufactured by Nestlé
 * Quality Street, a 1991 album by English indie band World of Twist
 * Quality Street: A Seasonal Selection for All the Family, a 2013 album by English singer-songwriter Nick Lowe
 * The Quality Street Gang, a criminal gang in Manchester, England, in the 1960s and 1970s
 * A street in the village of Merstham
 * A street in Davidson's Mains, Edinburgh
 * A street in Leith, Edinburgh
 * A Street in North Berwick, East Lothian

title: Quality Street


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Amanda Billing

Amanda Billing (born 12 April 1976 in New Zealand) is a New Zealand actress best known for her role as Doctor Sarah Potts on New Zealand soap opera Shortland Street.

Biography
Billing grew up in Masterton, and spent her university years in Christchurch. After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts with 1st Class Honours in Geography from the University of Canterbury, she trained at the Christchurch College of Education and became a high school teacher.

Billing was involved in drama throughout her teaching years and has acted in a few amateur stage productions including Cloud Nine and The Country Wife. She has worked at several schools throughout Auckland teaching Geography, English and Social Studies, most recently at Rangitoto College.

Television

 * Shortland Street - (Sarah Potts) - Core Cast 2004–2014, Guest 2023 South Pacific Pictures
 * Find Me a Māori Bride - (Crystal Leslie) - Main Cast (2015–present)
 * Newsworthy - (Herself) - Guest Cast (2015)
 * The Cul de Sac - (Rose's mother) (2015)
 * The Brokenwood Mysteries - (Brenda White) (2016)
 * Power Rangers Ninja Steel - (Principal Hastings) (2017–2018)
 * Kid Sister - (Keren) (2022)

Theatre

 * Dust Pilgrim - Multiple Characters - 2018 - Red Leap Theatre (dir. Julie Nolan)
 * Boys Will Be Boys - 'Astrid' - 2016 - Silo Theatre (dir. Sophie Roberts)
 * The Book of Everything - 'Mother' - 2016 - Silo Theatre (dir. Sophie Roberts)
 * Cabaret - 'Sally Bowles' - 2010 - Auckland Theatre Company (dir. Michael Hurst)
 * Threepenny Opera - 'Polly Peachum' - 2008 - Silo Theatre and The Large Group (dir. Michael Hurst)
 * Cloud Nine - 'Edward' (Act I), 'Victoria' (Act II) - 2004 - Silo Theatre (dir. Edwin Wright)
 * As You Like It - 'Rosalind' - 2003/2004 - Legacy Theatre Co. (dir. Tim Flavell)
 * Home Ground - 'Margaret' - 2003 - Auckland Performing Arts Centre (dir. Carla Martel)
 * The Country Wife - 'The Country Wife' - 2003 - Silo Theatre (dir. Heath Jones)

Voice Work

 * George FM - various - 2002–2003
 * Power Rangers Cosmic Fury - Bajillia Naire - 2023

Other

 * Auckland based singer (lyric Soprano), dancer

Video game

 * Path of Exile - 'Oshabi' - 2020

title: Amanda Billing